Naruto and The Holy L@nd

Chapter 1

The Holy Land

Throughout her career as a kunoichi* Sakura has seen and done many things that most people would put in the realm of fantasy, her superhuman strength being the least of it; having a jinchuriki* as a teammate kind of guarantees that and it doesn't help that Naruto himself is such a maverick in the battlefield either. These days whenever she wakes up the first thing that she asks herself is: 'I wonder which law of physics is going to broken today?'
The last thing that she expected though, despite all her experience in the impossible becoming more than plausible was to be sent to another dimension because of the Mangekyō Sharingan*.
In hindsight it seems kind of silly of her to be so surprised. After seeing the jutsu* in action she always wondered where the target went if the jutsu was successful but never thought that she was going to have the question answered by becoming the target itself. She just never thought that Sasuke would have degenerated so far as using such a dangerous and little-known jutsu on his own former teammate. It was that action in itself that told her in clear bold kanji* that he no longer considers her a comrade, never mind as his former Genin* teammate.
Even knowing that in her mind she still couldn't bring herself to take him out, despite all the crimes he'd committed in her mind she still considered him her first love and fellow teammate. She couldn't just pretend that everything they had gone through never happened and that he was just another dangerous criminal that needed to be taken down like she's done in countless other missions beforehand. Every time she looked at him the love that she still held in her heart for him made her chest constrict and made her wish that she could bury her head and pretend that none of this ever happened, that the past year was nothing more than a prolonged and horrible nightmare.
The dull throbbing at her side however told her that this was no dream, that reality is far harsher than she could ever have comprehended. The warm flow of blood and the burning sensation told her that not only did the jutsu succeed the jutsu somehow managed to send her whole and possibly dying. Her chakra reserves are still dangerously low so any medical jutsu she had learned can't be used and with how bad her wounds are its quite likely that she could die if she doesn't find a healer or a hospital to have them treated.
On that note she proceeded to get up from her prone position on the sandy floor. Already she could tell that she was nowhere near Tetsu no Kuni* nor Konohagakure no Sato* or even being in the Ninkai* anymore. Though the sand made her wonder briefly if she had somehow ended up in Sunagakure no Sato* when she saw the way the buildings were constructed she dismissed the idea as pure folly. The buildings were made of some kind of white stone that was definitely not local to the Suna* village and the clothes worn by the civilians were made in such a way that couldn't possibly be worn by a shinobi*. There was too much fabric used to the point of impracticality and some was almost see-through, especially on the few women that wandered the street who were more than obviously prostitutes trying to get a client. The language was her last clue that she was nowhere near the Ninkai. Or should she say languages? Even though she understood little to nothing that was being said she could tell just by listening that the locals spoke different languages by the different accents, the emphasis on the words being different and even the way that they spoke. She was already getting a headache just listening to the din.
She wandered around like that, looking around her with wary eyes and hoping against hope that she could somehow find someone who spoke her language and could direct her to a place where she can get her wounds treated. She drew the eyes of many of the locals, many of their eyes lingering on her pink hair, something that she's had a lot experience ignoring. Surprisingly enough, even with the rainbow-like colors that can be seen back home pink hair is still relatively rare. She noticed also that many of the local women were rather conservatively dressed, being covered from head to toe which made her thankful for the cloak that she had on. Her pink hair is attracting enough attention as it is, she doesn't need to get accosted if someone her saw how little she wore underneath. Well, back where she's from her clothes are plenty modest, but compared to the civilians here she might as well have been one of the prostitutes on the street with how much skin she's showing underneath the cloak.
The place was the most shabbily up kept village that she has ever set foot at. The floor was little more than sand compacted by walking feet for who knows how long, water and what seemed to be possibly feces is also littered on the streets, and the smell! Ugh! If she was an Inuzuka* she would have already fainted from how disgustingly strong it was. And by the way that the stray dogs were treated here she was sure that Kiba would have been appalled and would have gone feral from sheer anger. She saw a few of them being kicked away by orphans from questionable looking food that they wolfed down like they were starving, which she could tell from their emaciated bodies that they most definitely were. She's seen prisoners of war that are treated better than they are.
With that thought it made her wonder whether she'd be able to find anyone who would be kind enough to treat her without payment. Though she still had a few ryo in her pockets she could tell by observation that the currency used in this place did not in any way resemble the one she's used to. Maybe she should just look for an inn instead of looking for a healer; she has a feeling that she'd have an easier time finding one.
That was when all hell broke loose.
"Hashashin!"
Peals of bells echoed in the air as the familiar sound of metal clashing rang in her ears. Purely by reflex she brought out a kunai* on her right hand and took on her ready stance as her eyes scanned her surroundings for any immediate danger, her face hardening into a determined expression.
Unbeknownst to her the reflexive stance she took unnerved the civilians in the vicinity and only garnered her more looks from the citizenry.
Her caution however paid off as a figure in white almost ran into her with many others following right behind him who wore a white cloth with a red cross in bold red thread on their torsos who carried rather crude forms of katana* that looked like they were just a bigger form of a dagger and wasn't made to slash people into pieces like a katana would be. She could already tell that by the way that they run that they were not well trained with it, and the way that they held it told her that they were not used to its weight and didn't know how to compensate for it. The figure in white however was a different matter. He moved like a high-level Jounin, almost silent and had quite a number of weapons showing on his person; at least what wasn't concealed was numerous.
She knew she could take them all on, with the possible exception of the white one, the others are not well trained in combat situations and it showed.
The white one stopped in front of her when he saw that she had a weapon in hand, and although she was rather curious about him she had to put away the questions bubbling inside her because the other foreigners had managed to circle them both in the short time that they had been distracted with one another. She had to adjust her stance to keep the new opponents within her sight.
She's gone through too much in her life to die so easily in this foreign land. Tsunade-shishou* doesn't train weaklings after all, and her Chunin rank isn't just for show.
The opponents started to speak in one of the languages of this foreign world, and shiroi*, as she's nicknamed the white one in her head, answered them back in the same language, though his words were slightly accented. It seems that there was no love lost between the two parties, if the motions they were making with their crude weapons were any indication. The stabbing motions they were making were making her antsy and made her put her kunai away and pull on her gloves to be prepared for a battle, something that did not escape the notice of the white one.
Whatever words they exchanged meant nothing as the one who had the most elaborate armor screamed a battle cry the others ran at them with their weapons pointed at them Sakura did the only thing that she could in the situation.
"Shannaro*!"
She punched the floor and made a crater form with some of her waning chakra* in hopes that it would knock them off their feet. Thankfully the sand was compacted enough that the punch was more than enough to knock them all off their feet. Their cumbersome armor only made it that much easier to fall. She saw that a few were on their knees instead of flat on their back, and she unthinkingly threw a few shuriken and kunai aimed at their hearts that only slightly punctured their metal armor. She could tell by the looks on their faces that they were unused to seeing such a strong example of strength, which only fortified in her mind that this was not her home. Everyone in Ninkai has at least heard of Tsunade and her legendary strength and her apprentice.
The only one who wasn't aversely affected by her crater was shiroi, and only because he had managed to walk up a building onto a windowsill away from the danger was he still standing. He earned her respect for his apparent strategic intelligence.
She was in no condition to fight in a prolonged battle and so followed shiroi up the wall and passed him up to the roofs, much to his surprise, hoping that there at least there will be fewer enemies to worry about. Although there were a few archers trained to take down anyone running through the roofs their bow and arrows were far too slow to hit their target, mainly one pink haired girl named Sakura. She heard the almost silent footfalls that signaled that shiroi was following right behind her though she could hear labored breaths escaping his lips as he tried to keep up.
Her chakra exhaustion was making itself well known as her pace slowed marginally, making her lag behind shiroi but she munched on a soldier pill to keep up her waning strength. She followed right behind him, seeing as she was now being chased by the guards that was after him and had no other choice in this foreign land.
He came to a stop on a rooftop with grates covered over a garden of some kind.
Unfortunately this was the time when all of her strength left and she fell unconscious. Just before everything went dark she heard a voice calling urgently in the foreign language and felt arms surround her, the warmth comforting and made her feel safe, despite of everything.
She hoped with all of her heart that whoever shiroi is he would find someone who can take care of her wounds, or at least someone who can stitch up the worst ones. She won't be able to heal herself if she dies after all.

Chapter 2

Learning a new language

Author's note: Hey all! I'm back and updating! Here's the next chapter. For the sake of ease I've made it so that we're in Altair's POV for at least a part of this chapter and I'm having Sakura speak in Japanese and Altair and Malik speaking in English. Now I know that they're probably Arabian speakers but I know little to nothing of Arabian so I'm going to spare you (and me) the inconvenience of trying to figure out Arabian just to read an English fanfic and I'll have Sakura speaking in Japanese using romanji instead. Once again, there will be a Japanese glossary at the end of the chapter so anyone who doesn't understand can go there to figure it out.
This'll be my first time writing in Altair's POV, and please do leave a comment about it. If you think its good I may just keep using it, but if I fell short do say so and leave a constructive criticism about ways that I can improve.
Oh, and Inner Sakura finally makes an appearance! To make it easier to tell I'll have her words in italic and bold so that you readers will be able to tell when she's just thinking and when Inner Sakura is talking to Sakura. She keeps the Shannaro though.

:*:-:*:-:*:

Altair's POV
Altair has seen many things in his time, but a little slip of a girl who's more than capable of breaking bones and stones with little but her bare hands are something that he never would have thought he'd ever see. As he tries to explain the situation to Malik he could already tell that he does not believe a word out of his mouth. Not hat he could blame him, not for something this unlikely, but it made things no less frustrating.
"If you will not believe me, then go out there and see for yourself the damage she has made. A man made crater is rather hard to fix, so it should be more than enough proof of my words."
"A child like her capable of such brute strength?" Malik waved his hand at the form that was currently resting on the bed just behind him. "Forgive me for being skeptic Altair but that has to be one of the more unbelievable things you've ever said."
"Nevertheless it is what I have seen with my own eyes Malik. You know of the Creed, 'Nothing is true…'"
"…Everything is permitted. Don't presume to lecture me about the Creed, novice, for you are the last who has the right to do so."
Altair flinched at the reminder of his not-so-long-ago mistake that had cost them so much and the venom in his voice. No matter how many times he tried to apologize it was never accepted and he was never forgiven.
They both froze when they heard a languishing groan from the bed and saw that the pink girl was rousing from her sleep. Malik, who was about to offer his hand to help her, stopped in his tracks when her eyes opened and was trained on his with sharpness that Altair's not seen from someone who wasn't an Assassin. She looked like she was assessing them, whether they would be a threat and if she would have been able to take care of them. Altair was torn between glaring right back at her and his instinctual reflex of wanting to protect Malik. Despite how they bicker with one another they are still brothers, of the Brotherhood if not by blood, and Altair does not want another to die because of his mistakes.
It seems however that he did not have to do either. The girl closed her eyes and became docile enough that she would allow Malik to help her to a seated pose.
Neither of the Assassins was fooled however. They knew that if it were not for the grievous wounds on her she wouldn't have accepted their help.
They both jumped however when they heard her speak.
"Koko wa doko?*"
They gave each other looks that showed that neither understood a word that she had just said. Because they both looked away they didn't see the growing expression of fear and exasperation on her face.
Suddenly she punched the wall in frustration, and the growl that came out of her mouth was nothing short of animalistic. Malik's eyes were caught at the crater made by her fist on solid stone. Altair couldn't help but have a smug expression on his face.
"Kore wa hidoidesu.*"
She put her face in her hands and hunched over in a clear pose of defeated exhaustion. Neither Malik nor Altair moved, because neither of them have had any experience in comforting a sad woman, and both were awkward when it came to crying women, which is what she looked like at the moment.

:*:-:*:-:*:

Sakura's POV
This is horrible. I was hoping that at least one person here at least understood me, but it seems that of all the languages spoken, Nippon was not one of them.
'Shannaro!'
'What…Wait? You!'
'Yeah, me.' If I could put a voice on my other half I could have sworn that that sentence was positively dripping in sarcasm.
'What happened to you? I haven't heard from you in so long.'
'You didn't need me anymore. You act out everything that you used to repress through me now.'
'Oh yeah…'
'Tonikaku*… let's get back on track here. You're Tsunade's apprentice aren't you? Use your brilliant mind to find a way to adapt and thrive.'
'How?'
'Simple. Learn their language. It can't be any harder than the training that Tsunade-shishou has put you through, right?'
'Yeah…That's right! Thanks!'
'Anytime.'
It's been awhile since I've heard from my other half. It's kind of reminiscent; I haven't really talked to her in any length since before Naruto left for his two year apprenticeship with Jiraiya-sama. She reminds me of myself when I use to be weak and a totally Sasuke fangirl…
Sasuke….
No, I refuse to think about him. Getting myself into a depressed mood will not help me in this situation.
I'll focus on what I need to do now. If I want to learn the language spoken here I need to find out exactly what language it is. Let's see if we can find a scroll around here…

:*:-:*:-:*:

Semi-Omniscient Third Person POV
Sakura stood; with all of the men's eyes trained on her she looked around in the new place that she's found herself in she could see many cabinets that seemed to have some kind documents stuffed inside. She walked towards one of them and pulled out one to see for herself what exactly it is that she now has made herself learn.
The writing that the document was covered in wasn't one that she was familiar with. It was cursive, and flowed in a way that Kanji, Katakana or even Hiragana could not. She could tell that it was written using a type of brush, but that was all that she could tell. It was so alien that she was a bit intimidated by the idea of having to learn it all.
'Don't you dare let that stop you. You've taken down an army of puppets and a giant centipede and you're scared of learning another language? I'll never let you live this down.'
And with those very inspiring words it left her with a smug grin on her face as Sakura's face only hardened and she glared at the words on the paper like she could threaten to make them legible using an nonexistent doujutsu* with a kekkai genkai* that she does not have.
Malik chuckled as he watched the young one give the scroll in her hands the evil eye. When she looked up and gave him the evil eye it did nothing but made him chuckle louder. Still laughing he told her, "The scroll won't burst in flames with the evil eye, young one."
When she heard him speak in his language her expression only darkened because it reminded her that she didn't understand a word that he or anyone else in this blasted sand filled backwater village says. She tried to calm herself by breathing deeply before she made her way to the laughing one and asked him while pointing to the scroll hoping that her body language will get her message across.
"Kore wa iu koto oshiete moraemasu?*"
Malik noticed that she pointed at the writing with her finger and correctly assumed that she wanted to learn what was said on the scroll. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to translate it for her though, mainly because he doesn't know what language she's speaking in and because the information in the scroll is sensitive and not one that he can tell to an outsider.
"Do you want to learn a new language?"
Sakura tilted her head to the side, reminding both Malik and Altair of a curious cat. They both knew that she didn't understand what he had just said.
"Anata wa watashi ni sore to oshiete ka?*"
She pointed at the scroll, specifically the writing on the scroll, trying harder to get her message across. Malik put his good hand over her shoulder as he led her to another room, saying:
"If you want to learn a new language you need to do it in a place with little to no distractions." Here he gave a meaningful gaze at Altair. "Come with me to the back room and I'll attempt to teach you all that I know."
As Malik lead the pink haired child to the back room and still chatting to her Altair could only shake his head in wonder. Somehow his brother had managed to calm down a very angry and quite possibly dangerous stranger and had gotten a student in the bargain.
Malik is a very lucky man.

:*:-:*:-:*:

Japanese Terms – Glossary
'Koko wa doko?': 'Where am I?'
'Kore wa hidoidesu.': 'This is terrible.'
'Tonikaku…': 'Anyway…'
doujutsu: 'Eye technique'; in the Naruto-verse certain ninja clans pass down genes that give them their iconic eyes that can allow them to perceive chakra in one form or another and gives other various abilities
kekkai genkai: can be translated in one of two ways, 'a technique limited to inheritance in blood' or 'Bloodline Limit', allowing certain ninja who come from specific clans to use specific jutsu that can only used by those born with the ability and would be nigh on impossible for other ninja to perform
'Kore wa iu koto oshiete moraemasu?': 'Can you tell me what this says?'
'Anata wa watashi ni sore to oshiete ka?': 'Will you teach it to me?'

Chapter 3

Al Mualim's request

:*:-:*:-:*:

Sakura POV
The language lessons were going quite well, if Sakura could say so herself. Their language was surprisingly similar to hers; the direction they read in was still from right to left but for some odd reason they had no characters for vowels and there are more ways to write in their language than there is in Nippon. Their characters flow in such a way that looking at the writing in their books could almost be looking at a painting, and in fact Malik had shown her a scroll where they used their writing to make a picture of a person's face!
However she cannot say the same for her chakra training. As of yet she still had an abnormally small chakra reserve, only enough to be able to walk on walls and to do minor genjutsu however she doesn't have enough to do her more specialized and complicated ninjutsu and that is the main reason for her ire. Her wounds have been healing yes, thanks to Malik and shiroi however it has been taking far too long and without a good amount of chakra in her reserves she cannot use her shosen jutsu* to speed up the process. It has been the source of much frustration for her, and though she's tried to stem her infamous temper by training, Malik only had a small number of training dummies that she could use, and she's already punched more than half of them to oblivion, among other things...
Now that she cannot train her taijutsu* she's been helping Malik in his clerk work, putting away various scrolls in their appointed shelves and seeing to any visitors that need a place to rest for the night or who need to have their wounds bandaged. The anger and frustration has been boiling inside her and suppressed in such a way that she hasn't done for two years, and she's now seeing Inner Sakura take form sometimes and scream out obscenities in her first language and she's getting really bad headaches sometimes.
She doesn't know what to do…

:*:-:*:-:*:

Modified Third Person POV
Surprisingly enough it was only when she overheard her two saviors arguing that she's finally found a way to go to a place where she can freely train and hopefully may have some clue about the curious condition of her chakra reserves.
It had happened one day when shiroi was visiting the Bureau and was speaking to Malik about someone wanting to meet her in their headquarters.
"Malik, Al Mualim wishes to meet her."
"What?"
"You heard me, or have you turned deaf brother?"
"Yes, I heard you quite clearly. I just think that she's not ready. She still has a strong accent, and her grammar is so overly formal that I'm afraid people will have a hard time understanding her when she speaks. Ow!"
This is when she took part in the conversation by punching Malik's right arm. They both turned to her at that interruption.
"I here you. I speak good."
"You mean, 'I heard you. I speak good Arabic.'"
"I never would have pegged you as the teaching type Malik."
"She's a quick study; it's a joy to teach her."
"Who is…Aru-Muarimu?"
Both of them turned to give her a look of incomprehension at her apparent mangled pronunciation of the name that shiroi had mentioned. Malik turned to shiroi and began their argument again.
"Do you see what I mean? How do you expect anyone to understand her when she still speaks like a foreigner?"
"I'm sure that Al Mualim has his ways."
"Are you sure you should do this? She's still not fully healed and she might irritate her wounds if you force her to travel."
They both turned to her when they heard a very un-ladylike snort coming from her direction and noted that she crossed her arms over her chest and had an insulted look on her face.
"This flesh wound not slow me, I can go."
Altair turned to Malik and took those words as a confirmation that she's fit to travel. "You heard the woman Malik. She says herself that she'll be fine."
Malik turned to her, hoping that he'd be able to change her mind about this fool's journey. "Are you sure that you should go? He," he jerked a thumb at Altair at this part, "Will not slow down just because you are injured. He will push you hard to make haste, and will only rest when the sun sets. It's also quite likely that bandits will try to ambush you two as you sleep, this is a very dangerous journey to make in your state."
The answer that she gave him was another un-ladylike snort preceding her words. "I travel worst state than this, give me fresh bandage and I go."
"Is there anyway that I can convince you to stay?"
"No."
A defeated sigh escaped Malik as he turned to his medicinal chest to dig out the fresh bandages that she asked for. "Fine, you can go. But at least pack some water with you before you go."
She gave a bright smile at his acquiesce and was so happy that she unconsciously switched to Nippon as she bowed and thanked him. "Arigatou gozaimasu.*"
Altair was amused to see that this was the first time he'd ever seen anyone bow to Malik in what he guessed to be gratitude. She bowed quite low, her head almost touching her thighs and her hands held together in a fist in front of her that he almost couldn't see her behind the counter except for a part of her back.
Malik just waved away her thanks as he spoke, "Don't thank me yet, not until you make it safely to Masyaf."
Her bright smile did not dim in the slightest at his words, if anything; she seemed amused as well as grateful now. It made Altair wonder just how close the two have gotten over the months since they've first met. The next sentence answered his question in full.
"Is your time of bleeding going to be anytime soon Sakura?"
"Wait, you already know her name Malik? And how would you know about her womanly bleeding?"
"Of course I know her name novice, I couldn't keep calling her wench after the one time she almost broke my spine. And you don't want to know about the second one, trust me."
He chuckled at remembrance of the situation and at the pink blush that it brought on her cheeks. It was some months ago, when neither of them knew her name and she had only learned the basics of Arabic, not enough to speak in full sentences. Malik called to her and said the word wench in the sentence somewhere. Unfortunately for him Sakura did understand that word well enough and almost brought down the bureau on their heads in her anger. Malik learned a hard lesson about respect that day, and Al Mualim had to send some novices to help him fix the bureau as well as some bags of shekel to pay for the damages, that's how bad it was. Many of the novices that came whispered about the exotic woman who reportedly broke the bureau with a single punch for months in Masyaf, which only piqued Al Mualim's curiosity. It was part of the reason that he was sent here now to bring her to the fortress at Masyaf.
He noted that she went to the back room and came back with a few bags that she strapped onto her right leg and a pouch of some kind that she strapped behind her. She did not cover her hair of face and put on the same pink, red, and black ensemble they had found her in.
"I don't believe you should wear your clothes Sakura."
She looked up at that and gave him a fierce glare, though why he did not know. The sound of Malik's laughter made him look back to the counter.
"You shouldn't call her by her given name novice. Where she comes from that is the height of impoliteness, unless she herself has given you permission to address her as such or if you are a close friend of hers."
"Well then what can I call her?"
"Her last name is Haruno she'll let you call her that."
"Fine then, Haruno, I don't think you should wear those clothes. You'll stand out like a sore thumb."
"What I can wear then?"
Malik threw something at her, which she caught with ease despite not even glancing at his direction. She held it up in the light and gave it a curious look.
"Wear that and you'll be able to blend in. The hijab you have to wrap around your head."
"Hijabu? What?"
"A hijab is a head covering that most modest Arabic women wear whenever they have to go outside."
"I wear this as camouflage?"
"Yes."
"Alright."
Much to Altair's surprise she started to take of her shirt right in front of them with no thought about propriety or even modesty. Malik though seemed used to it as he hurriedly pulled down her shirt before she got it higher than her stomach with his only hand without even blinking, blushing, or having any expression of surprise flash through his face as he reprimanded her. It seems to be a common occurrence.
"Sakura! You should change your clothes at the back room when there's company! I don't know what people think about public nudity back where you come from, but here if a woman so much as shows her ankles she'll be given 30 lashes. Do you want that?"
He noticed that she had a sheepish look on her face as she took the clothes and went to the back room, saying sorry and constantly bowing her head as she went. Malik only gave a long suffering sigh and shook his head in dismay at her in return.
"Excuse her for that, she's still not used to the cultural difference between Isreal and wherever it is she comes from."
"You do not know?"
"The one time I asked she said something about a village hiding in the leaves…" It was obvious in his voice that he was as puzzled by his own words as Altair was.
"What?"
"I didn't understand her either, and she was having a hard time explaining it to me. I dropped the subject."
"I cannot just 'drop the subject' when Al Mualim asks, you know that brother."
"I do. However I believe that he may be able to be of more help than I, especially with what he has in his possession."
Before they could converse further Sakura came out of the back room wearing the hijab though he noticed a small bulge on her leg where the pouches must have been. Although she wore the black dress that most Muslim women wore her green eyes were far too exotic not to be noticed.
"Malik – "
"Yes, I see it novice. I'll see if I have the burqa in the back room."
"What?"
Altair wasn't sure how to explain what a burqa is to a foreigner so he kept his silence. He noted that she seemed angry at his seemingly rude ignorance. He wondered idly whether she would hit him for it before Malik came out of the back room with the blue burqa in his hands.
"You'll need to wear this Sakura, if you don't want people to see your too foreign eyes."
"My eyes are foreign?"
"Few Israelites have eyes as green as grass Sakura."
"Oh."
With that she passively lets Malik pull the burqa over her head with a thoughtful look on her face as she contemplated the genetics of the natives in the land. She did notice that many of them had darker coloring with little to no variation thereof, and it makes her wonder how people here would react if they ever met a Hyuga.
"Are you ready to leave?"
"Yes I am, bye-bye Mariku-san."
With that Sakura followed Altair out of the Bureau with an absent-minded goodbye. Malik could do nothing but sigh at the sight and hope the best for her.

:*:-:*:-:*:

Sakura followed after Altair passively, still in a pensive mood and thinking about the differences between this new world and her home, other than the quite obvious ones like the temperature and weather, such as the culture and the religion, or should she say the religions? She's noticed more than one type of temple erected in the city, and saw that some of them had marble statues that she believes is what they pray to, while others she saw had nothing but a cross inside and how could she dismiss the people in the crossroads that tout and preach about some savior named Christus who had apparently gotten crucified to cleanse the sins of mankind?
She was so deep in her thoughts that the only thing that took her out of her musings was a poor wastrel bumping into her and her reflexive grip on his thieving arm. She turned to the poor scared child in her arms as she whispered conspiratorially.
"That bag carries weapons that could kill, child. You don't want to steal that."
She was pleased to see his face pale at her words. It meant that she managed to make herself understood well enough for him to fear her. She tightened her grip slightly, making his wrist crack and made him cry out in pain as he let go of her pouch. She caught it before it landed in the dirty street and discreetly put it back where it belonged as she turned back to shiroi who had a slight smirk on his face.
"What kind of weapons does that bag carry Haruno?"
"Needles coat in poison, Exploding Tags and enough sharp and pointy weapons to make you pincushion shiroi-kun."
He noted the smug tone in her voice but kept quiet as they passed the guards at the gate, knowing that it wouldn't be a good idea bickering in front of the guards and bringing attention on them.
When they were finally far enough from the gates Altair leapt onto his horse before putting his hand down to Sakura to assist her onto the saddle. Much to his surprise when she took off her burqa she only shook her head at him.
"If you don't get on the horse Haruno it could take us a full month to get to Masyaf."
"Don't worry, I run."
"No one can run as fast as a horse."
Her only answer was a challenging smirk before she turned around and left him in the dust. Altair could only stare as she somehow managed to run faster than his mount before he whipped his horse to chase after her with an answering smirk of his own spreading on his face.

:*:-:*:-:*:

Despite the burning sun Sakura felt cool and relaxed as she ran right beside shiroi's mount with the wind whipping in her hair in an all-too familiar and very much missed way. Altair couldn't help but be impressed by her endurance as well as her speed. He had never known, no, he didn't even believe that it would be possible for a human to run as fast as a horse, and yet here right in front of his eyes is living proof that he was completely wrong in his belief. As well as being superhumanly strong she had the endurance as well as the speed of a horse. With all of these gifts it made Altair wonder what else Haruno has hidden in her sleeves.
"Oi, shiroi-kun!"
"What does that mean?"
"What?"
"Shi-ro-i. What does it mean?"
"It means 'white'."
"You're calling me white?" Altair felt vaguely insulted. If she's going to call anyone white it should be one of those Templars, they're as pale as white marble, not him.
"It fits. You bright like white linen."
"It's just my robes that are white."
"Which cover most of you, which make you are shiroi."
"Other brothers in the Order also wear the white robes that you used to give me the name."
"Then I call you Kaname."
"What does that mean?"
"It mean 'gold eye'."
"That actually makes more sense. Can't you just call me that now?"
"No."
She only laughed as she answered, and gathered more chakra to her feet as she outran his horse while cheekily winking as she waved him goodbye. Altair couldn't help but urge his own mount faster as he answered the challenge.

:*:-:*:-:*:

"We should stop."
Sakura stopped running at his words, surprised partially because he spoke after being silent for so long and partially because of what Malik had said earlier, warning her about the supposed 'harsh pace' he would push to get to this place until she looked up to the sky and noticed that the sun was setting. She walked over to where he was setting up camp and noticed that the horse was tired and was eagerly drinking from the oasis. She said nothing in return as she pulled out a scroll containing her sleeping bag and unrolled it as well as breaking the seal to take out the bag much to Altair's surprise.
"You had that inside a scroll?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Seals."
"What?"
"I seal sleeping bag inside scroll, break seal when I want it, and seal it back after."
"How do you seal something inside a scroll of all things?"
"I could tell you, but then you must die."
Altair could see by the look on her face that she was being completely serious about the threat so he wisely dropped the subject. An awkward silence filled the air, one that Sakura couldn't care less about as she pulled the bag over her while she turned her back away from the fire as she tried to sleep and one that Altair ignored in favor of staring into the fire he had made thinking about his new ward.

:*:-:*:-:*:

Sakura's eyes opened, her ears picking up on footsteps trying to be quiet and metal clashing on someone's robes. She can already tell that it is not shiroi, because he moves almost as silent as a Jounin, and there is more than one pair of feet making noise. She could also hear whinnies of more horses that were not ridden by shiroi and so she came to the obvious and logical conclusion that she is about to be ambushed by a group of bandits. She readied her hand signs for a kawarimi no jutsu* concealing it as sleepy wiggles with a few well placed yawns and mumbles in the sleeping bag. She could almost see the sheen of a metallic blade in her peripheral vision as she moved her fingers for the last sign.
SHINK!
POOF!
THUNK!
Much to the surprise of the murdering bandit instead of spurting blood all he ended up with was a blade stuck on a burnt log and splinters flying in the air before he breathed his last.
Sakura wiped the blood off her kunai on the fabric of the borrowed clothes as she took up her ready stance, scanning the immediate environment for potential threats, escape routes, and any obstacles that can be turned into a makeshift weapon in case she uses up her kunai and shuriken. She gathered that there were 5 bandits, one of which she had already killed, 3 that were currently in the middle of taking down shiroi and one more who seemed to be eyeing Sakura and her weapon with slight fear and confusion, that there were trees that she could use to bat away the bandits or possible kill them with and that none of the bandits had gotten to the horses. With a deft flick of her wrist she threw 3 kunai at the bandit her way, aiming for his brain, heart and lungs, hitting 2 out of 3 and killing him instantly and ran to shiroi's side.

:*:-:*:-:*:

"You were awake?"
"Yes."
And with those inspiring words exchanged they fought, swords and kunai against the last three of the bandits, and much to Altair's surprise Sakura uprooted a palm tree with her bare hands and used them like an oversized club, crushing the remaining outlaws underneath its trunk and decisively ending the battle before it could escalate any further.
She even had the temerity to slap her hands clean with the biggest smirk that he's ever seen on a woman face, quite obviously proud of herself. He couldn't bring himself to say anything about it, for if it was him he would have been just as proud, if not downright arrogant about it, like Malik always points out.
He could only shake his head as he went back to the campsite to try to salvage what was left of his belongings that the bandits hadn't so callously broken and stepped over. Sakura followed right behind him and watched as he gathered the remains of what had been their dinner and some blades that seem to have been thrown from his hands because they certainly weren't kunai or shuriken from her pouches. She even helped him by picking up the weaponry that she had thrown at the bandits herself and cleaning up the ashes of the campfire.
"We going?"
"Yes. We've been compromised; I'm not staying to find out whether or not those bandits worked in a larger mob that may come for their comrades."
"Alright."
After Sakura sealed the sleeping bag inside the scroll again with Altair watching with open fascination in his eyes before she nodded at him, which he took as the assent to leave that it was.
The only thing they left behind was the uprooted tree, the corpses of the poor bandits and the sand beneath their feet.

Chapter 4

Masyaf

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Author's Note: Hey everyone! Krjs here! I'm back and (finally) updating Cherry Blossom! Whoo! [throws confetti to audience] I hope you all enjoy and thanks to my awesome Beta Reader for looking over the rough draft [you know who you are you awesome person you!] In this chapter I have used the tried and true deus ex machina Apple of Eden so that I finally don't need to write Sakura's lines with really horrible grammar and annoyingly grating accent. Thanks to everyone who voted on the poll about what Sakura should do in Masyaf for your contribution to the storyline!
Where Abbas goes flying and Sakura sees a Piece of Eden for the first time.

---

Omniscient Third Person POV
The desert was surprisingly cool in the light of dawn, which Sakura was quite thankful for. It gave her clothes some time to dry off in the biting wind. Despite the fact that they had taken the two horses that the bandits had taken with them she still would not get on the horse, because she was honestly sick and tired of sitting on her ass doing nothing from her time in the Jerusalem Bureau. Not that she was bored there or anything, Malik was a good teacher and company and the place was always busy making sure that she had no time to be bored. No, it's just that she's really hating how she's had little opportunity to train as of late, and it's been far too long since she's been sent outside even if she's not expected to fight she's just happy to be able to finally stretch out her legs for once.
They didn't go on for too long, after an hour or so of running (in Sakura's part) and riding (for Altair that is) they came across a mountain with a small village at the base and an impressive fortress at the peak, made of the same white stone that she had seen used on the buildings in Jerusalem. She could already hear from her distance that the village was a busy one and quite well populated. The familiar sounds of hawkers, merchants and women going out on their daily grocery shopping was a pleasant surprise, and made her chuckle about how women are quite similar to one another wherever they may be from.
Sakura noticed Altair giving her a look and even though it was obvious by the look on his face that he dearly wanted to ask exactly what it was that she found so humorous the gates of Masyaf loomed over their sight and so he had to keep it to himself for the time being as he rode up to the guard with the two horses' reins in his hand and Sakura jogging by his side.
"Safety and peace brother."
"And to you as well Altair, who is this beauty and why didn't you allow her to ride on one of your horses?"
"I had extended my hand, although she said that she could run."
"She ran all the way here from Jerusalem? That's impossible, even for you Altair, never mind a weak little wench~!"
Before Altair could even warn him the next thing they both knew he was flying in the air with nothing but Sakura's fist as a propeller, landing in the courtyard hundreds of yards away and scaring the novices practicing there.
"WHAT did he just call me? I'll make him regret ever opening his mouth! SHANNARO!"

~…*…~

Altair's POV
There are a lot of things that Altair has seen throughout his life, many of which he wouldn't have believed were possible, but this is the first time he's seen a pink haired woman with monstrous strength punch Abbas to the sky. If it wasn't for the fact that Sakura still had an intimidating look on her face he'd be laughing quite loudly at the absurdity of the situation. As it is he kept his mouth wisely shut in fear of being the next target. He noted with a bit of apprehension and no small amount of awe that when she stomped her way to Abbas she left craters in the shape of her footsteps on the ground and made the ground quake with each step.
Once she stood in front of him she took him by his collar and single handedly lifted him in the air with little to no exertion on her part, her facial expression angry and vindictive. Abbas looked like he was scared, or might even pass out from asphyxiation if his weakening grip on Sakura's hands and the pale complexion were any indicators of his overall health. The novices behind him did not look like they fared any better, one of them actually ran away screaming in fear.
"Who you call weak? Huh?"
Much to his surprise Sakura's voice had changed into a very deep and harsh tone, which only served to make her seem even more intimidating despite the fact that she had just made a grammatical error. Altair noted that one of the novices ran to the fortress with a determined look on his face, surprisingly enough, as Altair tried to get closer to attempt to dissipate the tension.
"Haruno. Put him down."
"He insult me. He deserve hurt for it."
"He is a comrade Haruno; you may well need his skills sometime in the future. I shall repeat myself one last time. Put. Him. Down."
She turned her head to give him a withering glare and disturbingly bestial growl before she finally loosened her grip on Abbas enough for him to drop gracelessly to the ground coughing and wheezing trying to get precious air in his lungs. She didn't even bother to look back at Abbas as she turned sharply on her heel to enter the fortress area and he followed right behind her, knowing that Abbas would not wish to be indebted to him for whatever reason, including and especially this one.

…~*~…

"Ah! Altair welcome back. I believe this is the lady that's piqued the curiosity of many of the novices that had gone to Jerusalem?"
"Yes Al Mualim."
"Tell me child what is your name?"
"My name is Haruno Sakura, nice meeting you Aru-Muarimu-san."
Even though Sakura had bowed low to Al Mualim in the proper way Altair couldn't help but flinch at her mangled pronunciation of the grandmaster's name, although Al Mualim himself did nothing but shake his head.
"I had thought that Malik had taught her how to speak Arabic?"
"He had, and although she's apparently a 'joy to teach' she's still overly formal and has a bit of an accent still."
"Hn…I see."
Altair could see that Sakura's face was surprised when the old man behind the desk started rummaging in the many compartments looking for something. It seems that she had expected this reaction. When Al Mualim brought out the Apple Sakura visibly tensed, and even Al Mualim noted that she reached for her weapons pouch and her expression had hardened and sharpened as he tried to placate her nervousness with soothing words and tone.
"Peace child, this is an instrument that would help you learn our tongue."
Sakura didn't looked like she believed him one bit, if the fact that she had pulled out one of her four-sided daggers were any indication of her trust. Her following words only served to cement that impression as she all but growled out.
"That…instrument has the same amount of chakra a biju would have*, I not berieve that it not harm me."
Al Mualim and Altair shared a look, one that said that Altair had a lot to answer for, but Al Mualim kept trying to calm Sakura nonetheless.
"It's alright child, I promise I will not use it for anything other than to help you learn Arabic. If you like you can even touch it yourself?"
Sakura gave him a look that clearly communicated exactly what she thought of that idea and her opinion of his mental state, one that said 'That's a stupid idea!' and 'Are you crazy?' However when Altair gave her a warning glance she reluctantly relaxed her stance slightly, though it was obvious by the way that she held her dagger that she still didn't believe Al Mualim. Altair could only sigh in exasperation at Sakura's antics. Al Mualim is the Grandmaster of the Brotherhood, does that not say anything about his integrity and honor? At least enough for her trust him?
Al Mualim motioned to Sakura to touch the Apple, which she did, but only after a not-so-gentle shove from Altair, and even then she would only touch it with her index finger with great and obvious reluctance on her part. A bright white light lit up the room when the Apple activated, making Sakura cover her eyes with her hands. Though the flash of light was only for an instant it was the longest moment that Sakura had ever experienced.
"Argh!"
"Calm down Haruno."
Both Altair and Al Mualim heard her low grumblings as clear as day, which they noted was much more fluent than it used to be.
"I'll calm down once I get my eyesight back, you irritating son of a…"
"Excuse me?"
The guilty look that flashed through Sakura's eyes was quick and barely discernable but was most certainly there before she straightened herself and bowed.
"I apologize; it's just that I was caught unprepared for the…side-effects of your instrument Al Mualim-san."
"There's no need to apologize, my dear, but would you be as kind as to allow us a glimpse of your skill?"
"Certainly. What do you wish to see?"
"I have heard many things about your strength. If you would fight one of our brothers in a spar in front of the whole Brotherhood we would be most grateful."
"Not a problem, but can I ask for one thing?"
"And what would that be?"
"If I have to fight someone, I want it to be someone of my choosing."
"Depending on whom you choose I may just grant your request."
"In that case, would you allow me to fight against him?"
Just as Sakura finished her sentence she points at Altair right next to her, surprising both him and Al Mualim. Her curious choice has the novices and the other brothers in the fortress tittering, some of the voices curious while others were outright laughing behind her back, believing that she was no match for him.
"Well Altair? Will you fight against her?"
Altair's eyebrows did not lower as he nodded absently to Al Mualim, still not quite over his surprise over Sakura's choice of himself as a sparring partner. Of all people to choose, he hadn't been expecting himself to be chosen.
"But…why me?"
"I've been itching to fight you ever since I saw you in action yesterday with the bandits. I'm warning you right now however…" At this Sakura brings out her gloves once again and pulls them over her hands with an excited grin on her face. "You better not underestimate me."
"Trust me Haruno, after seeing you uproot a tree with your bare hands yesterday the last thing I'll be doing is underestimating you." Altair couldn't help the dry drawl of his words, still seeing in his mind's eye her doing just that from the day before. His words only made the voices even louder and questions were raised in the background as Sakura's grin became a very wide smirk when he finished.
"Smart man."
"…Wait Grandmaster, don't tell me I have to fight her so soon? We've only just gotten to Masyaf and I'm sure that
even she's tired after the long journey."
"Yes, of course, that's right. How rude of me. I'll give you both a three days to prepare yourselves, on the 23rd you must both report to the sparring ring for the fight."
Both Sakura and Altair gave Al Mualim a deep bow for his considerations before they departed the hall to find a place to rest on Altair's part. He was looking forward to going to his room to drop dead on his wonderful, comfortable cot for at least 3 days before he even thinks about getting up again. Sakura however looks disturbingly happy with the hopping gait that she's adopted and the large grin on her face makes him wonder whether he should be afraid for his life in the upcoming match…

…~*~…

Although they are his brothers, in creed if not in blood, sometimes Altair wishes he could just kill them just to have some quiet time alone. The other men of the Brotherhood can cackle just as loudly as the peafowl's in the garden, and twice as loudly as the girls that inhabit it. Especially when it comes to new persons that visit Masyaf, and now that he has come with the curious woman that the whole fortress had been whispering about for months he will now be considered by his fellow brothers as a veritable fount of information about her, and it certainly didn't help that he had spoken about the events of the bandit ambush last night either.
"Altair! Is it true that she really uprooted a tree with nothing but her hands?"
"Impossible! No man is so strong, never mind a woman…"
The fool novice couldn't finish his sentence when unexpectedly Altair clapped his hand over his large mouth, looking around as if to check for someone.
"Don't you dare say something like that, especially in front of her, because woman or not, she's monstrously strong, as any of the novices training this morning and even Abbas can clearly attest to. If you want to keep your fool head attached to your body you'll be wise to keep such comments to yourself. And as for her uprooting a tree, yes, she did just that as well as swung it around as easily as we would wield a short sword and crushed our enemies to the ground with it."
"…I wouldn't say I crushed our opponents exactly, more like winded them or possibly throwing them off into the horizon, but certainly not crushed. Far as I could tell their internal organs were still well and whole and their skeletal system still intact."
Altair and his brothers who followed after him and the novice jumped at the sound of a familiar feminine voice, scanning their surroundings but not able to find the source of the amused and thoughtful woman that had spoken. Her laughter was loud and tinkling as she watched from her perch, and it only got even louder when the novice with Altair's hand over his mouth gasped in surprise as he stared at the ceiling straight at her. The others noticed him making a sound of surprise and followed his eyesight which led to other gasps and shouts of amazement. Altair's eyebrows shot up to his hairline as he saw Sakura standing on the ceiling like it was land, for all the causality that she seemed to exude. Her left hand was resting on her cocked hip and giving a large and obviously delighted smile on her face, with only her short pink hair following the laws of gravity as it hung down to the ground, shaking as she laughed.
"Ha! Ha! Ha! You look like you've seen a ghost!"
"Forgive us for being surprised, but it isn't exactly normal to see a woman standing on the ceiling Haruno."
Although he's only known her for a short amount of time he's seen her do enough feats that his voice has already accumulated a dry tone every time he highlights the difference between her skill sets and his, or even making note of how she's able to do things he had once believed impossible for a mortal human to accomplish. His comment made Sakura cock her head to the side, making her hair move and only served to underline how different she is.
"No?"
"No."
"Huh… Back in my country even genin – pardon me, I meant novices, can do this with their eyes blindfolded. If you want something really impressive, remind me to show you water–walking some time."
With her odd statement made (confusing everyone except her) and a wide amused smile on her face at their puzzled expressions, Sakura crouched on the ceiling before launching herself off of it with all the ease of a bird launching itself to flight. Twirling gracefully in the air in ways that even Altair himself hadn't known was physically and humanly possible she tumbled down to earth garnering more gasps and shouts only for them to hush as she landed as agilely as a jungle cat to the ground before she took Altair's hand to drag him outside.
"Show me around Kaname-kun! I've been feeling far too cooped up in the Jerusalem Bureau for too long and I want the excuse to stretch my legs!"
"There are many brothers who would be more than happy to do so, why have you chosen me to be your guide?"
"Because you're the only one I trust."
"…."
Altair couldn't find any words to rebuke her statement, confounded that anyone would even trust him any more since that faithful day though knowing well that he wouldn't be able to wring himself out of her grasp if she didn't want him to. It could be because she's a foreigner and knows nothing about that disastrous day that he had been responsible for the deaths of many, but it doesn't explain her complete trust in him when they've only known each other for a small amount of time. Although for some odd indiscernible reason he gets the feeling that she knows more about him than he's comfortable with…

~…*…~

Sakura POV
Kaname–kun is just too easy to read. That hood may cover his face but it doesn't keep his reactions and emotions from me. Just because I can't see his face doesn't mean I don't know what he's feeling. His eyes are almost as expressive as Naruto's even though his personality is so similar to Sasuke's…
Sasuke who she had loved, no, whom she still loves…
Sasuke who she had confessed her love to…
Sasuke who had almost killed her…
'No! I'm not going to start thinking about that now of all times! I have a new place to explore and Kaname–kun to pester! I'll have plenty of time to cry later!' and with that though in mind Sakura plastered a completely fake smile on her face after shaking off the bubbling tears in her eyes before turning back to Altair to start on said pestering. Being a medic–nin, she knows that this isn't a healthy way to deal with her emotions and the trauma of past events but she honestly can't say that she knows of a better way to deal with it either. Not in this beautiful and fragile world where people can't walk up ceilings or on water and where a single punch from her would be enough to kill someone, even without the added chakra.
Maybe someday in the near future she'll be able to think about him without tears coming to her eyes and deal with her emotions in a healthier and not-so-potentially emotionally traumatizing way but for now ignoring the glaring problem by forcing it to her unconscious will have to do…