Work Text
The blood dripped from her forced smile as she looked at the horror stricken face of her longest friend. She brushed a tear off the blonde's cheek before succumbing to a coughing fit, blood splattering the ground before her. "Take... care..." Sakura glanced up at her terrified face, "Ino-pig." She coughed again, eyes shuttering shut as her body hit the blood soaked earth.
One can imagine the Haruno's confusion when she opened her eyes, the sun beating down on her body, a stark contrast to the cool earth beneath her. Memories rushed into her head and she bolted upright, her hand grasping at her chest as her breathing increased greatly, turning into gasps of air as she tried to calm herself. She tried to ground herself by looking down towards the grass and her feet. Key word: tried.She stared at the short legs before her, moving her foot to check that they were hers, not that they could've been anyone else's legs anyways, as they were attached to her body. After trying to release the genjutsu she believed to be upon her, each ending in failure, she quickly pulled herself to her feet, stumbling slightly from her lack of practice with her now much smaller proportions. She took shaky steps towards Konoha, towards the place she's called home for years.As she passed gate into Konoha, she spotted the two guards, asleep at their post. She shrugged and walked past them as quietly as possible. They did not stir as she walked past them and into the village. As she made her way through the crowded streets, mind deep in thought. Was she here because some kami thought her to be worthy of a second chance at life? What happened after she died? Is everything still the-. Her thoughts were interrupted by a very familiar voice."SAKURA!" Her mother called out, standing a ways away. Sakura walked towards her, attempting to keep her emotions in check. It was almost too much, to see her mom alive and well, standing before her.She threw herself into her mother's arms for a hug. Mebuki smiled down at her child, picking her up off the ground and looking into her eyes. "I told you not to run off."Sakura smiled at her mom. "I know." Mebuki readjusted her grasp on Sakura and began her walk home.Dinner at the Haruno house was loud, filled with her Kizashi horrible jokes and Sakura's tales about the adventures of her day, while Mebuki placed food in front of everyone. Between every bite was a comment, and today was no difference."Sakura?" She looked at her parents, her mom's hand clasped around her dad's shoulder. "Remember when you told us you wanted to be a shinobi?" Sakura nodded, vague memory of her old childhood dream flowing into her mind. "Well, we enrolled you into the academy!" Mebuki clasped her hands together in joy, watching her child's face for her reaction.Sakura didn't know what to say. To relive the academy again? She didn't know if she really wanted to do that. She kept her thoughts to herself as she threw on a smile. "Thank you so much!" She exclaimed in false joy, pulling her parents into a hug. "I'm gonna get my things ready for it!" She broke the hug and raced up the stairs to her room.Sakura smiled as she threw herself onto her bed, soaking in the familiar space.She decided she would do better to mull over her situation with some anmitsu in front of her. As carefully as possible, she made a 'Sakura' with pillows and a few stuffed animals and tucked it in, assurance that she would not get caught sneaking out. Grabbing a pair of shoes, she slid open her window, slipped them on, and jumped out onto her roof. The night air rushed past her as she jumped down to the street.The dango shop neared in her range of vision as the last of the sun's light disappeared from the horizon. She masked her presence out of habit, making herself as invisible as a pink haired child can get, before walking up to the counter, purchasing some anmitsu and walking towards the corner she usually inhabited, only, there was already someone sitting in her space.She approached the table, giving the boy who sat there a small smile, before asking him if the seat was taken. She knew it wasn't. There was only one other person who was in the shop. He stared at her as she scarfed down her treat, quickly finishing it. With no words spoken between the two, she got up, placing her trash into a rubbish bin before looking back at the boy in the corner. "Maybe I'll see you later!" Her feet hit the ground soundlessly, making her movements seem that of an illusion.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
"Sakura! Wake up. It's your first day at the academy." Mebuki's voice echoed through Sakura's room. She groaned and lifted herself from her bed, the sun streaming through her curtains and brightening her room to obnoxious levels. She swung her legs from underneath her blankets and placed them on the cold floor.She had bought all her things the week before, so, when she opened her closet to grab clothes, she wasn't surprised by the sea of red clothes. She shuffled through the countless qipao dresses her mother insisted on buying her, looking for one specific outfit. It was a pair of black pants, and a shirt that was reminiscent of her chunin days. It was practically designed for good mobility. She slipped on her clothes and reached for her kunai pouch. Her hand grasped the strap before she stopped herself.Her mom came into view as she reached the top of the staircase. The house smelled of eggs and toast, making Sakura's stomach growl from hunger."There you are." Mebuki walked to her daughter, pushing her to the table. "Hurry up and eat so we're not late."After sitting at the table, and thanking her mother for the food, she began shoveling eggs into her mouth at ridiculous speeds. In just three minutes, she had finished her plate, and gotten up to wash it and put it away. Her mom was surprised when she raced to the front door to put on her shoes, only five minutes after she began eating. She slipped out the door, quickly followed by her mom.The crowd of students to be filled the front lot of the academy, the sea of children surrounded by their parents and future instructors. The Hokage stood on a platform, welcoming everybody to the academy. Sakura watched the crowd, looking for promising students that could be competition. She followed them as they moved inside, students following their respective teachers into the building.Her Sensei stood at the front of the room, staring about as the rest of the class chatted quietly to one another. "How about you all introduce yourself and say your dream for the future." No one looked at him, save Sakura herself. "Alright, we'll go by number."She waited for the teacher to call out her name, preparing her dream for the future. Once, in a past like, she would've said to marry Sasuke. But that dream faded years ago, after he betrayed the village and left her for dead. The next dream she had was to keep her friends alive, as she only had a few that remained in the realm of the living. But this was a new life, a new start, and she was going to change the future for everybody. She heard her name, pulling her from her thoughts."My name is Haruno Sakura, and my dream is to keep my people safe and save the lives of as many as possible." It was wishful thinking, she knew, but the world she had seen, the people she had lost... she didn't want to experience it again. Not when it could be avoided. Several people whispered about her, about her hair, her dream, her name, but they ceased as the teacher called out the next person's name."Uchiha Itachi."He stood and walked to the front of the room, Sakura gazing at him with her piercing green eyes. "I'm Uchiha Itachi. My dream is..." His voice faltered, attracting the gaze of his teacher."It's alright. Go on," The teacher urged, and Sakura watched as he began again."I want to be the greatest ninja ever, great enough that I can erase all the fighting from this world." Sakura let out a sad sigh as she watched Itachi retreat to his seat while the mechanic applause of their peers filled the room. If only it were possible, she thought, for the world to be at peace."Alright, now that we all know each other," he began a quick overview of the course. "You'll be learning about all the aspects of being a ninja at this academy." Sakura laughed in her head, thinking of all the things she should've learned but didn't until she was in the field.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Sakura Haruno made a name for herself quickly, known competitor with Itachi Uchiha as top in class. She hid her main abilities from the academy, but every once in a while they were released, hence her ranking in first in taijutsu. She was compared to the likes of Itachi Uchiha, the top student in the academy.When she had first met Itachi, it had been in the Dango shop. The meeting, though pure coincidence, was shocking at first once she learned the identity of the mysterious boy from the corner. To think that, in less than ten years, he would be a murderer, the reason Sasuke left and the reason the Uchiha were gone. She decided, that was why she was sent to here, to now. She was to change the past. When Itachi Uchiha approached her, asking for her help training, her face bore a confused expression, before morphing into a great smile, eyes shining. "Sure!"The other children began teasing her more after that, teasing her about her every breath, mostly out of jealousy because of her time spent with Itachi. She paid them no mind, their insults nothing compared to the likes of that she has faced. A few times, she had been approached by Izumi Uchiha, who was curious of Itachi's whereabouts during the days he knew they all had off. She had no answer for her, sure the Uchiha prodigy would wish for their training sessions to remain secret."That was good, but your stance is still a bit too stiff." Itachi declared, eyeing her kunai as they hit the targets, almost dead center.She looked at him with confusion, but said nothing as he came over and showed her a more proper form again. This process repeated, Sakura throwing the kunai, Itachi criticizing her technique and helping her adjust her position, then making comments on the results."Alright. That's enough with me. We'll take a break then start with improving your taijutsu.""Hn." Sakura shook her head at the Uchiha, who took to leaning against the nearest tree. She laid down on the grass, blocking the sun with her forearm, resting the other one on the ground. She lazily blinked a few times before looking back at Itachi. He was resting peacefully against the tree, feet barely touching the edge of the shade it cast. She watched as the sun hit the sole of his shoe before pulling herself up, muttering. "Alright, let's get to it then!" "Itachi!" She called out to him, his eyes opening, at his name. "We got work to do!"They fought, though Sakura did not attack him, but danced around his motions, tagging him with light taps every time she had an opening. He grew frustrated at her, and she smiled, seeing his attacks become more impulsive, instead of the calculated attacks he was striking with before. Sakura took her chance, striking Itachi with an actual attack across his head. He fell, grasping it in pain as she knelt over him. He took her outstretched hand and she pulled him up without difficulty."Teach me how to do that." He demanded, staring at the pink haired kunoichi in training. She smirked at his eagerness, reaching her hand to pat his head."Maybe once you can land an attack on me, Itachi." She laughed at his pouting face at her words. "Lets go get some dessert and head back to class before they notice, ne?" His pout morphed into a smile, following her out of the training grounds and into Konoha.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It was during a similar training session, where she met Shisui Uchiha. The academy students were working on their aim, Sakura's aim being at Itachi's level, they thought it would be productive to train on the same thing. As the kunai hit the targets, another person made their presence known. He glanced at the targets before whistling at their success."That was pretty good!" Sakura smiled weakly as Itachi broke into a great grin. Then, as if he had just taken notice of Sakura, and had not acknowledged her existence moments ago, Shisui stepped towards Sakura, then looked between her and Itachi grinning deviously. "Itachi, I didn't know you had a girlfriend."Itachi glared at him, as if strongly willing him to catch fire. It was a familiar glare. A horrifying glare that brought up horrifying memories."Hn. Pathetic. You can't even hit me." Sasuke sneered at Naruto as he attacked again, his fist missing their former teammate as he stepped to the side. Sakura was ignored, she was still too weak to compare to them, there was no way she could think of winning in a head-on fight against one of them.She knew what she needed to do, though it broke her soul. She had to end him before he ended everything."RASENGAN" Naruto's loud jutsu was the perfect distraction, and as Sakura saw the direction Sasuke dodged, she jumped into action. She ran behind him, her speed unknown to the boys engaged in battle. She paid no mind to the loud crash as Rasengan hit the rocky earth, just as she paid no mind to the massive crater it had left. Her eyes never left her Sasuke, no, her prey. He did not notice her, not until she was behind him, and her hand that wielded a chakra scalpel was against his neck. The widening of his eyes was not noticed by her, however the hitch of his breath as she took her hand through his neck, severing his head was something she heard all too well."S-Sakura?" Naruto stared at her, fear and confusion swirling in his eyes. Her arm was drenched in blood, as was the body on the ground in front of her. She grimaced at the sight, before looking into the blonde's brilliant blue eyes."What is done is done." Sakura said, her voice matching the dull gleam in her eyes.It was a mistake on his part. Everyone knew it as the air around Sakura darkened. She jumped behind Itachi with speed Shisui had never seen in a genin, pressing the side of her hand against his neck. His shock kept him still, the hand against his throat unbelievably sharp for the soft flesh it should've been. As soon as it happened, it was over, Sakura's hand retreating from his neck as she blinked, as if she wasn't entirely there before."I, uh, sorry about that." She said, peering at her friend. "I didn't damage anything, did I?""No. I'm fine." Itachi took in her appearance again, taking notice of the darkened look in her eyes."That was a pretty dangerous attack, you know. You could've killed him." Shisui glanced at her in a ready stance. Concern for Itachi, along with suspicion of Sakura, filled his eyes.She crossed her arms. "Listen, it was an acciden-" Memories rushed through her head, though it was from the academy, and not from the past life she had lived.Her clone had disappeared, it's memories filling her head. There was a fight. Itachi's clone was still there, her clone sacrificed it's life for him. Figures as much. She threw on a slight smile, one that didn't reach her eyes. She knew they could see through it, but it did make her feel more in control of the situation. "Fuck."The boys turned to face her, Shisui lowered his weapon, keeping it in fighting range just in case, and Itachi stared at her like she'd just insulted his mother."Itachi, we must go now." He nodded and she directed her gaze to Shisui, who was still scrutinizing her form. They met eyes, his analytical black ones to her darkened green ones "You can ask questions later, we have pressing matters to attend to." The pair walked past him and he shunshined to the tree, watching as the girl lead Itachi through the woods on the border of the Uchiha compound.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Sprinting past the people in town to get to the ninja academy without getting caught is a lot easier than you would think, considering the mass of ninja that are constantly in the village."After you?" Sakura gestured to Itachi, then the window.He climbed in, chakra gathered in the soles of his feet to prevent slipping as he jumped in. Sakura followed quickly after, climbing in through the window of their classroom just in time to see their panicked sensei run in, take a glance at them as if he had seen a ghost, and silently turned around to leave the room. Whoops.Sakura gestured to their seats, which sat on opposite sides of the almost empty classroom. Several students sat in a circle, gossiping as they ate their lunch, but none of them took notice of the pair sneaking in through the window.'They'll be shit shinobi when the grow up, ignoring their surroundings like that.' Sakura coughed in her hand, one of the kids looked towards her, sneered, and brought her attention back to her lunch.They were about to sit in their respective seats when their now slightly composed sensei ran back in. "Haruno, Uchiha, follow me." Some of the other kids in the class, who had not noticed their presence before looked up at them as they walked towards the door.Their sensei turned towards them after shutting the door. "That was a jonin rank jutsu. Where did you learn it?" Itachi glanced at Sakura, who stared at the teacher with a stony expression."Itachi?""Sakura showed me how."The teacher stared disapprovingly at the pink haired girl. She continued to stare back, unnerving him."I taught Itachi the jutsu, because I believed he could use it without injuring himself.""That doesn't change the fact that it is a high rank jutsu that academy students have no business knowing."Sakura shrugged. "I read a lot of books."The teacher stared at her in frustrated disbelief. "Fine. Return to your class. You'll stay behind after school to discuss this more.""Yes sir."They turned toward the door, Itachi reaching out to open it for Sakura. They entered, ignored once again by the group sitting in the back. The bell rang above head and they made their way to their tables just as the rest of the class walked in, chatting loudly amongst themselves.The pair made eye contact as the teacher cleared his throat, quieting the masses, before beginning a long lecture on the importance of mathematics and its practical applications in the shinobi world.*<>*The doors of the Hokage's office bust open, revealing a breathless chunin carrying a small file. He bowed before the table before speaking."Lord Hokage sir, I have some news for you." The chunin straightened out before continuing. "I believe there are two students whose talents are being wasted in the academy."Danzo stiffened in his chair before leaning forward. Hiruzen motioned for him to continue. "Report.""Sir, students Uchiha Itachi and Haruno Sakura are more than ready to graduate the academy. Along with the basic clone jutsu, they already show mastery of the forbidden Shadow Clone Jutsu. They are the top two students in their year, excelling in all subjects. There is no purpose for them to remain in the academy.""Aren't they only freshmen?" Hiruzen said questioningly."That doesn't matter.This has happened before." Danzo spoke up, eyeing Hiruzen from his seat."That was a different era, this is not the age of war, old friend.""The girl is brilliant, no?" Danzo asked the chunin."Yes.""So then it'd be better for her to graduate then." Hiruzen sat back in his chair. "Very well. The girl may graduate."The chunin stood for a moment in silence before realizing the implications of what was said. "And what of the Uchiha?""I suppose that-" Danzo cut him off."With all due respect, Lord Hokage, would it not be better for the Uchiha to graduate than for the civilian girl? She is, after all, and unknown, and may not be up to the lifestyle of a shinobi." He shifted his gaze towards the other elders that nodded with his every word. "I say we keep her in the academy for at least another semester to better gauge her abilities."The chunin glanced back and forth between the two speakers before shuffling the papers in his hands."Very well." Hiruzen motioned for the chunin to bring the files closer. He pulled out the one on Uchiha Itachi, stamping it with approval for graduation. "Uchiha Itachi is approved to graduate at end of term, and Haruno Sakura is to be watched for another semester at the academy."The chunin gathered up the files before escaping through the door..<>.As the end of day bell rung, Sakura stayed in her seat, but placed her books back into her bag. A quick glance in the direction of Itachi told her he did the same, choosing to flip a kunai in and out of his hand.After a good 10 minutes, their teacher stepped into the room, glancing at the two children before walking to the front of the room. Gaining the pair's attention by clearing his throat, he began speaking."You two were were reckless today. Your use of the Shadow Clone Jutsu could've been cause of major injury to you or your fellow students. However," he stared directly at Sakura, "your clones managed to protect your peers, and so I see little reason to punish you."Sakura smirked as the teacher glared intensely at them in attempts to scare them. "That being said-" He walked towards the front row of seats, "If you attempt anything of the sorts again whilst under my tutelage, you will be held for detention after school for a month.""Alright but," She stared at him, her gaze unyielding as sweat formed on the top of his forehead. "Your intimidation tactics need a bit more work." She smiled at him as he gulped.A knock at the door shook him out of her gaze."I'll take my leave now. Haruno, you are free to head home. Uchiha, stay put." He quickly made his way out of the room, shivering slightly as he felt Sakura's eyes on his back."Hey Itachi, why do you think you have to stay here longer?" He shrugged. "Well, when you find out, tell me, alright?""Hn.""Thanks!"Sakura grabbed her things and made her way towards the teacher's desk. With Itachi distracted by his kunai once again, she grabbed the files that were laying across the wood and headed out the window. With the file tucked under one arm, she turned back to wave at him."See you later, Itachi!"
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
All in all, Shisui would say his day was going pretty damn well. He had just finished doing paperwork, and was definitely looking forward to sparring and training the two brats that had made their way into his life again. He shunshined to a tree just outside the academy, waiting for the pair to come out. Three minutes after the bell had rung, there was still no sign of them, so he took to changing his position on the branch, stretching out his legs as he waited, scanning the academy grounds.His attention was caught by a bright flash of pink. There was Sakura, making an exit from a window, holding something in her hands and making her way to the roof. He cupped his hands around his mouth, forgetting the fact that he was hidden to anbu standards in a tree, and went to yell out her name. He was stopped however, by a slight movement of the girls hand. It was a simple movement, one many would not recognize, but, Shisui was not many people.He had just been told, in jonin sign, to be quiet by someone who shouldn’t be able to see him, nevertheless know jonin code. So he stayed in the tree for a few more seconds before appearing next to the girl on the roof. She doesn’t even turn her head in acknowledgement, so he clears his throat. She shoots a glare at him before moving closer to the window. Listen, she whispered, pointing to the open window below her, and because he’s curious, Shisui does. He inched closer to Sakura’s perch, trying to listen in on what she was paying attention to.“-select students, all of whom judged by their teachers to hold a specific prowess, have been permitted to take the graduation exam.""Uchiha Itachi, after careful consideration, you have been permitted to take the Graduation Exam. If you pass the exam, you will be allowed to attend the Graduation Ceremony with the other graduates and be assigned duties as Genin of Konohagakure."Shisui’s heart dropped at the implications of the chunin’s words. To let such a young child into this field, with no more than a year of academy lessons under his belt, was just idiocy. Sakura ran a hand through her hair, staring at the roof before looking up at Shisui, her face painted in muted surprise. He caught her gaze before shunshining away; a silent follow me.He didn’t travel far, only to the front of the school, but she was almost right behind him the whole wayHe gazed at the girl, who was not looking at him but at the academy doors.“Shisui!” Itachi said as he approached the pair. “Are you here to train with me again?”“I was, but then you took so long to leave I had to settle with her for the moment.” Shisui pointed to Sakura, who mumbled something about being able to kick his ass.Itachi gazed at them before focusing on Shisui. “You didn’t settle for her,” the pair looked towards him in confusion, “she settled for you.” Sakura shot out a snort of laughter at the expression on Shisui’s face, before dodging his arm as he reached out to grab her. Itachi did not such thing, leading to multiple scuff marks on his shoes as he was dragged to the training grounds, closely followed by the pink haired girl.They worked on taijutsu, getting tips from Shisui occasionally, until sundown, when Shisui stopped them in their tracks.“It’s getting late, we should head back home.”Sakura nodded at him and they began to collect the various weapons spread around the training grounds. Sakura counted all her kunai and shuriken before waving towards the Uchiha boys.“Bye guys! See you tomorrow?” Shisui looked up at her and smiled, Itachi stared at the ground in contemplation.“Yeah!” Shisui replied, poking Itachi in the side. “Say goodbye Itachi, Sakura is leaving.”Itachi looked up at Sakura, looked to Shisui, then back to Sakura before calling, “Would you like to come over for dinner.”Shisui blinked, taking in his younger cousin’s words. Just as he opened his mouth to comment, Itachi spoke again.“My mother wants to meet you.”Sakura smiled, shooting a glare at Shisui before replying. “Of course!”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Itachi started walking towards his house, then stopped, turning back to look at Sakura, who was not following him like he thought. Instead, she was staring at the trees in the direction of her house."I have to tell my parents. They'll worry if I'm not home before dark." She frowned and Itachi sulked a bit."Don't worry Sakura, I can take you home so you can ask, then take you to Itachi's if you want." Shisui smiled at her before patting Itachi on the head. "So can you tell Auntie Mikoto she'll be having guests over?"Itachi grinned, batting away Shisui's hand with his own. He began to make his way to his house, then stopped, turning towards Shisui in an almost accusing way. "Guests? Shisui, are you trying to stay for dinner again?"He put his hands up, "You got me, Itachi, I can't stay away. Your mom's cooking is just too good." Itachi's blank look made his smile widen before he turned to Sakura. "So, what do you say squirt, dinner at Itachi's?"And that's how Sakura ended up leading an Uchiha boy to her parents house under the darkening sky. She leapt from the rooftops, chakra preventing her from damaging her legs and falling. Shisui ran beside her, watching as the girl made minute adjustments to her chakra exertion with every jump, ensuring her safe landing. The sheer control she would need over her chakra to do such a feat, it was impressive, especially for a six year old.When she stopped abruptly, it was only Shisui's quick reflexes that prevented him from running into her. She jumped down from the roof, landing quietly on the street below. Shisui followed, confused, as she wove her way through the alleys and backstreets."We're here." She stopped in front of a small house, civilian in appearance, complete with window gardens and floral blinds.She lead him to the back, stripping herself of her weapons and stashing them behind a flowerpot. Shisui waited for an explanation."My dad doesn't like shinobi. I know that he agreed put me in the academy to humor me and my mother, but he expects me to be a proper lady and marry rich when I'm older." She scrunched up her face. "As if. That'd be super boring."She stepped into the house. Sighing in relief as she only felt the chakra signature of her mother. "Mother, I'm back." Mebuki appeared in an instant, taking in the appearance of her daughter, and the boy behind her."Sakura! Do you have any idea how late it is?" Sakura grimaced and pulled Shisui front and center."Mother, this is Shisui. His cousin invited me to dinner and I couldn't refuse. May I go?"Mebuki scanned the boy, taking note of the Uchiha features that he possessed. "Very well. Be respectful to them.""Thank you mother."Shisui followed Sakura as she made her way to her room, grunting indignantly as he was shoved head first through the doorway before she shut it quickly."Father. How are you?" Shisui heard the shuffling of feet as she walked towards the front of the house again."Fine." Heavier footsteps made their way to the back of the house. "Tell your mother to bring me something to eat.""Yes, father." A door shut and Sakura made her way back to her room and the ever so patient Shisui."Well, he seems nice.""He's better drunk.""Should you tell your mother?""She probably heard." Sakura nodded towards the window. "After you?"The pair jumped out the window, and Shisui took the lead, guiding Sakura to the outskirts of the Uchiha Compound. Inside, the streets bustled with life, despite the late hour, and several small children ran about, tripping people up as they sprinted by. It was like a second village hidden in konoha, and it was beautiful. She was lead to the front of a large, well maintained, house.As if she had sensed their arrival -and by all means she probably did- Mikoto Uchiha opened the door."Hey Auntie!" Shisui smiled at the black haired woman."Shisui! It's good to see you again." She looked down at Sakura. "And you must be Sakura! Come in, dinner will be ready soon."Sakura took a step outside, following the two Uchihas into the house, placing her sandals next to the others that lined the entryway. Mikoto left to the kitchen, so Sakura followed Shisui to the dining room, where he pulled up a chair and gestured for her to sit down. When she did, he got up to head to the kitchen."Can I assume you are going to stay for dinner?" Mikoto said, tending to a pot on the stove."Yep!""Honestly Shisui, you should have dinner with your family more.""What can I say Auntie, your food is the best."Several minutes passed, and someone entered the dining room. Sakura flickered her gaze to the man who had entered, watching as she took in her presence with slight disapproval. She shifted awkwardly before saying a quiet 'hello'. The only acknowledgement she got was a slight nod and a quiet grunt. Thankfully, Mikoto entered the room, followed by Itachi and Shisui, carrying various dishes of food.Mikoto sat across from Sakura, Itachi taking up the seat next to his mother and Shisui across from him. They all mumbled a small prayer before taking up their chopsticks and digging into the meal. Fugaku was silent as Shisui talked about the various things he and Itachi had done. Mikoto laughed at her eldest son, before turning to Sakura."So, Sakura, how is dinner?""It's delicious!" She said, swallowing the bite she had just taken."That's great. I was worried letting Shisui help cook might ruin at least part of the meal."Sakura laughed quietly as Shisui gave her a look of betrayal."You said my food was amazing." He shot out accusingly, staring at Itachi."I said it was amazing that you could make food."Sakura broke out laughing, and suddenly, she didn't feel so awkward sitting at a table with the Uchiha clan head staring her down. Without the awkwardness about her, dinner seemed to pass on by much faster. In what seemed like moments, but was probably more than half an hour, plates were empty, and Mikoto began to grab dishes to take to the kitchen. Sakura grabbed her own, and followed dutifully after, ducking into the kitchen and making her way to the kitchen."Oh Sakura, you didn't have to do that dear, you're the guest." Sakura shrugged."It's no trouble. Besides, it's always nice to have a hand in these kinds of things." Sakura stuck her dishes into the sink, moving to get the sponge."Now none of that." Mikoto brushed her hand away. "You are a guest." With those words, Fugaku made his way into the kitchen, holding the rest of the dishes from the table. This, Sakura noted, was the time for her to leave.She thanked Mikoto and Fugaku before heading towards the entryway, where Shisui sat with Itachi, pulling their shoes on. Once Sakura had done the same, Shisui called out a goodbye, and motioned for Sakura to follow him out the door.After a good 10 minutes, they were at Sakura's house. She waved them a goodbye, gave Itachi a quick thank you, and jumped on the roof and out of sight. The Uchiha boys waited a few moments before she appeared again, holding her weapon pouch in her hand."I'll see you tomorrow. Same place?""Yeah! Goodnight Sakura!" Shisui called, watching as she slipped into the open window of her room with a practiced grace..<>."I like her. She needs to come over more often."Fugaku stared at his wife in confusion."Oh don't be like that." She pointed the soapy knife at her husband. "You know I'm right."At his nod, she turned back towards the sink, plotting.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Sakura smirked as Itachi ran after her, their hearts pounding from exertion as they neared the great walls of the Uchiha Compound. Urging herself to go faster. Sakura rushed forward into the compound, immediately dodging left to avoid anyone that might be out on the main roads.The elders of the clan didn't like her being there too much, with her being a civilian and all. She has no business here, they once said to Fugaku when she was over, and Mikoto gripped her shoulder tightly. She was the wife of the Uchiha Clan head, and so she did not speak, but her wavering gaze at Fugaku spoke volumes. 'Get them out,' it said, 'I don't care what they have to say.' Fugaku was always one to follow the whims of his elders, but he knew to not cross his wife. She didn't carry the title of Jounin just because, no matter that she was a housewife as soon as she married, he knew she still trained when she had the time, and knew no one could see her.She had done so much for Sakura in the short amount of time she had known her, so when she skidded to a halt just before the entryway of the house, she all but threw open the door calling, "I'm back!""Welcome back, Sakura!" Mikoto called from the kitchen. By the smell of it, she was cooking fish for dinner, and Sakura was glad her parents gave her permission to stay out for long amounts of time after the first few weeks of her training with Shisui and Itachi. She pulled off her shoes, put on the house slippers - Mikoto swears to Fugaku she never bought them specifically for Sakura - and walks into the kitchen, taking note of the tiny Sasuke on the floor just out of the way of Mikoto's feet.Just as he reached forward for her legs, Itachi's 'I'm home.' filled the air, and Sasuke shifted his direction to the doorway as Mikoto replied, "Welcome home, Itachi!"He nodded in her direction and moved to pick Sasuke up, the younger brother all but attaching himself to the elder. Mikoto laughed at Itachi's mild protest as Sasuke yanked tightly on his growing hair before returning to the food cooking on the stove.Itachi and Sakura left the kitchen for the living room, dragging along Sasuke to keep him out of Mikoto's way - not because he wouldn't let go of Itachi's hair or anything - they plopped down on the couches. Sakura pulled a book off of one of the nearby shelves, and, looking at Itachi as if asking permission, waited for a nod before leaning back and opening up to the first page.She had made it to chapter three when Mikoto called them back in to set the table. Itachi shuffled past Sakura to place Sasuke in his crib, leaving her alone as she made her way through the dining room and into the kitchen. As soon as she stepped foot into the kitchen, she was overwhelmed by the sight of dishes upon dishes of food. Her wide green eyes made contact with Mikoto's amused black ones."I may have gone a bit overboard." She sighed, then brightened up. "Maybe you can take some home to your parents, Sakura! I'm sure they'd love it!" Sakura went to open her mouth in protest, but Mikoto turned to the cupboards and pulled out several stacks of various dishes, placing them on an empty spot on the counter. "Take these and set the table, then come help me bring all of this out." Mikoto ordered, handing Sakura four sets of dinnerware.Dutifully, Sakura began setting the table, retreating to the kitchen when Itachi stepped in wordlessly and took over. She approached the Uchiha matriarch, who handed her several steaming dishes and told her to place them in the middle of the table, and to be careful to not burn herself. This process was repeated until Fugaku announced his arrival and Mikoto quietly told Sakura to go bring the rest of the food out with Itachi while she went to greet him.When Fugaku sat down in the dining room, bright pink from the doorway caught his eye. The pink child was back again, he noted, and was likely to stay for dinner again, if the extra table setting said anything."Welcome home." Mikoto said, bringing in a plate of food, followed closely by Itachi and Sakura, who were carrying a container of sake and water respectfully. They set their items down onto the table before sitting down.Dinner that night was less awkward than the first time, though it was quiet with the lack of Shisui's comments. After several minutes of quiet, Mikoto made eye contact with Sakura and waited for her to swallow before asking, "So, Sakura, how's school going?" Sakura grinned, ignoring Fugaku as he turned his full attention to the conversation between the two."It's going well! It's a bit boring, but Sensei lets me read whatever I want so I don't really mind.""Oh, and what kinds of things have you been reading?"Sakura took another bite of her fish before responding. "Nothing too big, mostly upper level books on Chakra theory. They're quite interesting."Fugaku swallowed his sake before joining into the conversation. "I hear you are quite advanced for your age. Itachi praises you often." Sakura gave Itachi a questioning stare, to which he responded with a flush of embarrassment. "Are you set to graduate early?"Sakura thought back to the folders she had borrowed from the teachers desk. They were the student files from their class. Itachi's happened to have less paperwork than hers, but that was because of the required civilian enrollment forms her parents had had to fill out in the beginning of the year. Itachi's file had a stamp across his paperwork. Approved, it said, and Sakura knew it was for early graduation. Her file had no such stamp, instead a small, declined, pressed neatly into the upper leftmost corner."Not yet. I am aiming for that though." Fugaku seemed pleased with her answer, but Mikoto seemed confused by her confession."You're not graduating yet?" She asked, placing her chopsticks down and facing the pink haired child fully. "Why? You are as good as Itachi, even better in some areas." Fugaku made a slight noise of protest as Mikoto continued. "Do they not see your potential?"Sakura shifted in her seat, meeting the woman's gaze. "It probably has to do with the fact that I'm civilian. They have no reason to allow me to graduate early."Fugaku gave his wife a look as she opened her mouth to respond. Don't you dare, it said, Mikoto don't you dare, but Mikoto never listened to him much anyways, and ignored his look as she stared down at Sakura. "If that's the only reason, we can sponsor your graduation. Support from the Uchiha is bound to get you out of there as soon as possible." Fugaku internally groaned at his wife's actions. The amount of paperwork and meeting with the elders he'd have to do was just piling up by the second.Disregarding thoughts of paperwork, he too set his chopsticks down. "I'll see how many strings I can pull, but I can't promise anything. This is a rare opportunity, you understand." Fugaku stared into wide green eyes."I do." Sakura whispered in shock. "Thank you. For everything you have done for me." It may have been just a few meetings after training, and a couple nights of staying for dinner, but Mikoto worked hard to make sure she felt welcome, and it was the greatest thing they could've done for her.They finished dinner soon after the conversation trailed off back into silence, and Sakura once again carried the dishes to the kitchen to help clean up. Mikoto didn't stop her as she dampened the spare sponge and began scrubbing down the rice bowls."I'm glad." She whispered, smiling softly at the girl as she rinsed the bowl she was working on. "I'm glad Itachi has a friend like you." Sakura looked up at Mikoto."Did you say something?" She asked, though she had heard every word."No. Maybe it was someone outside?""Maybe." Sakura agreed, smiling at the bubbles filling the sink as she reached in for another dish. Sakura reached for the door handle, adjusting the grip she had on Itachi's shoulder. They stumbled in, peeling off their grimy shoes and calling out a "We're back."Mikoto appeared at the end of the hallway, then, right next to them, wincing as she saw the bruise forming on Itachi's chin, and the fact that Sakura was all but leaning on Itachi. Her instincts took over, and she immediately began moving them towards the living room. Just before she sat them down, Sakura winced as she remembered the amount of dirt she had caked onto her face."Um, actually, do you think I could use your shower?"Mikoto froze, before muttering a quick, wait here, and rushing back out the room. Sakura winced as she removed her grip from Itachi's shoulder and placed weight on her left leg. Her ankle was probably sprained, she guessed, and it might take a bit of work to heal it like she could've in the past. Future? Both? Whatever it was, it was giving Sakura a headache. Or maybe that was just because of how tired she was."Here." A stack of cloth was placed in front of Sakura. "Sorry about the wait, we don't have too much in your size. I hope you don't mind." Sakura took the stack, noting the shirt with an embroidered Uchiha crest on the back that sat on top. "It's Itachi's old one. I hope you don't mind." Sakura shook her head."It's fine." She looked around. "So, where is the-""Follow me." Mikoto took lead, and Sakura was glad she couldn't see the pained face she made when her left foot hit the floor. The Uchiha bathroom was large, with walls decorated with uchiwa mosaics that shone in the light, and pristine white countertops that reflected the uchiwa from the walls. Mikoto took her leave, shutting the door before saying, "You should take a bath. It'll help with the pain of your ankle."Sakura blinked at the door, then leaned forward to lock it. She peeled her muddy clothes off herself, sitting as she took off her bottoms to avoid falling, then hung them behind the door. The shower was vaguely easy to figure out, and her only issue was figuring out which shampoo to use. There where several bottles, and she judged them all with a careful gaze before selecting a brown bottle and placing a decent amount into her small hand. She lathered it into her hair and took note of how smooth is was after rinsing it. This, she decided, was the secret to the amazing Uchiha hair, not genetics, though they probably played a part.She shut off the shower and started the bath, panicking when she realized she had nothing to tie her hair back with. She limped towards the stack of things Mikoto gave her, hoping for a small towel to wrap her head, and found a hair clip. Mikoto had thought of everything, it had seemed, down to the last detail.The warm water surrounded her, welcoming her into the tub as she slipped in, hair pulled up with a black clip. She leaned forward, reaching for her medical chakra as she grasped her left ankle gently. She closed her eyes and focused on healing, on mending what was injured, and, after several minutes, the ankle was healed to a manageable, dull ache. She would still need to be careful, but she wasn't in danger of making it worse. Her head hit the back of the tub as she leaned back, letting herself slip from consciousness.
"Take them to the medical tent. We cannot let them die of something so simple." Tsunade's voice called from below her.
"Yes ma'am." About a dozen tired voices called, their hope not yet drained by the ongoing war.
"Sakura." She turned her head to face her teacher. "Make sure they all come back okay. We need as many medics as possible."
"I'll do my best, Tsunade-shishou."
Her teacher's words rang through her as she pulled another medic from the brute of the attack, shielding him with her own body.
'Keep them alive. Just for now, keep them alive.' She prayed as she threw herself in front of another attack. Blood slipped from multiple wounds as she used her byakugou to keep herself upright as she took attack after attack for her comrades. The healing after each attack took a large chunk of chakra, and eventually, she was running low on chakra. 'Stop', her body screamed as she persisted, all but throwing the other medics out of the way.
"Forehead, duck!" Ino screamed, pulling herself from the rubble. She was one of the assigned medics, and was working on keeping the patients from harm. It was too late though. Sakura moved down slightly, and was hit by a powerful explosion that shook the earth beneath their feet.
Ino ran towards her, tripping over rocks and bodies as she raced to her friend. "Damn it Sakura, don't be dead." She called, throwing herself next to the pink haired medic and forcing healing chakra into her body.
"Ino." Sakura coughed, reaching for Ino's glowing hand. "Don't waste that on me."
Ino was livid. "Waste? WASTE? Sakura don't give me that shit. I'm not wasting it if I'm saving your life!"
"Ino." Sakura frowned, blood spilling from her lips as she pulled Ino's hand in tight. "Ino, it's over."
"NO!" She screamed. "It's not. It's not. I refuse. You are not allowed to die, Sakura."
Sakura took in her friend's frantic gaze, before gazing at the barely standing medical tent. "Neither are they." She coughed, blood pulsing through her fingers and into Ino's lap. "Keep them safe, alright?"
"No. Sakura, don't you dare, don't you dare do this." Sakura lifted a hand to Ino's face, brushing away the tear from her left cheek.
"Take... Care..." Ino watched in horror as Sakura had yet another coughing fit.
"Sakura, no, don't." Ino's voice was little more than quiet sobs. "Sakura don't do this to me."
"Ino-Pig." Sakura's head hit the ground, her eyes shuttering closed.
She bolted upright, the water around her shifting and splashing as she attempted to steady herself. "You're in the Uchiha bathroom," she whispered, the slight slowing of her breathing convincing her to continue. "You were training and got dirty so now you're bathing in the Uchiha bathroom." She stayed in the bath for another few minutes before carefully pulling herself out, convincing herself she was shaking from cold as she dried herself off with the fluffy towel Mikoto had given her.The pants, she noted, were a bit too long in the leg. She rolled them up and pulled on the Uchiha shirt. Her semi-damp hair twisted awkwardly as she pulled the clip from it. Maybe she could borrow a hairbrush from Mikoto, she thought, keeping her mind distracted to avoid her memories for as long as possible.Mikoto was in the living room when she left the bathroom, her eyes scanning the pages of the book Sakura had read in her past life. The Tale of The Utterly Gutsy Shinobi. Naruto's namesake, if she recalled correctly. Mikoto caught Sakura's eye and put the book down, gesturing to the empty seat next to her. When she sat down, Mikoto pulled a hairbrush out of nowhere and Sakura nodded, turning around and allowing Mikoto to run the brush through her hair.She hadn't realized how tired she was after training and healing her ankle, but the scratching from the brush against her scalp sent shivers down her spine and she fought the desire to close her eyes, leaning back ever so slightly against Mikoto and towards the brush. She closed her eyes, her weight all but collapsing against Mikoto's side as she fell asleep.Mikoto remained as a pillow for another 10 minutes before Itachi entered the room and came to her rescue. "Can you bring her up to the spare room and lay her on the futon. I would, but I can't feel my right side right now." She smiled as Itachi pulled the girl who was almost his height up into his arms and carried her down the hall and to the left.Mikoto stretched and pulled herself to her feet. She needed to send for Shisui to inform Sakura's parents that she would be staying the night. After all, Shisui had been to her house before, and she didn't want Itachi out so late. Just as she was making her way to the door to pull on her shoes and hunt him down, she sensed two familiar chakra signatures nearing the house. Shisui's and Fugaku's. It saved her a trip, she supposed, but made her wonder. Why were they together? She understood if it was police force business, but this didn't feel like that. Just before they reached the door, she pulled it open, smiling at the two, welcoming her husband before turning to Shisui."Go and tell Sakura's parents she's staying here tonight. She fell asleep so she's been moved to the spare room." She ordered, the power behind the words making her miss the authority she had as an active jounin. Shisui looked at Fugaku, who nodded, before turning back to Mikoto and grinning."Don't worry Auntie, I got it covered!" He said flickering away.Mikoto moved out of the doorway and let her husband in before walking to the linen closet for Sakura's bed in the spare room. When she opened the door, several blankets in hand, she had wished she had a camera with her. Itachi was struggling to place down Sakura, as she had a death grip on his shirt collar and no matter the prying he did, he could not get her off. He looked towards his mother, a silent plea for help, but she just quietly placed down the blankets at the end of the futon and mouthed 'good luck' before retreating to her room for the night.It was empty, Fugaku was no doubt in his study, so she was alone with her thoughts. They jumped around, but focused on the strange interactions between Shisui and Fugaku. Of course, there was a possibility of nothing going on. Just Shisui coming over to say hi and walking and talking with Fugaku on his way. Yet, it was late, and Itachi would've been in bed were it not for Sakura, and he's the only one she could think of Shisui wanting to say hi to. Then there was the fact that they had cut off their conversation immediately as soon as she had swung open the door.Of course, she thought. Of course something was going on in the Uchiha clan that she didn't know about. She was just the wife of the clan head. No one important. Not like she was a jounin before she got married or anything. Not at all. With that bitter thought, she turned to her side and pulled the covers over her shoulder, closing her eyes before drifting into a dreamless sleep.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The Harunos were awake and sitting at the table in the main room when Shisui knocked on the door. It opened immediately, revealing Mebuki’s worried face. Rustling footsteps filled the silence and Sakura’s dad appeared into view. He looked between Shisui and his wife in confusion, narrowing his eyes when Mebuki shook her head.“Come in!” Mebuki said, false cheer dripping from her voice. His mind screamed trap, but they were civilian, what could they do? As soon as their backs turned to lean him to the dining hall, he activated his sharingan, casting a genjutsu over them to prevent them from noticing.“So.” Kizashi crossed his arms as he sat on the couch across from Shisui. “To what can we owe this… visit.” Shisui winced at the cold tone of Sakura’s father. He knew he didn’t like shinobi, Sakura told him so the first time he was here, but the level of coldness was still shocking. After all, he did allow his daughter to attend the academy, and he would’ve learned that as soon as she entered, she was required to graduate, and become a ninja.“Sakura will be staying the night at my cousin’s. My mother insists. She was rather tired when she came back from training.” Mebuki relaxed just a bit more, while Kizashi tensed slightly, a motion noticed by his active sharingan.“I’m glad! I was worried when she didn’t come home after she had dinner there, it is late, after all, who knows what could’ve happened to her, even with the constant patrols of the police and shinobi.” Shisui winced at the implications; they weren’t doing their job.“Auntie would never let anyone hurt Sakura, don’t worry. She’s in good hands!” He smiled, ignoring the muffled ‘The hands of a murderer.’ from Kizashi. “Anyway, I’m not just here about that.” They straightened up, a vague wariness filled their eyes and they watched Shisui shift into the couch more before continuing, dropping the genjutsu on his sharingan and staring the Harunos in the eyes. “I’d like to speak with you about your daughter.” They did not lie to him, not after the genjutsu was dropped, too scared of those glowing red eyes to dare attempt to. They understood the rumors of what they could do, no matter their civilian heritage. Everyone in the village knew of what they could do. The Harunos however, understood the deep roots of what the Uchiha stood for. They were open in their ambitions and triumphs, setting them on a target away from the other clans, who worked quietly, and did not discuss their inner workings. To the village, the Uchiha clan was a library book. Open to all, and damaged by most who use its resources.When Shisui had deactivated his sharingan, Mebuki eased tension from her shoulders. Beside her, Kizashi stayed ridged, eyes trained on the worn hands of the shinobi as he got up. She placed a hand on her husband’s, an act that if anything would seem comforting, not a safehold for her to keep him pinned to the table and prevent him from attacking the Uchiha boy. She did not mind if he noticed. If anything, she hoped it to be a reminder for him.He pulled his hand from hers, and jumped up from the table, stumbling to his room and leaving his wife and the Uchiha boy in silence.“He does get more charming by the second. The kid was right.”Mebuki cracked a small grin as Shisui broke the silence. “So does Sakura need anything? Clothes? Toothbrush?”“Nope! I think Auntie has it all covered!” He stood up and bowed to her. “Thank you Mrs. Haruno.”Mebuki swatted her hand, as if dismissing the title. “Call me Mebuki. Sakura is practically your family, ya know?” She shooed him out the door. “Now go home and tell your ‘Auntie’ to take care of that girl, alright?”“Yes Ma’am.”As soon as the door shut fully, Shisui was gone, Shunshining back to Mikoto’s to let her know that Sakura’s parents were fine with the idea. The Uchiha house was quiet when Shisui reached the doorstep, the only light coming from the porchlights on either side of the door. He didn’t knock, instead opting to open the door and walk in. The shadows bounced off the walls as he moved towards the kitchen, looking for paper to leave a note. He pulled open a door, and the shadows seemed to stretch and grab at him. Because that’s not creepy at all, he thought, locating the paper they used for shopping lists.Then, as soon as reached out his hand to grab it, a muffled thud came from somewhere upstairs. He was there in seconds, swinging open the door to the guest room, expecting someone to be there, but instead, there was a lump of blankets on the floor, and heavy breathing. He made his way towards the lump, only to freeze when it moved, throwing blankets back and revealing pink hair.She didn’t seem to notice him -or anything for that matter- her eyes gazing unfocused at the wall as she drew her legs in tight, clenching her arms around them in a death grip. He moved directly into her line of sight, though he was not acknowledged by her.“It was like she had become a different person.” Mebuki’s words echoed through his skull as he reached towards the girl.
She finished writing the names on the paper. All date stamped three days ago. There were scrolls stacked around her, towering over her small form. She placed the brush down, sighing as she rolled the scroll up and tied it, placing it next to the pile of similar scrolls. This is war, she thought, rubbing her temples, you don’t have time to mourn right now. As she put the brush down, the flaps of the tent flew open, revealing a tired Kiba Inuzuka.
“Can I help you?”
He limped over towards her, pulling a dirtied scroll from his coat. She grabbed it, frowning at him before pulling it open and leaning back into her chair, dismissing him to the medical tent. She hummed as she skimmed the scroll, then froze at the bottom. ‘Mission Failed. 3 injured. 1 casualty’ it read. She frantically skimmed her memories, trying to remember who had gone on the mission with him when it hit her.
She all but tossed the scroll into a nearby box as she jumped from her chair, throwing open the tent flaps and racing to the medical tent. She caught Kiba’s gaze from the far side of the tent, where his leg was being tended to by Shizune. He tilted his head towards a group of beds to his left, surrounded by curtains and medics, and Sakura felt her heart soar with hope. Maybe, it called, maybe he’s okay. She walked up to the curtains, throwing herself into the medic’s mindset and nodding at the medics as they moved from her way and allowed her room. She drew back the curtain, revealing the remaining three members of Kiba’s team.
Some part of her cracked as she looked at the group. The chakra responded to her call immediately, and she reached for the nearest shinobi, directing the other medics to work on the others. She grimaced at the state of the Hyuuga girl, who’s left eye was bandaged and hair soaked with blood. She pulled back the bandage, wincing at the mess that was made of her face.
A long gash, bleeding sluggishly, ran diagonally from her eyebrow, cutting across her eye and ending just before her ear. With only hope that her chakra could soothe the pain, Sakura ran her palm above Hinata’s eye and peeled back the eyelid, preparing for the worst.
The Hyuuga had stopped by her tent moments after she had finished organizing the week’s mission reports to send to Tsunade. Hiashi had sent Hanabi with a few branch members directly to Sakura’s camp with a scroll to thank her for saving his daughter’s life. She entertained them for a bit before showing them to the medical tent so they could be with Hinata.
When she was finally alone, and there was no responsibilities to catch up to her, she sealed her tent, and finally allowed the crack to widen. Tears rolled down her face as she remembered her sensei’s words. ‘This is war, Sakura. We do not have time to grieve the fallen. We must fight onward to save the living.’ She sobbed into her bedroll, clutching her pillow tight as she shook. ‘How can I fight on, sensei, when almost everyone I fight for is gone’
“It’s fine, Sakura. You’re fine.”
She shook her head. “No. It’s not fine. You can’t leave me too.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Deep down, Sakura understood that she wasn't back there, in her tent with Shizune kneeling over her sobbing form. She understood, but the human mind is a funny thing, and what one understood almost never reflected perfectly into their actions, which is why, when an unfamiliar, heavily calloused hand reached out for her shoulder, her instincts jumped into overdrive, and she reached for her chakra, throwing the arm and the person attached to it far to her left.Dry tear tracks pulled at her eyelids as she tried to pull them open to glance around her room and protect herself from whoever was there. She met the dark eyes of someone crouched beside the wall, and, as soon as she had a weapon raised, held defensively in front of her, it moved towards the light that came in through the window, and in doing so, closer towards her. She didn't see his face before the weapon flew, narrowly missing the figure as he dodged right and grasped her hands. She looked down towards her feet, searching the floor for something to get her out of his grasp."Hey." He said, and Sakura flicked her gaze towards his face. There was a Konoha headband on his forehead. She blinked once, twice, and three times, taking in her surroundings fully. The boy leaned back ever so slightly, keeping his grip on her hands as he shifted back and gave her a bit of breathing room. "You back?"She bit her lip, cursing her brain for making her remember before nodding, pulling her arms back towards herself as Shisui released her hands."Yeah, sorry.""Don't worry, it's alright!" He grinned, wiping off his shoulder dramatically. "Nothing I couldn't handle. But still" His face grew more serious as he regarded her. "What's with attacking people when you wake up? You're supposed to be my cousin's cute friend and training partner, and yet, you know things an academy kid shouldn't. Prodigy or not." Within seconds she was back in his grasp, and his sharingan was blazing red. "Who are you, Haruno Sakura? Who sent you?"Sakura felt the whispers of a genjutsu lay itself upon her mind as soon as he had begun talking. 'Tell him.' It called. 'Tell him who you are. The truth. It'll be fine.' And, with her mental defenses still weakened by the dream and emotions that flowed with it, she did just that.Sakura stared at the pillow directly to the right all throughout the story she told. She started it off with her name, rank, and registration number, then dove into an almost mission report style retelling of her life. When she did glance up at Shisui, she would flinch and look away just as quickly. He sat for a good hour, watching her face for tells that might betray it all as a mass lie, but there were none. It was only when he heard the tell tale sounds of someone else waking up did he deactivate Sharingan and blink.He watched as Sakura practically threw off the remaining effects of the genjutsu and turned her attention towards him, before throwing herself onto the bed again and covering her head with a pillow. He thought he heard a muffled 'fucking headache' as he rushed out the window to avoid his cousin, who was making his way towards the guest room, but he was already too busy processing the information he had just gotten to even think about it. That, and the single thought of 'I need some goddamn eye drops.'Itachi knocked on the guest room door quietly, hoping Sasuke didn't wake from the noise. There was still a few hours until his mother woke up, and with Sakura spending the night here, he could take her to his early morning training and they could work on their skills some more before breakfast. When there was no response, he prayed it meant she was asleep and pried open the door. The hall light flooded the room and Sakura groaned and pressed the pillow further onto her head."Turn the damn light off." She grumbled, and Itachi quickly stepped in and shut the door. Her grip on the pillow loosened and she sighed. "What's up, Itachi?""Do you want to go train with me?""No." Sakura said, before quickly adding, "I have a stupid headache right now." And, as if almost sensing the beginning of a pout, "Maybe later though. Wake me for breakfast?"He nodded, hand halfway on the door handle again before remembering her face was currently pressed into a pillow and could not see him. "Alright."Despite the way her arms ached, and the way her legs screamed, Mikoto was refreshed. In a split second decision before she fell asleep, she had decided to get back into training -when the others couldn't see her, of course- and to her, it was freedom all over again. She had left in the early morning, when everyone in the house had still been asleep. It was the optimal time for training, in her opinion. The only people that would be awake to see her would be the night patrol chunin, the drunk stumbling from bars, and the women of the red light district, and she knew none of them would care much of her as she made her way to the training grounds she had frequented in her active duty days.It was there she reviewed the basics, from academy taught ones, to the ones taught solely to the children of the Uchiha clan. She had started from the bottom and worked to the top to get her position, so that's what she was going to do to regain her power, she had decided. That, and there really was no way you could go wrong with practicing chakra control over and over again.Only when the sky brightened from the oncoming day did she call it quits and make her way back home, passing through the awakening Konoha. Chunin raced on the rooftops to trade places with the night patrol, and Jonin made their way to the missions office, leaping above where Mikoto walked among the opening shops. She froze, her muscles twitching in protest, at the sight of familiar black hair exiting a dango shop with a bag.She quickly dashed to an alley, praying she'd be fine as she lept to the roof top. To her credit, she barely slipped before stabilizing herself. She raced to the other side of the roof and jumped, her few seconds of panic replaced with an 'I can do this, damn it' as she landed with a soft thud and raced off once again.It was little short of a miracle that her husband was still asleep when she arrived home. She rushed to her room and grasped the nearest dress in her closet, barely managing to close the bathroom door before the front door was opened by Itachi. She threw off her training clothes and tossed them into the hamper before twisting on the water for a quick shower.Itachi was sitting in the living room, eating a stick of dango when she returned downstairs."Good morning, mother.""Good morning Itachi! Out training again this morning?"He nodded, closing his eyes and taking another bite of his treat."And is that a good reason as to why you're ruining your breakfast by eating dango?" Itachi froze, the sickly sweet voice of his mother holding a threat high above him. He turned towards her, hoping something would save him from his mother's wrath."Good morning."Sakura walked into the room, and Mikoto turned to smile at her. "Good morning Sakura! You're right on time, I was just about to get breakfast started!"
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Between the voices of Mikoto and Sakura, and the occasional random noise from Sasuke, breakfast was loud, not that Itachi minded too much. Meals usually were, with Sakura around. Mikoto was talking to her about the Uchiha sponsorship, and what it entailed. In Konoha, clan sponsorships were rare, partially because civilians rarely graduated from the academy, and partially because no one wanted all the paperwork that came with it. Sakura nodded along, and sometimes asking a few questions.
When Fugaku entered the dining room, and sat down, Itachi sat up straight, and Sakura turned her head slightly, not giving him her full attention, but keeping him in her sights as he picked up his chopsticks. There were a few moments where the group ate in silence before Sakura turned her attention fully back to Mikoto, asking her another question.
After breakfast, Mikoto dragged Sakura upstairs, pulling her into the room next to the one where she had stayed. Before she could ask why, a bundle of cloth was pressed into her hands.
"Put these on."
"I- the clan uchiwa, I can't-" Sakura protested as Mikoto made her way towards the door.
"They haven't been embroidered yet, and they're better that what you're wearing right now."
Sakura couldn't deny that, and unfolded the clothes as Mikoto shut the door. 'Such a high collar' She thought as she pulled it over her head.
Itachi glanced at her in confusion as she pulled her sandals on and walked out the door. She shrugged and stepped aside as Mikoto made her way out the door. They followed behind her, waiting for the chance to leave clones and head out towards the training grounds.
Crowds filled the market streets of Konoha, civilians haggling with the merchants from other villages and children attempting to snag random foods on the ends of stands, and every once in a while, a ninja walking with bags of food, or new clothes. Someone brushed against Mikoto's side, and she glanced after them. A kid, just older than Sakura, was picking his way through the crowd, dodging between the passing adults and ducking under elbows. Mikoto pat her side, suspicion filling her mind as she stood watching the kid.
With a whispered, "Wait here," she was gone, pulling her hair into a tight bun and walking quickly through the crowds to catch up to the child. She scanned the flow of people, but couldn't find a trace of him. Shadows passed over the heads of the civilians, and Mikoto glanced up, mentally smacking herself on the head. 'Of course,' she thought, 'the rooftops.' She turned right, walking towards the edge of building before pushing chakra into her legs and jumping to the roof. She stumbled, taking a step backwards, before realizing there was no backwards to step, and pushed chakra into her other foot, which still held contact with the roof.
Her arms flailed, and hit something solid before hands grasped at her arms and pulled her upright.
"Be careful, it's kinda dangerous to-" With a twist, Mikoto was free, and racing towards the direction she saw the thief go, paying no mind to the man who had stopped her from falling.
"Huh, that was interesting." He thought, watching as the woman made her way over the rooftops, black hair tied back into a tight bun. Genma turned back towards where he was going, before his thought caught up to him and he whipped around again. "Shit, was that Mikoto?"
"Hey Itachi, did you know your mom could do that?" Sakura twisted in midair to look at her companion.
"She was a jonin of Konohagakure before she married, so it's not too surprising that she knows how to leap across the rooftops."
"Huh." Sakura jumped off the roof. "Elders make her quit?" At his nod, she muttered, "Of course they did."
The rest of their trip was spent in relative silence, except for the quick apology Sakura shouted at the man they nearly collided with as they landed on another roof, but other than that, they arrived at the training grounds with little incident. Shisui was leaning against one of the trees surrounding the clearing, sharpening his tanto. He sheathed it in a quick motion, tossing his whetstone into his hip pouch and taking a step towards them.
"Skipping out on school again? C'mon they could be giving you important graduation information." Itachi tensed, Shisui's grin widening before shifting into a look of pain as Sakura hit him on the head.
"Shisui, you're gonna stress him out." She turned to said boy. "Itachi, you left a clone there. Even if they were going to tell us, which they won't, you can always go through the clone's memories later." Sakura wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "Don't worry so much. It'll work out in the end."
Shisui clapped his hands. "Alrighty, shall we get started?" He shot a look at Sakura. "What were you planning on working on today?"
"Kunai."
"Alright!" Shisui's grin grew wider, and both Itachi and Sakura took an instinctive step back. "Good luck."
"Ah, Fugaku, glad you could join us this morning."
"Yes. We have much to discuss." Fugaku bowed to the honored elders, as was expected of him as clan head, biting back a sigh as they only nodded in return.
"The clan is growing restless under your lead, Fugaku." Ah, there it was. It wouldn't be a meeting without his position being insulted, he supposed.
"I see."
"And the police force has been restricted even more since the attack of the nine to mention the rumors that the civilians are spreading."
"Yes, however–"
"And how you have done nothing to protect the Uchiha name since then."
"Yes however–" He began again, raising his voice, challenging them to interrupt him again. "I believe that by sponsoring Haruno Sakura, we can strengthen–"
"Again with Haruno. Fugaku, the only thing that can come from the Uchiha clan sponsoring that civilian is a loss of resources."
Fugaku opened his mouth to protest, only for another elder to speak first. "Yes, however, if Haruno is actually as good as Fugaku say she is, then would she not be an asset to the clan? Not only would she be indebted to the Uchiha, but having connections to the Uchiha that she willing forged as a civilian may ease the minds of the other civilians."
"Or make it worse!" He first elder screeched. Fugaku wanted to drop his head onto the table. This is why he didn't like meetings with the honorable elders. They were either attacking his decisions, or each others. He sighed, preparing for another 30 minute debate between the two when it suddenly went silent.
"Very well. Sponsor the brat for all I care. When your plan backfires, credit will fall on your shoulders alone."
Fugaku stood and bowed, quickly exiting the room and heading down the hall before allowing himself to have the 'what the hell just happened' thought process.
After a good hour of running about to collect all the necessary sponsorship forms, Fugaku finally managed to make it back to his house.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It was slow at first. She barely noticed as she spent more time with the Uchiha. Her morning were occupied with her running to Itachi’s for early training. Then, in the afternoon, because occasionally they attended classes still, they would go for a run and get some dango or anmitsu. She’d arrive home late and tired, if she made it home at all. Mikoto was very insistent she stay at the compound many nights after she ate there, but was understanding when Sakura argued her way back home.The room she occupied there was slowly filled with more of her things. She left several school books on the shelves, her clothes were in the closet, next to spare blankets and several dresses that Mikoto had bought her. She even had a personalized placard on the door, given to her by Fugaku of all people, detailed with sakura petals falling from one side and a small, smudgy green handprint from Sasuke.With graduation a good two months away, Sakura realized she spent more time at the Uchiha Compound than with her own parents. She was glad she attended the academy today, instead of training with Shisui and Itachi, because, as it turns out, Shisui got called out on a mission mid session, and Itachi ended up having to sneak close enough to the school without being swarmed by girls to switch places with his clone, which took almost an hour.That, and Mikoto came to pick them up today to take them out for an after school but before training snack.She started them towards the ever busy Ichiraku Ramen, walking slowly, as if this was something special for her.Mikoto was reminiscing of all the times Kushina dragged her here, making her try all the different types of ramen each time, leaving their stomachs full, and their wallets empty.Sakura was remembering her knuckleheaded teammate, and all the attempts he made to get with her, and the war, where he stood at the front lines, keeping the enemy at bay. She wondered if he ever managed to forgive her for killing Sasuke so brutally, so mercilessly in front of him.Itachi was trying to figure out why going out for ramen was making Sakura cry. “Thank you for the meal, Mikoto!” Sakura smiled up at the black haired woman as she finished her third bowl.“You’re welcome.” She pulled out her money, paying for her last bowl before getting up. “Now let’s get home, shall we?”They made their way towards Sakura’s home, with Sakura in the lead, ranting on the way the academy teachers taught their classes.“-And the girls never get to try against the teachers in taijutsu class. It’s not fair.”“Maybe it’s because they’re scared they’ll get beat by a fangirl or something.”“That’s fair.” She said, and solidifying Itachi’s point, “They can be scary sometimes.”“Scary?” He stared at her. “You punched one in the face because she said that your fo-”Sakura clamped her hand onto his mouth. “I did no such thing.”“You broke her jaw.”“It wasn’t that bad.”“You broke her jaw.”“She deserved it.”“Her jaw, Sakura. Her jaw,”Mikoto mover in closer to them. “You broke someone’s jaw?” She said incredulously, staring at her son and her almost-but-not-quite daughter. But Sakura didn’t respond. Her eyes were focused on a plume of smoke rising from the direction they were headed.She took off, running forwards, enhancing her speed with chakra and dodging the civilians in the street. She ignored the burn of her lungs, and the uneasy feeling in her chest. She did not hear Mikoto call after her.Mikoto pulled Itachi onto her back easily, as though he was a light bag, and took off after her, scanning the streets for a flash of pink, attempting to spot her.And spot her she did, amidst smoke and ash in the civilian housing developments, past a line of familiar Uchiha, clad in the uniform of the Konoha Police Corps.She let Itachi off her back, and he stared at the ash and the smoldering ground surrounding his friend with wide eyes. She moved towards the closest Uchiha, who made no move to prevent her from entering, but stopped her to brief her on the situation.“We think it was a faulty wire, but the house caught quickly and there isn’t much left so we can’t be sure.”The stones hit Mikoto, and she glanced back at Sakura, who had sunk to her knees, hand over her mouth, probably muffling sobs. “Injuries?”The officer caught her eyes. “One had major burns, but the other...” He trailed off, looking down.Mikoto returned her gaze to Sakura, and, before she knew it, she was knelt beside her and gripping her shoulders, pulling her into her arms and away from the body of her charred mother.The medics made their way to the corpse, pulling it onto the stretcher to take to the hospital to prepare for the funeral, and Mikoto got up, Sakura in her arms as she made her way back towards her son.“Wait.” It was so soft, spoken in such a broken voice, and Mikoto almost missed it. She paused, and Sakura tumbled from her arms, walking towards her mother.She moved the unburned hair from her mother’s face, before shuffling back to Mikoto, grabbing her hand with a quiet, “Thank you.”Itachi couldn’t see much from behind the police line, the Uchiha near him intent on keeping him from seeing him, but his mother came back out ten minutes after going in, and Sakura was gripping her hand and staring at the ground, with tearful eyes. He glanced back at the rubble behind them, then made eye contact with his mother, who just silently nodded.It was sudden, Sakura stopped, and as Mikoto reached towards her, she was gone.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It happened suddenly. She was crying, her eyes burning, then, she was surrounded by fire, unable to breath as Kakashi stared at her like she killed Pakkun, but it wasn’t Pakkun it was Sasuke and a dangerously injured Naruto and there was blood on her hands, blood dripping from her arms onto the earth below her feet. Blood, soaking through her sleeves and into her skin, and she has to get away. She has to get clean.She’s gone in the moment that it takes Mikoto to blink. And then panic sets in and she has to find Sakura, but at the same time she left her son alone to be baby sat by Chunin of all things and she knows that that will not end well if she’s gone for too much longer. She pulls Itachi into her arms and jumps to the rooftops, racing home, hoping Shisui at least stopped by to try and bother Itachi.She made it home, dismissed the Chunin, and glanced around for a sight of Shisui, only to come up with nothing.She rounded on Itachi, who was taking his shoes off.“Do you know where Shisui would be?”“Training.”“Right. That brat. Watch your brother.” She raced off again, heading towards the woods she knew her son liked to practice in, and expanded her chakra, attempting to sense where Shisui was.Her sharingan activated, she jumped across the branches, chasing after the flickering chakra of Shisui Uchiha.A kunai flashed in front of her, and were it not for her sharingan, it would’ve struck her in the head. Instead, it sailed over her head and hit the tree behind her. She stopped as Shisui materialized in front of her, confused.“Mikoto? I am so sorry I didn’t know that was you. You look kinda frazzled, are you okay?”“Shisui. Sakura. She-”“Sakura? What happened with her.” The personality swap was almost a 180, with his demeanor immediately replaced with one of total seriousness.“Her mom… She ran off… find her.” Mikoto looked Shisui in the eyes. “Please.”He nodded once and took off, leaving Mikoto to fall against the tree and rest. ‘Damn it Sakura,’ Shisui thought as he raced through the woods, ‘where the hell are you?’It didn’t take too long to find her, because despite his worried state of mind, he was a great tracker, and she wasn’t too far from the walls of the compound, sitting on a branch on the edge of the woods, having a panic attack.He runs up to her, sitting across from her, just out of reach, talking to her in attempts to steady her breathing just a bit. She barely notices he’s there, but her breathing slows just a bit, her grip on her arms loosens ever so slightly, and she wobbles sideways, almost falling from the branch.When she doesn’t, and Shisui can ease that bit of his mind, he begins talking about all the things Itachi’s done, and some of the things they had done together. About three stories in, she blinks at him, eyes focusing on him like she’s finally seeing him there.“That’s it, Sakura, come on.”And she’s still a bit out of it, but everything floods back and she leans forwards with a sigh, Shisui catching her before she fell off the branch completely.“I’m sorry, Shisui. I must have worried everyone.“No it’s fine. I mean, they were worried, but still. It’s fine.”“I’m still sorry though.” She yawned.“You can sleep a bit while I carry you to auntie’s, if you want.” And she didn’t respond, but she did drop limp in his arms so he took that as acceptance of the idea.He shifted her weight onto his back, like a sack of something, and made his way down the trees.About halfway to Mikoto’s, he shunshined to her door.Sakura jerked awake, throwing herself from Shisui’s arms and almost falling into the door, before catching herself with some chakra and Shisui’s arm. He keeps it their just in case she falls again, but she moves forwards and opens the door, stepping inside on vaguely wobbly legs.“Auntie!” Shisui called in after her, and Mikoto appeared seconds later, pulling Sakura into a tight hug.Shisui dismissed himself soon after she was dragged into a hug. It made sense, she guessed. He was only there to track her down. Maybe. It was hard to think with the bone-crushing hug Mikoto was giving her. That, and she was whispering into Sakura’s ear.“I wish I could tell you she died easily, Sakura. I wish I could say she died quickly and that everything would be okay. But I know you, and I know you know she didn’t. I know it won’t be easy.” Mikoto said, tears in her eyes as she held Sakura close. “But Sakura, it will get easier with time. And I’ll do my best to be here for you.”She backed off Sakura, and, standing on her own, she remembered how utterly exhausted she was.“Come on. Dinner’s ready.” She lead Sakura to the dining room, which was unnecessary, she knew where it was.She poked at the noodles on her plate, ignoring the empty seat across the table where Fugaku was supposed to be. He was investigating the fire, and wouldn’t be home until late, Mikoto had basically told her, though not in those exact words.She managed three bites before she gave up on the idea of food that night. She placed her chopsticks beside her plate and excused herself, walking past the bathroom and up the stairs to her room. She passed by Sasuke’s room, where he slept in his crib next to a toy dinosaur, and entered her room, throwing herself onto the bed and staring at the ceiling.She barely left that room for three days, Mikoto checking in occasionally, and Itachi stopping at the door but never coming in, or knocking for that matter. The morning of the fourth day of her complete halt of life, Shisui was at her window, staring at her as if he’d never seen her before in his life.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
She was in a sorry state, her face shadowed with regret and pain as she turned her head towards the figure looming over her bedside. He had crawled through the window, apparently not afraid of the traps that could've been there, and jumped into her reading chair, turning on the light and brightening her dismal form."What do you want, Shisui?" He winced at her voice as it cracked from disuse, and she sighed, leaning back against the pillows."You're coming with me.""No." She sounded tired. It didn't matter though. She was going to leave this room within the hour."Yes." She glared at him, gripping her blankets. He blinked, then stepped back, raising his hands in defeat. "Fine."He moved to fast for her to dodge. She went flying out the window.She shrieked, strengthening her arms and legs with chakra and landing in a crouch onto Mikoto's flowerbeds. She winced, glaring at the boy as he jumped down beside her."Mikoto is going to kill us."He looked at the crushed flowers underneath Sakura. "Uh," Shisui winced, "maybe she'll give us a free pass this time?""Not likel-" Shishi pulled her from the ground, tossing her over his shoulder like a sack. "What are you doing?" She screamed, her voice muffled by the back of his shirt.He didn't respond, and as she went to pound her fists into his back to force him to put her down, he jumped to the trees, heading deeper into the woods. When he finally stopped, it was abruptly and without warning, forcing Sakura's head into his back.He set her down on one of the kunai targets and disappeared into the trees."Why?" She asked, glaring into the trees to see where he had gone.He shot out from behind her, directing a kick to her face. "We're going to spar.""What? No way. You're Shunshin no Shisui!" She called, blocking the punch he threw afterwards."You're a time traveler on par with the Sannin!" He called back, jumping back and throwing a few kunai aimed towards her feet before disappearing from view."And? Do you see how small I am?" She turned around, scanning her surroundings for a sign of the boy.He emerged from the dirt at her feet, attempting to grab her leg, but failed as she jumped back, landing on a low branch to her left. A kunai whizzed past her, and landed in a tree a few feet away, forcing her into the open as it exploded. It was then when he struck, during the moments glance of her distraction, catching her unaware. His kick made contact with her right side, sending her flying into a tree. She fell to the ground with a thud before staggering to her feet. Several shuriken whizzed past her, leaving trails of blood as they passed through her left side and embedded themselves in the trees behind her."What the fuck Shisui." She gasped, "Are you trying to kill me."Again, he didn't answer, instead, he rushes her, fist pulled back and ready to strike. She stops him, catching his fist with her hand, all her bones and muscles reinforced with her chakra. Leaving him open for her attack. She leapt forward, tackling him and pinning him to the ground."I win.""Yeah." She rolled off of him, plopping to the ground with a sigh.In the end, she was the one with the worst injuries, her side bled freely through the holes in her clothes and her cheek burned with pain in what would turn into a horrible bruise. He was far better off, only sporting a vaguely damaged hand from where she had caught it. Both of them were covered in dirt and scrapes, giving them the appearance of the children of rogue shinobi. She placed a hand onto her side, and forced her chakra to heal the wounds shut, before letting it flicker out.He grinned at her, his eyes glinting like Naruto's after a successful prank. "You good?"She returned his grin with a small one of her own, pushing her hair from her face and sitting up. "Yeah, I'm alright. Thanks. I needed that.""What." He laughed as she stood up, "To get beat up in the middle of the woods?""Yeah." She pulled him to his feet, her arm muscles flexing as he came to stand beside her. "I think needed a bit of control back. I might've lost it for a while.""No kidding." He pulled her into a hug, patting her on the head as he let her go. "I'll be watching out for you, even if that means kicking your ass every once in a while."A small, powerful punch made contact with his arm. "Don't be silly, Shisui." She grinned up at him. "We both know I'll be the one taking you down."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
She carefully opened the closet door, grabbing a pair of sweats and a clean sleeveless top, tossing them onto the bed before carefully shutting it. She threw them on, then carefully pulled her hair back from her face, tying it back into a short ponytail. She tugged her door open, pausing at the slight squeak it made as it moved from the frame before moving towards the staircase. It was still dark in the house, but shadows of her movements were still cast upon the walls. It was quiet when she slid open the Uchiha’s back door, creeping out into the crisp air of early morning as the crickets around her silenced. The sky was filled with a soft orange hue, and as she gazed at the few birds that flew from the trees, a small breeze blew stray strands of her hair into her face. She frowned, watching as they twisted around each other, filling the sky with their care-free chirping. She hated it.She was one of the few awake in the village as she made her way through the streets. Most shops were closed, as civilians generally weren’t awake so early in the morning, but several shops, mostly weapon supply stores, were open, catering to the shinobi population. She nodded at a couple of nin who waved at her as she walked, and stopped to stare into several shops before entering the flower shop. It was currently run by some non-Yamanaka couple, which threw Sakura through a loop when she walked into their store for the first time, preparing herself for memories that would come with a warm smile from her friend’s parents, only to meet the eyes of someone completely different. It was better this way, she thought as she looked through the flowers, selecting a few and making her way to the counter.“Good morning, dear!” The lady called, smiling despite the early hour. “Is this all-” She looked down at the flowers, smile shrinking a bit as she glanced back at Sakura’s gaze. “Um-”“I know what they mean, ma’am. This is all I’ll be buying.” Sakura reached into her pocket, grasping the money she brought and placing it on the counter as the woman stared at her. She left before the woman could say more, taking her flowers and walking back into the empty street.The gravel shifted under her feet as she entered the hospital courtyard, walking past the door and behind the flowerbeds, glancing every so often at the windows. She stopped, nodding to herself before backing from the building and leaping up to the third floor window. She caught herself with chakra on the wall beside the window and slid it open just enough for here to crawl inside. The room was quiet, and the person in it was facing the other direction.She reached out to touch the figure, but stopped herself at the last second, drawing her hand back and instead taking the flowers from the vase and replacing them with the ones she had just bought. “You know,” she started, glancing back at the bed, “you’re being very childish right now.” There was no response. “Of course.” She muttered, turning back towards the window. “Goodbye, father.”She was tearing up as she made her way to the memorial stone to lay the last flower in her grasp. It was for her friends, and all the lives she did not save during her time in the war. She walked slowly, letting the tears roll freely down her cheeks. By the time she made it to the clearing, she was done crying, solely focused on getting the flower to the stone, and a bit of time alone to remember them.When the stone came into view, it was clear that is not what she’d be getting. A man knelt in front of it, hand outstretched to trace the characters of someone’s name. She stopped in her tracks, turning around to leave again when the man looked up towards her in surprise. There were remains of tears in his eyes.“You’re young.”“We all were at some point.”“It’s not fair.” She didn’t know what he was talking about, but responded with, “We’re shinobi. Since when has fair been in the job description.”The man stopped breathing and stared at her, before glancing back at the memorial stone.“I guess that’s true.” He glanced back at the ground. “People die all the time in this business.”Sakura shrugged, moving closer to the man. “Doesn’t make it easier though.”He blinked in surprise, before moving to ruffle her hair, muttering, “You’re alright, kid.”She swatted at his hand, but he shunshined away, leaving her alone in the clearing.She fixed her hair and walked onwards, taking his place in front of the stone and placing down the flower, tracing the places where her friend’s names would be, at some point in the future.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Bye, father. I’ll be back tomorrow.” She said, leaping from the window.
She didn’t return. Instead, she stared at the window each time she passed, shaking her head before continuing onward towards the memorial stone.He was there again, the man, though, at this point she’d be surprised if he wasn’t. Without fail, every day at the same time; right as the shifts at the gate were changed, and the academy students were returning from their lunch breaks, he was there. Most times he left as soon as she stepped into the clearing, but sometimes, he waited in a tree until she was done with her prayers, then jumped down beside her to chat.He was a mystery to her now, her only knowing him in the future, only knowing him after he had been shaped by hardships and drug back from the depths of hell by the people he knew. She knew she was probably just as much a puzzle to him, but he didn’t pry. “Ne, what do you know about Danzo?”He fell out of the tree, reaching for his kunai pouch as he substituted himself with a nearby branch.“He’s been messing with things again. You can practically feel the strain in the village.”Genma gripped his senbon, aiming to paralyze, but not kill. They shot out towards her, almost invisible as they flew from the trees.“Hey!” She cried, moving just enough to prevent anything major from being hit. “I’m trying to gain allies here.”Genma dropped down from the tree, landing beside her with a tanto raised at her neck.“Allies?”“You know, people who can help me against Danzo?”“What do you even know about Danzo. You’re like, 5.”“And?” “So it’s Danzo’s fault then?” “I mean, it makes sense. He does have a ridiculous amount of power over things he shouldn’t.”Sakura placed down her notebook, sighing as she circled the last bubble again. She was surrounded by weeks of research. Papers about the routes most traveled by shinobi. About the damage that was done to her house and the cause. Even papers stolen from the desk of Fugaku Uchiha detailing the routes and business of the Police Corps.She had a report from them about the fire. It was civilian negligence. A faulty wire sparked the curtains and it went ablaze from there. The Uchiha police force could do nothing against it, as it was already too late to save any of the remaining structure. They managed to get her parents out, and keep the flames from spreading, but that was it. They were bound by law, preventing them from using ninjutsu to assist the civilian population without being presented a mission through the Hokage.Danzo had put that law into effect, along with the ones preventing the shinobi force from working in civilian districts, restricting the Uchiha from the normal force, and restricting their power to the civilian district. Shinobi had more important jobs, she thought, than to babysit civilians too weak to defend themselves.Genma placed down a cup of tea beside her, then sat across from her on the floor. She had commandeered his living room for a place to do research, and he, though reluctant, made space for her. “Hey. Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, are you absolutely positive?”“Yes I’m sure, Shisui, it’ll be fine.” Sakura opened the door. “Besides, he’s already invested too far to go back at this point anyways.”“And?”“Just trust me.” She walked through the open doorway, taking her shoes off and placing them to the side of the doorway. “Hey Genma, Shisui’s here”There was no answer. “Genma?” She called again, venturing further into the house. Shisui followed close behind her, eyeing the shadows carefully.“Oh.” She stopped, staring into the living room, where Genma was passed out on the couch surrounded by scrolls and files. “Well.” She said, turning towards the kitchen, “I guess we’ll have to wait then.” And then, stopping to face Shisui, “Tea?”He wanted to point out that she was quite small, and that letting her near the stove would be a horrible idea, ninja or not, but instead he watched as she sat on a chair and stared at him expectantly. “The tea is above the sink. I prefer mine with honey in the bottom. Thanks Shisui.”He stared at her in disbelief, glancing back at the sleeping form on the couch, and then made his way to the stove.Genma was still asleep by the time they had finished the pot, talking back and forth about how she planned on telling Genma about the timefuck she had managed to step into. “See, I think it’ll go okay because isn’t the hiraishin like, time-space ninjutsu.”“Okay, yeah, but-” Genma groaned, cutting off their conversation. “Genma?” Sakura called, getting a loud thud in response. She ran over to the couch, standing over Genma’s crumpled form. He had fallen off the couch. She knelt toward him, staring at his paler than normal features and the sweat that was beginning to form on his face. “Shisui.” She called, and together they lifted him back onto the couch. Sakura moved back and wiped his sweat from her arms, then, concentrating her chakra to her hands and shaping it to heal, she pushed it through his body, shivering as it brushed past a foreign body. A poison she had seen Ino use during the war. It was an intense one, generally used on those who turned traitor, causing them immense pain until they blacked out. When they came too, and the pain was tenfold the original, but their body was numb to it, they increased the dosage, until the person forfeited the information they had, or that they had spilled, or until the torturer felt merciful and ended their life. Why in the world Genma had it in his system, she had no idea.“Shisui, you’re going to have to get me a couple of buckets of water.” She rolled up her sleeves. “And some of his chakra replenishing tablets. This is going to be a longass process.” He immediately left, turning towards the hall closet, returning with two cleaning buckets filled with water a minute later.” She nodded her appreciation and pulled her short hair into a small ponytail on the top of her head. Were the situation any different, Shisui would’ve laughed at himself for taking orders from someone younger than him, time traveler or not. But he was currently scrambling around the house for a very serious time traveler, who happened to be standing over someone she, by all means, should not know as well as she did. He pulled open drawers and cabinets, searching for Genma’s chakra pills.When he found the tray, with several dozen chakra pills lined up in it, he made his way back to the living room, where Sakura stood over Genma, pulling a mass of water through his skin and around his body. He stood and watched her, until she coughed and a bit of water fell from her control, and he ran towards her, and, at her request, gave her not one, but two chakra tablets. Her small body seemed to glow, and she moved back, pulling the darkened water back from Genma’s body.“That’s most of it,” she said, pointing to one of the buckets before pulling the water from the other with her chakra, “so now we’re going to hope this is the last pass I need to get the rest of it.” He didn’t doubt it would be, considering how capable she obviously was at this method of poison removal, which he had never seen performed successfully before. Most medics could get a shinobi into a clear enough state to live. This was much less likely with the weaker and less durable civilians. Not that Shisui had anything against civilians, but they were easily breakable and much too trusting in comparison to a shinobi.“Okay.” Sakura sighed, letting the water splash back into the bucket. “Okay.” “Do you want to tell me why you had so much of that poison in your system?”Genma blinked at Sakura, and the Uchiha behind her with confusion. “I- What?”“The poison? The one I fished from your system for you?” Genma opened his mouth to argue. “The poison that would’ve been impossible for you to wait out so I had to get it out for you? How the hell did you even get it with that anyways?”“I can’t tell you.” It was the truth. Any job he took for anbu was under strict tell-someone-you’ll-die orders. S-rank secrets and jobs.“Anbu then.” She said, an edge to her tone. She cleared her throat, staring him down, the Uchiha backing to the kitchen, a crash sounding a moment later. Genma flinched, Sakura did not. She held her hands in an unfamiliar sign. “Shinobi. Report.” She said, voice latching onto his very soul, compelling him to answer. “How were you poisoned.” He stuttered for the first few words, but he stopped fighting the compulsion after a little while, letting the words flow off his tongue and into the air between them.He didn’t notice as the Uchiha came back, staring at Sakura with disbelief and mild shock, nor did he notice the tea in the Uchiha’s hands as he continued to give out important and very much S-rank details about his mission. When he finished, she just released the hand seal and sat on the floor, leaning against the table.“The only thing I don’t quite get, is why you were on a team with him in the first place. For a patrol mission. He specializes in assassination.” She turned to him. “So do you, come to think of it. Why send the top assassins in anbu on a patrol mission. Surely there were more important things to do. Unless…”Genma stared at her in shock. “What do you mean, top assassins.”“You know, Kakashi and Genma, unstable but talented geniuses in their own rights, can and will bring a team back from a suicide mission?” He caught her eye. “Oh shit was I not supposed to say that?”“Kid, you are so lucky I had to improve my security for you.”“You were lacking wards anyways. Now you’re just up to date. Which, speaking of-”She took a deep breath, meeting his eyes. “Genma, what do you know about time travel?”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
A shock of pain traveled through his arm, pulsing from where her fist had made contact. “I think you just broke my arm.” He said, and to his credit, his voice didn’t reflect his pain, that is, until she reached out to check and lifted it from its limp position by his side. He let out a slight gasp and she pushed her healing chakra through his arm. It went numb. She grinned, face unapologetic as she spoke. “Sorry. I forget my strength sometimes, but uh, that should stop it from being too painful on the way to the hospital.” “Hospital?” He stared at her in horror. “You were a medic nin, can’t you just heal it now.” “No.” “Please.” “No, but I will follow you and make sure you actually go there.” He stared at her, then pouted, muttering, “Why don’t you trust me?” She heard him. “Shinobi never go to hospitals unless they’re unconscious or dragged there.” “Shit.” She muttered, her foot slipping off the roof tile and almost throwing her to the ground. “You alright?” Shisui slowed down, matching her pace instead of leading. “Yeah. I’ll be fine. Just found another bruise.” He nodded and took the lead again. She grimaced as soon as his back was to her, sweat beading against her forehead as she felt the strain on her chakra increase. The drain from maintaining both the block she put on Shisui’s nerves and her upright position was proving to be too much for her younger body. She felt her control slipping three minutes before she lost it for the first time. Shisui stopped in his path, and she stumbled into his back, leaving him gasping in pain as he hit the roof and his arm made contact with the tile. She pulled herself together as quickly as possible, closing her eyes as she added more chakra to the blocks on Shisui’s arm. She wiped the sweat from her brow while Shisui got up, and made to continue forward. She didn’t have much time left before her reserves hit critical low, and the hospital was still a bit of a ways away. “Sakura?” Shisui stared at her in concern, pain shining behind his eyes every few moments as her control flickered. “Hey.” His voice grew distorted as her reserves dipped past critical. “ Sakura ?” She fell against Shisui, her vision fading to black as her body shut down to keep her alive. Shisui raced through the doors, ignoring the pain in his arm in favor of getting the girl in his arms help. The receptionist stared at him, wide-eyed and panicked, and the figure in his arms, passed out and caked in dirt and blood, before nodding and calling over a nurse. She took Sakura from his arms, apparently a lot stronger than she looked, as she carried the girl as if she weighed nothing. He trailed behind her as she brought Sakura into an unoccupied room on the second floor. “It’s just chakra exhaustion. She’ll be fine.” The nurse smiled down at Sakura before turning to Shisui. She glared at him, eyes piercing his very soul as her smile turned a little more sinister by the second. He gulped. He hated hospitals. She smelled the hospital before she saw it, the distinct scent of Konoha’s disinfectants creeping into her airways as she woke up. She sneezed before opening her eyes, relieved when she wasn’t immediately blinded by a light. The room was dark, and Shisui sat to her left. “What time is it?” She asked, and Shisui glared at her. “You idiot. You just up and collapsed and the nurse tells me you were blocking my pain with your chakra-” “What time is it, Shisui.” “Noon.” “Shit. So I was out for, what, four hours?” “Exactly. Four hours Sakura. Do you know-” She ignored him. “What room is this?”“What roo- Sakura, I am trying to lecture you right now.” She gave him a look and he sighed. “205.” She threw the sheets from her legs, swinging them from the bed and staggering towards the window. She tried to force chakra through her system to steady herself, but nothing happened. “No chakra. Of course.” She muttered before calling out to Shisui. “We have about three minutes until a nurse comes in to check on us, we have to act before then.” “What?” “Let’s go, Shisui!” She yelled, forcing the window open. “What?! Sakura, you have chakra exhaustion.” He cried out, staring at her in shock. “Yes, and you have legs. Pick me up and run.” He stared at her in shock. “Let’s GO Shisui!” The door started to open as she clambered on to Shisui’s back. He crouched on the window sill and leapt down as the door opened. The nurse paused at the door, staring wide eyed as they leapt from the window. Sakura made eye contact with the nurse and let out a whoop, waving as she dropped from the second floor. “You were right, I guess. Shinobi never go to hospitals unless they’re unconscious or dragged there.” “What?” “You were unconscious, and you started by dragging me there.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
After around a month and a half of chakra healing, which happens to greatly speed up the process of recovery, Kizashi was alright enough to continue on with his life, which, at the moment, was spent being angry at Sakura and mourning her mother. He was released from the hospital a few days after that, leaving him standing in front of the civilian at the front desk of the housing register. His daughter wasn’t there, of course. She was off galavanting with the good for nothing Uchiha family, causing trouble and learning assassin techniques.
It was like she didn’t even care her mother died, in his opinion, always coming to see him in the hospital, leaving flowers meaning hope, love, and all around good will. It was despicable. Though, he supposed, it makes sense, seeing as ninja are heartless killers. There was no reason to mourn someone’s death, not if you caused death by every movement of your fingers, every flick of your wrist.
The man at the desk stared at his papers in confusion. “Haruno?”
He grunted in acknowledgement.
“It says here that someone already vouched for you for temporary housing.” He held out the paper, tensing from the face Kizashi was making.
“What do you mean vouched-” He snatched the paper from the man’s hand, skimming the text until he reached the signature on the bottom. His hands shook with anger. Uchiha, it read, in a deep red ink. “Of course.” He said, fuming as he crushed the paper in his hands. “Of course.”
“Ah.” Genma said, head swimming as he took in all the information they had just shared with him, then, like the very experienced and capable ninja he was, passed out, because one can only take so much in the span of an hour.
Shisui turned towards Sakura “I told you something like this would happen.”
She stared at the man, passed out on the couch and sighed. “Honestly. He’s a Shinobi. Y’know, expect the unexpected?”
“Who’s gonna expect time travel though. Not to mention another war. The last one was bad enough.”
“I can blame it on the poison?” She tried, glancing back at his still form on the couch. Shisui sighed.
“Kid this is-”
“Anbu code.” She shrugged, “Well technically, it’s Root code, but, y’know-”
“Why do you know Root code?”
“Back before all this, y’know, thing happened, I had a teammate from Root. He ended up teaching the team how to read it so we could trade intel quickly.”
“Is that how you know anbu operations and jutsu too?”
She laughed, picking up the last few papers. “Nah, that was all a field promotion and hard work.”
Shisui stared at her, before blinking. “That would explain a few things.”
He knocked on the door, already receiving dirty stares from the others in the district. They had parted around him as he made his way in, clearing the path before him, closing the streets around them and blocking them from view, leaving a straight shot to the main family’s household, and Kizashi was getting more irritated by the second. The damn red eyed bastards couldn’t leave him alone, it seemed.
They whispered around him, shaking heir heads at the children gripping their mothers legs and asking questions. Several Uchiha Police members kept a careful watch as he walked onwards. One of them approached him.
“Sir, we can escort you to-”
“It’s alright. I know where I’m headed.” He pulled out his customer voice, grinning at the man before him.
The man frowned. “If you’re sure.”
“I am.”
Sakura hummed as she walked down the stairs of the Uchiha household. She spooked Sasuke from his nap as she tumbled onto the floor in her room, but put him back to sleep with a bit of medical chakra before he could wake the rest of the house. There was a small presence in the living room, but she ignored it in favor of grabbing a fruit from the kitchen. Fugaku was in the living room too so it was probably someone the family knew.
All her hard work of keeping Sasuke asleep was destroyed as her father turned from his position on the couch across from Fugaku, face shadowed in anger.
“You.” He called, ignoring Fugaku’s deepening frown and focusing on Sakura, face dirty from training.
“Hi, dad.”
Kizashi stayed at the Uchiha compound for three weeks. Three fucking weeks. Mikoto was at the end of her rope. There’s a point where you pass welcome guest to irritating house pest and Kizashi hit that point within the first hour of staying at their place. So when the genin messenger finally reached their door, telling them that Kizashi’s house was finished with repairs and he could move back in, they kindly, but forcefully, kicked him out.
Of course, because her father left, so did Sakura, though she only took a few days worth of clothes when she left, just so she’d have a reason to come back. But the time between trips increased, and anytime she did visit, Sakura barely greeted them, walking up to the couch and collapsing upon it for an hour before waking up, going to her room for an hour, and eating something from the kitchen before disappearing again.
Mikoto just laughed to herself at the girls actions. They trained so hard sometimes. But Mikoto wanted to know just what they were doing that made her so exhausted. So she turned to her son for answers.
When Mikoto asked her son how training with Shisui and Sakura was going, he was confused.
“Sakura hasn’t come to training in a while.”
And pieces fell into place within Mikoto’s mind.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
When Shisui walks into the Haruno’s store, he doesn’t know what he’s expecting. He doesn’t even know what he was doing there. But there he was. And there was Sakura, directing genin on how to work a cash register, wearing a green dress he’d seen her wear once at school.
She turned away from the genin, confident that they wouldn’t cause the storefront to set fire, and turned, meeting his eyes with tired green ones.
“Hi Shisui!” The genin stiffened at the intruding Uchiha. “How are you today?”
“Good! Auntie wanted me to invite you to dinner.”
“Ah.” Sakura frowned, glancing back at the genin team. “Well, give Mikoto my apologies, I have a lot to do around here.”
“I can see.” He frowned around the room. “You better show up to training tomorrow anyways.”
She responded with a fake salute and a tired smile. “Will do.”
Sakura never made it to training.
“But-”
“No!” Her gather hollered, grabbing her training clothes and kunai pouch in anger. “Your mother may have tolerated this ninja nonsense, but I refuse to have it in my house!.”
He stormed out, leaving Sakura in her dim room, surrounded by shelves filled with books and scrolls. She waited a few seconds before grabbing a storage seal from the shelf and jamming as many things as she could into it, only stopping when she heard the loud footsteps of her father come back up the stairs.
There was a bang, and her father stormed back in, holding a large bag. “Everything is going in here. You won’t touch it except for school, understood?”
“Yes sir.” She grumbled and began to load book after book from the shelf into the bag. Her father stood over her as she worked, nodded to himself, and began ripping things from her drawers and throwing them into the bag too.
Sakura took in a breath, gripping the book in her hand tighter as she tried to get her hand to stop shaking. She placed another book into the bag. This wasn’t right. Another book in the bag. Her dad shouldn’t be like this. Another book passed from her hands. She had to get out. The last book on the shelf. She had to leave.
There was always a dull buzz from the wards that Mikoto could feel under her skin, keeping her keyed into the compound as a hole in a way that meant nothing could be hidden from her. So when they shifted and let someone into her home just after Itachi went to bed, she didn’t get up in a panic, or alert her sleeping husband to the intruder. The wards wouldn’t budge if it was someone uninvited, so instead, she closed her eyes and fell asleep. Down the hall, Sakura did the same.
When she woke, dawn was an hour away and the house was silent. She walked to the closet, grabbing some decent workout clothes to throw on for training and went to check on Sakura. The door creaked when she opened it, and she winced as the girl turned a bit under the blankets. Her things were scattered across the floor in piles, the shelf half filled with scrolls and books while the rest were stacked on the floor next to it. Nodding to herself, Mikoto stepped back out of the room and shut the door again, heading towards the bathroom to change.
Her run crossed paths with Gai twice, once on her way to the training grounds, and once on her way back from them. He smiled energetically at her, speaking of how “Youthful She Was Being, Keeping Up With Her Training Though She Was No Longer An Active Jonin,” and that, “Her Taijutsu Was Coming Along Nicely Considering She’d Been Out Of Practice.” but did not distract her from her tasks. She was covered in sweat by the time the sky began changing color, and in the shower when the sun broke the horizon.
Sakura awoke to the smell of eggs, and the distinct feel of low chakra stores. She wanted to lay in bed, to stay under the warm covers and ignore the world around her and wallow in pity because her own father refused to accept her choices in life, but, she knew she’d never get that chance here. Especially since she’d shown up unannounced in the middle of the night. So, despite her unwillingness, she forced herself from her bed and down the stairs,
“Good morning Sakura! Did you sleep well?”
“Morning.”
Mikoto, bless her, didn’t comment on her lack of enthusiasm, and instead handed her a stack of plates to put on the table. She set them quickly, chopsticks and a napkin at each spot. She returned to the to grab the rice, and then, the glasses.
Itachi was the first person down for breakfast, holding Sasuke in his arms, moving to put him into the highchair by the head of the table. He paused as he made eye contact with the pink hair girl as she juggled two stacks of cups, before nodding a quick good morning. She smiled in response, and went back into the kitchen, only to appear seconds later as Mikoto pushed her back out again.
“Good morning I guess.” Itachi stared at the doorway where his mother’s arms had been seconds before.
Fugaku stared at her as she sat at the table, clasping her hands together in thanks before grabbing the eggs from the center of the tabla. Unlike Mikoto, he hadn’t noticed her arrive in the dead of the night, so needless to say, her sitting silently at the table as if she had never left their house threw him for a loop.
“Hello Sakura.”
“Hi.” She said, grabbing her bowl of rice and taking a bite.
“So,” he swallowed, sweeping his gaze across the table. “When did you get here?”
“Last night.” She shrugged, taking another bite of rice.
“I welcomed her in, she looked rather tired.” Mikoto pitched in, giving a secret smile to Sakura.
“Yeah.” She placed the bowl back onto the table. “Dad took my weapons and training gear because I wasn’t working the register at the shop, so I took it back, sealed it, and left.”
Mikoto blinked, thinking back to the mess that was Sakura’s room, before sighing and turning towards Fugaku.
‘You know what we have to do.’ Her eyes said.
‘No. Absolutely not.’ Fugaku willed back.
“I understand your concern, but you as well as I know we cannot allow this to happen.”
Fugaku nodded stiffly, bowing to the elders and the civilian council before exiting the room and out the building where his wife was waiting expectantly.
“So?” He shook his head.
“They won’t let us.”
“WHAT?” She stared angrily at the door where he had come from.
“Don’t storm up there.” He warned, preparing himself to stop her from moving, except-
“I won’t.” Her smile was terrifying, her eyes seeming to glow with barely contained anger. “I’ll do something much better.”
Fugaku gulped, staring at his wife as she made her way back down the path towards the compound. Those poor elders wouldn’t know what hit them.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“I think you should reconsider this option, sir.” Her aura was downright scary, though her face remained calm and collected as she stared the man down. He gulped, shuffling in his seat.
“Well, ma’am, no disrespect-” he flinched as her eye twitched, “but we can’t simply allow for you to take over care of her when her living space seems to be adequate.”
Mikoto frowned. “Have you and your people been over there recently?”
The man nodded. “Yes. And Kizashi is also a close partner to us here and the kind of things you are accusing him of don’t seem to fit. He is a nice, and caring man.”
“One who just lost his wife.”
His eyes widened. “Mebuki died?” He shuffled through paperwork on his desk. “Nothing we have here says Mebuki died. Kizashi said she was out shopping.”
“She wasn’t.”
“I’ll have to confirm what you just said, but even then, grief is no reason to remove a child from the care of their parent, so unless you have another-”
“Please.” Mikoto leaned forward, face masked with a pleading expression. “Please just let me take her home.” The man went to refuse her, but he caught her sad eyes- and the cash-filled envelope she slid onto the desk- and couldn’t refuse her.
“Alright. I’ll talk to my superiors about the change.”
“No. I absolutely refuse.”
“Auntie, please?”
“Shisui, why in the world do you need to stay here. You have a perfectly good home to stay at, with a perfectly good bedroom.”
“But Auntie-” He pouted. “What will my cute little cousin and pinkie do without me?”
“They’ll be fine.” He gripped his bag tighter as she stared at him. He opened his mouth to protest again but soft crying came from the other room. “Fine. Share Itachi’s room until the storage room gets cleared out.”
He nodded and slipped inside, and sighed as she turned towards Sasuke’s room. He had stopped crying, no doubt because of her Itachi’s presence, but she knew, that unless Itachi got him to sleep, he would just start up again after he left.
“Shisui?” She muffled a yawn. “Why’re you here?”
He stepped around the stack of papers by the door and stepped inside, sitting on top of a stack of books beside her.
“I bribed Auntie to let me stay.”
“Huh? Oh. Cool.” She said, staring at the scroll in her hands with what looked like deep concentration.
“Are you even listening?” She nodded before yawning again “When was the last time you slept.”
“Yeah.” She said half-heartedly, moving the scroll slightly.
“Sakura.” Shishi took the scroll. “When did you sleep last.”
He stared at her, waiting for a response, but she only blinked and shook her head as it dipped to the side. She reached out for the scroll in his hand but he swatted it away.
“Nope!” He said with false cheer. “You need to sleep and I’m going to make sure you do.”
She groaned, the movement quickly turning into a yawn, but didn’t argue further.
Over the next few weeks, she lined her shelves with scrolls of information and her walls with different connections that things had to each other. She was slowly but surely piecing together the madness that was the hidden leaf village, though anything that happened in the future was hidden by a notice-me-not seal keyed into her, Shisui’s, and now, Genma’s chakra.
Mikoto had been a great help, Sakura suspected, in piecing together the Uchiha related affairs that Sakura had mapped out. She was the only member of the main household that walked into her room unannounced, but she was trusted well enough that Sakura didn’t mind. Whenever she was stuck on an issue now, one not related to time travel, she asked Mikoto for her advice. Occasionally, it would fall through and Sakura would need to pick up new pieces, but for the most part, Mikoto was a solid informant.
She learned, by standing around Mikoto often enough, that she was training again, despite her position as wife of the clan head, and that many of the clan elders refused to speak with her. The few exceptions, of course, were the ones everyone considered insane, and the ones that Shisui bothered on a daily.
She also learned several of Mikoto’s best and most secret family recipes.
“I can’t possibly-”
“Sakura, don’t be silly. You have as much rights to these recipes as anyone else in the clan.”
“I’m only an honorary clan member. You said so yourself. If anything, I’m part of Shisui’s family.”
It is true that Shisui spoke up for her, vouched for her, gave her an invitation to his family as a cousin not of blood, but that didn’t make her family. Not in the sense that truly mattered.
“Sakura.” Mikoto stared at her, placing the stack of recipe cards in her hands. “I do not have a daughter to pass these on to. Take. The. Recipes.”
Sakura took the recipes.”
Her teachers sighed at her when she returned to school, not because she had been gone so long, because her grades did not slip once when she was away, but because she paid even less attention in class than before. When it came to sparing, she took more hits than she gave, so they knew she wasn’t a clone, that she actually attended the lessons, but her lack of participation was an issue.
“We know she’s smart. She could graduate early if she wanted to. She just isn’t applying herself.” Her teachers tell Shisui when he goes to pick her up one day.
“I’ll try to talk to her about it.” They nodded at him and walked away.
‘Tomorrow.’ He thought. ‘I’ll ask tomorrow.’
Sakura needed a real fight. Not a spar with academy kids who were around 6 and didn’t know how to fight. She needed the adrenaline that came with danger, that came with the fear of fighting a tough battle. Normally, she’d ask Shisui, but he was out of the village on a mission. He told them during dinner the other day. So now, she was marching her way to Genma’s apartment, hoping that he was home.
She knocked on his door twice. He didn’t respond. She walked inside.
“S-Sakura!”
“I can come back later. You seem a bit tied up.”
“Wait no-” Sakura walked back outside and shut the door, sinking to the floor with the pure essence of ‘What The Fuck.’
Genma was tied up in shinobi wire to a chair. In the middle of his living room. His shirt and pants suspiciously missing from his person. She steeled herself and opened the door again.
His eyes sang relief as she came back into view.
“Who did you piss off?”
“Not so much piss off as accidentally get pranked by.”
“Pranked?” Thoughts of Naruto passed over her mind’s eye. His bright smile and careless laugh from when he was a genin.
“Iruka. That kid is such a troublemaker I swear. God knows what kind of shinobi he’s turn out to be.”
“A sensei. At the academy. Iruka was.” Her voice trailed off, memories of her teacher’s limp corpse were fresh in her mind. She started again. “Iruka was my academy sensei, the first time around.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
They stayed in silence for a few moments before Genma grumbled. “Can you get me out?” She nodded and undid his restraints. Immediately after, he ran to his room and threw on some clothes.
“What did you need me for anyway?”
“A fight.” At his raised eyebrow, she continued. “Shisui is on a mission and I need a fight and you’re the only other person I can think of who would spar with me without questioning why a six year-old was on par with an adult of the village.”
“Ah.” He turned towards his room again.
‘Is that a no,’ she thought before Genma looked back at her.
“Training ground?”
“One of the ones in the Uchiha forest.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Itachi ducked under her foot and threw the paper bomb, the kunai lodging itself into the tree next to her. Shisui grinned as she quickly jumped back, directly in front of him. He swung his kunai towards her, the blade passing through her arm before the clone vanished. “C’mon Sakura! Why’d you send a clone?” A rustling to his left had him twisting around, a kunai coming right at him. He knocked it out of the way with his kunai, but failed to dodge Itachi’s ninja wire from behind. He fell to the ground with a soft thud, frowning at the kids standing above him. Sakura threw a fist towards Itachi and the fight was on again, their temporary truce to beat Shisui ended. They kept attacking and dodging, leaving Shisui tied up on the ground. He fumbled with the wire, slowly as to not cut into his skin, in attempts to get an arm free, but had no success. His next best bet, he knew, was if he could get his hands close enough to each other and use ninjutsu to get out. Itachi ducked another blow from Sakura, leaping to the trees for cover when Shisui had managed to get one hand free. He cut it ever so slightly on the wire, and began making hand signs. With a twist, he got his hand onto the ground, and a crow popped into place. “I like them.” “What.” His voice fell flat as he stared at the crow. “I like them. I’m gonna work with them.” “Wait-” “Itachi! Sakura! Good job!” He walked up to the pair, who were laying on the dirt next to each other in sweaty exhaustion. The crow sat on his head, feet digging into his head. Sakura shifted to look at him and sat upright, eyeing the crow. “Ah, Shisui? You have a crow on your head.” “And she won’t get off until I introduce you.” He bemoaned, twisting his head a bit to prove he couldn’t shake him off. Itachi stared at the bird with wide eyes. “Shisui, isn’t this-” Sakura gave him a questioning look. “This is Yoko!” He said, plucking the bird off his head forcefully, some of his hair still in Yoko’s talons. “Think of this as an early graduation present!” “Wait. We can have more than one summon?” Yoko nodded her head at the girl. “Yes. You just can’t summon them at the same time.” Her eyes lit up and she resumed rereading the contract scroll. Tsunade had her do the same thing when she entered a contract with Katsuyu, just so she knew exactly what she was signing herself up for. She shook her head as she read the last line of the contract. The holders of the contract must permit their summons to pick food off their plates. Crows will be crows, she mused as she cut her thumb on a kunai and signed her name at the bottom of the scroll. She went to roll it up, then stopped. “Wait. If you have more than one summon, how do you make sure that you summon the one you want?” Shisui blinked. “It’s about intent, I think. Just, uh, think crow thoughts.” Yoko said, saving Shisui from the thinking he didn’t want to do. “Crow thoughts.” Sakura deadpanned. “Yep! Crow thoughts!” “You two have been given a privilege, remember, so be on your best behavior.” Their old teacher said, patting them on their heads as they were lead through the academy doors to join the graduating class. He turned and knelt down suddenly, looking them in the eyes. “Don’t you die out there. Alright?” They nodded, and he stood up and walked out of the room. “Ah. Haruno and Itachi, is it?” “Yes sir,” Sakura chirped, avoiding the gaze of the students around them. “Follow me to the testing room. If you pass, you will be assigned a team shortly.” They followed him into a hallway off the classroom they had never been to, and that Sakura was sure wasn’t there before. She stopped suddenly. “Sir? What will we be tested on.” A kunai came flying at her from behind. She dodged it and caught the one incoming from the left. “Oh, nothing much. Your reaction times, taijutsu, genjutsu, and overall ability to survive should do it, I think.” Itachi was batting aside the many senbon that came after him as the man talked. Sakura sighed at the man and shook her head, a pulse of chakra seeped from her for a brief second, and the hall went still. No weapons remained on the floor, despite there being several before. The man smiled at them and backed away, sinking through the wall, before that too dissolved around them. Three jonin stood around the area where a wall once was and nodded in sync. “Uchiha Itachi. Pass. Your teammates will be waiting for you beyond those doors. Follow me.” Itachi nodded and walked back through the doors they entered from, following the fan on the far left. “Haruno Sakura. Pass. Follow me.” The man began walking in a completely different direction than the doors, and Sakura frowned in confusion before complying. “What.” “We had too many kids graduating including you so we decided it would be best if you had a jonin mentor, instead of making you stay in the academy or go to the corps.” Sakura read between the lines. We’re scared of what the Uchiha clan might do if we didn’t give you this opportunity. “Okay, so who’s my mentor supposed to be then?” Sakura tried not to react when she heard the name. “I trust you will be able to work together and do well on missions as just the two of you.” “Yes sir.” She bowed respectfully at the Hokage before making her way to the door. “Thank you.” “You’re welcome, child.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
In hindsight, it was probably something they should have thought more about. The fact that they chose the Uchiha land, rather than some random training ground, was their first mistake. The second was not setting up a barrier to make sure that the grounds didn’t get too torn up. The third, and most important mistake they made, was forgetting to check that the forest was clear before they started. It began like this.
“And you’re sure this is fine?”
“Yeah!” Sakura replied, going through some warm up stretches. “No one really trains at this time in the day, and if they did, we’d hear them coming before they got too close anyway.”
“You’re sure?” He said, pulling her to her feet.
She nodded, and he took the moment to jump into the trees away from her.
He made a clone and masked his chakra, sending his clone in the opposite direction in hopes of distracting the girl. When Sakura didn’t immediately come after him, he wanted to celebrate. She was scary during a fight, he couldn’t deny that, not after he heard about what happened in her fight against shisui. She had a complete disregard for herself, so her actions were unpredictable.
A flash of panic hit him when his clone was disbursed, the memories of a paper bomb tagged kunai flooding his mind. She was coming for him.
It felt so
good
to be able to fight like this again, without worrying about accidentally hurting one of her classmates, or Shisui, who, good as he was, was still a child. She wouldn’t be able to handle that, harming a kid, mentally. But Genma? Genma was an adult, and because of that, he was fair game for as many attacks as she could land on him.
Which, she thought to herself as she neareed his hiding place in the trees, was going to be a lot.
“Oops?” She tried, but he wasn’t having any of it.
“Don’t ‘oops’ me! Do you know how bad this could be for us?” He shot back. “If she goes and tells someone, that’s it. Both of us under observation.”
Sakura glanced back to Mkoto, who was standing a few yards away, arms crossed in displeasure as she watched their conversation. “I don’t think she’s going to tell anyone.”
“Sakura, are you stupid? She just saw a jonin of the village fighting a
child.
”
“Yes, but-”
“No, ‘yes, but’. It makes things even worse that your the Uchiha ward, because she has every right to-”
“She
can’t
tell anyone, Genma. Look at what she’s wearing.”
She was wearing Konoha standard ninja wear, which wasn’t so uncommon in Konoha, except Mikoto had been off the active duty roster for at least 7 years prior. She hadn’t so much as taken up a blade in that time.
“Wait, so you mean-”
“I can’t tell anyone because I shouldn’t be here.” Mikoto finished, obviously tired of just listening in to the conversation. “But that doesn’t stop me from giving you two and earful. Honestly, what were you two thinking?!”
Sakura winced, and Genma tilted his head down in shame. He was a jonin for Kami’s sake. What
was
he thinking?
“That’s right. You weren’t. Because if you were you’d remember that you aren’t the
only shinobi in Konohagakure
.”
Sakura winced. Mikoto
did
have a point. She needed to stop running around like she couldn’t get caught for things.
“You especially!” She pointed her finger at Genma. “You are an
adult.
One with a lot of high level skills who has no reason to be starting fights with
children.
”
“Uh, Mikoto? I uh, I actually started the fight.” Mikoto glanced down at the pink haired girl and sighed. She steadied herself before looking back at Genma.
“In any case. You need to be more aware of your surroundings. Don’t be late for dinner, Sakura.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Genma swears he overheard Mikoto say, “Honestly I leave you alone for one day,” but Sakura denies that she heard it too, despite being closer to Mikoto. (She totally did.)
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
"I tried kid. I really did."
"I know, Genma. I know." Sakura turned and gave him a small smile. "I think we can get this to work though."
He gave her a disbelieving stare. "I'm serious. It'll give me a better source of information."
"Sakura he practically killed your parents!"
"Dad's still alive." She mumbled. Genma scoffed.
"He's dead to me." Sakura gave a gift that could have been a laugh. "Seriously though. Danzo?"
"It could be a good thing!" She insisted. "Sure he's old, but that just means he has that much more experience." Genma still shook his head.
"I don't know about this, Sakura."
"It'll be good. I swear!"
She really needed to stop cursing her luck like that. Danzo was as much as a slave driver as Tsunade was, tasking her with lists of things to train when he wasn't there teaching her how to fight efficiently. Sometimes she'd have other non, ones that Danzo had sent, teaching her different techniques until she was quite literally panting on the ground, unable to move. She spent the first month under his tutelage in an exhausted state, her schedule changing from one that gave her a bit of free time into one consisting of; wake up, train, spar with whoever was at the training grounds, wait until they left, heal her major injuries, limp to the Uchiha compound, shower, collapse in bed, and repeat.
The second month was a bit easier on her, having adjusted to the schedule and made changes to her lifestyle accordingly.She still spent most of her time exhausted and beat, but there was results for her effort. Danzo started having her go on D-ranks as training. He never showed up to watch, but she knew he'd be told what she had done during them. She noticed the shadows she gained when she started taking missions. They stood in the trees bordering the property when she fixed up a house on the outskirts of Konoha, watching her weed and paint and replace the roofing and side paneling without using her chakra, just like she was asked. They followed behind as she bowed to the civilian who lived there and made her way back to the missions counter.
Month three, under the supervision of Danzo, Sakura was allowed on her first C-rank. She was to escort Danzo for one of his meetings with someone she was never told the name of. This time, her shadows came to stand beside her on the mission. They handed her a cloak and a mask that packed animal features, and she stared at Danzo for an explanation.
"So they do not identify you amongst the rest of my guard." He said it like it was for her safety. She knew otherwise.
"I will not join your organization." He stiffened ever so slightly, but his face didn't give anything away.
"Yet." He said, and her shadows shifted beside her.
"Yet." She agreed, and donned the mask and cloak.
She was in pain from the moment she woke up, her arms and legs strapped to a table. Her mouth was dry and the taste of blood and ink lingered on her tounge. Someone stepped forward and untied her, but she didn't have the energy to move, even with the stale gone.
She had seen Danzo meeting with Orochimaru, no doubt it was something he had planned, not an accident, that she happened to stumble across their meeting on her way back from the hotel bath. Her shadows were not with her, and she was no longer wearing their clothes, so she doubts Orochimaru thought much of her if he saw her though the cracks as she saw him.
Danzo had cornered her after the meeting, the shadows watching from a distance to see if maybe she would be punished for her actions. Instead, she was told to be more discreet in her actions and was knocked out. Her shadows must have carried her home and into the room she was in,and Danzo sealed her.
She tried a few words about what she saw, toeing the line of what she knew couy be dangerous, trying to explain what she had seen aloud to herself, felt her body seize up and her control leave, and cried. Her shadows stood around the room, watching her as she grew hysterical over her loss of freedom. She would be considered as one of them, whether she liked it or not.
Note:
Oh I'm having fun writing this now. Whelp, her sensei is Danzo. It was originally going to be Genma, but I had this idea and made a pro/con list between the two, and Danzo had more cons that pros so he was a obvious choice for her mentor. And! I read back with my old chapters (there's a plot issue I'll have to fix eventually) and he showed interest in her skill before.
Oh! and he sealed her so she can't talk about any of the shit he does or plans to do, and now he can be less cautious with his actions around her. Hopefully he never finds out she can heal as well as she can, but it is what it is
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Kid, they’ve changed who’s on guard duty today.” Sakura hummed as she picked off another piece of her lunch to give to the crow. “Anyone new?” Yoko jumped over to her plate, snatching up one of the larger pieces for herself. “Hey! That one was mine!” “No.” Yoko said, gulping down the food as if Sakura would steal it back. She would. It was homemade. “Don’t leave it out if you don’t want me to eat it.” As soon as Sakura had been assigned Danzo upon receiving her headband, she had begun keeping tabs on him, and, by extension, tracking the different shadows that followed her to and from her missions and cores, and keeping count of who they were in case they ever ended up encountering them in the future. Yoko was lending some help for the process, training Sakura in the areas of sensing and testing her with the number of root agents she managed to pick up on around her. She tried not to feel bad when the crow would reveal the number to be higher than she noticed because they were technically ANBU level, but at the same time, many of them were actually children, and it wasn’t fair. She had worked so hard before, gotten so far in life, surpassed her mentor, the Hokage herself, for what? To get thrown into the past? To fix some fucked up problem and prevent a war? She lost all the progress she had made with her physical training. Lost her reputation, her teacher, her friends, her life, for what? What could she do? Getting thrown under the tutelage of Danzo had thrown it into perspective for her. Had shown her that, no matter how hard she worked, how much she tried to catch up, to get back her old skills in her old life, she could not, because she was a child, not some Hokage’s apprentice turned ANBU turned war victim. No. She was a seven-year-old ninja wanna-be with bright pink hair. A seven-year-old ninja wanna-be with connections to a founding clan and a mentor that was most definitely not working for the good of the village. A seven-year-old that was allowed to go on a B-ranked mission because Danzo was busy and the Hokage trusted the squad’s abilities to keep her safe. Sakura Haruno was not where she was before, was not who she was before, but she wasn’t in such a bad place to be. “Oh my god, Sakura how could you say that? You’re supposed to be cute.” “Shisui, you are currently bleeding all over my leg how am I supposed to be cute?” Genma laughed in the background. “Shut the hell up Genma, you’re just as bad as he is.” He just laughed harder in response. The mission was easy on paper. Get in, get the information from the contact, get out. On paper. In person? The mission went as well as expected. They got in, Genma at point while Shisui took the rear, Sakura sandwiched in the middle, tracking anyone that could be int he area with her sensing jutsu. Shisui went on guard the moment Sakura tensed before the warning could even leave her mouth. Genma struck down the two guards with a senbon, knocking them unconscious as Shisui struck out on the other side, taking out the remaining guards that had rushed towards them. They reached the contact, Sakura heading in to accept the information because no one expects a kid, ever. Shisui held off the guards down the hall while Genma kept his eyes on the contact and Sakura. She struck him down with a kunai to the head, taking the scrolls from his person before turning towards Genma. He grabbed her and headed out the window, waving at Shisui and making a jump to the wall. Shisui followed, blood dripping from his left shoulder as he landed beside them. Sakura gripped the scrolls tighter and stared at Shisui’s bleeding arm. She was jerked from her thoughts as they took off again, Genma not letting Sakura go until they were a good ways away from the area of combat. When he did, and she moved towards Shisui to make him sit down and ‘shut the fuck up so I can fix your arm’ Genma started laughing. He stopped when she made him help her. He wasn’t the medic for a reason, that’s for sure, but she was going to teach him something.