Author's Note: I am so sorry about the extremely long wait! I've been working almost nonstop with two jobs and planning a much-needed vacation in a few weeks that I've been only able to widdle away a few words a day on this next chapter, but it's here! I'm a bit conflicted about this chapter but here it is! Thank you so much for 1,800 reviews! It really inspires me to continue on! I hope that you all enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Warning: Talk of death, language, and OOCness.
Word Count: 5, 282
Sakura hasn't been imagining how this would all play out - she's kind of been dreading it, honestly - but she was thankful that Madara was being very understanding about it all. Sakura kept saying, over and over again, that what she was saying wasn't the truth, simply what they learned. What they thought was the truth. To be honest, a lot of what Sakura learned in school had nothing to do with Madara. He was very briefly mentioned in her history lessons as the clan leader at the time of Konoha's founding, but that was about it. There wasn't anything else about him that she learned in school. Everything else was learned through life and digging through history.
Most of it was per Obito's word. But someone wrote down history to reflect what he said. Sakura doesn't believe that Obito, for shits and giggles, changed what they thought they knew about him. Sakura thinks that Obito probably believed in what he said. That Madara - or whoever was impersonating Madara - told Obito that story like it was the truth. Obito wouldn't have any reason to believe that he would lie, especially if he believed that the imposter was actually Madara. So she sat there and told the tale of Madara and Hashirama.
She told the four men about how they founded Konoha and then began to see the world very differently. How Madara and Hashirama's ideas began to diverge from one another and how it ultimately led to dissent from the Uchiha. They believed more in Hashirama's way than Madara's and because of Madara's actions during the war, the people of the village, along with the Uchiha clan themselves, began to ostracize Madara. It ended up getting so bad that Madara and Hashirama came to blows and eventually Madara left the village.
Sakura talked about how the two ultimately came to blows again after Madara had brought the Nine-Tails to Konoha and drew Hashirama out to battle. She told them about the sealing of the Nine-Tails into Mito Uzumaki, who was Hashirama's wife, and the eventual death of Madara Uchiha at the hands of Hashirama Senju after the formation of the Valley of the End. Sakura told them about how as far as she was aware, the Uchiha buried Madara as one of their own, even after he denounced his name, and that Hashirama was the only outsider that attended the funeral.
And that was that.
Then Sakura moved on to Obito Uchiha, giving a brief history lesson on him, to which Kakashi never uttered a word but didn't flinch when all eyes settled on him. Curious that he once held a Sharingan eye in his head. Kakashi just stares back at them without any sort of expression on his face. But Sakura knew him well, and she could see the melancholy look on her sensei's face. He may not miss the chakra exhaustion or the memories that accompanied the eye but Sakura is almost certain that he missed the piece of his friend that he got to carry around with him.
She tells them about what they learned with Obito, how he came across who he thought was Madara and was trained up by him. She tells them about the Akatsuki and how Obito was going around masquerading as Madara. What Obito did in Madara's name, especially after he revealed himself to be Madara. Or he blatantly lied to us and against all reason we just sort of believed him. Took him at his word alone that he was somehow over a hundred-year-old founder of Konoha and he was still strong enough to kick ass. Namely theirs.
Sakura told them everything, told them about Obito calling out all the Kage, and the world, that their ass-whooping was the beginning of the Fourth Great Ninja War. She tells them about how everyone united to fight back. She talked about Kabuto and how he took pieces of Orochimaru - and a very brief lesson about him - to turn him into a monster and use a very powerful, forbidden jutsu - the Reanimation jutsu. Sakura tells them about the war, about the Reanimates, how they came from all around the Elemental Nations. They were friends and family that were brought back from the dead against their will.
Sakura tells them about hearing on the battlefield about someone matching Madara's description walking about causing trouble. It was mind-boggling because they still had Obito masquerading as Madara too, so two Madara's was crazy. No one knows who to believe and if they were even being told the truth. Plus in wartime everything is chaos, no one really has a clear vision of what is going on. Sakura tried to explain everything the best that she could. Even her own memories are still fuzzy about the end of the war.
But she hits the important parts that she remembers. She remembers joining the front with Naruto. She tells them about how Sasuke showed up with the first four Hokage to assist them in battle. By this time the new Madara joined Obito, and revealed himself as the real Madara, but he was also another fake. Just another person riding on Madara's legend. That's when Kakashi takes over. He tells them about how Hashirama realized almost immediately that the new man claiming to be Madara also wasn't him.
"Why?" Izuna asks after a moment of silence.
"Why what?" Kakashi asks, looking at Izuna with a lazy expression.
Izuna's eyebrows pull together tightly, an angry fire in his eyes. "Why is everyone throwing my brother's name around like that? Smudging his good name like it's nothing?"
Kakashi stares at him with sharp, dark eyes that hide his cunning behind a lazy look. But Sakura knows. She knows that he is ten times smarter and more alert than he appears to be. "Because his name is legendary for those who know who he is. Or at least, those who understand wouldn't be so quick to dismiss anything with the name Madara Uchiha stamped on it."
"No one knows my brother if that's how they smear his name!" Izuna snarls, an angry curl to his lips.
"I don't know that," Kakashi says, his voice calm and even. "I don't know Madara Uchiha, the real person, so I withhold judgment. I don't think the why is that hard to figure out, though. You answered that yourself. His name. Those smart enough or historically savvy enough to know what his name means would use that power for their own gain. If someone wants a cause with weight behind it, toss in the name of someone legendary." Kakashi shrugs, not really all that apologetic for his words, even though they obviously draw a negative reaction from Izuna.
"That's ridiculous!" Izuna snaps, face twisted in anger.
"No, it's ignorance," Sakura cuts in, staring at Izuna with a hard look on her face. "It's ignorance on our part and on theirs. The founding of our village wasn't written down other than in dairies that were kept by village heads. As far as I know, there were at least two sets of diaries depicting this time, one by Lord Hashirama and one by Lord Tobirama. They mostly covered the construction of the village and the growth plans, but not a lot about personal histories." Sakura looks over at Kakashi, hoping her memory was serving her well, considering how unreliable it's been as of late. He nods back in affirmation of her words.
The room is silent. No one really knows what to say to that.
"Madara-sama," Sakura looks over at the Uchiha clan leader, feeling pity for having made him aware of this annoying predicament he is in, against his will. He looks over at her with calm, stoic dark eyes, not showing anger or annoyance or really anything that would tell her how exactly he feels about this situation at all. Once more it seems like he's getting the short end of the stick and Sakura feels bad. She just feels bad.
"Sakura?" He says when she doesn't continue right away.
"You are a good man," she says, folding her hands neatly on the table in front of her. "I admit, I was wary of you at first too. I'm sure you noticed it too. All I remembered was all of the terrible things that people had said about you and said under the guise of your person. I didn't know that you were a good man until I got to know you. But I do know it. I recognize it. You are good and strong and honest and kind. Not a lot of people see it, but those that understand you, those that take the time to actually listen to what you say, understand why you say it, and watch you while you say it, will undoubtedly see it."
Madara stares back at her, somewhat confused and embarrassed by her words. Sakura can tell he's not really used to people complimenting him like this - which makes Sakura sad. She meant every word she said. He looks away, a slight coloring to his cheeks as he clears his throat trying to hide how much her words affected him.
"You are my friend, Madara-sama," Sakura says. His eyes raise back up to hers. "I'm not sure what the future holds, just know that I know who you are. I am privileged to see you as my friend." Sakura rubs her forehead for a minute, trying to get her thoughts in order, looking over at Hashirama, Tobirama, and Izuna, considering something before turning her eyes back to the Uchiha clan leader in front of her, leaning forward on her elbows to stare into his dark eyes. The way his head is tilted, his fringe has fallen away to show both pure black orbs staring back at her.
"Look, I'm not ignorant. I know that this is asking much more of you in specific than anyone else. It's asking you for kindness; to do something almost solely for the benefit of someone else, something that in your life isn't simply a luxury that you could afford to give out willy-nilly. It's asking you for courage; to take the leap in the investment in people whom you hardly know on the word of a single person. It's asking you for empathy; to hear our stories and imagine yourself in our shoes having walked down the path that we have and to understand who we are based on that. It's asking you for trust; to look at the people from a future alternative village from the one that you are trying to form now and hope that the beliefs that you hold now circumvented time and space and continues to be our sole ideals as well. But most of all, it's asking you to have faith; to stare indecision and the unknown in the face and push onward. To have faith in the good in people."
Sakura's voice drops off into complete silence. While she was speaking, Sakura was certain that every ounce of what she was saying was both cool, inspirational and captivating. Now that she's left with silence in a room full of people, she's starting to wonder if maybe it didn't sound nearly enough like any of those three things to pass off as an acceptable speech.
Naruto was always so good at that. He could spew out nonsense without even thinking about it and somehow it just all makes sense. It just makes people want to sway to his way of thinking. Maybe it's charisma, or maybe he just has a way about him - whether it be the conviction in his voice or the way he holds himself - that just makes people want to believe in him, in what he has to say. Sakura wishes she had that sort of power. Maybe she wouldn't feel so much like a fool right now.
Sakura scratches at the back of her head, feeling her face flush deeply in embarrassment. If it would, Sakura wishes that the floor would open up now and swallow her whole.
"That..." Madara says slowly, pulling Sakura's eyes up to his own dark ones to see a twinkle in the darkness. "That," he says again, "isn't an easy thing for me to do. I'm not even sure if it's possible for me. But I want you to know, Sakura, that I have been watching you since you showed up. I've been analyzing your every word and action. Every interaction with you has been calculated to try and learn something. I want you to know that all of the people you've helped at the clinic, training Aya and Salma, offering ways to help get our village off the ground, healing Hashirama and Izuna..." he spares a glance over his shoulder at his little brother.
Izuna stares back at him, head tilted slightly. With their eyes, they communicate with one another. When Madara continues, even with a half glance Hashirama and Tobirama's way before he looks back at Sakura, she knows that he is telling the absolute truth when he says, "Izuna is the most important person in the world to me. I do not know what type of man I would be without him. Watching him degrading before my eyes is, to this day, the hardest thing I have ever done, but at least he was still alive. I could still talk to him and see him. If he was dead... I can only imagine what type of person I would have become. But he's alive. You save his life, and countless others, and gave more the ability to live relatively normal lives after injuries sustained. None of that went unnoticed."
Even though Madara's voice drops into silence after his powerful statement, Sakura can hear a ringing in her ears. She's feeling a maelstrom of emotions circling around her. It's not the absolute positive that she was foolish enough to hope for, but it's better than what she feared.
"Sakura-chan," Hashirama says, finally speaking. "This is all a lot to think about and we appreciate your candor."
"Yes," Tobirama says, nodding. "You and yours could have played dumb or pretend this might not be a problem or deal with it when it was, but you came to us - or specifically Madara - to inform him of the possibility of it being an issue, even if it might change what we ultimately decide about how to proceed."
Sakura hadn't thought about that, admittedly, and wondered if maybe this wasn't very smart. Maybe it wouldn't have been an issue and they were worried about nothing, but as soon as the thought crossed her mind, Sakura dismissed it. No, this was the right thing to do. It may have ruined everything for them, but at the end of the day, it was the right thing to do.
"Can I ask why?" Izuna asks, staring at Sakura, then Kakashi.
"Why what?" Kakashi asks, shifting a bit on his pillow.
"Why you decided to say something?" Izuna looks at Sakura.
Sakura blinks in confusion. "Madara-sama is my friend. I felt he deserved honesty at the very least. So many things go wrong when we simply try to spare the feelings of others. I don't know if it will even be a problem, but he deserved to know about it regardless."
Izuna nods very slowly, considering something before turn a set of dark eyes on Kakashi, a protective gleam sparkling in those depths, much like Madara. "And you, Lord Hokage?"
If Kakashi was at all put out by the use of his official title by one of the founders of his village, he didn't bat an eyelash. "The truth?"
"Yeah," Izuna says.
Kakashi blinks, his face completely emotionless beneath the mask. Sakura has since learned how to read her sensei, but she has no idea what he's about to say and that worries her. Kakashi can be a bit... callous.
"Because it's the right thing to do," Kakashi says as if it's the simplest thing in the world - and it is. "And because, no matter how you look at it, this was his home first."
Izuna stares into Kakashi's eyes, measuring his words to see if he can figure out if the silver-haired man believed it or not. If he was just saying it to get in their good graces, or if it was what he truly thought. Sakura could sense the sincerity in her sensei's words and is relieved when the softest look crosses over Hashirama's face and Izuna's protectively raised hackles settle down a bit.
"It's nice to know that honor still exists, even if it's the future of an alternate timeline," Izuna says.
"Agreed," Madara rumbles, rubbing his chin in thought.
"Well, Madara?" Tobirama says, looking at the back of the head of the Uchiha Patriarch. Madara glances over at him with a quirked eyebrow. "What are you thinking?"
"Ah," Madara looks over at Sakura. "I thank you, Sakura. You and your sensei have in fact given me much to consider and as Hashirama said, we appreciate your candor in this confusing time. Make no mistake, though, no matter what we ultimately decide, whether it be to co-exist, or to live separately and ally ourselves together, you will always be a welcomed friend of the Uchiha."
"And the Senju," Hashirama says, genuine, care in those warm brown eyes. "You are a true, honest friend and you are welcome in our home whenever you wish it." Tobirama nods slowly in agreement, but there is a darkness in his eyes and his hands are closed up in fists on his thighs.
Chest swelling with affection, happiness, and relief, Sakura bows her head low to the founders of the village. "Thank you so much for your kind words, my lord."
"Thank you for taking the time to speak with us," Kakashi says, bowing his head as well.
Kakashi twists his body to move to a stand when someone calls out his name, "Kakashi-sama." Kakashi pauses, looking over to see it was Izuna that called out to him.
"My lord?" He blinks in surprise.
"As a leader, we make difficult decisions each and every day. We have to be conscientious of each and every step that we take. We have to keep our people and their wellbeing at the forefront of our minds at all times," the younger Uchiha brother says sagely. "I will have you know that whether the choice to come forth with this information was smart or not is debatable, but you have provided me with what I need to cast my vote." Sakura gets a bit of a sinking feeling in her gut but hopes that's a good thing.
Kakashi considers something for a moment. "Izuna-sama, may I ask you a question?"
Izuna seems a bit surprised before he nods. "Yes."
"In one word, how would you describe family?"
A perplexed expression crosses over Izuna's face. Whatever he thought Kakashi was going to ask, that certainly wasn't it. He doesn't respond right away, giving it genuine thought before he says, with purpose and conviction, "Everything."
Kakashi stares back at him as if he's got the younger boy all figured out. "Good," he says, before pushing to his feet and standing up. He rolls his ankles around a bit to crack them, letting out a little sigh, he turns to leave. Sakura stands to follow.
"And you, Kakashi-sama? In one word, how would you describe family?" Izuna calls out.
Kakashi pauses again. He stares off into the wooden wall like it holds the secrets of the universe, recalling something in his life before he lets out a little huff of a laugh, letting his eyes slip closed. He shakes his head for a moment, shoulders drooping a bit. Casting a look over his shoulder at the four founders with the sharpest, most powerful gaze to pin even the demons in place with its intensity, he says, "Fire. Monstrous, destructive, unstoppable, cleansing, purifying, impenetrable fire."
Sakura smiles back at them as Kakashi, making sure to lock eyes with each one of them, holding Tobirama's gaze for perhaps a second longer than the others - before bowing once more and stepping out of the meeting building so that they can talk in peace.
"How are you?"
Sakura looks over at Tsunade as the woman shuffles medical supplies into a box to open some space on the tables for more prudent supplies for the people. It's hard to fight sigh that is threatening to escape her. She was getting pretty tired of people asking her that. She knows that they mean well when they ask but she is becoming less and less of a fan of that question.
She doesn't like the question because it forces her to think about how she doesn't sleep as much anymore. She spends as much time as she can working and focusing on other things. Spending time with others or simply doing anything other than being alone with her thoughts have been a relief to her. Sakura thinks about her parents, a lot, but is trying her hardest to think about anything but them.
It just hurts too much. They deserve better. They deserve the best and she can't do it because it hurts too much.
The stab of pain in Sakura's chest makes it hard for her to breathe for a moment. She occupies herself by organizing the table a bit to keep from having to speak. She's not sure her voice would be steady if she tried. She lets out a long, drawn-out breath as quietly as possible and without turning to the older woman, she says, "I'm okay. And you, master?"
Tsunade sighs. "I'm as well as I can be." She closes the box, pushing her fringe from her face. "I heard that you and Kakashi went to speak to the Founders the other day." It's nice to see that she's as uncomfortable by the question as Sakura is.
"Yeah, did he tell you about it?"
"In passing," Tsunade says. Hinata and Ino walk into the tent, carrying a couple boxes in the arms. "Girls put those over here."
As Hinata and Ino obey, Sakura lays one of her hands on the table, leaning against it, and looks over at Tsunade. "We spoke to Madara-sama about a bit of our history in regard to him."
"How was that?" Ino asks, offering Sakura a half look, still worried about the weirdness between them.
"Good, they appreciated our honesty, as they kept saying."
Hinata smiles kindly. "I would appreciate it too. It helps build bonds and trust between people when one offers honesty even when it wasn't expected."
"I hope so..." Tsunade says slowly, not too convinced. "Or it could have offered them more worries than they already had." Hinata blinks in surprise as the smile fades from her face as a look of worry takes its place.
Ino crosses her arms over her chest and leans heavily on one hip, looking between Sakura and Tsunade, a downward turn on her lips. "I don't know. I don't think I know any of them well enough to know what they are thinking." She looks at Sakura with a single, pretty blue eye. "But you do, Sakura. What do you think about that?"
"I believe them when they said they appreciate our honesty," Sakura says, looking down at her boots. She wiggles her little toes a bit, her feet hurting from days and days of inadequate rest. "Hashirama-sama is very logical and fair, he's going to look at it from a lot of different angles, plus he will use his emotions to help make his decision. Izuna-sama is going to be pretty emotional with his choice because it has a lot to do with his family, and specifically his brother. Madara-sama... well, he's going to be a bit harder. He is a very logical thinker. He will take everything that he's seen and heard and make a choice based on that."
"Tobirama-sama?" Hinata asks.
Sakura blinks. "What?"
"And Tobirama-sama? What about the Second Hokage?" She looks at Sakura curiously.
Sakura considers very carefully, wondering if her assumption is correct. She's spent the last couple of months with this man and he's one of the most difficult to understand of all of them. He keeps his emotions close to his chest and reacts almost purely on logic. A lot of it, Sakura can guess because it's logical, but sometimes he comes to decisions that she has no idea how he got there. So long as it makes sense to him, that's all that matters. Although has found that sometimes he allows his emotions to overrule his rationale - I let you get away with a lot - it's not a common occurrence.
"He's going to operate almost purely on logic," Sakura says slowly. "So long as it makes sense to him, he won't be easily dissuaded. The only one who may be able to do so would be his brother." Sakura hasn't any illusions. She's almost certain that he won't vote for her people to join them. Unless by some miracle he takes something into consideration that Sakura hasn't thought of yet, she can't see him voting the other way.
That brings another stabbing pain to her chest. She can't blame him. She can't be mad at him. It's simply who he is. He's mistrusting by nature. There isn't anything wrong with that. It just might get in the way of Sakura and her family coming home to this village. But she still can't blame him.
The three other girls stand around in silence for a moment, digesting Sakura's words.
"So what does this mean?" Hinata asks, looking over at Tsunade. "If they don't accept us to live here, then what do we do?" Sakura can understand why Hinata is so worried. She has, by far, the largest clan all awaiting her command as her father is missing. He was just another one of those people everyone saw go through yet hasn't appeared yet.
"We'll have to find somewhere to go," Ino says, crossing her arms over her chest, a frown on her lips. "I can't even begin to wonder where, but we can't just hang out here in this forest forever. We need walls. We need homes. We need stability."
"We do," Tsunade agrees. "But never forget who we are ladies. We are shinobi of Konoha. We won't give up, no matter what. We persevere through it all. We believe in ourselves and each other and there isn't anything that we can't overcome. We do need homes and walls and support, and that will come. For now, each other will have to be, and can be, enough."
Ino looks like she feels a bit of Tsunade's confidence flowing into her. She nods, determination flashing across her face. "Yes, my lady."
"We will be okay," Hinata says softly, lilac colored eyes steady and strong. "I believe in us. No matter what, we are all in this together. I believe in the Will of Fire. We are together and strong. We can stand against anything in our way."
Sakura nods, proud of the obvious transformation in the normally timid and quiet girl. There is a pure strength in her that Sakura always knew was there, but now it's flowing around her like a cloak of power. She isn't afraid. She believes in them all. Sakura can feel herself getting more motivated. She has felt the slump of depression settling around her, and this is helping boost her back up. She doesn't have time being worried and depressed and sad. She has to just keep moving and focusing on the future.
"We've dallied long enough," Tsunade says, looking at each of the younger girls in turn. "We still have a lot of people who need our help, and more keep pouring in each day. Let's get a move on."
All three girls straighten up. "Yes, ma'am."
"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan..." Naruto says, a deep frown on his bruised and bloodied face. He's healing well with Kurama now fully inside of him. But he's exhausted both his power and that of the Nine-Tails. He's going to have to stop relying solely on the tailed beast within him. Looks like his own healing and modern medicine is going to be his best friend, at least for a couple of days.
"Lady Tsunade says that she can repair both yours and Sasuke's arms using cells from the First Hokage," Sakura says, checking his vitals on the machines next to his bed. No matter how much Sakura has seen Naruto go through, she will never not be surprised by his ability to push through the tough, impossible times. Sasuke is asleep just a few feet away, basically dead to the world with all of the drugs flowing through his system.
Of course, it wouldn't hold Naruto down for long, naturally. It's a good sign that the Nine-Tails is regaining enough power to start burning away the drugs in Naruto's system, but that isn't doing anything good for the blond haired boy, unfortunately.
"I don't care about that," Naruto says, frowning through the bandages covering his face. "I'm sorry about what we did. If there was a better way, I would have tried it but-"
"Naruto," Sakura says, turning to look at her blond haired teammate, "I'm okay. I promise. It's what needed to be done to stop Kaguya. I'm fine. You need rest. I trust that everyone did their absolute best. I'm not worried in the slightest." The smile she sends him is strained, but thankfully followed by a low beeping noise as the tubes attached to Naruto's arm pumps new, fresh drugs into his system, adjusted a bit to take the bond between him and Kurama into account. His eyelids start to droop a bit as sleep tries to claim him.
"I'm sorry, Sakura," Naruto mumbles. "I'm so sorry..."
Sakura waits until his eyes slip closed before she turns and heads to the door to let the boys sleep in peace before movement in the bed next to Naruto catches her attention.
Sasuke stares back at her through tired, half-lidded eyes. The Rinne-Sharingan hasn't returned to his left eye just yet, but Tsunade believes that it's only a matter of time.
"Sakura..." Sasuke says softly, drowsy from sleep and the drugs.
Sakura forces the smile back to her lips, walking to his bed and resting a hand on his foot. "Sleep now, Sasuke-kun. You still have a lot of healing to do before you're ready to wake up." His eyes slip closed as sleep takes him once more. Sakura turns and leaves the room without another word.
