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Chapter Text

Chapter 1 Back Again

The last thing I remembered as Hermione Granger was the bright green light of the Avada Kedavra. I'm glad to say that at least my murder was quick and painless. The war against Lord Voldemort had long since ended and I was already nearing my sixties (and looking great I should add) by the time I was killed.

Ron and I had long since broken up after our " after war relationship high " had settled down. We just weren't right for each other that way. We both agreed that we were better off as friends. Ron later got together with a muggle girl and settled down with their own small army of children.

Harry married Ginny... only to later divorce. Something about them not agreeing on future children's names. Harry then married Luna and they traveled the world together with their two kids. Ginny shortly after the divorce hooked up with Malfoy. They took a long time to get married. Which, if I'm being honest, I thought would never happen. Those two were always at each other's throats only to break out into intense make-out scenes and later disappear to never be seen until at least a day later.

I on the other hand never settled down. I had a few relationships here and there but nothing ever lasted. My life was too hectic to really settle down. With Harry traveling the world and Ron living in the muggle world, I was left to help pick up the pieces of the broken wizarding world. I became the youngest Minister ever elected, I pushed through new laws to make life better for the many different types of magical creatures. I helped hunt down remaining death eaters, learned some new skills, figured out how to shapeshift from my many babysitting adventures with Teddy, and even started a chain of successful stores to help give out more jobs.

Later in life, I ended up with custody of Teddy when Andromeda died. Harry was somewhere lost in Atlantis when that happened. At that point, I had already given up on marriage and decided to raise Teddy as my own. I threw huge parties for his birthdays, took him on all my business trips so that he could see the world outside of wizarding Britain, and I even got him a godforsaken broom to fly on. I got him through Hogwarts and later when I decided to finally step down as Minister he took over with one of Ron's many sons as his secretary. He later married Harry's daughter Lily and they gave me my first grandchild Remus Sirius Lupin.

By the time my grandson was born, I had really mellowed out with my age. After all, I was retired and done with most of my adventures. I wanted nothing more than to relax with my grandson and wait for Teddy and Lily to pop out another grandchild for me.

Then came the epic battle that led to my death. A supposed daughter of Tom Riddle showed up. I can't really remember her name but she tried to take down my son and rule the world or something. I didn't really hear the rest after she threatened Teddy. Just know that there was time travel and a battle and Harry and Ron even showed up somehow. I think Cedric was alive in one of the timelines created. It was a great adventure just like old times... only this time I died. I died protecting my son Teddy from the killing curse. I lived a good life and I thought it was finally time to settle down in the afterlife.

Or so I thought.

When I first began to regain my senses, I realized that I was a baby. A tiny little ball of chubby limbs with two strangers hovering over me with a camera. It was confusing at first but I soon realized that I had just died. I'm sad to say it took me a bit longer to realize I had been reborn. But to be fair, I was under the impression that I was in some sort of weird limbo. After all, how else would you explain my new mother's constant need to make me suffer by changing my outfits multiple times a day? Or my fathers need to take picture after picture of every little thing I did, no matter how embarrassing.

Once I began to accept my new reality, I began to work on using my magic. I, Hermione fucking Granger, the best witch of her age, brains of the golden trio, mother of the Minister of Magic was not going to let anything stop me from using the magic I fought a war for. Not even reincarnation. While I was working on that I also decided to start learning about my new world. After all, who would I be if I couldn't handle more than a couple of tasks at once?

I first started learning by paying attention to my parents' talks, and they talked a lot. Mostly through intense arguments which would quickly get abandoned if I started to make "cute baby noises." This was a big difference from my previous parents how were of the more quiet and studious type. But I would use this difference to my advantage.

I learned that my father with gravity-defying pink hair and blue eyes was named Kizashi Haruno. He worked as some sort of low ranked soldier. My mother who had oddly long blonde bangs gathered in the center of her face was named Mebuki Haruno. I didn't know her maiden name, but she was also a lower-ranked soldier like my father. It took a while to learn my name (because my parents would not stop calling cute pet names), but I later learned when practicing my wandless magic.

I was placed on a giant pillow after my mother had changed me into a pink frilly dress. I had long since lost the will to fight against my mother's constant need to re-dress me. My father was hovering behind my mother with a camera ready to take more pictures.

My mother had just taken away my favorite toy (a stuffed dragon who I named Charlie) and placed it behind her to keep me from seeing him. And let me tell you, I was not having that. I may be a newborn but nothing was going to stop me from chewing on my favorite toy. After throwing a baby tantrum over my lost dragon, my father tried to pacify me with a giant princess ragdoll. I did not want that doll, I wanted Charlie. With my temper getting the best of me, I reached out my hand towards the dragon and tried to summon it.

I failed and ended up reaching too far. I quickly found myself rolling off the pillow. My parents scrambled to reach me but I reacted first. Summoning what little magic my current body had, I created a bubble shield. My shield rolled a bit around the ground but physically I remained floating inside. Gently I lowered myself to the floor as I slowly lowered my bubble shield.

"Sakura," my parents cried as they picked me up and hugged me. They squished my tiny body between their giant ones and kept crying my name over and over again. Normally I would have started to squirm when they did this but I was too tired from my casting my first successful spell to fight them. Besides, not only did I perform some flawless magic as a newborn, but I also learned my name.

Sakura, Sakura Haruno. Hmm… why did that name sound familiar.

My eyes widen as I quickly began to realize where I knew that name from. It was from one of the old cartoons my son used to watch. I believe the show was called Naruto after some orange wearing ninja. Oh, how this brought back some fond old memories of Teddy running around with a headband on his head and causing accidental magic as he tried to mimic the character on the screen. I had bought him so much merch from that show that naturally I picked up a few bits of information about it. Now... I didn't remember most of the plot but I did remember some of the main characters. Such as myself. But I don’t think my character played that much of an important role in the show.

My parents started talking about what I just did and what it means but I was to busy going over what I remembered about the plot of Naruto.

If memory serves me right, Naruto, the main character, was a young boy who the entire village picked on. I don't remember the reason exactly but it had to do with a nine-tailed fox demon inside him.

Oh, how Teddy used to hug his stuffed nine-tailed fox to sleep. So cute. Wait I'm getting sidetracked.

Okay, so Naruto got the demon after the village was attacked. A lot of people died, he became an orphan. I don't think he made any friends until he was put on a ninja team and shared his first kiss with his future best friend… Saucy ? I don't remember the moody boy's name but I remember that kiss scene. Teddy was so shocked, he accidentally broke the TV with his magic. The same TV later came alive and ran away but that's a different story. Teddy was so sad that he couldn’t see the rest of the episode that I promised to rewatch that episode with him. I had to buy the DVDs to do that but Teddy was so happy I was watching cartoons with him. Probably shouldn't have zoned out after that episode. I really could have used that info. Some sort of test happened, can't really remember the details but I think the goal was to feed Naruto.

Looking back, Naruto had a crappy childhood. Not unlike Harry did. Both were orphaned shortly after birth, both had a demon of some sort placed in them, and both gained some nice abilities from those demons. Personality-wise he was probably more like Ron, especially in the way they ate. But I could probably see a bit of Teddy in him with his shapeshifting.

By now my parents had calmed down and were now just taking pictures of me. I was back on the pillow, this time that princess doll on one side and a large stuffed unicorn on the other. They were probably trying to keep me from falling again. After all, my mother was now standing very close to me as my father took picture after picture.

Alright, my goal for now (besides getting stronger at magic) is to befriend my future teammate Naruto before we enter the children's ninja school.

And so began my life as Sakura Haruno.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2 Kidnappings

It seems that I'm doomed (or maybe blessed in this case) to have curly hair. I remember the original Sakura having somewhat straight pink hair, but apparently using my magic makes my hair curl. Luckily my hair was only wavy with curls past my ears allowing me to have straight bangs. Blessings come in small miracles in seems. Which was great because I didn't want to suffer having a puffball over my forehead again just because I wanted blunt bangs. Compared to my original bushy curls, this was much more manageable... and dare I say cute.

Now if only my forehead wasn't so big. I knew that I would eventually grow into it, but right now it's just reminding me of my old buck teeth. Thanks again to whatever god of this world who allowed me to have straight bangs. I know its vain, but I'm truly grateful.

By now I've been in this world for three years.

Suffering.

Suffering through the boredom that is my restricted childhood. What kind of parents don't take their daughter outside? I can't be expected to stay in this house forever! I have already tried escaping this house multiple times but my tiny body just did not have the stamina or speed needed to make it past the front yard. But like hell, I was going to let that stop me. I had a neglected child to nurture. The mother in me needed to make sure Naruto was okay while the grandmother in me needed to spoil him. But the current child in me just wanted to play with a kid my age for once.

I was so bored. Bored. Bored. BORED.

Sure I had magic now but so far I could only perform shields successfully. I could also use runes (blood runes but hey who cares) but my mother did not like it when I tried to carve symbols into the walls. That maybe had to do with the fact that I appeared to be a three-year-old child stabbing the walls with a sharp kitchen knife. But regardless of my parents' effort to keep me away from sharp objects, I had succeeded in carving a good amount of runes throughout the house. And with a simple watery puppy-dog-eyes look, my parents would not try to cover up my work. But just in case, I also carved a few under the house were only my tiny body fit. Now I just needed to bleed on them to truly activate them. But that was a plan for later.

A fair amount of time was devoted to studying up on this world. I was lucky enough to be blessed with parents who never threw out their old school day supplies. From their dusty textbooks buried deep in the attic, I learned about this world's chakra. It was used in a way similar to magic yet different from the energy used power my spells. I tried practicing a few chakra control exercises such as walking on the walls, but my parents soon began to try and stop my progress with that too. They had quickly figured out what I was trying to attempt and the thought of their wild-child daughter walking on the walls and ceilings was not a reality they wanted to see just yet. At least not until I was enrolled in the ninja academy.

You see, after the whole bubble shield incident, my parents were convinced I was some new kekkei genkai. I certainly didn't help in that false belief by continuing to practice my shields. I liked it when my parents praised my abilities. Their praises helped feed my ego. Like when Dad said that he expected no less from their miracle child and Mom readily agreed.

Just like in my previous life, I was an only child in this life too. Mom didn't have that many good eggs and the chances of me being born were so slim it didn't even count as 1%. So when they found out they were pregnant with me, they were beyond overjoyed. Mom stayed in the hospital the whole time she was pregnant because they didn't want to risk anything happening to baby me. After all, the chances of them having a child after me were non-existent.

This also explained my parents' constant need to photograph my life. For example, the dreaded princess photoshoot that ending up leading to their "discovery" of my abilities. They thought my magic was a new bloodline limit, something to be passed down to my future kids. Technically... they're not wrong… but technically they were also not right.

The subject of kekkei genkai had been brought up multiple times to me. It wasn't written about my parents' old school stuff but Mom and Dad explained the general idea to me. It was supposed to be this sort of special technique that only people who shared the same blood could do. Only the top clans had these abilities. It was through those talks with me that I learned about the different ninja clans of Konoha and their special techniques. Like the Byakugan from the Hyuga clan, the Sharingan from the Uchiha clan, and the shadow bending from the Nara clan. And now my parents thought there would also be the shields from the Haruno clan.

And it was that belief that led to a group of officials coming to my house to watch me perform my shield spells. Even the god damn Hokage was there.

There was no backing out at that point. Not without making my parents look bad. And my parents were good people so I just did a couple of shields while some other clan members tried a couple of attacks on me. Luckily nothing got through my shield. Unluckily, I was not able to keep them up that long.

After nearly getting roasted by an Uchiha clan member, the same Uchiha guy tried to copy my shield spells with his Sharingan. This was to help test the theory of me being a new bloodline. If he could copy my shields then I wouldn't be considered a new bloodline. But if he couldn't I was in. If I was being honest, I wanted in on this exclusive club that was the kekkei genkai. It could add to my character who I was still pretty sure was useless in the original series. Finally, after the Uchiha guy failed miserably, I was labeled as having a new kekkei genkai.

And thus started the kidnapping attempts.

If I knew how much trouble my new title was going to bring me, I probably wouldn't have practiced magic so much. Maybe. No… I would probably still be in the same situation I find myself now. After all, I was bored. Even now I'm bored.

"Hurry up and grab the girl," a masked unimportant ninja said.

"I'm trying," masked unimportant ninja #2 said. "But the kid won't drop the damn shield!"

I was sitting up in bed and watching as a group of four ninjas tried to get through my shields. One was at my window keeping lookout and two were banging my shields with swords while another one was trying to physically push it. Looking at them, I knew what I had to do. Hugging Charlie tightly I took a deep breath and screamed like a bloody banshee. With the high-frequency pitch that only a little girl could have, I let out one of my biggest ear-piercing screams.

The ninjas started freaking out. The ones who were physically closer to me were covering their ears in pain. The one guarding the window quickly came over to try and calm me down.

"Shhh, shhh little girl," unimportant ninja #1 said. "It's okay, we're not here to hurt you. We just want to be friends." I quieted down for a second (just to catch my breath) and the ninjas physically relaxed in relief. Then I let out an even louder screech. I needed back up soon, my magic wasn't going to be able to hold up the shield for long.

Before the ninjas could try and calm me down or run away, a gang of Anbu ninjas and my parents burst through my room. Mum busted down the door and attacked the first ninja in her sight with a frying pan. Down went unimportant ninja number 2. Dad body tackled another ninja to the ground and started to repeatedly punch the man on the floor. The Anbu handled the other three with considerably less violence.

I watched as two ninjas were beaten to a bloody pulp by my parents. The unimportant ninjas had long since stopped moving, but I'm sure my parents just needed to let out their parental rage. I know I would whenever someone threatened Teddy.

Like the time a muggle flasher tried to show my son his penis. I beat the man to death with my purse. Officially that murder never happened on record. Instead, he died of natural causes on the way to the morgue after being mysteriously beaten. Oh, the pleasures of political power. I later erased that incident from Teddy's mind when I realized he couldn't look at the color red anymore. So to him, that incident never happened.

Mom and Dad finally finished their 11th double murder this month before coming to check on me. Even if I wasn't a war veteran who had seen bloody murder before; I feel like I still would have been numb to killing by now. You would also think the Anbu would have stepped in to stop my parents at some point, but I guess the bloodthirsty gazes of Mom and Dad had would stop anyone from intervening.

I soon found myself squished in the familiar hug that was my current family's version of the group hug. It consisted of my parents squishing their cheeks against mine as they smothered me in physical affection. It was the Haruno Family Hugs, now with blood.

"Are you okay Sakura?" Mom cried.

"Did the bad ninjas hurt you?" Dad also cried.

"I'm fine," I assured them through my squished cheeks. "But Charlie's covered in blood now." I held up my green dragon to show them the blood splatter on Charlie. Mom quickly turned toward the now tied up ninjas and dead bodies with a fire burning in her eyes.

"WHICH ONE OF YOU INTRUDERS BLED ON MY DAUGHTER'S FAVORITE TOY!" Mom screeched.

Everyone, including the Anbu, flinched. I could see one Anbu about to point out that is was technically my parents that got Charlie covered in blood. But another Anbu quickly stopped him and instead pointed to one of the bloody corpses on my bedroom floor. Mom pounced on the body who later screamed with fear. Huh, I guess he wasn't dead after all.

And so incidents like that started to happen. It was now time to activate my runes.

Late at night while my parents slept, I crept into the kitchen and stole a small knife. I would need it to bleed on all those runes I carved.

When morning came, the village found that my entire house was missing. Invisible to everyone but my parents and me.

I had successfully recreated a version of the Fidelius Charm with me as the secret keeper. My parents quickly took the new house feature in stride after I explained it to them. They did, however, have a thing or two to say to me about playing with knives again.

Later, when the Hokage summoned me (and my parents), I was asked why they could not find my house anymore.

I looked at the Hokage with the most innocent expression I could muster and said, "I put it under a giant invisible shield to keep me and my family safe."

I then gave the Hokage a big toothy grin. I made sure to hug Charlie close to me to add to my cute and innocent look. My parents gushed at how cute I was. Dad took multiple pictures from multiple angles. At some point standing on top of the Hokage's desk to get the perfect shot.

"And how did you manage this?" Mr. Hokage asked. He looked like he was about to have a major headache. Dad's constant picture taking probably wasn't helping.

"I don't know, I just did," I said with a shrug. "But now pervert kidnappers can't get me or my parents." Once again I gave the Hokage a toothy grin. Mom squeezed me saying how right I was. The Hokage buried his face in his hands.

"Honestly I don't see the problem," I said. "Just as long someone patrols the general area of my house that only my parents and I can find, this shouldn't be an issue. If anything, now I won't get any new bloodstains on my carpet and Charlie won't need nearly as many baths anymore.

I held up my plush dragon who before the many kidnapping incidents, had been a dark green shade. After suffering through so many washes, he had long since turned a pale green. I didn't mind the color change much (after all he now matched my eyes better) but I was worried he would eventually fall apart. I puffed out my cheeks just thinking about it.

Dad was still on the Hokage's desk taking pictures, now with new vigor as my new pose was just as adorable. The Hokage seemed to have had enough and dismissed us with a tired fine. Now I could return to operation befriend Naruto.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3 Meeting Sasuke

Success at last! I am now outside of the house. And it's not because of the meddling Hokage. No, its because my mom finally lost all faith in leaving me home alone and was forced to take me shopping with her. All those years of me carving up the walls, trying to recreate potions, and getting creative with the only spells I could manage; I have finally been let out. By now I had already reached the age of five. So much time had been lost being cooped up in the house.

Oh fresh air, how I’ve missed you. I haven’t physically left the house for anything other than a summons to the Hokage or the occasional doctor’s visit. And those visits are always accompanied by two or more Anbu. But now it was just Mom and me.

I bounced up and down as I walked beside my mother. Mom kept a good grip on my hand to keep me from wandering too far. Oh well, I guess I will just have drag Mom along if I see Naruto anywhere.

“Meduki-san, Lady Sakura,” someone called.

Both Mom and I turned our heads to see who had called. It was one of the Anbu who would occasionally escort me to the Hokage office. A member of the Uchiha Clan. Also, the same Uchiha guy who nearly roasted me a few years back. I still haven’t forgiven him for that.

“Shisui, it's nice to see you.” Mom gave him a small bow in greetings. Shisui wasn’t alone either. He had two other companions with him. One was another Anbu who I would only see occasionally leave the Hokage’s office and the other was a small child like me (yay a chance to finally make a friend). Both of them were obviously Uchiha Clan members if looks were anything to go by.

“Itachi, Sasuke, this is Lady Sakura Haruno and her mother Mebuki.” Shisui politely introduced us.

“Its a pleasure to meet you,” Mom said with another small bow.

“Sakura is just fine,” I added. I wouldn’t want my new possible friend to feel awkward around me.

“Lady Sakura, Mebuki; let me introduce you two to my younger cousins Itachi and Sasuke.” Shisui ignored my earlier words and instead pointed to each Uchiha respectively while introducing them. Sasuke... Sasuke… sounded familiar.

My eyes widen upon realization. This was Saucey . Yes! One future friend met. Or was he only Naruto’s friend. Either way, it would be good to at least attempt a friendship.

“Greetings,” Itachi said politely with a small bow. Sasuke only hid behind Itachi’s legs.

I quickly bounced over to openly observe him.

“Wanna be friends?” I asked. No use beating around the bush, better to get straight to the point with children. I looked at him eagerly with bright eyes. Sasuke only glared at me.

“I don’t like fangirls,” he stated.

“Fangirls?” I looked at him confused. What the fuck? “Well aren’t you full of yourself.”

Sasuke looked shocked. Shisui covered his mouth to try and cover the laugh that threatened to escape. Itachi turned a bit to the side as if suddenly interested in the nearby pole. His shoulder shaking slightly.

“If you don’t want to be friends with me you don’t have to lie,” I said to the still shocked Sasuke. I put my hand on his shoulder. While I doubted the legitimacy of his fangirls, if he was anything like Teddy, I knew what he was going through. “I know that a lot of boys your age don’t want to play with girls. Now if that's the case, you can just tell me straight to my face instead of making up lies.” However, if this kid was anything like Harry... then the fangirls were very real and I probably just offended this kid. Oh well, it's too late to take back what I said.

“I’m not lying,” Sasuke cried, his cheeks pink with embarrassment. Shisui was openly laughing now. Itachi was only starting to tremble a bit more but otherwise holding in those laughs good. Mom, on the other hand, was taking pictures in Dad’s stead.

“Really,” I asked. I looked the kid up and down. “You don’t look like much. Sure I guess you got that adorable kid look going for you but I’m sure most kids are cute at this age.” By now Sasuke’s entire face was red like a tomato and very angry. I was not doing a good job at this whole friendship business. Then again, I didn’t make any friends until I was eleven in my first life. And even then it was only due to shared trauma.

“Why you…” He took a threatening step towards me but Itachi quickly pulled him back. Shisui strategically stood between me and fuming Sasuke.

“Now Sasuke,” Shisui started, “you’ll have to forgive Lady Sakura. She doesn’t leave her home much so she hasn’t had the chance to interact with many people.”

“Correct,” I agreed. “You’re the first kid I’ve gotten to meet. But if you do have a fan club and you’re like this; that could only mean that I’ll definitely have a fan club once I start meeting people.” Sasuke’s angry face turned shocked before once again resuming his earlier angry expression. He began to try and escape Itachi’s grip to get at me. Wow, how could such a violent child have a fan club?

“That aside, why is Lady Sakura out without a guard?” Shisui asked. My mother let out a tired sigh before pulling me a bit away from Sasuke.

“Sadly Kizashi is out working and I had to go grocery shopping for tonight’s dinner,” Mom explained. “Sakura can’t be trusted to be left alone for more than a minute so I was forced to bring her along. However, I’m even less sure what she’ll do once we get to the store. Last time I looked away from her for even a second, she somehow managed to carve her symbols into the ceilings.” Yeah, I did do that. I was trying to recreate the starry ceiling Hogwarts had in the great hall. That would really help spruce up the house. I just needed a few more runes and then they would be ready to be bled on.

“She does seem like quite the wild child,” Shisui agreed. “How about you leave Lady Sakura with us? We were just about to take Sasuke to the park. I’m sure that Lady Sakura would benefit from hanging out with kids her age. And that way you can do your shopping without worrying about Sakura destroying the store.”

“Shisui if you weren’t so tall I would kiss you right now,” I told him bluntly. He looked surprised at my bold statement but I didn’t have time to dwell on him. I had a mother to convince. “Can I Mom? I’ve always wanted to go to a park. Please, can I go?” I put on my most innocent face and made sure my eyes twinkled like Dumbledore’s eyes would. Mom looked like she was struggling against my cuteness.

“I’m still not sure,” Mom tried to resist. I could tell she was physically fighting back the need to hug me. I made my eyes bigger and with more twinkles.

“Don’t worry Mebuki, both Itachi and I are trained Anbu,” Shisui assured her. “We can take anything she’ll throw at us.” Bold of him to assume that.

“Please Mommy,” I begged using the Mommy card. By now Mom was visibly shaking. Finally, she grabbed me and swung me around in a tight hug.

“Alright,” Mom agreed. “I can’t say no to you.” Mom stopping swinging me to rub her cheek affectionally against mine. “Just promise not to cause too much trouble. And be nice to Sasuke. No bullying him okay.”

“Okay Mom,” I promised. Mom gave me one tearful last hug before handing me over to Shisui. I grabbed his hand eager to begin the trip to the park.

“We’ll be in the park near the ninja academy,” Shisui informed my mother. Cool, I might be able to see my future school.

“I’ll come to get her once I’m done,” Mom said. “Hopefully I won’t take to long. Remember, she’s a wanderer so keep an eye on her. And sometimes she’ll get lost in her own little world so she won’t hear a word you say no matter how loud you shout. Here’s a camera in case she does anything cute. Make sure to get at least twelve pictures of her first time in a park. And also...” I started to zone out of the conversation as Mom continued to list things to Shisui. She was treating the Anbu ninja like a babysitter. Fair, I acted similarly when entrusting Teddy into Ron’s care. He may be a war veteran, but Ron was also an idiot who nearly choked to death trying to stuff his face with as many marshmallows as his mouth could fit. So instead I leaned towards the now calmer Sasuke. I needed to know if I could still mend a relationship between us or if I should just move on.

“So Sasuke, wanna be friends or have I angered you to the point where you would rather kiss a toad?” I asked. Instead of answering Sasuke turned his head away and promptly ignored me. Alright, time to move on. I’m sure Naruto will make a great bridge between us. Just like Harry when Ron and I broke up.

“Come along Lady Sakura, you wouldn’t want to be left behind.” Shisui had finished getting his instructions from my mother while I thinking about my future teammates. Gladly, I allowed Shisui to lead me towards the park. If only Charlie could be with me on this memorial day.

***

Later when Mom came to pick me up, she was greeted by the pleasant sight of me in tattered clothes with my shoes, socks, jacket, and probably a few strands of hair missing. I’m so happy Charlie wasn’t here for this memorial day. He would not have survived.

Shisui looked nervously between me and my mother wondering how he was going to explain this. Itachi was trying to free Sasuke from the ground where he laid with several footprints imprinted throughout his body.

In no time Mom had Shisui in a headlock. Grocery bags abandoned to instead torture information out of a trained Anbu.

“WHAT HAPPENED!!!” Mom screeched. Shisui tried to answer, but the lack of oxygen he was getting didn’t help. I sighed knowing exactly what to do.

“Mom, don’t be mad at Shisui,” I started. “This is my fault, I’m apparently I’m so great that I have to deal with fangirls now.” Who knew copying the few animes I had taken the time to watch would result in such an outcome. I have to be more careful next time I copy Tamaki Suoh.

Mom stopped chocking Shisui, allowing him to faceplant in the ground before staring at me in confusion. Seems like I’m going to have to explain in better detail without having to explain how I copied a male host to avoid problems with Sasuke’s surprising real fan club.

“So get this Mom, girls my age seem to like me. Like… like like me.”

“What?” Okay, Mom was still confused.

“Its true Mebuki,” Shisui said from the ground. “The girls were taken by Lady Sakura’s gentlemen attitude and honest compliments. In the short amount of time she has been outside Lady Sakura has managed to seduce every girl on the playground.” Seduce is such a strong word.

“She even got the nickname Prince,” Itachi added. That right, I did get called Prince a couple of times through all the shouting. Thank you, Tamaki, for that. I would have never received my new royal title without you. Oh, looks like Itachi finally managed to peel Sasuke off the ground. Itachi swung the unconscious Sasuke over his shoulder.

“Okay, but how does that explain your tattered clothes?” Mom asked.

“They started fighting over me,” I stated. “And when I tried to calm them down I got mobbed instead. They all wanted to have a piece of me to take home. Normally I would have just constructed a shield but I didn’t want to hurt any of them. They were such nice little girls who were only experiencing their first crush. I’m sure they have no idea how they should properly act when trying to express their feelings. So I just let have whatever they wanted.”

“Oh sweety, you really are a prince,” Mom gushed. She picked me up and swung me around for the second time that day. Another reason why I didn’t fight back against my new fan club was that I was so used to being smothered in dangerous amounts of affection by my parents. What the fangirls did to me was tame compared to the hours of outfit changes, hair grooming, photoshoots, and lack of air from the family group hugs my parents put me through.

“But why didn’t you two try to help,” Mom demanded looking between Itachi and Shisui. She had stopped swinging me but kept me in a tight hug similar to Shisui’s headlock from earlier.

“Well we couldn’t attack little girls,” Shisui explained.

“That and you’re daughter did construct a shield to protect the girls when she thought we were going to do something to them,” Itachi added. I was trying to be nice to the girls.

“Oh my darling angel,” Mom gushed at me. Shisui and Itachi were forgotten as she hugged me even tighter. It's amazing how I don’t faint from the lack of oxygen yet. My parents how inadvertently trained me well in the art of holding my breath.

Shisui handed Mom her camera and apologized for not being able to do anything when it came to the fangirls. Mom forgave him when she saw how Shisui managed to get some great shots of me acting princely to the girls. I, however, managed to get Shisui to promise to take me out to the park again as an apology. No way was I going to let this newfound freedom go.

And thus ended my first trip to the park.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4 Shisui’s POV
“So that was her?” Itachi asked. My cousins and I had just arrived at the main house of the Uchiha Compound after our day with Lady Sakura.
“Yeah.”
“She wasn’t that great,” Sasuke scoffed. He was still a little sour about Lady Sakura.
After arriving at the park, Lady Sakura gave up entirely on trying to befriend Sasuke. The little Uchiha wasn’t used to being ignored by a member of the opposite sex, so Sasuke instead tried to pull Lady Sakura along towards the sandbox to play with him. Lady Sakura went along with him which made Sasuke smug, but I have a feeling that she was only humoring him.
The pair quickly got the attention of all the other kids on the playground. Many of the girls weren’t happy to see some strange new girl holding Sasuke’s hand. They were even less happy to see that it was Sasuke who was leading her around.
A group of girls surrounded Lady Sakura, but before Itachi or I could intervene, I witnessed the most amazing emotional manipulation in a child ever. I knew Lady Sakura was used to using her childlike charm to bend the wills of adults to do her bidding (I’ve seen her do it multiple times on the Hokage and her parents), but I didn’t expect her to have the skills necessary to manipulate children. And can you blame me? Within seconds of meeting Sasuke, she had managed to piss him off to the point where he tried to openly attack the girl.
But now I watched as Lady Sakura grabbed the nearest girl’s hands, looked her straight in the eyes as if she were the most precious thing in the world, and told her how a girl with a face as lovely hers shouldn’t scowl. How she should smile because a smile like hers was a beautiful and timeless treasure that couldn’t be compared to any jewel in the world. Lady Sakura had said it so sincerely too. With a straight face, she continued to compliment the girl until the girl’s face went red and she fainted from a nose bleed.
Itachi and I shared a look before looking back at Lady Sakura. Choosing not to let this moment pass by, I took out the camera Mebuki gave me to take several shots. I’m sure that capturing the moment Sakura ensnarled all these girls’ hearts qualified as cute. She had caught the fainting girl and was now holding her in the famous princess carry. That was around the time she got the nickname Prince. I had to agree with the little girls, Lady Sakura did look like a prince. I swear I could even see her sparkling. I took another picture.
After placing the girl gently down on a nearby bench, Lady Sakura proceeded to seduce the other girls on the playground. Sasuke must have been feeling left out because he tried to intervene, but Lady Sakura’s new fangirls simply stamped him in their attempts to get closer to their prince. Whatever feelings those girls may have felt for the boy didn’t compare to the ones that they now held for Lady Sakura. I got the whole thing on camera.
I could see why they would choose Lady Sakura over Sasuke. If I were in their shoes I would choose Lady Sakura too. Compared to a kid who constantly ignored them, a princely girl who complimented them and looked at them as if they were priceless gems was a more preferred companion.
At some point, Itachi and I tried to rescue the pair (while still taking pictures), but Lady Sakura truly was meant to be a gentleman. She made sure we didn’t touch a hair on the girls’ heads and instead sacrificed herself by leading the swarm of fangirls away from the unconscious Sasuke. Later when the girls were satisfied, she returned with her clothes in tatters and with some articles of clothing missing. She may even have been missing some hair but I couldn’t tell for sure.
Later I began to wonder if the reason Lady Sakura could handle those fangirls was due to her parents' overbearing love. I don’t think she was breathing when her mother was hugging her.
“Lady Sakura is exactly as you described her,” Itachi said. “A natural emotional manipulator. If she weren’t the future head of her clan, she would surely have been sent out on seduction missions later in life.”
“I wonder if Mebuki will give me a few copies of the pictures from earlier,” I said. “I want to see if Lady Sakura was actually sparkling or if I just need to see an eye doctor later.”
“You should definitely see an eye doctor,” Sasuke said. I laughed and gave Sasuke’s head a quick ruffle.
“You’re just jealous that you’re not as charming to the girls as Lady Sakura is.” Sasuke pouted but it only made him look cute. “You should get used to her, I have a feeling that you’re going to see a lot more of her.”
“Not if I can help it,” Sasuke stated. Later he would point to these words as a jinx. He would also blame me but whatever.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5 Charlie

“Lady Sakura, is this enough blood?”

“It’s perfect. Thanks a lot for helping me Shisui.”

Shisui smiled as he bandaged up his cut hand. Today I was hanging out with Shisui at the Uchiha Main House. Sasuke and Itachi were here too, but they had long since abandoned us in favor of training together. It was one of the rare days where both Shisui and Itachi were free from any missions.

Since the park incident where I ended up getting mobbed, Shisui and my parents had come to an agreement where I would instead come hang out at the Uchiha Compound. This decision had been finalized after Shisui brought me to the park again as promised. He also brought Sasuke along in the hopes that we would become friends. Instead, that playdate ended with Shisui running away carrying Sasuke and me under each arm as a mob of rabid fangirls chased him all the way back to the Uchiha Compound. It is amazing how determined little girls are in the pursuit of their idols. Even Shisui of the Body Flicker struggled to lose them.

So now for the past year, Shisui takes me out to the Uchiha Compound for a bit of fresh air. And my parents are only too happy to have me spending time with the mature and responsible Sasuke. (Though I did lay off on my rune carvings, it was mostly because I had come to the realization that I would have no way of explaining any of my planned remodelings.) While my still restricted freedom keeps me from finding Naruto, there is a bright side to being let out on the compound. And that is that I am free to practice and experiment with my magic so long as nothing on the property gets destroyed. Which leads me to my current project of creating life.

My favorite stuffed dragon Charlie lay on the floor between Shisui and me. The seams on his back were undone allowing me to access the stuffing inside of him.

Just like the Sorting Hat, I was working on a similar form of intelligent magic. Even though my own magical reserves were low due to my age, a ritual like this didn’t need that much to power it. What is needed instead is a lot of blood. It didn’t all need to be from someone magical, only one drop needed to be from a witch or wizard. Shisui had been kind enough to supply most of the blood. That and he didn’t want me to accidentally bleed out.

Shisui set the bowl of blood he filled in front of me. I poked my finger with the small pin he had provided and allowed one drop of my blood to fall into the bowl with Shisui’s.

“Make sure nothing interrupts me while I chant, okay,” I said.

“You can count on me.” Shisui gave a friendly smile before patting my head.

Over the year, I had grown close to Shisui. He was like the big brother I never had. I admired him for all his skills as a ninja and his maturity. Shisui never looked down on me either. He always talked to me as if I were an equal and not some kid he was babysitting. Sasuke and I were still nowhere near to being friends, but for now, I was happy to at least consider Shisui a friend. After all, I trusted him enough to even include him in my Charlie project. If I didn’t I would have just done the whole thing in the crawl space between my house walls. I was still small enough to fit in there after all.

I made sure my finger had stopped bleeding before holding the bowl over Charlie’s opening. I started to slowly pour the blood in slowly while chanting the spell.

“ Ut quod sanguis per te spiritus vitae

Creare sit ex anima quae est propria eius

Proprium voluntatis ejus, suo proprio ea corde protulerim, suum persequi

Utinam solus non poterit stare .”

The blood gave off a faint glow as the final drops dripped into Charlie. I placed my hand’s one his open seams and concentrated hard on my magic.

“ Reparo ,” I shouted. The open seams on Charlie’s back started to restitch themselves closing his open back. I usually don’t shout my spells, but I find that when one has very little control over their wandless magic, it helps to shout the spell. Brings a lot more energy into spell casting.

Shisui let out a whistle at my spell casting. His Mangekyo Sharingan was on in an attempt to see how my magic worked. “You’re kekkei genkai really is something.”

“You could say that,” I agreed. After all magic really was something.

“So what’s supposed to happen now? Is your toy going to be some sort of shield proxy or something similar in that nature?”

“In a way, yes,” I answered truthfully. If this spell worked, Charlie would wake in a couple of days. After a while, he should be able to use magic as well. But if it failed then Charlie would just remain a stuffed animal. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Shisui was still under the assumption that all my magic was in some way only meant to create shields. Him, the Hokage, and the Council had even chalked up my invisible house as a sort of special shield since no one outside of my family could physically touch the place. I know that’s what I told them, but I expected at least one person to question my abilities by now. Councilman Danzo at first was interested in my abilities but he quickly lost interest when he realized he would never be able to replicate any of it.

The room had gone silent with only the sound of kunais hitting wooden boards. I looked over at Shisui. He had fallen into one of his quiet stupors. He’s been doing that a lot recently.

“What’s on your mind?” I asked. Shisui smiled at me before ruffling my hair.

“Just clan some business,” he said. “Nothing you need to worry about.”

At the time, I had naively believed him like the six-year-old I physically was. It was only later that I would come to regret that. And by then it was too late.

***

I hated funerals. They never got easier no matter how many you attended. And I attended a lot of funerals both before and after the war. It wasn’t easy in my first life and sure as hell wasn’t easy now.

There wasn’t a body to bury. Only a stone marker with his name on it. Shisui Uchiha.

A lot of people attended the funeral. Fellow ninjas who worked with him, the noble clans, and civilians who either knew him or of him. Apparently, even Shisui had a fan club. His many fangirls could be seen weeping in the back. I stood with my parents on one side and the Uchiha clan on the other.

Shisui’s death had hit both of our families hard. My mother was ugly crying into my father’s chest. My father was silently crying into my mother’s hair. I had been crying silently since the funeral started. My face was already a mess with tear streaks and drippy snot.

In my arms, I held Charlie close to my chest. Before the funeral, I had cast multiple notice-me-not spells onto him. Charlie had woken long before Shisui’s death but he was going through a baby phase where he would only let out the occasional gargle as he slowly learned about the world. Shisui had been surprised by Charlie’s apparent aliveness . But he quickly took it in stride as my parents did.

The only people who knew about Charlie outside of my family was Shisui. Without Shisui, a lot of my spellwork would have to be kept secret now. I wasn’t strong enough to defend myself yet. I could always try practicing with Itachi around, but he was almost always busy. And besides, even though I trusted Itachi, I know he would rather spend time with Sasuke then me.

I looked over to Itachi. Shisui's death was probably worse for him than me. He knew Shisui the longest. He worked beside Shisui on multiple missions. I heard he was even the one who had reported Shisui dead. And with his grief, Itachi had unlocked his own Mangekyo Sharingan.

Itachi’s face was a cold and neutral mask, much like his father, but he held his hands in tight fists by his side. He stood not too far from me but a noticeable distance from his parents. His mother Mikoto held the sobbing Sasuke close to her chest. Mikoto herself was also crying, but more prettily than Mom and me.

“ I heard he killed him ,” someone whispered.

“ Shisui was never the type of person to take his own life ,” whispered another.

“ Itachi did it, I just know it .”

“... murderer …”

“... forged suicide note …”

“ He did it …”

“... attacked his own clan …”

Rumors were already spreading about Itachi. Many people in his own clan were accusing him of murder. There was already a noticeable distance between him and the other Uchihas. Like an invisible wall had been built.

Watching Itachi was like watching a man slowly drown. It was like watching Harry again. Back to all those times that the magical community shunned him. When Harry struggled to be heard. When all he ever did was try and do the right thing. Back to all the times where even I shunned him due to hurt pride. Maybe that’s why in the end Harry left. And now I could sense the same feelings a betrayal and loneliness swirling behind Itachi’s cold mask.

The funeral ended and everyone went home. That night I slept between my parents with Charlie.

***

I still went to the Uchiha Compound regularly, but now it was usually Itachi who escorted me. He walked me from my mailbox that stood outside my blood wards to the Uchiha main house almost every day. Right before he went out on missions and after he came back. If he didn’t pick me up, it was Fugaku. Lately, it feels like there has been a noticeable pressure for me to stay close to the Uchiha family.

Like today.

Why the bloody fuck did Fugaku bring me with him on this obvious father-son bonding moment? Sure the lake they took me to is beautiful. But why am I here?

I know this was only supposed to be Sasuke and Fugaku practicing some fire Jutsu together. I know because Sasuke has been bragging about it for a week. And while I know Sasuke is happy to have Itachi come along and join him, he sure as hell isn’t happy that I too was brought along. Less so when he realizes Itachi will be sticking by my side again today.

Luckily he was quickly distracted by his father. Together they stand near the edge of the dock breathing fire.

On the shore, I sit on a giant blanket with Charlie in my lap. My parents still won’t let me learn anything that isn’t related to my kekkei genkai. Something about them barely being able to handle me as I am and them getting enough surprises like Charlie.

“Tell me again why I’m here?” I asked.

Itachi only responds with a questioning “hm” as he sets up a large umbrella.

“Isn’t this supposed to be some sort of father-son moment?” I asked. “I am neither a son or a father so why am I here?” I could feel Charlie wanting to move but I gently pet to keep him still. It's still not time to reveal him.

“You’re here because of clan business,” Itachi answers.

“Care to be a little more specific?” I asked.

Itachi just gave me a “hm” again. He wasn’t going to get more specific. I pouted at him.

“If it makes you feel better, I do have a gift for you,” Itachi said. That catches my interest. I was technically seven-years-old and like any seven-year-old, I enjoyed getting presents.

“What is it,” I asked. Already I could feel my face light up with excitement. Itachi gave me one of his small smiles before digging in his ninja pouch. He pulled out a blood bag. I was surprised but accepted the blood offered to me.

“Shisui told me that your kekkei genkai needs a lot of blood to work,” Itachi said. “I thought that this would prove useful to you.”

Shisui wasn’t wrong about my magic needing blood to work, but that was only true right now due to my limited magical capacity. Itachi also wasn’t wrong that this blood would be useful to me. But Itachi didn’t seem to be the kind of guy to give me something like this without reason.

“Is this your blood?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” I asked looking him straight in the eyes. “I doubt you’re giving me this on a whim. There has to be a reason.”

I tried reading Itachi’s face but like usual it was a neutral mask of indifference. His body language wasn’t giving anything away either.

“There is no reason behind this gift,” Itachi said. I gave him a look that said I didn’t believe him. “I am simply trying to keep you happy as Shisui once did.”

I felt a stab of guilt pierce my heart. Why was I being so suspicious of Itachi? I never would have suspected Shisui if he gave me a random packet of blood. I would have just thanked him without giving much thought into Shisui’s reason behind it. It must be all those stupid rumors swarming around. They’re making me start to doubt Itachi. And Itachi was a good man. He was Shisui’s best friend.

“I’m sorry for doubting you,” I apologized. Itachi gave a small smile before ruffling my hair like Shisui used to.

“There is no need to apologize,” Itachi said. “To prove I have no ill will against you, how about I distract everyone next week so that you can go out and enjoy the village. Maybe even train a bit. It should be fine as long as you take Sasuke along.”

A chance to explore the village.

“Okay,” I quickly agreed. Finally a chance to find Naruto. “That’s a promise okay? I won’t let you back out on that.”

“Yes, its a promise,” Itachi assured. He ruffled my hair again. I beamed at him in excitement.

I looked down at the blood packet. It was huge. What should I do with this much blood? I could probably make a bigger life sentient being. Lifesize even. But where would I get something big enough for that? A mannequin could work but I would need to work on its parts to give it more flexibility. But again where I would buy that? Also, would a mannequin even work since they come in separate pieces?

“Do you know where I can get a giant doll?” I asked.

“No,” Itachi answered. “However, Suna has giant puppets. Would one of those do? I am assuming you’re going to use the blood for that.”

“You can assume that,” I replied. “Do you know how I can my hands on one of those puppets?”

“I can get you one,” Itachi offered. “I know someone in Suna who owes me a favor.”

“Thank you, Itachi,” I beamed.

“Nii-san,” Sasuke shouted. “Look at how big my flames are!”

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching Sasuke breath fire until he tired himself out. I have to admit, the flames were impressive.

***

“This puppet is called Mother,” Itachi explained. “It has a few weapons built in such as charka shield arms, a serrated katana, and razor wires. You won’t be able to use the razor wire though since they only work with her partner puppet Father. I would have brought him too, but Chiyo was adamant about keeping him for sentimental reason.”

Itachi had gotten me a puppet just like he promised. An entire week had passed since that day on the lake. In that week Itachi had gone on a short mission to Suna where he retrieved my new beloved puppet. She was life-sized with long hair and movable joints. She was perfect. A perfect mold to bring to life. I jumped at Itachi wrapping my arms around his neck. I clung to him like a monkey.

“Thank you, Itachi,” I cheered. Itachi chuckled before ruffling my hair.

“You’re very welcome Sakura,” he said. “And just as promised, I will distract everyone long enough for you and Sasuke to sneak out. You should hurry up and find him if we’re to manage this.”

“Alright,” I said giving Itachi one last squeeze. “Thank you again Itachi, you’re the best.”

I let him go and ran off to find my reluctant playmate. I grabbed Charlie, heading in the direction of Sasuke’s room. If I had just paid more attention to Itachi, maybe I would have noticed how sad he looked after I left.

***

“That was fun,” I said. I squeezed Charlie close to me. I was so glad he was still in one piece.

“For you maybe,” Sasuke grumbled. He was just grumpy that he lost a shoe to the rabid fangirls.

Shortly after dragging Sasuke out of the Uchiha compound, we were mobbed by fangirls on the way to the playground. I had assumed that the playground would be the best place to find Naruto but I had forgotten how popular I had become. Sure the fangirls hadn’t seen much of me in the last year, but with little they did see of me was usually filled me with shamelessly flirting before Itachi or Fugaku grabbed me and ran.

While the fangirls may be getting annoying when it comes to finding Naruto, I still wasn’t going to let up anytime soon because it was still fun watching trained ninjas run away from little girls. Especially Fugaku. He lost half his outfit once. I will never forget the sight of Mikoto laughing as Fugaku stood in the entrance with his boxers showing and only the top half of his kimono.

“Besides,” Sasuke adds, “our parents are probably worried sick by now. We’ll be lucky if either of us are ever allowed outside again.

“It did get pretty late while we were hiding,” I said. A good portion of the day had been spent hiding and running away until the fangirls had gone home for the day.

“Maybe next time I should wear a disguise?” I offered. “If I dye my hair black and borrow your clothes. I could pose as a distant relative visiting.”

Sasuke scoffed at the idea.

“That’ll only work if you stop seducing everyone you come in contact with,” Sasuke said.

“I don’t seduce everyone I come in contact with,” I defended. “I only try to act gentlemanly toward all the girls you’re mean to.”

“That’s a lie,” Sasuke said. “I saw you flirting with that Nara boy.”

“I was only trying to make sure he was okay. He was lying on the ground and wasn’t moving. I thought he was dead.”

“And how would he have suddenly died?”

“Death by fangirl stampede,” I said. “You should know. You almost died from the same thing the first time we met.”

“I did not almost die,” Sasuke snapped. “And stop bringing that up! The fangirls haven’t done that since both our fan clubs joined forces.” I rolled my eyes at his dramatics.

“Fine, whatever,” I said. “Let's just hurry back. As you said, our parents are probably worried about us. It's a bloody miracle that no one has come out to find us yet.” We both looked up at the dark sky. It was amazing how no one bothered to come find us yet.

We turned the corner bringing the Uchiha Compound front gates into view. The lanterns were lit but you couldn’t see the usual guards. But we both saw Itachi standing on top of nearby lampost. At least until he flickered away.

“Wasn’t that Itachi just now?” I asked.

“Nii-san was probably just making sure we got back okay,” Sasuke said. “He must have gone off to tell Mom and Dad that we’re returned.”

“We’ll probably be yelled at,” I sighed.

“It’s your fault we stayed out so late,” Sasuke mopped.

“I won’t deny that,” I said patting Sasuke’s shoulder. “If you want you can blame us being late on me. Fugaku will personally understand how hard it is to get away from rabid fangirls.”

Sasuke nodded in agreement. Laughing a bit at the memory of half-naked Fugaku walking through the house. Still laughing, we passed through the gates and froze when we saw what lay beyond the gates.

Bloody corpses littered the ground.

“What…” Sasuke started. He never finished. Instead, he took off running towards his house. I ran quickly after him.

We passed body after body as we made our way to the main house. Pausing momentarily at the open entrance, we made our way to through the house. We one past empty room after empty room until we finally reached the living room.

Sasuke froze in the entrance and I pushed my way past him to stand in front. There we could see Itachi standing over Fugaku’s dead body with a bloody sword. He quickly aimed it to finish off Mikoto as well.

Like the war veteran I was in the past, my mind quickly formulated a plan and acted on it. I wasn’t capable of creating shields far from me yet. But what I was about to do was a gamble.

“CHARLIE PROTECT!” I shouted flinging my stuffed dragon toward Mikoto.

“PROTEGO,” Charlie roared at the same time I hugged Sasuke close and formed my own shield around us.

A small shield formed around Charlie and Mikoto. But it wasn’t big enough to cover all of her. The sword skidded against the shield and impaled her pelvic area. Mikoto let out a scream before her eyes rolled back and she fainted.

“Nii-san…,” Sasuke whispered.

“Foolish children,” Itachi muttered. He looked up at us activating his Mangekyo Sharingan. “Mangekyo Sharingan.”

Instantly my mind was being attacked with visions of Itachi murdering the Uchiha Clan. I tried to create a mental shield to block out the visions but the shield I formed wavered. I could make out Sasuke screaming beside me as I tried to block the damn visions. But I couldn’t, not while still holding up the physical shield around Sasuke and me.

I felt Sasuke go limp in my weak grip. My legs were already growing weak from the mental slaughter. I let myself fall with him, cushioning his fall while still trying to maintain the shield around us. The visions started to slowly stop. Weakly we both looked at Itachi to see him leaving.

“Charlie continuing protecting Mikoto,” I uttered. My throat felt raw. Was I screaming earlier like Sasuke?

“Yes ma’am,” Charlie said with a proud nod. This was the most he’s moved freely since becoming self-aware.

Wither it was brave or foolish of us, we quickly forced ourselves to our feet to run after him. We caught up to him just outside the main house.

“Nii-SAN,” Sasuke cried. “WHY?! Why did you do this?” Itachi paused his walk to turn and look at us.

“For power,” Itachi said. “I killed them all to see how strong I am.” Itachi looked at both of us with cold eyes. They would have looked colder had there not been tears flowing down his face.

“I don’t believe it!” Sasuke cried.

“I agree,” I added.

“This is unlike you Nii-san. I mean…,” Sasuke started.

“Sasuke,” Itachi cut him off. “You have the potential to become my opponent. You are someone who could be able to use the Mangekyo Sharingan just like me. However, on one condition… that you must kill your closest friend. Just like I did…”

I felt a stab of pain go through my heart.

“Shisui…” I whispered.

“That… that was your doing,” Sasuke uttered. “Nii-san, you… you killed Shisui?!”

“No,” I muttered shaking my head. “No… Shisui trusted you. He trusted you above all else.”

“That’s right,” Itachi agreed. “Yet I still killed him… and because of that, I obtained these eyes.” Itachi turned his attention back to Sasuke before continuing.

“Sasuke,” he said, “if you attain these eyes, you will become the third person including myself to utilize the Mangekyo Sharingan. However… at present… you are not worth killing. One day, when you have the same eyes as I do… come and stand before me.”

Itachi activated his Mangekyo Sharingan again. To avoid another mental attack I quickly covered Sasuke’s eyes and closed my own.

“Stop spouting bullshit Itachi,” I said thought my voice wavered. “If you were doing all this to prove your strength, you wouldn’t be crying right now! I refuse to believe that you suddenly turned evil and killed your own family without a damn good reason! Shisui trusted you and that means you’re a good man! You’re a good man Itachi and I refuse to dishonor Shisui’s memory by believing otherwise!”

I could feel Sasuke crying under my hands. I knew I was crying too. My ugly tears with snot running everywhere. But I also knew that though Itachi was trying to act cold right now, he too was crying.

“Sakura,” Itachi said with a noticeable shakiness to his voice. “I left you one last present in Shisui’s house. I’m sure you’ll love it.”

We could hear Itachi flicker away. Slowly, I opened my eyes. Seeing that Itachi wasn’t around to use his Mangekyo Sharingan on us again, I lowered my hands from Sasuke’s eyes.

“What did he mean by leaving you the last present?” Sasuke asked.

“We can worry about that later,” I said. I grabbed his hand and lead him back inside. “Right now we have to make sure your Mikoto is alright.”

Sasuke quickly ran ahead of me after remembering his mother. I ran quickly after him back into the living room where Charlie remained holding a small shield up.

“Charlie release,” I ordered.

“As you wish Sakura,” Charlie said with a bow before lowering the shield. I quickly looked over Mikoto’s stab wound. She was losing a lot of blood. Without much thought, I took my shirt off and used it to put pressure on the wound.

“ PROPE VULNERE ,” I shouted trying to pour as much magical energy as I could muster into Mikoto. I could feel the wound close a bit but not enough. “ PROPE VULNERE! PROPE VULNERE! PROPE VULNERE! ” I kept shouting until the wound completely closed. I could already feel the drain of magic taking a toll on me.

“We need to get her to a hospital, help me carry her,” I said looking at Sasuke. He nodded in agreement.

Together we each grabbed a side of her and made our way out as quickly as possible. Charlie climbed over my back and lay limp on my shoulder.

It took us a while, but Sasuke led us to the hospital where nurses and doctors quickly surrounded us. They took Mikoto away to get surgery after I explain that I had temporarily closed a stab wound in her pelvic area, but that I was in no way sure if she was still bleeding internally. One of the doctors thanked me for the information before going off to attend Mikoto.

“Here,” Sasuke muttered taking his shirt off and handing it to me. I forgot I was shirtless.

“Thanks,” I said putting it on.

Sasuke and I stood there for a while before the past events finally hit us. Without warning, we both burst into tears. I grabbed Sasuke and held him close as we cried. The Uchiha Clan had just been slaughtered to just three measly members out of the hundreds it once was. We stayed there crying into each other arms until the tears just wouldn’t come out anymore.

“So he can talk,” Sasuke said in a hoarse whisper. Probably trying to take his mind off of what happened.

“Yeah,” I said. “Shisui helped me make him. He can do everything I can do. But that a secret okay. No one can know about him yet.”

“I promise I won’t tell,” Sasuke whispered. I smiled at him and hugged him tight.

“Thank you.”

We sat together in the waiting room waiting for someone to bring us news about Mikoto. Sasuke held on tight to my hand, never loosening his grip or letting go as the hours went by. I didn’t complain. I had an equally tight grip on his hand and Charlie.

Finally, once it was already morning a doctor came up to us with the news. He wasn’t alone either. He had an ANBU with him.

“Hello you two,” the ANBU said. “I’m here to take down a report on the event of what happened. But that can wait if you want to talk to the doctor first.”

Sasuke and I both nodded to indicate we wanted to talk to the doctor first.

“She’s stable now,” the doctor said. “But while checking on her we noticed that her spinal cord had been cut.”

“What does that mean?” Sasuke asked worriedly.

“It means she won’t be able to walk,” the doctor explained. Sasuke sucked in a tight breath. “Not wanting to add more bad news on top of that, but Mrs. Uchiha isn’t waking up either. She’s entered a coma and we don’t know when or if she will ever wake up. I’m sorry, we did all we could.”

Sasuke was already tearing up again.

“Can we see her,” I asked. “ Please. ”

“Right now we can only allow family in,” the doctor said before turning to Sasuke. “If you would like to see her, you can but Lady Sakura will have to wait out here.”

“If I can see her so can she,” Sasuke snapped. “She saved her life! And besides, Sakura has been considered part of the Uchiha family for years now! So don’t even try to say she isn’t!”

The doctor looked uncomfortably between Sasuke and me.

“I’m sorry but hospital regulations are there for a reason,” he said. Sasuke was about to shout but I grabbed his arm to stop him.

“It’s fine Sasuke,” I said. “Go check on your mom for both of us. I’ll visit her later when I’m allowed. But right now you should go and see her. I’ll be waiting for you here. In the meantime, I can answer the ANBU’s questions. And here, give her Charlie. He can watch her for me.” Without another word, I handed Charlie to him.

Sasuke looked torn before nodding his head. He took Charlie and held him close. I watched as he followed the doctor before leaving my sight as he turned the corner. I turned towards the ANBU ready to answer any questions.

I explained everything that happened while leaving out the bits about Charlie. Instead, I said I was close enough to get half of her in my shield but not her bottom half which is how she got stabbed. I was already nearing the end by the time Sasuke returned without Charlie.

“Did you mention Itachi’s last present?” Sasuke asked. My eyes widened. I had forgotten about that.

“No,” I said before turning back to the ANBU. “We need to get to Shisui’s house now!” I grabbed Sasuke’s hand and ran out of the hospital.

We quickly made our way back to the Uchiha Compound. There were still bodies everywhere as well as new caution tape. Quickly we made our way to Shisui’s old house. The ANBU close behind.

I paused when I reached the door. I hadn’t been here since Shisui died. It didn’t help that I didn’t know what would be behind that door. Sasuke gave me an encouraging squeeze at my hand. Taking a deep breath I opened the unlocked door and stepped inside.

We walked through the small entryway and turned into the small living room. I froze in the living room entrance. I could already feel myself hyperventilating. No… no… not again. I can’t lose them again.

Shakely I took a step forward to the two bloody corpses situated on the living room sofa.

“Mommy… Daddy…” I whispered. Slowly I reached them checking them for a pulse. Nothing.

“No… no…,” I cried. I grabbed each of them by a shoulder and started shaking them. “Please wake up. Please! Mommy… Daddy...”

It was getting hard to swallow. It was the war all over again. My parents were dead again.

“NO!!!” I shouted. What was left of my magical energy pulsed out pushing both Sasuke and the Anbu away.

Loud angry cries escaped my throat as I hunched down in front of my parents. Why would Itachi do this? What could he have possibly gained from killing them? Why? Why? Why?

I let out another angry cry. The last of my magical energy giving a weak push to its surroundings. I stayed there hunched in front of the crying until I felt someone else wrap their arms around me.

“It’ll be okay,” Sasuke whispered into my ear. He soothingly rubbed my back as he held me. I wrapped my arms around him and cried into his shoulder. “It’ll be okay,” Sasuke whispered again.

Later when I had calmed down we made arrangements for what was going to happen next. I snapped myself out of my grief to deal with all the grown-up business that I knew Sasuke wouldn’t be ready to handle yet. A majority of the Uchiha clan were to be cremated while my parents and Fugaku were to be buried.

I watched over all the bodies as they were collected. Both me and Sasuke agreed that we wouldn’t hold a funeral. It would be sad if the only guest were two kids and a comatose patient.

After, I removed my runes from my house making it once again visible. I vanished every rune I ever carved into it to get that to happen. A rather quick job since I only needed to shout Reparo now and then.

All my things were moved to the Uchiha compound were I would be staying with Sasuke now. Everything else was placed into storage in one of the now many empty houses. My childhood house would be put up for sale.

I set up the monthly allowance that the government would have to give me now that I achieved an orphan status. A portion of that was going to be used to pay rent to Sasuke. He tried to refuse but I wouldn’t let him. I also looked over the Uchiha finances. Someone tried to swindle Sasuke on his inheritance but I stopped them. Scared the man shitless too for trying to cheat a child.

The Council tried to confiscate the Uchiha records but I stopped them too. Danzo tried to point out that kids shouldn’t be left alone with such dangerous scrolls but I wouldn’t have it. I knew the laws and legally they had no right to them. Only Sasuke did since Mikoto was a coma. The Hokage even backed me up when it looked like Danzo wasn’t going to step down.

Next, I set to work covering the entire inner side of the walls surrounding the Uchiha Compound with my blood runes. I was tired but I would not be able to sleep easily until I got everything settled.

Sasuke tried to help but I pointed out that it had to be either me or Charlie who carved the runes otherwise they wouldn’t work. And since Charlie was busy watching over Mikoto, that only left me. It took almost half the day to just carve them and what felt like longer but was only an hour to bleed on all of them. I went through four packets of blood replenishing pills working on those walls. Once they were all set I added Sasuke’s and Mikoto’s blood (there was plenty of that in the living room) into a rune to add their muggle signature. With a few chants, the wards were set up again. The entire Uchiha Compound was now invisible to everyone who didn’t live here.

Lastly, I placed a mailbox outside the ward as I did back home.

Tired and drained, Sasuke and I fell asleep together in his parent’s room. Neither of us wanted to be alone that night. And it helped that we had each other.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6 Naruto

“Sasuke, there should be a limit to how long you stay out. It's already well past sundown!”

Laying in front of me, covered in ice packets and bandages, was a pouting Sasuke. I had just dragged his exhausted body out of the training grounds and back home.

We’ve been living together for some time now but our current relationship with one another is something I would not call harmonious. True we both clinged to each other due to our shared trauma, but during the day we didn’t see each other.

After the massacre, Sasuke had cursed his brother and swore vengeance. He sealed off or burned anything that used to belong to Itachi. Even the door to Itachi’s room was blocked and covered with tall bookshelves.

Everyday Sasuke would wake up early, go train, and wait for me to drag his tried ass back home. He hadn’t even visited Mikoto since she’d been admitted. Instead, he’s been focusing on getting stronger and leaving his mother’s care to me.

Once I took over as the official first head of the Haruno Clan and Sasuke took over as acting head of Uchiha Clan, we established an official alliance. This allowed me to visit Mikoto even though we weren’t family… but it also gave Sasuke an excuse not to visit his mom.

For me, one of the first things I did after the massacre was wake up the puppet. Sasuke was actually around for that ceremony. Later as time went on, I noticed that I was once again reverting back to my bossy-know-it-all self. A part of me that I had long ago left behind upon retiring. (I didn’t want my future grandson to resent me. I wanted to be the fun grandma.) How old habits die hard.

Everyday I try to wake up early in order to get Sasuke to eat something before he leaves (usually I end up stuffing a fruit or bread in his mouth before he can escape), spend some time with Marinette (the puppet formally known as Mother but renamed by Sasuke) while I eat breakfast, visit Mikoto and Charlie and update them on everything that happened the day before, check on the failing businesses that I’ve purchased with the funds from my childhood home (they were already raking in money), eat lunch with the Marinette, train with Marinette, practice/teach magic with Marinette, eat dinner with Marinette, take care of the compound (which takes hours) with Marinette, check on the blood wards while teaching Marinette the different runes, and usually I end my day by dragging Sasuke back home (sometimes an ANBU drops him off at our mailbox instead).

“Honestly, you can’t keep pushing yourself like this,” I said.

“Hn,” Sasuke replied.

Great, even with most of the Uchiha dead he still managed to pick up that annoying habit from them. It must be genetic.

Annoyed, I reached over and pinched both his cheeks hard.

“Answer me with words,” I demanded.

Being the stubborn Uchiha that he was, not only did he refuse to say any actual words but he also reached up and grabbed my cheeks so he could pinch them hard as well. Naturally, being the stubborn witch that I was, I pinched his cheeks harder which only led to him pinching my cheeks harder and so on.

In the end, we were both left with red cheeks that hurt every time we moved them. I almost felt sorry for Sasuke as he chewed some leftover dinner Marinette had reheated for him.

Such a sweet girl Marinette was turning out to be (even if she did talk yet). If only Sasuke could be this sweet. Instead, he was muttering to himself about training, killing Itachi, and restoring his clan. Not the sort of things a seven-year-old should be worrying about.

Sasuke couldn’t go on like this. He was letting the idea of revenge consume his every waking moment. That couldn’t be healthy for his mind.

“I’ll make you a schedule,” I declared. “I can’t have you only focusing on revenge.”

Sasuke slammed his hands down on the table.

“I refuse to give up on my revenge,” he shouted. Dramatically he glared off to the side with a clenched fist. “That man deserves to die for what he did.”

I let a tired sigh.

“Revenge isn’t everything,” I said. Sasuke’s head snapped towards me so fast I was worried he’d get whiplash.

“What are you saying,” Sasuke cried. He stood up to loom over me from across the table. “What that man did was unforgivable! He took everything away from me!”

“You’re not the only one he hurt,” I snapped. I stood up to glare Sasuke at eye level and because it was annoying having him look down on me. “You don’t think it doesn’t make me mad? That I’m not resentful towards him? Of course, I am! He killed both of our families! But I want justice, not revenge! I want answers and the only way I’m going to get them is from Itachi himself!”

“What is there to question, the man told us so himself that he did what he did for power! What more could you possibly hope to find out?”

“Do you really think Itachi would have told us everything?” I questioned. “Us… a couple of little kids who he didn’t seem to find the need to kill. And you can’t use our age as an excuse. There were plenty of other children that he had no problem in killing.”

“He probably didn’t kill us because you have your shield thingy,” Sasuke weakly defended.

“Sasuke, Itachi has gotten past my shield plenty of times by just waiting for me to tire out. He knows I can’t hold it up forever. It takes to much of a drain on me. Which only leaves me to question his motives all the more. We both grew up with Itachi. We both know he is a man of reason and logic. Therefore if something doesn’t make sense about that night, it could only mean we don’t know the whole story. Do you get what I’m trying to say here?”

Sasuke looked like he was thinking over my words, but for all I knew he was already dead set on revenge and no matter what I said he would just come up with his own reason for why I’m wrong and he’s right.

“I don’t completely agree with you,” Sasuke settled on.

“Fair enough,” I relented. “But I will be making you a schedule. I’ll even color code it.”

“No,” Sasuke pouted.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll make sure to give you plenty of time to train and still have time for meals. The way you’re going about things can’t be healthy for your body. You’ll end up weaker instead of stronger in the long run.”

Sasuke pouted more. This time with the added effect of puffed-up cheeks. Adorable.

“Also you have got to start visiting Auntie Mikoto,” I added. “Did you know a lot of comatose patients can hear everything that's going on. When she wakes up she’s going to be wondering why you never bothered to visit.” (That wasn’t technically true but I felt that Sasuke should make an effort to see his mom.)

Sasuke pouted less. Probably ashamed over how he’s been ignoring Mikoto.

“Fine,” Sasuke agreed.

“Great,” I cheered.

*Sasuke’s POV*

For as long as I had known Sakura, she was never someone who I would call responsible. She seduced girls, she experimented with her blood, she caused mischief whenever no one was watching, and she had no shame.

I honestly thought that I would have to take care of her. How could someone who had grown up as carefree and reckless as she did ever be able to take care of herself? I had faith that I would be fine, but Sakura… I didn’t think so. But she threw that thought out the window the minute we were faced with duties and responsibilities I didn’t know how to handle. She handled everything from money to legal issues to dealing with the annoying council. (Danzo now had a picture nailed to a tree. Sakura liked to practice her kunai throws with it. Usually, it was accompanied with evil laughter and mutterings on how she’s going to get back at him. And she says I have a vengeance problem.)

Honestly, I was kinda relieved when she started handling everything. Sakura could take care of the house and visit Mom while I could focus on more important matters like getting stronger. It was great knowing that I could leave everything in her oddly capable hands and come home to a waiting meal at the end of the day even if it did have to be reheated. And it's not like I was leaving her alone either, she had Marinette with her.

But according to this color-coded schedule, that was not the case. (Seriously how many colors did she have to use.) Like promised, she made me a schedule that gave me a “healthy” amount of time to train. What I didn’t expect was the large portion of the day dedicated to spending time together through chores and what she labeled as “Relax Time.”

Sakura was probably was lonely without me. I might have to make it up to her somehow. Maybe offer to do the laundry or cook for once.

*Sakura’s POV*

Finally the day I’ve been waiting for is here. The day where I finally meet Naruto. Now to just summon up the courage to talk to him.

Eagerly, I watched him from my hiding spot behind a couple of trash cans. I don’t know why, but for whatever reason, I’m incredibly nervous to talk to him.

“This is so boring,” Sasuke whispered. “Why are we stalking this guy.”

I almost forgot Sasuke was here.

Originally we had gone out grocery shopping with Sasuke sneaking in tomatoes and me limiting the number of tomatoes we actually bought. I also had to make sure we had everything we needed for a balanced diet while Sasuke tried to sneak out anything he didn’t like which included almost all the vegetables.

Later I scolded Sasuke for being rude to the cashier. He’s been moody and anti-social since the massacre. Something I cannot allow to continue if he is to grow into a functioning human being. He can’t be rude to everyone he doesn’t consider family.

That scolding somehow turned into a lecture about adult responsibilities which turned into me grieving in a corner over my once again lost childhood and how my old bossy know-it-all self was reappearing.

Damn you Itachi for forcing me to act my mental age. And damn you again for forcing me to clean up the mess you made.

Sasuke was still mentally and physically a seven-year-old kid. I couldn’t just throw Sasuke into adult matters like managing money, making sure he had a balanced diet, handling household chores, paying bills, paying Mikoto’s medical bills, or other important matters.

No, I had to handle that until Sasuke learned. I already figured out that Sasuke was basically useless in those matters. Our now pink sheets and laundry were proof of that. Why did I take Sasuke’s word that he knew how to load a wash? Sasuke was a little kid who had grown up with his mom and dad handling everything while I used to be a grown-ass woman who had long ago learned how to take care of herself, two reckless teenage boys, an entire country, and later on a son.

Good-bye carefree childhood. You will be greatly missed. Hello again adult responsibilities.

Damn you again Itachi for forcing me to act my mental age.

I don’t even remember if Sakura’s parents were dead or not in the original anime. I have a feeling that they weren’t but then again from what I remember, there were a lot of orphans in Naruto. At least Sasuke still had Mikoto. Even if she was currently in a coma and paralyzed from the waist down.

Besides, Mikoto and Charlie’s stay in the hospital would end as soon as Marinette finished her training. She was the perfect size to be a stay-at-home doctor. She was already beating me in healing spells and doing great in potions (even with our limit on what potions we were capable of making). Soon she’ll be just as good if not better than any healer Saint Mungo’s had.

After shopping, I had just wanted to explore the village. You know, get to know the layout while the fangirls were still keeping a respectable distance. Sure, I kept eyes peeled in case I saw Naruto, but I didn’t think I would. I was honestly convinced that I wouldn’t get to meet him until I entered the ninja academy. But once I spotted him quietly sitting alone on a bench, I quickly grabbed Sasuke and followed the blonde-haired child.

And we’ve been following him ever since… for the past two hours… because I have yet to sum up the nerve to talk to him.

“Look Sasuke,” I whispered, “I don’t know if you noticed, but I don’t exactly have that many friends. I may have that huge fan club, but just like your fan club, they aren’t exactly my friends.”

“So let me get this straight, we’ve been stalking that guy because you want to be his friend?” Sasuke gave me a look of disgust.

I nodded my head.

“Then why the hell don’t you just talk to him!” Sasuke shouted. I quickly slammed my hands on his mouth.

“Shhh, it’s not that easy. I can’t just go up to him and randomly ask if he wants to be friends. Just look at how well that plan went between you and me. It took years and our shared trauma for us to get this close. I’m pretty sure that proves how little I know on how to start friendships. Besides, what if he says no? What if he thinks I’m boring? What do I do if he just stares at me and says nothing like I’m a weirdo? What if he’s like you and gets pissed off. I don’t think I can handle the rejection. I need a sure-fire way that will guarantee he will become my friend.”

During my rant, I had removed my hands from Sasuke’s mouth so that I could squat down on the ground in my mental misery of self-loathing. I never was good at the whole making friends kind of thing. I wasn’t even able to make friends in my previous life until I was eleven. And even then it took emotional guilt over making me cry and a near-death experience with a troll.

Sasuke looked down at me with a so-done-with-this-shit kind of face. Gonna be honest, not the kind of face you would expect on a seven-year-old.

“You’re hopeless you know.” I nodded my head in agreement. Sasuke let out a sigh. “Well, don’t say I never did anything useful for you.”

Before I could process anything, Sasuke pulled me to my feet and pushed me into the nearby Naruto. (When the hell did he get so close?) Sasuke was a lot stronger than I gave him credit for because he pushed me hard enough to knock Naruto over.

“Hey watch where you’re going,” Naruto yelled.

“WILL YOU BE MY FRIEND?” I shouted before I lost any courage in speaking. Damn, that was loud. I could feel my face redden in embarrassment.

Naruto stared at me. Great, he probably thought I was a weirdo.

“Sure,” Naruto cheered. He had a big smile on his face.  The kind of smile that just oozed out sunshine and rainbows. I could feel my own face smile in relief. “But could you get off of me. You’re kinda heavy.”

“Oh, of course.” I quickly scrambled to my feet and helped my new friend up. “By the way, my name is Sakura Haruno. I’m seven-years-old.” I pulled Sasuke out from our previous hiding place and into the open. “And this is Sasuke Uchiha, he’s the same age as me.”

“Hi, I’m Naruto Uzumaki,” Naruto cheered. “And one day I’m going to be Hokage!”

YES! YES! I finally met managed to meet and befriend Naruto. Inside my head, I was jumping up and down in victory. Outside my head, I was also jumping up and down in victory with Sasuke pretending not to know me.

***

“Mr. Hokage we have a problem,” I shouted bursting into his office with the dramatic flair of the late Severus Snape.

It had been only one week since befriending Naruto. It was so good to see Sasuke act like a decent human being to someone other than me, Charlie, and Marinette. In that week, he and Sasuke had forged some sort of best friend brotherly bond. A friendship more similar to the one Draco and Harry had after the war… and after Draco hooked up with Harry’s ex Ginny.

Naruto had quickly grown attached to us and upon the end of the week, he had brought us over to his apartment. That was where the issue arose… along with Sasuke throwing up after eating an old tomato from Naruto’s fridge.

“Sakura I can’t let you buy any more businesses,” Hiruzen started. “You are well on your way to owning a monopoly and the village just can’t have that. More than half the civilians work for you already. You may be helping the economy but we can’t have a single person control the entire money flow of the village. Danzo is already complaining about how he can’t buy anything from his usual shops because you banned him.”

“Well, he should have thought of that before he pissed me off,” I countered. “As clan head, I have the right to declare someone my enemy and ban them from any of my establishments. But that isn’t why I’m here.”

“I also can’t allow you to buy any more of the woods,” Hiruzen added. “You already own a large portion of the forest surrounding the Uchiha compound. Even if I can’t see it anymore because of your invisible shield thingy, I know for a fact that you own way too much of the wilderness already. I have citizens complaining about the lack of hunting ground now.”

“Well I can always open a butcher shop if that’ll make you happy but I’m not here about that either.”

“I’m not letting you leave to start more businesses outside of the village. I can only imagine the possible peace issues Konoha will have if a little girl from our village ends up controlling another nation’s money flow. I can’t stop you forever, but please wait until I’m at least dead before you do that.”

“Will you shut up and listen to me. That’s not why I’m here. It doesn’t have anything to do with me.”

Hiruzen looked at me confused.

Understandable. I did come in earlier this week to complain about all the issues he stated earlier. I may not have gotten the third option, but I got my way in the end with everything else. It helped that I was the official first head of the Haruno Clan. As the official head of my clan, I was legally considered an adult, which meant I could legally start-up businesses again. Just like in my old life. I purposely bought Danzo’s favorite suppliers to get back at him for trying to steal the Uchiha records and also because I just didn’t like him.

“Why are you here then?” Hiruzen asked. He now looked worried and a little bit afraid like I would bring up some new but equally (if not more) troubling matter.

Before I could answer him, Naruto burst through the door.

“Sakura... wait,” Naruto gasped. He came running in with Sasuke. Both boys were out of breath.

That was my fault. Naruto tried to stop me earlier so I tied him and coincidentally Sasuke to a log (probably due to Sasuke not moving much after emptying his guts). They had probably just carried around two times their combined weight from Naruto’s apartment to the Hokage’s office.

Seeing as how Naruto was the only one still standing shows just how much stamina he has. I expect nothing less from the main character. Sasuke on the other had decided to just collapse adding more weight for Naruto to support (he did have early morning training today so I’ll give him some slack).

“Its...cough cough… not… whiz… a big deal,” Naruto managed. He was struggling to stay standing with Sasuke’s dead weight. Probably didn’t help that I’ve been fattening Sasuke up with Mrs. Weasley recipes.

Thank you, Mrs. Weasley, for teaching me how to cook. My food may never be as good as yours once was but I’m glad to say that Sasuke and I won’t be suffering from food poisoning again anytime soon. The shared room we had with Mikoto was lovely, but I would like to avoid being a patient when I visit the hospital. I will never take Sasuke’s word when it comes to mundane tasks again. Sasuke sporting pink shorts should be enough of a reminder.

“I demand something be done about Naruto’s living situation,” I declared. “A child cannot be expected to grow up properly in such poor conditions.”

“Sakura, I can’t just fix that,” Hiruzen said. “There are many reasons that I can’t explain to you about why things are the way they are. Complicated and legal reasons.”

Yeah, the nine-tailed fox that everyone feared. Something that I wasn’t supposed to know but did because my adorable Teddy loved the show.

I frowned at the Hokage. I gave him my best childlike pout because I was about to demand something outrageous and I needed my childlike innocence to cover for me.

“Than give him to me. I’ve been off the orphan funds since starting my business empire. I can more than afford to take care of Naruto,” I said before turning to Naruto. (Sasuke was in the middle of trying to cut himself free.) “From now on you’re a ward of the Haruno Clan. I will provide you with a warm place to live, a balanced diet, and help raise you to be a strong and noble ninja.” Just like how I was raising Sasuke.

Naruto looked at me with wide sparkling eyes.

“Really?” he asked.

Sasuke had finally freed himself and Naruto from the log. Said log rolled down the hallway were a scream of surprise could be heard. Sasuke, on the other hand, had collapsed onto the floor while Naruto stood like he hadn’t been physically exhausted earlier.

“Sakura you can't just…” Hiruzen started.

“Of course,” I promised completely ignoring Hiruzen. “The Harunos and Uchihas are more than willing to take you in.” Might as well include Sasuke in this deal. I live on the Uchiha Compound after all.

“I don’t mind,” Sasuke added from the floor. “Our house has plenty of room.”

Naruto looked at me and to the still laying down Sasuke.

“Okay,” Naruto cheered. I smiled before pulling him into a hug.

“Sasuke get off the floor and join us in this group hug,” I ordered. Sasuke groaned but still got up to join our hug.

Behind his desk, Hiruzen just buried his head in defeat. He seldom wins with me. The only time he does win is when I let him.

“Kizashi, Mebuki,” he mumbled, “did you keep Sakura locked up all these years because you knew what a tyrant she was behind her innocent facade. If so, thank you for protecting the village for as long as you did. I don’t know how long I can hold her back from taking over the world but I promise to do my best.” Rude. I didn’t want to take over the world. Does he not know how much paperwork I would be buried in.

“Mr. Hokage,” I sang in sing-song melody as I approached his desk. He physically jumped as I neared him. “Bring out the paperwork. I need to make this guardianship official. And don’t think about stopping me or I’ll cut off your supply of booze. I already own all the distributors.”

“Here, just fill it out and go,” Hiruzen cried. Under his breath, he whispered, “it’s not like you’ll have to deal with oncoming complaints once word gets out.”

I quickly snatch the papers, check them to make sure they were the correct forms and filled them out with the practiced speed only an experienced Minister of Magic could have. I then hovered near the Third Hokage until he stamped the papers and gave me my official copy as proof of my guardianship over Naruto. I was going to frame and hang it after proofing it with as many protection charms as possible.

“It’s a pleasure doing business with you,” I smirked. “Naruto, let's go pack your stuff. You’re moving in with us.”

Naruto let out an energized cheer while Sasuke let out a half-hearted one. Happily, I lead them out of the Hokage’s office.

Well, I lead Naruto. Sasuke was still tired from lugging a log halfway across the village. So instead, we had Sasuke hitch a ride on Naruto’s back. Naruto truly does have an abnormal amount of stamina. Again, I expect no less from the main character.

Now to officially introduce Naruto to Marinette. Hopefully, he won’t get spooked by a moving doll. And later, if Naruto has gotten used to Marinette, we can introduce him to Mikoto and Charlie when they move back in. I’ve already submitted the paperwork for Mikoto’s relocation back home.

* Sasuke’s POV *

Ever since the massacre, I’ve come to appreciate the many things my parents once did for me. I’ve also come to appreciate the fact that Sakura grew up with basically civilian parents. I assume that’s why Sakura is knowledgeable in household chores and adult matters. If it wasn’t for her unique upbringing, I probably would either have to depend on take-out or learn to stomach the abomination I made in my first cooking attempt. Originally I thought cooking would be easy. Now I know that Sakura just makes it look easy.

Though I don’t like admitting it, at the moment I’m dependent on Sakura for almost everything. She’s the one who cooks the meals so we don’t end up in the hospital for food poisoning, she’s the one who handles the bills so the lights don’t go out again, she’s the one who manages my schedule so I don’t overwork myself in training, she’s the one who makes sure all the clothes are properly separated so the laundry doesn’t end up pink again, and she’s the one who comforts me when the nightmares come. So until I learn how to do everything I’ll have to begrudgingly depend on Sakura.

She’s a good friend.

...

A friend who is currently embarrassing me in the middle of the supermarket!

Sakura, if it weren’t for the fact that you do a lot for me, I would have snapped at you long ago. Why do you keep nagging me? If I want to be anti-social let me. I already agreed to follow your color-coded schedule.

What I need is to get stronger without any other distractions outside of Sakura’s meddlings (she always acts with my best interest at heart).

And she’s nagging me again about how I need to socialize with more people.

That’s it, I need to find a random kid to befriend to get Sakura off my back. Preferably a boy. I have way too many fangirls to trust anyone of the opposite gender.

***

Sakura has found a kid for us to befriend. Great, hopefully, this will get her to stop nagging me about my manners.

Being friends with this extremely orange kid shouldn’t be too hard. What’s the worst that can happen?

Besides, I’ve never seen Sakura so embarrassed before. This is probably the only time I’ve ever seen her blush and I’ve seen her do a lot of embarrassing things.

Like the time she tried to walk up a tree but failed. She ended up falling and showing both my parents and the visiting Hyuga Clan her cartoon printed underwear.

There was also the time she accidentally tackled my dad into the koi pond in front of the Hokage because she mistook him for Shisui.

Or the time her mom made her wear a frilly fairy custom and walked with her throughout all the Uchiha Compound as she gave thank you gifts to every household. Sakura was not happy that day, but she hid her feelings behind an innocent smile. Later she punched me when no one was looking as payback for laughing at her. Sakura has a killer right hook.

So yeah, this Naruto kid can’t be all bad if he can manage to make Sakura blush.

***

Why did I agree to this? Not even two days into our new friendship and already Naruto is dragging me along everywhere to help him on his pranks.

It's amazing how the ANBU never seem to find us. Even when we were leaving behind a paint trail after our latest adventure. We broke so many laws that day but we’ll be fine as long we deny ever being near the T&I building. No matter what they say, they can’t prove anything.

And even if they could prove it, I’m sure Sakura will find a way to bail us out. She has experience dealing with the judicial system. Not sure why, but I guess it could have something to do with Danzo.

Still, while I hide from authority figures with Naruto, I couldn’t help but admit that he was kinda fun to hang around with. Naruto must never know. It’ll ruin the aloof and cool image I’ve created for myself.

***

Naruto needs to move out of his apartment. Any place that lets a perfectly good tomato rot is not a safe place to grow up in. I completely agree with Sakura in the fact that something has to be done about this. Naruto cannot live here. I just ruined his bathroom with the amount of vomit I threw up after eating that poor tomato.

But before I could muster the energy to march with Sakura to the Hokage’s office, she tied me and Naruto up to a log to keep us from stopping her.

I understand needing to stop Naruto, he’s too happy to leave well enough alone, but why the hell did she have to tie me up too? I’m not letting her get away with this.

“Naruto, we need to go after her,” I said.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “I need to tell her that things are alright.”

“No, they aren’t,” I snapped. “And no, we need to go after her because she just left us tied and trapped in your apartment!”

“It’s not that bad,” he defended.

Beside him, the pile of empty noodle cups began to move towards us.

“Nope,” I said already dragging us and the log to the door. “I am not staying here.”

With Naruto still nagging, I proceeded to escape that mess of an apartment. Along the way, Naruto ended up doing most of the dragging.

***

Naruto lives with us now. Cool.

He gets along with Marinette too. He’s even trying to convince Marinette into making ramen, something that he has failed to convince Sakura into. (I understand the pain in Sakura refusing food requests. She still limits how many tomatoes I’m allowed to eat a day.) Marinette seems to be willing to learn, but since she’s been focusing on her medical training she isn’t as skilled as Sakura in the kitchen.

Sakura doesn’t share a room with me anymore but that fine. I don’t get as many nightmares anymore after she hung that thing she calls a dream catcher. Now Sakura sleeps in her own room across the hall and Naruto shares a room with me.

The downside, Naruto sleepwalks. He also says the weirdest things when he’s asleep. At least he’s entertaining.

*Sakura’s POV*

Things were settling nicely.

I’ve befriended Naruto and took him in as my ward, Sasuke isn’t as openly revenge obsessed as he was in the beginning, Mikoto and Charlie were back, and Marinette finally said her first word.

Oddly enough it was "mama." She’s been referring to me as mama since she’s begun talking. Logically thinking about it, I am technically her mother. I’m also technically Charlie’s mother but he still calls me Sakura. Naruto and Sasuke have taken this in stride.

Mikoto has also been settling in nicely. Marinette is a great caretaker. She passionately watches over Mikoto 24/7. (If Mikoto wasn’t unconscious she’d probably be creeped out but if Mikoto was conscious she wouldn’t need 24-hour surveillance.) Marinette has also taken it upon herself to make sure Mikoto’s muscles don’t atrophy any more than they already have. She does this by physically moving Mikoto with chakra threads. Something that she had been practicing in her free time with an old doll of mine.

Marinette really was my daughter. How else would you explain her natural desire to study? Sniff… she makes me so proud.

Charlie has been returned to my side. I didn’t feel the same without him. With him back we could resume practicing our defense and attack magic together. Charlie has most of the defense down but he’s lacking in the attack.

Most of the villagers don’t pick on Naruto anymore. Not since word of Naruto officially becoming my word spread. Now the villagers can’t afford to pick on him without pissing me off. That would end in either a lost job or being banned from more than half of the business establishments. Danzo has already proven how hard it is to get by when you literally can’t buy alcohol from within the village.

I was dragged into a meeting with the Hokage, the council, and all the clan heads. Many of them tried to convince me why I shouldn’t take Naruto in without mentioning the demon fox. They quickly gave up when they realized that if they pressed the issue any more they would either have to reveal the secret about the nine-tailed fox or be banned from any of my establishments.

Sasuke and Naruto have begun training together in preparation for our upcoming entrance into the ninja academy. Occasionally I join them but mostly I focus on my new latest magical project. With both Charlie and Marinette, we might just be able to pull it off. Summoning a mandrake.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7 In-Between Scenes

* Before Marinette *

Under several privacy charms, I sat down next to Mikoto’s bed to begin our meeting without worry. I still wasn’t allowed to visit but with the use of a couple of notice-me-not charms, it was easy to sneak in.

“How often does he come by?” I asked.

“Every day,” Charlie answered. “He sneaks in and looks at her like she’s some sort of prize. Sometimes he whispers to her that it's only a matter of time before she belongs to him too.”

A large wave of anger overwhelmed me. Councilman Danzo had been paying an annoyingly close (and creepy) eye to the Uchiha family since the massacre. Especially when it came to Mikoto.

Not even a week has passed by and already I would have to come up with a plan to relocate Mikoto. I wasn’t even done handling the legal issues for Sasuke and myself.

“Has he tried to touch her?” I asked. I looked closely at Charlie who sat motionlessly under Mikoto’s arm. The nurses probably thought it was adorable when Sasuke left a stuffed animal to watch over his mother.

“Only once but I shielded her,” Charlie answered. “Danzo seems to be under the impression that I’m some sort of tool you created. A proxy that lets you use your abilities remotely. He may try to confiscate me later.”

“First he tries to confiscate Uchiha records, next he tries to attain guardianship over me, and now he’s aiming for Auntie Mikoto,” I muttered. “I don’t know what Danzo is up to but he’s proving to be a thorn in my side.”

“You’re lucky the Hokage allowed you become independent,” Charlie said.

“He had no choice. The other clan heads would never allow anyone on the council to have me and they wouldn’t be able to agree upon themselves who should take care of me. It's better for everyone if I just continue to live with Sasuke. It's easier for the ANBU to keep an eye on us too.”

“We’ll have to relocate Mikoto,” Charlie said. “She would be safer if we can get her under the blood wards.”

“True,” I agreed. “But we would need someone we can trust to watch over her medical needs. With the way Danzo is interfering, we can’t trust anyone new. They might be a spy in disguise.”

“You could always use the puppet Itachi gave you,” Charlie suggested. “I know you’re still on the fence because he was a gift from that guy, but she would make a perfect caregiver. She’s lifesized, she’s humanoid, and if anything she could make up for the sins Itachi committed if you use his blood. Bring some good out of all the bad. That giant bag is just going to waste away otherwise.”

I mulled over the facts for a bit before responding.

“...If I do wake her,” I started, “no one can know who her blood donor was. Not Sasuke, not the council, not the Hokage, and not even the puppet herself can know. As far as anyone needs to know, her donor was a random victim of the massacre who I just happened to save the blood of. If they want more specific details we’ll say it was Izumi. That way no one will question why I thought to save the blood of that specific person.”

“You weren’t very close to Izumi though,” Charlie pointed out. “You hardly talked to her.”

“But we can always say that I felt sorry for her,” I said. “We can say how I felt sad that the guy she loved killed her and couldn’t bear to think that legacy would end there. It’s no secret that she had a crush on Itachi. Besides, we’ll only use her as a scapegoat in case anyone demands to know exactly who I got the blood from.”

“Very well,” Charlie agreed. “By the way, have any spies tried to sneak past the blood wards?”

“If they did, they would have already turned to dust,” I answered. “Blood magic is considered dark magic for a reason.”

With that, we concluded that day’s meeting.

*Trying to Explain Magic*

“So does your kekkei genkai work using your blood?” Sasuke asked. He stared pointedly at the bowl I was slowly filling with my blood.

In the days following the massacre, Sasuke and I have grown close. I wish it didn’t have to happen due to shared trauma.

Naturally, just like before with Harry and Ron, we began to open up to each other… sort of. It was more like he talked and I talked and maybe he listened but mostly he didn’t. He talked about how betrayed he felt over Itachi, I tried to explain how magic worked, he went off on revenge obsessed monologues, I tried to teach him the importance of business management, he talked about how he needed to train more, and I repeated English poetry at him. I’m pretty sure he only listened to me a bit on the magic part because it explained my kekkei genkai.

“Sort of,” I answered Sasuke’s question. “It's hard to explain. Yeah, blood is a part of it… but I don’t need to rely on it for everything. My shield, for instance, is pure magical energy.” Sasuke gave me a confused look. He wasn’t completely sold on magic. “Or to put in a term that you’ll better understand, it's a sort of energy that I naturally produce and manipulate. Like chakra but different.”

Sasuke tried to wrap his head around the concept of magic, but he very much in denial about the existence of magic. It was better to just treat my abilities as a type of Blood Limit. He could work with that.

“So do you need a lot of blood?” Sasuke asked. His gaze went from the bowl of blood to the blood bag before settling on the large puppet situated on the porch. I thought it would be nice to try and wake her with a garden view. Sasuke agreed. Also because we had to remove a dead body almost everywhere else. The porch was one of the few bloodshed free locations on the compound.

“Yeah,” I said. “The bigger the vessel, the more blood that is needed. Since Charlie was small I only needed a small bowl. Shisui helped me out by donating his blood so I only needed to add a drop of mine. But Marinette here is huge compared Charlie. The blood bag is almost enough, but I still need to add more of my own to get it to work.”

I hope I don’t become anemic in the future with how much blood I’m losing. Sure this bowl was only a little bit larger than the one used for Charlie, but keep in mind it wasn’t too long ago that I basically bleed myself dry multiple times to surround the Uchiha Compound in my blood wards. Also, my current body was still that of a young child.

Sasuke looked at the blood bag before gently picking it up.

“Since Shisui helped you make Charlie, does that mean that this is also Shisui’s blood?” Sasuke asked.

Bloody hell!

“No…” I didn’t elaborate. Sasuke must never know.

“Then who’s is it?” he asked with a childlike innocence that can only be accomplished by a boy his age.

I didn’t want to lie to him. And he was looking at me with those huge black eyes. They were like looking into the adorable eyes of a cat.

“...it’s from someone... who isn’t around anymore,” I managed while avoiding eye contact.

“Who,” Sasuke pressed.

“...Izumi,” I reluctantly answered. Sasuke was silent. I sneaked a quick glance at him. He was looking seriously at the blood bag in his hands.

“I’m sure Izumi would be proud to know you’re using her blood for this.”

“...Yeah.”

I looked off to the side to avoid Sasuke seeing my guilty face. He must never know.

“I do believe that we’re ready for the next step,” I said trying to lighten up the mood. “Ready to watch me create life?”

“Yeah!” Awe… Sasuke was adorable when he was excited. I was starting to get what Itachi saw in him. When Sasuke wasn’t being grumpy and revenge obsessed, he was pretty cute.

“Sakura, you’re getting blood on me,” Sasuke whined. Looks like I unconsciously started ruffling Sasuke’s hair.

“Oops, sorry about that,” I apologized smiling sheepishly. I wrapped a band-aid on my bleeding palm before attempting to wipe my spilled blood off of Sasuke.

“Alright, time to get started,” I exclaimed.

Gently, I picked up the bowl and moved it closer to Marinette, formerly known as Mother but renamed by Sasuke. I reached over towards Sasuke and retrieved the blood bag he was still holding. Taking a few calming breaths, I tried to relax. This was going to take a whole lot more magic than usual.

Sasuke watched with undeterred interest as I began.

What followed was a very bright and blinding blood ceremony that left Sasuke both amazed and walking into walls. I was to busy vomiting off the side of the porch to laugh at him.

***

Naruto did not accept the idea of magic any better than Sasuke. But he did think that my blood limit worked in a way similar to magic. Both Naruto and Sasuke could wrap their heads around that. Once Naruto was satisfied with his own version of how my magic worked, he went straight towards asking any magical related question he could think of. Many of them prompted by this world’s versions of fairytales.

“Can you curse someone to never have children?”

“Yes.”

“Can you magically change rags into a dress?”

“Yes.”

“Can you curse someone to sleep like they were dead?”

“Yes.”

“What about turning a squash into a carriage?”

“Yes.”

“Can you fly on a broom?”

“... No.” It didn’t matter how useful flying would be in this world, I refuse to ever get on those cursed things.

“Can you give me fox ears and a tail?”

“Yes.” Momentary I recalled my first attempt at polyjuice.

“Can you change the sheets and clothes back to white?”

“I can, but I rather keep them pink. They remind to not blindly take Sasuke word.”

“Hey,” Sasuke shouted from across the room.

* Danzo’s Regrets *

That pink-haired child was a demon.

Sure she hid behind an innocent childlike facade, but I knew what she was really like. She was just like any other grown kunoichi when enraged and the worst kind too. The kind that held grudges.

I may have gotten a bit greedy when trying to claim some of the Uchiha records on their eyes, but I had a good argument over why certain records shouldn’t be left in the hands of children. That Haruno brat however also had a good argument against my wishes as well as the Hokage’s support.

For every step I tried to take to ensnare either of the remaining Uchiha, she was always two steps ahead whether she purposely planned it or not. Like when she filed for Mikoto to be transferred back home. I tried to stop her or at least insert my own spy as their stay-at-home nurse but she had already gotten the paperwork approved and acquired a mysterious doctor to look over Mikoto. Then there was that stuffed animal of hers.

Sometimes I felt as if it were watching me when I secretly visited the hospital. Maybe it was. Either way, I’m sure that Haruno somehow placed some sort of seal on it to shield Mikoto against anyone who meant her harm. I had hoped the toy would be removed at some point, but the stuffed animal had remained by her side throughout her whole stay and during her transfer.

I also tried to take the damn toy to study it but I could never get past its shields.

The Haruno brat was becoming quite the prodigy. My spies have already gathered information on the simple seal markings she created. We gathered a lot of information when watching her seal up the Uchiha Compound. The number of detailed notes that were taken would become a great help in trying to figure the child out.

I wanted that barrier seal of hers. Being able to hide an entire location would come in handy for many of my side businesses. It would instantly kill any intruder who wasn’t meant to be on the property. Or at least I’m assuming it does. I had some of my agents hide within the compound before she finished sealing the place and have not heard from them since. So either they’re dead or trapped inside. I’m assuming dead.

We’ve tried to replicate her seals but they didn’t work. We snuck a few samples of her blood when she and the Uchiha child were hospitalized from food poisoning but her blood alone doesn’t seem to activate them.

At that point, I was beginning to lose interest in her bloodline. It was too complicated and there were far too many obstacles (namely the Hokage but also that stuffed toy of hers) in my way to properly study it. It didn’t help that I was also unable to buy any alcoholic beverage to relax.

That brat had declared me a personal enemy a couple of meetings ago (ones that normally a child wouldn’t be able to attend but with her being her new clan’s head the Hokage let her in). I didn’t take her declaration to heart because who would. She a small pink-haired little girl who looked like she was playing pretend as an adult. I’m sure many of the others in that meeting had similar thoughts at the time.

It wasn’t until that brat singlehandedly gained control of more than half the civilian and ninja businesses did any of us start to take her seriously.

I try my best to live a life without regret, but if there is one thing I regret is not stopping Mebuki and Kizashi from visiting the Uchiha Compound the night of the massacre. I’m sure if they were alive they would still have that demon locked away from the world in their parental attempts to keep her safe.

I wish I stopped them. I was out shopping when they went. I saw them walking towards the compound. Why didn’t I stop them? If I had, I wouldn’t be suffering from all the extra money I have to put in to buy almost everything outside of the village.

I can’t even send any of my agents to buy it for me. The damn demon of a brat sealed all her businesses. If anyone tried to go to any of her shops to buy something for me they are, as if by magic, unable to find any damn shop. Which should be impossible since the brat owns more than half of Konoha!

How the hell are they not able to find even one shop?!

Now I can only rely on the Hokage to stop her… or at least hold her back. He seems to be the only adult figure she’ll even remotely listen to. She won’t listen to anyone else. It doesn’t help that she already knows how to take care of herself and the Uchiha child.

Her almost civilian like parents must be the reason why. They must have been training her in their civilian and merchant backgrounds.

I already have records that both her parents originally came from merchants. They must have taught their daughter everything she knows. Add in the civilian lifestyle and you have a miniature adult in the form of a tiny demon.

If only I could just send someone in to finish her off but the Hokage was keeping an annoying close eye on me. If anything happened to that pink-haired brat I would be the first suspect. No, what I needed was to somehow get in her good graces. But how?

An idea popped into my head.

Yes… that just might work. No matter how mature and independent she was, she was still a child and I knew just how to lure in children.

***

“Councilman Danzo, please stop trying to tempt me with candy,” Sakura said. “You’re setting off my pedophile senses.”

She said in the middle of a village meeting. None of the clan heads let me near their children after that.

*Fan Club Meeting*

In a large undisclosed location, a fan meeting was being held.

“Welcome members of the Prince Sakura Fan Club and Sasuke-Kun Fan Club,” fangirl Ami said.

She stood upon a podium on a small platform in front of a large crowd of fangirls and some boys. Many of them wore shirts, headbands, or signs that showed their loyalty towards either Prince Sakura, Sasuke-Kun, or both. One very avid fanboy was holding a cardboard cutout of Sasuke.

“We are gathered here today to discuss the important issue of Naruto Uzumaki,” Ami stated. Behind her, a projector turned on to display a large close-up image of Naruto eating ramen. “As some of you already know, he has recently become the ward of Prince Sakura. That means he has gained the exclusive right to enter the Uchiha Compound meaning he now has unlimited access to both Prince Sakura and Sasuke-Kun!”

The projector behind her changed to an image of Naruto grocery shopping with both Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke and Naruto both held shopping baskets. Sakura was placing a couple of vegetables in Naruto’s basket while Sasuke was placing a large number of tomatoes and instant ramen in his basket while Sakura was distracted. The fan club started yelling in outrage. Ami slammed a small wooden mallet on her podium.

“Calm down,” she shouted. She continued hitting her podium until the fan club quieted down. “Normally we would have organized to mob him by now but this time we can’t.”

More cries of outrage rang out.

“QUIET!” Ami shouted with more bangs from her mallet. “There is a reason why we aren’t attacking him!”

It took a couple more bangs from her mallet before the fan club calmed down enough for her to continue.

“As many have you know, Prince Sakura lost her whole family in the Uchiha Massacre. Until recently, she had limited her world to only Sasuke-Kun and Lady Mikoto. Sure she still treated us all well if we tried to talk to her but I’m sure many of you have noticed the walls she has built up. She keeps us at arm’s length.”

Many fangirls slowly nodded in agreement.

“But now that she has taken in Naruto, she’s been a lot happier and even Sasuke has been seen smiling every now and then and that boy never smiles in public. We always have to get sneak shots at him with he-who-must-not-be-named before. As a fan club dedicated to either Prince Sakura or Sasuke-Kun or both, we mustn’t object to anything that makes them happier. Especially after they’ve both experienced such a traumatic event.”

The grocery shop image was replaced with a sad image of shirtless Sasuke sitting next to Sakura in the hospital waiting room. Both of them covered with Mikoto’s blood. Normally none of the fan club members would have taken a picture of such a sad event, but Sasuke was shirtless and they didn’t know if they would ever have another opportunity.

The fan club reluctantly agreed while drooling a bit.

“Since Naruto has become an important part of their lives, we will have to make sure nothing happens to him,” Ami continued. “We cannot, I repeat, CANNOT hurt him. To hurt him would be to hurt both Prince Sakura and Sasuke-Kun. We must also make sure that no one else hurts him. A hard job to do since most of the village seems to hate his guts, but we will do it. To achieve this, some of our members have written down his usual schedule. You will find it in our weekly report next to Prince Sakura and Sasuke-Kun’s schedule. We will take turns rotating in our guard shifts. I would also like to point out that Prince Sakura has somehow heard of our plan and she has given us her approval. She even sent us a thank you gift which she assured me would make us all happy. I haven’t watched it yet so this will be a first-time view for everyone. Someone play the video!”

Behind her, the sad image was replaced with a video of Sasuke and Naruto singing and goofily dancing to a song playing on the background.

They were both in a living room with Sasuke standing on the sofa singing into a hairbrush while Naruto stood on top of the coffee table with the remote control as his makeshift mic. They both paused their singing to play air guitar. Sasuke jumped kicked as he played air guitar. Naruto jumped off the coffee table to slide on his knees while playing. The video continued with both boys continuing to passionately sing.

All the while the fan club was going crazy. They acted like passionate fans watching a concert. Someone passed out glow sticks while others started waving the signs they brought. The cardboard cutout of Sasuke was being crowd-surfed along with its owner who had refused to let it go.

Both Sasuke and Naruto really got passionately involved in the song. Sasuke threw his shirt off to an imaginary audience while Naruto blew kisses towards the said imaginary audience.

Many noses erupted with blood and a couple of the weaker ones fainted from the blood loss.

Sasuke continued singing until he noticed the camera.

“Sakura,” Sasuke shouted.

He stopped his performance to chase after Sakura who was filming but you could still hear Naruto’s offkey singing in the background. The camera view changed to a jingled view of the floorboards passing by as Sakura ran away. It was quickly replaced with Sakura’s smiling and laughing face.

She laughed hysterically until she was tackled to the ground. Briefly, they saw Sasuke’s embarrassed blushing face before the video ended.

The fangirls were still going crazy long after the video had ended. Even Ami was in a hysterical cheering state. More club members had even passed out from blood loss. Many of them now rested on the ground still bleeding from their noses.

“ This is why we have to protect Naruto,” Ami exclaimed.

The rest of the meeting continued with a review of Sakura and Sasuke’s personal life.

***

The villagers quickly learned that they were no longer able to pick on Naruto. Not only would picking on him lead to them being banned or fired from any Haruno business, but the young girls and some boys had also taken a scary approach in their makeshift roles as bodyguards. Many civilians and even some ninjas had been mobbed. Some of them were even chased with pitchforks and torches.

One pissed them off so much the ANBU had to step in before the young girls and boys had successfully set a civilian man on fire. They already had him tied to a wooden pole with a couple of jounin that had tried to help. Piles of kindling were being prepared at their feet. No really knows what went down, only that the man had aimed a blow at Naruto and ended up hitting Sasuke instead.

Yes, the village quickly learned it was better to leave Naruto alone. They could glare and mutter all they wanted, but they were not allowed to negatively interact with him. It didn’t matter if Sakura or Sasuke were with him. Those terrifying children of the village were always watching.

Elsewhere Naruto was enjoying his now easier life. He hasn’t noticed the fan club’s involvement in his life. Neither Sakura, Sasuke, nor Charlie felt the need to point it out either.