Departure day was upon them at long last and everyone was rushing around making last minute preparations or rather Naruto was as Sakura watched him panic while she sat on the couch spending a little extra time with Chishi and Chimei.
"Knucklehead, this is why Sakura told you not to wait to recheck your pack in case you forgot something" Sasuke scolded, expressing himself in a less violent way because he really didn't want his teammates to leave him for two whole years.
From the opposite couch where the two Sannin sat Tsunade snorted "Sakura's right Naruto, you should have done this yesterday, we could already be on our way now but Jiraiya insists on having me wait for you so we can leave together" Tsunade grumbled.
Jiraiya smiled innocently in response "Will you really deny Minato the chance to see both of his children off at the same time Tsunade, you know much he loves these two" Jiraiya shot back and Tsunade rolled her eyes.
But didn't say anything else "Okay I think I'm ready now" Naruto returned a few minutes later double checking his pack filled with storage scrolls, each one of them labeled appropriately so he knew what was in them.
Courtesy Sakura of course "About time Knucklehead, alright Chishi, Chimei, you be good for Sasuke, and Sasuke try not to drive Itachi-san insane, that goes double for you Shisui-san don't mess with them to much" Sakura stood.
Passing over her black mamba's to Sasuke since they were staying here while she was gone, at her words Itachi chuckled "You hear that Shisui-san your not to drive me insane" Itachi teased his friend, feeling lighter than he ever had.
What with the Uchiha Clan down to the three of them he didn't have to bare the role of Clan heir so heavily "Mean I'm not that annoying am I" Shisui pouted, watching Sakura slide her backpack onto her shoulders.
Then look him dead in the eyes and nod "Goodness" Shizune giggled behind her hand when Shisui slumped into some sort of depressed state, gloom hanging over his head like a visible cloud at Sakura's teasing.
"Relax Shisui-san, I'm just having a bit of fun with you, don't take it so literally alright, your not that bad anymore, I still think your obnoxious of course but again not as much as you use to be" Sakura grinned.
Lightening his mood before turning to Tsunade sporting a determined expression "Suppose this is it huh" Kakashi grimaced when the woman rose from the couch elegantly, it was time for them to leave and damn if he wasn't having trouble letting two his students go off without him.
He struggled all the way to the gates where Minato was waiting for them "Naruto, Sakura" Minato greeted, dressed all formally in the Kage robes, because he wasn't just seeing them off as their Father, but as the Hokage to.
Naruto bounded up to the man first "Dad, we're gonna train super hard out there so you don't have to worry alright" Naruto chattered, the more exuberant of the duo as Sakura walked over to him a lot more calmly.
Minato chuckled at her mock glare "I know you will Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan, I won't lecture you to much, so just listen to Jiraiya-sensei and Lady Tsunade and do your best to stay out of trouble" Minato placed a hand on both of his children's heads.
And he noticed Sakura was almost near tears when he drew them into a hug "Will do Dad" Sakura hummed, taking in the affection she'd been denied for years and un-guiltily basking in it for as long as she was able.
Until he pulled away and gestured them over to the two Sannin who had been waiting patiently or impatiently in Tsunade's case "Be careful, I expect lots of souvenirs and a letter every once in awhile" Sasuke jumped in at the last minute.
Once the quartet was all signed out "Go on brat" Tsunade sighed when Sakura looked up at her and she rushed back to Sasuke to give him a bone crushing hug that cracked his spine, Sasuke didn't care though.
Even when Naruto joined the hug "Okay Gaki time to get a move on" Jiraiya called after a couple of minutes, the two reluctantly released their teammate and a few minutes later the four of them were gone in different directions, Sasuke watching until they could no longer be seen.
Half an hour later Tsunade stopped and rounded on Sakura "First thing we're going to do brat, have that god of yours tell you where that island you were born on is, cause we're going there to see if you can learn more about your heritage" Tsunade snapped.
Sakura blinked but gratefully un-suppressed her secondary chakra it flared up like an old friend greeting her after a long time of not seeing each other and she heard Jashin's voice inside her head for the first time in months.
'Jashin-sama, Tsunade-shishou wishes us to go to that island to see if anything was left behind for me to learn from' Sakura said, glad she wouldn't have to hide this part of herself from her mentor who accepted her as well.
His voice came after a moment 'Ivory knows, she will take you both there, but be prepared to find nothing child' Jashin warned, his presence settling within her psyche comfortably as if they hadn't just spent the last month being unable to speak this way.
Instructions given Sakura looked up at Tsunade "He warned me to be prepared too find nothing, but my summon knows the way…..so Ninja Art: Summoning Jutsu, Ivory please take us to the island of my birth" Sakura informed.
Summoning her favorite wolf by far, Tsunade nearly had a heart attack "Sakura that doesn't look like any normal wolf that I've ever seen" Tsunade eyed Ivory warily, the wolf looked like some kind of hell hound to her.
Her apprentice grimaced "Yeah that was my first thought to, it's because they were raised in his garden, to everyone who doesn't know they'd seen a normal wolf, but those that do know, see Ivory-chan how you see her now" Sakura admitted.
Climbing onto the wolfs back "Please sit astride my back Tsunade-san, my method of traveling is unorthodox" Ivory explained, Tsunade pursed her lips then shrugged and sat behind Sakura on the wolf who rose to her full height.
"By the way Sakura how long have you had wolf summons, you know you'll have to give them up for the slugs right" Tsunade asked/reminded hoping the girl wasn't to attached to the wolves that she could summon.
As Ivory took off into the forest, eerie pink eyes searching for that which would take them to the island, Sakura craned her neck to eye her mentor "A few weeks after first meeting Lord Jashin and I won't have to if I'm able to summon both right then there's no worry" Sakura announced.
Quite confident in herself that she'd be able to handle the responsibility of two different types of summons "Ah found it" Ivory exclaimed after she'd been running for awhile, nothing but a blur and a moment later.
She'd jumped down into the portal bathing them in darkness or rather Tsunade who gripped onto Sakura tightly "What the hell is this Sakura, what's going on" Tsunade demanded to know, not sure she liked whatever was happening.
"It's my gift Tsunade-san, the ability that makes me unique to the other summons, I can see rifts in the world that I can exploit to take you anywhere you wish" Ivory said, prompting the woman to relax some.
As she continued traveling the path, to Tsunade it felt like only a few minutes had passed before Ivory gave a mighty leap and once again she could see, the first thing Tsunade saw was a building, then the symbol carved into ground before it.
Just as her stomach growled and she looked to the sky to find it already afternoon on them "Just two of the disadvantages of traveling via the rifts, time passes quickly and it makes you that much more hungry" Sakura intoned sheepishly.
Once Ivory went back to the garden in a poof of black smoke "Compared to how long it would have taken us if we'd traveled the regular way I don't see a problem with it as long as we don't use it to often" Tsunade shrugged.
Deciding there were worse things in life than a wolf who could see rifts and take them anywhere they wanted "Understood Tsunade-shishou" Sakura saluted then sat down to prepare lunch for the both of them.
Before starting for the building they saw in the distance "The temple I was born in" the rosette put a hand to the brick, as Tsunade went around to see if there was anything else on the island, upon getting behind the temple as Sakura called it.
She saw dilapidated houses, each with that symbol in front of them "Do you want to check out this place first or try to see if we can find something in those old houses" Tsunade gestured at the houses letting her apprentice choose.
In the end the houses were checked first 'Child find the one with lanterns' Jashin urged suddenly and Sakura walked forward blindly searching until she found it 'Welcome home daughter' the God of Slaughter informed.
Signaling that this was her old house, she didn't question him merely walked through the gates as the old lanterns lit up with black flames "Are you going to tell me what's going on Sakura" Tsunade cocked a brow on the girl.
Who was solely focused on getting inside the house "Oh uh sorry Tsunade-shishou, Jashin-sama said that this was the house I lived in with my birth parents" Sakura apologized as she came out of her daze.
Looking mighty curious herself now Tsunade marched up to the door and tried to open it by twisting the knob "Looks like its locked Sakura I could simply punch the door down but then anything that's inside could be broken" Tsunade offered.
"No I'll pick the lock" Sakura hastily shook her head then pulled out her lock-picking kit, inwardly glad that she knew how to do such a thing and had the skill as she fiddled with the lock for several seconds before hearing a click.
And the door swung open, jade eyes peered within feasting on the foyer, taking it in slowly before Sakura slowly crossed the threshold into the house Tsunade right behind her, there hanging on the wall to the right was a picture frame.
Of a small family, a mother, a father and a baby, the mother had jade eyes and blonde hair, the father pale pink hair and blue eyes and the baby she had bright pink hair and jade eyes, Sakura bit her lip as tears spilled from her eyes.
While Tsunade took it down from the wall and wiped the dust build up off of it "Here I think this belongs to you Sakura" Tsunade handed it to her apprentice once it was clean, Sakura took it with shaking hands.
Staring at it reverently as her fingers carefully traced over her biological parents features, she was the perfect combination of them, then she pulled out a blank scroll and drew the enclosing seal on it and sealed it away, labeling the scroll as Haruno Family memorabilia.
Steeling herself against any more crying as they moved further into the old house that was surprisingly more in tact than she thought it would be 'Your Father had a bit of Uzumaki blood running through his veins, he could use those seals your fond of' Jashin said.
Massively shocking Sakura, by this point Tsunade knew that Jashin was speaking with her apprentice so didn't react when the girl almost tripped head first into a wall "Want to tell me what he said this time Sakura" Tsunade asked.
"Jashin-sama said that my father….Kizashi, had a bit of Uzumaki in him, apparently he could use fuinjutsu so that means my use of it has always been an innate familial thing and I'm part Uzumaki not just in name but in blood now to" Sakura stated.
Excited that she was even more connected to Naruto "Good for you Sakura, I'm glad your taking all this in stride" Tsunade ruffled her hair as they continued their search, the living room had a couple more framed photographs.
That Sakura sealed away in the scroll "May I ask what your going to do with those pictures" Tsunade inquired, sue her she was curious, this was the most crying she'd ever seen the girl do and they weren't even halfway through the house.
"Probably make a shrine once we're back until then I'll most likely take them out to look at once in awhile or I'll hang them up in my room I'm not sure" Sakura admitted, squinting her eyes against the darkness.
A chill crawled down her spine as she felt eyes upon her "I don't think we're alone Shishou, I'm going to light a lantern" Sakura whispered as she pulled out a lantern, right as she did, something jumped at Tsunade.
Hissing up a storm Tsunade grabbed it by the scruff "Just a cat Sakura, feral little thing to, it would most likely be best to put it out of its misery" Tsunade scoffed when the lantern was lit and they saw what she held.
It was a cat alright, it filthy with a mad glint in its cobalt blue eyes, it's fur an extremely dark pink color as it struggled in Tsunade's grip hissing and clawing trying to get away, Sakura frowned at her suggestion though.
Then set the lantern she held down on a side table "Calm down you or do you want to die" Sakura spiked her secondary chakra, the cat went limp in Tsunade's hold who's brows raised high on her forehead in response.
What was even more surprising was when Sakura carefully took the little beast into her arms and cradled it gently "All be damned" Tsunade whistled softly when the cat started purring softly, enjoying the first bit of affection it had probably ever received.
Apparently however this wasn't the only cat in the house as a yowl came from the other corner of them room and Sakura spun to spy a yellow-furred cat with viridian orbs, it padded forward and joined it's companion in Sakura's arms a second later.
Clearly less feral or were they, perhaps the blue eyed cat had simply been trying to protect it's territory from strangers "Leave only to trade snakes for cats" Tsunade sighed realizing that Sakura would be unable to leave the cats alone.
Now that they were happily snuggled in her arms "I'm sorry…but I don't think they'll cause any trouble Shishou" Sakura apologized, unable to help herself, she'd been alone for so long that she was just naturally drawn to creatures who were alone to.
Tsunade rolled her eyes but decided against trying to force Sakura to leave the cats as they searched the living room and found a couple books, Tsunade snatched one up when she saw the title and flipped it open.
Getting a dust cloud in her face that she waved away impatiently "Heh quite the bloody religion you've gotten yourself caught up in Sakura" Tsunade commented, reading about the religions main objective, sacrifice.
Sakura nodded seriously "Very, but remember I was born into it, Jashinism was my birthright that I was stolen away from thanks to your former teammate" Sakura reminded, setting the cats down who followed her as she moved about the room.
Until it was apparent there was nothing else, the kitchen was equally as empty as was the bathroom but the bedrooms upstairs proved interesting "A crib huh, how old were you when this whole thing went down" Tsunade inquired.
When Sakura ran a finger along the cribs railing "Six months old Shishou, I remember smoke and people screaming, a terrible smell then being cold for a long time" Sakura explained, waiting for the pain that usually accompanied her trying to remember that day.
But it didn't come this time to her relief "Right…anyway lets move on it looks like there's one more bedroom up here" Tsunade grimaced, learning more about her apprentice now than in the months she'd lived with the girl and her team.
At her suggestion though they headed for the final bedroom and Sakura immediately realized this had to be her birth parents room, it was there she found an album and two diaries with names written on them to indicate who they belonged to.
Kizashi and Mebuki Haruno, Sakura bit her lip so she didn't start crying as she tenderly lifted the diaries and photo album not sure how it was still so intact like it was as she carefully flipped it open to see what was inside.
Pictures, more than she thought, dating back to the day the couple arrived on the island possibly, there was a photo of them being inducted into Jashinism, and much more but now wasn't the time to sit and look at them all.
As those three items were sealed away in the designated scroll as well "I don't think there's anything else here so let's go check out the temple, the other houses will probably be empty so there's no point in checking them out" Sakura said.
Ready to leave now, Tsunade led the way back down the stairs and once Sakura and the two cats were out she shut and locked the door behind her "Any idea what you'll name them" Tsunade raised a brow on the two felines.
"He'll be Moyashi, she'll be Tsubomi" Sakura declared, gesturing to the male first, then the female, Tsunade shrugged at the weird names then looked forward only to stop walking causing Sakura to bump into her.
Likewise the person across from them froze "Who the hell are you two and what are you doing on my property" the man demanded in the next moment, pulling out a sword and brandishing it at the two kunoichi threateningly.
Unfortunately that was all he was capable of because they couldn't sense very much chakra in him "Lets call this a trip down memory lane…my apprentice was born in this village before all the residents were killed" Tsunade informed.
Deciding it was better to be honest "It's my property now so anything you've found belongs to me got that so I suggest you hand it over" obviously this guy wasn't an understanding or sympathetic fellow as he held out his hand for anything they'd picked up.
Moyashi and Tsubomi hissed and growled at him "Don't see your name on it anywhere" Sakura grumbled glaring at the idiot who was trying to threaten them, Tsunade snorted in amusement, incensing the man even more.
"Sakura's right if you can't show us documentation then no its not your property" Tsunade announced bluntly only to frown in confusion when the man went as pale as a ghost, then turn tail and run screaming about the goddess of slaughter being back to kill him.
Honey orbs shifted downwards onto Sakura who didn't seem bothered by the title "I never did tell you did I, that's my title, I'm a physical manifestation of Lord Jashin's power, I was born from it, hence I'm the Goddess of Slaughter" Sakura admitted.
Tsunade sighed then took off the screaming idiot "Stay back" he yelled thrusting his sword at Sakura until it was broke in half by Tsunade "Ahhhhh no I don't want to be sacrificed" he screamed like a banshee.
Sakura was getting quite sick of it actually so with a hand coated in sticky chakra she slapped it over his mouth shutting him up "You going to stop screaming" Tsunade asked when the man prostrated himself in front of her apprentice.
Nodding his head eagerly, Sakura grudgingly undid her technique but the man remained blissfully silent "So why did you think that I was here to sacrifice you, I mean I don't even know you" Sakura inquired.
"Because I once worked beneath Orochimaru….I was the one who took you far away from this place, I just never thought you'd come back here especially after I read the documents in the temple about who you are" the man flinched.
Thinking his life was going to end now that the truth had come out "Can you tell her why you decided to drop her off at the gates of the Hidden Leaf Village" Tsunade crossed her arms, wanting to hear the answer herself.
He looked up "Closest village, you may say I had an extremely guilty conscious, we weren't told there was a child and it wasn't until after I'd killed them that I realized you were there in your mothers arms screaming and crying for her to wake up" he lowered his gaze again.
"And so you took me after murdering my parents" Sakura finished for him, there had been no sympathy just guilt that had ended with her living her entire life in Konohagakure and becoming a ninja of that village.
The man nodded simply awaiting death at her hands probably as he remained prostrated before her, she shook her head with a disgusted snort "You haven't taken anything from the temple have you" Sakura inquired.
He shook his head so she turned on her heel and headed for the temple "Not going to get justice for your parents murderer, he's right there" Tsunade raised a brow following after her apprentice, the man staring after her in awe.
Sakura let out an exhausted sounding sigh "He might be the one who took their lives but Orochimaru was the one who orchestrated the attack hence I see no reason to gain a petty revenge on someone who so clearly regretted his actions" Sakura declared.
Tsunade smirked and by the time they'd finished searching the temple, finding more books than she thought possible it was dinner time so Sakura whipped up a quick meal for the two of them while reading from one of the new books until bed time.