It was a long two weeks wait as Hashirama and Madara made their way back to the village, Izuna paced up and down the halls of his home, Sakura curled into his arms like always, not that she even let him put her down for even a second.
"Kami what the hell is taking them so long" Izuna raged suddenly one morning and from her spot in his arms, Sakura leveled a emerald eyed stare at her now father, wishing badly that she could talk right now to give him a scolding of a lifetime.
Izuna snapped his jaw shut "Jesus Sakura, do you know how creepy that is" he sulked lightly and she let out a tiny giggle of amusement, but soon the impatience got to him again as Izuna began tapping his foot furiously on the floor.
Sakura harrumphed to show that she was displeased by his actions but snuggled deeper into Izuna's warm comforting arms, Sakura hated to admit it but those years spent in the dark, had made her crave human touch more than she ever had before.
Leaning his head back Izuna sighed loudly just as the screen door to his sitting room slid open "My Lord Izuna, your brother and Hashirama have returned" the maid bowed low admitting the two men into the room, and she backed away closing the screen door for their privacy.
Sakura perked up and perched herself precariously on the edge of Izuna's arm, to peer at the two people that had entered the room, a wide gummy smile spread across her lips and she gurgled at them giving them a wave as best she could.
Madara froze in the doorway and his jaw dropped open, his eyes snapped to Izuna's and his brother nodded the pinkette in his brothers arms held up her own and started reaching for him tiny sounds emitting from her throat as she struggled.
"Forgive me but Lord Tobirama and Lady Mito have arrived" the maid opened the screen door again before disappearing as the last two appeared, they didn't understand why they had been pulled away from their duties, so hopefully Izuna would explain soon.
Izuna swallowed thickly "Please everyone sit" he ordered lightly, once the three men and one woman were sitting on the opposite couch, Izuna cleared his throat "So I have some news, as you can tell my wife had her child" he started.
Before the other two had come, he had covered Sakura's head with the hood that was attached to her kimono "But the other half of that news is she died from the childbirth, the last part, the good part is that" here Izuna paused and looked down into Sakura's emerald eyes uncertainly.
Sakura patted his cheek gently "Well Sakura has finally come back to us" Izuna removed the hood to reveal shocking pink on emerald, Tobirama jumped from the couch and escaped from the room as fast as he could, Izuna could completely understand how the man felt.
To see the person you love as a two week old baby was devastating Mito smiled with tears brimming in her eyes "Oh Sakura you sweet child, I've dreamed of this day for ten years" she stood and walked gracefully across the short distance to where Izuna sat.
Then to everyone's awe, Mito bent at the waist and pressed a tender kiss to the girls forehead "I know you can understand me, and I want you to know that I've taken good care of Kurama like you asked of me" Mito murmured sweetly.
Sakura giggled and clapped her little hands to show she was pleased by the admission, it had hurt momentarily when Tobirama had left the room, but Sakura was certain he would be back once he came to terms with her return.
Hashirama in spite of himself began to smile "You never change" he spoke before rubbing the tuft of pink hair lightly so that he wouldn't accidentally hurt her, Hashirama had grown up a lot in recent years, though he still got chronically depressed and gloomy on certain things.
Huffing, Sakura let a whine emit from the back of her throat and she turned teary eyes on Izuna who rolled his eyes and smoothed her hair down for her, he knew how much Sakura hated it whenever someone messed up her hair and apparently that had carried into this new life as well.
Sakura inwardly snickered, oh how she would enjoy toying with everyone in the years to come, especially Shikaku, whenever she could start going around talking and walking again, it sucked that she had to wait six freaking months to even begin.
Snorting softly, Madara had an idea of where Sakura's thoughts had wandered off into "Can I hold her Izuna" he suddenly asked and Sakura's head snapped over in his direction, and started nodding as eagerly as a little baby could.
With that Madara took Sakura into his arms like she had wanted from him earlier and she burrowed into his arms "It's been a long time since I've held you like this" he reminisced and Sakura patted his cheek knowingly, her eyes shining brightly like they always did.
"Oh Madara-ni, you should know that Sakura has already activated her sharigan, apparently she was so happy that it unlocked that ability from day one" Izuna let out and Madara shook his head not surprised in the least, Sakura had always done things differently so why should now be any different.
Hashirama relaxed into the deep cushy couch everyone was back together again, the one he was worried about now was Tobirama, was he upset that Sakura was back, no that couldn't be it so it must be something else that was bothering his brother.
"So what do you think she has come back to save us from this time" Mito asked the big question that everyone wanted to know the answer to, that nobody knew the answer to because Sakura was the only one that did which meant they would all have to wait until she could talk again.
Izuna leaned his head on the back of the couch and closed his eyes, "If I'm right, she should be talking around three months so only two and a half more to go" he shared his thoughts with everyone gathered in the room, this would be exhausting for all of them.
Just then Tobirama slid the screen door open carrying a carefully wrapped bundle in his arms, Hashirama sat up and peered at his younger brother curiously, as he walked confidently over to where Madara sat and Sakura was curled up in her brother turned uncles arms.
Sakura feeling the shift in the air peeped open an eye and quickly opened the second one upon seeing Tobirama "If I may Izuna, present Sakura with a gift" Tobirama cleared his throat awkwardly all while cradling that bundle against his chest.
Izuna who was equally as curious as Hashirama simply nodded "I've been working on this for a long time, ever since you left, it took me awhile to find where I had hidden it because of Hashirama" here Tobirama paused and sent his older brother a little glare.
"Anyways" Tobirama coughed and unwrapped the ground length kimono, it was meant for a five year old, but still, it meant a lot to him that Sakura accepted this gift as quickly as she did "I waited for a long time" he leaned down close and gently pressed his cheek to hers.
Sakura stared at Tobirama with knowing sad eyes, and held back the tears that wanted to rush into her eyes, instead Sakura cuddled back into Madara's arms feeling tired from all the excitement "That's the sign that she needs to be put down for a nap" Izuna jumped up.
Madara's eye twitched in agitation and his brother stole Sakura from his arms and disappeared down the hall, sulking he crossed his arms and huffed loudly, next to him Hashirama snorted and his body seized up in laughter.
"Screw you Hashirama" Madara spat angrily, it wasn't his fault that he had been depraved of the pinkette for ten years Hashirama held up his hands with a weird smile on his lips to prevent anymore laughter from spilling from his lips.
"Sorry, sorry" Hashirama grinned chuckling at Madara's expense "We all know how you feel Madara" he finally calmed down enough, he hadn't meant to hurt his friends feelings but it had just been to funny not to pass up the chance to laugh like that.
In spite of himself Madara began to smile, at first just one corner of his lips tugged upwards, then the other side followed until he was full on grinning "I suppose your right, and just think about how she feels" Madara said suddenly.
Tobirama grimaced "All we can do is be here to support her in whatever it is that she has to do and then watch her go again, that's just going to kill me" he flopped down listlessly in an arm chair feeling drained all of a sudden.
"We know Tobirama, but at least we know she'll be back again, and again" Hashirama looked down and that's how Izuna found the four looking forlorn and gloomy in his sitting room, with a raised brow, he shook his head and sat down.
Mito after her initial surprise cleared her throat "What are your plans Izuna, are you going to start training Sakura as soon as she is able to walk and talk" she questioned, if the Uchiha did that then she would put a stop to it immediately, Sakura deserved to rest for all she had already done for them.
Izuna scratched the back of his head "That's more up to Sakura, I'm sure if any of us tried to stop her, then she would try to find a way to train anyway" he shrugged, he was damned if he did and damned if he didn't so what was the point in trying to find a solution at this exact moment in time.
Frowning lightly Mito folded her hands into her lap, then she eyed her brother in law curiously "Why pink with emeralds Tobirama" she snickered softly when Tobirama's cheeks flushed a dark red in embarrassment and he cleared his throat awkwardly.
"Sakura loves those two colors and I have many more made especially an all purple kimono that has red rubies all over it" Tobirama admitted sheepishly "But that one was my favorite" he finished and crossed his arms daring anyone to make fun of him for such an unmanly thing.
Hashirama's face twitched and he pressed his knuckles to his mouth to stifle the laughter that suddenly seized him, poor Tobirama, the guy really did love Sakura and that wouldn't change no matter how many times she died and came back.
Tobirama scowled fiercely knowing what his brother was currently thinking "What should we tell those guys" he thought of a question to ask, what he meant was Kosho, Shimon and Kizoku along with Shikaku, they would all be extremely suspicious.
"This is a messy situation" Madara groaned, rubbing his face tiredly, Sakura wouldn't be to happy to find out that Namari had died a couple years after Sakura had, he had gone satisfied with the change in his life and went out protecting the head of hyuga clan.
"Come on guys stop this moody crap" Izuna jumped to his feet, and clapped his hands to get their attention "I think we should just tell them what's going on, Kakuzu accepted the truth so they should as well" he decided for everyone.
Mito shook her head "That's not our decision to make Izuna and you know it" she pointed out harshly and the Uchiha flopped back into his chair with a grumble "Sakura holds all the cards right now" Mito finished with a satisfied air.
It was hilarious how Sakura held all of their lives in the palms of her currently tiny hands, though Mito was certain that the girl would protect them no matter what came her way, or how strong of an opponent she was up against.
"Yeah so it's decided then, we'll all wait until Sakura can talk and do the best we can to do whatever it is that she asks of us" Tobirama spoke up again and everyone gathered in the room nodded in agreement, this time around they it would make it easy for the girl to complete her task.