“Don’t talk to me. Don’t even look at me.” Sakura grumbled as she hid her face within her hands.

  “But that’s a win for every member of Team 7! Congrats Sakura!” Ino giggled while giving her a poke in the ribs.

  “That was not a win. I can’t believe people heard me cheering for that idiot, never again!” Sakura looked up only briefly to exclaim before sinking back down.

  Naruto had likely just secured the most embarrassing victory in Chunin Exams history, and Sakura wanted nothing more than to move on from it and try to forget. But Ino was clearly not of the same mind.

  “How can you be so mean to your squadmate? He clearly discovered the secret Gas Release while in the Forest, you're not the only one with hidden abilities” Ino chided.

  Luckily Sakura was eventually able to divert her attention towards the next match, which was between Hinata and Neji Hyuga. Hinata was from the same graduating class as them though they were never close. While clan kids were always a little separate from the others, the Hyuga took that to the extreme as they were the most prestigious clan in all of Konoha. The girl had always felt like a princess to Sakura, and her shyness had compounded with that to make her almost completely unapproachable.

  Neji was basically a complete unknown to Sakura. He was a Hyuga as well and was on Lee’s team, but was much colder than the rest of Team 3. The look in his eyes was similar to Sasuke’s, it was one that left her sure that Neji had no one in this world he would call a friend.

  Lee and Naruto joined Sakura and Ino to watch the match, Sakura pointedly not giving Naruto a congratulations on his victory. They watched as Hinata tried over and over again to surmount seemingly impossible odds while Lee filled in the background between the two.

  While they were both of the Hyuga Clan, Hinata was from the main family while Neji was from the branch family. Neji was an unparalleled user of the Byakugan, the dojutsu of the Hyuga, but since he was of the branch family he could never be Clan Head and would always be expected to be subservient to the main family. Sakura could definitely understand the resentment that filled Neji’s words as he knocked the girl down once more, though she didn’t think Hinata had much responsibility. Unfortunately, this match appeared to be over, Neji simply had too much skill.

  Sakura was surprised then, when Hinata made eye contact with a cheering Naruto before giving a resolute nod and standing back up one last time.

  Hianta threw herself at Neji with everything she had, landing a surprising number of blows. It wasn’t enough to turn the tide though, and a moment later she coughed up blood from internal damage to her chakra network and fell back to ground, with Naruto being the first at her side.

  As Sakura watched the two interact she noticed the way Hinata’s eyes shone at Naruto, even while barely conscious and decided to remember that for later as the girl was carried out on a stetcher.

  Moments later, the next match began: a battle between Rock Lee and Gaara of the Desert, who was known to have a kill count approaching the double digits within the Forest of Death.. What followed was the most intense fight Sakura had seen thus far in her short life. Even the clash of Jounin she had seen between Kakashi and Zabuza couldn’t compare.

  The way Lee flew around the arena after removing his weights solidified in her mind that a ninja could absolutely be absurdly strong, even without ninjutsu or genjutsu. He was a living green bolt of lightning, striking faster than Sakura’s eyes could track.

  But Gaara of the Desert was every bit the monster his reputation made him out to be.

  Even after Lee batted him around the arena like he was playing a one man volleyball match, Gaara appeared unharmed and soon crushed Lee’s arm and leg with his terrifying sand. Thankfully, Guy-sensei was able to stop the demonic sand nin from killing her newest friend.

  Watching Lee stand back up on broken bones, his mind unconscious but his body demanding to continue, Sakura realized the level of respect the boy had garnered from her in the short time she had known him.

  Sure, he was weird, and his crush on her was annoying at times, and he couldn’t do many of the basic things any other ninja could. But none of that mattered in the face of the truth that Guy-sensei shouted as he pulled the half dead boy into a hug:

  “Lee, you have nothing to prove, you already are a splendid ninja!”

  The duo went off as Lee was hurried onto a stretcher and taken from the arena, leaving Gaara alone in the arena. As he clutched a bony hand around his simultaneously seething and confused face, Sakura saw him mouth a word that seemed to taste wrong upon his lips, though it was tattooed over his eye.

  “Love?”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  The next morning Sakura awoke to find two messages. The first was from Kakashi-sensei informing her that he was leaving the village with Sasuke for the month between now and the Chunin Exam finals. They were going to be training together to help Sasuke’s Sharingan and his “condition”, according to the note. She had known that they wouldn’t be able to hide the Curse Mark from him for long but with action taken this quickly Sakura wondered if they had managed to do so at all.

  Kakashi-sensei did assure her however that he left an instructor to help them train during the month, a man named Ebisu that they would both be meeting with tomorrow morning. Sakura had no idea who this Ebisu was but according to Kakashi he was a well respected Tokubetsu Jonin who spent all of his time as an instructor. Surely he would have some useful training for her, and she would need all the help she could get for the tournament.

  With that settled, she turned to the second message, it was a small scroll that she only now was realizing had the Hokage’s seal on it. Sakura had no idea what the Hokage could want with her, as the two had only spoken a handful of times.

  Regardless of how comfortably Naruto could speak to the man like he was a strange grandpa, Sakura found him incredibly intimidating. She was aware of exactly how many years he had stood as the strongest ninja in the village, and it was a feat no other Hokage in history could match.

  Her hands trembled lightly before she took a breath and stilled. She reminded herself that it was normal for the Hokage to contact a shinobi, he was her boss after all. After getting over her fears, Sakura slid open the scroll.

  Sakura Haruno, you are to report immediately to the office of the Hokage upon receiving this message.

  Signed,

  Hiruzen Sarutobi, 3rd Hokage

  Suddenly all of the nerves were back. A summons? Directly to his office, first thing in the morning? Nothing like this had ever happened to her before. Why would the Hokage summon an average genin kunoichi?

  Then it clicked. Bond Release.

  The Third had been watching the preliminaries and she remembered feeling his watchful eye on her more than usual. And it started after she summoned Athena.

  Whether he knew more about this power or simply wanted to ask about the new Kekke Genkai that had appeared in his village, Sakura wasn't sure. But, with the knowledge that she likely wasn’t in trouble for anything Sakura quickly got dressed and made her way to his office.

  The third Hokage’s office was lightly smoky but had a very homey feel to it. The old man greeted her with a warm smile that assuaged her concerns even more.

  “Hello Sakura, how are you this morning?” The Third gave her a tilt of his head as he spoke, the words carrying his typical caring tone. The one he used whenever he wasn’t discussing a mission.

  “I’m well…Lord Third.” Sakura answered, almost forgetting to add the title to her address as she bowed.

  “That is good to hear, I trust that you plan to make a strong showing in the finals, yes?” he prompted.

  “O..Of course sir, I intend to do my best to make Konoha proud” Sakura stammered out, before seeing an opportunity. “Is that why you asked me here today sir?”

  Hiruzen beamed at her before shaking his head. “I have no doubt that you will, but no, I wanted to ask you about something else. That technique you used against the young Miss Yamanaka, Kakashi tells me that you just awakened it?”

  Sakura’s mind was sent reeling at the revelation that the Hokage had apparently already had a conversation with her sensei about her, and before he had left with Sasuke. This told her that it had to have been relatively high priority information to the Hokage, which worried her.

  “Ah, uh, yes sir. It happened while I was defending my squadmates from the shionbi that Orochimaru sent after us.”

  The Hokage’s face darkened at that and he put his head down for a moment as regret crossed his face. “Yes, between Sasuke’s testimony after Kakashi discovered his Mark and Anko’s run in with him we can be quite sure that the Sound ninja here are connected to Orochimaru. I am sorry that you had to face that man. It never should have happened.”

  “Thank you Lord Third, does that mean that Dosu will be disqualified from the finals?”

  “No, at the moment keeping them in our village and under watch is the best way to try to get a lead on Orochimaru. I ask, for the time being, that you not discuss the connection between them with others, we want to try to catch them unawares.” Hiruzen worded it as a request but his tone made it clear that it was a command.

  Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

  “Yes, sir.” Sakura bowed again.

  “Good, now, back to lighter topics. Bond Release. What do you know of it?” He asked, his voice now switching to that of a wise instructor.

  “I believe it’s a Kekke Genkai sir, one that creates chakra constructs based on the bonds that I have. These bonds are with myself or others, according to what I’ve experienced so far. Each of these constructs has their own personality and techniques but, and pardon me if this sounds a bit strange sir, they are each also me.”

  “They are you?” Hiruzen inquired with a raised eyebrow though the claim didn’t seem to entirely surprise him.

  “Each of them are a different side of myself, they share my thoughts and feelings. It’s hard to explain but they just don’t feel like truly separate beings to me.”

  “Hmm..that lines up with everything else I know,” Hiruzen mused before pulling out a scroll from his desk and holding it out towards Sakura. “Within this scroll is all of the information I can release about the Narukami Clan. They were a clan that existed during the Warring States Period, and wielded the Bond Release to summon beings known as Persona to the battlefield.”

  “Persona” The word came out of her as a whisper but she felt in her core that it was correct. Athena and Leanan Sidhe were Persona. Then the rest of his words finished processing within her mind.

  “I’m from a clan?!” Sakura exclaimed, forgetting the politeness she had been keeping up at the shocking revelation.

  “Decended from one that used to exist? It is basically definite at this point. Bond Release was a Kekke Genkai tied exclusively to that clan. Though they were thought to be wiped out by Madara Uchiha nearly a century ago, some must have survived and hid among the civilian population of what would one day be our village.”

  “However, Bond Release is a strange Kekke Genkai. All in the clan carried the trait within their blood but only once per generation was someone born with the power to unlock it’s full potential. This individual, known as a Wildcard, could establish bonds with other members of the clan that would allow them to call forth their truest self, the Persona. The Wildcard, however, had the ability to summon multiple Persona. One from each of their established bonds.”

  “That means…” Sakura realized, eyes widening by the second.

  “Yes Sakura, you are a Wildcard of the Narukami clan. Though you have no clan to establish bonds with and awaken their Persona, you have already demonstrated an until now unseen ability to establish bonds with those outside of your clan.”

  “Does that mean Ino is going to awaken a Persona?” Sakura nearly shouted the question in her excitement.

  “I don’t believe so,” Hiruzen clarified. “She does not have the Kekke Genkai and therefore shouldn’t be able to use Bond Release. However, there is definitely an effect on those you establish bonds with” He said with a slightly mischievous grin.

  “What do you mean sir?”

  “The Yamanaka Clan reported a significant jump in Ino’s ability to use the Mind Transfer jutsu. I had them check last night, and apparently Miss Yamanaka found the jutsu easier to use than ever before.” He chuckled at the continually surprised expressions she was making as he spoke.

  “Then that means that forming bonds with others makes both of us stronger!” Sakura said with a resolute smile. She had been worried that this would make her friendships become one sided, with her benefitting from the bond but not them, knowing this wasn’t the case was a small weight off her shoulders that she hadn’t even realized was forming.

  “Indeed, I expect great things from you Miss Haruno. My advice to you is the same I would give any shinobi but it goes doubly for yourself. Go out, learn all you can, and establish bonds with others. Lean on the Village and let the Village lean on you, and carry forth the Will of Fire.” Hiruzen commanded, though in a happy voice.

  New expectations weighed down on Sakura as she realized what exactly this meeting truly was. The Third Hokage was declaring that he expected her to become a great ninja. That she would carry forth the legacy of a long dead clan and make the entire village stronger for it.

  These were not the expectations typically placed on a civilian born shinobi. They were the expectations placed on the clan kids that she had resented when she was growing up, and now she was being placed right into their shoes.

  The only question was, could she meet them?

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Sakura spent the entirety of her day following her meeting with the Hokage pouring over the scroll on the Narukami Clan. She didn’t learn a ton of more useful information but she did glean a few details that could be of use down the line.

  First, apparently her pink hair was directly from the clan, meaning that it was likely her Father’s side that had descended from the clan as her mother was only a brunette. She asked her father if he knew anything about the Narukami but he hadn't ever heard the name before. This did mean that if she met another shinobi with pink hair that establishing a bond with them could awaken a Persona and she resolved to try it she ever got the chance.

  Second was that, apparently, Bond Release users had access to a higher number of chakra affinities than normal. Affinities like Ice, Yin, and Yang that were typically either extraordinarily rare or locked to a Kekke Genkai were completely normal for a Bond Release user. Along with others that had never been seen elsewhere, such as Plasma.

  Third was that the Narukami clan were known for their jutsu sometimes disrupting the chakra flow of their opponents. The collected data showed that these disruptions were only a few seconds long at the maximum, and seemed to taper off in effectiveness as a battle progressed.

  Last was an ability of the Wildcard that Hiruzen hadn’t mentioned. The last known Wildcard, Yu Narukami, had killed an Uchiha in battle and apparently had turned up to his following fight against Madara Uchiha with a blade that replicated the effects of a partially awakened Sharingan. Madara killed him for it and destroyed the blade, only informing the First Hokage that it ever existed.

  This made Sakura suspect that a different sort of bond could be forged in battle, one that had different rewards than a Persona. It also made her suspect that that particular blade might have something to do with why the Narukami Clan doesn’t exist anymore. Clans have always been protective of their techniques, and it was even worse back then.

  Reading about these people that were like her, that forged bonds to become stronger, and fought alongside their Persona filled Sakura with a pride she had never known before. She wouldn’t take the name Narukami, she may be related to those people but she had no connection to the name and no understanding of their ways. But Sakura decided that she would make sure to find a way to honor the name one day. She felt they deserved to be remembered.

  She also wanted to know if there was more to find. Any knowledge the Narukami’s may have left behind would be of great use to her, and she resolved to keep it in the back of her mind.

  The next morning Sakura made her way to the hot springs where Ebisu wanted to meet with her and Naruto. The fact that it was a hot spring gave Sakura a twinge of concern but she buried it, and made her way there.

  Upon her arrival she saw Naruto bickering with a very straight laced looking man in his late 20’s. The fact that Naruto was calling the man a pervert and he didn’t seem to have an actual argument against it brought Sakura’s previous tinge of worry back. She quickly reminded herself, however, that even Kakashi-sensei, great ninja that he was, read extremely inappropriate books in public. A strange man could still have something to teach.

  Turned out that she was correct, Ebisu had them spend the day using the hot springs as a training ground for water walking, the next step in chakra control from tree walking. Naruto was having trouble getting the hang of it but, just a few hours in, Sakura was able to spend a full minute standing on the water without falling in.

  “How the hell did you do that so fast?! You’re amazing Sakura!” Naruto exclaimed as he watched her stand still on water with little effort apparent on her face.

  “It’s almost the same as tree walking was, you just have to pay more attention to how the water is flowing and make sure it doesn’t work against you.”

  “Oh...just constantly adjust my chakra flow…right, should be easy!” Naruto declared before stepping on the water and immediately falling right underneath.

  A few more hours later they decided to call it a day and Naruto asked Sakura if she wanted to go to his favorite ramen joint with him for dinner.

  “Not like a date or anything but…ya know, it’s good to eat up after training,” Naruto said, nervously scratching the back of his head.

  While the implication of a date made her immediately uncomfortable, she reminded herself that Naruto was her squadmate, had fought by her side multiple times, and Sakura had the feeling that she was capable of forging a bond with Naruto.

  But there lied another problem. What kind of Oath could she possibly make to Naruto? Sakura had read that previous Wildcards focused on different methods of creating bonds, but they seemed to each only use one. Some Wildcards made deals, some forged strong friendships, and some were like her and their bonds were born of a promise.

  “Sure, but you don’t have to clarify that it’s not a date, I know it isn’t, pointing it out just makes it weird, okay?” She tried to say good-naturely but was aware that it came out a little pointed.

  “Uh, yeah, alright. I can do that. To Ichiraku!” Naruto declared with a point to the sky as he led the way.

  Ichiraku Ramen was a nice little shop that was essentially just a kitchen with a bar attached to it. Only a small curtain separated the bar from the street but the smell that poured into her nose as she ducked behind it let her know that it was distinctly possible that Naruto may not have been over-selling the quality of this ramen shop.

  Much to her chagrin, this was immediately confirmed as the owner, a smiling older gentleman who looked at Naruto in a way that no one else in the village did, placed the most delicious bowl of ramen she had ever had in front of her.

  The flavor was unmatched. The service made Sakura feel welcomed. The prices were shockingly low.

  “Fine.” Sakura grumbled at Naruto.

  “What was that?” Naruto paused his second bowl to ask her.

  “I won’t make fun of you being obsessed with this place anymore. It’s great. Amazing even.” Sakura admitted with a sigh.

  “HA! I told you Ichiraku was the best!” Naruto stood up and pointed at her with a wide smile as he shouted his adoration for his favorite restaurant.

  “Haha, thank you young lady, come buy whenever you like. Any friend of Naruto is a friend of ours!” the owner, Teuchi, replied with a chuckle.

  “Friend?” Sakura asked with disbelief before catching herself. Why did she hate Naruto anyway? Because the village shuns him? She didn’t even know why. Because he had a crush on her? Lee did too, and Sakura admitted to herself during his fight with Gaara that he was her friend anyway.

  “Uh, yeah, thanks.” Sakura eventually said.

  They split the bill, and a few minutes later were walking home, Naruto demanded to walk Sakura home and she found she didn’t feel too strongly about it either way so she acquiesced.

  Her previous questions came back to mind as they were quietly making their way through the darkened village streets.

  “Hey, can I ask you something?” Sakura asked.

  “I mean, didn’t you just-” Naruto began.

  “Nevermind.”

  “No no, c’mon, I’m just kidding. What were you gonna ask me?” Naruto pleaded.

  “What do you want? Like out of a squadmate?” she prompted him.

  Naruto, again, nervously scratched the back of his head. “Gee, I guess I’ve never really thought about it before. Somebody strong?” He stopped for a moment, seemingly taking the question seriously. “Someone I can trust, and who trusts me too. Someone who will walk beside me as I go towards my dream,” He clasped his fist over his heart. “My dream to become Hokage!”

  Hokage. The dream that everyone made fun of him for. The village hated Naruto, how was he ever supposed to become the person they would all look to when they needed protection and guidance?

  “We’re just getting started right?” Sakura asked, a serious look entering her eyes. “You, Me, and Sasuke. We all have something that separates us from everyone else, even if I don’t know what yours is.”

  “Yeah, uh, we do.” Naruto looked away with, was it shame? Just what secrets did the boy have? “But you’re damn right we are just getting started!” he finished with fire returning to eyes.

  “Then show me, Naruto. Show me that someone like you ever becoming Hokage is possible and I’ll support you in your journey to become one. That’s a promise.” Sakura declared with a grin, as a familiar pink glow surrounded her.

  “I’ll show you Sakura, Just you wait!” Naruto then noticed the glow surrounding her. “Sakura!..Is that-”

  “Bond Release: Magician-Orobas!” Sakura shouted as the swirling pink energy transformed into purple columbine flowers that clumped together and coalesced into a bipedal form. A large, red, animalistic man was left standing over her.

  “Is that a horse?!”