48. Hello again! Quick updates in the writing mood. Looking back, I can't believe it's been a whole five years, and along the way there have been so many of you who have come and gone.


Sensei lingers after she has seen the other two off. Tentatively, they agree to meet another week where Ino-chan is free, though it remains to be seen if Shikaku-sama will still involve Inoichi-sama.

The verification of their story is almost unnecessary and all four of them know it. Not in the least because there is nothing Shikaku-sama can do to them with regards to the truth. Not without putting the village in danger.

Konan-san left her an envelope, a letter to be opened later, her gaze conveying overall satisfaction. Shikaku-sama restrained his sigh and left.

"You aren't going home, Sakura-chan?" sensei asks her softly.

The wave of tiredness hits her as she closes her eyes to compose herself, the weight of the calculation she made for this afternoon. Sakura shakes her head slightly, turning to walk back to the memorial garden.

"Thank you for staying, sensei," is all she says. Thank you for trusting me, is what she also means.

He follows her without being intrusive. "Itachi will not move to hurt Sasuke. Lady Konan and Lord Nagato do seem to be trustworthy. Orochimaru-sama… loves the village."

She looks at him, rationalising the risks she took in the past where they did not know for sure if those four could be trusted. "Mm, I was right, wasn't I, Kakashi-sensei?"

He sighs for her to hear where Shikaku-sama cannot. "Still, you must understand that this is a lot to take in for our Jonin Commander."

Sakura doesn't truly mean it when she states rhetorically, "Sensei knew, though."

Kakashi looks at her with one piercing eye, reminding her, "If that day, I had not walked in late to check up on you, I would not have heard your conversation with Itachi."

She does not dissent this view, leading him downstream for the second time today. "If I had the choice, I would not have told sensei, it is true."

The little dell where the morning's bouquet of flowers rests against a pair of stones, now dusted with the fine grit of the stone that Shikaku-sama crushed – the grass from which the dew has evaporated.

When she kneels down to brush the dust from the paper that Ino-chan wrapped so lovingly, sensei bends down with a hand in a seal; the ground rises up to swallow the crushed remains of the rock.

This movement, of course, also reveals that very little of the ground is actually earth that sensei can use. The tell-tale kanji for 'explosion' on the papers in little stacks that act like mantle plates, sliding aside for the rock fragments to disappear into the depths.

"Shikaku-sama is also right, Sakura. If you were not my student and I did not understand your motivations, this would all look like a plot, complete with a bomb in the village and external support."

Sakura unwraps the bouquet, pulling the ribbon loose and unrolling the crepe paper to release the flowers, roses to lilies to forget-me-nots. The surprise that Ino also added, a spray of sakura blossoms.

"This year, the sakura blooming season was earlier, so these were delivered in time… Even unasked, for whom did the flowers bloom?"

Some of them have already wilted – the sakura blossoms alone. Even the forget-me-nots are less delicate and she laughs in the clearing. She picks up the pair of red spider lilies and sets them at the stone dedicated to her parents.

One white rose each, "Choku-san, Sekiei-san, Kurotaki-san," her fingers brush his stone, thinking of the one stone less she has in the clearing now. She leaves a stem of forget-me-nots.

"Tenkawa-san, Mikoto-sama, Shiore-san," their names murmured softly, blending the ones she still cares for and mixing up her own emotions as she goes.

Sensei waits for her to stand with aching knees, catching her as she sways on her feet, the sakura petals drifting dismally from the branch.

"I didn't lose the last set of keys you gave me," he says quietly. She imagines she tells him that, "Of course I'm carrying my house keys, sensei."

"And yet, why do I feel like I do not know you at all, Sakura-chan?"

She leans against him, allowing herself to be weak just for the moment, "Then I should have kept the truth from you, sensei."

"You did not have to tell me the truth. I would still have protected you anyway, Sakura-chan," he says it like a promise, "because you are my precious student and I trust you."

She tells him simply that, "I do not love this village. But I will protect it for the people whom I love." It is a clean confession of a lack of loyalty, the kind of truth that sensei does not want or need to hear.

Nevertheless, Sakura knows that she is right. Few ninjas are blindly loyal – they each pick and choose their reasons. Sensei, who believes that those who abandon their friends are trash, loves the village for the same reasons she does and will not condemn her.

So Sakura only leads them both out the garden and tells him, "Team lunch the Wednesday after the next. I'll tell Naruto-chan. You catch Sasuke-chan before that, then."

He gives her a questioning look where she smiles thinly in response, "Your Uchiha and Sharingan affairs should also need Itachi-san around, don't you think?"

Sensei has the gall to scratch his chin in an embarrassed fashion. "Maa, Sakura-kun guessed so quickly?"

She pushes the iron gate open to let him out, "Those are the only things Sasuke-chan would ever consider leaving our Naruto out of, his messy familial history."


Itachi is temporarily residing within the Akatsuki headquarters in Rain. He's there to protect Nagato as he recovers from his exertions and in Akatsuki affairs, recuperating from the loss of his bodies.

Then again, Pain-sama's physical form is untouchable with the chakra field that he holds steady around him.

With their organisation officially down another two members in Sasori and Deidara, Tobi is getting anxious.

When Konan comes back to Rain and he goes back to the Leaf, they will induct Tobi in as a one-man team to give him the task of finding a partner of his own.

"Pain-sama, will Tobi's task remain as the Sanbi?" he asks, the undercurrent of all the other questions running with it.

The red-headed male exhales through his nose and hauls himself upright with his arms. Such small, physical actions showing how his body is slowly repairing itself based on Sakura's prescriptions.

"We rarely change objectives for our members. The Kyuubi remains yours. Perhaps you should give some tips to Tobi with regards to Kisame."

The Mist will never allow Yondaime Mizukage Yagura to leave Kiri, which makes the Sanbi difficult for Tobi to capture on his own.

That's the plan, at least. Tobi flounces into the room, acting like a child, interrupting their conversation. They entertain him, allowing him to pretend to be a child, even though they all know who he claims to be.

Tobi was the one who brought him into Akatsuki in the long night.

"Leader-sama…" he sing-songs, "Tobi doesn't have a partner now. Will you get Tobi one?"

Nagato pins him with his purple-ringed eyes, betraying his amusement at the attempt to play with them. "Tobi… If you do not wish to work with Itachi, you may say so simply. Kakuzu is well acquainted with people on the calibre of our organisation, you may ask him once he and Hidan return from their latest bounty hunt."

The man sounds distinctively like he's pouting behind his orange swirly mask, "Uwah… Leader-sama, Itachi-senpai is looking at me like I'm a bug… But Kakuzu-senpai is even more scary. He'll be upset that he won't be able to claim the bounty for my partner!"

Itachi checks his gaze when Nagato shoots him half a reprimand. He offers Tobi a smile, trying to pretend that he does not hate this man.

"Would you like to come with me when I return to Konoha?" he offers like an olive branch and they both watch how Tobi shudders.

Itachi catches the anger and revulsion, Tobi's Mangenkyo Sharingan flashing a bright red. He maintains his own calm, knowing that there are plans to deal with him. Before, Madara always took to taunting him with Sasuke's safety – but Sasuke is safe.

"Leader-sama, I will look for a Mist missing-nin to partner me! No way to douse a fire without water! Uwah, Itachi-senpai, don't give me such a scary face!"

He looks away from the orange mask that makes his stomach churn, addressing Nagato instead. "Pain-sama, I will get ready to leave soon. Konan-hime has sent word that Konoha has rebuilt and gone back to complacency. I will return to my brother's side to see when the Kyuubi leaves the village again."

Nagato flicks his fingers to dismiss him. "Tobi, if you require help to… ah, convince your new partner…" his voice trails off.

Then there's the touch of cruelty in Tobi's voice, "In that case, I will ask Itachi-senpai for help! After all, he managed to keep Deidara-senpai with us."

Itachi ignores the jibe, acknowledging that he has already traded other people's freedom for his own. But that is also the truth of how he lives. Everything for Sasuke. He would not have killed his clan or joined Akatsuki otherwise.


It's only later once Tobi has left and they are certain that Zetsu is away, that they have enough privacy. Nagato seals off the high tower with his chakra, impeding Zetsu's uncanny ability to melt into the ground.

"Itachi, be sure to remind Kisame of Tobi's recruitment efforts," something like a warning. Their shared concern because they know how dangerous Madara is.

"I will," and he leaves the other sealing scroll with his leader, "Sakura sends her regards and thanks for the tea. She reminds you to change your supplements to these, with the usual precautions."

Nagato gives him an amused smile, receiving the scroll and checking it for Sakura's untampered chakra seal. "She and Konan have said their preparations are almost complete. Once they are ready, let us handle it smoothly."

"Are you privy to their preparations, Leader-sama?" he asks, curiosity overpowering his awareness. Nagato reminds him briefly, "We are better not knowing."

Itachi smiles inwardly. To see how much Nagato trusts Konan.


Naruto arrives the earliest, giving her a cheerful wave before he sets about doing his sealing work. To show them the fruit of his two and counting years of pupillage under Jiraiya-sama, he agreed to set up barrier and detection seals that mirror those that protect Konoha proper.

Sasuke arrives about an hour after with more ingredients for their meal, catching her in the middle of preparing anmitsu that will take time to chill.

As he chops his favourite tomatoes for the onigiri, she sets the rice cooker to start and takes the red beans that have soaked overnight from the fridge.

He knows to mix in the dried tuna flakes with soy sauce, they've done it often for team dinners. Today though, they're also trying to turn sensei's favourite soup into a rice ball form. She leaves the eggplants with miso paste on skewers for Sasuke to grill, it takes patient control of the stove's gas fire and he does so like playing with fire.

Sakura quite enjoys cooking with him for their team and much of it is in how simple their tastes are.

Sasuke chances a look at her, wincing when she pours in a whole cup of sugar into the red beans. She laughs, "Just like sensei, you are," as she puts the clay pot into the pressure cooker.

Her dark-haired teammate smiles as he flips the eggplants on the wire grill. "Well, nii-chan and Naruto will be sure to appreciate it."

And it's true, that their team is split equally between those who like sweets and don't. Itachi-san is a plus one to the sweet count.

She makes a plain and decidedly less sweet black sugar syrup for sensei and Sasuke to have with their anmitsu. "Both of you will have kinako to go with yours too, it's in the fridge."

Traditionally, anmitsu would be served with all three, but there's the comfort of home in picking their own toppings. Sakura likes hers with sugared strawberries, but those aren't in season right now.

Sensei comes two hours later, on time for him though he always offers his customary apologies. "I brought salt-pickled sakura and clam soup," and promptly acquisitions one hob next to Sasuke's eggplant grilling station.

Naruto comes in after he's done to announce the latest upgrades he's made, amongst which are "sensing seals, boundary seals, privacy seals and water-proofing seals" Sakura shoos him to the washroom to take a quick shower and he comes out then to help with shaping the onigiri.

Only once the dinner table is all laid out, Naruto finishes off the seals with the entry matrix. They take turns giving blood to his drawn seal, which he slaps on the door frame. "Seal!" he calls out and his ink marks across the walls and the tiles light up in a flash.

He grins and tells them, "When Itachi-san comes by, I'll show you all how it works!"

Sakura nods thoughtfully before telling them that, "Then this house is safe even if the orange masked man makes it into Konoha. We'll regroup here."

Naruto rubs at his chin before stating, "I'm not sure if these seals will protect against space-time travelling though. I'll have to ask Ero-sennin to make sure. If father's Hiraishin could come in, theoretically the masked man might be able too."

Sasuke looks almost crestfallen at the revelation.

Sakura hums and follows, "If the seals can delay him, that's good enough. This is related to what I wanted to tell you all though. This home is seated on an expanse of explosive tags, collected specially to combat the masked man's space-time ninjutsu."

Naruto's eyes widen before he looks around, almost protesting, "Sakura-nee, you're not joking? I've been working on the house for the past couple of hours, how could that be?"

Her eyes soften a touch, "Konan-san helped to make the entire garden out of paper. During the reconstruction works after the failed invasion, we took the opportunity to replace a lot of the earth with explosives."

They quickly follow her chain of thought to catch on and sensei leans back in his chair while Sasuke remarks, "So Konan-san and Nagato-san are both…"

For a moment, Naruto looks slightly shaken before he asks, "So cousin Nagato… was part of Akatsuki too?"

Sakura shifts her head, left to right, before telling him the truth, "Nagato-san is the acting leader of Akatsuki, though it is the masked man who leads it behind the scenes. We… came to an understanding of sorts during the invasion. I act as his medic presently. We worked together before to resurrect the people who had died back then."

"But… they… collecting the tailed beasts… Why, Sakura-chan?"

Sasuke looks like he wants to say something, so she quickly tells Naruto that, "Nagato-san had a different idea of peace," leaving it as that.

Their Sharingan users look just a tad guilty when Sasuke intercedes, "That might also be a problem with the masked man. Because of his identity and because of the ancient tablet from our Uchiha ancestors."

Naruto frowns but waits to listen. Sasuke takes a deep breath, eyes darting to sensei for a moment, "The masked man is sensei's old teammate, Uchiha Obito. We know this because of the unique pattern that his Mangenkyo Sharingan has. With different levels of our dojutsu, more of the ancient stone tablet can be read. One of the plans passed down from the times of the Shodaime is something called the 'Moon-Eye' plan. Where someone who has enough chakra and a high levelled Sharingan could use the Moon to reflect our Sharingan's genjutsu over the entire of the world to create a perfect world without fighting."

Sakura looks upon the thought in horror, not just because that absolutely defies physics and the mechanics of reflection. "So, they want to collect all the bijuu to recreate the Juubi, in order for one man to have enough chakra?"

Sasuke shrugs helplessly, "The stone is vague on the 'how', as much as Kakashi-sensei could read, it seems to be that implication."

Before they come to a conclusion, Naruto's door seals are glowing and sounding. He leaps out of his chair to silence the alarm. "Ah! It's Itachi-san, you can tell based on this part here, where Sasuke's chakra vibrates."

Sakura claps her hands together, "Right. Let's eat first. We can continue the discussion after dinner."


And they discuss the status of their lives and the intricacies of balancing people in between bites of onigiri. Sensei takes a humble bow as Sakura teases, "If he hadn't been there, you all might have had to visit me in T&I headquarters with good food."

Naruto almost pouts, "Sakura-chan, I know he could be my cousin, but I definitely care more if he's part of the organisation that wants to kidnap me."

Without the immediacy of danger, dying a gruesome death is now perfect territory for a joke.

Sakura waves as they stack up the dishes and bring out dessert, "The relationship I have with Shikaku-sama is complicated. Still, he would not have killed me." And it's the oddest thing that she still believes it.

Itachi-san doesn't laugh as their jokes, though he is arguably the most seasoned, beyond sensei.

So they eat dessert slowly, anmitsu with red beans, kinako, kuromitsu and honey melon slices, trading little jokes and snippets.

Naruto shares predominantly of life in the Sage Realm with the Toads, while Sasuke talks and half complains about sensei who sits across the three of them at the table. Sakura talks about the hospital, about Orochimaru-sama and long-distance treating Nagato-san.

Sensei arches an eyebrow when they look at him expectantly. Naruto takes the initiative to wave the red bean ladle at him, "Ne, sensei, don't pull off the same schtick that you did when we first became a team!"

He gives them a smile, no teeth and tells them a story of his youth. The story begins with, "I was given idiots for teammates" and ends with, "I put my fist of lightning through her chest."

A morbid sense of humour and storytelling built over the years – the three of them look at each other in shock.

Then Itachi-san laughs softly, breaking the silence, "And then you learned too late that you loved them. You truly are our Inu senpai."

Sakura stiffens at the reminder, watching languidly as sensei reaches up to touch his mask. "Maa… that's how life is, isn't it, our little Itachi-kun."

They clear away the dishes to be left with warm tea and iced water and finally settle down to the last round of discussions they hide among the team dinners.


"Kisame has told me of Madara's Eye of the Moon plan, but it is important to note that Zetsu is also in the know with them. A world of 'truth' which they call it, even if the ultimate goal is unchanged, is not one we want created by the murderer of the remnants of our clan."

The admission comes as blow to Sasuke who bites his lip and turns to sensei, "Then sensei… do you think?"

Itachi watches his younger brother, looks as Kakashi-senpai shifts his headband up to reveal the spinning reflection of Tobi's eye. The black lines of Tobi's Mangenkyo are burnt into his retinas, he cannot mistake them with his own Sharingan.

"If it is Obito, driven to grief, then perhaps he truly was saved by the person whose name he goes by now."

There's that edge of vulnerability exposed, senpai is comfortable with his team enough to do so.

Sakura pulls them back to the conversation, lightly wondering, "But our next step, Sasuke you and sensei had some plans?"

His gaze has already drifted back to his Sasuke who nods jerkily, "Yes. Sakura, do you think you can… no, in fact, can you transplant Shisui's eye into sensei?"

Itachi nearly objects based on principle, before murmuring his assent, "Shisui's Mangenkyo's abilities are very powerful. And his eye was hardly used."

Sakura hums, "Of course. But Sasuke-chan you have to retrieve the eye from the vaults with Lady Tsunade's permission," and here, Itachi really sits up.

"You retrieved the eye from Danzo?" he nearly demands to know. Sakura gives him an amused look, "We extracted it successfully, though the ones implanted in his modified arm were not salvageable."

"Shisui gave me his other for safekeeping…" his voice trails off with the thought that even Shisui has been saved in his death.

Then, Sakura, her medical curiosity and clinical nature surfacing, "And how have you preserved the eye? Perhaps we can attempt transplanting it into yours. Then we will have two wielders of the final Sharingan in our next battle."

Sasuke looks at him like there is hope again and he dredges up a smile.


There are many questions regarding how the EMS works, from how the transplant works, how the merging even happens and things.

I'll be tackling those questions in the next chapter. I think the most interesting question is if someone who awakens their Mangenkyo could theoretically transplant one eye into another. Unless it means that having your twin's eyes don't work?

So my answer is that it should work. Anyway, it's just to help Kakashi avoid blindness since he doesn't have Hashirama cells and Itachi since he's not tiptop shape either.

Leave a review if you enjoyed it!

Kayo