AN: So, here is the next chapter. Hopefully you all enjoy it, Sakura reaction may be a bit surprising for some. Also I apologize for any grammar, spelling and typo mistakes. I've read it through once but I'm heading to bed, so I will have to go back over it again once I wake up tonight for any mistakes I missed.

Return to Konoha Arc.

Eternal Spiral.

Chapter 13: Sakura's Gaiden.

"Sakura,how was your day?"

Mebuki watched as her daughter bypassed the kitchen, and her, completely. She barely heard the parting words of her daughter as she did so. Heading up to her room, she assumed.

Mebuki sighed, shaking her head as she returned to the kitchen, still stirring the batter in the bowl as she did. She'd never wanted her daughter to be a shinobi. She knew what it entailed, her grandfather and father had both been shinobi.

They had both died in service to Konoha, her father when Mebuki was only six. Her father had been the last in her family to get involved in the ninja lifestyle. It was because of her father Mebuki had quite going to the academy as a girl, she just couldn't handle the reality of being a shinobi.

She had assumed her daughter would do the same, but years passed and before Mebuki knew it her daughter was a genin. Far too late to pull Sakura from the Academy, far too late to stop her daughter from getting in over her head. Her worse fear was one day getting word that her daughter hadn't come back from a mission alive... or she came back broken.

Her mother used to say, fixing things was easy, but once broken you couldn't completely fix a person. Heal, maybe, but they'd never be the same either way.

Her sweet Kizashi's side of the family was purely civilian. The only sway the Haruno name held was on the civilian council and that seat was held by her mother-in-law (or monster-in-law as she'd called her in her youth, when she'd first married Kizashi).

It bewildered her that such a kind, thoughtful man could be related to such a... a banshee. Ayane Haruno, Kizashi's mother, was well into her years now and a widow. She was also something of a tyrant, Mebuki tried to keep as far away from the pink haired woman as she could.

Over the years she'd tried to limit her contact with Sakura was well, she really hadn't wanted to see her daughter turn out like Ayane, gods forbid, the world could only handle one Haruno banshee at a time.

While Sakura had inherited the pink hair, it was lighter, an influence of her blonde hair, and while she could be rather loud at times when angry she wasn't anything near Ayane – something Mebuki took as a mission accomplished.

Actually, Mebuki thought, looking up from pouring the batter into the cake pan. Sakura hadn't been on good terms with her grandmother since a conversation not long after she'd become a genin four or so years ago.

Mebuki couldn't be sure what it was about now, but she'd heard a few things. Like Sakura's teammates names being thrown round. Whatever it was hadn't been kind, at least in concern for the Uzumaki girl.

Mebuki sighed, she would admit, at first she was like the others in concern to the girl. As the years passed though she'd begun to see beyond the demon the girl had sealed inside her.

This was with help form her husband and daughter, though she didn't know if they realized. She'd never openly discriminated against the girl. Her husband, well, he was too kind to ever think of a little girl the same age as their own daughter as a demon reincarnated.

He held faith in the Yondaime's word, and was happy when their daughter had befriended – if only tentatively before they became genin – the blonde jinchūriki.

Mebuki placed the cake into the oven, and stood up straight with a thoughtful look on her face. She wasn't sure what was wrong with Sakura, but she was sure whatever it was she'd find a solution. She may have feared, and still feared her daughters chosen profession, but she was also proud of her.

She'd taken notice, no matter how it seemed, of Sakura's progress as Lady Tsunade's tutelage. She could at least rest better at night knowing she could handle herself as a accomplished kunoichi, and she was eighteen... an adult even by age now.

"Sakura!" Mebuki yelled up the stairs once she reached them, "I'm heading down to the bakery to help your father with the customers. I've put a cake in the oven if you'll check on it in a few minutes."

Mebuki heard the reply of acknowledgment from Sakura and turned to leave, looking back only once in concern before heading out.

"Ino, who is that?"

The blonde beside her looked at her in surprise, tilting her head slightly in confusion.

"Who's who?" Ino asked.

Sakura pointed ahead of her, towards a large tree which had a single swing tied to it. It was a homemade swing, of old rope and a wooden plank to sit on – it had probably been made years ago it seemed so old.

Sakura was surprised it hadn't broken, even under the girl who sat on it's weight. It wasn't that the girl sitting on it was heavy, Sakura doubted the girl weighed eighty pounds, and if she did it would be a surprise.

Behind the girl was a boy she knew all to well. He was one of the sons of the Uchiha head family, and in the Academy with them. So was the girl, come to think about it. She couldn't remember the girls name, but the boy she knew was Sasuke.

Ino gaped at where she pointed and than shook her head.

"That's just Naruto..."

"Naru-to?" Sakura interrupted hesitantly, surprised by a girl having such a masculine sounding name.

Or at least it seemed more masculine than female, but she knew some names could be used either way. There was a girl named Hinata in their class as well, and her name could be used for a boy or a girl – in her case it was the feminine use.

Ino nodded, chuckling a little under her breath as the marry-go-round spun while she and Sakura sat on it.

"Yeah, strange name for a girl but she's nice. I can't believe you hadn't notice her, she's been trying to be friendly with you for some time now. I mean, she sits behind you in class sometimes."

Sakura blinked, looking back at the blonde girl on the swing being pushed by Sasuke, higher and higher. She did look familiar, and for a moment she felt guilty for not remembering or being nice in return to her.

"I...I don't remember," Sakura admitted. "I..hope I didn't hurt her feelings."

Ino sighed.

"Naruto doesn't have many friends. I've seen her talk to Shikamaru, that lazy Nara, and Chōji and sometimes Kiba. Mostly I've seen her around Sasuke, I think they're close friends. No one really knows the story of how that happened – no one else really likes her. I've heard some adults talking quietly together about her, mean things, and they don't seem to like her very much."

Sakura was shocked.

"But why?"

"No idea," Ino replied. "I asked my dad, he just smiled and said sometimes people fear what they don't understand and told me not to worry about it."

Sakura frowned as she looked over at where Sasuke and Naruto where, Naruto now standing on the ground in front of the swing, talking to Sasuke it looked like. Sakura nodded to herself, shocking Ino when she jumped off the merry-go-round.

"What are you doing?" Ino asked.

"Let's go talk to her, maybe we can be her friend..."

'I never did become her friend, back then at least,' Sakura thought as she opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling above her bed.

It was true, she'd talked to them that day, but things just never really moved forward. Being seven then she was even more shallow and selfish.

Upon seeing what being around Naruto did to her social life at school she'd pushed the girl away. Shattering any trace of a blossoming friendship between them. The only girl that had really talked to Naruto at all during their Academy years had been Hinata.

Not long after, about two years, give or take, the massacre happened and her crush on Sasuke Uchiha had reached new heights. Many girls had seen Naruto as a threat to getting Sasuke, even if they seemed to be very distant after the massacre.

Eventually, it seemed more like the two hated each other and girls just started ignoring Naruto again, figuring she was no longer a threat to gaining Sasuke's affections. Looking back she realized Naruto had still been friendly to her, and tried to be her friend, but she'd pushed her away, violently at times.

Sakura winced at those memories, it wasn't until they were genin that she started to grow up and realize that she could openly be friends with Naruto and not care what anyone else thought. It had just been Team Seven for a long time, and she could remember when she'd begun to see her cell group as a family. It was during the wave mission.

Sakura snorted, sitting up in her bed as she realized, she should have seen it coming. She should have seen that Sasuke only had eyes for one girl, even if he didn't seem to realize it himself back then. That girl had always and would always be Naruto.

She'd seen it when he'd woken up from Haku's attack, when Naruto had hugged the boy and he hadn't pushed her away. He'd seemed to enjoy it even, but her brain had found any and every way to rationalize it.

Then when they'd been in the chūnin exams. He just knew the ninja pretending to be Naruto wasn't Naruto just by the way she answered and the fact the ninja had placed the holster on the wrong leg.

He'd not listened to her when she'd begged him to stop when he'd first accessed the cursed mark, but when Naruto had done what she'd done, hugging him, he'd backed down.

Then many weeks later after the invasion when he'd heard his brother was after Naruto he'd run off without permission to reach Naruto first. Sakura was sure she could find many instances.

She'd deluded herself though, and was she really that upset? Sure, she felt sad that now any chance she might have with Sasuke was gone. He had chosen who he wanted to be with, chosen long before anyone else had known, and even had children and married.

Married, It was unbelievable that Naruto would leave and come back with three children, basically royalty and married to someone considered a traitor, at least before now.

Sasuke would probably get off with probation, not that he probably wouldn't have without the backing of the Hokage – grudgingly as it might be – and Naruto, who was now the Daimyo of Whirlpool.

Naruto being the daimyo of anything was surprising, but even after seeing her for a few minutes, Sakura could tell she'd grown up. No, she wasn't grievously upset, she didn't think she had those sort of feelings for Sasuke anymore anyways.

Maybe his leaving the village and the aftermath of the retrieval mission had woken her up from her rose-tented glasses in concern to the raven haired boy? True, she'd always care for him, as her teammate and as her friend, but over the years any romantic feelings seemed to take a back seat.

Other than the shock of him being completely out of her reach now, and the residual feelings she had, she just didn't see Sasuke in a romantic light any longer.

She was sad that she was the last to know. Kakashi had known, Jiraiya... she wondered who else had known before her. She understood why Naruto had kept it quiet, but she was their teammate, their friend, shouldn't she have been an exception?

Sighing, Sakura stood up and headed downstairs. If nothing else to check on her mother's cake.

As she did this she realized she couldn't even be properly angry at Sasuke and Naruto. In a way they were perfect for each other. Naruto at least knew how to handle the emotionally guarded Uchiha, and they did make adorable babies. Sakura couldn't help but laugh at that stray thought.

It was the truth though. The twins, Kiyoshi and Nariko, were adorable children. Kiyoshi looking so much like his father, and Nariko looking like both her parents. Not to say she couldn't see Naruto in Kiyoshi. His personality reminded her some of Naruto, quite a bit in fact, though at the same time she saw Sasuke.

Nariko seemed to be the quieter twin, but that might have been the fact she was around strangers. With a name meaning Thunder, Sakura couldn't see Nariko being anything other than rambunctious.

Though, Kiyoshi was nearly as quiet, he'd only spoken a few words, mostly they'd been curious about everything around them, and herself, probably because they'd never seen someone with pink hair before. Pink hair wasn't the most common of hair colors in the nations.

The baby, apparently the newest addition to their small, yet growing (Sakura couldn't withhold a smirk at that thought. Sasuke did say one of his goals was to restart his clan, and usually a clan was classified as more than five members. Not to mention she'd always seen Naruto having a large family, maybe because she put so much feeling and stock in family and hadn't had one growing up), family.

Menma, Sakura recalled his name being, was undoubtedly his mother's son, but with striking Uchiha features. The beginning of black hairs on his head, the shape of his nose seemed to be that of Sasuke's.

Menma seemed to take a little more after Naruto though, a rounder face, the eyes shape and color, the slightly tanner skin than a normal Uchiha had. Like a male version of Naruto, but with some Uchiha features.

As Sakura picked up the icing her mother had ready for the cake, she couldn't help but hope she could be the dotting aunt to Naruto-chan and Sasuke-kun's children.

Aunt Sakura had a nice sound to it.

"I need to go see her," Sakura muttered. "Make sure she knows I'm not upset."

They hadn't seen each other in over three years, and Sakura had this gut feeling one of the reasons Naruto hadn't told her was fear of how she'd react. Back then, Sakura was sure she'd have reacted rather badly.

Despite being a bit disillusioned with Sasuke after he'd left, she still hadn't completely gotten over him back then.

Covering the now iced cake – which her mother would probably go about decorating later – she placed it safely away and moved quickly to the front door, slipped on her shoes and darted out the front door.

Five seconds later Sakura came back inside, grabbed a pen and paper from the table close by and wrote a quick note to her parents in case she wasn't back before them, and ran back out the door.

It took her a while to realize she had no idea where the Namikaze Compound was. Actually, Sakura had never even heard of a clan by the name of Namikaze.

Though the surname itself did sound familiar. She'd assumed she was looking for the Uzumaki Compound, and she remembered hearing Naruto say Jiraiya was going with her to unseal her father's home, so she obviously wasn't at the Uchiha District.

Apparently Uzumaki wasn't her father surname. She wondered if she was the only one on Team Seven to lack any real knowledge on Naruto's origins?

Probably, she thought with a slightly frustrated huff.

"Yo, Sakura," a familiar, calm voice said from beside her.

Looking over she gave a sigh of relief at seeing Kakashi. Maybe he knew where she could find Naruto.

"Sensei, I'm glad to see you," she began.

Kakashi nodded.

"How are you handling it, about Naruto and Sasuke?" he asked, getting right to the point.

Sakura snorted lightly and smiled.

"I won't lie, I was a bit down at first," she replied. "But I've grown over the years, Kakashi-sensei. I'm not the fourteen year old who believed the world revolved around Sasuke. To be honest I don't think anyone but Naru could handle Sasuke."

Kakashi laughed, nodding.

"Sensei, do you know where the Namikaze compound is? No one seems to know or want to answer me when I asked around..."

Kakashi had stiffened at the name before he sighed and nodded.

"There is a reason for that, but I think it's better if Naru told you that herself," he said. "Yes, I do happen to know where it is. I'll show you the way."

Sakura smiled happily and followed Kakashi towards the Uchiha District. Half-way there they took a turn to the right, away from the lake (or pond that was so associated as being a piece of the Uchiha property, despite not being inside the compound).

Soon enough they came upon some wall, which weren't as high or grand as, say, the Hyūga's or even Uchiha's. They were moderately high, maybe a bit over six feet and made of iron – looking more like a high fence than a wall.

Inside was a compound maybe half a large as the Uchiha District, with about a dozen or so homes, the largest being almost centered in the compound. It almost seemed like a peaceful vacation spot, but lonely.

It was also rather dusty, Sakura was sure, it seemed as if none had been there in years. The gate, which had a sun-like symbol where the gate met to latch shut, was wide open.

Looking around her Sakura could see the Uchiha walls from where she stood, so while it was rather hiden from the village there was actually a rather good view of it, and it was surprisingly close to the Uchiha Compound.

Kakashi looked around in remembrance, and some remorse. He'd not been here for what he thought was close to twenty years. The place was big and Minato hadn't liked living here alone, his parents having passed when he was young.

Most the Namikaze clan which had found there way to Konoha had met their end in battle or during the Third Shinobi War. Minato had been the last.

He'd lived there with Kushina for quite some time, using their old apartment in the village, closer to the Hokage office, as a safe house. When Kushina had been pregnant with Naruto it was where she preferred to stay with Minato, being closer to friends and it was smaller, not quite as isolated.

That was something Kushina had never liked about the Namikaze compound, it was too isolated for her liking. It was one of the smaller clan compounds in Konoha, but it was so quiet and Kushina had been a social woman.

Kakashi supposed the isolation, and peaceful atmosphere was what Naruto needed right now. It wasn't as if it was that different from when she'd lived in her apartment building.

"It's beautiful," Sakura said as they headed towards the main family house.

It was in the best shape, though not by much. It was rather large, but also moderate in size compared to some main family homes from other clans. The Namikaze compound was not flashy, Sakura realized.

"Hmm, it hasn't changed much," Kakashi said, and he smiled slightly upon seeing two small toddlers playing in the front yard area, to the side of the main house, where there was a fountain which once upon a time had Koi fish inside.

Kakashi was pretty sure there were no longer any fish there but the two children seemed to be amusing themselves with the still working fountain-pond combo and water that flowed into it.

Sakura looked over to what she noticed her sensei staring at and gaped for a moment, but then she composed herself. It wasn't that shocking, seeing two children playing outside their home. True they had just moved in that day, but she didn't expect anything less from the children of her two teammates.

She chuckled under her breath, didn't that sound weird? Her teammates had children together, she'd never seen it coming, but she probably should have. Maybe she did, she just hadn't wanted to believe it, or maybe she was thinking too hard on this?

"Yoshi, don't splash me!"

"Don't call me Yoshi, Riko!"

The little dark haired girl puffed out her cheeks in such a way that was identical to Naruto that Sakura couldn't help but smile.

"MY NAMES NOT RIKO!"

"MINES NOT YOSHI!"

"Both of you better learn your names, or there will be no dessert for either of you," Naruto's voice suddenly said, coming out onto the long, though not exactly wide, porch.

It was a funny image. Not because she couldn't see Naru being motherly, no, Sakura always had a feeling Naruto would make a wonderful mother, but because of the stern look on her face, added to the long navy blue dress she wore over a long sleeved white shirt with high collar, and pink apron.

Her hair was up in two buns on the side of her head (probably to keep the extremely long locks out of her way), and she seemed to be drying her hands on a kitchen cloth.

She looked like the image of a housewife in that moment, and it was just so different. Without even meaning to though, Sakura could just picture Sasuke coming up behind Naruto, wrapping an arm around her and giving the children a stern, yet barely amused, look for fighting.

The perfect family, she thought with tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

She didn't know why, maybe because she feared there wasn't a place for her? She hadn't seen or talked to Naruto or Sasuke in years after all (though not really by any fault of her own) and would they even want her around? Maybe because the picture perfect family she could see them being made her envious, or just plain emotional.

"Sorry, Mama," the two twins said in unison, heads bowed slightly, and the corner of Naruto's mouth lifted upwards.

Sakura took a deep breath, and came to a stop a few feet away from the house, and where Naruto and her children stood. They still hadn't noticed her or Kakashi, but from the slight twitch of Naruto's body language she had a hunch it was more like, Naruto letting her make the first move.

It hadn't occurred to Sakura Naruto could truly be that concerned about her reaction to all of this.

"Naruto?" she began, sounding more like she was asking a question.

Naruto turned her full attention to her, as did Kiyoshi and Nariko, and she smiled. It had a hopeful, and almost sad or weary quality to it. Like she was expecting the worse.

"Hey, you're that pink lady from before," Nariko pointed out, and then looked down a bit shyly when the attention was directed at her.

"Nari-chan," Naruto muttered, barely loud enough for Sakura or Kakashi to hear.

"Yes, I am," Sakura said as she crossed the distance between them and crouched in front of the little girl with features so familiar, and eyes nearly the same shade as Naruto (she realized they were lighter and more of a violet-blue). "My name is Haruno Sakura, I'm a good friend of your Okaasan and Otousan."

"Oh, you're Sakura-obachan," Kiyoshi said, eyes wide. "Mama told us about you."

Sakura's eyes widened at this and she stood back up, looking at Naruto in slight surprise. She hadn't expected that, she thought... well she wasn't too sure what she'd thought.

"Kiyo-chan, Nari-chan, why don't you two go annoy Ero-sennin," Naruto suggested, and the twins grinned, nodded and took off into the house.

Sakura could hear the cries of 'Sofu' from them as they went. She smiled, they really did see Jiraiya-sama as their grandfather, she realized.

"We should talk," Naruto began, and motioned for them to follow her inside.

The silence at first was nerve-wreaking.

What could she honestly say? There was just so much to talk about, it had been so many years since they'd last seen one another and Sakura had never expected her to come back with such a bombshell.

Looking at the blonde girl beside her, Sakura noticed the chain necklace around her neck, tucked into her clothes, which she knew held two beautiful, yet simple, rings. She felt a bit envious, not really because Naruto had gotten Sasuke in the end, but because it seemed like she now had everything.

Nobility, a beautiful home, and most of all a family. Sakura had only ever had feelings for one boy, and that was Sasuke. No matter how misguided those feelings may have been, and how fan-girlish they'd made her back then, Sasuke had been the only one she'd ever had a crush on.

Even after she'd pretty much left any romantic feelings for Sasuke in the past she just never found anyone that she liked. She was eighteen years old and never had a boyfriend, never been on a date, or kissed. As she thought about this more she wondered if something was wrong with her?

She wasn't as beautiful as Naruto, who had long silky blonde hair like the sunset, and tanned skin, curves and exotic marks on her cheeks. Though knowing Naruto she didn't see her own beauty, she wasn't shallow or vain by any means – Sakura snorted, once upon a time that described herself perfectly. Shallow and vain. She'd spent more of her time on her looks than her training.

It wasn't that she didn't know she was rather pretty, despite a too large forehead, and body which wasn't quite as curvy as many kunoichi in the village. Hell, compared to Ino, Hinata, Tenten, and now Naruto she almost looked like a boy with her moderate B-cup bust and slender build with subtle curves.

'Maybe I haven't changed as much as I thought,' Sakura thought to herself with a sigh as she realized how chaotic and self centered her thoughts had gotten.

She'd forgotten to take into consideration that no matter how perfect Naruto's life may look on the outside, underneath things were not so grand. Naruto had to work for where she was now, and she'd had to fight for Sasuke who seemed bound and determined to leave everything to avenge his clan.

She wasn't sure exactly how it had happened, how Sasuke and Naruto's relationship started but it couldn't have been easy.

Sakura had to accept that she had nothing to be jealous about, her life wasn't hard by many means and maybe her not finding interest in any of the boys in the village had nothing to do with her and everything to do with her not wanting to let go and move on completely.

"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan."

Sakura looked at Naruto startled, and asked, "For what?"

"I knew how you felt about Sasuke..."

Sakura held up a hand, shaking her head.

"Stop, I know where you going with this and it's unnecessary." Sakura smiled at Naruto. "You're my best friend, Naru-chan, and I'm happy for you and Sasuke. It wasn't that I was really upset...I was just shocked."

"You're really not upset?" Naruto asked, blinking away her surprise.

"Not anymore at least," answered Sakura. "A few years ago I would have been upset, but it's been nearly four years...I've let go of my crush on Sasuke. I love him, but just as a good friend or brother, just as I love you like a sister."

Naruto grinned her fox-like grin and threw her arms around Sakura, and the pink hair Kunoichi laughed as the sudden hug.

"Thanks Sakura-chan," Naruto said, pulling away from the hug. "Sensei, you've been quiet."

Kakashi leaned against the wall of the study Naruto had shown them too and Sakura could tell, and she was pretty sure Naruto could as well, that the man had been here before.

"Sorry about that, just this place holds some memories," he said.

Naruto nodded.

"I figured, Jiraiya said it was my father's study," Naruto began.

Looking around Sakura would admit, besides from some dust the place was well organized. Bookshelves, a large desk, and decorated in warm colors. It was almost like an everyday study.

There were also some pictures, probably of family as most had shades of blonde or lilac hair (and she had thought her pink hair was unique). There was one that caught her attention, on the desk which was the most cluttered area in the entire room.

The picture showed a couple, both wearing the jōnin standard uniform and hitai-ate. One had blonde hair the same shade of Naruto – sans the red highlights which were more noticeable in direct light – and was spiky in a way that reminded her of little Kiyoshi and Menma (though the baby didn't have quite a full head of hair yet, but it was pretty thick for a baby barely a few months old).

It was probably where they got it from. The mans eyes were some of the brightest azure blue she'd ever seen, at least on anyone other than Naruto.

The woman beside him could have been Naruto fraternal – if not identical sans the eyes, hair and skin tone – twin they looked so much alike.

If Naruto dyed her hair red, had ivory skin, and deep violet eyes she'd be the woman in the picture. It even looked as if Naruto was around the same age as the redhead when this picture was taken.

For some reason the man seemed familiar, and not in the he looked quite a bit like Naruto way like the woman did.

"Naruto...I hope you don't think I'm prying but... just who were your parents?" Sakura asked. "From what I've gathered your mother was an Uzumaki, and your father was a Namikaze."

"Sakura, you don't recognize the name do you?" Kakashi asked, seeming somewhat amused.

Sakura blinked. Should she? Sure, it sounded familiar, but...looking around at the pictures she noticed another where the blonde man wearing a long white haori-cloak. Her eyes widened, and Naruto smiled.

"My father was Namikaze Minato, and my mother was Uzumaki Kushina," Naruto said. "My father was also the Yondaime Hokage."

After that the silence was thick. What could she say to that? She'd thought the most shocking revelation Naruto had for her was her recent marriage and children... and while this didn't necessarily top that it did throw Sakura for a loop.

Looking back at the pictures and then back to Naruto she snorted. How had she not seen it before? How had no one seen it before, Naruto was like a female version of her father when it came to her bright hair, tanned skin, and sharp azure eyes.

Chuckling, Sakura finally spoke.

"You certainly are Konoha's number one most unpredictable ninja, Naru-chan."