Her training was light and mostly focused on her lower body. She probably would've tried to train some more, considering her sisters usually woke around ten and it was only seven o'clock, but the unexpected guests made her pause. Well, it was more like they made her stop by practically lifting her off the ground and inspecting her from head to toe.
"We overheard Madara-sama and Izuna-sama talking about a Sakura-chan," Shisui said, inspecting her bandages, adjusting his hold on her so as not to injure her further. "Let's just say we heard some worrying things."
"Sakura-chan… Shisui isn't hurting you too much, is he?" Itachi stared at her unblinkingly, something akin to worry in his eyes.
"We can't have our adorable baby Ita—wait, why do you look like Kakashi-senpai?" Shisui blinked, inspecting her masked face, curiosity and a slight bit of jealousy flashing across his expression. "Imitate me next!"
"Eh?" Sakura blinked.
"You're imitating all the geniuses of Konoha right?" He placed her back down, crouching down in front of her. "You've done Itachi, and now you're doing Kakashi… so next on the list clearly has to be—"
"Sakura-chan, shall we go and get dango?" Itachi asked, tilting his head. "My treat."
"Sounds good," she mumbled, tucking her hands into her pockets. "I'll treat you sometime after I've graduated," she muttered, staring at the ground. Sometimes she hated her financial situation. As a Haruno she'd have been able to afford going out to eat occasionally…
"Hey!" Shisui pouted. "Don't ignore me!" He slumped, hurrying to catch up with them as they walked towards Itachi's favourite dango store. "You two are so mean… you know that, right?"
Itachi glanced back at him, eyebrow raised. "Really?"
"Hn." Sakura looked back at him, face concealed by her hood.
Shisui caught up to them, walking alongside them as they strolled silently through the half-dead streets of Konoha. Brightly coloured storefronts, bright lights, teahouses, coffee shops, convenience stores. They were all familiar to her by now, and they brought an odd sense of comfort whenever she saw them. Probably because it meant Kaguya hadn't happened… and Sakura doubted she would for a while, if at all… Madara was on Konoha's side in this dimension. She kicked at a stone, scowling at the thought of the Uchiha. To say she disliked him would be an understatement. But she hated Zetsu more… but did Zetsu even exist in her new world? Was that the ripple?
"I think we'd best hurry…" Shisui said, looking away from her. "What if they're all sold out already?"
Sakura shot him a sceptical look. "It's seven in the morning… what kind of store would they be if they've sold out already?"
"A good one." He patted her head, swiping his hand away before she could even think about biting him again.
"You're going to lose that hand one day," she grumbled, reminding herself silently that she'd have to braid her hair up every day beneath her hood if she wanted to keep her Madara locks out of sight and out of mind. There were far too many head pats to be safe.
Shisui winked. "You'd have to be a lot faster for that to happen… and sadly I think you'll have outgrown head pats by then… maybe I'll just have to poke your forehead—"
Sakura and Itachi glared at him in unison.
"What?" he complained. "It's a sacred bond of brotherhood—"
Sakura cleared her throat pointedly.
"—or sisterhood, I'm not forgetting you Saku-chan," he said hurriedly. "And we're like awesomely close friends now… close enough to be brothers."
Sakura cleared her throat again.
One black eyebrow rose. "Saku-chan, are you coming down with a cold or something?"
"I will murder you in your sleep!"
"Awww, there's the Saku-chan we know and love." He patted her head, snickering at her attempt to bite him. "You know, sometimes I forget we only met you a few months back."
"You fit in well with us," Itachi mumbled, quickly ordering three sets of dango, handing one over to Sakura.
"I know," Shisui said, grinning. "She's already making death threats… true friendship right there."
Itachi nodded. "Hn."
Her ears tinted pink, quickly turning her face away as she pulled down her mask and shovelled the dango into her mouth before turning back to face them, a single ball of dango left on the stick. She had a terrible sweet tooth, but she couldn't afford to indulge herself all that much. Not when she had nine other siblings to deal with.
"'tachi, where's mine?" Shisui looked at him as he started on his second stick.
Itachi stared at him blankly. "Get some yourself, you mooch."
He pouted again, going and grabbing some dango for himself – if only not to feel left out as they walked away from the quaint little dango shop and back towards the training ground, eating dango all the while. Well, Shisui and Itachi were. Sakura just stared at the single ball of sweet deliciousness, her stomach twisting. She and Ino had used to treat themselves occasionally. A sad smile curled at her lips. Dango was best enjoyed with friends. She glanced at the two Uchiha, heat rising to her face as they glanced back at her. She had friends. Sure, they were a fair few years older than her, but it was probably for the best. She didn't want to hang around immature idiots… Her eyes flickered over to Shisui, a sigh escaping her lips as she spied him eyeing up the last piece of dango on her stick. He really was a mooch. "Hn." She thrust the half-eaten stick in his direction. "I'm not hungry anymore."
"Thanks, Saku-chan," Shisui said, bright grin on his face as he scarfed it down.
"I wasn't hungry," she grumbled, ears warming under her hood.
"Nobody was saying you weren't." He smirked. "But it's OK… we know you care, you're just a complete and utter tsundere…"
Sakura bristled, turning on him in outrage. "I am not a tsundere!"
A suspicious cough sounded from the rooftops, her eyes narrowing as her gaze locked on the nearby dark tiling. It had sounded like someone was concealing their laughter. Her chakra pulsed out, expanding her minute sensor range, her stance relaxing ever so slightly as she sensed the familiar warm chakra belonging to one Uchiha Izuna. She pulled at the fabric covering her chest, cheeks heating. He was keeping his promise… watching over her… Still, it didn't give him an excuse for laughing at her. Git.
"That's exactly what a tsundere would say," Shisui said, grinning.
Sakura huffed, blinking as a loud shout pierced the air, cutting off their impending argument, replacing her mild annoyance with dread.
"RIVAL!"
Sakura shuddered. That was Renka's voice, and Renka only had one rival, as far as she was aware.
Itachi and Shisui looked at her questioningly.
"ETERNAL RIVAL!"
Shisui sniggered.
Itachi looked vaguely constipated.
She turned, eye curling up as Renka bounced into view. "The weather is great today. Perfect for our first contest!" Shuddering more intently, she stared at the girl, silently asking herself what her life had become. What sort of joke was this supposed to be? She was becoming just like her sensei, and it was horrifyingly alarming. "We'll race towards the Hokage Monument! First one to the top is the winner, and they'll take the first point." Renka placed her hands on her hips. "We have to keep track of our tally. Gai-sensei says it's important to know who's ahead in a rivalry, otherwise it'll fall to pieces."
"Awww… whose this Saku-chan?" Shisui leant on her head, peering down at the small Senju. "You never told me you had an eternal rival, just like Kakashi-senpai." He blinked. "Or that said rival is the First Hokage's daughter… Huh. You really get around, Saku-chan…"
"I'm Sakura-chan's one and only rival!" Renka said, folding her arms, smirking at the older boy. "She punched me in the face yesterday. It was so hip and cool, so I followed Gai-sensei's guidance and declared her my eternal rival."
Itachi blinked.
Shisui followed suit, before casting a glance in her direction. "You punched Senju Hashirama's daughter in the face?"
"She was being irritating." Sakura folded her arms across her chest.
He sighed deeply, burying his face in his hands, groaning loudly as he stared at the ground. "Why? Saku-chan… why must you do this to me?"
"Well," Itachi murmured, looking towards the Hokage monument. "It is Sakura we're talking about here…"
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"
"Saku-chan, you don't have room to complain." Shisui stared at her. "You disobeyed the Yondaime with no remorse—"
"I was rescuing my sisters." She folded her arms.
"And yet you still didn't listen to our wonderful Hokage…" Shisui sighed, throwing his hands out. "You can't deny that little reputation you've built."
"So…" Renka interrupted, bouncing up and down on her feet. "What'd you say?"
"Tch. Fine," she grumbled, looking away from the watery puppy dog eyes staring at her pleadingly.
"Well, me and 'tachi will head to the finish line… so we can watch…" Shisui said, covering his mouth with his hand. He was concealing his laughter, the bastard. "See you there Saku-chan."
Just like that the pair of them were gone in a puff of smoke, leaving her alone with her wonderful rival who was soon talking her ear off again.
"Ne, Sakura-chan, who were they? Your friends?" Sakura smiled, concealing the grin from her apparent rival. Renka wasn't so bad, especially as a distraction. She could use some sort of stress relief right now. "You have friends?"
Her face twitched, one hand clenching wildly in front of her as the other bunched up Renka's collar, pulling her closer. "Of course I have friends, idiot!" she hissed.
"But I'm gonna be your bestest!" Renka grinned, and Sakura somehow found herself unable to injure that annoyingly smiling face in any way, shape, or form. "But we're rivals… Meh. I suppose that don't matter. Tou-san and Madara-oji are bestest of friends, Gai-sensei and his rival are too, so we can be awesomely good friends and have a cool rivalry going at the same time. Yay!"
"Kill me now," Sakura grumbled, folding her arms as she released her idiot of a rival.
"Sakura-chan! You aren't allowed to die," Renka said, glaring at her with a pout. "We still have a race we need to complete. Gai-sensei said he'd be challenging his own eternal rival to a race to the top of the Hokage Monument today, so we might bump into them if we're lucky! Then I'll be able to show off my super cool and hip rival… but just to warn you, Gai-sensei can be very youthful, so you just gotta roll with it, kay?"
"So… um… when are we going to start then?" she asked, silently praying it wouldn't take too long. She did have to go back and prepare breakfast and lunch for the rest of her siblings. In fact, she mused, it'd probably be better to make meals before she went on her morning training. Sakura nodded to herself. That was a good idea. She'd have to remember to do that.
Renka picked up a small rock, grinning wildly as she shifted her feet into position. "You ready?" she asked, flicking the stone into the air.
"Of course, idiot," she muttered, eyes fixed on the falling rock. Her reactions were as sharp as ever, so the by the time the scant amount of dust scuffed up by the landing stone had scattered, she was long gone.
Her feet slapped against the familiar dirt-packed streets of Konoha, Renka right on her tail as they sprinted past the dango shop she'd stopped at a while before. Wind ruffled her hair, a small smile on her face as she focused her attention solely on the race. It was nice. In that moment in time she didn't need to worry about anything other than winning. If she won, she'd prove she could protect her sisters, and there were no doubts she would. Her chakra pulsed in her feet, propelling her forward.
"You're really fast, Sakura-chan!" Renka yelled, running at her heels, evidently somewhat skilled at chakra manipulation. "As expected of my rival!"
Sakura sped on, noting at how Renka was keeping pace with her, smiling slightly at the look of sheer effort on her face. She wasn't at full speed just yet. She could save her energy for the final sprint up to the finish though.
A blur of green sped past her, alongside a darker blur topped with silvery grey hair, and Sakura felt her heart stutter. It was Kakashi-sensei… but he wasn't her Kakashi-sensei. This one didn't even know her. Hadn't watched all her struggles to become stronger.
Renka sped up all of a sudden, hot on the trail of Gai-sensei, and Sakura matched her pace, leaping up onto the rooftops, jumping ahead of her own eternal rival. There would be no point in denying it. She knew from watching her own Kakashi and Gai. The tips of her ears turned red, black eyes drifting over to land on her newish friend. She'd be the Naruto to her Sasuke. Laughter slipped from her lips, quiet, almost unheard, and Sakura pulled her focus back onto the race. The race she was going to win. Tile underfoot became stone, horizontal becoming vertical.
"This is where the real race begins, Sakura-chan!" Renka declared.
"Eat my dust," she muttered, launching herself up the stone faces as quickly as she could. The finish line was almost in sight. Chakra glued her feet to the craggy cliff face, the rock mercifully having no lose bits. Since she couldn't hear any screams or panicked flailing behind her, she assumed Renka was doing just fine too, so when she flung herself over the top of the cliff, she grinned. Wasting no time, she charged towards the sole unbroken finish line, paying no heed to the four sets of eyes tracking her. She raced forwards, smirking as she skidded through the poles set up, hearing the thudding of feet behind her. She hadn't lost her skills. She'd protect her sisters to the—
"That was so cool!" Renka tackled her into a hug, uncaring as the pair of them slammed into the ground.
Sakura winced, stiffening as she felt something pop. Please don't let that be what she thought it was, she prayed, blinking as Renka was lifted off her.
"Renka-chan, I'm so proud!"
She blinked at the sound of Gai's voice, turning just in time to see the rivers streaming from his eyes and the sunset and waves in the background as he hugged Renka.
"You've finally found your eternal rival, and you've challenged them for the first time." Gai sobbed, and Sakura stared at them blankly until a gloved hand appeared in front of her hand. "You're in the springtime of youth!"
"Need a hand?" A familiar masked face, much like her own, peered down at her, two black eyes crinkling up into a smile. Kakashi didn't have the sharingan in her new dimension. Sakura stared at him. He looked strange with two black eyes on display. She missed the slanted hitai-ate.
"Thanks," she muttered, accepting the hand up, wincing as she felt a warm liquid tickle down her back, soaking into her shirt as she quickly pulled her hoodie off – not wanting to get blood on it.
"Saku-chan!" Shisui ran over, picking her up with a twirl. "You beat your eternal rival already… Looks like you really are the Kakashi in your rivalry."
"Shisui, she's bleeding," Itachi said, squinting at the dark stain blooming across the back of her shirt. "I think she's pulled her stitches."
Sakura folded her arms, scowling as she glanced over at Renka. "Hn," she grumbled, knowing what was coming next would not be fun in the slightest. It wasn't even her fault her stitches had been pulled… so how had she ended up sitting in front of Senju Tobirama getting lectured?
She glanced over at Renka, glaring at the brunette. Shisui had all but carried her to Tobirama's doorstep, fretting like a mother hen, Itachi soon dragging him away with a wave as he left her to face the infuriated white-haired Senju on her lonesome.
"I need to make breakfast and lunch for my sisters, so I'll be on my way—"
"Sit your backside back down on that cushion right now." Tobirama loomed over her, red eyes narrowed as she sat back down with a squeak. "Clearly I need to drill this lesson into those thick skulls of yours, but injured people aren't supposed to be challenged to races across the village—"
"Technically—"
"Ah, ah, ah." Tobirama held up a finger, silencing her before she could get another word out. "They also aren't supposed to accept such ridiculous challenges, either. Honestly…" He ran a hand through his spiky white locks. "I have enough problems with the Academy, my brother, and that oaf. I don't need a miniaturised version of Hashirama and Madara, understand?"
Sakura folded her arms, silently admiring the new bandages wrapped around her chest. "Hn."
Tobirama stepped forwards menacingly. "I said… do we understand?"
She nodded sharply alongside Renka. "Yes."
"Good." Sakura blinked, finding herself dangling in the air moments later, held by the scruff of her shirt like some sort of misbehaving kitten. "Now, let's get you home before you decide to injure yourself again… and so help me, if I catch you attempting any sort of training for the next three days, I will drag you to the hospital, and tie your backside to a damned bed. Rest means rest – no training, nothing that can aggravate those injuries of yours."
"Tch. Fine," Sakura grumbled, waving a brief goodbye to her eternal rival who looked at her mournfully as she was dragged back to Tomoe's apartment across town.
Tobirama left without a word, though Sakura was fairly sure she saw him pouncing on Izuna as she shut the door.
"Nee-chan?" Akira blinked sleepily at her. "You're back from your training already?"
She nodded. "Yeah. Gotta make our breakfast and lunch."
"Saku-nee, we can do that. Tomoe-oba taught us that much," Akira mumbled, startling as Sakura prodded her forehead.
"I'm the oldest, Aki-chan," she said with a smile. "Kaa-san wanted me to look after all of you no matter what…"
Akira bit her lip, glancing over at the framed photo of their mother. Their aunt had left it there earlier, positioned neatly in its black frame, a stick of incense ready to be burnt. "Kaa-chan…"
Sakura ruffled her hair. "You can light the incense if you want."
"But the others…"
"They can say their prayers another time." She glanced over at the door to their bedroom, the apartment suddenly feeling that much smaller as she looked back at the youngest of her triplet group. She was only an hour or two younger than her… then again, Akira was a genuine five-year-old. Not a fake one, like she was. "Besides… they'll be waking up soon, and the other triplets and twins are too young to understand what's going on…"
"OK." Akira stared at her feet, trudging over to the photo, pausing as she realised something. "Wait, nee-chan! How am I supposed to light it?"
Sakura stumbled, noting Tomoe hadn't left them any sort of method to light it. A wise precaution, given the oldest of them were technically five-years-old for all appearances. "Oh." She blinked, silently going over the hand signs in her head. "Leave it to me." Her chakra control was good enough, and Uchiha could generally generate some sort of fireball on their first go. She'd just need to make hers as small as possible, and she had decent enough chakra control for that.
Snake. Ram. Monkey. Boar. Horse. Tiger.
Her hands flickered through the signs like a well-oiled machine, grasping onto a thimbleful of chakra, flames bursting from her lips to form a tiny ball at the top of the incense stick.
"Whoa." Akira stared at her, eyes wide. "That was a jutsu! Cool! Saku-nee, where'd you learn that? Teach me!" She moved her hands in pale imitations of Sakura's.
Sakura sighed, prodding her cute little sister's forehead again. "I'll teach you it once you're in the academy, OK? Don't try anything before then."
"So I need to get into the academy? 'kay. I'll get in. Just you watch nee-chan!"
Chuckling, Sakura stepped back. "Don't forget what you were about to do," she reminded, heart pounding at the sad expression that overtook her little sister's face yet again. "I'm heading to the bathroom. Don't do anything stupid til I get back."
She needed to check something. Something she hadn't had time to before she'd rushed off for her morning training. Something that had been bothering her since the night before. Stumbling into the bathroom, she pushed the footstool into place, peering at herself in the mirror. She closed her eyes, pouring her chakra into her eyes, opening her eyes as they spun into red, three tomoe spinning in their depths. Pushing more chakra in made them spin that much faster, the patterns shifting and rippling across her eyes as she activated the Mangekyou in her widening eyes. Sakura sighed, staring at the strange new pattern in her eyes. Obito's pinwheel was still there, but it had shrunk, and now her eyes looked closer to what Sasuke's Mangekyou had looked like. It wasn't exactly the same, but the similarities were there.
"Brilliant," she muttered. "Just brilliant."
She'd had Obito's Mangekyou before – he'd apparently keyed it into the seal, but that hadn't accounted for the change in her DNA. She was an Uchiha by blood, whether by accident or design, and apparently she had a Mangekyou of her own. One she'd awakened that night.
"Well, at least I won't go blind," she mumbled, eyes fading back into black, chakra slightly depleted as she hopped down from the stool, pushing it back into its original place. She had yet another weapon in her arsenal to protect her sisters with… even if it was ridiculously chakra draining.
Smiling to herself, she went about making breakfast, packing some bentos for lunch alongside it, ignoring the quiet murmurs of her sisters as they came out one by one. Some joined Akira, the others seating themselves at the table. There was no Tomoe though… not yet.
She was under orders to rest, so once breakfast was over and done with, she tucked herself back in their room, quietly listening to her sisters playing about in the other room. There wasn't that much to do, aside from sit around or play with her sisters. There weren't many books—
Sakura paused, eyes falling on the small book Tomoe had brought them. Their mother's diary. One which might contain clues as to who their mother was, who their father was, and what in the blue blithering blazes she'd wound up in. Curling up on her futon, she flicked the book over, tilting her head as she began to read.
She had read well over half of the entries by the time she got to anything she considered to be of importance – a possible clue as to who their father, or fathers, were. The entry had begun similar to the others, dated at least nine months before she'd been born. It was the only vaguely Uchiha-ish entry she'd found.
'Last night, I had an… interesting customer, to say the least. He was drunk, that much was certain, and I'd go as far to say that he was absolutely plastered, but then, those like him usually are exceptionally good at holding their liquor. Or at least seeming like they're not as drunk as they are. They wouldn't have been let in otherwise. His brother, and his friends had dragged him in, seemingly to get their delightful friend to stop being such a grump – or so I heard. I can't really remember their faces, but I could hazard a guess as to who they were, but no full names allowed in this little diary of mine, as per usual.
It was adorable. He spent the first half an hour pointedly looking away from me, and his ears were a cute shade of red. I don't think I've ever seen an Uchiha look so flustered—'
Sakura paused in her reading, eyes narrowing. She could certainly imagine Obito doing that, but the part about a brother irked her. Obito didn't have a brother – at least not in her world, but maybe it was different here. That had to be it. Her eyes narrowed on the page, all the more convinced the further she read. She could imagine Obito's friends dragging him in, and she could most certainly imagine him passing out like an idiot before anything interesting happened… but therein lay the problem. Her mother apparently hadn't slept with him, according to the diary entry, she'd just tucked him in like a child and watched over him, glad she didn't have to work that night.
Scowling, she flickered through, silently wondering if she was reading some sort of terrible romance story as she busied herself in the pages of the diary. Names weren't mentioned, and Sakura was still clueless as to who exactly fathered her and her sisters. All she knew was that her father was likely this weird customer who came back and met with her mother after her working hours were over. It had started with talking and then moved onto other things. It sounded like the plot of a cheesy romance novel, if she was completely honest with herself. "Guess I'll just have to settle with never knowing," she muttered, staring up at the ceiling of their new home. "I mean, it's not like I can casually walk up to every Uchiha and ask for a DNA test… maybe they were married or something…" Or maybe it was Obito… She buried her head in her pillow, muffling her groan as she set the little book down to one side. She could read the rest of it at a later point in time. She ignored the small voice in the back of her head reminding her that Madara had a brother. That was an impossibility. She refused to even think about it. Sleep was more important. Sleep was an unfortunate necessity that she didn't get much of, especially with their mother… gone… She glanced around the room, noting how her sisters had snuck in while she'd been buried in her reading. There was too much she still didn't know, and Misa's diary hadn't given her any clues to her past – well, as of yet. Sakura still hoped there were hints as to what the hell her mother had done to get her on the wrong side of her clan. She didn't want to go into things blind. Not when her sisters' lives were on the line.
She flopped back on her bed, groaning as she stared at the ceiling, the slight twinge in her back reminding her to be careful of her stitches. The diary fell to the floor, a single slip of paper slipping out of the book, but the burning itch in her chest didn't wait for her to bend down and get it. Sakura winced, chest shaking as she coughed – a wet, hacking sound filling the air. Hurrying over to the sink, she wasted no time in grabbing a glass and filling it from the tap. She swallowed it back, her coughing continuing moments later, her hand barely able to muffle the sounds.
Copious amounts of water later, and her coughing fit was over. Sighing, she slumped back against the wall, silently wondering when her annoying cold – or whatever the hell it was – would go. She walked back to the room, silently navigating through the sleeping forms of her sisters, blinking at the strange wetness she could feel on her palm. Glancing down, she froze, eyeing the few dark splotches on her palm, blinking in shock as the moonlight cast the reddish liquid in light. Blood. Sakura looked down at herself, eyebrows knitting together when she found no wounds that could've caused it. She gulped her water down, biting her lip as she lay down for the night, her coughs having tapered off.
Whatever it was, she could deal with it in the morning.
