I decided to get right on the next chapter. I'm sure you've all guessed who it is who found Sakura. It really couldn't be more obvious. Please review if you'd like to read more. I'm not stingy on chapters based on reviews but I do feel like it's easier to update when you've got feedback and know people are becoming invested.


The first thing Sakura registered, was that she wasn't dead, or surrounded in water. She was dazed though, and her mind sluggishly rebooted. Carefully, she sat up. Her eyes slowly came into focus, and she gasped when she saw the man crouched over her. A man in blue armor with red eyes and snow white hair. The Nidaime!

Not long ago she had seen this man engaged in fierce battle with Madara Uchiha and Obito along with the other reanimated Kage. But the man before her wasn't the same as the one she'd seen. His skin was not ashen and cracked. His sclera weren't black.

And as powerful and intimidating as he'd been even in death on the battlefield, the power this man emanated now was very much…different, though currently controlled. He was alive. Jade eyes caught the glint of his happuri and she noticed the familiar emblem of Konoha gleaming proudly. The village. Her home.

It made her heart ache to think of. She wasn't sure what was going on. She hadn't even gotten to truly celebrate with everyone, or mourn the fallen. She hadn't even gotten to see the village they'd fought so hard to defend. She hadn't even gotten to decide if she forgave Sasuke for everything he'd put them through. She just wanted to see the familiar faces of her friends and sensei and maybe hug her parents…

"Kunoichi, who are you?" His deep voice rumbled as soon as he noticed she was awake. "Do not lie to me." He flexed his chakra threateningly, even though there was no need. She had witnessed his power for herself. She couldn't image going up against him when he was alive and in his prime. She didn't want an enemy in Tobirama Senju.

"I…" She started. But where was there to start? Logically, the beginning. But, something deep down told her that the beginning she knew wouldn't make sense to him. But nothing made sense when a dead man was alive again. Only… Madara Uchiha had been dead, then ended up fully alive thanks to Obito's jutsu, and then dead again. Everything in her mind was a jumbled mess.

And Lord Second was getting impatient. "I won't ask again," he said, eyes narrowed. "Tell me who you are. And why you had this?" he held up her headband. Sakura's hand went to her wet hair immediately, brushing through it. Yes, that was definitely hers. She couldn't decide if it was a good or bad thing that it wasn't her usual forehead protector. What would he do if she'd been wearing the mark of the Leaf when he found her?

'Well sorry if I'm a little weak and disoriented, pal! It's kind of been a long day!' Great. Her mouth may have been slow to work, but her subconscious was wide awake and roaring.

"My name is Sakura Haruno." She finally managed to say. "And that's…that's mine." She reached for it, and he grudgingly allowed her to take it back. Filled with a sense of comfort to have her headband back in her possession, even if it wasn't the one that marked her as a Konoha shinobi, she tied it back in place.

"Haruno…I've never heard of that clan." Sakura heard him mutter.

"It's not a traditionally shinobi clan." She replied carefully.

"So how did you come to be one? Assuming the headband isn't for show." he quipped.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. Despite the great amount of respect she had for this man as a relative of her mentor and a founder of the village she loved, she didn't remember him being snarky. Of course in the heat of battle there was little time for snark, and really, he and the other revived Kage of the past had interacted more with Naruto than her.

"How does anyone become one? They're raised and taught from an early age." Sakura quipped right back.

Tobirama glowered. In a second his hand was at her throat and she was lying flat on her back in the grass. "Don't trifle with me girl; you just said you came from civilians." Clearly, the Second Hokage did not appreciate the same level of sarcasm in others that he bestowed on them. At least not from those he considered potential enemies.

"I didn't say both parents were. My mother was a shinobi. She wasn't very active after I was born, but she taught me what she knew." Sakura hoped that story worked. She certainly didn't plan on telling him she learned most of what she knew from another Senju, his grandniece, of all Senju.

"What clan was your mother from? I know of no clans that would impart such a…loud and impractical hair color." His nose crinkled. It was Sakura's turn to glower. Was a guy that was practically an albino really saying he thought her hair was "loud"? She'd spent half her life learning to like herself, "loud" hair and all, thank you very much.

"My loud hair is from my civilian father." Sakura spat. "My mother never talked much about her family. I don't know who she was before she became a Haruno." This time her words were entirely true. She didn't know either of her sets of grandparents and her mother never mentioned why she was compelled to join the academy.

But she couldn't mention her mother attended a ninja academy. Sakura didn't know if allowing regular children from outside clans to become shinobi was very common at this time… The more she spoke to this man, who was undoubtedly the Nidaime, the more she was convinced that somehow, someway, she wasn't in the time she'd left. To be thrown so far back would have been something she'd have a hard time believing, if she hadn't seen so many unbelievable things happen during the war. Legions of undead shinobi from generations past fighting…Kakashi's long-believed dead teammate very much alive and behind the whole war… Sakura was certainly in the business of suspended disbelief if she hadn't been before.

Tobirama's grip loosened. "And all these questions about who I am and where I'm from but I don't even know your name." she reminded him.

Tobirama's eyes held a note of suspicion. Not that long ago, ninja's exchanging names was deadly, because it was hard to say if someone had fought against and killed someone else's clansmen. But this girl claimed she was of a civilian background and her mother was the only other ninja in the family, so it was unlikely the Haruno had clashed with the Senju.

Still, he'd made quite the name for himself even before shocking the world by forming a village with his brother and Madara. Many knew of the aloof Tobirama Senju. White hair and red eyes were very distinct.

"I am Tobirama Senju." he said. Sakura nodded, gesturing slightly to his hand. Cautiously, he removed it and allowed her to get up. Sakura decided in that moment that to do something that would either be utterly stupid or genius. She wasn't sure which yet.

"So does that symbol on your happuri mean you're from the new ninja village I've heard about? Konoha?" Tobirama considered her carefully. There was nothing deceitful in her expression or her eyes. Genuine interest if anything.

Of course news had already spread like wildfire. Even now, all sorts of clans had already come from far and wide, wanting to join the village. Most recently it was the Nara. There were even civilians turning up, wanting to live in the village for shelter from the constant bloodshed on the outside, and make new lives for themselves. His bleeding heart of a brother didn't turn them away. Konoha, while still growing, was becoming quite the melting pot.

"So you've heard."

Sakura nodded, "Yes, and honestly, I was on my way there. I'm not really sure what happened…or how I ended up floating face down in the river. Thank you for reviving me by the way." She dipped her head in genuine respect. Inside she was deeply relieved that it was someone from her own village who was one of the good guys, and not a band of rogues who had discovered her in her weakened state.

"You're thanking someone who could just as soon kill you?" Tobirama raised a brow. It was true he'd saved her but he still wasn't use to gratitude from strangers.

"You didn't." Sakura smiled for the first time. "And I don't think you will."

Feeling suddenly and inexplicably abashed, Tobirama quickly changed the subject. "Why were you looking for the village?"

"I was hoping to join…" Sakura said slowly. "My family is gone. It's just me now, and when I heard about this ninja village I decided I would try to find it."

Tobirama thought about it. The very first time his brother had told him of his dream, he had been doubtful. Ninja were nomadic by nature. They certainly did not live harmoniously together with other clans and non-ninja either. They grew up in dangerous, bloody times where death was ever-present.

But Hashirama, the stubbornly optimistic fool, had made him believe in his dream, and he had fought bitterly by his brother's side to make it happen, even swallowed his pride and worked alongside the Uchiha. Now Konoha was a reality and he saw the beauty in Hashirama's plan. Tobirama knew he'd fight tirelessly to his last breath to keep the village going. It was time to usher in a new era. That meant that when he met strange pink-haired kunoichi in the forest, who asked to join the village, he was annoyingly inclined to oblige and show her the way. In the end, Hashirama would have the final say. Not that he couldn't already guess what his brother's decision would be.

Tobirama stood to his full height. "I assume you're familiar with traveling by trees?"

"Of course," Sakura answered almost indignantly, forgetting herself. "It's…one of the first things I learned." she said coolly.

"Can you keep up?"

Sakura slowly got to her feet, noting that the white-haired man towered over her. "I think so,"

'As long as you don't dart off to lose me.' Sakura wouldn't put it past him. He already seemed reluctant. She supposed living the way he had for so much of his life, it was hard to erase the general distrust of strangers. But the brief amount of time she'd seen his brother interact with Naruto, the First seemed warm and candid. More like Naruto than this man.

Sakura heard a heavy sigh, and looked up into Tobirama's face to notice he appeared displeased. "I don't have time for uncertainty…" Unceremoniously, he stood in front of her, back turned, and crouched slightly. Sakura stared. "Get on," he commanded.

Under any other circumstance she'd laugh. The Second Hokage was going to give her a piggy-back ride? But she decided not to test him anymore, and hopped onto his armored back, wrapping her arms securely around his neck and her legs around his waist. "Thank you, I appreciate—"

Tobirama took off before she could finish and she almost bit her tongue accidentally.

"Do you always go this fast?!" she squealed. She was right. Had she tried to follow him, he would have most definitely left her behind.

"This is the average speed of travel for most ninja."

'Like hell!' she thought.

"We'll get there in no time going this speed!" she said above the whistle of the wind.

"Yes, so you'd better be ready to plead your case to the Hokage."

Sakura lowered her head in thought. She had managed to convince Tobirama to take her back to the village, and his brother seemed like a nice man, but when it came to the village, and allowing a wandering kunoichi of no real origin to enter…would he be welcoming?


See~ Told you that wouldn't take long! I hope this was worth the non-wait. :P I honestly adore Tobirama. I dunno why because I admit he can be kind of frosty but he cracks me up with his bluntness and he's a good person deep down; he's just not as bubbly as Hashirama, who I also love. They really are a perfect balance. Sakura will meet all the founders soon. Madara will be his normal salty self.

Anyway, Tobirama is incredibly cautious, as is his nature, but I had to make him willing to help Sakura, because honestly who wouldn't be disoriented after a trip through time? So Tobi had a moment of "What would Hashi do?" basically. XD And if Sakura seems calm about the situation she finds herself in, she's not. It will all sink in soon enough and maybe more information about the means that dragged her into the past will be teased out.

Ja~