The sun was warm on her skin as Sakura breathed in the fresh air from atop of the balcony that extended from her bedroom. It was early in the morning, the very day that she was to leave on her A-ranked mission for Otogakure. The night before she had prepared her traveling bag and said her goodbyes to her parents who were leaving yet again for another business trip.
The pinkette pulled on a forest green tank-top, black pants that were bandaged around the ankles, and a navy blue traveling cloak. She then pulled up the top half of her hair into a bun, tied her cloth around her eyes, and put her hitai-ate on top of her head like a headband. She also pulled on her trusty leather gauntlets. After slipping on her ELEPHANT and swinging her bag behind her back, she was finally ready to go.
Not too long after, she made it to the gate, where she sensed a few familiar chakra signatures. They must be about to head out on a mission as well.
"Hey, Naruto," she greeted in a casual voice as she pulled up along side the hyperactive blind without being noticed by him or even his other team members.
There was a loud screech, followed by Sakura ducking to avoid getting hit by a fist that she heard cutting through the air towards her direction. (A large part of her was annoyed that he would have actually hit someone if she had been another person, but a small amount of pride bubbled up in her chest nonetheless. She was able to sense more things now.)
"Ahh! I'm so sorry, Sakura-chan!" Naruto shrieked out in alarm when he realized he had almost punched his dearly beloved crush. But instead of her getting mad like he thought she would, she merely tilted her head and smiled.
"It's alright. Maybe it'll help you remember to always keep your guard up. I could have been a dangerous nin for all you know," the pinkette pointed out, making Naruto's face pale in realization.
And then he nodded, a wide grin coming onto his face. "Wow, that's great advice! Thank you, Sakura-chan! And- Oh, is that you're hitai-ate!? So the old man is finally allowing you to become a kunoichi!?" he yelled, excitement clear in his voice.
When Sakura nodded, he let out a whoop of joy and lunged at her, managing to wrap her up in a hug.
"Does this mean you can return to our team?"
Before the pinkette could respond, another voice intervened.
"How'd you manage to trick Hokage-sama into letting you wear your hitai-ate?" Akira asked, her voice sounding the epitome of innocence, though the question was anything but. Sakura thought she could hear a barely noticeable note of fear, and she suddenly felt a little bad for her.
Technically, Keiki would not have been able to become a kunoichi with Sakura on the team. Who knows how long she had been waiting, or what this meant to her. Maybe her reason for becoming a kunoichi was even nobler than her own.
So a soft smile reached the pinkette's lips and she stepped in front of the other girl, placing a hand on her shoulder. Maybe she could try being nice to the girl who was her replacement? "Don't worry. I won't be coming back to the team." She paused, hearing a gasp that came from Naruto, before continuing, "And as for how I'm still able to become a kunoichi, you could say that I'm a special case of sorts for the Hokage."
She opted out of saying that she was Konoha's Experiment, because to outsiders who didn't know what was going on, it probably sounded more than a little inhumane. But them, maybe it actually was that way, considering the risky mission she was about to go on.
When Akira didn't respond, Sakura removed her hand and stepped a couple of steps to look in the direction of the other person that helped made up team seven.
"Ah, Sasuke-kun. How have you been?"
"Hn," was all she got, and quickly translated it into, 'Everything's annoying as always, including you.' It was safe to say that she had somehow managed to learn the special Uchiha Language in her brief time on the team.
"Who's this little pink-haired chit? Another brat to annoy me?" an unfamiliar voice said, creating a tick mark on her forehead. That must have been their customer, and she could smell the alcohol on him from all the way over there.
Instead of letting him annoy her though and talk shit about everyone, she smoothed over her features and let her mouth take over for her.
"Oh, good sir," she began, catching everyone's attention, including Kakashi's who just arrived and was squatting on a nearby tree branch. "Is that anyway to treat the people who will be protecting you from harm? But, that's no matter. I'm sure you have a good enough head on your shoulders to realize what qualified people are here to keep you safe. After all, why else would you hire Konoha shinobi? And oh, is that Bourbon County Stout that I smell?"
During her little lecture, the drunken mans face had changed several times. First, it was an annoyance that this little brat had the term to talk to him, then it was slight fear because he needed these ninja's to accompany him, and lastly it was appreciation that she had been able to to namethe drink he was gulping down. Maybe she wasn't as bad a kid as he thought.
"Yes, actually. I had to travel way up north to get this stuff. How did you know?"
"My parents are traders, and I remember this same smell as an alcoholic drink that they wer-"
"Maa, Haruno-san! We don't have all day," a familiar voiced reached said pinkette's ears, and she turned around in surprise.
"You!" she exclaimed, pointing a finger in the direction of the one and only Gekkou Hayate. The jōnin started chuckling, but it was interrupted by a bought of nasty coughing.
"Yes, me. Did you really-" he coughed again, "-think Hokage-sama would send a complete stranger with you?" he asked, but not unkindly.
Naruto suddenly nudged her side with his elbow, catching Sakura's attention. "Who's this dude? He looks almost dead," he whispered into her ear, making the pinkette gently smack him across the head. She had to remember to not get angry because he had no filter for his mouth and just spouted out whatever came to mind. It wasn't something he could control.
"Don't be rude," she scolded him, making him apologize sheepishly. "And for your information, his name is Gekkou Hayate. He is a tokubestu jōnin with interest in kenjutsu and has this cough that doesn't seem to go away." She last the part in a whisper so as to not offend him. She didn't know if the cough was sensitive.
Gekkou smiled at the pink haired girl. "So I see your little stunt proved to be useful, eh, Haruno-san? But anyways, we best be leaving. This mission won't complete itself, and it's thanks to you that it's even possible for us to do this, no matter the stakes," he said casually, making a small blush to reach Salura's cheeks in embarrassment. She never knew what to do with compliments, or anything that resembled them.
"Huh?" Naruto said, confused.
But Sakura didn't bother to fill him in. Instead, she gave him a quick pat on the head, turned towards Keiki and Sasuke with a bow, and then called up to the trees, "Cya later, Kakashi-san!" And with that, she skipped over to where the other jōnin was waiting and the two exited the gates with a small wave to the guards that were on duty.
Kakashi blinked in suprise before dropping down beside his students.
"Hey, you're late again!" Naruto whirled around and yelled in accusation, making the silver haired jōnin give him a closed eyed smile.
"Yea, sorry about that. I got lost of the path of life yet again," he lied, making the blond glare at him. As usual, he had actually been visiting the K.I.A stone, and then picked up the newest addition of the Icha Icha Paradise series.
"That's bull!" he exclaimed, making Sasuke hit his head, definitely not being as gentle as Sakura was.
"You're being too loud, dobe," the Uchiha stated in a bland voice. Keiki covered her mouth to hide a snort, while Kakashi rolled his eyes.
"Hey, how is Sakura-chan able to tell who is who and walk around without running into anything? And she was even able to dodge my punch," Naruto suddenly said, catching everyone off guard since he didn't even bat an eyelash in response to Sasuke's rude nickname.
Kakashi cocked his head to the side in thought. "Well," he started, "Everyone has a chakra signature, including the smallest of insects. And you can sense them without having to look at them, which Sakura must use be using to her advantage. But with how she's able to dodge things and run into things that are inanimate, I'm not entirely sure. Maybe we could ask her when we get back," he suggested, and then ushered his genin in front of him so they would start walking.
"Yosh! We will totally do that, dattebayo! But uh, what's this chatra stuff again?"
Back in the forest with Sakura and Gekkou, they were having their own little conversation.
"I- um, I'm sorry for spying on you and following you around for like a full day," the pinkette started awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment.
Gekkou only laughed, and patted her head. "But you learned some things, didn't you? The first time I sensed your chakra, I didn't think anything of it. The second time, I got a little suspicious and let you follow me around for a bit before leaving. And then the third time you came around, I disappeared on the spot and watched you from afar," he explained, somehow strong enough to hold in his coughing fit until after he finished.
Sakura gaped at him. "You were watching me?" she asked, incredulous.
"I was. And I must say, you have excellent chakra control, so much-" some coughing, "-that even a jōnin couldn't sense you after you figured out how to maske your signature. And on top of that, you-" more coughing, "-even managed to find yourself a worthwhile summon. Not just any genin could do that, and a blind one at that."
His blunt words were strangely refreshing, in the pinkette's opinion. Other people would usually just ignore the fact that she was blind, like her otou-san, or just skirt around it, like everyone else.
Her cheeks stained red yet again. "A-Ah, thanks.."
He patted her head yet again.
"It's also why I helped vouched for you and reported your accomplishments to Hokage-sama."
Sakura stopped in her tracks, almost tripping over an uprooted root. She turned her body towards the jōnin. He's surprised her yet again, and possibly helped her more than he would ever know.
"Y-You have?"
Unknown to Sakura, Gekkou had an uncharacteristicly soft smile on his face. "It's impressive what you've done, considering your disability. And people don't believe in you, do they? But even through all of that, you still try."
They began walking again, with Sakura adjusting her grip on the bag. She didn't speak for a few moments after that, his words running through her mind.
"It's only because I had a few special people helping me. Without them, I probably would have just given up the second Hokage-sama told me to hand in my hitai-ate, and that I would never be able to become a kunoichi," she finally admitted, feeling ashamed of how she was acting then.
The air felt good on her skin, mingled with the suns gentle heat. Her head was clearer in that moment than it ever was, even with Gekkou's repetitive coughing fits. She thought about how things would have been a lot different if she hadn't found Nico in the forest with his sprained wing.
"You can't change the past. But you can learn from it, and grow. Knowing what you know now, would you still be so quick to give up?"
She responded without a second thought. "Of course not."
He chuckled. "See? You've already grown so mu-" he suddenly paused, slightly tilting his head up to sniff the air. From beside him, Sakura stiffened but chose to keep her mouth shut. She had a feeling that Gekkou found something that probably wasn't supposed to be there, and they had barely walked an hour. That wasn't a good thing.
"Haruno-san, how much experience have you had with fighting?" the jōnin said in a voice so quite that the pinkette barely caught his words.
She gulped. "None." She remembered the last time she tried to fight. It didn't end well.
"Well then, I believe you'll have your first chance today. It seems we have company," he said in a casual voice, as if they were talking about the weather instead of a possible battle. But of course, he must be used to this thing, considering his jōnin status.
The pinkette took a shaky deep breath, trying to calm herself down. She didn't think she was exactly battle ready, especially with her blindness. She wasn't trying to make up excuses, but she couldn't fight even before she lost the use of her eyes.
But..
She had to try. If not for herself, then to prove the ones that didn't believe in her wrong.
"Should I summon Nico?" she asked the jōnin, making sure to keep her voice in a low whisper that only he could hear.
"Wait until the battle actually starts. If you were to summon him now, then they would know that we know that they are watching."
"H-Hai."
It was a smart idea. She admired his way of thinking, and hoped that she would be able to be like that one day. Maybe she could even get him to train her? It seemed like his senses were even greater than hers, and he was able to use all of them so they weren't even being heightened.
A twig suddenly snapped.
She finally heard them. There was someone just above her to her left. And.. there, to her right was a person who was poorly disguising their chakra. She wondered what kind of nin they were, and what they wanted, although, she had a fairly good idea about the latter question.
"If they are suspicious of you, and we are right about them, then they will try to take you out."
Those were the Hokage's words. His warning. And then directly after that he had given her the option of backing out, which she obviously didn't take.
"Ahhh!" The sound of metal against metal was heard directly after the battle cry.
"Now, Sakura!" Gekkou yelled, and the pinkette quickly preformed the proper hand seals. Within moments, Nico was letting out a wicked screech and started attacking, needing no direction or command needed. With the help of Kei's training, his speed, strength, and senses had become even stronger than before.
Now, it Sakura's turn to do something that she had spent the last couple of days practicing. To be able to properly fight, she needed to know where everything was located around her.
Channeling her chakra to her throat, the transmitter, and to her ears, the receiver, she quickly yelled out, producing a sound wave that was so high in frequency that no human could hear. This was done by modifying her own vocal cords using chakra. She felt the vibrations of the sound wave around her, and whenever they hit something in its path, they bounced back to her, allowing her to 'see' the shapes around her, using her enchanced ears.
The first few times she experimented using this, her ears and nose bled, while her throat became extremely sore. She had accidentally made the frequency to low, and the sound was so horrible that several of the Inuzuka's hounds came running. The pinkette had quickly masked her chakra and ran away, not wanting to be subjected to questioning or possible scolding. From then on, she practiced far outside of the village and kept a first aid kit on her at all times.
There was a buzzing in the air.
Sakura dodged the shuriken that came flying past her head.
There were five nin around her and Gekkou in total. To her left, the jōnin was fighting two of them using some type of sword, telling her that kenjutsu wasn't just some interest for him. Another nin was just above her in a tree, continuously throwing kunai and shuriken. Nico was fighting with one to her left, and there was another one to her right that was slowly advancing towards her.
Mustering up all her courage, and not wasting a second more, Sakura lunged towards the nin on the right.
She was tossed to the side like a mere rag doll.
It was infuriating and slightly painful, seeing as her spine had hit a tree trunk, and her clothes weren't thick enough to protect her.
But she picked herself back up again and hurled towards the nin yet again, this time holding out a kunai. She quickly summoned a clone of herself, disguised her chakra, and slipped away to sneak up on the nin in the tree while her other self was distracting the other one.
Her clone dodged an incoming punch, and swung her legs out to trip the nin. Sakura could hear a light gasp, meaning they stumbled. The clone used this opportunity to channel chakra to their hands, and slammed their fists into their chest, causing him to fall over.
But their small victory didn't last long.
The nin picked theirselves back up again, drew a sword they were carrying on her back, and cleaning cut her in half, making her vanish with a poof. Even though it was just a clone, it sent a bust of fear in her that she was defeated so easily.
Meanwhile, her real self was sneaking up behind the nin in the tree. In order to not be caught, she lowered her breathing and stepped lightly on the ground. Also, she had made sure to use unscented shampoo and soap before she left home, because some people would be able to smell it.
There was a loud scream, and the sound of a body hitting the ground, meaning Nico had managed taken out his nin.
'Yep. He's out like Tsunade-sama at a bar.'
Good. That left four more nin.
Silently creepy up a tree, the pinkette got a sudden idea that spawned from Nico and the mention of the slug sannin. If medical ninjutsu was for healing the body, maybe she could reverse it somehow to harm the body.
But that very potent, useful-dangerous thought had caused her attention to slip, and a hand suddenly wrapped around her neck. She was pulled backward and was most likely being hung over the ground, which was a good fifteen feet down there.
"Stop!" the man holding her yelled, causing everyone to pause and look at the two. Fear was etched across Nico's face, while the other nin had looks of triumph. Gekkou's eyes were narrowed.
"If you don't surrender yourselves, I will break her neck."
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, the pinkette repeated in her head, trying to claw at the hands that were holding her. It was no use though, he wouldn't budge. She really didn't want her neck broken.
"Release her!" Gekkou yelled, his voice almost a snarl.
While they were speaking, Sakura had slumped in his hands, giving the impression of giving up. But that wasn't the case. No, she wasn't going to do that again.
Her fingers twitched as she slowly ran chakra through them. It was hard to concentrate when you were slowly loosing air and being strangled to death.
"Hey, a-asshole," she choked out, gaining his attention. At the rude name, he sneered and tightened his hold on her, making her choke again.
The nasty, gurgled sound make the jōnin and eagle summon tense.
"Don't hurt her, and you can have me," Gekou said slowly, easing his hands up in submission.
But Sakura wouldn't have that. She was getting desperate now. And desperate people often preformed desperate acts that they might regret later.
Sakura twisted herself around to face in the direction of the nin that was holding her. Her mind was becoming foggy, and she could barely breath.
"You're a w-worthless bastard that doesn't deserve a h-heart."
And then she proceeded to plunge her outstretched hand into his chest, pulling out his beating heart. Warm liquid spattered onto her face, and she finally felt herself falling towards the ground. Her throat was free, but the after effects of being strangled were getting to her.
Everything was distorting itself around her, and she had the vague recollection of something catching her. The strange thing was, it didn't smell like Gekkou, or feel like the talons of Nico. It was definitely someone she didn't know, and she could only hope that it wasn't the nins.
Before she completely faded away into unconsciousness, one last thought raced through her mind.
I just killed a man.
______
Sakura woke up with a strangled gasp, and immediately sat up, with her head spinning, and her stomach feeling nauseous. Her throat felt as if it was on fire.
"Oh, you're finally awake," a familiar voice stated, followed by a bout of coughing that told her that Gekkou was somewhere to her left.
The pinkette cast her senses around, and found that Nico was gone, most likely due to her passing out, and she was in an unfamiliar place. Her head was resting on something soft, and she knew she was laying on grass.
"What happened?" she managed to ask in a hoarse voice, smacking her parched lips together.
From beside her, the jōnin shifted almost awkwardly. "After you killed the nin that was holding you, Nico dissapeared, and I was able to knock out the other ones, since you provided a ..distraction.
What distraction..?
And then she remembered. Thrusting her hand into the mans chest, pulling out his heart. Warm blood splattering onto her skin. The smell of something heavy and rich and disgusting. She was marked by death.
Bile rose to her throat, and she quickly turned to side and heaved into the grass. Gekkou oh-so-helpfully pulled her hair back, and gave her a handkerchief to wipe her mouth off when she was finished emptying the contents of her stomach. Maybe eating that big breakfast earlier that day wasn't such a good idea.
"I killed someone," she whimpered out when she finished cleaning off her mouth, tears pricking out of the corner of her useless eyes. "I ripped his heart out. And now he's dead.. He could of have a family; a wife, maybe even children. And I kill-"
"He would have killed you if you hadn't," the jōnin interrupted, ruffling her dirty hair with his hand. "I'll admit, I didn't expect your first killing to be that- erm, gruesome.. but it was necessary."
Not trusting herself to speak, the pinkette just nodded and covered her face with her hands. Then she remembered the white cloth that was tied around her face, and grimaced. It was probably covered in blood, and she only had one. Well, at least she would fulfill her promise to that elderly shop keeper. She also noticed a bandage around her neck, and was sure that there was nasty bruises there. She could only hope that they would heal before she home, because she didn't want people thinking she was still incapable of being useful.
And then she remembered what had happened right before she passed out.
"Who was it that caught me?"
Gekkou sighed, not making her feel any better or more assured. "I don't know. All I was was a black and red cloak, before they disappeared, taking the bodies of the nin with them. I doubt they were Hunter Nin, because I didn't see a mask," he mused aloud.
The pinkette was slightly disappointed that she wasn't able to meet her savior, but she just shrugged it off. More pressing matter were on her mind, besides her killing of that shinobi. She pushed that certain matter to the side, which probably wasn't the healthy thing to do. But she figured she was on a mission, and that could wait until later to figure out.
"Those nin," she started, "We're they from Otogakure?"
It made sense. If the rumors were actually true, then of course they wouldn't want anyone seeing their village if at all possible. And to take them out before they even made it to the Sound Village would be their best bet of getting rid of them without anyone getting suspicious.
"I- I'm honestly not sure. They wore no hitai-ate, and their faces were covered by blue masks while they wore pitch black cloaks with no emblem or anything that showed their allegiance," the jōnin replied, making Sakura nod.
So they were still in the dark and had learned nothing so far. But that was fine. After all, they still had two weeks, and even if they didn't find anything, the pinkette would be able to learn new skills to help her.
After taking a short break, the two were on the move again. Gekkou asked her several times if she needed to stop for a bit, or if she needed some counciling, but the pinkette refused. She just wasn't ready to deal with it yet.
It would take approximately three days to get to Otogakure, but they hoped to make it in two by running as much as they could. Gekkou would be able to easily do it, but Sakura didn't exactly have the best stamina. She was really cursing not taking her training hard enough in the past.
That night, the two found a nice sized clearing to set up camp, that was located beside a steady steam. Sakura used the water to try to clean off her cloth, but Gekkou said it only made it worse. She would have to remember to get a black cloth instead of a white one do bloodstains wouldn't show up as easily.
Her stomach reacted again, and she it took a few minutes until she finished hurling into the grass.
Less than twenty fours hours ago, she had killed someone in cold blood. Ripped out their heart, like an emotionless monster.
But.. it wasn't as if she meant to. In actuality, she had been aiming for his throat. She wanted to catch him unaware just as he did her, but she had completely missed that area. Maybe it was a blessing that she missed it, since she would have probably ended up just tearing his throat out.
She couldn't decided which was the worse alternative.
A weight suddenly pressed on her head, startling her, and she instinctively pulled a kunai out her pack and whirled around, holding it defensively in front of her. But she instantly lowered it when she found that I was just Gekkou.
"Sorry," she mumbled, putting her kunai away and tying her damp, red stained cloth around her closed eyes.
She didn't see the sad smile he gave her. "No, that was good. It means you have good reflexes, which is much needed to be a shinobi," he assured her, before helping her up from her spot on the rocky ground.
The pinkette suddenly let out a sniffle, and she looked up in the direction of Gekkou's face, where the sounds of coughing was coming from.
"D-Do you think that maybe I could become a worthy kunoichi one day?"
His hand took hers, and she was lead to where their makeshift camp was. "I think that if you try hard enough and really believe in yourself, you could become worthy of being a sannin or kage," he said, surprising her.
She had never actually thought about going that far, probably because she thought she would never be able to achieve it.
"Could you help believe in me?"
"Of course."
...
The only time Sakura Haruno regained her sight, was in her dreams. In the past, that had been a blessing, however, that was about to change.
The scene around her was full of serenity. She was in a forest filled with beautiful, towering trees, and rivers that ran through them. The sky was a perfect mixture of cotton candy pink and blue, telling her that the day was slowly ending.
Besides this, the first thing the pinkette was aware of was the lack of sound, and the fact that she couldn't breath. It was another moment until she realized there was a pale hand wrapped around her neck. His somehow seeing eyes followed that hand to reveal a bare arm, and eventually a man.
A gasp of horror strangled up in her throat when she realized it was her own father that was doing this to her. His normally puffy hair was let down on his back, and his face was a sickly pale.
"Why did you do this?" her dad gasped out, and it was then that she saw her own hand sticking out of his chest. Blood flowed freely doen her arm, staining the skin wherever it touched. Panicking, she hurriedly pulled her hand out, but instantly let out a sharp cry when she brought his heart with her.
She couldn't control her own body. Almost mechanically, it seemed like, she dropped the heart and turned towards her dad, who had already released her neck.
Kizashi stumbled backwards, and held his hand over the large gaping wound on his chest. His face showed horror and betrayal.
Sakura couldn't move, couldn't even begin to start begging for forgiveness or trying to help him. She was simply, a mere statue watching someone she loved suffer in pain and slowly die.
"Sakura.." he called out to her, holding his arms out. He slowly lumbered over to her, and somehow managed to wrap his arms around her petite frame.
"Sakura.."
The blood seeping through his wound was so warm, it was disgusting. Suffocating. She could feel it on her own clothes and skin. Yet, she was powerless to move. Suddenly his body slumped, and she couldn't even catch him, sending him falling into a murky fast-paced river, where he slammed harshly against a rock and disappeared beneath the current.
Nausea built itself up in her stomach.
Despite the fact that nothing was constricting her neck, she struggled to breath properly.
A monster. That's what she was. She killed her own dad. She didn't deserve to be a kunoichi. What was she even th-
"Sakura!"
She woke up, and instantly covered her mouth to smother a scream. Her small chest caved in and out rapidly as she tried to find the breath of air that she was starved of from her nightmare.
Gekkou hovered worriedly over her, his hand on either side of her head to try to calm her down.
"Shhh, it isn't real. It was just a nightmare. You're safe now," he whispered to her, keeping down his coughs. But the words that came out of her mouth almost stopped his heart.
"I know I'm safe.. It's them that aren't safe from me," she sobbed out, uselessly covering up her blotchy face.
As calmly as possible with her fragile state of mind, he pulled her into his arms and stroked her head. "If that is the way you see it, then I guess you could say we are all monster," he mused aloud, making the pinkette look up at him in confusion.
"W-What do you mean?" she hiccuped.
"What I mean is," he started, running his finger comfortingly through her pink locks, "that is the circle of life. The animals aren't safe from us, because we kill them for meat. Our villages are safe from rogue nin, because they kill us. And the rogue nin aren't safe from us, because we kill them."
When Sakura didn't say anything, he continued, "And did you know, that people thought I was t be able to become a shinobi either?"
That got a gasp out of her. "Really!?"
He nodded. "People thought I was too sick to do anything, because I have this undiagnosed cough. But I worked hard for it, and became a special type jōnin. So if I can do this, then so can you," he said encouragingly.
But when he looked down again, the small genin had fallen back asleep. Smiling slightly, he layed her back down and set up watch for the rest of the night, not bothering to wake her up like he said he would for her turn.
The second day passed without a hitch, and they were so close to Otogakure, only about two hours away. So far, nobody else had attempted to attack them.. Yet.
They kept their guard up, and even had Nico flying overhead. At the gates of Otogakure, there was supposed to be somebody waiting for them, ready to show them around and take them to their leader.
The Hokage's words suddenly echoed through her mind.
"There are several reasons why we are suspicious of Otagakure. The first and most obvious is that nobody had yet met their kage. It was only a few moons ago that this village banded together and got the approval of everyone else, but nobody has ever seen this mysterious leader. The second, is that reports of almost grotesque people and nin have been seen in that area. Some guess that horrible expirements are being done to them, or it could be some sort of unholy ritual. Of this we are not sure. There are several other things I could go on and on about, but that will be included in this file."
It was so many rumors and suspicions that were set against this village, it almost made her feel bad for them. But then she had to remind herself that it was their own fault for being so secretive.
Your mind works in the most unique of ways, Sakura-chan, Nico told her from high above in the sky.
Sakura let out a snort if amusement, making Gekkou raise an eyebrow.
"What's so funny?"
"Nico's just complimenting my mind," she responded, a slight smile set upon her lips.
"How does that work? The way he's able to see inside your mind and communicate with you that way," the jōnin asked, spurning genuinely curious.
It was Nico himself that responded wheneve he swooped down and landed on the pinkette's outstretched arm.
"Us eagle summon are able to communicate with our summoner, or even another person, when we create a special bond with them," the eagle summon began, "These bonds are special because it's a sign of mutual trust between both recipients. When I allowed Sakura-chan to heal my wing, that created a bond, because I gave her my trust while she healed me. And since there is no bond between Sakura-chan and Keiki-chan, they cannot do what we can." He has found out about the other eagle that Sakura met, and assured her that she was nasty to everyone.
Gekkou took a few moments to process this, and even Sakura was letting this new information sink into her brain.
"Interesting.. And what special abilities do you have? I've never remembered hearing about eagle summons before," Gekkou commented, curiousity clear in his voice.
The pinkette was able to answer this time, having taken a full day to train with him and figure out the extent of his abilities.
"Eagle summons have the best eyesight out of all the known summons, which is kinda funny considering my blindness. They are also very agile, fast, and are extremely strong, as Nico caught me when I jumped out of the Hokage's window one time," she said, making the jōnin sweatdrop.
"Um, that's nice."
The pair hummed in agreement, now with their heads pushed together and seeing who could push the other back the most, causing another bead of nervous sweat to roll down Gekko's face.
There was a hiss in the wind, the sun glinting off of something in the distance, and Nico and Sakura simaltamiously went to grab the flying senbon out of thin air, only for it to disappear in their grasp.
"Wha-? Ow!" the pinkette gasped when warm blood started to trickle down her cheek, unintentionally reminding of of the events of yesterday. It took a few moments for her to realize that there had been another senbon in the shadow of the first, which had been only a mere clone.
"Damn, they're here again!" Gekkou whsiepred, unsheathing his sword from his back and holding it in front of him.
Nico took to the sky once again while Sakura took out a kunai. She secretly wished she had a bigger, more intimidating blade, but she could fix that later. Right now, they were in danger.
Fifteen people surrounding you, from all sides. There are no escapes. You'll have to fight your way out, the eagle summon told Sakura, who nodded and relayed this information to the tense and alert jōnin.
She was noticeably shaking, and she could hear her heart hammering in her chest. She was afraid of what might come.
A voice was suddenly close to her ear, and she almost let out a startled gasp, but kept still. "There is nothing to worry about. You're strong, and have abilities that are greater these nin, understand? And kill if you must kill. That is how you survive in a world like this," Gekkou calmly told her, before leaning away.
Kill if you must kill.. Survive..
Those words rang through her ears as more weapons flew through the air.
Behind you! Nico hissed, but Sakura was already whirling around, and lunged at the nin coming after her. She applied chakra to her feet, and stomped on the ground, unknowingly creating hairline fractures in the dirt. The vibrations from her feet to the ground told her that two more nin were coming after her.
Sakura didn't have much in her arsenal of tools and weapons, but she did have her mind. So she tried something she had only practiced once before at the Academy.
A genjutsu.
She would try the Hell Viewing Technique, which would put the nin around her in a simulation of their own personal hell-obviously, which was hopeful going to be horrible. It was quite fitting.
Concentrating her chakra in her mind, and then casting it out around her. She suddenly fumbled, remembering something. Since she was blind, she wouldn't be able to make eye contact with any of the nin.. But, there were several other ways to cast genjutsu, those other options would really come in handy, since visual genjutsu was out of the question.
She would be using audible genjutsu, which meant she would be able trap the victim from long distances. She would just have to make sure that she didn't trap Nico and Gekkou as well.
Dodging a kunai to her shoulder, and a kick to her right leg, she thought about how to go about performing a genjutsu.
But why stop there..
The voice was hers, not Nico's as another idea came to her. Why stop at just using auditory genjutsu? The genjutsu would affect the victims brain into allowing the caster to make them feel, hear, taste, ect. what ever they would want to. And that greatly appealed to her.
She also wondered if she would be able to tap into the part of the brain that controlled their moments. She'd have made her own personal puppet then! She shouldn't have felt so gleeful then.
Careful now, you don't want to go all power hungry and get a god complex now, Nico warned, currently clawing a nins eyes out. Sakura ignored him in favor of setting up her genjutsu.
She let the person in front of her hit her shoulder, and during that brief contact, she sent a silver of her own chakra into their brain. She did the same to the other nin surrounding her, and though that allowed her to collect quite a few bruises, she was satisfied.
The pinkette was aiming for the olfactory bulb, the part of the brain that controlled smelling. Them, with a few clumsy hand seals, the nin around her started gasping for air. She had made the illusions that they were breathing in smoke, and that they were being starved for oxygen.
They choked and grasped at her skin, jagged nails ghosting after pain. They passed out within moments, much to her satisfaction.
Then, in slow motion, Sakura heard a body hit the ground, and the sound of coughing abruptly stopped. She had no idea if Gekkou was dead, or just knocked out, but fear momentarily overpowered her, before she let blinding anger consume her soul.
Nico instantly vanished with a poof when she disconnected her chakra to him. She didn't want him to get hurt with what she was about to do. If these nin were sound ninja, just like they had suspected, they should drop like flies after she was done.
She let loose a shrill scream from the back of her throat. The sound wave she let out was low enough in intensity to hear, and that was exactly what she wanted. Warm liquid seeped out of her nose, eyes, and ears as she continued to yell. Blood was also starting to poor in her throat. She was choking.
The pinkette wondered how long she would be able to do this until she passed out. Hopefully she would last longer than the nin around her.
That is, until a hand slapped over her mouth. "Don't make another sound," a pained voice hissed out, and Sakura went to defensive mode. She was about to pull out a kunai that she had hidden up her cloak, before she suddenly recognized the chakra.
Almost instantly, her fear vanished.
Being brave now, she decided to lick the persons hand in attempt to get them off, but frowned whenever they didn't even tense. She absentmindedly wondered how many people have licked that hand before..
"I assume your done now. I'm going to remove my hand, but if you make so much a as a peep, I'll knock you out. Got that?" the males voice said, making Sakura quickly nod.
After about a moment, the hand was removed from her mouth and she stumbled forward, gasping for air.
Finding Gekkou's faint, but still there, chakra signature, Sakura rushed over to him and found his pulse. She breathed out in relieved she found that he just knocked out, though there was pretty deep cut on his head.
The pinkette quickly untied the cloth around her eyes and used that to dab up the blood on his head. Maybe she could get the whole thing stained red so people would just think it was naturally dyed that way.
When she finished, and tied the cloth securely around the unconscious jōnin's head, she turned back to where the other man was waiting.
She sniffed the air, and caught the scent of something metallic coming from him.
"Damn it!" she cursed in alarm when she realized that the man was also bleeding, and it was probably all because of her.
While hurrying towards him, she tore off an under peice of her cloak into a long strip.
A warm hand caught her wrist before she could lift her hand up to his face.
"What are you doing?" the man growled, keeping her wrist in his grip.
She grimaced, feeling guilty. "You're bleeding."
"And how would you know that? Your eyes are closed."
Sakura dared to open her eyes, and felt the body before her tense. Something warm hovered against her cheek, and guessed that his free hand was going to touch her face. But before he could, she jerked her head back and looked to the side, snapping her eyes closed once more.
"You're blind. I'm sorry." And then he released her, but didn't move to walk away.
The pinkette looked back at him and cocked her head. "Do you want to clean up yourself, or shall I?" she asked, faintly annoyed he wouldn't let her help, and the cloth was taken out of her hand.
"What's your name?" she suddenly asked, wanting to know exactly who had rescued her.
There was a brief pause.
"..Itachi."