Naruto and its characters belong to Misashi Kishimoto.
Sayuri and other characters that have not and will not appear on the show or manga are completely original.
Thank you and enjoy!
I don't understand what's going on...Sayuri thought as Naruto animatedly talked to Neji while the later nodded and replied in a calm manner. Her gaze shifted to the Uchiha who openly glared at Neji and Naruto. Noticing her gaze on him the dark haired teen turned to her. Their eyes met for a second with his softening for a few seconds before turning cold as stone, while hers only continued to stare in confusion.
"What's wrong with you, Marihasha." he finally spoke.
Sayuri made a face and glared at him not liking his condescending tone. "Well aren't you a little ray of sunshine, Uchiha." The teen straightened and glared at her. Sayuri matched his stance and glared back.
"You're not exactly well mannered yourself, princess."
Sparks flew between the two as they kept eye contact neither one backing down.
"Ignore him, Sayuri." Neji walked up and stood beside her. "He's not worth your time."
Sasuke turned his death glare to the young Hyūga prodigy. "Who the hell do you think you are to decide who is and is not worth, little miss majesties, time?"
"Excuse you!" Sayuri exclaimed reaching up to grab the collar of his black long sleeve, she pulled him down to her eye level. "I'm right here you ass hole, if you were looking for a fight you just got one!"
Sasuke smirked mischievously down at her. "Bring it."
"Hey, hey, hey!" Naruto cried out. "You two should maybe calm down, last time you guys were at it, it didn't end up well for any of us."
"Sasuke..." Sakura called but went by ignored by the Uchiha teen.
Neji placed a hand on Sayuri's shoulder. "Sayuri..."
"What's going on here." a calm voice came from behind the group. At that moment Sasuke quickly pulled away and turned to new addition.
"Big brother..." he said. Sayuri looked over her shoulder, eyes wide as Itachi Uchiha made his way towards them.
"You two weren't about to get into another fight, right?" The tall once dead Uchiha asked with a smile. And at that moment Sayuri felt the world spin before everything went black.
Real
Sasuke gasped, eyes opening to meet the dark abyss. He twitched his fingers at his sides and slowly moved his hand up to touch his chest where Madara had pierced him with his kusanagi.
The wound's closed...The young Uchiha thought and slowly sat up eyes on his healed wound.
"You are finally awake." A low voice caught his attention. Sasuke tilted his head up and came face to face with an older, floating, man. His skin pale and wrinkled. Spiked up white hair and beard that reached the middle of his abdomen.
"Who are you?" Sasuke finally asked, slight apprehension in his tone.
"I am the one who brought peace and order to the world. My name is Hagoromo."
Sasuke frowned. "Hagoromo...?" The older man nodded. Sasuke's eyes shifted to the black orbs and staff floating just behind the man. "So you're the so called Sage of Six Paths."
"That is correct." the man nodded in approval. "If you can understand that then I am sure you can understand your predicament. As you have already figured out you are not dead...yet..." the man continued. "We are in a world inside your mind."
"Inside my mind..." Sasuke repeated. "So what are we doing here then. If I haven't died yet then that means I will die soon. So what is the point of you appearing here in the first place?"
"Ah, that is an excellent question. I have traveled through time to meet with a transmigrant...which would be yourself."
Sasuke stood up and narrowed his eyes at the man. "Transmigrant? You mean reincarnation." When Hagoromo nodded Sasuke scowled. "There is no such thing."
At that moment Hagoromo took his staff and tapped the water bellow them causing Sasuke to look down as his reflection as the rippling water morphed into that of a different man. "You remind me of my eldest son, Indra."
At that, Sasuke scoffed and turned to his left. He took a sharp breath realizing who was floating on the water. "Sayuri!" he quickly made his way towards her placing a hand on her cheek and one at her shoulder he tried to shake her awake. "Why is she here?!" He demanded, noticing how cold she felt to the touch.
"Ah...that is something I will explain shortly. What I can tell you now is that she must have passed at the same time you did."
"Passed?" Sasuke turned to Hagoromo. "But you said I wasn't dead, so that means that if she's here then she can't be either."
Hagoromo, still sitting, floated over to the two and looked down at the girl. "Correct. She is not completely dead. She is stuck between this world and the next. You have a strong hold on her. If she is here it is because you want her here."
"So if she hasn't died, then how do I get her to wake up?" Sasuke asked the Sage.
Hagoromo smiled. "By listening to my story and answering my question."
"And why should I do that? Tell me how to get us out of here!" the Uchiha demanded.
"That is something I cannot do, it depends on what those on the outside do with you."
Sasuke gritted his teeth. Here he was having a conversation with this man, while Sayuri was slowly dying. He clenched his fists knowing he didn't have much of a choice. "Alright tell me your story." Hagomoro smiled.
XXX
"This is where you will wait until your teacher gets here, Lady Sayuri." The ANBU said turning to the girl who nodded and stepped inside. "Behave." He whispered to her before walking out fo the classroom gently shutting the door behind him.
"Wow you're a lot shorter than I thought you'd be." Naruto smiled down at her.
"I'm ten. What's your excuse?" she replied coldly. Behind Naruto, Sakura snickered and Sasuke smirked.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"
"Wow, not only are you short, but your also deaf." Sayuri replied, covering her ears and looking away.
"ARGH!" That's it! You're dead, brat!" Naruto looked ready to launch at her but Sakura held him back.
"Don't do it! The ANBU might come back!"
"I don't care! That kid deserves to go down!" He tried to squirm himself out of her grip, glaring daggers at the young girl who stood calmly before him.
"Bring it on, pipsqueak. I can take you on, anytime, anywhere."
"PIPSQUEAK?! Have you even looked at a mirror lately?!"
"Guys let her breathe!" she heard Sakura order as she slowly came too.
Sayuri groaned and moved her head lazily, trying to focus her vision but all she saw was a blur of red, blue, black, orange, white, and green.
"You're awake." He murmured impassively.
"Thank you for stating the obvious." She muttered rolling her eyes and turning her attention to the ceiling. "What time is it?" Sasuke watched Sayuri as she stared out the window both quiet as the heard the roar of the waves.
"I thought you died..." It was barely above a whisper but he heard it none the less.
Sasuke sighed and glared at the her. "When the boy in the mask headed towards you-" his hands balled into fists for a couple of seconds before relaxing. "...You could've died, idiot. You let your guard down! As far as I'm concerned this was all your fault."
Her eyes finally focused on Sasuke's black. The teen stiffened as Sayuri leaned forward to sit up.
"Are you feeling better?" Neji asked from beside her as he held her shoulders steady.
"Ah." Sayuri nodded as she ran a hand through her auburn hair.
Sakura placed a glowing green hand on her head. Bright green eyes narrowed in concentration. "Let me make sure..."
Sayuri placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her head. "I'm ok, really." She looked up to see a concerned Itachi staring down at her. This can't be real...Sayuri bit the inside of her cheek trying to dispel any genjutsu she was in. I need to figure out what the hell is going on here! She thought when she felt the metallic flavor of her blood. "I need to go..." She said as she stood up abruptly and stepped back slowly.
Neji stepped forward, dark browns drawn in, concern and curiosity showing on his face. "I can walk you home. You're obviously not feeling well."
Sayuri frowned and shook her head. "No...I'll be fine. I need to be alone anyway." Neji reached out for her just as she disappeared leaving nothing but floating leaves behind. Behind him Sasuke's once neutral features turned into a scowl, black eyes glaring at the now empty spot where Sayuri once stood.
"Does she seem different to you?" Naruto asked Sakura who stood beside him.
Sakura paused for a second, tapping a finger against her chin then nodded. "Yes, a bit." She turned her green eyes towards the blonde. "Maybe there's something going on at home...?" she offered as a sort of explanation. Naruto crossed his arms over his chest looking thoughtful.
Itachi, noticing his younger brothers increasing aggravation decided to nudge his arm. "Let's go, father is still expecting us." With a scoff the younger Uchiha followed his brothers leisurely pace out of the training grounds.
XXX
"That's your mother." Sasuke stated more than asked, looking at the rippling image of a young woman with long white hair, pale complexion and eyes eyes, and horns.
"That is correct. She picked the fruit of the Holy Tree, the same one you saw in this war. It's fruit is filled with chakra. After eating the fruit Kaguya gained that power, and became strong enough to rule the world. People used to call my mother the Rabbit Goddess or The Demon...they both feared and worshiped her.
The rippling image before Sasuke shifted to that of two infant children. "Kaguya then gave birth to two children. I was one of them. To repent for our mothers sins, my brother and I fought against the Juubi, the incarnation of the Holy Tree, and sealed it inside of us." The image showed Sasuke the battle and then shifted to that of Hagoromo standing with two children.
"Later on I also had two children. I called the older brother Indra and the younger one, Ashura. I thought the two nishuu." The image morphed again and showed the two children as adults. "However they had one big difference. One had my strong chakra genes and one didn't..."
Sasuke's shifted between the two brothers. "So Indra, your eldest was the strongest." He said his gaze on the male with the Sharingan eyes. "And your youngest, Ashura, was the weakest."
"Correct." Hagoromo nodded and smiled sadly at the two boys in the water. "Indra, since birth, had powerful eyes and battle sense. He was called a genius. He did everything on his own and understood that his power was special and different than others.
"On the other hand, Ashura, could never do anything well since he was a child. He could do nothing on his own. To have the same power as his brother he needed much effort and to have cooperation of other people. Through suffering and training hard, the chakra in Ashura bloomed and he gained the same power as that of his brother.
"Over the years Indra, Ashura, and I traveled to the different countries teaching nishuu to those who were willing to listen. That is when Indra met a young girl. She belonged to a small nomadic clan. Right away we saw that her people had a connection to the elements; so we thought them our art. Indra focused his attention on the young girl." Hagoromo smiled at the memory. The water bellow them rippled and the image of a dark haired young woman with warm red eyes appeared giving Indra an apple.
"I had never seen my eldest son so happy." The older man's smile fell, the image bellow shifting to that of the girl. She lay on the ground, clothes tattered, bruises on her arms, her face devoid of color. "But it was not to be. She died too young, bandits raided her small clan leaving several dead; and just like I had never seen my son so happy, I had never seen him so sad and filled with rage. He blamed himself for her death and focused on attaining power.
"I believe Indra had good intentions but the way he came about it worried me. Indra believed that anything could be achieved with power, while Ashura found that through cooperation one could become strong." An image with Ashura surrounded by several individuals rippled in the water. "Ashura found that through love anything was possible, something that my oldest lost hope in when that young girl died."
Sasuke turned to Hagoromo. "Is that why you chose him as your successor?"
Hagoromo paused before nodding. "Yes." Hagormo showed Sasuke an image of Indra in battle armor. "I thought that the power of cooperation was the key to peace. I also thought that Indra would follow Ashura, but I was wrong. And that was the start of a long war..." Hagoromo finished with a sigh and a sorrowful look. The image before Sasuke showed Ashura taking on the Kyuubi's form and Indra using Susanoo in battle.
"Their bodies were destroyed, but their chakra continued to reincarnate over time. Over and over again."
Sasuke quietly thought over the new information before coming to a conclusion. "So I have Indra's chakra, and Naruto has Ashura's." Hagoromo smiled. "So then who were the previous reincarnations?"
"There were others, but the most recent were Madara and Hashirama." the elder responded. "Indra was in Madara and Ashura in Hashirama..." Hagoromo sighed, his eyes down cast. "...And you know what happened to them."
Sasuke nodded. "They ended up killing each other." He turned to Sayuri, recalling the story the sage had told him. Eyes widened and he turned back to the man who waited patiently for him, eyes staring back at his knowingly. "So that would mean that the girl...the one that Indra..."
Hagoromo nodded once. "I didn't realize it it until the last transmigrant. You see, she made her presence known only for a brief moment in time, always dying young. Sometimes to early to really make an impact on Indra's transmigrants. With Madara it was a different story." The image switched to that of Hinode, as she smiled back at him, with shining sapphire eyes. "She lived far longer than I had seen her past self live. Because of this her role increased, her affect on Indra's transmigrant was more than those before. It was also how I finally noticed that her past life and that of my son's were connected. Just like now." Hagoromo gestured to Sayuri with a small chuckle.
"I was quite surprised when Madara began working together with Hashirama and the compassion he showed towards Hinode was similar to that of Indra and the young girl. However her death was...unexpected, just like before and that put Indra's transmigrant back to square one. I really believed that the war between the two would stop then." The image bellow rippled again showing Madara being stabbed by Hashirama at the Valley of the End.
"However that same compassion and love he held for that girl is the same thing that drove him, and my son, to become power hungry. By taking Hashirama's cells into his body he mixed Indra's and Ashura's chakra and was able to awaken my own. That is how he got the Rinnegan. I had foreseen that so I left the stone monument behind with instructions on dealing with that situation in case Indra or one of his trasnmigrants thought about doing just that, but no one seemed to be able to understand it."
"Uchiha's feel too much..." Sasuke spoke, his gaze on Sayuri. "That is what the Second told me."
Hagoromo looked at the brunette and closed his eyes. "Yes, I suppose he was right. Love is what drove Madara to do something that was clearly stated as forbidden. That same love is what has permanently connected this girl and you together."
Sasuke said nothing but knew the man was right. Madara lost Hinode and decided to try and get as much power as he could to right what he thought was wrong. And he thought he lost Sayuri and decided to join someone whom he knew was in the wrong in order to right what was wrong. The cycle was never ending. The young Uchiha clenched his fists. And now even she's dragged into this mess.
"Power can create conceit, like in my mother, and fear..." Sasuke turned back to Hagoromo who showed him an image of Madara. "If a single person holds too much power, they will become obsessed with it, and loose control. That is what is happening with Madara. Now that the transmigrant is over, he is trying to get close to me to get my power as well as my mothers. All in a blind effort to correct something that is and should remain out of his hands. He believes that he is doing what is right but he is really causing more harm then good. It has consumed him.
"The eternal Tsukiyomi, continuously shows people their dreams, but it also keeps them slaves to the genjutsu. It takes away their chakra until there is nothing left and a new fruit is made. If we allow that to happen it would mean the end of the world."
"So what do you want me to do?" Sasuke asked the Sage.
"I need you to answer this question...Sasuke, what do you plan to do? What are you looking for at the end of all this? I want to hear your honest opinion."
XXX
Sayuri sat on the rooftop of the Academy. She had been there for the past couple of hours trying to figure out where she was. It was not a genjutsu, she tried everything she could to dispel it...then again she was terrible with genjutsus in general. Sayuri groaned and covered her face with her hands. The sky above her was slowly turning purple and orange as the sun began to set, yet here she was hiding from everyone.
"You owe me an explanation." Sayuri's body went rigid when she heard that familiar voice. She refused to turn around and acknowledge the person as they made their way towards her. "Well...?" they were standing right behind her now.
Finally, Sayuri decided to stand up and turn around. Sasuke openly glared at her as she straightened up and narrowed her eyes. "I don't owe you anything." she said, wincing when she realized that her tone wasn't as authoritative as she expected it to be.
"You're not acting like yourself. You ran away, and your teammates have been talking about how you were ranting about some war." Sasuke listed off. "What is going on with you?"
"I..." Sayuri began but bit her lip. Where ever she was now was not the same place that she had come from. She had to be careful of what she said. "It's none of your business." She stepped back. "I'm going home." Just as she was about to turn to leave, Sasuke grabbed her arm pulling her back around.
"You're not going anywhere." Sasuke's tone turned more serious. "If you won't tell me what is wrong with you then you should at least answer this, why did you choose him over me?"
Sayuri looked puzzled. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about." His grip on her arm tightened by a fraction. Sayuri looked down at his had on her arm, then met his gaze again. "I told you how I felt about you, yet you chose him. Why?"
Sayuri looked at Sasuke as if he had grown a second head. "What did you say?"
Sasuke's anger only seemed to rise at her question. He quickly let go of her arm and stepped back, running his hand through his dark locks, exasperation clear on his face. "This is pointless..." Sasuke sighed.
She stated at him for a moment. "Sasuke, I—" Sayuri began but the teen held up a hand to her.
He shook his head and let his arm fall to his side. "You know what, don't bother. Just forget about it and go back to your boyfriend."
"I..." Sayuri took a half step forward but pulled back, unsure of herself. She turned to leave but she paused at the railing. Her hands gripped the metal rail before she pushed herself back and practically marched back to the Uchiha. "No! If you want to know what's wrong with me then I'm going to tell you. Before I woke up I was in a war. Every country was involved in it, several men and women died. Suddenly I'm here, in a world that doesn't make sense because none of this ever happened where I'm really from. My clan was assassinated as well as yours, Itachi died, so did Neji, and you...." Sayuri poked him in the chest. "You were certainly not in the village. So yes, I'm not being myself, because what ever or where ever this is, it's not real! None of this is real. You are not real! And that question of yours is certainly not real! Because this place doesn't exist, Neji no longer exists, neither does Itachi, or my clan or yours, none of it! It's all in my head! And I feel helpless because I have no idea how to get out of here!" She exclaimed, tears running down her cheeks as the feeling of helplessness finally set in.
Sasuke took a hold of her hands, that until now she hadn't noticed were balled up and hitting him. He pulled her to him and held held her in place. Sayuri squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stop the tears.
"It's time to wake up now." Sasuke spoke in a soft tone. "You need to wake up."
Sayuri opened her eyes and found Sasuke gone. She stood alone surrounded by nothing.
"Sometimes our minds can create scenarios in our heads of things we wished had happened." a voice echoed around her.
"Neji...?" she asked, wiping the tears away with the back of her hand. She turned all around her but found no one.
"You're not suppose to be here." His voice sounded much closer now. No longer an echo. She turned around quickly and found Neji standing behind her. "It's not time for you to go yet."
Sayuri took a sharp breath at the sight of the Hyūga. "You're here...but...what's going on?"
Neji smiled and approached her slowly. "You are dying. Your mind was trying to play catch up and ended up creating a scenario in which you weren't dying. It was a sort of dream, but now you're here, and I'm here to tell you to go back."
"Go back?" Sayuri echoed. "I can go back?"
Neji nodded. "You're not dead yet, there are others trying to bring you back."
XXX
"So is that your final answer?" Hagoromo asked Sasuke who stood firm and gave him a single nod.
"Yes."
"In the past I only paid attention to Ashura and did not pay enough attention to Indra. That proved to be the cause of all these problems. Lift your dominant hand, I'll give my power to you, Indra's reincarnation." Hagoromo's staff lifted up into the air, its lower half lifting up to Sasuke's side as the Uchiha lifted up his right arm. "From now on, Naruto and Sasuke," at that point the two appeared side by side. "...You two will decide what to do." The two touched their palms to Hagoromo's as the man transferred his chakra to both teenagers.
XXX
"Moriyo..." Tsunade started but stopped herself from saying any more. The jounin was trying desperately to keep the dead girl in front of them alive. She bit her lip, hazel eyes on Sayuri's pale face. "Keep your chakra flow steady." Tsunade started, noticing Moriyo take her eyes off of Sayuri she frowned. "And don't lose concentration!" The blonde scolded her.
"Yes, ma'am!" the dark haired woman turned back to Sayuri keeping her chakra flow to Sayuri's own body steady.
XXX
"Neji...I'm sorry!" She drew her hands to her chest looking away from the Hyūga who stared at her bewildered.
"What do you need to apologize for?" Neji asked.
"I wasn't there. I should have been there when you died...maybe I could have done something..." Neji chuckled and shook his head.
"There was nothing you could have done, Sayuri. Dying to protect Naruto and Hinata was my own choice." Sayuri looked up at the Hyūga, dark and light brown eyes staring at his silver curiously. "It was my choice, something I did because I wanted to do it."
Sayuri smiled tenderly up at the boy. "Is this a hallucination too?"
He shook his head. "No, this is not." He brushed aside a stray hair and bent down to ear.
XXX
"Is he going to be ok, Kabuto?" Karin asked, fear apparent in her voice. Suigetsu, Juugo, and Orochimaru watched Kabuto as he healed the young Uchiha. The group watched as Sasuke's eyes opened. The dark orbs shifted left to right. Kabuto stepped back allowing Sasuke to sit up.
"Sasuke!" Karin began, the boy stood up and turned towards the direction in which Madara was in.
"Karin..." Upon hearing her name, the redhead looked up at the Uchiha nothing but adoration in her eyes. "Find Sayuri and heal her."
Karin's face fell at the request. "WHAT?!" the girl exclaimed.
"She's dying." Sasuke continued. "You're the only one that can help her at this point..." he paused as if considering something. "...Please."
"Um..." the redhead blushed. Sasuke had never asked her to do anything nicely before.
XXX
"Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed when the blonde suddenly sat up as if he wasn't about to die just a minute ago. "Are you ok?"
"Yes." replied then turned to Obito. "Thank you for what you did. Giving me back the tailed beast really did help." The man half smiled at the blonde as he stood up with ease.
XXX
"Sure." Karin replied slowly, still in cloud nine.
"Good." Said the Uchiha, his back facing them all.
"Time to go." Sasuke and Naruto said at the same time. Obito agreed and quickly took them out of his dimension and back to Madara, Kakashi, and Minato. Sasuke on the other hand turned to Tobirama who was still pinned down by the rod to the ground.
Sasuke made his way to the silver haired Hokage and removed the rod with ease. "Can you jump, Second?" he asked.
Tobirama observed him and frowned. Something must have happened when he died...for him to be able to touch those rods without getting injured...The man stood and rolled his shoulders. "I can, I'm linked to the Fourth's markings. However, I with my power I can only send one person."
Sasuke nodded. "That's enough. I'll go." He turned to Karin as she stood up and dusted herself off. "Go heal her." He reminded as Tobirama placed a hand on his back focusing his chakra.
"Right!" Karin replied before taking off, already picking up on the brunette's faint chakra.
Sasuke looked over his shoulder to the Second before giving him the go ahead.
XXX
Moriyo was panting, sweat rolled down her cheeks as she continued to pump chakra into Sayuri's system. I knew medical nijutsu was difficult but this is...absurd! The jounin thought, her previous belief, of being great at controlling her chakra, going out the window. Nonetheless she was determined to keep the brunette alive, no matter what.
Tsunade who had been holding Sayuri's wrist suddenly spoke up. "I can feel a pulse. It's faint but it's still there."
Moriyo sighed in relief but her chakra was already reaching its limit. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. The woman bit her lip, desperately trying to keep going.
"Hey!" The women looked back to see Karin standing behind them, hands on her hips a frown in place. "Let me take a look at her."
Tsunade frowned and with the help of Shizune stood up. "Who let you out of your cell, and what are you doing here?!" the Hokage demanded.
"We could either sit here, and argue about how I got out, and whether or not I should be here or not, or I could save the brat. Which one will it be?"
"You are going to help Sayuri?" Shizune almost laughed. "And what makes you think we'll let you anywhere near her?"
Karin sneered. "If it were up to me I'd let her die, but Sasuke asked me personally to help her." Sharp crimson eyes turned to Moriyo and watched as the woman's chakra began to waver. She adjusted her glasses and crossed her arms over her chest. "If you don't let me help her she will die. Do you understand?"
Moriyo looked up at the Hokage who gritted her teeth but relented. Moriyo gasped and fell back allowing the redhead to kneel beside Sayuri. "I need someone to help hold her head up." the girl instructed.
Shizune turned to Tsunade as she patted her shoulder. "Go help."
"Ah, yes, Lady Tsunade!" the brunette sat down the blonde woman and quickly kneeled behind Sayuri, sitting her up. The Marihasha's limp body rolled to the side, but Shizune managed to steady her back up.
"I can't believe I'm doing this..." Karin grumbled, rolling up the sleeve of her pajamas revealing several bite marks on her arm. She pulled down Sayuri's jaw and placed her arm in her mouth before closing it shut again. Karin winced at the pain of the bite but could already feel her chakra seeping into Sayuri. "Come on...you can do it. Wake up!"
XXX
Neji pulled back holding Sayuri by the shoulders, tender smile in place. Her eyes went to his seal-free forehead. "I'll be just fine." Neji said, placing a small kiss on her cheek. "It's time for you to head back."
"But—" she reached out for him but grabbed nothing but air. Sayuri pulled her hand back to her chest. She felt something tugging at her body, before she was pulled back completely. All she saw was green now. It took her half a minute to realize that it was the green of a vest, another minute to realize that the vest belonged to a woman with bright orange eyes, and three seconds to recognize that woman as Moriyo.
Sayuri wanted to talk but felt something in her mouth. She was quickly pushed back by the person beside her. Her eyes shifted to see Karin glaring at her.
"Hold still and keep taking my chakra, you need a little more to be completely healed."
Sayuri's eyes widened as she quickly pushed the redhead away and spat at the ground. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Sayuri demanded, holding her throat.
"Well that's a nice way of thanking someone that just saved your life!" Karin retorted as she rolled down her sleeve. "You're welcome!" the redhead huffed leaning back. The ammount of chakra she had to give Sayuri took a toll on her.
"Sayuri!" Moriyo called, hands over her mouth as she struggled not to cry.
"Good to have you back." Sayuri looked over her shoulder to see Tsunade and Shizune both looking very exhausted.
Sayuri stood up and looked at her hands, curling and uncurling her fingers feeling much better. "Did I die?" She asked the women around her.
"For a second." Tsunade replied with a smile, but we were all too stubborn to let you go like that.
Sayuri looked back at Karin who was taking deep breaths and staring up at the night sky. "Thank you." Sayuri said, trying to keep her tone as neutral as possible.
Karin rolled her head and sighed. "Don't thank me, thank Sasuke. He's the one who told me to come here."
Sasuke...Sayuri thought, her face taking on a more serious expression. He's alive...She felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. But what about Naruto? And just as that thought crossed her mind the God Tree disappeared. Sayuri and the rest looked up in apprehension watching as Madara levitated into the air.
"I can sense Naruto..." She sighed, behind her Tsunade smiled in relief. Sayuri's jaw felt slightly open at the next thing she felt. "Madara has the Sage of Six Path's power!" Sayuri exclaimed. Brown eyes fixed on the levitating man, his chakra feeling eerily similar to that of Obito's when he had absorbed the Juubi, yet there was something else. Something doesn't feel quite the same...Her brows dipped slightly as she tried to figure out what exactly she was sensing in Madara that she hadn't sense in Obito.
"Well," Karin began "...welcome back." Karin finished sarcastically. "That man has been kick all of our asses."
"Sayuri..." she turned to Tsunade when she called. "Go. They probably need you."
Sayuri hesitated at first but then remembered Hinode's words. Everything she had done up until fighting Madara, had all been her own power. She need to stop doubting herself and she had to start acting, her hands clenched at her sides as she directed her attention towards the two familiar chakras ahead. "Yes, ma'am!"
A.N.
I leave you with that. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you for all of your support. Please review, I'd really like to know what you think. Until next time!