Chapter Text
Life had been… good. Better than good.
Sometimes, when Sakura woke in the middle of the night tangled between warm arms and steady heartbeats, she almost couldn’t believe this was her life. Her soulmates were attentive in ways that still left her blushing. Each of them made sure she was cared for in their own fiery, relentless ways, with nights that left her muscles aching and too weak to stand. Her cheeks warmed, fingers fidgeting against her lap as her thoughts strayed. She’d never forget the first night she’d been “shared”, with the Uchiha brothers no less. Their hunger for her mirrored in one another’s eyes, their rivalry manifesting in the way they drove her past her limits. It had been so intense she hadn’t been able to walk the next morning, her legs trembling too much to even climb from bed. Madara and Izuna had smirked at her struggle before helping her off the bed. She’d refused to use medical ninjutsu to heal herself, choosing instead to savor the reminder etched into every sore muscle and bruise. After that, it had become routine, alternating her nights between the Senju compound and the Uchiha compound. Her own home sat lonely and quiet more often than not. She rarely slept there anymore.
On the surface, everything was perfect. She should have been happy, was happy. But…
Sakura lay awake some nights staring at the ceiling, a pit forming in her stomach. Lately, the dreams had returned. Dreams of her past life, the battlefield, her teammates, the valley of the end. Dreams that had stopped long ago, once she had accepted her fate of being pulled back in time. At first, she brushed them aside, but they kept coming back. She couldn’t shake the feeling that it meant something. A premonition. An ending. Her soulmates felt it too. Hashirama would cup her cheek with that worried softness that made her heart ache. Tobirama’s questions grew sharper, his eyes studying her as if he could find the answer just by looking at her alone. Madara grew restless, his temper simmering closer to the surface, protective to the point of snapping. Izuna clung harder, watching her with an intensity that made it impossible to hide her unease. She tried to block them out, closing her thoughts and putting up walls in the bond so they wouldn’t stumble onto the truth of where she had really come from. She told herself it was to protect them, to protect the fragile peace they had built, but every barrier she raised only made her, and them, more anxious, more antsy. They could feel the distance, and it frayed at all of them in ways she didn’t know how to mend.
She tried to smile, tried to reassure them. But the bond hummed too clearly between them.
Then, the Kyūbi came into the picture.
Hashirama stood at the head of the table, his gaze sharp and steady.
“We cannot wait until it reaches our border,” Tobirama cut through the din, his tone clipped and cool. “If that beast crosses into Fire Country, entire villages could vanish,"
"Then how do you suppose we take care of this tailed beast? It's pure chakra from the Sage of six paths himself," Izuna cut in.
“The beast’s power will surge again and again. We must subdue it, restrain it. My Mokuton may be able to bind its chakra into stillness, at least for a time until we find a way to seal it.” Hashirama countered firmly.
“Binding it is only half the battle. It will rage until its chakra devours the restraints. To tame something like this, you need more than walls. You need will strong enough to bend it.” His obsidian eyes flickered in the dim light. “If it comes to that, we can join forces and face it”
Sakura sat quietly at the edge of the council chamber, her presence begrudgingly tolerated by the elders because of her role as medic and because, whether they liked it or not, she was soulbonded to the Hokage and his closest allies. Her hands folded neatly in her lap, her posture perfect, but inside she was drowning. Kurama. If the Kyūbi reached Konoha now, the village could be reduced to ash. Had this ever happened in her timeline? She couldn’t remember ever reading about the Kyūbi appearing this early, roaming unchecked during the Warring States. Maybe it had been hidden, buried in history, or maybe this was something new, something her very presence had already changed. Her chest tightened, but she forced her chakra calm, closing the thread of the bond so no one could sense her dread, using every ounce of her legendary control. Still, Hashirama’s gaze flickered to her, faint concern in his eyes. Tobirama’s narrowed in suspicion. She only offered a thin, polite smile and said nothing. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't realize the council adjourned.
Within hours, Konoha felt less like a home and more like a military camp bracing for war. Sakura busied herself in the hospital, thinking about all the possibility that this plan could backfire, and that someone she cares deeply for, ends up dead. She can't rely on her knowledge of the future when it's no longer following the same path she knew.
"Sakura, are you okay?" Izuna's worried thoughts echoed in her head.
"We'll be fine, Sakura. With the all the clans working together, we're bound to be successful with this mission," Hashirama reassures her.
"I'm going," she said at last. She was met with their protests but she forced her stubborn will to cut through the bond, making them feel that it was non negotiable.
At dawn, they moved. No one spoke much during the march, the tension was a weight all its own, dragging at each step. When they got closer, the air itself had changed. It grew heavy, saturated with chakra so thick Sakura could feel it vibrating against her skin. She had felt the Kyūbi’s presence before in her old life, seen its power through Naruto… but standing here now, in this time, it felt different. When they crested a ridge, the horizon burned faint orange with reflected light. Far below, trees lay flattened in spirals, as if struck by an invisible fist. And in the distance, silhouetted against the moon, a massive fox shape moved, its tails lashing and splitting the sky. A ripple of unease passed through the ranks.
The Kyūbi’s roar reached them, low, guttural, shaking the earth beneath their feet. Birds erupted from the trees in panicked flocks. Chakra pressure slammed down like a physical weight, forcing weaker shinobi to their knees. Her heart lurched, her bond flaring violently inside her chest. She felt Hashirama step forward, chakra already rising, his expression grim but steady. Madara’s Sharingan blazed instantly, his lips curling into a snarl. Sakura’s throat went dry, her pulse thundering in her ears. The sheer malice radiating from the beast was suffocating, like drowning in hate. Yet even as her knees threatened to give, she forced herself to step forward, not back.
“Formation!” Hashirama barked, hands flying into seals. From the earth, thick walls of Mokuton burst upward, rising like titans to pen the beast. “Restrain it, don’t scatter!” The Kyūbi crashed into the barriers, nine tails slamming down like battering rams. Wood splintered and groaned, roots twisting desperately to hold. Tobirama was already moving, paper seals glowing as he anchored formation after formation into the ground.
“Containment lines in sectors three through six! Keep your distance, do not let the chakra touch you!” His voice cut sharp and cold through the din, a steady anchor in the storm.
Izuna and his squad darted in low, blades flashing in arcs of steel, harrying the fox’s limbs.
“Overgrown beast!” Izuna shouted, his voice ringing with mocking bravado. His smirk widened when the fox snarled, eyes burning like molten coals.
Madara's chakra surged outward like a tidal wave, eyes spinning red and black. The Kyūbi’s massive frame faltered, its movements stuttering under the weight of his Mangekyo Sharingan. For the first time, the battlefield hushed in awe. Then, the fox roared again as it broke free, his tails lashing and chakra flaring so violently the air warped. The pressure slammed into Sakura. She stumbled, dropping to one knee.
“Sakura!” Hashirama shouted, his head snapping toward her.
Her vision blurred, the edges of the battlefield dissolving into firelight. When her gaze lifted, it locked with Kurama’s. For the briefest heartbeat, something flickered in those crimson eyes, a flash of recognition that made her breath hitch. The bond inside her screamed, thrumming like it had been struck. Kurama’s roar shattered the moment, a sound that rattled her bones. With terrifying speed, the Kyūbi lunged, nine massive tails tearing through Hashirama’s wooden walls like they were nothing but twigs, and they were all aimed for her. Hashirama’s voice called her name again, but it was drowned beneath the deafening crash of trees splintering. Madara was there in an instant, his Sharingan blazing as he stepped into the path of the beast. Tobirama was already flanking, water jutsu spiraling to deflect one of the tails. Izuna’s hand was at her waist in an instant, tugging her back from the front line, his crimson eyes fixed on the beast with equal parts fury and fear.
“Stay behind me,” he growled, his grip almost bruising. “I won’t let it touch you.”
But her gaze clung to Kurama, to the way its eyes still burned into her. A tail whipped through Tobirama’s defense, the shockwave tossing him backward. Madara’s roar of fury shook her to her core as his Susanoo flared to intercept another strike. Hashirama’s wood dragon surged upward, coiling tight around the Kyūbi’s torso, but even that titanic force buckled beneath the beast’s raw chakra.
Izuna’s grip on her tightened. “Move, Sakura!” he barked, but she couldn’t. Her feet rooted to the torn ground, her eyes locked on Kurama’s. The tails came crashing down, the impact so great it threw up an explosion of dirt and fire. The shockwave slammed into her chest, hurling her back. Pain shot through her, sharp and blinding. She dimly heard someone scream her name, Hashirama, maybe Madara, maybe all of them at once, but the sound was lost beneath the roar of her own pulse. Her bond shrieked in her ears, a thread snapping taut, pulling her somewhere else. The last thing she saw before darkness swallowed her was Kurama’s eyes still locked on hers, the faintest flicker of knowing burning in their crimson depths. And then..
Nothing.
**
Something inside Hashirama twisted. He felt it through the bond, it was taut, straining like a bowstring being drawn too far. His heart lurched in his chest as dread clawed up his spine.
And then it snapped.
The absence hit him like a kunai through the ribs. He felt the tether disappear, her steady hum of chakra that was always there no longer felt. He reached for her frantically, calling her name in his mind, desperate to hear even a whisper of her presence. But there was only silence. His silence. Fear colder than any battlefield wound sank its claws into him. He had always been able to feel her, and now there was nothing. Just emptiness where she should have been. He shouted her name, voice hoarse and raw, but even as he moved to shield her, dread gnawed at him: What if he was too late?
**
The bond’s scream cut through Madara’s focus like a blade. One moment it pulsed violently, the next it collapsed into nothing. His Sharingan whirled, trying to make sense of what his body already knew, the tether was gone. His roar shook the battlefield. Rage, hot and poisonous, surged through his veins as his Susanoo flared in full force, hammering back Kurama’s tails with savage blows. But beneath the fury was terror. A cold, unrelenting terror that someone had dared take her from him.
“Sakura!” he bellowed, the name raw on his lips. He searched the bond for her, clawed at it with every ounce of chakra he had, but there was nothing. Just silence, unbearable and wrong. His heart thundered as his teeth bared in a snarl. If she was lost, he would tear the world apart to find her, even if it meant dragging her back from the void itself.
**
Tobirama’s world had always been sharp edges and clear lines, and the bond had been an anchor, a steady thread woven through the chaos of war. When it snapped, it was like a piece of himself had been ripped clean away. His jutsu faltered, water spirals collapsing into spray. He stood rooted for a heartbeat too long, eyes wide, mind racing. He reached instinctively through the tether for her voice, her thoughts, the faint hum of her chakra, but all he met was emptiness.
“No,” he whispered, the word barely audible, a denial that tasted bitter on his tongue. He forced himself back into motion, water surging once more as he flanked the Kyūbi, but his chest was hollow. The silence where she should have been gnawed at him, colder and sharper than any wound.
**
Izuna felt the pulse of her chakra through the bond one second and then in the span of a breath, it was ripped away. Her weight was torn from his grasp, the explosion hurling her back, and his hand snapped closed on nothing but empty air. Panic clawed through him as the tether inside his chest convulsed once, then severed, leaving him hollow. “No!” His voice cracked, raw with a desperation that scraped his throat. He threw himself forward, sliding to his knees beside her, clutching at her limp form as though he could hold her soul in place through sheer force of will. His Sharingan spun uselessly. He called to her in his mind again and again, begging for even the faintest whisper in return. Nothing. Only silence. And then, just as his hands closed harder on her shoulders, her body began to fade. At first he thought it was his vision failing from the panic, the edges of her form dissolving into light. But no, it was real, she was slipping away, vanishing right there in his arms.
“No, no, no—” His voice broke as he clutched her tighter, trying to pin her to the earth, to him. His fingers dug in, but they met only air as her body dissolved completely, gone as though she had never been there at all. The battlefield still raged, but for Izuna, it was silent. His chest felt carved hollow, the severed bond a wound deeper than any blade could make. She had vanished, and he hadn’t been able to stop it. Tears burned in his eyes, but fury lit beneath them, coiling with self-hatred until he shook with it. I failed. I let her slip through my hands. I promised to protect her, and I couldn’t even hold on when it mattered most. Izuna was still on his knees, hands buried in the dirt where her body had been, chest heaving as though he could drag her back with every ragged breath. His hair clung to his sweat-damp face, his eyes wild and red with the fury of his spinning Sharingan. The pounding of feet broke through the haze. Hashirama, Madara, and Tobirama closed in on him, their expressions carved from fear and disbelief.
“Izuna!” Hashirama barked, dropping down beside him. His eyes darted wildly across the churned battlefield. “Where is she? The bond— I can’t feel her!”
Madara’s gaze snapped to his brother, chest rising and falling like a storm. “You were with her. What happened?” His voice was sharp, fraying at the edges.
“She—” Izuna’s throat locked. He forced the words out, voice breaking. "She just disappeared,"
Tobirama froze mid-step, the disbelief stark in his pale eyes. “Disappeared?”
“She was gone before I could even—” Izuna’s voice cracked into silence. His fists slammed into the ground, the tremor shaking through his shoulders. He couldn’t bring himself to look at them, at the disappointment he was certain they carried.
Madara’s mouth twisted, fury rippling across his features. His Susanoo crackled into half-formed existence, a living snarl of chakra reflecting his rage. “I’ll tear this beast apart for touching her.” Before any of them could say more, Kurama roared. The sound vibrated through the battlefield, a tidal wave of chakra and fury that sent dust spiraling into the air. The four of them snapped their heads up in unison, rage burning hotter than their exhaustion. Together they stood, forming a line, their killing intent rolling off them in waves as their glares locked onto the Kyūbi.
“So.” The voice was guttural, rumbling like stone breaking apart, yet unmistakably clear. The Kyūbi’s jaws curled in a vicious grin. “Pinky found herself strong mates.”
The words froze them where they stood. For the first time, none of them moved, breath caught between disbelief and shock. Even Madara, whose snarl had been on the edge of erupting, stilled, his Sharingan narrowing.
Hashirama’s brows furrowed, his voice low. “…Did it just—”
“Yes,” Tobirama cut in, pale eyes sharp and tense. His hand twitched toward his blade. “It spoke.” Madara’s crimson gaze burned hotter, flickering between the beast’s grin and the empty patch of dirt where Sakura had been. The fury in him only deepened. Izuna’s chest heaved, his nails digging into his palms. All four of them stared up at the Kyūbi with killing intent thick enough to choke the air.
Hashirama’s voice was low, uncertain. “You… know her?”
Kurama’s laughter shook the ground, dark and booming. “I’ve known her longer than you think,” The beast’s tails lashed, cracking the earth like whips. “And now, she’s gone from your reach,"
Izuna’s hands clenched into fists, his breath ragged. “Where is she?” His voice was raw, desperation cutting through the rage.
Kurama tilted its massive head, eyes glinting with cruel amusement. "“She’s somewhere else now. A place your chakra can’t reach, where time itself broke trying to make sense of her.” He paused, gaze sweeping over each of them. “If you really mean to follow her…” His grin widened, teeth flashing like fangs in the firelight. “…then be ready to lose everything you know." Silence fell like a blade between them. Hashirama’s heart pounded, Madara’s teeth bared in fury, Tobirama’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. And Izuna… Izuna could barely breathe.
Kurama’s grin widened. “Decide quickly, because your window won't be open forever,"