Chapter 3

Lovers.

Lovers.

There was no real way of knowing if she had any sort of tie to the woman she was reading about, or whether she happened to be just another Haruno. Did Sakura want to be tied to her? Partly, yeah. Of course she did. But what would that mean for her?

Grabbing the rest of the scrolls belonging to her family's section, she joined Tsunade at the table situated at the centre of the archives room, placing them down neatly in their correct order.

She'd attempted reading the first scroll and failed miserably when she'd reached symbols that she had no hopes in understanding. Much to her chagrin and great disappointment, it didn't get any easier.

"Chances are, neither of us will be able to fully decipher this," Tsunade stated distractedly, honey brown eyes narrowed and soaking in the contents of the scroll. "A few signs I distantly recognise, but not enough for them to really mean anything."

"Do you think my family might know?" she questioned. Even though her mind warned Sakura not to get her hopes up (not only because her father was so lame and refused to acknowledge anything that merely hinted at shinobi, but also because the scrolls were ancient and the chances of the symbols being long forgotten were way too high), she couldn't help but let herself hope. "That there might be some kind of code somewhere?"

Lips turning downwards for a second when she caught sight of the same symbol as earlier, Tsunade straightened and eyed the other scrolls. "It's possible. But this here–" She tapped the small section with obvious frustration. "–is bothering me. It's eerily similar to–"

"To?"

Dread from eagerly interrupting her shishou seized her heart and for a brief moment, she feared the worst, that she'd pissed the blonde off and was about to face her wrath. Instead, Tsunade sighed and shook her head, dismissing the disrespect without a second thought.

"It's eerily similar to the code the Uchiha Clan used – well, back in Madara's time, anyway."

There was that name again. Infamously known throughout the shinobi nations for being the only man who could go up against the Shodai Hokage and fight toe-to-toe with him, wreaking havoc and threatening to change entire landscapes with his fighting style (if it hadn't been grossly exaggerated over the years, that was). Just his name evoked fear, Tsunade had told her moments ago, but back then, people had respected strength and power above all else. They'd admired him greatly.

"Why is that?" Tsunade murmured thoughtfully.

Why indeed? Even if they were lovers, why would her ancestor change her code to coincide with another clan's? If her shishou's suspicions were correct, and her ancestor had been a shinobi, then wouldn't that cause trouble? Wouldn't they be outed as some kind of informant? A traitor to their own clan?

At the blonde's order to grab a plain scroll and pen, Sakura did so, also collecting several more of Madara's scrolls along the way.

They spent a while in the archives room, their heads bowed in deep concentration as they attempted to decipher the scrolls. Whenever they spotted a symbol that mirrored Madara's, they jotted it down on the empty scroll, setting it aside for later research. Aside from that, however, it became upsettingly apparent fairly quickly that they wouldn't get any further than that point.

It stunned Sakura how similar it all was. Some symbols appeared to be her own, but the majority were similar to the Uchiha Clan's, making it obvious the pair were tied together more firmly than being mere lovers.

"But wouldn't that make me the weakest Uchiha to have ever lived?" she whined suddenly, surprising her shishou.

Chuckling captured her attention but did nothing to bring Sakura out of her self-pity. All she could do was stare unhappily at her shishou as the older woman brought a hand to her lips, covering her mirthful laughter despite the fact her creasing eyes gave it away horribly. She'd always known Tsunade was a sadist, but to laugh at her embarrassment was cruel even for her!

"Hardly," Tsunade tried to placate her, though the smirk took away from it. The next words settled her a little more, however and she wondered if it was because of the more heartfelt approach. "Even with him being my grandfather, I'm nowhere near the level our Shodai Hokage was at. I can't even compare."

Leaning back onto her hands, the blonde assessed her for several moments, and Sakura found herself having to refrain from shying away from such a reflective expression. The only thing stopping her from feeling judged was the fact that Tsunade felt similarly to herself – and she was at least two generations younger than her, too.

Still, her shishou was not a weak woman and proved that daily. Just the thought of evoking her wrath kept many in line, for they'd all quickly discovered the rumours weren't made up, and that she had the strength of a hundred men to back up her talk. Then, there was her medical prowess – the main reason behind Sakura wishing to train under her. Tsunade, for lack of better term, was a total badass and if she truly didn't come close to her grandfather's level, then just how powerful was that generation of shinobi? Would she ever be able to compare, Sakura wondered?

No, she was being stupid. Even if she was somehow connected to the mystery Haruno woman and Uchiha Madara, then it would no doubt be very distantly – to the point where it was barely even considered a connection, unless she was a direct descendant of the woman's, which Sakura highly doubted.

"Uchiha Shisui is teaching you too, correct?"

She sat up straighter and frowned. Not a total idiot, Sakura could tell where the conversation was headed, and felt herself recoiling inwardly at the mere thought of approaching such a proud man and asking that he humoured her in decoding a previous patriarch's scrolls. Was that even allowed, considering how protective the clans were of their secrets?

"Yes, Tsunade-sama."

Nodding thoughtfully, her shishou's gaze returned to the scrolls and she heaved a sigh. "Well, looks like he has a new mission as of this moment."

No way.

Would she really do that to the guy? Wasn't that an abuse of power? Wouldn't the clan have it out for her if she forced Shisui to decode their ancient scrolls?

"Honestly, Tsunade-shishou, it's okay. I don't–"

"Don't worry – I won't tread on anyone's toes," she said with a chuckle, then gestured to the cause of their frustration. "I'll simply ask Shisui to decode the ones that match up to your ancestor's. Considering the implications of them being similar, and his being sweet on you enough to train you, he shouldn't protest too much."

He only did it because Itachi asked him to, and it wasn't like he went out of his way to train her either, Sakura wanted to argue. Whenever he had a free couple of days, he would dedicate a few hours out of each day to watch over her training and apply corrections or hand out new tasks.

As well as that, she totally didn't count the surprise attacks whenever he returned from a mission (sometimes still dressed in full uniform, too), when she was out in the village and minding her own business. They were just downright mean at times, because how the hell was she supposed to know he was even in the village if she didn't see him earlier in the day? Or heard about his return?

"Ah, but that's all a part of our training, Sakura-chan," he'd told her cheerfully, unconcerned by the villagers who'd given them a wide berth as she almost hyperventilated from the fear his genjutsu evoked. "You need to learn to be ready for anything."

Shaking the awful memory from her mind, she allowed her gaze to return to the cluttered table. If Shisui agreed to lend them a hand and they managed to decipher the scrolls, then what? They confirmed what was pretty obvious to them already? They found out the woman was actually a kunoichi? Would that even change anything?

Resisting the urge to sigh and show her shishou her frustrations, Sakura nodded and smiled in thanks. Even if it didn't change anything, she was grateful for the support and genuine curiosity the older woman displayed. Rather than brushing it off and making her seem childish for getting so involved in a life that potentially meant nothing to her, Tsunade silently told her that the inquisitiveness and need to find out more was valid. It was nothing to be ashamed of.

"Well, we've spent long enough in here. Gather the scrolls and bring them to my office. We'll start your training shortly after."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama."

"What's this?" questioned Shisui once the doors were shut behind him, voice as light as his mood.

It'd been a gruelling day of training, made longer by her wandering mind as it worked against her, allowing Tsunade to land several deadly blows. Eventually, her shishou grew tired of pummelling a distracted teenager and showed great mercy by cutting the day short, barking out orders to have Shisui in her office within the hour so that they could return to training.

"That's what we want you to tell us."

The ominous tone of her shishou's voice had him frowning between them, and Sakura felt her stomach lurch at the clear uncertainty that flashed in his gaze briefly. The last thing she ever wanted was to torment the person training her – and not just because he'd torture her for it afterwards – so as fun as Tsunade believed tormenting him to be, she knew she had to cut it short for her own sake.

"I was looking at my family's scrolls," Sakura intervened. Her shoulders raised ever so slightly with a flinch, trying to make up for her resisting the urge to duck her head at the rude interruption. The disappointed huff of annoyance from the blonde wasn't the worst reaction, and Sakura counted her lucky stars that was all she received. "But the furthest they go back to is this-" She held out one particular scroll before tossing it over, watching as Shisui caught it effortlessly. "And this woman uses the same codes as your ancestors once did."

Shisui didn't unravel the scroll, instead keeping his steady gaze on hers. The playful, lighthearted mood had disappeared, but she knew that didn't necessarily mean he was in a bad one either. It meant he was serious about the task being handed to him – his serious side, Sakura recognised with a flutter of excitement. It meant he was open to the idea of helping.

"And you want to know why."

"Please?" she asked sweetly.

"You understand the position this puts me in," he said more to Tsunade than Sakura, an eyebrow twitching like it wanted to raise. "Should the elders of my clan discover that I am deciphering this for you–"

"That's where the loophole comes in," stated the blonde, smiling with the same sweetness Sakura had displayed. Somehow it seemed more sinister on her than anything, however, and she resisted the urge to shiver at the promises of pain. "It appears our student may have a connection to one of your own ancestors – I have no doubt they'd be interested to find out who and how."

Interest sparked to life in his eyes, and Sakura caught a glimpse of understanding also. What the hell did that mean though?

"Who?"

Tsunade smirked, knowing she'd managed to sink her hooks into him. "Uchiha Madara."

The interest grew exponentially as he continued to assess her and she felt almost self-conscious, her newfound insecurity of being the weakest Uchiha returning to the forefront of her mind.

"Leave it to me, Hokage-sama."