Sakura sucked in a harsh breath as the reality of her situation set in. If she worked her maths correctly, she was some 20 years in the past, two years before the Third Shinobi War ended, two years before Minato Namikaze was made Hokage and four years before Naruto was born. She was standing at the gates of Konoha and she watched the three stones faces on the Hokage Monument with a slight glare. There were two faces missing. "This is Konoha. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do." She was brought out of her reverie by Minato's words. She turned her head to see him looking at her with an amused expression, as if he'd caught her doing something bad without her knowing. Oh, she had been glaring at the stone faces.
"I hope so too," she replied, making sure that her uncertainty wasn't seeping into her tone. "Let's go to the Hokage Tower and inform the Sandaime about your situation. I'm sure he can help you," he told her. She nodded her head in understanding.
Minato knocked on the door twice before opening the door to the Hokage's office. Shibi and Choza followed suit. Kakashi and Sakura were the last to enter. "Greetings Lord Hokage," the blonde greeted as he bowed, his surbodinates doing the same, though Sakura was distracted at seeing Hiruzen very young. He was pretty good looking in her opinion. "Team Minato, I trust that you completed your mission," the man said. "Yes, we completed the mission without fail. We did however, meet this girl who insisted that she wanted to go to Konoha to become an apprentice of the Yellow Flash. I had initially refused but she followed us into the desert. There was a sandstorm and we were left with no choice but to take her with us," he explained as he motioned towards Sakura. The pinkette shifted awkwardly as the attention of all the males were on her. Not to mention the ugly dress she was wearing, how didn't have shoes and was bald. She cleared her throat.
"Greetings sir," she said with a very low bow. Hiruzen stared at her skeptically. "She doesn't fit the description exactly," he spoke. The entire group stared at him puzzledly. "I've been expecting her. Her brother arrived here a month ago, claiming that he had lost his sister and was hoping that we could help them become citizens of Konoha as they had lost their home," the Sarutobi explained. "But you said he was dead," Kakashi said as he stared at her accusingly. "I thought so but he seems to be alive," she defended herself. She didn't know which brother he was talking about but she was taking chances. Hiruzen raised his hand and an ANBU jumped in. "Bring me the boy," he told him. The ANBU disappeared before reappearing a minute later with a familiar face which was as emotionless as a rock.
"Sai?!" Sakura exclaimed. "Ugly," he said with one of his fake smiles. He was dressed in a black shirt with a Mandarin collar and black trousers. Without warning, she jumped at him and gave him a bone crushing hug. "I missed you," she said as her eyes began to water. In all honesty, she had missed him. She regretted not following his advice to stay together. For the past seven days she had been in the past, she thought of him more than anyone as she wondered where he was and if he was okay. She blamed herself if anything had happened to him. "I thought you died," she sniffed as she withdrew. "I also thought you had died but my bird told me otherwise," he replied. At that, a small ink bird flew into the room and rested on top of her head. Oh, it made sense. The bird had relayed information to Sai, that's why he told the Sandaime she was his sister. They would talk later to clarify things.
"How is he your brother? You look nothing alike," the genin in the room commented. "We're twins, with her being older than me. However, she inherited our father's traits and I took from our mother. There are no similarities but we truly are brother and sister," he said as he plastered a fake smile again. She nodded her head vigorously in agreement. "Then why do you call her Ugly?" Choza asked curiously. He wanted to see the extent of these two's self proclaimed twinhood. "It's a nickname. I read in a book that you give someone a nickname based on what you think about them," he replied. Sakura immediately facepalmed. "Forgive my brother. He seems to be out of the loop when it comes to things like emotions," she said with a nervous smile. "He is quite correct on his nickname. Very accurate," Kakashi bit out. She shot him a heated glare. "Well, I'm sure you two would like some together," Hiruzen said, diffusing the tension between Kakashi and Sakura. "Not really. I practically grew up with him. A few hours without him wouldn't hurt," the kunoichi said as she turned to look at the blonde in the room. "Would you please show me around the village?" she asked, trying to appear as cute as possible.
Minato's eyes strayed to the Hokage. "I'm sure you can show her around," the older man said. "Just sure that she's at home with her brother at the end of the day. I'm sure they have a lot to talk about," he added. They all said their thanks and left, with the exception of Minato who had been asked by the Hokage to stay behind whilst Sakura waited at the entrance of the tower. "I'm not sure I trust them entirely. Keep an eye on them. Danzo seems to have taken a keen interest to Sai, I assigned Inoichi and Shikaku to watch over him. I'll assign the girl you, report everything about her every day, no matter how minor it is," he told him as he threaded his hands in front of him. "Yes Lord Hokage," the blonde said with a bow. "Also watch out for Kushina. She's wrecking havoc in the village looking for you ever since the day you left," the Hokage added with a smile. He immediately sweat dropped. He hadn't told her that he was going on a mission.
Minata found her checking the register. "Find anything curious?" he asked as he stood behind her. "I'm checking to see if that little Kakashi has a mission so I won't have to see him," she growled out. "That's my student you're talking about," he reminded her. "And he's out for my blood. How could he even doubt my relationship with my brother? We're practically the same person," she breathed out annoyedly. "Well, maybe not so much," she added as an afterthought. He chuckled inwardly. "Let's go. I'd love to show you around but I think your stomach needs real food," he said. At that, his stomach growled loudly. She snickered as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Ok, maybe my stomach needs real food."
After eating ramen at Ichiraku's, Minato showed her the rest of Konoha. Both Teuchi and Ayame were still young when she had seen them, with Ayame being in her early teens. Their final destination was a clothing shop. "I figured you needed some clothes and shoes," he told her as he entered the shop. "That should've been the first thing to do," she stated. She picked out a lot of red and blacks. "Why do you like red so much?" he asked as they walked out of the shop with a lot of shopping bags. "Because if fits the color of my hair," she replied airily. "You have hair?" he asked in a teasingly. "I do, I just haven't regrown it yet. I don't know what happened for me to wake up bald," she spoke. "You can regrow your hair? How so?" he asked again. Information gathering techniques at h,and. "I'm a medic so I know how to," she spoke. She stopped. "Do you know where I'll be staying? Because I don't," she stated with a sheepish smile. "Yes, follow me. You must be tired after all," he said as they began walking in the direction of her apartment.
They arrived at her apartment in a matter of ten minutes. They stopped in front of the building. Before Sakura could thank him, a shout interrupted them. "Minato Namikaze how dare you go on a mission without telling me?!" a voice boomed from behind them. The duo turned their heads simultaneously to stare at a redhead who was storming her way over to them. The blonde chuckled in nervousness. Why did she have to see him with another woman? "Kushina, long time no see," he said with a smile. "Don't you 'long time no see' me? Why didn't you tell me, dattebane?!" she almost shouted as she glared at him. She was dressed in a jounin attire, her pants were fitting showing her slender figure and her shirt was short sleeved. A Konoha headband was around her forehead and her eyes were midway between blue and violet. Everything about her screamed beautiful. For the umpteenth time since coming back to the past, she felt self-conscious about her appearance. "I didn't want to worry you-" "That's a lame excuse and you know it, dattebane!" Her eyes snapped to Sakura and were fierce. "And who's this?" she asked as she narrowed her eyes. "This is Midori. She asked to be my apprentice-" "Another fangirl?" she said monotonously as her eyes roamed over her figure. Sakura shifted under the intense gaze.
"Well, she isn't attractive so there's not much competition," she muttered. "Hey!" Sakura snapped. "What? Got a problem with what I said? It's true, isn't it?" the redhead smirked. Sakura pursed her lips in anger. She didn't want to start a fight especially since she didn't know who she was. For all she knew, she could be Naruto's mom. She chuckled inwardly at the thought. She snatched the shopping bags from Minato's hands. "I'm going," she announced as she turned and marched to her apartment. She sensed Sai's chakra signature. She stopped and turned to look at the pair. Kushina stuck her tongue out and she turned away with a huff.
"Now, let's go to Ichiraku's. I've been dying to tell you about the latest recipe that old man Teuchi showed me," Kushina said as she linked hands with Minato. "Let's go," he said with a smile. He stared at the building Midori had gotten into, felt her chakra signature enter her apartment. She was safe.
"You don't know how relieved I am to see you. I was so worried about you especially since we time travelled," she said as she out her bags in her room. She walked back into the living room. It was a two bedroom apartment with a kitchen, a living room and a bathroom. There was also a small verandah. Their apartment was on the sixth floor. "You were worried about me?" Sai asked tonelessly. "Of course, why wouldn't I?" she said as she sat on the sofa. "I've never had someone worry about me. I've always had to worry about myself. The only person who worried for me was my brother but he passed away," he told with one of his fake smiles. Her eyes softened at this. "Well, you have me to worry about you. This means you also have to worry about me. We're a team and we protect each other," she told him affectionately. Sai nodded. "So how about you explain how you got here?" she asked.
"I got here month ago. You set off a reverse summoning jutsu in the room you were in. It was marked with the Yondaime's seal. Somehow, we were Hiraishin'ed some twenty years in the past to when he had originally put the seal. The justu affected the entire area. I'm not sure how I managed to come earlier than you but my bird relayed information that you used as a backstory," he said. She was thoughtful for awhile. "I guess we have to blend in until we find a way to go back home," she spoke. "So what did you tell the Sandaime about me?" she asked. "I told him you were my older twin sister and you were brainwashed by Mukade. We both grew up in Roran as orphans but I've always wanted to come to Konoha because I wanted to become an apprentice of the Yellow Flash," he told her. "That's a good backstory," she commented. "Any suspicious activity?" she asked. "Danzo has taken a keen interest in me. I've spotted many Root shinobi tailing me wherever I go. I've put some silencing seals around the apartment so they won't overhear our conversations, " he supplied. "I think the Sandaime will have Minato spying on me," she commented. "I've also made a seal which will prevent us from talking about how we are time travellers," he said as he took a paper seal from his pocket. "How does it work?" she queried, her interest piqued. "Whenever you are in a situation that you have to speak about time travelling, your tongue will go numb and you'll pass out. I was also thinking of adding maybe a migraine-" "No! It's good as it is," she cut him briskly.
He handed her the paper. She out chakra to it and it glowed before the ink crawled from the paper and settled into her armpit in the form of a large black dot. "The armpit? Really?" she said as she smothered a smile. "No one will ever think of checking there," he replied with another smile. "Thanks Sai," she said as she stood up and gave him a hug. "Thank you Ugly. But I should inform you that you need to take a bath. You stink," he said blatantly. "Wow, how tactful," she said as she removed herself from him.
I'm done with this chapter. I hope you like it. Any grammatical errors are mine. Red and review.
Tozoonana
AfricanFire
