Bridges and Pillars

Chapter 14: Naruto

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The twins Himeko and Hitomi ended up getting a team of Jonin stopping by just before they were going to leave, as Mebuki had already gone home with Sakura in toe, Kizashi ended up staying behind to help the girls. He was no medic but with his slow stumbling gate he could at least get the girls supplies, he and the twins had decided to spend the night in the apartment building. Himeko and Hitomi also promised to make sure Kizashi got to his therapy session and doctor appointment on time. Thus leaving Mebuki to take Sakura out on the village, trusting the teenagers to take care of her husband who'd rather run a weapon's shop then see a doctor.

"Mommy, where are we going?" Sakura asked as her mother zipped her dress up, tugging at the collar around her neck as if it were too tight. Her brother was also out on a training mission with his team, thus leaving their house to the boys Kei and Kenji, who promised to take care of it while they were gone.

"We're going shopping," Mebuki smiled at her, helping her father down the final step. "Your brother made… a few observations and I'll admit, I got a little carried away with the hammy downs."

"No more Dudou?" Sakura asked curiously, referring to the backless, sleeveless, tied in place shirt she always wore.

"uuuhh, hmmm, maybe something different?" Mebuki hummed and sighed as if she were in a dilemma. "its important for us to have as much contact with mother earth as much as possible. Your bloodline is still unstable after all, so it's important that you don't forget—oh wow I'm stupid!" Mebuki gasped suddenly, "we can just add a shrug when you leave the house!"

"Mama, is that why you only put on the dress when you leave the house?" Sakura asked, pointing out the fact that her mother still walked about the house in shorts and a sports bra. It was the same habit her mother from her first life had so Sakura wasn't too surprised or bothered by it.

"Huh? Oh, uh, yes," Mebuki giggled and scratched her cheek. "From now on Sakura-chan, your going to dress like your brother and me, okay?" Sakura thought about the clothing her imminent family wore. Her father struggled to done most clothing due to his crippled state, so he was currently stuck with traditional yukatas for the next few years. Her mother wore a red zipped-up, sleeveless, knee-length qipao dress and a pair of loose shorts. Her brother wore basically the same thing, except his red sleeveless qipao shirt ended at his waist. He wore standard slacks with most of his ninja gear in his back pouch for the exception of his kunai-holster weighted arm-bands. Sakura wouldn't mind her brother's outfits but she also got used to the freedom of movement that her Dudou and shorts permitted her.

"Do I have too?" Sakura asked suddenly remembering the clothing options she had in her first life. The onesies for six years were comfortable sure but impractical during the summer. Then there were the civilian-dresses she was forced to do all the way till her graduation. She didn't want such abysmal outfits again, no matter how cute they were.

"It is unfortunate but yes," Mebuki chuckled as she lifted Sakura onto her back, "hold on tight sweety, this is going to be a bumpy ride."

"mmkay," Sakura hummed and followed instructions. Despite having a horse they could've used, or a wagon that could've doubled to carrying their bags, her mother took them through the trees like a good retired kunoichi. Her mother never did this in her first life, they walked everywhere no matter how long it took them. Thus, Sakura couldn't completely stop the shrill squeal that escaped her tightly clenched lips. Her mother laughed and Sakura swore the woman picked up seed just to make Sakura squeal again. Of course, her mother succeeded, her mother rarely failed at anything she put her mind to.

Their forty-five-minute carriage ride turned into a five-minute blind dash through the trees and while Sakura shrieked with laughter, the end result was her mother being a crumpled mess by the back doors of their family clinic. Sakura could see one of the twins helping a team of genin with some minor injuries, the other twin (and Sakura was betting on the stern Himeko) was most likely with her stubborn father.

"Are you okay mommy?" Sakura asked, staring at her mother curiously. She didn't want to interrupt Hitomi, besides her mother would survive until the last of that genin team was 'healed'. Simple bandaging did a lot to preteens still scared of their own weapons.

"yeeeesss," her mother wheezed, "se-se… gi'me sec… a sec." Sakura continued to stare at her mother, whether it be in this life or her previous, she's never seen the woman break a sweat. A part of her was concerned that there was something wrong with her mother but on the whole, as cruel as it sounded, Sakura wasn't particularly worried for the blonde. Sakura reached over and poked at her mother's lower leg, curiosity getting the better of her. Her mother chuckled weakly, still panting for breath. So with a thoughtful hum, Sakura gathered a little bit of chakra into her fingertips and poked her mother's leg again; this time inserting the smallest amount of healing chakra she could. The small part of her that was screaming with childish terror for her mother's safety was pacified with the gentle introduction of healing chakra to her mother's body. The slightly larger part of her that was war-hardened kunoichi, screamed shrilly that perfectly neutralized chakra was not natural for a child her age. Her mother sat up so fast Sakura nearly fell over, her arms pinwheeling about to keep her steady while her mother stared at her with wide eyes.

"Sakura, did you just?"

"Just what?" Sakura asked, hoping her mother hadn't noticed her small injection of pain-relieving chakra. her mother continued to stare at her, blinking slowly, the cogs in her brain working faster than Sakura's mental pleas for mercy from a sadistic goddess.

"N-never mind," her mother took a deep steadying breath, frowning thoughtfully before shaking her head and smiling gently. "Let's grab some tea from the girls before continuing on our mission, right?"

"Mission?" Sakura asked, giving her best Naruto-impression of excitement. "We're on a mission?!"

"hahaha, yeah, let's call it that!" Her mother laughed, seemingly forgetting what Sakura had done; much to her daughter's secret relief. They had tea with Hitomi, Sakura mentally cheered for her correct guess. Sakura ended up playing 'guess that tea' with the younger twin before leaving with her mother. Sakura won eight out of ten teas a total of four out of ten attempts; Hitomi won the other six rounds. As Sakura and her mother walked towards the shopping district, both holding hands, Sakura kept jerking her head randomly about. Every now and again, she'd swear she saw her should've-been-brother; her almost best friend. But every time she looked a little closer, that flash of spiky blonde hair was gone, or it was a sticker in someone's window, or some stranger too old to be her Naruto.

Sakura hadn't thought of it before but her mother simply thought Sakura's random head-jerking about was due to excitement as she wasn't normally allowed to walk around the village. Sakura's routine required either her brother carrying her to the academy or returning home on his back. Or when one of the twins would take Sakura, Kiba, Sasuke, and Hinata home with a wagon which happened more often then Mebuki would like to admit. Technically, this was the first time Sakura had been anywhere that wasn't the shinobi academy, the family business, or their home. Sakura was lucky her mother didn't think her actions were weird in the slightest.

"Here baby," Sakura gasped as she suddenly lifted her from the ground, setting the pinkett on her hip with practiced ease. "Can you see now?" her mother asked, laughter in her voice.

"uh-huh!" Sakura agreed, smiling brightly at her mother. Neither Haruno noticed it but a little boy crashed to a stop just behind them, a mop of dingy yellow hair flicking about a too big sleeping yukata. The reason for his sudden incapability to latch onto someone who looked like a friend? The thick shadow stretching out from the shadowed alleyway. The boy looked and scowled beneath his mop of dingy yellow locks, unable to move or speak, he was helpless to stop the whips of shadow that reached up and wrapped around him. Too soon he was jerked into the alleyway, where three white-masked people were waiting for him with open arms. He didn't bother to fight them, he wouldn't win the fight and he knew it.

"Quite running away from us," one of the masks hissed at him, holding on tightly as they each disappeared before someone noticed their presence. "Hokage-sama gave us orders to protect you, Naruto-san. Please quite making our jobs more difficult." The boy refused to say anything, choosing instead to scoff at them. His blatant show of disrespect earned him three heavy sighs before his chosen guards sped faster through the village; back to the dark underground world, he's come to loath.

Was that what she looked like before we met? He thought, watching the civilian sector shrink away over his guard's shoulders. She seems a lot more different in this world. He wondered what other changes there were. Unfortunately, due to his current four-year-old age, he wasn't able to wander about carelessly. That adventure would come about when he's six. When Anbu members would start refusing to take care of him and the Hokage would finally give him his own apartment.

Two more years, he thought, watching his village shrink as they reached the tree line of the forest sitting closest to the Anbu barracks. Then I can see everyone again.

He just had to be patient.

Patience was not his strong suit.

.

For Sakura's fifth birthday, Tsunade arrived with various clothing articles from every village she stopped at. The piece of clothing Sakura liked the most, was the piece of cloth that she could braid into her hair and keep it out of her face. While Sakura loved having short hair, it made methods to keep her hair out of her face slightly more problematic. With long hair she could pull up all of her hair but short hair was slightly more difficult. The gift Tsunade was most excited to give her was a pair of simple red ribbons with little silver bells tagged on the ends. However, Sakura noticed imminently that the little bells on the ends weren't there for looks. They were a very difficult to produce metallic bell that was used to detect genjutsu or protect the user from genjutsu. Although genjutsu was something Sakura was already immune to, she suspected that the silent bells would ring for a different reason. A reason that was much too sinister for a five-year-old to consider. A reason that made her slumbering teenage-soldier-self twist uncomfortably where she slept in the deep confines of Sakura's mind. Sakura handed the ribbons over to Tsunade with an excited smile, the blonde was all too happy to pull Sakura's short pink locks into two low ponytails.

The hair ribbons came with a pair of scarlet silk fingerless gloves that reached up to her elbow, golden and white embroidery twirled with beautifully crafted beads. The glass beads were another thing Sakura had noticed about Tsunade's presents, and the trend was making her teenage-soldier-self begin to stir in the corner of her mind. The glass beads were breakable, filled with some kind of liquid that Sakura was positive she wasn't supposed to notice. The silk flowers sewn onto the backs of her hands, if she looked close enough, were held in place with a pin. Which meant the flowers were removable and she could stab someone with them if she wanted to—no if she needed too.

Sakura tugged the gloves on next and the little part of her that was still a soldier on the bloody battlefield, grinned like a devil. She could feel the metallic plates hidden between the layers of silk, thick weighted bands that overlapped along the length of her arms. She looked up at Tsunade, the four-year-old her full of awe and the teenage-soldier praised the foresight of her teacher. Tsunade's eyes gentled and her smile was stiff as if she knew the implications of her presents. Sakura received other presents from her 'aunts' and 'uncles', most of them ninja related and defiantly weapons, but the presents she received from Tsunade were the ones she treasured the most. Even the cute pendant that her brother got her, a cute little blue crystal, had a secret use she was half positive her brother wasn't aware of. The tiny crystal would grow as she did, mooching off her chakra signature a little bit at a time for its own strength.

Truthfully, the crystal was harvested in Kumo, it was also something that Kumo used to track criminals. Since in this world she already had her hundred hands seal, Sakura decided that wearing the pendent under her clothes wasn't a bad thing. Technically her seal still ate some chakra, but it was half of a single percentage so she wasn't worried about the crystal gobbling up five percent of her chakra. Sakura wasn't worried about never actually having full chakra compacity, she spent half the war with only half of her chakra reserves at dispersal anyways. Spending her childhood missing six percent of her chakra reserves wasn't nearly so bad, at least she spent her childhood in the safe arms of her home and village.

As the light of Sakura's fifth birthday slowly faded from the sky, Sakura decided that she wasn't going to let go of her former teacher now godmother. Sakura spent the following five days clinging to Tsunade's neck, only letting go for the bathroom, the hospital calling for Tsunade's help, and bath time. Sakura wasn't sure if Tsunade adored the attention was burdened by it, either way, the blonde never cursed or physically forced Sakura's removal of her person.

"Alright sprite," Tsunade chuckled as patted Sakura's back gently, "It's your brother's turn to spend time with me." It was dawn and the last morning Sakura would get to spend with her favorite person. For a moment Sakura didn't want to let go, knowing that her famous runaway teacher would run away the second she got a chance. However, Sakura also knew it was her brother's tenth birthday and that hogging Tsunade to herself was rude to her brother who admired Tsunade as much as Sakura loved the blonde.

"Fine," Sakura sighed, releasing her hold and pouting as Tsunade set her down on Itsuki's bed. Her brother groaned as Tsunade carefully pulled him up from his bed, grinning the blonde winked at Sakura before disappearing.

"He's gonna die today," Sakura mumbled, staring at the disgusting smudge of mud left behind on her brother's bed. Her poor elder brother had been put through the wringer the previous day by Kakashi-sensei and now he was going to spend the day with Tsunade, whose idea of relaxation involved breaking boulders and sipping on sake. Sakura smiled at the fond memories of her first life before hopping down from her brother's bed and walking out the room.

Sakura ended up spending the day with Shizune, who was helping Hitomi and Himeko in the greenhouse. Shizune carefully taught Sakura about the various poisonous plants in the greenhouse, telling her all about their uses and how to find them. Although Sakura already knew the various plants, she also understood that she was five and technically had no formal training on the subject. So she kept her mouth shut, asked various questions like a good five-year-old, and listened to everything Shizune had to say. Sakura missed having lessons with Shizune, the brunet never really had much time to teach Sakura anything outside of curing her own poisons inventions in her first life.

By evening the Uchiha heads, Hyūga twins, and Tsume had arrived with their children in tow, presents in hand awaiting the return of the birthday boy. Sakura decided to play hide and seek with the other kids, giggling up a storm as Sasuke was chosen as 'it' and everyone scrambled to hide in the yard. Considering the Haruno's owned nearly fifty acres of land and they restricted it to the cherry blossom orchard, there were still plenty of places to hide.

That was the first time she saw Naruto and her heart broke at the sight.

She had been hiding in one of the cheery trees, completely stuck if she were honest with herself, and watched in muted horror at the scene that unraveled before her. There was a small creek the rolled through the property, small and shallow, not enough for an adult to drown in but strong and deep enough to sweep eight-year-old's off their feet. Even if Sakura wanted to get to him, to save him, she didn't have the chakra levels to reach him in time much less have anything left over to be of use. So she watched, horrified, as Naruto pulled himself from the stream, shook his head then yelped as three shadows descended upon him. He tried to run away but a knotwork of roots shot up from the moist soil and trapped him. Naruto tried to resist the tangling woodwork but was ultimately too weak to resist when the masked man ripped him from the entanglement of roots and threw him over one broad shoulder.

There was nothing Sakura could do. She didn't have the reserves nor the physical endurance to reach him and even if she nearly killed herself to reach him, what could she do against Anbu? Despite the ugly feeling that stole her breath and silenced her voice, Sakura made a mental note of the change. Whatever difference there was in this world's past that made the differences in Sakura's life, it also made changes in Naruto's life. At their age they should've been in the academy together, Sakura didn't recall just when they met in her first life but she knew they had classes together.

In this world though, Naruto was in the custody of Anbu. Most likely Yamamoto, judging by the usage of nature manipulation. Had he been in the custody of Anbu in his first life? If so, why hadn't he said anything about them? Why didn't he know anything about them? No, this had to be a change. Just another thing that would be different in this world as compared to her first life.

"Was that Naruto?" Sakura yelped and slipped on the moss-covered branches of the cheery tree. She screamed as she fell, habitually reaching out for Sasuke, who she hadn't noticed climb the tree she was in. Sakura felt her fingers snag on a branch, her feet skimming the very edge of moss, but she couldn't stop herself. Her only saving grace was that her reaching fingers had snagged into enough weaker branches to twist her falling body before she landed. She landed on her feet, a resounding crack echoing through the air followed by her blacking out due to the first painful sensation she's had in this new life.

"Is she okay?" Sasuke asked, watching with teary eyes as Hana carefully lifted Sakura from the ground.

"She didn't hit her head but she broke her foot and fractured her ankle," Hana answered swiftly. "She'll be in a cast for a few weeks but she'll live."

"I didn't mean to Aniiki," Sasuke sobbed when his brother leaped up into the tree beside him. "I hadn't meant to scare her! I promise!"

"I know Ototo, I know," Itachi murmured gently with a soft smile. "Come here now, its not safe up here." Sasuke allowed his elder brother to pull him into a strong hug and watched through his tears as Itachi and Hana carefully walked him and Sakura back to the house. The Haruno's weren't mad at Sasuke for scaring Sakura out of a tree and being the cause of her broken foot but they were mad about the two of them being in a tree at all. As much as Sasuke had wanted to stay and wait for Sakura to wake, mostly because he had questions and wanted to know if she had the answers, his parents didn't agree to it. Instead, everyone collected their things and left, requesting the Haruno couple to contact them when Itsuki returned from his day with Tsunade.

This world is different, Sasuke thought, eyes closing and head pressed into the warm back of his brother. The differences were there before I was even born here. I wonder, will this world continue down the path to the world I've known? Should I stop it? How do I do that? His mind wandered and before he knew it, he was asleep. The steady and sure heartbeats emitting from his brother's chest a comforting lullaby to his five-year-old mind.

Sakura awoke to Tsunade's gentle voice, it took the pinkett a moment to realize her godmother was speaking to her parents.

"The seal activated on its own again and her damaged foot and ankle are healed, again," Tsunade sounded tired with those words as if there was something wrong with the seal Sakura kept forgetting about. "Her seal is restoring itself right now, she should be awake by morning. However, don't let her know about her broken foot and ankle when she wakes. I don't want her to get the mindset that she's immortal and any damage she gets she can just magically heal from. That's not how that seal works and—"

"We understand Tsunade-hime," her mother's tiered voice interrupted her quickly. "How was Itsuki's sealing? Was it a success?"

"He's inherited your stubborn streak," Tsunade sounded exasperated. "The sealing was a success but I'm pretty sure that Hiashi was pissed with the level of work he had been thrown into when I asked for an update on it. That man spent four hours tapping at your son's head with a scowl on his face."

"I'll have to get a gift for Hiashi later," Mebuki sighed, recalling that he had taken a nap against his brother when they had arrived at the house. "There's no permanent damage is there?"

"None that I can find," Tsunade answered. "Again, Mebuki, please don't tell Sakura about her broken bones. I don't want her to get the same mindset that Kushina had. That's dangerous grounds for anyone, a Jinchūriki or a little girl."

"I understand," Mebuki agreed softly. "I'll just say she smacked her head on her way down and that Hana caught her in time. I'll talk to the children about it as well. Make sure they understand everything properly this time."

"Right, we don't want a repeat from two years ago," Tsunade sighed. Sakura thought about what happened two years ago but could only think of that time Hinata went missing and her brother and his team chased her down. Did something else happen that day? Something she didn't remember happening?

"Anyways," Tsunade sighed heavily as if she dreaded her next words. "I set up a meeting and I have to leave as soon as possible for it."

"We know there's more to you leaving the village then the excuse you gave us," Kizashi's voice sounded as tiered as Tsunade's. Sakura wondered briefly what time it could be for him to sound so exhausted, night owl he was not. However, his words were a cause for Sakura to frown. Was it another difference between lives? "Go find your family, Hime. Rikudou Sanin knows they need your help."

For a moment Sakura was confused, which family was her father talking about?

The Senju clan resided in Konoha, though they were few in number.

The Uzumaki clan was obliterated decades ago, the few remaining survivors scattered here and there.

With a mind buzzing with unanswered questions, Sakura's eyes closed and her mind filled with darkness once more. In the end, Sakura would forget the reason why she fell from the tree. She would even forget that she saw Naruto get pulled away by masked shinobi. Granted, she would only forget seeing Naruto because she associated nature manipulation with Yamamoto and Yamamoto was a friend; thus Naruto wasn't in any danger.

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