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Sakura Haruno was not an unintelligent woman. No, an unintelligent woman would have tried to protect someone from an attack that was way beyond their level. An unintelligent woman would have jumped in the way.Unfortunately, Sakura was not an unintelligent woman. She was a fucking idiot. In fact, those are the exact words that went through her head as she met a chidori meant for her best friend with her chakra-charged fist.
A complete and total. fucking. idiot.And when she awoke in Training Ground Three as she remembered it from 10 years ago (give or take a few months), she mentally confirmed something that she had silently thought many nights on the battlefield.
Yep, I’m insane. As she lay on the ground silently regretting her entire life to that point, she realized that her entire body felt like it had been trampled by Kurama himself. Her head, her arms, her legs, and even her mind hurt. Just as she was about to begin the painstaking and draining process of a full internal medical check, the “oh shit” part of her brain registered the soft whoosh of a shunshin and the shape of a hand coming into her peripherals. Instantly, her mind snapped into the ruthless machine it became during battle; thinking quickly, she moved with a speed only a jounin could hope to see as she rolled herself forwards and to her feet, leapt to the side, and began spinning to execute a ruthless roundhouse kick not unlike Gai’s. When she saw the familiar flash of gravity-defying silver hair, however, it took all of her battle-hardened years as a killing machine not to literally scream something along the lines of “What the FUCK is going on?!” Unfortunately, she had already made her move, and Kakashi had most likely registered her as a threat. She pulled her kick back, wincing and nearly falling as her body started to pulse in pain and her world started to spin. Briefly, she met Kakashi’s eyes, seeing in them the same confusion that was most likely reflected in her own unsteady gaze. Kakashi, taking her momentary pain and confusion as an invitation, was on her in a second, a flurry of blows aimed to incapacitate her.
Sakura’s vision was beginning to blur and spin, but her instincts wouldn’t let her stop. Through her confusion and slight fear at what was happening- she was fighting her one of her dead best friends - her muscles moved with a mind of their own. Her arms came up, sluggishly blocking Kakashi’s blur of blows. The only thing going through Sakura’s head was is this even happening right now?! When she looked up and met Kakashi’s gaze once more, her mind just couldn’t take it anymore. *************************************************************************************************When Kakashi went to the Memorial stone, he wasn’t expecting to fight a random kunoichi who seemed to be battling her own mind more than she was battling him. He also hadn’t expected her to clutch her head and scream in pain before passing out, but stranger things have happened, he supposed.
It was certainly something to say at her own skill, as her mind was clearly addled with confusion yet she still blocked his blows without a hitch. His sharingan eye was opened under his mask, reading the confusion on the girl’s face. She was clearly not mentally present, but her insane speed and the roundhouse kick (that looked suspiciously like Gai’s, his mind supplied) that was laden with enough power to probably knock his head clean off were still replaying in his mind. She had pulled back rather than completing that kick; clearly, she didn’t want to harm him. He didn’t miss the immediate flash of pain she seemed to have, and he was going to use that opportunity to knock her unconscious and take her straight to Inoichi, but her battle-honed reflexes were getting in the way of his blows. When she looked up at him, well, that led to his current predicament. A passed-out, mysterious kunoichi, who now that he looked closer looked quite a lot like the genin girl he had just been assigned earlier that day. His original plan was to subdue her and take her to Inoichi, but now it looked like Inoichi would have to come to her. Sighing, Kakashi picked her up and body flickered to the Hokage’s office, gingerly placing her on a couch near the back. At the Sandaime’s raised brow, he explained everything that happened, and immediately summoned one of his ninken to fetch the former head of T&I. Roughly running a hand through his silver hair, the ex-Anbu had only one thought sitting idly in his mind.For once, can I not be the epicenter of the insane situations in this village?
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Her eyes gently flutter open.
As the blackness lifts, Sakura takes in her surroundings, noting that the room she was in isn't quite as old as it should be and that the village she’s in is a little bit younger than she remembers. But most of all, her blank jade eyes regard with the slightest amount of annoyance the presence of a one Sandaime Hokage that died 10 years ago.
Well, shit.
She gently stirs from the couch
(thank you Kakashi,
she thinks, eyes flickering to his form in the corner), head pounding. She feels like she just woke from too long of a night with Tsunade, drinking far too much sake. Sometimes to remember. Sometimes to forget.
Putting aside her distracting thoughts, she once again directs her gaze to the sandaime, taking in his imposing, yet gentle, presence. Slowly her eyes trail to the right, meeting the gaze of a suspicious Kakashi. She puts her throbbing head in her hands and mutters a soft “God, just kill me now, please”.
“Those are some interesting first words,” Kakashi remarks.
The familiar voice hits her like a truck and she grips her hair. A wave of emotions hits her - she doesn’t know whether to laugh, scream, or cry. Filing away her death wish, she realizes that she may have genuinely gone insane and that she just doesn’t care what they think anymore. If they decide she’s insane, they’ll just kill her anyways, no loss for her - but she feels compelled to ask.
“Is any of this even real?” she asks with a scoff, wary and bitter and tired. She’s been in enough genjutsu to tell the difference, but with people like Madara in the world, you can never be certain. And maybe she’d rather it be a dream, because she really
doesn’t want to deal with this shit.
“As real as anything,” the wizened voice of the Third cuts through the room, ending her train of thought. “Kakashi here found you by the Memorial Stone, and the two of you shared a rather… interesting encounter.”
Sakura hears the door creak, dimly registers that Inoichi is now in the room and
damn
if that isn’t another emotional overload. As she struggles to grasp the concept that she has literally travelled back in time, the Sandaime explains why Inoichi is present. He is to sift through her memories like a filing cabinet, discover if she’s a threat, and eliminate the threat if needed.
She blinks, silently wishes Inoichi luck navigating through her trainwreck of a mind, and agrees to the restraints they bring forward as they explain why they’re asking her to comply.
“All too often,” Inoichi began, “battle-experienced shinobi have lashed out immediately upon the foreign presence entering their mindscape.”
Sakura’s eyes immediately darken. She knows all too well what it feels like to have your mind penetrated and torn through like an old and worthless encyclopedia of facts.
If the others notice her shift, if any of them find it curious - they don’t say anything.
Once the restraints are secure, and her movements sufficiently suppressed, Inoichi steps forward. He presses his palm against her forehead, takes a deep breath, and begins.
Sakura bites back a gasp, fights against her instinctive urge to slam down her hard-kept mental walls, and lets Inoichi enter her mindscape. Soon enough, both her and Inoichi are standing in a field of cherry blossoms, pastel colors softly glowing and reflecting the hazy lights.
“I suppose I should introduce you to my mindscape, but I know you can recognize one when you see it. Come this way,” she says, leading him deeper in. “I have no idea where to start, so I’ll just ask you now. What would you like to know?”
Inoichi thinks for a moment, regarding the question and the woman in front of him with curiosity.
“Most people can’t do… well, this. How do you have such practiced control over your mindscape?” he asks, genuine curiosity in his gaze.
Suddenly, the entire area went as black as a void, not a second later lit up by blood-red eyes. The sound of cackling and maniacal laughter echoes through the empty space, followed by a blood-curdling female scream. Blood splatters through a field of cherry blossoms. Not half a second later, the peaceful and hazy field returns, that memory locked down in chains and filed away in a distant corner. Still lingering.
Mindscapes are strange.
Inoichi’s thoughts are flying at a thousand miles an hour. That half-second told him a great deal - one, the woman in front of him is no stranger to darkness, and the laughter she had faced sent chills down his spine and set his teeth on edge. Two, she has immense control over her mental state. Not often do you see a shinobi that can shut down a flashback (for that’s what it was, but they can tackle that later) in less than a second. Still reeling from the intense emotion of her episode, Inoichi looks up and meets Sakura’s eyes. They’re harder now, eyebrows furrowed. The memory is still on her mind, but she’s tamed it. It’s no longer running wild. Understanding passes through their connected gaze, and when she turns and walks deeper into the recesses of her mind, Inoichi follows without a word.
“Where would you like to begin?” Sakura asks, ignoring the tenseness in the air as her steps left subtle ripples through her own grassy field.
Inoichi considers the woman in front of him as she walks, seemingly aimlessly across the expanses of her own memories.
“Who are you?” he asks, after careful consideration. Start simple. Well, he thought it would be, at least.
The hazy pastels of the field fade into a burning and bright spring day. The streets of Konoha buzz in the distance, unheard over the gentle, cool breeze of the rooftop. The scene unfolds as Inoichi registers what is
definitely
Kakashi, and
is that Naruto and Sasuke?
Inoichi’s thoughts are interrupted as Kakashi begins, asking in his typical lazy drawl for his new students
(shit)
to introduce themselves.
“I’m Sakura Haruno!” a cheery, high pitched, and innocent voice chirps out. Inoichi recognizes the voice as the owner of this memory, and looks over to the shinobi beside him. Sakura nods, answering his unasked question, and the memory dissolves into the distance.
Inoichi knows that wasn’t a fake memory. Everything was too precise, too
real
. The details weren’t unrealistically sharp or completely nonexistent, and the sheer amount of experience he holds allow him to be sure in his conclusion.
The woman before him is undeniably showing him the truth.
Sakura gives him a few moments to collect himself as she watches the realization dawn on his countenance, her mouth set in a grim line.
Inoichi turns yet again, fighting to slow the racing train of his thoughts, and asks her yet another question.
“How did you even get back here?” are the words that leave his lips, cautious and composed.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Sakura answers honestly, a lighter tone carrying her words through the space between them.
Again, cackling laughter shrieks through the air, Sakura’s roar of rage heard over the sound of blood rushing through her ears, and a blinding flash of light.
Sakura grimaces and her right hand goes up to cradle her head.
“It’s … complicated,” she says, massaging her temple before slowly lowering her hand to her hip and shifting her weight to one foot.
Inoichi takes in her face. It’s the same face he’s seen from clients from the deepest parts of the battlefield, the ones who have survived and often wished they hadn’t. Who had seen too much death, even for someone in their line of work. Who had killed too much, lived too little, survived too harshly. But there is still fire in those eyes, humor in the set of her posture, and wit in her sarcastic remarks. Whoever she is, he had crossed “enemy” off of the list of potentials about thirty seconds into their mind-walk. She proudly displays the Konoha headband, she was (is?) Kakashi’s student - her memories are too real to be fake.
After a few seconds of stinted silence, Sakura clears her throat and speaks up.
“So, anything else you need to know, or can we get back to the office and explain this utter trainwreck to the Sandaime?”
Inoichi grins subtly and lets out a soft chuckle. All too quickly, the two of them are wrenched from her mind and thrown back into the real world; Inoichi stumbling backwards, and Sakura unceremoniously tipping to the side; abruptly adjusting her right leg to support her sudden shift she shakes her head to clear her vision.
In her peripheral, she sees Kakashi twitch in her general direction, ready to support her if needed - and she smirks fondly at the gesture; even if he was doing it out of habit, and due to the fact that Inoichi wasn’t reacting as if she was a threat - it was comforting all the same.
After giving the room a few moments to settle, the Sandaime finally clears his throat ceremoniously.
“Well, Inoichi? What’s the verdict?”
Sakura laughs, tossing a glance towards Inoichi on her left.
“Good luck with this one,” she says, humor glittering in her eyes as both Kakashi’s and the Sandaime’s reflect confusion.
“Let’s start with the basics, shall we?” the Sandaime suggests, glancing curiously between Inoichi and the woman in front of him. “Report.”
Immediately, Inoichi’s posture straightens at the authoritative tone of the Hokage.
“She isn’t a threat. I left before I could gauge her skill level, so field testing will be required. Now, as for her identity, I’m afraid that’s… complicated,” he slows down in his speech, eyes flickering towards Kakashi before connecting with Sakura’s own. She nods slowly, turning to face her old teacher as he regarded the both of them curiously.
Sakura hardly spares the Hokage a glance, wanting to tell Kakashi personally.
She takes a deep breath, steels herself, and opens her mouth.
“I’m Sakura Haruno, formerly of Team Seven of Konoha. I’m twenty-one years old, rank Jounin, and I’m from the future.”
Sakura watches as Kakashi processes the information, his eyes going from wary, to confused, to resigned acceptance, to amusement.
“It’s only been a day and my team is already blowing my mind,” he says with a long-suffering sigh, eye crinkling up into a smile. “Looks like you didn’t all die within your first C-Rank after all,” he jokes, face smoothing back into a nonchalant facade.
Sakura’s eyes yet again flash with something akin to bitterness, as she mutters “maybe it would’ve been better if we had” before she stops, squints, and says “actually, we kind of almost did”, immediately sending Kakashi into a fit of laughter as he tactfully ignored the first part of her statement.
Sakura cracks a fond smile, relishing a sound she thought she’d never hear again, before the moment is interrupted by the Hokage.
“Not to cut any potential reunions short,” he starts, “but we need to talk about what this implies for everyone.”
Immediately, the mood shifts yet again - reality hitting Sakura in the face. Sighing, she rests one hand against her temple, restraints having dissolved after Inoichi discerned she wasn’t a threat.
“I don’t even know where to begin, honestly,” she stats bluntly, tacking on a ‘how many more fucking times am I going to say that today’ under her breath.
“Well, how about this - is there any direct threat to Konoha in the near future?” the Sandaime asks, tone serious.
Surprising everyone, Sakura barks out a harsh laugh, dissolving into a coughing mess.The other occupants of the room look on in mild concern; they all recognize the laugh without humor and are instantly on edge. Noting Sakura’s mental distress, Kakashi inches closer to the couch.
“What even is the date,” Sakura asks as she calms down, hand on her temple, eyes searching for any sign of a calendar.
“Your team assignment date,” Kakashi offers, gazing at his student with a mix of curiosity and concern.
Sakura’s face immediately reddens as she remembers her team introduction. “Please, disregard anything I said on that rooftop, oh my god,” she says in embarrassment, making Kakashi smirk and offer an unhelpful “it was rather interesting ”. Sakura quickly adds another item to her ‘reasons I wish I could fade into the ether’ list, scrunching up her face in a grimace.
Again, the Sandaime coughs, somewhat amused, but ready to turn back to the serious matter at hand.
“How about you start with the most recent threat.”
Sakura pauses and considers. “Well, really, it’s all one huge “big picture” image. Unfortunately, I really doesn’t know what’s more important - the “big picture” itself and its inevitability or the specific events that led to the making of it,” she finishes. Despite her knowledge that being completely blunt is key in this conversation, it doesn’t make it any easier to begin it.
As if reading her mind, Kakashi speaks up.
“Perhaps we can ask you questions that we deem important,” he begins, “and you can fill in any missing information that you deem relevant.”
It isn’t the cleanest course of action, but then again, this isn’t exactly a common situation, so they have to make do with what they get.
Graciously, Sakura agrees with his suggestion. Sakura has halfway accepted the reality at this point, putting her emotional protests on hold, but she can feel the beginnings of a physical post-adrenaline crash. Sakura knows this is a critical moment, and she isn’t going to let herself faint now; despite her knowledge of her chakra exhaustion and need for rest, she begins circulating medical chakra throughout her body. Her mind is already clouding over, but they need to get the important and immediate information in the open before she allows herself to rest.
“To begin, how long do we have to prepare for any possible threats?” the Sandaime suggests, eyes serious and hard.
Sakura thinks for only a moment, the answer becoming crystal clear to her almost instantly.
“The upcoming Chuunin exams is when the danger starts. Everything goes downhill from there - unfortunately, the events leading up to the specific incidents have already been put in place; even if we could do anything to stop it, given relevant information and the changes it made, I would go so far as to say it wouldn’t be beneficial to Konoha as a whole to prevent the initial… thing,” she finishes ineloquently. Dropping her professionalism, she bit out some things that sounded suspiciously like “This is fucking difficult” and “On Amaterasu this is almost harder than living through the goddamned past”, making Kakashi snicker and Inoichi clear his throat; the corner of his mouth conspicuously twitching upwards.
“Really there’s not much way to explain it other than going into detail, which leads into the smaller events leading up to it, which leads into the context of the situation, which is a whole explanation back to the Warring States period,” she elaborates in mild frustration, trying to convey how complex the situation was.
“Although,” she says quietly, regaining her professionalism, “I suppose we could start by talking about Orochimaru.”
Immediately the room goes silent. The Hokage sits suspiciously straight in his chair, Kakashi and Inoichi’s eyes narrowing though they stare adamantly at the wall.
“What about him?” Inoichi asks in a false flat tone, eyes flickering to Sarutobi.
Sakura briefly remembers that the Sandaime is to blame for Orochimaru still being alive at this time, quickly deducing that his “accidental” mistake is still a tense topic of discussion. Judging from Inoichi and Kakashi’s stiff reactions, shinobi are still on guard, and blame Sarutobi for the ordeal. She looks to the Sandaime, briefly annoyed because she didn’t falter against her own teammate, her brother, and even if it hadn’t worked, she had went for the killing blow when the opportunity presented itself even when she was clinging to the past.
Maybe she needs to shut down her petty and hurt thoughts before she drudges up that age-old wound and acts like a ten-year-old.
The air in the room hangs thick and heavy, the suffocating atmosphere making the shinobi tense. Well, I can’t do anything about that, she thinks to herself. And, maybe, he deserves it, she continues, bitterness taking hold for just a moment. Shutting down her noisy mind, Sakura moves on.
“He has his own village, and he’s going to attack Konoha, along with the forces of Suna. He makes his initial move during the second phase of the chuunin exams, where he infiltrates the forest of death and attacks Team Seven.”
Kakashi stiffens, eyes shifting towards Sakura; genin against a Sannin should be dead.
Sakura allows time for the information to set in, giving them ample time to adjust. As she waits, her vision briefly starts to swim and she tips imperceptibly, catching herself immediately - but Kakashi notices. His eyes sharpen.
“What does he want from Konoha?” Inoichi finally asks, breaking the silence.
Sakura’s face immediately scrunches in disgust, chakra darkening and eyes glinting like fire.
“Uchiha Sasuke,” she spits out, with such heavy animosity that those in the room nearly flinch. Kakashi thinks back to his team from this morning, when Sakura was fawning over the boy.
“What about him?” he asks tentatively, as the Sandaime puts a hand over his eyes and mutters.
“Of course. He wants his Sharingan, doesn’t he,” the Third asks heavily, breathing out a sigh.
Sakura’s eyes darken once more into a steely cold jade, again making Kakashi both worried and curious; Inoichi notices the subtle shifts in her body language as the mention of the bloodline limit sends her into a stiff posture and a cold rage. Silently, he thinks of the shrieking laughter, blood, and the cold screams.
“Is he-” he starts, unable to stop himself. Sakura looks up and meets his eyes. Eyes weary, she nods.
“Is there anything the rest of us need to know?” The Sandaime asks, eyes catching Sakura’s with a brief stubbornness, disregarding her clear wish to not answer.
Sakura exhales, her posture slightly tipping again. Kakashi activates his sharingan under his mask.
As Sakura regains herself and moves to answer, Kakashi cuts in.
“I believe what we all need to know,” he begins in (partially) false anger, “is that Sakura has been channeling medical chakra for what I would guess is the better part of this conversation, despite her need to rest. We can continue this conversation later. From what she says, we have at least until the Chuunin exams, which means there’s plenty of time to allow her to recover.”
Sakura blinks in thanks, not at all surprised that he noticed her distress.
It would be impossible not to. The Sandaime and Inoichi startle as they really take in her current appearance.
She is tilting slightly, her eyes now reduced to a tired and foggy expression; she looks as if she’s going to fall over at any moment.
“Right,” Sarutobi begins, clearing his throat. “Where should we have you stay? Next to your younger self, perhaps? A henge may be required, or at least a change of hair color. Your specific look is quite… distinctive,” he finishes thoughtfully.
Sakura shudders at the idea of living next to not only her parents, who she’d rather not know she exists, but also next to her younger, inquisitive self. Not that she would figure out her true identity, but Sakura can only handle so much cringe at once. Well, that, and she doesn’t know if she can handle the constant reminder of how life used to be.
“I’d really rather not live next to myself or my family,” she states plainly. “I can change my hair color with a henge. I’d be able to maintain it, so that won’t be an issue.”
Quickly, without the usage of seals, her pink hair shifts to a deep, reddish black color. She sways slightly, tips forward, catches herself again by shifting her weight to her front leg. As she shakes her head, Kakashi finally speaks up again.
“The apartment next to mine just cleared. You can live there,” he offers, carefully gauging her response.
Sakura stops, still looking down, head reeling. Could she handle that?
She remembers long nights on the battlefield, long nights drenched in each other’s blood after fighting nonstop, late nights wondering what would come to be of the world. Silent nights spent in companionable silence. Fearful nights, each wondering if the other would make it till morning as they treated each other’s wounds.
Kakashi is--was-- her brother. Her comrade, her comfort, her teacher, her reassurance that she wasn’t insane. Naruto as well, but he was often forced to be somewhere else on the battlefield, somewhere else in the village, somewhere else in their lives.
This Kakashi, she reminds herself, carefully keeping her breathing measured, isn’t the same Kakashi. She doesn’t know if their relationship will be able to be the same in this version of events. For all intents and purposes, she’ll be living next to a dead man. Or, rather, she will be living next to a man who looks like Kakashi, and her Kakashi is dead.
But, she thinks, still perusing through memories of wartime, it is the same Kakashi. She can do this. She’s got a second chance, and she won’t bitch about it; she’ll take it for all its worth. Finally, after what felt like an eternity for the other three in the room, she speaks.
“I’ll take it.”
Kakashi relaxes imperceptibly as the Sandaime begins fishing for the appropriate documents.
“When do you expect to be fully recovered?”
Sakura turns to the Sandaime, pondering his question. She does a quick internal check - her arm is a bit sore from a quickly healed break not two days ago, and she’s exhausted, but she has no real relevant injuries.
“Two days, give or take,” She says, not wanting to commit. She has no idea what this time travel may have taken out of her.
“As soon as you feel well enough, report back here with Kakashi. We can discuss things further from there.”
Sakura nods in agreement, slowly forcing herself to stand, despite her limbs feeling like lead.
Once everything is said and done, Kakashi offers to show her the way.
“I know where it is,” she says on reflex, making Kakashi raise an eyebrow.
“We’ve spent a lot of time in that apartment,” she clarifies. “Mine was destroyed and I had to stay with you briefly,” she rectifies once again after realizing that Kakashi was eyeing her very suspiciously - she could practically hear his mind asking ‘am I a fucking cradle robber in the future?’
She giggles at the thought. Perhaps this time around, he wouldn’t die. She would make sure of it. Konoha wouldn’t die, Kakashi wouldn’t die, Ino wouldn’t die, Tsunade - no one.
This time, it will be different.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Kakashi steps out of the apartment, secure in the knowledge that the woman inside is properly settled and will most likely be asleep within the next twenty minutes. Taking brisk steps forward and out into the village, he allows his mind to roam freely over the many revelations of the past few hours.
Firstly, his mind lingers on the thought that this young woman, his
student,
has travelled through time and into the past. Not only is that utterly incomprehensible - and he does feel a thrum of pride for the youngest on his team - but the fact remains that Sakura was born with neither the innate chakra levels of a Jinchuuriki
or
the Uchiha power. For his most nondescript student to evolve in this way quite surprised him; that, and it makes him wonder what Naruto and Sasuke became.
And speaking of Sasuke,
he thinks, passing through the innocent streets of Konoha,
her response to the very mention of him is worrying.
The Sandaime has entrusted him with Team Seven because he believes that Kakashi could stop him from seeking revenge. Had he failed? What happened in their lives to make her react to him in such a way?
He doesn’t know, and it bothers him more than he would like to admit.
For now, however, he has a bell test to prepare for; not only does he have to think about future events (and isn’t that stressful), he has to mentally prepare for teaching his Sensei’s son.
Idly, Kakashi realizes that his steps have once again led him to the memorial stone. He knows that one day he should stop mourning, move on with his life - but today, that can wait.
Sakura peers at the door her teacher left through scarcely a moment ago, giving her mind another chance to accept her current reality.
Now that she’s alone, her status in the village somewhat established, the gravity of her situation hits her like a wave. She doesn’t panic, she doesn’t break down; she simply sits on her new bed and sighs. She’s dealt with enough in her lifetime that she knows she can deal with this.
Still, the thoughts of Naruto, Kakashi, Ino - everyone, hang over her like a fog. Her friends are functionally dead. The Rookie Nine she knew are now gone forever, their personalities, their personal journeys, all erased within moments.
However, they still exist within her. Their memories live on through her, and using that knowledge, the knowledge of her friends - she can build an even better future for them. She can teach them, train them,
save
them. She’ll make sure of it.
Silently locking away her feelings on her friends, and determined to create a better future, Sakura allows herself to drift off into sleep.
Who the hell invented sunlight
may not be a common first thought upon waking up, but as Sakura’s eyes flutter open, the bright morning sun reflecting through her window like a signal mirror, she can’t help but feel as if she’s been struck blind.
Quickly, she blocks the sun’s rays with her right hand, her left tossing aside her blankets as her legs swing over the side of the bed.
It’s really amazing what a day of rest can do, Sakura thinks, as her legs hardly complain even when she stands and begins walking to her flat’s little excuse for a kitchen. Grudgingly, she eyes the empty shelves and checks the barren cabinets, silently cursing the fact that ninjutsu can make you travel through
time
but it can’t do something as simple as materialize food. Turning her head away from the dismal emptiness of the kitchen, she checks for a clock; the time reads ten thirty AM and the date as two days from her arrival.
Out for two days, huh,
she notes, understanding now why her body feels so much lighter and her mind so much clearer. Ignoring the growling in her stomach, she quickly starts a shower, relishing in the fact that it’s probably the first real one she’s had in weeks. Battlefields don’t exactly make for prime bathing grounds. She lets the water cascade down her back, soothing the faint remnants of stiffness; however, she has a Hokage and an old sensei to speak with. Briefly turning the water to scalding, she readies herself before turning the water off completely. Just as she begins to step into her old and grimy clothing, she notes that someone has left a sleeveless black turtleneck and grey sweatpants, along with what she guesses are gloves packed underneath the pile of clothes.
Unfortunately it seems that her gift fairy forgot that she needed to
eat
, but she’s survived on soldier pills for much longer periods of time, anyways. After slipping into her new clothes, crunching a soldier pill between her teeth, and sliding on her boots, she finally makes for the Hokage’s office.
Opening the door to her apartment and walking into Konoha to breathe the crisp fresh air, Sakura realizes that this simple action is something she has sorely missed. On the battlefield, the smell of smoke and blood had settled into the earth as if seared into it. Not to mention that Konoha didn’t even exist anymore - merely seeing people stroll along the streets and browse through shops was surreal. Konoha is alive and thrumming with life, even if a little too lazy and comfortable for her liking; their relaxed mindset and confidence in their own peaceful status alone had been the cause of many preventable deaths.
Amidst the normal bustle of the village, a sharp, childish cry startles her from her train of thought. Head snapping to the source of the sound, she finds a little girl with blonde hair and deep brown eyes holding her knee, which was scraped quite badly and bleeding freely. She briskly walks over to the scene, eyes absently flickering to a rock that the girl must have tripped on. Gently, Sakura crouches down in front of the girl, lightly placing her own hands over smaller, much softer ones. Her eyes soften in sympathy.
“Can I help?” she asks, gazing sincerely into the little girl’s rich almond eyes. “I know a ninja trick that can patch you up right away,” she says sweetly, grasping the girls hands even tighter, inclining her head with a smile.
Surprised by the presence of the grown woman before her, the little girl nods silently, removing one hand from Sakura’s grasp and pointing at her skinned knee.
“It hurts right here,” she sniffles out quietly, bottom lip quivering. Once she catches the bright green light of medical chakra, however, all traces of hurt fade into an excited and fascinated curiosity.
“Miss, what’s that?” she asks brightly, eyes glittering.
“This is called ‘medical ninjutsu’,” Sakura explains, “it can heal all sorts of injuries! These sorts of scratches are no problem at all,” she says encouragingly, watching as the girl’s face breaks into a wide smile.
“Can it heal
anything
?” the blonde asks innocently, eyes alight with childlike wonder.
Briefly, Sakura’s mind flickers back, recalling her first brush with death as she held her nearly severed body together with nothing but medical chakra and sheer force of will.
Carefully plastering a smile onto her face, she pulls her hands away as the skin finishes stitching itself together.
“I don’t know about that,” she says, faking disappointment as she helps the girl stand; tossing her hair back and striking a pose, confidently adding “but I definitely can!”, sending the girl into awestruck admiration.
Inwardly, Sakura smiles; little children are so easily impressed and amused, and she missed that innocent element of Konoha.
Bidding the child goodbye, Sakura turns once again to the streets of Konoha, resuming her trek towards the Hokage’s office.
Before she had made it two steps, a low, cool voice calls out from beside her as a flash of silver enters her peripherals.
“So you became a medical ninja?” the copy-nin asks, sliding into step beside her.
“Of a sort,” she replies. “Technically I was a frontline shinobi, but I had also mastered medical ninjutsu under Tsunade,” she continus, glancing sidelong at her new travelling companion.
Kakashi doesn’t miss the implications of ‘frontline shinobi’.
There was a war, then,
he implies, mind heavy with the implications of such a thing.
“What about Naruto?” Kakashi asks innocently, his eyes not missing the immediate flash of an unidentifiable something that briefly entered Sakura’s own.
“I suppose you could say he fulfilled his dream, in a way,” she says cryptically, face twisted as she tries to find the right words. Technically, Naruto
had
become Hokage, but the village was destroyed shortly after, reduced into the next bloody battlefield.
Before Kakashi could question her further, she mutters a quick ‘We’re quite close to the tower’; a clear and clumsy redirect of the conversation but one that Kakashi accepts nonetheless, confident in the knowledge that she will open up when she sees fit.
They fall into a companionable silence, Sakura drinking in the sights of a fully-intact Konoha without the strain of wartime, and Kakashi reading his precious novel while sneaking subtle glances to gauge his (past? present?) student’s reactions to various sights and people while considering the woman beside him.
To him, she seems withdrawn. Two days ago when she had first arrived, she seemed for all the world as someone on the edge of losing their mind; that had concerned him, but as he notes the soft smile playing on her lips and the gentle wistfulness of her expression, he marks it down to exhaustion and possibly a temporary emotional overload. Still, the girl he saw in the Hokage’s office worried him. Such aspects of one’s personality don’t just come and go based on mood; that cynicism and weariness is still there. However, as he thinks back to her brief interaction with the civilian girl, he finds himself somewhat reassured. There’s still kindness and playfulness, and a subtle gentleness and willing to help others - there’s still hope hidden in her jaded eyes.
Before he knows it, the two of them find themselves at the foot of the Hokage Tower.
“Well, let’s get this over with, I suppose,” Sakura says somewhat timidly, eyes briefly flashing with trepidation before steeling over with something Kakashi thinks is akin to resolve.
Quickly stepping forward, the two find themselves in Sarutobi’s office via shunshin, immediately standing to attention.
“Hokage-sama, I’ve fully recovered and therefore am of a sound state to answer any and all questions you deem fit,” Sakura begins, speaking professionally in an open tone. “I’m ready to begin at any time.”
Sarutobi - having already sent his Anbu guards away upon the arrival of the teacher-student duo - nods solemnly, activating the privacy seals. Briefly his gaze is cast to Kakashi, trying to feel for his attitude towards the current situation; however, he remains unreadable as always.
“Very well,” the Third states, his aged voice cutting through the silence. “Have a seat and we may begin.”
As Kakashi and Sakura settle, the former on a rickety chair and the other perched on a stool, the Sandaime begins the question and answer session.
“You mentioned the Chuunin exams, and Orochimaru’s return,” he begins, face stony and impassive as he mentions his former student. “What, specifically, were the ultimate outcomes of these events?”
Sakura pauses as she mulls over the question, making a mental list of the important events resulting from the Konoha Crush.
“Ultimately, the biggest resulting factors would be an alliance with Sunagakure, the snake’s unfortunate usage of seals on both Naruto and the Uchiha, and your death, Hokage-sama.”
Her words briefly hang in the air as the other two occupants of the room digest the information they’ve been given, the Sandaime looking remarkably unfazed at the prospect of his own death.
After giving them a moment to recover, Sakura continues.
“The alliance with Sunagakure became vital to us in the future, though an alliance could be conceivably forged in other ways. Both Naruto and the Uchiha were changed as a direct result of Orochimaru’s sealing, in different ways; these factors need to be avoided at all costs,
especially Uchiha Sasuke’s sealing,”
she bites out between clenched teeth. Knowing that this time’s Sasuke and her time’s Sasuke are different doesn’t make it an easier pill to swallow, her mind struggling to separate ‘ruthless murderer, personal torturer’ from ‘fresh genin’.
Kakashi’s mind becomes thick with unease. The way Sakura speaks of Sasuke is definitely hostile in nature, and that would be putting it lightly. What precisely happened between them? Just as Kakashi was going to ask - he
needs
to know, Sakura cuts him off with a knowing stare.
“You don’t need to know,” she says icily. However, her eyes betray an undercurrent of worry; Kakashi, taken aback by the frigidity of her words, is left wondering why she would direct such an emotion at him. Nevertheless, he concedes the battle of wills with a glance towards the Hokage, who tactfully sets the conversation back on track.
“As for my death,” he intones blankly, “what was the result of that? Should we avoid it, or let it happen?”
Sakura blinks at the unexpected resolve in the Sandaime’s tone, tilting her head curiously.
Then again,
she thinks,
it’s typical of the Hokage to give their life for the village, isn’t it?
Shaking the thought from her mind, she speaks bluntly.
“I don’t know whether or not your death was ultimately conducive or detrimental towards Konoha’s future as a whole. All I know is what resulted from it; that is, Tsunade becoming Hokage, and Orochimaru losing his ability to perform any ninjutsu whatsoever. You sealed away his arms with the Reaper Death Seal, which ultimately bought Konoha
time
. However, your death was also a significant loss in
stability
,” she states, gesturing with her hands to emphasize the two factors. Taking a breath, she continues, “Ultimately, I can’t say what’s more important; though I can say that with the added time, we had the flexibility to become more stable on our own, yet without the initial stability, we remained fairly scattered all the way until Konoha’s first destruction,” she finishes, mouth slightly dry after her lengthy description of the aftereffects.
Unfortunately, she didn’t quite understand why Kakashi and Sarutobi were staring at her with widened, somewhat shocked eyes - that is, until the Hokage finally speaks up.
“The
first destruction
of Konoha?” he breathes, eyebrows furrowing in worry as Kakashi looks on silently.
Sighing, Sakura pinches the bridge of her nose with her fingers, having forgotten that they had no way of knowing Konoha was destroyed in the first place and how relatively small it was in the grander scheme of things.
“Yes, the first destruction,” she sighs wearily, yet again feeling the magnitude of the ‘big picture’ and its complexity threatening to overwhelm her.
“I know it’s hard to believe, but ultimately it was a small stepping stone for bigger disasters on the way,” she says finally, eyes still closed and hand rubbing her temple in frustration. “Let’s just focus on the current matter at hand,” she says with an air of finality, effectively allowing no more questions to be asked on the matter. “We can discuss this
later.
”
“Very well,” the Hokage condedes, albeit reluctantly. “I do have one question, however,” he continues, hooking his fingers together under his chin.
“You said that Team Seven was attacked by Orochimaru himself. Not as any doubt on your current personal ability, but how did three genin survive against him?”
Sakura’s eyebrows furrow as she allows herself to think back on a time she hasn’t thought of in years.
Truly, the three of them should’ve died then and there; it was pure luck that Naruto appeared when he did, convincing Sasuke to fight, thus piquing Orochimaru’s interest. In fact, it’s a wonder Sasuke survived the sealing - although with the Uchiha’s naturally overpowering emotional nature, Sakura supposes that his will to live was simply stronger than the seal.
Sakura still wishes he died instead.
“Sakura-san?”
A quiet voice pulls her from her reverie, effectively reminding her of her current position.
“My apologies,” she states plainly, “I got caught up in the past.” She shakes her head minutely and takes a deep breath.
“Ultimately, it was the Uchiha’s existence that saved us,” she concedes fairly. “Had he not garnered Orochimaru’s interest, the snake would’ve killed all of us then and there.”
Sarutobi frowns, eyes subtly betraying regret and guilt.
Picking up on this, and not in the mood for the Hokage’s self-pity, Sakura quickly directs the conversation elsewhere.
“I think it’s best that we leave the students as they are for now. I believe our best option is to let Orochimaru think we know nothing; let him sneak into Konoha, let him enter his genin. However, send out a guard to shadow Team Seven. I can give you all of the early signals of Orochimaru’s attack; hell, I could even shadow them myself if you so desire,” she states confidently.
“You think yourself capable of taking on Orochimaru?” Kakashi asks, breaking his silence from the corner, eyebrow raised.
Tilting her chin up slightly, she allows herself this moment of pride; even if it’s a bit childish, some part of her always wanted to show
this
time’s Kakashi that she
is
something to be feared and proud of.
“I’m one of the second-generation Sannin,” she says, eyes flashing with mild defiance. “I can hold him off.”
Kakashi blinks, registering this information; his
civilian, nobody
student became a figure on par with the
Sannin
? He definitely picked up on her wording - ‘hold him off’ instead of ‘defeat him’, but to even be able to go toe-to-toe with a Sannin -- especially the White Snake -- for any amount of time and
survive
is a feat worthy of praise.
“Yes, speaking of,” the moment is interrupted yet again by the Hokage, “we will need to do a performance test and figure out where to place you in our ranks,” he continues, eyes meeting Sakura’s. “Perhaps a spar? Kakashi, are you free for the rest of the afternoon?”
Sakura’s eyes light up deviously, eyes sliding to Kakashi as he raises a brow in question, eyes somewhat gauging her response, his mind flashing back to the fight on the training grounds as he catalogues everything he knows so far.
Sakura, unphased, grins wildly.
“A spar sounds
excellent
.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Kakashi regards his grinning student with more than a healthy level of trepidation, fiercely reviewing their last three-second encounter as his mind tries to work out the best strategies in the face of her practically burning gaze. Her eyes are confident, her chin held high, and her grin more than a little menacing.A bead of sweat runs down his temple.Amused, the Sandaime clears his throat."Well then, let's go, shall we?"As the three of them make their way out of the building, Sakura speaks up in question."Where are you taking us for this spar?" she asks with a bit of suspicion, noting that they seem to be heading in the direction of the Forest of Death."I was planning on the Tower," the Third says with a gentle smile. "It has a great view and will be easy to assess your abilities in that controlled environment." A sharp laugh, heavy with amusement, causes him to raise one eyebrow, head turning to regard the girl in question."Unless you were planning on demolishing that tower, I suggest you think of somewhere else," she says, throwing him an amused glance. "Kakashi and I have been known to, ah, change the landscape, to put it mildly," she continues, laughter writ on her features, Kakashi now regarding her somehow even more suspiciously.Shaking his head, Sarutobi considers pointing out that they could just hold back for once - but knowing Kakashi, and thinking of what little he knows of this brash, ridiculous, fiery Sakura, he simply stays silent and reroutes them to the nearest outdoor training ground.Funny, Sakura thinks to herself as she stands yet again in the vast expanse of Training Ground Three. This is pretty nostalgic. Kakashi is thinking along the same lines, yet again trying to reconcile the confident woman in front of him with the flimsy, long-haired genin he tested just the other day. Compared to that practically civilian little girl, the young woman before him essentially radiates confidence and pride - one hand on her hip, a smirk playing on her lips. He takes in the bags around her eyes and realizes that her eyes themselves are slightly more dim than they should be - she likely isn't completely recovered, but she's clearly lively enough and her eyes are attentive, sharp, and assessing. He will just have to trust her judgement as a medical ninja.Now, for the spar - and Kakashi's wariness returns at his own train of thought - he needs to be careful. Close range would be suicide, he thinks. I need distance.Lifting his hitae-ate, Kakashi's eyes sharpen. He can't afford to slouch against someone who can lay claim to a title as heavy as 'Sannin'.Sakura's eyes flicker to Kakashi's sharingan, knowing of the constant chakra drain and eye strain. She needs to fix that later; perhaps this evening once she's recovered from their spar. Her appearance remains relaxed and confident; to an extent, this isn't a front- her and Kakashi sparred all of the time, and being on the frontlines for so long granted her skill by necessity if anything else. As one of the second generation Sannin, she knew she could take most shinobi head-on; however, Kakashi was a different breed. It was just timing that pegged Team 7 as the new sannin - had his own team not fallen apart, it's possible they may have done the same in time. Not to mention, she is a close-combat shinobi, whereas Kakashi can flourish at all ranges. She's no slouch, and her Genjutsu is astonishing, but it's still limited against a sharingan and her ranged attacks are mostly focused around chakra-channeling projectiles.To put it more precisely, she has next to no ninjutsu versus Kakashi knowing over a thousand, and is as good as done for if she can't bring him within her range.She can't afford to let her guard down for even a second.Then, all of her thoughts are put on hold at the Sandaime's sharp 'Begin'.Sakura immediately goes on the offensive, layering genjutsu over herself to make her appear three inches further to the right - subtlety is key when it comes to going undetected. She executes a shunshin, materializing directly in front of Kakashi, leg raised and poised for an axe-kick. Her eyes are a burning jade as she rips her leg down through the air at blinding speeds; unfortunately for her, Kakashi had already glimpsed her taijutsu affinity in their last fight, and thus was immediately prepared to leap back, easily matching her speed. The corner of Sakura's mouth twitches upwards as her eyes flash in the sunlight and her leg makes contact with the ground - the fight has begun.The Sandaime's eyes widen as the fight unfolds in front of him. Sakura leaves a path of destruction the likes of which he's never seen - which, considering he taught Tsunade, says the next generation of shinobi will be nothing to scoff at.Sarutobi himself is almost tempted to hang up the old robes and ask for a spar between them - it would definitely keep him on his toes, he thinks, as he watches Sakura's head-on and precise approach while Kakashi flutters between the treeline and the ground, evasive yet powerful like the lightning he so prizes.They're a good match, he thinks, relocating to avoid being hit by a tree that has just been thrown across the clearing, bearing Kakashi aloft. Kakashi is fluid and persistent like water with all of the quickness and bite of a lightning strike, while Sakura herself is strong and steady as the earth and dances as the wind that kicks up a maelstrom, fierce and unrelenting.The two exchange rapid blows in a deadly dance under the scorching spring sun; both of them approaching the end of their spar as the day burns away. To Sarutobi, it seems there's no clear end in sight - that is, until lighting fills the air, and it happens.Kakashi breathes laboriously, chest aflame after he made the mistake of trusting his Sharingan against Sakura's genjutsu; trusting his own vision without question had led to him being blindsided and punched into a tree so fiercely that he could feel his ribs creak under the strain. Receding into the treeline yet again, he allows a clone to slink out of the shadows and play for time; however, when that clone rockets past him with enough force to dispel it, it's all he can do to think get out of close range right now-! before she is upon him, blows raining down as blue chakra flickers to life on her fingertips. Chakra scalpels, his mind supplies unhelpfully, as Kakashi feels his left arm tingle with three of his fingers failing to respond. He narrows his eyes, taking in his student as she grins fiercely despite a split lip, a hot line of blood across her temple, and an awkward gait (it still impressed him that mid-fight she snapped her own bone back into place - be as it may that her leg clearly wasn't functioning normally, Kakashi has never even heard of a medical-nin with such efficiency during battle). He needs to think of something, and fast. Subtly forming a series of one handed seals, he flickers to the treeline, leaving yet another clone in his place as he prepares his prized jutsu, the sound of a thousand birds piercing through the training grounds.Sakura smiles viciously, her eyes alight as the blood rushes through her ears and her chest heaves with the exertion and excitement of live combat. On the battlefield, she didn't have time to really think about and appreciate mastery over her own body, or the adrenaline as you constantly shift just in time to live another day. However, sparring against her sensei here, safe (well, relatively) in Konoha, she doesn't think she can be more elated if she wants to be. Unfortunately, none of this can distract her from the fact that her constant layering of genjutsu, chakra scalpels, and even the small fraction of her monstrous strength are all taking too much out of her. I must not be completely recovered, she realizes as she drops beneath a kick, retaliating with a deft sweep-kick of her own, dispelling the second clone of the day and turning towards her real sensei. It doesn't take a genius to realize the second that he replaces himself with yet another clone - it does, however, take one Sakura to flicker over and lift him like a toy, pulling him back and launching him past his human counterpart at speeds fast enough to make him dispel in a cloud of smoke. Finally, she thinks with a fierce grin, dashing forward at full speeds. You're mine. Lost in the haze of blows, exhaustion beginning to weigh down on her, and still caught up in the buzz of finally roping her sensei into a battle she knew she could win - she didn't notice the familiar flash of lightning until it was too late.Taking aim, Kakashi steps out from the trees and dashes towards his student at an impossible speed, breath steady and his body primed for her inevitable counterattack. When he notices that she's stopped moving altogether and is staring at him with wide eyes that don't seem to be focused here nor there, he realizes with a mental start that he's moving too fast to stop and she isn't moving. When his hand slides through her abdominal cavity like a knife through butter, he immediately cancels the jutsu and can only stare, half expecting another genjutsu and mind racing through how fast they can get a medical ninja when a surprise attack doesn't come. Shit.Sakura hears it and freezes. Her eyes flash with fear as she registers the shrill shriek of Chidori, her mind instantly shutting down logical thought and plunging her into a memory. When she turns and looks, the Chidori isn't wielded by her trusted sensei, but by a raven-haired madman. Sakura can only internally screech he's going to kill you, get out of the way get out of the way get out - ! before his ice cold hands plunge into her body, tearing through flesh, muscle, and internal organs, barely missing her spine, and bursting through her back like a skewer. She grabs the arm lodged inside of her, meeting the burning, blood-red (concerned, charcoal grey) eyes of her former teammate (sensei)."Sasuke!" She all but hisses through her teeth as she applies enough force to the arm to crush bone, the hand inside of her flickering to life with yet more lightning chakra as she screams and it burns through her body like fire, blood splattering beneath her."-s me," she hears in the distance between the haze, Sasuke's arm making like a blade and slicing through her right side."It's me!" the voice calls again, Sasuke's form retreating with cackling laughter."Sakura! It's me!"Kakashi? What…? And then, it comes back. Shit. Looking up from her surprisingly not-nearly-severed body, she meets the frantic eyes of Kakashi as she registers the chakra of the Sandaime rapidly approaching them from her right side. Still wrapped up in the shock of her memories, she looks down yet again, taking Kakashi's arm and ripping it out of her abdominal region, shoving him back ungracefully. She can apologize later, right now she needs to stop herself from bleeding out rather unceremoniously. A dramatic death is great in fiction, but Sakura still has things to do and she is not going to let 'Spar' be written down as her cause of death.Staggering backwards, she manifests her Seal for the first time since coming back, not trusting her control amidst her exhaustion and shaken emotional state. Using the excess of chakra, she begins to stitch her internal organs back together before lacing together her muscles and reattaching skin, finally directing that chakra back to her forehead to reforge the seal. Absently she realizes she probably could've done with sending some medical chakra to her head for the absolute killer headache she was expecting any minute now, but she's had worse. Much worse.Kakashi watches in a stunned silence, his cracked right arm throbbing painfully as he processes what just happened.Sasuke. One word, gritted out between clenched teeth, spiked with fear and braided with betrayal. Sakura wasn't in the present, but just where the hell was she? He grimaces as he remembers the strength with which she gripped his arm, nearly crushing it - yet what surprised him further was her scream when he didn't do anything. What the hell was going on in her mind? He called out to her for several seconds, trying to bring her back to the present before she destroyed his arm. He realized the exact moment she was herself again, jade eyes flickering up to meet his briefly, flashing in recognition yet hard with the pain of… whatever it was that just happened. She shoved him back rather painfully, forcing his arm out and thus breaking the dam and ultimately splattering blood everywhere, but what surprised him even further was when a deep blue seal appeared on her forehead as her body started to stitch itself back together.As she finishes healing, her seal fading yet again into nonexistence, she meets his eyes with an apology, and Kakashi can only ask one thing."What the fuck just happened?"Sakura heaves a sigh, stepping deftly over to Kakashi before stopping in front of him and holding out her hand. At Kakashi's somewhat bewildered stare, she simply clarifies "Your arm, please," before she gently grabs the injured limb and makes to heal her sensei. Surprised, Kakashi begins to pull back, ready to demand that she not distract him from the issue at hand and instead fill him in immediately."I'm not going to avoid you," she says, an exhaustion that isn't entirely physical tinging her words, "but I do need to heal your arm as soon as possible before that damage becomes permanent."Kakashi blinks, considers his students pleading and apologetic eyes, and relents - he has a feeling he'll always crumple like wet paper when his students give him that look, but he can worry about that later. Now, as the both of them take a seat on the forest floor and Sakura's soothing healing chakra envelops his damaged right arm, he needs to worry about the present, and figure out just what is wrong with Sakura and why she didn't evade his attack."So," he begins, trying to sound authoritative - yet only managing an awkward and uneasy tone."So," she laughs, shaking her head. Inhaling deeply through her nose, as if steeling herself, she begins."I'm sorry about your arm," she says gently, "and I'm sorry that you had to see that. It wouldn't - I'm not normally like that." A frustrated sigh escapes her lips, an exhaustion that isn't entirely physical weighing on her words. "That's not really happened like that before."Kakashi narrows his eyes minutely. 'Happened like that', she said. Meaning it had happened before. However, having calmed down from the initial thought that she would avoid him, he realizes that now isn't the time to demand answers."Well, in fairness to you, it isn't like there's a guidebook to the sort of emotional and physical exhaustion that comes with traveling through time," Kakashi concedes fairly, trying to offer comfort and support in a field he's never fully tested his capabilities for.This makes Sakura laugh, a true laugh this time, as through her mild fatigue she feels the soft regard of her Sensei."I wish it did," she says, her smile smaller, yet still present on her features.Another pregnant silence permeates the space as the Sandaime hovers tactfully out of hearing range, likely giving them space to talk about… whatever it was that just happened.Sakura, clearly not going to be the one to open the discussion, remains pointedly silent. Kakashi narrows his eyes."You know, no matter how much you heal that arm, you can't get out of this discussion," he says, gentle yet firm.Sakura mutters something under her breath, Kakashi definitely hearing a quiet "just watch me"."And yet, you're still here," he challenges, expression deadpan as his student's eyes meet his own with more than a little annoyance."I suppose I am," she relents, finishing up her healing on his right arm and moving on to his incapacitated left hand. "It doesn't make it any easier to figure out where to begin," she sighs, finishing up her work and running a hand through her rough hair.Kakashi watches as his student shifts her weight back, drawing up one knee and resting an arm on it, as her other arm supported the rest of her weight."It's…. Complicated.""Well, how about we start with why you practically hissed the name 'Sasuke' after I impaled you," Kakashi says, internally wincing as Sakura's eyes darken, her exhaustion briefly replaced with something twisted and ugly."Sasuke… my Sasuke, future Sasuke, is…" she begins abstractly, struggling to find the right words. She doesn't want to hurt Kakashi, but she knows he would want the truth. She owes him that much; she decides that today, honesty comes before anything else."He's a missing-nin," she finishes quietly, glancing at Kakashi out of the corner of her eye. Before she can read his response and use it as an excuse to back out of the conversation, she barrels on."He defected shortly after the Chuunin exams. For a time, Naruto and I gave everything to bringing him back, but by the time we could even do anything, he was too far gone. He became one of the major figures in the Fourth Shinobi World War. He himself razed the last standing streets of Konoha, and for all I know, he's the reason I'm even here. The last thing I saw from my time was his Chidori colliding with one of my attacks," she finishes, conflicted about dumping all of this on the teacher who may blame himself, but also recognizing that Kakashi needed to understand, to brace him for what was yet to come and what had to be done.Chancing another look at Kakashi, Sakura sees him regarding her with an even gaze, as if waiting for more. She can see the undercurrent of guilt, but more than anything else, she finds a quiet yet strong determination to avoid history repeating itself."Is that why my chidori made you react in such a way?" he asks, eyes flashing in a way that tell Sakura that he didn't miss the immediate stiffening in her posture as the question fell from his lips."Kakashi, you really don't need to know," she says, ignoring the way her gut twists as his eyes harden."Yes, I think I do," he challenges, outwardly demanding but internally guilty; heavy with the knowledge that he had failed to help Sasuke, he knows he can at least learn everything he can in order to prevent the future from repeating itself.Sakura, knowing that once Kakashi wanted to know something he would stop at nothing until he had answers, knew she had no choice but to relent. Doesn't mean I have to be happy about it, she thinks bitterly, the things that need to be said leaving a sour taste in her mouth.Kakashi, knowing he's won, simply stares expectantly, practically daring Sakura to run from this conversation.Annoyed, Sakura turns sharply towards Kakashi, eyebrows furrowing."In telling you this, I expect you to not ask about it again. I'm going to tell you because I think you deserve to know, but don't expect me to tell you things on-demand every time something like this happens," she grits out through her teeth, knowing she may be being unfair yet resolved in her decision all the same.Kakashi nods, nearly imperceptibly, thankful that despite knowing she could just as easily not tell him, she is relenting because she feels he deserves to be involved. Not only that, but she seems genuinely sympathetic, despite her outward irritation.At Kakashi's nod, Sakura raises a hand to her head, smoothes out her features, and again relaxes."It was a few years ago," she says quietly. "Naruto and I had gone to confront Sasuke and try to bring him back home." A bitter sigh leaves her mouth. "We didn't understand it at the time, but he was already too far gone - too out of our reach. Unfortunately, it was only when he got his hands on me the first time that we realized he wasn't our Sasuke anymore. You don't need to know the details, and to be frank, I don't want to share them - but endgame, he came at me with his Chidori, I ended up nearly severed in half. That was the day the remnants of Team 7 finally gave up on Sasuke," she cut out, her face remaining impassive, but her eyes and tone of voice telling a different, less tangible story.Kakashi breathes steadily as he takes in the woman in front of him, her words settling in with a weight he hasn't felt in a long, long time. This gave him more to think about than he's had in years. Sasuke, Sakura, even Naruto - he knows that he failed them, and would have certainly failed them again had Sakura not come back to the past. Now, however, they've got a fighting chance. From what he's seen, Sakura is fierce, loyal, and kind, and aside from mentions of Sasuke, she's shown nothing but love and pride for everyone and everything in the village; he doesn't know what kind of relationship they had in her past, but for now, Kakashi will let himself hope that this time around, they could work together to protect the bonds of Team Seven and the Village that they would both die for."Well, at least that shouldn't happen again, unless we both turn out to be monumental failures," he offered lightly, trying to bring humor back into the mood and let her know that he wouldn't hold this against her.Sakura let out a snort."I would certainly hope the fuck not," she says, fire back in her expression. "If this training ground says anything about what we'd do to the battlefield, we'll definitely be a force to be reckoned with.""I would say you already are."The kind voice of the Sandaime carries through the trees as he flickers into view, having sensed the end of their conversation."Now," he says, eyes conveying pride as if he knew that his two Shinobi just grew slightly closer, "Let's get back to my office, and we can discuss your placement in our ranks," he finishes as his eyes linger on raven-black hair.Sakura quickly rises and dusts off her knees, holding out her hand to help Kakashi stand; Kakashi raises an eyebrow at this, but otherwise accepts her help without question. When the soreness in his legs hits him, he immediately sends a grateful look her way as the three of them begin the trek to the Hokage Tower."Well, I think we can conclude that that was a rather interesting spar," the Sandaime begins from the seat at his desk, gazing out as his two shinobi stand somewhat uncomfortably, likely still tired from the exertion of the spar. Allowing himself a moment to let them sit in anticipation - he always secretly loved the dramatics - he finally speaks up."Sakura Haruno," he says at last, straightening his spine and injecting authority into his words with the ease of experience."From my thorough observations of the spar between yourself and Kakashi Hatake, I now officially reinstate you as a Jounin of Konoha. May the will of fire burn fiercely within you."Sakura bows deeply, accepting the Jounin flak jacket presented to her by one of the Hokage's guards.Kakashi looks on with renewed pride for the only girl on his team. She has really grown into quite a woman; despite not having the slightest clue what is going on in that head of hers, and despite only knowing of her existence for a few days, he knows she has done and will do great things. Konoha's future is uncertain, but with her, they can work towards building the best future possible.Sakura takes the familiar vest into her hands, her head reeling yet again with the weight of her responsibility. Konoha's future - Naruto, Kakashi, Ino, even Sasuke - it's all in my hands.The thought threatens to overwhelm her, but she shuts it down and chains it in the cage of her mind - there but not overwhelming in its strength. She would do this. She would save them."Thank you, Hokage-Sama. I won't let you down," she says with conviction, eyes determined.
I won't let any of you down, ever again.
Bonus: Spar V2
Sakura immediately goes on the offensive - she executes a shunshin, materializing directly in front of Kakashi, leg raised and poised for an axe-kick. Her eyes are a burning jade as she rips her leg down through the air at blinding speeds; unfortunately for her, Kakashi had already glimpsed her taijutsu affinity in their last fight, and thus was immediately prepared to leap back, easily matching her speed. The corner of Sakura's mouth twitches upwards as her eyes flash in the sunlight and her leg makes contact with the ground - the fight has begun.Kakashi's eyes widen minutely at the scale of destruction before him. Having seen Tsunade in action, he's seen some massive impact craters, but never before has he seen the earth rip apart in what was easily a half-mile radius. And that was her opening attack. Eyes briefly regarding his student with pride, he yet again shuts down his thoughts on the matter and throws himself into the trees, eager to push her limits. Thinking quickly, his hands are a blur as he readies himself for the most basic Katon jutsu, pushing into the fireball enough chakra to make it an inferno.Sakura eyes the blaze cutting through the treeline, pushing her hand into the solid ground and ripping up a defensive wall. She can feel the force as the attack hits; the slab of earth begins to hiss and crack as she produces a perfect clone image of herself, sliding into the ground and beginning a modified Headhunter jutsu, hurriedly seeking out Kakashi's chakra.There, she thinks, her senses zoning into a spot up in a tree approximately forty-five degrees to her right. Masking her chakra, she rises from the earth in a predatory crouch before suddenly standing and gripping the tree, ripping it from the earth and launching it into the clearing with a fierce roar.Kakashi finds himself surprised for the first time in many years as the tree he sheltered in was tossed like a toy across an entire field. That wasn't the surprising part, however; it was the fact that until she literally yelled he had no idea she was even there, right underneath him. Back in the present, he deftly maneuvers from the tree, tossing himself to the side; chancing a look behind him as he falls, he sees a mass of pink getting suspiciously bigger at speeds Kakashi isn't sure he's comfortable with. Summoning a shadow clone, he pulls himself out of the way, leaving the clone to engage in combat to buy himself time.He knows he can't risk sinking into the ground - what with her ridiculous earth shattering strength he'd end up trapped - so he creates another clone as he pulls out a string of kunai and sharp wire, yet again retreating to the treeline.Sakura, on her end, is fiercely layering genjutsu over genjutsu, ensuring her appearance is just further to the right, slightly back - just slightly 'not-there' enough to secure her safety among the countless projectiles being thrown her way. Kakashi's clones, for their part, notice her deception quickly, experimenting with their aim to discover Sakura's true positioning.Sakura, however, did not fail to notice the real Kakashi shifting about the trees to her right; likely laying a tricky trap that she wants absolutely no part of. Deciding to take the fight to him, she tosses two kunai in the air, gluing them to her feet with chakra as she braces her weight upon the ground with her hands, swinging her legs in a wide arc and launching the sharp knives to either clone with enough force to pass through a boulder.Before the soft 'whoosh' of the dispelling shadow clones can reach her ears, she takes to the treeline, ferociously lashing out with her limbs as she fells tree after tree.Kakashi, having foreseen that his clones wouldn't last long in any type of non-ninjutsu engagement, is ready for her. Carefully taking aim, he releases his lashed-together kunai in a quick and true horizontal line. Manipulating the wire with his chakra, he forces the kunai to circle her, quickly flicking his wrists forward to entrap her in a bloody net. Expecting a substitution on her part, Kakashi quickly drops to the ground, grabbing one end of his wire to set ablaze the line of kunai laced throughout the trees. He is quite alarmed, however, when instead of the thud of kunai on wood, he smells the sharp tang of blood and hears a muffled grunt of pain. His eyes widen as he takes in the clear image of his student pierced with many of his kunai and covered in blood, his grip on his own wire loosening. He makes to help her, his sharingan immediately perceiving the image as real; which would explain his utter shock when he is suddenly launched sideways into a tree so viciously that he hears his ribs crack with the strain. Eyes widening yet again, his head turns just in time to visibly note the kunai flying at him, his battle-honed reflexes kicking in just soon enough for him to not be either permanently blinded or dead as Sakura continues to charge at him, her fingers flickering to life with blue chakra. Chakra scalpels, his mind supplies hazily, still recovering from the brief shock of a genjutsu that could trick even his sharingan. Before he could think beyond his surprise to form a strategy outside of get out of close range right now!, she is upon him, the fight now boiling down to basic, instinctual Taijutsu.Sakura grins between their flurry of blows, ignoring her rapidly approaching exhaustion (I must not be fully recovered, she realizes), deflecting kicks, taking punches, and dishing out attacks of her own in a deadly dance between teacher and student. She always loved sparring with Kakashi the best; their styles have always been a good match - hers being direct and precise enough to keep up, yet sheerly brutal and head-on enough to catch him unaware; his being fluid like water, forcing her to think on her feet and adapt. They've always been a good pair, and she's positively giddy at the simple fact that he's alive to spar with her. She is quickly gaining the upper hand - taijutsu is her specialty, after all - yet her mind is drifting elsewhere, her body acting only on instinct; therefore she doesn't quite fully register the sound of a thousand birds coming from the treetops until it's too late.Kakashi had begun to notice many things about his student's mentality and style throughout this spar. As for her style, he notes that she'll make an excellent sparring partner; it's been a long time since someone in the village has been able to keep up with him, and they'll likely complement each other quite well both on and off the field.However, he has also noticed by this time that her mind isn't quite with the fight anymore, seemingly lost in her thoughts as her instincts clearly take over, her encroaching exhaustion likely meaning the end of the spar is near. Therefore, it isn't all that hard for him to sneak a shadow clone in his place and fall back to the trees yet again, summoning his prized original jutsu. Taking aim, he steps out from the trees and dashes towards her at an impossible speed, breath steady and his body primed for her inevitable counterattack. When he notices that she's stopped moving altogether and is staring at him with wide eyes that don't seem to be focused here nor there, he realizes with a mental start that he's moving too fast to stop and she isn't moving. When his hand slides through her abdominal cavity like a knife through butter, he immediately cancels the jutsu and can only stare, half expecting another genjutsu and mind racing through how fast they can get a medical ninja when a surprise attack doesn't come. Shit.Sakura hears it and freezes. Her eyes flash with fear as she registers the shrill shriek of Chidori, her mind instantly shutting down logical thought and plunging her into a memory. When she turns and looks, the Chidori isn't wielded by her trusted sensei, but by a raven-haired madman. Sakura can only internally screech he's going to kill you, get out of the way get out of the way get out - ! before his ice cold hands plunge into her body, tearing through flesh, muscle, and internal organs, barely missing her spine, and bursting through her back like a skewer. She grabs the arm lodged inside of her, meeting the burning, blood-red (concerned, charcoal grey) eyes of her former teammate (sensei)."Sasuke!" She all but hisses through her teeth as she applies enough force to the arm to crush bone, the hand inside of her flickering to life with yet more lightning chakra as she screamed and it burned through her body like fire, blood splattering beneath her."-s me," she hears in the distance between the haze, Sasuke's arm making like a blade and slicing through her right side."It's me!" the voice called again, Sasuke's form retreating with cackling laughter."Sakura! It's me!"Kakashi? What…? And then, it comes back. Shit. Looking up from her surprisingly not-nearly-severed body, she meets the frantic eyes of Kakashi as she registers the chakra of the Sandaime rapidly approaching them from her right side. Still wrapped up in the shock of her memories, she looks down yet again, taking Kakashi's arm and ripping it out of her abdominal region, shoving him back ungracefully. She can apologize later, right now she needs to stop herself from bleeding out rather unceremoniously. A dramatic death is great in fiction, but Sakura still has things to do and she is not going to let 'Spar' be written down as her cause of death.Staggering backwards, she manifests her Seal for the first time since coming back, not trusting her control amidst her exhaustion and shaken emotional state. Using the excess of chakra, she begins to stitch her internal organs back together before lacing together her muscles and reattaching skin, finally directing that chakra back to her forehead to reforge the seal. Absently she realizes she probably could've done with sending some medical chakra to her head for the absolute killer headache she was expecting any minute now, but she's had worse. Much worse.Kakashi watches in a stunned silence, his cracked right arm throbbing painfully as he processes what just happened.Sasuke. One word, gritted out between clenched teeth, spiked with fear and braided with betrayal. Sakura wasn't in the present, but just where the hell was she? He grimaces as he remembers the strength with which she gripped his arm, nearly crushing it - yet what surprised him further was her scream when he didn't do anything. What the hell was going on in her mind? He called out to her for several seconds, trying to bring her back to the present before she destroyed his arm. He realized the exact moment she was herself again, jade eyes flickering up to meet his briefly, flashing in recognition yet hard with the pain of… whatever it was that just happened. She shoved him back rather painfully, forcing his arm out and thus breaking the dam and ultimately splattering blood everywhere, but what surprised him even further was when a deep blue seal appeared on her forehead as her body started to stitch itself back together.As she finishes healing, her seal fading yet again into nonexistence, she meets his eyes with an apology, and Kakashi can only ask one thing."What the fuck just happened?"
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Sakura and Kakashi exit the Hokage Tower, the former throwing on her jounin vest (she always feels more comfortable with it on, an unfortunate side-effect of war- but she doesn’t allow herself to dwell on her paranoia and if Kakashi can wear
his
all the time without a second thought, well, so can she). As she finishes adjusting her temporary uniform, Kakashi speaks up from beside her.
“Yo. How about some dinner? I have questions for you - bout your techniques in that spar,” he clarifies as he finds himself on the receiving end of a suspicious gaze.
Sakura stops, considers - when the fact that she hasn’t actually eaten proper food in ages catches up with her stomach, the answer comes to her quickly.
“Sure. Your treat,” she says, grinning at her companion.
When Kakashi’s response is just a deadpan stare that she somehow translates as “why does it have to be
me
”, she just gently shoves him with her shoulder and reminds him that she has no money.
“There’s a new family-owned restaurant that opened up last week. Do you like sukiyaki?”
Not five minutes later, the two find themselves entering a quaint, elegant-looking space; the decorations are sparse, but they’re simple, classic, and tell of all the hominess of a traditional civilian family. Ink paintings line the wall - “Oh, its my son! He’s a lovely artist, don’t you think so?” says the hostess as she leads them to a table - and delicate little centerpieces are set by each sitting area. It’s a common-known fact that shinobi often prefer more enclosed spaces to dine in small groups, often due to discussing mission parameters and objectives, so the hostess leads the two to a smaller side-room sectioned off with shouji.
After a few polite ‘thank you’s, and two placed orders later, Kakashi and Sakura are left in privacy to wait for their meals.
“Well this restaurant is… accomodating,” Sakura starts, picking up the (assumedly) complimentary tea and looking around their private room.
Kakashi just nods, gingerly sipping his own tea as his fingers tap the table. He clears his throat.
“So, how did you trick my sharingan in that spar? I’m no genjutsu specialist, but I could swear that only sharingan could trick other sharingan.”
“Well, contrary to popular belief, the sharingan doesn’t just magically see through every aspect of genjutsu;
my
brand of genjutsu targets all of the senses and therefore requires more than sheer ocular power to see through. What the sharingan
actually
does,” she continues, Kakashi listening in interest, “is notice the disruption in reality and warn the subconscious brain, which, in turn, tries to alert the conscious brain. However, with a genjutsu mistress like me, who
targets
the subconscious brain for both invocative and evocative genjutsu, the sharingan has a much harder time relaying that information. It isn’t impossible, and the sharingan will see through it in time - but when you’re in the field, it doesn’t matter if it only takes you a few extra seconds - by then, you’d be dead.”
Kakashi takes in the information and considers it carefully, seeming to review the information before settling on his next question.
“So, a genjutsu mistress, huh? I see why they had you at the frontlines. How did you figure all of that out?”
“You, actually,” she replies. “You let me examine your eye. Speaking of which,” she shifts her posture, something more serious settling in, “it took me examining your eye to find out you suffer from chronic chakra exhaustion. I can’t kick your ass for that right now because technically that wasn’t
you
, but you need to let me fix that eye.”
Kakashi’s charcoal-grey eye widens minutely at the revelation, a stunned ‘you can do that?’ followed by a disbelieving ‘How?’
Raising a brow in amusement, Sakura explains.
“The problem with it now is that when the transplant was originally performed, the operator never took the time to look and see that the sharingan has an extra network of chakra pathways; all I had to do was shift those pathways into a position conducive with the ocular nerves of a non-Uchiha eye. I could even do that tonight, if you’re willing,” she finishes, as the hostess slides open the door and places their food on the table before them.
Kakashi regards the woman before him thoughtfully; in another time, he let someone examine his eye? He’d never even let Tsunade look at it, despite her offer - for him, it would take a massive level of trust. Somehow, though, he can’t find it in him to hesitate in accepting her offer. He knows a shinobi should be slow to trust, but something about the time-traveller in front of him just makes him want to drop his guard, so instead he just asks how long it took for him to let her fix his eye her first time around.
Sakura, relaxing her arm and thus resting her beef in the egg she was currently dipping it in, tilts her head slightly upwards in thought.
“I think…. Two years after the war started? That was really the only time we could have had the opportunity. We had both been relocated to the same station, along with Naruto - something about needing to re-boost morale - and I wanted to use the opportunity to examine the Sharingan and see how it functioned.”
“Re-boost morale? How would the presence of the three of us accomplish anything like that?”
Sakura’s eyes flash with something unidentifiable, her mouth settling into a firm line.
“Our enemies were so powerful that normal shinobi had no chance; by the time I’d been sent back here, Team Seven had become the leading force of what was dubbed the Konoha Twelve; only the Twelve and a handful of others could even enter direct combat with the enemy. We were stationed together to hit the general enemy forces - basically, mindless drones - as hard as possible, in order to show that our side still had strength in the war and to not give up. It’s impossible to say this without sounding like some arrogant prick, but honestly? They needed to see Team Seven’s legendary damage path. You and two of the second-gen Sannin? Well, let’s just say that the landscape was never the same by the time we were through with it.”
Kakashi couldn’t tell if his student was proud or bitter, or maybe both, so instead he just nodded.
“So, Naruto was also one of the new Sannin?”
At this, Sakura grinned fiercely-
that’s
definitely
pride
being Kakashi’s dominating thought as Sakura opens her mouth to speak.
“What you
think
you know of
my
damage path? Multiply it by ten.
That’s
Naruto.”
Kakashi shakes his head fondly, secure in the knowledge that his team is going to be an absolute handful, and they finish their meal in silence. When he spots Sakura sipping her tea contentedly, he can’t help but ask one more thing.
“So, I hear you three almost died on your first C-Rank” leaves Sakura choking and spluttering on the hot liquid as her face lights up red in embarrassment and, maybe, because of the lack of oxygen.
The evening cool of Konoha finds Kakashi and Sakura chatting mindlessly about the restaurant and their meal, walking home side-by-side. They fade into a companionable silence, Kakashi reading
Icha Icha Violence
and Sakura contentedly taking in the comfortable atmosphere of the village. Soon enough they find themselves at their building. Kakashi pauses and glances sideways towards his student, finding her to be waiting knowingly for him to speak.
“Team Seven will be having their first complete training session at noon tomorrow, Training Ground Five. Should I expect you to be there?”
He watches her reaction carefully - it could be too soon after what happened with the spar, after all, and he doesn’t want to push her limits. Sakura’s brows furrow, and her smile fades as she absently reaches up to run a hand through her hair.
“I guess so,” is her final response. She’d rather it be sooner than later - she didn’t exactly fancy waiting anxiously if she could just get it out of the way. After a quick ‘I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then’ from Kakashi and a ‘Sleep well’ from Sakura, the two shinobi enter their respective apartments and prepare for the night.
Morningtime finds Sakura in her kitchen, fiercely debating with herself.
Upon waking up and making her way to said kitchen, she realizes
Goddamnit, there’s still no food, I forgot
, and is currently trying to convince herself that she can’t just eat food pills for breakfast.
You’re in a village right now, Sakura. In peacetime. You shouldn’t consume that many food pills if there is an alternative. What did your liver ever do to you?
Grudgingly, she leaves the artificial mix of chemicals in her pouch, eyes the clock -
11:15 AM
- and heads to Training Ground Five.
That reminds me, I need to apologize to the Sandaime. That’s got to be- what, the fourth time I’ve destroyed that
one
training ground?
Determining to speak to him later, Sakura continues on to the grounds, arriving thirty minutes before Team Seven is set to arrive. She observes the space critically; there’s a wide, lazily-flowing river, but for the most part, it’s just a large grassy clearing, surrounded by trees. She absently flickers to the top of one nearby, internally freaking out about what to expect. As she struggles to grasp at the concept that she’s about to meet not only
herself
, but her brother and attempted murderer as young genin that have done nothing and know nothing, she’s forced back into reality by the sound of said genins’ arrival.
It’s Naruto her eyes find first, his bright blue eyes reflecting the sunlight, signature goofy smile in place on his countenance. He walks onto the grounds with his hands clasped behind his head, and her eyes nearly mist over seeing that carefree and cheery aura back in place (though in this time, it technically never left); he opens his mouth and turns to the young girl next to him.
That’s *me*
is the first thought upon seeing herself - and isn’t that surreal - followed quickly by
Oh god, thats
me.
The pinkette is taller than Naruto, but that’s about all she’s got going for her right now; the adult Sakura can clearly see the lack of muscle definition, the impracticality of her hair and
oh god that dress
rings in her head as her face scrunches up in response to her internal cringe.
Finally, she sees
him.
Glossy, raven-black hair, permanent scowl, angsty aura, and shadowy onyx eyes. She steels herself, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply, an internal mantra of
he’s just a genin, he’s just a genin, he hasn’t lost his mind yet, he’s just a genin
rushing through her head at the instinctive rage upon seeing those eyes.
Sakura forces herself to ignore the primal fight-or-flight response, berates herself for responding in such a way to a
twelve-year-old
, and opens her eyes once more for a closer look. Upon further inspection, she sees the warmth in those jet-black eyes, the concealed amusement in his features as his pink-haired teammate shouts for the umpteenth time “
no,
Naruto, you
can’t fill an explosive tag with ramen, are you kidding me?!”
Sasuke is just a kid. A traumatized, hurting kid.
It’s up to her to treat him like one.
With that thought, she begins to regain control of her emotions; even the good ones - it wouldn’t do for her introduction to this Team Seven to leave them suspicious, and nothing shouts “what the fuck” like a stranger looking at you as if she’s seeing a ghost.
Forty minutes later and she recognizes Kakashi’s chakra draw near, and
wow, isn’t that a new record,
but he makes no move to show himself to his team. Looking up from her own tree and zeroing in on his position, she sees him glancing between her and Team Seven with a raised brow, which Sakura translates as “well? You first”.
Sakura’s eyes narrow and she stubbornly hunkers down on her tree branch, daring Kakashi to begin a battle of wills with her. Kakashi only looks amused as he also readjusts in his tree, maintaining eye contact, and putting on what Sakura saw as an
absolutely infuriating
smile. After twenty whole minutes of Kakashi too stubborn to be the first to move and Sakura just too stubborn to concede (the branch is poking her in the back, for God’s sake, why can’t Kakashi just
fucking move
), Sakura lets out a barely-audible growl of frustration and hisses out “Fine.
Fine.
” between clenched teeth. Pushing herself off of the tree a bit too forcefully, she Shunshins down to the unsuspecting team.
Sasuke is immediately at attention, as suspected from a boy who’s constantly on edge. Naruto stares at her with those wide blue eyes, looking at her as if she just performed some amazing jutsu, and Sakura’s young counterpart is looking hesitantly between her and Sasuke, simply trying to gauge his reaction and respond accordingly.
“Who are you,” Sasuke demands bluntly, eyes sharp and his body shifting to an offensive posture.
Outwardly, the time-traveller tilts her head, her features looking nothing but calm- inwardly, she’s freaking out.
Shit! What the hell am I supposed to say, ‘I’m Sakura Haruno’? Why didn’t I think of a name beforehand? Am I an idiot?!
Sakura Haruno, jounin of Konohagakure, panicked over a cover name for a whole five seconds, covering her indecision with a facade of ‘I’m not panicking, I’m simply observing the team’, before finally opening her mouth to reply.
“Amano Haruko,” she says at last. Kakashi chooses this moment to flicker beside her, heavily clapping a hand on her shoulder.
“Just call her Haru-chan. She really doesn’t mind, and in fact she loves it when-” a strangled sort of choking noise leaves his throat as Haruko puts him in a chokehold quicker than the genin could even see her move. Naruto blinks once, twice, and then laughs so loudly and so freely that it makes Haruko melt just a little. Unfortunately for her, this means that Kakashi had enough space to wriggle out of her grip.
“That was awesome, Haruko-san! Are you going to train us, too?” he asks, his blue eyes shining. For his part, he’s practically radiating excitement- Sasuke, however, remains critical, and Sakura of course is basing her reactions against Sasuke’s. Haruko frowns, internally resolving to break Sakura of her fangirl phase, and turns back to Naruto. She opens her mouth to answer, but she hears Kakashi cut in with a ‘what, am I not good enough for you?’ as Sakura replies with a quick mutter of ‘Maybe it has something to do with you being chronically late’ before again returning her attention to the blonde.
“Yes, Naruto-kun, I’ll be helping to train you three. But,” she raises a hand, cutting off any jubilant shouting on Naruto’s part, “only occasionally. I’m on the mission roster, and I’m not your official Jounin sensei, so I’ll probably be very in-and-out.”
While Naruto rocks back and forth on his heels, excitedly declaring that
with two jounin sensei’s, I’m even closer to Hokage-dom, -ttebayo!
, little Sakura turns to Haruko and timidly asks, “Haruko-san,
are
you a jounin?”
Naruto, realizing that he technically doesn’t have an answer for that either, stops his movement and turns towards Haruko expectantly. Sasuke straightens in interest and Haruko realizes that she isn’t actually wearing her jounin vest, just the same sleeveless black turtleneck and grey sweatpants from yesterday.
“Yes, Sakura-chan, I’m a jounin. Now, I’ll let your sensei tell you what he has planned for the day.”
If anything,
she adds on in her own mind, silently doubting that Kakashi actually had any real training plan.
However, to her surprise, he just nods and says “Today, we’ll be learning the tree-climbing exercise.”
Haruko blinks, mildly taken aback that he’s teaching them this early; she ignores the protests (Just like last time, Naruto complains, Sasuke looks disappointed, and Kakashi amused, until he walks up the tree and Naruto exclaims that it’s one of the coolest things he’s ever seen and demands to be taught). After teaching them the basics of the exercise, Kakashi leaves them to their own devices and begins walking back to Haruko, intent on giving her a moment to process her meeting of the team. He’s stopped, however, by Sakura’s bright voice calling out “Hey, this is easy!”
Shocked, he looks upwards, finding her sitting on a branch at the top of her tree. He looks back down at Haruko, who’s eyebrows twitch in amusement as a smirk plays on her face; the woman then proceeds to step forward and shout up “Come on down, Sakura-chan. I’ll teach you the next step from here while those two figure it out.”
Sakura’s cheeks blush red; Haruko knows that the embarrassment is due to the girl not wanting Sasuke to be mad at her.
Which reminds me, at this age, I’m pretty sure I was still on my ‘Failsafe Sasuke-kun diet
. Haruko internally flinches at her own younger self, promising to break Sakura out of that habit as soon as the opportunity presents itself.
Refocusing on the moment, Haruko takes Sakura across the clearing to the gently-flowing river, walks out onto the surface, and explains that the second phase of this training is water-walking. All she receives in response is a hesitant look before Sakura deftly glances behind her, making sure nobody can hear. Timidly, the girl confesses, “I don’t think I can do this kind of training.”
Haruko smiles softly, knowing that with time, she will help her past self out of her self-doubt. Gently, she says “I know you can do it, Sakura-chan.” Knowing that she is best taught and assured through facts, Haruko continues, “To tell you a secret - not even your
sensei
finished the tree exercise on his first try.”
Sakura’s eyes widen in disbelief, hope and trepidation filling those jade pools in equal parts. She looks back at Kakashi before returning her gaze to Haruko, a stunned “really?” falling from her lips.
“Really, I promise. You have incredible chakra control, Sakura-chan. You just need to believe in yourself.”
Sakura pauses in thought before a hesitant sort of light enters her eyes, her incredulous expression being replaced with one of soft determination. She steps out, softly, and immediately sinks in the ankle-deep shallows, slips on the rocks, and faceplants into the water. She comes up, spluttering, and looks immediately to Haruko with a fierce redness on her face. She’s surprised, however, when she doesn’t find the disappointment she expects; instead, the black-haired woman is regarding her with the same soft, encouraging smile as before. Haruko’s only response is a soft nod of assurance; now, no longer worrying about being in trouble, Sakura focuses on what just happened. The look in her eyes shifts towards analytical as she remembers exactly what went on in her body, the realization of her mistake coming to her nearly instantly.
Water isn’t
still
like a tree is,
she thinks, recalling the way she could feel the water move beneath her; this time, she’d get a feel for the flow, first.
Pushing herself up completely, she walks out of the shallows and back to the shore, pausing to concentrate her chakra. She gently puts one foot on the surface of the water, not yet stepping with her weight, and sends her chakra downwards.
There,
Sakura thinks, as she feels the ebb and flow of the water and gently redirects her own chakra to match the rhythm. Pausing only to gather up her confidence, she inhales and steps out once more. This time, she makes two wobbly steps before falling and slipping on the river-rocks, but when Sakura rights herself this time, all Haruko sees on her face is pride and a new sense of determination. Satisfied, Haruko walks back to shore, telling Sakura to do her best, and heads for where Kakashi is reading underneath a tree.
“Hard at work, I see.”
Kakashi laughs, not bothering to look up from his reading. His peripherals register the shape that settles next to him, and they settle in a comfortable silence.
After a few chapters of
Icha Icha
, Kakashi breaks the quiet with a soft and casual “so, how are you dealing?”
Haruko breathes deeply and considers her answer.
“Mostly, I’m just not thinking about it. I’ll likely process it later, but… you know, it’s all at once just as bad and not at all as bad as I thought it would be.” She contemplates going further, explaining more, but she admits to herself that deep down she just really doesn’t want to think about it right now; instead, she settles on redirecting the conversation.
“The kids will be at it for a few hours. I didn’t do it last night, so how about I fix your eye now?”
Kakashi, content to take what he’s given, simply asks if she’s sure that it’s okay to perform such an operation right here and now.
“I wouldn’t have offered if it wasn’t,” Haruko says, and Kakashi nods. Putting away his book, the copy-nin asks “What do you need me to do?” and Haruko directs him to lay his head in her lap, face up. She removes his hitae-ate, places her hands over his eyes, blocks out the outside world, and begins.
Fixing Kakashi’s eye was just as tedious the second time around - it isn’t exactly
difficult
, but patiently shifting around the nerves and for all intents and purpose
re-structuring
his entire ocular system is slow-going. Two hours later, a mildly stunned and quietly grateful Kakashi can activate and deactivate his sharingan at will.
When she breaks out of her ‘medic mode’, she realizes that the members of Team Seven are still going hard; Sakura is experimenting with differing movement speeds and rougher parts of the river, and Naruto and Sasuke are having the exact same problems as they did last time. Standing up and brushing the dirt off her pants, she decides to head for Naruto first.
Kakashi watches in a curious silence as Haruko walks over to the hyperactive blonde, before it’s all he can do to repress snickering as she uses
ramen
of all things to aid her teaching.
“If you’re making instant Ramen, you put in the water and cover the ramen for three minutes, right? Well, what happens if you try to eat it too early?”
“The noodles are all hard, and they don’t let you mix the rest of the soup in because they stay in that block!”
“Precisely. And if you wait too long?”
“The noodles get squishy and gross and they fall apart as soon as you try to bite them. I think I prefer undercooked instant ramen, at least it’s eatable-”
“Exactly, they squish. Now, imagine the noodles are like the tree, and the wait time is how much chakra you use. If you don’t gather
enough
chakra, the tree has no give and you won’t be able to sync your chakra flow with the flow of the tree. If you gather
too much
chakra, the tree will start to fall apart and explode and generally become a mess.”
Not totally accurate,
Haruko sighs in her own mind,
but it should work.
Soon enough, Naruto is consistently several steps higher, and she’s confident enough to leave him on his own for now.
Now, for the tricky one.
Haruko looks at Sasuke’s increasingly frustrated face, and starts the walk over to his tree. Once she arrives, Sasuke barely acknowledges her presence; likely out of embarrassment, but you never know.
“Sasuke-kun,” she calls up, and
wow isn’t that a throwback
, “come here for a second.”
Though she can see he doesn’t want to leave his training, the boy complies and she soon finds herself looking down at an expectant Sasuke. At this point in time, he wouldn’t be blatantly rude - especially given that he doesn’t really know her, he likely respects her for her jounin status and that, if anything else, will keep him from being too angst-ridden for now.
She tilts her head, thinks back to
her
Team Seven, and tries to remember how Sasuke best learned things.
Well, I know he respects power and status, and he needs to be acknowledged as
Sasuke
instead of
Uchiha
Sasuke. I know he best learns with guidance as opposed to figuring it out on his own, unlike myself and Sakura, and I know he hates being coddled. Here goes nothing, I suppose.
“Try again. This time, really feel your chakra and how it reacts to the energy of the tree,” she instructs, not demanding but clearly not a request, either.
Sasuke seems to consider her for a moment before nodding sharply, turning around to face his tree, and refocusing his chakra. When the bark predictably explodes from the tree, forcing him back and onto the ground below, Haruko sees the boy stare at the tree in concentration. After a few minutes, he walks back to the woman, armed with his conclusion.
“The tree pushed me away,” he says confidently. “I know that’s what happened.”
‘But I don’t know why
’ is the unspoken end of that statement- even at twelve, he’s self conscious due to his genius status, so Haruko carefully keeps her voice free of anything that he may interpret as condescension or kissing-up.
“That’s correct. The tree
did
push you away; this is happening because you’re building up too much chakra and releasing it too forcefully. You’re viewing the tree as something to conquer, and the more your frustration builds, the more unstable and agressive your chakra becomes. You’re not trying to attack the tree, but your chakra is responding as if you are due to your mindset. The tree isn’t in a competition with you, and the exercise isn’t something to beat; if you take a different approach and consider the tree as something to work
with
rather than something to work against, you may find it easier.”
Sasuke takes in the information and glances sideways towards the tree in thought.
“Here, try this,” Haruko offers, walking towards the tree and resting her hand upon the bark.
“Most ninja have an easier time gathering chakra with their hands. Since the key in this exercise is to synchronize with the tree’s natural energy flow, it may help if you feel that flow with your hands first, that way you eliminate the need to initially “feel out” the tree with an area you’re unfamiliar with, like your feet. This way, you know what to look for already instead of going in blind.”
When Sasuke follows suit, resting his hand on the bark and closing his eyes in concentration, Haruko retreats back to the treeline.
“Thanks for the help, sensei,” she says sarcastically, once again settling next to Kakashi, who is contentedly reading his novel.
“Maa, you had it covered.”
Haruko just scoffs, shaking her head in disbelief.
“I’m taking a nap,” she declares. “Wake me when the kids have become S-Rank.”
Haruko closes her eyes and drifts off to the warm sound of Kakashi’s laugh, eager to get some much-needed rest.
When Haruko wakes, the sky has taken on a dusty orange glow. She stretches out her stiff limbs, content to go back to sleep until-
“Well, look who decided to join us. Welcome back to the land of the living.”
Haruko cracks open one eye in disdain, engaging in a brief staring match with Kakashi before deciding it frankly isn’t worth the energy. She stands and stretches out once more and walks over to Team Seven - who, she notices, are currently sitting together with Kakashi in the middle of the clearing.
“We were just taking a break,” Kakashi says, before continuing, “Or rather, trying to.” At that, he turns back to his team, and looks down on them in reprimand.
Confused, she turns to the team, ready to ask what happened, until she hears Naruto grumble “Like we expected to need food, sensei,
seriously
!”
Kakashi, knowing what medics are like, knows before it happens. He covers his ears.
“You
what?!
”
The three genin flinch at Haruko’s fiery voice, the demand clear in her tone.
“You didn’t bring food?!”
“Or water,” Kakashi supplies amusedly, raising his hands in mock surrender when Naruto hisses “
traitor
!” and Sasuke and Sakura practically start throwing kunai at him with their eyes.
“
Or water?!
Come
on
, you three!”
Kakashi chuckles as Haruko reprimands his students, already hearing the beginnings of a lecture on the importance of diet and hydration. She’s just finished with the rant on the importance of staying nourished and always bringing ration bars when, unfortunately for her, her own stomach lets out a loud and angry growl. This, of course, sends Naruto into hysterics- “You can’t even say anything, Haruko-san!” He laughs out as Sakura giggles beside him, Sasuke raising a brow. “Even you don’t have food!”
Embarrassed, Haruko indignantly squeaks out “It’s different!” before regaining her composure, explaining that at least she has an excuse seeing as she doesn’t
have
any food to bring. Kakashi sharply looks at her in question, and Sasuke demands “What do you mean you
don’t have food
” in his own, ‘I’m-totally-not-concerned-I’m-just-confused’ way, as Haruko explains.
“I’ve been out of the village for weeks; I just moved back in two days ago and I’ve been busy tying up loose ends, which haven’t included
grocery shopping
.”
Before anyone else could respond, Kakashi claps his hands together and looks down at his team.
“Well, here’s your first official D-Rank mission as Team Seven!”
Haruko raises a brow as Kakashi smiles at her, and then his ‘cute genin’.
“We’re going grocery shopping.”
Three hours later, Haruko forces open her apartment door, arms completely full of bags. Grocery shopping with Team Seven was… an experience.
Naruto kept trying to sneak every kind of ramen in the entire store into her basket, which Sakura thoroughly berated him for (“ninja need a healthy diet!”); Sasuke somehow made
shopping
look angsty as he grudgingly picked up tomatoes and other vegetables. He picked up an avocado before Sakura had turned to him, stating that it was too high in fat and kunoichi needed to maintain their figure- Haruko had stepped in and decided to use this as a teachable moment for the team and outlined that a good shinobi’s diet should be high in nutrient-dense calories, and contain plenty of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. Sakura had looked unsure; Haruko then subtly motioned for Kakashi to continue on with the two boys of the team. She had crouched down to Sakura’s level and put on a reassuring smile.
“When I was your age, I also liked a boy,” she had begun, ignoring Sakura’s blushing. “I also tried to diet to win his affection. Unfortunately, however, that meant that I didn’t have the energy I needed for missions and training. I learned pretty quickly that I needed to cut it out if I wanted to be able to protect my team. Now I eat around three thousand calories a day.”
Well, I should,
her mind supplied unhelpfully as she took in Sakura’s wide-eyed expression.
“Even occasional sweets are fine; a well-trained and well-fed kunoichi will metabolize it quickly and burn off any excess calories during missions and training.”
At that last bit of knowledge, Sakura had paused to consider before hesitantly nodding.
“Let’s go find the boys,” Haruko said, ushering Sakura out of their aisle.
When they reached the produce section, they found Naruto and Sasuke at each other’s throats about what to buy for Haruko; Naruto was shouting that she needs ramen in her life, and Sasuke shouting that “
nobody
needs ramen in their life, usuratonkachi,” which forced Kakashi to step in before they got themselves kicked out of the store. As Kakashi whisked them off to the grocer, Haruko reminded him that she didn’t exactly have any money to pay for the food- Kakashi just smiled and pulled out his own wallet, citing that the Hokage would reimburse him and therefore the village would be paying for her food.
“After all, it is a mission sanctioned by me,” he stated, internally knowing that the Hokage would surely support his decision to make sure Haruko had such things as
food
.
If not
, he mused internally,
I don’t mind buying her some groceries. The woman traveled through time and is now trying to save
the entire ninja world;
I can pick up her tab once in a while
. Kakashi knew she’d likely hate being the recipient of that kind of charity- the hesitant look on her face told him that - but who said she needs to know?
Haruko conceded then, promising to pay Kakashi back as he pulled the necessary bills out of his wallet and his team put the groceries in bags.
Back to the present, as Haruko awkwardly stumbles through the doorway (
I’m going to need to get that door fixed and it hasn’t even been a week
), she realizes that they went a little bit overboard. Trailing behind her with various levels of difficulty are the members of team seven - Naruto, ever trying to outdo everyone and everything, is trying to carry in a mountain of bags as big as him, ignoring Sasuke’s scowl over his own oversized haul; Sakura walks behind the two with the beginnings of an expression that, if she were older, would be the trademark long-suffering stare of the only female member of the legendary Team Seven. Kakashi, on the other hand, is enviably balanced and poised as he gracefully steps inside.
“What the hell, Hatake,” she mutters, watching as he deftly maneuvers to the kitchen and sets down his bags, Haruko’s own joining his on the counter soon after. “How do you even do that?”
“Language, Haru-chan,” he teases.
“Language, my ass,” she hisses under her breath, quickly turning and plastering a smile on her face as the three youngest enter the kitchen. She takes their bags one at a time until the entire result of the shopping trip is spread out on the counter.
“...Thanks, you guys,” Haruko says distractedly, eyeing how the bags - even pushed together closely as they are - are almost falling off of her counter.
Sakura is the first to speak up.
“Um, I think we overdid it, Haruko-san. Sorry,” she says sheepishly.
Haruko just shakes her head. “Don’t worry about it - this way, I can make sure your sensei actually eats, too,” she says, shooting a pointed glare at Kakashi.
After a brief, mildly awkward silence, Kakashi clears his throat. “Well, It’s time for you three to be getting home, now,” he says with an air of finality.
A quiet chorus of “Okay, sensei,”, a few reluctant ‘goodbye’s, and three “It was nice to meet you, Haruko-san”s later, the noisy Team Seven leaves the apartment, shooting suspicious glances between the two jounin.
“How much do you want to bet they believe we’re secretly dating by the end of the week” is what Kakashi opens with as he starts unloading groceries, startling Haruko into a fit that was some uncharted place between coughing and laughing.
Kakashi cracks a smile at her amusement, opening cabinets and placing things on shelves.
“Honestly, knowing us three as genin, we probably have bets going right now,” Haruko says once she recovers.
“I didn’t expect kid-you to be so proficient in chakra control,” Kakashi says, genuine surprise and a note of question painting his words.
“Sensei, I’m a medic-nin, what did you expect?”
“Not
that,
even
I
didn’t master it that fast.”
“What can I say, Hatake - guess I’ve just been amazing since day one.”
“Yes, Miss Sannin-Sama, miss,” he replies, earning him a swift whack upside the head and a fond smile.
“As much as I’d love to invite you to stay for dinner, Kakashi, I’m afraid that I’d just sleep through it at this rate.”
Kakashi chuckles, knowing that despite its success the day would still have been taxing for her - especially considering her long operation on his eye.
“Alright, Haru. Quick thinking on the name, by the way. I like it. And thanks for my eye.”
With that, Kakashi flickers out of her kitchen before she can reply, leaving a note inscribed ‘make sure you eat’ in his place. Haruko snickers, shaking her head fondly. She smiles through her exhaustion, and, bringing out a cutting board and some simple ingredients, makes her start on dinner. After all, what would her sensei say to her if she didn’t eat?
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
***REWRITE IS UP***Hello friends! I'm sorry this isn't a new chapter, it's always such a frustrating feeling when one of my favorite fics posts a new chapter and I get so pumped only to find it's just some kind of non-story update TuTGood news, though - as I said in the summary, the rewrite is SOLIDLY in the works! I've completed the first chapter and I am filled with inspiration for the rest of it. You'll see that I've combined the first two chapters into one, and hopefully my writing will read a little less.... Teenage angsty? I mean, it's totally still going to be filled with angst because I'm nothing if not a person who never fully outgrew their teenage angst phase, but hopefully it's a little more palatable. Anyways! As i said, the first chapter is up as a new work on my profile, and if you want to read anything after that please check out my other Naruto fic, Saika! It's mostly Sasuke-centric, based on the premise "y'know, what IF Itachi had been honest with Sasuke?" And so instead of torturing Sasuke with Tsumuyomi, he uses it to tell Sasuke the truth. Sort of. I promise it's fun! Thank you all so much if you've gotten this far, and thank you to everyone who has read Kyoukasuigetsu or left kudos, comments, or bookmarked the story i started writing in high school and didn't have the courage to post until years later. You all have been great, and i hope to see you with the rewrite! Thanks so much,-Xweeti