[FFML] [Naruto] Tree of Life - Chapter One: Senju

[Aaron Nowack]

Tree of Life
A Naruto Fanfic
By: Aaron Nowack

Chapter One: Senju

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Disclaimer:  Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi.  The name next to the
"By:" up there is not Kishimoto Masashi, but is rather Aaron Nowack.
This has a number of curious implications, among them are the fact that
the world and most of the characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi and the
fact that the words of this story belong to Aaron Nowack.  Thus, we take
our first steps on the road to enlightenment.
*****************************************************************


        Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Hidden Village of the Leaf's Third Hokage,
stared across his desk at the young girl Umino Iruka had brought before
him.  She was young, at most in her second year of the academy, and she
wouldn't meet Hiruzen's eyes, staring at the floor and letting her pink
bangs hide her face.  When Iruka had requested the urgent meeting, the
Hokage had ordered Haruno Sakura's file pulled, as this was the first
time her name had come to his attention, but he'd only had time to
glance at it.

        The girl shifted her weight from one foot to the other.  The
cat-masked ANBU Hiruzen had ordered to attend the meeting, standing at
attention at Hiruzen's side, deliberately coughed, and the Hokage read
the meaning easily enough: "You're scaring the poor girl, Hokage-sama."

        "All right," the old man said.  "Iruka-sensei, this is your
meeting."

        The young man laid one hand on his student's shoulder.  "Tell
Hokage-sama just like you told me, Sakura-chan."

        The girl nodded, and started to speak in a quiet voice.  "I... I
was reading ahead in the textbook about... about elemental affinities...
and... and I was curious, so I... I saved some some allowance and bought
a sheet of the... the paper for testing."

        Hiruzen looked at Iruka.  "Even if she is what you say," he told
the teacher, "at her age and level of development any affinity should be
too weak to show easily."

        Iruka shrugged.  "None the less, Hokage-sama."  He tapped Sakura
on the shoulder again.  "Why don't you just show Hokage-sama, Sakura-
chan?"

        Hiruzen pushed a piece of the special testing paper across his
desk, and hesitantly the pink-haired girl stepped forward and took it.
"I... I ripped the paper up into a few pieces, so I could try more
times," she said.  "They... kind of got damp on one end, but the other
end was... turning into dirt... like water and earth... at the same
time?"  She said the last like a question.

        Hiruzen just nodded, waiting for the girl to continue.

        "And... I... I wanted it to do only one thing like the book
said," the girl said desperately, like she thought she'd done something
wrong.  "So I would know which I was.  So I... kind of... pushed the two
kinds of chakra together."  Hiruzen almost smiled as she casually
mentioned being able to hold and control two chakra natures at once, at
her age.  Even if Iruka's wild claim was false, that alone made Haruno
Sakura a prodigy worth nurturing.

        "And when I did," the girl continued, "it did... this."  A look
of concentration passed over her face, and the paper reacted.  Hiruzen
watched, his eyes widening, and the paper started to roll itself up -
not wrinkling like it would in reaction to lightning-nature chakra, but
rolling into a tube.  The layers compressed themselves, shifting, and
then, in the blink of an eye, it was no longer a rolled up piece of
paper.  Sakura held out the twig in her open palm for the Hokage to see.
"So I asked Iruka-sensei what it meant."

        There was silence for a long moment, until the ANBU coughed
again.  Hiruzen shook himself from his daze.  "Yes.  Tenzou, if you
would?"

        The ANBU stepped around the Hokage's desk and approached the
girl.  She shied away, but when the ANBU knelt down in front of her, she
let Iruka push her toward him.  "Do you know your hand seals, Sakura-
chan?" he asked.  When the girl nodded, the masked man demonstrated a
short sequence.  "Could you do that, then push the... mixed chakra into
that twig you made?"

        The girl frowned, but she complied, and as Hiruzen was now
expecting, the twig started to shake in her hand, growing until it was
twice its original length, branching off in several directions.  Small
leaves grew from the ends.  The small girl dropped the suddenly living
plant.

        The ANBU caught it and stood.  "There's no doubt, Hokage-sama."
Hiruzen knew perfectly well what he meant, beside the obvious.  It had
taken the ANBU years of practice to learn to use his artificially
granted abilities.  This girl - this unbelievable, miraculous girl -
made it look easy.  Although Hiruzen would double-check, of course,
there seemed to be little chance that she was somehow a product of the
same program as Tenzou.

        Hiruzen fixed Iruka with a stare.  "I assume you looked into how
this might be possible."

        The chuunin pulled out a sheet of - ordinary - paper and passed
it across the Hokage's desk.  "This is her family history from the
academy entrance papers.  The most likely source is the maternal
grandmother, raised in an orphanage."

        Hiruzen studied it.  "A Whirlpool name or two on the father's
side," he murmured.  If there was a connection to the Uzumaki further
back, giving Senju blood, however dilute, on both sides... this was
still ridiculously unlikely, but the evidence of his eyes could not be
denied.

        "Hokage-sama?" Sakura asked nervously.  "What does... what does
this mean?"

        Hiruzen considered his words carefully.  "It seems," he said
slowly, "that you are related to my teachers, and have inherited the
bloodline limit of their clan."

        It seemed the girl read ahead as much in her history texts as
her ninjutsu ones, as her eyes widened and she said, "The Senju?"

*****************************************************************


        Haruno Sakura stared nervously at the familiar door to her
family's apartment as Iruka knocked on it.  The cat-masked ANBU who had
escorted them from the Hokage's office had disappeared into thin air.
She was grateful for that; she didn't want her father to think that
she'd gotten into big trouble like that annoying blond boy Uzumaki had
the other week, even for an instant.

        The echoes of Iruka's knock had faded when the door finally
opened, revealing Sakura's father.  His eyes instantly found her.
"Sakura-chan!  It's late; I was getting worried."

        "I'm sorry," Sakura said automatically.  It was a very important
rule, she knew, that she was supposed to let her father know if she
wasn't coming straight home from the academy.  But she hadn't known
Iruka would take her to the Hokage when she'd shown him what the testing
paper did for her.  How could she have?

        "That's my fault, I'm afraid, Kizashi-san," her teacher said
gently.

        Sakura's father smiled.  "I trust Sakura-chan isn't in any kind
of trouble," he said.

        "No," Iruka said, "or at least not the way you mean."

        Her father's smile vanished.  "What way do you mean, Iruka-
sensei?"

        "Were you aware your daughter had purchased some paper for
testing chakra nature affinities?"

        Her father shrugged.  "Of course.  A waste of time at her age,
but once she gets an idea in her head she won't let go of it."  He
reached out to ruffle Sakura's hair, and her attempt to dodge was
futile.  "That's why I told her she could, so long as she stole the
paper from the academy."

        Iruka glanced at Sakura, and she wanted to disappear.  "Daddy,
you said I could get some if I saved up my allowance so I could buy it
myself!" she protested angrily.  "Which I did!"  It had taken her three
whole weeks, and she still hadn't been able to buy the latest Pretty
Kunoichi Princess Moon manga!

        Both adults were staring at her, and Sakura felt her face redden
as she realized that she'd said the last out loud.  Her father laughed.
"You are too cute, Sakura-chan," he said.  "I'm going to need an even
bigger stick than I thought in a few years."  Why couldn't her father
ever make sense?

        Iruka's smile was gentle, but she could see his own amusement on
his scarred face.  "I think I can justify to Hokage-sama the purchase of
one manga out of my classroom incidentals budget," he said.  "Princess
Moon, was it?"

        Bizarrely, that made her father's face turn serious.  "Iruka-
sensei, what -"

        "Perhaps we should take this conversation inside first?"  Sakura
jumped as the cat ANBU made his presence known.

        Her father's reaction was more serious, bare steel in one hand
as the other started to push Sakura behind him.  Then he froze.  "ANBU?
What the hell is going on?"

        "He's right," Iruka said quietly.  "If we could come inside?"

        Sakura's father sheathed his weapon as quickly as he'd drawn it.
Even though she knew where it was hidden under his right sleeve, Sakura
couldn't see any sign of it.  "All right," he said quietly, opening the
door fully and letting the two other adults inside.

        The ANBU and Iruka seated themselves on the couch.  Sakura tried
to sneak off to her own room, but a polite cough from the ANBU made her
freeze on the fringes of the front sitting room.

        "Let me put some tea on," her father said, making his slow way
to the kitchen.

        "That's not necessary," Iruka said.  "Don't let us inconvenience
you."

        "Mebuki will have my head if I don't," her father said.  "It'll
be just a moment.  Sakura-chan, could you fetch the cups for me?"

        For a couple minutes, Sakura lost herself in the familiar
process of helping her father prepare tea, and he even let her carry the
tea in to their guests.  "Thank you, Sakura-chan," Iruka murmured as he
took his cup.  She offered the tray to the ANBU next, and it wasn't
until he took a cup that she thought to wonder how he intended to drink
it without taking his mask off.

        By then her father had rejoined them, and he took his own seat
with a sigh of relief, rubbing at his bad leg.  "It's going to rain
tonight, I think," he said.

        The ANBU paused, his teacup held up to his mask, and Sakura had
to stifle a giggle at that odd image.  "If you don't mind me asking," he
said.

        Her father shrugged.  "There's not much to say," he said.  "Took
a poisoned kunai fighting the Sand in the third war, and we didn't have
an antidote in time."  The fact that he'd actually just told the truth,
rather than making up another crazy story, made Sakura shiver.  "Now, I
take it you two have something to tell me?"

        Iruka glanced at the ANBU, but when the masked man didn't speak,
he nodded.  "Yes," he said.  He licked his lips.  "Sakura-chan's
purchase of the testing paper was... not as much a waste of time as
you'd think."  He then proceeded to explain what had happened and what
the Hokage had concluded.

        Sakura shifted uncomfortably under her father's gaze as her
teacher finished the story.  She fought back the reflexive urge to
apologize.  Her mother always told her to stop saying 'sorry' when she
didn't know what she was apologizing for.  She hadn't done anything
wrong, had she?

        "I'm sorry," her father said after a moment.  "That... that
doesn't make any sense.  Bloodline limits don't just... and Mebuki and I
don't trace any descent from the Senju.  We're not nobility.  Is this
some kind of joke?"

        The ANBU coughed once, and held out a piece of paper.  "Sakura-
chan, one more time, please?" he asked.

        Sakura hesitatingly walked up and took the paper, then
concentrated.  The first couple of times, it had been hard to mix her
two kinds of chakra, but now it was easy.  She pushed the mixed chakra
into the testing paper, and in a few moments she held another small
twig.

        The ANBU plucked it from her hand.  "I tested her on a basic
Mokuton training technique, from the First's scrolls," he said.  Sakura
started.  The seals he had shown her were from one of the First Hokage's
own techniques?  "In my mind, there's no doubt at all."

        "And your expertise is?" Sakura's father asked, but he sounded
more stunned than dubious.

        The ANBU pulled out another sheet of paper, and a moment after
that he held two twigs instead of one.

        "You're," Sakura's father began.

        "My abilities are an A-rank secret of this village," the ANBU
said, "but your family is now cleared to know of them for the obvious
reasons."

        "I see," Sakura's father said weakly.

        "When will Mebuki-san be home?" Iruka asked after a moment.
"There's a number of matters Hokage-sama wished us to discuss with the
two of you."

        "She's on duty at the west gate until dinner," Sakura's father
answered.  "But that's not much longer now," he said, glancing at the
clock on the wall.

        "Until then," the ANBU said, "there's some questions about your
family history.  Hokage-sama believed that there may have been some
Whirlpool blood on your side?"

        "My father," Sakura's father began.

        The conversation turned very boring - old stories about Sakura's
grandfather, who'd died before she was born - and Sakura found herself
wandering over to the window to watch for her mother coming home.  There
wasn't any sign of her yet, but Sakura found her attention caught by the
small flowerpots lined up on the windowsill.

        The First Hokage's Mokuton was supposed to have given him the
power to control all kinds of plants, wasn't it?  Sakura couldn't
believe that she had that power, but if she did... one of her small
hands reached out, unthinkingly tightening around the stalk of a yellow
flower.

        Sakura glanced back at the adults, but they were lost in their
conversation, and she turned her attention back to the flower.  With
almost unconscious ease, she mixed her chakra again, and pushed it at
the flower.  Something pushed back, her chakra bouncing - for lack of a
better word - off.

        Sakura frowned.  Did she need to use the hand seals the cat-
masked ANBU had shown her?  She thought back, remembering the sequence,
then released the flower and formed it before touching the stalk again.
There was still that feeling of resistance.  Was it because the flower
was alive, unlike the twigs, or had she messed up the seals somehow?
She was pretty sure she had gotten them right, so Sakura tried to push
her mixed chakra harder.

        The resistance broke, and the flower exploded into motion, its
thin stalk thickening and twisting around her arm like a vine.  She
tried to pull her chakra back out of the houseplant, but she couldn't.
The vine kept growing, one tendril shoving against the window and
knocking another pot aside while the other kept winding up Sakura's arm.
Tiny buds sprouted along its length.

        Sakura screamed, and then the ANBU was at her side.  He laid one
hand on the vine.  The plant twitched, then unwound itself, freeing
Sakura.  She stumbled backward, into her father's waiting arms.  "Are
you all right, Sakura-chan?" he murmured.

        Sakura nodded hesitatingly, but she still shook, suddenly
feeling bone-tired and drained, like after a double-period of ninjutsu
practice in the academy.

        The ANBU picked up the flowerpot and the swollen vine that had
been the flower.  "Sakura-chan," he said gently, "promise me not to try
any more Mokuton techniques on your own until you've been trained."

        Sakura nodded, but when everyone still looked at her
expectantly, she said "I promise."

        "You should know better than this, Sakura-chan," Iruka scolded
her.

        "It's all right," her father said gently.  "No harm done, and
she's learned a valuable lesson, haven't you, Sakura?"  Sakura nodded,
and her father smiled.  "And if you hurry," he added, "you might have
time to clean up the mess before your mother gets home."

        Sakura paled, and when her father released her she raced off to
find a broom to sweep up the dirt spilled from the fallen flowerpot,
ignoring the three chuckles that followed her.

*****************************************************************


        Resisting the urge to hide behind her mother's comforting form
Sakura rubbed nervously at the bandage on her upper right arm as she
observed the strange ninja who was waiting in the tiny training ground
behind the Hokage's tower.  Like her parents, the brown-haired man wore
a Leaf uniform, although his forehead protector was set into a piece of
armor that framed his calm face.

        He rose from his kneeling posture.  "Good morning, Hokage-sama,"
he said, bowing to the old man who stood on the other side of Sakura's
parents.

        "Tenzou," the Hokage returned.  "These are Haruno Kizashi and
Mebuki, and their daughter Haruno Sakura.  She is the student I spoke to
you of."

        The man bowed again.  "Good morning," he said to Sakura's
parents.  "I will be working with your daughter on ninjutsu in light of
the talent she has demonstrated."

        Her parents exchanged a glance, then returned the bow in unison.
As they straightened, her father said, "We'll leave her in your own
talented hands, then, Tenzou-san."

        "Kizashi," her mother hissed, like when he'd made an
inappropriate joke, but Sakura couldn't tell what the joke was.  It
didn't sound like one of those things she was supposed to understand
when she was older either.

        The man - Tenzou - just smiled.

        "Very well, then," the Hokage said.  "If you would come with me,
Kizashi-san, Mebuki-san, we'll leave Tenzou and Sakura-chan to get to
know each other."

        Her parents nodded.  "But -" Sakura started to protest, not
liking the idea of being left alone with this man.

        "Behave, Sakura-chan," her mother said.

        The Hokage smiled down at her.  "Your parents and I are about to
go listen to a bunch of old people talk about boring history.  I think
you'll find practicing ninjutsu with Tenzou much more interesting."

        Sakura liked history class rather more than ninjutsu practice,
but she wasn't going to tell the Hokage he was wrong.  "Yes, Hokage-
sama," she said weakly.

        Her father reached for her head, and Sakura didn't even try to
dodge, letting him briefly pat her hair.  "We'll come check up on you
after the council meeting, Sakura-chan," he promised.

        "It will be all right, Sakura," her mother said.  "I know all
this is scary right now, but you're a strong young girl."

        Sakura made herself nod, and soon she was alone with... her
teacher?

        The man sat back down on the grassy ground of the training area,
patting the ground in front of him.  "Come here, Sakura-chan."  Sakura
obeyed, rubbing at her bandage again as she sat down in front of him.
The man smiled.  "They took you to the hospital first thing, didn't
they?"

        "Yes, sir," Sakura said, the memory making her shudder.  She
knew why they'd wanted to take her blood, so she hadn't complained, but
that didn't make it hurt any less.

        "When I was your age," the man said, "they did blood tests on me
so often that the nurses stopped giving me candy afterward."

        Sakura winced.

        Tenzou smiled at her.  "And compared to that, I'm not so scary,
am I?"

        "No, sir," Sakura answered.

        "Tenzou-sensei is fine," the man said.  "Why don't we start by
you telling me what you know about the power of Mokuton?"

        "Yes, s... Tenzou-sensei," Sakura said.  Compared to the
everything else that had happened, answering a simple question like that
was familiar ground.  "It's a type of ninjutsu that grows and
manipulates wood, the bloodline of the Senju Clan," she recited, almost
exactly quoting the description in her history textbook.  "The First
Hokage was famous for his mastery of the element, and he used it the
create the great forest that -"

        The man coughed once, and Sakura stopped dead.  "No need to go
into that," he said, shaking his head.  "I want to know what you know
about the element of wood, not what you know about the history of the
Leaf Village."

        Sakura felt herself flush, disconcerted by the interruption and
the unfamiliar feeling of disappointing a teacher.  "I'm sorry."

        The man didn't say anything, clearly waiting for Sakura to
answer.

        Sakura opened her mouth, but then she closed it, biting at her
lip.  What did she really know?  "Umm... it can make wood?" she
ventured.  She'd already said that, hadn't she?  The feeling of not
knowing an answer was even more unfamiliar, and she didn't like it one
bit.  "And... it has something to do with earth element and water
element ninjutsu?" she guessed tentatively, based on how the testing
paper had acted at first.  There wasn't anything in the textbooks about
that, though.

        Tenzou was silent just long enough that Sakura had almost
convinced herself that her guess was wrong.  "Accurate," he said, "as
far as it goes," he said.  He paused, then spoke, "The power of Mokuton
is the power of life itself, the power of growth and change.  I believe
it to be the greatest of all the elements.

        "Today, you'll be taking the first steps to learning to control
this power," Tenzou said gently.  He pulled a sheet of paper out from
nowhere and held it out to Sakura.  "Here."

        Sakura was getting tired of making twigs, but she took the sheet
anyway and started to gather her chakra.  She stopped when the man held
up one finger.

        "I'd like you to do something a little different this time,
Sakura-chan," Tenzou stated.  "Do you remember what happened the first
time you tried to use the paper, before you figured out how to make
wood-nature chakra?"

        Was that what she was doing when she mixed the two types of
chakra?  "Yes, Tenzou-sensei," Sakura answered.  When he didn't say
anything, she added, "It crumbled to dirt like earth on one side and
turned damp like water on the other."

        "Yes," Tenzou said.  "The foundation of mastery of wood-element
ninjutsu is mastery of its component parts, earth-element and water-
element ninjutsu."

        Sakura nodded.  That made sense.

        "What I would like you to do is to infuse that piece of paper
react with only one nature of chakra.  Do you understand?"

        "Yes, Tenzou-sensei," Sakura said.  "Which... nature do you
want?"  The two kinds of chakra felt different, but Sakura wasn't sure
she knew which was which.

        Tenzou shrugged.  "It doesn't matter.  Whichever is easier for
you."

        Sakura nodded, and then, frowning reflexively, she dedicated her
attention to the sheet of paper in her hand.  With the ease that had her
academy teachers praising her control, she channeled her chakra to her
fingers.  She didn't exert any effort to mix the chakra, but the two
kinds still spun together as they entered the paper.  Even though she
didn't want it to, the paper rolled up in her hand, turning into a twig.

        "I'm sorry," Sakura said.

        "It's fine."  Tenzou took the twig and handed her another piece
of paper.  "I have plenty."

        Sakura concentrated again.  This time she concentrated on the
feel of the two kinds of chakra, trying to somehow force them to keep
separate.  It was hard, like when she'd tried some of the advanced
control exercises from the back of the textbooks.  The chakra seemed to
want to come together, and when she let it into the paper she lost all
control.  One edge started to crumble while the other dampened, but
after a second she still held another twig.

        Part of Sakura wanted to toss it away in frustration, but before
she could Tenzou had replaced it with another piece of testing paper.
"Again," he said, but not unkindly.

        An hour, two brief but fascinating lectures on nature
transformation, and five testing papers later, Sakura was in tears.
"I'm sorry," she said, not wanting to look at the - slightly smaller -
twig sitting on top of a tiny pile of damp dirt in her cupped hands.
"It... my chakra just doesn't work the way you say it should."  Was
she... broken or something?  "I'm sorry!"

        Tenzou reached out, taking the twig with one hand and resting
the other on her shoulder.  "It's all right, Sakura-chan," he said.
"You're doing fine."

        Sakura couldn't stop herself from frowning.  Was this like when
the teachers told the kids who still couldn't do the leaf exercise they
were making good progress?  It didn't feel fine at all.  Why couldn't
she do this?

        Tenzou sighed and released Sakura.  "I should have expected
something like this.  My training program won't be as useful for you as
it was for me."

        Sakura blinked, and she made the connection she probably should
have made an hour ago.  "You're the cat ANBU!" Sakura exclaimed.  Then
she instantly made a distressed noise, covering her mouth with the hand
that wasn't holding the testing paper.  Everyone knew ANBU identities
were supposed to be secret.  In manga, they even killed people who found
out!

        "I am," Tenzou confirmed, but he just smiled again.  "Don't
worry."

        "But -" Sakura began.

        "We're going to be working closely together," the man said,
"while I train you to use your abilities.  It would be a little rude for
me to wear a mask the whole time, don't you think?"  His smile widened.
"I'm afraid Tenzou isn't my real name, though."

        "Oh," Sakura said nervously.  Was it really okay?

        "If we'd planned things out better," Tenzou said, sounding
amused, "you would never have known that I was in ANBU.  We didn't have
any plans ready for someone like you, though, and I don't think Hokage-
sama really believed Iruka-sensei at the start."

        Sakura frowned.  That didn't make any sense, though, not if she
wasn't the first.  "Why not?" she asked.  "You -"

        Tenzou shook his head.  "I'm not like you," he said.

        Sakura blinked.  "But -"

        Tenzou held up another sheet of testing paper, which twisted
into a twig.  "We can both use wood element ninjutsu, yes.  But I am..."
He trailed off, and when he continued he sounded uncertain.  "I am a
successful experiment," he said, "to reproduce the First Hokage's
abilities."

        Sakura blinked several times.  "That's possible?" she asked.
All the books explained that bloodline limits couldn't be artificially
reproduced.  "Then why -"

        "There were very many more unsuccessful experiments," Tenzou
said harshly, and Sakura had a good enough imagination to guess that
nothing good had happened to those people.

        She looked down at the ground.  "I'm sorry," she said.

        Tenzou sighed and lifted her head with one hand.  "No, I'm
sorry," he said.  His mouth twitched into a weak smile.  "It was an
obvious question."

        Sakura opened her mouth, but shut it when she realized all she
could think of to say was another apology.  When Tenzou let go of her
face, she unthinkingly looked down again for a moment before looking
back at Tenzou.

        "The difference between you and me," the older ninja said, as
though the uncomfortable exchange had never happened, "is that you're
the real thing, an actual inheritor of the Senju Clan's bloodline."  He
held up the twig he had made.  "It took me years of training to be able
to do this," he said, "and I had to fully master water and earth
transformation before I could even begin to attempt any but the simplest
wood techniques.

        "Your ability... I'm not entirely sure where to begin," the man
admitted, shaking his head.

        "I'm sorry," Sakura said automatically.

        Tenzou ignored her apology, sitting silently for what felt like
an eternity before reaching down and placing his twig upright into the
soft earth.  "Do you remember the technique I showed you in the Hokage's
office?"  Sakura nodded, but he demonstrated the seals again, slowly
running through the sequence twice before touching his twig.  "Mokuton:
Breath of Life," he declared.

        The twig erupted, growing rapidly until it was a sapling that
stood almost to Sakura's seated height, green leave sprouted from a
half-dozen branches.  She almost fell over backward from surprise.
Instead she scuttled back almost a foot before recovering.

        "With more chakra and better control," Tenzou said amusedly, "it
can produce a larger tree."

        "Y-yes, Tenzou-sensei," Sakura said when it became clear the man
was waiting for a comment.

        The man smiled, then scooted over a few feet.  His hand passed
over the ground, and when it rose again a line of twigs stuck out of the
dirt.  Were they the twigs Sakura had made?  As if in answer, Tenzou
said, "The technique is easiest with wood you create yourself," he said,
"but we'll move on to working with my creations and natural wood later.

        "Now," he said, pointing at the twig farthest from the sapling
he had made, "start by trying to make one the same size as the one you
made in Hokage-sama's office.  Then try to make each one bigger."  He
smiled.  "Take your time; you'll probably need to rest after a couple."

        When she was finished, the twig standing next to Tenzou's stood
about a foot tall, with small green shoots emerging from its trunk.  She
sat back, exhausted despite the several long breaks she'd taken to rest
between attempts.  She was never going to complain about Iruka's stamina
practice exercises again!

        Sudden applause made her look up and backward.  Standing at the
entrance to the training ground she found a large man with a massive
mane of spiky white hair.  He wasn't wearing a uniform or a forehead
protector, and he grinned at Sakura widely before speaking.  "So, this
cute little girl is the Sakura-chan who is causing such an incredible
fuss, is she?"

        Tenzou rose.  "Sir, Hokage-sama was looking for -"

        The other man cut him off with a wave.  "I poked my head in the
meeting.  They're busy debating whether it means anything that the First
Hokage founded the orphanage where Sakura-chan's grandmother grew up."

        As Sakura awkwardly climbed to her feet and turned to face the
strange man, she caught Tenzou's eyes widening slightly.  It felt like
she'd missed something again, but all he said was, "To what do we owe -"

        "I thought I'd see her with my own eyes," he said, then he
laughed.  "Also, everyone else seems to have not noticed that it's
almost lunchtime, but Sarutobi-sensei was having so much fun sparring
with Shimura that I couldn't bear to interrupt."

        As if on cue, Sakura's stomach rumbled.  Both men looked at her,
and she flushed, wanting to sink into the ground.

        The new man laughed again.  "I think we're going to get along,
Sakura-chan," he said lightly.  "How about we go get some lunch
together?"

        "Jiraiya-sama!" Tenzou protested.  "I can't just let you -"

        "It's fine," Jiraiya said.  "You're invited too, and I spoke
with her parents."  He grinned.  "Almost got her father to come along,
but her mother put her foot down.  I can believe she's related to
Tsunade-hime."  Something told Sakura she should recognize the name, but
she couldn't place it.  "So, Sakura-chan, what's your favorite kind of
food?"

        She looked up at Tenzou, and after a moment the younger man
nodded.  "Dango," Sakura admitted.

        The other man - Jiraiya - blinked, then laughed again.  "What is
it with little girls and dango?" he said, shaking his head, then he held
out his hand to Sakura.  "But that's fine," he said.  "We'll just have
to keep it our little secret from your mother that Jiraiya-jiisan let
you have sweets for lunch."


*****************************************************************


        It was not unusual for the Third Hokage to stay at work late
into the night.  Since the overlong meeting about Haruno Sakura had
stretched on until almost dinner time, even with working late Hiruzen
knew he would still be behind on his other tasks.  As he finished
skimming the latest intelligence report from the Rock, he reached over
to grab a pair of chopsticks and take another bite of the half-eaten
takeout ramen he'd had brought in for dinner.

        The noodles had long since cooled, and Hiruzen grimaced.  Then
he rubbed at his eyes, while he pushed the unfinished meal to an out of
the way corner of his desk.  He would push through the C-rank mission
reports Genma had flagged for his attention, then call it a night.

        A knock on the door to his office made him look up.  "Come in,"
he said.

        One of his chuunin assistants opened the door a crack and stuck
her head in.  "Jiraiya-sama is here to see you, Hokage-sama," she said.

        "Send him in," Hiruzen said, "and then you and Genma can head
home, Kurenai-kun.  I'm just about done for this evening, and I
shouldn't have any need of you until tomorrow."

        The red-eyed kunoichi nodded.  "Thank you, Hokage-sama," she
murmured, and then she opened the door to admit Hiruzen's old student.
She shut the door quietly behind him, leaving the two men alone.

        "You wanted to see me, Sarutobi-sensei?" the large man said as
he almost threw himself into one of the chairs in front of the Hokage's
desk.

        Hiruzen dropped the mission report he'd just been about to open.
"I asked you to attend a meeting of my advisory council, this morning,"
he said dryly.

        "I was there!" Jiraiya protested.

        "For about fifteen minutes," Hiruzen countered.  "After showing
up over an hour late."

        "That's about as long as it took to see that the meeting was
going to be boring."  Jiraiya smirked.  "What would be the point of
refusing a seat on the council if I still had to sit through that kind
of stuff?"

        Hiruzen sighed once.

        "Would you have preferred me to be napping next to Nara-kun?"
Jiraiya shook his head.  Hiruzen snorted.  If the young deputy head of
strategic planning had missed a single word, he would be surprised.  "I
met the parents," Jiraiya said, "and I figured you'd rather I spend some
time with the girl instead of glaring at Shimura for you."  He shrugged.
"So, what's the plan?"

        "I'd like to hear your impressions first," Hiruzen stated,
finding his pipe and lighting it.

        Jiraiya shrugged.  "She's a lot cuter than Tsunade-hime," he
said.  "I think it's the hair."

        Hiruzen rubbed at his eyes with his one hand.  "Jiraiya," he
said warningly.

        The man shrugged.  "She's an... eight-year-old?"

        "Seven years old," Hiruzen said.

        "Seven-year-old girl, then," Jiraiya said.  "A little shy, but
inquisitive.  From her reaction when Tenzou-kun mentioned I was a
writer, she loves books."  That last was hardly news to Hiruzen; after
he'd left the girl under Kurenai's watch in his library while he'd
spoken with her parents after the meeting finished, Sakura had gone home
with a borrowed history of the second war.

        The bit before that, though... Hiruzen rubbed at his eyes again.
"I hope you two didn't discuss what kind of books you write, or Mebuki-
san might find the courage she lacked this morning and actually slap
you."

        Jiraiya grinned, drawing a glare from his teacher.  The large
man sighed.  "I'm not stupid, Sarutobi-sensei."

        "I wonder sometimes," was all Hiruzen had to say to that, but
Jiraiya just grinned again.  "I hate to ask," the Hokage said after a
moment, "but many bloodline limits only awaken at Sakura-chan's age when
the child is exposed to..." He trailed off.

        Jiraiya straightened in his chair.  "There's no signs of any
trauma, Hokage-sama," he said.  "Whether caused by abuse or...
otherwise.  Nor any evidence of any mental tampering."  Hiruzen liked to
think that he would have noticed any, but it was still good to have his
opinion confirmed.  After an awkward silence, Jiraiya shrugged.  "As for
her abilities, I imagine I saw the same thing you did.  What do you want
me to say?  I'll defer to Tenzou-kun on the specifics."

        "Unfortunately, he's never had a natural Mokuton user to compare
with," Hiruzen said, "but he's convinced."  Part of Hiruzen thought that
an improved artificial Mokuton user would be easier to deal with, but he
dismissed the ridiculous notion.  It might have been simpler to handle
Sakura, but it would have raised the issue of who had improved on the
program that had made Tenzou, why they had chosen to tip their hand by
giving the Leaf a specimen, and just what they were planning to do with
with their research.  That would have been a much bigger headache, and
one he didn't need.

        "There you have it, then," Jiraiya said.  "I guess the big
question would be how."

        Hiruzen took a long puff on his pipe before speaking.  "I'm
still waiting on results from the blood tests," he said, "but this is
what I suspect to be the case.

        "The marriage between Hashirama-sensei and Mito-dono was never a
love match, and after the incident at the birth of their son, Mito-dono
was unwilling to risk another pregnancy."  Jiraiya nodded.  "There was a
woman, Senju Touka-san."  Hiruzen made a silent prayer that he wasn't
about to slander her memory.  "She and Hashirama-sensei were teammates,
partners, before the founding of the village, and she never married."

        Jiraiya nodded shortly.  "Even if Mito-sama didn't care," he
said, "an officially acknowledged child could have caused... problems,
with Whirlpool."

        "Yes."  Hiruzen didn't need to spell out the rest for his
student - a bastard daughter, hidden in an orphanage that the First
Hokage had an excuse to visit regularly.  Possibly unaware of her
heritage, she'd risen to the rank of special jounin before retiring to
raise her own daughter, Mebuki.

        "And on the father's side?" Jiraiya asked.

        "We're even less likely to ever be able to confirm anything on
that end," Hiruzen said, "even if I sent a team to dig through the ruins
of Whirlpool.  The Haruno family did come to Leaf Village from there,
that much is certain.  I suspect there must be a blood tie to the
Uzumaki somewhere, but there's no evidence more convincing then Kizashi-
san's red hair."

        "I'm pretty sure that's pink," Jiraiya said, "though much less
attractive than it looks on Sakura-chan."

        Hiruzen sighed.  "It wasn't always that shade.  Those of us who
weren't born with white hair have to live with these things, Jiraiya-
kun."

        Jiraiya smirked at him.  Then his face turned serious.  "This...
could be really big, Sarutobi-sensei.  Even setting aside Sakura-chan's
potential power... this is a chance for this village to regain something
we thought was lost.  These past years, since... Minato's death, there's
been precious little for us to celebrate.  To have an heir to the First
Hokage's ability, to have the Senju, the greatest of our founding clans,
reborn -"

        "Please," Hiruzen said.  "Don't let Uchiha Fugaku-dono or
Mikoto-dono hear you describe the Senju with those words.  I don't need
that."

        Jiraiya's face fell.  "I'd thought the situation had improved,"
he said.  "Mikoto-chan was in good spirits when I saw her last year."

         "For a while they were," Hiruzen answered, "but then ANBU and
the military police had a jurisdiction fight over a murder committed by
a missing ninja in the process of her desertion, and matters spiraled
from there."  Sometimes, Hiruzen thought he would get more maturity and
unforced cooperation if he could replace his division heads with academy
students.

        Jiraiya groaned, burying his face in one hand.  "Idiots.  Do you
want me to call on Mikoto-chan?"

        "She's out of the village at the moment, I believe," Hiruzen
said, "but I would appreciate it if you would sometime soon."

        "Of course."  Jiraiya sighed.  "That's going to make things more
difficult.  What are you going to do?"

        "Ordinarily," Hiruzen said, "this kind of thing is handled by
the clan in question.  If necessary, we help them investigate to see who
was stupid enough to not use contraception techniques.  The children are
quietly legitimized, the family adopted into the clan, and that's the
end of it.  Unfortunately, the Senju -"

        "Consist of one old woman who hasn't set foot in the village in
years," Jiraiya finished for him.  "I can track her down."

        "Wait a few days before you leave," Hiruzen said.  "We'll want
the case to be airtight before we present it to her, after what happened
with Tenzou-kun."

        "Right," Jiraiya said.  "In the meanwhile?"

        "My initial inclination is to classify the matter and warn
everyone not to speak of it, but... Sakura-chan is the key element, and
while she might be mature for her age -"

        "She's still a seven-year-old girl," Jiraiya said.  "She's not
going to be able to hide this forever."

        "Worse," Hiruzen said, "there's already a leak."  He gestured at
a handful of papers on his desk.  "I've received three very cautiously
worded inquiries this afternoon, most notably from the Hyuuga."

        "So not the Uchiha?"

        "Not yet, thank our ancestors."  Hiruzen shook his head.  "I
think I have to leave the final decision to Mebuki-san and Kizashi-san.
It's their daughter's life."

        "But?"

        "I'll advise them that trying to keep this completely secret
would be counter-productive in the long run," Hiruzen said.  "Some quiet
confirmations would satisfy those with suspicions and reason to know,
without putting Sakura-chan through the chaos of a public announcement."
As a side benefit, it would also free his hands to more easily ensure
her protection.

        Jiraiya rose.  "I guess we're done, then," he said.  Then he
glanced at Hiruzen's desk.  "Or at least I am."  He grinned.  "And you
wonder why I don't want to be the Fifth Hokage."

*****************************************************************


        Sakura didn't know what to expect as she walked into her
classroom for the first time in two weeks.  As was normal for her, she
had arrived around ten minutes early, and the classroom was half-empty.
For just a moment, it felt like everyone was staring at her, but it was
only her imagination.  The couple of students who had noticed her
entrance only glanced at her briefly.  The only acknowledgment she
received from her classmates as she made her way to the front row was a
"Good morning," from the boy who sat behind her.  He flashed her a quick
smile.

        "Good morning, Uchiha-kun," Sakura replied automatically as she
took her seat.  It was a familiar, almost comforting ritual, though
she'd never quite worked up the courage to hold more of a conversation
with him than that.  Besides being a boy, Sasuke was from one of the
village's greatest clans.  Of course... now she was - sort of - from a
noble clan, wasn't she?

        Before she could finish considering that bizarre thought, Iruka
looked up was the paper he was grading at his desk.  "Welcome back,
Sakura-chan," he said.  "I hope you're feeling better?"

        Sakura almost started at the reminder of the explanation she was
supposed to use for her recent absence.  "Yes, Iruka-sensei," she said.
"I'm all better!"  It was kind of cool, having a cover story like she
was a grown-up ninja who'd been on a secret mission!

        "I'm glad to hear it," her teacher said, and then he reached
into a drawer and pulled out a slim book.  He suddenly tossed it to land
perfectly on the desk in front of Sakura, making her jump a little.
"Since you were sick, I won't chide you for leaving your personal items
behind when you left.  Just don't do it again."

        Sakura looked down at the cover of the most recent Princess Moon
manga - featuring the heroine facing off against the Kage of the evil
Hidden Darkness over the fallen form of her beloved prince.  She hadn't
even bought it yet!  How could she have left it on her desk two weeks
ago?  Then she remembered Iruka's promise to buy it for her.  "Th...
thank you, Iruka-sensei."

        The scarred teacher smiled.  "I trust you won't make me regret
not waiting until the end of class to return it," he said.

        Sakura flushed.  "No, Iruka-sensei," she said, quickly shoving
the book into her bag.

        "Is that the new one?"  Sakura jumped again at Sasuke's sudden
question.

        "Ah... y-yes," she stammered, surprised.  Why was a boy
interested in Princess Moon?

        Sasuke looked like he was about to say something, but both of
them were distracted as someone sat down next to him.  The boy greeted
her also, but the silver-eyed girl just mumbled something in reply
before pulling out a textbook and burying her face in it.  Sakura
blinked.  Hyuuga Hinata usually sat in the back, didn't she?

        Dismissing the thought, Sakura pulled out her own genjutsu
textbook, flipping to the chapter they were supposed to have read this
week, according to the homework assignments she'd asked her father to
get from Iruka.  She'd read the whole book cover to cover twice, of
course, but she might as well refresh her memory in case she was called
on today.

        A short while later, Iruka started the class, and Sakura quickly
lost herself in it, relaxing as everything proceeded as normal, like
nothing had changed since she'd last been here.  That rhythm lulled her
into making the mistake of raising her hand to answer a question Uzuki
Ami had gotten wrong.  She didn't need to turn around; she could feel
the purple-haired bully glare at her, and she knew she would pay for her
mistake later.

        "Sakura-chan?" Iruka said, still waiting for Sakura to answer
the question.

        Sakura was saved when the classroom door swung open, admitting
their taijutsu instructor, who carried a squirming blond boy over one
shoulder.  "Let me go," he protested, kicking at the man as best he
could.

        "My pleasure," the teacher said, almost throwing the boy to the
ground.  "He's all yours, Iruka-sensei."

        Iruka was silent for a moment before saying, "Thank you, Mizuki-
sensei."  The other teacher shook his head and left without another
word.  The boy he'd brought sat pouting on the floor in front of the
door, every student looking at him, and Sakura squirmed in discomfort,
imagining how embarrassed he must be.

        He suddenly broke into a wide grin, laughing loudly.  "You all
should have seen the look on -"

        "Uzumaki Naruto!" Iruka roared.  The teacher took a deep breath.
"One hour detention this afternoon.  Now, take a seat.  Up front!"
Grumbling under his breath, the boy stood and slowly ambled down to the
front row, his hands stuck nonchalantly in his pockets.  "Now, Naruto!"
Iruka demanded, and the boy hastened a little.

        He stopped a few steps short of the empty seat next to Sakura,
pointing at her.  "Oh, hey!  You're back!"

        Now everyone was looking at Sakura, and she wished she could
disappear.  Iruka saved her, pointing at the seat.  "Sit down and be
quiet."

        Grumbling some more, Naruto obeyed at least the first command,
plopping down into the seat next to Sakura.  "How'd you get out of this
for two whole weeks?" he asked, in a voice that might have been called
quiet out on the playground, but wouldn't have escaped Iruka's notice
even if they'd been sitting in the back.  Sakura shrank away from him,
barely able to breathe for fear the teacher would think she was
responding.  Naruto just kept talking.  "Once, I got out for three days,
but that was -"

        "Naruto," Iruka growled.  "We're at the top of page fifty-six.
You can read the next paragraph."

        "Um," Naruto started, and Sakura realized that he didn't have
his books with him.  Almost without thinking, she pushed her textbook,
already open to the right page, across the desk at him.

        He stared at her for just a moment before breaking into a wide
grin that made Sakura smile back reflexively.  Then he stood and began
to read in a slow, halting voice.  When he was done and Iruka let him
sit back down, he pushed the book back at Sakura with a whispered,
"Thanks," that was quiet enough that Iruka didn't say anything.

        The rest of the morning lecture passed without incident, and
before too long the class was gathered outside for taijutsu practice.
Mizuki announced that they would start off with some  one-on-one
sparring, and Sakura quickly gravitated toward her usual partner Hikari
- a quiet girl from a civilian family - only to stop short as Mizuki
paired her off with one the boys, asking him to help Hikari work on her
defense against low kicks.

        Mizuki glanced at Sakura next, and made a soft noise before
speaking.  "Were you able to practice at all while you were away?" he
asked.

        Sakura's parents had trained with her almost every night for the
past week, instead of her usual session on her mother's day off.  Sakura
automatically answered "Yes," before she remembered she was supposed to
have been sick.  "Umm... a little, I mean," she added quickly.

        Mizuki just nodded.  "That's good," he said, then he looked
about at the crowd of students who he hadn't paired yet.  "Sasuke-kun,
over here please," he announced, and Sakura paled slightly.  Everyone
knew that Uchiha Sasuke had practically perfect marks in all the
practical courses.

        "Yes, Mizuki-sensei?" he asked as he emerged from the crowd.

        "Sakura-chan, you and Sasuke-kun can spar with each other
today."

        The boy frowned. "But -"

        "But what, Sasuke-kun?" the teacher asked.  His hand suddenly
rested on top of Sakura's head.  "You're not going to be able to not
fight an enemy, just because she's a kunoichi."

        Sasuke reddened.  "Yes, sir."

        "Good, then," Mizuki said, and he released Sakura and moved on
to the next pair, calling out for Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba.

        Sasuke gave Sakura a weird look, and she shuffled her feet on
the dirt of the training ground.  "Are you okay?" he asked her.  "You
were sick, right?"

        "I'm... fine now," Sakura said.  Which wasn't really a lie, even
if she hadn't been sick.

        "We can start off slow if you want?" Sasuke offered, as Mizuki
finished pairing off the last two students - Naruto and one of the
girls, Yamanaka Ino.

        Beside him, Hikari's opponent snickered.  "Uchiha's got a
crush!"

        "I do not!" Sasuke replied, reddening again.

        Before any more words could be exchanged, Mizuki signaled for
the spars to begin.  Sasuke hesitated for just a moment before launching
himself at Sakura, but that was enough for her to be able to raise her
arms to block his opening quick punch.  She sidestepped the next blow,
then tried a counterattack, a short blow toward Sasuke's left side.

        An instant later she was on the ground, slightly stunned.  She
didn't think she'd over-extended herself, but Sasuke had still managed
to throw her.  A shadow loomed over her, and Sakura looked up to see
Mizuki standing over her.

        "Good work, Sasuke-kun," he said, as Sakura accepted his helping
hand up.  He glanced at Sakura, shaking his head slightly.  "You're
going to have to do better than that, Sakura-chan, if -"

        He cut off, and Sakura quietly said, "Yes, sir."  She could
guess what the teacher hadn't said.  If she was supposed to be a
Senju...

        "Do that again slowly," Mizuki ordered.  "Sasuke-kun, use the
same counter."

        Sakura complied, awkwardly approaching Sasuke and thrusting a
clenched fist forward.  Sasuke slowly half-turned away from the strike,
grabbing her forearm and exerting enough pressure that it was clear he
could throw her.  Mizuki nodded.  "I want you to try to defeat that
counter, Sakura-chan.  Sasuke-kun, you know what to do."

        The boy nodded, and they set to work.  Even knowing exactly what
he was doing, it took Sakura three tries to land the blow, and she
didn't much like that feeling.  She'd known that the boy's taijutsu was
on another level from even the other students from the noble clans, but
she'd imagined herself closer than this.  Instead, the gap seemed almost
as bad as the last time she'd been paired with Sasuke for sparring, in
one of their very first classes at the start of the year.

        "Are you ready?" Sasuke asked her.  Sakura glanced about to see
if Mizuki was about to end the warmup spars and caught Naruto getting
roughly pinned by his blonde opponent.  As the teacher moved to talk
with the pair, he gestured at Sakura and Sasuke to continue, so she
nodded at Sasuke, raising her arms in a defensive posture.

        The dark-haired boy came at her, and Sakura retreated from his
attack.  She almost bit at her lip before trying something - it wasn't a
move they'd learned in class, but it might work.  She feinted with the
same attack she'd just practiced over and over, and Sasuke moved into
the same counter.  As fast as she could, Sakura attacked his opposite
side with her other arm.

        Sasuke reacted, his half-turn into the blow becoming a dodge
around it, and Sakura's fist only brushed him.  She tried to press her
attack, and the boy dodged again.  He countered with a quick set of
strikes, and Sakura missed the second block.  She stumbled backward, and
a moment later Sakura was on the ground again, Sasuke kneeling over her.
The boy quickly got up.  As she found her own feet, she heard Mizuki
clapping loudly and announcing the end of sparring.

        Sasuke smiled at her.  "Good fight," he said, a little quietly.

        Sakura looked away at that.  It hadn't really been, had it?
Maybe for the Haruno Sakura of a couple weeks ago, landing a single
glancing blow would have been enough, but she wasn't stupid.  If half
the things the history books said were true, Mizuki wouldn't be the only
person to be now expecting more of her than this.  Sasuke waited for a
moment, then ran over to where the rest of the students were gathering
around Mizuki.  Sakura followed a few seconds later, and tried to push
the troubling thoughts from her mind as they worked through drills for
the rest of the period, then returned to the classroom for history
before breaking for lunch.

        As normal, she ate her lunch in the classroom, under Iruka's
watchful eye, and the afternoon's lectures and thrown weapons practice
were uneventful.  Then it was time for her final class of the day - the
weekly special kunoichi class.  The woman who taught the class led the
girls out of the academy to a grassy field, where after a brief lecture
on flower arrangement she set them loose to gather their own assortment
of wildflowers.

        Sakura made her way to the fringes of the field, where there was
less competition and just as many flowers.  She soon found a patch of
pretty white flowers that reminded her of some of the ones her mother
grew, and knelt down to pick a couple.  As her fingers tightened around
the stem, she paused to try an exercise Tenzou had showed her, feeling
the small plant's own chakra by just barely brushing it with her own.
Every species had an unique feel to it, and he had encouraged her to
learn as many as she could.

        A sound made Sakura start, and she let go of the flower in
surprise.  She looked behind her and saw another girl, Hyuuga Hinata.
For a moment, Sakura thought the other girl was going to walk up to her,
but to her relief Hinata stopped a good distance away, bending over a
patch of small, yellow flowers.  Sakura watched her for a moment, then
returned her attention to her own flowers.

        It was the work of a few moments to gather a couple, and then
she looked about for more.  Hinata was still at work in the yellow
flowers, but they were the best option Sakura could see in the immediate
area.  Fortunately, if she just waited a bit, the other girl would be
finished.

        After about a minute of waiting, Sakura decided to move, in case
Hinata was likewise waiting for her to be finished with her own spot.
She stood up and moved over a ways, then bent back down as though she'd
found another likely flower.  Feeling oddly self-conscious - it wasn't
like Hinata was watching her closely or could tell that there were no
flowers here - she reached out and touched a stalk of grass.  She hadn't
though to try Tenzou's exercise on something so common yet.

        It took only a moment to touch its chakra with her own, but the
results made her frown in thought, withdrawing her hand.  The grass's
chakra was there, but it felt far weaker than anything she'd touched
before.  There was something weird about it, too, a strange feeling that
she didn't understand.  What was it?

        Hesitatingly, she touched the grass stalk again and channeled
her chakra to her fingertip.  There was the weak pulse of the grass's
chakra against her own, and there was... what?  It was very weak, but it
felt like the grass's chakra, but moving differently.  And then another,
weaker feeling, moving in another way.  And another, and another, and -

        Sakura jerked her hand back in surprise, breaking the connection
as she realized what she was feeling.  She wasn't feeling just the
single stalk of grass, but it and its neighbors, and their neighbors.
For the first time, she really noticed the hundreds - thousands - of
grass stalks surrounding her, each with their own similar but different
chakra.  She slowly reached her hand out again.

        There was a nasty laugh, and Sakura jumped backward, almost
falling over on her back.  "That's just grass, Forehead," Ami said, the
purple-haired girl looming tall in Sakura's vision even though she was
no larger than Sakura.  She'd forgotten how she'd almost showed up Ami
in the first class of the day, but the other girl clearly hadn't.

        Behind Ami, one of her two friends - Fuki - snickered.  "Even
the flowers she's gotten look like weeds."  Sakura glanced at the white
flowers she'd picked earlier, drooping over a tightly clenched fist.

        "Give me those, Forehead," Ami said, gesturing at the flowers.
Wordlessly, Sakura crawled backward, familiar fear almost paralyzing
her.  Some tiny part of her had hoped the bullies would have forgotten
her over the past two weeks.  The look on Ami's face told her they'd
just been waiting for her return.

        Desperately, Sakura looked for a savior or a distraction, but
found only Hinata, kneeling in the flowers Sakura had abandoned earlier.
Ami followed her gaze and snickered.  "Hanging around her isn't going to
save you," she said.  "We're not scared of her."

        As if in answer to hearing herself discussed, Hinata stood
slowly.  Behind Ami, Fuki took a nervous step backward, and for a moment
Sakura dared to hope.  Then Hinata turned and fled, leaving Sakura alone
with the other girls.  Ami laughed and thrust out her hand again.  "Hand
them over, Forehead!"

        Sakura almost just gave her the flowers.  A years' worth of
lessons taught her this wouldn't make Ami leave her alone, but nothing
did.  But it was too much, after two weeks of not having to deal with
these petty cruelties.  An unfamiliar anger rose in her, warring with
the ingrained habit of capitulation.

        Sakura's eyes were wet, her heart was pounding, and oddly enough
it was Ami's own words that tipped the balance.

        "You think that Hyuuga is going to come back and save you?" the
bully asked.  "Give them up.  We all know that's how this is going to
end."

        That was how dozens of similar confrontations had ended, but
Sakura remembered the way Mizuki had looked at her when she'd been so
easily defeated by Sasuke, like she'd disappointed him, like he'd
expected more of her.  Like he'd expected more of a Senju.  Surely the
First Hokage had never let schoolgirl bullies frighten him.

        "No," she whispered, and she could barely believe that she
managed to say it.

        Ami seemed just as surprised.  "What was that, Forehead?"

        Sakura took a deep breath, forcing herself to stand.  "No," she
said, more firmly this time, and she stood.

        "You want to fight, Forehead?" Ami demanded, raising her fist.
"Take a swing at me, and I won't hold back like Uchiha did for you."

        Sakura didn't say anything.  Ami grinned.  "That's what I
thought," she said, then she reached for the flowers.  Sakura tried to
yank them out of the bully's grasp, but she was too slow and Ami grabbed
the heads.  "Let go," she ordered once.

        Instead, Sakura clenched her hand tighter, her nails biting into
her palm.  Fuki stepped forward, starting to circle around Sakura.
"Give them to Ami, Forehead," she ordered.  "You know better than to
mess with us."

        "Right," Ami's other friend, Kasumi, said.  "I thought you were
supposed to have a big brain under there."

        When Sakura still didn't release the flowers, Ami snorted.  "I
don't know why you want to keep your worthless weeds so bad," she said.
Then she ripped the heads from the stems, before taking a step back and
opening her fist, letting the petals drop to the ground.

        "Why -" Sakura started.

        "She's just saving you the trouble of turning them in before
failing, Forehead," Kasumi stated.

        "What're you going to do?" Fuki jeered.  "Cry about it?"

        The flower stems felt warm in Sakura's hand, and almost unbidden
her chakra brushed against them.  Without forming seals, without even
thought, driven by nothing more than a sudden surge of anger, Sakura's
chakra poured into the plants.  They twitched once.

        Then the small plants exploded into motion, thick vines erupting
from out from Sakura's clenched fist.  Faster than either girl could
react, the waving tendrils wrapped around Ami's arm, crawling up toward
her torso.  The purple-haired girl screamed, echoed an instant later by
her friends.  Kasumi turned and ran; Fuki followed, abandoning Ami.
Almost as surprised as the other girls, Sakura dropped her end of the
vines, stumbling backward.

        "Let me go!" Ami screamed, as the vines, still growing though
more slowly, reached her shoulder.  Tiny buds began to sprout, and
Sakura didn't know how to release the bully even if she wanted to.

        There was a blur of motion, and an ANBU kunoichi in a bear mask
stood between Sakura and Ami, sheathing her short sword.  Neatly cut
into a half-dozen pieces, the vines fell to the ground, where they
twitched for a few seconds before lying still.  Ami collapsed, sobbing
loudly.

        There was a cough, and Sakura looked behind her to see the
kunoichi class's teacher, trailed slightly by Hinata and Ami's friends.
The other girl must have gone to get help when she ran.  She stared at
Sakura with her odd eyes, her mouth slightly open.

        Sakura herself only had eyes for the teacher, who walked past
Sakura without speaking to her.  "I'll handle things from here, ANBU-
san," she said, kneeling down beside Ami.  The other kunoichi wordlessly
bowed, and then she vanished.

        The teacher exchanged a few words with Ami, too quietly for
Sakura to hear, and then she stood and turned to Sakura.  The look on
her face made Sakura swallow nervously.  "Haruno-kun," the woman said,
adjusting her glasses with one hand.  "This academy has very strict
rules against unauthorized use of ninjutsu, even when provoked."  Sakura
swallowed again and nodded.  She'd read the student handbook cover to
cover.  "Two hours detention with Iruka-sensei after class today," she
ordered, "and the rest of the week.  If this happens again, punishment
will be more severe.  Do you understand, Haruno-kun?"

        Sakura nodded, her stomach dropping.  She'd never even had a
single hour of detention.  "But -" she started to protest.

        "But nothing, Haruno-kun," the teacher stated firmly, and Sakura
swallowed her complaints that Ami had destroyed her flowers first and
that she hadn't really meant to use ninjutsu on her.  "Now, you and
Hinata-chan need to go finish your assignments."

        "Yes, ma'am," Sakura said miserably, turning to leave.

        The teacher nodded once, then turned back to Ami and her
friends, who had cautiously returned to her side.  "Now," she said,
"since you three had enough time to bother Haruno-kun, I'm sure your own
flower arrangements are ready for me to grade?"

        Sakura hadn't seen them carrying any flowers, she realized.

        The teacher noticed her watching.  "Are you waiting for
something, Haruno-kun?" she asked.  Sakura got the message and left,
followed by Hinata.

        Iruka was no more sympathetic than the other teacher when, after
the kunoichi class finished, Sakura shuffled back into the classroom to
serve her first detention.  "I'm very disappointed in you, Sakura-chan,"
he told her.  "I thought you knew better than to carelessly use... your
ninjutsu on one of your fellow students."

        Part of Sakura wanted to scream in frustration.  What was she
supposed to have done?  Just let those bullies keep walking over her,
like nothing at all had changed?  Was she supposed to be someone
different now or not?  She knew better than to say any of that, and just
nodded again.  "I'm sorry," she said eventually, when it became clear
the scarred teacher wanted a response.

        "I'm not the one you need to apologize to," Iruka said.
Sakura's face hardened at the idea of apologizing to Ami, and the
teacher sighed.  "Ordinarily, I'd make you do your homework, but I
believe you've already done it."  Sakura just nodded again.  "So you can
help Naruto with his homework instead."  He gestured, and Sakura noticed
for the first time the blond boy sitting in one of the desks.

        At another gesture from Iruka, Sakura hesitatingly approached
and sat down beside him, glancing at the paper in front of him.  It was
the ninjutsu homework from last week, mostly blank except for a few
scribbles that might have been the start of an answer to the first
question, which quickly devolved into crude stick figure drawings of
battling ninja.

        "You got in a fight, Sakura-chan?" the boy asked, his voice awed
and as close to quiet as he ever got.

        The unexpectedly friendly address threw Sakura for a loop
briefly.  "Yes, Uzumaki-kun," she said after a moment.

        "Did you win?" he asked eagerly.  The louder question drew a
glare from Iruka.  "Well?" he pressed more quietly, pushing his paper
over like he was showing her his work.

        "Your homework, Uzumaki-kun," Sakura said firmly.  She wasn't
sure how she felt about what she'd done.  Part of her felt nothing but
satisfaction at seeing Ami cry the way the bully had made her cry so
many times, but the look on Iruka's face... she didn't like making him
look at her that way.

        Naruto pouted for a moment, but clearly feared to tempt Iruka's
wrath any further and let her change the subject.  He didn't let it stay
there for very long, chasing any distraction he could, but by the time
Iruka announced he could leave an hour later Sakura had managed to help
him through both that assignment and the history reading for tomorrow.

        Naruto jumped up like an explosive tag was underneath him when
Iruka said he could go, but then he hesitated for a moment, looking at
Sakura.  She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.  "Umm... Sakura-
chan," he said, "I just... uh... thanks."  He scratched at the back of
his head.  "For helping me."

        "Iruka-sensei said I had to," Sakura said.  It wasn't like she'd
had a choice.

        "He didn't this morning," Naruto said.  "I... um..." He trailed
off, turning bright red, then laughed loudly.  "Bye!" he said quickly,
then raced for the exit.  Sakura stared after the strange boy.  What was
that all about?

        At his own desk, Iruka shook his head, smiling.  "He got more
work done this detention than the last five combined.  I might just have
to find an excuse to have you here more often, Sakura-chan," he said.

        "What?" Sakura exclaimed loudly.  Then she covered her mouth,
knowing she was turning her own shade of red in embarrassment.

        Iruka just laughed, shaking his head again.  "If you've got any
of your own work left, you should finish it."

        "I don't," Sakura said miserably, remembering that she had
another hour of detention to go.  Was she just going to have to stare at
the walls?

        "I shouldn't," Iruka said with a sigh, "but this once, I'll let
you read your manga."

        Whatever pleasure that concession gave Sakura vanished once she
got home and found out that her parents knew all about what had
happened, and had a few things to say to her - including a lecture about
how she'd been supposed to keep her abilities secret.  Punished by being
forbidden to visit the library for the rest of the month, it was a much-
chastened Sakura who returned to the academy the next morning.  Ami and
her friends were already there when she arrived a little later than
usual, but though they watched her closely they didn't approach.

        It was Hinata who did, walking up to Sakura's desk a couple
minutes before the start of class, stammering out something quiet and
incoherent, dropping an ornate scroll on the desk, and fleeing back to
her usual seat in the back of the classroom before Sakura could ask any
questions.  Sakura stared after her in confusion, and it was only after
she unrolled the scroll and made her way through the formal language
that she realized that it was a dinner invitation for her and her
parents.

*****************************************************************


        It was a warm evening, after the end of Sakura's first week back
at the academy, and Sakura and her parents were dressed up in their
nicest kimono outside the palatial Hyuuga estate.  Sakura had loved her
kimono - a red one with a pattern of a cherry blossom tree in full bloom
- when she'd gotten it for the academy entrance ceremony last year, but
now it was slightly too small, and she had to resist the urge to fidget
with it.

        "Haruno Kizashi, Mebuki, and Sakura," her father said to the
pair of Hyuuga guards, presenting the invitation.

        One of the guards took the scroll without inspecting it, and
both bowed deeply before stepping aside, letting Sakura's family through
the open gate.  A servant seemed to appear out of nowhere. "This way,
honored guests," the woman stated, leading them through a maze of dimly
lit hallways to a small interior courtyard where a single, low table was
set up under the shade of a massive oak tree.  Unlit lanterns dotted the
edges of the courtyard, though for now the setting sun provided
sufficient light.

        A tall man with the Hyuuga's eerie silver eyes approached
Sakura's family and bowed shallowly.  "I am Hyuuga Hiashi," he said.
"Thank you for accepting my invitation... forgive me.  Are you still
using Haruno, or would you prefer Senju?"

        Sakura's mother smiled thinly as she returned the bow.  "I am
Haruno Mebuki, Hyuuga-dono," she answered.  "My husband, Haruno Kizashi,
and our daughter, Haruno Sakura."

        Her father's smile was somewhat broader as he bowed also.  "If
you spoke to a Senju, I would look around for the Second's ghost."

        Her mother's lips pressed together, but the Hyuuga clan head
only gave a polite laugh. Her mother touched Sakura's back lightly, and
Sakura knew it was her turn.  She stepped forward, bowing as deeply as
she could.  "Th-thank you for the invitation, Hyuuga-dono," she said,
glad to get the line out with only a slight stutter.

        The Hyuuga inclined his head.  "It is my pleasure," he said.
"I'm sure you know my daughter, Hinata," he said, gesturing at an empty
seat at the end of table.  Seated opposite it was indeed Hinata, who
looked up at her name before dropping her gaze again.  The man returned
his attention to Sakura's parents.  "I would be honored if you would sit
with me, Mebuki-san, Kizashi-san."

        Sakura's mother pushed her gently toward the position the Hyuuga
had indicated, then bowed again to the man.  "The honor is ours, Hyuuga-
dono."

        Sakura followed her mother's instruction, and shortly found
herself trying to kneel seiza-style across from Hinata.  The other girl
muttered a hello.  Next to her knelt a younger girl, also with the
Hyuuga's eyes, who Sakura didn't know.  When she ventured a smile, the
young girl hid her face in the sleeve of Hinata's blue and lavender
kimono.  At Sakura's side knelt a long-haired Hyuuga boy around her and
Hinata's own age.

        No one said anything for several minutes, even as servants
brought out the first course.  Hinata started to pick at her food, and
Sakura followed suit, struggling to remain in the uncomfortable kneeling
posture.  Sakura glanced up to the head of the table, where her parents
sat on either side of Hinata's father, surrounded by a number of older
Hyuuga men and women.  She was glad to see that her father was
positioned where he could stretch out his bad leg.  As she watched, her
mother said something to Hinata's father, but Sakura couldn't hear what.


        Her own father seemed to notice his daughter's attention, and he
wordlessly nodded his head in what Sakura guessed was supposed to be
Hinata's direction.  Sakura remembered her mother's instructions, that
it would be good for her to make friends with Hinata if she could.  The
idea was slightly terrifying - none of the girls from the noble clans in
Sakura's classes had much to do with the ones from the lesser families.
Yet, Hinata had gone to get the teacher when Ami had tried to take her
flowers, Sakura reminded herself, gathering her courage.

        "I... I like your kimono, Hinata-san," Sakura ventured as the
servants removed the first course and brought out the second.

        The other girl flushed.  "Than... thank you, Sakura-san," she
returned.  "Yours is... also very pretty."

        "Thank you," Sakura answered, and then she flailed for
something, anything, else to say.  "Is that your sister?" Sakura asked
Hinata, glancing at the girl seated next to her classmate.  The younger
girl hid her face again.

        "Yes, this is Hanabi," Hinata answered.

        The boy seated next to Sakura made a sound, and Sakura looked at
him.  He didn't say anything, all his attention seemingly on his food.
Sakura thought she might recognize him.  "Are... are you in the class
above us?" she asked him.

        The boy paused his meal.  "Yes," he answered shortly.  "I am
Hyuuga Neji."  Hinata was looking anywhere but the boy.

        Sakura licked her lips, but couldn't think of anything else to
say, so she returned her attention to her own meal.  A few minutes
later, she was forced to shift out of the seiza position into something
more comfortable for a moment.  The boy - Neji - made another sound, but
when Sakura looked up he said nothing and made no sign he had noticed.
Hinata was smiling slightly, though, and Sakura could feel her cheeks
heat.

          Sakura cast about for something to distract from her movement,
and hit on something her mother had instructed her to ask at some point
during the meal.  "Ah... I would... uh... I would be honored if you
would train with me after school tomorrow, Hinata-san."  Ever since
Sakura had... developed her ability, her once-weekly training sessions
with her parents had become daily events.

        Neji made another sound.  Hinata glanced to the head of the
table.  "I... I will ask my father, Sakura-san."  Neji made the sound
again, and Hinata flushed and dropped her gaze.

        A tiny part of Sakura shouted angrily in the back of her mind,
but all Sakura said was, "Is something wrong, Neji-san?"

        "Nothing that concerns you, Senju-dono," the boy answered.

        "Neji-niisan!" Hinata protested, looking up at him.  The boy
glared at her, and with a quiet noise of her own, Hinata looked back
down at her barely-disturbed food.

        "Please... please don't call me that, Neji-san," Sakura said.
"I'm not... I'm Haruno Sakura."

        The boy set his chopsticks down.  For the first time, he turned
to look at her.  "No, you aren't," he said shortly.  "Your fate was
written from the moment you were born with your skills, and it is the
fate of a Senju.  To try to fight that fate is futile and will only
bring you pain."

        Sakura swallowed, looking down at her plate.  She realized that
she'd eaten only slightly more than Hinata, and her stomach rumbled
softly, but she didn't feel like she could eat.  "I don't know how to be
a Senju," she admitted quietly without thinking.

        "Then learn," Neji said unhelpfully, returning his attention to
his almost-gone meal.

        Sakura looked up, and unexpectedly met Hinata's eyes.  There was
a strange expression on the other girl's face, but before Sakura could
try to place it Hinata smiled softly and looked away.  Sakura decided to
concentrate on eating and trying to keep the food down.

        Sometime later, after the lanterns had been lit and several more
courses had passed, everyone stood, and Sakura was able to rejoin her
parents as they gathered under the tree in the center of the courtyard.
Some servants were quietly removing the dinner table, while others
distributed drinks to the adults.  Her father laid a comforting hand on
Sakura's shoulder, but didn't say anything.  Her mother only had eyes
for the Hyuuga.

        "This tree," Hinata's father announced, "was a gift to my
grandfather from the First Hokage himself."  He paused, laying one hand
on the rough bark.  "It is said that so long as it grows strong and
healthy, so shall our clan and our alliance with the Senju."

        "I have no doubt this tree will stay strong for many years to
come," Sakura's mother answered.

        "I hope so as well," Hinata's father replied.

        Hinata suddenly stepped forward out of the crowd of Hyuuga,
glancing backward at her father several times before approaching Sakura.
"Um... Sakura-san... I... I am curious, and... um... can... would you
please... um... show me your ability?"  The other girl swallowed.  "If
you don't mind," she added quickly.

        Sakura knew without having to think about it that the question
was not truly Hinata's, and she wondered if she had sounded as awkward
parroting her mother's request earlier in the evening.  Sakura looked to
her parents for direction.  Her mother started to shake her head, but
stopped when her father nodded slightly.  Sakura looked up at them, and
after an exchange of glances with her father, her mother nodded.

        Sakura took a step forward.  "Ah... it would be my... pleasure,
Hinata-san," she said, though her stomach was doing cartwheels.  After
all the lectures on control from everyone short of the Hokage himself
she'd been given over the past week, since the... incident with Ami, a
part of her was terrified that she would somehow mess up and hurt
someone.  Another, larger part of her just wanted to run from the sea of
watching silvery eyes.

        Sakura took a deep breath to steady herself, then she looked
about.  Slowly, she walked up to the tree, and pressed her hand against
it.  The bark felt warm and inviting, and Sakura reached for a low
branch, slightly over her head.  "May I?" she asked quietly.

        Hinata's father nodded, and Sakura broke off a small twig from
the branch.  There was a collective sharp intake of breath, and Sakura
almost dropped the piece of wood as all the Hyuuga's faces - even
Hinata's - changed, veins bulging visibly around their eyes.  Sakura
swallowed nervously, but taking a another deep breath, she moved through
the seals the Tenzou had taught her.

        "Mokuton: Breath of Life," Sakura pronounced awkwardly, and the
twig shook in her hand.  She poured her chakra into it, and it expanded
to almost a foot in length, sprouting leaves along the branches that
grew from it.

        The Hyuugas' eyes returned to normal.  A quiet "Amazing," came
from someone, but Sakura couldn't tell who.

        Before Sakura, Hinata licked her lips.  "That was... that was
wonderful, Sakura-san," she said, and her voice sounded honest to
Sakura.  "Thank you."

        Impulsively, Sakura thrust out the sapling in her hands.
"Please... please accept this gift, Hinata-san," she said.  "Like...
like the First Hokage's to your ancestor."  There was utter silence, and
Sakura looked up at her mother, afraid she'd said something horribly
wrong.

        Her mother was smiling, though, and Sakura followed her gaze to
Hinata's father, who Sakura was vaguely shocked to realize wore a
matching smile.  Sakura's attention went to Hinata, whose own eyes were
returning from a similar trip.  "I... thank you," Hinata said, accepting
it from Sakura's hands.

        "If... if you plant and water it, it should grow normally,"
Sakura said.

        "I will," Hinata promised.  The two girls were silent for a
moment, and the adults started to talk around them.  "I..." Hinata said
quietly, then trailed off.

        "Hinata-san?" Sakura asked.

        "I have... a... a book the First Hokage wrote, and gave to the
heads of the founding clans," Hinata said.  "About... about his dream
for the village."  She hesitated for a moment, then said, "Would you
like to... read it?"

        Sakura swallowed.  She hadn't had a chance to search the library
for anything about the Senju before she'd been forbidden to go there as
punishment, but she didn't remember ever seeing anything from the First
Hokage's own hand there.  "I... I would love it," she admitted.

        Hinata nodded.  "Come with me," she said, and Sakura followed
her over to where their parents were talking.  Along the way, a servant
took the sapling Sakura had gifted the other girl.

        "Father," Hinata said.

        "What is it, Hinata?" he asked shortly, sounding irritated.

        "S... Sakura-san would like to borrow the First Hokage's
treatise," Hinata said.  "May... may I take her to my rooms to retrieve
it?"

        Hinata's father smiled again, and Hinata's eyes widened.
"That's an excellent idea, Hinata," he said.

        "Have fun, girls," Sakura's father said.  Sakura's mother
twitched, and Sakura had to fight back a giggle.

        "Come with me, Sakura-san," Hinata said again, and Sakura bowed
quickly to the Hyuuga clan head before following her classmate out of
the courtyard.

        Soon, they were in Hinata's... rooms.  Sakura struggled not to
gape openly, realizing that the other girl's personal chambers were
probably close to the size of her own family's entire apartment.  Hinata
led her over to a small bookshelf, and gently pulled out a slim volume.
"Here," she said, offering the book to Sakura.

        Sakura took it.  It was bound in brown leather, and there was no
title, only a green Leaf sigil on the front and rear covers.  Sakura
flipped it open and swallowed as her eyes took in the handwritten text.
"Did... did the First Hokage write this himself?" she asked, awed.
Hinata nodded.  "I... thank you.  Thank you so much," Sakura said.

        Hinata smiled.  "I... I hope it helps you... um... learn how to
be a Senju, Sakura-san," she said.  In another tone, the words might
have seemed mocking, but Hinata sounded honestly happy to be able to
help.

        "Thank you," Sakura said again.  The two girls' eyes met, and
Sakura suddenly realized that for the first time this evening they were
alone.  Acting on another impulse, Sakura shut the book and tucked it
under her arm before asking, "Would... would you... like to be friends,
Hinata-san?"

        The dark-haired girl stood still for a moment before answering,
"I... if you... if you will have me, Sakura-san."

        "Sakura-chan," Sakura corrected without thinking.

        Hinata flushed, but she also smiled.  "Sakura-chan."

        Sakura smiled back.  "Hinata-chan."

        The two girls stared at each other for a long moment, then
simultaneously burst into giggles.  When their parents came to find them
an hour later, they found them on Hinata's bed, trading opinions as to
which of the boys in their class was the most icky.

        Later that evening, when she was in her own bed, Sakura slowly
and carefully opened the book Hinata had loaned her and turned to the
first page.  Her hand hovered over the century-old text, not quite
touching the page as it traced the slightly archaic characters and
Sakura quietly read aloud.

        "I am Senju Hashirama.  I am the Hokage of the Hidden Village of
the Leaf, and I will make it a tree of life to all who shelter under its
branches."

*****************************************************************


        "You're a hard woman to find, Tsunade-hime," Jiraiya said as he
plopped himself down opposite his former teammate.

        Tsunade drained her glass.  "More sake, Shizune," she ordered
her apprentice.  "I'm going to need it."  The dark-haired girl fled
wordlessly.  "If you're here to ask me to come back to the village
again, get lost," she told Jiraiya.

        "This might change your mind," he said, tossing a file folder on
the bar table.  Paper-clipped to the front was a picture of a tiny,
pink-haired girl.

        "Who the hell's this supposed to be?" Tsunade asked.

        "Your heir," Jiraiya told her.

        Tsunade blinked.  "What?"

        "She's a precocious little bookworm," Jiraiya said.  "Read ahead
about nature affinities, wanted to find out what hers was.  Turns out it
is one we haven't seen since your grandfather."

        Tsunade's hand twitched, and she stopped herself from reaching
for the file.  "Another experiment," she said firmly.

        Jiraiya pushed the folder in Tsunade's direction.  "We traced
her genealogy, and it checks out."

        Tsunade snorted.  "And whose mistake is she supposed to be the
result of?"

        "Your grandfather, actually."

        That provoked a bark of laughter.  "Him?  You're joking."
Jiraiya shook his head, and Tsunade laughed again, a edge of bitterness
clear in the sound.  "Human weakness?  From the honored First Hokage?
Inconceivable."

        Jiraiya sighed.  "We can't confirm it absolutely from the
surviving records, but we've got solid reasons to believe that she's the
real thing, and the blood tests agree.  There's more, enough to convince
both Sarutobi-sensei and I.  It's all in the file."

        Tsunade swallowed.  "You can't determine affinities at that age;
they take time to develop.  To show... that affinity at her age, she'd
have to be..."

        "Tenzou tested her," Jiraiya said.  "It's strong, maybe even
more than your grandfather.  Like what you'd expect from controlled
breeding of two powerful members of the main line, not a freak throwback
tracing the connection two or three generations back."  He shook his
head.  "If I hadn't seen it myself, I'd never believe it.  She's going
to be a legend."

        Tsunade tried to take a drink, but her glass was still empty and
Shizune had not returned.  "Or she'll die early.  Why are you telling
me?" she asked sourly.  "I can't train the girl."

        "Like it or not," Jiraiya said, "you're the head of the Senju.
We need your permission to give her access to your clan's ninjutsu
archives, training methods... all that stuff."  He smiled.  "Of course,
we understand if you'd like to supervise..."

        "Shizune!" Tsunade roared.  Her apprentice scurried up
nervously, no sake in hand.  "Pen, paper, now."

        Once she had it, Tsunade dashed out a handful of lines and
scrawled her signature beneath them, then tossed the paper at Jiraiya.
"There, that'll let her have all the access she wants.  Go."

        Jiraiya blanched.  "This is..."

        "I've told you a hundred times, Jiraiya," Tsunade said.  "I'm
done with that village.  I'm through; I abdicate.  All hail..." Tsunade
trailed off and glanced at the file folder for a moment, "Haruno Sakura,
head of the Senju Clan, long may she reign."

*****************************************************************

Author's Random Ramblings

1) You can blame the denizens of the Naruto Story Ideas thread on Space
Battles for this one, as an off-hand comment there inspired the idea,
and the response to the short snippets I originally wrote convinced me
to give this a shot as a real story.

2) I've always kind of considered this to be a sister story to Dead
Garden, because they're both alternate universes about giving Sakura one
of canon's main "power up" sources, but ones that wind up changing her -
and everyone else - in very different ways.  Maybe one distant year, in
my copious spare time, I'll similarly expand on an "Uchiha Sakura"
snippet I wrote and complete the "trilogy."

3) I swear, I invented the back story justifying Sakura inheriting
Mokuton well before Kishimoto gave us quasi-canonical character designs
for her parents.  The fact that those perfectly matched the back story
just made my life easier.

4) Similarly, I was shocked to - accidentally - discover Senju Touka
when doing research for this story.  She is a one hundred percent
canonical female Senju contemporary of the First Hokage, who is
apparently called out in a databook as a "close and trusted associate"
of his, has a flower name, and is noted as a genjutsu expert.  I
couldn't have invented a better Senju ancestress for Sakura.

5) As ever, thanks goes out to everyone who commented on the drafts of
this chapter on Space Battles.

Draft Started: April 07, 2012
Draft Finished: December 10, 2012
Draft Released: December 11, 2012
Final Released: