Roller Coaster
Summary: Because she reached heights that were never her goals and when she was ready to take on the world alone she found their shadows to stand beside her. Because when she found her heart, she was prepared to let him go. Sakura centered Time travel fic.
Chapter Five (Part three): Needs you as a friend
Side note: Writing in the file/letter are in italics, the normal script is Kakashi's comments/thoughts on what is written.
"Why were you so persistent in me getting closer to Sakura?" Kakashi asked the Third as he paced before the Hokage's desk. Everything that the girl had told him had become a jumbled mess of thoughts that were resisting the inevitable process of being comprehendible.
"Because she needs you as a sensei but even more so as a friend. I'm worried about her, she lost everyone that she loved before and by getting here." Sarutobi explained before handing a file to Kakashi, the elder man's hand shook slightly from age. "You should look at that. The file is Sakura's general file, her team and mission files are in my possession. They came the day after she arrived."
Kakashi took the file home with him, unsure of how he felt about the very common looking manila folder. As always his apartment was bare. His entrance from the hallway brought him into an open area that had a couch, chair, coffee table, and a lamp. On the one window sill there was two pictures. The picture of his genin team rested behind the glass of a frame he scarcely remembered buying. The second picture was taken only recently and rested against the window in an attempt to keep the picture from falling over. Maybe he would buy a frame eventually but that thought was unimportant. Kakashi studied the picture carefully, he never would have suspected that her secret was as grand as it is. Was she really that good at acting?
Kakashi stopped his scrutiny of the picture out of nothing but curiosity of the file in his possession. Slouching into the high backed cushioned chair, he turned the light on and began to read.
Name: Haruno Sakura
Gender: Female
Date of Birth: March 28th
Hair color: Pink
Eye color: Green
Blood Type: O
Home Village: Leaf
Current address: Hokage's building
Family: Deceased (I'm as good as family and so is Naruto! -Tsunade.) Kakashi chuckled at the women's fierce script. From what he remembered of his brief meetings with Lady Tsunade, her handwriting matched her character.
Genin Team: Team seven- Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sauske (Later replace by Sai), Haruno Sakura and Hatake Kakashi ( Yamato serves as a replacement at times.)
Rank Elevation:
-Genin: 12
-Apprentice of 5th Hokage
-Chunin: 13
-Jonin: 16
-ANBU (Medic): 17
-Head medic at hospital (replacing Tsunade): 17
-Acting Hokage: 20
-Hokage: 21
Missions: Stopped active duty at 19
-D Rank: 23
-C Rank: 38
-B Rank: 42
-A Rank: 104
-S Rank: 31
Instructors:
-Academy: Unmino Iruka
-Genin: Hatake Kakashi
-Apprenticeship: Tsunade the fifth Hokage
-Additional training: Like hell I am listing all them names. The girl is a sweetheart with a punch, if a person trains, she has trained with them. Moving on. (Tsunade) He had to wonder if the Hokage's made comments on everyone's files. This could not be normal.
Summoning contract: Slugs
-Minor contract: Dogs Kakashi couldn't remember if she had mentioned that she has sighed on his contract. Had she and this just proved he was getting old.
Distinctive abilities: Summoning, Chakra enhanced strength (Mini Tsunade -Jiraiya.), Numerous high ranking classified medical jutsus, (many self created. The girl surpassed me at 18! -Tsunade.), Shadow clones, Rasengan, Chidori, Multiple of the forth's sealing jutsus, creation rebirth (her diamond is on her left palm -Tsunade.), and much more!
Bloodline: None. However, Sakura's chakra had created an alter ego taking on all the emotions she suppressed. As she grew Sakura adapted this alter ego into a fighting weapon. I do not know the extent of the abilities but they range from 'inner Sakura' on guard when Sakura is sleeping to the pair have separate chakra sources. We also have reason to believe that this might be the key to defeating the final stage of the Sharingan. This might be the beginning of a bloodline. (-Tsunade and Jiraiya)
Note- Was written in Jiraiya's writing, Her file has not be updated since she became Hokage. Good luck past selves.
He didn't have any comments, vocal or otherwise, for the last two paragraphs. Well, maybe something along the lines of, 'damn'. But the surprises kept coming and behind the general issued file there was a letter. A letter apparently written by his own hand,
If everything goes as planned then this letter is being read by the Third Hokage. My name is Hatake Kakashi and I can tell you that the girl who just arrived is who she says she is. Sakura doesn't know about the file or the letters and it would be prudent not to tell her. It is important that this letter gets to my current self. The other two letters that come after this one are for yourself and the current Jiraiya.
If your reading this then the Hokage somehow has tricked Sakura into telling you what is going on. I don't envy the man, Sakura is about to make his life hell. The point is, I know that Sakura will hide her past for as long as possible. In her mind this is her way of not making you deal with your future.
What's important is Sakura wont allow certain events to occur. Events she may or may not have told you about. I don't mean in anyway that she is untrustworthy. I am secure in out decision to entrust all of our lives to her. However, Sakura is very good at not telling the whole truth if she things that it will protect the other party. Therefore, these letters were written. One of the main things that she is meant to stop is Sauske's defection from the village. Sauske runs off and joins up with Orochimaru after I had spent my time favoring Sauske over your other two students. It is a big hit to all of the team, more than I think you will realize for a long time. I suspect that Sakura is already working her magic. By now Sauske is probably being more social then he ever had been with us. Naruto will finally realize what having a family is like and she is making you question everything you ever thought before.
On the matter of Sauske, I recommend continuing to teach him. He needs to know he can find the power to beat Itachi within the village. By what you know from Sakura you are most likely convinced that you shouldn't teach him your Chidori. You should, be comforted knowing that Jiraiya, Sakura and I created a fairly simply jutsu that nullifies the effects of the Chidori. Sakura can teach you and Naruto if worse comes to worse.
As for Naruto, believe in him. I remember when I met him, he did that stupid eraser stunt. I allowed myself to be hit because I did not want a genin team. What I didn't realize at the time is that their first impression of me and my first impression of them stuck with us. I never gave Naruto the credit he deserved. After each idiotic stunt that proved what a great ninja he would become I never gave him the credit he earned. Naruto should have been Hokage and I know that Sakura will make that happen. Don't worry too much about Naruto, even after what you have been told. Jiraiya does a good job with him. Just teach him what you can, focus on chakra control and restraint before you hand him over. But always be there for him as a friend and as his family.
I'm sure one thing Sakura would have never told you is that you are dead. The jutsu that we used to send her back needed her and Jiraiya to perform. The plan is, if things start looking like we are going to lose I will take our strongest summons and take down as many of our opponents as I can. Jiraiya and I made a kamikaze jutsu for me to use. I don't know if Sakura will know about it by the time she leaves but I really hope not. I think that it just might destroy her, especially because their jutsu is at the cost of Jiraiya's life, a fact she is aware of.
Out of all three of them, my failure as a teacher is with Sakura. She will never admit that I failed her but I did, so many times. I knew from the first real mission we had that she had chakra control, perfect chakra control. Sakura had gotten the tree walking exercise on her first try, a feat that no one in Kohana had ever accomplished. Having Naruto and Sauske on my first, well only, genin team confused me. It wasn't until later that I realized that things I had considered Sakura lacking had been the things I was supposed to have taught her. She hadn't been lacking in anything, Sakura was able to do everything a academy graduate was supposed to know how to do. But, I had Naruto with his endless chakra reserves and Sauske with his blood limit and obsessively improved skills. She paled in comparison. Once Tsunade-Sama took Sakura under her wing the whole village watched as she excelled through her medical training. I grew increasingly ashamed. All Sakura had needed was the guidance I had never given her. Often I would wonder if things would have been different, if I had told her that the record for tree climbing had been by Uchiha Itachi on the second try, would she have believed in herself? At the time I hadn't wanted her to develop a big ego but I think it would have been just what she needed to flourish.
All three of them surpassed their respected teachers. Had they done so as a team I think that they would have been labeled as the new Sannin, not that it was a thing that mattered to any of them. When I respect each of them and Kami knows I see them all as family I think Sakura would have been the only one to deserve that title. Naruto deserved the title Hokage but not a title claiming her was better then Jiraiya. The Sannin all gained their power on their own merit and that was not the case with the boys. Naruto had the aid of his nine-tailed fox chakra and Sauske had the enhancement of the cursed seal. Only Sakura reached that level by her own strength and I am so proud of her.
I guess I am getting a but sentimental. One way or another I am going to die and I guess the only reason I am writing this is as a will of sorts. I am about to ask a lot of you but seeing as you are myself I know you wont mind. Well, you wont mind once you think on the matter and comprehend everything fully.
Right now you are sitting in that cushioned brown chair. The silver self standing lamp is right over your shoulder and the actual file is sitting on the table as you recline and read this message. I don't know why it is important for me to tell you this. I think that it might just be to establish the fact that we still think the same. Maybe because I know that this letter is so out of character that I might not have believed it myself. Death is funny, I never thought so before. Death had always been something that was going to happen someday when I got sloppy or when my Kage told me it was time to pay the price for my village. I never knew when I was going to die which made it okay. I have never feared death but knowing exactly when it is going to happen makes things a bit different. Hence this letter. Well, yeah, onto what I was saying.
Sakura is about to take the world on single handedly. She probably has a mental list that is looking something like this:
- Get Sauske to be less emo.
- Let Naruto know that he has family.
-Talk with summons.
- Don't let Kakashi overuse his Sharingan.
-Save Haku for Naruto.
-Don't let Sauske get the curse mark.
-Bring down Kabuto.
-Save the Third.
-Get through to Gaara.
-Prevent the attack during the Chunin exams.
And that is only in the next few months. Sakura is going to need help and more importantly someone who loves her and knows what she is more then a twelve year old who thinks she has the weight of the world on her shoulders. She needs you.
Remember all those times that you wondered what it would be like if Obito had survived. All of those images of having a best friend, something more than a rival. Sakura fills that role to an extent you wont comprehend until she opens up completely to you. She is the little sister I never had and she matters more to me then anything in the world.
She really doesn't need you for training. To be honest you can't even perform half of the jutsus she uses. Most of the stuff Tsunade-sama taught her needs perfect chakra control. What's sort of amusing is the numerous jutsus she created all need perfect control, even when it didn't need to be necessary. She just wanted to make sure that the Sharingan couldn't copy her attacks because she knew one way or another she would end up toe to toe with a Sharingan user. No, she doesn't need training because all she is going to have to do is increase her reserves by meditation and her speed by practice. Sakura is just going to need you to sit next to her when she thinks. You are going to have to make sure she remembers to eat and actually goes home at night. Don't worry about the amount of sleep she gets, she deals with that by her creepy Inner Sakura abilities. Just be there for her.
Sakura lost everyone, more so than you did. She lost her family and friends like you but she also lost her husband, the village she swore to protect, along with everything she has ever known. Sakura probably feels like she left her comrades. To her that abandonment is just as serious a offence as you believe it to be. I need to make sure that you will make sure that she will cry. I need to know that you wont let her lock herself up in the Hokage's office doing paperwork. She is probably there all the time because it is the only normal thing for her, having done said paperwork since she was sixteen.
Please, take care of her.
Hatake Kakashi.
Signed with a print of Pakkun's paw.
"You seem upset." An observer to her left spoke.
"Just thinking. What are you doing here? I thought that you hate ramen." Sakura knew that Sauske did actually enjoy the occasional ramen. A fact that he would never willingly admit to. Sakura smiled lightly, teasing Sauske was just so much fun.
"I do hate ramen. It's probably the reason Naruto is such a dobe." The Uchiha answered stubbornly.
"For one, I happen to be eating ramen!" She protested with a light glare because she was not happy with the indirect insult. "Secondly, Naruto is not a dobe and you have never answered why you are here." She continued good naturedly but she still has an air of sadness surrounding her person.
"You looked like you could use a friend." Sauske replied painfully slowly.
"You know I really think I could." The girl smiled as she put money on the counter. Sakura then got up to leave surprising Sauske as she asked, "aren't you coming?" She did feel a moment of guilt as she realized he had thought she was leaving to find Naruto.
"Where do you want to go?"
"Hn."
"Training ground ten here we come." She said cheerfully as she let out one of the most natural laughs she had issued since she came into this time. Maybe Sauske's company was what she had needed to lift her spirits.
"Sorry to interrupt but I'm afraid I am going to have to steal Sakura from you Sauske." Kakashi spoke with his normal eye crease. Sauske didn't particularly like this new development but didn't protest.
"I'm glad to see that you are still talking to me." Sakura remarked honestly once they reached the Hokage's monument.
"Of course I am." He responded lightly. "Why wouldn't I be?" He questioned sitting down on the sun warmed stone.
"I've lied to you." For the first time Kakashi looked at his teammate and realized how lost and insecure the girl before him must feel.
"We're ninja, lying is what we do." Kakashi supplied taking out his book. "I got a letter from myself." He added in an airy manner.
"Ah, the understanding act is explained." Sarcasm masked her disappointment.
"Not really, I'm not going to treat you any differently then I have since I became your sensei. But I will be around."
One of the leaves left in the wake of Kakashi's departure was rolled between her fingers. For the first time since her arrival in the past, she finally found herself able to relax. The never ending swirling of emotions seemed to melt away. She had almost forgotten what it had felt like to not rely on meditation to breathe easily.
