Sasuke stood in the doorway, afraid to go inside.

The sight in itself was already terrifying, let alone what was hidden there.

The bodies. They had to be there. One big, one small.

How much Sasuke didn't want to see that.

"Sasuke," he felt a hand on his shoulder, "first we need to see if it's definitely them." backing his hand against the wall, Itachi moved on.

Sasuke looked at his brother. He could not move however, he was too afraid.

Only when Izumi placed a hand on his other shoulder did Sasuke take two steps forward. He entered the apartment slowly, examining everything too closely, only to delay seeing the bodies.

Itachi emerged from behind the kitchen door. Sasuke watched him walk up to them and look deep into his brother's eyes. Sasuke tensed all over and his breathing quickened. He longed to hear only good news.

"It's not them, Sasuke."

He had never thanked the universe more in his life than he did now. Sasuke couldn't imagine what he would do if it was them after all.

"But they're not here anyway." Izumi spoke up.

"We need to look for clues to where they might have gone." Sasuke communicated, and already with a sober mind, moved deeper into the apartment.

Everything was crumbling underfoot - glass, china, paper. The kitchen was completely destroyed, and there were bullet marks in the walls. It looked like a scene taken out of a horror movie. And also that blood.

Sasuke hoped none of them were hurt.

Wasting no more time looking around, he moved into the first room. He ended up, Sasuke assumed, at Sakura's. The things in there were practically untouched, except for a couple of open cabinets. She was probably looking for something in a hurry. Sasuke opened a shelf next to the bed. It contained some papers. He looked through each of them in turn, but none of them were anything useful. Just newspaper clippings. So he moved on.

He didn't find anything useful in the other shelves either. So he left the room.

Before Sasuke reached the next one, however, Izumi ran out with something in her hand.

"I found something." Sasuke ran up to her.

"Let me see." he almost impatiently snatched the piece of paper from her hand.

"Relax, Sasuke." Itachi said. Sasuke looked at him furiously.

"How can I be calm?! My family could be in danger and I can't do anything!" he breathed fast and shallow. Sasuke shouldn't get so angry, it wouldn't help anyone.

"I understand you, Sasuke. But we must act wisely."

"Listen, it's a letter." Izumi handed it to Sasuke. He hastily took it from her and read it.

Sakura had received a letter from her mother. She was supposed to go to Otogakure, but did she make it? She could have been shot on the way, or she could have changed her mind and gone somewhere else after all. They needed to find out as soon as possible.

"We're going there." said Itachi, who was gathering himself to leave. Apparently he figured they wouldn't find anything interesting here anymore.

"Are you guys sure she definitely went there?" Izumi looked at them "They might have changed their minds, or they might still be here."

Sasuke scratched his chin. They shouldn't risk driving to Otagakure without being sure Sakura had gone there. The most important thing was finding her, not playing cat and mouse.

"Do you think Sakura had any friends here? Someone who knows where she went?"

"Maybe," Izumi pondered, "someone from work? If she was working."

"She had to provide for her daughter and herself somehow. Sasuke?" Itachi turned to his brother as if he knew where Sakura could work.

"She always wanted to be a doctor. If there is a hospital..."

"We'll look for it." Itachi communicated.

"I'll do it myself. We don't want to draw unnecessary attention. You guys go buy the tickets."

Izumi coughed.

"We don't have the money." Sasuke sighed.

"Wait for me outside the platform. We'll figure something out."

Leaving the apartment behind, they exited the building. Sasuke turned right, the others went straight. He had to find something resembling a hospital. Of course there was the option that Sakura worked elsewhere, but becoming a doctor was her dream, so the first option seemed best.

Sasuke circled around the small town and searched. He couldn't leave Itachi and Izumi alone for too long, he should hurry.

A few blocks away, a barely visible sign caught his attention. The letters arranged in the word hospital - no s and a grated t - were glowing softly. He moved there.

The door opened in front of him as an elderly lady exited the building. Pushing through, Sasuke stepped inside. There was practically no one here. So he approached the young woman at the front desk.

"Was there maybe a woman with pink hair," he said. Sasuke hoped Sakura hadn't dyed her hair. And it was possible, after all, everyone was blunting her and the others like her "and a child?"

"You must mean Miss Sakura." he felt relieved.

"Yes. Was she here?"

"About two hours ago. She looked like she was in a hurry somewhere. She went to the boss's office." the woman pointed down the hallway with her hand.

Sasuke headed there without a thank you. He just noticed the badge on the door and knowing it was here, he walked in not knocking.

"And I already thought everyone had some manners-"

"I have an important question-"

"Uchiha." Sasuke stood in awe.

How does this man know this? After all, he's still wearing the cap and lenses. Will he call someone out now? Will they kill him? He has to pretend he doesn't know what he's talking about. It's the only way out.

"Excuse me? The Uchiha are dead, everyone knows that." at least that's what normal people know.

"You have too distinctive features. You need not fear me, young man." the man rose from his chair "My wife belonged to your clan. Now I am glad she died before the tragedy." he looked Sasuke deep in the eyes "What brings you here?"

"I need to find someone."

"Sakura." was not a question.

"Yes."

"If she told the truth, she went to Otogakure."

"Thank you." he bowed gently.

"Young man," the man pulled an envelope from a drawer "I have a feeling the money won't be of much value soon, but it should come in handy for you now." he handed the envelope to Sasuke "Ticket prices have gone up. In the envelope is the rest of the money Sakura would have received for a whole month's work. Take it." he patted the boy on the shoulder.

"Thank you very much." Sasuke deepened his bow. He never would have thought that he would be the one to bow to someone. But now he was no longer at the top of the hierarchy, and the man in front of him had saved his life and Sasuke will be forever grateful to him for it.

"Go now. She's been waiting for you too long." Sasuke was surprised at his words, but didn't ask what the man meant.

He left the building, quickly heading towards the platform entrance. In the distance, he could already see Itachi and Izumi sitting next to the bushes. They didn't want anyone to notice them, although there were very few people on the streets. This city looked dead. And maybe it would be that way soon.

"Well, Sasuke?" asked Itachi.

"We're going to Otogakure. I have money for tickets." he held up the envelope.

"I hope you didn't steal them."

"Who do you think I am, Itachi."

"You know, people are doing all kinds of things these days."

"Enough talking." finally spoke up Izumi "Give me the money, I'll go buy the tickets." Sasuke handed the girl an envelope.

Sasuke stayed with Itachi in place and waited for Izumi to return. It didn't take her long. Moments later, she was standing in front of them, brandishing the necessary papers.

"Come on. The train is already standing, but it leaves in an hour. Let's take our seats."

They went to the train. Taking their seats, they put their backpacks under the legs, just in case they had to run away again. Then they would pick them up quickly. Izumi stuffed the rest of the money into Sasuke's backpack and rested her head against the headrest. Itachi also sprawled out in the chair.

They were almost asleep when the conductor approached them. Sasuke became stressed, remembering the last incident.

"Tickets."

Izumi handed the man what he asked for. He looked carefully at the tickets, then at them and finally handed it back to Sasuke.

"Have a nice trip." all three let the air out of their mouths.

They set off.


Sakura, barely maintaining consciousness anymore, felt the train slow down. They had arrived.

Sarada sat snuggled into her. Since the beginning of the trip, she had not spoken once. The earlier event must have scared her a lot. God, the whole yesterday had been traumatic for her and Sakura knew it would stay in her daughter's mind forever.

Never did she want things to turn out this way, but it was out of her control. As if she could, Sakura would have gone back in time and run away from home earlier.

As if she could, she would do anything to make sure Sarada didn't have to experience all of this.

"Mom," she heard a quiet voice say, "let's go now."

Sakura looked at her daughter. Tears began to gather in Sarada's eyes anew. Surely she knew that they had reached a place and someone might be coming here soon.

She picked up her luggage from the floor and stood up, looking around and listening. When Sakura was sure no one was here or approaching, she walked over to Sarada and held out her hand.

"Get up, honey." as if on cue, Sarada sprang to her feet and grabbed her mother's hand. They didn't say anything else. They preferred not to accidentally attract someone's attention.

Sakura walked up to the carriage door. She gently pushed them open to look at the surroundings.

There were a few people hanging around, but none of them were paying attention to the train that had just arrived. A couple of men were carrying boxes, and others were taking notes of the goods they had brought. Women sat at tables set up on platforms. Life here was practically nonexistent.

Sakura had honestly never heard of anyone but her people coming to these regions. Everyone preferred to stay away from this place. Therefore, it was making for a sort of warehouse for food, weapons, and other things.

Her mother had not written where she should go once she got here. Sakura assumed that this man and his 'colony', was somewhere hidden with the others in the hinterlands. After all, he couldn't be anywhere closer or they would find and kill him. Just like those similar to Sakura.

After two minutes, she spotted the perfect opportunity to exit the carriage. There was a forest on her left. All they had to do was get away there as quickly as possible.

Sakura opened the door a little wider, then grabbed Sarada under the arm. She looked deeply into her eyes, and Sarada nodded.

She gently set her daughter on the ground and handed her a backpack, which she quickly put on. After a moment, Sakura got off the train herself. She looked around once more to make sure no one was seeing them.

Being sure that they now had a chance to escape, she took Sarada in her arms. With a quick step she began to move away. They had to walk two meters and they would be in the woods. Then they should be much less visible.

One meter.

Half.

"Hey, stop!" Sakura prayed in her spirit.

Of course nothing could go that smoothly.

She felt Sarada flinch in her arms.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Sakura stopped, but didn't turn around. She knew what that could have meant. They would be recognized right away. And they couldn't afford that, then it would be their end.

"We came to explore. I haven't heard that it's forbidden."

"Because it isn't. But there's nothing here, so what are you doing here?" she heard footsteps coming faster and faster towards them.

"I said. To explore."

"I have to identify you. That's my duty."

"And since when?"

"I don't have time for questions."

Sakura had to think of something quickly. Otherwise...

Time slowed down for Sakura for a moment.

She felt Sarada lift her head and a strand of her hair that had fallen out from under her kerchief rubbed against her neck. She looked the man in the eye.

And he realized who he was dealing with.

"Stop, or I'll shoot you!"

Sakura began to run. Whether she gave herself over to the man or tried to fight back somehow - she would die. Both of them would die.

Therefore, she decided to run.

The success rate for this plan was also very low, but much better than the previous two. If the man couldn't shoot, they should be able to make it.

Sarada snuggled even more into Sakura. She knew she had made a mistake, but Sakura couldn't blame her. She was just a child.

She ran as hard as she could. Her lungs were taking in less air and her muscles ached. Sakura had never been so afraid in her life. For herself and Sarada. For her mother and her friends she hadn't seen in a long time.

The only thing she wanted at that moment was to survive.

One of the bullets flew very close to Sakura's head. She shuddered and turned to the left. Sakura tried to speed up, but she could barely manage to stay on her feet. Her arms were practically falling off as well. Sarada willingly, unwillingly was quite heavy.

"Mom, watch out!" Sarada shouted into Sakura's ear.

Risking a lot, but having no other choice, she turned her head to look at what worried Sarada. Sakura felt another wave of fear. There were now four men running behind them. All of them armed.

They didn't stand a chance. Because how would they supposedly avoid getting shot?

Sakura felt the bullet fly past her ear. She had almost been killed. Almost.

She ran on. Sarada was shaking and sobbing into the hollow of Sakura's neck. She was brave for all that she had seen. Sakura would do her best to erase it from her mind, but she knew she had no way. She only wished that Sarada didn't hate her for sending danger upon them. She really had once believed in peace and starting a normal family with Sasuke.

A sudden pain snapped her out of the thoughts. Sakura looked at her right side. The bullet had passed her, but it was close enough to hurt her. Quite badly.

Even so, she had to keep running. If she was going to die today, then only fighting.

Stopping for a second, she picked up a large boulder from the ground. With adrenaline, she found the strength to carry Sarada with one hand while aiming the stone perfectly at one of the men's heads with the other.

The confused guard stumbled and pulled the other companion with him. Now they had a better chance.

Sakura ran into the forest. She slalomed past the trees, trying to confuse the other men. She picked up several small stones at a time and threw them in different directions. There were dry leaves everywhere, so this way could save their lives.

Behind her, somewhere in the growing distance, she heard cursing and shouting. She had lost them. They had overcome another obstacle.

But Sakura kept running.

She wanted to be sure that no one would find them again. That they were safe and alive.

That was the most important thing.

She spent about twenty minutes on her further run. After that time, Sakura's legs refused to obey and she fell to the ground with a bang, crushing Sarada with her weight.

"Oh my god, sweetheart." she rose quickly to her knees and hugged her daughter to the chest "I'm sorry, so sorry. Mom really didn't want all this. I love you, so much and..." through her sobs she couldn't get anything else out.

"Mom, it's okay now." Sakura knew that Sarada meant no harm, but her words hit her even harder.

Sakura leaned against a tree and curled her legs up, wrapping arms around them. She put her other hand to the wound. It was starting to hurt her now. So did her legs, arms, and stomach.

Sakura had no strength left.

She would like to own it. Some energy for all this, but she couldn't. She only had twenty-five years, a daughter, and a whole lot of people wanting to kill them, on her mind.

A sudden warmth from her left side, brought her back to reality. Sakura looked at Sarada snuggling against her shoulder. She hugged her mom tightly, wanting to show Sakura that she was still here and even though she was only five, she would help. Having each other, they can handle anything.

"We have to keep going, Sarada." Sakura picked herself up and helped her daughter up.

"What about your wound, Mom?" her concern for Sakura was huge.

"I'll be fine." having said that, Sakura tore off a rather large piece of her blouse and wrapped it tightly around the wound. She had nothing to wash it with, so the most important thing now was to make sure no more dirt got into it.

Sarada nodded and they moved on, ahead.

Sakura's only regret was that she didn't know exactly where this whole 'camp' was located. Her mother hadn't posted the exact details, and this place was big. And dangerous.

So they walked on, into the unknown.

Maybe they'd get to a place that would save them, where they wouldn't have to worry anymore. Or maybe they would find themselves in the lion's mouth and come out destroyed.

There were only two options, Sakura felt it in her bones.

The forest was getting thinner and thinner. Trees were occurring at greater distances from each other, and there were more small bushes. Soon they should come out into the open.

The air was heavy and humid. It would probably start raining soon. It was possible that the sky sensed the lurking dangers and was going to mourn the victims beforehand.

They walked steadily on. It took them ten minutes to come out to a clearing. Sakura looked around, but couldn't see anything interesting. Just grass and flowers. They were at a dead end. And if they didn't find anything here, they would be done for. They didn't have enough food or drink, much less anything to sleep on. And they had no way to get home either.

Sakura closed her eyes and tried to think of where to go now.

"Mom, for you." Sakura looked at her daughter. Sarada was holding a poppy in her hand. The beautiful red flower that she associated so much with Sasuke.

When they were young and head over heels in love, in a clearing full of a variety of flowers, Sasuke spotted the one poppy. He picked it and put it in Sakura's hair. It was also the day they first pulled things further than their usual kissing.

"Beautiful. Thank you, darling." Sakura took the flower from Sarada and put it behind her ear.

"Mamoo, it was supposed to be for you!" she puffed out her cheeks. Sakura laughed at the sight.

"It looks prettier on you." Sarada, however, further outraged by this turn of events, went off to find another one. Sakura now had time to think further.

If they went sideways, they could go indefinitely and get nowhere. Returning to the platforms would equate to death. The front also nothing, too...

"Mom, look!" Sarada, standing a few dozen meters away, was pointing her finger down. Sakura panicked a little. There was a drop there, and Sarada was still only five years old.

"Sarada, step back." Sakura looked at her daughter, who followed her command.

As they approached the place Sarada had indicated, Sakura looked down. Quite a distance separated them, but they found what they were looking for. Down there were people, like Sakura and Sarada, walking between the tents. This is where they all hid.

"How do we get down there, mom?" Sakura didn't know the answer to that question yet. There had to be a descent somewhere nearby, those people had gotten into this camp somehow.

"Someone's upstairs!" they heard a man shout.

"It's one of us!" exclaimed the other.

"That child looks a little suspicious!"

"She has pink highlights after all!" a middle-aged woman hit the man with a newspaper "We don't categorize people."

"Could someone help us get down here?!" asked Sakura as the people below quieted down.

"Sure honey, I'll send someone for you right away!" the woman spoke up again, then turned to the man next to her. The man nodded and two minutes later he was next to Sakura and Sarada.

He had short, light brown hair and blue eyes. His clothes were already a little worn and dirty, but that didn't surprise Sakura. They didn't look very good themselves. And she assumed they could only find shelter and food in this place, unfortunately. She hadn't counted on new clothes.

"I'm Jean." he shook Sakura's hand "It's nice to see new people who managed to escape."

"It's nice for us too." she sent a smile to the young man. He looked like he was a similar age to her.

"Follow me." he waved a hand and started walking away.

Sakura grabbed Sarada's hand and followed Jean. The boy took his steps quickly, as if he was in a hurry or excited.

Disappearing behind some large bushes, Sakura noticed a descent. It was steep and narrow. She walked up to Jean.

"I'll go down first. I can help." she knew he was trying to be nice, but she still preferred not to hand Sarada over to strangers.

"We can manage."

"Okay, then I'll wait downstairs." he started down. A few times his foot slipped and the boy wobbled, but he descended steadfastly onward. Sakura tried not to show the tense look on her face.

"Sarada, I'll go now. When I say you can start going down you will start. If anything I'll catch you." Sakura had average success with catching, so she hoped her daughter could handle it.

Sarada nodded, and Sakura put her foot on the step. It was made of stone, certainly better than sand, but it was more slippery. As she descended further, Sakura felt more and more like she was about to collapse to the ground.

"You can start coming down." she said to her daughter, who was already standing with her back and waiting for the command.

Sakura watched very carefully as Sarada took the steps. She did so carefully and thoughtfully.

She started to walk down further, belaying Sarada while doing so. She placed her hand on her back while catching herself on the stairs with her other hand.

Slowly, carefully, cautiously.

"M-mom-!"

Sakura barely had time to register Sarada's scream, and she was already falling down. She must have put her foot wrong somewhere. Leaning to the side to avoid getting hit in the face, Sakura grabbed her daughter's arm. She didn't manage to hold onto Sarada for long, however. She slipped out of her hand and rushed down. It wasn't a big stretch, but for a small child, dangerous. Thankfully, Jean caught Sarada before it was too late.

Sakura, however, could not say the same for herself. Because of the weight held even for only moments, she lost control of her body and collapsed to the ground. Nothing serious happened to Sakura, but her hip and forearm will probably hurt for a few days.

"Are you okay?!" the frightened boy ran up to Sakura. She dismissed him with a wave of her hand.

"I'm fine."

Standing up, she saw a whole lot of people in front of her. There were hundreds of them here. Most had pink hair and green eyes. The only thing they differed in was their shade. But there were others here as well. They must have fled their countries when they heard that things were better here. Supposedly better.

Among the crowd, she spotted Tenten and Neji. She assumed that if she searched longer, she would find more people from Konoha. That's where it was the worst right now.

"Have you seen a new woman here lately, with light hair?" she turned to the boy one last time.

"Every new person gets a spot at the end of the camp." he pointed with his finger to where Sakura was to go.

Thanking him with a nod and taking Sarada by the hand, Sakura headed there.

They passed people laughing, talking and having fun. Everyone looked as if they had forgotten about the danger lurking around the corner. Sakura couldn't tell them to stop and live in fear again, but they should be aware of the impending doom. For the specter of war had become much more certain.

The tents stood side by side, there wasn't much room to move around. Along the way, and they had already walked halfway, Sakura had only seen one bathroom.

This place looked like an animal sanctuary - a zoo where pets are raised.

Sakura wanted to be wrong, of course. If there were so many people here and each of them looked happy, why would it be bad here?

But who was it run by?

She felt a gentle tug on the hem of her blouse. Sarada had tears in her eyes. Before Sakura had time to react, she ran to her left.

"Grandma!" she yelled, drawing the attention of the woman sitting on the wooden box. Sakura herself felt her eyes grow moist. She moved there.

Mebuki was cuddling Sarada with her. She was rocking back and forth. She looked very shaky, and her shoulders relaxed with each harder squeeze of Sarada.

"Mom." Sakura said it so very softly. Mebuki looked at her daughter and, catching her forearm, pulled her towards her.

They crouched and hugged like there was no tomorrow.

"My precious girls." said Mebuki over and over "My precious girls."

"Grandma," for the first time in fifteen minutes Sarada spoke up "where is Grandpa?"

Sakura saw her mother tense up all over again. Mebuki tried to say something, but all that came out of her mouth was a sob. Was she crying because she really loved Kizashi, or because of the sight of death?

Sakura hugged the two most important people in her life tighter.

"Sarada, you should rest." the girl made a sad face. Sakura knew she shouldn't keep her father's death a secret, but it might have been too much for Sarada on this day. Although her daughter was smart, she probably already surmised what had happened.

"Okay, Mom."

"I'll take you to my tent." Mebuki got up from her seat and, grabbing Sarada's hand, set off. Sakura was already about to follow them, but a familiar female voice stopped her.

"Sakura." she turned around at the sound of her name. Standing in front of her was the beautiful blonde she had spent her entire childhood with. How long had they not seen each other? Two years? Three? She had lost track of time. All that mattered now was that she was here, safe and sound. And Sakura could see her again.

"Ino." she walked up to Sakura and kissed her forehead.

"I'd love to talk, but I have some work to do. I'll stop by when I'm done."

"I'll be at my mom's in the tent." kissing Sakura's forehead once more, Ino walked away. It was obvious she was in a hurry to get somewhere.

"Don't think Ino is the only one who escaped this awful country, dattebayo." a large arm wrapped around Sakura's neck.

"Naruto." she smiled wider. Sakura hadn't seen him as much as Ino either. She wanted to, but all those years had been tragic. Both of them had also been trying to find some kind of trace during that time that would finally tell them if Sasuke was somewhere or not anymore.

"I'm glad you're here. Besides me and Ino, almost everyone from our little pack is here. The only one missing is Choji. And Sasuke." the end said sadder. The smile disappeared from Sakura's face.

"It's been so long, we should prepare for the worst." she didn't want to say those words, but she had to.

"Maybe he couldn't contact anyone. After all, you know how badly they want all the Uchiha dead."

Sakura didn't respond to the comment. She preferred not to cry, trying to explain to Naruto why she was starting to lose faith.

"I need to talk to my mom. I'll see you later, Naruto." she hugged her friend goodbye.

Sakura made her way to the tent. As she entered she noticed Sarada lying on a mat and covered with a thin blanket. She was sleeping. Mebuki sat next to her and stroked hair. When she realized Sakura had come inside, she moved away from her granddaughter and pulled something from the shelf.

"A bandage and clean water. I'll clean your wound." she walked over to Sakura and untied the makeshift bandage. She didn't have any cloth or piece of paper, so she poured the water onto the bandage, which she then wrapped around the torn skin.

"Thank you." Sakura only squirmed once in pain "We need to talk."

"I knew you would ask that. Maybe I'll just tell you everything I know. It'll be easier that way." Sakura nodded, "As we were near Otogakure, one man came our way. I thought it was one of us. Only people who knew about this place were going to it from that side-"

"There was another side?" Sakura interrupted her mother.

"It is. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about it. You probably had a hard time getting here." Mebuki didn't even want to know how big "Back to the story. I thought I didn't have to worry about anything with your father. Unfortunately I was wrong. The man pulled out a gun and started saying something about his men going after you and Sarada. I didn't quite understand what he meant. I was too scared." she drew in air loudly "At the end he said he wouldn't come back empty handed. He started shooting. Kizashi tried to save us, but you know your father and how that worked out for him. I managed to escape."

"Mom, you know about my relationship with my father. But I find that he did not deserve such a death." Sakura only shed one tear. There was no more Kizashi deserved.

"He should die the way he lived. From overdrinking, beaten by his lover's husband in a ditch." however bad and inappropriate those words might be to someone else, Sakura of Mebuki laughed softly. They both hated this man and both couldn't leave him.

"What happened next, Mom?"

"I came here. I got this tent, wrote a letter and hoped it would come to you in time."

"It almost did. They attacked us." Mebuki's eyes widened. She rode Sakura's body with her gaze, as if looking for more wounds.

"Nothing happened to us. I... I killed them."

"Oh, dear child." she brought Sakura's face closer to her chest, holding her in her arms like a mother would a newborn child.

"I'm practicing for the future." she tried to joke, but no one was laughing.

"We have to be of good cheer."

"I wish I could, but I can't. It's already too certain." Sakura pulled away from her mother "And what do you know about this place?"

"Practically nothing. I still don't know who runs this place. It was the people who took me in and gave me this place."

"We'll have to find out. I don't want to be in a place I know nothing about."

"At least we have somewhere to stay." Mebuki picked up a blanket from the floor "I heard an interesting thing from the locals." she threw the material over Sakura's shoulders "Our people are being sent into the unknown and supposedly none of them have returned yet."

"Who is sending them?"

"I assume Danzo. There would probably be someone else, too, but he's the most famous."

"Where are they sending them from?" Sakura was getting sleepy.

"I don't know." she looked at her mother. Mebuki looked older after the recent events. But she continued to look like her mom. Sakura smiled. She wanted to keep that image in her mind "Get some sleep sweetie." she couldn't resist it. Sakura leaned her head against the small wooden box and closed her eyes.

She did not sleep long, however. Someone shook her twice by the shoulders and woke her from her long-awaited sleep. When Sakura opened her eyes she saw Ino in front of her.

"Something wrong?" she asked a little sleepy.

"Sasuke." Ino said it so quietly that Sakura barely heard her.

But just that moment was enough for her to get up and run out of the tent as fast as she could. She stopped and looked around.

There he was.

Sakura's green eyes made contact with his dark irises.

He still looked the same, only signs of fatigue could be seen on his face. Of course he looked more masculine now, but that couldn't be avoided. This was her Sasuke.

Her beloved man, the one she had spent the most wonderful times with. The one whose intentions she didn't understand at first, and then it was too late.

Sarada's father.

Without waiting a minute longer, she ran to him. Tears welled up in her eyes, and her aching muscles tore as if begging her to stop. But Sakura kept running.

There were three people standing on two sides of Sasuke. She recognized his brother, some girl and Naruto. Nevertheless, they were not the ones Sakura was interested in.

With great strength she fell into Sasuke's arms. Sakura felt strong arms wrap around her and her face was lavished with kisses.

She missed him so much.

"Sakura, I'm sorry. I'm sorry." he repeated that one word all the time.

"I thought... I lost hope." she faltered.

"Shh, it's okay. I'm here." but Sakura didn't stop crying. All the emotion was finally coming out of her. It had been a difficult time for her and Sarada, and though she knew it would get worse, she had him by her side now. Sasuke had given her new hope.

"I... Sasuke, because we..." she had to tell him. She couldn't hide it now. Sarada was there, waiting for her dad. She mentioned him every day without even knowing who he was. She deserved a father. And Sakura deserved his anger when he found out about the baby all these years later. She was ready for that.

Sasuke lowered himself to Sakura's eye level.

"Can I see her?" it knocked Sakura off guard.

"...You know?"

"Yes." she started breathing heavier again.

"Oh my god. I'm horrible, I know. I'm sorry I kept it a secret. You have to-" Sasuke silenced her with a soft kiss on the lips. The first in six years.

"I'm not mad at you. I'm even glad I didn't know about her. She was more safe with you." Sakura sensed that this was a half-truth. He wanted to calm her down.

"You should be mad at me, Sasuke."

"We don't have time, these days, to be angry with our loved ones, Sakura. My feelings have not changed after these years. And now I would like to gift my love to her as well." he said calmly, just like he used to.

Sakura embraced Sasuke around the waist and hugged him tighter.

"Okay. I'll take you to her. But she might be confused at first."

"That's okay." she smiled.

They were already about to start walking, but they heard a monstrous sound in the distance.

A sound that everyone knew they would hear, but no one expected it to be now.

A bang.

A rumble being produced from the bombs.

Sakura and Sasuke looked up at the sky. Planes were flying towards the land of fire.

It had started.


After a few months, finally a new chapter. It took me a while, I know, but I'm going to try to speed up the writing of this fanfiction - whose plot is supposed to fit into 10 chapters max