The Turning Point
The setting sun indicated they'd been at it for almost four hours.
Sasuke and Naruto fell to the forest floor for the umpteenth time, the former landed gracefully and turned to look at the blonde ninja who (only three hours ago could barely get one foot in front of the other) was now catching up to him. But how?
Naruto had no idea what he was doing until…
"Sakura" Sasuke muttered to himself as he remembered the pink haired teen whispering something inaudible to Naruto.
She'd obviously given him some sort of advice on how to focus his chakra better because as soon as she left Naruto began catching up to him. Although his Uchiha pride would never allow him to admit it, Sasuke was angry and a little envious that she had chosen to help the blonde boy instead of him.
Not that he needed her help in the first place…
Naruto on the other hand was getting progressively angrier. It seemed that every time he thought he had enough chakra up to make it all the way up the tree, it would just fizzle out and he'd be sent falling back to the ground.
"WHY IS THIS SO HARD?" Naruto yelled loudly drawing Sasuke's attention and both ninja froze glaring at each other.
No! No! No! If I think about Sasuke I'll lose my concentration! Believe it! Come on Naruto centre yourself! Remember what Sakura said…. Relax; focus on the tree Closing his eyes the knucklehead felt a surge of chakra pool to the bottoms of his feet
"Yeah! I can feel it! I'm going all the way this time!" Completely sure of himself Naruto charged at the tree once more.
"Hey Naruto" Sasuke called out completely taking his teammate by surprise and the blonde boy's face connected with the ground once more.
"AHHH! SASUKE WHAT ARE YOU DOING? I WAS TRYING TO FOCUS MY CHAKRA!" Turning to face the Uchiha prodigy Naruto fixed him with a glare.
"Well uh the thing is" Sasuke said, he couldn't believe he was about to do this.
"Yeah, the thing is what?" Naruto asked folding his arms, intensifying his glare
"Y-you know, you asked Sakura for advice when she was here. So what did she tell you?" Sasuke replied, eye twitching and cursed himself for stuttering, Uchiha men did not stutter.
Naruto's eyes widened in surprise before his mouth formed a huge grin. Sasuke immediately regretted his asking for help.
"I'm not telling you"
Racing across the rooftops Sakura could feel the fear rising within her.
This was the first time she would be going into a fight without a team to back her up.
The first time she'd be standing on her own against the enemy.
Her first proper fight out of the academy as an individual.
Questions flew through her mind, how many men would there be? Would she be able to last against them all and most importantly would she be too late?
Suddenly from the air she spotted a group of about 5 men surrounding a little girl who was holding a young baby boy.
"HEY LOOK HERE YOU BIG MEANIES! YOU CAN'T HAVE MY HOUSE AND YOU CAN'T HAVE MY BROTHER SO THERE!" The girl yelled with a volume that would rival Naruto as she stuck her tongue out at the menacing looking men, clutching the bundle of blankets that held her baby brother close to her chest.
"You've got a big mouth kid, now we've tortured your father and robbed your mother so all that's left to do is exterminate you two and the house. All your precious possessions will belong to Gatō" Laughter broke out among the thugs.
"HOW DARE YOU TOUCH MY PARENTS!" The little girl screamed and one of the men stepped forward to silence her permanently, Sakura knew it was now or never.
"Leave them alone!" A blur of pink flew through the air and Sakura managed to wedge herself between the children and Gatō's men.
Drawing a kunai knife out she adopted a protective stance and glared at the men who began to leer at her."Well, this must be the female leaf ninja Zabuza told Gatō about. You'll be a fine prize to take back with us!"
Sakura could only stare in shock, Kakashi-sensei was right, the mist ninja was alive.
Seeing that he had let vital information slip a man with sandy blonde hair advanced forward to dispose of the pink haired girl.
WHAM!
CRASH!
"I told you to stay back and leave these children alone!" Sakura said with conviction as her fist connected with the man's face
"OH YEAH THAT'LL SHOW THEM!" Inner Sakura jumped up and down in her head waving pom poms, dressed as a cheerleader.
"Mozu!" Three of the five men ran over to help up their leader who spat out a handful of blood before glaring at Sakura.
"Right, you'll pay for that slut. Get her!" Sakura readied herself, the first man came at her head on- a punch thrown directly to his solar plexuses left him gasping for air. No sooner had she disposed of him that another two came at her from the left and right hand side.
"TAKE THIS!" One of them yelled as he brought his sword down upon her arm whilst the other aimed a kick at her stomach. Making a quick tactical decision Sakura blocked the kick but allowed herself to be sliced by the sword.
The sword wielder smirked as Sakura hissed in pain and her arm began bleeding profusely. The gash stretched from her shoulder blade to her wrist and incapacitated her left arm.
I'll heal it later Sakura thought as she aimed a hefty kick at the man who had tried to kick her and successfully ruptured his spleen.
"Two down, three to go" she muttered to herself as she supported her bleeding arm.
The ground began to change colour from earthy brown to crimson red and the little girl whimpered. The pink haired girl turned around and smiled "Don't worry, I won't let these men touch you I promise" she said.
Turning back to face her opponents Sakura immediately performed the hand signs for the shadow clone jutsu. She and five of her clones charged forward as Sakura broke the sword welders jaw and snapped the other man's wrist as Tsunade had instructed, leaving the leader remaining.
"Impressive, you are a strong one. But I'm afraid it's too late for you, you've lost too much blood and you're going to get fatigued very quickly. The world will start to spin and you'll faint like a weak child. Then I will kill these two children and you" Mozu said snarling
"He's right; I can't go on like this for much longer. I have to finish this now before I pass out! I won't be weak again!" Sakura's mind was determined but her body was less willing and she fell to her knees, the world began spinning before her.
Through hazy eyes she watched as Mozu got closer and closer. Her body demanded sleep going into a comatose state due to her extensive blood loss. It was over, she couldn't do it anymore. Who was she kidding? A medical ninja? Her?
So she'd put on some new clothes, stopped fawning over Sasuke and learnt a few new tricks from an alcoholic big chested blonde woman. That didn't make her a ninja let alone a qualified medical one, especially in the space of two days. It was like she was playing pretend doctor, a childish and naïve pursuit.
"ALRIGHT SAKURA THAT'S ENOUGH! YOU NEED TO SNAP OUT OF IT RIGHT NOW, I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE DOING THIS TO YOURSELF AGAIN! I'M SICK AND TIRED OF YOU DOUBTING YOURSELF" Inner Sakura said angrily drawing Sakura out of her hazy condition.
"But Inner don't you see I'm losing too much blood, those poor children. He's getting closer…"
"No! It's not over until you stop breathing! Do you want to be forever remembered as the girl who gave up and just let death consume her! GET UP AND FIGHT DAMN IT! DO IT FOR THOSE KIDS AND DO IT FOR YOUR FATHER! WHAT WOULD HE SAY IF HE SAW YOU NOW ABOUT TO GIVE UP ON EVERYTHING?" Inner roared.
Father… No I can do this! I CAN! Sakura thought as she felt anger flood her body.
Here she was giving up while her father was probably fighting for his life, for her mother and for her. She couldn't even fight to defend two children against a bunch of thugs! More and more anger surged and chakra poured into her fists as she clenched them together in frustration.
"I'M NOT WEAK!" Sakura screamed and threw her glowing green fist into the side of Mozu's jaw.
The thug promptly lost a large portion of his teeth and was sent flying into a vendor's cart, demolishing it completely. Getting shakily to her feet Sakura stormed forward with the full intention of destroying the man when sobbing drew her attention.
The little girl clutched her baby brother tightly as she buried her face in the blankets and cried.
"Hey, don't cry little one, it's all over now" Sakura said making eye contact with the girl and smiling.
"W-what's your name" The girl asked her.
"My name is Sakura, Sakura Haruno and yours?"
"Mika and this is my brother Tadao" Mika replied, Sakura smiled and ruffled the little girl's hair.
"MIKA! TADAO!" A woman's voice called out and the sound of hurried footsteps echoed down the empty street.
"Mother we're down here!" Mika called out as her mother came running followed by a group of scared looking town's people.
They quickly became agitated at the sight of Sakura's blood painting the ground. The older brunette woman embraced her children and immediately started inspecting them for any injuries or signs of harm.
Sakura smiled at the fussing and began to heal the gash on her arm with what little chakra she had left over as the citizens watched on in amazement. Upon closing over the last of the opened skin the female ninja turned to Mika and her mother who had been watching in shock at the healing jutsu.
"Mother this is Sakura; she saved me and Tadao from those bad men. Sakura this is my mother" Mika said as Sakura shook hands with the older woman.
"My name is Reiko and I'd like to thank you for saving my children, I am sorry about your arm, you clearly have lost a lot of blood" Sakura offered a weak smile and attempted to brush it off but Reiko wasn't having any of it. "You must come in and rest, you need to eat" she ordered.
Going into mother mode the woman spoke firmly but gently, Sakura knew she couldn't win against a mother on a mission and offered a small nod of thanks.
The crowd of villagers dispersed muttering about ninja's abilities and the girl with the strange coloured hair leaving Reiko, her children and Sakura remaining.
Opening the door to her house Reiko carried a now sleeping Tadao and Mika upstairs with the promise of her speedy return once she got her children settled.
Sakura whirled around at the sound of the front door creaking and was faced with a gruesome scene. A middle aged man coated in blood with branding marks, burn marks, slices and cuts and evidence of every kind of painful torture covered pale skin. Sakura assumed his identity as Reiko's husband and quickly rushed to his aid, guiding him to the sofa.
The medical apprentice tore open her bag and began sorting through all of her supplies; she knew she wouldn't have enough chakra to heal the entire body without assistance from non-chakra related materials.
As she remove his shirt Sakura couldn't help but feel sick to her stomach, three blood red deep lines had been embedded in his chest leaving the impression that he had been bound to something extremely tight.
The man lapsed in and out of consciousness from time to time as Sakura healed him with her chakra, bandaged his wounds and rubbed herbal cream on the weeping sores.
"Atsushi! Is he alive?" Reiko's voice was quiet yet fearful as she laid eyes upon her injured husband.
Sakura nodded in answer to the woman's question as she continued to concentrate on the job before her. Atsushi stirred and murmured his wife's name; the pink haired girl helped him into a sitting position.
"I'm sorry, they cornered me and I gave them the location of our house. I'm sorry sweetheart" Atsushi said as he hung his head in shame.
"It's okay, they're safe now. I'm afraid I must apologise as well, they snuck up behind me and stole my purse. Our money for the week is gone" Reiko said sadly and her husband embraced her as she began to cry tearfully.
Sakura reached into her bag and pulled out the purse she had taken from the unconscious body of Mozu.
"I believe this is yours then, some part of me wondered why he was carrying a purse in the first place" Sakura chuckled slightly and handed the object over to Reiko who gave her a genuine smile, unshed tears glimmering in her eyes. Atsushi however regarded her with more suspicion.
"Who is she Reiko?" Upon recognising the ninja headband Atsushi got shakily to his feet"Ninja are not welcome around here. Ninja have destroyed this place"
Sakura looked hurt and made a move to leave when Reiko chastised her husband
"Atsushi-kun! How dare you! Sakura-chan has just saved your life and she protected our children from Gatō's men! She is most certainly welcome around here" Reiko scolded.
The tips of Atsushi's ears turned a visible red as he scratched his head sheepishly at his wife's scolding in a way that reminded Sakura of Naruto."Sorry about that Sakura-san, I wasn't aware of what you have done for our family and now that I am I would like to thank you for protecting my wife and children"
Sakura smiled and nodded in thanks, it was nice to be appreciated once in a while.
Reiko had gone to the kitchen and returned with three bowls of ramen, Sakura gratefully began eating not realising how hungry she was.
"So Sakura, how long have you been a ninja for?" Reiko asked
"Five days now I believe. Or perhaps it's six I can't remember" Sakura replied in between mouthfuls of ramen.
"Six days! And your village gives you such a dangerous mission?" Atsushi asked in horror as he almost choked on his noodles.
"Well to be fair to my village we were duped into thinking that this was a C ranked mission but it is now classified as an A ranked mission" Sakura said.
"You're not here alone surely? You have a team with you?" Reiko pressed further.
"As if, we have one perverted sensei that's a sexist pig, one stuck up Uchiha who thinks the whole world revolves around him and one complete airhead loudmouth blonde. They all regard us as nothing and we're better off without a team" Inner Sakura commented and Sakura herself was half tempted to say that comment out loud.
"Yes I have a team, my sensei is Kakashi Hatake and my teammates are Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha" Sakura replied as she finished her ramen.
"Thank you so much for your hospitality but I have to get back to Tsunami-san, I dropped her groceries on the way over here so I hope the store isn't shut" Sakura stood up and walked over to the kitchen to clean her bowl.
"Wait, Sakura what groceries do you need?" Reiko asked as she gathered the dishes and left her husband who was now sleeping soundly.
"Two lemons and a strawberry I believe, Tsunami-san needed them for desert" Sakura replied. "But I wouldn't even think about asking you for food, I know how little everyone has in this country and I'm sure she wouldn't mind if I came home empty handed" the female ninja continued.
Reiko shook her head and smiled "You're quite the noble one Sakura but don't you worry, follow me and I'll show you my little secret"
Opening the back door Reiko led the teenaged ninja to her well stocked vegetable/fruit garden. Picking up two lemons and a punnet full of a freshly picked strawberries Reiko handed them to Sakura with a smile.
"Don't even think about protesting, it's the least I can do. Now your teammates won't go hungry!" Reiko exclaimed happily. Sakura offered up a weak smile and tried to ignore Inner Sakura's pleading that they die of starvation.
"Are you alright? Every time I mention your team you get this look on your face like you want to kill something?" Reiko asked suspiciously and Sakura turned red with embarrassment
"Uh no I'm fine, I really should be getting back now. I'll maybe see you around?" With that the pink haired girl sped as quickly as she could without chakra leaving Reiko to wonder exactly what her team had done to warrant such a look.
"Hehe, this is fantastic! It's been ages since we've had so many guests around our table" Tazuna said happily as Team 7 gathered around the dinner table to eat.
Sakura was beyond disgusted; Naruto and Sasuke had come back from the training exercise, unsuccessful and even more competitive. Tonight's competition appeared to be who could eat the most in one sitting.
Naruto shoveled rice into his mouth with one hand and ate a lump of bread with the other; he was eating so fast Sakura had to wonder how his body found time to breathe in between mouthfuls. Sasuke was a little more elegant but nevertheless he downed his rice in record time and began tearing apart his bread as though he hadn't eaten for days.
"I WANT SOME MORE!" Both male ninja declared and stood up with empty bowls, seeing that they had tied again the boys began to glare viciously at each other before bending over and throwing up violently.
"What's the point in eating so much if you're going to throw it up?" Sakura asked in annoyance as she tried not to lose her appetite.
"I have to eat" Sasuke replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"And I have to eat more than him; it's the only possible way I'll get stronger" Naruto added and both boys smirked at each other.
"That's true, but puking won't help you" Kakashi said bestowing his worldly wisdom upon his two male students.
The topic of dinner conversation was Sasuke and Naruto's training session and how much they were improving. Naruto was loud and boastful as always, Sasuke quiet but obviously proud; Inari said nothing and preferred to stare at his dinner. Tazuna made fun of the ninja and their 'stupid' training and was promptly scolded by his daughter.
Nothing was mentioned of Sakura's achievements during the training session and the pink haired teen bit back the urge to tell everyone at the table of what she had done today, the praise of Reiko and her husband was received gratefully but Sakura wanted her team's praise.
She wanted Kakashi to congratulate her sincerely, she wanted Sasuke to remove the stick that was lodge up his backside and treat her as an equal and she wanted Naruto to realise what was going on for a change and be proud of her.
"Hey kid, kid… KID! WHY DO YOU KEEP STARING AT THAT PICTURE?" Naruto's loud voice drew Sakura out of her thoughts as he addressed Inari.
"My name is Inari not kid and the picture is none of your business" Inari replied annoyed and Naruto growled loudly.
Sakura looked up and saw the picture depicted a beaming Tsunami, Tazuna and Inari but in place of a fourth person there was a massive rip.
"It appears there was a fourth person but they've been torn out. Is there some reason for this?" Sakura observed quietly and immediately the three civilians stiffened.
After a few minutes of silence Tsunami spoke "It's my husband"
Sakura sensed this was a sensitive topic for her and decided not to press it any further.
"They used to call him a hero in this land" Tazuna replied and sipped his tea, immediately Inari got up from the table and left the room.
"Inari where are you going? Father you can't talk about him in front of Inari! You know that!" Tsunami said before rushing out of the kitchen to follow her son.
"Is there a story behind the way Inari acts?" Kakashi asked and all heads turned to Tazuna who began to speak
"He wasn't his real father; he came into our family later. But he brought so much happiness; he and Inari were very close. In those days Inari used to laugh all the time, but then all that ended. He never laughs or smiles anymore. Ever since the day everything changed!" Tazuna said as hot tears of anger and sadness fell from his eyes and plopped one by one onto the table.
Team 7 was shocked, this was the first time they'd seen the man they were assigned to protect actually caring about somebody else but himself. The ninja waited in silence for their client to continue.
"The word courage was stolen from this island, we were left powerless, hopeless and Inari suffered the most. Ever since that day ever since it happened" Tazuna said and busied himself with refilling his cup, determined not to look at any of his protectors.
"What happened to Inari?" Kakashi asked curiously.
"First you need to know about the man, his father, the man who taught us the word courage, who was a hero in this land." Tazuna said taking off his glasses and wiping his eyes.
"A hero really?" Naruto asked amazed
"You can decide that for yourselves, he came here about three years ago. Inari had been constantly picked on by the older boys in the town, one day they surrounded him and threw him into the ocean. Inari couldn't swim and he began sinking to the bottom when someone saved him. His name was Kaiza a simple fisherman come here from another land to follow his dreams" Tazuna recalled and all of Team 7 listened attentively, even Sasuke.
"After that Inari and Kazia were inseparable, the boy had never known his real father so you can imagine what it meant to Inari to have him in his life. He looked up to him and followed in his footsteps like a real son. Kazia spent more and more time with us until he naturally became a member of our family. But then, when this town needed him he became something more. He taught us all the meaning of courage and Inari was so proud to be his son. But something happened..." Tazuna trailed off.
"He took on Gatō didn't he?" Sakura asked quietly as she felt a twinge of sadness for her own father. Meeting Sasuke's eyes she quickly looked away but for a second thought she saw a flash of regret.
"Yes, Gatō arrived and terrorized the whole village; Kazia was the only one who was brave enough to stand up to him. Gatō couldn't have a local hero getting in his way- it took his whole band of men to bring down one man. But Kazia suffered the worst fate- public execution as an example for the rest of us. Even worse was Inari had to witness it- he was there to see the killing of his father. Since then Inari has changed, so did Tsunami and all our people" Tazuna finished quietly.
The story came to a sad conclusion and Kakashi surveyed his team to see how they were taking it.
Sasuke had his eyes trained on the table, not looking at anyone and not speaking to anyone which was not entirely different from normal except his face held inexplicable sadness.
This was the first time since meeting the Uchiha prodigy that Kakashi had ever seen him sad and he could only guess the cause must have been the story triggering painful memories about the Uchiha massacre. As if Sasuke could read minds the sadness was replaced with a blank look, void of emotion.
In Naruto's case Kakashi could only read determination, a determination to prove Inari wrong and to show him that there are heroes out there in the world, but also a similarity was shared between both, Naruto never knew his birth father and neither did Inari. Naruto grew up fatherless as Inari would but at least Inari had a family whereas Naruto had none.
Finally Kakashi came to look at the female member of Team 7. Since she was said to be quite emotional during the academy Kakashi expected her to be crying or staring at Sasuke or both but his eyes widened when he realised she was long gone.