The Turning Point

Land of Snow Part 2

It was just after midnight when Naruto shook Sakura awake to inform her that it was her turn to take the next watch. Sakura yawned uncontrollably but nodded and stood up as Naruto closed the door to her cabin room within the ship and headed back to the room he shared with Sasuke. Sakura dressed in her ninja clothing and decided to take her bag of medicinal supplies with her, it was important to double check nothing had been misplaced since they had boarded the ship. Taking her medical book from the nightstand Sakura opened the door to her cabin and headed out onto the main part of the ship.

Sitting on the wooden mast of the ship Sakura made sure she could see the deck and cabins clearly as well as the open sea in case of any attack. Opening her medical book Sakura began to read up on a list of common injuries and potentially life threatening situations the human body could experience in extreme cold.

Better to be safe than sorry, Sakura thought as she stifled another yawn and flicked to the next page on hypothermia.

She had checked the calendar before they had left for the mission and it confirmed her fears that her birthday was less than 3 weeks away. It would be the first birthday she would spend without her parents. To turn fifteen and be completely orphaned in a village where many people still thought her family were together was not something Sakura wanted to celebrate. Besides with everything in perspective things like birthdays seemed trivial at most.

It had occurred to her that maybe she should tell someone about her Inner and the power it seemed to possess. Truthfully Sakura was scared of the possibilities, it now seemed Inner had a mind of her own and an ability to use Sakura's body without her consent. For the moment Inner was cooperating with Sakura for a common goal but what if someone were to obtain that power and use it against her and the village? What power did she even have to begin with? When did Inner change from a childhood friend in her head to this being with incredible strength and the ability to break an advanced technique like the one Itachi Uchiha had used?

Her thoughts were interrupted when suddenly Sakura felt the weight of the mast dip behind her. Given the fact that the wind was hardly blowing and nothing else was resting on the beam of wood Sakura knew there was an enemy on board the ship. Clearly a ninja because they were quiet almost undetectable, Sakura couldn't sense any chakra but they'd probably masked it. Reaching slowly for her kunai the female ninja decided she would jump up and attack quickly sending chakra to her feet to hold her balance on the mast.

Grasping the kunai in her hand Sakura angled her head a little to see if the full moon would shed any light on her attacker. Seeing a familiar crop of spiky black hair Sakura relaxed a little and returned her attentions to her book.

"Scared?" Sasuke asked a little arrogantly.

"No I was preparing myself for an attack" Sakura shot back curtly and returned her attention to her book.

"Move over" Sasuke instructed jumping agilely next to Sakura who begrudgingly shifted down the wooden beam.

"What do you want Sasuke? Your shift isn't for another two hours and I'm trying to get some reading done" Sakura huffed as Sasuke sat down next to her, his back resting against the main portion of the mast.

"Hn for some reason I need to apologise to you again, the dobe wouldn't stop badgering me about it" Sasuke explained.

"Oh so you're only here because Naruto made you come? And what is this 'for some reason' attitude as if you don't know what you did!" Sakura snapped closing her book angrily.

"I'm here because I want to be not because of Naruto. And I know what I did and I'm sorry" Sasuke said a little embarrassed with the situation.

"You know it wasn't my fault right? I couldn't control what happened" Sakura said quietly and out of the corner of her eye she saw Sasuke nod.