After Hinata finished her speech, everyone headed towards their lanterns which were already brimming with light.
A small stone kept them tied to the ground until they were ready to fly.
Every member present at the memorial took theirs into their hands, closing their eyes, keeping a moment of silence for Neji's memory.
Before launching them to the sky, Hinata spoke a few more words.
"May these light your path to better destinies, wherever you are, brother Neji." She then lifted the lantern to the sky and released it. After her, Naruto, Sakura, Kiba and Shino along with Lee, Tenten and Ino-Shika-Cho team released theirs.
Soon after, when all the lanterns were up in the sky, Lee went to Hinata to pay his respect for Neji's memory once again.
They both thanked each other for the work of bringing everyone together, at the end, both agreeing that Sakura's help had been an undeniable factor in all of this.
Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji came to where Hinata was to excuse themselves for they planned to head home immediately.
Their day had been pretty full already and each had important things to take care of the next day.
Before leaving, Hinata, Ino and Shikamaru exchanged a few words of encouragement for each other as they were the ones who suffered the most losses in the war that had just passed.
"If you ever need someone to just talk and hang around, you can always come to me," Ino said. "After all, our clan compounds are pretty close to each other," she added.
Hinata bowed in respect and thanked Ino for the offer, saying that she'll definitely take her offer into consideration.
"Off we go now," Ino said while all the team paid their respects once more to Neji's memory.
As they headed towards the exit, Ino looked back once more towards Hinata's place.
'I wonder if she's really caught-up in all that mess, too?' she asked herself.
But tonight, wasn't the time to think about that.
Before leaving the premises for good, Ino didn't forget to go to Sakura to say her goodbyes.
Seated next to Naruto and Sai, Sakura felt Ino immediately approaching. She turned towards her friend.
"I'm just here to say goodbye, not to nag you," Ino quickly said before Sakura could interject in any way.
"Just… take better care of yourself too, okay?" She said. Looking then towards her teammates, Ino added "You two boys should keep an eye on her for me, okay?" She said, tilting her head towards Sakura.
"Ino!" Sakura said immediately, in a slightly irritated tone. She was a big girl who could handle herself. Didn't need anyone else to take care of her.
At least in her opinion.
"Well, off I go. You all take care of yourselves, okay?"
Naruto and Sai nodded in agreement while Sakura was still slightly pouting. But then she just let it go, as she realized that at the end of the day, all that Ino wanted was for her to be well.
And looking in perspective, she would've done the exact same thing.
After Ino left towards her teammates, Team 7 waved at Shikamaru and Chouji as well, who were waiting for Ino somewhere further away.
Naruto looked longingly at Shikamaru who seemed to be a bit out of his usual ways.
He was never too sociable anyway, but for the past few days he had been quite closed off.
He figured all the war losses took a toll on him after all, so he didn't want to push in any way.
They would have time to catch-up any of these other days.
The trio was soon approached by Lee and Tenten who were preparing to head off too.
"Once again thank you for everything, Sakura-san!" Lee said, bowing his head in respect.
Sakura's eyes warmed with compassion towards her comrade.
"There's no need to thank me, Lee-san. You and Hinata are to thank for all of this. I merely helped with whatever I could" Sakura said.
"But you and Naruto-kun were of tremendous help," Hinata added as she and her team approached from behind as well.
Naruto and Sakura exchanged looks for a second then turned around to everybody else.
"We just did what we could do best!" they said in unison. As soon as they realized, they both twitched and looked at each other, a tad bit embarrassed.
Hinata looked at both of them and smiled softly. Inside her head she couldn't help but notice the connection between the two.
If only she could have the same guts as Sakura did.
Thinking back to the promise she made to Naruto before the war, looking at the scene in front of her, it all seemed to pale in comparison.
She looked once more to the sky, as if searching for Neji's reassurance. She remembered his words from one of their training sessions, filled with such wisdom.
'Fear is like the darkness. Cold. Whenever you're uncertain, remember what the Hyūga crest stands for. The light, which is the cold flame. And the cold flame is the fire as we know it. Fire warms us and animates our courage. So, step forward in the warmth of the fire. Walk with courage! One step at a time.'
Hinata smiled fondly remembering his words. She had already taken one step forward in the war, when they had to fight the Ten Tails monsters. She remembered briefly how frightening that felt, but she took it. Now she had to take one more.
But she wasn't exactly sure where to begin and she definitely wasn't Sakura. She thought about that as she watched the two, next to each other.
She bit her lower lip for a second and sighed. How could she compete with that?
"Everything alright, Hinata?" Sakura asked, observing her demeanor. Naruto followed Sakura's observation, surprised.
"Eh? Are you okay, Hinata?" he asked, too.
She closed her eyes, smiled and bowed as she replied to them.
"Yes. it is. It's just… been a long day," she said.
"We should all head home," Shino interfered.
Everybody nodded in unison. The day had surely been long for all of them.
Knowing how relatively far Hinata lives to the cemetery, Kiba interfered.
"Are you going to accompany Hinata home, Shino?" He asked. "At this hour she shouldn't be walking alone on the streets," he added.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure Hinata gets home safe," Shino assured his comrade.
Soon after, Sai interfered.
"I can join, too, since the Hyūga compound is relatively in the vicinity to where I live."
"I live somewhat in the area, too, and I can accompany you guys as well," Lee interfered as well.
Kiba nodded in approval.
"That's great! You boys better take care of her, got it?" He warned.
Hinata smiled candidly. "Kiba-kun, no need to be so incisive. I'm sure everybody is going to keep their promise. Moreover, I… I can walk by myself as well," she said.
"I say we all walk together up to the ramen shop since it's a somewhat central point for everyone coming from all directions. And then, from there, we split off. I'm sure someone here would have no issue with paying a visit to the old man either, right, Naruto?" Sai said, teasingly.
"At this hour it's probably closed," Naruto tried to deflect.
"Sounds like a plan," Sakura interfered. "I say we should leave right away."
Tenten and Kiba interfered shortly after. Given that their homes were at the opposite directions than the agreed point, and a lot closer to the cemetery, they let the others know they would be taking another route.
"Take care of Hinata!" Kiba said in a loud tone as he walked away.
On the other hand, Tenten saluted everybody, not before informing Lee that she'll go by his house the next day after visiting Gai.
Before leaving for good, she and Sakura shared a glance and nodded at each other, as to recall their previous pact regarding Lee.
After the two left, the rest of Konoha 11 walked together to the agreed point. Once they were there, they started to split, each into the direction of their homes.
"Well, I have to go this way," Sakura said, pointing behind her the path leading everyone to the gates of Konoha.
Before leaving, Hinata bowed once again and thanked Sakura for all her help.
"Oh, I told you, no need to thank me, Hinata!" Sakura said, reassuringly.
Noticing that the direction of her house is literally on the opposite side from almost everybody, Lee asked.
"But… Sakura-san! Does that mean you're going all alone to your house?"
"Oh, it's ok, no worries. I'm used to it, already… Sometimes I have to stay long hours at the hospital and…"
She didn't even finish her sentence, because Naruto cut her short.
"She's not going alone. I'll accompany her," he said, taking a step forward.
"Always a gentleman," Lee said, smiling candidly.
Hinata smiled, but inside, she felt as her heart started to feel really tight. She would've wished for him to go with them instead, but… it was also true that they couldn't let Sakura go alone at night either.
She kept her composure, as she smiled through everything.
"Well then, we should get going before it turns too late," Sai added.
"Yeah, we should," Hinata agreed, as she looked to the sky. The flames from the lanterns still flickered in the dark. She recalled Neji again at that moment.
Naruto and Sakura said their goodbyes and started walking towards Sakura's place. As the others turned around, Hinata glanced once more at the backs of Sakura and Naruto moving away from them.
On the way to Sakura's home, she inquired with Naruto about his health.
"Everything's okay, I guess," he said, shrugging. "Nothing out of the ordinary, other than the fact that well… I'm missing a limb & it gets kind of hard to eat my ramen now."
Sakura giggled a bit...
"You're always the same…" she said, between the smiles.
"But other than that, all is well? Does your body show any changes? Do you have any symptoms? Any side effects from the war that you could tell me about, face value, without us having to go into full scan?" she asked.
"Mmmm, not really… Granny Tsunade asked me the same today. And she asked me to tell her more about how I managed to build Kakashi sensei's eye in the war and uuh, keep Gai-sensei from dying. I explained to her how I kind of did it but… I also told her that I'm unable to do that for myself currently, no matter how much I try."
"You can't do that anymore?" Sakura asked, surprised.
"No… it's like… it's gone. I don't know how to tell you. But Granny Tsunade told me that this all seems like I was disconnected from the source that provided me with it, or something like that.
That seal thing I had in the war from Super Gramps Six Paths or so. I don't know, something like that," he said.
"I see," Sakura replied, quickly getting pensive.
'The mechanics of this sound so much like how the seal between us and Katsuyu-sama functions' she thought.
'But what he managed to do with it is beyond anything we can do with normal medical ninjutsu. Only Byakugou can do that, but the prerequisites for it…' she paused the thoughts for a moment. 'It's the kind of power that I would've needed to have to keep him alive when Kurama was extracted from him.'
She then remembered the dream she had the other day.
Sakura was so deeply lost in her thoughts, that she didn't even realize Naruto was asking her for a third time if she felt alright and how things were going for her.
"Eeh? Oh! Yes, yes. Everything is alright, don't worry!" she replied, smiling.
"Just, you know… a lot of work at the hospital after the war. A lot of patients with all kinds of injuries. Then there's your arm…" she said, trying to deflect from the thoughts that had just gone through her mind.
For a moment Naruto felt that something was off, but the excuse she was offering was pretty good, so he couldn't exactly pinpoint if something was wrong or not. But he trusted her to open-up if needed be, like she always did. Pushing her wouldn't help, and he wouldn't start doing that just now, after so many years of doing the exact opposite.
"We also hoped that we could somehow maybe get help from you in this whole limb situation. That maybe, somehow, you would be able to do it again or that we can work it out from Hashirama Dono's cells. But, well, as you know we're where we are," she said.
Naruto's tone lowered, along with his eyes which fell to the ground. "Yeah… I know what you mean…"
Sakura looked at him, slightly worried. But then, he soon changed his demeanor and brought back his well-known signature smile.
"But I have all the faith in the world that if someone is going to solve this up it is you and granny Tsunade!" He said, confidently.
That only made Sakura smile warmly, but behind that smile the tension started gripping her muscles and building up inside her like a water dam that is close to exploding. The images from the nightmares she had with him dying on her lap, while her medical ninjutsu wouldn't work, kept haunting her.
But she didn't let Naruto see that, so she swallowed all that tension back inside herself and kept her cool.
Lucky for her, they were already close to her home when this happened. So, all she had to do was keep it cool for a little while longer.
"We're already here," Naruto noticed, looking at the building where Sakura's apartment was.
"Thank you for walking me home, Naruto," she said, smiling.
"Yeah, no worries. See you… around," he said, slightly blabbering. He wasn't exactly sure why. Maybe because the realization of where they stood was getting blurrier and blurrier. With Sasuke technically back, he didn't feel like he wanted to interfere. Not to mention, he couldn't help but ponder over those questions his mind asked a few days ago. About destinies and feelings and choices. All in the context of their relationship… Well, it got weirder and weirder.
But, anyway, now wasn't really the time to think about that. One thing at a time.
"See you at the hospital," she said, smiling.
"Mhmm," he said, nodding.
Then they said their goodbyes while Naruto headed towards the Uzumaki quarters, and Sakura went up to her place.
As soon as she entered the house, Sakura announced she's home to the light being on in the other room.
After taking off her sandals, she went to see which of her parents was the one still up. Both of them couldn't be, as the lights in the rest of the house were off.
Only when both were up the lights in the whole house were on, as her mother kept walking around the house doing different things so she used to leave them like that.
She thought it must be her father since he's the one who usually stayed up late sometimes, to read a newspaper or two.
He had this habit of going for one in the early morning and read some of it.
That, of course, until Mebuki was to wake-up and prepare breakfast and they both started the day, which meant first preparing everything necessary for Sakura's school and then, continuing with their daily lives.
Mebuki, at home taking care of whatever household chores, while Kizashi went to his daily job. He worked in aquaculture, and he was always found around rivers and fishes, making sure their habitat is always cared for.
The Haruno family's whole existence was based on Kizashi's work of fish selling. It wasn't much, but it was an honest job.
After that honest job, he always used to come back home, help Mebuki with some of the house chores if there were any that needed to be taken care of.
Then, after Sakura was back from school and they had taken care of anything regarding her and anything else that was to do for that day, he would sit down, calmly, and continue to read the other part of the newspaper he hadn't managed to read in the morning.
His mind always had to stay occupied with something, otherwise he would crack jokes all the time or talk continuously for hours about Heaven knows what. Anything. Everything you can think of.
At times, Sakura thought that that's where she inherited her mind abilities from. Because there was no one else she knew as avid for having their mind occupied with something, than her dad's.
It was with him that she first took a look at the trivia games.
The papers her dad would read had sections of those games that they would both play together.
And that's how her memorization passion started. They would play the games and then Sakura would retain the information she found out from those games in her mind. And it wasn't long until her mind started consuming everything that was up for memorization and played as many trivia games as she could find.
Recalling all that, Sakura smiled. She looked at her dad longly for a little while from the hallway that led to the kitchen.
The paper would cover Kizashi's eyes, but when he heard no movement for a while, he started pulling it down, jokingly saying to his daughter "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"
That's another thing they used to do when Sakura was a child. Play hide and seek whenever she came from outside and was all sad due to other kids not wanting to play with her.
He would make some time for them to play and would try to soothe away the hard blow of being rejected by the other kids.
Moving to Konoha wasn't an easy decision for the family. Sure, for them, the adults, it wasn't that big of a deal, but for Sakura as a kid it was and you could see it from the stories she used to tell her parents about whenever she went outside to play.
Being from a non-famous clan like the inhabitants of Konoha was what probably made the other kids reject her.
And the rejection from wanting to belong hurt the most.
That's why, whenever he could, he did what he could best: offer his bud all the love it needed to grow. A place in his arms where she knows she belongs to.
Sure, Mebuki was different in this aspect. Her model was more the tough love model.
She would always lecture Sakura about how she needs to be her own person and not mind what the others say or do.
Because this world is a tough one and people will hurt her when she least expects it.
Because that's how people are. They hurt other people. So, she must toughen up if she's ever going to live in this world, or else she'll be eaten alive.
It's that fire inside of hers she had whenever she would fight with her that Sakura would need to let out.
That's what Mebuki would always say to her whenever Sakura would ask why they aren't like the other families.
Such a different approach than her dad's.
And that's what later on became a paradox to Sakura. Her mother would talk about that fire, that determination of self that she would need to have, yet… they never did something to elevate their status in the society they lived in. So how could she truly have given her that advice?
It was something that she never understood. Even to this day. But who knows? Maybe it wasn't time for it to be understood. Yet.
"I'm home!" Sakura said, smiling warmly.
"Welcome home, little cherry!" Kizashi replied, putting his paper down. "Everything alright?"
"Yeah, I'm just very tired with the whole day that's been at work," Sakura said, staying in front of the kitchen, leaning into the wall.
She didn't quite have the mood for a long long talk, so she excused herself and told her dad she's going to skip their talk for now as she needs to rest.
Kizashi nodded and told her not to worry as he was preparing to finish his endeavor too and go to his room.
He wished her to sleep well and then took the paper back into his hands. There was that one more news he needed to finish reading.
Back up her room, Sakura closed the door after her and sighed hard, thinking about all the ideas that were going through her mind at the moment: her family, her work as a medic ninja, the lost comrades in the war, Naruto, her nightmares involving him, her helplessness feeling, the urge she felt inside her to never let someone die while on her watch. Not only that. To not even be close to death.
All those things were circling right and left through her brain. She had this drive inside of hers to never let someone die while on her watch, and she knew very well the implications of what she was wishing for.
It was something she and Tsunade had discussed when her master first talked to her about the whole knowledge involving the seal she now proudly wore on her forehead. Along with the dos and don'ts regarding human life and its sacredness.
'To walk on the realms of immortality for those fleeting moments of battle, the price we must pay is that of our own life,' she recalled the words of her master.
'Anything other than that means to trample the natural balance of the world and interfere in the grand scheme of creation itself.'
As those lessons echoed inside her mind, Sakura headed to the wardrobe, took from there the pajamas, a towel and headed off to the bath. Because oh dear, she so needed a hot bath.
As she headed to the bathroom, she couldn't help but think even more about the lessons with her master.
'This is such a powerful technique, but it's not meant to make us live forever. Living forever is a sin that only those like Orochimaru bathe in. Who forgot that life has an order on which it functions and a sacredness that must be respected and revered for the way it is.
But sadly, that's something my former teammate forgot or refused to even consider after the death of his parents. The desire to bring back those he cared for deeply made him lose sight of that very principle and he started sacrificing life that had its course for that which was no longer with us. It maddened him.'
When she got inside the room, Sakura turned on the heating system to warm-up the water. And it wasn't long until she was inside the hot water.
As her muscles relaxed, more thoughts came down her mind. She knew very well the kind of technique she would want to develop, but something bugged her mind.
'If I am ever going to do that, am I disrespecting that very sacredness Master told me about?'
No answer came to her, so she dived even deeper into the water. She wanted to release the tension she felt in her muscles and that erratic feeling that was bumping inside the chambers of her mind.
'If I still want to save someone's life without having to pay for it with the price of my life, is that me breaking that code?'
Her mind had just carried it back to the tensei ninjutsu Chiyo had used on Gaara. A life, paid with another life. That seemed to be fair.
But she was a medical ninja. Her job was to save, protect and make sure she never dies on the battlefield until the lives of the party members have come to an end.
So, wasn't that a bit paradoxical? Was it her truly disrespecting the sanctity of life by thinking of finding a technique that would make her not have the drawbacks of using Byakugou?
It wasn't like she wanted to find something similar to what Orochimaru did or even the Impure World Reincarnation jutsu she witnessed in the war. She wouldn't want to sacrifice a life that had its course for another that ended. No. She would never do something like that. That was for sure. She just wanted to be able to avoid unnecessary death and if needed be to be able to bring someone back from death's door, even when they seemed they have crossed that line.
Basically, something similar to…
And that's when her mind clicked! The Impure World Reincarnation jutsu… the ability to bring back the dead back to life, if needed be.
That's the kind of power similar to what she had in mind for saving people. Because one second late and your medical ninjutsu cannot help you.
An image from her nightmares with a dead Naruto on her lap, flashed inside her mind once more.
She shook her head and to avoid that thought, she got back to the initial one she had.
'But the Impure World Resurrection uses sacrifices as well and… I… don't want that. That would truly mean I am trampling on the sanctity of life and breaking master's code. Ugh, what else can I do, to figure a way to counter the drawbacks of Byakugou while being able to bring someone back from the dead, if need be, but without using human sacrifice to do so?'
Sakura kept wondering and didn't quite find an answer for a little while.
No matter how long she pondered, the answer didn't come to her and the water was getting colder. She needed to let it go for now and go rest.
So, she took herself out of the bath and after drying her body, Sakura headed straight down to the room and prepared to sleep.
As she put her head on the pillow, she made a mental map of the things she would have to take care of for the next day, that would bring her a step closer to her goal. She would need to investigate more the connections between Creation of All Things, Creation Rebirth, Byakugou and their mechanics so she can understand how to combat the drawbacks. After all Tsunade did say those were connected.
On the other hand, she thought about looking more extensively into tensei ninjutsu and Impure World Resurrection. She felt as if it was definitely some information there that would definitely help her. The fact that their mechanics involve bringing back the soul of a departed one, there must surely be something in their mechanics that would be of help to her.
The only remaining thing that puzzled her mind was one thing and one thing only: how would she practice such a technique since it required someone to be dead in the first place? How can she practice the resurrection part of it?
That was a heavy question with no answer. One that she needed to not think about right now or else she would find herself having a sleepless night and there was a lot of work at the hospital for the other day.
Not to mention if Tsunade would see her tired, she'd surely scold her and start asking questions.
And for the moment Sakura wasn't sure that this was the kind of inquisition she'd want from her master.
She was walking a thin line between right and wrong, and her master's words echoed deep inside her.
But at the same time this desire of hers packed with the fact that both wished that the drawbacks to using Creation Rebirth's Byakugou wouldn't be so severe, amounted to something.
No matter how much they had searched, there wasn't anything yet to counter the effects of the technique. Their discussion a few days ago in Tsunade's office reminded Sakura that, at least, in terms of advancing Byakugou they were on the same page.
Plus, hadn't her master said that the reason she started looking into recovery ninjutsu was because she lost dear people? At least in that respect, she was still walking down the path of her master.
The thin line was the 'bringing people back from the dead' part.
That made Sakura close to walking on Orochimaru's footsteps and that was something she didn't want to do.
The amount of suffering and horror he had brought to the ones close to her and all the other people he experimented on, under the name of scientific ninjutsu advancement was horrendous.
If something was sure, it was that she did not want to be remotely close to that.
But… How else do you even study a technique like that? How else can you practice, make observations, develop and whatnot? The number one gap is that you need a subject.
A dead one. And usually, dead people brought to life required live ones being sacrificed.
So that was a no. A big no no.
Okay, that was enough. She had to go to sleep the way she aimed to because this was the second time her mind slipped into the multitude of questions and that all-nighter she told herself she wanted to avoid, was getting closer and closer.
So, she drew one last breath and then closed her eyes. She would sleep, one way or the other.
The sun's rays entered her window as the break of a new day was already here. Being haunted by so many thoughts and unanswered questions the previous night, Sakura woke-up feeling quite tired.
But, there was no room for complaints, so she quickly got out of bed.
This morning wasn't going to be one of those mornings where she stays and eats breakfast with her family.
She had to be really early in Tsunade's office to continue working on Naruto's prosthetic arm, plus all the other work after the war. There were still all the wounded soldiers that needed to be registered in the archives of Konoha's reports and so many of them had yet to be registered. Then, there's the aspect of monitoring their estate and all that an event such as the aftermath of a great war entailed.
After she dressed herself, Sakura sprinted right to the door where she quickly started to put her shoes on.
"Sakura, your breakfast!" Mebuki shouted from the kitchen.
"I don't have time this morning, mom!" She said, as she was finishing putting on her second shoe.
In the blink of an eye, Mebuki was already behind her with two packs of food.
Sakura turned her back and flinched at the sight of her mother.
"Didn't know you were there. So fast!"
Holding the packs of food high up in the air, Mebuki smirked.
"I am the best and fastest cook you'll ever know, I already told you that but you'll never believe me. Anyway, I thought you might not eat breakfast at home this morning since your father told me you got back late last night. So, here, I prepared the breakfast," she said as putting her right hand a bit higher than her left one, "and here it's the lunch," she added, switching movements of her hands.
Sakura looked at her mom longly for a moment. She felt conflicted.
Why would someone as her not want more in this life? Why was she so content with just that? In the world they lived in, it almost felt like a prerequisite to be a ninja. Yet, her mom and dad were just content with being part of a family with nothing special about them, in a village full of elites.
So many times she felt like they were cutting off her wings with their way of being. But then again, in terms of caring for her this way, they never faltered.
If only they would've wanted a little bit more from life, maybe now they could've helped her in dealing with all these turbulences she was going through in her career and personal life.
But… There was no time to think about those things now. She had to be somewhere. Not to mention that pondering too much about these things wouldn't help anyway.
It's not like her parents would somehow magically turn into ninjas with a great knowledge in the field that she needs help with.
Sakura smiled slightly as she reconciled with those contradictory feelings relating to her parents. She looked at her mother from bottom up, as she rose off after finishing putting both her shoes on.
"Thanks, mom!" Sakura said. "I got to go now," she added, grabbing the packs of food. Then she shouted a salute back at her father who was in the kitchen.
"See you both for dinner!" was the last thing she said after slamming the door behind her.
Then, she quickly ran towards the hospital, where she and her master had a lot of work to do for the day.
Not to mention, there were certain things that Sakura desperately needed to get intel on.
Once she arrived, Sakura went straight for Tsunade's office to announce to her master that she's there.
As soon as she was in front of the office, she knocked on the door.
The voice from the other side of the wall invited her in.
"Good morning, master! Just wanted to let you know I have arrived" Sakura said, as she opened the door.
Tsunade raised her eyes from the paperwork that was standing on her desk and looked in her direction. She saw Sakura holding two bags of food.
"You haven't eaten your breakfast yet?" She asked.
Sakura looked down to her packs of food. "Uhhh, not y-" she was about to say when Tsunade cut her short.
"Go eat first and then report here. We have a lot of paperwork to fill out today and we have to go over the situation with Naruto's prosthetic hand."
"Understood!" Sakura said as she took herself out of the room. Then, she went to eat her breakfast so that she could quickly return to her duty.
Before that, she made a mental note of the things she wanted to get to, without raising any suspicion in Tsunade's mind about what she wanted to do.
It was a good cover that they already had that previous discussion a few days back, as she could put it all on that if needed be.
The feeling though, was totally weird. In a way she felt like she was betraying Tsunade. And she didn't feel okay because after all Tsunade was the very foundation she stood on. The person who helped her become what she always desired the most.
It didn't feel like she would only betray her master, but her own self.
However, on the other side, the strong desire to push the boundaries of medical ninjutsu so she can never feel so powerless and helpless as she did when Naruto was about to die in front of her, was a fire that burned inside of her even brighter than the sun.
Not to mention… having her think about it, in a way it's pretty close to what her master, Tsunade, did. Her desire stemmed from the same place. The things they wanted were similar, in a way.
She remembered another one of their discussions from when Tsunade first told her about the seal and the ninja art she was about to get acquainted with.
How the reason she didn't fall to Orochimaru's ploys, back before she returned to Konoha to be a Hokage, was because, in essence, she and her former teammate were approaching the same thing. Just in different ways.
Both her and Orochimaru have sought immortality. The only difference was the intention behind it. Why they sought it.
Which made Sakura go even deeper into her thinking process, as she connected the dots of that initial story when Tsunade first told her about the technique, with the one that she learned recently.
Orochimaru wanted to do it for personal gains and selfish desires, while her master did it because she wanted to be able to keep the ones she cared for deeply closer to her for a longer while.
She wanted to be able to have the power to protect them. Which in essence was the same thing, reasoning and intention as her master.
The only difference was that the way Sakura wanted to develop this was at an incredibly close border to what Orochimaru was doing.
She was walking a dangerously thin line between the right and wrong principles of which one would want to develop such a technique, as her master had told her so many times.
Yes, no matter how much she thought about it again, the conclusion she got to was the same way as the one she did last night. Nothing had changed, she was still in the same position.
Her food was almost ready. She drew a long breath, started packing her things and cleaned the table after she finished eating.
After that, she took a very small moment to regain control of her composure and thoughts and then went straight to Tsunade's office.
"Come in!" Tsunade said, as she heard the knock again.
This time she didn't even raise her head from all the files and just invited Sakura to come in and take a seat.
"Today we have to take these reports with the new enlisted patients we have and treatments we are applying, to the Hokage's office," she informed Sakura.
"As you can see, our work after the war is yet not completely over," Tsunade said.
"I know…" Sakura said, slightly saddened, remembering all the people she had to check-up.
If they didn't have issues with their bodies, they had issues with their mind. This for some reason made her think about Naruto and Sasuke. Her mind always wandered her back to the
Academy days when they were fighting each other.
She understood now, being a lot older, how affected they were by their condition and the toll it took on their mind and spirit.
She wondered how many children were in that same situation as they were, right now? How many were given for a brief moment the perfect life in a dream world, where they were cared for and loved, only for them to wake up back to a cold reality, where those very basic needs were lacking?
Or any other person who saw themselves living a dream life, be it of any type, only to be called back to a harsh reality.
The patients they had seen lately, those registered with effects of the aftermath of the Infinite Tsukuyomi, most of them looked hollow. Looked like their spirits broke.
Some of those who she saw, said that there is no point in living life as they had it anymore. That they don't see any purpose to it.
Why did they have to get back to a life of suffering? Why couldn't they stay where they were? Was it so bad to have a life filled with fulfillment? What is it that bad at wanting a life like that?
And no matter how much she tried to comfort them, she often felt like she had no success, truly.
They too, were in the back of her mind among all the other things. There were so many perspectives weighing down on her shoulders.
Tsunade had tried to help them all as much as she could.
Rearranging their mental pathways proved itself to be a short-term solution, but Sakura knew deep inside herself that a long-term solution needed to be found. One that doesn't help this only from a somewhat mechanical perspective, but a spiritual one, too.
Their mind and soul connection needed to be healed as well, not just the body one. But who could do that?
"Master, I have been thinking… for the cases that have been gravely affected by the Infinite Tsukuyomi, shouldn't we open a special section?" Sakura asked. "Your work with the medical jutsu of rerouting their pathways away from receptors of pain is truly a great help in terms of short time solutions. But..." Sakura paused for a minute.
She tried to gather her thoughts and composure and to explain her idea better, without offending Tsunade in any way, because that was the last thing she wanted. All she wanted was to help everyone.
Tsunade paused her browsing through the files in front of her and looked directly to Sakura.
"What I mean is that, I feel as if they need a long-term solution. We need to find a way to heal their minds and spirits and, correct me if I am wrong but for that we have yet to develop a medical art that deals with that aspect. Granted, until now it has never been something we needed as the whole world hasn't been through a mass hypnosis that showed them a perfect life. But now, with all due respect, given that this has happened, I think such a measurement is highly necessary," Sakura said, ending her plea while she bowed her head in respect.
Tsunade somewhat smirked proudly. She followed Sakura closely and saw how delicately she brought the whole issue to the forefront.
"You should express these kinds of points of view with more passion and determination, you know?"
"Eh?" Sakura said, confused.
"Trying to tip-toe around me from the fear of not offending me isn't the way to go about this. I'm your master, yes. But you know as they say, students are always meant to surpass their masters. Which means we are bowed to get old and our ways to get redundant."
Sakura tried to excuse herself and assure Tsunade that that's not what that meant. But the woman knew her better than that.
"You think that when I came up with the idea of a system of medical ninjas I tip-toed around The Third and his Advisors out of fear to not hurt their feelings and rub them the wrong way? Hah, you poor child. You have yet to learn some things about how these things work. If you want to do something in this life, you have to fight for it with all you've got. Break through some egoes if need be. I'd say prepare from now if you truly want to do something like that."
She soon ended her efforts of trying to make it look like she wasn't, because yes. That was the issue. The fear back on the head of her mind was that her master would understand this the wrong way.
'She knows me so well,' Sakura thought. 'How can I ever keep something away from her… like… that? I have to be more assertive otherwise I'll start raising suspicions.'
"You are right, master, I'm sorry for not being fully open from the very get go. But yes, that's what I truly think. Now, I am not sure how to go about this, but I feel that it's something that needs to be done," Sakura said.
"Well, first of all you have to prepare a report where you present the project with scope, estimated costs and all those other necessary details. Then take it to Kakashi and see what he says. If he can allocate funds from the budget or not. Think it well, think it through very well.
Think mostly about the costs and human resources. Who should fill what positions and with what qualifications? Take into consideration the type of necessary training they would need and write it all down. Write down the whole plan, up to the smallest detail," Tsunade advised Sakura.
She couldn't help but feel so proud of what she was hearing though.
The young flower in front of her had grown so much, from that frail little girl that walked into her office all those years back.
Back then, she was like an unpolished rock. But she knew the pressure it takes to make a diamond. And she applied it from the very get go, no questions asked.
And no matter how hard things were, Sakura endured them: hours in training, unslept nights where she accumulated all that knowledge, then the practical applications of her training. Everything. She had done it all with sweat and sometimes tears, that she oh so often tried to hide, but she did it all without complaining once!
And under all that pressure, that little diamond shone the most in the battlefield. And she resisted so much better to its conditions and aftermath compared to how she had done it when she first met the horrors of war.
On one hand, Tsunade felt that Sakura had long surpassed her in certain ways.
To be an elite caliber medical ninja, in the vision Tsunade had, one would need to possess a strong spirit that never wavers and it's always hyper focused on the job it has to do.
A blend of the compassion, delicacy and reverence for the life of a human being, but the excellence and the precision of a cutting-edge machinery. Everything, refined to the highest perfection.
Because yes, in Tsunade's book perfection existed and you had to attain it, if you were to be the kind of medic ninja she envisioned.
And Sakura Haruno, the frail girl turned titanium became the very embodiment of that ideal. Not only that, but she was even surpassing that ideal, now, in front of her very eyes.
But on the other hand, she still had to learn how to be more assertive, especially when it comes to authority figures. Because if she were to truly start building this new project, she'd meet a lot of aversion from authority figures.
Sure, the times weren't as they once were, but still. Administrative work was never easy.
"Understood, master! I'll start on that report right away. I believe I'll do it in parallel with our work because it gives me the opportunity to study, live the experience firsthand so I can truly embody and explain best why such measures are necessary," Sakura said.
Tsunade then handed her the reports she had to take to the Hokage's office, and while reaching to grab them, Sakura asked Tsunade how things were going with Hashirama's remains.
"Well, as you know, the energy is very volatile and hard to stabilize. So we're still at that. I am still trying to find a way to stabilize it so we can attach it to Naruto's arm. As you know, the tests conducted showed that they would be a match. But, before I can attach it, I need to stabilize it first or else Naruto Uzumaki will be left limbless. That idiot!" Tsunade commented.
"Yeah…" Sakura agreed. "From what I understood from him last night, you talked to him about the power I witnessed him having in the war," she added.
"Yes, indeed. But from what it seems, he… doesn't possess that particular skill anymore ever since that specific seal off his hand disappeared," Tsunade said.
"I'm very much assuming that it has a connection to Creation of All Things, if I am being honest with you. From what he described to me, the mechanics of that jutsu are highly similar to Creation of All Things where I drew most of my medical ninjutsu from," she added as she kept pondering.
Sakura listened carefully to her master.
"In a way, the mechanical principle sounds highly similar to that of Healing Resuscitation Regeneration. It's the jutsu we used on the late Neji Hyūga when we used his hair as a medium to reconstruct his damaged body tissues. The only thing is that Naruto's one was without a medium."
"But then shouldn't Healing Resuscitation Regeneration work on Naruto, too?" Sakura asked, confused.
"Well, the problem with that jutsu is that in essence it's highly similar to Creation Rebirth in the sense that it reconstructs the damaged parts, but there's a trick to it. It only works with smaller areas and organs. That idiot lost half of his arm. Plus, it has to be done as close to the time the person has been injured or else, if too much time passes, it doesn't work anymore.
So, in Naruto's case we have both variables: larger damaged area and too much long time passed since they fought and you found them," Tsunade told Sakura.
"In Neji's case it was different because I sent the medical troops after them immediately, and by the time the afternoon came, they were found and brought to me in intensive care."
"And Byakugou is out of question, because in order to use that to regrow it we'd have to have his energetic matrix and we both know how long that takes to map out. Only after that we'd be able to do it. And that would mean Naruto has to stay and focus for at least 3 years to be able to get his own seal where his power matrix is stored and activate Byakugou to regrow it," Sakura added herself.
"And we both know how good he's at standing still, don't we?" Tsunade asked jokingly, trying to diffuse the situation.
They both started laughing at that thought and for a moment the seriousness of that heavy moment dispersed.
But it wasn't long before they were back to trying to unravel the mysteries.
"Well, from what it seems there are two answers here," Tsunade said. "We either manage to build him an arm from my grandfather's remains or he stays limbless. One of which we don't desire."
Sakura nodded.
"If only he could find a way to connect back to that source that gave him that initial power in the war, maybe that way the limb reconstruction would be easier," Sakura said. "I wonder what exactly it's the trick with that power, since in essence it works with energy itself. Why couldn't Naruto do it?"
"Well, that's a question that needs extensive research, the same way studying my grandfather's cell does. At least we know that one works since Madara used it for so many years. And so did Danzo, as we managed to find out from that girl, Karin, whom Kakashi brought to the village, the one we held incarcerated for interrogation."
"Yeah, I remember that," Sakura said, slightly nervous. Remembering those times were still somewhat of a traumatic experience for her. She had felt all kinds of feelings back that time: anger, frustration, impotence, shock, fear, abandonment, jealousy. All those piled up at the same time. She had to heal the girl. A girl, just like her, that Sasuke had just injured to death. She remembers even now how she felt her heart starting to race as the shock fell and began to seize her very being at the sight of seeing Sasuke doing that. It was hard to forget such an experience, indeed.
But she shook it off and quickly got back to the reality she was currently in. And that's when her mind got a moment of radiance and connected the dots.
"Master!" Sakura burst out. "Maybe, what we need to do is find a way to stabilize Hashirama-sama's cells and combine it with the Healing Resuscitation Regeneration technique. Use his cells as a medium to regrow Naruto's limb," she said.
"I know that you said that it's highly volatile, but I just realized… Wasn't Kurama a mass of highly volatile energy as well? Naruto in the end managed to control that volatility. As we know, in the war, he fought alongside Kurama. He somehow managed to get access to the source of Kurama's very power and use it as a weapon. I'm sure that he'll find a way to be able to control Hashirama-sama's cells as well!" Sakura said, in complete excitement.
As she told her master that, she felt her heart being filled with complete enthusiasm.
She realized at the same time in parallel with her ever working double mind, that she had found the missing link in her searches from last night, as well.
The only variable missing in her plan then was the human sacrifice she didn't want to have to make.
But now, all she had to do was closely study Hashirama's cells and use them as a medium for what she had in mind.
The fire she felt burning inside herself felt like it's consuming her old being only to rebirth a new one like a phoenix.
She felt like she finally found the key to what looked to be an impossible lock!
Now, all she had to do was put in motion the very plan that her mind mapped out the minute that door opened and the light of the realization hit her.
"Sakura, you're absolutely right!" Tsunade said too, in amazement. "As expected from my dear pupil," she added. With that realization in mind, there was no time to lose. They had to start working on it right away.
"Now go! Go to Kakashi and give him these reports and then come back so we can start putting all that in motion. In the meantime, I'll tell Shizune to make all the necessary preparations!"
Sakura nodded, got up from the seat and took the dossiers containing the reports.
She saluted her master and then went straight to the door. Then, she headed to the hospital's exit with the destination set: Kakashi's Hokage office.
On the road, she had one thing in mind: who could be the subject of this experiment of hers? The trial of attaining a power beyond the medical ninjutsu one, which failed her in her nightmares where Naruto stood cold in her arms? A power that allowed her to bring back life from death's plane if needed be?
As she continued heading towards Kakashi's office and thought about possible people she could try it with, a single one came to mind. One whose return she was certain would make everyone's lives a little happier.
Seeing the heaviness of their suffering brought her a great deal of pain. So, in the delight of her realization that she found a way to possibly be able to do what she wanted, she thought of that one person.
A person who many considered that he shouldn't have been dead. That there was a long path of life in front of them to walk down to. That it was cut too short, too soon. Another one that she wasn't in time to save: Neji's, the Hyūga genius.
