Chapter 4
It was still very early in the Tower, so much so that it was still possible to see the sun rising on the horizon. Tsunade sat calmly at her desk as she waited for her guest, after having managed to get rid of Shizune, putting her in non-stop surgeries since last night, so that she wouldn't disturb what she had planned for the beginning of her beautiful day.
A very productive day.
Although, she didn't doubt that Shizune, with her sense of being a perfect assistant, wouldn't show up earlier than expected in her office again, an image that contradicted that of someone who spent the night working in the hospital.
She dismissed her guards and was left with only the Anbu Commander, Fox, in the shadows.
A knock on the door and the small signal of chakra alerted her that the guest had arrived.
- Come in.
The girl came in, it seemed like she hadn't slept, but her clothes were clean, a sign that she had taken a little care of herself. The blonde critically analyzed the child in front of her, Tsunade would have to fix her appearance, Sakura was drawing a lot of attention, even without wanting to.
She may be in this devastated and deplorable state now, but even so, it doesn't take away from the beauty of her bright emerald eyes, exotic pink hair and delicate physique. All in all, the girl was beautiful and striking due to her appearance and Tsunade couldn't have that.
She didn't need a doll that drew attention wherever she went.
- Here! Memorize everything, I want you to complete this list of exercises. Remember, I don't accept or tolerate mistakes from you, Sakura - Tsunade threw a sheet that covered the entire space with lists of tasks that she should complete, as well as some exercises to build body mass, which the child urgently needed.
The girl swallowed hard and you could see the questions in her eyes.
Some of the exercises on that paper, if used by anyone else without proper knowledge, would cause terrible damage to her chakra pools. However, the girl had Tsunade to heal her future injuries.
- As I said before, the fact that you are my apprentice will be something that only the two of us will know. Anonymously, as you prefer. Don't think I'm an idiot for not knowing why you no longer want to be my apprentice.
With that, the girl became a little alert, but the determined look remained in her emerald eyes. Tsunade sensed that nothing would extinguish those flames; on the contrary, they became more ferocious with time.
And if everything goes as the Fifth Hokage meticulously planned for this year and the next, that flame will be as deadly as a kunai built just to kill.
- You are intelligent, but it doesn't change the fact that you are now my fifth apprentice, even if this knowledge is not public to everyone. So, work to deserve it and stay in your place - In addition to the two of them, there was also the Anbu Commander, who was watching Sakura in the shadows, however, this is information that the child did not need to know - Starting today, for everyone, you will start working in the archives department.
Tsunade will use Sakura's plan, who prefers to keep her training anonymous, to her advantage. The girl was smart and realized that even if she became her apprentice, she would be competing for attention against people she would not be able to beat. After all, her competitors, no matter how much character and personality they had, were not the same for the others who were part of the group they belonged to.
Because they would have people who did not hesitate to cheat Haruno or do worse things. She knew what the child thought when she changed her mind, even after asking for an apprenticeship 269 times.
269 times.
The last Senju knew, she recounted each one of them, as well as how she planned Haruno's thinking and strategy.
She remembers every time the pink-haired girl appeared in her office.
From the first request to the last.
Tsunade couldn't help but admire the pink-haired girl's determination and courage, even though her life was in chaos at the moment.
Which Tsunade made sure became hell.
That was also one of the reasons she chose those three girls and not just one of them. In addition to the influence she needed to gain some power within Konoha, Tsunade needed Sakura to come to the conclusion that she would only lose out if she were, publicly, one of the Fifth Hokage's new apprentices.
To get what she wanted, the Fifth Hokage had to be careful and meticulous with every step she took in a new plan.
Her plan began the very day she thought of the girl as her future apprentice.
Tsunade knew where she had previously lived when the attack on the village took place and the names of their parents, who were in Konoha during the Chunin Exams. She also knew that the girl's parents' names were not on the list of survivors who had taken refuge in the protected areas.
In other words, there was a good chance that they were dead in the rubble of their own house or seriously injured in the street where they lived and which was destroyed.
Tsunade needed to develop, manipulate and mold the young Haruno's mentality to see the dark parts of Konoha, as well as the great inequality that was happening with shinobis from civilian backgrounds and shinobi clans. And the best way to do this was to make her witness and feel on her own skin every difference and injustice that took place within the walls of Konoha.
Haruno needed to learn and understand that the world didn't care about her wishes and dreams. It didn't care about starving children. The world didn't care about the poor and the weak. The world didn't care about women who were beaten and abused.
The world was a selfish place and those who survived were not those who were soft-hearted and weak.
The world worked to the desires and ambitions of those with power.
Knowledge and power ruled the world and only those who had both could occupy a privileged place.
It was a distorted and cruel vision, but it was reality and not an illusion or a fairy tale.
With these thoughts in mind, Tsunade assigned Haruno and many other genins of civilian origin, to give more credence to her plan, to look for survivors and dead people in the civilian area, more specifically, in the area near Haruno's house.
By this time, the girl was so physically and emotionally exhausted that Tsunade was sure the female member of Team 7 hadn't realized she was working on the street where she lived.
A street completely destroyed by Orochimaru's attack.
The Anbu commander told her that it was Haruno herself who had found the bodies of her parents.
This was to be expected, after all, Tsunade had ordered the Anbu commander to find out if the girl's parents were alive or not. If they were dead, which was the case, he would have to make the Haruno child herself find the bodies.
That it was the Haruno child herself who saw with her own eyes what resulted from a war or an attack. Let her know and feel what it was like to be weak. What it was like not to have the power to protect herself and those she loved.
One detail of his plan: if the girl's parents were alive, the Anbu Commander knew what to do. Since his order was the same.
Make Haruno herself find her dead parents.
The means of accomplishing this mission were simple.
The ninja world was cruel and sacrifices had to be made. Tsunade was taught never to hesitate in her steps.
Tsunade could have taken pity on the girl and let her have a break after that episode, but she didn't have such a soft and kind heart to do that. She wasn't Jiraiya with his huge heart. Just as she needed the girl's mental state to be shaken.
Destroyed.
So all these steps were perfect and well calculated. And this minutely contrived event only made her step up her game. She couldn't miss how to use the death of the girl's parents to her advantage.
Tsunade made her continue working on rescuing severed bodies and terrified survivors full of plots about what had happened, a horrible job for a novice. To further improve the process of destroying the girl's mental and emotional state, while Haruno did work that would leave her with nightmares at night, imagining the blood of all those people on her hands, Tsunade used the arrogance of the Shinobi Clan Chiefs to help her plan.
They would contribute to its future destruction.
Those macho old men were keeping their heirs at home like untouched porcelain dolls. With no contact with hard labor, they were using their noble and privileged status to keep their children from soiling their beautiful baby hands in the blood of dead people.
The same dead people that Haruno saw every day while working on missions to rescue lifeless bodies and survivors.
And if they thought they were being clever and powerful over her, fine. On the contrary, it was perfect.
So perfect, in fact, that the only Senju had to avoid smiling in some meetings or in the presence of these overbearing old men.
As she was a good Hokage, Tsunade helped even more in this regard. She did the rookies the favor of assigning them missions outside the village, such as guarding farms, training at protection posts outside Konoha or letting them have a break at home, while many were hard at work.
While "Haruno" worked hard, staining her hands with blood every day, starving, cold and depressed by all the chaos her life had become. With no support from anyone but herself.
Tsunade was going to use the weapons that they themselves had given her on a platter.
Having the future heads of the shinobi clans raised in a comfortable, clean and controllable environment, unaware of how the world was a canvas painted in gray and not black and white, would be her trump card against them in the future. What's more, these events and privileges would make Haruno resent them.
Which would go very well with what the Fifth Hokage plans for the future Shinobi Clan Heads.
However, it's not over yet. Tsunade wasn't going to limit herself to so little. She needed to strike the final blow, but before attacking, she needed to prepare the ground.
She knew that the Sensei of the other Teams had been notified, as well as many shinobi within Konoha, by gossip that Tsunade had sent the Anbu Commander to spread, that she would take some apprentice.
Since they were the senseis of the heirs of shinobi clans or loved their students enough to want to help them in their dreams, they wouldn't miss the opportunity to win the favor of the clans they belonged to, as well as the influence they would gain from this move.
The Clan Chiefs would do the same.
Often, the downfall of human beings is their own greed.
Sarutobi Asuma, Kurenai Yuuhi and Maito Gai all knew that if there was any chance of the Hokage taking another student, she would take one who demonstrated an affinity with chakra control and great intelligence.
This was a basic concept that any shinobi with a small brain would also know.
After all, iron ninjutsu isn't for anyone who doesn't have the main attributes.
Unlike other shinobi, these three senseis were close to Hatake, in other words, they knew the members of Team 7 very well, even down to their affinity for each other.
In other words, they knew that the female member, Sakura Haruno, possessed absurd chakra control and great intelligence, surpassing her students in these two departments.
Not to mention that, having been Kakashi's childhood classmates, they had heard rumors and knew, since it was common knowledge at the time, that Tsunade was a close friend of Kakashi's father, Hatake Sakumo.
She already showed a certain freedom with him that she doesn't have with any other shinobi.
In other words, Hatake had ties with the Fifth Hokage and could ask her to look after his pupil, or the Hokage herself could do it for her.
A very good chance.
What's more, the fact that she often asked the Hokage for an apprenticeship was also known to many shinobi, who saw the Haruno girl in the Tower every day.
This made these Jounin senseis change their moves to keep Haruno away from their students and to train their students for any future tests. They also knew that unlike her students, Haruno had no one to train or help her, with Hatake having a reputation for his indifference and having been on missions away from the village since Orochimaru's attack.
Tsunade did the favor of helping to keep Hatake Kakashi away from Konoha.
The senseis did the job of keeping her friends away at a time when Haruno needed support the most, making her mental and emotional state more fragile.
Tsunade knew that the young Haruno had tried to communicate with Ino Yamanaka. She was told that they were childhood friends, but Tsunade couldn't have that.
So, without a shred of sympathy or pity in her heart, she remained wide-eyed and expressionless when she learned that the father of the blonde girl from the Yamanaka Clan burned the letters Haruno sent, asking the blonde girl to accompany her to her parents' wake.
She continued to keep her eyes open and her face inexpressive when Asuma said he would let Ino Yamanaka know, but she did the opposite, always keeping her out of the store when Haruno looked for her in passing the few times she had time.
He did the same when Kurenai Yuuhi used her influence in the ranks of the Chunis, as well as that of the Genin Cup, to assign Haruno to more unpleasant jobs, which wouldn't be assigned to a genin, but which were handed to Haruno every time she entered the Tower to ask the Fifth Hokage for an apprenticeship.
All of them, even Maito Gai, who wouldn't let his favorite student visit the girl he was in love with, always preventing him from crossing paths with the pink-haired girl and making them train outside the village walls to ensure it.
Each of them ensured that Haruno had no contact with anyone from her old academy class or friends from the Chunin Exam.
Which made Tsunade, on one particular night, drink herself into a stupor and laugh out loud in her gloomy office. The world was working in her favor and she couldn't help but find the situation amusing and ironic at the same time.
With that, the Fifth Hokage wouldn't let Haruno have any proximity to them until it was the perfect moment.
Tsunade watched Haruno with hawk eyes and saw that she needed something stronger to break the girl the way she wanted.
However, the girl was stronger than she first thought, which pleased her and at the same time got her mind working on building strategies to break Haruno once and for all.
So, what better than to choose the three girls who were part of the large group that Haruno had been getting closer to since studying at the academy and during the Chunin Exams? In addition to the other factors that went along with choosing them for his own benefit.
And to increase the impact of her strategy on Haruno's mental and emotional state, Tsunade had to go the extra mile and cross the line.
Having to use her patience as the biggest card for this move, which would lead her to victory.
As someone of high status and a new Ruler, Tsunade wouldn't have time to talk to anyone who didn't make an appointment, but she allowed Haruno to always talk to her dozens of times a week. Of course, with only one goal in mind. With this, Tsunade tried to use the best, coldest responses every time Haruno came to meet her, asking for lessons and humiliating her along the way.
In all of them, Tsunade counted along while denying every request.
269 times.
Haruno persevered and didn't give up, continuing 269 times.
That was a number Tsunade would never forget.
For it gained meaning by being linked to the memory of a child with determination and fire in her eyes.
The moment Haruno heard about the three girls being chosen as her newest apprentices, as well as what her former friends were up to after the attack on Konoha in the Chunin Exams, Tsunade knew that Haruno would change the game. The girl was intelligent, but also proud and full of personality.
Her uncle always said that Tsunade had a mind that resembled that of a gambler when he gave her strategy lessons in her youth.
Tsunade wonders what he would think of his teachings and talent being used to break a child's mentality and emotional state.
The Fifth Hokage already knows the answer, he would smile and say that she should have been cooler and that it was a good strategy.
Even the moment Haruno found out about the three girls' apprenticeship, Tsunade had a hand in it. She had called the teams together in her office, with the sensei on missions outside of Konoha and far away to keep their noses out of their business, all the children learned about the choice of the three girls to be their future apprentices.
The joy and pride of each group's teammates at the news was apparent and at that moment, Tsunade dismissed him, saying that as a token of her goodwill, she would give them a prize. She would buy lunch for everyone at a restaurant on the day she introduced the girls as new apprentices and they would come back later at a time she set.
It was the same restaurant that Haruno always went to every day and Tsunade made sure that this routine didn't change, so that they would meet up eventually. The Fifth Hokage was going to make this meeting as disastrous as possible.
Tsunade had to assign the Anbu Commander a mission that wouldn't be easy if he was discovered, after all, it involved subduing and disguising himself as a member of the Inuzuka Clan's main family...
Which wouldn't be so difficult, because she was putting the Anbu Commander on the job, someone who was an expert in genjutsu.
He knocked Inuzuka out and left him in a room in the tower with his dog. Soon after, using a very elaborate henge that blended in easily with his disguise as the boy he had observed and could imitate completely.
It was he who told Yamanaka that Haruno was passing away. It was he who pushed to reveal what the heirs were doing while Haruno, a civilian, was taking away lifeless bodies for days and weeks.
He was her key piece, which Tsunade used to deliver the final blow.
And that's exactly what she did, although the acid test was unplanned and unforeseen. She did not fail to improve even more in her determination to make Haruno her apprentice.
In the end, Haruno was where the Fifth Hokage wanted her to be.
Everything was... perfect.
The girl who now stood in front of him was not the same as three months ago. She was his fifth apprentice.
A blank slate that Tsunade would paint charcoal black and blood red.
- In the archives department? - The most despised and forgotten place in Konoha? Sakura knew this and so did all the shinobi, but she could see what the Hokage wanted in that particular place. After all, what better place than one that people don't value or care about?
The perfect place to hide someone socially.
- And you're going to work there. My time is short, so I can't devote myself to teaching you every little thing, you'll have to do most of it, so this department is the perfect excuse for me to give you scrolls that I need you to study.
Sakura nodded, she was used to being self-taught.
- However, don't think that I won't check your progress. I won't accept even a single mistake, understand?
The Fifth Hokage's gaze was implacable.
- I understand, Hokage-sama!
Tsunade looked with disgust at the sound of that word coming out of Sakura's mouth.
She could have all the other vermin calling her that, but the young Haruno, whom she had hand-picked and created a miraculous plan just to make her her pupil and who would make her more of an apprentice than the others, didn't take kindly to the word "Hokage" being uttered by the pink-haired child.
She hadn't used up that many neurons to hear that word from Haruno's mouth.
She didn't want Sakura's loyalty in her title of Hokage.
Haruno's loyalty wasn't to the Hokage or Konoha, her loyalty was to Tsunade Senju.
Fuck Konoha! Let Konoha burn in hell! Haruno would be her greatest project and belongs solely to her, Tsunade Senju. And not this shitty village full of scum.
- Call me that only when we're in the presence of other people, but when we're alone, just call me "Shishou", brat.
Sakura didn't understand the difference, but from the cold, angry honey eyes, she knew it was better just to nod.
- I need you to change your appearance too, nothing drastic at first, something light until people start to get used to and adapt to your changes, without any strangeness.
- My appearance? - Sakura knew she looked like shit, but she didn't think dressing well or anything like that was important.
- And don't go thinking that you have to dress well, brat! I'll have your new clothes dropped off at your apartment later, but I'll fix your hair - Tsunade leaned back in her chair and pierced her honey eyes with emeralds - But get one thing through your head. If we're going to make this anonymity thing work, I need you to be forgotten, Sakura. I want your presence to be something that people look at and dismiss out of hand, someone who shouts from afar that you're weak, mediocre and don't have the fire in your blood to be a shinobi. Got it?
In other words, Sakura was supposed to be a "nobody". The girl wasn't asking to be recognized or anything, her priority was her survival and she would use every ounce of time with the Hokage to learn everything from her. So dressing badly or changing her personality wouldn't be difficult for the pink-haired girl at this stage in her life.
She had dealt with lifeless bodies and the sight of her own dead parents, buried in the rubble of their old home. Something as trivial as that was far from her mind at the moment. After all, what's the point of being someone? It wasn't as if she had anyone waiting for her at home or who missed her.
The image of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl was disposable, as was the image of two boys and a gray-haired man. The memory of the latter was wrapped up tightly and kept in the back of her mind in a bubble in which she didn't want to see or feel any emotion related to these people.
With these thoughts, Sakura imagined that being a nobody seemed very attractive at the moment and in the future.
- All right.
Tsunade took the paper back once she was sure Sakura had memorized everything, burned it with a simple fire jutsu and handed over another scroll. With all the preparations done, she changed her look to an annoyed one and nodded to her apprentice, sensing the presence of two chakras near her office.
This was information that only a single person knew about Tsunade being a sensor type. Only her uncle Tobirama, the Second Hokage, knew and he even told her that she had better keep this information to use as a trump card against her enemies.
Sakura didn't seem to understand at first, but she soon got the signal.
A knock on the door disturbed the brief silence, before it was opened by the presence of a tired Shizune and behind her, the Jounin Commander, Shikaku Nara.
- Tsunade-sama, we have a last-minute meeting with the elders to decide the matter of the - Shizune stopped her speech as she noticed the small pink-haired figure standing in front of the Hokage's desk. After the announcement of the other three girls' apprenticeship and the lack of presence of the last member of Team 7 yesterday, Shizune was sure that the girl had given up.
There was another silence in the room.
Realizing that her presence here would be strange, Sakura used her behavior over the last few months to help interpret her newest personality. One that her mind thought about in the few seconds she had and the words the Hokage had said earlier.
With nervous glances and her head down, because she couldn't guarantee that they would realize that she wasn't that sad. Sakura held the scroll tightly in her arms and bowed to the Hokage, keeping her voice low and looking a little weak and shaky.
- Thank you for the mission, Hokage-sama!
- Yes, so be it! Now stop bothering me and get out of my way, brat.
The others seemed to feel sorry for the girl, who walked away with her head down. Inside, however, Tsunade was pleased that the girl had shown herself to be intelligent. Her behavior at the moment was that of a pathetic girl who has humiliated herself enough and now doesn't even have the courage or strength to look people in the eye, full of shame for her actions.
The image of someone perfect, that people only look at with disdain or pity.
Shikaku Nara looked at the girl's retreat with an analytical look, it was really a shame and a waste, Haruno had always been very intelligent. The most intelligent, right after her son in their class. However, she was also never material for the life of a Shinobi. Too worried about her appearance or too focused on books to try to train to become strong.
However, he couldn't blame the girl entirely either, the Konoha system only favors those who were from the Shinobi Clan or had influential contacts. It was a surprise that she had remained in that class until the end, but after thinking about it a few years ago, it wasn't so surprising.
After all, the Third Hokage needed someone dispensable for Team 7 and Haruno was perfect.
The only civilian in a class of heirs and members of Shinobi Clans.
A very... problematic situation.
- What are you doing like this, standing still? Do we have work or not?!
- Tsunade-sama… did you give Haruno-san a mission? - Shizune asked with a feeling of pity for the girl. After all, not only did she lose the team, but she also didn't have a chance to learn from the Fifth Hokage.
Tsunade shuffled some papers indifferently.
- I put her to work in the archives department 7. That girl would die anywhere else or on a mission outside the village.
The two occupants who had pity in their eyes before, were more tempted to say that this was a much worse place. But, the Hokage was right in her decision.
For someone who did not have the support or influential contacts, as well as skills and power, the archives department that was somewhat close to the Tower, but still quite hidden, was the perfect place for Haruno.
A place where she would only have to read and file documents all day, without worries or any extra work.
The place that not even shinobi who manage to retire go.
Yes, a place where they throw useless and expendable people.
It was a safe place for the pink-haired girl.
As soon as Nara left the office after discussing some matters related to the new promotions in the soldier ranks, Tsunade watched Shizune arranging a few hundred papers to be burned and destroyed. Tsunade pulled out the drawer of her desk. With empty eyes and more analytical and cold thoughts in her mind, she took the package of letters, tied with a thin old string, with indecipherable letters saying who the sender was and who she was sending it to and threw it to her assistant.
- Burn these together - Tsunade threw them to her apprentice, who looked like she was going to fall asleep at any moment, after all, she had been awake for two days and wasn't even paying attention to what she was destroying on the papers.
Tsunade knew this, so she didn't worry about Shizune trying to decipher the poorly written letters, which belonged to a single person.
The process was as if she were watching everything in slow motion.
On the back of the letter that was slowly thrown into the can that had a lit fire, it was possible to see the names and what had been written briefly by the empty and cold honey eyes of the Fifth Hokage, accompanied by an impassive expression.
"From Naruto Uzumaki, the future Hokage, to his best friend and teammate, Sakura-chan!"
The words were destroyed and burned along with the entire package of similar letters.