Chapter 8
"Hello?"
Sakura startled at the voice that had suddenly appeared behind her. How had she not noticed him?
She slowly turned around, erasing her wary and tense expression and carefully changing it into a shy and confused look, more appropriate for her supposed age. Though she couldn’t nor wanted to stop a suspicious glint from creeping up her eyes, revealing what she was actually feeling.
"Oh! Is this your place? I didn't know." Sakura tried herself at mimicking the high-pitched tone of her younger self, but ultimately decided it wasn't worth the effort, as the young man before her wasn't an acquaintance anyway.
"Nah, I don't own this place, but I come here fairly often." the boy said. His tone was casual and not at all like the soft tone people mostly took on when talking to 'small children' like her. "What are you even doing here, huh?" The boy came closer and crouched down in front of her. It was better than him looming over her, she supposed. He looked to be around 14, give or take.
"I was looking at flowers." She said without a moment of pause. Fully slipping into her act of a random, run-of-the-mill child, Sakura then sent a sad glance towards the flowers. "I can't take them, though. It's bad, 'cuz the bees need them."
"Ah, I see..." He made a thoughtful noise, gliding his hand through the messy curls of his dark hair. "And who told you that?"
"Okāsan did. She's always right."
"Does your Okāsan know that you're here?" The teenager asked.
"Uh-huh!" She didn't know, actually. Her mother thought she was meeting with her friend 'Keito' that she had met some time ago.
But he didn't need to know that.
"And she thinks you're watching flowers?" He questioned this time, eyeing the dirt on her pants. It should pass off as a result of kneeling on the ground to, you know, look at flowers.
Why was asking her all these things though? What was he, a cop?
"Yeah, obviously!" Not at all, really. Her mother didn't even know she was here, in the forest at the outskirts of the village.
"Then..." The boy crossed his arms, and his expression changed into one of disappointment. Or – well – it would've looked like one if it wasn't so badly done. The boy was clearly imitating someone and not doing it right on top of that. She wanted to snort.
"Then what?" Sakura said, awaiting whatever judgment the teenager had made about her looking at flowers. It couldn't be actually bad, right?
"Why did I see you practicing Jutsu, then?"
Oh. Well. That sucked. Sakura internally cursed. Had he watched her or something?
"What'cha talking about?" Sakura crossed her fingers behind her back. Perhaps she could play it off?
"I saw you doing handsigns." Fuck.
"I saw it in a book. But I can't actually do the jutsus!" Play it cool, play it cool.
"I also saw you run up the tree over there–"
"Anyone, even squirrels, can climb trees! And they don't have chakra, too!" Quick, come up with something!
"–and you made a Shadow Clone."
Sakura's heart sank in her chest. She had, thoroughly, fucked up.
Why was he even here? Sure, it was a bad idea to do all of that stuff, ranging from mildly interesting to highly suspicious, but she couldn't be blamed for checking if she was able to make a Shadow CLone at all, right? And, really, was she really at fault for assuming this remote forest that she hadn't even known about in her previous life wasn't frequented by people?
"Uhm..." Sakura scrambled for words. "I read it in a book...?" She internally cringed at the tone her voice took towards the end. Who would believe such a blatant lie?
"Sure. Because the Shadow Clone Jutsu is written in the books they sell at the bookstore around the corner. Yeah, right." The boy uncrossed his arms and pointed an accusing finger at her. Sakura took a step back, only to find her back bumping against the very tree she has walked up using chakra earlier.
The boy was watching her like a hawk and blocking any escape routes too. And she couldn't use Shunshin now, after wasting most of her chakra on that Shadow clone. She wasn't getting out of here anytime soon, she concluded.
"So," The boy finally said in a grave tone. "What were you actually doing here? Tell me."
No way. Sakura couldn't actually say 'training my body to save the world 10 years from now' and expect to be greeted with understanding.
"Why do you need to know?" She dropped the innocent act – it wouldn't change much at this point – and regarded the boy interrogating her suspiciously.
"Well, the Shadow Clone Jutsu is a dangerous and well-protected technique that a small girl shouldn't know." He tapped her forehead with his finger. She refused to wince at that and glared at him. The boy continued. "And you clearly know that it takes up way too much chakra, judging from the way you meditated before performing it."
So he saw that too?
"So what?"
"Don't 'so what' me! You could've died from that, you know!" He crossed his arms again. "What if that had happened, huh? If you were dying from chakra exhaustion, nobody would find you here, in the middle of the forest!"
That was the point, actually. No one could see her doing this. But apparently, this place was favored by whoever he was supposed to be.
"I didn't die." She just came quite close to it.
"Yeah, but your chakra pool is practically empty!" Shit– she had forgotten to mask her chakra level. "I don't even know how you're still standing!"
"You must be mistaken. I'm perfectly fine." Sakura tried again. Maybe she could trick him into doubting his own sensing ability. She tried to subtly mask her chakra in a way that implied having a lot more left than she actually did.
"Stop that! Don't waste any more chakra!" Sakura clicked her tongue. He was a sensor too?
The boy was wearing a worried expression by now. Who was he kidding?
"You stop it. You aren't even worried for me, are you?" She shot back at him. "You clan people shouldn't bother with what civilians do. I got it, okay?" Sakura sighed. "You're all strong and know everything while I am weak and shouldn't even try to become a Shinobi. That's what you wanted to hear, right?"
For some reason, she couldn't stop the anger and frustration from bubbling up within her. She was reminded of all those times people had disregarded her abilities because of her civilian background. Maybe the chakra exhaustion was making her light-headed. Sakura had figured out that he was from a clan at some point during their conversation. Though a six-year old shouldn't know how to make a Shadow Clone, a 14-year old shouldn't yet, either. It wasn't part of the Academy curriculum. He must be from a clan, then. They were taught separately from the Academy at home.
The raven-haired boy looked shocked. She didn't understand. What was his problem? She had given him what he had wanted.
She took advantage of his distraction, pushing him with the little chakra she had left, and took off. Sakura felt weak on her legs as she walked towards the village center. The boy had been right about that. She shouldn't be standing. Only by pure willpower was she managing to walk at all.
But there was no way she was going to fall unconscious here. A place way too unsafe. Too subsceptible to attacks. The forest was beginning to clear and she spotted the road that led to the market.
If I hold out for a bit more–
Just then, she bumped into something. Or rather, someone.
The person let out a small gasp at their collision. They were taller than her, but not as tall as that boy from earlier. Sakura lifted her head. What were all these people even doing here–?
She looked up and her heart froze right then and there.
Itachi Uchiha.