Before Sakura knew it, her two week occupation was up. She tried not to show disappointment on her face as she finished her day's work. Asamu had assigned her to make sure his travelling arrangements were in order as he was leaving tomorrow. She checked his VISA, noting that it was expiring tomorrow, just in time for his departure. His identity card recognized him as a native citizen of the Land of Snow. His passport would be expiring in two years and she made sure to notify him before he left for the day. His fingerprints for both his left and right hand had been taken five days ago. She filed it in the yellow folder containing his vital documents. There was another document which showed his medical history. He seemed to be rather fit for a forty-five year old, despite having breathing difficulties.
She also filed that away and then placed the folder in his briefcase. She checked the silver watch she had bought recently, it was rather plain looking and it suited her as an assistant. She also couldn't afford to buy anything flashy at the moment. It would be at least four hours until she checked out of the office for the final time.
The thirteen-year old girl raised her head from reading a newspaper just as her boss cleared his throat. "Asama-san, did you need anything?" she asked as she focused her attention to him, getting ready to do whatever he wanted her to do. "Ahh, it seems that your tenure as my assistant is up and I had hoped to talk to your parents before leaving tomorrow," he told as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Alarm bells immediately began to ring in her head. Why would he want to talk to her parents? "My parents won't be finished until late. I don't think you can talk to them today. Maybe another time," she tried to maneuver the conversation away from her parents. "I had already talked to Kizashi-san before and he said we could come as soon as we finish work. They'll be waiting," he replied.
"It's only two o'clock. We won't be finished until at least six o'clock," she argued weakly.
Asama looked at her for a long time before understanding dawned on his expression. "Ahh, I understand now. You're worried that I'm going to say something bad to your parents, aren't you?" he asked her as he gave her one of his kind smiles. On normal days, she would have smiled in return but at the moment, she loathed it and wanted to punch it off his smug face. Inner Sakura cheered at the back of her mind. "I'm not worried," she retorted with a glare, though she doubted her expression was anything but scary. The civilian probably looked like a wet kitten at the moment.
"When your father came to me, he told that you struggle with confidence-" She was sure that she was glaring daggers at him now. "-and that you have trouble fitting in with others. What other children at your age find entertaining is not so for you. Despite being very young, you have shown impeccable mental strength. You have a photographic memory and an IQ which might rival even that of an ordinary Nara. He hoped that under my guidance, you might be able to grow out of your shell and start embracing that part of yourself," he told her. Sakura refrained from rolling her eyes and calling him out for being too invested in her life. She was too polite to do so, and he had paid her quite generously because of said weirdness so she clamped her mouth shut. Inner, on the hand, was screeching wildly and punching an imaginary Asama. She was going to have a talk with her father for bragging to anyone he knew how much of a nerd she was.
"You have proven to be a very excellent assistant and I would've been honored to have you as my permanent assistant if it weren't for the fact that I'm not a native citizen of Konoha hence I can only stay here for a limited amount of time. You have shown to be able to manage my paperwork in a matter of a few days, something which took me time to adjust when I was younger. Even when you knew that I worked with a celebrity, not once did express you any interest to meet her or even gossip that you work under me. Despite your physical limitations, you make up for it in brains. I wanted to teach you more but because of time, I won't be able to do so and I can only teach you so little," he explained.
Sakura deflated a little, feeling very guilty for her sudden anger at the man. He truly meant well, she was overreacting. "Which is why I wanted to talk to your parents, perhaps I can do one final thing to help you grow before my departure. After all, you did say you wanted to become a business tycoon," he added as he patted her head like her father would. She inhlaed then exhaled loudly. "Thank you. I overreacted. Usually, when my teachers want to talk to my parents, it's because they want to complain that I don't participate in class even though I have good grades or I can't play with my other classmates. I thought you were going for say the same thing. I'm sorry, Asama-san," she said as she bowed at her waist. The older man smiled in return. "Now, why don't we go see your parents while it's still early so that I have time to prepare for my departure tomorrow?" Sakura nodded in return.
The civilian district was located on the outskirts of Konoha. The only ninja clan near to them was the Uchiha district which was out of commission for obvious reasons. The Haruno family's two bedroom apartment consisted of a living room, a small dining area, a modern fitted kitchen and a bathroom which also served as a restroom. It was enough to cater for the family of three as her parents hadn't show any desire to have more children hence no need to move to a bigger apartment.
Despite being a middle-class family, the apartment was well-furnished with modern things. They had a flat screen television, a double door fridge and fine sets of kitechenware that her mother had managed to hustle from a dealer in the Land of Tea back when she was still pregnant with Sakura. An ornamental grey rug underneath a black coffee table were the only dark things in their apartment. The rest were different shades of cream and nude. Occasionally, did one see a pink or red notepad on any surface.
Sakura and Asama had arrived a few minutes after five. True to his word, Kizashi and his wife had been waiting for them. Asama and her father had greeted each other warmly and Sakura was nearly bursting with curiosity to ask how her father knew the man to be so familiar with him. She decided to voice her questions as they sat in the living room whilst they waited for Mebuki to finish preparing supper.
"Otou-san, how did you meet Asama-san?" she asked. "You two seem to be very close to each other. When you first spoke about Asama-san, I thought you were talking about someone you had befriended on a whim but it doesn't appear to be the case," she added. "I see that someone has been dying with curiosity. Well, my little blossom, let me resurrect you before your nine lives run out," Kizashi joked, causing Asama to laugh along with him. Sakura cringed inwardly. His jokes were terrible and it seemed that her former boss also shared his twisted sense of humor. "Well, Asama-san and I go way back before you were even born. Even before I met your mother," her father spoke. "Is that so?" she hummed noncommittally. Just get to the point already! "Ahhh, yes. I remember when I saw Kizashi-san for the first time when he visited the Land of Snow twenty years ago," the dark haired man piped.
"Wasn't it during the Third Great Ninja War?" she asked as she did mental calculations in her head. "I see you're still as sharp as ever. Indeed, it was during the war. However, the Land of Snow was uninvolved in the war hence we could travel there without much interruptions. Though, it was more of a blessing that Kami allowed us to travel uneventfully as civilians made up over eighty percent of the death count during the war," Kizashi spoke, his face pinched as if he remembered something very painful. "Indeed, it is unfortunate that civilians are the most affected during war," Asama agreed. "Why? Don't the shinobi do most of the fighting?" Sakura asked in confusion.
"Well, you see Sakura-chan, civilians are the back bone of any army. After all, they are the very same people whom the shinobi fight against each other to protect," Asama replied. "I don't understand," she admitted. "Allow me to enlighten you. Civilians, including those from clans, make up almost seventy percent of the total population in almost every hidden village. Take Konoha for example. It has a total population of two million citizens, of which a million and four hundred thousand consist of civilians and the remaining six hundred thousand are shinobi. Of all the shinobi in Konoha, only four hundred thousand are active and the rest are retired. Of the four hundred thousand, three hundred thousand are all below thirty years. On the civilian side, the million citizens are over the age of twenty, three hundred thousand are over sixty. Meaning, there are around seven hundred thousand able bodied men and women, with four hundred thousand being made up of children and teenagers," Asama explained. "How do you know all this? And how is the relevant to our conversation?" Sakura asked, she couldn't keep the impatience out of her voice. "Patience, young one, is a skill you must cultivate from a very young age. It will come in handy especially if you want to venture into the business world. Also, I got all this information from reading a statistics textbook published five years ago by a well renowned researcher. His figures are almost accurate," Asama chided her sagely. Sakura huffed in annoyance but remained quiet nonetheless.
"Civilians make up most of our workforce. Because of a ninja's low life expectancy, it's up to civilians to keep the population high to battle the death count of shinobi who die almost on a daily basis. There are few married active ninja who can live long enough to start a family. The ones who managed to do so are the many clan and shinobi children who are the same age as you. Immediately after the war, there was what we called the Baby Boom to counter the declining population, in which everyone was encouraged to have as many children as possible. The village would give a monthly allowance to struggling families. It lasted for close to seven years instead of five because of the Kyubi attack, though our losses were far less than during the war. Which is why many children at the Ninja and Civilian Academy are around the same age as compared to those born in the last five years," Kizashi narrated. He looked at her carefully.
"Now, that is only one aspect of the importance of a civilian. Do you understand why they would be targeted during a war?" her father asked. "So that the population dies along with them. Ninjas won't have time to start families as they'll be busy fighting," Sakura replied with a slightly horrified expression. A slight shiver racked her form as she envisioned countless shinobi bearing down on unsuspecting civilians who barely knew anything to defend themselves all because they knew how to put their reproductive organs to good use.
"Now, the more economical importance of civilians, why they were attacked during the war was that they basically ran the economy, still do now. I doubt any ninja worth their salt knows the process behind making a kunai until they're slashing at each other. You see, civilians make up most of our economic workforce. That is, they're responsible for creating weapons, armory, clothes, growing food, medicine, basically anything that is needed by a human to survive. They make everything. A few shinobi who know how to add chakra to meet the needs of shinobi who use things like explosive tags, fuinjutsu scrolls, chakra rods, soldier pills, chakra restrictors make up barely ten percent. The rest is up to civilians. Shinobi are responsible for protecting the civilians."
"Unfortunately, during the Third Great Ninja War, most of our shinobi were sent to the front lines, even genins who just graduated. And thus, our economists were left unprotected," Asama told her.
Mebuki had arrived and perched herself beside Kizashi who was sitting opposite Sakura and Asama.
"There was a great need for more weapons and medicine during the war and the supply could not meet the demands, it was too much," the older man spoke. "There was one particular village which saw the importance of civilians and thus targeted them, that is Kumogakure. All their attacks were focused on civilians. They only needed to send two or three experienced shinobi who could just set off explosive tags amidst a carriage carrying civilians. And thus, they spent the next three years targeting civilians explicitly. They even went as far as to attack civilians in the hidden villages. As expected, all the other villages retaliated in the same manner and as such, it was a battle to protect and destroy civilians, not to mention the front line battles which had been going on for almost ten years," Kizashi spoke.
"That much is true. Your grandfather and grandmother, who were my parents, they were direct casualties of the war. They were attacked when they were returning from a trip just at the edge of the Land of Fire. Along with many other civilians, they perished from a single explosion," Mebuki added as her gaze became distant.
"I want you to understand, young Sakura-chan, the reality of this world. Especially to civilians. We cannot protect ourselves, we are merely at the bottom of the food chain. However, we are the backbone of any country, whether militant or civil. Like the grass which can be easily trodden upon, we provide food for different creatures, beautify the environment, make the soil fertile when we die, regrow without being planted and so on. As the Shodai Hokage spoke, like a tree, we are all connected by the roots, even though you're a branch or leaf," Asama said as he let out a long breath. He paused before continuing. "Your father also told me that you avoid shinobi like a plague," he added.
Sakura's face reddened immediately. "It's not that I hate them. I just don't want to engage with them," she blurted out defensively. Mebuki and Kizashi shared knowing smiles as the pinkette tried to defend herself. "I am curious as to why you're so opposed to the idea of a shinobi on a personal level. However, that is a story for another day. Nevertheless, what I wanted to talk to you about also includes said shinobi," Asama stated as he pushed his glasses up the brigde of his nose.
Sakura snapped to attention at that, their earlier discussion stored at the back of her mind for further review. Both her parents also stared at Asama expectantly.
"As you know, I'm the manager for a well-known actress called Yukie Fujikaze, otherwise known for her iconic role as Princess Fun. We'll be travelling to the Land of Snow tomorrow to finish shooting for our latest movie. It appears that Sakura-chan has learned only the basics of cinematography. I wanted to further her experience by having her on set and seeing a film in production rather than rely on the meager notes I gave her. I'm not well-versed in cinematography myself so I thought it better to give her a practical experience of how to make a movie," Asama said. "Also, despite knowing that I work with a very famous figure, not once did she show any interest in knowing more about my client. I don't know whether that was discipline or lack of interest but I want to believe that it is the former. Which is why I'm asking to take Sakura-chan to the Land of Snow to study the practical part of cinematography by having firsthand experience until we finish filming in about a week and a half's time," he finished.
"How will she get back if she were to go?" Mebuki asked. Her face was rather blank, and Sakura couldn't see if she was happy or angry. "I have hired a group of shinobi who will accompany us and stay with us providing protection until we're done. She can come back with them. I checked their profiles, they're a group of three genins who are the same age as Sakura-chan under a well-known jounin. I think it'll be alright," the bespectacled man replied.
Sakura's heart was beating loudly in her ears. She had never left the village. She had imagined going to visit her long-distant cousins in the Land of Wind but her parents had never shown any desire to leave the village. She would be travelling with a group of unknown shinobi for close to two weeks. The only familiar person would be Asama-san. But it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. True to his word, Asama had given her little information pertaining to cinematography. She was mostly doing secretarial work. She couldn't pass up such an opportunity. She was going to get over her phobia of shinobi and make the most out of his trip.
"What about travelling expenses?" she asked meekly. Asama smiled kindly in return. "I have already catered to that. You don't have a passport but I did manage to get a VISA for you to visit the Land of Snow as a tourist. I'll be your guardian. That is, as long as your parents approve and sign these affidavits giving me power as your guardian. Fortunately for you, the Land of Snow is mostly snow and has small villages scattered around. We have been separated from the shinobi world for a while so our security regulations aren't so tight," he replied.
Sakura looked to her parents. Her father was smiling, no doubt her wanted her to go. But her mother, on the other hand... Despite their somewhat rocky relationship, Mebuki did not want to let Sakura out of her sight. She was overbearing, but in a good kind of way, a way that most doting mothers with a single daughter would be. "Okaa-san, can I go?" she asked. The civilian waited with baited breath as gears began spinning in her mother's head. It almost seemed like an eternity before her mother replied.
"Well, as a mother, I wouldn't want to let Sakura out of my sight for more than a day. But I guess I can't keep her here forever. She has to grow up and not remain sheltered," she spoke a sigh. "I trust Asama-san. I hope he doesn't break my trust if my girl returns home with a missing limb," she said with a pointed glare at the man in question. "Point taken," Asama replied with a strained smile.
Her mother had packed her suitcase as soon as Asama had left. She left Sakura to her own devices, stating that she should say goodbye to her friends before she left. Which was only Ayame but she wasn't entitled to tell ramen-serving girl every bit about her life. Still, she appreciated the gesture as it gave her an opportunity to visit the Uchiha district before she left.
The sun had long since set and darkness had covered the whole of Konoha. The moon was half full and provided enough light for her to walk the streets without her irrational fear of being kidnapped by Boogeyman. She placed her white sunhat atop of her head, her hair tied at the back of her neck.
A meow caught her attention.
She turned to her cat, Yowai, who was sprawled on her bed, looking at her expectantly. Ever since she had started her job, she rarely got time to pet her. She only left food in her bowl. Surprisingly, Yowai knew how to go to the bathroom and use the toilet instead of defecating all over their apartment so that was less work for her.
The creature wasn't actually a Cheshire cat as she liked to call her. She was actually a ragdoll cat, a bit small than expected of her kind, with silver-grey fur which seemed almost white and piercing electric green eyes.
Sakura met her when she was ten years old on a weekend, when she was on her way to the Uchiha graveyard. The cat was standing atop of a dumpster, tearing savagely at a dead rat in front of it. When the cat raised its head to look at her, it was smiled, showing its white sharp teeth which were dripping with blood. Its lips stretched widely, almost impossibly, as its eyes alighted upon landing on Sakura. Immediately, Sakura envisioned the Cheshire cat she had read in a book called Alice in Wonderland. She didn't believe that such a cat had existed until now. The Haruno girl didn't remember what happened but she found herself walking back home with the bloody cat and named her Yowai. Her mother didn't ask how she had gotten a pet, only asked if she wanted to buy a cage for it. Yowai didn't want a cage and the subject was never brought up again.
"I'll be back, okay? I'll buy some sardines for you on my way back," Sakura said as she tried to pet her but Yowai only scolwed in return as she swiped a claw at her. "Naauurr," she seemed to say. "What do you want then?" the pinkette asked. "Miirrkkk," came the reply. "You don't want fish? I thought they were your favourite," she asked. Yowai's ears pulled back and narrowed her eyes at her. It was intimidating but it was kinda adorable. "Nauur fischhh, miirrkkk," the cat snapped. "Okay okay, I hear you. Sorry," she apologized to the cat who had turned away from her and raised her rear pointedly at her. Meaning she wasn't allowed to speak to the cat until tomorrow. Well, she would be gone by the time Yowai cooled off so she didn't feel insulted.
"Bye!"
At five a.m. Sakura met Asama at the sea port and they loaded their luggage onto the ship. "Yukie-san has to finish shooting her final scene in Konoha before we take off. I'm going to see our security detail. I'll leave you to Director Makino and you can get yourself familiar with the crew before we depart," the man told her. Sakura nodded in return.
The filming crew was quite eccentric. Well, mostly Director Makino as the rest of the crew went along with whatever obscene instructions he shouted to them. The man was short but his words made him appear even taller. He wore a cream sweater which was rolled to his elbows and a pair of grey pants. He donned a pair of glasses which were more of a fashion statement than for health purposes and a brown barrette atop of a head of short grey hair paired with expensive looking black shoes. His hair was well-groomed, she thought. She could tell that merely by looking because of the amount of time she spent on her hair. No one who spent at least an hour treating their hair had such glossy and thick hair.
She wasn't surprised though by his attitude. Producing a hit like the movie she had seen a few days ago featuring Princess Fun was not for a person who wasn't a little bit unhinged. Even though he had somewhat of a terrible personality, the director knew his game. Asama had introduced her briefly before going off to meet Yukie at their current set. Director Makino was mostly barking orders to the crew to put their filming equipment in the ship where it wouldn't be damaged.
His eyes landed on her as she stood awkwardly beside him. They were almost the same height. "What's your name kiddo?" he asked her. "Sakura Haruno. Asama-san introduced me to you," she couldn't keep the bite out of her voice because he very well knew her name. "I know, wanted to check something. Why are you here?" he spoke without looking at her from a scroll he was reading. "I'm here to study about cinematography -" "I meant what's your endgame kiddo? I find it hard to picture you behind a camera for the rest of your life. Your eyes are too damn bright for that shit," the director spoke.
"Oh," she said dumbly. Makino was still looking at her with a single eyebrow raised in question behind his dark tinted glasses. "Well, perhaps, I may want to hire you sometime in the future," she managed to say without stuttering. 'Real smooth Sakura,' Inner snickered at the back of her mind. "Well, let's hope I'll still be around when that day comes," he replied after a moment. And thus, their conversation ended.
It was close to three hours before Asama made an appearance with three familiar faces behind him. Sakura tried to hide as soon as she saw them but Asama called out to her as soon as his eyes landed on her. There was no escaping it.
She would be traveling with Ami and her teammates. Judging by Ami's pleased smirk, Naruto's excited grin and Sasuke's blank stare, she had a lot in store for her.