Sakura woke the next morning to the feeling of Chishi curling around her neck "Wondered where you slithered off to" Sakura commented, stroking the black mamba who hadn't been there when she'd died.
"He was with me, seems like Chishi found himself quite the meal and it took him some time to well eat it" Sasuke stated, stood in the doorway of the guest room, looking like he'd been awake for awhile.
The pinkette let out a little laugh and went through the motion of standing up "Let me" Naruto rushed forward, practically shoving Sasuke out of the way in his haste to get to Sakura so that she didn't struggle trying to get up from the futon.
Sasuke glared at him, inwardly understanding the blonde because he'd almost rushed over himself "You know Kakashi's not the only one who wants to ask….I do as well, how are you alive Sakura" Tazuna demanded to know.
Once the genin were seated around the table to have breakfast with him and his family "Father honestly demanding things of the poor girl, let her eat first before questioning her" Tsunami whacked her Father right over the back of the head with a spoon.
Inari edged away from his mother at that "Since I'm done already I think I'm going to go play, yeah, see ya" Inari bolted in the next moment not wanting to be an ear witness to whatever the following conversation would be like.
Naruto shook his head but hurriedly ate until breakfast was devoured and the six of them moved into the living room "Alright you have the floor Sakura-chan" Kakashi gestured once they were all comfortable.
For a moment she was quiet then she closed her eyes as if steeling herself "It's going to sound crazy but when I died I went to this garden with a red moon and met a man named Jashin who called himself the God of Slaughter and introduced himself as my Father to" Sakura admitted.
Utter silence followed her statement "God of Slaughter that's crazy talk, there ain't no such thing as gods after all" Tazuna dismissed the idea out of hand not believing obviously, Kakashi however knew that his kunoichi was not lying.
"And what did Jashin tell you Sakura-chan" the Copy Ninja questioned, knowing that there was a lot that she hadn't said yet and he was right as she took another deep breath, shooting Tazuna a subtle glare as she did so.
Before continuing "That I was the Goddess of Slaughter, except in living flesh, apparently I wouldn't exist without his power as he gave my birth mother the ability to conceive seeing as the religion Jashinism is hard on the body" the pinkette blurted quickly.
Kakashi raised a brow at that, but still Sakura wasn't lying in the least "Oh yeah so what does that mean for you" Kakashi inquired, getting this feeling he already knew where this conversation was heading and not liking it in the least.
"Well it means that I can't die, I'm immortal now according to him after the long chat we had after I went back to sleep oh he also wants me to sacrifice Orochimaru because he and his subordinates were the ones who killed my parents" Sakura grimaced.
Gluing her gaze to the floor fearing her teams rejection of her new found abilities "No matter if your this goddess of slaughter, your still Sakura-chan to me and if you have to sacrifice this Orochimaru dude then I'm going to help you" Naruto exclaimed in the next moment.
Loyal to a fault "Precisely, I threw my lot in with you two and Kakashi so there's no way I'm backing out now just because your more than the average kunoichi" Sasuke scoffed, slinging an arm around her shoulders in a show of solidarity.
Their sensei was never prouder "Don't tell me you believe that crazy talk she's spewing Kakashi" Tazuna interjected once again, interrupting Kakashi when he was about to say something that would have been encouraging no doubt.
Thankfully Tsunami had it covered as she whacked Tazuna for the second time that morning "It's not for us to doubt, especially since we all saw Sakura-chan lying there dead and now here she is opening her heart and you want to insult her after everything she's done" Tsunami raged.
Shaking a fist at the old man "Ignoring that, I'm proud of you three, just exercise caution about who you tell alright Sakura-chan, if Orochimaru catches wind of that, he'll be after you I'm sure, that's why I have no intention of reporting the truth of what happened here" Kakashi warned.
Heart swelling with relief Sakura jumped him for another hug "Thanks for believing me Kakashi-sensei" Sakura grinned, glad that Jashin had given her permission to explain the truth to her team, he was also giving her a choice of who she wanted to sacrifice as well thankfully.
"Such faith they give me, it makes me wonder what I ever did to deserve those three" Kakashi mused to himself, a fond twinkle for his genin in his charcoal iris, especially when the two boys practically velcroed themselves to their female teammate.
Obviously they wouldn't be leaving her alone any time soon "By the way Kakashi-sensei, what are we going to do about that thing I asked a few days ago, you know about Gato's money" Naruto asked suddenly.
Remembering that the shipping tycoons money was up for grabs "Valid point, I'm sure if we ask Sakura-chan's new friend he'll show us the way" Kakashi nodded, wondering how the thug would react when he saw Sakura alive.
Considering he'd left before the girl had come back to life "That sounds like a wonderful idea Kakashi" Sasuke smirked, feeling a little vindictive towards the man still, even though it had been the guys partner who'd killed Sakura, he wasn't completely innocent either.
So the four of them headed out and Kakashi was able to instantly locate the blue haired thug who understandably freaked the hell out "Long story I don't feel like telling it again, can you lead us to where Gato kept his money" Sakura said.
"Yeah whatever you want kid, by the way my names Ogawa" Ogawa introduced himself, trying to come to terms with the fact that she was alive after watching her die, he wasn't going to ask though instead simply did as requested.
By leading the ninja to his former bosses base "Thanks Ogawa-san" Sakura exclaimed smiling up at the thug sweetly, Kakashi had to suppress a chuckle when the man awkwardly ruffled her hair before walking off clearly not sure how to handle kids like Sakura.
They had a mission however so he reached for the door only to find it locked "Darn locked huh, looks like its your time to shine Sakura" Sasuke frowned, eyeing Sakura who whipped out her lock picking kit.
Kakashi blinked incredulously at the sight of her fiddling with the key hole "Ah we never did tell you that Sakura-chan knows how to pick locks did we" Naruto seemed to realize upon seeing his incredulous expression.
In response Kakashi shook his head "Well now you know, by the way it's unlocked now" Sakura giggled flinging open the door "And don't let them fool you Kakashi-sensei, their getting to be quite the lock pickers themselves" the pinkette snickered.
The boys flushing in sync at the teasing but didn't deny Sakura's words any "Just how long may I ask have you been able to pick locks anyway" Kakashi asked, taking point again as they headed into Gato's empty base to find his money.
"For well over a year now, since I moved into my apartment, I sometimes forgot my key so I practiced on my bathroom door until I could successfully pick any lock, I keep it limited of course to my apartment mostly but there have been a couple of exceptions" Sakura chattered.
Proud of herself "Yeah like the time she gave me a heart attack in my apartment, the day you gave us the bell test I woke up and she was there padding around in my kitchen cooking me breakfast and I asked how she got in and she told me she picked my lock" Naruto admitted.
"Other than that until just now I haven't seen her pick any other lock except the door of our apartment" Sasuke added realizing how little Sakura actually used her strangely learned skill, though it did come in handy to his surprise so he couldn't complain any.
Sakura giggled softly just as Kakashi realized something "Hokage-sama wasn't joking when he said you three started living together, I thought he was trying to pull my leg or something" the Copy Ninja said.
His students shook their heads "Of course we both thought Sakura-chan would reject our request up until the moment she agreed to let us move in to the empty rooms" the blonde intoned sheepishly at Sakura.
When she opened her mouth to make some kind of rebuttal Sasuke cut her off "Understand where we're coming from for a moment Sakura, you are an extremely cautious person, heck you still won't let us in your bedroom I see you see my point now why we thought that" the raven said.
"Boys…I do understand though, and I probably will never let you in my bedroom unless in case of an emergency" the rosette huffed, adding that last bit so the two didn't get their hopes up, not that it really bothered them any thankfully.
Sensei shaking his head at their antics as they finally found Gato's stash or rather the safe his stash of money was in "I don't suppose you have any skill at breaking into safes do you Sakura-chan" Kakashi asked.
Kunoichi blinking at him dumbly for a moment "Don't encourage her" Naruto scolded, face threatening to break into a smile regardless as he realized their sensei was practically indulging Sakura to practice her thieving skills.
As she stepped up to the plate again and put her ear to the door of the safe, twisting the dial while listening for something, after several minutes it was clear Sakura was not up to breaking the code "Sorry, I've only really practiced picking locks really" Sakura apologized.
Only to be waved off "It's not your fault Sakura, though it's something you could practice for any future situations" Sasuke suggested, then watched Kakashi as he drew an exploding seal on the lock of the safe.
Before ordering them to stand back as he activated the seal, blowing the safe wide open "God, Gato really was one greedy bastard" Kakashi whistled being the first to see the contents of the huge safe that they'd just broken into.
Immediately his genin rushed over to peer into the safe with him "More like well I don't know any word worse than greedy but if I find it that's what Gato is going to be from now on, even if the bastards dead" Naruto started unable to come up with a word to describe Gato.
Sasuke pat him sympathetically on the shoulder "Rude to badmouth the dead knucklehead, even though we speak the truth" Sasuke reminded, waiting on Kakashi before doing anything since he hadn't given them permission yet.
Sakura's briefly confused expression told Sasuke however that she didn't know all that had happened on the bridge "Just tell me later" Sakura shrugged when he opened his mouth to explain not really wanting to hear about any more deaths right yet.
Why would she after she'd made her first kill subsequently dying herself afterwards, Kakashi cleared his throat "Right, first we get the money to fund the rest of the mission since it's turned out as it has" the Copy Ninja declared.
Orders given Sakura was nudged forward, she could crunch numbers like nobodies business and after calculating out exactly how much was needed to fund the higher rank mission they'd accidentally found themselves on the money was handed over to Kakashi.
And it was promptly sealed into a storage scroll, with that done Kakashi let them loose on the money to figure out what they wanted to take with them "Say wouldn't this be enough to get us an actual house Sakura-chan" the blonde asked.
Not very good at math obviously but he knew that they'd have plenty of money to spare after this "Knucklehead that should be Sakura's decision if she wants to move into a house" the raven whacked the blonde on the head with his knuckles, gently of course.
Because Sakura was extremely protective over Naruto "Maybe something to consider after we get back to the village" the pinkette offered, Naruto nodded in understanding then focused his attention back on the pile of money in front of him.
Two hours later each of them were probably set for a good couple of years while leaving the rest to the little village in the Land of Waves to rebuild and prosper hopefully now that they had the chance to what with Gato gone.
It wasn't but three days later since the bridge was built, the thugs had all been dealt with except for Ogawa who swore to Sakura that he'd protect the village in the case of an attack Kakashi decided it was time to get back to Konohagakure.
"You know I'm kind of glad we're leaving, that had to be the most awfullest mission we've ever been on" Sakura admitted, finding it difficult to feel bad or regret her words now that she'd said them, she'd died after all.
Sasuke's arm immediately went around her shoulders being mindful of Chishi who hadn't left Sakura once in the three days she'd been awake after dying "As bad as it sounds I agree with Sakura" Sasuke winced.
Eager to get as far away from the little village as he could now that they were on their way home "That terrible huh, even though you learned how to tree climb and water walk" Kakashi grimaced, knowing where they were coming from.
Naruto scowled "Still the worst mission ever, heck I would have preferred a D rank over the hell we went through you know, in fact I'd rather have been chased by your ninken if that tells you anything" Naruto scoffed, wrapping an arm around Sakura's waist and glaring around.
Like he thought someone was going to come out of nowhere specifically targeting the girl, Kakashi nodded in understanding, keeping up his brisk pace as they walked in the direction of their village.
All of them ready to be home after being gone for two weeks and a day later they reached the gates of Konohagakure "Come on you three, lets report in and then you'll have a week off to rest and recuperate though I do want you to get check ups at the hospital" the Copy Ninja said.
Shepherding his students towards the center of the village where the Hokage Tower was located so they could debrief their Hokage about the mission, Hiruzen was suitably horrified when he learned of course.
As he inhaled sharply and smoke went down his wind pipe making him cough "Did you just say that the mission was an A ranked mission and yet you still completed it" Hiruzen frowned, worried that there was something Kakashi wasn't telling him.
He wasn't wrong but Kakashi was rather tight lipped about things for some reason "Yes Hokage-sama we completed it, no casualties except for the three aforementioned" Kakashi reported looking the Professor in the eyes and lying with a straight face.
Because someone had died, Sakura though she was standing with them because of her religion she'd been inducted into "I see…I suppose the only thing left to do is congratulate you on a mission well done, give you your mission pay and let you go home" the Hokage sighed.
Giving them their belated congratulations and passing over their hard earned mission pay to add to what they'd already taken from Gato's stash "Right time for that hospital check up" the rosette reminded, curious to see if anything was different about her now that she was immortal.
Like a viper she poked Sasuke in the side since he was blocking the door, capturing Naruto's wrist at the same time as she dragged the blonde from the office Sasuke trailing obediently behind her because he knew better than to argue with her about something like this.
Considering Sakura was the aspiring medic on the team the last thing either of them heard was Naruto exclaiming "No need to drag me Sakura-chan I can walk just fine you know" the blonde teased followed by a smacking sound and Naruto's whine before they were out of earshot.
Right before Kakashi escaped from the office Hiruzen pinned the Copy Ninja with a demanding look upon his face "I should have known that I couldn't get away with not fully reporting on what happened" the Copy Ninja groaned.
Taking a seat when he was gestured to "The office is secure so tell me everything" Hiruzen ordered wanting to know what Kakashi was keeping from him, hoping it wasn't to bad, unfortunately nothing could ever go his way.
As his Jonin opened his mouth "Sakura-chan died…..she died and came back to life right in front of us, I felt it, a malevolent chakra entered her body and brought her back, I know now the chakra belonged to someone named Jashin, the God of Slaughter" Kakashi explained.
Face straight, completely honest before his leader "Died, she died and came back and your telling me a god named Jashin was the one who did it, how do you expect me to believe this at all Kakashi" Hiruzen spluttered.
Disbelief in his eyes "Hokage-sama I know how it all sounds and there's no way to prove it but I believe my student, she wasn't lying, she was to descriptive, and Sakura-chan's terrible at lying nor could she misdirect me away from the truth" Kakashi announced.
Having utter faith in his kunoichi, how could Hiruzen object now, presented with such a thing as he took a drag from his pipe and released the smoke "Say I believe you, what does this mean for Sakura" the Hokage inquired.
Keeping an open mind for now "Well it means she's immortal, not that I or she have tested it and she'll have to practice the religion to keep Jashin satisfied, thankfully however he seems to be quite understanding of her situation and current age" the Copy Ninja said.
Feeling weird about having this sort of conversation with his leader "Pardon, never mind, with how bizarre this conversation has already turned out I guess it's not to much of a stretch and what is the religion about exactly" Hiruzen sighed.
Asking an important question "Slaughter….Jashin apparently gave her the choice however to pick and choose who she wishes to sacrifice in his name so we don't have to worry about people dying on us" Kakashi grimaced.
Realizing how horrible this all sounded "Alright I believe you, I won't put this on her permanent record for obvious reasons, no need to have my old friend after the poor girl, but I will have her put under an anbu guard for observational reasons until I'm ascertained of her loyalty" Hiruzen declared.
"Thank you Hokage-sama, but I don't think you have to worry about anything, Sakura-chan is exceedingly loyal, do whatever you need, though I beg you not to tell her, she's still unsure about this whole ordeal herself" Kakashi requested earning a nod of dismissal.
Meanwhile while the very serious conversation was happening in the Hokage's office, Sakura had marched her teammates straight to the hospital for an after mission check up "You three again and here I thought you'd finally stopped treating each other like punching bags" the receptionist groaned.
Upon seeing the genin of Team Seven stood in the hospital lobby for probably the thirtieth time since becoming genin "Actually our sensei thought we should get checked out since we just got back from a two week long mission" the Uchiha cut in sourly.
"Fine, take a seat and fill out these forms, a medic will see you soon" the woman rolled her eyes, still miffed that she'd seen these kids the most out of all the other genin who'd graduated and passed the special test.
Eleven minutes later a medic came out to greet them and led them to separate rooms for the check ups they requested, Sasuke and Naruto were just fine but when Sakura was examined the medic was puzzled "Hmm….did anything happen on your mission" the man frowned.
Looking over past check up reports "Err somewhat nothing bad though, why do you ask" Sakura inquired, worried that something had indeed changed about her and she wondered how she was going to explain.
"Well it wasn't obvious until I examined you Sakura-san but you have a secondary chakra when you didn't before, and it's darker than normal chakra, what on earth happened to you" the man asked, fearful of that malevolent chakra swirling around inside of the young girl.
Sakura however was less than enthused about telling him as she hesitated "Nearly died, a ninja I'd never met before came along, kissed me and shared his chakra with me, I didn't realize it was still inside of me as a secondary chakra" the pinkette said.
Improvising a little bit so he wouldn't figure out she was lying, she technically wasn't, she just wasn't telling the whole truth or rather the real truth of what happened "I see..other than that your just fine, all I ask is that you be careful with that secondary chakra" the medic requested.
"Okay Medic-san if that's all I'm ready to get home, maybe take a hot shower and go to bed early even oh and please don't tell anyone about my secondary chakra, it's a little embarrassing" Sakura popped up from the examination table.
Looking the man in the eyes with a pleading look in her eerie green eyes "Of course patient confidentiality and all that Sakura-san now go you look exhausted" the medic shooed her off to the lobby where her teammates were waiting.
This time Naruto was the one to grab her by the wrist pulling her until she was safely between him and Sasuke as they left the hospital behind, along the way they stopped by Ichiraku and got take out because Sakura didn't feel like cooking then finally hurried home.
Their apartment was still protected by the cloaking seal but with a simple hand seal the door was revealed then Sakura simply pulsed chakra into the door and keyhole and with a click they were allowed entrance into their shared space for the first time in two weeks.
Naruto inhaled "Home sweet home" Naruto murmured glad to be back, exhaustion hitting them hard now that they were safe in the apartment behind a sealed door, Sakura knowing they'd regret it if they didn't eat headed into the kitchen to set up the table so they could eat.
"You said it Naruto…there's nothing like coming back to a place you live in with your best friends" Sasuke nodded, only admitting it to the Dobe and Sakura, he'd deny it vehemently should anyone else ask him how he felt about his teammates.
Sakura smiled at them indulgently as she came back to let them know the table was set up, it was as they were finishing up that a knock echoed through the apartment "No need to get up Sakura-chan I can let myself in thank you very mu..AHH" Kakashi called out from the other side.
Viridian orbs widened as Kakashi gave a yell as he was shocked from trying to open the door "Well now we know the seal on the door works" Sasuke smirked, Sakura shooting him a glare, lips twitching all the while as she rushed to open the door for their sensei.
Who looked a little electrocuted "Sorry Kakashi-sensei, I put a lightning elemental seal on the door to shock and thwart anyone from trying to enter whose not me, Naruto and Sasuke" Sakura apologized sheepishly and got her hair ruffled.
"No need to apologize it's my fault for being impatient, though I must ask if I step through the doorway I won't get shocked again will I" Kakashi asked, eyeing the doorway warily, Sakura smothered her laughter with a snort.
Shaking her head as she did so and gestured him through into the apartment "Hey Kakashi-sensei what brings you here" Naruto greeted, mostly focused on eating his ramen when the duo entered the kitchen and Kakashi sat at the table with them.
Kakashi chuckled in response "Just wanted to check on you and find out how your check ups went" the Copy Ninja explained his reason for visiting them for the first time since they'd all moved in together.
The two boys shared a look with one another "Our check up went just fine, in the medics words we're as healthy as horses, the receptionist in the lobby wasn't happy to see us however and we don't know how Sakura-chan's went since she hasn't told us yet" the blonde admitted.
Glancing at Sakura who winced "Thanks to Jashin-sama I have a secondary chakra, I'll ask if there's a way to hide it for any future hospital check ups until I learn the mystical palm myself" the pinkette sighed.
"Don't get to down Sakura, think of that second chakra as an ace in the hole, if your unable to access your usual chakra" the raven offered trying to cheer his teammate up and only getting a small smile from the girl, nothing like her usual beaming smiles.
Even Kakashi could sympathize with his kunoichi as he bid them goodnight seeing that they would probably be heading to bed soon, after assuring them that they did have a week off of all missions and training before body flickering away and not long after they went to sleep.