She was meditating in the middle of a courtyard, carefully being observed by her fellow- well, by her ex-comrades in the Survey Corps. Though she had no intention of going to the trial, she was still technically under arrest for suspicion of treason. She knew this was just for show, however; everyone knew that she could easily escape if she wanted to.

As annoying as the situation was, she still had to train, and so she did with an audience. Ever since Obito had unlocked her jutsu, she had remembered some of her chakra control exercises. Though her training was boring to the naked eye, she was struggling to stick a leaf to her forehead. She would always use too much and the leaf would just rip from strain. The careful chakra control she had taken for granted was ripped from her now that she had a new tenant within her. Though she still had her incredible strength and could perform jutsu, she was unable to heal or store more chakra in her Strength of a Hundred Seal. That meant that once the chakra she had stored there ran out, she would be out of any regeneration abilities. And she wanted her healing back. She was a healer first and foremost. If she couldn't get it back, she might have an identity crisis in her hands.

You're a jinchuuriki now. No need to worry about that.

Sakura outwardly frowned. Just how often can you hear my thoughts?

Roshi and I spoke more often than not, but more because Roshi became lonely and- Why am I telling you this?

She shrugged and made a face. I don't know, you started speaking to me.

This world is making me do the strangest-

Listen, Son Goku-

And now you interrupt me too! they yelled in her mind, causing her to cringe.

I just wanted to say I was sorry.

Sorry? Sorry about what?

If you would let me finish with my apology, you would know.

Fine, continue.

Sakura sighed. I'm sorry for betraying your trust and going against your wishes. I know you wanted to return to your homeworld-

Our homeworld, they corrected grouchily.

Our homeworld, she agreed, mostly to appease them. I know that was what we agreed, but being there, I realized there were still many things I had left unfinished and I didn't want to go. Now I realize I just prolonged the inevitable, and that you were right. So I'm sorry, and I hope that you'll eventually forgive me.

Strange jinchuuriki, apologizing to a tailed beast, Son Goku said quietly. Fine, I accept your apology, but only because it came unasked. But I won't forgive you until we defeat Obito.

Sakura smiled triumphantly and resisted the urge to outwardly cheer. However, she did cheer in her mind, and Son Goku heard it all. Now that's something you don't need to tell me twice about.

You won't ever defeat him unless you learn how to control my powers.

I was trying to get my old ones under control before moving on to new ones.

She could feel Son Goku's disapproval. You mean your healing? That's gone, Sakura, and you won't get it back soon enough. Instead of focusing on what you lost, think about what you gained. My chakra has been slowly but surely regenerating. Soon, you'll have access to my Lava Release.

Lava Release?

Mixing Earth Release and Fire Release gives Lava Release. It is very potent and dangerous. Once you borrow my power in the form of a tail, I can cloak you with lava in the Lava Release Chakra Mode, giving you a perfect offense and defense. Almost nobody dared approach Roshi once he used this chakra mode.

Almost?

Well, the ones who captured him, Obito and the shark Kisame, beat him soundly, they explained bitterly. The Lava Release Chakra Mode is susceptible to large quantities of water. There are few people in the world that can produce enough water to neutralize the Chakra Mode. However, you possess Ice Release. Ironically, this Ice Release might be enough to neutralize that particular weakness by freezing water and turning it against your opponent.

I'm still trying to sort through all the jutsu I just gained.

Son Goku bellowed. Of course you are, jinchuuriki. You are but a baby compared to your enemies. But you are Son Goku's jinchuuriki, and I refuse to be taken once again like some sort of possession. We may have gotten off on the wrong foot, but you're most cordial and amiable jinchuuriki I've had.

Even more than Roshi?

It took many years for Roshi to get through his prejudice. However, we had a strong bond, and I refuse to let my partner go unavenged. Still, little jinchuuriki, focus on your training. I shall see where I can help later.

Sakura frowned heavily. I'm not little!

"If I didn't know any better-" Sakura jumped in surprise, letting out a pitiful squeak. She opened her eyes and saw Levi looking down at her with a slight smirk. "If I didn't know any better, I would've thought you were having a fight with yourself."

She put a hand against her chest and glared up at him. "You scared me! Don't do that!"

He raised an eyebrow. "What kind of ninja are you that I can sneak up on you?"

Well, he was right, but she had been busy talking to Son Goku, and his chakra presence was faint, almost nonexistent. Not that he would care or understand. To him, chakra was some magical power that only she could wield.

She got up and dusted herself off. Now that she was no longer in the military, she had foregone her uniform and now wore simple black pants, boring brown shoes, and a white button down shirt. She felt further alienated from her comrades, but she was taking this as a trial. Amina had warned her that the nobility would scorn her for her common birth and tainted last name.

"We just received a letter from Talman," he said, his earlier good mood gone and replaced by a serious tone. "You're leaving tomorrow to the Burgeis Southern Manor."

"Southern Manor?"

"Apparently nobles are so filthy rich they can afford multiple homes."

"What's the point?"

"I don't know. Ask them when you meet them."

Sakura pouted slightly and crossed her arms. "I don't want to go. I don't want to become some stuffy noble."

"Then you want to go on trial?" Levi asked.

"Of course not. I just wish there was another way."

"There was. It's called being honest and coming clean years ago."

Sakura winced and looked down. "Hey..." she protested weakly.

Levi rolled his eyes. "Consider this a mission, if it makes you feel better. Your objective is to get back to the Survey Corps legally. Don't do anything that hinders that, and do everything in your power to achieve it."

"Wow, could you be any more vague about the details?" she drawled, giving him an unimpressed stare.

Levi stared back at her. "You little shit," he said without inflection. "Did I not beat discipline into you any of these years?"

Sakura scoffed. "I let you beat me, Levi. You don't think you ever actually won one of our spars, right?"

He looked at her in surprise, as if it hadn't occurred to him that she had always thrown all those fights in his favor. "So you always had the last laugh, huh."

"Well, c'mon, after everything you did to make my life miserable, I had to rejoice in the small victories."

He started walking away and muttered, "You're so dramatic."

Sakura's feet naturally started following after him. Ever since he had allowed her to call him Levi two days ago, she had felt more at ease around him. It wasn't like they were best friends, no, nothing close to that, but Levi had relaxed around her, and she naturally did the same. It was also refreshing to not hide so much from him anymore. Now she felt she could be herself without worrying about slipping up about one of her powers or details about her past. It still struck her as odd to consider Levi a friend, but she was a ninja from another world, so stranger things had happened.

"If you're gonna do nothing but sit on your ass all day or follow me around, you might as well help me clean."

"I'm no longer in the military so I have no reason to follow your orders," Sakura countered easily.

"Oh?" he murmured interestedly. "I didn't know you were so eager to get on my bad side before you even rejoined the Survey Corps. I'll make sure to start taking note of all the duties that will be waiting for you when you come back.

She grinned nervously. "On the other hand, cleaning is said to help clear the mind and help with chakra control. I wouldn't even be helping you! I would be helping myself!"

"That's what I thought. Hurry up, Pink-freak; the windows will take longer for you since you can't use your 3DMG."

"Duh, I have chakra!"

Levi sighed deeply. "Right, weird ninja. I forgot for a second."

Tomorrow she would leave for the Burgeis household, leaving behind her wards once again for who knows how long. Th thought saddened her incredibly, so if she could spend the rest of the day with them and doing something as second-nature as cleaning for the clean-freak, she would consider it a day well-spent and a nice farewell.

She became painfully aware of the letter Petra had written her, enclosed within her chest bindings.

Not today, she thought bitterly.

Today was for farewells, not goodbyes.

Naruto almost gasped at the sense of vertigo interdimensional travel caused. No matter how many times he had done it, he had never gotten used to it, and he suspected he never would. He had moved, crossing innumerable dimensions, but, at the same time, his body had not moved a single inch.

The Hokage's office was crowded. Tsunade sat behind her desk, a deep frown etched in her features. Kakashi was breathing loudly by the wall, supported by a worried Shizune. Kamui was extremely chakra draining, but combining Kamui and Seishiro was even more so. For someone with reserves like his, what he subjected himself to every time they went on an expedition was nothing short of torture.

And Sasuke, the bastard, stood like a rod in front of the desk and shot him an annoyed glare.

"Naruto!" his mom called.

The blond whirled around and leaned down to hug Kushina. The redhead hugged him back strongly, then let him go immediately to search his person. "Oh, Naruto! Sasuke-kun was telling us how you were fighting Madara? What happened? You're not hurt, are you?"

"I'm fine, Mom. I'm just close to chakra exhaustion."

"Chakra exhaustion?" Kushina whispered. "But how? You have Kurama's chakra!"

"That's how much chakra being there consumes," Sasuke answered, frustrated. "Takes half of our chakra to get there, the Anchor consumes our chakra while we're there, and we can't regenerate chakra while there. That world is dangerous for ninja."

"Which is why you must stop going!"

Naruto smiled slightly and shook his head. "Sorry, Mom. We three are one of the few people that can go, and I want to get Sakura-chan back here."

"Naruto," Tsunade called slowly. "Sasuke hasn't explained much, but he told us that Sakura attacked you. Is this true?"

The blond looked down sadly. "Yeah. She doesn't remember us anymore."

"It has something to do with being a Vessel," Sasuke continued.

That reminded him of something. He raised his head and glared at Sasuke. "But that's not why she attacked us. She attacked us because we're her enemies, according to her. What deal did we have with the Marley, Hokage-sama?"

If Tsunade was hurt by the overly formal way Naruto addressed her, she did not show it. "We formed an alliance with them out of necessity, Naruto. We're not in the business of getting involved with other people's politics, especially people that live in another world. And our alliance paid off: we have found Sakura. Against all the odds."

"And Reiner, Bert, and Annie did unspeakable things for it," Naruto bit back. "We spread our cycle of hate to another world."

"You're not naïve enough to believe that, idiot?" Sasuke replied coldly. "Marley would've attacked the people in the Walls with or without our help. We just made them strong enough to survive the aftermath. Without them, we wouldn't have found Sakura."

"And you! You knew and didn't tell me!"

"I didn't think you were that big on an idiot. I know we don't understand their language as well as Itachi, but I thought that if you could teach a civilian how to mold chakra with our language skills, then you knew what was going on behind the scenes."

"We can't change the past, Naruto, Sasuke, so there's no use in fighting," Kakashi said breathlessly. "We are running low on time, and we need to learn more about your fight with Madara."

Naruto was about to complain that Sasuke was taking so long in explaning what had happened, but then remembered that time flowed much more slowly in their world than in the other, four times more slowly, according to his mom's experiments.

"His name isn't Madara," Sasuke responded coldly. "He's Uchiha Obito."

Naruto and Sasuke were the only ones not outwardly shocked by the reveal. Naruto was keenly aware of his mom's incredulous look, which morphed into one of betrayal.

"O-Obito?" Kakashi whispered. "But that's... It can't be."

"Who is he, Hokage-sama?" Sasuke asked. "My brother knew, but I'm afraid there aren't many records he left of my fellow clansmen."

"Uchiha Obito was my teammate," Kakashi replied in a slight daze. "He died... No, we thought he had died during the Third Ninja War. I saw him die."

"He's the one who gave you your Sharingan," Sasuke deduced.

"'I can send you to either the place Sakura landed, or the time period, but not both,'" Shizune repeated softly. "That's what you said after you learned Seishiro from the Stone Tablet. You knew that world had Sakura in it."

Kakashi shook his head. "I had a gut feeling and I always follow it. But when I learned Seishiro, I thought that world called to the Sharingan because of its Uchiha history, not Obito's. Still, the connection wasn't strong enough to send anyone to the origin point."

"Medically speaking, what one eye sees is independent of the other, but we have not studied the ramifications of transplanted dojutsu, especially when both the donor and receiver are still alive," Tsunade said. "Kakashi, I want you to be wary of what you do with the Sharingan. If Obito is truly alive, and you found Sakura through your connection with him, then he can find something out from his connection with you."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama. Kushina-san, it's time to retrieve Itachi."

Kushina nodded seriously and wheeled towards Kakashi. Kushina, the seal genius that she was, had devised the Anchor. The problem with interdimensional travel was not leaving, but coming back; Kakashi couldn't perform Seishiro on a person that wasn't there. Before any trip, the traveler poured half of his chakra into a special scroll, then Kushina drew a seal on the back of the traveler's hand. Once the traveler "nudged" the Anchor by pouring some chakra into the seal, Kushina was alerted that the traveler wished to come back, and Kakashi would perform Seishiro on an opened scroll, which would pull back the traveler from wherever they were, even if they were in another universe.

Testing this technique had been unorthodox. Tsunade was unwilling to send any of her ninja into a possible death, so they had used some rogue ninja as tests. By that time, Kushina and Kakashi had been able to pull objects back from anyone in their world, but not in another world. Luckily, the tests had been successful, and Itachi, Sasuke, and Naruto left on their first expedition a week after. It had taken Kushina and Kakashi a total of three months to develop and test the techniques, so by the time they got to Sakura's world, a year had passed.

This time, though, Itachi hadn't nudged the Anchor. Kakashi had regained enough chakra and was able to bring him back. He had been left alone fighting Obito, and though Naruto didn't doubt Itachi's prowess, he still couldn't take him on alone.

No one could.

Kushina unsealed the scroll, allowing Kakashi to zero in on Itachi's location, then pulled him back with Seishiro. The air around the scroll rippled, and Itachi appeared in the space the scroll had been, crouched and wounded. His eyes were blown wide and his lips slightly parted in surprise. Kakashi finally had to sit down and lean back against the wall for support.

"Are you all right, Itachi?" Tsunade asked.

He was motionless for a couple more seconds before nodding. He got up on his feet, faltering slightly, and accepted Sasuke's strange offer of support. The Uchiha brothers must be quite shaken to display many uncharacteristic displays of emotion.

"Very close to chakra exhaustion and some minor wounds, but otherwise fine, Hokage-sama."

"Normally I would ask for a debrief after you've recovered, but I'm afraid we cannot spend more time. Naruto was telling us that you Madara is actually Obito?"

"Yes, he had his Mangekyo Sharingan activated when he materialized in front of us. It was the same shape as Kakashi's, and there was only one person it could be. He neither denied nor confirmed it when I pointed it out."

"What did he say, instead?"

"He spoke with Sakura. She wasn't happy to see him. She's the Four-Tail's jinchuuriki because of him."

"What?" Tsunade said, shocked. "Why would he do that?"

"It may be a part of Seishiro we do not know about, Tsunade-sama," Itachi said. "I was only able to decipher some parts of Seishiro with my Mangekyo from the Stone Tablet. Obito probably discovered more through other means."

Sasuke said, "It might also be why Sakura remains unaffected by the constant chakra drain from the other world. The Four-Tails supplies chakra."

"That can't be it. Even with Kurama's chakra I couldn't stay longer than seven months at a time, and that was with minimal chakra usage!"

"Either way, Obito did not give Sakura a tailed beast unless he absolutely had to. And why the Four-Tails, specifically? At the time Sakura got kidnapped, they had the Six-Tails."

"We won't find the answers to this unless we ask him ourselves," Tsunade said. "Let's get back to the subject at hand. Obito spoke to Sakura about what?"

"A truce. He apparently wasn't ready to let her get back to our world, and she didn't want to come back with us," Itachi replied tonelessly.

"So she allied herself with Obito?"

"Yes."

Tsunade's frown deepened further. "The Elders and Clan Heads won't be happy with this. They wanted us to kill Sakura from the beginning, and now that she allied herself with the enemy, they will pressure me even more."

"You can't let that happen!" Naruto exclaimed. "Please, Sakura-chan was your apprentice, she's our teammate. She didn't mean any of that! She doesn't even have her memories of us."

"That reminds me. Grave news, Tsunade-sama. Obito said that the truce has been broken. He will reveal to all the ninja nations about what a Vessel is, and her identity."

The Hokage slammed her fist on the table, causing a crack to appear on the wood. "Dammit," she growled venomously.

The whole room became somber, much to Naruto's confusion. "Can someone explain to me what's going on?"

"Tsunade-sama was able to overrule other people in the village that wanted us to kill Sakura. But all the ninja villages clamoring for the same thing?" Kushina explained softly.

"So? Sasuke was wanted across all nations and now he's here."

"I wasn't a world-ending menace," Sasuke pointed out, annoyed. "If Obito performs Permanent Izanagi, we're all done for. If I didn't know Sakura, I would ask for her death also."

"But we do," Naruto pointed out harshly.

"We do," Sasuke agreed, more subdued. "Godaime, Kakashi-sensei is the only one that can perform Seishiro and Kamui, besides Obito. We don't have to agree to any demands."

"Unless we want a Fourth Ninja War, we must cooperate. We're ninja; we must approach this problem like ninja. The life of one does not outweigh the lives of many."

"So you're asking us to accept becoming scum," Naruto said. "Kakashi-sensei, you taught us this. You can't expect us to forget our most precious lesson. What are you even saying?"

Kakashi looked away, unable to meet his student's earnest eyes. "Naruto, this is as hard for me as it is for you."

"You all gave up on her already. I'm out of this. I won't kill my best friend when there is another way. And I always find another way."

And with that he stormed out, not bothering to look back even when his mom called his name. He couldn't believe just how easily they could forget their bonds with Sakura-chan when it was convenient. Yes, it would be hard to get her back, but he was positive that with enough time, he could get through to his best friend. They had gone through so much, trained so hard, loved so deeply. Their bond transcended even the memories they had together. Her life was worth saving just as much as everyone else's.

He would save Sakura-chan against all odds.

Itachi eyed the sake in front of him in resignation. Though drinking was a national pastime of ninja, he hadn't bought into the hobby. Even a couple of moments without being in full control of himself was nerve-wracking. However, he couldn't deny that in this situation, he had to surrender control just a little bit.

The restaurant they were in was lively, with a healthy mix of civilians and ninja alike. If he didn't recognize the ninja faces, he wouldn't even be able to tell the difference. This environment was the result of the sacrifice he had made all those years ago, when he gave Konoha security in exchange for his sanity. Sometimes, he wondered whether all that bloodshed had been worth all the pain he had caused Sasuke, but seeing all these people interacting without a care in the world confirmed that he would do it again if need be.

"Itachi," a deep voice called. "It's been a while."

"Hello, Suguru. I'm glad to see you again."

The blond-haired man sat across from him. Nobody would ever guess that this man was Haruno Sakura's older brother, Haruno Suguru. While Sakura took after their father, Suguru took after their mother, with blond hair and piercing blue eyes. He was taller than her by half a foot and projected confidence that Itachi had never seen in the younger Haruno. Suguru was the Chakra Swordsman and a genius of his own right, while Sakura was the Godaime's Apprentice, or his apprentice, or Kakashi's student. Itachi had been sure that would change in a couple of years, but then Obito took her away in more ways than one.

"Not good news, huh," he said softly.

Itachi downed his sake in one go. "I'm afraid not."

"Let's leave that for last. I didn't come here just to get bad news. Let's eat and chat."

Though Itachi wasn't comfortable with a social call, he obliged Suguru's odd request. They had known each other for years, even been on the same ANBU team and had their fair share of moments together, but to just sit down in a restaurant and talk about their lives was too... normal.

So they spoke about their lives. Suguru was now a jonin teacher for a new batch of genin, and he had taken a shine to them. Surprisingly, he was very protective of them, and refused to take them on their first C-ranked mission any time soon. Though none of his students sounded like extremely talented ninja, they were powerful enough to keep their teacher satisfied and happy with their progress. And with Suguru's guidance, they were certain to become forces to be reckoned in due time.

"Huh, I never thought I could be this talkative," Suguru noted while eating his last piece of beef. "Thanks for putting up with me, but I don't think I can run away any longer. Tell me, why has the Hokage avoided my face for the last couple of days?"

And so Itachi explained everything that had gone down ever since he had returned from their expedition. How Sakura lost her memories; how she had refused to come back with them, going so far as to fight with them; how she was now the Four-Tails' jinchuuriki; how Obito had said the time was close for his plan to come to fruition; how the truce that had kept the Vessel's existence a secret from all the other ninja villages was effectively over. Two days ago, the kage from all the villages had met in Konoha to make a plan to save the world.

"The Vessel, huh. A life-threatening person that can end the world and doesn't want to come back."

"As we know it, or at least that's what I read from the Stone Tablet with my Mangekyo. Obito somehow knows more than me, though I'm not sure how. I didn't know about the amnesia until I saw Sakura."

"And they're going to kill her," he continued tonelessly.

Itachi averted his eyes. "That's the plan they have decided on. Each village, except for Konoha, will send one of their best ninja in a mission to kill Sakura. A group of Konoha ninja will in turn keep Obito and his group occupied so he can't teleport to her rescue like he did last time."

"I'm sure we have some way of stopping this madness," Suguru continued, his cool starting to slip. "You're not letting this happen to my little sister, are you?"

If Itachi hadn't murdered his entire clan, he might've felt worse about the entire situation. "We have to wait until one of my student's gives a signal that they made contact with Sakura and they're in a favorable location for retrieval."

That's how they had found them in minutes the most recent time compared to the literal months, years in Sakura's time, it had taken them to search the world. They had each entrusted their pupils with seals imbued with Kakashi's chakra that acted as homing signals, so whenever they activated Kakashi would know the time and place to send them to.

"You're just going to accept this?"

"I tried my best to convince her to come back, Suguru. I cannot outweigh this village's safety for one person."

"She was your student. I entrusted her to you! If it hadn't been your stupid idea to send her to the wolves, that man would've never met her!"

Itachi almost cringed at that, almost. Pein had hinted during his invasion that Obito had met Sakura while she gained the wolf contract and learned ice release. It was probably then that he was convinced Sakura was capable enough to endure whatever he wanted to put her through.

Suguru inhaled, then exhaled deeply. "I shouldn't get cross at you," he admitted quietly. Itachi had to lean in slightly to hear him well, even with his superior senses. "You're not the one who did this to her. You were just trying to help her, and it backfired on us. I'm sure this isn't any easier on you than it is on me."

Itachi briefly remembered the moment Sakura had her ice swords aimed at him, ready to kill him. At that moment, he felt no fear. He had been satisfied that he would find death in the battlefield. Not in his home, old or young, haunted by the screams of his clansmen, asking if their sacrifice was worth it. Itachi always told them it was, but the voice that answered was Danzo's, not his own.

Though his death would have been bitter, struck down by a person he had taught. Sakura had looked so terrifying, so awe-inspiring in her self-righteousness and coldness, a coldness borne from amnesia. What he would've given to have his memories wiped when he struck down his family. Even now he wished he knew what genjutsu Obito had found that allowed him to convince a person they didn't remember their pasts.

But even in the end, Sakura had not killed him. Though her words had said one thing, she did another: she did nothing. How could one action fill him with so much despair and joy at the same time? It was unfair how much he had craved his death and her mercy.

"So who is going to distract Obito?" Suguru continued after a lull in the conversation.

"It hasn't been decided, but one of the ANBU teams. Considering the mission, the ANBU Commander might be involved."

"The old Dog will be let out, huh," he muttered. "Obito will no doubt see through the ruse."

"Yes, which is why it has to be a fight of epic proportions. But first we must find his hideout. Even if Annie, Reiner, or Bert sends us a signal, we can't do anything until we find it. I believe it shouldn't be hard. I hear his organization is recruiting civilians and ninja alike. He certainly is throwing caution out now that he thinks he has won."

Suguru let out a harsh bark of laughter. "And we still don't know why he's doing this. It's all a giant mystery."

"I don't expect him to tell us. Pein was also tight-lipped about Akatsuki's goal. Perhaps we can find a weakness and crumble his organization from the inside."

"I won't stop at anything until he is dead. He took my sister away. I can't let that go unpunished."

"Even if it continues the cycle of hate?" Itachi asked quietly. That was all Pein talked about, the cycle of hate in the nations, and how it was their goal to stop it. He had grown tired of listening to his ideals, but there was some truth to be found there.

"As long as we live, there will always be a cycle of hate," Suguru answered seriously. "As long as the powerful and the powerless exist, peace will be just a word leaders throw around. But still, for now, I'll take matters into my own hands. Maybe if I kill Obito, it won't be necessary for the villages to kill Sakura."

"A futile venture. If killing him was so easy, I would've already done it a long time ago." Namely, during the massacre. Obito had helped him kill the Uchiha clan for some reason Itachi was still unaware of. A part of it was definitely to fit into the role of Madara, but there had to be another reason why he had been keeping such close tabs on the clan. What could the Uchiha possibly figure out that Obito wanted hidden? His identity might've made sense, but now that he used his Mangekyo so often, his secret was easily gleaned.

"And does that mean we shouldn't try? When was the last time we went on a mission together?"

"You would ask me to betray all five nations to kill Obito?"

"To save Sakura," Suguru corrected firmly. "If I had to let him live to save Sakura, I would. I only care about her safety and return."

Itachi crossed his arms. "After meeting her firsthand, I have a feeling it won't be as easy to bring her back. She regenerates chakra in the other world."

Suguru craned his neck back in surprise. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Imagine going to a world with an air you couldn't breathe, but all the natives could. That's what happens with interdimensional travel. Our bodies know they are in a completely foreign land, also our chakra is split while we travel, and that confusion doesn't allow our spiritual and physical energies to mix. Which means that if we bring Sakura as she is now, she won't be able to regenerate chakra. We also don't know how to unlock her memories. We would basically be bringing a stranger into Konoha. A dangerous, amnesiac jinchuuriki to a land of people she considers enemies."

"Damn Obito. He has us cornered."

"That is why the Kage decided to kill her. She is not worth the effort."

"If it had been Naruto, the story would've been different," Suguru muttered bitterly. "Not that I wish this situation on Naruto, of course. I just wish it hadn't been my sister."

Could that be why Obito had chosen Sakura? He had always wondered about that. Itachi knew firsthand that Obito had considered Sasuke to be his Vessel for Permanent Izanagi, a technique they had no idea existed, much less knew how it worked, but Obito had said it would end the world as they knew it, and Itachi felt that to be true. That was the entire reason why he left Akatsuki, because he had heard Obito and Zetsu talking about a plan involving other worlds and his brother as a sort of sacrifice. He had felt to Konoha, only to find Orochimaru had taken him, and that's when he met Sakura and asked for her help bringing him back.

But why Sakura had been a question he asked himself more often than not. If Obito had thought about this, then it was genius. Sakura was strong enough to survive another world, but not important enough to warrant a large group of people to notice her absence. Yes, she was the Godaime's apprentice, but she didn't belong to a clan, she wasn't a Hokage's child, she wasn't a genius. She was one of the last people to possess Ice Release, but the kekkei genkai wasn't as valuable as others.

"How despicable," Itachi muttered to himself. He wasn't sure at whom he was aiming the insult. At Obito, for thinking this, or the world, for proving him right?

Though if they killed her, would the world lose the Four Tails? Would he regenerate in this world, or in the other? At this point, the nations of the world might want to cut their losses and just accept the loss of a chakra beast in exchange of the continuation of their world. In the end, it was a game of numbers, and two against everyone was unbalanced.

"Naruto refuses to accept this," Itachi said, giving him a meaningful look.

"Perhaps it's time to visit the Uzumaki household," he rejoined. "It would be easier if you'd help us, Itachi. As my sister's teacher, I believe you owe her."

"Years ago, I killed my entire clan to save this village. Letting one person die to save the entire world should be an easier choice to make."

"Should be," Suguru repeated, his eyes hopeful.

Therein lied the problem. As much as he tried to convince himself with logic, he just couldn't let the matter drop. He had murdered children, innocent civilians, his own parents. He had even tortured Sasuke with the goal that he would eventually come and kill him. Compared to that horror, allowing Sakura's death should logically be much easier. Sakura wasn't even family, and he had only known her for a couple of years at best.

But she was the only person who truly trusted him. Everyone else waited for the moment where he would finally snap, but she didn't. She looked up to him, even though she had killed her crush's entire family, and would heal his every wound, no matter how grave or inconsequential. He wasn't sure what he had done to earn that kind of respect from her, and though it had taken a while, he now had it.

Well, now it was lost, but not because either of them had done anything; she had just forgotten their friendship.

There was a particular ugliness in being killed by people who claimed to care about you. Naruto and Sasuke hadn't seen it, but Kakashi was disturbed by the path Tsunade had been forced to walked. His role -sending his student's executioners to her world- might truly break him. Tsunade herself must be despondent, to allow other nations to kill her own apprentice. Even the Sandaime had been unwilling to kill Orochimaru after all the pain and suffering he had caused. What would Kakashi feel when they brought Sakura's body back then, an innocent person caught up in yet another Uchiha plot?

Perhaps what he would feel would be what Itachi would eventually feel. Sakura was his student, and unlike all the other stories of students walking down a path their teachers couldn't follow, she had done everything right. She had just caught the attention of the most dangerous person in the world.

"Itachi?" Suguru prompted.

"I owe Obito a lot for many injustices he has caused us, and if I get to save my student while I'm at it, I can't pass up the opportunity."

The blond Haruno eyed him appreciatively. "If I knew all these years the heart of gold you had, I wouldn't have pursued you so restlessly. But the person you were while we were in ANBU scared me sometimes. We've all gone through our dark paths, but yours seemed the one with no end."

He chuckled humorlessly. "You're not wrong," he admitted. Should he say the next part? It was awfully private, but Suguru had basically begged him to rescue his sister. Plus, this was Suguru; after Shisui, Suguru had been his closest friend. Itachi downed another glass of sake that had been sitting next to him. "I have lived just waiting for my death for a long time now. When Sasuke forgave me, I thought my illness would do me the favor of taking me. And then, Tsunade and Sakura healed me, and I had no more outs."

"While we were in ANBU, we were far too busy trying to survive and protect the village that we forgot we wanted to die," Suguru continued quietly. "Isn't it so funny, to live the life we have protected through so much blood only to realize we don't want it? The people who deserve it the most are just itching to get rid of it. At least, that's what I thought until I took my genin team," he said with a small, genuine smile. "I think they have saved me more often than I have them. There is a beauty in being needed, depended on, and not just to fulfill missions."

Itachi cocked his head to the side slightly. Could that be what was missing from his life? Well, there were a lot of things that were absent, some self-imposed, others by circumstance, but he had never thought about receiving a genin team. His name was far too tainted to become a jounin sensei, but... What if that was just something he told himself to avoid wanting to live?

"Once this is over, I'll think about it," he said.

"Once we get Sakura back," Suguru said.

"Right," he affirmed with a small smile.

Kakashi stood in front of the Memorial Stone, staring at Obito's name as if reading it over and over again would change what had happened, what he had found out. Not only was Obito alive, but he was the root of so much strife he and his loved ones had experienced.

He had died, only to come back to life, and now they had to kill him again. Why couldn't he just stay dead? He had already learned how to live with his death. He had made many mistakes because he no longer had Obito in his life. He was a man now, a man shaped by an event that was a lie.

It was ironic that so many nights he had spent dreaming of this moment. In his fantasies, Obito came back to the village, wounded, but alive. He would laugh when Kakashi insisted he take his Sharingan back, saying that now Kakashi couldn't refuse that something connected them. He would forgive him for accidentally killing Rin, and he would become the brother he never had.

And now he was back, but as the last person he would want to come across.

Kakashi held back the urge to shatter the Memorial Stone. Just because one of the names was a lie didn't mean everyone else had to suffer that treachery. But it felt fake, to have his name etched there with all the other heroes.

He felt a rustle caused by wheels and turned to see his sensei's wife. Kushina was watching him quietly, her full expression hidden by the night. If he had to hazard a guess, he would say she looked like he did: lost.

Years ago, on Naruto's birth, Kakashi had narrowly saved Kushina at the behest of his sensei. She had been impaled by Kurama's claw, and was barely holding on due to her Uzumaki heritage. While Minato sealed half of Kurama's chakra in his infant son, and the other within himself, he had performed emergency first aid on her, and had successfully kept her alive. Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to heal the nerve damage immediately, and she couldn't move the lower half of her body.

Though that stopped her from ever becoming a ninja again, she didn't give up on the profession entirely, and dedicated her entire time to her mastery of her clan's technique: sealing. She was now arguably the best sealer in all of the ninja nations, and, without her mastery of it, they would've never found a way to reach Sakura across time and space.

"I can't believe it, either," Kushina started quietly. "That such a bright boy could become such a horrible monster. He... he killed Minato," she whispered brokenly at the end, her voice thick with tears. "Why? What purpose did that serve?"

"To weaken Konoha, get Kurama, destroy his enemies, there are many possible reasons, but we won't know until we ask him."

"I don't want to ask him," she said harshly. "I don't want to know. Knowing won't change what he has done. It won't bring us closure. It won't bring him back from the dead."

Sometimes Kakashi forgot how much Kushina had lost that day. Her ableness, her husband, the father of her son, her tailed-beast, her future. Obito had robbed many people of similar things, but with Kushina, it was very personal. How could he convince his body to move against his own teacher, his teacher's family? Just what had happened to Obito that he turned on those who loved him?

"It's my duty to kill him."

Kushina wheeled herself closer to Kakashi and took his hand. "You will do no such thing, young man. You have another role in this story."

"I already killed Rin. Killing Obito should be easier, in comparison."

She squeezed his hand tightly. "That broke you, and if you do the same to Obito, it won't help you mend, Kakashi-kun."

"He has Sakura," he continued. "If we do something quickly about Obito, maybe we can convince the other villages to back off."

The redhead let go of his hand and sighed dejectedly. Unlike him, Kushina had been privy to certain meetings as Tsunade's right hand. "The ninja villages are displeased with Konoha for keeping such a secret. They think we mean to doom them all in exchange for one of our own. The entire issue, according to them, was orchestrated and perpetrated by Konoha ninja. At this point, they might not even be satisfied unless we sacrifice something."

"That's preposterous!" Kakashi exclaimed, momentarily forgetting his earlier moping.

"It'll make them feel better, and sometimes politics is all about making people feel better."

"Tsunade-sama wouldn't let them."

"Of course she won't, if this whole Vessel business can be solved, there is no way she would give up her precious student for some political stunt. But the clan heads and village elders won't be happy. I know that snake Danzo will find a way to benefit from this mess."

He considered it a shame and an embarrassment that they had not gotten rid of Danzo yet. For security reasons, only very few were able to hear Itachi's recounting of the Uchiha Massacre and the events leading to it. The village knew that Itachi had been forced to do it, but had been lied and told that foreign invaders had been the ones pulling the strings. Danzo still had a very strong presence in the village, a presence that was hard to remove thanks to Root.

"So what am I supposed to do, Kushina-san? I agreed with Tsunade-sama earlier to give the appearance of a united front, but I can't allow my student to be killed. I remember how bad sensei took it all those years ago, and I know why."

"Minato never forgave himself," she admitted somberly. "There were nights when he scared me. To lose a student is not only painful, it also shows an indisputable failure as a teacher. Up until then, Minato almost never failed. I'm glad that back then, the student-teacher relationship wasn't as strong as it is now, or I truly might've lost a part of him."

Back then, during the Third Ninja War, genin teams were assigned jounin teachers to prepare them for war and their inevitable death. Even kindhearted Minato had placed certain mental walls to prepare himself for any possible deaths, as futile as it was. Now, though, years after the war, Konoha had shifted its perspective with academy students and their teachers. It was time for quality over quantity.

"There has to be some way to get Sakura-chan from his clutches," Kakashi continued. "He is one person against an entire village. Well, that and his organization. But I hear they're mostly civilians, so I'm still unsure as to how he's been able to get away for so long."

"Akatsuki was not that big of an organization either, and Konoha was almost destroyed just with Pain. There is something behind the scenes with this. Obito is your age, and though talented, he was no genius back then, and you can't just gain that. There has to be someone pulling the strings."

"Obito is already behind so many plots. It makes me uneasy to think there's someone even more dangerous than him."

Kushina nodded grimly. "We already lost the fight with the other villages, but we haven't lost the war. If Sakura can survive the onslaught of the other villages, that might buy is enough time to get her out of this problem and bring her back to us." She took his hand again and squeezed it gently. "We found her through time and space, something many thought impossible. This won't be easier, but at least we know how to go about doing it. Have faith."

"And then what do we do about Obito?"

"I realized Obito died during the Kannabi Bridge mission," Kushina said in a harsh voice. If Naruto had heard his mother speaking so harshly, he would've been appalled. He had inherited his open-mind and forgiving nature from his mother, but there were some things even Kushina could not overlook. "This person has taken up the name Madara, so we should respect that and call him so."

"Uchiha Madara it is."

Yet another interlude, but I consider this a plot-heavy interlude with all the reveals. Sorry about the particularly long wait, but senior year was brutal. Now that I'm on break for a bit, I think I'll be able to finish The Vessel in the next year. I know, right? It's already been 4 years but just one more year left before the grand finale.

Anyway, thank you so much for all the love and reviews. It makes me incredibly happy to see this story is still being read after all this time. In a true review-whore fashion, I encourage everyone to let me know what they liked and what they found interesting or any questions! To celebrate the beginning of my temporary freedom, I'll answer questions you reviewers have in the next chapter. As long as they don't spoil the story, I'll answer to the best of my ability.

Also, this chapter is straight out of the brain oven, so if you see any grammar mistakes, please let me know.

WIP