Year 6

Summer, the very pinnacle of life, after spring, the renewal of life, and before autumn, the fall of it, the longest of days and the shortest of nights, the brightest of lights and the darkest of shadows.

Just another day in Konoha, a place of constant summer and all it exemplifies.

Natsuo, sitting at the ninja academy front desk, sure feels like this day could not get any longer.

Natsuo is just your average chunin of Konohagakure no Sato. He wears his forehead protector tied tightly to his forehead and his flak jacket strapped around his form with pride, never understanding why other ninja would wear their forehead protectors any other place besides the forehead where it belongs, displaying proudly to the world that HE is a part of the Konoha, greatest ninja village in the entire world.

And while he is extremely proud to be a ninja of Konoha and even more proud to be a chunin of the same, he sometimes wonders why he is the one that has to be a secretary, especially a secretary of the ninja academy.

He knows that his job is important, extremely so, in fact, if there was no one doing it then how would perspective ninja even sign up to become a ninja in the first place? Who would be there to answer questions? Most importantly, who would do all the paperwork?

However, deep in his heart he wishes that either another ninja did this job or even maybe someone who is not even a ninja at all, after all why waste a ninja in a job of being a simple secretary?

However, even deeper within his heart, he knows. Knows that he was assigned this job simply because he is, honestly, not a very good ninja. He is without doubt in the very low end of combat prowess of all chunin of Konoha and not only that, but he is unlikely to ever get much better than that.

He just wishes that today was not so boring. Normally, he would at least be doing paperwork, and isn't that scary thought, actually being bored enough to wish for paperwork of all things. But he has to stay at the front desk today because you never know if someone might just sign up for the academy today. Academy sign ups began a while ago now and have sometime before the deadline. Today hits the sweet spot between those two especially hectic and busy days, where people either cannot wait even a single day to sign up or those that eventually realize that they only have one day left to sign up. Like the eye of the storm of busyness, making it lull into boredom.

"Ano…"

Natsuo surprised at actually being snuck up on, maybe boredom really is the greatest killer of chunin, looks around for the voice's owner, but doesn't see them. Until he spots a blob of silky pink hair and a white forehead bobbing up and down in front of his desk. How did he miss that? He gets out of his seat to look over the desk at a pink everything six year old girl with deep green eyes.

"Hello, are you here to sign up for the academy?" He asks kindly while look around for her parents, but they cannot be found. She is by herself.

"Hai Ninja-san!" The little girl replies chearfully.

"Oh... And where are your parents?" He questions as he gets out the forms for her to sign.

"Ano… I heard you don't need to have your parents here to sign up… right?" She looks down at her feet.

In an instant, which Sakura does not see due to looking at her feet, Natsuo's kind smile turns into a hard serious look and then back to his kind smile.

"No, no, you don't need your parent's permission at all to sign up to the ninja academy." He assures her.

After helping her, a six year old, fill out the legally binding paperwork that does not require her parents to sign at all, he watches her back while she leaves with a hard look.

"Haruno, hum..." He muses and makes a mark on his own paperwork about what he observed. Maybe a ninja is really actually needed here after all.

-=-=-=-=- -=-=-l=l-=-= -=-=-=-=-=-​

"Mom, Dad, I WILL to become a ninja." Sakura announces to her parents for the first time in over a year of never even speaking of ninja.

Sakura's dad looks up in surprise and then in annoyance. She had not talked once about this since that time, and he had hoped she had just forgotten about it.

"Sakura… it is too –"At that moment, Sakura loudly slams a piece of paper onto the kitchen table.

It is a form that has written on it, "Sakura Haruno is accepted to the ninja academy."

At that moment, a silence goes over the entire Haruno household where not even a breath could be heard.

Sakura cute face is full of determination.

Sakura's parents' faces turn an array of different colors.

This is because her parents know, now that she has actually signed up there is absolutely nothing they can do to stop her. Their only hope now is that she fails completely on her own.

However, in the unwanted depths of their minds they both knew that that would never happen. Their little girl is too smart to fail, even completely on her own, even as a civilian born.

And that frightens them to their very core.

Not that she might fail, but that she will succeed.

She, their cute little pink girl, will one day become a ninja… A killer.

Her mom holds a dinner table chair in a death grip to keep herself from fainting and her father simply collapses on the couch holding a hand over his eyes not wanting to deal with reality.

And after a period of time, that is what he seems to decide to do.

"Sakura… Dinner is almost ready. Why don't you draw a picture while you wait? I want to see what our little artist will draw next." His voice is as weak as his smile, completely ignoring the damming piece of paper on the table.

He just decides to not deal with reality.

After seeing this, her mother seems to decide to follow her father's lead.

"Sakura, we are having fish today." She says with a faint look and a false smile.