The Cherry Blossoms Bloom Brilliantly

KONOHAGAKURE

THE ACADEMY

Despite the ongoing hum of activity in the academy classrooms, an isolated scene unfolded in one particular room. A boy with spiky blond hair sat on the floor, tightly bound with rope, near the teacher's podium. Iruka Umino the class instructor, his brow furrowed in concern, lectured the boy with a stern but patient voice.

The kid was Naruto Uzumaki, the future hero of the world, however, currently he was the farthest thing from a hero as he was a rebellious child who was known for his headache-causing antics around the village. The students regarded him as the class clown because of his behaviour as well as seemingly possessing no talent in the ninjutsu and genjutsu arts and were watching him currently disregard Iruka-sensei's scolding in amusement.

In the middle column second row sat a young female student with pink cherry blossom hair idly staring at the instructor blasting away scoldings which fell futilely on his student's ears as her fingers drummed away at her desk in impatience.

Good lord when is this gonna be over??? I will need to move quick as soon as Iruka-sensei ends class if I am gonna catch Sasuke-kun.

The little girl's green eyes listlessly stared at the routine event taking place while her mind drifted towards her crush and her daydreams of love.

*Crackle*

A faint noise came from the cherry blossom pendant on her neck which went unnoticed as it was muffled by the teacher's voice.

 It was then that she saw it. A few cherry blossom petals were swirling around her.

Are my eyes playing tricks on me? How can flower petals even get in the classroom when the windows are closed?

She rubbed her eyes and looked again. The petals instead of disappearing kept multiplying and were swirling around her even faster, this caused her to panic and even poke Kiba Inuzuka sitting next to her, who she didn't even talk to usually, to confirm what was happening.

"Kiba-Kun do you see the petals ?!"

Kiba turned towards her and looked confused.

"The hell are you talking about ?"

As he prepared to mock her for asking a stupid question he stopped as he noticed Sakura looked extremely agitated.

"Hey, you alright?"

What the hell is..........

Sakura's vision was slowly engulfed with pink as the petals' momentum surged , making her think she was losing it for sure.

Then suddenly the petals dispersed and finally disappeared.

Wha-................they disappeared?

She was shocked, she looked around to confirm whatever it was that happened had ended, and then was finally relieved. She said sorry to Kiba, who grumbled as he turned away, and wiped her palms which were full of sweat with her handkerchief.

Jeez I must be seeing things.......I should get some more sleep at home.

Down near the teacher podium, Naruto ignored Instructor Iruka's scolding and finally managed to blow his top off completely.

Iruka turned and shouted!

"Today we will have a re-test on the Transformation Jutsu! Even those who have already passed will take it!!!"

"""Whaaaat?!"""

Every student, with the exception of a few, were surprised by the unexpected blowback and groaned out a sound of disappointment as they reluctantly got up to go near the podium.

Meanwhile, Sakura who had thought her previous strange predicament was over was sitting with her head on her desk, her fingers tightly gripping the desk's edges. Her heart was beating fast, her throat tightened feeling like she could not breathe as flashes of unfamiliar scenes came in her mind.

She tried to bear it so as to not make a scene but as sweat beaded down her forehead she couldn't bear it any longer.

Abruptly she stood up.

"Sensei, can I please go to the washroom, please?"

Iruka looked over, thinking with the standard thought process of a teacher that a student was trying to avoid a test by getting out of class but seeing it was Sakura raising her hand, he decided to let her go since she had already passed in the previous tests, each time with a better result.

"Alright, you can go but come back quick, I will have it so your turn comes last so hurry up"

Sakura bolted out the classroom without a word of thanks and sprinted down the hall to the washroom. She slammed the door open, thankfully it was currently empty, went to the sink and turned on the tap. She cupped the rushing water with her hands and repeatedly splashed it on her face to no effect.

She gripped the basin tight as droplets ran down her face.

Her eyes stared back at her reflection from the basin mirror as they started trembling and her pupils dilated.

What is happening to ME!?!?!?!?!

The world dissolved into a throbbing kaleidoscope of color. Her hands flew to her head, nails scraped at her scalp as her vision pulsed with white flashes while distorted voices of strangers reverberated in her mind and most importantly her own voice too.

Words she had never heard or said boomed and echoed like the ringing of giant Buddhist bells in her ears.

Who?!?

This time for sure I must protect the people precious to me......so I thought.

I always just...watch them from behind. These two always covered my back and fought for me.

I want all of you to watch my back!

Her hands ripped out strands of pink.

I never said that!!!

This..This is my wish of a lifetime.....Please..Please bring Sasuke back

I will bring Sasuke back without fail! That's my promise of a lifetime!

What promise?!

Her ragged breaths couldn't fill her lungs.

Does the fact I am always away on missions and we're always away even though we're married make you worry?

There are moments when I want you by side..... sometimes.

A foreign feeling of loneliness stung her heart as flashes of a empty house and a hospital room tormented her mind, both of them filled with a stranded lonely figure waiting for her loved ones.

The lonely days would pass monotonously causing the lady's spirit to wither like a plant never watered, the anguish of the stranger broke her heart.

There were a few flashes of joy and love which saved her mind from shattering right then and there but they were soon overshadowed as finally flashes of battlefields unknown came to her, people blown to bits and slaughtered in bloody feuds spanning years.

She could feel her hands desperately trying to heal the wounded, having to even piece together people torn into pieces in desperation, hearing their pleas for her to save them.

Then she saw her parents, crushed beneath rubble as she left their corpses uncovered to fight their enemies.

She felt it when the enemy shinobi sliced or blew off her limbs, being caught in an explosion which almost caused her entrails to fall out and bleed out bringing her life as a kunoichi to an end as she turned into a cripple waiting for death.

She finally reached her breaking point as the phantom feeling of blood and grime assailed her senses, it was then that she felt herself being consumed.

She felt as if her soul was being overpowered as if someone was trying to overwrite her existence with another, turning her into someone else.

THAT ISN'T ME!!!!!!!!

Clamping her hands over her ears, she squeezed her eyes shut, unable to bear the tormenting sounds and visions any longer.

She shrieked as she begged.

"STOP PLEASE!!!!!"

The symptoms were getting worse and her head felt like it was gonna explode. She tried to go out and ask for help but she couldn't even stand anymore and weakly grabbed onto the nearby tiled wall for support as she grew dizzy and confused losing track of even where she was.

A primal scream ripped from her throat as she suddenly raised her arm.

*Thwack!*

Pain flared in her hand as flesh crashed into ceramic tiles!

A faint hope that the injuries will ground her existence.

She launched a flurry of punches towards the wall hoping the pain will distract her from the increasing headache and breathlessness.

The washroom tiles started shattering, the sharp edges cutting into her skin as her fingers and knuckles throbbed in pain and bled but the headache kept increasing as she felt like her mind was going to split open hence as a last resort she started bashing her head on the wall!

*Thwack-crack*

To somehow make it all go away even if it meant knocking herself unconscious.

Only a faint soft banging noise could be heard outside in the hall.

---

[Meanwhile in the Classroom]

Naruto had managed to completely piss off Iruka with his sexy justu and the final student had also completed his test, reviewing the scores Iruka remembered about Sakura as he fixed the cotton he shoved into his nose to stop the devastation caused by Naruto's Sexy Jutsu.

She has done this test a few times already so it shouldn't be like she's scared of failing it.

Iruka grew a bit concerned about his student and wanted to check what happened. He looked over to the troublemaker Naruto and was caught in pinch. He had to get Naruto to clean the Hokage monument which he apparently painted in the morning so he had to keep an eye on him otherwise he might give him the slip.

The troubled instructor cast a glance over the children who had already huddled up after the test as they bickered to each other.

His gaze settled on Ino Yamanaka, even though he always saw her and Sakura butting head but as a teacher he was clearly able to see their actual feelings and knew they were good friends deep down, so he decided to send her to check on Sakura.

"Ino, could you go and check up on Sakura for me"

Ino had been wondering where Sakura went since it had been quite a while since she was gone but wasn't expecting that Sensei would send her to check.

"...........Yes Sensei!"

She nodded her head a bit reluctantly and went out the class.

She walked down the corridor towards the washroom-which was rather disjointed from the main building- a bit annoyed with hands folded across her chest.

"Tch!"

Damn it, what the hell is that billboard brow doing and why did Sensei had to trouble me to check ? As usual she's bothering me with her antics.

Despite her thoughts, she unconsciously sped up her steps and finally reached the washroom. Only the strange faint noise of something bashing against the wall could be heard from outside.

A faint scent of iron tipped at her nose.

What the hell is she doing in there?

Ino hurriedly yanked open the door.

The damaged washroom was empty as she looked around but then she finally saw Sakura on the far side and the sight almost made her scream, Sakura was kneeling on the cold floor, her head only knocking against the bathroom wall's now cracked tiles which only lightly scratched her skin now that she had run out of strength but blood could be seen on the wall dripping down and on the floor in front of her knees from when she had started with full strength.

Ino rushed towards her.

"You idiot! What the hell are you doing ?!?!", she yelled.

Ino immediately bend down and grabbed her shoulders to stop her, she turned Sakura's torso towards her and she finally saw her face clearly. The wide forehead Ino usually mocked her for was bleeding profusely with small ceramic shards piercing the delicate skin and was covered with blood. Ino wrapped her arms around her back, finally restraining her, Sakura still struggled with the pain and headache and thrashed in her arms for a few minutes wanting to still bash her head open on the wall.

"STOP IT!! YOU IDIOT!"

Sakura finally realized someone else was here and stared blankly at her face for a few seconds as her eyes refocused, recognizing it was her former best friend Ino, tears started spilling out her eyes mixing with blood dripping down her face. She buried her face into Ino's chest and started sobbing into her chest.

"Ino it hurts!! It hurts so much!!!"

Ino started to panic as she felt Sakura's blood soak into her blouse. She forcibly calmed herself down and lifted Sakura up to take her to the hospital. She noticed as she carried her out of the washroom that Sakura had stopped struggling, having fainted in her arms and looked at the blood-covered face of her best friend concernedly.

Sakura you dummy, what happened?!.... No matter, I promise you will get well quick.

She inspected her as she carried her which made her notice the hands with the cuts and the shards lodged in them.

"Shit!"

She speedily yet carefully dragged Sakura and luckily ran into another instructor carrying test papers with another student in the hallway and got help to carry Sakura to the hospital quickly.

The instructor immediately sent the student to Iruka to inform him of Sakura's situation, the student didn't get a proper look at her since her face was hidden in Ino's arms as she was immediately whisked away and thus only told Iruka that the girl had fainted and got sent by the instructor to the hospital.

Thus no one in the class was that much concerned about the 2 students who left midway through class.