"Pardon me. Can I see how it is I'd have turned out if MY family were part of a warrior clan?"
"Hmmm. Have to do a temporary, establish parameters here, put in limiters, and it could still end up drifting due to secondary eddies in the timestream. Yeah. I can do that."
Sakura glanced at Sasuke, then cinched her courage up and looked directly at the eye in the middle of the cloud. "Let me see it."
The Haruno clan had originated in the Land Of Iron long ago, only to come away from that land of ice and snow and harsh conditions to the ninja lands.
Part of a proud warrior clan, they maintained the traditions. They were not ninja. No backdoor deals, skulking in the shadows, or hidden agendas. They were warriors, bushi. A minor samurai clan, and without a distinguished pedigree as there had been more than a few of lesser caste married into the clan, but they still had held their own for generations.
As the Hyuga clan had settled into Konohagakure, so had the Haruno clan settled - though initially into Uzushiogakure. Their service to the Uzumaki clan had been as highly regarded as the Hyuga had to Konoha, and there had been a friendly relationship between Hyuga to Haruno despite the Hyuga being much more powerful and of more prominent bloodline. That they were both clans to follow the precepts of bushido while surrounded by ninja gave them more in common than their differences.
When Uzushiogakure fell, it was the Hyuga clan who spoke for the Haruno and gathered the remnants into Konoha. It was the eldest of the Hyuga clan who acted as kaishaku to the head of the Haruno clan, who could not be dissuaded from the task when the remnants of the clan were safely within Konoha.
The remnants of the Haruno clan were not large. Three families with a total of sixteen individuals. Each practiced their trades, for there was not much call for them as warriors - though that remained their core values.
Some, such as Danzo Himura, had been against them from the start. According to him and those like him, there was no place in their world or village for a clan not willing to embrace the shadows of ninja existence. Others, such as the Sarutobi clan, the Hyuga clan, and the Inuzuka clan - all spoke positively of the Haruno clan and their interactions with it.
Sakura herself had grown up, torn between the two worlds. Her family and her traditions and her skillset were all samurai. Her skills with sword, naginata, and bow were exceptional. She had a firm grasp of the basics of her clan's special manuevers.
She did NOT have the clan's Summoning Contract with the giant eagles. That was something she would eventually gain, when her father deemed she had distinguished herself enough.
She was friends with Ino Yamanaka. That the two of them were both interested in the same boy was a regrettable conflict, but not one that needed to play out in hostility. She had, in fact, offered Ino the position of concubine to Lord Sasuke in the event she became his wife.
Ino's response had been at first incredulous and loud. Very loud. Eventually she'd seen the humor in the situation and just reconciled herself to it being some "weird samurai thing."
Ino had not, however, seen fit to extend the same offer to Sakura if SHE won her courtship.
And so here she was, on the road to Wave Country, Sakura Haruno. Genin (technically - it was easier just to handwave off the distinction of ninja/samurai/whatever) of Konohagakure. Able to use her horse-bow in long range support of her team, naginata for mid-range, and a pair of long-tanto for short-range. Of course, she was also a fair hand at taijutsu but she was primarily a weapons-user.
Still pursuing Sasuke, her young girl crush also supported by her clan as if she DID succeed there - it would further the ties to Konoha and bring the remnants of another clan within their own to strengthen it.
"Whoa," said Naruto as memories of both versions of Sakura played out in his mind. He had had a crush on one Sakura because of her brilliance and that she'd been teased. He had had a crush on the other Sakura because she'd been like himself in that people tended to treat her as an outsider.
"Hnn," indicated Sasuke, contrasting the memories he knew were of the regular Sakura with the cooler and more politely reserved Sakura. Also the more skilled for all that she generally balked at "ninja sneakiness" as her clan might term such things.
Sakura considered that. Her family was bigger, had a warrior tradition, a summoning contract (minor), and her physical skills were greater. On the other hand, she was less accomplished at things like henge, kawarimi, and bunshin - more interested in foiling techniques like those than becoming proficient in them.
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Sat, 24 Aug 2013 03:12)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.