Forest Child (Sasuke Love Story)

The Uchiha Massacre

The Uchiha Massacre

The 8 year old girl walked through the streets ignoring all the villagers hostility. She made grapes grow out of the vine on her arm and ate them one by one. Since everybody already knew that she is a jinjuriki there was no point in hiding her abilities.

She never harmed any of Konoha's citizens but they still treated her like a monster. None of them dared try and harm her either though. The third made it clear to to everyone in the village not to hurt Moriko. And after they saw her excellent shinobi skills and special abilities, the civilians were too scared to even consider it and the shinobi wouldn't dare defy the third's orders.

Moriko has been living in the village for several months and she has grew to hate the villagers who treat her like she's a wild animal loose from its cage. The only person who didn't treat her with such hostility is her 'grandfather' the third Hokage. She has started calling him Grandfather since he's the only person close enough to be a family to her.

She walked into the Academy and in the classroom. All eyes were on her until they found out who she was and averted their eyes back to The front of the classroom. Iruka-sensei however, looked at Moriko with mild concern. "Moriko your late, again."

"I know that." she said but with her monotone way of speaking and sat on her usual seat at the back next to the window. She started going to class late and sometimes didn't show up at all. Yet she somehow managed to still be the top student.

After class, Moriko was the first to leave. She went to her special tree and sat at the top branch with her back facing the village. That's all she did until she felt two familiar chakra. She went to the part of the training grounds where the two Uchihas train. She still continued to watch them train and see Sasuke's progress. She suppressed her chakra and hid high up on a tree but close enough to see clearly what the two brothers are doing.

***
The next day Moriko arrived in class early. She didn't sleep the night before and she didn't feel like facing the villagers and so she was the first to arrive in class. It was one of the very few times she went to class early since the villagers started treating her like a monster.

During class, Moriko glared out the window not listening to Iruka-sensei's teachings. She felt a certain blond idiot's stare. It wasn't exactly hostile. He stared more with confusion than with hatred. Moriko pretended to ignore him and kept staring at the window. He's been doing that for a few days and it's really bothering her. The blond boy confuses her, he's not hostile towards her but he's not friendly to her either. Normally she would brush it off but not when he keeps staring at her.

After school, Moriko went to the forest to make plants grow food because she doesn't like the way people treat her when she tries to shop in the market. She doesn't have a lot of money anyway. Other than giving her a room in his home, the Hokage treats her like any other villager in Konoha.

Although the third did basically adopt her as a granddaughter, none of the other Sarutobis are a family to her. She's just not considered an orphan.

She grew beans for protein since she can't buy meat in the market, and she can't just not eat protein either. She grew other plants and vegetables and put them all in a basket and walked to the Hokage mansion and into her room.

***
Meanwhile in the Academy, Iruka-sensei walked the empty hallway with a gloomy Naruto.

"Naruto, what's wrong?"

"Iruka-sensei. Can we talk?"

They stopped by the staircase. "Alright." They both sat down and Iruka-sensei asked "What do you want to talk about?"

"It's about Moriko." this perked up Iruka-sensei. "It's just that...everyone says she's a monster. She's really strong and she easily beat Sasuke! But she never really hurt anyone. But then there's that dark aura from the first time we met..."

"Naruto. you know, you and Moriko are the same. Your both alone."

"What do you mean Iruka-sensei?!"

"You both don't have parents. You see, her whole village was wiped out. But being a jinjuriki, probably no one, maybe not even her family accepted her."

"What?! Why?!"

"The same reason why everyone else here treats her like that. People here are like that. When someone or something is different and they can't understand, they treat them differently and push them away." he sighed "The first day she came here, that dark aura you were talking about, it was because of loss and grief. She lost the ones really important to her. And like I said earlier not a lot of people accept her. Very few, probably only one person ever cared about her. She lost the only people...or...person who ever accepted her for who she is. I can't imagine how hard that must feel. especially for someone her age."

"Wow. That's just so horrible. She's had such a hard life."

"What makes it even more horrible is, that just as people here were starting to warm up to her, they all suddenly turn their backs on her because of something she can't control. All she really needs is a friend to turn to."

"Then that's what I'm gonna do!" Naruto shouted, standing up. "I'm going to be her friend! Believe it!"

Iruka-sensei smiled, also standing up.

***

As Moriko jumped from branch to branch, she passed by the Uchiha clan and felt that something was off. It was way too quiet and she couldn't feel much chakra around the area. She got curious and went to look around. Then she saw bloodied bodies on the ground. She quickly ran up to the only source of chakra she could sense in the Uchiha compound.

Sasuke stood there, frozen in shock and in fear. His parents were lying in the middle of the room covered in their own blood. His mother on top of his father. Their eyes were open wide and glossy. Both so pale, the colour drained from their bodies as it lied in a pool of blood. He saw the silhouette of someone hidden in the shadows. As the silhouette moved forward it became clear who it is as light shown on his face from the only light source through the window.

Itachi Uchiha

Sasuke stood there shaking. 'Itachi, why?' His eyes widened as Itachi lifted up the sword in his hand slightly. He tried to move, lift up his feet and run.

Then the sound of a window breaking was heard and suddenly someone was between the two brothers, facing Itachi. "How could you do this? You killed your own clan and now your going to try and kill your brother. What kind of brother are you?" Sasuke was shocked, to say the least. He never saw Moriko express so much emotion. Her face was still blank but her eyes were glaring daggers at his brother and he could hear the slight venom laced into her voice. Sasuke noticed that the vine in Moriko's upper arm was moving in random directions. He averted his eyes through the window to see the trees also slightly moving "Your Sasuke's older brother. Your suppose to protect your brother, your suppose to care about them. How could you do this?"

The response she got is getting attacked. She suddenly found Itachi in front of her. He swung his sword at her. It meant to slit her throat but she reacted quickly by jumping backwards but she wasn't fast enough and it sliced through her left forearm. Her entire forearm was bleeding profusely. Sasuke was too shaken up to be sure but he swore that she didn't even flinch by the huge cut.

Moriko's vine wrapped around Itachi, squeezing him. She got a kunai out of her holster, ready to attack him. But when she looked directly into Itachi's eyes, suddenly, she went though her worst nightmares over and over again. It seemed to last for days which was actually only a second in real time. She fell to her knees, clutching her head. Each breath was heavy and uneven. Her face showed pure horror although it couldn't be seen for it was covered by her long hair.

All the plants around was going haywire. A huge tree with thick branches popped up from the floor, breaking the wood. All the branches were moving all over the place, forcing Itachi to flee. Sasuke got hit by the branches a few times. He had a few small cuts and his head was hit, making him a little dizzy but didn't knock him out.

Luckily, Moriko is really good at controlling her emotions. In just a few minutes, the plants stopped moving. Moriko's breathing became more stable. Shakily, she moved her hands to get the huge tree back into the earth, leaving the wooden floor with a large hole in the middle. She slowly stood up but fell back in the floor with a light thud.

Sasuke helped her up. He looked at her wound. The cut was deep and still bleeding. Even with her fast healing ability due to her biju, it was going to take a few days for the wound to fully close up. "Come on. We need to get your wound treated."