Chapter Text
Sakura grew up at a very young age.
Her very first memories were of her parents on the run. Her days consisted of going from village to village, from forests to mountains which only led to more forest. She looks back on memories of her mother killing animals to feed them, and her father leaving for hours to a town in order to get supplies.
She remembers the biting cold of night while they slept in the shadows and the blazing suns of the summer days. Most of her earliest memories were of her family running away.
Around the age of 6 the Haruno family settled deep into the Land of Bears. They incorporated themselves into the silent greenery and carried out their daily life as sufficiently as they could. Sakura had snippets of happy memories during this short period.
There was this one time she and her mother found a small waterfall near their newly built hut-home or, the time Sakura's father found small rice plants near the southern regions of the land.
These short memories provided so very little relief when most of the others were riddled with anxious, overly-guarded parents; numerous scenarios where the termination of ninjas who were tracking them was required.
The first time she saw a dead ninja was when her father failed to realize the assassin was tailing them. Her father had left to get things from town while Sakura and her mother remained in the forest.
She remembers the ninja's shuriken missing her mother's neck by an inch as he jumped down from the trees. Him stalking towards them with a sick triumphant face and then being shielded by her mother's back.
In the end as they departed, and her mother tried but failed to cover her eyes, Sakura will never forget the man's severed head lying alone in the middle of the clearing. Eyes open and staring straight at her. However, this first experience of death didn't numb her to the events of the future.
When Sakura turned 8 everything went downhill. Her parents stayed closer to Sakura. Rarely, was she ever allowed out of their sight and was kept in close proximity at every turn.
Sakura's parents fought a lot a month prior to the incident. They argued in hushed whispers when she was close to hear and in loud yells when they stopped caring.
Two weeks before the incident they had her lay down in a blood-marked circle and drew symbols on her forehead, chest, and stomach with a herb mixture. She remembers a constricting feeling erupting inside her and then slowly settling down.
Her parents made a hatch which was tucked away from critical eyes near the back of their home. It held a tunnel. This was completed a week before.
The day before it happened her mother and father held her close all day.
The day her parents were brutally murdered still haunts her. It was this that left her numb for a long time afterwards.
On that day she had woken up as usual, ate, and sat outside with her mother. They had lunch and were prepping for dinner when her father burst through the tree line. He had been running like a madman towards Sakura and immediately scooped her into his arms. Her father had shoved her face into his neck but there were obvious cuts and scratches bleeding openly on his form.
Next, she was shoved into the small and narrow hatch. Her father had whispered, "Sakura no matter what, don't come back here. Keep crawling to the end of the tunnel and stay hidden in it until a blonde woman comes to get you. Don't worry or think about us sweetheart, just go. We love you so much Sakura. Don't you ever forget that, my little star."
He kissed her on the forehead and ushered her towards the small tunnelled opening. Just as she had looked back, shocked and scared, the hatch shut with a heavy thunk. She was swallowed by the darkness as she heard her father rustle things back onto the hatch above her.
Sakura listened to her father's footsteps leave her behind. Panic overwhelmed her which caused tears to roll down her face. Fear was a heavy rock in her stomach. She had hesitated for so long and the moment she decided to call out, she heard her mother's scream.
Then a sickening slice.
She could hear the thump of something heavy fall and the grunt-yell of her father.
Sakura's hand was tightly shut over her mouth as she sat in the tunnel's entrance staring into the pitch black.
And Sakura knew in that moment she needed to move.
To go fast and to go quietly. Quickly, before whoever they were found her too.
So like her father told her, she began to crawl through the dirty and muddy tunnel. She didn't know how long it was; the darkness provided little concept of time.
She kept going despite her bruised knees and scraped hands. It was damp and frigid underground.
Eventually, she couldn't crawl anymore. The tunnel had ended in a small circular pit. Her hands moved to feel around, above and to the sides of her. She was met with wooden panels on top of the tunnel and dirt enclosing her on all sides.
She stayed in that pit and waited. And waited. And waited.
It must have been evening by then because she remembers the light that blinded her was orange. The orange wrapped around the figure of a lady with blonde hair. This was the woman her father told her about.
She met Tsunade when she was 8 years and 7 months.