A/N: A lot of conversations this chapter, including one near the end I had a fun time writing…
Sakura stayed more in the hospital resting and recovering from the stress and pain of undergoing the cellular mutation. She was glad that she could independently function again, as being so physically dependent on others was frustrating to her, but not even that compared to three days later with her parents…
"Naruto, I wish I could leave but until I'm officially discharged I'm not aloud and Lady Tsunade is very strict— "
The door of her hospital room banged noisily open breaking their conversation.
"Mom, dad." Sakura sounded irritated. "I guess you found me." She was very casual.
"We come back to the village and get home to find your bed empty and people won't say anything about where you are and we find out your in the hospital." Her father said sharply.
"Who squealed?" She said with a sigh.
"Rock Lee." Her mother said.
"I'm going to kill that blabbermouth, I told him when he visited me to keep it quiet." She sighed.
"Well, it's a good thing I didn't tell him why you are here?" Naruto whispered so only Sakura could hear.
"So your friends know about your life before your mother and father?" Kizashi said affronted.
"My friends support me!" She said icily.
"We support you!" Mebuki protested anxiously.
"As a kid sure, but the older I've gotten, the less faith you show in my being a Kunoichi You can stop me from growing up!" She said, looking bitter now.
"You are our only child, it's our job to make sure you are safe." He said quickly.
"I don't need your permission to do anything; 13 is the age of consent here, I'm 16 already." She said bluntly.
"What are you doing in the hospital?" Mebuki asked.
"I got Hashirama cells , so I can perform the nine tails sealing jutsu," Sakura said bluntly.
"He's—that's dangerous." They both said hastily.
"The mutation is already complete," Sakura said bluntly. "I know you're afraid of the nine tails, but that angry fox isn't Naruto." She told them impatiently.
"Still, it's not safe." Her father said anxiously.
"The entire ninja world is about to enter its fourth war; nothing is safe right now," Sakura said rhetorically. "My days of me doing nothing while others risked their lives ended the day most of my academy group nearly died trying to bring Sasuke back." Sakura crossed her arms with finality
Sakura knew that her parents didn't honestly believe Naruto and the nine-tail fox were separate from each other. Not that they thought Naruto was a dangerous person, they greeted him cheerfully when crossing paths in the village. However, Sakura was used to being bombarded with questions when returning home from missions, a regularity as far back as her Genin days. It was almost as if they thought the creature could appear whenever it wanted. She had explained after that day at Tenchi Bridge when they saw her injured arm about the seal and the red chakra cloak of the nine tails, hoping to calm their worries, but it did the opposite making them annoyingly overprotective.
"Sakura, I wish you would see where we are coming from. You're being so reckless, and for what." Her mother pleaded.
"Love, mom. If it was dad, how would you feel?" She challenged sharply. There was silence. "That's what I thought. I'm a Kunoichi, so it's time for you to accept my choices. I am fighting in this war, to protect the village and protect Naruto. I'm in love with him; yes, he is a Jinchūriki, but that won't stop me from being with him. The power of the fox spirit will be under his control someday and I'm going to make sure he survives until that day and then I'll be there when he becomes Hokage too." She said seriously.
Her father broke the silence. "We've never heard you so serious before, munchkin."
"I'm not a child anymore." She said evenly.
"Something we forget." They admitted with a long sigh.
"I'm not allowed to leave until I'm officially discharged." Sakura said cooly, tired of this conversation and tired in general.
"We love you." They said quickly.
"I love you both, just do me one favor and try and remember from now on that I'm all grown up now."
They smiled and nodded before leaving the room.
Naruto watched Sakura with adoration in his eyes. "You said all that."
"I meant every word but especially how I see you, your just Naruto, if you could inspire the hate out of Nagato, you'll get that stupid fox someday too." She told him softly.
"I hope I've made it clear how much I love you, Sakura." He told her as he kissed her forehead.
"You have, but you can remind me once I finally get out of this hospital." Sakura said playfully.
"Count on that, Sakura. He said with a grin.
It was another few days before Tsudane deemed Sakura fully recovered and okay to be discharged, but she wasted little time after getting out of the hospital as there were many things she was determined to do in preparation for the war.
"Sakura without the sealing jutsu contained in the first Hokage's necklace there's no point— "
"Don't worry about that." She sighed. "What do you think I was doing in all that time leading up to getting my injections of Hashirama Cells."
"I didn't think information like this could be studied?" Yamato admitted taken by surprise.
Sakura shook her head and laughed. "Orochimaru was proof that all kinds of knowledge can be found if you look in the right places."
"What did you find that I didn't already know?" He asked curiously
"Well, the necklace might have been one of a kind, but the sealing Jutsu isn't. It's a mass chakra sealing jutsu, an imbued object like the necklace is only meant to act as a fail-safe, but it's not as reliable as direct suppression like what you did at Tenchi Bridge that day."
"Where have you been able to learn about such powerful sealing Jutsu?" Yamato asked curiously.
"Some from the library, but most of it, I asked Lady Tsunade if I could study the records kept by previous Hokage, specifically Lord Fourth, I thought that since he performed the Jutsu that sealed the nine tails inside Naruto, he knew several others or was taught by someone else. It turns out I was right. Of course, there wasn't anything about the situations he used them, but that doesn't matter; the point is I can perform this sealing Jutsu ." Sakura finished calmly.
"You're intelligent and skilled, but even with his cells, you don't have his chakra levels." Yamato pointed out to her reluctantly.
Sakura smiled, her face full of something like defiance. "That's why I'm trying to store the chakra I need for the Byakugō Seal. It's not the only reason, but the point is that just because I wasn't born with incredible chakra doesn't mean I can't build up to that with hard work and dedication."
"You're set on breaking all the rules." He said with a smile.
Sakura sounded serious. "I'm determined to protect Naruto and fight in the war for all the people who can't, so teach me this jutsu now, because if Naruto's emotions explode and you're not there, someone has to suppress the nine tails."
"All we'll work on right now is the hand sings, but honestly, I'd feel a lot better if we could find a way to recreate the chakra crystal that aids in suppressing tailed beasts."
"Let me worry about that; Lady Tsunade says that the crystal was a small portion of the first Hokage's Chakra, highly pressurized, and then imbued with the mass chakra sealing Jutsu."
"Similar to how diamonds are formed, that makes a lot of sense, but only the Hidden Stone village would specialize in something like that and we don't have time to travel there." He said calmly.
Sakura thought for a moment, then she remembered that one of the other Kage was among Naruto's most loyal supporters. "if it's for Naruto I'm positive Gara would do me a favor and get in touch. I'm sure they met, as one of the five Kage, Gara was at the summit." Sakura eagerly said.
"Alright then, the hand signs: Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram, Monkey, Tiger." He recited bluntly.
"Can you tell me again a little slower and then once I memorize it I'll add the motions." She asked.
"Yes, take your time." Yamato encouraged her.
"Thanks; I plan on learning this pretty quickly; I have other training I want to start that will take longer than this one." She said.
"What?" He asked.
"Well, elemental release infusion for starts." Sakura said casually.
"You want to infuse chakra nature releases…into what exactly?" He asked, perplexed.
"That's easy," Sakura said fiercely, punching her knuckles together. "My fits!" With an almost Naruto-ish grin on her face, Yamato couldn't help but smile.
After she felt confident that she had memorized the hand signs and that her motions were efficient for the Jutsu to suppress the nine tails chakra, Sakura sought out Kakashi hoping to explain her idea.
"Well if it isn't the reason that I've been stuck as the acting Hokage for nearly three weeks." He said in a friendly tone.
"Hi, Kakashi Sensei." She said eagerly.
He shook his head. "I wish you and Naruto would drop that, we've been peers for quite a while now."
"You'll always be our Sensei." She admitted shrugging cheerfully.
"It's good to see you are out of the hospital and survived the Hashirama cell injections; I heard that it was quite painful dealing with the mutation." He said sympathetically, and a smile reached his face.
Sakura sighed. "Yeah, eventually I couldn't eat or walk on my own, which was harder to deal with than the pain."
"Well, you've recovered very well from what Tsunade told me, but I'm sure you didn't come to see me for a chat." He waited quite at ease.
Sakura spoke nervously. "I was hoping you could help me add nature releases to my Taijutsu. I got the idea from mastering using the chakra scalpel in combat."
Kakashi scratched his chin in thought. "Could you elaborate on what you've been thinking? That way I can see the logic in what you want to accomplish."
"I thought that since I can focus chakra around my hands, I could also add an elemental affinity, making my attacks more lethal." Sakura rambled a bit nervously.
There was more silence, but soon Kakashi spoke about Sakura's idea. "So you're saying that you want to know if it would be possible to add a change in chakra nature to the normal chakra you can form around your hands." He clarified.
"Yes, do you think it's possible?" She asked hopefully.
"In theory, yes but the practical application isn't so simple, adding and maintaining a change in nature to the raw chakra that you harness around your hands would be very demanding. Raw chakra in a normal state is already difficult to maintain."
"I don't care how hard it is, I want something that's unique for me, I don't know of anyone who has something like this yet." Sakura said seriously clenching her fists.
"I mean the closest comparison is a few of the eight inner gates which allow for high concentrated special attacks that contain an element. As far as I know, nobody has tried to harness raw chakra formed around their hands as, fire, earth, water, lighting, or wind. It is unprecedented, but even if elemental Taijutsu hasn't been seen before doesn't mean you can't achieve it." Kakashi reasoned aloud.
"So you'll help?" Sakura asked eagerly.
"Yes, but let's start tomorrow, you seem like you have something else on your mind, something that I can't teach you," Kakashi said.
Sakura nodded. "Yup, there is still one more sensei I need to get training from."
"She is visiting Asuma's grave," Kakashi told Sakura, knowing exactly what else she wanted to learn.
"Thanks, Kakashi Sensei!" And with a wave Sakura left.
Kakashi shook his head again with a amused sigh. "I guess some habits are impossible to break, oh well…"
Besides, a few times with Ino when she felt like visiting Asuma's grave, Sakura had not been to the graveyard since the Third Hokage's funeral. It was a peaceful place to think for many people, Sakura knew. She decided to visit Naruto's parents graves first so as not to interrupt Kurenai while she was paying respects. Sakura found Minato and Kushina on one grave side by side.
"Hi, I'm not really sure where to start. I'm Sakura Haruno, Naruto and I are on the same squad, but we've been dating for a few months now. You have a wonderful son, he is the best of both of you." She knelt down in front of their graves. "I don't think Naruto has ever visited, I think it's too hard for him, all he wants is to know you and I think coming here would be acknowledging that he never will." She hesitated and then continued. "He spent most of his childhood alone. You had to have known that would happen when you sealed the nine tails, or maybe you didn't; I wouldn't put it past the village Elders to make it seem like Naruto was a demon child so they could cover up the fact Madara Uchiha did it. Naruto told me, Lord Fourth, about your conversation when the seal was almost broken when he fought Pain." She clarified quietly. "If you believe Naruto is the one who can stop him, you have my word here and now that I will protect him from the nine tails until he is ready to control all that chakra." She promised with emotional determination. "I wanted you to know." She stood up. "I found out you both died protecting Naruto from being killed by the nine tails. It was more than happy to let slip that bit of information to me. Don't worry, that's not going to happen to your son, I'm doing everything I can to make sure of it. Well, I had to come and say hi and tell you that I have fallen in love with Naruto; he's everything to me." She bid farewell quietly.
Kurenai joined her quietly. "Minato and Kushina were always kind, and they would be so grateful knowing that you're looking out for Naruto, Sakura."
"You knew them?" She asked.
"Everyone knew Kushina and Minato." She smiled. "Few couples are perfect, but they were perfect for each other."
"Like you and Asuma." She said.
"Thanks, I always hoped to be that much in love, and I got my wish." She placed a hand on her growing pregnant belly. "What can I do for you, Sakura?" She asked, looking at her encouragingly.
"Could you teach me Genjutsu? I know how to resist it, but I want to master using it in time for the war." She said seriously.
"From what Kakashi says, you are a perfect candidate to use Genjutsu; I would like something to do while I'm pregnant." She laughed. "The Uchiha clan was always the best at Genjutsu in the leaf village, but it is my specialty. We can start the day after tomorrow. I should be getting home."
Sakura looked at the sky. The sun was going down. "I'll walk you home. I couldn't let you walk home alone while you're pregnant." She insisted.
"Well, since you insist, thanks Sakura." She smiled again, and they left the graveyard together.
Sakura didn't go home once she and Kurenai parted ways, instead she paid a visit to the one person who could give her a direct line to Gara.
"Sakura? What are you doing here, it's not exactly the middle of the day anymore?" Shikamaru said in surprise.
"I need Temari's phone number; you keep in touch with her, right?" She asked bluntly.
"I…well— "
"Calm down, I could care less about whatever game of relationship chicken you've been playing with her, she's the only way I know to get in touch with Gara. I need to ask him a favor." Sakura said urgently.
After a moment's silence Shikamaru sighed and pulled a tiny scrap of paper out of his pocket… "If you let slip to anyone that I'm keeping in touch her, I'll make sure your life becomes a real drag." He said seriously.
"Thanks, Shikamaru," Sakura said with a nod.
Sakura returned home before dialing the number Shikamaru gave her…
Temari was quite surprised to hear from Sakura. "You want to talk to my brother? At this hour? He's the Kazekage; he has little time for a friendly chat!" She said impatiently. "How did you get my private number anyway?"
"Never mind that I need to speak to Gara about getting in touch with the Tsuchikage about Chakra Crystals. I need one for Naruto to help suppress the nine-tailed fox." Sakura said seriously.
"Wait, Naruto's seal hasn't broken, has it?" She asked, her tone shifting to seriousness.
"No, but…" Sakura explained recent events. Temari was in shock for a bit.
"Wow, no wonder he was mostly silent when we met him briefly in the land of iron." She said with a long sympathetic sigh. "Give me a moment to inform Gara, sorry for the attitude, we get a lot of people who bother him unnecessarily." She said with a heavy sigh.
A little while later, Gara could be heard over the phone. "Temari has told me Sakura, if Naruto needs my help I will do what I can as Kazekage."
She made sure to get right to the point. "Gara, I'm sorry to bother you, but I knew if anyone could help me help Naruto, it would be you."
"I can tell you are worried the nine tails will consume him." Gara said somberly.
"It nearly did, twice. The first time, he sprouted four tails and the chakra crystal helped suppress the chakra. The second time he watched a comrade almost die right in front of him, trying to save him from being captured by the Akatsuki; soon, he had six tails and broke the chakra crystal. After that, the seal unraveled to the eighth tail. There was nothing left of Naruto; it was just the raging destruction of the nine tails. He's only alive because the fourth Hokage embedded the last of his chakra into the seal and quelled his rage."
There was a quiet reflection in his following words. "Your fear, it doesn't seem to be of the nine tails, but for Naruto, even when I still had my tailed beast, people feared me going out of control, not everyone, but sadness? That's not something other people showed when I was a Jinchūriki. I am respected and idealized by my village. Yet the only person I have known to show sorrow for Jinchūriki is Naruto because he is one. That's why I would like to know, where does your sorrow and empathy come from given the might of the nine tails?" He asked, for he couldn't help his curiosity.
It was such an easy question to answer, so easy it made her smile. "It comes from unconditional love, from loving Naruto so much that I know I wouldn't be able to live without him, especially if he died because he is a Jinchūriki. Those in the past, present, and future. You are human beings and the tailed beasts don't define who you are." She said calmly.
"I see; I wonder, will I find someone who cannot live without me? Who sees me as a human being even though I was once a Jinchūriki…"
Sakura felt that Gara was asking himself this question despite saying it aloud, so she waited. Eventually, he spoke to Sakura again. "Naruto is my closest friend and I owe him my life. The Tsuchikage is stubborn but far from close minded. I shall get in touch with him and see what he knows about chakra crystals for Naruto's sake ; I will send a scroll with information as soon as possible. Naruto was conflicted over Sasuke the last time we met, but it's clear he has been burdened with far more than that in the time since he rescued me from the Akatsuki. Please give him my best." Gara said sympathetically.
"Thank you, Gara; I will!" She said gratefully.
Sakura knew there was only one place she wanted to end the night, she made sure her parents knew she wouldn't be home tonight and left for Naruto's apartment.
"Hi there, its not too late is it?" She asked, with a grin.
"Never, but I thought you'd be tired?" He asked letting her inside.
"I am tired, but I wanted to end my night with you." She said leaning on him and sighing softly.
"Everything go okay today, I know you said that you'd be pretty busy." He wondered.
They sat on the couch holding hands; Sakura nodded and let her head rest against Naruto's shoulder. "Yup, I think I will be able to get you another chakra crystal. The Hidden Stone village, if anywhere knows about chakra crystals, it's there. So I got in touch with Gara and he is going talk with the Tsuchikage and get back to me." She yawned.
"You called Gara?" He asked surprised.
There was heavy emotion in her voice. "I knew that he would be willing to talk to the Tsuchikage about chakra crystals if it helps protect you from the nine tails until your ready to control it."
"Do you think I need that annoying fox?" He asked uncertainly.
"I hope not, controlling that much hate will be much harder than Lady Tsunade believes and we can't have you off figuring it out when the war starts." She said seriously.
Yeah, I couldn't live with myself if I'm not out there fighting right from the start." He admitted quietly. "Anyway, how did everything else go today?"
"Good, all the training I want to do is set." She told him quietly.
"Do you need my help?" He asked.
"Maybe, when I'm ready to spar but learning new techniques requires specialized help, like when you learned the Rasengan from Jiraiya, except I came up with these ideas myself." She said proudly.
"Tell me about them?" He asked with interest.
"Well, since chakra can be focused into any part of the body, I want to learn to focus it into my fists and dbe able to infuse normal chakra with any of the five basic chakra natures, creating elemental taijutsu." She explained.
"So you could like burn, shock, or blow people away away with your fists!" He said enthusiastically.
"Exactly, I need more offensive tactics, which would give me an edge in hand-to-hand combat!" Sakura said seriously.
"Hey maybe you can infuse a different nature into each of your hands and feet!" He offered thoughtfully.
"Naruto, that's so smart!" She said with an impressed grin.
"I have my moments." He said modestly. "But I'm more of a super confident idiot; it's a brutal combination." He sighed.
"You are not an idiot; it's hard for you to stay focused!" She corrected him. "I didn't understand it at the time, but I think that's why we were put on the same squad." She said with a nostalgic smile. "It's been so long since we first became ninjas."
Naruto sighed. "Did you think we would be fighting a war back then?"
"No, not in our lifetime." Sakura laid her head in his lap. "Not to avoid being stuck in a dream forever. I am already living my dreams, and it took a long time for me to realize them." Sakura felt tears form in her eyes. "We're fighting for our free will against a man who should be generations dead by now." She couldn't help feeling anxious. "I'm trying not to be scared, but I am."
"What can I do?" He asked consolingly.
"I've done as much preparing as I can for today. Carry me to bed?" She asked sleepily.
He moved a stubborn strand of hair from her eyes, "Sure," He kissed her forehead softly and then scooped her up into his arms.
"I love you, Naruto."
"I love you too, cherry blossom." He whispered, laying her in his bed. "Get some sleep." He said, watching her sleep but unable to himself. "Dad, I hope you are right about me..."
Elsewhere Sasuke Uchiha was still set on destroying the hidden leaf, but his brother's eyes had only been recently transplanted. Hence, he begrudgingly waited to decide to ask some questions that he had been holding back from the man who insisted he was Madara Uchiha, something he was more than skeptical about.
"I have some questions, things I've been thinking about." He said bluntly.
He sighed impatiently. A"What do you wish to know? Though I warn you the truth can be quite messy, I don't care to console people who can't handle it."
"Why try to create an infinite Genjutsu?" He asked.
"For someone who's entire clan was slaughtered, I should think my motives are obvious—a dream free of the suffering caused by the hell of a world we live in… True peace!" He said bluntly.
"There are a lot of people that would argue wars are anything but true peace."
"Like Naruto Uzumaki." He said with obvious cynicism.
"Yes, I do not doubt that Naruto is one person who believes that war creates only more war," Sasuke said evenly.
"To think that he is the son of the fourth Hokage but lacks any of his genius intelligence, your brother Itachi was Minato's only equal."
"The fourth Hokage?"
"I take it you didn't realize that." He looked amused. "Children, you are endlessly naïve."
"What makes you so sure?" Sasuke said harshly.
"Because he remains the only person ever to figure out the flaw in my Mangekyō Sharrigean ability Kamui and I haven't forgotten the injury." There was pure contempt in his voice. "Surely you understand what being bested in battle by someone you never expected is like. Wasn't it Naruto who drove you to abandon the leaf village years ago?" He asked with something like pity.
"I understand and I left to acquire power. Naruto's lack of strength had very little to do with that choice. Even now, I couldn't care less what happens to him or what he's doing." Sasuke was indeed indifferent.
He laughed mockingly. "I guess my little chat with him during all your fun at the Five Kage summit is still weighing on his mind. I don't think he liked that I told him you willing chose power and darkness."
"He has always been a sentimental loser, still seeing me as the child I was instead of the avenger I've become." He sounded bored. "Now, how long until I regain my eyesight? All I want is to burn the hidden leaf to the ground and make sure the Elders and the fifth Hokage suffer."
"You will be able to see in a few weekss time. Just as preparations for the war on both sides near completion." He said calmly. "But I will not teleport you there; you will need to get there yourself. I have my priorities that which doesn't include unnecessary destruction." He was amused again. "However, at the start of the war shouldmean that you can have fun and destroy the leaf without much of a fuss."
"You should know I don't think you're an Uchiha; something tells me Madara wouldn't be hiding behind masks." Sasuke challenged the masked stranger bluntly.
He was cryptic at best. "I only have anonymity because I am believed dead, but I'll throw you a bone and admit that you are half right. Yet I wonder, how smart you really are? Regardless, I wouldn't get any ideas about physically unmasking me, I will turn from your very willing benefactor to your worst enemy." The threat was unmistakable.
Sasuke was left to ponder this and more in darkness and silence…
A/N: I am enjoying writing, I hope you are enjoying reading. Lots of training coming, most of my ideas are born from some basic logic and a desire to slow down a lot of things that were rushed about the war arc and of put my own spin on it.