Riding Waves

Childhood (2): Weakness

One of the Chuunins grabbed Sarah by her hoodie and held her up as the other two went on to attacking Naruto. Sarah was gasping for air, attempting to reach for her pouch. The Chuunin holding her saw this and slammed her up against the wall. Sarah had no choice but to watch as her best friend was being beaten up for essentially no reason.

"Why are they doing this? Aren't they suppose to be protecting us?"

No matter how much Sarah trained and practice, she would never be strong enough to protect those she cared about. She was weak, useless... She always had to rely on Nemuri to get them out of trouble. Why couldn't she defend herself?

Sarah slowly reached into the Chuunins kunai pouch and grabbed a sharp object out from it. Before the Chuunin holding her could react Sarah stabbed him in the side, causing the Chuunin to let her go. Falling onto the ground, Sarah coughed as she held the bloodied kunai in her hand. The duo saw this and started coming towards her. Sarah used her other hand to open up her pouch and pull out two seals.

She slammed the two pieces of paper into the ground, vines coming out and wrapping themselves around her attackers. The remaining Chuunin quickly got up and lunged at her to attack, Sarah using the kunai she had stolen as a weapon to take the man down. She threw it at the man and hit him in the head, his body collapsing onto the floor.

The other two Chuunin made their way out of the vines, one of them forming hand signs to some unknown jutsu. Sarah rushed at him and quickly punched him in the face, sending him flying down the alleyway into another building. She then pulled out another seal and used the light coming from it to blind the remaining Chuunin, using it as a distraction for Sarah to punch the man in the face.

A crater formed beneath the man, his skull crushed into the pavement. Sarah breathed heavily as she watched the blood drip from her fist. All she wanted to do was to go watch a movie with her friend. That's all she wanted to do. Why did they have to ruin it for her?

Looking back over towards Naruto, Sarah saw how badly beaten the boy was. She wished there was something more she could do to help. She wished that she had some power..ANY power to heal him.

"So do something about it!" Nemuri cried out in rage.

Sarah nodded. She quickly rushed back over towards her best friends side and held his body in her arms. She sobbed uncontrollably as she watched Naruto struggle to breathe. Why did she have to be so fucking useless?

Before she could react her hands started to glow a faint blue, Naruto's wounds slowly healing themselves up. Sarah looked down in shock; she didn't know she could heal people. Last she knew she didn't have a mana trait. How was she healing him? Was this...no, it can't be. Her mana was sealed away alongside Nemuri's. How was this possible?

Several masked ninjas surrounded the duo as Sarah continued to heal Naruto. Sarah couldn't fight them now, she was busy healing her friend. Her eyelids started to grow heavy, her body eventually collapsing due to the lack of energy. She may have been useless during this whole battle..but at least she was able to prevent her friends death in the end.

-Childhood (2): Weakness-

Sarah woke up in the hospital covered in bandaids, Naruto sitting beside her bed in a chair sleeping. He didn't look too bad himself; a cast on his arm and bandages littering all over his body. Shouldn't he be the one in the hospital bed and not her?

Smiling, Sarah patted her friend on the head as she cautiously looked around the room. She didn't trust anyone now, especially since they tried to kill Naruto. Sarah knew the village didn't like Naruto, she wasn't oblivious to that, but to kill an innocent kid for essentially no reason? That was just beyond fucked up.

"But why did I have to be so useless," Sarah mumbled under her breath.

The door to her hospital room opened up. Hirzuen Sarutobi along with a bunch of masked ninjas came into the room. Naruto's body shot up, the boy using his hands to rub his eyes groggily as Sarah stared at the group cautiously. She didn't know who to trust in this village, especially since their supposed protectors were willing to attack two innocent children.

  "I am sorry to interrupt you both but I'm here to get a statement on what happened from the both of you," Hiruzen said as he looked at both Naruto and Sarah.

Naruto was quick to speak up, telling Hiruzen (who the boy called 'Gramps' for some reason) everything that happened before he blacked out. Sarah saw the older man write the information down before looking over at her to see if their stories correlated. Sarah responded with the same answers as Naruto, with the exception of her discovering her mana trait.

Hiruzen and the masked ninjas walked out of the room afterwards. Sarah felt bad for the older man; he's going to be filling out a lot of paperwork. Naruto looked over at Sarah with a worried expression on his face.

"I'm sorry for getting us into trouble. I didn't mean for that to happen, believe it!"

Sarah smiled as she patted the blonde on the head, "It's alright, things just happen."

"So..was it really true that you kicked those  ninjas asses?" Naruto raised an eyebrow, wanting to know the details.

Sarah nodded as she put on a fierce and determined act, "Mhm. None of them seen it coming!"

"Wow, you're so strong!" Naruto praised, "Though not as strong as me of course."

Sarah chuckled, "How could I be stronger than Konoha's future Hokage? That would just be a crime in itself."

Naruto grinned, "Yeah, and when I become Hokage I'm going to make those ninjas wish they never messed with us. Believe it!"

Sarah rolled her eyes playfully. She's forever thankful that Naruto's still upbeat and positive despite the previous days events.

"Still, why did I have to be so useless?" Sarah thought as she subconsciously drifted off into the mindscape. She'll let Nemuri handle talking to Naruto (much to the older demons displeasure), right now she just needs a break from everything.

Right now she isn't strong enough to defend herself and her loved ones. She's weak, gullible, and unprepared. Her mana reserves aren't big enough to heal anyone, she still relies on Nemuri's help, her seals aren't even good enough to hold even a single Chuunin level ninja back. If she's going to get stronger then she'll need to step up her training.

"I promise nothing like that will ever happen to us again, Naruto. I'll become a strong enough shinobi to protect us both...believe it."