Chapter 11
Acting like it cost her every last bit of willpower to speak, Sakura quieted down the sobs slightly and looked at her brother with tearful eyes. "We were– We were really just playing! Keito brought the–... But he said it's okay! He– He had stickers th– that glowed and we–"
"Hold up. What did he bring?" Yūta immediately perked up at the mention of the 'stickers', taking the bait she had placed. He looked suspicious. Sakura sniffled once, twice, and looked a bit confused at the seemingly random question. Then she continued.
"Stickers! They– They glowed! And they could make an ocean!" Sakura, concluding that she had cried enough for now, stopped scrunching up her face and let a more joyful expression cross her face. "We– We gave the flowers water! Keito said, 'ts not raining enough nata– naturral– naturalley, so we need to help." Then, to add finish it off, she said "When we make rain with... with the stickers, I feel really tired, so I say bye to Keito an' go home."
By now, anyone with even a bit of real experience as a shinobi would know that those weren't just 'stickers', as was obvious by the look of worry marring Yūta's face.He seemed to gather his thoughts somewhat and asked carefully, "How did the stickers look? How big were they?"
"Uhm... They're about... this big." Sakura estimated the size of a common ninja tag and showed it with her hands. "In the middle, they have this symbol on them." She paused, looking as though in thought. "And there's squiggly lines, lots of them. Keito showed me how to make them glow. 'Cuz it's really cool, you know, Nīchan? It's like a big wave like in the picture books. Like a– Like an ocean!"
"How do you make them glow, Sacchan? Can you show me?" Hm, so that was how he was going to approach the situation? Maybe trying to see what this made-up friend had taught her?
Not dropping the act, she nervously asked: "But you won't be mad, right, Nīchan? Keito said–... He said I can't show anyone. Secret between us."
Yūta nodded reassuringly. He continued to look painfully worried, though a hint of anger was beginning to show. She almost felt bad.
Sakura closed her eyes, pretending to be greatly concentrating. She gathered up some chakra, making sure to have around two-thirds of her current chakra reserves leak as byproducts that had 'escaped her grasp' before focusing the rest on her open palm. The only sign of it was the light blue glow, but she was sure Yūta had followed her chakra flow throughout the whole process. Doing this, she'd used up quite a lot of it due to the 'reckless' use and excess chakra that had gone to waste, making it seem like someone had failed to teach her correctly, not explained the theory behind it, or not bothered to correct her on her 'habit'. (Of course, she'd never allow herself to expend any amount of chakra life-threatening to her. Having Kakashi as her teacher taught her quite a bit about responsible use of it.)
Sakura didn't let any of her excitement at successfully completing most of the plan show, instead looking at her brother with expectant eyes. "Keito said, I need to show all my friends how to make the stickers glow! For the flowers." she exclaimed, smiling at Yūta. Said brother was looking critically at the wall behind her, all of the amusement from earlier now gone. His lips were in a grim line as he finally spoke.
"Take me to this Keito guy." He said. Too bad that Keito didn't exist.
"I don't think I can, Nīchan." She said quietly, seemingly sensing his seriousness and clenching the hem of her shirt.
Yūta looked angry, fury contorting his face. "Why? Did he tell you not to do that, too?"
"N– No."
"What is it, then? Why can't I meet him?"
"He left Konoha, I think. Keito isn't from here, he lives far away."
"How old is Keito?"
"Sorry, Nīchan. I don't know... Never asked him." She guiltily said. "But he is definitely older than you!"
"Can you describe him further? Did he wear a headband?"
"Ah– no, I don't think so. He said he wants to become a shinobi, though. Actually, he wants it since really long ago."
"A shinobi of Konoha?"
"Uh... I think he said Konoha...? Why do you ask? Do they have Academies elsewhere, too? 'Cuz Keito said that he failed the 'xam."
"He failed the exam?"
"Yeah! I think he failed them... three times?"
"I see." She could almost see the gears turning in Yūta's mind. "Do you know where he went?"
Sakura pretended to think for a bit. Yūta was handling the situation quite well, considering that his younger sister had apparently met some strange man who had purposefully – perhaps with malicious intent – taught her wrong techniques. And he himself couldn't be that much older than her.
She pretended to remember something, then. "I think he said he wants to go to Ki... ri...? I think that's what he said."
She internally nodded to herself. Yeah, Kiri was a good choice. Ruled by the tyrannical Mizukage, it was far enough away and a reasonable choice for someone seeking to become stronger through other means, but too dangerous to confirm it being a lie altogether.
Yūta nodded, looking more serious than ever. She thought she heard him whisper "a spy..?", but couldn't be sure.
"He didn't say more, though. Do you have some stickers, Nīchan? I wanna make them glow."
Yūta had promptly told her never to use her chakra like that again, informing her of the dangers of it.
"I don't want to tell you when you're so young, but..." He had said and went on about how chakra was important to keep the body, her body, alive. Yūta told her that she could've died and that she shouldn't trust the word of someone that wasn't qualified. Upon further asking, he explained that 'Keito' had likely tried teaching something he himself didn't know enough about and endangered her in the process. Maybe that had been his aim from the beginning, went unsaid. He had then shoved her into her room to go sleep and replenish her chakra reserves.
The story wasn't great, Sakura could've probably come up with something better if she had been given more time.
But it allowed her to write off any further mishaps as her trying to use 'stickers' again, though she could only do that a few times before being prohibited from leaving the house entirely. And she had a valid reason to make Keito disappear from her life, since he had started taking on quite a big role, her mother asking to meet him every time she used her imaginary friend as an excuse to go out. And any knowledge on shinobi or chakra that she shouldn't have or didn't exist in this alternative reality, she could claim to be just another one of Keito's stories.
She had given her brother quite a scare. Maybe it hadn't been the best choice, but it could prove to be useful in the future, covering up her sudden personality change smoothly. It was already bad enough that Yūta noticed anything amiss at all.
She had let her guard down, relaxed too much around a potential enemy, simply because he claimed to be family. This is bad. She wouldn't be able to change anything like this. She was too weak, had gotten too soft, had started forgetting the horror of the war. She had gotten her hopes up after meeting Shisui and had wished it could continue to be easy like that.
But it wasn't like that. Her goal was grand, her plans too big for someone like her, clinging to hope after having supposedly given up. She couldn't let something like earlier happen again. She needed to take this more seriously, Sakura decided then and there.