Chapter Text
The next several months were a whirlwind of activity for Sakura. Her sensei had laid out a strict training regime for the girl to follow on her own for the next several, basically continuing her lessons in written format.
And just like always, it was absolutely exhausting to follow. By the end of week one, both her mind and body were practically screaming at her to stop pushing herself, yelling that this was too much, to give up or at least slow down a little before she broke.
Sakura didn't listen. Her sensei had given her a strict set of instructions, a guided path to follow that would eventually lead her to greatness and she wouldn't stray from it.
Eventually her body figured this out, and instead of breaking down or continuing its pleas for mercy, it began to work with her. Her arduous stretches turned into simple warm-ups as her flexibility increased; her muscles tightened and swelled, allowing her to run faster, jump higher and most importantly, her mind blossomed as well. She flew through her studies at a rapid pace, book after book disappearing before her hungry gaze as she absorbed all of the information held with.
Despite all of this progress though, by the time six months had passed, Sakura was barely through a quarter of her sensei's lessons. She didn't care though, she was determined to finish them. No matter how long it took.
“What are you thinking about, sweetie?”
Sakura snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of her mother's voice. She looked away from where she was staring into space, refocusing back onto the woman who was giving her a curious look that was slightly undercut by concern.
Sakura smiled it off, “Just thinking about training, Kaa-chan. May I have some more chicken, please?”
“Sure thing!” Her father answered in her mother's place, grabbing some of the meat from a nearby bowl and placing it on my plate, “You'll need all you can get to keep up with all that training you're doing!”
As Sakura dug into the meat, enjoying the slightly spicy flavor, her mother sighed, “You're building quite a bit of muscle, Sakura. Are you sure you're okay with that? Most girls your age don't really care for the muscly look.”
Sakura shrugged, “I mean, I guess? I'm not really getting that big and I weigh pretty much the same so it's fine. I'm just following Chiyo-sensei’s regiment.”
It wasn't exactly proper to refer to the woman as her sensei when she wasn't training her personally anymore, but it just felt right to Sakura. Besides, she was technically still training her, just a country away and through pre-written letters.
“Is that why you've been buying all that stuff and staying in your room so much?” Hanami spoke up from her nearby chair. The four-year-old’s face was covered in the same sticky sauce that Sakura had decided to forgo on her own meal, causing their mother to sigh and reach over to clean it off.
Sakura nodded at the question, “Yeah, that's why. I need to practice woodworking so I can make my puppet and sensei only gave me so many materials so I'm gonna save them until I'm actually ready. I'm using logs and stuff I find around right now.”
She took another bit of her food, “Honestly, there's still a ton of stuff I need to do. If I'm lucky, I'll finish by the time I graduate from the Academy but I'm not sure.”
Her mother's face twisted in concern, “Are you sure that isn't too much work? You still have all of your Academy work to do on top of it, you know?”
She did know. Her grades had actually suffered for a month or two while Sakura tried to get a handle on juggling the training and her studies, but she had luckily gotten the hang of it by now.
“It's fine. It's only a little more than what I had to do when Chiyo-sensei was still here.” She said, before looking down at her food, a frown coming over her face, “It's kind of like she's still here, you know? I can almost hear her yelling at me when I read all the stuff she wrote.”
As she grabbed another piece of chicken, she missed the way that her parents looked at each other before her Mebuki, “Well alright then. If that's how you really feel, then we'll support you. Just make sure you're being careful, alright? I don't want you coming home and passing out on the living room floor because you were training too hard.”
Sakura smiled, “Of course, Kaa-chan. But I can't be too careful or I'll never get better as fast as I want to. I want to be the greatest, that means I've gotta try my hardest!”
“Haha! Well said!” Her father laughed loudly, slapping his knee. He looked to the other child at the table, “And what about you, Hanami? Any plans to be a legendary kunoichi like your big sister?”
Hanami made a thinking face, “I don't wanna be a ninja. Can I be a legendary merchant instead?”
Kizashi blinked at her words before nodding his head, “Of course you can, if that's what you want.”
Hanami's face suddenly twisted into an adorably determined expression, “Then that's what I wanna do!” She said, pointing her fork at the ceiling and slinging sauce everywhere, “I'll be the bestest merchant in the whole world and make lots of money!”
A massive grin formed on Kizashi’s face at his daughter's proclamation, “That's my girl! With an attitude like that, I'm sure you'll be the richest Haruno to ever hop on a cart! Just like your ancestors!”
As her father began regaling her little sister with stories of how their family became one of the most well-connected merchant clans on the planet and her sister cheered and hollered, making even more of a mess that her mother would have to clean up, Sakura smiled, happily watching the chaos unfold.
~~~ The Next Day ~~~
If one discounted all of the horrific things that lurked in the shadows or closed doors, Konoha was a beautiful village. One of the greatest.
Even from Kakashi's current place, sitting atop the Hokage Monument, the village seemed as tranquil and serene as ever. Civilians walked along the streets and chatted with their friends, talking about inane things such as the weather or a new diet they were trying out, completely oblivious to what was going on outside of their little bubble. Oblivious to the things that people like him were responsible for keeping quiet.
If they had known what had almost occurred less than five years ago… Well, there was no reason to worry about what ifs. Everything was said and done and the situation had been dealt with. It was just a shame that so many lives had been lost in the process, even if they were traitors.
He looked out over at his home, the place he had been tasked with protecting, just taking it all in for a long moment. He wished he had more opportunities to take it all in like this, but being one of the most valuable members of the village military didn't leave one with much time to sightsee.
“Oi, Senpai! What are you doing up here all alone?”
And it looked like his time was up. Kakashi turned his eye away from the view to instead look at the smiling, black-haired man who was walking in his direction.
Kakashi's eyes strayed over his eye patch, the black fabric sticking out sharply on his pale face. He didn't seem put down by it, never had really, “Shisui.” He greeted as the Uchiha reached him, “I thought you'd still be working.”
“They had more staff than they thought they would, so I asked to leave early.” Shisui grinned unrepentantly as he planted himself down beside his senpai, “I'm a free man for the next ten hours. Maybe. It depends on if they manage to find me or not. On a completely unrelated note, do you still have that spare room?”
So Shisui pissed someone off and Commander Bear was on his ass again. Kakashi sighed, “I do, but you're buying groceries this week. I've been taking less work because of that injury I got last month so you're gonna pick up the slack.”
Shisui groaned, but didn't disagree. Kakashi knew that the man would rather be out a few thousand ryo than have to return home. Especially after what he and Itachi had done.
Kakashi closed his eye, purging his mind of that terror-filled day. The Uchiha clan was a shell of its former self without the majority of the older generation, but hopefully history wouldn't repeat itself once those left recovered from the tragedy.
He looked back over the village, eyes wandering over his home as he and Shisui sat there, just enjoying the refreshing midday breeze that was so prevalent this high up.
After a few minutes spent in silence, Shisui suddenly spoke, pointing to a building in the shadow of the monument “Hey, look over there. By the library.”
Kakashi followed his fellow jonin’s gaze to find the brightest, pinkest hair he had ever seen in his life. Two little girls, one clearly much older than the other, were exiting the library side-by-side. In the taller ones arms was a stack of books nearly as tall as she was, and while Kakashi could read their titles from this far away, they looked extremely thick. Clearly not assigned reading.
As the taller of the two turned to say something to the shorter, revealing emerald eyes that were set in an exasperated expression, he recognized the girl. Sakura Haruno. A bit of a hot topic in certain circles currently.
“That’s the girl that Holage-sama’s been talking about, hm?” Kakashi mused aloud as he watched the girl trip over herself trying to carry that many books at once. The other child, (a sister?) shouted in panic and went to help her up “She doesn’t look all that impressive.”
Despite his words, Kakashi didn't really believe them. Even from this far away, his practiced eyes could make out the quality of her outfit, much more practical than anything that most kids her age would wear, as well as the bandages on her fingers and cheek. She was clearly taking her training seriously unlike most her age.
“You say that, but I was on the Anbu detail sent to watch over her and Lady Chiyo. She managed to produce and use chakra strings in just a week of training. Scary stuff.” Shisui commented as she got back to her feet. His point was immediately proven as, instead of simply picking her books up by hand, the pinkette used several glowing strings of pure chakra to do so, neatly stacking them atop one another before picking them up once more, “That kid’s got crazy chakra control and she isn’t even out of the Academy. I wonder what kind of monster she’ll grow up to be.”
He suddenly grinned at Kakashi, “Heh, maybe you and Itachi have a new member of your little club. That’s what? A prodigy every generation now?”
Kakashi hid a grimace. He hoped not. Neither he, nor Itachi were considered ‘well adjusted’, even for shinobi of their generation. The labels that they had been given as children may not have been the entire reason for their state of mind, but they were certainly rather large factors. The expectations of a prodigy only ever increased.
“Hopefully she's just a hard worker.” He said, watching her carefully. His eyes widened as, instead of licking the books back up, she pulled out a scroll and sealed them away in a puff of smoke, “An extremely hard worker. Seals at her age, really? I thought Kushina was just pulling my leg.”
Shisui chuckled, “You know how serious she is about that stuff. I'm surprised she hasn't gone looking for the girl yet with how borderline rabid she can be.”
“True enough I suppose.” Kakashi ceded his point, “She’d probably be better about it if someone other than Jiraiya-sama showed an interest in sealing. Or if she was a bit less enthusiastic about it.”
“Pfft, you might as well ask her to give up ramen. It's never gonna happen.” Shisui sorted, standing up, “Anyway, wanna come help me get my stuff put away? I might have already brought my stuff over.”
Kakashi sighed, “Of course you did. I swear, if Itachi didn't have Sasuke to worry about, I'd never agree to this. Let him deal with you.”
“You know you love me.”
“I can still change my mind, you know.”
“...Nevermind.” Shisui chuckled nervously at Kakashi's flat stare, turning to leave, “Anyway, let's get a move on. If we hurry, I can stop by the market before it closes and grab us some stuff for dinner. If I know you, you're still eating those frozen meals that taste like cardboard.”
He was right, but Kakashi didn't tell him that, instead remaining silent and letting the other man sweat until he finally broke their locked gaze, looking away, “Right, well I'll go ahead and do that. See you in a bit, senpai.”
Kakashi chuckled silently as he stood to follow his kohai. As he did so, he glanced back down below, and his eyes widened as he was met with the green-eyed gaze of the girl they had just been talking about, somehow having locked onto him hundreds of meters away. They stared at each other for a moment, before he gave her a small wave, unsure of what else to do.
Her eyes widened before a massive smile spread across her face and she waved back much more enthusiastically. Her sister looked at her in confusion, and she hurriedly pointed in his direction, causing him to smile slightly at her childish enthusiasm.
‘Well at least I don't have to worry about her turning out like us.’ Kakashi thought to himself as he turned away, following Shisui, ‘I don't think I've ever smiled like that in my life'
~~~ Anko Mitarashi ~~~
“Look, all I'm saying is that you two are really shit at hiding things.” Anko said around the dango shoved in her mouth, “Like, if you two were in T&I I’d have to give you remedial training or something. That's how shit you are.”
“We aren't trying to hide anything, Anko.” Her longtime friend, Kurenai Yuhi sighed, rolling her eyes, “We just don't advertise it for everyone to see. The last thing I want to deal with is a bunch of death threats from those lonely widows who want a piece of him.”
“Of Asuma?” Anko snorted, causing Kurenai to narrow her eyes at her, “When did he become some sort of eligible bachelor? He's cute, sure, but he's always smoking like a chimney. I bet his house smells like a fire pit.”
“I'm literally right here, you know?” The third person seated at the table spoke up with an annoyed look on his face, “And I'll have you know that I don't smoke in the house. It yellows the wallpaper.”
“Pshh, whatever.” Anko reached down to grab another skewer of dango off of her plate as she finished the first, “You smoke enough that that shit’s probably permanently stuck in your clothes. Hell, I bet you wake up and your breath smells like cigarettes.”
“This coming from the woman who's admitted to sleeping with snakes.” Kurenai spoke up in defense of her boyfriend, “You're really living up to the stereotypes of being Orochimaru-sama’s student.”
“Hey, stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason.” Anko shrugged, not at all bothered, “It doesn't seem to bother anyone I bring over.”
“Yeah, because you're too busy shoving your tongue down their throat or your hand down their pants.” Asuma muttered, only to yelp as Kurenai elbowed him for his remark.
Anko wasn't hurt by the words at all though, instead grinning at the man, “Yeah, or they're too busy playing with my tits. Have you seen these puppies? Even the ladies can't keep their hands off of me!” She shook her chest for emphasis, the whole thing made even more obscene by the fact that she had taken off her trench coat, leaving her in her mesh shirt. It didn't quite show any skin, but it definitely left little up to the imagination.
Asuma, being the taken man that he was, had done a valiant job of not staring at her tits during the last few hours, but he was still mortal and as she pressed her chest out, he couldn't help but blatantly stare at them.
“Asuma… You better watch yourself or what I can do with my genjutsu will be the least of your problems.” Kurenai said warningly as her boyfriend ogle another woman. Anko knew that the woman wasn't serious but Asuma didn't, and so the fear that flashed across his face was very real.
Sharing an secret amused glance with her friend, Anko grinned, going to pile on the man, but was interrupted by a loud voice before she could
“Whoa! Onee-chan look! That lady doesn't have a shirt on!”
Anko's eyes widened while Kurenai snorted as the childish voice practically yelled that through the restaurant. Practically the entire restaurant turned to look at her, seemingly noticing her attire for the first time.
Most of them turned back to what they were doing immediately, this was a ninja business after all and they no doubt knew who she was, but a few of them gave her appreciative looks or whistles, me and women alike leering at her exposed body as they enjoyed the view she had given them all.
Anko didn't care about any of that though, that was just a regular day for her. No, she was much more interested in the brat who had made the comment in the first place.
She turned to the door to find a pair of pink-haired children, one of them much older than the other and holding her head in embarrassment while the other was pointing right at her with wide green eyes. That was weird for several reasons, and not just because they were literal children.
This restaurant was one that most civilians wouldn't even step foot in, mostly because it was in the Shinobi Sector, but also because it was practically only patroned by said shinobi. For two children to wander in here.
She scrutinized the girl's, taking in their eye-catching bright pink hair and clothing. One of them, the younger of the two, was a normal civilian girl, but the other was in the academy judging by her more practical outfit.
They looked so innocent, like regular children. They also looked very easy to screw with, and Anko felt a mischievous smile spread across her face.
“I'll be right back.” Anko said to her friends as she stood from the table.
Kurenai immediately gave her a disapproving look, “Anko-”
“I'm not gonna hurt them.” She reassured as she pulled her trench coat on, “I'm just gonna scare 'em a little bit. Teach the brats not to be so rude.”
“I don't know why I even bother.” Kurenai sighed as she rested a cheek on her hand. Asuma just shrugged, sitting back to enjoy the show.
Anko ignored them as she stalked over to the two children, one of who was looking at her like she was the most interesting thing she'd ever seen, while the other was giving her a much more wary gaze. Heh, it seemed like one of them already had some good instincts. Shame it wouldn't help them here.
She grinned as she got close to them, already imagining their reaction when she pulled out one of her scarier snakes, only to pause as she got close enough to notice something. The shorter and younger of the two looked fine and in fact, wasn’t even paying attention to her anymore, looking off towards the counter in search of something to eat. The older one though, carried a distinct look about her. She looked almost sick…no. Not sick, compromised.
Immediately, Anko's well-trained mind went into diagnostic mode, trying to figure out what the issue was. Her skin was flushed and her nose was runny. The fingers on her left hand were constantly tapping against each other as if arm had fallen asleep and she was trying to get feeling back into them. Combined with the slight strain in her eyes, as if she had a headache, all of the signs pointed to one thing.
Her eyes narrowed seriously, “Oi, pinkie.” She called out as she closed the last few feet between them, “Mind telling me who the hell’s poisoning you?”
~~~
Sakura eyed the woman warily as she just stared at them from a foot or so away. She knew she should have just waited until they were in a more civilian oriented part of the village to find somewhere to eat but Hanami wanted dango and according to Tachi, this shop was the best place to get it.
Why her sister decided to scream at the top of her lungs, making fun of a random kunoichi the moment they walked into the building, Sakura wasn't sure. She probably should have suspected it though. Her sister was a motormouth on the best of days.
She narrowed her eyes as the purple-haired woman suddenly spoke, her voice casual but carrying an undertone of danger.
“Oi, pinkie.” The woman stared at her with serious eyes and Sakura slowly pushed Hanami behind her as she stared warily at this clearly dangerous woman. Said woman raised an eyebrow at her behavior but pushed past it, shoving a piece of dango into her mouth that slightly muffled her next question, “Mind telling me who the hell’s poisoning you?”
As the woman's two friends looked over at the group in surprise, Sakura gave the woman a look of shock, not at all expecting the question, “Wait what? How'd you notice I was poisoned?”
Instead of answering, the purple-haired woman just smirked, reaching into her trench coat. Sakura tensed slightly, wondering what she was doing, only to freeze in shock as the kunoichi slowly pulled out something dark, long, and hissing.
A snake with black scales and a red belly laid content in the woman's arms, slowly winding up around her shoulders and eventually her neck as she fixed the children with a smirk, “I'm guessing you've never heard of me, huh kid? My name's Anko, and my specialty happens to be the poisons that come from things like this cute little guy right here.”
Sakura wouldn't call that snake cute, especially not with the way it was staring at her right now, but it was sort of pretty in a dangerous way and for a moment she couldn't help but imagine what it'd be like to have one. That thought was immediately struck down by the next words that came out of Anko's mouth.
“What I love most about him is how his venom works.” Anko sighed, nuzzling the snake lovingly, “Red-bellied Adder venom gives you all the symptoms of a minor cold in small doses like the one you probably took, but if you had taken more than a few ounces, it'd cause your organs to break down in a super painful way. Like acid was poured down your throat. It's extremely popular in my circles.”
As the purple-haired woman nuzzled her companion lovingly, Sakura stared at her and the beautiful snake in fascination before horror slowly crept into her expression.
Slowly, she reached into her tool pouches, pulling out a capped vial of clear liquid with small, yellow speckles inside of it. She held it up for the woman to see, “I-Is this what it looks like?”
“Yeah, that's it.” Anko nodded.
‘Dang it, sensei!’ Sakura screamed in her mind as she stared at her poison, ‘Couldn’t you give me some warning next time!? That was definitely not in the book!’
Just then, a bearded man in a standard flak jacket walked up to them, followed by a short woman with dark hair and red eyes that Sakura was almost eighty percent sure wasn't an Uchiha. She just didn't have that smug aura that most of them seemed to carry around with them.
“Anko, you said you were just gonna scare them.” The man sighed, “Why did you pull your snake out?”
Anko snorted at his unintentional innuendo and he just gave her an anamused look, “Oh lighten the fuck up, Asuma. I was just explaining to pinkie here what that poison she’s been taking is doing to her body. Nothing bad, I promise.”
Asuma went to say something in response, but he paused as he glanced over to Sakura. She tilted her head, confused at his stare, and his eyes suddenly widened, “Hey wait. You're the girl with the chakra strings, aren't you? Inoichi told me about you but I didn’t think you'd be so young.”
Sakura blinked, “You know Ino's dad?”
“Most of us high profile jonin know each other in one way or another.” Anko piped up, “What's this I'm hearing about chakra strings? Where'd a girl like you get your hands on a technique that advanced?”
Sakura puffed her cheeks in annoyance, “What's that supposed to mean!? Chiyo-sensei said I was one of the most talented students she's ever had!”
That caught Annk off guard, “Wait, you're the brat that that old hag was teaching? Shit, you're doing resistance training, aren't you?”
Sakura carefully ignored the insult to her teacher, instead nodding firmly, “That's right! I'm training to be the greatest puppet master in the world! Chiyo-sensei left me with a bunch of lessons when she left and I have to keep training my resistance so I don't poison myself when I'm a kunoichi!”
“Smart.” Anko nodded approvingly, surprising her companions, “I was probably around your age when I started my training. If you keep it up, I'm sure you’ll-”
“Onee-chan!” They all flinched as a shrill voice suddenly called out to Sakura from somewhere behind her, startling them all.
Sakura looked over towards her screaming sister, ready to reprimand her, only for her face to scrunch in annoyance as she saw the girl already standing at the counter, several sticks of dango in her hands. Hanami gave her a smile, waving her arms, “Come on! Hurry up and pay! I wanna eat!”
“Hanami…” Sakura sighed, turning back to the three adults and giving them an apologetic bow, “I'm sorry, but I need to go. And I'm sorry for what Hanami said earlier, Anko.”
As she tried to leave, Anko suddenly called out to her, “Hold on a second, pinkie.” Sakura turned around, only to blink in surprise as a fistful of ryo was shoved against her chest. She grabbed the bills, looking down to find more than enough money to pay for her and her sister's dango.
She looked at the woman in confusion and was met with a smirk, “Take that and in return, I want you to come visit me in T&I sometimes, alright? Kids these days don't know the wonders of a good, gut-boiling poison and you're working with one of the worst. I'll give you some pointers and you'll become my little protege, okay?”
Sakura stared at Anko with wide eyes, wondering what in the world this woman was talking about. Moving her gaze to the woman's friends wasn't helpful, as they seemed to have lost interest in the conversation and we're heading back towards their table.
She looked back towards Anko who stared at her expectantly, “But I'm not allowed in there. Nobody under chunin is allowed into T&I unless they want to be put under investigation!” Sakura said, remembering what she knew about the place.
Anko just laughed, waving her words off, “Neither was I. I'm sure you'll figure it out. When you do, come find me.”
With that, the purple-haired woman did an about face, heading back to her table without another word. Sakura watched her go, wondering what that whole exchange even was, before startling as her sister yelled again.
“Onee-chan!”
“I'm coming, jeez!”