"Speech with Inner/Tailed beast"

"Normal speech"

'Character thoughts'

"Tailed Beast speech/thoughts"

A/N: Ok, this is it. This is the last time I'll be making a change. I've been going back and forth in my head between choosing one soul or three souls that get sent back. I decided to make the number of souls sent back to be two. That's it. No more changes... I hope.

The Future.

Hagoromo

The jutsu activated and time stopped all around him. There was a bright flash of light in front of him that represented the shattering of the current time-frame. He looked behind him and saw that the world… at least what remained of the time-frame was still intact for now. He could see the branches of the Divine tree in the distance with its cocoons containing the Shinobi – their chakra now being poured into nothing since Kaguya was simply wiped out of time. Even that would be gone soon.

He looked back at Sakura and Naruto, they were standing still, their arms covering their faces, while their bodies leaned back slightly as a vertical rippling pool of silver, cream, and gold began sweeping over them. The pool was a quarter through both of the Shinobi, the two remaining humans in the world, before Hagoromo made a decision that he knew would help both Naruto and Sakura convince their friends and superiors in the past of what was to come.

However, Hagoromo didn't just have much time, nor did he have much chakra left to do what he need to do to help the last two living humans. He had hoped to send back squads of Ninja to aid Sakura and Naruto in their mission to save the future, but instead, thanks to his own chakra and the chakra he took from Kurama already dangerously depleted because of the extreme catastrophic demands of the space-time jutsu; Hagoromo could only select two people from the cocoons hanging from the Divine Tree behind him. There was perhaps a second, at best, before the pool engulfed Sakura and Naruto, as Hagoromo reached out with his mind and sought the chakra of two people he believed would be able to aid the two Ninja in their mission. These two people were ones he knew that Sakura and Naruto could trust, someone he knew the village of Konoha would accept.

'The Soul and a person's Chakra contain everything that makes them who and what they are,' Hagoromo thought while he watched the rippling pool cover three-quarters of the two remaining humans who were standing still as time started to bend and ripple around them, 'it contains their essence, their thoughts, their experiences, their past, and their present.' Hagoromo found the souls and chakra signatures he was searching for, and then drew them out. With the extraction of both the chakra and the soul, the two people in their respective cocoons died… their bodies now dried-out husks. Lifting his hand, Hagoromo watched the two balls of glowing gold, orange, and green energy floating on his palm before the Sage of the Six Paths blew on them and sent the two souls out towards the rippling portal before it completely swept through with Naruto and Sakura a second later.

And Hagoromo smiled. He felt hope return… hope that his mother would never be revived. All he could do now was watch and wait. A second after Hagoromo returned to his own dimension, the entire time-frame blinked out of existence.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, I leave the future to the both of you. I hope you find the people I have sent to your liking." Hagoromo then narrowed his eyes as he floated above his Truth Seeking Orbs and whispered while rubbing his chin, "with the jutsu - as unstable as it was, I hope the people I sent, along with Naruto and Sakura, arrive at the same time-frame."

Unknown Location

Naruto

So many things were going through his mind, even as he tried to process what the very limited information that Hagoromo told him about the jutsu supposed to send them back through time. There was also the matter of the admission of love by his long-time crush, team-mate, and a person he was glad to call his closest friend. As the light around them got brighter, as the sensation of being pulled back got stronger and stronger, he yelled out for her.

"Sakura!" Naruto reached out with one arm, his other arm still covering his eyes even though his eyelids were closed. He could feel a gentle breeze causing the torn sleeves of his black and orange jacket to flap, and he could still see dim light through his eyelids while his right hand was outstretched and searching for Sakura's hand, "Sakura!"

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled out. Their fingers brushed each other - Sakura also searching for him, before Naruto reached forward and grasped her hand tight while Sakura's fingers wrapped around his. He released a sigh of relief as he felt the warmth from her hand permeating through his own. Their eyes still closed, and the sensation of being pulled back still ongoing, Naruto gently pulled her closer to him until they were standing close enough for their noses to nearly touch, and their hands clasping each other in between their chests while using their free arms to still cover their eyes from the bright light all around them.

After a few seconds, the sensation of being pulled was gone. Once where there was bright light coming through his closed eyelids, now there was nothing. Just darkness. And then he felt a cool breeze brush past him – it caressed his whiskered cheeks and flowed through his hair. Naruto took a breath and smelled the scent of… nothing… he smelled nothing except for the sweat, grime, and blood on his and Sakura's bodies. He couldn't smell the stench of blood – the stench of death – all around them.

"Naruto," Sakura whispered.

"Are your eyes open?" Naruto asked, mentally reminding himself that he was holding onto Sakura's hand. And she was all he wanted right now. He was afraid of what he would see if he opened his eyes. Maybe Sakura was just a dream, maybe the hand he was holding was the hand of a dead woman and when he opened his eyes she would be nothing but a decomposed body with maggots coming out of hollow pits that used to be eyes. Or maybe the jutsu went all wrong and was unsuccessful, maybe they were surrounded by death once again, maybe Kaguya was on top of them and preparing to kill them.

Naruto look in a deep breath when Sakura said that she hadn't opened her eyes either, and then verbally reflected his own thoughts about why she was afraid to open them. "You read my mind," Naruto chuckled while thinking, 'you're alive. We're alive.'

"Open our eyes together?" Sakura suggested as she gently squeezed Naruto's hand. Naruto didn't know if he should squeeze Sakura's hand or not. For all his bluster in declaring his own love for Sakura, the truth was that he didn't really know what to do. He knew… rather, he felt in his gut that Sakura's admission when they were in the Land of Iron was a lie. Just as he felt in his gut that the admission of love a few seconds ago was true. But Naruto still didn't know what to do… after all, his whole existence had been one where a vast majority of the villagers – except for Teuchi and Ayame Ichiraku, and the Sandaime Hokage – hated or were indifferent to him in his childhood. He didn't know love since no one showed him love – he just knew he loved Sakura. There was no reason rhyme or reason behind that love, he simply felt it.

"Naruto?"

The blonde shook his head when he realized he was thinking too much without giving Sakura an answer to her question. "We open our eyes in three?"

"Yeah," she responded.

"Three."

"Two," Sakura whispered.

"One."

"Open," Naruto heard Sakura whisper before he slowly opened his eyes. He found himself looking at a pair of emerald coloured eyes staring back at him. He gasped after a few seconds before they looked away and around at their surroundings with a mixture of awe and confusion on their faces. Their hands slid out of each other's grip as they looked around at what seemed to be a tunnel of some sort – they were surrounded by streaks of white, blue, and silver rushing past them while standing on a plane that had no features at all- it was just a cream coloured floor that extended as far as their eyes could see.

In some ways Naruto was relieved, just as he sensed Sakura was relieved – despite not knowing where they were, the fact was that there was no Kaguya, the night sky above them had no cracks, there were no dead bodies of Shinobi around them, the Devine Tree wasn't there, and thus, neither were the cocoons containing the bodies of their friends and comrades hanging from the branches of the tree. The last was a sight that would induce a feeling of terror in anyone, and Naruto was no exception.

Naruto spun around in disbelieve once more before facing Sakura and asking, "where are we?"

"I have no idea," Naruto whispered as he looked around once again before facing Sakura, "I just know I don't feel dead."

"Me too," Sakura said looking around before she locked eyes with Naruto once again.

'Sakura,' Naruto thought to himself as he stared at the girl who just admitted to loving him. Again.

'Did you really mean what you said or… or was it something meaningless because we were alone and about to die. What would you do when we get back to the past?' That was what scared Naruto the most, he couldn't deny to himself that Sakura hurt him back in the Land of Iron… knowing in his gut that she lied was something that tore his heart. Then came Sakura's admission to Sasuke under the bridge after he nearly killed her – that's how Naruto confirmed the lie. She never loved him… at least not in the way he wanted.

But just now, just before Hagoromo sent them back, he felt sincerity from her. He felt that she meant every word she said… but Naruto still couldn't help but doubt her words.

"Hey kid," a gruff voice, that of Kurama, the Kyuubi, growled in the back of Naruto's mind, "she said she loved you. Now stop your whining."

"Yeah well," Naruto mentally told Kurama as he took an unsteady step forward towards Sakura, the latter doing the same, "she said the same thing to me back then. And then she told Sasuke she loved him. And when she said it again to me, but there was only the two of left and… and now Sasuke's alive and…."

"And the Uchiha is a prepubescent brat," Kurama growled out as Naruto and Sakura looked at each other, "so is she, and so are you. At least the ones in this timeline. Anyway, I'm not your couple's counsellor, figure it out on your own."

"We're not a couple."

"You don't want to be a couple?" Kurama asked with a chuckle.

"Ku…"

"I'm taking a nap, Jiji took a lot of my chakra,"

"No, he didn't."

"Did too, now let me sleep." Naruto swore he felt the Fox smirking as he fell asleep, but not before the Fox added, "I know how you really feel about her. Underneath all your doubts, I know how you feel because those feelings are simply annoying and mushy for me to sit through awake."

The blonde Shinobi was mentally yelling at the sleeping Kurama while at the same time he was unsure of what Sakura would say when he asked her the question that was in the back of him mind. He really did fear the pink haired woman admitting that what she said in the other time-line meant nothing at all – that she said it because they were the only ones alive and were about to die. He didn't if she truly loved him. But he also couldn't deny the feelings he ran for the pink haired woman in front of him – he loved her. He loved her as much as he loved ramen.

'Yeah, I'm not going to say I love her as much as I love ramen,' Naruto thought to himself, 'even I'm not that dense.'

"Naruto?"

"Sakura-chan," Naruto whispered, her voice pulling him away from a thought where she was treading in a pool sized bowl of miso ramen staring at him while biting her lower lip, 'okay, no… Sakura-chan is not swimming in ramen.'

"Naruto?"

Naruto pushed the thought of ramen aside and decided that now was as good a time as any to ask Sakura what was in her heart. He was afraid… he was afraid of the answer… but he still needed to ask, "Sakura-chan, before… before we came back." And then, before he could give Sakura a chance to answer, he powered through an explanation, "I never knew love and so I was wondering if what you said was true because I was always alone and hated and…." Naruto stopped when Sakura placed a gloved finger on his lips while her lips formed a smile.

Sakura

Sakura held her gloved finger against his lips, signalling him to be quiet. She wanted to say that every word she said was the truth; but a part of her knew that a part of Naruto would always doubt her. She knew he had been alone – she would see him pushed out of stores, or ignored when he went to buy food, or when the teachers at the academy would teach him the wrong taijutso moves and stances. Her parents told her that he was a bad influence on her when she was a child – after the very first time she met him.

"Do you remember?" Sakura asked as she looked into Naruto's eyes while reaching for and holding his other hand. She gently squeezed them tight as she continued to ask the dumbfounded Naruto, "the first time we met?"

"The playground…" Naruto whispered before Sakura shook her head and chuckled.

"Baka," she whispered as they continued to hold each other's hands. She could see beads of sweat forming on Naruto's forehead, she could feel the nervous twitches of his body while they stared at each other, "a few days before that."

"I…." Sakura could see that Naruto was trying to remember that particular day. Instead of waiting, Sakura shook her head before saying, "Aimee, Shizu, and Yanae were bullying me about my forehead. You were nearby I guess and you came to my rescue… you told them to go away. I was crying and you protected me."

"Ohhhhh…." Naruto said nodding his head as his eyes opened wide in remembrance of that day. He was running home after hearing too many voices calling out for him to leave the village. As he passed a fence across from a side street, he noticed a young girl with pink hair crying while three other girls surrounded her. Naruto remember the pink haired girl was leaning against a fence, her head in her hands covering her eyes while her shoulders trembled.

"How can you forget?" Sakura asked chuckling about the memory they shared… it was for different for the both of them – Naruto remembered telling the three girls to go away, and in return they pushed him to the ground before leaving, while Sakura remembered sobbing heavily as they made fun of her hair and forehead. She had her eyes closed, tears flowing freely down her cheeks before suddenly hearing a voice yelling at the girls to get away and stop being cruel. Sakura opened her eyes in surprise to see Aimee push someone down onto the ground before she and the other two walked away laughing at their expense. Sakura remembered wiping her blurred vision away with the back of her hand before see a blonde boy, about her age, getting up onto his feet with his cheeks blushing. She wouldn't know his name until later, but he waved at her with a wide grin before he rushed off.

"It was a long time ago, Sakura-chan." Sakura was pulled out of her memory of the boy running in black T-short and shorts away from her. She rubbed her thumbs on top of his hands, and watched as he looked down at their joined hands before looking back up, "Sakura-chan?"

"I never thanked you for coming to help me," Sakura whispered as she recalled the bright grin on the boy's face – a face that, in her mind, went through several changes as Naruto grew older… the same grin on his face every day since then.

"I remember that day now," Naruto whispered, "how could I forget?

Sakura smirked while tilting her head, "maybe you're getting as old as Jiraiya-sama or Tsunade…."

"I am not senile like baa-chan or Ero-sennin…" Sakura's playful smile faded, as did the smile on Naruto's face when the latter realized something.

"Ero-sennin's going to be alive," Naruto whispered as a grin formed on his lips.

"He'll be alive," Sakura said nodding her head as he lowered his head slightly, "he'll alive, they're all alive." Sakura's smile widened even more when he raised his head back up and told her what the day he was thinking about occurred three days after Sakura was bullied, and Naruto 'saved' her. It was the day she received her pick ribbon from Ino.

"And I told myself that one day I'd go on a date with you because you were the prettiest girl I…"

"Were?" Sakura said, arching an eyebrow, while a small smile formed on her lips, "were?"

"Are… you are prettiest girl I ever knew," Naruto said before he looked away from her and she felt sadness coming over him, "then I didn't see you after that, or when I did… you'd never spend time with me, or…"

"I was a child back then who listened to some ignorant parents about not being around you," Sakura whispered, her voice edged with sorrow. "I know how I was, Naruto. I was told you were a bad influence, so I ignored you. And then, when I met Sasuke, he was the only one I thought about. I…"

"You were a fangirl," Naruto smirked.

"I was a fangirl," she admitted with a chuckle before continuing, "all the way from the academy to the mission to retrieve him after he left Konoha. But, I guess even before that, you started taking a place in my heart. Naruto, you make everyone want to build themselves up. I saw how stronger you were getting, I saw how weak I was becoming… you are the reason why I approached Tsunade-sama so that I could be her apprentice. You are the one who inspired me to be… be more."

Sakura leaned forward and kissed his cheek before saying to the surprised blonde, "and I meant every single word. Certain death has a way of making someone realize the important things in life, Naruto." Sakura let go of Naruto's hands… the blonde still surprised at the warmth on his left cheek after the kiss. His arms dropped his by his side while she placed her hands on his shoulders as she continued, "You inspire people, you have this ability to change peoples mind, you're brave, you're still an idiot sometimes but that's what makes you… you."

"Sakura-chan," Naruto whined and his face turned.

"For all those reasons and more, I… I love you."

"So, if Sasuke were here instead of…"

"What matters is that we're here… right now... here, going back in time," Sakura said checking out their surrounding before looking back at him, "we are here, and I can tell you that I love you." Sakura sighed as she noticed the confusion on Naruto's face, "tell me this then, Naruto, do you love me?"

"Yes," he answered immediately. And Sakura felt a weight lift off her shoulders

"Why?"

"I…" This was the question that Naruto was dreading. He knew he loved Sakura because he thought she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen. But then again, he also loved ramen above anything else, 'oh come on, why is my mind going back to ramen when I think about love… I mean… come on…' Naruto took a deep breath before saying, "I don't know love, Sakura-chan. I… I mean I love you just as I love ramen and…"

At this, Sakura couldn't help but laugh while holding onto his shoulders. Naruto was perplexed as she rested her forehead on his shoulder and laughed while he was rubbing the back of his head.

"Sakura-chan?"

"I…" Sakura laughed, her shoulder's trembling, before raising her head back up. Her face was red as she laughed for a few more seconds before calming down and shaking her head, "Naruto, if you love ramen more than me, then that's fine."

"Huh?" a nervous expression was etched on Naruto's face as his mind went back to Sakura swimming in a gigantic bowl of ramen, beckoning at him to join her. Naruto pushed that image aside while shaking his head and saying, "Sakura-chan, I…"

"As long as I'm second only to ramen," Sakura smirked.

Naruto chuckled before nodding his head as he imagined himself jumping into a massive bowl of ramen, 'oh come on! No more ramen with Sakura-chan… I mean yes I want to have ramen with Sakura-chan but not with her in it, and…' Naruto shook his head, clearing his thoughts before staring into Sakura's eyes once again.

"You've always been first," Naruto whispered before excitedly continuing, "to me, you've always been first, 'ttebayo. You've always been strong, Sakura-chan, and…" Sakura was about to interrupt. She was about to say that she wasn't always strong, but Naruto beat her to the punch, "I know you're going to say that you aren't, but you are. You're smart, you're strong, you're confident, you're brave… I mean come on, remember during the Chuunin Exams? You cut your hair! You cut your hair so that other nin wouldn't kill you and you fought three off them off while protecting me and Sasuke when we were unconscious 'ttebayo." Naruto placed his hands on her shoulder's while he continued, "then who can forget the fight with Sasori, or you saving so many ninja's during the war."

"Naru…"

"You tried your best to revive me before I died.. and you kept on trying after my heart stopped, Sakura-chan," Naruto said as Sakura looked away, "I was dead but… but I still felt you trying. You don't give up. That is the girl I know. You can say that you think I'm wrong, but I know I'm not. Sakura-chan, I love you for that… I love you."

"I love you because of the person you are… I love you for you… not because you are a substitute for Sasuke-kun," said Sakura, her eyes locked into his eyes. Naruto dipped his head again before looking back at her with a smile on her face. "I'll always regret lying to you that day," Sakura clarified looking into his eyes, "but what I told you now is not a lie. I love you… I love you."

Naruto nodded his head with a smile as Sakura returned his smile.

"Would you… you know… like to go on a date?" Naruto said, his body wincing slightly; it was getting ready for the coming punch – a reflexive action.

"Yes," Sakura said. And Naruto gave off a grin – a grin that made Sakura laugh. However, a few seconds later, the laughs vanished when there was a clap of thunder. Naruto pulled Sakura closer into a hug… the two holding each other tight as the streaks around then started to speed up before suddenly stopping. There was a flash of white light that had the two of them close their eyes.

The Past

Sakura

And then there was a loud whistling sound. Then there was the sensation of falling and wind rushing past them. Sakura felt freezing cold wind brush her cheeks and her exposed right arm. Naruto and Sakura snapped their eyes open at the freezing cold despite still feeling some warmth from the sun against their skin, and what they saw had them pull closer with Sakura's arms tightened around Naruto's back and vice versa. Naruto also brought his legs up and wrapped them around Sakura's waist without thinking as they tumbled down towards Earth from a great height.

"What the hell!" Naruto yelled into Sakura's ear over the harsh whistling of the wind as the two of them tumbled down through the air towards Earth.

"Naruto! Can you use the Six Path Chakra and levitate?!" Sakura yelled into his ear thanks to the loud whistling of cold air rushing past them as they continued to fall.

Sakura caught a glimpse of the distant shape of a bridge below them before she and Naruto spun horizontally around though the air. Every time she glimpsed the bridge, it kept getting closer and closer as they tumbled down though a break in the clouds.

"Kurama said that he's trying to send me more of his chakra, but it'll take time! The old sage drained a lot of his chakra… and I'm really low myself!"

"The Old Man used a lot of Kurama's chakra and we exited high over Earth! What kind of a jutsu is that supposed to be!" Sakura screamed as they tumbled holding onto each other for dear life as they headed towards the ground. Towards the bridge. A bridge over a river.

It was then that Sakura had an idea. They were already five thousand feet in the air and dropping fast. There was no time left to waste. "Naruto! I'm giving you some of my chakra!" Sakura stared into the eyes of the surprised Naruto as she released her forehead seal which broke into lines that painted her face and travelled under her torn Chuunin undershirt. The lines then went down her arms, and then her hands, and then travelled down onto Naruto's body. Sakura could feel her Chakra now travelling into Naruto's body, just as she had done for Obito when the latter needed Chakra to operate the powers of his Mangekyo Sharingan so that they could retrieve Sasuke from one of Kaguya's dimensions.

She saw Naruto closed his eyes and concentrate.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled as she watched the ground approaching. She could make out crowds of people on the bridge. She couldn't tell if they knew what was happening, but all she knew was that they seemed to be standing still. Sakura then looked back towards Naruto's face and whispered, "you never give up, Naruto. I can't do anything here…" Sakura gasped when Naruto glowed for an instant before the glow faded, "but you can. Come on. Come on, Naruto…." Naruto glowed again for an instant before the glow faded again. She looked away and saw the ground closer now. She could already make out people looking up. She could made out pools of blood under dead bodies across from the crowd. But the faces were still a blur… the cold was affecting her vision, the wind rushing past her was affecting her vision. Things were starting to get blurry.

"Naruto," Sakura whispered as she lowered her head and rested it on his shoulder while they tumbled down – five hundred feet left between themselves and death. "I believe in you." Sakura saw the ground closer now before she closed her eyes and yelled out, "Naruto!"

Sakura opened her eyes and pulled back her head. She stared into Naruto's closed eyelids. And time seemed to stop completely. They both of them felt as if they were floating mid-air a hundred feet off the ground. Sakura felt that the two of them were the only people left- she could see out of the corner of her eyes that there were people in front of them but for right now, it didn't matter. They were the last two to survive a war in their timeline, and Sakura felt that it was poetic that they were going to die in the past. In their past. The last two human beings of a lost future were going to die – and that future would die with them.

But she didn't feel any regrets. She saw Naruto open his eyes and stare into hers, and Sakura felt warm. She felt oddly comfortable that she'd be dying with Naruto holding onto her. Everything was still for an instant, and then Sakura felt themselves falling the last few hundred feet when suddenly Naruto's eyes changed and his body glowed.

And they stopped. Sakura looked away from his eyes and saw that the ground was so close that she could reached out and brush her fingers along the rough surface. She then turned her eyes back to Naruto who had a grin on his face, and then suddenly his eyes turned blue… the fiery glow that emanated from his body faded away.

"Kurama needs to rest," Naruto whispered before the two of them fell the last few centimetres down onto the ground. The two landed with a thud before Sakura rolled off the blonde, her back now on the ground next to Naruto. They two of them were staring up towards the cloudy sky before turning their heads to look at each other. Sakura felt her chakra retreating back into her seal – but she knew she had used a lot by acting as a battery for Obito in their time-line, and just now for Naruto to activate his Sage of Six Path's cloak. She felt exhausted, but relieved.

She felt her strength fading away as her left hand, which started to feel heavy, was crawling towards Naruto's hand. She saw that Naruto was staring back at her with a smile on his face, his eyes barely open. In the distance, Sakura swore she hear the sounds of feet impacting the ground as people ran towards them. She swore she heard a familiar voice yell out, "Naruto! Sasuke! Sakura! Keep them away! Keep them back!"

But the voice seemed so distant as her hand brushed the hand that Naruto had crawling towards her. Their backs lay on the ground, the palms of their hands now on top of each other before their fingers interlocked. Sakura felt her racing heart slowing down, the adrenaline from exiting wherever they were thrown out off high in the sky fading away. She saw Naruto's eyes close. Her eyes shifted towards his chest, and was relieved that it was moving up and down.

Sakura thought she heard a familiar voice yelled out, "Multiple Shadow Clone jutsu!" But the voice seemed so far away. And the man who made that particular technique his own was lying unconscious next to her.

'I'm hearing things,' Sakura thought as she closed her eyes before forcing them open once again when she felt vibrations on the ground. She tried to move her right arm, but she realized she couldn't. And before she knew it, she saw a shadow over Naruto, and then she saw the bottom of someone's feet.

'Shinobi sandals, the same brand as Sensei,' Sakura thought. She tried to move her head, but she was unable to. Hell, she was finding it difficult to keep her eyes open.

"Kakashi sensei!"

There was that voice again. 'But Naruto's unconscious.'

"Sensei!"

'There's my voice, I think it's my voice. But I didn't move my lips.'

"Naruto! Get Tazuna to scatter the crowd. There's nothing to see here!"

"Got it!"

"Sensei!" The familiar female voice said again.

"Kakashi!" Another familiar male voice spoke. A voice Sakura thought she wouldn't hear again. Sakura's eyes focus on Naruto as he peacefully slept before they shifted upward to the person who was crouching down next to him while two fingers were pressed against the blonde's neck.

Then Sakura saw two figures rush into view. She saw the boy, dark hair and dark eyes, staring in surprise while the pink haired girl gasped while stepped back and bringing her hands up to cover her own mouth.

'Oh God I have such a big forehead.' Sakura wanted to laugh. And she would if she could move. Her eyes shifted towards the grey haired Jonin staring at her with confusion on his one visible eye.

"Ka… Kakashi…" Sakura whispered.

"Kakashi-sensei, Tazuna said he'll be telling everyone to go back home and…" Sakura, the older one lying on the ground that is, shifted her eyes slowly to the blonde who staring at her. He was speechless as he then stared at the older Naruto, and then back at her, and then back to the younger Sakura, and then back at Kakashi, and then back to his older self. Sakura would really love to laugh now as she eyed the look of confusion on young Naruto's face and wondered if he had always looked so adorable.

"What the… what's going on?" Young Naruto mumbled.

Sakura, the older Sakura that is, shifted her eyes back to Kakashi while her eyelids were half closed.

"Have…. Have to talk…sensei," Sakura forced her eyelids open. She was so exhausted, just as she knew Naruto was exhausted. But her mind was racing now. If she was where she thought she was, then they couldn't return to Konoha. At least not yet. At least not unconscious where people like Danzo could pick their minds… or they knew people who could pick their minds. Not Danzo. Anyone but him. And Sakura knew the bandaged advisor would do anything to get his hands on the information in their heads.

Sakura saw Kakashi looking back at her. She needed to tell him something that he didn't think that any of his Genin would know. She suspected that he was unsure of their identity, of how they looked like older version of his students.

And she was getting weaker. Her eyes hurt just keeping them open. So, she shifted her gaze towards the older Naruto, and then back towards Kakashi, and then back towards the older Naruto again, and then back towards Kakashi. She hoped that her former Sensei would get the hint that what she was about to say was related to the older Naruto.

"Red... Red... Habanero," she whispered.

And Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise at the mention of Uzumaki Kushina's nickname.

"If.. if… you… bring us.." Sakura then took a deep breath before struggling to speak, "to… to… Konoha. Then we… we… in danger. Danger, Sensei… Un… understand?"

"Naruto, please inform Tazuna if he would allow us to stay with him for a few more days," older Sakura saw him turn to the younger Naruto who was staring in surprise at the bodies lying on the ground. "Naruto!" Sakura's eyelids were half closed now, but she saw the young Naruto snap his head towards the Jonin, "everything you see or hear from now on is an S-class secret on my order, is that understood?"

"Sen…"

"Is that understood?" Kakashi growled before he looked at the stunned Sasuke and young Sakura who were still staring at the bodies lying on the ground, "same goes for the two of you. Am I clear?"

"Yes," Sasuke whispered.

"Yes," young Sakura whispered.

Kakashi nodded his head, grateful that his Genin hadn't heard the faint whisper from the older Sakura.

"Naruto, go now!" Kakashi barked. And Naruto, the younger one, rushed off with a frown on his face. Kakashi then turned to the older Sakura who was about to close her eyes, "I'll send a message to Konoha. Tell the Hokage that we'll be staying here at least until the bridge is finished."

"Glad… glad you… you alive… Sen…"

And Sakura letsleep take her away while her and the older Naruto's hands were locked together.

TBC