Life quickly fell into a routine for Sakura, one that kept her on her toes and left her wanting to improve herself with each passing day. After the first two weeks, she had practically been begging Orochimaru to let her start her physical training after hours of meditating and reading. Don't get her wrong, she would always be a bookworm, but every time she saw her siblings sparring, she couldn't help the pent-up energy clawing underneath her skin, begging her to jump into the fray.
Finally, after learning two more fighting styles and their katas, she was allowed to start her physical training.
She quickly regretted egging her new sensei on.
As soon as she was done meditating in the morning, she was expected to run laps around the village, with Yua reporting back on how many laps she accomplished. After a quick cool down, she would be allowed to spar with a few of her old classmates.
Team Asuma came three times a week, with Asuma being constantly teased by Orochimaru. She never would have expected to see Ino's cool and collected sensei stuttering and blushing so harshly around the Sannin. Anko had told her that Asuma had always had a crush on his father's student, even going as far as asking him out when he had been a teenager.
Safe to say, Sakura shared that information with the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, and they had paid her back nicely. Orochimaru had found all this insanely amusing, only adding to Asuma's overall embarrassment.
However, even with the extra entertainment, every time Team Asuma came around, Sakura found herself landing on her ass time after time. She knew she had been horrible in a physical fight, but being beaten in simple taijutsu by Shikamaru was especially humiliating. He didn't even bother moving all that much in their fights, too!
Each fight ultimately found her on the losing end, but once training was finished, both sensei would let them cool down as they discussed how all four of them could improve. Sakura had to wonder if she would ever become better at taijutsu, but Asuma-sensei assured her that she would get better with practice, and with her background, it wasn't surprising she was behind her classmates. While she had been studying how to be a merchant as a small child, her former classmates had been learning katas.
Once the team left and if Tenzo was available, they would practice mokuton together. If he was busy, Orochimaru would watch over her and they would brainstorm ways for her to use her new jutsu in battle. So far, she had gotten better control over rose vines, but her next experiment was on how to make the individual thorns to grow larger and pierce an opponent. Anko was thoroughly invested in the idea and tried to give ideas on how to manipulate the plants.
Towards the evenings, she would be allowed to rest in the form of reading. The interesting thing about Orochimaru was he didn't dictate her research. He dropped hints as to what she should look into, but he merely nodded and encouraged her growing obsession to learn as much as she could, no matter the topic. But, that being said, she was strictly forbidden from practicing things on her own without supervision. She thought it was a little silly to be honest. It was common sense not to perform an A Rank jutsu with her still small chakra reserves, but what was the harm in practicing smaller, D Rank jutsu?
With Deidara and Yahiko keeping Orochimaru's attention one evening, she had snuck out to a training ground, wanting to experiment with a D Rank suiton. She knew the hand signs, she knew exactly how much chakra she would need, and knew that it wasn't dangerous on the caster if something did happen.
But, as soon as she started to form the hand signs, a much larger hand had cupped hers and she was staring into Kakashi's very unimpressed face.
"What are you doing?"
"Training?"
"Without your sensei."
She had gotten a very stern scolding and frog-marched back to the Orochi compound with a pout firmly on her face. Orochimaru had rolled his eyes and she swore he muttered something about "this generation's geniuses and assumptions", but didn't know quite what he meant. That was when Asahi had been added as her second babysitter since she had conveniently left Yua in a bowl of freshly cut fruit.
Kabuto had been the one to explain that while she was competent, things could easily go wrong and she needed someone there, just in case. Still thinking it was ridiculous, Sakura began to plan on how to sneak out without either of her snake babysitters, which was a lot easier than Orochimaru probably wanted. The only issue was evading Kakashi. He was everywhere!
She had gotten better with tree walking and using her chakra to run across other surfaces with the help of her siblings, so she used the skill to try and outrun Kakashi. It didn't quite work. No matter where she hid, he would find her. Even bribing his ninken with a nice steak hadn't helped keeping him off her trail. However, when she had read up on masking one's chakra signature, she swore he nearly had a heart attack before finding her.
Gai-sensei had been the one to clue her in on Kakashi's shard characteristics with his ninken.
He had not been happy when she had poured a whole bottle of perfume on herself the next time he visited the Orochi compound. Anko hadn't stopped snickering the whole time Kakashi kept sniffling.
Time went on, and before she knew it, a month had passed. Sometimes she would spar with the other teams of the Rookie Twelve, sometimes she would do far more excruciating physical training, and she had begun her training in medical jutsu. Through all of this, there was one book she kept re-reading, making plans on finally accomplishing one of her goals.
The World of Summons.
Even though the book had been new, it now looked worn down from how many times she had cracked it open, made notes inside of it, and had taken it everywhere with her. She had memorized the book cover to cover, but that didn't stop her from glancing at it at least ten times a day. The more she read about summons, and saw everyone around her interacting with summons, the more she craved to find her own.
Thus, she would need to truly find a way to sneak out of the compound, avoid Kakashi, and finally perform the reverse summoning technique.
That was until her parents returned to Konoha.
"Haruno Sakura?"
Looking up from her spot in the garden, she carefully untangled her hands from the vines she had been growing to look over the stranger. He was clearly a civilian messenger by his shoes and outfit—and the extremely nervous expression on his face—who could only be a few years older than her.
"Yes?" She asked, approaching him. He bowed stiffly before delivering his message.
"Your esteemed parents, Haruno Mebuki and Kizashi, request you to come home at your convenience."
"Thank you," she spoke evenly. "You are dismissed."
Those must have the sweetest words he had ever heard by how fast he ran out of there. But, even with that amusing sight, Sakura frowned. In all the excitement of her apprenticeship, she had honestly forgotten that her parents would come back eventually. Feeling guilty for not even thinking of her biological family, Sakura stepped inside.
"Oro?" She called.
"What is it, hatchling?" His voice drifted out of his office. Popping her head inside, she found him surrounded by scrolls, half of which she swore didn't make a lick of sense to her. He pulled his eyes away from them to give her his attention.
"My parents came home and want to see me."
"And how do you feel about that?"
His voice was without emotion, and she herself didn't know what to think about this. Normally, she would come home and find that they had arrived when she was out, but it was different this time. After receiving her apprenticeship, she hadn't returned home other than to grab a few things. She had spent so much of her time in the Orochi compound, it felt more like home than the silent house she had returned to every day.
This time however, her parents had sent a messenger.
This was serious.
"I'm not sure," she spoke slowly, but kept her body relaxed. Logically, there was no reason to be nervous, but there were so many things this could be about. Mind racing, she tried to hide her trepidation from her sensei. "I'm going to head over. I'll send Asahi back to let you know if I decided to stay the night."
"Do you wish for one your siblings to accompany you?"
"No." Smiling, Sakura could feel a warmth blooming in her chest as she thought of her new 'siblings'. She wondered if her father would jokingly say he didn't remember sleeping around that much—he did have that kind of humor, after all. "I trust my parents. We might not have seen eye to eye on my career, but I love them."
"Love makes us stupid."
"Does that explain Raiya-ji?"
Sakura smiled proudly at the ugly snort Orochimaru couldn't keep in at the sudden comment. "Especially him."
"I'll be going."
"Stay safe, hatchling."
The walk back to her home was familiar but somehow not at the same time. During her training, she had only really been able to keep up her contacts in the market square through the trips with Kimimaro, but she hadn't taken a step in her neighborhood in over a month. Of course, her neighbors waved and smiled if they saw her, but to her, she couldn't have felt more foreign. Was this what ninja felt when dealing with normal citizens?
Her family home was the same as ever, but as she walked through the main gate, she let her chakra flow out of her and encourage the bushes to grow just a bit more fuller. Nodding in satisfaction, she squared her shoulders and entered the house.
"Tadaima," she called out, kicking her shoes off.
"Okaeri!" Two voices called back, bringing a smile to her face. Following the voices, she found her parents working in tandem in the kitchen. Growing up, she had always wished to find a partner that would make her as happy as her parents were with each other. Her mother was a very strong-willed woman, while her father evened her out with his slightly off humor. There were countless times when her father would cover her ears before telling some of these jokes.
"Tou-san, Kaa-san."
"There's my little cherry!" Her father didn't hesitate to sweep her up in a hug, her mother joining them after a moment.
Feeling her parents arms around her, it felt as if she was a little girl again. The world was shut out and nothing could ever hurt her when she was in their arms. They would protect her from anything, she would never be wanting, and they would give her the world if she so desire. It felt so natural to fall back into the normal routine of welcoming her parents home and know they still loved her, chasing away the darker thoughts that would creep in with their absence.
"Welcome home," she whispered.
"It's good to be home," her mother hugged her a little bit tighter. After several long moments, they finally released her. As they did so, Sakura's smile dimmed at the saddened expressions on their faces.
"What's wrong?"
"We need to talk, blossom," her father told her gently.
Anxiety began to nip at her as she followed them into the small office located in the middle of the house. The room had only one door leading inside, no windows, and held the family's most important possessions. A small table with cushions was surrounded on all sides by large chests that were heavily sealed.
While they were a fully civilian family, Sakura had grown up with seals. Whether they were silencing seals to keep meetings private, or seals on important packages, she had known they were specially made by a small branch of their family. She didn't know why exactly her parents only engaged with this one thing from shinobi life, but she knew not to question her parents. They would always share pinched looks between them before giving her a poor lie that couldn't convince even the five-year-old she had been.
Sitting across from her parents, Sakura's eyes narrowed at the large scroll her mother brought out of one of the trunks. Her father had already activated the silencing seals around the room, along with a few she couldn't recognize. She'd have to ask Kushina-ba-san about those.
"Sakura," her mother began, setting the scroll down. "There's a few things we need to tell you about our clan. With your apprenticeship, we agreed that it would be safer if you knew just who we are related to."
"What do you mean? Aren't we civilians?"
"A clan as big as ours can't exist with just only civilians," her father explained. Blinking, Sakura had never thought of it that way. It was obvious that a shinobi clan needed their civilian members to keep things running in the background, but the reverse had never occurred to her. Did that mean she wasn't the only Haruno shinobi?
Watching with wide eyes, Sakura saw a similar family tree to the one in their living room begin to be unfurled, but this one was much more detailed. While the tapestry was colorful and vague, this one was all cramped characters and information. Her mother ignored much of the scroll, going further and further back until they finally reached Haruno Reiko.
Reiko was far from the founder of their clan, as Haruno Kenji had been the one to do that another hundred years before Reiko. However, she had been the one to really expand the clan to what it was today. Sakura only really knew about her great-grandmother's achievements, never really knowing anything about her personally.
"As you know, Reiko-sama is our clan head," her mother began. "My grandmother, and your great-grandmother. But, did you know that she wasn't originally supposed to be the one to inherit the role of clan head?"
"She wasn't? I thought she was an only child," Sakura frowned. She had studied their family tree since she could read. It had been a sort of puzzle to follow each and every member in the ever-expanding tapestry. There were so many side branches, she had to wonder if she'd ever meet everyone in the Haruno clan.
"Reiko-sama had been the youngest of three children. When she had been born, her parents had settled in the Land of Waterfalls to raise them. The conflict between the Uchiha and Senju clan had caused tension in the Fire Country, so they had moved away from it."
"This was almost a hundred years ago, right? Before Konoha had been formed?"
"Yes," her mother nodded, face grim. "As your great-grandmother and great-uncles grew, she was the only one to show any want to continue the family business. Her brothers had decided to become shinobi."
Sakura's eyes grew larger as she listened with bated breath.
"Her brothers were fearsome shinobi, but her second brother had met his death in battle, and her first brother…" her mother trailed off, glancing over to her father. He was sympathetic as he continued for her.
"He was sent on an impossible mission."
"Did he die?"
"No." His lips pursed. "We don't know all the details, but he was declared a missing-nin."
Eyes impossibly big, Sakura swore she felt her heart skip a beat.
She knew she shouldn't be surprised. Her family had never been ones to shy away from hiring missing-nin. Normally, because of tension between nations and villages, the merchant clan didn't want to insinuate any kind of preference between nations. So, they hired outside sources for protection. Sometimes that meant mercenaries, lone samurai, and even missing-nin. They were extremely discrete when hiring the rogue ninja, but it had been an obvious family secret the many times she had accompanied her parents out of the village to travel. She could remember a truly impressive shark-looking missing-nin escorting them when she had been seven. He had been her reason for wanting to learn kenjutsu.
However, knowing that she was related to a missing-nin felt different. There was no plausible deniability. Unless…
"Was he disowned by Reiko-sama?" She asked hesitantly, not able to discern the expression on her mother's face.
"No," she answered shortly. "He is still alive, even if he doesn't associate with our family."
"Publicly associate with us?"
"Yes." Her father sent her a small, proud look at her for figuring that out.
"Why are you telling me this?" Sakura asked suddenly. While this was important to know, how was this going to affect her? "Are you worried that Konoha will label me as a traitor because my great-uncle was one in his village?"
"We wanted to prepare you, Sakura," her mother sighed. "He is not the only shinobi in our clan. He is incredibly powerful and has many enemies, but, there are others in our clan who you must be made aware of for your own safety, and for theirs."
"For them?"
"We have family all over the Great Nations," her father explained. "You have blood from every single place imaginable, so you need to decide where your own alliances lay. We're not telling you all this to change your mind, but to inform you of future problems that might come up with you being a Haruno."
Glancing down at the scroll in front of her, Sakura gently traced the characters of Reiko and her brothers. Nodding to herself, she pulled the scroll closer before unrolling it further. She followed the many branches of the family, eyes tracking the many names that weren't Haruno, but decided to change for safety or other reasons.
"There's so many from Uzushiogakure…" she muttered to herself, but she froze. Eyes frantically moving over the room, she finally figured out where the seals came from. Moving away from those names, she scanned the ones from other villages, frowning at so many clan names she didn't recognize. "Do these clans exist anymore?"
"Technically, no." Her mother answered. "However, the Haruno clan have always known a good deal from a mile away."
"No kidding," her father smiled, nudging her mother, who rolled her eyes fondly.
"Not all of these clans are merchant or civilian clans, are they?" It wasn't a question, but Sakura needed to know.
"Hard to tell after such a long time." Her mother shook her head. "But, they're family now, and that's all that matters."
Humming in agreement, Sakura poured over the scroll as her parents watched over her. She occasionally asked questions, but focused on memorizing their family history all the way back to Haruno Kenji. The myth in their family was that he had come out of nowhere one day before deciding to start his own clan. He had been extremely nomadic, trading and selling little bits and bobs until he had found his wife. From there, their family had grown.
Finally placing the scroll down, Sakura met her parents' eyes.
"Thank you for showing me this."
"Of course, blossom," her father beamed at her. "We thought you'd want to be prepared before Reiko-sama showed up tomorrow."
"WHAT?!"