Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

In another place and time, the quiet is disturbed by a familiar swirl of chakra.

____________

Alerted by a familiar chakra Kakashi's eyes turn to his only living teammate. "Obito?" His voice, asking tons of questions. 

"No, this isn't my doing." His scar lines became more prominent in his consternation.

A portal akin to a kamui appeared before a woman clad in a navy blue kimono leapt out and landed gracefully like a feline. Her face curtained by pink locks. 

Wait.

Pink?

Kakashi looked at his lone female student wondering if this stranger was a relative who was lost or worse, gone rogue when Sakura gasped, "What the fuck?" Eyes comically wide. 

He resisted the urge to laugh, the fatigue had gotten to him, when he saw how quiet his companions had become. Silence can't be a good thing.

He looked at their unexpected guest with a healthy amount of curiosity, as he heard Naruto finally making surprised noises in the background, and....stilled when he met familiar jade green eyes.

Any doubts that she was his student's relative (a twin, maybe?) was gone when he saw her face. Her very much distinctive face that looked exactly the same with the one beside him. A virtually facsimile of one Haruno Sakura, only older.

The stranger's eyebrow twitched as she swept her eyes to her audience. Her eyes stopping on Obito. Eyes narrowing. Obito, in turn, became tense. Ready to strike at any given moment.

There was a flower tattoo in between her eyebrows that were furrowed in confusion when she noticed everyone watching her. Not-Sakura watched warily as if waiting for a nonexistent ball to drop. 

"Sakura? Who is that?" He asked his student for some explanation. Two pairs of green eyes went to him. 

He gulped. But Sakura, the one beside him, was as clueless as him. She muttered a small 'kai,' as a response.

There were no genjutsu to release.

The stranger only gave him a passing glance. Her eyes glazing in confusion—hes suspects that she's chakra sensing—before freezing when she turned at the sight of his female student beside him. As if she only noticed her now.

On their far right, Naruto can be heard sputtering, "Eh, Sakura-chan???!! But, but—" shakily pointing at their unexpected guest, looking back and forth between her and his teammate. It was like looking at a mirror. Both women sported looks of awe and curiosity.

Kakashi eyes Sasuke, who had a tight grip on his katana, eyes smoldering with intensity. Like a predator waiting for one wrong move and he's going to swoop in if given a chance.

"Who are you—?" Not-Sakura's voice faltered when her eyes fell on the figure of one Uchiha Madara. She froze. Eyes going through a whirlwind of emotions. 

"Anata!" Her voice filled with desperation before she threw caution in the wind and rushed towards at Madara's side with reckless abandon. Hands glowing green with a panicked look on her eyes. 

The other resurrected hokages remain on the fence at the wake of the events, though one had already came into his conclusions. Blue eyes glinted with curiousity at their guest. The Nidaime on the othe hand, became alarmed. Kakashi thinks that he's the kind of person to 'attack now, talk later.'

"Stop!" Tobirama prepared to lunge on the dull woman when an arm barred his way. "Anija! We must stop this foolishness!"

"Wait." Tobirama looked to be in disapproval but relented when he saw the serious look on his brother's face.

"Tobi, Do you feel it?" The two brothers exchanged a look. It took a moment before Tobirama's face lit into realization then confusion until it became carefuly neutral and his grip on his blade loosened. While the Shodaime donned a thoughtful expression.

"Her chakra..." The Shodaime nodded. The copy-nin became intrigued by this. 

"Yes and look at her back." Kakashi heard this and found his eyes trailing behind her clothed back where an uchiwa fan greets him in full glory. His eye almost bugged out of its sockets.

"An Uchiha?" Kakashi said incredulously. He turned to Sakura questioningly. She gave him a grumpy look that says 'I don't have all the answers in the world,' but still listened.

"Are you perhaps related to any Uchiha, Sakura-chan?"

"No..." she said defensive and eyebrows furrowed in thought. "As far as I know, I've always been surrounded by civilian aunts and uncles. Uzushio descent, maybe. But not...Uchiha." Sakura said while she was looking at Sasuke.

After she said that, Naruto asked, "Sakura-chan! Are you an Uc—" the same question and promptly got punched in the head. 

Said Uchiha, who wasn't as stoic as he pretended to be, has his lips slightly parted in what can only translated in Uchiha-speak as shock. Eyes warring between suspicion and vulnerability.

"It couldn't be..." Kakashi said in disbelief. An explanation quickly forming in his mind. "Dimension Travel..." The Yondaime, who thought the same as him, grinned at his reaction. Minato rewarded him a ruffle on his hair, though Kakashi remain oblivious.

Noticeably, Sasuke watched the stranger with greedy eyes. Sakura remained quiet and more or less speechless. Naruto had been sputtering since earlier but Kakashi couldn't stop him. Not now. His mind was reeling at the implications.

"What is wrong with him?" The stranger muttered to herself, facing Madara's placid face. Her fingers hovering over the cracks with feather light touches on Madara's face, like he was glass. 

Not-Sakura was relieved a bit of her worries when the latter twitched at the feel of her hair brushing his heated skin. 'He's still alive.' she thought.

Kakashi observed the stranger. He thought she was a clone at first but quickly dismissed the thought when he remembered how his student reacted. 

With the chakra Not-Sakura is expending, and he knows his student is already nearing chakra exhaustion, she should've poofed out of existence by now. Elemental clone or no.

Edo Tensei was also out of the question. She looks alive and well. And none of the black conjunctiva and cracked skin.

That's not including the fact that she came from what he suspected was a kamui. He gave a look to Obito who shook his head. Negative. 

(Despite everything, he still trusted him. Dealing with all the mess Obito has brought would be a can of worms he'd open once everything calmed down. Once he calmed down.)

It was Sakura. He knew. But there were differences.

Another curious thing was how her chakra was almost identical with his student—except for the senjutsu flooding her veins. A sage. 

There was also the smell. Spending most of his time with his team, he became familiar with his student smelling like her own brand petrichor. The other woman, on another hand, smelled more like hot springs that fill the air with sulphur. It reminded him of the onsen. He wrinkled his nose at his own smell. He should take a bath after all this.

Besides everything, he found no possible explanation for her perfect likeness to Sakura. A kekkei genkai perhaps? A perfect henge? 

Except a second thought niggled in his mind. It was undeniable.

She is Sakura. Just not his Sakura.

There was the evidence of age catching up on her, the uchiwa fan, looking in her early 30s with the faint lines of crow feet and her waist-long hair. She was beautiful that reminded him of fine wine, he admits with embarrassment.

If he was wrong—and he made a lot of wrongs alright, Team 7 as a big example—she could be a yokai or kami herself for all he knows.

He scratched his head. But all things considered, why is he even surprised? His two male students were already demigod incarnates, what's another one?

"Sakura, why is your clone helping Madara?" Sasuke asked belatedly when he noticed that Not-Sakura wouldn't budge unless Madara became stable. She just finished removing the poison Sakura had hit Madara with a dosage enough to kill dozens of people. Rendering him unconscious for a while until he metabolizes it.

"What on earth?" Not-Sakura looked stumped with the way Madara's injuries stitched on their own, without her help.

Sakura's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "I'm as clueless as you all are." She watches her doppelganger with her eyebrows knitted together. "She's doing it in her own accord. And she's not my clone, Sasuke." Sasuke tries not to act surprised at her annoyance with him.

____________

Everyone was unsure on what to make of this woman. Her likeness to Sakura was enough to make Team 7 hesitate to even hurt her. While the other kages watch her for any move before promptly reacting.

Until one of them came forward.

____________

The pink haired woman watched Hashirama warily when she hears his purposefully loud steps when he came close. She fingered the kanzashi in her hair. 

"Who are you?"

"Please, I mean no harm." He gave a placating gesture. It's when he got on a safe distance, where he can see both the stranger and the state of his wayward friend, that some tension went out of her shoulders 

"Can I have your word not to attack?" He readily agreed.

She eyed him warily before turning back to her so called husband. He watched her do her work in curiosity before speaking.

"I'm Hashirama. If I may, what is your name, my lady?" She hummed, forcing herself to relax in his presence. 

"Sakura.." She stared at nothing for a few seconds, thinking before sighing. "Uchiha Sakura. I am this fool's wife." She said with a sardonic but worried voice. His eyebrows raised at that. As far as he knew, Madara was a bachelor. Aggressive one at that.

But what did he know? He was faced by the fact that he didn't know everything about Madara. If he did, his friend wouldn't have turned out this way.

He gave her a scrutinizing look. A secret lover perhaps?

"You don't look like an Uchiha." Eyeing her pink hair and open expression. He wasn't blind to the fact that she looked like the carbon copy of his incarnation's teammate. Another reincarnation? But his feeling—chakra told him otherwise. He wonders why their chakra resonated with each other. Like it was cut from the same cloth.

Before he can give his thoughts more time, Uchiha-san gave him a judgemental look like he was dumb. He was reminded of Tobirama's expressions when he did something wrong in his otouto's standards. It made him grin.

"My lord, surely you know how marriage works?" He quickly apologized for his misstep and she waved it off, as she was trying to make sense of Madara's vitals. Which was ALL wrong. But she decided to focus on her husband's good health. Vital questions later (pun intended).

"What happened to him?" She said, her voice tinged with worry. There were scars in his body that weren't there before.

Hashirama winced behind her when she traced the face on Madara's chest. He wasn't prepared for that conversation.

Sakura knew her husband well. There was a bud of suspicion that grew in her head. Could it be another—?

Sakura dismissed the stray thought. It doesn't matter. Another dimension or not, her husband is her husband. Questions can come later. 

She glances at Hashirama in her peripheral. "You haven't given me your last name." She mused, after fixing all of Madara's most pressing concerns, accompanied by a side-eye. It was playful and made Hashirama laugh boisterously. He understood how this woman was able to stand such a man like Madara. 

"Senju, it's Senju Hashirama. Though, I am quite surprised that you have no recall of my name since you are Madara's wife." And it was not in arrogance, no matter how embarrassed he felt with the title, that he was called a God of Shinobi by his people. He sent the surprised woman a curious look.

"What do you—?" Before Sakura was even able to answer, Madara coughed up blood and started gaining consciousness. She tried not to fuss over him. Instead, she let her hands brush his hair, the way her husband liked it.

_____________

Madara felt warmth for the first time in long years. Is this Infinite Tsukuyomi? He felt someone raking his hair and he almost purred. It was blissful. Until he felt the pain he's experiencing everywhere. The pounding of his head. Until he remembered his purpose.

_____________

It was then that the woman finally realized something was wrong. Her husband's face crumpled in pain, his skin in a state of pallor. Paler than a corpse. It's only when Madara opened his bloodshot eyes that she felt a sinking feeling in her gut. 

Before she could even ask if he was alright, his hand immediately went for her throat and Sakura could only watch him in alarm. 

"What—?" She choked at the grip he had on her. Her eyes pleaded on him but he wasn't listening. 

She was careless. And she hadn't been thinking. Her village had been living in peace since its foundation (10 years) and it had been the reason why she had been so complacent. With all they've been through, she trusted her husband with her future. With her life.

But this wasn't him. Her husband wouldn't have dared glare at her like that. Not even when he found out she was a Senju. Like she was scum. 

She twisted his arm hard, and because he was still feeling weak, he let her go easily. 

"What did you do to me?" His voice that was usually loving towards her, was low and rough. Dangerous. It was the voice he used when facing an enemy. He looked at her like she was an enemy. She thought in disbelief.

"I healed you!" Sakura croaked, before coughing. Tasting copper in her tongue. She mindlessly healed her damaged throat, mind going haywire. "Do you not remember me?" She hated how feeble her voice sounded. His eyes held anger. So much anger she could drown in it.

"I have no recollection of you. And even if I did, your face is very easy to forget." It was a lie but it easily got lost with his mistrust.

There was a time in his adolescence when he thought about having a family. A wife. 5 children. When his brother was still alive. He wouldn't have forgotten a woman like her had they met earlier. It's too late for him now.

She meant nothing but a simple roadblock he'd have to get rid of. No one can get in the way of his plans. He gnashed his molars, a forbidding aura surrounding him like fog.

It was skin crawling. 

"You are not my husband." She steps back. And another. and another. Back straightening, betrayal coursing in her veins. She gingerly rubbed her newly healed skin as she watched him, rose tinted glasses finally removed. There were no recognition in his eyes. He was telling the truth. And there was no denying it now. It stung.

Something in Madara's stone cold heart twinged at the accusatory look on her face but he ignored it and sneered. "Enough with your delusions woman. I'd never bed a whore like you." Her eyes which were filled with unshed tears suddenly hardened and burned with fury.

"Madara, you—!" Hashirama was cut off by killing intent. 

She snapped. It happened in an instant.

Crack.

Rumble.

The earth rumbled like the world had shook itself. Everyone scattered away from the fighting site. Eager to survive in one piece.

Before Madara could even add more scathing remarks, he was propelled in the air. Jaw breaking like it was pounded by a mountain personified. Not-Sakura descended on him like a war goddess. Eyes alit with burning determination.

Madara was no slouch. But this woman met his hits blow for blow. It made him clench his teeth. 

Her hands forming a familiar snake seal. "Shannaro!" She slammed her hands and everyone watched in apprehension/anticipation. There was no earthquake like they expected. But what came next was even better.

Sakura was indifferent to the name her people had given her. Konohasakuya-hime. Like the goddess. The name that brought her love and jealousy. She was a legend for reason. They may not know it here but they'll see it before their eyes. This Madara. She'll teach him. And it would do him good to remember that. Husband or not.

Creak. Groan.

Like a ripple, forest of trees grew in droves without a second thought. Everyone watched, ranging from fascination, horror, and curiosity. Mokuton. Like Hashirama. Hashirama almost wanted to ask the lady how she attained it. Until he remembered her wayward friend getting beaten by the petite lady to a pulp and winced.

"You don't move like my husband." She gives him a disdainful look before appearing behind him as he struggled to remove the vines that slither to his body left and right like snakes.

"I am not your husband!" he growled, fighting his way out these damn vines. But this didn't deter her. She looked at him snootily, affection no longer in her eyes. Instead, there was contempt. Naruto shivers in background at this Sakura's fury.

"You are foul and way too reckless. Too slow." Her breath behind his neck would've him shiver if he were alive, before he evaded a hit that could've broke his spine in a half if not for his reflexes.

His sharingan swirled to life. Making his hits far more ruthless. Woman or not, an enemy is an enemy. He didn't give her the benefit of going easy on her. (It's not like he could. She was going to kill him.) But she still kept up. It was impressive if it wasn't him on the receiving end. And it frustrated him to no end.

All the sharingan users used their sharingan eyes to varying degrees.

Naruto cheered the Other-Sakura loudly when her kanzashi fell out of her hair, leaving it in disarray. Until she caught it swiftly and threw it to Madara with no hesitation. It didn't hit where she wanted to, scratching his cheek. It was enough to paralyze his nerve endings which led to an opening. That she quickly took advantage of.

It was curious to see her beeing able to keep up with him despite the man using his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. 

If Tobirama was any lesser man, he would've gloated. In fact, he would go to great lengths to do it himself but seeing the woman get Madara's arse handed to him satisfied him. He was greatly entertained noticeably through the twitching of his mouth that slowly turned into a smirk.

____________

"Hatred has eaten you whole." Madara growled. What does she know? "I pity you." She breathed in and the telltale of Sage marks adorned her pretty face. 

"A pity it maybe but I'll make you pay for sullying my husband's name." Her hand, glowing with senjutsu chakra that'll turn him into a stone, moved to cleave into his chest. It should've ended him. But it didn't. 

A huge block of wood stood on Sakura's way, that quickly splintered at her fist and she could only gape. Her eyes turning to the culprit who gave her an apologetic smile.

______________

Hashirama was only able to stop her when she saw him use his mokuton, from letting her further break Madara. "You...You really are a Senju." Her eyes watched him with fascination. "You use the same technique as mine." 

"It's actually a technique that I invented when I was younger." He said sheepishly. ("It's not a kekkei genkai?!" "Shut up, dobe")

"Oh." He watched her mind put the last puzzle fall into place. "So that means..." Her eyes looked at the other pink haired girl with awe. "Oh." 

***
After leaving a thrashing Madara locked in a grove of chakra-sucking trees (a jutsu she painstakingly developed with her aneue), Other-Sakura faces their audience with trepidation before sighing.

"What have my life become..." She rubbed her forehead tiredly before taking heavy steps towards them.

***

"Thank you, Hashirama-sama." They heard her say, when the Shodaime left to guard Madara wih his brother. She watched them apprehensively before sighing. 

"I'm guessing that you all have arrived in the same conclusion as mine."

"Dimension travel, yes." Kakashi tried not to fidget when her eyes went to him. Her eyes narrowed for a moment as if trying to pinpoint where she saw him.

Then her eyes stopped on Obito. "I'd know that chakra anywhere." Her voice in awe. "Obito..." The aforementioned tried not to squirm when her gentle hands caressed his scarred face. "What happened to you?" Her voice was heartbroken and filled with more affection than what Obito was used to.

He gently pulled her hands away from him, so he wouldn't offend the lady. "It's nothing, Sakura-san." What he didn't expect was her almost throttling him. He tried not to flinch and do something stupid like turn tail or aim for her throat.

"Idiot-child! You can not expect me to treat it as nothing when you are quite literally my son!" Kakashi coughed. 

"I am...32 years old, ma'am." Obito explained lamely. Not-Sakura, who was quite literally at most their same age, scoffed. "Nonsense! Little Obito is still Obito in my eyes! You literally were just falling to your feet last I saw you." She acted like a mother-hen and they didn't know what to make of it. Obito turned scarlet while Naruto bursted out laughing at Obito and the hilarity of the situation.

"So, let me fuss over you." When Obito seemed about to argue, she squeezed his hand. "Please." Obito decided to acquiesce, feeling out of his depth. Though, he wasn't going to lie. It felt good for someone to care about him.

***
Naruto approached the lady. "Ne, ne, that was cool dattebayo! How did you do that?"

"Aa...I apologize about the mess." Not-Sakura said lamely, her face apologetic. It made Naruto want to console her.

"Oh dear, how could I forget my manners. My name's Uchiha Sakura nee Senju. As you may have heard, I am Uchiha Madara's wife." Watching the Shodaime who gave her a warm smile. While the Nidaime gave her an approving look until he remembered she married an Uchiha. And Madara at that. "And I'm assuming that is news to some of you." 

Tobirama looked as if he ate a sour lemon and gave her an odd look. "Madara, really Sakura-chan?!" Naruto voiced out the same question he had, hysterically. Not-Sakura gave him a look of disapproval. "Yes, and is there a problem with that?"

"B-But, you just fought him? That Madara—!?" Naruto gestured wildly and pointed out at, the now limp like noodles, Madara. He seemed to have given up from struggling. The more he did, the more the trees tightened its grip on him. 

"Aa...yes though I meant MY Madara. I was able to beat him because I know my husband well. If circumstances were any different, I wouldn't have to use force. What do you say, Madara-san?" Madara only gave her a gurgle since there was a vine muffling his mouth.

"A Senju marrying an Uchiha! such a thing!" Hashirama exclaimed looking as if he could celebrate. "That must mean that you aren't at war. What of Konoha?"

"Hn..." ("She's just like you now teme!" "Hn.") "..it has been in peace for 10 years now." She smiled serenely. Hashirama and Uchiha Sakura made eye contact. "It's all I could ask for." Eyes twinkling in contentment.

<Blank>
Sakura smiled sheepishly. "I'm guessing that I took your place in my dimension. Or at least being a founder of my Konoha." 

"Who's the Shodaime in yours?"

"Madara-kun and I are both the Hokage." She said proudly for her husband. Tobirama resignedly prepared himself for surprises this whirlwind of a woman had brought them.

Sakura's eyes wandered to where their Madara was. "What happened to him?" Her voice quiet.

"Izuna, I killed him. He started spiralling after that." Tobirama readily said, a tinge of remorse in his voice. That's the only thing that made Sakura stop from flinging him across the field. She quickly hid her anger. It was war. She understood but that doesn't mean she wasn't angry.

"I see. That must've been the last straw. I didn't think it would come to this." Little did she know, Tobirama sensed it full well and felt a little ashamed. She was the equivalent of his brother in her dimension, so a part of him cared about what she thought of him.

<Blank>

"I apologize for what I did earlier. I'm not mad anymore." She gave him an apologetic look but he averted his eyes. He didn't deign her answer. He still felt ashamed for being her husband or falling short to the one she had at home.

"I still think you deserved what was coming for you though. And I know what you're thinking."

"What do you know?" His voice icy and there was a promise of retaliation is she even said something that would set him off.

"Hm..Well I know a lot. You're not really the eldest brother out of all your 5 brothers." 

"That doesn't prove anything."

"You want something embarrassing? Our oh so great Madara caught himself in fire practicing his Katon. And Izuna wouldn't stop talking about it even now." She stopped laughing when she noticed the solemn expression on his usually grumpy face.

"Is he well?" His voice almost a whisper. Right. She winced. Izuna. Her mind drifted to her overbearing brother in law and couldn't help but think she'd miss if he were gone.

"Yes, he is. In fact, I can't wait to tell him about you. He had a blast hearing about the other you in a civilian dimension Obito threw me in." Sakura said after much deliberation. Remembering how Izuna chewed out Obito and even Madara despite the fact that it was his other self that tried to seduce her.

"Wait, this isn't the first time?" Madara asked incredulously. "Woman, what in the world?"

"I'm afraid not." She replied humorously. "The civilian you was quite dashing you know. He kept on trying to get under my skin. You on the other hand, did it quite literally." She grimaced, remembering the feel of Madara's fingers on her neck earlier. 

"Izuna would throw a fit once he knows. He'd bite my husband's head off. That's for certain." She tells him, eyes shining with amusement. Madara can't help but share the same feeling, his mouth curling into a small smirk. That sounds like Izuna.

"He'd been looking for a reason to fight with my husband lately for making him the clan head." She added thoughtfully. Madara perked up at the mention of his brother being the clanhead.

"Izuna had been drilling holes on my husband's head since the elders keep on hounding him and his wife to have an heir. Think he'd give you a piece of his mind if he's here?"

Madara paled. That was enough answer. And Sakura laughed. "I was only kidding. Izuna would never think of you any less." 

"Not that he thought of you highly anymore since my husband made him clanhead." she added belatedly.
<Blank>
"Do you want to dance?" Madara sent her a challenging look. That she reciprocated wholly. "Oh? Is that a challenge. Well, it does take two to tango. Prepare to get your arse beat, again, Ma-da-ra." He noticed how her vocabulary turns more vulgar when she's in a fight.

<Blank>
"It was nice meeting you, Sakura-dono!" He saluted before the jutsu ended. She watched her other counterpart disappear with amusement.

"Sakura, thank you." She heard Madara say before disappearing.

"Typical Uchiha." Uchiha Sakura heard her other counterpart say, as the girl look at Sasuke in wry amusement.

***

Senju Sakura—" Sakura cut Kakashi off. 

"Uchiha." Sasuke looked at her in approval while she raises an eyebrow at him.

"—Ehem, Uchiha Sakura, do you know what happened and why you got here?"

"Yes. I believe one of our own kids, Obito, had been playing around and had accidentally punted me to another dimension. Again." She glared at their dimension's Obito who seemed cowed. 

"My husband will probably fetch me. Although, I'm not sure how long it would take. The last time took them a few days." Her right hand rubbed her chin. "I could try to reverse summon myself with my Katsuyu-sama if they take too long, which I suspect they will."

"Then, I guess you'll be staying with us for a while, Sakura-cha—san?" 

"If it's not much trouble, Kakashi-sama." Team 7 watches as their sensei convince Uchiha-san to drop the formalities in amusement. 

****
"So...Obito-kun."

"Sakura-san.." He replied sheepishly, his blood rate jumped. This lady was thrice terrifying. Not only because she was powerful but because she knew him. And cared. 

"I heard you've made such a mess of this place." She said chidingly, watching the wreck where the war happened. Though some of it was of her own doing. His lip twitched.

"Aa...I may have caused a war and two."

"You have become strong..." Her eyes turn sad. "Was it worth it?" His heart clenched. 

"It wasn't. I failed everyone. And lied to myself." He felt her hand squeeze her arm. He tried not to jerk. 

"To think that my most important people had suffered in this...I feel for you. Though I can't do more for you because frankly, I don't know you and you don't know me. It's a shame really."

_________

Shinobi looked at both Sakuras healing any injury at the tent. With their amount of efficiency, they were able to heal everyone in a week, albeit in a bruising pace. 

A genin watches pink ponytail swishing back and forth before tugging his savior's kimono. "Sakura-sama!" 

"Oh, dear Osamu-kun, how can I help you?" 

"Please accept my letter!" Osamu puts a love letter forward, his wars tinted red. 

"Thank you...but I have to apologize, I already have a man waiting for me to come home. You're young, and I know you'll find someone befitting than an old lady like me." She ruffled the boy's hair before leaving. 

____________

"

I just can't help but compare myself to her. I mean, she's me! In another dimension at that. And she's.." she swallowed the bitterness in her tongue. "..better."

"Ugly, you forget that she's older than you."

"Oi, I might be sulking right now but that woman's still me! And she's not old or ugly!"

"That's not what I meant, hag. I meant that she had more experience. And resources. You forget that she was born a Senju."

"What Sai means, Sakura-chan is that you shouldn't sell yourself short! Give yourself some credit -ttebayo!" Sakura laughed with tears in her eyes.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan! You're still my favorite. No matter what!" Naruto reassures his teammate. 

"Thanks for cheering me up, you guys." She gave them a tight embrace.

________

_________
"How peculiar." Sakura-hime said after peering at the medical advancements and the scrolls Sakura shared with her. "You've done all of this?" The Uchiha matriarch asked with wonder and admiration for her counterpart.

"Yes, though Tsunade-shishou invented some of them. I just tinkered with some of it and it worked." Greatly. But Sakura didn't say that. She didn't want to toot her own horn. 

Sakura tried not to fidget when the other woman gave her a look. "Sakura..." the woman sighed before putting down the scroll.

"This may sound odd from someone who's considered as you're alternate self but you're strong."

"Uchiha-san—" 

"No, listen to me, you stubborn thing. I am you. I know." Both of them laughed. "Stop sabotaging yourself. Be proud of your achievements, who cares? Do whatever you want."

"If someone tells you anything short of garbage. Ignore them. You don't need them in your life. You didn't get here by listening to people putting you down, did you?"

"No..." Some tears sprung up into Sakura's eyes. Sakura hides a sniff but Uchiha-san already noticed. 

"Just let it out, dear." The older woman hugged her and rubbed circles on her back. 

"I've always wanted a sister." Sakura said moments later. 

_____________

Sasuke found Uchiha Sakura lounging in a blanket as she watched the stars. He made his steps louder and smirks when he saw her head turn towards her. Like a dog. A cute one.

She gave him a quizzical look. "Sasuke-san."

"Uchiha-san." She watches his expressions before gesturing to sit with her.

"You're not much a talker are you?" 

"Hn." She tsked.

_____________

"So, Madara huh?" She gave him a disappointed look. "Yes."

She thought that was gonna be the last of it. It wasn't.

____________

"Sakura?" Ino felt intimidated by the woman who looked exactly like Forehead. The woman turned to her, pink hair swishing faintly.

Ino eyed her hair enviously. 'Damn, forehead's gonna look good.' she thought. Screw the war for making her forget to do her hair routine.

"Yamanaka-san, I believe?" She watched the blonde warily. Ino pursed her lips. "It's Ino. Ino, Sakura."

"Ah, yes. I apologize. You remind me a lot of this Yamanaka from my home." Her eyebrow twitched as if remembering a memory that bothered her. "She married Izuna, my brother in law. And never left me alone ever since." she said drily.

"Say, does this Izuna look...handsome?"

"Yes, if I say so, he looks most similar to Sasuke-san here." Ino wasn't just weirded out how this Sakura treats Sasuke. 

"Sasuke-SAN?!" 

"Yes, is there something wrong?"

"Do you not like Sasuke?"

"No, why would I? I only just met him." Uchiha Sakura paused before smiling.

"And I have a husband at home, Madara." Sakura had a dreamy look in her eye and it made Ino want to gag.

"Madara?!"

"Why is everybody so surprised? Madara's a fine man if I had a say about it." This Sakura defended, affronted.

"I mean he is—but that's not the point! He's the big bad guy! How the hell did he even seduce you? Why did nobody tell me about this?" Ino said helplessly.

"Dear, you were in the cocoon for a while. Get a hold of yourself." Sakura chided. "Also, I have to correct you, my Madara is no hero but he's also not a villain. Your Madara here might just be a bit...misguided."

"A bit?!"

__________

How did Uchiha Sakura come to their dimension?

Short answer: Obito.

Long answer: 

See, Sakura-sama is a goddess. It's a fact. Obito is willing to fight anyone who contest that. Anyone. 

Sweat tickled his forehead. He just had to perfect his Sharingan first, is all. He's totally not a scaredy cat, he swears. 

'Not like a pipsqueak like you can hurt a fly.' A voice akin to their resident Hokage echoed in his head.

He shook his head, along with the intrusive thought, away. H-He'll work hard! This way, the old grump, Madara-oji won't call him a pipsqueak ever again. 

And be hokage. He braced himself and stood up straighter. He'll show him, he huffed.

A few hours in using his mangekyo, the fatigue sets in as he proceeded on wiping the sweat off his forehead and heaved. Feeling drained and his eyes blurry. He wanted to keep going but it seemed like his body didn't want him to.

("No, overusing your dojutsu, ne Obito-kun? Do you want to go blind?") A chastising voice echoed in his mind.

Just one last try. He promised himself. Until another one and then, another one. 

Frustration builds on his shoulders. Why isn't it working the way he wanted it to? Tenten-oba made space time jutsu seem so easy.

He contemplated what he had been able to do for the past few months improving his mangekyou.

He could transport anywhere at this point. From point a to b. All is easy. 

But he wanted to try transcending time and space again. With blood rushing in his veins. The kind of space-time jutsu that would be like the sound 'woosh!' ringing in his ears. Well, until he had made a mistake that is. 

(No, no. That won't happen again.)

He tries to remember the jutsu that inspired him. Right! it looked cool reading the Izanami jutsu he snooped on the old grump's library when he wasn't looking. He got found out though and got tongue lashing. It was all worth it. He wants to do it.

So he did. Obito, so in awe with his ingenuity bearing fruit, was distracted.

It happened out of nowhere.

"Obito-kun?" He almost jumped, like a criminal found out in his hideout. Sakura has a habit of taking him off guard. It was their game eversince little Obito tried to surprise Sakura in her sleep. Thinking back it was stupid to go behind a shinobi of her caliber but since he wasn't an enemy, it never got to the point that she had him on kunai point. 

Unfortunately, it was one of those days. "Wha—" he sputtered.

Surprised his focus went to Sakura. And because of his panic, so was the intent of the jutsu. His eyes widened, "Sakura-sama! Look out!" He yelled in alarm.

He watched as her eyes widened before the look of resignation enveloped her face as the kamui swallows her whole. (Sakura trusted Obito enough that the jutsu didn't register at all. It was the absence of killing intent.)

"No!"

It was too late. She was already engulfed by kamui. Obito fell on his knees, gravel and rocky bits scraping his knee. But he didn't notice.

Sakura-sama's gone. And it's his fault. Again. He heaved before remembering how to breathe.

He bit his nails and contemplated turning tail. But if he ran, what would happen to Sakura-sama?

He stopped and immediately went to Izuna-oji's house in a sloppy shunshin. He almost knocked the door out of its hinges but thankfully restrained himself. But no answer. 

He started panicking.

He tried and tried again until he heard a groan and dragging footsteps from behind the door before he sighed in relief. A groggy Izuna opened the door and gave him a stink eye.

"Obito, what are you—?"

"Izuna-oji! Help me please!" The door abruptly closed. "Please! This is about Sakura-sama!" And opened again.

The sleepy Uchiha popped his head out of the door. When he found Obito's face, alarm bells rang in his mind.

"Please tell me this isn't what I'm thinking." Obito visibly wilted in front of his eyes was enough of an answer. Izuna cursed.

Obito prays for the ground to eat him alive before Madara gets to him first. "It was an accident." 
____________

"I received an interesting missive from my apprentice." She preambles before giving her a contemplative look. Sakura's lips tremble. That familiar voice. 

"You are the other Sakura, correct?" Tsunade quirked an eyebrow. It reminded he so much of her mother that a few tears escaped from her eyes.

"Hahaue?" Uchiha Sakura's eyes filled with hurt when her mother didn't recognize her. Perhaps this is more painful than when her mother banished her fyer eloping with the enemy—Madara. At least her mother knew her then. 

Tsunade's eyes softened but remained firm. "I am not your mother, brat." Sakura laughed wetly at the familiar nickname. 

"I apologize, has anyone told you that you are the absolute spitting image of my mother? Well you are my mother in mine—" She said offhandedly before catching herself, wiping her tears daintily. "I'm so sorry. You see, my mother hadn't been talking for years now. So I just wanted to see another her. And know if she's doing well." This was news to Tsunade as well as Tenzou who was taking his shift as an ANBU guard.

"Mother. You're kidding me. Who fathered you?" She asked, an eyebrow raised inquisitively. 

"Chichiue? Chichi's name was Kato Dan before he married into the family." She noticed Tsunade's eyes lit up before grief took over her face.

"Is he not...here?" Sakura prayed that she didn't hear the tremble of her voice. Tsunade, like her mother, knew her best though. Her eyes dimming with a self-deprecating smile on her lips. "He's gone." Tsunade's voice was steady but her shaking hands revealed her true feelings.

"Can you at least tell me if Dan's living well...with your mother?" Tsunade almost sounded jealous. It brought a small sad smile in Sakura's face.

"He had been taking care of my elder sister—Tenten's son, Tenya. The last time he wrote me a letter. So yes, chichi-ue is doing pretty well." 

"Tenten, huh? I didn't realize that I'd have multiple kids. But I take that that's not what you want to talk about right now, is it?"

She wants to know this woman more, but she lets her other mother get the subject change. Sakura pulled the scroll in between her sleeves and offered it to the Godaime.

"I would like to impart my knowledge about Shikkotsu Forest to your apprentice before I leave. I am confident that she would be able to sagedom in due time. She is me, of course."

"And these?" Tsunade pointed to the other information that's not entirely related to senjutsu. She was impressed. Sakura knew. With the way she looked like she won a bet. It made her want to preen.

"Those are the techniques I've developed in my dimension. I am sure those would help Sakura in her endeavour of saving lives. If she'll have me."

"She'll take it."

"I know she will." 

An hour was spent with Tsunade asking her how she came up with her techniques, its uses and her experience using it. It's only when Tsunade had finished asking questions that the woman gave her a contemplative look. "Your mother..."

"Yes?" Her voice came out hopeful.

"I think she is proud of you. Hell, I am right now. And you're not even my spawn." Sakura tried not to let it stung. But Tsunade noticed. She waved it off. 

Tsunade moves to get something from her cabinet and pulled out a familiar sake bottle. Tsunade slammed it to the table and gave her a conspiratorial look.

"Brat, you know how stubborn WE get. Sake is enough to convince us, if you get my drift." Sakura wanted to be skeptical. She respects her mother even now. But she remembers the time when she was younger and her mother smelled like alcohol after a difficult clan meeting.

"Kusa Snake Wine?"

"Kusa Snake Wine." Tsunade loved drinking this especially when she saw Orochimaru squirm when she drank it. She loved it more when he defected.

"Drink with me?" 

__________

"It feels odd being older than my elder sister." Sakura says as she heals any nick or injury that Tenten has. 

"You look beautiful, Sakura-san." Tenten said in admiration. It made her smile.

"Thank you. I've always adored my sister, too. See, she's a weapon mistress, too and a blacksmith. She would've loved to meet you." Sakura said as she tucked in, Tenten's stray hair behind her ear. 

Tenten blushed with the open affection. She thinks this Sakura has much love to give and felt grateful to be one of the receiving ones.
_________

"Tenzo-nii! You look so—Oh oops." Tenzo stiffened at her closeness and became flustered easily. She noticed. She let go of him when he tapped out. 

"Sorry, sorry. I keep on forgetting that you're not my brother. See I haven't seen mine for months now."

________

"You've seen Kakashi-sensei's face?! Does he have a buckteeth like they said?!!!"

"If your Kakashi is the as my own, he would be an eye candy. Don't tell this to my husband, but Kakashi-sama has a pretty mouth. Though, I can not for the life of me, understand why he's so conscious of his mole."

***

"It's a shame that you hide such a pretty face, Kakashi-sama."

***
"Kakashi-sama had been betrothed with me before I eloped with my husband." Naruto was amused to see his sensei blushing like a teenager.

"Kakashi, please, Sakura-san." 

___________

________________

"Katsuyu-sama!"

"Sakura-chan is there any reason why I'm seeing two of you, and another me?"

"I'm a bit in a sticky situation right now."

"Is this about Obito again? At least you're not in that no-chakra dimension. Or else this would've been harder." 

"Yes, I believe it was."

"Do you wish for me to take you back again?"

"Yes...though I would've wanted stay here for a while. Would that affect our dimension?"

"It already is affected, in the way that you're already here. You just arrived in a reality where things happened as it is."

__________

"It was nice meeting the lot of you..." Her kind eyes turned to Sakura before giving her a warm embrace. "Remember what I said."

***
"Anata, I'm back!" Sakura announced, slipping off her slippers and looking for any sign of her husband. "Madara-kun?"

She checked their living room and only found a mess of sake bottles befor resolving to go to their shared bedroom.

And there he was. Sprawled into the bed with some of her clothes as the pillowcase. She choked in sudden tears.

"Sakura?" His red-rimmed eyes watched her as of she was a dream. She pulled him in an embrace and he relaxed. "You're back." He said as if he couldn't believe it.

"I'm home."
_______________

A year later, Sakura can't help but facepalm when 
she took in her new surroundings. She never learned and it feels more her fault now.

Obito had just began practicing his space time jutsu after getting over his fear of putting her in another dimension again. She fetched him for lunch and here she was again. 

"Three times the charm, isn't it?" she muttered to herself. She's at least glad that this didn't happen to another person. She wouldn't want to afflict this to another poor soul. She barely cope as is.
_______________

"Madara-sama! Sakura-hime is missing! Again!" And so, the chaos in the Uchiha compound begins. Madara already had an inkling on who was the culprit. It was no one but his protege who tried hard not to look guilty but was already failing.

"OBITO!" Said boy ran for his life.
_______________

Legends say that Uchiha Obito had the reprimanding of the lifetime when he punted Sakura (again) where Obito is Sakura's malewife.

"Obito-kun, this is getting old real quick. And I'm not getting any younger." She said to the familiar silhouette of one unruly Uchiha. Though something was different. 

Her eyebrows furrowed. He looked more like the one she met from the other dimension.

"Sakura-sama!" Sakura tried not to punch Obito in surprise when he touched her so intimately. Like ones for lover. "You're back." He said, taking both her hands and nuzzling his face to her hand, to her horror. He sighed with the feel of her touch.

"Obito-kun? What are you doing?" She asks in embarrassment. "I missed you so much." longing filled his voice. 

This Obito had grown into a man. And she didn't know how to feel about it. Just a few days ago, Obito told her to see him as a man. At the time, she didn't take him seriously. Now? She'd never get th image of him nuzzling to her out of her mind. Where is Madara when she needs him?

Obito gave her a look filled with desire. "I've been a good boy...Can I—?" She stepped back. Before sending Obito, who uncharacteristically whimpered at her touch, to a fitful sleep. "I apologize." she said, as she gently let him to a nearby cot. Bridal style.

After doing so, she wiped the sweat from her flushed face. "Why does this keep on happening to me?"