Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

This occurs after the Fourth Shinobi War, during the blank period.

The newly reunited Team 7 moved around the area cautiously. This was Madara Uchiha's previous hideout, where Obito had previously stayed and trained after the Uchiha patriarch found him half-crushed under a boulder. It had the corpses of unfinished white Zetsus hanging limply everywhere. "Man, this place is giving me the creeps," Naruto said as he shuddered sarcastically. "Shut up Naruto. This isn't the time to play games," Sakura chastised as she stared at one particular Zetsu. It looked almost like a real human face which she couldn't put a name to, unlike the other Zetsus who had the humanoid faces devoid of emotion.

"I'm not playing games, just tryin' to lighten up the mood, dattebayo. This place reeks of death," the blonde replied as he moved to the weapons rack. They had been assigned by the Rokudaime Hokage aka Kakashi-sensei to investigate the area as the ANBU had identified unsual chakra around it. Kakashi had decided to send Naruto and Sasuke because of their sensory abilities and visual prowess respectively. He also sent Sakura because of her big brains and immunity to genjutsu. Plus it was also an excuse to get the team to go on a mission together, Sakura had already guessed.

The Fourth Shinobi War had ended two years ago. Discovering something which would lead to the eventual start of another war was not on their bucket list thus they needed to find whatever was lurking at the Uchiha's hideout. "Come over here. I've got something to show you," the last Uchiha said, breaking Sakura out of her train of thought. She walked over to where he was and found him standing at the edge of a crater with a half kilometer diameter. They were soon joined by Naruto and the trio jumped down to the center of the crater. It was at least a hundred meters deep.

At the centre of the hole, there was a small plant, like a recently emerged tree. It had a developing purple fruit at the center of the bud, which was partially covered by the sepals. Sasuke had his Sharingan activated, studying the plant. "This thing looks somewhat familiar," Naruto said as he eyed the plant. Sakura stared at the plant hard, feeling herself suddenly drawn to it.

"Sakura."

"Sakura Haruno, we need you."

It seemed to call her. Slowly, she crouched down and reached out to touch the small bud. Naruto had been getting a pad to sketch the plant whereas Sasuke was still studying the plant. It vaguely reminded him of... His eyes widened. "Sakura, don't touch that!" Sasuke exclaimed at the last second she had already touched the plant. A blinding light engulfed them.

She felt pressed from all sides. She could barely breath as her lungs screamed for air. Her head was swirling and nausea hit her like a wave. Her insides were swimming. She tried to pry her eyes open but they didn't seem to move. She felt herself falling yet she could feel solid ground beneath her. After what seemed like an eternity of a near death experience, she was able to open her eyes. She slowly sat up and her body screamed in pain, reminding her of the terrible condition her bones were in. She felt like she could collapse that very moment.

She looked to the side to see Naruto and Sasuke sprawled a few meters away from her. Ignoring the blinding pain, she crawled over to her unconscious teammates. There were no physical wounds on them but they also seemed to be in pain judging from the twisted expressions they wore. Deciding against activating her Byakugo seal, she began to heal both of them at once. After a few minutes, they stirred. Naruto groaned as he woke up while Sasuke blinked once before regaining full consciousness. "Are you okay?" she asked as she brought her glowing hands to her temples. "I'm fine," her blonde teammate replied as he rubbed his eyes. "Hn," Sasuke replied.

The pain in her head began to subside as she began healing her body. "What happened?" Sakura asked once she was sure neither of them was in any pain. "I don't know. All I remember is Sasuke saying something everything went black," the junchuriki replied as he rubbed his jaw. The trio was now sitting on the ground in a traditional Japanese style. "That plant was the Divine Tree," Sasuke said in a serious voice. "The Divine Tree? The one which produces chakra fruit?" Sakura asked, vividly remembering how her two boys explained to her about the chakra tree. "Isn't it the one that granted Kaguya Otsutsuki chakra?" she asked with an edgy tone. The Uchiha nodded his confirmation. "This is annoying, dattebayo. I thought we had gotten rid of that thing," the jinchuriki said flatly.

"We did get rid of it. The question is how did it come back," the raven haired boy said skeptically. The blonde hummed in agreement. Sakura looked around the cave before a head-splitting migraine started. "Argh!" she cried out as she clutched her head. "Sakura-chan!" the blonde exclaimed as he moved over to her. She continued to grunt as the pain intensified. Her brain was rushing at a thousand miles a second. She was hearing screams of agony and sounds of battle.

"Kaa-chan!!!"

"Everyone run!"

"...has Mokuton..."

"We'll destroy the Haruno...now."

"The Senju and the Uchiha clans..."

"Harumi!"

At once, the pain stopped and she was left wondering what had caused it. She was breathing heavily, overwhelmed by the voices and the intensity of the voices. She felt as though she had experienced the lifetime of someone. A nagging feeling had settled within her, as though she had something she had to do urgently. It usually happened when she was running late for her hospital shift. What if someone died whilst she was walking? What about the pain they were feeling? How would Lady Tsunade when she found out that a patient had died on her? The feeling always left her restless.

"Sakura-chan, are you okay?" her blonde teammate asked concernedly. Even Sasuke was looking at her with a solemn expression. "I'm fine, probably some after effects of the jutsu performed on us," she replied with a wave of her hand. "Are you sure?" Sasuke asked. "We can't have you lagging behind," the Uchiha added in his usual voice. Knowing that he probably meant no harm, she gave him a reassuring smile.

The trio were standing outside the cave. They were no longer at Madara's hideout, though the place looked strangely similar. "Where in the world are we?" Naruto asked as he looked at the vast forest beyond them. Last time he checked, they were supposed to be somewhere far away from the Land of Fire. "If I'm not mistaken, shouldn't we be around the Land of Lightning?" he asked. Sakura nodded. Activating Sage mode, he closed his eyes and spread out his senses. His lips pulled down into a frown. "What's wrong?" Sakura asked.

"This place, it feels different," he said somewhat unsurely as he opened his eyes. "Different how?" the pinkette asked. "It's the same place but it feels different," he said, trying to put it into words. "Like a genjutsu?" she asked as she placed a hand on her hip. The place looked like the Land of Fire but weren't they supposed to be in the Land of Lightning? Plus it felt different from how she was used to but still the same. "I don't know," he sighed as he deactivated Sage mode. Sakura formed her fingers into the release sign. "Kai," she said as she tried to disrupt the chakra. But there was no chakra whatsoever. It still felt ordinary. She tried again with no change. "It's not a genjutsu," Sasuke spoke the first time since they had stepped outside.

"It's not?" Naruto asked quizzically. "I just said so dobe," he replied annoyedly. Naruto laughed sheepishly as he scratched his head. "Yeah. Sakura-chan is immune to genjutsu so she must've known before your Sharingan did, dattebayo," the blonde said in a rather mean way. "If it's not a genjutsu what is it?" Sakura though out loud. "I don't know. Let's find the nearest town and see what to do next," Sasuke said as he adjusted his cloak. They all nodded in return.

"I still can't believe that you only have one arm, that's freaky," Naruto said as they began descending down the cave, his arms clasped behind his head casually. A brow ticked in annoyance. "And I can't believe you have some dead guy's cells in your arm," the Uchiha snapped. "What'd you just say teme?!" the jinchuriki replied, looking just as about ready to pick a fight. " And I can't believe that you guys are still arguing like kids, shannaro. I swear I'm gonna punch you all the way to the warring states period," the green-eyed girl warned menacingly as she waved her gloved fist for emphasis. Sasuke 'hn'ed' while Naruto apologized hurriedly.

If only she knew how her statement was about to become true.

Done with chapter one. Hope you enjoy it. Read and review.

Tozoonana

AfricanFire