The Viper of Konoha

Waking Up Again

After the council meeting, Tsunade immediately went to the hospital to see if she could help Sakura. She was followed by Jiraiya who was also interested in her. When they arrived they found that the room held an unexpected visitor in the form of Anko.

Tsunade decided to ignore the kunoichi and instead focused on the patient. She read the journal and performed her own examination.

"She will scar heavily, especially from the wind sword, the chidori and the net of ninja wire on fire. Has her parents been contacted?" Tsunade asked as she turned towards Anko. Anko meanwhile looked up at the hokage and listened intently.

"They have relocated to the capital with their six year old son. Apparently they felt that it was too dangerous living in a shinobi village." Anko answers her. Both of the sannin could clearly hear the exhaustion in her voice.

"Then you, as her sensei, are to be considered her guardian. The backwards jump she did saved her life, but sadly she has lost the ability to bare children. The damage was too great. The injury will scar and has created a lichtenberg figure around her lower abdomen and to her stomach. From her left hip to her right collarbone she has a slash scar and her back looks more like a burnt shogi board than actual back." The final comment did gain her a small chuckle from Anko.

"Will it hinder her abilities as a kunoichi?" Anko asked. She liked Sakura and knew that she could become great.

"No it won't." Tsunade responded. "She won't be sent to seduction missions with her scars but other than that there won't be a problem. ANBU already wants her."

"She could do great in ANBU." Anko said as she looked at her young student. "But she will need more training."

"You better train her well then." Jiraiya interjected.

"What do you mean?" Anko asked.

"You are here new sensei. It is your job to train her. ANBU will send her an invite to join once you have trained her." Tsunade explained to her.

XXXXX

The first thing that came to Sakura as she regained consciousness was voices. She couldn't make out what they were saying, but she could hear several unique voices talking around her. Slowly, she opened her eyes. She closed them again as her eyes was struck by a blinding light.

"Ugh." She let out a groan as she took a deep breath, pain flaring up in her body.

"Please lay still and relax." Sakura stiffened. The last thing we remembered was the invasion, perhaps she had been captured.

"Relax brat, you're in the hospital." Sakura relaxed as she recognized the voice as Anko's. Feeling brave, she slowly opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was her teacher's face with a smug expression.

"What happened?" Sakura's voice was frail and dry from not being used. The other woman, somebody Sakura doesn't recognize helped her drink some water.

"What do you remember?" Anko asked.

"The invasion?" Sakura asked, with panic in her voice. "What happened with it?"

"The invasion was unsuccessful." Anko answered. "Sadly, it came at a high cost. The Sandaime is dead. You have been unconscious for over a month. This here is Shizune, she's the Godaime's apprentice."

"A month!?" Sakura tried to sit up, but pain cursed through her body every time she tried. "Who's the Godaime?"

"Tsunade Senju." Shizune answered, approaching to examine Sakura. "Your recovery will be long and hard."

"I have some good news, and some bad news." Sakura nodded towards Anko. Indicating for her to continue. "Your family has left Konoha, basically abandoning you."

"I knew that they might. They never felt comfortable here, and they didn't support me becoming a shinobi."

"The good news however is that you got promoted to chunin." She gave Sakura a smile. "I have been ordered to train you to ANBU level, they want to recruit you. As your Sensei, you can start with me until you find a place of your own."

XXXXX

It took a month before Sakura was healed enough to leave the hospital. When she found out the full scope of her injuries, including the fact that she can no longer bear children, she cried for hours. At this point in her recovery, she only has to build up her strength again and she'll be fine as a shinobi.

Having left the hospital, there was still one stop left before she began training again. Finding a new outfit.

Anko had complained childishly that Sakura didn't want to use her "awesome patented Anko style" anymore, but Sakura countered that her wounds still hurt sometimes, so she needed looser clothing. That was the main reason why she didn't wear the standard uniform. While the wounds were healed, because of the nature of wind created by chakra attacks, they might hurt from time to time for years to come. Sakura had already noticed how it seemed to be worse when she wrote tighter clothing.

"I still think you should just Dutch the shirt and call out a day." Anko complained loudly yet again.

"Konoha doesn't need another mini-me. We already have Lee." Anko shivered visibly and Sakura smirked. She knew that the only reason Anko was complaining so loudly was because she know how freaked out people who heard it become. Truthfully, Sakura enjoyed it too. She ignored the mock hurt expression in her sensei's face as she entered the store.

The store she had chosen to start he search wasn't necessarily the most popular, but taking with Anko, it was very popular among the higher ranked shinobi in the village. The only reason why she knew about it was because of Tenten. Sakura had met the other girl in the hospital as she was there to visit Lee and they started talking. Apparently her parents opened the store after finishing their apprenticeships under a blacksmith and seamstress respectively. It is quite common for shinobi to take an apprenticeship if they get injured during a mission.

"Hi Sakura." Sakura looked and saw that Tenten was working behind the counter today.

"Hi Tenten."

"Looking for some new clothes today like you told me?" Sakura smiled and nodded before beginning her search.

It took thirty minutes for her to find something that interested her.

"Tenten, what is this fabric? It's so thick." She asked the genin about the fabric she was holding.

"It has mesh sewn into it, between the layers of thick fabric. It's a bit warm and heavy, but it should protect you." Sakura looked back at the item of clothing she was holding, she had made her decision.

At the other side of the store, Anko was looking at some more unique weapons. Every shinobi of Konoha recieved a set amount of kunai, shuriken and other ninja tools each month. If they want some other weapon, they have to buy it with their own money.

"Sensei." Anko turned around from the short spear she had inspected and saw her student with her new outfit. Sakura was wearing a thick, heavy duty, dark grey gi. On her leg she still has her old kunai pouch and her old shinobi sandals was on her feet. Her gi was held together with an even darker grey belt, but Anko could see the black sports bra Sakura was wearing underneath. Finishing up the outfit was the hitai-ate, which band was now the same colour as her belt, resting upon her forehead.

"You look great." Was all Anko could say. She would enjoy training this kid.