Chapter 23
Chapter Summary
"I am the killer of the sun,
Just a glimpse of what I have become,
You can't tell shelter from the shade,
Shadows move and leave you wide awake." - Pressure, Youngblood Hawke
In one life, the Third Shinobi World War had started a year earlier.
In one life, the war didn't officially end until Kumogakure signed the treaty four years after Iwagakure had.
In one life.
But in this one, after a subtle suggestion from Sakura, Minato and his wife both go to meet A and Killer B in person.
In this life, the war ends cleanly and all at once.
It doesn't put her at ease.
"I need you to save them all," the Sage's voice echoes in her mind. Sakura sits up, giving up any attempts at sleeping anymore. It's not that she can't sleep, but she doesn't want to.
Not when all she dreams about is the destruction and death of the Fourth Shinobi World War.
Sakura pulls one knee up, resting her chin on it, and exhales slow, steady breaths.
Save them all, his voice echoes.
Save them all.
But how? Sakura closes her eyes. How do I save them all? How do I save anyone?
Had she done enough already just by slaying Madara?
No.
No, it wouldn't be that simple.
Black Zetsu was the focal point of it all, and she hasn't seen him once.
Where are you, Black Zetsu? She wonders, looking at the shadows in her room.
What hole are you lurking in now?
"She's going to be a kunoichi." Tsuru tells Sakura, watching soon-to-be five year old Saka play in the sand.
"Is she?" Sakura asks, a little bit startled.
Tsuru's face turns dark for a moment before she clears her throat. "This life might have taken Kahan from me, but it won't take her. She's like me." Tsuru lifts her hand, a small chain coming out of her palm. "She can do it, too. She'll be hard to kill with something like this." Tsuru says confidently, her voice barely wavering on the k-word.
"Another shinobi, then." Sakura muses. "It'll be nice. Our clan needs more."
"I hate that word." Tsuru says suddenly, looking down at the sand under their feet. "Clan. We aren't a clan, Sakura. We aren't meant to be a clan." She says fiercely, grimacing. "I don't like the idea of my daughter kowtowing as part of the same village that led to ours' destruction."
"Things have changed since then, Tsuru." Sakura reminds the woman quietly. "We aren't at war anymore. Sarutobi is no longer the Hokage. What would you have us do?"
"Go home." Tsuru says bitterly, looking up at Sakura. "Is that too much to ask? To go home? You said it yourself, we aren't at war now."
"It's not that simple," Sakura protests. "You know it isn't. Konoha might not be at war, but the second Uzushio starts to rebuild… Between the Sanbi and the Mizukage's insanity, Kirigakure's losing its foothold in the world. They're becoming unpredictable."
In her timeline, Obito had controlled the Mizukage - but even before that, the Mizukage had been bloodthirsty. The Mizukage had put in place the system of passing academy students by having them fight to the death years ago. Long enough ago that Zabuza had 'graduated' the same year that Obito had been caught in the rockslide.
Without Obito's control, the man was still insane - but not as… focused. His bloodthirst was widespread and not targeted, and already there were rumors of an uprising - mere months after the end of the war.
Tsuru looks away from her, jaw tight. "I don't want her to be one of them."
Sakura watches the woman for a long moment, then takes a deep breath. "Then take her away." Sakura says, her voice going hard. Tsuru's head snaps back around, eyes widening with anger. "Take her away and go if you hate it so much, Tsuru. But our people will still be here." She says coldly, standing up and walking away.
Tsuru doesn't say anything, though Sakura's sure if she turns around, the woman will be flipping her the bird.
She feels for the woman, she truly does - sometimes, Sakura entertains the same idea.
But they must be united, not apart. And Tsuru wouldn't leave the Clan, no matter how angry she was.
Sakura's confident in that.
She isn't confident in much else.
Sakura's twenty-seven and the Third War is over.
But the Fourth War looms on the horizon, and no one else even knows.
Sakura watches Minato and Kushina marry, smiling in spite of the anxiety that claws at her throat.
She has a year left.
One year left.
And she doesn't know what to do.
She stopped Obito. She stopped Tobi from ever coming to be. But that doesn't mean all is well and good in the world.
On the contrary, she's finding herself more stressed than ever - because now she doesn't know what's going to happen, when it'll happen, or how to stop it.
Sometimes, when she's at her lowest, she looks at Obito and wonders if it wouldn't have been safer to leave him in that cave.
But then he looks at her, all calm confidence and warmth, and she feels like the lowest of the low for even considering that.
"You're a good kid, Obito." Sakura tells him one day, when he sits beside her to watch the koi fish. He's been doing that more and more as of late - probably noticing her grim mood. Obito would do what he could to alleviate that from a stranger - much more so for a friend.
"I heard Kushina-chan talking to sensei about you." Obito tells her in return, a small frown on his face. He's not so much a kid anymore. He's seventeen now, only ten years younger than her, and he looks more like the Obito she knew before. Except this one isn't hiding his scars - and they aren't quite so bad, either, since she healed him. "She said she can barely get you away from here. I thought you only came here to think."
"I do. I just have quite a lot to think about." Sakura explains, frowning at the water.
Rin comes to the forefront of her mind. Someone had put that curse seal on the girl, leading her to her imminent death, just as they had in her past life. But Obito hadn't been in Madara and Black Zetsu's possession, so why had Kiri tried to use Rin still?
Why had Black Zetsu still nudged them in her direction? To try and get Obito to turn still? To what purpose? Madara was dead - Obito wouldn't…
...Wouldn't know who to go to, if he did turn sides in this life.
Which meant he'd be a grieving, desperate, aimless teenager.
Easy work for Black Zetsu to manipulate, just as he had before.
Which means Black Zetsu was certainly still working from the shadows.
Which means they aren't safe.
"Obito?"
"Yes, Sakura-senpai?" Obito asks with just a bit of cheek and were she feeling less worn down, she'd smile a bit.
"I hear Kakashi's joining ANBU."
"Yeah." Obito grimaces deeply, face losing all amusement now. "Yeah, he is. Seems set on becoming sensei's personal guard."
"And you?"
"What about me?" Obito blinks at her, frowning.
"You aren't considering following him?"
Obito blinks once, twice, and then rolls his eye. "Don't be ridiculous, Sakura-senpai." He says in a huffing tone of voice that reminds her eerily of Naruto. "Of course I'm going with him." Obito says with flippant confidence, extending his arms to stretch them. "He'd be lost without me. Besides, Sharingan are twice as powerful when together than apart." Obito flashes her a grin so bright she can't help but smile back at him.
"Besides, I have a few tricks up my sleeve that the ANBU need." Obito adds, extending his false hand and turning the palm up at her. A small flower grows from his palm, blossoming right before her eyes, and with the flick of his hand, the flower snaps off and he presents it to her. Sakura stares at it, reaching up with numb fingers to take it.
The same jutsu that had impaled Neji, leaving him to die an agonizing death, and this Obito had just used it to make a flower to cheer up a troubled woman.
For some reason, it brings tears to her eyes.
"Thank you, Obito." She murmurs genuinely and he smiles warmly at her. She smiles softly back.
But when he turns to leave, her smile fades and a frown replaces it. She studies the flower, innocent and pink like her hair once was. Innocent, but she can't help but be worried.
Tobi might never happen, but that doesn't mean Madara won't.
Or Pain, for that matter.
She knows she can't save the world from everything.
But she's still going to do her best.
Sakura spends a straight month trying to get a single hint on Black Zetsu's movements - but there's none to be had. The Zetsus are gone, only one ever being discovered by Kushina years ago. Sakura's sorely tempted to take the fight to them, to go back and raid Madara's cave, but there's an army of Zetsu forming under the cavern and she's not interested in discovering how many are already formed enough.
Naruto's birth is her deadline, and it's a year and a half away.
She needs to know what Black Zetsu is up to.
"You've been secretive lately."
"It's none of your business." Sakura corrects Kushina, who harrumphs at that.
"Your business is my business, Sakura. You've been flagging, as well."
Sakura can't deny that. She's tired now, almost constantly. She sleeps, but not well - and for longer than she should.
"I'm getting worried." Kushina tells her quietly. "Please see a medic-nin?"
"Kushina," Sakura sighs heavily. "I'm fine, I'm just stressed is all."
"Then see someone."
"Fine."
"It's just stress. Stop clogging up my hospital." Tsunade barks at them.
" See?" Sakura demands.
Kushina sighs.
She feels bogged down, but time seems unaffected, moving quickly around her while she struggles to keep up.
Minato and Kushina move out of their home in the Compound, taking up the Hokage's residence. "It's a beautiful place," Sakura acknowledges when Kushina comes to say goodbye.
"I don't want to leave, but you don't really have that much work to do now that the war's over." Kushina worries her hands, grimacing. "I'm not abandoning you, am I?"
"Kushina." Sakura huffs, rolling her eyes. "I'm a grown woman," of almost thirty, and that thought sends a chill down her spine for some reason, "I think I can take care of myself."
"You think you can, but you don't know it." Kushina argues.
It's not exactly a bad argument. Sakura's never had to fend for herself, but on the other hand, "I have the Clan to help me, Kushina. Don't worry about me for a second."
"I can't help but worry." Kushina complains.
"Worry about your own problems, not mine."
"I worry about both." Kushina whines, reaching up to anxiously tug on a lock of her hair. "You forget to eat when I'm not around."
"Kushina," Sakura huffs and the young woman winces.
"Alright, alright. I'll stop panicking. There's nothing to worry about, right?"
"Nothing at all. Except how you intend on getting all your furniture moved." Sakura points out and the woman brightens at that.
"Actually, Minato's abusing his powers to do that. He just touches everything and hiraishin's it across Konoha." Kushina says with a hint of laughter now.
"You should really at least pretend to help." Sakura says, amused in spite of herself.
"Oh, no. I'm sitting this one out. Minato can handle it." Kushina pauses for a moment, frowning. "It's a shame Obito never seemed too interested in seals. He'd probably be able to use hiraishin with his new chakra pools." She frowns a little deeper, and so does Sakura. "On the other hand,"
"His chakra control." Sakura finishes for her and they send each other commiserating looks.
"At least he's got a good personality."
Sakura grins a little, her tiredness momentarily forgotten. "You would think loud and boisterous is a good personality."
She has to dodge Kushina's flying elbow, laughing a little.
It's the first time she can remember laughing in a long time.