They had their first real mission. The land of waves, Tazuna. The time had come. She had given it a lot of thought. No more holding back.
They left by mid morning with Tazuna in tow. He and Naruto had gotten off to a bad start just like last time. Instead of walking by Sasuke she walked by Kakashi enjoying the morning sun on her face. Sasuke and Naruto walked behind Tazuna keeping the bridge builder in the middle. Sakura noticed the puddle that the demon brothers would be hiding in and glanced over at Kakashi, he nodded slightly and smiled at her in that off hand way.
Sakura glanced back at Sasuke and Naruto, they hadn't noticed...again. Tazuna gave her a lopsided smile and she smiled back. She knew everything would be fine and she continued on as usual only dropping back to walk by Tazuna. Kakashi winked at her then made a one handed hand sign at his side. She knew he had made his substitution.
The demon brothers flew at them like before, she merely stepped out of the way and in front of Tazuna, Sasuke jumped and threw his kunai and bam, Kakashi split into pieces, and bam, Sasuke was on the ground and Naruto was freaking out and freezing up. Kakashi apologizes like before and they all kinda stood there. Naruto swore on his wound to never freeze up again and they started walking again.
On the boat ride over, they figured out that Tazuna had withheld the information of possible nin attacks because they couldn't afford to pay for it. Kakashi of course agreed to do it anyway, which didn't match up to the Kakashi she knew at this time but hadn't noticed the difference last time because she really hadn't known him then. She gave him a slightly odd look and he returned it with a crinkle smile, less fake this time.
Sakura sensed him before she saw him. She knew she had sensed him before Kakashi too.
"Sensei, he's here." She said and stopped, taking a kunai out and slipping in front of Tazuna.
Kakashi flipped his headband up and scanned the area.
"Very impressive little girl, you sensed me before your Sensei did hum." Zabuza Momochi stood in a tree looking down at them.
"Tell your friend to come out of the shadows Zabuza, it's rude." Sakura sneered at him.
"Well well, I am impressed, and what might your name be little one?" Zabuza looked Sakura over. She didn't look very impressive, small, young and with that pink hair, she looked rather worthless as a shinobi, but there was something about her, her chakra was unusual.
"I am Sakura Haruno of the Village Hidden in The Leaves, you are Zabuza Momochi S-rank criminal and your shadow is Haku, with the Ice and water Kekkei Genkai, known as the ring of Mirrors. Come out Haku, come join us won't you?" Sakura taunted.
"Sakura, stop, take it easy, you almost sound like you have a grudge against them," Kakashi spoke next to her.
Naruto and Sasuke were unusually quiet. Sakura was taunting an S-Rank criminal.
"You're after the bridge builder aren't you Zabuza?" Sakura ignored Kakashi.
"Yes, and you are in the way, Haku, take the girl!" Zabuza pulled his massive sword and ran at Kakashi.
Kakashi created two water clones and leaped to the air, Zabuza swung his sword out missing Kakashi by and inch, Kakashi spun around and dropped to his knees drawing two kunai flicking them up and missed Zabuza.
Sakura drew her katana and slid under Tazuna yelling at Sasuke and Naruto to defend him, then popped up on the other side and swung up with her sword only to be deflected by Haku.
"I don't want to fight you, just let us have the bridge builder, this doesn't need to end in bloodshed," Haku spoke to her softly.
"I know Haku, you are a gentle soul who does not like war, you have suffered enough. I will end your suffering." Sakura smiled sweetly and kindly at him. She meant it. She knew she would not be able to save him, he would defend Zabuza to the end and Zabuza had to die.
"For our past, I will end it quickly." She flickered behind him to make a killing blow, but he was fast. She had forgotten how fast he had been.
"Our past?" Haku side stepped and came up at her side sending two senbon directly at her heart, she fell to the ground.
"I'm sorry, I knew you would not stop till we were dead. I had to." He turned then to assist Zabuza.
Sasuke and Naruto screamed her name, a loud piercing scream. Naruto started turning red, demon chakra flowing out from him, Sasuke's eyes spun and he awakened his Sharingan.
Sakura released her seal, black lines ran down her face and arms and she pulled the senbon from her heart and threw them at Haku who turned just in time. She ran straight at him and cut up across his chest killing him instantly.
Sakura saw Kakashi was on the water with Zabuza exchanging water dragons. When Zabuza saw Haku go down he went into a rage and was in front of Sakura in a heartbeat gripping her by the neck. She screamed and kicked at him trying to push chakra to her hands, but before she could wrench herself away from him she saw a lightning covered fist break through his chest, he dropped her and fell to the ground dead.
Sakura ran to Naruto and tried to calm him down.
"Naruto I'm okay, see, I'm right here." She said to him soothingly, She pushed healing chakra to her hands and rubbed it into his temples, eventually the nine tails cloak withdrew and he fainted into her arms.
Sasuke came up beside them. "Sakura, your face and your body, those lines, was that, was that your seal?" He was in awe of her.
"Yes. The aftereffect of my using it will hit me soon, I will need your help." She cringed as the first after effects started to kick in.
"Naruto give Sensei some of your chakra he is drained, we will need your help to get to the village where Tazuna lives." She motioned Naruto to stand and pushed him to Kakashi who was slumped over on the ground.
Her head started to hurt and she winced as the pain started creeping up her spine. She stood up but stumbled, Sasuke caught her and picked her up swinging her into his arms bridal style. She leaned her head against his shoulder and mumbled." Sorry."
"I'll take care of you, don't worry Sakura." he kissed the top of her head.
"Hey uh, come stay with my family at our house, it is the least I can do," Tazuna said as Kakashi collapsed beside them.
Naruto was sending chakra into him but it didn't seem to help much.
Sakura tried to move in Sasuke's arms but he hugged her closer, "Don't move Sakura, there is nothing you can do."
She shook her head, "My waist, soldier pill, give one to Kakashi, I need one too."
Sasuke moved her in his arms to reach her waistband and pulled two pills out and put one in her mouth. He called Naruto to come to get the other for Kakashi and he put it in Kakashi's mouth.
After a few minutes Kakashi rose to his feet if a bit shaky but better, he looked over at Sakura in Sasuke's arms, "Remarkable. We might not have made it out of that if not for her."
Tazuna's house was beautiful sitting by the water with an open floor plan and a good view. Sasuke put her in the room they had been provided making sure she was comfortable. Kakashi lay on a pallet across the room from her resting.
"Can you believe Sakura took out that kid? He seemed really strong and fast." Naruto and Sasuke were sitting by her bed talking.
"Kakashi said he was Jounin level easily, that even he would have had a hard time defeating him." Sasuke pet hair away from Sakura's face.
"What were those lines on her face Sasuke, what is that seal of hers?" Naruto looked at Sakura's now clear face as she slept.
"I don't know, it is one of the things she refused to tell me, but from what we saw I imagine it keeps healing her or something and allows her to fight but it costs a lot of chakra." It made Sasuke uneasy, using such a method always came with a high cost, he only wondered what it was.
She slept through the day and the next night waking on the second morning.
"Morning sunshine." Kakashi crinkle smiled at her. He was sitting on a cushion by her bed leaning over her like a white haired vulture.
"Ugh!, get back old man." She waved her arms in front of her trying to batt his face away.
"Glad to see you are back to your old self, you were rather impressive you know, I put that boy around Jounin level, thank you Sakura, we would have been in trouble if you hadn't been there. I don't think I could have taken them both on." Kakashi told her seriously.
Sasuke and Naruto came into the room then.
"Sakura you're awake!" Naruto ran and slid to her bedside grabbing her hand and rubbing it on his whiskered face.
"Uh hi there Naruto, can I have my hand back please." She yanked her hand out of his sticky grasp.
"Sakura, are you feeling okay?" Sasuke asked her.
"I'm fine, I will be back to myself in a few hours, don't worry."
"So, want to tell us what that seal does?" Kakashi asked her.
"Hum, well, basically it is a storage seal, I store my unused chakra in it when my regular reserves are full, and when I release it my body fills up with that reserved chakra. In other words, for a period of time, I can not die, no matter what. At least there isn't anything that is known to be able to kill me after I release the seal...yet." She told them.
Kakashi blinked at her. Naruto sat there with his mouth open and Sasuke nodded.
"I thought that might be it, I have a surprise for you ." He closed his eyes then opened them and they bled red, his Sharingan.
"Wow! Sasuke! You activated your Sharingan but how?" He hadn't fought Haku this time, she had.
"It was because of you, I thought, I thought he killed you, with his senbon in your heart, you fell and I thought you were dead." He said quietly.
"I'm sorry Sasuke, but I'm not dead. " She smiled at him.
"But you could have been, you could have died! What were you thinking of taking on someone as skilled as that?" Sasuke was yelling at her.
"What? I am just as skilled, you have no idea what I can do!" She was getting pissed now, who did this Uchiha think he was yelling at her when she was laying in bed recovering.
"I'll take you on right now and show you, you little twerp!' She made to rise from her bed but her arm gave out on her and she fell back down cussing.
"See! See what it did to you! You almost died!" He was ranting at her now.
"I did not almost die!" She was screaming at him.
Naruto was biting his nails looking back and forth between the two.
Kakashi stood up and looked at them both, "Enough. No one died that shouldn't time to rest, I want to get back to the village."
Sasuke huffed and walked out of the room slamming the door behind him.
"ASS!" Sakura yelled after him.
"Naruto, could you give Sakura and I a moment please?" Kakashi waved the boy out of the room.
Naruto patted Sakura's hand one last time and left.
"I knew you were hiding your true skill, so then, want to tell me where you learned how to form that seal and how to use it?" Kakashi was watching her face carefully.
"No." She smiled at him. "I can't tell you, Not because I don't want to but I can't."
He nodded, he could understand that.
"Okay, want to tell me how you know about Rin?" He looked out the window as he said it.
"Someone told me about her and how you were close and how you killed her with your Chidori. When you called me Rin, I felt terrible. I can't imagine the pain you must have been feeling." Her voice was sincere, he could tell she meant it.
"How did you know I liked Miso with eggplant." He asked her.
"It is my favorite." She smiled at him. It wasn't a lie.
"I won't ask who told you about Rin. I won't ask you things you can't tell me anymore." That was as close as a "You have my trust" statement one could get from Kakashi.
Sakura took his hand in hers and fell back asleep.
Kakashi watched her sleep for a little bit, her tiny hand in his, so much like Rin, and yet so much was different from Rin. She was remarkable.
She woke several hours later and found she was alone in the room. She rose from the bed and dressed. Finding the bathroom down the hall she washed her face and brushed her teeth then went back to the room and brushed her hair out. Feeling better she made her way downstairs to find everyone in the kitchen and dining room. She was introduced to Tazuna's daughter Tsunami and her son Inari.
Soon after they sit down to dinner and talk turned to Gato, and that he was the one to send those nin after Tazuna to prevent them from finishing the bridge.
Gato was a thug but a rich thug who hired other thugs to do his dirty work. They told the group of Leaf nin how Gato had set up shop on their little island a few years back and how everyone's lives had been filled with terror since. Tazuna said that the bridge would help, would open trade to the small island help with the poor economy, basically save them all but Gato wanted them to remain cut off from the mainland and that is what he wanted Tazuna dead, the Master Bridge builder.
They finished dinner and Sakura helped Tsunami clear the table and do the dishes. After she found herself enjoying the water and the moonlight on the deck outside of their house. She hung her feet over the side and leaned on the rail looking out over the water, it was beautiful. Such a beautiful village, she hadn't noticed it before. Had she always been so damn oblivious? She frowned at herself.
-Yeah, you were so head over heels in love with Sasuke that you never took the time to look around you, idiot-
Thanks, Inner, she thought and mentally stuck her tongue out at herself.
Sasuke came and sat down beside her," You look well rested. I was worried about you Sakura."
"It happens every time I use my seal." She shrugged.
"What is the cost of such great power though? There must be a cost to it." He asked her.
"I use it at the cost of my life. Every time I use it time is taken off my lifespan, and how much time depends on how often and how much of the chakra I use at a time. Not much was taken off this time, it is ok Sasuke, you don't need to worry." She took his hand and squeezed it.
"I care about you...more than, I...you mean a lot to me Sakura." He looked at her and she turned her head from the water to look at him.
"I love you like a brother, you and Naruto mean the world to me. I love you two so much it hurts sometimes." She laid her head on his shoulder.
He squeezed her hand and they sat there for a little bit before going back inside.
As he lay on his bed that night, he thought of their talk and how her head had felt on his shoulder and being so close to her. He thought of how he felt when he thought she was dead. He loved her. He loved her more than a sister. She might love him as a brother, but he wanted more. He looked over to her pallet on the other side of the room where she lay sleeping. I want more he thought, so much more.
Sakura watched the men moving around in the large house at the far end of the island. 3 guards, two private bodyguards, and Gato. That short ugly curly hair dick. She checked her stamina with healing chakra, checked her reserves. Good to go. She made the signs and three shadow clones popped into existence and went running off to take care of the guards while she moved to the roof to take care of the 2 bodyguards and Gato.
They never saw her coming through the window. She flew inside legs pointed before her knocking Gato to the floor. She stepped on him and jump kicked the first personal bodyguard threw two kunai and he was dead. A smile split her face as she pushed chakra into a point on her fingers and she ran then flickered and ran her hand through his chest killing him instantly. Turning to Gato she smiled and said, "Time to say hi to Zabuza Gato, you're going to Hell." and she ran her hand through his smaller chest, wrenching her hand loose and throwing his dead body against the wall.
It had only taken 3 minutes and it was done. Sakura jumped out the window dispersing her clones and made for the beach.
The full moon shone overhead casting silver shadows on the water. She stripped her clothes and laid them by her pack. Toes met soft sand as she walked slowly into the water to rub away the dried blood and bits of flesh from her arm and from under the nails. She stood waist deep in the water letting the waves ebb to and from her belly button sighing in contentment. It was done, they would all be okay. Inari, Tazuna, and Tsunami.
She turned then to walk back to shore and change her clothes when she saw him, he was standing by her pack watching her. Lifting her chin and covering herself as best she could she walked to her pack and picked it up turning to pull clothes from it and to dress as well as she might with him standing so close. She is seeing ghosts.
She sees them often, sometimes more than once a day, her friends from her past, like ghosts that come to watch her. Some talk to her and some don't, most just watch her. This is much the same, except he has never come before, he has never haunted her waking hours.
Fully dressed she turns around, "Madara Uchiha, what do you want, why haunt me now, so many years after, or before?"
He doesn't say anything, she didn't expect him to, most never do. She picks her things up and walks back to the house and gets back in bed dismissing her clone she left in her place before she left to kill Gato.
In the morning they leave, to return to the Leaf.