Epilogue 1

Wake up!

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The medical chakra that left her from her fingertips and seeped into Madara's heart and brain was different than usual. Sakura wasn't just looking for a trace of life still clinging in the recesses of his body; she was actively drawing on her life-force and converting it into chakra, just like she had seen Elder Chiyo had done when she had revived Gaara, so long ago that it seemed almost not like her own memory, but a distant dream. The times before the war were kind of blurry in her feverish mind, but Chiyo's technique was one of those things that were engraved in Sakura's mind like ancient stone inscriptions.

"Sakura, what are you doing? He's dead, just leave him alone!" Kakashi shouted to her, his alarm increasing when she simply ignored his call and concentrated on pouring even more chakra into the corpse. It was still so fresh that it wasn't even completely cool when she touched it.

With this observation, the faith in her success redoubled. If Gaara could have been returned to life so long after he had died, Madara's chances were without a doubt a lot higher. She remembered Sage's words and scoffed. There were too many instances of Jinchurikis surviving the Bijuu removal to believe that Madara couldn't be saved.

Sweat accumulated on her forehead and her arms shook with the effort of keeping up her technique, but Sakura just gritted her teeth and pushed on. Just a little more!

"Sakura, stop this! Sakura!" Kakashi yelled, panicked. He was helpless, the exhaustion of the extensive use of Sharingan in the war was taking its toll on him. It was already a miracle that he was even conscious.

He was getting desperate. As a genius, he also recognized Chiyo's technique and quickly connected the dots. He didn't understand Sakura's reasons for trying to revive Madara of all people, but he sure as hell couldn't allow this menace to return after so much was sacrificed to fight him off. Kakashi regretfully pulled a shuriken out of his pouch.

"Stop now! I don't want to hurt you, Sakura! Don't make me do this!" he called out, giving her the last chance to cease this insanity. Sakura didn't even turn her head. Kakashi forced his arm to still, then took his mark. "I'm sorry, Sakura!" he shouted and threw the sharp weapon.

Even without the aid of the Sharingan, Kakashi's accuracy was perfect. The shuriken buried in her flesh and cut through a tendon, rendering the whole arm useless. Sakura cried out in pain, but her focus on healing didn't waver.

She was weakening, her head becoming dizzy with the heavy loss of chakra, but she tasted just how close she was to success.

"Come on!" she snarled, pumping the life-giving energy into Madara's body. "Come on! Wake up! Wake up, you bastard!" With that last cry, she shot a powerful torrent of condensed chakra into both his heart and brain, draining herself completely. She vaguely heard Kakashi's shouts and everything jumped before her eyes, losing the normal sharpness as she succumbed to exhaustion. Was it all in vain? she asked herself, her eyes shutting down, along with the rest of her system.

Something stirred beneath her wooden, numb fingers. And then...

A beat.

With the last of her energy she smiled.

Kakashi watched with a heart in his throat as Sakura's body pitched forward, sure that she had just killed herself before his very eyes to bring back an enemy, and he, her sensei, was unable to save her. What was he going to tell Naruto and Sasuke when they came back (he refused to think only one of them would live after their fight)? That he failed their team again and let Sakura die on his watch?

Unacceptable.

All of this went through Kakashi's mind at a speed of lightning as Sakura's body seemed to fall in a slow motion, almost like she was diving through the air, when suddenly an arm shot up and held her up. The arm's owner gasped and heaved, gulping in the air ravenously, then finally sat up with a groan, letting the girl's head rest against his shoulder for a moment.

Madara looked around, disoriented as he took a while to adjust to being alive once again. The slight weight against him drew his eyes downwards. He recognized that girl – Hashirama's granddaughter's little student. The pink hair was so distinctive that it could be only her.

An arrogant smirk appeared as he contemplated the girl. He remembered his brief visit to her mind. She had fallen prey to a powerful genjutsu, a vision of her own death by the person she loved the most, and it had thrown her into a despair. He had come to her, when she had called for a reason, desperate to make sense of all this madness, and foulness, and inadequacy, and pain she had to suffer through. He had answered her call and shown her the light – and in turn, she became one of his own.

Looking at the delicate pinkness on her head, Madara recalled her name.

"Sakura..." he murmured and put a hand on her head, sending a spike of chakra into the fading girl. His reserves, while still not full, were sufficient enough to keep her from dying. It was only fair for him to return the favour, right?

Madara stood up and lifted the unconscious girl in his arms. With the Rinnegan he could tell the location of his nearest hidden base despite the lack of landmarks due to the devastation the war had caused.

"Wait! Leave her alone!" someone screamed and Madara took notice of the pest. It was only Obito's old teammate and former Sharigan-wielder. The man's reserves were so depleted, it was pitiful. No wonder Madara didn't see him there earlier with such an insignificant presence.

He considered killing the weak shinobi, but decided to refrain. It would be like squashing a bug and his death would be suspicious. Besides, Madara had much better means to leave without a trace.

The Uchiha flashed to the man's side and caught his gaze, sending him into a genjutsu, which would erase his memory of these events. When Kakashi would wake up, he would have absolutely no idea what happened to both Sakura and Madara.

A rumble of a clash, so far away but still heard over the distance, reminded Madara that the last battle of this war – between reincarnations of Sage's sons – was drawing to a close. He had to retreat and regroup before the winner was decided.

Madara adjusted the girl in his arms and sent a challenging look in the direction of the Valley of the End.

"Sooner or later, I will enjoy crushing you... Naruto, Sasuke..." he announced arrogantly.

Madara set off to the north.

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AN: There will be another, alternative epilogue. Stay tuned! :)