J A D E

Chapter Four : Man with scars

"What happened, Tsunade-sama?" I look at my mentor with tired eyes. Wounded are too many, too many for medics to deal with. But it is not about the patients, I can see that much in her hazel eyes.

"Sakura, take a seat." She whispers in a low voice. She has just recovered from the fight with Madara. I have never seen her looking like this before. She is worn out, tired. As if, she is tired of being alive. I do as she told me, nervousness rising inside of me, eating me from inside. "Sakura... It's..." She looks down, shame creeping on her face. "I am sorry." She whispers. My thoughts immediately shifts to Naruto, Kakashi, Yamato, Sai and Sasuke. "Konoha was attacked." No. "Your parents... They didn't make it out alive." She whispers and hands her head low. No.

"No!" I wake up in the middle of the night, screaming, covered in sweat. It has been a whole year, ever since that day and I still can't shake off the feeling of losing them. Of failing them, once again. When they died, I have missed a lot of things and I couldn't manage to save Hinata-chan from her kidnappers. The death of Neji's father was what brought me back in reality. It reminded me of why I am here. Why I was sent back.

I continued training even harder than before. I started reading as much about jutsus as possible. I have always known that my chakra elements were four. Water, earth, Yin and Yang. Yet, I nearly never used them. And I never used element based Jutsus during the war. Thus, this time I am planning to change it. Entirely.

My chakra reserves are already reaching the amount, which I had during the beginning of genin days, which is not much. But it is still something. Better than nothing at all.

"Hello, Sakura-chan!" Shoto greets me happily as I step inside his shop. "How did the poison work go?" He asks me skeptically and eyes me up.

"Alright." I shrug my shoulders and grin at him. "I managed to survive them." I mumble and start looking through different, new poison I could get immunized to. I still keep myself away from strong poisons, as my body is still not strong enough to deal with them. But I learned how to manage to overpower low leveled poisons, which paralyzed your body. "Ne, Shoto-san." I call out, ignoring another chakra presence in the shop. "Do you have any new weapons?" I ask as I step out of the shelves. I stumble across a large man, who is four times my height. And a lot bulkier.

"Gomen." I whisper as I  crash into the man, which made me drop my vials of poisons, but before they manage to hit the floor, I catch them. "I didn't mean to." I add and walk past him, without looking up at his face.

I put my vials on Shoto-san's desk and smile at the older man in front of me.

"I might have something, that might interest you, Sakura-chan." Shoto-san replies with sparkle dancing in his eyes. I raise my eyebrows and wait for him as he disappears behind the open door. He emerges only a minute after, with something long in his hands. I can feel calculating eyes slowly studying me.

Shoto-san places a long katana on the desk. Its handle is pinkish with sakura petals drawn upon it. I smile at it, gently touching it and feeling sharp metal underneath my hand. I accidently cut the pal of my hand, a small line of blood oozing from the wound.

"Sakura-chan!" Shoto-san exclaims and looks at me hand. I shrug it and transfer my chakra towards the wound, slowly healing it. "Did... did you heal it?" He asks me perplexed.

"I learned minor medical jutsus." I shrug my shoulders and smile at the man. "Ne, Shoto-san... Won't this be too long for me?" I look at the katana. It won't fit me until I reach my normal height, which was during my fifteen and sixteen year.

"I can save it up for you, Sakura-chan." Shoto-san smiles at me.

"Thank you, Shoto-san." I bow to the man, pay for the poisons and several weapons I brought and bow to the man before leaving the shop.

***

"Who was she?" A man with black bandana, large scar on his face asks in low, grunting voice. He is still looking at the door, from where a girl left mere minute ago.

"Sakura-chan." Shoto answers with a small, sad smile. "Her parents died last year, she is civilian, yet she wishes to be shinobi." Shoto explains with a smile. "She is some kind of prodigy if you ask me." He adds with a shrug and returns back to his weapons.

***

I run through the trees, jumping from one to another, feeling the gush of wind against my skin. My body feels weightless against the tree branches. A small smile creeps its way on my face. The sense of freedom entirely engulfing me.

I land in my usual, Team 7, training grounds and look around. I sense nothing out of ordinary. Thus, I start throwing kunais and shurikens at different directions, yet hitting every one of the targets in the centre.

I sigh after twenty minutes, ran out of all the weapons, that I could throw. Hurriedly, I start walking up the tree to collect everything. Jumping from one tree to another and picking up kunais and shurikens feels easy. Refreshing.

It's been a whole year and I still can't shake off the feeling of the war against my skin. I can't calm down, I can't relax. I smirk as I throw one of my kunais at the direction of chakra.

A man, I met in the shop steps out, impressed. Ibiki Morino is looking at me with surprised look in his dark eyes. He looks around before his eyes land on me.

"How did you know I was here, brat?" He asks me harshly. I have only briefly encountered him during the war. He usually was at the base. And the base was blown up after seven years since the beginning the war. And he, alongside Inoichi and Shikaku, was in the base.

"I sensed your chakra." I shrug my shoulders and  jump down from the tree, landing perfectly in front of Ibiki-san. Ever since the chunin exams, I have been fascinated by him and Anko-san. They were one of the best workers of T&I. Torture and Interrogation was never the desirable field in Konoha. But these two, they were pros in their job.

"How old are you, brat?" Ibiki asks me, eyeing me carefully.

"Four." I grin at the scary man in front of me and beg Kami, he takes me as his student. "Who are you, sir?" I ask, knowing perfectly well that no four-year-old is supposed to know who Morino Ibiki is. Especially, if that child is from civilian family.

"Morino Ibiki." He replies shortly. "What's your name?" He asks while keeping eyeing me. I can see that he does not entirely trusts me.

"Haruno Sakura, Ibiki-san." I grin at him once again. "Ne, Ibiki-san... Why were you spying on me?" I ask with large, innocent eyes. His eyes become wider, shocked expression appearing on his face for a second, before he masks it again.

"I am interested in your abilities." He admits and walks forward. I only nod, hope filling my chest. Once or twice, I even had to work with him and Anko-san. And they were the first people, who made me feel useful. "Listen, brat, are you interested in having a mentor?" He asks me suddenly.

"Yes, Ibiki-san." I nod immediately, scared not to lose a chance.  "I want to be a strong shinobi. I want to know basics before entering Academy and even then, I want to be ready for everything." I admit.

"Why?" I look at him confused. Why? Because I am tired of being weak. I am tired of not being enough.

"Because I want to defend people, who are dear to me." I admit after a slight hesitation. "I want to be strong by the time, I finish the academy, so when I am put in the team, my teammates can trust me to save them if something goes wrong." I whisper the words, while looking down at the ground. I don't want to be saved, anymore. This time around, I want to be the one, that saves them.

"Meet me here tomorrow, around this time." He states and turns around. "Make sure, you are well rested." He adds before shunshining away.