Thank you all for sticking with me! It's finals season so I've been spending more time studying than writing, hence the extended absence of updates. Y'all mean the world to me and I hope you continue to like the story :)
Also, to answer a reviewer's question about who Naruto will end up with- it'll probably be Hinata because this IS a SasuSaku fic. This fic is very heavy on Team 7's relationship with each other and it alters their relationships with others, hence the differences in the Pain arc. But I don't plan on deviating from the canon couples, even if I don't plan on writing them at all besides a sentence or two.
Another month had gone by. The village was partially rebuilt and Sakura spent all of her time at the makeshift hospital or passed out on Sasuke's floor with Naruto at her side (they claimed almost every night that they just wanted to talk to Sasuke, despite laying out the bedding and fully intending on crowding his personal space the entire night). Tsunade was still in a coma, though if Sakura remembered correctly, Tsunade woke up after two months. She wasn't particularly sure, if she was being honest with herself. She had been too overwhelmed with Sasuke at the time.
Sure, she was overwhelmed with Sasuke now but the reasons were drastically different. And overwhelmed wasn't exactly the right word- many of her emotions could be summed up as the same as when someone finally felt at home. And though she always felt like that, knowing it was a mutual feeling just made everything seem doable. Even if he gave her odd looks every so often and was more silent than usual. Almost like he was calculating something in his mind, though she never could give it much thought. The expression was gone before she could analyze it.
There were other times where Sasuke looked at her in a way she couldn't exactly describe- probably because she's never been on the receiving end of that look. She was sure no one in her old life had gotten even remotely close to earning the soft smile, one tinged with a fondness only a close bond like theirs could achieve and a something akin to disbelief- like she wasn't truly real to him until she suddenly was.
That was pretty nice, considering she felt like a total failure.
She hadn't stopped the Pain attack. And now she was basing the possibility of Sound's alliance with the Akatsuki solely on Suigestu's appearance during the invasion. Which was worrisome because Obito now had a White Zetsu army and an entire force of Orochimaru's experiments. Normal shinobi with a unique trait or something particularly noteworthy personality wise that led to Orochimaru tinkering with their bodies. They now had to worry about that.
Sakura wondered if there was anyway to stop the reanimation jutsu. Surely, if they removed Orochimaru and Kabuto from the equation, it would then just be an entire shinobi force against Obito.
Though, she shouldn't consider that a relief. Obito was still a force to be reckoned with. Sakura just had to ensure Madara wasn't reanimated. Because that was going to be easy.
These thoughts swarmed her head until a raven landed on her shoulder. She recognized the bird easily, letting it nip affectionately at her fingers before it allowed her to take the note from its container.
Sakura wondered when Shisui moved to summoning messages- when she was younger, he'd simply appear by her side and whisk her to wherever Itachi was. And he had swooped in and taken her from a meeting she was still uneasy about- the same day she and the others got promoted. He would drop into her office without any warning as well. Has being the Hokage's advisor humbled him these past few weeks? Taught him when to use manners?
No, actually, it was probably because Shisui won't leave Itachi's side unless ordered to. Or if Izumi was with their new Hokage. Other than that, ever since Itachi filled everyone in on his illness, Shisui has taken it upon himself to ensure he was by Itachi's side, as if he could fight the disease for him. It was an utterly endearing sentiment, honestly. Shisui was truly loyal to a fault.
When she arrived at the temporarily located office within the hidden maze of rooms within Hokage Mountain, she smiled warmly at the two in front of her. She was greeted by them both and a seal was activated around the room.
They could never be too safe, especially when there were enemies lurking in their own village.
"They're calling for a Five Kage Summit," Itachi told her, as Shisui handed her a scroll. "We received word that while Pain was attacking us for Naruto-"
"Obito and Kisame attacked Kumo for their Jinchūriki," Shisui finished in a grim tone. "It's why Sasuke and I never encountered Obito when we went searching for him."
"And as a result," Itachi continued, gesturing to the scroll in her hands. "A summit has been organized so we can discuss the issue of the Akatsuki."
"They've grown bold," Sakura agreed, reading the terms of the summit. At this point in her life last time, she had been completely shut off from this portion of affairs. Danzo had taken over and she had been too preoccupied with Tsunade, Naruto, and Sasuke to care about things like this.
"The summit happened in my old life too," Sakura told them, looking up from the writing. "The war was declared by Obito and. . . the Kage's had been attacked."
Shisui's expression grew slightly agitated and she avoided his stare, focusing primarily on Itachi. The new Hokage sighed as his gaze flickered between the two of them.
"I don't want to know, do I?" He asked and they both shook their heads. "The Summit is in a week. I'm only allowed to bring two advisors with me to the Land of Iron. I've put in arrangements to cover for you."
Sakura nodded. She didn't expect another summit, at least not so soon, but she knew she wouldn't allow Itachi to leave the village without her. She was so close to figuring his illness out- a way to erase the disease from his body completely.
Her theory about the Nara clan's secret medicine didn't pan out. She tried numerous variants and came up with nothing. It's why she just stuck with trying to erase it completely. And she was almost there. Almost.
"What do you think the odds are that the war won't be declared again in this life?"
"I think a war against the Akatsuki is inevitable," Itachi told her truthfully. "No matter what you had changed from your original life, their ideals would have lived on. In fact, it gives us an advantage now. We at least have an idea of what we'll be going up against."
"Now you'll let me tell you about my past?" Sakura asked plainly.
"We're at a point where there will be enough chaos to cover the inconsistencies," Itachi explained, though her frown didn't let up. "Regarding the war front, that is. For internal matters, it's best to keep the past the past, don't you agree?"
Sakura raised an eyebrow. "You haven't decided how to go about the Danzo ordeal, have you?"
"It is tricky, imouto," Shisui immediately defended, but then gave Itachi a look. "We're hitting roadblocks no matter how we go about it."
"Rip off the bandages," Sakura suggested and while Shisui looked remotely amused, Itachi closed his eyes.
"Sakura-chan, you're supposed to be the calm one," Itachi told her and she shrugged.
"I've been calm for almost a decade, Itachi-nii," She reminded him, thinking of all the things she changed and all the things that still inevitably happened. "But the war is at our front door. We can't be trying to change the outcome of my original life when we're dealing with problems in our own home."
"Accusations and claims cannot be the sole thing we base this on," Itachi told her and she nodded in defeat.
"The only evidence against him are the claims of a Root agent," Sakura said, thinking back to the teammate who she was so fortunate to still have met and become friends with in this life. "And even Sai has to add that the plans were most likely elaborate schemes in order to rid the world of the Akatsuki and Orochimaru."
"And any assault on our part could just blow up in our faces," Shisui added. "Sasuke and I had to avoid a Root agent on our way back to Konoha before. He's tracking our movements."
"He's been spying on Sakura-chan and I since you left the village for your mission with the feudal lords," Itachi shrugged and her features scrunched in distaste at the thought. "He may have things up his sleeve that should never see the day of light. And we do not want to be the ones to antagonize him to do that very thing. We must tread carefully."
"So carefully rip his bandages off?" Sakura joked, this time earning a horribly covered up snort from Shisui.
"My father requested to handle it as an official matter," Itachi told her and her mouth parted in surprise.
"Really?"
He nodded. "Supposedly, there is a connection between the attacks before the invasion. The one my father was injured during?"
"That. . . that attack happened in my old life," Sakura said slowly as she remembered the treatment session with Fugaku. "Danzo's plans haven't changed much then- whatever they are."
"If Danzo was stirring trouble within Konoha in your old life, there's no telling what he's cooking up now," Shisui grimaced. "He's got a grudge against more than just Konoha's current ideals."
"Yes, he's become even more worrisome since the invasion-" Itachi started but cut himself off when the entire room shook.
"That isn't Naruto and Sasuke getting into another fight over the structure of a home, is it?" Sakura asked worriedly, wishing this was the old Hokage Tower where there were at least windows. The whole room encased in stone didn't help in figuring anything out.
Shisui frowned, his eyes closing for a few moments before they snapped open. "That chakra-"
"Is my father's." Itachi finished, wrinkles appearing on his forehead as his brows furrowed together. "We need to go."
"Imouto," Shisui called, holding out his hand. She stepped forward as Shisui placed another hand on Itachi's shoulder and she felt the familiar pull of the jutsu. Even if her chakra structure wasn't cracked and her brain not on the edge of a complete shutdown, the landing still caused her to be disoriented for a few second before she managed to focus on their surroundings. Shisui kept a hand on her back until she reassured him that she was fine.
She's never been here before, not in either of her lives. The three of them were hidden within the shadows that covered the beam they landed on. She couldn't necessarily detect any chakra, besides the thrum of Fugaku's covering the intersecting pathways down below. But she could feel the fact that they were not alone. They had not been detected but they were certainly not the only presences in the room.
"Is this. . ?" Sakura started quietly, her words trailing off as she took in the totally unfamiliar area. "Root."
"Root Headquarters," Shisui confirmed, eyes startling red as they swept the area. "Welcome to the black sheep of the ANBU, imouto."
"The ANBU are supposed to be the black sheep of the village," Sakura said, even if she didn't fully believe the words. It was something Tsunade would always say before she scoffed and grumbled under her breath.
"Makes you wonder how far things go here to be considered the black sheep of the black sheep," Shisui responded in a low voice. "Tachi, do you see-"
"It's my father's visual prowess," Itachi answered, crouching low on the beam. "No one besides myself knew about his abilities until now, I presume. He can wrap himself and others in an impenetrable barrier and wipe themselves from this plane of existence. For the time being, of course."
"It's like you taking them into a mental plane that warps time to however you see fit," Shisui noted, crouching beside Itachi as his red eyes focused in on the ground floor. "No one can get out of that, huh?"
"It's the reason the village wasn't wiped from existence during the Kyuubi attack a decade and a half ago," Itachi answered with a nod. "It was the aid of my father and the other elite ninja that kept our home from being completely wiped out, unlike the Pain invasion. My father didn't have the chance before Pain used his jutsu."
"If Fugaku-san is down there," Sakura started worriedly, following their gaze. "Is he then. . ?"
"Confronting Danzo?" Itachi finished for her and she nodded, despite the fact that neither boys were looking at her. "That's the most likely scenario. But to do so here- my father normally has more patience than to confront him in his home base."
"Fugaku-san has the best interest of the village in mind," Shisui reminded them, tapping his temple. "My genjutsu merely guides him to keep peace within the village and to protect it at all costs. If he believed the village was in imminent danger because of Danzo, he would most likely forgo the red tape and confront him. Danzo isn't known to take things lying down. Things most likely escalated."
"And now we have to wait," Itachi said, settling down onto the name with crossed legs. "Just as the Root shinobi are doing in the shadows like us."
"They haven't approached us yet," Sakura whispers and she offhandedly thinks it might be because they arrived via Shisui's body flicker and she already hid her own chakra signature. Even since Suigestu found her, she's been careful to mask her chakra as she goes about her days, lest the most skilled sensory ninja pick up on her.
"No need to," Shisui replied, settling down besides Itachi. "This is a waiting game, imouto. And we're all on the same side."
"Until they come back," Sakura added, sitting down next to him. "I'm almost upset."
Shisui tilted his head and Itachi looked towards her from the corner of his eye.
"Never got to see Danzo fight," She said simply and Shisui rolled his eyes.
"Sakura-chan, Danzo is not a man you ever want to see in action," Shisui told her seriously and Sakura gave him a sharp look.
"I know that, Shisui-nii, but still," She frowned and lowered her voice, though she knew no one was within earshot of them. "I've wanted to punch him for a while now."
Shisui ruffled her hair but shook his head afterwards. They fell into a comfortable silence and stared at the empty pathways.
They had stared for hours. It seemed as though Fugaku, unlike Itachi's infamous genjutsu, could not warp time. Itachi explained it after an hour or two that while he could trick the mind into believing whatever he decided his victim should experience, his father simply took their physical bodies and placed them in a sort of parallel plane.
To outsiders not affected by it, there would be no reason to suspect a battle was going on. And unless one was trained to detect the chakra blanketing said battle, they'd carry on about their day none the wiser. But this was an elite hideout. The shinobi within these walls could make out the chakra with ease. But just like them, they were forced to stay within the shadows, patiently watching intersecting paths until the battle was over.
And after those hours, the battle finally ended.
She and Shisui were sitting with their backs against each other's when the blanket of chakra faded away. They all stood quickly, gazing down to find Fugaku kneeling on the ground and Danzo standing upright, unmoving.
Shisui didn't waste anytime, giving her and Itachi a single look before vanishing from his spot between them. Sakura watched the ground and suddenly, Fugaku was gone as well.
"Let's go, Sakura-chan," Itachi said gently, holding out a hand for her to take ahold of. She did so and they disappeared too.
When they landed, Sakura took a second to regain her balance before she took in one of the guest bedrooms in the Uchiha's head house. There were already footsteps moving towards them and she recognized both of her boys as two of the signatures approaching.
She looked at the head of the Uchiha, who was laying on the soft bedding laid onto the ground. She knelt by him and immediately set herself to work.
He didn't look too injured physically- though he certainly looked as though he had been through a fight. Her main concern was his eyes. Danzo had tried to steal Shisui's in this life and probably her last once upon a time. She didn't know what she would do if he had gotten Fugaku's eyes.
But as she passed a glowing hand over his facial features, she was pleasantly surprised to find both there. But then she felt the imbalance- something she never had seen in an Uchiha before. But it was something she feared when it came to the two older Uchiha she looked up to as though they were her brothers.
"Fugaku-san, what did you do?" Sakura asked quietly, attempting to see if there was anyway for her to reconnect the fried ocular pathways in his one eye. She distantly registered that the room of four had now doubled in occupancy, but she couldn't hear them. Instead she closed her eyes and let the thrum of her chakra fill her mind.
She tried for a few more minutes, but there was no way for her to recreate the cells necessary for Fugaku to regain his eyesight in his left eye. She tried to repair it, and give it a chance to heal on its own over time, but she sincerely doubted it would.
"I'm sorry," Sakura whispered, her voice barely audible and head held low as she accepted his eye's fate. "I can't heal it."
"What do you mean?" She heard someone ask and to be quite honest, she wasn't sure who had asked. It could have been Sasuke, who she knew was standing right behind her. It could have been Shisui, who was in beside of her. Or it could have been Itachi, who was kneeling opposite of Shisui and watching her as she fruitlessly attempted to heal the Uchiha head's eye.
"I wouldn't expect you to be able to," Fugaku responded in a low voice. "What happened was a sacrifice I was willing to make."
"What does that mean?" The voice asked again and this time, Sakura was able to actually register who was speaking.
She looked up, her eyes automatically going to Sasuke, who was taking in the entire scene with wide eyes.
"One eye has lost its ability to see," Sakura explained in a clinical tone, one she always adopted during times like these.
In her old life, she had some trouble with separating her feelings from her work- especially when it came to people she considered family. Of course, she had a good handle on her emotions before she entered the war and in a way, the war helped her sharpen that differentiation. A clinical tone, straight facts, and reciting the phrases she learned by heart when she first apprenticed with Tsunade. A default mode when emotions started to run wild.
But here, in the presence of the Uchiha head family- a family she's grown so close to in this life- and her boys. . . those emotions made it difficult for her to stay in that default mode. And while no one was on the verge of death, or consumed with a rage that sometimes still haunted her dreams, Sakura couldn't help but take this blow personally. Because her actions caused every change in this universe, whether direct or indirect.
Her gaze fell to the Uchiha clan head and she felt that default mode falter.
"I'm sorry," She whispered.
"It is useless for you to be sorry over something not in your control," Fugaku told her, frowning at her when she gathered enough courage to look up. "This was a sacrifice I made. You have no business with it."
"Yes, Fugaku-san," She said in a low voice, just barely at a volume the others could hear. She felt a hand place itself on the top of her head, ruffling her hair softly.
"Besides the eye?" Shisui prompted and she sucked in a breath before she managed to smile.
"Only superficial wounds," She answered, reeling her emotions back in and promptly settling back into that default mode. "A few cuts and sprains, but nothing too strenuous. I've already applied healing chakra to everything abnormal, so you don't need to worry about anything. Though, with the lack of sight in one eye, I'd like to create a schedule for you to accommodate the imbalance, until you get used to it. There are some training regimens I know of that can help you, though I'd like to specialize them to fit your fighting style."
"Of course, thank you," Fugaku nodded, letting Mikoto help him sit up.
"What happened?" Naruto asked with a nervous laugh, and it was in that moment that Sakura remembered only she and the elder Uchiha boys knew even remotely what had happened. "Like, how did you, uh, become blind in one eye? There's no blood or anything, but it looks like you had a fight? So how do you randomly, or purposely, lose your eyesight?"
Fugaku gave Naruto a blank look and for a few moments there was silence, until Itachi had enough mercy to answer him.
"It's an Uchiha jutsu," He explained. "Though, having to resort to it. . . is worrisome, Father. The elders will not be happy."
"My son is the Hokage," Fugaku responded in what could almost be described as a smug tone, but Sakura has known the Uchiha clan head for far too long to think it was that. He was just rather blunt and brutally honest, though that was normal for the majority of the Uchiha clan. "And my actions were for the best of our clan and the village."
"But. . ." Naruto continued, scratching the side of his head. "I don't get it."
"Tch," Sasuke scoffed. "That's not unusual for you."
"Oi!" Naruto immediately protested, jabbing a finger into Sasuke's shoulder. "You don't fully understand either, teme! I saw your face; you're just better at hiding your confusion than me!"
"Just one of the things I'm better than you at," Sasuke responded, catching her eye. "But he'll be okay?"
"Fugaku-san will be as okay as he can be with half of his sight gone," Sakura reassured him. "And I have full faith in his ability to adapt to his current circumstances."
Sakura smiled at the Uchiha head and matriarch. "We'll prepare dinner today. Just rest."
She got up, with Shisui's hand falling to the side as she did. Looking at her boys, she nodded towards the door. "C'mon you two."
"What about Itachi-nii and Shisui-nii?" Naruto wondered, pausing to look at the two older Uchiha, who had gotten up as well.
"Hokage business," Shisui replied with a smile, clapping a hand onto Itachi's shoulder before the two disappeared.
"He always liked the dramatic exits," Mikoto said softly, before looking at the three kids still in the room. "Thank you."
Sakura smiled at her and only started to actually move when Sasuke got impatient and slipped his hand into hers and tugged her along. She followed without hesitation, staying at his side as they stepped out of the room after Naruto.
"Do you know how he lost his eye?" Sasuke whispered, leaning downwards to the point where she could feel his breath on her skin. She almost shivered at his words but steeled herself and shook her head-- she found herself not trusting her voice at the moment.
She glanced up at him and her cheeks warmed immensely when she realized how close his face was to hers. But her blush was forgotten as she saw the glint in his eyes-- the same one she recognized him staring at her with over the course of the last month.
That odd look. The one she had a hard time describing because it usually disappeared quickly after he had her attention. It wasn't the soft smile he regarded her with or the warm affections he gifted her over the weeks-- no, she could at least connect those with the emotions she knew he felt. This was different and seeing it up close. . . She saw it. Glimpses of her old Sasuke, the one who watched his surroundings and the people near him with caution, always looking to uproot any ulterior motives. This Sasuke wasn't her old one. He calculated things, but never to the extent her old Sasuke had.
Granted, this Sasuke never truly had to develop it to the point her old Sasuke had. But she saw it now-- wary eyes that were calculating the actions and words spoken around him. Perhaps it wasn't as cold as her old Sasuke's gaze, but she certainly felt the same way under his gaze.
"I don't know the jutsu, Sasuke-kun," She told him in a low voice, staring straight into his eyes to show him she was telling the truth. "I don't know many Uchiha jutsus."
"But you know more than most do," He replied just as quietly, his gaze flashing towards the blond ahead of them.
Sakura squeezed her hand, which was still intertwined with his. "I know whatever your family allows me to know. I'll never overstep if I don't have to."
"Sakura-chan and I are practically family, though," Naruto piped up, turning his head partly to look at them. Sasuke frowned when their blond best friend stopped and turned around fully. "And we know as much as you do, usually. If you don't know about it, then how would Sakura-chan?"
"I'm not the only Uchiha who trusts Sakura with clan secrets," Sasuke replied flatly, dropping his hand from her grasp and pushing ahead of both of them. Sakura opened her mouth to say something, but she closed it when she realized she couldn't exactly refute his statement.
"My mother started dinner," Sasuke continued, not looking back at them. She and Naruto stared at his back and she hated how familiar this particular scene was. "Let's just go finish it. I'm tired."
"And cranky," Naruto added when Sasuke rounded the corner before turning to look at her. "Are you okay, Sakura-chan? Teme can have the worst mood swings."
Sakura didn't try to smile as she stared at the corner where Sasuke had been moments ago.
"I don't know how Fugaku-san lost his sight," She said quietly. "And I don't know, Naruto. Sasuke-kun has been. . . a mix of things lately. And I've gone with it for the past month, but now I'm just confused."
"Maybe he's confused too," Naruto shrugged. "Sasuke always gets weird when he doesn't understand something and with you, Sakura-chan. . . I hate to say it, honestly, but things are always more confusing to him if you're involved."
"Because of the things I don't say?" Sakura asked and he nodded.
"That and the teme loves you as much as I do," Naruto admitted with a frown. "It's difficult to know how to act if you know there are things being hidden from you by the person you love most."
Sakura bit her lip to stop the onslaught of tears prompted by Naruto's hurt tone.
She was here to save her boys. Not hurt them even more so. But that's what she was doing.
"Eh, he'll get over it when he remembers how much you love him," Naruto shrugged, reaching to take her hand and hold it firmly in his warm grasp. "And me, of course, but that pisses him off, I think."
"I'd do anything for you two," Sakura told him honestly, wondering when this Naruto started to mature-- when he started to resemble the boy who led the entire shinobi army during the war. It gripped her heart in a way she hadn't felt since her old life.
Naruto tightened his grip on her hand and flashed her a wide grin. "I know, Sakura-chan. Feeling's mutual."
He pulled her forward as he started walking again and this time, when he smiled, his eyes closed and Sakura almost let a few tears fall from her eyes at the expression.
"Let's go cook dinner, okay?" Naruto said and she nodded, feeling the slightest bit better about everything.
Sasuke still didn't fully trust her, which was okay. Truly. She understood that he was aware she wasn't saying everything and held more secrets than she probably should. And that would make any good ninja pause, no matter how much you cared for them on a personal level.
And maybe. . . Maybe Sasuke had an idea in his head already. And he's putting the pieces together on his own, until he had enough to come to her and confront her.
But when she entered the kitchen with Naruto and the three of them started to cook dinner together, she saw his features soften dramatically when he looked at her horribly forced smile. And he stayed more silent than not for the majority of the cooking, with Naruto's rambling filling the air.
And when they started to set the table, he leaned down as soon as Naruto's back was turned to them and she found herself shivering when his breath danced across her skin for the second time that night.
"Thank you, Sakura," He whispered. "For everything you've done for my family."
"I see them as family, too," She replied, turning her head slightly to look into his dark eyes. "I'll do anything to protect the ones I love."
At this, he smiled and Sakura felt her heart swell at the small expression.
"Yeah," He agreed. "I understand."
"You do?" She asked in a tone she sincerely hope didn't come off as too hopeful.
Sasuke's smile widened a bit more. "I'm starting to, yeah."
And though she knew those bitter feelings remained, she would take this moment today. Because things just became more confusing by the moment nowadays. So much to consider. So much to predict. So much to solve.
So she would take this moment and hold onto it. Because seeing Sasuke smile like that, with one side of it tipped just a tad bit more upwards than the other and his keen eyes softening to the point where he almost looked like another person to her, was a moment she had to cherish.
After all, one of the only times her Sasuke ever looked at her like that, that she knew of, was when he had died. She would take this. With everything it came with, consequences and all.
She'd worry about the consequences of this change tomorrow.