Chapter 7.
Age 25.
Sakumo marries Kinue in the summer. Michiyo and her husband are there, as are Kinue's overjoyed parents. Sakumo invited Karasu as well but he only shows up for the party afterwards to drink. Sakumo quells the disappointment by looking into his wife's eyes and grinning like an idiot.
The first few weeks as a married couple are complete bliss. They find a quaint old house near the edge of the village. It has a large porch and a garden with a pond and a tree. Plenty of room for Sakumo's ninken to run around and, they agree with a twinkle in their eyes, potential children too.
For the first time since Sakumo can remember, he doesn't feel so empty anymore.
xXx
But Kinue doesn't get pregnant in the few peaceful months they share, and their bliss is broken when the fighting near Suna grows worse. Sakumo is a jounin, and a famous one; he is sent to the front without a second's thought. Kinue is sent to the front near Kusa. They do not see each other for months.
Sakumo garners a new nickname in this period. It's been brewing for some time, but after he kills a couple of vicious puppeteers (a man with hair the colour of blood and his fierce, fierce wife) the White Fang of the Leaf is born. New orders are issued to Sunagakure's shinobi; Flee on sight if you spot Hatake Sakumo.
One person doesn't listen.
Sakumo has only just left for his morning patrol when he senses the shift in the air. He only just dodges the scythe, a few silver hairs cut loose and reflecting the early sunlight. The puppet whizzes over his head and Sakumo splits it apart with his tanto.
He looks up and sees a woman in front of him. She must be in her late forties, her once red hair already fading to dark grey. She wears it in a tight bun. She has a friendly face, Sakumo thinks, but right now it is contorted with rage and grief. IT takes Sakumo a moment, and then he recognizes her from the Bingo book: Sunagakure's Chiyo of the Ten Fingers. Sakumo is grateful that her twin brother isn't alongside her.
The fight is long and exhausting, and it isn't helped by Chiyo's constant accusations. He realizes the red-haired puppeteer from before must have been her child, and cringes at the thought. Killing people is so much easier if you're not confronted with their families.
In the end, Sakumo slices off her arm and knocks her unconscious. He closes her wound on a whim; he cannot help but sympathize with the woman's plight. Perhaps someday she can come back and finish her job. It feels important that he leaves her alive.
It isn't an easy victory; his head feels light and he's bleeding from many wounds. He stumbles back to camp and collapses on the perimeter.
He awakes to find brown eyes blinking at him curiously. Sakumo studies the young woman's face and realizes he knows her from somewhere. "Tsunade," He croaks. She is no longer the little girl, but instead a full-fletched warrior. And a healer.
She gives him a disapproving glare. "Honestly, Sakumo-san. Chiyo's poison almost killed you. You're lucky I was here to save you; I'm the only person who can find the antidote to her concoctions."
She chides him some more but he bears it with patience. He lives, after all. He receives a letter from Kinue the next day- she's doing well too. A smile creeps up on Sakumo's face and he can bring himself to forget Chiyo's tearstained face for a moment.
xXx
26 years earlier
They return to the cave, shivering and afraid, but quickly find solace in each other's warmth. He whispers his name into her ear and she can finally bring herself to call him by it. He's more than just a Konoha Chunin, now.
"You could have gone with them, you know," Sayuri says after, her head on his chest.
He sighs deeply. "I could have," He admits. "But I have so little to live for in that village."
He looks at her and she realizes with a sudden shock that he probably loves her as much as she loves him.