destiny calls | *. naruto fanfic

38.

"Find her and bring her here. Find the ones she has been living with as well. It's time we finish the job." The white-haired man glared down at the village below him as a singular shinobi nodded and vanished from sight. He had let his daughter run unchecked for far too long. She had grown even more rebellious in her teenage years. It was time to show her the heavy price tag that came along with her actions. 

    The shinobi darted across the rooftops of Konoha's abandoned buildings, avoiding the bloody battlefield below as well as he could. The Leaf shinobi were losing, exactly as expected. After all, they had just suffered a crushing blow thanks to the missing-nin Orochimaru. It was only a matter of time until they crushed Konoha completely. 

As he ran, a certain young pink-haired kunoichi was fighting her own battle on the ground. A battle to protect her village, a battle to protect her family, a battle to protect her friends. But mostly, it was a battle to protect herself. Sakura always knew she was at a disadvantage. Being born into a civilian family, she never once got the specialized training those born into the clans received. Instead, she made flower crowns and chased butterflies.

    Hell even Akari, who apparently had a seriously messed up childhood, was better than her. Sakura was always chasing after everyone else. She would take one step, while everyone else ran. And just when she felt like she's accomplished something, reality comes to slap her in the face. And that's exactly what it was doing now. 

    As she narrowly dodged yet another kunai, Sakura's hope seemed to dim. It was as though fate simply couldn't allow for her to reach up and grasp even the slightest bit of power. Would she always be condemned to watch the backs of those around her?

    Perhaps it truly was as Akari has predicted so long ago. Would she always be a burden to the team? She knew how the girl thought of her. As a lowly paper-nin and nothing more. Good in the classroom but useless on the field. She knew Akari looked down on her for her hopeless crush on Sasuke. And perhaps it was rightfully so. 

    Her face hardened as she jabbed her kunai at the opponent before her. Ninja rule number 22: a shinobi must never show any weakness. Weakness meant death. But the problem is that she is weak. She was a burden and deadweight. That's what Sakura had grown to believe. And in the end, those words had sunk inside her head to become her truth.

    Meanwhile, somewhere not-so-far from the struggling village, was a certain blond genin who was happily chatting with an older woman. He told stories of his team; about his one-sided crush on Sakura, about his ongoing rivalry with Sasuke, and about how much he admired Akari's strength. Blissfully unaware of the horror that would await his return. Unaware of the sorrow he would come to feel as he mourned the loss of strangers and those dear to him alike. And completely unaware of Akari's history.
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"Third time's the charm," A shinobi muttered as he silently let the body of a Leaf ninja drop to the floor. His kunai glinted in the dim light of the emergency shelter, blood coating the surface. Just beyond the door in front of him was the third group of civilians he had found. The other two groups? Dead. All of them. He had his orders. Find the traitor and the ones who raised her. He was to kill anyone else. 

    Kicking open the door, he noted no more shinobi were in the room, meaning he had already taken care of everyone that had been guarding this round of civilians. He had to admit the Leaf was smart. They had evacuated all of the civilians to different locations in small groups of ten to twenty. Finding them all was going to be a pain in the ass. 

    However, since the groups were small, looking through them for his target was rather easy. His black eyes grazed over the terrified group, scanning for a head of white. Unlike his last two attempts, he found what he was looking for in a corner of the shelter, and with a small sneer he watched as the girl stood, turning to face him.