A/N: A gentle reminder: this is a slow burn romance that is going to span about eighty chapters and is going to encompass both Sakura and Madara's entire lives! As such, there's a lot of gradual build as the world (past and future) and the people in it change and grow and as the stage is set for later events.
Rakugan are essentially cookies that come in many different shapes and colors (pink ones shaped like cherry blossoms, white ones shaped like rabbits, green ones shaped like leaves, etc). They are made by taking specialty sugar, flour, and other ingredients and pressing them into molds. A yokai is a supernatural spirit, demon, or monster. Jinbei are essentially a loose pair of pants and shirt that are used as pajamas. They are traditionally worn by men although more and more women wear them nowadays.
Despite having gathered another piece of the puzzle that was Sakura, that she was capable of committing war crimes in the kitchen, Madara remained curious as to her skill as a teacher.
While he could easily admit that her capability as a healer far outweighed his own skills as a warrior, he wondered how she would go about passing that knowledge onto a student. Since she had offered to teach them a medical jutsu, him and Izuna decided to investigate a few days after what they had jokingly (and secretly, far, far out of earshot of Sakura) dubbed the Ramen Incident.
Madara considered the implications of learning such a jutsu. Him and Izuna would be the first of their family to learn a medical jutsu. Their clan was well known for their battle prowess, their plethora of advanced jutsu, and their sharingan… but not their innovative medical techniques.
Despite the Uchiha's infamous habits of taking whatever jutsu they wanted with their sharingan, they had yet to garner a healing jutsu. Although no Uchiha had yet to have the opportunity to take one yet either. Hashirama was the first person that Madara had ever witnessed using a jutsu that healed - even if his technique only ever extended to himself - and the Senju never used hand signs, leaving the Uchiha unable to copy it. When Sakura had begun her service, he had watched her with his sharingan as she healed in an attempt to copy her technique however, just as Hashirama, she weaved no hand signs for him to copy.
So the Uchiha clan remained unable to utilize medical ninjutsu although Sakura's presence was just as good. The brothers hadn't been exaggerating when they told the clan elders that Sakura was a valued asset. She was the only healer among them and astoundingly skilled with her craft as well. Her presence alone had cut down their yearly death toll by a substantial percentage. That would have been a considerable enough difference to have turned the tides of war in their favor had they not been struggling that past year with the death toll they had suffered following the battle at Biei.
Madara had thought that Hashirama had developed his restorative technique on his own but Sakura's sudden appearance had negated that thought. Perhaps the Senju clan leader had met a survivor from Sakura's old village as well and had learned some form of Sakura's more advanced technique from them as Madara soon would from Sakura?
He could only imagine Hashirama's dumbfounded face when he used this medical ninjutsu to heal himself!
All theories and amusing thoughts aside, both brothers were determined to become the first Uchiha to learn medical ninjutsu, something which had turned into a competition for them as challenges such as these often did. Madara would thoroughly enjoy learning this jutsu and trouncing his younger brother in their competition.
The fact that he had another excuse to be with Sakura was… inconsequential.
Sakura, once she had gotten passed her surprise at suddenly gaining the two Uchiha clan heads as students and her amusement as they taunted one another over who would be the first to master the healing jutsu, had confused both him and his brother by leading them to the river on the outskirts of the village.
Where they now stood, baffled as to why she had taken them here.
The spring day was clear, not a single cloud in the sky, and a cool breeze blew through the forest. The sun was a welcome presence, warming his dark clothes and the skin beneath. The river was clear and untarnished, the waters nearly transparent if not for the current. He caught sight of a few neutral colored fish darting beneath the flowing waters, unaware of the people standing on the shore, and he spotted two fisherwomen perched on the bank of the river farther upstream, watching his group curiously as they kept an eye on their traps and fishing lines.
"I still don't understand how this pertains to healing ninjutsu…" Izuna commented, speaking what was on both of the brothers' minds.
"You don't learn healing ninjutsu the same way you learn other ninjutsu," Sakura explained as she hiked up the skirts of her yukata, securing them so they sat high on her thighs, "I mean, neither of you have picked up how to use it by watching me heal with your sharingan, have you?"
"Well, we…" Madara started as both him and Izuna scratched at the back of their heads, embarrassed at having been caught trying to steal her jutsu, "No."
She turned to smirk at them slyly, knowing that she had caught them, before slipping off her geta and wading into the flowing waters of the river.
"Well that's because to use healing jutsu, you don't mold your chakra with hand signs like other ninjutsu. You heal by manipulating the cells of your patient by precisely controlling your chakra output," she explained as she came to a stop as far into the river as she could get without getting her skirts wet. Her calculating gaze swept across the riverbed as she stilled completely.
"That's incredible," the younger Uchiha complimented, drawing a smile from Sakura.
"It's not as complicated as it sounds, it's just difficult. It's very similar to walking on water or dispelling a genjutsu," she brushed off.
"And how do you learn to do that?"
"By using… these!" Sakura answered as she plunged her hand into the waters and tossed a fish onto the shore with lightning speed.
Both Madara and Izuna stared down at the carp flopping around uselessly on the shore, incredulous, before their gazes returned to Sakura. She laughed at their identical looks of skepticism, both of their eyebrows quirked in disbelief. Turning her attention back to the waters, she quickly pulled another fish from the river and tossing it onto the shore.
"I'm more than curious as to how," Madara stated blandly as his gaze fell to the two fishes on the shore.
"Withhold your excitement," she deadpanned in return as she strode back out of the water. She untied her skirts, allowing them to fall back down to her ankles, as she stepped back into her sandals.
Brushing out the wrinkles, she perked up before stating, "Well, grab a fish, we're heading back."
Without another word, Sakura strode back off towards the Uchiha village, leaving the brothers behind with the two now motionless fish and their own surprise at their sudden burden.
Madara heard the sound of giggles from the two fisherwoman upstream, the two women hiding their smiles behind their hands as they watched their two clan heads take orders from their medic. Both him and Izuna shot them glares, the two women's gazes shooting away, as if pretending as if they hadn't seen anything. Barely restrained amusement lingered in their expressions as they watched the clan heads from the corners of their eyes.
Madara huffed as he reached down and hooked a finger through the mouth of one of the fish, lifting the creature up so he could carry it. Izuna mimicked his elder brother, sighing in displeasure. When he lifted the fish to carry it, however, the fish sprung back into action as if having been lying in wait. As the young Uchiha wrestled with the now violently thrashing carp, the fish's tail slapped into his cheek with a velocity that drug a surprised, indignant noise from him.
Madara, and the two fisherwoman, burst out laughing as Izuna finally gained control of the fish, a deep scowl now plastered on his face.
When the brothers finally regrouped with Sakura at her home, the medic having not even bothered to wait for them, they found her as they often did: hunched over a set of scrolls at her table.
"Ah, good, just in time," Sakura commented as they walked in, cutting off any complaints they may have had about being forced to cart back fish.
Sakura finished the last few strokes on what appeared to be a fairly complex seal, inked onto the blank scroll before her. The seal was identical to the one decorating the scroll already sitting before Izuna's normal seat at the medic's table.
"Take a seat and place your fish on the center of these seals. They'll help you mold your chakra in the beginning so you can feel how it's supposed to be done," she explained simply, fanning her hand across the newly finished seal.
"Very well. What is the next step?" Izuna asked as both brothers took their customary seats around Sakura's table, draping their fishes across the finished seals.
"Only one last step: Bring that fish back to life," Sakura returned vaguely.
Both Uchiha's gazes shot to her like a second head had sprouted from her shoulder.
"And how are we to do that, exactly?" Madara questioned, his expression pinched in confusion.
"You need to press your chakra into the fish and modulate it until you feel the fish start to come back. The seal will be a lot of help as you start, it can help direct your chakra in the way you need. You're going to want to focus on restarting the activity your fish's nervous system. You'll notice it begin to regain its color or begin to move as you get closer to figuring it out," Sakura explained as she took a seat on one of the cushions surrounding her table.
At that, the medic unfurled one of the closed scrolls remaining on the table and began to get comfortable as she prepared to delve into her research. She remained oblivious to, or purposefully ignored, Madara and Izuna's eyes lingering on her.
"Sakura…"
Her eyes flicked up to meet Madara's stare over her scroll. "Hmm?"
"Is that all?"
"Listen, there's nothing else I can say to help you understand. You just need to attempt it on your own. You either succeed or you don't… That's what I meant by you need to have an aptitude for it," Sakura explained, appearing as if she were genuinely apologetic for being unable to help them further.
Madara briefly wondered how she had been able to become such an accomplished healer with such a strange form of instruction when his eyes locked with Izuna's. He instantly recognized the look of challenge in his little brother's gaze and returned the competitive look with a glare.
Not only would he be the first Uchiha to learn this healing ninjutsu but he would do so in a fraction of the time that it took Izuna. Detailed instruction or not.
Both Uchiha molded chakra into their hands and began to press it into the dead fish before them, beginning the race to be the first Uchiha to learn medical ninjutsu.
Madara could still remember learning how to walk on water. Him and Izuna had both been four at the time, Madara nearly five and Izuna having just had a birthday. They had been watching as their father sparred with one of their aunts and both young Uchiha had been blown away when their father had landed on the surface of the river instead of falling in. Him and his brother had loudly demanded that their father teach them how to walk on water and, exhausted from an intensive training session with their aunt, he had promised to do so the next morning.
The next day, however, he had been called upon by the clan leader at the time, along with a couple dozen other warriors, to go to battle against the Senju. Faced with the disappointed faces of his eldest sons, he had given a brief explanation on how to use chakra to walk on water and had challenged them to teach themselves. Madara and Izuna, having always risen to any challenge placed before them, had perked up immediately and had drawn a rare smile from their gruff father.
Him and his brother had spent the entire day out on the river bordering their village, teaching themselves how to walk on water. They had fallen into the freezing waters more times than he could count but, shortly after the sun rose until it was perched high in the sky, him and his brother had finally succeeded.
The memory of lying down on the shore of the river with his younger brother, basking in the warmth of the sun as it dried their soaking wet clothes, was one of the happiest he had. The feeling of victory, of brotherhood, and of knowing their efforts would impress their stoic father made for a feeling of absolute contentment.
Madara had been able to forget that their world was nothing but war and death. He had been able to forget that he would see the battlefield himself within the year when the armor would finally fit his small body. He had been able to forget that him and his brother were nothing but fodder in a never ending war. Even if just for a little while.
He wondered if that feeling was what Sakura had meant by 'being kids'.
Madara also wondered how she had managed to learn to heal from her mentor because, while she had compared medical ninjutsu to walking on water, healing jutsu was infinitely more difficult. Learning this damned jutsu was one of the hardest challenges he had ever attempted and easily the most aggravating. Nothing at all like learning to walk on water.
It had been hours. Hours spent hunched over Sakura's table, draining his chakra into a dead fish, as she calmly read scrolls beside them. Hours in which they made absolutely no headway whatsoever.
Madara had been so focused on his unproductive task that he hardly noticed her disappear for a short time only to return with a wicker basket and a handful of herbs from her garden. The sound of her mortar and pestle as she ground down the herbs and the sounds of glass clinking together as she began to work on her elixirs became a calming backdrop to the infuriating task before him.
She didn't even bother giving them any more tips. Her explanation on how to use healing jutsu was even less helpful than his father's rushed explanation on how to walk on water all those years ago.
You either succeeded or you didn't, hm? Well, he certainly would succeed. It was impossible that he did not have the aptitude for any kind of jutsu. He would master this simple yet confounding technique, he would master whatever skill she set forth to learn next, and he would master healing juts-
Izuna's fish flopped on the table across from Madara, it's tail coming up and slapping back down on the table once.
Momentarily stunned, both Uchiha stared down at Izuna's fish in baffled silence. Madara blinked at the creature owlishly, his chakra output ceasing entirely as his muddled mind returned to the world outside of his task.
The brothers made eye contact, both sharing a shocked look, before Izuna's expression rapidly became smug. He had been the first to affect his fish.
Madara glared at his brother in turn before his focus returned to the fish. He would not be outdone.
Determined to take the lead in this competition, Madara flooded a fresh burst of chakra into the fish underneath his hands. Confusion flooded him as the sound of sizzling met his ears and as the smell of burnt meat reached his nose. He moved his hands, ceasing his chakra output, and stared down at the blackened scorch mark on the side of his fish with dismay.
Izuna barked out a laugh at the sight of Madara's burnt fish, earning a furious glare from the elder Uchiha. With Izuna's attention on his brother and not his fish, his flow of chakra altered, the sudden change in chakra flow causing the scroll beneath his fish to burst into shreds of paper. Madara cackled in amusement at Izuna's alarmed yelp, thinking that it served him right.
Sakura turned away from her potions, curious by the sudden activity. Noticing the scorch mark on the side of Madara's fish and the bits of paper that once made up Izuna's scroll, she shook her head in amusement. She reached into the wicker basket she had brought in with her, withdrawing a new fish, before moving forward to replace Madara's burnt fish with a new one.
Her gentle movements calmed Madara's amusement and ire, drawing in his attention like a moth to the flame.
"Too much chakra, Fire Nature. You want to be more steady and precise," Sakura teased with a warm smile.
Heat built in his face before he cleared his throat, "Of course."
"And Izuna. If you were any more forceful, your fish would have blown apart instead of your scroll and I wouldn't appreciate having to clean that up," she chided lightly as she unfurled one of the scrolls she had been working with earlier, revealing a fresh seal for Izuna to use.
"I see you planned ahead," Izuna grumbled in return, politely gathering the scattered bits of his previous scroll into a small pile before placing his fish atop the new seal.
"Don't worry, it was inevitable," Sakura laughed in return before carting Madara's burnt fish into the kitchen, leaving the brothers to their own devices once again.
Madara sighed in exasperation before stretching his arms over his head, loosening up for the first time in hours. Both him and Izuna continued with their task, their amusement and frustration forgotten under the intensity of their renewed focus. It was only a short time after they began that Madara noticed the fin of his new fish flex under his ministrations. He watched as the fish regained some of its color before returning entirely to it's lifeless state once again. He tried to pinpoint the sensation, trying to emulate exactly how he had modulated his chakra in an attempt at furthering his progress, but found himself struggling to recreate it.
His attention was slowly disturbed by the smell of food. Sluggishly emerging from his near meditative state, he looked up just in time to see Sakura place bowls of rice, topped with fried fish, in front of both him and Izuna. He had been so immersed in his task that he hadn't even noticed her sitting at the hearth, cooking this meal for them.
Madara pressed his lips together in exasperation as he realized that she had cooked the fish he had burned but couldn't help but respect her lack of waste.
When Sakura returned with her own dinner and got comfortable at the table, she spoke. "I can guarantee you're not going to get it on the first day. It took me eight days to finally bring my first fish back with the use of a seal."
"Eight days!?" Izuna bemoaned in return, leveling his fish with a distressed look.
"That is…not particularly encouraging," Madara sighed, carefully moving his fish to make room for his meal in front of him
He hadn't expected just the first step to learning healing jutsu to be so arduous. While he hadn't pushed himself into a state of exhaustion, he was notably drained from having dumped his chakra into his fish for the entire afternoon. He found himself concerned that it took even Sakura over a week to learn the first step. She was a medical genius and her chakra control was flawless. If it had taken her such an extended period of time, how long would it take him and Izuna to learn this first step?
"Sorry," Sakura returned with a sympathetic look, "If it's any consolation, I think you both did very well today."
"Thank you, Sakura. And thank you for the meal," Madara returned politely, mentally reaffirming his dedication to learning this technique no matter its difficulty.
"Yes, thank you for dinner," Izuna added before shooting his brother a teasing look, "It's very resourceful of you."
Madara leveled Izuna with a flat stare before they both hesitantly took a bite from their meals.
Much, much better than the Ramen Incident.
The same taxing, infuriating process continued for fifteen days, only briefly interrupted by a skirmish with a minor clan, daily training, and missions.
Madara and Izuna did nothing but eat, sleep, fight, and waste their precious chakra on ungrateful river life. It was both their stubbornness and their pride that refused to allow them to abandon their arduous task.
It was on the morning of the fifteenth day, after Madara had eaten his breakfast and readied himself for the day, that he had an epiphany. Rushing to his fish, he tested his theory, and cried out in victory when the fish slowly sprung back to life, flopping off of his desk and only the floor of his study.
Scooping up the thrashing fish like a hard earned trophy, he rushed to the opposite end of the house to gloat at Izuna. His brother, having just emerged from the bathroom and still dressed in his sleeping clothes, feigned indifference, but Madara knew better. He relished in the fact that his brother was seething in jealousy on the inside and knew that once he left, Izuna would be back to training with the fish without even bothering to change out of his jinbei.
"Go strut around for your love and get out of my side of the house," Izuna huffed as he turned his back to his brother in dismissal and strode down the hallway, the only thing betraying his envy being the hard line of his shoulders.
Madara, still basking in the glee from taunting his little brother despite Izuna's own teasing, decided that a visit with Sakura to learn the next step of the jutsu was in order. After making a brief stop into his study to collect the scroll with the seal that Sakura had given him and slipping on his shoes, he made his way to their medic's home.
It was only after he had already knocked on the closed fusuma leading into her home that he realized how ridiculous his situation was, carrying a dead fish over to their medic's home at the crack of dawn to show off his progress. He nearly slapped himself for his carelessness, hoping that she was already awake and that he wasn't disturbing her.
Infinitely grateful when he heard Sakura's voice beckon him inside, he entered her home, slipping off his shoes as he went.
When he came upon her, Sakura was seated at her table, still dressed in her own sleeping clothes. The nemaki she wore was only loosely tied around her middle, the sleeping yukata hanging off of her form, and her hair was still tangled from slumber, her sleep rumpled appearance endearing. She sipped at a cup of steaming tea as she greeted him with a warm smile, blinking sleepily, apparently having just pulled herself from bed.
"Good morning," he greeted awkwardly, feeling as if he was intruding on an intimate moment of her life, barging into her warm, cozy home so early in the morning.
He felt the need to apologize even as he felt the want to be a part of the moment.
"Good morning," she returned sweetly, her gaze dipping down to the fish and the scroll held in his hands, "To what do I owe the early morning visit?"
"I've completed the first step," he replied proudly.
"You did it?" she asked with a pleased expression.
He answered her by instead laying out his supplies so he could prove it to her. When his hands glowed green as hers did as she healed and as his fish sprung to life for the second time in it's lifespan, an excited smile lit up her face.
"Great job! You only took a week longer than I did!" Sakura complimented.
Even though he had taken a week longer than her, Madara still preened under her compliments. She was a medical genius after all. Of course she would have learned the technique in such little time.
His internal gloating died the moment she planted a chakra scalpel into his fish, killing it. His expression dropped as he felt a strange sense of loss. He had brought that fish back from the dead after all. Twice. He had been planning on releasing it back into the river as thanks for letting him play with it's life for the past couple of days and here she was, handing him his once again lifeless fish, a lethal gash carved into its side.
"Okay, now use that same technique you just figured out to mend this cut. Use the same scroll I gave you. It'll help at first," Sakura explained as Madara took his dead fish from her, nodding numbly.
"Very well," he muttered in response, his eyes narrowing in challenge once again before he strode off with purpose, intent on bringing back his fish once again.
Next time, perhaps he would release it into the river before Sakura killed in again...
Madara was infinitely grateful that this next task was easier than the first. With the help of the scroll, and with the understanding of how he had to modulate his chakra, healing the gash on his fish had taken less than a week. Almost exactly the same amount of time it took Izuna to master the first step. The young clan head had even refused to train with his elder brother the day following Madara's first success as he sat hunched over his fish, still dressed in his sleeping clothes like Madara had predicted.
The evening that he had succeeded in the second step, however, his younger brother had burst into Madara's bathroom, while he was in the middle of a shower no less, drawing a startled expletive from the elder Uchiha. He whipped around in his seat in the sunken shower to stare at his intruder with an exasperated glare, loudly dropping the ladle he had just filled with water back into the bucket next to his feet.
"It appears that we are evenly matched once again, brother. I'm shocked that it took me so much additional time to complete this step considering the answer was so simple! But now, with us on even ground, it will only be a short time before I take the lead in our little competition," he gloated, toting his fish like a medal, "You should watch yourself, you never know how easily I will discover the solution to the second step of this healing jutsu."
Madara simply perched his elbow on his knee and settled his chin in his palm, his soaking wet hair plastered flat against his head and shoulders, and stared at his brother with a grin stretched across his lips. He didn't say a word, simply smirking at Izuna, his amusement growing as his younger brother's face slowly fell.
"You figured it out, didn't you," Izuna stated in a dead tone, deflating.
Instead of answering, he simply returned his shower, picking up the ladle and resuming rinsing the soap out of his ebony hair. His brother left without another word, passive aggressively leaving the door open and allowing the warmth to escape the room.
Madara had figured that he would wait until the next morning to tell Sakura the good news considering that it was already nearing nightfall. When he emerged from his shower however, his impossible to dry hair still dripping droplets of water, he spotted Izuna down the hallway already pulling on his shoes. Despite knowing that his brother was only making this late night visit in an attempt to get ahead of him in their competition, he decided he would join him.
Making a brief stop into his study to collect his own fish, he deigned to not bother with the coat and sash he normally wore or the bandages he would wrap around his shins. Instead, he chose to simply slip on his shoes on his way out and easily caught up with Izuna who was already halfway to their medic's house. He received a sideways stare and silence in greeting before his little brother turned his eyes forward again and quickened his pace.
When they reached Sakura's home and knocked on her closed fusuma, Sakura's muffled voice beckoned them inside. As the Uchiha entered, they came across her surrounded by her books and scrolls and eating a rakugan pressed into the shape of a cherry blossom from her box of sweets - sugary gifts from their ever appreciative cook Hitomi.
"I haven't seen you in days, Izuna. How goes the competition?" Sakura commented with a smile, her eyes flicking down to the fishes in their hands, "I'm a bit surprised both of you came together."
"Ignore him," Izuna grumbled as he sat at her table, laying out both his scroll and his fish, "I apologize for my recent absence although I do come with good news: I've succeeded in the first step."
"Oh, that is good news! I will say that you can always practice while you visit with me though. You don't have to hide away until you have good news," she scolded gently.
"I'll take you up on your offer then. Anything to avoid this one's gloating."
Madara snorted in amusement at the comment from the man who had burst into his bathroom not even ten minutes previous to gloat. Instead of joining them at the table, he deigned to remain standing, choosing to not dirty Sakura's eating space with his own fish. He watched as Izuna worked to bring back his carp, proving to Sakura that he had mastered the first step of their training.
"Great job, Izuna! You both took to this much faster than I had expected," Sakura complimented kindly, drawing a self satisfied smirk from the younger Uchiha.
Madara chose to remain silent about what would happen next and nearly laughed aloud at Izuna's dumbfounded expression what Sakura killed his fish with a chakra scalpel. Perhaps if Izuna hadn't barged into his bathroom while he was taking a shower like some kind of madman, Madara would have warned him that Sakura was going to dispatch his medical assistant.
"For the next step, I want you to use the scroll and that same technique to heal this cut," she explained as Izuna stared down at his once again deceased fish.
"Perhaps a little warning next time?" he complained in response, shooting a betrayed look to the medic.
"Oh, ah… Heh, sorry," Sakura replied, rubbing the back of her head as Izuna stood, gathering his fish and his scroll.
"Have a nice evening, Sakura. I'll return tomorrow," he stated, his hidden challenge to Madara apparent when he shot a look at the elder Uchiha in passing.
Madara simply quirked an amused eyebrow at him in response as he passed. He suspected his brother would be up all night playing catch up and trying to pull ahead in their little competition.
"Did you already figure out the second part?" Sakura asked as she rose to her feet, breaking him from his ruminations.
"I did," Madara answered with a pleased expression, stepping forward and holding up his fish so she could see the healed gash along its side.
"Excellent job! I'm impressed you figured it out so quickly. You really have a knack for this," she complimented sincerely, satisfaction rushing through him as she pet his ego.
He cleared his throat. "Honestly, this is one of the hardest things I've ever learned. I appreciate you teaching me. It's an incredibly helpful skill to have for the battlefield."
Sakura's gaze met his and, even with his deteriorated vision, he could make out the conflict in her eyes. Before he could comment on her distress, however, she drew a retrospectively embarrassing noise from him by once again slicing a gash in his fish with a chakra blade. She laughed at his expense, receiving a flat glower from him in response.
"Sorry," she giggled unapologetically, hiding her smile behind her hand.
"Perhaps next time you can let me release this poor fish instead of killing him. He's died and come back to life more times than is healthy for his sanity," Madara grumbled, giving his poor assistant a piteous look.
Sakura just laughed harder. "I never thought I'd see the day where you worried about the mental health of a carp."
"I nearly feel bad for everything I've put him through!"
"And it's a him to? Does he have a name?"
Madara glared at the laughing kunoichi.
Mogami certainly did have a name, picked out during a late night of attempting to heal him with perhaps not enough sleep. There was no way that he was going to admit that to Sakura though, the little yokai.
"Sorry, sorry, I'm just teasing. I know you can build a kind of ridiculous feeling bond with your first patients. I did. My friend Ino even took the octopus she was working with back to the ocean when she was done."
The Uchiha's expression softened at her words. Not just her apology but her story. She rarely spoke of the people from her old village and to have her share a tale about one of her old friends warmed his heart. The fact that her expression didn't fall with sorrow once she realized her words was even better.
Not wanting to let her think too deeply and find that misery, he spoke quickly.
"What should I do with Mogami now?" Madara asked, hoping to distract her from her thoughts by attempting to make her laugh, even if it was at his own expense. He would happily accept her laughing at him if it meant she didn't succumb to her sorrow, even if just for a few moments.
It worked, Sakura's laughter ringing out like bells.
"Mogami?" she giggled, her laughter shaking her shoulders.
"Yes, Mogami! I've spent the last couple days with this fish in my house, the least he deserves is a proper name!"
He tried to level her with an irritated look but couldn't smother his happiness at having succeeded in distracting her enough for it to be effective. A smirk still pulled at the corner of his lip, fighting against his will to hide it.
"I like it, actually," Sakura finally got out as her amusement waned, bringing her hand up to wipe a tear that had formed at the corner of her eye, "It suits him."
Her giggles returned for a moment before she finally composed herself. "Okay, okay. The next thing I want you to do: I want you to do the exact same thing as before, heal this gash, but do not use the paper with the seal. I want you to do it by yourself."
"Sounds easy enough," Madara commented, glancing down at the familiar cut running down the side of his fish.
"If you say so," she sing songed in response, taking a step away from him and returning to her cushion at her table.
Madara hadn't realized how close they had been standing until Sakura pulled away. She had been so close to him that he could feel the warmth from her body slowly abandoning his own, the scent of herbs and wildflowers leaving with her. He suddenly felt chilled and the air entering his lungs felt crisp, as if he had been breathing her in without even noticing.
When she held out her box of sugary treats, distracting him from his thoughts and silently offering him a rakugan from her stash, he thanked her and leaned forward to pluck a cookie pressed into the shape of a rabbit from its depths.
"Goodnight, Sakura. I'll see you tomorrow," he spoke with a smile before taking a bite of his treat and turning to leave.
"Madara, wait," her soft voice called out, the nervousness obvious in her tone.
"Hmm?" he turned to face her once again, eyebrows quirked up in curiosity as he swallowed his bite.
"Listen… Even though I'm teaching you medical ninjutsu, and even though you seem to have a natural proficiency with it…" Sakura began, her eyes lingering on the tatami mats below her as she searched for her words.
Her gaze drew up from the floor to meet his, the barely restrained concern in her emerald orbs clenching his heart. "After you learn how to heal yourself, I still want you to come see me after every battle. I'm sure you'll be able to take care of yourself one day, I just… I want to double check and make sure you're okay."
A smile stretched across Madara's lips as warmth stretched along his skin. He felt the same strange sensation, the one that felt so close to excitement, build in his chest. Her words, her concern for him, touched a place deep within him.
"I will," he answered, the sudden tightness in his chest lowering his voice.
Sakura was conflicted.
As she listened to the sound of Madara departing from her home, the fusuma gently sliding shut as he left, her inner turmoil only rose. Despite the Uchiha brothers' visit bringing with it the same sense of companionship it always did and despite her heart still racing from how close she had stood to the object of her affections, the memory of his warmth and the scent of a bonfire still lingering, the visit was tainted with worry.
She was impressed that both of the brothers had taken to the art of healing so quickly and, while she knew that the skill would one day serve both Madara and Izuna well, the reality of the situation left her with a lingering sense of anxiety. When Madara had spoken of how the jutsu would be helpful on the battlefield, concern had reared its head in her heart.
Her impossible little crush aside, she cared deeply for Madara as a friend. Although he had shown an aptitude for the art of healing, she hated the thought of him attempting to heal himself in a battle, missing something, and dying from internal wounds. Or, worse yet, injuring himself even farther. Medical ninjutsu, especially the Mystical Palm Technique, was a complicated and dangerous technique that could easily result in the user maiming or killing their target.
Sakura wanted to make sure that, no matter what, Madara would be safe - at least as safe as one could be in this time. She wanted him to promise to her that he would always come and see her following their battles to ensure he was okay.
Secretly, selfishly… she also hated the thought of him not coming to see her to get healed anymore. If he could heal himself, then his visits would be cut by more than half.
Sakura had been excited when Izuna and Madara had asked her to teach them medical ninjutsu. It had been the perfect excuse for her to be close to Madara, to spend more time with him and Izuna both. As Madara progressed so quickly, however, she began to develop mixed feelings. She was happy because the brothers would soon be able to heal themselves and others in an emergency if she wasn't around to do so but conflicted because they wouldn't have need for her as much.
If they could heal themselves, she would be able to spend even less time with the few people in this time that she cared about.
She would be that much more alone...
Shame immediately rushed through Sakura at the thought. She should be happy that they were getting so proficient with medical ninjutsu so quickly. That meant that they could heal themselves, heal others. This knowledge could become the only thing standing between life and death for her friends. Yet, here she was, upset because they wouldn't be spending as much time with her.
Mind made up, Sakura forced down her distress and decided that she would be more active in supporting their hard work. She was their friend. She should be proud of them and their progress. It didn't matter if she was alone.
After all, she would be the one leaving them one day...
A/N: I did a significant amount of research, rewatching the latter half of pre-Shippuden Naruto to determine how long it took for Sakura to learn how to heal animals with a seal, to learn how to heal without the seal, and to fully learn how to use the Mystical Palm Technique. After charting out how many days passed per episode (based on scenes where it's day or night, recovery speeds for different characters, and weather patterns) and plotting out all of the scenes she was shown healing, I've determined that it took around eight days to learn to heal with a seal, between three to eight days to learn to heal without, and around a month to be skilled enough to be allowed to heal people with the Mystical Palm Technique in combat situations (something that reflects her having learned the skill far sooner, between a week to a month).
All information considered, I would say that Sakura learned how to heal in about a month. While Madara is absolutely a genius when it comes to ninjutsu, Sakura is a medical prodigy, her skills with medical jutsu never before seen. Because of this, I made it so it takes a much longer time for Madara to learn the technique than Sakura (but not as long as Ino who took around three months, the amount of time Tsunade gave her for a brief apprenticeship).
Mogami, the name of Madara's fish, is the name of a river in Japan.