"Target located. Yellow, intercept."
"Umm… Okay, Pink! But what about Blue...?"
"He seems to be brooding in the back."
"Understood! Intercepting the target now!" Naruto lunged forward and grabbed the cat that had gotten lost. Even though this low-level mission would normally get on the boy's nerves, he enjoyed Sakura's attention so he wasn't desperate to prove himself right now. It was a lot better than the emotional mess he was in the last timeline.
Neglect was more harmful than you'd think...
"Hey, Blue, we can't become a seasoned team if you don't help." She spoke to boy standing beside her.
In response, he threw out some kunai and shuriken in Naruto's direction. Sakura was stunned as they ricocheted off each other until one of them accurately landed in front of the cat running from them. It was amazing how an increase in spacial awareness made his great mastery of throwing weapons even better than it was before.
The little feline was scared still by the kunai that landed in front of it, giving Naruto the chance to catch it the way he was advised to by restricting it from using its claws. Sakura ticked another Mission from the list on her notepad as they returned to complete their job. This was the common life of Gennin, who couldn't do any risky assignments.
This was how she played the supporting role in their team due to knowing both Sasuke and Naruto were enough to handle these Missions alone. It may seem like she was slacking. However, her true reason for being so laid back while doing missions was so they didn't find out that the person they were talking to... was only a Shadow Clone!
Since she already knew about Tazuna's dilemma of the Naruto Bridge Incident, she went there to deal with the loan sharks and Gato's schemes in stopping his village from being able to build a bridge that could improve their lives overall.
Instead of waiting for the old man to give the false information about his village, she headed there herself without her teammates so they wouldn't be heavily injured like the last time. Plus, there was nothing for them to learn from failure there.
Using the Flying Thunder God Technique- Level 3 to traverse the distance, her speed was extremely fast! It didn't even take a second for her real body to travel where her Shadow Clone had set markers.
"Hey, kid, what are you doing here?" After getting to the village that was on the brink of ruin, she was spotted by a few thugs who seemed to be monitoring the villagers and stoping them from trying to repair the bridge that needed fixing.
What the thugs saw before them was a young girl wearing black head to toe along with a familiar fox mask, the only two feature that stood out about her was the pink hair that couldn't be hid on her head and her natural green eyes that were like emeralds.
"I'm here for Gato. Tell me where he is." Her words didn't seem to be taken seriously as they started to laugh. Did the 'child' before them think just anyone could come in and out of their hideout?
"A little girl like you wants to see our Boss?
What, are you a runaway? You can become a great 'tool' of our Boss if you join us." The bald man seemed to think she was either an orphan or runaway to seek out Gato for shelter. However, he mistook how much danger he was in. There was a blade-like sharpness in Sakura's eyes as she walked towards them with pure fighting intent.
"Answer, or die." Before the man could pull out his blade and point it towards her threateningly, he heard a crunching sound from his arm. This was follow by a feeling of dread as the young girl ruthlessly stabbed his friend's heart using one finger without giving him any chances to retaliate.
His friend fell powerless after her poke...
"Choose." The pink-haired girl spoke like a malicious demon. What made the man more frightful was the fact that he couldn't feel pain from his broken arm, as if the pain receptors had been cut off carefully...! The strength this little ninja showed was beyond his comprehension. It was without hesitation that he ratted his boss out.
After acquiring his location, she quickly headed where he was while expertly avoiding any non-ninja thugs who weren't a match for her. After all, a medic wasn't someone who should spill blood carelessly. Sakura only stopped when she got to the room where Gato seemed to be telling Zabuza and Haku to hurry up in killing Tazuna.
'Looks like I don't have to look around. I'm fortunate they're all in one place.' The masked girl thought while opening the door, scaring the people inside by how she infiltrated Gato's base without altering anyone or making a single sound.
"What are you here for?" Zabuza was the first to speak as he pointed his Executioner's Blade at Sakura. Although he didn't recognise the mask, it was either the Anbu or ninja from the Mist Village.
Both options were annoying to take care of...
Haku seemed worried their employer would die before they got their payment, so he decided to protect him. People like them needed employers to survive, or else they wouldn't be able to make enough money to pay for their living expenses.
"You two are very good mercenaries despite still being fugitives, aren't you? I want to enlist your service." Her words struck a chord in both of them as they looked at her with more suspicion than they did before. Her specific tone was problematic.
The way she spoke of their identities with certainty made even more speculations of her identity to pop up along with increasing their paranoia. There was no way anyone would want to employ them after learning their identities, and the ones who would were the kind of dangerous people you'd like to avoid... such as the infamous Akatsuki group.
She was too confident to be an inexperienced assassin that could have came to assassinate Gato due to tough circumstances. Instead, her demeanour seemed to imply that her age could not be guessed by her looks. There was something about her that clued Zabuza in to a more ordinary upbringing compared to that of a ninja executioner.
"We've already taken this assignment for now. Tell whoever sent you now isn't the best time."
"That's unnecessary. After all, you two will surely die the same way as those before you who were hired by this 'famous' and rich businessman behind you. Hey, isn't it easier to get Ninjas to kill each rather than pay them uprightly?" The girl asked while looking towards Gato, who was currently hiding behind Haku. Though she could only sigh when she saw him not reacting to her at all.
She thought that saying his sins out loud would make him flustered, but she forgot that this man couldn't have become a great businessman if he didn't know how to bluff. Zabuza finally made up his mind on how to handle these circumstances as he decided to attack her to destroy any who could spread their location. His massive blade seemed light as a feather as he hacked towards her waist.
The current Sakura, being someone who had reflexes honed to their limits, was able to block the sudden attack by lifting her kunai to intercept it, but the impact of the slash slammed her out a window and into the misty forest outside. She misinterpreted the strength of Zabuza as she remembered back that his specialty was killing.
As one of the seven Ninja Swordsmen, he was obviously more physically stronger than your average Ninja considering he normally swung his big old Executioner's Blade around in the midst of battle with one hand. This initial underestimation came from the fact that Kakashi's strength seemed to fluctuate depending on his mood. It was like his heart had been subdued by years of negativity.
Even though Kakashi was a genius Ninja who became a member of the Anbu at a young age, he didn't seem to live up to his achievements until the latter half of the Fourth Great Ninja War. She thought her sensei only struggled against Zabuza because of his trickery and scheming, but forgot the man was a 'swordsman' as well. Someone who knew close-combat as good as a Taijutsu User.
She threw her broken blade to the side and looked around for Zabuza's silhouette. Noticing that the assassination specialist was using the obstructing mist to his advantage, she closed her eyes and stood in place, waiting for her opponent's arrival into her 'range', all while keeping herself in a state of relaxation so she could dodge at any time.
The wind was disrupted, and the presence of a blade appeared behind her, but her body didn't stiffen as she used the fear of being bisected boost her will to crouch down to dodge his strike. Her hand simultaneously reached out and grabbed the back of his Executioner's Blade at that same moment in order to restrict him.
The fact that he suddenly couldn't retrieve his blade after swinging the big lump of metal threw him off his focus as Sakura made use of the opportunity to throw a powerful punch to his gut.
Zabuza felt as if he had been punched by a mountain rather than a human while his body curved back, just enough for someone to suspect that she had caved in the man's stomach.
The same instant he lost all the air in his body was also the same time he felt multiple Chakra Points on his body being sealed by a familiar technique he encountered once in the past. His eyes would have widened in horror if he was able to move, as someone who wasn't from the Hyuga Clan used the Gentle Fist to seal him! No, this was different from that even though the basics were the same...
"You're from the Hidden Leaf!"
"Bingo~!" Sakura spoke while turning her head towards Haku who still seemed adamant in following Zabuza's intentions. Although he wasn't willing to put his life on the line for Gato, he would do anything to protect Zabuza. He kept their employer close and prepared to weave hand signs in order to use his strongest Jutsu!
Sakura didn't want to deal with Haku and his annoying Ice Mirrors, so she immediately initiated the 'Flying Thunder God- Level 2: Second Step'. A kunai left her hand and seemingly aimed to stop his hand signs, blasting out from her pain and cutting through air as it seemed likely he would be seriously injured if he chose not to block it.
Haku, who could still weave hand signs even if he had one hand, still continued his movements as his right arm brought up his own kunai to deflect the throwing weapon to the side. It was exactly at that moment his arm moved to deflect it that she appeared before him. M
The timing of her teleportation were impeccable as he couldn't change his course of actions in the exact moment he moved to deflect her throwing weapon, the only thing he could do was watch wide-eyed a fist drove into his chest and also made him breathless for a second. It was out of merciful intentions that she threw this dust from an angle he could see rather than teleporting into his blindspot.
She used this opportunity to similarly capture Haku with movements so finesse that you'd think she had done this a hundred times already. Her hands used her unique 'Gentle Manual Sealing Fingers' she was an expert in using as a so-called 'Medic God' from the future, who made a name for herself using her Medical Skills. Her eyes didn't need a Dōjutsu to see exactly where his Chakra Points were.
The whole reason she could identify Chakra Points without a Byakugan was due to her experiences as a legendary Medical Ninja from the future. Then all she had to was accurately seal them using a similar technique to that of the Gentle Palms.
Truthfully, this way of fighting WAS actually based on the Gentle Fist. It was only altered enough so that those from the Hyuga wouldn't be able to say that their Clan's techniques had been stolen.
There's probably no one else but her who could identify Chakra Points without the Byakugan than her though and she probably couldn't teach it to someone unless they were as experienced as a Medic like her… Which would be extremely rare.
"You… What do you want from me? Money?! I'll give you ten times more than your l employer to hire you!" Sakura didn't put Gato into her eyes as she unleashed a killing intent similar to that of Zabuza's onto him. This was the look of someone who was smart enough to see through the deception of White Zetsu in the great ninja war.
She knew better than anyone what someone like Gato would do if left alive in this timeline.
To her, this man's death was only Destiny...
'Leaving trash like him alive will only lead to problems in the future.' She lifted the kunai she got back in the middle of subduing Haku and brought it to his neck. Then, as blood stained his shirt, she picked Haku and Zabuza up before leaving.
The corpse of the man was left laying motionless...