By the way, in this story Tobi never "repented" for his sins. He stayed a bad guy. When I was thinking up the plot for this story, the ending to the anime hadn't appeared yet.
As soon as she said that, Sakura felt her doppelganger's weight vanish across her shoulder.
Sakura turned to and fro but couldn't find any trace of her twin.
Wh-what on Earth?
Her thoughts raced back and forth for the millions of questions that now populated her skull. Damn, just when she thought she was getting somewhere in the current enigma that was her life.
It was like a million jigsaw pieces made up the picture of her life and every answer she got gave her a few more pieces but also elongated the portrait more.
And yet, at the same time, it felt like she was so close to getting the overall picture.
The First Myael brought someone back from the dead completely. It was the real Edo Tensei, in that it didn't just make a clone of the original but rather, forced the owner's soul directly back into their original body, restitching flesh and bone.
The Second Myael…Sakura craned her mind for the explanation Itachi had given her…oh that's right, it altered any living organism's appearance permanently and forever.
The Third Myael…she'd yet to learn about the third one's use.
Her green eyes scanned over the etched kanji surface of the tablet again, landing on Sasuke's single signature under the third column.
He…was the only one…ever to invoke the Third Myael? Was it…harder to invoke than the other two? What exactly did it even do?
Sakura knew she wouldn't be getting answers to these questions staying here. She stepped out of the ringlet of light and as soon as her foot stepped back onto the shadowed portion of the cavern, a vision encircled her:
Sasuke emerged from the pool of the cavern, his clothes soaking wet as he gasped for oxygen. Doing a simple wind jutsu, the man dried himself before looking around his surroundings.
There was nothing except darkness around him.
No stone lectern.
The man furiously scanned the underground cavern's interior with his sharingan. Every inch, every crevice, he looked through, like a man starved for answers.
Finally, he found something.
Buried very deep into the ground, near the center in the room, was something small and wooden encased…Sasuke saw using his sharingan. Digging through the dirt didn't take long because it was already loosened by the water and soon Sasuke found himself cradling in his hands a small wooden chest.
There was no lock for the box and Sasuke easily opened it.
There was a large carefully wrapped drawstring bag that had its contents almost flowing outward and then a simple length of square canvas folded elegantly next to the bag. Sasuke pulled open the canvas and perused the writing on it:
To have found this cave, whosoever is reading this must be looking for a way to invoke a Myael.
In order to learn about any of these three rituals, one must first revive me.
I have included in this box everything you need to conduct the First Myael, including which is a specially spelled crystal ball that contains my soul's very essence, it will only work on me.
The instructions for the ceremony are listed below.
In real life, Sakura had to cradle her skull as an earsplitting pain suddenly hit her, a second before the scene before her started to shift.
Not the vision in her head, her literal surroundings. They started morphing, twisting like in a viscous whirlpool, like a teleportation jutsu.
A second later, Sakura fell to her knees right as the cave's cold ground changed into frosty moist grass. It was nighttime.
She recognized her surroundings immediately.
It was Konoha's east cemetery. The one designated for regular civilians and normal shinobi. Thousands of gray tombstones lied around her in the chilly night's wind. Behind her was a dead willow tree that cast somber shadows down across the ground from the crescent moon's glow above her.
The wind around her picked up right as she made to take a step forward, as if telling her not to move.
Sakura looked down at the tombstone in front of her.
Sakura Haruno - Died Age 18
Beloved Daughter, Shinobi, Student and Friend to Anyone Who Knew Her
Sakura gasped as she stared down at her own grave. Staring at it, made the fact that she had been brought back all the more tangible. Kneeling down, Sakura moved to trace her fingers over the small epitaph chiseled into the gray slate.
She could imagine her funeral: a small gathering with just her parents, Tsunade, Naruto and Kakashi. Other people from the academy may have attended out of respect or partial longing, but the people she'd mentioned, Sakura knew, were the only ones that would have truly been affected by her death.
As she stared at the gray tombstone, an odd feeling started filling her heart. It felt like a vision was starting but…nothing appeared in front of her.
Just…literal knowledge filled her mind and immediately Sakura knew, without a doubt that Sasuke had tried to revive her with the First Myael twice.
She didn't know how she knew but Sakura just did.
The knowledge just filled her heart and resonated in her mind. One attempt was made using the enchanted crystal ball he'd found inside the chest he'd dug up, despite the instructions saying it would only work on the already designated person.
And then…a second attempt…a real flashback occurred around her, sucking her into the past:
Sasuke stood in her very same spot in the past, staring down intently on her tombstone. A living willow tree stood hovering above her grave.
The wind nipped at his clothes, blowing them in the direction of Sakura's grave. A somber longing showed across his beautiful features while he stayed unmoving. His gaze never wavered, as if he feared that the instant he looked away even this grave would cease to exist.
A second person stepped up from behind Sasuke.
It took real life Sakura a few seconds to place a name to his wrinkled, disfigured face: Tobi.
The real Tobi. Not Itachi disguised.
And that was when she realized, the person that had left that chest, for whoever wanted to unlock the Myaels, had been Tobi! The selfish man had ensured that anyone who wanted to invoke any Myael would have to first revive him.
Sasuke felt the addition of the man but he didn't show that he had, his gaze staying on Sakura's grave.
The older Uchiha stayed quiet, either in respect or in fear, most likely the latter, for another minute before clearing his throat quietly. "We should get started, Sasuke."
The younger handsome Uchiha pressed his eyes close, inhaled deeply and then nodded. He stepped back and Tobi raised his gray wrinkled hand upwards, offering up the crystal ball he'd already prepared.
"You ready?" Tobi asked but Sasuke didn't answer as he straight took the translucent sphere into his right palm. The older Uchiha stepped back.
Sasuke moved to hold the crystal ball like a baby bird in front of his chest, his left palm coming down to cover the sphere from on top, while both his elbows stuck outwards straight and parallel to the ground.
He closed his eyes and started chanting a jutsu under his breath.
Even standing next to him, real-life-Sakura found that she couldn't actually hear any of the words he said. It felt more like he exerting energy with every shape his mouth formed.
The entire thing took a long time to complete. As Sasuke chanted, the sky above him -that had started out grim- grew black and angry with booming thunder. The wind picked up too, howling like a screaming banshee seeking to kill.
Sasuke's long black hair and white clothes got picked up by the current and Tobi was forced to back up even more from the willow tree that hovered over Sakura's grave.
The long tendrils of the tree lashed back and forth through the wind, like angry pythons, attacking anything in its path but when they got to within a foot of Sasuke's body, regardless of where they hit, they got blocked by some invisible force field.
Lightning cracked above them, booming in fury a second before a bolt shot straight down towards Sasuke. It wasn't a regular bolt of lightning, it was shadowed black as it tried to kill the person before he could invoke the First Myael.
Real-life-Sakura remembered how Jugo had told her that the Three Myaels were forbidden evil jutsus that went against the very forces of nature. That the world demanded payment for every Myael invoked. Itachi had told her the same thing.
And now as she witnessed Sasuke summoning one, Sakura knew indeed that this was a demonic jutsu. That's why the world was working so hard to prevent him from completing it. Sasuke must have truly been desperate to bring her back if he was willing to resort to this.
The farther Sasuke chanted, the more black thunderbolts rained down against his force field. The winds were so strong now that a hurricane formed above Sasuke, trying to pick him up, without success.
The man was too powerful and too adamant towards his goal.
Before he finished chanting, the crystal ball in his hands split into a million tiny sprites of glowing white speckles resonating within his cupped hands. Sweat beaded down profusely across the Uchiha's beautiful face now, soaking his collar and down his zipped up shirt.
His face and any exposed skin had grown chalk white from how frigid the air around him had turned. Sasuke's lips cracked and bled either from the force of his chakra shield or from how hard he was now chanting. Rain, hail and snow all showered down around him now. All of it getting blocked by his shield.
Sasuke refused to stop.
The man continued chanting, as if his own life depended on it, eventually the speckled white lights cradled within his palms turned black as night.
And simultaneously, the ground in front of him, right before the grave, started shifting, buckling upwards like pieces of a completed puzzle refusing their rightful place.
Only then did Sakura, in real life, realize that ANBU and various Konoha shinobi encircled them by a radius of about…thirty feet. They attacked and pounded their fists against what looked like an invisible circular dome, similar to Sasuke's force field only it prevented the shinobi from entering at a much larger radius.
Lightning, hail, rain, snow and violent winds still tore at the ground around them, sending tombstones, dirt and splotches of grass up into the air to spin and also beat against Sasuke's shield.
"SASUKE STOP!"
Present life Sakura recognized that voice, she turned around and saw, distantly the masked shape of Kakashi, also trapped outside the invisible dome. Tsunade stood next to the man, pounding her fists against the dome as well.
The Uchiha ignored them and continued the ritual.
Eventually, he stopped and opened his eyes, right before he sent the black sprites that had been cradled inside his palms the entire ritual flying forth, landing down onto the disturbed Earth in front of Sakura's grave.
As soon as they landed a bright light encapsulated everything.
Present life Sakura had to cover her eyes because she felt like she would go blind if she didn't. She held her breath inside her chest as she waited, terrified that she would see a zombie version of herself in a second.
When the bright light ended, she dared a peek forward.
Nothing stood before her. The ground had stopped moving and only disturbed Earth stood where Sasuke had thrown the black sprites onto.
The ceremony had failed.
Sasuke's dark rimmed eyes widened as he withdrew his personal force field but not the one preventing the ANBU from entering.
In a second, he came to grip Tobi's throat, throwing the older Uchiha down onto ground in front of Sakura's grave.
Present life Sakura realized that Sasuke must have disabled Tobi Uchiha's chakra, that's why the older man could be threatened right now.
"You dare try to fool me?" Sasuke summoned a chidori in his fist, ready to assault his captive, right as a shuriken came flying towards them. Sasuke evaded it at the last minute and looked towards the source. The ANBU had finally managed to break through his dome.
They came rushing towards the two of them now in all directions. Yamato, Guy and Shizune were present too.
Sasuke scowled and tightened the grip he had around Tobi's neck. Simultaneously, his left eye transformed into the Rinnegan and he summoned a dark shadowed Susanoo that came to encapsulate the two of their bodies. The shadowed demon sucked them into the air, vanishing in a flourish of darkness that seeped into the Earth.
Present life Sakura watched them vanish, as at the same time her surroundings once again morphed into another scene.
She found herself inside a stone dungeon. Steel manacles, iron maidens and various other torture devices lied around her on all four walls of the square pewter room.
It was clear this one scene took place sometime after that last one.
Sasuke didn't look as exhausted as he did after attempting the First Myael. His skin had regained its usual beautiful glow and the dark bags under his eyes were no longer present. His hair was also slightly longer too.
He sat on a stone throne like chair, in the middle of the dungeon, his leg draped over the other's knee while he looked down upon the writhing shape of his captive, huddled on the ground.
It was Tobi. The man flailed and thrashed on the ground while he cradled his head, though it didn't appear like there was any physical harm being done to him.
Sakura knew Sasuke must have been using some kind of Tsukuyomi, torturing the man through his mind. Agonized screams pierced the ear and made Sakura have to cover her ears but Sasuke didn't seem any bit bothered by it.
No, he even seemed pleased.
"AGH! I-I swear! I'm telling the truth!" Tobi screamed, his voice at its highest pitch. "I-I honestly don't know…why it won't…work on Itachi and Sakura!"
Present life Sakura gasped. What? What about Itachi?
…Sasuke had tried to use the First Myael on Itachi as well? And it didn't work either?
Her mind spun. No it had. She knew it had. Because she'd been trained by Itachi and had seen his jutsu in present time. The First Myael had worked on Itachi. So why did Tobi and Sasuke think it hadn't?
She continued watching the vision and watched as Tobi pleaded for mercy.
"I-I swear! I'm telling the truth! You brought me back, didn't you? The ceremony was the same for both of them! I didn't…LIE!" He screamed that last word right before collapsing face first onto the pewter floor.
Sasuke seemed to have receded his torturous Tsukuyomi now.
The younger, beautifully sadistic Uchiha knelt down on one knee, bending to grab a hold of Tobi's exhausted face, by his chin.
"Then tell me why?" Sasuke seethed the words with Sharingan flashing red in his irises.
"There must be…something wrong…with their souls…" Tobi's exhausted voice explained through half opened eyes. "Something…about the way…they died…that is preventing their souls…from finding their way back to their vessels."
At the reminder of how Sakura had died, Sasuke's mouth twisted into a vicious scowl and his grip turned merciless across Tobi's jaw. "Then tell me, how can we FIX THIS?"
Tobi cringed but replied nonetheless. "The…Third Myael…the most dangerous and volatile one of them all. If you…can invoke it…you will be able to bring back one of them."
Sasuke crossed his brows. "One?"
Tobi nodded. "The Third…Myael…is the most…demanding…of all jutsus. Only…one…attempt…is allowed…per lifetime. Failure…in invoking it…means certain death."
"No one has ever succeeded before."
Present life Sakura gasped, breaking out of the vision, finding herself back on the hill, in front of her own grave, beneath the withered willow tree.
"That was fun, wasn't it?" Her own voice asked from behind and Sakura knew immediately it was her insane doppelganger once again.
Turning around, Sakura took in her twin's image, standing contemptuously with her arms folded across her chest.
"Who are you?" Sakura asked irritatingly. She stood up to stand on her two feet so she could become eye level with her doppelganger.
The mischievous twin laughed. "Like I said, I'm you."
Sakura pursed her lips.
"Were you…" She trailed off, unsure of how to word her question. "Did you show me all those visions?"
Her twin grinned. "It could have been Itachi's jutsu as well."
"How do you know about that?"
Her twin shrugged.
Sakura's hand tightened into a fist next to her leg. "Why can't you just-"
"Because you're wasting your time asking all the wrong questions, Sakura," her twin interrupted haughtily. "Who I am, what I do, are not nearly as important as the subject of the very visions you just saw."
Sakura sighed, giving up, knowing that she wasn't going to win this battle. "Fine. Then tell me…"
Her mind raced, contemplating everything she'd just witnessed, everything she'd just seen. So many questions had been answered but more had also arisen. Where should she begin?
"How did Itachi come back? Why did Sasuke and Tobi think they had failed when…they hadn't? I've met Itachi in person, he said it himself that he was brought back by the First Myael."
Her doppelganger laughed. "Because his ritual was delayed, not defunct. His soul had been brought back before, using Edo Tensei, into a makeshift host. It had acclimated to the fake body partially and because of this, it took longer for his soul to find its way back to the original host. By the time it did come back, Sasuke and Tobi were no longer watching."
Sakura clutched her hands over her heart, understanding. Her mouth hung open slightly in her awestruck expression. She really wanted to ask how her doppelganger knew all this but the pinkette knew she would just say it was an unnecessary question.
Her doppelganger laughed again. "What's with the slack jawed expression? I'm here to offer all the answers, you've been desperately seeking for this past…oh how long has it been…almost two years, since you came back? Maybe a little more?"
Sakura's head was too riddled with confusion and curiosity to care to do the actual math but that sounded about right. She also didn't really give a damn.
"What does the Third Myael do?" Sakura asked next.
Her doppelganger's smile turned dark here, for some reason. It sent chills down Sakura's spine. "Ah, now that question…I will answer last."
Sakura opened her mouth to ask why but her twin continued before she could: "Because that's exactly what some people are scheming for you to find out and therefore I'm going to keep that from you the longest."
Sakura literally felt nauseous with how confusing that single statement was. "Stop messing with me and just give me a straight answer!"
Her twin's playful expression turned incredulous, almost hurt even, like she genuinely had no idea what she was talking about. "What? I am. There really is someone trying to manipulate the order in which you find out about your past."
"Who?" The real Sakura asked.
Her twin smirked. "Itachi."
The real pinkette felt a lump form inside her throat.
"Oh don't give me that look. You knew he didn't have the best intentions for you from the start. Wanting you to forgive that bastard brother of his. Some nerve."
Sakura's gaze dropped to the ground. That's true…she had suspected Itachi from the beginning. But the man had still helped her regain her chakra…he had trained her. He had let her confront Sasuke.
She was grateful to him.
Her twin must have been able to read her thoughts through her expression because the doppelganger sighed enthusiastically. "Always the softie, Sakura. That's why people walk all over you. So what if he gave you back your chakra? He's still Sasuke's-"
"How do you know all this?" the real Sakura interrupted, this one question no longer able to stay restrained within her.
The doppelganger inhaled deeply while her arms stayed crossed over her chest. "Because I've been keeping watch all along, Sakura."
Her twin took one step closer and the real Sakura immediately backed up in fear, only to get stopped by a raised palm from her sinister look-a-like.
"Don't." Was all her doppelganger said before closing the rest of the distance between them; her hands reached out towards her neck, as if moving to strangle her- Sakura winced, closing her eyes in absolute fear…
Only for nothing to happen.
Tentatively, Sakura reopened her eyes and saw that her twin had taken a hold of the silver chain that hung around her neck. The necklace Itachi had given her to prevent Sasuke from locating her. She had forgotten about it all this time.
"Do you know what this really is, Sakura?" her twin asked once again way too close to her face.
The frightened kunoichi could only shake her head in reply.
Her twin laughed. "Well, let's just say…it abets me in seeing everything around you, Sakura."
The kunoichi swallowed nervously while gently pushing her twin away. Her doppelganger smirked at the overt fright she instilled but backed up nonetheless.
Sakura knew that she had to let her twin take the lead, for now anyway. "So what do you want to show me first then?"
Her twin smirked. "How about Gaara?"
"Don't you wonder about what happened to the man, Sakura? The last time you saw him, he was taken by Tobi/Itachi, right? So don't you wonder…where he is right now?"
Sakura thought back to what Naruto had told her…okay what Itachi and Naruto had told her: "For your sake, he has to leave for one year. I cannot tell you more right now."
"Where is he?" Sakura asked, apprehensive of the answer she would get.
Her twin smirked. She once more came to step forward and in a second had pulled Sakura's forehead down so that it came to touch her own forehead.
Once more the force of a vision pulled her into the past:
Sakura found herself standing...in the middle of Konoha's green fields.
It was in the middle of the night and the moon hung opaquely white behind her, nearly round.
At first she thought there was nothing around her, only the quietly blowing wind that couldn't touch her translucent form…but then someone literally stumbled through her. A hunched shape, dressed in all black except for his head that revealed a bed of red spiky hair.
Gaara!
Present life Sakura followed his past stumbling form, realizing that this was the night she and the Kazekage had disguised themselves to rescue Sasuke.
The man had his right hand clutched over his left side, and Sakura at first thought it was to stop a bleed but upon closer inspection, she realized that blood was already seeping out of him. It blended in with his black ninja outfit so she hadn't been able to identify his critical shape until she saw the bloody footprints.
Her heart cried out at the man's sight and she reached out to help him but he just stepped through her once again, stumbling until he reached into the trees bordering Konoha.
As soon as he reached the shadows, as if there was some sort of alerting jutsu across the trees, Kankuro and Temari appeared right out of thin air.
They must have placed an alarm jutsu for this one single area inside the forest for tonight, obscure enough so that no one would know about, and yet specific enough so that the two sand siblings would appear as soon as Gaara stepped onto this spot. They must have been waiting for him to call them.
Temari's eyes widened in horror at her brother's morbid sight, her hands immediately coming out to cradle around the Kazekage's head, right as a plume of blood spilled forth from the man's lips, staining her shirt.
Kankuro knelt down next to Gaara too, expression equally mortified.
"Gaara, wh-what happened? Was the rescue not successful?" Temari asked.
Gaara weakly shook his head. "No...It was. Temari…listen...I…don't have much time…" Another bout of blood erupted from his lips.
Sakura found tears seeping down her face without her even realizing. She knelt down next to Gaara's form, next to Temari, though no one in the past felt her.
"Take my body…back to Suna…keep…my death…hidden until…you find…a…successor," Gaara whispered through dry lips, despite the blood that stained them. "Anarchy…might arise…if people…find out I died…in Konoha...before a new…a new-"
He couldn't continue anymore as a series of violent coughs sputtered from inside his chest, bringing forth fresh viscous blood each time. Kankuro and Temari were all sobbing deeply now as they witnessed their youngest sibling's dying before them.
When he stopped coughing, Temari's tear filled eyes tightened in anger. Her teeth gritted before she spoke: "That girl! She…she did this! Sakura caused this!"
Temari hugged Gaara's barely still living form in her arms. "If she hadn't asked for your help you would have never gotten this injured!"
"Temari," Gaara emphasized her name with surprising strength, his eyes only half open now. "Please…this is…my dying wish…don't…let her know…about this."
Temari's eyes widened to their max at this statement, unable to respond. Her jaw parted in her shock. Kankuro who had stayed silent this entire time with his head bowed down to the ground as he sobbed, finally spoke up, eyes meeting with his younger brother. "You did all this for her and you don't want her to know?"
Gaara weakly shook his head. "I did all this..." he coughed weakly. "...because I can't stand...seeing her upset."
Sakura gasped in real life.
Her eyes widened to their max right as Gaara's eyes finally slid close, his head lolling to the side, devoid of life.
No…no…no.
Her hand moved of their own accord to reach out towards his pale face, ghosting over his pallor cheek.
The scene froze then, like time literally stopping everything except her.
Sakura's hands still fell through Gaara's form but she didn't care. Her mind flooded with memories of the Kazekage and everything he'd done for her.
She was standing in her backyard, crying into Gaara's shoulder.
"You…you promised…" she cried while sobbing and weakly beating her fists into his chest. Finally her strength broke out and her hands just fell weakly next to her face as he tightened his hold. "You said he would be okay…"
She only now realized how much it must have hurt him to hear her say this.
Kunai knives and shuriken came flying towards her on all sides but sand erupted in a cyclone around her, protecting her and deflecting away the projectiles, before a sand pillar propelled her into the air.
At the height of her jump, a hand reached out and caught her wrist, pulling her through the air.
In real life, Sakura's heart pumped in her chest as she recalled how warm his hand had felt.
"Right now, Sakura…" he turned around to face her, green eyes locking with her identically colored ones that trembled in apprehension. He took a few steps forward so that there was no more distance between their bodies. He raised one hand and her eyes widened as he caressed the side of her face with his hand. "…you can ask me to do anything."
Sakura cradled her hand to her chest as she looked back down at Gaara's lifeless face. He just looked like he was sleeping, and she so wished that that was the case.
"Dying by my hands wasn't enough for you the first time?" Sasuke taunted the wounded Kazekage, dressed in all black, as he gazed down upon Team Taka, standing with a trembling Sakura.
Gaara raised his hand and that Sakura melted away into sand, revealing it was just a clone, right before the real one stepped out tentatively from behind him.
Sakura smiled now while raising her fingers to trace her lips, remembering what soon came after that scene.
In a second, Sakura felt a grip on her upper arm, pulling her around so warm lips could press firmly over hers. Gaara's eyes were closed, as if he was actually savoring the kiss.
Sakura realized now that he must have been.
At the time she'd been so frightened that she'd tried to pull away, before his hands wrapped around the back of her head, keeping her there.
Her heart raced as she remembered this passionate side of the usually expressionless man. Shy Gaara. Sakura thought now with a slight giggle.
He'd saved her time and time again, from Sasuke, from Itachi/Tobi, from all the insanity in her life. He'd done so much for her and had never once asked her to return his feelings. Never once revealed the sacrifices he'd had to make
Just because he didn't want to make her feel guilty.
Sakura thought back to his dying words and her heart once more tightened across her chest. The reason he'd never confessed…was it because he was afraid he would never be able to replace Sasuke's place in her heart?
Foolish man. Sakura thought now as she closed her eyes, letting the rest of her tears drain down her face.
He already had.
EDIT: I am currently rewriting the next two chapters (aka the ending) because it was not to my satisfactory. They'll be back up soon.