The wind blew a gentle breeze, caressing Sakura's face while she looked out the open window.
The snow had finally started to melt as spring delicately took over, with the very first colourful buds of flowers starting to flourish and bloom prettily.
Sakura sighed, enjoying the view, but inwardly sinking in an uncomfortable feeling of melancholy.
'It's already been so long, and I still haven't been able to actually-'
'Don't so harsh on yourself. You've already learned how to activate the cape much quicker than those before you. You did great, Sakura.'
'But I'm still not fast enough.'
'Hey, hey, don't stress about it. What's done is done. You tried, at the best of your abilities-'
Realizing that her argument with her Inner would prove pointless, Sakura ended their discussion there as she promptly got up and stomped her way to the old desk.
Sitting down and opening her 'drawing diary' - as Inner teasingly liked to call it - Sakura began to idly flip through the pages, one by one, without really paying too much attention - given she was mostly doing this to stop talking to Inner.
But then she noticed something, leading her eyes to widen with surprise and wonder.
Though the figures she'd drawn were still faceless, a significant increase in detail had suddenly and mysteriously occurred, allowing her to see the finer points much clearer than ever before.
Sakura blinked. How was this possible? Could it be-? Was it thanks to that old man? When he had attempted to modify the seal set upon her?
If that was indeed the case, some gratitude was indeed in order. And she would do so the very next time she'd see him, she decided with a nod.
Peering back down excitedly at these new details that had come to light, she was amazed to find that the incoherent scribbles in the far right-hand corner of a particular drawing had magically morphed into words she could now read. And right there, was spelt out two names.
Naruto and Sasuke.
Familiar names now Sakura which had only heard of in her many indistinct dreams, from over these past few months. Just who were they to her, she wondered yet again, not for the first time?
Shaking her head to rid herself of questions she had yet to find answers to, the young female ninja gathered her cape and scarf, swiftly deciding on an early morning stroll to clear her head.
It was quite early, in fact, the sun still low and caressing the rich landscape with an orange glow, and the cold was still flooding the air just a little, yet enough to greet her with another icy breeze. Yet it didn't deter her as she wandered on forward, deeply appreciating the sound of chirping birds accompanying her as she went about and eyed the surrounding scenery with true wonder.
All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a little girl with blond hair hastily came running towards her. The girl's face was blurry as Sakura's eyes were clouded by the torrent of tears she'd just shed. Despite that, the other girl's voice was crystal clear, as she began to babble a dozen of words to which Sakura, fairly stunned, could only nod to dumbly.
"Hey. What's your name?" asked the little girl then, Sakura able to tell the former was staring.
"Haruno Sakura," came her reply, echoing quietly in the distance as the images faded to black.
Sakura blinked, confused, as the scenery around her flickered back to the reality she'd been in: 'Whoa, wait. What just happened?'
The sharp pain of an upcoming headache of meanness burst across her head, making her wince: 'Guess that answers my question, huh.'
Taking deep breaths with shut eyes in order to collect herself, while willing the agony away, Sakura eventually began walking again, hurrying her pace despite her swaying step in the grass.
Ambling forwards, the young female ninja reached the opening of the cave and, after taking a deep breath, walked down the stairs all the way down to the hidden lake.
Once she reached the edge of the water, Sakura sauntered over and sat down, right in the middle. Closing her eyes, her breathing then gently slowed down, little by little, as she fully surrendered her mind away to mediation.
And when she opened her eyes, the young female was once again standing in front of the barrier. But instead of seeing Honou, she saw Inner Sakura standing there looking scared and confused.
"Impossible," she whispered, as if not really aware of Sakura's presence "This can't be true."
"What's going on, Inner?"
"...The Inners. Sakura, they're... They're all gone."
Back in Konoha, out in the crowded streets.
It was a cloudy day, and a tall man was walking through Konoha, a bouquet of flowers in hand.
Many people passed him by, but none of them looked his way, nor did he acknowledge them. Yet everyone knew exactly where he was walking to. Even so, nobody accompanied him there.
Upon finally reaching his destination, he caught sight of a familiar man already standing there, hunched a little and with a forlorn-looking expression, right in front of the large memorial stone.
"I see you've decided to come here too, Tenzo," the first man voiced as he stopped in his tracks to stand next to the other, who in turn focused his attention on him and gave him a small smile.
Nodding in return - for though smile he did, it would never have shown through the mask he so dutifully wore - the man with flowers then glanced towards the stone, standing tall and engraved with the many names of those lost for the sake and in the name of the village they all took pride in.
Putting the bunch of flowers down, a beautiful bouquet of pink carnations*, the masked man brought his hands together and closed his eyes as he got ready to mentally recite a few prayers for all the fallen. As well as the latest, and most recent, addition unfortunately made to that list.
"You know well I too have got my own loved ones here, Kakashi-senpai," replied Tenzo softly, finally able to gather the strength to speak as he watched the other man pray beside him silently.
After a moment or two, Kakashi gradually opened his eyes again and withdrew his hands from being clasped together, only to put one of them over the very newest addition to all of those countless names, the one name he had just prayed for the most.
"...I miss her, Tenzo."
"We all miss her."
"I know it isn't healthy, but I- I blame myself for this. For all of this," admitted Kakashi slowly, wistfully, his voice pained "If I had only paid a little closer attention back then, maybe, just maybe, I would have figured out earlier what was truly going on. Maybe we could have- Maybe I could have avoided this mess altogether."
"There's no reason to blame yourself, senpai," uttered his friend gently, as put his hand over his, in an effort to comfort Kakashi in his obvious moment of suffering "Say it could have been possible, it would have still been hard, if not downright impossible, to divide one's attention further, when it's already focused between the last of the Uchiha and the Jinchuuriki, saviours of our village."
"She is my student too, Tenzo. Same as Naruto and Sasuke, even grown and accomplished as they are today. I should have been there when she needed me to be, regardless of anything else."
A lighting strike suddenly broke through the clouds, closely followed by the crack of thunder, before the very first few drops of rain began to fall, slowly, gently, gradually growing in power, distracting Tenzo long enough for him to gaze up at the sky.
Before he frowned faintly, noticing only now something very specific about Kakashi's words. He had said 'she is'. He wasn't referring to his student in the past tense. That could only mean-
"You believe she's still alive, don't you, senpai?"
"I do. With all my heart, I believe it's true."
Back in the Haruno Village.
Sakura was running.
Mind blank, short of breath, lungs threatening to collapse, legs and feet aching like hell, but she still ran and ran, not halting for anything as she made it all the way back to her makeshift home.
"Sakura, slow down!"
Completely ignoring her Inner, the young female threw the front door open, and, not wasting a single second, went dashing around the place, messily packing all of her belongings in her haste.
"Would you stop?! You have no idea what you're going to do next! Heck, you don't even know what just happened now!"
Not skipping a single beat as she packed her stuff away, Sakura continued to ignore the other.
"Are you-? Are you ignoring me?!"
Snatching her journal and books, which she then shoved in a bag, she continued to ignore Inner.
"LISTEN TO ME!"
Sakura frowned in annoyance as she felt her Inner attempt to tug her into her private mindscape, so she swiftly - as well as stubbornly - prevented the other from achieving so, mentally putting up a shield to stay awake in the here and now of reality.
Closing the now stuffed bag, Sakura strode out of the house, across the streets and over the gate.
"Stop this nonsense now! You-Where ARE you going?! ANSWER ME, YOU LITTLE-!"
Sakura finally spoke up, hurriedly cutting in before her Inner uttered something...unsavoury: "If they're all gone, then there's nothing left for me here, Inner. We're going to the mainland."
"Wha-?! But- wait, shouldn't we think this through?! Plan first?! SAKURA!" panicked Inner, in a desperate - though futile - attempt to calm down and reason with the young female.
But the latter's mind was already made up. And she charged on forward, without looking back.
Not even once.
In the Hokage's Office, a few days later.
"Are you certain this is a good idea?" inquired Kakashi as he gave Shikamaru a serious stare, calmly awaiting the younger's response.
It wasn't that he doubted the young Nara and his genius. He just needed the extra confirmation. To be sure. To be safe. Because what the younger ninja was suggesting, was a little... peculiar.
"Quite certain. Point in fact, this will provide as a good, if not excellent, distraction for them," answered Shikamaru evenly, his tone and expression neutral, giving nothing but honesty away.
And despite this, Kakashi had this clear feeling that he wasn't being given the entire truth here.
Oh well, live and let live, right?
"Alright then, Shikamaru. If that's what you believe best, then sure. So, as you leave, could you please send those two in?"
With a nod of his head, the young Nara then left the office, with Kakashi raising an eyebrow as he caught the discreet mutter of something along the lines of 'troublesome' and 'what a pain'. As in, the usual. Not worth any reprimand, really. It wouldn't be Shikamaru with the little odd complaint here and there, after all.
A sudden knock at the door cut him out of his musings, prompting him to smirk as he fell into position to greet two of his favourite and closest students - shame they were one student short...
He, fortunately enough, wasn't given the time to dwell on depressing thoughts for, right at that moment, Naruto and Sasuke walked in, after knocking first, before they froze in their tracks, displeased frowns flitting across their features.
After a beat of nothing being said or done, the young Uzumaki gritted out in sheer annoyance, eyebrow twitching due to what the older man was reading...again.
"Oh, come on, Kakashi-sensei. As Hokage, you shouldn't be reading so casually that...rubbish. It will be a real bad influence on the younger generation."
"Pains me to agree with the idiot, but you're really pushing it, old man. Be responsible already."
Kakashi barely held back on breaking out a laugh. Oh, wow. He was being scolded at his age.
Exaggerating a sigh, the masked man went to put the book down, to give them his full attention, but before he could it got swiftly snatched away by Naruto, who then muttered in faint irritation: "I will be holding on to this for now."
After giving the other a long look, Kakashi shrugged in surrender, knowing full well that he had several other ones hidden and stored safely within his desk - all he had to do really was tap upon the bottom side of his desk three times and then he'd have access to the same concealed cabinet his predecessor used to hide all of her liquor.
But his students, quite thankfully, didn't know that.
"Alright then, you win. You win," chuckled Kakashi as he shifted over to the side to pick up one of the many scrolls scattered across his table, before he held it out for one of his students to take "I have a mission for you two. It's about a healer. This scroll here contains more details."
While Naruto took the scroll and opened it for him and his friend to examine it closer, Sasuke raised an eyebrow after a moment: "And what's the actual problem, Kakashi?"
"Not really a problem, to be exact," replied the grey-haired man "There's nothing wrong about what the person is doing. It's the amount of skill that they have which is bothering me."
"What do you mean?" asked the young blond male with a faint frown.
"A recent mission taken in charge by the ANBU saw one of its members critically wounded. In hopes of finding a doctor, they rushed over to the nearest village. The doctor there wasn't skilled enough to heal him, claiming they at least needed an exceptional, high-level healer to save him."
The young Uchiha caught on rather quickly: "Let me guess, the healer happened to pass by and then healed him with ease?"
"Correct. That's why I want to send the two of you to get more information on this person, ok?"
Naruto and Sasuke both nodded at that, easily getting the gist of what was being asked of them. They were to find and catch the person, before questioning them and inquiring on their motives.
"Anything else you need to know is written in the scroll, but I'll address this crucial point now," informed Kakashi in a flat voice "Witnesses have said that this healer wears a black cape, with a hood covering the upper part of their face, and a dark red scarf hiding the rest of it. And it sounds to me like this person doesn't want anyone to know who they are. ...Mysterious, right?"
With that, Kakashi settled on then giving the other two a nod and wave, indicating their cue to leave, which Sasuke and Naruto did, glancing at each other in silent complicity as they exited.
And just as his two students closed the door behind them, a cloud smoke appeared on the table.
"Hey there, Kakashi. I'm back with the report of the ANBU team you sent after Haruno Kaji," informed Paku in a bland tone, as he dropped a stack of documents from his tiny canine jaws "And just so we're clear, this is the last time I'll be doing an errand for you. Got it?"
"Alright, alright, I won't be lazy anymore. Sheesh, what's with everyone picking on me today?" muttered the grey-haired man with a roll of his eyes, before he picked up the papers and swiftly skimmed over the highlighted parts of the first few pages.
But right then, a very specific sentence caught his brilliant eye, leading him to zero in on it with great attention.
"Interesting, interesting. Now, why in the world would he be anywhere near the Northern Sea?"
The Land of Fire, at the far edge of its borders.
"Hey, Teme! Making any progress?" called out Naruto as he made his way back towards their temporary-made camp.
"Hn."
"And what does that even mean?!" yelled the blond male in utter frustration as he sat down next to the Uchiha and glared at the latter whilst hastily shifting his frozen feet towards the campfire.
The freaking weather was unforgivably cold, despite it being the beginning of the spring season.
It was silent between the two of them for a while as they enjoyed the calm and serenity of the forest around, gently and gradually awakening from its longest slumber called winter.
"You believe it's her, isn't it?" inquired Naruto, softly breaking the silence which prompted the other to reply in with his usual monotone mumble.
"Hn."
"Talkative as usual, huh? You may not have much to say, but I know what you're hiding. And really feeling, Sasuke," taunted the blond male, throwing at the other male a not-so-subtle wink.
Sasuke snapped his full attention towards the other and, before he could barely comprehend his thoughts and actions, he had fisted Naruto's shirt callously in his hand as he growled out coldly: "How long have you known? Better yet, how do you know?"
Naruto brushed the other off of him as he grinned knowingly: "A few months now. And you're totally obvious, Sasuke, so of course, I knew. Heck, I'm pretty sure everyone else knows. What I don't get is why the heck it took you so freaking long to figure it out. Thought you were smart and stuff, man."
"...It doesn't change that I'm not worthy," whispered Sasuke miserably as he shut his eyes, and thus missed the way Naruto was now looking at him "Why would she even want to be with me? Too many times I've hurt her, Naruto. Way too many. I've left her. I've even almost k-"
The dark-haired male never finished his sentence, a curt slap echoing sharply through the forest, halting Sasuke short, before he gingerly touched his now tender and gradually swelling cheek.
"Do NOT give me that crap, Sasuke. You can't carry on giving me - or anyone else - that crap. What happened, happened. And now, it's over. YOU can't change the past, nor can you change what you did or didn't do. So, man up, live with it and move forward. Your present is NOW. Moping on that past will do nothing but hinder you," hissed Naruto, right into the other's face.
The Uchiha wanted to be angry, but he just didn't have the strength to be, aware that the other was more than right.
So he eventually settled on asking softly: "...What if she doesn't want me, Naruto? What then?"
"You won't know anything until you ask her, won't you?" reasoned the blond, calmed down as he poked the fire with a stick to revive the dying embers of flames "See, life is kind of like this stick. Either you go for it and burn yourself along the way, or you just rot away without knowing a thing."
Sasuke gaped at the other male for a bit, utterly unable to find a biting remark due to how awed he was, but Naruto didn't notice, as he carried on talking: "She's the strongest kunoichi I know, and I have a lot of faith in her. Like I have faith in you. You just need to have faith in yourself."
"You really are Hokage material, you know?" finally admitted Sasuke with a smile that almost seemed to be fond "You just earned a lot of respect from me, Naruto. Keep it up, would you?"
Rather than accepting the batch of compliments for what they were, Naruto could only stare "...Huh? Wow, this is so unlike you to be saying things like that. Are you sick all of a sudden?"
A slew of veins popped up furiously across the Uchiha's forehead as his closest friend just lost all the pent-up respect with that incredibly ridiculous attitude of his.
"Hn. Baka Dobe."
Confused and offended, Naruto jumped up from his seat as he yelled: "Teme! What the he-?!"
"Dobe!"
"TEM-!"
"Yo."
They both stopped with their bickering session instantly upon hearing that voice all of a sudden.
Falling into offensive stances right from the get-go, Sasuke and Naruto both retrieved a couple of kunai in hand, ready to fight whoever it was, when the young blond male caught sight of some rustling in the shrubs nearby.
He was two seconds short away of attacking when a small creature then sprung from the bushes, avoiding the worst in the nick of time.
"Paku?" exclaimed Naruto, honestly flabbergasted by the little dog's totally unannounced visit.
"Nope, I'm Tora," bit out the tiny canine mockingly as he padded towards them, taking his time "Could you two get this off of my back? It's killing me."
True to his word, there was a white package bound to him by a piece of cloth around his torso.
Crouching down to his level, Naruto performed the intricate deed of untangling it from Paku's back and, as soon as it was done, he poof-ed away without another word, his mission completed.
Naruto carefully began to undo the package, with its content slowly becoming visible, leading a stunned Sasuke to come stand next to the other before hurriedly fishing out what had caught his eye: "...My sword? But- But how? It was destroyed by Kaji."
But from the sheath to blade, the katana was all in one piece, without the slimmest hint of damage.
Letting his friend marvel at his favourite weapon for a bit, Naruto then showed the dark-haired male what the rest of the package's contents was. And it was a letter, addressed directly to them.
Unfolding it carefully as to not damage it, he then held it up for the two of them to read together.
Dear Naruto & Sasuke
Sorry it took us so long, but it was pretty hard to convince the researchers to give us the sword - to be fair, Ino managed to convince Sai to steal it.
We got word that you guys had to leave for a mission, so I tried to finish this as soon as possible. You shouldn't worry about it breaking again. I'm not called the Weapon Mistress for nothing, after all.
Shikamaru also did some research and found out that the mysterious, roaming medic is also referred to as the 'Black-clad Medic'** due to their attire.
We also added a little present for you guys, and you'll find it at the back of this letter. You don't have to use it if you don't need it, but it may be useful. Just in case, you know.
Best of luck, guys.
-Tenten and the rest of Konoha 12
Ps: Kakashi doesn't know about this. We kind of borrowed Paku without telling him anything, so let's all keep it secret, okay guys?
Grinning happily due to his friends' support, the young Uzumaki turned the letter over, finding a summoning sign at the back.
Placing the paper on the ground, he bit his thumb hard, drawing blood and activating the seal, leading a small puff of smoke to appear, closely followed by the manifestation of a small vial, holding a crystalline-like liquid.
Naruto then blinked, eyeing the bottle curiously but not sure about touching it: "What's this?"
It was Sasuke who eventually picked it up and opened the bottle to cautiously smell the contents, before a smirk touched his lips: "Oh, Naruto, I have so many ideas right now. Listen closely."
*While I don't have the required knowledge in flower studies my Beta "Seth's Kiss" does.
Carnations are quite popular to convey your sympathies to another, though there can be other meanings depending on their colour. Pink ones however symbolize remembrance. Carnations are not only sweet-smelling and long-lasting, but they're also gorgeous.
