Chapter 3

Land of Waves – part 1

The week had passed quickly and both girls had planned everything alongside Sayuri, after she had returned from her mission. And then weeks passed, and they saw each other at least three times a week. Now Hinata was her best friend and confident. They shared the same doubts and fears. Sakura could still tell that her father disapproved of her being a ninja. Not only because she was an Omega. He had hated the idea even before it. Ren was a monk, and was peaceful man that hated violence, so he had always hoped that his child would turn into the cleric service as himself. So he was disappointed when she insisted in follow her mother footsteps as a ninja. But now he was less harsh at her.

The other monks and mikos at the shrine also seemed to accept it. Not only accept, but some, like Haninousuka Asuka-sama — that had been a kunoichi till her seventeen — and Tamayomi Kentarou-san — whose family used to be samurai — started to train her. Now she had a very intense routine.

She would wake early, around 5 AM and eat. Then around 5:30, Asuka-sama would make her do laps around the shrine for an hour and then her katas for another hour. Kentarou-san would then teach and weapon train her. Then she would lunch. At 1 PM she would meet her team at their usual train ground. They would be offended with her being late, but she would shrug, sensei was later. They would have a train exercise that was very light if compared with Asuka-sama's train, or a D-rank mission that would last for three hours maximum. Thrice a week, around 5 PM she would go to the park where she and Hinata would hang out. At home, she would meditate for an hour along with her father and then rest.

It was hard, but it paid off. At the mirror she could already see her body gaining more muscular masse and shape, during the trainings she could feel her stamina was higher than before, she was faster and more precise. She soon perceived that her hair wasn't helping her in her trained, but also didn't want to cut it, so instead she braided it in boxer style. This way she didn't have to be worry about it getting in her way.

Sometimes she still felt her heart pounding when Sasuke was near her. She couldn't control her thoughts about him and seriously it was annoying how sometimes she would blush when he looked at her. However, know that she was forcing herself to look at him with more analytical eyes, she could see his ill manners and boring personality. How she could like someone that brood all the times, she would never know. Naruto in the other hand had become a friend to her. They would walk together and talk. And his shiny personality was really getting into her. She could tell him anything, it was easy. She came to understand how Hinata had coming to fall for him.

Kakashi was slowly getting in her nerves. He was always late. He disappeared all the time. And was always reading porn. It was like he didn't wanted to be a teacher. At least, not her teacher. His train was too light and he was focused on Sasuke and Naruto. Sakura did understand that both were stronger than her, they were Alphas, but she was being deliberated ignored by him during training. She needed someone that was willing to train her, not only supervise her gardening or fencing painting.

The D-Rank missions were ridiculous. It was surprising that it took two months for Naruto complain at the Hokage. Naruto antics were a torn between amusing and embarrassing. Scratching the corner of her eyebrow, she pretended that she wasn't in the Hokage's office and observed the people around her. Kakashi was amused, Sasuke had a smug look in his face — she could tell that he agreed with Naruto, but was letting the boy do all the work —, Iruka-san was pissed at Naruto and two chunnin guards were doing a poor job to contain the laugh.

"Whatever!" The Hokage sighed and getting everyone surprised. "Since you're decided, I will give you a C-rank mission. You'll be bodyguards in a journey."

"Really? Cool!" Naruto stated before proceed in harassing the Kage for more information. "Who? We're going to protect a princess or an important chancellor?"

"I would be surprised if it was a lost kid from another town." Sakura thought with a frowned face.

When the Hokage called for the client Sakura sighed. It was an old man with that was clearly drunk and with a sake bottle in his hand. Again she frowned. His posture was careless, his eyes scanned them and a snobbish grim was shout at them.

"What? Just some spoiled brats?" Sakura clenched her jaw, holding back a remark. "And you, the idiotic midget, do you really think I'm going to believe you're a ninja?"

"Hahaha! Who is the idiotic midget?" Naruto laughed and she and Sasuke approached him so he could compare the heights. "I'll demolish you!" He cried, but was held back by Kakashi.

"You can't demolish the client, Naruto." He commented as if he was talking about the time. "That's not how things work."

"I'm Tazuna, a great bridge builder and I need to go back to my country." The man introduced himself. "I'm building a bridge that will change my country's life and I intent to get there safe and sound. Even if you have to give your own lives for it."

"Okay. We'll meet tomorrow at the north gate at eight in the morning." Kakashi said. "Remember that we will walk a lot and will need to camp, so I suggest to be careful with your pack. Don't be late. It is a long term mission after all."

Sakura rolled her eyes. As if it would be needed in a C-Rank.

(LINE BREAK)

Sakura was packing while a fox entered her room through her veranda. One of the pecks to live in the shrine was that there foxes were considerate sacred, so it was common to see a lot of them around the shrine. Along with the foxes, there were crows, dogs, cats, weasels and other animals that almost lived in the shrine lands. She liked them. It didn't matter if the villagers didn't like the foxes, there they were protected.

"That's a fox in your futon?" Hinata asked with small smile.

Around her Hinata was more confident in herself than the normal. And around Hinata, she felt that she could be vulnerable if the needed. Sakura smiled at the young white fox that was watching Hinata.

"Hinata, that's my friend, Shuhei. My father helped in his birth last year, and I helped feed him." Sakura said picking him in her arms.

"When you told me that the shrine took care of wild animals, I didn't believe." She sounded amazed, and she was at seeing a fox so docile in Sakura's arms.

"Do you want to carry him?" Hinata accepted and again was amazed at how docile the fox was. She sat at Sakura's futon setting the fox in her lap.

"So… Packing?"

"Tomorrow I'm going to a long term mission in the Waves."

"Economic instable, geographic isolated, politically weak." Hinata recited what she had heard of the country by her father. "They don't have ninjas there, do they?"

"Not that I know." Sakura shrugged. "We have to bodyguard a bridge builder while he builds his master piece or whatever."

"It can take months."

"About two, yes." Sakura said and Hinata looked displeased. "Don't worry, I will bring your Naruto-kun back to you." She joked and the pearled eyes girl threw a cushion at her and she laughed. "Are you going to be okay?"

"My best friend is going away for months. I hope you'll come back safely." Hinata said truly. "You should take that." She said pointing to a katana. "You use it beautifully."

"Kentarou-san made me promise that I wouldn't use it till he deemed me ready." Sakura said but shrugged. "It's only a C-Rank mission. Oh!" Sakura started moving some things in her shelf. "Here's the promised katas." She handed the scroll to Hinata. "I think it will adjust quite well with the Gentle Fist Style of your clan."

"Is it okay for you to pass me this?"

"Asuka-sama let me pass it to you, she just asks for you to not pass it to anyone else." Hinata nodded in agreement. "And she asked if you want to train with us once I get back."

"It will be lovely." Hinata take something of her pouch. "Anyway I bought it other day, it just remember me of you." It was a leather cord necklace with a wood pendent that have a kanji 'strength' painted in black. "You always say that we need to be strong." She then put a similar out of her clothes, after handed the first to Sakura.

"Thank you, Hinata-chan."

"No. Thank you, Sakura." The ravenette said. "You're the first person that believed in me. My own father thinks I'm just a weakling and fragile thing, and he thinks I'm a beta. All my clan looks at me with disappointment because I'm not an Alpha. And ever since I thought of the possibility that I would be an Omega, I started to believe in my father. But you made me see things in other light. You made want to be stronger so I can shut him up." She smiled dryly. "You are strong, Sakura. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise." Immediately she was hugged by the pinkette.

"I can only say the same about you, Hinata." She whispered at her. "Now changing to a topic less emotional… How are going things at your team?"

He blinked. The door of his house was open. But he had put a seal on it. He picked an kunai of his pouch before entered, he couldn't feel anyone inside, but some ninja were formidable in the art of chakra counseling. The first thing he noticed was that his ninken were playing with someone with pink hair. Like his student. And like his student's mother.

"Oh, please. Could you put this kunai away already? You know I don't represent any dangerous to you, Hatake." Said a hard, stone cold female voice.

"Sayuri-san?" He asked making the impossible to keep an indifferent tone. "What are you doing here?"

"What? You teach my daughter. Also I have to see with my own eyes how you are."

"You're here because of Sakura-chan?" He saw her eyes soften after hear her daughter's name. "There is something wrong?"

"Actually? No. There isn't." She smiled at him, still looking at him.

Kakashi couldn't help but compare the both Haruno. Sakura had pastel pink hair that was long enough to reach her waist line, her eyes were jade green and soft and gleamed with determination, her skin was milky white and unscarred. Sayuri's hair was bright scandalous pink that she let in loose ponytail to rest upon her left shoulder, her eyes remembered pink sapphires and burned with sassiness, the tan skin had scars placed all around the body, and one of the most visible was in the collarbone that she had gained just a little before getting married. But the face features, some of the mannerisms were the same. He could only stop to think in what more Sakura would grow like her mother.

"You are a busy woman, you wouldn't lose your time if you didn't want something." He stated after a minute. The pink eyes rolled.

"I know that Sakura isn't a powerhouse like the Uchiha brat or the Namikaze brat, but don't shield her too much. You'll end up screwing her hard work."

"What?"

"Sakura is working her ass day and night to be stronger enough to stand at her own feet. I know your background Kakashi, probably better than any living soul. I think that if you overprotect Sakura you'll hurt her in the end, because you're not only preventing her growing process as a ninja. But also will let her unprepared if it ever came for her to be separated from her team."

"You think that I'm unsuitable as a teacher?"

"No, this I'm sure." Sayuri said nonchalantly. "You read porn in public, what kind of teacher would do this in front of his students? Anyway I just think you have an overprotective streak." She shrugged. "Be protective is not a bad trait, but be overprotective is counterproductive in a squad."

"You want me to let her fight if the need ever rise." Sayuri nodded. "Most moms would come here asking me to protect their daughter…"

"Most moms are not as confident in their daughters as I am in mine." Sayuri flicked her hair and passed through him. And then he saw her posture change, from the serious woman that he was used to work to a playful smiling persona. "Well I'm going, my Sakura-chan need help to pack before her first mission and Ren-chan will be finishing his monk duties anytime." She then stopped at his door. "Oh, Kakashi-chan, you should change your seal, it took me less than two minutes to break it."

Sayuri's split personality was really scary.

Sakura was excited. After eating breakfast with her mother and father she bid them goodbye and found her team in the North Gate at eight o'clock. Kakashi wasn't there, as she had already predicted. The client and her teammates were already there, as well. Naruto was even more agitated that she and Sasuke was the façade of indifference. The journey would take three days at the pace they had to keep. Whatever the first two hours had been enough to make her crazy. Tazuna was deliberately rude with Naruto, making rude remarks and looking down at him. And Naruto was picking his bait and then they would discuss. Kakashi would generally interrupt them, Sasuke would remain silent and she bored.

It was when she noticed a puddle in the middle of the road.

"It hasn't rained about two weeks." She thought looking at the puddle quizzically. Her instincts screamed for her to run, but she took a long breath. "It seems that the story of no battles in C-rank Missions was about to be changed." Her hands casually travelled for her pouch and she built her guard up.

"So she have perceived too." Kakashi thought while perceiving his pink haired student movements.

A chain attack had killed Kakashi, frightening them at the sight of the older shinobi being shredded by the enemy. Then two ninjas using the headband of the Hidden Mist appeared and attacked them. Sakura picked the two kunai and stood before the bridge builder, waiting for the right moment. First, they attacked Naruto, tying the paralyzed blonde with the chains. However Sasuke threw a shuriken in the chain, pinning it into a tree. Before the Mist nin could pull the chains she threw a kunai to strengthening the pin. Sasuke kicked each of them, making the metal gloves dethatch of the chain.

This way each of them ran in opposite directions. One in Tazuna direction and other in Naruto's. Sakura pose herself in front of the bridge builder, and narrowed her eyes.

"Sasuke! Help Naruto. I can pick this up." She ordered and run in the ninja direction.

She threw a kunai in his direction, but it was deflected by the metal gloves. Once she was close enough she made sure to stay out of the glove claws, if her mother was right, the Nin of the Mist were almost as proficient in poisons as the Sand nin. She landed a punch in the nin face, but received a sweep kick that took her down. He ran then in Tazuna's direction, but again she put herself before him.

"Why don't you give up, hime-chan?"

"Go to hell!" She yelled and kicked his left side. With the corner of her eyes she saw Sasuke fighting the other nin while Naruto was still paralyzed. "Naruto, we need your help! Wake up."

She screamed. Taking vantage of her distraction the Mist nin attacked her once more. "Damn it!" She thought pulling another kunai of her pouch she was about to be beaten when someone appeared between her and the enemy. "Sasuke-kun?" She felt her Omega react instantly to him, almost melting her legs. But before the nin could actually attack any of them, someone grabbed the collar of his shirt. The other nin that Sasuke had abandon to protect her was resting unconscious in his shoulder.

"Kakashi-sensei?" She mused looking at the older ninja. Her brows furred and a mix of anger and relief burning in her chest.

"Exhibitionist." Thought the Uchiha with an unexpectedly jealousy of the jounin's ability.

"Kakashi-sensei used a substituition jutsu. So cool!" Thought Naruto perceiving the shredded woods were should be laying the rests of the Hatake.

"Sorry for not having act right away, Naruto. I didn't want them to hurt you, but also I didn't thought you would chicken out like that, hun?" He jerked and then looked at his other students, focusing in Sakura that stood still and then arched a brow. "Good work, Sasuke, Sakura. You did great!"

Rage and frustration boiled in Naruto's blood. "I was useless! And Sasuke was so calm as if he had already done it a million times. He wasn't even a little scared. He looked so calm and got out without a scratch. And I was so coward that he had to save me. Why I'm not like him too?"

"Hey!" Sasuke said calling Naruto's attention out of his thoughts. "You didn't got hurt, did you? Scared cat!" The provocative smirk made Sakura roll her eyes. He was being deliberating cruel with his fellow teammate.

"Sasuke!"

"Naruto!" Kakashi called him, making the blonde turn to him. "Don't move. These types of ninjas use poison in their craws. We need to take it off of you as soon as possible. You need to open the wound and take it off. Is in your blood, so don't more, it would spread the poison." The man said looking at the blond and Sakura closed her eyes.

She had been fighting one of them, she then perceived that Kakashi was scanned hers and Sasuke's bodies, looking for open wounds. She didn't have one, but the fall on her back would leave a bruise in her left scalp. She moved uncomfortably, but nodded at him. She could walk just fine.

"By the way, Tazuna-san..."

"Yes! What it is?" The man asked alarmed.

"We need to talk." Sensei said.

Sasuke and Kakashi tied the foreign ninjas in a tree and Sakura relaxed. She was curious about the Mist Nin. She read a little about the Hidden Mist, to occupy her time — her father was a follower of the "a sharp mind precedes a strong body" philosophy. —, they had a civil war not long ago, that ended with lots of bloodlines being wiped out of the village. Mist ninjas ran of the village in masse, turning on Missing Nin. But that was the little information her father had come across in his yearly pilgrimage to the Fushimi Shrine in other city. Monks around the continent were always there during that time of the year.

"They're chunnin of the Village of Mist. Their specialty is the coordinating attack. They continue fighting, it doesn't matter the sacrifice."

"How did you knew about our ambush?" One of the Missing nin asked without fear.

"A puddle in the sunny day, when it haven't rained in weeks?" Kakashi explained in an exasperated tone.

"So why did you let your genin fight on their own?" Tazuna asked with a frowned face.

"It's kind of obvious no?" Sakura said attracting their attention to her. "If he had fight first, it would end up fast… Too fast. But we wouldn't know anything would we?"

"Sakura is right. I want to know their goal, the reason behind the attack." Kakashi's eyes shoot Tazuna a sharp glare. "I needed to know their target."

"W-what did you said?" Tazuna's voice squealed nervously.

"See…" The serious tone in his voice made Sakura shrived. "They could have been after us: ninjas attacking ninjas. Or they could be after you: a great bridge builder. The client. When you made the protection request you asked for standard protection against robbers and thieves. You hadn't mentioned that you were being wanted or persecuted by a ninja. If we did know this, then the mission would probably be classified as B-rank or higher. Our task was simply take you to your destination and protect you while you built the bridge against common criminals. If we knew that we would have to fight other ninja, other team would have been escalated to this mission and, of course, it would been charged a B-rank price. You may have had your reasons, but lying isn't acceptable. My team doesn't have the necessary skill to do this mission." Kakashi looking straight at his eyes.

"We're genin. This is far too advanced for our training level. It could have injuried us, or worst: killed us. Including you." Sakura said and saw Tazuna's eyes.

"Sakura is right." Kakashi said and then looked at Naruto. "Anyway… We better get back at the village, Naruto's hand may become a problem."

The more he was treated like a child, more frustrated and irritated the blonde became. And responding Kakashi's last statement he used a kunai to open his wound let his blood run stale. He staggered and then started to say in a quiet and solemn voice.

"Why I'm so different? Why do this happen to me?"

"Naruto, let me take a look at your wound, seriously." Sakura said, but her plea fell on deaf ears as Naruto continued his monologue.

"I worked so hard to be here. I tried till the limit, trained alone for hours. Everything too become stronger, to realize my dream." Sakura looked worried at the lots of blood running out of the blonde's hand. "I will never weaken again, neither will let anyone rescue me. I will never run again or will lose to Sasuke. Upon this wound I make this oath: Bridge Builder I will complete this mission and protect you with this kunai. A real ninja will never give up, and never will. Don't worry about me, I will be fine. Now let's go!" The blonde shouted.

"Naruto, it was cool the way you cut the poison irrigation, but if you lose a little more of blood, you will die." Kakashi said indifferent. And Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Ahh! What do I do?" He started in despair. "I can't die now! I have to become Hokage." He cried.

"No one is dying now, Naruto. For you to die of blood lose at the hand you would have to bleed a lot more. And even so, before you would lose consciousness, then your hand would turn purple because of the oxygen deprivation – that would mean we would have to amputate your hand – and if you still bleed you die." Sakura said everything too calm and with a smile in her lips.

"Did your mother teach you that?" Kakashi asked with narrowed eyes as Sakura was picking a first aid kit in her backpack. "For all I know Sayuri-sama have zero experience with dealing with this level of wounds."

"Actually there's a monk in the shrine that used to be a doctor before offer himself as a Kami's servant." Sakura said casually. "Setsuya-sensei even showed me how to perform emergency care of amputated limbs." She sat and petted to Naruto to sit before her, so she could look at his injury.

"And how exactly did he show it to you?"

"A puppy had to amputee his tail because it had an infection that would kill him if reached the rest of the body." Sakura shrugged and Kakashi and the rest sweatdroped. "He said that the human care isn't so different."

"A doctor in the shrine, hn…" Kakashi thought while looking at Sakura's hand working efficiently at Naruto's injury.

"It's already healing? Why?" She thought looking at the wound. "You're going to be fine, Naruto." She declared after pushing the questions out of her mind.

Two days later. Tazuna had just explained his history. A shipping tycoon that was using the main island of his land was playground. Imposing laws, enforcing terror, intimidating, murdering, prostitution… Sakura made her best to hold the shrive that wanted to go down her spine when Tazuna explained that Gatō, the tycoon, had killed all Alphas that had mated with Omegas and then the Omegas had disappeared. She knew what he mean.

It was in the third day of the journey that they had been attacked a second time.

Naruto was too agitated, wanting to prove that he wasn't a scared cat. What lead in he throwing kunai at every brush movement. Sakura's scalp was still hurting, in one of their stops she observed at the mirror a large purple bruise in her back, it was probably there. When Naruto threw another kunai one of her brows twitched. She was become irritated.

"Naruto put these kunai away. We'll need it later! When we face a real enemy." Sakura said irritated.

"But there is someone following us." He argued and she sighed. He was right, since they had landed she had started to feel observed. They were being followed, and it was frustrating and frightening.

"I know, right? I can feel someone observing us. I know someone is watching. But I also know that we are not going to get him throwing kunai at every anything in the forest." She said still irritated. Kakashi was in the brushes seeing what happened to be the victim of Naruto's kunai, to find a scared white rabbit. "And congratulations! You can frighten a rabbit."

"Oh! Little bunny! I'm so sorry!" Naruto cried trying to hug the scared rabbit and Sakura rolled her eyes. Sasuke was still acting as if he wasn't there and that scene wasn't happening, the client thought of Naruto as an idiot.

"A snowshoe hare, but with this color? Its fur is just white during the winter, when the days are short and have little light. This hare had been raised inside of a house and away of the light and is here for a reason: Kawarimi no Jutsu. He is already here." Were the thoughts of the jounin.

"Kakashi-sensei…"

"Everyone down!" Kakashi shouted, interrupting Sakura.

Immediately all of them tracked to the ground. Tazuna being tracked by Sasuke. A giant sword boomeranged above their heads and craved itself at the old tree. A man appeared in the handle. Sakura looked at him, measured him. Unlike Konoha nin who used scent suppressors at missions outside the village, the man scent was strong and remembered her of the sea, she didn't knew why though. The man was strange and everything in him screamed danger. For his headband she knew he was of the Mist. He was the companion of the Demon Brothers.

"Who is he?" She though while looking at him.

"Maa… If it isn't the nuke nin of the Village of the Hidden Mist: Momochi Zabuza." Kakashi said and Sakura eyes got wide.

Hi, guys!

I would like to say I'm sorry, I made a mistake in the last chapter.
The memorial stone isn't for MIA (missing in action) but for KIA (killed in action). I'm sorry about it. And I would like to thanks the reader that brought it to my attention.

Now, I hope you had liked this chapter.

Review me, pretty please.

And see you in the next chapter.

xoxo

Ana