Sorry, I'm late. A lot of things happened in the last month, see end notes for details. Hope you like the chapter, it kind of wrote itself. I had other plans but here we are.
Chapter 101. Ghost of the Past.
Pale hair danced in the wind as Sakura travelled atop the snow-covered roofs. Her movements were graceful and she looked more like she was dancing than running. To Sasuke, it looked like she was taunting him. She turned to him and glided backwards forever out of reach.
"Let's play a game, Hunter and Missing Nin. If you catch all of us, we'll answer your questions!" she declared. Sasuke was confused until Sakura's form split into five, each scattering. He skidded to a halt looking around in confusion. She wanted to play games at a time like this?
His eyes glowed red and he tracked the movement of Sakura's clones. His eyes narrowed as he watched one of them. No, not a clone, it was too small, curious, he chased the closest one. The small form ran nimbly through the alley, keeping to the shadow like a trained shinobi.
Sasuke leapt from the roof and snatched the smaller form mid-jump. The form flinched in his hold and he returned to the roof with his prey.
It was a child, a little boy with a bowl cut and black eyes. Sasuke stared in confusion.
"Hello, My name is Hashirama," the child introduced himself. Sasuke's heart jolted into his throat at the introduction. The first Hokage!?
The Uchiha wasn't sure if he should bow or groan in frustration.
His annoyance won and he ran a hand down his face.
"Why?" he asked simply.
"We thought it would be fun!" Hashirama cheered. He looked away shyly. "We weren't able to have the kind of childhood you had so we wanted to try it once. I didn't think I would be the first one caught," the last part was a mutter from his pouting face.
Sasuke looked down at the child who fidgeted with his fingers, he was hard-pressed to believe this child was the first Hokage, the "god of shinobi."
"You wanted to play?" Sasuke asked more to himself.
"Mn," Hashirama nodded.
"The other forms I saw," Sasuke trailed off but Hashirama confirmed his suspicions.
"They are the other souls residing in Sakura's body. We thought it would be good for you to meet us."
Right, Sakura was possessed by the souls of the former Hokage, he almost forgot.
"Is it okay for you to be out here," Sasuke asked with a start.
"It's fine since we're in a smaller form and don't have much of our chakra. Right now we're like academy students."
"Your generation of Academy students or mine?" there was a distinction.
Hashirama paused, looking thoughtful. He frowned a look that was cute on his round face.
"We are much like Sakura was as a child?" he said more like a question.
Sasuke stared.
"How did I catch you?" he asked, in disbelief.
"I wanted to be caught," Hashirama said sheepishly. "And," the boy blushed. "You remind me of an old friend."
Was that a good or bad thing?
Sasuke found The First's words to be true, he allowed himself to be captured.
Sasuke chased the white-haired child who was almost faster than him. Whenever he swooped in for a grab the boy disappeared and appeared elsewhere. Sasuke returned to the rooftop watching the boy blink in and out of reality.
"Teleportation?"
"Tobirama's speciality," Hashirama said proudly from Sasuke's shoulder.
"Aren't you guys supposed to be weaker?" Sasuke complained.
"This is weaker," Hashirama pouted. "If Tobi were at full power, you wouldn't be able to track him at all."
"He's a sensory ninja right?" Sasuke asked more to himself as he pulled out a roll of ninja wires.
"Yes," Hashirama huffed. "Even if his range is limited in this form, he can still sense you approaching him."
"So he's like Sakura after all," Sasuke nodded. "Hang on tight."
"The Uchiah leapt into the air after the fleeing boy. He stopped when he saw him teleport.
"Thirty metres," Sasuke muttered, taking out his wire-laced shurikens. He placed Hashirama on the rooftop and leapt into the air again, out of reach of Tobirama's senses. With a flick of his wrist, shurikens rained from the sky.
Instantly, the ground was covered with shurikens and Tobirama was surrounded by wires. The boy paused in surprise but moved on instinct. Sasuke flicked his finger and wires closed in on him to trap him. Tobirama moved around the wire leaping and dodging, he performed a triple backflip and into Sasuke's waiting arms.
"What!?" Tobirama squeaked when arms wrapped around him. He looked up at Sasuke's smirking face and pout, or was that supposed to be a scowl?
"How!?" he cried.
"I channelled chakra into the wires," Sasuke explained. With Tobirama's senses, he couldn't differentiate between Sasuke's wire and Sasuke's body. The Uchiha smiled down at the Second Hokage, pleased with himself.
"Tobi got caught~" Hashirama cheered.
"You fool!"
Sasuke ignored the brother's argument as he tucked Tobirama under his arm and Hashirama climbed onto his shoulder. Choosing a direction he ran after the others.
Sasuke looked up at the red-haired girl with a fox tail as she turned her nose up at him. It wasn't that the humanoid beast was too far out of reach but rather the form the fox took that baffled Sasuke.
"Wasn't Kurama a male fox?"
"It's not like they can reproduce since they are just sentient chakra," Tobirama muttered. The sharp ears of the fox twitched and they glared at the Senju. A wicked smile replaced the pout and Sasuke thought they looked a lot like Sakura.
"You too are nothing but a mass of chakra," Kurama rebuffed.
"It's fine, I didn't want any more kids anyway," Tobirama huffed. The two glared at each other and Sasuke felt a lot older.
"Kurama-san," Sasuke tried, it felt weird to say. "Do you want to come down or…?"
The fox looked at him and then pouted.
"I don't want to be captured by another Uchiha," they said, leaping down and sitting on Sasuke's head. "As nice as the moon is tonight, I've had my fill."
Sasuke reached up and patted the beast's head without thinking.
"You look so cute, Kurama-chan!" Hashirama cheered, climbing Sasuke's shoulder to reach the Kitsune. They huffed, turning away from the Senju causing the First no end of grief.
"Hang on," Sasuke warned before leaping in the direction of another ghost.
"Yellow flash," the fastest man alive, faster than the Raikage; the Fourth Hokage. Sasuke glared at the yellow lightning as it disappeared in the distance.
"It's hopeless," Kurama told him. "Minato is faster than Tobirama and arguably more skilled."
"I will admit he is talented, but isn't it a bit much to say he's more skilled," Tobirama was incensed.
"I don't know Tobi," Hashirama watched Minato in awe. "He only has a fraction of his power and he's already had to track."
Sasuke sighed, he would need to outsmart this one as well.
"Stay here," he said sternly, unintentionally imitating his brother. "I'll be right back." With that he left the childsize Kages and beast on the rooftop and chased Minato.
"He'll never catch Minato," Kurama announced.
"I think we should have a wager!" Hashirama said enthusiastically.
"Gambling?" Tobirama frowned at his brother. "Really Anaki?"
"It will be fun!"
"I refuse to stoop to your level!" Tobirama announced.
"My money is on, Minato," Kurama offered.
"I say the young Uchiha catches him!" Hashirama cheered.
"Are you still doing it!?" Tobirama was incensed.
"He might not look like much, but he's Madara's descendant, I don't doubt for a second he has potential!"
"You're fanboying over that bastard again!"
"Let's watch," Hashirama said, ignoring his brother's rant.
Minato was having fun. It's been a while since he played a harmless game of Hunter and Missing Nin. He grew up in war and never experienced a civilian childhood. The times he spent with Kushina were the best of his childhood.
Jingle
Minato paused at the sound of bells, they sounded almost like the bell he used in the Genin test. He looked around for the Young Uchiha, he was around Obito's age but from Sakura's memories, Minato knew not to underestimate him.
Caw!
Minato flinched at the sound and locked eyes with the blackbird as it took flight. His eyes narrowed.
"What is a crow doing in this country?" he muttered. He stilled. He looked around him and realized with a start there was no one on the streets. The village was quiet, a ghost town.
"Genjutsu!" he realized with a start, but it was too late.
A bell chimed and his body slammed into the ground under an invisible weight. He struggled to bite his thumb releasing the illusion. As the illusion faded, he saw the seal holding him down.
"Gravity seal?" he muttered as he analysed it. He looked around for the weakness of the seal, already familiar with it.
Four thunks sounded around him and a four-corner barrier anchored by four kunai. Minato chuckled nervously. His blue eyes locked on the approaching boy and his heart beat faster. This was fun!
He tried to teleport to a distant seal but was reminded of the barrier around him.
"Don't bother," Sasuke warned. "I made that seal to hold Sakura and she's stronger than you."
"I wasn't aware you were so well-versed in seals," Sakura's memories had nothing like this.
Sasuke released a humourless laugh.
"Of course she didn't notice," He muttered, approaching the down Hokage. Sasuke's arm glowed with a seal as he reached through the barrier and pat Minato on the head.
"Got you," he said.
Minato chuckled. "You got me~"
"He got him!" Hashirama cheered. Kurama sighed in disappointment and Tobirama looked annoyed.
"I should have known better than to bet against a Uchiha," Kurama growled.
"I had nothing but faith in you," Hashirama declared, running up to Sasuke and hugging his leg. Minato looked bashful as he sat on Sasuke's arm.
"I got caught," he said, aware of Tobirama's scowl.
"I can see that," Tobirama huffed. "It seems Sakura's knowledge of you is incomplete. For someone with the title of her lover, you two keep a lot of secrets from each other."
Sasuke flinched. "Can you not look through her memories so casually," he said, his face red. "It's not fair to Sakura if you invade her mind like that, she doesn't like it when people go into her head."
"I bet she doesn't, with the things in here," Tobirama grumbled. His eyes lit up then. "Do you want to know her greatest secret? The thing she hides from you with all her might?"
Sasuke's breath hitched. A secret that she would never tell him? He was tempted. He knew she kept things from him but he never thought there was something she could never tell him. He was tempted. This would be the only time he could get answers.
Thwack!
Hashirama knocked his brother over the head.
"Don't you dare! Even if you're upset you can't do something like that out of spite!" Hashirama scolded.
"He's right," Kurama agreed. "If you voiced any of the things we've seen, Sakura's psyche might just crumble."
"Crumble?" Sasuke jerked.
Kurama looked at the young Uchiha.
"Except for one thing, which you might very well lose your mind over, Sakura isn't hiding anything worth of note from you. Well, two things, but I digress."
"Don't worry," Minato said, reassuringly. "Sakura means well, she just takes on more than she should, but it's understandable since it's a burden she's chosen to bear."
Sasuke clenched his fist. "We're supposed to be a team," he muttered. "She's always saying to rely on others and stick together while she runs off on her own."
"To be fair," Hashirma offered. "I don't think she's conscious of the fact she's doing that."
Sasuke blinked in confusion.
The sun was rising when he found "Sakura."
She stood atop the tree of her own making looking out at the village, with blank eyes. Her hair was black as were her eyes, she looked like his cousins. An Uchiha. He swallowed his nerves and approached her slowly, making his presence known with heavy footsteps. The children were silent around him as he walked up to her.
"Sakura?" He tried.
Dark eyes blinked and turned to regard him. She blinked again and those black eyes faded into pale gems.
"Sasuke-Kun~," she said calmly. "I see you found all the others." she turned to him and leaned against the wooden branches. "As I promised, I'll answer your questions."
"Are you really "Sakura?" He asked.
Sakura blinked in surprise before chuckling. It was sweet and cute the way she always laughed but turned into a dark chuckle.
"In every way that matters, I am Sakura," she muttered. "What makes someone who they are?" she asked, walking towards Sasuke. "Is it their body," her hand glided over her chest, "or is it their face?" she placed a palm to her pale cheeks. She stopped before him and then looked up at him in amusement. "Perhaps you think it's the bond they created," he trembled as she placed a cold palm on his chest. "Tell me Sasuke," she whispered in his ear. "Who is "Sakura" to you?"
Images flashed before his eyes. The girl he met at a festival, the girl that fought her class of Kunoichi, the girl that gave him a necklace, the girl that stood up to the masked man. Memories danced around in his mind, how much of it was real? How much of it was her pretending? Did she change? Did he really even know her? Who was Sakura?
"I'll protect you!"
Right, for him Sakura was… he raised a hand and reached for her. She had stepped away when he was drowning in thought and looked excited as he responded after a while.
"Well, have you figured it out?"
Tap.
He poked her forehead the way his brother did to him his entire life. She froze, staring at him in disbelief.
"You're annoying," he declared. Right, for him, Sakura was a pain in the ass. An annoyance he would give his life for. His family.
Her eyes widened with a clarity he'd never seen. She covered her forehead, and a blush coloured her pale face. Blue seals flashed on Sakura's body, rearranging before settling and fading like a dream.
The wind picked up, dancing through her hair, carrying the smell of spring. Sasuke's eyes widened as black hair faded into pink, and pale eyes became green and glossy with tears.
"Sasuke Kun," she said, her voice as he remembered. "You're so mean."
He rushed to her, pulling her into a tight embrace. He was never letting go of her again.
"Welcome home," he greeted her.
"I'm home," she whispered.
So I got evicted. I was on vacation when I heard the news. It has been a busy month, so I could update, sorry~
We're fine now, nice new place but I gonna have to find a way to make money. Don't mind my plugging my Kofi from time to time. On the bright side, I'll make art for the fanfic.
Next Chapter
May 15
Promise~