Chapter 6: Let's Exchange the Experience
-xxxxx-
'This is a dream' she reasoned with herself. An altogether cruel dream but a dream nonetheless. The sky was too blue and the grass too soft between her bare toes yet she gave a great sigh of relief and leaned back onto her elbows determined to enjoy the heartbreakingly pleasant vision around her.
Directly behind her in a position mirroring her own was Shikamaru, eyes to the sky and looking at peace with the world. Choji was beside him unpacking an impressively large picnic basket that had been no doubt provided by his mother while Ino sat to his opposite neatly braiding impossibly long corn silk hair. Asuma was standing away from his team, casting a lengthy shadow and reaching one strong arm to wrap around a pregnant Kurenai.
The genjutsu user's team lounged underneath a beautiful tree, Kiba was leaned against his giant companion Akamaru as if he were a great pillow and Shino was within the great leafy branches inspecting some insect. Hinata sat daintily and in a luxurious kimono, looking like the princess she might as well have been, slender fingers folding beautifully patterned paper into tiny cranes that circled her graceful form.
Off in the distance Lee and Gai danced around each other with incredibly fluid strikes while Neji and Tenten sat to the side fingers laced together. The pale eyes of the Hyuuga gazed at the weapon mistress in a way that was contradictory to his normal stoic tendencies as she silently flung glinting projectiles towards the two men fighting. The two men dodged the kunai with unparalleled expertise sending her matching grins of gratitude.
The trio of sand siblings watched the spar from the sidelines, Gaara in particular with a look of admiration in his eyes for the speed of the battle. Temari was languidly using her fan as a prop to keep herself up as she flicked heavily lidded eyes over towards the lazy Nara and Kankuro was sitting cross-legged mindlessly tinkering with a small human shaped puppet.
Yamato was in front of her cheerily showing off by coaxing a large table of wood from the ground as Sai's inky form was seated upon an already made stool with his paintbrush making broad strokes across a large scroll, a smile upon his face that was so small and content that Sakura could only call it true.
Her heart beat a surprisingly steady rhythm as she spied the two dark haired Uchiha brothers enjoying a friendly shuriken competition in a grove to the side covered in targets. She felt a tugging sense of self satisfaction at the absence of flutters or uneven breath when she saw deep eyes glance her way.
The buxom form of her shishou led a burdened Jiraiya towards the now formed table and placed a single sake bottle down while he unloaded the box full of the liquor. Her honeyed eyes gave his cheery ones a warm glance before they sat to enjoy the spar still taking place a little ways away.
Her silver haired sensei was perched high within the branches of a tree nearby, quickly devouring a new book in his filthy series. His two eyes alight with joy as they eagerly drank in the words on the crisp pages. Beneath him a permanently teenaged Obito and Rin leaned up upon each other, supporting the other with their weight, eyes closed in gentle slumber.
Sakura pushed herself to her feet as she glanced the brilliant coloring of the family walking up the path towards the training ground turned picnic area. A smile broke across her face as she waved towards the blond savior. Naruto returned her friendly gesture before he came to a stop at the lovely wooden table, his parents flanking him both protectively and proudly. Minato stood tall and proud, a kage jacket swaying gently in the breeze while Kushina was off to the side her impossibly long hair fluttering as well.
The quiver that she was so happy to have remained absent when she gazed upon the lithe form of Sasuke smacked her with full force as she gazed into the unbearably blue eyes of her teammate. A grin stretched across his face as he took in the sights before him and he looked so unbelievably joyful that she felt the staccato thrum of her heart threaten to overtake her.
This was a moment of pure perfection, a sight worth being someones last and she felt all of the words leave her being. She struggled to find the words to say, nothing could do the moment justice, this ephemeral sliver of time that had eluded them all for so long.
It was only then, when she moved towards him, that she noticed the utter silence within the clearing, a stillness echoed within her own lack of words. Though there were birds in the perfect blue sky they were soundless and all around her were friends and comrades enjoying it in perfect muteness. It was as if the eerily flawless day was waiting on her to make the first sound.
She took two great strides before she was in front of him, holding her shoulders back in defiance and gazing into his eyes with determination. She felt the wind blow her too long hair in a gentle caress as she tried to choose her words carefully.
"I'm going to make this happen," she started, as those beautiful eyes bored into her unflinchingly, cutting her deep within the furthest recesses of her weary soul. "Someday this will be real and we will have everyone we loved around us. I swear it to you. It will be the promise of a lifetime." She finished her vow and looked towards him hopefully for his reply, not sure if he would speak or not, knowing this was all a product of her own making.
"Oh Sakura," the vision of Naruto in front of her started, sounding sad and condescending all at once. "How do I know this isn't another lie of yours?" The clipped beat of her heart stopped entirely as she felt the air leave her lungs in one great whoosh at his words. His once happy face was twisted into a sneer directed solely towards her, eyes tinged in an awful red.
He started laughing, a deep booming thing that sounded monstrous to her ears as she watched the perfect day turn to ashes. Tears clouded her vision as she took in the horrific visage of her own making, a stormy barren wasteland with broken bodies littering the ground unendingly and those she knew at the very forefront of the massive field of carcasses.
Shikamaru's once calm and serene gaze towards the sky was now blank as a nearly crumpled cigarette hung from his lips and a stain bloomed across his chest. Choji's body was near him, littered with kunai and Ino's splayed form was even nearer still, pupiless eyes looking unendingly into the dark sky, a glinting ninja wire wrapped around her slim neck like a necklace with ruby drops dripping downwards. Asuma lye to the side, a crimson patch blossoming from his heart in nearly the same way as his lazy charges as Kurenai was curled inwards arms protectively wrapped around a small and still child.
Kiba was draped over his partner, the fur of the poor hound now a sticky red and Shino's body was burned almost beyond recognition with a pair of dark sunglasses melting into his bubbling skin. Hinata was a graceful kneeling princess, a jagged short spear protruding through her pale neck holding her in a macabre position.
Gai and Lee were both a pile of bone and muscle, bodies torn apart from the inside out from the opening of too many gates. Tenten's corpse was pale and glistening with rapidly drying sweat as Neji lye protectively over her, a great hole in the center of his chest weeping gore.
Gaara was surrounded by a halo of sand with his smaller gourd shattered into pieces and his dark rimmed eyes closed for the first time in many years. Temari's sullen figure was next to him, arms still cradling her large battle fan with her head separated and a good three paces behind and Kankuro's body was as broken and awkward as his puppets without strings.
Yamato was pale, gaunt, and simply drained of all life while Sai lye next to him. A great slash bisected him from shoulder to hip and crimson tarnished his nearly parchment white skin like a great blemish upon an ink painting.
A pale corpse with silky black hair lye peacefully and she realized that though she could see the elder Uchiha the younger was nowhere to be found. He was a specter that had all but haunted her through out the past years of her life.
Jiraiya was a wet dripping form toppled to the side like a great tree having been felled and Tsunade was a cold and wrinkled shadow of the beauty she had illusioned herself to be for so long, her strong arms draped sloppily over the white haired man next to her, blonde hair seeming almost colorless in the new gloom.
Next was Kakashi, mask still perfectly in place yet headband missing and blood streaming from his borrowed eye. A rarely used and repaired tanto clutched in his dead man's grip in a last moment of fruitless defense. His pack lye around him, alive but silent and morose in grieving as a bloodied and crushed Obito reached a still arm blindly for the form of Rin even though he had passed on himself. The smell of burning ozone wafted around the petite body of the brunette as Sakura remembered how she had come to die, a hole punched right through her small chest, edges burned from electricity.
Minato was wrapped protectively around Kushina, her bright cherry locks splayed out in a great red sheet and Sakura felt herself drop to her knees as the waves of anguish washed over her. She looked towards the boy, no man, still standing in front of her. His normally jovial expression was clouded over in hatred and anger as he looked at her in disgust, like she was no better than pond scum beneath his feet.
Sakura felt so small and the smells assaulting her made her want to retch but she held on, wanting to plead to the man who she loved that it was true, she really could make it better. She wanted to make all of the promises she could, anything to make the dreadful visions in front of her go away. Anything to keep her from seeing the terrible truth of what was her existence. She was one of the only ones left, a series of coincidences and right time right places keeping her alive rather than her own strength.
She opened her mouth to say something, anything to make it stop but found that though she moved her lips no sound escaped. No pleading could stop the horrible nightmare that she knew had once been real. Crying reached her ears and she searched for the source before realizing it had come from her. Great racking sobs escaped her as she dug her fingers into the ground as if to grab purchase.
'It wasn't a lie,' she wanted to say. 'I never lied,' she wished she could plead. 'I really do love you.' She stopped sobbing to scream only to find herself choking and gurgling on slick lifeblood as the would-be savior of the shinobi world thrust a swiftly swirling rasengan into her chest.
Sakura felt herself jolt awake, sitting up straight and taking deep gasping breaths. A cold sweat prickled at the hair on her arms and she ran towards the bathroom as the nausea from the nightmare threatened to overtake her. After quickly voiding the entire contents of her stomach, which consisted mostly of ramen, she made her way back to the bed. Sitting with her back pressed against the headboard and knees drawn up to her chest she glanced over towards the numbers glowing unnaturally bright in the dark of her room.
The glowing red digits read 3:27 am and she gave a long shuddering sigh. She knew no more sleep would be had tonight.
-xxxxx-
"That was so unbelievably reckless," the demure woman with chin length black hair chastised her patient after she was done wrestling all of her internal organs back into the correct order. To be fair the damage hadn't really been that bad it had simply felt as if it were so. Sakura gave her a shy smile, half in return for the patch job, half because she was glad to not taste blood in her mouth anymore.
"I know, but I think I have it all figured out now." She stated, not shrinking into herself at the harsh glare Shizune sent her way. "I don't have the chakra available without my seal to do it completely but if I supplement it with a seal on me rather than a full jutsu I should be able to do my modified technique." She finished with enthusiasm, eyeing her friends slumped shoulders warily.
The black eyed poison mistress took a defeated breath. "I understand," she stopped for an instant before continuing, mustering the courage for her comment. "Sakura I just can't handle seeing you that close to death anymore. We've already lost her," Shizune took a momentary breath unable to say the name of her mentor. "And we can't lose you too. Even if you think it's for the greater good."
"I'm not that important," Sakura started, "I'm no more important than anyone we have lost already." She was cut off from continuing by Shizune's voice.
"But you are," her voice wavered fleetingly "Tsunade may have been my mentor but you were her true apprentice. You were to succeed her. You inherited her strength and her seal and you were going to be in charge of the hospital." Shizune spoke without jealousy or spite only confidence. "You were going to do so many great things Sakura, and this damn war has ruined it all for everyone."
Sakura could only offer her a small smile in return, unable to voice the emotions filtering through her. Instead she cheerfully hopped off of the small cot she had been sitting on and started organizing what little medical supplies they had with forced liveliness. Once Shizune's somber form retreated fully Sakura couldn't help but look down toward her hands, once more reaffirming her earlier statement. "I'm not that important, but I know who is."
-xxxxx-
The hospital looked so strange to her. As if she was looking at a black and white photograph when she had only seen it in color. It wasn't dirty, or worn per say, just seemed to be aged in a way. The paint was a strange tan that she knew must have been popular at the time and she could see that the filing system was different. Sakura leaned back into the reception desk and took a long deep breath. 'This is what I needed,' she thought as she took in the scene around her.
The hustle and bustle of the Konoha hospital had been her refuge before they had left the village for war and she was finally starting to feel slightly grounded. As if she was finally grasping at the straws of what her life used to be. The smells of antiseptic and sounds of shifting papers acted like rose tinted glasses, blinding her to all of those differences that stood out before and she felt herself almost slipping into her role from before.
The calm that had descended over her shattered like gleaming glass as she caught sight of her would be guide. The differences that she had fooled herself into ignoring stood out in sharp contrast. It was no longer a paint color that was wrong but entire layouts, and she couldn't recognize a single person working the reception desk. She knew that shortly before she had started working in the hospital it had undergone an entire renovation and it had never been clearer until the moment she saw the purple stripes on the young girls face.
Rin Nohara was looking at her with these big doe eyes full of admiration and she felt her feet nearly move on their own. She wanted to run, avoid all of the wrongness and this Chunnin girl that was looking at her like she was the brightest star in the sky.
"Haruno-san," the young medic started before correcting herself. "I'm sorry I meant Unmeiko-san I'll be your guide to the hospital today." Rin finished speaking with formality and clarity. Sakura felt herself give a small noise of acceptance, not quite trusting her voice as the brunette started leading her around.
She attempted to look interested as teen showed her around, hoped that her face portrayed one of excitement and welcoming of new knowledge but she couldn't help but see the scene changing in front of her. Rin's voice filtered into the background, becoming a mere murmur, easily ignorable, as she prattled on about the building she was touring.
The halls became brighter and the faces of passerby's slowly shifted into ones she knew as if it were some strange double exposure from a camera. She almost followed the ghostly voice of Tsunade barking orders from the E.R. but stopped herself once she realized it was all in her head.
"Unmeiko-san" a voice called to her, so very far away, and she felt no need to reply. That wasn't her, she didn't know anybody by that name and yet that timid voice repeated it in her general direction begging for attention. "Unmeiko-san" it was more urgent now, demanding her reply and she felt the foggy vision of her beloved hospital morph and snap into startling lucidity.
She slowly turned her gaze towards the small hand resting on her arm, astounded that she hadn't instinctively reacted with violence due to how deep within her own mind she had been. Those doe eyes were staring at her again, almost annoying in their kindness and she forced herself to unclench her jaw. "I'm sorry, I kind of lost myself for a moment there. The layout of this hospital is very similar to the one I was undercover in." Sakura said, letting the lie roll off her tongue with a finesse she was sure she didn't really contain.
Sakura clenched her fist as those brown eyes turned sad, emanating an unnamable emotion and a pity that she simply didn't care to have directed at her. The change was momentary though as nearly instantaneously they lit up with a cheer Sakura could only hope to feel. "Well as I was saying our last stop will be the staff lounge where Yubina-sensei is waiting for us." At the brunette's words Sakura gave a small start, Yubina Kenko had been someone she had worked with before.
Once they reached the aforementioned room a petite woman with a kind face, honey brown hair, and delicate healer's hands greeted her. Her middle aged face held far less worries and wrinkles than the one that Sakura knew when she worked with her during the twilight years of the medic's life. She tucked back a strand of hair that was blissfully free of the dull grey Sakura was used to seeing and gave her such a gentle smile the pinkette couldn't resist giving a sincere one back.
"Unmeiko-san, nice to meet you." Yubina spoke with a soft voice, one used to many years of maternal care and Sakura remembered that she had several children and grandchildren.
Sakura interrupted her before she could continue further. "Please, just call me Sakura." She was sick of hearing that false name and didn't know how much longer she could handle it. 'I'll need to get used to it.' She thought to herself inwardly grimacing. 'It's mine now.'
The elder medic continued unperturbed. "Very well, Sakura-san. We are currently experiencing an overflow of paperwork from all of the wounded from the war. I'll have Rin show you our organization then that'll be your monster to tackle." She gave a nod of acquiescence at Yubina's words and withheld a groan.
'Well,' the pinkette thought to herself glibly, 'Tsunade did say I'd be starting at the bottom.'
-xxxxx-
Obito Uchiha gazed lovingly at the Chunnin girl next to him as he munched on a sticky sweet treat. She was recounting her day to him, going on about the strange pink haired woman that had saved his life yet he couldn't distract himself from the lovely violet stripes across her cheeks that he wanted to gently run his fingers over as he cupped her face. A wet plop of dango sliding off of a stick and landing in his lap shook him out of his dazed distraction as Rin stopped her story and gave a light giggle at his current situation. Quickly grabbing a napkin from the counter behind them he cleaned up the mess and waited for her to continue.
"It was strange thought, at one point she got this really faraway look in her eyes and didn't even hear me calling her name." Rin recalled, before lowering her voice into a near silent whisper. "I wonder if she has trauma from her time as a spy."
Obito shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "Honestly I wouldn't care if she thought the moon was a secret base for a family of rabbits, that move she did with that boulder was wicked awesome and saved us all. I owe her my life and then some." He finished, dark eyes once again lingering on the girl next to him.
"You're right," she said before she licked a bit of tacky syrup from the corner of her lip "besides I guess it is kind of cool that she is so secretive." Her brown eyes glanced towards a small clock hanging on the wall of the treat stand they had been eating at. "Oh, we are almost late for our meeting with sensei." With that Rin hopped up and started off towards the training fields.
Obito tried not to watch her backside as she left, but in his attempts to pointedly look away he didn't notice the small child running in front of him with a handful of dango sticks. Turning to follow her he stepped off of his stool and right into the kid, sending the little boy to the ground and the syrupy sweet smearing all over his clothes.
After buying the kid some more dango he looked down at his now sticky clothes and knew that he was going to have to change. Obito gave a small sigh of disappointment knowing that no one was going to believe this excuse before pulling down his goggles and jumping across rooftops at full speed. He just knew he was going to be late now.
-xxxxx-
Sakura was beginning to really understand where Ino got her sadistic streak. After her unbearably boring shift at the hospital she had followed Inoichi through the city fully expecting to see a few small apartments only to find herself inside the very one she had been admiring the day before. He had given a grin as he swung the door to a now empty place open and she walked in slowly taking in the layout of the space once again.
The walls were a lovely pale yellow that bounced the natural light from the large window around the empty area. The living space consisted of a large living room and dining room that led towards a well equipped kitchen, to the left a short hallway led to undoubtedly a bedroom and bath while a small closet was on the right next to the door. It was very obvious that this apartment had cost a pretty bit of coin even in this time and was very influenced by the modern tendencies of the age.
"You realize there is no way I can afford someplace that Tsunade was renting right?" she glowered at him and he gave her a cheery finger wag in return.
"Tsk, tsk" he started and she was really starting to regret seeing the similarities in the two Yamanakas. "Didn't I tell you that the Hokage was giving you a stipend? Not that that matters anyways, Tsunade owns this unit and said you could stay here while she was gone." Sakura felt herself gaping at the blonds words. Tsunade hadn't seemed overly fond of her last they spoke.
Despite the sannin's frosty attitude towards her when they last parted ways she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, slipping off her boots at the door she made her way towards the kitchen before digging into the empty drawers.
"The place is already empty, I double checked earlier so I doubt you'll find anything interesting." Inoichi stated walking over and leaning one elbow on the small counter that separated the living area from the kitchen. Pointedly ignoring the man she continued her search until she found her prize.
Pulling a long forgotten bottle of sake from deep within the cabinets Sakura turned towards her new friend ignoring his surprised eyebrows and took a long drink from the bottle. "I know her well enough to know that she always forgot where she stashed this stuff, there was bound to be some in this place somewhere." Sakura reasoned, mentally chiding herself for drinking the alcohol so impolitely but she was still adjusting to the situation and this was taking the edge off, as long as she didn't descend into full blown alcoholic status like her mentor she'd be fine.
"Anyways," she started pinning down her companion with a green eyed stare. "This brings up a whole other set of problems. I was hoping to find a furnished place and now I'm going to have to figure out how to get a whole apartment taken care of." She knew he had stated she would be receiving money from the village but it wouldn't really be enough to buy her an entire homes worth of things, clothes, and furniture.
Inoichi's pupil-less blue eyes crinkled in delight as his lips raised in a happy smile and she suddenly was hit with a wave of nostalgia so intense she felt as if she was drowning in front of the man who was reminding her so very much of her best friend. "Already taken care of. Tsunade had all of her things put into storage instead of sold and said you can use those too." He stated happily before holding up a single finger. "Except one thing, she said you'll need a new bed. Something about not wanting to know what that pervert would write in his books if he ever found out another woman had slept in hers." As he finished Sakura felt a small bubble of absurdity burst forward.
The small giggle that had started quickly devolved into all out laughter as she thought over the sentence. It really would be just like Jiraiya to use something so literal as influence on his filthy stories. Inoichi fixed her with a questioning glance before she waved him off with a mumbled "You'd have to know him to understand." His blond ponytail gave a quick bounce as he nodded in acceptance.
"Anyways I had a team sent over to get her furniture and kitchen things out of storage before I came to get you, they should be here anytime." As he finished she felt a familiar sense of dread pool deep within her stomach quickly recalling an offhand comment Rin said about having to do some small missions after her shift today.
"Inoichi," she started, exerting force to keep her voice level and unflustered. "Which team did you get?" It may seem like an overreaction yet she could feel the first dredges of panic seeping into her at the thought of seeing her sensei so young and cold again and the man that so fiercely reminded her of her blue eyed teammate.
Before he could answer a sharp rap from the door cut through the companionable quiet the two had been enjoying. He walked towards the door to see who it may have been and threw a reply over his shoulder. "I got Minato's team, I figured since you've met them already it'd be a bit better."
As she watched a blond Jonin and his team bring in box after box while two members traded barbs with each other about Obito's lateness she came upon a decision. While Ino may have had a sadistic streak a mile wide Inoichi's was twice as extensive and worse yet it was completely unintentional.
-xxxxx-
"You want me to what?" Sakura shouted, she felt her body tense up in apprehension before she jumped to her feet and and began pacing in front of the large rich mahogany desk.
The Hokage looked at her warily before repeating himself. "I want you to join ANBU." She shuffled back towards his desk and plopped back into her chair, the nervous energy having worked itself from her system. After having settled into her new lodging and letting Inoichi get back to his wife she was greeted by an unknown mask and told to meet the village's leader. Being the generally rule abiding shinobi she was she found herself in the old man's office just as the sun was setting over the horizon expecting to go over some of the information she had given him previously. What she did not expect however was being told to join the prestigious black ops program when she had only been in the village a matter of days.
"Why?" she asked, elongating the word as one would when they didn't trust what the answer would be. He shuffled the a large stack of paperwork around, some written in her hand some in his before finding the sheet he was looking for. She knew her eyes held some frostiness towards the man at the sudden request of her, it was honestly something she never saw herself doing before the war, and tried to soften her gaze. She knew whatever reason he would come up with was for the best.
"If we are going to disband Root I'm going to need someone on the inside. The only way you will catch Danzo's attention is," he stopped immediately, holding a hand aloft towards her in an effort to keep her from speaking as well. She heard the knock on the heavy office door and understood the need for caution. Hiruzen gave a soft "Come in" towards the entry and lost some of his stiffness when a young teen that looked uncomfortably familiar came in holding a bag that seemed to be take-away, and enough for two people at that.
Dark eyes regarded her warily before turning towards the Hokage speaking to him in a rather careless tone. "Kaa-san wants to know if you'll be home tonight." A jolt shook her at his words and voice and she looked towards the mystery person once more, aging him and adding facial hair. He looked to be around fourteen and had the unevenly pitched voice of a boy in the midst of puberty. The contextual clues finally added up and she realized that the boy standing in front of her was Asuma Sarutobi. She found herself giving him a kind head nod and warm smile before his father answered his query.
Hiruzen glanced towards the clock on the wall and back towards his paperwork before responding. "Tell her I won't be too long," he said standing up to walk his son out.
"Thank you for the delivery, I know it was on short notice." At his words the teen gave a quick humph and nearly skulked towards the door, only giving an over the shoulder wave as acceptance before leaving.
Sakura quickly dug into the offered food, having been called to the meeting before she had a chance to buy some groceries. She recalled now the strained relationship with his father that Asuma once told her and Ino about long ago during a mission with him that involved the Twelve Guardian Ninja, before the Akatsuki came about and had made everything so much harder. She wished she could tell Hiruzen that their relationship did finally smooth but was unsure of how to broach the subject.
"As I was saying," he picked back up after enjoying a few bites of his meal. "Being in ANBU is the most efficient way of putting yourself on Danzo's radar. It shows that you are trusted by the village and a capable shinobi on your own merits." He finished looking towards her and plucking a perfectly cooked piece of meat from his plate waiting for her response.
She glanced down towards her own take-away contemplatively, she knew that the best way to incriminate Danzo was to gain his trust and the best way to gain his trust was to be appealing enough to enter his organization. "I understand your thoughts, and it makes sense in a way, but I just worry about the timing. Won't he think it's too convenient?" she asked accidentally spearing a piece of beef on her chopstick with more force than necessary.
"Nonsense," he started, placing his food to the side for the time being. "As long as we wait a week or so it'll just look as if you came back from a very extensive high stress undercover assignment and found working a shift at the hospital to be too mundane for you anymore." He paused and took a moment to glance out of the windows before continuing. "Sadly it is something that is seen often. Anyway I am confident in the work Inoichi and I have done to make your backstory believable, you should have an ironclad persona."
She nodded to him, somewhat mollified by his response. It would make sense, and she knew that with him at the helm of all of the ANBU registration and testing she would be a shoe in. She also probably wouldn't be taking many dangerous operations if he played the mission desk properly. With a great huff of resignation she gave him the answer he had been wanting all night. "Alright, I'll do it."
With the next steps in their plan set in motion they spent a good hour or so going over details and nuances before she was finally released just as the sun dipped under the horizon. As she walked through the village admiring its beauty in the twilight glow she shuffled the small scroll from hand to hand thoughtlessly. Within the scroll was a standard registration form for the black ops that she was to fill out within the coming few weeks and yet it felt as if it were such a heavy weight.
She tried to distract herself from the situation at hand, even if only for a moment. She slowed her pace to a stroll, observing the shinobi and civilians she passed as if they were characters in some stage show. She still thought of them as those that lived in the past, like she was a mere visitor to their homes. It was an oddity that despite her growing friendships she still felt like the outsider and she knew with time it would stop, but only when she could accept the truth. From now on this wasn't the past, she was now officially in the history books of her time, and her timeline had been so monumentally changed the moment she appeared here that it very well didn't exist anymore.
'This is my home now.' she thought, sending it clanging around her head and hearing it echo within as if she yelled it in a cave. It was a realization she hadn't quite admitted to herself dispute the knowledge she couldn't get back to her own time period. She could never have her friends back as friends. With the new age difference imposed upon them she would be more of a mentor than a companion.
'Maybe when this is all said and done I can get a job at the academy' she mused. It would be a nice position, something well suited to her academic mind, and she would be able to still see all of the shinobi she grew up with. It would be an easy occupation that was for sure, one far away from the hustle and bustle of the hospital and much calmer than being sent on mission after mission out of the village.
A fleeting thought danced across her mind, one that sent a momentary shiver of panic through her body. What would happen when she was born? She shook the question away, her mind was thick with difficulties to tackle as it was and that was something she simply didn't have the answer
Instead she returned to more immediate thoughts, like those of how the silver haired Hatake still eyed her with suspicion but slightly less open hostility or how she was growing fond of the bright Uchiha that consistently pushed Kakashi to be more friendly. She had been so concerned with the grand sweeping changes she was making sure to make that she had forgotten about the small influences other people made on each other.
Smiling to herself she continued her trek towards her new residence, happy that some changes were taking effect already.
