Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sakura never expected the end of the world to be like this.

As a child, if she was asked about this, she would have to face the fact that she would not even be alive, much less that she would be the last one to survive. She might have been a little girl who lived in her own world of passionate illusions for many years, but even Sakura was able to admit that she was not the strongest of creatures. The end of the world would crush her like a bug under a combat boot. There would be barely any pieces left to tell the story and that was her being optimistic.

Older, Sakura could imagine she would last a long time, but the feat of being the survivor of a lost war didn't seem to be for her. That was something Naruto would do. Sasuke, Kakashi. Sakura's role would be to heal, to fight, to die saving one of their lives in some way, and she was okay with that.

Yet here she was.

Adult, alive, in a finished and infertile world, consumed by fire and disaster, with only Obito Uchiha by her side, of all people.

That was the part she always found most ridiculous. Of everyone who could have gotten it together with her, Obito was never on the list. Hell, she thought he was dead longer than she spent with him alive. It should be her team with her. It should be Ino. It should be Tsunade, it should be anyone else.

Still, there they were.

No one wanted to admit it, but Sakura always knew that they lost any chance they had in that fateful battle six years ago. She always knew, in the moment Madara killed Tsunade and took the first piece of Sakura's heart underground with her, that they had lost. Naruto didn't want to hear any kind of pessimistic speech, even when everyone had to flee like rats while Madara ruled the world, insisting that nothing was decided and that they could do it. Sakura remembered smiling at him with all the love she possessed, touching his shoulder and mentally thanking him for still shining like the sun she missed seeing, but, deep down, she always knew. And she knew that Sasuke and Kakashi knew it too, by the way their eyes met and neither of them said anything, as if they were afraid that their words would be the final nail in the coffin that would bury them all.

From that day on, everything got worse.

The world was massacred, swallowed by Madara's power and influence as if he were a hungry beast, as if he were a tsunami of fire that covered every inch of earth. They tried to regroup for years, but the alliance fell apart as quickly as it came and what was left for everyone was to run as fast as they could with anything they could carry. They fled from country to country, running nonstop for days and resting in any reasonably safe place they could find.

Six years on the run. Sakura remembered very little about it, about all the way she walked from seventeen to twenty-three. The state of continuous adrenaline could do that to someone, affect the storage of memories in their brain and she knew that was the case for her. Everything seemed like a big mess, a big tangle of panic, pain, hunger, exhaustion and suffering.

Minus their death, of course. Tsunade, Ino, Lee, Naruto, Sai, Yamato, Sasuke, Kakashi. She remembered each one of them, every detail, more than she remembered anything else, more than she remembered her life before everything was destroyed, more than she remembered herself and the girl who one day she was.

And now, as she looked at Obito below her, dying, dying, dying like the selfish man he was, Sakura knew that she too would be follow by that moment forever, just like with all the others, the legion of ghosts that haunted her in life and would probably haunt her in death as well.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid man” she cursed him over and over, her hands leaking chakra desperately grabbing him by his old, useless vest. A vest that wasn't even his, a vest that they found on a corpse a few months earlier and stole because there was no other option. “Why did you let it go so far? Why didn’t you say anything?”

She was supposed to hate him and for a long time she did. But Obito had been her only company for two years and they had both learned to love each other in their own way. They fought side by side since he became aware of his mistakes, they talked about their pains and sins by firelight in a world too dark. He brought his sleeping bag closer to hers when Sakura had her night terrors and she filled him with happy stories of her team, which brought small, rare smiles to his lips. He started calling her Sak after their first year alone and she allowed it, even though that was what Sasuke had called her the last time they were together. He treated Katsuyu with respect and devotion, rather than calling her a slimy slug like Naruto, and she in return cursed him like a sailor because she knew it deeply amused him. He told her about Rin, on a particularly bad day when they were both almost caught by Madara and she had to use her entire seal and then some more to save both of their lives, and she made him cry when she said she was sure that she would forgive him, like Kakashi did (like Sakura did).

Sakura should know. She now knew Obito enough to understand him, even if not in the way she once could with her real boys. He received a discreet cut around his waist the last time they met enemies, a month ago, and he purposely hid it from her. A cut made by a dirty, rusty, contaminated blade. A cut that rotted and contaminated his entire bloodstream. A cut he only made her aware existed when he knew it was too late.

She couldn't stop repeating herself as she ran her hands over him, angry tears streaming down her face, asking why, why, why, through clenched teeth, but deep down, she knew why, just like she knew they had lost, just as she knew it shouldn't be her there (it should be Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi).

It was in the dark circles beneath his eyes. It was in the way he spent hours staring at the horizon, completely dissociated from reality. It was in the way he began to tell her more and more private stories, his regrets, his fears, how he began to ask her what she would have liked to have done with her life if the war had never happened. What she would have done differently. If she would do it differently, if she had the chance.

After six years and the death of everyone they knew, Obito was tired. Obito was suicidal.

And Sakura didn't realize, whether for true ignorance or a selfish attempt of not wanting to admit that the only person she had also wanted to go and leave her completely alone in the hell that the world had turned around. She didn't notice and now it was too late.

“Sakura-san…”

Katsuyu-sama's small voice trembles as she calls out to her and Sakura already knew her answer before she heard it.

“No,” she whispered, still running her hands over him, trying something, anything. “Maybe we… we can still…”

But there was nothing to do. Chakra was the most powerful form of medicine, but it was not invincible. If it was the beginning of the injury, she could have healed it and that was why Obito hid it, the cruel, cruel, cruel man that he was. She just needed to burn off the bacteria like a small localized artificial fever. But the infection was widespread now. The fever Sakura would need to put him in to burn off the illness would kill him. She needed antibiotics and there was still almost a sixty-five percent chance that Obito would die.

And she had no antibiotics. She barely had food and water most days. She had nothing.

The gentle little slug crawled out of Obito's collar, looking at her with sad eyes. Sakura knew she was right. She knew it before she called out to her, in fact she knew it the moment he fell face down on the ground and she touched him with her chakra. She knew he was a dead man walking, but he was the only dead man walking besides her in that world, so she had to try. She had to try.

Obito's hand touched her cheek affectionately, making her look at him. There was a small smile on his lips, the small smile he shared with her in his most vulnerable moments.

“It’s going to be okay,” he whispers, coughing a wet, dirty cough, full of offensive disease, that makes her shiver. “It’s going to be okay, Sak. I will see them. I'm going to see Kakashi, I'm going to see my sensei…”

His eyes glowed, a different glow than the natural fever that was consuming him from the inside out.

“I’m going to see Rin.” His smile grew, filled with so much love that more tears fell into Sakura's eyes. “I'm going to see Rin. I'm going to see Rin.”

She wanted to hate him. She wanted to scream at him, curse him, kill him herself, make him stay. But Sakura was also tired, exhausted, so all she could do was continue wasting her chakra and everything she had on failed attempts to save the life of a man who didn't want to be saved.

Again.

“I can’t do this alone,” she admitted in a desperate whisper. “I can’t do this alone, you bastard, idiot bastard…”

His thumb on her cheek caressed her skin tenderly, wiping away angry tears.

“And you won’t” he murmured back, still smiling, still with bright eyes.

Sakura frowned at him, panting from her own exertion and desperation. The fever should have started to make him delirious.

"What you…?"

"I'm very sorry."

She watched as a tear now fell from one of his eyes.

"I'm sorry for everything, Sak" Obito said, crying silently.

“Don't waste your energy” Sakura scolded him, rubbing her eyes with her own forearm before continuing to pour her chakra into him. “I understand, okay? You stupid, you idiot. I understand, now be quiet. Maybe there is still something I can do…”

“I'm sorry about everything” Obito insisted, with a resigned tone of voice that gained her full attention. “Not just for that, but for everything. It's my fault. This is all my fault. We lost them all because of me. You lost your life because of me.”

Sakura found herself caught in his gaze when Obito reached out his other hand and grabbed her face, holding her steady with a strong, stubborn, sad and determined expression. A shiver passed through her, like the presentiment that something was coming.

“I can't fix this world, it's too late” he continued, squeezing her face with a brute force that left her paralyzed. “I woke up too late to this world. I couldn't save Rin, I couldn't save Kakashi, I couldn't save myself, but I can save you .”

Her eyes widened when she saw his eyes changing, irises melting into blood red and dark purple, looking straight at Sakura. More shivers ran down her spine.

"Obito…?" she whispered, holding her breath as she tried to get out of his grip. "What you…?

“Katsuyu-sama” he said, still looking at Sakura. “You can travel between dimensions, can’t you?”

Her face turned white. Her heart stopped when Katsuyu's small voice, just a little confused, confirmed.

“Go with her” he said, smiling again and still crying. “Go with her and help her. Sakura will need you to contact the other version of yourself.”

"Obito" Sakura managed to say, turning off her chakra to grab his vest with both hands, lifting him slightly off the ground with just the strength of her powerful muscles. “Are you crazy? What the fuck are you saying?!”

She could feel Katsuyu climbing up her arm and entering under her sleeve, deciding to carry out Obito's request. Sakura almost wanted to take her from her, to scream at her to stop engaging in his madness and go back to trying to save his life, but something in the back of her mind whispered that Katsuyu seemed to have understood something she wasn't yet capable of in her state of desperate stupor.

“You told me that, if the war had never happened, you would have liked to have become the greatest doctor of your generation” Obito said, squeezing her cheeks and smiling a huge, loving, proud, toothy smile. “You said you would like to bring honor to your name. That you would like to be big. That you would like to save everyone, especially your team. Build that clinic for children…”

Huge tears leaked from Sakura's eyes as she saw herself transfixed in Obito's eyes, paralyzed between his hands  as a portal opened beside them and a whirlwind stirred the air around her, seeming to call her name.

No.

“Stop” she stammered, seeing the paleness increasing in his face, his cheeks becoming deeper. “You're using up all your chakra. Stop, please."

That seemed to be the only thing her numb brain could get out of her lips.

“Stop, Obito.”

“Thank you for everything you did for me” he continued.

“Obito, stop now!”

“I will give you the second chance you deserve.”

Eyes locked with each other, his hands came down to grip her tightly by the forearms. Sakura was sobbing.

“Stop, you idiot!” she shouted, slamming her fists into his chest. He didn't even groan in pain, looking weaker and deader every second the portal was open.

“Take care of them” he smiled.

"Stop!"

“Live your life, make a name for yourself.”

"STOP! JUST STOP IT! STOP!"

“They need you” he insisted. “They need you, as much as you need them, even more actually. I can't give you this world, but I can give you a new one. One in which you will flourish as you always should have.”

Sakura screamed a painful cry, slamming her head into his chest as she felt his life slipping away like water between her fingers.

"I'm tired too!" she growled, looking him in the eye again. “Did you stop to think about it, you bastard? I'm tired too! I can’t do this anymore either!”

In return, he looks at her lovingly again, smiling and seeming to drink in her features as if it were the last time he would see her.

(Like all her boys did)

“I hate you” she shook, her entire weight being held by his hands on her forearms.

“I love you, Sak” Obito said, smiling one last time. "Be happy, for all of us."

And with one last look at something on her neck, Obito murmured “take care of her, Katsuyu-sama” and used the last of his strength to push her to the side.

Sakura was sucked into the force of the vortex, rising from the ground straight into the sky and then from the sky to the ground again.

Before she crashed, the last thing she saw was Obito, smiling at her as he died, alone in a dead dimension that once she called home and would never be able to return to.

Chapter Text

The fall caused a worrying injury to her coccyx, as well as painful cracks in three vertebrae in her spine. One of her ribs broke and caused a small puncture under her left lung. The back of her head hurt so much that it clouded her vision and she was sure something was also wrong with one of her ankles.

She became aware of all these injuries the second the dust settled in the air after the impact, just as she became aware that her world, now, would never again be anything more than a dead ball abandoned in space and that she loved Obito with the same intensity that she hated him.

Sakura, however, didn't move. Her chakra began to flow before she could do anything (Do what? Stop it? Who knows. Not her, at least not anymore. It was hard to think. It was hard to breathe. It was hard to keep loving people who left her seeing their backs on the horizon ), a true instinct that has taken on a life of its own after so many years of use. She didn't spend enough time thinking about how her chakra healed her without needing any kind of command and maybe she should. From somewhere up her sleeve, she could feel Katsuyu's cold, gooey slide, sending healing power through her skin. It was comforting to know that she hadn't somehow crushed her during the fall.

Standing still, Sakura continued to stare at the point where the portal had closed, now replaced by an extremely blue, sunny and cloudless sky. A bird flew by for a second, at the same time a breeze hit her and raised goosebumps on her neck.

Blue and sunny, as if the world wasn't on fire and it was impossible to see the sky beyond the black smoke made of sulfur, bodies and destroyed dreams.

A bird, as if there were still life. As if there was still water to drink, trees to nest in, and somewhere to land and call home.

Breeze, as if there were more options than the windstorm that seemed to follow Madara wherever he went, bringing with it the insipid smell of blood, death and tears of despair.

“Sakura-san?” Katsuyu said gently, from somewhere on her shoulder. “Can you please try to sit down? I wish I had better access to the wounds on your back.”

Sakura didn't answer her, but did as asked, mechanically sitting up despite the desperate physical pain that hit her. In a way, the pain was good. It served to wake up some part inside her, as if it whispered that Sakura was still human and not the shadow of a woman she felt like.

If she was still able to feel pain, then she was still alive. Even if it didn't seem like it. Even if she didn't want to.

After what seemed like a lifetime, Katsuyu appeared at the height of her vision, on one of her knees, tilting her head as she gazed at her face. She looked sad and Sakura felt bad, despite the fact that it had been six years since everyone looked sad all the time.

“You were hurt significantly, but I believe you already know that, Sakura-san” she said softly. “But your chakra is reacting well, as is mine. You are fine now.”

You're fine now.

It's going to be okay, Sak. I'm going to see Rin.

A nod was all she gave in response, as her brain seemed to slowly wake up from its stupor. She did a second mental scan of her entire body, cataloging piece by piece as if her mind was a doctor and the rest of her a patient. Two parts of a whole now separated, dissociated.

Spine, rib, lung, coccyx, ankle, head. Everything was back to how it was before, although a few spots here and there were still sensitive. There were many bruises all over her body, especially on her back, which cushioned her fall, but Sakura left them there. They weren't a danger to her life and she quickly learned in her career to preserve her chakra as much as possible.

Still, it felt like something wasn't right...

Oh, there it was.

Sakura wasn't breathing.

“Katsuyu,” she murmured, forgetting about the respect suffix for a second and deciding that she would apologize later. “Could you give me a minute?”

The little slug nodded and Sakura took her off her knee, placing it gently on the ground. She then stood up and walked away, forcing one foot in front of the other as she moved to a safe distance. Stopping, Sakura looked up at the sky, blue like Naruto's eyes once were, before falling to her knees on the ground.

Her hands cushioned her fall and she looked at them, seeing how dirty they were, how they looked like someone else's. Her protective gloves had disintegrated in the last conflict with Madara and she was unable to find replacements. Sakura had always kept her nails short and immaculate for the health of her patients, but now they were brittle, weak and filthy. Her skin covered in small scars, rough in every corner. She always had dry skin thanks to the gloves and disinfectants at the hospital, but she used to control it a little with moisturizers that Ino liked to give her. There were no more moisturizers. Just hard calluses and thick scars on her knuckles. And there was no more Ino either. Just bloody nightmares and a heart so broken it had turned into dust.

What also wasn't there was blood. Not like Sai, choking on huge bubbles that ran down the corners of his lips and down his neck as he smiled his real smile at her. Not like Sasuke, with his insides out, clinging to her with the last strength he had and repeating himself: “I'm sorry, Sakura, I'm sorry, for everything, I'm so sorry…”

Obito died like Kakashi, without blood. But while Kakashi was forced to electrocute himself with his own chidori, Obito let a stupid cut rot him from the outside in. She could still smell both deaths.

No blood, not a single drop. Both left her with nothing behind to remember them, not even their own blood to stain her fair skin and torment her behind closed eyelids.

Nothing was left for her. Nothing but herself again, left alone, left behind.

If Sakura's lungs had been breathing, she would have choked. But they weren't, just like her eyelids weren't blinking or her heart beating. So what was left for her was to do the only thing she could think of.

Sakura screamed.

A guttural and animalistic scream, which was born from the beginning of her throat and rose throughout the trachea like an avalanche of sulfuric acid, burning everything it came across. A scream that started low to grow and spread throughout the clearing around her, impressively loud for something so hoarse. She screamed with her face thrown to the sky and her eyes closed, before she hit her forehead on the ground and screamed more, louder, more painful, with all her teeth bared.

She screamed and screamed and screamed. She screamed everything she had inside herself, all the regret of not having grabbed Obito in that last second and dragged him there with her, all the pain of not having been able to save any of them, all the despair of seeing her world destroyed and lost forever, all the hatred and latent anger that seemed to consume her for so many years that she didn't know how to feel any other way.

She screamed until the muscles in her face hurt with cramps, screamed until her throat tasted like blood, until her vocal chords came close to breaking and her voice disappeared completely, until her jaw locked in place, hard and grinding.

When screaming was no longer an option, Sakura bent her elbow, raised her fist in the air, and punched the ground.

The world shook and crumbled as she continued to punch the earth beneath her, tearing in half anything that dared come in her way. Punches after punches, turning everything she could into the same dust that her heart was made of: the earth, the stones, her fingers, her pain, her nightmares, her regrets.

At some point she tried to scream again, but her throat still hurt, so all that came out of her were agonizing sounds that sounded like a wounded animal. Sakura punched everything in her path, sinking with the debris and reverberating what sounded like thunder for miles. She only stopped when the dust around her became so thick it was impossible to breathe and both the ground and her finger bones seemed to have disappeared and been replaced by sand.

A second passed. Two. Three. Maybe a lifetime. The sounds of destruction stopped echoing and all that followed was a long stillness, mixed with the blood roaring inside her ears. Her head also felt strangely empty, but she pretended that the silence was actually peace, and allowed herself a second, just a second without anything existing beyond that.

Finally, Sakura took a breath. With a lot of dust and packed earth, which got into her system and burned her lungs, but a breath. She wheezed, coughed and lay there, breathing until she felt like she was able to do it naturally, until she felt her throat stopped burning like it was covered in acid. When that moment arrived, Sakura stood up on very shaky legs and looked around, seeing the world again.

She destroyed the land. Sakura was in a deep hole that she had dug for herself, so deep that she had to tilt her entire head to look up. With a deep and resigned sigh, she observed that she had punched everything so brutally that she could see the different layers of the soil, going from clear to reddish. This wouldn't go unnoticed by anyone nearby and the last thing Sakura needed right now was someone too foolish or too brave (or both, as Naruto once proved possible) to come and see what had happened.

Using chakra in her feet, Sakura climbed her way back slowly, knowing that too much force or speed could cause the (now) fragile ground to crumble. Her limbs felt heavy, as if she had something hanging from her wrists, pulling her down. A very big contrast to her head, which seemed light and full of cotton.

When she reached the top, she stopped for a second, resting her elbows on the edge and her face on her forearms, as if she were resting on a pool. When she felt the water that had run off her face go onto the skin on her arms and onto the floor, Sakura realized that she was still crying. That she hadn't stopped for even a second.

“Sakura-san? Are you okay?"

Sakura raised her face to give Katsuyu a sad look, then held out one of her hands for the little slug to climb into her palm. Her hands were covered in blood, unprotected by the lack of chakra gloves, but neither of them spoke about it, simultaneously feeling the healing flow silently repairing them and her throat.

“I'm sorry, Katsuyu-sama,” she murmured after a few minutes, embarrassed. “I lost control for a minute.”

“Don’t be sorry, Sakura-san” her summon said in return, stroking Sakura's thumb with her own body and leaving a line of slime in its place. Naruto would be horrified, but she found it endearing. “You've been through a lot in the last few years. Don't be embarrassed about needing to vent in some way. Although I felt obliged to remind you of the existence of healthier methods of dealing with pain, I was also Tsunade-sama's, as you well know.”

A sad laugh passed through Sakura's nose, as she reached out with her other hand to caress Katsuyu with the tip of her index finger. Tsunade, who loved sake imported from Kirigakure. Tsunade, who was terrible at card games and gambling, but insisted that she should be the one to teach Sakura how to play. Tsunade, who died looking into her eyes and mouthing with bloody lips for her to run.

“But we better go, Sakura-san” Katsuyu continued. “It has been more than an hour since we arrived and I have no doubt that the noise will attract the attention of the nearest village.”

Nodding in agreement, Sakura finally climbed out of the hole she had opened herself with her anger and pain. It wasn't the first time and it most likely wouldn't be the last, but she'd left herself vulnerable in that unfamiliar place for long enough. Now, she needed to put on the shinobi mask she had worked so hard to get and start moving. She could collapse again at another, more opportune time. And she would, that was for sure.

As if Katsuyu's words had power, Sakura began to hear footsteps approaching and ran in the opposite direction with all the speed she possessed. Her small chakra reservoir was a curse at many times, but a blessing in situations like this: during the war, she honed her ability to suppress something that was already tiny, and was now able to hide herself from anyone around her, passing by small animals, such as birds and squirrels. Her greatest success with this ability was being able to imitate the chakra size of a small mouse. Kakashi looked at her back then with equal amounts of relief and pride in his eyes, as if the idea that Sakura could hide herself from anyone brought relief to his soul.

Wedging herself between a set of gigantic rocks, she positioned Katsuyu comfortably in the collar of her vest and hid, just wanting a quick look to get her bearings. Sakura suspected that Obito had sent her to the same place they were in her own dimension. There was the cave a few meters away where they slept for a while before the illness overcame him and threw him against the ground. The problem was that they had been on the run for so long that Sakura had no idea which country she was in.

In her dimension everything was more of the same. Infertile land, burned trees, smell of death, destroyed cities, rivers without water. The last time she had any sense of where they were, Kakashi was still alive and his ninkens were helping them navigate.

A group of five shinobi approached and Sakura narrowed her eyes, frustrated. She moved far enough away to be safe, but also far enough away that she couldn't see or hear them properly. She would usually put chakra into her eyes and ears to enhance them, but she didn't want to risk it in case one of them was a sensor...

“Katsuyu-sama” Sakura whispered, turning her face to exchange a look with the slug on her shoulder. “Could you put chakra in my ears and eyes for a few minutes?”

Katsuyu smiled at her and waved, moving to the back of her head. As her chakra began to flow, voices began to reach her, talking to each other.

“Is there a sign of anyone?”

"No, sir, I can't sense any human chakra nearby and the witnesses at the farm to the south stated they didn't see anyone strange in the area."

One of them approached the gigantic crater and leaned down to look at the bottom.

“I’ve never seen anything like this… We passed by here last week and everything was normal.”

The hole was so deep that his voice echoed as if it were a cliff or a cave.

“What do you think happened, sir? I thought we were going to encounter a battle, but I can't feel any kind of chakra residue other than something strange coming from the sky…”

“Sky chakra? And how can you not find traces of chakra in destruction like this?!”

Silence stretched as the shinobi that Sakura assumed was a tracker shrugged his shoulders, uncertain.

“I’ve never seen brutal destruction like this…” the group leader said, looking around. “The civilians said they heard a woman screaming?”

"Yes, sir. They said they were screams of despair and that the sounds of destruction could be heard at least four miles away.”

Oops.

"Maybe it is that?" the fifth shinobi ventured, a younger voice that made her suspect he was a rookie. “Maybe the woman was attacked and these are the remains of the fight.”

The leader snorted heavily.

“If it were, we would be finding her remains shattered in that hole” he said, exchanging amused glances with the other shinobi. “Unless you’re implying the woman did this.”

The four laughed at the embarrassed newbie's expense, which made Sakura frown. Her eyes swept over the red clothes and brown jackets, finding the ninja bandanas next. She recognized the symbol: Iwagakure. Land of Earth. Great, what she needed most: the legion of shinobi known for obeying their superiors without any questions, even if it killed them.

More than that... Sakura hadn't had much contact with the Land of Earth in her life, but she didn't remember them having opinions so contrary to the kunoichis. Kurotsuchi, the Sandaime Tsuchikage's granddaughter, had been tipped to replace her grandfather for years and there was no movement against that, much less because of her gender. Was this some sort of change from one universe to the other, or had she just had the misfortune of overhearing the talk of particularly conservative shinobi?

“It was probably an earthquake” the leader said, which made Sakura roll her eyes. Lazy bastard, an earthquake would have wreaked havoc on the surrounding stone columns and that still didn't explain the screams or the lack of a body. “Ittan, search the surroundings.”

That was her cue. Sakura felt Katsuyu slide back to her shoulder and exchanged glances with her.

“Hold on, Katsuyu-sama” she whispered, then left.

Sakura ran for at least two hours, until she was sure she was far enough away from the mess she had created that it wouldn't raise any suspicions. Or at least more suspicions than a kunoichi with pink hair, filthy combat clothes and a talking slug on her shoulder could raise.

She didn't know the Land of Earth well enough to get around, so her goal was to find a source of water first. She hadn't seen running water in weeks, and clean running water with fish in it for longer than that. God, she missed showering. She missed being able to drink as much as she wanted. She missed wearing clothes that didn't stick to her skin because of dirt, sweat, and dried blood.

“What do you think we should do next, Katsuyu-sama?” Sakura spoke quietly to her, when the two had been away from anyone else for at least half an hour. “Obito was too smart to send me to a universe where there is another version of me, so I'm assuming I don't exist.”

“I agree with you, Sakura-san. Obito-san understood multidimensional travel better than anyone and he seemed determined to give you a new chance at life. This wouldn't be possible if this universe already had a Sakura to call its own.”

If Sakura's corneas were burning like fire, they were ignored along with the pain in her chest.

“That's good, but it also means I have nowhere to go. I'm not a missing-nin because I don't have a village to leave, but that also means I don't have a village to return to.”

Katsuyu was silent for a second, as if she was hesitating.

“Sakura-san…” she said with all her softness, like someone talking to a wounded and aggressive animal. "What if you went back to Konoha?"

Sakura silently thought about her words, swallowing shards of glass in the process. Returning to Konoha wasn't an impossible idea. Sakura could easily pass herself off as a tourist or invent a backstory that justified her desire to stay in the village. She could even offer her medical services, saying that she always had the dream of living in the village of the great Tsunade Senju, who was the goose that laid the golden eggs for all med-ninjas around the world. This would leave her in familiar territory, surrounded by a culture she knew how to navigate.

But at the same time, Sakura didn't know that universe well enough to know what was going on. She knew war hadn't broken out, as the lack of Madara's maniacal laughter echoing in the wind would tell, but would it soon? Did things here happen almost like they did in her world? Or was it totally different? It would also be suspicious for a person with Sakura's abilities to appear in Konoha. She had Tsunade's seal and strength. That would raise suspicions.

Besides, she…

“I don't know if I'm ready, Katsuyu-sama,” Sakura admitted shakily, looking straight ahead instead of at her. “I don’t know if I’m ready to face so many ghosts at the same time.”

A pulse of Katsuyu's healing chakra coursed through her body.

"Then you don't have to" she said, the motherhood in her voice so similar to Tsunade's that it brought tears that never fell to Sakura's eyes. “It will be better to find out more about this world anyway. We don't know what changes there are and it will be better to take precautions. Furthermore, Obito-san explicitly asked me to help her get in touch with the version of me here, so this must be very important.”

The Land of Earth was not as wooded or fertile as the Land of Fire, covered in rocks and immense smooth mountains, so the water source that Sakura was able to find looked more like a stream than a true river. Even so, the sight brought such relief to her body that she let out a real exclamation of joy out loud and jumped off the rocks she had climbed to land on her knees near the water.

The first thing Sakura did was wash her hands, trying to get rid of the blood and dirt so she could then cup them to drink water. It was cold, so the source must have been nearby.

“Kami, how I missed this” she muttered to herself. “I can almost forgive Obito for being an idiot.”

Almost.

Katsuyu, who had climbed down her arm to cool off on the small damp pebbles at the edge of the stream, laughed fondly. Sakura ran her wet hands down the back of her neck and washed her face, rubbing her skin hard.

“It's a shame there isn't enough water to dive in,” she lamented, with a sigh. “I wish I could meet the other version of you looking cleaner than this.”

Sakura waved at her dirty, ragged clothes with an annoyed look. Katsuyu, in response, waved her antennae slightly.

“Don't worry about it, Sakura-san, my other version will understand” she said. “In addition, there are lakes and waterfalls in Shikkotsu Forest. You can cool off there.”

Sakura opened the utility belt at her waist and rummaged through her sealed scrolls until she found an empty canteen. She filled the water container before drinking it all in huge gulps and refilling it.

“How does multidimensional travel work for you, Katsuyu-sama?” she asked meanwhile.

“There is a version of us in each universe, kind like you humans, but the similarities end there” she said, dipping her antennae and mustaches in the water. “Unlike you, we are in all universes without fail, with the exception of those that do not have chakra and, therefore, we cannot access. We also always have the same function as invocations and know of each other's existence. I don't have all the memories of all my versions, but we have ways of sharing a common mind when we come into direct contact. Unlike what it would be like for you if you found a version of yourself here, mine knows that I exist and will trust me and my word. We are and are not the same person.”

“It seems complicated to understand” Sakura admitted, taking off her sandals that were about to turn to dust and washing her feet. If Katsuyu had shoulders, she would have shrunk them.

“Maybe for you humans, but not for us,” she said, without being mean. Katsuyu was never mean. “It’s like my division skill. All the small versions of me have their own consciousness, but they are, in the end, part of a single larger version. That's why I'm recognized as healing slugs, in plural, even though I'm just one. As a hermaphrodite, I generate all th new slugs, which share my DNA and abilities with me. If you look under a microscope, you won't find any difference between us and we don't see any difference either. Again, it’s about being the same and not being the same, all together.”

“A bit like shadow clones, perhaps…”

“That’s the closest example you could get in your reality, yes.”

Finally, when there was nothing left to clean other than her clothes, Sakura got up and put on her sandals, sighing.

She and Katsuyu exchanged a look before her head nodded.

“I’m procrastinating, aren’t I?”

The little slug giggled and waited until Sakura walked up to her and held out her hand.

“The quicker you face this, the quicker you’ll get answers, Sakura-san.”

It's amazing how Katsuyu always had something wise to say.

Katsuyu teleported them to Shikkotsu Forest, which Sakura quickly calmed down upon seeing that it looked exactly the same. She had only been to her universe once, when Tsunade presented her as a possible new master, but Sakura would never forget the mysterious and quiet beauty of that place.

The forest was gigantic, with trees that were so tall that Sakura couldn't see the top even if she tilted her head up. It was damp and stuffy, just the way the slugs liked it, with so much vegetation it was impossible to see the ground. All the plants there were edible, medicinal or both. The sun's rays entered through the branches and trunks, painting the landscape with jets of yellowish light.

It was beautiful, beautiful in a unique way that Sakura had never seen anywhere. Even though every inch of dirt was also covered in mucus that spread like strands of cobwebs, she loved it.

“She knows we're here” Katsuyu said into her shoulder. She seemed calm, so Sakura was too. “Come on, Sakura-san. They are waiting for us.”

Sakura and Katsuyu walked in silence for a while, with only the sound of her footsteps echoing when stepping on damp branches or when having to move leaves larger than her out of the way. The humidity of the forest weighed down Sakura's lungs and dampened her skin to the point where she began to sweat everywhere. She could hear the ever-present sound of water, as if everything was surrounded by fountains, lakes, rivers, and waterfalls.

Her stiff clothes were wet and heavy when she finally reached the center of Shikkotsu.

A giant version of Katsuyu was in it, talking to smaller ones that were spread out at attention. When Sakura was present, all the murmurs disappeared into thin air and she found herself trapped under thousands of eyes.

“Hello, outsider,” the larger Katsuyu said, her voice familiarly gentle but strangely serious and distant. The version Sakura knew was always much more emotionally open. “We could feel your presence when you appeared, but I'm afraid we don't know your intentions. Introduce yourself."

Sakura leaned in deeper than she would for the damn Daimyo and remained that way as she spoke.

“My name is Haruno Sakura, Katsuyu-sama. Today I come to present myself to the honor of your presence with the aim of seeking a connection of invocation and mutual help with the healing slugs.”

The silence that stretched out seemed to last for eternity.

“Oh” a second Katsuyu then exclaimed, from somewhere on her right. Sakura continued to lean over. “So you say, Haruno Sakura, but we cannot sense the presence of our summoning contract with you. How can you get here without that, if that’s what you want?”

When she felt she had permission to continue, she said:

“Unfortunately, I believe my situation is a little more complicated than those who may have come into contact before me…”

“Explain yourself, then,” the big Katsuyu said, still serious, but now slightly curious. “Straighten up, girl. If we had felt that you were a danger to us, you would not have even taken two steps into the forest.”

Relieved, Sakura stood up straight again, but kept her hands behind her back in a sign of respect, as Tsunade had taught her.

“Look at her shoulder…” some smaller Katsuyu said on the left, catching the others’ attention. “Isn’t that us?”

Sakura then noticed that the number of Katsuyus was increasing, as they continued to appear among the leaves or descend from the trees via thin strands of mucus. They all looked curious, as if Sakura was the first entertainment they'd had in years.

“Yes, Katsuyu-sama” Sakura said, gently taking her Katsuyu by the hand and placing her on the floor. “She was the one who brought me here, that's why I don't carry the summoning contract. We are multidimensional travelers.”

A series of surprised exclamations filled the center of the forest, followed by curious, confused, and excited murmurs. The big Katsuyu stared at Sakura with a surprised expression (or as surprised as a slug could look), before tilting her head to the side.

“ Hmm , that explains a few things” she said calmly, without taking her eyes off Sakura for even a second. Her Katsuyu glided leisurely across the floor, heading towards her version of that universe. “You vibrate slightly differently than your shinobi compatriots, but not by much. I assume your universe is not extremely different from this one?”

“I arrived a few hours ago, so I didn't have time to explore much, but from what I've seen so far, things look close enough.”

“Close, but not the same” another Katsuyu said, making the others nod in agreement. “That’s why you’re different, but familiar. Like your own world.”

“And how did you end up here, Haruno Sakura?” asked one of them. “You do not possess the eyes of those who are usually capable of such feats.”

Sakura looked away from the big Katsuyu to her own, which was getting closer and closer to the bigger version. She swallowed hard.

“The universe to which I belong no longer exists. We were taken over by a force greater than we could fight and our world was destroyed in war. I was sent here as a friend’s last wish before he died.”

The slugs' expression became sad, probably because Sakura's voice shook.

“We are so sorry for your loss, Haruno Sakura,” the big Katsuyu said, bringing a small, sad smile to her lips. “The destruction of a universe is always a pain for all of us, who have appreciation and respect for life. We share your grief, as well as the grief of our other version.”

“Thank you, Katsuyu-sama” Sakura bowed again, hiding her own tears. “My presence in this universe is not easy, which is why I seek company and connection with the healing slugs. I believe you will be able to help me like no one else.”

"Why?"

The one who questioned her was a thumb-sized Katsuyu, who had approached her foot and climbed onto her sandal. The question furrowed Sakura's eyebrows and she straightened up.

“Many other summons are considered superior to us in combat and, consequently, more desired by shinobis” mini Katsuyu explained, upon seeing her confused expression. “Most of your companions seek out those who are fast, physically strong and with brutal fighting powers, such as monkeys, cerberus and falcons.”

“We are only wanted for healing purposes” another Katsuyu said, also coming close to her. “And never treated with the same respect as other invocations. The shinobi we have encountered to this day have sought us out to demand our healing powers, not true partnership agreements.”

There was a series of upset murmurs of agreement.

“Not like you” little Katsuyu continued. “‘Mutual help’ you said, yes?”

“Yes,” Sakura said, watching as a few more little Katsuyus came to her. “In my universe, the slugs saved me and my team mates in several situations. You once saved the habitants of the largest village in the Land of Fire from a landslide. I believe that you are extremely valuable battle companions and that is why I cannot imagine myself with any other invocation. Furthermore, I have no interest in placing you in any position of servitude, only assistance. I’m a med-ninja in my world.”

“A med-ninja!” the Katsuyus exclaimed with emotion, going back to gossiping among themselves desperately. Sakura could barely understand what they were saying, but she thought she recognized one 'a real one this time?' and ‘it’s been so long since we’ve been looked for by one’.

“Forgive our excitement, Haruno Sakura,” the big Katsuyu said, looking a little amused. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had visitors, decades in fact. Your view of us is flattering and surprising in this world. Few here understand the importance and extent of the slugs' healing powers. You claim to want a mutually helpful relationship between us. What does this mean to you?”

“Whatever you decide it means,” Sakura said seriously. “I am a strong shinobi and I have a lot of knowledge about medicine, herbs and poisons. I can help with whatever you need in exchange for your services. I already did this once, in my universe we already have a contract between us.”

She waved at her Katsuyu, who finally reached the giant Katsuyu, and all the slugs' eyes were locked between the two. Sakura was surprised to see that many of them were smiling.

“Hello, me” the huge Katsuyu said, to the delight of Sakura's Katsuyu, who let out a giggle. “Do you confirm the words of the kunoichi you brought with you?”

“I confirm” Katsuyu said, nodding. “Sakura-san is an honorable summoner and any version of me would be lucky to have her. I would like to share with you the memories I have, if that’s okay.”

“Of course” said the other. "Come, please."

Sakura's Katsuyu then fused with her larger version and disappeared from sight. Long minutes passed while all the slugs seemed frozen together, quiet and thoughtful, as if they were all watching something that Sakura couldn't see.

When her Katsuyu finally returned, there was a collective gasp before they all looked at Sakura with wide eyes and started talking at the same time, excited once again. They seemed to be praising her nonstop, but she could barely understand them. There were hundreds of slugs present now, perhaps thousands.

The main Katsuyu, in turn, remained silent, thoughtful. She looked at Sakura for a long time, as if evaluating her from head to toe, before exchanging glances with the version of her from another universe. A decision seemed to have been made.

Turning to the nearest Katsuyu, she said:

“Find the contract where we hid it.”

Sakura's heart seemed to stop beating.

“Haruno Sakura” she called her, shushing the excited crowd. “Come closer, please.”

Many little slugs had crawled onto her feet, so Sakura took a minute to collect them with her hands and place them on her shoulders. This seemed to please them infinitely. After, she did as she was asked, trying not to shake in her own legs as she stepped into the meters of shadow on the ground that Katsuyu cast from being against the sun.

A small 'poof' could be heard and a slug returned right in front of her, taking out an old piece of paper.

“Generally, we had planned a series of questions and challenges to consider worthy future summoners” the great Katsuyu said, looking Sakura in the eyes. She knew that. In what seemed like another lifetime, she overcame every challenge and could swear she spent the rest of the month getting mucus out of her hair. “But not only have you been through them in your universe, the memories of your version of me say enough. You, Haruno Sakura, are exactly what we have been looking for all these centuries.”

A blush covered her cheeks, eliciting playful giggles from the slugs. Sakura found herself smiling with them, because even though she had no one, she would always have Katsuyu.

“We will allow the sealing of a summoning contract between us” Katsuyu said finally, nodding. “Sign, please.”

Sakura knelt on the ground, covered in little slugs who watched with her as the parchment opened on its own. She had just put her index finger to her lips to draw blood when something caught her attention, stopping her movements.

Her heart missed a beat.

"Something wrong?" there was a confusing question above her. Sakura looked up, pale.

“It's empty,” she said, looking back at the parchment, as if it were playing tricks on her. It shouldn't be empty. How could it be empty? Where were…? “There is no other signature.”

“Yes” came the slugs’ response. “In this universe, you are the only shinobi we consider worthy of signing this contract. There never was anyone else.”

Sakura exchanged a horrified look with her Katsuyu, who was also standing next to the piece of paper.

"But... If I'm first, that means Tsunade..."

“Ah, yes,” the big Katsuyu nodded, looking thoughtful. “Senju Tsunade, right? She was present in the memories along with you. It's a shame, but unfortunately, we never had contact with her in this world. The only Senju we have ever encountered was Senju Hashirama, more than half a century ago. He was a kind and honorable shinobi, but he was born with the healing abilities he had rather than fighting for them, so he didn't fully understand what it meant to be the guardian of medicine, no matter how hard he tried. Shame."

Sakura felt like she was swallowing her own heart as she stared at that piece of parchment, which once, in another life, had a name in elegant calligraphy above where she signed hers.

"What does that mean?" she asked softly, feeling like a lost child. “She’s dead, then?”

Did she lose her again? Couldn't she get there in time to save her again?

Katsuyu looked sad.

“Unfortunately, I won’t be able to give you an answer. We've never had a summoner, so we've never been outside of Shikkotsu Forest. The shinobi come to us, not the other way around. What I can say is that, if your Tsunade is alive, she never came to us.”

Sakura nodded, exchanging one last knowing look with her Katsuyu. If Tsunade was alive, nothing would stop her from getting the slugs. She lived for medicine, she lived to save people's lives.

Pushing the melancholy and grief deep into her stomach, Sakura finally bit the tip of her thumb until it drew blood and leaned toward the parchment. All the slugs present seemed to do the same, watching her sign her name without blinking.

When she finished, Sakura could feel the tingling of the contract in her blood, intertwining with her chakra as it once had six years ago. Only now, she was a war-hardened woman and no longer an excited, hopeful girl.

"It's done."

She looked up, meeting the eyes of the big Katsuyu, who smiled brightly in front of everyone.

“Congratulations, Sakura-sama. You are now the summoner of the healing slugs.”

Chapter Text

Sakura would like to spend more time with Katsuyu, but the Shikkotsu Forest didn't have a very appetizing variety of foods. Unfortunately, unlike snakes or hawks, which ate meat and therefore had a way to hunt in their respective worlds, slugs preferred leaves and roots, so she didn't have much to enjoy other than shoots, herbs, and even flowers. At least they wouldn't try to feed her flies, like Naruto's frogs. Thanks Kami for the small mercies.

Luckily, Sakura still had in her possession two energy bars that she had stolen from a corpse and three packages of dried meat that she found in a half-destroyed and abandoned market a week before. So she accepted the invitation to stay for one night and leave the next day. It wasn't like she had anywhere else to be, after all, and there was something very comforting about spending time with the only creature in that universe who knew who she was.

What followed after the signing of the contract was a celebration of sorts. There was no music, despite knowing that Katsuyu liked to listen to classical music in Tsunade's office, but the slugs exclaimed excitedly and slithered towards Sakura, all talking at the same time. They smiled nonstop and that made her laugh, looking at the big Katsuyu and then at her universe Katsuyu, who also seemed happy with the scene.

When she was so covered in talking slugs that she could barely stand up, the biggest Katsuyu giggled and asked the others to leave her alone.

“I'm sorry, Sakura-sama. We're a little excited about your presence” she apologized, making Sakura's cheeks blush. “We have been searching for a worthy summoner for centuries, unfortunately without success. Our contract made us extremely happy.”

Sakura-sama. It was strange to hear herself called that. The suffix sama was always used to refer to Tsunade, not her. But maybe it made sense. Here, she was the first summoner, like Tsunade was in her world.

In the end, only Katsuyu from her universe remained in her body, leaning on her shoulder. The others commented worriedly on Sakura's tired and dirty appearance, offering her a bath, which she accepted without hesitation. Together, they walked again through the dense and humid forest, to a large, flowing river that brought a sigh of relief to her lips. All the way, they peppered her with questions about herself that Sakura promptly answered.

Despite the hot humidity of the forest, the river water was cool and refreshing. It had been years since Sakura last took a hot bath, so she was used to it. She was completely naked, even taking off her breast straps, not caring about Katsuyu's presence, who couldn't care less about her appearance. Slugs were polite and gentle creatures, in addition to having a clinical eye for the human body. Being naked in front of them was like being naked in front of her mother.

Plus, they didn't seem to get many visitors, so it wasn't like Sakura would be caught in such a vulnerable position by anyone.

“The only ones we allow to enter here are the frogs” one of the Katsuyu told her, from her place on the pebbles of the river. “And they always let us know they’re coming. With the exception of Gamatatsu, that little frog is always forgetting social pleasantries.”

“I vaguely knew frogs in my universe,” Sakura said, tilting her face back and wetting her hair. She had also missed the feeling of the sun on her skin. “Do they have summoners here?”

“Ah yes, Jiraya-kun!” another exclaimed, becoming a little sad afterwards. “But we haven’t spoken to him in many decades. And I believe there is another boy too, a younger one that Gamabunta is always complaining about…”

“He says he doesn't allow him to go to Mount Myoboku because he doesn't want to disturb us” one of them joked, laughing. “He says we would be able to hear the boy screaming from here.”

Sakura's heart sank to the soles of her feet, floating within the river. Naruto. Naruto who had no inner voice and only knew how to speak by shouting. Naruto who smiled brighter than the sun and could put all the pieces of her together with just one hug. Naruto who died receiving a blow that should have been from her and said he loved her with the same intensity that Sasuke asked for forgiveness.

Sakura dove, staying submerged until her heavy, salty tears mixed with the fresh water and went unnoticed.

She only came back because she didn't want to worry Katsuyu, but she pretended to wash her face so she wouldn't have to look anyone in the eye.

“I met this boy in my world” she confessed, closing her eyelids and facing the sky. Blue sky darkening, like his eyes before he died. “Perhaps it is better that no one knows about my existence yet. I don't want this to get to Jiraya or Naruto before I know what I'm going to do.”

“Oh, no, Sakura-sama, don’t worry,” a forearm-sized Katsuyu said, looking distressed. “We have no intention of exposing your identity to anyone. We’ll need to order some dry firewood from the frogs so you don’t get cold at night, but we won’t give them details.”

“There’s a reason they’re the only ones who visit us” a second Katsuyu stood next to her. Sakura swam back to the shore, coming face to face with them. “And for us to have isolated ourselves so much. Before we were also friends with the snakes.”

A shiver ran down Sakura's spine, making her skin crawl.

“Snakes?” she questioned, already knowing the answer. The image of a long tongue sliding towards her flashed through her mind and the sound of a hoarse voice followed by maniacal laughter echoed through her ears.

“Yes, we were friends for many, many centuries” said Katsuyu, her voice full of sadness. “Until they betrayed us! Decades ago, during the second shinobi war. They participated in a plot against us.”

Sakura's jaw dropped in shock. She exchanged glances with her world's Katsuyu, who seemed as surprised as she was.

"What?!"

All of the Katsuyus nodded sadly, with grim expressions.

“The snakes accepted a contract with a summoner that we had rejected and helped him invade our territory to get revenge.”

“The snake man” one of them whispered and they all trembled.

Sakura trembled together. This name could only mean one person.

Orochimaru.

“Did he hurt you?” she asked, feeling the anger bubbling up in her blood. Katsuyu shook her head.

"He did not. We believe his plan was to enslave us and force us to accept his contract. He even had a seal on him that we've never seen before and tried to implant it on us. Luckily, the extent of our abilities are unknown to the shinobi and we managed to drive him out of here.”

“We also didn’t believe the seal would work. The snake man is a skilled scientist, but he has no access to our bodies or what we are made of,” added another. “But we prefer not to risk it. So we hid our contract in a corner of the world that wouldn't be found and isolated ourselves. The frogs are now our only contact outside the forest. They update us on everything.”

“Until you, Sakura-sama” a very small Katsuyu said excitedly. Sakura was beginning to suspect that the smaller Katsuyus were newer divisions, like a slug version of children. “With you by our side, we feel safe to leave our world again.”

This warmed Sakura's heart to the point that she felt like she could destroy the world for those sweet little slugs.

“When I said this was a mutual agreement, I meant it. I know Orochimaru and I'm not afraid of him” she said. “If he or anyone comes here to hurt you, call me. I will make them regret it.”

When night fell, Sakura returned to the center of the forest where she signed her contract, with her clothes washed but still naked. It would take a long time for them to dry in such a humid place, so she left them near the fire she lit (with dry wood, a gift from the Frogs, who didn't know who the first summoner of the slugs was, but promised to keep it a secret anyway) and sat down on the sleeping bag that she left sealed with all her other belongings, her body covered only by her hair.

“You have beautiful hair, Sakura-sama” Katsuyu commented on her knee, as she watched her comb her strands with her fingers after dinner. Sakura hadn't cut it in a long time, too busy with literally anything else. The pink locks passed her breasts now. “Do other humans also have coloring like this?”

This made her laugh fondly, starting to braiding her hair.

“Not many, actually,” she said. “My family is known for their pink hair, although mine is the lightest in generations. This is where the name Haruno comes from, it means “spring field”. The stories that my great-great-grandparents told my great-grandparents and so on say that it all started when an ancestor of ours needed to flee his village, which was attacked and destroyed by shinobi in the combatant clans era. He preferred to start over with a new name and chose Haruno as a joke, since our coloring always caught the attention of others wherever we went.”

“We’ve never heard of the Haruno clan…” another Katsuyu climbed up her back and onto her shoulder. She hummed. “But I admit we’re not the most sociable of creatures, so maybe that’s why.”

"Actually, no. The Harunos are a civilian clan” Sakura explained. “Merchants, to be more specific. I’m the first generation of shinobi we have.”

"First generation!" they exclaimed, amazed.

“That's incredible, Sakura-sama. You must be very proud of yourself” said Katsuyu on her knee. “It’s always difficult being the first generation, without anyone in your family to guide you. It is an astonishing feat.”

Sakura's cheeks burned and she looked at the ends of her hair thoughtfully. There were few times in her life that she heard someone just impressed that she was civil, rather than horrified or confused. Despite being allowed to join the ranks, shinobi of civilian origin were not as popular or well regarded among traditional clans. Most of them gave up right away at the academy (Sakura, for example, was the only civilian in her year to graduate) and those who didn't do so badly made it to chunnin. She could pretend to be deaf all she wanted, Sakura could always hear the whispers about how civilian shinobi were just discard pieces, thrown into teams because someone had to die first.

“Thank you for the mucus you put in my hair, Katsuyu-sama” Sakura changed the subject, putting the braid behind her back. "You were right. It feels a lot softer now.”

Katsuyu on her shoulder waved happily.

“Slug mucus doesn’t just work for medicinal purposes,” she explained. “You should put it on your face and hands one day. It works aesthetic wonders.”

Sakura smiled at her, suddenly missing Ino. Swallowing the feelings of pain that rose in her throat, she stretched her arms and faked a yawn. Understanding the silent message, the various versions of Katsuyu moved away so that she could lie down inside the sleeping bag, facing the fire. Her world's version lay down near her neck and a version of that world appeared in her field of vision.

“You seem tired since you arrived, Sakura-sama. Sleep, please. You are safe now.”

Somehow, Sakura believed her. Even if just for a second.

“Thank you, Katsuyu-sama,” she said, watching the slugs move away from the fire and settle on the damp plants around it. "Sweet dreams."

Turns out, sleeping didn't do anything to chase away Sakura's dark thoughts. She dreamed of Ino, her long blonde hair and her loud laugh, turning into a little girl who screamed at the top of her lungs, calling out to her father, who lay dead in front of her. She then followed him, lying with her neck cut and her eyes open, seeing nothing.

She dreamed of Tsunade, that could only be dead in that world. Tsunade, who she was too late for again. Tsunade, who would never let Orochimaru be the summoner of the healing slugs, even when they were still friends. That much less would let him try to control them.

She had just started dreaming about a Naruto with snake eyes and a forked tongue, when something woke her up.

“Sakura-sama!”

Sakura opened her eyes, staring at the dark sky and the scared eyes of a little Katsuyu on her forehead. Her skin was damp with cold sweat and there was a raw pain in her throat that could only mean she had been screaming. Her mouth was still open.

“Sakura-sama, are you okay?” there was her summoning question, which Sakura then realized was sending her pulses of calming chakra.

“I’m sorry,” she managed to whisper, closing her eyes in shame. Her cheeks were damp. “I didn’t want to upset you. I think I had a nightmare.”

That was an understatement. Sakura had never seen herself in that state, but she knew the image was frightening. It was in Obito's eyes whenever he woke her up, troubled and pale, with eyes that wouldn't leave her for three days straight after that.

“I'm sorry” she repeated herself. Katsuyu seemed a little calmer, but still worried.

“Don't be sorry, Sakura-sama, I saw the memories” she said. In the center of her chest, a Katsuyu that she believed to be from her world, also sent her chakra to calm her heartbeat. “I'm sorry your world hurt you so much. Sleep, please. You need it and I will be here to take care of you.”

Exhausted, all that was left for Sakura was to obey.

When she woke up, the sun was already in the sky again and the atmosphere around her was silent and worried. All versions of Katsuyu were looking at her with motherly eyes, even when Sakura pretended nothing had happened and greeted them with a smile when she woke up.

“I'm sorry I couldn't stay longer, Katsuyu-sama” she said, finishing the rest of the energy bars she had. “But I better start discovering more about this universe as soon as possible. And stock up on my groceries too. I only have dried meat for one more meal.”

"Don't worry, Sakura-sama, the little bit that you stayed with us was the most fun we've had in years" Katsuyu said, heading inside the leaves with all the other parts of her. “We will prepare something for your departure. Wait a minute."

After they were alone, her world's version climbed onto Sakura's knee and sighed.

“Do you want to talk about this, Sakura-san?” she asked. Sakura gave her a half smile that was anything but happy.

“No,” she admitted, shrugging her shoulders. “You've helped enough, Katsuyu-sama, really. I appreciate what you did for me last night. I haven’t slept for so many hours at a time in years.”

She nodded, still looking worried, before falling into a thoughtful silence. Sakura knew something bad was about to be said before she even opened her mouth, by the way her antennae were twitching.

“Sakura-san, it is with sadness that I tell you that I will no longer be able to accompany you on your journey.”

It wasn't a surprise, but it hurt like hell nonetheless.

“I… figured” Sakura sighed, looking away and blinking furiously. “It must be difficult for you to be here.”

“It's not about not wanting to, Sakura-san, but about not being able to” Katsuyu insisted, sadly. “We chakra animals respond to different universal laws than you humans. This world already has a Katsuyu and it's not me. I cannot remain any longer in a world that does not belong to me.”

What Katsuyu didn't say, but Sakura knew, was that she was suffering too. Tsunade might be her shishou, but she was Katsuyu's master for almost forty years. They weren't just invocation and summoner, they were close friends. And since she died, Katsuyu hasn't had much time to grieve , having to help Sakura and stop her from dying too.

As much as it hurt, she deserved to be able to go back to her own Shikkotsu Forest and grieve as much as she wanted. Besides, her universe frogs were still there and Katsuyu deserved to be able to spend time with her own friends.

"You will be fine?" Sakura then asked, letting it rise into her two cupped hands. “Will you be safe?”

“By being resurrected, Madara became a new creature in our world” Katsuyu explained. “He does not follow universal laws and, therefore, is not respected by them. He won't be able to access any of us while we remain in our territories, so don't worry. I’ll be fine.”

Sakura nodded with a smile despite feeling completely depressed. She closed her eyes and brought the little slug to her cheek, where she gave her a gooey hug.

“I'll miss you,” she admitted, blinking tears away. “Thank you for everything you did for me.”

“Thank you, Sakura-san, for everything” Katsuyu said, also looking emotional. “It was an honor to be your invocation. You are a formidable kunoichi and I have complete faith in your abilities. I might try to visit you in the future, who knows? I'm sure you'll be able to overcome everything this world throws at you.”

A tear fell down Sakura's eye, just as the other Katsuyus returned. With one last look at her Katsuyu, she stood up.

What the slugs prepared made Sakura's eyes widen. They brought her a staggering diversity of medicinal plants, as well as a good amount of mucus that would do wonders for burned skin or her poor brittle hair. It would depend on the priorities of the day.

Some of the herbs were so rare that Sakura couldn't help but thank them furiously, which seemed to make them very happy. She could create her improved soldier pills and blood pills, as well as ointments for dozens of types of illnesses.

When all of Sakura's sealed containers were filled to the brim with gifts, Sakura finally saw herself, dressed, surrounded by crying little slugs and only slightly ready.

“Thank you, Katsuyu-sama” she said to the big version of her, who looked at her fondly. “I’m glad we were able to meet.”

“The feeling is shared,” she said, tilting her head. “Remember, we are your summons now. Whatever you need, just call. It doesn't matter the time or place. We are here for you.”

“Same” Sakura said.

“And remember to stay away from the snake man!” one of them exclaimed, followed by murmurs of agreement.

“It’s better not to tell anyone about our connection for now!”

"That! Don’t put a target on your back, Sakura-sama!”

"I won't, I won't," Sakura assured them, raising her palms and giggling. "I promise. Our contract stays between us. And I will do everything possible to avoid Orochimaru.”

They then all said goodbye, in a series of requests, happy exclamations and even a few tears here and there.

“Bye, Sakura-sama!”

“Please come visit!”

“Summon us soon! We want to help you!”

"Bye guys!" Sakura said, standing above a spot Katsuyu pointed her to. “I promise, I will summon you as soon as necessary!”

Her eyes met the giant Katsuyu's.

“Thank you” she said, finally looking at Katsuyu from her original world, who smiled at her gently. "For everything."

With a nod of her head, while her hand was still in the air, waving, she was teleported back to the Land of Earth.

Alone, unless she were to consider the ghosts of her loved ones who almost all died in her arms and seemed to always be following her around, Sakura began to walk. She didn't know the country well enough to have a specific place in mind, but she knew what to avoid. Sakura wouldn't mind camping and hunting for food (it was the only stable thing in her life for the last six years, after all), but she'd be fucked if she got caught. She was a strange-looking, unidentified kunoichi, too close to Iwagakure for her own comfort. That world didn't feel like it was at war, but how could she be sure? The direction of history could be totally different.

This also meant that it was best to stay away from ninja villages, so only civilian towns were left. The problem was that this meant an urgent need for money, which Sakura didn't have. She needed to find some way to get some ryos, and fast.

The further she walked, the more frustrated she became with the Land of Earth. Sakura followed the stream, believing it would be her best chance of finding some kind of animal to eat, but even after several miles, the water barely increased in quantity. The ground was rocky, hot and uneven, and the only thing in sight were huge rocks that could be as wide as houses or as tall as buildings. Not to mention the sun, which seemed stronger when there was barely any shadow and the ground reflected every ray. That place rivaled Suna when it came to heat.

Sakura didn't encounter Konoha's common squirrels and rabbits, but she managed to capture a bird with a kunai throw and some edible snails that she found under some rocks that followed the stream. The taste and texture were terrible, reminding her of the first batches of her soldier's pill formula, but she swallowed them anyway, not complaining about the chance to eat fresh meat, whatever it was.

She had just finished drinking water and refilling her canteen when a sound caught her attention.

A short distance away, there was a commotion that she could recognize as the sound of falling stones before a horse neighed and a loud, masculine scream accompanied it. Then there were desperate cries for help.

Sakura was running before she could even think about it.

Two minutes later, thanks to the chakra impulses in her feet, she found a crash in a valley south of the stream, surrounded by tall, sharp rocks. A man lay on the infertile ground, his foot trapped beneath a massive, round stone. He screamed in pain with tears streaming down his eyes, clutching the thigh of his injured leg.

"Sir!" Sakura screamed, jumping into the gorge and running towards him. “Sir, don’t move!”

“CALL FOR HELP!” the man screamed when he noticed her presence, shaking his head and pulling his own leg. “One of the rocks came loose from above and almost hit my cart! My horse…” he panted desperately. “My horse got scared and I fell! He took all my merchandise with him! Please, someone needs to catch up!”

Reaching him, she knelt beside him and assessed the situation closely in a matter of seconds. Bad, but not terrible. Painful, but fixable.

“Sir, please, I need you to listen to me” Sakura said, with a calm and firm voice, which made him blink scared and wet eyes towards her. She was dressed in her doctor stance the moment she heard his screams. “My name is Sakura and I can help you. I’m a shinobi and a doctor.”

That man was civilian, both his clothes and his desperation confirmed that, so she figured there was little risk in telling him the truth about her abilities. Plus, there was no way a civilian would be able to do what she would have to do to save him, so there was no point in lying. What Sakura could do was pray that the civilians in that universe were like hers: much less paranoid about foreigners than the ninjas.

“Y-You…” the man stuttered, breathing heavily and with sobs, still crying in pain. “Are you… shinobi?”

It could only be the hair. Pink never helped her to be seen as serious by others.

"Are you sure?!"

He said it like Sakura was ridiculous and she almost left him there to scream for help to someone else wandering among the rocks.

“Yes” Sakura replied, with all the calm of someone who was once the victim of a urinal thrown in her direction by an elderly man with Alzheimer's who thought she was his ex-wife who cheated on him. “Now, I need you to trust me, okay? What is your name?"

The man blinked a few more times, forgetting his own pain to face her as if she were some delirium that the sun made him have.

“...Jiro. Senno Jiro.”

“Jiro-san” she nodded, holding his wrists to make him release his own injured leg. “I will take the stone off of you and heal your wound, but I need you to remain lying down and not look down. Can you do that?"

The last thing Sakura needed was a patient going into shock after seeing his own foot turned at an abnormal angle. She already made this mistake at the age of fourteen and suffered the consequences during her taijutsu training with Tsunade.

Jiro continued to stare at her with his jaw dropped and his breathing labored. He seemed, however, to have decided to trust her at some point, probably because Sakura seemed calm and serious as would only someone who knew what they were doing.

“I-I guess so” he whispered, swallowing hard. "It will hurt?"

As fuck.

“Just a little” Sakura smiled gently at him, which seemed to make him feel calmer. His entire body was still tense, but he had stopped crying. “Unfortunately I don't have anything for you to bite down on, so feel free to scream. Express your pain however you want, Jiro-san, just don't move your leg and don't look down. Ready?"

He swallowed hard and took a deep breath, nodding. Sakura, with one last reassuring smile, squeezed his shoulder in companionship, sending him a pulse of chakra that should calm him down a bit.

The stone in question was thicker than the length of her arms stretched out to the sides, as well as taller than her and extremely massive. Jiro was very lucky that the thing only crushed him until just past his ankle. The stone was large enough to have swallowed him up to his waist, which would have crushed vital organs and killed him before Sakura could reach him.

The idea of moving that rock alone might be frightening to others, but Sakura had already destroyed mountains with her own fists. And she survived rocks very similar to that one in her dodge training.

So, instead of wasting time thinking about some plan, she crouched in front of the stone, placed her hands underneath it and sent chakra to her arms.

"Hang on! How you-HOLY SHIT!”

The stone was removed from his foot, which made Jiro scream so loud that the veins in his neck stood out. The weight in her arms felt like Styrofoam and Sakura was quick to throw the stone away and return to her patient, who had returned to crying.

"MY FOOT!" he shouted, leaning his torso forward and grabbing his own leg again. "MY-"

Sakura slammed her hand into his chest and pushed him back to the ground, perhaps a little too hard.

"DON'T LOOK!"

Kami, Tsunade would have screamed at her until her ears bled if she saw her treating a patient like that. Sakura was a little rusty after so many years. The last patients she had were stubborn shinobis on the verge of death who deserved a good punch in the mouth.

Hiding his foot from his view with her own body, Sakura sent numbing chakra directly to the wound. Jiro's screams calmed down and he just groaned, relaxing and breathing heavily again.

She then got to work. His foot was broken at the ankle, as were three of his toes. The small bones that formed the top were cracked and there was a swollen and torn veins at the beginning of the shin. Nothing she hadn't seen and healed before, but it was a delicate wound that would take time.

“S-Sakura-san?”

Sakura left the mental world she always found herself in when performing surgeries, but she didn't take her eyes off his foot.

“Hmm?” she hummed.

“What is this that you are doing?”

That made her look over her shoulder.

"What you mean?" Sakura asked, working without looking. She didn't need to. Broken bones were one of the most common injuries among shinobi. She could do that with her eyes closed.

“That green light” Jiro said, craning his neck to look. His foot was still shaped like the letter L, so Sakura moved once again to block him from seeing it. "What is it?"

“Oh,” she said, smiling gently. “It’s chakra. I channel it from inside my body out through my hands and then into your body. This way, I can access your injuries and heal them more quickly.”

His eyes widened like an owl's, staring at Sakura as if she were some kind of alien creature.

“Wow” Jiro gasped, blinking several times. “I've never seen anything like this before.”

Strange. Civilians didn't necessarily know what chakra was or how the Mystic Palm Technique worked, but even they had seen it before. At least in Konoha. Maybe the Land of Earth wasn't so lucky when it came to medical ninjas. Sakura knew they were a minority in the shinobi corps, no matter the country.

“It doesn’t hurt” Jiro continued, amazed. “Actually, I can’t feel anything.”

“Ah, that's because I used it to numb your nerve endings,” Sakura explained, removing one of her hands from his foot. “You can feel it a little, look.”

She gently touched his hand and Jiro gasped.

“It looks like…grass?” he tried to guess, making her smile as she went back to work. "No! Mint?”

Sakura was still smiling, but her throat closed up a little. Suddenly, she could hear Kakashi's voice and the feeling of his hand ruffling her hair.

Mint gum, Sakura-chan? And here we thought your chakra would look like tutti-frutti gum. What? Do not look at me like that! Your sensei isn't that lame! It's the concussion's fault.

“That’s what people say,” she managed to respond, with a small smile.

“Wow” Jiro repeated himself, resting his hands on his stomach and blinking at the sky. He then looked at the stone that crushed his foot, thrown a few meters away with such force that it cracked in half. “Sakura-san… did you really pick up that rock or was I delirious from the pain?”

This made her laugh out loud.

“How do you think the stone got there?” Sakura teased. Jiro looked back at her with a shocked look, shaking his head.

“Don’t get me wrong, but… are all female shinobi strong like you?” he asked.

"Well, each shinobi, including women, has their area of specialization, so we don't all have the same strength" she explained, shrugging her shoulders. “But female shinobi, or kunoichis as we call them, are capable of being just as skilled as men. Sometimes even more.”

“Are you the only one who can lift boulders like they were nothing and heal someone with magic hands, then?”

His insistence amused her, but she soon thought of Tsunade, who seemed more and more dead with every second that passed in that universe.

She gave him a half smile.

“The only one around, at least.”

“It's very impressive, if you ask me” Jiro said. Sakura shrugged meekly.

“Do you often come into contact with shinobi?” she asked, finishing most of the foot and moving on to the ankle.

“Sometimes,” he said, looking up at the sky. “Especially in Iwagakure, where I do business. It's close, so I see them a few times a week. But I’m not sure I’ve seen many… what did you call it? Kunoichis? Maybe once or twice. And I certainly didn’t see them lifting 330 pounds of stone in their arms.”

His words brought a strange feeling to Sakura. Was the Land of Earth so conservative in her world? What was she missing there?

With furrowed eyebrows, Sakura finally finished.

“It's ready, Jiro-san” she said, turning off the chakra in her hands.

"Already?!" he exclaimed, sitting up and looking at his foot in disbelief. “If I went to the hospital I would have to wear a cast for three weeks!”

Given the state his foot was in, he would have to undergo surgery first and wear a cast for two months, but Sakura didn't need to tell him that.

“Lucky I was the one who found you, then” she teased, looking around. “But you will have to spend at least the next two days without putting too much weight on your foot. The bones in this part of the body are delicate and need a little more time to heal. You said you had a cart…?”

Her words seemed to flip a switch in him, turning him from fascinated and calm to hysterical and desperate.

“My cart!” Jiro screamed, trying to get up. Sakura held him by the forearms. “Sakura-san, you need to help me!”

“Don’t get up! You can’t put weight on your foot!”

“Sakura-san, my son is sick!” he insisted, having tears in his eyes again. "My baby! Part of the belongings are medicine for him! I need to find it before I go home. It was the only reason I went to the city and I used almost all of our money left!”

The image of a sick baby and his father crying for him hit her square in the chest. With a resigned sigh, she looked around, thinking. Ino seemed to be right when she joked that Sakura's heart bled for all the poor people in the world.

"In which direction did he go?" she asked. Jiro pointed to her right.

"There. It's the direction of my house, but I bet he stopped at some point. I trained him not to stray too far without my presence.”

“Dare I say that this also means he wouldn’t come with me without you along?”

"Is correct."

Another sigh from her. Damn Obito. Wherever he was, she knew he was laughing at her. Cruel, stupid man.

“Well, we better go, Jiro-san” Sakura said then, getting up and brushing the dirt off her knees. “We’d better find your horse before dark.”

“But I thought I couldn’t- WHOA!”

On impulse, Sakura put one hand under his knees, another on his back, and lifted him up, carrying him like a bride. Jiro instinctively wrapped his arms around her neck and stared at her with a dumbfounded frown.

"What are you doing?" he asked, looking a little flushed. Sakura smiled innocently.

“Carrying my patient” she said. “Unfortunately we are short of nurses and stretchers, so I will have to take care of this part. I can’t let you ruin my hard work by walking early, can I?”

His eyes blinked repeatedly in disbelief.

“But… you… you’re half my size!”

It was true that Jiro was a very large man. He managed to be almost taller than Kakashi (who was the tallest man Sakura knew) and more muscular than Sasuke and Naruto, something very surprising for a civilian. But Sakura barely needed to use chakra on him. Ever since that failure in the Forest of Death, she promised herself that she would be able to carry her teammates to safety even if her chakra couldn't handle it. Thanks to weight training, she was able to lift Naruto with just the strength of her own muscles.

“Should I remind you what happened to me and the rock that crushed you just an hour ago, Jiro-san?” she replied, raising a pink eyebrow. Jiro looked over her shoulder, seeing the cracked rock disappearing into the horizon, and paled a little.

“No, you don't need to” he said, looking straight ahead and relaxing in her arms. “In fact, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget that someone is capable of that much strength.”

Oh, if he only knew...

They found Jiro's horse and cart fifteen minutes later. The animal had found a rare area of green grass growing between the canyon rocks and stopped to eat, appearing unconcerned and uninjured. Sakura placed a chakra hand on him just in case. She wasn't a veterinarian, but there were a few treatments here and there that she could perform, as she had done with dogs, birds and cats.

The cart was also intact, although they had found some lost goods along the way and collected them, so Sakura placed Jiro in it, with his leg straight and his foot up, and the two set off.

She discovered throughout the trip that Jiro was only twenty-six years old, which was a surprise due to his appearance, which made him look much older. He lived with his wife and their baby in a house half an hour away from where Sakura had rescued him and worked breaking rocks and collecting them to mold into sculptures and sell them at fairs and markets in nearby cities, which explained the fact that he was so muscular for a civilian. According to Jiro, the work was difficult, but the money was good to maintain their small plot of land, as they grew a lot of what they ate and had some animals. He also promised her some sculpture as thanks for saving him, which made her embarrassed, saying there was no need.

The sound of the cart's wheels against the stone floor warned Jiro's wife of their presence. Before Sakura could even stop the horse, a beautiful woman with black hair appeared running, with a baby in her arms, his head full of curls the same color as his mother's hair.

“Jiro! Jiro!” she shouted, running to the cart where her husband was with the goods. "Where have you been?! You should have arrived hours ago!”

“There was an accident, Riko-chan!” Jiro explained, letting her touch his face with one hand as she looked at him worriedly. “One of the rocks in the canyon crushed my foot…”

Riko let out a frightened exclamation, clutching the baby to her own chest and looking with wide eyes at her husband's foot.

“Lucky for me Sakura-san found me” Jiro said, when his wife looked back at him, now confused. “She’s a shinobi and a doctor! She healed my foot like it was nothing!”

As if despair over her husband's disappearance had prevented her from paying attention to anything else, Riko blinked a few times and finally recognized Sakura's presence, who smiled at her and got off the cart.

“Are you… a shinobi?” she asked, looking lost as she glanced from Sakura to Jiro, expecting some prank. Sakura sighed internally and smiled externally, releasing the horse, that already seemed to know where to go as it quickly headed to one side of the property.

“Hello, Riko-san, it's nice to meet you” she said, bowing friendly. “Luckily, I was nearby when your husband's accident happened and was able to help him quickly. It was quite a scare, but he will recover well. I just advise him to rest his foot, as the bones I repaired are still sensitive.”

“Bones?” Riko repeated, opening and closing her mouth. “But… didn’t that happen a few hours ago? How is it possible that you healed his bones?”

“Sakura-san is a ninja doctor, Riko-chan!” Jiro exclaimed, smiling widely. “She can make a green light that healed my foot like magic! And I didn’t even feel anything!”

“Uh… The name is actually medical ninjutsu. The Mystic Palm Technique, to be more exact” Sakura explained, as Riko stared at her as if she had three heads. “It's an ability that allows me to use my chakra to speed up the healing process of an injury, whether internal or external to me. It takes a lot of training to be able to do something like this, but it’s not impossible, much less magic.”

She very well could have been speaking Greek from the confused looks the two civilians gave her, but the amount of shinobi terms seemed to make Riko a little less suspicious.

“I thank you, Sakura-san, for saving my husband” she said, with sincerity in her voice and eyes. Twisting her lips, she hugged the baby tighter to her chest. “If you allow me to be bold and ask more of someone who has already done so much… Is healing bones the only thing your skill can do?”

Sakura gave her a knowing smile, looking down at head full of curls. The baby's skin appeared red on his cheeks and neck, which most likely indicated a fever.

“It does much more than that, Riko-san” Sakura said, smiling wider as her eyes filled with hope. “Why don’t we go in?”

She lifted Jiro from the cart as if he weighed nothing, to his amusement and Riko's surprise, who stared at them with her jaw dropped and her eyes wide. Sakura tried not to laugh at her, enjoying herself. She missed interacting with civilians. They were much nicer than shinobi in general and much more impressionable. It was a little freeing not to have to keep her guard up all the time.

Looking up, Sakura made sure there were no rain clouds in the sky before she started walking towards the house.

“We can get back to the goods later. Now, I heard that your baby has been sick for a while, yes?”

Jiro's baby was a one and a half year old boy named Hiroki, who had beautiful gray eyes, but was too thin for his age. The poor thing's eyelids and head felt heavy and ready to droop, as if he was constantly exhausted, and his skin was reddened and hot, as Sakura had observed.

“He doesn't eat well” Riko told her, placing the baby on the couple's bed, with Jiro sitting next to him. “He breastfed very well, but he doesn’t eat solid food. He used to reject only hot foods for a while, but now he doesn’t even want baby food.”

“Hiroki also has constant fevers” Jiro said, looking at his son with a sad expression. “He’s always hot and always exhausted. We don't understand why he rejects the food, because Hiroki seems to be hungry but still never eats. We resort to breastfeeding every time, but he doesn’t gain weight.”

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows as she stared at the little boy, who stared back at her feverishly. She had washed her hands in a small bathroom as soon as she arrived and ran her fingers over his skin, feeling the temperature. A baby his age should have been introduced to foods at least a year ago. Breast milk was extremely nutritious, but it was not enough for a child who would soon reach two years old.

“How many times has he had a fever since the food introduction started?” she asked, looking for allergy spots on his skin and then gently pulling the bags under his eyes, looking for signs of anemia.

“At least five times” Riko said, her hands anxious against her chest. “All the civilian hospitals we went to insisted that he must have some kind of virus or flu. But medicine doesn't work, not even antibiotics. His fever always comes back after a few weeks and he continues to reject food.”

“One time, we were so desperate that we took him to the shinobi hospital in Iwagakure,” Jiro said. “But they also couldn’t tell what was wrong with him.”

“Hmm” Sakura hummed, serious and thoughtful, finishing the physical exam on Hiroki. She listed all of his symptoms in her head, quickly cataloging the disease options that might or might not be the case for him. “I have some suspicions about what it could be…”

She opened Hiroki's mouth, trying to look. There were white patches on his irritated throat. Her hands glowed with chakra, which seemed to wake the little boy up a little. This made Sakura smile. Children were always fascinated by chakra, a sight that never failed to be adorable.

“Let's take a look at you, Hiroki-kun” she murmured to him, noticing in the background that Jiro was explaining to Riko that the light didn't hurt, bringing a feeling, in fact, very welcoming.

Sakura's chakra flowed through his entire body as she examined him. She made a point of checking each member, ruling out countless options as to what could be making him sick. He had no internal injuries that could have become inflamed and his organs appeared fine. There was nothing wrong with his heart, intestines or lungs. What there was, however, was a suspicious build-up of bacteria in his stomach, as well as the onset of anemia in his blood, but both appeared to be the consequence of something larger, rather than the main cause. Her chakra rose, towards his face. Taking into consideration the white spots she had just seen, the bacteria in his stomach could mean…

“Ah,” Sakura exclaimed, nodding to herself. "There you are..."

Extremely inflamed throat. Swollen, red, painful and full of bacteria. It was no wonder he wasn't eating and was starting to become anemic. Each swallow must have hurt a lot, especially for a baby, and it brought so much bacteria into the stomach along with the saliva that it was starting to make him sick, which worsened his appetite.

“You said he’s had at least five cases of fever in the last year?” Sakura asked, chakra still present. Riko nodded, her eyes locked on her son.

That was the minimum number of cases before he needed surgery. Poor thing…

“Do you know what he has, Sakura-san?” Jiro asked, looking apprehensive. “Is there anything we can do for him?”

“Yes I know” she said without hesitation, then turning off her chakra. “He has a bad case of tonsillitis. The tonsils are what is stopping him from eating, they inflame his throat and make the process of swallowing very painful.”

With a tortured sigh, Riko picked up her son and looked at Sakura with wide eyes.

“Is there a cure for this?”

Sakura thought for a second before answering her, pursing her lips.

“Tonsillitis cases are generally treated with antibiotics,” she said. “But because he was misdiagnosed for an year, his case worsened to the point where he need surgery.”

They both turned pale as ghosts, while Riko sat on the bed next to her husband.

“I'll be honest with you” Sakura said gently, as she had done so many times with so many parents. “Surgery to remove the tonsils is harmless and quick, but it is not recommended for children under four years of age. If it were any other case, I would have insisted that you continue treating him with the right antibiotics until he is old enough, but I'm afraid that leaving him with his throat like this could worsen his condition to the point where he would develop sleep apnea…”

Stopping breathing while sleeping was already a huge risk for adults. For someone of Hiroki's size, it was almost a death sentence. Not that Sakura would tell them that, knowing there was no need to terrorize those poor parents.

“Would you be able to perform the surgery, Sakura-san?” Jiro asked, looking her in the eyes very seriously. Sakura smiled and nodded.

Performing a surgery like that on someone so young was a big risk, especially outside a hospital. But Sakura wasn't just any doctor, after all, and she had performed far more dangerous feats in far more difficult times than this. Removing that little boy's tonsils was nothing compared to the feeling of a warm heart inside her fist, which she achieved by opening Naruto's ribcage with her bare hands.

"All I need is your trust" she said, calm and confident, almost feeling Tsunade's hands on her shoulders. “And a few hours so that I have enough chakra. It would also be nice if I could shower and we could get him into clean sheets.”

Jiro exchanged glances with his wife, who was hugging Hiroki with an almost tearful expression on her face. When he nodded confidently, Riko nodded back.

“We trust you, Sakura-san” she said. “I’ll prepare what you need.”

Sakura took her first hot shower in years that afternoon and it took a lot of control not to sit on the floor and remain there until her skin dissolved from the heat. Only the existence of a hungry and sick child was able to make her keep her head on straight, washing herself and her hair mechanically. Without her patient, she probably would have burst into sobs thanks to the memories that hit her along with the water droplets.

Sai wasn't a fan of hot water, he had admitted to her that he only accompanied them to the bathhouses because his socialization books said that spending time together helped to create stronger bonds. And that friends would do things they didn't want to do if it meant the joy of their loved ones.

Sakura had forgotten about that. She had forgotten that Sai had lovely, baby-smooth skin that easily turned red and irritated when he spent too much time in the hot tub waters. She had forgotten about it and her heart hurted so much that Sakura wanted to rip it out of her chest with her bare hands.

After forcing herself out of the shower, Sakura dried herself with a soft towel, imprinting the almost unfamiliar sensation on her skin and mind. And then, she dressed herself in clothes borrowed from Riko, also soft and so clean that the touch brought goosebumps to her body. Kami, how she missed the little things. The things she always believed were forever.

Jiro also prepared her some food, which Sakura happily accepted. She enjoyed large sips of fresh water and ate bread and cheese, made from the milk of their goats, which lived in the stone mountains at the back of the property. She also ate some pieces of apricot, which he insisted on, saying he had just bought them and would like her to try some.

Sakura tried to eat calmly, without making it obvious how much she missed real food, food that filled her stomach and really satiated her, but probably failed, as she received very worried looks from both of them.

During the meal, Jiro and Riko asked questions which Sakura quickly invented answers to. She lied that she was a traveler who was trained by another medical shinobi who had passed away a few years earlier. Her life's mission was to help as many people as she could, so Sakura decided to honor her by jumping from city to city around the world, healing others in exchange for shelter, food, or other supplies. A lie with some truth and many holes, but, like civilians, they accepted it with satisfied smiles. She would have to improve it when she left in case others were also curious.

Finally, Sakura washed her arms, wrists, hands and nails with precision and lots of soap, before going to the couple's room without touching anything. Lying on the bed with clean sheets and wearing only diapers, little Hiroki was waiting for her, with his sleepy eyes.

“The surgery lasts around an hour or two” Sakura said calmly, looking at his parents and seeing their nervous faces. "I'll make him sleep with my chakra and then we can begin."

Anesthetizing another person with chakra was much easier to do with babies, children, and civilians as they didn't fight the outside invasion going directly to their brains. Unfortunately, it wasn't the same for adult shinobi. Even though they tried to relax and trust the doctors, their own chakras instinctively fought back, forcing Sakura to use gas or local injections.

Hiroki, like the good baby he was, went out like a light as soon as she gently applied chakra to his face. Making sure that he was indeed unconscious and that he would remain so until she decided to wake him up, Sakura began.

The tonsil removal surgery was smooth and easy. Sakura didn't need to open his neck or anything like that, she worked like a dentist, reaching his throat through his mouth. Using chakra, she sterilized the area, killing the bacteria that were proliferating in white patches and pus. Then, with a small chakra scalpel, she removed the inflamed tonsils, which were already twice the size they should be, placing them in a container that she had asked Jiro to wash and place next to them. Whether the image scared Hiroki's parents, Sakura couldn't say. When she walked into surgery, nothing else in the world existed other than her patient.

Finally, Sakura closed the cuts, letting herself take her time to make sure they healed as they should. That was one of the wonders of chakra. There was no need for stitches.

“All done” she murmured, after one last sweep. Wiping sweat from her forehead with her forearm, she smiled brightly at Jiro and Riko. “I'll let him sleep and it'll be best if we monitor him until he wakes up, but the surgery went perfectly-”

A very tearful Riko jumped into Sakura's arms, squeezing her neck as she sobbed her thanks over and over again. Sakura laughed lightly and patted her on the back. Over her shoulder, she saw Jiro lean over and caress Hiroki's forehead, tears of joy streaming down his cheeks.

What followed were long hours of the three watching Hiroki like hawks, before Sakura woke him up. He blinked a few times, looking much less sleepy, before looking around and stretching out his little hands, exclaiming:

“Mama!”

His voice was a little hoarse, probably due to disuse, but it was the first time Sakura had heard him speak since she arrived and the act made his parents cry again. She watched as they peppered their son's cheeks with kisses with a smile, feeling something deep in her chest move, something she hadn't felt in a long, long time, buried by the years of war and horrors she had witnessed.

As it was already dark, they ate dinner at the family dining table, with Hiroki in a baby high chair. He sucked milk violently and swallowed the baby food as if he were starving, which was probably the case. The pink on his cheeks was no longer from fever, which made Jiro cry more, pretending to Sakura that something had fallen into his eyes.

When it was time to sleep, Jiro and Riko tried to insist that Sakura sleep in their bed, which she refused, arguing that, as shinobi, she was used to sleeping on futons on the floor. It took more than twenty minutes of insistence to convince them, but Sakura was part of the most stubborn team in Konoha's history, so she didn't give up easily.

Finally, she was alone, leaning against the open living room window and staring at the bright moon.

Beautiful, mysterious, silent and so, so, so far away. If Naruto was the sun, then Sasuke would always be the moon.

Feeling the night breeze alleviate some of the Land of Earth's heat, Sakura closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath, sighing heavily. She let the fresh air fill her lungs and touch her skin, air that she believed for a long time she would never be able to feel again.

Opening her eyes, Sakura concentrated chakra on the soles of her bare feet and spread it across the ground, searching for any threats nearby. That was a little trick she created four years ago, with Yamato's help. With her small chakra reserves, Sakura was probably the worst sensor that had ever existed in the ninja world (with the exception of Lee, perhaps). Therefore, Yamato suggested that she use her perfect control to try to unite chakra with her earth domain, using the chakra on the ground to expand it. It was a kind of crutch, which worked more than Sakura could have expected. She spent the next few years working on this and was now able to expand her chakra by miles. It didn't work on trees or sandy soil like in Suna, and she still struggled to do so in water (her second domain), as every natural source had dried up due to the destruction. It also only worked with her bare feet, for some still incomprehensible reason, but it was much better than walking around completely unaware of other chakras, as was her life for years.

When all she found was the chakra of sleeping goats and horses, plus the happy family in the next room, she allowed herself to think.

Obito had been dead for 36 hours. Not enough to start getting eaten by the maggots, but she knew he was cold and hard, alone, alone, alone. She hoped he was at least with his eyes closed, asleep. She hoped that Madara or his henchmen wouldn't be able to find him until it was too late, until he was left with nothing but bones they couldn't use.

She hoped he was happy wherever he was, with Rin.

Sakura didn't know if she was happy. The amount of contradictory feelings inside her were bubbling like a volcano and as tangled as a ball of yarn. She was always an intense person, she was always a person who burned extremely easily. Everything Sakura felt, she felt with all her strength. Good feelings, but also bad feelings. Mainly bad feelings.

Sakura was stubborn. Above all, she was loyal. Loyal to those she loved, who were not in that universe, who were dead in another world. She was loyal to them above all else, above herself. She shouldn't be there, alive, safe and so far away from them. They should always be together. They were a team. What it meant to dream together, fight together…

Die together.

If they were in that universe, dead or alive, she should be with them. She should die beside them, be buried where they were buried. Of them all, why her? Why was she worthy? Why not Naruto, who still had so much fire to burn, so much hope to save the rest of the world? Why not Sasuke, who was one of the few who understood Madara, one of the few who could face him face to face?

Sakura couldn't look around and feel at home, even though everything looked like the world she once lived in. She felt like an outsider, trapped in the secret of not being from there like a prisoner in an ankle chain. She didn't belong to that place, Haruno Sakura was not a daughter of that universe. It didn't give birth to her, It didn't want her. What right did she had to suddenly appear and remain there?

She would forever be a foreigner, an alien. Even if she went back to Konoha.

But at the same time… Sakura couldn't get Obito's eyes out of her head before he sent her there. The love in his eyes, the affection.

The hope.

The way he looked at her like a brother, happy to know his family was safe. Happy to know there was someone he was able to save. That, at least with her, he didn't fail. That something good he managed to do in his existence, which he so many times said was cursed.

Deep down, Sakura knew she might not be happy about this, but her teammates would be. She knew that Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, Sai, Yamato, all of them would be infinitely happy to know that she managed to escape. That, in the end, Madara couldn't catch her. It was what she would have wanted for either of them if their roles were reversed. And it made her think of Sai, sinking into hot baths that he hated and that hurt him, just to be able to see the smiles on their faces.

A part of her whispered that her situation wasn't much different.

The loyal and stubborn part of Sakura didn't want to let them go. She didn't want to let go of the rope that still tied her to a group of dead bodies and souls that had already left a long time ago. She didn't want to because it wasn't fair. They shouldn't have lost. She shouldn't have to make that decision, go through all those situations.

But the loving part of Sakura... The part that loved so deeply that it carved that love into her bones, that loved selflessly, that was able to give everything, everything, everything she had in exchange for nothing, just because she loved so much, just because their joy was enough… Well…

Sakura thought about Jiro and his family, wondering if they existed in her world and if they were somehow able to escape Madara or at least die cleanly and without suffering. She wonder what would have happened to him and little Hiroki if she had never found them. Would anyone have found Jiro? Would his injury be repaired or would he spend the rest of his life without being able to use one of his feet, which would jeopardize his work and, as a result, his family's livelihood? And if not, would he have died thanks to exposure to the sun, trapped in that stone forever?

And Hiroki? Would a doctor finally figure out what was wrong with him or would it be too late? It also made her think about how no one before her had thought about the tonsils. It made sense for civilian hospitals since it wasn't common for a child that young to have this problem, but they went to a shinobi hospital. Anyone with chakra should be able to find what was wrong. So, why…

Obito was an intelligent and extremely meticulous man. That universe was not random. The way he said that they needed her more than she needed them made that clear. Obito handpicked that universe. He knew what it had and decided it was the perfect place to send Sakura. But for what reasons?

The image of Tsunade appeared in her mind, cutting into her heart. Which made her think of Katsuyu and, consequently, Orochimaru. Tsunade, dead. Orochimaru, alive. Which most likely meant many others alive: Sasori, Pain, damn Danzo.

Just that thought was enough to burn her blood until it turned to smoke. Could she just leave them alone, wandering around and destroying lives, as if she didn't know anything? Could she allow everyone's lives to be ruined (again)? Those people weren't her people, but they were still people. And isn't that why she became a doctor? Because she value life and take pleasure in knowing that she was able to save those in need?

The Naruto in that world wasn't her Naruto, but he was still a Naruto, a thought that burned her chest so hard that she had to rub it with one of her hands. Just the image that somewhere, Naruto was still alive... That, somewhere, he got lucky and made it, that he was laughing out loud and lighting up the world with his smile...

With a tired sigh, Sakura rubbed her face angrily and tucked her hair behind her ears. She looked at the moon, with a sad and bitter smile.

“I think you were right, Sasuke-kun” she murmured. “I can be very annoying sometimes.”

Leaving the window, Sakura knelt on her futon and did one last thing before going to sleep. Biting her fingertip, she summoned Katsuyu, who appeared in the size of an index finger.

“Sakura-sama!” the little slug exclaimed, lowering her voice as she realized where they were. "Everything is fine? Did something happen? I didn’t expect you to call me so soon.”

“Good night, Katsuyu-sama” Sakura whispered, bringing her face closer with her hands. “Sorry to call you so late, it’s okay. I just wanted to ask a favor.”

“Of course,” she said, looking around, full of curiosity. “This is my first mission as a summon! So exciting…"

Sakura smiled brightly, laughing fondly. Kami, was Katsuyu from her world that cute? Maybe it was some multidimensional difference… Or maybe it was just because Sakura was her first master, after so many centuries of waiting…

“I'm staying tonight with a family that welcomed me” she explained. “But they have a little baby and I would rather not wake them up with my… nightmares. Could you do that calming chakra trick, just for tonight?”

“Don’t ask twice” Katsuyu said, crawling up to her face. "I'll take care of you. But you have to promise me that you will call me more often! This world looks so interesting… What is that black box?”

“A television,” Sakura said, laying down on the futon and allowing Katsuyu to rest right on top of her forehead. “I will explain more later. And I promise I will take you on many adventures. We’ll just need to think about how to hide you from others.”

With Katsuyu's calming chakra making her drowsy and one last murmur of goodnight, she fell asleep once again.

Sakura stayed another day to make sure Hiroki was recovering well and then decided to leave. Jiro and Riko insisted that she stay for longer, until he recovered enough to be able to take her wherever she wanted by cart, but she refused, stating that she was used to traveling on foot. They also tried to pay for her services, but Sakura was also incisive in stating that it was not necessary. She knew Jiro would miss a few days of work because of his foot, so she would make sure they didn't spend a dime on her.

Plus, they had already given her a lot, with as much non-perishable food as they could find and civilian clothes that would help her go unnoticed. She didn't need anything else.

“If you need a place to stay, look for my cousin” Jiro said, handing her an envelope. “He has a small guesthouse in a town three days away. All the information you need is on the back of the envelope. Inside is a letter for him, explaining who you are.”

Sakura kept the letter fondly, before adjusting Hiroki in her arms. The baby, now very smiling and full of life, with adorable rosy cheeks, reached out a little hand to pull a strand of her pink hair.

“Hiroki-kun” Riko scolded him, stretching her arms to pick up her own son. “We don’t pull other people’s hair…”

“It's okay” Sakura laughed, handing him to her. “Remember what I said about food. Only soft foods, preferably not very hot, for the next ten days. You can introduce him to a normal diet after that. Oh! And if there are any signs of complications…”

“We'll rush to the nearest hospital” Jiro finished, giving her a loving smile before wrapping his arm around his wife's shoulders. “Are you sure you can’t stay a little longer, Sakura-san?”

She raised her palms in the air and shook her head.

“Unfortunately I need to follow my path” she said. “But I will always be grateful for your hospitality.”

“Before you go, we want to give you a gift” Riko said, showing something in her hand. “No, no, no complaints. If you’re not going to accept payment, at least accept this.”

The gift in question left Sakura speechless for long seconds. It was a pink polished stone sculpture in the shape of a cherry blossom, which fit perfectly in the palm of her hand. It appeared to be made of glass, but she knew it was actually made from the rocks of the surrounding mountains.

“Coincidentally, I was testing new formats of pieces to sell next spring a few days before we met” Jiro explained, laughing. “Crazy, isn’t it? It even feels like destiny!”

“I… I can't accept it…” Sakura said, knowing from the amount of detail on that flower that it was a very expensive gift. “That must cost…”

“Not enough for the lives of my husband and my son” Riko cut her off, placing the flower in her hand and squeezing her fingers into a fist. “Accept, Sakura-san, please. Let us thank you for everything you have done for us. Think of it as a memory. A way not to forget us.”

Sakura swallowed what looked like a sharp kunai and gave them a watery smile, blinking her emotions away. They didn't know, but she would never be able to forget them. The first humans she had interacted amicably with other than her team in years. Her first patients who weren't on the brink of death, dying at her hands in the middle of a battlefield covered in blood. The first baby she had taken care of since the war began, with cute little hands, huge eyes, and a life to live…

“I won't” Sakura said, hugging them quickly without being able to contain herself. In the past she was more able to maintain professionalism with her patients, but it had been so long… Tsunade would have to forgive her for that. “Take care of yourselves.”

“You too, Sakura-san” Jiro said, sounding almost emotional. “If you ever come back here, know that you have a place with us.”

With one last wave, Sakura was gone. And if she looked over her own shoulder when they were just a speck on the horizon, none of her ghost friends could blame her.

Sakura made a pact with Katsuyu. She agreed that the little slug could stay with her outside of Shikkotsu Forest while she was traveling, as long as she stayed hidden and disappeared at the first sign of danger. While wandering between cities, Sakura could use her new sensing ability to look for likely enemies, so it was easier to feel relaxed with the clear presence of Katsuyu on her shoulder, looking around.around with small fascinated eyes. As long as no chakra pulsed in their web close enough to be a threat, they were fine. As the version that accompanied her was very small, smaller than her little finger, not only did she spend almost none of Sakura's chakra to keep her there, but she also didn't attract attention and would hardly be noticed by any sensor. If she wasn't using her healing powers, she could pass off as a common slug, unless they were very unlucky and found a sensor as good as Senju Tobirama, who was able to sense the familiarities of each chakra that he came into contact with. Sakura doubted that would happen.

And Katsuyu was great company, as she asked so many questions about the human world that it kept Sakura from sinking into her agitated and confused thoughts. She got a lot of time with her mind blank as she just walked and climbed rocks and mountains, answering things like what was, finally, a television, and when women started wearing pants (the last woman who came into contact with Katsuyu was an Uzumaki from the combat clans era, a few years before the founding of Konoha).

Things got more complicated in crowded places. Obito was the only sensor Sakura had had contact with since she started tracking chakra with her feet, so he helped her the best he could, but there were no more crowds in a devastated world. Therefore, she had almost no experience activating her abilities with so many people around. This left her disoriented and practically blind, thanks to the avalanche of information that reached her. Just like when she wore shoes, the Bare Feet Technique (as Kakashi had called it, the idiot with horrible names) was useless in markets or commercial centers.

This meant that Katsuyu had to stay hidden inside one of the pockets on her belt, observing the world only through a discreet gap that would give the impression that Sakura just didn't close the zipper properly. The slug, however, was fine with it, stating that it was the most fun she had had in centuries and promising in a loop that she would return to Shikkotsu the second it appeared that her presence had been noticed.

Sakura found the nearest town after just a few hours of walking, entering it without encountering any problems. Wearing Riko's white pants and racerback shirt, as well as low heels on her feet (no item of Sakura's clothing could be saved, not even her sandals), she looked as civil as anyone, with just the exception of the seal in the center of your forehead. The Byakugou seemed to draw a lot of eyes to Sakura's face, in case the pink hair wasn't enough.

She pursed her lips as she walked around the city, thinking. Jiro's cousin was still two and a half days away. That meant she needed to find a place to sleep and something to eat, as well as groceries to buy until she got there. Which, in short, meant that she needed money and Sakura hadn't seen a ryo note in at least three years.

All Sakura had were her medical and shinobi skills, but it could take her a while to find someone who could pay for them, especially for medical care. Most of those who needed a doctor badly and were willing to accept help from a random person on the street were not in good financial condition, and Sakura never had the heart to charge to save people who needed her.

She walked through the streets, trying to follow as many people as possible, finally finding what seemed to be the center of the city, where a crowd of people wandered from one side to the other, buying and selling goods. When Sakura's reflection caught her eye, she stopped walking to look at an establishment that had a mirror in the window. This gave her an idea.

There was something more that Sakura had besides med-ninja skills.

The bell above the door announced her arrival. A female voice from the back exclaimed:

"Welcome! Just a minute, I’ll be right with you!”

“No problem” Sakura said back, happy that the place was free of other customers. “Do you have an open schedule right now?”

“Yes, I do, darling!” the voice said, sounding closer. She heard footsteps. "What do you want to do? Cut? Painting?"

“I'm thinking about selling my hair, actually,” Sakura said, putting her hands behind her back. At her belt, Katsuyu let out a low, disgusted exclamation. They needed to talk about her stealth skills later. "If you are interested!"

"Sell?" the voice said, surprised, before letting out a thoughtful murmur. “What’s your hair like?”

“Very long, full and straight” she replied, observing herself in the mirror.

"What's the color?"

"Pink."

The beauty salon owner appeared from the back, carrying two boxes of products that covered her vision. She let out a sad sigh, placing them on the counter.

“Sorry honey, I prefer to buy undyed hair.”

Sakura found herself smiling with amusement.

“The pink is natural.”

The woman's eyes finally fell on her and what followed was a long, silent and shocked second. Her eyes widened at the sight of Sakura and she approached her, one hand on her chest as she stared at the strands of her hair.

“Natural, you say?” she murmured, raising a hand to touch it. Sakura allowed it.

“Family heirloom” Sakura explained, relaxed. When the owner looked up at her face and saw that both her eyebrows and her eyelashes were also pink, her jaw dropped even more.

The two looked into each other's eyes and Sakura saw a glow appear in the woman's eyes, lighting up her entire face. She looked at Sakura's hair as if it were made of golden threads.

“Are you sure about this, darling?” the woman asked. Despite her kind consideration, she clearly didn't want Sakura to change her mind. “You are such a beautiful girl… The long hair highlights your beauty.”

Sakura shrugged, smiling slightly. Once, around a campfire at the end of the world, Naruto started a silly game with her where he tried to imagine all the weird things Sakura could do with her chakra control and medical skills. What they discovered was that she could make her nails grow and harden like claws, that she could temporarily improve her vision, smell, and hearing, and that, lucky for her, she could make her own hair grow with just a concentration of chakra on her scalp.

“Actually, I'm used to short hair,” she said, looking at herself in the mirror for a second. Her eyes fell on the purple seal she possessed. “And I’ve been thinking about trying bangs for a while now.”

The woman's lips twisted into a huge smile, which seemed almost feline.

"How much do you want?"

Sakura left that beauty salon with bangs that hid her seal, strands of hair reaching just below her shoulders and almost a thousand ryos in her wallet. She left behind an extremely happy owner, who insisted on giving her her business card so that Sakura would come back more often.

Feeling more relieved, she bought food for herself, going to the first establishment that sold tempura she could find. Sakura had almost forgotten her favorite food flavor and the taste of it hit her taste buds so deliciously that she had to quickly wipe away a lone tear that fell from her eyes. The owner of the place was so flattered by the way she devoured the tempura and praised his food, that he gave her a free mochi for dessert. Maybe it also had something to do with the fact that his son, who was the one who attended her, couldn't stop blushing whenever he met her eyes.

Satisfied, Sakura then went looking for somewhere to sleep, stopping by a fruit stand just to buy a pear to give to Katsuyu as a gift. The woman who sold it to her pointed to the end of the street when Sakura asked about the nearest hotel.

The hotel in question seemed clean and safe, which was sufficient. She rented a room for one night, where she took Katsuyu from her belt and cut a piece of pear for her. The slug loved the gift, nibbling on the sweet flesh as she watched Sakura, sitting cross-legged on the floor. She took out all the belongings she owned and cataloged them, discovering that she was missing everything but food, civilian clothing, medicinal herbs from the Shikkotsu Forest and slug mucus.

With a resigned sigh, Sakura decided that she would have to replace what she needed through an order of priority. She needed more ink and sealing scrolls, more comfortable shoes (only Kami knew how Tsunade was able to run and fight in high heels), utensils for crushing herbs and creating soldier pills, and gloves. She also needed new shinobi and kunai clothes, but that could wait a while.

Before leaving, Sakura grew her hair back down to her hips and went to a second hairdresser, selling it again. She left that town with enough money to get through the next few days and took off her heels as soon as she was far enough away not to be seen.

She arrived earlier than expected in Jiro's cousin's town because she was lucky enough to meet a merchant who was following the same path as her. He let her climb into the back of his wagon and spent the rest of the trip talking about how dangerous traveling alone was for young, pretty girls like Sakura. He also made a point of letting her know that his youngest son was strong, single and looking for a wife.

After saying goodbye, thanking him for the ride and feigning disappointment when she said she was already engaged, Sakura followed the instructions on Jiro's envelope, finding the gusthouse in the city center. It was better and bigger than the one in the previous city, even though it was clearly not a luxury establishment.

There was a teenager painting her nails at the reception when Sakura arrived, so inattentive that five minutes passed without her noticing her presence. Sakura had to clear her throat three times before she was recognized.

“Sorry, we’re full,” the teenager said, popping a ball of gum. Sakura tried to maintain the good mood she was in, sliding the envelope across the counter.

“I'm looking for the owner” she said. “I’m a friend of Jiro-san.”

Jiro's cousin was called Itaru and shared his hair color and muscular stature, which should run in the family. He looked at Sakura, first with suspicious eyes, before reading the letter and letting a surprised sigh escape his breath.

“Did you save Hiro-kun?” he exclaimed, to the surprise of his daughter as well, who was listening to the conversation and stared at Sakura with wide eyes. She nodded meekly. “He had been so sick for so long… We thought…”

He swallowed hard, as if he didn't want to say the words out loud. His eyes remained on the letter for a while, before Itaru turned to Sakura once more, with a much softer expression.

“Thank you, Sakura-san, for what you did for little Hiro-kun” he bowed deeply, making her cheeks blush. “You have the eternal gratitude of our family. Please stay as long as you need. Your stay is on us.”

“Um, daddy?” his daughter said, with less attitude than when they were alone. “All our rooms are full.”

“No problem” Itaru said. “Sakura-san will stay with us, it's the least we can do. She can sleep in yours until she decides to leave.”

"What?! But daddy…!”

"I wouldn't want to bother you" Sakura interrupted them, raising her palms. The teenager seemed a little hopeful about this, but her father soon said:

“There is no inconvenience at all. Stay in Yuna-chan's room, she definitely won't mind since you saved her little cousin's life. Isn’t that right, Yuna?”

With a pout on her lips, Yuna nodded in agreement, even though she was clearly upset. Sakura tried to give her an empathetic look before following Itaru up the stairs.

Yuna's room was girly and sweet, filled with photographs of her and her friends, pink walls, high heels scattered around, stuffed animals on the bed, and makeup products near the mirror. It reminded her so deeply of her old childhood room (the room her father was in when Pain attacked the village and where he died, crushed by the roof of the house he built for his family to live in) that Sakura felt an almost uncontrollable urge to vomit.

Unable to stay in it without wanting to scratch her own skin until she drew blood, she fled the room with the excuse that there were things she needed to do. It wasn't a lie, so Sakura didn't even care about feeling guilty. She just needed to get out of there, breathe some air and get out of her mind the image of her father's body trapped under the rubble that she had to lift with her own strength.

Itaru told her to come back at lunch time, so Sakura said goodbye with a big fake smile and left. She had things to buy and information to discover.

“What do you think, Katsuyu-sama? What should we do first?” she muttered discreetly, when she found herself alone on a street. From her place in her pocket, Katsuyu hummed.

“I would prefer to go after discovering more about this universe” she decided. "The sooner the better. Your ignorance about events here only makes you more vulnerable.”

This made Sakura smile.

“It seems that you are wise in all the realities in which you exist, Katsuyu-sama” she said, exchanging a look with the little slug, who poked her little head out of her pocket. They shared a smile.

The library in that city was decent, but its content left something to be desired. Sakura spent the entire afternoon reading as many history books as she could find, but ended up more frustrated than she started. She discovered that the history of that universe was similar enough to hers, with only a few months or at most a year or two of difference between events. Konoha, for example, was founded when Hashirama and Madara were twenty-seven, rather than twenty-five, as she had been taught. It was also the first ninja village, but in that world, Kumogakure was the second one. In her world, that was Suna.

There was also a first, second and third ninja war, but that's where things got frustrating. The Land of Earth's history books were entirely focused on the country itself, which meant Sakura couldn't find out anything else about what was happening in the Land of Fire. Of course, she couldn't blame them (the other countries were also minor characters in the Konoha books), but something seemed very suspicious when any mention of foreign ninjas (from anywhere) was followed by a long line about how brutal they were, unfair, dangerous and nothing like the great heroes of Iwagakure. And how the Tsuchikage was clearly superior to the other Kages in both strength and intelligence.

Katsuyu, unfortunately, wasn't much help either. She only knew the basics of human history, based on visits from shinobi and the stories shared with the frogs and snakes (when they were still friends). She could confirm that Konoha won these wars, but corrected Sakura by saying that the second world war was the worst of all, not the first. This left Sakura with a suspicious feeling in her stomach because, in her world, nothing (except the fourth war, in which the world was destroyed) came close to the horrors of the first war.

“The second war was so bad that the frogs told us it shortened the duration of the third” Katsuyu muttered, hiding behind an open book that Sakura used as a shield. “They said that all the countries were devastated by it and, therefore, they did not have enough forces or armies to continue fighting for a long time. From what I know, the world suffers its consequences to this day. The poisons that circulate around... are like a plague for shinobi.”

Sakura's mouth felt like it filled with gastric juice as Katsuyu's words hit her. Her mind started racing with theories, none of them being good. Thinking about what a proliferation of poisons resulting from the Second World War could mean…

She asked Katsuyu about Konoha and Suna's current relations, but she, unfortunately, knew nothing.

At the counter, Sakura asked the attendant if they had history books written by foreign authors or focused on neighboring countries, but was unsuccessful. He recommended that she go to the large city where the Daimyo lived or to Iwagakure, where the libraries were larger and had more connections with foreign books. Sakura then asked if he had any maps to sell and the daily newspaper.

From the newspaper, she learned that Obito not only sent her to another universe, but also three years in the past. Naruto and Sasuke were supposed to be twenty years old. Sai, twenty-one. It made her wonder what the hell was going through his head when he chose that place and time. Obito wasn't the type who didn't think about every minute detail.

“There must be something important happening” Katsuyu had said, hidden by Sakura's hair behind her left ear. “Something he thought you should be here to participate in.”

She was most likely right and it sent a shiver down Sakura's spine. She could barely imagine what was coming. She didn't even know if she was ready.

From the map, Sakura learned that the country distributions were almost the same, with the exception of the Land of Wind, which looked a little bigger than it should be. The border it shared with the Land of Rivers lost considerable inches in representation, as did a little of the Land of Rain.

She returned to Itaru's hotel for lunch and was bombarded with questions from him and his daughter for the rest of the day. Yuna seemed particularly interested in how Sakura managed to be so thin (it was malnutrition) and how she managed to keep the pink in her hair (saying it was natural only made her whine about how unfair the world was). She tried not to get angry with Yuna, seeing a little of herself as a child in her. In the end, even though her behavior was very irritating for a person who had seen as many horrors as Sakura, there was something heartwarming about knowing that this world still allowed some to just be young fools.

Itaru asked her how long she would stay and Sakura saw no reason to stay longer than a day. According to her map, the Daimyo's lands were almost two weeks' walk away and she didn't feel comfortable enough to go to a ninja village yet, so Iwagakure wasn't an option. She then told him her desire to go to the Land of Grass, which was actually a plan b. Sakura wanted to go to the Land of Wood, where there was no shinobi village, but to get out of there she would have to go through the Land of Rain, where there was Amegakure, controlled by Pain, and Sakura wasn't stupid enough to risk going through so close to him.

Luckily for her, Itaru said that a merchant he did business with was going to the Land of Grass, in order to visit his niece who was about to give birth. He said the man might agree to give her a ride, especially if he knew she was an extremely skilled doctor. With a knowing smile, Sakura agreed to his plan.

Yuna's bed was too fragrant and soft for Sakura's calloused body, so she preferred to sleep on the floor that night. The next morning, she set off in the back of a cart with a bento full of Land of Earth's famous stone rice cakes that Itaru had made for her. The gritty feeling of dirt on her teeth remained until they crossed the border.

Chapter Text

In the Land of Grass, Sakura helped the merchant's niece to give birth, accepting payment after realizing they wouldn't miss the money. His niece's pregnant friends quickly learned of her abilities and also hired her, all daughters of very rich men, which made her stay there for two whole months. Despite feeling a little trapped (Sakura spent the last 6 years moving from one place to another without settling down), her stay was very good for her wallet and her physical health. She earned enough money to be able to travel for another month without worrying and regained her previous weight, being constantly fed by the wealthy families, who insisted on having large community dinners whenever a new birth occurred.

Katsuyu really enjoyed her stay in the Land of Grass, especially since she loved babies as much as Sakura did. She always let her see them when she could find moments alone to check on their health or help them sleep, while the exhausted mothers needed time to themselves. When there were no more babies to bring into the world and she had to leave, Sakura didn't know who was sadder: her, her patients or the little slug, who would have pouted if she could. During her departure, the daughter of one of the richest families (and who had one of the most complicated births) wanted to thank her by presenting her with a set of silver bracelets made from a material that seemed extremely resistant, as well as being very expensive. They, to her surprise, were also chakra conductors. Upon seeing her shocked look, the woman laughed and gave her a wink, saying:

“I dated a shinobi when I was a teenager. I know you don't use anything that can't be turned into a weapon. Luckily, I still have contacts from that time.”

With her pocket full of money, more recommendation letters than she could count, and her wrists now wearing the beautiful bracelets, Sakura wandered from town to town, trying to find every item on her mental list of needs. The first thing she got was a very beautiful mortar and pestle to grind the Shikkotsu herbs. It was made of stone, a more expensive option, but the one that Katsuyu told her was the best to enjoy all the benefits of the plants, compared to glass or porcelain. She also finally managed to find new, comfortable sandals, but for emotional reasons, she kept Riko's heels with her.

The Land of Grass was much more forested than the Land of Earth, mainly with areas full of bamboo, trees and huge mushrooms. This allowed Sakura to spend time alone, only visiting cities when she needed to buy groceries. Katsuyu returned to her shoulder as they wandered and the two chatted during the preparation of herbs in the back of bamboo plantations or Sakura's training to expand her sensing ability while standing on water (which still wasn't working so well). She also prepared several units of her modified soldier and blood pills. She never knew when she would need them.

The Land of Grass was also much smaller than the Land of Earth, which meant that rumors spread much more quickly among the population. The story of a pink-haired midwife took just two weeks after her dismissal to spread. Since Sakura was the only person with pink hair wandering around, she was quickly recognized. This gave her a few more patients, one of them having a birth so bloody that Sakura knew she would have died if she hadn't been there. Her family tried to pay her, but they were clearly low income, so Sakura refused to accept. In exchange, then, they gave her a pretty red sleeveless t-shirt with a collar like a qipao, which ended just above her navel, and a long letter that made her cry to herself when she read it.

After almost three months in the Land of Grass, Sakura decided that she needed to visit Kusagakure or leave. With the pills, the groceries, the new clothes, and the gifts, there was no more room in her belt. She needed to buy more sealing scrolls and ink, but they were only sold in shinobi villages. She also couldn't find a library large enough to have books that would be useful in learning more about the history of the Land of Fire. Furthermore, she had been without gloves for her fists for too long and they were also only sold where ninjas circulated.

Wearing the most civilian clothes she had and Riko's heels again, Sakura dismissed Katsuyu, who complained a little, but fulfilled their agreement. She wouldn't risk her around so many ninjas, even in a quiet village that was allied with Konoha.

In Kusagakure, Sakura tried to keep her head down and used all the experience she had growing up as a civilian to pass herself off as a simple tourist. She repressed her own chakra to the levels she had when she was a genin and kept an innocent smile on her lips, among a curious look in her eyes, as if everything she saw fascinated her.

The ninjas and civilians of Kusagakure wandered through the village's center looking calm and just a few gave her a second glance. The first time this happened, Sakura fought hard not to tense up and remained paranoid for almost an hour, until she realized that the looks coming from the men interacting with her were not suspicious, but very flirtatious. It got easier after that, even if the attention was unwanted. It was easier not to attract attention when she had to deal with flirting rather than a fight.

She finally managed to buy a good amount of parchment and ink, stealing her patient's story and lying to the seller that she had a shinobi boyfriend she wanted to gift. Buying the gloves was more complicated, but Sakura only had to flirt with the salesman so he would stop asking why a fragile civilian like her would want something like that. Unfortunately, playing innocent also meant that she had to pay twice the price she knew the gloves cost, as the seller decided to use her supposed ignorance against her. Asshole.

It was also there that she finally had access to foreign history books, which she regretted reading in public when she realized what was so different between that universe and her own.

There was no mention of Tsunade anywhere.

Sakura first thought it might be a mistake, but after the third book about the second shinobi world war, she had to admit to herself that it was much worse. Jiraya and Orochimaru were there, named as great legendary war heroes, but Tsunade was not. She was also not in the book “Konohagakure vs. Sunagakure: Inside the Conflict”, not on a single page. Chiyo, in her turn, was in almost all of them, and Sakura learned that she created a true terror with her poisons, which killed so many of her enemies that Suna was almost the victor of the war. If it weren't for Hatake Sakumo, who killed her son, daughter-in-law, and her brother, Ebizo, sending her into a spiral of depression that caused her to withdraw from everything, Konoha might very well have lost.

Sakura's heart ached for her too. The Chiyo she knew had already suffered a lot from the loss of Sasori's parents. Losing her brother too…

Orochimaru appeared much more than he should have. He was named as a current traitor and mad child torturer scientist, as Sakura knew him, but his actions before that were like a knife in her stomach. It was as if he had taken Tsunade's place in a way, being for decades the greatest poison expert Konoha had. He was even the head of the village hospital before his escape! The head of the hospital, for Kami's sake!

The thought brought bile to the base of Sakura's throat and sent her searching for medicine books with frantic speed. It was also a surprise when she saw how scarce they were and how behind their information was. Many treatments were ridiculously more difficult than they should have been, involving seals, genjutsu, and unnecessary surgeries. Sakura barely recognized most of them, and the ones she did made her frown even more.

It was as if she was trapped, medicinally speaking, in the era before Konoha existed. There was no sign of the Mystic Palm Technique anywhere.

This realization made Sakura start to hyperventilate. With shaking hands, she searched the library until she finally found a small booklet with the title “Family tree for idiots: discover the most famous clans in the ninja world!” In it, she sought out the Senju clan. And her eyes filled with tears when she read:

“...he was also one of the founders of the world's first ninja village, known as Konohagakure, in the Land of Fire. Senju Hashirama died at the age of fifty-seven, for reasons still unknown. Rumors circulating say it was because of complications in his health due to constant stress. His wife, Uzumaki Mito (Senju by marriage), died many years later, at the age of seventy-five. They had two children and a grandson, Senju Nawaki, who passed away during the Second Shinobi World War. Uzumaki Mito was the last living member of the Senju Clan, leading to its extinction shortly before the Third Shinobi World War.”

Two children and a grandson.

A grandson.

Only one. A boy.

The book in Sakura's hands fell against the library table with a thud that echoed through the shelves. She didn't care. She didn't care about that or anything else. Because nothing else in the world mattered other than what she had discovered.

She had thought Tsunade had died, but the reality was much, much worse than that. Tsunade wasn't dead.

She hadn't even existed.

In a daze, Sakura left the library under the concerned gaze of the librarian, walked through the streets of Kusagakure, bought Tsunade's favorite expensive imported sake from a merchant from the Land of Water and fled to the nearest forest.

In it, she remained from sunset to sunrise, lying on the ground as she sobbed desperately and drank every drop of the drink as it ran down her windpipe and filled her veins with fire.

Sakura cried for hours, getting drunk and babbling her pain in slurred, meaningless words. She drank the sake, spilling the liquid every now and then on the ground as if Tsunade's spirit could drink it, and looking up at the sky, looking without seeing how it changed color and darkened in a starry night, before brightening again. She cried so hard that she felt sick and when the sake ran out she threw the glass bottle against a tree in a fit of rage, taking no pleasure in the destruction.

That world had life, water, villages, people, food and peace. But somehow, it seemed sadder than the world Sakura came from. Because Tsunade never existed there. That universe never had the honor of having her, of reaping the fruits of all the incredible things she did, of being able to witness the force of nature that she was. That universe, in that moment of pain and intoxication, seemed like the saddest, grayest and most meaningless universe Sakura had ever been to. And she came from a world that managed to kill her in every way possible, except physically.

When the alcohol in her blood finally burned off, Sakura hadn't slept and had a monstrous hangover rattling around in her head. She, however, did nothing to stop the pain, believing she deserved it. Tsunade's non-existence was something she didn't see coming and that influenced everything she had thought about that world.

Tsunade was the one who created modern medical ninjutsu. She was the first to discover how to externalize her chakra to heal wounds and saved thousands of lives by doing so. She created techniques for healing bones, restoring muscles, and organ transplants. She saved the Land of Fire from Chiyo's poisons. She created the ability of super strength with chakra. She was the one who introduced Creation Regeneration to the Byakugou seal, transforming it into an even more deadly weapon.

Without her... Without all the influence she brought to the world, without everything her simple existence did...

What had happened?

The way Jiro faced her chakra hands and the fact that not even the med-ninjas were able to figure out Hiroki's problem made sense. The shocked looks from her pregnant patients when she stopped their bleeding and saved their lives, even the one that dated a shinobi and wasn't ignorant to their world, made sense. Sakura had thought that it was simply civilians' ignorance of ninja techniques, that it was a case of a lack of doctors in countries that weren't as lucky as the Land of Fire, but no.

Nobody had seen her techniques because they didn't exist. No one else knew how to do what she knew because she was the first.

Sakura returned to Kusagakure, reeking of alcohol and sleepless, to buy the most advanced medical books she could find and another bottle of Tsunade's sake, this time to keep as a souvenir. Afterwards, she fled that city and that country as if they were somehow to blame for all the things she had learned that made her suffer.

Sakura summoned Katsuyu back when she finally crossed the border into the Land of Waterfall, hoping that the days she spent alone had improved her appearance. It wasn't the case. The worried way the little slug stared at her betrayed the fact that she still looked like shit, with deep dark circles, pale skin, and red eyes.

She explained very briefly why she was upset and Katsuyu tried to comfort her with words, a gentle but failed attempt. Sakura felt like she was one step away from breaking down as badly as the day she arrived, so she was (cowardly, she admitted) running away from her own feelings and thoughts. Katsuyu seemed to respect this, but she still clearly disapproved.

The Land of Watterfall proved to be much busier than the Land of Grass, which was a good distraction. There were many tourist attractions scattered around, which also meant many cities and civilian families. Sakura managed to spend a lot of time alone, reading the medical books she had bought and arguing with Katsuyu about how late they were. It wasn't as bad as the warring states era, like she had imagined before, but it was still decades behind her world. Without chakra, the shinobi had to improvise, creating several techniques that Sakura found very creative, but infinitely less efficient. They used seals a lot, for example, to try to transfer chakra, control hemorrhages, heal internally when there was no time or chance for surgery, but their margin for error was huge and they depended a lot on Fuinjutsu specialists, who apparently were in lack. According to one of the books that came from the Land of Fire, Konoha's med-ninjas created the technique of storing Hashirama's healing chakra in a seal to transfer it to dying patients. Sakura could see the problem with this from miles away. Transferring chakra that wasn't hers and therefore wasn't under her control, through one seal to another, was like a shot in the dark. The chakra would act alone, influenced by the external stimuli it encountered. The chance of a cure would be fifty percent if she was being very optimistic.

There was also genjutsu as a form of anesthesia, which probably worsened the mental state of shinobi with post-traumatic stress disorder and would not work for those immune to it, like Sakura. According to the book, those with the sharingan and the byakugan were highly sought after to assist in surgeries and care, and the only ones documented to have innate healing abilities, besides Hashirama, were some Uzumakis who were born with the ability to heal through a bite into their skin, like Karin.

Obviously, this meant that the Uzumaki were hunted down by other clans and kidnapped to near extinction because of their power. It was them who created the seal healing technique in an attempt to spare their own members from persecution and exploitation. It was a complete mess.

Resigned and avoiding being thoughtful, afraid that she would drown in her own head, Sakura wandered through a somewhat questionable civilian town. She had seen some shinobi in the surroundings, which made her avoid using her healing abilities indefinitely. The problem was that she needed money, as her reserve was getting smaller every day. The last patients she had had, in the previous city, gave her as thanks a basket of fruits (which had already been eaten by her and Katsuyu) and a beautiful red fan with a cherry blossom painted on it. Great gifts, but they wouldn't sustain her for long.

Noises and shouts of celebration caught her attention, making Sakura turn towards what was clearly a casino. Her heart ached deeply at the sight of it, thinking of Tsunade in the same second. The last thing she wanted was to go to a place that reminded her so much of her shishou (her shishou that didn't exist, her shishou that didn't even have a tomb for her to visit). She could barely think about her without wishing she could get drunk and sobbing again. But at the same time…

An image of Tsunade smiling flashed into her mind, her honey eyes sparkling with teasing humor. She could almost see her laughing at the fact that Sakura was frequenting a place like that. She could almost hear her laugh and the comments she would make to Shizune.

Sakura's feet carried her inside before she could think any further. That would have made Tsunade happy. It would have taken some of the weight of being Hokage off her shoulders and made her have a little fun, as if she was as young as her appearance lied. If Sakura could make her happy… even from so far away, even in such an abstract way… then she would.

The place was packed, mostly with drunk and noisy men shouting, laughing and betting money. She stuck out like a sore thumb and she could feel eyes on her as she wandered around, looking for something she could do. Sakura didn't know most of the games there and the other half she couldn't win without using her chakra. According to the sign near the entrance, this was an establishment where everyone was allowed, but it did not encourage the use of shinobi abilities during games, to keep things fair.

The card game table caught Sakura's attention and made her think. She was better than Tsunade at it, but that meant almost nothing since her shishou was very unlucky. Sakura actually doubted she would be able to won enough times to get any money. When they played together, Tsunade would get extremely angry when she lost, but she refused to stop even when they had been there for hours, so what Sakura learned to do was to tied with her every time, to not activate her anger and, at the same time, to make her so bored that she would give up…

Hmm. The tips of Sakura's lips tilted downward in a grimace of contemplation. This might work, actually.

At the bar, she asked the bartender where the bathroom was and followed the direction he pointed. Inside one of the cabins, Sakura then made a clone of herself and had her put on some spare clothes that she had. Afterwards, she asked her to grow her hair from her shoulders to her hips and applied a light henge to change the color from pink to dark brown. Sakura also changed the color of her eyes to brown, made her nose longer and reduced the size of her lips.

When she looked different enough, Sakura gave her clone some of the money she still had and explained her plan. They left the bathroom five minutes apart.

Sakura's clone got in line to play and she, in her turn, joined the crowd of men watching and placing their own bets.

“Bet three hundred ryos that the girl will lose in the first round” one of them said, counting notes on a thick block of money he held in his hands. He seemed to be the luckiest of them all.

“Two hundred tha shw wins this one, but loses the rest” said another.

“You never put faith in women” laughed a third, a little more sober than the others. “I accept the bets. I think she wins.”

“What about you, pretty girl?” another man said, drawing the others' attention to her. Sakura remained with a relaxed expression and her arms crossed. “Do you want to bet too? Does she win or does she lose?”

Her eyes watched as her clone sat in front of her opponent, some lucky rich kid who apparently was on his fifteenth consecutive victory.

“Well, if you're betting on winning or losing, I'll go against it” she said.

The deck was distributed and the game began. Sakura smiled.

“I bet they will tied every round.”

Sakura left the establishment later, with triple the money than when she entered. She preferred to stop while things were good and no one suspected her apparent fortune-telling. It was more than enough for now.

She was about to look for a hotel when the symbol on someone's forehead band caught her attention. Tense, Sakura ran into an alley and masked her chakra, hiding in the shadows. A few seconds later, two Konoha ninja walked past her and disappeared into the crowd.

It was their appearance that set her heart racing. Black eyes and hair, pale skin, aristocratic nose… They looked like Sasuke. Not like they were lost twins, but enough so that she didn't doubt they were related. They wore the Konoha symbol, but Sakura couldn't remember anyone so similar to Sasuke running through the ranks of her village, let alone two...

This made her think. Tsunade didn't exist, there were people similar to Sasuke in Konoha... The existing and non-existent ninjas were clearly different than in her universe. Sakura needed to know how far that difference extended, unless she wanted to be caught off guard again.

She needed a bingo book.

Bingo books were only sold in shinobi areas (legal and illegal) or in civilian areas that were at least very suspicious, so Sakura needed to create a plan with Katsuyu to get her hands on one. She even tried to buy it in Itagakure, but the ninja community there was smaller and much more suspicious. One of the shinobis on duty followed Sakura with his eyes the entire time she remained near the shinobi stores, and another approached her three streets down, asking if she needed help. Sakura lied by saying that she was looking for the direction of the large tree that stood in the center of the village and disappeared from sight after he gave her directions.

Deciding that she would have to get her copy by other means, Sakura agreed with Katsuyu that they would risk her presence in some bar or inn where she knew there would be civilians involved in crimes. Her summon would sneak in and steal a book, sucking it into her body, disappearing into Shikkotsu and waiting for Sakura to summon her again. She wanted to make her promise once again that she would give up the plan if anyone noticed her presence, but Katsuyu reminded her that she was millions of years old and capable of taking care of herself. What she didn't want was for Sakura to be discovered as her summoner, so a target wouldn't be placed on her back.

That's how Sakura ended up in a very suspicious bar-inn in an even more suspicious place, after following there a trio of criminals who were arguing about price updates in the bingo book they were carrying. From what Sakura could hear from afar, with chakra in her ears, they were involved in drug trafficking in the region.

She bought a dark cloak that covered her from neck to toe and was happy to find that at night she almost disappeared when she wore it. Entering the bar, Sakura kept her head down, looking around under her eyelashes. The lighting was poor and many people were smoking, making visibility even more difficult with the cloud of smoke that formed on the ceiling. Sakura preferred it that way. She could barely see them, but she was also barely seen.

Going to the bar, she ordered an amazake sake, which was sweet and non-alcoholic, deciding it was best to keep a sober head while she was there. She also missed the taste of sugar after so many years, so she didn't miss the chance to eat something sweet.

“Stay at table eleven” the bartender said, a huge, muscular man, full of tattoos and a scar over his left eye that reminded her of Kakashi. "It is empty."

Sakura placed the money for the drink on the counter and sat at the table he indicated. She was about to fake a relaxed pose, when all her muscles went hard. Only four tables away, she recognized one of the other customers.

Hoshigaki Kisame.

Sakura had never been in his presence in her universe, but she didn't need to to be absolutely sure that this was him. A seven-foot man, solid as a wall, with blue skin and shark eyes? Who else would he be?

She looked away, trying to control her own panic and stop the entire bar from hearing her racing heart. He wasn't wearing his Akatsuki cape (which would probably have sent all the customers away) and he didn't even have his sword, the Samehada. This helped Sakura calm down, remembering that his sensing power came from his chakra-eating weapon. Without it, Katsuyu would be safe wherever she was in the bar and so would Sakura, despite the fact that she had been suppressing her chakra since she arrived. The problem was, she doubted Kisame would stray too far from his sword. She would bet that the weapon was up there, in the inn, next to his cape with red clouds.

He was also alone, which was a blessing. One of them was dangerous enough, but it would be a real headache if he was with his friends. Sakura was a much more skilled ninja than she had been in her youth, but she still didn't want to have to face another Akatsuki so soon. Maybe never.

It's okay, she thought, letting a deep, silent breath leave her lips. He hasn't seen me and no one seems to be paying attention to me. I just need to keep keeping my head down and go unnoticed…

"HEY! Pink hair!"

Fucking team seven's luck.

Sakura looks at the bar with wide owlish eyes, at the same time as all the other customers turn to her. Including Kisame.

“The amazake is over,” the bartender said, wiping a glass with a cloth that didn’t look very clean. “Can I give you a nigorizake sake? I’ll do it for the same price for you.”

With a tight smile and extremely frustrated that her plan had been destroyed before it even started, Sakura gave him a thumbs up in the air. The bartender went back to work and the people around follow, to what they were doing.

Her eyes swept past Kisame for a second, only to find him looking straight at her. Sakura looked away as quickly as she could and stared at her hands, trying to understand what the smile on his lips meant.

Shit, shit, shit! What should she do? Leaving at that moment would only raise more suspicion. She would have to stay there and pretend to drink until her departure didn't feel like an escape. Plus, her plan with Katsuyu would still be going on for at least an hour and Sakura would never leave her behind. She would only leave the bar when the time was up and she was sure that her summon had already left, with or without the bingo book.

A bottle of amazake sake banged on the table in front of her, a huge blue hand gripping the neck. Sakura was startled, her eyes widening when she met Kisame's gaze again, now just a few centimeters away, right next to her desk. He was still smiling and she cursed her small chakra reserves for leaving her so vulnerable to the approach of others.

“Sorry, sweetie” Kisame said, his voice low and thick, so close that Sakura felt her skin crawl. “Looks like I bought the last bottle.”

Sakura blinked a few times, trying to control her instincts to fight and flee, while at the same time trying to make sense of his words. She looked back at the drink he had placed on her table, the one she wanted and the bartender said it was over.

“Oh.” What was he planning? Did he know she was a shinobi? She tried to look innocent and relaxed. "Everything is fine. Nigorizake isn't that bad. I’ll drink anything.”

Sakura shrugged and gave him a small fake smile, trying to give the impression that she wasn't about to destroy a table with her fists and run away. Kisame, in return, continued smiling with his lips closed, and leaned a little closer to her face.

“Oh no, but we can't have a girl like you drinking anything” he said quietly. Sakura felt herself getting hard inside her cloak and released a discreet stream of chakra to force her shoulders to relax. When he failed to notice this, she was relieved to confirm that he really wasn't a sensor without his sword. "Please accept. I’ll take the nigorizake.”

He indicated the seat in front of her with his huge hand and looked deep into her eyes.

"Can I seat?"

For a second, Sakura thought about saying no, because the last thing she wanted was to be so close and for so long in the company of an Akatsuki member. But she also assumed that her best plan was to keep him happy while she couldn't leave, fearing that angering him would start a battle that would hurt the other customers around them. Plus, she needed to find out what brought him to her table and how much he knew.

What did he meant by “a girl like you”? A shinobi? A doctor? Simply someone who looked suspicious?

“Of course,” Sakura said, watching him sit back and relax with watchful eyes. She gave him her best soft smile. “Thanks for the drink, you didn’t need it.”

“Maybe not, but I wanted to.” Kisame rested his elbows on the back of the seat and looked happier as her eyes followed his movement, noticing how his biceps were bigger than her head. Was he trying to intimidate her? “Like I said, a girl like you should be drinking what she wants, not just anything.”

The bartender, bless him, chose that moment to appear with the bottle of nigorizake sake and a glass. He gave Kisame a suspicious look, before leaving and returning with a second. He also gave Sakura a knowing look, the kind that said she could just scream for help if needed, which surprised her. Few looked at Kisame and decided they were willing to face him, for whatever reason.

“Still, that was very kind of you,” she said, responding to the last thing he had said. “Don't worry about the nigorizake, it's already paid for anyway. We can share your bottle.”

She wouldn't drink an already opened bottle of liquor given to her by an S-rank shinobi without making sure it wasn't poisoned. Maybe not even like that. She would, at the very least, make him drink too.

Her invitation didn't seem to make Kisame worried, but perhaps it was his training as an Akatsuki that made him seem relaxed and in control at all times. His smile grew so big that he showed her his pointy shark teeth.

“If you insist, Pinky,” he said, taking the bottle and pouring the drink into both glasses. "Allow me."

Sakura didn't take her eyes off his action, just in case, ignoring his terrorist organization's ring, appearing to mock her on his left ring finger. The amazake sake was milkier than the others and looked exactly like she knew it as he filled the two small cups.

“Pinky?” she said, to distract him as she picked up her cup and held it right under her nose, sending chakra into her nostrils and breathing. Nothing unusual in the smell, no new substances seemed present.

Kisame laughed hoarsely, returning to his relaxed position, with his elbows propped up and now his own glass in his hand.

“Seemed appropriate,” he said, bringing his drink to his lips. “Better than ‘pink hair,’ at least. Or do you prefer that?”

Sakura mimicked his actions, only hesitating for half a second before filling her mouth with sake. She sent chakra to her taste buds, also not tasting any strange tastes. Even so, she only swallowed when she saw his Adam's apple move in his throat and she burned the drink in her stomach like she did with alcohol the times she drank, a trick of Tsunade's to avoid a hangover the next morning.

No poison then. At least some good news. But it still left her in the dark about Kisame's intentions.

“I prefer to be called by my name” Sakura said, raising an eyebrow. She tried to appear relaxed, and apparently she succeeded, as he leaned forward with his forearms on the table, smiling mischievously.

“That would be…”

She filled her glass and took another long sip, just to have a few extra seconds to think. Should she take a chance and use her real name? It wasn't like there was a record of a Haruno Sakura anywhere in the world. But she was already too recognizable with her pink hair and, apparently, unique medicine skills. Sakura also wouldn't risk using a name that would draw his attention to someone specific, like Ino...

“Tsunade,” she said finally, leaning back against her seat and smiling mischievously. “My name is Tsunade.”

Kisame didn't ask for a last name and Sakura didn't expect that from him. In places like that bar, surnames were usually only given under coercion.

“Tsunade” he hummed, thoughtfully as he drank with her. Her lips twisted. “I don’t know, sweetie, I think Pinky is much more appropriate for you. Pink hair and everything…”

Sakura was wearing her black cloak that hid her up to her neck, but the way he looked her up and down made her feel naked. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly and something in her mind whispered that Kisame was acting very strangely. He looked relaxed, calm and happy, not at all how she imagined him trying to intimidate an enemy.

“Oh, really?” she then said, crossing her arms. Her cheeks were a little flushed from the strange turns of the conversation and that seemed to please him. “And what would your name be, then? Bluey?”

Kisame, to her surprise, tilted his face up and let out a hoarse laugh, which caught the attention of some people around and made her eyes widen. What the hell was going on? What game was he playing?

“Pinky, you're the funniest little thing I've seen in years,” he said, raising a hand in the air. “My name is Kisame. But you can call me whatever you want.”

He winked at her and Sakura finally understood what was happening, like being punched in the mouth by her shishou. Kisame wasn't suspicious of her.

He was flirting with her.

Hoshigaki Kisame, renegade S-rank ninja, member of the terrorist group Akatsuki, was flirting with her.

Holy shit, that universe was insane.

A relieved giggle escaped Sakura's mouth and she blushed, embarrassed at her own stupidity. Kami, has it been so long since anyone showed interest in her that she's become rusty like this? That was infinitely better than being recognized as a threat. Sakura, being Tsunade's disciple, was saved from participating in seduction missions, but she had to take the famous “kunoichi classes” like everyone else. Furthermore, she was Ino's best friend and had seen her many times getting free drinks at bars in Konoha. She might not be the most experienced at pretending to be enchanted by a man's advances, but she knew enough.

If all Sakura needed to do for the next half an hour was flirt with him, then she would.

"It's a pleasure, Kisame" Sakura said, placing her hand in his. Surprisingly, his skin was warm, but full of calluses that betrayed his profession. He also seemed to have interpreted her giggle to his advantage, which was good.

“No Bluey?” he teased, pulling her hand to give her a kiss on her knuckles. Sakura's eyebrow rose in surprise. He was good.

“Let’s see if you deserve it” she teased. This makes him laugh again, clearly amused as he poured more sake into their glasses.

“I’ll earn it,” Kisame joked back, returning his eyes to her wrists as Sakura picked up her drink. “Beautiful bracelets.”

She took a sip and held the glass in her lap, to prevent him from getting close enough to the bracelets and notice that they were chakra conductors.

"Thanks. It was a gift."

"Boyfriend?" Kisame took a chance, with a provocative smile on his lips. Sakura sent chakra to her own cheeks and smiled, blushing.

“No,” she said, without further explanation. This seemed to amuse him, as she suspected. Men like Kisame, powerful shinobi who lived for adrenaline, preferred a little provocation.

“It doesn’t bother your boyfriend to see you wearing gifts from other men?” he continued, getting a real laugh from her. Never in a million years did Sakura imagine that she would find herself in that situation: in a poorly frequented bar-inn, in another universe, getting flirted with by Hoshigaki Kisame of all people.

“You don’t seem to me to be the kind of man who goes around like that,” she said, resting an elbow on the table and a cheek in her hand. Sakura smiled at him and saw his shark eyes shining with interest. “Why don’t you just ask what you want to know, Kisame-san?”

A little linguistic trick of Ino's that always worked.

“Kisame-san?” he said, a murmur that almost sounded like a purr. Kisame looked at her like a shark that smelled blood and Sakura remained calm and smiling, as was only possible for someone who stuck their arms up to their elbows in people's guts for a living. “I like you, Pinky. Alright then, you win. Do you have boyfriend?"

“No,” Sakura said, looking at him over the glass on her lips. "You?"

“If I have a boyfriend?” Kisame joked.

“I don’t judge.”

That made him laugh again and Sakura smiled, discreetly removing her shoes from her feet below the table. She touched the tip of her big toe to the ground and threw chakra at it in an attempt to see if Katsuyu was around, but all it gave her was a headache and so much information that her vision went white until she stopped and stuck feet in to her sandals again. It was so frustrating that she couldn't use her skills when it mattered most.

“Please explain to me how the fuck a girl like you is single” he said, shaking his head and drinking more sake. Sakura shrugged. Oh, you know, it's hard to find more than comfort sex when the world is ending and no one knows if they'll be alive the next day...

“That’s the third time you’ve said that” she replied instead, fluttering her eyelashes innocently. “What do you mean by ‘a girl like you’?”

“Pinky, don’t act like you don’t understand” Kisame teased her, with a constant smile on his lips. “You know you should be somewhere fancy getting jewelry until you can drown in it.” He indicated the bracelets on her wrist with a wave of his hand. “And not drinking in a pigsty in the middle of nowhere with dangerous company.”

The direction of that flirtation was starting to go down a dangerous path, so Sakura tried to remember more of Ino's seduction tricks, in buried memories of moments that happened what seemed like centuries ago. Laughing, she unbuttoned the cape at her neck and took it off, revealing her very civilian clothes underneath, to reinforce her facade. She also tied her hair up, pretending to feel hot. The sight of her neck caught Kisame's attention, a shark with its prey once again.

Only, unbeknownst to him, Sakura was not a fish that would become his dinner. She might not be a huge, scary, brutal white shark, but she, at the moment, was still a predator. A spider, a black widow, quiet, hidden and seductive. Maybe Sakura couldn't beat him in a head-to-head battle, but there were other ways to defeat an enemy.

“And despite everything, here I am” she joked, leaning on the table and resting her cheeks in her hands. Kisame also leaned in a little, clearly attracted. “What would be your guess on that, Kisame-san?”

“Hmm, let’s see” he hummed, looking her up and down slowly. The bar seemed quieter and darker. Sakura was surprised to realize that, in some way, she was enjoying this crazy exchange. “Were civilian men too dull? A beautiful woman like you probably wants more out of life than some boring boys who don't satisfy you at all.”

“And who would be able to finally satisfy a woman as beautiful and with such high standards as me?”

“A real man” Kisame smiled, lowering his voice and looking into her eyes. “A big, strong man with enough courage to be the only one to come talk to the beautiful woman who caught the attention of every man present, even the damn bartender.”

Sakura's cheeks really blushed this time and she looked away, feeling her own warm skin under her fingers. It was a shame that Kisame was a very dangerous missing-nin who was part of the terrorist group that tried to kill her, her friends and her village. If he were anyone else...

“You overreacted to the bartending” she joked, feigning just a little of her shyness. Kisame shook his head, amused.

“Pinky, please, that bastard doesn’t give discounts to anyone, ever” he mumbled, his eyes focused on her flushed cheeks. “If you were anyone else, he would have said he didn't have your drink and end of story. And if you had a problem with that, you would get kicked out and not get your money back.”

Sakura glanced at said bartender from the corner of her eye, seeing how he glanced at their table every few moments, looking confused and a little irritated. She turned back to Kisame, seeing his eyebrow raised as if he was saying 'didn't I tell you?' and let out a laugh, so loud that she had to cover her mouth with one of her hands.

“Did you really not notice?” he laughed, amused. Sakura shook her head and covered her eyes with her hands, genuinely shy. Kami, she was really rusty. Not just with the care of her patients, but everything. Interacting with people, knowing how to interpret them…

“I don’t spend much time in the company of… potential suitors,” Sakura teased, laughing lightly at the way his bare eyebrows moved suggestively. “I’m a nomad. I just travel from country to country, offering my services.”

"Services…?"

She dipped her fingertips into her cup of sake and splashed drops on his face.

“Hospital services, Bluey” Sakura said, seeing him laugh. He was lucky he was charming and that she was trying to stay on his good side, otherwise she would have kicked him in the balls for his insinuation. “Get your mind out of the gutter.”

“Sorry, Pinky, I couldn't miss the opportunity” Kisame joked, raising his huge hands in the air in surrender. “But know that I wouldn’t judge you if that were the case. Your profession doesn’t matter to me.”

She raised her glass to her lips, smiling.

“Unless you were secretly a hot kunoichi who wanders into bars to seduce her victims. Having you as an enemy would be fucking shit.”

The sake missed Sakura's throat and went up, almost out of her nose. She coughed and choked, covering her mouth with one hand as her eyes filled with tears. Damn, did he find out? Was this his plan all along? Kunoichi classes focused exclusively on women seducing men, but the opposite could happen. Sakura always found them annoyingly sexist, after all.

When Kisame's hand reached her to pat her shoulder affectionately, instead of pinning her to her seat with a kunai, like he would pin a picture to the wall with a nail, she forced herself to relax. Opening her eyes, Sakura saw that he seemed a little confused by her reaction, but he remained calm, with his guard down.

“Sorry,” she said, collecting the napkins he handed her and cleaning herself up. She forced a playful giggle out of her breath. “It took me completely by surprise. I don’t think anyone has ever told me that before.”

Sakura then let her hair down and fluffed it around her shoulders, reinforcing the very feminine and sweet appearance she knew she had, whether she liked it or not.

“Do I look like a kunoichi to you?” she teased him, as if the idea amused her, rather than terrified her. “Am I strong and scary?”

That made him laugh again, which almost made her breathe a sigh of relief. Damn, that was close. She needed to start moving this conversation towards its end and leave. Maybe she could pretend she needed to go to the bathroom…

“You,” he said, with emphasis on the word. The hand with the Akatsuki ring held his cup in the air. “Are danger in the form of a woman, that’s what you are.”

This made her genuinely laugh.

"You know, Kisame-san, you're also very surprising" Sakura said, leaning against her seat. He seemed interested in what she was going to say. “I would never expect a man like you to drink amazake sake, of all things.”

“And what you expect a man like me…” he said slowly, amused by the insinuation. “Would drink, then?”

Sakura shrugged, humming.

“A genshu sake, perhaps. Or something even stronger.”

“Overrated” Kisame said mischievously. “Getting drunk is cool, but I'm the kind of man who likes to enjoy the sweet things in life.”

One eyebrow of hers rose.

"Like what?" she asked, unable to contain herself.

“Oh, you know…” Kisame said, placing his glass on the table and stroking the rim with his finger. “Mochi, strawberry dango, cotton candy…”

Everything pink. He really knew how to be direct about what he wanted.

Sakura had just opened her mouth to answer him, when a voice next to her table said:

“Kisame.”

Her smile fell instantly. A dark shiver began at her cold fingertips and spread to the rest of her body.

She knew that voice.

"We need to talk."

Behind the fabric of Sakura's pants, a rough two-part scar (one just above her belly and the other on her back) itched as if it were covered in fire ants.

Sasori of the Red Sand looked exactly the same. He was covered by the doll that left him bent and crawling like the cockroach he was, the horrible carapace hidden under a black cape without the Akatsuki clouds and a mask that covered the lower part of the fake face. He also sounded the same, his thick voice reverberating upwards, like mist that arrived like the crawling of a snake, like heavy poison that came out of the ground so silently that when it made itself known, it was already too late.

Sakura's body was completely paralyzed, but her eyes moved to stay locked on Sasori, as if he were the only thing existing in the world, as if they were two planets fated to gravitate and collide with each other. At that moment, he was. They were. Because Sakura was teleported from that little bar in the middle of nowhere to a cave also in the middle of nowhere, in another universe, in another life, where adrenaline and despair filled her veins instead of blood, where the only thing she could see were old, human eyes in a false childish face, the face of a boy who was so afraid of death that he decided he would never grow old.

Kisame said something in response, but Sakura didn't hear him, still too focused on the figure in front of her and the feeling of a poisoned sword impaling her body. She could still feel the slide of the blade opening the flesh, muscles, organs and spine. She could still feel the burn of the acidic poison, the way her teeth chattered and the taste that filled her mouth, the smell of blood, of fear, of burnt metal, the sawdust that floated in the air from the amount of destroyed wood.

She could still see his eyes in hers, the shock and confusion, the way he looked at Sakura as if she were the biggest unknown he had ever faced in his entire life. The only doll that spoiled boy wouldn't be able to play with.

Sasori was looking at her now, and Sakura wondered what he saw. What he saw, without knowing that their lives had already crossed paths before, in another world. Not knowing that she knew his secrets and he didn't know hers. Not knowing that her body was forever marked by him, not knowing that he was the protagonist of her worst nightmares for years, until she finally faced enemies much bigger, much more powerful and much scarier.

Not knowing that, as she had done before, she would kill him.

Not there, not now, but one day. Sakura doubted that was the reason Obito sent her there, but at that moment, she didn't care. It had been eight years since she faced Sasori of the Red Sand and seeing him once again, alive (or as alive as a man pretending to be a doll could be), only served to remind her of all the reasons why he should be dead.

In that quick minute when he interrupted her conversation with Kisame and looked into her eyes, sizing her up as if sizing up an insect, Sakura remembered the dolls of women, men, and children in his arsenal, the bodies stolen and destroyed to be transformed into toys. She remembered the horrors caused by his poisons, the pale skins, atrophied nerves, crooked fingers and limbs, and foaming mouths. Kankuro's body, shaking and screaming in her hands, Gaara's body, silent and hard, used as a chair like it was nothing.

And finally, in case none of that was enough, Sakura remembered the triumph she felt when she saw his finally lifeless body at her feet, the pride in having been one of the hands that ended the road of terror that Sasori paved for decades, and decided it would be worth killing him again just for that.

Just for the taste.

“Meet me in the back” Sasori said, to Kisame, but with his eyes still on Sakura. There were no facial expressions on the fake face he wore. She wondered if he had a suspicious frown or if he decided to underestimate her once again, repeating his other self's mistake. "Is important."

He glided to the back of the bar, out of sight, and Sakura's eyes followed him until there was nothing left to see.

“Everything okay there, Pinky?” Kisame called out to her, as if pulling her out of water. Sakura turned to him, blinking repeatedly. Her fists, hidden under the table, were clenched so tight they turned white. She could feel invisible cuts on her skin, from the splinters of wood she had once destroyed. “Sorry about my friend, he’s an idiot. Where were we?"

Sakura then realized that Sasori's arrival made her really see Kisame. She no longer saw the flirtatious and charming man who had made her laugh just a few minutes before, she saw the cold-blooded killer. The renegade ninja. The terrorist, the shark-man who liked to tear his victims apart like his aquatic friends, known for cutting off limbs with the same ease as a butcher cutting pieces of meat.

Feeling robotic, Sakura gave him a small smile.

“Actually, I better go,” she said. “Thanks for the drink. It was very kind of you.”

He watched her put on her cloak and stand up with an openly disappointed expression on his face.

"Are you sure?" Kisame insisted, standing up as well. Sakura realized how much taller than her he was and swallowed the saliva in her mouth, which came down as if it were blood, poison and guts. “My friend can wait. Don’t worry about him.”

“Like you said, a girl like me should be somewhere else.” Sakura gave him another small smile and took the sake the bartender had brought her, handing it into his blue hands. “Keep it. Thanks for the night. See you around, Kisame-san.”

Sakura left before he could say anything else and quickly tried to disappear into the forest trees at the back of the bar. On top of the biggest tree she could find, she put chakra in her ears, trying to make sure she hadn't been followed.

“What happened to the little doll?” Sasori's voice reached her hearing, bringing goosebumps to her skin. “She didn’t want to play with you anymore?”

“Everything was going well, until you scared her with your ugly face” Kisame replied, frustrated.

“Don’t pout, you can find another one later.”

"Like that girl? Impossible. Now speak up, what was so important for you to ruin my night?”

“I was right, the poison that someone is spreading on this land was not mine” he said, fully catching Sakura's attention. She held her breath. “It’s a bad copy. And guess from who?”

"The snake?"

A silence, perhaps a nod of confirmation.

“He was always jealous of your poisons” Kisame pondered. “Remember when he was your partner? The son of a bitch couldn’t stand that you were so much better at this than him.”

“He is a complete idiot. According to rumors, he is passing through the Land of Grass, on his way to the Land of Swamps. Probably to try and discover some of the herbs I use.”

“Are you sure it’s so necessary to go after him? I mean, in the end, as long as it doesn't get to any of us, I don't particularly care how many people he poisons to death.”

“I’m not going to let someone incapable of understanding the greatness of my work just destroy everything I’ve built. Making poisons is art. It's about creating something that will impact the world forever. Allowing Orochimaru to continue this game is risking him discovering the antidotes and I will not allow that. My poisons are art because they are eternal and they are eternal because they have no cure.”

His voice got lower and angrier. Kisame let out a long, tired sigh.

“That's why Deidara is usually your partner, I don't understand any of this art shit. Okay, fine, if that's what you want, let's go to the Land of Grass and try to follow in his footsteps.”

Feeling that she had heard enough, Sakura suppressed her chakra and left, in the opposite direction of the Land of Grass, Akatsuki, and Orochimaru.

She ran for hours, running away from the people she had encountered and the memories that had resurfaced. Sakura only stopped when she was forced to by her legs, which were shaking beneath her as if they had no muscles or bones. After resting, deep in a dark forest, watching the sun rise and set hours later, she finally summoned Katsuyu.

“Sakura-sama!” her little slug screamed, looking at her with little wide eyes. “You should have summoned me last night! Did something happen? Are you okay?"

“I'm fine, Katsuyu-sama” she said, trying to give her a reassuring smile. As Katsuyu still looked distressed, it didn't seem to work. “I'm sorry for worrying you. I had an encounter at the bar with renegade ninjas I met in my universe. I thought I'd make sure I was well away from them before I summoned you.”

“The blue man I saw come to your table? Did he do something to you?”

“No” Sakura quickly calmed her. “It was… actually, I don’t even know what that was. The most unimaginable interaction I have ever experienced. But he didn't hurt me. I’m perfectly fine.”

Physically, at least. Mentally, Sakura had spent the last twelve hours with her hand over the scar on her belly, feeling the wrinkled, bulging texture, seeing herself, so young, so scared, so inexperienced, trapped inside the claws of a monster and somehow managing to survive, with blood on her hands and a photo in the bingo book. “Pupil of the Godaime Hokage. Medical prodigy. Assassin of Sasori of the Red Sand.”

“Did you get the book?” she asked finally. Katsuyu's smile said it all.

“Here it is” she replied, expelling from her small slimy body a book that grew and grew in size until it fell to the floor, a little slime but in perfect condition. “It was really easy, actually. And very exciting! That's what I was saying about other shinobi not understanding the extent of my abilities. No one but you would think of using me for anything other than medical aid…”

Sakura smiled at her excitement, picking up the book and opening it with her heart racing. The first page drew a surprised exclamation from her.

“Katsuyu-sama!” she said. “You didn’t just get a bingo book, you got the bingo book!”

Each ninja nation had their own missing-nin and, therefore, their own bingo books. But one nation in particular, the Land of Water, was known for finding in bounty hunting a way to plug the holes in its economy and politics. They had so many renegade ninjas that they had to create a unique category of  ninja hunters, who spent so much time looking for their own missing-nin that they began to catch others'. For this reason, their book was different. They gathered all the bingo books into one and sold it, but only on their land.

More than that. Some bingo books brought with them clandestine information, with ninjas who were not wanted by the kages, but by criminals. Ninjas who gained many enemies on their missions and, therefore, now had a target on their back. It was like that with Sakura, when it was her turn. It wasn't Tsunade or Gaara who put her in a bingo book. It was Akatsuki, in retaliation.

The official versions of the bingo book, with just the renegade ninjas, were a facade. Everyone had their eyes on the clandestine versions, to see who was more fucked up. Luckily, it was exactly this bingo book that the criminal Sakura followed was carrying. Exactly the bingo book that Katsuyu stole.

She joked that they were both very lucky. Katsuyu insisted it was destiny.

With the slug on her shoulder, Sakura walked barefoot for the next few days, seeking to leave the Land of Waterfall and further away from the Land of Grass. Together, they read the book and talked about each ninja that appeared, focusing on those that Sakura knew from her world.

She learned a lot of things from that bingo book, more than she thought she would. Firstly, there was no Uchiha massacre.

Sakura looked at Uchiha Itachi's black eyes for a long moment, finding it strange to see a Konoha stripe on his forehead without the mark on the symbol. He still looked serious, emotionless, but there was something so Sasuke in his features that Sakura turned the page without reading his description. The pain that shot up her throat ran down her windpipe like acid, reminding her of the whispered nights when Sasuke told her the truth about what had happened and she sobbed for him and his family, letting go of the fact that he accepted her hugs without complaining, the only hugs he never refused.

All she read was “Elite Ninja of Konohagakure” and that was enough for now.

Sakura wondered if that meant Danzo was dead and wished the answer was yes. Unfortunately, she was from team seven, so her wishes would most likely not come true. Something in his plan to destroy the Uchihas probably went wrong and, Kami, how she would like to know what it was.

Sasuke wasn't in the book, which was good. He deserved a life where he stayed in his village, safe with his family and without the so-called “International Terrorist” under his photo. But there were other Uchihas here and there, one with curly hair catching her attention.

Uchiha Shisui, also known as Shunshin no Shisui. Elite ninja, Jounin, probably Anbu. Abilities: Extremely powerful Sharingan, instantaneous displacement technique (shushin no jutsu), katon, taijutsu and kenjutsu. Tracker ninja. Summoner of Ravens. Reward: one and a half million ryos. Below was a list of names of those who would be willing to pay the reward in exchange for him.

Sasuke's cousin, Sakura thought to herself, stroking Shisui's photo with her thumb and smiling. It was good to know that he didn't have to sacrifice himself this time.

Another thing Sakura discovered was that the number of kunoichi present seemed much smaller. It was true that, in her original universe, they had always been a minority, making up around thirty-five to forty percent of most villages' ninja ranks, but according to her calculations, they appeared to be only twenty percent now. Where were the kunoichi she knew? The only one present there was Anko, hunted by damn Orochimaru of all people. Where was Kurenai? Where were the Uchiha women like Sasuke's mother, knowing now that they were alive?

It brought a confused twist to her eyebrows as she thought about Jiro's shock at learning she was a ninja and how Kisame barely seemed to consider that she could even be a threat. Were kunoichis so rare in that universe? Why? And how drastic was that problem? This could be good or bad for Sakura, depending on what cards she had to play, but it left her frustrated either way. It was hard enough being a kunoichi in the reality she grew up in. Why would Obito send her to an even more difficult world?

Neither Naruto nor Sai were in the book, but Yamato and Kakashi were. Sakura was enraged to see that Orochimaru had also put a price on Yamato's head and spent an entire hour complaining about it to Katsuyu, telling her about how he used him for tests as a child and how she wanted to crush his head in her hands like if it were an orange. Then, she stared into Kakashi's only visible eye, almost being able to feel the weight of his hand on the top of her head, ruffling her hair as if she were one of his puppies.

Hatake Kakashi, also known as Kakashi of the Sharingan or the Copy-Nin. Everything about him looked the same, from his silver hair, covered face, and bored expression. Elite Jounin, war hero, so many skills that it was impossible to list them all in the book, a small list only in comparison to the number of enemies interested in having him alive or dead... for just...

“5 million ryos?!” Sakura exclaimed, exchanging a shocked look with the slug on her shoulder. “That’s more than double his price in my original universe!”

Kami, Kakashi… what have you been doing?

“Is this your mate, Sakura-sama?”

Sakura almost swallowed her own tongue, letting out a shocked exclamation and missing a barefoot step.

"Mate?! No!" The idea made her laugh, her cheeks hot. “No, no, no! Kakashi was part of team seven with me, he was…”

Was ‘Sensei’ really the best term for this? Should Sakura call a depressed, traumatized man who was put in this position despite being emotionally unavailable that way? Six months, nothing learned? Sakura had forgiven Kakashi for this a long time ago, in the heart-to-heart conversations at the end of the world, but it still seemed wrong to imagine him as a sensei, when the two only created a real relationship when they saw each other as battle companions.

“A great friend” she added, smiling. “An incredible man too, when he allowed you to see beyond the walls he build.”

“Oh, I'm sorry” Katsuyu said, still looking at the photo. “You spent so much time looking at him that I just imagined…”

Sakura also turned to his photo, stroking his Konoha sash with her thumb. 5 million ryos… how? Why? What, in that world, made him become an even more skilled ninja than he already was?

“He is very handsome.”

She laughed amusedly and smiled mischievously at Katsuyu.

“You should see him without the mask.”

It was in the Land of Iron that Sakura had her first real confrontation with an enemy.

Honestly, it was her fault. There were no shinobi villages in there, which was the territory of the samurai, known in her world for being neutral and staying out of the conflicts of the shinobi countries, and this deluded her, making her believe that she was not at risk of finding anyone who should be worried. She let her guard down and exposed herself to danger as a result.

Since that place was cold as hell at any time of the year, Sakura stayed close to the borders at first. Her cloak was thick enough to protect her from the rain and freezing winds, but it would be completely useless against the layers and layers of snow, which grew thicker and thicker as she sailed deeper into the country. Not to mention that, without using her chakra to heat her body, she would lose her fingers and toes, but using so much chakra for so long would limit her in everything.

She still had some money with her, which she spent on a pair of closed-toe shoes, a pair of pants and a long-sleeved blouse, which she found at a used clothing store. It wasn't perfect, but it was enough for that moment. A little warmer, she found a small, cold village, looking for something to eat for a low price. The samurai at the entrance let her continue after a tense minute of staring at her appearance and Sakura swallowed a sigh of relief when she managed to get through. The Land of Iron was very different from the rest of the world and followed its own rules. They were extremely militarized by their samurai and unfortunately, Sakura knew very little beyond that. As they liked to stay out of shinobi matters, the focus of Sakura's political studies, when she was Tsunade's student, was elsewhere.

When she was trying to bargain with a street vendor for the price of a pork okonomiyaki, her shinobi instincts felt the approach of a hand through the gap of her cloak, towards the pocket in which a poor, cold Katsuyu was hiding.

Sakura grabbed a wrist quickly, holding it tightly inside her fist. She stopped her conversation with the salesman and turned to the criminal with a stern expression.

Only to find two huge eyes in the pale, thin face of a child.

The little boy let out a surprised gasp and tried to run, before finding himself unable to get out of Sakura's grip. He stuttered, looking desperate to be caught, and kept pulling, his feet slipping on the cold, damp floor. Before Sakura could do anything more than blink and open her mouth, she heard:

“Is there a problem here?”

The sight of the uniformed samurai, armed with his katana and with a stern expression, made her instinctively pull the boy closer. Generally, Sakura wouldn't act so paranoid around samurai, who could be serious and dangerous, but were also known for being fair, honorable, and calm. She even quite liked their general, Mifune, when she watched him lead the fifth division during the war. They were good men and women (if there were any female samurai there). But Sakura was alone and she was lucky that her pink hair looked so ridiculous that no one even thought to ask her any questions. The last thing she needed was a scene.

“No, it’s okay” she lied, smiling sweetly. “I was just buying something for me and this boy.”

The samurai's eyes stared at her for a moment, before he turned back to the child. Sakura was sure his gaze softened. Maybe he saw the same thing she did (a small, malnourished, terrified child) and felt as touched as Sakura felt. The samurai's eyes fell to something a few feet behind her, and she turned to find two other children, as pale as the little thief, trying to hide behind one of the other food stalls.

The little boy stopped trying to escape and stared at her, shocked. The salesman also looked surprised. The samurai, after another moment searching for something in her green eyes, nodded and left.

“Are those your friends?” Sakura loosened her grip on his wrist and crouched down in front of him. The little boy swallowed hard for a moment, before lowering his head.

“My brothers” he said softly. Her heart broke. Placing a hand on top of his head and ruffling his dark hair a little, she said to the salesman:

“Give me three.” It would waste all her money, but who cared now? She could always look for a hairdresser willing to buy her hair.

The vendor, who had earlier spent a whole fifteen minutes refusing to give her a five-ryo discount on the savory pancakes, smiled sadly.

“I’m going to make four” he said, pouring in the fragrant and filling dough. She gave the boy two and smiled as she paid the seller, exchanging a meaningful look with him. The Land of Iron was large in territory, but so uninhabitable by the cold that its community was small. This probably meant they were close-knit, as it was impossible to survive there alone.

“Why don’t we give these to your brothers, hm?” Sakura asked the boy, who was clutching the napkin-covered food to his chest, trying to keep warm. He gave her a small, sheepish smile before starting to walk.

Sakura's plan was to eat with them, but she discovered that the three of them lived with their mother, also pale and malnourished, in an abandoned building on the outskirts of the village, so she ended up giving her okonomiyaki to the woman and insisted that she wasn't hungry. All three boys were under the age of ten and sick in some way. There wasn't much Sakura could do for them, having no money, contacts and resources, but what little she could, she did.

In addition to feeding them, Sakura used her healing chakra on the four of them, curing colds, bronchitis and yet another tonsillitis, luckily at an early stage. She also left the mother with a good amount of healing paste made from herbs from the Shikkotsu Forest, advising her to spread it on the chests and backs of the children and herself, in case their coughs returned.

Sakura didn't stay long because she felt like crying compulsively whenever the mother grabbed her hands and kissed her fingers in fervent thanks. She had only walked a few meters away, hugging herself, when the samurai she had met a few hours earlier appeared.

“It was very kind of you to feed them” he said, without giving away his emotions. Sakura smiled what she hoped was an innocent smile and continued walking.

"It was nothing. They needed it.”

Maybe he didn't see the healing. Perhaps…

“What was that light you used on them?”

A long sigh came out of Sakura's breath and she stopped walking.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, one last attempt to lie. The samurai stood in front of her, impassive.

“The building’s windows don’t have curtains,” he said, raising an almost provocative eyebrow. “And it’s really easy to just take a peek. You're pretty bad at sensing chakra for a shinobi, you know?”

Of all the things Sakura could have brought from her old universe… why did it have to be bad luck?

"Then?" he insisted. “What did you do with them?”

“Nothing bad” she defended herself, trying to remain calm and static like him. “I healed them. That was my chakra, it’s called the Mystic Palm Technique.”

“I have never heard of such a thing.”

“Let’s just say it’s a new skill.”

They stared at each other for another second. Sakura noticed that he had a deep scar from his ear to the left corner of his mouth.

“Say your name and affiliation, shinobi. Generally those like you need explicit and documented approval to visit the Land of Iron, which I assume you do not have.”

She hoped Katsuyu was hearing this and ready to disappear.

“My name is Haruno Sakura” she said, lifting her chin. “And I’m not from a ninja village.”

“Being missing-nin doesn’t help your situation.”

Fucking sarcastic bastard.

“I'm not a renegade ninja,” Sakura insisted, proud of appearing so calm. “The Harunos are a civil clan, from a civil land. I am the first generation to learn the shinobi arts and therefore have no affiliation with the hidden villages.”

“Doubtful,” the samurai insisted, almost seeming to be laughing at her. Sakura was glad she had hidden her arms and hands inside her cloak at some point, because she formed them into angry fists, holding herself back from losing her temper with him. “But let’s pretend your story makes sense. That doesn’t explain what your goals are in invading the Land of Iron.”

“I didn't break in, I was let in like any other non-suspicious person” she came close to mocking. “And I have no goals, plans, or schemes. I'm a ninja doctor. I have unique skills that I use to be able to travel from country to country, receiving shelter, money and supplies in exchange for my services.”

That finally shut him up for a while, which drew a tired sigh from her. The samurai stared at her for what seemed like an eternity, motionless and silent, only moving his eyes to look her up and down.

“Prove it.”

Sakura blinked a few times.

“Do you want me to prove that I’m a doctor?”

“If you’re that unique, you won’t have a problem with that, right?”

Taking a deep breath to keep from exploding at his sarcastic behavior, Sakura rolled her eyes and took off one of her gloves, feeling like she had no choice.

“Cut it,” she said, raising her bare palm between them. It was his turn to look surprised.

“Do you want me to cut your hand?”

Sakura gave him a mocking smile.

“If you’re such a good samurai, you won’t have any problems with that, right?”

With a roll of his eyes, he took the katana from its holder and ran it across Sakura's palm, opening a clean cut. Without hesitating or flinching, she applied green chakra to the injured hand, looking at his face the entire time. The samurai looked at the glow with furrowed eyebrows and a suspicious look, until the light disappeared. When all that was left was her palm, intact and just a little stained with blood, Sakura saw the exact moment his perception of her completely changed.

“Is that enough proof for you?” she teased him.

The samurai blinked at her hand with his mouth slightly open, before meeting her eyes again. He composed himself, now thoughtful.

“What else can your chakra do?” he asked. Sakura smiled.

"More than you can imagine."

That seemed like enough of an answer for him, and he seemed to have made a decision.

“My name is Oshiro Isamu, Haruno Sakura” Isamu introduced himself, finally seeming to put aside his suspicion. "Are you hungry?"

What was happening was that one of Isamu's friends was very sick, something he told her while she ferociously ate a plate of shrimp yakisoba that he had bought for her. They had had an accident during a patrol that left him exposed to the cold without any protection for hours, until they managed to find him and bring him back to the village. This had happened a few days ago and he showed no improvement. On the contrary, Isamu thought he was getting worse.

Sakura agreed to help them, because of course she did, and followed him to a house where she found her patient, lying sickly in a bed with two other samurai (a man and a woman) who watched him with sad eyes.

What followed was a series of delicate diagnoses, treatments and surgeries that lasted almost a week. Sakura had to amputate a part of his right ear and the little and ring fingers of his left hand, which had become necrotic from the cold beyond any chance of salvation. But she managed to save all his other fingers and his toes, which were close to having to be amputated as well, and got rid of a powerful pneumonia in his lungs.

By the end of the treatment, Sakura had made friends with all the samurai there, even Isamu, who continued to tease her here and there, but in a much more friendly way. They tried to insist that she let them take her to General Mifune, who would pay good money for her services, but she insisted that she preferred to continue working as a nomad. Even so, Isamu gave her a map and a letter, stating that if she traveled north, she would have shelter in the Temple of Golden Waters, where he was raised.

Sakura said goodbye to them with a tightness in her chest, money in her pocket and a lot more winter clothes than when she arrived.

It happened again in the next town and again in the third.

As she had observed and talked to Isamu a few times, there was no shortage of patients for her in such a cold land. Asthma, hypothermia, burns, more amputations, more pneumonia, frozen limbs, trench feet… it got worse as she entered deeper in to the Land of Iron. Katsuyu couldn't handle the cold and returned to Shikkotsu. Sakura promised that she would summon her when the tempeture was more friendly.

Sakura exaggerated, that was the truth. She was unable to leave so many people at their mercy and ended up encouraging them to bring more patients and accepting any type of payment, which attracted even more sick people. She healed merchants, children, the elderly and even some animals that were brought to her.

In the second city, the population begged her to go to the hospital, which was, in fact, a small health center with three doctors and four civilian nurses, who Sakura ended up helping for half a month with the civilian knowledge she had. She knew she had risked a lot when she arrived in the third city and the people, very relieved, said they recognized her by name and appearance, saying that there were rumors about her kindness and ability to perform miracles circulating endlessly.

She knew she had fucked up when she heard his voice so close to her after almost seven years.

“Excuse me, are you Doctor Sakura?”

Sakura froze in her place, looking down into a patient's scratchy throat. With tense muscles, she turned off the small hospital flashlight she had in her hand and turned around, being grateful for the first time for the encounter she had with Sasori, who had prepared her emotionally, even if only a little, for the arrival of other enemies.

Kabuto looked older, but the innocent and sweet pose he wore was exactly what Sakura knew. The soft smile, the calm voice, the shy shoulders. Kami, she wanted to break all of his teeth and make him swallow them one by one.

“Yes” she said, as her mind raced with questions and forms of torture. "How can I help you?"

Sakura figured that the samurai's military defense would keep the missing-nin away, especially those in the bingo book and up to their necks in crimes like Kabuto, but she should have known that if there was anyone capable of passing off as a poor, innocent boy, it would be that fucking snake.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Doctor Sakura. My name is Kabuto, I'm a civilian from the neighboring city and I've heard a lot about what you can do. I came in search of your healing abilities, to beg for help.”

Sneaky bastard, he even bowed as he would to a superior. Sakura had to control herself a lot not to raise one knee and hit him right in the middle of the forehead.

“Oh, no, that's not necessary” she feigned shyness, putting chakra on her cheeks to make them blush. “Is anyone sick?”

Besides you, you bastard son of a bitch.

“My wife” Kabuto lied. Sakura knew there was no chance in hell that a woman would hate herself so much that she would marry him. “If we can… please go somewhere more private, it’s a delicate matter.”

He must have thought she was extremely naive or was, for some reason, too hungry for her skills to even waste time gaining her trust.

“Unfortunately, I have a long list of patients until the end of the day” Sakura said, pretending to think. “Couldn’t she come here?”

“This is a very intimate matter, Doctor Sakura. I’m sorry if this is too much to ask of you, but we’re desperate.” Kabuto approached her and it took a lot of self-control not to push him away with a punch to his throat. He lowered his voice. “My wife prefers not to expose herself, if you understand.”

“Oh, of course,” Sakura played dumb, tilting her head and smiling. “Unfortunately I have a busy schedule and will need rest to be able to help you in the best way. Could we meet tomorrow? Just tell me the time and place. I will meet you there.”

His eyes sparkled with something that could pass for joy, but Sakura knew him well enough to know it was greed.

"Perfect! Thank you very much, Doctor Sakura, the rumors were right about your kindness. My wife and I are at the yellow hotel, four blocks away. Could it be at eight in the morning?”

Sakura waited until he was gone before rolling her eyes and returning to her sore throat patient. The rest of the day passed as she took care of all the sick people on autopilot, thinking about Kabuto and how much she hated him, thinking about Sasori and how she wanted him dead, and thinking about Obito and how that wasn't his goal in sending her there, but he must have known, somehow, that it would be reason she would stay. Maybe he would even have a little fun. Obito always liked a good fight.

When Sakura's work was done for the day, she left the makeshift hospital. What Kabuto didn't know was that that was her last day in the city.

Sakura was already gone before the night even arrived.

Unfortunately, he found her three cities later, even though Sakura had avoided healing, hid her pink hair in the hood of her cloak, and gone deeper and deeper into the north of the Land of Iron, into the least habitable areas.

Sakura had just finished selling the meat of a porcupine she had hunted to a merchant, before turning around and finding Kabuto's sweet smile.

“Doctor Sakura!” he exclaimed, smiling even wider when she just stared at him with wide-eyed shock. “Kami, how lucky to find you! I was so worried when you didn't show up for our meeting…”

“Oh” Sakura said, trying to calm herself. "That's right! What was your name, again?”

“Kabuto.”

“Yes, Kabuto.” She smiled, placing a hand on her chest. “I'm sorry about that. There was an unforeseen incident with one of my patients that kept me awake until the early hours of the morning. I missed our meeting and then I couldn’t find you anymore.”

Kabuto knew she was lying and Sakura knew he knew she was lying. They were two liars, seeing how far they could go before someone told the truth.

“The important thing is that we were able to meet again” he said, with something new in his eyes. Kabuto then indicated a person beside him, hidden under the hood of a cloak. “That’s my wife I told you about.”

Sakura was surprised to meet Karin's eyes.

If she hadn't known that Kabuto was a compulsive liar, Sakura might very well have believed that he had a sick wife. It had been many years since she last saw Karin, but she was sure she looked better than this. Karin looked pale, with colorless lips and deep circles under her eyes. Her body was entirely covered by the cloak, but Sakura could see the bites on her neck, deeper than she remembered, more animalistic.

Her eyes… Sakura frowned when she met her red irises. She looked… sad. So, so sad.

“Hi” she smiled at Karin softly, knowing there was nowhere to run. Karin was a sensor and probably the reason Kabuto was able to find her. As long as she was there, there would be no place Sakura could hide. They would have to face each other. “I'm Sakura.”

Karin's response was just to nod, looking her in the eyes but saying nothing.

"Are you okay?" she insisted, completely ignoring Kabuto's presence. Karin remained silent, seeming to be trying to speak through her eyes. Sakura didn't like what she saw.

“Her name is Karin. Why don’t we go somewhere more private?” Kabuto suggested, with that damn little smile on his lips. “So we can talk.”

Without saying anything and knowing she had no other options, Sakura followed them.

Pretending to be ignorant to the fact that they were taking her out of town, she took those few minutes to think. What was Karin doing there? From what Sakura remembered, from the rare moments she talked to her and the even rarer moments that Sasuke spoke about his team outside of Konoha, she should have been in one of Orochimaru's hideouts, taking care of the place. She didn't follow Kabuto around and much less looked more like a ghost than a woman. What has changed?

He was saying something, a list of fake symptoms to try to keep her in the narrative of a husband worried about his wife, but Sakura just pretended to listen, nodding and making sounds at the right time. Neither of them knew her, so she had the element of surprise on her side in addition to the fact that she knew them. Ice and snow mountains were her least favorite environment to fight in, but fuck it.

Sakura looked at the back of Karin's head, in front of her. She was a very skilled sensor, so she would likely feel the chakra buildup in her fists if she tried to use her strength and also the formation of her chakra scalpels. If she wanted to catch them by surprise, Sakura would have to be more discreet. Therefore, during the fifteen minutes of walking and chattering, she sent small, almost insignificant pulses of chakra to her fingernails, causing them to grow and harden, inch by inch, until they became tiny claws capable of cutting as well as a kunai.

Just one right cut to the neck and Kabuto would be dead. Sakura discreetly slowed down and let the two stay in front of her, side by side. She just needed to land one hit. Right there, just a few centimeters away, and that's it. She could see what she would do about Karin later.

"LOOK OUT!"

Karin's scream echoed through the snow and was the only thing Sakura heard in the middle of her blow, about to hit Kabuto's neck. He, turning around and widening his eyes, was able to dodge in time to save his own life, but not his own face. Sakura's nails cut into his skin, from ear to nose, tearing his entire left cheek so deeply that blood spurted out and dripped onto the white snow.

"FUCK!" Kabuto shouted, jumping away from her and separating them by a few meters. Karin stood between them, seeming to hesitate, until he growled her name. “Karin!”

With wide eyes and fragile breathing, Karin ran to him. Sakura wanted to stop her, moving towards her, but Kabuto tried to hit her with poisoned senbon, forcing her to roll in the snow to get out of the way.

What went wrong? Wasn't she silent enough? Did her chakra control waver and give her away? Did she underestimate Karin's abilities?

With a bad taste in her mouth, Sakura was forced to watch as Kabuto sank his teeth into Karin's neck, making her scream in pain. The cuts on his face disappeared, leaving only blood in their path, drying in the cold.

Kabuto violently pushed Karin away from himself, causing her to stumble and fall into the snow, with one hand covering the new mark on her skin. Sakura watched the scene with murderous fury and decided that he would not receive a quick death. She would make him suffer.

"How did you know?" Kabuto said, finally without the good boy mask and showing the evil in his eyes. Sakura kept her face serious, adjusting her posture.

“A girl can't survive that long alone without learning to smell bullshit from afar” she replied, adding chakra scalpels to her hands. She couldn't retract her nails, just like she couldn't shorten her own hair, but stopping sending chakra to them was enough to return them to their normal hardness.

Kabuto chuckled through his nose, his eyes falling to her hands.

"What is that?" he asked, mischievously. Sakura remained focused on his face.

“Why don’t you come closer and find out?” she scoffed.

In response, Kabuto launched himself forward, with kunais between his fingers.

The two entered into a taijutsu battle, dodging each other's hands with each twist of limbs. Kabuto might not have the medical ninjutsu and chakra scalpels he was known for in his world, but Sakura knew he had many more tricks up his sleeve. He clearly understood the human body, as he tried to hit her in crucial spots that would paralyze her or at the very least prevent her from continuing. He also continued to save himself by placing his arms and thighs in front of her sharp blows, saving his internal organs.

When one of his kunais, which Sakura knew could only be poisoned, came within centimeters of cutting her in the thigh, she kicked off her other leg, turning her body and appearing on Kabuto's back, trapping his torso. The two fell to the ground, sinking into the snow. Unfortunately, she only managed to trap one of his arms in the movement, which left him free, even if face down on the cold ground, to try to stab her again. Sakura saw no other option than to walk away.

Catching her breath, Sakura watched as he rose from the ground and faced her, his eyes sparkling. His winter clothes were torn in parts on his arms and legs, with blood leaking from the cuts. There was also a clean cut on his cheek. She, in turn, was intact, but she knew it wouldn't be for much longer. Kabuto was the smart type who recognized his enemies' fighting pattern within minutes. If Sakura continued, he would soon learn enough to start getting past her weaknesses.

“Rumors didn’t say you had battle skills” Kabuto muttered to himself, squinting behind his glasses. "Remarkable. Doctors are often kept safe inside hospitals…”

Both she and Kabuto were short-range attackers, intelligent and good at taijutsu. Sakura had medical ninjutsu, he had poison. They both also had earth affinity, which made them basically useless here unless they could find the time to dig through the snow until they reached the ground. But Sakura had on her side the fact that she could also manipulate water and, consequently, snow. It was a difficult thing to do and one she didn't have much experience in, but there were some tricks she had learned in the war that could very well help her.

The tingling of a genjutsu appeared on the back of Sakura's neck, being easily broken. This seemed to make him curious.

“Who are you really, Sakura-san?” Kabuto continued, tilting his head and humming her name. She didn't say anything. "Where are you from? Who trained you?”

His blows throughout the confrontation weren't deadly, which probably meant he didn't want her dead. He was trying to paralyze her or render her unconscious. The poisons he had, therefore, were not deadly. Sakura needed to get close enough to be able to hit him mortally, which didn't seem possible unless she got rid of his kunais or let herself be caught. If she was fast enough, she could burn off the poison while it was still in the wound, preventing it from spreading into the blood…

"Nothing to say? It doesn't matter” Kabuto continued, adjusting his glasses on his face. “Orochimaru-sama, my master, is interested in you and what they say you are capable of doing. You will come with me, by your means ou my means.”

Her nails, as long as they were, would prevent her from closing her hands into fists to use her chakra punch. Taking a quick look at them, Sakura filled her mouth with chakra and broke her nails between her teeth, shortening them. Some of them cracked and started to bleed, but she healed them quickly.

Kabuto watched the green light with wide, hungry eyes. She flexed her fingers and braced herself.

“Tell your master” Sakura spat. “That my schedule is full.”

His eyes returned to hers, dripping with curiosity and desire, and he smiled.

“My means, then.”

As soon as Kabuto took the first step, Sakura started.

Her work with snow was rusty, even beginner, but it was enough to take him by surprise. Sakura pulled the snow beneath his feet, making him almost fall to the ground and took advantage as Kabuto got back on his feet to create a small wave. He ran away from her, jumping and rolling to avoid being crushed, but there was snow everywhere, so she clearly had the upper hand.

Frustrated, Kabuto realized that his only option was to attack from afar, as Sakura wouldn't let him get close. He threw senbons and kunais at her repeatedly, all of which she deflected with walls of snow so thick they swallowed and buried his weapons. Right, left, above, below, the two danced around each other until he put his hand in his pocket and swore.

"Shit."

Sakura smiled. With no further way to poison her, now it was time for some fun.

She raised snow behind Kabuto, like a wall, and pulled her own hands against her chest, bringing it towards her. He was pressed against the snow and dragged along, his eyes widening when he saw Sakura approaching her.

She raised her fist, filled it with chakra, aimed straight for his heart…

And saw Karin.

In the blink of an eye, it was no longer Kabuto in front of her. It was Karin. Karin, with wide eyes and pale skin. Karin, wrapped in steel lines that he used to pull her up and place her between them, in some half second Sakura was focused on something else.

She didn't have time to stop her strike. All that was left for her was to pull her fist up, two inches, nothing more.

Sakura's punch hit Karin in the left collarbone, tearing the muscles and cracking, breaking and passing through the bones as if it were dry wall. Her blood exploded, leaping out of her body and covering Sakura's forearm, as well as splashing on her face and running down like a waterfall.

The only good thing that came out of this was that she also hit Kabuto. As he was a little taller than Karin, the angle of the punch, after passing through her body, hit him too, destroying his shoulder. Sakura would have felt satisfaction turning his bones to dust if it had been another time.

"NO!" she screamed, as the three fell against the snow, filling it with blood. Karin also screamed, in pain in turn, and Kabuto moved away from the two of them, holding his own broken shoulder. His skin was not bleeding, but the impact was enough to completely incapacitate him. His arm hung at his side, useless.

Sakura kept her arm inside Karin up to her wrist, using her free hand to hold by her uninjured shoulder. She hovered over her, watching her cry and bleed, doomed in every universe to be sacrificed by men who didn't care about her.

Kabuto, holding his injured arm and staring at her fist with wide eyes, knew that he would not be able to fight in that state, injured and without weapons, amso he ran.

“YOU FUCKING SNAKE” Sakura screamed as she watched him run away, leaving only a faint trace of blood in the snow from his previous cuts. “YOU WILL PAY ME, KABUTO! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"

She could go after him. She could get up and run, crushing all his bones like she had done to his shoulder.

But that meant letting Karin die. And Sakura couldn't. She couldn't, not just because Karin wasn't her enemy and didn't deserve it, but because having her there, on the brink of death beneath her, made her feel sixteen again, scared, crying and seeing nothing but darkness in Sasuke's eyes.

If Karin was doomed to be sacrificed in every universe, then Sakura was doomed to save her, as if there was a line connecting them, beyond the love for a boy who couldn't love either of them as they wanted.

“It's going to be okay, Karin, just keep breathing” Sakura murmured to her, placing her free, chakra-covered hand on the wound. "I'm here with you."

Sakura wasn't crying, but like that day, Karin did nothing but look at her deeply, as if she were a mirage, something she wasn't able to truly understand.

With her chakra, Sakura began to recover the bones, tissues, nerves, muscles and skin, moving her own fist out of the way inch by inch, as slowly as she could to not make her lose even more blood. Each movement made Karin sob in pain, begging for it to stop.

“You can do it, I know you can do it” Sakura repeated softly like a mantra, trying to smile at her and calm her down. “I'm here, Karin. You are doing so well, so well…”

The healing took what felt like hours. The cold from the snow got into her clothes and into her body, making everything more painful and unbearable. Sakura's hands were shaking and her teeth were chattering, but she pumped out more and more chakra, until she managed to remove her fist completely from her shoulder.

“Quick, here,” she said, rummaging through her own belt under her cloak and pulling out a blood pill. "Swallow. It will replenish your blood.”

Whether trusting her or simply just too exhausted from the pain, Karin did as asked, fainting before Sakura pulled her into her lap. She used one hand to continue healing her and passed the other under her legs, standing up with her on her lap like a bride.

Breathless, Sakura looked around. The cold was starting to freeze her skin and cut her lips. Karin looked like a ghost. Her chakra was starting to run out.

With no option left, she ran north.

It took Karin three days after waking up to trust her.

The samurai from the Golden Water Temple welcomed them after reading Isamu's letter, giving Sakura a room with two futons and a fireplace where she could finish healing Karin and warm them both. They also lent them changes of warm clothes, which were too big for them because they were masculine, but were soft and comfortable.

An entire day passed before Karin woke up, time which Sakura spent answering the samurai's questions about herself and her healing abilities. They seemed so impressed that they offered her access to the aquatic herbs that were inside the natural thermal pools (that got gold overnight, giving the temple its name), in exchange of her teaching them some of what she knew. Sakura agreed, stating that she would do so after Karin fully recovered.

On the first day, confused and suspicious, her patient remained silent and with her eyes fixed on her, without expressing much emotion when Sakura explained to her that she would be fine, that she herself had changed her clothes and that there was food, which Karin only ate after seeing her take the first bite. She only opened her mouth to ask what Sakura wanted with her and seemed to doubt when she stated that she didn't want anything and that Karin could leave whenever she wanted.

As a snowstorm had started a few hours after they arrived, Karin was trapped there with them, but Sakura made sure to leave their bedroom door open whenever she went in and out, and just slightly closed when they slept. On the second day, she still refused to leave her room and was dubious about the food, but she watched Sakura grinding herbs with curious eyes. She asked where they were and who those people were, questions that Sakura continued to answer happily.

On the third day, after Sakura observed her shoulder and made sure it was healing well, Karin remained for a long moment with the hand where she had injured her, with her eyes fixed on the fire in the fireplace.

"Why?"

This took Sakura's eyes from where she was cataloging the temple's herbs in a notebook given to her by the samurai.

“Hmm?” she hummed. Karin looked at her shyly, still with her own hand on her shoulder.

“Why did you save me?” she asked softly. Sakura went back to work, trying to maintain a relaxed appearance.

“Because it was the right thing to do,” she shrugged. Karin furrowed her eyebrows, a little annoyed.

“You didn't had to” she argued. Sakura shrugged.

"Im a doctor. Saving others is my obligation.”

“But I am the enemy,” Karin said, with a slight fire that reminded her of her old self. “I helped Kabuto track you down so he could kidnap you.”

Sakura shrugged again, humming as she took leaves from a stem and placed them in a glass jar filled with water from the pools.

"It does not matter to me. You weren’t the one who attacked me.”

“What do you want from me then?” Karin exclaimed, standing up. Sakura watched her with wide eyes, a little relieved to see that she still had spirit. "What do you want in return?"

“I don’t want anything from you, Karin. You do not owe me anything."

That made her snort.

“Don’t give me that shit, everyone wants something.” She placed her hands on her hips, a little confused, a little furious. "Say it!"

Sakura was silent, watching her sadly. Karin kept her eyes on hers, stubbornly as she hugged herself. It made her think of the brutal bite marks she saw all over her body as she changed her clothes, much worse than the ones she had in her original universe, and the stories about the Uzumakis, persecuted and kidnapped to near extinction.

Is that what happened to her? Orochimaru found her as he originally did, but decided to keep her even closer? Without medical ninjutsu, the death rate among his victims should be enormous... But with Karin and her power just a few steps away...

“You don't owe me anything” Sakura said finally, going back to work. “Just like any other patient of mine.”

She saw her fall into a sitting position in front of the fireplace, still holding herself as if that would keep her pieces together. After another eternity of silence, Karin resumed the conversation, saying:

“I didn’t think the rumors would be true.” She looked amazed now, looking at Sakura like when she healed her in the snow. “I thought you were some kind of fraud, that you were using genjutsu on civilians or something to make money, but Orochimaru was curious…”

Karin swallowed, resting her face and arms on her knees. She and Sakura continued to lock eyes.

“How did you do that?” Her hand went back to caressing her own shoulder, still hunched over. “I thought I was dead. I thought you killed me, but somehow you... brought me back from the dead. With a light that tastes like gum of all things.”

Karin laughed, surprised, and that made Sakura smile.

“What the fuck” she cursed, eliciting a loud giggle from Sakura now. "Unbelievable. This is all completely unbelievable.”

She watched Karin for a few seconds, taking a deep breath and letting out a sigh.

“I can teach you if you want.”

Her red eyes widened like an owl's.

“I mean, most of it is just chakra,” Sakura continued, wiping the herb residue off her hands. “I wouldn’t mind teaching you. By knowing the basics, you could help others without having to… you know…”

A long second passed before Karin understood what she was saying and her eyes filled with huge tears. She turned her face away, hiding it, but Sakura saw how she rubbed her eyes on her forearms, sniffling.

“If you insist” Karin played tough, batting her eyelashes and shaking her chin. “But you will have to ask for something in return. I won’t owe you any more.”

Rolling her eyes, Sakura knew she wouldn't give up on this and began to think. Her eyes fell to her bare feet, before her eyebrows rose with an idea.

“Actually… maybe there is something” she said. “Do you think you could help me with some problems I have with my sensor skills?”

Karin looked up, smiling.

One and a half month later, when the two said goodbye to the samurai and each other, Karin held Sakura's hands tightly.

“Orochimaru won't give up on you” she said. “He will want your skills at any cost. Please take care of yourself. Avoid all the hiding places I told you about. Remember he spreads false rumors about his location and runs the other way.”

Sakura pulled her into a tight hug, rubbing her back. She pretended not to hear Karin sniffling on her shoulder.

“You too” she said, separating them. “Don’t let him know you’re alive.”

Karin smiled softly, adjusting her glasses on her face.

“I won’t,” she insisted. “And I will never forget what you did for me, Sakura. I hope we can meet again. Stay safe.”

Sakura felt her own eyes burning and pulled her into another hug, this time to hide her own tears.

She would avoid the places Karin listed for her and keep her head down, staying away from shinobi villages and sticking to areas that Orochimaru avoided. With her improved sensing abilities and the knowledge that he was after her, Sakura would be able to avoid attracting attention.

Or at least, that was the plan.

Until she appeared in the bingo book.

Chapter Text

4 months after Sakura's arrival

A sharp sting inside his left eye made Kakashi suck air through his teeth.

He tilted his face and squeezed his eyelids closed for the only second he allowed himself to react, before opening his eyes and blinking, trying to get it together. The pain spread like wildfire across his corneas, seeming to reach even his poor right eye, which was just innocently existing to the side. The world went blurry for a quick moment, before coming back into focus.

“Is everything okay, Taichou?”

Kakashi turned the right part of his face towards Tenzo, hiding the trail of blood that had run from his left eye to his mask, the black fabric absorbing it and filling his nostrils with the smell. He also controlled his disgusted grimace.

“Maah, Tanzo” he said nonchalantly, smiling at his serious face. “Just a splinter that went into my finger, nothing to worry about.”

It was partially dark inside the underground corridors they were searching (which is why Kakashi had exposed Obito's sharingan to see better), but he could still see the look of suspicion on Yamato's face, who seemed to know him better than Kakashi was comfortable. Few were able to read him behind the mask and the contour of the smile, which dripped with feigned innocence. Few being, in this case, just Gemma and his ninkens. And Guy, not that he would ever admit that to anyone.

"Are you sure?" Tenzo insisted, trying to move to see the other side of Kakashi's face, which he quickly hid by turning away and putting his hands in his pockets. “I can check the seals if you want.”

Humming, Kakashi started walking again, whistling every now and then as if there was no problem in the world. As if they hadn't been traveling for weeks in search of something they would most likely never find, far enough away from Kononha to feel like the end of the fucking world, while his eye burned and bled, as if Obito was punishing him directly from the afterlife.

“Tenzo, you worry too much” he joked, turning the right side of his face over his shoulder and smiling. “Relax, the seals are fine.”

Actually, the seals in question, two paintings tattooed on Kakashi's face, one above his scarred eyebrow and the other below his left eye, were pulsing on his face, a clear bad sign for him and his sharingan. But he was always highly defensive when it came to them, even with Tenzo who was very talented in fuuinjutsu, so Kakashi just pretended the pain wasn't there. After 20 years, he was used to it.

Two of his fingers lifted into the air, waving playfully.

“Don’t complain when Naruto calls you ‘mother hen’. It is becoming increasingly difficult to deny the allegations.”

His teasing worked, as he knew it would. Yamato was sensitive to jokes, which hit him better than any blow. His cheeks flushed deeply and his almond-shaped eyes widened a little, before looking away. As soon as he started stuttering attempts to defend himself, Kakashi laughed.

“Now, have you found anything?” he turned his attention away from his bloody eye and Tenzo's maternal instincts, who, in turn, sighed deeply.

“No” he said, resigned. “It seems like the last time anyone came here was three hundred years ago.”

Yamato was being optimistic. Those ruins were falling apart and covered in moss, completely forgotten by humanity. Once it was a religious temple, with secret passages to the underground where most of the rituals were performed, but now, all that was left was the smell of old damp that stifled the air and skeletons of people that Kakashi didn't want to know what happened to.

Both he and Tenzo were part of a team of four, who were traveling on what looked like a school history class trip. That's if the trips lasted weeks and were repeated every month for six months.

Kakashi sighed at him and rubbed his eyes tiredly (and taking the opportunity to wipe away the blood). He was trying very hard not to get frustrated with this ongoing mission, especially since the Hokage was being very secretive about what the real goal of it all was. Kakashi had his suspicions, but it was still difficult to spend weeks searching for something, come home empty-handed, and then leave again soon after. He was a man of action, a shinobi of battles, of, at least, searches with results. It was the action that kept him going and Kakashi couldn't remember going this long without some sort of excitement, not since he had to watch his little genins clean yards or chase after runaway cats. The biggest commotion at that time was when he had to stop them from killing each other.

He opened his mouth to suggest that they go outside, tired of the darkness and the smell of time, and look for the other two who could only be accidentally destroying something, when the sound of steps coming from the hallway caught his attention. Little paws running quickly, with dog claws scraping the ground.

“Pakkun,” Kakashi called him, crouching down to stroke the top of his head. “Did you find anything?”

“No, Boss” Pakkun replied, shaking his ears. “We searched the entire length of the basement and the secret rooms, but there is nothing here. Shiba said he could smell the remnants of a smell on one of the farthest altars, but if it was there, it had been removed.”

That was bad news.

“Are they moving it, then?” Yamato vocalizes his thoughts, exchanging a long knowing look with Kakashi.

“It appears to be” he said, standing up and cracking his back and arms tiredly. “How lucky, huh? Exactly what we needed.”

Tanzo didn't like his sarcasm, but he was sensitive like that. Kakashi let out another sigh and placed two fingers below the mask, whistling. The sharp sound reverberated through the underground, followed by more approaching dog steps.

When everyone was heading towards the exit, Pakkun, next to him, sniffed a few times before giving him a suspicious look.

“Is that blood?” he asked. Kakashi smiled innocently and patted him affectionately on the head.

“A splinter in my finger, Pakkun, a splinter in my finger…”

Outside, Kakashi had to cover his sharingan with the Konoha headband, to protect himself from the burning pain of the sun's rays that always hit him when his eyes were so sensitive. The action did not go unnoticed by either Pakkun or Yamato, who gave him reproachful looks so similar that they would have made him laugh on any other occasion.

“Naruto?” Kakashi called, emerging from underground and walking among the ruins of the temple. “Did you find anything?”

"No!"

Naruto's angry scream echoed through the rubble, before he appeared from behind two columns, all bright orange and an annoyed expression on his face. The rest of Kakashi's pack spread out across the ground, sniffing around, while Pakkun remained at his side.

"There's nothing here but rocks and disgusting skeletons" Naruto continued, huffing and kicking a rock. “I don’t understand why we keep getting sent after a ridiculous contract from a bunch of slimy slugs!”

Six months ago, Team Kakashi (as the Hokage had named them) received the honorable (and, as it later turned out, terribly boring) mission of finding the healing slugs' lost contract. A contract that no one knew where it was for forty years now, not even the frogs, who weren't much help either. As the only ones allowed to visit the Shikkotsu Forest, they agreed to help by serving as messengers between the team and the Hokage and giving them a psychological profile of the slugs so they could try to think about where the contract would be hidden, but nothing more than that. Naruto had said that they didn't want to get involved because they were close friends with the slugs and had no interest in betraying their trust by so explicitly helping in the search of a contract that they hid for a reason.

They had searched what seemed like every corner of the world. Abandoned cities, humid forests, dark caves, hiding places in the middle of the sea. Remote, uninhabitable, hidden places and even scary places. That temple full of skeletons and dark words on the walls, for example, was a gamble after one of the frogs commented that “Katsuyu has a dark sense of humor, that seems like something she would do.” It was all so far away and forgotten that they didn't even encounter any enemies worth mentioning. Rumors were also almost non-existent, all people knew was that no one had access to the contract since the second war.

Kakashi had been so frustrated with the failure that he encouraged his own ninken to try to form a relationship with the slugs. The pack hated the dampness of the forest, so they didn't seem very happy with the plan at first, but they seemed to form some sort of affection for the one called Katsuyu, who, according to them, became chatty after overcoming her own suspicions. The slug also seemed to like his ninkens, but unfortunately still not enough to let them in or reveal anything. They, until now, were only allowed to stay at the edge of the forest and were not allowed to ask very personal questions.

"Show some respect, Naruto" Yamato scolded him, like the mother hen he was. “Slugs are centuries-old creatures, with powers that we are not even aware of the extent of.”

“Because they stay hidden in some fucking forest and don't let anyone talk to them” Naruto insisted, crossing his arms. “If they would just tell us why the fuck we have to find this damn thing…”

"The Hokage doesn't owe you an explanation" Kakashi said, almost amused. Naruto was Naruto, in the end. "But if you're so frustrated about this, you can always try to find out what Sasuke knows."

“And you think I didn’t try?! Teme doesn't tell me anything! I know he knows something, but he refuses to tell me. He said I have to learn to obey without asking like a real shinobi, damn arrogant asshole…”

Guy's voice came a few meters away, also coming from some of the temple's fallen columns.

“Keep your head up, Naruto!” he screamed, so loudly that Pakkun covered his own ears with his paws. “Don’t let one more failure put out the fire of your youth! We were handpicked by the great Hokage, which is an honor in itself! The next search will certainly be successful.”

Only Guy would be able to explicitly admit that they were failing again with a big smile. Kakashi rolled his eyes (not affectionately, of course not), keeping the bored expression on his face. Showing that he shared Naruto's frustrations would only encourage him to shout his annoyances until the neighboring country could hear them.

"Well, the great honor of wandering around hunting for an old piece of paper could be given to someone else" Naruto pouted, sitting on a rock. “Isn’t team eight trained for this shit? They would be much better at it than us.”

He had a very valid point, but Naruto was never good at paying attention between the lines. Team eight was one of the best tracking teams in Konoha, this would be the perfect mission for them of all people, but the Hokage chose instead shinobi who were close to him and his family, or who he knew wouldn't open their mouth if asked. Kakashi knew it was no coincidence that he was being so mysterious about why, after four decades, Konoha was so interested in getting the slug contract. That mission was something the Hokage wanted to keep secret.

That's why they were chosen. In addition to their closeness and loyalty, Kakashi had his dogs, Yamato had a long list of successful tracking missions in his career, and Naruto had the Kyuubi, who, as a chakra being, had met Katsuyu nearly a thousand years before and claimed that would be able to feel her presence. Guy was the most inconsistent among them, but he was, in the end, one of the strongest and fastest shinobi in Konoha. And after what happened with his genin team… the Hokage seemed to have a soft spot for all of them.

If it wasn't team eight, it would have to be them.

"Naruto, we've had this conversation every time for months," Kakashi finally said, placing his hand on the top of his head and pushing it to the side, like when he was a child. “Complaining will not help us find the contract. Did you find something, Gai?”

“Unfortunately not this time, my dear rival.”

“Then we better call the frogs to warn the Hokage. Naruto, do the honors, please.”

Resigned, Naruto bit his own finger and activated the summoning seal on the ground. To their surprise, it was Gamatatsu who appeared, with an innocent frown on his face.

"Hey, Naruto, what's up?"

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Naruto replied, furrowing his eyebrows. Rude boy. Who was his sensei? “I called for Gamakichi!”

“Come on, you always call him!” Gamatatsu complained, pouting. “Let me help with the mission too! I can definitely do what he does and a thousand times better!”

“We've had this discussion before, stubborn toad. I don't have time for that! Tell Gamakichi to tell the Hokage that we couldn’t find the damn contract.”

“Without the swearing part” Yamato intervened, smiling nervously at the yellow frog. "Please."

Grumpily, Gamatatsu just nodded and obeyed.

“And come back here after this!” Naruto exclaimed, before he disappeared. “That frog… So stubborn and undisciplined…”

Kakashi exchanged a look with Tenzo. It took one to recognize one.

A few minutes later, Gamatatsu returned, arms crossed.

“So…” Naruto hummed, the naughty little one he was. “Did you pass the message?”

“Yes,” Gamatatsu grumbled, before huffing and pawing the ground. “Why can’t I be the Hokage sender? It was so simple!”

“Because we already tried once and you couldn’t even do that!” Naruto started shouting, causing everyone to take a few steps away to save their own ears. “You got all nervous and started spilling the beans telling him a bunch of my personal shit that had nothing to do with anything! Our mission was delayed two weeks because you still lied to me about it!”

“That was five years ago!” the frog insisted. “I'm much better now! Come on, man, trust me. I promise I will get the message across perfectly. And I can keep secrets…”

“Extremely doubtful.”

"I can!" Gamatatsu insisted, starting to count his paws. "I didn't tell anyone about the summon Gamakichi has been flirting with... I haven't told anyone about how you've been going out to lunch with that Hyuuga girl..."

"Hey! Shut up!"

“I also didn’t tell anyone about Katsuyu-chan’s new master…”

"WHAT?!"

In any other situation, Kakashi would have been horrified by the scream that came from his own throat, berating himself for not following the first great shinobi rule: control and not express your true emotions. But since even Pakkun participated in the collective sound of shocked exclamations, he let the moment pass, too preoccupied with what he had just heard.

"MASTER?" Naruto shouted for them all, while Gamatatsu covered his mouth with his paws, realizing what he had said. “The slimy slug has a master?!”

“Please don't tell my father I said that” the frog asked, with wide eyes and paler yellow skin. “He’s going to be really, really mad at me!”

"Gamatatsu" Naruto grabbed him by the arms and shook him, pissed. His words were harsh and halting, like Kakashi rarely saw. “The slug has a master?!”

After a long moment of silence, the frog nodded in confirmation.

"Since when?!"

More silence.

"...Four months."

"FOUR MONTHS?!" Naruto yelled, letting go of Gamatatsu to get up and start pacing. Beside him, Yamato let out a long, tortured sigh. "FOUR MONTHS?! We've been doing this shit for six months, you bastard! You could have saved us all the trouble!”

“But I can’t tell you anything!” Gamatatsu shouted back, his paws on his chubby cheeks, a desperate expression. “We're the only friends Katsuyu-chan has, Dad made everyone promise that we wouldn't reveal it because she wanted to keep it a secret. Please don't tell him! He’s going to kill me and Katsuyu-chan is going to be mad at me!”

Kakashi pinched the space between his eyebrows and took a deep breath, feeling the weight of exhaustion and his age. Maybe, in another life, being 34 was still considered young, but not in this one. In the ninja world, reaching thirty was a huge milestone. Reaching thirty and still physically well enough to continue doing missions was almost a miracle. But a miracle that took its toll, for sure. He was too old for fruitless missions and gossiping frogs.

Exchanging a look with Guy and Yamato, he adjusted his posture.

“Gamatatsu” Kakashi said, seriously, harshly and silencing the two yellow idiots who finally stopped shouting at each other. “We won’t tell your father about your slip-up, but in return, you need to tell us what you know.”

The frog looked at him with an indecisive expression. Kakashi kept his face expressionless and looked him in the eyes.

"Now."

Intimidated, Gamatatsu swallowed and began to speak. Off to the side, Naruto muttered something that sounded a lot like: "Kakashi-sensei is so scary sometimes..."

“Four months ago, Katsuyu-chan asked us for some dry firewood. We found this strange, because she prefers to stay away from fire, so she explained to us that she had finally accepted someone to be her summoner and that the person would spend the night in the Shikkotsu Forest.”

“Do you know anything about this person?” Kakashi insisted. "Man? Woman? Filiation?”

“No, we don’t know anything” the frog said. “Katsuyu-chan was very mysterious about it all, she refused to give us any details, but she seemed very happy, more than I've seen her in years.”

“Has this master ever visited the forest again?” Yamato intervened, the good cop, in contrast to Kakashi's bad cop. “None of the other frogs could have had a chance to see him?”

“No, not that I know of. And I would know, because everyone couldn't stop talking about it for weeks. Since that time, no one seems to have come to visit her. But I heard Dad telling the old ones that he suspects Katsuyu-chan had been leaving the forest.”

Kakashi let that information hit him and sink into his brain. They had had a two month head start on this mysterious shinobi and somehow they had failed. What went wrong? What did this person know that made them find the contract before them?

“Shiba” he called, crouching down to speak to the dog, who quickly appeared beside him. “Pakkun said you smelled something inside. Explain please."

“Something very light, boss” Shiba said. “A remnant of what appears to be dried slug mucus, on top of an altar.”

“But there was nothing there?”

“Nothing, it was completely empty.”

“And you just smelled mucus? No human scent?”

“No, boss.”

"How is this possible?" Yamato questioned aloud, furrowing his eyebrows at Kakashi. The pain in his sharingan extended to his entire head. “They would smell someone, wouldn’t they?”

“Maybe too much time has passed and the smell has disappeared” Guy ventured. Kakashi knew this would offend his ninken before anyone could say anything else. He would smile, if he had the energy for it.

“We would have smelled it,” Pakkun said, in a tone that only Kakashi recognized as defensive. “Especially in a place without ventilation, like that basement. The smell gets locked in and sticks to the walls. If a human being had been here in the last year, we would know.”

"Wait, I don't understand" Naruto exclaimed, louder than Kakashi's headache would have liked. "What does that mean?"

“It means Katsuyu was here, probably with her contract, but her new summoner wasn’t.”

"And how is that possible? How did this guy find her contract, then, if it was here and he was not?”

Maybe Kakashi's birth certificate was wrong. Maybe he was sixty like he felt, not thirty-four.

"I don't know, Naruto" he said with a sigh. “That’s why I said ‘probably’.”

“We are assuming the contract was here” Yamato argued. “We don’t have any proof of that.”

They all then turned to Gamatatsu, who flinched and blushed at the attention.

“I don’t know where the contract is, Dad won’t tell me” he confessed. “But coming here for no reason doesn't seem like something Katsuyu-chan would do. She never left the forest before she had a summoner.”

“We have to assume what contract was here, then,” Guy said, in one of his rare moments of seriousness. “Which explains Katsuyu-sama’s actions, but not anyone else’s lack of scent.”

“Maybe she changed the contract and this mysterious person found it in the new hiding place” Kakashi muttered thoughtfully. “Shiba, how long would you say the smell has been there? One year?"

“Less, Boss” he said. “A few months, I would say. If I had to bet, I would say less than six. Four, maybe.”

Kakashi trusted his pack with his life, so if Shiba said the slug had been there four months ago, then he believed it with every cell in his body.

Which was bad news, because it meant the story was getting stranger and stranger. So much that even Naruto noticed.

“Fuck, you guys are making my head hurt” he cursed, threading his fingers through his blonde hair. “If the slug was here four months ago and she got a master four months ago, how the fuck was her master not here? How did he get access to the contract, then?”

His question remained unanswered, hovering over the group as everyone looked at each other. Naruto was asking all the right questions and Kakashi was frustrated that he didn't have any answers. They had arrived too late and worse, he doubted the slugs would accept a new master anytime soon. Summons had more than one summoner all the time, but Katsuyu was known for being antisocial and having extremely high standards. After a thousand years, only one person was good enough. Two, so soon? He was very doubtful.

“Um… can I go then?” Gamatatsu muttered shyly. “I said everything I knew. You’re not going to tell my dad anything, right?”

“No, but I still need you to do something” Kakashi intervened. No one commented on the fact that he wasn't their summoner and therefore shouldn't be giving them orders. “Go to the Hokage and tell him we are returning as soon as possible. There has been a change in plans.”

Maybe it was Kakashi's ego driving him, hurt from not having found something in six months that someone had apparently done so and still managed to leave no trace, but who cared? He never claimed to be perfect, and at that point he refused to leave it unexplained.

They were no longer looking for a contract. They were now looking for a person.

8 months after Sakura's arrival

Sasuke didn't know what he hated more: when Sai spoke or when Sai was silent.

After eight years of being part of team seven with him and Naruto, Sasuke figured he would learn to deal with shit from his stupid teammates, but here he was. Just as pissed off as when he was twelve years old and Sai smiled that spine-chilling smile at him and the two of them just got into a fist fight that made him, later, get scolded at home for fighting like a civilian.

The two had been walking in complete silence for almost ten hours, not saying anything even when they stopped to eat, just handing out the protein bars to each other. Sasuke should be grateful for this, like he was grateful for every rare second Naruto kept his mouth shut, but Sai was different. He was a threat when talking and staying quiet. Every word that came out of his mouth was more offensive than the last and his silence was full of meaning, as if he was always evaluating everyone around with eagle eyes.

Itachi tried to calm him down when he was a child and wouldn't stop complaining about how his team was full of idiots, stating that time would be able to soften them up towards each other. It never happened, one of his brother's rare erroneous predictions. Their team was probably one of the most dysfunctional of their generation, even after the addition of Yamato as senpai, which they all knew was a (hardly successful) attempt that maybe two adults could contain the tempers of three kids who couldn't understand each other. And it got even worse, after Itachi and Shisui discovered that Sai had a mysterious connection with Danzo and he, therefore, came to be seen as someone untrustworthy. Sasuke knew he was going to go crazy with that shit one day. That's if he hadn't already.

He knew Sai knew something. Maybe not something specific, but he at least suspected it, which was enough to make Sasuke frustrated. Shit, he missed the rest of the team (and Kami knew how absurd it was to even consider something like that). Without Kakashi and Yamato to calm things down, the tension between him and Sai only increased to the point of becoming unbearable throughout the two week mission they had just finished. Even Naruto's stupid screams would be a relief.

It was even more frustrating to have no one to blame. Sasuke was smart and he understood very well why he was stuck with Sai while the rest of his team was sent out of the village on a “secret mission”. He knew what the mission was and why it was necessary, but Sai didn't. More than that, Sai shouldn't know. Sasuke's job was to keep Sai ignorant and close by, but he was much more observant than most. His silence was screaming around him, pulsing Sasuke's failure in the vein in his forehead. He thought he was being discreet, but clearly not.

The day before he was sent on that bodyguard mission in the Land of Wind, Shisui had appeared unexpectedly in his room, while Sasuke was sharpening his kunais.

“Hey, Sasu-kun,” his cousin had said, sliding the door to the side and smiling at him from the threshold. “Preparing for tomorrow? Ojisan says you will follow those Suna politicians. A great honor, huh? It’s about time our political relations with them improved…”

Sasuke had raised his face and furrowed his eyebrows, knowing that Shisui only started small talk when he was wanting to know something or say something.

“Yes…” he murmured, raising an eyebrow. “What is that to you?”

“Maah, Sasu-kun, you are so rude” his cousin pouted, entering the room and sitting on his bed. “Can’t your favorite cousin come for a visit?”

“Don't talk like that” Sasuke had reproached him, returning to his weapons. “You sound like Kakashi, imitating the way he talks.”

“Not the worst man you could compare me to, Taichou has his charm” Shisui continued, stretching like a cat. “Honestly, Obasan will be very disappointed with your manners. We haven’t seen each other since I got back from my month-long mission in Kiri and you didn’t even ask how my stay there was…”

Sasuke also knew that with Shisui, “you didn't ask” meant “ask me”. With a roll of his eyes, he said with a sigh:

“How was your mission in Kiri?”

"Excellent!" his cousin exclaimed, stretching his legs closer to Sasuke, who pushed his feet away from him. “You know how it is... Missing-nin here, murder there... Water everywhere... Honestly, I don't know how the people there can handle it. My curls are frizzy from all that humidity…”

Sasuke looked at the kunai in his hand, wondering if his mother would be upset if he stuck it in his ears to stop all that talk.

"...But it does not matter. You also didn’t ask what I bought as a souvenir.”

Sasuke looked up, interested. Shisui was smiling, but there was a silent message shining behind his dark eyes.

"What did you buy?" he asked, without looking away. Satisfied, his cousin reached into a pocket and pulled out a black book.

“Just a little something for some light reading,” he said, standing up. “I thought you might like to take a look. Especially on page thirty-six.”

Shisui then threw the bingo book in front of Sasuke on the mattress and left, humming:

“Good mission, Sasu-kun. I will eagerly await your return.”

When the door closed, Sasuke dropped his kunais and sighed, taking the book in his hands. Flipping through, he found the page indicated none too subtly by his cousin and began to read.

His heart skipped a beat as he realized what he was seeing.

Name: Sakura.

Clan: Unknown.

Age: Unknown. She looks somewhere between nineteen and twenty-one years old.

Origin/affiliation: Unknown.

Appearance: Pale pink hair below the shoulders and white skin. Green eyes and short height. Slim body. The presence of recognizable marks or scars is unknown.

Classification: Unknown.

Abilities: Unique healing abilities of unknown extent. Affinity with water, capable of manipulating snow. Experienced in Taijutsu. Use her nails like claws. Able to produce a green light in her hands that imitates a kunai. The green light is also capable of healing injuries. Superhuman strength.

Summoning: Unknown.

Last appearance: Land of Iron.

More information: Known for wandering mainly on foot and alone. Offers medical assistance in exchange for shelter, money or food. According to rumors, she is capable of curing injuries and illnesses of all types. Seems to work exclusively with civilians. She was also seen in the Land of Grass and the Land of Waterfalls.

Price: 100 thousand ryos (only alive).

Wanted by: Otogakure.

Above the description, instead of a photo, there was a sketch of a beautiful girl's bust, covered up to the neck with a cape. Sasuke would have snorted at her absurd appearance, clearly some kind of henge to attract idiots who were easily fooled by sweet, feminine features, if he hadn't been too busy rereading something over and over again.

…Unique healing capabilities… She is capable of curing injuries and illnesses of all types…

It would be possible? Sasuke's mind seemed to be spinning, racing in several different directions. The shinobis trusted the bingo book, but he knew that much of the information present was also based on rumors, not just direct confrontations. It seemed too good to be true, a lucky twist of fate that Sasuke never believed existed. People exaggerated all the time, Naruto couldn't tell a story without expanding it twentyfold just for the pleasure of impressing others. Not to mention that there were very few kunoichis in the hidden villages and even fewer roaming the nations alone. Where was her clan? Why and how could they leave her alone? Sasuke had never heard of any clan with light pink hair and the Uchihas made a point of knowing as many shinobi clans as they could document.

Not to mention there was the issue of Orochimaru. Anyone involved with the slithering snake should be kept at a distance or thrown into a cell to be forgotten. Orochimaru was not trustworthy, he was a mad scientist who was willing to do anything to achieve as much power as possible. A compulsive liar, a psychopath.

But… Sasuke couldn't stop the images that flashed in front of his eyes, the red blood staining clothes and the floor, the sound of a violent cough that made him wince, the feeling of helplessness and bubbling anger, consuming him just no more than latent fear…

His thumb stroked the words 'green light' as he continued to think. Sasuke was never the type to believe in fairy tales. Kakashi used to say that he was born old and paranoid, the angriest pup on his team. Her description was full of inconsistencies, full of ridiculous and meaningless information. It was too good to be true, and for a person like Sasuke, that meant it had to be an ambush.

Yet…

That night, he remained thoughtfully silent during dinner, which earned him worried looks from his mother and Itachi. When the food was finished and Mikoto got up to gather the dishes, his father, who had also spent the entire time without saying a word from his place at the table, said:

“Itachi, why don’t you help your mom wash the dishes?”

Everyone there knew, after so many years, that suggestions made by Fugaku were, in fact, small discreet orders with a whole world hidden behind them. With a wave, Itachi stood up as well, giving Sasuke a look before leaving.

Without saying anything, he waited for his father to start the conversation, wondering what he would like to say. Sasuke couldn't remember the last time they had a conversation alone, the last time Fugaku cared enough to do so.

“Did Shisui give you the book he bought you?”

This made Sasuke meet his eyes, surprised. He had imagined that this was just Shisui's idea, some kind of improvised and impulsive plan guided by his cousin's desperation, but if his father knew... then...

“Yes” he replied, knowing he couldn't be specific since his mother and Itachi were in the next room. “He did it this afternoon.”

"And what did you think?"

This made him think for a few seconds.

“It's very interesting” Sasuke admitted. “But it seemed too fanciful to me.”

Fugaku nodded, taking a slow sip of his tea. Sasuke controlled himself not to drum his fingers on his knee, like when he was a boy, unable to understand his father's silence.

“Did he ever show you the book?” he asked.

“Just a few passages” Fugaku said, meeting his eyes. “The protagonist caught my attention. She looks different from the others.”

“Yes, but the way the author wrote it seems a bit exaggerated, doesn’t it?”

“Maybe” his father took another sip of tea. “But that’s how books are. It is necessary to see beyond that. Every exaggeration is based on something true.”

Sasuke knew how to translate his words, as only a son who spent years feeding on the crumbs of attention his father gave him could. He agreed that perhaps not everything about that girl was true, but he believed that some healing ability she possessed, or she wouldn't be there, with 100 thousand ryos for her head.

"Right. And the villain who chases her? Do you think they may have had previous relationships?” Can she be trusted with ties to Orochimaru?

“I assume that since he is taking such steps to find her, they know each other but do not get along. Maybe he hurt her in some way.” She wouldn't be loyal to a man she's running away from. There's a chance she could be one of his experiments.

Sasuke nodded, also drinking his tea, thoughtfully.

“Otousan, do you think Kakashi would like to read it?” he asked. Fugaku's expression almost looked proud, but it wasn't like Sasuke was able to recognize the feeling in his father face.

“Sounds like exactly the kind of book your sensei likes” he said in return. “In fact, I believe this was the one he was looking to read the last time we had contact.”

This made Sasuke's eyes widen, and he looked at his father with a surprised expression. Did he think she might be…?

"Are you sure?" he asked, composing himself. “As I recall, he told me about a book with a much more powerful protagonist.”

Do you think she could be the conjurer of the healing slugs?

“Why don’t you go check it out? It seems too familiar to be just a coincidence.”

Go and find out if she is or not.

“My escort mission starts tomorrow.”

When should I go?

“I’m sure you can find a moment between your responsibilities.”

Immediately.

“Do you think Sai would like the book?”

It will be difficult to hide this from him.

“As far as I know, your partner enjoys other types of reading.”

Be discreet. I don't trust Dazo.

Fugaku then stood up, giving his son a wave.

“Update me on the story” he said, finishing his tea. “I hope the protagonist finds a place to settle down no matter what.”

His father reached out his hand, just an inch and just for a second, as if to stroke the top of his head, but stopped the movement, lowering it. He left without saying anything else, leaving Sasuke alone, with a heart inside his chest that seemed too childish and painful to be his, and thinking about the unspoken words.

Find out if she is truly capable of what they say and bring her to Konoha, even if she is not the slug summoner. Do whatever it takes to make it happen.

And Kami, Sasuke tried. He extended a six-day mission into a two-week mission, leaving some belongings behind on purpose, just to have the excuse to spend more time in Suna. Sasuke also made up stories about relatives' birthdays approaching, to try to justify his visits to civilian towns along the way, and took as many rounds as he could without arousing great suspicion. He also made comments to the politicians he was escorting about the cities they passed through, managing to manipulate them and make them believe that it was their idea to extend the travel time in order to shop and try exotic food and drinks.

All this… and he failed anyway. The damn girl was nowhere to be found, not even in the hospitals that Sasuke forced himself to visit claiming fake illnesses and hating every second of it. The closest he came to learning anything about her was from the owner of a tea shop between the Land of Soya and the Land of Games, who claimed to have had a pretty, pink-haired customer about three weeks ago. She bought strawberry mochi and jasmine tea.

To make matters worse, Sai clearly knew something was wrong. Naruto would fall for his lies and excuses, but Sai was infinitely smarter than Naruto (and somewhat more insufferable). Now here they were, being suffocated by silence filled with unspoken accusations as they walked side by side in the Land of Waves.

According to the letters that Inari had exchanged with Naruto since they met them on the mission against Zabuza and Gato, his grandfather, Tazuna, had fallen ill and did not appear to be getting better. In a matter of months, he began to feel pain and stiffness in his lower back, difficulty walking, tingling in his legs, among many other symptoms that Sasuke was unable to remember. It was very sad news for the whole team, even for him, who might not have been as attached to the old man and his family, but still had enough heart to remember fondly the first big mission he had, when he truly felt a ninja.

They were allowed to pay a visit before returning to Konoha, after Naruto shouted himself hoarse about how someone needed to check on the old man before he died. Dramatic idiot. As he was on a mission with Kakashi and Yamato, Sasuke had agreed to go in his place, knowing that no one would have peace unless he did so.

“We will arrive in ten minutes, but I would suggest that we speed up the pace” Sai finally broke the silence, breaking Sasuke from his thoughts. "It looks like it's going to rain."

Looking up, he noticed the gray clouds gathering above their heads and nodded. The two started running and Sasuke was taken by surprise a few minutes later when Sai said:

“Grumpy, can I ask you a question?”

The corner of Sasuke's left eye twitched. Those damn nicknames, honestly…

When he didn't say anything, Sai seemed to see it as permission.

"Are you purposely extending our mission because you don't want to face Tazuna-san's inevitable aging or is there an underlying reason you're hiding from me?"

If Sasuke wasn't a high-caliber ninja (like certain idiots), he would have tripped over his feet. But he was, above all, an Uchiha, so when Sai finally exposed the fact that he had failed to deceive him, he did what Uchihas did best: he showed no reaction.

“Honestly, it was easy to see that you encouraged customers to visit the tourist places we visited and your hospital visits are suspicious, as I remember when you refused to do anything about your dislocated shoulder for three whole weeks a few years ago .”

Observant bastard.

“Of course it would make sense that you would want to avoid seeing Tezuna in such a vulnerable state, one of my books about death and grief says that some people would rather run away than face situations like that, but that seems much more like something Sensei would do, rather than you, so…”

Knowing that he had already been caught, Sasuke evaluated what would be the best action to take to contain the damage. Unfortunately, killing Sai didn't seem possible, like every other time he felt like doing it. Mikoto would be very sad to see one of her children in prison. So he could remain silent and say nothing or invent a half-truth. That seemed like the best option. Sasuke didn't trust Sai not to rush out and tell Danzo everything he knew, so at least he could control exactly what story would get to that old bastard. It seemed like something Itachi and Shisui would do, having learned from Kakashi in his years as an Anbu leader. Surround the enemy around the edges, make him believe that your idea is his…

“I have an individual mission” he said finally, looking ahead. “Orochimaru is looking for a shinobi. The Hokage would like to offer her shelter and protection in exchange for what she knows.”

He purposely leaves out everything about desperate desires for miracles.

Sai nodded, also looking ahead.

“A woman, then?” he realized, expressionlessly. “Any idea why Orochimaru is after her? Last time I checked, it was your body he wanted.”

He hid a shiver of disgust, suppressing memories of the feeling of large, cold hands on his arms and the sight of a dark forest that smelled like fear and death.

“From what the rumors say, she has superior medical skills than him.”

"It would be positive for Konoha to have her on our side, but isn't it still too risky to welcome someone who can lure Orochimaru to us?"

Sasuke shrugged, hiding his emotions.

"The Hokage would prefer to have her close by, before another village gets her" he said. “Besides, it’s not my place to question him.”

And it's not yours either.

Picking up the silent message, Sai nodded, the perfect soldier. At least he had that in his favor. Naruto would have continued complaining until Sasuke's ears bled.

"I understand. I will help you find this woman if I have permission. But I would like to inform you, as your teammate, that your stealth skills need major improvement. I was able to understand what was happening in the first three days. Perhaps you could talk to Sensei to be better able to hide your true motivations…”

The rain saved Sai from getting hit with a katana.

The two quickened their pace, finally reaching Tazuna's house. Happy to stay dry below the front porch, Sasuke knocked on the door. He expected to be greeted by a sad-looking Tsunami due to her father's illness, but, to his surprise, the person who answered the door was Tazuna himself.

“Sasuke-san! Sai-san!” he exclaimed, smiling, flushed and without looking sick at all. “How good it is to see you! Come in, come in! You brought the rain with you, huh?”

Laughing, Tazuna entered the house, saying he would call his daughter to welcome them. Sasuke and Sai stood in the doorway for a second, surprised and confused.

“Hm” Sai hummed, walking inside. “He doesn’t look sick. Maybe Inari learned to be dramatic from Dickless.”

Sasuke agreed with him internally.

Tsunami appeared next, with her father behind her, smiling and leaning towards them.

“Boys, I'm so happy to see you,” she said, beckoning them to follow her from the front door through the kitchen. "Are you hungry? Dinner won't be for at least an hour, but I could make a quick meal.”

"There is no need" Sasuke said, nodding his head. He might not be as friendly as Naruto and Yamato, but his mother would make him regret it if she knew he wasn't being polite to hosts. “That’s very kind of you, but we can wait.”

He then realized that she had taken them to Inari's room, instead of the usual guest room where they stayed as genins. Sai, it seemed, had also noticed the same, by the way he looked around for a second longer than necessary.

“I hope you don't mind, the guest room is occupied with an unexpected visitor” Tsunami said, with a huge smile and sparkling eyes. Sasuke's suspicion grew. She was too happy for a woman with a sick father, just like Tazuna was too happy for a sick man. “Inari will stay with me, he willingly gave his own room.”

“We appreciate the hospitality, Tsunami-san” it was Sai's turn to say, as Yamato had taught him. They both left their things in the room, but as soon as they left, Sasuke stayed behind, saying that he would like to exchange his wet clothes for dry ones.

Looking deeply into his eyes, Sai said nothing but nodded.

Alone, Sasuke actually changed, but took the opportunity to make a small detour before going to the kitchen. Silently, he passed in front of the guest room, peering inside. Everything seemed in place, except for a black backpack on the corner of the bed and a set of women's civilian clothes folded on a chair.

Sasuke's instincts were telling him he should pay attention to something, but when nothing seemed strange, he returned to the kitchen, walking in to find Sai sitting at the table with Tazuna, while Tsunami began preparing dinner.

“If I may say so, Tazuna-san, you look pretty good for a man on the verge of death” Sai was saying, while Sasuke sat at the table with a few chairs between them. Tazuna, in his turn, laughed out loud, very different from the alcoholic man they had met eight years earlier.

“Kid, if you had arrived two weeks earlier, you wouldn't be saying that” he said. Tsunami hummed in agreement. “The pain in my back was so bad that I couldn’t stand fully upright for almost two months. I thought I would end up stuck in my bed forever.”

Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed slightly.

“What caused your improvement?” Sai asked out of politeness, accepting a cup of tea from Tsunami, who also placed one in front of him.

“Our prayers have been answered,” she said, looking emotional. “A medical shinobi arrived in the city and decided to help us, a true miracle.”

Sasuke's body went hard and his eyes widened. He stared at Tsunami as if she had two heads instead of one.

No way.

“A medical shinobi?” he questioned her, perhaps a little too harshly, by the way Sai stared at him and his hard shoulders. "What do you mean?"

“Exactly that, kid” Tazuna said, smiling. “Two weeks ago, a medical shinobi arrived in town and offered free treatment for my illness as long as we let her stay here for a while. None of us could believe our luck. She works at the health center during the day. Such a good girl, that one. Takes care of everyone in town, no matter what. Very kind, very hardworking.”

“Very pretty too” Tsunami added. “Inari is truly in love.”

As she and Tazuna laughed, Sasuke's thoughts began to race back and forth desperately. A shinobi doctor in a civilian city, offering services for housing? It was impossible to be someone else.

“What’s her name, again?” he intervened. Sai's gaze burned into the side of his face. Tazuna smiled, sipping a cup of tea.

“Sakura” he said.

No fucking way.

“You will meet her tonight. Inari went to pick her up at the health center, but the rain must have delayed them…”

And as if his words manifested them, the four heard the sound of footsteps coming up the porch stairs. Inari's voice came, muffled by the rain.

“Come on, Sakura-chan! They must have arrived already!”

“Hmm, actually, Inari-kun…” a female voice answered him. Sasuke controlled his own body, which was trying to shake to deal with the avalanche of adrenaline. “I think I may have forgotten something at the clinic…”

“You can get it tomorrow! Come come come!"

When the front door opened, Sasuke was so full of emotions that he ended up getting up from his chair. His hands gripped the table, as if to stop him from moving forward and dragging that damn girl to Konoha. Sai gave him a long look full of understanding and Tazuna frowned, but he didn't notice.

All Sasuke could see was that the girl who entered the house, her wrist locked in Inari's fist, was exactly who he was looking for.

The portrait in the bingo book was accurate, but the girl's henge was even more potent in person. She was wet and hidden in a cape from her collarbones to her ankles, but she was still pretty, with pink hair, green eyes, and a button nose. Sasuke found himself suddenly happy that Sai had accompanied him on this mission, instead of Naruto. Sai might be an idiot who only talked shit, but he at least wouldn't act like Naruto would when having to interact with a girl like that.

His eyes dropped to her hands, as if searching for the mysterious green light capable of doing the unthinkable. But all he found were small hands with slender fingers, delicate and feminine. One of them held a pair of heels. Her feet were bare and a little dirty.

What Sasuke noticed next was the expression on her face. Wide eyes, pale skin. She looked a little shocked to see them, her pupils moving from Sasuke to Sai and then back again. He wondered if she didn't like other shinobi and that's why she chose to only work with civilians, or if there was another reason behind it.

"Hey guys!" Inari exclaimed smiling, taller than Sasuke remembered. “This is Sakura-chan, she saved grandpa’s life! Sakura-chan, these are the Konoha shinobi I mentioned, Sasuke and Sai.”

The three ninjas stared at each other in silence for three whole seconds, before Sasuke saw her blink twice and change her entire posture, as if she had come out of a trance.

“Hi,” Sakura said, smiling after letting a breath leave her lips, one that seemed very nervous to Sasuke. "Nice to meet you. Inari-kun talked a lot about you guys…”

The two bowed in greeting, but he kept his eyes on her, as if she would disappear at any second. Their eyes met for a moment and she looked away first.

“Sakura-san” Sai spoke, his head slightly tilted to the side. "Is a pleasure. Tazuna-san was just telling us about how you are helping him with his condition.”

“Oh. Yeah. That." She let out a shy giggle, before running her hands through her wet hair and looking at Tsunami. “Do you mind if I go take a shower? I would like to warm up…”

“Of course, Sakura-san! Go! I’ll make some tea” she said in turn, waving her hands.

She walked past them with a nod, meeting Sasuke's eyes once more. He tried not to be paranoid, but she seemed to be running away from the conversation. A door somewhere opened and closed, followed by the sound of water running.

Waiting for a few minutes, Sasuke listened intently as Inari narrated Sakura's afternoon at the clinic. Flu, cuts, infections, accidents… It was as if she was capable of anything…

When enough time had passed that he no longer looked suspicious, he stood up.

“Excuse me, I’m going to write a letter to the Hokage to let him know that we are already in the Land of Waves” Sasuke said, then left. With silent steps, he suppressed his own chakra as best he could, just in case she was a sensor, and entered the guest room.

Closing the door behind him, Sasuke approached Sakura's belongings, at first just looking at them. When they looked nothing more than ordinary, he removed a kunai from the compartment at his waist and used the tip to lift the folded clothes at the foot of the bed. All civilian, with the exception of a pair of chakra gloves and a change of breast bandages. Sasuke didn't understand anything about civilian girls, but he had been to enough parties with Inuzuka to know that they wore something else underneath.

With her backpack, Sasuke was more careful, sticking the tip of the kunai into the zipper hole to open it. There was no extra lock of any kind to protect the interior, which meant that either she felt safe from enemies in this small fishing town or she was incredibly careless.

As soon as he took a look inside her backpack, Sai entered the room silently, closing the door behind him. Outside, the bathroom water was still running.

"That's not very polite," he said, standing behind Sasuke and looking over his shoulder. “You could be mistaken for Pervert Jiraya.”

Holding back a sullen growl, Sasuke continued his search, ignoring him. Inside her backpack, he found an insane amount of sealing scrolls. None of them had identification, so he assumed, once again, that either she was smart and didn't want to make it easier for anyone who was breaking into her belongings, or she was just disorganized.

“Do you think she is your target?” Sai asked, watching as he poked a scroll here and there with the kunai.

“The sketch looks like her” he said. “And the story seems the same. Check the belt over there on the chair.”

Sai went to the object, imitating his technique with the kunai. Sasuke removed a looser piece of parchment from her backpack and brought it closer to his face. He was overcome by such a strong herbal smell that he felt his entire respiratory system unblock.

“Nothing” Sai said. “Just small sealing scrolls and some glass containers.”

He took one out and held it up between them. Inside were miniature leaves that Sasuke had never seen before.

“It looks like something a doctor would carry” Sai continued. In response, Sasuke nodded and sighed, frustrated.

He had just opened his mouth when the doorknob turned.

In half a second, her objects were closed, as if no one had touched them, and Sasuke and Sai appeared on the other side of the room, in relaxed poses. Sakura entered, with wet hair and wearing a robe that covered her to her knees. Her eyes were red, as was the tip of her nose.

He had to control himself not to frown as she watched them suspiciously. How did he not notice she was approaching? He couldn't feel any chakra, with the exception of the family in the kitchen and a little mouse nearby...

“Can I help you?” she questioned them, now looking less shy and a little more irritated. Sakura's eyes went to her belongings and back again, squinting. Sasuke knew he had been caught, but he would never admit it.

“Sakura-san” he greeted her, acting unaware. “We would like to speak to you.”

“And does it have to be here?”

“We would like to speak to you privately.”

Sakura looked him straight in the eyes, with a closed expression.

“Could you at least expect me to be dressed?” she scoffed at last. Suddenly aware that she was completely naked beneath the robe, Sasuke cleared his throat.

“Of course,” he said, nodding. “I’ll give you five minutes.”

The clear command seemed to upset her more. Her green eyes sparkled.

“Actually, this conversation will happen after dinner” Sakura said firmly. “And after treating my patient. You can leave now.”

She opened the door wide open and made a sudden gesture with one hand, clearly mad. Controlling his facial expression, Sasuke gave Sakura a reproachful look, which she responded to with a raised eyebrow. Damn woman.

Sai left first, with a nod, and Sasuke, seeing no other option, followed, despite hating following orders. Her door slammed shut behind him and he heard the lock turn.

“She's temperamental” Sai murmured beside him, emotionless, as was his nature. “I preferred it when she seemed frightened by our presence.”

Sasuke followed him back into the kitchen, in shocked silence. Not just because of her audacity, but because of his new discovery. In the two seconds that Sakura turned her back to open the door, he had activated his sharingan to get a better view under her henge.

Only to discover there were none.

During dinner, the three shinobi spent most of the time in complete silence, alternating between eating and staring at each other. The conversation was dominated by Inari and Tazuna, while Tsunami laughed and waved. Sasuke lost count of how many times he met Sakura's eyes on his or Sai's face, as if she couldn't stop looking.

“And when she put her hands on my spine, oh, the relief! I had forgotten what it was like to not feel pain!” Tazuna said, telling him for what felt like the tenth time about how Sakura had saved his spine. “It’s just a blessing that this happened. What did you say I had, Sakura-san?”

“Spondyloarthrosis” she said, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. “It’s quite common for someone your age, actually. It's a problem on the cartilage that covers the joints of the spine. Your case was worse in your lower back, so the pain spread to your hips and legs.”

“What she said” Tazuna joked, drawing a shy smile from Sakura.

“And what would be the treatment?” Sasuke asked. She met his eyes as if she could read his mind.

“Anti-inflammatory for the pain” she said, without emotion. “And encouraging joint strengthening. Usually with physical therapy.”

“Sakura-san made us a wonderful herbal paste” Tsunami said, collecting the dishes. Inari got up too, to help his mother. “I’ve never seen something work so quickly.”

The table was filled with silence for a few seconds, while Sasuke and Sakura continued their little staring contest, until Sai spoke:

“Sakura-san, can I ask you a question?”

This diverted her attention. Sasuke, in turn, prepared himself for whatever shit his teammate was going to say.

"Yes of course."

“Is ‘Sakura’ your real name?”

This surprised everyone. He furrowed his eyebrows, staring at him like he was an idiot (he was).

“Yes it is” Sakura replied, tilting her head a little. "Why?"

“I was just curious” Sai said, expressionless. “It seems like a stupid name to put on someone with hair like yours.”

Silence. Her eyes widened at his words, shocked. Sasuke covered his eyes with one hand, groaning in frustration. She clearly wasn't a big fan of them and of course Sai had to open his damn mouth...

He heard a giggle.

Looking up, Sasuke was surprised to see that Sakura didn't look angry like a normal human being, but rather amused. She let out a sincere laugh and he felt like turning on his sharingan once more, just to make sure that there really wasn't a henge of seduction placed on her.

“I think my parents weren't the most creative” she replied, now a little cheeky. "And you? Are you pure enough to be called ‘Sai’?”

Probably shocked that he hadn't made a bad impression for the first time in his life, Sai blinked at her a few times, speechless. Sasuke sighed in relief when Sakura let the conversation pass, standing up.

“Let's see your back, Tazuna-san” she said.

Tazuna, luckily for them and unluckily for her, insisted that it be done in the presence of visitors, insisting that Sasuke and Sai would love to see Sakura's talents. With nowhere to run, she grudgingly agreed, pulling up his shirt a little and positioning herself behind him.

Finally, there was the green light, illuminating the room. It took everything in Sasuke not to turn on his sharingan and take a closer look. The expression on Tazuna's face was calm and happy, as if he was getting a massage or drinking his favorite tea. The sound that came out of that was a low noise that wasn't bothersome. Sakura also seemed calm, focused as if the rest of the world didn't exist.

With his mind spinning after witnessing what he believed to be a delusion, Sasuke didn't even know how long he spent there, watching her. He had never seen medical treatment like that. There was no blood, no screams of pain, no bodies opening, no desperate crying. Just that strange woman with even stranger hands, the alien green light, and the calming sound.

When she was done, a second and a lifetime later, Tazuna sighed happily and stretched his arms up.

“Every day it gets even better” he told Sakura, before returning to the boys. “Impressive, isn’t it?”

“Here, Tazuna-san” Sakura said, before anyone could respond. “Let me pass the herbs.”

She took out of a container something sticky and green, with a strong smell that Sasuke didn't recognize. After applying it to Tazuna's lower back, she bandaged the area so that the herbs remained in place.

“All done” Sakura said. She then started a conversation with the three civilians about the progress of the treatment, but Sasuke didn't listen, too busy meeting Sai's eyes.

After everyone went to bed, they found Sakura in her room. Seeing them, she sighed heavily, tiredly.

“Let me guess” she said, closing the door. “Is it time for that private conversation?”

Tired of wasting time, Sasuke got straight to the point.

“Sakura-san, the Hidden Leaf Village would like to hire your services as a doctor.”

She stared at him for a long second, looking strangely sad.

“I imagined it” Sakura confessed, sitting on her own bed and looking out the window, at the moon. “But I feel like I’ll have to deny the offer.”

This lit an angry fire within him.

"Konohagakure is willing to pay beyond your price if necessary," he insisted. She lowered her head, picking at her own nails.

“I have no interest in joining a village. And I work exclusively with civilians.”

“You will be guaranteed a residence before you can afford one” Sasuke hardened his voice, his temper getting the better of him. “And you can demand as many benefits as you want…”

“Leave the money talk, it doesn't matter to me” Sakura insisted. “I am a traveling doctor. I have no interest in changing that.”

Frustration and despair controlled Sasuke's body, and he took a step closer to her.

"Are you serious?" he exclaimed, widening her eyes. “The most famous ninja village in the world offers you a highly respected job and you're just going to say no? Without even thinking about it?!”

She stood up, coming chest to chest with him. She was short, but her anger seemed to make her taller.

“Don't raise your voice at me” Sakura retaliated, just as frustrated as he was. Sasuke noticed that her eyes were red once again. “And don’t try to understand my decisions, which don’t concern you at all!”

"Don't worry, I wouldn't even try" Sasuke growled at her, wanting to grab her and shake her by the shoulders. “I could never understand someone who would rather wander around like a homeless person than save the lives of my comrades!”

“This is much more complex than it seems, Sasuke!” she exclaimed, her chin shaking. Her emotion made her forget the suffix of respect and Sasuke's made him forget to care. “Stop taking this personally, you stubborn idiot!”

“Am I the stubborn idiot?” he retaliated. “Said the woman who is being persecuted and yet prefers to continue risking herself!”

“Let's calm down” Sai said without emotion, moving the two away from each other with his hands and entering the middle. “Sakura-san, I ask you to forgive Sasuke for his temper. He has been very stressed the last few weeks.”

Biting his own tongue to keep from saying anything, Sasuke huffed and turned his back for a second, running his hands through his black hair.

“But I also ask you to think better about our offer” Sai continued. “I understand it’s not necessarily what you want, but for a woman in your situation…”

“What do you mean by that?”

Sasuke turned over his shoulder upon hearing her question, furrowing his eyebrows. Sakura still looked emotional from the argument, but now there was a suspicion in her eyes.

“A woman in my situation?” she insisted, looking from one to the other. "What does that mean?"

Sasuke and Sai exchanged a look, a little confused.

"We refer to the persecution that Orochimaru initiated against you..." Sai said. Her skin turned pale, white like the light outside.

“How do you know Orochimaru is after me?” she demanded, breathing heavily. Sasuke then understood.

"You do not know?" he said, seeing his chance, her weak point. Sakura furrowed her eyebrows, hugging herself.

"Know what?"

Sasuke left for a second and came back, with a black book in his hands.

“You’re in the bingo book.”

He watched her grab the book and turn the pages, until she finally found herself. Her fingers gripped the cape so hard he thought she would tear it. Her eyes were wide, filled with horror.

“I can't believe it…” Sakura muttered, before throwing the book against the wall. She used so much force that a small crack formed. “FUCK!”

Sasuke was surprised by her strength and anger, moving away from her and watching Sai do the same.

“That son of a bitch! Bastard!" she continued to curse, pacing back and forth in fury. “I should have killed him! Shit! Shit, shit, shit…”

Sakura cursed and cursed and cursed, a small woman with the appearance of a princess and the vocabulary of a sailor.

"How long have I been on it?" she questioned, pointing at the book as if it personally offended her.

"Since the last edition" he said, expressionless. "Two, two and a half months."

"TWO AND A HALF MONTHS?" Sakura exclaimed, running her fingers through her hair. "But that's a long time! Everyone must have seen it already!"

He stayed silent, trying to keep himself off the focus of her anger.

She fell sitting on her bed, with her face in her hands and her elbows on her knees. Her hair fell like a waterfall, illuminated by the moon.

“Fuck…” she sighed one last time, her voice shaky and vulnerable, clearly talking to herself. "What am I going to do?"

Seeing his chance and knowing he would only get one, Sasuke swallowed all his feelings for that infinitely frustrating woman and picked up the bingo book from the floor. He then went to the bed and left it next to her.

Sakura lifted her face, meeting his eyes.

“Konoha is willing to offer you shelter and safety,” he said, calmly but seriously. “All you have to do is become our doctor.”

When she didn't respond, he pointed to the book and turned, looking at her over his shoulder.

“Stay with it and think about it. You can give me your final answer tomorrow.”

In the silence of their room, Sai asked quietly if Sasuke was sure this would convince her, to which he responded with a raised eyebrow and nothing more. Turns out he didn't even have to wait for the next day.

A few hours later, in the early hours of the morning, there was a knock on the door. When he opened it, Sasuke knew Sakura's answer before she even said it, just by the look in her eyes.

Sometimes Fugaku wondered if becoming Hokage was really worth it.

It usually happened three times a week, coincidentally whenever he attended the long and never-ending meetings with the elders.

Maybe he was exaggerating. Shikarui was a reasonable man, being the classic Nara that he was. He actually listened when Fugaku argued and tried to understand his points of view, even when he disagreed. It was fortunate that he was part of Konoha's trio of elders, rather than some Hyuuga or worse. There was a time when Mitokado Homura was being considered, before his death from injury in the Nine-Tails' attack. Mikoto wouldn't be happy with him if she knew, but Fugaku considered his death to be a stroke of luck for the Uchihas and the village.

The problem really was the other two. Koharu was strict, self-centered, and impossible to please. She also had the strongest temper of them all. If she were younger and had a better back, Fugaku knew she would stand up to scream and point a finger in his direction.

And Danzo… he had no words for Danzo. The man never felt the need to hide his distaste for the Uchihas and his disgust at the fact that Fugaku became the Godaime. After Hiruzen's death in Orochimaru's attack, Danzo tried to nominate himself for the position and, when that didn't work, he accepted it to be Jiraya. He was never able to get over the fact that Jiraya, in turn, claimed that there was no one more deserving than Fugaku, war hero and head of one of the founding clans (and the last of them still with living members).

He had decided to make Fugaku's life hell in retaliation and, Kami was witness, he was certainly succeeding.

“Our numbers are getting smaller and smaller, Fugaku. You need to do something about this!”

He sighed only mentally, looking Danzo in the eyes. That was the main discussion of the last few years, a constant loop of words that never ended.

“I’m doing everything I can…”

"It is not enough!" Koharu exclaimed, slamming her fist on the table between them. Beside him, Shikarui sighed. “You allowed three shinobi to retire just last week!”

“Due to disability” Fugaku tried not to growl. “They suffered an attack with explosives. One of them lost his entire left leg and it’s a miracle he’s alive.”

“You also allowed the poison expert to leave!”

“Because she’s pregnant! She cannot continue working with dangerous products, this constitutes unhealthy conditions.”

“Your eldest son…”

“I need Itachi in the village” he cut the subject off, with stiff shoulders. “He will return to active duty when necessary. Now, with all due respect, we have toughened the academy training as you wanted, but until the students graduate…”

“Then lower the minimum age to enter the ninja body” Danzou interrupted him.

To Fugaku’s relief, that clenched his fists beneath the table, Shikarui was the one who spoke.

“Throwing younger kids into missions will only help us in the short term. In the long run, they will die anyway, victims of the lack of training that only time can give them. Our numbers problem will not be solved this way.”

“I will not repeat our past mistakes” Fugaku supported him. “If we learned anything from the last wars, it was this. We've already had to accept many new unprepared chunnin after the invasion during my youngest son's exams. The academy graduation age will remain the same.”

A tense silence stretched between them, before Koharu sighed. He was sure he saw her roll her eyes.

“What about the funds?” she asked. “We need more money for training the old ninjas, then.”

“There is no way to mess with the budget anymore” Fugaku was frustrated. “Not without harming the rest of the economy. I'm already receiving complaints from civilian traders and we haven't renovated the orphanage in decades…”

“The orphanage is fine” Danzo interrupted him, with a tone of voice that left no room for discussion. Fugaku squinted his eyes. “That place is the least of our worries. You talked about civilians… Maybe we should start encouraging them to sign up their kids for the academy.”

An unsuspecting person could even believe that that suggestion came from somewhere good in the old man's heart. But Fugaku had known him since he was a boy and he knew better.

“I'm surprised that you're the one making that suggestion, Danzo-san” Shikarui pointed out, much to Fugaku's pleasure. “I thought you shared the opinion that shinobi skills belong only to those born into clans.”

Danzo, in turn, shrugged his shoulders.

“Not all ninjas can or need to be elite” he said. “On the contrary, we need ninjas who remain at the base so that the best can grow even further.”

They needed ninjas to die instead of the best, that's what he meant.

“Civilians may live a life partially separate from ours, but they are not stupid” Fugaku said. “They see the ninja injuries and our death rates. Few have the courage to allow their children to participate. And I doubt that will change anytime soon. The last time we had an increase in registrations was when the Yondaime took over, because he was one of them.”

Furthermore, Fugaku might not fully understand civilians or think they were as good ninjas as clan ninjas (with the exception of Kamikaze Minato, who was the true exception in man form), but he was still the Hokage and his role was to care for all inhabitants. He would not encourage the enrollment of civilian children just to use them as sacrifices.

“We should then return to the debate about the hospital” Koharu intervened. “There are too many ninjas working there. I still believe that there is no need for so many Hyuugas and Uchihas to take shifts.”

“Too many ninjas? The hospital can barely handle the demand” Fugaku rebelled. “I receive daily reports from management and they are overwhelmed. I can’t give up any staff unless you find replacements worth ten doctors at once.”

"Don't be sarcastic, Fugaku" Danzo scolded him, as if he were a teenager and not the fifty-six year old adult he was. He, of course, also refused to call him by his respected position. "We're just arguing that shinobi are worth much more in the field than trapped inside a hospital."

“You can't say that and then criticize me for retiring a shinobi who lost a leg! If we worsen hospital conditions, we will worsen our numbers!”

“What’s your brilliant idea, then?” Koharu raised her voice, throwing daggers at him with her eyes. “Because I don’t see you moving to do something and save us from this disaster!”

Fugaku had just opened his mouth when there was a knock on the door. Surprised, because meetings with the elders were sacred and should be treated as such, he opened his mouth and said:

"Come in."

When it was Shisui who opened the door, wearing his Anbu mask, his heart jumped to the base of his throat. For him to be there… Interrupting a meeting…

“I apologize for the interruption, Hokage-sama, Council of Elders,” his nephew said, bowing and remaining so. “I have an important message for the Hokage, from Uchiha Sasuke.”

All of Fugaku's training was what held his body in place, preventing the urge to stand up to grab Shisui by the shoulders and demand the message immediately.

“You can get up, Crow,” he said. “What is the message?”

“It’s related to the mission he’s returning from” Shisui said, spine straight, hands behind his back. “The escort of Suna politicians. According to the message, Sasuke will arrive in the village this afternoon and would like to make his report immediately.”

“Oh yes, as I asked” Fugaku lied, sighing. He then turned to the elders. “Can we end the meeting? I would like to resolve Suna’s issues as soon as possible.”

Danzo and Koharu looked like they were about to complain, but Shikarui sighed deeply, taking the lead.

“Go, Hokage-sama” he said, seeming to hold back a yawn. Fugaku has always preferred the Naras above all other clans. “We will finish this conversation later.”

With a wave, Fugaku left the room with Shisui in tow. As soon as the door closed and they were far enough away to not be heard, he murmured:

“Did he find her?”

Please say yes.

"Yes." Shisui's expression was hidden by the mask, but there was joy and excitement in his voice, no longer mechanical. “His hawk arrived a few minutes ago. Knowing Sasuke, he should be arriving with her and Sai at any moment. He also said that he needed to make Sai believe that we will offer her shelter in exchange for information about Orochimaru.”

As he knew it could happen. His son was smart in controlling the situation. Fugaku nodded without showing his true emotions, but Shisui was family. He probably noticed his breathing hitch.

“You did good sending Sasuke” Shisui said softly. “He is probably one of the most stubborn ninjas in this village. The girl would have no chance of hiding from him.”

The ghost of a smile appeared at the corner of Fugaku's lips.

“Sasuke has my complete trust” he replied. “I knew he could do it, I just didn’t think it would be so soon. From what the rumors suggested, she could had being on the other side of the world.”

“It’s destiny” Shisui joked. Fugaku could imagine his mischievous little smile. “Itachi won’t like us going behind his back.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” he replied, seriously. “The village urgently needs a good doctor. This will be beneficial for all of us.”

It wasn't a lie. Fugaku was not ignorant of the suffering of his shinobi and civilians. People having their limbs amputated, poisoned until nerve atrophy, traumatized to the point of trying to take their own lives... If the rumors about that girl were true... Fugaku knew, with all his Hokage and shinobi instinct, that this would change everything for them. If, along with that, he also had a more selfish motivation, what was the problem? He was still a man. A husband. A father.

“Of course, of course” Shisui hummed to the side, playfully. “Whatever you say, Ojisan.”

Giving him a reproachful look, Fugaku entered his office. There, he exchanged glances with Shikaku. There were few people outside the Uchiha clan who knew about the girl and they all thought it was a matter of the hospital being on the verge of collapse. Shikaku was one of them, as Fugaku knew he wouldn't be able to hide it from him. Not just because he was his advisor and shared the space with him, but because the man was the head of the Nara clan and the sharpest mind he knew. Just like Sasuke with Sai, he preferred to tell half-truths in order to still have control of the situation.

“Sasuke is coming back” he said, receiving a raised and interested eyebrow in response. “Everyone can go. Crow, Cat and Panda, you stay. Panda, stay hidden.”

There was the sound of Anbu guards leaving, before Fugaku walked over to his desk and sat down. Shisui remained on his left, while Itachi stayed on his right.

“Did he find her?” Shikaku asked. Fugaku nodded in confirmation.

“And they should be arriving at any moment.”

“Shit,” he cursed, good-naturedly. “If the bingo book is correct…”

Fugaku nodded once more.

"I know."

Everything could change.

When Sasuke finally arrived, everyone in the room seemed to have held their breath. There was a knock on the door, Fugaku allowed entry. Sai came first, Sasuke second, automatically meeting his eyes.

And then, the girl.

If Fugaku hadn't already seen her sketch and didn't know the stories about how his youngest son wouldn't let himself be distracted by the line of girls interested in him, he would have accused Sasuke of falling for the charms of some random pretty girl. Her appearance was even more absurd in person: pink hair, huge eyes, short to the point of barely reaching Sasuke's shoulders (while wearing high heels). If it weren't for the color palette, she would disappear in a crowd. Certainly not the type of person Fugaku would assume was not only a kunoichi, but one with abilities never seen before.

“Hokage-sama” Sai bowed, an action repeated by the other two. Fugaku kept his eyes on the girl, noticing her surprised eyes at him and perfect posture for the occasion. “Our mission with the Suna politicians was a success.”

“We also completed the secondary mission” Sasuke said, looking at the girl and indicating for her to go forward. “This is Sakura, the doctor we talked about.”

Fugaku watched her bow once more, feet together, hands behind her back. Once again, perfect posture. Beside him, he could feel Itachi's piercing gazes, who seemed to finally be understanding what was happening.

“Hokage-sama” she greeted him. "It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Haruno Sakura."

“Haruno-san. I'm glad we finally got to meet, you're a hard woman to find” he replied. She, in return, looked a little flushed.

Indicating Shikaku, looking at them from his table, Fugaku continued.

“This is Nara Shikaku, my advisor. Did Sasuke explain to you why we were looking for you?”

“He said you were interested in hiring me as a doctor, yes” Sakura said. “But I admit that this situation is a little new to me, Hokage-sama. I've never been hired by a hidden village before. I usually work exclusively with civilians.”

“This situation is new for us too” he calmed her. “We very rarely hire doctors who are not from Konoha. And if we do, they already have a contract with another trusted village. Would you mind answering some questions for me, Haruno-san? Just so that we don’t just rely on the rumors we hear.”

"Of course."

In his peripheral vision, Fugaku saw Shikaku adjusting himself in his chair, the insane mind of a Nara about to be put to work.

“Unfortunately, I don't recognize the Haruno clan” Fugaku began. “I'm sorry if this offends you. Could you tell us a little about your origins?”

"Oh, don't worry, Hokage-sama, I'm not offended," Sakura said, waving her hands in front of her before returning them behind her back. “In fact, it would surprise me if you had heard my last name before. The Harunos are not a shinobi clan.”

Fugaku could feel the shock not only in himself, but also in everyone in the room. He couldn't believe it and from Shikaku's reactions, neither could he. Not only was she a small woman with absurd hair, she was also a civilian?!

“Were you born a civilian?” Shikaku intervened, watching her with his head tilted. She waved, unfazed and proud.

“The Harunos have been traders for many generations. Unfortunately, I never met the rest of my family, as I was raised by my father, who was a traveler. But as far as I know, we originate from the Land of Rice Fields. And I am the first shinobi.”

“As travelers, you and your father therefore have no connection to any country?”

"No, sir. I know I was born somewhere in the Norse lands beyond the Land of Earth, but nothing very detailed. My father and I traveled a lot until he fell ill.”

“Where is your father now?”

"Deceased. He died when I was twelve. His name was Yuji.”

“Haruno-san” Fugaku turned her attention to him, his eyebrows confused. “How can you explain your abilities if that is your origin? We were made to understand that you had training.”

“And I have” she stated, calmly and with soft smiles. “I was trained by another traveling doctor, who took me in after my father's death. My shishou.”

“An unknown shinobi suddenly appeared and decided to train you?” Shikaku questioned her.

“A kunoichi, actually” Sakura smiled brightly. Fugaku found her extremely confident for a woman alone in the presence of elite shinobi from the largest hidden village in the world. “Her name was Tsunade. She was the one who taught me the medical skills I possess, as well as some of my fighting skills. She was a traveling doctor, as I am today, and she found me being cared for by neighbors after my father passed away. I begged her to take me with her and she agreed.”

“Which clan did she belong to?”

Sakura shrugged, unconcerned.

"I don't know."

Shock coursed through the six men in the room, Sasuke's eyebrows rose so high they almost reached his hairline. After a long silence, which didn't seem to disturb Sakura at all, it was Fugaku who spoke first, after all he was still the leader, no matter how disconcerting that girl was.

"You do not know?"

“She never said.”

“Haruno-san…” He felt a sudden urge to pinch the space between his eyebrows. "How old are you?"

“Twenty-three, Hokage-sama.”

She looked younger, probably because of her hair and the flushed tip of her nose.

"Twenty-three. So you spent practically ten years in the company of this woman and at no point did you think about discovering her clan? Or know anything?”

Sakura was still perfectly poised and polite, but now she looked amused.

“With all due respect, Hokage-sama, when you grow up a civilian like me, the relationship with shinobi clans and their importance is different” she explained. “And I know some things. I know that my shishou was the last of her clan and that she left her village in order to travel the world helping people. I also know that she completely hated talking about her family and what happened to them, so I learned to keep my curiosity to myself. I was already happy enough that she took me in and taught me. That was and still is enough for me.”

Fugaku wasn't the type of Hokage (or man in general) to show his emotions, so he held in the long sigh he wanted to let out, just nodding his head.

"Right." he said finally, deciding that for now it was best to move on. They could find out more about this later. “You said earlier that you work exclusively with civilians. Any specific reason for this?”

“Self-preservation” Sakura was sincere, looking him in the eyes. Fugaku was surprised to see that he felt a certain respect for such a small woman with so much courage. “I am not ignorant to the fact that my medical skills are… new.” Unique was what she didn't say and what everyone thought. “So I know I can attract unwanted attention. Since it was just me after her death, I preferred to keep a low profile. Which was a good idea, considering the last encounter I had with a shinobi.”

“Orochimaru” was Shikaku who said it. Sakura nodded once.

“His little lackey, actually. Kabuto.” she explained. “We had a little get-together a few months ago. From the looks of it, Orochimaru wanted to hire my services and I had to refuse.”

“More than that, since he made a point of putting you in the bingo book” Fugaku guessed. Sakura, in turn, shrugged her shoulders a little and gave him a mischievous smile.

“Kabuto is the kind of man who doesn’t know how to take ‘no’ for an answer, so I kicked his ass and guess his male ego couldn’t handle it very well…”

Fugaku could feel the amusement rolling off his eldest son and nephew in waves. Well-mannered and mischievous. Maybe Sasuke had fallen for her charm after all.

“Is that the reason you decided to accept our proposal, then?” he questioned her, knowing he was right. “We are willing to offer protection against him in exchange for your services.”

"Yes, Hokage-sama, Sasuke-san was super kind and explained everything to me when we met" she said, casting a glance at his youngest son who, in turn, looked a little pink. From his place at the guard, Shisui let out a low chuckle. “I'll be honest, I've never been interested in settling in a hidden village. My shishou had always been a free-spirited woman and I inherited that from her. However, I also know that Orochimaru has many spies around the world and I'm not stupid enough to face them all alone. I accept your proposal for a service contract, but I would like to ask that it be for a period of six to eight months.”

“As long as you are willing to discuss possible re-hiring at the end of that time, the village of Konoha accepts your proposal, Haruno-san. If not, we would like a minimum one-year contract.” Fugaku said. When Sakura stated that she was willing to do so, he continued. “This therefore brings us to the subject of your abilities. I admit that I have never heard of a med-ninja capable of fighting in battle.”

Her smile changed. It wasn't anything mocking, but it was close, joking on the line, as if it meant something bigger to her.

“I know and I have a lot of opinions on this subject” Sakura, as if she knew something they didn't. “But I won’t go into that merit. What I can say, Hokage-sama, is that I'm not like other med-ninjas. I’m a field doctor.”

There was, once again, a brief silence. Fugaku was frustrated by how many times that absurd-looking girl managed to surprise them.

“Like the ones who accompany teams on missions and heal shinobi in battles?” Shikaku took a chance, the man himself looking uncertain.

“And stay out of the conflict? No." The corner of Sakura's mouth turned up. “I am a doctor who actively participates in the battle. I'm not just a doctor or just a shinobi. I am both."

More silence. Fugaku wanted to rub his hands against his face until he felt the skin become raw. All he wanted was the contract with the slugs to beg for help or a doctor good enough to be able to save whole shinobis, not just pieces. And what he got was a pink-haired girl who he was starting to doubt the sanity.

“...That doesn't exist” said Sasuke, in turn, looking at Sakura as if he was thinking the same thing as his father. She seemed amused.

“That didn’t exist” she teased him. “That’s why I had to be the first. But I believe we are digressing. I had understood that Konoha was exclusively interested in my medical skills.”

“Right” Fugaku cleared his throat, exchanging looks with Sasuke and Shikaku. Sai was staring at Sakura for a long time, almost without blinking. “Would you mind doing a demonstration? The rumors seem a little… unbelievable.”

Her smile grew, lighting up her entire face.

"Sure! Do you have a fish?”

Fugaku had fought in two wars, became head of his clan, witnessed the attack of the nine-tailed fox, saw the village hero's mask fall from Orochimaru's face, somehow managed to be the first Uchiha to become Hokage and was head of the Police Department for decades before that. He had experienced many things. He had seen many things.

And yet, nothing had prepared him for the moment when Shisui returned with a fresh fish in his hands and placed it on his table.

Sakura's hands glowed with green light and she smiled when she saw the discreet widening of Fugaku's eyes. He tried not to flinch as she approached, trusting that Sasuke wouldn't have brought her in without witnessing what he was capable of doing firsthand. Even so, Shisui and Itachi approached him from the sides and even Shikaku stood up to get a better look.

With a calm expression, Sakura placed her hands on the fish. The silent room was filled with a low, calming noise that almost seemed capable of putting them into a sort of trance. After a few seconds, she turned off the light.

And the fish began to move on the table.

Fugaku's jaw dropped. Someone in the room gasped (and they would never know who, because no one would admit it). Everyone leaned in closer, watching the fish jump, its mouth open for air.

“It's alive” Shisui said, so incredulous that he completely forgot about Anbu guard protocol. His face was covered, but he was clearly staring at Sakura with a shocked expression.

“Yes,” she confirmed, nodding. “But it’s cruel to leave it like this, dying in agony.”

In a calm and slow gesture, as if they were cornered animals, Sakura raised one of her hands and brought the green light once again, now in a different format, very close to a translucent kunai. Then she went to the fish and cut a gash into it that killed it once again, putting it out of its misery.

Fugaku kept his eyes on her, the words he had read circling his mind over and over again. Able to heal injuries and illnesses of all types. Injuries and illnesses of all types. All types… That was…

A miracle.

“Are you sure you are a civilian? Couldn’t it be a kekkei genkai?” Shikaku questioned her, looking just as dumbfounded as he was.

“No, not at all” Sakura laughed, as if their reactions amused her. “It's chakra, actually. It can be taught and imitated.”

His heart stopped inside his chest. Shikaku's eyes met his.

“But chakra control of at least 89 percent is required to be able to perform treatments,” she hurried, seeming to be able to read their minds. “It is an extremely difficult and delicate skill. Again, it can be taught, but not everyone can learn it.”

“What is your chakra control level?” Shisui asked. Fugaku's mind was still so full of thoughts that he didn't even scold him for leaving his guard stance.

“99.6 percent.”

He has reached his limit. Letting a long sigh come out of his breath, Fugaku rubbed his palms over his face. Mikoto would never believe him. He couldn't believe it and he was right there, watching it live.

“Would you mind checking this out by taking a test sometime?” he asked

"No way." She actually seemed very excited about the idea. “I would gladly do it.”

“And what else is your… green chakra ability is capable of, Haruno-san?”

“It’s called the Mystic Palm Technique” Sakura continued. “Or you can call it Medical Ninjutsu. And it can do almost anything, to be honest. Repairing bones, repairing muscles, organs and tissues, chakra current treatments, even dealing with chronic or autoimmune diseases…”

On his right side, Itachi became ramrod hard. Fugaku felt his heart at the base of his throat and Sasuke, in turn, looked at his brother, meeting his eyes.

“It’s not miraculous, I might add,” she said. “Unfortunately, this may be the impression people have. Medical ninjutsu is a skill like any other: it depends on the person performing it. Not just anyone capable of externalizing their chakra like I do will be able to save lives. It takes training and experience to reach my level.”

She was so confident that Fugaku found himself becoming confident with her. Insane. That meeting was just insane.

“Thank you for your clarification, Haruno-san” he said finally, taking a deep breath. “I believe I have no more questions for now. And you're probably tired after traveling for so long. Do you have any amount of money?”

“Enough for the next three weeks, but no more than that.”

Good. The elders weren't exaggerating when they came to complain about the loss of shinobi and the economy. They were sinking.

“Konoha will provide housing for you in one of our inns until you receive your first salary at the beginning of next month,” he said. “If possible, I would like you to start at the hospital as soon as possible. You will meet me tomorrow morning for a meeting with the head of the hospital and to sign your contract.”

“Yes, Hokage-sama.”

“You are dismissed, then. It was a pleasure meeting you, Haruno-san.” His eyes found Sasuke's teammate. “Sai, please lead Haruno-san to the inn closest to the hospital. I will write a letter for you to deliver to reception, explaining everything.”

A few minutes later, when the two left after bowing respectfully, the room was once again filled with shocked silence.

“Holy shit” Shisui blurted out.

“I'll be right back” Shikaku said in return, leaving and closing the door behind him.

Fugaku's eyes met his youngest son's.

"So?"

“We found her in the Land of Waves, treating Tazuna's illness. I saw her take care of him in person and collected their statements. Everything matches.”

“And did you happen to see her use… other forms of healing?”

Like talking slugs made of chakra...

Sasuke denied.

“No, just the green light” he said. “I tried to access her belongings, but I didn't have the opportunity to go deeper. All I found were sealing scrolls and a strong herbal smell.”

“That doesn’t deny our first hypothesis” Shisui intervened. Itachi, clearly frustrated, shifted his weight between his feet, quiet only by the presence of Panda, still hidden.

“But it doesn’t confirm it either” Fugaku argued. They found her, but still haven't discovered the mystery of the healing slugs and the missing contract. It was her? Were they the ones who taught her her skill? Or was that just an absurd coincidence?

Shikaku returned to the room the moment he asked:

“Do you believe her story?”

“I do,” his advisor said, dropping a file folder onto his desk. “At least in part.”

Curious, Fugaku opened the folder and read the papers, feeling his own eyebrows rise.

“Haruno Kizashi and Mebuki?” he questioned, looking up from the two photos, one of a man with dark pink, almost purple hair, and the other of a blonde woman.

“I knew I recognized the surname” Shikaku explained. “The Harunos were one of our best civilian traders, they had an imported goods store and even sold shinobi weapons. They both died during the Kyuubi's attack, childless. And that's not all, look on the next page. On the list of family members that Kizashi registered to allow visits to the village.”

Fugaku did as asked and there it was.

Haruno Yuji.

“Do you believe she is their niece?”

“The last update was made five years before Kizashi's death, when she was not yet born. It makes sense."

“What about everything else?”

“Honestly, everything that was said this afternoon is the craziest thing I've ever heard in my life” Shikaku said, serious, but carefree, as only Naras seemed to be able to be. “A civilian girl with pink hair, running around with another woman, capable of doing things no one else can? How did the ninja world go so many years without knowing about their existence? Kunoichis are too rare to go so unnoticed.”

“My thoughts exactly” Fugaku muttered, staring at the freaking dead fish in his table.

“Not to mention that whole story about being a combat medic… No one would risk putting their doctors in the middle of a battlefield. They are rare and extremely important. It would just be stupid, practically suicidal” Shikaku continued. “But I admit that, because she does not belong to any village, she would not be restricted by these rules and would have more freedom to take risks…”

“She knows how to behave perfectly in front of authority” he commented, looking up. "If she's never met a Kage, whoever trained her certainly has."

"I agree. And she is very confident too. She joked about being in the bingo book because Kabuto was offended about losing a fight, but I don't think it's just that. He made a point of pointing out that she has “superhuman strength”. It doesn’t just feel like retaliation, it feels like a warning.”

“Beating Kabuto is already surprising in itself, he’s not Orochimaru’s favorite for nothing” Fugaku pointed out. He tapped his fingertips on the table, thinking. "Panda."

The Anbu suddenly appeared, his face covered and his long, straight black hair flowing down his back.

“Did you find anything?”

“Her chakra current seems normal, Hokage-sama. The reserves are surprisingly small for a shinobi her age, but everything seems solid and well-organized. I don't think she's lying about having such good chakra control.”

“What about the green light?”

“When she activated it, there was a huge concentration of chakra in her hands, but nothing more. I believe she is also being sincere about this apparent medical ninjutsu. What I could see was that her chakra left her hands and entered the fish, traveling through its own chakra currents. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

She said it wasn't a miracle, but that's exactly what it felt like.

“There is, however, something I noticed, Hokage-sama.”

"Say it."

“In the center of her forehead, behind her bangs, there is a constant and abnormal concentration of chakra, as if she had an extra reserve.”

Fugaku's eyebrows shot up and everyone else looked as surprised as he was.

“What do you think it could be? A seal?"

“That’s my hypothesis, yes. It didn't look dangerous and it didn't have any kind of external substance, but I couldn't figure out what it was for. What it appears at first glance is that she has found a way to create a second reserve of chakra, perhaps for emergencies.”

“Have you ever heard of anything like this before?”

“Not that I can remember, but I can look it up.”

“Holy shit, the surprises never end with this girl, huh?” Shisui exclaimed. Sasuke, in turn, snorted loudly.

“That's because you didn't travel with her here” he complained. “She insisted on walking barefoot the entire way. She only put on her shoes when she arrived because she said it would be rude to appear in front of the Hokage without wearing them.”

“I always liked the weird ones.”

"That's enough, you two" Fugaku scolded them, watching as their postures became serious again. “Cat, did you notice anything?”

Itachi was clearly bothered that they had gone behind his back, but he was no more than the professional he had trained him to be.

“It's not something that can be copied with the sharingan” he said. “I agree with Panda’s assessment.”

Nodding, Fugaku turned to said Anbu.

“Thank you, Panda. You did well."

Normally, he wouldn't have entrusted that moment and that conversation to the ears and eyes of any Hyuuga. But Hyuuga Neji was different and Fugaku trusted him more than the others.

“What do we do then?” Shikaku questioned him. Fugaku looked into his eyes and said:

“Let’s just watch for now. Let her work at the hospital, but keep a small Anbu team nearby, just in case. Additionally, I want to send some shinobi on a small reconnaissance mission to the Land of Rice Fields. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find some Harunos there.”

In Amegakure, in the official Akatsuki hiding place, Kisame sighed pleasantly as he smelled his tea. He sat on the soft sofa in the common room, listening to the endless sound of rain coming from the roof. This was the first break he'd had in months and his plan was to make the most of every second he could.

The sound of the door opening tensed his muscles for a second, but as long as it wasn't fucking Hidan and his religious lectures, he wouldn't mind some company.

“Hey,” Kisame said over his cup, taking a sip as Deidara walked in, taking off his wet cloak and plopping down in the armchair across from him. “You came back early, I thought the mission would have another month.”

“Hmph” he said in response, throwing his head back and closing his eyes, his long bangs covering half of his face. “The target was a weakling, it wasn't even fun. Your village is losing its touch.”

In response, Kisame rolled his eyes and snorted, taking another sip of tea. He preferred to occupy his thoughts with better things than Kirigakure, like the feeling of Samehada sucking an enemy's chakra or the sweet smile of a little rose on the other side of a bar table.

“Besides, we heard rumors that some assholes from the Land of Fire were in the area and decided to leave.”

“Afraid of some little ninjas, Deidara? Where did your courage go?”

"I'm not afraid of some Konoha bitches," he growled, offended. Kisame smiled behind his cup. “I just didn't have the patience left to deal with Tobi for another second. You know he always gets agitated when we face ninjas from that village. I would end up killing him just to shut him up.”

This sobered Kisame from his amusement.

“Speaking of Tobi, how is he?”

“Hmph, fuck that I know” Deidara cursed, taking out some clay from his pockets and sculpting random shapes. “Crazier every day, completely unbearable. I don’t know what the fuck is going on with him, but he keeps babbling non-stop about something being different.”

Kisame pursed his eyebrows and lips, thoughtfully. No one there was an example of mental health (Hidan was a damn Akatsuki, for Kami's sake), but Tobi's issue was worrying even them, the damn missing-nin who were planning world domination.

“How long has he been like this?”

“I don’t know, a few months. Six, eight, feels like a fucking lifetime. Now he keeps talking about how he thinks someone managed to imitate his chakra signature. He kept infiltrating civilian cities, scaring those sons of bitches to look for some shit he didn't even know what it was. Crazy bastard.”

Kisame let out a long sigh, going back to his tea.

“At least it’s over” Deidara said, sighing. “I just want to be able to stay dry for more than a minute. Kiri for two months and this damn city just rains nonstop…”

“Did you at least buy anything there?” he changed the subject. Deidara shrugged.

“Just the bingo book Kakuzu asked me for.” He reached into his pocket and smiled mischievously. “Want to take a look? There's a hot new kunoichi on page thirty-six. Maybe it will help you forget about the little civilian from the Land of Waterfalls.”

Good-naturedly, Kisame laughed and took the book from his hands.

“She didn't impact me that much,” he said, flipping through the pages with one hand and taking a long sip of tea with the other.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s not what Sasori said…”

But whatever Sasori had said, Kisame wasn't going to find out. Because as soon as he reached page thirty-six and caught a glimpse of pink hair, he spat out all the tea that was in his mouth, drenching Deidara from head to toe.

“HEY!” he shouted, disgusted. "Come on, man! What the fuck was that?!"

Kisame didn't answer him, too busy staring at a very familiar sketch. A female voice echoed in his ears, sweet and deceptive.

Do I look like a kunoichi to you?

“Well, look what we have here” he muttered to himself, smiling mischievously. “You dirty, dirty girl…”

Chapter Text

Sitting on the roof of the inn, with her legs bent and her face resting on her knees, Sakura watched the sun rise and illuminate the Hokage's mountain.

The blanket she dragged up with her did little to protect her from the cold. Her toes were the first ones she stopped feeling, almost eight hours ago, when she sat down on those gutters and lay there, still and silent. Then it was the tip of her nose and then the cheeks. Sakura, in turn, didn't notice any of this, just as she didn't notice the pain in her spine due to the number of hours she was stuck in that position and she didn't notice her healing chakra flowing freely and without needing to be commanded, warming and healing the cold parts of her body.

All of her focus was on five huge stone faces that stared back at her, with expressions and eyes as blank as hers.

As a doctor, Sakura could recognize the symptoms, the pattern that had continued to repeat itself over the past eight months. She would spend days, even weeks if she was lucky, feeling fine. Healing people, eating sugar, wandering through lands she never had the chance to see before. And then it would hit her. The crying with sobs so strong that they made her want to vomit, the uncontrollable rage that made her break the floor and the bones in her hands, the impulsive desire to drink until she forgot who she was. Call it what you want: depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, dissociation… It wasn't recommended that a doctor diagnose oneself, but deep down, she knew it was there. Even if she didn't know the name (or didn't want to admit it), the signs were all there.

As a shinobi, Sakura forced herself to keep getting up the next day. Like a routine or maybe even a trance state, into which she fell before even arriving in that world. For the past six years, that's just what she's done, day in and day out. See Madara laugh as he kills her shishou, continue the next day. See Ino's blonde hair covered in blood, continue the next day. See Yamato's last look before staying behind to save them, continue the next day. Watch the world be destroyed by blood, fire and hate, piece by piece, person by person, heart by heart, carry on the next day.

Watch her last friend die in her arms before being sent to a new universe all alone and continue the next day. Maybe it was a matter of Sakura not knowing how to do anything else, a matter of not having anything else inside her other than that, two legs with a life of their own that kept walking, walking, walking, aimlessly.

As a person… well, there she was. Sitting for hours on top of a roof, still as a statue and cold as a ghost, feeling so many things that it was as if she felt nothing at all.

The streak of sunlight rose higher and higher, passing from the Hokage's chin to her mouth. Five faces carved in stone. Five men. There was no long straight hair framing a pretty face with feminine features. There was no Byakugou. There were only five male faces, two of them breaking the remains of hearts that Sakura didn't even know she had.

Even after learning that the massacre never happened, it never crossed her mind that Fugaku would be Hokage. That meant there were still other ways in which that universe was different from hers. Not only were the Uchihas not exterminated, their relationship with the village was positive. Positive enough that the population, heads of other clans and elders trusted Fugaku as Hokage. Maybe Danzo was dead after all. But if not… how did this bastard fail? What was the piece, in her original universe, that could have changed everything?

A part of Sakura didn't want to accept him as the Godaime. Not because he was an Uchiha, but because he wasn't Tsunade. This little Sakura in her was full of denial, wanting to cry and destroy the world, screaming over and over “it should be shishou, it should be shishou, it should be shishou!”. There was a part of her that wouldn't accept anyone occupying that place. A part she wasn't proud of but had its teeth sunk deep into her soul, a part made up of pure, infinite loyalty that would probably never go away. She would never let go.

But the rest of her, all the rest of her cells, her bones, her thoughts, her soul… were happy. For the Uchihas, of course, but mainly for him. For Sasuke.

Growing up, for Sakura, meant many things, including the maturation of her feelings for Sasuke and the discovery of what it meant to truly love someone. She grew from a girl with selfish and delusional dreams, who believed that romantic love would be enough to fix a traumatized boy's broken life, to a selfless adult who was willing to give him whatever he needed from her, even if it was just a platonic partnership that would silently hold his hand through the difficult nights. She learned that she wasn't enough for him and learned to live with that. In the end, he wasn't enough for her either.

It had been many years since Sakura had loved Sasuke romantically, but she still loved him as deeply as she loved Naruto. It was embedded in her bones, forever held a soft place in her heart. Sasuke was part of who Sakura was, just like all the people she once loved. He was one of the key players that shaped her into the woman she became. Every time she looked in the mirror, every time she healed someone, every time she fought an enemy, there weren't just Tsunade, Ino, Naruto and so many others in her actions. There was also Sasuke, there was mainly Sasuke, always there, with her.

So, knowing that he had not only his family with him, but a father in the most prestigious position in the village… she was so happy that she almost hugged each of them right there, in the middle of the Hokage's office. There, Sasuke got the love he deserved, he could have his brother with him. There, he did not suffer. The wave of happiness that hit her was so overwhelming that Sakura momentarily forgot about all the other feelings that had been consuming her up until that moment.

Unfortunately, as soon as she was alone once again, they returned.

Meeting Sasuke and Sai was so sad that Sakura had to pretend she was going to take a shower so she could vomit everything she had in her stomach without anyone noticing. She vomited and vomited and vomited, until her throat burned with acid and she continued to heave nothing but gastric fluid. With their deaths replaying in her mind, she vomited until she was weak enough to only have the strength to climb into the shower, where she cried, covering her mouth with her hand, drowning out the noise.

She should have run away, Sakura knew. But a pulse of her tracking chakra made her feel them in her room, where she knew the two little bastards were going through her things, and everything went downhill after that. Sakura wasn't ready to go back to Konoha, to see them all again. But what she also knew was that she could never say no to them, to her boys, no matter how hard she tried.

If it had been anyone else there, Sakura would have been firm and fled during the night. But it was Sasuke. Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke. She knew she should say no, but how could she? Sakura knew him like the back of her hand. She could see the desperation at the edges of his expressions and words, in the fact that he so quickly lost patience with her.

He accused her of letting his comrades die and this sent her spiraling. Who needed her? Naruto? Kakashi? Yamato? Was this why Sasuke and Sai were alone? Were any of them injured or dying? Or was it someone from his family? Sasuke finally had his family with him and she was just going to watch him lose someone, knowing she could help?

His words buried Sakura with images of all of them injured, sick, trapped in hospital beds, until there was nothing inside her but a pulsing desire to do what he was asking. She didn't think about the consequences, didn't think about how she wasn't ready. All she could think about was how she couldn't allow one of them to die again.

She has already failed them once. She couldn't handle it a second time.

A sigh escaped Sakura's breath, creating a small white smoke as she clashed with the morning cold. The sun illuminated the city even more, now reaching the Hokages' eyes.

She was sorry for her emotional actions, but there was no undoing this mess. They would come after her, it was obvious. Just as it was obvious that there were Anbu agents hiding around the inn since Sai left her there, with his expression blank and his mouth closed. He didn't ask her questions about human behavior, he didn't even call her Ugly. Sai just nodded and walked away, taking the part of her heart that belonged to him in his pocket.

The Anbus probably thought she was crazy, sitting in the cold for hours without moving or saying anything, but Sakura stopped caring about what others thought of her a long time ago, when she was still someone else. Besides, most likely they weren't wrong, so why get mad? Wasn't that why she made the mistake of going to the Land of Waves to purposely find Tazuna and his family? Because she felt like she was losing her mind?

After leaving the Land of Iron, Sakura sailed in the direction she had come, bypassing the Land of Fire's border on the inside only during the area where she needed to avoid the Land of Rain. Then she visited all the other small countries without hidden villages, until she saw a familiar face again.

In the Land of Tea, at a flea market, Sakura heard the clear exclamations of:

“Porcelain from the Land of Stone! Porcelain of the finest quality! Exclusive from the Harunos!”

She still couldn't tell who gasped louder: herself or Katsuyu, inside her pocket. The merchant in question was Sakura's relative, a distant cousin she met a few times in her original universe as a child. She was so shocked to see him that she couldn't even move fast enough to hide. Her cousin stared at her with the same wide eyes for a few seconds, before pointing a finger in her direction and shouting:

“Cool hair, stranger!”

Sakura told herself that she embarked on a conversation with him to get information about his family, but deep down, she knew that she was driven by nostalgia more than anything. From what she could gather, thanks to a series of discreet questions that civilians would believe were just polite, her family history was much the same, except for one thing: her parents.

“Are you going to Konoha? They say it’s a cool place for tourists, the biggest ninja village in the world” her cousin had said, before his expression turned sad. “Unfortunately I only went there once, for a funeral when I was little. My uncle Kizashi passed away with his wife twenty years ago.”

The good thing about that meeting was that she learned enough to create a plausible lie about her past, which came in handy when she was hired by Konoha and invented that she was the daughter of the man who was once her traveling uncle who died shortly before her chuunin exams. She plugged most of the holes she could think of and hoped it would be enough.

The bad side… well, let's just say she had a panic attack in an empty alley for a whole 30 minutes, which only went away thanks to Katsuyu's calming chakra hidden on the back of her neck. Thinking about her parents' death was a deep, putrid wound that hurt so much that Sakura always ended up running away from it. All the deaths she witnessed hurt in different ways: some left her with all-consuming rage, others with the kind of sadness that paralyzed her, others with latent denial. The death of her parents just made her want to run away. Run, run, run, like the weak, scared little girl she once was and who always seemed to wear the skin when she thought about them.

No Tsunade. No parents. In that universe and in her original one, orphaned once again.
And speaking of that…

Her eyes moved to the face next to Fugaku, now completely illuminated by the morning sun. The Hokage covered in golden light, golden like Naruto's hair.

The sharp pain in Sakura's heart spread through her nerves like the roots of a tree, breaking her out of her trance by reminding her that she had a body, which was currently quite sore.
She thought Obito would be a little more merciful to her, sending her to a universe where she wouldn't have to suffer for him and the disaster that was his life, but as she looked at Namikaze Minato's face, handsome, serious and dead, Sakura knew that wasn't the case. This was not a universe in which Obito was lucky. It wasn't a universe where he could be with Rin and Kakashi, where he could remain in the village and be the happy boy she was told about in stolen moments. There he was the unlucky Uchiha, the Uchiha who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was manipulated into making the worst possible decisions ever.

There he was the killer of Naruto's parents. And this time, he didn't know her or love her. He was the enemy once again.

If she had known that he sent her to a universe where his timeline had not been altered, Sakura would have thought of him when she saw Kisame and would have tried to hear more of their conversation in search of knowing more about a certain 'Tobi'. Who knows, maybe she would have even tried to go after him during one of her emotional outbursts. Just to feel his chakra, just to make sure that, there, he wasn't dying from the inside out, burning with fever in her hands.

She wondered what his plan was with all this. Obito was an idiot with so much guilt inside him that she wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't thought about himself. Maybe he just thought there was no way to have a different life for himself, only for others. That he was doomed to be used by Madara or some shit like that.

A small fire lit inside Sakura's stomach, hot and carnal. Or maybe it was some kind of fucked up reverse psychology game, because she knew herself well enough to know that now that she was aware that this idiot was destroying himself and the world behind an orange mask, she couldn't stop thinking about him.

It was going to hurt like hell. It would probably destroy her in every way possible. But just as Sakura knew instantly that she would kill Sasori in that world too, she decided at that moment, looking into Minato's stone eyes, that she would find a way to save Obito. From Madara, from Akatsuki and from himself. Whether that was his plan in sending her there or not, she didn't care.

Didn't he decide he was going to give her a second chance? Well then. She would return the favor, even if she had to beat the common sense out of his universally stubborn head.

Moving for the first time in hours, Sakura sighed deeply and lifted her chin from her knees, stretching her back. She really missed Obito, her only friend for the last almost three years. Except for Katsuyu, of course. Sakura had sent her to Shikkotsu Forest the moment Inari appeared, shouting about the arrival of his friends from Konoha, and hadn't seen her since. Until those Anbu agents disappeared from her surroundings, she wouldn't risk summoning her. Sakura didn't know which of them could be trackers and she no longer knew the village well enough to know who Orochimaru's spies were. Katsuyu's safety was more important than her desire to have someone to vent to.

Surprisingly (or not), Sakura also missed Karin a lot. During the two months they spent together at the Temple of Golden Waters, the two created a bond during afternoons of training and nights of conversations exchanged in the dark. Sakura listened more than she talked, but Karin didn't seem to mind, babbling like a person who's been deprived of doing so her whole life. She also learned medical ninjutsu very quickly, which was not a surprise, as Sakura discovered that she was correct with her assumptions about her work with Orochimaru. A person who had their body used and abused like Karin would find the strength and perseverance to grow up as quickly as possible. She understood, to a point. Sakura also felt, at one point in her life, that becoming a doctor was the only option she had.

So, in such a short time, Karin became skilled enough to handle mild cases and even treat wounds. She still wouldn't be able to do surgery or save herself from a punch that went through her body, but it didn't matter. They both cried when she healed a cut that Sakura opened on her hand, Karin out of relief, she out of empathetic happiness, as was her way.

In return, on quiet mornings, Karin helped her with her new tracking skills. There weren't that many people around (besides the fifteen samurai who lived in the temple) and it was fucking cold all the time, but they did the best they could, forcing Sakura to find each person around individually to exercise her ability to not be totally taken by information and also walking in the warm waters of lakes full of golden herbs.

Sakura always knew she was good, but the time they became friends proved to her that Karin was a formidable sensor. Not only could she sense someone nearby, she could differentiate their chakra signatures and find them anywhere within a certain (and very impressive) distance, as well as know the size of their reserves and their potential. This Sakura discovered when she was asked how it was possible that she had “two chakra reserves” in her body, one larger than the other (“the natural ones are so fucking small, how can you be so powerfull?” Karin had said .). Trusting her, but not completely, Sakura told a half truth: she found a way to concentrate chakra to create a reserve that worked as a plan b. Karin was genuinely impressed by this.

The first smile in recent hours appeared on her lips, as the sun finished rising and illuminated the city. She still wouldn't be able to expand her tracking across the entire village, but now she could be, for example, on top of that inn with her bare feet on the gutters, feeling the presence of all the other people sleeping in their rooms, the maids in the hallways, the reception girl behind her desk and the four Anbus agents nearby, great progress for someone who was practically blind for months in moments like that.

With a deep sigh, Sakura finally stood up. Her feelings and thoughts were very confused, going from one extreme to the other without stopping: fear, anxiety, sadness, melancholy, joy, love, confusion, anger. She was tired of herself, so she allowed the shinobi armor to be donned by her soul, pushing the moment to the back of her mind until next time.

The Anbus moved when she did, probably surprised that she was finally doing something. Sakura's entire body creaked and ached, but she found the pain somehow comforting. In recent years, it had become so easy to get lost inside her own head that she was afraid that one day she wouldn't be able to get back. The pain served to remind her that she wasn't just confused, desperate thoughts. She was also a body, painful, tired, traumatized, but alive.

With one last look into the Hokages' eyes, Sakura walked along the side walls of the inn and entered her own room through the window, then closing it. Once inside, she realized how cold her body was and figured she had enough time to take a quick shower, which she did mechanically. Finally warm and wrapped in a soft towel, Sakura looked at her belongings on the bed she hadn't slept in.

It didn't make sense to take what she had with her to the hospital, but firstly, Sakura didn't know the resources they had in that universe, and secondly, she didn't trust one hundred percent that no one would be sent to snoop through her things like Sasuke and Sai had done. Therefore, she spent a good few minutes thinking and evaluating, before leaving behind only what she was not suspicious of: her clothes and the gifts she had received from her patients over the months of travel.

She took with her all the vials, pills and herbs she had, sealed in parchment within more parchment, so that they all fit inside her poor ninja belt. It took a lot of patience to be able to seal so many things like that, but one thing Sakura had, on the endless walks between countries, was free time to practice.

Of course, a doctor should have things like that, but most of the herbs that were in her possession… well, let's just say they came exclusively from a certain isolated, humid forest that was frequented only by talking slugs. During her time at the Golden Water Temple, Sakura discovered that Karin was not only an impressive sensor, but also an observant and extremely intelligent person, as well as spiteful to the bone. The hatred she carried against Orochimaru and Kabuto was so strong that Sakura didn't even have to pressure her for information. She gave them on a silver platter.

Karin didn't have the opportunity to become a med-ninja in that universe, trapped in the role of almost a slave by those two wretches, so she wasn't an expert in poisons. She couldn't tell Sakura how the poisons were made or what substances were used, but she knew enough to get her excited. The appearance and texture of some herbs, the smell, the color, and most importantly: the effect on the victims' bodies.

“Orochimaru can't bear that he's not the most terrifying being in the world” Karin had told her one night, while the two were lying side by side, talking by the fire. “He wants to be the best, everyone’s nightmare. Mainly in areas that interest him: medicine, poisons, immortality…”

Sakura could still feel the shiver that ran down her spine.

“But he failed with the poisons” she had replied, vehemently ignoring the question of immortality, which she was not yet ready to face.

“Sasori is unbeatable” Karin had whispered. “And Orochimaru is very bitter about it. They were in Akatsuki together and he was the reason Orochimaru left. Sasori never wanted to share his knowledge with him, I think he could see from miles away that Orochimaru was trying to surpass him. So now Orochimaru does everything he can to discover cures for Sasori's poisons and to create even more horrible versions. Kabuto is his little mouse, wandering around the world trying to gather information. The poisons they create are…” Her chin trembled, as if the words in her mouth had taste. “I can’t describe it to you. But they haven't been successful yet in finding Sasori's antidotes.”

Karin had also grabbed Sakura's arm, holding her tightly while looking into her eyes, serious.

“It's important that you keep this in mind, Sakura: he had been successful in medicine until now, he was the best. But then you showed up and are clearly superior to him in your abilities. Orochimaru won't handle this well. He will not accept another failure.”

Knowing this new information, Sakura had summoned Katsuyu (after separating from Karin, of course) and talked to her about it. The two decided to spend a day in the Shikkotsu Forest, gathering all the herbs they could think of. Katsuyu had a unique variety of plants, many of them that already existed outside the forest, spread throughout the ninja world, but many that were exclusive to her territory and inaccessible to anyone other than Sakura.

So she decided to take them with her. It would not be suspicious to find such a collection in the possession of a med-ninja, but anyone with greater knowledge would notice the rarity or apparent non-existence of some plants in her collection. A Nara going through her things and she was fucked. So, it was better to prevent it by keeping her belt at her waist. Sakura also took with her the notes she made with everything she had discovered with Karin, hidden inside a diary for teenagers that she found being sold in the Land of Games and thought it was the perfect disguise.

With a deep sigh, Sakura looked at herself one last time in the bathroom mirror, observing her own face. So familiar and at the same time so different. She remembered clearly her first day at the hospital, in her other life. She was just a girl at the time, a girl with a broken heart and who was finally understanding that she needed to do something if she wanted to save the ones she loved, but who still had a sparkle in her eyes, a smile on her face and a lot of hope in her chest. Her parents made a point of accompanying her on her first day, which Sakura remembered making her uncomfortable. Especially when her father continued to tell each neighbor where they were going and how proud he was. She also remembered the disappointment that no one from her team showed up to wish her good luck. Naruto most likely didn't know, but it never made sense to Sakura why Kakashi wasn't there.

Now, there was no sparkle in her eyes or a smile on her mouth. Her cheeks weren't covered in an excited blush and her parents weren't standing behind her shoulders, happy and proud, too busy sleeping permanently underground without even knowing that, in another world, they had a daughter. The only familiarity at that moment was the fact that Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi wouldn't be with her. It wasn't necessarily a comforting realization.

When she opened the door of her room, Sakura was surprised to see a breakfast tray waiting for her. The staff had seemed very excited the day before to find out that she would be working at the hospital, discreetly stating that the village was indeed in need of more doctors. They had probably brought her the food while she was busy dissociating on the roof.

Feeling a little guilty, Sakura forced herself to drink the tea and some rice and egg (all cold), just to not seem like she wasn't grateful for their efforts. Going downstairs, she thanked the woman at reception for the food and left the building.

As soon as she took two steps into the street, a voice called out to her.

“Haruno-san!”

Turning around, Sakura's eyes widened a little as she recognized the face of a person she had never met. Shisui, Sasuke's cousin, was smiling at her as he pushed himself away from the nearest lamppost and walked towards her. He was wearing the Konoha police uniform (a uniform Sakura only remembered seeing in faint memories from her childhood) and the ninja headband across his forehead, crushing his curls.

Sakura's mouth opened, about to acknowledge him, before the remnants of sanity in her mind pulled the strings of her body and sealed her lips like a tomb. She wasn't supposed to know who he was. She shouldn't know what could have happened to him. She shouldn't have known that he was "an idiot who thought he was really funny" as Sasuke had pointed out, which meant he was good-natured and probably genuinely funny, and that he died "like a hero," which meant he ripped off his own eyes and threw himself off a cliff, never to be seen again.

"Yes?" Sakura said instead, trying to keep her face expressionless. She couldn't help but notice that her Sasuke was a little taller than his cousin, something that would have made him incredibly pleased. “Am I already in trouble?”

One corner of his lips moved upwards, as Shisui stopped in front of her and bowed in greeting.

“Uchiha Shisui, Haruno-san, at your service” he said, returning to his original position. He was handsome like all Uchihas seemed to be, something Sakura always found unfair, but there was something approachable about him. An unusual sympathy for his clan. ""Already"? Looking for trouble in the future?”

Sakura was no fool, on the contrary, the war made her ridiculously paranoid in many situations. To her, there was only one reason why the Hokage's nephew was approaching her so nonchalantly: he was sent to keep an eye on her. And maybe that should have made her angry or worried, but a part of her, a soft part, with a big heart and long hair, just wanted to grab Shisui by the shoulders and scream: “You're here! Sasuke has you! I’m so, so happy for you!”

Funny how a traumatized brain worked. She really was a mess.

“I like to keep my options open,” Sakura teased softly, watching his smile grow. “Uchiha-san…”

“Shisui, please” he said.

“Shisui-san” she corrected herself. "How can I help you? Unfortunately I can't stay longer, I have an appointment with the Hokage.”

“That's why I'm here, Haruno-san. I was summoned to help you get to the Tower” he said, taking small steps that Sakura followed. "The Hokage thought it would be best if you had someone to guide you, at least on your first day."

Sakura gave him a small smile, realizing with an internal panic that this had, in fact, saved her from a lot of trouble. The mental and emotional mess of her arrival made her forget that she was supposed to pretend she didn't know how to walk around the village. If he hadn't shown up, she would have walked on autopilot. Something the Anbu agents would definitely have noticed.

“That's very kind, I appreciate it” Sakura replied, placing her hands behind her back as the two walked side by side through the village. She always left herself one step behind him, to give the impression that she was being guided. “I'm sorry you got stuck with this task. You probably have much more exciting things to do.”

“Oh, no, Haruno-san” Shisui replied, with one hand in his pocket and the other in the air, indicating the surroundings. “The village is very quiet in the morning. Also, I heard you're our new doctor. It’s an honor to be able to accompany you.”

Sakura blushed a little, never used to how in-demand her job was in that world. Noticing her rosy cheeks, Shisui continued.

“Did you have the opportunity to see the village, Haruno-san?”

All my life.

“No, unfortunately not” she lied, looking around and seeing a few buildings here and there. That was the area closest to the hospital, so she knew it with her eyes closed. “I was only able to take a quick look when I was brought to the inn yesterday, but I can already see why Konoha is so famous.”

“That I must agree with” he smiled. “Konoha is, without a doubt, the best hidden village in the world. I'm sure you will enjoy your stay here, Haruno-san.”

Sakura discreetly noticed that Shisui nodded to the merchants who were opening their stores and the families who took their children to the civilian school or the academy, receiving smiles and good morning greetings in return. That was another sign of how the Uchihas' relationship with the public was different, in case the fact that Fugaku was Hokage wasn't enough. She  figured that perhaps the police uniform played a role as well. In her world, the police were responsible for local crimes, so it made sense that they would have more contact with civilians than other shinobi. Unfortunately, also in her world, this was not enough to endear the Uchiha clan to the population. Clearly, another piece that was different there.

“Your opinion is definitely impartial” Sakura had to tease him. Shisui, in turn, laughed out loud and blushed a little.

“You have a point. Maybe I’m not the best, having lived here my whole life.” He gave her a mischievous smile. “Now it is a matter of life and death to know your opinion of Konoha, Haruno-san. Only someone who has traveled all over the world like you will be able to truly tell whether or not this is the best village of all.”

Sneaky, he was.

Sakura chuckled lightly through her nose, before raising an eyebrow at him.

“If you are curious about my travels, just ask” she continued to tease him. Shisui took a step forward and spun around, standing in front of her and walking backwards.

“Okay, you got me!” he said, hands in the air and a smile on his face. “Curiosity is practically killing me, Haruno-san. Not many shinobi have the opportunity to spend so much time outside their villages, something even rarer for kunoichis, if I may say so. Unless you're a missing-nin... Which I'm not saying you are, of course. Forgive me. I’m known for speaking before I think, ask my aunt…”

Instead of answering him, Sakura watched Shisui in silence for a few seconds with a small smile on her lips, before saying:

“Shisui-san, can I ask you a slightly private question?”

“Yes, I'm single” he said, running his hands through his curls theatrically. Even though she tried to hold it back, the giggle in her throat came out through her lips. Charming bastard.

“That’s not what I wanted to know.”

“Engaged girl?” Shisui took a chance.

“A girl not interested in romance” Sakura said, trying not to smile at his pout. Not after all those years of disaster… “What I would like to ask is if you are related to Sasuke-san.”

“Oh man, why you ask?” Shisui looked a little disgusted, his pout deepening. “Are you interested in Sasu-kun? That boy, honestly, what is it about him that attracts all women…”

Oh, if he only knew a quarter of what Sakura once felt for his cousin… With a squint of her eyes, she poked him in the ribs, perhaps a little too hard.

"Ouch!" Shisui exclaimed, rubbing his ribs with a confused grimace. "How…"

“Didn’t you just hear me say I’m not interested in romance?” Sakura mistreated him, sticking her nose in the air a little as she walked. "I asked because I know he's an Uchiha and he's one of the only people I know from the village."

“And let me guess, he was a true gentleman with you?” Shisui teased, bringing a small smile back to her lips. Sasuke was always so distant, so unreachable, that the moments when it was possible to joke with him or about him were rare.

“He's your relative, you tell me” she returned, drawing an open laugh from him.

“I bet he was a little shit to you” Shisui said, lowering his voice as if they shared a secret. “Please forgive my cousin, Haruno-san. That boy is allergic to manners and it wasn't for lack of trying on his mother's part.”

Watching the stairs to the Hokage Tower approaching, Sakura smiled at him and shrugged.

“I guess you'll have to ask him,” she said, starting to climb. He followed her, looking amused.

“I’ll make sure to say you’re asking about him.”

"Please do not." Her cheeks burned with the despair that overtook her. “I would have to kill you for this and I don’t want to lose my job at the hospital before I even start.”

The way Shisui laughed reminded her vaguely of Naruto as a child, a little brat who took pleasure in bothering others. Maybe they were friends in this universe.

“Are you sure you don’t like Sasu-kun, Haruno-san?” Shisui insisted, bringing his face closer to hers. “You look a little flushed.”

“I’m going to poke you again.”

This made him jerk away as if he had been shocked.

Finally reaching the large entrance doors, Sakura held back a smile and turned to him with her hands on her hips, feeling a latent urge to run away from the conversation about Sasuke and the prospect of seeing him again so soon.

“It was a pleasure, Shisui-san, I hope I didn’t take up too much of your time.”

“It was my pleasure, Haruno-san,” he said, bowing. Then he smiled. “Don’t believe I didn’t notice you avoided talking about your travels. I will have this conversation in the future.”

Damn it.

“I'll keep that in mind” Sakura smiled, a little ironically. “My small talk skills will be better next time.”

Shisui smiled a toothy smile that she had rarely ever seen on an Uchiha's face. If she wasn't wrong, he was older than her, close to thirty, and yet he looked younger than her Sasuke ever was.

“I'll be the judge of that” he turned then, waving at her over his shoulder. “Have a nice day, Haruno-san! I’ll try to stop by the hospital to see you!”

This made Sakura raise an eyebrow.

“Be sure to be extremely injured!” she retaliated. “I don’t like it when idle shinobi come to waste our time at the hospital!”

He had disappeared in front of her eyes before laughter had even stopped echoing around her. Sakura stared at the empty place for a moment, before allowing herself a small smile. Maybe it was always bittersweet to meet ghosts.

The Tower was still relatively empty, with the sun having just risen, but Sakura still felt a little anxious about meeting someone she knew. For that reason, she lowered her head and quickened her steps to the reception desk, praying that the person behind it was still that extremely shy genin girl who no one understood how she got the job.

It is clear that she spoke too soon, that she prayed to gods who had already decided not to listen to her many years ago. Because as soon as she placed her hands on the wooden table and raised her face, Sakura met Lee's eyes.

Lee, who had more will of fire in one little finger than half the village combined. Lee, who was one of the first to teach her, even if unintentionally, how foolish and blinded by appearances Sakura could be. Lee, for whom she could never reciprocate her feelings, but who she loved deeply as she loved her other friends, for whom she grieved and grieved and grieved upon learning of his death, which of course was nothing short of heroic.

Lee, who should have been running fifteen times around the village with Guy and lighting everyone up with his smile, but instead was there. Behind a desk in the reception area of the Hokage Tower.

Sakura's eyebrows furrowed in instinct as she stared unblinkingly into a pair of dark eyes she knew so well. Her mind was spinning nonstop, trying to understand how that vision was possible. Was he there the previous afternoon? Sasuke didn't even go through reception, going to his father's office as if he owned the place. When did this happen? How…

Lee was one of the greatest ninjas she had ever met. He was a force to be recognized. He was the second fastest shinobi in the village. He was the rookie who managed to finish off Sasuke when they were genins. The first ninja in the world to be able to touch Gaara, the first to draw blood from the untouchable boy.

He…

Her heart stopped beating.

…had no Tsunade to save him.

NO!

A voice screamed inside her head, horrified by her own realization. An avalanche of memories hit her, drowning Sakura in the feeling of sand scraping her skin, the sounds of Lee's screams of pain, the feeling of cold that had filled her body when she saw the worry in Kakashi's eyes. The smell of hospital and Narcissus flowers. Hope that came in the form of the most beautiful and powerful woman the village had ever seen.

The woman that that new world never had the honor of meeting. And therefore, that was never able to save the career of a young ninja full of dreams.

“Umhm.”

The sound of someone clearing their throat made Sakura jump out of her own skin, snapping out of a trance that tasted like injustice. An elderly lady behind her gave her a less than patient look, as if she was silently saying that she no longer had time to waste while she stood at the counter, saying nothing.

With her cheeks hot, but her body very cold, Sakura mumbled an apology and turned back to the front. Luckily, Lee didn't seem to notice her strange behavior, too busy looking at her with wide eyes, red cheeks and a dropped jaw.

Her heart would have been filled with affection if it hadn't already been broken into hundreds of tiny, pain-filled pieces.

“Hi” Sakura managed to say with one breath, which only made him blush even more. Oh, Lee… How could this happen to you? “I have a meeting with the Hokage.”

“Oh” Lee exclaimed, clearing his throat and appearing to breathe again. “O-of course. What would your name be… uh… miss?”

“Haruno Sakura” she said, trying to maintain her composure, which probably wasn't working. Every word Sakura said seemed to make him more nervous.

“Sakura” he sighed almost dreamily, before blushing more intensely and starting to shuffle the papers in front of him, aimlessly. “I mean, Sakura-san. H-Haruno-san. I mean…"

“It's okay” Sakura tried to say, when some leaves fell to the ground and she saw the embarrassment on his face. She wanted to pull him into her arms and cry on his shoulder. “I would just like to know if the Hokage can receive me now.”

That wasn't the Lee she knew. Of course, Sakura was no fool and always knew about his feelings for her (it wasn't like he was discreet about it), but "insecure" or "nervous" were never words she would use to describe Rock Lee, even in relation to her. He should be confident, not the stuttering boy with shaking hands in front of her, who also had dark circles under his eyes and very pale skin.

Even his hair was different… longer, less well-groomed. Sakura never thought that, of all things, this would be the thing that affected her the most, but the lack of that stupid hairstyle made her jaw literally tremble.

“Y-you can go, Haruno-san” Lee sighed finally. She couldn't help but notice the pained grimace on his face as he leaned down from his chair to pick up a paper from the floor. “Hokage-sama left a notice telling you to come up as soon as you arrive.”

With a nod and an attempt at a smile, Sakura turned away from him, praying to the heavens that it wasn't obvious that she was running away. As she climbed the stairs to the second floor, she desperately sent pulsations of chakra to the rest of her body, which was cold from shock and about to shake with anxiety. In her mind, she locked what she felt and what she had discovered in the back of her brain, behind a door that was closed with locks and chains. She couldn't think about Lee or the fact that she didn't see him smile once while they talked unless she wanted to fall at the Hokage's feet sobbing.

But, oh, when she had time… it was going to hurt like hell. She'd be lucky if she only disassociated for hours like that morning.

Reaching the door to the Hokage's office, Sakura paused for a few minutes, staring at the nameplate that once had the name Senju on it, but was now carved with the name Uchiha. She opened and closed her fists three times. She blinked four. She inhaled and exhaled deeply twice. Finally, she knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Sakura obeyed, finding Fugaku on the other side, sitting behind his desk, and a relatively young Hyuuga man in front of him. Her eyes stared for a second at the strip of cloth on his forehead, covering a mark she knew and had always found particularly revolting. Shikaku was nowhere to be found, but perhaps the Naras couldn't physically be awake this early.

“Oh, Haruno-san,” Fugaku said, watching as Sakura bowed and approached. “I could barely feel your chakra signature.”

Sakura's small smile was full of secrets.

“I was never blessed when it came to chakra reserves” she told the truth in a joking tone. “Hello, Hokage-sama, it's nice to see you again. And…"

The Hyuuga made a small bow with a smile that she found very sympathetic for his clan's fame.

“Hyuuga Junichi” he said. “Hokage-sama was informing me about your hiring.”

“I know our meeting was supposed to be with the hospital director, but he, unfortunately, was unable to attend” Fugaku explained, with his hands clasped on the table. If he tilts them a few angles upward, it would be like his son. “Junichi came in his place.”

“Kato-san had an administrative issue and sent his apologies” Junichi said. “He would like to meet you as soon as his schedule clears up. Unfortunately he is close to retiring and the whole process of finding a replacement is long and complicated.”

Sakura wondered if Junichi was the one to replace him. There was something very proud about his posture when he brought up the subject and it was clear from the twitch in his lips that he was trying not to smile. Furthermore, something in his words caught her attention. Kato… Kato… she knew that surname. The itch of memories in the back of her mind made that clear. But she hadn't heard it for a long time, right? Where…

“Was the inn to your liking, Haruno-san?” Fugaku snapped her out of her thoughts, looking far too innocent.

“Yes, Hokage-sama” Sakura confirmed. “Everyone was very kind.”

"And did you sleep well?"

There it was. The man was a sneaky little snake, who had probably already been warned by his Anbus about the discreet scene on the roof.

Sakura smiled at him, this time with all her teeth in her best “innocent pink-haired girl” smile. The smile she gave Kakashi when the team messed up and she wanted to convince him to just scold the boys.

(It always worked).

"Perfectly well!" she replied, without elaborating. There was a reflection of something at the tip of his eyebrow, but, as if he knew of the existence of the little game they seemed to be playing, Fugaku just smiled politely.

“Great, we need your full potential with us at the hospital” he said, opening a drawer and pulling out a paper from inside. “That’s your contract. Feel free to read it for as long as you need and to ask questions. You will notice that the first two weeks are marked as a trial period, before you become an official employee. This is a standard process at the hospital.”

Sakura tried not to show her distrust as she began to read. Trial period? This usually happened to interns. Okay, that was a new universe and everything… but it was strange that they would do that. Sakura wasn't necessarily against it, in fact it could be a good thing, but she expected a little more carelessness from people who were so desperate for doctors.

The contract, at least, was familiar. Standard, not much different from hers. There was only one section, which, like in her universe, made her want to roll her eyes a little.

“I just have one note I would like to make about this part here” she said, indicating a part of the text with the tip of her finger. “”Do not stop treatment until the team members’ lives come to an end”, “never be on the front line” and “preserve your own life at all costs, until the last one in the squad dies”.”

“These are the mandatory rules that must be followed by all doctors, Haruno-san,” Junichi said, with a tone that seemed a little too patronizing for her liking. Maybe it was just Sakura's ego, who knows.

“Oh, I know” she said. “Created by the Shodai Hokage, right? I read this in some history books. My problem is not the rules themselves. I wanted to propose the creation of a fourth clause.”

Junichi's expression was one of shock, his pale eyes widening like an owl's. Fugaku, in turn, blinked twice, the only sign of being taken by surprise. What a shame. It was a little amusing to see him with his jaw dropped, like when she resurrected the fish on his table.

“Fourth clause?” he repeated, to which Sakura nodded. "And what would be?"

She still didn't think it was smart to give away the existence and capacity of her Byakugou, which could be too much power in the eyes of people who didn't even know how to use healing chakra, so Sakura said, for the hundredth time in that world, half-truths. She wasn't going to risk scaring them into being locked up with Ibiki in the interrogation session.

“The right to ignore all other rules,” she said calmly. “As long as the doctor has combat training and experience, of course.”

His jaw didn't drop, but the way his eyebrows rose was enough to make her satisfied.

"What?" Junichi exclaimed loudly, before clearing his throat and embarrassedly regaining his composure. “Haruno-san, there is no such thing.”

Sakura blinked innocently between them.

“Sorry, I assumed Hokage-sama told you about the details we discussed yesterday” she said.

“I did,” Fugaku interjected, shooting him a look. Junichi's face turned three shades of pink. The last time she saw a Hyuuga so stunned was when she was a genin and asked Neji what hair routine he used to have such silky hair.

“I beg your pardon, Hokage-sama, of course I remember your words” he apologized, bowing his head. “I guess I was just… caught off guard.”

At that moment, the door opened, drawing everyone's attention to a Shikaku still in the middle of a yawn.

“Good morning” he said, leaving his belongings on his desk. “Hello, Haruno-san, I didn’t expect to see you so early. What were you talking about?”

“Haruno-san is asking for contractual permission not to follow the med-ninja clauses” Fugaku said, without expression or tone of voice that gave away his opinion. His words stopped Shikaku in mid-motion to take off his coat. He blinked slowly three times.

“In my defense, I'm not just asking this for myself” Sakura raised her index finger in the air. “I think every med-ninja should have this freedom if they reach a certain level of extremely advanced skill.”

“That would it be…?”

“My level.”

A second of silence. Shikaku blinked again as he stared at her.

“Okay,” he said, putting his coat back on and reaching into his pocket. “I’m going to smoke a cigarette.”

He was gone as quickly as he arrived.

Turning to the Hokage, Sakura gave him her wide smile again just for the pleasure of seeing him rubbing his dark eyes with his hands. This was only the second time she had seen him, but she was sure that she would never get used to Uchiha Fugaku's existence and the fact that it was just as easy to get a reaction out of him as it was with Sasuke.

“I will evaluate your proposal, Haruno-san” he said after a long sigh, to the surprise of Junichi, who was clearly as hard as a post next to her. “But if we decide so, I would like to have your skills tested. We can’t risk you like that by just taking your word for it.”

Sakura's smile was a little smaller, but finally sincere.

“I wouldn’t expect anything else, Hokage-sama.”

Her answer seemed to please him. Not that he showed it, of course. Sakura was only good at reading the micro-expressions of scowling Uchihas.

After Sakura signed the contract, he dismissed them with a nod that was perhaps sympathetic. At the reception, a part of her wanted to run away with her eyes closed, but her biggest flaw has always been her bleeding heart, bigger than anything in the world. When she was almost reaching the front door, she turned over her shoulder and met Lee's eyes, giving him a slight smile and a wave.

The last thing she saw was his face being covered in a blush so red it became purple.

"So…"

Sakura looked at Junichi, who was walking beside her.

“Hokage-sama told me that you have new healing abilities” he said, looking curious. She could almost hear the implicit question: "is it true?", but no shinobi would question the Hokage so explicitly and in the open.

“Yes, I call it the Mystic Palm Technique” Sakura said calmly, trying to read him. “It’s a complex chakra transfer technique.”

“Hokage-sama said you resurrected a fish with that.”

“Yes,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders. “But honestly, once you get the hang of it, it almost becomes a trick.”

There was the hint of something behind Junichi's eyes, something she saw in Kabuto's during their confrontation. The latent curiosity, the same hunger for knowledge.

“What else is your technique capable of doing?” he asked, letting a little emotion escape in the back of his voice. As they would now be working companions, she didn't mind telling him.

The rest of the way was filled with Sakura talking about the treatments she had already had and Junichi peppering her with questions after questions. He seemed to drink in every drop of information she gave, as if cataloging everything in his mind. It reminded her a lot of herself when she first started studying. She also clung to every letter that came out of her shishou's mouth.

When they were close to the hospital, the conversation slightly changed direction.

"I wouldn't mind teaching the technique to those who have enough chakra control" Sakura told him, being sincere. Just one ninja capable of doing what she did wouldn't be able to support a hospital, much less a village. And since she didn't know what the future would be like, whether she would stay or go, maybe it would be good for others to be trained. It would help take the focus off of herself. “Do you think the director would be interested? I could talk to him…"

“Oh no, Haruno-san, don’t worry,” Junichi said, relaxed. “Put your focus on establishing yourself. I talk with him. With the whole issue of retreat, you never know when Kato-sama will be free…”

Sakura nodded, noticing again how that made him a little excited.

“If you insist, Hyuuga-san…” she said. “You can call me Sakura-san if you want. We will be working companions now.”

“Oh, yes, right” he replied. “Haruno… Hokage-sama commented that you come from a civilian clan, yes?”

Sakura didn't fail to notice that he didn't give her permission to call him by his first name.

“Yes, I am the first in my family to become a shinobi.”

“It’s not common” he made a point of commenting. “You will see, Sakura-san, that life in a ninja village is not the same as… life on the road.”

'Life on the road' seemed to be the least offensive way he found to call Sakura's past. One eyebrow of hers twitched, but she kept her face blank.

“I'm sure of that” Sakura said without giving anything away. “Any tips?”

“Try to understand that we have our own rules and structures, inside and outside the hospital. The current status quo is the way that works best for us and the faster you adapt, the better off it will be.”

Well-rehearsed words from the man with a slavery tattoo in the center of his forehead. She had found him smiling and friendly enough for a Hyuuga, but ever since she had gotten out of the Hokage's way, Junichi had started to seem more and more patronizing, almost as if he wanted to pat her on the top of the head. He was strange and Sakura would keep an eye on him.

“Oh! Look!” Junichi exclaimed, before she could respond to him. “We’re here.”

And there it was.

The hospital was practically identical to the one she knew. The architecture designed by the first Hokage, the colors chosen by the second. In all its glory, in all its magnitude. There was the hospital, and as she stared at it without blinking and just a few feet away, Sakura could almost tell it was looking back at her.

It was almost like the building was looking straight into her eyes, pulsing like the blood in her veins, sharing the beat of her heart. As if IT was calling to her, calling her name, a part of itself.

“Sakura-san?”

She returned to earth to meet Junichi's pale eyes, who stared at her as if she were a little strange.

"Yes?"

“One last question before we go in… Your idea about a new clause that neutralizes the previous ones took me by surprise. Did you consider yourself that good at combat?”

Sakura blinked, surprised by the change of subject. What would make him feel this way? The fact that she was a woman, that she was a doctor, that she was a civilian or all of that together? Well, whatever it was, the time had passed when Sakura was trembling at the idea of facing other shinobi. She knew who she was and she knew what she was capable of.

“Yes” she replied without hesitation, leaving no room for discussion. Even though this sounded arrogant, it was a fact. “I understand that it is something… new, I guess. But I'm not exaggerating when I say I can take care of myself in combat. I'm not just a doctor or just a ninja. I’m both.”

“And you feel that the two things combined make your fighting ability unique?”

“Precisely.”

Junichi didn't say anything, but the way he stood there, looking at her silently, made it clear to her that his mind was racing. Sakura just didn't know which way.

"Why you ask?" she tried to discovered. He, in turn, winked and toasted.

“Oh, nothing, nothing, just curiosity” Junichi said. “As you said, it is unprecedented. Chakra healing, fight ability good enough to be on the front lines… you really are something new, Sakura-san. Lets go in?"

Sakura's new life at the hospital started out almost exactly like her old life.

Which was, to say the least, strange.

Her first patient was a very elderly man who just needed a routine health check because of a cholesterol problem he had. He told her that her hair was the most ridiculous thing he had ever seen, but that her hands were gentle, unlike “those brute ninja doctors” they had at the hospital.
The second one, a mother with a baby with the flu who just needed to inhale and sleep well. Sakura gave her a small bottle of medicinal herbs to rub on the child's back in order to expel the phlegm. The woman widened her eyes at her and asked if she was sure she wanted to give it to her for free, as medicinal herbs were usually extremely expensive. Knowing that Katsuyu's forest was eternal as long as the slug existed, Sakura just held the bottle in her hand and smiled.

After her came a teenager with a urinary tract infection and a pregnant woman who took forty-five minutes to be convinced to let Sakura's chakra come close to her belly. It helped a lot to promise her that she would be able to relieve the pain in her swollen feet as well, which she did. Then came another elderly man, this time with high blood pressure, and a worker with an injured finger after cutting it in a work accident.

All of these patients had two things in common: first, they were non-emergency cases. And second, they were all civilians.

Sakura's career had started exactly that way. Mild cases that wouldn't put anyone's life at risk if she made a mistake and with civilians, who were less scary. But that was because she was a beginner, inexperienced, not yet very confident, with an unmatured chakra only capable of resurrecting fish and healing scraped knees. She was now a veteran doctor. One day she was the student of the greatest ninja-medic in the world. She should be putting a shinobi's guts back into their body. The non-emergency area only returned to her hands on days when the hospital was almost empty of patients.

Even so, Sakura shrugged. She had experience, but all they had to back it up was her own word and a bunch of rumors in the bingo book. The hospital management would probably like to see her capabilities before deploying her to save lives. Besides, a patient was a patient no matter how serious or simple their case was.

Therefore, she took care of each one of them, giving everything she had, which resulted in the end of the waiting list for non-emergency cases within the first two hours of care. After more than twenty minutes waiting for the next patient, Sakura left the small room she was assigned to and walked to the reception desk. There, she met the girl at the front desk, the only person on the team that Junichi had time to introduce to her before he had to leave for some important appointment upstairs.

“Hi” she said softly, looking around a little confused. There were still people sitting around waiting. “Who’s the next patient?”

“Oh, Haruno-san” the girl said, blinking like an owl. "Patient?"

“Yes, I'm free” Sakura said sympathetically. “The room is already disinfected and organized. The next patient can come.”

The receptionist furrowed her eyebrows and shuffled some papers in front of her.

“You don't have any more patients for now, Haruno-san, not until someone else arrives” she said, winking at Sakura with a new expression. “Which is impressive, actually. I’ve never seen anyone see patients so quickly…”

“Sorry, I'm not sure I understand” Sakura said, now with her suspicions growing more and more. “Is it because I was assigned to non-emergency cases? That patient by the window looks like he just came to take off his cast.”

The receptionist's eyes followed the corner she discreetly pointed to.

“Oh, but…” she leaned in as if they were sharing a secret. “That boy is an Akimichi, Haruno-san.”

Sakura blinked three times.

"And…?"

The receptionist opened and closed her mouth in surprise.

“He’s from a ninja clan!” she whispered. “Patients from ninja clans are treated by specific doctors, Haruno-san! You were assigned to take care of civilians only.”

Inside her mind, Sakura could hear Tsunade's angry screams and curses. Separate care by blood status? The sound of mountains being destroyed. Privilege clan members at the time of service? A bottle of sake destroyed against a wall. It was absurd! A shame!

“Is this how you organize patients?” she questioned her, perhaps with a little too much revolt, as the girl swallowed hard. “Not by emergency level?”

“Junichi-san didn’t explain it to you?”

“He had an urgent appointment and said he would speak to me when he could.” Something that now triggered a suspicion in her instincts. "But it does not matter. How long has the hospital been organized this way?”

The receptionist looked around and got even closer. Sakura furrowed her eyebrows.

“People don't like to talk about it, but since you're not from here…” she placed a hand beside her mouth, as if to hide her words. “This comes from the time when… Orochimaru… was the director of the hospital.”

Inside her mind, what Sakura heard this time was an animalistic growl that sounded much more like herself.

“It sounds like something he would do,” she assessed seriously. “It’s just incomprehensible that they maintained such a standard.”

He clearly did this not just because he was a bigoted bastard, but because it would facilitate his access and exclusivity to children and ninjas with blood heritage. Why the fuck wouldn't they restructure? The girl shrugged her shoulders, distressed.

“I have no answers for you, Haruno-san,” she murmured shyly. “But… I mean, it kind of makes sense, doesn’t it? Ninjas get hurt a lot more than us civilians. They need greater care.”

“Can I assist ninjas in non-emergency cases, then? A civilian in need of urgent surgery is passed in front of clan members?”

Her silence said it all.

Sakura closed her eyes and took as deep a breath as she could, knowing that no amount of delicate pink hair was capable of controlling the explosive temper that was present in every blood cell of hers. Fuck, how was it possible that this universe was capable of making so many grotesque mistakes after grotesque mistakes when it came to health?

“Okay, fine” she said after finally calming down, much to the relief of the secretary, who sighed audibly. "Thank you for the informations. I’ll be in my room.”

It turns out that it took another full hour for a new patient to appear, who told Sakura, after a discreet interrogation masked as curiosity, that few civilians visited the hospital because they almost never managed to get care.

“Usually a doctor responsible for the shinobi comes to check on us when they have free time” he said, while she checked the mole that looked a lot like skin cancer on his shoulder. “But this depends on the demand there, so some days we are only attended to by nurses and they don’t know everything.”

Sakura put anesthetic chakra on one finger and removed the mole with a chakra scalpel on the other.

“Wow,” the man said, widening his eyes at her. “You really are talented, Haruno-san! Honestly, I only came because my neighbor said you were very kind to her baby. I wouldn’t have wasted my time if it weren’t for that.”

"It has always been like that?" Sakura questioned him, placing the mole in a container for future analysis. The civilian thought aloud.

“Hmm, there was a period, when the hospital administration changed, that things got better” he said. “When that weird snake man left and the new director took over, I think it was about thirteen years ago. He used to personally come and meet people and didn't care who was a civilian or not. Good man, that one. But I have a friend who is a nurse here and she told me that he is getting old and wants to retire. It seems that looking for a replacement is now his focus and if it depends on the other doctors...”

Kato-san, that's what Junichi had called him. Sakura still felt an itch under her skin that told her she knew that name, but she couldn't remember where. Well, it didn't really matter. She had mixed feelings about the man. From what that civilian was saying, he clearly cared about his patients, which was a relief. But his focus on retiring and looking for someone to take his place shouldn't take up all his time! There were things equally or even more important!

“Would you say things stopped being good around, what… six months ago?”

“A year and a half, maybe a little more” he said, to her surprise. So long to find a replacement? What used to take so long was the training, but Sakura was under the impression that this director hadn't even appointed anyone yet. What was delaying him? Either he didn't truly want to retire or...

When the man left after thanking her with a handshake that lasted almost five minutes, Sakura peeked at the reception again. When she saw that there were still no new civilians (who, she now knew, avoided the hospital thanks to negligence), she decided to take the mole to the analysis laboratory. If it existed, of course.

Walking in those corridors that were as familiar as her childhood home wasn't easy, but Sakura had entered a loop of curiosity and revolt that didn't leave much space for suffering. That didn't stop her, of course, from raising a hand to the side and feeling the texture of the wall on her fingertips. Identical to the one she knew, which left her skin crawling.

What Sakura discovered on her little trip around the building made her mood even worse. Not only were patients separated by clan and non-clan, the entire structure of the hospital was like this. The bottom floor was where civilians were taken care of, the top floor was just for the shinobi and there were even rooms even deeper inside that she would bet were for the elite ninjas. The doctors were from noble clans: Hyuuga, Uchiha, Nara and even an Inuzuka, but all the nurses were civilians. They probably would have made two receptions if they had the money to do so.

The entire status quo outside was embedded in the bones of the hospital, just as Junichi had said. But what once seemed like an advice now seemed almost like a warning. Kami, her poor hospital... A place that should be neutral, a place that should serve everyone without any discrimination. Not everything was perfect in her world, but people weren't afraid to go to the hospital. People knew that, even with infrastructure or funding problems, they would be well taken care of. They knew that they would not be discriminated against, that they would care for everyone equally.

Honestly, if her Obito wasn't already dead, Sakura would crush him with her own hands.

She found the lab eventually, but there was a sign on the door asking not to disturb anyone inside, so she left the sample on a tray outside. Not wanting to take any chances, Sakura lied when marking the bottle's lid, pretending that her patient was from a clan.

As she walked, Sakura noticed that she was attracting the attention of the nurses and other doctors, but she was so used to it that she paid no attention. In the cafeteria, there was the status quo once again: civilians on one side, shinobis on the other. Unfortunately, she was unable to investigate further than that, as she was quickly spotted by Junichi, who was on his lunch break and his eyes widened upon noticing her presence, almost making them pop out of their sockets.

“Sakura-san!” he suddenly appeared in front of her, moving his hands to indicate for her to follow him back into the hallway. Sakura did so, but less like obedient prey, and more like a predator in a slow dance. She was not happy. “Your lunch break is scheduled for an hour from now.”

“I am aware” she said. "I-"

“You can't abandon your shift while the patients need you,” he scolded her, like a father punishing his young toddler. “I don’t know how you worked when you were on the road, but here we take their health seriously-”

“I didn't abandon my shift” Sakura interrupted him, gritting her teeth. “I’m out of patients.”

Junichi blinked like a surprised owl.

“Huh?” he spluttered.

“I have no patients” she repeated, still offended. There was something about that man that pushed all the wrong buttons in her. “I’ve already took care of all of them.”

"All of them?" Junichi exclaimed, looking at a clock on the wall near them. “But your shift only started four hours ago!”

"Yes."

With her face blank, Sakura just stared at him, silent.

Junichi opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water.

One eyebrow of hers rose.

His face turned red.

“Well… still” he countered, raising his nose in a very Hyuuga way. “You shouldn’t be walking around the hospital like that.”

“I'm not walking around” Sakura tried to defend herself as he took her back to her treatment room. “I went to take a sample to the lab and was trying to see the building on my way back.”

"Sample?" Junichi furrowed his eyebrows. “Sample of what? You are assigned to work with the civilians.”

There wasn’t even the addition of a ‘for now’. Sakura was starting to understand Junichi more and more and hated every second of it. Angrily, she glared at him.

“You know civilians can get skin cancer too, right?” she said.

Junichi's blush turned from red to ruby.

“Sakura-san…” he said, placing her inside her room and taking a deep breath, before giving her a smile that she didn't buy. “I understand that it must be difficult for you to start working in a renowned hospital like ours, but I ask that you keep in mind that here we have rules and we cannot just roam wherever we want whenever we want. I'm sure today was just a peaceful day for you. Please remain in your room. Your lunch break is in an hour.”

When her lunch time finally arrived, a part of Sakura was not at all surprised to see that almost no one was present in the cafeteria besides the civilian employees.

Turns out, the next day, it happened again. And then again. And again. Sakura had forgotten how gossipy civilians could be and how it would make sense for them to be even more united in a universe where they were so clearly socially separated from the shinobis. It turns out that the man with the suspicious mole wasn't just a neighbor of the woman with the sick baby. He was also friends with a civilian man with reflux problems, who worked with a woman with chronic headaches, that was the aunt of a little girl who had an ear infection.

One by one, they began to show up for care, waiting for a maximum of an hour when Sakura was taking care of the more serious cases (alone, it's important to add). They always looked at the lights in her hands with wide eyes and always asked if she would be there the next day.

It was easy to understand why.

What on the first day were fifteen civilians willing to waste an entire day to perhaps be attended to, became twenty-five in the morning. In the afternoon ten more appeared and the next day there were forty-five. On the third day, an impatient Inuzuka asked out loud at the front desk why so many civilians were being treated before him and, from what one of Sakura's patients said, insisted on starting to be seen by the new pink-haired doctor who was "able to perform miracles.”

Within four days, most patients were insisting on being seen by her. Sakura was apprehensive about finding herself overwhelmed, but, from the looks of it, even when she was delayed, she was going faster and more pleasantly than they were used to. The ninjas peppered her with questions about chakra, an elderly Nara spent almost two hours monopolizing the treatment room while turning her glowing hands and asking questions nonstop.

The poor young woman at reception didn't have the backbone to control the number of patients demanding to be attended to by Sakura. She found her crying in the bathroom and spent her entire lunch break rubbing her back with calming chakra.

On the fifth day, the other doctors at the hospital started showing up. They would go down to the “civilian floor” with lame excuses to look her up and down or try to intimidate the girl at reception who, thanks to the moment in the bathroom, created some kind of feeling of loyalty towards Sakura and pretended to know nothing. Some were less discreet, literally opening the door to look at her. A female Uchiha approached her in the bathroom asking what exactly Sakura was doing with the those "hands of light", as her sharingan had failed to copy the technique, and a male Akimichi tried to bribe her at lunch with food so that she would tell him about her “secret abilities.”

On the sixth day was when the story of what was happening finally reached Junichi and he approached Sakura again with his face redder than she had ever seen before. He tried to yell at her, saying that treating shinobi patients wasn't her job, but Sakura quickly retorted that there wasn't any kind of specificity in her contract. On the contrary, the hospital's bylaws stated that ninjas must always be attended first (something she checked and almost made her tear out her own hair in rage, a rule that didn't exist until Orochimaru took command). That made him pause for a second, before he tried to argue that she was assigned to the civilians anyway. She then bluffed, saying that, okay, she would not treat any more sinobis, knowing that he had mistakenly approached her too close to an open door where an Aburame mother with a child suffering from pneumonia was waiting. The woman heard the conversation and appeared in front of Junichi with a pointed finger and fierce words. Sakura had never thought that Aburames could speak so loudly or curse at someone so many times, but that woman proved her wrong.

Embarrassed, Junichi quickly filled her with nice words until she calmed down, before returning to Sakura, when they were alone again. He told her that there was little they knew about her abilities, so it was not yet possible for them to trust her with the “most important” patients. Sakura accused him of using civilians as lab rats and of doubting the Hokage's decisions. He then made sure to remind her that she was in a testing period and that she should “think about that before acting how she was acting.” She, in turn, said that if this was a dismissal, fine. She would go to reception at that moment and announce her dismissal. After a long second in which Junichi seemed to have swallowed his own tongue, probably still hearing the Aburame woman's screams in his ears, he said that if she was so keen, Sakura could assist some shinobis, but only in mild cases, like in the geriatric session.

In response, she said that she would not give up her civilian patients unless he appointed three doctors to replace her. Sakura couldn't tell if the way his fingers flexed was because he wanted to pull out his own hair or choke her to death, and she would never know, because Junichi just turned his back and walked away, disappearing from sight.

On the seventh day, people started to recognize her on the streets.

She received a message from Junichi on the eighth, saying that she could see as many patients as she wanted, but there would be someone who would accompany her to every appointment.

It was only at the beginning of Sakura's second week in Konoha that she saw familiar faces again.

With the exception of the occasional civilian she was almost certain she had met before, there was no sign of Lee, Sasuke, Sai, or any of her other friends. Not that Sakura was looking for them either. Her routine was based on spending the day at the hospital, exceeding her own shift schedule, before rushing back to the inn and staying there until the next day. The only other times she went out was to buy food, purposely going to restaurants she knew her teammates or other friends didn't like. She ate a lot of poor quality food that week, but for someone who had managed to live for months on only granola bars and cloudy water, it wasn't a problem.

A part of her was sad, as she pulsed with longing and need for familiarity. She wanted to hear Sai say nonsense without meaning to, she wanted to tease Sasuke until he blushed and started snorting adorably. She wanted to hear Naruto laugh, wanted to scare Kakashi by suppressing her chakra to the point he couldn't feel her coming. She wanted to sit next to Yamato to have quiet conversations while she watched him tend to flowers and plants with his mokuton…

But the rest of her sank into the bowels of that hospital to save her life. It would never stop being strange to have so much desire for something that terrified her like that.

Unfortunately, it was no longer possible to remain hidden from the past. Junichi kept his promise (which seemed more like a threat to Sakura, in the way his handwriting was buried in the paper) and set someone to follow her.

When she arrived that morning, the reception girl, Hitomi, greeted her with a smile and news: Hyuuga-sama (as she and other employees strangely called Junichi) had assigned one of the doctors to accompany her during her care, another Hyuuga. Unfortunately, this so-called Hyuuga was left in charge of the treatment of one of his elderly clan sages, so Hitomi did Sakura the favor of putting someone else in his place.

She said this with many emphatic words and not so discreet winks, which made Sakura imagine that even Hitomi could see what she had noticed since the first day: Junichi was trying to make her job difficult.

She was no fool. On the contrary, Sakura had already been through something similar. When she started her life at the hospital, there was a doctor who had worked there for twenty-five years and had full control of what happened. She was a good doctor, but a very proud woman who considered her work the most important thing in her life. Let's just say she wasn't happy at all with the fact that a thirteen-year-old girl appeared with abilities that increased as quickly as a fire in the cornfield and still had the honor of being the Hokage's student. Sakura suffered persecution from her for months, until she learned to destroy mountains and the woman began to better hide her disgust.

Tsunade tried to cheer her up in her own way, saying that it was extremely normal and that it was a sign that Sakura was talented, because “jealous bitches will always act like that”. In drunken babbling, she had also told about her own experience traveling the world, burying herself in hospitals and pointing out every wrong thing about how people worked. No one liked having to face their own defects or seeing people achieving their desired success much faster and easier than them.

“Get used to it, girl,” she had said, with a pat on the top of her head that made Sakura's skinny knees bend. “A brain like yours will attract envy like no other. Even more so with the way you look. It is our burden.”

Sakura still didn't understand that universe well enough. She couldn't explain why so many ninjas from clans, that in her world weren't doctors, were suddenly there. She couldn't explain why the fuck they kept a hierarchy structure created by Orochimaru of all people. But she knew one thing: Junichi wanted to be the next head of the hospital and he saw her as a threat.

That was why he always interfered when she talked about talking to the mysterious Kato-san, why he always put her at lunch times when the cafeteria was almost empty and why he quickly put her on the uncrowded floor to take care of the patients no one wanted or cared about. Sakura knew enough politics to understand that a person with skills like hers in a world like that could easily skip steps and grow in the status quo effortlessly. Junichi was doing everything he could to make Sakura and her talents go unnoticed. Probably until he took over and there was nothing she could do.

She almost felt sorry for him for the stress it took. Sakura had no interest in being the boss, not again at least. That was the dream of a different woman, in a different lifetime. So she would pretend she wasn't noticing what he was doing. As long as the patients were getting the treatment they deserved, she had no more bag for petty and superfluous games.

“Oh, there she is, Sakura-san!” Hitomi exclaimed, looking at someone behind her. “I'm sure you'll love each other!”

When Sakura turned around, all the air in her lungs was trapped.

“Hello, Haruno-san! You can call me Shizune!”

Shizune.

With silky black hair, adorably short to her chin. With a soft voice and sweet smile, with calm energy and a warm personality. Shizune, with whom she gossiped about the hospital and took care of Tsunade in her drunken moments, side by side. Shizune, who encouraged and celebrated every success in Sakura's life as if it were her own. Shizune, who died without Tsunade knowing, just a little before her, a true mercy from the universe, as she knew that the two would never be able to deal with each other's death.

Shizune, who was now in front of her: alive, happy and…

Pregnant.

“Sorry, have you been waiting for a long time?” Shizune said, rubbing her hand over her round belly. “I had to take my fiftieth morning bathroom break.”

Sakura swallowed tears and memories that tasted like childhood and blood, and smiled.

"Don't worry, Shizune-san" she said, bowing slightly. "I just arrived. Nice to meet you."

Pregnancy made Shizune's cheeks plumper and her eyes brighter. Sakura had to force herself to stop looking at her, fascinated by this version of her that didn't have Tsunade, didn't travel the world, but still, from the looks of it, was able to find happiness. Her heart burned and ached, full of pain and love. Sakura put her hands behind her back to stop herself from hugging her with all her strength.

"I'm excited to accompany you" Shizune told her, as the two walked to Sakura's treatment room. “I knew we had hired a doctor from outside the village, but I hadn’t had a chance to welcome you yet.”

Sakura shrugged, quiet and emotionally overwhelmed. Strangely, she couldn't stop smiling.

“Don’t worry, I know how routine can be in a hospital” she said.

“Thanks for understanding. I used to be in charge of our poisons lab, but now with the baby, I had to take over the autopsies to stay away from toxic substances. It got my hands full.” Shizune's hand returned to caressing her own belly. “Do you have experience with hospitals, Haruno-san? Gossip says you worked independently before arriving.”

In Sakura's experience, in the happy, dream-like moments when she worked at Konoha's maternity ward, Shizune seemed to be six or seven months pregnant. However, it could be less, as she has always been a very thin woman and any size of belly would stand out on her.

Oh, Shizune… I'm so happy for you.

Once, on one of the drunken nights in tents that Tsunade allowed herself to be a little vulnerable and asked the two what they would have done with their lives if the war hadn't broken out, Shizune admitted that she wished she had started a family. Working with medicine and poisons and traveling the world were two dreams that she managed to fulfill and live. The third would be to finally settle down in Konoha and fall in love.

In this world, once again, she seemed to have only fulfilled two of her three wishes. Maybe that was her burden. But Sakura was still happy, because it was a happier life than hers, which either didn't have her dreams come true or simply wouldn't exist.

"I have experiences here and there..." she said, still feeling mesmerized by the movement of Shizune's hand on her own belly. “I usually work alone and provide home care, but I have stayed in a few hospitals here and there, mainly in civilian cities.”

Shizune's expression changed to something between surprise and admiration.

“Did you work with civilians? That is very noble of you, Haruno-san” she said, as they entered the room. “Unfortunately, many shinobi doctors believe it is beneath them to care for civilians. I am happy that you will start working with us.”

In response, Sakura blushed before she could stop herself and smiled. It was good to see that Shizune was still as passionate about medicine and caring for others as Tsunade was.

“I don't make distinctions” she said. “For me, medicine is about caring for those who need us, no matter who they are.”

Shizune's eyes shone like stars. In a hospital with that structure and with a co-worker like Junichi, Sakura could imagine the reason.

“Besides, I come from a civilian family” she confessed, with a small smile. “So it’s the least I could do.”

“Oh yes, I wondered why I had never heard of your last name before” Shizune pondered, impressed. “That's very impressive, Haruno-san. Unfortunately, few civilians are able to pursue a career in the ninja world. Your family must be very proud of you.”

“You can call me Sakura if you want.”

Sakura-chan, your hair looks so beautiful today!

“Sakura-san” Shizune replies, breaking her foolish heart a little. “I think we’re going to have a lot of fun together.”

"I agree"

Shizune-senpai.

Once, Sakura was the one who was left open-mouthed when accompanying Shizune to appointments, impressed by her skills, care, attention and compassion. Funny how things were.

Now, she could feel Shizune's gaze on her hands as she scanned a young Inuzuka's sprained wrist, and see her jaw drop from the corner of her vision. Something that felt a lot like shyness welled up and blossomed inside her chest. Shizune looking at her the way she once looked at her... Sakura was still amazed by all the ways in which a human being could be broken.

Without shock, she was bombarded with curious and technical questions, breaking down chakra healing abilities as only a scientist like Shizune would encourage her to do. Unlike other shinobi, like the doctors who wanted to find out how it worked so they could copy it, or the patients who were more concerned about how their bodies would react to it, Shizune wanted to know every detail of the technique, everything that made it up, from its inception until now.

“Your shishou created it, you say?” she said that same day, her dark eyes blinking curiously as she watched Sakura disappear with a bruise on a Yamanaka child who had gotten hurt training. "Incredible. Formidable. She must have been an impressive woman, Sakura-san.”

Sakura may or may not have quietly cried in the bathroom after that.

Her days got much brighter. After a first week with a lot of frustration and accumulated hatred for the hospital situation, it was a breath of fresh air to spend time with Shizune again, who was intelligent, hardworking and shared her opinions about medicine. Sakura, however, noted that she held back when criticizing the hospital headmaster.

“I know how it may seem, but things aren’t that simple for… Kato-san, Sakura-san.” Sakura shelved her hesitation in her mind for later. “The hospital, unfortunately, is not solely under the influence of its employees, so we often work with what we have.”

To her distress, Shizune didn't develop beyond that. Just like she made her suffer for four days until she finally told her the name of her baby's father.

Genma!

Genma, of all people! Sakura had to grit her teeth to keep her jaw from dropping when Shizune let his name slip in one of her conversations. She wanted to know more, to know everything: When did this happen? How? Shizune never left the village, so did they have a romance in their youth? How was the first date? Was he a good kisser? Ino once said…

Oh.

Dangerous terrain. Thanks to Kami, Junichi showed up to be a pain in the ass and took her out of her sudden childish euphoria for gossip that always reminded her of the best friend she once had. A quick cry in the bathroom was one thing, but Sakura couldn't explain why, suddenly, she had thrown up on their feet.

Junichi, unsurprisingly, didn't look happy at all. Sakura easily realized that there was something beyond the fact that he was trying to keep her away from the other doctors: he seemed particularly disturbed to see her with Shizune. It was in the way he kept looking at the space between them, as if the physical proximity offended him in some way.

Luckily, it was already too late to do anything about it. First he tried to accuse Sakura of acting against the rules again, but Shizune defended her saying that she was assigned to her. So he tried at all costs to find out who had made this designation, since it was not the original, but neither of them confessed, saying they didn't know. Then, Junichi tried to separate them, stating that his Hyuuga relative was free to be with Sakura, but Shizune barely let him finish the sentence.

“You yourself said how much better it would be for me to work less, Junichi-san” she said, not calling him Hyuuga-sama to Sakura's delight. “I believe there is no better position at the moment than accompanying Sakura-san in her appointments. Peaceful and safe for the baby, just as you would like.”

The smile on her face was rare, but Sakura had seen it before, once. The “I’m armed to the teeth with needles dipped in poison” smile. Junichi was probably much more condescending about her pregnancy, to make Shizune's eyes sparkle like that

In the end, Junichi didn't have much to do, so he just left huffing and stamping his feet, as was becoming routine, and the two exchanged a look and a smile of companionship that Shizune didn't know she had already exchanged with her hundreds of times.

From the first day working at the hospital, Shisui appeared in front of her inn every morning.

Again, Sakura was no fool and knew that this was most likely some kind of mission, but after the first few days, she no longer cared. Shisui was ridiculously funny and there was something refreshing about the fact that she didn't know him from her original universe. He didn't bring her flashbacks of moments she'd like to forget or feelings of familiarity that suffocated her. He was just a person, a being untainted by Sakura's past, who, to make matters better, was nice to look at.

She could have given up on any romantic life altogether, deciding she wasn't cut out for love, but there would always be a weak space in her chest for handsome, mysterious, dark-eyed men.

Every day, Shisui walked beside her to the hospital, just like that first time. He complimented her appearance whenever they left the inn and she, in return, said that the police uniform made him look ridiculous (a lie). He would then try to get her to admit that she loved mens in uniforms, and to shut him up, she would raise her index finger in the air, the finger she used to poke him painfully in the ribs, and he would walk away, laughing like a brat. It only took two days for him to start calling her “Sa-chan”, which made her insist on still calling him “Uchiha-san”, just out of revolt against such a horrible nickname.

He also commented here and there about Sasuke (which made her dissociate) and Itachi (which held her attention), but in a vague and suspicious way, like bait on a hook. In return, Sakura just nodded and smiled, pretending not to hear every letter of his words. Shisui asked her if she had friends and Sakura's smile trembled when she told him that bonding was difficult as a traveler. Wagging his eyebrows, he then questioned her about her love life, to which she responded by saying that she had given up on men after her last love “tried to kill her twice”. Luckily, he thought it was just some kind of dark joke and laughed.

Over the nearly two weeks of friendship, Sakura dodged as many questions as she could and invented answers to others. The ones she liked most were the ones she didn't need to lie, like when Shisui showed interest in the patients she had cared for on her travels. She told him about the babies she helped deliver, about the elderly and sick children, and even about the samurai in the Land of Iron. She didn't care if he passed this on to the Hokage. It was no secret and the samurai worked by their own laws and rules. They wouldn't talk about their time with her if they didn't want to.

“Samurai don't trust shinobi easily” Shisui had said, clearly impressed. “What’s your secret, Sa-chan?”

She shrugged, looking up at the Hokage tower as they walked.

“First of all, I don’t call others stupid nicknames” she joked, earning a pout from him. “But to be honest, it wasn’t that difficult. I needed shelter, they needed medical knowledge. It was a fair exchange.”

“You taught them your skills?!”

Sakura raised an eyebrow at his shocked tone.

"Well, yes. What’s the surprise?”

“I thought you just healed people” Shisui replied, still staring at her strangely.

“Mostly” she said. “But when someone wants to learn, I don’t see why not. As long as it’s not damn Kabuto…”

“Sakura, from the stories and what I saw you do with that fish, your chakra technique is unique” he said, suddenly serious. “People would kill to have you by their side. You could make millions by keeping your knowledge to yourself.”

Her nose wrinkled in disgust.

“Medicine doesn’t exist for us to profit from it,” she said, a little fervently. “It’s about helping those in need. What kind of good will I be doing by hoarding knowledge that can save others, just for money?”

Something she couldn't name shone deep in Shisui's eyes.

He also answered her questions about Konoha and the police.

“Generally, in my experience, the population doesn’t tend to like the police” she had said, trying to gain information.

“Oh, trust me, it was like that here too” Shisui fell into her net, hands in his pockets. “The police were viewed with suspicion for many decades. I don't know how much you know about history, Sa-chan, but there was an Uchiha named Madara who, unfortunately, left a stain on our clan.”

The shiver that ran across her skin raised every hair on her body. A laugh echoed in the back of her mind, so real that she looked over her shoulder for a second.

“When did everything change?” she asked.

“Around thirteen years ago” he replied, with an innocent smile, but without further explanation. When Sasuke was seven years old, a year before what was supposed to be the massacre... Frustrated, Sakura decided that she should make a stop at the local library as soon as she got the chance.

The day Sakura felt that Shisui had left the mission behind and genuinely started to see her as an almost-friend was when she let Shizune's name slip. His eyes widened in surprise and he exclaimed excitedly:

“Have you and Shizune already met?! That's great! You are now obligated to hang out with us sometime, Sa-chan. Shizune is always complaining about how tired she is of not having female company…”

Shizune's approval seemed to be enough for Shisui, which revealed his closeness with her and Genma. This drove her curiosity to its peak, wishing she could devour every crumb of information. How did they become friends? Were they on the same team? Who else did he know? Who else was he close to? Ino…

Shit. She had to stop this.

Something changed on day twelve of her stay in Konoha. During the usual walk to the hospital, Shisui said casually:

“Oh! Sa-chan, I forgot to ask: what time does your shift end?”

Suspicious, she replied:

“At four in the afternoon, why?”

“There is a mission for you, decided by the Hokage” he said, still blasé. “Confidential, so don’t tell anyone. I’ll pick you up at four.”

He disappeared in a whirlwind as soon as she blinked.

And he actually came back at four, not a minute less, not a minute more. So abruptly in front of her that Sakura jumped out of her own skin, almost slipping down the hospital stairs.

"Fuck!" she exclaimed, throwing him (very smiling) an angry look. “A warning would be nice.”

“I thought someone with your chakra abilities would be able to feel me better” he teased, making her snort.

“We can't have everything” Sakura replied, crossing her arms. “Now, where are we going?”

Looking happy with himself, Shisui stretched out an arm with his elbow bent.

"Hold tight."

Traveling through Shisui's Shunshin was the fastest and most unpleasant experience Sakura had ever experienced and she had already traveled between dimensions.

"Are you okay?" she heard him ask around. Sakura blinked her eyes open, watching the world spin.

“Fuck, that was horrible” she cursed, much to his amusement. “Never do that again. Next time, we will walk, like normal people.”

“Oh please, you told me yesterday about how you sewed up a man's stomach that came out of his body. It wasn't that bad.”

“Says the man who is about to be covered in vomit.”

“Eww, get out of here, woman.”

"Hmhm."

They both looked around to the sound of someone clearing their throat. Sakura's eyes widened in shock when she saw the Hokage himself just a few meters away, with a somewhat friendly expression (as always).

“Hokage-sama” she sighed, adjusting herself to greet him as Tsunade had taught her. "What-"

Finally noticing her surroundings, Sakura almost swallowed her own tongue. They were in the backyard of a huge, three-story traditional house, bigger than any she had ever lived in. It was clean, well maintained, and close to a group of trees that gave it privacy. She had never seen that house before, but the symbol on top, displayed for all to see, said enough.

The home of the main Uchiha family.

“Welcome, Haruno-san” Fugaku said without showing anything, other than a reproachful look at his nephew. “It's a pleasure to see you again. How is your experience at the hospital going?”

After a moment with her mouth open like a fish out of water, Sakura recovered.

“Very well, Hokage-sama.” Aside from the prejudice, the negligence, the existence of Junichi… “Thank you for asking.”

“I'm glad,” he said, nodding his head and starting to head towards the house. "Come."

As she walked behind him, Sakura shot Shisui a look, which he only responded to with a blink of (ridiculously long) eyelashes.

“Shisui explained everything to you?” Fugaku asked, as they walked in and took off their shoes.

Barefoot, Sakura expanded her chakra, finding the signature of two powerful people in a nearby room. None of them were Sasuke, which relaxed her shoulders. He was nowhere in the house.

“I believe he forgot,” she said, failing not to sound irritated. Fugaku gave him one more look and Shisui glared openly.

“Oops” he joked, despite their clear discomfort. Rolling his eyes, Fugaku said:

“Follow me, Haruno-san. There is someone I would like you to meet.”

He guied them to the occupied room, where Sakura quickly discovered who the two people were. The first was a beautiful woman, so beautiful that Sakura automatically felt shy around her. Long black hair, mesmerizing dark eyes, Sasuke's face with softer, more feminine features. And the second person…

The man who had tormented the minds of Konoha's inhabitants for years. The monster in the closet, the one that was used to scare children into behaving. The shinobi who fooled everyone. His clan assassin.

Itachi.

“Haruno-san, this is Mikoto, my wife, and Itachi, my firstborn. This is Haruno Sakura, the new doctor hired at the hospital” Fugaku said, while she still found herself a little trapped in the image of a man who had always been painted as monstrous. Now, just two years older than her and in another universe, he looked so… normal. Beautiful, peaceful. And strangely a little pale, her doctor's eyes could see.

After bowing politely, Sakura smiled at the man she had only heard stories about, the first ones horrible, the last ones sad.

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

“The pleasure is ours, Haruno-san” Mikoto came to her, with a slight limp in her steps that Sakura also noticed. Was that why they called her? “Shisui told us a lot about you.”

Blushing like a little girl, Sakura gave Shisui one more look.

“I hope he said nice things” she joked. Mikoto, in turn, smiled in amusement.

"Very nice. It is an honor to meet a doctor capable of accomplishing so many things,” she said.

“That's why we brought you here, Haruno-san,” Fugaku said, going behind his wife and resting his hands on her shoulders. “We would like to hire you for a home care.”

“I imagined it,” she said, pulling her hair back out of her face. “And I also believe you would like to keep this confidential?”

“It’s our condition. Nothing that will be discussed here can come out of here.”

“All patients have the right to privacy” Sakura explained, calm and professional. “No exceptions. Confidentiality between doctor and patient is essential for care. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Mikoto's expression shone with relief, making her look even more beautiful. It was no wonder Sasuke had the face he did.

“We deeply appreciate it, Haruno-san. This relieves me as a mother. Itachi is a reserved person, just like his family.”

Sakura blinked for a second, confused.

“Oh” she exclaimed. Wasn't Mikoto her patient? Why was she limping then? “I thought… It doesn’t matter. Will you be the patient, Uchiha-san?”

Itachi, in turn, got up from where he was sitting and also went to her, without limping. His long silky hair swayed behind him and a Sakura genin inside her was filled with the desire to ask what his shampoo was.

“I appreciate you coming, Haruno-san,” he said, with a bow of his head. The marks on his face seemed lighter than the ones she had heard about in her world. Perhaps they were caused by stress, as Sasuke once suspected. “I hope I didn’t disrupt your routine.”

“No way, there’s always room for one more” she smiled. “You can sit down. Do you mind if I call you by your first name? Many Uchihas present to not get confused.”

He didn't laugh, but there was something humorous in his face.

"Of course."

After asking for permission to wash her hands in a bathroom that Shisui guided her to, Sakura began her service, remaining standing close to Itachi while he remained seated. He was tall enough to almost be her size anyway.

“I'm going to start with the physical check up first, okay? Tell me about your symptoms.”

“He's been feeling short of breath” Fugaku said in turn. “It gets worse after missions and physical exercise. He started coughing up blood in the last few months.”

Used to nosy family members, Sakura waved her head, but continued to address only Itachi.

“And how long have you been feeling this shortness of breath, Itachi-san?”

“One year” it was still Fugaku who responded.

As he spoke, Sakura checked Itachi's fingertips, pressing the nails and observing the appearance of some bluish tone. She also checked his pulse on his wrist, before bringing her hands up to his face.

When he pulled away on instinct, Sakura kept her hands still in the air.

"I'm sorry. I'm just going to check the color of your inner eyelids. Nothing more."

Nodding, perhaps embarrassed, Itachi straightened up and allowed her to approach. Sakura touched the dark circles area gently and pulled the skin down

"Look up, please” she said, which he did. "Perfect. Lift your face up, exposing your neck.”

She then went behind him and began feeling his neck, as well as the area under his chin and along his jaw. Seeing that Mikoto and Fugaku were whispering to each other, she sent a small amount of chakra to her ears.

“Sasuke will be upset that we didn't wait for his return. You know how worried he is…”

“Sasuke has other responsibilities besides worrying about his brother. He will have to understand.”

“Take off your shirt please, Itachi-san” Sakura asked. “I’ll check your breathing now.”

As soon as he did, she gently felt his ribs and back.

“Do you feel any pain when I do this?”

"No."

His hard muscles said otherwise. With a grimace, Sakura felt him with some force in his kidneys.

"And here?"

"No."

That made her snort.

“It’s never a good idea to lie to your doctor, Itachi-san.”

After a moment of silence in which it was possible to hear Shisui laughing, Itachi said:

“There is a slight discomfort.”

“Thank you for your honesty” she joked with him. “I will use my chakra now to examine you internally. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt.”

When she ignited her chakra, the other three members of the room approached like moths to the light.

“How does it feel?” Shisui asked, curious. This made Itachi think for a moment.

“Like… grass. Fresh, icy grass.”

This made Sakura laugh, thinking about Kakashi.

“Some remember gum.”

With the chakra, Sakura finally understood what was happening. There were thousands of internal microcracks in Itachi's lungs, which were weak and close to collapse. There was also a lot of blood accumulated everywhere, coming out of the fissures and filling the lung cavity like a pool. His throat was scratchy, probably from the cough he was definitely having. His entire torso area had muscle bruises from the breathing problems.

“Take a deep breath, please” she commanded.

Squeaking everywhere. The oxygen shook with the blood, causing it to scatter drops around. Itachi started coughing, with some blood coming out of his lips, and Sakura sent chakra to ease the damage. Taking out tissues that she always carried with her when she was in the hospital, she gave one to him to clean his lips.

That problem wasn't just a year old. And the blood wasn't just a few months old. Sakura would bet everything she had that Fugaku only found out about his son's problem recently and that was the lie Itachi invented to not worry him so much. She would venture that the disease began at least five years ago.

Uchihas were so stupid.

"That's enough for now, Itachi-san" Sakura said, turning off her chakra. His muscles stopped tense, as if he wasn't used to gentle touches.

“Do you know what he has, Haruno-san?” Mikoto stepped forward, a little distressed.

“I have my suspicions, but I would like to study a little before giving a diagnosis” she said, to their disappointment. “Respiratory diseases are complex and often differ due to minute details. I prefer to take precautions, so that we know the real cause. My suspicions are of a chronic and autoimmune disease, which makes it even more specific.”

“There’s nothing you can do for now, then?” Shisui joined the conversation, slightly distressed.

“Oh no, that’s not what I said. I prefer to study more so we can discover the cause and thus have a better chance of curing it, but I can certainly treat the symptoms.”

She turned to Itachi over the excited looks of his family members (even Fugaku, at least for his parameters).

“Do you feel strong enough, Itachi-san? I can remove the blood that is accumulated in your lungs, but it is a tiring process for the body. It can also hurt.”

With a calm face, Itachi nodded.

“It would be a relief, Haruno-san.”

For the next hour, Sakura stood behind Itachi, sending pulses of chakra into his lungs and moving her hands up and down his back. The work of drawing that blood was complicated and laborious, so she did it slowly and meticulously. She would have to figure out an easier way to do this in the future. Blood in the lungs could killed people in seconds in the worst cases.

During this time, Itachi coughed and spat out blood much to his mother's distress, but stood straight like a champ, not once complaining. The well-trained child, the perfect soldier. Sakura made sure to also heal every microcrack she found, to give him some relief from the pain.

Finally, she sent chakra throughout his body, healing an old injury to the bone of his left leg, a cut that was on the tip of one of his index fingers and a bad shoulder position that should definitely be popping non-stop. She also discovered something when she discreetly used chakra on his head, mainly in the eye area.

Hmm, interesting. What do we have here…

"That's enough for now" Sakura said, finally pulling away from him. She then placed a hand on her belt, taking from it an herb very good for lung problems that she had collected in the Land of Grass. “Drink tea from this plant every night, Itachi-san, until our next meeting. If you don’t like the taste, you can add honey.”

He took the vial from her hand and stared at it as if it were the most curious thing he had ever seen in his life.

“I thank you from the bottom of my heart, Haruno-san” Mikoto stepped forward once again, with a hand on her heart. “We are all grateful for your help.”

“I just did my job” Sakura blushed, shy. "It's not necessary to thank me. Itachi-san, you must feel tired today and have a sore back until tomorrow. Send me a message if the discomfort doesn't go away or the blood returns before six days. I would recommend missing work altogether, but I know enough shinobis to know that's not possible, so just avoid physical exercise that requires aerobics.”

“Thank you for your time, Haruno-san” it was Fugaku's turn to speak. “I will send you information about paying for the treatment later.”

If it had been any other time, Sakura would have refused, but she was now someone whose belongings all fit into a suitcase and lived in an inn until the end of the month, so…

“Thank you for your trust, Hokage-sama.”

Realizing it was time to leave, but knowing there was still something she wanted to do, Sakura met Itachi's eyes and didn't look away as she said:

“Would it be possible to take an alternative route? I understand the privacy issue, but I don’t think my stomach can handle another shunshin trip.”

She gave them an innocent smile. Seeming to read her mind, Itachi stood up calmly, without arousing suspicion.

“There is a path on the outskirts of the clan where you can go unnoticed. I will accompany you, Haruno-san. It's the least I can do."

With polite waves, they both left the house and remained silent until the end of the path, when they finally left the Uchiha grounds and returned to the village, still alone. She noticed that he was breathing deeply in a discreet way, as if he was feeling pleasure filling his lungs with oxygen.

“Now, Haruno-san” Itachi began. “Is there anything you would like to say?”

That made her smile. An enemy of bullshit talk, just like his brother.

“Actually, there is, Itachi-san” she said, calm and innocent. “But I figured it would be a subject you would prefer to be discussed in private.”

He nodded, a bit of uncertainty in his expression.

“That would it be…?”

“The issue of your eyesight. How long have you been becoming blind?”

The shock spread across his features and disappeared as quickly as it came, but it was still enough to make her hide the small satisfied smile that appeared on her lips.

“I'm sorry, Haruno-san, I don't think I know what you're talking about” he lied, all expressionless like the Uchiha Fugaku's firstborn he was.

In response, Sakura gave him the smile she gave genin Naruto when she knew he was lying about taking a shower.

“Of course not” she scoffed lightly. “I will be the first to tell you about it, then. Your vision is terrible, almost seventy-five percent compromised. The corneas are toast, almost to an end. From what I can gather, you must feel pain every time you open your eyes, so it's strange that you don't know about the blindness. How long has your vision been blurry? Five years?"

He just blinked, saying nothing. The silence stretched on for what seemed like an eternity, but Sakura was more stubborn than him, so, after centuries, Itachi finally said:

"...Three."

"Only that?" her eyebrows went up. “The deterioration was faster than I thought. It's a little worrying, if I can be honest. Probably because of the sharingan…”

When he continued to blink in silence, more shocked than anything else, she returned to the topic.

"Anyway. I figured you wouldn't want this information to be said in front of your family, as they seemed ignorant to the fact. How would you like to go from here, Itachi-san?”

"Go from?" he echoed her, still blinking to stop, now with his eyebrows furrowed a little. “I’m sorry, Haruno-san, I’m not sure I understand what you meant.”

“About your treatment” Sakura said, tilting her head like a puppy. “I understand enough to know that there are secrets to the sharingan that you and your clan wish I didn't know, so it's understandable that you would prefer to wait for us to build some sort of trust before I take care of the problem. I must warn, however, Itachi-san, that given the speed of deterioration I am concerned that-”

“Wait a second” Itachi interrupted her. “Can you reverse blindness?”

Sakura blinked.
"Well, yes."

“Without any type of transplant?”

“It depends on the severity, but in your case, it is still possible.”

They both blinked at each other, surprised and confused for different reasons.

“...I assume this is not common?” Sakura took a chance, feeling her face burn.

“No” Itachi said, a tone of voice that she couldn't understand. "No, it's not."

“Oh.”

Of course not, silly. Her face flushed even more as Sakura internally punished herself. Funny how she managed to forget the fact that that universe was decades behind.

Well, it didn't matter. That Uchiha needed treatment and if there was one thing she knew about them, it was that sometimes it was better not to give them the freedom to be stubborn.

“Uh… my offer stands. Completely confidential, just like your lung treatment. We can make better arrangements the next time we see each other, okay? See you later, Itachi-san.”

She then walked away, before he could say no.

Two days later, when her stay in Konoha reached two full weeks, after a long shift and missing Katsuyu dearly, Sakura laid her head on the pillow and slept through the night.

Or at least, that was the plan.

It seemed like she had only been asleep for fifteen minutes when a presence at her bedside woke her with a start. For a second, she believed she was in a damp cave hidden in the most isolated corners of the world's end. But a voice that didn't exist in that universe pulled her back to reality, saying only:

“Sakura!”

Blinking repeatedly, Sakura cleared her vision and found the wide, red eyes of a figure dimly lit by the moonlight shining through the windows. She realized that she was standing up and had chakra accumulated in her fists.

“Shisui…” Sakura sighed, letting her shoulders slump as she still blinked in confusion. "What…"

“I'm sorry to wake you, but I need you to come immediately” he interrupted her, approaching her when he saw her fists come apart. “There is an emergency at the hospital.”

All the sleep and confusion in her body was instantly replaced by cold seriousness, which ran down from head to toe like ice water.

In a second, she had shoes on her feet, a robe over her pajamas, and was holding her herbal belt in one hand. Shisui blinked once with his surprised red eyes before Sakura grabbed him by the arm and said:

“Take me there.”

In a second, she was at the hospital entrance with her head spinning and her dinner at the base of her throat. If Sakura were anyone else, she might as well have thrown up on her own shoes.

But at that moment, she was a doctor on a mission. She could vomit later.

"What is happening?" Sakura questioned Shisui, as he dragged her inside by her wrist. She looked him up and down looking for injuries, but he looked fine and healthy in his police uniform, despite being pale. "Are you well? Itachi…”

“Itachi and I are fine” he said, going upstairs. “We were on duty at the village gates when they arrived. We were the ones who helped him get to the hospital.”

They climbed another flight of stairs and Sakura's skin got goosebumps. The floor for priority patients. The floor on which those with the most prestige in the town were placed…

Before she could open her mouth, Shisui continued.

“They arrived only an hour ago, but none of the doctors on duty know what to do.” His expression was scared around the edges, concern clear on his lips and eyebrows. “We called the retired doctors, the hospital director, Shizune-chan tried to do everything she could, but…”

She's the only one with a chance.

Sakura's steps quickened. She gripped her belt tightly.

“What is the diagnosis?” she questioned him, tying her hair in a ponytail and standing side by side with him, despite his legs being much longer than hers.

"Poison." Fuck, of course it was. Kami hated them all. “Sakura-chan…”

She turned to him, meeting his eyes. Shisui looked troubled, but Sakura knew that all he would find on her face would be seriousness and stubbornness.

In the distance, she could hear shouting and a heated argument.

“This poison…” he said, as if afraid to admit it. “It’s one of the worst. I've never heard of a shinobi who was able to survive being contaminated. Honestly, I decided to pick you up because I saw you do things I never thought anyone could do, but…”

“Nothing is lost until the heart stops beating” Sakura recited, without shaking, without trembling. “And sometimes not even after that. If he's alive, then we have a chance.”

She turned the last corner, finally reaching the commotion.

“Now, who is the patient?”

But Shisui didn't need to answer her. Because there, inside a room full of clearly distraught people, she saw the long, strong body of a ninja slumped on top of a gurney, the black fabric rising to cover half his face, his messy silver hair catching the attention of her eyes like the moonlight on a starless night.

Kakashi.

Kakashi.

Kakashi, Kakashi, Kakashi, Kakashi…

A genin Sakura screamed and cried for her sensei deep in her chest. An old Sakura was filled with anger and dread that she was going through this again. The war-traumatized Sakura barely felt anything other than the cold that reached her bones and made her move.

After slamming her own belt into Shisui's chest, Sakura was running before he could react.
In a trance, she entered the operating room, pushing anyone in front of her. She touched the waist of a tall man, who exclaimed in surprise as he was thrown onto two other people. A few nurses backed away, widening their eyes. Shizune, with tears in her eyes and a hand on her pregnant belly, faced Itachi, who's Uchiha heritage was not able to hide the shadows in his dark eyes.

Sakura didn't see any of this. She didn't see anyone. The only thing that existed was the man passed out on that stretcher, the sensei who failed as a teacher but became an irreplaceable presence at her side at the end of the world. The man who saved her life, the man who insisted she was his favorite student despite everything.

(“It’s those I love most that I tend to fail the most, Sakura-chan. That should be proof enough for you.”).

No, Kakashi, not you...

Not again.

“Sakura-san!” Shizune exclaimed, as she reached Kakashi's body and assessed him with her eyes first. Pale, sweaty skin, trembling body, eyelids fluttering. "What you-"

“What is the diagnosis?”

Shizune opened and closed her mouth. She looked at a spot behind Sakura, probably someone.

“Sakura-san, I don’t know if you have permission-”

“What is the diagnosis?” Sakura repeated, more firmly, the voice of the Hokage's pupil. She placed chakra in her hands and began to evaluate him. The room fell silent as everyone held their breath.

"Poison. Contamination through a cut in the belly. He lost consciousness just before reaching the village” it wasn't Shizune's voice that answered her. It was masculine, known. "He... he…"

He was dying.

And very fast.

Sakura looked up as her hands continued to send probing chakra through Kakashi's blood. She met the eyes of the one who answered her: Guy. With ridiculous hair and clothes, but huge dark circles under his eyes. He was on Kakashi's other side, with a firm hand on his shoulder.

“He got in front of me” Guy confessed, tears appearing in his red eyes. “It was supposed to be me, but he was faster. We were attacked by-”

“Sasori.”

Sakura was the one who interrupted him, returning to Kakashi and turning off the chakra in her hands.

“It’s Sasori’s poison.”

One second and she knew. She knew Sasori and she knew that poison. The tense and trembling muscles, the cold and sweaty skin, the bluish color that she knew was taking over his lips beneath the mask.

“Do you know the poison?” Shizune questioned her, confused and hopeful. Sakura waved.
She didn't just know that poison. She knew it in every cell, in every ounce of evil. She felt it in her own blood.

She could still feel the frantic beating of Kankuro's heart beneath her hands.

“Is there anything you can do?” Shisui came up behind her, exchanging looks with Itachi and Shizune. “Is your chakra capable of curing poisons?”

“No” Sakura said, much to everyone's disappointment. “Poisons can only be cured through antidotes. What my chakra can do is try to heal or at least lessen the side effects. The poison will only leave his body with an antidote or if his body is capable of fighting it.”

She approached Kakashi's face and stepped into the others' view, pulling his mask down. Not only were his lips blue, white foam was starting to leak from them.

“Flashlight” she commanded, stretching a hand into the air. After a second of hesitation, in which she flexed her fingers in silent rebuke, someone placed the object in her hand, which she used to check his pupils.

No reaction, not even in the sharingan. His heart was still beating and he was still breathing, but…

“He won't make it alone” Sakura said, more to herself than to the others. Her hands glowed again. “The poison spread too quickly. If we don't do anything, he'll have at most three more hours. Maybe two.”

Her words caused a stir, as she would have thought they would if she hadn't been so numb to moments of life and death. Guy fell to the ground next to Kakashi and started sobbing. The nurses gasped as Shisui cursed loudly and Itachi had to reach out with a hand to keep Shizune upright.

Sakura paid none of them any attention, taking off the robe she was wearing and walking over to one of the nearby closets, where she pulled out a medical gown.

“Sakura?” Shisui called to her, as she re-done her ponytail and walked over to him, retrieving her belt. "What are you doing?"

“What I just said,” she said, finding a nearby table and laying out small vials of herbs and substances. Aconite, Caryophyllis flos, Jofukubana…

“But…” one of the nurses murmured, so amazed that she overcame her own shyness. “You just said he only has three hours to live, Haruno-san.”

“Two hours” Sakura corrected her, without thinking. “And what I said is that he will die if we don’t do anything.”

"You also said that your chakra doesn't cure poisons" Shisui argued, his eyebrows furrowed.

After finding the one that would help her, Sakura put away the other vials.

“I know what I said.”

“Haruno-san” Itachi said, with his serious and deep voice catching everyone's attention. “There is no cure for Sasori of the Red Sand's poisons. Shizune managed to identify which one was used on Hatake-san and it is one of the deadliest. We have already lost dozens of shinobi to this poison in the last few months, hundreds since it was created.”

Sakura didn't say anything for a second, meeting his eyes. Something in her expression made his thin, perfect eyebrows rise, the same expression on Sasuke's face when they were children and he saw the glimpses of fire burning behind her eyes.

"Just because Konoha couldn't find a cure" she said. “Doesn’t mean no one else could.”

Guy's crying stopped to give way to a shocked silence that covered her back like a blanket made of eyes.

"What are you saying?"

Sakura turned back to finally recognize the man she had carelessly pushed out of her way. He was tall, handsome and had long white hair. His features were soft and sweet, the kind of face that calmed children and made women fall in love. Sakura didn't know him, in that life or the previous one, and decided that it didn't matter at that moment anyway.

“I'm saying that Sasori of the Red Sand is not just an enemy of this village” she said. “He is a cancer to all nations, large or small, shinobi or civilian. He has victims in every corner of this world, not just in Konoha. And someone, at some point, someday, would have to find a way to stop him.”

“And that someone is you” Shisui deduced, amazed. “You know the cure.”

Sakura didn't need to answer him. She returned to her vials and read them again, searching for a mental list that was written in the handwriting of her fifteen-year-old self.

“Do we have Paeoniae roots?” she asked.

Shizune opened her mouth, but the one who responded was the white-haired man.

“Yes, freshly picked.”

“Desert viper venom?”

“Not much” he admitted. “But enough for at least one vial.”

Good enough.

“Cochlear Leaves?”

"No."

Shit.

Sakura closed her eyes for just a second before coming back, her mind racing.

“The antidote needs Cochlearia” she confessed, seeing Guy's hand squeeze Kakashi's shoulder, who, in turn, was increasingly pale and trembling. He would start convulsing soon and it would be all downhill after that. “It’s the main element. Without it, there’s nothing to do.”

“What plant is that?” Shisui intervened, hurriedly. “We still have a few hours, wouldn’t it be possible to pick it up?”

“There wouldn’t be time” the white-haired man said darkly. “The closest place we would find it is in Suna. Three days to arrive and three days to come back.”

And as she had felt, Kakashi caught everyone's attention when he began to struggle on the table, with the fabric of his mask darkening as it became soaked with white foam that leaked from his mouth.

Everyone moved and some nurses screamed, but Sakura was faster than even Guy: she was at his side in moments, holding him tight with her chakra hands. She removed his Konoha headband and threw it on the ground, once again hiding him from the view of others by lowering his mask to prevent him from choking. The others watched in shock as she single-handedly managed to control the body of a man twice her size.

“Shh, you're okay” she whispered to Kakashi, like the nights full of nightmares he woke up, confused and paranoid. “You’re okay, I’m here with you.”

Kakashi opened his eyes, with a kind of feverish haze behind his pupils. He looked directly at Sakura, so weak that his sharingan didn't even tickle her, and she placed a hand on his forehead, sending pulses of cold chakra to his hot skin. Without looking away, he sank onto the stretcher with his body stiff and crooked, swallowing hard, but not expressing his pain in any other way. Sakura just knew him well enough to see how much the poison was making him suffer.

She had to press acupuncture points to make his arms and legs unfold, noticing the micro wounds and bruises on the muscles. The poison was eating him from the inside out.

Sakura's eyes met Shisui's, determined.

“How fast could you go back and forth with your shunshin?” she questioned him, her hands still on Kakashi, who was now having small spasms.

“Three days” he replied in the same beat.

Too much time.

“And with a soldier pill?”

“Two and a half days.”

Kakashi's heart was beating slower and slower.

It only took Sakura half a second to make her decision.

“And with a soldier pill made by me?”
Tsunade's spirit would haunt her for the rest of her life for putting a shinobi's life at risk like that, but she trusted the stories Sasuke once told her. Shisui was Konoha's elite. If there was anyone who could achieve this, it would be him.

“Knowing what you can do?” Shisui replied. “Probably a day and a half.”

Good enough.

Like lightning, Sakura returned to her belt and took out one of her pills, a recipe enhanced with special herbs from the Shikkotsu Forest. Everyone's eyes in the room were locked on them, drawn to the small red ball in the center of her hand.

“Take this and go” she instructed him, pointing a finger in her direction. “Ask for Cochlearia leaves, at least five and preferably freshly harvested. And stay at the hospital when you get back, I’ll want to assess your health after the trip.”

"Yes ma'am."

"Hang on!" Shizune exclaimed, as Shisui removed the pill from her hand. “They won’t give it to you without an official request. Our relations with Suna have only just begun to open up, an appearance like this could end up looking suspicious.”

With her heart in her throat, Sakura followed Shizune's gaze, which fell on the white-haired man, who moved his eyes to Sakura, seeming to make a decision thanks to something he saw on her face.

“I'll order it” he said, leaving the room quickly. Before Sakura could say anything, Itachi said:

“Shizune-san is right, you can’t just show up in Suna demanding something like that.”

Desperate fire burned within her, waking her temper.

“What he can’t do is stay here!” she argued, indicating Kakashi with her hands. “Unless you’re willing to lose the life of one of your best shinobi!”

Maybe yelling at the Hokage's son wasn't something common among them, because the others' silence was one of shock. Sakura didn't care. She would fight every one of them if it would give her the damn Cochlearia leaves.

Itachi's eyes fell to Kakashi's almost-dead body before returning to her. Sakura stared at him without hesitation, pupil with pupil, until he faced Shisui.

“Go” he said, to her relief. “Tell them that Konoha will owe them a favor and that we will share our scientific discoveries. Make it clear that it is an emergency, demand to speak to the Kazekage if necessary.”

"Are you sure?" Shisui said to his cousin. “Ojisan will not be happy about not being part of this decision-making.”

Something flashed behind Itachi's eyes.

“I’ll take care of it.”

This brought a small smirk to Shisui's lips, and he nodded and placed the pill on his tongue.

“You're the one in charge,” he said, before his face contorted into a grimace. “Fuck, that tastes like shit.”

“I never said otherwise” Sakura said, placing a hand on his arm and leading him out, without another second to waste. "Now go. A day and a half, not a second longer. Do not be late."

That only made him smile more.

“I'm never late” was the last thing Shisui said, before disappearing, probably to where the white-haired doctor went to write the order.

Sakura's relief, however, was short-lived. Just as she relaxed her shoulders and was about to prepare herself, a voice came from the corridor, exclaiming:

"What are you doing here?!"

Fucking shit, not this idiot.

“I don't have time for that now, Junichi,” Sakura replied, ignoring politeness and respect suffixes. “We’re in an emergency here.”

She entered the room with him close behind, furious as a hurricane.

“Haruno-san, I demand that you leave this room immediately” he said in an authoritative voice. “You are not allowed to be here, let alone with one of our elite patients!”

What an insufferable man. Sakura didn't have the time or patience to deal with him at that moment.

"No."

Junichi winked at her as Sakura found containers large enough to fill with water in one of the cupboards.

"What did you say?!" he questioned her, impatiently. Sakura rolled her eyes and made no attempt to hide it. “This patient is not under your responsibility! You’re not his doctor!”

“This patient is one step away from death” Sakura exclaimed in kind, arranging the room the way she wanted while the others watched her. “No matter who his doctor is, he needs all the help he can get!”

“That’s not how things work here!” Junichi stepped in front of her, blocking her from reaching Kakashi. “Step aside, Haruno-san. Immediately!"

Furious, Sakura gritted her teeth.

“Didn’t you hear what I said?!” she raised her voice, much to his surprise. “This man is going to die if we don’t do something! I don’t care if I’m his fucking doctor or not, I can help you and I will.”

“That’s not how we-”

“I don’t care how you work here!” Sakura slammed her fingertip into his chest, hard enough to push him back. “I was hired-”

“To obey the commands of your superiors in this hospital!”

“-to save lives!” she ignored him, fire pulsing through her veins. “And that’s what I’m going to do. I don't give a fuck about your ridiculous rules and prejudiced hierarchy. I will save this man’s life and you will not stop me!”

The point was: Sakura could have kept her head down. She could have used little of her chakra to cure the minor health problems of a marginalized part of society and never clashed with the status quo that filled the hospital walls. She could have stayed quiet in the moments when no patients showed up and enjoyed the break she never had, resting in her empty treatment room. She could have, somehow, even acted as if she wasn't that good, now that she had seen (after a search that managed to be both desperate and discreet at the same time) that none of her boys were hospitalized and therefore didn't needed her. That would have made Konoha lose its interest in her, perhaps. After the time written in the contract, she could simply pack her bags and leave, becoming just a faint and insignificant memory in the minds of Sasuke and Sai.

But she didn't keep her head down. And there was no way she would.

Madara had taken everything from Sakura.  Her home, her family, her friends, her peace, her entire life. The only thing he couldn't take from her was medicine. Her abilities, but especially her latent instinct to help others, her love and appreciation for life in all its forms. He couldn't take away from her the fire that burned whenever she saw someone in need of help. He could not take away from her the unbridled passion that made her look Death in the eye and say “you will not take the life that is in my hands.”

Sakura was no longer the woman she once was. And she never would be again. Now she was something hollow, but wasn't empty yet because she might no longer know who she was as a ninja, as a daughter, as a friend, as a person, but she knew what she was when it came to that hospital.

Sakura was no longer a ninja from any village, she was no longer anyone's daughter, she no longer had her friends, nor even her own universe.

But she was a doctor. She cared for everyone, she fought for all her patients, she defended them when they couldn't defend themselves.

And if damn Uchiha Madara couldn't get that out of her, then there was no one who could. Much less ridiculous rules in an unequal system made up of old prejudices.

You couldn't teach an old dog new tricks. And after everything she'd been through, Sakura wasn't just an old dog, she was a hungry dog who wouldn't give up the only bone she had left. A dog who was tired of performing tricks and who had decided that she was going to do what she wanted, when she wanted.

At that moment, what she wanted was to save Kakashi's life. And no one would stop her. Not again.

The silence stretched out, heavy and suffocating, as they stared at each other, furious.

“Haruno-san” Junichi said, sounding like a threat. “I don't know who you think or how powerful you think you are, but this is a warning: if you don't back down now, you will be fired.”

“And my warning to you is: if you don't get out of my way, I will make you leave."

When Junichi didn't move a muscle, still using his own body as a barrier between her and the life that needed her, Sakura shrugged, determined.

“Remember it was your choice”

In one movement, she grabbed Junichi by the collar of his coat and lifted him off the ground as if he weighed the same as a bag of feathers. He screamed, along with the shocked civilian nurses, but no one could do anything before Sakura came back to the door and threw him out, with such force that he hit the floor and slid until he hit the opposite wall, like a dazed skater. That is if the skaters skated sitting down.

“ARE YOU CRAZY?” Junichi screamed, trying to stand up with a dazed and pained grimace. “I’M GOING TO FIRE YOU! I’LL SEND YOU OUT OF THIS VILLAGE!”

Her response was to slam the door in his face and lock the lock.

Finally free to work, Sakura turned to those still in the room and began barking out orders. Behind the door, Junichi continued to shout and knock, but was ignored by everyone, who stood like statues, staring at her with wide eyes.

“I need four people to be in charge of bringing me clean water at all times” she said, adjusting herself and pointing to the nurses. “You two will take turns getting buckets of clean water and you two will take turns getting rid of the dirty water. We’ll be here all night and we can’t stop once we start, so make sure you’re ready.”

“Yes, Haruno-san!” they exclaimed, before starting to move.

“Shizune” Sakura called, making her turn to her, her jaw still hanging open. “Collect the first waste bucket and store it well. We will need the samples for further evaluation before Shisui arrives. If you wear a mask and gloves, you will be fine.”

“Okay” she replied, stunned and a little out of breath. “But…uh…samples of what?”

“You two” Sakura said to Itachi and Guy instead. “I need you to hold him with everything you have. Make sure he stays as still as possible.”

Her eyes fell on Kakashi's face, pale, sweaty and tortured. One of the strongest men she has ever met. Unbeatable, strong, focused, mysterious, powerful, anything but immortal.

“This is going to hurt” she confessed. "A lot."

“What are you going to do with him?” Guy asked, getting behind Kakashi to hold him by the shoulders while Itachi positioned himself at his legs. “You said he only had a few hours to live, but you sent Uchiha-san on a day and a half mission. I don't understand…"

“He doesn't have time,” Sakura confirmed, rolling up her sleeves as one of the nurses placed a bucket of water next to her. “Then I will give it to him. That’s what I’m going to do.”

And with one last deep breath, she manipulated a ball of water in the air and infiltrated it inside Kakashi's body.

The room was then filled with loud screams of pain.

“Hold him!” she shouted at Itachi and Guy, who did just that, pulling Kakashi back onto the mattress and keeping him still. “And don’t stop until I say so. I need him to stay still until I can get everything out.”

"Out?!" Shizune gasped in a whisper, widening her eyes at Sakura's hands. “Sakura-san… Are you telling me…”

In one movement, the ball of water slid out of Kakashi, now with a clump of small black pieces floating around. He stopped screaming, but his body remained stiff and trembling.

“That’s…” Guy also gasped, dumbfounded.

“The poison” Itachi replied, his eyes now red following the rotating movement of the poisonous particles within the water. Without paying them any attention, Sakura discarded what she had on hand and grabbed more clean water. The only moment she paid attention to them was to shout once again:

“Hold him!”

The entire process took almost eight hours straight, much longer than with Kankuro.

Although he spent longer with the poison in his body, the amount in Kakashi's body was bigger and a version with more metal components, which spread faster and more brutally in the blood.

In a daze, all Sakura could focus on was the man in her hands and every particle of poison she could find and encompass in his body. Hours passed like minutes for her, disassociated she usually was in those situations. The world didn't exist beyond Kakashi and his organs that were beginning to fail.

This meant that Sakura didn't see anything that happened in that room during the hours that passed. She didn't see the way Shizune collected the first batch of poisoned water and stored it in bottles so carefully that it was as if they were the most precious thing in the world to her. She didn't see the way the nurses stared at her or how Itachi continued with his sharingan on, following her every move like a hawk. She didn't see that, every time the screams of pain made Guy tremble, he would look up and stare at the seriousness on her face until he calmed down.

She didn't see when Junichi managed to break down the room's door, accompanied by the white-haired man who stopped him the moment he realized what Sakura was doing. She didn't see the way shock filled their expressions, how the fight drained from Junichi's body as he fell back, bracing himself against the wall as he stared at her wordlessly. How the white-haired man's eyes blinked without stopping, glazed over by the movement of her hands, by the sight of the poison coming out of the body of a man who everyone thought was already dead.

The way the doctors from the early morning shift showed up and gathered at the door, all watching silently like a crowd of believers witnessing a miracle.

All she saw was Kakashi. Only him.

At one point, when most of the poison had been removed, Sakura used her chakra to wake him up, just to check if his brain had suffered some kind of immediate side effect. When his dark eyes opened, she saw his pupils reacting as they should and sighed in relief.

Confused, Kakashi's eyebrows furrowed as he looked around, weak, dripping with sweat, and visibly exhausted. Upon realizing, even if in a hazy way, that he was in a hospital bed, being held tightly in his arms and legs, his breathing hitched and he began to hyperventilate, trying to fight with Guy and Itachi as if they didn't recognize them.

“It's okay, it's okay,” Sakura murmured, resting a cold hand on his hot forehead. “Shh, I’m here with you.”

Kakashi blinked at her, confused, drunk, but his body relaxed and he sank back onto the bed, even with no recognition in his eyes.

"I'm here with you."

And as she watched him calm down at the sound of her voice and the touch of her chakra, Sakura realized that she had discovered something.

Ever since she had arrived in that universe eight months ago, she had been wondering why Obito had purposely sent her to three years in the past. Why differentiate her age from the boys? What was different about that reality that made Sakura's presence important three years earlier? Once again, Obito did nothing without being ten steps ahead. He probably studied this new world for weeks until he decided it was perfect.

Now she knew. As she saw Kakashi's eyelids closing, as she felt his body relax after hours of tension from pain and poison, as she felt his heart beating, she knew.

Obito loved few people in his life and Kakashi was one of them. Kakashi was the best friend Obito always felt he failed, the one who died thanks to the choices he blamed himself for making.

Obito, like her, couldn't save Kakashi. At least, not in their universe. But the new version? He could, sending in his path the only person who could take him from the arms of death.

Sakura herself.

Chapter Text

When the remnants of poison still present in Kakashi's blood were too small for her to remove without damaging the tissues of his internal organs, Sakura disconnected her chakra from her hands and wiped the sweat from her forehead with her forearm. Her pressure fluctuated, causing her blood to rush down to her feet and then back up to her head, but she held herself upright. Outside the window, the sun had been shining for many hours.

“That's all we can do for him for now,” she said to the surprisingly full room, which was silent apart from the ticking of a nearby clock. “Now we'll have to wait.”

“Is he going to be all right?” Guy asked, the lowest tone of voice Sakura had ever heard coming from him. Glancing at him, she washed her hands in the sink and took off her lab coat, soiled with splashes of water, blood and poison.

“If Shisui isn't late, yes,” Sakura confessed, turning back to Kakashi and feeling her own eyelids droop fondly as she looked at him. “We've managed to give him two more days. We'll need to check his heartbeat and breathing, but as long as I haven't missed anything...”

Her thumb stroked a symbol above Kakashi's failing eyebrow, which she knew hadn't been there in his original life. A fixation seal, old, crooked, shaky, but ingeniously well thought out. She would bet all her secrets that the one who put it there was a desperate young girl with blood burning with courage and the death of her companions whispering in the back of her head.

The seal should have been removed decades ago. It probably brought Kakashi absurd pain and wasn't suitable for an eye transplant, but given the circumstances...

Good thinking, Rin.

Making sure his breathing was steady and constant, Sakura turned to the nurses and gave them a tired but kind smile.

“You saved him tonight,” she said, to their surprise. “Thank you.”

“B-but Haruno-san...” one of them stammered, her eyes wide. “You did everything!”

“No, I didn't,” Sakura insisted, resting a hand on her shoulder and smiling at the others. “I could never have done it without your help. You have as much to do with this as I do. Without you, he wouldn't stand a chance.”

Feeling shy under the shocked and slightly watery gazes of the civilians in front of her, Sakura then turned to where she had last seen Shizune. Surprised, she discovered that, without realizing it, Shizune had lain down on a stretcher and fallen asleep, with Itachi and the white-haired man next to her. Junichi didn't seem to be anywhere, which was good for both him and her. She was too tired to be patient with him.

“When did she sleep?” Sakura asked, lowering her voice and approaching Shizune. With her chakra, she checked her and the baby's pulse, seeing that they were fine.

“About three hours ago,” the man said, stroking Shizune's shoulder. The gesture made Sakura tilt her head to the side, thoughtful. “Pregnancy makes her tired. But she asked us to wake her up to make the antidote.”

“I was going to speed up the process so that we only had to wait for Shisui to return,” she muttered. “But I can wait another hour or two. There's time. Let her sleep a little longer.”

“You should rest too, Haruno-san,” Itachi interjected, speaking quietly and with his sharingan gone. “The surgery lasted over ten hours, you must be exhausted.”

Sakura gave him a small smile full of secrets. Oh, if he only knew... ten hours was nothing to her. Sakura's record was six days without sleep.

“I'll be fine,” she said. “But I could eat something while we wait, my blood sugar is low. You can go home if you want, Itachi-san.”

He, in turn, moved his head, his long hair flowing down his shoulders. Sakura couldn't identify the way he looked at her.

“I'd rather stay,” he said, with no room for argument. “At least until Shisui returns.”

With a nod, Sakura turned to the nurses, telling them to go home and rest and to call others to put Kakashi on an IV and keep an eye on his vital signs for the next few hours. She had only taken three steps towards the door before she heard:

“Haruno-san.”

At Kakashi's side, Guy was standing, looking at her.

“Please allow me to accompany you,” he asked with a nod. “I'd also like something to eat.”

Slightly surprised, Sakura saw no reason to refuse. With one last look at Kakashi, she left with Guy down the corridor, with the aim of seeing if there was anything to eat in the cafeteria. She tried to make some kind of small talk, so that she could pretend she had just met him.

“So... Sorry, I don't remember if I heard your name-Oh, sweet Kami!”

Suddenly, in front of her, Guy fell to his knees with his forehead on the ground, almost scaring Sakura to death.

“Haruno-san!” he exclaimed, the high tone she once knew so well. ”I am grateful until the last days of my life for what you did today. You saved my rival's life and you will forever have me by your side!”

“Uh...” Sakura stammered, feeling her face flush as doctors and nurses passed by in the corridor, staring at them with confused faces. Some, noticing that it was Guy on the floor, rolled their eyes. “That's not necessary...”

He lifted his face, tears running down his cheeks. She had forgotten how emotional that man could be. Really impressive for such a capable ninja.

“Please allow me to make it up to you” Guy considered crying and screaming, bending down to try to put his forehead on her feet. Sakura jumped back, startled. Kami, how much more would that universe surprise her? How desperate were those people really? “I'll do anything to prove my gratitude!”

“First of all, get up, you crazy man!” Sakura exclaimed, grabbing him by the armpits and lifting him up in one movement. Guy blinked at her, a little shocked.

“You're impressively strong for a woman,” he said. A little annoyed, she raised an eyebrow.

“And you're impressively emotional for a man,” Sakura returned, without thinking. When Guy seemed about to fall to his knees in front of her again, now to beg for forgiveness, she held him firmly by the forearms. “Control yourself, please. This is a hospital. We can't cause a commotion.”

“You're right,” he said, chastened. “Forgive me, Haruno-san. I just wanted to show my gratitude for the miracle you...”

“There's nothing to be grateful for,” she cut him off, her face hot. “What I did wasn't a miracle, it was my job. Saving my patients' lives is the least I could do.”

Guy's eyes remained fixed on her face for a moment as his expression changed to something more serious and sober.

“If I may say so, Haruno-san...” he said, now almost calmly. ”I don't know where you're from or how you've lived this far, but in life as we know it here... In the life that ordinary shinobi live, where one wrong move can take the one you love away forever... Those who fight death and win, the way I saw you do in that room, are nothing short of miraculous.”

Not knowing how to answer him, Sakura just stared at Guy, her throat closing and the image of Obito in her head, who decided that he should use her to save Kakashi's life too, a man who was supposedly fated to die there as well as in her universe. She also thought of Lee, trapped behind a table, and knew that Guy was thinking of him too. There was nothing miraculous about what she could do. It was just technique, study and a lot of experience. But until she could convince them of that...

“Still...” she managed to get out, after looking away. “No need to thank me. It's been a pleasure.”

“Please, at least allow me to reward you,” he insisted. “On my honor. It's the least I can do for someone who burns internally with such youth and will of fire.”

Sakura opened her mouth to deny it when her stomach rumbled loudly, drawing both their attention. She blushed deeply at the huge smile Guy gave her.

“Food it is, then!” he exclaimed, shouting again and sounding even louder now that he was happy. “Trust me, Haruno-san, I know exactly the place where you'll regain all your strength. Wait here, please. I won't let you eat anything in a hospital cafeteria!”

“No, please,” Sakura tried to stop him. “There's no...”

But he had already disappeared, leaving behind only the wind that blew a few strands of her hair out of place. Maito Guy, the fastest green beast in Konoha indeed.

“...need.” With a deep sigh, she felt the corner of her lip lift, just a few millimeters. “Well, it's good to know that some people always stay the same.”

Now alone and feeling the physical and mental shock of that night, Sakura wandered around for a few minutes, not quite sure where to go. Before, when she was more than a foreigner who arrived out of nowhere and was able to do what no one else could, Sakura had her own office, where she could go to get away whenever she felt she needed to be alone. Now she had the doctors' communal space, but she didn't want to risk bumping into anyone, let alone end up leaning against one of the beds and falling asleep. The cafeteria, it seemed, wasn't an option either unless she wanted to face Guy's fury and it was still too early to wake Shizune...

She was seriously considering going to the roof of the hospital to disassociate for a few minutes when she heard a voice. A voice she knew. The one she heard in her dreams, memories and nightmares. The one that had a golden color and touched all the parts of her that reminded her of herself.

A voice she hadn't heard for over three years. The voice.

Naruto.

Her legs were moving before any other part of her body could understand what was happening. Heart pounding, Sakura followed the sound in a stupor she had seen only a few times in her life, completely oblivious to her surroundings, the lurching of her stomach, the tears in her eyes, the trembling of her hands.

Naruto, who smiled a smile brighter than the sun. Naruto, who said the he loved her as the last thing before he died. Naruto, who...

“BUT HOW MUCH LONGER DO I HAVE TO WAIT?!”

...was shouting non-stop...

“WE'VE BEEN HERE FOR FUCKING HOURS!”

and...

“HE'S MY SENSEI!”

swearing...

“I'M GOING IN AND NO ONE IN THIS FUCKING HOSPITAL IS GOING TO STOP ME!”

...to one of her nurses?!

Sakura's steps stumbled as she turned a corner, then stopped suddenly. She blinked once. Twice, three times. But what she saw hadn't changed.

Ever since she met up with Sasuke and Sai and the return to Konoha became inevitable, Sakura had wondered what it would be like to see Naruto again. Would she cry? Throw up? Would she fall to her knees and destroy the ground beneath her, screaming about how unfair life was? Probably. But more specifically, she thought about which part of herself would meet him again, since that's what she was now. A fragmented person.

The Sakura who cut off her own hair with a rusty kunai and protected his unconscious body with her own? The Sakura who became a doctor so that she could protect him the way he had always protected her? The Sakura of the war, who held his heart in her hands and managed to save him? The Sakura of the end of the world, who felt his blood dripping between her fingers and couldn't save him? Impressively, as she watched the scene in front of her, the Sakura who put on her skin was one she didn't take into account. As she watched Naruto scream at the top of his lungs at a nurse, while Yamato tried and failed to stop him, she was taken by a Sakura she hadn't seen for decades.

The long-haired Sakura. The genin Sakura.

The Sakura who felt a sudden urge to unpin Naruto's clothes, the one who licked her thumbs and rubbed them against the skin of his cheeks, which were always dirty with something mysterious. The one who poked him in the ribs to remind him to ask 'please' and say 'thank you' and 'sorry', the one who gave him looks that made him tremble with fear whenever he cursed in front of elders. The one who taught him to wash his clothes in a river during a mission, the one who reminded him to eat with his mouth closed, the one who taught him that it was necessary to speak softly in places with sick and fragile people.

When one of his fingers rose to the nurse's face, the Sakura genin, inside a much larger, stronger and more calloused body, shouted: “HEY!”

Naruto's shouts stopped echoing in the corridor as the three of them fell silent, turning to where Sakura stood. Her eyes remained locked on his finger, still in the air, still too close to the nurse's nose, and a burning fire was born deep in her chest, overtaking longing, love and all pain.

“What do you think you're doing?!” she exclaimed again, now approaching with hard steps. The nurse walked backwards, startled, but both Naruto and Yamato remained still, Yamato with raised eyebrows and Naruto with a confused face and a half-open mouth, an expression she knew well.

“Are you crazy?!“ she insisted, stepping in between him and the nurse, her hands on her waist (”There goes the Sakura-chan pose!"). “What do you think you're doing?!”

Naruto blinked non-stop, opening and closing his mouth. His blue eyes scanned her before his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“...What?” he stammered. This, for some reason, made Sakura even angrier. Fucking idiot.

“Who do you think you are to shout at someone like that?” she chastised him, poking a finger into his chest. “Aren't you ashamed? Didn't anyone teach you better?”

With the lack of a Sakura in that universe... the answer was probably 'no'.

“We're in a hospital!” she continued, poking him in the chest. “There are sick people here! Children! Elderly people! You can't go around harassing others like that!”

“Uh...” Yamato intervened, when Naruto, still surprised, didn't answer her. He stepped in between the two, as if afraid of something. “We're sorry about the commotion, er...”

Sakura was so full of rage that she didn't even shudder at the memories of peaceful afternoons in gardens and orchards that came flooding back when she looked into his eyes. How come there was no one to help Naruto behave? No one looked after him? No one taught him anything, for Kami's sake?!

“Haruno” she growled more than said. “Haruno Sakura.”

“Haruno-san” he inclined his head in a polite gesture. “I apologize for Naruto's behavior. We are, unfortunately, at a sensitive moment. Someone close to us is in hospital and we have no news...”

“WE'VE BEEN HERE ALL NIGHT!” Naruto shouted, as if Yamato's words had snapped him out of his trance. “Nobody tells us anything, they just make us wait! Kakashi-sensei could be dead by now and we're stuck in this fucking corridor...”

“Didn't you hear what I said?”

Sakura's voice was low, but so angry that it silenced Naruto again. The genin Sakura smiled with satisfaction as she saw his face turn pale at her anger. She had always been good at making Naruto afraid, more than anyone, even the resurrection of the greatest maniac in shinobi history.

“We're in a hospital,” she repeated, still low and extremely serious. “The maternity ward is three corridors away and it's full of babies, many of them premature. If you raise your voice one more time, I will personally remove you from this hospital. Or your sensei will find you in a worse state than he is.”

His blue eyes scanned her from top to bottom.

“You wouldn't be able to,” he said, with a hint of uncertainty in his voice. One of her eyebrows rose.

“Wanna bet?”

After a long minute of silence in which their eyes were locked on each other, Naruto took a step back, frowning.

“...No,” he said, to her satisfaction. Yamato, for his part, looked shocked again, now as he stared at his student.

“Good” Sakura said, after a long sigh. She pointed at the nurse, who was standing to the side, dumbfounded. “Now apologize.”

“What?!”Naruto exclaimed, his cheeks red.

“Haruno-san...” the nurse murmured, shyly. “It's not necessary...”
“Of course it is,” Sakura insisted, looking at her and then at Naruto. “This woman was part of the team that spent ten hours bringing your sensei back from the dead. She's exhausted and deserves to go home and sleep rather than be morally harassed by you. Apologize to her.”

Stunned by the information, his face turned as red as a tomato, just like when he was a boy and said something out loud that exposed his ignorance to the world. A part of her broke down and cried, but the genin Sakura was still in control of her body and mind, and she loved Naruto in a much rougher way than the other Sakuras.

“Now!” she barked. Still like a little boy, Naruto looked down at his feet and scratched the back of his head, muttering:

“I'm sorry...”

Blinking in surprise, the nurse nodded, accepting his apology. A satisfied sigh left Sakura before she heard it:

“Is he alive?”

Turning around, she found Yamato's astonished face, finally realizing how tired he looked. Pale skin, dark circles under his eyes, lips cracked by bites of anxiety.

“Hatake Kakashi, I imagine?” she quipped, just to keep her secrets. He nodded. “He is.The antidote hasn't been made yet, but he's stable.”

Yamato's body literally swayed before finding support on the nearest wall, which surprised her. He was one of the most professional men she had ever met. A lab experiment, ex-Root, Anbu... It wasn't in his nature to expose his emotions like that, which could only mean that he knew the gravity of Kakashi's situation. That he knew there was no chance of survival.

(Until Sakura was sent there)

“How...” he sighed, looking at her, but seeming to talk to himself. “How?”

In return, Sakura gave him a modest little smile.

“Looks like he got lucky,” she said, raising a hand absentmindedly. ”Maybe it's best that you two get some rest. He won't wake up until at least tomorrow afternoon.”

When her hand touched his shoulder, two things happened:

First, Sakura felt the warmth of Yamato's body, the warmth of a body that had blood coursing through its veins, driven by a beating heart. The warmth of a living body.

And secondly, there was a reflex on his part, as he instinctively backed away. As if her touch was the touch of a stranger, the touch of someone he didn't trust.

And that was the case, wasn't it? There were no looks of humor or exhaustion exchanged when the team wasn't behaving, there were no quiet mornings with the smell of pure coffee, the only form they both took, there was no feeling of the earth on their fingernails or the smell of the flowers he made sprout. There was Yamato for her, but there was no Sakura for him. There never had been.

Now no longer needed, the genin Sakura retreated into the back of her mind, giving way to Sakura who was just a patchwork quilt of all those people who saw nothing when they looked at her. The world blurred for a moment. Her legs, weak or even non-existent, who knows, stopped holding her upright, and Sakura swayed, falling backwards only to be stopped by what felt like a warm wall like a human being.

Naruto's scent invaded her nose, the smell of sun-drenched ramen and encouraging smiles. Calloused hands on her forearm, the sensation of touch running through the fabric of her clothes and bringing memories to the surface  quick memories that seemed to last an eternity. Hands on her hands and wrists, arms giving her a hug, supporting her around her shoulders. Sakura, having grown up as a civilian, had always shown affection through, among many things, physical affection. In a world of soldiers who couldn't show their feelings, Naruto, hungry for attention, was the only one who spoke to her in the same language so naturally.

“Hey! Are you okay?”

“She looks like she's about to faint, Naruto, help her sit down.”

Sakura was led to a series of nearby benches, where hands gently pushed her to sit down. With her mind spinning and taken over by thoughts that dulled all her senses, she raised her eyes to find irises as blue as the cloudless sky staring back at her from under frowning blonde eyebrows.

“Hey, lady, I'm sorry for yelling,” he exclaimed, looking flustered. Naruto had never been good with situations like that, poor guy. “You don't have to feel bad about it. I'll control myself, I promise.”

“Haruno-san was the surgeon that saved Hatake-san, she's exhausted” the nurse explained, approaching distressed. “Haruno-san, what are you feeling? Do you need me to call someone?”

The revelation caught the eyes of her (ex) team members, who exchanged a shocked glance before turning back to Sakura. She, however, saw none of it, too focused on Naruto's face just centimeters from hers, from where he was crouching. He both looked and didn't look like the boy she knew. The same eyes, the same loud voice, the same jaw he had inherited from his father. But his hair was longer and wilder, because there was no Sakura to cut it. His skin was burnt and tanned, because there was no Sakura to insist that he wore sunscreen. And there were small, discreet scars that she noticed from knowing his face without them, because there was no Sakura to heal them.

“You healed Kakashi?” Yamato approached, watching her with a look so familiar that it made her sink her face into her hands, hiding from the world. “You said he was lucky...”

“Lucky that she's here, that's all,” the nurse approached, resting a hand on Sakura's forehead and feeling the cold skin. “Haruno-san saved his life. None of us would have been able to perform the surgery she did. Ten hours straight, without stopping for a second... I've never seen a technique like that...”

Her hand disappeared, replaced by much less careful but much more welcome male hands.

“Hey, lady, if it's true what she's saying, you can't die now!” Naruto exclaimed, the wonderful idiot. “Kakashi-sensei will want to thank you!”

He grabbed her by the forearms and shook her to the displeasure of Yamato and the nurse. Sakura, despite herself, began to laugh.

“I'm not dying, you idiot,” she said. “I'm just tired. And starving.”

She knew she was unable to hide the affection in her voice or gaze when she looked back at Naruto and saw him staring at her with wide eyes and rosy cheeks. When he was caught looking, he laughed embarrassedly and released her to scratch the back of his neck. Sakura automatically felt cold. Naruto had always been as hot as a furnace.

“And probably out of chakra!” the nurse continued. “Haruno-san, please allow me to call another doctor to see her. Perhaps Hyuuga-san...”

“That won't be necessary,” Sakura was quick to interrupt her.The last thing she needed was to look at Junichi's frowning face. “I just need to rest and eat something to regain my strength. I'll survive.”

Getting away from Naruto and Yamato would probably do wonders too, but a part of Sakura wanted to scream in revolt at the very idea. Funny how trauma worked.

“Allow us to buy you something, Haruno-san,” Yamato said.  “It's the least we can do.”

Before she could answer him, however, his words seemed to summon Guy, who appeared like the green ghost he was, calling her name. Sakura was overcome by the smell of chicken ramen when a hot, fresh pot, packed for the journey, was placed under her nose.

“Haruno-san, there you are!” Guy exclaimed, smiling at her with his billion ryo smile. “Here you are, the best dinner to be found in Konoha. To regain your strength and thank you for everything you've done to my dear rival!”

Sakura closed her eyes and pressed her hands against the ramen, trying to hide the trembling in them. She would recognize the smell of Ichiraku's food in any dimension of the universe.

“Guy” Yamato called out, his face worried. “Were you there? Is he all right?”

While Guy updated him on events inside the operating room, with the help of the nurse, Sakura remained very still, without moving, drowning in memories of a childhood that sometimes seemed to have been just a dream. She came out of her trance when she heard:

“Huh... Haruno-san...?”

Opening her eyes to find Naruto still in front of her, she hoped that the moisture in her eyes could be explained by the steam from the food.

“Yes?”

“Are you all right?” he asked, still blushing. “I mean, you haven't started eating and you're very pale.” His expression then turned to embarrassment. “No offense! Of course you must be tired after all they're saying you've done, but if the problem is the food, you can be sure that this will be the best ramen you've ever eaten in your life!”

A small smile appeared on her lips.

“And you know that just by smelling it?” she couldn't resist teasing him, softly. Naruto's face turned from pink to red.

“Well... I...” he scratched the back of his neck, making his blond hair even messier. Sakura resisted the urge to tidy it up. “Let's just say I'm a fan of the restaurant where it was made. Old Ichiraku is a genius in the kitchen, believe me! No ramen can beat his!”

Smiling more, despite feeling emotionally exhausted, Sakura took the sticks that had come together and separated them.

“Well, if you say so,” she muttered, starting to eat, ”then I'll believe it.”

Naruto seemed incredibly surprised by her words, but was miraculously silent as he watched her take the first bite of noodles. Sakura closed her eyes as she tasted the wonderful ramen, to stop the tears from falling.

“It's amazing,” she said, trying not to laugh at the giant smile that flashed across his face.

“I TOLD YOU!” he shouted as he stood up, before covering his mouth with one hand and squatting back down. “I mean, I told you... pretty good, huh? The old man's never wrong. Pork is even better, dattebayo.”

Sakura continued eating, unsure whether it was hunger or longing that drove each bite, surprised when Naruto became quiet again. He seemed to be listening to Guy's conversation with Yamato, which seemed a little too exaggerated in Sakura's opinion, but his blue eyes were on her, wandering from time to time to the pot of food.

“Would you like some?” she couldn't resist offering, because she was weak like that. Naruto, for his part, blushed a little.

“You need to eat, Haruno-san...” he said, but she felt he was trying to convince himself, which made her laugh.

“Sakura.”
“Uh?”

“You can call me Sakura.”

A surprised blink before his face turned red.

“Oh... are you sure?” Naruto asked, suddenly the lone boy from the academy who was shy about asking to sit next to her at lunchtime. Sakura nodded, almost too enthusiastically. “Well, I'm Naruto... Uzumaki... Naruto.”

He said his surname hesitantly, but Sakura just smiled at him, knowing his secrets.

“It's a pleasure to meet you, Naruto.” She brought the ramen close to him, knowing that the smell would bewitch him like the song of a siren. “Here, help me. It's too much food for me.”

It wasn't a lie. Guy seemed to have bought the biggest ramen with all the extras available on the menu. He probably sustained Ichiraku for the rest of the month with just that one order. Still looking unsure, but unable to resist, Naruto picked up his chopsticks and started eating, taking turns with her.

Sakura remained completely silent as she ate with him, watching Naruto prattle on about Ichiraku and all the dishes she should try. She had to reproach him three times about talking with his mouth full until he stopped, but a small smile remained on his lips. Off to the side, Guy continued to tell the story of Kakashi's surgery, painting Sakura as some kind of healing goddess, making her nose wrinkle.

“Hm... Sakura-san...?”

The lack of the suffix 'chan' made all the Sakuras inside her shudder, even the genin Sakura.

“Yes?”

“Did you... really save Kakashi-sensei?”

Sakura blinked for a moment, taken aback. She thought he'd be too busy eating and talking to hear what Guy was saying next to them.

“Well... yes.” She felt shy about his gaze, the same blue eyes that had gone out when he died in her arms (“I love you, Sakura-chan, I love you”). “I'm a doctor. It's my job.”

“Everyone thinks I'm stupid, but I know that that ugly cockroach's poisons are unbeatable,” Naruto said, with an offended grimace, as if he thought she was underestimating his intelligence. “I know that Kakashi-sensei should be killed tonight. How did you do that?”

With her throat choked by emotion and the taste of ramen, Sakura just shrugged, giving him a watery smile.

“I'm good with poisons,” she said. He, for his part, remained silent for a long time, until she stirred in her seat. “What?”

Naruto blinked, going back to eating.

“Nothing.”

But Sakura knew it was a lie, because she knew the way he looked at her. His eyes fixed, his eyebrows furrowed, his head tilted slightly to one side, as if he were listening to someone whispering in his ear.

Kurama.

He was talking to the Kyuubi.

A shiver ran down Sakura's skin and she thanked Kami that Naruto was focusing on the food again. It seemed impossible that Kurama would know who she was in that world, but Katsuyu had commented on their first contact that she almost vibrated differently. Would he feel it too? Would he realize that something was wrong with her and tell Naruto?
Sakura hoped with all her might that he wouldn't, because she knew that her next stop would be the secret rooms of the intelligence underground, where she would only have the company of Ibiki. But she would have no way of knowing that without talking to Katsuyu first, which also couldn't happen until the Anbu agents disappeared from the constant vigil they were still keeping at the inn where she was staying.

Looking at Naruto's profile, Sakura allowed herself to put that worry away for later. She believed that she would never be able to see him again, let alone share a bowl of ramen with him, so she would cherish the moment, however fleeting. She would leave worrying about the Kurama issue for later, probably when the next mental outburst arrived as well, triggered by the whole night.

When Shisui showed up, exactly a day and a half after his departure, Naruto and Yamato had already left with Guy (who was only persuaded to leave because Sakura told him she needed him to take the other two out of the hospital, as a mission) to rest. Rushing with the preparation of the antidote, Sakura used just a few minutes to do a quick check on him with her chakra, to make sure the pill didn't have any side effects.

“How are you feeling?” she asked, after making him sit down. One of his legs kept bouncing non-stop.

“Incredible,” Shisui replied, with a smile on his face. “I've never felt like this before. I moved so fast, so quickly... but I didn't feel tired. I still don't. Did you really do that thing?”

Sakura's response was a mischievous little smile that seemed to make him even more energetic.

“Of course it was you,” he murmured, like a secret. "Will we ever stop being surprised by you, Sa-chan?”

She must have been really exhausted, because Sakura felt shy and even blushed.

“Maybe the day you're late,” she joked. This drew a laugh and a wink from him.

“Never, then.”

She then carefully collected the Cochlearia leaves and took them to the laboratory, followed by Shizune (now awake), the white-haired man, Shisui and, to her surprise, Itachi, like a mother duck and her ducklings. Sakura might have laughed at the mental image if she hadn't already been on the verge of breaking down like an appliance on the wrong voltage for too long.

“You can go home if you wish,” she said to the Uchihas as they entered the laboratory. “I would just need Shisui to come back later for a better assessment. You'll probably feel muscle aches and cramps for a few days, not to mention that you could end up falling asleep at any moment when the adrenaline subsides.”

“I still have so much energy that I feel like I could run around this village ten times over,” Shisui said, smiling as he bounced up and down on his heels. Sakura twisted her lips, cataloging the ingredients and wondering if she hadn't made a mistake. “Besides, it's not every day that I get to witness history being made.”

Sakura tried to shake the weight of his words off her shoulders as she turned to Itachi, who inclined his head.

“I'll stay too, Haruno-san.”

“Are you sure?” she insisted. “As far as I remember, you haven't slept all night.”

“I insist,” he insisted, an expression so like Sasuke that it softened something inside her. He then looked at the white-haired man and seemed to hesitate.“...If it's all right.”

The man nodded in return. Sakura, now focused on the ingredients, shelved that moment in her mind for later. Perhaps it would be better to keep Itachi and Shisui there, even though they weren't part of the medical team. It would probably calm the Hokage down.

The production of the antidote was easier than the first time, like a choreography that had been difficult to learn, but now came to her by muscle memory alone. Shizune stood beside her, drinking in every word and instruction like a woman dying of thirst. The unknown man was also paying attention, writing down the production step by step on a document. 

Shisui, despite his claims, ended up going out like a lamp on a chair. Itachi, for his part, remained awake, red sharingan eyes recording everything. When the antidote was ready, three doses exactly like that first time, there was a silence in the room that seemed suffocating.

“It is...” Shizune stopped for a second, her mouth open and her eyes wet. “So simple and yet...”

“Genius!” the man added, taking one of the jars in his hand and holding it up as if it were worth everything. “I would never have thought of putting these ingredients together, but now that I see them, it's so obvious. They fit like a glove, like a puzzle.”

He stared at Sakura with his dark green eyes.

“How... how did you think of that?”

Unable to look anyone in the eye, she wiped the table clean before lightly touching the remains of the leaves on the table.

“Of course there are biological reasons,” Sakura confessed absent-mindedly. “The roots help with spasms and muscle locking. The cochlearia leaves dissolve metal particles and the toxin in the viper poison stimulates white blood cells and speeds up the immune system. But there's also... something else. There's a lot of symbolism when it comes to this poison.”

She raised a cochlea in the air, watching it.

“Sasori sees himself... as an artist. Everything he does, he does like a painter on a canvas. Nothing is by chance, he doesn't miss a detail. Everything is symbolic for him and this also applies to the antidotes. The ingredients are all original to the Land of Wind, but found in the far reaches of the desert. The viper is a symbol for them of a deadly enemy that is able to slip through their fingers, which I believe is how Sasori sees himself. The roots of paeoniae are so deep in the earth that it takes an expert to pull them out and there's always something left behind. Perhaps a symbolism about how they'll never be able to get rid of it? Who knows... and the cochlearia leaves...”

She turned the leaf in front of her eyes.

“They're used at funerals in Sunagakure,” she added. “Sadistic bastard.”

“You sound like someone who knows him well,” Itachi pointed out. Sakura looked at him for a second, before shrugging.

“I may have met him once...” she admitted. “But I doubt he'll remember me.”

“I think he'd remember someone who survived his attack,” he insisted. This made her smile sadly.

“Let's hope that's not the case.” Sakura looked into his eyes before nodding towards the door. “Shall we? It's time.”

As she applied the antidote to Kakashi, the whole room was quiet, tense and breathless, except for Sakura, who felt strangely calm. As she watched the color return to Kakashi's covered face, his breathing stabilize, his heart begin to beat at a normal pace... all Sakura felt was relief filling her veins and making her eyelids droop. When it became clear that Kakashi would be all right, someone put a hand on her back and guided her to a nearby stretcher, where Sakura lay down without complaint. Facing her former sensei, she watched his sleeping figure, counting each breath. His gray hair looked lighter in the sunlight coming through the window.

I didn't fail you this time, was the last thought of relief she had before falling asleep.

The mermaid's voice continued to speak in his ear as Kakashi drowned.

Shh, you're all right.

You're okay, I'm here with you.

At first, everything hurt. His muscles were disconnected from his body, as if he had no arms or legs. A strange sensation to feel, since at the same time he felt as if those arms and legs he didn't have hurt as if they were full of acid.

It was the level of pain that Kakashi had rarely felt in his life and he had his eye gouged out and replaced by Rin's trembling hands while he was awake. His lungs were filled with boiling water, his blood was made of fire. It hurt so much that he didn't even know if he was screaming.

Probably not, since he was underwater.

Sinking, sinking, sinking. Far from light, far from sound, feeling only the slow sensation of his body going down like an anvil.

Kakashi tried to remember how he had gotten to those waters. Like a dog, he avoided getting soaked, hating the feeling of the weight of wet clothes against his skin, which always felt too much like blood for his liking. But his brain seemed increasingly heavy and confused, covered in fog. He remembered adrenaline, red clouds that seemed tattooed behind his eyelids, a scream, pain, pain, pain...

And then there was the siren's voice.

I'm here.

You're all right.

Strangely, the melodic tone touched him in the center of his chest, spreading to the rest of his body like the roots of a tree. Kakashi felt... calm. Light. As if the voice were the shore, the port that he, shipwrecked, dreamed of reaching.

And then, even more strangely, he stopped sinking and began to rise.

The pain seemed less and less as Kakashi's body was carried upwards by a cloud, now floating towards the sun, rising, rising and rising, his limbs light as feathers, disconnected from everything, and that voice still repeating.

I'm here, she kept saying. And like a castaway once again, drunk and delirious from something that had no name, but left his brain light and his heart heavy, he followed her. 

Kakashi knew he had woken up before he opened his eyes.

It was a skill he had developed as a child and one he had always been very good at. It began on quiet nights in the Hatake mansion, when the grief over the loss of Kakashi's mother, and later the ostracism of the village, became too much for his father to bear. The sound of sobs always woke him up, but he used to just lie there, motionless and with his eyes closed, knowing that no one in that house, not him, not his father, not the spirits of his ancestors, would know how to deal with feelings that everyone knew shinobis shouldn't feel.

His body remained still and his eyes closed, but Kakashi flicked his ears, noticing people in the room with him. He was lying on an uncomfortable bed wearing few clothes, covered by a thin sheet and with a mask that wasn't his covering his face. There was a machine beeping next to his head and the characteristic smell of one of the worst places on earth.

Weak, sore and with his mind strangely empty of the reason he was there, Kakashi's muscles tensed when he realized he was in a hospital. It was only a twitch, slight, almost imperceptible, but in a village of shinobis, movements like that easily attracted attention.

“Kakashi?” he heard Tanzo's voice, calm, low and familiar. “Can you hear me?”

“No,” he whispered, his throat feeling dry and extremely sore. Had he been shouting? “I think the years of being Naruto's sensei have finally caught up with me.”

“HEY!”

Kakashi opened his eyes slowly, feeling a sharp pain right in the center of his brain. His body felt heavy as lead and there was a strange weight in his lungs.

“Noisy boy,” he muttered, to the amusement of Yamato, who was smiling. ”Didn't anyone educate him?”

“We tried for a while, but it was a hopeless case.”

Under his mask, Kakashi smiled. Or at least he tried to. The muscles in his face were as heavy as the rest of his body.

“Stop talking about me!” Naruto shouted back, appearing in his field of vision. He had never liked feeling that others were talking about him, ever since he was little. “I'm right here!”

“Impossible not to notice,” Yamato joked, looking happy. Despite this, Kakashi noticed the dark circles under his eyes and his pale skin. He looked stressed and as if he hadn't had a good night's sleep in days when he looked at him again. “I'm glad your good mood hasn't been affected.”

It made him realize that he didn't know why he was in that piece of hell the others called a hospital.

“What...” Kakashi managed to groan, trying to sit up. He was usually much more composed than this, but his body felt stiff as cement. What the fuck happened to him? “What exactly happened?”

Yamato's expression turned serious as he helped him to sit up, the way ninjas did: just standing a few centimeters away and watching him in silence, without touching. It served to soften his ego, apart from the fact that shinobis very rarely touched each other. Before he could speak, however, Naruto stepped in front of him, as usual.

“Kakashi-sensei, you idiot, you almost died!” he shouted. “How can you not remember?! That cockroach motherfucker went to attack Guy-sensei and you jumped in front of him-”

Kakashi cast an astonished glance at Yamato as the memories came back to him in pieces. The feeling of ice in his veins, the thick voice that haunted the ninja world during the war, the surge in his muscles when the tip of the iron claw came too close to a green leotard...

“I'm dead,” Kakashi said, then frowned. He turned to Yamato. “I died, didn't I?”

“Almost” Yamato tried to smile, without convincing anyone. ”It wasn't for lack of trying.”

Kakashi didn't even blink at his attempt at humor, too busy feeling the world spin.

“What poison was it?” he asked seriously. Yamato's lack of response was enough. Kakashi knew the poison, just as he knew it was impossible to be alive. “How? Tenzo...”

“It's a long story,” Yamato said, as Naruto continued to talk to himself, clueless. “Maybe you should rest first...”

The dirty look Kakashi threw in his direction made him shut up. Feeling frustrated, Kakashi decided to get out of bed despite the screaming pain that shot up his muscles like little chidoris. He was wearing his stupid hospital clothes and looked around for his own clothes, finding them folded on the nearby chair.

Standing up, Kakashi changed his clothes, ignoring his pain or any kind of modesty. He was slow by his own standards, but still faster than the blink of an eye. In milliseconds, he was dressed, the weight of his mask comforting his face. For a second, he noticed that his clothes were folded just the way he liked them.

“Speak,” Kakashi said, more authoritatively than he had intended. “How is it possible that I'm alive now?”

“A doctor” Yamato began his story, which he would quickly dismiss as ridiculous. “When we arrived you were on the verge of death, everyone had already given you up for dead, but the hospital had... this new doctor...” He opened and closed his mouth, which made Kakashi's skin itch. “It seems she was hired while we were away and she...”

“She's damn pretty!” Naruto interrupted, with rosy cheeks that made Kakashi blink in disbelief. “And saved your dead ass, from what people are saying.”

“Naruto's a bit bewitched, she shared ramen with him.” Tenzo muttered, seeing his grimace.

“Who is this doctor?” he asked, his mind spinning. “Where did she come from?”

“Nobody knows,” Yamato said. “Or at least no one I've spoken to. The hospital staff said she just showed up for work two weeks ago. Hired directly by the Hokage.”

“And you haven't managed to speak to him?”

“No, not yet.” Tenzo hesitated for a minute, looking strangely moved. “You don't understand, Kakashi. You've been unconscious for almost two days and you're alive by some miracle. I barely had time to breathe, not with Naruto and Guy freaking out and Sasuke and Sai away on missions. They don't even know what happened to you.”

This was why Kakashi hated hospitals. They always created moments like that, when the spectre of raw emotion hung over his head and he felt internal itches going under locked mental doors.

“Do you think she might be...?” he insinuated, without trusting who might be around, listening. Yamato, looking into his eyes, understood automatically.

“Maybe, but she didn't have any... pets with her.”

With a nod and ignoring Naruto's confused glances, poor creature, Kakashi turned to the window.

“I'll talk to the Hokage myself.” And ideally, he would get out of that piece of hell as quickly as possible.

“Uh... Kakashi-sensei...” Naruto caught his eye, as he gripped the sides of the window and put one foot out. “I don't think Sakura-san will like that.”

Kakashi gave Yamato a questioning look.

“The doctor,” he explained. “She left just before you woke up. She said she'd be back to check on you.”

A doctor capable of miracles who appeared out of nowhere and had a sweet, civilian name? This story was getting more and more suspicious, all of Kakashi's instincts were screaming. He needed to talk to the Hokage right away.

“Don't worry, Naruto,” he said, smiling falsely under his mask, ”I'm sure she won't mind. I'm fine.”

Then, just as he propelled his body out of the window, a very feminine voice reverberated through the room, coming out of nowhere.

“Actually, I do mind.”

In the blink of an eye, there was an upside-down face right in front of Kakashi. He found himself staring at full, pink lips and a long, thin neck before his instincts threw him backwards, away from the window. In the second blink, he saw the full face of a woman with huge eyes and absurdly pink hair, who was smiling softly. Only her head and neck appeared from the top of the window, the strands falling like a pale waterfall.

Someone screamed with fright, certainly not Kakashi. It was probably Naruto. But his heart was beating hard against his chest as he blinked, shocked. How had she appeared? He couldn't sense anyone else's chakra nearby.

“Hello,” the woman said, opening her smile as if the sight of Kakashi delighted her. His heart raced so fast that it hurt his sternum. “You seem to have woken up well.”

She climbed down from the window into the bedroom, showing her body wearing civilian clothes and a medical coat over it, and entered the room.

Before her hair covered her face, Kakashi's sharingan caught a small purple symbol in the center of her forehead.

“Sakura-san!” Naruto shouted, as he stood there, shocked and awestruck. That was the doctor? This tiny little creature? “How did you get here? I didn't feel you coming!”

Her smile now turned mysterious. Kakashi felt his hands become strangely sweaty.

“I was just wandering around,” she said, and he realized that he had avoided the question about her chakra. ”And I thought it would be fun to surprise my runaway patient.”

Kakashi could feel Yamato and Naruto's shock along with his own.

“How did you...?”

“There's a photo of you in the nurses' station,” she said, calm and unwavering. Kakashi controlled himself not to frown. “They play a game to see who can guess how long it takes you to run away after waking up. The record is forty seconds, very impressive.”

Kakashi's cheeks flushed under his mask, which he was grateful, not for the first time, to have decided to wear when he was a child. Behind him, someone laughed. Again, Naruto. Or so he hoped. His heart couldn't take a betrayal from Yamato, especially now that it kept aching every time the tiny doctor smiled.

“Jokes aside, I'm glad to see you awake, Hatake-san,” she continued, pulling her hair into a ponytail and leaning over. “I'm Haruno Sakura, the doctor in charge of you. How are you feeling?”

He only realized that he had been silent for an extremely embarrassing period of time when Naruto gave him a painful poke on the back. Clearing his throat, Kakashi pulled himself together. The poison must have affected him in the head.

“I'm fine,” he said. “Ready to go home.”

“That's for me to say,” she said, far too amused for his taste. Few doctors acted with good humor in hospitals, like Shizune, who chose the profession because she really wanted it. Most of the ninja who worked there did so out of necessity or because they weren't talented enough to stay in the corps. Everyone knew this, even the civilians, which led to many frustrated ninja doctors who hated their job and the stigma that came with it. Not that Kakashi could blame them. “Sit down, please.”

For a moment, Kakashi didn't do as she asked, too busy staring at what appeared to be the most bizarre human being he had ever seen. But she, despite her appearance and sweet smile, quickly lost patience, putting her hands on his shoulders. The fabric of his clothes should have been thick enough to protect him from danger, but the warmth of her skin seemed to reach him as if he were naked.

Uncomfortable, he tried to pull away, but she was surprisingly and suspiciously strong. The downward push bent his knees and Kakashi fell sitting on the bed mattress, blinking his eyes like an owl.

“Good, now... how are you feeling?” she said, smiling once more. Strange fucking woman. Kakashi shamefully found himself looking at Yamato like an insecure genin asking his sensei for help. He honestly felt like shit, but nothing that three days immobile in his bed, in the dark of his locked room, couldn't help.

“I told you, I'm fine.” He was a little rude, but she remained unfazed.

“Hmm” Haruno hummed, pulling a small flashlight out of one of her coat pockets. “Do your eyes hurt when I do that?”

Without warning, she flashed the white light in front of his eyes, which burned his retinas and brought black spots to his sight. Kakashi, well-trained as he was, didn't groan or move a muscle, but Haruno seemed satisfied with something, picking up a clipboard and writing it down.

“Headache and eye pain...” she muttered, which startled Kakashi profoundly. From his seat, Yamato raised an eyebrow. “I'm going to run a series of tests on you now to make sure that the poison hasn't affected your nerves, especially those in your skull. I had to remove a significant amount of poison from your brain during the surgery.”

Excuse me?!

“From my brain?” Kakashi echoed, so shocked that he dropped his posture. “And how exactly did you do that?”

There it was again, the mysterious smile.

“With a few tricks I have up my sleeve,” was all she said. Looking at Yamato, Kakashi searched for answers, but what he got in return was a discreet nod in Konoha sign language.

We weren't at the surgery, we didn't see how she did it.

“Now, focus on me, please,” Haruno commanded and, for some incomprehensible reason, Kakashi obeyed. “I want you to follow the light of the lantern with your eyes only, without moving your head.”

He did as she asked a few times, from left to right, from top to bottom and then the other way around. When she seemed satisfied, Haruno said:

“Now I'm going to pass the light quickly to see if your pupils are reacting. Keep the focus on the tip of my nose.”

Her nose was small and a little pink, which Kakashi must have thought was ridiculous. He just didn't because he was a little too busy observing the almost invisible freckles that were present on her skin.

“Good,” she seemed relieved, as she put down the lamp. “Now I'm going to do a quick physical examination of your face. Excuse me.”

Kakashi held himself back from the touch of her hands, but noticed that he was slightly more relaxed than usual. One of the reasons he hated hospitals was because of the way the doctors and nurses simply touched him everywhere, sticking needles in his skin and medicine down his throat. Her explanations were a little comforting, not that she knew or that he was going to tell.

Haruno pulled at the skin below his eyes, before moving his face from side to side slightly, a concentrated expression on her face. Kakashi, for his part, found himself almost distracted, with a strange feeling of lightness in his body, starting from his cheeks (where her thumbs were) and moving down to his feet.

“Tighten your jaw for me,” she ordered, and was obeyed once again. “Release and squeeze again. Good. Now force your head out of my hands.”

He succeeded, but his body soon returned to her, like a pendulum pulled by gravity.

“Hmm, very good.” Haruno's eyes fell halfway down his face and one of her thumbs stroked something on his skin. She lowered her voice. “I'm very curious about your tattoos.”

Kakashi controlled himself not to pull away again, just because that would give away the importance of the symbol. 

“I got them drunk, on a trip to the Land of Grass,” he lied.

Once again she smiled, as if she knew something he didn't.

“It must be quite a story,” she mused, with a tone of voice that raised his eyebrows.

“The most fun” Kakashi said, now with a bite in his voice. Haruno dropped the conversation.

“I need to do a scent test” she said, opening a pouch from her waist and taking out a few vials. “If I may...”

She raised her hand to his mask, but hesitated for a second. Behind her, Naruto had perked up, stretching his neck, and, as if sensing this, Haruno turned to him, looking over her shoulder.

“Perhaps it's best that the exam continues privately,” she said, sweet in a way that didn't convince him. ”Naruto, why don't you go and get your sensei something to eat? He's not nauseous, so he'll probably be able to eat something with more substance.”

Kakashi wasn't nauseous, but how the fuck she knew that was beyond his comprehension. Revolted, Naruto's jaw dropped and he raised his voice.

“WHAT?! But... Sakura-san, I wanted to see...”

“Now, Naruto.”

The icy, cutting tone of her voice raised Kakashi's eyebrow and shut Naruto up automatically. Subdued, he just pouted and sighed, then left. Without shouting, without insisting, without cursing or throwing a tantrum.
Shocked, as only the man who had tried to make that boy obey for years and failed miserably could be, he glanced at Tenzo.

“How...?”

In response, his companion merely raised his palms in the air and shook his head.

Looking amused, Haruno then turned to Yamato.

“Yamato-san, would you mind...”

“Not at all,” he said, turning away.

Confused, dizzy and still with that strange feeling of weightlessness, Kakashi could only remain seated, speechless as she pulled his mask down.

“Excuse me, Hatake-san.”

He knew his sense of smell hadn't been affected the moment the mask came off and the feeling of being naked in front of a crowd appeared. He was invaded by hundreds of different scents, like the hospital disinfectant everywhere, someone's blood three rooms over, Yamato's signature shampoo and lavender, which probably came from her bottles. But the Hatakes' ability to smell had been an almost secret skill ever since Kakashi became the only one alive decades ago, so he kept it to himself.

Kakashi kept his eyes on Haruno's face despite his discomfort, focused on her expressions. Ever since he was a child, the fact that he wore a mask had always aroused everyone else's curiosity about his face. But Haruno didn't even blink, completely professional, as if seeing Hatake Kakashi's face was something routine for her.

“What do you smell in here?” she asked, opening a bottle.

“Mint tea,” he replied promptly.

“What about that?”

“Peach.”

“Next.”

“Jasmine.”

Jasmine was a floral scent, but not what he had smelled before. When Haruno nodded and put the bottles back, he was surprised to recognize that the scent of lavender came from her hair.

“You look well, Hatake-san,” she said, with relief and an almost affection in her voice. Kakashi put his mask back on like a warrior in his armor. “Just a few physical examinations to make sure. You can turn around, Yamato-san.”

What followed for the next few minutes were a series of physical touches on his arms and legs, to make sure there were no atrophied nerves or anything like that. As Haruno continued, Yamato peppered her with polite questions about Kakashi's health, which she answered without any problems.

Kakashi, for his part, obeyed mechanically, distracted. Or as distracted as a shinobi of his caliber could get. His attention kept jumping from her words (“poison in your brain”) to the feel of her thumbs caressing his cheeks, to the freckles on his nose and from them to the purple mark the sharingan could see on her forehead. There were calluses on her hands, caused by many years of handling weapons. But her stature was small, feminine and delicate, which didn't make any sense.

At one point, Kakashi could have sworn he tasted mint chewing gum in his mouth when she went behind his back and touched his spine, just for a second. But the taste soon disappeared and he, even with suspicion, believed it might be one of the bottles she had brought again.

He was unconsciously focused on the fact that her eyelashes were pink when Haruno smiled one last time and clasped her hands together.

“I have great news for you, Hatake-san!” she said. “Your health looks good, although your chakra reserves are still low. I recommend that you stay only for the next two days and rest, so that you can build them up before you go home and because your case is... unique, so it's better to be cautious.”

She picked up the clipboard again and began writing furiously.

“I didn't find any problems with your nerves, which are usually the biggest victims of the poison that hit you. You may still feel a headache and tenderness in your eyes for the next couple of days, but it shouldn't go beyond that. There may be some pain in your joints too, but that's normal. I'm scheduling you to come back in a week if you don't feel any new symptoms, but you should come back in three days if the pain in your eyes doesn't go away.”

There was no way he was coming back, but that bizarre pink creature could figure it out for herself.

“Thank you, Haruno-san, for your work,” Yamato spoke up for him. She, for her part, didn't seem offended by her patient's silence. “You have the  gratitude not only of team seven, but of the entire Konoha shinobi corps.”

Good old Yamato, always so sentimental, Kakashi thought, as he saw her smile and dismiss the thanks, suddenly shy. Haruno said she would let them have a moment alone, going after Naruto and the supposed food he was supposed to bring, but before she went, she turned back to Kakashi.

“You gave us quite a scare, Hatake-san,” she said softly, tilting her head slightly to the side. “I'm glad... to finally meet you.”

Her hesitation caught the attention of Kakashi's shinobi instincts, but all the rest of his personality was more focused on the kindness in her eyes and how she looked like a hand squeezing his windpipe.

Not knowing what to say (and not being able to, either), he just nodded in response, which seemed enough for her.

Haruno then went to the door, her ponytail swinging, and said before leaving:

“I see you soon.” Strangely, to him, her sentence sounded very much like a warning or even a threat.

After the door closed, the room was silent for a second before Kakashi turned back to Yamato.

“What the fuck?”

“I don't know”

“How?”

“I don't know”

“Tenzo...”

“I don't know!” Yamato shook his head, lost in a way that Kakashi saw only a few times, usually when his little genins were trying to kill each other and nothing they did helped their teamwork. “All I know is that she appeared out of nowhere, saved your life and created an antidote to the deadliest poison in the ninja world. No one can tell me where she comes from or where she's staying, only that the Hokage hired her.”

With his blood flowing like a raging river, Kakashi jumped to his feet, guided by his suspicion and his instincts.

“I'm going to talk to the Hokage,” he said, heading for the window. Yamato choked behind him.

“But she'll be back!” he exclaimed. “What do I tell her?”
Kakashi smiled over his shoulder his most innocent smile.

“I'm sure you'll think of something,” he said, before disappearing.

The Hokage, for his part, didn't seem too surprised when Kakashi knocked on his door. He just raised an eyebrow, his face expressionless besides.

“I'm glad to see you alive, Hatake,” Fugaku said, turning back to his papers. Uchihas... so sentimental. “But I didn't expect to see you so soon. According to the hospital reports and what my son told me, you gave us quite a scare. Shouldn't you at least be resting?”

Here was something about Uchiha Fugaku and Kakashi: the relationship between them wasn't just a relationship between Hokage and shinobi. Sure, Kakashi knew how to obey his superiors as he was trained to, but there was a lot of history between him and the leader of the Uchiha clan. Not only was Kakashi Sasuke's sensei, he was also Itachi and Shisui's Taichou when they entered Anbu. He took both of Fugaku's sons and nephew under his wing from childhood, something he knew he was grateful for. Besides, Fugaku fought alongside his father in the second war and was one of the few to show up at his funeral, and there was the... matter of the sharingan.

When Obito died, the Uchiha clan was against Kakashi keeping his eye. They said that there were members losing their sight who deserved the transplant much more than a Hatake, who, many said, might have set the whole thing up to steal the clan's secrets. The only reason Kakashi still had it was because Fugaku decided so. He said he wouldn't go against Obito's last wish and no one was able to change his mind.

Kakashi never told him, but he was always grateful for it. He tried to demonstrate this by supporting Fugaku's candidacy for Hokage, a discreet and silent message that he probably recognized. Men like them spoke the same language. And it probably worked, because he always realized that Fugaku saw him and treated him differently from the others, even if in a discreet and small way. He wasn't just any shinobi to the Hokage and they both knew it.

“I'm feeling fine,” he said, a slightly untruthful truth. He was sore and probably should have stayed in hospital, but he was alive, on his feet and with no atrophied nerves, which was more than many other shinobis managed to have. “Which is why I'm here.”

Fugaku looked at him for a second before sighing and rubbing his face, a gesture that surprised Kakashi deeply.

“Let me guess...” the Hokage said. “You want to talk about Haruno-san?”

Kakashi's instincts, which had been screaming since he woke up, made the adrenaline in his body worse. Getting Uchiha Fugaku off the axle was an extremely difficult thing to do. Who was that woman?

“They said at the hospital that she saved my life.”

“That's what they said, yes.”

“With a surgery that no one else knew how to do, from what I understand”

“According to reports, she used water manipulation to get the poison out of your body,” Fugaku said. Kakashi's eyebrows rose. “A painful surgery, but one that was effective and gave you enough time for the antidote to be made.”

“That's...”

“Genius?”

“Suspicious. How did she know what to do? I've never heard of something like this.”

“Well, get ready, because it looks like this is going to keep happening from now on.” The Hokage went back to fiddling with the papers in front of him, but seemed distracted. “The story is that Haruno is a traveling doctor with unique talents. We learned about her from the bingo book and Sasuke found her and brought her to the village two weeks ago.”

“The bingo book is unreliable,” Kakashi said, feeling frustrated. The look Fugaku threw in his direction was dirty and reproachful.

“I know that,” he said as a warning. Kakashi took a deep breath, calming himself, “But she's proven her talents. She resuscitated a fish right here on my desk and has been looking after civilian patients in the hospital ever since. All the reports so far speak well of her and she hasn't done anything suspicious. She's healed wounds, prescribed medicine, helped the elderly and been friendly with vendors. Her story is that she is a civilian who became orphaned and was adopted by a clanless shinobi who taught her everything she knows. Sasuke found her in the Land of Waves and had to fight a bit to convince her to come. He says she's stubborn and short-tempered, but nothing to worry about.”

Kakashi was silent for a second before saying:

“A civilian resurrected a fish?!”

Fugaku looked frustrated, a grimace very similar to Sasuke's when Naruto was being particularly obtuse.

“Is that all you've heard?” he chastised him.

“Hokage-sama, with all due respect, this story is absurd,” Kakashi said, controlling himself not to run his hands through his hair. “Someone needs to check her background”

“A team has already been sent to check if the Harunos really exist.”

“And she needs to be watched at all times.”

“An Anbu team has been watching where she's staying since she arrived.”

“It would be important to get someone close to her, to get to know her more intimately!”

“Shisui is already in action.”

“And-”

“Hatake” Fugaku cut him off, a Hokage with his subordinate. “I'm going to cut you some slack because you've been through something no one has ever come out of alive before, but don't underestimate my leadership skills again. She's being watched closely and will be sent to Ibiki at any sign of danger. Other than that, all we can do is watch and enjoy the talents she so obviously has.”

He indicated Kakashi's clearly alive body with one hand. Chastened, Kakashi bowed his head in a nod that indicated military submission.

“I beg your pardon, Hokage-sama,” he said. “I'm just... agitated. My instincts tell me that there's something about her that isn't right. I've had a feeling ever since I woke up and saw her. There's just something about her that I can't name, I just know it.”

“On that we can agree,” Fugaku said, leaning back in his chair. “You should have been here when she arrived. Very confident and poised, she's clearly been in the presence of a Kage before. Kept making Sasuke blush and said that she was not only a doctor, but also a shinobi. According to her, she also has battle skills.”

Maybe Kakashi was dying and it was all a ridiculous fever dream he was having because of the poison.

“There's no such thing,” he said, a fact.

“Try telling her that.” There was almost humor in Fugaku's voice, which only increased Kakashi's suspicion that he was delusional.

“Do you believe her?” The Hokage shrugged. “We'll have to assess her abilities, if that's the case.”

“I agree, but that can wait a while,” Fugaku said. “I don't want her to realize that we're watching her.”

Kakashi sighed deeply, feeling tired, confused, sore and suspicious. The swing of her pink hair kept appearing like a pendulum behind his eyelids whenever he closed his eyes.

“Has anyone been able to figure out what the symbol on her forehead means?” he asked. Fugaku blinked, interested.

“Were you able to take a look?”

“Quickly, but the sharingan managed to catch a glimpse.”

“Panda was able to see that she has a buildup of chakra in the center of her forehead, but we had no information beyond that.” He took out a small piece of paper and held it out to Kakashi along with a pen. “What does it look like?”

“Like a diamond,” he said as he drew, ”purple.”

Fugaku stared at the paper for a second, thoughtful.

“I don't remember ever seeing a seal like that...” he muttered. “You?”

Kakashi denied it with his head, frustrated.

“I'll get Panda to take a look at it.” He interlaced his fingers on the table and gave him a look. “Anything else, Hatake? Any more tips on how I should do my job?”

Kakashi didn't blush.

“Do you think she might be... who we were looking for?”

“Maybe,” Fugaku said. “But I have no proof and no one has seen anything to prove it. It would be too much of a coincidence, wouldn't it?”

“I don't believe in coincidences” Kakashi said. That seemed almost to amuse him. Maybe it was impossible for him to really get there.

“Then maybe you're the best one to figure it out,” the Hokage said. “Congratulations, Hatake, you have a new mission. Stay close to the girl, find out if she's who we were looking for.”

With a respectful nod, Kakashi disappeared, appearing in front of his apartment. He finally allowed himself to sigh and lean his forehead against the wooden door, feeling his body throb, pulse and scream in pain.

Something in Haruno Sakura was poking at things inside him and Kakashi would find out what it was. After healing himself the way he thought best: lying in bed for days, without eating or moving, with only Pakkun for company.

That's exactly what he did that night. And if she kept appearing in his dreams, with pink eyelashes and smiles that he would unravel the secrets of, it was most likely because of the mental exhaustion he felt.

As the late afternoon breeze increased its strength, the leaves of the Sugi tree, which stood at the back of his yard, fell in a swirl to the ground, illuminated by the orange light of the sunset just behind them.

It was a beautiful image, or at least that's what Itachi imagined, thanks to his childhood memories. It had been a long time since those leaves had been anything other than a blur.

“You're particularly quiet this afternoon. Any special reason?”

Itachi let the corner of his lip turn upwards as he closed his eyes, feeling Shisui sit next to him on the back porch of the main house.

“I'm meditating,” Itachi lied, his spine straight and a few strands of his hair also being lifted by the breeze.

“You? Sitting quietly in a corner, with only the company of your own thoughts?” Shisui scoffed good-naturedly. “That's a new one.”

Itachi rolled his eyes behind closed eyelids, but he wasn't in a bad mood.

“What's your excuse?” he returned, feeling his cousin's body relax beside him, already imagining the characteristic position: hands stretched back to support the torso, one leg stretched out while the other was bent. “You've also been strangely quiet since you woke up in hospital. Have there been any side effects?”

“Just what she said I'd have,” Shisui said, voice calm, not giving too much away. Itachi knew him, though. “Cramps, muscle fatigue, tiredness, I feel like I could sleep for days, but apart from that... Nothing. And you know what those damn pills usually do to me.”

Ever since he was young, Shisui had always been to a certain degree allergic to soldier's pills, depending on the version. Some made him vomit, others gave him migraines, one even filled his skin with itchy bumps that itched for weeks. He used them when necessary anyway, the idiot, but they were one of the reasons he perfected shunshin. Pills were rarely necessary when you could move almost as fast as sound.

“How was it?” Itachi asked, finally opening his eyes. “Using them?”

“It was... crazy,” Shisui confessed, getting out of the position he was in so he could move his hands as he spoke. ”I felt invincible. The taste is the worst thing I've ever felt, but damn, it's worth it. I've never moved so fast. When I got to Suna it felt like I'd only been running for a few hours. I gave the border guards quite a fright.”

“How was there? Did you get to meet the Kazekage?”

“He showed up after a while, when I told him about the poison. It was the only way to convince them to let me in. Even with the hospital's official request, it wasn't enough.”

“The Sunanese have always been wary of foreigners,” Itachi tried to pacify. Shisui snorted.

“Paranoid bastards, that's what they are,” he said. “But I don't think I can blame them, stuck in that damned desert. Anyway, the Kazekage came and gave me the shivers while I explained the situation. I told him that we needed the plant to save an elite patient who had been caught. He was extremely interested in the idea, which is no surprise.”

It was no surprise to Itachi either. After what had happened three years earlier... it was obvious to anyone that an antidote would be of interest to the Kazekage and his family.
Something Shisui said almost made Itachi laugh.

“You've always been afraid of the Kazekage,” he joked, receiving a disgusted look in return.

“I'm not afraid of him!” Shisui exclaimed, with a pout not befitting a shinobi who won wars before he was ten. “He's just... fucking weird. Do you remember him as a child? Honestly, I feel like he can see my soul with those eyes. Not to mention the little... grumpy problem he has.”

That got a laugh out of Itachi.

“Naruto has a much bigger problem than the Kazekage and you're not afraid of him.”

“Naruto can barely tell left from right,” Shisui tried to defend himself. “And it's different with him. You know.”

Itachi knew. It was hard not to, when they had seen him grow up behind Anbu masks, watching the village mistreat him and not being able to do anything about it for so long. It was only when Orochimaru was discovered that they were able to bring Naruto into the family (as Mikoto had always wanted), as the clan's situation with the village changed drastically. He never got to live with them, but he was a constant (and very noisy) presence at lunches, dinners and training sessions.

“I don't doubt that the Kazekage will contact your father at some point about this,” Shisui said, scratching the back of his head. ”I may or may not have made a promise that we'll share the antidote with them when it's ready.”

Itachi sighed and closed his eyes again, tilting his head slightly to feel the breeze. The sun had almost disappeared, so the air felt colder. Sasuke should be back any minute from his mission.

“You did what you had to do. Promises like that aren't the best idea, but we were out of time and our hands were tied.”

“Was Ojisan very angry about being kept out?”

“A little, but I think in the end he was relieved that we hadn't lost another one. Besides, he was happy that I took the lead in the situation. He must think that means I've changed my mind about following in his footsteps.”

Shisui smiled at him, but his knowing eyes were a little sad.

“Which isn't true,” he guessed. Itachi opened his eyes to see the yard become a huge black blur as night fell. “You'd make a good Hokage.”

“I have no interest in being one.”

“I know,” his cousin said, also turning away. “But I stand by what I said.”

After a few minutes of thoughtful silence, Itachi spoke again.

“Our biggest problem will be the council,” he sighed, already tired. “They're not happy about it. But maybe we can calm them down somehow. Our rapprochement with Suna has been going on ever since the new Kazekage took over. It was impulsive, but this antidote will be good for our relations. And for our numbers.”

“Besides, losing Kakashi would have been a fatal blow to us,” Shisui added, saying what everyone knew but no one had the courage to say. Something very Shisui of him. “He's one of the best, if not the best, we have. If it wasn't for Sakura...”

They would have lost their greatest soldier.

A rancid taste filled Itachi's mouth. He and Hatake weren't necessarily friends. Itachi didn't have any of those apart from Shisui, who in turn was skewered for being his cousin, and Kakashi wasn't known for being friendly either, apart from a close relationship with Yamato and a weird relationship that no one really understood with Guy. Both were introverts and preferred to avoid the company of other human beings. Sometimes it seemed as if they both had a competition to see who could get out of the social gatherings the others dragged them to the quickest.

No, the relationship between them was different, somehow impersonal yet profound.

Hatake was the one who took Itachi under his wing, when he was just a seven-year-old boy who had just graduated from the academy. He was his first Taichou, the one who taught him what it meant to be not just a ninja, but a leader. Of course, Itachi's father was always there with lessons and training, but Fugaku didn't go on missions outside the village because he was chief of police and then Hokage. With the exception of the war and the Kyuubi attack, his support was limited to the walls that separated Konoha from the rest of the world.

It was Kakashi who fulfilled this role in his life. It was he who accompanied him on the bloody missions in which they lost companions and pieces of their souls. It was he who guided him with just a glance as they silently surrounded enemies, it was he who rested his hand on the top of his head when Itachi was shorter than him and gave him some sense of anchor when the adrenaline of the fight got the best of him.

Over time, Itachi gained his own Anbu team, seeing Hatake less, and the two hardly spoke on a day-to-day basis. But on the pitch, when the smell of blood, sweat and tears filled the air, Itachi felt strangely connected to him. As if he understood him in a way that few others could. Two prodigious child soldiers who didn't know how to be anything other than the weapon they were.

What's more, he had Obito's sharingan, whose death everyone seemed to avoid talking about, but which Itachi thought very often. If Kakashi died, he would take the last remnants of his other cousin with him.

“You never told me why you're quieter than usual.”

Itachi snapped out of his thoughts, but didn't see what was in front of him, for reasons far beyond his blindness. He felt himself teleported back to a night before, hearing Kakashi's cries of pain and watching small, feminine hands pulling death out of his body.

“Did you ever feel like you were witnessing the turn things had taken?” Itachi asked instead of answering, still watching the poison-filled balls of water passing in front of his eyes, again and again and again... “Like the moment when it becomes clear that the world will change forever?”

“Maybe once,” Shisui admitted.“Does that have to do with Sakura?”

Itachi didn't answer him, but he didn't have to.

“What exactly happened while I was away?” his cousin insisted. “I ran into Guy on the way here and the man couldn't stop talking. The whole village will know about it by tomorrow. But I don't know to what extent Guy can be trusted, he tends to be very emotional.”

Itachi allowed himself a long minute of silence before speaking.

“You had to be there to really understand,” he said. “I've seen many things in my life, many moments that seemed like miracles, but I've never seen anything like that. And I'm not even talking about the surgery, which was unbelievable in itself.”

He turned to Shisui, who was already looking at him. He was close enough to be a little less blurry, although he still couldn't see any details of his face.

“You haven't seen her, Shisui. If you had, you'd know what I'm talking about. There wasn't a drop of fear inside her. There was no uncertainty, or panic, or apprehension, none of it. She was calm and focused, as if this was an ordinary night for her. As if she'd done it a million times before.”

Every time Itachi saw med-ninjas in action, there was always some kind of anxiety in the air. Even among those who were the best. Medicine was a not very advanced art in which the chances of dying were always greater than the chances of living. Everyone knew that. There was always a drop of sweat dripping down the healers' foreheads, a nervous look exchanged between the nurses, a race against time as if everyone could feel the spectre of death on their necks.

The calm that Sakura displayed... Itachi felt goosebumps at the sight of her.

“She was like...” He swallowed, a little speechless. “A soldier.”

Shisui was silent for a while, looking into his eyes.

“Well, she told us she was trained to be a field medic...”

“And you believed that?” Itachi frowned, a little shocked. Shisui shrugged.

“No, at least not entirely,” he explained. “I thought it meant that she had some combat training or that she took part in some fights acting as shinobi and doctor at the same time out of necessity. The bingo book pointed out that she knows more than just medicine, but what you're implying...”

They stared at each other for another second in silence until his cousin asked the million ryous question.

“Do you believe her, Itachi?”

“I...” he hesitated, which was unusual for him. “I believed something similar to what you thought two nights ago. Honestly, now I don't know what to believe. Her story is ridiculous, we all agreed on that the afternoon she arrived. But the expression on her face, in her eyes...”

That was the face of someone who had seen things. The face of a soldier.

The face of a survivor.

“I think we've underestimated how exaggerated the bingo book can be,” Itachi argued. “I think we got carried away by her looks and her medical skills. It blinded us to all the other things that should have been our concerns.”

“Experienced in Taijutsu” Shisui recited. “Uses fingernails as claws.”

“Superhuman strength,” Itachi concluded. “Precisely.”

Shisui nodded as night fell completely. The porch lights came on, an indication that his mother had arrived home, but was giving them some privacy.

“Tell me what you're thinking,” his cousin asked.

“She seemed to know Sasori very well,” Itachi thought aloud. “She said she only met him once, but I don't believe it. She seemed to understand his mind.”

“An experiment, perhaps?”

“That's where I don't understand, Sasori isn't known for having experiments. He doesn't have laboratories, he just kills everyone he meets.”

“Maybe it's Orochimaru after all,” Shisui suspected. “He was an Akatsuki for a while, the documents say he was seen with Sasori once again. Maybe she met him that way. But it doesn't explain how the old snake or Kabuto don't have medical ninjutsu. They would never let the opportunity pass.”

“It could be that she lied and is a Kekkei Genkai.”

“Even so... Orochimaru would have found a way. It wouldn't be the first Kekkei Genkai he's stolen.”

The two remained silent, feeling cold, until Shisui said:

“There's a third option, you know.”

Itachi knew. He hadn't been happy about it after Sakura's arrival and the discovery of the secret missions that had gone on for almost a year behind his back, but he hadn't even had the strength to get angry. Didn't he hide his illness for years, until one night his cough got so loud that it got past the privacy seals and woke up the whole house? 

He could still see the horror in Sasuke's eyes. His father's pale skin. His mother's screams when she saw the floor and sheets covered in blood.

“The healing slugs?” he guessed, taking a deep breath of the cold air. Since Sakura's cure a few days earlier, he had been breathing like he hadn't in years. It still hurt, sometimes there was a cough, but it had become much easier. “It doesn't explain her fighting skills, just her healing talents.”

“Good point, but maybe she didn't completely lie,” Shisui insisted. “I'm getting to know her better in our mornings together. Sakura is smart, her mind is quick. She may have filled us with half-truths like any good liar.”

“Coincidentally, all the people who could confirm her story are dead,” Itachi agreed. “Her father, her shishou... but if she's not an experiment by Orochimaru, I believe she's a Haruno in some way, or has them in her family tree. Sasuke said she doesn't have any henge disguising her appearance and I doubt many other families have hair that color. Have you seen anything that might connect her with the slugs?”

“Apart from the mystery?” his cousin joked. “No, nothing. The Anbu on watch haven't sensed any chakra changes either. Now that Kakashi's back we can ask his ninkens to try and smell it, but the truth is that our suspicions are only circumstantial. The slugs accept a summoner and, six months later, Sakura appears in the bingo book. It could just be a coincidence.”

It could. But the point was that, for ninjas of their caliber, there were no coincidences. It was always the first lesson that Kakashi himself taught his team, after shoving teamwork down their throats. Look for another angle. Look at things from below.

“We're just going around in circles,” Itachi sighed. ”We need to know more about the slugs before we accuse her, but I wouldn't rule out the option. Just like the others. What we do know is that Sakura needs to have her skills tested, so that we can guarantee everyone's safety.”

“If the book isn't exaggerating, she's extremely dangerous. But that doesn't mean she's an enemy. She wouldn't have delivered the antidote to Sasori's deadliest poison if she were. Letting Kakashi die would be an almost mortal blow to Konoha.”

“True,” he agreed. “Besides, there was a lot of hatred in her eyes when she spoke of Sasori, she clearly despises him. And she's running away from Orochimaru. Experiment or not, she's not loyal to either of them.”

“Well, that sounds good to me,” Shisui laughed, standing up. ”The enemy of my enemy is my friend, or whatever the saying goes. Let's continue what we're doing for now. I'm enjoying talking to her, to tell you the truth. I think you'd like her too, you know, Itachi? Smart like Sasuke, but without the bad mood. And funny like Naruto, without the stupidity. When will you see her again for treatment?”

Also standing up, Itachi surprised himself by saying:

“Actually, there's something I haven't told you. A conversation I had with her that day.”

Shisui tilted his head, waiting for him to speak. That wasn't his plan, but there was a reason why Shisui was the closest person he had. Sasuke would always be the person Itachi loved most in the whole world, but that excess of love also meant that Itachi cared about him in ways that prevented him from letting him fully into his life. Itachi loved Sasuke so much that he wanted to protect him in every way possible. Even if it meant protecting him from himself.

“She knows,” Itachi said softly, increasingly aware of his mother's presence somewhere inside the house. Shisui moved closer, so that they could whisper.

“About the blindness,” he admitted. “She knows I'm going blind.”

Shisui's eyes widened like saucers and he looked at the house, making sure they were alone within hearing distance.

There were things that only he knew, like Itachi's loss of sight. It wasn't deliberate, but it wasn't surprising either. The two of them had been training together since Itachi learned to walk. Shisui quickly realized that something was wrong. It was one of the reasons Itachi had been avoiding training with Sasuke for the last few years, something he knew was creating resentment in his brother. The discovery of the lung problem at least gave him a plausible excuse.

“What?” his cousin whispered, astonished. “How?”

“I don't know, she said it was obvious, whatever that means” Itachi tried not to sound exasperated, a feeling that the heir to a centuries-old clan should never feel. “But that wasn't all. She...”

Shisui moved closer. Itachi avoided it, as if saying the words out loud would somehow bring bad luck.

“She said she could heal them,” he finally confessed. ”She said she could heal my eyes.”

Shisui's hands gripped his forearms, squeezing hard.

“You're fucking kidding me!” he exclaimed, somehow in a whisper. “Don't joke with me, Itachi. You never make jokes, it wouldn't be nice to start with that.”

“I'm not joking” Itachi rolled his eyes, feeling lighter, as he always did when sharing his demons with his cousin. “That's what she said, I can't forget her words even if I tried. My sight wouldn't go back to what it was one hundred percent, but it would go back enough for me to see again.”

“Holy shit,” Shisui said, releasing him to run his hands through his curls. A shocked laugh crossed his lips. “Holy shit, Itachi. And what are you going to do? Do you trust her?”

“If you'd asked me that that afternoon, I'd have said no,” he admitted. “A foreigner we know nothing about, with a skill we barely understand, one touch away from my clan's Kekkei Genkai? Never. Never. But after what we saw her do to Hatake...”

“After what we saw her do...” Shisui echoed him, nodding. 

“The tea she prescribed and the one-day treatment made me feel better than I have in years,” he said. “Remember that pain in my left leg I used to get? And my shoulder, which popped non-stop? They're both gone. I'm sure she healed them too.”

His cousin stared at him in silence, thoughtful.

“Itachi, I think you should let her.”

A part of Itachi, hidden in the back of his mind for only him to see in his most vulnerable moments, sighed, coming very close to crying with relief. That was if he cried, of course.

“You think?” he said, walking the fine line between brave and frightened. “The sharingan...”

“It's something she'll already have access to by taking care of your lungs,” Shisui argued. “That's how she found out, isn't it? She discovered blindness by seeing a lung problem, as well as healing a leg and a bone right under our noses. Stopping her from curing you won't stop her from having access to your eyes, unless you refuse respiratory treatment.”

He grabbed him by the shoulders the moment Itachi opened his mouth.

“Which won't happen.” His tone of voice was serious, something rare that gave away his feelings. “I forbid it, Itachi. I swear to Kami, if you refuse this treatment, I'll go to Obachan right now and tell her everything, childhood blood pact be damned.”

Itachi sighed in response, extremely tired. He knew that wasn't an option. Giving up on treatment meant arousing suspicions that would give everyone away the fact that his eyes were about to collapse. His father would insist on a transplant and Itachi shivered as he realized this. He had always been horrified at the idea of using someone else's eyes, eyes that should be given to him willingly or taken from a dead body.

He didn't want anyone giving him their eyes, which would surely happen since he was the heir to the clan, and he didn't want a family to have to burn the eyeless body of their loved one just because Fugaku's son needed it. The eyes were the Uchihas' greatest honor. No matter what they said in public, deep down everyone knew that an Uchiha taken to the funeral pyre without eyes was an Uchiha without a soul to go to heaven.

Just the thought made him want to vomit.

“Think about it, you paranoid bastard,” Shisui said, shaking him a little. He let himself be shaken, just because he felt he deserved it. “If she's already going to have access to your eyes, let it be on your terms. When you know she's there, doing who knows what. Besides, we need to keep an eye on her anyway. It would be good for you to spend more time together if you want to know more about her.”

That early morning, Itachi quietly left his house when he was sure that everyone was fast asleep. With silent footsteps and even quieter breathing, he walked through the shadows of the village without attracting the attention of cats, drunken youths or homeless people. Two Uchiha policemen passed him on patrol. They didn't see him either.

Neither did the Anbu guards on the lookout. It was easy for Itachi to find their blind spots and enter the building, where the civilian receptionist didn't even stand a chance. The moment she blinked, Itachi was behind her, checking the guest register. The next time she blinked, he was already upstairs.

The door to the room was simple, but Itachi still stared at it for a second longer than necessary. He was glad that he had come alone and that there was no one in the corridor to see him like this. Hesitating was not in his nature, nor was getting carried away by emotional conversations with Shisui. But perhaps he could forgive himself for this little moment of weakness, since the circumstances were abnormal. Possessing two extremely painful physical conditions that would retire him from the only thing he knew how to do and then killing him before the age of thirty could do that to someone.

He knocked on the door. And then he knocked again and again. Sakura only appeared after the third knock, a pink blur who seemed to be scratching her eyes and with her body covered in a fluffy robe. Small thing, she was. It was still hard for Itachi to understand how someone her size was capable of so much.

“Itachi-san?” she said in a hoarse voice, blinking and looking more alert. “Has something happened? Is anyone hurt?”

He would have blushed with embarrassment if he'd known how to do that.

“I'm sorry, Haruno-san,” he muttered, tilting his torso. “Nothing happened, I just didn't realize how late it is. I didn't want to worry you.”

“Knocks on the door at this time of night are rarely a good sign for me,” she joked, yawning longingly afterwards. Itachi wondered what it would be like to feel so comfortable in the presence of other people. “I'm glad you're all right. But that doesn't explain your surprise visit.”

He swallowed discreetly and avoided clearing his throat.

“I'd like to talk to you about your offer regarding my... eye problem.” Her head tilted to the side.

“I thought it would be harder to convince you,” she confessed, looking playful. Itachi looked away, just for a second and for emotional reasons. He couldn't see her properly anyway.

“Recent events may or may not have affected my motivations.”

He didn't explain himself beyond that and Sakura remained silent for a few seconds, staring at him. Itachi wanted to turn on his sharingan so that he could see her in more detail, but he had been trained not to rely entirely on sight. He could feel her curiosity reaching through his body in waves.

“I bet you have questions,” she said, and it was clear how her smile lit up her face even for Itachi's useless corneas. “And concessions.”

“More than one,” he said sincerely. It made her laugh.

“Then we'd better start talking without delay. I don't have cups or a kettle to offer tea, though...”

Her door opened wider and the pink blur moved, making room for him.

Not knowing who was more in danger between the two of them, Itachi entered.

On the outskirts of Konoha, in an isolated area known for crime, poverty and prostitution, there was a bridge that had been closed for years because it was about to collapse. Underneath this bridge, there was a discreet culvert, almost invisible within the tall undergrowth and accumulation of garbage, but inside this culvert there were no pipes or sewers.

There were tunnels.

The tunnels spread out like roots, forming a kilometer-long labyrinth that reached almost the entire territory of the village. There wasn't much light in the tunnels, restricted to the few spots that filled only the corridors and rooms located in the deepest parts. Those who walked there did so by instinct and muscle memory, since the darkness prevented any kind of visual recognition. It was deliberate that it was so difficult to get around there, added to the damp, cold and still air, which weighed down the lungs and froze the bones. After all, those tunnels shouldn't exist. Those who knew how to walk there without becoming one of the skeletons lost in the most isolated corners would be those who had been trained to do so, preferably from the moment they learned to walk.

The roots of that labyrinth in the shadows of Konoha were made only for the roots of Anbu.

In a room with no windows, inside a room with no windows, which was in a corridor inside a corridor inside a corridor, a man on his knees with his head down finished the message he had come to bring. His words finished echoing off the soundproof walls and were replaced by a heavy silence, but the man didn't move.

He stood there, still as he had been taught, even after Shimura Danzou had spoken.

“Two weeks, you say?” he asked, his face blank. “And no one knows how she got to the village?”

“No, sir,” the man said from behind his expressionless mask. Shadow was his codename. “The rumors have only just begun to circulate. Our sources point out that the hospital was only told that she had been hired by the Hokage the day before she started working there. The date matches the records at the inn where she's staying.”

“Did you get any more information?”

“The inn doesn't have cameras, but there's an Anbu team on the lookout whenever she's there. According to the civilian receptionist, she arrived with a dark-haired man and is accompanied every morning by another man with the same features, but wearing a police uniform.”

Uchihas, then. Danzo frowned internally as he watched Shadow without saying anything. The date coincided with the day of the meeting when Fugaku had to leave early. The agent had said something about his youngest son and a successful mission. They had talked about the ambassadors from Suna, but now he was beginning to wonder...

“Did Sai come back from his mission?”

“He returned a few hours ago, sir, while you were in a meeting.”

Fugaku had sent Sai on a mission immediately after his arrival two weeks earlier. At the time, Danzou had thought he was at an advantage, since it allowed his shinobi to spend a long period of time alone with the Hokage's youngest son, gathering information. But now, knowing of this doctor's existence, that might not exactly be the case. 

He had suspected for some time that Fugaku was suspicious of his relationship with Sai. The Root hadn't been discovered yet (they wouldn't be there if it were the case), but he was probably hiding something and keeping Sai away from the village (and consequently Danzou) as long as he could.

“You said she appeared in the bingo book?”

In response, Shadow stood up and handed the small book into his hands. When Danzou opened the marked page, he wrinkled his nose without thinking.

“Is that what she looks like?” he asked, a little disgusted as he stared at the pink hair.

“Yes, sir,” Shadow confirmed. “The portrait is well done and very accurate.”

“She looks ridiculous” Danzou pointed out, hiding his incredulity. “You said she saved Hatake Kakashi from death?”

“That's what the rumors say, sir. Some of our agents overheard Maito Guy telling everyone who would listen that she had brought him back from the dead. But we still don't know what happened to him, the records haven't been updated.”

Danzou continued to stare at the picture of Haruno Sakura, frowning slightly. She was pretty enough for seduction missions, he supposed, but her hair color was absurd for any shinobi worth their salt. She must not have been from any clan, which made her a mongrel. Usually Danzou didn't give a damn about any of them, who served as disposable cargo in the general view of things, but her description was fanciful enough to catch his attention.

Medical skills of unknown extent...

He felt the right side of his body throb and tingle. He didn't usually listen to stupid rumors from even stupider shinobis, and a foreign doctor was of no interest to him. It would be good for him if the good ninjas stopped falling like pieces of shouji, but the way the hospital operated worked perfectly for his plans. A foreigner was a threat, because he was an outsider who could see between the lines, unaccustomed to local tradition.

But Hatake's life was important to Konoha. Losing a ninja of his caliber was not an option, even if the bastard had always slipped through his fingers and taken others with him. Not to mention that his death would be the end of the Hatake clan. Danzou had learned from his ancestors about the importance of maintaining clans. It was a shame that, at his age, Hatake still had no children. All of Root's seduction missions had failed, much to his dissatisfaction.

“Wait a few days and hack into the records again, they should be up to date by then,” Danzou said to Shadow, without taking his eyes off the bingo book. “If not, find a way to break into the hospital. Better still, send agents there to be attended to by her. I want everything they can find out about her abilities.”

A high-caliber doctor in the hospital was in Konoha's interest, but not Danzou's, which rarely happened. However, a high-caliber doctor in their ranks was another story. 
He felt the sharp, painful throbbing in his arm again, the swelling of his eyes held back only by seals. If her acting was as good as they said and he managed to bring her to Root... She was practically a little girl, seemingly alone in the world. It wouldn't be difficult.

“Bring Sai,” he said, before dismissing Shadow from his position on the ground. ”I want to have a word with him.”

If the girl had been nothing more than some random doctor found in some foreign shithole, Fugaku wouldn't have been so mysterious about her presence in the village. They've had four meetings in the last two weeks and the only comment he's made is something about “talking to the hospital board about new hires”. That damn Uchiha. 

Looking at her portrait, he decided that he would find a way to know every secret of Haruno Sakura. Danzou had no proof that Fugaku had actively sought her out, but that mattered little to him. If Fugaku was trying to hide her from the elders, Danzou would find out why. He didn't trust Uchiha Fugaku, just as he didn't trust any Uchiha. It was a mistake to put him in the position of Hokage, something he always made very clear to everyone. It was a shame that his plan to exterminate them all didn't come to fruition.

If Fugaku was interested in the girl, then Danzou would have been too. If she was really that good and he could use her talents, great. If not... well...

Orochimaru always liked new toys to play with.

Chapter Text

Sakura discovered very quickly that spending six years on the run and then almost another year as a wanderer took a toll on her mental health.

Soon after visiting Kakashi and making sure he was the best he could be, Sakura found herself overcome with a nervous rush of adrenaline, her heart racing and her blood running fast like fire in a cornfield. It was a feeling she had known for a long time and it made her want to run, run, run, until her legs couldn't take it anymore and her feet were bleeding from her shoes falling apart.

(It happened so many times that she lost count)

She couldn’t run away, so she went to her hotel room, where she paced back and forth until she literally tore a small hole in the carpet. Shaking the smoke from the burning fabric, Sakura blew her bangs out of her eyes and bit her lips anxiously until they bled. She tried everything to control her instinct to flee: she washed her face, and when that didn’t work, she took a shower. She ordered dinner from room service, and when that didn’t work, she devoured what was in the minibar. She unsealed all of her belongings and catalogued them in order of priority, and when that didn’t work, she repeated the action four more times.

Sakura even grew her hair out just to have something to do, cutting it. But when nothing worked and the sun began to rise outside the window, she decided she needed some air. Sleep was a luxury she hadn't had in almost a decade, so maybe walking would be good for her.

In the end, what happened was that Sakura ran. Around the village, just a few inches from the line that delimited the extent of Konoha's territory. Her intention was to walk just to feel the cold morning breeze on her face, but she only needed to take a few steps before she was running. Cold wind biting her cheeks, heart racing in her chest, feet slamming hard against the ground.

Three full laps around the village before Sakura stopped, falling to her knees and panting uncontrollably. She had used no chakra, running like a civilian, and paid the price when she felt fire burning the inside of her lungs.

But the pain was good. Sakura was lying on her back on the ground as she caught her breath and enjoyed the rocks poking her back, the warm blood warming her entire face and the pulse in her feet. It was hard to get lost inside your own mind when your body was screaming at every nerve ending.

She decided that she would start practicing more as a civilian. It was something that Tsunade had always valued greatly, but that had been lost to her during the war, both due to lack of time and lack of resources like decent food. The only thing she kept up was her weightlifting, always ready to throw her comrades over her shoulder and get them out of harm's way. Now that she was stuck in the village until the end of her contract, maybe it would be good to get back to running and working out.

Especially now that she had time, since her duties at the hospital had... changed.

In the morning Kakashi woke up, just before going to see him, Sakura knew she would have to face the consequences of her impulsive actions. Invading the hospital off-shift, taking control of a service that wasn't hers, performing an unknown operation on an unconscious patient, assaulting (a little) another employee...

However, these were not the reasons that made her stand in front of a door for more than fifteen minutes, stiff as a post and cold as a corpse. Sakura didn't care at all about the punishments she would receive for saving Kakashi's life. Bureaucracy did not frighten someone who had seen all the structures of society crumble, someone who had to witness herself becoming more and more savage, leaving behind all human rationality in order to survive.

What paralyzed every muscle in Sakura’s body and made her feel like she had lost connection to her own soul was something much smaller, both physically and metaphorically. A small metal plate, carved with words that were engraved behind her eyelids.

Kato Dan. Head of the Hospital.

The pieces of the puzzle fell into place at that moment, deep in her mind, clearing Sakura's vision while simultaneously trampling on her heart. That tingling feeling of knowing his name from somewhere... his closeness to Shizune... his pretty, sweet face...

Tsunade rarely spoke of Dan. Sakura knew that she and Shizune were the people who knew the most about him and she could count on one hand the times she had heard her shishou murmur curiosities about the lost love of her life. It was usually in the early hours of the morning, after many bottles of sake and a long period of thoughtful silence that clung to her skin with the anticipation of something to come. And even then, they were only low and brief whispers, filled with so much love and pain that Sakura remembered to always hold her breath.

Dan worried when she drank so much. Dan used to find that joke funny. Dan wanted to be Hokage.

Dan had light blue hair. Hair that was now completely white due to age. It was no wonder Sakura had remained ignorant of who he was for so long. According to her calculations, he should have just passed seventy years old, unlike the Dan from her universe, who was permanently stuck at twenty-seven.

A movement in her throat made her swallow hundreds of shards of glass. Sakura had to close her eyes and shakily inhale through her nose, trying to control the emotional pain that was spreading through her veins like the roots of a tree. This time, the pain wasn't for her, but for those two people who loved each other so much, the kind of love she always wanted to give and receive, that she always wanted to have with someone but wasn't lucky enough to find, at least not the way you wanted. Sasuke managed to fill some of the holes during the war, but he was behind, both in time and in spirit.

She wondered how many other universes Dan existed in where Tsunade didn't and vice versa. How many had one or both of them died. And how many had they managed to be together. Sakura hoped those universes existed and were the majority. It hurt more than anything to imagine that they were two lovers doomed to never be together.

Sakura hoped not.

She also wondered what had happened to prevent Dan's death. No one would have been able to save him if he had been attacked, so what was it? Wasn't he on that mission? Didn't he even fight in the war? What happened to his dream of becoming Hokage? The prospect that it was Tsunade's very existence that led to her soulmate's death was so cruel that she pushed it away without even giving it a second glance.

From the other side of the door, Sakura had heard Junichi's quiet exclamations. She didn't even need to try, really. The pitch of his voice rose above the solid wood every few seconds, making it clear to anyone passing through the hallway just how unhappy he was with the events of the past few days.

“...An absurdity...!”

“I have never been so disrespected...”

“...A true uneducated savage...”

“A danger to the hospital and the village!”

“...She needs to be fired immediately!”

Kami, what an insufferable man , she thought at the time (and still thinks, shamelessly).

With one last glance at the silver plate that Tsunade would never see, Sakura remembered to take a deep breath and raise a hand as heavy as lead into the air. She slammed it down on the wood, silencing Junichi's furious exclamations on the other side.

“Please come in,” a much more polite and gentle voice called.

When she did, what Sakura found was Kato Dan sitting behind his desk, with Junichi in front of him, his hands on his hips and an angry expression. Her eyes fell on a picture frame on the wall, with a small Shizune smiling next to her uncle, young, handsome, and with his hair still blue. Her heart sank so much it hurt.

Not for the first time, she thought that this was the universe Tsunade should have been sent to, not her. Sakura was just a cheap copy of the person her shishou once was.

“Haruno-san,” Dan said with a nod. “How nice of you to join us. Please come in.”

As if she had any other choice. Junichi would probably drag her away by her hair if Sakura didn't show up for the inquisition he had prepared for her.

“Kato-sama,” she replied with a bow. “Sorry I’m late.”

From where he stood, Junichi scoffed loudly, rolling his eyes. Sakura kept her focus on Dan's soft face, to stop herself from punching that arrogant Hyuuga bastard in the mouth.

“It’s okay, I figured you’d need some time to recover,” he said, fingers folded on the table, a curious glint in his eyes. “That was quite a display of power you showed us last night.”

Another snort from Junichi. Sakura tried to remember if she had ever seen a bald Hyuuga, and when she realized she hadn't, she wondered if it wasn't time for one.

“A grand show of disrespect, some would say, no matter how powerful you are,” he muttered half-heartedly, before giving Dan an only slightly regretful look. “With all due respect, Kato-sama.”

Tsunade would have screamed and thrown a bottle of sake at him for the affront, but Dan just grimaced and kept his composure. Sakura had a flashback of drunken, vulnerable nights from a lifetime ago.

Dan was the most patient man in the world, much sweeter than I was ever capable of being...

"You know that's not what I meant, Junichi," Kato replied, a little reproachfully, but clearly wanting to keep the peace.

“I just wanted to reinforce that we are not here to praise Haruno-san’s skills.”

“We can do both.” Sakura couldn’t help herself, giving him the best imitation of Sasuke’s ‘eat shit’ smile she could muster. “I’m not going to complain.”

Dan’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline in surprise, his expression swimming between something half-shock and half-amusement. Junichi’s expression, meanwhile, tightened even further, his nostrils flaring and his eyes flashing with anger.

“You think this is funny?” he growled, turning to her and moving his hands between them. “You disregard our rules, our authorities, act like this hospital is your playground, and you think this is funny?”

Seriously, Sakura straightened her spine and looked into his eyes, without blinking, gaining a few centimeters in height, which was pure attitude.

“I saved that patient’s life,” she said, her tone short and hard.

“You’re a newly hired doctor who barged into this hospital while off duty,” Junichi growled. “An outsider who laid hands on one of our shinobi, disregarded orders, and assaulted your superiors!”

“And none of that matters,” Sakura continued, leveling with him. “Because I saved that patient’s life.”

“Whitout permission!” he exclaimed, his face red. Sakura felt like growling.

“I don’t need your permission or anyone else’s to save a life that needs me,” she said.

“Tell that to our rulebook.”

“I’ll tell you where to shove your rulebook—”

“Okay, stop,” Dan tried to say, standing up. “This conversation is going too far.”

“You can’t be serious that bureaucracy doesn’t matter!” Junichi exclaimed, snubbing his superior after accusing her of doing the same, the hypocrite. “It’s the reason this hospital is standing. It’s the reason the entire village is standing!”

“Bureaucracy is meant to guide and restrain us, but it has its limitations,” Sakura argued back, still not taking her eyes off him. “It’s a structure based on order, on everyday life, on the moments when we have time. And that night was anything but that!”

“Because you did this! We were fine until you came! This whole hospital was fine until you came!”

“Fine?!” Sakura exclaimed, striding forward like a panther. Junichi remained standing, but he flinched. “Listen to yourself! Your shinobi patients are dying like flies, civilians are treated like second-class citizens, and Hatake Kakashi was a dead man until I showed up. None of you knew what to do with him. If it weren’t for me, his nerves would have atrophied and his blood would have bubbled up to kill him in the most painful way possible. If he’s alive today, it’s because I’ve decided that your bureaucracy doesn’t matter to me!”

“And that’s not for you to decide.” Junichi also stepped forward, face to face with her. “That’s what I’m saying, and what you would have understood by now, if you weren’t an arrogant outsider who likes to play Kami. You can’t just show up and decide that the way we’ve worked for a hundred years isn’t good enough for you!”

“Then fire me,” Sakura growled, without a hint of regret. “Fire me, go to the Hokage and beg him to fire me. But if you expect me to regret last night, you’ll die waiting. I didn’t become a doctor to please bureaucrats like you who have no idea what life is like out there! I didn’t become a doctor to please men who have no idea what the world is like when their little rules fall apart!”

“Good.” Junichi raised his voice even louder, throwing his hands up in the air, a cruel smile on his lips. “You’re fired!”

“No, she isn’t.”

Dan's harsh voice ran down Sakura's spine, causing her and Junichi to fall silent. They both turned to him, who was standing there, staring at them both with a serious expression, no sign of the sweet man Tsunade had sighed for all those years.

“She isn’t fired,” he repeated, glancing at Junichi. “Because that’s not your decision to make. You’re not the head of the hospital yet, Hyuuga-san, which I don’t think I need to remind you of.”

Junichi’s face turned red, but he said nothing but an embarrassed apology as he lowered his head in submission. Dan’s gaze shifted to Sakura, who let her shoulders slump but didn’t lower her gaze.

“Leave us, Hyuuga-san,” he said, still looking at her. Junichi’s eyes widened as he raised his head.

"But-"

“I think this conversation will be more productive in private,” Kato interrupted. “Between Haruno-san and the still hospital headmaster. We’ll talk later.”

Junichi looked like he wanted to say something, but Dan's sharp, slightly mocking tone made him think again. With one last dirty look at Sakura, he left the room, closing the door a little too hard behind him.

The silence stretched on for so long that it felt like it was sticking to her skin. Sakura didn't look down, but swallowed hard, waiting for him to go ahead and fire her. She hadn't seen Kakashi at the time, and she decided then and there that if she was fired, she wouldn't mind committing yet another crime by checking up on him without permission.

“Why did you become a doctor, Haruno-san?”

Surprised by the change of subject, Sakura blinked and took a moment to respond.

“Because others need me,” she finally said.

He raised an eyebrow and silently encouraged her to continue.

“Because there are vulnerable people in the world,” she continued. “People who are sick, people who are hurting, people who can’t help themselves, and I can help them. I can give them one more chance.”

“Even if it means breaking the rules?” he asked her. “Even if it means getting fired?”

“I can get another job,” Sakura said without regret. “I can find another village to work in, another way to support myself. But death is death. If I don’t choose my patient, he won’t get another chance.”

He fell silent again, staring at her with an intensity so deep it almost made her feel ashamed.

“Do people’s lives come before anything else for you?” Dan finally said.

“Sure,” she said easily, “what would it say about me if it wasn’t?”

As if her words had hit him like a punch to the gut, Dan closed his eyes for a second and sighed, before looking at her again. He leaned back in his chair and gestured with one hand for her to do the same.

“Those are very nice words, Haruno-san,” he said, sounding a little subdued. “Few people think like you.”

He didn't know that Sakura knew he was one of those like her.

“Thank you,” she said, sitting down with her hands in her lap. Her eyes returned to the photo with Shizune. “That’s what I learned from my shishou.”

His head tilted slightly to the side, a curious expression on his face.

“She passed away a few years ago.”

“Oh!” he exclaimed, nodding. “That’s a shame. The world would benefit from more people like you and her.”

Sakura swallowed glass again.

“Was she the one who taught you everything you know?”

"Yes."

A sad smile appeared on his lips.

“An even greater shame, then,” Kato Dan sighed, folding his hands on the table again. “She must have been a wonderful woman.”

Her entire body crumbled into dust.

When she didn't respond (unable to open her mouth without letting out a scream of outrage at the injustices of the world), he cleared his throat and sighed.

“Haruno-san, your situation is delicate,” he said. “Unfortunately, Junichi has valid points. No one in this hospital or outside it, with the possible exception of the Hokage, has the right to disregard village protocol and laws.”

“Not even you?” she couldn’t help but be curious.

He remained silent for a few seconds, which seemed like hours.

“Neither do I,” Kato said, and there was a hint of resentment in his voice that made her suspicious. “Whether you agree with them or not, the rules are there to be followed. And what you did was conduct that likely violated many paragraphs of your contract with Konoha.”

Fifteen, at least. Sakura knew why she particularly hated them when she signed that damn thing.

"But..."

Shocked, she blinked at Dan, who looked almost limp again, like an owl.

“You are also correct in your arguments. And your heart was in the right place when you acted. Hatake Kakashi would be dead if not for your disregard for bureaucracy, and he is a shinobi who will be sorely missed in our ranks. We, as a nation, benefit far more from him being alive and well. You saved more than one life that night, even if indirectly. And I know that not only he, but the entire village, is grateful for your efforts.”

“Even you?” she asked, feeling strangely like a little girl, sitting across from her shishou, trying to figure out if she was proud of him. Dan’s silence was thoughtful.

“The lack of advancements in medical knowledge unfortunately brings a need for manpower that kills the passion for medicine,” he replied instead, changing the subject. Sakura didn’t care.

“People become doctors because they have to, not because they want to,” she translated, receiving a nod. He glanced at Shizune’s picture on his wall, seemingly miles away.

“Having doctors, even if they are disinterested, is better than not having them,” he said, seeming to echo words that were not his own.

“Perhaps,” she mused. “But it also means we risk losing the sensitivity that is needed. Medicine is driven by a passion for caring for others. If we don’t have that, what is left for us? For those who need help?”

“Care, diagnosis, lives saved...”

“Perfunctory care, cold diagnosis,” Sakura snapped, her eyes never leaving his face. He looked older as her words hung in the air. “Lives often saved, but at what cost? Who are these patients to us, and what value are their lives if we see them only as daily obligations?”

Dan’s eyes met hers and he looked… almost relieved. Like someone had finally said it. Like her words were his own, but only Sakura had been brave enough to say them out loud. It filled her with curiosity and suspicion. This man was the head of the hospital. When Tsunade took over, she had done whatever she wanted whenever she wanted and everyone had obeyed her without question, without regard for any ridiculous bureaucracy. What was stopping him? How were the power relations different enough to clearly emasculate him as a leader?

“...Indeed,” he muttered after a long pause, clearing his throat primly. Sighing deeply, he continued. “The situation has received enough attention to tie my hands. I can’t give you a free pass to break the law like that, Haruno-san, any more than I wish to punish a doctor for loving her patient as she should. It’s a delicate situation.”

Sakura nodded, accepting her fate. She knew these hallways like no one else. Even if she was expelled, no one would be able to stop her from checking on Kakashi before leaving.

“I was serious about not firing you,” Dan said, reading her mind. Half of Sakura was relieved, the other… unsure of how she felt. “I’ve seen you do things I only imagined you were capable of in my wildest dreams. Removing you from here would be condemning any patient at risk, and I refuse to do that. However, you will receive administrative punishment for ignoring orders from your superiors and assaulting a coworker.”

Sakura refrained from rolling her eyes. Calling Junichi a colleague was generous. He was more of a constant nuisance, a ridiculously arrogant nuisance.

“I’m going to reduce your working hours,” he continued, holding up a hand to silence her when Sakura opened her mouth. “You will now be responsible for only half of a normal shift, in both the civilian and geriatric wards, for the next three weeks. This, unfortunately, also means a small reduction in your salary until the end of your punishment. The only time you are allowed to break this rule is with extremely critical patients and after the hospital has run out of options. As was the case with Hatake-san.”

Sakura leaned back in her chair, thinking. It wasn't so bad. Civilians and the elderly were the most neglected, as far as she could tell, and therefore the ones who needed her the most. The three-week period was uncomfortable, but it could be worse. And as long as she could save the critical cases, nothing would change much from what she had been doing since arriving in Konoha.

The biggest problem was the salary issue, since her time at the hotel was coming to an end and she would have to start paying her own rent somewhere. But Sakura would receive the money for Itachi's secret treatment and she would find another way to support herself. She always did that.

She’d agreed to Dan’s terms. And now, three days later, there she was. With enough free time to run around the village for hours every morning, burning off the nervous energy that was coursing through her veins nonstop. She’d almost lost her dissociation on the hotel roof. It was less exhausting, at least.

Spending more hours alone with only her thoughts for company was so torturous that it was no surprise that Sakura chose as her method of escape to literally run away as if she were being chased by Madara himself again. But, despite her weak muscles and the embarrassment of having vomited once (twice) from overexertion, something positive came out of all that madness.

She saw Lee again.

It was early on, a quiet Sunday when the city seemed to be slowing down. Sakura was on her second lap when she spotted a figure in the distance, limping slowly around the lake. The sun was just starting to rise, so she had to put some chakra into her eyes to see better, and she recognized the black hair.

It was hard to recognize Lee without his bowl-cut haircut, green clothes, and with a cane in his hand, but she did, mostly because she couldn't imagine anyone else doing the same crazy thing as her. 

Swallowing a bowling ball, Sakura watched him from afar, limping with each step as he walked. If she hadn't been there in his life when Gaara had shattered the bones in half his body, she would still be able to see it now. His left side looked weak and fragile, as if his bones were made of papier-mâché. All of his weight was on his right side, leg, hip, and arm. He limped and his back was hunched. She remembered him being upright when she saw him, but he was sitting down, which probably eased the pain.

Unable to help herself, Sakura walked towards him, not bothering to mask her chakra. The Anbu agents were following her less and less, their numbers going from twenty to ten and from ten to five over the weeks. She would be able to summon Katsuyu soon, once they were gone. But it wasn't because of them that she left her chakra untouched. Lee wouldn't have felt it anyway.

She could see the sweat dripping down his body when she got close enough, his skin flushed and his breathing painfully labored. He was probably in pain and destroying his already poor health with the exertion, but this was so Lee that it eased her. It was good to know that, like Guy, he was him in any universe.

"Good morning!"

Amazing how that was the wrong thing to say.

Lee's first scare was mild, a small jump in place before looking (with clear difficulty) over his shoulder. But the second shock, when he realized that it was Sakura behind him, made him literally trip over his own feet, exclaiming:

"Ha-Haruno-san?!"

Startled by his fright, she stretched out her arm like a snake's mouth to grab him by the wrist, stopping him from falling to the ground. Lee's expression contorted, betraying the pain he was probably feeling and Sakura could feel the punch in the back of the head that Tsunade would give her.

Discreetly, she pushed numbing chakra between them until his brows stopped furrowing. Lee took his wrist from her hand and blinked, looking a little confused.

“I’m sorry!” she exclaimed, to stop him from asking questions. “I didn’t mean to scare you!”

He blinked a few more times before clearing his throat, a blush covering his cheeks.

“I-It’s okay, Haruno-san,” Lee said, unable to look her in the eyes. Sakura bit the inside of her cheek, trying to hide her irritation at seeing him act so shy. “I know you didn’t mean to. You’re just… surprisingly quiet.”

Sakura gave him a small smile, the rising sun illuminating the side of her face. Lee blushed more, looking almost dizzy.

“Sometimes it happens,” she dismissed him playfully, “a blessing and a curse. What are you doing here?”

“Oh!” he exclaimed, frowning at the crutch in his hand. “Uh... I usually walk around around this time.”

“Enjoy to wake up so early?”

“Well, yes, but not only because of that. I prefer it because the city is more... peaceful.”

Empty, he meant. Sakura pretended not to know that his real motivation was privacy, that others wouldn't see him. Another difference between this Lee and the one she knew, who didn't have a cell in his body with social anxiety.

“Me too!” she said, hands behind her back and rocking back on her feet. “There’s something very appealing about having the entire city coastline to yourself, don’t you think? It’s my favorite time to run.”

He blinked, seeming to notice her condition for the first time. Sakura wasn't wearing any training clothes (she didn't have any, except for one she'd gotten as a gift from a rich patient and decided to keep for a fight), but her hair was tied back in a ponytail and her skin was flushed and sweaty from the exercise.

“You’re running around the village?” Lee asked, surprised.

“My second lap,” Sakura said, holding up two fingers in the air. “But I admit I’m rusty. It’s been so long since I ran without chakra that I—what?”

Lee stared at her unblinkingly, as if Sakura had three heads instead of one. She blinked uncertainly.

“Is there something on my face?”

“No!” Lee exclaimed, before blushing and clearing his throat. “I… I mean, just…”

He then sighed and let his shoulders slump, as if he was letting himself get tired. His grip on the cane tightened.

“I’ve never met anyone who likes running around the village without chakra. It’s a training I do… I mean, I used to do.” He gestured to himself with his free hand in a disapproving motion. “Before, of course.”

Sakura, for her part, just nodded and smiled, unfazed.

“It’s good to see you haven’t stopped exercising completely. It’s important for the body to stay active, within its own capabilities,” she recited softly. His eyes widened a little.

“Ah, that’s right, they say you’re a doctor,” Lee muttered. “Is that true, Haruno-san? Did you really save Kakashi-sensei’s life?”

“You can call me Sakura,” she said, smiling as she saw him blush. Sweet, sweet Lee. “And yes, it’s true. The day we met, I was on my way to meet the Hokage to sign the contract. I’m the village’s doctor for the next few months!”

She smiled brightly and saw something appear and then disappear in his eyes. Strangely, the news seemed to make Lee cringe, almost without hope.

“Ah, that’s great, H-Sakura-san,” he muttered, shifting his body to walk again. “The village really needs a new doctor. Right now, you’d probably like to get back to running, and I wouldn’t want to get in your way…”

He seemed to be trying to get rid of her and this deeply hurt all the Sakuras inside her, especially the genin, who gasped loudly, offended. Feeling strangely hurt, Sakura exclaimed:

"Actually!"

He turned to her, unsure. Sakura was unsure of him.

“I was thinking of slowing down on the next lap.” She smiled innocently, moving closer. “Do you mind if I come along? Like I said, I’m rusty and it would be nice to have company.”

Lee blinked owlishly and was silent for a long time, just staring at her. Patient (and, okay, maybe a little desperate for some connection with someone she loved in those lonely moments), she waited for the minutes to pass, until he murmured:

“I can’t go fast, Sakura-san...” There was shame in his tone, which was outrageous for every possible reason. “Do you really not care? It’ll take longer than you’re used to.”

“No way!” she exclaimed, smiling and slipping her arm through his free one. Unbeknownst to him, she was holding him the way they did in physical therapy sessions, giving him more balance and a place to lean on. “It’ll actually be a relief.”

Surprised by her approach, he blushed to the point where he looked like he was about to faint, his body hot and his heart racing. Trying to distract him from his tactlessness, Sakura started walking, not giving him a chance to fall behind. After a few seconds of just walking and watching the sun rise behind the lake, she said:

“You know, you never told me your name.”

“Oh! Oh, it’s... It’s Rock Lee...”

Sakura's new free time couldn't be filled with just running around the village, as much as she enjoyed doing so, so she created a new routine that involved leaving the hotel before she went crazy. Sakura had been hesitant to do this for weeks, afraid that it would mean encountering the faces that haunted her outside, but she knew that she would go crazy with the idleness she was forced to have, so she found herself with no choice.

First, Sakura went to the Konoha library to try to figure out what historical moments influenced that universe in its differences from hers. There, she put chakra in her cheeks to make them blush and lied to the clerk saying that she was a civilian teenager with a history assignment to do. Apparently convinced, he let her into the newspaper aisle, where Sakura spent hours gathering dates, names and events, all written down in her notebook, camouflaged as a child's diary.

Their main focus was to find out more about Orochimaru and how the massacre of the Uchiha clan was prevented. Surprisingly, these two things were intertwined and the civilian newspapers were great at detailing each event like one big juicy piece of gossip.

With Tsunade and medical ninjutsu gone, the human experiments Orochimaru had been conducting in the shadows took almost ten years longer to complete. Looking at the dates and trying her best to remember Iruka's history lessons, Sakura suspected that it was because the process of advancing the experiments took longer without the use of chakra, delaying the entire timeline.

As a result, Orochimaru had overstayed his welcome, taking over as Hospital Chief after only a few months of working as a sensei for genin teams. Dan had applied for the position at the same time, but Orochimaru was a far more famous war hero than he was and one of the Sandaime's prodigious students, who had the first two-member team in Konoha history (according to one account, no one who tried out for the third position had ever managed to achieve the necessary harmony with the rest of the team to do so). Sarutobi had chosen him three years before Minato took over, and only a very bold little gossip column had hinted at any sort of nepotism.

During the first few years, nothing but praise was given to Orochimaru, especially after the Kyuubi attack, when a large portion of the village found themselves in need of urgent medical care. Like the treacherous snake that he was, he acted patiently, waiting for the best moment to strike. It was only after Minato's death that the newspapers began to point out a few oddities here and there, which didn't surprise her. She had never met Naruto's father, but she knew him to be an intelligent and capable man who could smell Orochimaru's corruption from a mile away. It was the smartest plan to wait for Hiruzen's return, with his blind trust and soft heart. Sakura wondered if the snake somehow knew about the attack on Konoha and had prepared his plans around it. It wouldn't surprise her.

It was he who implemented the new rules regarding patient preferences, which were described by the Hokage's communication as "necessary to keep the village's protection strong" and by the civilian communication as "a clear act of discrimination." But there was no protest (or if there was, it was quickly hushed up, never making it into the newspapers), so it remained. Years passed, and more problems arose. More and more patients entered the hospital, never to leave again, especially children and the elderly, who were likely to be presumed dead so they could be taken for experiments. The hospital was like a candy store to Orochimaru, who found himself with a huge wave of opportunities at his fingertips.

At the same time, the village's opinion of the Uchiha began to sour. They were sent to the outskirts of the city after the Kyuubi's attack, just like in her universe, and the newspapers were full of gossip about how the one who caused the destruction possessed the Sharingan. Some villagers were even interviewed, claiming that they were certain they had seen members of the clan helping to destroy the village with their "demon fire" and "scary eyes".

It didn't help that they were the police, constantly clashing with the townspeople. Sakura, however, could read between the lines, having seen this story before. Since the police force was exclusive to the clan, a requirement of the Sandaime and the elders (read: Danzo), this meant that their numbers were limited. The Uchiha were a large clan in size, but not large enough to respond to every call quickly enough, as many of them were in the Anbu, working in the hospital, or were women, who were left out in this universe. This frustrated the civilians, who, unable to recognize the roots of the manipulation from below, saw it only as a clear demonstration of the Uchiha's incompetence or lack of regard for Konoha.

The other clans, on the other hand, rarely called the police, as they were constantly afraid that their secrets would be stolen. Sakura highly doubted that they knew about the genocide plan or supported it (anyone could be next, after all), but their lack of closeness and trust only served to inflame the other citizens.

This universe took a different turn seven years after Minato's death, a year before the massacre happened. Orochimaru had become very arrogant, used to getting what he wanted right under everyone's noses. Children began disappearing at an alarming rate, which probably meant he had found a way to switch bodies. A really young Kabuto began appearing here and there in hospital photos, next to Orochimaru, with his shit-eating grin that never failed to infuriate Sakura. Since he was still in the village, this meant that Orochimaru never joined Akatsuki, which probably left his hunger for power uncontrollable.

Hungry for more and, Sakura suspected, delirious with confidence thanks to his advances, he probably felt that more was needed. That it was time for more, the turning point to achieve everything, the moment he had been waiting for his entire life. So Orochimaru did what he does best: he went crazy.

He went after the Sharingan he had always wanted. Sakura had no doubt that Itachi was his main target, but anyone could see that it would be a true suicide mission to try to obtain it from the eldest son of the main house. Itachi was younger than in his universe when Orochimaru's interest arose, but all eyes were on him. There were columns upon columns talking about Fugaku's prodigy son, about how he was the best there ever was and how he would change everything for Konoha. Trying to take everyone's eyes off him was extremely risky, and Orochimaru had managed to keep his criminal acts out of the public eye for a decade or more.

So he chose the second best option: Sasuke.

According to a front-page story and a headline that screamed at the reader, Orochimaru broke into the main house on a night when Fugaku was on duty and Itachi was on a mission outside the village. During the night, when Mikoto went out to bring dinner to her husband, leaving a sleeping Sasuke in his bed, Orochimaru infiltrated the Uchiha clan and silently walked through the house to Sasuke's room, with every intention of taking him away and stealing his eyes.

What he didn't know was that Itachi had returned just minutes before his mother left. So when he reached Sasuke, what he found was an Itachi with his sharingan and sword in hand, waiting for him as soon as he heard his first footsteps on the ground.

What followed was a battle that blew up the main room of the house and woke up the entire village. No one had enough details to give a decent description (Itachi refused to answer reporters), but what they did know was that Itachi won, but Orochimaru did not die, fleeing into the storm drain he had emerged from and disappearing from the village. Hiruzen, shocked by the accusations, finally discovered the grand scheme that was hidden in the abandoned areas of the village and resigned from his position. Dan took over the hospital at the time of the crisis and remains there to this day. 

The attack completely changed public opinion about the Uchiha. As child after child was pulled out of hiding, dead or nearly dead, with missing limbs, strange colorings, shaved heads, and blood everywhere, people couldn't stop saying that this was what had happened to the poor little boy from Fugaku. It helped that Sasuke had been so cute at the time, with his big dark eyes and curly hair like a duckling's tail, clinging to his brother's neck like a little monkey. Everyone was eating out of the palm of their hand when the story and the photos came out, and it was impossible not to sympathize.

It also helped that police admitted they had been conducting an undercover investigation for a few months when the number of missing people and patients dying strangely in hospital rose alarmingly. The Uchiha then began to fill the newspapers, now as victims of years of discrimination. If they didn't live isolated from others, Orochimaru wouldn't have been able to invade. If they weren't such good ninjas, Orochimaru would have been able to kidnap Sasuke. If the village had trusted them more, the investigation could have been completed much sooner.

That was how Fugaku rose politically. The grieving father who nearly lost his baby, who wasn't there to protect him because he was busy protecting the village from criminals. It was the perfect advertisement. The public believed it was some kind of justice that he became Hokage after Sarutobi's departure. A way to pay for the sins committed against the Uchiha, who, after all, were as much the founding fathers of Konoha as the Senju (may Kami rest their souls). More than that, he was a war hero, a clan leader, and a family man. Who better than him?

Sakura shielded her eyes with one hand as she walked out of the library, her mind full of thoughts and her bag full of books she may or may not have stolen (she didn't want anyone to have access to what she was looking at, since she still didn't know who Danzo's spies were in that world besides Sai). The elders appeared very rarely in the newspapers and usually only in the background of major events. There were no pictures of them anywhere, but the list of victims of the Kyuubi attack that had been printed in one of the newspapers showed that Mitokado Homura had died that night. A week later, in a small paragraph that almost went unnoticed, Nara Shikarui took his seat on the council.

This information left Sakura relieved as her feet carried her through the village. The Naras were not only intelligent, but also fair and honest. Danzo would find it extremely difficult to convince an elder Nara to exterminate the Uchiha clan, even through manipulation. And speaking of that old bastard, he had been very quiet in the media about Orochimaru over the years, which didn't surprise Sakura. The population's ignorance of how influential the council was over their lives had always been one of the pillars of Danzo's power. He probably wanted the civilians to barely remember his existence, so they couldn't blame him for raising taxes or ending public services.

But even so, not even a note talking about it... a heated speech about the strength of Konoha's army... It wasn't typical of Danzo to not inflate the speech about the need to protect the village at all costs. This scratched Sakura's instincts, and she began to wonder about his possible finger in the whole affair. She couldn't imagine Danzo allowing Orochimaru to build an empire of power right under everyone's noses, but he was arrogant enough to perhaps think he was capable of controlling the mad scientist. Besides, with the Root, he had already shown himself capable of anything to keep the supposed peace, including kidnapping children to mentally manipulate them. With the right offer from Orochimaru, who, without Tsunade, was one of the most skilled medical ninjas in the world, the skills they could develop...

A group of children ran past her, bringing Sakura out of her thoughts. Sighing, she realized that she had walked to the Konoha market, an open-air market that took place almost every day of the week. This was where she had always gone with her father until she graduated as a genin, to help him buy the week's food and sell some of the artifacts from his store. The realization hit her like a stab in the ribs, but it didn't stop her steps. Something childish inside her wanted to be at that fair again, even if it hurt.

Walking between the stalls, Sakura realized that she knew most of the vendors, even though one or two were missing. But they were different here and there. The peach seller, who always gave her one for free when she was a little girl, was blind in one eye. The woman at the fish stall, who sold one of her mother's favorites, was sitting instead of standing and shouting, and with a cane by her side. It went on and on, whether it was the vendors or the customers.

Drawn to a Nara elder's herb stall, she evaluated the look and smell of some of the herbs, thinking about increasing her stock. Now that she was going to start treating Itachi, she needed more leaves from the Land of Grass and, after so many weeks without Katsuyu (whom she missed tremendously and who would probably kill her after so long without contact), she was running low on options for treatments.

“These are great for making tea,” the old man said, watching her sniff some of them. “It helps with stomach aches or muscle pain. It helps to relax the body in a matter of a few hours.”

“Oh, I usually turn them into chewing paste,” Sakura said, curious. “Don't the effects lose their potency when dissolved in water?”

The old man frowned, picking up one of the leaves.

“Paste? I've never seen anyone chew it before.”

“The taste is quite strong, honestly, so I imagine people avoid it,” she said. “But when they're crushed they release a lot more of their healing oil.”

Using some of her super strength, she cut the leaf and rubbed it against the palm of one hand, leaving the skin green. The herb crumbled, turning into a paste that released a strong-smelling oil that ran down her wrists.

“See? Take it, it’s harmless, despite the taste,” she said. After a moment of hesitation, the old man took the herb, sniffed it, and chewed it, grimacing. “It works much faster this way.”

Before he could answer, a voice shouted:

"Sakura-san?"

Turning around, she saw Sasuke's face with feminine features.

“Mikoto-san!” she exclaimed, bowing a little too eagerly. “It’s a pleasure to see you! How are you?”

“Doing the weekly shopping,” Mikoto replied, indicating the bags she carried in her arms. “And you...?”

Her eyes fell curiously on the mess in Sakura's hands, and she blushed a little.

“Oh, I’m just looking at some healing herbs,” she said, taking a handkerchief the older Nara held out to her and trying to wipe herself clean. The oil, though clean, left green streaks on her skin. “I like to keep my supply full at all times.”

Mikoto's eyes flashed with something and she smiled.

“Ah, speaking of herbs, that tea you told me about worked wonders!” she said, looking deep into his eyes. She wanted to talk about Itachi’s health.

“I’m glad to hear that,” Sakura smiled. “Would you like some company? I can help you with your bags.”

After receiving a nod, she turned to the old man.

“Do you have guaco leaves from the Land of Grass? And how much do they cost?”

The elder looked at the folder she had created and then back at her. Sakura noticed that his shoulders were much more relaxed than before.

“Tell you what,” he said. “I’ll do it all for you at half price, on the condition that you come back tomorrow morning. I’ve got some plants I’d like you to look at.”

Sakura smiled brightly at him.

"Deal!"

After a few seconds of walking side by side, Mikoto laughed. Sakura was holding some of her bags, as she hadn't allowed her to take them all. She also noticed, as they walked, that Mikoto was limping slightly and her curiosity itched as if she was covered in poison ivy.

“Does this happen a lot, Sakura-san?” she asked. “Do people often give you things for free or at a discount?”

Thinking for a second, Sakura was surprised to find that, yes, they did.

“Actually, now that you mention it...” she hummed good-naturedly. “My dad used to take me with him all the time to get free samples. And I thought it was my impressive negotiation skills at six years old.”

Mikoto laughed again, something that left her a little disconcerted. Sakura had interacted with a total of six Uchihas in her life (counting Sasuke twice) and she was the only one who laughed so easily. Maybe it was something unique to her, maybe it was an inherent inability to have fun that only affected the males of the clan, who knows. It was still nice to see. Especially since she had her youngest son's face (or he had hers), so Sakura could pretend to watch Sasuke laugh every now and then.

“Oh, I’m sure you were very convincing,” she teased, sighing. “I used to do the same with Sasuke when he was a baby. I’d come back with a bag full of free stuff, just because he was so adorable.”

Sakura had been afraid of people talking about Sasuke ever since Mikoto approached her, so she was relatively prepared for it, managing to smile slightly and hide her feelings.

“It’s a shame he can’t be here today, he and Itachi are spending time together,” she continued, giving Sakura a look that reminded her of her mother whenever she used to gossip about him as a girl. “Have you met up since he brought you to the village, Sakura-san? I’m sure he’d love to hear how your stay in the village is going.”

“Oh, that would be great, Mikoto-san,” she lied. “How is Itachi-san, speaking of him?”

It was an obvious attempt to change the subject, but Sakura didn't even have the energy to be embarrassed anymore. It wasn't that she didn't want to see Sasuke. That was the problem: she wanted to. Just like she wanted to see Naruto, Kakashi, Sai, Yamato, Ino... She wanted to see what Sasuke was like in a world that wasn't so cruel to him. She wanted to see him healthy, with friends, growing up in the village where he belonged, loved by his family. She had very little time with him and Sai in the Land of Waves, not to mention the fact that she was freaking out nonstop at the time.

Did he laugh more? Did he eat more? Did he rest more? Sakura was worried and wanted to know. She wanted to be able to see for herself that somewhere, in some life, he really was happy. The problem was, she didn't know if she was ready. She had thrown up when she first saw him, she had almost fainted when she met Naruto... The only one who hadn't completely thrown her off balance was Kakashi, but his life was in her hands first and so she was so happy that she had managed to save him.

She was afraid that she would break down again and end up being too obvious, opening the door for (more) distrust. It was the last thing she needed, for them to start sniffing out the reasons why she was so nervous around everyone on Team Seven.

Mikoto gave her a knowing look, but let the conversation change.

“My family is very grateful to you, Sakura-san,” she said. “Itachi has been able to sleep through the night since he started drinking the tea you prescribed, without waking up coughing. The blood hasn’t returned yet either.”

“That’s good, getting a good night’s sleep helps with the healing process,” Sakura replied, her cheeks flushed with gratitude. “I’m thinking of turning the tea leaf into an ointment. I think it might help with the treatment, but it will take some time to prepare.”

“Oh, that would be wonderful!” Mikoto exclaimed. “I know it’s early, but do you have any idea what he might have?”

Sakura sighed, patting the bag she carried with stolen books.

“I went to the library just now and studied a little.” It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the main reason. “Unfortunately, like I said, it takes time. I know his case is serious and it makes everyone apprehensive, but what I've learned through all my years of experience is that sometimes it's better to take it slow. Jumping to a diagnosis without an adequate study can lead to an erroneous assessment that will harm you more than help. The important thing is that we are managing to contain the symptoms and give him a better quality of life.”

Mikoto looked at her with dark eyes filled with emotion and gratitude. Sakura felt the bones in her body crack, for it was a look very similar to the last one she saw in Sasuke's eyes when he died. The only thing missing was regret.

“Thank you, Sakura-san, it’s just hard for me to see him like this and know that I can’t help him,” she murmured, sighing. Sakura reached out to pat his shoulder, before remembering that this was something only civilians wouldn’t find strange.

“I understand, trust me,” she said instead. “We can schedule check-ups every two weeks if that’s what’s going to calm you down. The idea would be to clear the blood in your lungs once a month so your body can recover, but you can always contact me when you think it needs to be sooner. Is that okay?”

“That would be great,” Mikoto sighed, placing a hand on her chest. “Wonderful, even. Just don’t be surprised if Itachi isn’t the most cooperative patient. There’s something about Uchihas and asking for help that I swear to Kami...”

Sakura thought about that night at the inn, when he had appeared at dawn without looking her in the eye, sat at least 3 meters away, and spoken to her as if he were in a courtroom, receiving his death sentence. It made her smile.

“Don’t worry, from my experience this happens to men in general.”

Sakura followed Mikoto for a few more minutes, picking up the bags before she could, to lighten the load she was carrying. It wasn't that Mikoto looked weak or anything. She looked quite healthy, in fact. But the weight seemed to make it difficult for her to walk, and she continued to limp more and more obviously, driving Sakura's medical instincts almost crazy.

“Mikoto-san,” she couldn’t hold it in any longer, after a group of teenagers walked by and Mikoto grimaced in pain as she abruptly dodged them. “Can I ask you a slightly personal question?”

Mikoto blinked prettily, giving her permission.

“Do you feel any kind of pain when walking?”

“Oh, you noticed,” Mikoto said, turning to the front. “I mean, of course you noticed, you’re very capable. I do, ever since Sasuke was born. It was a very difficult birth, it left me bedridden for weeks. When I recovered, I could never walk like I used to. The doctors tried to figure out what happened, they think it’s something in my hip, but to no avail. No one could make the pain go away.”

Sakura bit the inside of her cheek, quietly assessing Mikoto. The medical books inside her mind opened and the pages turned, as if moved by the wind. Difficult labor... hip pain... walking with a limp...

“You know, I can always check on you if you want,” she offered, shy as a girl. She didn’t usually do that, but this was Sasuke’s mother, after all. “It could be during one of Itachi’s visits, in the privacy of your own home. Discretion guaranteed.”

Mikoto’s breathing stopped, as did her body, which came to a sudden halt. The other pedestrians at the fair moved away from them, some giving her dirty looks. She blinked at Sakura as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Do you… think it’s possible?” she sighed, opening and closing her mouth. A very expressive Uchiha, indeed. “I… I mean, it’s been twenty years… So, I thought… I thought it wouldn’t be possible to do anything after all this time.”

Sakura shrugged and this time placed her hand on her shoulder.

“Sometimes yes, sometimes no,” she said with a smile. “We can only know for sure if we take a look.”

Mikoto stared at her for a long time, just big, beautiful black eyes staring unblinkingly at Sakura's face. After a lifetime, she opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again, before closing it and swallowing.

“If you really think there’s a chance…” Mikoto muttered, smiling hopefully. “I’d love to, Sakura-san. You have no idea how much.”

They finally broke up soon after, with a promise that they would see each other soon. Mikoto also said that Shisui missed Sakura, which made her laugh. They couldn't see each other in the morning anymore now that her work schedule had been cut for a while, but it had only been five days.

Walking towards the end of the market, Sakura stopped on impulse at one of the last stalls, where she spotted a beautiful collection of juicy plums. They were her mother's favorite fruit and after the last hour with Mikoto, she was feeling nostalgic.

She was about to call out to the salesman when the sensation of something cold and wet touched her bare shins. Looking down, Sakura opened her mouth to scream, before some shred of conscience pulled the name back.

Guruko-kun!

Kakashi's dog looked exactly the same, with his white muzzle, caramel body, and long whiskers. He was one of the smallest of the pack and a sweet dog. Sakura used to spend hours with him when she was a genin, something she admitted she did with all of her sensei's dogs. She always got along great with all of them, but Guruko had a weakness for scratching the back of his ears, something she loved doing for him.

Swallowing anything that might indicate she knew him, Sakura crouched down and hit him in the exact place he loved, touching the soft fur.

“Hello, little guy,” she pretended, smiling, “who are you?”

Guruko, in turn, whimpered with pleasure at the feel of her nails and made that adorable gesture of slapping one of his hind paws on the ground. Sakura laughed.

“You like this, don’t you?” she encouraged him, tilting her head and frowning. “What are you doing here? Are you lost?”

What was he doing there, really? This might be a new world, but she doubted Kakashi would carelessly leave his ninken lying around in any universe. What would Guruko be doing in the Konoha market in the middle of the week? Alone, no Pakkun or any of the others in sight. It was quite a coincidence that he had run into Sakura.

A true coincidence...

Oh.

With a discreet roll of her eyes, Sakura sighed and patted Guruko, the little spy, on the top of his head. Of course. She knew Kakashi like the back of her hand and was sure his paranoia was present in every universe in existence. A foreigner with abilities like hers? In the middle of his village? With access to sick people in the hospital? He was probably scratching his head at the thought of Sakura wandering around, even with the Anbu watching.

Come on, he was probably there, watching it all by himself.

Sakura quietly sat on the floor, pretending to continue petting Guruko, and took off one of her shoes, only touching a few toes to the ground. She tried to increase her tracking chakra to find it, but was blinded by a white light that left her head throbbing and her senses numb. The fair was too crowded for her newly developed skills. She needed to train more.

“Sorry, cutie,” she said to Guruko as she put on her shoes and stood up. “I was just leaving, I can’t stay here with you.”

She bought two plums and walked to where she was staying, only to be followed by him. Smiling a little (because she was soft like that), Sakura sighed and cut a piece of plum with a chakra scalpel.

“Here,” she said, holding out the fruit to him. “Take it.”

Guruko happily ate the piece of plum before reaching out and sniffing her fingers. Pulling away, he let out two sneezes in succession.

“Oh, sorry,” Sakura said, looking down at her own greenish palm. “I was stirring some herbs just now. The smell must be strong for you, right?”

His response was to sneeze once more.

In the end, Guruko walked alongside her to the inn, which didn't bother her. Everyone knew where she was staying and there was some pleasure in acting so innocently much to what she knew was Kakashi's displeasure. Besides, she missed the ninken.

All along the way, she cut off pieces of plum and gave them to him, which he happily ate. He tried to smell it several times, but each time the herbal scent was so strong that it made him sneeze until he gave up.

When she reached the door, Sakura stroked his ears once more and called him a good boy, which seemed to cheer him up, given the way his tail wagged. Leaving him behind, she entered the inn and went up to her room.

In it, she went to the window and looked at the nearest tree, which had a privileged view of the interior. With a dirty look on her face, Sakura controlled herself from sticking out her tongue childishly and closed the curtains.

"Is everything fine?"

Sakura smiled at Shizune, her chakra glowing hands still on her pregnant belly.

“The baby is fine,” she said, watching her shoulders relax. “Good heartbeat, strong movements, weight is good too. And their blood pressure is stable. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Shizune sighed as Sakura walked away, patting her own belly with a smile.

“Thank you, Sakura-san,” she said. “That’s what I told Genma, but any cramps or cramps drive him crazy. He was ready to drag me here in the middle of the night just because I had heartburn.”

The two laughed together before Shizune sobered up a bit.

“Not that I can blame him, of course...”

This made Sakura sigh. If her experiences helping health centers and pregnant women throughout her journey weren't enough, the stories Shizune had told her about the high mortality rates during childbirth were enough to scare her. She also thought about Mikoto, and her heart ached. Pregnancy in that universe was extremely dangerous, one of the main reasons for the deaths of women all over the world.

Which wasn’t surprising, since that world was extremely patriarchal. It was like a vicious cycle: pregnancies, more often than not, ran a greater risk of taking lives than bringing them into the world. As a result, society wasn’t growing fast enough, and its numbers were losing out to disease and attacks. Since it was women who got pregnant, their lives had to be protected, by taking them out of the ninja life and locking them up in their homes so that the birth rate wouldn’t suffer. But this also meant that they weren’t as much a part of the collective construction as men were, which meant that their wants, desires, and needs were left aside.

The consequences appeared in all spheres of life in society, and even more so when it came to medicine: women's health was neglected. This led to unsafe pregnancies, which led to the death of the baby and the mother, which led to population decline, which led to limitations in the spaces where women could belong.

It was the snake eating its own tail. And Sakura found herself filled with frustration and fury as she saw the mess of that universe, which seemed to have stagnated a hundred years ago. How could no one see the mess? How could no one move to clean it up? Kami, it was no wonder that Tsunade was sorely missed. She had always had the passion, the strength, and the disregard for the feelings of others needed to move the entire world forward on her own, and those who didn't keep up with her would be overwhelmed by the change.

“Are you sure you don’t want to know the gender?” she asked, smiling mischievously. Shizune playfully covered her ears with her hands.

“Oh no, please! I want it to be a surprise for Genma and I’m incapable of keeping secrets like that from him.” she said, her eyes widening. “Oh, Kami, look at your face! Can you tell the sex from chakra? Do you already know what the baby is?!”

Sakura laughed openly, before pretending to zip her mouth shut.

“My lips are sealed,” she teased, going to the sink to wash her hands. “And I’m really good at keeping secrets.”

More than you can imagine.

Pouting, Shizune went back to stroking her own belly with a soft gaze towards the horizon.

“Sakura-san,” she called after a few seconds of contemplation, making her turn over her shoulder. “There are… some things I would like to talk to you about.”

Curious, Sakura turned off the sink and dried her hands.

"Yes?"

“Well, I… actually, Genma and I, because you know, I share with him what I’m allowed to and he was very impressed with you…” Shizune stammered, before clearing her throat. “I’m rambling. Sorry. I wanted to ask you a favor, but I understand if it’s not possible. You’re going back to work full time and you already do so much for all the patients here at the hospital, so I understand if…”

“You’re still rambling, Shizune-san.”

“Oh.” Shizune chuckled to herself, blushing a little. “I’m being silly, aren’t I? Fine, I’ll just say it. Just know that you can deny it at any time...”

“Shizune...”

“Would you like to be with me when I give birth?”

Sakura froze in surprise, blinking owlishly. She heard sobs echoing somewhere in her mind, much like Tsunade's and her own at the same time.

“Do you want me to be there with you?” she managed, blinking rapidly to keep from the tears that burned her corneas like acid.

"I know we've only known each other for a short time, but, Sakura-san, I trust my life in your hands", said Shizune, getting up from the hospital bed in which she was lying. “You are capable of doing things that no one here is and you have experience helping women give birth. I love the idea of ​​finally having kids, but I can’t lie that I’m terrified.”

Her voice trembled a little and Sakura's entire spirit trembled along with it.

“I'm really scared of what might happen,” she confessed, ”I'm scared of losing the baby, I'm scared of dying and I'm scared that Genma will lose us both. I'm afraid that my fear will affect the birth, I'm afraid of everything. So, if possible, could you be there? You don't even have to deliver the baby, just knowing that you'll be there makes me feel safe.”

Sakura wanted many things at that moment: to hug her, to cry on her shoulder, to scream at the top of her lungs until she lost her voice. But she swallowed her conflicted feelings to come closer and hold her hands, shinobi protocols be damned.

“Of course I'll be there.” She squeezed his fingers. “And I'll deliver the baby, don't worry. I have a lot of experience with this, my shishou always left me in charge of the babies. She used to say that I was a natural with them.”

And, Kami, Sakura loved them. She loved their little hands, their cheeks, their giggles...

“Thank you so much, Sakura-chan!” Shizune exclaimed, before clapping a hand to her lips. “I mean, sorry! You probably don't think we're that close-”

“No!” Sakura cut her off, perhaps a little too passionately. In her ears, she could hear her own heart breaking. “No, it's okay. I don't mind. In fact, I prefer it.”

Smiling, Shizune gave her hands one last squeeze.

“Good! Kami, I'm so, so relieved. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my back. Genma will be so happy! He's been wanting to meet you for a while, you know. You need to go out with us, there's a shinobi bar that all our friends go to...”

She looked at Sakura's wide eyes and dampened her excitement.

“Oh, you don't like bars? You don't drink alcohol? That's all right! I can't either, obviously, and there are some amazing restaurants in Konoha. We often joke here that if you've never eaten Akimichi food, you've never really eaten!”

“No, no, it's not like that,” Sakura tried to explain, feeling silly. ”I do drink, just... You know. Life as a wanderer is what I chose, but it can be limiting in some ways. I don't think I can remember the last time I went to a bar.”

Outright lie, she remembered well the last time she'd been in a bar. She just didn't feel it was the right time to tell her about flirting with an Akatsuki rank-S shinobi who was over two meters tall and had blue skin.

“Great, then it's a deal. You'll have so much fun and meet all our friends!” Shizune smiled, glowing with happiness. Sakura felt like changing the subject.

“You said you wanted to ask me more than one thing,” she reminded her. To her surprise, Shizune went from happy to almost shy.

“Oh, yes, it's also something I've been thinking about...” she admitted, without looking her in the eye. “Sakura-chan, what's it like using your healing chakra?”

“Is that what you've been meaning to ask?”

“Answer the question, I'm buying time here.”

Laughing, Sakura shrugged.

“It’s... easy. Instinctive, like breathing. But it wasn’t always that way. No wonder it requires tremendous chakra control. Chakra is something fluid, almost alive, with a bit of personality depending on the person. It took me a while to understand mine’s temperament, its ways, its predispositions, but once you get the hang of it... I swear, it’s as simple as talking, blinking, walking. It becomes a part of you.”

Shizune watched her with eyes that wanted something.

“Was it hard on your body?”

“Pretty much, but I used to get a little desperate when I was young,” Sakura admitted, laughing sheepishly. “I wanted to prove myself at all costs, to my shishou, to everyone else, so I would spend sleepless nights and train until I passed out. It meant I learned very quickly, but it came at a high price to my health. You can slow down by respecting your own limits.”

“Would it be difficult for an adult to learn?”

“It’s easier when you’re young,” Sakura mused thoughtfully. “The chakra currents in children and teenagers are more malleable and developing, so they’re easier to deal with. But that doesn’t make it impossible for an adult, not by a long shot. My shishou was twenty when she invented medical ninjutsu, for example. Why do you ask?”

Shizune seemed to swallow a hundred times before speaking.

“Sakura-chan...” She then leaned in as far as her pregnant belly would allow. “Please teach me!”

The whole world fell silent.

"Teach you?" Sakura whispered, vulnerable from the turn of events, sensitive from the memories of having that same woman once teach her everything she knew about poisons, discipline, and Tsunade herself.

“Please,” Shizune insisted, straightening up, “I know you already do a lot, but I would be honored to learn. What you do is something I’ve dreamed of doing my entire life. And you would certainly be able to rest easy if someone else were by your side, able to help. I know I’m pregnant, but I promise to be the best student ever…”

“Your pregnancy isn’t a problem, Shizune-chan,” Sakura soothed, her eyes wet and her voice cracking. “Of course, you’ll have to take it slow and undergo tests every time you use your chakra, but if you’re careful, it won’t hinder us.”

Shizune fell silent, blinking her eyes hopefully. Sakura wanted to dig a hole in the ground and bury herself alive.

“I can be a very tough sensei,” she said.

“I’m not afraid of hard work,” Shizune argued.

“It will be daily training, without breaks on the weekends.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything different.”

“You will read until your vision becomes blurred...”

“I love reading.”

“And you will fail more often than you succeed. In fact, for a while, all you will do is fail endlessly. Giving up cannot be an option.”

“Thanks for the warning, I won’t. I’ll keep going, even if I spend years failing.”

Without further arguments, Sakura absorbed Shizune in front of her, alive, healthy, motherly, looking at her like the genin Sakura once looked at her.

“Then I believe I will teach you, Shizune-chan,” she said. Shizune, in response, let out an unprofessional little squeak before covering her mouth with her fingers.

“Sorry, I got excited,” she said. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! Should I call you Sakura-sama? Sensei? Shishou?”

“I beg you, no,” Sakura said, feeling a bitter taste in her mouth at the thought. “Sakura is fine.”

“When can we start? Now? Should I catch the fish?”

“We’ll start tomorrow, and without any fish,” she said, laughing at Shizune’s pout. “You need to read first. A lot.”

“I already have a medical degree, Sakura-chan.”

“Which will make this process much easier, but I have some opinions on the medical books that are available here. I’m going to give you a few that have my notes on them, and I want you to read them and tell me what you think. I’m also going to write out a meditation plan so you can start connecting with your chakra.”

Shizune seemed a little disappointed at the lack of action, which filled her with affection.

“It sucks at first,” she admitted. “There’s still time to give up.”

It was just a joke, but Shizune's expression was full of offense.

“Never! I-”

But her words were interrupted by a commotion coming from outside the room, coming from the hallway.

“Morino-san, please, you don’t have permission!”

“Ridiculous, I’m injured and she’s a doctor,” a deep, somewhat familiar voice grew louder. A man, for sure. “Isn’t it her job to help me?”

“Y-Yes,” stammered the female voice, which Sakura recognized as the hospital receptionist. “B-But she can only see civilians at the moment...”

“And there aren’t any around, so get out of the way, girl,” the voice said again. “Where’s her room? Here?”

Then the door opened. And Sakura saw someone she hadn't seen in years.

Morino Ibiki.

Tall, strong, covered up to the chin in black clothes, as she knew him. But much scarier than he already was: his head was covered, hiding the marks on the top of his skull, but the visible scars were much worse than in her universe. Deeper and more violent, so repelled in places that his face was constantly distorted, his upper lip a few inches to the left and never closed.

He also only had half of his right ear. And he was staring straight at Sakura like a panther about to swallow her alive.

“Hello,” she said, unperturbed, as if this were routine for her. Considering this was a hospital, it often was. The room filled with a suffocating silence. “Do you need help, sir?”

In response, Ibiki raised his right hand, showing her a bleeding cut.

“I cut my hand,” he said, almost jokingly.

He entered the room, much to the dismay of the receptionist, who gave Sakura a desperate look.

“It’s okay, Hitomi-san,” Sakura soothed, giving her a small smile. It relaxed her shoulders. “You can go.”

She didn't need to say it twice, Hitomi was already running away before the end of the sentence.

“Please sit down,” Sakura said, indicating the bed with one hand. “Morino-san, correct?”

“And how do you know that?” he asked her, looking her up and down suspiciously. He sat down on the bed as if it were a trap. Sakura gave him her best innocent smile.

“That’s what Hitomi-san called you,” she said, going to the sink to wash her hands. “Would you prefer to be called something else?”

“No,” Ibiki was short, blunt, and dry, as always. “That’s good. Hello, Shizune, how is your… fetus?”

“The baby is fine,” Shizune corrected, sounding playful. Sakura was curious as to how they knew each other, but kept it to herself. By staying in the village instead of traveling with Tsunade, Shizune had probably worked in many places and made many connections that she didn’t have in her world. “Sakura-chan was checking it out before you arrived. We’re both healthy.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura saw Ibiki squint behind her back and lean towards Shizune. She put chakra in her ears to hear his whispers.

“Can she see through people?”

“Of course not, foolish man. She saw it with medical ninjutsu.”

“I can’t believe you allowed her to get so close to you and the fetus,” Ibiki scolded her. “Are you crazy, Shiranui? You don’t know what that thing can do.”

“You’re a paranoid old man,” Shizune whispered back. “I know what she can do, because I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Which is a lot more than you can say.”

“I don’t need to see anything to know this whole story is ridiculous. My instincts have been screaming since the rumors started. She is not to be trusted.”

“Sakura is not dangerous, she is our chance to progress.”

“Just as the snake once was.”

Feigning ignorance of the entire exchange, Sakura turned off the tap and dried her hands, turning to Ibiki with a warm smile. She held out her hands and said.

“Let’s take a look at this cut.”

As if asking him to pull out his nails, Ibiki slowly extended his cut palm, without taking the suspicious look off his face. Sakura touched him gently, without connecting her chakra, as if he were a frightened animal.

If the animal were a black bear, of course.

“It’s deep, but clean,” she assessed. “Was it made by a kunai? Short, 2 millimeters wide?”

One of his eyebrows rose, but only halfway, as one of the scars held it back.

“Exactly,” he said. Sakura smiled playfully.

“Training accident?” she joked, not getting an answer. Sakura would bet all her secrets that he did this to himself, just to have an excuse to check the hospital and see what she was doing. “Shizune, can you get me a clean, wet cloth? It’ll be quick.”

She flared her chakra next, a lighter, gentler version so as not to scare him, but Ibiki reacted the same way, grabbing her wrist with his good hand. Sakura hated when people did that, because it took her back to Sasuke's hands when they were kids and then to the times of war when someone grabbed her to make them run.

But this was the leader of Konohagakure's Intelligence Division, the most paranoid man in the village, and he was looking at her as if Sakura were a time bomb placed in the center of the village's public square. So she didn't punch him in the face, just smiled peacefully.

“It’s okay, Morino-san,” she soothed like a child, receiving a dirty look in response. “It’s just chakra. Completely harmless.”

He didn't let go of her, looking away from the green light to her green eyes.

“They say you can put your chakra inside people,” he said.

“That’s a rough version, if you ask me. I don’t deposit my chakra, I just share it temporarily. It’s less invasive than it sounds.”

“What it looks like is a great way to control people.”

“Chakra doesn’t have the ability to control minds. But if you find a way, I’d love to hear about it.”

Something in his face shifted, just a second's reaction. Sakura wasn't close enough to him in her world to be able to read his feelings right now. He was close to her by association, as he worked with Ino in intelligence and respected Tsunade deeply. But he had once acknowledged her for being the only one in her year to answer and pass the entire chunin exam without cheating, and Sakura was the medic he always asked to go on secret missions, because she was, in his words, "the only one with enough brains and competence to do the job properly."

“It is also rumored that you have 99% chakra control ability.”

“99.6%, actually.”

Again, the twitch on his face.

“How did you know what to do to save Hatake Kakashi?”

“I am a trained doctor.”

“Trained by whom?”

“My shishou.”

“Who, coincidentally, is dead.”

“People die every day, Morino-san. But if I had known it would bother you so much, I would have asked her to wait a few years.”

Off to the side, Shizune stifled what sounded like a laugh. Ibiki, for his part, didn't seem impressed.

“How did you knew how to save him?”

“I'm good with herbs and poisons.”

“How do you know Sasori of the Red Sand?”

“He is a popular man.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“And that’s not a question. Everyone knows Sasori, he’s literally an international terrorist.”

Another second of silence.

“What is your association with Akatsuki?”

“None, thanks to Kami.”

“Then why does Orochimaru seem so interested in you?”

“I believe it was for the same reason as you. From what I recall, it was the shinobi and Hokage of Konoha who sought me out, not the other way around.”

As he opened his mouth once more, Sakura sighed, interrupting him.

“Morino-san, if you think I need to undergo interrogation, please speak to your Hokage. I would prefer this to happen at a time when my patient doesn’t have an open wound that keeps dripping blood onto the floor. Now, shall we continue? If you’re not comfortable with chakra, I can stitch up your cut. But you’ll need to spend a few weeks with your hand immobile.”

His response was to slowly release her wrist. Sakura then put chakra into his wound and saw him frown at the act and the sensation that invaded him. After a few seconds, she pulled away.

“The cloth, Shizune, please. Thank you.” She wiped the blood from his skin and smiled. “There you go, Morino-san. You’re good to go.”

Ibiki remained completely silent for a full ten seconds, staring at his own hand, where there was not even a line to prove it had been cut. After that, he cast a glance at Sakura, nodded to Shizune, and left without saying anything.

As soon as he left, Shizune started laughing.

“You handled it so well!” she exclaimed. “I think it baffled him. Ibiki terrifies most people.”

“Let that be your first piece of advice,” Sakura said, giving him a wink. “During your work, the scariest person present has to be you.”

As Sakura's stay in the village reached its first month, she began looking for a new place to live, which proved to be a challenge in itself.

Sakura didn't have as much money as she had in her previous life, though she wasn't broke. Being one of the hospital's lead doctors and a member of Team Seven had made her a little unaccustomed to always having money to spare. Now, she counted her pennies to make sure she had enough. She had almost missed the end of the world, where money was no longer needed and they simply looted whatever they could find.

With less income, she would never have been able to rent her old apartment, which she still loved, close to the hospital and with big windows that let the sun in. At least it was already rented (she checked), which lessened the temptation.

She then went back to looking at newspapers and advertisements, just like when she was fifteen and started earning enough to pay her own rent. The shinobi neighborhoods had higher rents, since ninjas earned more than most civilians and there was always the risk of destruction from conflict, weapons and blood, so Sakura thought her best plan was to live in a non-ninja neighborhood. She was used to living with them and, although the idea of ​​having a shinobi tenant scared most landlords, the fact that she was a doctor always eased their doubts, as it made her seem more harmless.

Sakura visited a few places, but was taken aback by the condition of the houses. It had been many years, but some of these neighborhoods weren't so bad in her universe, were they? She didn't remember such small houses costing so much, mold on the walls, floors coming loose, bumpy streets and the constant buzz that she should be careful being a young woman on her own in these parts. Was the economic situation in the village that bad? Sakura remembered that Orochimaru's attack with Suna had left Konoha with an economic shortfall to pay for reconstruction. The same thing had happened in that universe, but she had imagined that the damage was less tragic, since there were Uchiha to fight this time.

Maybe it was just the civilians, who, marginalized, ended up bearing most of the consequences of a recession on their shoulders. Or maybe it was something older, deeper. Without Tsunade, the war was much more deadly, and Orochimaru extended his years of horror in Konoha, which probably increased the number of children in orphanages and people in poverty. Combined with the attack, the village was probably not doing well...

Sakura felt a little sorry for Fugaku, honestly. She still remembered the tense nights drowning in paperwork with Tsunade, just watching the numbers and trying not to panic. When the war broke out, they were in a very worrying situation.

After a total of five apartments and six houses from which she left almost on the run, chased by cockroaches, claustrophobia and the smell of damp, Sakura found herself nervous. It was five days before she had to leave the hostel and she had nowhere to live unless she was willing to get tetanus or breathe in black mold. She had no friends to ask for shelter or any other plan. Maybe she could sleep in the hospital without anyone knowing, but knowing Junichi, who had a nose for finding her and punishing her for just stepping on a crack in the floor, that wouldn't last long.

Luck shone on her with three days to go when, stopping to buy something at the market, she bumped into a former patient, who had turned up at the hospital with a suspicious mole on his skin (it wasn't cancer, lucky for him).

Happy to see her, he gave her two free taiyakis and insisted that she spend some time talking to him. With no one else to share her frustrations with, Sakura allowed herself to vent to the man while she ate, commenting on her difficulty in finding a place to live.

This caught the man's attention, who widened his eyes and quickly told her that his uncle was renting some apartments in an area of Konoha that was a kind of meeting place for shinobi and civilians, very well located, even if it was simple. Sakura bit her lip, admitting to him that she was looking in cheaper neighborhoods.

“Kami, if the hospital doesn’t pay you well, I can’t imagine how much other doctors earn,” he muttered, handing food to another customer. After thinking for a while, he smiled mischievously. “If money is an issue, don’t worry, I’ll give you my uncle’s contact details. Go see the apartment. If you like it there, find a way to mention that you’re a doctor. You’ll be in for a surprise.”

Over the phone at the inn's reception, Sakura arranged a meeting with the owner, who was an old man with arthritis so advanced that he was bent over all the time. She tried not to smile too much when she saw him.

He walked as slowly as a turtle, but it gave her time to look around and assess the building. It was simple, but well-kept, clean and open. It overlooked the wooded side of the village and, consequently, the hill with the busts of the Hokages. It had five floors, and Sakura's apartment was on the third. The owner had climbed all the way up, refusing help.

The apartment, on the other hand, was nice. Smaller than what she was used to when she was young, with just one bedroom and one bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen. But Sakura didn't have any other friends or parents coming to visit and spend the night, so she didn't mind. The walls were mold-free, the wood floor was splinters-free, and the place was even furnished, with a couch, a bed, a refrigerator, and a table. To her, it was heaven.

“It’s a building shared with shinobi,” the owner said, as a warning. “But don’t worry, they’re forbidden from making noise after ten, and there’s a strict policy against fighting and blood on the walls.”

Sakura laughed gently, spinning on her feet to look up at the ceiling.

“The laundry room is on the second floor and is free, but only for residents. The water bill is shared. I accept animals, but only small ones.”

Sakura sighed, watching the sunlight stream through the clean windows.

“I don’t have any pets,” she said, giving him a small smile. “And I don’t care about shinobi. I’m one of them.”

The owner looked her up and down in disbelief.

“You?” he murmured, with all the social niceties old men have. “Hard to believe. But it’s all right with me, as long as you’re clean and don’t scratch my floor with your weird weapons. Will you keep it?”

“It would be a dream, but I think the rent is too high for me.” Sakura pouted and let out a long, sad sigh. “It’s a shame, really. Everything is perfect and it’s so close to the hospital!”

The owner's expression changed from disbelief to curiosity.

“Hospital?” he echoed. “What kind of shinobi are you exactly?”

Sakura smiled internally like the cat that caught the mouse.

“A med-nin, sir,” she said innocently. “That’s how I came into contact with you. I saw your nephew a few weeks ago.”

“You’re the doctor he keeps talking about?” he exclaimed, his eyes widening. “The foreigner, right?”

Sakura nodded, walking back and sighing. The owner kept his eyes on her, thoughtful.

“Do you have experience with elderly people?” he asked suddenly.

“It’s one of the wards I’m responsible for at the hospital,” she said.

“So you’ve dealt with arthritis.”

“Unfortunately, it is a very common disease in everyday life.”

“Have you been a doctor for a long time?”

“Since I was thirteen.”

He made a thoughtful face and looked her up and down again.

“How much can you afford?”

“About five thousand ryos or less.”

“Are you organized?”

“A lot and I have very few belongings.”

"Noisy?"

“Not at all and I spend most of my time at work.”

“Do you have many visitors?”

“I have few friends, not to say I have none.”

He was silent long enough for Sakura to think she had been unlucky. But just as she opened her mouth to ask if the visit was over, he said:

“Do you do home care? I hate hospitals.”

A day later, Sakura moved.

With only her backpack, filled to the brim with sealed scrolls, she entered her new home and began unpacking her belongings. One day, she had an apartment filled with photos of her family and friends. Drawings made by Sai. Graduation diplomas. Study notes and maps of human anatomy. Her closet was filled to the brim with clothes of all kinds. The bookshelves even sagged under the weight of the books. Her desk was a jumble of jewelry, notebooks, and pens, sometimes a scented candle that Ino insisted she have. The bathroom had beauty products and medicines that left it smelling indescribable. The refrigerator had lunch boxes her father had packed for her.

Now, the wall had one or two things hanging on it. A fan, a painting, a tapestry, all gifts from patients. Her closet was practically empty, two pairs of pants, a jacket, two shoes, a tracksuit, a civilian bra, two blouses. She had a total of six books with her and a diary that was actually a notepad. In the bathroom, nothing but shampoo and a hairbrush (also a gift, it was a beautiful carved wooden piece). She had no desk. The refrigerator was empty, except for a bottle of Tsunade's favorite sake, which she had bought as a souvenir.

She also had a total of thirty-seven herb jars of various sizes, some full and some nearly empty, and at least twelve other gifts that had no real place to stay. Sakura placed them on shelves and windowsills, smiling at the memories. She went to a cabinet with doors in the living room and stored her jars there, arranging them alphabetically.

With a sigh, she sat down on the couch and took it all in. In her other life, Ino had been with her when she moved in and the two of them had held a small celebration where they had invited Hinata and Tenten to stay the night and eat takeout. Now, she was alone, with only the Anbu agents around to keep her company.

Sakura let out a deprecating laugh, before looking down at her own feet. She thought back to her last failed attempt to use her tracking ability and decided that she had neglected it for too long. With her sole on the wood, she slowly expanded her vision, sighing when she saw that the building had enough residents for her to deal with. Her next-door neighbor was a civilian, as was the one above. There were three shinobis on the floor below, one in one apartment and two in another. From the adrenaline vibe Sakura felt, embarrassed, they were a couple. There was another shinobi in the laundry room, as well as a civilian coming down the stairs. She expanded more, more, more...

And then she realized that there was no one in the trees.

No one on the rooftops. No one in the alleys.

The Anbu agents were gone.

Sakura opened her eyes and gasped, taking her feet off the ground. She lay still, her mind racing, before stepping back onto the wood and using her chakra. Again, none in sight. There were no Anbu agents, no one watching her steps.

It couldn't be a coincidence, they wouldn't have failed to accompany her there if they had been watching. Did the Hokage take them away? Sakura had been in the village for a month and she had truly proven herself in the meantime. Did he trust her? Was she free to hold on? Maybe that's why Kakashi started sending his ninken after her, to replace the Anbu.

Oh, Kami, how long had they been gone and she hadn't noticed? She had seen Guruko almost a week ago! If it had been that long, Sakura would have punched herself in the face.

Caught up in her own adrenaline, Sakura didn't think when she fell. She cut her own finger with her teeth, slammed her hand on the ground and exclaimed a command.

The next second, a tiny Katsuyu appeared, her eyes as wide as hers.

“SAKURA-SAMA!”

In the next second, Sakura was pulled away.

The Shikkotsu Forest was the same as the last time she had been there: damp, warm and beautiful. The only difference was that it was no longer silent, now echoing with the cacophony of hundreds of voices, all shouting at Sakura.

“A whole month without contact!” Katsuyu kept saying through her various bodies. “Do you realize how worried you've made us?!”

“I'm so sorry,” Sakura cried, from where she was sitting cross-legged on the floor. She had already explained what had happened over the last month at least three times. “I wasn't going to risk summoning you when there were trackers watching me.”

At least fifty small Katsuyu stood over Sakura, covering her legs, arms, back and head. They kept boosting healing chakra to make sure she was okay, as well as sliding through her hair, arguing that it was getting dry. She didn't mind, despite the smell and the feeling of claustrophobia. It was good to have her back.

“You should,” the great Katsuyu argued, looking hurt. “We thought you'd been kidnapped or something! A few more days and I'd summon you here!”

“And it’s a good thing you didn’t,” Sakura said, watching a Katsuyu dangle from one of her fingers through a line of goo. “The Anbu agents would notice I was gone and it would be a huge problem! What if I was in public? Or in the middle of a consultation?”

“Those are the only reasons I held back,” she continued. “But now you’ll have one of us with you at all times! It may have been allies who approached you this time, but you may not be so lucky next time!”

“Katsuyu-sama, I don’t know who Orochimaru’s spies are in this timeline,” Sakura argued, pulling out a Katsuyu that was falling into her eyes. “I can’t risk you like this. If I summon you too often, at some point a tracking shinobi will notice.”

“It’s better than being apart,” Katsuyu said, almost pouting. Sakura felt like crying at how cute she was.

“No, it’s not,” she said affectionately. “Just as you care about my safety, I care about yours. It’s a mutual relationship, remember? I won’t put you in danger as long as I can help it.”

“Well, what if you run out of herbs?” Katsuyu argued. “Your patients need them, and so do you. I doubt you have many left. How are you going to make medicine? How are you going to create antidotes?”

She got her on that one.

“I admit it’s going to be a problem,” Sakura sighed, pulling the smaller Katsuyu further out of her to stand up. “But I can do it. It’s not the best scenario, but it’s the best we can do if it means not exposing you.”

“I don’t accept that,” Katsuyu said, and all the other little Katsuyus agreed with her. “If I can’t be with you all the time, the least I can do is make sure you’re well-equipped. I want you to come and stock up once a week at the very least.”

Feeling like she was going to lose the argument, Sakura stood up and brushed sticky strands of hair off her face. One of the Katsuyus was lying on her shoulder, tiny.

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?” she said, smiling slightly. Katsuyu nodded stubbornly. “We need to come up with a plan, then. Summoning releases a strong chakra imprint. If I start doing this once a week, I’ll get caught in no time.”

“What if you don’t need it?” one of the larger Katsuyu said, near her feet. “We can come with you and stay in your world indefinitely, like during our travels. That way, you wouldn’t need to activate the summoning chakra as often.”

“Your presence can also be recognized.”

“Only if I use my healing abilities,” said another Katsuyu to her right. “Until I activate them, I’ll have the chakra of a common slug. And slugs are everywhere in your world.”

Sakura thought for a while, vulnerable and softened by the longing she felt for the only being in that world who knew who she really was.

“How small can you get?” she asked.

The Katsuyu on her shoulder slid into her hand, where it split until it was the size of Sakura’s fingernail. It eased the tension in her shoulders. It would be possible to hide her from anyone like that.

“Well... maybe that will work,” she muttered, receiving happy exclamations from all around. “But the condition is that you can’t leave the apartment without me. And you can’t use your healing abilities either. You’ll stay there so you can keep an eye on me and so I can hear from you. Deal?”

“Deal, Sakura-sama,” said the large Katsuyu, smiling widely. “Are you staying here tonight?”

“I’d better not, I don’t want to risk it.” When his expression turned sad, Sakura wilted. “But I can spend a few hours.”

“Great!” she exclaimed, and all the little Katsuyus began to move. “Come with us. If you’re not going to come often to refresh your stock, then you need to bring seedlings to plant the herbs at home. That way, you’ll have them whenever you want.”

As they walked together, Sakura took Katsuyu between her fingers and brought it close to her face and caressed it with the tip of her nose.

“I missed you, Katsuyu-sama,” she admitted softly. The slug, looking touched, smiled.

“I missed you too, Sakura-sama.”

When Sakura finally returned to her apartment with a small Katsuyu on top of her head, it was already dark, her hair was dripping with mucus, and over twenty herb seedlings had accompanied her there. Falling to the ground, she looked at the plants and their roots and seeds, suddenly realizing that she had no garden to plant them in.

The realization sent a shiver down her spine. For so many plants, of such variety and rarity, she would need a lot of pots and a lot of high-quality soil. That meant going to a suitable place that would sell them to her.

That meant a flower shop.

Sakura felt vomit rise to the base of her throat.

That meant seeing Ino.

Neji was usually very good at fulfilling his role as Anbu, diverting his attention to the point of momentarily going deaf to give the Hokage the privacy he needed. He was a master at it, indeed. The best in training, able to go unnoticed anywhere. The perfect shadow.

But when it came to that situation... he could admit (only to himself, of course) that he was distracted. Or maybe it was the other way around. He was more focused than he should have been.

“And what are the updates?”

Neji couldn't see Team Eight from where he was (just as he couldn't be seen by them), but he knew they were the ones assigned to the mission. And not just because they were the best team in Konoha when it came down to it.

The puppy smell followed Inuzuka wherever he went. And the room was infested with it from the moment the door opened.

“We’ve been able to confirm that the Harunos are originally from the Land of Rice Fields,” Kiba said, his first words coming out as a bark, a habit he’d had since the academy that always made Neji wrinkle his nose in disgust. “From what we’ve gathered, most of them are scattered around. They’re travelers and merchants who are very popular in civilian urban centers.”

“There weren't many of them in the Land of Rice Fields yet,” Kurenai's melodic voice came out, sweet and melodic. “But we managed to find a matriarch, who appears to be Kizashi’s grandmother. She confirmed the existence of a Haruno Yuji.”

“Nothing about him having a daughter?”

“The woman suffered from dementia,” Kurenai explained. “It was a bit difficult to get the information out of her. There was nothing in the form of letters or photo albums, but Yuji seemed to stop communicating with her shortly before he supposedly had a daughter. She had no memory of his death or seeing a little girl at his funeral. It was neighbors who confirmed that he had passed away.”

Neji heard the Hokage sigh, a practice that was impossible until Haruno Sakura appeared. Now, it seemed to have become routine.

“Well, if that’s the best we can do...” he said and Neji heard the sound of papers. “Anything else you think should be brought up?”

“The neighbors said that it’s common for the Harunos to not have contact with each other for years, since they usually settle down around the world. They seemed to find it plausible that Yuji had a daughter and no one knew about it.” Inuzuka said. “Aside from that, they also said that they had never seen a young woman in her twenties with light pink hair there, not that year or any other.”

After a few seconds of contemplative silence, the Hokage said:

“Thank you, team eight. You are dismissed.”

Before they left, Neji couldn't help himself and accessed his byakugan. When he recognized the flow of chakra from his cousin, who had remained silent as always, his shoulders relaxed.

As the door closed, Shikaku's voice came through.

“We didn’t get the confirmation we wanted, but...”

“It can’t be a coincidence,” the Hokage added. “Everything checks out and there’s no way she could know so many details without having met a Haruno in person.”

“Or without being one of them,” Shikaku said, sighing. “There are still holes in this story that bother me, honestly, but it looks like we’ve got our hands on the first civilian-born shinobi medic in history. Congratulations to us. How has she been lately?”

The Hokage snorted and Neji wished he had been there to see him roll his eyes. It was so unusual to see an Uchiha showing feelings that it was almost an event. Not that he had any moral standing to say anything, being a Hyuuga and all.

“She’s fine,” he said. “All she does is go to work and walk around, talking to the vendors. She’s started running every morning, according to reports. Two to three full laps around the village before the sun even rises.”

“Don’t let Maito Guy find out about this,” Shikaku joked. “He’ll take it as a challenge.”

“I’ve removed the Anbu,” the Hokage admitted. “We’ve been watching her for over a month and she’s done nothing but save lives and be a walking contradiction. Did you know Ibiki paid her a visit?”

“Ibiki?! And there were no reports of human rights violations at the hospital?”

Neji could have sworn the Hokage laughed, but as he had never heard the sound before, he couldn't confirm it.

“It seems she knew how to deal with him. Ask Yamanaka, he said Ibiki kept mumbling about green lights and suspicious women in the intelligence wing.”

After a few seconds of confused silence, the Hokage concluded:

“I also withdrew the Anbu because of Hatake. He insists on keeping an eye on her, he even put his ninkens to work.”

“Há!” Shikaku exclaimed, laughing loudly. “Typical Hatake. This clan has always been full of paranoid bastards. I think you did the right thing. I know Orochimaru made us nervous, but we don’t have enough ninja to keep following Haruno forever. We need them in the ranks and on missions. Let Hatake handle this.”

When the conversation ended, Neji heard:

“Panda, come, please.”

He appeared in front of the table at the same second.

“Hokage-sama,” he said, bowing.

“I have a little mission for you,” the Hokage said. “It’s about the chakra concentration you saw in the center of Haruno’s forehead. Hatake managed to get a look, and it seems his suspicions were correct—it’s a seal. One like this, to be specific.”

He held out a small piece of paper with a diamond on it, which Neji took.

“It’s purple. Have you ever seen anything like it before?”

“Unfortunately, no, Hokage-sama. Not that I can recall.”

“Do you know anyone who can? I would like to forward this to the Seals and Codes Intelligence team, but they are very busy at the moment and this is an urgent task.”

The sight of brown eyes with dark eyelashes and a bright smile flashed before Neji's eyes. His heart ached in his chest.

“Actually, yes,” he said, trying not to swallow. “I know someone reliable who might know what it is. A seal expert, very competent.”

“Good,” the Hokage leaned back in his chair, relaxing his shoulders. “Who—”

But the sound of flapping wings interrupted him, drawing everyone's attention. At the window, a huge hawk landed and tapped its beak gently on the glass, waiting. Now focused elsewhere, the Hokage stood up and made way for the bird, which flew down again and landed on the table. Then it lifted a paw, with a letter tied to it. Sand scattered across the floor.

“Oh,” Shikaku muttered, exchanging glances with the Hokage, who took the letter and stroked the top of the hawk’s head. The Uchiha were known for their closeness to birds of prey. “I guess he finally got tired of waiting.”

The Hokage sighed, sitting back down. With his eyes still on the letter, he said:

“Go ahead, Panda. Find the expert you mentioned and bring him to speak with me as soon as possible. This is an official, top-secret mission.”

“Immediately, Hokage-sama.”

Neji bowed once more and left the room. He chose to use the window and walk along the rooftops, avoiding the reception area like the plague.

He didn't have to think too hard to know where he would find his target. It was a weekday, during business hours. There was only one place she could be.

Stopping in front of the establishment, Neji may or may not have wiped his hands on his pants before removing his Anbu mask when no one was looking. Swallowing hard, he hesitated for a few seconds before pushing his body forward, feeling foolish. A bell rang above his head as he opened the door and a voice he knew better than himself sounded from behind, saying:

"Just a minute!"

His heart raced as he waited, which only served to increase the feeling of inadequacy within him. It was always like this with her. She seemed to be the only one with the ability to make him feel young, nervous, and shy, instead of the trained 21-year-old shinobi he was.

“Hi! What can I do-oh.”

Her steps stopped suddenly when she saw him and Neji could have sworn the box in her hands trembled a little. His eyes met hers and he tasted chocolate in his mouth.

“Neji?” she exclaimed, a loud question.

“Hi, Tenten,” he replied, straightening his spine and praying she wouldn’t notice he’d swallowed. Her brows furrowed slightly and she placed the box she was holding on the counter.

“What are you doing here? Do you need new kunai?”

Tenten had worked at Konoha's best ninja weapons shop since they were teenagers. It had always been one of her specialties and something she could talk about for hours (which she did, in the hills where they'd watched the sunset and had picnics a lifetime ago). Neji had always been sure the owner would leave everything to her in his will.

“No, the ones you sold to the clan still work perfectly. The best blades, just as you promised,” he said, perhaps expecting a smile, but receiving only a nod in response. “Everyone spoke highly of them—”

“What do you need, then? Katanas? Copper wire?” she interrupted him, starting to walk down the halls without looking at him. Neji swallowed his stomach. “We have new gloves that conduct chakra very well.”

There was a time when Tenten would talk to him about everything. She would spend hours talking nonstop while Neji listened to her, drinking in her words like a thirsty man. Between training sessions, at team lunches, on the nights when she stood guard and he would suddenly find himself sleepless, sitting next to her and staring at the stars.

It had been a long time since then. He missed it like he would miss a lost limb. But Neji had never told him that and never would. It was for the best, even if it hurt.

“Actually, I came to talk to you,” he said, following her with his hands behind his back.

“Oh, I’m busy at the moment,” Tenten said, fiddling with the equipment around her and still with her back to him. “And for the next few days. The shop is very busy, so I don’t know when I’ll be free to talk.”

The store was empty and they both knew it. Neji felt a bad taste in his mouth, but swallowed it.

“It’s about a mission,” he replied. “From the Hokage, to you.”

That made her stop in her tracks, stiff as a post, before she turned to him over her shoulder. Her brows furrowed, her face filled with doubt. She was always beautiful, no matter her mood.

“A mission from the Hokage?” she repeated, now facing him and crossing her arms. “For me?”

Her raised eyebrow almost made Neji blush like a damn genin.

“Well, it’s a mission from the Hokage,” he tried to explain, feeling uncertain under her gaze as always. “In which he asked for a seal expert.”

“And let me guess, everyone was busy?” she said with a kind of venom he would never get used to hearing in her voice. Tenten started walking again and Neji followed her.

“Of course not,” he argued, frustration leaking into his voice. “You’re the best we’ve got, so I nominated you.”

“I’m not interested in taking on missions out of nepotism, thank you very much,” Tenten continued, moving her equipment a little too forcefully. “Besides, many would disagree with you. I’m not the best we’ve got, never have been.”

Neji's blood boiled at the unfairness of the situation and her stubbornness. No matter how many conversations they had about what had happened, nothing seemed to convince her of her own ability.

“It wasn’t nepotism. He trusts my judgment and I trust your abilities. The Hokage wants a specialist and I know you’re perfect for the job.” She gave him a less venomous, more uncertain look that encouraged him to continue. “And you know your abilities had nothing to do with what happened. They didn’t accept you out of prejudice, Tenten, it wasn’t fair.”

“Yes, yes, it had nothing to do with me,” she said, sounding venomous again. They returned to the counter, where she opened the boxes and began arranging the shurikens in order of size (and a little violently). “It’s just that I’m a woman and an orphan with no clan, two things I can never change. I get it.”

Neji stood there, watching her work and thinking about what to say. In the end, she wasn't wrong. It was very difficult for women to enter the traditional elite teams, especially without a strong clan behind them to help pave the way. The only one of her generation in any prominent position was Yamanaka Ino, who had been on the intelligence team thanks to her father, who had always spoken out in favor of kunoichi rights. Neji's cousin Hinata had had a bit more luck in recent years, as old age had softened her father's heart and made him want to mend their failed relationship. He was allowing her to go on missions outside the village, after years of denying her requests and forcing her to work at the hospital (which she had left without hesitation as soon as she was allowed to do so a few years ago. Neji knew she didn't have the stomach to have so many people die at her hands. Honestly, no one did). It was not much, but it was more than most kunoichi had.

As for Tenten... her best chance would be Guy's support, which seemed possible during the early years. But after what happened to Lee, the depression that seemed to immobilize his former sensei for years and the dissolution of the team... By the time Guy managed to recover emotionally, years had already passed. There was nothing to support her, nothing other than Neji, who, at the time, was still trying to become a jounin to join the Anbu ranks, and didn't have as much influence as she seemed to believe.

So Tenten was barred within the walls of the system that had existed for much longer than she had, even after she managed to become a chuunin with all the potential of being a jounin, even after doing better in the seals and coding tests than anyone else, and it hurt her so deeply that she simply gave up.

“And here’s your chance to prove them wrong,” Neji argued. “It wasn’t nepotism, Ten, I swear.”

She huffed and moved to get away from him, but Neji was faster. He was behind the counter in a flash and grabbed her wrist. It wasn't violent or rough and she managed to pull him away from her in just two movements he knew she could do, but the touch froze them both, soft and warm, like her skin had always been.

The touch transported him back in time, making him feel the sensation of her sweet lips against his, the beating of his heart as it sobbed with happiness, the taste of her favorite chocolate on his tongue. But then came the regret when he pulled away, the pain when he saw the confusion in her eyes, the sense of doom when he knew there would be no going back.

Tenten turned her face and looked anywhere but at him, but she didn't move away, so Neji felt brave.

“If you don’t believe in the system, at least believe in me.” That made her look at him and Neji felt the old floating sensation. “I’ve trained alongside you, I’ve fought alongside you. I know how good you are and I know you’re perfect for this job. The Hokage needs someone who can work quickly and discreetly and that’s you.”

With his free hand, he took the small drawing out of his pocket.

“Have you ever seen anything like this?” Neji asked, watching her eye the paper curiously. After a few seconds, in which she seemed to fight her own curiosity, Tenten sighed.

“Is it colorful?” she asked. Neji tried not to smile.

“Purple, they say.”

“Where was it seen?”

“On someone’s body.”

Her eyebrows rose. She was interested.

“Which part?”

“Forehead, right in the center.”

“Does it have texture? Is it a tattoo? Painting?”

“We don’t know, it’s hidden by the hair. The person who saw it only had a few seconds.”

She hummed, looking at the drawing. Neji looked at her.

“Anything else I should know?”

“I was able to observe a concentration of chakra in the same place, as if the user had a second source of chakra. It seems to accumulate right where the seal is. Coincidence?”

“It never is,” Tenten sighed, before frowning deeply. She snatched the drawing from his hands and removed her hand from his wrist. He tried to hide his disappointment. “Chakra buildup, you say?”

Curiosity blossomed in Neji.

“Do you know what it is?”

“It sounds familiar,” she admitted, biting her lip. He looked away for a second. “Like I’ve heard of it before. But I can’t remember...”

Neji watched her tapping on the counter, a sign that she was thoughtful, until he had to hide his smile from her. He cleared his throat and tilted his head to the side, feeling encouraged by her change in mood. A curious Tenten was better than a disgusted Tenten.

“Do you accept, then?” he asked. She sighed deeply, not looking him in the eye. After all, she was stubborn, but never stupid.

“Okay, sure,” she said, focusing on the drawing and shrugging. “I don’t think it’ll hurt.”

“Good.” Neji maintained his composure on the outside, bowing his head and placing his hands behind his back. “We can go to him now, I’ll tell you—”

“I don’t need you to go with me,” she interrupted, stepping back. “You can go, I know you’re on work hours. I’ll go to the Hokage alone.”

Neji sighed, swallowing back everything he wanted to say. It had been years since all he had of her were crumbs. And he had gotten used to it, or at least he should have. It was what he wanted, wasn't it?

Amazing how that didn't make the pain any less painful.

For the Hokage of Konohagakure,

I hope this letter finds you in good condition. The elders are enthusiastic about the new mineral export proposal, and so am I. Please send my thanks to your diplomatic staff and hope their stay was satisfactory to all. I have sent them a special wine made from desert grapes, a specialty of ours. I also hope you and your wife enjoyed it.

However, I am not writing just to share my satisfaction with the progress that has been made between our villages, which, as you know from my honest opinion, have lacked closeness for many years. This is about something completely different, which, even after so many days, I still find myself thinking about with surprise.

Three weeks ago, one of your agents showed up unannounced at our gates, looking desperate and, if I may be honest, a little out of his mind. He nearly gave my guards a heart attack, refusing to speak to anyone but me. Imagine my shock when I heard how one of your elite shinobi had unfortunately fallen victim to one of Sasori's most deadly poisons, and imagine my even greater shock when he told me that Konoha had found a way to combat it.

An antidote, he said. And perhaps it was a moment of weakness, influenced by the events of three years ago, but I gave him everything he asked, even though I knew there were no official documents to justify his arrival, other than a permission slip from the Hospital.

I hope you will see my decision as a gesture of goodwill, of trust not only in Konoha, but in its shinobi. In return, I ask that you, Hokage-sama, also contact us in a similar gesture, sharing with us the results of your tests, as promised. There has been no update of any kind on the situation of your shinobi, but since we have not heard any rumors of major losses in your ranks, I can only believe that a miracle has occurred in the Land of Fire.

Maybe it's time for a new team to pay a visit, don't you think?

Sincerely,

The Godaime Kazekage,

Sabaku no Gaara.

Chapter Text

Sakura spent a total of three days and four nights without sleep before she was able to talk to Ino (much to Katsuyu's despair).

She had tried twice before that, but the closest she got was to the corner of the flower shop before running away as if she had seen Madara, vomiting in the bathroom of her apartment for the next half hour. The nights were also poorly slept, with bloody nightmares that increased the dark circles under her eyes. Katsuyu had to apply her calming chakra to Sakura so that she could finally sleep for more than three hours straight.

It was when the plant seedlings began to show signs of illness that Sakura forced herself to swallow all her feelings and march to the flower shop like a woman on a mission. That, of course, didn't stop her from spending a good ten minutes staring at the sign that read “Yamanaka Flowers” until her eyes burned so much that they felt like they were about to pop out of their sockets.

But, surprisingly, as soon as her feet touched the interior... Sakura's anxiety disappeared like smoke in the wind. She felt it go away like silk passing over her skin, almost as if she had been hit by a breeze that carried away a terrible smell and graced her with fresh air. Sakura was so taken aback by this that she needed a second stop at the door to understand how and why.

Maybe it was the sound of the bell above the door and the scent of flowers perfuming the air that managed to calm her down. She believed that this encounter was doomed to failure, but the sound and scent were so familiar that Sakura felt almost in a trance, teleported to easier and happier times. She felt...

Safe? Perhaps. It had been so long since she had felt this way that she could no longer recognize it so easily. But now that she was there, feeling as light as she did when she was a girl, she wondered...

“Good morning! How can I help you?”

Her eyes filled with tears of happiness, but Sakura didn't cry, blinking them away as she turned toward the counter.

Long blonde hair that shone like wheat thanks to the sunlight coming in through the windows... large light eyes framed by eyelashes the same color as her hair... soft, flawless skin that looked great with the purple colors of her outfit...

Ino was stunning in any universe.

The absolute bitch that she was.

“Hi,” Sakura managed to croak, feeling out of her body. She could hear the sound of giggles echoing in her ears, getting lower and lower, as if two little girls were running, hand in hand, to the back of her subconscious. “I'd like to buy some pots for my garden.”

Ino came out from behind the counter and approached her with a friendly smile. Sakura, however, knew her and recognized her curious look when she tilted her head slightly to the side. Very discreetly, Ino sized her up from head to toe.

“Of course! My name is Yamanaka Ino. What sizes? And how many?” she asked, taking a notepad from the pocket of her apron around her waist.

Funny. Again, there was no more nervousness. There was no urge to run or vomit. As she looked into Ino's eyes, as she listened to her voice, as she watched her move, healthy, breathing, alive, all Sakura could feel was an almost uncontrollable urge to smile like a maniac.

Ino was there.

Ino was alive.

“A lot, actually,” Sakura said, trying to control herself. She smiled back. “For about forty, maybe?”

Ino's eyes widened slightly.

“Oh, you must have a huge garden!” she exclaimed, walking through the flower shop toward the pots for sale (where Sakura knew they were). “Are they big? Small?”

“A few big ones, mostly medium and small,” Sakura followed her, looking around, incredibly nostalgic. “It's for my small apartment, actually.”

“The decor is going to be a little crazy,” Ino joked, picking up a few pots to show her. Sakura laughed.

“They're for personal use, actually,” she explained. “Healing plants and herbs. I'm a med-nin.”

Ino's entire body froze, one arm stretched out in the air to reach a pot on a high shelf. She turned to Sakura with wide, slightly crazy eyes.

“Sorry, what's your name again?” she asked, unable to pretend to be discreet. “I think I forgot to ask.”

A little surprised, Sakura blinked.

“Haruno Sakura...”

“No way!” Ino exclaimed, letting all professionalism go. Suddenly, they were together in the academy courtyard, gossiping about all the other kids. “Are you the new medic? The one everyone's talking about? They said you were drop-dead gorgeous!”

Her eyes scanned her from head to toe, and suddenly Ino looked annoyed.

“Ugh! You are!” she exclaimed, snorting. “Please go away. I can't handle women who are almost as beautiful as me.”

Happiness bubbled up in Sakura's chest like cherry soda bubbles, the same kind she and Ino used to drink together on Sunday afternoons when Sakura finally had time off from the hospital.

“Almost as pretty?” she teased, putting on an offended front. Ino, surprisingly, seemed to realize right away that she was just joking.

“Well, of course,” she said, tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder. “You're cute enough, but I'm the most beautiful woman in the village. Everyone knows that.”

Sakura swayed on her feet as she watched her pick up random vases. A mischievous smile appeared on her lips.

“I think I can see...” she murmured, inspecting Ino. “If you like fake blonde...”

Ino turned to her violently. But Sakura was already expecting it, so she controlled her smile.

“My hair is natural!” she exclaimed, offended. Sakura pretended to look at her hair again.

“Are you sure?” she feigned ignorance. “It looks weird in this light... maybe it's gotten darker? People say it's normal for that to happen.”

“My hair hasn't darkened,” Ino insisted, starting to violently gather vases. Luckily, most of them were plastic. “And who are you to talk about hair? Aren't you too old to be dyeing yours pink?”

Sakura's jaw dropped and she followed Ino, now with her arms full, to the counter on the other side of the store.

“My hair is completely natural,” she defended herself, receiving a mocking look from Ino over her shoulder. Her blue irises sparkled like Sakura hadn't seen in years. She was having a hell of a lot of fun.

“Are you sure? It looks faded.”

“Absolutely sure.” Sakura leaned on the counter and pretended to look at her nails (short, clean. Her job at the hospital only allowed her to paint her toenails). “I just don't know if I can say the same about your silicone.”

Some of the vases fell to the floor. Ino's eyes sparkled as she took a deep breath, stunned.

“How dare you say something like that. Did you take after your father in the breast department?”

“You really want to talk about parents? Yours literally called you a ‘pig.’”

Hands grabbed her forearms like snake bites, Ino's long, painted, well-manicured nails digging into her skin.

“I hate you,” she said, but there was no anger or hatred, just a huge smile on her painted lips. “You're my new best friend!”

And Sakura found herself high, drunk, laughing, laughing, laughing, her head light and her eyelashes damp, happy in a way she hadn't felt in at least four years.

“I don't know...” she said, softly but still provocatively. “I think we'd end up killing each other. You're the rudest person I've ever met, and I work in the geriatric ward at the hospital.”

“Oh, please, a bitch always recognizes another, so don't play dumb,” Ino snorted, tossing her hair again and entering the prices of the vases into the cash register. “And you started it! Besides, everyone in this village is too sensitive. You can't make a little joke without everyone getting hurt.”

Knowing Ino, her “little jokes” involved brutal advice (that no one asked for) on how her friends should live their personal lives. Flirting with anyone at the bar for a few free drinks before disappearing into the night. Making a list of the most attractive nukenin ninjas and asking shinobi who had fought them if they were really that good-looking. Praising herself loudly, making it clear that she considered everyone else less attractive than her. The list was long, and people did get offended sometimes.

Sakura didn't, however. After she and Ino made up, she quickly realized that Ino was just misunderstood. She was joking almost 80% of the time, and people just didn't get her humor. Especially men.

“Well...” Sakura looked away for a moment, feeling shy. “It's been a long time since I've had a friend, to be honest.” Except for a small healing slug made of chakra that fit in her pocket. “So maybe I'm not very good at it.”

“Rumor has it that you're a traveler,” Ino commented, packing all the vases into boxes.

“I am, for many years now,” she explained. “I never stay in one place for long, a month or two at most. It's not the best lifestyle for making friends.”

“Good for you, then, that you met me,” Ino said with a wink. Sakura found herself smiling. “I know all the bars, restaurants, and nightclubs that are worth going to. I also know everyone who isn't a waste of time. I'll take you out with me. We'll meet my friends, dance, and drink!”

Sakura shouldn't have. She knew she shouldn't have. The closer she became to people, the more she put herself and the secrets she carried at risk. She should have left as soon as the contract ended. She should have kept to herself, since that universe wasn't hers. Haruno Sakura didn't exist and shouldn't exist. Her presence alone was unnatural. A danger.

But none of the feelings of fear, anguish, or grief that had overwhelmed her so many times when she met Sasuke, Sai, Naruto, and so many others appeared. She no longer felt like curling up in a ball and crying. Not there. Not surrounded by the scents of Yamanaka flowers. Not next to Ino.

Ino made Sakura feel... calm. Light. Happy. Carefree. She made her feel like she had been teleported to fields of flowers, games of tag, and lazy afternoons where she felt Ino's fingers braiding her hair. She reminded her of a red ribbon she no longer had, disintegrated in time and space. It reminded her of the feeling of no longer being alone. It reminded her of feeling that there was someone just like her in a way she could never be with Naruto and Sasuke.

It would probably pass as soon as she left that store and returned to the real world, but that was a problem for later. Sakura couldn't find it in herself to deny it.

Interpreting her thoughtful silence as a denial, Ino made a rude face.

“If you don't go, I'll tell everyone you have a billboard forehead under that bangs of yours!”

The snort that escaped Sakura's mouth was so loud it brought tears to her eyes.

“You're the worst,” she muttered. Ino narrowed her eyes at her, and Sakura raised her hands in the air, sighing. “All right, all right. I'll go. But I'm warning you, I can hold my liquor. Don't try to keep up with me.”

Ino smiled like a kid in a candy store.

“Oh, you don't know what's coming, Haruno! It's a bet!”

The cash register made a sound as it opened. The vases were finished being wrapped.

Looking at the final price of the purchase, Sakura gave Ino a dirty look.

“You chose the most expensive pots, didn't you?”

“Of course I did! Fake blonde my ass, I'm all natural!”

When the issue of the pots (and Ino's brilliant existence in her life again) was resolved, Sakura went after her next challenge: soil for the plants.

The seedlings from Shikkotsu Forest had unique properties that, as a result, needed unique soil. Not just any type of soil could stimulate the properties they could offer, so Sakura didn't waste her time buying the fertilizers Ino offered, even though she knew how good they were. Katsuyu said that rich, moist soil that received little sun was necessary, soil that was accustomed to plants and herbs suitable for healing and that had some contact with chakra, even if only briefly.

There was only one place Sakura could think of that would offer them that, except for the Forest of Death, where she had no interest in setting foot for the rest of her life. So she prepared for a small robbery, taking cardboard boxes from kind civilian merchants, putting Katsuyu behind her ear, and buying a bag of juicy, fragrant peaches that she knew she would need.

Sakura began frequenting the Nara Forest around the age of fourteen, when her training with Tsunade had progressed enough for her to take on small missions such as gathering ingredients needed for treatment. It was a very beautiful place that she got to know slowly, since Shikamaru (someone she had become very close to while growing up) was a lazy bastard who didn't want to walk more than necessary, even if she begged him. The bark of the trees was great for making teas for stomachaches, headaches, and even insomnia, and the sap helped with burns of all kinds, even the most severe. In addition, the stream that ran through the heart of the forest had moss and algae that were great for healing and treating skin allergies. As a result, the land was rich in nutrients that Katsuyu's plants would love.

Since she couldn't knock on the clan chief's door like she did when she was younger, bowing to Yoshino, who always greeted her with a smile and a not-so-kind shout for her son to come down from upstairs, she bypassed Konoha, reaching the back of the forest at the edge of the village's territory. It was an isolated area that almost no one could access, thanks to the dense forest and the wild creatures that lived there. Back in her academy days, there were rumors that the place was haunted by the spirits of people who had tried to invade Konoha through the forest and had been unable to leave.

Sakura didn't know about this, but she was almost certain that this was where Shikamaru buried Hidan after Asuma's death. So, somehow, the story became true.

She stopped walking after an hour, still within the forest limits, staring at the first trees that marked the Nara territory. Behind her ear, Katsuyu sighed, a little unhappy with her plan, but with no arguments to stop her from acting.

Smiling slightly, Sakura moved forward, coming within millimeters of the land she needed. Stretching out one foot, she touched her toes to the forbidden territory, just three seconds before pulling them back and returning to her original position.

Less than ten seconds later, the first deer appeared.

Sakura's favorite part of her missions to gather supplies was the deer. They were beautiful creatures, from babies to elders, with soft fur and intelligent eyes that pierced her soul. Shikamaru gave her long speeches about how dangerous they were, having watched over the Nara forest for centuries. Intruders disappeared completely, Shikamaru said, except for the occasional body parts (hands, fingers, legs...) they found. Since they were herbivores, the two theorized that they probably chased threats and trampled them to death.

This did not make Sakura fear the deer, but rather made her even more attached to them. They were as intelligent as the clan they were connected to, and Sakura always prioritized loyalty and protection of those she loved above all else, so this brought a kind of connection between them.

Besides, the deer liked her very much. It was a big surprise to Shikamaru when they let Sakura pet their fur on the very first day they met. It got to the point where he didn't even need to accompany her after a few years; the deer themselves took her where she needed to go and brought her back, unharmed.

“They don't usually like anyone outside the clan,” Shikamaru had told her, with a confused and thoughtful frown. “There must be something about you that they like.”

It took a sweet-looking creature with a deadly spirit to recognize another, she supposed.

“Hello,” she said to the adult deer, who emerged from behind the trees and watched her silently. “I have a gift for you.”

She took one of the peaches out of the bag, watching him sniff the air and tilt his head.

“Your favorites,” she continued. Shikamaru insisted that they didn't speak their language, but Sakura always thought they did. “I know you prefer them to apples.”

She stood completely still, her outstretched hand the only part of her body extending beyond the boundaries of the terrain. Very slowly, the deer (a male, she could tell by its size and antlers) approached step by step, never taking its dark eyes off her. Sakura remained relaxed and still.

It stopped very close to her, but did not eat the peach, looking at the fruit before looking at her. On the third try, Sakura got the message.

“There's nothing wrong with that,” she complained, somewhat amused. The deer said nothing, but she could feel the command he was giving her. “All right, stubborn creature. Here.”

She bit into the sweet, soft flesh of the peach, chewing and swallowing before holding it out toward him again.

“Happy?” she teased, a little juice dripping down her chin. After a few seconds, the deer snorted and approached again.

His wet breath caressed her fingers before he took the peach out her fingers and began to eat it. Sakura smiled, using her now free hand to wipe her own face.

Behind them, two fawns and three females also appeared, silent and curious.

“I have more,” she said, reaching into the bag and pulling out another one. Instead of going into the woods, she crouched down and let the fruit roll across the grass toward the nearest female. “These are for you.”

The male deer looked at her curiously while the others ate, as if asking her a question.

“I didn't come to hurt anyone,” she said. “I also didn't come to steal anything from the land. I just need a little soil from the ground for my plants.”

The deer snorted, as if he found her ridiculous. Sakura pouted.

“It's true! I need it because my plants are not like any other.”

She removed Katsuyu from behind her ear and held it out toward him with her fingertip. The deer, in turn, sniffed Katsuyu for a long time, making her giggle because of his breath. Sakura didn't even know that slugs could feel tickles.

“They are healing plants, straight from the Shikkotsu Forests,” she continued. “For the village, the Nara are included. They are special and need soil that is just as special. That's why I came to ask for permission to take some.”

He stopped sniffing Katsuyu and took two steps back, tilting his head from side to side, as if thinking. Sakura pressed her lips together to keep from laughing.

“I promise I'll only take three steps onto the property,” she said. He looked her up and down, exchanging glances with the females.

Sakura rolled her eyes, holding out the bag of peaches toward them.

“You can have it all if you let me.”

His response was to snatch the bag from her hand with his teeth, which Sakura interpreted as a gesture of agreement.

With Katsuyu on her head and the cardboard boxes in her arms, she took exactly three steps forward, stretching her legs as far as she could. This earned her a dirty look from the deer, which she responded to with a mischievous smile.

“You didn't specify the size of the stride,” she defended herself. And she was sure he rolled his eyes in response.

For the next few minutes, while the deer ate and more appeared thanks to the smell of peaches in the air, Sakura used her chakra to make room in the ground with her fingers, picking up the softest part and filling the boxes with it. Katsuyu guided her, asking her to also reserve some of the red clay that was in the lower layers of soil. It was a bit like her old days with Yamato, when she used to garden with him and he guided her every step of the way.

Sakura was never a great gardener, even though she enjoyed it, but she was also never a multidimensional traveler, so...

Finally, with about another dozen cardboard boxes full of soil in her arms with chakra and Katsuyu hidden again, she looked at the deer with a farewell smile.

“Thank you,” she said, bowing as best she could as if they were other ninjas. They were, weren't they? In a way. “This will be a great help.”

In return, the male deer bumped his nose against her arm in a friendly gesture. Sakura laughed as he pushed her out of the clearing.

“Is that how you thank me for the peaches? You're a very ungrateful creature,” she teased.

The deer's response was a snort that sprayed droplets on her face.

“Diva,” she teased him, sticking her tongue out at him like she used to do when she fought with Ino as children. “Just for that...”

Quickly, she ran her dirt-covered hand across the deer's forehead, between his antlers, dirtying his fur.

“Bye-bye!” she exclaimed, running like a civilian out of the territory as he stamped his hooves on the ground and gave her a dirty look. “Next time I'll bring lemons!”

Above her head, Katsuyu let out a little laugh.

“I think they liked you, Sakura-sama,” she said.

Sakura smiled, looking back to see that one of the fawns had stayed behind, staring at her until the male nudged it to leave.

It took the rest of the day, but all the plants were planted and watered in their proper pots by nightfall, just in time for Itachi's first eye treatment.

“You'll stay in my room,” Sakura instructed Katsuyu as she washed her hands and arms, scrubbing under her nails to remove all the dirt. “No peeking, curious lady.”

“But I wanted to see the treatment,” Katsuyu grumbled without real stubbornness, as she knew it was for the best. "I've never seen anyone heal eyes with chakra before. It's really amazing that you can cure blindness, Sakura-sama."

“I won't be able to cure Itachi one hundred percent,” she insisted, not for the first time, drying her hands and picking up Katsuyu. “It's like cataract surgery. I'll be able to slow down the process in his eye and restore it as best as possible. Here.”

She placed Katsuyu in a flower pot next to her bed, which she had bought precisely for this reason.

“Promise you'll discuss the details with me later?” Katsuyu asked. Sakura smiled, knowing that it wasn't often she met another healing nerd like herself.

“I promise.”

Three knocks on the door caught their attention. With a nod, Sakura left her room, closing and locking the door behind her just to be sure, and went to the apartment entrance.

On the other side was a sullen-looking Itachi and a very smiling Shisui.

“Sa-chan!” he exclaimed, pushing Itachi aside and pulling her into a hug. “It's been so long!”

Sakura couldn't help but laugh, especially at the angry look she saw on Itachi's face over Shisui's shoulder. This must be the first time an Uchiha had ever hugged her so enthusiastically. The hugs from Sasuke in her universe were usually for other reasons, such as fear or protection.

“It's only been a week,” she pretended to be annoyed, pulling away.

“It feels like a lifetime,” he whined, dramatic as always. “I'm happy to see you. What are you doing under house arrest?”

Sakura nudged him without using chakra, luckily for him.

“I'm not under house arrest, I'm just serving administrative punishment,” she said, crossing her arms. “And I'm keeping myself busy, thank you very much.”

“I can't believe they punished you for discovering the cure for the deadliest poison of the last century.”

Too exhausted to argue, she shrugged, smiling at Itachi.

“Hello, Itachi-san. How are you?”

“Hm,” he nodded, the most Uchiha response of all. “May we come in?”

He looked around as if he didn't want to be seen, and Sakura blushed a little in embarrassment. This was a secret consultation, after all.

“Sure, sure, come in,” she said, making room for them. As soon as they stepped inside the apartment, she remembered something. “Oh! I forgot to mention, here...”

Sakura pointed to the nearest plant with her hand.

“I need you to touch it, please.”

Custos tutelae was a species of plant that existed only in the Shikkotsu Forest. It was very similar to bamboo, with a straight, long trunk and thin, pointed green leaves, but with one striking difference: it was, in a way, conscious.

It was the plant that Katsuyu did not give Sakura the option of not taking to her apartment. It was a kind of guardian plant, hence the name. Custos could store and recognize chakra, automatically identifying the presence of anyone who was not allowed to be in the territory. It was found in the deepest areas of the Shikkotsu Forest, where even Sakura had not yet ventured, and was one of Katsuyu's great secrets, a secret weapon that no one else knew about. Sakura, in turn, placed it next to the entrance door, the plant tall enough to exceed the height of the doorframe.

“You will need to introduce it to people you trust,” Katsuyu had said. “The branches will grow and it will attack, restraining any stranger who enters the apartment without it.”

Shisui looked at her as if Sakura had three heads.

“You want me to... touch the plant?”

“Both of you,” she corrected them, serious. “And introduce yourselves too.”

The two exchanged glances.

“Uh...” Itachi blinked as if he were feeling astonishment for the first time in his life. “Is there a reason for that?”

“Let's just say she's a... different plant,” Sakura smiled, stroking one of the leaves and feeling a tingling sensation. “Very temperamental with strangers. I still need to think of a name for her, but I haven't decided yet. Little plant, these are Shisui and Itachi. Both Uchihas. Both friends.”

They stared at each other for a long second of silence, and Sakura tried not to feel too offended. They clearly thought she was crazy, but she didn't care much. It was preferable that they saw her as a crazy Sakura than a Sakura with secrets.

Seeming to make a decision after a conversation between minds, they both turned to the plant. Shisui touched it first, letting out an honest “oh” as he felt the tingling sensation. Itachi, after a slight hesitation, did the same. His only reaction was a slight twitch of his eyebrow.

Satisfied, Sakura began to move around the small apartment, walking away to the kitchen.

“Would you like something to drink? I have water...” She opened the refrigerator, looking at the leftover takeout food and containers of herbs that needed to be refrigerated. “...And water. But I have some food, if you want.”

“We're fine, Haruno-san, thank you,” Itachi said with a polite nod, while Shisui exclaimed: “Holy shit, you have a lot of plants!”

A little shy, Sakura returned to the living room and pointed to the sofa with one hand. Neither of them sat down, Itachi standing like a statue with his hands behind his back and Shisui pacing back and forth, looking at all the pots.

“I told you I was keeping myself busy. Sit down, Itachi-san.”

He glanced at her quickly before obeying, a mixture of annoyance at being commanded and the instinct to obey commands, which was so similar to Sasuke when he was a genin that she pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. Shisui continued chattering.

“There must be about forty plants here,” he said, tilting his head toward a series of transparent containers with algae that glowed in the dark. He picked one up in his hands. “And some I've never seen before.”

“Forty-six,” Sakura corrected him, going to wash her hands in the sink again for the treatment. “And some are exotic, I've collected them over the years. These are algae from the Temple of Golden Waters, where I stayed for a while in the Land of Iron. They glow in the dark.”

With her elbow, Sakura turned off the light in the room and the apartment went dark for three seconds before the algae began to glow, the beautiful golden light slowly appearing until it was strong enough to see. Sometimes she left the light off on purpose, as she found the yellowish tone a necessary source of calm. Katsuyu liked it too.

Shisui let out a cheerful exclamation, looking at the jar in his hand as if he were holding an apple. His eyes sparkled with curiosity, and even Itachi seemed interested from where he sat on the sofa, sitting so stiffly that the cushions could be mistaken for ice cubes.

“They lie at the bottom of the temple's lakes and illuminate the whole place at night, hence the name. It is one of the few sources of natural hot water in the entire country.”

“That's why it's hot,” Shisui deduced, looking at the bottom of the bottle. “What kind of seal is that? And how did you get a sample of it?”

“It's a domestic seal, it serves to keep the water at a high temperature without burning the skin. My shishou developed it to aid treatments that require immersion in hot water for a long period of time, such as osteoarthritis.” She turned the light back on in the room with her elbow. "And I got them as a gift. The samurai gave them to me after my stay there."

“Your shishou was a woman of many talents, Haruno-san,” Itachi said, a slight tone of suspicion in his voice that perhaps the Uchihas were incapable of not having. “In addition to inventing medical ninjutsu, she was also an expert in seals?”

It was Tsunade's Uzumaki heritage that made her skilled with seals. It wasn't something she practiced much or had a great interest in, but it always came easily to her when she put her mind to it. She demonstrated that particular seal to Sakura early on, when she got her first period and had terrible cramps.

“I wouldn't say she was an expert, but it was something she was good at, so she sometimes ventured into it,” Sakura said, deflecting.

“I still can't believe you managed to befriend the samurai,” Shisui muttered to himself as he put the seaweed back in its original place, almost seeming to pout. “I was sent on a mission there once and no one gave me a single smile. I still feel like they're watching me.”

Sakura gave him a playful smile.

“I'm more charming than you,” she said, laughing when Shisui let out an exasperated exclamation. "Now, Itachi, shall we begin? How is your vision? Has anything gotten worse since I took care of your lungs?"

“Nothing to complain about,” was his simple reply.

“Hmm,” Sakura muttered, unconvinced. She held her hands in front of his face and, when he nodded, gently touched him around the eyes. "Have you been having frequent headaches? At least once a day?"

A long silence as she assessed his eyes.

“...Yes.”

“Do you feel pain when you look up, down, or to the sides?”

A sigh.

“Yes.” Getting answers out of Uchihas felt like pulling teeth with pliers. “To the sides.”

“Blurred vision or double vision?”

“Double vision, mainly.”

“Okay,” Sakura said, walking around the sofa to stand behind Itachi, just a little taller than him. “Are you ready? Feel free to tell me if you feel any discomfort.”

Chakra lights on. And Sakura began.

The war had made her an expert on the Sharingan in a way that even Tsunade was not. The Senju and the Uchiha may have made a truce to create Konoha, but that did not make them best friends, especially after Madara's attack on Hashirama. So, when Tsunade was young and in the village, she didn't have access to eyes with sharingan to care for. And later, when she returned, there were no Uchihas left except Sasuke, Itachi, and, as they later discovered, Obito.

The only Sharingan Tsunade had access to for treatment was Kakashi's, which wasn't much, since that man shivered in hospitals like cats covered in ice water, and he wasn't an Uchiha.

Sakura, on the other hand, had a little more on her resume. She treated Kakashi's, Obito's, and Sasuke's Sharingan during the war, especially Sasuke. She was the only person they trusted for such a task, and it was very necessary at the time, since they used kekkei genkai all the time and no one could risk going blind. In addition, Sasuke shared what he knew with her, bits and pieces of information that Sakura knew were clan secrets, even if he didn't admit it.

The issue with the sharingan was this: there was a set of extra corneas in the eyes, which connected to the brain and enabled the user to use it. One of the reasons Kakashi couldn't turn off his sharingan was because the special corneas didn't attach properly to his brain, a problem Sakura solved during the war. They were longer than normal corneas and pulsed chakra as if they were a second nucleus. They were easily recognized through medical ninjutsu.

“How often do you use your sharingan, Itachi-san?” she asked gently, trying not to express on her face what she was finding with her chakra. Shisui watched the interaction like a hawk.

“At least once a day,” he confessed, seeming to control himself so as not to sink into the pillows. It happened often. The chakra could be very relaxing. “But not for more than a few minutes. Since my lung problem worsened, I haven't been going on missions.”

“I believe your father's plan is for you to return as you get better.”

“Yes.”

Sakura bit her lip, thoughtful. It wasn't good...

“What are you looking at?” Shisui asked, approaching as if he could see inside Itachi's head. Sakura sighed, thinking about how to be honest about Itachi's condition without revealing how much she knew about that kekkei genkai

“This is my first time dealing with the Sharingan,” she lied. “But it's obvious that it's not a normal eye. Did you know that it has a second pair of corneas?”

“We've never witnessed a transplant, but it's a common secret,” Shisui confessed. Sakura nodded, still working.

“I assume that the cornea with the highest concentration of chakra is that of the Sharingan. It is connected to your brain, Itachi-san, and does not seem to be at risk of coming loose. Your problem is another: the excess chakra is frying your normal corneas. Is blindness a common problem in your clan?”

A question she already knew the answer to.

“The most common condition among us,” said Itachi, clearing his throat. “It is a common practice among the Uchiha to... exchange eyes. Between less important members and the most important ones, so that the main families can continue the legacy.”

Sakura already knew this, but that didn't stop her from grimacing.

“It's not so common anymore,” Shisui said, seeing her grimace. “But it's tradition.”

“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to judge,” she said. “I assume that, since you're here, in such a high state of deterioration, it means you're not willing to make the exchange?”

From so close, Sakura could see Itachi's skin bristle.

“No,” Itachi said, simply and dryly. “I'm not.”

With a nod and a sigh, Sakura turned off her chakra and wiped her forehead with the back of one hand.

“Well, Itachi-san, the good news is that I can heal your ordinary corneas with chakra,” she said, seeing his shoulders drop in relief. “But the bad news is that the blindness will continue to progress unless we can figure out how to stop the sharingan from corroding them. The power is so strong that ordinary cells can't handle the load. Or at least that's my theory.”

Sakura's theory was actually much more extensive. She went so far as to test treatments on Sasuke so that the power of the sharingan would not overload the membrane, until he died and there was nothing more to be done.

“Isn't it possible to just keep healing the eyes whenever there is deterioration?” Shisui asked.

“There's a limit to how many times the cells can be healed,” Sakura confessed, feeling her Byakugou tingle. “At some point, there will be nothing left to do and the blindness can no longer be contained. Unless we can better study how to control the amount of chakra the Sharingan sends to the corneas.”

Shisui and Itachi exchanged a glance that she understood well.

“But that can be discussed later,” she said, waving her hand. “I know there are secrets in all shinobi clans and that I have no right to them. I understand. For now, let's do what can be done.”

The next hour was filled with silence in the apartment, except for the relaxing hum of chakra at work. Sakura worked carefully and attentively, separated from the world and focused entirely on Itachi's corneas, slowly rebuilding the tissue and trying her best to shape the path for it to return to its original natural and healthy form.

Shisui, on the other hand, realized that there wasn't much to do after twenty minutes and began pacing back and forth in the room, observing her collection of plants. He touched the leaves, feeling their strange textures, smelled a few here and there, looked again with curiosity at the algae that glowed in the dark, before going to the plant next to the door, which he observed for a long time as if it were a puzzle he didn't understand.

He also spent a few minutes staring at a katana that was displayed on the wall (a gift from the samurai that Sakura knew very little about, so she kept it as decoration). Sakura didn't see it, but Shisui stared at her and returned to the Katana a few times.

Itachi, on the other hand, dozed off. Which was a surprise to himself that, luckily, no one noticed. It was strange how the sound of Sakura's chakra and the feeling of having it in his body was relaxing. The taste of mint in his mouth, the low green light. It was almost hypnotic and should have made him suspicious. But he could breathe like he hadn't been able to in years. And he already felt the pain around his eyes fading, replaced by a feeling of relief that was very rare for shinobi. So, against his better judgment, he stayed there.

When the treatment was over, Sakura sent one last burst of chakra to feel his lungs.

“It would be good if we scheduled another visit for lung treatment,” she said softly, taking her hands away. “Nothing too serious, but some small wounds are reopening. Shisui, can you turn off the light for me? How are your eyes, Itachi-san?”

Itachi blinked repeatedly, keeping his eyelids half-closed.

“Sensitive,” he confessed, receiving a nod from her.

“No serious pain? Nothing going to your head?” He shook his head. “Great. Ideally, you should stay overnight so we can evaluate you tomorrow, but we’re not in a hospital and I only have the sofa for you to sleep on. Avoid any direct light sources until tomorrow morning. If possible, go to sleep immediately. No reading either, until tomorrow. Eight hours of sleep and darkness will be enough for the sensitivity to pass. And I want you to refrain from using the sharingan for at least twenty-four hours. Tomorrow I would like to meet with you to discuss how your vision is. Does that sound good?"

Itachi nodded and stood up. He looked much more mysterious there, in the darkness illuminated only by gold.

Shisui moved away from the entrance and gave Sakura a quick hug.

“Thank you,” he whispered in her ear. “He's not good at showing his feelings, but he's as grateful as I am. Thank you.”

Sakura laughed softly. She didn't even notice that Itachi hadn't thanked her openly, because she already knew how to recognize when an Uchiha was grateful. Lowered chin, silence, eyes that didn't meet hers, nods that showed he was listening. The only difference was that Sasuke used to blush more.

“Don't worry,” she whispered back, before separating and raising her voice. “You should feel an improvement in the pain, blindness, and double vision, Itachi-san. Headaches and sensitivity are not normal after a good night's sleep. I'll be waiting.”

They left, but not before Itachi looked at her from the door, in complete silence.

“I know the clan has secrets,” Sakura found herself saying. “And believe me, I have no interest in meddling in what is not my business. But I spoke the truth when I said there is a limit to what I can do. Please think carefully and consider if there is anything that can be shared with me. The more I know, the better I can help.”

He stared at her for what seemed like hours, until he nodded and disappeared.

Sakura laughed once more, sighing.

Uchihas, honestly...

It came as a surprise when someone knocked on her apartment door a few days later, shortly after breakfast. With Katsuyu hidden behind her neck and covered by her hair, Sakura opened the door to find an Anbu agent, with a panda bear mask covering his face.

She was startled to recognize Hyuuga Neji, even with his face covered. She would recognize that long, shiny, silky hair anywhere. It had been the source of deep jealousy in the genin Sakura for many years.

“Haruno-san,” he said, bowing respectfully. “The Hokage requests your presence in his tower.”

“Oh,” Sakura exclaimed, glancing down at herself with her heart racing a little. “Do I have time to change?”

“Of course, Haruno-san,” he said with another nod. “I'll give you a few minutes.”

With a small smile, Sakura closed the door, leaving him outside. She was usually more polite than that, allowing Anbu agents to come in while they waited, but she needed to leave Katsuyu somewhere and take a moment to compose herself.

As she changed into the beautiful qipao, the white pants that fit her well, and civilian heels (Tsunade had taught her that she always had to look her best in front of the Kages, as a sign of respect), her mind wandered to the man on the other side of the door, alive as ever. She and Neji weren't very close (he died at the beginning of the war, and Sakura became closer to Tenten and Lee before their deaths a few months and years later), but it was still difficult to face ghosts.

She was happy to see him, though, even if it left her with a strange anxiety in her chest. Neji was the first among them to leave, and his death, for Sakura, marked the beginning of the end of everything. Neji was difficult as a child, but the young man who died that night a million years ago was brave, intelligent, and surprisingly kind. She was happy to know that he was alive, older and stronger, that he had the opportunity to live what her Neji never lived.

And with that wonderful hair of his... ugh. She would never get over not knowing what products he used.

“Are you sure it's not better if I go with you, Sakura-sama?” Katsuyu asked as Sakura removed her from the back of her neck and balanced her on her finger.

“It's just a meeting with the Hokage,” Sakura reassured her, leaving her hidden under the leaves of one of the tomato plants that stood in the kitchen window, basking in the sun. “I'll be back in a few hours at most.”

She then returned to Neji, smiling at him as she locked the apartment behind her.

“Lead the way, Anbu-san.”

Neji led her to the hallway of the Hokage's office, leaving her seated on one of the nearby benches after saying that she would be seen in a few minutes. This was a good thing, because Sakura heard, just a few seconds later, an extremely familiar raised voice that made her eyes widen.

Discreetly, she took her right foot out of her heel and touched the sole to the floor, feeling the roughness of the red carpet. Pushing her chakra, she felt her vision expand to the Hokage's room, where...

There were many people.

It looked like a team of fifteen, almost twenty shinobi, all standing with their chakra vibrating with seriousness and concentration. Sakura recognized some of these chakras and felt vomit rise to her mouth, which she held back with great effort.

Taking a deep breath, she lifted her foot off the floor and concentrated her chakra on her stomach, heart, and lungs to try to contain the anxiety that had overcome her. She forced her bronchial tubes to expand beyond normal, pulling and releasing air until her head felt light and her heart returned to a normal rhythm.

I am a trained shinobi, Sakura repeated to herself, closing her eyes. I am a trained shinobi and I will not be overcome by my emotions.

She felt the sensation on her shoulders that she felt when going into surgery. Professionalism, the result of many years of hard work and emotional maturity. Sakura still felt strangely out of her body, but there was an inner coldness that held all the parts of her body together, rather than fragile pieces crumbling into dust on the floor.

“Haruno-san?”

She opened her eyes and saw Neji, still masked and uniformed, standing next to the Hokage's door, now open.

“The Hokage will receive you.”

Unshaken on the outside, Sakura stood up, proud that she wasn't shaking, and walked over to him. Inside her head, she repeated:

My emotions don't control me, I control my emotions. My emotions don't control me, I control my emotions...

The Hokage's room was full, as she had seen. And full of men, since there seemed to be at most four women in that building besides her, and they were all tucked away in some back room. Sakura forced herself to keep her eyes focused on the Hokage, even though all her senses were pulling her toward some specific people near the table.

“Hokage-sama,” she greeted him, heels together, arms at her sides, bowing in respect. “It's a pleasure to see you again.”

“Haruno-san,” he said, his voice neutral, but his face strangely light for an Uchiha. “It's been a while. I hear you've been busy.”

It almost seemed like a joke, if the Uchihas were capable of such a thing. With a small smile, Sakura shrugged, somewhat good-humored despite her nerves.

“My shishou used to say that there's never a dull moment with me,” she confessed. Again, it almost seemed like a smile on Fugaku's face. “A blessing and a curse.”

“Indeed,” he replied, evaluatively, before shuffling some papers on his desk. “You've managed to cause quite a stir in just one month. But I can't say I'm bothered. I've heard that you're the reason we still have Hatake with us, and on behalf of Konoha, I thank you for that.”

With her cheeks flushed with joy, Sakura finally turned to the man standing right next to her. Her eyes, on the way, passed over the entire Team Seven, who were present. Yamato, Naruto (who smiled and waved excitedly), Sai, Sasuke...

Sakura's heart leapt to the base of her throat before returning. Seeing them never got any easier, but there was a calmness about her very similar to what she felt when she saw Ino. She didn't know what it was or where it came from, but she would enjoy it while she could.

“Hatake-san,” she smiled, bowing her head slightly. He repeated the movement, with restraint. "It's good to finally see you. I was wondering about your health after you ran away from the hospital after treatment."

Her words took him somewhat by surprise. Naruto and someone else behind her laughed softly, while Kakashi's cheeks flushed under his mask.

“I didn't run away, I just left,” he defended himself, curtly. Sakura raised an eyebrow, mischievously.

“Funny, from my perspective, it's running away when it happens through the window,” she teased, feeling a strange energy inside her chest that bubbled up and made her blood rush. It almost felt like joy, but strangely more intense. “Maybe it's culture shock and you guys from Konoha do things differently.”

Kakashi's exposed eye flashed with something she couldn't interpret. Beside him, Sasuke's eyebrow rose as he watched Sakura without looking away.

“I was already feeling fine and there was nothing else the hospital could do for me,” Kakashi replied, ignoring what she had said. Sakura, still feeling overwhelmed by this nameless emotional wave, continued to tease him, looking him up and down.

“I didn't know you were a doctor,” she said. “When did you get your degree?”

“I don't need a degree, I know my body well enough,” he snapped, strangely closer. When did one of them move?

“Debatable,” she scoffed. “Not to say ridiculous.”

Clearly annoyed, he retorted:

“And you, when did you get yours?”

Touché. In that world, there were no graduations, signed documents, or academic records. But she didn't need him to know that. With her face close to his (which wasn't easy, since she had to stand on her toes in her heels), she smiled and said:

“When I held a man's stopped heart in my hands and beat it for him.”

His dark eye sparkled again. The sound of someone clearing their throat snapped Sakura out of her trance. She realized, at that moment, that she had forgotten where she was and that there were others around. The world, strangely, seemed to have been reduced to Kakashi and the fact that he looked at her in a way that the other Kakashi never did.

With suspicion.

“If you two are done,” Fugaku scolded them, much to Sakura's embarrassment (and Kakashi's, despite his attempts to hide it. She could read his body language very well). “There is a reason I called Haruno-san to this conversation.”

With her attention captured, Sakura watched as he pulled out what looked like a letter and held it in his hands. He didn't show her what was written or who it was from, but he waved it lightly in the air.

“Your talents have become known throughout the nations, Haruno-san, which I imagine is no surprise to you,” Fugaku said. “A friendly nation has requested your services. I am sending you on a two-week mission to educate their healers on some of your basic skills.”

Her heart pounded.

“Which nation would that be, Hokage-sama?”

“Sunagakure.”

She hears the wind screaming in her ears, the hot sun burning her thin, pale skin. The feeling of sand between her toes and the taste of spice burning the roof of her mouth.

“You once told me that your talents are something that can be learned, so I assumed this wouldn't be a problem for you,” Fugaku said, misinterpreting her silence. Sakura smiled.

“It's not,” she said sincerely. “I like teaching, I've done a little bit of it here and there over the years. And I've always wanted to visit Suna. I just don't know how much I can help in only two weeks. The learning process is slow and usually takes much longer than that.”

“We can't afford to have you away for so long,” he said, without explaining the details. “Especially with the number of shinobi who will be accompanying you. We can't afford to have so many away from the village for longer than that.”

“Oh,” Sakura exclaimed, looking around at the group of men crowding the room. “Will everyone be accompanying me to Suna?”

She frowned, confused, when he nodded in confirmation.

“You don't seem to like the plan,” Fugaku said, raising an eyebrow.

“Well...” Sakura cleared her throat, trying to disagree politely. "I'm sorry, Hokage-sama. I know the final decision is yours, but doesn't this seem a little excessive? I don't believe it's necessary for so many shinobi to come on the mission, especially if they would be better used here."

“Your skills are too important to Konoha for us to have the luxury of letting our guard down,” he countered. “We are fortunate that no one but our allies know you are here. Must I remind you that there is a price on your head in the bingo book, Haruno-san?”

She tried not to show her irritation at his tone of voice.

“No,” she replied, sounding like a bite. Oops. “But it's also worth remembering that I've spent the last few years of my life out there, alone, and I've never been caught or taken where I didn't want to go. I've done very well without help.”

It was Kakashi who said, low and mockingly:

“Except for Orochimaru.”

Sakura turned to him with flashing eyes.

“What I had with Orochimaru was a confrontation with one of his vassals,” she said, turning back to the Hokage. "A confrontation, it's important to note, that I won. Furthermore, I believe such a large entourage may seem offensive to Sunagakure. It may give the impression that we don't think they will return me."

From his seat at the table, Shikaku sighed and muttered:

“I told you...”

Fugaku shot the advisor a dirty look, and Sakura stepped forward, sensing that she had an ally in Shikamaru's father.

“Hokage-sama,” she called his attention, trying to find within herself the charm that had once always made Tsunade give in. "You said we are lucky that my presence has not been leaked. What will happen when a mission with almost twenty ninjas leaves our walls for Suna? Someone might be brave—“ ”Or stupid,“ Sasuke whispered beside her. ”enough to come investigate. It will be much easier to hide me if we act as if this mission is not special and as if I am just another ninja."

“I don't know if it will be possible to hide your hair, Sakura-san,” Naruto commented, with a small smile on his lips. Sakura held back from pinching his cheek. Kakashi watched the exchange like a hawk.

“I can wear a cloak during the trip,” she argued. “It doesn't hide everything, but it helps in the forest. Trust me, I've done this many times before, I know how to go unnoticed.”

One of Kakashi's eyebrows rose and she met his eyes. Sakura could almost hear his voice murmuring, “I doubt it...”

“Besides,” Sakura finished arguing, “as I said before, I'm not just any doctor. I'm trained and I fight very well. If we're attacked, I'll be able to defend myself.”

Fugaku looked at her for a long second before exchanging glances with Shikaku, who looked very convinced. He had probably said all that before when they came up with the original plan.

After a few seconds, the Hokage sighed and said:

“Hatake.” Kakashi blinked, giving him his attention. “You're the leader. What do you think?”

Kakashi, in turn, looked back at Sakura, who tried to keep her face neutral. She didn't know if she wanted to narrow her eyes threateningly or squirm. Kakashi always had very intense eyes, even when only one appeared.

“I believe it's... valid... the arguments about drawing attention,” he said, as if agreeing with her caused him physical pain. That made her feel even angrier. “But I don't think it's wise to trust supposed fighting skills we've never seen.”

It was a trap, but damn it, she didn't care. Maybe showing them a little of what she was capable of would make them stop looking at her that way. And besides, Sakura missed a good fight for fun. It had been a long time.

“This problem can be easily solved,” she said, giving him a sweet smile. “Let's fight, you and me. That way you can evaluate up close what I can do.”

The room fell silent as Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her. Naruto looked so excited he could hardly contain himself.

“That'll be so cool!” he exclaimed, grinning like a maniac. “She can take the bell test! Every member of Team Seven has to take it to join!”

“I can't believe Sakura is trying to join the team, Naruto,” Kakashi said. Her name seemed to roll off his tongue, but she couldn't tell if he thought it tasted good or bad.
She, just because he was annoying her so much, smiled and blushed on purpose like a little girl.

“Well, if it's tradition, who am I to refuse? Besides, maybe it'll be good for us to get to know each other better, since we're going to be spending the next two weeks together.”

And if there was one way ninjas could get to know each other better, it was by exchanging good punches on a weekday afternoon.

Fugaku interrupted their intense exchange of glances with a heavy sigh. He then decided that if Sakura was able to show good enough skills, the team that would accompany her would be reduced to team seven and Shikamaru, who was working as Konoha's ambassador. He then dismissed the shinobi and took Sakura, along with the team and Shikaku, to the training grounds, claiming that it was the Hokage's role to participate in this kind of thing.

(Which she knew was a lie, he was just dying of curiosity to see what she could do, and that made Sakura press her lips together to keep from smiling).

Maybe it was coincidence, maybe it was fate, but they were placed on the farthest field, exactly the one she used to use with the team in her original universe. The sight brought an avalanche of nostalgia to Sakura's chest, who was only half listening to what Naruto kept saying in her ear. She thought he was explaining how the test worked. Maybe, who knows.

Finally, while the others waited on the sidelines, Sakura and Kakashi looked at each other. He watched her take off her shoes and stand barefoot with a mixture of confusion and horror.

“You don't wear shoes when you fight?” he asked, watching her cover her hands with chakra gloves she had picked up at her apartment on the way.

“Not when I can avoid it,” she said, smiling slowly. “It helps me see better.”

Clearly thinking she was making fun of him, Kakashi narrowed his eyes as if he could shoot fire out of them. She would have been terrified if she hadn't seen him reading erotic books before bed.

Hm, speaking of which... she hadn't seen him pull out that piece of pornography at any point so far... funny...

“No weapons either?” he continued, watching as she removed the standard kunai from her belt and put them away from combat. Sakura's smile grew.

“What would be the fun in that?”

Seeming even more bothered by her attitude, Kakashi then removed all the kunai and sharp weapons he had from himself. It was probably his male ego talking, but Sakura didn't care much. She found herself, in fact, very excited for a real fight. It had been years since she had been able to train with a partner (even if, in this case, the partner didn't know he was her partner).

“Let's go one-on-one, then,” he said, now unarmed like her, positioning himself in front of her. Kakashi then held up a pair of bells between them. “This is your test. You have half an hour to take these bells from me. If you succeed, Team Seven will accompany you.”

Sakura nodded firmly. He gazed at her for a second that seemed too long.

And then he disappeared.

She found herself smiling openly and having to stifle a giggle. Oh, good old Kakashi and his dirty tricks. Feigning ignorance, Sakura looked up and around, pretending to search for him.

Then she looked down and expanded her chakra through her feet.

When she found him, she raised her elbow, clenched her fist...

And caused an earthquake.

“Shouldn't you be at home with Oba-chan?”

Shisui smiled at Itachi when he turned over his shoulder, giving him a dirty, unimpressed look. He was hiding among the branches of a large tree, a few meters from where Konoha's most dysfunctional team was gathered.

“Shouldn't you be on watch duty?” his cousin replied instead of answering, turning back to where he was originally looking. Shisui climbed two branches to stand next to him and stretched his neck, getting a perfect view of the training ground.

“I didn't want to miss the show,” he said.

In return, the corner of Itachi's lips twitched in silent agreement.

Sakura was a funny sight next to Kakashi, the top of her head bumping against his shoulders. She seemed more confident than Shisui had ever seen anyone be when entering the field with the copy ninja. She was smiling mischievously, her chin up and her shoulders relaxed.

“She's crazy,” Itachi muttered to himself, echoing his thoughts and eliciting a laugh from him. “She's about to fight Hatake Kakashi one-on-one and she's not even nervous.”

He understood what Itachi meant. As they grew up, Kakashi was a legend. Even though Itachi and Shisui had risen quickly through the ranks and were child prodigies themselves, when their careers began, Kakashi was already there. He was one of the first, the lone wolf and terrifyingly deadly member of the Hatake clan at only thirteen years old, and as leader of the Anbu, he taught them most of what they knew. Shisui had already seen him decimate an entire battalion of enemies in the time it took him to take the kunai out of his pocket. He had already seen him identify a spy in ten seconds inside the same room. Kakashi, in fact, was one of the reasons Shisui had sought to be so good at sunshin no jutsu. As a child, one of his greatest desires was to surpass him in speed.

“If there's one thing I've learned about Sakura, it's that she always has a card up her sleeve,” Shisui muttered back. He watched her take off her shoes and tilted his head as he watched her. “But I agree that she can be a little... unconventional.”

“Crazy.”

“Different.”

“Completely crazy.”

“Peculiar?”

“Unquestionably crazy, the woman is just crazy. Look at her.”

Shisui looked, watching her walk to the center of the field with such excitement that he could swear he saw her skip the last few steps. While barefoot. And apparently unarmed.

“Well... maybe she is a little,” he admitted, unable to control a smile. He really liked that ridiculous girl, and Shisui had always been one of the outsiders of the clan precisely because he didn't bother to hide his feelings. “But you're the one who lets her take care of your health. Who's crazier?”

Itachi, for his part, let out a long sigh.

“Maybe I am,” he muttered. Shisui rolled his eyes and pushed him in reproach.

“Stop being so dramatic, save that for Sasuke,” he joked. “You're not even using your Sharingan to watch them. How long has it been since you last did that? Two years?”

Itachi didn't answer, but the expression on his face was less severe than usual. Shisui knew his cousin like the back of his hand. Since Itachi was born, it had been the two of them against the world, with the little duckling that was Sasuke following them around a few years later. Itachi was the epitome of what the Uchihas were on the outside. Quiet, stern, intimidating, just like his father. But inside him was Mikoto in every drop of blood, a heart that loved deeply and felt every little thing.

“Around that time,” his cousin confessed softly, his eyes fixed on the field. “Today I was able to read the labels on the packages.”

It seemed like that comment was nothing, but he knew it meant everything. Getting an emotional confession out of Itachi was like getting milk from a stone, but Shisui, as stubborn and particularly delusional as he was, sometimes managed it. He wondered if he was the only one who had ever managed to do so, and the answer was most likely yes. With a smile, Shisui patted Itachi on the shoulder.

In the field, Sakura and Kakashi prepared themselves.

Shisui was filled with anticipation as he waited. For weeks, he had been dying to discover the extent of her powers. The bingo book sang her praises, but they once said that Shisui was an expert in “seduction missions,” so he knew he couldn't trust everything written there. How was he supposed to know that the beautiful woman at the bar was the daughter of one of the most wanted ninjas in the Land of Water? It wasn't his fault that he flirted a little. And even less that she flirted back.

With a whistle, the test began and Kakashi promptly disappeared, much to the amusement of Shisui and Itachi, who exchanged conspiratorial glances. Kakashi loved that trick, starting a fight by simply disappearing from his opponent's sight and reappearing literally under their nose. In the ranks of the Anbu, some joked that he should be given the “mole” mask, but never to his face, as no one was brave enough to do so.

To Shisui's surprise, Sakura didn't even blink in surprise, as if she had expected it all along. With a relaxed posture, she swayed on her feet with her hands behind her back, looking from side to side, then up, and finally down.

Her smile widened significantly, and Shisui felt his skin crawl. Impossible. The first time Kakashi did this trick on him, it took Shisui an embarrassing eight minutes to figure out where he was. How...

“...Does she know?” Itachi echoed his thoughts, seeming to talk to himself. “How does she already know?”

But Shisui didn't even have time to try to find an answer because, in the next second, Sakura raised her fist in the air and brought it down, hitting the ground.

The entire village shook with an earthquake.

Shocked, perhaps more than he had ever been in his life, Shisui grabbed onto the tree branches and activated his Sharingan, feeling all his instincts awaken and scream. The birds flew away, the crash momentarily deafening him. He thought about looking at Itachi, but his head wouldn't move, completely focused on the image of the ground in the training field cracking like plaster and spreading kilometer-long fissures.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?”

It was Naruto who shouted, but it could very well have been him. With one punch, Sakura opened a crater in the ground as if it were made of Styrofoam, forcing Kakashi to come out of his hiding place to save himself. His eyes were wide, his Sharingan visible due to the shock.

From his place in the tree, Shisui realized that his heart was racing.

“This...” he tried to say. “This is...”

He didn't see it, but next to him, Itachi, also with his Sharingan activated, nodded in agreement.

Superhuman strength.

The noise from the earthquake was still reverberating, so Shisui couldn't hear what Sakura said to Kakashi. He could, however, see the broad smile on her face and how she seemed very amused by the situation, before she pushed off and rushed into the fight, without waiting for the (literal) dust to settle.

Kakashi was one of the fastest ninjas he knew, but the shock of the situation made him a little slow, as Sakura almost managed to touch him. He dodged at the last second, causing her punch to hit a pile of rocks behind him.

Rocks that turned to dust.

Shisui had seen many crazy things in his life, but nothing had prepared him for this. In seconds, Sakura engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Kakashi, a taijutsu dance that left him dizzy. She couldn't hurt him, but it was clear that Kakashi was not relaxed in any way. His eyebrows were furrowed, his eyes wide, and Shisui recognized many of the moves he kept in reserve for dangerous situations.

Leg, arm, dodge. Arm, arm, leg, dodge. Shisui had seen few kunoichi fighting, and he tried his best not to be discriminatory, but there was always a characteristic elegance about them. They were generally lighter than men, which allowed them to perform different moves. Lighter, but no less precise or deadly. Sakura was as elegant as a dancer, but the dance she performed was anything but light. Her strikes were strong, her steps were firm. She didn't float like Mikoto did before she had Itachi. She was solid, with muscles so hard that Shisui could swear he saw a movement under Kakashi's mask, as if he were grinding his teeth. It was as if she weighed five times her size and was made of steel.

She was also small, which gave her a huge advantage when it came to reaching his waist. She came close to ringing the bells three times before Kakashi, frustrated, decided to create space between them. Finding an opening, he kicked her in the center of her stomach, sending her flying.

It was a kick that Shisui had taken several times growing up and knew hurt so much it made him want to vomit. But Sakura recovered quickly, with a hand glowing with chakra touching where she had taken the blow before she even hit the ground.

When she landed, it was as if nothing had happened.

Shisui found himself holding his breath as he watched the two stare at each other, Sakura with a thoughtful but amused expression, and Kakashi with a serious and tense expression. The moment lasted two seconds before either of them did anything, and she was the first.

In the blink of an eye, Sakura was gone.

Instinctively, Shisui expanded his chakra, searching for her and knowing that Kakashi (and probably everyone else present) was doing the same. But to his surprise, it was as if she had disappeared. He could only sense the chakra of those present and small animals, such as squirrels, cats, rabbits...

From his place, Kakashi stood paralyzed, looking around suspiciously as he came to the same conclusion as Shisui. Where was she?

Another blink of an eye and...

There she was.

Behind Kakashi, small and quiet, like a ghost. Shisui's eyes widened when he recognized the chakra he believed to be that of a small rabbit. It was not possible that a shinobi, even one of her height, could do what she did with such a tiny reserve. That could only mean that she was able to mask her chakra to the point of appearing that small. Which was incredible in itself. Shisui had never been able to disguise himself to less than the size of an Inuzuka dog.

This line of thought occurred in a total of one second, the time it took Kakashi to recognize her presence behind him. Again, Shisui couldn't hear what she was saying, but he could read her lips with his sharingan well enough to recognize that she leaned close to Kakashi's ear and whispered:

“Boo.”

This time, her fingers actually grabbed the bells, but Kakashi, turning at an angle that probably cracked all the vertebrae in his spine, leaped away like a cat, skidding. Sakura followed him, looking frustrated for the first time, raising a fist. He ducked at the last second.

When her punch went through a meter-thick oak tree like it was butter, Shisui's jaw dropped permanently.

The tree fell with a scream and crashed to the ground, knocking down three smaller ones with it. The rest of Team Seven, along with Fugaku and Shikaku, had to run away to avoid being hit. The noise was so loud that it was probably heard on the other side of the village.

But neither Sakura nor Kakashi seemed to care. They were focused on each other as if they were the only people on earth. Kakashi's gaze was intense, deep, as he absorbed her every move. Like healing chakra, Sakura's strength did not seem to be something the Sharingan could copy, which Shisui knew was frustrating for him.

Sakura went on the offensive again, running toward Kakashi, who in turn used earth manipulation to create a wall between them. Probably to buy time and plan, since the skills she was showing caught him off guard.

He gained a total of two seconds, since, like the tree, the rocks, and the ground, Sakura passed through the wall as if it were made of paper, still running.

Another wall erected, another destroyed. For the first time in his life, Shisui saw Kakashi take steps backward, as if to flee.

At the third wall, Sakura launched herself into the air to kick a piece of solid earth toward Kakashi. The movement was so fast that it actually hit him, even though he tried to dodge it. Right on the shoulder, with so much force that his arm hung down, clearly broken.

“Pause.”

The world stood still, silent as the dust fell to the ground. It was Sakura who spoke, now loud enough for everyone to hear, with a completely different posture.

“Let me heal your arm.”

With a confused grimace, Kakashi disguised his pain with a straightening of his spine.

“What?”

“Let me heal your arm, I won't fight you like this.”

“That's stupid of you,” he replied, assessing her. “Do you heal all your opponents?”

“Only those who talk about fighting on equal terms,” she argued back. “You gave up your kunai so we could be on equal footing. I'll be able to heal any injury you cause me until my chakra runs out. It's only fair that you get the same treatment.”

Her words echoed in Shisui's mind. Healing any injury in the middle of battle... Damn, the things he would be capable of doing. The missions he would be able to accomplish.

Kakashi continued to oppose the idea for a while, calling her foolish until Sakura grew tired of him, snorting.

“Just stop being stubborn and let me heal your arm!” she exclaimed, rushing toward him furiously. “I'm sure it hurts like hell, and I've seen injuries like this before. If you wait too long, it may never be the same again.”

Shisui watched as Kakashi's jaw clenched, knowing exactly what he was thinking. That was the most common fear of a shinobi, being sidelined by disability. Fingers amputated by necrosis thanks to a poorly cared for injury, legs and arms locked forever after broken bones calcified...

Not that Shisui thought a broken shoulder would stop Kakashi from anything. The Hatakes were wild like wolves and adapted as such. Kakashi would probably learn to wield kunai with his ears if he had to. But it was a common sentiment within the ninja corps to prefer death over retirement. Those who were unable to fight were seen as failures.

“Time won't stop running” was the only thing Kakashi replied, a way of agreeing without ever admitting that he agreed. Sakura, for her part, rolled her eyes.

“I just need two minutes.”

She actually only needed one. The green light touched Kakashi's shoulder for a total of sixty seconds before Sakura stepped away. In front of everyone, the only sign Kakashi gave that he was healed was a circular movement of his arm, as if checking that everything was in place. Shisui's trained Sharingan gaze, however, caught the relaxation in his posture and the way the mask rose and fell a few millimeters, betraying a small sigh of relief.

They resumed fighting, and Shisui found himself transfixed, watching a synchronized dance that left destruction in its wake. Watching Kakashi fight was always impressive, but he was focused on Sakura, almost obsessed with the way she went on the attack. Kakashi could barely touch her, something unusual for him with the Sharingan, and when he did, she was healed in seconds. Her resistance was ridiculous, and he found himself once again thinking about how she was light years ahead of everyone else in terms of advantage.

When she showed up a month earlier, saying she was a med-ninja who actively participated in battle, Shisui found her amusing but didn't take her particularly seriously. No one did. Was she skilled? Obviously. Smart, observant, talented. But so were many shinobi, including those who worked as doctors at the hospital. That didn't mean they stood much of a chance in real battles against powerful enemies.

But now, seeing her fight for the first time, he remembered the words Itachi had said to him after Sakura saved Hatake, and he couldn't stop thinking about them.

She was like... a soldier. I think we underestimated how exaggerated the bingo book can be.

The kunoichi in front of him seemed like a different person, as if there were two Sakuras. The sweet Sakura, who laughed and teased on morning walks, who healed wounds and saved lives. Beautiful, rosy-cheeked, gentle.

And this Sakura. A Sakura made of stone, capable of starting earthquakes and passing through walls as if they were made of water.

It made him think of the plants in her apartment and the katana displayed in the living room. What else did those plants do? How well did she know how to use that sword? How many secrets could a person of that size have? Shisui wanted to know. He wanted to know everything.

And from the look in Kakashi's eyes, darkening like those of a hungry wolf, he did too.

The sound of an alarm clock left everyone frozen.

Time was up.

And there were the bells, still hanging from Kakashi's waist.

“What?!” Shisui whispered-shouted, shocked. Next to him, Itachi tilted his head, also confused. “She was doing so well! I thought she was going to make it...”

“Don't be sad, Sakura-san!” Naruto shouted, jumping over the fallen oak trunk to approach them, Team Seven following behind. “This test is difficult! Me and these idiots didn't make it on the first try either!”

Sasuke gave him a dirty look, clearly unhappy that his failures were exposed to others, but said nothing to Naruto. He stared at Sakura suspiciously, observing her posture and expression.

Kakashi, meanwhile, sighed, assuming the relaxed posture that Shisui always saw him in when walking around Konoha. A wolf pretending to be a puppy, he used to think.

“It's a shame, Haruno,” he said, his hands in his pockets. “It was a good fight, but unfortunately, you lost.”

The open ground, the destroyed rocks, and the fallen tree would disagree with him.

“Unfortunately, those who fail the bell test cannot join the team,” Kakashi continued, looking almost happy. Interesting. “I think we'll have to send a letter to Kazekage.”

Shisui finally saw what Sasuke seemed so obsessed with staring at on Sakura's face. A small smile grew on her lips, making her look mischievous. She had lost, but she didn't seem upset. In fact, she looked... satisfied. Like a cat that had caught a mouse.

“I lost?” she asked, as if she were silly. “Are you sure?”

Frowning, Kakashi took the bells from his waist and held them out between them.

In the next second, the bells went “poof” and turned into a tree branch.

Everyone reacted with surprise in their own way, except for her, who just smiled more. Even Sai reacted, with an almost imperceptible nod of his head.

Sakura took one hand from behind her back and held out the real bells for everyone to see, jingling and sparkling. Both Fugaku and Shikaku looked at each other in silent conversation. Naruto's jaw dropped. Kakashi, for his part, widened his eyes for a second in amazement.

“What... when...” he stammered. Sakura let out a feminine giggle, the same sound as the bells she was holding.

“Who knows?” she teased. “When I came up behind you? When I healed you? It could have been any time.”

She shook the bells and winked at Kakashi. Shisui would bet his spleen that he saw his cheeks, above the mask, turning pink.

“You let your guard down, Kakashi-san.” She threw the bells into the air and Kakashi caught them, looking at them as if they were an explosive seal. “I should have looked at things from another angle. It seems that it won't be necessary to cancel with the Kazekage.”

What followed was an uproar from Naruto, who showered Sakura with compliments and began begging her to fight with him. Yamato tried to pull him off her, praising her in a calmer manner. Fugaku started a low conversation with Shikaku, glancing at Sai from time to time. Shisui leaned against the tree, his mouth open in shock and his mind racing, and saw Itachi running his hand over his mouth in a gesture of amazement.

Sasuke snatched the bells from Kakashi's hands and began to analyze them as if they were an alien artifact. And Kakashi...

Kakashi continued to stare at Sakura, as if she were the only person present at that moment.

It could have been just the light, but Shisui had trouble distinguishing what he saw in his eyes. It could have been astonishment, it could have been suspicion... He would bet on something in between.

Sakura's trip to Suna took much more planning than usual. Probably because she had a lot more to hide.

It turned out that her nightmares hadn't stopped. Sakura still woke up most nights with a scratchy throat, her face covered in tears, and the echo of Madara's laughter ringing in her ears. It got much better during the months she traveled with Katsuyu, who would fall asleep on her forehead or chest, sending soothing chakra into her veins. It had been years since Sakura had slept so long, which did her health a world of good.

Without Katsuyu, Sakura was forced to place privacy seals on the rooms where she slept, especially during her time in Konoha. They weren't perfect, but they muffled the sound very well, so no one could hear her scream. The only person who saw Sakura's nightmares was Karin, as they shared a room at the Temple of Golden Waters and there was no way to hide it from her.

Karin, for her part, said absolutely nothing when Sakura woke her up on the first night. She just pulled her futon closer to her and fell asleep just a few inches away. They didn't touch each other, but the gesture and the feeling of closeness were enough to calm her down. Sakura knew from her eyes that Karin understood very well what it was like to be haunted by ghosts even in her dreams.

Now she would have to spend three nights in the company of her old team, sleeping side by side in the open air. Kakashi had always been against tents and shelters, except when it rained or snowed, because he believed it affected their ability to hear the enemy coming (Sakura doubted that very much. She always believed he was trying to prevent teenage boys from having too much privacy. It never ended well with all the hormones). But even if that weren't the case, the fabric of the tents wasn't solid enough for the seal to work, unlike wood or bricks.

Katsuyu even tried to argue that maybe she could hide with Sakura, but they both quickly dismissed the idea. First, it was too risky to activate the calming chakra so close to the team. And second, there was the issue of Kakashi's dogs. Sakura doubted he would call them in his presence, since he was using them to watch over her, but in case of an emergency...

“The dogs know my scent,” Katsuyu said as the two discussed the plan on Sakura's bed. “They would recognize it anywhere and in almost any circumstance.”

“Almost?”

“Some herbs smell too strong for them, confusing their noses. The only way to disguise my presence is to always have them on hand.”

Luckily, Sakura had some and filled her pockets with them, but that didn't help with the sleep issue. The card Katsuyu had up his sleeve was a more powerful version of chamomile that was in the Shikkotsu Forest and that he said would help her a lot, as long as Sakura took most of the waking shifts.

Finally, Sakura found herself waiting alone at the gates of Konoha, her belt pouches filled with herbs and supplies. Her backpack was full of... well... basically everything she had, except for the new furniture. The morning was cold, but the first rays of sunlight felt good against her skin. She also enjoyed the silence while it lasted, even though she missed Katsuyu's whispers behind her ear. She was probably asleep on the tomato plant by the kitchen window, where she loved to hang out.

Sasuke was the first to arrive, which didn't surprise her. He was always the first to show up for training and missions, with Sakura close behind. Sasuke once confessed to her that he did so because he used to enjoy the silence and the sound of birds at sunrise, one of the few moments growing up when he felt something close to peace. She beat him this time only because of her anxiety and because she slept much less than she did when she was twelve and was warm and comfortable in her soft bed at her parents' house.

“Haruno,” he said as he approached, with a nod and a blank face. She smiled politely, trying not to stare at him for too long. It was strange to see him so... healthy. Well cared for. Like someone who always had three meals a day and slept soundly at night. She hadn't seen him smile once in that world, but it was easy to see how much happier this Sasuke was than hers. It was in his posture, in his steps. He was tall and strong, but he seemed a thousand times lighter.

“Sasuke-san,” she replied, turning to him. “You're early.”

“You too,” he pointed out, his polite tone of voice not necessarily inviting conversation. Accustomed to this, she continued smiling.

“I wake up early,” she explained. “It's something medicine does to you. Besides, I've gotten used to arriving early. Sometimes I feel like arriving on time is like arriving late.”

'Arriving early is arriving on time, arriving on time is arriving late' was something Sasuke genin once said, while they were still innocently trying to get Kakashi to stop being late. She knew this when she said it and tried to mask a smile when his eyebrows rose. She always suspected it was a thought he learned from his family.

“Hm,” Sasuke said, very eloquently. After a moment of silence, he continued, “You'll have trouble with Kakashi, then.”

He didn't elaborate further, and Sakura didn't take the bait, remaining silent, as he liked. It was a big surprise, therefore, when Sasuke said a few minutes later,
“Are you excited for the trip? I remember you mentioning that you've never been to Suna.”

She tried not to look shocked that Sasuke, of all people, was making small talk. It was the greatest proof that this was a completely different universe. Her Sasuke would always rather eat glass than talk about the weather or, worse, people's feelings.

“Very, actually,” she admitted. “I've always wanted to visit Suna. It was...” Sakura hesitated for a second before shrugging. “It was my father's favorite city.”

“Why have you never been there, then?” Sasuke asked, without sounding curious (which could mean he was curious; it was always hard to tell with him).

“Dad died before he had a chance to take me there,” she lied, hands behind her back, relaxed posture. “And then I started my training. Shishou and I avoided ninja villages, and the civilian cities in the Land of Wind are few and far between and quite inhospitable, to be honest. So the years passed and I just never had the opportunity.”

Sasuke nodded politely.

“What was your shishou's name again?”

“Tsunade.”

“You really don't remember her last name?”

That made Sakura smile. There it was, the sneaky snake.

“It's not a matter of remembering, I just don't know,” she replied, shrugging. “She never told me, and I quickly learned that she never would.”

“It's unusual not to know a ninja's clan,” Sasuke insisted. “Not to mention suspicious.”

“It's unusual for those who come from clans, but not for us, who come from civilian backgrounds,” she defended herself against what was clearly a veiled accusation. “I care very little about the origin of my patients, and it was the same for her. Everyone's blood is the same color red when they're dying.”

Sasuke observed the stubborn expression on her face before imitating her, shrugging his shoulders.

“It just makes me curious as to why she hid that information.

“She probably had her reasons.” Sakura raised her hands to tie her hair into a ponytail. "And it becomes clearer to me the more I come into contact with shinobi. Maybe her clan was destroyed, maybe she was running away, so what? Sorry for being so blunt, but I'll never understand the obsession shinobi have with each other's clans. It's stupid and does more harm than good."

Sasuke seemed offended by her remark, but as soon as he opened his mouth to speak, the sound of approaching footsteps interrupted him. Behind him, Sai appeared, quiet and expressionless, before giving them both that fake smile that Sakura hadn't seen since she was sixteen.

“Good morning, Haruno-san,” he waved, before turning to Sasuke. “Grumpy.”

Sakura found herself smiling openly as she greeted him back. She noticed, however, that an uncomfortable silence fell over them as soon as Sai arrived. Sasuke's demeanor changed completely, and he went from quiet and polite to silent and tense. He didn't even respond to Sai, as if his teammate didn't exist.

This left Sakura with a bitter and confused taste in her mouth, but before she could say anything, someone very loud approached them.

“Hey! Hey! I'm here! I'm not late, am I?!”

Naruto arrived, disheveled and panting. Sakura rolled her eyes affectionately, Sasuke rolled his eyes in annoyance.

“You're not late, idiot,” he growled. “What would you know, if you had a fucking watch.”

“You know I don't get along with watches,” Naruto whined, his backpack falling from his shoulder to the ground. “They always break!”

“They don't break, you idiot, they need you to put new batteries in them!”

Naruto rolled his eyes and snorted.

“Why would I want something that I have to buy other things for it to work? Oh! Sakura-san! Hello! I didn't see you there. Are you okay? Excited for Suna?”

“Good morning, Naruto,” she said, her heart racing in her chest. Kami, she loved that idiot. “I'm fine and very excited. But you shouldn't be talking so loud. It's six in the morning and you can probably be heard in all the neighboring districts.”

“Oh,” he exclaimed, before blushing and lowering his voice. “Sorry.”

Sasuke's look of surprise was priceless, so funny that Sakura had to turn her back to hide her smile. She pretended not to hear him growl:

“What the hell is this?”

And Naruto replied:

“She's pretty scary when she's angry, man...”

The next few minutes passed with only the four of them present, while Naruto filled the silence alongside Sasuke, who looked more like he was being held hostage. Naruto tried to strike up a conversation with her as well, and Sakura responded politely, but she found herself distracted as she watched her three teammates interacting.

Or rather, not interacting.

It was difficult for her to accept Sai when she was younger, but that was because he took Sasuke's place on the team, and both Sakura and Naruto were too hurt at the time to think rationally. He had become the representation of their failure and the destruction of the team. And yet she ended up softening her heart toward Sai and loving him as genuinely as she loved her other boys.

It wasn't easy or quick, but it happened. So it made no sense to her that Sai stood like a statue, completely silent, while Naruto and Sasuke acted as if he didn't exist. In that world, Sai was an original member of Team Seven, wasn't he? He filled the hole left by Sakura's absence. Yes, he was a little strange and always seemed to say the wrong thing, but it was hard to stay mad at him for long.

Why did he seem more like an outcast in that universe than he ever was in hers? What happened? Naruto was an idiot, but even he used to feel a little more sorry for the misfits, since he saw himself in them. And they had been teammates for at least seven years!

Sakura didn't understand, but she knew she didn't like it one bit. It hurt her heart to see how Sai looked exactly like the Sai from Root, with fake smiles, oppressive silence, and an inability to interact. He never became exactly like the others, but she saw his evolution over the years until his death. It was very sad to think that he didn't have that in that universe. And it made her want to punch Naruto and Sasuke, for old times' sake.

With ten minutes to go before they left, Yamato appeared, followed shortly after by Shikamaru. Sakura was very happy to see him, even if she was a little sad. They had become very close during the war, being the main leaders of the action and contingency plans. Along with Shikamaru came Ino, who greeted her as if they had known each other for years and not just a few days. She introduced Shikamaru to her (who stared at Sakura with a bored expression, but very intelligent and curious eyes behind it), telling her that they were on the same team and that Ino took advantage of his visit to meet her before her departure.

“Here, take this scarf,” Ino said, handing her the piece of fabric. “The sun in Suna can be very harsh, and it's customary to wear them in public.”

Sakura already knew this and even thought about thanking her, but as soon as she took the scarf in her hands, she gave Ino a dirty look.

“I look awful in purple, and you know it.”

Ino was obsessed with color charts and personal colorism. She herself had forbidden Sakura, when they were teenagers, from wearing purple outside the house.

“Of course I know, I can't let even foreigners think you're prettier than me.”

Sakura rolled her eyes but kept the scarf anyway. She would be covering her hair with a cape while they were in the forest, but the garment would be really nice to wear when they were in Suna.

She also noticed that Ino didn't like anyone on Team Seven, even though she had been polite to Yamato. She completely ignored Naruto and Sasuke beyond saying a quick “hello” to them and was even worse with Sai, whom she gave a deadly look. This made Sakura even sadder. In her last years of life, Ino and Sai had been inseparable. Ino had been one of the biggest reasons for Sai's evolution, and the two were madly in love.

Kakashi showed up exactly twenty-two minutes and forty-seven seconds late. No one there seemed surprised, even though Naruto spent five whole minutes complaining about it. Sakura didn't say anything, but she made sure not to look away when she greeted him. Kakashi, for his part, did the same while making up a ridiculous story about a cat, an old woman, and a hole in the street.

She didn't pay attention to the story, but she did pay attention to the darkness of his eyes and how Kakashi always had very intense eyes. And an intense face. And an intense body. He was all intense, actually, almost as if she were paralyzed by the gaze of a wolf deep in the forest.

Goosebumps ran down her arms and legs for some unknown reason.

Sakura had asked Ino to water her plants while she was away and made a point of quietly emphasizing more than once that she needed to greet and touch the plant next to the front door (Katsuyu had been warned that Ino might show up and that when that happened, she should hide behind the books on the shelf, where Sakura knew Ino wouldn't bother to look).

Ino, for her part, furrowed her eyebrows before waving her hand as if shooing away a fly.

“All right, all right, I'll touch your weird plant. Thank Kami, you're kind of crazy. Better for me.”

Team Seven, along with two new additions, then set off for Suna, passing under the arches at the entrance to Konoha.

Sakura could feel Kakashi's gaze on her back the whole way.