\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter notes:\u00a0<\/b>This chapter and the next, although flashback heavy, really dive deep into Sakura\u2019s story. It answers questions about her background that are never addressed in the original. How was her chakra discovered? Were her parents happy about it? Was she<\/i> happy about it? \u201cHow did she go from civilian kid to being accepted to a shinobi academy? It\u2019s about fear and trust, friendship and perseverance. It\u2019s the beginning of who she is. And it reveals that there are a lot more parallels between Naruto\u2019s story and her story than were ever shown in the manga. Turns out he wasn\u2019t the only kid in the village born with was unique and immense powers that people don\u2019t really know quite what to do with. So for Sakura fans, this is her story\u2026.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0The Green Light –<\/i> The name is a play on Sakura\u2019s healing chakra as well as her eye color, the color of the light through the leaves (Naruto\u2019s favorite color) and the green in Naruto\u2019s necklace. It\u2019s thematic. And this is its origin. More on this in the spoiler notes\u2026.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0The chakra was the only thing that was easy. The rest was a challenge\u2026. But her chakra was always there, a constant companion, even from the beginning. \u2014 <\/i>Sakura\u2019s story is very much the parallel of Naruto\u2019s. They both have an unknown power, from the beginning, that they didn\u2019t ask for and don\u2019t have much help in learning how to control. One is for healing, the other is for power. Sakura\u2019s innate healing ability is overshadowed completely when compared to Naruto\u2019s destructive kyuubi powers. But, in essentials, their story is the same.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2022 Sakura\u2019s mother was so surprised she loosened her fingers. Sakura tugged her little hand from her grasp.<\/i> \u2014 Sakura\u2019s mother and father are not named here, for a couple reasons. First, because Sakura is an orphan in the ninja world. So their identity, \u2018mother\u2019 and \u2018father,\u2019 will always be from Sakura\u2019s perspective alone. They will always be adjacent to the life she\u2019s chosen. She loves them, and she moves in and out of that civilian world. But they do not cross over to hers. Second, in a story that is so full of orphans, so awash in the legacy of lost parents and family, \u2018Sakura\u2019s parents\u2019 have staked their claim to this role in the story. They are real. They are normal. They are weird and boring. They are not mythologized like Naruto\u2019s parents or longed for like Sasuke\u2019s. So when her other orphan teammates and teacher talk about her parents, the term takes on new weight. Calling them by name would be less significant. \u2018Parents\u2019 are something all of them had to do without, except Sakura. She doesn\u2019t get a sense of this until the end, when she sees them anew through Naruto\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n \u2022 Finally, the one in the vest growled quietly. \u201cTell Root to go harvest their new recruits somewhere else. As you can see, she\u2019s no orphan. So she\u2019s ours.\u201d<\/i> \u2014 Sakura\u2019s story could have easily been Sai\u2019s story, if Root had been able to get to her and persuade her parents to let her go. So this is a little glimpse into the division of power behind the scenes. Orphans that are not spoken for go to Root, like ones found on a battlefield, such as Sai. (This makes sense when you realize that Naruto didn\u2019t <\/i>end up in Root like Sai, even though they were both growing up orphans in the same village, at the same time.) The idea here is that Root was trying to get there ahead of them and pull in Sakura for their own.<\/p>\n \u2022 <\/i>Sakura\u2019s mother clutched the Sandaime\u2019s card in her fist so tightly it had crumpled. And if she hadn\u2019t looked so steadfast to her purpose, one of the throng of shinobi there might have stopped them and asked if they were indeed lost.<\/i> \u2014 Sakura\u2019s mother\u2019s braveness in the face of a situation she is no way experience to handle is very much passed on to Sakura. Aside from her chakra, it\u2019s Sakura\u2019s most defining character trait. So, hidden in a chapter that talks about Sakura being \u2018not from a clan,\u2019 not having an inherited skill, and not having family support in a shinobi world, she is, in fact getting lessons in bravery from her mother. And his skill will serve her far better than any class-taught technique or shinobi legacy will.<\/p>\n \u2022 <\/i>Suddenly there was a tiny yip. Sakura glanced up. A fluffly white puppy barked at her from the arm of a scruffy boy. \u201cNah,\u201d the boy said. \u201cAkamaru says he would have smelled it on her\u2014\u201c \u201cYou can\u2019t understand that dog! Quit lying, Kiba!\u201d \u201cI can too!!\u201d \u2014<\/i> So many of the exchanges in the schoolyard have the feeling of Naruto. Like he\u2019s the invisible loudmouth in the crowd. If you look, there are little glimpses of him in this chapter, but not where you think. You can find Naruto in the empty spaces where he should have been<\/i> if he\u2019d grown up alongside them. Like laughing with their classmates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2022 The borders were there, but it was criss-crossed with roads she\u2019d never seen, landmarks she didn\u2019t recognize: A dashed line looped around and around a big stump. A solid line ran along one side of a large pond full of fish. A penciled-in line led to what looked like a chicken pen. But the end of that line was erased and redrawn several times as the location of the chicken pen kept moving around on the map. <\/i>\u2014\u00a0Kakashi\u2019s tracking dogs are such an awesome part of who he is. And they don\u2019t show up nearly enough. Here, they have worked out their language and tracking system. The maps aren\u2019t about human landmarks but about where dogs would like to go\u2026. Like to sniff out a chicken pen, even though the farmer keeps moving it! Haha<\/p>\n \u2022 \u201cThey\u2019re tracker dogs, good for catching those who don\u2019t want to be found. And good for hiding those,\u201d he motioned to the three humans, \u201cwho don\u2019t want to be followed.\u201d<\/i> \u2014 Again, using tracking dogs in a very ninja way. Not just for hunting down a scent, but using the very overt stinky-dog smell to disguise their scent as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2022 She never said his name. Not even to herself. She didn\u2019t want to see him. He\u2019d left her life, and she didn\u2019t want to find him again. \u2014<\/i> Important little detail. This is how she copes, by forgetting him and not even saying his name. She has turned away from this part of her life, completely. But this detail will be revisited again.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0Sakura leapt over the edge and disappeared into darkness.<\/i> \u2014 Taking a literal leap, falling off the edge of everything she thinks she knows, and descending into darkness\u2026. Literal foreshadowing. These chapters are so filled with light and safety and structure. But the darkness is approaching, and she has no idea it\u2019s coming for her.<\/p>\n Spoiler notes:<\/b><\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0The Green Light –<\/i> The name is a play on Sakura\u2019s chakra as well as her eye color, the color of the light through the leaves (Naruto\u2019s favorite color) and the green in Naruto\u2019s necklace. It\u2019s thematic. And this is its origin. There is also a spoiler here, because one thing in most fics is that her hair sets her apart. But in this fic, it\u2019s her eyes. It\u2019s always her eyes. Naruto sees it first. But others see it too. In the next chapter, Sakura will encounter the first person who will see it for what it is and use it negatively. There is also a giant interplay here between light and dark. There is darkness gathering. Sakura doesn\u2019t know it yet. But it will consume her. So the idea of the green light inside her is vitally important to her survival, now and in the future.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0Her mother laughed and tousled her hair, pushing her bangs away from her eyes, and they went home.<\/i> \u2014 Sakura does this to other children. So it comes her mom and the kind way she was treated growing up. It\u2019s an endearing trait Sakura\u2019s already done a few times. Also, getting the note in about the too-long bangs. Obvious foreshadowing to Ino\u2019s schoolyard hairstyling!<\/p>\n \u2022 Sakura\u2019s top half was soaking wet. There was a scream. And then her mother was at the door. She looked aghast at Sakura, and Sakura looked down at what she\u2019d done. Water was everywhere\u2014 But that wasn\u2019t the worst of it\u2026. <\/i>\u2014 Uh, yeah\u2026. So Sakura totally killed all the fish in the pond. It\u2019s not exactly a secret. But she never tells a soul, and she thinks the Hyuuga have forgotten about it. Of course, she\u2019s never gotten close enough to any of them to find out if some remember\u2026. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n \u2022 <\/i>The older boy who had been showing off muttered under his breath, \u201cWeirdo\u2014\u201d as he walked past Sakura.<\/i> \u2014 This is not Neji. Neji doesn\u2019t seem like he\u2019d be such a jerk from a young age, but more importantly, Neji wouldn\u2019t brazenly show off. (The kid who kicked the ball is Neji. He, of course, wouldn\u2019t like the one showing off.) There will be a full circle for this somewhere later in the story. And yeah, it\u2019s a twist\u00a0 <\/span>on the original, with someone in the Hyuuga clan calling an outsider a \u2018weirdo.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0Sakura\u2019s mother opened her hand for her daughter, and Sakura ran to her mother, starting to sob. But Sakura\u2019s mother shushed her and refused to let her dissolve into tears. She held her hand, tipped her chin up and they walked out in silence.<\/i> \u2014 Another scene of her mother powering through, not letting someone get the upper hand, no matter what the station. It\u2019s very much something that Sakura would do.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0Exiting through the round moon gate, Sakura shut her eyes hard. She never wanted to see this place again.\u2014<\/i> Now you see why Sakura didn\u2019t want to look at the Hyuuga Moongate when she passed it two chapters back.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2022 \u201cBah, let them sew up their own designs. You shouldn\u2019t waste your talents on them.\u201d<\/i> \u2014 Not as pronounced as Sakura\u2019s mother\u2019s traits, but Sakura\u2019s father and his up-beat supportiveness is also a trait that Sakura inherits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2022 <\/i>\u201cSpeak to Ebisu, tell him I sent you. I agree, she needs to be back in school. And I think you will find this academy is a better fit. Of course\u2026it\u2019s your choice\u2026.\u201d But there was something in the way he let the words hang in the air that made it clear it wasn\u2019t a choice at all.<\/i> \u2014 Difference here between Sarutobi and Tsunade. Sarutobi may look grandfatherly and act nice, but he\u2019s delivering a directive. Tsunade lets people make choices.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2022 Sakura suddenly felt very alone and abandoned below them. \u2014<\/i> Foreshadowing of a future event. Specifically, feeling abandoned and kept apart from her lifeline, and looking up<\/i> at something out of reach. This is the same feeling she has at the lantern in the forest, and that she feels from finding the skeleton at the base of the tree.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0<\/i>Ino stuck out her tongue at the boy. \u201cShut up, Shikamaru!\u201d She took Sakura\u2019s hand. \u201cCome on, do you want to play?\u201d She pointed to an older student leading several younger ones through the playground with a long red ribbon. Eyes closed, the kids were trying to hold on and follow each other, when the leader jerked hard around a tree, and the ribbon slipped out of the grasp of the last two. They fell back laughing, eyes blinking in the light. \u2014<\/i> Foreshadowing, connection to the game Sakura plays at the beginning of her \u201cTwo Worlds\u201d arc and a foreshadowing of events to come, where Sakura is tethered to chakra, eyes closed, and having to follow along. This game will also be part of the explanation of the \u201cWe move as one\u201d mantra for Team 7. So, a fun memory, but also a foreshadowing to more serious stuff.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0But Sakura was frowning. \u201cI thought that was only a\u2026a\u2026.\u201d The dogs all turned their heads at the same time, comically, like they were listening to her too. \u201cUh.\u2026\u201d She regrouped. They were only dogs. \u201cYou know, a myth or a trick or something\u2014\u201c<\/i> \u2014 A twist on Kakashi\u2019s dogs, which were not shown nearly enough in the original. More than just tracking, Kakashi would have developed a language and unique relationship with them. Maybe they live as long as humans, so he\u2019s known them most of his life. It would be a super secret connection, like all animal contracts\/spirit world pacts. So Sakura would have only heard about them from books, not ever known that her sensei was connected. Sakura doesn\u2019t understand them, but Kakashi does. So the idea is there that you have to be \u2018invited\u2019 to understand spirit-type animals (like a contract) or already have part of a spirit animal in you (like Naruto). Here, Kakashi has deemed this trip important enough to reveal his connection the the tracker dogs. But Sakura and Sasuke are not part of that pack and thus are not able to understand anything more than what they see and guess. More on these spirit world connections to come, but this is all part of the world being much bigger than a couple of village kids realize. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2022 <\/i>\u201cYou saw?\u201d She nodded. He looked at her for a moment before his tone turned light. \u201cNope!\u201d He even pulled out the edge of the scroll from his pocket, showing off a large ink wash of the setting sun over the now hidden desert landscape. The sun was dropping between two enormous rock outcrops. \u201cJust some art. I\u2019m a big fan, you know.\u201d<\/i> \u2014 There\u2019s a lot of subtext in this scene with Sai. He can\u2019t communicate with the team because of the as-yet-to-be-revealed seal on his tongue from growing up in Root. So, he juggles his loyalty to both sides. He passes information to Kakashi in the form of artwork. And he and Kakashi make sure they are out of each other\u2019s earshot before information is passed to the rest of the team. Sai\u2019s story will unfold with Naruto\u2019s return, but his precarious position of being part of Root and on a shinobi team under the direction of the Kage sometimes bleeds through.<\/p>\n \u2022 Kakashi shook his head. \u201cNo. The body\u2019s not our problem. That\u2019s for Sand to worry about.\u201d \u2014<\/i> So\u2026this is the rescue Gaara arc, which will be revealed next chapter. But it doesn\u2019t look like it did in the original. Why would Leaf nins \u2014 and kids at that \u2014 be rescuing the Kage and jinchuriki of a rival\/sometimes hostile nation? Why was there no one else out there but an old woman and the Kage\u2019s siblings? None of it makes any sense. So here, Kakashi\u2019s response is more realistic. The only reason they are even going is because there is something in it for the Leaf. The body of the Sand Kage is not the Leaf\u2019s problem.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0\u201cBut we have an idea who might have done it.\u201d Sasuke stiffened. \u201cItachi,\u201d he growled. \u201cAkatsuki,\u201d Kakashi clarified. \u201cIt\u2019s the only solid lead we\u2019ve had in months\u2014 No, years.\u201d He shook his head with a grimace, revealing a deep regret he rarely let show. \u201cWe can\u2019t afford not to take it.\u201d \u2014<\/i> Sasuke thinks it\u2019s Itachi. And it does look like it on the surface. But Kakashi is looking for a deeper lead. He is looking for traces of Naruto, the stolen child. This is the source of his deep regret. The intel that the Akatsuki has stolen another jinchuriki (who happens to be Kage), means that if he can catch an Akatsuki he can interrogate them for information on their own stolen jinchuriki. This is personal for Kakashi, so he wants to take the lightest fastest team possible. And who better to go than his own team, and especially Sasuke who has a personal stake in taking down the Akatsuki (Itachi) too.<\/p>\n \u2022 <\/i>Kakashi took the bowl from Sai in silence and dropped it back into the storage scroll. It had a paw etched on the end. \u2014<\/i> This signifies Kakashi\u2019s connection with the Dog spirit animals. It is similar to Jiraiya\u2019s frog scrolls and to the cat symbol on the lantern outside the Uchiha compound. Basically, there is a whole other world hidden in plain sight.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2022 <\/i>She made a fist, locking away the errant thoughts again. She just wanted to hold onto the peace she and Sasuke had managed to find for themselves in Konoha.<\/i>\u00a0\u2014 Language of locking away that part of her, just like the painting locked away in the temple. She tries to forget, but it\u2019s still there. It never leaves, even when she tells herself she\u2019s over it.<\/p>\n \u00a0 Chapter notes:\u00a0This chapter and the next, although flashback heavy, really dive deep into Sakura\u2019s story. It answers questions about her background that are never addressed in the original. How was her chakra discovered? Were her parents happy about it? Was she happy about it? \u201cHow did she go from civilian kid to being accepted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chapter-notes","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5hctF-VO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swirlingpetals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swirlingpetals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swirlingpetals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swirlingpetals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swirlingpetals.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3584"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/swirlingpetals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3588,"href":"https:\/\/swirlingpetals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3584\/revisions\/3588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swirlingpetals.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swirlingpetals.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swirlingpetals.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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