No one was surprised when Sakura was the first to wake the following morning and vanish off to the hospital with Karin on her heels "Hey Kankuro" Sakura greeted with a smile upon entering the room and found him eating breakfast.
Though it was clear it wasn't to his liking, he was eating it anyway, most likely due to Temari, who was sat in the lone chair and giving her fan a thorough cleaning "Morning Sakura, Karin" Kankuro grumbled, still feeling awful but slightly better than the day before.
"Yes, good morning, to you as well Temari" Karin waved at the blonde, watching as Sakura gave Kankuro a checkup, no matter what kind of condition the rosette might be in, her first priority was always to make sure everyone else was doing alright before taking care of herself.
Well, that was until Chiyo barged into the room and shuffled the pinkette off "I'd like to thank you by the way Karin, if not for you and your teammates the old woman might not be with us anymore" Temari chimed in when the redhead took over Sakura's task.
"Suigetsu deserves the thanks more Temari, if he hadn't been watching in order to pull her out of the way I don't know what would have happened" Karin winced, remembering the shout just before Suigetsu practically yanked Chiyo back into their dome of safety.
Temari nodded planning to find Suigetsu later, meanwhile upon being shuffled off, Chiyo dragged Sakura into the Head Medics office "Okay Sakura, I need you to tell me everything, Karin let slip that you purposefully took a sample of Sasori's poison to ingest, why, you could have died" Chiyo demanded.
Because she knew that she hadn't been told everything even if Karin hadn't lied and Sakura sighed "For the past year I lived in Shikkotsu Forest, I took on the Slug Sage challenge and survived" Sakura grimaced, not wishing that on even her worst enemy.
Chiyo frowned and went to demand more information when the girl held up her hand "I can't give you a whole lot of details but afterwards I ended up being immune to most poisons, I can naturally break them down without suffering the effects for too long and I needed an edge over that bastard" Sakura admitted.
"Uchiha, you mean, fine, I'll just have to be satisfied with what you can tell me" Chiyo grumbled when the pinkette nodded her head before bounding off to find Haku and the couple linked hands upon meeting up with one another on their way back to the hotel.
And the pair were immediately noticed by the 2nd and 3rd Kazekage, Tetsu frowned and was about to call out when "Hmm that must be her betrothed" Shamon interrupted his train of thought by saying that and the 3rd instead turned to the 2nd.
"I've known Yuki-san for a while, she was in the village when I returned to life, and I'd originally had plans to convert her into a Suna-nin by marrying her to one of Rasa's son's only to be informed that she was engaged to be wed, that must be him" Shamon explained.
Feeling the 3rd's gaze "Haku I believe was his name, what I'm more concerned about however is if she should be up and running around after nearly collapsing yesterday" Tetsu said, turning his attention back onto the couple as they held hands and walked calmly through the village.
Mostly concerned but curious the older pair approached the betrothed couple "Oh good morning Shamon-sama, Tetsu-sama" Sakura smiled brightly when she noticed them, appearing alright at least, though being so close Tetsu was able to tell that she wasn't completely recovered yet.
Her chakra was still lower than it should be "You should be resting Yuki-san, you did nearly collapse yesterday after all" Tetsu frowned at the pink-haired kunoichi, Haku chuckled under his breath earning a huff from his girlfriend.
Before she shook her head "Thank you for your concern but I'm okay to walk around and once I've eaten my reserves will be recovered" Sakura informed kindly, he was simply worried so she couldn't be rude or as blunt as she normally was with people.
"Question, how did you escape...from Akatsuki when they captured you" Shamon inquired, not beating around the bush it seemed, the question had been bothering him for some time and no one had been able to answer it until now.
As he looked the young girl in the eyes and the trauma she'd endured as it flashed through them briefly "There was someone else being held hostage with me Shamon-sama and we have a man on the inside that helped as well, so after I removed the seal that was put on me, we escaped together" Sakura lowered her voice.
Not really wanting to remember those three weeks of captivity even if she hadn't gotten hurt, it still hadn't been a fun time for her "A spy, who" Haku asked, though he should have already known, he'd largely forgotten because he'd been so relieved to have Sakura back that she was all he'd thought about.
"Kisame...bastard tried to scare the living daylights out of me too, but he told us what time he usually took a break from standing guard on the day everyone was out of the base and if he caught us, he'd have no choice but to put us back in the cells" Sakura whispered.
Eyeing her surroundings warily because she knew it would be easy for Obito to spy and eavesdrop on them if he wanted without being sensed "How is Yahiko doing by the way" Konan decided to join the conversation just then and Sakura had to stop herself from knee-jerk taking a swing at the woman for startling her.
Only to shrug in the next moment "No idea Konan-san, I haven't seen him since I got back, I'm sure he's fine with Jiraiya-sama so I wouldn't worry too much" Sakura answered, feeling her stomach beginning to growl from hunger.
Which signaled her and Haku's departure from the odd group in order to find something to eat and afterwards they were all summoned into the Kazekage's office "Good I have a message from Tsunade, it reads as followed, congratulations, mission well done, take a break for a couple days then return, end message" Rasa cleared his throat.
Reading off the message he'd received from the Hokage half an hour ago to her shinobi "Alright now I can go looking for an awesome souvenir to give to Hinata-chan and show her I meant it about being with her" Naruto cheered suddenly.
Followed by turning beet red as he realized he had really just blurted that out like an idiot "Knucklehead" Sasuke snorted when everyone stared at the blonde in a mix of amusement/exasperation until the Kazekage dismissed them to do whatever they wanted.
"Come on Sakura, you've been here before, why don't you show me your favorite places in the Sand Village" Haku gripped Sakura's hand upon exiting the Tower so they wouldn't be separated and asked for a tour of her favorite spots in the village.
It was worth it when she lit up like a firework and dragged him in her excitement to take him to her favorite places "I don't think I've ever seen her smile like that" Shamon commented to Tetsu when he spotted the rosette looking happy for the first time that he'd known her.
"That's because the boy is with her right now" someone snorted from next to them and they looked to see Zabuza Momochi watching the couple as well with an indescribable look on his face "Haku's my apprentice and stepson" he answered when he got curious looks.
Shamon furrowed his brows at that "Your married to his mother then and how do you feel about his engagement to her... Sakura-san" Shamon inquired, not plotting anything this time because he knew better at this point.
Zabuza frowned lightly "With three little brats of my own, as for that, I never really had an opinion on it, considering I wasn't part of the decision to betroth them but their happy together so what right do I have to try and separate them now" Zabuza nodded.
Really considering the question as he answered properly "But as his stepfather..." Tetsu began, only to have the former rogue hold up his hand before he could get started on what was sure to be a long-winded rant that would only confuse people.
"Back then when the decision was made, I was just his master, his mother came back from the dead a couple years ago and I married the woman six months later, she was quite persistent in her pursuit" Zabuza rolled his eyes, able to look back on that time fondly now.
Making sense now to the two former Kazekage while tailing the brats discretely "Say, Sakura do you feel up to showing off a little bit, I'm sure there's lots of jutsu's you've come up with that we haven't gotten to see yet" Haku prodded suddenly.
As they finished their tour "Alright Haku, there were a couple of age appropriate jutsu I wanted to test out for Hika anyway before the Jonin Exams" Sakura relented fairly easily to Haku's relief as she led the way to the training field and had him create some normal shadow clones.
Unaware of the audience as she flashed through unfamiliar hand-signs "Hyoton: Ice Flower Stream" Sakura intoned calmly as a ring of flowers bloomed around one of the clones in the shape of ice roses and in the center a large cherry blossom tree made of ice grew up around the clone, trapping it.
Just as all the accumulated electricity converged on the clone and electrocuted it until it popped in a poof of smoke "Was that a lightning style jutsu Sakura" Kakashi interrupted suddenly, eyeing his former student with interest because she'd never done that before.
"Yes Kakashi-sensei it was a lightning style jutsu mixed with my ice style, I merged the two together... ah I never had a chance to tell anyone did I, but I found out that I had a third elemental nature in Iwa" Sakura explained with a grin.
Causing the man to splutter for a moment before a calculative gleam appeared in his lone onyx eye "Sakura-chan come on let me teach you, I want to see how you utilize my Chidori" Kakashi begged suddenly, finally finding something that he could teach his kunoichi after all these years of being her teacher.
She was about to object to the idea because she didn't want to make Sasuke jealous when he showed up on the field as well with a sheepish expression "I'd like to see it as well Sakura, so please let Kakashi teach you that jutsu" Sasuke requested after a moment.
"Fine...but it'll have to wait, I don't think less than two weeks is enough time to master it" Sakura huffed, and the two males shared triumphant looks with one another, which she ignored as she turned back to show off a couple more of her hand-crafted jutsu for Haku.
Another of which also utilized lightning chakra in the use of it before unveiling the last one Hyoton: Metamorphosis that gave her wings of ice and granted her flight as long as she had chakra "Just call her the Ice Butterfly Princess then" Suigetsu remarked.
Watching as the pinkette fluttered about up in the air before landing neatly on her feet "Who the heck taught you that one" Naruto exclaimed as he rushed up to his pink-haired teammate with wide blue eyes, everyone besides those that knew her waiting patiently for the answer.
"Taught, oh no Naruto, I made that jutsu, took a few months though" Sakura informed with a smile as she poked his forehead lightly before dodging around the blonde when he tried to retaliate only to end up on his face to everyone's amusement.
Naruto sulked but righted himself after a moment and turned to see Sakura testing more of her hand-crafted jutsu "Those were for Hika weren't they" Naruto asked when both worked properly, and he was glad that Hika wasn't being left out, he liked the little girl and thought she was sweet if not a little shy.
Sakura nodded then stopped, seemingly done for now "Yep Hyoton: Ice Ball and Hyoton: Ice Ring" the rosette hummed, leaning into her boyfriend who smiled down at her from his height, her face flushed, and she had to look away before she embarrassed herself.
Haku chuckled softly when she leaned away from him and Zabuza rolled his eyes "Say Sakura since we didn't get to see it, how fast is your speed nowadays, I mean in turning water into ice" Suigetsu questioned suddenly curious because it had been a while.
Plus, he and his team had been cooped up for the entire fight against Sasori, so they hadn't gotten to see "Oh, well here let me show you" Sakura blinked before uncorking her gourd of water and manipulating the liquid within and with a simple wave of her hand it turned into ice in a matter of seconds.
Before it was returned to its more pliable state and manipulated back into the gourd, and off to the side Zabuza nodded in satisfaction "To think brat at first you were barely able to create anything out of your kekkeigenkai, now look at you and I'm proud of how far you've come since then" Zabuza verbally praised a moment later.
Earning a soft smile before they all split up to do their own thing for a while, though on the last day of their break an emergency arose in the village when someone found the 1st Kazekage a few miles outside the village in critical condition "He's never going to make it to the hospital" Temari cursed.
Upon seeing how quickly the man was bleeding out "Gaara bring Sakura-san here" Rasa ordered his youngest Gaara body flickered without wasting another second on the search for the rosette and after a minute found her wandering the shopping district.
"Come quick we have an injured shinobi in need of healing" Gaara informed, not liking that he had to interrupt her on what was clearly a pre-planned date when Haku looked disappointed even if Sakura did understand as she allowed him to whisk her away to the gates.
Others at this point had arrived on scene one of whom was Karin "I can't...Sakura this it out of my hands I think he needs that" Karin drew away at the sight of her best friend/sister, medical chakra fading from her hands while mentioning that.
It confused a lot of people but not Sakura thought as she asked for them to give her space "Stand back everyone one, now...Hyoton: Ice Chrysalis" Sakura flashed through the hand signs necessary and Reto became encased in an ice cocoon.
Nearly causing panic until Karin assured them that this was normal and fifteen minutes later the cocoon started cracking before breaking open to reveal the 1st Kazekage healed of his fatal injuries and awake as Sakura helped him sit up carefully after surviving his ordeal.
"Shamon..." Reto frowned upon recognizing his subordinate, then looked down at himself, trying to figure out how he was still alive when someone had tried to end his life a second time while he'd been traveling to the village that was his home.
The 2nd Kazekage stepped forward in an unsure manner, looking at Sakura who nodded "How do you feel Reto-sama" Shamon inquired, wondering what kind of jutsu the girl had used but he could ask later, this was more important right now.
"I feel fine for some reason, has medical ninjutsu truly come that far to be able to heal someone in my state with ease" Reto questioned, eyeing the pinkette now, because she was the one who had tended him, how he knew that he wasn't sure, but he knew it was her.
Even Rasa wanted to know "Yes, please tell me Sakura-san, where did you ever learn that kind of jutsu, it was obviously made of your kekkeigenkai but I fail to see how it worked" Rasa frowned, though he was glad that his village's 1st Kazekage was alright.
"Made, I made it Kazekage-sama and it took 3 months, maybe longer and yes, I used my kekkeigenkai then channeled medical chakra into it, the accumulated healing chakra heals more efficiently over a time when the subject is cocooned somewhere safe" Sakura explained.
Because it wasn't like anyone could replicate her jutsu unless they were a member of the Yuki clan with the kekkeigenkai "How very revolutionary, you should take that to Hashirama Senju...though I doubt he is among the land of the living" Reto commented.
Rising onto his feet with her help "Oh he is, and he is utterly obnoxious at times, but he already knows about the jutsu that Sakura created, not that he can do anything with it" Karin snorted, just glad that Sakura was around otherwise things might not have ended well for Reto.
"Kekkeigenkai Sir, only I and the members of my clan can utilize the jutsu, and honestly Karin, Hashirama-sama is not that bad" Sakura admitted, leveling an amused smile at the redhead after a moment when Shamon took over and helped Reto remain steady on his feet.
Obviously, the man wasn't entirely satisfied with what he'd been told so far but there was little he could do at the time when he was shuffled off to the hospital and the next day Tobirama showed up to bring everyone back to the Leaf Village, where they got congratulated a second time on a job well done.
Until Tsunade kicked them all out of her office on break for the remaining time before the Jonin Exams were to take place "Darn I wanted to teach Hika those new jutsu, but I just remembered she's currently at the academy" Sakura crinkled her nose when she went to head towards the Yuki Blacksmith Shop.
"You can do that later Sakura, right now I want to greet your little siblings" Karin laughed, hurrying off to home and the four little ones were very happy that the older girls were back from wherever it was that they had disappeared off to for the past four days.
How they let everyone know they were happy was by squealing loudly, though like the mischievous children they were Kaede and Haruhi created some ice for their older sister to slip on and she caught herself in the nick of time before she ended up on her face with a broken nose.
"You alright there Sakura" Kizashi chuckled having witnessed the near ungraceful moment of his eldest child courtesy her little sisters and she glared at him half-heartedly before reaching down to pick up the twin girls to hold them as they demanded of her.
Before switching to her twin brothers that thankfully hadn't displayed signs of the kekkeigenkai yet "Just fine Dad and like your one to talk, wasn't it just a week ago that Haruhi-imouto nearly froze your ahem off for upsetting her" Sakura reminded.
Even if it hadn't been intentional on Haruhi's part, Kizashi had walked around hurting in his unmentionable place for a couple of days "Mean" Kizashi huffed while Karin giggled under her breath quietly, then after spending some time with the kids hurried off to the Yuki Medical Clinic.
With Sakura on her heels "Thank goodness you're here Sakura, Karin, I need your help, this couple are in need of assistance that I cannot give them" Yukina exclaimed in relief when the two kunoichi showed up to volunteer for a couple of hours.
Then gestured to the patients "Okay what seems to be the problem then Ma'am, Sir" Karin inquired, hoping that it wasn't too complicated of a problem but as she stood there listening to the couple explain that they'd been trying for four years to have children, she realized this issue was out of her league.
So turned to Sakura "Well if you follow me into this room, I can do an X-ray, and give you a diagnosis, if however, the problem can't be resolved here at the clinic I'll have to refer you to the hospital for Shishou or Shizune-sempai to take a look at you" Sakura informed.
Reminding the couple that the clinic only dealt with minor issues, even so the couple followed her into a room while Karin dealt with Izuna and Takako as they came to visit and twenty minutes later Sakura had the diagnosis in hand "Can you help us here" the civilian woman asked.
Hoping that it was possible "I'm afraid not Ma'am, you need surgery, there is a massive tumor on your ovaries that's preventing you from conceiving, just keep in mind even if you do get the tumor removed it might still not be possible to ever be pregnant" Sakura admitted.
Feeling awful about having to impart such terrible news on the woman who turned into her husband and started crying "Thank you Yuki-san, even if it wasn't what we wanted to hear, there is still a small possibility of hope" the man smiled, thanking her for her time before the couple left to make an appointment at the hospital.
"Guess what Sakura, I'm going to be a father" Izuna announced when the rosette exited the room on the heels of her patients, who'd already paid for their visit and left "Though we don't know the gender yet" he rambled on not paying attention to the pinkette.
Who wore a frown "Huh...oh congratulations Izuna-san, Takako-san, I'm sure you'll be wonderful parents you'll have to tell me how Madara reacts to the news, I'm sure it'll be quite interesting" Sakura smiled when he poked her arm to get her attention.
"Are you okay, does your distraction have to do with that couple who just left" Takako asked, having noticed the older woman was upset as she left the clinic with her husband, so the logical conclusion was that they had gotten some bad news.
"Patient confidentiality Takako-san so I won't go into too many details, just that they needed help we at the clinic couldn't provide, but I'll be praying that good fortune finds its way to them" Sakura confessed, hoping that the woman got to have a child.
Takako thankfully understood as she was ushered off by her fiancée, which reminded her that they needed to think about tying the knot soon, leaving Sakura and Karin to finish out their two hours at the clinic as more patients showed up with minor injuries.
And afterwards Sakura snagged Hika for some one-on-one time "Onee-chan does this mean you've made a new jutsu that I can learn" the 8-year-old guessed when she realized where she was being led upon finishing her homework that the rosette had helped her with in the library.
"Sure, does Hika-chan" Sakura smiled and when they reached the lake Hika started off by stretching first because it had been ingrained in her to do so by that point before turning to face the older kunoichi with excitement on her little face.
By the end of their little training session however Hika hadn't quite grasped the use of Ice Ring or Ice Ball so Sakura promised to instruct her the next day until she could properly utilize the two age appropriate jutsu's that had been created with her in mind for now at least.
Of course, Sakura also walked Hika back home afterwards then spent some time with Haku in his house "Looks like you've been busy since we got back" Haku commented as she joined him in the kitchen while he cooked dinner for himself.
"Yep, went and volunteered at the clinic, then went and taught Hika those new jutsu I came up with" Sakura explained, knowing that she wouldn't be able to stay long, her mother was off on a mission so her father needed all the help that he could get.
With that in mind, though Haku was disappointed, Sakura headed home to help with her four younger siblings and before they all knew it their break passed by without incident and they all gathered in Tsunade's office to find out what they needed in order to become Jonin.
~TsukikoUchu,
Hello everyone, I'd like to apologize about the chapter being shorter than usual, but from today on I won't be updating as much seeing as I have a potential job, so again I apologize and while the updates will be far and few I will still continue to work on this story and any other story I have.~