I - The End

The end.

That was it.

There was no escaping death this time.

Not even the Creation Rebirth could save her now.

Sakura coughed a humorless, bloody chuckle. She had never imagined saying that Tsunade's ultimate technique was about to fail. But facts are facts and she was gonna die.

And soon too.

She frowned, then sighed. She would die alright, but she'd die after she had helped Konoha and her comrades and that was a good way to go. Also, the way she was right now, she didn't want to survive. That would be torture.

But she didn't have to worry about that, she was bleeding out surprisingly fast, it would soon be over and, best of all, she wasn't feeling a damned thing. That was her biggest luck, because her injury would probably hurt like a bitch if she hadn't used her chakra to shut down the pain receptors as soon as the hit landed on her.

Platoon 4 (formed by Hinata, Lee, Tenten and herself) had been on a mission hunting some stray White Zetsus. Those fuckers were still every-damn-where! It was crazy. Her team was a good one, but they had stumbled upon an unknown nest or beehive (or whatever it was called) of Zetsus and they went crazy on them.

Two or three were fine to deal with alone, if you knew how to. Four or five were doable if you had a teammate, but for more than that you should retreat and call for backup.

They hadn't had the time to do so.

It had been a trap, a good one too. Hinata could only spot six of them when they were coming and they were in a team of four, so they could deal with six Zetsus just fine.

When they attacked, however, many more appeared. Hinata said they must've been dormant to fool the byakugan or any other sensor type and that now they were about to face, give or take, sixty of those fuckers.

The difference in numbers was way too great. Still, they managed to wipe most of them out, combining Hinata's precision in each hit, Lee's speed, her monstruos strength, and Tenten covering for them with her long distance weapons.

When some of the last ones ganged up and cornered Hinata, Sakura went to help. The problem was that they combined their small attack into a bigger one and a massive wood dome was cast to trap the kunoichis in the dark with them.

The brunette was limping badly and Sakura had to jump to push her out of the way, but she wasn't fast enough to get herself out too and the dome crashed through her, severing her body in half. From her bellybutton up, she was out of the dome, the rest was gone.

She heard Hinata's horrified yell before she could even blink twice.

"Sakura!" she yelled as she slumped down next to her, turning her torso to face up and took her hand. She didn't even feel the movement or contact. Her spine must've broken in more than one place, she mused automatically, while shutting down her pain receptors. Just in case.

Her friend was crying so much, but Sakura could also hear the other two still fighting while yelling her name too.

"Hinata." she managed to croak out, while activating her Byakugou no In seal and pumping healing chakra through her friend's contact on her hand, guiding it to heal her wounds, whilst replenishing her reserve. Her chakra would go to waste soon enough, might as well give it to Hinata so she could fight better and bring the other two safely back to Konoha.

"Stop healing me! You need to heal yourself!" Hinata began to break their contact and Sakura forced her chakra into a lock of sorts to keep them connected.

"Hinata, listen." she forced the words out and locked eyes with the girl, weirdly enough, Sakura wasn't crying "Can't fix. Save them." talking was really hard, so she stuck to small sentences because she was sure that she wouldn't be able to say much more "Love you all." she forced the whisper out and it broke on the last word, clearly this would be her last words.

Hinata could only look at her, desperately broken, but probably saw something in her eyes because after a few heartbeats she nodded and then Sakura pushed the last bit of chakra into the girl's reserves and saw her leave.

She still had almost all of chakra left, but no way of giving it to her friends or time to wait until they finished their fight.

She settled for watching the sky because there was nothing else she could do. She tuned out of the fight and focused on the scene above her. The moon was full and there were plenty of stars.

And hey, a meteor shower! She marveled at nature's show. It was a beautiful sight to be her last.

The end.

That was it.

There was no escaping death this time.

Dying a few hours before her own birthday, what a bummer.

She half-smiled as she recalled her loved ones. Naruto, Tsunade, Kakashi, Sai, Ino, Shizune, Mebuki, Kizashi, Lee, Tenten, Hinata and even that idiot Sasuke. She hoped they didn't suffer for too long after seeing what was left of her coming back to Konoha in a black bag.

She hoped Hinata wouldn't blame herself.

She hoped she had helped make Konoha safer.

But most of all, she wished she could have done more to protect Konoha and her loved ones.

Sakura caught sight of one last shooting star as she fell into the eternal darkness.

.

The brightness of the shooting star cut the night sky and her gaze followed it until it disappeared on the horizon where the sky met the surface of the lake, then she tilted her head upwards again, to watch the vast darkness dotted with shiny little pearls. She absolutely loved watching the stars, especially on a night like this one, when there was no moon and so, every centimeter of the sky was filled with crystal-like dots.

She could feel that there was someone with her, but she kept her quiet watch for a few more minutes, basking on nature's beauty. The person remained silent and she knew, she just knew she was in no danger. How could she, when she was already dead?

After a long moment, she broke the silence with a soft whisper, still looking up.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"It really is." the man agreed in a quiet whisper.

Turning her head to the side, she was surprised to see Obito sitting on the grass next to her, his gaze also directed at the sky before falling to her face. His smile was warm and she felt relaxed, so she smiled back.

"Obito-kun, this is… unexpected."

He chuckled and scratched the back of his head.

"I hope you don't mind that it's me here for you, Sakura-chan."

"Not at all." she shook her head.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, somehow you remind me of Naruto, so I'm happy that you're here."

He just smiled warmly at her.

"I was damn lucky, huh?" she chuckled "Dying before all of my precious people."

"You really were." he agreed.

She lifted her gaze towards the sky again, falling silent for what could've been minutes, hours or days, she didn't know and, frankly, it didn't matter. She was already dead anyways.

"You're quite peaceful, Sakura-chan."

"I guess." she shrugged.

"Was it a good life?"

She let her gaze fall back to his face.

"Yes, it was." her smile stretched her mouth "I have no regrets, you know?"

"Really?" he sounded surprised, maybe he expected that she would have or he was caught off guard by her admission or maybe it was because she meant it. She shrugged again, it hardly mattered the reason.

"It might've been hard, tiring, lonely and scary at times, but overall it was a good life because in the end… All my precious people were safe. I had so many good friends and, like I said before, I was damn lucky that I never lost someone I loved." then she frowned a little "Well, I actually kind of lost Sasuke-kun back then, but that's hardly the same, I suppose."

Obito agreed with a nod. The silence was comfortable as she stared at the stars and it stretched for a long time before she spoke again.

"Don't get me wrong, but why are you here, Obito-kun? I mean, I appreciate your presence, but… why?" she was curious. Could the dead be curious?

"Remember when you helped me search Sasuke between the dimensions?"

"That's not something I'd forget easily, I was terrified that we'd never be able to- yeah. I remember." she frowned slightly.

"Well, you were healing me, and, before you pulled your chakra away completely, I sent chakra with yours, to stay locked in your Yin seal."

She opened her mouth to interrupt him, but he raised his hand, he had more to say.

"Just before Madara took the Ten-tails chakra from me, I managed to send about half of it into my Kamui. I knew that if he snatched the whole Ten-tails chakra… he'd be truly unstoppable. I had to do something, so I hid it, but then I was gonna die and you… I considered you worthy."

Sakura could only stare dumbly at him for a few seconds, trying to make sense of what he was saying.

"Why?" why would he ever do that?

Obito simply shrugged "You remind me of Rin. A lot." his half smile was so sad she almost reached for his hand "Also, you helped and trusted me after everything, enough that we even worked well together and I knew that you only ever activated that seal when you were in danger and had no other choice. So, as a thank you of sorts, I wanted to help you, in case you ever really needed it." his smile warmed a little "When you used half of the seal's content, the Ten-tail's chakra would be available for your access, to protect yourself and others. I knew you'd use it wisely."

She remained silent, looking at him while he gave a half smile. What did you say to someone you barely knew but still did the best they could to.. what, protect you?

Eventually Obito laughed at her confusion.

"Surprise!?" he opened his arms and shook his hands a little. It was utterly ridiculous and she could only laugh.

"Thank you, Obito-kun. It really is a surprise." she smiled "I suppose you'd appear to explain to me that the seal had been tempered by you?"

"Yeah, I didn't want you to freak out about it." He scratched the back of his head again.

"Now I'm kind of sad I didn't get a chance to tell Kakashi-sensei you did this for me. You know, he might not show it, but I'm sure he'd be grateful for your kindness."

Even in the relative darkness of the night sky she could spot the man blushing, while he mumbled something like 'I didn't do it for him'. It was quite amusing, if you'd ask her.

"Is that the only thing that makes you sad about having died?" he asked after a pause.

She took a deep breath, sitting straighter, then resting her head on her knees.

"No, not really. There's plenty that makes me sad. For example, Naruto… He'll be crushed and I won't be there to help him through it, obviously. He'll have plenty of people, of course, but there's no one that knows him better than I do, that knows how to help, you know?" she sighed "Then there's Hinata… it wasn't her fault, but I'm afraid she'll blame herself for what happened, though I think she'll understand eventually. She's stronger than people give her credit for."

The only answer was a nod.

"Tsunade-shishou will be pissed and broken, she's been through too much already." her chest felt heavy because of that.

"And the Uchiha? I remember you liked him a lot."

The heaviness pressed harder and she chuckled so she wouldn't cry.

"Yeah, I did. But you know, turns out that even my blind devotion to him couldn't ignore how many times he tried to kill me over the years. I still don't know how he might react, if he'll react at all, about me dying. Half of me thinks he'll be upset, while the other half is sure he'll just consider it annoying." her eyes stung and she mentally cursed because she was dead already! Why cry over it? But not even her irritation stopped that one tear from falling through her lashes and down her cheek.

Obito remained silent, she knew that he was giving her time and that she had more to say. When she felt her control returning, she broke the silence again.

"I think I'll be missed." she couldn't help the pained smile that came with that.

"Hell, I'm sure you will." Obito reassured her "What about your parents?"

"Oh, they'll be sad, for sure. But we've never been close, you know? They were both active shinobis my entire life. Both chunin, their missions weren't as dangerous, but they were never around." she shrugged "They're proud of me and all, but we were never really family you know? Not like Naruto and Kakashi..." she trailed off her heart constricting and her eyes burning with tears again "The one I'm most sad about is Kakashi, though." she barely managed to say the words.

The silence was heavy now, tension filled the space around them.

"He's lost so many of his loved ones… His mom, dad, then you, Rin, Minato and Kushina, Sasuke, Asuma, then you again and now me… I really wish I could've stayed alive just so he wouldn't have to go through all that again." she finished with a sob. Kakashi had always been like a steady presence in her life, the one that had always been there no matter the circumstance and she loved him dearly "I know that Naruto, Sasuke, Tsunade and all of them suffered a lot in their lives. I mean, Sasuke lost his family and his clan, he even killed the only person he ever loved because that person didn't trust him with the truth… But he tried to destroy Konoha and kill us all in the process…" she sighed "Kakashi-sensei… He lost everyone and still- Damn, I don't know how he manages." she shook her head, wiping the stream of tears that now flooded her cheeks.

Looking to her side, she saw Obito with such a pained and guilty face that she felt a little bad for talking about all that with him.

"You know he forgave you, right?" she asked after a few minutes.

He only nodded once "I still wish I could take it all back. Damn, I caused so much pain and that was never my intention I-" he paused and shook his head "I wish life had been kinder to him."

"Second that." she agreed wholeheartedly.

There was a heavy silence for a long time and when Obito broke it, his voice sounded a little unsure.

"If you could, you know, go back…. Would you want to?"

The answer was out before he could even finish talking.

"Hell yeah! I'd do anything to see them again." she smiled.

He nodded, serious.

"Would you change anything?"

"What do you mean about 'changing'?" she was confused. Obito simply looked at her, his dark eyes had a weird sparkle because of the amount of stars reflected in it.

"I mean, would you do anything differently?"

She frowned.

"Yeah, I wouldn't get killed."

His seriousness broke at once and he laughed hard. Her frown intensified at first, but was quickly replaced by a shy grin.

"Of course. But what if you could go back to the beginning?"

"You mean being a kid again while knowing what was to come?" Obito nodded "I suppose I would."

"Even if it meant messing with the timeline?"

She took time thinking about it. All that they went through, all the struggle, the pain, the loss, the happiness, the love. Then she smiled.

"Yes, even if it meant messing with the timeline. I'd do my ultimate best to prevent all that suffering that the people I love had to go through." she paused "Not that there would be a lot that I could do, you know?"

"What do you mean?" he raised an eyebrow, remembering her of Kakashi.

"Well, most of the things that hurt them happened before I was even born. Your sacrifice; Rin's; then the Kyuubi's attack with the Fourth and his wife's deaths that culminated in the Uchiha massacre… That all happened before I was around. Not the massacre itself, but by the time I was old enough, their relationship with the village had already gone to shit." she sighed "But the stuff after it… I'd do my best to change them. Naruto's loneliness, Sasuke leaving the village, the Akatsuki, Gaara getting killed, the war… all that, you know."

He nodded, his face closed in concentration with whatever it was that he was thinking about. After what felt like forever, she had turned to look at the stars again, he finally broke the silence.

"What if you could go back to before some of that stuff?" he asked, not looking at her.

"There's no point in thinking about it, Obito-kun. That's not possible." she scowled, what was with him?

To the sound of her irritation he turned to look at her, his face was very serious, but pleading at the same time. It caught her off guard.

"What if it was possible, Sakura-chan?"

Her breath caught in her throat. "What are you talking about, Obito?"

"Would you do it, Sakura?" he insisted "Would you go back to help avoid all those messed up events even if you couldn't be you?"

She was completely stunned into silence so she simply stared at him with wide eyes for a few seconds.

"I-" she cut herself "I-" she tried again before taking a deep breath and falling silent to actually think about it because he seemed dead serious, no pun intended.

As it turned out, she didn't have to think for too long before finding her answer.

"Yes, Obito-kun. I would go back if it meant being able to do more for those I love than I could before. Even if I ended up no being me, whatever that means." she nodded, looking every bit as serious as he was.

"Even if it meant that your parents would never have you?"

Her throat closed again, but she nodded once more "Even so."

It was true that they hadn't been so close and, despite that, she loved them, but when she considered just how much the rest of her precious people had suffered… the possibility to help them overpowered the sadness of not being her parent's daughter. Their happiness was more important to her than being Haruno Sakura.

"I'd accept being just about anyone else if it meant protecting them from at least a part of all the sorrow they'd been through." she assured him with a sad smile.

Obito nodded and, after she blinked, she found herself staring no longer at his black eyes, but the mangekyou. She blinked again, but the image didn't change.

"I believe I can do that, Sakura." he said in a quiet voice, never straying his gaze from hers "I thought about Rin, but I don't think I'd-" he gulped "So I remembered about someone else from the time I observed the village. She's younger than what happened to Rin and me, but she… She's a good choice and she died so young… Younger than Rin, but she could make a big difference. You could make a big difference as her and-"

"WHAT?" her screech interrupted him " Obito." she shook her head a little trying to process his words "Are you actually saying you can take me back in time and put me in a different body so I could change or prevent all the shit that's happened? That's impossible." she whispered the last part.

"That really is impossible." he agreed "But that's not exactly what I meant. I can't go back in time, believe me, I would've if I could. But I can access different dimensions, I still have the chakra I put in your seal, Sakura." he explained calmly, giving her time to understand before going on "With both my eyes, I can do that." he assured with a nod "I can't do anything else for this dimension, but I can place you in another one so you could prevent them from going through the same as what happened here."

She was gaping, wide green eyes entranced by his red ones as much as her heart was by his words.

"Why not you?" she managed to ask through her confusion.

"This" he motioned at himself "Is not my soul, just a representation of me through my chakra. But you… This is your soul."

Blank. Her mind was a complete blank, she couldn't form a single thought. Then he reached towards her, placing his hands on her shoulders and turning her to face him completely.

"Sakura, I can't keep my chakra here much longer. You have to make a decision." her eyes felt about to pop out of her skull with how widely stretched they were "Are you up for doing this?"

"What about the person's soul?" she found herself asking.

"I can't take her out, but I can put you in." he simply said and she didn't bother asking how the fuck would he be able to do that.

Instead, she asked "Like an inner personality?"

He looked confused, but nodded and despite all the tension, she laughed. She laughed so hard she almost choked on her breathing. Or maybe the dead couldn't choke.

"I'm serious Sakura!" Obito shook her shoulder.

"I know, Obito-kun. That's what makes it all the funnier. I used to have an inner Sakura all my life." she chuckled before taking a deep breath and being serious again "Do it. I wanna help them." she finally said, no traces of humour in her voice or face.

He smiled, a big and warm smile that was so Naruto she could only smile back.

"Alright."

"Whose inner will I become, Obito-kun?" she asked before she lost the chance.

"Izumi's. Uchiha Izumi's inner." his mangekyou was beginning to spin.

"Will I remember this talk?" she rushed to ask, not giving her the chance to be shocked by his previous answer.

"I don't know, but I'm sure you'll remember mostly everything from before dying. I trust you'll use both your gifts wisely." his voice reached her just before everything went dark again.

A/N: Just a new idea, would you like to read more?