The world around her was on fire. Voices were yelling orders for water natured people to put it out. The sounds of metal hitting metal or flesh lay beneath that. Someone scooped her up and started running. They were cursing and questioning why a civillian had been here.

"Who are you, anyway?" the man carrying her demanded.

"Ha.. Haruno...Sakura," she gasped, nursing a pain in her ribs. It felt like something had sat on her and crunched a few bones. Concentrating, she called up her healing chakra and worked on her own body.

"Haruno?" The man sounded as if he didn't believe her. "All right... Who is Hokage?"

"What?" she asked, confused.

"I'm just checking something. I can feel you using chakra. Are you a medic?"

"Yes..."

"Then why are you dressed like this out here?"

"Didn't mean to be here now..."

"So, I'm going to ask you again. Who is the Hokage?"

Sakura looked up at the man, seeing silver hair pulled back into a pony tail, coal grey eyes, squared jaw, but otherwise unfamilliar. She guessed he looked a bit like Jiro in some ways. "Are you a Hatake?"

"Yes. Hatake Sakumo."

The name sounded familliar, but she couldn't remember why. At the moment, though, it didn't matter. She could be honest with him. "When I left my home, there were six Hokage. The sixth was my husband, a Hatake."
Sakumo stopped dead in his tracks. "Right now, there are three. Are you telling me that you're actually...?"

"Yes." Sakura pushed away from him, standing on her own two wobbly legs. "Please, in a couple decades, I'll be going by the name Namikaze Sakura. Maybe I should use that now, too."

"It's been a long time since I've encountered someone like you," he grabbed her arm and helped her move forward a few paces, towards a large gate. "Right now, I need to get you home, then get back out here. You need to rest. Then we can talk."

"What happened?"

"We're at war with Earth and Rain. They have attacked."

"I can help the wounded." she insisted.

"You will do no such thing. My son will watch over you at home. When I get back from this, we will talk. Understood?"

"I don't care," she growled. "I don't want to see any kids right now."

"Too bad. Unless you're planning on killing the only person who can help you right now- Good luck trying by the way- you're stuck with my plan."

She gave him a cold, hard stare. "I can kill you if I damn well please."

"I doubt it," he gave her a slight shove, and she toppled forward, face first into muddy ground filled with ash. The water types had already soaked the area, it seemed. He didn't give her a chance to respond, instead picking her up,throwing her over his shoulder, and sprinting through the gate.

There was a shower running, and the smell of baked sweet potatoes. The touch of crocheted blanket, and darkness except for a couple candles on a low table in the center of the room that only illuminated the immideate scrolls and a tea cup.

"Daaad... Are we ever going to get power again?" a kid whined from somewhere near by. Sakrua realised now that the shower had been shut off seconds before the kid spoke.

"Why do you care?" the response came from somewhere closer. "We can still cook, and have hot water. "I figured you'd find those to be luxuries by now. Or did your sensei lie to me when he said you faired just fine on the week-long survival training test?"

"You know I can give us proper lights for a while," the kid groused. "It would be nice for a change."

"And I know you can't maintain your elemental chakra long enough to power one room for more than an hour."

"But it would be good training, right?"

"Kakashi-kun," the man sighed. "What happens if you do that, wear yourself out, and the enemy breaks in again while you're still recovering your strength?"

"I know, I know," the child let out a frustrated sigh of his own. "Are Aunt Tsunade and Uncle Jiraiya and Uncle Orochimaru coming by tonight? You cooked more than we need."

"Not much more. We only have one guest. I don't know when your Uncles and Aunt will be home again."

"Why is our guest a stranger? What kind of clothes are those? They look really old!"

"That's what I intend to find out. Go see if she is awake yet. She must be hungry like us."

Sakura sat up before the child entered the room. Kakashi, the man had called him. And the man? Was it Sakumo that she met earlier? Why were they talking about the Sannin like family? Well, Jiraiya, she could understand, but the others?

"Yep!" Kakashi yelled to the elder Hatake, "She's awake! Can we eat now? Come on, lady, there's more light in the kitchen. Dad got some old oil lamps years ago when some flooding took out the power for a week. We're using them again since Iwa hit our power stations last month. But, you already knew that, didn't you? I mean... you're not an Iwa-nin are you?"

Kakashi... child. Kakashi... talkative. This just wasn't computing for her right now. What she remembered of him was not this. He was reserved in the presence of others, damn near silent, if not completely silent, with strangers he wasn't forced to deal with for a mission or as part of his duties as Hokage. Of course, that was a very long time ago for her, and a very long time in the future for this kid. This kid would someday be the man she knew before, but it would take a whole lot of life and battle, and loss to get him there.

"No, I'm from Konoha," Sakura managed to answer, clearing her thoughts and remembering the last question he asked. "Dinner smells wonderful, by the way."

"It better, because it's just like Mom used to make it. Dad learned a lot from my mom, including how to cook."

"Is that so?" Sakura reached out and forced herself to ruffle the child's already messy hair. "Then why couldn't she teach you how to brush that mop properly?"

"Cut it out!" little Kakashi reached up and gave her hand a mild shock.

Sakura took pause on that. No, it wasn't anything like Chidori. She had to remind herself that it would be his team captain, Minato, that would show him Rasengan first, and then Kakashi would create Chidori. Still, the kid could hurt someone if he put enough power into that zap. Sakura had every reason to believe that what he gave her was a tiny warning shot even if he was just a little kid barely out of training pants.

"Kakashi, stop playing with our guest and let her come eat something," Sakumo reminded from the kitchen. The kitchen itself was just around a corner. Now that her eye sight had adjusted to the very low level of light, Sakura was picking up on the layout of things. It was certainly different from what she vaguely remembered.

Little Kakashi marched out, waving for Sakura to follow him.

And it was round three in Sakura's life of explaining. She opened up to Sakumo and Kakashi about everything, everything except the name of her first husband and the father of her children. She didn't have to say anything she didn't want to. The problem was that she wanted to say everything. She wanted to rush off and find her son. She wanted to know where Jiraiya was. She wanted to get back in time and find her daughter to save her life. She wanted to say and do so very many things all at once that she only remembered to eat when Sakumo told her how little she had touched even her tea.

"Well, I can tell you this much," Sakumo leaned back in his chair, "Jiraiya has elected to stay in Rain for the time being. He has found some orphan children and decided to help them learn to survive on their own. As for your son, he is a Chunin these days, and keeps getting sent to defend Fire from Earth. It seems he has a knack for it and has earned himself a nickname. They're calling him the Yellow Flash now."

"Can you give me any information on when either of them will be back home?" Sakura begged.
"Unfortunately no," Sakumo leaned forward again. "I can have someone alert me when they check in at the gate next, but it could be hours from the time they arrive to the time I get the news. At that point, they may already have been sent out again. Of course, you know how war works."

"I've only ever been in two battles on home ground," Sakura admitted. "I mean, right here in Konoha. I've never had to deal with it being close, but not directly on top of us before. The war itself lasted a few days and in another country. It took longer to get there, and even longer to come home, than it did to fight it. None of us ever came back home only to be sent out again, unless we were part of the supply runners. I wasn't."

"That's right, you did say you were part of two groups at different points. Mainly a medic, and then a part of the close range corps."

"Yes, and then your son ends up saving me from a lava pit in another dimension," Sakura remembered randomly, barely recognizing that she said that out loud.

"Say what?" Kakashi jumped up, now standing in his chair. "I'm not going to any lava pits, lady! Save yourself!"
"What if it were your dad?" Sakura asked, raising a brow at the kid. "Or Gai? You would save them wouldn't you?"

"Well, yeah, because Dad is family and Gai is on my side..."

"You will be a team leader one day, Kakashi-kun. My captain. What kind of captain doesn't protect his subordinates?"

The child may not have caught on, but Sakumo did. Sakura never told them the name of her captain, the sixth Hokage, or her husband because they were all the same person. She left out several names, but had mentioned that those three were, in fact, the same man. He really hoped the boy didn't get it.

"Oh... Yeah. Fine, I'll save you, but only because of that!"

"I doubt you'll remember that in almost thirty years," Sakura scoffed.

"Kakashi," Sakumo stood and gathered up his and his son's plates. "Time for you to go to bed. Sakura-san and I have a few more things to discuss that aren't for your ears."

"But, Dad, my bed time isn't for another twenty minutes," Kakashi pouted.

"Then spend that time brushing your teeth and changing the sheets on your bed."

"Then you have to sing me to sleep."

"I promise to sing you to sleep if you re-make your bed."

"What do I get for brushing my teeth?"

Sakumo fixed his child with a look Sakura remembered using on her own children. "You get to keep your teeth another day. Dirty teeth are sick teeth. What happens to sick teeth?"

"They die and fall out of your head."

"Then brush them. You only get two sets, and the first is just as important as the second."

"Fine fine..."

Sakura watched the child slink off to do as he was told before questioning. "How old is he right now?"

"He's six," Sakumo looked back at the dishes in his hands. "Don't let that fool you, though. He is a Genin and already as versitile and capable as a Tokubetsu Jonin. The only things holding him back are maturity and physical size."

"I believe you," Sakura looked him in the eyes. "When my kids were six, they were already advanced compared to the kids of the village. I had to tell them to hold back, to hide just how good they were at lessons, or the Daimyo would take them sooner."

"The Daimyo wanted to take your children from you?"

"It was a quid pro quo. He would use Hatake and Haruno that could travel through time for his own purposes, and he would pay the clans with aid on the farms, extra soldiers to protect the borders, and by ordering most of the produce."

"How old were the kids usually taken?"

"Fourteen at the youngest... until my babies..." Sakura was choking up now, the wound was still so fresh. "They were twelve!"

"Hey, hey, shh..." Sakumo slid into the bench seat next to her, putting an arm around her shoulders and giving her a firm, but gentle squeeze. "I have every faith you will see them again. Somehow, some time. You will."

Sakura buried her face into his shoulder, "Yoriko is dead..."

Sakumo pulled away a little to look at her, "She doesn't have to be. I know that in general, changing the time line is frowned upon, but maybe we shouldn't listen to all the rules all the time, right? Some things, like children, are more important."

Speaking of children, Kakashi was yelling down the hall that he was ready for bed.

Two days passed. Kakashi was staying with the Inuzaka clan, and Sakura was keeping a low profile, pretending to be a new maid for the Hatake family the one time someone questioned her about being there alone. The man laughed and patted her shoulder roughly.

"Good luck there, woman! A kid and a widdower? You're probably the first non-active shinobi to set foot in there in years!"

Active shinobi usually had the worst kept homes. Take out containers sat everywhere, some with unfinished food rotting away still inside. Ripped, dirty, even bloody clothes never made it to the trash or burn pile. Dirty and clean clothing sat here and there in nondescript piles only the owner could make sense of. Sakura understood the man's comment very well, but the man didn't understand the Hatake family at all.

Their home stayed mostly clean. Every time they had the energy, they cooked their own meals. Every time they cooked, they cleaned up after. Their clothing may not always be washed, but, when washed, always ended up put away properly. General dusting and window washing may be ignored, but floors were clear and swept. They simply went without any carpeting in order to make it quicker to clean.

"I think I can handle it," she smiled at him. "I have two kids of my own and have lived with shinobi most of my life."

The thing that Sakura was having the most trouble with was the silence. An empty house was a lonely house. She wasn't sure how to handle it the first day, but, that evening, she found a record player. It had been a very long time since she'd seen one, so it took her a while to work it out.

Once the music started pouring out, Sakura fell over backwards in shock. Other than the occasional singing of a neighbor in the old world, Sakura hadn't heard music in twelve years. Realization of this, and the stringed notes assaulting her ears in harmony, washed over her in a gigantic wave. She sat there on her ass and started crying. The LP ran out on the first side long before she stopped crying and gathered her strength to change it over.
Waving goodbye to the man, Sakura entered the yard and made her way up to the porch. A moment of deja vu hit her hard. There was a small smear of blood near the door handle. Upon more inspection, she saw a tiny trail of droplets on the porch and down the stairs into the grass. Sighing, she tried to remember who might be here in that kind of state.

She didn't have to guess long. The moment she entered, the sound of something shattering to the floor in the kitchen drew her straight to a twenty-something man with his shirt off and a wet rag pressed to his shoulder. Of course, she recognized him, even if the last time she had seen him he was much younger and shorter and less built.
"Jiraiya, take the dish rag off of that right now!" Sakura commanded, walking quickly up to him. When he dropped the rag, she ranted. "Seriously, all that I taught you must have went out the door! And what about Tsunade-sama?

Why have you come here instead of to her? How old are you anyway?"

"Um... thirty..." he took a few steps back, then winced as a piece of broken glass split open his heel. "Aunt Meiko?"
Sakura pulled Sakumo's favorite chair from the table, put it behind Jiraiya, and forced him to sit down without answering.

"Aunt Meiko, please don't be mad. Minato-kun is just fine, I promise! I saw him in line to give his report today. He is going to meet up with friends for dinner. I... I learned so much here, and I taught him everything I could. I promise,

I looked out for him, Aunt Meiko. I promise!"

"What about Yoriko? Kazuo? Your father and your uncle? You left all of us behind! You and Minato left us!" Sakura accused, not knowing or caring why she lashed out at him. He wasn't a child anymore. He should be able to handle it.

"Slow down," Jiraiya put his hands on her shoulders, gritting his teeth again when she pulled the long sliver of glass out of his foot. "You weren't there."

"Then tell me what happened!" she cried loudly, full of anger as she slapped his leg and forgot to continue healing him.

"It's not right to talk about this without Minato here," Jiraiya sighed. "Can we please just get me patched up? I will take you to find Minato, and then we can sit down and talk about all of this."

"Fine," she grumbled, then silently got back to work. Thankfully, his injuries weren't all that bad. His activity getting home had prevented the cut from clotting up properly. Yes, it was deep, but no, it wasn't damaging to muscle or anything more vital.

Jiraiya practically ran from the kitchen and into Sakumo's room where the attic access was easily pulled open. He climbed up the ladder and threw down a box at her before finding himself an extra shirt from Sakumo's clothing. The shirt was a little tight, and Sakura felt the urge to tell him to find something else. She had helped potty train the boy, taught him to use a spoon, and was the first to witness his first steps. She felt like she had to keep the girls away if he went out like this.

"Remember, I'm a grown man now," he reminded. "Your son isn't far from it, either, and, yes, he has a girlfriend."

"She doesn't need to be a part of this conversation," Sakura muttered.

"You might want to change into something more modern," he looked her up and down. "I got those clothes from Kakashi in the future for you here. You won't look as out of place in them, I think."

"I'll be lucky to fit them," Sakura sighed, looking through the box for looser clothing. She had, after all, gained some weight over the years. She wasn't fat by any means, but she did change her eating habits and working style. Different muscles were larger, others were smaller, and she did have a layer of fat that wasn't there before.

Thankfully, she found some pants she wore early into her pregnancy, right when she was starting to show. As far as shirts went, she settled on an old loose t-shirt she once used only for house work.

"Alright, he should still be at the hospital by now for return-check up."

"Return check up?"

"We can't send medics out in the field, but we can take care of everything once our people make it back home."
Sakura shook her head. If only the council would listen and take the extra time to train medic-nin for the field...

"Lead the way."

As it turned out, Minato wasn't yet inside the hospital. He was headded there when Jiraiya called out to him. Minato broke free of the friends he planned on going out with later to see what his sensei/cousin wanted, then stopped dead in his tracks.

Sakura didn't stop, though. She barrelled right into her son full force, wrapping him up in her arms and swinging him around like a rag doll.

"Mom? Is it really you?" he asked, not registering the force she was holding him with at all.

"Yes, baby, it is me," she kissed his forehead and began looking him over. "You aren't hurt? Why bother with this check up at all?"

"It's mandatory to at least report no injuries to the medical staff, idiot," a redheadded young woman rolled her eyes. "Who are you to be picking up my boyfriend like that, anyway? Get your hands off him!"

Sakura shot the girl a nasty look, then refocused on her son. "Come back to the Hatake home with me. Tell me what is going on and what happened."

"Hey, lady, maybe you didn't hear me!" the redhead pushed her way between the stunned blond and Sakura. "Minato has other things to do than to be hugged by you!"

"Kushina, it's all right," Minato put his hand on her arm, both in warning and in comfort. "Kushina, I know I told you I didn't have family, but it wasn't entirely true. My mother has been away for a very, very long time on a mission. She doesn't know about every one else yet. She just got home, and I need to spend some time with her."

"Kushina, eh?" Sakura sized up the other girl. Kushina could have easily been a relative of her father's, but Sakura knew better. Then she remembered. This would be Naruto's mother one day. If that were so... she would be the current jinchurriki of the Nine Tails. "As in Uzumaki Kushina?"

"Yes, that's correct," Kushina crossed her arms under her breasts.

"Jiraiya-san has told me some about you in letters," Sakura fibbed. "He says you push Minato-kun into training harder. I thank you for that."

Kushina was taken back by the reaction Sakura had towards her. This may have been the second time in her life that someone gave her praise after she became a jinchurriki.

"Now, if you don't mind, I need to borrow my boy. We have a lot of catching up to do. I promise you can have him back in the next day or two."

Sakura listened as Minato and Jiraiya interrupted one another here and there. They told the story of how they were going with Jin, Jiro, Kazuo, and Yoriko out of the valley towards the Daimyo's palace when Jiro finally snapped about the whole weather sittuation. He attacked the twins, and Jin stepped up only half-heartedly to protect them. In truth, he felt the same way as his brother about the lack of warning the Hatake and Haruno had received about the dangerous weather and flooding that ruined the year's crops.

Jiro swung a large branch towards Minato in the scuffle, but Yoriko had stepped in the way and ended up hit hard on the back of her head, the impact sending her into convultions. When her shaking stopped, so did her heart and her breathing. Kazuo made the rash decision to attack his father, and Jiro broke his arm as punishment. Jin burried Yoriko while Jiraiya worked on bandaging his younger brother's arm. Minato was fighting Jin about burring his sister. He didn't understand death yet, and insisted she would wake up.

The next day, the two men and three boys moved on, Minato lagging behind. That's when the Yuuhi and Sarutobi forces came through the area, headding for the farming community. Jiro, Jin, and Kazuo were killed, but Jiraiya swept Minato into a hiding spot under an old barn he and Kazuo used to play in. The enemies never saw them.
Knowing that the number of enemy would overwhelm the already weakened Hatake and Haruno at home, the two boys gave up ever seeing any family again. They chose to come to Konoha and try to make things better for whatever was left of their family here. They became separated, and Jiraiya dropped into an earlier time than Minato. He became the student of the now Third Hokage, and, with that clout, was able to request Minato as his ward and, later, student.

The two had done well, blending in here, especially because they had scouted out this general time before. They had some idea as to what they were walking into and how to handle things when they did. After all, they had already made acquaintences with some of the people they would need these days.

Kushina wasn't one of them.

Minato really did care about her. He knew, too, about her status as jinchurriki, and he didn't care one bit about it. If anything, he respected her more because of it. Besides, the jinchurriki were kept close to the current Kage of each major power in the shinobi world, and Minato aimed to have his name added to the list of Hokage. The fact that he loved her just made it that much easier to accept what he wanted his role to be here.

"Minato... I'm so sorry I wasn't there to save you," Sakura reached out to hold him again, pulling him close with one arm as she reached out and tugged Jiraiya closer with the other. "You two should have had protection better than those two jerks you called your fathers."

"It's okay, Mom," Minato patted her back. "We know you can't willingly travel more than a few years at a time. You had no way of knowing exactly where we were... That's why I was so shocked to see you here. How did you get here, to this time?"

"I did it in one jump, to be honest," she sniffled. "I got the news that you two were missing, and everyone else was dead, and I just... I lost it. It was the first time since you were born that I felt so much emotion well up, and it just happened..."

"Well, we're all here now," Jiraiya sighed, but with a smile. "We can't go back and change the past all that much, but we can affect where we are when we are. These people Minato and I have grown with need our skill sets in order to survive. I know we survive because I've been skipping ahead a few years, even a decade, to the future now and then."

"You forbade me from that," Minato fixed him with a glare.

"I forbade you from going more than eight more years from now," Jiraiya corrected.

"What's so important eight years from now?" Sakura questioned. "Give me a hint?"

Jiraiya pursed his lips, thinking about how to answer this. Minato was seventeen now. In eight years he would be twenty-five. Kakashi would be fourteen. He was fourteen years older than Naruto by birth date, then.
"What is your age difference between you and the boys on your genin team?"

"Excuse me?" she questioned, confused.

"I know who they will be already. Like I said, I've already done some scouting into the future of Konoha. Don't state their names, just tell me the age difference."

"I..." Sakura thought on this. "I don't remember, really. I know I was the oldest..."

"Well, what do you remember about them? Anything significant around the time either was born?"
Sakura shook her head. It was all so very long ago for her.

"Don't worry about it now. You have something else you need to be focusing on," Jiraiya reminded. "I know it's been years and years since you left your time, Aunt Meiko, but you have to remember your original goal now. You can achieve it during this time, I think."

"And what was that?" Minato looked at her now.

Sakura looked away, thinking some more on how to explain this. It really had been almost eighteen years since she first married Kakashi. Why had she married him? Oh, right, the forced marriages. That's what she wanted to stop back then.

"Jiraiya, I don't know if I should," Sakura admitted. "If I find a way to complete my goals... Minato and you won't ever be here."

"There are ways around that," Jiraiya commented. "You are not the only Haruno Sakura I have crossed paths with, to be honest."

"What?" "Who?"

Jiraiya waved off their questions. "I have met several others. One lost her Jonin-sensei when he protected her during her first and only attempt at the Chunin exams. Another killed Uchiha Itachi's little brother. A third was an elderly woman who killed off a Council member and then fled to a few years ago to die in peace. A fourth... well... she was a mother to a brood of ugly kids fathered by a guy who liked wearing all green. My point is, each comes from a different version of the future from here. All of them have Minato in their history books. All of them had the same Genin team. Minato's existence in all of them suggests that he will occur in one form or another no matter what the difference you make. Make your mark, Aunt Meiko, and make it count."

"What happened to all the other Sakura's?" she demanded.

"They all chose to get out of your way and retire to different times farther in the past. The one with the brood of ugly kids will definitely never exist if you complete your original goal. We just have to identify the correct person and either change their mind, or kill them."

"You said someone already did that."

"Yes, but not at the right time or in the right way. It seems, that person's very death sparked more sympathy for their ideals. That is why you ended up married to Kakashi-kun."

"Kakashi-kun?" Minato looked around the otherwise empty house they sat in, searching for the boy.
"Yes, Minato, I married him. In fact, your dad and I were never really married," Sakura looked away from her son again. Even in this day and age, marriage was still, generally, the only time to have children. Sex was okay when not married, but children were out of the question unless legally bound. Any children born out of wedlock were souly the mother's responsibility. A kunoichi could not support a family on her own these days, so kunoichi played no games when it came to getting pregnant. They refused to do so... pretty much at all.

"So... Now what?" Minato leaned back in the bench across from where Jiraiya sat leaned back in his chair, Sakumo's favorite chair in the kitchen.

"Now you get back to your life," Sakura reached out to brush a lock of hair out of his face. "You have a lot to do, Minato-kun. You will see me again when you check in on the future. I remember you visiting a lot."

"No... No, Mom, I can't just forget about you being here..." Minato reached out and grabbed her wrists, clinging to her. "Don't leave me now."

"I'm not leaving yet, but I do need to do some things. Sakumo-san can help me with them. You two have names to make for yourselves, for the world. I grew up hearing stories about the Sannin and the Fourth Hokage, you know. I'm so proud of you both!"

Minato's face lit up, "Hey, you hear that, Jira? You've just gotten that name with Tsunade-sama and Orochimaru-san... that means... Do I really do it, Mom? Do I get to be the next Hokage?"

"Well, the cat's out of the bag now, anyway," she laughed, holding back tears at the thoughts of what that meant.

"Yes, Minato, you get your dream. Kushina will stand by you through it all."

Sakura listened in as the Council and the Third Hokage debated the very idea of arranging marriages. She disguised herself among the serving staff, standing quietly as she waited for someone to empty their water or tea.

Sakumo had provided her the opening to blend in, and she wasn't going to call any attention to herself that she didnt' have to. Not giving herself away became especially difficult when she learned it wat the Hokage himself who pressed the hardest to enact the old laws of his ancestors.

He had already made lists of people to pair, including the names of people who were still children today. Hatake Kakashi was already to be married off to Nohara Rin should their parents agree.

The arguing went back and forth for only two hours. Two hours and the fates of everyone Sakura would one day know were set in stone in a very different way than she could ever imagine. Her son would never be allowed to be with Kushina. Instead, he would marry into the Inuzaka. And there was nobody legally allowed to intervene in this on his behalf, not even Jiraiya who would be forced into marriage to a Yuuhi woman.

Sakura made sure she was one of the last to leave the room. Only the Hokage and his ANBU guard remained. Of course, Sakumo was a part of that guard, so she knew she had some protection. Thankfully, he understood the nature of her intentions. Unless she actively attempted to kill the Hokage, he would protect her. He didn't mind the thought of his son marrying the Nohara girl, as that was already in the works, but he, also, didn't agree with breaking up couples to suit the wants of the Council. A village should grow stronger on its own, not through genetic meddling, he believed.

Sarutobi Hiruzen grew quite still when Sakura sat across from him at the table, dropping the henge disguise she had been putting on for the last couple hours.

"I knew you were hiding, but not why..." the Hokage stated matter of factly. "What is your purpose here?"

"I am here to urge you not to send those lists to the Daimyo for approval," Sakura answered honestly. "Instead, please send him a request to abolish the laws you wish to enact. Do not play with the lives of your people. Let them be with whomever they wish. Stronger bonds are formed that way. Healthy families are not all about genetic outcomes."

"We must do something about our numbers, miss..." the man, maybe in his fifties or sixties, Sakura couldn't remember, frowned on her. "I doubt we will ever recover our numbers, but we can increase our strength through manipulation. There will be large rewards to those who procreate with their arranged partners..."

"But at what cost, Hokage-sama?" Sakura fought to keep her voice down. "Almost twenty years ago, I was forced to marry someone I did not love because of this law. I watched one of my friends receive punishments because she did not produce the expected child. Another went without the person he loved. That woman was being used to try to revive an extinct bloodline with a monster... That was twenty years ago for me, but for you... it is twenty-six years into the future."

The man fixed her with a curious look, then made a conjecture, "Are you Hatake Kakashi's future daughter?"

"No," she shook her head. "His wife. He is fourteen years older than me... Do you understand just how far this will be taken? Do you have any idea just how much leeway you will give the future Council for interrupting the natural growth and overall performance of the shinobi if you do this now? This has to be outlawed, not embraced!"

"You," the Hokage snapped at one of the door guards, "bring someone from the Yamanaka to look through this woman's memories and show them to me at once!"