Chapter 18
Chapter Summary
"We can climb high, higher than before,
We could stand by while it burns to the floor,
Though we cannot fly,
We will build and the wounds will mend,
As we build it once again." - Once Again, Tristam
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
It's not until a week after their return that they're released from the hospital. For a moment, Sakura and Obito stand at the front doors and stare awkwardly at each other.
She had spent most of the last days lecturing to a nearly unresponsive Obito about the basics of Uzumaki sealing, and they hadn't spoken about anything else. So a goodbye wasn't exactly on their usual track.
"...Do you have family waiting for you?" She asks, spotting Minato lurking not too far away.
Far enough away that Obito wouldn't sense him. Far enough away that Sakura knows he's respecting the boundary briefly put between him and his student. "No." He admits quietly.
"Then come with me." Sakura settles a hand on his false shoulder, ignoring his small flinch at the touch. She wonders how strange it must feel on his end. "I'll show you my Clan's compound."
The amount of relief it visibly sends through Obito might be concerning, if it wasn't after such a traumatic experience. They'd need to separate, but there was no need to do it so abruptly.
So to the compound they go. Sakura shows him around, introducing him to the people that flock to her, relieved to see their Clan Head safely returned to them. They smile at Obito, too, saying quiet but sincere hellos, and he offers them back. Quietly at first, but then louder and louder, until he sounds only a little subdued. By the time they reach Sakura's house, he seems to have almost forgotten the reason for all his unease - the strange thing replacing what used to be part of his body.
"This is my koi pond. It's… unique, for its fish." Sakura quietly explains the reasoning behind the fish, what they represent. She shares her theory that it was Akihito who started the tradition, and then she explains who exactly Akihito even was.
It's a long time before she stops talking quietly to the boy, and longer still before she silently shows him to her guest room and they retire for the night.
Kushina and Minato meet them in the morning.
By meet, she means infiltrates her home and cooks them breakfast.
After an awkward greeting from a tense, half-frozen Obito, they quietly tuck in and prepare for the day. "The Uchiha want to 'meet' with him?" Sakura questions when Minato tells her.
"Yes. And Kakashi. Obviously, it's about your… eye." Minato finishes uncomfortably. Obito grimaces before he looks up with a sudden, surprising ferocity. The same ferocity that had been missing ever since the cave.
"I won't take it back. It's Kakashi's now, he better accept that."
Minato blinks at him. "I think Kakashi wants to give it back - but more importantly, your Clan wants him to. They won't easily take no for an answer."
Obito straightens up, eyes blazing now, and opens his mouth-
"Yes, they will." Sakura cuts in mildly, sipping at her tea.
Everyone blinks at her. "They will?" Obito questions. "I mean, yes! They will. But why? I was just going to tell them to shove it." He admits.
"Perfect, because I'm going to do the same."
It takes a moment, but then Kushina straightens. "Oh! You're going to…?" She gestures vaguely at Obito and Sakura nods.
"I'm going to tell them to either accept Obito's desires as the Clan member in question, or sacrifice their right to call him a Clan member. The Uzu Clan is already made up of many different Clans. What's one more?" Sakura asks in the blandest tone possible.
It's hard to keep a straight face, but it's worth it when Obito laughs so hard he cries just a little bit.
Luckily, there was no need to go to such measures. Fugaku had clearly only called for the meeting at the urging of his Clan council, and he looked mostly bored throughout the whole thing. Sakura goes along with them, a silent presence behind Obito, and Minato stands with her. The meeting is short and simple.
"I'm not taking it back. Period." Obito says firmly, and refuses to hear otherwise.
When they leave thirty minutes later, the Clan is disgruntled at the refusal, but no one can force his hand. It's Obito's property, bizarre as it is to refer to it as such. "Well, you certainly have the stubbornness of an Uchiha." Fugaku murmurs as they file out of the building.
"Thanks?" Obito offers and Fugaku hums absently.
"It's the truth." He says flatly, arms folded across his chest and his hands tucked into opposite sleeves. "You've always had potential, Obito. I'm glad to see you're finally finding it."
"Thanks." Obito offers with just enough sarcasm to get by. Fugaku nods curtly at him, and then more politely to Sakura and Minato.
"Uzumaki-sama. Namikaze-san. Excuse me." He says, offering a short bow.
Sakura imitates it, Minato bowing more deeply, and Fugaku straightens up and immediately turns to leave. Sakura turns her gaze to Obito, eyeing him.
The days in the hospital had done much to help him regain some of his weight already - while Sakura still suffers from jutting ribs and sunken cheeks. But she was mostly starved for two and a half weeks - Obito had gotten much more food than she had. She wasn't complaining - he looks better for it, less like the torture survivor she looks like.
She's glad for that.
He has plenty of psychological damage to work through after everything, but she'd spent two weeks alone with little other than her own mind. They'd barely needed to torment her - her own mind had played so many tricks on her she still sometimes thinks she sees Zetsu in the corners of her eyes.
Sarutobi had already spoken to Kushina, though, and the woman is working to use the Kyūbi to keep watch for the malicious creatures. It's only a matter of time before the woman figures it out, and then Sakura will be able to relax again.
Well.
'Relax'.
Her mind is constantly on another matter - the matter of a very specific, very new seal that she's still thinking up as she goes. It'll be complex, enough so that she plans on meeting with Kahan and Tabane both once she can.
Speaking of… "I'm afraid I need to go." Sakura tells Obito and Minato as they approach the Uchiha Clan's gates. She can see Rin and Kakashi's distinctive shapes waiting outside for them.
"You do?" Obito questions instantly, a bit alarmed, and Sakura shoots him an apologetic smile.
"Yes. I need to speak with my Clan in private. You can come for dinner, if you want, though. Both of you - I'm sure Kushina will be the one cooking it."
The woman was practically smothering Sakura, apparently under the belief that she'll vanish if Kushina takes her eyes off her for more than a few seconds.
"Ah. That sounds good to me." Minato glances at Obito, who does a bad job of hiding his relief and nodding.
"Yeah, sounds good." Obito confirms.
They'll have to work on spending more time away from each other - but every time the boy's out of her sight, she gets twitchy and anxious.
It is, she suddenly realizes, probably how Kushina feels in regards to her.
Hm.
"Tonight, then. Now, excuse me." She bows to them, pausing when Minato hesitates.
"Rin wants to speak to you, when you have the time." He says, a little uneasily for some reason.
Sakura frowns for a minute, then glances out the gates where she can still see the two team members.
"...Invite her to dinner too, then. Both of them, actually." She suggests and Minato nods, looking concerned about whatever is on his mind. "Until tonight, then." She says, bowing minutely to the man, both he and Obito bowing deeply in return.
Sometimes, the position of Clan Head is a strange one - and having the future Hokage bow to her so lowly is beyond strange.
"We need a Hyūga." Kahan, the only one of the two Seal Masters off the battlefield for the moment, says as he looks over her work. "This is too reliant on the chakra pathways for us to not consult one."
"We can leave that until the last minute, can't we? Only when it's actually applied will we need that knowledge."
"Better to plan ahead, in case any of the other elements interfere with the pathways locations." Kahan points out and Sakura frowns.
"I suppose that's true. But I was thinking of simply placing it over the Eighth Gate and having it branch out from there. That way it can be applied to anyone that the situation calls for."
Kahan pauses at that, looking at her with sudden apprehension. "Sakura-sama, this seal will kill whoever it's put on."
It takes her a second to grasp his point and she can't help but roll her eyes. "I'm not going to murder anyone, Kahan. Honestly, get your head out of the sand." She huffs. He has the decency to look mildly abashed. "It's top secret, I told you as much - but anyone who might use this seal will do it of their own accord, and for good reason."
"But the Eighth Gate - why not the First Gate?" He asks uneasily.
"Because the Eighth Gate offers more power, and we'll need that. Kahan." Sakura's voice softens, but her words are firm. "I need you to focus on doing your part here. Leave my part to me. I have enough to worry about on my own, I don't need you worrying too."
He looks a little uneasy still, but he nods at her. "Yes, Sakura-sama. I… believe I have an idea on how to balance the seal so that the user doesn't run out of chakra before the captive does." He offers slowly and she nods.
"Tell me more."
Dinner with the team interrupts her Seals work. As expected, Kushina cooks enough food to feed an army, and that's before Sakura remembers to warn her about the visitors.
With Kushina and Minato in the same room, the dinner is a lively affair. At the first sign of an impending argument (brought on by Kushina overreacting to something poor Minato had dared to say), Sakura nudges Obito for his attention, and together they escape the room just as the yelling begins.
He's gotten quiet again, losing some of that fire he'd gotten back. She doesn't ask him why, simply talks to him like she always does - nattering on quietly about this or that as they approach the koi pond. She goes silent for a while, watching the fish swim in slow circles around one another.
"Do you ever regret the tradition?" Obito asks quietly and she blinks, surprised to have him the one to break the silence for once.
"...Yes. Every time I put a new fish in the pond, I regret it." She looks down at the fish, calmly swirling together. "I was your age when Uzushiogakure was destroyed." She says softly. "I was thirteen when my father watched Kirigakure's ships break through our seals and make for landfall. He gathered up his forces, he ordered Akihito to escort me to safety, and he ordered me to save as many people as we could. I did my best." Sakura explains. "I did my best. But by the time we reached Konoha, we had only fourteen of our shinobi left - excluding myself, and only a hundred and fifty civilians."
"If you were only thirteen, how did you become Clan Head?" He asks in mild confusion.
For a moment, she's startled. Then she realizes - of course they don't know. It's not something he'd be taught. Most of her Clan knew her from birth, and she's so used to that…
"My father was the Village Head of Uzushio."
Obito blinks at her. "Oh. Oh! That's why Hokage-sama calls you hime? I thought it was because of you… moniker."
"It's for both." She shrugs faintly. She tries not to let the title 'Dekishi-hime' bother her anymore. "But yes, I was Clan Head at thirteen. I was in charge of over a hundred and sixty people, charged with building them a new home and keeping them safe in it. It wasn't easy. It took me years. But I did it. I gave my people a home. I gave them a steady life. I gave them the chance to rebuild, and they have." Sakura pauses, watching the fish swim slow, steady swirls. "Akihito started this tradition when our first shinobi died. And I will be the one to uphold it, until the day that a koi fish is placed here in my own memory."
She breathes slow, careful breaths. "There were fourteen of us Uzushio shinobi left when we came to Konoha. Now there are only ten of us. How many more will we be losing before the war is over?" She wonders softly.
"Do you think it's going to go on much longer?" Obito asks with a hint of concern.
"Oh, yes." Sakura promises grimly, offering him an apologetic smile. "Much longer."
In her past life, it had lasted six years. In this world, the war had started later. If it ends at the same time, it'll have lasted four and a half years.
Three and a half more years to go.
After the arguing is done and they've cleaned up all the food, Rin corners Sakura in the living room while the others are starting to leave. "Train me." Rin says, and it's firm demand that manages to sound like a plea.
Sakura freezes, blinking at the girl in surprise. "Train you?"
"Please. You saved Obito's life, I left him to die." Rin's voice breaks, tears springing suddenly. "I left him and you saved him, please, please train me. I can't do that again." She sobs, reaching up to rub urgently at her eyes.
Sakura stares at her for a moment, remembering a time when she'd asked to be trained by the best medical ninja in the world.
She hadn't cried, but she'd been pretty close to it.
"I can't train you much." Sakura says slowly and Rin immediately sniffles back more tears, focusing on Sakura. "I'm going to be on the front lines a lot. But I can teach you some of what I know. You should ask Tsunade-hime to help you as well."
"I did." Rin admits sadly. "She wasn't interested. She has an apprentice."
Shizune? Already? Sakura frowns, trying to figure how old the woman would be now. Eleven? Twelve?
Well, no matter. "Then scratch that. I'll do the best I can, but I'm going to be back on the frontlines soon." Sakura eyes her, gaze momentarily lingering on Rin's purple tattooed cheeks.
...Maybe…
"Meet me here in the morning. First light. I want to see how good your chakra control is." Sakura commands.
The girl lights up like the sun. "Thank you! Thank you so much, I'll be here first thing!" Rin says quickly, bowing lowly to her.
"Make sure you are." Sakura says, then gently shoos the girl away.
She has work to do.