"Brother, you need to calm down, it's not that big of a deal you know." Izuna sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time since they had said their goodbyes to Sakura.

"I am calm." Madara grit out in between grinding his teeth against one another and glaring at their surroundings in general.

"Did you see what she was wearing? Where did she get it?" Madara had gone back to ranting as they walked.

Izuna sighed. His brother was usually a calm level headed sort of man, indomitable, ruthless, strong if not a bit arrogant, but never...whiney, sulky, pouty or annoying...like he was being now.

Izuna smirked.

"I imagine she bought it, but did you notice it is of the same cut and design as the ones we gifted her, which is a compliment brother, to us." Izuna was trying to help, but it was hard not to tease his brother a little bit.

"You get so worked up around her brother, it is interesting to watch, you're almost like a little kid who can't have his sweets because he didn't finish his dinner." Izuna said and stepped a bit to the side to avoid any direct hit his brother may send his way.

No strike came, Madara simply sulked more.

"I don't get worked up, she just...I don't know how to explain it, she drives me mad, she is so frustrating...hard to talk to…" Madara shook his head and sighed, he didn't understand how she could be nice to his little brother one moment and then chastising him the next, all in one breath!

"She is clearly unstable, her moods switch like a blown out candle that relights itself. She is too ill tempered, and too quick to anger." Madra said.

"And skilled, and dangerous and beautiful." Izuna agreed with a knowing smile.

His brother didn't think anything that didn't challenge him worth pursuing, well their clan wanted him to marry, and Sakura was definitely a challenge for him.

"Brother, she is as volatile as you are, did you see her? She secured that puppet master to the boulder by stabbing him in the abdomen with his own sword." Izuna grinned at the memory.

"Yes, and did you hear her? She said he was just like his great grandson, he is not much older than me, than her, how is that possible, it doesn't make sense." Madara countered.

"Who knows, we can ask her later. I'm more concerned about that Senju. Did he not seem a bit more protective of her than an average guard Madara?" Izuna had noticed and he was sure his brother had too.

"Yes, I Didn't know she was so freely associated with the Senju, she didn't tell us that when we met."

"She might not have been then, I think she met them after us." Izuna said to be fair.

"We still don't know why she was in the mountains,"Madara commented, thinking out loud.

"Or what she is looking for in general. I thought she was trying to find her way home, to her friends and her family. Yet she wants to go through the Senju archives and ours?" Izuna said thoughtfully.

"That will take some time. Both of our clans have considerable libraries."

"Do you think the Senju will give her access to their library?" Izuna asked.

"They gave her a guide, a guarded escort, I think it is a good possibility." Madara said.

He wasn't sure how he felt about that. Part of him scoffed at his indecision. She was no one, just a foul mouthed kunoichi that fell out of the sky...but that was what confused him the most. He wanted to know where she came from, and what she was looking for.

"That puppeteer, I wonder what his interest in her is, he said he had a dream about her, did you hear her, she said she wanted to know how he could dream about something that hasn't happened yet. Does that mean...she can see the future?" Izuna looked at his brother to see what he thought of these strange things.

"I suppose anything is possible. She was said to be deep within the mountains, there are only small villages and the shrines of the old gods there Izuna." Madara could see the gate to their compound.

"The old gods, do you think they have something to do with Sakura?" Izuna asked.

"I wonder more of what Sakura has to do with them." Madara said honestly.

"I don't like the idea of her alone with that Senju, freehold or not." Izuna nodded to his clansmen as they walked through the gate.

"We'll check on her tomorrow." Madara said.

"She said to give her two days maybe more. To let her get settled." Izuna said.

"Women don't know what they want, I won't wait that long." Madara huffed out.

"I think we should wait, she isn't like most women." Izuna said almost, under his breath.

"Tell the servants to gather all of the old furniture from father's room and seal it into a scroll." Madara said ignoring the look in Izuna's eyes.

"She is a healer, she will need supplies. Tell the servants to gather a diverse collection of medical supplies and equipment as well." Madara continued.

"Brother." Izuna started.

"Izuna, she is a master healer, better by far than even that hyper headed Hashirama, we need her on our side to win our war." Madara said flatly.

"Is that all?" Izuna probed.

"What do you mean, that is significant." Madara said crossing his arms.

"Are you sure that's the only reason?" Izuna was smiling now as his brother shifted on his feet.

"Just admit it Madara, you like her." Izuna grinned.

"Well, it doesn't matter if I do or I don't have...an interest in the lady, she clearly despises me." Madara deflated.

"I think she would like you more if you would just hold your temer, you two are a lot alike I think, maybe it rubs you both the wrong way because you are both too stubborn to accept it." Izuna pointed out.

"Accept it, accept what for kami's sake." Madara was getting annoyed.

"See, all we're doing is talking about her and you're all riled up." Izuna teased his brother mercilessly.

"Just do what I asked, we are leaving by mid morning, I want everything ready." Madara turned and walked into the main house leaving his brother to do his bidding.

Izuna frowned. This was a mistake, surely Madara knew that. Was he intentionally trying to rile the woman, or did he really want to see her again that badly...or was it the Senju that was with her that bothered him?

Izuna didn't complain, he wanted to see her too and make sure the Senju knew, she was also under the protection of the Uchiha.

Sakura looked at the structure before her. It clearly hadn't been used in a very long time but it didn't look terrible.

It wasn't leaning, and it looked sound enough. It was a large rectangular shape with little out buildings bordering it, like a hen with her chicks. Sakura smiled at the thought.

The main part of the house had a double paneled sliding front door. There were vines that had grown up and around the walkway, the porch and most of the right side of the house giving it a fairytale look. Sakura thought of an old book from her childhood that her mother used to read her. It was about an old healer who lived in the woods. Sakura shook her head, would that be her life now?

Setting her thoughts aside she turned back to her new home. She had been expecting half walls, perhaps a fallen ceiling but it simply looked bare. The walls were standing, the roof in tact and the low porch that wrapped itself around the perimeter of the home was in decent condition. She was pleased.

"I know this might not be as nice as you are accustomed to Lady Sakura but I will do whatever I can to make you comfortable." Kanta was standing behind her nervously watching her reaction to seeing her new home for the first time.

"Its beautiful Kanta." Sakura smiled at him. "Thank was a great idea. I love it."

Kanta blushed, pleased with her reaction.

"Lets go inside, see what else there is." It has been a long time since I was last here. Kanta slid the front doors open with a little extra force to reveal a nice open living area.

There was a large room through a rounded open doorway to the left, what looked like a serviceable kitchen to the back left through another door, and what she could only assume was a bedroom of sorts to the back right.

Sakura and Kanta roamed about exploring the home meeting back in the open living area.

"Do you like Lady Sakura?" Kanta was still a bit nervous.

He knew she was not the woman he had originally thought she was, that she was from the future. A future that was clearly much more advanced than they were now and hoped she wasn't too disappointed in what this time had to offer.

"It's delightful Kanta, really, but I think the first thing we need to do is clean." She ran her finger over one of the walls and laughed as it came away with several millimeters of dust caked over her skin.

"I will start right away." Kanta smiled.

"I think there are some buckets in the storage scrolls, and soap. I saw some rags I think, it's a start. " Sakura smiled back at him.

Kanta took the buckets to the river and filled them while Sakura went around the house opening doors and windows. Soon both of them were on hands and knees washing, wiping and dusting.

At first Kanta protested Sakura cleaning at all but received narrowed eyed comments about how she wasn't going to have him serving her like a slave and how her arms were not broken and a number of other colorful comments until he gave in and kept quiet.

Two broken windows, one hole in the back wall, broken shelves and a broken cupboard, but overall, not bad. Sakura summed up the damages to the home.

"You'll need firewood for cooking, it is summer so I doubt you will need it for heat but it is good to have on hand." Kanta commented.

He did not recall seeing an axe in her storage scrolls and made a note to buy one for her.

"Fire wood won't be an issue, I'll collect a few trees and break them up later." She said offhandedly as she surveyed the distance from the river to the home.

They stood in the kitchen, now clean, and pulled what little food stuff they had out of the scrolls Hashirama had given her, putting them in cabinets and locking them away in latched food bins.

There were a few cups, bowls and plates, chopsticks, and small cooking utensils. She had a pot, a pan, and a few baskets Hashirama had sent with Kanta for her, and she was grateful. They spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking what little they had and were on the side porch relaxing by early evening.

"You'll need candles and other simples. I can go to the village and get them for you if you like." Kanta offered as they drank their tea on the porch.

"I'll get them when I go into the village to meet with Kumo San." Sakura said.

"I will go with you." Kanta watched her.

He had heard like the others, Kumo was a relative of someone she knew in the future, but he didn't trust him, and he didn't like the thought of her going to see the man alone, in an inn.

"You don't have to do that. I assumed you would be leaving soon." Sakura turned to smile at him, letting him know she wasn't telling him to leave.

"I will write Hashirama Sama, and let him know you have settled here, if that is alright, and ask him if he wishes me to return." Kanta inclined his head respectfully to her.

"Of course. Please don't um, I understand if you feel the need to tell him about me, and my situation but, ah..." Sakura was happy for the company, and whatever made the Senju happy was in her best interest. She wanted to start her research on the god tree as soon as she could.

Kanta understood. "He is my clan head but, perhaps you would like to tell him about the specifics of our journey to the shrine?"

"Yes, I will tell him, I just have to figure out the best way to do so...thank you Kanta, for understanding." Sakura told him sincerely with a smile.

"I laid your sleeping pallet out in the side room Kanta, I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all Lady Sakura, thank you for thinking of my welfare." Kanta smiled.

"No need for formality Kanta, we're friends now aren't we?" Sakura smiled her brilliant smile at him and he blushed.

"Ye, of course, friends, thank you Sakura." Kanta continued to blush as they looked out into the forest. "I will go write to my Lord."

Kanta rose and left Sakura on the porch with her thoughts. She knew Kanta would have to leave eventually, and eventually she would be there alone. She was more than a little nervous she would admit, though only to herself. These were Konoha woods yes, but not the same as the ones she had left behind in her time.

There was more than one war in this time, the shinobi mostly made up of men with few or no women in their ranks. She was a healer with pink hair, a woman and living alone in an unclaimed wooded area without an affiliation to a clan. It was dangerous, her situation was not lost on her.

This was her first day there but word would spread, her presence would be known, to both good and bad people. It might be nice to have the Uchiha over frequently as well as the Senju, for her own protection. Sakura rolled her eyes thinking of the Uchiha. She could honestly say Sasuke came by his arrogance naturally. She smiled thinking of Izuna and how different he was from Sasuke, his looks not withstanding.

Sakura thought of how different Izuna was from his brother Madara. She knew she wasn't very nice to Madara, she knew she ought to try harder to be more polite to him. He had shown her he could be civil to her, if only she stopped pressing his buttons.

Her visions of the future clouded her present. Madara was not the same man he would become. What happened to make him into the maniacal crazy killer of her time? What caused him to want to destroy mankind, to stoop to such desperation, such loneliness?

It was easy to forget, they were even the same person when he was smiling at her pleasantly. She remembered the lunch they had shared with his brother Izuna and smiled. It had been nice, friendly even.

Her thoughts strayed to Kumo. He was so like Sasori but also a little like Kankuro with his flirting. She could see the cold calculating look in his eye, the cynical humor of Sasori, the arrogance, the indifference. It threw her off more than the flirtatious comments...it made her blood run cold at the other memories that had surfaced since their meeting.

It had been months since their battle and yes the war had kept her nightmares of Sasori at bay but she worried that her meeting with Kumo would cause them to come back.

Sakura sighed. She had so many things on her mind she couldn't seem to focus on any one thing at the moment. She could hear Kanta moving around in the house.

He slid the door open and rejoined her on the porch a scroll in his hand. He bit his thumb and summoned a little ferret.

"How cute!" Sakura cooed at the ferret who leapt into her lap and ran up her chest to curl around her neck affectionately.

"That's Momo." Kanta smiled at his summons who winked at him.

Kanta laughed.

"Momo, this is Lady Sakura, a friend." Kanta introduced his ferret to Sakura.

"Momo squeaked out a greeting making Sakura smile.

"Nice to meet you Momo." Sakura pet the soft little head of the ferret in greeting.

"I have a missive for the Lord, Momo, could you please take it to him?" Kanta asked his summons who ran down Sakura's arm and leapt onto Kanta's shoulder nuzzling him affectionately just like she had nuzzled Sakura.

Kanta tied the scroll around her neck and set her on the ground.

Momo spun twice playfully, then shot off into the forest toward the Senju compound.

"Do you have a summons?" Kanta asked Sakura after Momo had gone.

"Yes, Lady Katsuyu, a slug, for healing." Sakura said.

"Oh my gosh, Lady Katsuyu! Why didn't I think of this before!" Sakura jumped to her feet and ran off of the porch a little ways away from the house, she bit her thumb and slammed her hand to the ground.

POP*

"Lady Katsuyu!" Sakura cried and tears sprung to her eyes.

"Sakura!" A smaller version of Lady Katsuyu greeted her in surprise.

"Lady Katsuya, oh, I'm so glad to see you." Sakura hadn't realized how much she had missed seeing someone, something from her own time, something living, would make her feel. The connection hadn't been broken, she wasn't alone, she was still a part of her old world and it felt...comforting, so much more than she had ever expected it to feel.

Sakura dropped to her knees before the slug weeping.

"How is everyone? Are they alive, Naruto, Sasuke, Shisou, please Lady Katsuyu tell me, how did it end, is it over, please." Sakura was sobbing now, her fingers digging into the earth in front of her prostrate form, Kanta watching her with a worried expression between horror and astonishment beside her.

"They are gone." Lady Katsuyu said softly.

"What? Everyone….do you mean everyone is gone?" Sakura stopped sobbing in her shock.

"The shinobi, the humans, they are...no more. It is a wasteland, they are all, in pods, Madara had won, he and the Rabbit goddess, have won." Lady Katsuyu said softly.

"But, how is that possible, no one is alive?" Sakura couldn't believe it.

"They are...not dead but, they are not alive, they are trapped, they are all trapped in pods, made by Madara Uchiha, his Infinite Tsukuyomi, Sakura, you remember his plan, he was...successful." Lady Katsuyu told her.

'Madara Uchiha?!' Kanta's mouth dropped open but he remained quiet.

"No." The anguish was clear in Sakura's voice.

"Where, are we Sakura, where have you summoned me to?" Katsuyu looked around, her eyes darting over the forest.

"It feels, familiar, are we, in Konoha?" The slug guessed.

"Yes." Sakura sat up and wiped her face off.

"We are in Konoha, before the war, before Konoha was founded." Sakura told her friend.

"I found Kaguya, Lady Katsuyu, I found her and she told me to find the god tree and to destroy it, she told me if I did that I could change the future, I could save them all." Sakura said.

"So, she knew, she knew and she...that bitch!" Sakura screamed and walked to the closest tree slamming her chakra infused fist into its truck decimating it into a million pieces.

"You knew!" Sakura screamed to the sky.

"The god tree, hum." Lady Katsuyu nodded wisely.

"Is what she said true, do you think Lady Katsuyu, if I destroy the god tree, will it, will it protect the future, will it help?" Sakura wiped her eyes again, her tears had come back and there was nothing she could do to stem the flow.

"It makes sense." Lady Katsuyu said slowly as though she were considering the possibilities.

"When did you speak with the Rabbit goddess Sakura?" Lady Katsuyu asked her.

"Less than two days ago maybe." Sakura answered her, "Why?"

"It is only a theory but perhaps this was all part of her plan. They are not extinguished but in suspended animation inside of the pods, maybe she wanted you to change things, change not only your future but hers as well." Lady Katsuyu offered.

"But, she is a goddess, how could I change her future?" Sakura asked.

"We are all connected, you, me, her, Tsunade, all of us, through time, space and our energy, our chakra. You humans measure time, it is not relevant to any other form of life other than you." Lady Katsuyu said casually.

"I." Sakura thought about that for a moment. "I suppose."

"Sasuke, is...did Sasuke get suspended too?" Sakura was almost too frightened to ask.

"The Uchiha was suspended with the rest but...his injuries were fatal, I am not sure how the pods work Sakura, I do not know if he will survive." Lady Katsuyu was hesitant to say but she knew Sakura would want the truth.

"You came when I summoned you, can you travel between our worlds? Can you travel to my old home without being summoned?" Sakura asked the slug.

"I can, there is a seal in Tsunade's office that allows me to move between the world of your old time and my own, do you need something from home Sakura?" Lady Katsuyu asked her.

"No, but...I was thinking, if you can travel without a direct summons to my old time, maybe you could reverse summon me...when you are there, and take me home." Sakura said hopefully.

Lady Katsuyu didn't respond right away. When she did she spoke hesitantly.

"It might be possible, but...there is no one there for you to return to. They are all, comatose, you are the last, the last survivor of your world." Lady Katsuyu said carefully.

"You would not have made a difference there, but perhaps here, you can." Lady Katsuyu said to the poor girl, watching as tears had once again sprung from her green eyes.

"You are where you need to be Sakura." Lady Katsuyu left her then, with a small pop.

"Where I need to be?" Sakura sunk to the ground again and sobbed.

Gone, they were all gone...but not dead, suspended, in pods...damn Uchiha...curse their entire clan!

"Damn it!" Sakura screamed leaping into the trees running as fast and as hard as she could into the depths of the forest.