A/N: My eternal love and thanks to Pyro for helping me figure out a plot, and to Saf for helping me fix up the summary. You're both the best and I'll love you forever.
Disclaimer: don't own Naruto, just this fic.
The summers in this Konoha are somehow more vibrant than the ones from her memory.
Perhaps it lies in the newness of the forests. Hashirama's trees are only months old and brimming with chakra that makes everything seem that much more alive. Or maybe it's because of the river cutting through the land - a grudging gesture of goodwill on Tobirama's part - that catches the rays of sun and sparkles like diamonds where she dips her feet in.
Impossibly, it might just be the gaggle of children squabbling nearby; Madara's oath to right all the wrongs of the future evident in the way the Uchiha and Senju kids roll around together. Looking at them one would have no idea the kind of blood that lies between their families.
"I cannot take you back to your time and I see no reason to apologize for my actions. You of all people should see now why I did what I did. I cannot promise you will grow to love this time and the people. I cannot promise you will ever feel at home. The only thing I guarantee is that I will not allow the events of the future to unfold the way they did. I am tired of the senseless bloodshed and subterfuge, Haruno Sakura, and I know you are, too. You have no reason to trust me and yet that is all I ask of you: your trust."
"Sakura-san! Look what I can do!" Yamanaka Inotsuki shouts, waving until she's sure Sakura's watching, and cartwheeling twice, using the momentum from the handstand to execute a backflip.
"Good job!" Sakura cheers, clapping loudly. Inotsuki's eyes - the exact sky-blue of Ino's - twinkle like the sun is in their depths as she does it again and again and again until Nara Shikarai trips her into the river.
"Oops," she says tonelessly.
"Shikarai, you loser," Inotsuki whines, wringing out her blonde hair. "Kaa-chan just made me this shirt, too!"
Everything's so different and yet still the same. Sakura wishes she'd paid more attention to Ino when she went on about all her relatives - was Inotsuki her grandmother? Great-great aunt? Would she even be born in this world or had Sakura's presence altered things so much that Ino would only live on in her dreams the same way the rest of her Konoha does?
Sakura runs her fingers through the unruly locks of three-year-old Uchiha Kagami's head where it rests on her lap, mouth tightening. She and Madara may never see eye-to-eye (she doesn't want to, not when those eyes hae wrought so much destruction) and she sure as hell only trusts him as far as she can throw him, but if there's one promise she knows he will keep, it's this: these children will never know war they way they did. If that means that her Konoha dies with her and Madara, then so be it.
Shinobi rule four: a shinobi must always put the mission first.
"Tohru-chan," Sakura addresses the Senju girl trying to teach an Aburame and Uchiha how to water-walk. "Has Tobirama ever mentioned shinobi rules to you during clan training?"
Tohru's eyes narrow. "I don't think I can tell you what we're taught in the compound, Hokage-sama."
"I'm not the Hokage, that b-Madara is."
Tohru grumbles something along the lines of 'that's not what he said' and turns around to smack the Aburame until she stops trying to drown the Uchiha for causing her to lose concentration and fall into the water.
Sakura sighs and makes two mental notes: one, to sit down with Madara and give him a heads up for when Tobirama comes to him with the list of Shinobi Rules to be taught when they eventually open schools; and two, to kick Tobirama's ass herself. It's getting ridiculous how childish he's being.
"My intel was half right then...your hair really does look like a field in spring. I'm interested in seeing if you fall just as easily, Sa-ku-ra."
Sakura's moving before the last syllable of her name falls from his lips. She leaps across the river and uproots the nearest tree, whipping it towards where the voice came from. The tree shatters on impact with the line of trees across the river, taking with it everything within a ten meter radius.
The kids are too well-trained to screech but their panic is absolutely palpable. Even with her back turned she can tell they're terrified. It smothers her from head to toe, finding the still unhealed parts of her from the war and ripping them open, nearly bowing her over with how raw it still feels.
The only thing I guarantee is that I will not allow the events of the future to unfold the way they did. I am tired of the senseless bloodshed and subterfuge, Haruno Sakura, and I know you are, too.
A man materializes in a whirl of dust, half-crouched in a stance she knows all too well.
There's no way. It's impossible, how-?
Gold eyes watch her unblinkingly, half-hidden under a wild tangle of rusty-red hair. His lips curl up in a mockery of a smile. "Very interesting. You are far more fun than I've been led to believe."
The ground cracks with every step she takes, tremors rocking out and causing the treetops to quake.
"Kagami-kun, find Madara if he's not already on his way over," Sakura intones softly, eyes fixed on the crouched figure ahead. She slips on her leather gloves, curling her hands into fists and mirroring his pose.
"The rest of you, run."
They don't have to be told twice. Sakura waits until their chakra signatures are close enough to where she knows her training ground three to be, and then she disappears in a flurry of leaves.
The man flicks his wrist and freezes her in time, one fist raised to cave in his skull from behind.
"Tell me, Sa-ku-ra, what else can you do with those fists of yours?" he inquires silkily. This close up, Sakura can see the little differences: his eyes aren't as cold, but rather tinged with manic glee; face too sallow, lips too thin. More importantly, cheeks flush with blood.
Alive. And Sasori is dead. Dead. Her fingers flex in an echo of the movement used to crush his heart.
Chiyo-baa-sama. If you kill him, then…
The man laughs when the Sakura in his grasp turns into a log, using his chakra strings to throw it - and the exploding tag attached - into the distance.
"Ah, come on, aren't you going to ask me my name?"
"Doesn't matter to me," she snaps, pooling chakra into her legs and slamming into the ground. A crater bursts open under her feet, chunks of earth flying up to the sky. Sakura uses the momentum to shoot up into the air, leaping off the rocks in a dizzying pattern that the man follows with curious eyes.
"This game just got a whole lot more fun, didn't it? Let's play!" He whips open a scroll and from it bursts a monstrous puppet, so rudimentary and obvious in what it's equipped with that Sakura has to laugh. Sasori's were beautiful and lithe and so, so, so dangerous because everything that could kill her was hidden away under polished oak and painted lips.
This'll be easy.
The man twists his fingers deftly, and the puppet's jaw drops open. For a second, Sakura's fifteen and trapped in a cave again, Chiyo's strings forcing her to dance with Sasori's best weapons in a deranged ballroom dance of life and death.
Though they're not there, she swears she feels Chiyo's string's on her back again - and she allows herself to bend to their will once more as a thousand senbon shoot out in a torrential downpour. Sakura hisses as a couple slice through her skin. Already her chakra is spinning within to try and neutralize the poison but it's not fast enough to stop her heart from beating erratically out of her chest.
"I'm getting bored, Sa-ku-ra! Is this all you can do?" The man crows as his puppet's arms shoot up and unlock at the wrists to reveal flamethrowers. "Is this all Konoha has to offer? Some Hokage you're supposed to be!"
"I," Sakura snarls, returning to the opposite side of the riverbank and trying to keep her hands from shaking too much as she works to clear the poison out of her system faster, "am not the fucking Hokage! Doton: Ganchuusou!"
A pillar of earth shoots up from the ground between the man and the puppet, severing the chakra strings just as the first streams of fire begin to form. Another pillar threatens to shatter the puppet on its way up but the man rushes forward and snaps it up with a hasty string, yanking it to his chest. Sakura grins manically. Perfect.
The man's so caught up in his puppet he doesn't notice the third pillar until it hits him and launches him up in the air.
"Suiton: Suiryuu Koubaku!" she shouts, throwing herself back to avoid getting sprayed by the drops falling off the massive jet of water that rises from the river to hit the man square in the chest. Four more jets, smaller but no less powerful, split off to hit him in each limb. The river rushes in her ears as the water coalesces to form a dragon's head and-
"Sabaku Sousou."
Lee in the hospital every bone broken beyond repair the crushed mangled remains of the genin in the woods the gourd smells like blood is it theirs Lee's mine the sand it's rushing can't breathe can't breathe can't-
The sand rushing over hits a wall of flaming dark blue ribs.
"And what," Uchiha Madara says in a measured tone at odds with the crushing waves of killing intent rolling off him, "Is going on here?"
"I could say the same for you," a brunet man growls from the opposite side.
"Sakura-san!" Hashirama yells as he runs up to the Susano'o, stopping short of the blazing skeleton. "Are you alright? Oi, Madara, let this up-"
Madara keeps his gaze locked on the two as he asks, "What happened?"
"He's from Suna," Sakura mutters for only his ears. "You remember Sasori? I think he's his...predecessor of some sort."
"Kagami told me he came out of nowhere."
"Kagami-kun is alright? And the others?"
"Sakura, focus."
"You tell me first. They didn't run into…" she trails off, jerking her head slightly to where the redhead is sealing up his puppet.
"There were no others as far as I know." Madara taps a finger against the metal of his shoulderpiece, a sure sign somebody is about to die. Sakura hazards a quick glance around to make sure nobody's looking too closely (Hashirama's busy trying to keep Tobirama from going over and finishing off the Suna natives himself) before she grabs his elbow and squeezes tight.
"Stop the killing intent and drop the Susano'o. I think they're here for diplomatic reasons and this was just a one off. He has intel on us, the whole 'there are two Hokage's' thing."
"And what do we have on them?"
Sakura allows her free hand to brush her hip pouch, where a few of his poisoned senbon lie. "Enough to figure out what they're capable of."
Madara finally turns his head to her, eyeing her critically. "You were poisoned."
"It's being flushed out of my system as we speak, now can you let this-"
"Hokage…" the brunet finally calls loudly, "This was all just a misunderstanding. Shinri thought this would be a...novel way of greeting a new ally."
"You will forgive me if I do not see the ambush of my kunoichi and our children - the village's children - as anything but a direct attempt to start a war," Madara replies coldly. The tomoe of his Sharingan start to bleed together. Sakura squeezes his elbow even tighter.
"Madara."
He blinks and there's nothing but the charcoal grey she's come to associate with late nights and warm tea.
"I believe introductions are in order. I am Reto, the Shodaime Kazekage. My right hand, Shamon, is currently with your brother. This is Shinri, a member of my council," Reto says, inclining his head shortly.
Shinri stays quiet until Reto shoots him a look.
"My sincerest apologies," Shinri drawls, sounding anything but sincere, "The rumours about a female Kage intrigued me. Figured I'd see for myself if it was true; you're not bad pickings, Sa-ku-ra."
Madara's arm tenses under her grip, remaining otherwise impassive as he tilts his head to the side and eyes them up slowly. Sakura's eyes nearly roll out of her head at this. Tsunade-shishou's drinking problem is starting to look less like a problem and more like a way to keep herself from starting an international incident, and she can hardly blame her for it. She'd need to be drunk to her eyeballs, too, if she had to deal with this sea of machismo and terrible intimidation tactics every day.
"Uchiha Madara, Shodaime Hokage. My right hand, Sakura," Madara says shortly, "Who I'm certain would be more than happy to-"
"Senju Hashirama and my brother, Tobirama! We act as Madara's advisors. You mentioned 'ally' earlier? Did you bring your contingent to discuss formal terms?" Hashirama cuts him off before he offers to let Sakura have a go at him again, just to get the last laugh in.
"Yes. We heard about the founding of Konoha just as I was able to unite the desert tribes under the village of Sunagakure," Reto explains with a polite smile. "There are rumours of other villages following suit, but we figured it would be best to formalize an allyship with our closest neighbours in advance."
"In case civil war breaks out or the other villages get greedy and start coming for your land, you mean," Tobirama says bluntly.
Sakura'd only been on a few trips to Suna in the capacity of ambassador in her time. A majority of their border protection was the land itself. Between the oppressive heatwaves during the day, the subzero chill at night, and unpredictable sandstorms and venomous desert creatures, any army attempting a hostile takeover would be summarily disposed of before they even broached the first outposts. The tradeoff was a smaller military force; not a lot of people lived out there and even fewer signed up to serve, which meant if somebody did get through, it was game over.
Konoha, on the other hand, is - will be, she reminds herself - a military superpower with a reputation for having bleeding-hearts.
That was a direct result of the Senju's rule and teachings. It might not be like that this time around…
"We believe we can offer you just as much as you can offer us," Reto replies smoothly, turning to address Sakura directly. "That poison should've killed you by now. I take it you're a healer?"
"Yes. It's good, I'll give you that much." The unspoken but I'm better hangs between them.
"Do you carry around the antidote?" Hashirama asks.
Shinri's answering grin is razor sharp. "Oh, no. This was a new invention. Like I said - I wanted to see if you fell as fast as your namesake."
"Perhaps basic toxicology education is something Konoha can offer you then," Sakura says sweetly, much to Madara's silent amusement. "What was the primary toxin? Cardiac glycoside? If you're in the desert then you'd get it from adenium obesum, right?"
Shinri's not smiling anymore.
"Well, it appears we have a lot to discuss then. Shall we move to a more private venue?" Reto suggests.
"Of course! Just one thing before we go to the Hokage Tower," Hashirama says pleasantly.
Sakura has no time to prepare for the monstrous onslaught of his chakra. Madara slips out of her grasp and angles himself subtly to place his hand at her lower back, keeping her steady while the rest of the group is none the wiser.
"You're about to enter our village. It was already unacceptable that one of your highest ranking shinobi attacked one of ours - never mind that she's second to our Hokage - but we're willing to let it slide just this once as a gesture of goodwill." Hashirama's eyes are empty black holes, simultaneously sucking them in and leaving them frozen in time. The God of Shinobi the texts used to call him.
Demon feels more apt.
"There won't be a next time. The slightest transgression will be dealt with by me personally." As quickly as it came, the pressure drops and Sakura can breathe again.
Madara's hand doesn't leave her back.
"I'm glad we cleared that up! Madara, why don't you take Sakura-san to the compound so she can put on fresh clothes, and I'll show our new friends to the Tower myself! It's been so long since we had a new guest. Brother! Let's bring out our famous Senju herbal tea! Reto-san, tell me, is Suna known for its tea? Perhaps we can establish a trade agreement for that!" Hashirama babbles excitedly, ushering the two Suna shinobi to the village proper. Reto absorbs the whiplash personality change with a poker face, but Shinri stands gobsmacked until a tendril of sand smacks him back to reality.
"I'll be seeing you around, Sa-ku-ra," he sneers, trailing after the Kazekage. "Since we're going to be allies, I get the feeling we're going to be seeing a whole lot of each other."
Tobirama waits until they've disappeared into the treeline to scoff. "Unbelievable."
"Get the Inuzuka and their ninken out. I want to know how they got in, where they've been, and for how long," Madara orders.
"I'll see to it that Aburame Shinji puts a kikaichu on all of them for the duration of their stay," Tobirama says. His mouth hangs open, as if he wants to add more, but he snaps it shut, staring at Sakura intensely.
"Before Madara interrupted, that was my Suiryuu Koubaku," he finally states.
Sakura shifts uncomfortably as a sudden wave of crippling shyness she's not felt since the tender age of thirteen sweeps over her. Tsunade-shishou wasted no time in dumping piles and piles of Tobirama's coveted scrolls on her lap the minute she discovered Sakura's second affinity for Water Release, and Sakura spent months pouring over them. Every second not spent beating medicine into her brain was devoted to obsessively running through the hand signs until they came to her as naturally as breathing air. The chakra required to perform any of the jutsu bordered on inhuman, and with over half of her chakra being siphoned into the Byakugou no In during that time it was impossible to attempt while training under Tsunade-shishou.
This went surprisingly well for a first-time attempt in her books.
"Yes."
Tobirama nods. "The week after our venerated guests have left. Training ground twelve, the one with the lake, at noon." With a perfunctory nod to Madara, Tobirama disappears in a flash.
They're alone. Sakura hates being alone with him. She's so hyperaware of his presence it's like every breath he takes is a hand physically running itself over her skin.
"Shinri wasn't here last time," Madara muses. Sakura wonders if he's stroking the dip of her back with his thumb on purpose or if it's subconscious; either way, she cannot focus on anything he's saying when her mind and body are at war trying to get her to run to wherever the hell Iwa currently is and also sink into his touch all at once.
"I wasn't here last time," she reminds him, "But we have bigger problems to worry about. He's Sasori's ancestor, I just know it."
"He would've been Sasori's ancestor in that timeline, too."
"Yes, but he wasn't on Reto's council then or he would've been here. You cherry-picked your Akatsuki followers so I'm sure you know about what really happened to the Third Kazekage."
A beat. "You think he might assassinate the Shodaime to become the Niidaime this time instead of Shamon."
"He seems to have a thing for taking out right-hands, too," Sakura shivers, recalling the unhinged gleam in Shinri's eyes when he raved about killing her. "I look forward to crushing all three of them under my foot."
The corner of his mouth quirks up. "I'll see to it that Hashirama finishes the arena so the rest of us can watch."
Madara watches her with that look on his face again. Sometimes when they're up late at night in his office going over policy together and it gets really quiet, out of the corner of her eye she can see him giving her a look that burns straight through her like the tea he keeps constantly warm for them. A primal part of her that once loved an Uchiha knows exactly what it means even if he's still trying to figure it out himself.
"Well, I should go get changed. See you at the Tower-"
The ground is yanked out from under her feet as Madara shunshin's them to the edge of the lake that sits right behind the Uchiha Compound's main complex. A couple women are busy washing their laundry in the water, chatting idly about their plans to go to the market after they hang everything out to dry. One of them glances their way and jumps up, bowing hastily.
"Madara-sama! Welcome home, we weren't expecting you so - goodness, Sakura-sama, what happened to you?"
"I don't think they were sparring or we would've heard that all the way here," a brunette laughs. Her companion smacks her lightly, snickering.
"We've received some foreign dignitaries. I will need my formal robes and fresh attire." At this, Kanae, one of the older teens in the Clan, jumps up and mumbles that she'll let Madara's personal maid know.
"Masako, see to it that Sakura is dressed appropriately."
A vein ticks in her forehead. "Sakura is standing right here and can speak for herself. I'm not wearing a kimono, especially if you're going in shinobi gear."
"I said appropriately," Madara says, raising a brow. "Konoha is only a united front if we are...that's what Hashirama said. I'll see you shortly."
Bewildered and not the slightest bit mollified, Sakura turns to Masako. The raven-haired Uchiha, who Sakura is convinced will one day be Sasuke's grandmother to whatever degree, smiles slyly.
"Ara, so this is why Madara-sama had me make that, huh?"
"'United front', men these days are so bold!"
"We already call her 'Sakura-sama' so that's not going to change much, thank the gods," the same brunette whispers loudly.
"I was talking to Senju Yuuki last week, Tobirama-sama's maid, and she told me she saw them-"
"Ladies, less chatting, more washing!" Masako instructs, pushing Sakura to the main house. "Ignore them, Sakura-sama, they're all bored to tears now that we're not at war and they don't have to spend every waking hour scrubbing out blood and piecing together armour. Now, let's see what we can do about that hair of yours…"
'Appropriate' turns out to be just that: appropriate. Sakura's given a pair of sensible sandals, white pants that cut off just above her ankles, and a deep red qipao-style top that stops short of her thighs. It's so bizarrely reminiscent of her regular outfit that she spends the whole time Masako's busy twisting her hair - now long enough to brush her elbows - into an elaborate braid wondering what the hell had everybody acting so weird.
"Done! Just one more thing." Masako picks up a dark blue haori, holding it up for Sakura to slip her hands through the sweeping sleeves.
When she adjusts her braid to fall over one shoulder, that's when she gets it.
Stitched into the collar right at the base of her neck, just the size of her thumb, is a small uchihwa.
"Masako, what the f-"
"Good, you're ready," Madara's deep timbre stills her. He gives no visible signs of surprise or anger at his Clan symbol on her back; but then again, apparently he commissioned it specifically for her.
Sakura's not sure what to make of the hollow that burrows in her chest at that revelation.
"Doesn't she look wonderful, Madara-sama?" Masako coos, rubbing her thumb in the hollow behind Sakura's ear, an Uchiha tradition for warding off evil. "May the fires burn the evil before it touches you."
Madara places his hand on Sakura's lower back and it feels like it's branding itself into her soul. "We'll be home by dinner."
Sakura can't blame the shunshin for the sudden swooping in her gut this time.
A/N: THIS WAS LITERALLY SUPPOSED TO END WHEN MADARA WALKED IN W SUSANO'O IDK WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED I COULDN'T STOP TYPING THO
Please r&r
-eien