Into a New Path

9

"Sakura Talking."
'Sakura's Thoughts,'
'Inner's Thoughts,'
"Inner Talking."
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3 months had passed since the first day Sakura had entered the academy. Madara had told her to walk without a slouch and to keep her training a secret. Sitting at her spot, she heard the familiar squeals and screeches of the girls that seemed to surround Sasuke Uchiha. Madara had told her to not bring attention to herself, and Sakura would only nod to his request. She had also noticed other people, a boy with bright hair and bright eyes, who was always smiling at everyone, a lazy brown-haired guy, a loud blond girl who seemed to be the number one supporter of Sasuke, and a shy girl that sat next to her.

Sakura wondered why the shy girl never spoke to her, but she was sure that she was kind. When Iruka talked about the Hokages, Sakura would put her head down and catch up on needed rest. Her training was tiring but it paid off. She could defend herself if needed with a bit of taijutsu and ninjutsu, could use a kunai and shuriken if needed, and could perform some fire nature release jutsus. She did feel saddened and a bit angry about the girls picking on her. They made fun of her pink hair, and they seemed to know that her parents never walked her to school. They didn't know that her parents were dead, or that she had witnessed them die. She never complained to Iruka about the bullying and anyone else that noticed had stayed quiet about the situation.

Sakura knew that today was the day that they would spar with each other. Only taijutsu was allowed, and she was ecstatic, because she can show everyone that she is cool. That's all she wanted to do. Show everyone that she is as cool as the weird Uchiha and have friends to talk to. She had already proven to have intelligence on her side and accuracy with shuriken. Madara and her shared one dislike and that was the kunoichi classes. When Sakura wanted to train during the academy, she couldn't because they made her pick out flowers. When Madara had first seen her do a wasteful activity during a shinobi academy, he had lost his mind.

All she could do was blink rapidly at the words he had said. Madara, she learned, only talked to her when he would train her and told her to take care of her eyes. She didn't know for what reason he would worry about her eyes, but she would never let anyone get close to her.  "Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno, you may begin," Iruka announced and heard many yells of encouragement that were thrown at Ino. Sakura, inwardly, deflated at having no one give her encouragement, but she knew Madara was sleeping somewhere in her mind. She remember him saying "A real shinobi does not watch weak little girls give it a shot at a spar. It is embarrassing," he had said to her, and she only stared at her hands.

Sakura closed her eyes and heard footsteps nearing her and all she could remember was ducking under an outstretched fist, delivering a hard kick to Ino, and looking down at Ino, who was on the floor. Sakura held out her hand to help her stand up, but she could only feel a pang of hurt as Ino slapped her hand away and stood up by herself. "You cheated," Ino accused and pointed at Sakura, who only shook her head. "No, I didn't. I won with skill," she turned to look at Iruka, "Right, sensei?" Iruka gave a wince at Ino and nodded. "Sakura is the winner of this match. Please form the hand sign and go to the sidelines," he announced and watched as Ino threw a hateful glance at Sakura and walked to her friends. Sakura raised a small eyebrow but happily made her ways to the sidelines.

She had won, and she couldn't be happier. The day passed quickly for her, and she stared at the clock on the wall. "Class dismissed, " Iruka announced, and Sakura walked to the door. She stepped out of the academy but found herself dodging rocks. "You show off! Don't be a cheater!" Ino exclaimed and kept throwing rocks at her. Sakura was shocked but stayed quiet as another girl started screaming at her. "You had no right to do that! What are you? Some freak that her parents won't walk to school," Ami shouted, and Sakura felt a pang of sadness go through her. Ino nodded and pointed a finger at her, "Yeah, Ami is right. You're just a loser. I bet your parents don't love you!" Sakura stopped dodging the rocks that were thrown at her and looked at Ino and Ami. "They do love me," she repeated and heard laughter come from the two girls.

"Oh, yeah. Then where are they? Hm," Ami mocked and Ino let out a snicker. Sakura looked around for help, but only only glances thrown at her. 'Why aren't they helping me?' Sakura locked eyes with the shy girl, but the shy girl only let out a small noise and left. "They're resting," Sakura said and saw the backs of Ami and Ino. "Well guess what, they're resting because they're tired of you," Ino stated and walked away from Sakura. Ami threw a scoff at her and ran to her blonde friend, who only glared at Sakura from far away. Sakura dragged her feet all the way to her home, not giving someone a glance.

Everyday she went to the academy, an insult would be thrown at her. At first, it was only Ino and Ami. Then more girls joined. They had started making fun of her hair, her forehead, went as far as to make fun of her parents, and even started playing pranks on her. Sakura slowly started to become quiet and stayed in her own circle. She wouldn't answer any questions that were asked to the class. No one wanted to be her friend, not the blond haired boy, nor the shy girl, nor the weird Uchiha. She hated the academy. She disliked the Hokage for taking her home away from her, disliked the girls that bullied her and disliked Iruka for not making the bullying stop. A small girl was already angry at a part of her village, and Madara could only smirk at the force she delivered to the trees in the forest. As the size of her fire ball jutsu grew, Madara's smirk seemed to grow. Everything was going according to plan.