Hello! I hope you'll like this chapter!

Disclaimer: I own the OCs in this fic, the rest is Masashi Kishomoto's. Sorry for any spelling mistakes or any OCCness.

Character age:

Akane, Itachi: 21

Naruto, Sasuke: 16

Shisui: 25

Kakashi: 30

"...is that supposed to do something?" I asked as the fish rod came out empty from Naruto. He shrugged at me. Maybe the seal protected him?

"In any case I don't like to be attacked!" He made two clones who attacked. The guy killed them quickly. I nodded at Naruto when he looked at me and he made a lot more clones. I put a marker on one on the back.

"If you seal Urashiki's eyes, then we have a shot." Sasuke told me.

"Still not at your best?"

"Unfortunately. We better kill him before he powers up."

"Then or I use the Hiraishin, or we're going back to our old tricks."

"Hiraishin?"

"Yeah, don't ask, I will get in sync." Smoke surrounded this Urashiki. "It's been a while for me."

"Obviously." I twitched but refrained myself from saying anything.

"Fū, Naruto, don't give him their chakra!"

"Roger!" they both replied.

Naruto used Fū's powder, powder she spat and that blinded her opponents, to hide from that Urashiki and slipped behind him, a Rasengan ready to strike. He dodged it, barely moving but as it was the clone I had marked and not Naruto, I teleported to him, on his back.

"Wh..." I slapped my hands on his eyes and sealed them before Sasuke replaced me with another clone.

"Bad news. It won't stay for long."

"I didn't think it would." Seriously Sasuke?

"Hey, woman," he called me coldly, a hand on his eyes. "You think a seal like that will weaken me?"

"For a short while only," I replied.

I dodged his fish rod but it turned around in my back. I dodged it a couple of times, Naruto and Boruto attacking him in the air but the red hook ended up in my stomach. I widened my eyes at the wave of coldness taking over my body. Purple chakra erupted around my left arm, the Claw automatically activating.

Instinctively, the Claw grabbed the string. I...barely had any control of it as it clenched it and sent a wave of dark energy through it, turning it purple.

"What the..." Urashiki started, letting go of his weapon. I removed the hook in my stomach and dropped it on the ground. It crumbled and immediately, he had dozens of Naruto coming at him with...Rasenshuriken?

"What is that?" Sasuke asked me in shock. As much as he could show shock.

"What destroyed what remained of Kaguya's first tree," I replied in a hollow voice. "Anyway, wake up already. I know you're worried about your eyes, but we need them."

"I can't really use my left eye like I would like to, but that red jar in his back, destroy it like you did with the rod. We need to do it while he can't use his eyes." I nodded as he fished out lightning from the jar and sent them to all of us.

"Chidori?" I mumbled.

"Here," Sasuke whispered.

I felt the old, familiar feeling of being swapped by Sasuke's rinnegan and found myself behind Urashiki. Before he could do anything, I grabbed the red jar with the Claw and crushed it.

"Your power is fascinating, but also very annoying." I widened my eyes and spat blood when he kicked me in the stomach.

I felt some of my ribs just breaking like twigs. The Claw vanished and I was sent toward the ground if it wasn't for the green hand catching me before the impact. I looked down and smiled in relief at Shisui, hand stretched out like his Susanoo, his Mangekyou activated in his eyes.

He dropped me in his Susanoo.

"So, I'm taking you found him?"

"More like he found them." I shot him a look and he nodded at me.

"Already on it." Kotoamatsukami. Urashiki was from the future of a timeline parallel to ours, we couldn't make this fight last for too long. With his eyes sealed...he wouldn't see Shisui's genjutsu.

But who could see Shisui's genjutsu? At least, as he was the one using it, he could do it...what, once every six months or something? It was still...a lot for him, but it was more than before when they only had his eyeballs.

Sasuke attacked him when he dived toward our two jinchurikis. Unfortunately for us, Sasuke was right. His skills had been drastically decreased before he arrived in this time.

"Can you trap him in ice?"

"Huh? Like what?"

"Huh...like a dome?" I blinked and nodded. "Just do it as fast as you can." I nodded and went through hand seals. Ice quickly rose around Urashiki and Sasuke. In the blink of an eye Shisui was no longer beside me and I was no longer in a green chakra being.

I winced when I felt a huge impact against my ice and made it as hard as I could. The strength against it just grew and grew until I could no longer hold it. Urashiki came out of it, a green drill in him, and crashed in the mountain next to us.

I was swapped with a rock next to Urashiki. I grabbed a kunai and gouged his eyes out, even if he already seemed dead. You can never be too sure.

I destroyed the eyes as Sasuke appeared next to me and beheaded him.

"It shouldn't have required that much effort," I commented quietly.

"I can't seal doujutsu like you can." I scoffed.

"And those magical eyes of yours?"

"Well, I forgot I wasn't the only ones with those," he said, shooting Shisui a quick glance. He was talking to the kids. "His Mangekyou definitely is something, Urashiki attacked himself."

"Really?" Sasuke nodded.

"Your seal came off but he was already trapped and attacked himself before he could do something about it." Sasuke pursed his lips and I smirked.

"I forgot that you never actually saw Shisui in action. You do know I'm as wary of him as I am of Itachi, right?"

"I thought he was bragging," he admitted under his breath. There was still nostalgia and fondness in his eye.

I grabbed a paper tag in my pouch. I sighed, knowing I would need to explain a little bit to Sasuke why I had used the 'Amaterasu' he so graciously gifted me.

I turned the tag toward the body and unsealed the black flames.

"Hey, is he really dead dattebasa?" Boruto asked us, running to us. He stopped when he saw black flames licking the corpse.

"I sure hope so," I mumbled, my hand on my ribs. "One kick and he broke ribs, I swear."

"Why didn't you freeze the inside to protect them?" Naruto asked me, suddenly behind me. I jumped, a hand on my heart and glared at the laughing Shisui.

Naruto had learned the body flicker from him recently. He wasn't really fast but still.

"Heh? You can freeze the inside of your body?"

"Yes I can, and to answer your question Naruto I don't control it enough to do it fast and make sure I don't damage my body too much." He nodded and scooped me in his arms, taking off toward the hospital. "Naru, not so fast it hurts..."

"Sorry nee-chan!"

"One of her ribs could pierce her lung," Shisui added, suddenly next to us, Fū on our other side.

"Where are Boruto and the other one?" Naruto asked him.

"They said they'd make sure there was no other threat before joining us at the hospital," Fū said.

Naruto refused to have anyone but Sakura looking at me, Shisui being the peacemaker between him and the poor hospital staff. Eventually, we were led to Sakura.

Itachi and Sasuke were there. There was an awkward silence between all of us that Naruto decided to break.

"Sakura-chan, nee-chan got hurt!" I managed to get back on my feet, a hand on my ribs.

"I'm not dying either," I muttered. "Just broken ribs I think."

"What about the others then?"

"I overused my eyes a little," Shisui admitted sheepishly.

The four of us still ended up in beds.

"You need glasses!" Sakura yelled at Shisui for the hundredth time.

"I'm perfectly fine!" he replied just as loud. "Just some medical ninjutsu and I'm good!"

"Can someone shut them up?" I whined, my pillow on my face. I stopped the finger about to poke my ribs. "Don't you have something else to do?"

"How did you get hurt?" Itachi asked me and I knew he was frowning. I removed the pillow.

"Obviously, I got into a fight and won."

"What fight?" I tried to hit him with my pillow but he stopped it.

"None of your business!" I replied, more than annoyed.

"Everybody out!" Sakura screeched in anger. Sasuke grabbed Itachi and dragged him out, Itachi telling him they still didn't know what had happened. One look at Sakura made him tell Itachi to shut up.

Someone was scared of his teammate.

In the night, I went to the roof. Sasuke and Boruto were there.

"You're lucky I remembered your weird way of contacting others," I told Sasuke. I swear...Sasuke and his weird eye tricks...the poor hypnotized nurse.

"We're leaving tomorrow." I nodded.

"Our memories..."

"I will start going around everyone we were in contact with to erase them."

"I'll see you off then." I saw Boruto looking down sadly. "Boruto?"

"Why don't you come home with us?" I widened my eyes and Sasuke looked at his student. "I mean, if we're here then it means you can come as well! Nothing happened whereas there are two Sas..." I put my hand in his hair and shook my head. He glared at me. "And why not!? Do you like them more than us!? We're your family, your home, aren't we!?" I opened my mouth and Sasuke clasped his hand on Boruto's mouth to stop his rant.

"I don't like them more than you," I replied quietly. "But I...can't go back. I…"

I always thought that 'home' was the world I had died in. However, having them here with everything that happened in the past nine years...it made me realize the world I had died in was a far, foreign memory I had desperately tried to keep alive by fear of doing things all over again.

I died in their timeline, but I was alive and breathing in this one.

"Life...is a funny thing Boruto. But I know that...that all of you that I selfishly left behind...you'll be fine. You mourn, you feel like you can't handle the loss but eventually...you learn to live without the people you lost and you cherish the memories you have of them even more." Sasuke's hand went to Boruto's shoulder. "Although I am still alive...I died that day in that cave and nothing...nothing will change that. You can't bring the dead back to life. It's..." I smiled faintly. "It's strange how I feel like I finally am living for myself," I said, looking at Sasuke. "I've never...truly lived for myself in my adult life, there was always one person my life would revolve around. Yet here I...I think I've found myself. I made peace with myself." Sasuke had a knowing look in his eye and I looked back at Boruto.

He refused to look at me. I crouched to have some eye contact.

"Maybe it is selfish of me, and you can hate me for it. A few years ago, I probably would have wanted to go back but now...seeing you made me realize it was no longer my place. I...am too involved here now, in...this life. I love you all so much, but I love the people here too. They're so...similar yet so different at the same time." Boruto bit his bottom lip. "Naruto can do Fuinjutsu to a certain extent. Sasuke...harassed me to follow me to Kiri so that I could train him and now we're engaged, as weird as it sounds." I didn't miss the disgust on Sasuke's face. "It wasn't fair to you when I left, but it wouldn't be fair to them if I left them either, is it?"

"...I guess not..." I cupped his cheek.

"Life is a funny thing, but it goes on." I stood up. "It's okay to...keep living, and care about people." I looked at Sasuke. "Right?" He poked me in the forehead.

"Of course idiot. He'd tell you the same thing if he were here." I nodded, biting my bottom lip.

Naruto would.

I hugged Boruto slowly, careful in case he'd reject me. He didn't, but he didn't hug me back. I ran my hand in his hair instead. As much I could rely on old Sasuke, old Naruto and everyone back there, I could rely on the people here as well.

It...was okay.

It would have taken me nine years before acknowledging it was okay.

The next day, as I was with Fū, Naruto and Shisui to see them off, I hugged Sasuke.

"Make sure they know I love them." He hugged me back. "No one's to blame. None of my little brothers are to blame." He took in a sharp breath as I moved back.

Naruto looked at us weirdly.

"Wait nee-chan, do you know this guy from somewhere?"

"Do your thing Sasuke."

"Sas..." He stopped himself when he saw the shining Sharingan of adult Sasuke.

I passed out.

"Why am I following you? It's only encouraging you, isn't it?" Sasuke muttered, following Itachi in the forest.

"There's something suspicious and I'm getting to the bottom of it."

"You're jealous Akane's not giving you enough attention." A glare shut him up.

"Sasuke, look." The stern tone made him look up. Itachi was already running toward the four people passed out on the ground.

Sasuke followed him and looked down at the unconscious Naruto. What he was doing here with Shisui, Akane and Fū was a mystery. Sasuke looked at his brother, busy with Akane who was slowly waking up.

He was sure soon Itachi's composure would snap. He couldn't pretend it was only friendship with the longing looks he'd send her when she wasn't looking. You'd need to be a fool not to see that Akane was not indifferent to Itachi either.

Although, he probably should care a little bit more due to...the engagement. Just thinking about it made his skin crawl, but they had to maintain appearances.

"What happened?" Itachi asked her. She rubbed her head in confusion.

"I...don't know..." Shisui sat up with a groan.

"What happened?"

"That's what we would like to know," Sasuke replied, the two jinchuurikis waking up.

"I'm fine Itachi," Akane whispered, shooing Itachi's hand away.

"You were in the hospital until this morning," he reminded her with a frown.

"I kno..." She blinked and frowned. "How did I break my ribs?"

"There was a fight," Naruto said.

"Was that boy here?" Sasuke asked.

"What boy?"

"I...I don't know, but I'm sure there was a boy."

"Someone suspicious," his brother muttered under his breath.

"Why am I very annoyed by this comment?" Akane asked Itachi curiously. Itachi frowned.

"I don't know."

"We don't know a lot," Fū pointed out, getting up.

"I'm starving!" Naruto exclaimed. They started to leave, Shisui following with Itachi.

Akane was at the back, like him, her arms folded over her chest.

"You're thinking too hard."

"I know Sasuke," she replied idly. "It's just...it's weird."

"That we don't remember?"

"Tha...I don't know, I feel...relieved."

"Relived? Of what?"

"Just...everything. It's like I can finally...like I have the authorization to...move on?" She shook her head. "It's very weird, but pleasant."

"As long as it's not bothersome."

I was nervous. Ever since those...weird few days where I have only a few memories, I had felt relieved. I actually laughed, which got me Itachi's stunned expression. Apparently, I had not laughed for a few months.

Yet, I was nervous. Why? I was summoned. Not at the Hokage's, no, too easy. I was in front of Nara Shikaku, the one and only Jounin Commander of the Hidden Leaf. I had been standing in front of him for a few minutes, few agonizing minutes, while he was reading a sheet of paper.

"Sir?" I called him.

"I'm not looking at you because I've been told I should be more careful with what my eyes show." I froze. "It's just something Inoichi told me recently."

Of course Inoichi-san would tell him this without saying it was from me.

Shikaku-san dropped the sheet on his desk and finally raised his dark eyes to me.

"You know, getting rid of Danzou was a relief for many, but it doesn't mean it came without its issues. Of course, avoiding an internal bloodshed and keeping many strong and loyal shinobi in the village is good but...well, taking care of Root and loyal Danzou's followers was difficult. There was also a...growth in the number of orphans due to him not kidnapping any anymore." I crossed my hands in my back. "And then the Uchiha Elders decided that it still wasn't enough and wanted a token of peace. I looked at you with pity because I pity the despair you must have felt to accept the proposal."

"...you're not wrong."

"Nobody was fooled during that engagement party. It was a joke and everyone knew it. It was easy to see that even among Uchihas this engagement is...source of conflicts." He sighed. "This among other things." I frowned.

"I'm sorry what?" He raised a curious brow.

"I'd have thought you knew already. Fugaku can try all he can to hide it, but at some point the gap growing in his clan cannot go unnoticed." A gap? Was it why Itachi didn't want me to go to the Compound anymore? "It is concerning but it is nothing that we can concern ourselves with right now." He pulled binders from his desk. "Do you have an idea of what this may be?" I shook my head. "It is every plan, every scenario we came up with since you told the Sandaime about the Fourth Shinobi War." I widened my eyes.

"You've been working on it for so long?"

"I sacrificed a lot of nights for this." His gaze took a harsher glint. "After all, I'd like to stay alive for as long as I can."

The Sandaime had only told the clan heads I had unlocked an Uzumaki power and was older than I looked. Then he told them about Danzou and what he was planning to do and that it could very well be their clans as well later on. Inoichi-san checked if I was telling the truth.

Then, only the Sandaime, then the Godaime, knew about the whole series of events leading to the Fourth Shinobi War. I had not disclosed anything after Naruto's and Sasuke's final battle in the Valley of the End.

To be honest, I knew Sandaime told Jiraya-san things, then Shikaku-san, but I never really knew how much they were told.

Did Jiraya-san know about his death?

"The reason I am showing you this though is because the Hokage requested it." I frowned. "She admitted having made a few mistakes regarding you, so she wanted you to know that we did not forget what you told us. Gaining Kiri's friendship earlier and gathering information through this helped a lot, like with Suna. I have memorized the original events, their ultimate goals and I update each plan we made with each things that changed." He yawned. "All of this to say, we are getting ready for a war if it comes to it, but we are also getting ready for basically anything. If we need yo..."

"I already know, Shikaku-san," I interrupted him before taking a deep breath. "I...know I can rely on people here, I need to let go of my obsession with wanting to keep people alive."

"Really?" I nodded.

"It's not fair to anyone if I keep interfering because of my personal history. I mean...I have watched Konoha for the past couple of months. There is life all around me. Unfortunately, there are...lives that have been lost as well." Not people I knew personally, just people I had seen once or twice who now were dead. "Death is a part of life, I should know that better than anyone. It's scary to think I could go through grieving the same people again but...it's a part of life and I can't go against it. They...everybody deserve to live their life to the fullest."

"Indeed. What brought you to this realization?" I shrugged.

"I can't say, I just know that for the past few days I've...been relieved, almost as if I had been given the authorization to see things like that."

"I can't say it's not welcomed. Do you think you're ready for active duty?" I shook my head.

"I mean, I will need to go back before I become used to staying in the village, but I also know I may go against orders again. It's not as if I will never do it against, it's in my personality, but..."

"You still don't fully trust every shinobi of the Leaf." I nodded. "It is normal after all. Anyway, I wasn't expecting you to be ready already." He put a folder in front of me, on his desk. "Which is why I called you here today." I took the folder and opened it.

"Those are places shinobi work at outside of missions?" He nodded.

"It is about every places where shinobi work shinobi-related jobs while not on mission. After all, any village needs strong people on missions but also strong people inside to keep the village strong, don't you agree?" I nodded, seeing a picture of the Academy. "Working at one of those places will help you with trusting Leaf shinobi, I'm sure of it."

There were the Konoha Aviary, the Intelligence Division where T&I and the Analysis Divisions were, the Cryptology Team, the Police Force, the hospital, exercising as a Fuinjutsu Master to anyone willing to pay…

Huh. The Jounin Standby Station. The very building I was in right now.

"Shikaku-san?"

"Hum?" I showed him the picture of the building we were in. "What a surprise."

"Are you interviewing me?"

"What do you think? Fuinjutsu is useful." I rolled my eyes.

"Can I have some time to think about it?" He nodded.

"Tell me once you've joined one." I nodded and bowed.

"Thank you."

I left.

When I arrived home, wondering where I could apply, I saw Naruto and Sasuke fighting. I was pretty sure that Sai must have been involved before with how much he was smiling at the two. I bet Sai said something, Naruto started to yell at him and Sasuke snapped at Naruto because he was making a scene at his brother's place.

Sakura was quietly talking with Itachi. There was a new bottle of pills in her hand, so she was most likely explaining

"I'm just telling you to keep it down!" Sasuke yelled at my cousin, who glared back at him.

"It's the middle of the afternoon!" I sighed, dropping my folder on the couch. Without I word, I walked to the two idiots and pulled one of their ears. "Aouch nee-chan that hurts!" Sasuke remained quiet but pain was written all over his face.

"Are you going to stop your screaming match?"

"Yes yes now please let go!" Naruto whined. Sasuke gritted his teeth and I pulled harder on his ear.

"Fine!" he said, tapping his foot against the floor. I released them and they both cradled their ear.

"Good, now I can ask for advice."

"Advice?" Sakura repeated, apparently done with Itachi as they both focused on us.

"Nara Shikaku told me it would be good if before going back on regular mission I joined a division regarding shinobi-related matters." I went back to the couch and grabbed the folder. I sat on the couch, my elbows on the back of it. "There's a list inside about what I could join but I'm not sure what I should do." Itachi moved his chair closer to me and took the folder.

He opened it and looked through it as I leaned my chin on my crossed arms.

"Wouldn't working with your mother be good?" Sai asked, holding his chin. "She is working at the Konoha Barrier, right?"

"She also works at the Intelligence Division but unless if you want a bloodbath it's better not to put Aunty and nee-chan together," Naruto told him.

"Why?" Naruto and Sasuke shivered.

"They disagree a lot," the Uchiha replied, clearly remembering scary things.

"It ends up in screaming matches," Naruto added with terrified eyes. "I went through that too much, I don't wish that upon anyone."

"Oh?" I said with narrowed eyes. Naruto visibly flinched and raised his hands in front of him.

"Bu...but I love you nee-chan! Did you do something to your hair, you're prettier that usual!" He laughed nervously, looking around for a way out. I narrowed my eyes even more, enjoying the stress it was causing him. "Sasuke, help!"

"You're on your own loser."

"Naruto, suffer in silence please," Itachi added after his brother, still looking at the file I had brought.

"I HATE YOU ALL!"

Yes, I loved this reality. I loved it just as much as before and I wanted to...I wanted to be a part of it like anybody else. I had wanted it for a long time I think, but never allowed myself to.

But it was okay.

That's what everyone before would have wanted, I knew it deep down.

I could love them just as much without replacing anyone.

Hey! Thanks for reading and leave a review to tell me what you thought of this chapter!

Bye!