The Bonds That Strengthen Us

The next morning, the village was awake bright and early; much like a young blond haired boy with blue eyes and big dreams. 

Naruto woke up with a start. For some inexplicable reason, he felt as if he was going to be in trouble today. Shrugging it off, he got out of bed and got dressed for the day. He was about to put on his usual orange jumpsuit, until he realized that he would be meeting with the awesome shinobi he had met last night. Naruto, wanting to impress the man, decided to put on something closer to what a real ninja in training would wear. After all, he only wore the orange menace of a jumpsuit because it was one of the few things he had gotten for free from one of the shops in the village. Well that and the occasional free food from Ichiraku Ramen. Naruto wasn't stupid though. He knew the shop owner had only given it to him to make fun of the boy. It didn't make a difference to the blonde though. Free stuff makes the world go round.

Naruto pulled on his black pants from the night before that were one size too big on him. 'Maybe Hatake-san has some spare bandages I can use to tape these off. It'd be embarrassing if they fell down while we're training.' Naruto thought to himself as he looked for a suitable shirt to wear.

Because he didn't have a washing machine or dryer, he had to hand wash his clothes whenever he could. Since he fell asleep without washing his green shirt from last night, he decided on a plain white shirt with the symbol for the Land of Fire on the front.

After doing his daily stretches, he walked into his kitchen and checked his cabinets for food. He went through all of his cabinets before finding one last cup of instant ramen in the last one he looked in. 

'Phew, I thought I was gonna have to go dumpster diving again. I wouldn't want to smell bad when Hatake-san comes to meet me!' Naruto muttered to himself as he boiled water on the stove. He used to have a kettle, but of course, someone stole it before he put traps up to protect his apartment. 

'I want to get a new kettle one of these days but it is way too expensive for me.' He continued as he set his ramen aside to cook. While waiting the excruciating three minutes it takes to cook the ramen, he walked back to the bathroom to brush his teeth. As he cleaned himself, he considered brushing his hair, but ultimately decided not to bother as he wasn't sure what to do with it.

Finally, his ramen was done and he finished cleaning himself up. Just as he was about to sit down on his couch and chow down, someone knocked on the door to his apartment. Rolling his eyes at the timing, Naruto set his ramen down on his coffee table and headed to the door.

Upon opening the door, he found Hatake Sakumo waiting outside the door with a bag in his hand. Surprised to see him, Naruto quickly looked at the clock in his kitchen to see the time was 8:03 am.

"Ohayou Hatake-san! Come in! I thought you were coming at 12pm?" Naruto muttered shyly as he allowed the older man into his home. He felt embarrassed as he had never let anyone other than o-jiisan into his apartment. Despite it being out of his control, Naruto couldn't help but be embarrassed at the lack of furniture his abode offered. Not to mention the wallpaper was half peeled off in most rooms.

"Ohayou Naruto-kun. I figured I would come by a bit earlier to bring you breakfast before we trained. Is that okay?" Sakumo took in his surroundings as he spoke. His trained eyes took notice of every trap above the windows and the front door. 'These traps are rather well made. He did this on his own at five? We may have a hidden genius on our hands.' Sakumo thought to himself. He also noticed the lack of… personality the apartment had. He frowned but quickly stopped it from showing on his face to avoid upsetting the boy.

"Hai…" Naruto nervously played with his fingers as he tried peeking into the bag Sakumo had brought. Noticing this, Sakumo paused his observation of the apartment and handed the bag to Naruto. 

Upon opening the bag, the blonde found multiple boxes filled with food. He saw some kind of soup in one container, grilled fish in another, one with what looked like steamed vegetables and the last with rice. Smiling widely, Naruto took Sakumo's hand and led him to his small yet sturdy dining table. He then ran to his cabinet to get two bowls and some utensils. 

Watching Naruto excitedly set the table, Sakumo opened up the containers and set them in the middle. Together, they made a nice breakfast table and began to eat their food. Sakumo purposefully only had some miso soup, allowing Naruto to enjoy the food himself. Naruto, in his excitement (and hunger) didn't realize until he had finished eating. He was about to apologize when Sakumo spoke.

"It's okay Naruto-kun, I brought the food for you. Let's clean up and go over your training." Sakumo reassured Naruto with a pat on the head, leaving Naruto with a strange warmth in his stomach he had never felt before. The only thing that has ever come close was when o-jiisan would take him to Ichiraku Ramen.

They cleaned up the dining table and Naruto's long-forgotten ramen from earlier before sitting on the couch together. Sakumo pulled out a paper and gave it to Naruto.

"This is your training schedule for the next few years. If for whatever reason I can't meet with you, I still expect you to complete this every day. Before we begin, are you sure you want to train with me? I will be training you to become a full-fledged shinobi. I won't accept anything other than your best." Sakumo asked with a stern face. He knew Naruto would say yes, but wanted to make sure just in case the boy was having second thoughts.

Naruto nodded with a smile that shined with determination. Sakumo smiled at this and continued.

"Alright then. At 9am, you will run fifty laps around the village. Then you will do a hundred push ups, sit-ups, and pullups. All of this should take around five hours to complete. Once you finish, we will take a break for six hours so I can do my jonin duties. At 6pm, we will meet back up and work on chakra exercises. Later on, I'll have you work on other things during that six hour break, but for now you can use that as free time to do whatever you want. Understand so far?" Sakumo explained slowly, making sure every part soaked into Naruto's sponge of a brain. 

'I knew I felt something off this morning! I wonder if o-jiisan put Hatake-san up to this because of the prank I pulled last night…' Naruto nodded with a frown. Sakumo chuckled at Naruto's dejectedness.

"It'll all be worth it when you enter the academy already at high-genin to low-chunin level, Naru-chan." Sakumo patted Naruto's head comfortingly. Naruto's face flushed and he looked away at the affection. 

"Alright, now that you know the plan, let's get you some basic equipment to start. Come along Naru-chan~" Sakumo teased as he held out his hand for Naruto to hold. Face still flushed, Naruto took the hand and followed Sakumo into the streets of Konoha.

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The duo walked through the streets of Konoha together. Because of how early it was, not many people were out. The only people awake and active at this time were merchants setting up stalls, villagers that were opening their shops, and the Military Police patrolling the streets. 

Luckily for Naruto, the villagers paid no mind to him and spared him from their glances and glares. He briefly wondered if it was because Sakumo was with him, but quickly dropped it as they walked into one of the many shops in the center.

A bell jingled as they walked into the store. It looked to be a mix of a weapons shop and a shinobi clothing store. The shopkeeper looked over at them from the shelf he was restocking and welcomed them in.

"Ohayou! Welcome to Higurashi Weapons! I am Higurashi Takeshi. Are you two looking for anything specific? Maybe a sword like your own for your son?" Takeshi smiled as he offered help to the duo. 

Sakumo and Naruto both became bashful at the last part of the man's welcome.

"Ah, well not a sword just yet, but I would like to get him a weapons pouch, a set of kunai and shuriken, and some bandages. If you have some clothes in his size, that'd be nice as well." Sakumo started, finding the ceiling more important than anything else in the room.

"Alrighty! Clothes in his size should be over there in the back. I'll bring the rest of what you requested up to the counter when you're ready." Takeshi smiled at them before walking off.

"Thank you Higurashi-san. Come Naru-chan, you can pick out whatever you want. I'll pay for it all of course." Sakumo patted Naruto's head before guiding him to the clothing section. Naruto smiled gratefully and followed along.

Naruto looked through the various racks of clothes in his size before settling with a short sleeve black shirt that had a white stripe on the shoulders and long black ANBU-pants, much like the pair he was wearing now. 

'This is almost exactly what Kakashi wore when he was a genin. What are the odds of that?' Sakumo thought to himself as he picked up four more sets of the same outfit for Naruto. He also had Naruto get two pairs of black shinobi sandals: one close toed and one open toed.

When they got to the counter, they found that Takeshi had gotten everything they needed already. 

"Did you find everything you needed?" Takeshi asked with a grin as he began ringing up their items at the register.

"Yes Higurashi-san, thank you very much." Sakumo replied respectfully as he pulled out his wallet to pay. As they exchanged pleasantries, Naruto's eyes began to wander around the shop. He stopped as he saw a shelf of books beside the register. Curiously, he walked over and began looking at the covers.

'History of Kirigakure, The Bloody Mist by Higano Taketo'

'A Dummy's Guide to Fuinjutsu by Uzumaki Kushina'

'Bingo Book - 62nd Edition'

'Your Chakra Control Sucks - A Guide to Chakra Control by Senju Tsunade'

"See something interesting, Naru-chan?" Sakumo asked the young boy.

"Hatake-san, what is fuinjutsu?" Naruto asked as he picked up the rather thick book.

"Fuinjutsu, is the art of sealing. It's one of the most powerful and dangerous disciplines in the shinobi world. With the right seal, you can suppress chakra, trap an enemy, store weapons, even alter the flow of time in a space. It can protect, empower, or destroy, depending on the hands that wield it. A single stroke of ink can be more dangerous than a thousand kunai if used correctly." Sakumo educated pointedly. 

"I think I know what I wanna study in my free time"

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While Naruto and Sakumo began their training together, across the village a couple was found arguing in their house in the Konoha suburbs.

"I told you we should have left the village when we had the chance! If anyone finds out—" Haruno Mebuki started before he was cut off by her husband.

"And then what? Run away? Give her up? You know that was never an option." Haruno Kizashi cut her off, growing upset with the direction the conversation was taking.

"Maybe this was a mistake— She doesn't even look like us! She has black hair and black eyes while we have pink hair and green eyes for crying out loud." Mebuki murmured, more speaking to herself than stating out loud.

"She's our daughter, not a mistake." Kizashi finished, not allowing room for more discussion. He walked out their kitchen and out the house, slamming the door behind him. 

Mebuki sighed heavily, feeling as if a weight dropped onto her shoulders. She finished the drink she had been holding before placing it in the sink and going upstairs to her room, shutting the door with a click.

Unbeknownst to both of them, their daughter, Haruno Sakura, had heard their conversation from her room. The five year old teared up as she sat against the door of her room.

'What does she mean that I'm a mistake..?' Tears flowed down Sakura's cheeks and her heart tightened in her chest.

'Why doesn't okaa-san want me anymore?' The little girl sobbed quietly to herself for a few minutes, replaying the conversation she overheard in her head over and over again. 'It's not my fault my hair is black… I can just keep dying it pink, right?' Her roots had already grown out and the black peeked through. For a reason beyond what the Haruno's understood, little Sakura's hair just wouldn't stay pink for longer than a week no matter how many times they tried dying it to match them.

Eventually, her tiny fists clenched in her lap. 

'I'll prove them wrong. I'm not a mistake! I'll become the strongest ninja in the world and nobody will call me a mistake again!' Sakura swore to herself as she wiped her tears away. She grabbed the wooden kunai her father had carved for her fifth birthday and snuck out of the house. She didn't know where to go, but figured she could just run until she found a training ground to use.

As she ran around the outskirts of the village looking for an empty training ground, she saw a blonde haired figure running on top of the village walls. Upon closer inspection, it seemed like the blonde was around her age. 

'Is he running around the entire village to train? He must be strong if he's working that hard. I'll just have to work ten times harder to catch up!' Sakura steeled her resolve and continued running to find somewhere to train.

Eventually, she came across a deep forest lined with a wired fence. It had an ominous vibe emitting from it, but the girl swallows her fear and walks in with an air of determination.

After a few minutes of wandering around the forest looking for a clearing to use, she started to wonder if this was a bad idea. Shaking her head and remembering her purpose, she walks deeper into the woods, heart pounding.

The night air is damp, the sound of rustling leaves and distant howls making her skin crawl. She grips the kunai tightly. She's here to train. She's here to be strong.

'I just have to push through. Just like that boy I saw.'

Suddenly, a shiver runs down her spine. Something is watching her.

"Brave kid. Or just really, really stupid?"

Sakura spins around, kunai raised. A purple haired woman wearing a beige trench coat and a set of mesh armor lounges casually on a tree branch, smirking down at her.

"You know this is the Forest of Death, right? Not exactly a playground."

Sakura steadies herself before replying. "I don't care. I want to get stronger."

The woman's smirk widens. 'This just got interesting.'

"Alright, I'll bite. Show me what you've got, kid."

Sakura doesn't move. She watches the woman— No, the shinobi, carefully; unsure of what she'll do next.

She doesn't have to wait long. In an instant, the shinobi vanishes.

Sakura barely has time to register the shift in air pressure before a kunai whistles past her cheek, slicing a thin line into her skin. She flinches but doesn't fall.

The shinobi is behind her now, crouching low, another kunai spinning in her fingers.

"Too slow. Try again." The shinobi mocks Sakura. She scowls but stays focused.

Sakura spins, slashing toward the ninja, but her blade cuts through empty air. The shinobi is gone again, moving too fast to follow. A whisper of movement to the left. Sakura dodges just in time to avoid a kick to her ribs. Adrenaline surges through her. Her body reacts before her mind catches up.

She twists, rolling away and springing back onto her feet. She's breathing hard. She's outmatched. But she refuses to run. She'll see this through to the end.

"Not bad. You're at least fast enough to not get knocked out immediately."

Sakura doesn't answer. She grips her kunai tighter. She needs a plan. 

Think. She's too fast. 'I can't hit her directly… but I can predict where she'll be.' Sakura takes a breath. Focuses. She lunges, but at the last second, she throws her kunai, aiming past the shinobi instead of at her. The kunai is sidestepped easily, only for Sakura to be right there, swinging with her fist instead.

Her punch connects, barely. Sakura's wrist is caught at the last second, stopping her full force.

"Now that's more like it." The shinobi grins widely.

She releases Sakura and steps back. Sakura stares, confused.

"Lesson one: You don't win by being stronger. You win by being smarter. Congrats, you passed. Barely."

Sakura blinks. Passed?

Her arms feel like lead, her cheek stings, and her legs tremble, but she refuses to show weakness.

"Teach me more. I want to be strong." Sakura asks, her face filled to the brim with determination.

The shinobi throws her head back and laughs. She gestures toward the deeper part of the forest.

"Then let's get started, kid. Welcome to hell. The name's Mitarashi Anko."

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