Hello friends! I'm sorry these updates have taken me longer than I had wanted. I have gotten a new job, and my life has been so much busier than it had been a little while ago. I'm writing this without internet at the moment. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Italics are thoughts and flashbacks

It was the third day she had been in the clearing, and the two parts of Sakura- the Naruto and the Sasuke parts- were raging war within her mind.

You've been sitting here too long the Sasuke part reminded her, and when he dies then you've wasted the last three days doing nothing. This isn't me Sakura, you need to keep moving.

It hasn't been nothing, the Naruto part argued back, you were able to heal the infection that the wound had left behind and alleviated that weird concentration of chakra behind his eyes… You also got to know more about the time period. You saved his life Sakura-Chan, maybe he can help you when he wakes up.

The Naruto part of her had been right, of course, but Sakura still felt like she was betraying a bit of the Sasuke part of her. She had been able to find out more about the era she had been thrust back into, and to say she was surprised to stumble upon an era of war would be an understatement.

She had just come from a war where no side had really won. Her teammates and herself might have defeated both Madara and Kagura, but that did not mean they had won.

Because there was no Konoha, Sakura knew that she must be in the Clan Warring Era, though she was unsure at which point she had been thrust back into.

The man before her had to be a part of the Uchiha Clan, for he bared too strong of a resemblance to not be a part of it. She had spent the better part of the two days trying to decide what she would tell the Uchiha when he woke up but hadn't really been able to come up with much.

She knew that she would have to follow him back to the compound he had come from, though she was unsure if she would do so in secret, or as an ally. She would have to wait and see how the man acted when he awoke; that would be the decisive factor in how she would react and her actions moving forward.

Sakura stood from her crouched position next to the Sasuke-lookalike and created a clone. Nodding to the clone, she headed toward the small stream she had found the day before in hopes of finding where the stranger had come from.

The stream had led to a river, which had ultimately led to a waterfall. She had not wanted to go any further, already deciding that even with her clone summoned to protect him, or warn her in case he had woke up, she had been away from him for too long.

The stream had been exactly what she had needed though, to help clean the many days journey she had already taken through the forest and to find water she could cleanse to keep hydrated.

XxX

The group of four were nearing the outskirts of their village, the forest surrounding them the only thing standing between the four and their destination. Sakura had a book within her hands, the only sounds she made were the pages turning and the small breaths she took.

They had just come from Suna and even though they had not found what they had been looking for, Sakura had still found a few things she could read to try to keep her mind focused on something other than the hopeless mess they were in.

"Are you finding anything helpful?" Kakashi asked, looking at the book over her shoulder. Sakura looked up from her book to cast a look in his direction; his bookless-hands looked incredibly out of character.

"Nothing that will help us with the space time jutsu," Sakura said with a slight shrug of her shoulders and a frown. "Though I did find a jutsu to cleanse water and a jutsu that helps grow-"

Sasuke's snort paused the rest of her sentence and she closed the book she had been reading in response. "If you're not going to read anything helpful, then don't read at all."

"Don't yell at her for trying to find something to do other than get upset about the situation," Naruto glared back at Sasuke. Behind her, Sakura felt more than saw Kakashi's shoulders fall in defeat. "She's at least trying to do-"

"It's fine Naruto," Sakura found herself saying, putting the book away in her pouch. "The idea of needing clean water seems juvenile in the light of this whole situation."

XxX

How lucky was she to have actually read the book now, though, Sakura thought. She tried not to be smug as she bent down to refill her and the stranger's water pouches. She had originally thought the books would be helpful incase the eternal genjutsu ended up affecting the external world around them, however it hadn't.

It was helpful to her now, Sakura thought as she brought a glowing hand over the pouches, because she was unsure of how much bacteria were within the water she was about to drink. The mission she had been sent to complete was too important to allow herself to get sick on.

Bringing the now cleansed water pouch to her mouth, Sakura's hand paused as she felt a flicker of chakra from her clone. She easily closed the pouch again before heading back to the clearing she had been staying it; apparently the stranger was starting to wake.

Something entered the pit of her stomach at that, and Sakura was not sure if she was relieved to finally be making headway into her mission or worried.

Sakura dismissed her clone as she walked into the clearing; the stranger was just starting to stir, so she would be able to catch him as he was just waking. She kneeled beside him just as his eyes were fluttering open.

"Mo-mother?" The man rasped, his throat obviously dry from both the lack of use and the lack of water within the last few days. She could see the cloudiness within the dark colors of his eyes. Sakura grabbed his water pouch and slowly brought it to his lips, allowing him to take small, careful sips.

"Drink slowly," Sakura found her voice was almost just as raspy from lack of use. She was not able to remember the last time she had spoken. Was it just as she had watched the boys collapse to the floor? Was it as she screamed out for them? She wasn't sure. "You have only just awoken from a serious sword wound."

At her mention of wound, the man's hands wrapped around his stomach, his eyes flashing with understanding at first, and then confusion at not feeling the wound there. "Wha-?"

"You collapsed in my clearing a few days ago," Sakura said as she set his water pouch down and watched his eyes land on her. As she saw the cloudiness leave his eyes, something new filled them.

"Uzu-maki!" Sakura watched the man reach for the missing sword on his belt before his eyes flashed red. Sakura immediately stopped eye contact at the sight of his familiar looking crimson orbs; he looked even more like Sasuke when he was sporting the Sharingan.

"My name is Sakura," Sakura spoke calmly as she scooted away from the Uchiha, trying to give him space to collect himself. She knew she had healed his stomach wound enough for him to move without it affecting him too much, but she knew he still should not be moving too much yet; the muscles were still repairing even after all her healing. "You collapsed in my clearing a few days ago; if I had wished you dead, I would have let you bleed out instead of healing you."

"H-healing me?" The man's voice croaked, and Sakura found herself freezing for a second. Was the idea of a stranger healing someone else so surprising, or was her earlier thought of the past's healers being poor to be true? "How were you able to heal me?"

So, it was the latter then. "I am a wandering healer," Sakura said, knowing that even in this state, if the stranger was as smart an Uchiha as the other two she had met, then he would be able to decipher her lie, and right now, even though she was a skilled kunochi, Sakura was just a wandering healer until she officially started her mission. "When you collapsed in my clearing, I could not just do nothing."

The Uchiha seemed to contemplate her words, obviously looking for a lie within them, but Sakura knew he would not find one. She had left off a lot, but had told him the basic, barebones truth.

"When did you find me?" He asked, his previously tight shoulders relaxing, even if just slightly. Sakura took that as a good sign.

"Three days ago," Sakura said as she scooted back toward him. She was very careful and purposeful with her movements, wanting the man to know her intention to help him sit up before her actually put a hand on him.

"Shit," the man said as she helped him sit up.

"Does it hurt anywhere?" Sakura asked, her hand already glowing green to help alleviate the pain or ache. The man's eyes flashed with curiosity before he shook his head.

"I am sure that your healing has been more than sufficient," he said as he scooted back until he was leaning against the tree for support, allowing Sakura to scoot further away from him to get a better look at him. Even awake, the stranger looked more like Sasuke than she was comfortable with; she held onto the small differences that reminded her that this was not Sasuke, however. "I am more concerned for my brother… I'm sure he must be going crazy trying to find me right now. Especially after the wound I received in the last battle…"

At his words, his eyes held a calculating look within them that Sakura was not sure she would be able to decipher.

"You said you're a wandering healer?" The man spoke after a few seconds too long of staring at her. "Which clan do you originate from?"

She knew better than to use her actual name, even if the Haruno clan was not an important one in history. "My name is just Sakura," Sakura found herself saying, having known she would not ever be able to identify herself as her true self within the past. She also knew that many bastard children from the past would not be allowed to take a last name and were sensitive about it; she hoped the stranger would grasp where she was trying to lead him.

"…" he was quiet for a moment, obviously taking in what she was telling him without actually saying. "And where did you acquire your healing abilities?"

"I came from a once booming village that has now fallen," Sakura found herself saying, trying not to choke up on the words that were too true to her heart. "My master, who taught me everything she knew in the healing arts, has died, along with everyone else that once called that village home."

It was the truth, Sakura kept telling herself, and even though she did not want to share these honest truths, she knew that opening up to the individual before her would most likely benefit her in the long run.

There was a glint in the man's eyes before he looked away from her. "Sakura-san," he spoke, and Sakura felt a tingle in her spine at her name being spoken for the first time since she had arrived in the past. "I am sorry for asking you these questions… In this time of war, the Uchiha clan has not found many strangers who we can trust."

"I understand," Sakura found herself nodding her head in agreement, especially after remembering how she had to question everyone she knew and loved, wondering if they were just Zetsu clones lying in wait to kill her. "It is hard to trust strangers in times like these… especially strangers who have yet to give you their name."

Her words seemed to have given him some understanding, because he slightly bowed his head from his position on the tree. "My apologies, Sakura-san," he said as he brought his head back up from his bowing position. "My name is Izuna Uchiha. Thank you very much for healing me."

XxX

"If you're going to kill Madara," Sasuke said as he led her down the dark, dusty hallways of his childhood home. "You're going to have to know everything about him."

"You have information on him within your clan library?" Sakura found herself asking, feeling surprised at how detailed the Uchiha library must be if that was the case.

Sasuke snorted. "Of course we do," he said with a roll of his bi-colored eyes. "This is one of the founding clans of the village, a very prominent clan."

The emptiness of the hallways was eerie, even more so than the quietness of the battlefield had been. How had Sasuke been able to live alone within these hallways for all those years?

The two seemed to arrive outside of the designated room, as Sasuke crossed his arms and stood outside of it. "You should start with the family tree and move from there. He was the eldest brother of five siblings, all four dying in the clan war between the Senju."

XxX

It took Sakura a moment to recognize the name Izuna in her long list of things she had been forced to remember about Madara. Izuna Uchiha was Madara Uchiha's younger brother… the brother who had given him his eyes and ultimately gave him the mangekyou sharingan.

In the history scroll she had read, Izuna had been fatally wounded by Tobirama Senju with a sword wound to the stomach and had offered his eyes to his brother to hopefully turn the tides of the war, knowing he wouldn't live long enough to help him any other way.

It took Sakura a second longer to collect herself before she responded. "It was my duty as a healer to save you Izuna-san," Sakura said tilting her head in a bow that mirrored his own; her brain was slowly trying to understand just what had happened.

Surely the stomach wound she had healed was not the fatal one Tobirama had given him, which had ultimately killed him, had it? If it had been, what else had this one mindless action done to affect the future?

Sakura tilted her head back up just as she was watching Izuna try to stand. She blinked for a moment before quickly helping him.

"Izuna-san what are you-"

"If I know my brother," Izuna said with a slight grimace, the muscles from his stomach were obviously feeling tight after being newly healed. "He's going crazy, already thinking I'm dead. I need to get back home before he does something stupid."

"I know for a fact you cannot travel alone like this," Sakura said, already trying to dissuade him from doing anything to put his health in jeopardy; he had been on the edge of death only a few days prior.

Sakura felt Izuna's hand tighten on her shoulder before he pushed himself into standing without her support. "He's my brother and the leader of my clan," Izuna said. "I cannot allow him to be in distress any longer, especially when I am able to walk."

"Walk is a little too generous of a word," Sakura said, her eyes following him as he stumbled a bit. She took in a deep breath before saying, "I can't let you leave alone, especially without eating first. Please stay, let me feed you and recheck your wound, and then I can help you go back to your clan."

"You'd help me?" Izuna turned around, Sakura able to see something flash behind his eyes before he was able to hide it. "Why?"

"I already told you I'm a wandering healer," Sakura said as she motioned forward to the fire. "And I've spent a few days with you, healing your body already. I'd worry about whether you were able to make it or not if I let you go alone."

"Okay," his response was much quicker than she had expected, and she wondered if he had been waiting for her to offer to escort him, if that was what the weird look she could not decipher had been. Why he would want a stranger to escort him home, though, she did not know.

"Sit back down near the fire and I'll catch us a few fish before we go," Sakura said, calling over her shoulder as she left. She didn't want to give him a chance to protest or offer help because she needed a few minutes alone to breathe and think over what had just happened, and what she was going to do from here.

She had not thought the first person she had met in this time would have been someone so closely connected to Madara, and she had not thought it would be as easy as an offer to escort him home to get her as close to him as she needed to be.

You're that much closer to killing him, the Sasuke part of her told her. You'll have to find a time to do it though, Kami-sama knows his skills terribly outmatch your own.

You still don't have to kill him Sakura-Chan, the Naruto part told her. You being here and healing Izuna has already started to change things. Be a little patient and wait to see what's going to happen.

It took her less time than she thought she needed to catch the fish and return to Izuna, who had leaned back up against the tree. She could see the fatigue in his bones, and hoped he'd allow her to convince him to rest before heading to the compound.

"I caught the fish," Sakura said as she situated them on sticks near the fire. She was able to feel Izuna's eyes follow her movements as she leaned the fish above the fire.

"You're more than just a healer, correct?" Izuna asked, his question causing Sakura to freeze a bit before looking his way. His eyes were without the sharingan, but his dark eyes appeared to be just as sharp.

"I am not without skills to defend myself," Sakura found herself saying, knowing it wasn't a lie. She did not want Izuna to find her as someone to fear, because if he thought she was a threat, then he was less likely to allow her into his clan compound.

"You'd have to be I'm sure," Izuna said nodding slightly as his eyes turned to the fire. "Especially for a woman traveling alone in the forest."

She had almost forgot how different the time periods were, causing his last comment to surprise her. In the Clan Warring Era, there were very few kunochi who fought in the war; he was probably not used to a fully trained kunochi.

"And what of your skills Izuna-san?" Sakura found herself asking, because even in all the books and scrolls she had gone through, she still did not know much about the man's skills.

Sakura watched Izuna straighten his shoulders slightly before speaking; the act caused her to think that he looked a bit more like Sasuke than she had been prepared for. "Even if you were without skills Sakura-san," Izuna said, his voice not only hinting at confidence, but his whole demeanor screaming. "I would not have worried about us traveling to my compound, even with my current state."

Sakura could only wonder if confidence was an inherent Uchiha trait. Shaking her head slightly, Sakura walked over to the fire and grabbed the fish before heading back to where Izuna continued to lean against the tree. She knew there was no way she was going to let them travel already, especially with how tired he still looked.

"Here," Sakura said as she handed him one of the sticks. "Eat some fish and then get some rest. We can head back to your compound in the morning."

"But-"

"I don't doubt your strength, Izuna-san," Sakura said as she took a bite of her own fish. "But I don't think traveling at night with your body as weak as it is would be the safest choice for us. Your brother can wait another night."

Sakura could see that he wanted to argue, but he knew his body needed more rest than it had gotten. "First light we leave?"

"First light we leave," Sakura agreed as allowed a small smile to grace her lips. That gave her the rest of the night to think more on what she was going to do when she got to the compound at least.