Minato looked at the young woman beside him she had easily kept up with them not missing a single beat. One thing was to hear about her and her amazing control, another was actually seeing her actually use it. To keep up with them should have been impossible for someone only 17 years old, and yet here Sakura was making the impossible possible. He could understand why his son was head-over-heels for this girl, no, young woman.
He saw not only her control but also her kindness towards others even strangers, it would make one think that she grew up in a time of peace, not fought through a war. They had come upon a young mother with a sick child on the second day. While the first Hokage was just as compassion about helping them there was little he could really do. He tried to use his healing Chakra, but nothing had worked for him yet.
While they had talked to the desperate mother, Sakura went straight for the young boy. All it took was a look, and she knew what was wrong and found the herbs need. After only 5 minutes the boy, Koi, was already feeling better. Sakura gave the woman some of the same herbs she had just used, while telling her to give him some tonight and that he should be fine afterward. The mom had nodded eagerly and asked what she could give her in returning for the help, Sakura had simply just shaken her head and they continued on.
When they could see the sand starting and the forest ending, Sakura had them stop and rest there for the night. When Tobirama-San had said they should keep running, Sakura simply replied that not everyone had died young, before looking at Hiruzen. No of them had made a comment on it after that.
"This food is simply amazing!" Hashirama said and looked surprised up at her like he wasn't expecting her to know how to cook, one of her eyebrow twisted. Really, she felt a bit insulted by it. Was the idea that she could cook so odd?
"Thanks," she said drolly looking at him unimpressed, before shaking her head, it didn't really matter. Sakura had for a long time, lost interest in what others thought about her. Hashirama continued talking about what a great wife she would make one day, and oh how lucky her husband would be and so on, she kind of zoned him out. She had finally said that she was an independent woman and was in no hurry to find a man anytime soon. That shut him up.
"… Why do you seem to not trust your team anymore?" Minato finally asked it had bugged him since the very first time he had met her. It was something he had never understood, he thought that Sakura would have opened up to them by now and told them on her own but… it never happened. It was like they had to forcefully rip the answer out of her, and that usually left them with even more questions than answers.
"When I was 12, you had to be able to take down a tail beats on your own, come from a clan, have unlimited Chakra or have a kekkei Genkai that only one or two other possessed to be considered strong… If you couldn't do any of them, you would be left behind to fend for yourself" Sakura said with a bitter laughter quickly followed by a bittersweet smile as she looked into the flames.
"I'm sorry Sakura-Chan the ANBU needs me more… I'm not the right person to help you either" Kakashi said softly after Sakura had asked him to train her again. She felt the feeling of betrayal for the second time shortly within one another.
"Maybe not sensei, but you're the only one I got… the only one left… After all the bullshit about teamwork was that just for show huh?" She said softly tears forming in her eyes, she watched as his back went stiff before he walked away once more. The tears fell one after the other and she realized at the moment that the great copycat really was nothing, but a coward, not the great hero that everyone made him out to be.
"Someone like me, who first of all come from a civil family and only had my brain and perfect Chakra-control was a totally nobody, a dead weight only Tsunade wanted to carry" Her voice had a caring and warm tone to it by the time she mention Tsunade's name and she graced them with a rare smile just as warm, even her eyes lighted up with a fire none of them even knew she had.
The rest of the way was in complete silence without anyone bothering to say something, luckily it only took a couple of hours before they reached Suna. It had only taken them two days and three hours to get there.
They could see the Kazakage waiting on them, her teammates on this mission had wanted to ask her, why the sand had more than once gone against her skin in an almost affectionate manner.
When she first saw Gaara after so long she hugged him, before he even had a chance to greet her himself. While her companions stood a bit awkward in the background, she didn't let go of him and Gaara quickly returned the hug.
Sakura didn't let go before she saw Temari a couple of minutes later when she did Gaara was pushed aside like yesterday news. So she could run up and give a hug to the blond woman too.
When she was about to go and greet kankuro with a hug did the sand turned into a smaller vision of the first tailed, who effetely pushed the boy aside and hugged her much to Sakura's and everyone else surprise. The beast was the size of a young man and its big jaw was resting on top of her head and was quite heavy and she could feel sand slide down her hair to her face. Why did she always end up like this?
Tobirama was ready to just rip that, that thing right off of her, or that was until he saw her get over the shock and hugs it back like they were old friends. It bugged him how close it was holding her, and why did she let it hold her so long?
"You has been claimed by Kyuubi", It said before sniffing, sniffing her hair. Tobirama was perfectly aware that brat and Sakura were in fact not in a relationship in any way what so ever… maybe friendship, but that was still unsure. So the comment that came out was one that took him totally off guard or that was until he looked at her bag where the small fox stuck its head up and lock eyes with the sand like they were talking.
"I see, so he didn't tell you" Sakura could rather feel him smiling than see it. She heard him whispering that when she was alone he would tell her, what truly was going on here and what he meant.
The Claim is not meant in romance but I will explain in the next chapter.
