A Regret Message

3rd Chapter: Power

"Hold on, Hinata, what are you talking about?" Naruto asked purely lost about Hinata's actions. She really couldn't be serious about this. What exactly had she and Sakura talked about...

Hinata turned around with a serious expression that Naruto had only seen during the round of the chunin exams. "S-Sakura...she told me what happened and...she's so depressed about it." She looked at Sasuke directly. "S-She's thinks you hate her..b-because...she got scared when you tried to help her."

That news surprised the black-haired boy a bunch. He thought that she hated him...that's why he had stayed away from her. How ever Sakura could ever come up with that conclusion was beyond his knowledge. "S-She's thinks I...hate her?"

"Y-Yes." Hinata answered. Though she was being serious, her voice was still a bit timid. "S-She believes it was...her fault that you had a panic and heart-attack. She told me that Lady Hokage s-said that you wouldn't survive if you had another one."

"What!" Yelled both Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke looked at the ground putting hand to his steady beating heart. Tsunade didn't tell him anything about that even though it was part of his body. He focused his gaze back to Hinata while concealing his shocked expression well. "That doesn't explain why you told us that we were leaving.

"I-I talked with Lady H-Hokage and she said t-that there might a b-be a chance for Sakura to see again." Hinata reached in his pocket and took out a picture of a dark gray sunflower which was on a tree branch. "T-This a Ichinosi. I-It has a h-healing sap that L-Lady Hokage can use o-on h-her eyes so she could s-see again. She told me to t-take you both with m-me."

Naruto grinned and nodded. "I'm in! If it means helping Sakura then I'll up for it!" He smiled at Hinata making her blush. "You really are a sweet person, Hinata. I wish there were more girls like you around."

Even though his face didn't show it, Sasuke was just as happy as Naruto. Maybe this way, he could face her knowing that everything was going to be alright. He stuffed his hands into his pocket with a low smirk. "Let's get going then. The quicker we find it the better. Where exactly is it?"

"I-It's in the forest on the o-outskirts of the Fire Country. The hokage s-showed me where and it's about a 3 day travel." Hinata responded while putting the picture in her pocket. "There's a tree t-that only buds a f-few all year-long."

"Right! Let's go find this thing and help Sakura!" Naruto said enthusiastically. "We'll meet here in 30 minutes with everything we will need!" With that they all headed off in different directions.

Sakura meanwhile was home alone. Her parents hadn't returned from their trip. Ino and TenTen did eventually come back and Ino redid the wraps to cover her eyes before they had to leave. She touched them before laying back on her bed. She knew that she had turned off all the lights before she stumbled to her room.

Since the window was already on her bedside, she went and rested her head on it while trying to listen to the outside. Her hearing had seemed to have gotten better cause she found herself able to hear owls and other things. Mostly crickets.

"Hey, Sakura. How you holding up?" A voice said from outside of her window. It surprised her but she could easily recognize it.

She smiled lightly turning her head to where she heard it come from. "Hi, Kakashi-Sensei. I'm fine it's just...this is a little hard to get use to, you know." She said choking up a bit. "D-Do you know where Sasuke is? I still haven't seen...I meant talked to him yet."

"Can't say that I do. Late this afternoon, he, Naruto, and Hinata were sent on a classified mission by Lady Hokage. They're not going to back for about a week at the least." He explained briefly while leaning on the wall outside of the window frame.

Sakura sat up with shock written across her face. She knew that Sasuke had just got out the hospital but he's already being sent on missions. Plus she already said that she wasn't going to leave the program so why wasn't she on that mission. However, she did know that Sasuke still hadn't spoken to her. "I-I see. Why didn't you go with them?"

"I still have business here in the village." Kakashi answered while giving her his one-eyed smile. "I was thinking since Naruto and Sasuke are gone I might as well give you some training to tighten up your skills and teach you some new stuff so that you can won't be the only one who didn't advance. I noticed that both of them have received a training of some kind so I guess that leaves you."

"Really, Kakashi-Sensei? You're going to train me?" She inquired using an excited tone. Sakura was hoping that he wasn't kidding.

"Sure am. Wait here tomorrow morning at 5:00am and we'll start." Kakashi told her standing up. "See you." He did a hand-sign and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The now-blind kunoichi balled her fist with a determined smile."Sasuke...Naruto...please be careful. Take care of Hinata. I'll get stronger in the meantime."

"I guess we'll top here for tonight and continue on in the morning." Naruto stated as they finally stopped going at full speed through the trees. It had been non-stop since earlier and they were all exhausted. He made a hand-seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He shouted making about 10 more of himself to go find some wood for a fire.

Once they returned, Sasuke used his fire-ball jutsu to light it and they all sat around it after Naruto undid the clones. The Uchiha glanced at Hinata a bit suspiciously after they ate. " Hinata, tell me something. What exactly made you wanna do this in the first place?"

Hinata pulled her knees to her chest staring at the fire. "I-I wanted to help Sakura anyway I could. S-She told me how she believed you w-wouldn't want to be around her anymore. I-I thought that if I could try to get her eye sight back then...that might fix everything."

He was a bit appalled by her answer. Part of him didn't think that anyone would attempt to do anything like this without an order but Hinata actually was doing this by her own free will. "I see. So you are doing this by choice." He blurted out looking down.

"Well Sakura is kinda like... an older sister to me. I did what I think a little sister would do." Hinata confessed with a light smile resting her head on her knees. "I do have a younger sister but we don't talk much..."

"Having siblings sounds nice..." Naruto stated with a low sigh. "I imagine myself having someone to talk to about anything and everything, them being with me when I'm sad-"

"Only for them to stab you in the back in the end." Sasuke cut him off with a hard glare clenching his fist tightly. "I don't need anyone but myself...who needs relatives anyway? They just turn on you."

Hinata looked at him with hints of confusion while Naruto only stared at him. He remembered seeing Sasuke's brother, Itachi, when he went searching for Tsunade. That was person Sasuke was aiming to kill...

"We should get some sleep and head off in the morning. We have a long trip to go." Naruto stated in a low tone while laying down. "Goodnight."

It was now the middle of the night, almost 3AM and Naruto was having a very gruesome nightmare. He was tossing and turning a lot and sweat was pouring from his head. "N-No...Leave me alone...I don't want to...someone help me..."

Waking up, Hinata looked over and saw that Naruto was murmuring in his sleep. She crawled over and started to shake him and noticed he was really warm. "N-Naruto!" She called in a whisper shaking him. "N-Naruto, wake up!"

He shot up like a rocket which frightened her a bit. She heard him trying to catch his breath and saw water building up in his eyes. Naruto allowed a few to fall before wiping his eyes. He glanced over to her. "H-Hinata?"

"A-Are you alright?" She inquired keeping herself from blushing knowing that it was on its way. "You w-were having a n-nightmare and I thought I-I would wake you up."

He looked at her with a bit of surprise. "Y-You woke me up?" He asked back almost in a whisper. He didn't think anyone cared that much. "T-Thanks..."

"N-No p-problem." She returned with a light pink forming across her cheeks. Fiddling with her fingers, she hesitated hard before talking again. "I-I don't mean t-to pry...but...w-what was your nightmare a-about?"

Naruto shifted slightly looking off to the side. "I-I don't...remember all the details but..." He started off before letting out a sigh. "I was walking in the forest when a lot of people appeared. They chased me to a really high cliff and they were shouting at me. 'Jump!' They said. 'You don't deserve to live' 'You should have died that day' they told me..." Tears began to appear in his sparking blue eyes. "Soon they began pushing me off till I was falling from it. I was just about to hit the ground when you woke me up."

Part of Hinata wanted to cry for him. That sounded like a horrible nightmare. All her life, she's has seen people give Naruto the cold shoulder. Even her own father told her to stay away from him. Another fact she just happened to know was... every year on a certain day people would, mourn over the attack on the village 13 years ago and the adults and some older teenagers would just glare and give Naruto a bunch of death threats and tell him to go die. Unfortunately...it was also the day of his birthday..

"Don't worry though..." Naruto put on a brave smile before wiping his eyes with his sleeve and blinking away the remains. "I'm sure that would never really happen. Thanks for listening to me ramble on. W-We should try to get some sleep."

She nodded. "R-Right. G-Good night, Naruto." Hinata was about to crawl back to her spot when Naruto took her hand making her face light up really pink. "Naruto...?"

He blushed too, looking off to the side. "Um...Hinata...c-can I...sleep beside you? I mean...just in I have a continuation of that d-dream..I'd want someone besides me who could wake me up."

"S-Sure." She agreed smiling and resisting the urge to faint. She fantasized about this a lot but this was not exactly how she pictured it. After he laid down, she followed suit. It wasn't soon before he fell back to sleep. Wanting to see if he was alright still, Hinata turned to look at him and saw he was sleeping peacefully. "He's so cute while he's sleeping..." After watching him for few minutes, she fell asleep herself while blushing .

"Okay then, Sakura. Time to begin your training. Are you ready?" Kakashi asked as the now blinded girl stood before him on their usual training field. He came and escorted to there because most people were still asleep.

"Yes." She answered with a half serious and half excited face. Receiving her own private training from Kakashi was like a dream come true. "What are you going to teach me today?"

"Well, actually, I'm not going to teach you a thing."

"W-What!?" Sakura asked and shouted at once fuming. So this was just a waste of time...how disappointing... She crossed her arms. "What do you mean? You said that you were going to train me!"

He chuckled patting her head. "Now now, I know I bended the truth a little but you are going to get trained. Just not by me." He stated with a smile.

She uncrossed her arms with a now confused look. "I don't understand. If you aren't training me, then who is?"

"That would be me." A feminine voice said loudly alerting their senses. Sakura's eyes widened recognizing the voice. "Good to see you again, Sakura."

"Lady Tsunade? That is you isn't it?" She questioned turned her body to where she heard the voice. A hand was placed on her shoulder and Sakura smiled knowing that it was her. "You're going to be the one who will train me?"

The female hokage grinned. "Yes, I am. I think you have always had great potential but considering the circumstances with the village, I need Kakashi on stand-by for his next assignment. Plus, you own a power that nobody else in the village has. Unlike most people, you have the will of two people. Have you ever heard another voice inside your head when you do something?"

Question marks appeared over Sakura's head while thinking about it. "Cha! How does she know about me?" Inner Sakura stated which made Sakura gasp silently. Did she mean her... "Do you mean Inner me?"

"Exactly." Tsunade answered putting her hands on her hip. "You were born with two souls inside you which is where you get your hair color from. Originally you would have had light red hair like your mother but with the second soul inside you it changed your hair color to pink and somewhat made your forehead a bit larger than others."

A dull look appeared on Sakura's face. "So you mean Inner me is the cause of my gigantic forehead..." She stated in low tone. "And we're still pretty awesome!Cha" Inner commented.

Tsunade made a straight face. "However...Her power is much stronger than your own. It's like when you gain twice the amount of experience, she gets ten times it. To put it in other terms, she is your inside split personality. Her power might even succeed that of Naruto and Sasuke."

"That's not all." Kakashi stepped into the conversation. "Since you have two people inside you, it's much easier for you to learn things and have them stay in your head. This is when the term 'Two heads are better than one' comes to play. With you and her sharing a body and brain, if you learn it once then you don't have trouble because you understand it and have learned it twice."

"So, I'm going to be teaching you some of my own techniques and at the same time help you learn you to use your Inner self's power whenever you need it." The hokage added with smile. "This is going to be a very gruesome experience. Are you willing to withstand it?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Sakura answered immediately before touching her gauze. "This is isn't a handicap anymore. It's a challenge and I accept all challenges. I'm not going to let Sasuke and Naruto stand in the spotlight any longer and protect me. Now, it's going my turn to be in the limelight and protect them. That's my new nindo. My ninja way!" She declared making a fist. "Cha! We're going to be so kick-ass! This is going to be so fun!"

"Hey!" Sasuke called to Hinata and Naruto as they travel through the tress. They turned to him right quick not stopping. "I think we should speed up more so that we can cut our time in half! We're at a somewhat slow pace now and moving faster would be better for avoiding traps and ambushes."

Naruto nodded with a grin. "Right! Let's get this show on the...Wow!" In a flash, Naruto got caught in a net which caused Hinata and Sasuke to stop. He pulled out his kunai in an attempt to cut it only for it not to work the slightest. "Guys, it won't cut!"

Before anything else could happened, both Hinata and Sasuke were caught in one to which shocked them dearly. Sasuke pulled out a shirekan and kunai and tried to slice it but it was in vain since nothing worked. "Damn! Why isn't this working?"

"Because it's made from chakra cords, you dummy." A female voice said from a branch beside them. The three ninjas looked and saw a person who looked utterly terrifying. They were wearing a midnight colored black cloak with a hood that covered their face except their mouth and nose. They could tell it was a girl because part of her clock was open revealing her white tank top type shirt and blue ruffled skirt with black shorts under it along with long-white thigh high socks and blue boots. "What are you doing here, Leaf ninja? What your purpose in being in this part of the country?"

"W-We're looking f-for the I-Ichinosi flower!" Hinata spoke up looking at her with a tint of fear. "The H-Hokage said that it was l-located here!"

The girl looked at them before pulling out three kunais. She then through them through the nets causing them the break. The leaf shonobi all fell and landed carefully while eying her suspiciously. She looked about their age. Turning her back, the girl tilted her head to them. "I know where it is. Please follow me."

"H-How do you expect to just follow you just like that?" Naruto shouted at her while pointing. "We don't know if your good or bad, Lady! So why should we trust you?"

"Ask me anything." She said in a simple emotionless tone turning back around to face them. Her hands remained at her side. "I'll answer whatever you want me to."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly. "What village are you from? I don't see any kind symbol that can tell which kind of ninja you are. And also tell me what rank you are."

"I am from the Hidden Tree Village. Our people, the Ichinose Clan, live on very outskirts of the Fire country. We follow orders from both the Hokage and our village's leader." She answered using the same tone of voice which made Naruto a bit suspicious. "I'm sorry but I can't answer your second request. I am very careful not to reveal my rank to strangers."

Naruto pointed at her with small scowl. "Alright, then tell who you are exactly!" He demanded with much authority in his voice.

The girl was silent for a second before speaking. "I can't answer that either. At least, not out here in the open. I ask you to follow me to my village where we can speak more privately. Even the trees have ears around this place." She turned and started walking.

When she did, Naruto growled and ran up to her. "Hey, just hold on a second!" He shouted as he did and pulled her by the cloak causing it to fall off. The girl gasped slightly before her shoulder-length blond hair fell down. It was some red streaks in it and when she turned to look at him, they saw that she had forest green eyes that almost resembled Narutos.

Saying nothing, she picked up the cloak and put it back on but kept the hood down. "See. I'm human just like you. You have my word that I won't betray you. Please follow me." She said simply walking again. This time they just followed her without another word but their guards remained up.

It wasn't long before they reached her village. They had to admit. It was almost as big as their village. It had a very high shrubbery but an arch made for people to come in and out. When they walked through, the villagers all gathered around to them. The children especially went up the girl.

"Milady, Welcome home! We missed you so much! How were your adventures?" They said at once. They all sent questioning look towards her as she ruffled their heads making them laugh.

"Thank you very much, Young ones. They were amazing as usual. I'll tell you all about of them some other time. Now run along to finish your studies, all of you." She told them and the almost immediately. A villager ran up to her before getting on one knee bowing. "It's good to see you, Natuki. How has the village been since I left?"

"Everything is still in tip-top shape, Milady. I'm happy to tell you that the playground for the children is finally built and is waiting for you to open it." He said with a light smile. "Whenever your ready, we can do it any time."

"In a few days. There are still something things I must see too. Like our allies from the leaf here." The girl said in a plain voice. "In the meantime, please see to it that no one gets into it without my say-so, alright?"

He nodded. "Whatever you say. Still, it's nice to have you back, Milady." He stated again before leaving.

The girl turned to them with a light smile. "I'm sorry about that. Sometimes I get a bombarded by people after I return from traveling for a while. "

"Why is that?" Sasuke asked with signs of doubt undetectable in his voice while his eyes narrowed at her. Something about her made him feel a bit uneasy.

"We can speak once we reach the office. That way we can finish our conversation in peace." She said instead before showing them to the largest building. Once inside, they followed her into a room which was bit similar to the Hokage's. There was a large desk with paperwork stacked neatly on the side. A small table on the other side of the room with somewhat small kitchen and pillows for people to sit. "Please sit while I put on some tea."

After the tea was made, they all sat down. The girl sat on the opposite side of the table while the three sat next to each other with it being Sasuke, Naruto, then Hinata.

"Isn't this like your leader's room? What are we doing in here?" Naruto asked her as she sipped her tea. "I mean, couldn't you get into a lot of trouble if they find us here?"

"Why would they? I could do whatever I please in it." She answered simply.

"So are you the village leader's granddaughter or daughter or niece or something like that so you wouldn't get in trouble if you were here alone?" Naruto questioned again a bit confused about her earlier answer. He didn't even recall Konohamaru able to this when the 3rd Hokage was alive.

She giggled at him. "I don't you understand. This is my office so I could do whatever I please." Putting the cup down she smiled at them. "My name is Cherry Kamizu. I'm am the leader of village hidden in the trees."

Until the next time!

Also, to my wonderful readers! Please check out my poll and vote for my next story that you want me to write or just PM your ideas! And I apologize in advance for using my name for the girl. I had no other name so please don't give up on me. It will get better I promise!

"You're mind has to power to do things that your body can't."

- Cherry