Chapter Text
“I’m going to be a ninja!” the girl exclaimed, throwing open the front door. A wide, ear-to-ear smile played across her face, one her parents had never seen before. The faint blush on the girl’s cheeks blended harmoniously with the color of her hair, the color of blooming cherry blossom petals. The girl had only just turned five years old. For her age, she was quite sensible and clever beyond her years. While her peers could barely put together coherent sentences, she could already read, do simple calculations, and write some words, though still in clumsy handwriting with her little hands.
“Darling, did you hear what our little girl just said?” a man around thirty years old, with an unusual hair color several shades darker than his daughter’s, warmly addressed his wife, Mebuki.
Mebuki sighed heavily without looking away from preparing dinner for her small but close-knit family. While her husband and the father of her only daughter was a rather gentle and kind man who saw the world through rose-colored glasses and whose glass was always half full, Mebuki herself was a more grounded and rational person. In her opinion, if she were any less strict with her husband and daughter, they wouldn’t survive a single day. The two people dearest to her were far too energetic and spontaneous for the world they lived in. But despite all her strictness, Mebuki treasured her family deeply. And if the price of her family’s well-being was being the firm support that sometimes kept everyone around her under an iron grip, then so be it.
“Kizashi,” Mebuki looked at her husband when she had finally finished chopping the vegetables. “Sakura is only five. It’s too early for her to be thinking about things like that.”
Mebuki walked over to her daughter, who had just returned from outside. It was the first time she had allowed Sakura to play with the other children in the courtyard on her own. And she already regretted it. All it took was giving in to her husband and daughter once, and now her little Sakura had decided to become a ninja. That wasn’t the kind of life she wanted for her daughter. A life full of danger, blood, and death was not meant for her delicate and fragile daughter, at least in the woman’s opinion.
“Sakura, don’t say silly things. You don’t understand what it means to be a ninja yet. We’re ordinary civilians,” Mebuki gave Sakura a stern look.
Sakura, still full of excitement from having discovered the goal of her life, didn’t notice the way her mother was looking at her and didn’t pay much attention to her words. Today, the girl had seen a real shinobi for the first time, and no dark clouds hanging over her mother’s head were going to ruin her mood.
“It’s not silly! I’ve already decided,” Sakura replied with a note of unwavering determination that she had inherited from Mebuki herself. “I’m going to become the strongest kunoichi in Konoha! No! In the whole world!”
Sakura’s smile grew even wider, if that was even possible, and she ran upstairs to her room.
Mebuki sighed once again. She found herself doing that more and more often with each passing day as her daughter grew older. Meanwhile, Kizashi tried to suppress his laughter so as not to anger his wife any further.
“Mebuki, darling, you shouldn’t worry so much. You’re right, Sakura is still very little. She’ll have time to change her mind a million times. Let her have fun. There’s nothing wrong with her becoming interested in ninjas. Remember how just two weeks ago she wanted to be a traveling musician?”
“God, don’t remind me!” Mebuki rolled her eyes theatrically. She remembered very well how she had nearly had a heart attack when her daughter packed her backpack and announced to her parents that she was leaving to travel with the musicians she had seen at the market with her father. Thankfully, that phase hadn’t lasted long, although Mebuki had still had to stop Sakura at the door several times when she tried to slip past her mother’s careful supervision.
Upstairs, in her small but cozy room, Sakura was more than certain that this so-called phase wasn’t a phase at all.
Yes, she was an impressionable child with many interests. But deep within her subconscious, Sakura knew that her new goal was something she would achieve no matter what.
Sakura stood in front of the mirror beside her wardrobe and began carefully examining herself. She was very short and fragile. Shorter and smaller than other children her age, which was often the reason she couldn’t keep up with the others during active games. She had a pretty, still very young face with soft, delicate features. But what drew the most attention were her eyes: large, wide-open, and an astonishingly bright shade of green, reminiscent of young grass when the first shoots were only beginning to break through the snow. Every emotion was easy to read in those enormous green eyes. Sakura was quite an emotional child and had not yet learned how to skillfully hide all her thoughts. People could easily read her like an open book.
Her hair was no less unusual. Thick, straight, and long, it had a rare, delicate pink shade reminiscent of blooming cherry blossom petals. It was because of her appearance that her parents had given her her name. Sakura Haruno. A rather obvious and not particularly creative name considering her appearance, but Sakura liked it, even though many people joked about it.
But her forehead received the most ridicule. The children called her names and always mentioned her large forehead. Sakura herself didn’t think it was large, but when you’re told the same thing over and over again, eventually you start believing it yourself.
Looking directly into her own eyes in the mirror, Sakura declared confidently:
“I’ll become strong, and I’ll be able to protect the people I care about, no matter what it takes!”
Just a few hours earlier, Sakura couldn’t have imagined that the day would end with her making such a promise to herself. It had all started when her mother allowed her to go outside on her own for the first time.
Mebuki had emphasized this several times while adjusting the light cardigan on her daughter and once again reminding her that under no circumstances was she allowed to leave the courtyard. Sakura was allowed to play with the neighborhood children, whom her parents knew and whom she herself had seen many times from the window. For five-year-old Sakura, it was almost a real adventure.
Until three girls approached her. Sakura knew them. They lived nearby and were a little older than her.
“Why is your hair so weird?” one of the girls asked, staring shamelessly at Sakura.
Sakura instinctively touched her hair.
“It’s not weird.”
“It is weird,” another immediately argued. “It’s pink.”
“My mom says it’s pretty,” Sakura frowned.
“And why is your forehead so big?”
Sakura froze. Her hand rose to her forehead on its own.
“It’s not big.”
“It is!”
One of the girls laughed, and the other two immediately joined in.
“It’s huge!”
“No!”
Sakura felt her cheeks beginning to burn. She didn’t understand why they were laughing. Until that moment, it had never even occurred to her that there might be something wrong with her forehead.
“Hey, Forehead!” the girl laughed again. “I bet even a ninja headband wouldn’t fit you!”
The others giggled. Sakura clenched her little fists. She wanted to answer. She wanted to say something that would make them immediately fall silent, but for some reason, she couldn’t find the right words. Sakura didn’t like being rude or calling other people names, so she wasn’t sure how she was supposed to behave in a situation like this.
And it was at that exact moment that a loud voice rang out nearby:
“Leave her alone!”
Everyone turned their heads at once. Standing before them was a boy around Sakura’s age. His hair was bright and fair, almost golden beneath the sunlight. It stuck out in every direction as though the boy had just woken up and hadn’t even tried to smooth it down. Three thin lines marked each of his cheeks. But his eyes stood out even more: large and clear, pure blue.
‘What beautiful eyes,’ was the first thing Sakura thought when she looked at her defender.
Sakura blinked. She had never seen him before. The boy glared at the girls, his fists clenched at his sides.
“She didn’t do anything to you!”
“And who are you supposed to be?” one of the girls asked irritably.
“Doesn’t matter!” he declared. “Just leave her alone!”
Sakura stared in surprise at her unexpected defender. He wasn’t scary at all. Quite the opposite. He was small, skinny, and about the same height as she was. There was no obvious reason why the three girls should be afraid of him. Judging by their faces, they had come to the same conclusion.</p>
“Or what?” one of them took a step forward.
For a moment, the boy looked lost.
“Or I’ll…”
He was clearly trying to come up with a worthy threat on the spot.
“Or you’ll get it!”
The girls laughed again. But the noise had already attracted the attention of the other children. Several boys who had been playing nearby came over to them. One of them looked at the fair-haired boy and immediately grimaced.
“It’s him.
Another boy immediately frowned.
“What are you doing here?”
Sakura noticed the change in her defender. His shoulders tensed, and the confident expression on his face disappeared for a moment.
“I can go wherever I want!”
“Get out of here!”
“You get out!”
One of the boys shoved him. The fair-haired boy stumbled but managed to stay on his feet.
“Hey!” Sakura protested.
No one paid any attention to her.
“Monster,” someone muttered quietly.
Sakura frowned.
‘Monster?’
She looked at the boy again. Blue eyes, fair hair, strange lines on his cheeks. She didn’t see any monster.</p>
“Don’t call me that!” he shouted.
They shoved him again. Harder this time. The boy fell to the ground. Several of the children laughed. Sakura felt something hot flare inside her. Just a few minutes ago, she herself had barely been holding back tears. But now, for some reason, she had completely forgotten about her own insulted forehead.
“Enough!”
She ran over to the boy and stood in front of him, spreading her arms wide.
“Don’t touch him!”
For several seconds, silence fell. Even the fair-haired boy stared up at her from the ground in complete astonishment.</p>
“What are you doing?” one of the children asked.
“He stood up for me!” Sakura frowned as fiercely as she could. “So I’m going to stand up for him too!”
Behind her, the boy noisily got to his feet.
“I can handle it myself, you know!”
“Then stand beside me!” Sakura ordered without turning around.
He blinked, then suddenly broke into a wide smile.
“Okay!”
A second later, they were already standing shoulder to shoulder. Two tiny five-year-old children against an entire group of kids, some of whom were older than them. The plan was brilliant. At least, that was what the two of them thought.
The next few minutes quickly proved otherwise. The fair-haired boy was the first to charge forward. Sakura followed him, having absolutely no idea what exactly she was going to do. Everything descended into chaos. Someone shoved Sakura. She grabbed onto someone’s shirt. The fair-haired boy tried to punch one of their attackers, missed, and ended up on the ground again. Sakura immediately rushed toward him, only to get shoved herself and land painfully on her knees.
There were too many opponents. Even with her five-year-old mind, Sakura was beginning to understand that. But for some reason, she had absolutely no desire to retreat. She stood beside the fair-haired boy again. He was breathing heavily. There was dirt on his cheek, his clothes were filthy, but his blue eyes were still stubbornly fixed ahead.
“Don’t be scared,” he whispered to Sakura, who frowned indignantly.
“I’m not scared!”
“Neither am I!”
They looked at each other. And for some reason, they smiled at the same time.
One of the older children started toward them again. But suddenly, he stopped. The smile disappeared from his face. Sakura felt someone’s presence behind her. She slowly turned her head and froze. A boy was standing behind them. Although to little Sakura, he seemed almost like an adult.</p>
He looked about twelve, maybe thirteen years old. Tall compared to all the children gathered there. His dark, short, slightly curly hair complemented his refined facial features. Several strands fell over his forehead, framing his tanned face. Large, dark, almost black eyes looked directly at Sakura. Under his piercing gaze, Sakura forgot about her bullies and her bruises. At that very moment, Sakura understood what it meant to drown in someone’s eyes. He seemed remarkably calm. Unlike the other children, the stranger looked neither angry nor frightened. On the contrary, there was a certain lightness to his expression, as though what was happening in front of him didn’t bother him at all. He wore dark clothes, and on the side Sakura noticed a symbol unfamiliar to her: a red-and-white fan. She didn’t yet know what that symbol meant. Nor did she know that standing before her was Shisui Uchiha. One of the most talented children of his generation, a genius whose name was known throughout Konoha.
Shisui hadn’t initially planned to interfere. His elders always told him that he was too soft for a shinobi. But he couldn’t simply stand there and watch these two unfortunate children being bullied. He knew the blond boy. Naruto Uzumaki. The Nine-Tails’ jinchūriki. But this was the first time he had seen the girl with the unusual appearance. Although she looked very weak and helpless, there was a fire burning in her eyes that immediately caught his attention.
'Such an unusual appearance, like a forest fairy,' Shisui thought to himself before shifting his gaze to the other children.
“There are so many of you, and only two of them,” he observed. “Haven’t the adults taught you that you shouldn’t use force against your own?”
He spoke calmly. Almost even friendly. But Sakura immediately noticed the hidden threat in his tone. There was also a strange energy coming from him. She couldn’t understand what it was, but the sensation radiating from the older boy made all the hair on Sakura’s back stand on end, and she unconsciously took a step backward.
'Did she actually sense my chakra? For such a little girl to feel something like that is unimaginable. Although Itachi was capable of even more at her age, but that’s Itachi. Sometimes I think he was born an adult. Either way, this fairy is getting more and more interesting.'
“We were just playing,” one of the boys said.
Shisui raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Playing? Doesn’t look particularly fun.”
The boy lowered his eyes.
“They started it!”
“You’re lying!” the blond boy immediately shouted. “You started it!”
“He was protecting me!” Sakura added at once.
Shisui looked at her again. The girl stood before him with messy pink hair, a dirty dress, and such an indignant expression on her little face that she looked ready to immediately present all the evidence in the case. For a moment, the corner of his lips twitched upward.
“I see.”
Sakura nodded vigorously and looked at him again. For some reason, his smile immediately calmed her a little. Although his energy had made her uneasy earlier, she didn’t sense any danger from him. Quite the opposite, his presence gave her nothing but a warm feeling, as though she were standing beneath direct rays of sunlight.
Meanwhile, Shisui shifted his gaze to the other children. His eyes flashed scarlet. He understood that frightening small, foolish children with the Sharingan wasn’t exactly the best idea, but it was the quickest way to get rid of them.
“Well?” he asked. “Shall we continue your game?”
No one answered. All of the bullies broke out in a cold sweat from fear at the sight of Shisui’s red eyes.
“We’re leaving,” one of them said, and they all immediately ran away.
Sakura watched them go with a completely stunned expression. Genuine admiration gradually appeared in the girl’s enormous green eyes as she turned her gaze toward their savior.
“How did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“They got scared of you! And your eyes! They suddenly turned red!”
Shisui smirked.
“Maybe they just remembered that it was time to go home.”
Sakura narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Even at three years old, she understood perfectly well when adults were saying nonsense instead of giving a proper answer.
“No.”
“No?”
“You’re lying.”
Shisui thoughtfully tilted his head to the side.
“You think so?”
“Yes!”
The blond boy beside her nodded enthusiastically, fully supporting her. Sakura carefully looked the stranger over once again.
“Are you a ninja?!”
“You could say that.”
“A real one?!”
“Quite real.”
“Are you strong?”
Shisui laughed quietly.
“I don’t know. Depends on who you compare me to.”
Sakura frowned. That answer didn’t satisfy her at all. She pointed in the direction the other children had run.
“Them.”
“Then I’m probably strong.”
“Can I become as strong as you?” Sakura asked.
“You can,” Shisui replied.
This little girl was becoming more and more amusing to him.
'Cutie,' Shisui thought, and the tips of his ears immediately turned red.
“Really?”
“If you train a lot.”
Sakura lowered her gaze to her own little hands. Today, she had tried to protect someone for the first time and had failed. If this boy hadn’t appeared, she and the blond boy would have simply continued getting beaten up by the others. She didn’t like that feeling at all. She didn’t like being weak.
“What if I’m weak right now?”
Shisui shrugged as though the answer were completely obvious.
“Then become stronger.”
Although the answer was obvious, he didn’t want this girl to go through all the suffering he himself had endured. If his earlier guess was correct and she truly could sense chakra at such a young age, then she could forget about having a happy and carefree childhood. Although perhaps he was simply overthinking things and had imagined it. Shisui decided that he should keep an eye on the little fairy.
Sakura froze. She looked down at her palms again. If she was weak, that didn’t mean she had to stay weak. If she couldn’t protect someone today, then she needed to make sure she could do it next time.
“Then I’ll become a ninja!”
Beside her, the blond boy immediately perked up.
“Me too!”
Sakura turned toward him.
“And I’ll become really strong!”
“I’ll be stronger!”
“No, I will!”
“I will!”
“I will!”
Shisui silently watched the two little children for several seconds before he couldn’t hold back and laughed. Just a few minutes ago, the two of them had been losing a fight against an entire group of children, and now they were already arguing about which of them would become the strongest shinobi. Their ambitions were clearly somewhat bigger than they were.
Sakura suddenly stopped arguing. She looked at the older boy and, finally remembering the most obvious thing, asked:
“What’s your name?”
Shisui had already opened his mouth to answer. But at that moment, a woman’s voice came from the direction of the houses:
“Sakura!”
The girl flinched.
'Mom.'
Sakura looked fearfully toward her house.
“Oops…”
She immediately started running, but after a few steps, she stopped and turned around. The blond boy was still standing beside Shisui. Sakura smiled widely at both of them. Her smile immediately made both of their hearts flutter. 'Smile really suits her,' they both thought at the same time.
“Thank you! See you again, Shinobi-san and boy with the beautiful eyes!”
“Hey, I have beautiful eyes too!” Shisui shouted after her.
He really did have beautiful eyes! All the girls in his clan told him so. But he would have liked to hear her say it. Shisui watched the little pink-haired figure disappear into the distance.
“Sakura, huh,” he said quietly.
Beside him, Naruto smiled widely. His face was very red with embarrassment. No one had ever complimented him before. People usually either ignored him at best or used physical violence against him at worst. His new acquaintance, Sakura, was the first person who had not only been friendly toward him but had even stood up for him. He sincerely hoped that this wouldn’t be their last meeting.
Shisui looked at Naruto, reached out, and lightly ruffled his already messy fair hair.
Sakura was still overflowing with emotions from everything she had experienced as she got ready for bed. She made her bed and arranged all her stuffed toys beside her sleeping spot. The toys took up most of the bed, but Sakura didn’t want to offend any of them, so she tried to make sure they could all fit on the bed with her.
'I never found out Shinobi-san’s name! Or that boy’s name either… But it’s okay, next time I’ll definitely find out.'
Sakura turned toward the window and watched the starry sky until she completely drifted off to sleep. In her dreams, Sakura was haunted by deep black eyes that turned red in a single second.
While the girl enjoyed the nighttime, the shinobi world continued to stir restless souls. Shisui moved gracefully from rooftop to rooftop. Night was his favorite time of day. At night, it was much easier to pretend to be a shadow and keep watch over the village. Shisui loved Konoha. Konoha and its people meant more to him than anything else. More than the honor and dignity of his clan. Every night, he prayed that the day that haunted him in his nightmares would never come. The day when he would have to sacrifice everything for peace.
Life as the Uchiha clan’s protégé was not the easiest burden. When people looked at him, they saw a boy to whom everything came easily, someone who didn’t even have to lift a finger to master a new technique. They saw how quickly he climbed through the ranks while his peers were only graduating from the Shinobi Academy. Few people at thirteen could boast of having a page in the Bingo Book where the words “flee on sight” were written beneath their name. But Shisui wasn’t proud of it at all. People didn’t see how every day spent on missions was slowly killing Shisui.
“Why so thoughtful, Shisui?” asked a boy with features similar to Shisui’s, though several years younger. He had noticed his older cousin and best friend some time ago but hadn’t immediately decided to intrude on his space.
“Hey, Itachi,” Shisui addressed the boy as he joined him in running across the rooftops. “Why are you sneaking up on me like that!”
“You and I both know perfectly well that you sensed my presence a long time ago. So stop fooling around and pretending that you’re that easy to sneak up on.”
“Always so serious. You’re no fun at all.”
“It wouldn’t hurt you to be more focused. Father is waiting for us. We’d better hurry,” Itachi said and sped up.
Shisui sighed heavily and headed in the same direction, toward the clan head’s estate. Apparently, the day he prayed would never come was going to come after all.
And very soon.