Two weeks later Sakura turned sixteen "Just a couple more years and then I'll finally be free to be with Cee" Sakura sighed softly as she padded barefoot into her bathroom to do her daily morning rituals.
It wasn't until she looked in the mirror that she saw something different about herself, the 100 strength seal was complete at long last after storing her chakra for the past two years "And now I'm no longer Shishou's apprentice, but a master in my own right" Sakura murmured.
Finishing up before heading into her ritual room to do the morning prayer, only then did Sakura leave her room and walk quietly down the steps "You've become a fine kunoichi I see in order to get that seal" Mito greeted.
Seeing the 100 strength seal upon her great, great grandniece's forehead "I had wondered if Tsuna-chan taught you that and also happy birthday Sakura-chan" Hashirama commented, proud of his great, great grandniece as well.
Before handing over a gift "Hey no fair Hashirama-sama I wanted to be the one to tell Sakura-chan happy birthday first" Kushina pouted, waddling towards her adopted daughter, she looked like she was read to give birth any moment really.
Hashirama huffed but didn't dare attempt arguing with the woman who had the same temperament as his wife, granddaughter and great, great grandniece "Either way Kushina-chan we're glad to be able to be here for this moment aren't we" Minato chimed in soothingly.
Passing a book over to Sakura "Quite, though I do not see Naruto-san or Sasuke-san" Tobirama nodded from his position on the couch, while making note of the absent duo who was practically glued to Sakura twenty four seven if they could get away with it anyway.
"Where ever they are this morning I'm sure their fine" Sakura shrugged not to worried, this was the first time in awhile that she felt like she could relax a bit and the house for once was not overly crowded with people.
Considering that not only had Itachi and Izumi moved out but so had Dan with Tsunade and Kasumi with Shizune in tow, followed by Shisui and Rin a couple weeks after that so now it was just her, Naruto, Sasuke, Mito, Hashirama, Tobirama, Kushina and Minato in the house.
Kushina giggled under her breath at that then led Sakura into the kitchen where breakfast awaited the now sixteen year old "I'm still not sure of everything that you like Sakura-chan so I just made a mishmash of things for you to eat" Kushina admitted.
Explaining the spread on the table of random various foods that all looked absolutely delicious if Sakura was being honest "All of it looks great Mom, thank you" Sakura informed, hugging the redhead carefully.
Minato simply basking in the moment of his adopted daughter and wife sharing a moment with one another "Real cute pinky, you say your not a hugger then go around hugging people anyway" Anko snorted entering the kitchen after being let in by Hashirama.
Which completely ruined the moment as Sakura released Kushina and whipped around to glare at the purple haired interrogator only to get a scroll thrown in her face "What's this for" Sakura asked curious.
The woman cackled in response "Open it and find out Haruno" Anko taunted using the girls original last name, Kushina frowned but decided not to kick up a fuss about it considering Sakura did use both last names, she let anyone call her by whichever they wanted really.
Sakura pursed her lips but did as asked and in a plume of smoke a pouch of ryo appeared in her hand "Those black mamba's you gave me, kept mating over the last couple of years that's some of what I made off them, Uchiha and blondy will get the same so happy birthday" Anko explained.
When the pinkette furrowed her brows in confusion "Thanks Anko-chan" Sakura smiled softly at the older woman who really was like a big sister to her still even if they didn't get to see each other much anymore.
Anko wasn't usually the type to get embarrassed but a blush rose to her cheeks "Yeah well don't go getting all sappy on me brat" the purple haired interrogator snapped before vanishing in the next moment to everyone's amusement.
"Eccentric isn't she anyway lets sit and eat before the food gets cold" Mito laughed softly before suggesting they partake of the food lest all of Kushina's hard work go to waste and just as they were getting comfortable around the table.
Naruto and Sasuke returned after being missing all morning "Sorry there were some things we had to do" Sasuke apologized spying an open seat and taking it leaving the last, that so happened to be next to Sakura for Naruto.
Who smiled gratefully at him as he sat next to his adopted sister "No worries Sasuke, Naruto, you made it back in time for breakfast" Sakura shrugged, to happy to be annoyed really as she put her hands together in prayer before digging in.
"That was great Mum even though I know you made it for Sakura-chan all of it was delicious" Naruto exclaimed when they were finished eating, and he was made to help wash the dishes, not that he minded of course.
It was a chore each of them had to do but that day he and the rest of them wanted to let Sakura enjoy a stress free day, especially on her birthday of all days "Yes I quite agree with Naruto-kun, it was delicious Kushina" Minato nodded.
Kushina blushed at their praise while Sakura listened to the conversation with a content smile "Before I forget this is for you Sakura" Tobirama cleared his throat drawing her attention as he passed a scroll over to the girl.
Though upon unrolling it she let out a little gasp for within was a drawing with a name scrawled neatly across the bottom Sena Senju nee Uzumaki "Thank you and I know just where to hang it to" Sakura smiled.
Vanishing from the kitchen to his amusement Naruto and Sasuke on her heels as they entered her room and she headed into her ritual room over to one corner where a sort of shrine had been created, pictures of Sakura's biological parents were neatly placed there.
And above it she hung the drawing of her great, great grandmother "Here Sakura this is from Naruto and I, it's what we went out to get earlier" Sasuke said, handing over yet another scroll when they exited the ritual room.
"Genma helped us since he was the one who had the last one commissioned, we told him that the other one was starting to get dull on you" Naruto chimed in, Sakura hurriedly unsealed the object within the scroll at that.
To find a brand new tri-bladed scythe, unlike her other one that had been red, this one was black, with the edges of the blades tempered white and on the handle was Jashin's symbol in blood red, it was extendable like her other one to and had a retractable cable inside of it as well.
But the blades couldn't be removed and there was no place to put poison but still in all the craftsmanship was amazing and she loved it "Wow this is a gorgeous weapon thanks Naruto, Sasuke and if I see Genma I'll thank him to" Sakura smiled.
Hardly able to wait until she was able to use it in battle "By the way aren't you going to open those Sakura" Sasuke gestured to the unopened gifts from Hashirama and Minato respectively, reminding her that she had them.
So the first one was a book, a note attached to it ~Tsunade helped us acquire this for you all our love Minato and Kushina~ it was a familiar one that came all the way from Uzushio, all about advanced sealing jutsu that she hadn't had a chance to read.
Now she understood why Tsunade had wanted to borrow Ivory though a couple weeks back "Seriously where do you keep getting those insanely awesome books from" Naruto huffed, still trying to pester the information out of her.
"Maybe someday Naruto on to the next…..huh blueprints" Sakura snickered before opening the final gift from Hashirama only for it to be a stack of paper upon closer look however she found them to be various blueprints.
Even then it took her a few minutes to figure out what the blueprints were for 'A temple daughter, I believe that is his way of saying when your ready he will help you build a temple of worship to accomplish your dream' Jashin made an accurate guess.
Though she'd probably already figured it out herself "For the Jashinist's temple you want to make, count us in, we're followers to remember" Sasuke guessed, leafing through the various designs and he couldn't help but quirk his brow at some of them.
"Right, speaking of Jashin-sama, he says he has a gift for you, for being so supportive over the past few years, don't ask, he won't tell me what he's giving you, just come here after everyone goes to bed tonight" Sakura announced.
Petting Tsubomi as the cat leaped onto her shoulder "Okay…so which one do you think you'll go with Sakura-chan" Naruto shrugged seeing no point in refusing, who would want to after all if a god said he had a gift for you.
At his question Sakura looked through the pile of various temple blueprints before shrugging unable to choose a specific one at that point in time since her main focus was getting rid of Zetsu and Kakuzu along with Orochimaru.
The rest of the day passed by peacefully with the random person stopping by the house to tell Sakura happy birthday i.e Shisui, Ino, Kotetsu, Izumo and Hayate, Sakura also got several letters from Kumogakure and Sunagakure, as she still wrote to Karui, Omoi and of course Cee.
Who had sent her a new medical pouch filled with all kinds of goodies, medicine, bandage rolls and herbs native to Lightning Country, some were fairly rare to if she wasn't wrong, while Temari had sent her a sunarian dress, Kankuro a puppet and Gaara a figurine made out of his sand.
Until finally once nearly everyone in the house had gone to bed as requested Naruto and Sasuke joined Sakura in her room, where she sealed it off from everyone and gestured them to follow her into the ritual room.
Where it was set up in an unfamiliar way "Jashin-sama had me set it up this way, so that you can enter the garden, we have to sit, me in the middle, cut our wrists and let our blood collect in the bowl take a sip each then link hands while chanting at the same time" Sakura explained.
Sitting in the center of the three circles of upside down triangles "Really he's letting us enter the garden that's a gift within it's self since only you, him and Hidan have ever been inside of it" Sasuke said more than a little surprised.
As he sat on her right "That's not the gift though is it" Naruto guessed, claiming the circle on her left and Sakura shook her head then handed over ornate daggers to the both of them and sliced her wrist without flinching.
Letting blood flow freely into the collection bowl in front of her then healed her wrist, Sasuke grimaced but took his turn, adding his blood to the bowl and last was Naruto "You two first" Sakura announced.
Glancing between her teammates who had always been squeamish about this part of the religion until Naruto sighed and clenched his eyes shut before taking a sip of their collective blood, he had a hard time not gagging as he swallowed.
Before hastily handing the bowl over to Sasuke "Bottoms up" Sasuke grimaced, keeping his eyes open unlike Naruto and taking his respective sip of their blood and Sakura finished off the bowl use to ingesting blood unfortunately.
"Now we link our hands and chant right, so what are we chanting exactly" Naruto asked as Sakura took their hands in hers that were coated in black chakra that seeped into them, oozing through their chakra network like hot lava making them very warm.
Their heads started feeling fuzzy even "Oh mighty Jashin, god of this world, god of my flesh, god of my mind, god of my innermost will, every part of this world is within your power" Sakura chanted slowly allowing them to recite the chant with her.
Pitching her voice low as the edges of their vision blurred things becoming dark on them "You are within every part of this world, every part of me is within your power, you are within every part of me" Sakura continued.
Feeling Naruto and Sasuke's heart beats slowing as they now struggled to chant with her but with the promise from Jashin that they'd be alright and wake up she finished "Of my own free will I acknowledge your power and of my own free will I now present myself unto you" Sakura finished.
Vision growing dark as the three of them slumped forward, temporarily dead due to the ritual they'd enacted when she woke Naruto and Sasuke were on either side of her staring up at the sky with the blood red moon "So this is Jashin's garden huh" Sasuke commented.
Seeing that she was awake now "Though I don't see him" Naruto frowned in confusion as he looked about the area they were in carefully but didn't stop the god of slaughter he'd been a somewhat follower of since the Chunin Selection Exams.
"Of course not knucklehead, we have to go find where he's placed his throne" Sakura snorted lightly as she stood and dusted her clothes off, spreading out her senses and leading them through what seemed like a maze.
Not that she had to search very hard because in the first clearing they stumbled into there he was facing away from them on his blood red thorn throne "Welcome" Jashin greeted, his voice seeming to come from everywhere to Naruto and Sasuke's surprise.
It was their first meeting with this all powerful being and they couldn't help but slump to their knees before him as Jashin stood allowing them to look upon his visage, long flowing locks of white hair that reached the ground and pink eyes glinting with madness.
His clothing was a simple black robe tied about his waist with a white sash revealing pale, ivory skin "Lord Jashin thank you for this opportunity to meet you in person" Sasuke said, bowing much lower for the god of slaughter.
As Sakura stood confidently at the mans side "Yes thank you for very much Lord Jashin" Naruto nodded his head eagerly, Jashin smirked cruelly in response pleased at their reverence, slowly he padded forth to stand in front of them.
Then reached down with what seemed like endlessly long arms to place his hands upon their shoulders "Rise Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, proud followers and acolytes to my religion I have a gift for you" Jashin commanded.
Doing as he ordered Naruto and Sasuke stood barely reaching Jashin's waist making them feel like children despite their age, when they were righted Jashin looked to Sakura who whistled, the sound echoed.
And from the brush came a familiar wolf with two other wolves on either side of her "Your gift Naruto, Sasuke is to sign the same contract and learn how to summon Ivory's pups to travel the rifts as she can" Sakura announced.
Accepting the scroll from Jashin who had returned to sitting on his throne and approaching her teammates who stared at her then Jashin in awe "We humbly accept" Sasuke stated, speaking for Naruto as well.
Even if they had their own summons of frogs and snakes, being able to travel the rifts of the world would help them massively "Precisely and thank you for this priceless gift" Naruto murmured, signing his name in blood on the scroll underneath Sasuke's name.
That was underneath Sakura's name "Well done" Ivory praised when her two pups disappeared and reappeared in front of Naruto and Sasuke "By the way their names are Sakeme and Mishinme" Ivory said telling the teenagers the wolves names.
One had blue/black hair and ruby/pink eyes, Sakeme, and the other was red/orange with pink eyes, Mishinme, "With that I send you back to the world you belong in" Jashin waved his hand lazily, kicking them from his garden.
A second later Naruto and Sasuke snapped upright, gasping for air as their lungs resumed pumping oxygen to their brains considering they'd been temporarily dead for the past half hour "Ugh my head hurts" Sasuke groaned.
Holding a glowing green hand up to his head as he healed himself of his headache "Mine to" Naruto grimaced, before Sakura relieved him of his headache via medical ninjutsu and if there was ever a time he wished he knew some medical ninjutsu it was now.
"Sorry I probably should have warned you that would happen but now you can summon wolves from the garden like I can, anyway we should probably go to bed now, we might have missions tomorrow" Sakura suggested.
Ushering the two from her room after undoing the seal so that they could all get some shut eye for the night and indeed they did have missions the next day but luckily they were all in the village missions until a month passed in which Kushina gave birth to a little red haired girl.
And they were summoned into the Hokage's office "I wish I didn't have to send you three to be honest but Ohnoki sent me a letter via messenger bird that someone suspicious has been seen that could be Kakuzu and since Kakashi's off on another mission it has to be you Sakura" Minato sighed.
Hating that he had to send his daughter who was the only other person who'd be able to confirm if it was Kakuzu for Ohnoki "Once your finished, depending on whether it is or it isn't Kakuzu, I need you to go to Iwagakure and relay that information to him" Minato finished.
Giving the younger members of Team Kakashi their orders and not long after to the displeasure of everyone in the house Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura set forth from the village "Now would be a good time to test if we're able to summon Sakeme and Mishinme" Sasuke noted.
Once they were far enough away from Leaf that no one would notice them summoning three gigantic wolves "Great idea Sasuke….Summoning Jutsu" Sakura clapped, flashing through the specific hand signs and summoning Ivory.
She appeared in a plume of smoke and Sakura climbed astride the snow-furred wolf "Okay then here goes nothing….Summoning Jutsu" Naruto and Sasuke performed the jutsu in sync of one another and in matching clouds of smoke appeared Sakeme and Mishinme.
A little awkwardly they sat upon the backs of their wolves before Ivory took off at a run already on the search for a rift and spotted one a mile later, she jumped into it fearlessly pups hot on her heels as they traveled to Tsuchi no Kuni via unnatural means.
"By the way if you want to see Sasuke, Naruto, take a little bit of their blood and chakra into yourselves and then you'll be able to see the inside of rifts and find them as well" Sakura said from ahead of them.
Though the idea of ingesting blood was detested by the two it was a necessary evil if they didn't want to be riding blind through the rifts and soon they were able to see all around them including ahead of them where Sakura was.
And then what seemed like twenty minutes later they emerged back out into the world in the Land of Earth, where it was already late evening "Rifts are both awesome and annoying" Naruto huffed, realizing that the rifts did have their cons, when his stomach rumbled in hunger.
Protesting at missing lunch "Fear not I packed ramen this time" Sakura soothed, understanding his and Sasuke's plight well because the rifts affected her to and though Sasuke shot her a scowl he helped prepare camp and she got the water boiling for their dinner.
Once they finished eating the three of them curled up in their bedrolls and went to sleep in order to get an early start on their search for the suspicious man who may or may not be Kakuzu the next day.
Dawn came early for the three teammates as they woke and prepared for the day ahead of them "Alright so how exactly are we going to be searching for this Kakuzu guy when we don't even know what he looks like or what his chakra feels like" Naruto questioned.
Gratefully accepting a bowl of rice porridge with eggs and bacon from Sakura to eat "That's a very good question Naruto, how are we going to do this mission if we don't even have the basic information necessary to search for this guy" Sasuke nodded.
Waiting patiently as Sakura took a few bites of her breakfast before answering "Well I know what he looks like for the most part and I know his chakra to, so we first start by searching through the towns to see if anyone matching his description has been seen around these parts lately" Sakura said.
Inwardly knowing it would be easier to ask Jashin who could find out for them if Kakuzu was in Iwa no Kuni "Wonderful so we're not going to be getting any help from other-worldly beings" Naruto huffed.
Realizing they were on their own for once "It's my decision to not ask Jashin-sama, but it's better to look for our selves every once in awhile so people can't accuse us..me of abusing the power I have being able to communicate with a god who can do basically anything" Sakura announced.
"Sakura's right Naruto, we can't rely on Lord Jashin for everything, in fact we could even be accused of being incompetent jonin and be demoted if people know we're not using our own skill to gather information" Sasuke explained.
Making Naruto see reason and understand that there could be consequences "Okay, okay geez you win Sasuke, Sakura-chan but can you draw him so that we can at least get a basic idea of what he looks like to so we're not going in blind on this mission" Naruto requested.
Luckily Sakura agreed that was a great idea and sketched a drawing of Kakuzu for the both of them and herself "And now we begin" Sakura sighed, leading the way into the nearest town, where they reluctantly split up.
"Have you a seen a man that looks like this here in this town recently" Sakura asked showing off the sketch to some townspeople hoping that one of them would recognize the person in the drawing but each of them shook their heads.
One even went so far as to laugh in her face "Go back home little girl, being a shinobi isn't for delicate looking girls such as yourself" the man chortled, mocking her ruthlessly and Sakura itched to punch him in the face.
But she reigned in that desire "You could have just shook your head and walked away without the unnecessary comments thank you" Sakura scoffed in disgust moving on to the next person and showing them the sketch while leaving the idiot far behind.
Hours later for lunch the teammates regrouped "I think this town is a bust, no ones seen this guy or anyone resembling him" Naruto scowled, tempted to throw the sketch into the roaring fire before him because he was so irritated and it would be a petty satisfaction to see the paper burn.
"Normally I would say we be thorough in our investigation and talk to every single person in that town but I think Naruto's right, we won't get anywhere if we stay here, it's better to move on to the next town" Sasuke grimaced.
The rosette didn't answer right away merely worked on making lunch for the three of them and once they ate finally spoke "Both of you I think are right, I didn't sense his chakra either and I'm a fairly good sensor not to mention there are no inns or hotels here" Sakura said.
So the three of them packed up and made for the next village on the backs of their wolves, it was about the only thing Sakura didn't feel guilty about, making use of the rifts for speedy travel for better mission efficiency.
A few days later they got lucky in their search as they stopped in the nearest town and one of the townsfolk nodded their heads "Yeah I seen him, he came here about a week back, hunting down bounties he said and then left in that direction about a day ago" the man informed.
"It's our best lead yet" Sasuke shrugged, hoping that they would continue to get lucky, and seeing little point in staying now that they'd found a lead on their mission objective Team Seven made camp away from the town.
Where Sakura created a shelter out of her earth nature chakra then protected it with various seals, some that were vicious and lashed out at anyone who attempted to bypass them "What's up Sakura were all those seals necessary" Naruto frowned at her actions.
Just a little surprised when she nodded seriously "Based on the direction we're heading it's very likely that Kakuzu is on a straight path to Iwa, if we're going to have a chance at stopping him we need to get ahead of him hopefully if I'm right about this" Sakura announced.
Pulling out a map and pointing out their path so far then the direction the man in the town had told them their objective had headed in, straight for Iwagakure to their horror "Let's get a move on then" Sasuke declared.
Situating his pack upon his shoulders "Mishinme to Hidden Stone" Naruto instructed once the wolf was before him and he was sat astride the red/orange furred wolf's back like his teammates were on their own prospective wolf.
Mishinme took off at a run, the three of them becoming nothing but blurs to the untrained eyes until seemingly vanishing in thin air as they used the rifts to reach their next destination ahead of Kakuzu if it was him anyway.
So needless to say when Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura appeared before Iwagakure out of seemingly nowhere it prompted the guards to throw weapons at them "Futon: Spinning Shield of Winds" Naruto flashed through hand signs.
Creating a shield out of his wind jutsu that covered the three of them and stopped the weapons from piercing their flesh "Calm down we're Jonin from Hidden Leaf" Sakura soothed, unable to blame them for reacting as they had.
"What are you doing here then shouldn't you be hunting down Kakuzu, Tsuchikage-sama received word that he was within the confines of our country yet your here slacking off" one guard scoffed, clearly disbelieving of the fact that they were Jonin.
Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose "No we're not slacking off, we believe he is heading straight for the village so we got ahead of him to prevent him from reaching Iwagakure" Sasuke explained for his teammate.
Just then Kitsuchi arrived at the gates to find out what was going on and why he felt familiar chakra, he also happened to show up during Sasuke's explanation "If you wait, I'd like to accompany you if what you say is true that way we can do our part in getting rid of the threat he presents" Kitsuchi asked.
Eyeing the Leaf Shinobi warily until Sakura nodded and twenty minutes later he was back, with that the four of them set off in the opposite direction "Ah" Sakura paused, when they'd been walking half a day.
Sensing a familiar chakra "Do you feel him Sakura, how far is he away from our current position" Sasuke questioned, figuring out why she would stop suddenly like that, it seems her hunch had been correct, Kakuzu had been indeed heading for the Hidden Stone Village.
In response Naruto spread out his senses "Probably a good three/four miles, he's walking fast" Naruto answered, Sakura dropped her pack, jade irises narrowed in determination as she pulled out three scrolls.
That she drew familiar seals on "Kitsuchi-san, what's about to happen is not for the faint of heart, if we're going to take out Kakuzu we have to kill him five times because he has a heart for each of the natural chakra elements" Sakura said.
Peering up at the Iwa Jonin who'd joined them "And how exactly are you going to do that" Kitsuchi frowned, a sick feeling forming in the pit of his stomach when he met her gaze, there was death in her eyes.
"Her religion is the religion of slaughter remember, she'll connect herself to him on a physical level then kill herself and him at the same time and then Sakura will have to repeat the process four more times" Sasuke announced.
Leaving Kitsuchi horrified "Because your immortal right…..does the Hokage know about this part of your religion that you have to die with your sacrifice I can't imagine him taking it all that well being your Father and all that" Kitsuchi grimaced.
A grim smile formed on her lips "Of course Hokage-sama knows Kitsuchi-san, that's exactly why he sent me along in the first place" Sakura admitted as she finished up with what she was doing and buried the scrolls lightly beneath the earth.
Before making a shelter out of her earth nature that looked like a rock and drew a seal on it that hid their presence while poking a small hole to peer out of "He's getting closer Sakura-chan" Naruto warned.
Having kept his senses honed in on Kakuzu as he swiftly approached their position "Make a clone Naruto and these are the hand signs to activate the barrier seals on the scrolls" Sakura ordered, when Kakuzu came into view.
The four of them tensed and then Sakura shoved a fist through her shelter leaping in front of Kakuzu and stopping him in his tracks Naruto, a clone and Sasuke surrounded them, speeding through the hand signs they'd just been shown.
Raising a triangle barrier, trapping her inside with the rogue from Takigakure "Outta the way" Kakuzu demanded and Sakura furrowed her brows in confusion, "Didn't you hear me brat move out of my way" he ordered.
Charging at her and she ducked low under his fist "That's a pity I would have thought you'd recognize me" Sakura commented, hoping that some sense would be made as to the reason he didn't in the first place.
"I've never met you before in my life so why would I recognize an ignorant pink haired brat like you" Kakuzu spat, still coming at her before she jumped and kicked him in the chest and he hit the barrier the smelt of burnt flesh filled the air.
As the barrier did it's job of burning anyone unlucky enough to touch it and then Sakura understood "Oh I get it now, your not Kakuzu, you're a damn white Zetsu clone, like what I faced back in Suna after you attempted to impersonate Shisui" Sakura guessed.
And now that she knew she saw no point in holding back, in fact she wouldn't even have to use a ritual to kill the idiot as he got back up on his feet no doubt enraged that he'd been figured out and when he was within range.
Let loose with a chakra enhanced punch, slamming him to the ground, the ground collapsed beneath her feet, but she didn't let up, merely continued pummeling the bastard until he was nothing more than a bloody mess beneath her fists.
When she was finished she stood in a smoking crater that she hopped neatly out of, brushing dirt debris from her clothing as she did so "Okay you can lower the barrier now, he's not getting back up" Sakura said.
Naruto and Sasuke cowered amusingly away from her as she approached them when they lowered the barrier and she snatched up her scrolls before turning to Kitsuchi who was standing there staring at her with a wide slack-jawed expression on his face.
Before he realized he was gaping like a genin and sealed the body that reverted back to white Zetsu in a scroll to take back to Iwagakure "Guess we return to Hidden Stone I suppose" Kitsuchi cleared his throat, feeling awkward and mighty uncomfortable.
Especially after witnessing that display from the girl "Yep" Naruto quipped, a little pale himself because it was the first time he'd seen her in action since their return to Leaf considering they hadn't gotten to fight very much recently because Minato kept them mostly in the village.
Their walk back to the village was mostly spent in silence "So….are you going to explain how you figured out that guy wasn't Kakuzu but someone else impersonating Kakuzu" Sasuke inquired when they were halfway back to Iwa.
Chartreuse orbs snapped his way "That's right you two don't know but back when Shishou and I were still on our trip someone who I thought was Shisui came to Suna and then I got a letter from you saying Shisui was in the hospital and he turned into Zetsu after I outed him" Sakura admitted.
"And would your mentor happen to be Tsunade perchance…..thought as much you fight like her" Kitsuchi grimaced and Sakura nodded, though now that he was thinking about it, he did recall the Hokage mentioning something to that effect two years before so it wasn't as surprising as he thought it was.
Sakura shrugged because really what could she say in response to that and then just a little past dinnertime they were walking down the streets of Iwagakure to meet with Ohnoki it being their first time in Hidden Stone for all three of them.
Ohnoki was shocked to see them back so soon after leaving only hours beforehand "Surely you didn't deal with Kakuzu already" Ohnoki scowled, disbelieving as a scroll was set on his desk, imagine his surprise when each of them shook their heads.
"No it wasn't Kakuzu but something called a white Zetsu clone isn't that right Sakura-san" Kitsuchi explained, unsealing the body he brought back with him for his leader to inspect and he tried not to look at it to much.
Since the girl had pretty much turned him into a pulp "Zetsu eh but the news I got was that he looked like Kakuzu so how is it possible that he looked like him, had the same chakra but was this thing instead" Ohnoki demanded.
Naruto and Sasuke tensed but Sakura gave them a reassuring pat "That's the part that is confusing to me as well since this is my second encounter with one..but if I had to make a guess, white Zetsu can absorb another persons chakra to impersonate them" Sakura frowned.
Basically coming up with an untested theory but it was all she had to go on at the moment "Alright and how did you figure out that he wasn't Kakuzu in the first place" Kitsuchi questioned, having wondered what had tipped the pinkette off.
Jade irises met his "Because I met Kakuzu in person, he should have recognized me instantly, yet he didn't which meant he wasn't the real Kakuzu" Sakura answered with a grim smile on her face as she remembered that day.
Kitsuchi let out a sigh "In any case brats, take this to your Hokage, its better to let him know about this issue and it would probably be best if the other Kage knew about it as well, you may stay the night in an inn if you'd like" Ohnoki growled.
Tossing a scroll at Sakura and Sasuke snatched it out of the air to put in his pouch and then with their stomachs rumbling in hunger they left the Tsuchikage's office on Kitsuchi heels as the man led them to an inn and they ordered room service before going to bed and the following morning they were on their way home.