Chapter THREE

Memories flooded through Sakura's mind quickly and furiously as a river with a broken dam. Everything just flooded through. The empty slots in her memory slowly filled up.

And it hurt.

'Toneri...'

It was a scream that forced Itachi out of his much needed sleep. He shot up into a sitting position, mind clouded momentarily with sleep. He quickly looked out the window, noting that is was probably around three. Then he was wide awake and shooting out of his room. He didn't see anyone in the corridor, but he could sense the awake chakra of his parents. His brother was slowly stirring as well. He darted across to the room opposite his, Sakura's room, as well as the source of the scream, and flung the door open.

The girl was curled up on her bed in a fatal position. Another scream was wrenched out of the girl and Itachi quickly approached her. He realized that her chakra signal was going haywire.

He shook her shoulder in an attempt to wake her up. Tears ran down her cheeks and her hands were clenched, nails digging into her palms. Itachi quickly uncurled her fingers when he realized that she was drawing blood.

"What's going on?"

Mikoto appeared at the entrance of the room, eyes widening at the sight of Sakura. She quickly darted in.

"I tried to wake her, but..." Itachi trialed off, not knowing what to do in these kind of situations.

Mikoto gently shoved Itachi out of the way and shook the girl. "Sakura-chan, wake up."

Sakura flinched away, arms moving to wrap around herself. "Senri...sama." She gasped out.

"Sakura-chan!" Mikoto desperately shook the girl.

"Kaa-san?" Sasuke stood at the entrance, rubbing his eyes. He blinked at the scene of Itachi and his mother hovering over Sakura and quickly stepped into the room. "What's going on?"

"Nightmare."

Sakura let out another scream, this one muffled by her arms.

"Sakura!" Itachi roughly shook her. The girl shook his hand off. Itachi rolled her over onto her back, and inwardly flinched. Her eyes had blinked open, but they didn't seem to be looking at anything. Itachi then noticed that in the dim light of the room, Sakura's eyes were glowing.

"Her eyes..."

"Sakura?"

Said girl slowly blinked, each time her eyes returned to normal. "Ta-tachi? Miko-san?"

Mikoto wrapped the girl into a hug." Oh, I was so worried! What happened?"

Sakura whimpered, burying deeper into Mikoto's warmth.

"I don't know." She cried. "It hurts."

Mikoto patted her head gently, and Sakura looked up. She then turned towards the door, catching sight of Sasuke. "Indra...?"

Mikoto and Itachi glanced at each other. Why had Sakura muttered the name of their ancestor?

"No..." Another wave of tears flooded out of Sakura's now normal green eyes.

Mikoto nodded at Itachi, wordlessly telling him to leave Sakura with her. Itachi grasped Sasuke's shoulder and nudged him out of the room. He closed the door behind him.

"Why was she crying?" Sasuke asked quietly.

Itachi sighed. "I don't know. However, if I have to guess, it is probably about her clan." He thought back to the name she had gasped out. Haruno Senri had been the previous head of the Haruno clan. Inoichi's digging around had probably reminded her of something.

"Her clan was...killed?"

Itachi nodded.

"Oh." Sasuke mumbled. "Could she not read because her clan is dead and no one could teach her?"

Itachi smiled faintly and crouched down so that he could look Sasuke in the eye. "Well, not really." He said. "Were you listening when Sakura was talking at dinner the other day?"

Sasuke nodded slowly. "But I didn't get most of it."

"Sakura's clan has a tradition." Itachi said. "And that tradition demanded for all children below the age of six to not be taught anything apart from clan related things."

"Anything?" Sasuke asked.

Itachi nodded. "Children under the age of six were not allowed outside the compound. Their compound was underground, and so, all children under the age of six have never stepped foot outside their compound." He paused. "Apart from the clan heir. The clan heir is taken in by the head, and then taught everything the head knows. However, Sakura's head passed away soon after she was chosen as heir..."

"Oh."

Itachi nodded. "It's very late." Or very early, depending on the way you look at it. "So why don't you go back to sleep?"

Sasuke nodded, yawning. "I'm going to bring Sakura to the park tomorrow." He mumbled. "And I'll introduce her to Naruto. And we can play catch."

Itachi smiled. "That is a good idea."

The next morning, Sakura looked relatively better compared to last night. She smiled brightly at Itachi and Mikoto, then shot Sasuke an uneasy look, before taking a seat beside Mikoto.

"Itachi-kun, you have a mission tomorrow, right?" Mikoto asked.

Itachi nodded.

"Then you should have today free." Mikoto continued.

Itachi nodded again.

Mikoto smiled. "Make sure you rest, okay?"

Itachi nodded a third time.

They quickly finished breakfast, and Mikoto went to clear up the table. Fugaku left for a clan meeting, leaving Sasuke, Sakura and Itachi hanging awkwardly around the dining table.

"Uh, Sakura?" Sasuke began.

Sakura jumped, looking at Sasuke. "Mm?"

Sasuke looked down, fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

"You see, uh, do you..."

Sakura waited patiently as Sasuke fumbled over his words.

"Do you want to come to the park with me?" Sasuke blurted out. "The do- I mean, Naruto will be there."

Sakura grinned. "Sure! What's a park?"

Sasuke blinked. "It's a public area where we can play." He said hesitantly.

Sakura nodded. "Okay."

"Kaa-san! Sakura and I are going to the park!" Sasuke called out.

"Be careful!" Mikoto called from the kitchen. "In fact, Itachi-kun? Can you please accompany them? All you have to do is watch over them."

Itachi stood up. "Hn."

"What's that?" Sakura asked.

"That's a bridge." Sasuke said. "It helps people cross from one side of the river to the other."

"Oh."

"You know what a river is, right?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura nodded. "When I was in the cave, there was this river which were allowed to drink from." She glanced back at the bridge. "But it was never that big."

"Wide." Itachi automatically corrected. Sasuke shot his brother an annoyed look. Itachi smiled.

Soon they reached the park. Itachi broke off from the younger two and sat on a bench.

Sasuke grasped Sakura's wrist and tugged her towards the corner, where a blonde boy was sitting in the sand pit. "Dobe!"

The blonde looked up. "Teme-" He frowned at Sakura. "Who's that?"

Sakura inched closer to Sasuke. "Asura?" She muttered.

"That's dobe." Sasuke announced. "Dobe, this is Sakura. She's living at our place."

Naruto grinned. "Oh! Tou-chan said something about a girl!" He grinned.

"You father?" Sakura asked.

"Yup! He's the Hokage!"

"Oh."

Naruto grinned. "I'm Naruto, and I'm going to become a better Hokage than my father!"

"Hello, Naruto." Sakura smiled.

Sasuke grabbed both their arms and dragged them over to the sand pit. He then proceeded to explain what everything in the park was to Sakura. Sakura looked around with a glow in her eyes. She seemed to take a liking to the swing, and she rushed off.

Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other before following.

"How do I do this?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke sat on the swing next to her. Sakura copied his movements and Sasuke proceeded to kick off the ground.

Sakura's eyes widened and she did the same, letting out a cheer as she pushed off the ground.

"Don't let go!" Naruto warned.

Sakura grinned down at the blonde.

"So, how was your day?" Mikoto asked.

Sakura grinned. "It was very fun." She said. "I rode this thing called the swing!"

Mikoto smiled. She ushered the two to wash their hands. She then called them to the dinner table, where Itachi was already sitting.

"Fugaku will be late today, so we shall eat first." Mikoto smiled as she passed the food around.

Sakura picked up her bowl of rice and gripped her chopsticks in a fist. She then scooped the rice into her mouth.

"That's wrong." Sasuke told her.

Sakura frowned. "But I don't get how you..." She trailed off. "Hold it." She fumbled with her chopsticks.

Sasuke then leaned over the table and fixed her finger positioning under the gazes of a smiling Itachi and a giddy Mikoto.

"Then you just move your fingers like this." Sasuke said.

Sakura did as told, and smiled as she managed it. "Thanks,-" She paused. "Sasuke."

Sasuke didn't seem to notice the pause, but Itachi certainly did.

'Be careful.' Inner Sakura murmured. 'It's Sasuke and Naruto.'

The moment she had awakened, she had seen things differently. She didn't know how to explain it, but she felt like she suddenly understood things. When Sasuke had popped his head through the doorway, something had screamed 'Indra' in her mind. She later realized that it was her Ōtsutsuki blood reacting to the reincarnations of Asura and Indra.

The same had happened during her first meeting. Sakura winced. Sasuke and Naruto were friends. She hated the fact that the two would clash in the future, simply due to an ancient grudge of her ancestors.

Sakura nodded. "I know." She sighed. "I just forgot."

'There isn't much you can do right now.' Inner said. 'Just train and get stronger. Toneri's sign will come soon. Until then, just try and blend in.'

Sakura nodded.

"Come on, birthday boy!" Mikoto smiled, and ushered Sasuke to the table, where a feast had been set up. Sasuke smiled faintly and sat down.

It was the 23rd of July, Sasuke's birthday.

"You're six now." Naruto grumbled. Sasuke shot him a smug look.

Fugaku, Mikoto, Itachi, Sakura, Naruto and both his parents were present.

"Happy Birthday, Sasuke-kun." Minato passed him a wrapped box. "This is from Kushina and I."

Sasuke gratefully took it. "Thank you."

"Here, teme. Happy Birthday." Naruto passed him a gift next. Sasuke took it. "Thanks."

Mikoto passed him a gift from her and Fugaku, and Itachi soon followed.

Finally, Sakura stood in front of Sasuke. "Uh, so you see, I didn't know what to get you and stuff, but I, uh..." Sakura shook her head. "Happy birth...birthday." She passed him a small wrapped box the size of his fist.

Sasuke smiled and took it from her. "Thank you, Sakura."

Sakura grinned.

"Let's eat first." Mikoto decided. "Then Sasuke-kun can open presents and then we'll eat the cake."

Soon, the empty plates were cleared away. Mikoto brought in a few bags of snacks and lay them out. Everyone ten turned to look expectantly at Sasuke.

Sasuke took a deep breath, and grabbed the first gift of the pile, which was from Minato and Kushina. He unwrapped it slowly, peeked in, and gasped.

He took the rest of the wrappings off and held up a huge book, which seemed to be an encyclopedia on ninja weapons. "You're starting the academy soon, right?" Minato asked. Sasuke nodded, still speechless. "We thought it would help."

"Oh..." He seemed lost for words. "This is awesome. Thank you." Sasuke dipped his head.

Minato and Kushina smiled.

Next came Naruto's. He unwrapped it and smiled. 'The World's Biggest Prank Manual'.

"We so gotta do some of those .'Naruto grinned and Sasuke sighed, but smirked back.

He then opened Itachi's gift. His smile widened and he shot his brother a grateful look. His first ever set of real ninja weapons!

He then turned to Sakura's gift. Said girl had been quiet the whole time, and looked even more worried than before as Sasuke slowly unwrapped the box she had given him.

He pulled off the lid and gasped. The other occupants of the room looked at him curiously. Sasuke reached in and slowly pulled out a paper weight. It was round, like a snow globe. However, what had caught Sasuke's attention the most was the blue magatama inside the glass.

"I made it." Sakura said.

"This is...beautiful." Sasuke told her. "I...thank you."

Sakura's eyes widened. "No problem." She smiled.

He finally stopped at the present from his parents. He hesitated, then unwrapped it to reveal a box. He opened it, and held up a navy blue shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back. His eyes widened. He then put it down carefully and reached back into the box, pulling out a weapon pouch. Fugaku nodded at him in acknowledgement and he then hugged his mother, who gladly hugged back.

"Sakura-chan?" Minato called.

Naruto and Sasuke had gone out to play in the huge grounds of the Uchiha compound and Itachi had gone with them to keep an eye on them. Sakura had decided to stay in the house.

"Yeah?" Sakura asked.

"You gift was hand made?" Minato asked.

"I, uh, didn't know what to get him." Sakura blurted out. "But everyone seemed to be getting Sasuke something for this thing called a 'birthday', and no one told me what it actually was, but it seemed important, and so, I didn't want to ask or anything, and at first, I thought it was the date of birth, or something, but then that's weird because how are you supposed to know what day you were born? And I thought that I should get him something too, but I had no idea what I was supposed to get him or what kind of things he'd want or anything, and I don't have much money or anything, so I couldn't buy him anything and so Inner suggested I make something but I had no clue what to make but then I remembered that I had a few things from the clan in my kimono pocket, and I found a few magatamas inside and I thought I'd give it to him but it sorta seemed empty, and so I was walking around town and I saw this man who was blowing glass and when I was watching, we sort of talked and somehow moved into a situation where he offered to teach me the basics and he helped me make the glass globe and I put the magatama inside and it seemed like a pretty good idea back then but now I don't know anymore and-"

Minato quickly cut Sakura off before the girl choked on her tongue or something. "Sakura."

Sakura blinked, stopping mid rant.

"I think it was a very good idea." He told the girl gently.

Sakura grinned.

"But why did you have magatamas in you pocket?" Kushina asked.

Sakura smiled. "The magatama was very important to my clan." She said. "I don't know why."

Just then, Sasuke and Naruto came back, all muddy and sweaty.

"You look like you've been thorough a war." Sakura deadpanned.

The two shot her sheepish looks.

"Oh yeah! Sakura-chan! When's your birthday?" Naruto asked curiously.

Sakura frowned. "That is the part I don't understand." She said. Everyone present looked at her.

"In the Haruno clan, only Senri-sama knew the exact day of birth for each member of the clan." She said. "It was stored in a scroll only the head could open..." She paused. "Which means I can open it now." She muttered. "Anyways, so I don't know. It was clan traditions."

"Who's this Senri dude?" Naruto asked.

Sakura huffed. "Senri-sama was the previous head of the clan. If he had been alive, I would have been expected of kill you for your rudeness."

Naruto shrunk back and watched Sakura nervously. "But since he is not alive, there are no problems." Naruto relaxed.

"Well, you need a birthday." Sasuke announced.

Sakura turned to look at him, who plastered on a defensive expression. "What? Everyone needs one. If you don't have one, when are you going to celebrate?"

"Yeah!" Naruto agreed. "Then every year, we can eat three huge cakes in stead of two!"

Kushina smacked him on the back of his head. "That's not the point."

"What date should be use?" Sasuke asked.

"Something younger than us." Naruto said.

"How about the day she first came to the compound?" Minato asked.

"That was..."

"The flip over paper thing said three twenty eight." Sakura said.

"The calendar?"

Sakura nodded.

"The twenty eighth of March..." Kushina mused.

"But then she'll be older than both of us!" Naruto whined.

"Well, it could always be a year later." Sasuke said.

Minato smiled. "If it's March, the new school term hasn't started yet, so you guys will be in the same year." He said.

"Yes!" Naruto jumped to his feet. "Sakura-chan! From now on, your birthday is the twenty eighth of March!"

"How exactly does it work?" Sakura asked, having caught some of Naruto's excitement.

"Since you are younger than use, you are still five." Sasuke said. "When your birthday comes along, you will become six."

"My birthday is on the tenth of October!" Naruto said. "Any my party is going to be better than Sasuke-teme's, so hang on a little more!"

Sasuke sniffed. "You wish."

The two started another fight, but Sakura sat there quietly, a smile on her face.

Twenty eighth of March... The day everything began moving for real...

"Tachi-chan!"

Sakura looked up from the book she had been reading. She had followed Itachi to the training grounds in order to watch him train, with the promise of not distracting him. Sasuke had gone to play with Naruto, grumbling about her the whole way. Itachi had decided to take a short rest, and had been helping Sakura as she stumbled through the book.

Itachi paused in the middle of his sentence. "Shisui."

Shisui pounced on Itachi. Said Uchiha grabbed Sakura and dodged. Shisui fell face first onto the ground. He then looked up, looking at Sakura. "Tachi-chan, I didn't know you were into little girls."

Itachi let out a soft 'hn' and nailed his cousin in the face with his foot.

"So, she's the girl we're looking after?" Shisui leaned into Sakura's face, who stared back without blinking.

Itachi nodded.

"Hi! I'm Shisui, Tachi-chan's cousin!" Shisui grinned.

Sakura blinked a few more times before smiling back. "I'm Sakura."

Shisui grinned up at Itachi. "I like her." He said. He reached out and wrapped his arms around Sakura's waist, pulling the girl into the air. "I'll be taking her home~"

Sakura squealed in delight when Shisui swung her around.

Itachi got to his feet, a blank look on his face. "I cannot allow that."

"Or so he says." Shisui chuckled down at Sakura. "What do you think?"

Itachi threw a light kick at the older Uchiha. Shisui shushined away from the foot approaching him. Sakura's eyes widened.

"That's called the shunshin." Shisui told the girl in his arms. "I'm the best at it in the whole of the Uchiha clan!"

"I know, but I can't do it." Sakura blurted out, surprising the two Uchihas. "Someone...someone from the clan, I think...tried to teach it to me but I can't do it. He said that I have good chakra control, but it doesn't work..."

"Well...you've very young, Sakura-chan." Shisui said. "So maybe when you're older..."

"Or you can teach me!" Sakura said. "Come on, please?"

Shisui smirked at Itachi. "She likes me much more than you." He bragged. "Right?"

Sakura nodded. "Yup!"

The look on Itachi's face, a small crease between his eyebrows, was equivalent to a look of pure horror on a normal person.

"Now, Tachi-chan, why don't we spar?" Shisui asked, taking full advantage of Itachi's annoyance of him.

After a few minutes of fussing, Sakura found herself watching as the two Uchihas stood opposite each other in the training grounds.

Shisui started the match with a simple flick of his wrist, sending a handful of shuriken at Itachi. Itachi dodged the weapons, moving to the side and then forwards. Not a heartbeat later, Shisui followed. The two met at the center, weapons crossed. Itachi sweeps his feet, catching Shisui off guard. Itachi jumped back as Shisui tried to take him along. The older Uchiha rolled to the side and got to his feet.

Itachi threw a few kunai, which Shisui dodged with a shunshin.

The match stretched on. Itachi used his speed to his advantage, but whenever he got too close, Shisui shunshined away.

Finally, Shisui fell to his knees, breathing heavily. "Okay, okay, I give up."

Itachi 'hn'ed.

"But I won't give up my position as Sakura-chan's new teacher!" And Shisui was gone.

"Sakura."

Said girl looked up from her book. Itachi stood over her, a troubled look on his face. "Yeah?"

"Do you really...like Shisui more?"

Sakura blinked, then leaned back. "Nope. I like Tachi much more."

Itachi blinked.

"If I hadn't told Shisui that, I probably would have had more problems convincing him." She grinned.

"So you lied." Itachi didn't how he felt about that.

Sakura nodded, frowning. "Inner told me to." She said, like it was enough to justify all her actions.

And Itachi guessed that it was, to her anyways. Sakura had lived the early years of her life with only Inner to guide her.

"So, first make the half tiger seal." Shisui held up his had at Sakura's confused look. "Here."

Sakura followed.

"Then vitalize your chakra to the rest of your body." Shisui body flickered from Sakura's left to her right.

Sakura blinked, then raised her hand into the half tiger seal. She frowned, concentrating.

Shisui hummed in approval. "You're gathering the chakra properly." He told her. "You just need the momentum."

Sakura nodded slowly. "Kay."

They spent the rest of the day there.

Shisui spent his spare time teaching Sakura the shunshin. He was very pleased with her progress. She knew how to channel her chakra, and she also knew how to control it in order to move. However, she just couldn't put the two together. Shisui patiently ran through it with her again and again.

"Aren't you hot wearing so many layers?" Shisui had asked. He glanced at her black, short kimono robe. She was also wearing a purple sash, and a purple long sleeved shirt underneath. Bandages covered her arms and legs.

And she had been wearing that underneath her standard clan clothes, which had been discarded earlier.

"It's clan battle attire." Sakura had replied. "We were told to wear it like this so that we can fight anytime we need to." She then grinned. "Usually, it's white, but the black symbolizes high rank. Only the clan head wears these colors."

Fugaku seemed interested in their training. Mikoto was just worried like a mother and Itachi dropped by from time to time.

Exactly one month's time, Shisui stood in front of Sakura. "Now, show me how much you've improved!"

Sakura sighed. "You saw me do it yesterday!" She giggled, and made the half tiger deal. There was a puff of smoke as Sakura body flickered. She then appeared on the other side of Shisui.

Shisui cheered and brought Sakura into a hug. "You are wonderful!" He cheered.

Sakura grinned and hugged him back. "You are good at teaching." And it was true. Shisui was very patient, unlike his first impression, and had helped Sakura through every single problem.

Shisui puffed his chest out in pride. "We can show you off to the world!" Shisui said. "And you can show off as my wonderful student!"

Sakura practiced the shunshin often, so that she could get used to the feeling of running her chakra to different parts of her body. Her powerful Ōtsutsuki blood and her control made up for her low levels of chakra.

Shisui came over once in awhile to 'make sure she wasn't rusty'. However, everyone knew that he came over mostly to annoy Itachi. Shisui always seemed to end up going home with a handful of bruises and scratches.

Sakura's birthday rolled along soon. She had woken up that morning, feeling slightly more giddy than usual. When she had appeared in at the dinning table, breakfast had already been set up. When they had finished eating, Sasuke had dragged Sakura out of the house.

They met Naruto at the park, and both boys didn't allow Sakura to leave their side once. They ate at Ichiraku - 'Seriously, Teme? Sakura-chan's been here for like, four months, and you haven't taken her to Ichiraku yet?' 'YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT RAMEN IS?' - then they returned to the park and played some more.

Finally, at noon, Itachi arrived, calling them back to the house.

Mikoto had set up a small party, and had invited the same people as before, with the addition of Shisui.

Sakura didn't have any idea as to what to do with her gifts, as she had never received any, but accepted them gratefully. Some of them were actually pretty useful.

Shisui had gotten her 'Ninjutsu for beginners', a book. "You should be able to pick up some of these by yourself." Shisui told her.

Itachi had bought her a book as well, this one on the different Hidden Villages. "I have never seen you reading a book about the other countries, so I thought you'd find it interesting." Realizing that it was true, Sakura made a note to herself to read it as soon as possible.

Minato and Kushina handed her a box. Sakura opened it and the content revealed itself to be a pair of ninja sandals. "Mikoto-chan told me that you still didn't have any." Kushina beamed.

Mikoto and Fugaku had gotten her ninja pouch and a set of senbon. "I saw you reading something on it." Mikoto said. "It's very good quality, as it's made by the Uchiha blacksmith."

Fugaku had just smirked pridefully.

Sasuke handed her a box. Sakura opened it and took out circle locket. The surface was decorated with a Cherry blossom. Naruto helped her open it, and revealed a photo of Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, Itachi and Shisui, the one they had taken at Naruto's birthday when Shisui had barged in uninvited. The other side was empty. "Choose a photo yourself to put in there." Naruto said.

Mikoto shot her sons a look, but when they just blinked at her in confusion, she sighed and helped Sakura put it on. Shisui snickered.

Naruto grinned. "Me and Sasuke pitched in and bought it together!"

"It's 'Sasuke and I'." Sakura said.

Sasuke's eyes widened in horror, and he pointed an accusing finger at Itachi. "You passed on your Grammar Nazi disease to Sakura!"

A few days later, a messenger from the Hokage came to the Uchiha compound, asking for Sakura. Itachi ended up accompanying her to the Hokage's office.

Sakura opened the door and stepped into the office. Itachi followed, bowing his head to the Hokage.

Minato smiled. "Come in and sit down." He told them. "Sakura-chan? You have a visitor."

Sakura skipped into the office and noticed the white haired man sitting on one of the chairs. Sakura scooted forwards and sat in the other one.

"White hair...but you're not from the Haruno clan, cause everyone's dead...so...uh..." Sakura blinked several times. "Who are you?"

The white haired man smiled and just observed Sakura.

"Hōzuki? What's a Hōzuki? Clan? Oh, uh..." Sakura muttered to herself.

'The Hōzuki clan! Remember, the people who came to our compound from time to time. The two kids who secretly told you about the outside world?'

Sakura paused. "Uh...Mangetsu and Suigetsu, right?"

'What's the name of their father?'

"Uh...the mountain moon guy?"

The man chuckled. "Hello, Sakura-chan."

Sakura stopped in her rambling and looked up. "Are you the mountain moon guy?"

"Kagetsu." The man, Kagetsu told her.

"Oh! How are Mangetsu and Suigetsu doing?" Sakura asked.

"You remember them?"

Sakura nodded. "The massacre occurred before I was wiped."

Kagetsu smiled sympathetically. "So, how are they treating you here?"

Sakura beamed. "It's great!" And she proceeded to tell the man of the things she had learnt.

Kagetsu smiled. "It has been decided that the Haruno compound would be left as it is." He told her. "We only recently learned that you were alive and well in Konoha. My sons wouldn't listen to me and Mizuki agreed with them and I was literally kicked out of the compound, telling me to make sure that you were actually okay." He paused. "Sakura-chan, why don't you come back to Kiri?"

Sakura blinked.

"As very close friends, the Hōzuki clan can take care of you."

Sakura quickly shook her head. "Nope."

"Why not?"

"Cause in Kiri, there are no Tachis and Sukes and Rutos and Ichirakus." And our plan cannot be held out there. "Besides, there's no family waiting for me in Kiri and I like it here."

Minato frowned just slightly. "Are you sure, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura nodded.

Kagetsu smiled. "I thought you'd say that." He said. "However, why don't you come back for a while. You can pick up some stuff at the compound and visit Senri."

Minato nodded at Sakura's questioning look. "I think its a good idea." He said.

"So, I can?" Sakura asked. "I can go and then come back?"

Kagetsu nodded. "I promise."

Sakura then turned to Itachi, who had been quiet the whole time. "What do you think?"

Itachi smiled gently. "I think you should go."

Sakura smiled. "Okay!"

"You have to come back." Sasuke said solemnly.

Sakura nodded.

"Why are you leaving now?" Naruto complained "The Academy is starting soon, and you'll miss it!'.

Sakura smiled. "Well, that's because I have to come back all strong and stuff."

Sasuke huffed. "You wish."

Itachi, Mikoto, Fugaku, Minato and Kushina watched the scene unfold with warm eyes.

Kagetsu stepped up to them. "I promise to bring her back alive and well." He told them. "So don't worry too much."

Mikoto smiled. "I'll hold you to that."

Kagetsu nodded. "Sakura-chan, we should head out now."

Sakura looked up. "Okay."

She hugged Sasuke and Naruto one last time then skipped over to Itachi and hugged him, before doing the same with Mikoto. She waved at Fugaku, Minato and Kushina then joined Kagetsu.

The Hōzuki passed the guards some papers and they stepped aside. Kagetsu picked up Sakura and gripped her with one arm. Sakura waved one last time before Kagetsu left the village.

"Kura-chan!"

Suigetsu's cry broke Mangetsu out of his his musing. The nine year old sat up and joined his seven year old brother at the window. Their father had just stepped into view, a pink haired girl skipping alongside him.

"She looks perfectly normal." Suigetsu said.

Mangetsu nodded slowly. "But she could be hiding her emotions." He said. "That's the Haruno clan specialty."

"Do you think she agreed to stay in Kiri?" Suigetsu asked.

Mangetsu shrugged.

A few minutes later, Sakura slammed the door to their room open. Suigetsu ran over to the girl. "Kura-chan~"

Sakura hugged back. "Suigetsu!" She pounced on him and hugged him. "Mangetsu!" She reached towards him over Suigetsu shoulder and Mangetsu grasped her hand.

"Hello, Sakura."

Sakura grinned.

Toneri watched the two Hōzuki children interact with Sakura. He had been the one to send the news of Sakura's presence in Konoha to the Hōzuki, as he knew that the Hōzuki would insist that Sakura return to Kiri, albeit a short time. He had left a few clues in the compound, and the first memory would unlock then.

A few days ago, he had carefully hidden scrolls containing techniques and other skills around the compound, in locations only Sakura would be able to guess.

And maybe, if he were lucky, he would be able to talk to her for a few moments.

Sakura needed allies at the moment, regardless of if they were from Konoha or not. Building up on the relationship between the Hōzuki and the Haruno would not be a bad idea.

Kagetsu - Fire moon

Mizuki - Beautiful moon

QUESTIONS OF THE CHAPTER:

SHOULD THE AKATSUKI EXIST?/ SHOULD WE MAKE THEM EVIL?

WHAT DO BLACK ZETSU AND WHITE ZETSU REFER TO EACH OTHER AS?

WHEN SEPERATE, CAN BLACK ZETSU TRAVEL THROUGH THE EARTH?

WHEN BLACK ZETSU AND WHITE ZETSU ARE SEPARATE, DO THEY KNOW WHAT THE OTHER WAS DOING ONCE THEY COME BACK TOGETHER? We are guessing not, because if they did, White Zetsu would know that Black Zetsu wasn't loyal to Madara and was simply using him...but we're not sure.)

Darque: And here's chapter three!

Raven: Yay!

Darque: I have mock exams coming up. But I shall not stop updating, cause I, to be honest, don't really care...:( Just the thought makes me sad.

Raven: Oh, I feel so sorry for your examiners

Darque:...Why's that?

Raven: Because they'll have to check through all your mistakes.

Read and Review!