Sasuke would label their mission as a failure on paper but a success in another way- they never did encounter Obito or his partner. What they did find was a bit more interesting than nothing, though.

The blonde explosive expert? He apparently survived their encounter when they were sent to save Gaara. Shisui had cursed and Sasuke almost thought he heard his cousin mutter something about Sakura when the Akatsuki member descended upon them with a shower of little bug bombs.

Unfortunately for their enemy, Sasuke was the perfect person to counter his attacks.

Shisui allowed Sasuke to take on the explosive expert and busied himself with zeroing in on a particularly odd member of the Akatsuki that always seemed to be around.

Sasuke fought the odd artist and fortunately for him, his enemy was also susceptible to genjutsu. Sasuke wasn't as talented with genjutsu as his brother, cousin, and even Sakura, but he had more than enough power backing his illusions. And that made up for whatever flaws were actually in it.

But, as the artist was not one for subtle combat, Shisui and Sasuke then had to spend a good majority of their time avoiding the surge of Iwa shinobi that flooded the area where Sasuke managed to kill the artist- for good this time. It was tedious and annoying, flickering from place to place for days. Sasuke couldn't even tend to his wounds for a good bit, which meant they had to spend a few days once they got out of Earth country and into the Land of Wind resting.

Sasuke and Shisui somehow ended up in Suna for a week when they realized they were being trailed- by a Konoha shinobi, no less.

That's when Shisui had to sit him down and explain a few things to him.

"The reason we were sent out together on such a long mission wasn't just because of our skill set," Shisui said, sitting back in his chair. "Tsunade-sama has to deal with an internal issue and needed you to be out of the village."

"The person who's targeting me is Orochimaru," Sasuke responded and his cousin nodded.

"Orochimaru has targeted you specifically," Shisui agreed, then raked a hand through his unruly hair. "But he had a proposed partnership with a higher up in the village. I'm sure you know of Danzo."

"Itachi used to work for him until-"

"He got pulled to the Hokage's order with me," Shisui finished, sighing a bit. "You don't know about this- you were too young at the time and we did everything to keep you busy so you wouldn't notice it. But the coup that was held off ages ago? The village had a. . . plan incase I was unable to use my abilities to sway the clan towards keeping the peace."

"You used your genjutsu?" Sasuke inquired. He thought back to those days, which seemed so long ago. He was always with Sakura and Naruto at that point- they were always escorted or accompanied by someone in his family. He thought it was because they were just mere kids who needed coddling.

"Fugaku-san has been under it for almost 9 years now," Shisui answered, his frown growing. "It's the reason there was no huge backlash for the police station attack. He's managed to sway what's left of our clan towards keeping the peace between us and the village. However, there are parties still uneasy about it."

"Danzo?" Sasuke asked and his cousin's features somehow grew more grim at the name.

"Danzo thought allowing an Uchiha to deal with the Uchiha was too risky," Shisui explained. "He couldn't trust me to use my genjutsu for peace, despite Sandaime's support of the plan. He even went so far as to attempt to steal my eyes."

Sasuke blanched at that- his cousin's eyes were the most powerful in the entire clan. Despite not even being in the head family (in terms of blood, that is), Shisui was considered by everyone to be the strongest Uchiha of their time. Wars could be waged for the chance to steal his cousin's eyes.

"Luckily for me, I was never alone those days," Shisui smiled, looking up at the ceiling. "You twerps hung onto my arm whenever I was in the village. And even Danzo couldn't risk targeting me if Naruto was around- he can't go killing the Kyuubi Jinchūriki because he was a witness to an assassination attempt, after all. Sandaime had Itachi removed from Danzo's order and moved to his shortly after that."

"Why not just condemn Danzo?"

Shisui laughed. "Squirt, if only it were that easy. Danzo is highly respected and has an entire loyal faction behind him. Taking him down could cause a revolt in the worst case scenario. He could try to upheave the entire Konoha government just to do what he thinks is necessary for the village. Sandaime worked hard to appease Danzo and keep him in line. It seems that Tsunade-sama isn't as interested in staying in his good graces- she does what she believes is right no matter what the Council says."

Sasuke thought of their Hokage and how her tendencies were scarily similar to Sakura's. Stubborn and very scary.

"Danzo had taken matters into his own hands once Sandaime died," Shisui continued. "He wants to disable the clan by subduing its future."

"Me," Sasuke concluded and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Since I'm the heir."

"He went so far as to propose a partnership with Orochimaru," Shisui said, his features scrunching together. "Though, I'm sure Danzo had a plan to eliminate Orochimaru once he used him. Your replacement- oh, what was his name. Sakura-chan said it before. . . Sai? He's a Root operative. Though, he willingly told your team of Danzo's plans as much as he could, so I guess he isn't as loyal to Danzo as it seemed he was."

"How do you know this?" Sasuke asked and Shisui shrugged.

"I asked Sakura-chan and Naruto what happened during their mission," Shisui answered, raising an eyebrow when Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "You're the one that was brooding for two days after you and Sakura-chan got into a disagreement. I asked them and then confirmed with Tsunade-sama. Her and Fugaku-san agreed that it would be best to get you out of the village for a bit so they could handle it."

"There's a shinobi trailing us," Sasuke pointed out and Shisui gestured to the room.

"Why do you think we're in Suna?" He asked and continued before Sasuke could respond. "This isn't a vacation- I'm trying to assess whether or not we'll be targeted once we step foot in the Land of Fire. Even if it's a Root operative, I don't want to be picking fights with a Leaf shinobi. That can be used to incite a civil war if Danzo spins it the right way. Once our chakra is fully replenished and we're totally healed, we can just avoid the shinobi altogether. I just hope it's not an Aburame- they can track us if a single bug lands on our clothing. Annoying pests."

"Looks like we have to be fast," Sasuke responded and Shisui grinned.

"It's a good thing that's our specialty, squirt."

When they left Suna, they managed to completely bypass the shinobi. And even though they were the fast, the trip to the village still took a number of days to get to. They were almost a mile away from their home when the entire earth shook.

Sasuke's sharingan activated immediately, his eyes focusing on the village ahead of them. Beside him, Shisui drew in a sharp breath.

Sasuke's eyes could only pick up the massive amount of chakra emanating from the village, so once the earth stopped shaking, he jumped into the trees and used the kickoffs from branch to branch to get to his home faster. Shisui was right next to him at first but passed him and arrived atop the village border wall first. When Sasuke appeared next to him, his cousin held an arm up barring him from going any further.

"Oh, no." Shisui whispered and once the dust cleared from the area, Sasuke thought that was a severe understatement.

Their home was reduced to a wasteland- there was no way to identify what was what amongst the rubble. Sasuke's eyes scanned the outermost buildings, which were mostly in tact, unless they had been a victim of another building crashing into it. He saw the Uchiha district in the distance and it was at least standing still. Then, his eyes scanned for the hospital, where he thought it would be amongst the rubble and couldn't see anything, even with the aid of his sharingan.

"Tachi," Shisui said suddenly, his eyes then scanning for the district. He visibly relaxed when he saw that their home was still standing.

Sasuke on the other hand, grew tense. "I can't see the hospital."

"You can't see anything," Shisui responded, his gaze wandering to the sky. They widened a fraction when they landed on a figure above them. "Akatsuki."

At that realization, the two looked at each other in horror. "Naruto."

"I'll head for the compound," Shisui said. "Naruto is usually there or he's with-"

"Sakura, who would be at the hospital if an attack happened," Sasuke finished. "He wouldn't leave her side if the enemy is this powerful. I'll try to find out where the hospital is now."

They both disappeared from the wall not a moment later. Sasuke appeared near the crater in the middle of the village, landing atop of concrete slabs as he scanned the area.

Fear and anxiety began to bubble within him when the area was utterly silent. There was no moving debris, no shouting, no moans of pain, no nothing. It was just a rubble filled wasteland. How would he even remotely begin to find Sakura and Naruto?

How would he live if neither of them were alive?

He had to take a controlled breath, reasoning to himself that Naruto had to be alive- there was no Tailed Beast raging through the wreckage. But Sakura, Sakura had no telltale sign that she wasn't dead. And even though he didn't feel as though she was lost to him, that could be denial already kicking in. He almost called out her name, stopping when he noticed chakra signatures begin to become evident. There were all unfamiliar to him- almost scarily identical, actually.

Until, his eyes picked up on a chakra signature that was familiar.

A large concrete lab was shoved to the side, pink hair emerging from what looked like a giant slug. Sasuke watched with relief as he watched her fall to her knees and look up. He barely noticed that she looked absolutely crestfallen without an ounce of shock in her features- because she was alive. Sakura was alive.

Everything that was happening between them didn't matter to him at the moment. Sure, Sakura wasn't telling him things, but she at least admitted to it. And if what he gathered from his last conversation with his brother, Sasuke suspected that Sakura actually couldn't tell them, for their sake. Perhaps it was just like the scroll, where she was ordered to keep it need to know and if a moment came when she could tell him, she would. He'd have to be patient with her and he vowed to himself that he would be just that as he processed the fact that she was alive. She was okay and somehow, the reasons he was angry with her before seemed utterly stupid.

Why should he waste time being upset with her when she was beginning to become the person he held dearest to him?

"Naruto!"

Her desperate voice rang out in the emptiness, the sound seemingly starting an entire sequence of shifting rubble of coughing. It broke Sasuke out of his reverie, and headed towards her. When he appeared kneeling by her side, she looked towards him with wide eyes.

He noticed the purple diamond in the center of her forehead then. It looked like it had always belonged there.

"Sasuke-kun?" She questioned slowly, the tears in her eyes now falling freely as he nodded. She choked out a sob before her arms shot out and wrapped out his neck. He held her close to him, ignoring the last memory of when she was crying in his arms and just relished in the fact that she was alive. She was warm, she was crying, and she was holding onto him so tightly he almost feared it would become a chokehold any moment. But that didn't matter- because Sakura was okay.

"I'm so happy you were late coming home," She managed to say through her tears. Sasuke attempted to pull back so he could see her face, but she stubbornly kept her hold on him. "I was so scared before. I didn't know why you were late and everything has been going so wrong that I feared you got caught up in the bad news too."

"I'm here," Sasuke reassured her, his arms tightening around her body. "I'm home."

Sasuke had no idea why, but at those particular words, Sakura's sobbing resumed and they seemed even worse than before.

Then she stilled in her arms, finally breaking away and looking towards the crater. He kept an hand on her upper back anyway, ready to support her if need be. Her eyes were wide and it took him a moment to stop staring at her to follow her gaze.

Because, of all odds, somehow, it was Naruto in the previously deserted crater. The knuckleheaded ninja that fell for Kakashi's obvious traps as a genin, was gullible enough to fall for Shisui's stupid tricks, and would probably resort to his perverted jutsu in a real battle was now standing proudly atop of a toad, atop of another large toad. He recognized them as Naruto's summon, but something was different about him. With his sharingan, he could see the difference in Naruto's chakra, even if he didn't understand it.

"He's been learning Sage mode," Sakura said in a low voice. "Jiraiya-san died while fighting Pain. There are multiple enemies, all of them connected through their rinnegans.

"Rinnegan?" Sasuke repeated and she nodded, never taking her eyes off their idiot best friend.

"Yeah," She confirmed. "I took one of them down. Though I'm not positive how many are left."

"It sounds like the idiot needs backup, then," Sasuke decided, standing up and watching as the Akatsuki member descended from the sky. His hand fell from her back and he faced the crater.

Sakura nodded and started to get up, but Sasuke placed two fingers onto the diamond on her forehead to stop her movements. He smiled when she looked positively shocked. She whispered his name as his fingers fell from their spot.

"Just because you have that mark," He started, his gaze softening as realization began to dawn on her. "Doesn't mean I'll let you take any hits for me. Naruto won't either. And if you go down there with me, that's exactly what you'll do."

Just then, a large toad landed before them, in his grasp the Hokage herself. He and Sakura helped get Tsunade's weak body back onto the ground, the former whispering something to her master.

"You take care of the village," Sasuke said once they had the Hokage propped up. "She doesn't have enough chakra to heal everyone left. You need to step in."

"Take Kastuyu," Sakura requested, holding a slug fragment out to him. "She'll make sure you don't die down there."

Sasuke smirked, taking the slug and placing it on his shoulder. "The dobe and I won't die easily."

Sakura's features fell for a moment, her eyes glazing over and they almost had a far-away look about them. But then, her eyes flickered back to him and she smiled. "No, you two won't."

Sakura watched both of her boys fight Pain this time and she ultimately decided that it was more worrying than when it was just Naruto. But she couldn't continue to worry about her boys- this is how ninja got stronger. And this is how they would in this life. She had to trust that. Sakura took a breath connected her chakra to Katsuyu, feeling the gentle thrum of chakra as it began to spread out to every person still alive.

"Sakura," Tsunade murmured, her frail hand barely managing to hold itself up. "Behind. . ."

Sakura felt the chakra presence a moment later, though it was too late. A single blade was held against her throat. She looked down at it and her eyes widened as she recognized it.

"Hey there, Pinky," The voice greeted her and for a moment, she didn't recognize it. But the toothy grin she saw in her peripheral vision matched the one she saw numerous times during the war. At least, in the beginning. She wasn't sure if he died or fled halfway through, but she knew this ninja in her old life- well, she knew a bit about him.

"The executioner blade," Sakura noted, carefully turning her head to see the boy a bit better. "You got it from Zabuza's grave."

"You do recognize it," He commended, nodding his head to the side. "The price I'm paying for this is you, Pinky. Boss' orders. Let's go."

"Your boss," Sakura started, closing her eyes for a moment before they trained themselves back on the battle in the crater. It was already going much differently than before. Sasuke's added power helped them defeat the Paths in a quicker fashion and if this kept up, Sakura wondered if Kurama would even make an appearance.

"Do you mean Orochimaru or has Obito taken over yet?"

Suigestu smirked. "They said you were smart. I got nothing against you, but you'll know soon enough."

Sakura didn't move, even when the blade's edge kissed her throat. She pointed a finger towards the battle and smiled. "See those two down there? They're my boys."

"Why do you think I'm taking advantage of this moment?" Suigestu asked, and Sakura looked down him. "With them occupied, it'll be less of a hassle getting to you. Though, I heard you're a real heartbreaker, Pinky. Or was it boulder breaker? Listen, I've heard you break things."

"I do tend to leave things shattered in my wake," Sakura agreed, and grinned at him. "I'm not interested in dealing with either Orochimaru or Obito today, Suigestu. I've got my boys and village to watch over."

Suigestu was taken aback and in that moment of shock, Sakura slammed a chakra covered hand into the middle of the blade, breaking it in half. Suigestu stood shocked for a moment, before his confusion turned into incredulity.

"You broke my blade!" He exclaimed, holding up the halved sword. "You- What? Pinky, how did you break my blade? Why would you break it? I just got ahold of it!"

"Collecting them or something?" Sakura guessed and watched the boy stare up at her wide eyed.

"You really are something," He breathed out, frowning as he looked at her. "This would have been so much easier if you just came with me easy."

Sakura raised an eyebrow, before Suigestu kneeled down and bit his thumb. A scroll was spread out onto the ground. "I'm telling you, Pinky. This would have been much better for you if you just came with me."

When he smeared his blood on the scroll and made a sign, Sakura felt a horrifying chakra signature appear before her. This was a signature Sakura learned to fear in her old life, though it didn't take much to convice her of that. She knew that the man underneath the monster was rather gentle and she actually got along with Juugo the few times she spoke to him during the war. But when he transformed, Sakura knew that only the sharingan could tame him.

Sakura didn't even have time to send a distress message through Katsuyu, yelping as she jumped up to miss the man's punch. She heard the shinobi within the area turn towards her, but she knew of this man's power when he was in this stage. And without any Uchiha by her side, she was in trouble.

"Stay back!" She yelled at the ninja who had started for her. "He's too powerful! Protect Tsunade-sama!"

When she landed, she barely had time to flip herself backwards and narrowly avoid another attack from Juugo.

"Sakura-chan!" Katsuyu said in concern, as she continued backtracking away from the crater. "Sasuke and Naruto are asking me what's happening up here."

"Tell them," Sakura started, before another yelp escaped her as Juugo charged at her. "Tell them to focus on their battle!"

Sakura didn't have time to avoid the second punch, instead meeting it with a enhanced punch of her own. The sheer force of the two colliding caused a crater to form around them, the wreckage being pushed to the side once more. But she heard a scream coming from the crater and saw Naruto get pinned down once again.

"Naruto," She whispered, her attention drawn away from her own enemy. And in that moment, Juugo took her distraction and yelled out a murderous threat before his arm mutated and its sharpened form drove itself through her abdomen. She gasped in pain, the searing in her body making the pain she flet when Sasori's poisoned blades pierced her feel like mere pricks.

"Sakura-chan!" Katsuyu shrieked in her ear and Sakura coughed up blood, the red droplets falling onto Juugo's arm. Her mark wasn't fully activated at this point, and if she didn't release it now, she wouldn't be able to fight for a few days. And for a moment, Sakura froze as she remembered the last time this happened- but when it had, she didn't have any reserves to fall back on. She wasn't even sure how Naruto and Sasuke saved her during the war when she became close to dying. But that's what this felt like- she felt like she was dying.

That's when Sakura felt it once again in this life- the Kyuubi's rage was gathering in the center of the crater. It shocked her back to this reality, where she knew she had reserves and that she wasn't dying. She had a battle to fight, just like Sasuke and Naruto. She didn't have time to look for her boys, to ensure that Sasuke was alive and well, not when Juugo was still fully intent on killing her. She just had to hope the Kyuubi's reappearance in this life wasn't caused by Sasuke sustaining a fatal blow.

"Sorry," Sakura whispered to the man turned beast, activating her seal and slicing through the mutated arm with a chakra covered hand. She pulled the arm from her abdomen and winced as the cells in her body began to regenerate. "I know you don't want to fight, Juugo."

"I'm going to kill you!" Juugo yelled, charging forward but then stumbled when the earth shook. Sakura looked towards the crater then, eyes wide as she saw Pain's jutsu once again. Rocks began to gravitate upwards, a red blur jumping from each levitating piece to another. But it happened much faster this time, she knew it hadn't been long since she was approached by Suigestu. The fight must have been turning out much differently, after all, and Pain was forced to use his jutsu to subdue Kurama.

"Sakura!" Sasuke yelled, appearing beside her, his hands already held out, as if he expected her to fall.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura shouted at him, her one hand coming up to cover his and the other pointing towards Naruto. "I'm not the one that needs you right now, Sasuke-kun! Naruto is-"

"Transforming into the Kyuubi," Sasuke finished. "I was told to beat it by both Naruto and the Kyuubi."

"What?" She asked.

"Naruto shut me out of his mind," Sasuke explained, eyeing their enemy as he readjusted to the additional person in the battle. "Katsuyu said you were being targeted. He went berserk after we found out you got injured. Said your chakra faltered for a moment."

"I'll kill you too!" Juugo screamed, charging at them again.

Sasuke took ahold of her arm and transported them above Juugo. She let her body fall forward, using Sasuke's braced forearms to kick off of and propel herself downwards. The moment of when she did almost the same thing with Gaara when he had partially transformed came to mind as her fist came down upon Juugo, who's other arm came up to defend himself against the blow. It didn't matter, the sheer force of it caused the earth beneath his feet to shatter and he lost his footing.

"Sasuke-kun, wait!" She held out, as he prepared a deadly blow once she had gotten out of the way. Or, at least a blow that could seriously damage Juugo. "Use your sharingan, like with Naruto! I can sense gentle chakra within him! Don't kill him!"

Sasuke hesitated in his stance, but she saw his sharingan blaze as he connected his stare with Juugo's crazed one.

"Stop," Sasuke ordered and Juugo stilled. The mutated portions of his body began to recede and soon enough, it was just the gentle man Sakura met during the war. The arm she had cut in half had no impact on the man's normal one, besides the fact that it was covered in blood. She sighed in relief.

"How did you. . ." Juugo paused, looking up at the pair with wide eyes. "How did you do that? No one besides Kimimaro could control my outbursts."

"The sharingan can control a multitude of rage-filled tendencies," Sasuke muttered, coming over to her and assessing her condition. He frowned at the gaping hole in her shirt, her stomach clearly seen through it. "I'm guessing this injury wasn't nothing, was it?"

His eyes flickered to her forehead, where the marks on her skin began to disappear. He lifted a hand but then seemed to think better of it and lowered it.

"It's nothing, now," She answered with a small smile, seeing everything in his eyes. She always could read him. "I'm okay, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke gave her a look and she thought he was going to say something but then someone coughed.

"Not that this isn't a cute moment and all," Suigestu interrupted, coming over and placing an elbow on Juugo's side and leaned against him. "But we'll be going now. I didn't sign up to fight an Uchiha."

"What makes you think you're going anywhere?" Sasuke asked sharply, glaring at the man and Suigestu held up a hand in defense.

"I'm just following orders," Suigestu told them, his gaze falling back to her. "You really do have an Uchiha by your side all the time. And if you don't, the Kyuubi kid is with you. Don't you get sick of them ever?"

"Never," Sakura answered firmly, her hand gripping Sasuke's arm as he stepped forward. "Tell me, Suigestu. Who's the boss this time?"

"How do you know my name, Pinky?" Suigestu asked instead and she smiled.

"Your brother was famous," She explained. "You look a lot like him. And your picture was recorded in a book of missing-nin after you disappeared from your home."

Suigestu scoffed, saying something under his breath but then grinned at her. "Tell you what, Pinky. I'll answer this question for you if you call off your boyfriend."

"Who's your boss?" Sakura replied immediately, even when Sasuke shook his head in disagreement.

"Obito sent us," Suigestu answered. "He says you're an interesting character and I gotta tell you, he's not wrong. Not many have gone against Juugo in that state and lived to tell the tale."

When they heard a loud roar come from the mock moon in the sky, Sasuke and Sakura looked at one another and then to the Kyuubi emerging from the sphere in the sky.

"And that's our cue," Suigestu announced, nudging Juugo until the man nodded and the two jumped away from the area. Sasuke and Sakura ran towards the crater, though by the time they got to the edge where Sakura originally was, the Kyuubi disappeared and in its place, stood an eerily calm and determined Naruto.

"What?" Sasuke questioned, staring up and his eyes widened a fraction. "That idiot managed to subdue the Kyuubi even at that late of a stage."

"He's the most unpredictable ninja for a reason," Sakura mused with a soft smile.

"He's an idiot for blocking me out of his mind in the first place."

"Yeah, but we love him anyway."