Chapter 91 Nightmare.

I walked down the empty hallway to Father's study. "There's big news," he said. "Something that will bring prosperity to the family. I knew not to get excited about anything Father said. Most things he considered "newsworthy" weren't shared by Mother and I. This time, it seems Mother, too, was excited.

"Big news," I mused, thinking of what it could be. Perhaps a new client? A new house? A vacation? That would get Mother excited.

I reached the door without concluding. There were no hints as to what it might be, so all I knew was it was new and unexpected. The guards announced my arrival, and I stepped into the office when invited.

The room was more crowded than I anticipated. I scanned the people present and felt uneasy; the family was here. My uncles and aunts from both sides sat and stood about the room, gossiping about the news. Some said I was getting married to another powerful family, but I highly doubt that. I was a valuable asset to the family now more than ever. Father wasn't sending me anywhere. I bowed in acknowledgment, greeting everyone and apologizing for my tardiness.

"No worries, love, it seems my older brother and his woman are also late," My Aunt Sophia said. She wasn't a fan of my mother but treated me well enough. I engaged in polite conversation as they tried to get information from me. I shook my head and explained that I was as confused as they were. We bonded over being left in the dark and began to joke.

The atmosphere was different from the gatherings I had to attend. My family already had wealth and power and needed nothing from me. To them, I was the brilliant child of The Alaric Family. I was their family.

The door swung open, and the main characters entered. My parents strode, hand in hand; my relatives weren't impressed.

"Thank you all for gathering here on such short notice," Father began; he was always so different in front of other people.

"This had better be a spending announcement, Love," Sophia spoke. "I came here like a bat out of a dungeon."

"It wasn't easy to get free time, ya know," my younger uncle Brad complained. "You really don't need to show off like this. Just have a ball and announce it."

"We will, but we thought we'd tell you in advance since your family," Mom explained.

I saw my aunt roll her eyes. Well, let's hear it," Sophia prompted.

My parents looked at each other with barely contained excitement. This scene was surreal.

"We're having a baby!" they announced. The room was quiet as everyone tried to understand their words.

"A baby?" Sophia asked, the first to recover. "That's why you dragged us out here to tell us the family is expanding?"

"Well, yes, but it's not just any baby," Father began. "We're having a boy!"

"So you have two of a kind, big deal." Sophia was not impressed.

"This child will be my heir. You can at least be happy for me," Father complained.

I froze. Heir?

"You already have an heir, well heiress, but same difference," Uncle Brad reminds them. As though they had forgotten about my existence.

"Yes, well, I'm sure my son will live up to the Alaric name," Father said proudly.

As though I wasn't up to standard.

"How did I end up with an idiot like you as a brother?" Sophia muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose. "This isn't the 1600s; why must the heir be a boy? Why can't your firstborn inherit the title? She's doing well so far."

"Ah, well, Mari will be married into a good family, so she can't very well carry the title of heir, " Mother tried to explain, but Sophia was having none of it.

"So stupid," Sophia scoffed. "I expect this level of idiocy from your Wife, but you brother."

Father frowned, "If you don't like my decision, you don't have to be here."

"Now, now," Uncle Brad stood between them. "Let's not burn bridges just yet." he smiled his charming smile and patted my head.

"This little one is a great fit for the Heir, but if you can pop out another genius, more power to ya!" he cheered. "But you think you shouldn't have Marinette fulfilling Heir duties since you've announced your intentions." his face was dark as he glared at Father.

Tensions were high, and the room was silent as Father made his decision.

"Very well," Father spoke. "Marinette will no longer have to fulfill his duties as soon as the Heir is born."

I was disowned.

Sophia sighed.

"Idiot."

The baby was born healthy, and my parents rejoiced.

It was the beginning of my nightmare.

"Your chakra control is phenomenal," Minato commented. "Not many people can master sage mode this quickly."

"Using the tree's roots and her summons to absorb nature chakra," Hashirama was awestruck as he looked up at the girl meditating in a sea of chakra. "I never thought of that."

"I've heard of something similar," Minato confessed. "The snake sage injects natural chakra into your body, and you're left to die or strive."

"That's…" Hashirama was terrified that such a method was allowed.

"I trained on Mount Myoboku under the frog sage," Minato revealed proudly. "How about you?"

"Ah," Hashirama felt awkward. "I didn't train under anyone." he looked away from Minato's curious gaze. "I was so lost in thought that I didn't move from my spot for a while, and by the time Tobi found me, it was like this." he laughed nervously.

"You mastered it on your own." Minato was speechless. The air was tense, and Hashirama expected hostility, but Minato's eyes sparked. "As expected of the First Hokage!"

Hashirama didn't know what to say, so he just laughed heartily.

"These idiots," Tobirama complained. He watched the two sages and grumbled, unsatisfied. They weren't doing anything but monitoring the host, and yet, he was stuck with the Uchiha.

"Quit complaining and get those Uzumakis off the trunk," Madara scolded him. The two were in charge of defense. With Sakura "Out of commission," they had to protect her. Tobirama grumbled even as he manipulated the water in the roots to control them. Wood burst from the ground and ensnared the redheads. He felt odd fighting his own, but after getting the rundown of the situation, he was begrudgingly on team Sakura.

The Senju never thought someone would use his own jutsu against him. It was created to protect the leaf, and yet he was put against his family. Though he thought the girl Madara possessed and fought purposefully, it didn't excuse the fact he was battling Leaf shinobi.

A fireball burned the roots, freeing the Uzumakis, and Tobirama wasn't surprised to see reanimated Uchiha fighting alongside them.

Massacred.

The Uchiha clan was down to two members. It wasn't something he expected from his former rivals, to die in one night. Then again, he didn't expect Uzu to fall as well. This whole situation was a mess, how could Hiruzen allow a child to shoulder such responsibilities? She wasn't even from a clan.

Glancing at the Uchiha ghost, Tobirama found nothing but indifference in his gaze as he attacked the Uzumakis and Uchihas. He hadn't believed his eyes when he saw Madara shield Sakura from their wrath, but it seemed that being trapped by her for so long made him soft.

A thousand blades formed in the air around the tree's crown, they spun around it increasing in speed before catching fire.

"Die," Marada commanded, and the blades scattered, destroying the ground around them and scorching their enemies.

Soft my ass.

"Hashirama!" Madara called. "Give me some of your chakra. I need to increase defense."

"Sure~" Hashirama shamelessly called back. Tobirama knew the two were too close. Hashirama always had a soft spot for the Uchiha, even to the end. The grief of losing his best friend killed the God of Shinobi. No one knew but Tobirama and he intended to keep it that way.

The two joined hands, and through their will, a forest sprung from the base of the tree, covering the snow-covered ground with a forest not unlike the one for the leaf village.

The shinobi present could help the awe that struck them.

The samurais were speechless, their home of ice and snow was slowly becoming a forest. They didn't complain, however, they weren't expecting to survive this, having their landscape changed was a small price to pay.

Injured shinobis, unable to fight, suddenly found themselves in the underground medical facility. Shinobi from all nations were sent there indiscriminately. It was confusing at first, but the medic on standby quickly went to work healing the injured.

"What's the situation above ground, " Ibiki asked. He was sent to her after being attacked by a swordsmen of the mist. He wasn't injured badly, but the damn girl still sent him away.

"Chaos, " the injured shinobi responded. "A Tree suddenly appeared, and I think it's alive, since it's fighting back," he reported.

"I saw Hashirasma walking about before it appeared," a leaf shinobi appeared. "Maybe he's responsible?"

"Not likely," a sand shinobi objected. "The tree isn't attacking everyone, just those that attack it. Hashirsama was attacking everyone that got close to him."

The three descended into a debate about what the tree meant and why it appeared. Ibiki took this time to excuse himself.

"The information is the same," Tsunade said as Ibiki reported to her. "The dead walks again, a tree suddenly shows up, and it's now the enemy's target." she bit her nail as she thought. "Still no information on what that tree is?"

"Negative. Anyone close enough to the emergence reported lost seeing the first Hokage and his brother, the second Hokage. There were also reports of a yellow flash."

"The previous Hokages have been reanimated, how disrespectful." Tsunade stood. She looked over at the injured and clenched her fist to stop trembling. "What is the status of our genin?" Ibiki shook his head.

"Aside from Naruto, those here have not reported seeing the genins," He told her.

"This isn't good. They have no experience with battlefields." Tsunade sighed. It was likely none of the genins would survive this. She bit her lip. She needed to go up there, she needed to fight.

"Don't push yourself," Ibiki said, making her flinch. "While your accomplishments on the battlefield aren't few, you specialize in healing, that's probably why she sent you here."

"Sakura," Tsunade said thoughtfully. She was sent here without warning, along with Shizune and Ton Ton. She looked down at her hands, these useless things that couldn't save the one she loved. The dream of a happy life flashed in her mind, and she held on to it.

"You're right," she said. "I'm a medical ninja." she turned to Ibiki and smiled. "I think it's time I did my job."

As Tsunade marched towards the injured with resolve, a single Springfly bore witness to her determination.

"Oh Tsuna, you're all big now," Hashirama cried tears of joy seeing his granddaughter. Annoyed, Madara pushed the fool back to his post of monitoring Sakura. "Dot on her later, we have a job to do."

"I'm finished," Mito Uzumaki said as she stood from her lotus. "That's all the chakra of the sage."

"That's never going to not be weird," Hashirama muttered as he looked at his "Wife", asking why the fox chose that form to masquerade as.

"Are you sure putting that chakra inside her is a good idea," Tobirama asked, ignoring his brother's grief. Madara silently watched Sakura's form as chakra seeped into her. The chakra of the Sage, its a power one can only achieve by mixing the chakra of his sons, Madara and Hashirama, yet there was a pool sitting and waiting.

"She won't like it, but this is for the best," Madara said finally. "With Moryo out there and no priestess to seal him, we'll need all the power we can get. The sages chakra was able to keep Kurama incheck."

"She won't be the same after this," the fox warned. "Power always comes at a cost."

"She won't be bearing it alone," he promised.

"I never thought I'd see the day Madara cared for someone," the fox chuckled.

"I had children. I'm not sure what you're insinuating."

"It's time!" Minato called, rushing to his chakra pool. The others followed his example, and each stood in their pools.

"Time to see if you're all talk," Tobirama teased.

"Try not to slack off," Madara fired back.

Sakura absorbed the last bit of chakra, and the space became still. Her eyelid was painted red, and dots appeared above her brow; she looked like the Kaguya clan.

"Here it comes," the Fox warned.

As she opened her eyes, the flow of chakra became overwhelming. They gritted their teeth as they all fell into their pools of chakra. The seal took effect, and their minds linked to each other. Memories followed like water, making it hard to discern who was who. For someone weaker, they might have lost themselves in the sea of memories, but for the five gods, this was child's play.

Unlike the seal between Madara and Sakura, where they depended on each other, this one was a co-existence. They all stood on the same level. There was no "I" or "Me," only the hive.

They were Sakura Haruno.

This chapter was harder than it seems, trust me. I feel like a conspiracy theorist. I feel sorry for anyone trying to make sense of this.

The next chapter will be filler, or the next will be devastation. At least, that's the plan.

Next chapter

October 30