The Library Heist
The next morning Sakura woke up early. Her father was already up, and making breakfast. "Good morning, flower."
"Good morning," Sakura yawned and sat down to eat. Her father eyed her, as Sakura was never an early riser.
"What so special that today your up before your mother," Sakura didn't pause in eating or indicate in any way she was worried.
"I wanted to get a start on this project my friend asked me to help with. I have to get to the library early," Her father nodded slowly, she didn't even need to lie at all.
She finished her breakfast, washed her dish out, and ran out the door. She was at the Uchiha compound before 8:00. The Sasuke that opened the door was a mess. His hair stuck up like Naruto's and went sideways like a duck. Sakura smiled to stifle her laughter. He let her in without comment. He started making himself and Naruto breakfast. "You ready to get those books." He asked, as Naruto came down with his hair wet. He waved to Sakura before siting down to eat. Sasuke disappeared when Naruto came down.
They were all ready by 8:00 and left for the library in disguises that Naruto had come up with. Naruto sported a black hoodie and mask with blue pants, Sasuke wore a green hoodie and a black scarf. Sakura herself wore a blue hoodie with a red scarf, both Sasuke and Sakura wore black pants.
They split up and arrived at the library at different times. Naruto was the last and he made a ruckus when he came in. His job was to distract everyone and he did that very well. He toppled books off shelves, flipped chairs, jumped on tables.
The chunin section of the library was the second floor. Sasuke and Sakura were heading there, when Naruto's hood fell.
"Uzumaki!" Someone screamed in anger and Sakura froze. How did they know she was an Uzumaki? But there was no one coming her way when she looked around. They were all crowding around Naruto. No one could catch him.
Naruto is an Uzumaki! That's impossible all the Uzumaki were wiped out.
Sasuke snapped her out of her trance. "Come on, we have to hurry."
They were at the second floor, the guards were downstairs trying to keep Naruto from destroying the whole place.They ran across the isles looking for wind. "Wind, wind, wind," Sakura kept chanting. They finally got there as Sasuke picked up a book, they felt a slight breeze come from behind them.
"And what do you two think you're doing." A voice asked from behind them, in a jovial manner. Sasuke and Sakura turned around slowly as Sasuke hide the book in his shirt. They were caught red-handed, but that didn't mean all their hard work would be for nothing.
"We got lost trying to get away from that boy. He was so destructive." The chunin made a ugly face and mutter something that sounded like Demon brat. Sasuke was ready to snap at the man but Sakura grabbed his wrist. It was a distraction technique, make the man mad. "He was so scary and his eyes, they flashed red. He was growling at me. Asking me to come with him. I didn't want to, thats when Sasuke came and he dragged me up here to get away from that boy." The mans eyes grew darker, angrier.
"Alright you can go, but don't come up here again." The man left in a flash of leaves. Sakura breathed a sigh of relief and nodded to Sasuke. They ran back downstairs as Naruto was leaving with an angry mob following him. Sakura wasn't worried, Sasuke said he was good at getting away.
They made it to the Uchiha compound, in record time.
"Alright, Sasuke. Let's see what we got." She was excited to see what jutsu were in this book, the only book they got. Naruto might be a little mad since they only got one book.
It took most of the afternoon for Sasuke to read as Sakura looked over the diagrams again. Sakura couldn't really focus much, since she found out that Naruto was an Uzumaki. He was family, damnit. Why didn't father know? Why didn't she know? It was a relief when Naruto got back. He had changed into his regular orange clothes somewhere.
"Naruto," Sasuke nodded. "We got something. I've read it mostly through, there doesn't seem to be any jutsu that fits better than wind bullet. I'll just have to minimize the area effected by it. This book seems to have more information on how to change your chakra to wind and how the wind element works in general. Good job...both of you."
To be honest Sasuke didn't even do much. Sakura thought, bitterly. Sakura thought of the story her father had told her last night. She wanted to ask, she had to ask.
"Hey Sasuke. Do you know anything about the world of the undead?" Sasuke's eye flashes with hurt.
"How do you know about that? Where did you here that?" He was so mad. Sakura was stunned.
"My father, he said it came from an old religion, very few people practice it still. My family does. I was wondering since your family was really old... that you might practice it too." She averted her eyes. His hurt didn't go away.
Sakura tried her best to avoided Naruto. He could be her brother, or cousin. She didn't think her parents would throw their child away. The Haruno's only ever had one child and they were always boys until her. Naruto was an Uzumaki and she never knew. He was one of them. She had to go home, she had to talk with her father.
"Since we got the book, you don't need my help for the rest of the day, right. It's my fathers off day and I want to spend some time with him." Both boys flinched at the word father. Sasuke just nodded stiffly. Sakura left with a nod to Naruto.
She burst in the door to her home and ran to her fathers study. " You told me the Uzumaki were gone. Why is there a boy with the name Uzumaki running around Konoha?"
Her father looked up, an eyebrow raised, not shocked at all. The seals around the house let him know if someone was inside the house, even if he wasn't. "There was another Uzumaki woman in the village, but she died the night of nine tails attack. He could be her son, but its unlikely."
"I don't believe that. Why would he have her name, if he wasn't her son or an Uzumaki. That's insulting to the dead clan." Sakura didn't know what to think anymore. Naruto was family whether her father said or not. She can't give up on the little family she has left.
Her clan was more powerful than she could imagine, that's why they were targeted and why she can't use her name proudly. Her family and many of their secrets were gone, things and tradition she will never know, people she will never know. Her father hugged her as she cried for her dead family and all the little things she would never know. The home she would never see, uzushio. It called to her like every Uzumaki, the salt water and whirlpools were in their blood.
"It's ok, sweety. If it bother you so much, why don't you become friends with him. Now, how about I tell you a story of the Hatake wolves that your grandma loved so much."
Sakura sat on her father lap even through she was getting too big for it and listened to the story of the wolves and her grandma. She'd heard the story many times before and even asked if she would have a wolf one day. Her father had never answered that question.
"The story begin on a dark night, in the Konoha forest. Your grandma, Mai was out late with her younger brother and father. It was sunset and they were getting ready to go home after a family training trip. Mai was farther away from her father than her baby brother. She had found a plant that was native to Iwa by following a strange white substance. She crouched down to examine it, when an Iwa ninja came out of the plant.
Being trained as a ninja she jumped back and pulled out a Kunai. Her father had grabbed her baby brother, who was only toddler. She held off the other nin for as long as she could, but it wasn't long enough. Her father couldn't get to her in time and the Iwa nin captured her. He said, "If you follow us, I'll kill her." So her father having her baby brother with him couldn't do much, without it resulting in her death. But Mai wasn't giving up, she was a strong kunoichi. She smiled at her father showing her white teeth. "Papa, momo, I'll be back. Don't you worry." The Iwa nin took of with her as her father watched helpless. Being strong for her family was never hard for Mai, it was being strong for herself that was hard.
As they got further and further away from her family Mai began to shake, with a kunai to her throat, she couldn't do much. The other nin had followed the one who had kidnapped her. They stopped when they were far away from Konoha and tied Mai up, so she couldn't run. They set up came, and Mai was left out in the dark Konoha forest in fall. There was a cold wind blowing from the south, but Mai didn't whimper. She refused to show weakness to these nin. This went on for two days. They were at the border of fire country. That's when she saw the white fur of a wolf shine in the dark. It's coat reflected the fire and it blue eyes were like being stabbed with ice, but when the wolf looked to Mai. She didn't see ice. She saw the warmth of the sun that shown in the morning dew.
Mai understand the what the wolf wanted, it wanted blood. Iwa blood. So she left the warmth of the fire for the cold darkness. She became a wolf. She traveled with the white wolves, gained survivor skills. Skills she would not have learned otherwise. She named her first wolf Momo, for the brother she never got to see grown up. Her baby brother, she had protected him and herself. She survived and before her death she came back home, to settle her debts and give momo, another caretaker. She still hasn't hit the bucket the old wolf." Her father laughed.
"Thank you papa. I always liked that story."
For the rest of the academics break Sakura was with Sasuke and Naruto, training and looking through books on the Hatake and Uchiha. There wasn't much information on these clans, but she learned more than if she had ask their members.