Sakura slowly got up and took her backpack up over the left shoulder before she began to walk north or what Sakura believed to be north like the damn mutt had told her to. First thing first Sakura needed to find some water since she had no idea how far she was from the village hidden in the leaf, oh joy.
As Sakura looked up at the sun she would guess that it was soon going to be night, she closed her eyes sending Chakra to her ears hoping to find a river or stream nearby and much to her happiness she could hear rising water close to where she was.
As Sakura stood by the river she almost screamed out loud when she looked at her reflection in the water, she was her 12-year-old self again! Her pathetic 12-year-old self! A weak little girl! A good for nothing! Looking at her reflection once more she noticed that her seal was still on her forehead and Sakura could breathe once more. The seal was proof of her strength and all the things she had accomplish, also it was proof that while in a 12-year-old body she still had her old strength she did at 18.
When she had gotten her water bottles filled Sakura began to look for somewhere she could stay the night, looking around she saw a small cave when she heard a child yelling up and like any other good person Sakura ran as fast as she could towards it.
What she saw was not what she was expecting, while her Chakra was hidden she saw a child, not just any child but if Sakura wasn't wrong that was Itachi Uchiha as a 6 maybe 7-year-old child. But he hadn't been the one to yell, no that had been Kiba's elder sister… Hana was it?
Sakura blinked once, twice who was stupid enough to try and steal two clan hires? She looked around for the ninja responsible for kidnapping the two children.
There was one standing with a fistful of Hana's long brown hair and she was crying with a bit of blood coming down from a small wound on her cheek. Another stood beside Itachi looking at the first one's rough treatment while smiling looking like he was enjoying the young girl's cry of pain.
Sakura had just been about to move out when she felt another ninja way before she saw him. Once more did Sakura look them over the newly arrived ninja had a sound-forehead-protector on he said something to the other two ninjas before leaving once more while waiting for the right time to strike Sakura moved slowly closer making sure not to make a single sound that could give her away.
Sakura and Itachi eyes met and she slowly to a finger up to her mouth and the young boy understood and looked at the ground instead. When the one watching Itachi turned his back towards her she moved with such speed that when he noticed her, she had her legs on his back and a hand in his hair and the other hand was holding a kunai that was sliding his throat.
When his body hit the ground Sakura was in front of Itachi shilling him from the sight, while making the hand sign for a summoning-Jutsu. While the other ninja had turned around and Sakura duly noticed he was from Mist and was in the middle of the hand sign for a water Jutsu "Summon-Jutsu Zen!".
A gray cloud of smoke was the only thing that could be seen while a rather fretting growl was admitted from the smoke. When the cloud cleared a big white one-eyed wolf with an eyepatch stood above her, it was the first summon-scroll that Sakura had ever gotten her hands on, and while Zen was not the strongest of them, he was the one she bonded with the most.
When Sakura was done her opponent was also done with his signs and she watched with an amazed look as the water from the plants around him formed his water-dragon. Sakura in return quickly made the hand sign for a common fireball-Jutsu and Zen set off running ahead to face the ninja.
When the fireballs were sent off she turned around to Itachi and told him to take Hana and move out the way but to still keep close since this wouldn't take long. When she turned around once more Zen had just gotten a hold of the man's arm and while Sakura run towards him with her sword Zen ripped his arm off.
After Sakura's sword had priced the man's heart the two children came out and Sakura just barred the men before turning around and looked at the kids before her. Itachi was looking at like he expected her to attract them now or something like that she saw the way he stood silently in front of Hana without blocking her view fully.
"Come we should find shelter for the night I saw a crave a bit back and then I will take you back to Konoha tomorrow" Sakura said before walking towards Zen who stood up fully once more and Sakura grumbled softly about how she now only went him to the beginning of his chest and how she used to go at the very least midway before.
know you do not own Konoha anything much less my son, but think of it like this, this is your chance to change the future and keep the Uchiha-clan alive, give Itachi and Shisui a life they both deserve.
Sakura felt irritation grow inside of her remembering the last words he told or wrote her. How was she supposed to keep a 6-7-year-old child from murdering his whole clan? Sakura had never looked into any information regarding those two Uchiha and only knew what they used while fighting.
The sound of the small footsteps was what took her away from her thought and back to the present and turned around to see the two kids following her while looking warily at Zen.
Sakura turned too and looked at Zen before raising an eyebrow at him. A puff could be heard and white smoke rose once more and instead of a big scary wolf a wolf in a samurai outfit except for the helmet where a straw Hat was instead with holes to his ears, also the eyepatch was still in place. He even had a sword that was as tall as him and Sakura still only went to his chest, she used to go to his shoulder!
"Come" was all Sakura said before walking once more, her time as an ANBU had made her a bit colder. There was once a time where she would have been all over the children making sure they were alright but now it would have to wait until they were somewhere safe.
The rest of the way back to the cave was in silent and for once, Itachi didn't like that, for once Itachi wanted someone to talk about anything really. He took, this time, to look the teen over in front of him and while girls have never held much interest for him Itachi understood that the pink-haired girl was really beautiful, in fact, he couldn't remember ever meeting such a beautiful person before and that said a lot when you lived with his mother.
She had made no move to hurt either him or Hana-San and while not going out of her way to help them or treat them like the kids they were but she still stopped every time Hana-San fell and waited on her to get up once more while looking at them out of the corner of her eye. It was a show of kindness in her own way they could run away and she most likely wouldn't follow, she was giving them a chance to choose. She didn't care either way which made Itachi think she had been a ninja for long, her eyes had been a dead giveaway on this with how dull they were.
When they finally made it to the cave she had mentioned earlier and the moment they were inside the wolf-thing had stopped just inside the cave looking out for danger and the teen had turned around and walked towards a backpack before moving back over to them and he noticed that she walked slowly, another sign of kindness and he saw her eyes soften only a bit, but no the less they did. They could trust this girl.
"My name is Sakura and I'm a medic" Sakura said softly walking over to Hana-san before kneeling down to her level and held her hand up and let it glow a soft green before turning it towards her own face and, Itachi's eyes widen a bit the small wound was gone within seconds and a soft see was head from her before she turned her hand towards Hana-san and softly took her hand over all the younger girl's wounds.
This teen was full of kindness and, and feelings that showed in her eyes, there was so many that Itachi couldn't read them all, but, he did know that she was everything a good ninja shouldn't be and yet she was the best ninja he had ever seen even better than his father, that kind of ninja he wanted to be someday.
Itachi looked up at the girl as she sat in front of a fire she had made and was now making them dinner, some fish with a lot of herbs on it smelled nice. And he turned his eyes away from the pinkie and onto the other girl who was softly shaking from the cold he would have offed her, his own jacket if he had had one himself, but, sadly Itachi had not expected to be kidnapped and did therefore not have it with him.
The noise from the other side once more turned his eyes back at the Sakura-san and he saw her looking through her backpack once more before finding whatever she was looking for with a thump smile and happiness shining in her eyes before turning towards the little girl and giving it to her. Yes, Sakura-san was that kind of ninja we too wanted to be once he grew up.
Hana couldn't remember falling asleep but the next time she opened her eyes the sun was slowly rising and she grumpily noticed that she was the last one to wake up. She saw the elder girl was making breakfast and Itachi was simply looking at her and giving her whatever she told him too like some sort of slave, a totally willing one at that.
The 5-year-old girl turned her eyes towards the last one, the big white wolf. While Hana knew about wolves and had seen one before this was the first time she had seen such a big one. The wolf, Zen if she remembered right, it was what the teen had called him, was back to his wolf form and lying just outside the cave taking in the heat the sun provided and from the way his ear moved he was still on watch.
She turned and walked over to the teen and looked up at her, if she was going to Konoha, if she lived in Konoha Hana would find her. She would make Sakura take her on as a student because she was by far the coolest ninja out there if she could bond with a powerful ninken like Zen. Hana may not be a genius like the Uchiha was, but, when it came to ninkens she knew it all and she could even feel the power that lay within the big wolf. Zen had been holding back he could use the Cha-Chakra thing her mother always talked about.
When everything was packed and they were all ready to go, Sakura unknowingly made this Hana's best day of her life! She had put them on top of Zen before getting on herself, it was quicker to run back on Zen then walking with two kids, which while coming from a clan was still students and did not have the stamina or speed to satisfice her.
As they rode Zen back towards the village Sakura was not sure how to approve the Hokage or anyone from Konoha for that sake. Sure she had a letter to give, but if she was not wrong at this age Itachi still was, there still wasn't peace yet like the one she was raised into.
They rode for until evening before stopping and that was only because she felt four Chakra approving her and the strongest was also moving the fastest. She only just got off Zen and stood beside him when a young adult with blond hair and blue eyes showed up at the other end of the cleaning, he looked just like Naruto only with a more feminine face and without the strips of course.
Sakura waited for the other three to appear while never taking her eyes of the Jonin before her. When they came out she suddenly wished they haven't because there stood a 12-year-old Kakashi… Sakura looked at the two others to an Uchiha and some girl before turning her eyes back to the leader waiting for him to say or do something.
Minato had seen a lot and while seeing Fugaku all panic and worried was a new one it was nothing compared to what he was seeing now. Before him stood a young girl with pink hair that most likely was the same age as his team with a gigantic white wolf that most likely only where he would only go to his mid-chest with the two missing children on its back and they were heading towards Konoha too.
"Can I help you with something?" the girl said clearly having better things to do than this and while the girl didn't look as much at first glance on a better look he saw the same seal that Tsunade-Hime had and spoke of a powerful person in itself and the drained blood on her clothes show that she most likely was the one to save them.
"Ah, yes, I would like to help you take though kids back home if you don't mind," Minato said friendly he could tell the girl was looking him up and down for any weapons or body language that indicated other than what he said. She had been on out in the field before, she was an experienced ninja, unlike his own students she had killed before.
"I want a chance to speak with the Hokage when we get there" The girl replied and he saw his team coming closer and when he took one step the wolf growled at him and he felt it flea its Chakra letting him feel the power that was right behind the teen. Minato would normally not agree with this since he knew that something was off about this girl, he nodded his head, Minato would do what he can but wouldn't make any promises on how that would happen.
"That Namikaze Minato-san the yellow flash of Konoha" He head Itachi tell her and his eyes widen at this. Itachi while still, a child was smarter than even some Jonin was willingly telling her something like this proved that she had gotten the trust of an Uchiha. Uchiha hardly ever gave anyone their trust, hardly ever bonded with anyone, but, when they did it was for life almost like a commitment.
Itachi Uchiha would stay by her side no matter what she did, and that was one scary, though.
This chapter is twice as long as I normally make them at 1000 words!
