Transition

Sakura is perceived from the perspectives of others as she changes during the years into something else entirely. The people near her follows her transition closely and when she starts abandoning everything she held dear - she gets closer and closer to her goal.
/Non-Canon, Sakura-centric

Chapter 4

Through the Eyes of a Lovestruck Spandex Boy, the Nosey and the Unknown Librarian

The Lovestruck Spandex Boy Rock Lee

It was early morning and the Forest of Death had never been as lush and full of life. Lee sprinted up a tree and got to the top of it, swaying on a small branch. It was one of the higher trees in the deadly forest so he had a wonderful view of Konohagakure village, the sky above was clearly blue and the sun peeked up from the mountains far away. The warm breeze caressed his cheek and his hair was ruffled by the soft wind. This will be a good day for training, Lee thought as he closed his eyes and let the morning light warmth fall on his muscled form.

"Lee! Get down here." A loud voice was carried to his ears by the wind and he smiled as he jumped out into thin air, went spiralling down into the depths of the forest down below and landed hard on the ground, making dust seethe out from underneath the sole of his feet.

"Are you ready for the race, my dear flower bud?" He cheered as he took in the view of his student. She stood with quivering legs in front of him, sweat glistening on her forehead and veins pumping visibly on her strained arms. She held her arms above her head, balancing the large moss covered mountain rock on her hands.

"Are you serious, Lee?" She asked through her teeth, eyes shining verdant in the morning sunlight.

"Why, yes!" He clapped his hands as he felt the energy in his body make him jump around. Sakura wheezed, but he saw that she had a lot of strength left in her body. He wanted to test her limits, so he needed to do this. She still wore the heavy weights, the same he wore, and now the extra weight of the mountain rock made her feet sink into the ground.

"Let's go!" He shouted and set off into the forest. He heard a heavy huff behind him and the cracking noise of the ground splitting underneath her feet as she followed him with the rock above her head. A few miles later of running with cussing and wheezing coming from the medic, Lee looked over his shoulder only to see a huge hissing green snake, the size of a house, slither behind Sakura through the canopy.

"Look out! He yelled and was prepared to attack the snake who had its yellow predatory eyes set on Sakura's running form. The pinkette looked back and saw the snake open its wide jaws to show impressive rows and rows of sharp teeth, dripping with poison. Lee was on his way to kick the snake away into eternity, but he was too late. Sakura cussed loudly and settled her feet hard into the ground, arched her back and then threw the mountain rock hard into the huge snake, which made it break through trees after trees away by the force of it. Shattering sounds of wood and the ugly snap of the huge snake's spinal cord was loudly heard during its journey through splitting trees. The snake finally lay in a slumped form, the rock having dug its way into the body of it, having crushed the hard skin and its intestines flooded out on the forest floor.

Lee could only watch when Sakura calmly walked up to the unmoving snake a few yards away, through the chaos and splinters of broken trees, walked up to it and determined it was dead. She huffed and looked at the snake's teeth still intact, drops of its watery clear poison made its way on the rows of teeth. The Haruno produced a test stick and a small plastic container from her thigh pocket and went up to the snake's jaws, standing almost inside its huge mouth. She took a sample of the poison from its glands and carefully poured the dangerous liquid into the plastic container. Satisfied with the result, she shoved the medical instruments back into her thigh pocket and made her way back to the gory mess left of the huge snake. The exhausted pinkette grunted as she picked up the bloodied boulder and shoved it up over her head.

"Hate snakes. But they do have useful poisons." She said under her breath and sturdily walked up to stand beside him, the huge mountain boulder looming over Lee, creating a large shadow to engulf him, hiding the spandex boy from the sun. A questioning look was seen on her creamy complexion, as if asking why he had stopped. Lee didn't say anything, he just started running again. As if away from something.

A few hours later he looked back once again at Sakura, who had diligently been following him until this point; and she was on the verge of breaking now. But she continued, sweat streaming down her legs and arms and it looked like she had taken a bath. He was actually quite surprised that she hadn't given up yet. What he remembered from the Sakura of the genin days, the she then would have quit after the first ten minutes or so. But they had been youthfully and constantly running for hours on end now.

Suddenly, he heard a yelp and then a loud crashing noise and with his instincts, he jumped up far into the air to avoid the mountain rock rolling fast underneath him only to crash into a tree a bit ahead. As he landed besides the crumpled form of the fallen pinkette, he saw bleeding and inflamed blisters on her hands and her eyes were half way open and glassy as she lay on her back, breathing for the life of it. Her red top was drenched in sweat.

"Should we stop and rest for a bit, flower bud?" Lee suggested since he recognised exhaustion and overexertion when he saw it. Maybe it was obvious to others, but he had almost always continued even when he was exhausted to the point of vomiting because of it.

"No."

It was all she said as she stubbornly sat up, waggled up to the mountain rock and with a shout of 'shannaro' shoved it up into the air on her bleeding hands. Her hands shook with strain, but she didn't waver, and held the rock up above her pink head. Wine coloured liquid streamed down her arms from the blood of the snake and from the blood of her blisters.

"Let's go." She grunted and started jogging away into the forest, almost falling again, but then she didn't and continued forward. Lee sat for a second completely speechless, but sat up straight and followed her with a loud declaration of his never ending love for her and joined her in the quest for strength.

The Nosey Akamaru

He recognised the scent and sniffed in the air, all waggling tail and perked ears. He used to love that scent since it always reminded him of spring, that season when the weather warmed and he got to run in the fields and train with Master. But lately, the scent of spring had changed. He decided to investigate on that strange human who had changed its scent, so he sprang from his position underneath the table with a little howl. Master didn't seem to care but he acknowledged that Akamaru was about to take a stroll, but then Master sat back on a chair and howled in human with a man opposite of him. The man smelled like burnt oak and wet grass. Akamaru liked the man, but didn't want to interrupt their conversation with a jump-roll-and-lick manoeuvre. So he went on an adventure in the streets, following the changed scent of spring.

He saw a flurry of that strange hair a block away, and he shouted in a greeting. The human turned around and seemed surprised, having shopping bags in each hand. The human's azure eyes locked on his and he jumped at her so she fell down to the ground, since he had grown a lot bigger now, and she let go of her bags with a squeal. She produced a sound from the depths of her stomach as he had his paws on her chest, it was called laughter. Her hands stroked his fur and he noticed they were bandaged. Then she spoke human.

"Oh, Akamaru! Get off!"

He recognised his own name happily as the human laughed even more and licked her cheek in a friendly greeting, then the human stopped laughing. It tasted like cherry blossom and honey but with a hint of soap and salty waters. He decided her taste hadn't changed at least. But when he sniffed her further when they were so close, he noticed it. A stench.

He sprang back from her, circled her and looked warily at the human. The scent was dark, it was not good, not good. It reeked of metallic red stains, of ripped rotting flesh, of crushed maggots, of innards on the ground. A stench he hadn't sniffed before in his whole life. He whimpered and growled. The human seemed surprised and got up from the dusty ground, but then she looked down at her hip as if she knew what he had reacted to with a pained glint in her azure eyes. She had a long, black and thin weapon of a kind strapped at her hip.

He sniffed again and determined most of the stench came from the long, sleek weapon. It reeked of murder. But not all of that smell came from the object. He noted that blended in the cherry blossom scent which originated from her own body, there was something dark as well. A certain frosty coldness, it smelled like sharp icicles on a dark winter night. It was so well hidden he wouldn't have noticed it on the street. He growled again and showed his teeth in defiance to her change, why had she changed?, as he indignantly ran away from her and swiftly avoided the humans in his fast movements through the bustling street.

He ran to his Master. His Master never smelled like he could kill him.

The Unknown Librarian of the Hokage's Secret Files Senju Kitsune

That girl just seemed to devour information. Like it was actual food and she had been starving for years, she hungrily scanned through the old papers at the oakwood table in the middle of the library. It was interesting to see, since Kitsune thought she herself had been a special case of a book worm. But this girl was just like her, except for the outrageous hair colour perhaps. She was hard working and cared for the books and scrolls in the same way Kitsune did. Information and history was all important aspects of humanity, and the past needed to be handed down, to not repeat past mistakes and look brightly into the future. She seemed to share her mind in this.

One time she had found the girl too close to one of the restricted areas of the small library and she had scolded her harshly, almost threatened her that she might not be allowed inside again. The girl had apologised for wandering thoughtlessly and promised to never do it again, but Kitsune had noted a light of interest in the girl's eyes. She had been just two steps away from the automatic transportation seal that went to the ANBU headquarters archives, which was activated when one touched a certain black and small book which lay in a hidden bookshelf. This transportation seal existed to ease the information exchange between the two libraries, made for the use to the personal librarians of the Hokage and the personal archive-responsible person of the ANBU leader. The Hokage seemed to have forgotten all about Kitsune sometimes, so she wondered slightly if she even remembered the transportation jutsu.

The Secret Library at the Hokage Tower was Kitsune's own property and for generations her ancestors had protected it, filed and archived everything for the current Hokage's personal literature. The Library contained mostly medical scrolls nowadays, scrolls the Godaime shoved inside and never went back to read. There were stacks of older scrolls from former Hokage's as well, but those belonged in the restricted areas. But Tsunade's apprentice handled the medical scrolls gently and read every single one of them. She mostly visited during the night, saying she couldn't sleep. Kitsune had her living quarters next to the library room so she always helped the girl inside and made tea for them. She got used to having the pink haired hard working girl there and she came to trust her. So when Sakura stumbled inside when Kitsune was filing old works of Hashirama, swiftly swiping conservation oil over the old papers, she let the girl help her. The writings of Hashirama were beautiful and it happened often times that they discussed his philosophy and thoughts on the world. Kitsune came then to know that the girl was intellectual as well, not just a book worm.

The librarian hadn't noticed she was lonely until that day the pinkette barged in to her library, all sweaty and searching for a certain medical scroll to give the Hokage on her orders. The Godaime had apparently given the secret location of the library to her apprentice. Kitsune came to be fond of the Haruno and trusted her with all of her heart. The librarian showed the knowledge hungry pinkette some old scripts of deceased Hokages and other political leaders. Sakura gulped the information down and Kitsune could almost see how the girl would always remember the inked words. But after a while, she started to see it and wonder why the girl always came at night.

Kitsune now knew that the pinkette suffered from severe sleep deprivation, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything. The pride of a medic, she thought, would be to never suffer from disease or illnesses, so she didn't question the girl's condition. Kitsune wondered silently if the Godaime knew of this.

This night, however, the girl hadn't come. Kitsune thought that she heard a knock on her bedroom door, but when she went to check there was none there. Kitsune grumpily went into the library as well with her large key and the chakra enhanced password. Kitsune shivered, it was cold. There was none inside the library and she double checked the most secret files, they were untouched. As she went back and locked the door, she wondered if the girl had finally been able to sleep, and so the librarian strolled back to her own dreams. What she didn't see was the glowing light coming from the automatic transportation jutsu at the hidden bookshelf and the slightly moved black book.

The Shy Beauty Hyuuga Hinata

Her eyes were tired, as if she had acquired the knowledge of the world.

"G-good afternoon, Sakura-san. Have you been training?" She nodded with her head in a formal greeting. Sakura flinched, stopped walking and looked at the Hyuuga heiress in front of her, seemingly coming back to reality.

"Oh... Good afternoon, Hinata-san. No... I was just at the Hokage's Library, reading some medical scrolls. What are you up to?" She asked as she gathered her now quite long pink hair in a pony tail at the top of her head, quite like the style the Yamanaka girl had.
"N-nothing at the moment. D-d you happen to have some time on your hands, perhaps?"
"Yes? Two hours or so, then I'm meeting up with Team Gai for a multiple training session."
"Eh, uhm. M-maybe... You'd like to have some coffee with me?"
"Ah. That sounds lovely." The pinkette smiled but her eyes were distant. As if she had learned of something she couldn't take her mind off. They went to a coffee shop on the main street, a cosy little shop hidden from the street view by a large oak tree. The coffee shop, which was called 'Black Gold', was not very well known but Hinata knew they brewed the best coffee in Konohagakure. When they had each bought their coffee they settled outside on the stools, underneath the canopy of the oak tree. The sun shone gently on the tree, making shafts of light stream through the canopy to play with the shadows on the ground.

"How are you, Sakura-san?" Hinata tried, seeing as the Haruno's eyes had started to grow a disturbing light, like a smouldering fire had started somewhere in there. Hinata wondered why she was so angry. All hell broke loose in Sakura's verdant eyes.
"Fine.", Sakura said and her smile didn't reach her eyes, "How are you?"
"R-really, Sakura-san. M-maybe I can be of s-some help." Hinata mumbled and blushed.

"Oh. You Hyuuga people can see through anyone, I guess. Like clear glass." Sakura chuckled. "But no, I'm afraid you can't be much of assistance in this. I'm very... sad, and very, very angry about something I just learned today. I feel like setting fire to the village at the same time as I feel like I want to go into hibernation for a thousand years, to hide from this fucked up world." Sakura sneered into her coffee cup, something suddenly glistening in the corner of her eye. Hinata felt something clench her heart.

"I-I'm assuming you won't t-tell me this recently learned knowledge. And please don't set fire to the village, i-it would be most unnecessary. B-but can I still, perhaps, b-be of some aid? Y-you are Naruto's teammates after all, I want to help you." Hinata tried again, and this time Sakura looked at the Hyuuga heiress with warmth, and not the burning kind.

"Ah, I see. Well, maybe you can, actually. If you really want to." Sakura said, her eyes now glassy and murderous at the same time. Hinata wondered if she had made the right choice to ask the pinkette if she wanted help.

"I need to vent my anger. If I don't do it before the training session with Team Gai, I'm sure I'll be too hotheaded to fight anyone decently. They'd laugh me off." She said, cracking her fist. Loudly.

"N-naruto-kun is always hotheaded and strong."

"Yeah, but Naruto is Naruto. An idiot who can survive anything. I need to be calm. I can't fight if I'm too angry or under emotional distress." Sakura seethed, and Hinata saw those eyes burn again and a vein throb on her slightly large forehead. Hinata couldn't get that cold feeling she got from Sakura away from her stomach, like an ice block it settled there. Maybe she wanted Sakura to vent her anger just as much as the pinkette wanted to. It seemed like she had been suppressing her anger for far too long, and this thing she learned today apparently made it to the boiling point.

"I-I know a good place to vent anger." Hinata confessed as she drank the last of her coffee.

"Really? Where?" Sakura sniffed, frowning. The Hyuuga heiress saw how hard the pinkette clenched her own fist that she wondered when the skin would break from her nails digging deep into her palm.

"T-there's a large field owned by my clan a couple of m-minutes away. It's mostly used for t-training and it gets destroyed all the time, so y-you can hit anything there as much as you want. I don't think any clansmen are supposed to t-train there today..."
"Let's go." Sakura growled and got up fast from her chair, but it seemed like she realised something. "Thank you, Hinata. I can't thank you enough for this." And she smiled. It was so genuine and out of place on Sakura's face that Hinata flushed. Hinata hadn't known Sakura could smile like that, with only warmth in her eyes. The Hyuuga girl, as she rose from the stool, noted that Sakura hadn't touched her coffee.

They sprinted on the roof tops, Hinata leading the way, and a few minutes later they had gone through the gates to the Hyuuga mansion, ran past it and a mile or so away was the field. Sakura seemed to almost flinch when she saw the wide landscape unfold in front of her. Hinata wondered what had made her scared of fields and open landscapes; they were so peaceful and beautiful, she thought. Sakura went there unwillingly and stood still in the middle of a flat part of the field, and unstrapped her black scabbard from her hip and laid the katana gently a few meters away. She then closed her eyes.

"I'm doing offence. Please, attack me." She told the Hyuuga through her teeth. Hinata had a bit of an arsenal of weapons in a scroll she had taken with her from the Hyuuga mansion, inspired by that girl Tenten's style, so she unsealed it. Twenty shuriken came into existence on the ground and Hinata picked one up.

"Don't hold back, Hinata-san. Whatever you do, don't hold back." Sakura said, her eyes still closed. Hinata activated her own Byakugan. She wouldn't let the pinkette down.

"You need to open your eyes, Sakura-san." Hinata called as she released the first five shuriken at the same time, running all the while in a circle around Sakura. With but one kunai she somehow produced in a second, in a blurry she hit every shuriken hard into the ground. Her eyes still closed. With the force of her hit, the shurikens buried into the ground until only the tip of them were visible in a circle around her. It was eerily similar to the Gentle Fist.

Hinata's eyes widened slightly. She knew that the pinkette had taken on Lee's training but she hadn't expected the girl to actually grow this strong. Hinata stopped running and slowed down, to stand in front of Sakura. This wouldn't do.

"Sakura-san. I think it's better if you hit something with all of your power instead of offence training. That way you can drain your anger and your strength." This sentence, and Hinata was surprised herself that she hadn't stuttered, made Sakura finally open her eyes and Hinata saw that the shuriken had not been even close to appeasing Sakura's anger. The pinkette nodded and looked around her.

"Can I hit the ground?" She asked, still gritting her teeth. Burning eyes. "I haven't really tried out a real punch since I started training with Lee."

"Hit it as m-much a-as you want, Sakura-san." Hinata accepted and smiled shyly.

"I think you need to step back, Hinata-san. A mile or so, just to be sure." Sakura's eyes were burning so strong now that Hinata thought she'd get a burn mark if she was too close to the pinkette. To run a mile away to avoid the reverberations of the hit was ridiculous, but Hinata didn't dare question the Haruno.

"U-uhm. Okay. Give it your all, S-sakura-san."

A mile away proved to not be far enough.

The Head Hyuuga Hiashi

Hiashi was not often surprised, but today he had been baffled.

"The destruction of the training field? By one punch to the ground?" He asked again, he needed to confirm, the assistant from the branch house paled as he repeated the information. He had actually heard it correctly. In shambles, only rocks and ruins they said, as if an earthquake had ravaged the field. How could it be an earthquake when he had seen his daughter and a pink haired girl run to the field, emanating a very fiery chakra, saying they were to practice drills? His otherwise dormant interest in other matters than those of the Hyuuga clan perked. The pink haired girl, was it?

The Senbon Guy Shiranui Genma

The girl was a genius in a pink haired disguise. The last three missions he had been on two-man missions with her and he had heard of her fast climb through the mission ranks. He had been interested in what way she proved to be useful. And he knew that she must have been underestimated so many times because of her hair colour, he saw it in her eyes. The first mission they had together was to gather information in Wood Country. Her henge had been perfect; a blond haired civilian girl who knew nothing of the outside world. She acted just like the description he had given her and she had even outshone his own act as her protective brother.

The B-class mission had gone smooth and they had gathered the information they needed at bars and hotels. Whispers of a new leader in Wood. They sent the report to the Godaime and started to travel back to Konohagakure. But they had been attacked. The law enforcement shinobi of Wood had apparently recognised the senbon Genma always had in his mouth and attacked them on the road in the forest, on orders of the uprising leader who apparently wanted to keep his political standing a secret to other countries. Genma was fast to send his senbon flying, taking care of every single law enforcer without killing them.

When he turned back to see the Haruno standing behind him, wielding her humming sword, her face was almost disappointed. He left it at that, not really wondering why it was so. He only silently praised her ability to fuse her chakra into the weapon.

The second mission had gone without trouble and they conversed through the entire trip, and he somehow got to know the girl. She wanted to prove herself it seemed, since she requested of him to stand back if they were attacked again. He had told her he couldn't promise anything.

The third mission had gotten out of hand, but had been successful. It had been her first A-class mission. They were supposed to assassinate an uprising leader near the borders of Tea on request of the Tea Daimyo. They had successfully snuck into the house through a window, come into his room without trouble and when the Haruno was about to inject a needle into the leader with a poison, from a green mamba snake she had told him, they were found out. A guard had just happened to peek inside the room where the leader was asleep and had shouted in alarm for back up. The Haruno had been so fast, too fast, to draw her katana and slice the throat of the leader. He died in silence and a blood gurgling ugly noise. Genma had sprung out of the room only to meet several guards coming his way. In their movements he saw they were all trained shinobi, and had probably gone rogue.

In a pink flash, she was past him, slicing her way through the corridor. There were no screams. She clawed her way through, but it was ever so elegant in a way it almost seemed like she was dancing in splatters of blood, to the last one man standing who was trembling at the end of the corridor. The man had screamed something before she beheaded him in one swift movement and Genma thought the words had been 'white-eyed devil'. But he was still in shock, so maybe he had been wrong. The girl was on another level, definitely jounin if not more. Why hadn't she taken the test yet? He wondered silently as he walked up to her, to tell her they needed to get a move on before more guards arrived, and he heard a soft whisper come from her lips. It was like frost.

"Twenty one."

The Powerful Alcoholic Senju Tsunade

"Danzou will be the fucking death of me, I swear." She mumbled in a scowl and sipped a bit of her hidden saké bottle. The alcohol made its way to her stomach and it warmed her insides, making her slightly forget the whole ordeal of the ANBU and Root and that Danzou-shithead. He was too harsh and unyielding and dangerous and worked too much in the shadows.

Tsunade had just found out that the Root division had tortured a missing nin from Sunagakure for information regarding the political climate and if there was any threatening whispers directed at Konohagakure, as well as the location of his fellow missing nin from Suna that he had formed a team with. The missing nin from Suna died while being tortured. Tsunade's frown deepened. The missing nin's body was requested from the Council of Suna to be sent back, since the missing nin's family apparently still cared for a funeral of their son even if he had gone rogue. She suggested that they shouldn't hold an open coffin ceremony.

The Council of Suna and the Kazekage didn't take this turn of events lightly - there would be some repercussions. She had just recently, through long and unforgiving meetings with powerful and irritating people, formed some kind of friendship pact with Suna, but this situation would shake the foundations of that already quivering agreement. Tsunade scowled and stole another sip from the smuggled delicious bottle of forgiveness liquid. Shizune hadn't found this one bottle yet, and if the Hokage were to decide, it would stay that way.

"Tsunade-sama?" Without a knock, Sakura strolled inside the Hokage's office as if she lived there. The weights on her apprentice's wrists and ankles seemingly didn't bother her anymore, as her steps were light.

"Pinky. This isn't a good time." The Hokage muttered in a greeting, fast to hide the bottle.

"Oh, you see, I have devised a little plan you might take an interest in. Do you wish to hear it?" Sakura smiled slightly, almost eerily so. Tsunade looked suspiciously at her apprentice, stubbornly hiding the saké bottle behind her back.

"I won't take the saké from you, Tsunade-sama. Will you just hear me out?"

"What is it?" Tsunade asked as she safely tucked out the saké bottle for a little sip, still frowning but she was interested in what her apprentice had planned.

Sakura smiled coldly then, but this time it almost seemed wicked. And then the pinkette told the Godaime of her plan and Tsunade's heart froze.

The Prodigy Hyuuga Neji and The Cloud Watching Boy Nara Shikamaru

They sat together at the Nara compound's veranda one sunny morning, drinking tea and playing chess. Sakura and Shikamaru was deep into the game while the Hyuuga sat besides them, reading a book. It was very silent except for the occasional chirping of birds.

"I can see you're sleeping better, Sakura." Shikamaru noted and broke the comfortable silence with one raised eye brow as he moved a chess piece. The score between the two was 40-42 now, to Sakura's favour. She was winning and he didn't like it.

"Yeah. I've somehow gotten used to it. But there's been one change lately in the dream sequences. Maybe it's because I'm sleeping for a longer time now." The pinkette confessed as she observed the chess board.

"Oh? And what is that?" The Hyuuga questioned as he turned a page in the book, which was about reincarnated gods and goddesses lore.

"I remember when I die more clearly, each time. Before, it was always in a blur of pain and agony and I always thought I died in the battlefield, but now... I think she has tried to prevent me from remembering this. But I do recall everything now. Of her memories."

"So?" Shikamaru asked and ruffled his hair, which was for once let down and fell in brown cascades down to his collarbone, as he took in Sakura's recent move with a wrinkle of his nose.

"It's the same scenario, when I got punished for not sacrificing a division as a Strategy Commander a few weeks ago, when they hammer spikes into my body with candles on top, they saw my limbs off and sets me on fire. But these last nights I remember the place I am in, a dark room with candles in circles around me. I'm fastened to a wooden table with chains and there are many blank faced men and women scattering around me, all wearing ceremonial clothes. I realised it was a ritual of some sort. And when I'm burning as they... place the torch at my severed feet, I can feel my flesh peel off and I'm numbing, there's a man besides me - and I recognised him."

She drew a deep breath and stared at the chess board, having the full attention of both of the men besides her. Neji saw that there was something off with the kunoichi lately, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was.

"It was Izanagi. He was mumbling something in a language I didn't recognise and were making seals with his hands. He wore a ceremonial white kimono. And he held a glowing katana over my burning chest and brought it down with a whisper. That's when I die from a bleeding heart and I hear him say 'It is fate if we are to meet again as the form of war, Izanami.' And then I wake up."

"That might have been the reincarnation ritual of the katana; and the fusion of Izanami and the sword." Neji said and realised it was true.

"I know." Sakura said and drank some more tea. It was very bitter, but it seemed like she enjoyed it.

"So what can we do about it now, since we know?" The Nara asked, looking up to the sky. The clouds drifted slowly in the blue sky, taking their time to move forward.
"Not much. I still have the contract of blood, binding me to her." She sipped her tea with closed eyes. Neji and Shikamaru exchanged a glance; both understanding.

"Sakura. What exactly does the contract say?" Hyuuga asked the pinkette, putting the book down on the table.

"You don't need to know."
"We do need to know, Sakura. To be able to help you in this mess. Even though it's tiresome. But you need to understand that we are here for you. We are the only ones who knows about Izanami." Shikamaru said, squinting his eyes at her petite form.

Sakura looked up from the board game and met his eyes. She sighed and frowned, as if considering something. She regarded her two companions and in that moment, they both noticed the struggle between trust and discomfort in her eyes. But she decided and unwavering green eyes locked theirs, as if hypnotising them into a trancelike state. Decided they were worthy of knowing.

"I am to take the lives of one thousand men." She let go of the sentence as if it had been weighing down on her like a boulder. "When I kill the last man, I am free. She said she will never visit me in my dreams again. Never whisper again. Never call for blood. She said that if I did this task, I will fulfil a promise. And if don't fulfil it within the next three years, I will die. She will make me slit my own throat with the katana. And then she will destroy Konohagakure."

"One thousand men?" Shikamaru sputtered, his teacup falling and hitting the table, spilling his tea all over the chess board. The hot liquid ran in currents around the pieces.
"In three years?" Neji blanched and hit his fist against the table in rage. It was not normal for him to display his anger physically, but this was not a normal situation. This was beyond normal.

"And you have been keeping this from us this whole time, Sakura? Oh, god." Shikamaru shivered, anger culminating in his eyes. That demon. That demon.
"Sakura, how many men have you even killed so far?" The Hyuuga seemed to have calmed down and tried to assess the situation in a somewhat cold fashion.
"Twenty one." She said, her eyes never lowering or backing down, always looking up. The two men both gasped. That was more than both of their kills counted together.

"I've been assigned to a lot of missions lately; so I have an excuse." She explained, drinking from her tea. Her fingers were eerily steady, holding the tea cup.

"Did you count in those five missing nin you... eliminated, on the Tajima-mission?" Shikamaru asked as he pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes squeezed shut. A growing headache, apparently, which he now so often had.

"No, those didn't count since I was under Izanami-sama's control. I need to kill them myself, when I'm aware of what I'm doing." Her voice was so cold it almost made the two men shiver, as if a winter breeze had blown through the core of their bones.

"Do you understand how many lives you need to take?" Shikamaru whispered almost inaudibly.

"Yes. I have 988 men left to rip away from their families, their friends and their dreams. Of course I understand the situation I am in!" She growled, visibly losing her temper, eyes flaring verdant. Shikamaru and Neji didn't blame her; that amount of people she needed to assassinate was a larger number than any shinobi in Konohagakure village had ever taken. This was going to take a toll on her mind, obviously.

"I know where I need to go. Where I have to go." Sakura said in a low voice. And it dawned on the Hyuuga like lightning; she was going to try for being a executioner. It wasn't illogical, the executioners were mostly medics and worked together with the T&I department. That way, she would be able to maybe fulfil the contract in three years.

"No. That work- it won't do you any good." Shikamaru said, realising the same thing Neji had.

"Huh? You already know?" Sakura's green eyes were surprised. But when she studied her fellow companions' faces she sighed in relief. "Ah. You don't know." She said and huffed, moved a piece on the chess board. The Nara regarded her and moved another piece on the board. He was near winning the game now.

"It's not executioner work you're going to do?" Neji asked, frowning.
"Perhaps, perhaps not."

"You're making this very difficult for us, Sakura." The Nara complained and stretched with a grunt, folding his hands behind his head.
"I know, I'm sorry. But I can't let you guys in on this one." The pinkette smiled sadly and moved the last chess piece.

"Damnit, Sakura!" Shikamaru scowled, if it was because of Sakura's secrecy or that she had won this time too, Neji didn't know.

Author's Note

Hey guys!
One very perceptive reviewer commented on the Izanami and Izanagi lore and oh my, I mixed up their genders. Hehe. So the sword's name is actually Izanami, not Izanagi. The beautiful man in the tea house was named Izanagi, in last chapter's dream sequence.

I'm sorry for having this chapter a little shorter than usual, but it was kinda hard writing since there were so many different scenarios I had in mind and so little words. Still, I hope you like it. It's moving a bit forward now, isn't it? I hope my elusiveness isn't too stupid.

Tell me what you think!

xx fascalia