Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

She watched from behind as the shade of the man she once used to cry for was yet again leaving. But this time there was something different. The sun was up in the sky with the promise to make light on these new paths they were all going to walk.

“You have nothing to do with my sins,” the words echoed as she watched the silhouette fading on the horizon.
In a curious spur of the moment, she had asked Sasuke if this time he would be willing to take her with him on his travels. It was their thing from back when Sasuke first left Konoha, and for a moment, Sakura felt the need to test those waters. For what purpose? She wasn't exactly sure herself.
To put to test her bond with Sasuke, to see his reaction? Reasons could’ve been a handful, but at the end of the day, she felt like it was something she had to do, so she did it.

As that echoed through the chambers of her mind, Sakura then turned back towards the grandiose gates that were the entrance to Konoha. Kakashi was there watching from behind.

“Kakashi sensei!” she murmured as the man held his hand up in the air in his usual wave.
“Well, Sakura, I’ve got a lot on my plate now with this Hokage business so I’ve got to roll back. Care to join me or…?” the man asked as he slowly started walking away into the city.

“You just go ahead, sensei! I’ll catch-up with you later” she replied. For some inexplicable reason, she wanted to stay there for a little while longer, as her mind kept replaying the moments of her departure from Sasuke.

That thank you evoked memories of a distant past, but the forehead poke that followed soon afterwards ignited some feelings in her heart she didn’t know how to respond to. For so long she had wanted the faintest response from Sasuke’s part that now that she got one, it felt bizarre.

Used to chasing after him for such a long time, and especially his on and off treatment in the war, along with the newest developments left Sakura with all kinds of confusing feelings and a mind that raced, unable to still itself.

All these contradictions bumped into one another inside her mind, feeling as if her spirit didn’t have enough space to reside in there. From that to getting flustered and feeling crowded into her own body, and thus by extension quite fussy, was only a small step. The redness on her face slowly built up as all those thoughts kept racing inside her mind.

‘What was that gesture Sasuke did? On my forehead. On this big forehead I've always hated. After all this time. Such a gentle touch, though...’ one of the voices was quick to point out, as a small smile drew itself on the right corner of her lip. But then, it wasn’t long until another one came around. ‘But then again, in the war… he was so cold, like… he didn’t care at all about the fact that I was about to be roasted like a chicken out in the open in Kaguya’s dimension. He treated me and Kakashi-sensei so coldly!’ the switching voice was quick to point out. ‘But then he apologized, and now he said thank you. And even touched my most hated feature. He can be trusted now, right?’ the contradictions kept playing inside her head.

“You're back again, aren't you?” Sakura said snarkily at her own inner voices, which were all part of the same old Sakura, the one she seldom left out in the open for the naked eye and kept hidden for various reasons. Be it that she had to be the exemplar child, or student at the academy.

“Bah!” she was quick to let out a shout as to somehow breathe out all those frustrations and try to get herself back down to Earth again. This wasn’t the best time to overthink, but somehow her ever-working mind wasn’t cooperating with her right now.

Such a skillful mind was perfect when it came to Byakugō. To be able to work at all times, even in her sleep and continue to amass chakra so that it could awakened was all that was needed.

Finally, those geeky years in her academy days paid off. That packed with her hobby to memorize different trivia games and information, were put to good use.
When she had to control every aspect of her chakra so that the portion she might lose while performing a jutsu be put into her seal, to her it was like icing on the cake. Like a muscle that memorizes a move after repeating it enough times. It eventually becomes a second nature of some sorts.

All she had to do was to observe and sense her chakra flow while performing a certain technique, direct it somewhere else, and then make her body memorize that movement. Repeat it once or twice until her body got the knack of it and that was it. It didn’t take long until she was able to do it even when she was asleep.
But when it came to matters of the heart and soul, well… such a mind felt more like a curse than a blessing.
Being able to see the possibilities, the outcomes, the threads… it wasn’t that easy. Human interaction and social situations required more than a mechanical mind working like the perfect machinery.

But as all those lines of thinking kept tangling more and more, until she could barely see it getting untangled any time soon, she felt a warm hand on her right shoulder.
Sakura instantly felt her body entering into a state of calm from the warmth. Her mind stilled and the fog inside it dissipated. She knew very well that sensation. It was only one person who could succeed in making her feel that way. It was no mistaking it and she smiled warmly as she turned around to confirm the person behind her.

“Naruto,” Sakura acknowledged his presence while the tension in her body slowly started to fade away from the thoughts that had been occupying her mind. By the time he said his first word Sakura’s posture was a lot more relaxed, as if she had just bathed in the sun’s warmth.
The blonde met her with a serenity only he could exude, and the same big smile that was his notorious trademark.

“Yo, Sakura-chan!” he greeted her back. “What are you doing here?” Naruto asked. He knew very well what the problem might be since he saw Sasuke and her departing a few moments before he and Sasuke did. He didn’t have to guess why she was at unease.

But whereas with all the others he was the one who gave them a pep-talk in order to get them out of their comfort zone and come to certain realizations, he knew that with Sakura it ought to be different. He knew that all he had to do was to get her talking, because in the end she’d figure it out herself. She just needed a safe space to express her feelings and a shoulder to share the burden with.

And nothing made him happier than doing that for her. Because in the end, he didn't have to do anything extraordinary. Just be there for and with her. The rest? She could do it herself. Sakura was a big girl now. And ever since he knew her, she had the ability to make the best out of the situation she was in. Something he admired about her. Her chakra control training when they were genin was proof enough of that quality of hers.

It was only that, from time to time, like any other human being, she had the tendency to fall.

And nothing made him happier than being the one to catch her. Just being there for her, being her shoulder to cry on, to care and support her, like she had done in exchange. And for that he would be forever grateful to her, because back when they were genin, it was a form of acknowledgement he so much sought from the ones around him.

All that he ever wanted.

Even back in their academy days when she didn’t even have him that close to heart, it was still Sakura who carried his wounded self, when he would stupidly rush into something head first, thinking second and got his ass handed to him.
He’d always remember those days fondly, like when he remembered everything they’d gone through together.
From disliking him to being able to call her his girlfriend in front of his father…
Oh, the fondness of that realization...

But its warmth didn’t last long as he remembered the moment earlier between her and Sasuke. Plus, he had just asked her a question, sensing her heart’s restlessness.
“Oh, I was just about to get back to town. It wasn’t until long ago that I parted with Sasuke-kun,” she responded to him in a lower tone, with a slight sense of mixed bittersweet feeling grabbing onto her being. It was then Naruto had it clear what was the cause of her fretting. Just as he had thought. But he put up a strong front for her. He wasn’t going to let her get dragged down.

“What about yourself, Naruto?” Sakura asked before he could say what he had in mind. She had learned the tendency Naruto has to put up that strong front when it came to her. She had learned it just before this war started. And while she appreciated it, she didn’t want him to carry any more burdens for her. It was a complex and complicated situation as it was already, so she didn’t want to put him through any more of that. Especially on her behalf. It was time to be a big girl now…

Amazed and a bit shocked at how quickly she seemed to gather back her composure, Naruto answered her question.

“I, too, come from my departing words with Sasuke. He said he has to leave because he has some journeys to do until we’ll settle things between us,” he told her. “It’s gonna take a while until he’ll get back from the looks of it,” Naruto added.

At that time, no matter how fast Sakura gained her composure, she was quick to stumble into a fretting state again. Since the subject of Sasuke and his indefinite absence was still a soft spot somewhere there, inside of her, somewhat unhealed.

“Hehe, I know. I even asked him in the spur of the moment what if I wanted to go with him, and he told me that I have nothing to do with his sins. He yet keeps me at distance,” Sakura responded to Naruto’s statement.

But as she talked to Naruto, she realized that it wasn’t all that bad.
In a way, she felt relieved.

Yes, Sasuke didn’t take her with him, but at least now he wasn’t leaving to knock on darkness' doors once again, but on a different path.
It was a bittersweet ending to a years old state of affairs.

She remembered how it was when Sasuke first left, the reasons he did so. In comparison, now they had nothing to worry about, so she allowed a faint smile in the corner of her mouth to make its appearance.

After all, at least they were able to somewhat be together again as a team, even if apart.
Sakura looked towards Naruto and smiled fondly.

“You really made it possible for us to look forward to a day when we can all be together again and smile,” she told him.
Naruto was taken aback “Ugh, I…” he mumbled with uncertainty while taking his well-known confused feelings position with a hand on the back of his head and smiling nervously. The one he had left, anyway.

“Thank you, Naruto…” Sakura added with a serenity in her tone and warmth in her eyes that somehow only when she was around him, she managed to express.
Those were the words that quickly drew him back into the lands of determination, as he was quick to assure Sakura once more.

“Don’t worry, Sakura-chan! He’s definitely going to come back home one of these days! And if he gets lost, I’m personally going to get that idiot back home to you so he can finally see what an amazing girl you are and how your feelings for him are so pure and strong! He is so lucky to have someone like you caring for him and rooting for him, Sakura-chan.

I don’t think he understands how lucky he is! And, in return, how much you deserve to receive back for all that care you held for him until now!” Naruto stated with determination. Although it pained him on the inside at the realization of those words, he truly believed them.

And it didn’t matter his feelings, as long as Sakura would be happy.

“Naruto…” Sakura called his name in a lowered soft voice, taken completely by surprise by his words. She didn’t know what to say or how to respond to them. All that she knew was that once again, his words filled her spirit with hope, in a way no one had ever managed to do so.

She didn’t even get the chance to fully feel the sensation his words gave her, because Naruto kept going.
“I’m sure that all he needs is a little time to come to terms with everything that has happened. Everything he feels, everything that he experienced up until now. After all, like we both talked about… we were children, starved of love. We didn't know better, neither me nor him.

But I’m positive that as soon as he finds his answers, he’s going to come back to you, reciprocating the beautiful feelings you harbor for him, Sakura-chan!” he added while his words were accompanied by another one of his big trademark big smiles for her.

“After all, he is one lucky guy for being on the receiving end of your heart’s desire, Sakura-chan!” Naruto continued like a stream of rivers giving life to the land itself.
Because to him, it truly felt that way. The one who had his Sakura-chan’s heart must truly be a lucky man. To be loved by such a heart, gentle and fierce heart at the same time, could only be a blessing.

“I can only hope to be that lucky and someday I can meet a someone who will feel as strongly about me as you feel about Sasuke.” Naruto finished while his big grin turned into a soft smile, looking down on Sakura with warmth in his eyes. And a little bit of pain.

He remembered what he had seen moments before his talk with Sasuke. Him poking her forehead must’ve definitely brought hope back to her heart. Plus, Naruto knew from times long forgotten, her reaction from back when he complimented her charming forehead. Sure, he wished it would’ve been still him to kiss it one day, but as long as Sakura was happy, Naruto was fine to give up that dream.

He was a man that hardly gave up something once he put his mind to it. But for Sakura’s happiness, he would give up the world.

As she heard those words, Sakura tilted her head to the ground. She felt like she didn’t deserve such praise from Naruto.
Especially after all those years she put him through hardship. How can he even think and speak those words, she wondered?
The same man that held such feelings for her for years, to speak such great words about her and Sasuke? How can he be like this? So positive, so kind, so warm? So selfless.
It was something about Naruto she had yet to understand herself.

Sure, Sasuke’s memory wasn’t gone from her heart, but Naruto? Naruto had a place in her heart she had yet to find an answer to. She didn’t know where to put the things he made her feel. She didn’t even know how to define them.

All she knew is that she was so grateful to him and his care and support, and that she desired what’s best in this world for him.

“Naruto…,” seemed to be all that Sakura could muster to say as she raised her gaze from the ground to meet his, filled with the warmth she was oh so accustomed to.
As she looked at him and hearing his words, she couldn’t help but think about how he deserved the best. How he deserved the world. And something much better than her, anyway. That’s what she thought, definitely.

It wasn’t her who was going to make him happy after all the pain she caused him. In Sakura’s opinion, Naruto deserved someone who didn’t put him through the severest of pains, like she always seemed to foolishly do.
He didn’t need someone as her, on the contrary. The person who would be better for him would be someone like...

“Uhm, by way Sakura-chan…” Naruto interrupted whatever was going through her mind at that moment, clearing his throat as he prepared to tell her something from the looks of it.

Her train of thought got stopped as soon as his voice made its presence felt, for a moment bringing her back from the blue of the skies of his gaze in which she seemed to lose herself.

“I want to apologize...’ he quickly added.

“Huh, what for?” Sakura interrupted him for a brief moment, asking confusedly what he was talking about. What in the world he had to apologize for when he hardly ever did her wrong anyway? What was this apology he was talking about?

“Please, let me finish first,” he asked her in a firm yet gentle tone.

She shut it instantly and focused all her attention on what he was preparing to say.

“I want to apologize to you for responding positively to my father’s question. You know, that one where I called you my girlfriend” he continued visibly embarrassed a little, while his gaze turned sideways for a moment, as he uttered the word girlfriend.

He knew the implications of his positive response, but for a moment, in the heat of the war, he forgot where he was and carrying his mother’s wish with him at all times, it was the closest he felt to a normal family ever since Jiraiya had died.

I mean, what more could he have wished for?

The girl of his dreams next to him, who for better or worse had after all confessed to him earlier before the start of the war. His dad in front of him. And while his mother wasn’t present, Sakura was as close to his mother as he had ever met. She was that “someone like herself” Kushina had told him to find. And in all that mess, for a brief moment the rest of the world paused. He felt like he was in the perfect setting. One he had for so long dreamed of. His mother's wish fulfilled, his dad in front of him, while the girl of his dreams next to him. For that brief moment the reality of his world felt perfect.

So yes, he had told his father that Sakura was his girlfriend. But now, after all the heat of the moment had cooled off, and time to process everything was of plenty, he had to face reality. Things were a lot more complex than a simple yes to a question.

And, while yes, Sakura confessed to him, he now understood why she did it. She just wanted to shelter him from pain and danger. Like he, once had wished to do so for her. To shelter her beautiful smile from sadness and pain, to protect that smiling face, he would’ve done anything.

So, he truly understood where she’d been coming from. And while he appreciated her gesture, it was a different kind of love he yearned for from Sakura. But… it would be okay if he didn't get it. It had to be, because in the end all that mattered was for her to be happy, right?

However, with everything, given that confession and the reason behind it, still didn’t give him the right to call Sakura his girlfriend.
If that were to ever happen, it would truly have to come from Sakura herself. But until then, he had an apology to offer. He owed her that much.
Sakura listened without interruption as Naruto continued.

“My reaction spurred from my wish to make sure I listen to my late mother’s wishes before her passing,” Naruto added.
‘Late mother’s wishes before passing?’ Sakura’s mind started wondering, as Naruto continued his apology. But what about his late mother’s wishes? What was it about them that Naruto felt the need to connect her to them?

Plus, as far as she knew, Naruto was an orphan. What was that happened the time she had been away from him pre-war, that now he speaks of these things?
She couldn’t help but ask him.

“Late mother’s wishes? But what wishes are those, Naruto?” Sakura asked really curious and confused at the same time. She really wanted to know because she was trying to understand him like she has been trying for so long. Ever since he left Konoha, and later when he returned and she found out about his jinchuuriki status.

“Well, it’s a more complicated story and uhm… maybe another time” Naruto was quick to deflect with a slight pained expression, despite his earlier bravado.

She could tell that for some reason he wasn’t feeling comfortable with talking about this very subject so she didn’t push it. Even she could see that, so she agreed with him and didn’t try to push it any further. After all, they were coming after a war.

They would have a lot of time in the future to talk about these things. About the time they have been apart before the war. And about all that happened in-between then.
Thinking about it, Sakura realized how much catching-up they had to do. Which also reminded her that there was this one time before their separation where she too, had wronged him.

And since Naruto apologized for such a trivial thing, she had something more serious to apologize for.

“Naruto, listen-up!” Sakura added in exchange. “I thank you for your words earlier but… I too, have something to apologize for…” she continued while looking a bit sideways herself, remembering the deed she was about to make an apology for.

“I’m sorry for what I told you in the Land of Iron” Sakura said. “I am sorry for making it seem like I was making fun of you in such dire times. I only did it out of desperation, I guess.

I…” she paused for a bit remembering Sai’s words about the burden she put on Naruto. Sakura closed her eyes a bit and took a deep breath.
“I only wanted to relieve you of the burden I put on you with that promise. Because you see, back then there was no one else I trusted more than you when I asked you to bring Sasuke-kun back,” she added.

“I couldn’t even trust Kakashi-sensei because it wasn’t the first time when he told me things were going to be alright without them truly being.” Sakura continued.
“But with you, with you it was different...” she said while she raised her gaze to meet his.

“I trusted you completely. And so, I put that burden on you, without thinking of how it would affect you. And for that I’m truly sorry.” Sakura told him.

“Then out of desperation to fix that and lift that burden and make sure you’re safe, yet again I wronged you. Without a second thought of how I was to execute such a move.
I guess I was just desperate to bring you back to Konoha with everything else that was happening… Sasuke-kun going rampant, you being the vessel of the nine tail and by extent a target, war at our doorstep…” Sakura continued as memories of all those moments once again made place in her mind’s eye.

They weren’t her proudest memories, but that wasn’t the point of the discussion now. All she truly wanted was to let Naruto know how sorry she felt for making him go through all of that.

“Nevertheless, I was wrong for what I did, making you think I would make fun of you with my declaration and I apologize for it! I’m sorry. I’m truly… sorry!” she ended on a firm and concise tone.

Naruto couldn’t help but feel a mix of feelings; bittersweet ones. But despite everything, he couldn’t stay mad at her. He understood her and the place she was coming from. He would’ve done everything in his power to keep her safe, too. If only the place from where each other's feelings bloomed would come from the same place.

“Sakura-chan…” he was quick to add. “When you told me you loved me, for that brief moment I was the happiest man in the world,” Naruto told her in a lowered voice, with a somewhat sentimental expression.

“It’s not that I don’t love you…!” Sakura found herself quick to respond as a flame that just exploded in a blaze. But then she stopped equally as fast as she snapped, realizing what she had just said and how that might have sounded. And the complexity of the situation. And the reason they were having this discussion to begin with. It didn’t stop her cheeks from blushing, though...

“What I mean is… with what I did back then, I wanted to unburden you and let you know that you are truly loved!” she added fast.

“By the whole village” she continued. “By some, even more...” Sakura added, as flashes of a certain someone ran through her mind and the big things she did for Naruto.
It was now her time to smile in the same bittersweet fashion as she looked at Naruto with candid eyes.

“You already have a pure heart that feels strongly about you, Naruto…!” Sakura said with a conflicted certainty in her voice.

“Remember how she sacrificed for you when Pein attacked our village? Or when Neji died? How she was there for you, next to you? You just haven’t been able to truly notice these big things she does for you” she told Naruto, as her gaze showed a pain in them, she didn’t even realize she was having.

“Sakura-chan…” Naruto said, looking into her eyes trying to understand that look of hers.

But whatever these two had to tell to each had to wait, as Yamato interrupted their talk upon meeting with them at the gates.

“By comparison, I…” were the last words she said while lowering her head once more when Naruto’s attention was taken away by Yamato’s figure.

“Eeeh?!” he was quick to shout at the sight of the man. Sakura followed herself quickly after Naruto.

They hadn’t realized the time that had passed them while they were talking. It had gone so fast, though
.
“Yamato-taichou!” they both exclaimed in awe. They hadn’t seen the man since a long while and reading the reports it got pretty worrisome. They were just happy to see him.

“How are you feeling?” Sakura turned and asked the man with Naruto now standing behind her once again.

“Well, not bad, not terrible. Coming from certain errands” he responded in his usual lackluster tone.

“Errands?” Naruto and Sakura both asked in unison. “What could those errands be?” Naruto continued with the questioning.

“Well, that’s a top mission I am not allowed to divulge just like that. But enough about me. What are you two doing here?” Yamato quickly changed the subject.

They both start getting flustered as they try to mumble jumble at ways to properly explain their discussion from earlier.

“We were just uhm…” Sakura said, looking at Naruto’s side.

“We were just parting ways with an old friend” Naruto quickly reacted. His skills to get out of uncomfortable situations were surely appreciated in moments like these. And if Naruto did it with a God such as Kaguya, he was sure to do it with Yamato.

“Yeah, plus we wanted to head to the Hokage office as the transitioning between Tsunade-sama and Kakashi-sensei still happens, although Kakashi-sensei has officially taken the seat since a week ago” Sakura was quick to add herself.

“Care to join us? Since after all, we’re all kind of heading towards the same direction, right, Captain?” she asked. She put two plus two together. If he would be back from a mission then he would definitely have to file in a report. So, he would definitely go to the Hokage office.

Since she was a student of a Hokage, and now by extent Naruto was too, since Kakashi had taken the office, she thought this would be a perfect way out to change the subject and draw it to a more logistical approach than what the two's discussion entailed earlier.

Yamato agreed, and waved his hand at them, making it clear that as soon as they started walking, he’d be sure to join them.

Naruto and Sakura looked each other in the eyes for one last time, as they proceeded walking towards the entrance of Konoha alongside Yamato.
Their talk would have to be postponed. Plus, this day was an end to a period of their lives filled with lots of trials and tribulations.
What was in the past, would stay there. That time had ended.

But every end is a new beginning, so who knows what the future might hold in store?
All they’ll have to do is each walk their own path and find out the answer that this new beginning holds…

Chapter Text

Walking alongside each other, Sakura, Naruto and Yamato talked about all sorts of things. Yamato seemed to be his usual self, scary and secretive, but also open at the same time. Quite a curious combination. Must be due to so many years spent in the Anbu.
But as fine as he tried making things be, Sakura couldn’t help but notice the exhaustion in Yamato’s spirit.

She truly worried about him so it wasn’t long until she broke the ice and asked the man about his general state of being, without taking a no for an answer.
For a moment, Yamato thought about keeping it evasive, but then he remembered Sakura’s determination when she truly wanted something.

And at the end of the day, those weren’t the children he once used to captain. But full-blown soldiers that had just been through a war. It had been only a week and a half since the war ended, but it felt like a lifetime ago.

“I’m fine, Sakura,” he finally responded. “Just a bit tired and truthfully I’d need a break from everything that has happened, especially in the war,” Yamato ended his response with his signature bored face.

“Taichou, I understood from Tsunade-sama that you were used as a power source for the enemy’s army... is that true?” Sakura asked while Naruto’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Eeeh? Yamato-taichou is that really true?” he was quick to add right after Sakura. So much had happened in the war and after it, that Naruto still hadn’t had the time to catch-up with everyone and everything that occurred. The war ending, the formalities after the end of it, the funerals of Neji Hyuga, as well as Shikamaru and Ino’s fathers, Tsunade stepping down as Hokage and Kakashi taking over… a lot had been going on in such a short period of time.

Yamato groaned a bit, after which he looked in Sakura’s and Naruto’s direction. “Yes, it is. Apparently having Hashirama-sama’s cells meant a bull’s eye target on my back all along,” he shrugged it off at the end.

Speaking of which, that quickly reminded Sakura about what Tsunade was working on and Naruto’s hurt hand. Or well, lack of it since his battle with Sasuke.
She quickly turned away her gaze from Yamato towards Naruto.

“Oh, since we’re talking about Hashirama-dono… Naruto, listen up! After we’re done with the final mantle transferring from Tsunade-sama to Kakashi-sensei, you should come down with us at the hospital,” Sakura informed him.

“Eeeh, but why?” Naruto asked in his usual why do I have to fashion. Some things were bound to never change, she thought as her breath slipped a small sigh.
“Because of your arm, you idiot!” she snapped at him in their usual bickering ways. Naruto might have been a walking God amongst mortals since the war, but in certain regards he was just as dense as ever.

“But I don’t need it fixed! Sasuke didn’t get his either!” Naruto responded back to Sakura in his usual childish ways. For some reason, for him it was enough motive to keep his arm the way it was. So what if half of it was missing anyway?

“Naruto…!” Sakura shouted while her gaze frowned, darkened, and fixated him. It was in that moment that Naruto recalled what he had promised himself in the war: never to talk back to Sakura. Ever again. So, it didn’t last long until that gaze was followed by a scolding as well.

“When will you start to think about yourself, you idiot? I’ve had enough with one idiot who refused to wait to have his arm fixed, I’m not having the other one do the same. Plus, you should really start to put yourself first once in a while, okay? You were about to die in this damn war, then you and Sasuke-kun had to go fight to finally put your differences to the side and like two idiots that you both are, you broke your arms!” Sakura ranted continuously at Naruto with no pause.

“Plus, it’s a matter of being able to properly mold chakra. How do you think you’ll be able to do it with half an arm missing, huh?” She continued as Naruto barely managed to put in a word or two, no matter how much he tried.

“Sakura-chaaan…!” Naruto tried to interfere so he could make her yield her scolding; but she was having none of it.
“No! I don’t even want to hear it. You’re coming with me and Tsunade-sama to get your arm fixed. End of story! You hear me?”
For a moment it was like they forgot Yamato was also there, but he had no issues with it. He just watched the two bickering like in the old days, in their old ways. Some things do change, but as much as they change, as much as they stay the same.

And Sakura and Naruto were no exception. A war had passed and they had participated in it, having gone through pain and loss, and yet, at their core, they still remained those two bickering children who would flame into a quarrel the next second, but would put their life on the line for one another if anything danger were to befall any of them.

Knowing what they had been through, Yamato smiled relieved at the sight of them getting along just fine. What had happened before the war had been quite a delicate situation for both of them.

But at the end of the day, like always, they seemed to find a way to work things out through any hardship that comes their way. Be it made by their own hands or at the hands of external forces.

It wasn’t long until everyone arrived at the Hokage’s office. Yamato was just content with letting them express themselves and have a go at whatever they had to sort out with one another, while Naruto and Sakura were so immersed in their little bickering.
He left a subtle cough or two out so that the two could realize how much they have derailed from their initial talk, and get back to normality since after all, they were about to head into the Hokage’s building.

The next moment Naruto and Sakura stopped, as both of them looked towards Yamato’s direction, then at the building. That’s when they realized how lost they’ve been in their small exchange of nags, to put it mildly. Realizing the fact, they quickly apologized to Yamato and returned to their serious selves.
“You two go ahead!” Yamato directed them as all three of them entered the premises.
“I have to write the report first before going to the office to give the verbal reporting as well.”
Naruto and Sakura nodded at Yamato in agreement as they headed towards the Hokage’s office, while Yamato continued his path towards the report filling room.

___________

Boxes filled with a lot of paperwork slammed the desk’s surface as others came along and got piled up one over the other.
“This is the missions reports box, this one’s the general incidents reports, this...” she waved her hand towards where the box was “the general inquiries, this one here is the academy reports, while this one over here is the general military expenses reports, while next to it war costs report and on top of it is the village reconstruction costs report,” Tsunade told Kakashi as she kept pointing at all the different boxes placed on his desk.

“These would be the ones you need to take a look over first things first, while others are on their way”, she added with a smirk, after witnessing Kakashi’s whole being slowly draining on the Hokage’s seat as his eyes betrayed his spirit and revealed the cry of help inside of him.
When she ended up with the whole box set presentation, she slammed her hand over the desk, between the remaining space in front of Kakashi, her and the boxes and leaned forward, looking him directly in the eyes.

“Buckle-up, Hatake! You’re in for a wild administrative and political ride!” She ended her sentence with a big grin.
“Godaime-sama… You seem to enjoy this a little bit too much, aren’t you?” He responded while a metaphorical sweat drop streamed down his mind. And boy wasn’t he right?
Tsunade was thoroughly enjoying her time off the Hokage duties. She had decided after the war that she has had enough leadership for the moment and it’s time to step down and have the younger generation deal with these administrative matters.

Having no one around from her generation to be able to count on also took its toll. Plus, who better to be a Hokage in a newly formed alliance, if not the man who led the team who managed to seal Goddess Kaguya into oblivion?

He was the one chosen to be her successor back when Pein had attacked anyway. Of course, back then he respectfully declined and backed down, as he considered such tasks to not be suited for someone like himself. But sometimes life has other plans for one...

The original team 7 and its former team gained a lot of recognition in the war. They were the new legends that managed to bring hope to what looked like a doomed world.
Besides that, it was a time for change, and Tsunade saw herself as a relic that stood between two worlds.
She found it more fitting like this. Change was coming their way, like she and Orochimaru had talked in the war.
She was about to embrace it and that meant a new generation was to take the mantle now.

Sure, she had hoped that Naruto would be the one succeeding her, but the knucklehead still had to learn a thing or two about administrative and political tasks. Other than that, he was more than fit to be a Hokage.

That was the reason however Hatale Kakashi was taking the mantle until Naruto was prepared enough. Plus, in the meantime, it would be enough for Naruto to get used to the ins and outs of the job.

Not to mention, Tsunade had other reasons for which she chose to do this.
From her experience as a Hokage, she knew how hard it’s for a young aspirant when relics of the past interfere with futuristic vision. She wanted to make sure that such a thing would never happen while she’s still alive.

And as long as she’ll be around there, she’ll certainly not allow that. But such things were to be of future preoccupation…
Now all she had to do was to just pass on the mantle. And it was going oh so well.

Her slight smudged smirk turned into a curious expression when she heard a knock on the Hokage’s door.

“Come in!” she invited the guests. For some reason, she was still used to being the one commanding the room.
Naruto and Sakura opened the door and entered the room as Tsunade apologized to Kakashi. “Sorry about that. It’s well… a force of habit” she explained herself while turning back to Naruto and Sakura again.

“Right on time, you two!” Tsunade stated happily. “Just finished with Kakashi here, put him on track with all the things that he has to take care of, so I’m all ready to set. Naruto, ready to have your arm fixed?” Tsunade asked.

“Yes m’am!” he responded quickly as he felt Sakura’s gaze over his head. Having Sakura on his back was one thing, but her master as well? These two were way scarier than any enemy he had fought before, so no thanks, he wasn’t risking any of that.

“Okay then, let us proceed!” Tsunade commanded as she moved away from Kakashi’s desk towards Naruto and Sakura.

“Oi, Kakashi!” she turned around when she got in line with the two. “One more thing I’d advise you to do, though…”

“What’s that, Godaime?” Kakashi asked, slightly exasperated at the thought of the burdening administrative tasks he had to take care of, and now one more. He even wondered for a second how Tsunade even managed to do all of it, while also training Sakura. “And to come out of it so well, still,” he thought.
But his inner questioning was quickly interrupted by Tsunade.

“A ceremony. Objective? Simple: to promote your soldiers for their efforts and achievements in the war” she said. “This one here is still a genin, as far as we can remember” she said waving her hand up and down Naruto’s silhouette.

“He’s supposed to be the next in line after you, remember? Me, you, every person on this earth and their grandpas, mine included, heard about how he wants to be a Hokage someday. So, naturally, he’ll be one. In terms of power at least, that’s not even questionable.” Tsunade said with the same confidence she always had in Naruto. Especially since the start of the war. She was the first one to bet on him and his dependability and the asset he’d turn out to be. Oppositions existed, sure, but in the end, she proved them all she was right, as he was the key component in defeating Kaguya.

“But who’s gonna anoint Hokage a genin, though? Are you?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.

Kakashi didn’t even get to let out a breath because Tsunade was quick to interrupt him once more.

“And this one?” she said while moving slowly towards Sakura’s side of the room, positioning herself next to her.

“This one deserves a promotion for all she accomplished in this war!” Tsunade said with a big grin of pride on her face. She turned her gaze towards her student and looked her in the eyes and said to her “I always knew you had it in you!”. And she meant every word of it.

Ever since she started training Sakura, Tsunade could see her potential. Shizune had been a great apprentice, too, but there was something about Sakura that reminded her of her young self. You could say she was looking in a mirror, in certain ways.

Sure, despite her determination, Sakura highly doubted her skills when first stepped into her office, and Tsunade saw that. She recognized that doubt from her own past. But she knew the antidote to it, as well. Tsunade applied it to Sakura with no remorse whatsoever. She was to be a diamond, and if she would shine, she’d have to take the hard pressure diamonds are born under.

And she did. Sakura shone in the darkest of times and the hardest of pressures: those of a war.

And what harder times than those, where death knocks at your life’s door at every step of the way? When at every move it accompanies your spirit, waiting for it to trespass the gates of the world beyond the mundane life?

Tsunade knew that very well… How it is to know the horrors of war and how it can absolutely break your spirit. But instead of getting hers broken, Sakura’s spirit turned into a diamond and shone its light on the battlefield.

She awakened Byakugo, summoned Katsuyu, held her ground against the very God Tree and punched a God itself in the face. That was her girl! And Tsunade couldn’t have been prouder of it.

So, a promotion was truly well deserved. In her eyes, Sakura was perfectly capable of being a Jonin. She did all those things by the time she was sixteen. What an achievement that was.

“Are we clear on the recommendations, Hatake?” Tsunade ended asking.

He watched the imagery in front of him and with all things considered, Tsunade was once again right.

Especially when it came to Sakura. A flash of the old days passed through his mind’s eye as he heard Tsunade speaking of Sakura’s merits. She was indeed surpassing every expectation. The girl he met back in the academy days was no more.

Now, a young lady was in front of him. One that deserved all the praise and reccomendation for her contribution in the war, indeed.

Who would’ve thought that the little lovestruck girl back then would become this unwavering warrior? Sure, he had known it ever since her preliminaries with Ino Yamanaka. In that respect, Sakura was much as a fighter as Naruto was. Their refusal to never give up was something to be reckoned with. He had all the reasons to expect greatness from Naruto, due to his lineage. But with Sakura, well… besides her genjutsu affinity and smarts there was nothing apparently out of the ordinary with her and her lineage. And in a village filled with clans, each with their own special techniques, that seemed to not count for much.

She was a girl from a civilian family. Not many things were known about the Harunos anyway. They weren’t ninjas at least. For some unknown reason, they stayed away from this path unlike their daughter. And for Sakura to raise herself out of the shadows of anonymity, that was truly something.

He was truly proud of her. But he took no credit for it, as he knew deep down inside of him he had failed Sakura. She had been lucky with Tsunade’s return to the city, that was for sure.

But those were things of the past and now they were all looking towards the future.

“Your advice is much appreciated, Godaime,” Kakashi said bowing his head in gratitude. “I will start the preparations as soon as possible.”
“You do that, Hatake. Best of luck!” Tsunade said, turning her face to the door and walking towards the exit. “You know where to find me if you need me,” she added as she opened the door and made her way out of the corridors.

Naruto and Sakura wished Kakashi good fortune in his new endeavor and they followed Tsunade in a heartbeat.

___________

The hand’s scan had just finished when Tsunade returned to her file about her grandfather’s cells. Despite being part Senju herself, all of this was new to her as well. Sure, she had met the man and had heard all those tales about him that seemed more like tales of gods and goddesses, but in actual reality? She knew very little about his genetic makeup, because by the time she ended-up being a medical ninja, Hashirama was long gone.

However, since this last war and Madara’s schemes, this had become a top priority for her. Everyone seemed to be after her grandfather’s genes. Even in death, he seemed to not be able to enjoy peace.

And what better way to dwell more on this if not by trying to help others, Naruto especially? Since his last fight with Sasuke Uchiha at the Valley of the End, half of his right arm was missing. And since everyone and their ancestors made it a point in sustaining their bodies with her grandfather’s cells, she thought this would only be fitting for his case, too.

After closely studying the data though, things seemed to go on a good path.

“Naruto, you’ll have to go now to Shizune’s lab to get one more test made to you before attaching you this prosthetic arm,” she informed the youngster.

“From what it seems, you wouldn’t have any problems with having attached my grandfather’s cells to you. It would also seem that they wouldn’t overwhelm you like it happened for example in Danzou’s case. However, we need to be absolutely certain about it. We need to confirm that the chakra production cell ratio between your body and my grandfather’s remains one are equal so that you don’t find yourself overwhelmed by this and his cells to take over.”

Naruto scratched his head in confusion. Those terms were too pretentious for him to understand.

“Naruto, simply put go to Shizune-san, take another test, wait for her to complete the results and get back here with them,” Sakura instructed him, seeing the confusion on his face. When it came to formal terms, Naruto wasn’t what you’d call so book smart. But he was intriguingly smart. Sometimes even she wondered from where it came. He was such a walking paradox at times. But an endearing one nevertheless.

“Aaah, okay Sakura-chan, got it!” he replied grinning while buttoning back his sleeve.

“Well then, I should get going,” he said before Tsunade interrupted him and proceeded with handing him the file so he can take it to Shizune to have it as base comparison data for the examination.

He quickly stormed out of the office, while Sakura and Tsunade remained there.

As Naruto finally left and she had a time off with her master, Sakura couldn’t help but want to unload a bit, after everything that had been happening.
Sure, Tsunade had been all but your usual confidante, but whenever Sakura needed it, she was someone Sakura could come to.

But she didn’t even start to speak her mind because Tsunade already asked her what was up. She knew the little kid like the palm of her hand. And she knew very well when was the time to clench it into a fist, or be a hand lent for helping. This situation was the latter, as she could see Sakura’s mind was bothered by something.

“What’s on your mind, Sakura?” the master asked. Sakura raised her gaze from the floor, where she had put it, drew a deep breath and started to slowly open up.

“Tsunade-sama… how should I say this? It’s just that…” she said while moving forward towards the desk where Tsunade was seated.

“I don’t even know how to say this but I’m going to try my best,” she continued while seating herself on the chair in front of her master’s desk.

“With everything that has happened in the war… sometimes it all feels too much. I feel so overwhelmed,” Sakura kept going when she closed her eyes and a flash of Madara and Kaguya made its place into her mind’s eye.

“When we fought Madara Uchiha and then that goddess they called Kaguya Otsutsuki,” she kept talking as she felt once more the heaviness she did back when she first encountered them. In the meantime, Tsunade watched her student real closely, her body language, everything.

Sakura was good at keeping it inside of her and focusing on the task at hand. That’s what made her such a good medic. That despite everything else that was going on around her, she had the ability to keep a sharp mind and focus it all on what she had to do.

But this time, the youngster seemed caught by surprise. And Tsunade fully understood that. Having gone through a war was something, but a war that was about to end the world as they knew it, where even godly ninjas appeared? That was a thing in its own league.

Tsunade knew what toll the usual wars took on her, so for Sakura to keep it so level headed up until now given what she had been though, was quite a feat in itself. It was clear that her student needed to unburden herself from all of that, and with the free time she had now, Tsunade was happy to listen.

“I mean sure, I finally awakened Byakugou and I am so happy about that,” Sakura quickly changed the direction of her speech, smiling for a second and touching her forehead, “but it feels like I am once again, walking behind Naruto and Sasuke”, she ended her sentence as her figure turned sad and her gaze started falling to the ground.
“I mean, like you know master, I always wanted to fight alongside them. To be able to stand my ground on the battlefield and not be protected by them. That happened for the most part of our genin days, and I hated that,” Sakura continued spilling her soul, clenching her fist as Tsunade watched her and remembered in the back of her mind the young girl who took herself to her office and asked to be her apprentice.

But as much as that little girl grew and changed, some things seemed to stay the same. Without even finishing what Sakura had to say, Tsunade guessed what Sakura was about to tell her. But she let her student speak.

Folding her hands and resting her face in them while letting her elbows rest on the desk, Tsunade watched and listened as Sakura continued.
“In this war, when the Ten Tails started getting loose, I was finally able to be there and fight with them. I was even thinking about you as I joined them,” she told her master as a fond smile found a seat on both her face and her master’s one.

“I was the happiest I could’ve ever been in this life, I swear. But then, all the other things happened, like you know: Madara Uchiha got revived, Naruto almost got killed by him, but thankfully we managed to save him, and then, when Madara initiated the Infinite Tsukuyomi and we thought we escaped him because of Black Zetsu’s betrayal, another one appeared. The one we told you about, Kaguya Otsutsuki. It was like one thing after another. Not having an end. And it wasn’t even that, but their levels…
Shishou, I’m telling you, you could literally sense the power of their presence on your bare skin, like a scorching fire. So, so overwhelming...” Sakura left out a big sigh as if she could barely catch a breath in from all the weight of those events.

“I mean, if it wasn’t for Naruto and Sasuke-kun’s techniques, which truth be told seem to be from the realms of the Gods themselves, we would’ve all been doomed.
I mean I could barely breathe when I first encountered Marada Uchiha, imagine how it felt afterwards when Kaguya came. She felt tenfold stronger than him.
These weren’t normal ninjas like you and I, Shishou. These were otherworldly beings at this point. Walking gods among mortals. And once again the only ones who could fight were Naruto and Sasuke-kun, while me and Kakashi-sensei stood on the back, doing almost nothing.

How are we even supposed to fight something like that?” She ended her ranting with an ask as a slight sign of desperation could be read on her face.

And wasn’t she right, though? The world had enough problems as it was with a rotten system that made all children go to war when they barely left their parent’s houses to go study about the world. But now this?

How is anyone supposed to fight the worldly and otherworldly problems at the same time? Normal skilled ninjas were already a problem as it was. Enough coups, wars and deaths had happened for such a long time.

But add this on top? How was anyone supposed to fight it? It was hard enough as it was for humans and ninjas fighting each other due to the wretched system in place. But add ninja gods on top of that and the equation already changes from the get-go.

As Tsunade looked Sakura in the eyes as she finished pouring her heart out, she unfolded her hands and took it upon herself to share with Sakura some of her own hidden thoughts.

These were shadows of her own past that somehow Madara Uchiha had also managed to bring back in Tsunade’s mind when she met him.

“I know what you’re saying. Although I didn’t fight that Kaguya Otsutsuki you speak of, I briefly had to fight Madara Uchiha,” Tsunade started unfolding herself to Sakura.
“I fought him in a truly powerful form, and to hear that he went even higher than that form, I cannot even begin to imagine what you had to go through,” she reassured her student.

And she meant every word of it. Sure, Sakura was a big girl now and she was a great ninja, but such a foe like Madara Uchiha could strike fear in anyone’s spirit, especially for someone with no experience of a war.

So many factors added to her student’s situation that it was a wonder that she even stood there and kept continuing her life normally. After this war, there weren’t many people and ninjas that one could say were living a normal life. This war had left a lot of people physically, mentally and spiritually scarred.

Not to mention Madara had more ways than one to attack a foe. His fighting style also involved a mental component to it. Because it was well known that when you break an opponent’s spirit, that’s when you’ve won the battle.

She had been at the receiving end of that mental play that Madara had tried with her. As the granddaughter of the great Hashirama Senju there was always this weight that everyone kept above her head.

She was after all the granddaughter of the Hashirama Senju, known all throughout the ninja world for his Mokuton technique and recovery abilities. A walking god among mortals, himself.

It was expected that his successors would inherit such power theirselves, yet… they didn’t. Or she didn’t at least.

Maybe Nawaki would have been the one to do it, but sadly he was taken from this world way to early. He didn’t even get the chance to bud. All that was left was her, but being a woman in such a male dominated field which never took into consideration the casualties of wars and how to reduce them, also took its toll.

Men didn’t think about going to the war and survive back then. They were thinking they are going to the war and they give their life on the battlefield. They rarely thought of nurturing life, because they were too busy to lay it off on the battlefield. Such a stupid way of thinking, she often thought.

One that her younger brother had and got him killed. And for that, she hated the men’s way of thinking and found it in herself to change those ways. It was back then when she vowed to herself that she won’t leave things stay like that and so, she started to look more into recovery ninjutsu. That is how she ended-up wanting to give birth to medical ninjutsu, and the first person who she looked towards was her grandfather and his legacy. His recovery techniques were known all throughout the world.

But that ended-up being a bigger problem than a solution. The frustration, the impotence, the feeling of not being enough. The same feelings that were now experienced by her student before her.

“I know very well the things you’re experiencing right now,” Tsunade told Sakura.

“There was a time when I was in the right same place you are right now,” she added as she recalled her past self.

“Let me tell you a story, one that I have never shared with you until now,” Tsunade said, preparing herself and laying on the back of her seat.

“Since we’re talking of gods and goddesses, I had one in the family, too. One whose techniques even to this day I couldn’t figure out. My grandfather, Hashirama Senju, was one of those people who you can very well call a god.
People used to say that he was a myth, a legend in itself like the Sage of Six Paths. Here and there were some that even called him the second sage. His power was so tremendous that even the great Uchiha clan feared him. And that includes the very Madara Uchiha you and I have met.”

When Sakura heard that, she couldn’t help but feel a great admiration and amazement. The same foe she had fought a moment in time ago, had feared Hashirama Senju? Sure, like anyone else Sakura knew the general tale about Hashirama Senju, and even a thing or two about his techniques from all that research that she had done besides what Tsunade had made her do. But now, she was about to hear his story from none other than the source of greatness itself.

“So, imagine being a successor of someone with such great power, and having none of it yourself,” Tsunade stated in a bittersweet tone, a face that betrayed slight disappointment and eyebrows raised for a brief moment. It somehow soothed Sakura, as she listened to her master.

She had always considered her this great ninja, and never imagined that her master could have gone through such things herself. But seeing her now like this, it somehow taught Sakura that maybe she isn’t that crazy for feeling that way. Because a symbol of power standing in front of her was also coming from the same place as she was.
“Even now, my grandfather’s greatness follows me,” she said.

“You know what Madara Uchiha told me? Not only that I am a weak woman, but a weak Senju. And that weak Senjus are ugly,” Tsunade continued while her gaze betrayed a little bit of sadness once more, the same that took over Sakura’s one as she heard the horrendous things her master had to go through at the hands of Madara. What a despicable man he was, Sakura thought to herself with an expression that read wrath on her face, as she listened to her master’s narration.

But then a smirk appeared on Tsunade’s face as she continued telling the story to Sakura “Sure, I proved him wrong and showed him that I am not a weak woman like he so conceitedly stated, but… in one regards he was right.

I was never able to attain my grandfather’s greatness,” Tsunade concluded this part of her speech, as once again her look unveiled a drop of sadness.
“I mean, look where we are today, still analyzing my grandfather’s cells, so many years after his death. It’s like he became life itself, even after being gone from the world of the living for such a long while.
All you know about Byakugou is that it’s a medical technique, and sure, now it is one, but you know from where that started? From my very own desire to become like my grandfather.
The pressure for me to perform was always there.
I was the granddaughter of Hashirama Senju and Mito Uzumaki, so surely, I must hold greatness in me, right? Except that I didn’t and the only reason I ended-up looking into recovery ninjutsu was because of my dead younger brother, Nawaki.
He died too young, from that stupid pride men have to give their lives on the battlefield, like that makes anyone any good, but anyway, that’s not the point here. The point is, like I said, I ended-up wanting to touch that greatness my grandfather had, to be able to help and protect people.
But as much as I was a bud sprouted from the legacy of Hashirama Senju and Mito Uzumaki, coming anywhere near my grandfather’s level was downright impossible. Not by usual means anyway.
So, I started searching and searching, more and more how to be able to master recovery jutsu. Sure, I got the basics of it, but that wasn’t enough to save someone from death. I had learned that all too well going through the first war.
So then, by the time the second war happened, I had already tried to invent a way to bring this recovery technique closer to my grandfather’s levels. At least close, if not the same levels.
By that time, I had lost most of my precious people, but I still had one left. His name was Dan.
But the technique wasn’t yet ready when he died in my arms. The usual recovery ninjutsu, which we now call medical ninjutsu wasn’t enough. The first love of my life took his last breath as I tried to stop the blood and life to flow out of him.
I was unsuccessful,” Tsunade paused for a bit, closing her eyes as she recalled that wretched memory.

“I couldn’t come anywhere near my grandfather’s skills which were necessary to get remotely close to save someone’s life”, she added.
Sakura’s heart started aching more and more with every word her master was saying. Thinking at the horrors she went through, and seeing her here, standing now in front of her, Sakura had a newfound respect for her master. She had it forever but now it got strengthened hearing what her master had been through.
So many losses in her life and she still found the courage to get through all of that. How she even managed that was a question that stumbled in Sakura’s mind as her master told her the story.

“You mean Byakugou, Shishou? The technique...” she asked her master with a pained look.

“No, I mean Creation Rebirth,” Tsunade told her.

“Its predecessor,” she added.

“When you joined me and took an interest in medical ninjutsu, I had already created the restoration technique Creation Rebirth, but given the short duration of such technique, I wanted to take it further, because I wanted to find a way for the technique to work for a longer period of time.
At first Creation Rebirth was a one-time jutsu. But after studying my grandfather’s technique, I learned that his skills made it so that he would heal his wounds continuously in a fight, no matter how many times he was injured.

In a battle you don’t get hurt just one time and that’s it the enemy walks happy and leaves you alone, so what I knew that Creation Rebirth is a last resort move, but it won’t help you the second time as the necessary chakra to even perform such a technique is huge.

Performing medical ninjutsu requires an enormous amount of chakra, as you know. Creation Rebirth on the other hand…” Tsunade continued her story as she gestured something to strengthen an idea they both knew, anyway.

“Even I, a Senju and Uzumaki descendant wasn’t able to amount to such reserves.
When I first took an interest in learning more about my grandfather, he was already gone from our world. I only had my grandmother alive, really old and on death bed’s door.
Upon learning more and more about my grandfather, I came to the conclusion that the chakra reserve levels necessary for a restoration technique of his caliber are absolutely out of this world for any human being. It was then when I started to understand why people would look at my grandfather as if he was a god among mortals. He really seemed as such.
So, I tried to look for a workaround. Some way that could get me access to that level of healing levels when you don’t have those very levels in your pool.
That’s when I started to search through the old scrolls filled with a vast knowledge my grandfather and grandmother were keeping in the old Uzumaki compound. It was then when I first learned about a technique called Creation of All Things.”

Sakura’s interest peaked when she heard the name of the technique, so she couldn’t help but ask her master about it. What was such a technique, anyway? It sounded so fancy and old, and eerily similar to Creation Rebirth. Surely there had to be a connection.

“Yes, Creation Rebirth is based on Creation of All Things. It’s an old jutsu from the times of the Sage of Six Paths himself”, Tsunade answered Sakura. Upon hearing that name, Sakura couldn’t help but be triggered by a memory of the war. She had met the legend face to face.

He was as old as time itself, or so the saying was. So, what was the connection between that technique and her master’s one?

“Creation of All Things was based on Yin and Yang chakra molded together. Imagination that creates physical form from nothingness with the help of the spiritual energy of the Yin principle and breathing life into being with the vitality aspect of the Yang principle”, Tsunade said as she started explaining to Sakura the basics of how she came to invent Creation Rebirth.

“So, I figured that at the basics of a restoration technique, there should be something similar, because this is the principle of life itself being born. It’s like the creation of all life itself. But for such a technique to even happen, one would need extreme amounts of chakra to use and a mind that doesn’t falter. Sharper than any razor out there.
I tried somehow using Creation of All Things myself, but I just couldn’t.
I didn’t have the necessary levels of chakra to do so, sadly. The curse of my grandfather’s levels of power once again followed me.
I figured that this surely would’ve been the technique he would use for his restoration technique or something very similar in nature, but he was a powerhouse.
I was just a failed predecessor. So, for a while, I gave-up”, Tsunade concluded that part of her tale.

When Sakura heard that she couldn’t help but once again feel the bond with her teacher strengthen even more than before. It was like with every new side of her master’s story she could see herself in it.

“But you didn’t give-up for good, right Shishou? After all, we’re here! And Byakugou works very much like Hashirama-donno’s technique now, which means…”

“Of course, I didn’t give-up for good!” Tsunade responded to Sakura with a grin.

“Remember what I told you when you first set foot in my office? That I won’t go easy on you. And I taught you later that what it takes to be a medical ninja is the ability to never give-up, most of all.”

“I do remember,” Sakura smiled fondly at the memory of that time.

Taking a quick mind tour since then until now, she couldn’t help but feel a tad bit proud of herself. That’s when the eagerness to know more hit her so she asked her master to continue her story of how she managed to do it after all.

“It was thanks to my grandmother, Mito Uzumaki,” Tsunade said. Upon hearing that name again, Sakura couldn’t help but wonder if there would be a connection between Naruto and her. At least the names were similar. But… that would be another thing for another time.

“She was the one who helped me find a workaround so I can invent Creation Rebirth,” Sakura’s master continued.

A warm smile appeared on the blonde woman’s face as she remembered her grandmother. Sure, the world knew mostly her grandfather, but little did it know that the reason he ended-up being so strong was because of Mito’s great support.

She had been a reserved woman, not meddling in business that weren’t hers and focused on the things she could change. Stoic like a high mountain, but warm like the sun shining on one, from the first day Tsunade knew her to the last.

“It’s thanks to her that I was able to gather enough chakra that was necessary to come-up with the jutsu,” Tsunade stated when Sakura interrupted her out with a remark of her own.

“Basically, to come-up with a container so one can gather enough chakra necessary to mold such a technique, right Shishou?”

“Yes, that’s right. My grandmother’s seal was the container for a very important spirit back in the day,” Tsunade told Sakura as she once again folded her hands and rested her face in them, watching Sakura straight in the eyes, knowing that what she was about to tell the student would very much surprise her, being that this wasn’t a fact known to many.

“That’s where she contained the demon fox,” she told her, knowing very well the connections that her student was about to make.

Sakura’s eyes widened in amazement. The Kyubi, Yin seal, Creation of All Things, Creation Rebirth... All this seemed so much info to take onto.
Sure, she learned the technicalities of Byakugo and was able to attain it based on what her master made her to study, but she never thought there would be so much history behind such a jutsu.

“It was also thanks to that seal that I was able to finally get a contract and summon Katsuyu,” Tsunade said. “You well know that to summon Katsuyu, the seal is a prerequisite, otherwise there’s no chance in the world she can be summoned, and the reason why that is.”

Sakura’s mind instantly started to make connections over connections as she heard her master speak, but for the moment this was too much trivia for her mind to process. She’d have to think about all of this in silence, later on.

But then she recalled that Naruto’s seal looked different and that’s where he had Kurama stored, so how did Mito Uzumaki stored Kurama inside the Yin Seal to begin with? This was just one of the many questions that started roaming inside of Sakura’s mind.

“So yes, in the end I was able to come-up with a way to mimic my grandfather’s technique” Tsunade continued.

“However, there was one problem with it. The drawbacks of that jutsu. And you know them very well”.

Sakura nodded, being reminded of the fact that for as much as Byakugou made them impossible to kill in battle, the price one has to pay is quite grandiose.

“Yes, I do. We have to pay with our own life to even make use of such a technique…” Sakura responded to her master, being slightly saddened at the thought of that.
Sure, her master was still a descendant of two great clans, but her? She was nothing more than a girl coming from a civilian clan with no special ability. If only she could’ve had something special about her…

“Yes, that is the one issue with the jutsu I couldn’t solve up until now. For as much as I managed to create something similar to my grandfather’s technique based on Creation of All Things, I still couldn’t get past this impediment.

Creation of All Things makes use of Yang chakra, but I have no such affinity for that. Yang chakra has been a mystery to us all. So then, the only way I could mimic the effects was to make use of the body’s own vitality, and push it to heal itself by cell division, like you know.
But we’re only human at the end of the day and our life is bound to end someday. Cells can only divide for so long before it becomes… well you know what it becomes.
And in our case, using such jutsu only means that our lives will end sooner rather than later,” Tsunade concluded her story.

Both master and student sighed in unison as the fact of that reality hit them.

All the answers seemed to lay in Hashirama Senju’s technique but how can you find the answers when the person in cause is dead, yet his vitality still lingers years after his passing into non-existence?

Still, Tsunade found it in her to take out a smile and look towards her student.

“I don’t know if I will be able to find the answer to this matter. I’ve tried it for years now with no success.
Yet, I still feel that the answer lies somewhere in my grandfather’s remains, but with neither him, nor my grandmother around, that seems near too impossible to solve.
It was hard enough when one of them lived. Took me so many years to come-up with all of this, so who knows how many it would take to finally understand everything?”

As Sakura heard those words coming from her master’s mouth, she couldn’t help but feel the heaviness of the situation. How can one manage to do this? To find the answer to an impossible question? Yet somehow, she felt it was necessary to do so if medical ninjutsu were to be evolved to the next level. But for now, she had no answer. Her master didn’t and she had so much experience behind her, how could she, a simple student, have one?

Tsunade got up from her chair and went to the window waving her hand at Sakura to follow her, as the pink haired girl complied.

When Sakura got in front of her, Tsunade's face painted a big grin on her face as she looked at Sakura.

“Sadly, I don’t have the answer to this dilemma right now, as I told you. But I have hope that you will. No, cut that, not hope. I have full faith that you will definitely do it!
If you came forth in the war, managing to finally awaken Byakugou and summon Katsuyu on the battlefield, you will definitely find a way to solve the mystery to these godly powers.
After all, you, a human, fought a god itself, didn’t you?” Tsunade told Sakura as she patted her head. Sakura was quick to try and interrupt her, telling her master that it was mostly Naruto and Sasuke that did the job, but Tsunde interrupted her back immediately.

“And who lent the final punch that made it possible for those two idiots to seal her, eh?” Tsunade asked, not allowing her student to get down on herself.

“You have a strong spirit inside you, Sakura!” she continued, “I’m sure that one day you’ll find the solution to all of these problems. But it will be a path you must take yourself. I’ve taught you all that I’ve known up until now, so maybe now it is time for me to give the mantle to you. So you can find your own path.
And I’m sure that you will, and you’ll even surpass me. That strong spirit and determination got you where you are here, today, didn’t it?”

Sakura couldn’t help but feel a bit of pride hearing her master’s words, yet she still wasn’t convinced enough of that fact. Not after what she had witnessed once again in the war.

“But Shishou, I’m merely me, a simple girl, with no respectable clan background to uphold me. How can I even…” compete was what Sakura was about to ask but Tsunade wasn’t having any of it.

“I might have had a little luck being a descendant of Uzumaki and Senju to be able to create Creation Rebirth and then develop it up to Byakugou.

Sure, I was nowhere near my grandfather’s level, but a slightly larger pool than the average helped me get where I am thanks to what I told you.

But you and your knack for chakra, your understanding of it and efficiency in using it, is already surpassing mine. Stop putting yourself down and give yourself some credit, eh?” the blonde told her student with a warm smile on her face as she took her hand off Sakura’s head.

A thank you with a big grin soon followed as Sakura took in all of Tsunade’s praise, which was so rare. But she knew that when receiving praise from Tsunade you really did well, as she wasn’t a woman of free praises. No, you had to earn it. With hard work, sweat and perfection, or else you were getting none of it.

And that’s what made Sakura work so hard for all that she got. Because to her, getting the praise of someone so respectable meant that she at least did something well as a ninja.

Their time of confessions ended as soon as Naruto entered the office once again with the results from Shizune.

The news were good: Naruto was compatible with Hashirama’s cells which means the prosthetic arm she was preparing was going to be working.
“Prepare for tomorrow, then!” Tsunade commanded.

“We’re gonna attach the prosthetic arm to you and from now on you’ll be able to use ninjutsu again. Next time, don’t be that stupid, though!” she warned him referring to the battle he had with Uchiha Sasuke.

Naruto’s bring grin made an appearance on his face as his over excitedness took hold of him, jumping around and messing a thing or two in the office. It wasn’t long until Sakura brought him back to earth again.

“You stupid!” Sakura shouted as she cleaned the mess after him, a little pissed at his ever-present negligence when he got excited.

“Stop messing around things! Not to mention, didn’t you have somewhere to be today?” she asked as Naruto’s face got clueless.

“Hinata, you idiot!” she bumped him. “You’re supposed to go check and see if there’s anything else she needs for Neji’s one-week burial ceremony all of us Konoha eleven talked about doing by ourselves, remember? So, stop messing around and go!” Sakura pushed him towards the door and after she rearranged all the dossiers and reports that Naruto had messed-up earlier on Tsunade’s desk.

“Oh, yeah…!” Naruto said straightening his figure, and getting a more serious approach. “Well, I’m off to Hinata’s now, see you two another time!” he saluted both while leaving for the door.

“Don’t forget you have to be here tomorrow morning for the arm, Naruto!” Tsunade shouted as Naruto got out the door.

“You idiot…!” Sakura mumbled to herself with a bitter sweet smile that followed her soon after, watching him as he got out of that door.

Tsunade couldn’t help but notice the subtle tension that had just happened in the room. That packed with the fact that for all the discussion her student forgot to mention what had happened to Sasuke Uchiha who was also supposed to get his arm fixed, and the fact that Sakura excused herself soon after that scene strengthened her belief in what she had just seen even more.

“My mom will scold me once again if my room isn’t cleaned spotless,” she said with one her her trademark fake smiles when she wanted to avoid a certain situation. She had some thoughts she wanted to shrug off her mind, as this was already a busier day than what she had envisioned it to be.

“Sure, go ahead and do what you have to do, you’re dismissed!” Tsunade responded knowing very well what Sakura was hiding under that smile. She had had a tough time today, so any more weight on her shoulders wasn’t needed.

But she couldn’t help to be reminded of a certain scene she had seen in the past, when she first came to Konoha.

Only that this time around, it was the other way. The one smiling bittersweet now was Sakura instead of Naruto.

She thought to herself how times had truly changed since she was in Konoha. How newer ones were about to commence and who knows what they would bring forth.

Chapter Text

Her steps walked her to her house as she lost herself in a myriad of thoughts connected to all the things she had been through over the course of the day.

Everything that was happening around her seemed to be at peace, though.

A new phase in everyone’s life, yet for some reason her new beginning felt like a shackle of the past.

She tried to not let it bother her as much as it did, because now this new phase in everyone’s lives was supposed to bring an end to all the wrongful things of that time.

Yet for her, something was still lingering.

It wasn’t long until she got back to her house, wrapped in all her thoughts. Sakura got up the stairs, opened the door, entered and saluted her parents.

“I’m home!” She announced, as she took off her boots and put them on the left side of the entrance like she always used to.

“Come now, Sakura! Dinner is almost ready!” Mebuki shouted from the kitchen.

Upon hearing her mother’s call, Sakura headed towards where her parents were, realizing that a lot of time had passed since it was already dinner time.

After leaving Tsunade’s office she told herself she would take a short walk to try and clear her mind for a bit, especially after the talk with her master. But as it seemed, the short walk wasn’t actually that short as she had envisioned.
Heading towards the kitchen, she saw her mother preparing the table for them to eat, while her dad was reading once again a paper. She couldn’t exactly tell what was it what he was reading, but she couldn’t be bothered to find out at the moment.
It would be probably something frivolous, anyway, since those things seemed to always be his source of inspiration for jokes.

Sometimes to her it looked like he never takes anything seriously, which bothered her to no end, but she had a lot of things on her plate right now, thinking about that particular thing right now wouldn’t help her case.
So she just ignored it.

While she sat there at the table, with a somewhat absent figure, her mom couldn’t help but notice that, so she tried to break the ice.

“Soo, what’s up with you again? Did you get scolded by Tsunade for not properly arranging the books you keep studying from again nicely on their shelves?” Mebuki asked in her usual joking but stinging you way.

“Mom!” Sakura immediately snapped back, frowning at her.

It didn’t take long for Kizashi to interfere, being very much aware of the dynamic between his daughter and his wife.

These two were two ticking bombs that for some reason were always on each other’s backs.

“Now, now Sakura…” Kizashi addressed his daughter in a slow tone.

“You know how your mother likes to tease you about these little things”, he continued before being interrupted by Mebuki again while she was headed with the plates filled with food towards the table where they were all sitting.

“It’s not a tease if it’s the truth!” Mebuki continued her husband’s sentence, as she put the plates on the table and pushed them in front of Sakura and Kizashi, then turned around to get the last plate of food. Hers.

Sakura rolled her eyes at her mother and took a napkin next to her so she could start eating, not before giving thanks for the meal, as she held it inside of her not to reply to her mother.

She wasn’t going to have any of it today, so she decided to just ignore it.

They ate in a somewhat awkward silence with her dad trying to crack a joke or two, but Sakura kept being lost in her thoughts.

Both Kizashi and Mebuki observed that aspect of their daughter’s behavior, so they once again tried to break the silence and ask her what was it that bothered her mind.

It wasn’t like the daughter they knew.

The Sakura they knew would have immediately backfired at them for pestering her so much like she had done earlier at her mother’s remark, but instead this Sakura wasn’t. Something was clearly bothering her.

Sure, she had just come back from a war and they were thanking the Heavens for her safe return. But ever since then, she had been a bit different.

They weren’t exactly sure how to deal with all of this, so they decided to act like their normal selves, in the hope that maybe this will help Sakura reintegrate in her old, normal life. It was their way of supporting her.

But for some reason, it didn’t feel that way for Sakura. What the horrors of war had made her see, took a toll on her. As much as she, herself wasn’t realizing, it was starting to be clear for the ones around her.

Kizashi finally broke the ice and asked his daughter if she was okay.

“Yeah, I am,” Sakura responded passively to her father. But both him and her mother could see that wasn’t exactly the truth, as much as she wanted to hide it behind her all-known fake smile.

“And that’s a lie and you know it!” Mebuki confronted her as she watched her daughter directly in the eyes.

Mebuki knew her daughter like the palm of her hands.

Sure, being Sakura’s mother was never easy because the girl seemed to have a stubborn spirit that never listened, and a mind that too easily ran away from her problems and tried to hide it behind a smile or behind a facade of acting as if she’s not being too interested.

But she had raised the girl, she bore her inside her womb for nine months, and it was yet a few years too early for Sakura Haruno to be able to lie to her face like that.

Sakura once again rolled her eyes and replied in a dull manner, trying to avoid the subject as she wasn’t really in the mood for it now.

The discussion she had with Tsunade and the thoughts about the gods that she had met in the war was still lingering inside of her. That, and a thought more, one that she was suppressing without realizing. Or without actually wanting to.

“No, it’s not. It’s just… boring stuff work,” she added while finishing the last piece of her meal, preparing to gather the plate and the tableware to get them to the kitchen in order to keep avoiding her mother’s gaze and commentary.

“Well, tell us about your boring work stuff! We’d love to hear it, you know we do!” Kizashi replied shortly after.

“Did Naruto do something stupid again and over exerted himself once more and you had to smack some sense into him?” he asked in a joking manner, knowing all too well her daughter’s stories about her knucklehead of a colleague who always goes too far and she has to deal with the consequences again.

The numbers of times Sakura got back home and complained about her blonde colleague had been quite numerous.

If you would ask him, that complaining of hers looked like something else, but it wasn’t his business to deal with anyway.

When Sakura heard the name as she was standing up in front of the table where they were dining, preparing to go and leave her plate in the kitchen sink, she froze for a bit at her father’s question.

“Eh?” She asked confused as she turned her gaze in her father’s direction. Right before she did that, a quick flash passed through her mind’s eye with Naruto's cold body on Gaara’s sand back in the war. But she was quick to brush it away and replied to her father's question in the end.

“Aaah, noo, he’s fine, he’s fine”, she said waving her hand in dismissal to try to diffuse the situation, as she continued her road towards the kitchen sink.

“Sure, he’s the same idiot like he’s ever been. But he’s a fine idiot!” she concluded.

“I mean, the idiot is fine!” She quickly corrected herself at the realization of what she had just said, in the context of knowing her father and how he’s always there, ready to crack a joke if he gets even the slightest of chances. Especially when it’s something language related. He always had a thing for language related puns.

So she just wanted to make sure she doesn’t give her dad any of the chances he needed to crack one.

“No need to worry about him”, Sakura said as she put the plate in the sink. With her back turned at her parents, her face expression changed and a serious expression encompassed her face.

“Then are you really going to tell us what’s wrong or are you going to keep pretending all’s sun and daisies?” Mebuki asked once again as Sakura was preparing to get back to the table.

Sakura could feel the tension slowly building up. She was trying so much to avoid this. Oh, she was. But on all gods and goddesses, her mother was making it hard. Really, really hard.

Mebuki wanted to continue to say that they might have not been the experts in the room, but they could definitely tell something was wrong, when they heard the sound of other kitchen utensils aggressively being dropped in the sink, above the plate she had just left there a few moments ago.

Sakura turned around and faced her parents.

Both mother and daughter locked looks on each other and it wasn’t long until Sakura just exploded.

“You know what? You really aren’t. Experts, I mean! You have no idea how consuming it is out there. How hard it is to be a shinobi. And not even that, to be a medical one!

To have to make sure at each step that you’re the support everyone that battles in front of you needs. To make sure you’re on time so that a comrade doesn’t die on you.

Or when someone is brought to you on their deathbed, and you have to make sure you keep your cool so that he doesn’t die while in your care because he always pushes himself like an idiot who doesn’t think about himself!” Sakura started rambling and gesturing around, while her left hand clenched into a fist and her face slowly became wrapped in horror as she got reminded of the things she had been through in the war, and tears slowly built up on the corners of her eyes.

Kizashi immediately raised an eyebrow hearing her last words as if a certain detail from Sakura’s rambling caught his interest. His intuition didn’t falter, he thought to himself while continuing to listen to his daughter.

“And not only that, but above it all, to have to fight literal ninja gods. Gods!” Sakura repeated the word that made clear her underlying feeling of helplessness when she thought about it. “When you barely make it so you can finally be able to fight other ninjas, after a lifetime of being just a kunoichi with no special abilities, in a class of colleagues all from elite clans.

No, you’re not experts! You have no idea how that is, because you’ve always been satisfied with this normal and boring life that brings absolutely no satisfaction.

You never had any ambition to exceed your status and to take responsibilities beyond your capabilities so you can improve yourselves!” she ended her rambling in a raised voice, borderline screaming.

On the other side of the room, once she heard the words Mebuki got up from the chair, filled with anger at her daughter’s words. She had always been somewhat cheeky, but this time it was taking it too far.

All they were trying to do was to be supportive of her and this is what they get? How dare she?

“Ooh, so you think that just because you’re a ninja you can lecture us about how we should’ve lived our lives?” Mebuki backfired on her daughter as her tone too, started to sound aggressive and soon started to sound more like yelling than anything else.

If these two would have something in common, it would be their capacity to explode instantly. And that’s something Kizashi knew best, living with both of them for such a long time.

“Are you under the impression that being a ninja gives you status? That this is all that a human being should strive for in life? How dare you speak to us, your parents, like that? How dare you question our life choices?” Mebuki questioned Sakura as her anger levels kept rising and she could feel a vein on her head slowly getting almost to explode.

“If it wouldn’t have been for us you wouldn’t have existed in the first place! You think that just being a normal family is something to look down upon? You think that raising a child is just a play? Are you under the impression that being a ninja and having status is something above a normal human life in this world? That’s how you view life? What kind of medical ninja are you if you think so low about human life? Is this why you became a medical ninja? For status? Eh, Sakura? Is it?” Mebuki continued asking, but by this time she was already downright yelling at Sakura. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing from her daughter’s mouth.

It was one thing that she’d complain about simple house chores because she would prefer to study more than to do those, which she had no problem in doing as long as Sakura did study. But this? This was exceeding some limits of common sense. Even if she had been through a war.

She had tried to be as understanding as possible with her daughter, because indeed, they hadn’t had the experience Sakura did. One of war. They had been just simple civilians that minded their lives. But that didn’t give Sakura any right to speak like that, as much as she was in pain.

Plus, Mebuki hasn’t been a woman to just take in her daughter’s banter.

That was not a dynamic she would accept from her.

She was the mother, Sakura was the daughter. Not the way around.

Some limits had to be respected. As much as she loved her dear daughter.

Sure, maybe she hadn’t been so expressive about it or not how Sakura would have wanted her to be, especially when Sakura had the tendency to daydream and Mebuki had to bring her feet back on the grounded reality.

But she figured she’d rather be like that and raise a strong spirited child in a world that was hard as it was, rather than leave her daydream and when the dreams would get broken like glass because the world wasn’t all sunshine and daisies, she’d succumb her mind into darkness.

So yeah, maybe not the most preferred parenting method, but one that would surely raise a strong child.

But right now? Right now, things had gone too far. Way too far.

“Go to your room right now young lady, before this gets even uglier! I’m warning you!” Mebuki told Sakura pointing her index finger in her daughter’s direction.

“And while you’re there, think about what kind of person you want to be and stop putting the responsibilities of your choices on my and your father’s back!

You made your choice to become a shinobi. It’s you who gets to live with the consequences of your actions and life. Not us! This has nothing to do with me or your father. Got it?

How dare you? Shame on you!” Mebuki ended the yelling session as she changed the direction of her pointing towards her daughter’s room.

Sakura stormed out from the living room to her dorm immediately, not before screaming one more time that she would go in her room because her parents wouldn’t understand her anyway, so why bother?

She stepped on the stairs heavily so that one could hear her steps from a mile away, and as soon as she ended-up in her room, she slammed the door so hard that had her she added a little bit more pressure to that, the room could’ve very well required a new door in place. If not a new house altogether.

She threw herself over the bed and started crying loudly into her pillow to somehow cover the sound.

On the other side of the house, Mebuki and Kizashi were preparing to wrap-up the whole dinner table, while Mebuki was trembling due to what had happened earlier.

Mebuki had the intention to do it herself with all the anger she had inside her, but Kizashi took his wife’s hand and gestured towards her to sit down, that this time it’s him the one who’s going to do it.

“You rest for now, let me do it,” he addressed her in a soft tone, gazing at his wife with warm eyes.

While Kizashi took the rest of the plates and everything there was on the table from the living room to the kitchen, Mebuki sighed hard and looked at her husband.

“Good grief, that child of ours…” she said followed by some heavy breathing as she looked in the direction of the stairs Sakura had just gone up earlier.
Kizashi returned to his wife and sat next to her.

“Don’t worry, she’ll come around. She still has that young blood in her that makes her talk before she actually thinks things through,” he reassured Mebuki.

“Sounds very much like someone we both know, doesn’t it?” He teased her a bit, in order to diffuse the situation.

“Oh, don't you get me started, too!” Mebuki warned him. She knew that all her husband was trying to do was to lighten-up the situation, but she didn’t have the mood for it at that very moment.

“Plus, that big mouth of hers comes from you, not me! I’m not the one chit-chatting all day long, unable to shut my mouth,” she continued.

“Well, she might have my big mouth, but she has your stubbornness and fire, so if you want to blame it on someone for that, well, my lovely lady you might want to take a look in the mirror”, Kizashi responded to his wife.
They had always been like this. Passionate about each other and bickering with one another at any chance they got.

After their short bickering Kizashi paused and looked his wife in the eyes once more, coming back to the subject of their daughter, addressing her outrage from earlier.
He asked her once more to be patient with their daughter as she had just returned from a war. It surely must’ve put a toll on her.

And Mebuki wasn’t disagreeing with him, it was just that she considered that it still didn’t give their daughter the right to act like that.
Kizashi agreed with his wife in that respect, but he still asked her to give their daughter a second chance.

“Who knows how many horrors she witnessed in this war?” He said to her.

Mebuki saw herself agreeing once more to her husband, but still there was a thought that couldn’t give her any peace of mind.

“I know that, but what more can I do for her? I can’t magically make things happen. I did all that I could for her. All that we were and we had we poured into her. What more could we do for her? What more can I do for her?” She asked continuously while talking to her husband.

“Well, there’s always going to be the love we poured into her. And I am sure that one day she’ll understand it, too. And that one day, that’ll be enough for her, as a person,” Kizashi reassured his wife.

“But what about as a shinobi, eh?” She asked, looking him straight in the eyes. She knew very well that it was that specific thing that always bothered her daughter the most.

Kizashi’s eyes fell to the ground for a moment after which they moved back up, looking at Mebuki once again.

“We come from another place, and you know that. In that respect, I’m afraid there’s nothing more we can do about it. Plus, I think it’s for the better this way. I’d rather live this normal, boring life like our young daughter says, than having to watch over my back at all times.

That isn’t life, and we both agreed that we want to live a rather simple and happy one, didn’t we?” Kizashi asked while his look continued to fixate on Mebuki.

Mebuki puffed and gestured at her husband, moving her eyes from her husband towards the window, as if she just wanted to lose herself in the moment.

She knew very well what her husband meant, but being there and listening to her daughter’s words made her wonder sometimes if their choice was the right one, as now it seemed to backfire.

Kizashi knew very well that look of hers and knew what it meant, it was something that their daughter had taken from her mother, only that a tad bit too much. This slight desire to just block everything and lose oneself in their own mind, so that the word outside stops interrupting the one inside.

So he gently grabbed her chin and looked her once more in the eyes addressing what he told himself would be the last words to address this matter.

“My dear, we both know that ours isn’t a way fit for a ninja. Even if our daughter chose this path,” he concluded as both of them looked each other in the eyes, knowing very well the meaning behind those words.

At the end of it all, they hugged each other after which Mebuki said she’d go finish washing the dishes, while Kizashi told her he’d go upstairs to prepare the bed, as night time had slowly started to cover them all.

__________

On the other side of the house, a worn-out Sakura changed in her pajamas as night time approached and just laid around in bed, encompassed by several thoughts that roamed her mind given the day filled by all the events that had happened: Sasuke leaving Konoha, her discussion with Naruto, her talk with her master and her fight with her parents.

For a moment, it seemed like all the intensity possible just packed itself in a whole day and how could that even be bearable?

It sometimes felt easier doing her job than having to deal with these emotional situations.

Because that was her. She had always been moved to tears, like Naruto always said.

But it was something she couldn’t help. She had this sensitivity of hers which no matter how much she had trained with Tsunade to polish it and stop being too touched by certain situations every time, she couldn’t help.
Even her fight with her mom and dad had now started a stream of tears that were uncontrollable.

Sure, somewhere in the back of her mind her master’s words ringed hope, but the other side of her mind couldn’t stop asking itself if she was really going to make it.

If her master, who she had the utmost respect for, hadn't found the answer to this pressing matter, how is she, a simple girl from a no-name clan going to do it?

There wasn’t anything about her background there to be able to offer her answers, like it had been in her master’s case. She wasn’t from a well-renown clan like Sasuke, Ino, Hinata and the others were, who could’ve helped with at least pointing her towards a certain direction, given the eons of heritage of clan knowledge.

No, she was Sakura Haruno. A kunoichi with no special ability.

Or at least those were the thoughts in her mind at the moment, disregarding very much the accomplishments that she had managed to acquire until now.

All that there was at that point were just tears and troubled waters in her mind. She soon cried herself to sleep, earlier than she even intended to.

Usually, she would read a book or play some trivia games before bed, as for some reason those would be what her mind needed to put itself to sleep, but this time? This time her worn soul put her to sleep faster.

Lost on the land of dreams, she looked so peaceful, but it didn’t take long until her breathing started to accelerate as she kept moving from one side of the bed to the other.

Something inside her dreamscape was clearly bothering her. Inside there, flashes of a dead body on a sand.

Her heart rate increased and you could clearly notice it in her breathing if you were to observe her in her sleep.

“Quick, there’s not much time to lose!” the voice in her dream commanded. “You have to save him otherwise he’s going to die!”

But everything around was dark.

She looked to her right and to her left and asked who she must save, but no one answered her. Then, suddenly a dead Naruto on a piece of sand stood before her.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Naruto, no!” she screamed as she started the medical treatment. But suddenly, her chakra disappeared. Her medical ninjutsu vanished. She couldn’t help in any way.

Then darkness covered all her dreamscape once again.

Naruto was no more, just distant voices mumbling some sounds back in the distance where she couldn’t decipher what they were saying.

She looked desperately to the right and left for Naruto, but he was nowhere to be found.

“Where is he? Where is Naruto?” She asked yelling. But no one replied to her.

“WHERE IS HE?” She screamed in the darkness as echoes of her despairing outcry repeated itself over and over again.

Then, suddenly Naruto’s dead body appeared in front of her. Colder than the depths of the sea itself. She checked his vital signs, and there was no response. Quickly after, she started the compressions on his chest, while tears flowed on her cheeks.

“No, no, no, no, no! You’re not allowed to die on me, you hear me?

No, you’re strong! You hear me, Naruto? You’re strong, come back!” she called him in her dream, but he wouldn’t wake-up.

“Come on, wake-up. You’ve got a hat to wear. A coat to dress. You can finally fulfill your stupid dream. You have to, come on, Naruto!” she pleaded to him in despair, between tears and hard breathing and the continued pressing on his heart.

“Come on, Naruto. Remember? Remember how you promised yourself and the world you’re going to become Hokage? You’re not a guy who goes back on his own word, right? You never give-up!

So please... Please, don’t do it now!” she begged with a shaking voice due to the tears that were flooding her. But no matter what, Naruto wouldn’t come back to life.

“Naruto… No! Please no… Nooo!”,

Sakura found herself screaming out of sleep, when she realized that it had just been all a bad dream. Sweat was pouring down her face, and her heart was pumping so fast. She didn’t even want to know her pulse rate at that very moment.

But realizing now that it had all been a dream, she found it in herself to just try and relax, as the reality in front of her eyes was another.

The war had ended. Naruto was alive and well. His dream realization was getting closer and she had absolutely no reason to worry about that. Right?

But for some reason she couldn’t help it with one thought she couldn’t get rid of. Especially after that dream. That of her medical ninjutsu not working.

This thought quickly spiraled her into another series of thoughts. Helplessness once again engulfed her like it had done in the fight with her parents from earlier.

“Why does it always have to be like this?” She asked herself thinking about the fact that as soon as she had touched a threshold of power, as soon as something else bigger than her capacities made its appearance. It felt like she couldn’t catch a break.

And on top of that, there’s no way her parents could help in any way. If the others had their parents to help them with a new technique or something like that, for her, things were different.

There was no one she could turn to because simply put, those weren’t who her parents were. And the knowledge her master had, she had shared it with her already. There was no one else she could turn to.

Sure, her mother’s words had resounded a bit on the back of her head and she realized that she had messed-up in what she had wanted to express.

Her frustration had gotten the best of her and when that happened Sakura Haruno wasn’t the best at expressing emotions properly.

If things would be as easy as only punching one’s way out of a situation, things would be so much easier… Or smiling your way out. Depending.

But they weren’t like that. Things weren’t so easy. It was just that it was so frustrating to not be able to do more than that.

Speaking of more, her train of thought spiraled her even more downward… Since she was on the chapter of not being from a ninja clan so you can get help, she remembered Hinata’s actions back when Pein had attacked the village, or when Neji had died.

Unlike her, the Hyugas were renowned as one of the most powerful clans in Konoha. Thanks to their top-notch vision, Hinata was able to see when Naruto had been taken out by Pein. Or in the war, her clan was pivotal in defending Naruto.

There was so much Hinata could do for Naruto, compared to her. What did she ever do, anyway? Heal him? Even that at times felt redundant because Naruto always had the ability to heal himself. So what was her healing good for, anyway? For nothing.

It wasn’t then, and it surely wasn’t afterwards when Madara and Kaguya appeared, she thought. Especially reminiscing the time when Kurama had been extracted from Naruto and was brought to her.

Her medical ninjutsu did absolutely nothing. It didn’t stop Naruto from dying.

“Why isn’t it ever enough?” she questioned as tears once again made themselves at home in the corners of her eyes, while she caressed her forehead where the seal was placed.

“Even now…” she said. “Why? Why does it always have to be like this?” she kept wondering with no response that followed.

“What am I ever to do if Heavens forbid Naruto ever finds himself in a situation like this?” she kept pondering over the thought.

Sure, the war had ended and the ninja world seemed to be at peace, but that wasn’t reason enough for Sakura’s over thinking mind.

That mind had to have a back-up solution for every possible situation, and for some reason, now she couldn’t find one and it absolutely frustrated her to no end.

So instead of sleeping, there she was, puzzling about worries that her mind made-up.

With all this mess and the inability to sleep, Sakura knew that all she needed would be a cup of tea to warm her up and relax her muscles, so she could go back to sleep.

Both her body and her mind’s one.

So she took herself out of the bed, took a robe over her pajamas, and went downstairs to pour herself some water for a cup of tea.

When she arrived downstairs, being so lost in her train of thoughts, she didn’t quite observe from the get go some candles being lit.

She just went towards the kitchen like a little robot, given that she could very well be walking around there with her eyes closed. That’s how used she was with every corner of her house.

Those memorization muscles weren’t just for the sake of being there. They were actually working at all times.

When she got to the kitchen, she found her dad sitting at the table with a cup of hot tea next to him.

Her initial response translated as widened eyes and a desire to kind of back down, feeling guilty over their encounter earlier.

“I prepared this for you,” Kizashi said, pushing the cup of tea in her daughter’s direction.

How would he know? Did he just happen to be there or he had heard her screaming earlier? Either way, it wasn’t exactly a situation she would have wanted to go through right now.

Sakura’s heart felt heavy for a moment and tears once again slowly started building up on the corners of her eyes. Too much emotional sensitivity was building up inside of her, being reminded on top of everything once again of what she had said earlier in the confrontation.

She clenched her fist and her face turned to the ground. She felt shame.

So, she started to apologize when Kizashi quickly interrupted her and said there’s nothing to apologize about.

“I know you didn’t mean those words, now, did you, Sakura?” Kizashi told his daughter in a reassuring way.

“Come now, take a seat here next to your funny old dad and rest your feet,” he extended the invitation to her daughter, while gesturing and pulling one of the chairs next to him, waiting for Sakura to join in.

She raised her face from the ground and slowly walked to the table.

“We don’t want us to start on the wrong foot again now, do we?” he winked at his daughter smiling, mildly proud of his little word play joke.

Sakura couldn’t help but snort a bit when she heard her dad’s joke. She sat next to him and they were now facing each other.

“Now, tell me, child, what is it that truly torments you?” Kizashi asked in a mellow tone and a warm look on his face.

It wasn’t easy for her to talk about this, especially with her parents since she felt like they couldn’t understand her, but she thought she owed them at least this after their fight from earlier tonight.

“It’s just... Work. And the war. And the new threats out there. I had to fight literal Gods, dad!”

Kizashi’s look switched to a more focused instance when hearing that her daughter had to fight gods. But, he didn’t want to interrupt her, so he didn’t interfere.

“It’s just so overwhelming because…” Sakura paused for a bit, not being certain how to put this out there, the matter of her parents’ lack of ninja skills, since the last time it didn’t go off so well.

“Well, I don’t have special skills like all my peers”, she managed to say, passing swiftly through the moment that could’ve ended awkwardly again.

“And when you’re in a war, that’s hard. I mean, sure, I ended-up being a medic ninja, at least there was something that I could do. And yes, in the end I managed to somehow surpass this limit, and be a fighter medical ninja thanks to what Tsunade-sama taught me. I could finally be able to fight on the battlefield, and not just be on the backlines, healing people.

Don’t get me wrong, I love doing that, but I’ve always wanted to be able to fight like my peers.

And when I finally managed to do that, to acquire that skill to be able to fight head-to-head any other human shinobi like me, guess what happened? Ninja gods happened.

Ninja gods, dad!” she repeated with pathos in her voice, as to emphasize even more the seriousness of the matter.

“They even got Naruto killed at some point…” Sakura continued to confess to her father.

A little smile appeared on the corner of Kizashi’s lips as he heard the name.

He knew it that it was more to her being bothered than what she initially had told them. The stories of her idiot friend had been many, and although they weren’t just about him, as they were a team, there was something in the way his daughter narrated the stories of her teammates that made Naruto stand-out.

Even if she didn’t realize it, and even if most of them were filled more with little tales about her other colleague. The Sasuke kid. The survivor from the Uchiha clan.

Speaking of him, it didn’t last long when he, too, was brought-up in the discussion when Sakura told him that one of the two gods she was speaking about, had thrown her teammate in another dimension.

And in the heat of the discussion and in connection to the feelings of helplessness she was feeling, Sakura couldn’t help but feel a bit sad, being reminded of Sasuke’s words when he had said there was nothing she could do, when Kaguya attacked them.
But she left that aside. It wouldn’t help now anyway.

Out of courtesy, Kizashi asked how Sasuke was doing since the whole village had heard about his involvement in the war and also, the time he had served.

“Uhm… about that, well, he just left Konoha today,” Sakura responded to her father, a little embarrassed thinking about what she had asked him, so she brushed it off quickly and jumped back into the discussion they were having earlier, telling her father she didn’t want for them to get sidetracked.

“Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that… how am I even supposed to fight something like that, dad?”

Kizashi felt the heaviness of her daughter’s words as if he was the one living it.

Sure, he didn’t truly ever live something like that, but the pain of one’s child is felt twice by the parent.

It’s the pain of the child itself and the pain that you’re seeing your child suffer. A curse that one had to live with after becoming a parent.

But, at the same time there was nothing more blissful in the world than that.

He had felt it on his own skin when his little cherry blossom had been born.

Given how the things that were now, he found it in himself to try to be a beacon of solace to his daughter.

“But, isn’t the war ready, though? Didn’t they say the threat has been sealed now? I mean, that’s what I remember from the news…’ Kizashi told Sakura, in an attempt to calm her spirit.

“Well, yes… In theory, that’s correct. Plus, there’s the ninja alliance so now war among nations should stop since we’re all allies now,” Sakura replied to Kizashi.

“But, what do I know? How can we be sure that all it’s going to be nice and dandy from now on? Who’s to say that future threats wouldn’t come-out? I mean, we had a surprise one at the end of the war…” Sakura told her father.

“No one saw that coming. We were all prepared to confront Madara Uchiha when Otsutsuki Kaguya made her appearance out of nowhere and we had to fight her”, she continued telling her father.

“Otsutsuki Kaguya?” Kizashi asked his daughter.

“Yeah, why do you ask?” Sakura returned the question to her father, being a bit surprised that out of all the things, her dad had asked about that particular thing.

“Oh nothing, just making sure I follow the thread of events,” Kizashi quickly replied to her.

She sipped a bit of tea before continuing her storytelling to her father, while Kizashi followed her through it all.

It was clear that his daughter was feeling a heavy burden on her shoulders, so when she was done with all that she had to say, Kizashi drew breath and told her warmly that he has absolute faith in her.

“You already are a great ninja, my dear! Sure, you might not come from an elite background like your peers and I am sorry we couldn’t give that to you. But you must learn how to trust yourself more, little cherry,” Kizashi warmly addressed his daughter.

Sakura once again felt a bit embarrassed at her earlier tantrum given how her father was treating her now. Maybe she should’ve been less aggressive was what she was thinking right now. It felt like she didn’t deserve the warm encouragement she was receiving from him.

“Always remember, you have a strong spirit inside of you. One that’s able to go toe to toe to your intense mother. If you can do that, I’m sure you can manage anyone that comes into your path,” he reassured her jokingly, referencing in a subtle way the dynamic between Sakura and Mebuki.

“Otsutsuki Kaguya or what’s her name hasn’t yet met Sakura Haruno at her full power after a fight with her mother! If she would, that would definitely teach her a lesson or two,” Kizashi encouraged his daughter one more in a joking tone.

Upon hearing those words, Sakura couldn’t help but crack a smile. At the end of the day, her father was right as any conversation with her mother felt at times more intense than any other battle she had been through.

They both ended-up laughing at Kizashi’s little remark.

“Thank you, dad!” Sakura said looking warmly at her father. Meantime she got up from her chair soon after that. It was time to go back to sleep now.

She took her tea with her and excused herself as she headed back to the room.

Kizashi nodded and smiled at his daughter, as he watched her leave. He too, left the dining room and went back to his, as soon as he heard Sakura’s door closing-up.

__________

Upon going back to her room Sakura thought about her dad’s words and day overall. His words reminded her of Tsunade’s ones and for a moment, she felt a bit more relieved.

But there was still something that was bothering her mind, now that she had talked to her dad.

Because indeed, what would be if a new threat would appear? She couldn’t shake this feeling off.

And what would she do if Naruto would be so pivotal to it again, like it was in the previous war? And with a medical ninjutsu that couldn’t work wonders on the brink of death, she needed to find another solution.

She quickly searched her mind’s drawers for memories or something that could offer her a solution, but she couldn’t find much. All she recalled were two instances.

The one with old lady Chiyo when she exchanged her life for Gaara’s and then the Pein revival situation, back when he had attacked Konoha.

But, that realization or solution, however one would like to look at it, didn’t help her much. Because those techniques would mean one thing: she’d have to trade her life.

And she wouldn’t have any problem with that but then, how could she make sure she’d be next to her dear friend and supporting him? How would she serve all the others as a medic ninja if she had to die? Medical ninjas were to die last on their platoon.

That idea was out of the question, as well. Her dying wasn’t an option because Naruto surely would need help afterwards. Who else to smack some sense into his dense self when he’s overexerting himself?

Nah, that wasn’t a solution. She would have to find something else.

Something more feasible.

After all, she had a discussion with Tsunade earlier that day talking about how the very reason she developed medical ninjutsu was so human lives wouldn’t be lost.

She’d have to go against that very principle. But yet, tensei ninjutsu seemed to hold some answers. That and Byakugou itself. She could feel it like there was something there, but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was.

As she thought about all those connections, she found it in herself to just go back to her master’s office in the morning and ask her some more questions. She would surely know a thing or two related to that.

Maybe she would get more leads starting from there. Yeah, it surely had to be.

It wasn't much, but it was something. A starting point.

For now, she could finally relax. And so, determination quickly returned to Sakura’s spirit, which helped her to relax and fall asleep soundly.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the house, Kizashi too, returned to his room. When he tried to get back in bed without having to wake Mebuki up, he was surprised when she questioned him if their daughter was okay.

“She is now,” Kizashi replied dryly. What an unusual thing coming from him. No joke to crack, no dismissal as nothing important? Nah, this wasn’t the usual.

There was that particular aspect in his tone that Mebuki couldn’t help but notice. He should’ve been okay, but there was something about him that wasn’t.

“What’s the problem, then?” she asked.

Kizashi took a deep breath as he prepared to answer his wife.

“Otsutsuki Kaguya!” he replied in a serious tone, as his look darkened.

Mebuki’s eyes then widened in disbelief upon hearing that name.

After so many years, this name comes into their life? It hadn’t come-up at all until now.

And they hoped it would remain as such, aeons after their death and even their daughters’ one.

But fate had other plans...

“What?” Mebuki asked whispering, in a state of shock. She couldn’t believe she was hearing that name.

Kizashi comforted his wife, telling her that this wasn’t the moment to talk about that. Tomorrow would be another day for them. One where they could talk about this.

Now it was already too late, and it was time to go to sleep.

Chapter Text

She rolled her gloves up towards the middle of her arm. After that, she took on her vest and zipped it all up to her neck. Put some of her belongings in the bag that was sitting on the side of what used to be her old bed, placed on the left hand side of the room, from where a small light came. It was from a candle on the wall in front of her.

Before wrapping everything up, she looked around the room one more time.

At the thought of everything she had lived inside these walls, she couldn’t help but breathe out a quiet sigh.

However, no matter the reason, she couldn’t stay here anymore. There was nothing for her here, so why bother? There wasn’t anything to tie her to this place like it used to do some time ago in the past. Her reason was now gone. Not to mention, she kind of had it enough with everything that had happened. She had lived for others too much. It was time to start living for herself.

Speaking of that, she recalled there was one more object she needed to pack with her, so she went to the desk that was sitting parallel to her bed, pulled out its drawer and took a picture from there, underneath its fake bottom.

It was her and a female figure. The only memory she had of that person. She didn’t remember much of her, or the times they had spent together so that is why that belonging was safely hidden away. It was her only real connection to herself and her past. Well, at least whatever she recalled of it anyway.

After she had met him and he picked her up from the middle of a war torn area, she had forgotten most about her previous life. All she remembers is the impending feeling of danger that was about to approach her, and few vague details. But there wasn’t any real backwards connection to them.

Back then, she knew they were coming… but what could a child do facing the terrors of war itself, especially after you run into the only place you know as safe, only to find that it’s gone? When the arms of that person are supposed to be that safe place for you, are all but covered in blood?

The only other thing she remembers was that woman full of blood all over, while gesturing one last thing, as she still found it within her to smile one more time: the palm falling from her forehead to the cheek, mumbling one last thing as she left a trail of blood on the child facing her, who had looked for safety in her arms.

“You don’t need to remember all of this… Go! Run from here. Run for your life!” were the last words she heard the woman speak before her mind started going blank about all the past they lived together. All the memories she remained with was a scene she was a witness to, her own name and the connection with the then dead woman in front of her: her mother.

But why were they there? How did they get there to begin with, why did she have to run for her life or any other question that would make one question their past? Gone. Like they had never even existed.

So all she did was exactly as she was told… left the place. Ran for her life, like she had been instructed. But not before taking a small bag with her and a picture from the furniture next to the dead woman’s body. For some reason the little girl back then felt the need to do that before leaving the horrendous place she found herself in, from where she had to run.

And as she ran as fast and as far as possible, until he appeared.

Took her in. Offered her some kind of safe space. And today they were here.

Those memories hit Karin as she prepared to say her farewell to the place that for better or for worse was her home for a long time. She put the picture in the bag and took it with her, as she headed towards Orochimaru’s room for one last goodbye.
She was never too attached to him anyway. She didn’t like the feelings she got from his chakra, but having nowhere to go, she followed him for all that time.

She wanted to leave two times over the course of her staying with him. The second time when she was ready to leave, she found out that the boy who had smiled so fondly to her in the forest where Orochimaru sent her for those ninja exams, was joining them.

So she decided to postpone that decision. Again. But why? Well, it was for a simple reason. At least to her.

Because his smile from back then reminded her of the last smile from that person. Her mother. Oftentimes she even wondered if it was really her mother to begin with. Given her memories of that time were next to non-existent, at times it was hard to tell reality from fiction. Was it all in her head, that smile? But it was a smile from their last moments as she got urged to leave, and that was real. So the smile must have been real too, right?

But for better or for worse, she then had someone with the same smile to keep her connected to that reality.

And that’s what made her stay. So she could see that smile one more time. So that she can remain connected to those memories, until she would lose those as well. Because who can tell, right? Today they were there, but who guarantees for tomorrow?
As those thoughts flooded her mind, she left the room and started walking towards Orochimaru’s one.

It wasn’t long until she saw herself at his door. She knocked firmly before asking for permission to come in.

“Yes, please. Do enter!” said the voice behind the door.

“Orochimaru-sama, it’s me,” she said as she opened the door to his room and started walking in. If it was one thing she had done whenever coming in contact with him was addressing him as Orochimaru-sama. Not because she had so much respect for him, given the bad sense she got from his chakra, but she found out that this was the best course of action when dealing with someone like him.

Hypocrite? Maybe. By the rules of those oh-so-holier-than-thou. But when you have to live next to what can be your next attacker every day, and you have nowhere else to go, you must find ways to make sure you survive.
And the role of subservient Karin seemed to be one that would fit her best when it came to their relationship.

But under all that duplicity, she was a free soul, one that could not be chained. Yes, the choice was hers. But it was a choice she decided to make if she were ever to leave him in the future.
When you have to live with the snakes, you have to know the songs to play to make them hiss to your will.

“What is it, Karin?” he asked curiously, analyzing every detail of the girl in front of him. New hair style with braids on a side, dressed like she was about to go out and a confidence in her eyes he had never seen before.
That, plus a backpack. She was leaving. But where? He couldn’t help but wonder.

“I’m here to say goodbye,” Karin told him confidently. “But before that, I would like to have a talk with you, Orochimaru-sama.”

So he was right. She was leaving. What an interesting turn of events. He would’ve liked to get to know some things about her better, especially after the things that had transpired in the last war. Karin awakening the chains that Uzumaki Kushina had was something he was looking forward to studying more about. But he wasn’t in a position where he could force her to stay, so he decided to listen.

“And how may I help you?” Orochimaru asked simply, but underneath that simplicity many things could hide.

“I am here to let you know that I have decided to leave this place. However, before I leave I want you to help me understand some things about myself,” she informed the man as she gestured towards herself.

“I can’t even remember how old I was when you saved me from that war-torn zone. That village where it always wept. Or is it? Can’t exactly remember for sure, but that’s not the point now”, she started talking.

“As you know, there are many things I don’t remember about my past. But somehow you seem to know more. You always did for some reason unknown to me,” she continued as she watched the snake straight in the eye. Even now his chakra transmitted a sinister feeling somewhere behind all that facade he was trying to hold. So it was really a situation of mixed feelings coming from him.

He had said to that Tsunade lady in the war that he was a changed man, but there was something about his chakra that Karin could feel, that made her question that statement.

So what she was about to ask him was a gamble on its own, but she had to do it. She could tell if he were to lie or not, at the end of the day.

All she had to do was to focus on his chakra flow and sense if there was any disturbance to it, while getting the answers she was looking for.

“So I’ll have to ask you,” she said, “do you know any reason for which I awakened that power in the war? And more importantly, is it connected to something from my past?” Karin asked dead-serious.

For some reason she had the feeling that it was so. Many times Orochimaru had told her when he did all those experiments on her that she’s a special child, and that he needs to understand from where that comes so he could ‘help’ her. But she never had the courage to actually ask what was so special about her.

Moreover, at some point she stopped caring anyway. Her specialty fell somewhere in the background as soon as Sasuke Uchiha had come into play.

Her and all the other special kids fell second best to him. And with all those things going around her, not to mention the tasks that Orochimaru ended giving away to each of them, she decided to stop asking anyway. Not to mention, when you’re in charge of running an entire hideout of experimental lab rats, you kind of tend to forget about yourself.

There wasn’t much of her own self to begin with, anyway. She was everyone and no one. Everyone Orochimaru needed her to be, and no one, given that unlike many others she lacked the roots. The bonds. The connection. To her past. Who she was or who she was supposed to be. So when something like that happens, it’s hard to keep a sense of self.

She had been a war torn kid. A lab rat herself. The one in charge of the other lab rats. She had been a fountain of healing for all those other lab rats, biting off her body so that once more they can fight under Orochimaru’s commands.
She’s been anything others wanted her to be. Until that time. Until the time she met Sasuke Uchiha. And she had hope that one day, in his smile which reminded her of that person, she would find a sense of self again.
So that’s why she dedicated herself to helping him. Because in a way she was helping herself. Not to mention, he looked past her atypical self. Instead of judgement, she found acceptance.
Even more so, she was desired. By him. That is why when he came seeking her back then, she accepted it.

That, plus the little devil was so damn hot. The charm, the smarts, the unapologetic way to be himself. She always found that attractive about him. In contrast to her own identity issues, he was just the thing she needed.
Back then, she thought that by going on around the world with him would somehow also help her find some answers. The fact that it was with him was an added bonus, of course. Or at least that’s what she liked to think. Two birds in one shot.
But then, at the end of the day even that thing proved out to be something that cost the very life out of her.

Sure, he then apologized and damn him, she forgave him! She didn’t want to, on one side, but on the other she did. She was like the air that the fire needs to consume in order to breathe. His warmth attracted her, but in order to get to it, she had to let herself be consumed by him.

And she did, and then she forgave him. But, at the end of the day he remained detained in Konoha. That meant that he also got close to his old team, and probably that pink-haired girl she had once met. Sakura.
So then she thought to hell with everything. He was back where he was meant to, anyway.

It had been a wrong move on her part to tie her identity to him. At the end of the day, putting aside all the hotness that defined him, and that smile of his which she loved, it cost her too much.
It was now time for her to do everything for herself.

To define her identity through her own actions, not tie it to others. Because while yes, she wished for bonds with others, and with him most of all, those bonds or better said wanna-be ones, only brought her pain and suffering.

And for that, she decided to leave it all behind. Sasuke, her old life with Orochimaru, and everything else that connected her to that past.

Everything but that. Her past with her mother. She felt that if she really wants to have a future, she must find out more about that particular part of her past.

That is why, she was now standing in front of Orochimaru unapologetically herself, and was asking for answers. And she would not take no for an answer. No matter what it would take.

Orochimaru thought this through and through before replying to Karin. He knew she was a sensor and lying to her wouldn’t work at all. Her sensory abilities were the reason Sasuke picked her as his favorite in the first place. He might not have been there to see it, but while being inside of Kabuto who conspired in the war with Tobi, helped him find a thing or two about all the things that happened to Sasuke Uchiha after he was killed by him.

Lucky for him, he was a cold blooded snake and could think this coldly. But replying to her would set-up his chakra in motion one way or the other. And in the end she would figure it out.

For a brief moment he thought back at when he had found her. A little girl, running for her life in the same place where many children remained orphans due to a war-torn era.
It felt almost ironic that he would find her in the same place where Jiraiya used to find his first students.

Of course, he wasn’t sure from the very first time that she was an Uzumaki, but thanks to the experiments he conducted, he later found out. It was a hunch, after all. Being an initial Akatsuki member had its use. After all, Nagato, Jiraiya’s first pupil turned out to be one. And by his words, there were quite a few Uzumaki clan people in Rain village.

So putting two and two together was easy. That, packed with the fact that the girl seemed to not remember anything concerning her past beyond her recent memory, was an even better deal than he expected. An experiment he could use to his own volition, that would have less impacting consequences anyway.

That was one of the reasons he had sent her in the chuunin exams back in the day. If she were to be captured, they would have no use for her because what can you do with a child that recalls nothing of their past?
In the end, she proved to be one tool almost too good to be true.

The right thing he needed to grab onto Sasuke’s sharingan. Because his frail body has always been his Achilles heel when it came to his quest if finding everything about all the jutsus in the world and their origin. But when you have someone with the vitality of an Uzumaki body, no matter the power you’re trying to behold and its weight, their vitality could endure it.

Something he had found out while studying all the jutsus in the world. So she was the perfect fit.

But his Sasuke mission ended-up being a total fail, as Sasuke’s past caught-up with his future and turned out to be the right thing the Uchiha kid needed to kill him. The irony of it all…

Now, he was standing in front of another irony. Another past seemed to catch-up to the future, as he was standing now in front of Karin.

But ah, he was a changed man now. And not fully recovered, so it wasn’t like he could force Karin to stay. The look in her eyes didn’t look like that of someone who’s willing to do it.

Sure, it would’ve been nice to understand more about her and the newly awakened power. That of the chains only Uzumaki Kushina possessed. After all, he suspected it from back then, after confirming she was an Uzumaki. That and a little research he had to do about the Uzumakis revealed some interesting things about the girl’s past, too. But now he seemed to be out of luck in that regard also.

So then, taking all those things into consideration, he decided to answer her question.

“I may not have all the answers to your questions, and there’s nothing I know about your past more than you know yourself,” Orochimaru started speaking, keeping his posture.
“But what I do know and the thing I can answer you is that I know of what heritage you’re a part of”, he ended his initial response.

Karin’s eyes widened and got filled with hope as he heard the man speaking. It was like finally a small flicker of hope was coming her way as well.
“What about my heritage?” she asked immediately, filled with impatience.

“You’re part of a long gone clan, called the Uzumaki,” Orochimaru replied. Hearing that name Karin’s mind made a connection instantly.

“An Uzumaki…? That means I am related to that guy?” she asked herself as flashes of Naruto Uzumaki’s face, who she had met at the Kage Summit, went through her mind.

Orochimaru caught the little expression change on Karin’s face and smirked in his old fashioned way, intuiting well where her mind went. He kept his cool and continued talking.

“Yes, that’s correct Karin. You could say you’re a distant-relative to Naruto Uzumaki,” Orochimaru confirmed her suspicions.

“His mother’s name is Kushina Uzumaki,” he added. “She was part of the same clan as you are,” he continued.

Karin immediately felt like hope was filling her soul as finally, there was someone else out there she could connect her with. She instantly thought that he must be the next person she meets. They would have so much to talk about. He surely must know so many things about their clan, right?

But until she would meet Naruto Uzumaki, Orochimaru was in front of her, so he could suffice for now.

“She was?” Karin asked, taking notice of the tense Orochimaru used.

“Why isn’t she anymore? What happened?” Karin questioned him curiously while maintaining her focus on Orochimaru’s chakra flow. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.

The disturbance was normal. He wasn’t lying. But her excitement from earlier might have cost her a bit of attention. After all, this was Orochimaru she was talking to, the cold blooded snake. That’s why whenever having to deal with him, one should focus as twice as much.

“She’s dead,” he replied in his cold usual way.

“They all are,” he continued looking her straight in the eye to see each and every reaction of Karin’s.

“They were all massacred many years ago in the past,” he informed Karin without changing his cold stare, as he saw hers betraying a look of horror. Her earlier flicker of hope now turned into what you could call a bit of faith loss.
But wait, there was this Uzumaki boy out there so he surely must know some things.

All hope wasn’t really lost, Karin tried telling herself as she felt the strong feeling starting to cripple her soul. This wasn’t going to be an easy task now, wasn’t it?

“Well then, I will go and look for this Uzumaki boy,” she told Orochimaru confidently.

“He surely must know something, right? Didn’t they all live in Konoha?” she asked.

“Well, first of all, they weren’t living in Konoha, but in Uzushiogakure. A village in the Land of Eddies,” Orochimaru told Karin to clear the confusion.
“But the village is all in ruins now,” he continued informing her.

“All that there is left of them is nothing but the story of their former greatness”, he ended his sentence as he shrugged his arms.

A former clan which was now gone, and everything there was to know about them was a former glory, that she knew nothing about. Ruins. All destroyed. All forgotten. Like her past.

Karin got saddened for a moment and let her guard down. Was it really worth it? To go outside in the world and look for everything. But then as this went through her mind, she realized something… How did Orochimaru know all of this after all? For a long gone clan, he surely knew a lot. So she came back to her senses and asked him about it.

“Well, let’s say my former teacher forced me to learn about their history even though I wasn’t really keen on it,” he said, as he remembered his battle with Sandaime.

The old geezer still had some fight in him and using that wretched sealing technique, the Dead Demon Consuming seal, had pushed him to dig everything about it. And that is how he ended-up learning more about the Uzumaki than he might have initially planned to.

Well, in the end it was all for the better, wasn’t it?

“And then does that mean that this power I got is related to them?” Karin continued with the lines of questioning. For some reason, she felt like there was something more to the story.

Orochimaru felt like this line of questioning is getting more and more deeper and he wasn’t yet sure if he wanted to reveal everything or not. But once again, this was Karin he was talking about. It wasn’t like he could purposely hide things from her anyway.

He had to find a way to get out of this line of questioning before it would be too late for her to find all the reasons he had and the things he once had planned to do.

Damn it all, if only his body wouldn’t be so weakened now.

“Most probably,” he replied, figuring that omission of truth is technically not a lie. You just don’t reveal everything. So you’re telling the truth without actually telling the truth. Thus, his chakra flow should’ve been stable for Karin not to notice anything out.
One bullet dodged for now. How many more were to come anyway? That’s when Oro decided to play it the other way around. Instead of letting Karin take the charge, make the recommendations himself. That way he’d be in control of the situation instead of being at Karin’s whims.

“Karin,” he addressed her before she addressed him to turn the tides of the conversation. “If you’re so eager to leave this place, why don’t you go research a bit yourself? In many ways your guess is as good as mine,” he said once again making use of the tactic of omission of truth to go past Karin’s ‘lie detecting’ self.

“There aren’t many things known about the Uzumakis. I just had interest in one specific technique given that my former master forced me to it, like I told you. But, that helped me uncover some places of the Uzumakis” he continued.

“I could tell you where those places are,” Orochimaru concluded while gazing at Karin in his astute way. This must surely spark an interest inside her and deflect the attention from that.

And he was right, as Karin fell right into it. Her eyes widened and filled with hope as she heard Orochimaru’s proposal.

“Of course, tell me where!” she demanded with excitement and determination in her voice.
Finally, something good to start with was the thought that immediately went through her head.

Orochimaru gladly replied to her that one of those places is the Uzumaki compound outside the outskirts of Konoha. That and the old ruins of Uzushiogakure. But who knows if anything was there anyway? So the next best thing would definitely be the Uzumaki compound.

He indicated the area to her by reminding her of the place they met when she escaped the Konoha prison back in the war.

For a moment there, she recalled that specific moment as being one of the moments she was ever going to see Sasuke, before the whole mess that happened in the war.
But she shrugged the thought off. There were better things to think about now. More important than that.

So she thanked Orochimaru and filled with new hope and with a new-found resolve, she took herself out of his room, heading towards the exit of the hideout.
Finally letting go of these dark, cold stoned places for good.

She continued to walk so confident towards the exit that she didn’t even notice when Suigetsu came from the corner and they head butted strongly into one another.

“Hey, watch where you’re going!” Karin yelled at Suigetsu, being visibly bothered that someone was in her way towards discovering more about the new her. Or old her. It was a weird mix anyway. But the excitement she felt was so big, that she didn’t want anyone or anything to stay in her way.

“I could say the same thing about you,” Suigetsu replied to Karin after regaining his balance and composure. Karin sure had a big head. No wonder from where her stubbornness came…

But as soon as he was back on understanding the world around him, he couldn’t help but notice Karin being all dressed-up and with a backpack.

“Leaving somewhere, are we?” Suigetsu asked as he gestured around at her new outfit, in his usual bickering way.

“Yes, I am!” Karin responded confidently moving past him to continue her road towards the exit.

She didn’t leave Suigetsu time to answer any more questions as she was quickly to dismiss him, informing the guy that it was none of his business.

“Going after Sasuke, then?” Suigetsu asked as Karin wanted to continue her road. He couldn’t help but tease her about it. It has always been her soft spot. Her trigger.

Karin stopped for a moment. Turned to face Suigetsu and replied with an unseen serenity up until now. Something that had Suigetsu taken aback.

“No. I’m actually not going after Sasuke,” she informed him. “Like I would care what that idiot does! There’s nothing I can do for him anymore. He has to deal with his past, I have to deal with mine,” she concluded, having her look slowly facing down to the ground.

Sure, a small part of her wished that she could’ve seen him one last time before having to flee the battleground given their interference with the war.

Sure, they did some stuff that helped tilt the balance maybe in a more favorable way, but due to their affiliations, it wasn’t a good idea to still stick around.

Did it mean leaving Sasuke behind? It sure did in a way. But he was a war hero. An integral part in winning it.

They were the misfits. The unknown. No match for such a resounding name as the Uchihas.

Plus, Sasuke had sacrificed her before and while she forgave him and would’ve wanted to be there next to him after the war ended, it wasn’t the best course of action.

Even she knew as much. So she had to make a tough choice. And she chose herself.

“Are you sure about that?” Suigetsu asked teasingly, knowing Karin’s feelings for the man too damn well. She might’ve not wanted to admit it to herself, but he was witness to a certain moment in her past related to Sasuke, so no matter how much she wanted to hide it, there was still something there for him.

However, she did seem changed, so that had him intrigued. What was all this talk about the past? What did exactly she mean by it?

“Yes, I am.” Karin replied absolutely serious. “I have better things to take care off, for now. Like my own self,” she continued before returning the questioning to Suigetsu.

He was looking pretty different himself. New attire, and was heading towards the same place she was. Orochimaru’s room.

Was he going to leave, too? It surely seemed like it and it didn’t take long for him to confirm it either that it was in fact the place where he was going, too.

“You’re leaving as well?” she asked, “where exactly are you going?”

“Well, I’m off to finishing that sword collection of mine,” Suigetsu said, shrugging easily. He was a man with a mission for a long time. It was now time to finish that mission once and for all. He just wanted out of respect to inform Orochimaru. Like he had said anyway, they weren’t Hebi anymore. But they weren’t Taka anymore either, so… it was time for each and every one of them to choose a path.

Karin made her choice first, and Suigetsu was second. Which made her realize… but what about Juugo? So she asked Suigetsu immediately about his whereabouts.

“Have you talked to him? What does he want to do?” Karin asked curiously.

“I did, actually,” Suigetsu replied, “he wants to stay with Orochimaru,” was the next thing he added.

“With Kimmimaro dead for a long time, and Sasuke not being around, he fears his powers going berserk once again. So he considers that his best chance of survival without hurting anyone else is to stay with Orochimaru”, Suigetsu concluded once again shrugging.

“I see…” Karin said while lowering her head to the ground once more. She kind of hated the idea that someone so kind as him had to stay with the snake. But at the same time, he was indeed a danger out of control whenever his powers kicked in, so she couldn’t judge him for his choice.

After all, each and every one of them were free to make their own decisions. Well, in Juugo’s case you couldn’t talk so much about freedom but anyway… She had other things to worry about.

After finishing their short conversation, Karin bid farewell and parted ways with Suigetsu as she headed towards the exit of the hideout they were in, with Konoha in mind, while Suigetsu headed to Orochimaru. Not before they wished each other good luck.
For all their weirdness, they were after all partners in crime for a while and lived some experiences together.

But now it was time for her to let go of these bonds if she were ever to find out more about her past and to look towards the future.

Confidently, Karin started walking towards her own new path. The path of her Uzumaki heritance.

Chapter Text

A figure hidden in the shadows clenched its teeth whistle turning its back on the tall tree that stood behind, drenched in light. The rest of the place however, seemed to be nothing but surrounded by darkness. As if nothing else was there, but empty space.

One couldn’t even be sure if you could call it a chamber, given how everything looked. All void of… everything.

“You won’t grow more nor bloom here, will you? No matter how many moons have passed, nor how many shall, you just won’t do it,” the figure voiced its frustration, before turning its back to it, as if he wanted to leave the place.

In the next moment, the figure transformed its mass into what seemed something intangible, like you could run your hand through it, and disappeared from the location.

Then, the same figure appeared in what seemed to be a throne chamber, with stained glass placed circularly across the room, from where light entered all around, with big piling from the door to the stairs that led to where the two thrones sat.

“Fukanōna, any developments?” An elder figure stood on one of the thrones. The other one was empty. Like the rest of the room, which made the elder’s voice that had already a bass sounding tone, be heard twice as strong and imposing as its sound hit the walls.

“I’m sorry, Hisashī Heika,” he said lowering his head. Fixed his eyes on the ground, as his spirit started trembling under the realization of another failed mission. The weight of such realization was definitely a heavy one.

“The result is still the same,” he said. He kept his head lowered as the discussion went on.

“What about Kaguya and the tree from the other realm? Any developments on that side?” the white-haired elder asked him. That’s when the tension on Fukanōna’s face increased. His accomplishments kept diminishing, whereas his failures on the other hand, kept growing.

Ever since the old god approached what seemed to be the end of his existence, all the Otsutsukis were on the verge of an existential crisis. Even for gods. For they had though that once this form of existence was attained, their life would be infinite. However, they eventually found out that it wasn’t as such. Even the life of a god ends. It’s just a matter of time… and karma.

“Her body seemed to be unsealed, that is why we felt her presence, but… by the time I got to the other realm, she got sealed again. The humans seem to be a lot more powerful than aeons ago,’ he said.

“As for the tree on the other realm we saw, well… it got cut down. Testament to their new found power.”

“Tsk! All our plans seem to go to waste!” He wasn’t thrilled by the news he was hearing. The urgency of his finite form of existence caught up to him more and more. Who would’ve thought that even gods meet their end? With all the might, power and long life they are blessed with, it’s still not enough, for not even gods are eternal.

But there wasn’t any time for philosophies as such right now. They had to think and move fast.

“Well then, all that’s left then is to try our ultimate solution. Try to replant the tree on their realm,” Hisashī said to him in his commanding tone, yet old and seemingly worn out.

“I have to find a way to break free of this, for all of us to do it! Otherwise, our existence will forever be bound and trapped! If there is no tree on earth from where we can get the necessary energy to finally break from this, then all of it has been in vain. Her sacrifice as well. My beloved Kaguya’s sacrifice…”

“I… would advise against such idea, Heika,” Fukanōna quickly said. “Humans no longer see the tree as they did many aeons ago. For them, now, the tree is a source of doom.”

Advise against such an idea? But why was that? He couldn’t help but wonder. After all, the tree had meant so much to the humans back then.

He couldn’t help but ask. “What changed? Weren’t they very fond of that tree?”

“Yes, they were… but, you see, Your Highness, the tree seems to have undergone many changes since we last saw it. It’s probably the reason why the one we have here is acting against everything we knew about it,” he said.

“Then what do you advise Fukanōna?” the god king asked. He hadn’t waited more than two millennia for the plan to fail when he was nearing his end. “If the tree in our realm doesn’t grow and bloom, and we cannot plant another one on the human realm, how can we get that plan to work?”

“I… have another way to make that plan work, Your Highness. Please, allow me to tell you the details. I believe it will be better than trying to plant the tree back on the human realm,” he said with much confidence in his voice, as he prayed for the god king to just listen to him.

“You’re allowed to approach”, Hisashī said gesturing to Fukanōna.

As he heard the command, he lifted his eyes from the ground and went closer to the throne, stopping right near its stairs, without daring to climb on them.

He kneeled again and started talking, while Hisashī Ōtsutsuki listened to his idea. It wasn’t long until the god king started showing interest.

What he was being told didn’t sound bad, but what it did was to sound extremely complicated. The risks undergoing such a mission were great. What could entail its success if simpler operations posed so many complications?

Was this going to be a successful mission or not? Should he trust the one in front of him when the latest operations he underwent seemed to be nothing more than failures or shouldn’t he? But… at the end of the day he didn’t seem to have much of a choice now, did he? If it were for that goal to ever come to fruition.

Not to mention, he still had one more trick up his sleeve to use if the mission would indeed end-up being a failure.

“Ok, Fukanōna. I will agree with this plan of yours,” the god king said. His serious tone continued to echo in the chamber, as his eyes fixated his subordinate. “But remember one thing. If this ends-up being a failure like your other missions, you know which one we are talking about, it’s your karma I’m using. You know what will happen to your existence then, don’t you?” Hisashī asked, lowering his voice even more to instill the urgency in his subordinate’s spirit. The same one that he too, felt.
This wasn’t a joke to him and ironically, now, time was of the essence. So, he didn’t want to lose any more of it. He needed his subordinates to understand the gravity of the situation. If they were ever going to reach a degree of existence unbound by the laws of their current level of existence, they had to see their ultimate goal through.

“If we ever hope to get into Ryōkai, so we can no longer be bound by Samsara’s rules, we need this to happen. We need me to be alive as much as possible, for it is I the one who sees so far as the gates to Ryōkai,” he added insistently while keeping his white hollow eyes continuously fixated on the man in front of him.

“I completely understand, Hisashī Heika” he said, bowing his head once again. “And I will gladly give my karma to you if needed be, for us to complete our ultimate goal and this mission,” he added, letting himself be carried by the same conviction that he felt earlier. Like that of a soldier ready to sacrifice his life for the greater cause.

“But I assure you Heika, there will be no need. This time, I will complete the mission to its end. I will allow no failure to happen and the mission will be a success!” Fukanōna said, as excitement embraced his spirit. This could be observed in his slightly raised tone compared to earlier. The voice betrayed the cool appearances he was trying to keep.

As the two exchanged their promises to one another, from the back of the room, the sound of firm heels against the granite floor started to become more and more apparent.

Those steps were of the one person everyone in the Heavenly realm could recognize, so Fukanōna knew exactly who it was. Out of habit, he did turn his head to confirm his suspicions. It was right there in front of him: hair long that reminded him of Kaguya’s, slim silhouette that made you wonder how she carried the pair of long horns she possessed – part of their trademark – so carelessly, the cold piercing white eyes that could freeze a soul and an expression even more terrifying than that of the one he had spoken with up until now.

“Heika-sama,” the man said bowing his head once more as she passed next to Fukanōna.

“What are you two doing here?” the god queen asked, as she stepped up the stairs and prepared to take her seat next to her husband’s.

“My Queen,” Hisashī said, slightly bowing his head. “Fukanōna here has a way to aid us in our goal completion, my beloved,” he continued as he followed her silhouette getting on her throne and fixing her attire, so as her impeccable looks be disturbed by no crease. She had always been like this. Her attire, her gestures, her look. All had to breathe perfection. If the words perfect goddess had an image, it would’ve been her.

She looked inquisitively towards Fukanōna and raised a brow.

“Is it true what my husband says, Fukanōna? Are you closer to bringing us at the doors of Ryōkai?” she asked on a sharp tone, that of which you could feel cutting through every bone of your being, as if to check if you were true to your words or not. That kind of tone to which, if your words were to be a lie, there would be no way to hide it, and you would end-up confessing.

That was the kind of presence Naora Ōtsutsuki was and what her tone was like. No wonder she was Hisashī Ōtsutsuki’s wife. She was the 1 degree that was missing in the 359 degrees field of vision the Byakugan possessed. She always had her husband’s back. There was nothing, nothing, that could stop these two.

But if one were to be that fool to think that she was just the female counterpart of the King of Gods, being nothing more than just that one degree, they would been oh so wrong about her. Her one degree made up for the whole rest of 359 with everything that she was and she had done.

Hisashī Ōtsutsuki might’ve been the one you saw confronting you in the light, but she was the one hiding in the dark. You would’ve needed your vision not for him who took you head-on in the light, but for her. She, who would stay quietly, in the dark, waiting for her prey. Like a predator.

“Absolutely, Naora Heika!” Fukanōna replied quickly to the queen goddess.

“Then why are you here, and not out there fulfilling whatever you told my husband you will do, to bring us closer to our desired goal?” she asked, keeping the same piercing effect to her questions as before. The look as well.

Upon hearing the second question, Fukanōna’s body was caught by a thrill. The queen goddess was as inquisitive as always.

“I’m on my way, Your Highness,” he answered. “Just finished discussing the latest details with His Highness,” he said as his eyes moved from hers to his while responding to the question.

“Well then, if you’re done, then you may leave us and attend to your business, while my beloved here tells me all I need to know about this new plan of yours to get us closer to our goal.”

As soon as the words fell on his ears, he knew he was being invited outside the chambers. Naora and her usual not so subtle ways. It was all part of her style. She didn’t have to tell you precisely to do a thing or the other. Her statements would let you understand that your services are no longer needed, or that, like in this case, you are dismissed and you must give the two the privacy they needed to talk about the matter at hand.

He excused himself and bowed to the two of them one last time, after which he started going towards the door’s direction. As he moved away from the two, he phased out into millions of pieces of particles and disappeared from the throne room.

Reappearing in his chambers, Fukanōna massed in and took a seat on the armchair that stood right in front of the window, facing outside. It was one of his favorite spots in the room, from where he would watch through the other realms.

That is from where he first peaked into the human realm when he sensed Kaguya’s presence once more after such a long period. Now, it was time to visit that realm once again.

“Now, let’s see where you are,” he said.

“Tengoku no Byakugan!” Fukanōna shouted as the veins near his eyes appeared on his face and his vision started immersing in the waves of energies visible on the human realm.

His eyes switched angles as he tried to pinpoint the person he was looking for. It took him quite a while to find his target. After all, he might have been a god himself, but he had to search through a whole realm.

After a short while he located his target. “Aah! There you are!” Fukanōna said, getting up from his arm chair. “Time for you and I to have a chat.”

He deactivated his Byakugan and looked down the window for one last time, before leaving the room. Memories from the times he used to travel on the human realm passed through his eyes.

But… there was no time to reminiscent on the past. He decided to go and inform the god king and god queen that he had identified his target.

Once he arrived in front of their door, he knocked hard three times. The only times where he would phase in and out of the that room was when he had business with the chambers of the tree. It was confined in a special kind of space where only he could enter due to his special abilities.

The knock was quickly recognized by the Ōtsutsuki king. He invited Fukanōna inside.

“I have come to inform you, King Hisashī that I have located the target in the human realm. I am preparing to leave to that place,” he said.

“Very well, Fukanōna. You know what you have to do,” the god king said, looking him straight in the eyes.

Fukanōna nodded. After that, he bowed in respect one more time in front of the two before preparing to leave.

As soon as he was ready, he chanted. “Tenrai Chōetsu,” he said as his body got filled with light and phased out in a multitude of beaming particles.

“And he’s gone,” Naora said. “I sure hope he knows what he’s doing,” she added as she rose from her throne. Stepped down on the chairs and headed towards the high stained-glass windows. She sat beside them, looking up with her arms crossed.

“Otherwise, we’ll have to find another way to break into Ryōkai,” she said, turning her head back at her husband to face him.

“We must do this fast my beloved. You don’t have much time left and I don’t want to see you gone from my side,” she said. “I’d rather wreak havoc in all the realms of existence than see that happen. You have brought us to where we are now, it is only right we all enjoy it together with you, for the rest of all eternity.”

Hisashī looked at his wife with veneration in his eyes. She spoke so highly of him, and he couldn’t consider himself luckier to have someone like her next to him.

“But could I have done any of this it wasn’t for you, my beloved?” he said, getting up from his throne as well, gesturing at the whole room they were in. He followed his wife to the windows.

“I wouldn’t be half the God I am today if not for you, my beloved Naora. I told you and I’ll tell you over and over again, for the eternities we shall live together. I may be the power, but you are the way. I would be nothing if not for your guidance and care,” Hisashī said. After that, he wrapped his hands around his wife in a strong embrace and they both enjoyed a moment of silence together.

__________

Back on the human realm, Fukanōna massed in upon arrival and started the search for his target. It was always a bit tricky with Heavenly Transcendence, as it didn’t always transfer one from a realm to another on the exact same spot you’d need to be. Not when Heavenly Byakugan had been just used earlier before in scouting the realm. The two techniques took a great toll on one’s body, even if we were talking about a God’s one.

But as a wielder of Byakugan, that sufficed for issues like this one. A simple Byakugan usage on the human realm asked a lot less than what you’d need in the heavenly one. Hundreds of kilometers or more in the human one was nothing but a piece of cake.

For this reason alone, Fukanōna used his Byakugan tuned to earthly usage in order to identify and pinpoint his target. He looked around for a couple of minutes before finding it.

“Soo, 20 kilometers from here then? This shouldn’t be a problem,” he said. Next, he changed his body size to just the right amount to go unnoticed and levitated up in the air.

“Off we go to you, my dear target,” he thought to himself, flying towards his destination.

Being able to change the mass of his body was one of Fukanōna’s useful abilities. That is why he was the one who used to do the travelling from one realm to the other the most. Not that it was impossible for the others. No. They could travel as well. After all, their existence was godly. It’s just that it required more of them to do it, compared to him who could phase out, mass in and change the size of his body at will.

This made out of him a good spy if you were to think about it. And that was the reason why it was him the one tasked with missions like these more than any other Ōtsutsuki. That is why it was him the one who travelled to the human realm back then with Kaguya, too. He was the one who could go back to the realm fastest and easiest, in order to share the newly acquired knowledge.

After his small travel, Fukanōna got to the destination. Once he arrived, he checked the surroundings with his Byakugan. His target seemed to be accompanied so he held off a bit his desire to phase into his chamber.

After he made certainly sure that his target is completely alone for a longer while and doesn’t leave his chamber, he phased out from where he stood and massed into the target’s room.

“Greetings, human!” he saluted, as the curious face turned to see who was the voice that he had just heard.

It wasn’t like him to get surprised easily, but given the entrance this other person had just made, it was hard not to be surprised. He thought how to approach this, if with an attack or to be on the defensive.

For various reasons he decided to act cold and calculated like he always did. Not to mention that he wasn’t yet ready for a full-blown attack. So, for now, he just replied back with a salute of his own.

“Greetings…” he said. He turned his face to the side and looked closer to the man in front of him, throwing an inquisitive look.

Fukanōna understood that look. The man in front of him wanted to know who to address.

“Oh, how impolite of me,” Fukanōna said while bringing his hands closer to his chest.

“Fukanōna Ōtsutsuki is my name and I am here to offer you a deal.”

Both brows on the man standing across the other side of the room rose. A deal? What deal? With what purpose? Also, Fukanōna… Ōtsutsuki? He had heard that name once before. But what would someone named Ōtsutsuki would have to do with him? He was definitely intrigued… The last time he had felt this level of intrigue was back when the attack on Konoha happened. But that was such a long, long time ago…

“I can already see that deep inside you, you are wondering a great deal of things. Like why I am here, why you,” the Ōtsutsuki said, whistle walking through the room, under the fixed look of his target.

He asked, looking his target in the dead cold eyes. “And especially, what’s in it for you, am I right?”

“Most certainly,” Orochimaru hissed, keeping his cold stare fixated on the man that was walking through his room like he owned the place. “What would an Ōtsutsuki have to do with me? A mere mortal among gods, nonetheless.”

“Ooh, buy you aren’t a mere mortal now, are you?” Fukanōna said staring at him even longer. Orochimaru was intrigued. The one in front of him was speaking about him like they had been knowing each other for ages. Yet this was the very first time when the man was seeing him.

“Ah, granted, I may have had my tumultuous past, but… that’s all there now. All in that specific past,” Orochimaru said, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

He wasn’t sure who was he trying to convince though. The god in front of him or himself? He has had some changes of heart in the war. And maybe somewhere deep down inside him, he wanted all those things he had said. After all that he had seen while he’s lived through the others. After all that has happened to Jiraiya and the things he had witnessed in the war. After his ambition has killed him and after being forced to live inside his students, witnessing the things that had happened to him, made Orochimaru question his ways a bit. Made him want to join the ‘other side’ in the war and be of support. A lot of questionable decisions for someone who was once known as an international terrorist.

But can some people truly change? Can they truly change the nature they had been born with? Can they be above their being’s heaviest craving and desire? He was about to get an answer to that pretty soon, as Fukanōna asked him the next question.
“So, you want to tell me that you’ve given up your long-life quest to learn about all the jutsus in the world and where they come from?”

Even the cold blood inside Orochimaru started to raise its temperature and he could feel his heart beat accelerating upon hearing that question. He knew about that? But how? How could an Ōtsutsuki know about that particular aspect of his life? This wasn’t general public knowledge. Only known by the ninja world, but that was about it. How could a god like him know something like that? Were there more Ōtsutsuki on the human realm than anticipated? But the legend said that only Kaguya existed. What was the missing piece here that was missing from this big puzzle? His researches would’ve definitely mentioned something about him by now. But they didn’t. Yet the one in front of him seemed to know so many details.
Fukanōna smiled insolently. He had the upper hand on this matter and he knew it. He also had the element of surprise.

The next moments happened fast as Orochimaru tried to use his biting technique on the man in front of him, in what seemed to be an intended attack.

“So, the snake finally bites,” he said while phasing out, leaving Orochimaru puzzled. He wasn’t sure how he had first appeared in his room as he was taken by surprise. Therefore, he had to test a bit the waters to see who he was dealing with. Not to mention, he didn’t want to show submission, even if we were talking about a god.

“What if I told you there is another way to find out the secret behind everything, like you once wished, without you having to possess the Sharingan?” Fukanōna asked while he massed in again.

Tension continued to raise to different levels inside Orochimaru. How was it so possible of him to know so many things? That puzzled him to no end. Which made him wonder… Was he truly a changed man like he thought he would be? Knowing the secret behind all the jutsus in the world was one of his deepest desires.

The man in front of him was right. Well, the God. Probably that was the reason why he knew? But everything aside, it was true. To know the secret behind all jutsus in the world was his soul and body’s deepest craving. But not having the Uchiha eyes was the biggest set-back for him. He wanted those eyes so much because having them, according to his old hypothesis, would’ve meant so much more than being able to put a target under genjutsu so the body can be overtaken. Or so that tablet implied.
But now, there was another way? How?

He looked at the God standing across the other side of the room as he retreated his long neck back to his place. Certain information was lacking from his data research, definitely.

He had run all his life believing that there is no way to do that without a Sharingan and now he was told that there is? How can he even resist such temptation?

“Well, you seem to know a lot of things,” Orochimaru said. “Why don’t you first tell me how that is possible, and then I can tell you if I will take your offer or not.”

“Oh, but we both know what kind of person we’re talking to, don’t we?” Fukanōna said. “Who is to say that after you find out what I need, you won’t try and do it without me? You do have a history of betrayal in your past” he said. “One way or the other. It’s who you are. You’ve always been like this” Fukanōna said to Orochimaru to riddle him even more.

Orochimaru’s right side vein pumped even more and more blood to his head. Curiosity was making him want to know already what’s that solution this god was talking about.

“Here’s how we’ll do to make sure we don’t betray each other. Let’s call it a two-way street, shall we?” Fukanōna asked while heading towards Orochimaru.

“We’ll be linked by this” he said while stretching out his hand towards Orochimaru. At first, the latter was suspicious and hesitated.

“One of the benefits of being bound to me is that you won’t have to worry for your body’s lifespan for let’s say… at least the next hundred years,” Fukanōna informed the man. He knew very well the problems Orochimaru had kept coming in contact with that hindered his path towards his goal. His mere mortal body. But… with a long life that one possesses as a God, some one hundred years to spare for this objective was nothing for Fukanōna.

“A token of appreciation from me to you” he said. “I know very well that out of every human on this realm, you must be the least trusting one. So, allow me to make the first step towards what I hope to be a fruitful cooperation with nothing but remarkable results for both of us. Allow me to start with this gift.”

When Orochimaru heard those words, he couldn’t help but continue to be intrigued. Lots of thoughts puzzled his mind. After all, this proposal sounded so good to be true. But, to be rewarded with at least one hundred years of life? To not have to worry about his body’s mortality for such a long time? That surely presented itself as an opportunity he wouldn’t want to miss.

But what would the catch be? Would it be worth it? Did he have a choice right now? Could everything function like his cursed seals? Because those cursed seals ate away at someone’s chakra, so at the end of the day, you had to pay with something to get something else out of it. Not to mention their origins, now that he thought about it…

So, what was the catch here? What did he need to be weary of at the end of the day?

Could he allow himself that luxury of being picky, given the current state of political affairs that was going around the ninja world? It’s not like he could easily get a newer body to be able to pursue all his interests. With the five grand nations now allies, conducting his experiments that easily would definitely be impossible.

So, in the end, he was pretty much left with no choice but to accept the deal. Who would he be lying to, anyways? His curious mind always wanted to know what is that lies behind everything. And now he had the chance. Without having to resort to his old ways even. This was a chance once in a lifetime that you don’t want to miss. Especially after you’ve been brought back to life.

A second chance, at a life that no longer requires your old methods, but one that still offers you the answers you sought for your entire life? Orochimaru definitely didn’t want to miss this.

‘Very well” he said. He stretched his hand towards the god in front of him as well. When the two shook hands, Orochimaru felt like an electrostatic energy grabbed onto his whole being, a shiver went down his spine and physically for seconds it felt as if someone was ripping the internal organs outside of him. His soul energy felt the same.

“What’s this?” he asked. His face betrayed terror for a few moments.

“I’m sorry for that”, Fukanōnas said. “It’s a slightly temporary feeling you get when the linking happens.” And he was right. After those few moments the sensation went away and Orochimaru started feeling revigorated and reenergized.
“So, this is what it means to be linked to a god?” he said as he pulled his hand out of Fukanōna’s, throwing his both in the air.

With his hands up in the air, Orochimaru couldn’t help but notice in the middle of his palm a very familiar symbol: a diamond-looking one.

“This…” he said in amazement, as he brought his palm closer to his face.

“This means you and I are now linked” the Ōtsutsuki god informed him.

Chapter Text

Wind breeze moved away the strand of hair that was over his eye in the opposite direction. He sighed and moved on. “If only this wind would be less crazy today,” he thought. A smirk showed up on his face. “Is it you, complaining that I have left the village again, Naruto?” He couldn’t help but think that.

For a reason the wind reminded him of that loud obnoxious idiot. The person who refused the most to give-up on him. And that feeling of warmth inside you get when being reminded of someone like that, is something Sasuke cherished. When it’s you against the world and there’s that one person who keeps refusing to give up on you, well… it’s hard to forget something like that.

Sure, there were differences. Things weren’t settled even after their last fight. But he agreed to try and view things from another perspective than his. In Sasuke’s opinion Naruto was still an idiot for seeing the world with rose-colored eyes. The world wasn’t as welcoming and caring as their rose-haired teammate. Why he continued to view everything through those lenses was beyond his understanding. Maybe too much pinning over Sakura over the years has made him view the world like that. Her rose shades had kept Naruto’s heart on the move for as much as he could remember.

Speaking of her, for some reason unbeknown to him, she too held on to that love she had told him about years ago, when he first left the village. Why? Why would those two keep at it? Fight him while at the same time keep the attachment of those strong feelings.

Partially, he understood, as he too kept the strong feelings of hatred for his older brother for years. But his reason to do so was different. In his story, up until then, Itachi was his arch enemy.
In their story however, it was him the one who played that role. Yet, for some reason, instead of choosing hatred like he had done, these two chose love. Why? What was different about them and him? He knew he was different than them, but it still boggled his mind.

How can some people choose love instead of hatred, even when all they do is get hurt? How is such a thing even possible? He couldn’t help but wonder about that whenever he thought about his two former teammates.
With a new beginning in front of him, Sasuke tried to understand that fact as best as he could, but he wasn’t even sure where to start. A lot had happened between all three of them over the course of time. He left the village so many years ago to find the power to kill his brother, who he considered his biggest enemy. Yet the road to that goal changed his entire existence to the core.

From being the cause of his trauma to being the reason he draws breath today. So many questions that required so many answers. He got his answers to some of those questions, but then, there were others that still needed clarifying. He wanted to go deeper, inside himself to search and see why is it that compared to Naruto, his one and only friend and the one who had suffered the same lonely fate as him, he didn’t choose another path.

After all, they were both orphans. Like Naruto had said back in the Kage Summit times, their roles could have been reversed. He could’ve walked Naruto’s path, but didn’t. What was it about his grief that was different than his former teammate, that made him chose a different path? Why couldn’t he choose a different one? Is a certain grief bigger than another when you choose to take a certain action? Is that an excuse one could use as to justify their course of action or an irrefutable truth? What makes some people chose a certain way to deal with trauma, when compared to others, their suffering seems to be the same?

As he walked with the wind blowing in face and all those questions in his mind, Sasuke decided to stop next to a tree. Take shelter there from the wind for a bit. He sat down. Put the bag he carried next to him. Looked inside of it. Nothing much was stored there. His old clothes for some reason, and some ninja tools along with a small pack of food he took on his way from Konoha to… who even knows anymore? Surely not him. Yet.

He didn’t know exactly where to go. He just knew he wanted a clean slate. A fresh start. A new canvas. To add the colors he wanted on it. For too long his old canvas was painted with blood stains. That reminded him of the wretched past he wanted to leave behind. He now wanted to understand more about the world around him. About the choices he made. About the person he was. About the different lenses one could see the world through, and the choices they make. Maybe looking through the sharingan’s point of view hasn’t been the best solution. Or maybe it was? He wasn’t sure anymore. There was enough controversy in the middle of it all.

Up until that point he looked outwardly and let everything else that happened on the outside affect him on the inside.

This time he thought of taking it a bit differently. To look inwardly and find all his answers there. He thought about building new bridges. New relationships. And the first one would be with himself. To bond with his inner wounded child that all he did was cry love. Maybe that would be a good start.

He took out from his bag the pack of food he carried. Memories of the past started to flood his mind. Leaving that stream flow, he opened it and took out the food. Took a bite. As he started chewing, memories of his trial came down on his mind’s eye.
“Sasuke Uchiha, you are today on trial for the following charges.” He closed his eyes as the voice of the judges rang inside his head. “Attempted murder against the eight tail’s host, interrupting the Five Allied Nations Summit, attempted murder against the Five Allied Nation’s leaders, complicity with war criminals and…”

Sasuke sighed. Those memories of his recent past still weighed down on his shoulders. He opened his eyes and looked down towards his pack of food. The opened bag with his old clothes lied next to it. He looked at it longly while he ate.
He couldn’t stop staring at his old clothes. Seeing those pieces helped with nothing but bring back the memories of that old blood-stained past. Or better said, of the times where it all started. Back when he chose the path of darkness towards Orochimaru. Would there have been another option to achieve his goal? Or was Orochimaru the only option? Going to him had been the first step in a series of dark and darker events.

That thought couldn’t help but make its presence felt among all the others. He swallowed the chunk of food in his mouth. Put the rest back in the pack, next to the remaining food. Then all the pack of food back in the bag. For a second, he breathed freely and leaned on the tree behind him.

Soon after, he rose. Concentrated his chakra to the feet and started climbing the tree. Once he was high enough, he cut a bunch of branches. Enough to light a fire, but to also to leave the tree with its beautiful crown. He got back down to the ground.
Arranged the branches, took out the green leaves and prepared them as fire wood. The next moment he released his technique.

“Katon: Goukakyuu No Jutsu!”

Shortly after, he took out his old clothes one by one, and put them on the fire. Watched the flames turn them into ash that rose itself to the heavens. The last piece was the purple rope. That reminded him of Orochimaru once again. After all, it was kind of like his signature piece of clothing. For a second it got him thinking.

For such a long time he had said that he moved from Hebi to Taka, but then he kept wearing that fashion style which so much symbolized Orochimaru. He wanted to be a hawk, but he still wore the snake’s skin. Wasn’t that a bit hypocritical of him? He couldn’t help but wonder that for a brief moment, as he looked down on the piece of clothing.

This spiraled him into the previous train of thought. He remembered back when Orochimaru first targeted him in the Forest of Death. How they met each other and how he ended-up searching for him in his quest for power.
And then a flickering thought passed through his mind… he knew his reasons for which he searched for power, but he never truly wondered what about the one who for better or worse was his master for a brief time. What made him go down that path? His reasoning was always Itachi and wanting to kill his brother so he can avenge his clan. But what about Orochimaru? What was his trigger to get down on that dark path? To want know all the knowledge in the world and use it in the manner that he did? In a sense, he couldn’t help but feel like that darkness is what they had that in common. But what was his former master’s why?

He let those questions roam his mind, as he took the rope out of the bag and put it on the fire. He watched that burn too. But this time, the fire grew bigger as for a brief moment, the wind intensified and gave more burning power to the fire. Sasuke smirked again. His mind carried him back to Naruto. As if Naruto had sent the wind to help his fire in a final moment of catharsis. To break free from that past.

With his mind switched once again to Naruto, he couldn’t help but be reminded of the contrasting yet mirroring paths of theirs. Which brought Sasuke back to his older canvas filled with choices of darkness and blood. And it got him thinking again… if he and Naruto were to ever set aside their differences, he wanted to first understand better that side of his. The dark one. The one who made those choices as opposed to his friend’s.

That made him consider understanding this matter from another perspective. From one that happened before his. Between his former master and his former teammate. Orochimaru had mentioned him once or twice. Briefly, of course. But when Sasuke first joined him and confessed the reasons why, when they touched the subject of Naruto, Orochimaru briefly said it reminded him of his older teammate. Jiraiya. Another man whose path diverged from his initial friend’s. So, history has a way of repeating itself, apparently. Makes one wonder why? Is it because it’s there to remind us something, to teach us something? To be our mirror for future decisions? Why is it that history repeats itself? Why is life spiraling into the same patterns over and over again?
But ah, those were other sets of questions that puzzled Sasuke’s mind. He had to take it by turns or otherwise he’d risk losing himself in all the pieces of this puzzle that we sometimes call life.

As the fire kept burning, Sasuke took out another bite of food from the pack he had put aside and continued eating the rest. His eyes followed the flames as they rose to the sky in a dance of burning flashes, with flames hugging in union and separated in loss of the wind that blew them off. He kept chewing on his food, piece by piece whilst leaning on the tree behind him.

Until he managed to finish his meal, the wind also seemed to calm down. “Perfect timing”. That’s what he thought, as he rose from the ground to his feet. Shook the scraps that stood on his clothes from his little feast. Birds would definitely be happy to find those. They were chirping all around him as he ate anyway.

Before heading for his new destination, he made sure to go and dig some pieces of soil out of the ground. He put them over the fire to put an end to it. Next thing, he grabbed the bag which was positioned next to it a few feet distance. After he made sure there’s no fire burning, he left the place. Burning forests was the last thing he wanted.

Now, onto trying to figure out where the snake was hidden. If Sasuke’s canvas would to be blank again, he would need to burn the old dark and blood stained one.
But in order to live that cathartic experience, he first needed to understand this particular thing about his former master. Because thinking in retrospect, the whole situation was like a mirror. And where do you see yourself best and understand yourself better if not by looking into a mirror?

___________

“This?” He couldn’t help but wonder in awe. Inspecting the palm of his hand more in-depth, he kept moving it right and left.

“You seem to be familiar with this symbol.” It was clear as daylight from his face’s expression. He didn’t act like someone who is seeing this for the first time, so Fukanōna couldn’t help but be curious. Where did he know it from?

“This is an oddly familiar symbol for me, yes.” He left his palm down and reunited his hand with the other behind his back.

Orochimaru confirmed the god’s suspicions. “I’ve seen it on the forehead of a former acquaintance.”

A former acquaintance? But who could that former acquittance be? Granted, in the war that he had closely followed for a while, there were many shinobis, but he didn’t remember seeing any with the seal of Karma on them. Granted, there were many to keep count on and he was but a single person. Godly in nature, but still, just one.

He tried to remember about the times when Kaguya overtook that Madara person, to remember if he saw anyone. But he couldn’t recall as there was a lot of mess, not to mention, Kaguya quickly transferred them all to another dimension.

He tried to use his Heavenly Byakugan to see through realms and dimensions like he usually did, in order to find her and the others. To see even more of their fight and truly understand what that was all about. But for some reason, he couldn’t see anything. The dimensions that Kaguya took them all to, for some reason it was out of his reach. He wondered if it had something to do with his reach to begin with, or with something else.

He always believed that it’s the reach. After all, unlike the god king Hisashī, he couldn’t see up to Ryōkai. But then again no one else did, that’s why they were all counting on him. That’s why the current plan had to be without fail.

But it still puzzled him. Who would know about the seal of Karma? The only ones who knew were them, the Otsutsukis, and those people from the past.

But they no longer existed… His clan had made sure of it. So how could it be familiar to the man in front of him? This was truly a curious case.

He definitely wanted to know more about it. After all, this might interfere with his later plans. And that was a thing that Fukanōna couldn’t accept.

But before he could say anything more, he felt a strong presence nearing them.

“Byakugan!” He shouted, as veins around his white eyes appeared and started inspecting around.

“Someone is approaching us.” He turned to Orochimaru and looked him in the eyes. “I think you might have company and I should retreat for a while.”

“What’s up today with visits and guests?” He couldn’t help but ask that. Karin was first, Suigetsu second. Who was it now, Jūgo? But he said he wouldn’t be leaving his side, now that Sasuke wasn’t by theirs. He didn’t trust himself enough to control his powers. So, he figured staying with Orochimaru would, once again, be the best option.

“Well, I think you may know this one,” Fukanōna said. He took a few steps back as Orochimaru asked him to stay behind, while he checks-up who that is.

“The whole entirety of the world seems to know him, as in the war his presence seemed to be quite observed by everyone,” he added. Soon after, accepted Orochimaru’s invitation and leaned down in his comfortable chair.
“There’s only one person whose presence commands his surrounding in that way,” Orochimaru commented. “And that’s Sasuke Uchiha.”

Fukanōna raised a brow. He didn’t know much about that Sasuke Uchiha, but his face was pretty familiar to him as in the war he and the other blonde kid seemed to wreak a lot of havoc. There was another pink-haired girl next to them, but he didn’t give too much importance to her.

There were too many events happening at once that he had to observe. But those two? Well, one’s presence indeed didn’t go unnoticed by simply being there. The other one though? He made sure you’d know he’s there. If that was supposed to be a warrior, he had such a peculiar way of being one.

“Wait here,” Orochimaru said. Then he exited the room. Headed towards the main hall where he would expect Sasuke to come. As he moved his body towards the point, Orochimaru wrapped a piece of bandage over the hand, to hide the symbol. He had to find more about it himself before leaving anyone else to notice it.

Not to mention, he had to clear things up with his guest. Him mentioning the war was a quite distinctive piece of information. Was he watching all along? What exactly did he know? For how long did he watch? But those would be answers he would get later, as now the matter of Sasuke Uchiha coming to his hidden den was the current pressing matter.

He never told Sasuke about this one, and he had just brought the other kids here for the first time. For Sasuke to find him so quickly, it was only testament to his great skills.

Soon, the sound of his steps started sound between the walls of patterned cold marble. First his shadow appeared, followed soon after the man himself. Sasuke Uchiha. His former student. And his former killer, as well. A snake even bigger than him, Orochimaru thought.

No wonder he sought him back then. He should’ve known it. When you warm a viper in one’s bosom, once it’s mature enough, it’s bound to kill you with its venom. He, the master of snakes should’ve known it best.

But he was foolish. He thought that he could corrupt him, not giving it enough thought that the child had already been corrupted and thus he could control the level of his own corruption and turn against him. What shrewdness, though. It was like looking in the mirror.

But those were things of the past. And in the meantime, Sasuke said he was now a hawk. So, what brought his wings to this snake’s den? He couldn’t help but wonder, so he asked him directly.

“Sagacious, as always.” Sasuke commented.

“I could say the same about you,” Orochimaru replied.

Sasuke smirked. He closed his eyes and waved his hand. “I guess we are but a mirror of each other then, isn’t it?” Quickly after, opened his eyes and fixated them on his former master’s look.

Orochimaru responded to his fixating look with the same intensity.

“The same, you say? Interesting…What winds truly bring you here, Sasuke-kun?”

“That’s the reason I’m here,” Sasuke quickly interrupted. He stated it all in a cold tone, because that’s the tone to use whenever you had to deal with Orochimaru. It was always a power-play with him. And you didn’t want to show the snake you’re lesser than him, or you’d get bitten and eaten. He learned as much in all those years of being his student.

That’s why he never let his guard down and talked to him from an equal position. Although, if you were to go by years and experience, clearly Orochimaru had plenty compared to Sasuke.

The cold faced man raised an eyebrow. “You’re here because you’re my mirror?” Orochimaru couldn’t help but ask with a certain amount of irony in his voice.

“But you said you were done being a snake, last time we met.” His gaze followed Sasuke from top to bottom and back to top again. He tried to figure what was his game now. Fool him once, shame on that person. But fool him twice? He wasn’t going to be the one bearing the shame on his shoulders.

“You’re an eagle now, aren’t you?” He continued to be inquisitive of his former student, watching every expression, word, mimic he made.

“Yes, I am,” Sasuke said. His dry tone made it sound so uninteresting for a bit. Why was that? Where’s his pride? If anything, Sasuke Uchiha was a prideful person. Ever since he knew him. Not to mention whenever he talked about the Uchihas. You could spot the pride in his tone and the almighty sensation in his posture whenever that subject was up for talk.

“However, I once took the path of the snake,” Sasuke said in reply. It was now his turn to inspect Orochimaru from top to bottom. He closed his eyes for a brief moment. Memories of the times when he chose to go to him flashed between his mind’s eye. “So, I came to understand better that side of me,” he said, opening his eyes.

“And I inferred that you’re the right person for that,” Sasuke said.

“Oh, how so?” Orochimaru couldn’t help but ask. How could he be the right person for Sasuke’s quest when he wanted to get outside his influence as quickly as possible? He even went as far lengths as to kill him the first time he had the chance. His former master. What did that say about the child in front of him? Sure, he wasn’t a child for a long while now, and he may not have been the best person to judge his actions. But still, even he didn’t have the cold blood to kill Hiruzen the way Sasuke killed him.

So why now coming back to him if he so much fought to get out of the snake’s lair? What was his deal?

“Since you went through the same thing I went through with your former teammate. Jiraiya, right? Naruto’s former master,” Sasuke said.

Oh, so this was what it was about. Jiraiya. No, not him, actually. It was about Naruto. Yeah, the nine tails kid. He has always been the biggest influence in Sasuke’s life and actions. For as much as he didn’t want to admit it to himself. He came to him in search for power to destroy his brother. That’s when he severed all his former bonds. All but one. With him. With that Naruto kid.

For as much as he acted as cold and aloof, not wanting others to peek inside him, he was a clear canvas when it came to Naruto. He showed his true colors. And that is why it was so easy to tease one about the other. Especially the Kyuubi when it came to Sasuke.

Back then, it was so easy to play with their minds. But that was then. Today it was different. In the time he had been dead, both he and Naruto and grown in their own ways. Which amazed Orochimaru. But he was willing to listen.

“Aren’t you going to invite me in?” Sasuke asked. He wasn’t afraid to go deeper in the snake’s den, despite it being a new one. He inspected it closely, looking in all directions.

“Oh, but how rude of me. Yes, please, let us discuss whatever you want to know from me over a cup of tea,” Orochimaru said, sliding his hand in the direction of a room, a clear sign of invitation towards Sasuke.

“If you could just wait a bit until I prepare some tea, that would be absolutely wonderful,” he said, inviting Sasuke to take a seat as soon as they got inside the room.

“Sure.” Sasuke sat down while Orochimaru left the room to prepare the tea. As he sat there, Sasuke couldn’t help but feel a great amount of chakra coming from what it looked to be the opposite side of this new hiding place.

If only he had a Byakugan now to see between the walls. But he didn’t, so all he could do is wonder what kind of monstrosity Orochimaru was hiding inside these walls.

That heavy aspect of chakra, he felt it before. Once, actually, some days ago in the recent past.

“This feels like Hashirama Senju’s levels of chakra, if not even more,” Sasuke thought. What was his former master hiding this time? He was most probably doing something shady as he always did. Although in their brief talk in the war he was led to believe that he wanted to change his ways. But ah, snakes…They change their skin, but never their core.

However, he didn’t have the time to think all that through because Orochimaru was quick to come back to the room.

He leaned the tray with two cups of tea in front of Sasuke to pick one. Sasuke did and put it next to his side.

Orochimaru then took his cup and put the tray on the table between the two big comfy arm chairs. He made himself comfortable and sat down.

“So, what is it exactly that you wish to know from me?” He asked directly, without beating around the bush.

Sasuke smirked. Despite his initial master’s condition, he was still as sharp and direct as always.

“I’m here because I want to know more about you, actually,” he replied as he took a sip from the warm tea.

Orochimaru couldn’t hide a bit of amazement on his face. “About me,” he asked.

“Well, there’s nothing much I can tell you about me, I’m afraid. The before you know, and as for the present? Well, I initially came here with your former Taka members. But in this short while, Karin has left me, Suigetsu as well. The only one who is still by my side it’s Jūgo.”

It wasn’t what Sasuke wanted to know, and he could tell that Orochimaru was derailing for some reason, but this new info about the others? Well, he truly wanted to hear it so he didn’t interrupt. If Orochimaru would to keep derailing and beating around the bush, he would make sure to bring him back.

“But not because he truly wants so, we all know that. But because everyone thought you to be gone, for a very long while,” he said. Which intrigued Orochimaru. How was it that Sasuke was left out so easily from the Alliance claws? His eyes searched this answer, but his mouth didn’t dare ask the question.

But Sasuke was always sagacious and greeted him directly with the answer.

“I was released based on my contributions to the war,” he said. Direct and dry as always. No blooming stories to accompany the answer.

“I should’ve figured as much,” Orochimaru said. “Thought that maybe Konoha and the Alliance would be crueler in their sentencing. It seems that with this new alliance formed things have softened. But eh, good to have you here,” Orochimaru ended, sipping from his cup.

“If it wasn’t for my contribution, I might have not been here to begin with,” Sasuke said. But he saw that Orochimaru was trying to sway the conversation to another direction, his direction, so he returned it back to its initial course.

“Oh, how rude of me,” Orochimaru said, putting his cup of tea on the table, besides him to the right side. “As of lately, I tend to be a bit out of my usual way. Still recuperating after the war, you see?”

“Speaking of which. How is your body doing?” Sasuke asked. Last time when they saw each other he had taken over a Zetsu body. That had to amount for something. Not particularly strong bodies, so that must’ve posed a problem. Was it the reason he felt the enormous quantity of chakra due to him making preparations to overtake someone? Sasuke was curious. He knew the kind of presence Orochimaru was in the ninja world and he wasn’t content with him roaming around freely. But, for now he couldn’t pass any judgement and he needed him for other purposes.

“Ah, I’m doing pretty well, no need to worry,” Orochimaru said. He took advantage of the fact that in medical terms Sasuke didn’t know too much about Zetsu types of bodies. He was never too curious about these things. So, he could perfectly conceal some of the details about his guest in the other room and his newly found body capabilities thanks to a certain seal on his hand. He kept that one concealed as well, under the pair of wrapped bandages on his hand.

“Zetsu bodies seem to prove themselves quite efficient, you know? After all, those Hashirama cells seem to be quite the powerhouse. Enough to last me for the next few years without an issue,” he said.

So, he must’ve cultivated some more Zetsu bodies for himself and that was the reason he felt such a strong chakra presence? And highly similar to Hashirama Senju? That might’ve explained his previous feelings then.

Was his former master finding new ways to keep his experiments without harming humans? Maybe he had indeed changed.

“Well, I guess I can say I’m glad for you,” Sasuke said, as he sipped another small bit from the tea.

“But, you’re not here to talk about the tea and Zetsu bodies, so tell me, what exactly is it that you want to know about me?” Orochimaru asked. “In respects to my relationship with Jiraiya, as well, since you mentioned my former dead teammate,” he added taking another sip himself.

For a brief moment, Sasuke looked down in the cup of tea, the water inside mirroring his face.

“What made you take the path you walked in your life?” Sasuke asked, being reminded of his own. His eyes saddened, as the moment he asked the questions, memories of his blood-stained past came back to visit him.

A cold sensation wrapped the snake’s body. He lived in cold all his life anyway, so he was used to it. But this one? This one left a million times colder, passing through his body like a lightning flash, quick and cutting. For the first time in too many years to remember, he went back to that place. The grave of his mother and father.

The very first time when he met the white snake, as he visited the grave together with his former master. And now here he was, together with his former student, having a life-questioning discussion, that he anticipated will travel along the lines of existential philosophy.

“If I were to pinpoint the very first moment, it would be by my parent’s grave,” Orochimaru said dryly.

“Sure, I didn’t know it back then, but now if I look back it all started there. With the hope that maybe one day, I’ll get to meet them, my parents.”

The atmosphere in the room started to get heavy for both of them. Memories of his dead parents crossed Sasuke’s mind. His mother’s cooking, and his father calling him his son for the first time after he showed him the fireball technique. His petrified heart over the years started to move a muscle. For a moment it felt like water was going to flood his entire being, up to the gates of the soul, the eyes.

But no. He closed his eyes. Sasuke kept it all inside, as the memories of his dead father and mother visited him. He was in front of Orochimaru after all. He could show no weakness. He needed to talk to him from at least an equal footing, if not superior like he had done before. Showing any kind of vulnerability now would give the snake a weak point. As much as he was here to unravel some things, he couldn’t afford to show any cracks in his being.

He had always thought less about his former master anyway. However, now for the very first time he felt an eerily similarity to him. Family, bonds… Was his reasoning the same? Were they more similar than he had initially thought?
“What happened to them?” Sasuke asked on the same dry tone.

“The same that happened to every parent back in that war torn times. They were killed in battle,” Orochimaru replied. He laughed with irony in his voice. “Maybe that’s the reason you all came to me, after all” he said. “If anything, you, Karin and some others, as much as victims of wars as I was.”

Karin? A victim of war? How come? He never knew that particular thing about her. Though, he realized he never knew too much about her anyway. Just what he needed. As he heard the mention about her, he got reminded of Kabuto’s earlier mention in the war. Of her being an Uzumaki.

For a moment there, he couldn’t help but want to know more. After all, she seemed to be a relative of Naruto’s.

“Speaking of Karin, I heard she’s an Uzumaki,” Sasuke told Orochimaru. He curiously asked how so. It was something that Orochimaru never shared with him or the others. Not to mention, not much was known about the Uzumakis anyway. So, he found it as the proper time to ask.

“Well, if I were to put it mildly, she’s as much a mirror to you as you are to me,” Orochimaru said. “Maybe you have more in common with that Naruto kid than you thought.”

“What do you mean by that?” Sasuke asked. Why was Orochimaru drawing so many parallels here? Of course, Karin and Naruto were related by the virtue of being Uzumakis, but what did all of this had to do with Naruto being his mirror more than he thought?

“Well, in the virtue of war-torn children, let me tell you something about the Uzumakis Kabuto surely forgot to mention to you,” Orochimaru said.

Cunning as always, the snake. He concluded correctly that the information came from none other than Kabuto. But the information ahead him sounded pretty interesting, so he let it slide a bit, until they were to return to the initial one.
After all, it helped him learn more about Naruto. And Karin, too, apparently.

“You could say that Uzumakis and Uchihas are brothers and sisters in suffering,” Orochimaru said. Sasuke’s brows furrowed. What did he mean by that?

“While granted, in your clan’s case the why of it it’s different, what you and the Uzumakis have in common is that you’re both clans that have been wiped from the face of the earth,” he informed his student.

Sasuke tried to keep it cool and composed like always, but his looks couldn’t help but betray a horrified expression.

“Sure, there might be some other Uzumakis scattered around the world, but the majority have died in the past, in a tragic attack over their land,” he said.

“Naruto is an exception to the rule through his mother, because she was brought to Konoha to be the Nine Tails’ host. But the rest were wiped out of the face of the earth. No one truly knows why. People said their power was feared, as their sealing techniques were the most powerful,” Orochimaru continued his tale.

That’s when Sasuke’s mind stopped for a bit. That must’ve been a seal of the Uzumaki then. The one they sealed his ocular powers with. He never knew such a thing existed until he was at the receiving end of it. It made him wonder. What power did the Uzumakis truly have? Now that he thought about it, there was so little he knew about Naruto…

“Like you’ve probably known by now, as I am sure Kabuto told you, another Uzumaki was Nagato,” he said.

“Yes, and it seems to be the reason why he was able to weild Marada’s Rinnegan,” Sasuke replied.

“Yes, the power of the Uzumaki bodies is quite strong. That’s the reason we looked into them,” Orochimaru said. “I was extremely happy when I confirmed Karin to be an Uzumaki too. That gave us plenty of opportunity to study their genetic makeup.”

Hearing that made Sasuke’s eyebrows to furrow once again. He wasn’t a bit fan of the experiments Orochimaru did on everyone. But he wasn’t here to pass judgement for now. He was here to understand. Judgement would come later.

“I found Karin as a child on the border between Kusagakure and Amegakure,” Orochimaru said. “It was a heavy raining day, and she was running lost and terrified from something. I tried to talk with her to understand more, but she didn’t seem to remember much. And that posed a little bit of a problem over time, until we identified her as an Uzumaki. Because yes, we found out in time that Uzumakis have red hair as their genetic makeup. But then again, not all red-haired people in this world are Uzumakis. So, until I confirmed that, it took time.”

“Wait a minute, you’re telling me Karin doesn’t know she’s an Uzumaki?” Sasuke asked shocked.

“She didn’t know, yes. Until recently. As recent as few hours ago when she left this enclosing,” Orochimaru said.

“Where did she go?” Sasuke asked. Not that he was particularly interested, but for some reason curiosity crawled its way under his skin and made him ask that.

“She just left for Konoha, I believe,” Orochimaru said. “I’m amazed you two didn’t bump heads on the road. She went to search for more answers, as granted, my knowledge of the Uzumaki clan is pretty limited. More than finding out about their genetic make-up and the fact that they too, have been wiped out, I don’t know much. And all that because I had to get my arms from the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, otherwise I wouldn’t probably know even that. Knowledge on them is pretty rare and hidden, for some reason. As for Karin, since she made the connections with the Uzumaki clan and Naruto, I believe that’s where she’s headed.”

Hearing the mention of Naruto’s former clan being wiped out, similar to his, and about Karin’s condition of not remembering who she was, stroked something in Sasuke.

He was so attached to his clan because they represented his whole identity, but how would it feel when you don’t even know your roots? Was this the reason it was easier for Naruto to choose a different path than his? The fact he didn’t have ties with his past? Do those ties make you suffer like he initially thought? Or does the absence of it is even more unbearable once you think about it? He couldn’t help it, but his mind led him to Naruto and Karin in these moments.

He also understood why Orochimaru had said earlier that Naruto might be more of a mirror to him than he realized. Apparently, they had more in common than he initially thought. With Karin too, since she was an Uzumaki as well.

Like him, she too was a victim of war. He always considered her a bit weird and with odd quirks. There were times when he wondered what’s even wrong with her as a person. Sure, he respected her power as he even sought it off, but as a person? He may have passed judgement on her. But now with this new information, it made him think. Did she have a mother, a father? Did he know them? Orochimaru mentioned that she had no memory when he met her. It pained his heart to think about her condition, as well. Alone, in this whole wide world, not knowing who you are, your identity, your past.

At least for him it was easier in a way. He was part of a clan. He knew his roots, his family. It was that identity that it made him push forward. He always wondered and maybe even judged her a bit on the relationship with Orochimaru.

How could someone work with him? But now, hearing more about it, it made him become a little bit more understanding.

So much new information. So many other points of views to take into consideration. So many other broken lives just like his…

Was he selfish in his pursue to destroy Konoha? With this new found information about the Uzumaki clan, Sasuke couldn’t help but wonder. What if he would’ve been successful in his plan to wipe Konoha off?

Would he had been the source of destruction, just like in the Uzumaki clan’s situation? In his clan’s too. Would he have been another Itachi? For as much as he tried running away from becoming just like his brother, he had surely danced on the edge of becoming just like him.

He was close to becoming a war criminal. And that just hit him. Like Orochimaru had said, the common denominator in all their cases was that they were all victims of war. Of destruction. Children living in a world without love.

And he was close to becoming the wheel that turns once again the rotation of a new cycle of hatred. The very thing that was the source of his own suffering.

That realization hit him. And it hit him hard. So hard that he felt the need to breath in slowly. In the next instant he also got reminded of what he did to Karin back in the fight against Danzo at the Five Nations Summit. Which in turn also reminded him of his battle of Naruto back in the Valley of the End when they were younger. He closed his eyes and drew breath, with a pained expression on his face. He realized he hurt two people that had already have it so bad to begin with. He directed his rage and suffering at them, in his pursue to heal the wound he got inflicted with due to his clan’s genocide. Yes, he had apologized before to them, but with this new realization, there was a little part in his heart that felt as if it wasn’t enough.

Although he initially came here to understand more about him through the lens of Orochimaru, he felt like he understood more through that of the Uzumaki clan. The irony.

Maybe he was looking in the wrong direction? Maybe Orochimaru wasn’t the one he needed to seek in order to understand more about himself? It made him ponder on it.

But still, he came here with an initial goal in mind. He concluded that it would first be recommended to get this done and then move to other paths. Maybe some of the information that Orochimaru revealed would still be helpful, as it has been until now.
If he were to start painting over his new canvas, he needed to know all the colors he should use, in this new landscape. Who knew? Maybe one day the Sharingan’s genjutsu would paint a different imagery than the one it usually did in people’s mind. In his, too.

“Orochimaru, I have one more thing to ask you before I head out,” Sasuke said. “The differences between your former teammate Jiraiya and you. Where they always there? Did you ever have a common thread and then you separated or you were different from the very beginning?” Sasuke asked.

Orochimaru smirked upon hearing Jiraiya’s name being brought-up. And what a quick change of scenery, he thought. They were just talking about Karin the other moment and now they’re back to this? It seems like he’s in a hurry. Would he want to go and meet Karin, now that he mentioned her leaving recently?

Eh, not like he would mind. This discussion wasn’t the most welcomed one, given that he was caught-up in something else, at this very moment.

“Ah, me and Jiraiya were always different, that’s for sure,” he replied to his former student. “He was always a hopeless fool, who denied the realities of the world. He was Nagato’s master, the Uzumaki I told you about earlier. Do you know how he became his student? Because the fool decided to stay and train those war orphans, rather than let them die and end their suffering,” Orochimaru said coldly.

“Instead of being truthful to himself and the realities of war, he just prolonged their suffering and ended-up dying anyway. Just that it took them some more years,” he said. “And in the meantime, he left them with the emotional scars of going through other multiple wars. And for what, if death is the final destination anyway? Why keep prolonging one’s suffering if the final destination is the same? What’s the use? The meaning of it all?”

Sasuke’s eyes fixated his master one more, intensely. “Is that the reason you started to seek the reason behind existence?”

Tense, chilled air made its way through the room as both of them recalled their previous discussion about the reason behind existence. It was when the small snake had swallowed the big one.

With all the coldness inside his blood, Orochimaru’s still started to boil a little at that memory. But the Uchiha kid was standing in front of him now from a different position. Still, those past memories and his failures hit him.

But it didn’t bother him as much now as it did then. Since now there was a new way to find the reason behind existence without needing the possession of those wretched eyes he could never have. Or so his guest from the other room had said. Not that he trusted him fully, but it was a lead to look into.

Orochimaru smirked to try and break the tension in the room. “Perhaps,” he replied. “You’ve never been interested in knowing this side of the story, so why now?”

Sasuke sighed. Leaned more comfortably in his chair and took another sip of his tea.

“Because maybe now I am curious about it myself,” Sasuke replied dryly. “When you and I walked the same path, I had only one goal in mind. And that was to kill Itachi.” He made a pause to put the cup on the table. Fixated his posture better in the chair.

“I wasn’t too interested in such philosophical existential questions,” he continued. “I had only one goal in mind and I did everything I had to get there.” With his face facing forward, he sided Orochimaru’s look. Both of them knew very well the moment they were referring to.

“But then, as I reached my goal, for some reasons existentialism and philosophy made their way into my life.” Sasuke blinked for a moment, being reminded of his brother’s last words. And I started wondering: what is a clan, what is a village,” he said as he started looking up at the ceiling. “All these questions, as you can see,” he said. “And ever since, I find myself having a lot of other kinds of questions like these.”

Orochimaru watched him closely. He once again got the confirmation that Sasuke is a changed person. He first noted it in the war, but day by day the change grew stronger. After all, they were here talking about delicate past events.

“I see,” Orochimaru replied. “Well, I don’t know if I am the right person to help you with the philosophies and existential questions of your life, but I hope I could have been of some sort of help with the answers I gave you up until now,” he said.

“I’m afraid some of the questions you’ll have to get the answers to yourself, as we’ve lived in different times, you and I. My reasoning and advice, if I may say so, might be outdated,” Orochimaru said.

“Back in my day, the Five Nations would be at each other’s throats, yet today here they are, collaborating. So, who knows? Maybe there is a reason behind all of this. One that we have yet to know,” he concluded.

Sasuke descended his look from the ceiling and looked his master’s way.

“Perhaps you are right,” he said, as he rose from the chair and stood tall. Orochimaru soon followed him.

“Well, I’m pleased to know I was able to help you in some way,” Orochimaru said, fixating his snake eyes on Sasuke.

“If there’s anything else I could help you with,” he said opening his arms as a sign of good faith. Though, as we all know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, so could he truly be trusted?

“Yes, one more,” Sasuke said with clear conviction in his voice. “Jūgo,” he said.

“Where is he? I want to take him with me,” Sasuke informed Orochimaru.

“Allow me to lead you to his chambers,” Orochimaru said. He leaned a bit and waved his hand, inviting Sasuke out of the room. He soon followed Sasuke, closing the door behind them.

Orochimaru took the lead, inviting Sasuke to follow him towards Jūgo’s chambers. Luckily, it was on the opposite side from where Fukanōna was.

Also, this hiding place wasn’t so open like the rest of them usually were. This one was more of a maze than any other before this one. It was especially designed that way, as this was the place where Orochimaru conducted his most heinous experiments. Not many had access to here.

Actually, the only ones who knew about it was him and his other former student, Kabuto. Which made Orochimaru wonder how did Sasuke even knew about it? Had he talked to Kabuto? But ah, those were questions that needed answer at another time, and now it wasn’t the time.

After walking for a short while, cornering multiple paths and changing multiple directions, Orochimaru announced that they finally arrived in front of Jūgo’s chamber.

Orochimaru knocked at the door. Three times slow, two times faster. It was like a code, for him to know who exactly visits. So he would know who it was and avoid any casualties that might arrive due to his uncontrollable rage. The very reason he remained next to Orochimaru.

On the other side of the wall, Jūgo recognized the code. Which meant Orochimaru was there to visit him. He moved next to his cabinet and took out of there a set of syringes inside a case. He took one out and injected it into his left arm.

Waited for a few seconds for the effect to make its way through the body.

On the other side of the wall Sasuke waited patiently. It made him wonder what was going on behind those doors. Out of all the others in Taka, towards him Sasuke felt a special connection. Not that Suigetsu or Karin would’ve been any less meaningful back in the day.

But it was something about Jūgo’s gentleness by nature and the curse to reach madness that stroke a sensible chord in Sasuke’s heart.

Soon the door opened. Jūgo’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“You’re here!” He said it with a tremoring voice, as if he had just received hope and salvation. Because in a way, yes, that was who Sasuke was to Jūgo. A way to be able to control himself from wreaking havoc without having to resort to Orochimaru’s weird medicine that made him feel all shades of nausea.

“I am and you’re coming with me!” Sasuke said. His tone was clear, concise, and sharp. Leaving no room for interpretation should Orochimaru get any ideas. But he figured he wouldn’t. As much it was clear. Otherwise, he couldn’t have even led him to his old teammate.

“Pack your bags, I’ll be waiting for you outside,” Sasuke said, and turned his back on the chamber’s door.

Jūgo looked a bit confused at Orochimaru. But instead, Orochimaru let him know through a nod that there is no issue with this and he is happy to comply to Sasuke’s demands.

Of course, his reasoning was totally different and it fit like a glove, especially now. Sure, he had accepted taking him in, but it would be less troublesome having multiple eyes prying at his new deal. So, at the end of the day, it was a win-win for everyone.

Not to mention less resources spent on making the medicine necessary to keep in control Jūgo’s powers. What more could one ask?

It felt as if he had somehow been blessed with nothing but good karma.

Was he truly at the receiving end of blessings, due to being connected to the god in his other room? He couldn’t help but wonder.

But those were things he would clear as soon as Sasuke and Jūgo were out of his hideout. He followed Sasuke who headed back.

As he kept walking to get back to the initial point he came from, once he was close to the exit, Sasuke once again couldn’t help but feel the immense chakra signature.

You didn’t have to be an extraordinary ninja to feel it, because its presence made itself felt. Sasuke couldn’t help but feel puzzled by it.

In an attempt to clear that side, he dropped the question on Orochimaru.

“Are you running any more experiments lately? Last time we met, you said you’re a changed man,” Sasuke said.

“Not at this particular moment, no,” Orochimaru replied.

“Are you planning on doing so in the near future? Continue with that same path?” Sasuke asked, side eyeing him as they both walked towards the exit.

“Haven’t I told you I’m a changed man?” Orochimaru replied to Sasuke. “I am upholding that statement,” he said. He remembered their previous discussion about the Zetsus, so he led Sasuke away in that direction.

“So, you’re telling me you’ve found a new way to conduct your experiments while you find out the reason behind existence?” Sasuke asked dryly.

“Isn’t this a more humane way?” Orochimaru replied. “I’ve refrained from using humans, haven’t I?”

“So then, using lesser form of existence should make it better?” Sasuke asked, as his steps became more and more poignant.

“They’re nothing more than spores, if you think about it. It’s like I’m using plants, basically,” Orochimaru said. He raised his hands in the air as a sign of being laid back about this. Because yes, he wasn’t using humans anymore, right? Well, at least that’s how he let it all look, as he wasn’t even doing that.

All he was doing was concealing his guest in the other room. Though, truthfully speaking, he did still possess Zetsu spores for reproduction. Just as a safety measure. And it so happened to fit this narrative. Another win for him.

“I suppose you’re right,” Sasuke said. This thought eased his mind a bit, as the possibility of Orochimaru conducting his previous experiments didn’t sit well with him. They never truly did, but back then, he had other objectives to tend to. However, today things were different and his response would definitely be as well.

They soon got near the den’s exit. But by then, Jūgo already caught-up from behind. That was good, as Sasuke didn’t have to spend any more time with Orochimaru. He was never really a fan, but he thought to himself this needed to be an experience he needed to go through. After all, it helped him greatly understand some other realities of the people surrounding him. For a brief moment his mind went back to Naruto and Karin.

His eyes lowered to the ground and his being fell a bit into a pool of regret. But he didn’t get to dwell there too much, because Jūgo interrupted with his presence.

“I’m ready,” he said.

“Well, I wish you both safe travels,” Orochimaru said, as both his former well, one subject and one student, joined each other and left the enclosure. But, not before being respectful enough to thank him for the wishes.

As the two walked together, Jūgo couldn’t help but ask.

“How is it that you came back for me?”

Sasuke smiled fondly for a moment and raised his eyes to the sky. Wind slowly started blowing again, moving hair to the sides to uncover both his eyes, as his look fixated the skies.

“Oh, there’s a lot to tell you about this. We have all the time in the world now,” Sasuke said.

But I’ll start with the first one.

“I have learned that maybe some roads are better walked with close friends than alone,” he said, as a flash of Naruto’s face once again visited his mind’s eye.

Chapter Text

An entire day had passed since Naruto was in Tsunade’s office to get his medical check-up done. Last time he was there, Sakura was quick to scold him over one thing. As he remembered that he panicked, imagining Sakura’s wrath that would bestow down upon him when she would find out that he… kind of forgot to do that one job he had.

He was supposed to go to Hinata’s place and make sure that everything was set for Neji’s one-week burial ceremony. To see if she needed help with anything else.

Ever since Neji had died, all the generation of Konoha 11 had come together closer than before. Neji’s death had affected Hinata more than she would have probably initially expected. A gentle heart at the core has been shaken in the aftermath of war more than she could’ve guessed. Her and Lee alike. That’s why the Konoha 11 were being supportive of both of them as best as they could. And the tasks usually divided between Sakura taking care of Lee’s side, while Naruto of Hinata’s one.

Only that, this time Naruto ended-up forgetting. Not with malicious intent though.

After all, this was Naruto we were talking about. It was just that, as he was heading to his home to change in order to go for Hinata’s place, he got sidetracked. The whole burial ceremony only made him recall his old master, Jiraiya. So, he ended-up rerouting a bit. Or at least he thought it would be for just a bit.

Once at his former master’s improvised grave, Naruto lost track of time and himself. He ended-up telling his master’s all the stories he could. How, after his death he got so mad at the world. How he had met his dad because he had let all that rage and hatred compel him. He had given in to the fox only to defeat what he had found out later to be his former master’s initial student, Nagato. Only that in the end, he chose not to give in to the hatred until the end, thanks to his dad and his own writings, from where his name came from. He told him about the promise they made to one another.

He also told Jiraiya about how Tsunade had fallen into a coma and the mess that followed after with Danzo taking over, the Five Kage Summit and Sasuke. And how he finally understood Sasuke better.
Speaking of Sasuke, he ended-up telling his master the whole story behind his best friend’s revenge. It reminded Naruto about his old talk with his master about hatred. How Sasuke’s past was a part of that history of hatred they so often discussed about. As he was telling his master that story, his heart felt heavy.

He wasn’t even allowed to talk about that yet, for the whole alliance and Konoha’s status within it could be shaken. Naruto clenched his fist at that and asked his master for advice. He didn’t know what to do in that case. He wasn’t feeling the greatest with the fact that he had to keep this under closed doors. Where was the justice in all of that, anyway?

That thought only spiraled him into another train of thoughts regarding him and his desire to be Hokage, his life-long dream. Yeah, he wished it very much. But the politics that came with it? Naruto felt his blood boiling whenever he thought about the implications. And here he was standing in front of his master’s grave, pondering.

“That’s why you didn’t want to become Hokage when they asked you to, right, Pervy-Sage?” Naruto asked, jokingly. He laughed for a moment as he talked alone at his master’s grave. But soon after, his vision started to blur. Water filled his eyes and heartache clenched his chest.

He missed his master so much. Why all these precious people to him had to be gone? Why all the people that could somehow ease the burdens he was carrying on his shoulders, were not there, next to him, in person?

There were small moments like these that made Naruto want to just let it go for a while. To stop being the strong, stoic, smiling, pain hiding soul he always was. He sometimes wished to be the young teen that met his father filled with frustration. To vent that frustration and have his father back him up.

To be the normal human being that sometimes gets engulfed by darkness and despair, and can find solace in his mother’s embrace that cradles his soul.
Just sometimes. Not more, not less.

He sighed. Closed his eyes and drew breath once again, then opened them and looked to the sky. As if to look for the ones he was wishing to have close.

Then he wiped out his tears and took a deep breath, one more time. He asked Jiraiya to forgive him for getting sentimental there for a minute. It was hard because well, with everything that had happened and the war that had passed, a lot of things changed.

Some of his comrades even died. Something that he never would’ve wanted to see. But ultimately those are the realities of a war. He learned it the hard way.

If only his master would’ve been there to somehow prepare him for what was about to come. But he wasn’t, because he was taken too soon from him. And that was the reason he was here.

Naruto’s look came down from the sky once again back to his master’s grave.

“I wonder how did you manage to go through all that hardship on your own?”

When he asked that, Naruto’s tone was soft as a feather, and light as wind itself. The tears from earlier unloaded his soul for a moment.

“There could’ve been so many things you could’ve taught me,” he said. Sure, he had the others such as Iruka, Tsunade, Kakashi, Sakura and his teammates. But for a reason, none of them hit home the way Jiraiya’s presence had done it.

“And the biggest one would be like how to deal with the loss of bonds I’ve made, and eventually lost”, he said. He recalled what he had told himself in the war when Neji had been killed in front of him. How he would just endure and carry Neji’s memory inside his heart. But it’s easier said than done. In that moment, the heat of it and everything that happened afterwards, it felt easier. He was surrounded by his comrades who brought him back from the brink of despair.

But then again, when you’re alone with your mind, things tend to take another turn. Those moments hit different. Cuz for as far and bright as you shine, as deep and dark you can go. It takes knowing darkness to be able to radiate light. Sure, he chose all the time to radiate rather than give in to the darkness, but eh. No one ever said it’s easy to make that choice.

And as he thought about that, suddenly, Naruto’s heartbeat started to increase, mind went racing, and sweat started pouring. His mind made the connection when he thought about the bonds he lost. Among them being that with Neji, the Hyūga genius. That’s when he realized one thing: he should’ve been in another place hours ago.

“Oh, crap!”

If Sakura didn’t kill him up until then, she would definitely do it now. After the war especially, Sakura started to be extremely careful of people’s mental wellbeing. She said how the physical side is always easier to handle, however with the mental one, things are tad bit different. For the mind is a curious and complex part of a human being.

He shook his head and looked around him. It was already at sunset. Which made it late. Late and inappropriate to go to Hinata’s house at this hour. He had screwed-up.

Damn. Sakura would scold him hard, tomorrow. Really, really hard.

He wondered if he should’ve even gone to the hospital for his medical check-up the next day.

But there was no escaping, or else not only Sakura, but he would have to deal with Tsunade’s wrath as well.

You wouldn’t want to mess with two of the most powerful kunoichis of this world.

As he realized that, Naruto turned his eyes at his master’s grave, and smiled. Thanked his spirit and excused himself, for he had to leave for now.

Maybe they would speak more at another time.

___________

Once the alarm clock rang, Naruto jumped out of the bed fast. While in the morning he usually liked to take his time with the wake-up process, this time, the thought of Sakura scolding him for not doing his job, felt like a constant weight that hang over his head. So, he went straight to the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth. Took a quick shower and after that he went to the wardrobe to pick up his new clothes.

Immediately after the war, once they got back home, he bought himself some new ones since the old clothes got pretty torn up. He found something pretty neat and simple. Still orange combined with black, but this time it’s the black that took over the orange more.

He had his reasons for choosing that way. Not to mention, it was something lean, nice, fresh, not too over complicated. A bit classy, if you’d like. But still casual at the same time. Like his usual self.

Black pants with black jacket, but none were missing the orange side of it. The pants had stripes along the sides, while the jacket along his neck collar, following the zipper down the line and going along the collar of his waist. That’s where the orange was. Simple and neat. On the left arm, there was another orange patch, a round one that held the Uzumaki symbol in pride. Now more than ever. Underneath, he wore a simple orange shirt, but you wouldn’t see it since he wore the zipper of his jacket closed.

As soon as he was done dressing up, Naruto put his shoes on as well, and headed towards the door.

Of course, putting on his attire and his shoes did take a bit more than usual since half of his right hand was missing, but that didn’t stop him.

It was a new day, and Naruto Uzumaki wasn’t going to let that detail spoil it for him. Not to mention it was the day when he was supposed to go and try his new prosthetic hand. So, sun was shining and so did hope. So, after he was done, he took out the door, and headed towards where he had to be.

While he walked down the path to the hospital where he would find Tsunade and Sakura waiting, Naruto couldn’t help but get reminded again of the big mess he made. His mind made sure of it.

“Sakura is so going to scold me,” he thought as he walked towards his destination.

“Today I definitely must not miss going to Hinata!” he said, clenching his only remaining fist.

As his train of thought led him to Hinata, his eyes got a little sad. Pain mixed with empathy filled the ocean like eyes and he couldn’t help but get a bit nervous again. Neji’s death had changed everything for them. Especially for her.

She has never been a particularly overly open person. On the contrary. He remembered how in their young years he even used to consider her dark and gloomy. Too weird for his taste. He could never understand her.

Up until one day, when that dark, weird gloomy girl surprised him with an encouraging speech he never saw it coming. Not from her anyway.

It was back then… That fateful day. That day when he had to fight the Hyūga genius whom everybody feared.

The recollection of those moments hit him hard, and his heart skipped a small bit there. But Naruto quickly drew breath and the rhythm of his heart beat came back to normal. Because as flashes of the moment he fought Neji came back in front of his mind’s eye, the next moment another one took its place and he was back in the war. With Neji’s impaled body protecting both him and Hinata.

What a cruel fate he had suffered.

But thinking in retrospect, how strange it all has been. From him being the one who gave both him and Hinata a good beating, to being the one who died protecting them.

Memories of the words he had said in their first battle came back to Naruto. His eyes frowned, teeth clenched and left a trail of tensed muscle on his face. His fist hardened. Naruto pondered as flashes of all the memories they lived together passed through his mind.

“Was this Neji’s destiny all along, though? To die protecting the main branch of the Hyūga? Was he always right about destiny?”

He asked himself that as confusion started filling his being. The Hyūga matters have always been complex. And it wasn’t necessarily his place to interfere, although he confidently told Neji that when he’d be Hokage, he’ll change those ways. He still strongly felt that, but they seemed a bit too much sometimes. He wasn’t exactly sure of how things changed within their politics since the day they fought. He just saw Neji and Hinata together a lot more since then, that’s all.

When thinking about it, Neji after all died at the hands of his destiny. But he lectured him so much back few years ago how one should not care about trivial things such as those. Or so he considered them back then.

Because what do you know? In the meantime, he found out that he was always destined to fight Sasuke, the same way his predecessors fought, so on and so forth.

So, it made Naruto wonder. What truly is destiny? Is it indeed like Neji said, that you’re given one when you’re born and everything is predestined for you? Every choice you make? Every action you take? But then where is the free will in all of this?

Were all the things he lived in his life a path that has been predetermined for him so he was in fact supposed to be this great person? Him wanting to be Hokage was also predestined? It was never truly his wish?

But then what of the hard work he put into his path? Was all of that rendered invalid right now? All his lonely nights crying himself to sleep, his moments when no one wanted to bond with him, the days he trained over and over again, close to exhaustion. His parent’s death, his master’s one and all the others’.

What, was his destiny to be an orphan? To endure loneliness just because someone in the high heavens thinks that’s something a child should live?

If this is what means to be branded with a destiny from birth, then maybe Neji was right all along. And no wonder he wanted to disobey his destiny.

Sure, Hinata had to fall victim to it too, and that was something truly sad, but if you think about it, they both were victims. Victims of a destiny, trapped in a cage deprived of choice, like Neji had said.

Naruto mumbled. “Tsch!” His eyes frowned again.

This realization didn’t sit too well with him. The recollection of all those memories sure hit hard.

Not to mention, how was he supposed to console Hinata now? What could he even say? It was destined to happen that way, so you shouldn’t feel bad about it?

“That’s so stupid!” Naruto thought.

In the war, when he sensed her getting down on herself, it was easy. All he had to do was remind her of her strength. It’s something he remembered himself.

How she jumped in front of Pein to protect him in that fastidious moment. Sure, not something he would’ve wanted if you’d ask him, but she did it anyway.

Thinking about it now, he couldn’t blame her. Not that he ever did, but still. Back then he wished she wouldn’t have done that. He wondered desperately if she understood his plea of everyone not interfering.

But she didn’t. She just jumped into it head in.

She did it and that was that. He wasn’t going to judge her, because if he were to think about it, he would’ve probably done the same, if in her situation.

He thought about how he jumped in without second thoughts whenever Sasuke or Sakura were in danger. His body didn’t listen to any reason. He loved them both that much, it burned through his very being not to do anything in his power to protect them.

That’s when Naruto’s mind made a connection.

“Wait a minute… she said back then that,” Naruto said, as the realization started hitting him hard. When he first heard the words from her, he thought that she meant loving him in the way they all loved each other. Like friends. Comrades. Which, not to lie, it made him appreciate her even more. That period of time was a moment where all of them bonded together in a special way.

It was probably due to the imminent threat that Pein was. It made them work with one another and connect in deeper ways than before. The community feel they all shared was strong, as they all worked together towards preparing for the threat that was Pein. So, he just thought that the love she declared was in that sense.

But now, with the new connections that his mind made, Naruto froze for a bit. He stopped from the walk. Stood there for a moment. Eyes wide opened in disbelief and jaw dropping in astonishment.

Naruto wondered. “Did she mean love like…?” His eyes started closing slowly as sadness took over them. “…that kind of love?”

A particular memory took over his mind. That of watching Sakura go ahead as he and Sai remained behind and ended-up talking about his own sentiments towards her. The only moment when he ever brought-up the feelings he harbored for his spring-haired teammate.

Ever since he realized the great love Sakura had for Sasuke, he carried the weight of his own feelings within himself. Hidden, behind shadows of his sunny smiles, and aches of his beating heart.

Sure, he wore his heart of his sleeve, as Sai had pointed out. At least, so he said. If someone as emotionless as him could see it…

But for some reason the only person that he would’ve wanted to, didn’t see it. Then, there was everything else that happened between them. Sakura had confessed to him, but it was clear that she never stopped loving Sasuke.

Not to mention, if those things were to be ever true, he didn’t want her love for him to be at the expense of the one she had for Sasuke. Absolutely not. Also, given their last discussion, well…

“Ah, love. Just as complicated as destiny,” he thought.

This brought him back to Hinata. Oh, my, Hinata! He was loving him that way.

Naruto got flustered with confusion. His blood started boiling, cheeks got rosy and he suddenly felt really heavy in the middle of his chest, so he opened his jacket. It was as if he had a big weight inside there and suddenly there was not enough air to breathe.

“Aaagh, what should I do nooow?” he wondered, as he started gesturing. He wasn’t particularly good at these things.

Oblivious is what his master had called him once or twice. Not to mention, in the context of the whole destiny thing, because his mind was making a lot of connections today, he couldn’t help but wonder, as he recollected himself and continued his road towards the hospital.

“Was she destined to love me like that?” he asked. Then he brought his palm on his chin and looked upwards to the sky. His blue eyes connecting to it betrayed a slight thread of sadness again, as he let his hand fall next to his body.

“Does that mean that Sakura-chan has always been destined to love Sasuke and I never stood a chance?”

He left his hand fall next to his body and continued walking, pondering about these things.

As he moved forward, when the realization of his questions dropped, Naruto’s steps became heavier and the rhythm of his walking became slower and slower.

Multiple thoughts and connections between them started gathering inside his mind.

Okay, maybe Sakura has always been destined to love Sasuke. He can accept that. After all, he never wished anything but the best for two of the most important people in his life. He had accepted that and gave them both the space to deal with their own issues.

Also, of course, as he told Sai back then, he couldn’t confess because he couldn’t keep his promise to Sakura. And while in time he partially did manage to fulfill it, Sasuke wasn’t truly home. He left again. Only that this time all of them from Team 7 were in better conditions than initially.

But still, Sasuke wasn’t here and no matter what, he considered it wouldn’t have been fair of him to confess his feelings to Sakura.

Not to mention, seeing the scene from the day before between Sakura and Sasuke, Naruto knew that that was something that surely made Sakura happy.

He remembered it from the times he told her she had a charming forehead. Like a flower, her eyes opened wide and light sparked inside of them. He guessed from back then that it was an important feature for Sakura.

He would’ve kissed it right then and there, if he only had the chance. But he didn’t and so many other things had happened ever since then.

Life has brought him where he was now.

Between the realization that the one he had been pinning over his entire life might’ve always been destined to love someone else, and instead another person might’ve been destined to love him.

Memories carried him back to the day she confessed, once again. Because oh my, it was a confession. A confession! It was never an enforcing statement from one comrade to another, but a confession!

What was he supposed to do with that information now? How was he supposed to act towards Hinata now?

Moreover, he couldn’t help but dwell between these two aspects: choice or destiny. If she was always supposed to be in love with him, is it truly him that she loves or the idea of him?

How is he supposed to relate to that? Also, was him loving Sakura always destined, as well? Another “funny” play from the heavens to poke jokes at him?

This wasn’t funny.

Everything felt so chaotic inside his head.

Naruto Uzumaki’s brain was suddenly beginning to make all these crazy connections between different threads of thoughts that were born upon previous realizations. It felt a bit too much. Thinking this much it was never his strong suit. He rather preferred simpler things.

In this very moment he would’ve preferred to be rather that dense person he used to be. It seemed easier, than having to fight the right answer to all the questions inside your head.

But then thinking about Hinata, he realized how she must’ve felt the same way he felt when it came to Sakura loving Sasuke.

Ah, but isn’t life cruel sometimes? He couldn’t help but contemplate on that idea.

His look warmed as he thought that even if all this was true and Hinata only loved him because she was destined to, it wasn’t easy. Seeing the one you love, love someone else it’s well… Painful.

He has been, like Sai had pointed out, more than clear through his actions that he’s in love with Sakura. The fact that Sakura hadn’t seen it was another thing. Or, she didn’t want to?

Among the other thoughts one where he recalled Sakura’s suspiciously strange looking posture and look from yesterday when they talked. Ironically, about Hinata.

What had that been anyway? Was Sakura trying to tell him something he was oblivious towards, again? The same way she was oblivious about him? Or was just his stupidly hoping for something that he knew he wasn’t destined to have?

The irony, really. It seemed like a never-ending cycle. But anyway, that wasn’t the point.

Naruto shook his head and got back to his initial one. The point now was something else.

It was Hinata, and speaking about her it mustn’t have been easy for her either. He could empathize with the feeling of seeing someone you truly love, love someone else. That’s really not the best feeling in the world. He knew better. Because as much as you love them and want the best for them, seeing that you’re not at the receiving end if hurts. Even if just a little bit.

“Bah, if only mom would’ve been here!” he said. Naruto looked back to the sky, straight at the sun, as he remembered his mom.

She would’ve definitely known what to tell him, like she did when he met her inside his consciousness. Not to mention, she did tell him to find a girl like herself.

But… as his told his father about it, that particular side was a bit harder to complete. He was trying his best though, but maybe… Eh? Who knew?

A little splash of sadness touched his soul again remembering the final words to his father.

However, Naruto shook it off quickly. He was a big guy now. All he truly desired was to see Sakura happy at the end of the day. Even if it wasn’t with him.

And, well, not to mention this destiny didn’t seem to be on his side anyways. Since, well, Sasuke wasn’t there so he could confess to Sakura and get this burden off with.
Funny, right? In a cruel, ironic way.

But eh, that’s how things were for now and he apparently had to follow a certain path. And at the end of the day, if things were indeed like that, he thought as his mind circled him back to his initial idea, it meant they were all victims of this destiny thing.
At least, what he could do was to be the same old him. Connect and empathize with the ones around him.

Only that the way to do it with Hinata had to be done on such a sensitive topic. On one he knew so very well. Only that in her case, the subject of her very possible heartaches was him.

So how do you handle that? How do you approach someone in that case? How do you do it overall and especially in moments like the ones Hinata was going through?

Was that what Neji meant all along when he told him that Hinata would be ready to lie down her life for him? But he never wanted her to do that. Her or any other of his comrades.

That’s why he fought so much to be this strong. So that he can protect them all. So that he can have them next to him. But war has taught him different. That death, especially that of a comrade is inevitable.

But still, he didn’t want them to die. He wished, if possible, for all of them to live for so long so that they can together, make this world a better place for everyone.

He knew he needed the others for all the plans he had for the future. Itachi and the war had taught him that much. So no, he didn’t want anyone else to die for him.

But how could he explain that to Hinata, especially in these truly sensitive moments? Where to even begin?

Naruto sighed once again. Man, this wasn’t going to be easy for him now, was it?

As he continued walking towards the hospital and weighing up on everything he thought up until now, he decided on one thing.

He would start with something simple. Something he knew how to do best. Just be there for Hinata, like a friend. To support her and actually befriend her on maybe a deeper level than before. That seemed to be his “power” anyway.

The power to befriend others and look into their soul.

Only that in this particular soul there was a mirror reflecting back his own self. So how does one deal with that? Well, he didn’t yet have an answer to that. So, that should be a problem for another day.

Baby steps until then. One thing at a time, or else things would get overwhelming and that’s the last thing he truly wanted.

There was already a certain something that was weighing down on his head before any of these newly realized notions. And that was Sakura Haruno’s punch if he wasn’t going to fulfill his previously agreed-upon duties. He had given her his word that he would do so.

And Naruto Uzumaki was a man of his word, no matter what those words were.

Chapter Text

On the other side of the village, once the rays of a new day break at dawn, she opens her eyes. Body aching, sweat drops along the hairline and head dizzy. Another one of those terrible nights had passed.

Ever since the war ended, she had been getting these twisted and dark dreams. Voices of horror screaming along the shadows of her dreamscape, people appearing and disappearing. Chaos. Individuals running all around her.

Looking in front of her, there is her father and Neji. Looking behind her, a tired Naruto, panting.

One moment she watches behind to make sure that Naruto is okay and safe. He is down panting, but safe. They’re protecting him.

The next, as she turns back to check on the front lines, the image of Neji getting impaled colors her dreamscape with the dark horrors of the moment and the blood of his sacrifice.

The screams intensify. Their loudness is deafening. And in all those moments a high pitch starts sounding inside her brain, while the entirety of the dreamscape goes entirely dark again. It gets bright for a brief moment when Neji reappears in front of her, on Naruto’s shoulders. Then the eyes lose their gleam.

The Hyūga genius’ light gets extinguished. And with them, the one all around. All there remains is that high pitched sound. It’s frequency increases until she no longer can take it. Feels as if her head is about to explode. In the next moment she wakes up.

This time, she is lucky. It’s the morning of a new day.

But there were few instances when she woke-up at night. It was yet too soon for her to put this to rest. This torment. This ache.

What’s a week and a half in front of a trauma for a lifetime? Not too much anyway.

She breathes in and gets herself out of the bed.

The image of the dead Neji still haunts Hinata’s mindscape. Even if her eyes are open in the light of this world, the darkness of the other still haunts her. That packed with the sleepless nights ever since the war had finished and they buried Neji, took a tool on her. More than she realized.

Because as soon as she left her room to go out on the porch to get herself some fresh new air and begin a new day, Kō couldn’t help but notice her worn-out expression.

“Morning, Hinata-sama!” he greeted, bending towards her in sign of respect. “Is everything okay with you this morning?” he asked.

She didn’t even reply for a minute because for a moment there it took time for her to realize another presence was next to her, talking. She just looked up, out in the open, at the sky. And it looked like she wasn’t even present there.

But somehow, at the end of Kō’s question, she realized that someone was speaking to her.

She turned to her left and saw him.

“Oh, Kō! Good morning,” she said, bowing in return.

It was a habit of hers. Even though she was supposed to be the heiress and didn’t have to do it, Hinata did it. She was never the type to act like she was above anyone.

Probably one of the reasons she was initially deemed as not fit as the next leader of the clan. They needed a hand of iron and hers was made of silk.

Seeing that she didn’t quite register the question, Kō posed it once again.

Hinata excused herself and said that yes, all is well, there was nothing to worry about.

But the fact that she was still wearing her black attire ever since Neji’s funeral dictated otherwise. She wasn’t well, though she tried acting like she was.

Memories of his teachings and the time they had spent together roamed a lot through her mind ever since his demise. Today, too.

Their relationship had never been easy. On the contrary. Everyone remembers how theirs started. United by blood but divided by hatred.

Until the day they had to fight. Even a little while longer, until Neji had fought Naruto. Since then, a small change had happened.

It took a while for them to repair those broken links between the two.

Neji had returned to their quarters and tried to make somewhat of a peace with them. The upper class of the Hyūgas. The main branch. The one she was part of. Despite being outcasted, she somehow still benefitted from being part of one.

Unlike Neji, who used to be part of the secondary branch. The one whose destiny was to protect someone like her. From the main branch. That’s why when he got back, she didn’t dare to ask too much of him. It somehow felt… wrong. The awareness of all the implications made her hesitant.

Until the day that Neji himself came to her and offered his help. When he tried to understand why she did what she did, when attacking head on that Pain criminal.

And for the first time, she decided to open up to him, and tell him the truth. That she did it because she cares deeply about Naruto and wants to be powerful enough to protect him.

She was honest in how she tried to learn the Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists by herself. And yeah, she kind of managed to master it but… the only reason she did so was because, well, unlike him, the Hyūga genius wasn’t flowing into her the way it had done with Neji.

The Eight Trigrams 64 palms or any formation of that technique was totally out of the question, as well as the Heavenly Rotation. Her footwork had always been so poor. Those were the words that her father had always said. They resounded in her head at every step she took.

You could very well say they were her personal trauma. The same way Neji’s always been made to serve them after what had happened between their fathers. His own trauma.

Yet, there he was. In front her, ready to offer her his help despite everything that happened between them. How far did his kindness truly went, she remembered wondering back then.

That’s why, now that she was in front of the porch looking at the sky and seeing those birds fly freely, being remembered of all those good deeds Neji did for her and all the things he helped her accomplish, Hinata couldn’t help but wonder one thing: did they truly offer in exchange the same courtesy to him? The same kindness? Or were they just content with getting back to the comfort of their old ways?

Sure, Neji was received back to the Hyūga compound, and they did say that starting there on, he will be treated like a second branch person no more, but did they truly do that?

At the end of the day, he died to protect them. He died fulfilling the duty of a second branch member.

So how did they truly change? Or was it all a mirage?

Going through that world of dreams, for some reason made her question all those things from reality now. And she was so much immersed in those thoughts that she didn’t even hear her own father greeting her until he had to raise a bit his tone to make himself heard.

The sound of his voice travelled inside her head, making her realize how spaced-out she was. The thrill down her spine from that realization pulled her back to reality.

“Father!” she said.

“Yes, Hinata, it’s me!” Hiashi replied. “Are you okay? Are you having bad dreams again?” he asked.

“No, it’s okay” Hinata said, as her eyes moved to the other side of her father’s posture. She didn’t want to worry him, nor was she in the mood to talk too much.

Hiashi could see she was lying. He felt an impulse to make her tell the truth, but he quickly inhibited it. It was still too soon, maybe. Still a week and a half since everything had happened.

He tried to change the subject to something else.

“Aren’t you going to change your clothes into something more…” he said, realizing that he has no word for comparison. He wasn’t good with these things. What word would’ve been proper now? Ugh, to hell with this, it wasn’t easy.

Luckily Kō was there, behind them and helped Hiashi out.

“We got you a nice new costume Hinata-sama! Me and Hanabi-sama went to the market the other day and also visited our personal tailor and had some new attires done. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to show it to you.”

“I… I’m sure that’s the case. Thank you, Kō!” Hinata said, bowing.

Hiashi started walking in front of them, heading towards the kitchen.

“Come, let us all have breakfast!” he said.

“I’m afraid I’m not hungry!” Hinata said to her father. Hiashi stopped and turned.

“You will come to the kitchen and you will eat! I’ve been patient with you until now to let you mourn his death. We all do! But deteriorating your health like that isn’t going to help anyone!” he said, with a sharp tone. His voice commanded the entirety of the landscape. Hinata looked at him. She frowned. Hiashi did too. For a while they stood there and watched each other intensely.

He was trying to be understanding. He really was. It was enough to deal with the fact that Neji was dead. Having her falling ill wasn’t what he wished for.

It ate him alive that his nephew had to die in that wretched war. He had wanted to truly bring change to their clan ever since his brother’s death. And he wanted his son to be the symbol of that change.

Yet, in the end he failed.

Ever since that fateful night he was taken from them, Hiashi thought about how much he wished it would’ve been him instead of Neji.

But it didn’t. Life took the young offspring, instead of the old, almost rotten branch.

On the other side of his doubts and guilt, his daughter was now being quite difficult, refusing to cooperate for her well-being. And above everything else, she wasn’t the little kid that one could command.

She was a young lady in full bloom. One that had just went through a war as well, but glooming into this state wasn’t something beneficial to one’s mental, nor physical health.

He knew this all too very well. But before he could say anything else, a unit of Hyūga ninjas came forward, towards the porch where he, Kō and Hinata were.

They stood next to each other, parallel, as they saluted Hiashi and asked for permission to report.

“Go ahead!” he commanded.

“Sir, the conclusions of the preliminary investigations are finished!” one of them said.

Hisashi’s eyes turned sharp. One could literally tie their surroundings with them if intended.

“Very well! Please half of you head to our council chambers, and the other half call the elders. Tell them it’s urgent!” he said.

He then went down the stairs not before commanding Kō to take care of Hinata and make sure she’s going to eat. Afterwards, he headed directly to the council chambers, as serious matters had to be discussed.

“Understood!” Kō replied. He turned towards Hinata.

“Hinata-sama, please…” he pleaded not only with his tone of voice, but eyes as well.

But Hinata was not really having it today. She sensed something was out of the ordinary. One minute her father belittles her for not eating, and the next he just storms out of there to the council chambers?

What was that all about? It surely must be something extremely important.

“Kō, what was that just now?” she asked. For the first time in a week and so, her interest got peaked. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but somehow, in some way, she could tell something was off.

If you were to ask her, it couldn’t have been more obvious? What was it so important that her father didn’t even think about twice? More important than his nephew’s own one-week burial ceremony that he knew she was preparing for and promised to help.

And especially now, after the war that had just passed. It’s supposed to be peaceful. Yet, there are Hyūga members that are coming around with reports? Reports for what?

If there were normal reports, something that had to do with the war, they should’ve gone to the Hokage. Not to their headquarters. At least, that would’ve been the normal course of things.

That’s how it usually is. For as this much she knew from her ninja career. Maybe she wasn’t the top genius in the clan, but she knew about procedures and protocols.

So instead of going to the Hokage, they were gathering inside their own council halls. Which was clear: this was a matter of internal issues.

But what issues could there be hitting now the Hyūgas, right after the war?

Hinata couldn’t help but wonder.

___________

As soon as the sun hit her windows, Sakura’s eyes cracked open. Her interrupted sleep from last night totally made its presence felt on the body, but as a medical ninja it was nothing that she couldn’t deal with.

All she had to do was send a rejuvenating type of chakra through her body and she felt like new. So right after that, she headed towards the bath where she did her morning ritual. Once she was done with it and put her new clothes, she was now ready to start this newer day.

She went to her wardrobe from where she took the new pieces of clothes. Much didn’t change. She still preferred black shorts because she loved being flexible. But this time she decided to replace the upper vest she usually wore with a turtle neck, sleeveless red type of mini-dress mixed with blouse.

She had it in her hands and right before she put it on, stopped a bit to look at the symbol on the back. Her family’s crest. The image right before her eyes changed to the one from the night before, when she had fought with her parents. Sakura sighed. Her job wasn’t an easy one that’s for sure. It was taking a greater toll on her than she initially thought.

“The mind is a wonderous thing, isn’t it?” Sakura’s own made her think. Which in return spiraled her back to the dream she had the night that had just passed. She clenched her teeth as she remembered. No. That shouldn’t be a thing to start her day with. So, she took one more breath and pulled her turtleneck dress over her head. Then, she pulled her hair out, combed it and after she was done, left her room.

It took only a few steps down the stairs for her to be in front of the kitchen, where her mom and dad were sitting. She headed directly to the exit door, where the footwear was. Sakura wanted to put her boots as fast as possible, when her mother’s voice followed her from the kitchen.

“Come and eat your breakfast, Sakura, it’s all served!”

“I’m sorry mom, I can’t. I have to be at the hospital really quick. Today we’re attaching Naruto’s prosthetic hand so I must be there early for the preliminary investigations and I’m already late!” Sakura responded back to her mother.

As she looked back to where the second boot from the pair was, when she was done putting it on and ready to go, Sakura sensed a presence behind her. She turned around and faced her mother.

“Here,” Mebuki said. “I thought you might say that so I packed you both breakfast and lunch.”

As much as Sakura was a difficult child, well, she was her child nevertheless so it’s not like she would stop caring for her now, just because a fight. Especially after what Kizashi had told her the other night. There was a lot of information to take in and a lot of variables to calculate. But her daughter did have to deal with Kaguya Ōtsutsuki so surely that must’ve been a great toll on her, besides the whole war in itself.

All that was necessary for them was to hear the name and feel shivers down their spine, and their souls freezing. Having to actually fight her, too, in the war that had just passed? Just how much can one take?

So instead of staying mad at her daughter and chastising her, Mebuki tried a different approach.

“Thanks… mom!” Sakura said, totally surprised. Looking in her mother’s eyes she was intrigued to find out she didn’t find that typical look of hers. That which cuts you soul deep without having to say a word. That which lets you know you are chastised for more years than your whole lifespan.

The one from today was different, and Sakura didn’t know exactly how to react to that. So, before this situation spiraled into another, she quickly put on her jacket, took her mother’s food pack and got out on the door.

Behind her, Mebuki stood watching, as her daughter took off, letting out a prolonged sigh.

As soon as the door closed, she returned to her husband, who was waiting for her in the kitchen. Once she was there, Mebuki stood down on the other side of the table from her husband, facing him.

“Kaguya Ōtsutsuki you said, huh?” she asked with a saddened and almost fearful look.

“Yes,” Kizashi confirmed. “That’s the name that came out our daughter’s mouth last night when we talked,” he said, as he dropped the paper he read every morning on the table.

“What are we going to do now?” Mebuki asked her husband. They knew very well that name. It was the legacy they were left behind with, despite trying to avoid the ninja world as best as they could.

“Well, from what Sakura said, she was sealed again and there’s nothing to worry about,” Kizashi replied. He didn’t get to say his ifs and buts, because Mebuki cut him short.

“If someone in this era already unsealed her, then the secret is most likely out and someone might attempt at doing it again.”

“Well, yes. I mean, from what Sakura told us there weren’t many who found this out because we were all trapped in that dream state,” he said.

“I told you it felt extremely off for it to have been simple dreams,” Mebuki said. “Unlike all the other dreams that we usually have, this one was something else. As if someone built the dream world that we were in, instead of it flowing like the streams of a river of light that paint the scenery of your mindscape and you’re the one who swims in it.”

“You and your way to describe dreams, “ Kizashi commented. His wife always had this way to talk about the dream world. But it was a normal thing if you were taking into consideration the legacy she came from. To him it was truly endearing.

“Well, me and my way is what it’s going to keep us safe. But anyway, that’s not the point now here. You know what I mean,” she said as her eyes deepened into her husband’s ones.

Kizashi sighed and looked to his left, on the window, at the clear blue sky.

“You’re asking if we should tell her anything, right?” he asked, as his as his heart got a bit heavy.

This would be a difficult situation. Was it time to tell their daughter what had been entrusted to them? But she took the ninja way, so that was a hurdle in their path. They had a vow to uphold.

Sure, if they were to think about this, it’s not like they totally fulfilled that vow, as they got a bit in contact with the ninja world as well. After all, they were both genin. The bare minimum level of a ninja.

But that was done by them with a purpose in mind. They agreed to do that for that sole scope and nothing more. Other than that, they vowed to stay away from the ninja world as much as possible.

But it seemed that no matter how much they tried to run from it, the ninja world was catching-up to them.

“We need to at some point anyway,” she said. “You know what has been foretold. When the name of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki will be named again the world, that day shall come.”

“I guess we have no choice, eh?” Kizashi said, looking back at his wife. For a moment, they both fell silent.

As Mebuki and Kizashi wondered about their dilemma, on the other side of the town their daughter was pondering herself over her own issues.

As much as she was trying to run away from it, the thought of her fight with her mom and dad from the other night, and even more so, the reason, didn’t leave her mind. Especially if connected to the dream she had had the night that had just passed.

She couldn’t shake that feeling of helplessness she had felt the night before. What was it more that she could do, anyway? Her mind carried her once again to tensei ninjutsu and Byakugou.

Like the night before, she felt that somehow the answers lie there. But… how would she explain to her master her sudden interest in such unorthodox techniques?

Especially given how tensei ninjutsu was in violation of the very rules of medical ninjas?

All these dead leads frustrated Sakura to no end. So much that she almost bumped heads with her good friend Ino on the street she was walking towards the hospital.

“Oi, Sakura!” Ino shouted at her before the collision. She reacted and instantly got out of the way.

“Oh my, Ino! I am so sorry, are you okay?” Sakura asked her friend. She realized how deep lost in her thoughts she had been for her to not observe the world around her.

“I’m fine. But are you, thought? That’s the question at hand here” Ino said. It didn’t take a sensory ninja reading to tell that Sakura’s mind was off to somewhere else. Somewhere so far that not even her readings could trace her.

“Mmmhm,” Sakura replied, putting up her ever-knowing fake smile. “Just a bad sleep night, nothing more, nothing less,” she quickly dismissed it.

“But what about you, Ino?” she asked. “How are you handling everything?”

And she was sincere when she asked this. Her friend’s dad had died in the war. She didn’t even want to imagine the pain her dear friend must’ve felt.

With that question in front of her, it was now Ino’s turn to smile through the pain. Of course, hers was different than Sakura’s. Ino owned her feelings unlike her friend. Sakura was harder to crack, though. You had to let her come to you rather than come at her and try to force things out. Well, unless you were Tsunade. She was a different story altogether.

Ino sighed before answering her friend as she gathered her thoughts. How was she? Well… not great, not terrible, if she were to think about it.

“I’m trying my best to go through all of this. I can’t say I’m doing wonderful, but I know for a fact that Shikamaru is worse than me, so I’m trying to be strong for him,” Ino said. The burden that fell on his genius mind in the war wasn’t an easy one. Having to be the witness of your father’s death but not having the time to even mourn over that, well… the grief hit differently. Especially after the whole story with Asuma.

“Maybe it’s easier for me due to my clan’s abilities. I know how the mind works and thanks to our medical ninjutsu classes, I can help alleviate a bit of the pain, but for Shikamaru it’s different,” she added.

“Not to mention, that dreamworld we were all trapped under…”

She smiled for a short while, in a bitter sweet way. Sure, it didn’t hit her that hard after she woke-up because her father’s death helped her get the needed closure, but still… for a moment in time there, everything was perfect.

“Yeah, I don’t know how that is but from what I’m hearing from the medical reports, there are a lot of people that were left with mental scars,” Sakura said. “I don’t know from personal experience since, you know… But from what others told me and I read in the reports, it seemed to be the perfect world. I can’t imagine how it feels to live that perfect world and then have it stripped from you.”

“Well, I guess that if you’re not reconciled with certain parts of you, yes, it can have that effect on you,” Ino said, thinking about her father’s words before he died.

“Yeah, I guess…” Sakura said as her look fell on the ground.

“I guess you can count yourself lucky, because looking at you right now, you seem to have some things you aren’t reconciled with, eh, forehead?” Ino teased her, in order to try and ease whatever thoughts she was having.

“Oh, no, no, no,” Sakura said, trying to excuse herself. But could she really hide that well in front of her best friend? For some reason, her mind took her back to that daunting dream from last night.

“Sakura, it’s me you’re talking to… so before I call you out to your face, you better pick yourself-up and tell me on the road to the hospital, where it seems we’re both going this morning, what’s really been bugging you, okay?” she said as she took her friend by the elbow and dragged her along.

“Ino, wait!” Sakura tried to protest as she was being dragged by her friend. But Ino was having none of it today. So, she kept dragging Sakura along her as she required some answers.

___________

“Okay, I’ll let you go to the council hall if you promise me you’re going to put on that new attire we bought for you,” she said to her sister. Clear tone, with no reminiscence of joke or deceit in it.

“Hanabi-sama!” Kō protested when he heard the younger Hyūga sister’s proposition.

They were supposed to do something else, and this had just escalated to totally different levels then what Hiashi had ordered them to.

“Is that a promise Hanabi?” Hinata ignored the servant’s plea looking her sister straight in the eye.

Hanabi replied with a question that was really simple and straight to the fact. She asked her sister if she had ever lied to her. And looking back to the history between the two, Hanabi was right. She never lied her sister.

On the contrary, between the two of them she was seen as the more reliant one anyway.

“Fine, let’s go then!” Hinata said, while in the background Kō was protesting against their agreement. But on the other side, it did get Hinata out of her state, so this wasn’t exactly a bad thing either.

However, it was very well-known that when Hiashi calls for a council meeting, there’s a reason.

A reason and a secrecy to it…

Back to Hinata’s room, she waited patiently until Hanabi returned with the attire. It didn’t take long for her sister to come back.

“Okay, here it is, put it on!” the younger one said, as she waved at her sister to get up from the bed. Hinata complied to it and put on the suit. Then Hanabi pulled her to the mirror.

“What do you think? I thought you needed something that takes you out of your comfort zone. You always hide in those clothes of yours. So, I thought it’s time for a change,” she said as Hinata looked in the mirror, her eyes scanning the whole attire from top to bottom.

“I hope you like the little detail I put there,” the younger Hyūga said, referring to the placement of the metal band.

“I think it’s fitting you best now, since you can proudly stand as a ninja that fought in the great war.”

Hinata didn’t know what to think. She was somewhat amazed and nicely impressed at the same time. A feeling of warmth suddenly started to build itself from her stomach up to her heart.

She and Hanabi always had a somewhat colder dynamic in their nature. Not because they necessarily wanted it so, but since she was outcasted by her father for not being able to uphold the clan’s duties, all that fell on Hanabi.

And for better or for worse, Hanabi tried to raise up to those duties. But to do so, left very little room for the relationship between her and her sister.

However, things slowly started to change within the clan after Neji’s death. In such a short while he managed to bring them closer. Or at least the two of them.

Sure, Hanabi had her issues with everything that had happened within the clan, but she was as much aware as her sister, and possibly even more than her, that it wasn’t their fault. Neither hers or Hinata’s. It was just that destiny had played in such a way.

When the war hit, as the appointed Hyūga heiress, Hanabi was ordered to stay back home. And she did. And while she was there, she had some time to reflect about certain intricacies of her family. And then, when the Infinite Tsukuyomi hit them, she got to see the perfect world: a world where she, her sister and their mother were together.

So, in the day after Neji’s burial, it made her think… For as much as she tried to hide it, it was her desire to live a long happy life next to their mother. She wanted none of this, if she were to be truthful to herself. But when her sister couldn’t fulfill that task, she rose up to it. She had always been the spunkier one anyway. So taking on a role that required toughness wasn’t such a hard task for Hanabi.

But behind all that spunk, all she wanted to do is live together with her mom and sister, outside of the entrapping laws of her clan.

She realized she missed Hikari more than she let herself feel all those years. She didn’t get to remember her too much, for Hikari Hyūga had died before she could form long lasting memories about her.

She was a mere child. And much wasn’t known about their mother. Well, more than the fact that she died on the battlefield one day, and that’s how they ended up fully under their father’s training.

Often times, when alone at night, Hanabi had wondered if life would’ve been different if their mother would have still been alive. She imagined them playing together, and doing all kinds of simple, domestic things. The basic needs of a human relationship.
That’s why when Neji died, Hanabi was reminded once again of her mom and those deepest desired she had buried. And the only one alive from those deep desires that were shown to her in the dream, was her sister, Hinata.

So, she wanted to make sure she won’t live a life of regret, because Hinata was close to be gone as well. That’s when Hanabi decided to change her approach. To get closer to her sister and cherish the time they still have together in this life.
And that’s how she ended-up buying the costume that they were both now looking at.

Hinata turned towards her sister.

“Hanabi, thank you!” she said, as the next moment ended-up in a hug between the two. Hanabi felt surprised at first, but then, she smiled warmly and hugged her sister back.

“Now, let’s get you to the council hall,” she said as she released her sister from the embrace.

“But you’re going to have to promise me one thing,” Hanabi told her sister. Hinata nodded in agreement.

“No matter what you hear there, it stays there, okay? You know how serious those businesses are to father.”

Hinata nodded once more, as Hanabi enforced the idea. Then, they headed towards the council hall within the compound.

As soon as they were there, Hanabi opened the door, followed by Hinata. Upon seeing the two Hiashi’s frustration levels raised when he saw who she was accompanied by. Hinata shouldn’t have been there.

Hanabi? Yes, she was the next heiress in line, and she had all the right to be there as all the matters concerning the clan, she had to know it.

But Hinata? Yes, she was allowed to get back to the Hyuga compound, but other private, internal affairs? Hinata didn’t have clearance for them, still.

“Please, proceed with the debates,” he said as he headed towards their two daughters. Once he got near to them both he discreetly asked both what were they doing there.

“I have all the right to be here father, and Hinata is here because well, frankly she deserves to be there as much as any of the others. After all, she’s your daughter, too and she’s served with you in the war as well, didn’t she?” Hanabi replied on a polite tone. But her words cut deep with the truth.

Being hit with such a blunt force left Hiashi speechless for a moment. Hanabi was right. Hinata did serve in the war and they had fought alongside each other. Maybe it was time to release even more of those tight rules they had, but this would only bring problems with the High Council.

“Father,” Hinata interfered on a gentle tone. “Me and Hanabi agreed with one thing: no matter what I hear here, stays here.”

Hiashi sighed.

“Fine, you’re allowed to stay, but please, keep a low profile. We’re discussing a very precious matter right now,” he said. “And I need all your understanding,” he added, with so much conviction in his tone.

Hinata and Hanabi both nodded in agreement and took their spot among the other participants to the meeting.

“Everyone, please take your seats,” an elder man pleaded, next to which Hiashi got seated. He then continued to speak.

“As you all know, we called you here because we have worrying news. Independent reports conducted by our fellow clan members have shown us a disturbing fact: we have a wielder of Byakugan eyes outside of the clan,” the old man began to speak. People’s faces betrayed shock despite trying to maintain their composure.

But how so would probably be the question on everyone’s minds since the only time the Byakugan was in danger of being stolen was back years ago when Neji’s father had to be sacrificed in order to preserve its secrets?

“As it was confirmed to us, there was a person in the war that had just passed, in the personal guard of the Mist country that possessed a Byakugan.”

Someone in the crowd asked where that person currently was, but since the war had ended not such a long time ago, reports of casualties were still being updated, and it took time until the news got to all the state members of the Alliance.

“He is presumed dead, because his last known location was at the Central Intelligence HQ along with Yamanaka Inoki & Shikaku Nara,” he confirmed. “As we all know, that was obliterated by the biju ball from the Ten Tails. However, we cannot be certain as his name wasn’t yet found on the victims’ list”.

As the old man talked, Hiashi couldn’t get a certain idea out of his mind. He replayed all the events in his head, all the battles he was part of and the fights. In none of them a Byakugan was lost. None of them, minus that one time…

“Don’t tell me that…” Hiashi’s mind started wandering, as tension raised inside his veins at the realization. It couldn’t be!

But the medical reports from back then said that given the injuries and the way of death, there wouldn’t be a possibility for the eyes to be removed. So yeah, it wouldn’t be any way for that Byakugan to be that one.

As he was dwelling on those thoughts, Hiashi found himself being brought back to reality by his older daughter’s loud protesting voice.

“There’s absolutely no way for you to do that!” Hinata yelled, as she got seated from her chair.

The old man’s look frowned and his cold look fixated her.

“Hiashi, what is she doing here?” the man asked unflinched.

“Hinata! Stand down right now!” Hiashi commanded. In the back, Hanabi tried to pull her sleeve to stop her, but Hinata refused.

“You want to keep that horrendous practice although you were talking the other day about stopping it as a sign of respect towards Neji’s sacrifice?” she yelled. It was unbelievable what she was witnessing.

She had thought that after this war that had just passed and the small steps they did as a collective over the years, getting rid of the curse seal was something that was finally going to bring them all even closer.

Sure, after Neji was accepted again within the Hyūga compound, things didn’t change overnight. But they did small steps that were meant to show good faith from both parts.

Neji was allowed to train with the other members of the clan. He was so good that he ended-up training them. With time, his council was welcomed whenever they had to go to different meetings.

Neji got to grow as a great diplomat within the clan. It was for that precise reason that he was outside of Konoha when Pein had attacked. Because Hiashi had decided to take him in a mission where diplomacy was mostly needed.

Slowly, he and Hinata got closer so that when the war called them, they decided to fight side by side, as over time Hinata grew to feel very comfortable with him.

But if it was one thing that Hinata despised the most, a thing she often kept inside her due to being afraid to speak up, was what had happened to him. The fact that he had to bear the symbol of his suffering on his forehead for his entire life.

That’s why when she heard now that the council decided to cancel the decision to not use the main family’s curse seal technique she snapped.

She wasn’t sure herself where that power came from, but she just erupted.

“All their lives, the members of the Hyūga second branch have to live with that curse on their shoulders. We don’t even let them spread their wings for first time they get them because as soon as they have it, we cage them within the confines of these stupid rules you’ve all made!

Did you for a second put yourselves in their place? No, you didn’t. Because you had the luck to be born just one second sooner than them. As if that’s how the value of a life is decided!”

Hiashi was in shock, as frustration took over him due to his daughter’s disobedience.

He had tried to be a better father to her. When she was not deemed as the heiress, instead of caging her too, he decided to send her away so she wouldn’t have to suffer the reprisals of not being able to raise to the task.

In his own way, without any help, support or a warm word from his better half, he tried to shield her as best as he could. That was the promise he made to Hikari when they married. That was the sole condition she had in order to accept.

She was from the main branch too, but being closely related to people from the secondary one, she witnessed a lot of suffering because of the ways of the clan. So, when the had to marry, she said yes with one condition: that her children wouldn’t have to go through that no matter what. And that they would fight together to make that happen, if it ever came to it.

Only that she was taken from him too soon, and was left to raise the two alone. He did the best he could and knew.

That’s why when he managed to bring her back into the compound, he was happy. But, of course, certain protocol had to be accepted. You don’t change millennial old traditions in one spring.

Which was why now her rebellion was a shock and frustration to him.

“Hinata sit down!” Hiashi said.

“No, I’m not!” she replied.

Hiashi felt his blood starting to boil. She wasn’t going to make this easy, right? Especially in front of the elders, who so many times had reprimanded him for his soft ways.

“I’m not going to stand here and pretend like everything is okay, while you stain Neji’s sacrifice with your decisions!” she continued. The next moment found Hanabi yelling at her.

“Hinata, you promised me something, remember?!” her sister said. “How can you break your word like this?”

“The same way they are doing it!” she yelled back, pointing towards the long rectangular table where the members of the High Council were seated.

“Sister, you don’t know everything so shut-up!” Hanabi yelled back.

“I don’t even want to know, because no matter what it is, it’s an excuse to put innocent people under great distress, under the excuse of some greater good or whatever!” she said, as she took some steps back, to head towards the exit.

“I don’t even know why I thought for a second that there must be something good that can happen here,” Hinata said, while her tears filled with eyes. The next moment, she got out the door, slamming it behind her.

Hanabi stood behind her, while all the other Hyūga members in the council hall were looking towards where she was.

“Father, I’m sorry for bringing her here,” Hanabi said disappointed. Her voice was low, as to betray the regret that you could find in it. Regret at her earlier decision to try and start build a relationship with her sister, while fulfilling her responsibilities as the heiress.

“What does she know, anyway? She’s always like this. Runs away, while I am left with the burden,” Hanabi thought to herself as she swallowed the pain and tears that wanted to explode from inside her.

But she did what she always did. Bury them away inside herself, and hollow her heart, so she can fulfill the role she had to. One that shouldn’t have been hers to begin with.

On the other side of the council hall’s door, Hinata stormed out and went directly to her room where she picked up her ninja bag.

She took it and then headed straight to the exit of the Hyūga compound and even though he tried, not even Kō could stop her.

She let him know briefly as she passed by him that she’s going to Neji’s grave and that she doesn’t want to be disturbed.

On the road towards his grave, she stopped by Ino’s flower shop. Ino wasn’t there, but her mom was.

She greeted the woman, asked how she was doing and asked for a sunflower in a pot. The two exchanged deepest condolences with one another for their losses, as Hinata headed to the exit.

Then the next stop was at Neji’s grave. Once there, her body along with her mind relaxed.

She realized the frenzy she was in until few moments ago and even she got surprised at this new found power.

She didn’t know where it came from and how she could muster it, but in a way, she was glad that she was able to.

She took a deep breath and lowered the pot with the sunflower on top the grave. Then, she got to the other side of it.

“I won’t let them do this to your memory!” Hinata said, clenching her fist as she placed it on top of her chest. She looked back to where she placed the flower, thinking about Neji.

“You’ve done so much for me, it’s now time for me to do for you. For your memory…” she said, with the utmost certainty in her voice.

Chapter Text

“So, are you going to tell me what’s up with you or do I have to take it out from you by force?” Ino asked.

Sakura sighed. She really didn’t really want to talk about this. Not yet, at least. The whole dream from the previous night has been translated into such a whirlwind of emotions that she didn’t even know where to start if she were to talk about it.

“Can we better not?” Sakura asked. She looked straight into her blonde friend’s eyes. Her look, pleading for secrecy. At least for a while.

But Ino wasn’t having it. She had to, no, needed to talk and it was obvious to her. Carrying that load on her shoulders wasn’t going to help her in any way.

“What are you doing here anyway?” she asked the blonde, curious.

“So early in the morning also,” Sakura said.

Ino shrugged.

“The Hokage called me for some reason. Apparently, it’s something related to my father,” she said.

“But don’t ask me about anything more as Kakashi didn’t tell me a word extra,” Ino added.

“Heh, curious,” Sakura said.

“But enough about you, forehead, trying to derail the subject,” Ino said. She looked towards her friend with eyes that pierced. She knew what Sakura was trying to do and it wasn’t cutting it.

“Spill it out,” she said. “Let me know what’s happening on that big brain of yours,” Ino said, while she came closer, stopped Sakura for a while and poked her forehead. Like they used to do when they were little and Sakura was yet a bud, fearing to bloom.

“By the way, I forgot to tell you, with this whole war stuff, but… Speaking about the war, I just wanted to say that you bloomed into a flower more beautiful than the cosmos, forehead!” Ino told her dear friend, as she recalled their childhood years. She looked at her warmly and smiled.

Realizing that by force she won’t make Sakura talk in any way, Ino decided to change the approach. ‘For as much as some things change, as much as they stay the same,’ she thought.

‘And so do people, apparently,’ she continued thinking while gazing into her friend’s eyes.

Sakura blushed. Her friend’s words got to her in an unexpected way.

Ever since the battle they had in the chuunin exams, she hadn’t heard Ino telling her those beautiful words. It was always this friendship mixed with rivalry between them, that sometimes they forgot to tell each other beautiful words like these.

So now that they came, and from no less than someone who she looked-up to since her early childhood, it felt warming. It felt like her being could relax for a bit. And she did.

The tension that you could sense in the air and read on her shoulders went away for a minute.

Sakura sighed. Put her head to the ground and said a small “If only that were enough”. Almost untraceable.

But Ino was there and heard her. Not to mention she knew her all too well. Sometimes it was like looking in a mirror for as much as she didn’t like to admit.

“What do you mean by that?” Ino asked.

But Sakura kept being silent.

“Oh come on, forehead! We both know each other very well and we’re past you trying to hide away from me. It’s me you’re talking to, remember? The one who can see through this whole facade of yours,” she said, pointing all up and down Sakura’s silhouette.

But Sakura kept her silence. Ino puffed.

“Fine, fine… if you don’t want to talk now, I won’t insist.” She said, shrugging.

“But do know that if you ever want to do it, I’m here, eh forehead?” Ino said, pushing elbow to elbow. She then smiled warmly at her friend and continued to walk alongside her.

“I know,” Sakura replied.

“Thank you, Ino,” Sakura said, responding herself back with a warm smile.

The two kept advancing together towards the Hokage building.

As they walked, Ino thought that she should change a bit the mood, and start talking about something else.

“So, tell me, how are things for you and your team now?” Ino asked.

Sakura looked at Ino and started thinking.

“Well, Naruto should be in Tsunade-sama's office by now,” she said.

“We’re preparing him a prosthetic arm given that he lost his in the last battle he had with Sasuke-kun.”

“Pfft, guys. Always solving their issues by firsts,” Ino said, shaking her head in disapproval.

“Mmmyeah, well…,” Sakura said, shrugging. She pondered for a while at the fact that no matter how much she tried, she still couldn’t reach them and understand them in that specific way.

They had their own code. A code of heart, of some sorts. She remembered the words Naruto said back when they all met before the war. If Sasuke could see what’s in his heart.

And it made her think… Although she cared about them so deeply, it felt like she couldn’t reach their hearts. She was about to fall into another spiraling thought when Ino interrupted her once more.

“And how are things for you and Naruto, now that Sasuke left once again?” Ino asked.

Sakura brought herself to the reality in front of her. When she heard Ino’s question she recalled what she had asked Sasuke before going. Then about the whole talk she had afterwards with Naruto.

“Well…” Sakura said, blushing. She avoided her friend’s direct look. But Ino caught-up on it immediately. She giggled.

Sakura mustered the courage to be sincere to Ino. It was not like she could hide it too much.

“I… might have asked Sasuke to take me with him on his trip,” she said, looking back and forth at Ino, slightly embarrassed.

“Oh?” Ino’s eyebrows raised. She took a step back in amazement at Sakura’s courage. She really wasn’t that young bud anymore.

“Don’t get yourself too worked-up. He said no,” Sakura quickly cut it. She sighed and continued to walk alongside her friend.

Ino couldn’t help but want to tease Sakura a bit. So she did.

“Still got those academy days hots for the guy, eeh, forehead?” Ino asked her. She smiled and stuck her tongue out at her for a slight second there.

“Oh, stop it Ino!” Sakura snarkily said.

“But yeah, we’re all okay, thank you very much. Naruto, too!” Sakura said.

“Thanks for asking! All is well between us,” she concluded. But for a moment there, her heart ached a bit as she recalled Naruto’s words from the previous day.

‘Sakura-chan… when you told me you loved me, for that brief moment I was the happiest man in the world,’ the words echoed in her mind.

“Yeah… Naruto is okay too…” Sakura said in a mild tone, as you could see her losing herself in another dimension of thinking.

Ino couldn’t help but notice Sakura’s reaction, but didn’t comment on it. She just let everything flow freely out of her friend’s heart. She felt it was one of those moments of opening up about something. Interruption would’ve been a terrible thing to do right now.

Sakura then gathered her composure a bit. She realized her on and off emotional states and she didn’t want to exhibit them right now. Not in front of Ino who might’ve read her like an open book and started questioning her.

She herself didn’t know exactly what it was, so how could she give a conclusive answer anyway?

She had a lot on her mind and this was not one of the things she would’ve wanted to dwell on. There were other things more important to take care of now.

“He most certainly should be with Hinata now,” Sakura said.

“They’ve been spending a lot of time together lately, since Neji died,” she told Ino.

“You know how wonderful of a friend Naruto can be. How he can bring someone back from the pits of despair, even in their darkest times,” she said as she recalled the multitude of times Naruto had done that for her.

“Hinata could really use that kind of support right now,” Sakura said with her trademark smile. The one she used at certain times. Her heart had fretted earlier when saying those words. So she decided to smile through the fretting rather than analyzing it.

Wasn’t the moment, nor the time.

Ino just stood there and listened. She walked alongside Sakura without saying a word.

When Sakura finished her little speech, Ino focused her look on her friend.

Eyes turned sharp and looked at her, thinking.

‘Oh, forehead… you have so many things that burden you now. Whether you want to admit it or not.’
She sighed. ‘I just hope you can untangle all that’s going on through your mind and heart and lift that burden off of your shoulders.’

“I see,” Ino said on the surface.

”Well, it sounds like a lot of good, positive things are going down,” she added. For a second, Ino was reminded of her father’s last words in the war. About the positive love she symbolized.

So she made a promise to herself. To be that positive love that surrounds everyone. Especially her best friend. No matter if she feels like opening up for now or not.

“Yeah,” Sakura answered.

Before they realized, they were both in front of the Hokage building.

“Well forehead, see you later. By the way, the memorial service for Neji is still on, right?” Ino asked.

Sakura nodded.

“Okay, just wanted to make sure because I know we talked about doing this ourselves, outside the family one, and I want to make sure I split myself properly between the one for my and Shikamaru’s father and Neji’s one,’ Ino said.

“Yeah, I’m having Naruto help Hinata with the last preparations necessary, while I’m gathering everyone for the ceremony along with Lee,’ Sakura said.

“Okay, see you then!” Ino greeted Sakura. She then went towards the Hokage’s office, while Sakura headed down to the medical offices within the building.

___________

Before leaving the place, Hinata looked once more towards Neji’s grave. With a new resolve to not lay to waste his sacrifice, she left the place.

On her way back home, she couldn’t help but think about her younger sister’s words.

‘You don’t know everything,’ were the words that popped into her head continuously. What was that she didn’t know? And more importantly, what was so important that it needed to instill that old treacherous practice?

She walked some more time lost in those thoughts as she pondered about them.

Sure, she knew very well that she wasn’t fit to be the Hyūga leader. Her father had made that very clear a long time ago. By those rules, she wasn’t allowed access to many of the clan’s affairs.

And truth be told, seeing how things ran inside the clan she didn’t even want it.

But still, what was so important that the Caged Seal had to be brought back to practice when they had made a big fuss about it at Neji’s funeral, announcing to everyone in the clan at the private ceremony that such practice will be no more?
Something was up and even she knew it. But what could she do?
Lost in those thoughts, Hinata didn’t even notice when she bumped into Naruto right outside the road that led to the Hyūga compound.

“Oh, Hinata!” Naruto said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t even notice you there for a second,” he excused himself.

“N-Naruto-kun!” Hinata said, blushing, taking a step back.

“What are you doing here so early in the morning?” She asked, completely caught off-guard to meet him in such a place...

“Well, uhmm…” He started mumbling, slightly nervous.

“I… aah... I was supposed to be somewhere else right now, but before that I wanted to make sure everything was okay with you. Sakura-chan asked me to assist you with everything that was necessary for preparation for Neji’s memorial service,” he said, slightly tense.

It was a slightly uncomfortable situation, the one he was in at the present moment. He should’ve been at the hospital by now. But he put in balance two things: the promise he had made to Sakura about helping Hinata and the fact that he should’ve been at the hospital.

He figured the Hinata promise should be fulfilled because he would get some good ol’ smacking from Sakura. Especially since he was one day late.

The other one he can always take it upon himself and his airy head that sometimes lets himself get carried away. It was after all the reason he was in this very mess to begin with.

He should’ve been at Hinata’s place, but then the talk with his former master had carried him away that he forgot.

So he figured at least he can make it up today by being at Hinata’s place and see how he can help. And then take the blame for the hospital appointment fully on himself and his surprising ways. Putting them in balance, one was easier to take on then the other.

Hinata put her hand to her chest and smiled.

“Sakura-san is always so thoughtful,” she said.

Naruto nodded and grinned hard without even realizing, when he agreed to that.

“You are right on that one,” he said, as he put his hand behind his back.

She scanned Naruto from top to bottom and back-up. There was something about him that radiated whenever he talked about Sakura.

She couldn’t help but feel her heart start getting heavy for a moment. Thinking about what she said in the war that she’ll stop chasing and be next to him, Hinata got a little down. How was she to compete with something like that?

As her demeanor changed, Naruto noticed. And for an instant he didn’t realize why, when the sudden realization from his earlier revelations hit his head once more.

Damn! His mind started racing with uncertainty and blood felt like it slightly started boiling.

What was he to do now? Hell, this wasn’t going to be easy now, was it?

He cleared his throat and tried to diffuse and lighten-up the situation.

“So… what are you doing here at this hour in the morning?” He asked. Hinata raised her head from the ground. Smiled warmly at him, and straightened her back.

“I… I come from Neji’s grave,” she said.

“I... uhh,” she mumbled. Her eyes took her away from Naruto, trying to hide what she was feeling.

In the back of her mind, the whole scenario from earlier the morning was running down.

Naruto’s emotional acuity picked up and immediately asked her what was wrong.

“Nothing, I just… some family quarrels, but there’s nothing important,” she tried to assure him.

Naruto’s eyebrows furrowed. He knew very well the old stories of the clan from his battle with Neji and Hinata’s with him. Not to mention that was literally what he had thought about the whole road to what was initially supposed to be his way to the hospital. And now with the whole situation of Neji’s death, who knew what could be going on?

“Hinata”, he said. “Look at me,” Naruto insisted.

Hinata’s eyes, filled with worry, moved towards Naruto’s figure.

“Is everything okay?” He asked.

She wanted to say that yes, it was. But she knew very well it wasn’t and Naruto was reading her like an open book.

What was she going to do? Hide it all and lie to Naruto, although it was clear as daylight or let it all out?

“You see…We just had a… misunderstanding. I’m not even sure I wrapped my head around everything so, I am not exactly sure what to tell you,” Hinata told him, in an attempt to be as discreet as possible, but also hide the gravity of the situation.

Which was partially true because well… she had left the meeting while they were all discussing in order to take that decision. She was sure that the decision they took was probably in that sense, but she didn’t yet have the confirmation, so saying anything
would just mean adding unnecessary drama to the whole flame.

“It’s… hard with my family,” she said, as her eyes once again fell to the ground.

As Naruto watched her, his mind led him back to the times he made Neji a promise.

He sighed and for a moment his eyes followed Hinata’s to the ground.

“I once made him a promise…” Naruto said.

His eyes then looked back to Hinata as hers fixated on his when she heard Naruto talking about a promise.

“I…” He paused for a second.

“I told him that when I become Hokage, I will change the Hyūgas’ ways,” Naruto said.

Hinata looked at him and felt her heart pounding. For more than one reason. She brought her hand to her chest, as if she tried to cover away her beating heart.

“But…” he said, as his breath became heavier and heavier.

“I wasn’t even capable of saving him from his destiny,” Naruto said, saddened.

She picked on what Naruto was saying with all of this. She remembered all too well from back in the chuunin exams when they fought. She knew very well what Neji had thought back then.

And thinking about it, that’s how his life ended-up finishing. With him, dying for her.

Her heart started aching at the realization and she took a step back.

Naruto took notice of this himself, as his racing mind took him back to the realization of his morning thoughts.

A dead silence placed itself between the two of them.

Oh, dear. What was he supposed to do now? The dead silence between them had to be broken.

“But, we made him a promise, didn’t we?” Naruto then said, as he lowered his head a bit to grab her attention. He smiled warmly then brought his right clenched fist next to his heart.

“That we will keep him inside here and continue to move forward,” Naruto said.

“Right, Hinata?” he asked, smiling candidly at her.

He was aware of the strangely vague situation he was in given everything that had happened.

But, as he previously concluded, all he could do, at least for the moment, was to be a good friend to Hinata. So he started walking that road.

Hinata nodded in agreement at him, visibly embarrassed. She very much enjoyed Naruto’s encouragement, so that only made her get back to her more cheery self.

“Mhm, you’re right,” Hinata said.

“I too, will do my best to keep brother Neji’s memory alive and cherish it to the best of my abilities,” she added, clenching her fist harder, next to her chest.

She was reminded of her own promise that she made at Neji’s grave.

And although she faltered there for a second and she and Naruto started talking about the less pleasant realities, as soon as his encouragement followed, Hinata’s resolve strengthened.

“So, let me know, is there anything I can help you with, Hinata?” Naruto asked. “Let’s make this memorial service one of the most beautiful out there,” he added before she could even respond, getting all pumped.

Then, he calmed down a bit realizing that this wasn’t exactly the type of event to get too worked-up over. He apologized to Hinata as he strengthened his back and just stood there, calmly, awaiting her instructions.

“Well, uh, there’s still one more thing that needs to be taken care of,” she said.

“But I need to go back home and get some money to buy them.”

Naruto then interfered.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” he said.

“But… what about where you had to be, Naruto-kun?” Hinata asked, visibly worried.

“Didn’t you say you had something to take care of?”

Naruto laughed nervously. An image of Sakura’s fist and worked-up face appeared in his mind.

‘She’s so going to scold me for not getting on time,’ he thought. ‘But she would even more if she finds out I didn’t help Hinata out, so eh, I gotta pick my poison.’

“Yeaaah, I… uuh, I should’ve been somewhere else indeed, but it can wait, no worries,’ he said.

No, it couldn’t and he knew it, but what else was he going to do?

Hinata wasn’t convinced enough, but she appreciated the fact that Naruto wanted to accompany her, so she didn’t insist too much on the matter.

They both headed towards the Hyūga compound, walking alongside each other, as a slight tension danced around the air.

___________

On the other side of the town, a young man dressed all in black knocked at the door in front of him.

Ever since his precious comrade had been taken from him, he had replaced the vibrant green with the gloomy black.

He found no pleasure in having to live like that, in this world. What good does it do when the man you looked up to your whole life was now a vegetable in a wheelchair, while your closest friend was two feet beneath the ground?

And although this is what he felt most of the time, he could not try to at least take care of his former master.

“Yes, Lee, enter!” The voice on the other side of the door said.

Gai had known it was Lee’s turn to come visit him. Between him and Tenten, they were taking turns on who visits their master and makes sure that everything is taken care of.

“Good morning, Gai-sensei!” The young man said. His voice was lacking its usual vitality though.

“Good morning, Lee!” Gai answered back, as he watched his student taking a seat next to his bed.

“How are you today, sensei?” he asked, watching him longly.

“Well, nothing much changed for me,” Gai said, unphased.

“Same old, same old. The doctors are doing their best to try and see exactly what they can do for me but eh, it is what it is,” he said, shrugging.

“How are you, though?” Gai asked his student.

He knew him very well. The boy always tried to be stoic and keep his head held high. And most of the time, he managed. But this was war. And war had taken a toll on all of them in one way or another.

“I’m fine,” Lee replied dryly. You could hear absolutely no inflection in his voice, to tell you if he feels one way or the other. It was like he was dead on the inside.

Which wasn’t exactly far from the truth anyway.

Gai looked at his former student with sensible eyes. He felt so bad that he couldn’t do more for now.

He guessed that trying to be all cheery and dandy wasn’t going to cut it this time. These were times for mourning. And it was yet too soon for Neji’s memory to get cold and fade black from their memories.

In the war, when you’re in the heat of the moment things don’t get to settle in too much. Your mind stays occupied with battling the enemy and surviving, basically.

But after all, has been said and done and you get back, where you are alone with yourself and your mind, that’s when things get harder to bear.

He knew it very well from his rival, Kakashi. He hadn’t been the same after the whole fiasco with his former teammate, Obito. Not even talking about afterwards, when he found himself killing his other teammate, Rin.

He had tried to be there for him as best as he could after falling into his deep state depression. He never thought he would get out of it. And for a long period of time, he didn’t. He just survived through it.

So yes. He knew firsthand how war and the atrocities it can put the human spirit through. And the time such events take for the spirit to get healed.

So, no. Pushing Lee to be his cheery self wouldn’t have been the solution for now.

He scanned the boy sitting in front of him and observed that today he was carrying something with him.

A piece of braid cut. What was that all about? But, to smooth out the conversation, he mustered the courage and asked him, hoping it wasn’t what he thought it was.

“What’s that in your hand, Lee?”

The young man looked at it with warmth. But at the same time grief engulfed his whole heart.

And while most of the days Lee had managed to be calm and collected, today he broke.

“Sensei!” Lee said between the tears that started flooding his face. He took his other hand up to his face in an attempt to wipe off the tears. He kept it there for a while.

As if he wanted to hide the weakness he felt in that very moment…

“How can one keep their youth when they feel their spirit has aged in a moment more than an entire lifetime?” He asked.

Gai instantly picked-up what his former student was talking about. He was referring to Neji. And probably that’s where the braid cut from his other hand was.

Gai put his hand over the hand that held what was now a piece of memory of their former teammate.

Gai lowered and softened his voice.

“By honoring the spirit of those that have left us,” he said.

“We do it for them. We move forward and keep them in our memory. And we honor life in their name, for we are the ones left to wear the mantle in their stead. The biggest disservice we could do to a fallen comrade would be to throw away the very life
they sacrificed for us. So live, Lee! Honor life and wear a youthful spirit! If not for you, for Neji who is now no longer among us to live his!” Gai concluded.

“O-okay, sensei!” Lee said between even more tears and hiccups that were making it hard to breathe or speak.

He tried to excuse himself for his inability to be the pillar of support that his convalescent master would’ve needed. He had managed for a while, but the fact that Neji’s memorial service was approaching struck a chord more than he even realized.

So much, that now he was crying like a baby in front of Gai.

To break him out of that estate, Gai asked Lee to pull him out of the bed and help him get on the wheelchair.

That proved itself to be a great idea as it took Lee out of his poor state.

“Let’s sit by the window,” Gai said. Lee followed his command.

Pushed his master’s wheelchair right next to the table that was placed near the window. Pulled the seat that was placed there, to make enough space for his master’s wheelchair. Then pushed him to his place, while he then turned around and sat on the
chair from the other side of the table.

Lee drew breath, put his elbows on the table and asked his master something that popped on his mind right after Gai’s words from earlier.

“Is that what you did with Kakashi-sensei?” He asked, looking down at the floor, slightly spaced out. He then shook his head and raised his head to meet Gai’s eyes.

The old man smiled softly, realizing what Lee was asking him.

“I guess you could say that, yeah.”

“Even if he was your rival?” Lee asked, as he looked down at the braid cut on his right hand.

“Even,” Gai nodded.

“You know where I got this?” Lee said, opening his clenched fist to expose the braid cut from Neji.

“We made a stupid deal right before we were called into the war.”

As he remembered, for a second, he puffed at the bitter sweet memory of that moment.

“You know we’ve always had that rivalry of ours. Well, more like mine with him, because I was the one who wanted to prove that someone as talentless with ninjutsu as I was, can match a genius like him.” As he was talking about those moments, the images of when they made that pact were passing in front of his mind’s eye.

“We said that we would fight to test out our abilities and if I managed to touch a single strand of his hair which you know he always kept tied at the back, he would cut it and give it to me as a sign of respect for my skills.”

Lee smiled softly as he recalled the deal.

“And to make sure that in case I did manage, the hair would stay and not fall from the tie, he braided it.”

Gai listened carefully as Lee unloaded his soul in front of him. He reckoned that this was what Lee needed the most. To share the pain he felt deep down his very core.

And had he been in a better state, he would’ve been closer to his student.

But, he was where he was.

Good thing that at least he could do it in this form.

“And I reckon you managed, seeing the result in your hands?” Gai asked.

“I’m quite curious how you did that, though?”

He specifically asked that very question. This way rather than thinking Neji was no longer there with them, he would be immersed in the times they have lived together.

“Well, I had to open 4 gates to match his speed and surprise him at the last minute with a spin in the opposite direction he expected me to come from, to even be close to touching a hair strand of his,” Lee said, smiling.

To remember those times, it felt for a moment like his spirit was getting warmer.

He started to understand Gai’s words from earlier. Now, tears of joy were dropping from his eyes again.

“We said that after the war would end, we’ll try even more, to see if I can actually get close to winning in a battle against him,” Lee said.

“If only we could’ve gotten the chance.”

Gai looked at the braid cut inside Lee’s hand and smiled warmly one more time.

He knew just what to tell Lee so that the memory of Neji could start being a source of inspiration to move forward rather than one of pain.

And one that would mix perfectly with his mantra and ninja way.

“Then the rest of the gates aren’t going to open themselves alone. You won’t know if you would’ve been able to win in a battle against Neji or at least stand as his equal unless you’ve mastered them all,” he said.

“So then, take this moment between you two as a token of celebration of Neji’s memory by becoming your best version. If it’s something you owe him, it’s that,” Gai said, clenching his fist. As he said that, his spirit became refreshed and filled with hope.

A sensation that he managed to send to Lee, too. Now the young man in front of him brimmed with a hope and a refreshed sense of purpose that you couldn’t find earlier. It lit up his spirit again.

“Gai sensei…” Lee murmured at the realization, watching his master.

He finally and fully grasped his words. His immediate body response was to clench harder the fist that carried the braid cut. His last connection to Neji.

Then, he nodded in agreement.

That was what he was going to do. Live and honor Neji’s life. And the way he would do that would be to become the best version of himself.

___________

As soon as they got to the Hyūga compound, Hinata invited Naruto inside. He felt a bit embarrassed at first, but accepted the invitation. He was extremely surprised when he saw so many people around along with so much space. It seemed like a small town inside a town itself.

“Wow, things do seem lively around here!” He said.

Hinata’s eyes fell to the side, knowing very well the reason behind that.

“Y-yeah…” She said.

Immediately after, she noticed her sister across the other side of the big yard.

On the other side of the place, when Hanabi saw Hinata and with Naruto no less, she frowned.

What was he doing here? And out of all the days in the world, today he had to appear?

She had to get an explanation for this, so she headed straight where they were located.

After Hanabi, soon Hiashi along with a squad of Hyūga ninjas behind him appeared as well.

He noticed Hanabi with Hinata and Naruto. What was the boy doing there anyway?

For a second, a flash of his fight with Neji from a few years ago flashed in front of his eyes.

He closed his eyes in pain. He realized the implications of everything that he was about to do.

But… given the newly acquired info, thinking about this would bring nothing good.

So, he opened his eyes and moved forward.

When he reached Hanabi, Hinata and Naruto he saluted fast and dryly.

“I’m going to the Hokage’s office. We must discuss some important matters. See you later,” he said to Hanabi, while side-eyeing Hinata.

Naruto, for as much as an oblivious person was, he noticed that something was off. Which was pretty odd because he remembered something else from the war interactions. They had been so supportive of him. All. Together.

This dry attitude was something that he, frankly put… didn't expect. Sure, he wasn’t going to expect them to greet him with a red carpet, but still...

What was happening? Was something going on or was just all in his mind? Why were they looking like their old selves now?

The man hadn’t even noticed when he bowed in respect. He just vanished right after talking to, what it seemed, Hanabi only.

“Naruto-kun, if you’ll excuse us for a second… Please, in the meantime make yourself comfortable on the porch. You’ll be served immediately with a cup of tea, to your liking. Please inform Kō of your preference” Hanabi said, pulling her sister to the side.

But not before signaling Kō to deal with Naruto.

Then the two sisters took a few steps back, to be as away as possible from Naruto.

“What is he doing here?” Hanabi whispered.

“He’s here to help me,” Hinata replied, visibly disturbed, retracting her elbow from her sister’s grip.

“We are to go together to prepare the last things that are needed for Neji’s memorial service,” she replied.

“Oh, you mean the one outside our family’s?” Hanabi asked. Hinata replied instantly that that’s exactly the one. And that she’d very much be at that ceremony than the one the family prepared.

“Doing that ceremony only proves how fake everything is, given what you all want to do to Neji’s memory!” Hinata said, half shaking.

She felt her heart beating fast and muscles quite tense. She gripped her right arm with her left hand in an attempt to control her body’s response.

It wasn’t like her to be that upfront. On the contrary, she used to be the shy one, backing down. But ever since the horrors of the war and Neji’s death and now all the things she witnessed; it was like something inside of her felt the need to break out.

Break free and express itself. Against all those injustices. Against all those ridiculous rules she had to live under.

All that pain and trauma both her and Neji had to go through under the rules of a clan consumed by those ridiculous rules.

All those things that she had been keeping buried deep inside her bones for too long. Her mind might have toned them down but her body remembered.

Her muscles, her bones and her heart. All those were burned through her very being.

She had been silent for far too long. All that accumulated baggage, all those restrictions that she had to live under, her fears, her insecurities, her being told he’s not good enough.

All those were close to exploding. And that’s why her body was shaking up right now. Because it felt the need to release all that nervous tension accumulated over the years.

You can only carry some burdens up to a point…

She closed her eyes and drew a big gulp of air, so as to calm herself. The shaking reduced.

But on the other hand, Hanabi being caught in the middle of all this felt even more pressure.

She clenched her fist.

“You don’t even know what all this is about… You speak only from what you see on the surface and you think you know everything,” Hanabi said, through her teeth. She was clenching them hard, trying to contain the flaming rage that she felt was building
inside.

Because she too, felt fury. She always felt like a free spirit and would’ve loved to do something else. But no, she couldn’t.

She couldn’t because she had to become everything that her older sister wasn’t. She had to carry every responsibility that her older sister couldn’t. Every rule, every responsibility that comes with that rule, every burden that comes with having to take a decision.

So instead of running free like a child, she carried all that.

And in a way it wasn’t that bad. Her fighting spirit matched the position of a leader. But what irritated Hanabi the most was this talk of Hinata’s, without knowing all the details.

Things weren’t easy.

That decision was one of the worst decisions they had to make because yes. Given what they had initially proposed to do, now going back on that word meant defiance. It looked like staining the very memory of the person who sacrificed for all of them.

But… There was a really strong reason behind it. And it wasn’t something that could easily be told to anyone and everyone freely. It was a heavy burden that all of them, as Hyūgas, had to carry.

Some didn’t even understand why. Some like Neji, for example. And it wasn’t their fault. Absolutely not. But… It was a necessary method. That’s what had been agreed upon for aeons by the predecessors of their clan because… had such a power like the one Byakugan truly was capable of having been awakened to its true potential, it could’ve meant you could very well turn the world upside down.

But that was something only her as a clan leader knew.

Given that she had to take those responsibilities as a clan leader, she was informed of it.

All of it.

But she was sworn to secrecy. So how could she explain to Hinata all this? She couldn’t.

Not like this…

Although, personally, Hanabi felt like Hinata should know certain things if this family was ever to be repaired in its entirety. But things were… hard.

‘What should I do?’ Hanabi asked herself while memories of the day she was first introduced to this secret of Byakugan ran through her mind. The shock she felt, the weight placed on her shoulders that came along with finding that secret.

For a moment she would’ve wanted to share it with someone else but… she couldn’t. She wasn’t allowed to.

Now, that feeling was running through her body again.

“Hinata… Come with me!” Hanabi asked. “I need to talk about something very serious with you right now.”

Hinata’s eyes widened. For as much as she felt the tension between them, she also felt the sincerity of her sister’s words. She truly felt like it was a moment that she couldn’t miss. She shouldn’t. That’s what her mind and heart dictated.

She sighed.

“Wait here. I first need to go to Naruto-kun and deal with our initial agreement,” Hinata told her sister.

Few steps across the yard and she found herself where Naruto was standing there, waiting.

“Naruto-kun… I... uhm… I need to cancel our initial agreement for the moment” she said.

“There’s this urgent matter that I forgot about that I need to take care of with my sister. Would you excuse me for the moment and meet me sometime later today?” She asked, bowing in the traditional respectful way.

Naruto’s eyes widened.

“Oh, of course… uuh, no problem,” he said, rising from the porch. He put the tea to the side.

“I was supposed to be somewhere else, like I said, so I can take care of that for now and we can meet later on sure. Just let me know when!”

Hinata smiled candidly.

“Of course! Uh... Some-somewhere around noon, would that be okay?” She asked.

“Sure thing!” Naruto said with a big grin on his face.

“Let’s convene at the same point we met today. Would that be okay for you?”

“Absolutely! See ya then!” Naruto said. He then made himself disappear. But as he was heading towards the exit age of the Hyūga compound, he couldn’t help but look back at the two sisters that were reuniting as he was leaving.

Something felt fishy. Extremely. It wasn’t his job to stick his nose into their business in a way. But he couldn’t shake the feeling.

However, he set that feeling to the side and headed towards the hospital. Full speed ahead.

Tsunade and Sakura were surely waiting for him, ready with a lecture. And a punch or two, probably. He could already see a bump or two growing on the place that he would get smacked.

___________

As soon as he got to the hospital, Naruto headed directly to Tsunade’s office. He was ready to repent because he knew what he had made.

As soon as he found himself in front of the cabinet’s door, he gulped, while a slight tremble already started walking underneath his muscles.

He was so gonna get it. But oh well, he was owning his decision. He knocked and waited for a response.

“Come in!” The voice from the other side of the room shouted.

Naruto put his hand on the door handle and opened it, slowly sliding his head on the door.

“You’re late!” Tsunade said, while she browsed through the multitude of dossiers and papers on her desk, looking at different information.

Naruto was preparing to say his prayers and excuses when Tsunade’s voice continued talking.

“You’re lucky the prosthetic hand is still not ready yet. While you two are compatible by the looks of it, I still need to find a way to stabilize the process itself,” she said, waving her hands in the air, as to release a little bit of the tension that had accumulated inside her body.

“Oh, thank goodness!” Naruto said relieved.

Tsunade raised a brow, as she looked him directly in the eyes, although her head position didn’t move for a second.

“I mean, I’m sorry,” he quickly excused himself, realizing what he had done.

“Yeah, I guess you’re lucky and you escape for now. From what it seems, molding something out of my grandfather’s cells isn’t as easy as it seems at face value. But, I reckon we should be ready in a day or two. I’ll let Sakura announce to you when you should get back for a reschedule,” Tsunade said.

Speaking of Sakura, he couldn’t help but notice that she wasn’t there.

“Oh, where is Sakura-chan?” Naruto asked. It seemed odd to him that she wasn’t present. Usually, she and Tsunade were almost inseparable all day long.

“Well, since you didn’t show up on time, she went to occupy her time with something else. She’s now visiting Gai to check-up on his condition.”

Now that she spoke about this, Tsunade’s mind clicked. She remembered a little detail from her earlier discussion with Sakura. The one regarding Naruto’s curious ability that helped keep Gai alive. She raised her head from the paperwork to face Naruto.

“Speaking of which... I need to know something from you, Naruto,” Tsunade said.

She invited him to sit on the chair in front of her desk.

“Sakura tells me that when you guys fought Madara and Gai and Kakashi got injured, you were somehow able to stop the complete damage of Gai’s body and even give Kakashi a new eye.”

Naruto kept nodding as he was listening to her.

“How did you do that, exactly?” She asked. Tsunade was indeed very intrigued by what had Sakura told her because it sounded like a certain technique, but for someone to be able to actually perform it? Now that was something close to the realm of impossibilities.

“Well… uhm… like I told Sakura-chan… uuuh...”

He started fidgeting. He wasn’t good at explaining these things. Naruto rolled his eyes up and down as he searched through every corner of his mind in the effort to remember exactly how.

Or better said, explain it. That wasn’t his forte.

“Well, it’s like I took a piece of Kakashi-sensei and uuh, I copied it in my mind and infused that piece with the chakra and ta-daa!” Naruto said at the end, with his hands in the air.

“But how did you know how to do that?” Tsunade asked.

“Well, it’s not that I knew-knew it. It’s uuh... How do I tell you?”

He scratched his head again, as his mind tried to put into words the innate feeling from back then that he felt.

“It just came like… like I knew that already in me after the Super Gramps Six Paths gave me that Yang seal thing. The one who helped me seal Kaguya along with Sasuke. I had Yang, while Sasuke had Yin. After he gave me that power it felt like I could do
anything,” Naruto said, looking once again towards his right arm. He then put his left hand over the remaining half of his other arm.

“Well, that seal was then gone and in the battle with Sasuke since I lost my hand now it doesn’t feel like that anymore, but yeah, that’s what I can tell you.”

Tsunade joined her hands and brought them close to her chin.

Then rested her face there for a moment.

‘This sounds like that technique,’ she thought. ‘Could it be that that respective seal is what made it possible for him to attain that respective power?’

Tsunade wondered about all those things as she looked towards Naruto.

“And how are you feeling now, physically?” Tsunde asked. “Is there anything out of the ordinary you feel your body going through or any odd sensation? Any changes you’ve experienced?” She waited in silence for the answer. But her attention was fully focused on the boy in front of her.

“Well, not necessarily, I guess?” Naruto replied. He shrugged. Tried to think if there was anything of the sort.

“I mean, after that whole thing with Super Gramps yeah, both me and Sasuke remained with something. Him with the Rinnegan and I with a portion of every tailed beast chakra, but the power of the Yang and Yin he gave us is gone. My body does seem super strong, but that particular power… Well, it disappeared once we were able to seal Kaguya. But the body, yeah… the body seems slightly stronger because it’s like I don’t feel fatigued as I presume I should at all after this war.” Naruto scratched his head.

“That’s the only body change that I can tell you about, I guess,” Naruto said.

He shrugged afterwards because he couldn’t think about anything else that he could tell Tsunade.

“So, you’d assume that the particular technique that you used on Gai and Kakashi were due to that Yang seal?” Tsunade asked.

Naruto nodded.

“I tried applying the same thing on myself after I and Sasuke fought to see if I would be able to rebuild my arm the same way I did for Kakashi’s sensei eye, but…”

He looked to the side. Slightly pissed at his inability he pouted.

“I couldn’t do anything of the sorts, as you can see,” he said, shrugging one more time.

“I see,” Tsunade replied.

She put her hands down and pushed her chair a bit to the side, leaning in it. Her right hand stood on the desk, her fingers tapping one by one in unison as she disseminated what Naruto had told her.

“So basically, if what you’re saying is correct, it would seem like you and Sasuke Uchiha went through a mutation of some sort, if you want to call it that.”

Naruto scratched his head once more and looked with confusion towards Tsunade.

“A change in your body, if you may” she replied immediately.

“You did remain with certain enhancements, if you want to call it like that, but neither you nor Sasuke Uchiha possess the power that sourced that very enhancement. Hmm… interesting,” she said.

“Uuugh, I guess? I’m not sure what you mean...” Naruto said, scratching his head once more.

“Let me explain it to you in simpler terms. Let’s take as an example your ninja salary, okay?

So basically, with every mission you perform you get a sum of money, right?”

Naruto nodded in agreement. He was following up until now. All was clear, at least. He continued following Tsunade in interest.

“A large sum of money can make you very resourceful, right? Thanks to the money that makes you resourceful, you now can now use them to buy a lot of things.” Getting the knack of it, Naruto nodded.

“In your case this translates into the tailed beasts’ chakra that you have inside you. Or Sasuke’s Rinnegan. You guys can make use of those resources that enhance your body. However!” Tsunade said, as she brought her chair closer to her desk once again.

She then raised a finger to capture Naruto’s attention.

“You don’t have access anymore to the primary source that offered you all those resources you got. Let’s say like the bank which is the source of the money you receive your ninja salary from. The source of those enhancements. You now must work with what you have been given, while the access to the source that generates the resources has been cut. Understand now?”

Naruto brought his left hand on his chin. For a moment fell pensive until he could disseminate and integrate all the information that Tsunade told him.

After a while his eyes widened.

“Ooooh, I think I understand now!” he said, excited, pumping his fist into the air.

“Basically, I get the money, but not the way to generate it! As in, I don’t get to have access to the ways to create them,” he said, proud of himself.

“Exactly!” Tsunade nodded, being fairly impressed by the boy. The war had made him a bit wiser in some ways.

“Ooh, it makes total sense now, granny Tsunade! Because like I told you, when I tried to create the arm again like I tried for Kakashi-sensei’s eye, it just didn’t work. Even though I thought I could because in the fight with Sasuke I could still use the mode I got from Super Gramps. But after the Yang seal disappeared from my hand, I couldn’t do it. I was thinking maybe I can also help Sasuke with his hand and not bother Sakura-chan to heal me all the time. But I couldn’t do it. That was curious for me too. I didn’t understand why that happened. But now, thanks to you, it’s all clearer!” Naruto said, continuing with the same excitement from earlier.

Tsunade nodded. But in the back of her mind, she thought about that piece of information. If Naruto would’ve had that power still, maybe that could’ve been the missing link to develop further the field of medical ninjutsu.

Finding how a power like that works, that seems to generate lifeforce itself would mean a lot for their field and could mean that maybe, just maybe medical ninjutsu would be easier to perform since it wouldn’t consume so much of one person’s chakra.

Finding a source to generate vitality like that would be a blessing for all medical ninjas whose vitality was put to strain at all times when they had to heal someone.

But, apparently it wasn’t meant to be. They would still have to use the old ways.

And then there was the matter of stabilizing her grandfather’s genetic material to be able to mold it into a prosthetic arm for Naruto. Because from what it seemed it looked like it was a volatile river of ever flowing, not being able to calm down and run smoothly, energy. It seemed like it was like a continuous river of life bursting.

But then Madara was able to and those White Zetsus looked like a stable form so there was definitely a way. She just had to dig a little bit deeper.

So she decided to go and check even more the reports from Shizune’s lab.

Tsunade rose from her chair and excused herself.

“I have to leave you for now, Naruto,” she said. “There’s plenty of work for me to do now and I still need to see how to solve that issue of yours with your hand,” Tsunade added, pointing up and down Naruto’s arm.

She then took a step back, pushed her chair into her desk and moved towards the door.

Naruto did the same and they met halfway in front of the door.

“If you want to go see Sakura, like I said, you can find her most probably in Gai’s chambers.”

Naruto’s being instantly felt like it was wrapped by a faint but certain feeling of sadness. He wasn’t sure he wanted to see Sakura. He failed to keep his promise to be at Hinata's yesterday. So what was he going to tell her?

Sure, he resolved that in the meantime and he would be meeting Hinata later on, but he wasn’t yet quite ready to face Sakura and explain all that to her.

So, he elegantly dodged the situation.

“Oh, I don’t want to interrupt Sakura-chan from her work. You know how serious she is when it comes to those things. Plus, I have somewhere else I have to be right now. So, I’ll let her work in peace while I do my thing. I’m sure we’ll catch-up later,” he said.

“After all, we’re closely preparing Neji’s memorial ceremony between us, the former Konoha 11.”

“Oh, yeah, you guys have that. Well then, see you around, Naruto!” Tsunade said after they went out the door. She took the left side, while Naruto the right.

“I’ll inform Sakura when she needs to call you for the hand!” Tsunade said in a high-pitched voice as she got further away from him. With her back turned, she waved at him. SHe wasn’t sure if Naruto saw her, but she did want to make sure the young man heard her.

“Yes, granny Tsunade, got you!” Naruto replied, as he headed out of the corridor himself.

___________

On the other side of the hospital, Sakura knocked at the door from Gai’s salon. He was under care and her visits were regular. His body had gone through a lot and it was a miracle he could’ve made it through. A miracle that Naruto performed. One that was still bugging her mind. Especially when it came in connection to her medical ninjutsu.

When she opened the door, she found Lee there. He had just finished wiping his tears from what she could tell.

Of course, he was fast about it because he probably didn't want to show any weakness.

He was always the cheerful one from the Konoha 11 who had been brought down by nothing.

Until the war came.

He had been ready to see his master go because somehow Gai had always prepared them for this possible event. But not for Neji’s.

Neji’s memory still haunted him.

“Sakura-san!” he said, with a slight twinkle of excitement in his voice. Being around her always gave him a positive feeling.

“Lee-san! How are you? Glad to see you here today,” she replied. Her voice, soft and tone as caring and warm as ever.

“You and Tenten decided to switch shifts?” She asked jokingly.

“I am sure Gai-san here is more than thrilled having you both alongside him,” she said, as she placed herself next to them.

“How are we feeling today, Gai-san? Anything new to report?”

“Brilliant young lady Sakura, thank you for your sweet visit as always,” he said.

“Sadly, other than complete boredom and lack of activity due to these injuries of mine, there’s nothing this old man has to report to you. I just want to know though… Am I getting out of here anytime soon?”

Sakura’s warm eyes examined Lee’s former master’s silhouette.

“We… still need to run some tests,” she said.

“After what happened in the war and the after effects of the 8th gate, well, your body suffered certain transformations. For example, the bone recovery seems to be going very slowly compared to how it should be. We believe it might be a mitochondrial dysfunction that occurred as a result of the aftermath of the eight gates, like I said. But for that, we still need to run a deep scan on your body and observe how the energy in the body is produced and based on those results, predict from there what can happen next.”

Gai scratched his head in confusion.

There were a lot of medical terms there that he wasn’t exactly sure he understood. So he asked Sakura to try and explain to him in more… popular terms.

Sakura’s face saddened a bit. Her look fell to the ground. Repositioned herself and took a deep breath. Looked first at Lee whose face looked pretty disheartening. Her brows furrowed with compassion.

“From what we can see from the preliminary observations, let’s just say the energy factory of your body doesn’t produce enough energy for the body to function properly. And that’s the reason why your healing process is really slow,” she said.

Gai started to understand where she was going. His look now fell to the ground, too.

He was feeling it in his body, though. He didn’t feel as lively as he once used to. So, it was maybe as Sakura said. But what could this mean for him in the future? He couldn’t help but ask her.

“This can lead to various other conditions such as muscular dystrophy. These conditions are usually rare and are generally genetically inherited, though. So maybe there’s nothing to worry about,” she said smiling, trying to defuse the situation.

“Like I said, we still have to do more research and more in-depth to see exactly the whole picture. Then and only then will we be able to tell you exactly what is what,” she said, finishing her explanation as her look moved from Gai to Lee.

When he got into her visual field, Sakura couldn’t help but notice Lee clenching in his fist a braid cut, as he told Gai that he’s absolutely certain that Sakura and Tsunade will find a way to heal him.

After all, they had done the same for Lee himself back when Tsunade returned to Konoha.

Sakura smiled fondly remembering those times.

Ever since Tsunade had come to Konoha, indeed a lot of things had happened. A lot of changes to the better. Her path being one of them. She felt gratitude for that fact ever since that day.

With a fond smile on her face, Sakura tried to shift the focus of attention to something else than the discussion she had just had about Gai’s condition.

So she asked Lee about the preparations for Neji’s memorial service. He was in charge of the networking part of it. Sakura was just there in the background, helping him with everything that he might’ve needed.

Her leadership skills were better at more things than the medical field.

It was her idea to have him deal with the networking. This way he would keep his mind occupied most of the time so he wouldn’t have enough time to think about the less pleasant realities of their lives after the war.

On the other hand, Naruto was to help Hinata with the logistic side of things. Something that Sakura subtly suggested to Hinata at one medical check-up she was right after they all returned home from the front-lines.

Seeing all those people hurt in the war and especially the emotional scars that they remained with, prompted Sakura to think of solutions of how to get people out of that zone and into something that keeps their mind occupied enough so it doesn’t succumb to the darkness of the horrors they had lived through.

Hearing Sakura’s question prompted Lee to clench his fist where he was holding the braid cut one more. It seemed like an object of comfort of some sorts. At least that was her observation from the interaction they were having.

“Y-yeah.. Everyone is almost confirmed. We still have to get a hold of Sai-san and Ino-san, but besides him everyone is kind of on board with everything,” Lee said.

“Ok then, glad to hear this. Oh, by the way, I bumped into Ino today and she’s totally on board, she just wanted to know at what hour we plan to do it since they also have the memorial services for their families,” she informed Lee.

“Her and Shikamaru,” she added. She then raised from the chair, turned around and headed towards the door.

“Don’t forget, if you need anything from me, let me know and I’ll gladly help,” Sakura said.

“Now if you guys will excuse me, I’ll have to finish the other duties. It was nice talking to you two. Take care of yourselves, okay?” She said as she closed the door behind her.

___________

The day of Neji’s memorial service was finally here. Everyone was thoroughly preparing for the evening, the time they all agreed to meet.

They decided that in Neji’s memory, among other things, they would light up lanterns and release them to the sky.

An idea that Hinata came-up with.

She said that she hoped that wherever Neji would be now, he would fly free. And to celebrate that, they, here on earth, would be sending him the guiding lights to light up his path in the heavens.

Naruto had been with Hinata to buy the lanterns, while Sakura had been with Lee to help him with the group networking.

As the sun was preparing to go back to sleep for the day and slowly painted the sky in colors of orange and pink, everyone met at the gates of the Konoha cemetery.

Hinata with Neji’s picture in her arms, along with Naruto and some of his clones carrying the lanterns, were seen approaching the gates.

Sakura with Lee, Tenten, Hinata’s teammates and Sai were waiting by the gates.

Ino along with Shikamaru and Chouji were already inside since they had paid a visit to Ino and Shikamaru’s parents earlier in the day.

As soon as she got there, Hinata greeted everyone and thanked them for coming.

“I am sure brother Neji would’ve appreciated seeing us all here,” she said softly, as she gripped a little tighter the picture of him she kept in her arms.

Sakura went ahead to welcome her.

“Pleasure’s all ours”, Sakura responded in a warm tone.

“We’re glad that we could help you at least with this.”

Seeing Naruto loaded, Sakura asked everyone else to help Naruto and to each grab a lantern.

“Thank you for helping out, Naruto,” Sakura said. He nodded and immediately excused himself.

“Naah, it was the least I could do. After all this was all thanks to you,” he said with a lower soft tone. Naruto then looked at her longly for a small while. Sakura picked-up and swiftly avoided his looks.

Hinata being next to them, picked-up on the slightly awkward situation. She felt a twinging in her chest. Gulping, she looked towards Sakura with soft eyes.

“Yeah, Sakura-san. Naruto has been telling me how helpful you have been through all of this, so thank you,” she said, bowing. “Well, you were the one who organized all this anyway, so thank you, once again.”

Sakura blushed for a split second. It wasn’t exactly the easiest and most comfortable situation to be in. Especially given the special talk she and Naruto had a few days ago and her being aware of Hinata’s feelings for him.

For a moment it was like she was cornered by all these contradictions.

But what does Sakura Haruno do best when in a situation like this? She goes through it with a smile. And that’s what she did now, too.

“It’s nothing,” she said, showing her trademark smile.

“It’s the least I can do. Anyway, let us now waste any more time. Shall we?” She asked, with her hand pointing towards the entrance to the cemetery.

Naruto and Hinata nodded in agreement. They moved along, together with Tenten and Lee and Hinata’s teammates, while Sakura remained behind with Sai.

“You’re as gentle as ever, Sakura-san,” Sai commented.

She cut him short.

“Not now, Sai!” Sakura said, brows furrowed in tension. She watched Naruto and Hinata along with the others moving in front of him.

“Naruto, hope you weren’t a clutz and were really of help to Hinata properly through all of this!” she heard Kiba saying.

“Kiba-kun...!” Hinata said, trying to diffuse his eccentric personality.

“I can assure you that Naruto-kun has been nothing but helpful. No need to worry!”

“Well, I sure hope so because if he wants to become a Hokage one day he surely must know how to serve and help people properly. So, just wanted to make sure he does that properly” Kiba said.

It was his way of being at odds with Naruto for the Hokage seat. Something that no matter how much time had passed, he was still holding onto it.

“Kiba, there’s no need for you to get that worked-up,” Shino interfered. “Furthermore, had anything been wrong, I am sure Sakura would’ve set Naruto straight by now,” he added.

Naruto started to laugh nervously and put his hand behind his back as Hinata looked at him, smiling.

“Yeaah, haha, I guess you could say that…”

Seeing all that, Sakura smiled warmly. Next to her, Sai didn’t say anything but he did pick on the slight change of atmosphere.

“I’m sure he appreciates everything you do for him and for all the others, you know? You truly have a gentle heart.”

“Do I, though? Because it seems to me sometimes that no matter how hard I try, I always fall short,” Sakura said, remembering the Land of Iron events.

“At least I managed to pull this out okay,” she said.

“Well, sure, you might make mistakes sometimes, yeah. But you’re human. Aren’t we all? Remember the mistakes I made when I first joined Team Seven?”

Sakura smiled for a split second.

“If you guys would’ve judged me as harshly as you judge yourself, I probably wouldn’t even be part of this team,” Sai said. He was subtly trying to make Sakura realize some things.

Sure, he wasn’t the best in the past at picking up situations or deciphering emotions. But being part of Team Seven he had learned a thing or two about all of these things.

And one of them was witnessing how much pressure Sakura Haruno puts on herself. Much more than she would let people see.

That much he had learned before the war, in the Land of Iron.

For her loved ones, Sakura was capable of carrying burdens enough to last not one lifetime, but three. And not just for one person, but multiple at once.

He had been wrong about her, in his initial assessment from back then.

“I am sorry, by the way,” he said.

Sakura looked confused at him.

“What for?” She asked.

“For making you feel guilty about that promise between you and Naruto and being so harsh to you about it,” he said.

“Oh, that…”

“It’s just that… When I saw him that way, I felt this raging fire inside my stomach. And seeing him bottling it up all on his own…” Sai looked to the ground thinking back at that time. His eyes betrayed a slight sense of sadness.

“Yeah, that’s Naruto… that’s why you have to force him to let you help him,” Sakura said.

“Myeah…”

“Anyway, don’t worry about it. It’s all forgotten. I know you had the best intentions behind it,” Sakura replied, smiling.

Sai smiled back. Why? Because unlike the other times he could tell that this time it was genuine. With time he had gotten to know which was which.

“Now all we need to do is make sure him, Hinata and all the others that have suffered lost in this war are taken care of. We need to be there for them,” Sakura said, as she looked forward towards Naruto and Hinata and the others, smiling.

But this time, it was the other type of smile. The one he knew very well what it meant.

She was hiding something.

Between that realization and the meeting the Ino-Shika-Cho team, it wasn’t long.

Shikamaru and Chouji with the others welcomed one another, while Ino came straight-up to Sakura.

“There you are forehead! How are you doing? Still hiding from me?” Ino teased her about their encounter in the morning.

Sai picked-up that up. So it wasn’t something that he had observed. Her friend, Ino could tell it too.

Slightly irritated, Sakura snapped silently at Ino.

“Would you stop with that? We're at a memorial service!” She said, as frustration bursted open through her lips a bit.

“Relax, I was just trying to make you relax for a bit because you seem tense lately. Very tensed Sakura.”

This time Ino spoke seriously. Everyone could notice it, less her.

Well, it was more that she was denying the tension rather than not noticing. Which was even worse, if you think about it.

“Ugh, you’re impossible. I’m going to make sure everyone else is readying their lanterns and ask Hinata when she wants to release them,” Sakura said.

This way she made sure that she can dodge the weird situation.

Ino was now next to Sai.

“She’ll explore one of these days if she doesn’t come to peace with whatever it is that it’s bugging her mind,” Ino said, as if she would be talking to herself.

“Well then, I guess that makes two of us, thinking about the exact thing,” Sai said from behind Ino.

She turned to him, slightly blushing.

“Oh, Sai, hi. I’m… sorry for being rude and not welcoming you earlier.”

She blushed for a little. She and Sai had a good start but he was still kind of the odd ball that she knew nothing about.

However, it was clear as day that he could pick some of the same things about Sakura as her.

Then as they both stood in front of each other, they looked towards where Sakura was.

“Myeah… I guess it does, doesn’t it?” Ino said, as they looked at her longly.

On the other side of the yard, Sakura was next to Tenten and Lee as they were watching Hinata lighting up some candles next to Neji’s tombstone.

She put the picture she carried with her on it for a while until she could light the candles up.

Seeing the picture, Lee clenched his fist once again, and headed towards where Hinata was asking her if he could help with anything.

He was carrying the same braid cut he had in the morning, Sakura noticed.

Curiosity peaked, so she asked Tenten.

“What’s that, what Lee is carrying with him? Looks like a piece of… hair? Braid cut? I’m not sure,” she said.

“Yeah, it’s a piece of braid cut from Neji,” Tenten replied. “It’s a token from Neji to Lee right before the war started. Now that Neji is dead, Lee is carrying it with him all over,” she said.

“Oh, I see…” Sakura said, looking at Lee with warm eyes. Poor him, he was suffering so much. So much pain around her.

Deep down inside her she hated it. She wished she could take away all that pain and misery from her friends’ hearts.

She sighed deeply.

“Yeah… It’s his way of dealing with Neji’s death.”

“How are you dealing with it, though?” Sakura asked Tenten.

“Well, I miss him. I feel as if I’m alone now, but what I can say is that I’m definitely taking it a bit better than Lee, that’s for sure. He was more affected than I am. So, I have to be strong for him,” she said, shrugging and smiling.

“Yeah… it’s like I used to say…. Women have to be strong in order to survive, heh,” Sakura said.

“Well, you are right about that, definitely. And well, with you being the disciple of the fifth Hokage you surely can live up to those words,” Tenten responded.

Sakura blushed for a while. Tenten’s words felt a tad bit weird. She wasn’t exactly sure she knew how to respond to her.

Tenten giggled at Sakura’s sudden confusion.

“You know, I always used to tell those two dorks that I couldn’t wait for the Legendary Tsunade to return so I can be her apprentice. But sadly, you beat me up to it,” she said, smiling, throwing her hands into the air.

“I’m… sorry about that. I mean, not sorry, but you get it.”

“Yeah, no worries. I get what you mean. I wouldn’t have been able to apprentice under her anyway with my skill set. But it’s nice to have you further the torch of that legendary power that she had and to be a resounding name for women into the ninja
world.”

Sakura blushed once more.

“Ah, you’re too kind, thank you!”

“Maybe one day me and you could spar or something. Since Neji’s gone now, I’m left without a partner and well, Lee’s style is different from mine.”

“Oh, I’m sure we can work something out. Plus, we need to keep an eye on Lee and make sure he’s going through this okay, so yeah...” she said as they both looked towards Neji’s grave where Lee was.

At first, they couldn’t see because he was positioned with his back turned on them, but soon his tears casted small shadows and were seen falling on the ground.

Seeing him like that, Sakura’s heart tightened. If only Neji wouldn’t have been lost to them and she wouldn’t have had to see him suffer like this.

Next to him, Hinata gripped his arm as she rose, tearful herself and went towards Naruto, to ask him to help her light-up the lanterns.

Seeing her like that as well, only piled up that feeling of impotency and helplessness in her heart. It made Sakura’s heart tighten even more.

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that they had to fight literal gods with powers way above their own. How were they supposed to win when the power of one or two gods were way above that of an entire world, almost?

How are they supposed to stand that? Sure, they had Naruto and Sasuke. But these two were only two people. And Naruto had been close to death in her arms.

What if something like this would hit the world again? What then? What if something were to happen to Naruto and he’d end-up like Neji did?

Sakura gasped. The mere thoughts paralyzed her for a minute there.

Tenten picked-up on the situation and asked her if she was okay.

“Yeah”, she replied quickly. “It’s just.. Nothing. A mere moment of needing a bit more air, that’s all. The situation is heavy here.”

She had to find a solution. She had to do something with her medical ninjutsu. Something to bring the dead back to life if needed be, because to hell if she were to give-up and stand still.

Her master was right. She had to find a solution. Her father was right. These gods haven’t met Sakura Haruno after a fight with her mother.

With a newfound resolve, Sakura clenched her fist. She won’t give up, no matter how hard the path ahead of her looks.

She’ll fall down seven times while trying? She’d make sure she’ll rise up and try the eight time, and keep going at it. Time and time again. No matter what it takes!

That’s the new promise she made to herself, when her train of thought was interrupted by Naruto in front of her.

Sakura looked to the sides and observed Tenten was next to Lee consoling him, while Ino-Shika-Cho and Sai all had their lanterns lit up. Hinata was helping her team light up theirs.

“You need to light-up yours too, Sakura-chan,” Naruto said looking straight into her eyes.

“Mmyeah, sure,” Sakura nodded.

“Thank you, Naruto,” she said as Naruto made her just carry it while he lit it up for her.

“Let’s leave it to the side for a bit before we release it as we join the others. Hinata wants to say a few words before that.

“Of course, after you,” she said.

“No, after you,” Naruto responded.

They both walked-up to all the others. Naruto and Sakura placed themselves next to Hinata who was next to Lee, while all the others were in the back.

With his picture next to her, Hinata looked down at the tombstone with Neji’s name on it, where the two candles were lit.

She started saying a few words, while others were keeping a solemn silence.

Her voice was trembling between the tears. Sakura placed her hand over her shoulder for comfort.

This helped Hinata recollect and continue with her speech, while all the others listened in respectful silence.

Chapter Text

After Hinata finished her speech, everyone headed towards their lanterns which were already brimming with light.

A small stone kept them tied to the ground until they were ready to fly.

Every member present at the memorial took theirs into their hands, closing their eyes, keeping a moment of silence for Neji’s memory.

Before launching them to the sky, Hinata spoke a few more words.

“May these light your path to better destinies, wherever you are, brother Neji.” She then lifted the lantern to the sky and released it. After her, Naruto, Sakura, Kiba and Shino along with Lee, Tenten and Ino-Shika-Cho team released theirs.

Soon after, when all the lanterns were up in the sky, Lee went to Hinata to pay his respect for Neji’s memory once again.

They both thanked each other for the work of bringing everyone together, at the end, both agreeing that Sakura’s help had been an undeniable factor in all of this.

Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji came to where Hinata was to excuse themselves for they planned to head home immediately.

Their day had been pretty full already and each had important things to take care of the next day.

Before leaving, Hinata, Ino and Shikamaru exchanged a few words of encouragement for each other as they were the ones who suffered the most losses in the war that had just passed.

“If you ever need someone to just talk and hang around, you can always come to me,” Ino said. “After all, our clan compounds are pretty close to each other,” she added.

Hinata bowed in respect and thanked Ino for the offer, saying that she’ll definitely take her offer into consideration.

“Off we go now,” Ino said while all the team paid their respects once more to Neji’s memory.

As they headed towards the exit, Ino looked back once more towards Hinata’s place.

‘I wonder if she’s really caught-up in all that mess, too?’ she asked herself.

But tonight, wasn’t the time to think about that.

Before leaving the premises for good, Ino didn’t forget to go to Sakura to say her goodbyes.

Seated next to Naruto and Sai, Sakura felt Ino immediately approaching. She turned towards her friend.

“I’m just here to say goodbye, not to nag you,” Ino quickly said before Sakura could interject in any way.

“Just… take better care of yourself too, okay?” She said. Looking then towards her teammates, Ino added “You two boys should keep an eye on her for me, okay?” She said, tilting her head towards Sakura.

“Ino!” Sakura said immediately, in a slightly irritated tone. She was a big girl who could handle herself. Didn’t need anyone else to take care of her.

At least in her opinion.

“Well, off I go. You all take care of yourselves, okay?”

Naruto and Sai nodded in agreement while Sakura was still slightly pouting. But then she just let it go, as she realized that at the end of the day, all that Ino wanted was for her to be well.

And looking in perspective, she would’ve done the exact same thing.

After Ino left towards her teammates, Team 7 waved at Shikamaru and Chouji as well, who were waiting for Ino somewhere further away.

Naruto looked longingly at Shikamaru who seemed to be a bit out of his usual ways.

He was never too sociable anyway, but for the past few days he had been quite closed off.

He figured all the war losses took a toll on him after all, so he didn’t want to push in any way.

They would have time to catch-up any of these other days.

The trio was soon approached by Lee and Tenten who were preparing to head off too.

“Once again thank you for everything, Sakura-san!” Lee said, bowing his head in respect.

Sakura’s eyes warmed with compassion towards her comrade.

“There’s no need to thank me, Lee-san. You and Hinata are to thank for all of this. I merely helped with whatever I could” Sakura said.

“But you and Naruto-kun were of tremendous help,” Hinata added as she and her team approached from behind as well.

Naruto and Sakura exchanged looks for a second then turned around to everybody else.

“We just did what we could do best!” they said in unison. As soon as they realized, they both twitched and looked at each other, a tad bit embarrassed.

Hinata looked at both of them and smiled softly. Inside her head she couldn’t help but notice the connection between the two.

If only she could have the same guts as Sakura did.

Thinking back to the promise she made to Naruto before the war, looking at the scene in front of her, it all seemed to pale in comparison.

She looked once more to the sky, as if searching for Neji’s reassurance. She remembered his words from one of their training sessions, filled with such wisdom.

‘Fear is like the darkness. Cold. Whenever you’re uncertain, remember what the Hyūga crest stands for. The light, which is the cold flame. And the cold flame is the fire as we know it. Fire warms us and animates our courage. So, step forward in the warmth of the fire. Walk with courage! One step at a time.’

Hinata smiled fondly remembering his words. She had already taken one step forward in the war, when they had to fight the Ten Tails monsters. She remembered briefly how frightening that felt, but she took it. Now she had to take one more.

But she wasn’t exactly sure where to begin and she definitely wasn’t Sakura. She thought about that as she watched the two, next to each other.

She bit her lower lip for a second and sighed. How could she compete with that?

“Everything alright, Hinata?” Sakura asked, observing her demeanor. Naruto followed Sakura’s observation, surprised.

“Eh? Are you okay, Hinata?” he asked, too.

She closed her eyes, smiled and bowed as she replied to them.

“Yes. it is. It’s just… been a long day,” she said.

“We should all head home,” Shino interfered.

Everybody nodded in unison. The day had surely been long for all of them.

Knowing how relatively far Hinata lives to the cemetery, Kiba interfered.

“Are you going to accompany Hinata home, Shino?” He asked. “At this hour she shouldn’t be walking alone on the streets,” he added.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure Hinata gets home safe,” Shino assured his comrade.

Soon after, Sai interfered.

“I can join, too, since the Hyūga compound is relatively in the vicinity to where I live.”

“I live somewhat in the area, too, and I can accompany you guys as well,” Lee interfered as well.

Kiba nodded in approval.

“That’s great! You boys better take care of her, got it?” He warned.

Hinata smiled candidly. “Kiba-kun, no need to be so incisive. I’m sure everybody is going to keep their promise. Moreover, I… I can walk by myself as well,” she said.

“I say we all walk together up to the ramen shop since it’s a somewhat central point for everyone coming from all directions. And then, from there, we split off. I’m sure someone here would have no issue with paying a visit to the old man either, right, Naruto?” Sai said, teasingly.

“At this hour it’s probably closed,” Naruto tried to deflect.

“Sounds like a plan,” Sakura interfered. “I say we should leave right away.”

Tenten and Kiba interfered shortly after. Given that their homes were at the opposite directions than the agreed point, and a lot closer to the cemetery, they let the others know they would be taking another route.

“Take care of Hinata!” Kiba said in a loud tone as he walked away.

On the other hand, Tenten saluted everybody, not before informing Lee that she’ll go by his house the next day after visiting Gai.

Before leaving for good, she and Sakura shared a glance and nodded at each other, as to recall their previous pact regarding Lee.

After the two left, the rest of Konoha 11 walked together to the agreed point. Once they were there, they started to split, each into the direction of their homes.

“Well, I have to go this way,” Sakura said, pointing behind her the path leading everyone to the gates of Konoha.

Before leaving, Hinata bowed once again and thanked Sakura for all her help.

“Oh, I told you, no need to thank me, Hinata!” Sakura said, reassuringly.

Noticing that the direction of her house is literally on the opposite side from almost everybody, Lee asked.

“But… Sakura-san! Does that mean you’re going all alone to your house?”

“Oh, it’s ok, no worries. I’m used to it, already… Sometimes I have to stay long hours at the hospital and…”

She didn’t even finish her sentence, because Naruto cut her short.

“She’s not going alone. I’ll accompany her,” he said, taking a step forward.

“Always a gentleman,” Lee said, smiling candidly.

Hinata smiled, but inside, she felt as her heart started to feel really tight. She would’ve wished for him to go with them instead, but… it was also true that they couldn’t let Sakura go alone at night either.

She kept her composure, as she smiled through everything.

“Well then, we should get going before it turns too late,” Sai added.

“Yeah, we should,” Hinata agreed, as she looked to the sky. The flames from the lanterns still flickered in the dark. She recalled Neji again at that moment.

Naruto and Sakura said their goodbyes and started walking towards Sakura’s place. As the others turned around, Hinata glanced once more at the backs of Sakura and Naruto moving away from them.

___________

On the way to Sakura’s home, she inquired with Naruto about his health.

“Everything’s okay, I guess,” he said, shrugging. “Nothing out of the ordinary, other than the fact that well… I’m missing a limb & it gets kind of hard to eat my ramen now.”

Sakura giggled a bit...

“You’re always the same…” she said, between the smiles.

“But other than that, all is well? Does your body show any changes? Do you have any symptoms? Any side effects from the war that you could tell me about, face value, without us having to go into full scan?” she asked.

“Mmmm, not really… Granny Tsunade asked me the same today. And she asked me to tell her more about how I managed to build Kakashi sensei’s eye in the war and uuh, keep Gai-sensei from dying. I explained to her how I kind of did it but… I also told her that I’m unable to do that for myself currently, no matter how much I try.”

“You can’t do that anymore?” Sakura asked, surprised.

“No… it’s like… it’s gone. I don’t know how to tell you. But Granny Tsunade told me that this all seems like I was disconnected from the source that provided me with it, or something like that.

That seal thing I had in the war from Super Gramps Six Paths or so. I don’t know, something like that,” he said.

“I see,” Sakura replied, quickly getting pensive.

‘The mechanics of this sound so much like how the seal between us and Katsuyu-sama functions’ she thought.

‘But what he managed to do with it is beyond anything we can do with normal medical ninjutsu. Only Byakugou can do that, but the prerequisites for it…’ she paused the thoughts for a moment. ‘It’s the kind of power that I would’ve needed to have to keep him alive when Kurama was extracted from him.’

She then remembered the dream she had the other day.

Sakura was so deeply lost in her thoughts, that she didn’t even realize Naruto was asking her for a third time if she felt alright and how things were going for her.

“Eeh? Oh! Yes, yes. Everything is alright, don’t worry!” she replied, smiling.

“Just, you know… a lot of work at the hospital after the war. A lot of patients with all kinds of injuries. Then there’s your arm…” she said, trying to deflect from the thoughts that had just gone through her mind.

For a moment Naruto felt that something was off, but the excuse she was offering was pretty good, so he couldn’t exactly pinpoint if something was wrong or not. But he trusted her to open-up if needed be, like she always did. Pushing her wouldn’t help, and he wouldn’t start doing that just now, after so many years of doing the exact opposite.

“We also hoped that we could somehow maybe get help from you in this whole limb situation. That maybe, somehow, you would be able to do it again or that we can work it out from Hashirama Dono’s cells. But, well, as you know we’re where we are,” she said.
Naruto’s tone lowered, along with his eyes which fell to the ground. “Yeah… I know what you mean…”

Sakura looked at him, slightly worried. But then, he soon changed his demeanor and brought back his well-known signature smile.

“But I have all the faith in the world that if someone is going to solve this up it is you and granny Tsunade!” He said, confidently.

That only made Sakura smile warmly, but behind that smile the tension started gripping her muscles and building up inside her like a water dam that is close to exploding. The images from the nightmares she had with him dying on her lap, while her medical ninjutsu wouldn’t work, kept haunting her.

But she didn’t let Naruto see that, so she swallowed all that tension back inside herself and kept her cool.

Lucky for her, they were already close to her home when this happened. So, all she had to do was keep it cool for a little while longer.

“We’re already here,” Naruto noticed, looking at the building where Sakura’s apartment was.

“Thank you for walking me home, Naruto,” she said, smiling.

“Yeah, no worries. See you… around,” he said, slightly blabbering. He wasn’t exactly sure why. Maybe because the realization of where they stood was getting blurrier and blurrier. With Sasuke technically back, he didn’t feel like he wanted to interfere. Not to mention, he couldn’t help but ponder over those questions his mind asked a few days ago. About destinies and feelings and choices. All in the context of their relationship… Well, it got weirder and weirder.

But, anyway, now wasn’t really the time to think about that. One thing at a time.

“See you at the hospital,” she said, smiling.

“Mhmm,” he said, nodding.

Then they said their goodbyes while Naruto headed towards the Uzumaki quarters, and Sakura went up to her place.

___________

As soon as she entered the house, Sakura announced she’s home to the light being on in the other room.

After taking off her sandals, she went to see which of her parents was the one still up. Both of them couldn’t be, as the lights in the rest of the house were off.

Only when both were up the lights in the whole house were on, as her mother kept walking around the house doing different things so she used to leave them like that.

She thought it must be her father since he’s the one who usually stayed up late sometimes, to read a newspaper or two.

He had this habit of going for one in the early morning and read some of it.

That, of course, until Mebuki was to wake-up and prepare breakfast and they both started the day, which meant first preparing everything necessary for Sakura’s school and then, continuing with their daily lives.

Mebuki, at home taking care of whatever household chores, while Kizashi went to his daily job. He worked in aquaculture, and he was always found around rivers and fishes, making sure their habitat is always cared for.

The Haruno family’s whole existence was based on Kizashi’s work of fish selling. It wasn’t much, but it was an honest job.

After that honest job, he always used to come back home, help Mebuki with some of the house chores if there were any that needed to be taken care of.

Then, after Sakura was back from school and they had taken care of anything regarding her and anything else that was to do for that day, he would sit down, calmly, and continue to read the other part of the newspaper he hadn’t managed to read in the morning.

His mind always had to stay occupied with something, otherwise he would crack jokes all the time or talk continuously for hours about Heaven knows what. Anything. Everything you can think of.

At times, Sakura thought that that's where she inherited her mind abilities from. Because there was no one else she knew as avid for having their mind occupied with something, than her dad’s.

It was with him that she first took a look at the trivia games.

The papers her dad would read had sections of those games that they would both play together.

And that’s how her memorization passion started. They would play the games and then Sakura would retain the information she found out from those games in her mind. And it wasn’t long until her mind started consuming everything that was up for memorization and played as many trivia games as she could find.

Recalling all that, Sakura smiled. She looked at her dad longly for a little while from the hallway that led to the kitchen.

The paper would cover Kizashi’s eyes, but when he heard no movement for a while, he started pulling it down, jokingly saying to his daughter “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

That’s another thing they used to do when Sakura was a child. Play hide and seek whenever she came from outside and was all sad due to other kids not wanting to play with her.

He would make some time for them to play and would try to soothe away the hard blow of being rejected by the other kids.

Moving to Konoha wasn’t an easy decision for the family. Sure, for them, the adults, it wasn’t that big of a deal, but for Sakura as a kid it was and you could see it from the stories she used to tell her parents about whenever she went outside to play.

Being from a non-famous clan like the inhabitants of Konoha was what probably made the other kids reject her.

And the rejection from wanting to belong hurt the most.

That’s why, whenever he could, he did what he could best: offer his bud all the love it needed to grow. A place in his arms where she knows she belongs to.

Sure, Mebuki was different in this aspect. Her model was more the tough love model.

She would always lecture Sakura about how she needs to be her own person and not mind what the others say or do.

Because this world is a tough one and people will hurt her when she least expects it.

Because that’s how people are. They hurt other people. So, she must toughen up if she’s ever going to live in this world, or else she’ll be eaten alive.

It’s that fire inside of hers she had whenever she would fight with her that Sakura would need to let out.

That’s what Mebuki would always say to her whenever Sakura would ask why they aren’t like the other families.

Such a different approach than her dad’s.

And that’s what later on became a paradox to Sakura. Her mother would talk about that fire, that determination of self that she would need to have, yet… they never did something to elevate their status in the society they lived in. So how could she truly have given her that advice?

It was something that she never understood. Even to this day. But who knows? Maybe it wasn’t time for it to be understood. Yet.

“I’m home!” Sakura said, smiling warmly.

“Welcome home, little cherry!” Kizashi replied, putting his paper down. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah, I’m just very tired with the whole day that’s been at work,” Sakura said, staying in front of the kitchen, leaning into the wall.

She didn’t quite have the mood for a long long talk, so she excused herself and told her dad she’s going to skip their talk for now as she needs to rest.

Kizashi nodded and told her not to worry as he was preparing to finish his endeavor too and go to his room.

He wished her to sleep well and then took the paper back into his hands. There was that one more news he needed to finish reading.

___________

Back up her room, Sakura closed the door after her and sighed hard, thinking about all the ideas that were going through her mind at the moment: her family, her work as a medic ninja, the lost comrades in the war, Naruto, her nightmares involving him, her helplessness feeling, the urge she felt inside her to never let someone die while on her watch. Not only that. To not even be close to death.

All those things were circling right and left through her brain. She had this drive inside of hers to never let someone die while on her watch, and she knew very well the implications of what she was wishing for.

It was something she and Tsunade had discussed when her master first talked to her about the whole knowledge involving the seal she now proudly wore on her forehead. Along with the dos and don’ts regarding human life and its sacredness.

‘To walk on the realms of immortality for those fleeting moments of battle, the price we must pay is that of our own life,’ she recalled the words of her master.

‘Anything other than that means to trample the natural balance of the world and interfere in the grand scheme of creation itself.’

As those lessons echoed inside her mind, Sakura headed to the wardrobe, took from there the pajamas, a towel and headed off to the bath. Because oh dear, she so needed a hot bath.

As she headed to the bathroom, she couldn’t help but think even more about the lessons with her master.

‘This is such a powerful technique, but it’s not meant to make us live forever. Living forever is a sin that only those like Orochimaru bathe in. Who forgot that life has an order on which it functions and a sacredness that must be respected and revered for the way it is.

But sadly, that’s something my former teammate forgot or refused to even consider after the death of his parents. The desire to bring back those he cared for deeply made him lose sight of that very principle and he started sacrificing life that had its course for that which was no longer with us. It maddened him.’

When she got inside the room, Sakura turned on the heating system to warm-up the water. And it wasn’t long until she was inside the hot water.

As her muscles relaxed, more thoughts came down her mind. She knew very well the kind of technique she would want to develop, but something bugged her mind.

‘If I am ever going to do that, am I disrespecting that very sacredness Master told me about?’

No answer came to her, so she dived even deeper into the water. She wanted to release the tension she felt in her muscles and that erratic feeling that was bumping inside the chambers of her mind.

‘If I still want to save someone's life without having to pay for it with the price of my life, is that me breaking that code?’

Her mind had just carried it back to the tensei ninjutsu Chiyo had used on Gaara. A life, paid with another life. That seemed to be fair.

But she was a medical ninja. Her job was to save, protect and make sure she never dies on the battlefield until the lives of the party members have come to an end.

So, wasn’t that a bit paradoxical? Was it her truly disrespecting the sanctity of life by thinking of finding a technique that would make her not have the drawbacks of using Byakugou?

It wasn’t like she wanted to find something similar to what Orochimaru did or even the Impure World Reincarnation jutsu she witnessed in the war. She wouldn’t want to sacrifice a life that had its course for another that ended. No. She would never do something like that. That was for sure. She just wanted to be able to avoid unnecessary death and if needed be to be able to bring someone back from death’s door, even when they seemed they have crossed that line.

Basically, something similar to…

And that’s when her mind clicked! The Impure World Reincarnation jutsu… the ability to bring back the dead back to life, if needed be.

That’s the kind of power similar to what she had in mind for saving people. Because one second late and your medical ninjutsu cannot help you.

An image from her nightmares with a dead Naruto on her lap, flashed inside her mind once more.

She shook her head and to avoid that thought, she got back to the initial one she had.

‘But the Impure World Resurrection uses sacrifices as well and… I… don’t want that. That would truly mean I am trampling on the sanctity of life and breaking master’s code. Ugh, what else can I do, to figure a way to counter the drawbacks of Byakugou while being able to bring someone back from the dead, if need be, but without using human sacrifice to do so?’

Sakura kept wondering and didn’t quite find an answer for a little while.

No matter how long she pondered, the answer didn’t come to her and the water was getting colder. She needed to let it go for now and go rest.

So, she took herself out of the bath and after drying her body, Sakura headed straight down to the room and prepared to sleep.

As she put her head on the pillow, she made a mental map of the things she would have to take care of for the next day, that would bring her a step closer to her goal. She would need to investigate more the connections between Creation of All Things, Creation Rebirth, Byakugou and their mechanics so she can understand how to combat the drawbacks. After all Tsunade did say those were connected.

On the other hand, she thought about looking more extensively into tensei ninjutsu and Impure World Resurrection. She felt as if it was definitely some information there that would definitely help her. The fact that their mechanics involve bringing back the soul of a departed one, there must surely be something in their mechanics that would be of help to her.

The only remaining thing that puzzled her mind was one thing and one thing only: how would she practice such a technique since it required someone to be dead in the first place? How can she practice the resurrection part of it?

That was a heavy question with no answer. One that she needed to not think about right now or else she would find herself having a sleepless night and there was a lot of work at the hospital for the other day.

Not to mention if Tsunade would see her tired, she’d surely scold her and start asking questions.

And for the moment Sakura wasn’t sure that this was the kind of inquisition she’d want from her master.

She was walking a thin line between right and wrong, and her master’s words echoed deep inside her.

But at the same time this desire of hers packed with the fact that both wished that the drawbacks to using Creation Rebirth’s Byakugou wouldn’t be so severe, amounted to something.

No matter how much they had searched, there wasn’t anything yet to counter the effects of the technique. Their discussion a few days ago in Tsunade’s office reminded Sakura that, at least, in terms of advancing Byakugou they were on the same page.

Plus, hadn’t her master said that the reason she started looking into recovery ninjutsu was because she lost dear people? At least in that respect, she was still walking down the path of her master.

The thin line was the ‘bringing people back from the dead’ part.

That made Sakura close to walking on Orochimaru’s footsteps and that was something she didn’t want to do.

The amount of suffering and horror he had brought to the ones close to her and all the other people he experimented on, under the name of scientific ninjutsu advancement was horrendous.

If something was sure, it was that she did not want to be remotely close to that.

But… How else do you even study a technique like that? How else can you practice, make observations, develop and whatnot? The number one gap is that you need a subject.

A dead one. And usually, dead people brought to life required live ones being sacrificed.

So that was a no. A big no no.

Okay, that was enough. She had to go to sleep the way she aimed to because this was the second time her mind slipped into the multitude of questions and that all-nighter she told herself she wanted to avoid, was getting closer and closer.

So, she drew one last breath and then closed her eyes. She would sleep, one way or the other.

___________

The sun’s rays entered her window as the break of a new day was already here. Being haunted by so many thoughts and unanswered questions the previous night, Sakura woke-up feeling quite tired.

But, there was no room for complaints, so she quickly got out of bed.

This morning wasn’t going to be one of those mornings where she stays and eats breakfast with her family.

She had to be really early in Tsunade’s office to continue working on Naruto’s prosthetic arm, plus all the other work after the war. There were still all the wounded soldiers that needed to be registered in the archives of Konoha’s reports and so many of them had yet to be registered. Then, there’s the aspect of monitoring their estate and all that an event such as the aftermath of a great war entailed.

After she dressed herself, Sakura sprinted right to the door where she quickly started to put her shoes on.

“Sakura, your breakfast!” Mebuki shouted from the kitchen.

“I don’t have time this morning, mom!” She said, as she was finishing putting on her second shoe.

In the blink of an eye, Mebuki was already behind her with two packs of food.

Sakura turned her back and flinched at the sight of her mother.

“Didn’t know you were there. So fast!”

Holding the packs of food high up in the air, Mebuki smirked.

“I am the best and fastest cook you’ll ever know, I already told you that but you’ll never believe me. Anyway, I thought you might not eat breakfast at home this morning since your father told me you got back late last night. So, here, I prepared the breakfast,” she said as putting her right hand a bit higher than her left one, “and here it’s the lunch,” she added, switching movements of her hands.

Sakura looked at her mom longly for a moment. She felt conflicted.

Why would someone as her not want more in this life? Why was she so content with just that? In the world they lived in, it almost felt like a prerequisite to be a ninja. Yet, her mom and dad were just content with being part of a family with nothing special about them, in a village full of elites.

So many times she felt like they were cutting off her wings with their way of being. But then again, in terms of caring for her this way, they never faltered.

If only they would’ve wanted a little bit more from life, maybe now they could’ve helped her in dealing with all these turbulences she was going through in her career and personal life.

But… There was no time to think about those things now. She had to be somewhere. Not to mention that pondering too much about these things wouldn’t help anyway.

It’s not like her parents would somehow magically turn into ninjas with a great knowledge in the field that she needs help with.

Sakura smiled slightly as she reconciled with those contradictory feelings relating to her parents. She looked at her mother from bottom up, as she rose off after finishing putting both her shoes on.

“Thanks, mom!” Sakura said. “I got to go now,” she added, grabbing the packs of food. Then she shouted a salute back at her father who was in the kitchen.

“See you both for dinner!” was the last thing she said after slamming the door behind her.

Then, she quickly ran towards the hospital, where she and her master had a lot of work to do for the day.

Not to mention, there were certain things that Sakura desperately needed to get intel on.

Once she arrived, Sakura went straight for Tsunade’s office to announce to her master that she’s there.

As soon as she was in front of the office, she knocked on the door.

The voice from the other side of the wall invited her in.

“Good morning, master! Just wanted to let you know I have arrived” Sakura said, as she opened the door.

Tsunade raised her eyes from the paperwork that was standing on her desk and looked in her direction. She saw Sakura holding two bags of food.

“You haven’t eaten your breakfast yet?” She asked.

Sakura looked down to her packs of food. “Uhhh, not y-” she was about to say when Tsunade cut her short.

“Go eat first and then report here. We have a lot of paperwork to fill out today and we have to go over the situation with Naruto’s prosthetic hand.”

“Understood!” Sakura said as she took herself out of the room. Then, she went to eat her breakfast so that she could quickly return to her duty.

Before that, she made a mental note of the things she wanted to get to, without raising any suspicion in Tsunade’s mind about what she wanted to do.

It was a good cover that they already had that previous discussion a few days back, as she could put it all on that if needed be.

The feeling though, was totally weird. In a way she felt like she was betraying Tsunade. And she didn’t feel okay because after all Tsunade was the very foundation she stood on. The person who helped her become what she always desired the most.
It didn’t feel like she would only betray her master, but her own self.

However, on the other side, the strong desire to push the boundaries of medical ninjutsu so she can never feel so powerless and helpless as she did when Naruto was about to die in front of her, was a fire that burned inside of her even brighter than the sun.

Not to mention… having her think about it, in a way it’s pretty close to what her master, Tsunade, did. Her desire stemmed from the same place. The things they wanted were similar, in a way.

She remembered another one of their discussions from when Tsunade first told her about the seal and the ninja art she was about to get acquainted with.

How the reason she didn’t fall to Orochimaru’s ploys, back before she returned to Konoha to be a Hokage, was because, in essence, she and her former teammate were approaching the same thing. Just in different ways.

Both her and Orochimaru have sought immortality. The only difference was the intention behind it. Why they sought it.

Which made Sakura go even deeper into her thinking process, as she connected the dots of that initial story when Tsunade first told her about the technique, with the one that she learned recently.

Orochimaru wanted to do it for personal gains and selfish desires, while her master did it because she wanted to be able to keep the ones she cared for deeply closer to her for a longer while.

She wanted to be able to have the power to protect them. Which in essence was the same thing, reasoning and intention as her master.

The only difference was that the way Sakura wanted to develop this was at an incredibly close border to what Orochimaru was doing.

She was walking a dangerously thin line between the right and wrong principles of which one would want to develop such a technique, as her master had told her so many times.

Yes, no matter how much she thought about it again, the conclusion she got to was the same way as the one she did last night. Nothing had changed, she was still in the same position.

Her food was almost ready. She drew a long breath, started packing her things and cleaned the table after she finished eating.

After that, she took a very small moment to regain control of her composure and thoughts and then went straight to Tsunade’s office.

“Come in!” Tsunade said, as she heard the knock again.

This time she didn’t even raise her head from all the files and just invited Sakura to come in and take a seat.

“Today we have to take these reports with the new enlisted patients we have and treatments we are applying, to the Hokage’s office,” she informed Sakura.

“As you can see, our work after the war is yet not completely over,” Tsunade said.

“I know…” Sakura said, slightly saddened, remembering all the people she had to check-up.

If they didn’t have issues with their bodies, they had issues with their mind. This for some reason made her think about Naruto and Sasuke. Her mind always wandered her back to the
Academy days when they were fighting each other.

She understood now, being a lot older, how affected they were by their condition and the toll it took on their mind and spirit.

She wondered how many children were in that same situation as they were, right now? How many were given for a brief moment the perfect life in a dream world, where they were cared for and loved, only for them to wake up back to a cold reality, where those very basic needs were lacking?

Or any other person who saw themselves living a dream life, be it of any type, only to be called back to a harsh reality.

The patients they had seen lately, those registered with effects of the aftermath of the Infinite Tsukuyomi, most of them looked hollow. Looked like their spirits broke.

Some of those who she saw, said that there is no point in living life as they had it anymore. That they don’t see any purpose to it.

Why did they have to get back to a life of suffering? Why couldn’t they stay where they were? Was it so bad to have a life filled with fulfillment? What is it that bad at wanting a life like that?

And no matter how much she tried to comfort them, she often felt like she had no success, truly.

They too, were in the back of her mind among all the other things. There were so many perspectives weighing down on her shoulders.

Tsunade had tried to help them all as much as she could.

Rearranging their mental pathways proved itself to be a short-term solution, but Sakura knew deep inside herself that a long-term solution needed to be found. One that doesn’t help this only from a somewhat mechanical perspective, but a spiritual one, too.

Their mind and soul connection needed to be healed as well, not just the body one. But who could do that?

“Master, I have been thinking… for the cases that have been gravely affected by the Infinite Tsukuyomi, shouldn’t we open a special section?” Sakura asked. “Your work with the medical jutsu of rerouting their pathways away from receptors of pain is truly a great help in terms of short time solutions. But...” Sakura paused for a minute.

She tried to gather her thoughts and composure and to explain her idea better, without offending Tsunade in any way, because that was the last thing she wanted. All she wanted was to help everyone.

Tsunade paused her browsing through the files in front of her and looked directly to Sakura.

“What I mean is that, I feel as if they need a long-term solution. We need to find a way to heal their minds and spirits and, correct me if I am wrong but for that we have yet to develop a medical art that deals with that aspect. Granted, until now it has never been something we needed as the whole world hasn’t been through a mass hypnosis that showed them a perfect life. But now, with all due respect, given that this has happened, I think such a measurement is highly necessary,” Sakura said, ending her plea while she bowed her head in respect.

Tsunade somewhat smirked proudly. She followed Sakura closely and saw how delicately she brought the whole issue to the forefront.

“You should express these kinds of points of view with more passion and determination, you know?”

“Eh?” Sakura said, confused.

“Trying to tip-toe around me from the fear of not offending me isn’t the way to go about this. I’m your master, yes. But you know as they say, students are always meant to surpass their masters. Which means we are bowed to get old and our ways to get redundant.”

Sakura tried to excuse herself and assure Tsunade that that’s not what that meant. But the woman knew her better than that.

“You think that when I came up with the idea of a system of medical ninjas I tip-toed around The Third and his Advisors out of fear to not hurt their feelings and rub them the wrong way? Hah, you poor child. You have yet to learn some things about how these things work. If you want to do something in this life, you have to fight for it with all you’ve got. Break through some egoes if need be. I’d say prepare from now if you truly want to do something like that.”

She soon ended her efforts of trying to make it look like she wasn’t, because yes. That was the issue. The fear back on the head of her mind was that her master would understand this the wrong way.

‘She knows me so well,’ Sakura thought. ‘How can I ever keep something away from her… like… that? I have to be more assertive otherwise I’ll start raising suspicions.’

“You are right, master, I’m sorry for not being fully open from the very get go. But yes, that’s what I truly think. Now, I am not sure how to go about this, but I feel that it’s something that needs to be done,” Sakura said.

“Well, first of all you have to prepare a report where you present the project with scope, estimated costs and all those other necessary details. Then take it to Kakashi and see what he says. If he can allocate funds from the budget or not. Think it well, think it through very well.

Think mostly about the costs and human resources. Who should fill what positions and with what qualifications? Take into consideration the type of necessary training they would need and write it all down. Write down the whole plan, up to the smallest detail,” Tsunade advised Sakura.

She couldn’t help but feel so proud of what she was hearing though.

The young flower in front of her had grown so much, from that frail little girl that walked into her office all those years back.

Back then, she was like an unpolished rock. But she knew the pressure it takes to make a diamond. And she applied it from the very get go, no questions asked.

And no matter how hard things were, Sakura endured them: hours in training, unslept nights where she accumulated all that knowledge, then the practical applications of her training. Everything. She had done it all with sweat and sometimes tears, that she oh so often tried to hide, but she did it all without complaining once!

And under all that pressure, that little diamond shone the most in the battlefield. And she resisted so much better to its conditions and aftermath compared to how she had done it when she first met the horrors of war.

On one hand, Tsunade felt that Sakura had long surpassed her in certain ways.

To be an elite caliber medical ninja, in the vision Tsunade had, one would need to possess a strong spirit that never wavers and it’s always hyper focused on the job it has to do.

A blend of the compassion, delicacy and reverence for the life of a human being, but the excellence and the precision of a cutting-edge machinery. Everything, refined to the highest perfection.

Because yes, in Tsunade’s book perfection existed and you had to attain it, if you were to be the kind of medic ninja she envisioned.

And Sakura Haruno, the frail girl turned titanium became the very embodiment of that ideal. Not only that, but she was even surpassing that ideal, now, in front of her very eyes.

But on the other hand, she still had to learn how to be more assertive, especially when it comes to authority figures. Because if she were to truly start building this new project, she’d meet a lot of aversion from authority figures.

Sure, the times weren’t as they once were, but still. Administrative work was never easy.

“Understood, master! I’ll start on that report right away. I believe I’ll do it in parallel with our work because it gives me the opportunity to study, live the experience firsthand so I can truly embody and explain best why such measures are necessary,” Sakura said.

Tsunade then handed her the reports she had to take to the Hokage’s office, and while reaching to grab them, Sakura asked Tsunade how things were going with Hashirama’s remains.

“Well, as you know, the energy is very volatile and hard to stabilize. So we’re still at that. I am still trying to find a way to stabilize it so we can attach it to Naruto’s arm. As you know, the tests conducted showed that they would be a match. But, before I can attach it, I need to stabilize it first or else Naruto Uzumaki will be left limbless. That idiot!” Tsunade commented.

“Yeah…” Sakura agreed. “From what I understood from him last night, you talked to him about the power I witnessed him having in the war,” she added.

“Yes, indeed. But from what it seems, he… doesn’t possess that particular skill anymore ever since that specific seal off his hand disappeared,” Tsunade said.

“I’m very much assuming that it has a connection to Creation of All Things, if I am being honest with you. From what he described to me, the mechanics of that jutsu are highly similar to Creation of All Things where I drew most of my medical ninjutsu from,” she added as she kept pondering.

Sakura listened carefully to her master.

“In a way, the mechanical principle sounds highly similar to that of Healing Resuscitation Regeneration. It’s the jutsu we used on the late Neji Hyūga when we used his hair as a medium to reconstruct his damaged body tissues. The only thing is that Naruto’s one was without a medium.”

“But then shouldn’t Healing Resuscitation Regeneration work on Naruto, too?” Sakura asked, confused.

“Well, the problem with that jutsu is that in essence it’s highly similar to Creation Rebirth in the sense that it reconstructs the damaged parts, but there’s a trick to it. It only works with smaller areas and organs. That idiot lost half of his arm. Plus, it has to be done as close to the time the person has been injured or else, if too much time passes, it doesn’t work anymore.

So, in Naruto’s case we have both variables: larger damaged area and too much long time passed since they fought and you found them,” Tsunade told Sakura.

“In Neji’s case it was different because I sent the medical troops after them immediately, and by the time the afternoon came, they were found and brought to me in intensive care.”

“And Byakugou is out of question, because in order to use that to regrow it we’d have to have his energetic matrix and we both know how long that takes to map out. Only after that we’d be able to do it. And that would mean Naruto has to stay and focus for at least 3 years to be able to get his own seal where his power matrix is stored and activate Byakugou to regrow it,” Sakura added herself.

“And we both know how good he’s at standing still, don’t we?” Tsunade asked jokingly, trying to diffuse the situation.

They both started laughing at that thought and for a moment the seriousness of that heavy moment dispersed.

But it wasn’t long before they were back to trying to unravel the mysteries.

“Well, from what it seems there are two answers here,” Tsunade said. “We either manage to build him an arm from my grandfather’s remains or he stays limbless. One of which we don’t desire.”

Sakura nodded.

“If only he could find a way to connect back to that source that gave him that initial power in the war, maybe that way the limb reconstruction would be easier,” Sakura said. “I wonder what exactly it’s the trick with that power, since in essence it works with energy itself. Why couldn’t Naruto do it?”

“Well, that’s a question that needs extensive research, the same way studying my grandfather’s cell does. At least we know that one works since Madara used it for so many years. And so did Danzo, as we managed to find out from that girl, Karin, whom Kakashi brought to the village, the one we held incarcerated for interrogation.”

“Yeah, I remember that,” Sakura said, slightly nervous. Remembering those times were still somewhat of a traumatic experience for her. She had felt all kinds of feelings back that time: anger, frustration, impotence, shock, fear, abandonment, jealousy. All those piled up at the same time. She had to heal the girl. A girl, just like her, that Sasuke had just injured to death. She remembers even now how she felt her heart starting to race as the shock fell and began to seize her very being at the sight of seeing Sasuke doing that. It was hard to forget such an experience, indeed.

But she shook it off and quickly got back to the reality she was currently in. And that’s when her mind got a moment of radiance and connected the dots.

“Master!” Sakura burst out. “Maybe, what we need to do is find a way to stabilize Hashirama-sama’s cells and combine it with the Healing Resuscitation Regeneration technique. Use his cells as a medium to regrow Naruto’s limb,” she said.

“I know that you said that it’s highly volatile, but I just realized… Wasn’t Kurama a mass of highly volatile energy as well? Naruto in the end managed to control that volatility. As we know, in the war, he fought alongside Kurama. He somehow managed to get access to the source of Kurama’s very power and use it as a weapon. I’m sure that he’ll find a way to be able to control Hashirama-sama’s cells as well!” Sakura said, in complete excitement.

As she told her master that, she felt her heart being filled with complete enthusiasm.

She realized at the same time in parallel with her ever working double mind, that she had found the missing link in her searches from last night, as well.

The only variable missing in her plan then was the human sacrifice she didn’t want to have to make.

But now, all she had to do was closely study Hashirama’s cells and use them as a medium for what she had in mind.

The fire she felt burning inside herself felt like it’s consuming her old being only to rebirth a new one like a phoenix.

She felt like she finally found the key to what looked to be an impossible lock!

Now, all she had to do was put in motion the very plan that her mind mapped out the minute that door opened and the light of the realization hit her.

“Sakura, you’re absolutely right!” Tsunade said too, in amazement. “As expected from my dear pupil,” she added. With that realization in mind, there was no time to lose. They had to start working on it right away.

“Now go! Go to Kakashi and give him these reports and then come back so we can start putting all that in motion. In the meantime, I’ll tell Shizune to make all the necessary preparations!”

Sakura nodded, got up from the seat and took the dossiers containing the reports.

She saluted her master and then went straight to the door. Then, she headed to the hospital’s exit with the destination set: Kakashi’s Hokage office.

On the road, she had one thing in mind: who could be the subject of this experiment of hers? The trial of attaining a power beyond the medical ninjutsu one, which failed her in her nightmares where Naruto stood cold in her arms? A power that allowed her to bring back life from death’s plane if needed be?

As she continued heading towards Kakashi’s office and thought about possible people she could try it with, a single one came to mind. One whose return she was certain would make everyone’s lives a little happier.

Seeing the heaviness of their suffering brought her a great deal of pain. So, in the delight of her realization that she found a way to possibly be able to do what she wanted, she thought of that one person.

A person who many considered that he shouldn’t have been dead. That there was a long path of life in front of them to walk down to. That it was cut too short, too soon. Another one that she wasn’t in time to save: Neji’s, the Hyūga genius.

Chapter Text

As soon as Sasuke left his hideout, Orochimaru turned back to his rather peculiar guest. On the way to his chambers, Orochimaru began untying the bandage around his palm, which hid the puzzling symbol residing on his body.

But, as soon as the last swaddle was removed, Orochimaru’s eyes looked in amazement at the center of his palm. The symbol was now gone.

“What is the meaning of this?” He thought. It had just been there just a moment ago. Puzzled, he rushed to his room to get more answers.

As soon as he arrived in the front of his chambers, he opened the door and immediately started interrogating his guest.

“The mark on my hand that you put there earlier disappeared. Why?” Orochimaru said, fixated on his guest.

Fukanōna smiled slightly. “Do not worry, for your lifespan is no longer in danger. The thought of questioning mere existence is thing of the past now. Have I not told you already that no longer should your lifespan concern you?”

Orochimaru’s expression quickly turned into a distorted one.

“That still doesn’t answer my question. Why did the symbol disappear? Furthermore, you said we are linked. I’d like more details on how exactly that is…”

“Ah, as curious as ever…” Fukanōna said.

“Well, your riddles didn’t offer me much of a chance now, did they? So now that the linking has been completed and you have me at your mercy, why don’t you tell me what exactly this linking you speak of, entails? I did my part, after all. Now it’s your turn,” Orochimaru said, moving to the side of the door. “We’ve got all the time in the world now, don’t we, as per your own words,” he continued, slithering his eyes towards his guest.

“Not to mention, you seem to know a lot about me, about us all, for some reason,” he said, raising his hands into the air.

Fukanōna smirked, aware that the snake didn’t like the position he was in. Someone with more knowledge than himself...

But he was right. It was time for Fukanōna to complete his part of the deal, so he decided to start unraveling the mystery.

His voice turned dark, his stare colder than death itself. As if those white piercing eyes weren’t ominous enough already.

“We have been watching you for millennia.”

“We?” Orochimaru thought. Who was this we he was talking about? Who really were these… gods or whatever they were? And, millennia?

As twisted as everything sounded, his own cold blood couldn’t help but start boiling from realizing that… A life longer than humanly possible. This person was being truthful, in a way at least.

He really was making it possible for his, what seemed to be, long-forgotten goal to be attainable… a life so long that it would allow him to truly uncover the world’s deepest secrets. Uncover the condition all life must await. Death, and how to defeat it. To be able to attain the knowledge behind all. Behind everything. Creation itself.

The mere possibility to acquire all the jutsus of the world...

Orochimaru’s body couldn’t help but betray his emotions, as he started subtly trembling from all the excitement given the position he was in. The magnitude of what everything could generate was grand for him.

No matter how much he tried to keep it all under control, from the muscles in his body to the essence of his being, even his signature smirk betrayed him. It was too much excitement to contain, even for someone like him.

Fukanōna couldn’t help but help to observe. After all, for him, Orochimaru was pretty much an open book. As open as someone like him can be.

He knew very well why this solution might work after all his failed attempts. There was a reason he asked the Ōtsutsuki God-king to let him try to work things in this exact way.

“Ask away. I can already see through the veil of who you truly are… the curiosity, the mystery, all this data that you seem to be missing,” Fukanōna said. He knew very well who he was dealing with, so being self-assured and one step ahead of someone like Orochimaru was imperative.

“Well then… where do I begin?” Orochimaru asked. “First, you come with this symbol that has now disappeared from my hand,” he said looking down at his palm, “a symbol that it’s the spitting image of one I’ve seen before, then here you come talking like you own the place,” he said as he pointed at Fukanōna, “and now I find out that there’s a lot more of… you,” he said, finishing his sentence as he sat down the chair next to his door. The only other Ōtsutsuki he knew about, was a presence that had made itself known in the recently concluded war. It felt as though it crawled under his skin. And here he was standing in front of another one…

He intertwined his fingers as he let his elbows rest on the chair’s armrests and fixated his snake eyes on his guest.

“Why don’t you tell me why you’re truly here?” Orochimaru said.

Fukanōna’s face betrayed a conceited smile, too.

“Well then, where do we begin? I know, time and its lines, in your case, can be truly a damning thing. You see, time is like a river… And for a mere mortal like you who knows that a river flows only in one direction, it can be confusing. But to the best of my abilities, I will try to explain it to you as clearly as possible.” Fukanōna said as he looked around the room.

Such small chambers, such crude taste… humans were truly such a lower, benighted form of existence. Such a difference from the old times. In some ways, they had progressed, but in others, they regressed.

Curious creatures, they were, for someone like Fukanōna. But he had no time to ponder over human’s way of life, for his objective was far more important.

However, Orochimaru, as intuitive as ever, invited his guest to sit down too.

“The chair behind the cabinet to your right. Have a seat. I feel like this is going to be a long, long story…” he said.

Before Fukanōna had even sat down, Orochimaru was already leading the discussion.

“You can start by telling me more about this we you spoke of,” he said. “Who are…you?” he asked, with his eyes fully fixated on Fukanōna.

“Well then… We are known throughout time as the Ōtsutsuki gods. Or, at least that’s how you earthlings knew us, throughout your short existential history.”

“Earthlings… what do you mean by that? Where exactly do you come from to refer to us as such?” Orochimaru asked again.

“You seem to know enough about us already. The moment I entered your chambers, you were quick to note that you are but a mere mortal among gods. So, tell me, how much do you know about us?”

“Not much,” Orochimaru said. “I only… let’s say… encountered one of your kind in the last war, which most certainly you seem to know about since you flaunt the fact that you have been watching us,” he added, with a slight tone of conceit in his voice.

Orochimaru knew who he was up against and his position, but it wasn’t like him to just let himself be treated as a lesser form of existence, even if by some technicalities, he was.

Plus, he hadn’t been one to be kept in check. Surely, he wouldn’t start doing it now. His plan was simple: find out as much as possible about this man’s plan and see what this connection of his entailed.

“Kaguya, I presume?” Fukanōna asked. Orochimaru nodded in agreement.

“Aaah, yes, our beloved Kaguya… how we all miss her,” he said, while he briefly looked to the ground.

“Well, then why didn’t you… take her back with you when you had the chance?” Orochimaru asked, referring to Kaguya’s appearance in the war. “Or, well, at least before she was sealed again, from what I’ve heard.”

“You see… there is a power greater than that of the Gods,” Fukanōna said. “Kaguya knew… when we transcended to the place from we currently reside.”

Hearing that, Orochimaru was even more puzzled but equally intrigued.

“So, they are currently residing somewhere, but that wasn’t their initial home?” Orochimaru thought. He had to find out more.

“What do you mean by transcended? Transcended from where to … well, where? What do you mean by that? Where do you all originally come from?” he asked. Then, thinking about his next question, he couldn’t help but let out what seemed to be a short laugh.

“How are Gods born, if you don’t mind me asking?” Orochimaru said.

“Well, how we came into existence before your eyes is none of your concern, really… that’s… too much profitless data,” Fukanōna said. But truthfully, he was lying. Because yes, they were now gods, leagues above human existence, but behind that very existence stood a secret that could threaten the very status they found themselves in. He wasn’t stupid enough to give such information to someone like Orochimaru.

But, at the same time, the power he was searching for, the one Kaguya herself sought, was indeed greater than that even possessed by them as gods, and he truly needed these lesser beings’ help, so fragmenting the information was the safest option while wrapping it all up in the promise of what he can offer Orochimaru. The gamble was always the attachment of the snake in front of him. His attachment to his ambitions. That always seemed to be his downfall. It shouldn’t be any different now.

“However, to respond to your question, we currently reside in another plane of existence… One, you humans call... Heaven,” he said.

Orochimaru raised his eyebrow. So, such a place exists? What an interesting piece of information.

“So then, why are you here on Earth? What could this plane have to offer to you?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“Well, you see… there’s something… or, somewhere that even we as gods cannot go to.” He paused. “We cannot access it. Yet,” Fukanōna was quick to point, shrugging and gesturing with his hands in the air.

Now both of Orochimaru’s eyebrows were raised. What could this place be? Where is it?

“What do you mean by that? How can you, as a god, not access this place?”

“Well, you see… the reason I am here and the reason I offered you such a lifespan, which I consider a fair bargain, is because for some peculiar reason you seemed to be able to access it with no problem,” Fukanōna said.
The amazement kept on growing.

“Me?” Orochimaru asked. Now that was a surprise. But also, an advantage, from what it seemed. A detail that he surely was going to keep in mind.

“Yes, you…” Fukanōna said.

Orochimaru’s confusion kept on going.

“How’s that even possible? I wasn’t the one who sent Kaguya back from where she came though…”

“I’m… not talking about what you saw in the war. That was another thing on its own” his guest said.

Orochimaru was confused. How could this be different? Things were getting twisted even for him, but his curiosity was peaking to new heights nevertheless.

“What you saw in the war wasn’t even Kaguya herself. Well, the true Kaguya, for a lack of a better word” Fukanōna said.

“Then who was that? Or what was that? And where is the true Kaguya you speak of?”

“What you saw in the war was nothing more than a manifestation of Kaguya’s will. But a manifestation of someone’s will is not the same as the person’s real self,” Fukanōna said.

“Then… where is the true Kaguya?” the snake asked.

“The true Kaguya, her true essence, is trapped inside that jutsu you performed before joining the war,” Fukanōna said.

And there it was. The climax of Orochimaru’s amazement. The Kaguya that everyone had fought in the war wasn’t even the real one? But then, who was the one sealed in the war? And how many Kaguyas were out there? How can a Kaguya that isn’t the real Kaguya even appear?

This line of thinking was perplexing even for himself, so he had to sort this out sooner rather than later, to make sure he was understanding properly.

Not that he saw Kaguya with his own eyes given that he was trapped inside a dream. Nevertheless, residing in a Zetsu body had given him a lot of information that he would’ve probably had to search hard for. It likely would’ve been impossible to obtain given that he was an enemy of all states.

But since Zetsu worked as a network, Orochimaru became a part of that network itself when his consciousness inhabited a Zetsu body and that is how he got access to some of that data.

Of course, he wasn’t yet entirely sure how everything worked, that’s why most of his studies were now based on finding as much as possible about these Zetsu bodies. But, for him, it worked perfectly that he could get such important information in that kind of way. Now, how much of the information could he access? Was it merely pieces or the entire thing? Those were details he would have to find in future experiments. But everything worked for now and he couldn’t have been more grateful for it.
A gift from the Gods themselves, maybe? Who knew, but he didn’t question it.

“What appeared before your eyes in the war was nothing more than a mere shell built from amassing the chakra from each of the pieces that were once the Ten-Tails. That is a result of Kaguya becoming one with the power itself back in the days of old.
However… The true essence of Kaguya lies somewhere else. You see, there is no one who understands this better than you,” Fukanōna said.

Orochimaru turned his face to the side, signaling confusion. He wasn’t exactly sure what his guest meant. He had a hunch, but…

“You know very well that flesh is nothing more than a mere passing of time. One’s true essence lies in their soul. In their consciousness. The true self. The soul carries that self into existence, and to experience life in this form, it wraps everything into flesh. But no matter how strong that flesh is, time eventually catches up. The flesh is nothing more than a vessel. And vessels break and can be molded over and over again as long as you have the right material to do so. In our case, the Ten-Tails chakra. However, what is inside that vessel is the true self.”

Upon hearing these words, Orochimaru smiled in agreement. He knew very well what Fukanōna meant. Indeed, it was so.

“Oh, yes, I should know better,” he said. “After all, it’s been one of my life’s quests. But you know that already,” he added. “Then again, you said that that the Kaguya that was defeated in the war was not the real one. How is that even possible?” Orochimaru asked.

“Remember when I said how do I even begin to explain it all? Allow me to try and do just that,” Fukanōna said.

“Be my guest,” Orochimaru said, flitting his hands. “Well, you already are anyway, so…”

Fukanōna smirked. The man was as sneaky and stingy as always.

“It all starts back at the beginning of the times of this realm. And when I say beginning, I’m talking about times as old as creation itself. Before the times of that which you know as the Sage of Six Paths. Back when Kaguya first came onto this realm.”
Orochimaru leaned better into his chair.

“Her objective was one that her children never truly understood. Or, well, better said, weren’t really interested in understanding, for they were too influenced by the earthlings on this plane. After all, they were the ones who taught Hagoromo and Hamura how to seal their own mother,” Fukanōna said, as he began his story.

“If there were something these earthlings were good at, it was sealing techniques.”

“Heh, that sounds eerily similar to a certain clan…” Orochimaru said, as he interjected into his guest’s story.

“Ah, yes, they might be one of the two most important factions of the clan known as Nyorai in those times of old,” Fukanōna said.

Orochimaru showed his surprise. One of the two most important factions of the clan known as Nyorai? In all his research, he had never heard of such a name. The only clan he knew to be as good as his guest was talking about in terms of sealing abilities, was the Uzumaki clan. They were even killed because of their proficiency. Could they have any connection to this clan?

“We’ll get to that in a bit as this whole story is also connected to them,” he added, seeing Orochimaru’s confused but also curious expression.

“Then please, pardon my interruption, carry on,” Orochimaru said.

“As you may or may not know, Kaguya came to your realm for a specific purpose: to eat the chakra tree fruit,” Fukanōna said.

“The reason she did that was because of a certain incident that happened within our own family. And to be able to resolve that, one would have had to know the secrets beyond the field of existence itself.

Her eyes and soul searched for a long time for a solution but she didn’t find one. Not at first anyway. But then, she recalled some initial teachings she learned on this very plane of existence,” Fukanōna said as he eyed Orochimaru’s reaction.

He smirked, knowing that what he was about to say would greatly pique the interest of his conversation partner.

“Yes, before ascending to the heavenly realms, we too, were inhabitants of this realm.”

It was simply impossible for the snake master to hide his puzzled reaction. Did this mean that one can turn into a God? Because if they were first inhabitants of this realm, it meant that they were humans that somehow ascended to the heavens. So, the only logical progression in his head was this. But then, how does one do such a thing? That was something that he had to find out because surely, it was not something that he was going to get for free from the god in front of him. Or… would he?

“There was only one place where someone could find those secrets beyond the field of existence itself, to be able to find a solution for our problem. Kaguya’s eyes searched for it throughout the entire universe before realizing it was somewhere that she used to know… A place that holds power so immense, one could surpass the gods themselves,” Fukanōna said.

“I’m assuming that where the God Tree resided,” Orochimaru said.

“That’s how you know it, yes. But its original name wasn’t the God Tree…” Fukanōna said, getting up from the chair.

“Then what was it?” Orochimaru asked.

Fukanōna started walking, phasing out and going through the chair he had just stood on. Once he was near the end of the chamber, he massed in again.

Facing the wall, he turned back to Orochimaru.

“The Tree of Creation. It was your realm’s most revered existence,” Fukanōna said.

“Tree of Creation?” Orochimaru asked, amazed at the name.

“Yes, that’s how the people of the land referred to it, back in the eons that were known as the Golden Time of Creation.”

“Golden Times of Creation? What do you mean by that? You mean to tell me there’s a history to humanity before what we know as the Warring States era? A history before all this bloodshed that’s ingrained in people’s collective minds?”

“I’m afraid so,” Fukanōna said, going back to his chair. “This place is rather small to me. Your chambers are quite… well crowded for my liking. Don’t you have another place, more befitting for my taste?

“Well then, I guess we could get out of this room and go to the place I use as a dining room,” Orochimaru said. “It has a lot more space than this one.”

“Perfect, let us go, I shall continue the story as we head there.”

They both got out of the room and headed to the dining area.

“So, you were talking about the Golden Times of Creation and the Tree of Creation…” Orochimaru said, to continue the dialogue. “Why were you after it?” He asked.

“Well, you see, that was a tree like no other. One which you could access only in a certain forest. Because the power one could obtain with it was so great that it could rival that of the gods. Dare I say, even surpass the gods in some cases,” Fukanōna said.
“It was after all the power which helped us ascend to a new form of existence. It is thanks to that power that I was able to extend your lifespan,” he added, nodding in the direction of Orochimaru’s palm. Orochimaru looked once again at it, remembering the symbol from earlier.

“So you mean, the symbol in my palm is connected to the God Tree somehow? Or well, the Tree of Creation?” Orochimaru asked.

“Yes, and no. But more about that later on, let me first finish this story and I’ll get back to the one connected to the symbol and the whole name change, as I see that puzzles you too,” Fukanōna said. “Let us get back to where we left off.”

Orochimaru nodded in agreement, before continuing.

“So, that’s why you returned to Earth?” Orochimaru asked. “If you knew so much about place already, why didn’t you take that power from the very first time before… ascending?”

“Aah, well, you see… the process that we underwent is rather a mysterious one… We were offered two choices,” Fukanōna said, reminiscing back on those times, “however, each choice has its paths, its mysteries, and its unveilings. The one we took, while it brought us a great deal of power and elevated us to the state we currently find ourselves in, it still didn’t offer us a particular type of power, that we later on found was much needed.”

A flashback from millennia ago passed through Fukanōna’s mind eye. The moment they had to make that choice. He briefly wondered if they had taken the other option, would things have been different? There was no way to know, as they learned from the creature’s teachings.

You could only find out the secrets and benefits behind the choice you made, not behind both of them.

So, they wagered on one of them, hoping that in the end, that will resolve their old predicament and they would never have to worry about that particular thing that haunted them for so many eons. But yet, millennia later, here they were.

With all the power and superior existence they had, they still couldn’t escape what seemed to be a karmic debt. How ironic.

Although, a glimmer of hope existed and that was the reason he was now here. That was why Kaguya started her quest back then.

Sure, things didn’t always go the way they imagined, and humans ended up making a lot of trouble for them. More than they initially expected.

For as much as they ran away from their interdependence with the humans, and somehow managed to escape it in a sense, this connection still didn’t fade away completely, as they were forced to return to the very existence they sought to transcend from.
“So then, the answers you were seeking were on Earth after all?” Orochimaru asked once again.

“Well, truth be told, we weren’t certain. It was more of a suspicion based on the knowledge we initially got. A suspicion Kaguya came down to Earth to confirm. One of the greatest quests that we had to undertake. Even greater than the initial one. However, things weren’t as easy, as, in her quest towards getting that knowledge, Kaguya suffered a great deal. After all, it it cost Kaguya her very existence,” Fukanōna said, lowering his voice.

Despite being this godly creature, stoic and poised, for a moment there, when talking about Kaguya, Fukanōna gave the impression of a human. One whose heartache could transpire through his being, at the thought of someone dear to him. Someone close. Someone whom he cherished. The princess was very loved among the Ōtsutsuki.

“This cost you talk about, you mean… it’s linked to the jutsu you told me about?” Orochimaru asked, to confirm his suspicions.

“Yes,” Fukanōna confirmed.

By the time that part of the discussion happened, they already got to the chambers that Orochimaru used for dining. They both placed themselves at different ends of the table and continued their conversation.

“I’m still a bit fuzzy about the details of this whole thing you’re telling me about,” Orochimaru said, as he sat on a chair.

“You said Kaguya’s true essence is in this jutsu I performed. How is that possible?” He asked.

“Especially given how, as I said earlier, we had a version of Kaguya Otsutsuki already being resealed. Which one was it?”

Fukanōna made himself a bit more comfortable in his chair too, preparing to explain better.

“You see, there are 3 major parts to someone’s existence: the body, the mind, and the soul. As I told you earlier, the body is a mere vessel that hosts one’s true essence. And the link between these two is the mind.

Basically, the mind is a unit of the body. But it’s also the link to the spirit. You humans have the tendency to think that your mind is who you truly are, but no. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

The mind is a mere… system that helps your body navigate the world it is found in. One’s true essence lies in their soul. Their spirit, their consciousness…

That’s exactly the reason why in the war there was a Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, but not the Kaguya Ōtsutsuki,” Fukanōna explained.

“When she ate the chakra fruit, Kaguya became one with the Tree of Creation itself. The power she gained was tremendous. She became the very incarnation of that tree when the two merged together. Her essence and the tree’s were bound together. Became one. As an aftermath of that, in her case, the vessel became a powerful thing on its own, unbound by time, like one usually is. That is why in the war when chakra from all the former parts she was made of, were reunited, a version of Kaguya appeared,” he continued explaining.

“But I can tell you for certain that Kaguya’s true essence was not in that vessel. Her mind might’ve been, yes, since, as I told you, the mind is nothing more than a unit of the body. A slave. It may often trick you into thinking you’re its slave, yes, but in actuality, it’s the other way around. But the most supreme power over all is one’s consciousness,” Fukanōna said to Orochimaru, as his explanations were followed by hand gestures to better paint the picture of what he was trying to explain.

“Okay, that, I get, since it’s quite similar to a certain technique I, myself, have utilized. But still, how can Kaguya’s true essence be in that jutsu you saw me performing?” Orochimaru asked yet again.

“Because I was there when the Nyorai separated Kaguya’s essence from her body,” Fukanōna said.

“Over a millennia ago, before everything transpired into the history you currently know, the reason the wars began was because of what Kaguya sought: the power of that tree.

For humans, that tree was the most sacred thing in the realm. A symbol. A reflection of their way of life and an existence they revered above all. Even gods themselves.

That’s why when Kaguya came back to this wretched realm and ended-up eating the tree’s fruit and merging with it, the humans of that time saw her as a demon beget on dooming their existence. So, they started waging war against her. For a long time, they couldn’t do anything to her, as her power was far greater than anything they had ever witnessed. That was, until one day when they did the cruelest thing they could think of,” Fukanōna said, pausing for a short time. His eyes fell to the ground for a second. Then, they got back up and met Orochimaru’s ones.

“They ripped her into pieces and sealed them away, separately, as a punishment for her actions.”

While listening to his guest, Orochimaru’s mind couldn’t help but return to that one moment in time he too, underwent a similarly tragic moment. But… the only ones with such capable powers were the Uzumaki clan.

However, his guest mentioned another name… Nyorai. Who were they? Predecessors? After all, he did say that they were one of the two factions of that clan. Which also begged the question, who was the other one? He couldn’t help but be amazed at the power they had. To be able to seal such a being…

“So, you mean to tell me that the Shinigami in the jutsu I performed is Kaguya… But... How is that possible? Shouldn’t she have been released the moment I released the others?” he asked.

Fukanōna shrugged when that question was addressed to him.

“That’s why I came to you in the first place. I do not know how they managed that. I am not sure how the mechanics of such a technique works. I tried searching for the knowledge of such a technique, but the Nyorai seemed to be more cunning than I thought. However, there was one detail that I remember witnessing back then that I also noticed you performed, which brought me to you in the end,” Fukanōna said.

“Which detail are you referring to?” Orochimaru asked, curious. What could have he performed in the present times that might have made Fukanōna consider coming to him for help, out of all people?

“That mask you wore as you initiated the technique,” Fukanōna said. “That mask is the same mask I remember that person using when the sealing happened. Well, at least one of them. Because as I said – or, didn’t I? It’s been such a long time, that you’ll have to excuse me if I’m fuzzy on the details… But, as I was saying, there were two sealing sessions that occurred at the same time.

One was done by the Nyorai, while the other was done by Kaguya’s own children,” Fukanōna recalled, as he gripped the chair’s handle.

“Sadly, our beloved Kaguya ended up being betrayed by her own flesh. Such treacherous turn of events,” he added, as wrath and doom gathered on his face, and the white of his eyes turned dark.

“So, you mean to tell me that they sealed her body in one part, while her essence in another, which is part of the Shinigami of the Dead Demon Consuming seal? Or better said… she is the Shinigami itself?” Orochimaru asked, to make sure he properly understands everything.

“Yes,” Fukanōna replied. “And I’m here so you can help me find the secrets of how to unseal her and bring back the real Kaguya into existence,” he added, staring Orochimaru dead in the eye.

And there it was. The true reason for his guest’s visit. He figured as much along the way they conversed. Otherwise, what would a god have to do with a mere mortal like him, as Fukanōna had kept pointing out whenever his form of existence came into question?

This benefitted Orochimaru greatly; the chance to find the very secret behind creation, while having his lifespan increased.

Of course, it wasn’t like he fully trusted what was now his partner. However, this predicament only brought new ideas that branched into other paths and possibilities for his own existence. So as long as it was a mutually beneficial collaboration, Orochimaru didn’t mind helping.

And he’d make sure he’d have a backup plan if at any time, for whatever reason, the cooperation should prove itself detrimental to his own existence. After all, he wasn’t a snake for nothing.

Until then, he was looking forward to what seemed to be the greatest quest of his life: returning the real Kaguya Ōtsutsuki to existence.

Who would’ve thought that karma would be so generous with him, after all he’d been through?

Chapter Text

A leaf flew in the dance of winds, carried from the earth up to the heavens. In the whirlwind, Sasuke’s eyes got covered by strands of hair. He gently took them off and put them back in their place.

“What made you return for me?” Jūgo asked.

“Eh, let’s say that I learned from some old friends that there are certain ties that bind you to paths that you were unable to see before,” Sasuke said.

“Let’s just say I want to explore those paths with new eyes,” he added.

Jūgo watched closely as he listened. He had known Sasuke through his darkest times, and while he seemed the same old Sasuke that he knew, composed and in control, a man of few words and direct action, there was something new, something changed about him.

He never really questioned Sasuke much. Just trusted him completely. Being the only one who could help keep in control his abilities after Kimimaro had been gone, for Jūgo, Sasuke meant a lot. The rest of the world might have seen the last survivor of the Sharingan clan as a curse, but not him. For Jūgo, Sasuke was a blessing. So, for that reason alone, he never really questioned any of his commands or decisions.

And it wasn’t the case now. It wasn’t inquisitive questioning. More like… curious one. After all, given the new political regime they were all finding themselves in, Jūgo never really expected to see Sasuke ever again. Like the rest of Team Taka. That was partly the reason why they all returned and stayed with Orochimaru. Or well, he did, as Karin and Suigetsu had already left the hideout.

But Sasuke returning for him had never been a thought to cross his mind. He expected him to be held captive for what the world saw as crimes given the political regime they lived in. Or, in the best-case scenario, expected him to get back to his former teammates.

He guessed as much that those were probably the old friends that he referred to.

“Let me guess, your former teammates?” Jūgo asked.

Sasuke nodded.

“I figured as much,” he said.

“How did things go? What happened with them, with you? Last time, you and Konoha and the whole shinobi world...” he paused.

“Let’s just say that my aid in the war was crucial and well… they agreed to let me roam the world free. For now, at least” Sasuke said.

But this was all too simple. Those were all surface-level details. What laid deeper? Sasuke was a man of deep oceans of emotions. Yes, the waters above might be clear, but what about the depths of his being?

“And what about you and… Konoha? I know you helped them in the war, but… you said, you know…” Jūgo asked again, tilting his head to the side, reminiscing the times when he said his only goal was to destroy his former homeland. Sure, he helped them in the war, but the last thing Jūgo remembered about the situation, was Sasuke still wanting to cut those ties…

Thinking about Naruto, Sasuke spared a slight smile in the corner of his mouth.

“I do. I fought that battle and lost,” he said smiling and serenely, looking at the sky above.

It was a tad bit odd to see Sasuke this way, but Jūgo couldn’t help but smile and be content about it.

“I see…” he said.

If Sasuke was smiling while saying that, then it meant it was okay. Of course, it was strange to hear that he had lost, as he’d always been quite a skillful shinobi. But, eh, life sometimes was out there surprising one. He hid the best he could the fact that he was astounded though.

“It’s okay,” Sasuke said, sensing Jūgo’s silent amazement.

“Not all defeats are losses. Some are just heavy burdens you carry, that life helps you get rid of, so it can make place for better things to come,” Sasuke said.

“After all, they were right…” he continued, thinking about Sakura and Naruto.

“Revenge didn’t bring me happiness,” he said reminiscing about Sakura’s words.

“And companionship makes one’s burdens lighter to carry,” he added, as Naruto’s figure came into his mind’s eye.

“After all, all hearts bleed grief when they hurt, no matter the source of that sorrow. Pain is the great equalizer. It teaches us that suffering is all the same for everyone, and it connects us to make the heavy load easier to carry, until it gets healed” Sasuke concluded, as he reminisced about the words he used to tell Naruto when he compared their suffering. Sure, the situations were indeed different, but the pain was all the same. The pain of loneliness.

He seemed to be in a chatty mood, a thing which was quite unusual for Sasuke. The old one that Jūgo knew was a man of few words but, for some reason, today he was quite talkative. Maybe it was a spur of the moment. Whatever it was, Jūgo decided not to interrupt him and just take advantage of the situation and see the world through these new eyes of Sasuke’s.

But as Jūgo contemplated over Sasuke’s new nature, he heard him speak again.

“Despite the pain, Itachi sacrificed his life, our clan, and our family for the village. My former teammates also do the same. However, in this respect, I can’t be like them. At least yet. Truly speaking, I don’t know if I’ll ever be. There are certain stains on my village’s past that I cannot ignore. And while I understand that we all suffer the same pain, there are still elements from this complex situation that I haven’t made peace with. Those stains in my village’s past pained me so much that I ended up making great sacrifices…”

Sasuke paused. His serene expression turned bleak at the reminder of the sacrifices he had made.

The first time it was Naruto, because he was the one who strongly stood against him and his goal to gain more power to kill Itachi. Then, after he managed to reach that particular goal, a new one came along, as he learned about the underneath of all the surface history of the Uchiha clan massacre. That’s when he vowed to cleanse the Uchiha name and destroy Konoha. It became his ultimate goal, his reason to live.

And as he was closer to that goal materialized in no one else than Danzo Shimura, the man who had cornered his brother into that terrible choice in their political war fares, Karin was the one who stood in his way, unwillingly. However, engulfed in the hatred that he felt towards that man, when she got captured by him, Sasuke threw away his last shred of humanity and sacrificed her.

“Karin, you mean?” Jūgo asked, not knowing about Sasuke’s previous sacrifice.

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he answered.

“Yes,” he said. For a while he just paused, not knowing what to say more. Especially after in the context of what he had found out from Orochimaru about who she was.

“Her and my former teammate, Naruto,” Sasuke managed to add.

Jūgo saw the tension already rising in Sasuke.

“I don’t know if you’re thinking about their forgiveness or not, if you care about that or not, but… at least we know that Karin did forgive you,” he said, reminiscing about the last time they saw each other.

Sasuke half smiled. A smile mixed with awkwardness. He didn’t even know how to react to the memory of the time he met Karin after the Danzo incident. In a way, he felt like smiling because he remembered Karin and her antics, which were intriguing in their own odd kind of way but at the same time, that same memory puzzled him.

This girl was so hard to pinpoint. She was like light and dark in a single frame. Two beings in one person. One serious and reliable, one crazily eccentric. And it was always a lottery ticket surprise in terms of which one you’d have the chance to encounter on a particular day. So confusing!

However, she was the only familiar face when he had joined Orochimaru’s network of hideouts back in the day. He remembered thinking about what were the odds of that happening, but surprisingly, the universe works in mysterious ways sometimes.
In the time they spent together before Karin was sent to another hideout, he managed to find out how Karin, like him, wasn’t truly there for Orochimaru. It was when she had actually unmasked his ulterior motive for joining him.

That’s when he found out the exceptional shinobi she was when she was quick to pinpoint that he was lying about his affiliation with Orochimaru. Or better said, not fully telling the truth. While it was easy to fake it with the others that he’s willingly giving himself to Orochimaru, with her, it was different.

She knew Sasuke wasn’t there to be Orochimaru’s errand boy and she confronted him about it. To make him open up to her though, she opened up to him and informed him that she wasn’t faithful to the snake either.

However, when Sasuke asked Karin about the reason she was working under him, she quickly had a change in demeanor and started acting incomprehensible to him. But it was enough for them to start forming a kinship of some sort.

He remembered them having that conversation in a low tone when Orochimaru was about to experiment for the first time on Sasuke’s body. He had just left for a moment, and they were whispering as they didn’t want to get caught. He was supposed to be under anesthesia but for some reason, the dosage didn’t work on him. He guessed it was because of that seal Orochimaru put on him when they had met for the first time.

That’s when Karin also showed her sensing prowess to Sasuke when in the middle of their little chat she urged him to fake his sleep because she sensed someone approaching, detailing how many and by chakra nature type. And since she sensed one of the three being a medical ninja, most assuredly he’d be able to tell Sasuke was faking his sleep.

He said he couldn’t, so Karin told him that she had no choice but to give him another shot. Not before assuring him to not worry, as she’ll make sure Orochimaru doesn’t harm him as she can sense anything that happens in his body. In the urgency of the moment, Sasuke agreed and to his surprise, the second shot worked.

What he didn’t know past this was that Karin was successful in her plan, but to cover everything up, she took advantage of the situation and made it look like she was pinning over Sasuke like a girl who just wanted to steal a kiss. Seemed like the perfect cover for the perfect timing, as Orochimaru came back with Kabuto and Suigetsu in the lab.

In the scare of the moment and the position she was in, the syringe that she used to shoot Sasuke the second time, fell on the ground and that’s when Suigetsu took notice of it. A broken syringe after she turned back as “she was getting caught,” made Suigetsu give a snarky remark about what she was “doing” to Sasuke.

That’s when she got her very first tease from Suigetsu over her feelings for Sasuke. Not that they weren’t true, but there was more to meet the eye than what Suigetsu was witnessing.

Orochimaru & Kabuto on the other hand, didn’t even care, despite her apologizing scarily. They were busy with other things and just thought it was the nervousness of a young girl having a crush on the broody Uchiha, like he had seen it many times throughout Konoha.

So, in that peculiar kind of way, the cover-up Karin planned was just perfect. The mission was accomplished.

Later on, when Sasuke woke up, he didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary. Next to him was Karin, proof that indeed she took care of him and didn’t let anything happen to him like she had promised.

After that day, Sasuke promised her on the other hand that one day, he’ll get them both out of there.

That reason combined with the prowess of the strengths she displayed, became the reason that he sought her when he managed to escape. He knew how reliable she was. Through thick and thin.

And yet, he betrayed her trust the same way he betrayed Naruto’s and sacrificed her for his goal, the same way he had sacrificed Naruto’s friendship and life, almost, back when he left Konoha the first time.

His brows furrowed. His breath betrayed a sigh, as his eyes dropped from the sky.

“Now, I don’t know about your relationship with the others, but Karin… she loves you, you know?” Jūgo said, seeing Sasuke’s eyes fall to the ground as he was reminiscing about that memory.

“Sure, she is probably the most eccentric one out there, second to none, bar maybe Suigetsu. Though I’m not sure about that one either. You don’t know much, but Suigetsu always used to tease her about it. And while she did her best to hide that fact, you could just always read it on her face. But in all her queer way of being, one thing we can know for sure is that she loves you. Greatly. So much that despite you hurting her, she found it in her heart to forgive you. If the others care about you the same way she does, I’m sure they have forgiven you, too.”

It didn’t make Sasuke happier to hear that, and he quickly closed himself off when he heard it. In a split second, he returned to his former demeanor. Cold, tensed, and not many words.

Seeing that Jūgo apologized. The last thing he meant was to make Sasuke feel in any odd way.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have added that piece of information,” he thought to himself. Now thinking about it, he wasn’t sure how exactly was that supposed to help Sasuke, and especially, if Karin was present, she’d probably want to kill him. Talking about the feelings she had for Sasuke had always been her tabu.

“I…” Sasuke tried speaking.

A load quickly enveloped his body. Felt like the old burden he carried so many years with him.

Of course, the old burden that he had escaped was related to the revenge for his clan. That matter was cleared. He had made peace with that particular subject.

But the entirety of that situation was more complex. There were still unresolved feelings. Still, things he had to make peace with. It wasn’t all for nothing when he said to Naruto there were still things to resolve between them.

As much as he made peace with the fact that he didn’t have to be alone, there were still other burdens that loaded his soul.

One of those loads carried him back to the times when Sakura had confessed once again in the war when Jūgo mentioned Karin’s love for him. Made him remember Kakashi’s words that said Sakura was hurting because of that love.
“It’s just…” he said, through gritted teeth.

He got more and more frustrated as he found it hard to express what he meant. Whenever he heard about someone loving him, there was a wall in Sasuke that rose every time. His muscles got tensed. His stomach ached. His whole body reacted as the trauma stored in his bones came once again back to the surface.

He didn’t ask for anyone to love him. Sakura, Karin, Naruto. He didn’t want anyone to do so. People who loved him had the unlucky habit of disappearing from his life in a traumatic way. It made things way more complicated than they needed to be after an already convoluted life.

The intense sensation of being caught up between the two parts of a bench vise he felt while thinking about all these things soon made his body and soul go numb.

“The starved can’t feed the hungry. Only the abundant ones can,” was all that he mustered to say, as his eyes turned spiritless for a while, like in the old days.

“Who am I, but a starved soul who can’t feed the hungry?”

Jūgo felt remorseful. It probably wasn’t the best to bring back those memories. He tried to switch a bit the subject.

“I suppose you’re right,” Jūgo said, putting his eyes down to the ground. However, this gloom and doom wasn’t going to help anyone, so he tried to diffuse a bit the situation and bring some positivity back.

“But hey… old friends and new paths you said, right?” Jūgo said, raising his head from the ground, smiling at Sasuke, as a reminder of Sasuke’s own words from earlier.

“It’s no use to get stuck in the past. There’s nothing you can change about it. And it’s not the past that defines us, but the present moment. And the present you is here. Now. No matter what has happened in the past and the bridges you destroyed, from what you’re telling me and from what I know, there are people out there who still love you. You still have ties in this world that you can connect with.”

Jūgo’s words reminded Sasuke of Naruto’s own idealism, so he managed to muster a somewhat candid smile.

“I suppose you’re right, too,” he said, as they continued walking through the forest getting further and further away from Orochimaru’s hideout.

It wasn’t long until they came out of it, landing on top of a valley whose path seemed to split into two directions.

“Which path now?” Jūgo asked.

“Hmm…” Sasuke mumbled, as his hair started dancing in the blowing wind again. Looking at the entire valley that contained two villages. For a second, it felt like a miracle seeing them look so serene and unscathed by the horrors of the war that had just passed.

It was hard to make a choice really, as from above where he and Jūgo were placed, both options seemed viable. A decision had to be made though.

“Let’s see…”

___________

She smashed her backpack against the reception desk and asked for a room. The old man in front of her looked at her from head to toe and back up, visibly bothered by her behavior.

With slight disgust that he didn’t try too much to hide, he asked how many nights she was planning to stay.

She informed him that just one for now. She’d decide in the morning if she needed more and she’d let him know. But for the moment, a night should do.

The man looked again at her through the glasses that were slipping off his nose; seeing her looking so young, he couldn’t help but comment on her financial status.

“Do you even have money to pay for your stay here? You look quite young to be traveling alone like that,” he said.

She quickly glanced at the price list behind the man as she ignored his comment and picked the money from one of her pockets, throwing it directly on the counter, making sure to drop a few on the floor.

The man threw away the keys at her in disdain, blabbering some words she didn’t even bother to listen to as she took the keys, the backpack, and headed to her room.

“Those glasses need your nose for support, why do you insist on sticking it where it doesn’t belong to you? Next time learn to just do your job and mind your own business,” she said to him, looking back as he gathered the money on the floor.

This inn wasn’t the friendliest nor the most well-respected by the looks of it, but she needed to lay low anyway. Just needed a night to clear her head and decide what she was going to do next.

Arriving in her room, she just threw herself on the bed immediately. Took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her mind started wondering…

She had found out so much about herself, lately, that she didn’t really know where to start.

Where should she go to? Towards Konoha, or towards Uzushiogakure? To meet Naruto Uzumaki or to go to that Uzumaki compound Orochimaru had told her about? From her discussion with him about the other Uzumaki boy, it didn’t seem like he himself knew much, but Konoha did.

How come he doesn’t though he lives there? Are all Konoha ninjas that stupid or what’s up with them?

And to think they were distant relatives. Ugh. She couldn’t help but slap her forehead at the thought of it.

On the other hand, from what she remembered, his chakra from back then was so warm… he seemed like a really great person to be around. His chakra reminded her of Sasuke’s from back in the day. That warmth that he so much tried to hide behind that tough facade. He could fool anyone else, but her.

Sure, there was always something off about his chakra from time to time, but before she learned the truth, she had guessed that it was because of whatever reason that had brought him to Orochimaru.

“Ugh, that damn stupid again… get out of my head!” she shouted as her look frowned and her whole expression changed into an all-out pout. She opened her eyes quickly and saw the window that was at the top of the ceiling. Which she hadn’t even noticed initially. She was that lost in all the wonders of her mind.

The crescent moon was shining through the stars of a clear sky that night. And since she couldn’t get Sasuke out of her mind, she couldn’t help but wonder where he was.

“Are you okay, I wonder? How’s the world treating you now?” She asked as she stared at the crescent moon with soft eyes. A flash of the smile when they first met visited once more her mind’s eye.
But those soft eyes soon turned icy.

“Ugh, I should get you out of my mind, you damn idiot! You tried to kill me!” She said, quickly changing her demeanor. She was either hot or cold when it came to him. Rarely in-between.

A battle of reason and passion was constantly warring against each other inside her very spirit whenever it came to Sasuke. What a total nuisance! If only she could get him out of her head.

“Ugh!” She shouted in frustration as she rose from the bed and went straight to the backpack. From a specific pocket, she took out the picture of that woman.

With her hair red almost the same shade as hers and tied in a knot at the top of her head, slightly smiling, Karin started shouting at it.

“It’s YOUR FAULT! If only his smile hadn’t reminded me of you… You who I don’t even KNOW that much about anyway! Who are you mot-…” were the last words she could speak before an incredible pain started swarming inside her skull. Her ears started ringing and a high prolonged pitch ended up collapsing her on the floor.

She spent all her night passed out, and by the time she woke up, it was already morning. The only way she was brought back to consciousness, was the second day when she heard the loud knocks at the door. It was the old geezer from last night preparing to kick her out because it was already check-out time.

She slowly rose from the floor and went to the door to open it. After squabbling with the old man, she quickly went to the backpack, took some more money from there, and asked for another night.

Then she shouted at him to close the damn door and leave her alone. The man complied after seeing his money, but not before blabbing something that she didn’t bother listening to.

“What happened to me?” she asked herself as she held her pained head, while slowly sitting herself down on the edge of the bed.

“Last thing I remember is being pissed about Sasuke and…” she said, cutting herself short of her own monologue as she looked around the room.

“A picture… a picture,” she said, as she started looking on the floor through the other objects that fell around her when she passed out.

It didn’t take much and she saw the picture she was looking for. When she took it into her hands and looked at it again, her mind turned completely void and empty… That person no longer made her feel anything.

“Who are you?” she asked as she looked at the picture of what was now a complete stranger.

“Why am I carrying you around with me?” she asked, looking at it closely and analyzing it. She was left with the sensation that it was important to have that picture with her, but she couldn’t remember why she had to do that. The only thing she noticed was a certain similarity to a certain someone’s smile.

“God, I swear I’m incurable sometimes. Focus, Karin, focus!” she told herself as she tried to search through her memories what was it with the woman in that picture.

And as much as she tried to remember, as harder her head started aching and a pitch whose sound got higher and higher sounded in her ears.

She threw the picture away for a second, screaming in complete pain.

“What the hell?” she shouted, as she put her hands on her head and ears to cover herself from that sound in an attempt to soothe the pain.

She couldn’t understand at all what the hell was happening. She had to do something to get rid of that pain.

Maybe she needed to get out of the room. To go look for a pharmacy or something like that.

So, she got up, and through all that pain, arranged a bit of the mess in the room, took her backpack, and waltzed out of it as soon as everything was somewhat tidy.

Some fresh air was needed. Something, anything. Anything that got her out of that monstrous headache.

___________

A firm voice invited the person who was knocking from the other side of the room. Soon after, the sound of a screeching door made itself present in the room.

“Ah, you’re finally here!” Kakashi said, somewhat enthusiastic. “I’ve been waiting for you,” he said, as he put aside the paperwork he was looking at.

“Yup, I’m finally here,” the other voice replied to him. “Like you asked,” the silhouette said, shrugging its hands in the air.

“My, my, but why do I sense some aversion in your tone?” Kakashi asked. “What did I ever do to you so bad?”

A frustrated sigh made its presence felt.

“Because I don’t quite understand your proposal, to be honest,” the person on the other side of the room said.

Kakashi chuckled.

“Is it that bad?” he asked.

“If you ask me… yes?” the other voice replied.

“How can you even propose such a thing after I’ve failed Konoha so badly, and I was nothing but a pawn in the grand scheme of things that helped the enemy succeed with their plan?” the frustrated voice said. “And I didn’t do that once, but twice!”

“Twice?” Kakashi asked curious. “What do you mean by that?”

“Yes, once in the war that just passed, in which I wish I’d had better died than survive and come back to a reality where I was such a complete failure, and the second one back when he first attacked Konoha… You know what time I’m talking about…” the person said, as she took the coat’s collar and shoved it aside to show a very familiar sign on her neck.

Kakashi’s forehead frowned for a second there.

“Which is precisely why I want to have you as my advisor, Anko,” he said, accentuating his tone.

“You’re a fool for even thinking about it!” Anko quickly replied when another knock came through.

“Maybe,” Kakashi said. “But there isn’t anyone in Konoha to know our troops as good as you, to have so much knowledge regarding the administrative and logistic tasks of the operations we conducted over the years, and who has so much knowledge on the top targets of Konoha, one of which being the very one you mentioned earlier,” Kakashi added, pointing at the sign of the cursed seal that Anko showed him earlier.

“After all, let’s remember who was always in charge of the chunin exam’s event and the captain of most of Konoha’s top-tier missions,” he added.

“Also, why do you think Kabuto targeted you specifically, Anko? It’s because you’re an asset, not a liability,” Kakashi said, as he laid back on his chair.

“And I intend to make use of that asset very well, so no more fighting me over this. I’ve made my decision!” He said, firmly.

She tried to put in some words, but Kakashi was more spirited than usual. Out of all the times he could’ve been chattier, he chose this one. Marvelous!

“I’m the Hokage now, remember? You respond to me. It’s I who says who decides if my soldiers are to be released from their duty or not.

Visibly bothered, Anko puffed and turned her head to the side.

“You men are impossible like that,” was all that she could respond. “Besides, I’m not the person who could stay in an office all day!” Anko said as she raised the tone of her voice.

“Do you see me standing next to your ass 24/7 guarding you and pampering you for whatever boring Hokage meetings you have?” she asked.

“Who said anything about being my strategic advisor, though? You’re going to be my military advisor. I have someone else for that kind of job,” he said.

“Besides,” Kakashi added, “Consider this as me giving you the chance to make up for some of those backtracks in the past,” he said, shrugging nonchalantly.

Anko tilted her head to the side, side-eyeing him.

“Aren’t we now in what they call times of peace? Why would you even need a military advisor anyway?” She asked.

“The war might be over, yes, but that doesn’t mean all the darkness of the world just vanished. You know as they say, it is better to be a warrior in a garden than to be a gardener in a war.”

Dismissive, Anko puffed.

“Whatever”, she said. “You and your ever-present pearls of wanna-be-wisdom,” she added, rolling her eyes. “I’m not your old cute and impressionable young team, you know?”

“Who said anything about that? I know you’re not. Which is why I want you as my military advisor. The war might be over, and an alliance is formed, but who knows what this alliance will bring to the military forces we and the other nations have. I need someone capable of dealing with the aspects of such operations, and as I said, your past recommends you highly. Plus, as I said, there are still other threats looming in this world, you know?”

Shrugging her shoulders and rolling her eyes, Anko capitulated.

“I guess I have no choice. I’ll be your advisor”

Smiling under his mask, Kakashi couldn’t help but tease Anko a bit to ease her out.

“See, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

“Don’t push your luck, Hatake!” Anko replied, pointing his fingers at him, while her eyes were cutting him into small pieces already.

“Hey, is that a way to speak to your Lord Hokage, advisor?” he kept pushing, chuckling behind his mask.

No matter how much he tried, he just couldn’t help teasing her a bit. But that was all part of a very well-thought-out strategy. Anko was truly a valuable asset of Konoha for a very long time now and besides that, after what had happened in the war, letting her dwell on what she considered failures wouldn’t help her. He knew that very well from past experience.

Giving someone something to look forward to is what a soldier like her needs. Plus, for the thing he had in mind, she was more than perfect. And yes, the times were indeed peaceful. For now, at least.

The war was yet too fresh for anything to happen right away, but he had been in this field long enough to know that once the common enemy was gone, nothing could guarantee the peaceful state of the world would stay that way. Not to mention, there were still some darker aspects of the world that needed taking care of. Such as Orochimaru.

And who better at that than Anko, who was one of his test subjects? And one that survived, no less? There weren’t many that were lucky to still be alive after someone like Orochimaru had gotten their hands on it. In Konoha, it was only she, Sasuke, and Yamato who were lucky enough to still see the light of the day.

And with the destruction and destabilization, a war brings, it is the perfect time for skewed and shrewd characters like that to take advantage of the situation. And a snake might shed his skin, but never its nature. And no matter how much Orochimaru helped them in the war, he didn’t trust his change of heart. Not when their enemy was a common one. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, but when the enemy is gone, so is the friendship. Which is why he thought about this very aspect and made sure to be already one step ahead of the game. And to do that, he needed someone like Anko. So, he informed her about everything he thought about.

That, and about the mission he had already sent a certain someone into.

“You understand now why I need you to help me out with this, right? And why there’s no one better than you and him to carry out this important task,” he said.

Being reminded of that sick bastard, Anko couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

“The very sound of his name makes me want to throw up,” she said. “But, I guess you’re right. We need to make sure that no children fall victim to his old antics. Especially now, that Kabuto also has something weird about him. I couldn’t say what yet but when I met him, he was different. He had done something to his body, I don’t know what, yet…”

“Well, lucky you I already know something about that from a certain someone,” Kakashi said.

“Eh, what do you mean?” Anko asked.

“I’m still waiting for some data for a certain someone to be able to fully bring you up to speed, but if you’re patient enough for a little while longer, you should get the whole story soon,” Kakashi said, as he heard another knock on the door.
As soon as he invited the guest, Kakashi couldn’t help but smile.

“Well, Anko, it seems you’re in luck and you won’t need to wait that long,” he said as Yamato came in carrying a file.

“Welcome!” Kakashi said to Yamato, as he raised his hand to grab the file Yamato was holding in his hand.

He opened it and started reading, but not before instructing Yamato to go next to Anko, as there would be things the three of them need to discuss, as soon as he’s done reading the briefing.

Chapter Text

Today was going to be one of those full days. First, there was Ino and that special task he had to discuss with her about. Then, he finished the work with Anko and Yamato. He dismissed them and next on his order of tasks for the day was to call for Naruto.

Being his teacher for such a long time, Kakashi knew that Naruto was bound to be the next Hokage in line.

Honestly, if it wasn’t for Naruto’s inexperienced self in political and administrative affairs, Kakashi would’ve happily denied the request for him to be the next in line after Tsunade. However, certain sensitive matters made it impossible to do so.

But, for as much as Naruto was a powerhouse, a strong prerequisite for the Hokage position, he still missed the delicate knowledge and experience to deal with the intricacies of the political and administrative world, and what it truly meant to be a leader.

So then, when Tsunade stepped down and his turn to be the next Hokage came, he saw himself obligated to respond to the duty.

Not that he was a big fan of it, on the contrary.

He would’ve gladly dodged it the way he did after Pein attacked Konoha and Tsunade was in a coma. But that experience also taught him a great deal of things. One of which being how Konoha in itself can very much raise snakes at its bosom and be attacked from the inside, without even knowing it.

And going through so many of these situations in life, he saw it fit to take on that duty. After all, Konoha was his home and he wanted nothing but to protect it.

And he stood firm by it from the moment he joined the ranks of shinobi.

Plus, it was now a time of great instability in the world, as the one under their very eyes was going through a great change. And change brings with it instability. And instability can mean vulnerability.

Yes, the shinobi world had allied. Yes, there were talks that the Alliance they formed should be kept.

But Kakashi had been witness to enough battles to know that the enemy of my enemy is indeed my friend. But what happens when the common enemy is gone?

Human nature and its tendency to pursue strife was always a threat looming around in the shadows, even if in the light, progress toward peace was being made.

But peace…

Peace, while beautiful and calming as warm light that shines hope over the world, is as frail and delicate as a dove’s feather.

And the crows of darkness feast on the doves of peace.

That is why maintaining peace is a continuous effort.

Peace needs a symbol.

Like a beacon that reminds everyone of it in the darkest of times.

And in the war that had just passed, that symbol, that beacon of light was none other than his former student, Naruto Uzumaki.

But while mature in battle strength, he was yet a child in political and administrative affairs.

And if he ever wanted to be Hokage, he had to be a complete shinobi. In body, mind, and soul.

A leader.

He already was in body and soul, as his cries for what appeared to be his enemies already moved the coldest of stoned hearts.

All he needed was to sharpen his mind like a blade when the fights of politics were involved.

And for that, Kakashi had a plan. A plan to turn the dust into gold.

Naruto had always been a peculiar kind of smart.

They always used to call him the number one most unpredictable ninja. He had his ways and that is without doubt.

He was an enigma in that way.

But his ways weren’t always the most mature ones, one could definitely tell.

And if he was ever going to be taken seriously and bring about that change in the shinobi world that he always wanted to bring, he needed to have his skills honed.

When deciding the future of humankind, transformations into naked good-looking people weren’t going to gain a forum’s seal of approval.

Might surprise them for a second or two, yes… but in the end, this isn’t a battle of fists where you do an unpredictable move like that so you can take your enemy by surprise, and pack a punch in the time it takes them to even process what is going on.

And speaking of that, Kakashi couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at the memory of Naruto pulling that exact move on the goddess Kaguya.

Leave it to him and his unpredictability…

However, the political world was more a battle of academic smarts, and humans can be creatures more complicated than gods.

As such, Naruto needed to learn more about the ways of the world he lived in than he would’ve cared to admit.

And it was precisely why he was being summoned today in Kakashi’s office.

It didn’t take long for him to go over those memories in his mind, nor many thoughts about the way this was going to go, as Naruto was already knocking at the door.

“Come in!” Kakashi said.

“Yo, Kakashi-sensei!” Naruto said, entering his office.

But then he realized he was standing in front of the new Hokage now.

“Err, I mean, Hokage-sama?” he asked, grinning.

Kakashi chuckled. Not perfect, but close enough. Maybe he was starting to get the hang of this sooner than Kakashi would’ve expected.

Yes, there were all these pleasantries, these rankings and formalities. Naruto was never a big fan of those and he always used to invent his nicknames for people.

As if it was his way to oppose these very rules of the system. To be his own ninja, with his own ninja way.

That was why now, seeing Naruto take even a small note about that and correcting himself, gave Kakashi a slight hope that maybe things weren’t going to be as difficult as he expected them to be.

“That’s right, Naruto. Hokage-sama it is now. I’m your former master, but common courtesy dictates in terms of the ranking system that now I’m the Hokage,” he said.

“Eeeh, for me you’ll always be Kakashi-sensei, though,” Naruto said, scratching his head as he grinned. He was still treating matters as he always did.

With a childlike innocence, which wasn’t necessarily bad. This exact trait of Naruto did move mountains, in some cases.

But these next chapters in his life were going to be about moving continents so that quality of his had to mature.

“And that is okay, as we have a history together,” Kakashi said relaxed.

“But if you ever want to sit on this chair next in line after me, there are some things you’re going to have to learn about all of this, Naruto,” he added, lowering his tone. His tone captured Naruto’s attention, bringing his former pupil to a different mental space.

Kakashi leaned back in his chair.

Naruto followed by putting his hand down and his facial expression matched his former teacher.

“Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean, it’s all about that blah blah Hokage has to be like this or Hokage has to be like tha-” he replied, rolling his eyes.

But Kakashi didn’t cut him any slack and interfered before Naruto could even finish his sentence.

“Naruto, you are undoubtedly one of the greatest ninjas this world has ever seen. You are now in leagues of the likes of Madara Uchiha who you confronted in the war that just passed or his rival, the high-esteemed Hashirama Senju. You have even fought gods, which not many can say they did,” Kakashi said, keeping his seriousness intact.

“However, there are many types of battles in this world, not just combat-like ones. And while you’re great in those types of battles, you are still to learn a lot about the other types. And I think the Land of Iron experience has shown you what type of other battles you are yet to win, didn’t it?” he asked, as he tried to subtly guide his pupil’s awareness towards a certain memory.

That’s when Naruto’s face frowned and turned down to the ground. He knew very well what Kakashi was talking about.

His meeting with Raikage when he wanted to ask him to pardon Sasuke, so they can avoid a war.

That one didn’t go very well.

“You ask for mercy and bow your head for a criminal, for the safety of your friends (…) In the ninja world, we do not call that friendship (…) You won’t get far in the ninja world if you keep acting this stupid.”

Those words were burned on his very soul and every time he remembered, it felt like someone touched the very scars of that burn.

Or later in the war, when the same Raikage came to stop him and Bee from joining everyone.

Had it not been for his newly found power, maybe Ay would’ve been able to stop him. He pouted as he remembered it. It wasn’t a comfortable feeling. It contradicted every sense of the way Naruto felt inside.

But Kakashi was right.

The Land of Iron experience… was a type of battle he lost.

Still, it didn’t make him feel any better, on the contrary.

The sensation of those memories made Naruto’s muscles tense, so much so that he didn’t even realize when he dropped his head to the ground and his jaw became more prominent as he was screeching his teeth. He had gotten lost in there for a minute.

That’s when Kakashi interrupted him.

“As you’ve seen, the only thing people truly respect is power, but power means more than just your shinobi abilities,” Kakashi said.

“There’s a new type of power that you need to learn,” he added as Naruto raised his head from the ground.

“And what’s that power that you talk about, Sensei?” Naruto asked.

“The power of diplomacy,” Kakashi replied.

That’s when Naruto raised his eyebrows.

“What do you mean by that? I don’t get it,” Naruto said, looking confused.

“Which is why you’re here in this office today,” Kakashi replied.

Naruto’s head turned to the side in confusion. He was still not getting it.

Kakashi smiled a bit as he folded his hands and looked Naruto dead in the eye.

“Diplomacy is the art of maintaining peaceful relationships among different groups of people, to put it in simpler terms,” he said.

As soon as he heard the word peaceful, a current went through Naruto as if a short circuit had just burned.

“Peaceful relationships you say?” Naruto asked as his blood started to rise a bit to the top of his head. Now he was getting a tad bit mad.

“But where were these peaceful relationships when I asked Raikage to spare Sasuke’s life and he refused, huh?” he asked, as the volume of his voice went up.

“You know very well how that went Sensei, you were there! All I ever wanted was for all of us to get along, to end these stupid wars and revenge plans and everything else. I wished for that even when it was the hardest for me to do it as I understood Sasuke’s pain, too,” Naruto said, as the volume kept rising.

“When I faced Nagato, all I wanted to do was to rip him to absolute shreds for killing the only person who felt as close to a father as I’ve ever had,” he continued as the words barely made it out through his screeched teeth.

“Yet I didn’t. I didn’t. I didn’t do it despite wanting it so much that it made my blood boil. Because I chose peace. I chose to believe in the words and teachings of my master. When he was gone, I guided myself by those very principles he instilled in me,” Naruto added as his heart started beating faster. His chest felt heavier and that pressure only got freed when under his blue eyes, a few drops made their appearance.

“So how come you’re telling me that I have to learn to maintain peaceful relationships when peace has always been the path I walked, with my ninja way?” Naruto said, ending his rant in a fast-paced tone, wiping whatever tears he felt his eyes were going to shed.

He had carried the weight of the world on his shoulders and with everything else that was going around after the war, he didn’t even realize how much it had affected him, too. How much he was carrying with him, still. He was only now decompressing.
Which was why Kakashi just watched him closely as he let the young adult unload.

His heart was indeed truly in the right place, but the not-so-pleasant truth was that he lacked the tactics of how to enact such change in situations where more seriousness was required.

But before going further, he just allowed Naruto to recollect and get back to his initial balanced state.

“Naruto, listen to me,” Kakashi said, as Naruto’s return to his normal stance and a calmer demeanor were observable.

“I’ve watched you grow since you were a little child,” he added as he watched the child he spoke of, sitting now, in front of him, all grown-up. All while in the back of his mind, different scenes throughout their lives together played along.

“You have truly come a long way since your mischievous era way. You’ve grown into this respectable man with good intentions. I have been next to you and witnessed it. Yes, your heart is in the right place and it has always been. That’s undeniable. But having the good intentions in your heart is not the same as manifesting those good intentions in the real world and affecting real change.”

Naruto couldn’t help but interrupt him.

“What’s that even supposed to mean?”

“Simply put, you lack tact,” Kakashi cut him short.

Naruto’s eyes widened as slight frustration started bubbling beneath the surface once again. To him, now, Kakashi was being a little bit unjust. But still, he was his master, and given their discussion earlier he decided to listen rather than throw a tantrum.

To the best of his abilities, at least.

“Oh yeah?” Naruto crossed his arms, pouting, because he couldn’t just hide that frustration, even if he kept it under control.

“And what tactic should I apply then?” he asked.

“Tact and tactics are not the same thing, but I guess it goes for a somewhat good analogy so let me try to explain that as best as I can,” Kakashi said.

“Tact is a touch, a feeling. A reading of the room if you may,” Kakashi told his student, gesturing.

Naruto continued with his pouting as he was searching through his mind for something to connect it to so that he could better understand what Kakashi was trying to say.

That’s when that memory bumped into his head, so he rapidly interrupted his former master.

“Aaah, you mean like that time when Sai interrupted when Sakura-chan was about to feed me?” he asked.

Kakashi’s face stood blank for a mere moment.

Of all the things he could associate this with…

But hey, it was something. And it was Naruto we’re talking about. After all that was a valid example, so why not?

“Exactly, like that, yes,” Kakashi said, nodding.

“Mmmhmm,” Naruto mumbled and nodded, really proud of himself for getting that reference.

Kakashi’s eyes closed as he smiled for a short moment. Naruto could be cute like that, even if he was dense in some areas, and excelling in others.

That unpredictability of his could go a long way.

Kakashi continued his explanation of the tactics part and ended up with a simple sentence.

“Diplomacy, in its essence, is a blend of those two different yet converging elements,” he said.

“I think I get it,” Naruto continued mumbling, still slightly pouting, scratching and nodding his head. Not a fan, but hey, he did want to be Hokage so he guessed he should indeed try to start and understand these things.

“You see, Naruto, you need to have the tact, that sense of reading a room, but oftentimes in the administrative and political world, you have to have a clear tactic in terms of how certain negotiations should go. You need to be prepared for whatever’s about to come,” Kakashi said.

“As a leader, you must protect your subjects, the interest of your country, and achieve state interests. What’s the correct way to do that while being just with the other leaders and countries? I…” Kakashi paused for a second. Thinking about all the things he’s witnessed ever since he was born it was really hard to say.

“Honestly don’t know either,” he said.

“In my life as a shinobi, I met a lot of different points of view. Pein’s ideology said that humans are essentially evil and that human nature pursues strife. He wanted to impose his will and use war as a means of diplomacy. From this point of view, countries live in fear and permanent insecurity, which is why they’ll seek power and primacy to obtain security and this keeps the cycle of hatred and violence going. But, if you do obtain that power and are the strongest, the other will not attack you,” he said.

Naruto became serious again. He relaxed his lips and focused his attention on his master.

“Regarding that last statement, that is an ideology that you already heard about in your meeting with Raikage. Hashirama-sama’s ideology on the other side, operated on the politics of balance of power. That is why the bijuus were spread throughout different nations. However, history has proven to us that this solution didn’t work either. Another ideology is now rising through the shinobi world thanks to you, promoting the idea that people are inherently good, just straying to the wrong paths due to suffering, but at their core, all they seek is connection, collaboration, and progress. Such an approach seems to promote the removal of war from the practice of international relations and encourages cooperation to achieve interests. That looks like the dream of peace you inherited from Master Jiraiya,” Kakashi said, pausing for a bit before giving one last serious statement.

“But to enact that dream and bring about the change you wish for Naruto, you need to learn how to play by the rules of the old system, until you can reform it. This means you have to learn the ways of diplomacy and what kind of power that can bring with it,” Kakashi ended.

There was so much to digest, that Naruto was still finding it difficult to process everything at once.

“It’s… like a game of shogi,” Kakashi joked when seeing Naruto so perplexed by all of this.

“But don’t I have Shikamaru for that?” Naruto protested jokingly.

Kakashi tilted his head. Naruto surely had his way…

“And what if Shikamaru isn’t there one day with you because you two have to be in different places at the same time? What are you going to do then? Nothing because you don’t know how to deal with the issue yourself?” Kakashi asked.
“Fine, fine!” Naruto said, raising his hands in the air, slightly bothered.

But only because he wasn’t a big fan of all this totally uninteresting diplomatic blah blah. However, his demeanor quickly turned to a serious one the next moment, as he realized a particular thing.

“But then Kakashi sensei, I have a question for you… How are we going to deal with Sasuke’s clan situation then… diplomatically? Naruto asked, with what it was now his turn to look his former master dead serious in the eyes.

Kakashi was so taken by surprise by the question that he got silent from the shock.

___________

With a hand full of dossiers and a mind filled with thoughts, Sakura left the hospital and headed straight for Kakashi’s office. There were so many things to think about after her discussion with Tsunade.

The special section. Naruto’s hand with Hashirama’s cells… and most importantly, her dark little secret: the revival technique.

All of these hanging onto a single thread: her morality.

The space between right and wrong. Light and dark. Good and evil.

For a second there, Sakura felt overwhelmed again. It was a lot to take on. Part of her being was telling her that it’s okay, there’s nothing to worry about.

But the other part, the deeper one, the dark and suppressed one resurfaced every time matters like this were hanging in the balance.

As she thought about all these, a voice cruel laugh came behind those darker depths of her being.

“Tsunade’s honor student close to breaking the very code she studied under… I wonder what her master would think about that?” the voice said, as Sakura closed her eyes. Her moral side couldn’t help but think about the teachings of the sacredness of human life Tsunade had instilled in her.

“What would she say, if she knew what her star pupil is planning to do? Mmmm?” said the same voice, as shivers went down Sakura’s spine.

“Shut up!” Sakura muffled. She was trying her best to avoid the direction the dark voice inside her was sending her to. She tried to start thinking about the plans for the Infinite Tsukuyomi victims' special section, but for some reason, her mind didn’t cooperate as it carried her right to her nightmares. The ones where a dead cold Naruto was dying under her very eyes. Her healing chakra doing absolutely nothing for him.

“You might want to try and escape me, but you and I know very well that you can’t do it.”

Sakura shook her head.

“I know that very well, shut up! Besides, what I’m trying to do is not break any law…” Sakura continued muffling. It was like her body instinctively knew that being on the outside and talking about matters like this in a loud voice would make someone look in a peculiar way at her.

But at the same time, they were coming after a war, so could anyone truly blame her? Mentally, the war had scarred everyone in one way or another, impacted or not by the Tsukuyomi.
It was just a matter of being or not aware of it.

But she indeed couldn’t help but think how was she going to pull this out… First, it was a matter of stabilizing Hashirama’s cells. From the preliminary checks, everything seemed to be working well, and everything should’ve run smoothly. But that last-minute volatility probability put things into a new perspective, so Tsunade didn’t want to hurry.

Sakura knew very well that if her plan to bring back Neji were to work, that issue should be resolved first.

“Can you truly say that?” the tenebrous voice asked.

Sakura puffed exasperated.

On a day like this, the last thing she needed was her other self bringing her this much headache. Literally and figuratively.

But luckily, she soon found herself at the gates of the Hokage building. Having to salute the staff inside relaxed her a bit more and took her mind off the inner turmoil.

She happily climbed the stairs to hand over all the paperwork to Kakashi. As soon as she was in front of the door, right before she was about to knock, Sakura heard something that left her in complete and utter shock.

On the other side of the door, Naruto was asking Kakashi a delicate question.

Sasuke’s clan? Diplomatically? What exactly were they talking about?

Sakura frowned.

It didn’t take her long to put two and two together and realize they were hiding something from her.

She first got that impression in the Land of Iron, but she ended up believing that eh, maybe it was the overall tense situation they were all in.

Back then, something similar had happened.

Naruto was about to tell her something related to Sasuke, yet Kakashi stopped him, as if the two of them were hiding something.

Why?

Why was it that he stopped him? Why was it that she was being kept in the dark about this? Why was it that she was not included in these conversations?

What’s with all the enigma around the subject?

Isn’t she part of Team 7, too?

This saddened her.

But at the same time, she couldn’t help but wonder, what was it so dark that they couldn’t share with her? Or was Kakashi trying to cover things up again for her, like he did when she was young? But why would Naruto not tell her anything? Was he shouldering it all again alone? Well, not necessarily alone, but still…

She wasn’t in the equation. Why were they keeping her out?

But this wasn’t her young self anymore. She could take it. Whatever it might be. And damn it, she was part of Team 7, so she shouldn’t be excluded like that!

But if they were going to do it, well… She too, had her ways of finding out.

Sakura listened to see if the conversation would continue, but a dead silence encapsulated the entire room. Which meant only one thing: this was a big thing. Orochimaru levels of big back in the day. If not bigger.

With a determined look on her face and a new conviction in her heart regarding all this, Sakura knocked on the door.

___________

A door slammed opened made Koharu and Homura startle. They didn’t expect such an entrance to what was the Konoha Council chambers.

“Oh, it’s you…” they both said in unison, as they turned around to see who was it that made such a violent entrance.

“Yes, it’s me. We need to talk,” the stern voice said.

The elders’ faces frowned. By the looks of it, this wasn’t going to be something pleasant. The tension in the air thickened as soon as the presence entered the room.

They both knew that whenever she entered the scene, some waters were bound to get turbulent.

“And what do you want us to talk about?” Koharu asked gesturing.

She wanted to inspire openness, but truthfully speaking, that was the least of the things she would’ve wanted.

And Tsunade was no stranger to these antics.

She knew their kind all too well. Didn’t like them the minute she stepped into Konoha and took on the Hokage mantle. These two with Danzo were her biggest pain in the proverbial backside.

They had made her ruling a living hell. But eh, it was ok, she could handle it.

But the moment she heard from Kakashi what they did, back when the trial for Sasuke Uchiha happened, that’s when she swore on her grandfather’s memory that she’d take care of them. Personally.

It is precisely why she and Kakashi agreed to the new Hokage arrangement.

He’d take over the mantle of Hokage, and she’d make sure to remove those relics of the past from the council. Make sure Konoha would not have to go through something like this again.

Ever, again.

Even though she had left Konoha in the past, it was still the village her grandfather had built.

Still, the village that she had wanted to protect once.

It was pain that pushed her away to travel, but when she met Naruto Uzumaki and the rest of the kids of Team 7, her good times memories flooded back.

To hear that these two had trampled over her grandfather’s legacy to this degree…

Unforgivable!

“It’s simple, really,” Tsunade’s dry voice said.

“From now on, you two are dismissed from your council duties!” she said, looking them straight in the eyes, as she sat down on the opposite couch.

Koharu and Homura look at each other and then back at Tsunade.

“What?!” both said in unison. “You can’t do that!” Homura responded, raising his tone. “You have no authority!”

Following him quickly after, Koharu interjected.

“Plus, where is this coming from? What is this about?” she asked, confused and visibly disturbed by Tsunade’s statement.

But for some reason, they both felt an incredible tension engulfing their being. It didn’t take long for them to slightly start sweating.

Not to mention, her presence always commanded the room and inspired fear.

“I think all of us know what this is about,” she said, taking turns looking into their eyes as if she was their predator and wanted to make sure they knew they were now the prey soon to be eaten alive.

“You’ll really have to be more specific than that,” Koharu insisted.

“The massacre of the Uchiha clan you two and that old dust ordered,” Tsunade cut them short. “You have trampled over the memory of my grandfather’s legacy and I shall not allow you to sit comfortably here, pretending to stand on a high moral ground, deciding the future of this village. You’re out!” she said, pressing her words.

Koharu interjected quickly after.

“You can’t do that. Plus, you don’t know everything that happened back then. We were only trying to protect Konoha. To keep the will of fire alive! Uchihas were going to…”

Tsunade interrupted.

“Silence! I don’t want to hear you speak one more word!” she said, raising her voice. She felt like her head was caught between two pressure points when hearing them talk about the will of fire.

“I can’t even believe you have the audacity to talk about the will of fire! You dare to say those words with your entire mouth after what you did?” she asked slamming her hand on the table.

The impact was so high that it made the table crack a bit.

“Yes, I know very well the story. You two think that just because the Uchihas were organizing a coup, it gave you the excuse to murder them all. Even the innocent. The children!”

By the time Tsunade mentioned the children, her voice was already raised to volumes higher than normal.

It got personal by then.

The very reason she left Konoha back in the day was because she couldn’t bear the thought of losing her dear ones. Dan, Nawaki…

And now this whole ordeal reminded her of her younger brother, Nawaki.

To think that for a second, had the roles have been reversed, her brother could’ve been a victim of a massacre, sickened Tsunade.

The constant wars have already massacred her entire lineage. Which is why her grandfather had sought peace and had brought different clans under the same roof.

Even the Uchihas. The clan who brought her grandfather’s best friend. Which her grandfather always used to tell stories about.

I mean, sure, the man had gotten to be a legend due to less pleasant stories, but even so, against all that, her grandfather had always advocated for peace and balance.

To find out that the peace and balance, the will to bring everyone together to live in harmony, to offer them a tranquil life had been trampled by the very people who should’ve sought to keep those ideals, those foundational elements that incorporated the will of fire alive, absolutely sickened her.

She remembered her grandfather’s story about the will of fire and the reason why they named it so.

It all went back to his friendship with Uchiha Madara. Back when Konoha was just a dream unfolding.

Madara had made a comment about Hashirama’s stubbornness to fulfill their dream of uniting the clans and living harmoniously and peacefully together in the same village.

“As a Uchiha, our spirit and strength come from the fire. But you… you have a will of fire. And that will might very well be stronger than all of our clan’s spirits combined. And that is what’ll make our dream come true.”

Tsunade remembered those lines as if Hashirama had said them yesterday. The tales of how he built Konoha with his once best friend.

And that’s how she carried the legacy with her. That will of fire. Despite the other tales that she heard about Madara.

Yes, Hashirama had always been truthful to her about how things between the two unfolded by the end, but he never carried a grudge for the rest of the clan just because his former friend had gone wrong paths.

Which is why she couldn’t stand to hear the two elders in front of her trying to excuse themselves so easily for what was a truthfully speaking a genocide.

A genocide had happened under the roof of their own house.

She couldn’t believe herself, even now, after all the time that she had heard the news.

It’s like she was hearing it again for the first time. She didn’t feel like she could reconcile with such a thought.

How can one reconcile with innocent people being murdered? Children being slaughtered?

How?

“Get out…” Tsunade said in a low voice, looking down at the table. She clenched her fist in a punch.

“Get out now and don’t ever think about setting foot on this building ever again!” she yelled, punching the table in front of them.

Pieces of it were now filling the room.

Koharu and Homura got up instantly, their body stiffened and the look in their eyes opened the doors to their inner world that was now filled with the fear Tsunade instilled.

“My grandfather was capable of bringing everyone together under the same roof in times bloodier than those you two lived, and you dare to tell me you did all this for Konoha? You inherited a home to rule over, but you turned it into a slaughterhouse!”
Her tone didn’t go lower, though. On the contrary. It started going higher and higher.

“But they were going to destroy Konoha as you know it! If not them, we were going to be the ones slaughtered! You know how powerful and unstable they are as they gain that power. You know very well what happens to a Uchiha due to their genetic makeup,” Homura interrupted.

Tsunade shook her head as she rolled her eyes.

She couldn’t believe the excuses they were trying to come up with.

“Ohhhh, so now you want to blame it on the genetic make-up? But when I asked for funding for a medical system to train medics back in the day, you were all standing there high and mighty telling me there’s barely money for that and you offered me nothing but scrapes! You and that old geezer. Speaking of which how could he?” Tsunade asked as the realization hit her.

Her former master had been okay with this? Because this all happened under his rule. What was he thinking?

He was the student of both her grandfather and her granduncle. He knew very well how much her grandfather advocated for peace. Did he agree to this as well? Did they force him?

“Did he agree to this or?” she couldn’t help but ask, in the middle of all the turbulence this situation had brought into her mind.

The other two put their head on the ground.

“Not really, we…”

Tsunade interrupted.

“Doesn’t even matter, really. What you all did is a blood stain on Konoha’s history that you’ll never be able to erase. Which is why you two will no longer be part of Konoha’s council. And by whose authority you ask? By the authority of I said so. This village is my grandfather’s legacy. A legacy he built with sweat and blood. But not the blood of the innocent,” she said. “So, you’ll leave Konoha’s council or…”

“Or what?” both of them asked in unison, fixating Tsunade.

“Or I’ll expose you publicly for high treason,” Tsunade cut them short.

“You wouldn’t do that, now, would you? This would mean exposing Konoha’s dark secret and I’m sure that for the times we’re living in, this would throw the village in flaming chaos. Konoha would succumb under its own will of fire,” Koharu said.

“Don’t confuse my grandfather’s will of fire that symbolized willpower, hope, and peace for everyone under the same roof no matter their background, with your skewed interpretation of it. My grandfather’s will of fire meant life. Your interpretation of it was pure destruction. You’re not worthy to even mention those words.”

“Bu-“

“No ifs and buts. Don’t try me!” Tsunade threatened as she moved closer and grabbed them both by their collar.

“You two didn’t even have the decency to open discussions and negotiations with the Uchihas to come to a consensus. You chose to spill blood, and now you dare to try and talk things out with me? No. I’m not having it,” she said, as she pushed both to the side.

The impact of her push was so great that it made them both lose balance. But they were lucky enough to grab onto the door and each other to regain balance.

“And what will happen to us now?” Koharu asked.

Tsunade turned around to face them.

“I’d put you both in jail if it were for me, but you’re lucky is not up to me. It’s up to the Uchiha kid. But for the moment, he chose to keep this a secret. When the time comes, however, he’ll be the one to decide your fate. Same way you decided his, all those years ago. In the meantime, I will take your place in the Konoha council, and till the day I give the last breath in this world, I will be deciding how this village is run. I and whomever I choose. In the meantime, you two will be guarded 24/7 by Anbu Black Ops under my command. You will be guarded by them, accompanied by them, fed by them, put to sleep by them, everything, absolutely everything you do from this day on will be under Black Ops supervision. Just to make sure you don’t try anything dubious until the day of your reckoning comes. They’re outside this door, waiting for you already. Now get out!” Tsunade yelled.

It didn’t take the two much time to do it this time. So, they ran out of the room as quickly as possible.

Tsunade sat down and started counting her inspirations and expirations with slight pauses between as soon as the two left. Her breath got extremely erratic after the fight with the two.

Not to mention, ever since she found it, it was close to impossible to contain the rage she felt.

Had it been her choice, she would’ve stormed in there the minute she found out. But, all of this was a politically sensitive matter, so she kept to herself.

Not that she didn’t feel conflicted to find out such a thing even happened in Konoha. She knew the stories about Madara Uchiha from her grandfather, and she was well aware of the fact that an imminent threat always loomed due to his views.

But spilling the blood of innocent children was never the answer.

That much she knew.

Even if their medical condition turned them into ticking time bombs like the elders had suggested. There was a reason she became a medical ninja. She thought that maybe… maybe if she had been in Konoha still when this horrendous matter happened, she could’ve helped prevent it.

Study what was it that turned the Uchihas in that state and come up with a solution. She screeched her teeth and clenched her palm in a fist. Then, she shook her head.

That was a thing of the past, now, though, and there was nothing she could do about it.

But now she had a student. A student whom she could count on to leave a legacy behind.

Which was why she was extremely happy when she heard Sakura talking about the special clinic she thought about opening. Why she encouraged it.

The old times of Konoha needed sensitive hearts as her student’s. Because the sensitive hearts of today are the strong wills of tomorrow.

Tsunade sat down on the couch.

“I guess it’s all in your hands now. It’s time you children build up the future. And it’s up to us, the old generation to be the strong foundation you put your trust into,” she said, as she laid back and looked at the ceiling. It was now time to close that old chapter of Konoha’s history. A dark, enigmatic one. She wondered how many things she had missed ever since she left.

But… that was the past, and you can’t change it, no matter what.

The time had come for turning a new leaf.

___________

Sakura put the best smile on her face and entered the room as soon as she heard the invitation coming from the other side of the door.

“Oh hi, Naruto!” she said, acting surprised as if she didn’t expect him there. “How is your hand doing? Everything okay?”

Naruto looked at her nervous and started scratching his head. He wasn’t exactly sure how to react to her being there given the discussion he and Kakashi were having.

But he was quick on his feet, and that applied to his thinking as well.

“Oh, hiii, Sakura-chan! Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine, I’m waiting for you and granny Tsunade to tell me when I should be visiting you two,” he replied.

“Sooner than you’ll expect. I just came here to drop these to Kakashi-sensei first,” she said, as she raised the arm full of dossiers and turned her head towards Kakashi.

She bowed in respect and pardoned herself.

“Sensei, I’m here to bring you these files from the hospital. Reports about the population affected by the Infinite Tsukuyomi. It’s only what we have registered until now, but by the looks of it, there’s going to be more than this,” Sakura said.
Kakashi sighed.

“Oh, even more reports… this isn’t good,” he said. “Sakura, put them…” he paused, looking around at his desk for a free space. But there wasn’t much. He was still not done with the ones Tsunade had brought him. “Well, put them on the desk and I’ll see what I…”

Sakura smirked unnoticeably. She knew Kakashi very well and knew he wasn’t the type of guy to be right on time or take the traditional approach to organizing or even teaching a lesson. Which meant this was the perfect opportunity for her.

“Sensei, if you want, I can help with all of that,” she said, employing her unnoticeable fake smile. “After all, who do you think kept Tsunade-sama’s folders organized by alphabet, types, dates, size, and even gave them special tags?” she asked, as she lifted a finger in the air to subliminally point out it was her. “And I even made a cross-referential section,” she added with a big grin on her face.

At home, she might’ve been chaotic, but at the office, things were different.

“I am after all the student of two Hokages now. I did it once. I can absolutely do it again, as I’m sure you’d need it probably even more than Master Tsunade, since after the Pein attacked Konoha, we never really had an opportunity to properly reorganize everything since the war came upon us shortly after. Please, allow me to be of service,” Sakura said, bowing.

Caught in the tension of the moment, Kakashi immediately agreed. Sakura smirked again, then raised her head and met Kakashi with the biggest smile.

“Great!” she said, then quickly changed the subject. She didn’t want to raise any suspicion, so she found it perfectly suitable to bring to Kakashi’s awareness her idea about a special section in the medical clinic.

“Kakashi-sensei, one more thing… I already talked to Tsunade-sama about this and I know I must prepare a report where I’ll present the project with scope and everything but… I just wanted you to know beforehand. I think we should open a special clinic to treat the people impacted by the Infinite Tsukuyomi, which is pretty much almost everyone at this point. As you’ll see from the reports, I brought you, a lot of our patients are presenting incredible levels of distress on a mental level. But not only that. Their brain patterns have been changed. It’s like the biology and chemistry of the brain itself have changed.
I can’t explain exactly how right now, as we’re still conducting research to observe the effects, but that’s precisely why I think we need a special section and trained personnel to delve deeper into this. I know it’s not a perfect time right now to be making major investments as our budget after the war might be affected. Perhaps if you could help me with an overview of the financial report, I can make it so that I build the plan taking into consideration our economic situation and cross-reference it with our needs, and as such I can optimize both our needs and the budget spending.
However, I believe it is of the utmost importance we tackle the matter, as this will directly affect our village’s prosperity and well-being in the future. Especially if we’re taking into consideration the children. They seem to be the most affected by this. And pardon me for saying this…” Sakura said, pausing for a second thinking about Naruto and Sasuke’s situations, as she slightly turned her head to the side so that her peripheral vision could target Naruto.

“But we’ve already witnessed throughout generations what mental scars can do,” she said as she turned her head back to Kakashi. “The untreated mental scars of today are tomorrow’s cries of war. Haven’t we already lost so many comrades to war? Isn’t it time to introduce a support system that helps, heals, and protects them from such aches? Tsunade-sama system is great for treating the body, but I believe we must go a step forward and upgrade it to a system that also treats the mind,” she concluded.

Naruto was staying right behind her. His eyes widened and he didn’t even notice when his lips slowly drifted apart because he was so immersed in the feeling that bubbled to the surface of his heart when he heard Sakura speaking. He was absolutely astonished.

He couldn’t help being mesmerized by her assertiveness and passion in talking about innovating the medical field. For a second there, he realized what Kakashi was telling him earlier about what it means to be a leader.
Hearing her talk so passionately about everything and everyone just lit a flame inside him as well.

And even though in his discussion earlier with Kakashi he wasn’t necessarily happy about the things he’d have to undertake, seeing Sakura just now inspired him to take a different approach than the way he initially wanted.
Less resistant. More open.

If he really wanted to be Hokage, he’d have to take this whole thing seriously.

He couldn’t mess around. He was now understanding this, looking at the way Sakura was treating matters.

“I should stop messing around,” he thought. “Sakura-chan is already doing a better job than me, and she isn’t even a Hokage candidate. Maybe she was right when she said she can snatch the Hokage seat from me. What am I really doing?” Naruto wondered, shaking his head.

He then glanced back at her. But this time, his eyes reflected the internal turmoil of his soul whenever the awareness of his mind caught with the emotion of his heart. “Once again, I get why it’s her… why it’s always going to be her,” he thought, gulping as the emotion hit warmed his heart. He then moved his sight to the ground.

However, his thoughts didn’t stop. “But what does it matter if…” Naruto sighed. His mind couldn’t stop thinking about that whole destiny realization he had. And how that might be a condition that governed their very existence.

And by the looks of the latest events, it sure seemed to strengthen the idea. So really, how could he fight something like that? How could all that he felt matter?

He shook his head and got back to the reality at hand when Kakashi asked him what was his opinion on the matter.

“Eeh, what matter?” he asked. “I’m sorry, I was…”

“I was telling Kakashi-sensei how you could be of great help with my research for this new special section. But he said he already has plans for you related to your Hokage training. And I was saying how I believe you can do both, as I promised I won’t be taking too much time out of it,” Sakura informed Naruto.

“I believe your input would greatly help my research and I would be honored if you could lend me your help,” she said, ending her statement with a smile.

Naruto was taken aback. Eeh? Sakura said she’d be honored if he could help her? What was happening here? Was this a dream? Was this reality? But it sounds too good to be true. Plus, getting to spend more time with her as he always wanted? But doing it now when things were so complicated and he would’ve rather kept his distance?

What kind of sick joke of destiny was this? Were the gods of destiny messing with him right now?

But he couldn’t lie to himself.

Being next to her was truly his heart’s desire, so he accepted.

“I would love to,” Naruto said, genuinely smiling.

“Well then, I’ll leave you here then with Kakashi-sensei to clear the situation with your training. I’ll return to the hospital to work on your prosthetic hand with Tsunade-sama. I’ll wait for you there,” Sakura said, as she headed to the door.

“Kakashi-sensei, when you’re done with all your meetings let me know and I’ll gladly come to help you organize everything as promised,” she added smiling, as she grabbed the door handle. “See you both soon, take care!” Sakura said, as she energetically exited the room and slammed the door after her.

Once she was out the room, her happy-go-lucky face turned serious. She would find out what was the truth behind all this enigma once and for all.

There was no mystery that she couldn’t unfold once she would put her mind to it.

Her previous research had already shown her that the common element in Team 7’s suffering was Itachi Uchiha. The man who, as per the reports she had read back when Tsunade was Hokage and she used to sneak into her archive room, had massacred his entire clan, thus made Sasuke suffer greatly. And not only that but was also a member of the Akatsuki who used to target Naruto.

But Itachi Uchiha was dead, so all of this should’ve ended. Yet, for some reason now Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi were keeping a secret that related to Sasuke’s clan.

It was clearly related to her previous research.

She just couldn’t tell how.

But she would find out.

One way. Or another.

Chapter Text

The sun rays played with the reflections on her hair and took out the beautiful lavender hidden beneath the dark brunette. Hinata stood tranquil on the porch at the entrance of the Hyuga compound.

However, her outside silence hid an inner cry inside her heart. After the war had passed, and Neji’s death had come, seeing the Hyuga elders go back on their word regarding the traditional practice with the Caged Bird Cursed seal, which they promised would be banished, made her blood boil.

She was caught between a rock and a hard place. And the weight of her clan’s system felt heavier on her shoulders.

Hanabi wasn’t helping either.

And she was sure she wasn’t of help to Hanabi.

But why?

Why had her sister wanted to have that chat with her, back then, that got interrupted?

Would it be something that she would risk or?

Plus, why is it that the minute Hanabi wanted to do that, immediately their father’s guardians showed up, taking Hanabi away?

It was all very subtle though. As if they suddenly had some matters to attend to. But it felt more than that.

It felt intentional separation. She couldn’t help but wonder… were her and Hanabi…watched?

What was this centuries old system hiding, so much so that they would break sister from sister, just the way it had done with her father and his brother?

What was so veiled that even her Byakugan couldn’t see it? And how could she pierce that veil herself?

Hinata had trained so much over the years to improve her eyesight.

Yes, she wasn’t near her now dead cousin’s expertise in Gentle First, but she worked on making it up in other ways and one of those ways was to improve her eyesight. To see as far and as detailed as she could. She wanted to find ways to be of service, even if they were different than the standard.

And yet, she was learning now that certain things are so hidden between shreds of darkness and veils of deceit that even her Byakugan couldn’t unveil it.

At least for now.

She pondered over these mixed-up threads. What should she do? What could she do? She didn’t find an answer and the Hyuga compound had started to feel less like a home where she would be safe to ask those questions.

Again.

The same as back then.

Funny how history had a way to repeat itself.

But since it does so, this reminded Hinata of the only person who helped her back in the old days.

She thought that well, it wouldn’t hurt to maybe try and ask for help in this case as well.

So, as she looked at the high sky above, Hinata decided to go and unburden a bit from the heaviness she carried within her heart.

Where?

At the only person who helped her do that in the past.

Her master.

Kurenai Yuhi.

___________

Kakashi and Naruto’s tensed muscles relaxed as soon as Sakura got out of the room. Her coming in at a very delicate moment wasn’t something they had expected.

Of course, with Kakashi being wrapped up in so many of these Hokage tasks, he had forgotten that various reports are still to arrive at his door.

Like the ones Sakura had just dropped.

The issue was that it wasn’t the best moment to do so, as both him and Naruto were discussing a really sensible and touchy subject: the Uchiha clan massacre.

Naruto had asked him an inquisitive question: how should they deal with the Uchiha clan’s massacre… diplomatically? Since he was being asked to learn diplomacy.

Kakashi knew very well what Naruto meant by that.

The kid now turned young adult was never the academic type of smarts, but once he understood something, his inquisitive nature could cut through you like the Rasenshuriken did through his enemies.
The Uchiha clan massacre was a delicate matter of systemic injustice. A dark spot in Konoha’s history.

From Hashirama to Tsunade, every Hokage had tried to deal with the Uchiha clan as fairly as possible.

But when ideologies clash, reason is often the first casualty.

It isn’t easy for clans who were once longstanding foes to set aside their difference and harmonize.

Especially when dark threats born from induced fears and ideals loom at every corner of one’s conscience. And when unseen strings are pulled by systems invisible to the naked eye, harmony becomes a distant dream.

How much of a decision is truly one’s own, and how much of it is guided by invisible hands?

In the Uchiha clan’s demise, two rival systems, each with invisible puppeteers, clashed in ideology and strategy.

On the surface, one side seemed to win.

In reality, though?

Neither did...

The unpaid dues of yesterday are tomorrow’s karma.

And it always catches up.

Such was the reality of the universe Kakashi and Naruto had found themselves in.

Was this another system, crafted by the Gods themselves, designed to feed on the endless loop of hatred?

Neither of them knew, and honestly, it was far beyond what they could dwell on for the moment.

The Otsutsuki had appeared in their world, forcing questions that stretched beyond human comprehension.

Questions about the nature of their reality, the unseen forces shaping it, and the ninja history, were beginning to take shape.

But history, no matter how heavy, belonged to the past.

They were living in the present.

And to live well in the present, the mistakes of the past have to be confronted and resolved.

So here were Naruto Uzumaki and Kakashi Hatake, two of Konoha’s most revered shinobi, standing at that very crossroads.

Everyone’s life felt a weight of its own, one way or another.

But theirs carried an added gravity. Matters of justice, morality, and philosophy pressing down on their shoulders.

They were inheriting a system long outdated, fragile, and flawed. Reform was no longer optional.

It was their duty to ensure that the errors of Konoha’s past would not repeat.

Especially now, with alliances stretching across nations, every decision they made rippled further than ever before.

If up until now everyone was doing things individually, things were different when they were in a military and political alliance.

What standing ground could Konoha have in a council should everyone else find the truth about the dirt under the proverbial rug that they hid for so long?

The official story said Uchiha Itachi had gone mad, and in that madness spree he had killed his entire clan, bar his brother.

But the truth was far deeper and far darker.

And it was only known by three people in the entirety of the world. Well, now four if we counted the ex-Hokage, Tsunade Senju. That is referring to the living…

She had to be informed as on her basis and word was Sasuke Uchiha ultimately let go off the hook.

Sure, officially that was thanks to Kakashi, but he could only make a good plea and deal based on the endorsement he received from the legendary Slug Princess.

The case they had made had been around the bits and pieces of information she had found out from Kakashi himself.

And the Uchiha kid, who spoke of her grandfather.

When his trial came, she had used her status as Hashirama Senju’s granddaughter to pull the strings she could.

It was the least she could do, alongside the other plan she and Kakashi had set in motion: the dissolution of Konoha’s outdated council…

So much to fix. So many repairs. And while some things could be checked off a list, others had no easy solution.

Especially the question Naruto had just posed. Because frankly speaking, how does one deal with genocide, really?

Especially one that wasn’t even a rule under their control.

Both Kakashi and Naruto had nothing to do with it, bore no guilt, yet the karmic weight now rested on their shoulders.

“Well, Naruto,” Kakashi began, looking his student straight in the eye, “to answer your question before Sakura arrived… I… frankly don’t know. Not yet.”

A silence colder than death chilled the room.

“But Kakashi-sensei,” Naruto pressed, “if we don’t do something, what does that say about us?”

Kakashi sighed, eyes distant, tracing the invisible lines of responsibility pressing down on him.

It wasn’t something easy to tackle.

Before he could speak further, Naruto came forward.

“Remember our first serious mission together? When we fought Zabuza and Haku?” he asked.

The master’s gaze lifted to his student, heavy with memory. “How could I ever forget? What about it?”

“Remember how I said I want to be a ninja in my own way?” Naruto asked, as a half candid smile popped up on the corner of his mouth.

“Never a day has passed since I’ve seen you keeping that promise,” Kakashi said.

“Well, it makes me wonder though…” Naruto scratched the back of his head as fleeting thoughts began to root.

“Ever since then, we’ve had all these fights with all these enemies. We just came out of a war,” he continued on a pensive tone, “and looking back now, those fights have been nothing but easy in a way. It was easy to... how should I put it?”

He paused, thoughts fumbling in his head. But eloquent expression was never one of his strong suits.

“Us versus them. Enemy versus enemy. That was easy to understand and deal with,” Naruto managed to say in the end.

“However…”

Another pause filled the moment.

He was still finding it hard to express what he truly meant.

“What are you trying to say, Naruto?” Kakashi asked.

“I mean, I don’t know how to explain this, Sensei, but…” Naruto fidgeted, his eyes wandering circles around the room. “You know how one of the dreams I inherited from Pervy Sage was fighting the hate of the world? Fighting for peace? That’s what’s pushed me, to try connecting even to enemies. To understand their pain, their hearts. Because I knew from my own life that… well, sometimes things happen that make you do stuff you normally wouldn’t.”

His eyes were still going in circles around the space, because no matter how much he tried to find the right words, it was like he couldn’t do it properly.

The words spilled out crooked, like stones tumbling downhill, never quite forming the path he meant. He felt there was some fine nuance he couldn’t to grasp, slipping away like water through the cracks, just out of reach.

“But in those times, it was easier, because… well, they were outsiders. Not us. Not Konoha. Not family.” Uneasiness crept under his skin as he struggled on.

“But what do you do when it’s your own family that betrays you? Understand what I mean?” he finished, still blabbing, the words clumsy yet true.

Kakashi understood perfectly what his student could not say.

Konoha was supposed to be one big family of clans. That was the dream they inherited once upon a time.

Yet in the Uchiha massacre, the dream turned nightmare.

Brother turned on brother, and blood was spilled; not to bring peace, but only to postpone the inevitable: karmic retribution.

A systemic dissonance now demanding resolution.

It is easy to face an enemy when they stand across the battlefield. But what of the enemy that carries your name? The kin you called family, branded a danger by the very council meant to safeguard unity?
What then? How do you fight an enemy when the betrayal is written into your own bloodline – in more ways than one?

“Remember how you told us, sensei, that abandoning one’s friends makes one worse than trash?” Naruto asked.

Kakashi gave a small nod.

“Then… what does it make Konoha, for abandoning the Uchiha? For turning on them? What does that make us, who still call this place home?”

Boy, the kid had questions today!

Kakashi had expected this talk with Naruto to be simple.

The boy had a knack for playing the fool, for letting people believe he wasn’t the thoughtful type.

But those blue eyes — so often wide with mischief — hid an ocean of questions, deeper than most dared swim.

What a surprise he still managed to be. The no. 1 most unpredictable ninja, in every possible way.

Kakashi exhaled slowly.

The boy who once stood at Zabuza’s grave had grown.

And here he sat, Hokage’s hat on his head, still wrestling with burdens he had no clear answer for...

Kakashi exhaled slowly.

“Naruto,” he began at last, voice low, “life has a way of testing your convictions. The moment you think you’ve found your answer, and you say it with your whole chest, life will throw something at you that forces you to question it. That’s the cruel humor of it all.”

Intuitively, Kakashi knew where Naruto was going.

The boy had spent his whole life clawing for the acceptance of a village that once shunned him. Mocked, feared and rejected him.

They saw the fox before they ever saw the boy.

And so Naruto fought.

Not only against enemies, but against those convictions. Against the curse of being reduced to Kurama’s cage.

He fought to prove he was more. More than a vessel. More than the Nine-Tails.

He fought for acknowledgement. For existence itself.

Konoha became his measure of worth, his barometer for honor, virtue, and all the ideals he thought shinobi life stood for.

Yet now, standing in this moment, Naruto faced a bitter truth.

The village he bled for was no paragon of righteousness. Far from it.

Behind its proud walls and noble clans lay mistakes. Grievous ones.

Secrets darker than the hatred of the fox sealed within him.

All his life, Naruto had battled for recognition from a system that was never the moral compass he believed it to be.

And so Kakashi understood why the question gnawed at him: what does it mean, to dedicate yourself to a home that was never what it claimed?

If the system is broken, manipulative and steeped in blood, what does that make the boy who swore to embody its ideals?

Had all his declarations of forging his own ninja way, his own path, only made him another tool of the same cycle he swore to end?

This wasn’t the promise Naruto thought he had signed up for when he made it.

The vows of his youth seemed to be dissolving one after another. First Sakura’s – the one he had sworn to keep, even when she begged him to let it go. He told her it wasn’t about the promise, but still fought Sasuke like it was. He had even reminded Kakashi about it when he went to fight him.

And now this one.

And yet here he was, bound to it by duty and reputation, by the faith of countless others.

Was this conviction? Or was it hypocrisy?

Kakashi understood those questions all too well. Once, he had wrestled with the same doubts when his own teammates’ fates had been sealed. He couldn’t save one. He had to kill another. All because he had been serving a system so broken it had reduced him to a tool, not a human being.

Had they truly made progress since then? Or were they only repeating the same old cycles under new names and new times?

“Remember how I used to tell you all, back when you were kids, that I got lost on the path of life?”

Naruto gave a little nod, the corner of his mouth twitching. Oh, the way he and Sakura-chan used to fume when he showed up late!

“Well, one of the reasons was because I was busy reading Jiraiya-san’s stories,” Kakashi said lightly.

Naruto blinked, then snorted. Tch… that book? How could something Pervy Sage wrote have anything to do with a conversation this heavy? He almost laughed it off — until Kakashi’s eyes told him he was serious.

“…Wait. You mean–”

“Yes,” Kakashi cut in, catching the unspoken thought. “I’m talking about Master Shu’s teachings.” His tone sharpened as he moved toward the window overlooking Konoha. “Because in the end, it all comes down to ideology. And like Jiraiya-sensei warned, ideology is its own kind of demon. One you can’t seal away like Kurama. With time, Konoha’s ideology drifted from Hashirama-sama’s vision of balance. And when that balance twists into something corrupted… when the demon possesses even the ones meant to guard the scales… what then?”

Naruto’s stomach tightened. His instincts already told him where this was going.

“…Danzo,” he muttered.

Kakashi inclined his head. At least Naruto’s intuition had sharpened. Maybe diplomacy wouldn’t be impossible to teach him after all.

“Then maybe the answer is staying true to yourself,” Naruto offered, though it came out hesitant.

“Maybe,” Kakashi allowed. “But what if that very conviction is what leads to corruption? Danzo believed he was serving the greater good. He was true to his own vision — and that was the problem. So, what then? Do we hold fast to the self, or do we abandon it?”

The words struck deep. They echoed like the warnings Jiraiya had once given Naruto — to give up on Sasuke, to be wise instead of foolish. Back then, Naruto had refused. He’d chosen to be a fool if that meant staying loyal to his friend.

But this… this was bigger. Konoha. The Uchiha. A choice that carried the weight of nations.

His head throbbed with the pressure of it. “The thing is… I don’t know,” Naruto admitted, voice thick. “If I defend Konoha the way Danzo did, I betray myself. But if I condemn it, then everything I’ve fought for… it’s like it was for nothing.” His gaze dropped. “Maybe being Hokage isn’t the dream I thought it was.”

The thought pierced him — the very dream of his life, crumbling beneath contradictions. He shook his head, violently.

“No!” he shouted, as though he could force clarity into being. “Konoha is guilty for what they did to the Uchiha. That’s undeniable. And if we stay silent, we’re just as complicit. That would be… lying to ourselves.”

The words stopped him cold. Lying to ourselves.

Sakura’s face flashed in his mind. Her tears, her pain. The moment he had called her a liar. The sting in her expression that he never fully understood. Until now.

Hate… what a strong word to use against her, of all people.

And suddenly he realized: she hadn’t been weak, or false, or manipulative. She had been caught in the same impossible bind he stood in now — torn between truth and loyalty, between two people she loved. She had chosen… him. Over Sasuke.

The memory hit harder now, layered with new meaning. The hypocrisy of his own words. The mirror of his own heart.

What had he done?

Ah… just another thought crowding his mind as he tried to navigate the maze Kakashi had set before him.

And it did feel like a maze.

He remembered how he had called Sakura a liar. A hypocrite.

And now, somehow, he was standing in the very same shoes she once wore. Caught between a rock and a hard place.

Was he a liar, too? A hypocrite, like he had once accused her of being? Simply for facing a choice between keeping Konoha’s secrets and revealing them to secure justice for Sasuke. The same way she had, when she confessed to him yet withheld the harsh truth of Konoha’s plans?

He was now beginning to understand…

She had done it to protect him, to unburden him from promise that could have led him straight into danger, since Akatsuki were after him and back then Sasuke was their ally. He was now understanding how, all she tried doing, albeit in her own clumsy way, was try and steer him back to safety.

He smiled candidly, even if it was a bitter sweet one.

He had now realized: her confession hadn’t been a lie.

Not in the way he had thought.

It had been the truth, carefully shaped to shield him, as he was now being forced to shape his own truths in the labyrinth of duty and conscience.

Her hurt expression from back then finally made sense in a way he had never understood before.

She had been trying to reconcile two opposing forces, just as he was now. And though the circumstances were different, the dilemma the same.

And to think he had told her that he knows her better than that. Maybe, he didn’t know her at all.

Maybe, she was right when she said, back in their academy days when he transformed into Sasuke, on that fateful bench that he understands nothing about her.

What had he done?

And… what was the right choice, after all?

There was no answer. Not yet.

Kakashi saw the intense strain that Naruto was under so he decided to ease the pressure.

“You don’t have to answer me right now, you know that, right?” Kakashi said.

Naruto’s pout wasn’t convinced of this. He would’ve loved to have a response right then and there, but this was proving itself to be more challenging than he thought.

“My apologies,” Kakashi said. “I only meant to bring you here to start small, not to throw you in these deep philosophical contemplations. So perhaps we can turn from that. After all, Sasuke did say that all of this is up to him, and he will decide on the fate of the Uchiha massacre, rather than let others decide for it once again. There’s something else though…”

Naruto’s face responded with curiosity.

“Well, being Hokage means taking care of a lot of administrative tasks so, let’s start with that. What do I mean by it? Well, remember Tsunade-sama’s recommendation with the ceremony? You’re going to help me with that,” Kakashi said.

Taken aback by this, Naruto started complaining like usual.

“Eeeeh, with that? But why do I have to mind with all these nitty gritty details which…” Naruto complained.

Then, abruptly, he stopped.

Sakura’s confession in the Land of Iron, the impossible choice she had made, and her unwavering conviction began replaying in his mind. How she had practically once said that she would snatch the seat of leadership away from him. Pushing him to think about responsibility and duty, it all hit him at once.

Her determination in her new clinic project, how she was rising to meet challenges, step by step, made Naruto pause and smile at himself. Just like back when he first saw how serious Sakura had gotten about her power.

How silly he had been, acting as if he could still escape responsibility that he isn’t particularly fond of.

It was now time to really stop messing around and act as an adult.

Like a future Hokage. Should he want to truly be one.

Because, as his mind kept processing and connecting these different life events, he had another realization.

Maybe the answer to Kakashi’s question lied in the promise he once made to himself: that to be a ninja in his own way.

So then, this meant that he would be a Hokage in that fashion and deal with the earlier dilemma in his own way.

And even if he hadn’t had a response now, until he would become Hokage himself, he’d most assuredly find his answer.

On the other hand, maybe it would indeed benefit him to know what’s the matter with these administrative tasks. So that at least, he can know how he can do stuff, once again… his own way.
He nodded at his internal thoughts.

“But until you can help me with anything of the sorts, you’d better get that hand of yours checked,” Kakashi said, “so, you’re released of your duties now. Feel free to go to Tsunade-sama’s lab to get that hand recovered.”

Naruto nodded at his master this time and went straight to the door.

“See ya later, Kakashi-sensei!” he initially shouted. But before exiting the room he stopped.

“Hokage-sama,” he then added, bowing his head in respect.

After that, he was swooshed quickly out of the office.

On the other side of the door, following the trail outside the Hokage’s desk, Naruto couldn’t help but to continue pondering over what the true response was to Kakashi’s earlier questions.

Especially since Kakashi himself had brought up his former master, whose dream Naruto had inherited: a world without hate.

A world where negative cycles are broken.

A world free of the pain of loneliness.

Where justice is served and hearts are mended. That’s the world he would like to live in as a Hokage.

His home, Konoha, had been a great nation to him. Before all this madness.

He came to love it the way it was, but… he was now finding there’s such a thin line between loving your village and being fair in judgement when it came to being fair to both the individual and the collective. How does one balance that?

This situation reminded him of his battle with Pain.

Back then, he hadn’t found an answer, even after promising Pain that he would someday.

And now, after time had passed and a war had ended, he was still without a clear answer. Or at least, no answer clearer than the one he had before.

But hey, in all that madness, there was someone who said he had faith in him to find it: Minato Namikaze.

His father.

And if a great shinobi such as him said that, it surely amounted to something.

A joyous smile appeared on Naruto’s face.

After all, he was the child of the famed Minato Namikaze and the great Kushina Uzumaki.

He should have more trust in himself.

With this new realization, Naruto stopped his negative thought pattern.

A new found resolve was blooming inside: he will find his answer.

The same way his father had found his when Konoha was attacked more than 17 years ago.

Now, he had other things to take care of.

He would cross that bridge of answering this dilemma when he would get there.

When he would be an actual Hokage.

For now, he was just an apprentice.

Just like Sakura was to Tsunade.

Maybe he could ask her a thing or two.

Maybe she could share from her knowledge, like back in the day when she taught him about chakra control.

Hmm… he wondered how far Sakura had gotten as he finished his conversation with Kakashi.

Maybe he could catch her on the way to Tsunade’s office. He’d better hurry.

And who knew, maybe talking to her would finally help him understand where she had been coming from with her confession.

He understood now that her confession had been true, carefully shaped to shield him.

But… what about her heart? Could she truly love him, even while bound by her feelings for Sasuke? Had something changed, or had he simply been too dense to see the depth of her decision, just as he had once been with Hinata's confession?

Man, all these questions were really making his head hurt.

He shook it in protest. As if he wanted to expel all those thoughts out.

If only it were that easy though…

Still, he tried to see if he could catch-up to her. Because his discussion with Kakashi had surely made him lose track of time.

On Kakashi’s side of the door though, the master had something else in mind after all these discussions about diplomacy and ruling a nation.

He was thinking about Ino Yamanaka’s secret mission.

Had she found anything about what he had asked her? The Hyugas were very impatient on that matter, and yet he didn’t have any result for now. The fact that he had to add someone from outside the clan to this mission was already something that one of Konoha’s oldest clans didn’t like.

But for what they wanted to find out, it was no other way than have a Yamanaka involved. However, the Hyugas were never too fond of other clan mates sticking their proverbial noses into their clan matters.

They only accepted the Yamanaka girl because she was the daughter of the ex-head of the clan. That was it.

Plus, she was made to sign a contract that would prohibit her to talk about anything related to that mission.

Especially since she was classmates with Hinata, the clan leader’s daughter.

And that was besides what the ninjas were usually asked to sign when being sent on these missions.

Things were pretty dire. So, it required dire methods.

Things were not to be played with.

Ah, this Hokage matter was definitely a headache.

If only he didn’t listen to Obito’s wish to become Hokage… But with all the other factors, he realized it was only his duty.

Now, it was a matter of managing that duty to the best of his abilities.

___________

On the other side of the village, one of the Hyuga clan’s daughters, Hinata, was knocking at the door of her former master.

It was her who, back in the day, took Hinata under her wing to protect and raise her into the ninja she always knew she had the potential of being.

But not under the strict rules of a clan that treated her more as a tool rather than as a child first.

And not only that, but a girl.

The harsh realities of the clan were that the Hyugas weren’t very fond of girls. Not necessarily because they didn’t love them, but being a patriarchal clan has its traditions.

Women were placed more in the role of nurturers rather than fighters. And usually, in the main branch there were always boys that were born. Girls and boys at best.

But never two girls.

Hiashi had been the first in a long tradition of sons to father two daughters.

It’s as if Hikari’s strong spirit hadn’t wanted to conform to the rules of such a stubborn clan.

She was also one of the first Hyuga women to be present on the battlefield. The rest of them weren’t really allowed to do such a thing.

Until Hikari came like a strong current, the cold flame of the Hyuga crest, meant to shake the very foundation of the clan she was born in.

When she gave birth to two daughters, it was one of her greatest joys, because she knew what this meant. They had hoped that the second would be a boy, but no.

The change she had started together with Hiashi was going to continue through her children.

When she died, she had only one regret, though: that her daughters wouldn’t have her as a support to go through the rigorous and inflexible ways of the clan.

She wasn’t sad that she died on the battlefield, it was everything she wanted in a way. To die like a warrior that she was. But the mother side of hers couldn’t help but have that one regret.

She entrusted all to Hiashi though.

However, in matters pertaining to Hinata, there wasn’t much success. Which was why Hinata was standing in front of her old master’s door.

Somehow, Kurenai fit the mother figure that Hinata needed deep down inside, a side she wasn’t even aware of, maybe.

A door opened.

Kurenai saw her former student and her face filled with light at the sight of it.

“Hinata, what a pleasure!” Kurenai said. “Please, come in,” her hand waved at her student.

“Thank you, Kurenai-sensei,” Hinata smiled, bowing in respect before entering the house. “I hope I’m not interrupting,” she worried.

“No, not at all, I just put Mirai to sleep so we’ll have to be tad bit quieter,” Kurenai whispered.

“Of course, not that quiet, but you understand what I mean. Though, if I think about it, I shouldn’t even be telling you that. I’ve always struggled with making you raise your voice and speak your truth anyway,” Kurenai joked, unknowingly that the reason her student was there was exactly because of that.

The fruits of her labor were finally starting to show, as Hinata started to be more outspoken. And it was precisely because of this new-found resolve of her that she was here.

Starting to raise your voice when you’ve been a weeping willow your entire life, can be challenging.

And difficult to navigate when you first start to walk down that path.

When you’re met with pushbacks, setbacks and downright rejection all because everybody got used with your soft voice that never dares to talk back.

But there’s a time when the once little cub’s whimper becomes a roar.

And that time had come for Hinata.

She followed along Kurenai’s guiding, the two sat at the table in the middle of Kurenai’s living room.

After they both sat down, Kurenai went straight to the point.

“What trouble brings you here?” she asked.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that there was something going on behind the scenes, or Hinata wouldn’t have been here. She’s always been someone who bottled up things inside her and you could barely bring out her personality. Hinata’s shyness and introversion had been something Kurenai had to work greatly on, more than the fighting techniques.

Those weren’t a problem as much as the former two were.

“Sensei… how do I say this? It’s a really delicate matter and I don’t think I’m even allowed to talk about it, but I…” Hinata faltered. She started fidgeting, as the pulse of her heart changed gears. The all-knowing state she would always find herself in when presented with confronting decisions.

“Remember the way I taught you?” Kurenai interfered, “you’re a wielder of Byakugan, your power is in the insight and ability to focus,” she added. “You don’t even have to tell me the details, just what bothers you,” the master added. “Deep breaths, calm your mind, and center yourself,” she concluded.

The old ways were still working, as soon Hinata’s demeanor became more centered.

“There’s this decision that the clan wanted to take that I didn’t agree with,” she began speaking. “We had a fallout the other day because what they did in essence was to go back on their own word. You see, master… after Neji’s death in the war, as a way to honor him and his sacrifice, the clan wanted to end a centuries old tradition. It was supposed to be a way for the system that we know as the Hyuga clan, to start embracing change. That made me incredibly happy, because as Neji & I became close, and even before that, I saw how much that practice pained him. He suffered a destiny he had no liberty in choosing how to live it. The weight of our clan bore down upon our shoulders. So, when they said they will abolish that tradition, nothing made me happier. Especially in these days after the war. It made everything a bit more bearable. But then, like I said, the other day after some report I don’t know anything about, they decided to retract that decision and still keep the tradition. And that’s when I snapped at everyone. For the very first time in my life,” Hinata said.

“And now, I don’t know what to do about it,” she concluded.

Kurenai intuitively knew very well about what Hinata was talking. And that’s precisely when Hinata herself realized that she didn’t manage to be very elusive because it didn’t take a genius to put two and two together and realize what that was about. The caged bird seal that Neji Hyuga had spoken about.

Kurenai’s warm and reassuring look gave her the confidence that her secret would be safe with her.

“Is there something you would want to do?” Kurenai asked.

“Of course!” Hinata snapped immediately. “But I don’t know what,” she then retracted. “I’ve never done something like this and I don’t even know where to start,” Hinata said.

“Why not start from understanding why they chose to go back on their decision?” Kurenai said.

“I tried that as well, I guess you could say. Me and my sister almost had a conversation about it, I think… It was all very strange,” Hinata said, frowning. There were still moving pieces of this puzzle she didn’t quite get.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you see master, the other day, after I snapped at everyone there, I had the impression that my sister wanted to talk to me about something, but before we could do it, we were interrupted. It all seemed as if it was casual, but like… how do I explain this?” she mumbled.

“Underneath it all it felt like it was schemed. As if someone is making sure the two of us don’t get to talk about these things. There’s always someone with us. It’s like we’re always being watched. Which, don’t get me wrong, it has always been the case with us as daughters of the head of the clan. But this time, it feels like something more…” Hinata said.

“Well, that’s probably because there is, and you just don’t know what that is,” Kurenai completed.

“Then what should I do in this case, sensei?” Hinata asked. “I feel that if I don’t interfere somehow, Neji’s death and that of everyone involved would have been in vain. They…” she paused.

“The clan has always systematically pushed me out for my caring nature. Saying that there’s no use for me if I’m like this. But I… I have found my resolve now! I want…” she stuttered for a bit.
“I want to use my caring nature to fight for what is right!” she then said.

Watching Hinata getting out of her shell was a pleasure for Kurenai. To hear her finally finding her resolve after so many years, was a delight.

And not only that, but to choose the very thing she once saw in her as weakness and turn it into strength… That’s what Kurenai always helped.

“Well then, from what you’re telling me, it’s like you and your sister are being watched,” Kurenai concluded.

Hinata nodded in agreement as her eyes pleaded her master for answers on the matters she had just exposed.

“Then, there’s only one thing you can do in a situation like this, and as a genjutsu master, I’m going to tell you in on a little secret.”

Hinata followed every word of her master closely.

“What you must do in a case like this is rather simple. You must give the eyes that follow you the illusion of what they want to see,” Kurenai said.

Initially, she didn’t quite get what her master was saying. So, she tried an exercise, the way Kurenai always used to teach her: if her strong point was physical eye vision, she also had to train her mind’s one.
Hinata closed her eyes for a moment, letting her mind wander through what she already knew. The clan’s watchful eyes… the Byakugan’s reach… she could sense them, anticipate them, imagine the threads of observation stretching toward her. She understood what her master was saying. That perception could be guided and what others see could be subtly shaped.

But how? What’s the actual way to move unseen in plain sight, to communicate without being intercepted? That eluded her. No matter how carefully she saw everything in her mind, the mechanics of what her master had told her just felt out of reach, like a puzzle missing a critical piece. Like that one degree that was missing from completing the Byakugan’s field of vision.

The blind spot.

Kurenai’s smile arrived then, as if reading her hesitation.

“The answer isn’t in fighting what you can’t see, Hinata,” Kurenai said. “It’s in finding a space where no eyes can reach you. Beyond your clan’s Byakugan. Where your sister can speak freely. And you know what? Sometimes, the best place to hide is in plain sight. Use the routines everyone expects, the places they assume you’ll follow, but bend them to your purpose. Your sparring sessions at the Hyuga compound could be such a place.”

Gasping at the realization, Hinata nodded once again.

“Also, there’s also only one place where I bet the two of you can’t be followed,” Kurenai continued, “and that’s in the privacy of your changing rooms that are next to the sparring chambers. I’m sure no one would be as crazy as to use their Byakugan there, right?” Kurenai said, smiling very subtly.

For a matter of seconds, Hinata blushed at the realization of what her master had implied. However, logical thinking dictated she was right.

“You see, we’re all ninjas at the end of the day. But while men have their own weapons of choice, so do we, women. And one of the advantages we have over men in certain cases, is that we can fight with weapons that aren’t visible to either Byakugan, nor Sharingan. Or any other dojutsu for that matter. And, for certain illusions you don’t even need to master the art of genjutsu, but the art of perception. Not of the senses, but of the mind,” Kurenai said.

Hinata was totally taken by surprise but what her master was saying. But it was just what she had needed to hear. She continued to follow her words of wisdom as they continued coming.

“Give the eyes that follow you two the story they want to see, while you both weave that which you want to live,” Kurenai advised her student.

Hinata nodded.

“I now understand what you mean, master,” she said.

“I was so wrapped up in all these external factors, such as the difficulties of being a ninja and part of such a rigid old clan that I didn’t even consider such a possibility. I guess I’m still not half the ninja you are, as I should’ve thought about this myself…” Hinata bowed her head in sadness. She had been through a war, she had given her best, she always did so, and yet, she was still not a ninja in the complete sense of the word.

Being deceptive had always been part of what it means to be a ninja, but she had never been able to be that way.

Deceptions were just not part of her vocabulary or lived experience. She preferred to be rather completely truthful than deceitful in any sense.

Did that hurt her status as a ninja? Probably. But she couldn’t have it any other way. Nor be any other way. After all, this inability of hers to change certain parts of her were what brought her the issues within the clan in the first place.

Though, there were other elements of her own self that she was able to change. Naruto had inspired her that much.

But she did those because she wanted to.

That was the change under her own terms, in her own way. Why would she change something she didn’t decide for herself?

In that respect, she was beginning to understand Neji’s old chat about destiny. Maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t completely wrong about it… and maybe, this is why underneath it all, this is why it bothered her this much.

Because, although she wasn’t branded with Hyuga’s cursed seal, she was beginning to feel like a caged bird, under the rules of the old Hyuga system. She started walking in Neji’s own shoes more than she realized.

Back in the chuunin exams when they fought, she might have been right about him, but… as she was continuing to live her life, she was realizing that Neji might have been right about her, too.

Incredibly ironic how that worked, she thought. Here she was, today, starting to agree to Neji’s old view, given the pressure she was finding herself in.

Luckily, the person who took the weight off her shoulders then, was the same one who was doing it now.

When Kurenai came to take her under her wing, it was like defiance to a system older than time itself. How could she allow herself such inadequacy to tell them how to act with that who meant to be a heiress?

Traditions ruled by masculine structures of power began being slowly be visited by feminine interventions.

And as it is with whatever is new and we don’t recognize it, one tends to reject it.

From Princess Tsunade of the Senju clan daring to build a system focused on consuming resources not for fighting, but for recovery, to Kurenai Yuhi rebelling against the idea of tying her worth only to bringing new life to earth and nothing more, women had begun challenging the old ways of the ninja.

Which is why when Kurenai dared to step at the doors of the Hyuga compounds and ask to take Hinata under her wing, she was met with contempt, you could say.

As if she knew better, they all probably thought.

But she did know better… where the rigid frameworks of Hyuga clan only withered Hinata away, Kurenai’s intervention made her blossom into the beautiful lily she was today. She was the necessary change their heiress needed.

But another change was necessary today, Hinata realized.

And some of the lessons for that were found in the very nature of what it meant to be the very thing your clan rejected you for: a woman. Who would’ve thought? And from what her master would tell her, being a woman ninja would have its advantages. Especially in delicate situations such as the one Hinata was finding herself in.

She wanted to thank her master for all the incredible advice she had just received, but suddenly, a cry coming from the other room filled the entire house.

“Ah, that must be Mirai,” Kurenai said standing up, “wonder what happened to her?” she said. “Would you excuse me, Hinata, I need to…”

“Master, please, don’t worry, go!” Hinata said, encouraging her master about not worrying about her guest visit. “I won’t be bothering you for long either way,” she said as she watched Kurenai leave the room.

Until she got back, Hinata was already at the door, preparing to leave. She thought that her master had already given her more than enough responses and she has taken more than enough time from her.
She got all that she needed.

Coming from the other room, with Mirai in her arms, Kurenai wanted to invite Hinata to stay more, should she wish to.

“Master, I’ve taken enough of your time,” Hinata bowed in respect. “I’ll leave you for now, but I promise to return soon with a thank you gift and some treats for this sweet one,” she said, as she took Mirai’s little finger and wrapped it alongside her.

She candidly smiled at the child thinking how lucky she is to have her mother. However, on the other hand, she didn’t have her father… The other way around compared to how she had it.

Ah, what a difficult life it was, to be the child of a ninja.

This reminded Hinata, though…

“Master, how are you though… with everything’s that happened?”

“It’s not easy,” Kurenai said. “But I’m managing. Having this little ray of sunshine here gives me all the strength I need. And I know Asuma, the real one, not the one which that perfect mirage painted to me, is watching over us, so don’t worry,” she added.

“If there’s anything else I can do for you, please, let me know,” Hinata insisted.

“Maybe you could come over more often to visit,” Kurenai said as Mirai started giggling, “right, Mirai?”. At the sound of her mother’s playfully pitched voice, the child began laughing harder.

“She agrees, see?”

Both master and student laughed togeher, and Hinata was soon out the door, not before promising she’ll visit Kurenai more frequently.

___________

After leaving her former master’s office, Sakura quickly headed back to the clinic where Tsunade was surely expecting her.

As she walked down the road with her head to the ground, lost in her thoughts, Sakura was trying to piece together all the information that she had. As fragmented as it was.

So, getting back to her old research when Team 7 got separated back in the day, the common denominator was Itachi Uchiha. The one who had killed Konoha’s Uchiha clan and was targeting Naruto, as part of the Akatsuki organization.

A bingo book level 0 traitor. Same as Sasuke had been once in the bingo book, even if different levels.

That’s what had actually driven Sasuke along the path of darkness in the first place. And was basically the reason why she and Naruto had chased after him so much.

But when Sai came and told her about Naruto hurting himself because of the promise he had made to her, and Sakura wanted to break that, Naruto had said something interesting…

Backtracking to those moments, Sakura remembered Naruto’s words like it was yesterday…

He said that it wasn’t about the promise between them. And that he knew why Sasuke was obsessed with revenge.

He talked about how much he loved his family and his clan, and that the reason he couldn’t let go of it was because of that.

But when Kiba had asked a very important question in regards to Sasuke joining the Akatsuki, the very organization that was targeting jinchuurikis like him, Naruto was quick to point that it was not what had happened and that the truth was…

The truth was… what? What was the truth? Kakashi had interrupted Naruto again before him speaking it.

Because something was happening. She knew as much.

Somewhere deep inside, a fragile spark flickered, buried beneath the shadows of doubt, secrecy, and betrayal. A small diamond hidden in the dark, uncertain if it would ever see the light.

“Kakashi-sensei, why did you interrupt Naruto?” Sakura wondered. “Why do you always keep things hidden away from me?”

And that simple thought was enough for her dark self to strike.

“Always like this… Little Diamond in the Dark,” her other self sneered, “always buried there because others don’t trust you enough to handle the truth.”

Tension climbed her body, her stomach twisting. The walls of her thoughts pressed against her skull, suffocating.

Because it was true. It always seemed to be this way.

Her father, praise him, tried to shield her with love. He’d joke that one day she’d learn that being human made her stronger than any god. He’d lace his comfort in faith, telling her she could endure whatever trial God placed before her.

But what good did that do? The children in Konoha still mocked her, still pushed and shoved her. She had no jutsu, no bloodline, nothing to fight back with.

All she had was her heart. Her humanity. And instead of being her gift, it became her curse — drawing hatred, rejection, even blows.

How many times had she wished she’d been born into a great clan, with a technique or two to defend herself? Then maybe the bullying wouldn’t have cut so deep.

But no. Instead, she had only her father’s words…

Fragile hopes and empty encouragements that did nothing against reality’s cruelty.

On the other side was her mother, who seldom showed the empathy Sakura sought. Instead, she’d lecture her with a hard voice: stop being a crybaby, grow tougher, the world isn’t kind. And though her words stung, they reflected reality more closely than her father’s gentle promises. The world would not tread lightly just because she was sensitive.

This contradiction marked one of the deepest divides in Sakura’s life: her parents’ seemingly opposing natures.

Her mother, stern, grounded, unyielding.

Her father, lighthearted, always quick with a joke.

And yet somehow, they laughed together, finding joy even in the flattest of his punchlines. At least, that was how Sakura saw them.

But poor little her… that thought circled back, gnawing at her. No matter what she did, the pattern held and the label stuck. She could not seem to shake it, even now.

It made her wonder… Was that how Tsunade had seen her, too? Training under her hadn’t suggested so, yet the whisper persisted, this dark echo refusing to give her peace.

And wait a minute, now something clicked.

Tsunade had still been Hokage when Sakura confessed to Naruto in the Land of Iron. Surely, the Hokage knew. Every secret tied to the village, political or otherwise, passed through her hands. So that meant…

“Even Tsunade-sama?” The thought tightened Sakura’s brow.

No, impossible.

Tsunade had shared so much of her reign’s burdens, its bitter truths and private intricacies. Why would she keep this from her?

What could be so critical that even her master couldn’t trusted her with it?

“Little Diamond in the Dark… not trusted by her master either,” her darker self whispered, laughter curling like smoke through her mind.

And yet… Tsunade had been the first to offer a sliver of light. She had seen the spark within Sakura, fragile yet unyielding, and had given her the tools, the path, the freedom to shape it into something brilliant. Where others had left her buried in shadow, Tsunade had carved a way for her to shine in the light. What was going on?

Inner Sakura, once a coping shield, had become less an ally and more an enemy since the end of the war, striking at her weakest places.

And maybe she was right. Because hadn’t this been the pattern all along?

Her thoughts drifted back, unbidden, to their first mission outside the village. To Zabuza, to Haku, to the moment Sasuke’s cold body fell before her. Back when she was kept in the dark of Zabuza’s mist. When she had first tasted the iron edge of Shinobi Rule No. 25: emotions must be set aside, mission first, no matter what. Mindless and heartless tools, that’s what the shinobi system demanded.

But she hadn’t been a one. She had collapsed, sobbing, her heart breaking open right there on the battlefield. Completely helpless.

If fate hadn’t twisted, if Haku hadn’t only made it seem like death, Sasuke would truly have been gone. And she would have been left with nothing but her tears and her weakness.

In the two weeks before they returned to visit Zabuza and Haku’s graves, her mother’s words haunted her: the world is merciless, grow thicker skin, stop crying. Maybe her mother had been right all along. Was being a shinobi nothing more than killing your softness, killing your humanity?

Yet… standing at those two’s graves two weeks later, she had heard Naruto’s vow. His refusal to let the world strip him of his way. His nindō. How he’ll be a ninja in his own way.

Something stirred in her then, though she never admitted it. Not to her mother, not even fully to herself.

But the truth was undeniable now, looking back: without realizing it, Naruto’s defiance had planted a seed in her. A quiet refusal to surrender her humanity, no matter how rigidly the shinobi system demanded it.

She too wanted to walk the path in her own way.

The problem was, in the beginning, she hadn’t known what that looked like.

None of the examples the system laid before her had felt right.

So, she did what she could: followed the rules, trained as expected, carried out missions to the best of her ability.

It was the simplest expression of her resolve; she had said she wanted to be a ninja, so she kept her word and gave everything she had. It was duty, yes, but also her only chance to step out of the anonymity of her civilian clan and one day stand beside the greatest.

And then Tsunade had entered her life. In her, Sakura had found what she’d been missing: a shinobi path that fit. And so, a new resolve was born from her own desire, not borrowed from others.

Tsunade turned her vague determination into something sharp, tangible, alive.

Yet somehow now, that seed of doubt began growing.

Could her master have hidden this from her, too?

Or was it simply misalignment? Two lives too busy, too burdened, never quite finding the chance to sit down and speak plainly like they had the other day?

After Pein attacked and the war started, truthfully speaking it felt like they didn’t have time to breathe. And now it wasn’t any better either.

The aftermath of the war and Infinite Tsukuyomi was ever present in their lives.

But hmm, how could she try to approach this?

She already had a failsafe plan to find out more in case they would continue to keep her in the dark. Kakashi and Naruto didn’t even sniff it despite one being the son of the White Fang and the other having a fox sealed inside him.

But Tsunade? Aah, Tsunade was an entire beast all together.

The woman had always had a global view on everyone and everything. After all, it wasn’t for nothing that she had built an entire medical system from scratch.

You weren’t fooling her easily.

So, if Sakura wanted to hide anything, she had to put double the effort in covering it.

She had to be sharp about it. As a razor. Chakra scalpel style.

Think about possible scenarios in all the directions it could go and make sure to have them all covered.

The circle fully closed and covered not just in diameter, but volume as well.

The circle turned sphere.

Complete in all dimensions.

A secret waiting quietly, its power dormant until the hands that could truly understand it arrived.

An operation as delicate as surgery itself.

Hmm, she would have to think about this really carefully, though.

Tsunade starting to ask any questions that are too inquisitive, especially in the context of Sakura’s other objective wasn’t something she needed…

She was already exerting a lot of her resources to keep that one hidden as best as she could so she wouldn’t raise any suspicions.

And there’s so much one can keep under wraps until Tsunade starts sniffing suspicion and starts digging.

If there was one thing Sakura learned in all her years as a Tsunade apprentice, it was this: once Tsunade’s intuition whispered that something was wrong, you couldn’t bury whatever that was in the deepest snake holes.

Call it a sixth sense or whatever else you want to.

The woman was as sharp as a blade.

It wasn’t for nothing that she was able to come-up with Byakugou, though… She was hailed as a master of chakra control for a reason, after all.

But then, Sakura proved to be as good as her master and even a tad better as Tsunade herself recognized.

She was barely seventeen and yet she had Byakugou under her belt, whereas it had taken Tsunade more than that to develop the technique and master it.

Like she had said, Sakura’s understanding and knack for chakra control was better than even herself.

Of course, when the master walks the uncharted territory, it is easier for the student to come from behind and take the reins.

But now, the student was having her own path to walk… As Tsunade had reminded her when they had their last talk.

The only issue though, was that if Tsunade walked just one side of the sword, her pupil was now walking a double-edged one.

And that thought was ever-present in Sakura’s mind, besides all the other things worrying her.

“But master, you said that you trust me…” she soothed herself.

The morality of her objective to bring Neji Hyūga back as an experiment for the technique she was meaning to develop was a great deal of mental strain.

Wanting to bring back a dead person was always looked upon with skepticism and judgment.

But she wasn’t the first, nor the last one to try. This war had proven as much.

In truth, it wasn’t only about Neji.

The morality of her objective was heavy enough, yes but beneath the layers of resolve, Sakura still carried the memory of her hands glowing, her chakra pouring desperately into Naruto’s body as his life slipped away after the fox was torn from him.

No matter what she did, the light in her palms could not reach him.

She had failed.

In that breaking point, when every trained technique fell short, she did the only thing left to her.

With a chakra scalpel’s precision, she cut into his chest and pressed her hand around his heart, forcing it to beat within her grasp.

It was crude.

Desperate..

Human..

She could not save him with the art she had mastered, but she could keep his heart alive in her hands. And in that moment, she understood the brutal truth – that all her perfected techniques had failed, even if her raw will refused to let him go.

That moment had branded her, and the nightmare replayed itself in her sleep like a curse.

And before that, there had been Sasuke – cold and unmoving on the battlefield, her cries swallowed by the clash of steel and jutsu.

That memory, too, lived inside her. Both losses had cut her to the bone.

Yet… why did the thought of losing Naruto terrify her in a way even Sasuke’s death had not?

She couldn’t quite answer that. She only knew the fear hollowed her in places her childhood love never had.

Maybe that was why this weighed so heavily: not just the technique, not just the morality, but the gnawing question of whether she could survive another failure like that. Whether she could live with herself if it happened again.

And yet… in the shadow of all that despair, there remained Tsunade’s words. Trust your own path.

Maybe that thread… However fragile, however delicate, was all that would keep her from collapsing completely.

Because if she couldn’t trust herself, if she couldn’t honor her will, then the darkness would claim her.

“Trust that I will build my own path, like you advised me to do, master,” Sakura promised herself and Tsunade softly, “even if that path is slightly different than yours.”

She sighed deeply and continued to walk towards the clinic.

As she walked, her thoughts kept jumping between the ever-present reasons of are the close ones hiding anything from her and her conscience’s questions frightening her.

However, before she could even find the answers to any of those, Sakura found herself in front of the clinic.

She went straight to Tsunade to report.

At the door, she knocked a few times before deciding to enter.

“Ah, Sakura,” Tsunade flinched “It’s you! You’re here…”

She was so focused on her own thoughts about what she had to take care of when she sent Sakura away, that she didn’t even realize when her pupil knocked on the door.
“You okay, master?” Sakura asked, worried.

“Yes,” Tsunade nodded, sighing. “Just a lot to take care of, and honestly, maybe old age is catching up to me,” she continued, trying to deflect while at the same time speaking the truth.

It was one of those cases when the truth does help you cover up for something bigger.

The master and student were more similar than they were perhaps realizing.

Sakura wasn’t convinced fully, but at the same time she was right about that. After all, Tsunade was in her and Shizune’s care not long ago, after Pein attacked the village.

And then, she didn’t get to properly recover, as they got thrown into a war.

As for the war itself? As tiresome and life draining as it can be.

So, without letting her dark thoughts take over too much, Sakura decided to not push the boundaries.

“How’s Naruto?” Tsunade asked. “Did you tell him to come to the clinic?”

“Yes, master, he should be on his way after master Kakashi is done with him,” Sakura said.

Before Tsunade could ask away if Kakashi had called for Naruto, Sakura confirmed it.

“I left the two talking and told Naruto after he’s done with Kakashi-sensei, to come straight to the clinic so we can finally work on his prosthetic arm. I think he should be here any minute now.”

“That’s great, then,” Tsunade smiled relieved. “Go to Shizune and make sure the arm is ready for when Naruto is here, while I go prepare the room where we’ll perform the surgery.”

Sakura bowed, following her master’s instructions.

Before leaving to do her part, Tsunade took some deep breaths.

Everything that she had had to take care of in the period after the war had taken a toll on her. Mentally and emotionally.

From inheriting her grandfather’s dream from her brother Kawaki and former lover Dan, to fulfilling the duty herself for a few years and the responsibility of what that had meant, maybe the heavy duty of it all and the times were getting to her a bit.

Not only she had the medical system behind her, but Konoha’s one as well.

They used to say that men are the ones who are physically stronger so they should carry all that’s heavy.

And that wasn’t a lie.

But Tsunade had been a woman, with the strength of a hundred men and had carried not only physical loads, but emotional ones too.

And not only those, if you count the political and administrative ones.

And even if she wasn’t a Hokage anymore, she continued to carry those. Because now, there was also the system behind Konoha’s council that had to be reformed.

And at her age, when others would be resting, Tsunade, the Slug Princess and granddaughter of the famed Hashirama Senju and Mito Uzumaki, still had a lot of work to do.

She just prayed for more time to be able to fulfill everything that she had to do.

Because the price of her very immortality in combat, was the mortality of day-to-day life.

But there was no time to think about that now.

So, she took yet another deep breath and got up the chair.

She had another duty to take care of.