Sakura was up bright and early the next morning "Shouldn't you be resting" Tetsu frowned when he saw her marching across the village to the hospital he realized after a moment and he remembered Kankuro was still in a poor condition.
"As soon as I check on Kankuro and take a look at Gaara, Lord Tetsu, then I'll rest once I know their going to be okay for myself" Sakura informed, pushing open the hospital lobby doors and entering the hospital for only the third time.
Medics as she passed them on her way to Kankuro's room bowed their heads respectfully at her but Sakura wasn't the type to glare down her nose at someone as she simply nodded respectfully back at them.
Until she and Tetsu disappeared into Kankuro's room "Sakura, I'm sorry you had to come and save my dumb ass after I went and got myself poisoned" Kankuro apologized awkwardly as he lay on his back at her request while she check him over.
The pinkette shook her head "Your right that was dumb of you, stupid and reckless as well…but I don't blame you, Gaara's your brother of course you'd run off after him in order to save him, I would have done the same for Naruto so all's forgiven" Sakura snorted.
Kankuro smirked before it softened into a genuine smile "Make sure you check Gaara over to when you can Sakura, Temari said something about him still hurting" Kankuro said as she finished looking him over for any remaining poison.
Only to find none "That was my next stop Kankuro" Sakura assured before she and Tetsu left, leaving him to rest some more since he wasn't quite at a hundred percent yet, the poison had been extra nasty this time.
"Naruto-san….he's your brother isn't he, though I see no similar features between the two of you" Tetsu commented as they made for the Kazekage Estate to check up on Gaara, Sakura was pretty stubborn like that he was beginning to notice.
At his comment though she glanced up at him "Because I'm adopted Lord Tetsu, my biological parents were murdered by Orochimaru, like the rest of my birth village, though I do have living relatives now, Naruto will always be my brother and I will always be his sister" Sakura declared.
Coming to a stop and knocking on the door "Here to see Gaara I take it Sakura-san…Lord Tetsu" Yashamaru answered a moment later, already knowing what Sakura would be there for, he just hadn't expected the former Kazekage.
Though it didn't seem like he was going to stick around as he simply turned on his heel and left while Sakura entered the large house "We'd heard you passed out Sakura-san so should you be up and about like this already" Karura asked.
Upon seeing her children's friend "I just used to much chakra Karura-sama but after a full nights sleep I've mostly replenished my reserves, plus I can't just sit around while there are patients to tend to" Sakura admitted softly.
Karura smiled kindly in response and Yashamaru he actually chuckled just as Temari emerged from where ever she'd been prior to Sakura's arrival "Your here, Gaara needs you to take a look at him Sakura" Temari sighed visibly in relief.
Whole body just relaxing now that her friend was there "Leave Gaara to me, I'll have him up and running I promise" Sakura grinned lightly before heading down the hall to Gaara's room, and a moment later she was stood over him.
Hands glowing blue as she checked him over "Do you have an explanation for the pain I feel" Gaara inquired when Sakura pulled away from him, frowning which wasn't a good sign to him at least before she nodded slowly.
"They'd already begun extracting the tailed beast from you, since we interrupted, the seal, sealing the one tail in you eroded some, but as for your pain, the process they were using is extremely painful on the body that's why your sore Gaara" Sakura explained calmly.
Gaara grimaced and just as he was about to ask someone else did it "Can you fix his seal, and strengthen it Sakura-san" Rasa inquired, sensing her chakra in his home, he'd guessed that she'd come to see Gaara and was right.
Sakura worried her lip for a moment "I believe I can on both questions" Sakura nodded after going over all of her sealing jutsu knowledge in a split second, she could do it and succeed, both redheads seemed relieved at the news.
With that she made Gaara roll over and remove his shirt then she whipped out her chakra ink and ink brush to begin drawing seals all over Gaara's back, Rasa watching closely "First I'm going to make this into an even pointed seal, odd doesn't really do it" Sakura said.
Deciding to explain the whole process as she worked "You seem more knowledgeable than before Sakura-san" Rasa noted, seeing the ease in which she drew, not an ounce of hesitation because she knew that all the seals would work as they should.
A brief smile was sent his way "I am a quarter blood Uzumaki, this, fuinjutsu has always been a part of me and while we were gone Shishou took me somewhere that had lots of books on the subject and I studied many of them" Sakura announced.
Eyeing her work so far "Wait that makes you really related to Naruto doesn't it" Gaara asked, realizing what that meant for his friend, she was an Uzumaki not just through adoption but blood as well.
"Yeah not just that but apparently Tobirama-sama to, had a test done and everything, and he's my great, great grandfather, what the history books didn't tell us was that he'd taken a wife who gave him a son and I look just like his wife Sena Uzumaki" Sakura huffed.
Still miffed about that though she couldn't blame anyone, especially not Jashin who hadn't known, Rasa nearly choked on his tongue but settled for widening his eyes for a brief second "Right back to what your doing" Rasa cleared his throat.
Realizing now might not be the best time to talk about new found relatives "Of course, alright everything's in order so I'm going to move Shukaku's seal from your neck to your back, it will hurt but try to hold still for as long as you can okay Gaara" Sakura warned.
Beginning the process of moving the seal in order to strengthen it, Gaara immediately grit his teeth against the pain he felt but because Sakura asked it of him, he didn't move a single muscle until the seal was no longer located on the back of his neck.
He was breathing hard by this time with sweat trickling from his forehead onto his pillow "Is it almost done" Gaara wheezed, the pain had practically stolen the breath from his lungs but he felt the stroke of a brush on his flesh again.
And he clenched his eyes shut thinking he was going to experience more pain "Just about, I'm adding the strengthening seal in the circle and there all done" Sakura soothed, putting her things away a moment later.
Then pressing glowing green hands to Gaara and healing him of any residual pain he felt "Thank you Sakura-san, now you should go back to the hotel and rest some more alright" Rasa suggested after thanking the girl properly.
Sakura smiled and vanished in the next moment "Where on earth have you been Sakura-chan" Naruto scowled when she showed up in the hotel after he'd searched it twice over for her and he hadn't even been able to feel her chakra.
"Checking up on the patients Knucklehead" Sakura rolled her eyes, unlocking the door to her hotel room and slipping into the room before shutting the door and locking it back to Naruto's chagrin as she lay back down on the bed to get some sleep.
Outside the room Naruto huffed but turned back to the room he was sharing with Sasuke "I take it she came back from checking up on Kankuro and Gaara…I told you Naruto that there was nothing to worry about" Sasuke quirked a brow at the blonde.
Who scowled "Excuse me for being worried about my sister Sasuke, you know how Sakura-chan is, she'd push herself until she dropped again just for everyone else's sake" Naruto grumbled as he threw himself down on the bed he'd chosen.
"That's just Sakura though Naruto, that's why she has us as her teammates to support her when she does inevitably fall" Kakashi chided as he poofed into the room via the body flicker technique having heard the two from the hallway.
Naruto groaned quietly in response and buried his face into a pillow to ignore his annoying teammates/sensei and a couple days later once both Kankuro and Gaara were back on their feet thanks to a joint effort between Sasuke and Sakura.
Team Kakashi figured it was time to head home "Hold on there is one more thing I'd like to ask, Akasuna said something about how Orochimaru was on to you, what did he mean Sakura-san" Tetsu stopped them.
Remembering what his former murderer had told Sakura, all four Leaf Shinobi tensed in response, then Sakura turned to face him properly as well as all the others Yashamaru, Karura, Temari, Gaara, Kankuro, Reto, Baki and Rasa himself.
Kakashi realizing what she was going to do rested his hands on her shoulders, silently supporting her and giving her courage to speak "It means that Orochimaru's beginning to realize he didn't massacre my entire village thanks to those Akatsuki bastards" Sakura began.
Slowly working up her nerve to tell them because they deserved the truth "What I don't understand is why Orochimaru would target a civilian village like that" Reto frowned, confused now that it was being brought up.
Sakura grimaced "Because it wasn't, it was a village that practices a religion called Jashinism, everyone was a Jashinist who followed Jashin the God of Slaughter, he killed them for the sake of experimentation because he wishes to be immortal like I am" Sakura informed.
Face tight with pain at the coming rejection "Gods don't exist that's just crazy talk Sakura" Temari was the first, though she said it a lot more gently than the former Kazekage would have, it was still a blow.
"I believe her….all those times I scented death on her, felt that malevolent chakra that she carries around with her, I began to realize that Sakura was not like the rest of us and Shukaku can hear his voice, Jashin's, he warned Shukaku back during the exam not to go out of control" Gaara interjected.
His sister shot him a horrified look "You mean you really aren't pulling our legs here Sakura" Kankuro pleaded but Sakura shook her head sadly "Why does it have to be you" Kankuro asked grasping for straws in the next moment.
At least it wasn't outright rejection "I'm the only one left besides Hidan and even if I wasn't, I'd still go after Orochimaru for what he'd done" Sakura admitted quietly, facing their judgement bravely yet silently as well.
"The spy you have on the inside of Akatsuki, he also practices this religion Jashinism" Rasa narrowed his eyes on her and she nodded silently, he was beginning to understand why she didn't tell many people.
Especially if this was the reaction she got "Yeah but while I do the rituals the proper way their supposed to be done, he's more of a loose cannon and tries to make everything as bloody as possible" Sakura rolled her eyes.
Though the man had more than proved he could be trustworthy she knew that one day they were going to have to fight probably "What do you mean proper way how can you slaughter someone properly" Baki frowned.
Disgust welling up in him "There's more than one ritual Baki-san, there are prayers, chants, it's not just about slaughter, but paying respect and satisfying Jashin is the main objective to the religion and you can do that any which way you want really without sacrifice" Sakura said.
Tetsu spoke next "And how many people have you sacrificed since becoming a shinobi" Tetsu demanded to know, while studiously ignoring the part where Leaf had a spy on the inside of the Akatsuki Organization.
"Just two, they were bandits" Sakura explained not lying at all to Tetsu's surprise, who had expected to hear a larger number than that really, he knew she was trustworthy now though so this changed very little.
For a moment no one spoke until Temari asked one very important question "At the summit meeting Sakura when you said someone tried to strangle you to death, does that mean you were actually strangled to death and physically died" Temari questioned.
Teal eyes practically demanding an answer from her friend "Zetsu, the one who impersonated Shisui before, he was hired by the Tsuchikage to kill me…so yes Temari I did die that day and it terrified me because of how easily he got past my barrier" Sakura nodded grimly.
Laying out the truth completely "How long have you been practicing this religion, since a young age am I right" Reto inquired, considering the girl had lived on an island that practiced the religion so she must have known about it a long time.
Sakura shook her head "No, I was brought to Leaf at the age of six months old, I knew nothing until I died on my first mission outside the village at the age of twelve and I didn't make my first sacrifice until I was almost fourteen that was on Shishou's orders by the way" Sakura admitted.
Reto blinked at her in surprise at that "Oh honestly you lot, Sakura-san is baring her heart to you and all you can do is demand questions of her, she's still a valued friend and comrade isn't she, you just know what all she's capable of now" Karura rolled her eyes, scolding the lot of them.
Yashamaru chuckled softly but nodded, agreeing with his sister obviously "Guess that's one way to put it…..sorry for reacting badly at first Sakura" Temari snorted, apologizing sheepishly to the pinkette who smiled as she always did.
Proving how selfless she really was "Go home now, we'll see each other again I'm sure, fairly soon" Kankuro waved Sakura and her team off, simply accepting that Sakura was different, abnormal but on their side thank kami.
The four Leaf Shinobi disappeared out the door and Yashamaru narrowed his eyes on his brother in law and nephew "Okay you two, when Sakura-san explained everything to us, neither one of you seemed to even be surprised" Yashamaru accused.
Alerting the others in the office of that fact as well "Because we weren't Uncle…Lady Tsunade told us back a couple days after they arrived here in Sunagakure for those two months" Gaara announced, having kept it to himself like the woman had asked.
Father nodding along indicating he'd done the same "What I don't understand is why she kept it from us for so long, we are allies of Leaf and I'm assuming everyone in that village already knows so it makes me wonder if she truly trusts us" Baki commented.
"No I don't think so, because rumors would have already reached us in that case and I think I know why she didn't tell us right away, she's so use to hiding it, plus things were fragile back during the start of our alliance and we'd already tortured her" Rasa reminded.
Reto and Tetsu shared a look "Lets also not forget the fact that Akatsuki and Orochimaru are after her and some people can't keep secrets to save their lives" Reto chimed in, not saying what else they'd learned.
Because he got the feeling that the others already knew, meanwhile already halfway home thanks to Ivory were Sakura and Naruto until Kakashi and Sasuke caught up with them a mile away from their village.
Minato sighed in relief when the four of them entered his office "Good, welcome back, well done in helping to rescue Gaara, take the next few days off alright" Minato greeted/suggested, glad that things had gone well with no injuries to speak of.
And Akatsuki was down by four members now "Dad you should know I told the Kazekage about my religion, I had to because Orochimaru is beginning to catch on to my existence" Sakura informed just before walking out of his office.
"We'll deal with it Sakura, I won't let him hurt you nor will I let those Akatsuki bastard touch another hair on your head" Minato promised, already knowing that things were only going to get more complicated from here on out.