Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sakura wasn’t sure what happened. One moment she was running towards the edge of the ravine and the next…she was here. Back at the training ground she and Shisui always used.

Shisui.

She had to find him. Had to save him.

She runs away from the training ground and towards the ravine. There’s a tug on her chakra and she’s back at the training ground again.

What the…

She tries again and the same thing happens. What was going on? Why couldn’t she leave? She needed to leave!

She thinks back, remembers Itachi yelling at her to stop and then…and then she was here.

A genjutsu. It must be.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself as best she can, she closes her eyes and focuses her chakra.

“Kai!”

Opening her eyes, she scowls when she sees that she’s still trapped. Locking her jaw in frustration, she tries again.

“Kai!”

Nothing Happens.

“Kai! Kai! Kai!”

“It wont work, Sakura.” The pinkette opens her eyes and sees Itachi standing across from her. “You are trapped in the world of Tsukuyomi. It’s the power of my Mangekyo Sharingan.” He says, his hand reaching up to brush his fingers over his right eye. He hadn’t meant to trap her in it, he just wanted to stop her, his Mangekyo had reacted to his emotions and brought her here.

“Let me out, Itachi!” she yells stepping towards the teen.

“I can’t do that.” He says, lowering his hand. “Not yet.”

“Shisui is in danger! I have to save him!”

“You can’t, Sakura.”

“Yes I can!”

“Shisui is dead.” He says firmly, Sakura shakes her head. Tears streaming down her face and her hands clenched into fists at her side.

“No, he’s not! Your lying!” she yells, trying to punch the teen. However before she could land a hit, his body disappears into a flock of crows.

“I wish I was.” Itachi says softly, his body reappearing behind her. Sakura turns to glare at him. “Shisui is dead and you…you need to accept it.”

The world around them shifts and suddenly their back at the ravine. Itachi and Shisui standing at the edge of the cliff.

“Shisui!” Sakura yells trying to run towards them but no matter how fast she runs, she gains no ground. Stopping to catch her breath, she glares at Itachi when he appears next to her.

“I’m sorry, Sakura.” He says, sadly. His eyes filled with pain as he looks out at the memory. “But you need to see this and accept the truth.”

“This is all just one of your genjutsu tricks! It’s not real!” She says stubbornly, however the sound of Shisui’s voice gives her pause. Pulling her attention towards the cliff edge.

“Thank you, my friend.” Shisui smiles “But I have one last favor to ask of you.” Reaching up he unties the headband from around his head and holds it out for Itachi to take. “Give this to Sakura for me, would you?” he grins “She’s going to be an amazing shinobi one day. I know it. And tell her-tell her I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise to her.”

“Shisui…” Sakura mutters softly as she watches Itachi pocket the headband.

“What will you do now?”

“If I die, several circumstances will change.” He says, taking a step back towards the ledge. “I’ve left behind a note already…”

“Wait, Shisui!” past-Itachi and Sakura yell simultaneously.

“Don’t try to stop me, Itachi. If you’re truly my friend...” He says as he falls backwards. Itachi tries to grab him, yelling after his friend. The world spins again and they’re back at the training ground.

Sakura falls to her knees, tears streaming down her face, gripping the grass tightly beneath her. She felt like she was going to be sick.

Shisui was…he’s gone.

He broke his promise to her.

“I’m sorry, Sakura.” Itachi apologizes, drawing her glassy gaze up to him. “It was the only way I could think of to get you to accept the truth.” Sakura sniffs and shakily climbs to her feet.

“What do we do now?” she sniffs, wiping the tears from her face.

“What do you mean?” Itachi frowns, Sakura’s gaze hardens.

“Shisui was murdered! We have to avenge him!”

“Sakura.” Itachi says firmly “Shisui sacrificed himself. He chose to die. As painful as it is we must accept it.” Sakura shakes his head.

“No. As far as I’m concerned Shisui never would have jumped if Danzo” She spits “Didn’t steal his eye. He would still be alive right now if it wasn’t for him.”

“That may be true but if we do as you say. We will be going against Shisui’s wishes.”

“I don’t care!” she yells, her hands balling into fists at her sides. “Danzo doesn’t deserve to live for what he’s done!”

“And how do you propose we kill him, hmm?” Itachi asks making Sakura falter. “You are not strong enough to face him and even with my help he still has the backing of Root and the rest of Konoha. He is an elder of the village and to kill him will bring the wrath of the village upon us.”

“Then we tell the Hokage!” she says stubbornly “Shisui was working with him, wasn’t he? Maybe he'll help us against Danzo.” Itachi shakes his head.

“Maybe. Maybe not. That is a risk we cannot take.” He says “Danzo is one of Lord third’s oldest friends. He has looked the other way of Danzo’s indiscretions before. If we approach him about Shisui’s death, if he looks the other way, it will build even more distrust towards the Uchiha clan.”

“Then what about your dad?”

“No.”

“But he can help us!”

“Shisui died to try and show the Uchiha that war with the village was not needed.” Itachi says firmly “If we told my father what truly happened then war will surely break out.”

“So, we do nothing?!” She yells, frustrated. Itachi places a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“I feel just as much pain as you do, Sakura.” He says softly “But Shisui would not want us to seek revenge for his death.”

“It’s not revenge. Its justice.” Itachi sighs and removes his hand from her shoulder. Staring down at her contemplateively, he could see the pain and anger swirling in her eye. He wishes he could take it all away.

“Shisui once told me that he was unsure if there was such a thing as justice in the shinobi world.” He says “We fight believing we are on the side of justice but if the enemy feels the same how do we know whose truly right?” Sakura scowls and Itachi continues before she could cut in. “There is more than one side to an issue. We must consider things from various viewpoints” he finishes, holding out Shisui’s headband for her to take. “Have faith, Sakura. Danzo will pay for his actions one day. But it doesn’t need to be today.” Sakura frowns, averting her gaze from Itachi’s all knowing eyes down to the headband. Her chest feels tight and her eyes sting. She’ll trust Itachi for now, just like Shisui wanted, but one way or another. Danzo was going to pay with his life for what he did to Shisui. She’ll make sure of it.

She reaches out to take the headband, her fingers just brushing against the cool medal when the world around her spins. When she wakes up she finds herself back home, she looks around for Itachi. Thinking it to be another part of his genjutsu when she spots Rin. Seeing the look on the older girl’s face brings on a fresh wave of tears. Sakura launches herself into brunette’s arms, sobs racking her body.

Shisui was dead.

Sakura had failed.

Chapter Text

Rin was exhausted. Both physically and emotionally. She was called from her home late last night to help the hospital prepare for a high level of incoming trauma. She didn’t know what was going on until she arrived at the hospital.

The Uchiha Clan was under attack.

They were fully staffed, their supplies completely stocked, beds were empty and waiting for wounded as they huddled around the entrance of the hospital waiting for the first of the injured to arrive.

Only none came.

Except for one.

Uchiha Sasuke.

The sole survivor of the Uchiha Clan.

Rin treated him herself. He was unconscious when he was brought in and still out of it when she left. Outwardly, the boy was fine with the exception of a wound made by a shuriken on his shoulder. Mentally though…she couldn’t be certain. There was residual scarring on his brain from repeated genjutsu use that suggested that his mental state was under constant attack. Possibly for hours. She would need to have psych check him out to be sure, although it was probably going to be Yamanaka Inoichi that would do so. The Yamanaka was head of the Intelligence Division and with what happened tonight, she suspected that they were going to go all out in order to figure out what happened.

Of course, she didn’t find out until hours later that it was Uchiha Itachi that was behind the massacre.

After healing Sasuke’s physical injuries and waiting for Inoichi to show up, she left the boy in the Yamanka’s hands and joined her staff in sorting through the hundreds of dead. Anbu watching over them carefully as they inspected and examined each body.

It took them all night and they were still performing autopsies by the time Rin left the hospital.

She needed to leave.

Needed to return home and see her own kids.

Needed to see them safe. Alive.

She wasn’t expecting however to walk into her own home and to find the Uchiha murderer himself standing over a blood-soaked Sakura.

Rin feels her stomach drop, ice running through her veins as her gaze shifts between the Uchiha and the pinkette lying unconscious on the couch. Slowly, she drops her bag to the floor and walks further into the apartment. Her eyes never leaving the teen in front of her.

“Close the door.” Rin freezes.

“So, you can attack me?” she scoffs, her eyes once again flicking to Sakura and back again. She needed to figure out a way to get him away from her.

“I have no wish to fight you.” He says calmly. Rin feels her stomach twist unpleasantly. How could he be so calm after what he did? “I mean you no harm.”

“You expect me to believe that after what you did.” She snaps, Itachi stares at her.

‘Calm yourself, Rin. We need to keep him from hurting Sakura.’

‘If he even touches her-‘

‘-She’s alive. I can sense her chakra from here.’

“I simply wish to talk. That is all. After, I will leave.”

‘Do as he says Rin. And if he makes a move towards her than we will destroy him.’

Begrudgingly, she closes the door behind her.

“Thank you.”

“What do you want, Itachi?” She asks, glaring at the teen. Itachi shifts uncomfortably and averts his gaze to Sakura. Rin’s heart pounds in her chest, her hands clenching into fists at her sides.

Why was he here? What did he want with Sakura?

‘Focus, Rin.’

“She’s alive and unhurt.” He says, slowly lifting his gaze from Sakura to meet Rin’s. “She tried to stop me.” Rin freezes, feeling as if a bucket of ice water has been dumped on her.

“She…what?”

“Sakura knew what I was planning and tried to stop me.” He says firmly, Rin’s stomach twists uncomfortably to the point that she feels like she’s going to be sick. Sakura, her sweet little Sakura tried to stop Itachi from murdering his entire clan. Itachi continues, ignoring or simply not knowing the internal struggle the older brunette felt. “I had placed a genjutsu on her three days ago in the hopes of keeping her out of my way but she somehow managed to break out of it…she is rather impressive.”

“What do you want, Itachi?” she nearly spits, Isobu growls within her.

“I simply came to make sure she got home alright and…to say goodbye.”

‘Goodbye?’

‘What is he planning?’

“I have been labeled a rogue ninja and must flee or face persecution.” He explains plainly, his gaze once again drifting down to Sakura. “She will become a powerful shinobi one day…she needs to be protected.” Rin shifts forward slightly, drawing Itachi’s sharp red eyes back to her making her freeze. “Which is why I have waited until you have returned before taking my leave.”

“You stayed to…protect her?” Rin asks slowly, her brow furrowed in confusion.

What the hell was going on?

Itachi massacred everyone in his clan except for his little brother and now goes as far as to bring Sakura home, unharmed, and stays until Rin returned in order to protect her? It doesn’t make any sense.

What was he playing at?

“Shisui gave me a gift before he died…however I no longer have a use for it and have passed it down to Sakura.”

“What did you do Itachi?” she hisses, feeling the three tails chakra swell inside her.

‘If he has harmed her, I will tear him to shreds.’

“Interesting…” Itachi mutters, his Sharingan eyes narrowed as he studies Rin before returning back to the topic at hand. “I have done nothing that Sakura hasn’t consented to.” he assures and Rin growls in warning, needing him to get to the point and stop talking in circles. “But I have come to warn you.”

“Warn me?” she spits, Itachi nods ignoring her hostility.

“If word is to get out about the gift I gave Sakura, then Danzo will surely be after her.” Rin falters. “You need to keep her safe.”

“I…I will…” Rin says, her head tilting in confusion. Itachi was sending her through a roller coaster of emotions. She wasn’t sure what she felt anymore. “Itachi what-“

“-Rin!” The two turn to see Kakashi burst through the apartment door. His own sharingan glowing red as he glares at the Uchiha. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Rin states as she turns back to the Uchiha.

“It seems my time is up.” The teen mutters

“Itachi wait!” Rin yells, lunging towards the boy. Her fingers just brushing against his shoulder before he disappears in a burst of crows.

“A clone.” Kakashi mutters in frustration. Rin ignores him, shaking off her shock, she rushes to Sakura’s side. Her glowing green hands scanning the pinkette’s body for injuries. She lets out a sigh of relief, slumping to the ground when she finds none. Itachi was telling the truth. Besides the blood covering her front and some chakra exhaustion, Sakura was fine. “Rin…” Kakashi calls gently, drawing her attention towards her old teammate. “What did he want? Did he say anything?” Rin shakes her head.

“He said he was waiting for me to get home. That he was protecting Sakura…and that I needed to protect her.” Kakashi frowns in confusion and Rin nods her head in agreement. “Yeah, I don’t get it either.” She mutters, turning her attention back to Sakura. Her fingers gently brushing pink locks out of her face. “He also mentioned that…Shisui gave him a gift before he died and that since he had no use of it, he gave it to Sakura.”

“What gift?” Kakashi asks, drawing her attention back to him. “Do you know what he was talking about?” Rin shakes her head.

“I don’t but he said that if anyone found out about it then Danzo will be after her.”

“Danzo?” Rin nods “Why would Danzo be after her? What could be so important that Danzo would attack a child?”

“I don’t know but-“

“-Nee-Chan.” Rin whips back around to face the pinkette.

“Sakura! Oh thank sage! Are you…” the worlds die in her mouth as she looks into Sakura’s half lidded eyes. One green and the other red. Her mouth goes dry and the air leaves her lungs as she stares at the newly required sharingan.

Shisui’s sharingan.

‘So, I take it this is the gift…’

‘Why would Danzo want the sharingan though.’

‘I don’t know but I don’t want to find out.” Isobu growls ‘We will protect her from that bottom feeder even if it kills us.’

Chapter Text

“Is that all you got? You’re pathetic.” Sasuke sneers as he glares down at the blonde.

“What did you say?!” Naruto yells, fire in his eyes as he climbs to his feet.

“Hard of hearing?”

“Listen you-“

“Stop it!” Sakura yells getting between the two, glaring at them both. Naruto backs down with a huff, crossing his arms over his chest as he glares at the ground. Sasuke smirks and holds his ground. “That wasn’t a nice thing to say, Sasuke.” The pinkette scolds, leveling the Uchiha with a glare.

“Whatever.” He scoffs, Sakura’s eyes narrow. It’s been a year to date since the Uchiha massacre, and Sasuke has been on edge all week but today he was being outright cruel. Sakura knew, better than anyone, that he was hurting but she wouldn’t let him take it out on Naruto. Or anyone else.

“Listen I know your hurting but that’s no excuse to take it out on me and Naruto.” She says “We’re your friends, Sasuke. And if you would just-“

“We’re not friends!” He spits “The only reason why I even hang out with you losers is because you make somewhat decent training partners.”

“What?! Without us you wouldn’t know half the stuff you know now!” Naruto growls, Sasuke shrugs.

“And now that I know, you two have outgrown your usefulness.”

“Is that all we are?!” Naruto yells, lunging towards the other boy only to be pulled back by Sakura. “Just some tools for you to use and discard!”

“Enough!” Sakura yells, shoving Naruto back and turning to face Sasuke. “I understand that you’re hurting but that’s no reason to be cruel!” Sasuke laughs, cold and unfeeling.

“You understand?! You know nothing of my pain!” He sneers, Sakura flinches at the look of pure hatred in his eyes. “You.” He motions to Naruto. “You never even knew your parents or your clan! They all died before you were born!” Naruto glares at him, his hands balling into fists but Sasuke ignores him and turns his attention to Sakura. “And you…you’re just a civilian. You have no clan! You never talk about your parents and to be honest I’m starting to doubt you have any. Are they even alive? Or did they simply realize how useless you were and leave you behind?”  As soon as the words leave his mouth, he wants to take them back. Sakura’s face hardens, her one good eye seeming to glare into his soul as she steps into his personal space, her hands clenching into fists at her side. For an instant, Sasuke thinks she’s going to punch him but instead her body sags in defeat. The fight leaving her, pain reflecting in her eye.

“You’re a real jerk, Sasuke.” She says quietly before turning on her heel and walking away. Naruto shoots him a glare and quickly follows after her. Leaving Sasuke to watch the pair leave him behind. He almost wishes that Sakura had punched him instead, those five words and the defeated look in her eye hurt more than any hit Sakura could have landed. And he knew how strong the pinkette was.

Its hours later when Sasuke manages to build up the courage to find them again. Sitting on the ravine looking over the Naka river, unsurprising considering it was Sakura’s new hangout spot since Shisui died. Hesitantly he approaches the pair, fully aware of Naruto’s glare as he comes closer. He silently takes a seat next to Sakura, opposite to the side that Naruto occupied, making sure to keep enough space between them as to not crowd the pinkette. They sit silently, their feet dangly over the edge as they watch the sun set.

“I’m sorry.” He mutters eventually, Naruto scoffs. “I was angry and…and you guys didn’t deserve for me to take it out on you.”

“You were right though.” Sakura says softly, so quietly that Sasuke wasn’t even sure she actually spoke. “You were right about what you said about my parents.”

“I didn’t-“

“Sakura! How can you say that?!” Naruto asks loudly, Sakura shakes her head.

“You don’t get it, Naruto.” She sighs “Neither of you do.”  She mumbles, glaring at the setting sun before continuing. “Both of your parent’s died. They didn’t choose to leave you behind…they died.” She sniffs “Mine…” she laughs, cold and unfeeling and it sounds so unlike her that Sasuke couldn't help but flinch. “My parents chose to leave. They chose to leave me behind…because I was too weak.”

“No way! You’re the strongest person I know, Sakura! Believe it!”

“The Idiot is right.” Sasuke agrees, Sakura shakes her head and lets out a watery laugh.

“Only because I train so hard.” She sniffs, her hand grasping the crystal around her neck.  “I train…every day. Trying my best to get strong so I can find my mom again. So, I can walk by her side.” She mutters, glaring down at the crystal. “She hasn’t even checked up on me since I’ve come here…hasn’t sent one birthday card or one letter. Nothing.”

“Yeah, well then who needs her!”

“What?” Sakura asks, her brow furrowed in confusion as she turns to face Naruto.

“I may have never known my parents or my clan…” he frowns, a determined glint in his eye. “But I don’t care!”

“Naruto…”

“As far as I’m concerned, I have a family!” He says proudly “You, Nee-Chan, Iruka-sensei and even you ya bastard.” He says, earning a surprised look from Sasuke. “Your all my family. Blood or not! And if your mom can’t see that than your better off without her!”

“Naruto…” she murmurs in shock before a small, real smile takes over her face. “Thank you.” She murmurs pulling Naruto into a one-armed hug. Naruto grins, a light blush on his face as he hugs her back tightly. The two turn to look expectantly at Sasuke. The Uchiha watching them uncomfortably.

“What?”

“Are you going to get in here or not?”

“Yeah! We’re family!” Naruto adds, Sasuke flushes.

“I don’t hug.”

“Get in here or you’re not forgiven.” Sakura orders, the Uchiha’s blush darkens and Sakura grins when he begrudgingly scoots closer allowing himself to be pulled into the group hug.

“…How long do we have to do this?”

“Shut up and enjoy it, Sasuke.”

“hnn.”

Chapter Text

She couldn’t sleep.

No matter how hard she tried. No matter how many sheep she counted. Sleep did not come easy to her. Naruto’s obnoxious snores filled the room where he laid asleep in the bunkbed above her, and if she turned her head she would see Sasuke also asleep in his bed.

A few months after Sakura forced the Uchiha into a friendship with her and Naruto, Sasuke slowly began spending nights in their tiny apartment. It started off as falling asleep on the couch after a movie or making the excuse of wanting to get up early for training so it was easier for him to stay there. But slowly, he stopped making excuses for spending the night and just started doing it.

It wasn’t hard to figure out why.

Sasuke had lost his entire family, his entire clan, in the span of one night. He had his own apartment sure, but the nights were cold and lonely. Especially for a child.

They didn’t make a big deal of it. Not wanting to scare him off.

The Uchiha stubbornness was strong in him.

It was Rin who got him the bed, setting it up in their already cramped bedroom while they were all in school.

When they returned home, she swears Sasuke almost burst into tears. Although he would never admit it and she never mentioned it.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, she throws her covers off her and quietly exits their shared bedroom. Closing the door behind her, she walks deeper into the dark living room and towards the balcony suddenly feeling the need for fresh air.

Walking out onto the balcony, she breathes in deeply. Letting the cool night air calm her as she takes a seat in one of the two chairs outside. She stares up at the night sky above her, her hand instinctively drifting up to clutch the crystal around her neck as her mind drifts to her mother. Sasuke’s words running through her head.

'You have no clan! You never talk about your parents and to be honest I’m starting to doubt you have any. Are they even alive? Or did they simply realize how useless you were and leave you behind?'

She knows he regretted the words as soon as he said it and he has apologized for saying them. Sakura had forgiven him but still…she knew he was right. It’s almost been two years now since she first came to Konoha and she hasn’t heard from her mother since.

 Not even a birthday card.

She wondered if her mother even remembered her.

Did she miss her? Did she think about her? Did she wonder how she was doing? Did she wish she could come back and get her? Did she regret her choice?

“Sakura?” Sakura looks up to see Rin standing in the door way to the balcony, a concerned look on her face. She was still dressed in her hospital uniform having just gotten home. “What are you doing out here? It’s late. You should be in bed sleeping.”

“I couldn’t sleep.” She says quietly, Rin frowns and steps out into the balcony. Sliding the door shut behind her before taking a seat in the other open chair.

“Is everything okay?” Sakura shrugs, fiddling with her crystal as she turns back to the moon. “Do you want to talk about it?” Sakura stays silent for a moment and she feels Rin’s eyes boring into the side of her head.

“Do you…” she trails off, her grip on her crystal tightening. “Do you think my mom misses me?”

“Oh Sakura…” Rin says softly “I’m sure she does.” Sakura turns to face the brunette, her one green eye glassy with tears. The other closed tightly to hide Shisui’s sharingan.

“Then why hasn’t she come for me?” she asks “Why hasn’t she sent one letter or one birthday card…it’s been two years and I haven’t heard from her at all!”

“Sakura…” Rin says softly, moving from her chair so she’s kneeling in front of the girl. “I don’t know why your mother hasn’t reached out…that’s not something I can answer for you although I wish I could.” Sakura sniffs and averts her gaze. “But knowing you…I know that she loves you so much.”

“You don’t know that.” She sniffs, Rin gives her a small smile.

“I do…because it’s impossible not to.” She says, continuing when the Pinkette doesn’t respond. “You have so many people that love and care for you, Sakura. Me, Naruto, Sasuke…Shisui. We all care about you.” Sakura sniffs and turns to face the brunette, Rin smiling softly up at her.

“Naruto said…” she sniffs, wiping away some of her tears. “Naruto said that I’m better off without her. That blood or not. We’re his family.” Rin smiles proudly, happy to hear that the blonde considered them his family. “I’m starting to think he’s right…” Rin’s smile melts into a confused frown as she watches Sakura remove the crystal necklace from around her neck.

“Sakura…wha-“

“Everyone here knows and loves Haruno Sakura.” She explains, staring down at the crystal in the palm of her hand with a frown. “No one knows Senju Sakura …she doesn’t exist in Konoha.”

“Sakura…” the pinkette lifts her gaze to meet Rin’s, a look of determination in her eye.

“I think…I think I should just be Haruno Sakura from now on.” She says, holding the necklace out for Rin to take. “Can you hold onto this for me?” Rin stares wide eyed at the crystal before looking up at the pinkette.

“Sakura I…I can’t…”

“Why not?”

“Your mother gave you this. It wouldn’t be right for me to-“

“-She’s not here.” Sakura says firmly, Rin’s defense dying in her throat. “Please, Nee-Chan. Just for a little while…until I’m ready to be Senju Sakura again.” The two stare at one another for a moment before Rin sighs and nods her head.

“Fine.” Rin sighs as she carefully takes the necklace from the pinkette. “But if you want this back at any time you tell me and-“ Rin is cut off by Sakura pulling her into a hug.

“-I will. I promise.” Sakura mumbles into her shoulder, Rin gets over her surprise and quickly hugs her back. “Thank you, Nee-Chan.”

“You’re welcome, Sakura.” She mutters, giving her a tight squeeze. “I love you.”

“Love you too.” Sakura mumbles before releasing Rin from the hug. “Good night.”

“Night.” Rin watches her walk back into the apartment, the sliding door closing behind her. Letting out a sigh, she turns and looks at the crystal in her hand. A deep frown pulling at her lips. She swears if she ever sees Lady Tsunade again, she’s going to give that woman a talking to.

‘Good Luck with that.’

Chapter Text

Rin looks up from the paper in front of her at the knock on her door to see Kakashi standing in her doorway.

“I brought lunch.” He says, holding up the bag of take out. “I figured you haven’t eaten.”

“You’re the best.” Rin sighs, sagging in relief. She’s been buried up to her elbows in paperwork all day, she hadn’t even realized how hungry she was until the silver haired shinobi knocked on her door. Kakashi smiles underneath his mask and walks into her office, taking a seat in one of the chairs on the opposite side of Rin’s desk. Rin moves the stacks of paperwork she was working on off to the side as Kakashi carefully spreads out the sushi he brought with him.

Rin hums, nearly sinking into her chair, as she pops a tuna roll into her mouth. Sage, she was starving.

“So…” Kakashi begins, Rin opens her eyes from where she was savoring her tuna roll to look at her old teammate across from her. Of course, this wasn’t just him being nice. He wanted something. “How are the brats?” Rin quirks an eyebrow.

“The kids are fine.”

“I heard the Uchiha brat is living with you now.” Rin shoots him a brief glare but it holds no heat, her attention quickly turning to the food in front of her.

“Sasuke stays with us from time to time.” She says, popping another tuna roll in her mouth. Continuing once she finishes. “He doesn’t say it but I don’t think he likes being alone in that empty apartment.” Kakashi nods.

“Makes sense. After what he’s been through.” Rin nods in agreement popping another roll in her mouth. “Although I have to say I’m surprised…from what I hear Sasuke and Naruto hate one another.” Rin snorts, quickly chewing her food and swallowing before answering.

“They don’t hate each other.” She corrects “But there is definitely a rivalry there.” Her lips quirk up into a smirk, thinking of how competitive the two boys are with one another. “They actually remind me of you and…” Rin trails off, a sudden tension filling the air.

“…Obito.” Kakashi adds quietly

“Yeah.” Rin mutters, staring down at the sushi in front of her. A familiar pang of pain filling her chest at the mention of their loss teammate. Clearing her throat, pushing away painful memories, she looks back up at her friend. “Actually…It was Sakura who dragged him into our little group.” Kakashi quirks an eyebrow.

“The pink one?” Rin snorts but nods her head.

“She practically dragged him along kicking and screaming but eventually he stayed.”

“Seems like she has a knack for collecting Uchiha’s.” Kakashi mutters, Rin having told him of the pinkette befriending both Shisui and Itachi Uchiha. He was the only other person besides Rin and Sakura who knew that the pinkette possessed the sharingan. The two deciding it was safer for the girl if no one else knew. As long as she kept Shisui’s eye hidden beneath her eyepatch. She would be fine.

“She does have a knack for it.” Rin agrees with a laugh, nodding her head in agreement, having thought the same thing when she first met Sasuke. Kakashi smirks.

“Three kids living in a small two-bedroom apartment.” He sighs “Must be tight.” Rin shrugs.

“We make do.” She says, shoving another roll in her mouth as she glances up at her former teammate. Her eyes narrow when she sees the look on his face. “What are you up to, Kakashi?”

“Me? Nothing.” He laughs, Rin’s eyes narrow further. “Can’t a guy just have lunch with his old teammate and catch up?” Rin frowns, setting down her chopsticks she crosses her arms and leans forward on her desk. Staring the silver haired ninja down.

“You never come visit me.”

“That’s not true. I saw you just last week.”

“In the market. Not in the hospital.” She says with a pointed look making other shinobi shift nervously. “You never visit me when I’m at work. You hate the hospital. You avoid it at all costs.”

“Well, I’m sure that’s not…” he trails off seeing the glare on Rin’s face. Letting out a sigh he slumps in his seat. “Fine.” He sighs, Rin smirks. “I did come here for something.”

“If you come to ask me to order the nurses off your back than you can-“

“-It’s not that.” Kakashi interrupts with a wave of his hand. Rin frowns. “I actually came to give you a gift.”

“A gift?” Rin says doubtfully, Kakashi nods. Reaching into his toolbelt he pulls out a small box with a red bow on top and slides it across the desk towards the brunette. Rin catches it easily; she looks down at the box curiously before looking back at the silver haired ninja. Kakashi nods encouragingly towards the box, sighing she removes the lid. Pausing when she finds a small key inside. “…A key?” she asks, holding the key up between them before looking at Kakashi confused.

“It’s to the Hatake Ranch.” He explains, Rin’s eyes widen in surprise.

“Kakashi I-I can’t take this.” She says, shaking her head slightly as she tries to give it back. Kakashi shakes his head and pushes her hand back towards her.

“It’s a gift, Rin.” He says, a small smile underneath his mask. “I never had the heart to sell it and I haven’t lived there in years.” He explains “You and your three brats will get a lot more use out of it than I will.”

“Kakashi…this is…this is too much.” She says, staring up at her friend. “I can’t take this. It’s not right.”

“I want you to have it.” He says firmly “Besides its rude to return a gift.” Rin chuckles, shaking her head slightly as she wipes her face free of the few tears that managed to slip through.

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Usually people say ‘thank you’ when their given something.” Rin mock glares at him, a small smile on her lips.

“Thank you…ass.”

“You’re welcome.” He says with a smirk “And you know…. if you want to repay me you could always talk to the nurses about-“

“Not a chance.”

“Yeah, I thought so…I had to try though.”

Chapter Text

It was one of Rin’s rare days off. Instead of relaxing, however, she spent her day catching up on chores around the house while the kids were in school.

Fixing the squeaky door to the backyard. Doing the dishes from last night’s dinner. Fixing the leaky pipe in the bathroom. And doing the endless piles of laundry that seemed to be all over the house.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Rin sighs as she finds another hole in another one of Sakura’s shirts. Groaning in frustration she tosses the shirt into the growing pile she was creating in the corner and continues folding clothes and piling them up on the table. “What the hell do these kids get up to?” she mutters finding one of Sasuke’s shirts, the collar of it completely singed. She folds another two shirts, both of them hers, before finding another ruined shirt. “Come on…” she groans, tossing Naruto’s paint-stained shirt into the pile. Between Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke. She doesn’t think the three have a decent outfit between them that wasn’t covered in paint stains, tears, or burn marks.

The sound of the front door opening and slamming shut, followed by the tell-tale sound of bickering signals that the kids have returned home from school.

“Hey Nee-Chan!”

“Hey! Welcome home you…” Rin trails off, the words dying in her throat as she turns to face her kids to find the three of them covered in dirt from head to toe. Naruto was covered in paint, Sakura had a large rip going up the side of her dress and the whole front of Sasuke’s shirt was covered in soot. “You have got to be kidding me!”

“Uh…Nee-Chan are you-“

“Look at you three!” She yells, the three kids freeze. Looking between each other nervously. “You’re a mess!”

“We were just training, Nee-Chan.” Sakura says timidly, Naruto and Sasuke nod in agreement.

“Training you-“ Rin cuts herself off, forcing herself to breathe. “Do you guys have any idea how much clothing you go through?”

“Uh…” Naruto mutters, scratching the back of his head in thought.

“A lot.” Rin states, taking pity on the blonde. The three blush and avert their gaze. Letting out a sigh, she pinches the bridge of her nose in frustration and forces herself to calm down. “Alright…we’re going shopping.”

“We are?!” Naruto asks excitedly. Rin nods, removing her hand from her face.

“You three need new clothes.” She says, leveling the three with a look. “So, we are going to go shopping. Your new clothes will be for school only…and you will use your old clothes for training. I don’t want to see any more clothes with holes, paint stains or burn marks. Am I clear?”

“Yes Nee-Chan.”

“Yes, Rin.”

"Fine."

The three of them mutter, Rin nods.

“Great. Then let’s go!” The three fall into step easily behind Rin as they follow her out of the house and into the village. Rin expertly weaving through the busy Konoha streets and towards a local shop.

“Hello! Welcome! Welcome!” the shopkeeper greets as they enter, Rin smiles and waves at the owner before turning to face the kids, her hands on her hips as she looks at them expectantly.

“Alright. Pick out some new clothes. Anything you want.”

“Anything?” Naruto asks excitedly, Rin nods. “Alright!“ he cheers, even after all this time he still got excited over getting something new. 

“Calm down, loser.” Sasuke huffs as he shoulders past him. Sakura rolls her eyes at the incoming fight and walks ahead. “It’s just clothes.” Naruto growls in annoyance and follows after them, grumbling under his breath as he goes. Rin shakes her head in exasperation, letting out a sigh, she leans against the counter at the front. Watching over her kids as they search through the racks of clothes.

“Oh cool!” Naruto cheers, drawing Rin’s attention to the blonde. “Nee-Chan look at this!” Rin blanches as Naruto holds up a bright orange jumpsuit. “It’s awesome, isn’t it?!”

“Yeah…it’s…it’s great…” Rin laughs, rubbing the back of her head nervously. “You like it?”

“Yeah! It’s awesome!” he grins “Can I get it? Please, Nee-Chan! Please!” he begs, Rin sighs. As much as she didn’t want the blonde to look like a giant, walking traffic cone she couldn’t destroy his excitement.

“Of course, Naruto.” She says, plastering a fake smile on her face. Naruto grins and cheers loudly before running up to hug Rin tightly.

“Thank you, Nee-Chan! Thank you! Thank you!” Rin laugh and hugs him back tightly.

“You’re welcome, Naruto.” Releasing the blonde, she turns to look expectantly towards Sasuke and Sakura. “Have you guys found anything?”

Sasuke nods, holding up his chosen outfit of white shorts, a navy blue short-sleeved shirt with a high collar.  Rin nods in approval before turning to Sakura to see what outfit she had chosen. It was definitely meant for someone older, someone not still in the academy. The outfit consisted of black pants with holes sporadically though them. A chain mail shirt and a red sweatshirt that cut off above her abdomen.

“Sakura…no…”

“Aw come on!” Sakura whines “All the best shinobi wear stuff like this.”

“You’re not a shinobi. You’re a student in the academy.”

“Aw come on Nee-Chan…”

“No.” Rin says firmly “I’ll get you pants without the holes and sweatshirt but you need to find a shirt to go underneath it.” Sakura pouts but does as she’s told, begrudgingly picking out a long sleeve black shirt to place under her sweatshirt.

“Thank you.” Rin sighs as they all walk up to the counter to buy their clothes. Seeing Sakura’s pout, the brunette sighs. “I promise when you graduate, I’ll buy you the chain mail shirt. Okay?” Sakura grins and nods her head. Rin smiles, reaching out to ruffle her hair before giving the cashier her full attention and paying for everything.

“Alright…who’s hungry?” Rin asks as they walk out of the shop.

“Let’s get ramen!”

“Naruto! Can’t we eat something besides ramen for once?”

“Nee-Chan only lets me get it once a week! What more do you want from me?!”

“Well in case you forgot. You already had ramen this week.” Sasuke adds, Naruto turns to glare at the boy. “Besides me and Sakura want sushi.”

“Sushi?! Aw come on! Ramen is so much better that stupid sushi!”

Rin sighs as the three fall into their usual bickering. Maybe if she just walked into a random restaurant they would follow and wouldn’t realize until it was too late.

Chapter Text

Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke stand in the doorway of the bathroom watching as Rin gets ready for her date. She was dressed in her nicest clothes, a small black dress that she found in the back of her closet, and was currently putting on makeup in the mirror. Something she never did.

Needless to say, they were suspicious.

“Just who is this guy anyways?” Naruto asks

“Yeah, do we know him?” Sakura asks

“No, you don’t know her. And for your information her name is Mitarashi Anko.”

“You’re going on a date with a girl?!” Naruto yells, wincing when Sakura punches him.

“Girls can date girls, idiot.”

“Sakura don’t punch Naruto.” Rin sighs as she finishes brushing blush on her face before turning to give Naruto a small smile. “And Yes Naruto. Girls can date girls. And boys can date boys.” She says before turning back to her makeup bag, shoving her blush container into her bag and pulling out her eyeliner. 

“How come I’ve never heard of this?” Naruto asks, crossing his arm over his chest.

“Because most clans are reserved when it comes to same sex dating.” Sasuke says, shifting uncomfortably. His own clan was one of them, although he never truly shared their views.

“Sasuke’s right, Naruto.” Rin says, giving the Uchiha a small understanding smile. Sasuke blushes and averts his gaze, so Rin turns her attention back to the blonde. “Most clans don’t advocate for such things. Especially the more secluded ones, like the Hyuga clan. But there are a few that outwardly do, like the Yamanaka Clan.”

“Huh…I never knew that.” He mumbles in thought, Rin smiles and turns her attention back to the mirror to finish doing her eyeliner.

“Mitarashi Anko…” Sakura says slowly, her brow furrowed in thought. “Why does that sound familiar?”

“You met her once.” Rin states, giving the pinkette a pointed look as she caps her eyeliner. “Remember…with Ibiki…”

“Oh…yeah…” Sakura laughs, a light blush coloring her cheeks as she scratches the back of her neck sheepishly. Rin rolls her eyes and searches for her mascara. “She was the one with the weird tongue, right?”

“Weird tongue?” Naruto asks, his nose scrunched up in disgust. Sakura nods.

“Yeah, it was really long!” she says, turning to Rin expectantly. “Is that why you like her Nee-Chan? Cause of her tongue?” Rin chokes, her hand jerking sending a streak of mascara onto her eyelid.

“Wh-What?!” She chokes as she turns to face the pinkette wide eyed. Naruto snickers when he sees the brunette’s messed up make-up but Rin ignores him. Her focus solely on the girl in front of her. “Sakura…why would you…where did you…?”

“I read about it in Kakashi’s book.”

“You WHAT?!”

“Yeah there was a part where this girl was-“

“-STOP!” Rin yells her face heating up as she quickly shakes her head. “Do not! Finish that sentence!” Sakura pouts. “And do not read anything Kakashi gives you!”

“Well, he didn’t give it to me.” The pinkette grumbles, crossing her arms over her chest in a pout. “I stole it.”

“Don’t read anything that Kakashi does. Got it?!” Rin says sternly as she looks at all three of her kids. Naruto and Sasuke look confused but nod their heads none the less. Sakura sighs but does the same. Sighing, she turns back to the mirror in front of her. Pulling out a make-up wipe to try and remover her mistake, quietly grumbling under her breath.

She was going to kill Kakashi.

“And for your information that is not…. that is not the reason why I like Anko.” Rin says sharply, waiting until the three nod before turning back to the mirror in front of her.

“So what rank is she anyways?” Sasuke asks, Rin sighs in relief. Finally, a normal question.

“She’s a jonin, like me.”

“Is she a medic-nin too?” Naruto asks

“No. Anko is more of a…she helps Ibiki a lot.” She says finally, unsure of how to explain exactly what Anko did without scarring them. They ask a few more questions before she’s saved by a knock on the door.

Rin rushes to answer it, Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto following close behind her.

“Hey! You ready?”

“Yeah, just give me one second to grab my coat.” Rin says, turning she gives the three kids behind her a stern look. “Behave.” She warns before disappearing into her bedroom. Leaving the three of them staring up at the purple haired jonin.

“Um…what’s up?” Anko greets awkwardly.

“If you hurt Nee-Chan we’ll pulverize you!” Sakura threatens with a glare.

“Yeah! Believe it!”

“Hnn.”

Anko stares at them for a moment before laughing.

“Aww the three of you are so cute!” Three sets of eyes narrow but before anything could happen Rin returns.

“Okay! I’m ready!” Rin says, breathing heavily as she stands between Anko and her three kids, looking between the two curiously.

“Great! I made reservations as the new Akimichi place. I heard the food is amazing.”

“Perfect.” Rin grins, smiling brightly before turning to face the three academy students. “You three behave tonight. No fighting. Dinner is in the fridge all you have to do is heat it up and if something happens you-“

“-Find the nearest adult.” Sakura repeats “We know Nee-chan.”

“Great.” Rin sighs, leaning down she presses a kiss to Sakura and Naruto’s forehead before ruffling Sasuke’s hair. Earning a blush from all three. “Behave!” she warns one last time before disappearing out the door, completely missing the three sets of glares they send Anko.

Chapter Text

It was an accident really.

She knew who Kakashi was or at least who he was to Rin. Has seen the pictures from Rin’s old genin team. But this would be her first time meeting the ninja.

She was walking through the village, heading home after school. Naruto was stuck in tutoring and Sasuke was in one of his moods so he headed back to his own apartment instead of coming home with her like he usually did.

When she spotted him.

Orange book in hand, headband pulled down over his left eye, and masked pulled up to his nose. He looked nearly the same as he did in Rin’s genin photo. And, more importantly, he was the shinobi from her vision that was going to be their sensei.

Sakura’s eyes narrow as she watches the silver haired ninja walk by her, his nose buried deep in his book. She swears she hears him giggling to himself. Giggling.

What kind of shinobi was he? Were they going to be stuck with some lame sensei?

That wouldn’t do.

Not with the future Sakura knows may be ahead.

But how does she go about changing sensei’s? He hasn’t been assigned to them yet and she very well couldn’t just walk up to the Hokage and ask.

Maybe she wasn’t giving him enough credit. Just because he giggled at whatever was written in some dirty book, doesn’t make him a bad ninja right?

Maybe it wasn’t even a dirty book at all!

What if it was some kind of high ranking super-secret jonin book that had a list of forbidden jutsu’s inside. And he was just giggling to keep his cover!

That had to be it!

Afterall, who reads porn in public.

With her mind made up, and nothing better to do with her day, Sakura makes a plan to follow the silver-haired ninja around for the day. And to steal his book.

She follows him throughout the village, ducking behind kiosks or into alleyways every time he stops at a nearby shop. He was a pretty boring guy. So far Sakura watched him buy some dango, which he somehow managed to eat without removing his mask. Do some brief food shopping. Help an old lady with her bags. And buy an obscene amount of dog food.

All without putting down his book once.

She nearly believes that she’ll never get the chance to steal the book when he finally closes it and tucks it into his ninja pouch as he talks with a nearby vendor.

Now all she needed to do was figure out how to swipe it.

Smirking from where she was hidden in a nearby alleyway, she makes a single shadow clone. Her clone performs the needed hand signs for Doton: Moguragajure no jutsu and sinks into the ground. Once the clone disappears, Sakura leans around the corner to study the silver haired ninja in front of her. All she needed to do was distract him so her clone could steal the book.

“What are we looking at?” Sakura freezes, slowly turning around she lets out a startled yelp and falls backwards on her butt when she sees Kakashi standing behind her.

“How did…” she stutters, her eye flickers between the Kakashi in front of her to the one still at the vendor stand. A clone. “You!” she yells as she scrambles to her feet, Kakashi watches her in a mixture of amusement and curiosity.

“Me.” He smirks, Sakura’s eye narrows in annoyance.

“That’s cheating!”

“Cheating?”

“Yeah!”

“You’re the one following me.” He states, Sakura’s cheeks pink. Embarrassed that she’s been caught.

“Pssh as if.” She scoffs, crossing her arms over her chest as she looks away from the older shinobi. “How do you know that I’m not just out on a walk through the village or whatever.”

“You’ve been following me for the last four blocks and are currently hiding in an alleyway.” He deadpans. Sakura slumps, her cheeks flushing. “You really are bad at this.”

“Your bad at this!” she yells, wincing at her lame comeback. Kakashi snorts.

“Nice comeback, pinkie.” Sakura glares up at the silver haired ninja and Kakashi smirks underneath his mask. “Your one of Rin’s brats aren’t you?” Sakura falters. “Did she put you up to this?”

“So-So what if she did?” Kakashi smirk grows

“You’re a horrible liar.” He laughs, Sakura’s glare hardens. Reaching out he ruffles her hair, ignoring the murderous look on her face as he walks past. “See ya around, kid. Say hi to Rin for me.”

She watches Kakashi’s clone at the vendor disappears in a puff of smoke and Kakashi continues his way down the village street. Turning away from the silver ninja, she turns her attention to the ground in front of her. Smiling widely when her clone reappears with his book in hand, having swiped it from his belt while the two were talking.

“Who’s the kid now, Bakashi.” She grins as she takes the book in her hands, her clone disappearing in front of her. Tucking it away, she ducks out of the alleyway and runs in the opposite direction Kakashi went. Wanting to put some distance between them before the ninja figures out that his book was missing.

After running for a few minutes and deeming herself in the clear, she sits on a nearby rooftop. Giggling to herself as she opens the book, excited to read about the secret jonin level jutsus.

“Wh-What?” she stutters, her face paling as she slowly begins to figure out what kind of book this was. “Who reads this?!” she yells, her face burning red but still unable to put the book down. She’s about to flip the page when it’s suddenly snatched from her hands. Looking up she sees a flustered looking Kakashi looking down at her.

“How did you get this?!”

“Why are you reading porn?!” she yells, ignoring his question as she quickly climbs to her feet.

“It’s-It’s not porn!” he defends, his face turning bright red. “It’s a love story! A romance novel!”

“It’s porn!”

“No! It’s-“ He stops himself, shaking his head slightly. “I don’t have to explain myself to a child!” he yells before teleporting away. Sakura stares wide eyed at the spot where he once was, still somewhat in shock. She jumps when he suddenly reappears behind her. “And do not tell Rin about this!”

Chapter Text

Trailing Kakashi was useless. Ever since she managed to steal his stupid perverted book from him, he’s been avoiding her like the plague. So, Sakura has been forced to other means in order to find information about her future sensei.

She had a year left until she graduated from the academy and she felt the pressure more than ever to find out if Hatake Kakashi was worthy of being their sensei. They would need a strong teacher if they were going to be ready for what was to come.

It was late, Naruto and Sasuke were home asleep and it was Rin’s late night at the hospital. It was the only night she was able to do this.

For the last few weeks, she’s been visiting a local bar that was often frequented by Leaf Shinobi henged as an old man she’s seen trade in the village a few months prior. She sits in the corner of the bar, nursing a soda and subtly scribbling notes in her notebook as she prods drunk patrons for stories about Kakashi. As far as they knew she was an old man writing a book of the great ninjas of Konoha.

The views on the silver-haired ninja seemed to be mixed.

Some admire him while others hate him. He has many nicknames from both sides.

Copy Ninja Kakashi. Cold-Blooded Kakashi. Konoha’s First Technician. Friend-Killer Kakashi. Kakashi of the Sharingan.

She doesn’t know the story behind each nickname, but she does find out a few important things.

Kakashi had the sharingan. How? She doesn’t know.

He lost his teammate in the 3^rd Ninja War. Something she knew since he was on Rin’s team.

And most famously, the story that seemed to be talked about the most. Was the story of a jutsu he had created that could cut through a lightning strike.

Needless to say, from what few stories she heard, she felt comfortable enough with him becoming their Sensei.

Knowing Rin was going to be home soon, Sakura closes her book and pays her tab with what little of her allowance she had left, slipping off her stool she makes her way out of the bar. Keeping up her henge, she makes sure to take the long way home just in case she was being followed although she never was. But shinobi were by nature suspicious of others.

Ducking into a nearby alleyway, three blocks from her home, she’s about to undue her henge when she’s suddenly surrounded by Leaf Ninja.

“Oh…crap…” she mutters, her notebook clutched tightly in her hands as her eyes flicker nervously over the shinobi surrounding her. She counted four, but those were only the ones she could actually see.

A large, imposing man steps forward. His face hard and his eyes cold as he glares down at her, two long scars trail across his face making him look even more terrifying that he already was.

“Mr. Sato…” he greets, Sakura gulps. “We were under the impression that you left Konoha weeks ago…”

“Oh um…yes…but I’ve recently returned.” Sakura says, fighting the urge to shift nervously as the man glares at her. “I should really be going now…I need my beauty sleep for the travels ahead.” She moves to back up but her back connects to something hard. Looking up, she swallows hard seeing an even larger man blocking her path.

How the hell was she going to get out of this?

“We have it on good authority that Mr. Sato returned to his village safely.”

“Oh…” Sakura mutters quietly, scarred face man’s eyes narrow.

Rin was going to kill her.

“Give us the notebook.”

“Um…okay.” She hands over the notebook, if the ninja is surprised by how easily she hands it over he doesn’t show it. Although she does catch the slightest widening of his eyes when he reads its contents. “Um just so you know…that book is going to explode in like…two seconds.” The ninja around her tense, the scarred-face man’s eyes widen and he throws the book high into the air. The book exploding almost immediately.

Using the distraction, Sakura ducks underneath the large man blocking her path and books it down the road. Out of sight of the ninja, she teleports away to a nearby alleyway and changes her henge into an old woman. Peaking around the corner, she sees the ninja run over the rooftops overhead. Breathing out a sigh of relief when they pass right over her. Slipping out of the alleyway, she carefully makes her way down the street and towards her home. Wanting to get back as soon as possible and forget this whole mess.

She stiffens, feeling a presence suddenly appearing behind her, a kunai at her throat.

“Don’t move, Grandma.”

“Mr. Sato.” The scarred man says, appearing in front of her. “We never finished our conversation.”

“How did you…”

“We tracked your chakra signature.”

“What kind of spy doesn’t know how to hide their chakra.” The person holding her says, Sakura locks her jaw cursing her own stupidity. Rin was definitely going to kill her now. There was no way she was going to get out of this.

“What do you want with Hatake Kakashi?” Scarred man asks

“Not that we blame you for being interested.” The person holding her murmurs into her ear. “He is quite…delicious…” Sakura stiffens feeling something warm and wet on her cheek, her eyes widen and her face burns red when she realizes what it is.

“Is that your tongue?!” she squawks, instinctually pushing herself away from the person holding her. Kunai be damned. Her henge drops in her panic as she glares at her attacker. It was a woman with purple hair and dressed in a large tan trench coat. “That’s so gross! You can’t just go around licking people ya know!” she yells, rubbing the side of her face feverishly. A firm hand on her shoulder draws her gaze away from the strange woman and up to the scarred face man. Once again reminding her of her situation.

“Oh…right…” she smiles sheepishly, the scarred face man’s eyes narrow.

“You’re just a kid.” The purple haired woman states, surprise clear in her voice.

“Of course, I am!” Sakura huffs, crossing her arms over her chest.

“What’s your name?” Scarred face man asks, Sakura hesitates but seeing his glare she gives in knowing there was no way she was getting out of this.

“Sakura… Haruno Sakura.”

“Do your parents know what your up to?” he asks, Sakura scoffs and averts her gaze.

“No.” she mutters “I don’t live with my parents. My sister takes care of me.”

“What’s your sisters name?”  Purple haired girl asks, Sakura winces

“….Nohara Rin…”

“Let’s go find your sister and tell her what you’ve been up to.” Scarred face man says gruffly

“Can we maybe…not?” His eyes narrow in warning and Sakura’s shoulders slump. “Yeah, I thought so…” she mumbles, as she begins to lead them towards her home. “Who are you guys anyways?”

“My name is Ibiki.”

“Anko.”

“Why were you asking about Hatake Kakashi?”

“Yeah, wasn’t your sister his teammate?” Anko asks “Why not ask her?” Sakura shrugs.

“I was doing research.”

“Research?” Ibiki asks, Sakura nods

“Yeah! See, I graduate in about a year and from what I could tell only about 34% of academy graduates actually become genin. The other 66% fail.” She explains, to lost in her explanation to see the surprised looks on the two jonin’s faces. “From what I could tell out of everyone in my academy class. It’s highly likely that me and my friends will be put on a team together so I was casing out potential sensei’s.” Anko laughs.

“You know you don’t get to pick right?”

“Yeah, I know.” Sakura says with a slight shrug. “But based off the available jonin. Kakashi is the only one with the sharingan and since Sasuke is the last Uchiha it only makes sense that he becomes our sensei.” Ibiki and Anko stare at one another in surprise before turning down to the pinkette.

“And the exploding notebook?” Ibiki asks, Sakura levels him with a look.

“What do I look like an idiot?” she huffs, crossing her arms over her chest. “My notebook had tons of information in there and I knew if it got stolen it could cause trouble so I rigged it with a paper bomb.”

“How old are you kid?” Anko asks after a moment

“10…well about to be 11.”

Chapter Text

“Okay. Keep your promise and teach me how to walk on water.” Sasuke says gruffly, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Yeah! Yeah! Come on, Sakura-Chan!” Naruto says excitedly, Sakura smirks. It was the first day of her being free of her grounding and she was finally making good on her promise to Sasuke and of course Naruto wasn’t going to let Sasuke get ahead of him so the blonde had joined them. The three standing in the same training ground that her and Shisui used to used.

“I promised didn’t I?” she says, crossing her arms over her chest, her smirk growing into a smile. “But before I teach you how to water walk…you need to learn to tree climb.” Sasuke frowns and glares at her.

“Eh? Tree climb?” Naruto asks confused, Sakura nods.

“Chakra is the ninja’s basic source of power. It’s the is the elemental life energy a ninja uses in jutsu.”

“We know this already.” Sasuke scoffs

“Y-Yeah, Sakura-Chan!” Naruto says “We learned about this in class!” Sakura’s eyes narrow, she knew for a fact that the blonde had slept through Iruka-sensei’s lecture on chakra and was only acting like he knew to save face in front of Sasuke. Ignoring them both, she continues her explanation.

“The energy has two forms. Physical energy which exists in all the cells in the entire body all working together and spiritual energy which is the primal source of power and is intensified through training and experience. The two types of chakra need to be brought out in order to perform jutsu. Hand signs are used to focus and unleash chakra.” She says, Naruto nods in understanding while Sasuke sulks next to him. “By drawing on physical and spiritual energies and combining them within yourself. Every jutsu requires different proportions of chakra.”

“Yeah. Yeah. I get that. But what does that have to do with learning how to tree walk?” Naruto asks, Sakura smiles.

“In tree walking, the key is to build up chakra in the points of contact with the tree and then to maintain at a steady rate of discharge.” She says, turning to a nearby tree and easily walking up it. Stopping on a nearby branch as she hangs upside down, smiling smugly at the two boys staring up at her in awe.

“Alright, Sakura! That’s awesome!” Naruto cheers, Sasuke shifts uncomfortably next to him and scoffs.

“If you can master this…” she says, releasing the chakra build up at her feet she flips mid-air and lands in a crouch on the ground. “Then you’ll be able to master nearly any jutsu.”

“Alright! Let’s do this!” Naruto says determinedly, Sakura smirks. Reaching into her tool belt she pulls out two kunai and tosses each at the boy’s feet. Knowing how competitive the two were, it’ll help push them to master the skill faster. “Each of you take a kunai. Focus your chakra toward the soles of your feet, and use it to connect to the tree. Use the kunai knife to mark the tree. The highest point you can climb without using your hands. Then try to get past that mark the next time.”

“Easy.” Sasuke smirks, picking up the blade and twirling it around his finger before catching it.

“You won’t be saying that once I climb higher than you!” Naruto taunts with a grin.

“As if, loser.” Sasuke scoffs, Naruto growls in annoyance and runs towards the nearest tree. Sasuke glares at the blonde and runs after him, attempting to climb up the tree next to Naruto’s. They make it less than halfway up before being forced back down. Sasuke being pushed off, the bark breaking underneath his feet and Naruto’s feet slipping underneath him sending him tumbling back down.

“You need to run at the tree so your momentum can take you as high as possible until you get used to it.” Sakura states “But if you use too much chakra, the tree will break and push you off. Use too little and you will end up tumbling down.” Sasuke and Naruto glare at one another from where they were sitting on the ground before quickly climbing back to their feet and running towards their respective trees once again.

With the boys busy competing with one another, Sakura moves to sit underneath a different tree away from the two. Subtly pulling a scroll that she borrowed from the library from her backpack and unrolling it in front of her.

Lightening Style was the only nature transformation she had yet to learn and she was determined to master all five. Taking a breath, she holds out her hand in front of her and closes her eyes, focusing her chakra into her hand as the scroll instructed. Hoping to transform her chakra into electricity. Except…. just like with fire, lightening does not come easy for her.

It takes two weeks for Naruto and Sasuke to fully master tree walking and, in that time, Sakura has made no progress in her learning a new nature transformation.

She needed to find herself a teacher if she had any hope of learning the chakra style.

Chapter Text

“…178…179…180…”

Sakura grunts, sweat dripping into the grass beneath her, as she forces herself through another set of push-ups. The sky steadily lightening above her.

Since her grounding finally lifted, she’s pushing herself to train harder. She didn’t have anyone to train with since Shisui was gone and Itachi had left the village. But she refuses to let that hinder her. Instead shw does what she can on her own, mostly strength and endurance training. Usually saving the ninjutsu and taijutsu training for when she’s with Naruto and Sasuke.

They tried to join her in her early morning trainings but Naruto could barely get out of bed at a normal time, let alone before sunrise, and even Sasuke found her training a little extreme.

“…198…199…200!”

Flopping into the grass, she winces as she rolls onto her back. Staring up at the lightening sky as she tries to catch her breath. It wouldn’t be long until Rin was up and getting ready for work, she would need to head home soon.

She still had time for a quick run though.

Groaning, she forces herself to her feet. Stretching, reveling in the soreness of her muscles she begins her usual run around the village perimeter. The number of laps she completes steadily increasing as she grows stronger. So far, she’s up to ten laps.

Every morning she forces herself to do push-ups, crunches, tree kicks and running laps around the village. Occasionally she’ll change things up and add jump roping or weight lifting if she has the time. After her morning training, she returns home just in time to see Rin as the older brunette just wakes up to get ready for work.

The older girl wasn’t exactly pleased when Sakura told her of her new training habits. She wanted Sakura to focus on other things, like school and hanging out with friends. Wanted her to be a normal kid, whatever that was. But school was easy and her only friends were Naruto and Sasuke. Both she hung out with every day after school. Mostly training, which she’s sure that’s not what Rin meant but…oh well.

She had promises to keep. And if she was going to keep them, she needed to get stronger.

She needed to find her mother. To avenge Shisui. To bring Itachi back to the village.

To stop the incoming war.

She needed to be stronger.

Sakura grunts, falling backwards into the dirt, too lost in her thoughts to pay attention to where she was going causing her to run into something.

“I am so sorry! I did not see you there!”

Sakura looks up to see a boy standing over her. His hair was long and braided and dressed in a white, short-sleeve kimono with a martial arts belt and dark pants.

“Are you alright?” Sakura nods, taking the offered hand and allowing the boy to help her up.

“Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.” She says, laughing lightly. “What are you doing out here? I didn’t think anyone else gets up this early.”

“I’m training!”

“Training?”

“Yes! I am going to be a powerful ninja one day! Using only Taijutsu!” Sakura blinks, surprised. She’s never heard of a ninja not using ninjusu or genjutsu. “Do not laugh! I know it may sound silly to you, but that is my dream! And I will make it happen!”

“Oh no!” Sakura says quickly, shaking her head as she holds her hands up in surrender. “I was just surprised…I never heard of a ninja not using ninjutsu or genjutsu before.” The boy’s shoulders slumps and averts his gaze.

“Yes well…I cannot use either ninjutsu or genjutsu.”

“Oh…”

“But I will not let that stop me!” he says, his determination returning tenfold, Sakura giggles and the boy blushes. “What about you? Why are you out here?”

“Same as you. Training.” She shrugs, the boy’s eyes widen. “I’m Sakura.”

“Rock Lee.” He greets, a light blush on his face. “You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen! Will you be my girlfriend?! I will protect you with my life!” Sakura flushes red.

“Um…thank you… but no…” The boy slumps

“But why?”

“I’m just not interested…”

“I see…” he says, softly before straightening with a wide grin on his face. “Thank you for your honesty!”

“…You’re welcome?” Sakura mutters confused by the boy’s sudden mood shifts.

“Since we are both out here training! We should train together!”

“…As friends?”

“Of course!” Sakura stares at them for a moment before shrugging.

“Alright!” Lee yells excitedly “Let’s get training! I still have 87 more laps to go!” he shouts as he runs ahead, Sakura pales.

“…87…” She mutters as she follows after him, already somewhat regretting agreeing to train with him.

Chapter Text

Rin quiets her alarm and stumbles her way out of bed. Stretching as she makes her way out of her bedroom and towards the kitchen. She goes through the motions of making herself a cup of coffee, still half asleep. She just takes a sip of the liquid when Sakura comes stumbling in.

“Sakura?” Rin calls out, lowering her cup as she watches the pinkette pause in the living room. She was covered in dirt and sweat, her hair was askew and by the way she was carrying herself Rin could only guess the number of bruises she carried under her clothes.

“Oh Morning Nee-Chan” she greets, smiling sheepishly. “I wasn’t expecting anyone to be up. Are you going in to work early today?” Rin frowns, ignoring the pinkette’s questions as she walks around the counter until she’s standing in front of the girl looking her over.

“Training with Gai’s team again?” Sakura nods, Rin sighs and shakes her head. “Come on…let’s get you cleaned up.” Ignoring the pinkette’s protests as she drags her to the bathroom.

The pinkette sits on the toilet, her hair damp from the shower Rin made her take. The brunette in question was kneeling in front of her, dressed for work, as she looks over the numerous bruises and small cuts that covered the girl’s body. She knew Sakura trained hard but to such as extent…

“Neji is such a jerk.” Sakura complains, doing her best not to move as Rin wraps her bruised knuckles. “He always thinks he’s better than everyone else and is always going on and on about destiny. Saying stupid stuff that we can’t escape our fate or whatever.” She scoffs

“Sakura…” Rin sighs as she finishes tying the bandage around her hand before looking up at the girl. “Gai’s team are genin. You haven’t even graduated the academy yet-“

“-But I will next year!” Sakura protests, knowing where this is going. The two having had this argument on numerous occasions before. “Gai-Sensei is always there. He makes sure I’m not doing anything dangerous and-“

“-I know that.” Rin interrupts, she knew Gai would never let anything happen to Sakura or his students but still…his training methods were extreme even for some jonin. “It just seems that all you do outside of school is train.” She says carefully. Rin wasn’t wrong though. Sakura wakes up before dawn and trains with Lee before joining him to train with Gai. Then she returns to get ready for school. After school she trains with Sasuke and Naruto until Hayate arrives to help with their kenjutsu.

“That’s because I need to get stronger.” Sakura says firmly, Rin sighs.

“Sakura…”

“I’m too weak!” she says, tears burning in her eye but she refuses to let them fall.

“Sakura you are not-“

“I am.” The pinkette interrupts, she takes a deep breath before looking down at the brunette. A determined glint in her eye. “My mom sent me away because I was too weak to travel with her and Nee-San. I was too weak to save Shisui. And I was too weak to stop Itachi.”

‘Save Shisui? What is she-?’

“Sakura what do you mean by-?”

“I’m not going to be weak anymore.” She says, cutting off Rin’s questioning. “I’m going to become the strongest shinobi in Konoha. I won’t lose any more people I care about. I will protect everyone! That’s my ninja way!”

Rin feels her heart break slightly at Sakura’s rant. She knew the pinkette struggled with her mother leaving, Shisui’s death and Itachi disappearing. But she had no idea the extent the pinkette was willing to go to prevent anyone else from leaving her life. To take all this responsibility on by herself and at such a young age…it was impossible to protect everyone. Especially in the life of a shinobi. She knew Sakura was going to get her heartbroken again. No matter how strong she became, death was a constant in a shinobi’s life.

“Sakura you can’t-“ Rin is cut off my a knock of the door, Naruto’s loud voice filtering through complaining about his need to pee.

“I should go get ready for school.” Sakura mumbles as she slides off the toilet and heads for the door.

“Sakura-“ Rin protests but the pinkette was already gone. Naruto comes rushing in and Rin barely has enough time to stand before she’s being pushed out of the bathroom.

“Sorry Nee-Chan but I really need to go!” Naruto yells before slamming the door shut in her face. Rin blinks in surprise before shaking her head. Hearing a loud thump, she turns to see Sasuke stumbling out of his bedroom, a scowl on his face.

“Good Morning, Sasuke.” She greets, smiling when she gets incoherent grumbling from the exhausted Uchiha.

“Naruto!” Sasuke yells, banging against the door of the bathroom. “Hurry up!”

“Hold your horses, ya bastard!”

“Idiot.”

Rin chuckles, shaking her head at the two boys before walking down the hall where Sakura’s bedroom was. She hears shuffling from inside the room, signaling the girl was inside and getting ready for the day. She raises her hand to knock but hesitates, remembering the determined look in her eye. As much as she wishes she could make Sakura understand that the lives of everyone around her did not rest solely on her shoulders and that it was impossible to protect everyone. Rin knew it would fall on deaf ears.

‘It’ll be okay, Rin. She’s a strong kid.’

‘I know that…I just worry she’s taking on too much.’

‘She’ll figure it out. It’ll be hard but one day she’ll learn.’

‘That’s what I’m afraid of.’

Chapter Text

“Nee-Chan where are we going?”

“Yeah! What’s this so-called surprise?!”

“You’ll see.” Rin says patiently as she continues walking through the village. Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto following behind her.

“That’s what you’ve been saying the last 20 minutes!” Naruto whines

“Stop whining, loser.” Sasuke scoffs

“What did you say?!”

“Hard of hearing?”

“Alright. Enough.” Rin sighs as they come to a stop in front of an old wooden farm house. “We’re here.”

“We are?” Naruto asks confused as he looks around

“Where are we?” Sakura asks

“This…” Rin grins as she steps in front of the three, her arms spread wide to show off the house in front of them. “Is our new home.”

“Whaatt?” Naruto says in awe

“No way…” Sakura mumbles, Sasuke stays quite next to them.

“Go ahead…” Rin encourages, the smile never leaving her face. “Go explore.” Naruto and Sakura grin and run forward, leaving Rin and Sasuke standing outside. “Do you want to go in?” Sasuke looks up at the brunette before looking away again.

“I should go…” he grumbles “I don’t want to intrude.” Rin smiles softly down at the boy, gently grabbing his shoulder before he can walk away.

“Come on…I want to show you something…” she says, gently guiding him inside. Sasuke frowns but follows her in. He can hear Sakura and Naruto somewhere in the house but Rin ignores them, guiding him down a narrow hallway to an empty bedroom. “This one is yours…if you want it…” Sasuke stiffens, he turns to look up at Rin. His eyes wide in surprise, Rin smiles down at him. “Don’t worry it’s not pity…” she laughs as if reading the boy’s thoughts “It’s simply…a place for you to stay if you stay late for a movie or are tired after training with Sakura and Naruto…or even if you don’t want to be alone.” Sasuke averts his gaze, glaring at the bed as his hands tighten into fists at his side.

“…thank you…” he mumbles, his cheeks pinking slightly. He tilts his head down, his hair falling to shield his face. “I should go…” he says softly, pulling away from Rin he makes his way out of the home. Trying his best to keep from running back to his empty apartment, not used to the strange feeling growing in his chest.

It’s been two weeks since they officially moved into the Hatake house, or now known as the Nohara house, when Sasuke finally gives in and decides to spend the night. It was after a long day of training, Sakura having begin teaching them nature transformations and Rin refused to let the Uchiha to walk home alone.

Sasuke sluggishly drags himself towards the bedroom Rin had shown him weeks ago. Opening the door, he stops short when he sees the painting on the wall. Above his bed was an intricately painted Uchiha crest.

“I hope I got it right.” Sasuke turns to see Naruto standing in the hall just behind him. He was staring over Sasuke’s shoulder at the painting, his hands fiddling in front of him as he tries to hide his nervousness, although Sasuke could easily see right through him. Naruto was horrible when it came to hiding his emotions. Whatever they may be. “Sakura helped me with the likeness but I still wanted to be sure.”

“Its…” Sasuke trails off, turning back to the crest. “Why did you do it?” He doesn’t turn to face the blonde but can hear him shift behind him.

“I know how lonely it is living by yourself.” He mumbles “And I know what it’s like to be alone…I figured if you stay here, you should have a piece of your clan here too.”

Sasuke’s fists clench at his sides, the strange feeling from the day Rin showed him the room the first time once again building in his chest.

Gratitude? Appreciation? Admiration? Gratefulness? Fondness?

“It’s prefect.” He says, his voice surprisingly steady for how shaky he feels. Who knew seeing his family crest could throw him so easily. “…Thank you, Naruto.”

“Yeah…Whatever. Don’t make it weird!” Sasuke smirks and he knows if he turns around, he would see Naruto smiling. “Goodnight, Sasuke.”

“Night.” He hears Naruto walk away and enter his own bedroom to the right of his. Sakura’s being on the left with Sasuke’s between them and Rin’s directly across the hall from Sasuke’s. Taking a breath, he takes a step into the room, quietly closing the door behind him.

For once, since the night his clan was killed, he felt at home.

Chapter Text

“Teach me how to fight with a sword.” Sakura blinks, slowly turning to face the Uchiha.

“What?”

“Teach me how to fight with a sword.” He repeats, Sakura stares at him. “You do know how to don’t you? Or do you just carry that tanto around for show?” Sakura’s eyes narrow in annoyance.

“Of course, she does!” Naruto yells, coming to her defense before she could for herself. “She’s been teaching me!”

“You’re teaching him?” Sasuke grumbles “He’s more likely to trip and fall on his own sword than to be able to use it properly.”

“Hey!”

“Sasuke don’t be rude.” Sakura sighs, although she had to agree with the Uchiha. Naruto was extremely accident prone. “And if you want to learn all you have to do is ask.” She says, crossing her arms over her chest as she stares at the boy expectantly. Naruto cackles behind her and Sasuke grinds his teeth in annoyance.

“Fine.” He hisses “Can you teach me how to fight with a sword.”

“Sure Sasuke!” the pinkette say brightly, Sasuke glares at her. “We can start tomorrow? Do you have a sword or…?”

“I can find one.” He grunts, turning on his heel and walking away from the pair.

“What a jerk.” Naruto grumbles, standing by her side as they watch the Uchiha walk away.

The next day they meet at their usual training ground, Naruto and Sakura waiting patiently with their tantos strapped to their backs as they wait for Sasuke to join them. The Uchiha doing so a few minutes later.

“What is that?” Naruto asks obnoxiously, noticing Sasuke’s sword looking different from their own. Sasuke glares at the blonde, his cheeks pinking slightly as his grip tightens on the handle.

“It’s a Chokuto.” He says gruffly, Sakura steps forward and examines the sword. Naruto leaning over her shoulder to do the same. The blade was longer than their tantos, looking more like an actual sword, and was perfectly straight. It looked to be made out of the same chakra absorption metal as Sakura’s. The handle was wrapped in blue cloth and at the base of the handle was the Uchiha crest.

“It’s pretty.” Sakura compliments

“It’s okay.” Naruto grumbles, crossing his arms with a scoff. “Where’d you get a nice sword like that anyways?”

“It was my mothers.” Sakura elbows Naruto sharply, making the blonde grunt in pain and mumble out an apology. Sasuke ignores them both. “Are we training or not?” he snaps.

“Try and keep up, Sasuke.” Naruto taunts with a smirk, reveling in the glare the Uchiha sends him. “Sakura’s been teaching me for months. Even Shisui helped.” He brags, Sakura rolls her eyes in annoyance.

“Then I’m sure you haven’t learned much.” Sasuke mocks “You’re a slow learner.”

“Hey! You-“

“Enough.” Sakura interrupts annoyed, stepping in between the two boys. “Do you guys want to argue or do you actually want to get some training done.”

“Fine.” Naruto huffs “Just don’t let the bastard get in my way.”

“Could say the same to you, loser.”

“Great…” Sakura sighs

It was going to be a long training day.

Chapter Text

“Sakura, this is Gai-sensei! The greatest Taijutsu master in the entire Leaf village!” Lee introduces proudly, Sakura waves awkwardly. Smiling slightly as Lee’s other teammates stare at her. Lee graduated from the academy a few months ago and has told her everything about new team. She felt like she already knew them without actually having met them.

There was Neji Hyuga, the gifted byugan user from the Hyuga clan and Lee’s biggest rival. Tenten, the girl who wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps. And most importantly, Lee’s mentor and father figure Gai-Sensei.

“You must be Sakura!” Gai grins, standing tall in front of her with his hands on his hips. “Lee has told me about you! He has said that the power of youth burns brightly within you!”

“Um…thank you?” she says, confused but deciding to take it as a compliment.

“You’re welcome!”

“Hi I’m Tenten.” The female member of Lee’s group greets as she approaches the pinkette. “Lee has told us a lot about you.”

“He’s told me a lot about you guys as well.” Sakura says with a grin. “Lee said you were really into summoning techniques. You should talk to my friend Naruto, he’s kind of a genius when it comes to sealing, I’m sure you guys could share some ideas.”

“Yeah! That would be great!”

“Enough talking. Why is she here?” Neji asks, not bothering to even greet the pinkette as he turns to his teacher expectantly. Sakura glares at the Hyuga, Lee’s description of the boy was spot on. He was a total jerk.

“Sakura here has come to join us in training!”

“You’re here willingly?” Tenten mutters, paling slightly. Sakura nods, her confidence wavering slightly at seeing the other girl’s reaction. She couldn't help but wonder what had she gotten herself into?

“Training?” Neji scoffs “Is she even a genin? I don’t see a headband.”

“I can speak for myself.” Sakura says glaring at the boy “And no I’m not a genin. Not yet. I don’t graduate from the academy until next year.” Neji’s eyes narrow.

“Why would we waste our time with you when it’s quite possible that you won’t even graduate next year.” He states bluntly “For all we know you could just remain an academy student forever. After all, 66% of the students that manage to graduate from the academy fail to become genin. Based off your lack of Clan crest on your clothing, I’d say your civilian born which makes your chances of graduating even slimmer.”

“Hey that’s not fair, Neji.” Tenten says with a frown

“That is right!” Lee agrees, coming to his friend’s defense. “You do not know Sakura and what she is capable of. In the short time I have known her she has trained hard and is going to become a powerful ninja one day!”

“Thanks Lee.” Sakura says with a small smile, Lee grins.

“You are welcome!”

“Training hard and dreams for the future mean nothing.” The hyuga states, his arms crossed over his chest. “We cannot escape our destiny. And yours is to be another nameless civilian. Even if you made it to genin, its highly unlikely that you will proceed higher than that.”

“Well then we’ll just have to see about that won’t we.” Sakura says stubbornly as she glares at the boy. They all turn at the sound of sniffling to see Gai-Sensei watching them with tears in his eyes.

“Your four…the power of youth is strong in you all!” he yells, a few tears streaming down his face.

“Gai-Sensei!” Lee yells, tearing up as well. Tenten and Neji sigh in annoyance but the green spandex glad jonin ignores them.

“Come! Let’s not talk with words! But with our bodies!” He says, the two girls cringe. “We'll will let our training speak for our will to persevere no matter the odds!”

“Yes! Gai-Sensei!”

“Let’s go, Lee!” Gai yells “We have One-no TWO! Hundred laps to do around the village.” Sakura pales

“T-Two hundred …” the pinkette stutters as she watches Lee and Gai-sensei sprint off ahead, leaving only a dust cloud behind. Feeling a hand on her shoulder she turns to see Tenten nodding solemnly.

“It’s like this all the time.” She says, Sakura swallows hard. “Come on…you can just follow me. I can usually get through about fifty before I pass out.” She laughs, Sakura joining her. neji scoffs as he walks past them, Sakura glares at his back as the Hyuga runs to catch up with his sensei and teammate. “Ignore him. Neji is a genius and thinks everyone is beneath him…he has some…pretty skewed views of the world.”

“Sounds like it.” She grumbles as the two take off in a steady jog in the same direction as the rest of Tenten’s team. Sakura doesn’t care if Neji was a Hyuga or not. Genius or not. She will not let him doubt her.

Even if she has to kick his ass to prove it.

Chapter Text

“You idiot! This is all your fault!”

“Shut up and hold still!”

“Ow!”

“That didn’t hurt! Quit being such a wimp!”

“Will you two shut up so I can concentrate!”

“He started it!”

“It’s his fault!”

“Your both Idiots!”

Rin sighs, hearing the sound of arguing coming from inside. She just gotten off a grueling shift at the hospital and wanted nothing more than to come home and relax however by the sound of it, she would be doing anything but. Taking a deep breath to prepare herself for whatever the hell her kids were up to inside, she pushes open the front and takes a single step inside and freezes at the sight before her. Sasuke was sitting in one of the wooden chairs from the kitchen table, Naruto was behind him with his hands tightly holding onto his shoulders, keeping him still while Sakura kneels in front of the Uchiha. Her hands glowing green as they hover over a bloody gash over the boy’s leg. All three of them freeze at the sound of the door opening, slowly turning to see Rin standing wide eyed in the doorway. The entire house deathly silent.

“What the hell happened?!” she yells, breaking out of her stupor as she quickly approaches the injured Uchiha. Her bag forgotten on the floor and the front door left wide open, her focus completely on the boy in front of her. Sakura shifts out of the way, allowing her better access to the wound, Sasuke winces but otherwise stays quite as the older brunette prods at the gash. Breathing out a small sigh of relief when she sees that it wasn’t too deep. It should heal fairly quickly, although he’d probably have a scar. Relaxing slightly when she realizes Sasuke wasn’t seriously hurt. Her green, chakra coated hands hover over the wound as she looks up at the three in front of her expectantly. Still waiting for an answer. “Well?”

“Naruto stabbed me.” Sasuke blurts out in a panic, Sakura facepalms.

“He what?!”

“It was an accident!” Naruto defends, shifting nervously. “He was supposed to dodge it!”

“I did dodge it!”

“Oh yeah? Then how’d you get hurt?”

“Because you tripped and nearly cut my leg off!”

“Please it’s just a scratch!” Naruto yells “Don’t be so dramatic!”

“Dramatic?! I’m not the one who-“

“Enough!” Rin yells, cutting off the two boy’s arguing. She turns to Sakura expectantly, knowing the pinkette would give her a clear answer. “What happened?” Sakura sighs.

“We were practicing our kenjutsu and Naruto tripped over a rock and accidentally cut Sasuke.” She explains, Rin stares at her for a moment before shaking her head. Muttering under her breath, she turns back to the wound on the Uchiha’s thigh. Not noticing the way the three share an unsure look with one another.

Focusing on the wound in front, she works to heal the shallow laceration, using the time to think and to calm herself down. Once she’s finished healing the wound, the cut having healed completely with only a thin white scar remaining, she looks up to her three kids. Sakura and Naruto were standing behind Sasuke, all three of them eyeing Rin nervously as they wait for her to say something.

It was no secret that Rin had a tendency to be overprotective, especially when it came to them training.

“From now on, there will be no sword training without adult supervision.”

“What?!”

“Aw come on, Nee-Chan!”

“That’s not fair! It was an accident!”

“This is all your fault, loser!”

“You were supposed to dodge it!”

“You two are both idiots! It’s both of your faults!”

“Enough!” Rin says, speaking loudly over their arguing. “it’s no one’s fault and frankly I should have done this earlier…this could have been way worse.” She sighs, running a hand through her hair. “Give me your swords.”

“What?”

“No way!”

“Why?”

“Because I know you three will try and train anyways when I’m not here so I’m sealing them away for now.”

“Aw man!”

“This sucks.”

“Hnn.”

Rin ignores them and holds out her hands expectantly, the three reluctantly handing over their weapons.

“You’ll get them back when there are adults around to watch you train.” She says, taking the small pile back towards her room to seal them away. Ignoring the annoyed grumbling of the three as she walks away.

It’s been exactly one week since she’s taken their swords and sealed them away and Rin has had it with their constant pouting and moaning. Granted, she wasn’t home as much as she’d like to be to oversee their sword training which was why they were so upset. Still, Rin held firm in her decision. They could train with their swords if an adult was present.

She just needed to find the right adult. And lucky for her she knew just the ninja who was currently taking a month-long leave of absence to handle some health issues. Nothing too serious, just some residual damage done from a paper bomb. Rin had just cleared him for training, even though he wasn’t allowed to go on missions.

Naruto and Sasuke’s bickering comes to a stop when they nearly run into Sakura’s back, the pinkette having stopped short in the doorway to their home.

“Hey? Sakura?” Naruto calls, peaking around her shoulder. “Why’d you stop?”

“Welcome home.” Rin greets from where she sits at the kitchen table with a shinobi none of them recognize. He had short brown hair wrapped in a bandanna, dark colored eyes and was dressed in the standard jonin uniform.

“Who are you?” Naruto asks, blunt as ever. Rin sighs.

“This is a friend of mine.” She says “His name is Hayate Gekko.”

“Hey.” He greets, nodding towards the three kids who were openly staring at him.

“Why is here?” Sasuke asks and Rin has to fight the urge to facepalm. She really needed to work on Naruto’s and Sasuke’s tact.

“I asked him here to oversee your kenjutsu training.”

“He’s going to train us?” Sakura asks, Rin nods.

“He looks like he’s going to keel over.” Sasuke mutters, Naruto nods in agreement as they study the older shinobi. He was a sickly pale and had deep, dark circles under his eyes like he hadn’t slept in weeks.

“Don’t be rude.” Rin snaps making the three flinch. “Hayate is here as a favor to me. If you don’t want to train under him, fine. I’ll keep your swords until I’m able to watch over your guy’s training and things will continue as they have.”

“No. No.” Sakura laughs nervously, holding her hands up in surrender. “Thank you, Nee-Chan for finding us a trainer! We were just…surprised is all. Weren’t we?” she says, elbowing the two boys behind her,

“Y-Yeah! Believe it!”

“Hnn.”

“How inviting.” Hayate mumbles as he slowly rises from the chair he was sitting in; he turns to Rin. “I will still train them…I owe you for saving my life.” Rin blushes and shakes her head.

“I was just doing my job.”

“Still…myself and Yugao are forever grateful to you.” He says, bowing respectively making Rin’s blush darken. Straightening he turns towards the three academy students still standing in the door way. “Alright…let’s get going.”

“…Going?” Naruto mutters, tilting his head to the side in confusion. “Where are we going?”

“Outside.” Hayate states “Before we begin training, I want to see where you are in skill level.”

“Alright!” Naruto cheers “What are we waiting for! Let’s go!” Naruto is the first to run out, followed by Sakura and Sasuke at a much calmer pace.

“Thank you again for doing this.” Rin says, sliding the scroll she sealed the swords in across the table and towards the jonin.

“Like I said…I owe you one.” Hayate says with a smirk before taking the scroll and following the kids outside and into the backyard. He stops and stands in front of them, eyeing them for a moment before nodding his head. “Alright…let’s get started.” Unrolling the scroll, he unseals the swords inside. Watching expectantly as each of them comes forward to collect their sword. “I’ll access each of you separately to evaluate your individual skills then again with all of you together to evaluate your teamwork.” When none of them object, he continues. “Okay then, who wants to go-“

“-I do!” Naruto yells, jumping forward with I wide grin. “I’m Uzumaki Naruto! And I’m going to be Hokage one day! Believe it!” Sakura and Sasuke roll their eyes, having heard this same speech a thousand times before, while Hayate stares at he blonde blankly.

“Alright then.” He smirks, pulling his katana from its sheath. “Bring it on, kid.” Naruto grins and runs forward with a yell. Hayate easily deflects each of his attacks, dodging and weaving his way around the boy. He kicks him in the chest, just hard enough to send him sprawling to the ground. Naruto growls in annoyance, wincing as he rubs the spot where he was hit. Her grip tightening around the hilt of his sword, he jumps to his feet and runs forward with a yell. Hayate smirks and ducks under his swing. Their sparring continuing, Naruto’s attacks getting more and more wild every time he is knocked down. Although he always gets back up.

“Alright. That’s enough.” Hayate sighs after knocking the blonde down for the tenth time.

“No way!” he protests, wincing as he clutches his chest. “I can-I can keep going!” he says as he climbs to his feet.

“I don’t doubt it.” Hayate says with a smirk, stunning the blonde. “Your persistent…and I don’t doubt that you won’t keep coming at me until you drop.” Naruto grins. “But…you’re impatient. You get frustrated and your attacks become uncoordinated and sloppy.” Naruto’s shoulders slump, the hand around his tanto tightening as he glares at the ground in frustration. Only looking up when he feels a hand on his shoulder, Hayate smiles. “You’re a good fighter, kid. You just need to learn how to keep your head in the fight.” Naruto smiles and nods his head. Hayate gives his shoulder a tight squeeze before letting him go and looking expectantly at the other two kids waiting for their turn. Unsurprisingly, its Sasuke who steps froward. Naruto moves to stand with Sakura. The two watching as Sasuke and Hayate stare at one another.

For a moment, Sakura is reminded of when she watched Itachi and Shisui spar. The calmness before the storm. The wind blows around them, the trees bending and the leaves floating through the air around them. As soon at the first leaf touches the ground, Sasuke launches forward. His strikes are quick and precise in true Uchiha fashion, Hayate smirks as he dodges Sasuke’s kick and blocks his sword with his own. He was good, Hayate would give him that. Ducking under his swing, Hayate knocks Sasuke’s sword out of his hand and kicks him backwards sending the Uchiha sprawling backwards. Sasuke growls in frustration. Climbing to his feet, he grabs his sword and charges forward again. Becoming increasingly more frustrated every time Hayate blocks or dodges his attacks. Although his strikes were still just as precise as when he first started.

Having enough of the match and deciding to end the match quickly. Hayate deflects Sasuke’s attacks, ducking under his swing before kicking upwards sending his chokuto flying upwards into the air. Twisting his body, Hayate kicks the Uchiha’s legs out from under him sending him tumbling to the ground. Catching Sasuke’s sword out of the air, he holds the two swords up to Sasuke’s throat in the form of an X. Sasuke scowls and glares up at the jonin, Hayate smirks.

“You done?” Sasuke growls and Hayate removes the swords, helping the boy up before returning his blade. “Not bad kid.” He compliments. “Your strikes were quick and precise. You got talent…although I’d expect nothing less from an Uchiha.” Sasuke’s averts his gaze, his hand clenching around the handle of his sword at the mention of his lost clan. “However…like Naruto…you let your anger and frustration rule you…” Sasuke’s scowl deepens. “There is a reason why there is a rule about shinobi not showing emotion. If we allow our emotions to rule us, mistakes can be made…you use your anger to try and overpower your opponent. This may work against someone weaker, however against a stronger opponent it’s a death sentence.” Sasuke raises his head to meet his gaze, a determined look in his eye. He doesn’t say anything, simply nodding his head in understanding. Hayate smiles and straightens; he truly was impressed with Sasuke’s skill level. “Where’d you learn to fight with a sword?”

“Sakura’s been teaching us!” Naruto answers, Hayate’s gaze flickers from Sasuke to Naruto before finally landing on the pinkette.

“You taught them?” Sakura nods, her chest puffing up slightly in pride. Hayate smirks. “Alright then…” If Sakura was the one to teach Naruto and Sasuke, he wondered just how good the girl was. “Shall we?” Sakura smirks, pulling her tanto from its sheath as she steps forward. Sasuke taking her place near Naruto, although he was unhappy with losing to the jonin he was determined to get better. To get stronger.  

Sakura holds her tanto out in front of her, her hands surprisingly steady for how nervous she feels. It’s been a long time since she sparred with someone above her skill level. Sure, she sparred with Naruto and Sasuke frequently, but the two boys were new to kenjutsu. They had nothing on Shisui or Itachi. Fighting Hayate would be the closest she’s gotten to a real challenge since Itachi left. Taking a breath to calm her nerves, she adjusts her grip on the handle of her sword and lunges forward. Her strikes quick and precise from rigorous training, although Hayate was easily able to keep up with her. Ducking under a kick, she tries to remember Shisui’s lessons. The kata’s he taught her. Blocking a strike from over her head, her arms shake in strain as Hayate bares down on her. Growling in annoyance, she uses all her strength to push his sword upwards, just enough for her to roll underneath of. Hayate smirks at the move but otherwise doesn’t let up, forcing Sakura onto the defensive. Usually when she sparred with Shisui she could use jutsu to help balance the difference in skill level, however here she was supposed to rely on her kenjutsu skills only.

She needed to come up with a plan.

Hayate was faster and stronger than her. Not to mention more experienced. She couldn’t use ninjutsu or genjutsu against him. Could only rely on the sword in her hand and her taijutsu skills. If she even had a chance at winning this, then she needed to be smart.

The strikes pick up pace as she forces herself closer to the shinobi. She was smaller than the jonin and planned on using that to her advantage. A plan slowly forming in her mind as she remembers the training she did under Itachi while Shisui was away on a mission.

Hayate is fast, proving his rank as jonin, as he quickly deflects and dodges her attacks. He raises his katana over his head and swings downwards. Sakura waits until the last moment and dodges the attack, spinning on her heel the last moment until she was behind the shinobi. Her tanto poised at his back. Hayate tenses in surprise, having underestimated the pinkette’s skill. Smirking he lowers his sword and hears Sakura do the same.

“Nice moves, kid.” Sakura grins, her cheeks pinking slightly as they step away from one another.

“Thanks.” She mumbles, nervously twirling her tanto before sheathing it. Completely aware of Hayate’s eyes following after her.

“Where’d you learn to fight like that?” he asks, Sakura shrugs. Hayate’s eyes catch on the Uchiha charm hanging from a red ribbon attached to the handle of her tanto. Sakura having used Ino’s ribbon to replace the leather string that broke off during her fight with Madara. Hayate’s gaze flickers back to the pinkette’s. Sakura watching him impassively.

It reminded him of Itachi.

“That was awesome, Sakura!” Naruto cheers as he runs up to her, his eyes wide in awe and a large grin on his face. Sasuke follows after him, although a lot less cheerful. If Sakura didn’t know better, she’d say he was pouting.

“Where’d you learn that?” he huffs, annoyed.

“Around.” She shrugs, Sasuke’s eyes narrow in annoyance.

“While Sakura’s move was impressive…” Hayate says as he steps between the group, breaking up the incoming argument he could sense brewing between the pinkette and Uchiha. “It was not without consequence.”

“What do ya mean?! Sakura totally kicked your butt!” Naruto yells, Hayate smiles.

“Yes but did you notice that she waited until the last possible second to dodge my attack?” he says, Naruto frowns. “While it worked this time, if her opponent was even a fraction of a second faster, she wouldn’t have been able to dodge and would have been killed instantly.” Naruto flinches and Sakura averts her gaze, only lifting it when she feels a hand on her shoulder. “It was a great attack.” He compliments, Sakura scowls sensing a ‘but’ and Hayate smirks. “But…every attack you made was precise and logical. Every move carefully thought out.”

“That’s a bad thing?!” Naruto asks loudly “I thought you said that letting your emotions rule you can get you killed?!” Sasuke nods in agreement.

“It’s true that emotions during a battle can be dangerous.” The jonin sighs with a nod. “But…if we allow ourselves to be ruled completely by logic. To think out every move. It could cost you or your teammates or your life. A shinobi must be flexible. Must be able to balance between logic and compassion.” Seeing their confused looks, he continues. Trying his best to explain what he means. “Logic is like the sword.” He says, giving a flourish of his own katana. “Those who appeal to it…shall perish by it.” He finishes striking downwards as if he were cutting someone in half.

“Eh?”

Hayate sighs, shaking his head slightly as he sheaths his sword.

“Think of it this way…when your sword has no handle. You have no way to use it. You simply cut your hand, right?” Receiving three hesitant nods, he continues. “Logic is like a sword without a handle. If all you use is logic, you lack compassion and creativity.” He says “By relying on only logic. You are less likely to be able to adapt in a fight. Endangering not only your life but the lives of your teammates….do you understand?”

“Eh….oh yeah I get it!” Naruto says with a nod of his head. In truth he had no idea what Hayate was talking about but Sasuke looked like he did and Naruto wasn’t about to let the Uchiha beat him.

“Sword without a handle…” Sasuke mumbles, slowly nodding his head. “By using only logic, you’re fighting with just the blade and are harming yourself and others by not fighting to your full potential.” Hayate nods, a small smile on his face when he sees the boy understanding what he was saying. He turns to face the pinkette, she had a contemplative look on her face. His words unknowingly bringing up something Shisui once said to her.

‘It’s only when you protect those precious to you does the true strength of a shinobi emerge.’

When she and Shisui sparred, she was always having fun. It was always about becoming stronger and beating him. But against Hayate…she was simply focused on the outcome. Sure, she beat the jonin, but if it had been a real fight, she would probably be dead anyways. She needed to fight with more than just her head.

Finally, she nods her head in agreement. Hayate smiles, his shoulders relaxing slightly.

“Good.” He grins, once again pulling his sword from his sheath. “Now all of you come at me at once. I want to test your teamwork.”

“Yes Senpai!”

Chapter Text

It’s been ten years since the Kyubi attack on the Leaf, killing a number of people along with the 4^th Hokage. The village always threw a festival in honor of those lost in the attack, this year was supposed to be the biggest celebration of them all. But with all the festivities came an overbearing amount of hatred towards a certain blonde knucklehead.

As the anniversary of the attack, Naruto’s birthday, approached the hatred for the blonde boy grew. So much so that Naruto couldn’t even leave the house the week of his birthday without being screamed or cursed at, some people even threw stuff at him. 

Rin tried her best to protect him. As did Sakura and Sasuke. Never letting Naruto out of their sight or travel anywhere alone. But still, there was only so much they could do. Naruto refused to leave the house, terrified of the hatred the village had for him and rightfully so. 

Rin has never been angrier when she came home one night to see Naruto’s bruised faced. Someone having thrown a rock at him. A rock. At a 9-year-old boy. 

It took both Anko and Isobu as well as Naruto’s pleading to keep Rin from tracking down whoever attacked him. Naruto was tight lipped about it but Rin knew she could figure it out. 

She would figure it out. 

But against her better judgement, she respected Naruto’s wishes and left it alone. For now.

Instead, she focuses her energies on planning a surprised party for the blonde. Hoping the surprise would keep his mind off the hatred the village had for him. 

The Ten-year anniversary raised a lot of resentment. Even though it was Naruto’s father who defeated the tail beast and sealed him away inside the blonde. 

Not that anyone knew. 

Finally, the day arrived. While the rest of the village attended the festival, Rin hoisted banners and streams throughout the house and backyard. All bright orange. She tried inviting some of Naruto’s classmates, the few she knew that were close to the blonde but they were all clan heirs and had their own traditions to attend to in order to honor their dead. 

Naruto didn’t seem to care through. He was perfectly happy celebrating his birthday with those he considered family. 

Rin, Sakura, Sasuke, Anko, Hayate, Iruka-sensei and Hayate’s girlfriend Yugao. Even Kakashi dropped by, although he didn’t approach the blonde, he did leave a gift for him with Rin. 

“What’s dog breath doing here?” Sakura asks as she approaches Rin and Anko, the silver haired shinobi having left as quickly as he appeared. 

“Sakura!” Rin scolds, Anko laughs. “That is not-wait how did you…?” the brunette trails off, confused. She knew Sakura knew who Kakashi was but when she had met him late one night, he was in his Anbu uniform. Mask and all. She had called him dog breath then, but how did she know that was Kakashi?

“I’d recognize that stupid porcupine haircut anywhere.” Rin and Anko stare at her for a moment before the purple haired ninja bends over laughing loudly. 

“I love this kid!” she declares, a wide smile on her face as she wraps an arm around the pinkette’s shoulder. Sakura blushes while Rin shakes her head exasperated. 

“Nee-Chan!” Naruto yells as he comes running up the three. A wide excited grin on his face. “Can we open presents now?!” Rin sighs, a smile on her face as she nods her head. Naruto cheers and runs over to the table where the gifts were set up. Everyone gathering around him as he tears his way through them. 

Iruka-sensei had gotten him a gift card to Ichiraku’s ramen. Sakura thought the blonde might faint when he saw it. There was nothing in the world that Naruto loved more than Ramen.

Rin bought him some new clothes. Sage knows he needs it. 

Hayate and Yugao got him a few scrolls with some katas for him to practice on. 

Sakura got him more chakra receptive paper so he could practice his fuinjutsu. 

Sasuke bought him a wallet he had seen the blonde eyeing in a store. It was toad shaped and, in Sasuke’s opinion, was the ugliest thing he has ever seen but Naruto loved it so he couldn’t complain. 

Anko bought him paint she had picked up on her last mission. Rin wasn’t happy when she found out that the paint had a special property that made it last longer than normal paint but Naruto was ecstatic. His mind already racing with prank ideas. 

“Oh Naruto…” Rin calls, drawing his attention to her. “Don’t forget this one.” Naruto’s brow furrows in confusion as he sets the cans of paint down on the table and takes the carefully wrapped box from Rin. He had already opened the gifts from everyone here. Who was this from? “It’s from a friend of mine.” Rin answers, as if reading his mind. “He dropped by to give you a gift but he had to leave before he was able to give it to you.” She says as Naruto turns his attention back to the package in his hands. It was mostly the truth. Sort of. Kakashi did drop by specifically to give Naruto a gift. But Rin knew, better than anyone, that Kakashi had no intention of staying. Naruto reminded him too much of their sensei. Too much of Kakashi’s own failures even though none of which were his fault. 

Still…Kakashi’s shoulders were heavy with guilt that not even Rin could lift. 

She knew where he had gone. 

Why he couldn’t stay.

Knew he would be spending the rest of the day. Rest of the night. Standing in front of Obito’s and Minato-sensei’s graves. 

The sound of the tearing of wrapping paper pulls Rin from thoughts of her teammate. Giving Naruto her full attention, her eyes widen and a small gasp escapes her lips when she sees Naruto pull out a familiar looking tanto from the box. 

“Woah…” he says in awe, his blue eyes sparkling in delight as he studies the blade. The straight bladed tanto had a small, circular hand-guard and as he swings it through the air experimentally a streak of white followed after it.

“Is that…?” Anko asks from where she was standing next to her.

“Yeah…” Rin nods, her mouth suddenly dry as she watches Naruto show the tanto off to Sakura and Sasuke. 

The White Light Chakra Sabre.

She never would have dreamed of Kakashi gifting his father’s blade to Naruto. It was the only thing he had left of his father. 

“I thought it was destroyed during the third war?” Yugao whispers, the adults huddled together as they watch the kids in front of them. 

“It was.” Rin says, shaking her head slightly to try and get rid of her shock. “He had it fixed a few years ago though…”

“It’s a nice blade.” Hayate notes in appreciation, Rin nods mutely. 

“Are we sure it’s okay for Naruto to have that?” Iruka asks with a wince as Naruto swings the blade wildly. “He can be…accident prone.”

“He knows how to handle it safely.” Hayate assures, Rin nods in agreement. Naruto may be a klutz at times but he was getting better with training. Especially with Hayate’s help. The four jonin and one chunin watching silently as Naruto excitedly talks to Sasuke and Sakura before turning his attention to Rin. 

“Nee-Chan! Can we go train?! I want to test it out!”

“…S-Sure Naruto.” Rin says, doing her best to smile at the blonde although she couldn’t help but worry for her old teammate. “Go have fun.”

“Alright!” Naruto cheers before running off, Sakura and Sasuke hot on his heels. Rin swallows hard, trying to push down her worry. Why would Kakashi give Naruto his father’s sword? What did it mean? Was he okay?

She needed to find Kakashi. 

Chapter Text

“Okay…” Sakura announces, her hands resting on her hips as she stares at the two boys in front of her. “I think you’re ready.”

“Ready for what?” Naruto asks with a confused tilt of his head. The had masters both tree and water walking, and Sakura had begun teaching them how to wield a sword. The only thing left she had to teach them was…

“Nature Transformation.” Naruto’s eyes widen in excitement and Sasuke smirks. “Since you mastered tree walking, your chakra control should be strong enough to master learning higher level jutsu.”

“Alright!” Naruto cheers “The what are we sitting around for! Let’s get started!” Sasuke nods in agreement.

“Before we go about learning any new jutsu…we have to start with the basics.” Naruto’s shoulder slumps. “There are five basic types of chakra elemental natures. Fire, Wind, Water, Lightening and Earth. Most people’s chakra naturally leans towards a certain element. For example, The Uchiha’s are usually geared towards fire. Which is why fire element techniques are their specialty.” Sasuke puffs up a little. Proud of his heritage. “Now to find out your chakra nature we are going to use these.” She says as she pulls out a small stack of paper.

“Eh? What’s that?” Naruto asks

“These are litmus papers that react to Chakra.” Sakura explains as she hands each of them a slip. “Let your chakra flow into this paper. If you have a wind nature, the paper will tear in half. Burn if you’re fire. Get soggy if you’re water. Crumble if you’re earth. And wrinkle if you’re lightening.” He says, her own paper crumbing away for emphasis. Naruto grins excitedly while Sasuke eyes the paper in his hands contemplatively.

“Is it possible to have a uh af-affinity for more than one chakra nature?” he asks

“Yeah. I have two.” Sakura says with a nod.

“Woah! That’s awesome, Sakura-Chan!” Naruto exclaims loudly making the pinkette blush.

“Enough about me…come on…let’s find out what nature you guys!” the boys nod and take the paper in their hands like Sakura has shown them. Both of them closing their eyes and focusing their chakra onto the slip of paper. Unsurprisingly Sasuke’s paper begins to smoke, slowly turning black until its nothing but ash in his hands.

“Alright!” Naruto yells excitedly as he holds up his two halves of paper. The litmus paper having been cut in half perfectly. “This means my chakra nature is wind, right?!” Sakura nods.

“I already know fire style.” Sasuke grunts, having been taught by his father the fireball jutsu. “I need to find my second nature.”

“What?!” Naruto yells “You already know fire style?!” Sasuke ignores him and Naruto locks his jaw in annoyance and glares down at the ground. Of course, Sasuke already knew his chakra nature and has mastered it. That means by the time Sasuke mastered his second nature, Naruto would still only know one.

“Relax, Naruto.” Sakura sighs, drawing blue eyes up to her. “It’s a rite of passage for the Uchiha’s to learn fire style. It’s not big deal.” Naruto grunts unconvinced and turns away from her. Sakura sighs and turns her attention to Sasuke, the boy was eyeing her curiously. He had no idea she knew so much about his people’s customs. “Here.” She mutters, handing him another slip of paper. “Try again.” Sasuke does as he’s told, focusing his chakra into the litmus paper only this time instead of burning away. It crinkles up. “Lightening.” She mutters with a frown.

“What’s wrong?” Sasuke asks, Sakura shakes her head.

“Lightening is the only chakra nature I don’t know.” She says, Sasuke’s eyes narrow.

“How many chakra natures do you know?” he asks

“…All except one.” She mutters quietly, earning surprised looks from the boys. Ignoring their stares, she turns to Naruto. “Okay so wind style…” Picking up a nearby leaf she holds it out for the blonde to take. Naruto’s face twists in confusion but takes it anyways. Sakura picks up another leaf in her hands and stands across from the blonde. Closing her eyes, she concentrates her chakra on the leaf. Opening her hands to reveal the leaf has been split in two.

“Woah! How did you do that?!” Naruto asks in awe, Sakura grins. Feeling a sense of déjà vu.

“Sandwich the leaf between your palms and cut it just with your chakra.” She says “It’s going to take some time. Learning a Nature Transformation can sometimes take years and-“

“-I got this!” Naruto yells determinedly before doing as he’s told. Sasuke walks to stand next to the pinkette. The two watching as Naruto tries to cut the leaf in half. After a few minutes Naruto removes his hand to reveal a leaf with a small cut in the corner.

“You’re getting there…” Sakura says with a approved nod of her head, sensing Naruto’s frustration. “Keep going Naruto. You’ll get there.”

“Of course, I will! I’ll master this in no time! Believe it!” the blonde says confidently. Sakura turns to Sasuke as Naruto turns his attention back to his leaf.

“I can’t teach you lightening but I can teach you the fire style jutsus I do know if you want.” She offers, Sasuke sighs but nods his head.

Chapter Text

It’s been two weeks since the Uchiha massacre and the Uchiha compound was set to be destroyed tomorrow. No one wanting to live here after the atrocities that took place. This was her only chance to visit the Nakano Shrine before it was destroyed with the rest of the district.

The district is eerily silent, a heaviness followed her as she walked the empty streets. The chalk lined bodies and blood splatters have faded but Sakura is sure that she’ll never be able to forget the sight of the slaughtered bodies and blood covered streets. Swallowing hard, she does her best to keep the memories of that night from overwhelming her as she makes her way towards the Nakano Shrine. 

It felt wrong for her to be here.

She shouldn’t be. It wasn’t her place.

But she needed to be.

Needed to see the tablet and understand why Shisui and Itachi thought the Uchiha would be behind the war in her vision.

Taking a breath to calm her nerves she steps inside the shirne. Following Itachi’s directions, she heads towards the main hall. Counting the tiles until she reaches the 7^th one from the far right. Bending down, she carefully lifts the tile upwards to reveal a set of stairs underneath. Following them downwards, she lights a nearby torch and carries it with her. Walking down a small hallway until she reaches a open room. Seeing two other torches, she quickly lights them, the room lightening in an orange glow revealing a stone tablet sitting in the middle of the room. A large Uchiha crest painted on the wall behind it.

Slowly she steps forward until she’s standing in front of the tablet. The words were entirely illegible to her normal eye. Closing her good eye, she lifts her eye patch. Shisui’s sharingan spinning to life. She sways slightly at the chakra drain but forces herself to steady and to read the tablet in front of her.

It was just as Itachi had said.

The secrets of the Mangekyo Sharingan.

The story of the Sage of Six Paths.

Secrets about Madara Uchiha.

That the Uchiha’s salvation came in the form of the Infinite Tsukuyomi, a powerful genjutsu. That the genjutsu can only be cast by someone who possesses the power of Saṃsāra. When they approache the moon, an eye will open that is reflected on the moon to grant the eternal dream.

Her mind drifts back to the red moon she saw in her vision, her mouth twisting in a frown at the realization that Shisui and Itachi were right.

Reading on, she focuses on the next line on the tablet.

Seeking stability, one god was divided into yin and yang, these opposing two acting together obtain all things in creation.

She had no idea what it meant but somehow, she knew it meant that there was hope.