Sakura's Mindscape.

While Inner Sakura was continuing to unlock the safe containing her Outer's locked memories, she was going through Sakura's new memories of what happened after the Kyuubi's assault on Konoha. It would be accurate to say that she was stunned, especially since the last thing she remembered was watching Obito force out the Kyuubi from Kushina after killing Minato and Naruto.

And then there was darkness.

She felt as if she was put to sleep; getting close to 'awakening' once again a few times before she fully awakened some time ago. She sensed reality had shifted, but she could not understand how far it had shifted for her 'Outer'. After establishing contact with Sakura, the Inner began unlocking the memories that were locked safely away in the event of an emergency.

And now, as Inner continued unlocking the safe holding Sakura's memories, Inner started to feel there was something very wrong. It would be a few seconds later that she discovered what was so wrong, she had been Sakura's repressed self ever since Sakura was a little girl. So Inner knew Sakura's mindscape intimately. However, the mindscape she was in now was very different than the one she knew.

As she continued to unlock the safe, Inner couldn't see or feel anything familiar. No matter how much she searched Sakura's mindscape while going through her memories, Inner couldn't find that familiar sense of self that indicated she and Sakura were one.

Everything was different.

'This isn't the Sakura I've been with since the beginning,' Inner realized as she momentarily stopped unlocking the safe and stepped back in surprise, 'oh my God, where's…' Inner closed her eyes and went through Sakura's memories again, and there was nothing to indicate anything that this mindscape represented the very same mindscape of the Sakura she had grown up with since childhood.

No, this was a very different mindscape, of a very different Sakura.

'Then the Sakura I know… was never born?' Inner placed her hands over her mouth in shock, 'or she was wiped out from this reality… then… Oh God… if she was wiped out then technically she's…'

Inner fell on her knees as realization hit like a ton of bricks.

Sakura, at least the one she knew, was dead. She had no idea how she came to be in this new Sakura since the circumstances of their history was completely different. Inner shook her head as tears flowed down her cheeks. She saw memories, which were already leaking out into Sakura's mind when she first discovered the safe, flow out faster into the mindscape. Inner's thoughts went to Sasuke – the boy she and Sakura loved- and wondered how he would feel if he found out that the Sakura he knew was gone.

'How would Naruto feel?'

"Sakura-chan!" Inner looked up as the leaking memories formed an image of Naruto rubbing the back of his head, and a grin on his face, "let's go on a date!" And then even more memories started to form in front of Inner.

"Those who break the rules of the Ninja are trash, but those who don't cherish their friends are worse than trash."

"I want to kill a certain man."

"Sakura-chan!"

"I want your everlasting regrets."

Inner shook her head. This may not be her Sakura, but she was still in her mind. For all intents and purposes the two of them were together in this. And Inner needed to help this Sakura regain the memories of the other Sakura – if only to keep the thought of Sasuke and Naruto alive in some form. In addition, she did not want people like Shino, Ino, and Shikamaru o be forgotten.

She also thought, while getting up to her feet while surrounded by memories, that there had to be a way to change things.

'Maybe that stupid Old Hag, if we can find her again… we could force her to change things.'

But for now, there were more important things to worry about. From what she had seen in Sakura's memories, humanity was fighting a losing battle. Inner didn't know if she was thrown back in time, or pushed to another dimension. What she did know was that everyone would die unless something was done.

As she started to take a step towards the partly opened safe, Inner felt strange. She looked down and could see that she was beginning to be absorbed into Sakura's mind. She wasn't going to be remaining a separate entity, at least not for long, And that, surprisingly, made her proud.

It meant that this Sakura didn't need her as the other Sakura did. It meant this Sakura was fully capable of handling her emotions.

So, before she could fade away completely and be absorbed into Sakura's mind, Inner ran to the doors of the safe and began hurriedly unlocking the chains. Once the last lock and chain fell away, Inner jumped back and watched the doors swing open as years of memories rushed out. Memories of Sakura's, her Sakura's, past was absorbed into the new Sakura's mind. Memories of that future the old Sakura had seen, thanks to the machinations of the old woman, were also absorbed into her mind.

"But you need a trigger to remember them all, Sakura," Inner whispered as she slowly vanished, "remember, Sakura. You need to remember. Get us away… get us away."

And Inner was gone. Absorbed into Sakura's mind which was now categorizing the memories into three distinct sections; her alternate past and present, her current past and present, and the memories of the future shown to her by the old woman.

Inner was gone now, all that remained was Sakura.

Sakura's Room, Main Uzumaki residence.

Three open boxes remained open on the table while Sakura was putting on her black undershirt and full length leggings. The remains of her lunch – some bits of edamame remained in one box, while some remains of soy sauce, wasabi, and pickled ginger remained, along with bits of rice, in the other two boxes.

After her lunch, Sakura began putting on the regulation uniform for the Uzu shinobi forces. She was already a Genin, and even so… since it was a time of war, all shinobi were required to wear light armour when they went out of missions. She was supposed to meet with her teammates, Hinata Hyuuga – the current heiress of the Hyuuga clan. The current leader being her mother, Hyuuga Kimiko. Also in the team was the Inuzuka clan heir, Kiba and his pup Akamaru. They were born around the same time, Hinata born three months after the exodus from Konoha, and Kiba born two months later.

As she slipped the metal arm protector over her forearm, Sakura thought back to that vision of the three people on that unknown bridge. Sakura was certain that one of them looked just like her, except the girl in that vision was slightly younger and had long hair; she could tell that the dark-haired boy was an Uchiha based off the fan symbol on the back of his shirt. But it was the blonde with his grin and deep blue eyes that had her stomach in knots.

'I know that bridge is nowhere in Uzu, and I know that I have never met those two boys," Sakura thought back to what she had seen in the sushi shop, 'and that girl looked just like me. It was an uncanny similarity.' She was confused about what she had seen, but thought it best to wait before telling Kushina about what she had seen in the event her adopted mother thought that the pink-haired girl was insane.

'They are about my age, and I would remember them… I mean if we grew up together, then I should know them,' Sakura thought to herself before mentally reminding herself that there were no Uchiha out on missions that fateful night. Everyone was in the village that day it was destroyed; all in all, about forty Uchiha survived the destruction of Konoha. And out of that, there were only ten who were of the police force, and not one in the Shinobi forces.

Unfortunately, only two Uchiha had the Sharingan activate the day of Konoha's destruction; Uchiha Itachi – he witnessed the death of his beloved baby brother after he was tossed to the ground after a Tailed Beast Bomb blew up a section of the Uchiha District. The baby Sasuke was crushed beneath a tumbled building. And the second Uchiha to have the Sharingan was Uchiha Shishui – he not only witnessed the death of his parents, but was also trapped under rumble with them until he was dug out by Sarutobi Asuma and his team after Konoha was destroyed.

And the two of them were already on the way back from Kiri with their teams.

Sakura could tell that the mystery Uchiha was handsome, there was no question. But her thoughts were more focused towards the blonde-haired boy with the Uzumaki symbol on the back of his orange and bright blue jacket. And then she remembered the Konoha headband around the heads of the three children, 'but then again, Kushina-sama told me that many clothing in Konoha would have the Uzumaki symbol stitched somewhere since the Uzumaki and the Senju are distant cousins, and Konoha wanted to honour that alliance by placing the symbol on sections of the village and on clothing."

Sakura then reached for the earrings she was wearing and her finger's brushed against the metal on her earlobe, 'even the Konoha symbol is a combination of the leaf and spiral' She mentally told herself that the residents of Uzu, especially those from Konoha, still wore their Konoha headbands as a way to honour their old village. It would be the new generation, children like Sakura, Hinata, and Kiba, who wore the Uzu Spirals on their headbands. However, they still had a memento of Konoha in the shape of its symbol that were on the earlobes of both boys and girls.

Sakura closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She must have seen that blonde boy from somewhere, 'I was there too… but I don't remember that bridge… well, there are the four bridges that connect Uzu from both banks of the Habashi River, but no… that bridge isn't from here.'

And there was that mystery voice that called itself 'Inner'. Sakura was nervous about that voice in her head, 'I know I'm not going crazy.' She then breathed out slowly and calmly, 'the things that voice said. Something about an old hag, about something wrong with reality, and then there's the part she spoke about the Academy. What Academy is the talking about?'

Her armour already covering her arms, legs, and chest, Sakura turned her head to look out the window at the clear day as the sun shone down on the island. Kushina and the village Elders had already made the announcement that war was the horizon, and that everyone needed to be prepared.

The seals in the waters around the island were being strengthened, and several layers of barriers were in the process of being placed from the edges of the island all the way to around the Hidden Village. The thought of a war brought Sakura's mind to that blonde boy again, there was something about him that she couldn't explain. Something that made her heart race, along with a very strange feeling of wanting to slap the upside of his head. A part of her felt annoyed at the boy for some unknown reason, but another part of her wondered how that boy would like to go out for some ramen or sushi sometime.

Shaking her head before turning back towards the mirror as she reached down to the small table to her left. She picked up the Uzu forehead protector and tied it around the forehead while continuing to wonder, 'Who are you? Why did I see you?' That blonde boy's face in her mind, Sakura closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She wanted to calm herself before the mission to save Jiraiya when suddenly she felt lightheaded.

When she opened her eyes, Sakura was met with a surprising sight.

"Forehead, forehead, you have a large forehead!" a girl with blue and purple hair yelled while Sakura was surrounded by two other girls with sneers plastered on their faces. She didn't recognize any of them, and she couldn't raise her arms to push them away from her. Instead, she just watched as the one in the middle with brown eyes, purple and blue hair poked her forehead repeatedly with her forefinger as she taunted, "look at that forehead. It so huge… who could ever like something like you, huh?"

"Please stop," Sakura heard herself whimper, she felt her lips moving but she wasn't in control. It was like being in a vivid dream but she was just a passenger in her own body. She had no idea who these girls were but, at the same time, she knew their names – Ami, Tetsu, and Ayumi. She felt scared of Ami, but Sakura knew there was no reason that she should be scared. After all, she never met Ami or the other girls.

Sakura heard herself whimpering at the girls to stop as Ami stopped poking her forehead and then began to harshly pull her pink hair while making fun of it. Sakura wanted to shout… she wanted to control her arms so that she could punch the girl in front of her. True she had a big forehead and bright pink hair, but it was Kushina who told her not to listen to the taunts that some of the children were throwing her way in Uzu because of the colour of her hair and her large forehead.

Sakura: 3 years old.

"But Kushina-mama," Sakura mumbled one night when she was three years old while being tucked into bed by the redhead, "they…" Sakura was fidgeting with strands of her pink hair in between her fingers, her eyes glancing down at the tips before looking back up into Kushina's eyes, "they said my hair…" she sniffed, "and my forehead… they…"

"They're just jealous," Kushina huffed as she sat on the bed, her body facing Sakura before leaning forward and reaching out with her left hand so that she could brush aside the pink hair covering Sakura's forehead, "for one thing, they are jealous of your hair. It's very unique."

"But…"

"Did I ever tell you I never liked my hair?" Sakura was surprised at that revelation. She opened her eyes wide in surprise while her mouth was formed into an 'O' shape. It was something she didn't know, so she shook her head. It was then that Kushina told Sakura about how she was bullied in Konoha's Ninja Academy for her red hair, "because of my round face and red hair, I was called a ripe tomato."

Sakura giggled when Kushina spoke about how she would pay back the ones who made fun of her by beating them up, "they stopped calling me a tomato, and instead I was known as the Red Hot Habanero." Sakura laughed at how Kushina shook her fist in the air, the vein on the back of her hand rising against her skin.

After a few seconds of grumbling "oh I got them really good", Kushina put her hand down and gave Sakura a small smile, "the only person I ever loved was the same person who said he liked the colour of my hair."

Sakura listened intently to how Kushina didn't think much of Minato when she first arrived at the Academy, and laughed when the redhead said she thought he was too girlish. Sakura listened as Kushina then spoke about the fateful day when she was kidnapped by Shinobi from Kumogakure. Sakura listened as a small smile and a far-way look was painted on Kushina's face while she spoke about picking out stands of her own hair and then dropping it to the dirt covered ground, about how she lost hope the closer she got to the border.

"I was so exhausted, 'ttebane," Kushina smiled as she looked back up at Sakura, "that I didn't notice the Kumo-nin getting picked off one by one. All I thought was that I was alone. I was a foreigner in Konoha and so no one would miss me."

Sakura looked on as Kushina leaned towards her, "it was like one of the books… one of those romance novels. It was dark, and then suddenly the moon shined though the trees and reflected onto Minato who was standing in front of me. He took out the Kumo-nin single handedly." Sakura chuckled when Kushina blushed as she said, "I was so tired, so he picked me up in his arms and… and he rescued me."

Sakura stared in awe at the dreamy look on Kushina's face, "I wondered how he found me. Then I looked at his hands and saw strands of my hair… he found them, and followed the trail. He said my hair was unique… the hair that caused me so much trouble was unique to him. He said he loved it. It became my 'red string of fate' and brought me the one man I ever loved."

Kushina wiped the tears gathering in her eyes as she thought of that fateful night before reaching out and stroking the pink-haired girl's cheeks, "I think your hair will be the string that connects you to the person you'll love. Just as mine connected me to Minato."

Sakura just nodded her head as a small smile developed on her face.

"As for your forehead?" Kushina said, and the smile on Sakura's lips vanished, "the other children may see a large forehead, but what I see is…" Kushina leaned forward even more, her arms up by her side, her fingers curled inwards as her eyes narrowed and her voice deepened, "a larget target for me to kiss while I tickle You!"

Sakura laughed hysterically as Kushina tickled her sides while her lips were kissing all over the little girl's forehead. After a minute of hysteria, Kushina stopped and gave Sakura a kiss on her cheek before pulling back, "you don't have to worry about finding your Minato. You and the other children are still… well… children, 'ttebane. Enjoy your childhood, and then when you begin training to become a Ninja, concentrate on that."

She kissed Sakura's cheek again before saying, "you'll find the boy you're meant to be with, Sakura-chan."

"I wanna Minato-papa and papa, 'ttebane," Sakura giggled while referring to the Yondaime and her biological father. All Kushina could do was laugh before telling Sakura it was time to go to sleep. Sakura nodded her head before asking for another story, this time she wanted a story about her biological mother and father; both of whom Kushina had known in her Academy days. Kushina chuckled before she began talking about Haruno Mebuki, and how she met her husband.

Now.

Sakura was reminded of that night as she listened to Ami taunting her in her dream, 'it's not a dream, 'ttebane,' Sakura thought to herself, 'I don't know what this is.' Suddenly, there was a yell from behind Ami.

"Hey! Get away from her!"

Sakura felt a feeling of relief rush through her as the girls turned around and growled at the blonde who couldn't be more than six years old. Sakura opened her eyes in recognition of the boy, he was a younger version of the boy on the bridge. Sakura's eyes were drawn to the three whisker marks on each cheek as the three girls glared at him.

"What do you think you're doing, 'ttebayo!?"

'ttebayo?' Sakura thought to herself, 'that's like Kushina-sensei's and my verbal tick.' She stared at the boy, and still couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity with him. It was as if his name was right at the edge of her mind, and the more she reached for it, the more it slipped away.

"Why you little snot nosed…" Ami growled before Sakura saw one of the girls, Tetsu, grab Ami's shoulder and whisper in her ear with a look of scorn on her face.

"It's him… the one our parents told us to avoid."

Sakura saw the three girls stiffen slightly before looking back at her, with Ami saying, "it's your lucky day, Pinkie." Sakura wanted to say that they were cowards themselves for being afraid of a little boy… a boy whose eyes she locked with her own once Ami and her accomplishes were gone.

'Who are you?' Sakura thought to herself as the boy stared at the girls running away before he looked over at Sakura with a wide smile.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a childish squeak. Sakura felt herself nodding her head as he continued.

"My name is Uzu…."

"Sakura!" Sakura stared at the surprise, and then sudden look of fear, on the boy's face, before she looked up to see two people. One was a man with wild light red hair in a strange style – like a Sakura flower – and a light blonde-haired woman rushing towards her. The woman was in a white qipao dress while the man was in loose shirt and slacks as they ran past the boy. The woman picked her up in her arms while saying, "Sakura, how could you just run away from us like that. We told you to stay close."

'Who are you?' Sakura thought as she looked at the woman before turning her head towards the man standing protectively in front of them and yelling at the boy.

"Get out of here! Go!" He was waving his arm as if he was trying to 'shoo' away an animal, "get out of here! Get away!"

"I…" the boy was about to say when he was shouted out.

"I said leave! Stay away from our daughter!"

'Daughter?' Sakura thought while she stared at the look of utter despondency on the boy's face. She wanted to shift her eyes towards the man claiming to be her father, but she couldn't. Her eyes were fixed on the boy's trembling lips as her mother joined in the yelling. It didn't take too long before the boy turned and ran, yelling out that he was going to be the Hokage one day and that everyone would then acknowledge him as a strong ninja.

Sakura watched the boy as he ran towards a shop before turning. As he did so, he looked back over his shoulders at her. And her heart broke at the tears that were falling down his whiskered cheeks. All she wanted to do was leap out of her 'mother's' embrace and chase after him, all she wanted to go was grab him and then hold onto him while demanding to know why he was being yelled at when he did nothing at all to deserve it.

"Did he hurt you, Sakura!" the woman claiming to be one of her parents said, her voice full of worry, "are you hurt? Did he…"

"Ami and the girls bullied me and.. and he scared them away…" Sakura heard herself whispering, she couldn't help the tears flowing down her cheeks at hearing the anger in her parents' voices when they spoke to the boy.

Her mother pressed her lips together as the man took her into his arms, his eyes showing relief that Sakura was safe as he said, "stay away from that boy. He's…"

"He helped me, papa."

"Sakura," the woman barked, causing Sakura to flinch slightly while the man sighed, "that boy is no good. Do you understand me?" Sakura's bottom lip trembled before the woman's facial features softened. And then she gently said, "we're your parents, Sakura. It's our job to make sure you're safe, and that boy is bad. A very bad influence… promise me you will stay away from him."

Sakura turned her head towards the direction the boy ran towards; he vanished into the night. Then Sakura snapped her eyes open, only to find herself lying on the floor in her room. Sakura gasped, as if she was holding in her breath, and sat up panting while placing a hand on her chest. She could feel her heart racing as the image of the boy burned into her brain, as did the image of the man and woman who claimed to be her parents.

But Sakura had never seen the man and woman before, 'although they fit Sensei's description of my parents. But how is that possible? How can I dream about a situation I never went through? And that blonde boy, who is he?' Suddenly there was a knock-on Sakura's door, bringing the girl out of her thoughts as a gentle female voice spoke, "Sakura-san, are you okay, we're late for the briefing with Kakashi-sensei."

Sakura shook her head as she got back onto her feet, 'how long was I out?' Sakura was wondering before she verbally answered Hinata, "I'm okay, Hinata, sorry I lost track of time." Sakura turned towards the door before she rushed towards it, opened the door, and then stepped out into the hallway. She nodded her head at Hinata with a grin on her lips before her eyes shifted towards Kiba.

"Damn it, Sakura. You sure took your own sweet time."

And then the small puppy resting on Kiba's head, just under his hoodie, gave off a soft bark.

"Kiba-kun!" an exasperated Hinata cried out as Sakura smirked with her hands on her hips as the door to her room closed shut.

"She knows she's late, Hinata," Kiba said with a shrug before his eyes shifted towards Sakura, "right, ugly?"

Sakura's left eye twitched at the words of the boy who was always with Hinata. He continued, "we were supposed to leave ten minutes ago. Kakashi sensei's waiting for us, so let's go."

Sakura had a wide grin on her face before she shrugged, turned around, and then then started walking down the hallway. In the meantime, she looked over her shoulder and said, "come on then 'ttebane. Let's go, Hinata. Let's go, dog boy."

Sakura knew about the Inuzuka clan from her studies; they bred dogs with whom they shared a special, primal, connection. Many of the dogs the clan bred died during the destruction of Konoha by the Kyuubi, leaving only a few pups and adults who then joined in the exodus from what remained of Konoha. She then continued slowly walking away while Hinata held back Kiba – the poor girl struggling to pull him away while his arms were outstretched towards Sakura and his face twisted in anger at being called 'dog boy'.

"Sakura-san," whined Hinata as she took a few steps back, her arms wrapped around Kiba's chest from the back, forcing him to step back as well, "please don't call him Dog Boy. It's kind of troublesome to hold him back every time." Sakura stopped, and then turned around once again with an apologetic expression towards Hinata. She then turned her head towards the anger on Kiba's face. Sakura tilted her head, and then stuck her tongue out before she spun around and started walking down the hallway again. Sakura chuckled as Kiba became much angrier before he started to scramble towards Sakura, with Hinata struggling to keep him at bay.

"Let me go, Hinata!" Kiba cried as he continued to try and pounce onto Sakura, but was being held back by the girl he had a crush on. Sakura stopped and then turned around once again with her hands on her hips and smirked at the boy with the white puppy resting on his head.

"Not until you calm down," Hinata said with a gentle tone in her voice; a tone that belied the hold of iron she had on Kiba that was keeping him back. She then sighed, "why do you always fall for her calling you that name? Why make it so easy to piss you off, Kiba-kun?"

Sakura heard what Hinata said, and sighed. Kiba was always short tempered ever since they were children. It was a temper that was lessened over time, but Sakura believed it was because of the Inuzuka nature – they were so connected to the primal part of themselves that sometimes they couldn't control their anger. And Kiba was one such Inuzuka – it wasn't until his mother, Tsume, handed him a pup named Akamaru that Kiba started to calm down even more. Sakura stared at the puppy sitting on top of his head barking softly at her. Sakura found the puppy adorable as she grinned at it.

And then there was Hyuuga Hinata. When she was still in her mother's womb, she and most of her family were visiting a vassal outside Konoha, so they were not present during the Kyuubi attack. That still didn't stop the vast majority of her clan, including her father, being wiped out. Where once there were only about six thousand members of the Hyuuga, both Branch and Main house, now there was only a hundred including Hinata's immediate family. There were no more distinctions now, even those who had the caged bird seal were seen as equals given the damage taken by the clan; and it was all thanks to the work of Hinata's mother that the Hyuuga were now at peace with each other. It was learning about what happened that fateful day that forced Hinata to grow out of her shell when she was a child, and focus on her clan techniques to protect her family after making their home on Uzu.

"Here all of you are," Sakura turned around at the male voice while Kiba reluctantly stopped his petulant actions, causing Hinata to breathe a sigh of relief as she let go of the boy she had a crush on for years. It was something that Sakura found hilarious – Kiba had a crush on Hinata, and Hinata had a crush on Kiba. However, the two were oblivious to each other's feeling, even though it was obvious to everyone else. There was an ever-increasing betting pool on when the two would declare their love for each other – with Sakura betting that the two of them would be going on their first date after the war.

Sakura looked up at the grey haired, onyxed eyed man with his forehead protector at an angle over his left eye. Technically, the man didn't need to cover his left eye since Obito ripped out his Sharingan, but he still did it as a matter of habit despite the eye patch.

"The three of you are late, we were supposed to meet at the main entrance ten minutes ago."

Sakura sighed before apologizing, "sorry, Kakashi-sensei. It was my fault. I… well… I had a weird daydream while putting on my armour and…" Sakura wondered if it would be better to say that she passed out on her floor, only to wake up when Hinata and Kiba came calling. In the end, she decided not to say anything, at least not yet. Not until she returned from the mission, 'then I'll go see Kushina-sama and talk to her about my… can I even call it a dream? Or a vision? Yeah, it was a vision I guess.'

Realizing that she needed to finish her sentence, Sakura quickly added, "I was just daydreaming about what we'd all be doing after this war is over."

"Let's rescue Jiraiya-sama first. As always, we take it one day at a time," Kakashi said. Sakura noticed the wistful look in his eye before he shook his head and gave a smile beneath the mask he wore, "Oh, I heard you completed the Hiraishin."

"You completed the Jutsu?" a surprised Hinata interrupted their Sensei who had a small smile on his face visible from under his mask. Sakura then glanced at Hinata and Kiba with a sheepish look before they started walking behind Kakashi, "Sakura-san, why didn't you say anything?"

"Not bad, ugly," Kiba smirked as Sakura's eyebrows twitched. He patted the pink haired girl's left shoulder and said, "good thing too, which means you can get us from here to the mainland…" Kiba snapped his fingers, "just like that… you know, in a blink of an eye."

Sakura frowned at Kiba before her eyes shifted towards Hinata and said, "I just completed one hiraishin jump, technically it's not fully completed yet since I was cut up a little bit."

"Kushina-sama says you should be doing fine for this mission, it's just a rescue mission, no fighting whatsoever," Kakashi said as he lead the three Genin down the hall, "Sakura, I want your honest opinion of your own skill level when it comes to the HIraishin. Depending on your answer, I'll have to change plans when it comes to Jiraiya-sama's rescue."

"Understood," Sakura said.

"Go on."

And Sakura began. She explained how she was able to transport herself through the Time-Space tunnel from one edge of the island towards the other furthest shore of the island. She said that her chakra levels hadn't dropped significantly during that test, and that she was able to form her chakra markers before throwing them towards her targets nearly instantaneously, "creating the markers, and then having them attuned to my own chakra was the first step, Sensei. I can generate one after another with very little chakra use now."

"How confident are you in transporting six people back to the island at one go?"

"The principle is the same, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said as they walked down the stairs to the ground floor, "I'll tag all of you…" It was then that Akamaru barked, "yes, even you Akamaru." Sakura then continued to say, "the markers are made of pure chakra, my chakra. It's low enough not to be found out by the target or any sensors, but high enough that I can sense it within a certain range. Once I place it in you, it'll circulate with your own chakra. It would permeated your muscles, organs, and your bones. And all that would happen in the space of a few seconds."

"So unlike Minato-sensei's markers when he placed them on a person…."

"Mine leaves no sign that it was even there," Sakura said, "I've tested it on a few dozen people already, and I can feel my chakra in their bodies, despite there being no markings on their bodies." She then gave a small smirk, "and I know that four of them are on the other end of the village."

"Large range," Kiba said while Akamaru barked.

"When I throw the markers at an inanimate object, it just forms an invisible tag," Sakura shrugged, "I'll end up when the tag is located. But for any living thing like a human being, I'll end up where-ever I want to."

"Theoretically," Kiba said.

"I've done it," Sakura said, "this morning was the first long-range test. It was successful but…"

Hinata glanced at the cut on Sakura 's cheek, one she hadn't seen yesterday, and said, "you received a cut?" Sakura looked over at her before nodding her head.

"Short range travel is less risky than long range," Sakura said, "I didn't get any cuts when I performed short-ranged tests. The first long range test this morning was another story, I got cuts on my skin where it wasn't covered…"

"And the places that were covered?"

"My shirt and leggings were cut."

"So, is this safe, or not?" Kiba asked while Akamaru barked out the same question.

Sakura nodded her head before saying, "I know I can take all of us through a long range Hiraishin… but I'd prefer if we made short-range hops once we rescue Jiraiya-sama." Kakashi nodded his head as the group exited the Uzumaki residence and stood at the entrance to the large mansion.

"Let's go then."

"Okay," Sakura nodded her head.

"Understood," the short haired Hyuuga said.

"Sure," Kiba shrugged while Akamaru gave off a bark.

Kakashi then turned to Sakura and asked, "have you placed your markers all over the island." Sakura nodded her head before Kakashi asked, "can you take us directly to the entry way checkpoint?"

"It's better if we hop from here to the main gate, and then from there to the First Pass checkpoint, and then to the Entry Way Checkpoint," Sakura said while she waved her hand across her teammates, "you're all marked now."

"And your markers can't be seen," Kakashi said.

"I can feel it," Sakura said, "just as I can feel the markers I placed around the island. As long as I can sense my chakra, I can come directly to you or get us away in an emergency to anywhere I placed a tag. At least that's the theory."

"I have faith in you, Sakura-san."

"Oh God, both Akamaru's life and mine are in the hands of a theory," Kiba groaned while Kakashi gave an eye smile towards the group.

"Ready?" Sakura said before she smirked. Hinata nodded her head, as did Kakashi followed by Kiba and Akamaru. Sakura then locked onto the chakra circulating in their chakra network before the group vanished in a flash of pink.

Land of Fire.

Jiraiya remembered the very moment he heard of the destruction of Konoha. He was in Iwa after hearing rumors that the Tsuchikage was building up a force to begin attacking the border towns of the Land of Fire. He had already intercepted a bird heading in the direction of Kumo which confirmed just as such – the Tsuchikage wanted both Iwa and Kumo to join together to take down their common enemy.

Konoha.

In his room at a cheap hotel, Jiraiya was asleep when there was a pop sound indicating the return of one of his summons'. He opened his bleary eyes into narrow slits as he turned his head towards the offending 'pop' and grumbled, "what do you want? You were supposed to send the message to Minato and…"

"Konoha's gone."

Those two words from the toad had Jiraiya hurried sitting up while the small creature was saying how he ended up in the rubble of the Hokage Tower before he went on a quick recon mission. Jiraiya was stunned while putting his clothes on, in the meantime, the toad continued to say that he couldn't sense anyone living beings close by. Once Jiraiya was ready, he left the hotel. Once he was just outside the Iwa border, the Sannin summoned Gamabunta before the two of them made their way to the destroyed village.

Now, as Jiraiya stopped to rest at the side of a think trunked tree, he weaved hand signs before activating a jutsu he developed long ago that made him invisible to even enhanced human senses, most of the doujutsu, and sensors. It was the very Jutsu he developed to aid in his 'research' activities that got him close enough to Konoha where he discovered that Obito obtained the two-tails and that Iwa was now completely and utterly destroyed.

The last he heard from his spy network before it was brought down was that Obito gathered his forces in Konoha. However, before he could find out why Obito needed the ruins of Konoha when there were simpler ways to get to Uzu, Jiraiya was discovered. Jiraiya knew he was outnumbered, and so he ran as fast as he could out of the village; saying goodbye to the place that was once his home one more time.

And now, he was still far away from the coast line of the Land of Fire. He didn't think he would make it given that he could feel the chakra of the White Zetsu's following him. With the jutsu activated, Jiraiya was certain the White Zetsu's couldn't sense him. However, he could only keep it active for about thirty minutes due to the intense chakra needed to maintain the jutsu.

Sighing, Jiraiya leaned back against the tree trunk, 'let me regain my breath. And then I'll move after ten minutes. This time I'll have to go faster just to keep in front of the force coming after me, and…'

Suddenly there was a flash of yellow to Jiraiya left. Turning his head, he was surprised to find Kakashi with Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru, as well as the girl he considered himself to be a step-godfather, Sakura.

"His scent led us here, but now I'm getting nothing…" Kiba said while Jiraiya stared at Sakura whose cheeks had thin lines of blood that she wiped off with the back of her gloved hand.

A small smile formed on his face as he realized that Sakura managed to recreate the Hiraishin.

"Where is that pervert?" Sakura said with her hands on her hips as Jiraiya deactivated the Jutsu and rose up to his feet.

"Hey! How can you call your godfather a pervert?!" Jiraiya exclaimed.

Sakura's eyebrow twitched as Jiraiya sauntered towards the group while Kakashi had Hinata activate her Byakugan to search for Jiraiya pursuers.

"If it walks like a duck…" Sakura said narrowing her eyes at Jiraiya, "if it quacks like a duck, and if the duck happens to be you, then you're a pervert 'ttebane." Sakura then rushed towards the man and hugged him tight, "we were worried about you, you old perv." She let Jiraiya go and stepped back as as the Sannin placed his hand on her head and ruffled her hair.

"So this was the special training Kushina was talking about?"

A small smile formed on Sakura's face before she nodded her head. She then turned towards Hinata who gasped while her Byakugan was active.

"What do you see, Hinata?" Kakashi asked.

"A lot of the enemy is coming this way and…"

It was just then that Sakura felt a chill going up and down her spine. It was all instinct as she hiraishined herself to a spot just behind Jiraiya just as another figure appeared through another time-space tunnel. Sakura saw this figure had blonde hair, greyish eyes, a cloak lined with orange flames as time slowed to a crawl just as her fist connected with the side of the figure's jaw. Thanks to training from Tsunade, Sakura's chakra enhanced punch threw back the figure that appeared out of the tunnel and slammed him into another tree trunk. She landed on the ground before she jumped back and formed up with her team and Jiraiya.

The five of them stared stunned at the figure who was getting up from the impact through the shattered trunk as if nothing had happened. However, it wasn't that he was getting up from one of Sakura's chakra enhanced punches that had them surprised; no, what surprised them was the figure himself.

Namikaze Minato; the Yondaime.

"What the…" Kakashi shook his head in disbelief while Jiraiya glared at Minato as he stared at them without any expression on his face, "sensei?" Minato shifted his greyish eyes towards Kakashi before he turned his gaze on Jiraiya, and then at the other shinobi.

"His skin… his skin is cracked," Hinata whispered as she had her arms in a defensive jyuken position while her Byakugan was active, "I can see his chakra pathways and… and the flow is strong. How can that be?"

"Sensei," Kakashi said, his hand tightening around his Kunai's handle, "you…"

Suddenly, another figure landed next to Minato… a figure that surprised Kakashi even more as he stepped back… his arms trembling. Even Jiraiya was in disbelief as he whispered, "what the hell is going on here?" The three Genin were confused at the brown-haired female, her cheeks marke with purple tattoo's, who couldn't be more than fifteen-year-old.

"Rin?" Kakashi said shaking his head in disbelief.

"Who is she, Kakashi-sensei?" Kiba asked as Akamaru growled from the top of his head.

"The girl is… is Nohora Rin, my dead teammate," Kakashi whispered as the grey eyed Rin turned her head towards him. Kakashi thought he saw a flash of recognition on her face before it was gone.

"Well, well," the air next to Rin and Minato swirled around before Obito, now unmasked, appeared with a sneer on his face. He shifted his eyes towards Kakashi and chuckled before saying, "looks like it's a reunion of Team Seven."

"Obito! What did you do?!" Kakashi demanded as his disbelief gave way to anger.

"You couldn't… this is the Edo-Tensei, it.. it's a forbidden jutsu… how could you?" Jiraiya whispered shaking his head while Kakashi growled.

Kakashi then barked out, "they were our friends and teammates. How dare you…."

"Why do you think I chose Konoha as my base," Obito said as three more figures appeared next to Team Seven. Three figures that surprised Kakashi and his team.

"The Shodai-sama, Niidaime-sama," Jiraiya then laid his eyes on the next figure, and the Sannin's face was etched in pain, "sensei." He shook his head at the sight of his reanimated sensei, the Sandaime, and then glared back towards Obito, "how dare you…. How dare you…"

"Konoha is the village with the most powerful Shinobi, and I've raised them all," Obito said excitedly, "I was going to surprise Kushina with Minato-sensei, but Jiraiya-sama coming over to spy on my operations in Konoha advanced my timetable."

Jiraiya shook his head.

"But, oh well…" Obito shrugged, "can't have you going back and warning the others, now can we?" Obito had a sneer on his face before nodding at the Niidaime and the Yondaime, "kill them all."

"Sakura!"

Even before Kakashi finished yelling at her to take them away, Sakura locked onto her team and Jiraiya – Sakura attacked a marker when she hugged him earlier – and then locked onto the marker she placed on the ground two kilometers away. And they vanished just as the Niidaime and Yondaime appeared where they were standing a second ago.

"Interesting," Obito smirked at the impassive look on the Yondaime and Niidaime's faces, "another would-be Hiraishin user. Oh well, I have the full force of the Hyuuga, the Uchiha, and every other talented Edo-Tensei ninja coming at them."

Obito chuckled before ordering a retreat to Konoha, "let the White Zetsu's soften them up before the hammer comes down on them."

TBC.