Sakura, Strong like no other [Editing]

Chapter Three: The Start Of A New Beginning

Minato's (Fourth Hokage) POV:

In my office, I sat behind my desk. Ignoring the mountains of the horrid paperwork that grew with every hour. I waited impatiently for the ANBU team I had sent out not too long ago.

A civilian called reporting a disturbance at a nearby residence. Claiming that someone had broken into their neighbor's house, not long after other people began to report the sounds of screaming coming from the house in question.

Light on staff I had sent an ANBU squad who had returned from a mission not too long before the calls and dispatched them.

That was nearly an hour ago.

If it was a simple break in then they would be back with a report in 5 minutes at the most. Clearly, something else had taken place. I needed to know what was going on and why it was taking them so long.

Whatever had happened could be related to the fact that some of the guards at the gate believe someone had snuck into the village. If it was connected, if someone was skilled enough to breach security then I pray for the safety of the home.

And not only that, it caused me great worry knowing that some of the most highly trained shinobi in the village took this long on what should be a simple routine break-in. If this event was not in fact connected and was merely a coincidence.

Hopefully....

In a flash 4 Anbu appeared in front of me and bowed respectively.

"Hokage-sama," they said.

"Rise, enough with the formalities. This was a report of a break in yet it took you over an hour to return. What is your report? What the hell happened?!"

I demanded.

The captain, in a cat-like mask, stepped forward.

"Arriving at the location of the break-in we found the door wide open and not a single light burning. We sensed the chakra of 7 people in what appeared to be a bedroom. 2 however felt as though they were fading away. "

"Entering through a window we discovered two deceased bodies on the floor, a man dressed all black holding a person while another was seemingly torturing them, two others standing by them"

"Reacting quickly we killed the four of them for they were the intruders while the two dead bodies were the residents of the house, Kizashi and Mebuki Haruno. The only survivor was the person we found being tortured. A young girl. After being released she struggled to keep balance but passed out due to blood loss. The others disposed of the bodies and I took the girl to the hospital to have her wounds treated"

He explained.

I processed the information I had just been told, his words sinking in slowly as I do so.

"She must be an academy student or a Genin, 10 or 11?" I assumed.

"Neither sir, she's 3" He spoke.

My jaw practically unhinged, my mouth hung open and gaping like a fish. To say I was surprised would be an understatement.

A 3-year-old girl? How could one so small handle that? Did those men not even care? They took the lives of her parents, the ones she loves with all her heart...and she watched them be ripped out of this world.

How cruel can one be? To do such a thing to one so young and innocent? Those monsters had no right to do this, no right to barge in on that girl's life and completely tear it apart. To remove her most precious people from the face of the earth.

And she's no older than my own son, Naruto. I couldn't imagine what it'd do to him if he had to experience that, to lose Kushina and myself. It would break him.