So yeah I don't own the picture

I was a small cherry blossom tree but I was the most beautiful in spring. People gave me offerings, giving me a sense of awareness until I could manifest myself onto a small form. I was incredibly small, just the size of a flower and my senses were diluted. My hair barely reached my shoulders and it matched the color of my petals. My ears were pointed and my fangs weren't very sharp. The only cloth I adorned was a kimono given to me by another forest spirit but it died shortly after I could walk further away from where I was planted. I cried for the whole season, the blossoms falling at an alarming rate. I was weakening, the eyes reflected back to me when I looked at the water dulled to a darker green sealing away the inquisitive emerald with sorrow and the other spirits began to shun me out. It has been ten springs since I did not grow and I was seen as an anomaly. I cried and did not bloom the next spring.

50 winters had passed and I learned to live alone, always wary of the others. It all changed when the humans invaded out territory. Few had respect for the gods and were severely punished by the leaders of the forest although they were dying. We were all dying as a part of the casualties of human stupidity. The branches of my tree were frail and my small form was barely strong enough to maintain its existence in this dimension. I was fading. I saw the war closing on my spot, I closed my eyes and waited for the blow. It never came.

This human wore an immaculate white like he had remained untouched by his opponents and held the blade in his hands before throwing it along with its owner. I still retained some damages and my hands were bleeding. My ears were ringing with the violent wind refusing to be tamed.

"Be gone." His voice carried out on the battlefield. They retreated and soon enough only he stayed where he was.

It had to be a ruse, like those mean spirits. Lulling me into a false sense of protection to strike me harder than the last time. I growled, unable to form words with my poorly developed vocal cords. I winced as a sharp pain spread around my head. My vision was obscured by a red filter and the need to sleep grew prominent.

I did not see nor hear his approach but I felt his finger on my head. It was the only limb he needed to swat me away but he did not. He scooped me up in his palm and soothed the pain away. I sighed and stopped fighting for freedom. Either it was futile, he was too powerful to be stopped by a lowly tree spirit. I lowered my lids and scrubbed the blood out of my palms with my barely hanging sleeve. It hurts.

"!" I jumped, startled with the sudden cold liquid. He had moved to a river and cleaned my face with the hem of his top. I growled and bit his finger sinking my fangs. I did not even draw blood. He was untouched. Too weak.

"Calm down little one. I won't hurt you." I grumbled but did not release my hold on his finger."Hmph." I swore he was internally laughing at my poor attempt.

He easily dislodged his finger from my grasp and patted my little head. I frowned. Wasn't he supposed to throw me away like they all did? He did not let go and went back to my tree.

I whined. It was dying. I was dying. All I could do to prolong my life was to absorb its life force or what little remained of it. My head was still suffering but I ignored it and plucked out a flower, gathering all that was left in it and I chewed it. I heard a small laugh but I could only pay attention to the death of my trunk followed by the branches and then the petals scattered in the wind, leaving no trace of the existence of my once beautiful and youthful appearance. I sniffed.

The human took a small red cloth out of his sleeve and tore it. He took the small piece and tied it in my hair like a headband. I tilted my head at him.

"To keep your hair out of your eyes. It's a shame to hide them. Green eyes are rare. Humans don't have them."

Is he not human?

He shook his head."My grandmother was special and we, her descendants, were given some of her 'gifts'." Was that why he had such colorful eyes? It was crimson but there were things drawn in black in it. I couldn't identify the form.

It was the start of a new adventure with this gifted human called Indra.

He traveled across the world, never settling in one place. I gained back energy thanks to him, he called it chakra. I could now transform into a flower crown, I often lodged myself atop his head. It earned him weird looks but he never complained. I kept the red cloth as a headband because it gave me comfort even when he behaved in a way completely out of his character. I still couldn't talk but he always had the uncanny ability to know what I was thinking.

One day, I was sitting on his shoulder and swung my feet back and forth trying to hum a song when he stopped me. He hid me in his sleeve and grew alert. I sensed a presence familiar to him and stopped breathing. They were screaming, fighting against each other. I had to hold on tight to keep from flying away. That was the first time I sensed a foreign energy invading his body. It had taken residence in his eyes and then he ran. The other one had vanished but another took its place.

I was too scared to come out. My senses were on alert. It was too dark, too manipulative and it was ensnaring my friend to do its bidding. I cried out to him the moment it went away. Indra tried to sooth me but I could feel, I could see it sipping into his veins, infecting his otherwise calm aura.

I clung to him like he as my lifeline for months. It was the last months I had with him. His eyes were hurting him in a way I have never seen in my life. I couldn't bear it so I patted his head and jumped on his palm.

"Little one?"

I gave him a beaming smile and untied my headband. I put it in front of me and unleashed my power. He gave a cry of alarm but I didn't wait. Dispersing into my incorporeal form I latched onto his iris and pulled. I maneuvered into the center of his power and banished the taint, sacrificing myself to save his soul, to give him the chance to reincarnate once more and bloom like a proud tree because the moment he saved me I was his charge but he also was mine. It was worth it, the sadness was worth it because his soul was saved.

I slept.

I awakened when I felt the seal I placed on the darkness crumble. I had rested enough and lashed out on the taint but it had grown too strong. How could it be?! How?!

I was desperate. It was only supposed to give out under duress so it meant his mind was corrupted behind repair. I thought I had saved him. I only lengthened his suffering. I cried all the tears my soul could provide.

"I-I-In-Indra!" I had spoken my first word. I felt a swell of his power, raw and strong, stick to me. It was trying to help me. I smiled and let the tears continue to flow.

Madara could feel it. He was dying. He had left his legacy, he had continued the curse of hatred. He let it consume him and the feeling was always at the back of his head, stopping him from feeling at peace. He was sure to go to hell when in the last moment of his life he sensed light. His body gave out but his mind was active. It was like he was being cleansed. He heard a small voice utter a name as he passed away. He was at peace.

I slept on it while it enveloped me in a protective cocoon, the part of him that survived, that made his soul unique and easy to tell apart.

"Sakura?!" A teenage voice woke me from my slumber. I hissed.

"Oh? A little blossom?" This one sounded wise.

I opened my eyes and looked at the floating old man. I looked around."Indra?" I looked at my hands. "?" I had grown up?

I got up and swirled. I ran to the old man and shook his robes, he smelled like the bad man who fight with Indra, the one with a familiar presence but at the same time so different. It didn't matter if I was as small as a 7 year old child, I could be intimidating when I wanted to.

"Indra!" I tugged." Indra!"

"So that's how he retained his power." He patted my head and dismissed my demand.

"Grrraaaa!"

"Little blossom, Indra is dead. You cannot look for him anymore." I jumped and slapped him.

I felt the swell of power respond to my anger and then I saw him. He was a little unstable but I didn't care. I ran to him and jumped in his arms." Indra!" He caught me and patted me like he used to.

"Thank you little one. It is time for us to depart now."

The old man's eyes widened. He raised his arm in their direction in disbelief."Indra?"

It was too late. The two figures vanished with a smile in their faces before he could reach them.

The shadow of a cherry blossom tree emerged from deep within the forest and the village of Konoha witnessed cherry blossoms floating in the air until the reincarnation of Indra left for his journey.