Will of Fire

Chapter Four: The Resistance

##

"Are you staying at the Hub?" Kakashi asked as they walked through the backstreets of nighttime Busan.

"For the last six months," Sakura said. "Waiting and hoping to make contact with someone."

She was so excited to see him she could barely take her eyes off him, and Kakashi found it difficult not to stare back. She was just so different than he remembered, and it wasn't the long hair, which suited her, or the auburn color—also nice, though not as flattering as her natural pink. It was that she looked older, transformed, which he found disconcerting and intriguing all at once. The last traces of that silly girl who was too insecure to really be herself were gone. In her place strode a determined young woman, radiating intelligence and hard experience he could see in the firm set of her shoulders and sharp, clear eyes.

"It's true then?" she asked him. "It does exist?"

"It exists," he confirmed. "And it's been sorely missing both of you."

"No medics?"

He looked at her. "That's one reason."

"Are we leaving in the morning?"

"I think you'll want to leave now," he said. "My camp's just outside town, and someone was so excited to hear the Princess' Handmaidens were in Busan that he refused to wait and tagged along with me." He looked pointedly at Shizune.

Shizune stopped in the street and brought her hands to her lips, eyes wide and glistening. "Kakashi…" she whispered. "Really?"

They had to rush to keep up with her as she all but ran back to the Hub and bolted straight up the stairs. Sakura entered at a more leisurely pace, Kakashi following.

"Hey Midori," Touga greeted, still bemused by Shizune's whirlwind entrance. "I got good news, and this time it's definitely legit—"

"I know," Sakura beamed. She glanced over her shoulder just as Kakashi walked in.

Touga's eyebrows lifted, but he didn't seem to recognize the Copy Ninja in disguise. "Well there you go," he said. "Is it what you were looking for?"

"Exactly what I was looking for." She went silent a moment, like she'd lost her train of thought, but then she turned quickly to Kakashi. "I'm going to go help Shizune pack."

"I'll wait here," he said, then took a seat at the bar, giving Touga a polite nod.

Touga studied him a moment, as though trying to recognize him. "Want a drink, man?"

Kakashi declined and the bartender went back to his business, though it didn't escape his notice that the young man kept looking toward the stairwell every minute or so.

#

Sakura and Shizune cleared out their small rented room in five minutes. Sakura was excited to get going and reunite with old friends, but it was like someone had lit a fire under Shizune. She hadn't been this alive and animated in months. They hurried downstairs with their gear and Shizune headed straight for the door, casting Kakashi an impatient, expectant look on her way out.

"Can't blame her," he said affably. Then he turned to Sakura. "Ready?"

Sakura paused. "In just a minute," she said, her eyes sliding to Touga, who lingered in the kitchen doorway.

Kakashi looked slowly between her and the bartender. A moment passed before he nodded and said, "We'll be outside."

Sakura made her way over to Touga, feeling awkward. He watched her the entire way, and spared her by speaking first.

"So. You're leaving."

She didn't answer the obvious, just gave him a small, wistful smile. He returned it, edging a little closer to her.

"Will we ever meet again?"

"I don't think so," she said quietly, genuinely regretful because she did consider him a friend. "If we succeed in taking back Konoha, I'll be going home. If we don't…then I'll probably be dead."

He nodded slowly. "Make sure it's the former, okay? I'll miss you. Uncle will too. You brought some life to this place."

Sakura smiled. He was more disappointed than she'd expected he would be. She did care for Touga—as much as she could care for anyone she knew almost nothing about, who knew even less about her. Still, she would miss his easy smile and his warm eyes, for a while.

"Tell your uncle we're sorry we couldn't wait to say goodbye in person, and that we're grateful to him. And you too," she added. "Without your help we might never have found our comrades again."

He didn't seem pleased to be the one responsible for her leaving, but he grinned in is cocky, mischievous way and said, "How about a goodbye kiss?"

Sakura laughed faintly. He didn't change. She closed the distance between them, brought her hand to his chest, and briefly pressed her lips to his. "Take care of yourself."

As she backed away, he knowingly asked, "What's your real name?"

She figured there was no harm in telling him now. "Sakura."

His expression shifted to disbelief. "Wait…from Konoha…the Sakura? The apprentice of the Fifth Hokage?"

"That's right."

"Of course. The Princess's Handmaidens. As in Slug Princess. Oh man." He shook his head, chuckling. "But hey, I thought Sakura of Konoha had hair like her namesake?"

"She does," she said cheekily, and dropped the illusion.

Touga stared at her, studied her pink hair but otherwise unchanged countenance. His eyes warmed with remembrance. "Wow," he said quietly.

Sakura smiled, softening as well. "Goodbye, Touga." Becoming a redhead once again, she shifted her pack higher onto her shoulder and walked out of the Hub for good.

#

Kakashi led them out of town, heading north. Sakura was full of questions and bombarded him as they walked. "Naruto?" was the first thing she was desperate to know. "Is he alive? And Sai? And Tenzou? Are they with you?"

He smiled behind his scarf. "Yes, yes, and yes."

She slowed for a moment, sagging with the release of two years' anxiety. "Who else?"

"It would take too long to name them. In fact, I don't even know them all."

She beamed. "That many?"

"Just under two hundred. Mainly jounin. Most chuunin weren't strong enough to fight against Root. They either surrendered, or they were killed. Of the ones who did manage to escape…very few ever found their way to us."

Sakura and Shizune shared a look, remembering all the names they'd grimly crossed from their Bingo lists.

"It's best if you just see for yourself," he said.

Sakura wanted to press him anyway but she didn't get a chance, because they cleared the city limits and began to run.

It felt great to travel like a ninja again, to feel chakra flowing through every extremity, converting into energy. It seemed like no time at all before they were slowing to a walk in one of the only stretches of forest to be found in the arid landscape between Wind and Fire. The trees were tall but scraggly, the underbrush mostly scrub. It was hardly worth calling a forest in the eyes of Leaf shinobi who'd spent their lives among lush, verdant moss and ferns, and monolithic trees standing sentinel in woodlands so ancient they stretched hundreds of miles and echoed whispers of eternity. But it was cover, and they were glad for it.

Kakashi stopped, signaling they had reached where they were going. He looked around for a moment, searching the black treetops, and gave a short, three-note birdwhistle. There was a faint rustling, inconspicuous enough to be a small animal, and then the dark shape of a man appeared from behind one of the trees.

Shizune was already moving, dropping her pack and flying to the man who rushed forward to meet her with arms open. They collided like two magnets snapping together, arms locking around each other. Shizune's sobs were muffled by her face in his neck, and Shiranui Genma murmured soothing, broken words into her hair. They remained that way for a long time, completely oblivious to everything else.

Kakashi remembered what a wreck Genma had been when they first learned about Konoha's fall. He'd been wracked with anxiety, unable to sleep for fear that Shizune might be dead. It was hard to keep him from going back on his own, especially when Kakashi wanted nothing more than to do the same. Kakashi had known them over half his life, and knew their story: longtime teammates, together for years starting as young teens, painfully breaking up when she left Konoha with Tsunade, and getting back together for good a few months after she returned. Being separated like they had, apart for so many years, this time without knowing if the other was alive or dead…it must have been torture for them.

He looked at Sakura and they both smiled uncertainly, slightly uncomfortable witnessing such raw emotion and intimacy between their friends, but at the same time happy for them. They waited patiently without speaking for the reunited lovers to come back to the world.

Eventually they did, and still holding each other, they came over. Shizune rarely displayed such vulnerability and looked slightly embarrassed, but mostly joyous. Genma was predictably shameless. He smiled warmly at Sakura and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Sakura. It's good to see you again."

She returned his smile. "You too, Genma."

Kakashi made a small fire and they had a light dinner of cup ramen. It was so nostalgic that Sakura found herself getting upset if she thought too much about it. She couldn't wait for the moment when she was reunited with the rest of her teammates.

"How did you find us so quickly?" she wanted to know. "We only put the word out two days ago."

"We were a day's journey away, doing some recon," Kakashi explained. "When someone at the Hub contacted one of our contacts, he contacted Naruto using one of the toads kept on hand for situations like this. Naruto contacted me and we came as fast as we could. I'm sure he would have come himself if he was able."

"How long will it take to get there?"

"Three days."

"Where is it? What's it like?"

He chuckled at her unrelenting curiosity. "It's somewhere Danzou would never think to look for us. And again, it will be better if you see for yourself."

Sakura sighed, annoyed again at having to wait. But what really mattered was that she had found her friends again. "So," she said, "what happened to you?"

Kakashi and Genma exchanged glances, but Genma was busy holding Shizune's hand and staring at her, and wasn't inclined to answer. "We were on an S-class mission with Tenzou and Raidou," Kakashi said. "We still don't know how they found us, but Danzou sent two full platoons. He definitely wanted to make sure we were dead."

"You," Genma interjected. "He wanted to make sure you were dead, Almost-Hokage-sama."

There was no rancor or accusation in Genma's tone, but Kakashi still looked as if he felt guilty about it. "Well, I might be getting old, but it will take more than a few brainwashed punks to take me out."

Genma snorted amusedly. "If you're old what does that make me?"

Sakura smiled faintly. Every once in a while, over the years, Kakashi would reveal a tiny glimpse of well-concealed arrogance. But no one could say it wasn't merited; he was a legend for a reason. She dismissively told him, "You're not old," then turned and smirked at Genma. "You, on the other hand…"

They all laughed a little. Genma seemed to want to talk now, and finished the story. "Anyway, we took them out with only a few minor injuries. We knew something bad had obviously happened so we headed straight back, but we met up with Naruto's group on the way and they explained everything."

"Protecting Naruto became the number-one priority," Kakashi said. He pulled off his eyepatch and tiredly rubbed at his Sharingan eye. With his scar and mismatched eyes revealed, he looked much more like himself. "We decided it would be best to go into hiding for a while. We never saw what happened to Konoha."

"You wouldn't want to," Sakura said. "Trust me."

They fell silent for a moment, remembering or imagining the devastation of their home. Kakashi was watching Sakura closely. "What happened with you?" he asked her.

She told them, starting from the moment Ino pulled her out of bed, confused and alarmed; their flight through the burning streets and their last stand in the woods where Ino fell; fighting until what she thought was her last breath, then waking in the interrogation room; the conversation with Danzou and his plans to turn them into his brainwashed slaves.

Shizune couldn't tell her side of the story; in fact it was too much for her to even hear Sakura tell it. She got up and walked off into the woods. Concerned and supportive, Genma quietly followed her. They wouldn't be back for some time.

Sobered by Shizune's still-raw reaction, Sakura quietly finished the story with their escape from Konoha, their struggle for survival as fugitives, and their desperate search for other survivors. Afterward they sat without speaking, staring into the crackling fire.

When she looked up she found Kakashi watching her again. He looked so different in disguise, yet still the same somehow. He wore nondescript shinobi garb: dark flexible pants and what looked like a type of ANBU boots, a belted gi with three-quarter sleeves revealing armguards and a mesh undershirt. His mask was still present but mostly concealed by a thin linen scarf wrapped loosely around his neck. He was heavily armed, including a ninjato at his back. Genma was dressed similarly. They looked something like the shinobi out of the old storybooks.

"I missed you," she said quietly. "All of you." She was thinking about the last time she saw him, in his tiny apartment during that torrential rainstorm, only a few days before Konoha fell. His eyes warmed fondly and he smiled a little before looking away. Was he remembering it too?

"We didn't go into hiding right away," he said, looking off into the darkness. "We searched for you first. For days we tried to find you, to at least find out if you escaped. But the bad weather prevented my dogs from picking up your trail. You'd just vanished, which I'm sure is what you were trying to do. It was too dangerous for Naruto to stay out in the open, and we had to give up. We all thought you were dead." He cleared his throat softly. "It was…difficult."

Sakura stared at him, unable to identify what she felt. How do you comfort someone who has already mourned your death? She couldn't fully absorb the depth of what he was telling her. She wanted to hug him, but didn't know if that was the right thing to do. "But I'm not dead. I'm here with you now," she said softly.

Kakashi looked up at her and smiled again. "Right."

She decided it was time to change the subject before they both got depressed. "So…what was your mission? The reason you were out of the village."

Kakashi briefly debated whether to tell her or not. He sighed and slumped a little, as if preparing for something unpleasant. Like her wrath. "Our mission was to find and eliminate Sasuke." He waited for it, but the cataclysmic force of an angry Sakura never came. She just stared at him— very, very intently. He proceeded with caution.

"When Tsunade woke from her coma, the council was only moments away from naming me Hokage. I was there when they met with her and brought her up to speed on all that had happened. When they finished, I reported everything I knew regarding Madara and Sasuke, including our last encounter." He studied her for signs of anger or upset, but her face was like stone. "She ordered me, then and there, to form a strong team of people I trusted who weren't too close to the situation. She said she was sick of Sasuke hurting the people she loved, and he was too much of a threat to ignore any longer." He held her gaze. "To be completely honest, I agreed with her. Enough was enough. She ordered me not to tell you or Naruto because you would try to follow us."

It was certainly not what she'd been expecting—which was light and easy conversation. He was right, though. She would have followed them. Just like he'd followed her. Sakura couldn't pretend to be outraged when she'd tried to kill Sasuke herself. Tried and failed, because she was too compassionate for her own good. Sasuke had used her sentimental heart against her and nearly killed her in turn. He didn't hesitate. Had never hesitated. Had never cared. She should be angry that this information was kept from her, but she just couldn't be this time. Enough was enough.

Stiff with tension, she asked, "Did you succeed?"

"No. We turned back after we were attacked by Root."

"You know he's missing?"

"Yes. I don't know anything about it."

Sakura regarded him steadily. "I wish you'd found him."

Kakashi couldn't think of anything to say. It was unlike her to be so hardened. It was more like him. More like Tsunade. At first he'd thought she was altered by life as a fugitive, but it was more than that. He wondered what had happened to change her so much in the past two years—or if it had started even before that.

They traveled for three more days, first heading north, then east. The weather remained hot but the topography changed drastically; dry grass plains and scrub grew greener and lusher. Trees appeared first in groves and then forests. Water sources swelled from pebbly creeks to wide, cool rivers. Animals and birds were familiar again. On the second day they crossed the border.

"We're going back into Fire country?" Sakura said, her incredulous tone demanding explanation.

"I said it was the last place we'd be expected to hide," Kakashi said simply.

"Right under Danzou's nose," Genma echoed.

"How much farther?" Shizune asked him. They were moving into higher terrain now, passing into the forested foothills.

"Tomorrow afternoon," he said.

That night they camped in the forest, and by unspoken mutual agreement they kept their conversations from getting too heavy. Admittedly that meant they were mostly quiet. There wasn't much they could talk about that didn't remind them of the situation they were in and why. The next day they slept in until midmorning and had breakfast before setting out again.

The forest grew thicker as they moved further in, toward its heart. When Sakura asked, Kakashi confirmed that they were nearing the Waterfall border. The canopy was so thick in places the sun didn't fully penetrate to the forest floor, which was covered with a thick, spongy carpet of moss. The temperature cooled by several degrees, though the lack of scorching sun was replaced by humidity. It was a completely different world than the brown, arid land Sakura and Shizune had been living in for half a year; they much preferred this one.

At a seemingly random point, Kakashi dropped his henge, and told Sakura it was safe for her to do so as well. She figured that meant they were getting close. That, and the invisible eyes she felt on them from the moment they'd crossed a stream a half mile back. She couldn't see any signs of human habitat yet, but knew they had reached the home of the resistance.

"The sentries have probably radioed ahead," Kakashi told them in a low voice; the dense wooded wilderness just made people instinctively want to be quiet. "Don't be surprised if there's a big welcome party."

And there it was: a wall of brambles, vines and ivy rising a dozen feet and spreading out in a vaguely circular arc. It was a masterfully camouflaged perimeter fence, so well made and so natural that it could only be the work of Tenzou. Sakura could only just now make it out in the dusky light, when they were only a few hundred feet away—well within an archer's range. As they got closer she spotted the two front watchtowers; wooden platforms hidden behind the brambles, where the guards could fire through the gaps. In between them there was a six foot wide break in the thorn wall, and that was where they went.

No sooner had they passed through the vine-strewn gate than their welcome party set upon them. An achingly familiar voice shouted her name, a flash of yellow darted out from one of the buildings, and then Sakura was seized, lifted, and spun by a pair of strong arms.

"Naruto!" she squealed breathlessly, holding on tight as he continued to swing her and crush her in a bear hug. He was so tall he was lifting her off her feet! She made him set her down so she could look at him, though it was kind of hard when her eyes were brimming with happy tears. He'd grown so much she wouldn't have recognized him from behind; he stood almost eye-to-eye with Kakashi. There wasn't a single stitch of orange on him; he wore the same dark and muted shades as Kakashi and Genma. Only his tanned, Kyuubi-marked face and piercing blue eyes were familiar, though even his face had changed a little. He'd become so handsome…and he looked so much like the Fourth Hokage it was almost creepy.

"Gods, Sakura…we thought…" he said thickly, his eyes glistening. His hands remained on her shoulders.

"I'm here," she said tremulously, touching his cheek. "I'm so glad to see you." A dark haired man ran up to them, and she pulled away from Naruto to embrace him tightly. "Sai!"

He was taller too, and she didn't think to be astonished that he hugged her back easily. "Sakura," he said to the top of her head, "I never thought I'd be so happy to see your ugly face."

His tone was teasing and she laughed with nostalgic mirth. And then Tenzou came up to them and she hugged him as well, much to his surprise. They hadn't had a hugging sort of relationship before, but she was too happy to care.

People were trickling out from all directions to welcome them: Shikamaru and Tenten and Lee and Kiba, Izumo and Kotetsu. So many familiar faces, though most she knew only in passing, and many others she didn't recognize. Shizune hugged Raidou with the same joyful enthusiasm as Sakura had hugged her own teammates, and then Kurenai and her daughter, then Kiba's sister Hana and even Anko. Everyone was glad to see them—two highly skilled medics, the Godaime's apprentices, and to some, treasured friends. It was the happiest the wandering kunoichi had been in a long time.

Naruto took Sakura back from the others, draping an arm over her shoulders. "Come on," he said, grinning. "I'll show you around."

The compound was constructed in the fashion of a typical ANBU camp, only much bigger. Tenzou had worked his unique ability to its limits. There was a guard house just inside the gate, a central meeting hall, a mess and kitchen—with a strange contraption over the chimneys that diffused smoke to keep it from emitting a plume that could be seen from a distance. There was a bathhouse, a cleared area for training and sparring, several rows of barracks, and even a small rec-room with a pool table that had sprung straight out of the ground. All of the buildings were made of living wood, and brilliantly camouflaged with naturally growing moss, vines, ivy netting, and even a few branches growing out of them.

"Pretty awesome, huh?" Naruto said, grinning. "It's like a kid's tree fort times a hundred. If we didn't have Tenzou we would've had to build it all by hand."

"It's amazing," Sakura agreed, still looking around in wonderment.

There were many here who had experience operating large, mobile units in the field, and the compound was so well organized there was even a quartermaster's office inside the first barracks. Naruto made arrangements for their quarters in an easy authoritative manner that was almost mesmerizing to Sakura—and Shizune too, by the strange way she looked at him. He was clearly the leader around here, and everyone obeyed him with an amiable respect.

As he led them down the dimly lit hall to their rooms at the back of the building, he said over his shoulder, "As of now you're the new chief medical officers. And we've got lots of nasty scars and wounds for you to deal with, too."

"You mean there's no one here who can treat injuries? Not even basic triage?" Shizune asked incredulously.

"Oh there is," Naruto replied flatly, his expression souring. "But unless it's an emergency most people would rather slap a bandage on themselves than deal with her."

Sakura and Shizune looked at each other questioningly, wondering who it could be, and if it was incompetence or personality that made this person unpopular.

Their quarters were the very definition of no-frills: a ten-by-ten square with a low flat shelf on one side which would be a bed once a futon was laid on it. That was it. No other furniture, not even a dresser. The tiny shuttered window was little more than a means of ventilation, because they didn't have the ability to make glass and an open hole in the wall in the forest in summer was just asking for all sorts of unpleasant insect and reptile related incidents.

The compound had access to electricity from a generator, Naruto explained, but it was only used in the communal buildings. Lighting in the barracks came from lanterns in the halls and rooms. Sakura recalled that most of the outdoor areas were lit by lantern as well, in order to cut the brightness and conceal their presence.

After they dropped off their belongings and linens, Naruto asked if they wanted dinner. Wanting to spend some time alone together, Shizune and Genma declined. Sakura went with Naruto and Kakashi back toward the central complex. Sai met up with them on the way, and the reunited team made their way to the mess hall. The many rows of tables and benches were mostly empty. Only a dozen or so shinobi sat around in small groups, chatting and eating.

Dinner was a simple fare of vegetables and a little chicken over rice. There was soup as well, but no one touched it; the evening was still too hot. The four of them sat at one of the empty tables, and Naruto immediately demanded Sakura tell them everything that had happened with her since the night Konoha fell.

She retold it for them, and realized she'd talked about that night more in the past few days than she had in two years. Maybe she could have talked about it with Shizune, but the shared loss of their master made it all the more painful. It was hard at first, when Kakashi had first asked her, but it was easier now. It felt good to get it out, to share it with people who understood. When she finished, Naruto told their story.

After meeting up with Kakashi's group, Naruto had wanted to go to Suna and seek help from the Kazekage. But they couldn't ask Hidden Sand for help, because they were in an alliance with Konoha, and Danzou's position as Hokage was sanctioned by the Fire Daimyo. Meaning it was sanctioned by the other nations' Daimyo as well. If Gaara were to help them he would have broken the treaty and started a civil war with his Daimyo. The great unprecedented shinobi alliance had tied everyone's hands. Danzou had planned for everything.

So they laid low for a while, but after a couple months it was decided that Naruto should finish his Sage training, which had been interrupted with Akatsuki's attack on Konoha and the disastrous last attempt to confront Sasuke. Knowing it was for the best because he needed to be as strong as possible to take back Konoha, he returned to the toads at Mt. Myoboku. Kakashi led the small band of fugitives for several months, finding other survivors and gathering them together. They had kept in regular communication through their summons.

"I finished my training eight months ago," Naruto concluded. "Kakashi and Tenzou set up this place while I was gone."

The teammates talked for a while longer, happy to be back together again, but eventually Kakashi and Sai both had to attend to other duties, and promising to see her later, left Sakura and Naruto at the table.

The mood slowly and very noticeably grew awkward once they were alone, the unspoken hanging between them like an invisible chain. The last time they saw each other had been embarrassing, angering, and a whole host of other unpleasant things.

Sakura picked at a few grains of rice at the bottom of her bowl, pretending to be casual and not hyper-aware of the tension. Things were weird between them and she didn't know what to do about it, but it wasn't important in the face of larger matters and she really didn't want to bring it up. Naruto kept looking at her as if waiting for her to speak and then looking away.

Unable to take it any longer, he sighed and finally confronted the issue. "Look," he said, turning to her. "We just got you back, and I don't want this weirdness to hang between us, so let's just get it out of the way."

Sakura reluctantly faced him. For her part, she'd fully intended to never speak of it again, but he obviously didn't share her outlook. Maybe he was right: they couldn't avoid it forever, and it was better to deal with it now than let it fester between them. "Okay," she said, leaving it for him to go first.

Predictably candid, he came right out with it. "I know what I said back then, but I don't regret what happened," he said. "We were hurting and we took comfort in each other. There's nothing inherently wrong with that. If things were different—" He paused, smiled gently. "You're my closest friend, Sakura, and I'll always…care for you."

Sakura wondered when he'd become so mature…and when he'd learned words like 'inherently.' "I know," she said quietly. "I feel the same. I just don't want…." She met his gaze. "Can things ever be the same between us?"

"No," he said, but he was grinning, "they can be better."

His optimism was always infectious, and she found herself smiling too. He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her. Hugging her tightly around the shoulders, he pressed a kiss to her hairline that no one could see. Sakura closed her eyes tight to keep them from watering. It was so complicated. She did love him—and knew from his pause that he loved her too. But it was the wrong kind of love. She did care for him as more than a friend, but it wasn't enough. Any relationship they had would never be more than lukewarm, and that wasn't fair to either of them.

Facing the uncomfortable issue had been a lot simpler than Sakura thought it would be. Maybe it was because they were in public, but maybe they really were just too close to let bad things stay between them for long.

They were still smiling when they parted, and Naruto took her hands. "I'm so glad you're finally here with us, Sakura-chan. None of this felt right without you."

Sakura barely detected the hint of sadness in his eyes—the lingering trace of grief from believing she was dead, which was rapidly vanishing in the reality of her presence. It surprised her that he was better at concealing it than Kakashi had been. She smiled brightly for him. "Me too," she said. "We tried so hard to find you. To find anyone. I guess we shouldn't have been so vague about our identities, but we were afraid we might be exposed to the wrong people."

"You're here now, that's what matters." His expression hardened into one she knew well: unbreakable determination. "We've been building our forces for two years, and we're almost ready. The day we take back Konoha is coming very soon."

Sakura nodded in fierce agreement. Now that she was here, safe from the uncertainty of a fugitive life, reunited with her friends and comrades, she finally believed it.

TBC