DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

"So how was your date?" Matsu asked her smirking. It appeared that the falcon was also smirking –if falcons could smirk. Sakura looked at the bird feeling aware, and it might have caught what she felt because it suddenly moved, nodded at the pinkish haired man first and then at her and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Were you talking to it?" She asked.

"Relax, it was a regular chat" her fake brother said "He doesn't know who I am, but they all have the feeling they know me. I tell them that I have an affinity with animals and they don't ask much"

"Hn…" the medic mumbled with a judgmental look on her face.

"So how was the date?"

"It wasn't a date" the pinkette said and the man raised an eyebrow "He was waiting for me at the Hospital entrance to tell me that tomorrow we have an academy related meeting at 8 am. And while I was leaving he asked me if I had had dinner yet"

"Hum…" he mumbled "Keep going"

"We went to the ramen shop and it was packed, so we grabbed food to go and ate in the park" She explained

"That sounds like a date to me" Matsu rose an eyebrow.

"I KEEP TELLING YOU IT WAS NOT A DATE!" Sakura was starting to get angry, and she actually knew why. Every time she said that it was not a date, something hurt inside her.

"Hey, I'm sorry" the man said apologetically "I don't want to upset you".

"AHHHGGG" she exclaimed grabbing her hair while she walked inside. She threw herself over the sofa and sighed. "It's not you who's getting me upset, I am upset because…" the pause the Pinkette made also made the Ōtsutsuki feel bad for her.

"You don't need to tell me personal stuff…" he tried to help her sorting her thoughts out. If she was ready to talk that might light her up and if not, he didn't want her to feel bad for staying silent.

"I want to" Sakura said quietly "You're my fake brother anyway" she smiled weakly and he mimicked her. "The thing is that I was actually hoping it was a date. There, I've said it" her face matched her hair and Matsu snorted at her reaction "I mean, All my life I wanted to date and kami, even marry, Sasuke-kun. When I had a slightly chance with him, I wasn't interested anymore… so I've actually never… gone to a date before" she ended that phrase in a very low voice.

"So you're upset because you want to go on a date so badly, or because you wanted Madara to be your first date now?" he asked bluntly.

"I-I…" she stopped for a moment "Yes. I don't know what's happening to me. I've already spoken with Hikari-chan about this. It's too soon to fall in love with…" she covered her mouth with both her hands as she realized what she had just said. Matsu eyes went wide.

"You're in love with him?" he asked almost speechless.

"I-I think so…" Sakura said shyly. "I thought it was just a crush, but it's even harder than the one I had for Sasuke Kun before I fell in love with him…"

"That doesn't mean that you're in love" The Ōtsutsuki reassured her "But that you like him a lot. You will know when you're already there. It's an early love if you want to think of it in that way" he added "Actually it's a too early one"

"Yeah… It's too early" she echoed and then it hit her. 'Wait, that's what he said!'

FLASHBACK

"Yeah, I guess you're right" he sighed and he sat a bit more comfortable at the bench leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "Well, I think we better be going, it's getting a bit late, and I don't want the old hags bugging me or you for being here"

"What?" she asked surprised "Why would they…? OH." She realized what he meant.

"Exactly" Madara Stood up and grabbed the empty bottles and pots as he murmured "It's too early"

"What did you said?" Sakura asked masking her surprise. 'KAMI DID SHE JUST HEARD THAT THING I MUMBLED?"

"I-I said we need to be up early" he lied.

"R-right!" the pinkette agreed a bit nervous. "So, I'll go home and get some rest."

"Rest well! I'm going to ehh…" he motioned the things on his hands "take this to the shops. See you tomorrow" he bowed awkwardly.

"Yeah! See you tomorrow!" Sakura waved. "Thanks for the meal! I owe you one"

END FLASHBACK

"Matsu!" Sakura exclaimed.

"What!?" he was taken aback for her sudden mood change.

"He said It's too early!" she exclaimed

"NANI?" the Ōtsutsuki asked dumbfounded, so Sakura proceeded to tell her what had happened. "Hn…" he scratched his chin as he sat on the opposite couch.

"What do you think about that?" the pinkette asked sitting at the edge of the sofa expectant.

"Well…" he wasn't sure about what to say. He had only brought them there; all her choices and feelings were just a consequence of their actions, so he thought it was okay to give his opinion. "Maybe he's on the same spot as you are" he answered and Sakura blinked a few times "I mean, maybe he's also developing a crush on you and wants to see where this is all going, but he feels the old council men might be an hindrance."

"So you think I have hope?" Sakura beamed and that made Matsu chuckle.

"It depends on what you want" he said knowingly.

"Then I do" She declared firmly.

MEANWHILE AT MOUNT MYOBOKU…

Hikari was trembling; she reached her right forearm and pulled her sleeve over. She put her palm over the inner part of her forearm and a small seal with her Mangekyo form appeared in purple chakra. It released some stray strands around it but one was long enough that crawled over her arm to her chest. She had never done that, she didn't know if it would work because she had only studied that.

"KAI" she exclaimed.

She had closed her eyes to concentrate so she couldn't see how the chakra strands started to glow. Nor she could see when they reached her chest the kanji of 'Kokoro' appeared over her heart and glowed too. But she could feel how an immense power engulfed her and following the awakening she opened her eyes in a sudden. The kunoichi started to yell as she saw how violet chakra flares burnt her body.

"AAAAGHHH STOP THIS!" she screamed as she patted her arms trying to appease the flaring chakra "PLEASE! I'M BURNING"

"QUIET!" Gamamaru sentenced with authority and that made her stop her wild movements. When he made sure he had her full attention he smiled at her gently and asked her more kindly "Does it actually burn?"

"W-Wha…?" Hikari blinked a few times as she looked at the palm of his hand. The purple fire that was all over her wasn't actually burning her. "B-but… I remember having burnt marks that time I awoke my Mangekyo… how is this possible?"

"You were not strong enough then to bear with this power" the toad said "and it also helps that this dimension is completely in tune with your chakra. It can still be possible for you to burn yourself with this chakra outside Mount Myoboku though" The girl was still breathing hard from the scare. "But see, it's not like you are summoning someone external to you. You're just using the power within you" Gamamaru smiled gently "In any case you might pass out for chakra overloading."

"So it might still kill me?" she asked perplex.

"Yes and no" he answered "If you release all your power, with your current condition, you'll die for sure" the kunoichi gulped "but if you leak some power and use it wisely, like when you use Senjutsu, you're safe. Also from Zetsu"

"You know him?" the Takishima asked.

"I have been keeping an eye on him for a long time." The Sage answered "Told Hagoromo that evil was near. He felt it to, but didn't want to meddle. That was his worst mistake. We don't meddle in human issues, but I felt responsible to tell him what had happened with his son"

"With Indra?" she seemed surprised.

"Yes, you know the story." He nodded "I told him that Indra wasn't a bad soul, but he had been stained with hurt, jealousy and dark emotions. And then he sort of made his sons compete. That was a poor decision as a parent, and as a master. Indra lost his soul when his wife and future son died"

"Who wouldn't…?" Hikari murmured. She remembered the story Hamura had told them some months ago…

FLASHBACK

"Hikari's mission is to stop Zetsu, right?" Sakura added siting down next to them eating some cold rice.

"Right, it's also your mission too. To help her, she must destroy him though, it's a family thing, no offense" he said

"None taken" Sakura smiled "and how are we going to find Zetsu here?" she asked

"At some point I'm sure he'll get close to Madara as he did with Indra. That's why it's so important to stop the curse of hatred. Zetsu feeds on that." Hamura said "I saw from the moon how that creature lured my nephew and destroyed everything he loved. I couldn't come to help him or my brother because it meant leaving mother's shell unprotected, and when I could reach Hagoromo, it was too late."

"What did Zetsu do?" the pink haired asked.

"First, Zetsu pretended to get Ashura killed so Indra awoke his dojutsu. Indra was a sweet child before, and then before he gained his Mangekyo he started to want to be more powerful. He wanted to protect people but he was blinded by that creature. One day, Indra fell in love with a priestess. She was one of his father's comrade's daughters. They married secretly, and our nephew almost forgets all his darkness, but then..." He stopped with a painful look.

"What?" Sakura asked again, her heart beating fast.

"It killed her. Zetsu. She was pregnant at that moment and had just told Indra. He never knew it was him because Zetsu made it look like that she was victim of an attack on their village and was killed defending the children." Hamura sighed, he heard Sakura and Hikari suppressing a sob "The village was destroyed and all the citizens killed. That creature made Indra think that men were not to be trusted because they were greedy and violent, and that they didn't deserve the gift of chakra. He had already awoken his Mangekyo by killing his closest friends though, so he was already corrupted"

"He killed his friends? But wasn't he happy with his family?" Hikari said

"Before the attack on the Village, Zetsu made a first attack that threatened his wife's life. It used this as an excuse to lure him to gain more power. He fell on that because he really wanted to save her. He was fooled by that creature that if he experienced great loss by killing his friends, he will gain more power, and so he did it. His wife was a very clever priestess and realized that his husband's chakra had changed. He told her about this new power he had and though she was amazed by it, she wanted to know how he had gained it. He didn't tell her at first, but then he spoke about everything, the black creature, and his friends, how he had gained the Sharingan when he was a child. She was stupefied at first, and then started to yell and cry and he tried to sooth her. She made him promise her that he wouldn't hear or be near to this creature anymore, and that's when she revealed the pregnancy."

The silence was hard in the refuge, only interrupted by the sound of the wind on the treetops.

"Indra swore to her and their unborn child that he will cut all ties with the creature. He later confronted it, and Zetsu let him go without saying a word." Hamura finished.

Sakura was crying silently. That story was so cruel. "Indra..." She whispered sobbing softly. Hikari, who was crying too, got up and faced Hamura.

"That's when it killed her and Indra fell into darkness, right?" she asked wiping the tears on her eyes.

"Yes, but it got worse when our brother inherited Ashura instead of him" He replied sadly. "I always thought that was unwise. He should have helped Indra in time, but he was too blind teaching everybody Ninshu."

"We need to be near to Madara then" the Takishima said.

END OF FLASHBACK

"Anyway" Gamamaru said "In any case, you're worthy of signing a contract with us." He waved his right hand and suddenly Gamma appeared with the Contract Scroll. "Sign this and you'll be bond with us forever, until you die, or commit treason to the Toads Realm."

The kunoichi bowed grateful and did as asked. She took a kunai and made a cut on her palm to seal the blood pact, and put her wounded bleeding hand over her sign. In that moment, the huge summoning seal circle appeared under her feet, shined strongly and eventually shrank and became absorbed by her flaring chakra.

"I am going to mark a new seal for you" the Sage said "Come close child" The girl did as said "raise your wounded hand and face your palm up" she compelled and Gamamaru spit acid direct to the cut that healed immediately. Then, he raised two fingers and mumbled something in toad language as the kanji for "Heart" appeared on her chest. "That seal is going to help you use your chakra more efficiently and if you somehow get yourself go loose, it will prevent your chakra from killing you by knocking you down" She gulped hard again.

"Will I be able to control this some time?" Hikari asked. The toad nodded

"I will train you" he grunted

"Really?" she asked marveled "When do we start?" she was eager to be trained by the Toad boss himself

"Not now, nor anytime soon" he answered cryptically

"What?" she sounded defeated.

"You're not there yet." He simply explained "You'll come to me when you are in need." The Takishima sighed.

"Another prophecy?" she asked a bit annoyed, and Gamamaru smirked.

"Maybe" he said. "Now go and see your friends, if I get it right you are on a mission. You can stay here for a few days until you master the Kuchiose art again" he waved his hand dismissing her. She bowed and turned to leave weighing a lot of thoughts on her mind.

Izuna and Toka were still eating in silence, both of them dwelling on each other's words. The Uchiha, embarrassment aside, had been thinking about what she had said, about how much suffering their friends might be hiding behind their kindness. 'Were our deaths really the cause of their problems?' he thought 'If they were… but why?' he opened his eyes wide as realization hit him. Suddenly the noise of the Takishima's footsteps approaching made him lose his train of thought. Toka was surprised to see her too

"Hikari-chan!" the Senju run towards her and grabbed her by her hands "Are you okay?" she checked her to see if she was harmed.

"I'm fine!" the kunoichi answered

"Are you?" Izuna intervened "You seem different". Damn he was so clever.

"Yes, I am" she said "I just signed my contract so I am adapting that's all" she was not going to tell them about her seal, they didn't know what was it anyway. "Gamamaru-sama told me to stay until I get used to Kuchiose again. Is it okay for you to stay one more day?" The Uchiha didn't buy it that that was the only reason she felt different, but he wasn't going to push her. He looked at Toka who nodded.

"Okay, we'll stay" he said "If we're not offered larvae anymore" he smirked and the girls sweat dropped.

Meanwhile in Konoha, the council reunion was held. As Madara had told her before, Sakura was asked to help with the constitution of the Academy. Tobirama and Takato showed their footprints and strategies and she was really surprised because they didn't differ much from how the academy worked on her time.

After the meeting dissolved, Tobirama also asked her to teach some lessons for beginners since she had studied in the academy before. That was until Toka and Hikari came back. They had been assigned by Hashirama to teach there since Sakura was pretty busy with the Hospital.

The pinkette had felt odd the whole meeting. Leaving aside the fact that she was again witnessing the creation of something she knew from her present, a feeling that she was sure she will never get rid of, she felt aware near Madara. Her talk with Matsu repeated all over her head continuously. Her resolution waved a little when she saw the Uchiha, the first person she noticed when she entered the room. Little did she know that that same shinobi had had little sleep because of that small conversation they had.

"It's too early" he remembered 'Why the heck did I say that? I almost made a full of myself.' Madara thought 'did she notice? Did she understand what I boldly implied? Kami I might have ruined everything' he was feeling down while he walked from his compound to the Hokage Tower for the meeting. His lungs suddenly forgot how to get air in when he saw her entering the room. She acted so natural around him that he felt…'Dissapointed?'

The next day Sakura left the Hospital in Ryuuji's care and went straight ahead to the Academy. There were a bunch of kids, civilians and from shinobi families, and also some teens and adults.

"Good morning everybody" she greeted out loud to the group. On her left were Tobirama and Takato, and Madara and Hashirama were on her right. "This is your first day at Konoha's Ninja Academy. Thank you all for being here. Before we get started, Hokage-sama will address to you all" she looked at the Eldest Senju and slightly bowed, moving aside for him to step in, standing next to Madara. He cleared his voice.

"Good morning people from Konoha!" Hashirama raised his arms and greeted his people. His nervousness directing himself towards crowds was getting better. "We are proud to open the doors of shinobi knowledge to all citizens of our Village" he smiled brightly

"He's getting better at it" The Uchiha whispered the Pinkette, she felt a small shiver after feeling his breath close to her, but managed to remain stoic.

"Yes he is" She smiled "And it's pretty nice for you to acknowledge that" the man slightly blushed at the sarcastic compliment. "You're a good friend for him" she reassured him.

That was it. All awkwardness was gone after that exchange. They became the same Madara and Sakura they were before those three words. It was too early indeed, maybe more than imagined, because they were dense people.

"I myself can say I am proud of you all that seek knowledge and practice, for the sake of your Village and your families, and also to perfect yourselves." Hashirama kept going. "Let's everybody work hard to achieve great things together!" he cheered, and the group of citizens joined clapping. The albino stepped next to his brother and cleared his voice.

"There are going to be different groups, since this is a very diverse group." He explained. "We'll start by dividing by age and then part those classes between Chakra and Non Chakra Users so we can focus on what will be best for you to learn." He showed six signs on the floor, divided with white lines that no one had noticed before. "Please stand were you belong, so we can continue".

The group split up and everybody took their designed spot, chatting quietly and noticeably nervous.

"Very well" Tobirama continued "Every non Chakra user will focus their training on gaining stamina, body combat and meditation to feel and mold chakra. Once you've achieved that, you'll learn the basics of ninjutsu and depending your growth you'll be passed to Chakra user's class." Children, teens and Adults from civilian households nodded with pride.

"Chakra Users" this time Takato spoke, stepping next to the Senju "You will be focusing on Ninjutsu, Taijutsu and Genjutsu, Chakra nature, basic medic ninjutsu and first aids. This first month will be for all of you to adjust yourselves. At the end of this period of time, you'll l be split in smaller groups to assign level of knowledge. They are going to be grades 1, 2 and 3. The ones that pass grade 3 will be recognized as Genin from Konoha. You will all have special classes to learn our brand new Shinobi ranks and structure of future missions don't worry. Once you grow as Genin, you can be promoted to Chuunin if you show some level of skills, and ultimately Jonin."

"Every shinobi in Konoha will be measured by that rank all throughout this month too, so they can have their ranks" the Senju added.

People nodded in acceptation, some of them seemed cluesless, but they were learning, so they still agreed.

"Very well" Sakura said "Let's get started!" she hit her palm with her fist and smiled to everybody.

Two days had passed and Hikari, Izuna and Toka were already on their way to the Nara Camp. It hadn't take long to the Takishima to adapt again to the Kuchiose no jutsu, and she was assigned a small black toad (Fukusaku's size toad) called Gamato.

They were just starting the journey thought, and it would take them almost a week to get there. The weather was not accompanying them for it started to rain heavily on their sixth day and they had to get refugee in a small cave nearby. The Takishima felt at the beginning that her friends where acting a bit odd, but then everything went back to normal. She would find a moment to speak with Toka in private.

When they finally arrived at the Nara Camp they were soaked and covered in mud, also pretty tired because they had been delayed because of the storm and run the whole last day to compensate their journey. That was why they couldn't anticipate their shadows to be stopped in their tracks.

"INTRODUCE YOUR SELVES IMMEDIATELY, IF YOU WANT TO LIVE" Ten armed shinobi surrounded them. Of course, they didn't look like messengers from a Village since they were so filthy. Instinctively Izuna and Hikari activated their Sharingan since they couldn't move their bodies.

"We come from Konohagakure no sato" Hikari answered. "We're here to see your Clan's leader. He asked for a meeting with our Village and we are its representatives" She bowed without taking her eyes from the Shinobi.

"Interesting" a female voice sounded from a hooded figure in front of them "Two Uchiha and you… lady?"

"I am a Senju" Toka answered.

"And I am not an Uchiha" the Takishima added.

"Again, Interesting indeed" the woman walked towards Hikari. "Turn off your fancy eyes and we'll have a conversation". She went straight to the point.

"Hikari-chan…"Izuna mumbled

"Oh, Hikari- Not Uchiha -San" the woman said mockingly "turn your Sharingan off if you want a civilized chat" the men surrounding them got a tighter hold of their shadows. The girl did as said "Your friend is wise Uchiha boy, now do the same".

"HN" he grunted and turned off his dojutsu.

The woman walked surrounding them and noticed their capes had a brooch with a leaf sign holding them together, the same the Hokage's scroll had on sealing wax inside of it. She smiled under her cape. Chances of them being impostors were actually none. Who would have known Konohagakure's emblem to copy them? Also, there were two Uchiha, well one Uchiha and an Intriguing girl with a Sharingan. And she could see the Senju emblem under Toka's cape since it was a little bit open. She had been trained to recognize impostors by her father, the most intelligent man she knew. It might have been one of their Clan's traits, but she was actually one of the sharpest there.

"Wonderful" the woman's voice changed its tone, it sounded… amused? "Now we know you're not a threat, let's get this party started" she took her hood off revealing a beautiful woman in her twenties with long black hair and light brown eyes. "I am Yuko Nara, the Clan Leader. Welcome to our camp"

***AUTHOR'S NOTE***

Hello everybody! I'm sorry for the laaaate update, been procrastinating a lot (Studying, fixing the house… and actually pretty stressed with this pandemics, hope it ends soon!)

Short chapter because I wanted you all to see I'm still here. I am truly grateful for the messages telling me to continue my story. You really made my day every time I received one

Academy is on, and a new clan has appeared! Introducing Yuko, hope you will like her. I already do.