Chapter 67. Unspoken.

"That wasn't Sakura."

Kakashi and Sasuke looked up from their kunai sharpening at Naruto who walked into the room. He was unconscious for a while after Sakura forced him to eat chakra and only now woke up.

"What are you on about idiots?" Sasuke asked, looking back at his work. "We saw it ourselves, it's Sakura, she wasn't lying." No one could fool the sharingan.

"Maybe they think they're Sakura but they're not!" Naruto yelled. "She didn't smell like Sakura at all!"

"Smell?" Kakashi asked. "Did she smell different?" he muttered to himself.

"Sakura is sweet and soft, but that time, she smelt like a burnt forest!" Naruto explained. The smell of ash lingered on Sakura that time in the land of the waves as well, since she burnt down the greenlands he thought it was from that but now he was certain. That smell came from the man the fox talked about.

Tired after fighting she got possessed by that man, she was just like him!

"What difference does it make?" Sasuke said softly. "What are you going to do if she really is possessed by something?"

"Get it out of her!" Naruto replied.

"And then what?"

Naruto was silent.

"You might not remember but Sakura was sick after that night. She couldn't do certain things and she was always out of chakra. Sometimes she would stare off into space and even talk to herself as if mad!" Sasuke stood in rage at the memory. "You don't know what it feels like to watch helplessly as your best friend gets weaker and weaker! No matter how strong she acts there's no way you wouldn't notice. When we came from the land of waves she was better. She had more energy and was lively again. So what if she was more ruthless? She was better." Tears welled in his eyes.

He wasn't stupid he knew Sakura changed but it was for the better! Who cared if she hurt others so long as she didnt get hurt. He just wanted her to be safe. That's all he wanted. Memories of that night, of her being impaled. It haunted his nightmares.

'Never again!'

"So you're just going to turn away?" Naruto growled. "Sakura is possessed by who knows what and you're just going to ignore it!?" he clenched his fist and glared at Sasuke. "What happens if that thing does more than take over her body huh!? Do you even care about her?"

Thud!

Naruto fell to the ground from the force of Sasuke's fist.

"Shut up, you clueless bastard," Sasuke growled. "Sakura treats you the same no matter what, yet you dare to open your mouth? Don't make me kill you."

"That's enough, you two, there is no need to fight," Kakashi intervened. "If you two have a problem isn't it fine to just talk to Sakura about it. She's reasonable so if you ask I'm sure she'll tell you." The two boys glared at Kakashi as though he were mad.

"Tell us?" Sasuke growled.

"When has Sakura told us anything!" Naruto yelled. "She's more secretive than you Kaka-sensei!"

"I'm not secretive!" he denied.

"Say the guy that always wears a mask," Sasuke muttered.

"He's had that on since he was a child."

"Shizune?" Kakashi exclaimed as she stepped into the room.

"I didn't mean to interrupt but I had to ask," She said as she stepped into the room. "That Sakura girl, won't you tell me her story?"

Sakura's story…

"It's the same as most," Kakashi said. "She lived like a normal shinobi's child until she witnessed something dramatic and vowed to become stronger. She got stronger and now nightmares from the past are coming after her. That's all."

Naruto and Sasuke stared at him in disbelief.

"Did you just summarize my life as though it were a plot in a novel?" Sasuke growled.

"Are you so mysterious that you make our past more mysterious than it needs to be?" Naruto whined. "You're not wrong but still…"

"So that woman. Do you have a history with her?" Shizune asked.

The room became cold. Red eyes glared at her filling the room with killing intent.

Shizune flinched back at the animosity. Was mentioning that woman a taboo?

"I think that's enough for the night," Kakashi stated, easing the tension. "You boys head back to your room for tonight."

Red eyes focused on him before fading to black and blue. The two silently walked out of the room ignoring Shizune as they went.

"Don't mind those two," Kakashi said with a smile. "Come, have a drink with me."

Drip drip.

I woke to the sound of water dripping. It was a distant sound like the ticking of a clock.

"Are you awake?"

I looked over at the man beside me. He laid on his side like the reclining buddha; not a care in the world.

"Do you ever sleep?" I asked.

"My dreams are nothing but nightmares, so no I don't sleep," he said honestly.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"No."

I reached over and patted his head. His hair was rough, wild, and untamed. I was nothing like my own soft hair that didn't have a single tangle.

"You really need to brush your hair," I said aloud.

"I fail to see what difference it will make," he countered. "Perhaps if I ever resurrect and live long enough to see the sun. Should that happen i'll gladly let you brush my hair."

I sighed. Everything was messed up, I couldn't tell what was going to happen anymore. The Uchiha clan being massacred by someone other than Itachi. There are two Uchiha in the leaf now. And the Uzumaki clan raised up to join the Akatsuki. There was so much that didn't make sense.

"Are you scared?"

I glared at him. What kind of question was that?

"Of course I am!" I yelled, annoyed. "The only reason I survived this long is because I knew everything. If someone is going around changing things, what am I supposed to do?" My eyes stung but I wouldn't cry. Things were already messed up, all I could do was go with the flow armed with only the skills and knowledge I acquired in this world.

"Are you not curious as to why all this is happening?" Madara asked. "Why is it that the world you know changed?"

"The Uchiha incident," I answered. "Itachi wasn't going to do it so the Universe tried to right itself and now it's like this."

"The universe huh? I'd say it's the doing of the Sage."

"The Sage?"

"Why not, when he realized you were changing the script he changed everything, it's more plausible than a cosmic force."

"Then what about the child of prophecy?"

"The child of prophecy is from one bloodline, it's hardly fair."

I had an odd thought then.

"Don't I also have blond hair and blue eyes?"

The room was silent. We both looked up at the woman from my past. For some reason, she was lying on the ceiling as though gravity was reversed for her. The chains around her also made no sense. Her beautiful blue eyes were hiding behind a black cloth with the kanji "seal" written on its surface. It wasn't my doing; at least not consciously. Perhaps it was like the corpse of Izuna that was always in Madara's room. I frowned and looked away from the doll like a woman from my past. I wasn't her, and she wasn't me. I'm not a pitiful child with nothing but a desperate desire to be loved.

I was engulfed in a bear hug. Warm overwhelmed me like I was in an oven. It smelt like smoke and ash, yet I stayed in that overwhelming embrace, even as black locks tickled my skin.

"Dear dear," he said flatly. His inexperience was laughable. "Don't cry, you look hideous when you cry."

I snorted. I looked pitiful when I cried and I told him as much.

"You've never seen your face past the ugly tears. You are hideous when you cry."

Hmph.

I pouted at his insult.

"Are you trying to comfort me or make me angry?"

"Definitely make you angry, I wouldn't be caught dead doing something to comfort someone."

"You're the worst."

"If so, who's the best?"

"Just die."

"I'm already dead and awaiting resurrection," he said, resting his chin atop my head. "Speaking of which. What are you going to do against me when I resurrect?"

"If you resurrect."

"I'm the final boss, remember?"

"Technically Kaguya is the final boss, not you, you're just a puppet for black Zetsu-"

I gasped as the hold tightened into a strangle.

Tap tap tap! I tapped as I could no longer breathe.

"Just die."

"I'm sorry," I manage to wheeze out.

He released me to a coughing fit.

"What are we going to do about that Zetsu bastard?" he asked, killing intent leaking from him. "I don't very much like being made a fool of. That thing needs to die."

I gulped as those red eyes locked onto me, even though I wasn't his target. Zetsu forgot about being sealed. Fool, you're dead.

"He should be in the Akatsuki now. We can track him down if you want, but I'm not sure we can beat him."

"He's only a parasite that can't do anything on his own, we can get rid of him quite easily," Madara said a cruel smile adorning his face. And because surely no one but Obito knows of his importance, there won't be a fuss over his death. Yes, this is fine."

He's gone mad.

"Let's go," he said, grabbing my collar and dragging me behind him. "We need to come up with a plan to defeat the enemies in our way. We can't keep running head first and hoping for the best! You need training!"

"What!"

He's really lost his mind.

"So that's what happened," Shizune said sadly as Kakashi finished retailing the Uchiha Incident. "To think children so young had to go through that."

"Those brats are trouble magnets," Kakashi said thinking back to all the incidents. It was frightening how long the list was.

"That explains the scar at least," Shizune muttered.

"Hm?"

"When Lady Tsunade was treating her, we saw the scar. At first, we thought it was an attack from the front but it was also in the back so…"

"Oh yeah, that thing. She usually covers up so it's easy to forget it's there."

"How is she even alive!?" Shizune exclaimed. "A wound like that, and to a child no less. She shouldn't be alive!"

"Well, Konoha still has medicine as brilliant as Tsunade."

"A surgery of that magnitude must have taken hours."

"Ten actually," Kakashi clarified. "They worked in shifts and a constant flow of chakra pills." The memory of the hospital being in chaos was still fresh in his mind.

"Is that why she decided to become a medical ninja?" she asked. It would make sense given her past.

"Ah no," Kakashi rubbed his nap sheepishly. "She was already studying Medical ninjutsu before that. The earliest report was at the Hyuga mansion, so around three?"

"Three!?" she stood up in surprise. Even Tsunade, granddaughter of the first Hokage didn't learn medical ninjutsu until she was in her teens. "Are her parents medical ninja?" That was the only way this could make sense. If her parents were both medical-nin then.
"Nope, they're both front liners with a history of slaughter." Kakashi gave a nervous chuckle. It was always like this when he talked about Sakura to anyone. They reacted one of two ways; disbelief. 'No way Kakashi have you been drinking?' or outrage.

"What the hell have you been doing to that child!?" Shizune was the former.

"I didn't even know she existed then…" he pouted. Why was he being blamed for something he has no control over?

"We're in a time of peace, why are you treating them as though they're soldiers!?"

"This isn't my doing."

"Please tell me they are at least getting proper therapy," she said. "Even we got counseling to some extent during the war.

His silence was deafening.

"KAKASHI!"

"It's not that I don't send them, it's just that the counselors are having a hard time," he confessed. "Sasuke doesn't talk and Naruto talks about everything except his problems."

"And Sakura?" She raised a brow when he didn't mention her. He sighed.

"The counselors all come out with pale faces and a strong urge to quit their jobs. Ibiki and Inoichi refuse to even go near her. Since it's a confidential job I couldn't get anything out of them. But what I did get, made no sense as per usual." He gave up trying to understand the inner workings of Sakura's mind.

"What did they say?"

"'She sounds like an old man that's seen war and death their whole life.'" is what they said." he told her. Ibiki seemed disturbed whenever he was around her. It only got worse as she got older. Inoichi said she was traumatized by the incident and that was why she was acting differently but won't go into details.

It was time like this that Kakashi was happy he didn't have kids. Though it sometimes didn't feel like it since he all but raised Sakura.

"Are you sure she's not a changeling?" Shizune asked after some thought.

"That chapter has already passed!" He exclaimed. "Inoichi can vogue for her, so don't mention that again.

'What happened to get him so frustrated?' she wondered. 'How much didn't you tell me Kakashi?'

She sat down with a sigh.

"It seems you had a hard time huh Kakashi," she pitied him. He lost his entire team and then was expected to lead a team of his own, and one so close in resemblance to his own. An Uchiha, a medical-nin, and an orphan. She reached over and patted his hand, the shock of the kids' upbringing wearing off.

"Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing a good job, if there's more I could do to ease the pain," he muttered, the alcohol getting to him. "What if they end up like me."

Shizune stayed silent.

"I don't want them to become like me…"

His mutters hung in the night air as a Springfly futtered it wings nearby. In the distance Swarms of springfly patrolled the area forming a shield around the inn.

Next chapter

September 27

Okay, now we return to action scene. No more emotional stuff.