girls who want to be something
The day Haruno Sakura began to question her identity was a simple day. It was another day of Kakashi-sensei giving her a book to read while Sasuke-kun and Naruto fought. Any other day she’d be watching, fawning over Sasuke-kun. However, it was a book about history, and Kakashi-sensei had given it to her with a fond ‘kunoichi’s need to know politics’ and a pat on the head. He said he’d read it when he was young, far before he was known as the Copy Ninja.
(She hates it. Sometimes, in brief moments of weakness, she hates Naruto and Sasuke. She knows she’s there as a meat shield. She knows that her purpose is be a quick distraction when Uchiha Itachi comes to finish what he started. She’s sure Kakashi knows, and he wont even pretend to train her. He sees a ghost in her face and a weakness in her flesh. Just as all men do.)
She knows most of it from the academy and her mother’s ramblings. The Senju and the Uchiha, Ino-Shika-Cho, the Hyuuga and their seals, all of it is familiar to her. Until she reaches one particular paragraph in the same bookish font,
‘Many clans have vassal clans. Offshoots from old eras who now serve them honourably. Some clans, like the Hyuuga, don’t have them and instead use branch lines of their own clan. One example of a vassal clan is the Senju’s Haruno clan. They existed far before the founding of Konoha and were essentially divorced from the Senju by the founding of Konoha. Another example of a vassal Clan is Suna’s-‘
What the fuck.
Vassal. A person or country – or other political body – in subordination to another entity. Senju. The founding Clan of Konoha. Haruno. The simple last name that her mother and her bare, that invites only scorn from other civilians and no reaction from Shinobi.
So how could they be a vassal clan? Wouldn’t the Shinobi of Konoha have noticed? The Senju are the most powerful clan in the entire nation, and… And even their Vassal Clan should have been something. Especially considering the fate of the Senju Clan, where most have since married into other clans and abandoned the life of a ninja. Even then, if what Sakura’s mother said was true – even a hint of it – the Daimyo is her cousin. Her own flesh rules the nation, and no one cares. None of them care.
Distantly, she hears the boys stop fighting. She hears Kakashi shove them apart as he begins his goodbyes. She stands, marching towards him. With a voice she didn’t think herself capable of, she says, “Where can I find a book like this one?”
Kakashi looks at her blankly for a moment before smiling, “Ah, that one? There’s a similar one in the library. By Ito Aiya.”
He turns back to the boys, smiling, and he flashes a peace sign before vanishing. Sasuke walks off before anyone could say a thing, hands in his pockets. Naruto crowds into Sakura’s dazed face, smiling brightly at her.
“Sakura! Do you wanna get ramen?”
“No, you idiot!” Sakura snaps, glaring at him, “Leave me alone!”
Naruto recoils a bit, seeing the anger on her face. Before he can say anything else, Sakura begins a steady, quick pace to the library.
Ito Aiya.
Ito Aiya.
Ito Aiya.
Ito, meaning thread. Aiya, meaning love. Ito Aiya knows something that Sakura doesn’t, and that burns at her unlike anything she’s ever felt before. She’s smart. She’s the smartest of her class. She… She doesn’t know what she is if she isn’t smart.
She weaves through the streets, ducking under arms laden with heavy baskets and dodging around long linen skirts. She cuts through the side streets, nodding in greeting to a few civilians she recognizes. Soon, she breaks through into the shinobi district, which is most of the village, nowadays. The Library is a big, hulking building from before the war.
The bricks are a bit worn, and there are visible grooves from where shinobi climb up to reach the second and third floor. Sakura hasn’t done that yet, considering she’d need special permission to even think about going on the second floor, much less the third. Thankfully, Sakura suspects that the book she’s looking for would be in the civilian section, considering the mingling of civilian and shinobi clans, nowadays.
A lot more civilians, especially in smaller villages, are beginning to refuse shinobis service. Well, that’s what she’d heard. A lot of minor clans have married in civilians, and so those civilians would rather go to an in-law, than a behemoth of a clan that doesn’t care about them in the slightest. Small victories, and all that.
She goes down the list, mouthing the names she reads on the spines of old books. Then, she sees it. Ito. Ito Aiya, on Clan Politics.
If there’s a Haruno in this book, then her mother was right.
Gods, it’s insane to think about. Her mother’s half-mad ramblings, her tall tales of lord’s sons and fine silks, all true – or at least half true.
She cracks open the book, thumbing through the tables of contents. Names fly by, barely meeting her eyes before she realizes they’re not what she wants. Haruno. All she needs is Haruno, and then she’ll know. She doesn’t know what she’ll do, if it’s true, but that for later! Honestly, she’s smart for not getting her hopes up.
She finds it. Haruno. In neat, clear, print. The Harunos are something, and Sakura… Sakura is still nothing.
Sakura is still a civilian born genin, doomed to be nothing more than canon fodder. Even if whatever is in this book reveals some far off truth, Sakura’s mother is still disowned.
︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶
The woman smiles. The picture proves everything. A young girl, with doe eyes and pink hair. Just like her. The detective, some 3rd generation shinobi, continues to speak.
“Her name is Sakura. She’s a genin under Hatake Kakashi.”
The woman only nods, “Continue watching her. If anyone notices, quiet them. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Lady.”
“Dismissed.”