So! Hello everyone! To start with, let me just get this out there - while this is my first story posted, it's far from my first story written. I've been on FFnet for years but I've never gotten the guts to post something until now. Hopefully, the reception will be a good one! I've played with this idea for a long time now and I've written TONS of content for it, though there are lots of gaps to fill before each chapter gets posted. I won't try to guess how often I'll update, but it shouldn't be too slow?
Anyways! I want to make it clear right off the bat that Sakura will NOT be talking Naruto's place in the world. Not to spoil anything, but she won't be the savior of the Naruto World or anything. Nor will she be anything like the Sakura you know and most people kind of hate for reasons and stuff (Kishimotoooo!). I'm not going to get anymore into that, cause you'll see for yourself what I mean once I get the first actual chapter posted!
This story will be a bit darker, though. Depressing and violent, but nothing that should be trigger-y. If that changes, there will be warnings. Anyways, read on and feel free to give constructive criticism - I genuinely appreciate it when people point out ways for me to improve on my writing.
Chapter 1: Prologue
Minato looked down at the infant in his arms skeptically. "Are you sure she's the best option? She's an infant." Minato argued, looking sideways at Jiraiya. The older man rolled his eyes.
"Underneath the underneath, Minato." He lectured scoldingly. "Look at her hair."
"It's pink." Minato pointed out with a slight grimace. "Not red."
"Close enough. The medics are doing chakra testing and matching it against Kushina's, but as far as we can tell, she's as good as we're getting. This girl's got Uzumaki blood in her."
"Maybe so, but how muddled would it have to be for the red hair gene to lose dominance? It's entirely probable that she doesn't even have any of the attributes we're looking for."
Jiraiya rolled his eyes skyward. "We have no idea how dominant bright red hair even is, Minato. For all we know, you're full-Uzumaki wife is about to pop out a blondie like you. Anyways, would you trust me for once, kid? I know what I'm doing here. Her dad's Uzumaki, and I performed the damned tests myself - she's got incredible chakra control. Haven't seen anything like it since Tsunade." His lips twitched downward slightly at the name and Minato's annoyance was momentarily overridden by sympathy.
His old sensei still hadn't gotten over the loss of his teammate. Tsunade's abandonment of Konoha was painful even after so many years. "That might be the case, but what we're looking for is chakra type." Minato pointed out, much less rudely, and Jiraiya shrugged.
"I know. Her chakra isn't half as unique as Kushina's, honestly." He admitted after a moment. "But it's closer to Kushina's than anyone else we've tested, and her chakra control will make up for what she's lacking there, no?"
"But this isn't what we're looking for." Minato said, frowning lightly at his mentor. "An infant, Jiraiya…" Minato shook his head with a sigh. "Kushina already had years of happiness before she had the Kyuubi sealed in her. All that hatred would go uncontrolled in an infant."
"I know - I agree, even. I wouldn't choose a baby for this if we had any other choice here, but none of the shinobi have anything like Kushina's chakra, and those who are even a little close to it have miserable personalities for it. Sorry, but Kakashi's personality sucks." Jiraiya pointed out mildly, and Minato snorted softly.
"I can't argue with that." He said in soft amusement. His apprentice didn't exactly have a bad personality, but he was far too jaded and cold to be able to fight against the Kyuubi's influence. Obito's death had made the pre-teen much less cold-hearted, but Rin's death… Minato grimaced at the memory of his team. Rin's death had pushed Kakashi to joining the ANBU, and while he still wasn't half as cold-hearted as he used to be, he was incredibly bitter and jaded.
Minato scanned the lax face of the babe he held, grimace softening. "You'll make a good father." Jiraiya observed, and the grimace returned full force. "What?"
"We're talking about extreme measures in case my wife dies horribly while giving birth to our child and the Kyuubi get's set loose, probably killing everyone else there except maybe me because I can Hiraishin away." Minato explained grimly. "It makes the future seem a little disheartening to me."
"Eh. These are just worst case scenarios we're planning for, kid. We've got all of our bases covered - I doubt anything will happen. I doubt even more than anything that does happen will get through the small army of ANBU the old man's got planned for you." Jiraiya pointed out with a shrug. "Relax, kid. We've got this - all you need to worry about is Kushina's seal. She kind of looks like Tsunade, doesn't she?" Jiraiya changed the subject so suddenly it took Minato a minute to understand he was referring to the baby, not Kushina.
The blonde Hokage looked at the infant in question, frowning thoughtfully. "I don't see it." He admitted after a moment.
"That's because you never saw Tsunade before she was all grown up." Jiraiya explained, demonstrating his meaning by groping the air in front of his chest. Minato scowled at his lewdness.
"Sensei-"
"I know, I know. Seriously, though, it's in the eyes. Tsunade's were shaped the same way when she was a kid." Jiraiya said honestly, reaching out to carefully take the four month old from Minato's arms.
"She is cute, I suppose." Minato admitted after a moment, almost grudgingly, and Jiraiya snorted.
"Are you serious? She's adorable." He said the last word at an almost painfully high pitched, and the little girl gave a muffled sound of protest in response. She wiggled briefly in Jiraiya's arms, lips parting in a wide yawn-
Alright.
Maybe Jiraiya was right. But it didn't change the fact that she wasn't exactly what they were looking for. If Jiraiya was telling the truth, though, he genuinely thought she was the best option they had. Minato let out a soft sigh, reaching up to run his fingers lightly through his hair. "Who is she, anyways?"
"The Haruno's kid. Kizashi's the one with the Uzumaki lineage. Cherry red hair, just a little darker than Kushina's." Jiraiya explained. "His wife's got blonde hair."
Minato paused at that, squinting down at the babe skeptically. "...Does that mean Naruto might have… pink hair?" He asked slowly, not allowing his horror to reflect in his tone. Jiraiya gave him a shit-eating grin regardless.
"That would be a sight. Hokage's son, wielding bright pink hair and Rasengans." He cackled in spite of Minato's withering glare. It wasn't until the baby let out a muffled squawk of protest that Jiraiya stopped, so suddenly that Minato's anger drained away to amusement. The Sannin looked down at the baby with wide eyes, clearly silently praying that she didn't wake up.
"What's her name?"
"Uh... Sakura?" Jiraiya guessed very slowly, then nodded to himself. "Yeah, that's right. Sakura. Not very imaginative of them." He added with a small shrug.
The thoughtless jostling finally woke up the babe with a high pitched wail that made both men flinch. "Well done, sensei." Minato applauded dryly, and the older man scowled in response. The Sannin quickly turned his attention to the wailing infant, shifting her slightly before slowly rocking her.
After several minutes of silence broken only by her cries, the baby finally started to settled down, dark blue eyes becoming heavy lidded. "You should be doing this." Jiraiya half-hissed accusingly, and Minato immediately held his hands up, shaking his head.
"Nuh uh. I'm going to have to do enough of that soon enough as it is. I'm considering this a pre-emptive vacation." Minato refused flatly, and Jiraiya snorted softly.
"Coward."
"Guilty." Minato said cheerfully.
Jiraiya grumbled something less than respectful under his breath. Minato politely pretended he didn't hear it. "How long until the tests will be done?"
"Probably not much longer - it's a priority." He said with a shrug.
"What'd you tell her parents?"
"Told 'em it was Hokage business, and reassured them it was nothing to worry about. They're shinobi - even if they were less than happy about it, they understand not to ask questions."
"And if she is a match? We can't go through with this without their approval - I won't condemn a baby to this life without the support of her parents, at the very least."
"Kid, would you relax?" Jiraiya gave a long suffering sigh. "If she is a match, we'll have a meeting and decide how much to disclose to the parents. One step at a time, kid."
"That's easy for you to say, sensei. This is personal - I need everything-" A knock on the door interrupted him, and Minato squinted in mild annoyance before he gently cleared his throat. "Enter." He called, making Sakura's sleepy eyes shoot open again. Jiraiya froze, watching her warily as a shinobi strode into the room and handed a sheet of paper to Minato. The pink-haired infant didn't return to crying, simply looking around with dark blue, drowsy eyes.
Minato narrowed his eyes as he read the paper, then read it a second time, and finally lowered it to his desk. "Thank you." He said dismissively to the shinobi, who gave a curt bow and left the office, quietly locking the door behind him. Jiraiya arched an eyebrow at Minato questioningly, and the blonde silently lifted the paper and offered it to him. The older man shifted Sakura to one arm, the little baby watching his movements with wide eyes, and reached out to take the paper.
His eyebrows lifted slightly, and after a long moment, Jiraiya handed the paper back, looking down at the baby girl. "Well, looks like you're the new Plan B, kid." He observed, eyeballing the babe critically. "Hopefully, we'll never need you." He added a little wistfully, then held the girl out to the Hokage. "Minato." Jiraiya offered, and the man rose to his feet, walking around his desk to place his fingers on the babe's right palm.
His fingertips glowed for a moment, black marks searing painlessly into the baby girl's palm, before they slowly sunk into the flesh and vanished from sight. Minato stared silently at the unmarred flesh for a long, silent minute, easily sensing the Hiraishin mark hidden there, before looking at Jiraiya with a flat expression. "Bring her parents to the Council room. We have plans to make."
Sarutobi stared down at the two infants, his heart aching - for them, as well as for himself. They had all lost much to the Kyuubi, but none more than them. Minato and Kushina, dying to protect Naruto and to seal the Kyuubi in Sakura. Mebuki and Kizashi had died and orphaned Sakura as well. They had been one of the first to fall, personally volunteering to help guard Kushina during the birth. Perhaps it was out of a sense of duty all shinobi shared - but more likely, it was because they wanted to ensure their daughter wasn't needed as the new Jinchuuriki.
They had been willing, in the end, but very reluctantly. So reluctantly that Sarutobi wondered if it wasn't better for Sakura to be orphaned - somehow, he doubted her parents would have been able to look past the Kyuubi's seal on her stomach.
Regardless, it left him in a difficult position.
Word had gotten out about Sakura's state, and too many shinobi had been there to see it happen for Sarutobi to know who broke his order to keep silent. Even if he did, it would do nothing - the word was spreading too quickly to stop it now, and he feared what that meant for Sakura. Very few people would be trusted to adopt the Jinchuuriki, and none of them were willing to. Jiraiya would have been the best choice, and Sarutobi would have forced Sakura on him, but the man had come in to visit Naruto once and then vanished.
Sarutobi didn't have the heart to hunt him down and sic the two children on him, even if he had agreed to foster Naruto if anything happened. None of them had imagined it would be something this terrible, and Jiraiya needed time to grieve. Sarutobi reached up to rub his forehead, sighing softly.
Something needed to be done, and he didn't know what.
It took him several hours to finally admit that all he could do was try his best to lessen the damage. He couldn't spare her the damage completely - not when no one was willing to take in the host of the creature that had killed so many and destroyed so much. "If only I were younger." He murmured apologetically to the pink haired baby and blonde haired newborn.
When Sarutobi filled out the paperwork for them at the Orphanage, it was with a sorrowful feeling that all he could do was something so small. But perhaps, with a little pushing here and there, he could ensure it became a much bigger help to the poor infants. Perhaps it would be enough for them to at least have each other.
Naruto Uzumaki. Sakura Uzumaki, he wrote in the top margins.
Let this be enough.