Chapter 90 God tree.

Pink petals fluttered to the snow-covered ground as a cold wind passed through the cherry blossom tree. Towering over the Three-Wolf Mountain, this tree was majestic and out of place in this snowy wasteland the samurai called home. The people beneath its branches looked up in awe, caught in a trance broken by an outraged roar.

"What is that doing here?" Miroku's voice trembled as she gazed at the tree. Moryo was seeping malice as he glared at the tree. He knew full well what it was. Its appearance was just like the tree that ended his previous world and caused him to flee. The tree whose fruit the
Oni seeked.

"What is a god tree doing here?" he growled. Ina was surprised to hear it was a god tree; she thought Hashirama was making a giant tree, like the ones in the leaf village. She reached her senses towards it and felt a pulse of power. It could still be Hashirama, but she wouldn't argue with those with first-hand experience.

"Well, a seed was planted on this planet before," Ina said with a smile that hid her unease. She hadn't prepared for this variable. Who prepares for the final boss at the beginning of a story? She planned to prepare everyone for what was to come and get the lands working together. Not awaken an ancient god that sleeps on the moon.

"Don't play coy with me. You said the tree became the Tailed Beasts!" Moryo yelled.

"And it was," Ina said, her anxiety carefully hidden. "This is not a traditional god tree." it couldn't be.

"She's right," Miroku chimed in. "This tree feels different from the ones the Oni seek." the priestess's eyes glowed as she looked into the future. She was what Shion could have been; Miroku had complete control over her powers of foresight. She was, honestly, overpowered. She gasped and stumbled back into Moryo's arms.

"Miroku!" he cried, alarmed.

'That can't be good,' Ina thought.

Miroku grabbed Moryo's sleeve, her form trembling.

"That isn't a god tree, not the ones we know," she whispered, her voice shaking. "It won't bear a chakra fruit. It's." she paused, searching for the right words. "It will give birth to an Oni that will kill us all." She looked up at Moryo with trembling eyes. "We have to destroy it, before that Oni regains it's true power!"

"I'll burn it to the ground!" Moryo declared.

"Wait!" Ina called, stopping the massacre before it began.

"You said an Oni will come from it, right?" she confirmed. She knelt before the frightened priestess and smiled reassuringly. "Why don't you tell me more about what you saw?"

Sasuke landed his summon on a branch of the cherry blossom tree. Jumping down from their feathery back, he looked around the crown in awe. It was a sea of pink, and it was breathtaking. He brushed against a few petals as he walked along the giant branch. Sakura had to be in the center, was his thought process. He made plans to go deeper until he felt a trickle run down his arm. Confused, he looked at his arm and was surprised to see blood. He looked back to the petals he brushed to find his blood.

He reached for a petal experimentally and hissed as the edge cut him like a razor. The tree rustled without wind, and Sasuke paled. These weren't petals! The pink petals were Sakura's summons.

He would be ripped to shreds if he tried to force his way past them. He frowned at the sea of pink, no longer awed by the display but terrified. Sakura's power was always beautiful and deadly. Just as he was rethinking his plan, a calm, soothing chakra flowed over him. He flinched as his cuts healed without a trace. He looked up towards the tree, surprised. Had Sakura healed him? He frowned. Even in this state, she was still protecting him.

He stepped towards the mass of pink. If Sakura was still aware of him, he could reach her. He had strengthened his resolve when an explosion rained from above.

Booom!

Sasuke fell to the bark, and his summon covered him protectively. The tree shook, but as the smoke cleared, any damage healed. The petals fell off and flew into the sky, attacking the boomer. A blonde boy atop a white clay bird tried to dodge, flying out of reach, but the springflys were persistent. They surrounded him, trapping him in a ball of pink. The boy screamed as the springflys attacked him.

Boom!

The pink ball exploded, and the blond boy fell from the smoke, his mount nothing but shredded clay. He tsked and summoned another. He threw smaller clays at the springflys, and they exploded again.

"His clays exploded?" Sasuke observed. It was an impressive ability, but the Uchiha knew it was no match for Sakura's summons. They tanked a lighting dragon; explosions wouldn't harm them.

As expected, the summons flew from the smoke, not at all discouraged, and Sasuke could see why. The tree was supplying them with chakra, as Sakura did before. The summons became more aggressive, forming into swords and raining down on the blond.

Sasuke watched as he fell from the sky and to the battlefield below. Someone caught him, but he was covered in wounds. He must possess a healing stone Haku used if he survived that attack.

Satisfied, the summons returned to the tree and pretended to be petals. The tree rustled before stilling. Sasuke looked down at the Uzumaki that gathered beneath the tree. They didn't look passive.

"Sakura!" he cried out before the tree shook again. Golden chains wrapped around the trunk and pulled it to one side. Sasuke wasn't sure why they were doing this, but he needed to get Sakura out of there. He glared at the sea of pink and ran into the sharp branches.

Kakashi leaped away from his father, cartwheeling out of the way of his attacks. Sakumo Hatake was known and feared for his skills with a blade. He taught Kakashi everything he knew about the sword, and Kakashi practiced religiously. However, after becoming a jonin, Kakashi didn't use kenjutsu, instead relying on his Chidori.

The white fang looked at his reluctant son and smiled sadly.

"You really look like your mother," he commented.

Kakashi flinched. His mother was a taboo topic. Growing up, Kakashi learned not to ask about her, as it brought his father pain. But it seems death has made him loose-lipped. Kakashi winced as he leaned on his injured leg. He was out of breath, having to run from death's blade.

"She was highly sought after, that Kunoichi," Sakumo sighed. "Even I fancied her, but I knew I had no chance; so I didn't approach her," he shrugged. "Perhaps that's why she became interested in me. He pursued me until I gave in." he chuckled, and Kakashi saw his loving father. He hesitated. Memories from when he was a child flowed back, and his vision blurred.

"A shinobi never shows his emotion," Sakumo chastised him. The older Hatake dashed towards his son, who had let his guard down. Even as he regretted it, Sakumo couldn't stop the attack.

His blade swung down, and he saw his wife again. He gritted his teeth, begging Kakashi to dodge, but the boy didn't move.

"Cha!"

The cry rang through Sakumo's ears before his face crashed into the ground. The pain was a phantom, but it still hurt to have his head bashed open. He looked at his attacker as she landed next to Kakashi. A young girl with flowing black hair and vibrant green eyes. A puppet, he realized. He had killed enough to notice at a glance.

"What's with you?" she spoke, her voice elegant and soft. "If you're going to hug, do it already."

Kakashi chuckled with familiarity as the girl touched him with a healing palm. Kakashi's wound healed as Sakumo's did. The two Hatakes stood resolute.

"Thanks for the save," Kakashi told her. He recognized right away it was Sakura, or at least a clone. She nodded, her face blank, before looking over at Sakumo. She rolled up her sleeve, revealing her sealed-covered arm.

"Say everything you need to say," she advised, taking a scroll into her hand. "This will be your only chance." Kakashi nodded in understanding. It was sad, but he was glad for the small mercy.

"Dad," he began. It's been so long the word felt odd on his tongue. "Thank you for everything." Sakumo gasped. Kakashi dashed towards him, and their blades clashed. The air charged with their similar chakra.

Sakura opened the scroll, and Kanjis leaped from it, forming a dome around the two men.

Sakumo's eyes widen as Kakashi lifts his headband to reveal a Sharingan in his left eye.

"Dream of the moon goddess," Sakura announced, and the jutsu activated, trapping both men in an illusion.

The two Hatake's stilled and stared at each other before closing their eyes slowly. They went limp but remained standing, sleepwalking. The only way to defeat a reanimated corpse was to have it accept its death and pass on. At least, that's what she knew from the original story. Sakura wasn't sure what was happening anymore.

Suddenly, there was a surge of chakra. It was so strong Sakura fell to one knee. The pressure alone was breathtaking, and she didn't need to breathe. She winced as she looked at the source. Sakura's chakra was going wild, mudding with other chakras, the nine-tailed fox overshadowing everyone. It seems the plan worked.

The surge subsided as Madara's chakra roared to life. She smiled.

As expected of her partner.

Sakura didn't expect the other chakras to help stabilize the Fox's roaring chakra. She watched with anxiety as the chakra subsided and the pressure left her body.

"It's over," she thought with a sigh of relief. She would cry if she could. Now they just had to wrap things up here and head off to the next arc.

She was planning how to handle the situation effectively when the tree appeared. It was like watching a tree grow in timelapse. One moment, it was blue sky and golden domes; the next, a cherry blossom tree towered over them.

The main body was in that tree, she sensed. Evidently, things had not gone as planned.

Sakumo's body broke apart, turning to paper and a puppet's corpse. Sakura's puppet clone watched as the soul of the strongest ascended to heaven. She waved, and he smiled at her.

"Take care of my son," he said.

"Always," she replied.

Kakashi woke up as the last remnants faded. Her sensei wiped his eyes and turned to her.

"Thank you," he said. Sakura waved a hand, and the seals fell away.

"No problem," she said, returning her eyes to the gigantic tree. "Sakura did something stupid," she told him.

"Aren't you always," he jokes, his voice shaky from the tears.

"Want a hug?" she asked.

"Yes, please."

She hugged him, watching as Sasuke's hawk landed on the tree.

Naruto winced as another of his clones dispelled, memories of the battle flowing to him, causing momentary confusion. It was too much. He didn't know how Sakura did this all the time. Pushing through his nausea, Naruto pulled out a stack of paper bombs and scattered them around him. Activating his gravity seals, he leaped into the air.

The ground burst, and a giant mole summon roared.

"Kai," Naruto commanded, and the paper bombs exploded. The mole cried in pain as he fell back into his tunnel, debris falling atop him.

"Moleduga!" the summoner, a redhead Uzumaki, cried. She glared up at Naruto with black eyes. Her braided hair swayed in the wind as the summons disappeared in a poof. Naruto was starting to hate the color red. His clones died at the hands of so many redheads it was frustrating.

"Look out!" a warning came from below. Naruto turned to see a kunoichi with purple hair and green scales on her skin leaping up behind him. She was too close to maneuver around.

"Air palm!" with a burst of chakra, the girl was blown away. Naruto smirked.

"Hinata!" He called, jumping down to her. He resisted the urge to hug her, instead throwing a kunai at a reanimated Uchiha. He silently apologized to Sasuke and stood back to back with Hinata.

It was then that the surge of chakra occurred. Naruto stilled as a familiar sensation surrounded him.

"My chakra?" Kurama said in wonder. "That's not possible."

"I've been sensing it for a while now," his father confessed. "It seems my body's reanimated."

Naruto shivered. He heard horror stories about how strong his dad was. If he was on the battlefield, they were in trouble.

"Minato sealed half the Fox's chakra inside him before he died," Kushina explained. "If he's back from the dead."

"So is the fox," Naruto finished. Looking to where the pressure was coming from.

"It's Sakura," Hinata explained. "That chakra is coming from her."

"What!?" Naruto yelped as his parents and the fox yelled in disbelief.

"She can't handle that kind of chakra!" Minato warned his son. "It took using a death seal to separate the two chakras and sealing it inside you, Naruto! A normal girl can't handle that kind of chakra."

"I don't think Sakura is exactly normal," Naruto thought. His father protested but was silenced, when the chakra subsided and stabilized.

"How?" Minato breathed.

"Sakura is amazing," Naruto declared.

"I don't think it's over," Hinata said, getting Naruto's attention. "Her chakra is still wild. It's like it doesn't know what to do with itself."

"Is the fox's chakra rejecting her?" Minatao muttered. "Naruto, we have to go to her. I might be able to seal the fox's chakra-"

Minato's sentence cut off with the appearance of a towering cherry blossom tree.

"And Sakura just turned into a giant tree," Hinata said flatly.

"What?" Naruto cried. He grabbed Hinata's shoulders. "What do you mean Sakura is now a tree!"

She pointed to the tree that towered over mountains. "Sakura is inside there, and her chakra is circulating through it. Therefore, Sakura is a tree."

"That's not even remotely funny," Naruto shivered.

"She's not wrong," Neji spoke as he approached them.

Naruto looked over to see the Genins of Konoha gathered.

"Sakura is inside that thing, but it's not just her," Neji said, looking at the tree that captured everyone's attention. "There are others." Neji didn't know how to explain the mudded chakra. Sakura's chakra mudded after the Uchiha incident. Since Sasuke and Naruto also changed, he dismissed it as such, but seeing the swirling chakras in that tree.

"We need to get her out of there," he said resolutely. He didn't know why he thought it, but Sakura was in danger. "I don't think Sakura will walk this one off."

Those who knew her grimaced. Neji didn't need to explain. Death was knocking, and Sakura was about to answer.

Boom!

The explosion shook the tree, and the genins stood horrified.

"Sakura!" Ino cried.

Shikamaru flinched as a flash of red ran by him. The Uzumakis were gathering. He opened his mouth to tell the others when he saw the Uchiha's running in the opposite direction. Something wasn't right.

"The enemy is retreating," he said, getting everyone's attention. Ino looked at him and then towards the enemy running towards the barrier. She was confused by their actions. The reanimated corpses didn't need to fear death as they would regenerate infinitely.

"She's retaliating," Tenten pointed as pink petals attacked the boomer.

Naruto sighed in relief. At least Sakura could protect herself in that state.

"Hinata, can you see where Sakura is?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yes, she's in the crown of the tree, inside a pud of some kind," she replied.

"Great," Shikamaru nodded. "This is a rescue mission, a quick in and out."

"Wait," Kiba objected. "What if she's in that thing for a reason? I mean it's not everyday someone turns into a tree."

"That's true, but," Shikamaru pointed to the tree being attacked by Uzumakis. "We can't leave her there. She's a huge target for those guys now."

"Don't worry, Kiba," Shino assured him. We'll find out why she's like this and protect her."

"Whoa, Shino, I didn't know you two were friends," Choji commented.

"She understands me," Shino responded simply.

"It's because she has bugs, too," Naruto elaborated.

"Team 8, you are on surveillance. I need you to monitor Sakura's condition at all times."

"Right!" they responded.

"Team Guy, you're Vanguard. Take point."

"Roger!"

"Naruto, you're at the flank; watch our backs. Team 10 will be in the middle."

"No problem," Naruto responded as Ino and Choji nodded.

"We should avoid fighting where we can but prepare for it," Shikamaru cautioned. Everyone nodded in understanding.

Shikamaru looked at the towering tree with dread. This was going to be a drag.

You should never eat more than you can handle, you'll get a stomach ache.

Next Chapter

October 15