Chapter 24
Chapter 24: Memories of the Past
Sakura lay in her futon, her chakra slowed and spread out to sense her surroundings. Sasuke and Naruto were fast asleep in the adjacent room, their breathing even. Kakashi, in his futon, was still awake, likely reading a book. The boys shared a room with their sensei, while Sakura, as the only female, had been assigned her own space.
She was relieved by the arrangement. If she fell asleep and had a night terror—or worse, sleepwalked—it would have startled anyone. As a precaution, she placed a privacy seal around her room and activated a unique seal under her futon. It restricted her movements to avoid another "stabby sleepwalking" incident.
At home, she used something far more extreme: the Iron Maiden. True to its name, the contraption suspended her in the air, immobilized by ninja wire piercing her arms and legs, with iron spikes pressing against her skin. It was agonizing, but the only way to guarantee she wouldn’t hurt anyone. Again.
Her thoughts wandered back to the Uchiha officer. She still felt sorry for him and hoped she hadn’t traumatized him further. She gulped, hoping he’d forgotten about her—and the Sharingan she had revealed. The memory of nearly killing him twice haunted her. That was why she’d created the Iron Maiden: for everyone’s safety.
Sakura shuffled under her blanket, trying to shut her mind off. Normally, she avoided sleep altogether, but if she stayed awake now, she risked getting into another argument with Kakashi. She ran her right hand over her left arm, brushing against the burned remnants of the ROOT tattoo that had once marked her as property. At least she was free now—or as free as someone like her could be.
Sakura had perfect recall. Even before awakening her Sharingan, her memory was flawless. She could still remember her earliest days as an infant with her parents, who had been traveling merchants selling spices and fabric. She had loved them, loved the adventures they shared. Her father’s campfires, her mother’s gentle hands braiding her hair while telling stories—it had all been perfect.
Until it wasn’t.
She was five when everything fell apart. It had been an ordinary trip to the Land of Rice, her parents eager to sell their wares. Her father was chatting animatedly about a unique wine they might try. Then, out of nowhere, masked ANBU descended with terrifying speed.
Her father’s body hit the ground, his head split open, brain exposed. Blood everywhere. Her mother screamed, shoving Sakura to the ground in a desperate attempt to shield her. A blade sliced her mother’s throat.
Sakura had screamed, kicking and flailing as an ANBU agent grabbed her. She was dragged to the orphanage, her parents' lifeless bodies left behind.
Her days at the orphanage passed in numb confusion. She didn’t understand what she’d witnessed or why it had happened. She befriended a girl named TenTen, but her innocence was shattered when he arrived. TenTen lucky was left behind.
Danzo Shimura.
Crooked and frail, leaning on his cane, he spoke in soft tones as he arranged with the orphanage headmaster to take her away.
From that moment, her life belonged to ROOT.
At first, she adapted. She had to. Survival meant silence, obedience, and suppressing every emotion. She had witnessed what happened to those who resisted. She didn’t want to end up like her father.
Eventually, she passed through ROOT’s stages, each one more brutal than the last. After reaching the final stage, she was introduced to her predecessor: the current holder of the code name "Petal."
Danzo’s rules were simple and cruel: no agent could grow too powerful or live beyond their usefulness. ROOT agents over 30 were executed to maintain Danzo’s control.
Sakura remembered her predecessor well. Rin Nohara.
Despite the horrors of ROOT, Rin had been kind in secret. When Danzo wasn’t around, she would smile and talk to Sakura, morphing her face into expressions of warmth and care. Sakura, who knew only fear, mimicked her.
“Listen, Sakura,” Rin had said one day, her voice low to avoid being overheard. “You still have your name. No matter what they do, hold onto that. One day, when the chance comes, kill Danzo. Free them. Free yourself.”
She pointed to her tongue, where the seal that ensured their silence burned.
Rin handed Sakura a stack of papers. “I’ve kept everything I could—names, files, records. Someday, when Danzo falls, someone will need this in the future It’s all I can do. I’m sorry, Sakura. Sorry for what you’ve been through. I failed.”
Sakura had never felt so helpless.
The day she took Rin’s name—when she became "Petal"—was the day she killed her. Rin had smiled at her even then, murmuring, “Do better than me. I´m proud of you.” Her body was slumped over her, her chakra scalpel buried deep into Rins chest Twice. Rin special ability 9 lives had been used up. Danzo was proud to announce her to be Petal, Agent 03.
At first, Sakura obeyed out of fear, performing her duties as commanded. But Rin’s words had planted a seed. Slowly, over time, she began to rebel. Small acts of defiance—taking longer to respond to orders, completing missions imperfectly, ignoring commands outright.
Danzo punished her for every infraction. Electric shocks. Beatings. Fingernails torn out. Sensory deprivation. Yet she kept going, driven by Rin’s memory, the files she’d hidden, and the lives of countless others still trapped in ROOT’s clutches.
She had to keep going. For Rin. For the others. For the children, she had failed to save, that she killed.
For the chance to one day destroy Danzo Shimura.
And she did. After a long time of rebelling against him, she was sent on a mission—a mission to end her. Assassinate Orochimaru, was it? She smirked under her porcelain mask. She’d finally figured out how to unseal the privacy seal. When she reached the border of the Land of Grass, where no one was watching her, she slowed her heartbeat and jumped into a nearby river. The cold water of winter didn’t bother her. She sensed the area and waited, then saw her pursuers leave. After all, Danzo always has ROOT agents watch each to make sure you complete the Mission. He wanted her dead. His ´prized tool ´ was going too far after all.
After that, she spent days crawling through the earth back to Konoha, fueled by anger and hate. She waited. Waited until Danzo was isolated without his bodyguards.
She jumped from the earth, through the snow. Danzo had no chance to speak. She severed his arm with a swift motion, shouting, “For the lives you made me take, bastard!”
Danzo, with his remaining arm, tried to activate her privacy seal on her mouth, only to frown when he realized nothing happened. She smirked darkly as she lunged, slicing off his head. Then, she buried herself back into the earth and returned to her apartment, her heart racing in panic. She had done it.
She fell asleep that night, sleepwalking again—almost killing someone. She later went to the KIA stone to pay respects to the dead. That’s when she met Kakashi, and her life continued to spiral.
She shifted in her Futon embarrassed, remembering the advice she gave to Kakashi. Her eyes stared at the grey-green wall of Tazunas guest room.
She wondered if she wasn´t a monster and if he would accept her.
In two days she had to meet Zabuza.