Bonds Through Time
Chapter Forty-Seven: Rin
.
.
.
Sakura
.
.
"We'll try it again!" Obito declared, standing abruptly and knocking over the herbal concoction Sakura had been working on off the table. They'd been at it for weeks. He would focus on a memory and they'd travel back in time, hoping to save his childhood crush.
Frankly, Sakura had met Rin and she wasn't particularly impressed with the teenaged girl. Though, to be fair, Sakura had been so obsessed with her own teammate at that age — or specifically her team leader — that she'd hate for someone to judge her for how she behaved at thirteen. It was not a good time for most girls. Though, at sixteen, Sakura wasn't exactly the pillar of maturity. Or was she seventeen now? How long had they been at this relentless pursuit? It felt like forever!
Sakura took a deep breath, frustrated by Obito's clumsiness. Half his body had been rebuilt with suspicious technology and then he'd spent nearly ten years stuck in a coma-like state. He was very much like a newborn colt learning to walk for the first time— gangly and awkward. Obito Uchiha was a very powerful man, but he was driven by his obsession to the point of insanity. She suspected the reaction that his immune system had to the foreign substance on the right side of his body caused an inflammatory response that made him more prone to outbursts. Was it a form of inflammatory delirium? Unfortunately, the herbal brew he'd just knocked over was an anti-inflammatory recipe she'd wanted to try on him. Now she'd have to start over. It was so—-annoying.
"Calm down," Sakura scolded. There were times when she feared for her life around Obito, but today was not one of those days. After what seemed like months, her attitude towards the strange man had changed. She more often was irritated by his irrationality and bold proclamations. He reminded her of a younger Naruto, but one untempered by his upbringing in the proper Head Uchiha household. He had a penchant for running across helpless old ladies and going out of his way to help him. It was like all the excuses Kakashi had given to her as a genin for her tardiness were manifested in Obito.
On bad days, Obito's erratic behavior truly made her afraid for her life. She could not counter his moves. He was too fast and had too much chakra. It reminded her of Shisui, except she'd never had to fight against her big brother figure before. Sakura could disable Obito, maybe, if she timed it right and luck was on her side, but then she'd also be lost in time.
Obito stared down at her, his visible Sharingan spinning wildly as he snatched Sakura's hand and yanked her to stand beside him. "We'll go back to your time— I mean our time. I need the Rinnegan from Nagato. It will help me navigate the dimensions better."
She didn't know who Nagato was, but she did recognize Amegakure when they arrived. Almost immediately, their arrival garnered the attention of Pain and Konan, but then Obito transported the two of them to a cave that radiated with both immense chakra levels on par with Naruto's and also a sickness that caused Sakura to stagger. A tall, emaciated man with blood red hair seemed to be pinned to a throne by multiple black rods protruding from his spine and two black bars in his shoulders, under his clavicles and several more along his forearms. Those black bars were very much like the ones she remembered seeing on Pain's nose and ears. His skin was so pale there was no way he'd been in the sun for ages. He was incredibly strong, yet weak at the same time.
His eyes were an eerie lavender swirl.
"Ah, Nagato, sorry to interrupt, but I need to borrow an eye. I'll give it back," Obito said, bouncing from one foot to the other.
"Uchiha?" Nagato's hoarse voice called. "Where have you been?"
"Just bouncing around reality," Obito answered. He was suddenly at Nagato's side and snatched away the other man's left eye. Obito turned towards Sakura holding out the bloody tissue. "Mind attaching this for me, Sakura?"
"What?!" Sakura rushed towards the emaciated man's side, intending to heal his bleeding eye vessels. She had the worse case of deja vu. With a prick of blood on her thumb she summoned a very small version of Lady Katsuyu and tossed it towards the shocked, immobile man.
"We'll be back! You won't even know we were gone!" Obito promised before he snatched away Sakura. She could only hope that she'd be able to remotely heal the Rain shinobi and also give Master Tsunade a clue about her whereabouts.
She and Obito were once again in the drab, gray Kamui dimension. She went about the process of surgically implanting the stolen eye into Obito's empty left eye socket. She hoped the other man hadn't been too injured and was only vaguely aware of the Katsuyu drawing from her chakra though the connection between them was stretched thin with the distance.
"Okay," Sakura said, stepping back from Obito. "I suggest you take a few hours to rest. It's a delicate surgery."
"Let's go!" Obito didn't wait more than five minutes after Sakura implanted the Rinnegan before she found herself dizzy with vertigo back in their normal dimension, but not in their normal time.
"We're here!" Obito whispered excitedly.
Sakura shook her head, trying to regain her balance. They were close to the border between the lands of Fire and Lightning. That's when she heard a familiar voice and looked down at the small clearing to see a couple of teenaged Konoha shinobi as well some older Kiri shinobi. She could sense within the girl, who looked to be about fifteen or sixteen, had a tailed beast inside of her. The only reason she could tell, the girl was slowly being consumed by the beasts' toxic chakra. She was also able to sense the familiar chakra of Kakashi Hatake and Obito Uchiha himself. Though, next to Obito was an old man who's chakra bizarrely reminded her of Sasuke's.
"Not again," Obito growled. He'd tried to teleport, but was unable to do so. They watched in horror as the brunette kunoichi put herself directly into the path of Kakashi's chidori.
"NO! No, no, no." Obito grabbed hold of Sakura again and once more they kept circling back in time more than a dozen times, but no matter how many times they tried, they always kept returning to the exact same moment. And no matter what he tried, Obito's power always seemed to fail him when he tried to intervene. It was as if some unseen force was keeping him from interfering. She wondered if it was Madara, or more about the time-space continuum. Perhaps there were some events in history that simply could not be changed.
Eventually, Obito collapsed to the ground, crying, hands over his face. Sakura tried to sooth her kidnapper, but he jerked away from her and she backed off. Instead, she focused on the re-occurring characters in this bitter reality that kept repeating before their eyes.
This time, they stayed and watched the whole tragedy all play out. She understood the kunoichi was Rin Nohara, the girl whom Obito had loved his whole life. She was now seeing the two people whom Kakashi paid respects to on the Memorial Stone almost every morning when he'd been her Jonin leader. She left Obito to his sorrow after he fell asleep from mental exhaustion, the transplant, and the chakra drain of the Rinnegan. She crouched over his still form and sent a wave of medical chakra into his brain, inducing a medical coma that would ensure his unconscious state for the next couple of hours. She used earth jutsu to create a barrier around him.
Then she found thirteen year old Kakashi on the bloody field. His teammate was dead on the ground and he sat beside her rocking back and forth, the Mist ninja were also dead.
Kakashi's gaze snapped up at her as she approached. His familiar thunderstorm grey right eye was almost blank with despair while his transplanted eye now boasted the Mangekyo Sharingan. He couldn't have been more than fourteen— the same age she was her second time taking the Chunin Exams. He was so young!
As she approached with her hands held up, palms facing outward in a placating manner, her forehead protector held out as a peace offering to identify her as friendly, he let her come closer. "I'm from Konoha," Sakura assured him. She watched as the Mangekyo Sharingan faded into the three tomoe Sharingan before he closed his left eye and then slid his own Hitai-ate over it. "Are you injured?"
Kakashi shook his head, his visible eye focused back on Rin. "I killed her."
"She was dying. Her body was being consumed by the tailed-beast. She must have been in a great deal of pain. Your attack was a mercy, but she forced your hand." Sakura kneeled on the other side of Rin's body and felt her neck to confirm there was no pulse. Of course there wasn't. Kakashi had obliterated her heart with his chidori. "I can't blame her. If I had a choice, I would want the last person I saw before I die to be someone I cared about, rather than an enemy."
"It's just like with Father," Kakashi said quietly, wrapping his thin arms over his raised knees. "When he killed himself, I'm the one that found him. He was already dead, but there was a framed picture of our family from before Mother died near his hand."
Sakura's jaw clenched at the revelation. She had no idea Kakashi's father had committed suicide, nor that he'd been the one to find him. She did know that he'd lost his entire team under the Yellow Flash. Well, except Obito was alive, wasn't he? She looked over her shoulder briefly, but Obito hadn't moved, he was still secured under the earthen barrier she'd erected over his prone form.
"Obito's dead too, but I guess you know that," Kakashi continued. He looked back up at her. "Sakura."
Her heart clenched at the sound of her name coming off Kakashi's lips. "You know me?"
"I wouldn't forget," Kakashi said quietly, his gaze falling back to Rin. "Maybe you should have stuck around. We were a terrible team. The only time we really worked well together was that Bell test with Master Minato during that time with you last year." He tapped under his covered eye. "Rin used that salve that helps scars fade on me." He looked back at her. "It's like you knew I would need it. Did you know what would happen, Sakura? Did you predict all this?"
Sakura didn't know what he was talking about, but her eyes welled up with tears regardless and her heart ached for this sorrowful boy. "I can't stay, but I'm here now." She stood and walked around Rin's prone form until she sat next to Kakashi. He was so much smaller than she knew him as, they were about the same size height and weight-wise, which was strange, but regardless, he was one of her dearest friends and she may have even been in love with him. Possibly. Probably.
"Yeah, I guess you are," Kakashi said quietly, leaning his forehead against his upturned knees.
Unable to resist, Sakura wrapped her arm around Kakashi's shoulders and hugged his small, yet muscular body. He turned towards her, his thin, strong arms winding around her waist and he buried his face against the juncture between her collarbone and her throat. "Today is a bad day, Kakashi. But, I promise you, it will get better."
At least half an hour passed with the two of them holding one another. She couldn't stay with young Kakashi much longer. Obito would be rousing soon and she didn't want him to wake up surrounded in an earthen tomb. Likely, Minato Namikaze himself would be showing up to pick up Kakashi. Naruto's dad had marked his entire team, so would likely notice Rin's death. She did have the Water-body-flicker technique that she and Shisui had worked out since she didn't have Lightning chakra for flash-step. Now might be a good time to try it out.
"You have to go, don't you," Kakashi murmured. He looked up at her, his mask pooled around his neck and his Hitai-ate shoved up into his silver hairline.
While he was likely fourteen — a year or two younger than her right now, Sakura couldn't help but feel her breath hitch at the sight of his beautiful, youthful face. There was too much sorrow on his young face. His adorable dimples were on prominent display flanking his quivering pouty lips. She was unable to resist cradling his cheek with her palm, running her thumb over the beauty mark on his chin and then gently touching the scar on his cheek.
Kakashi laid his hand over hers and leaned forward, brushing his lips against hers shyly. Sakura could taste a mixture of tears and blood falling from his transplanted eye as she returned the kiss. Was she Kakashi's first kiss? Why couldn't Obito save Rin and yet she'd been allowed to interact with Kakashi? Did this already happen in the past or is it happening now and his memories would be altered? There were so many questions with this time travel. Somehow, she doubted if Obito knew the answers. He was the most confused of everyone.
Sakura leaned back. "I'll find you, Kakashi. It will be a few years from now, but we'll meet again."
Kakashi sucked in a shaky breath. "Promise you'll find me again, Sakura."
Sakura smiled at him, clenching her hand into a fist so tight she could feel crescents forming on her palms from her nails. "You're my precious friend Kakashi and I love you. I will find you again. Please, be strong in the mean time. I will come back to you, I promise you."
He nodded. "Okay."
Then Sakura utilized the water body-flicker technique to put distance between her and teen Kakashi before the Yondaime showed up. She'd been about to return to Obito when she ran into the firm chest of someone much taller than her. She craned her head back to see long, white hair and pale lavender eyes staring back down at her.
There was something about the old man that reminded her of Sasuke. She knew it wasn't him, but the chakra was the same amethyst color as that of her daughter's father. His large, wrinkled hand fell upon her shoulder in a bone crushing grip. "Care to explain what you're doing here?" His deep voice rumbled.
This man was Madara Uchiha! It was the living embodiment of that massive statue flanking the waterfall at the Valley of the End! He shouldn't be alive, but he was and based on the familiar chakra — Sasuke was the reincarnation of this man! "Just making a pit stop through time," Sakura answered with a forced smile. "You must be Madara Uchiha. I'm Sakura."
"Sakura…". His pale eyes narrowed as he stared at her forehead. "Senju?"
"Eh, sort of. I'm from the future, I'm married to your reincarnation," Sakura explained. Married, baby-mama? He was from a different era, best she simplify things and hope he didn't kill her. She wasn't one-hundred percent sure Sasuke was this man's reincarnation, but considering his time travel seemed to be working for her, she seemed to run into people she was connected to. And no two chakras were alike, yet his was a match for Sasuke's.
His hand relaxed as his eyes widened at her words. "My reincarnation marries a Senju?" He shook his head. "Impossible."
She gestured behind her towards where Kakashi, his dead teammate and the Mist shinobi bodies waited. "Did you orchestrate this to unlock Obito's Mangekyo Sharingan?"
His grip tightened again.
"I practically was raised by the Uchiha. It's not common knowledge how these things happen, but I'm aware," Sakura explained. "Obito keeps trying to change Rin's fate, but no matter what he does, it seemed to remain fixed."
"I have the ability to manipulate time to a certain degree," Madara explained. "I've protected this event." He cocked his head to the side. "Which is why after the two of you kept constantly returning I decided to see what you would do." He gestured vaguely towards Kakashi with his free hand. "Friend of yours?"
"Best friend to both you and me," Sakura explained. "And I'm pretty sure Hashirama's reincarnation is our other friend. Was his chakra orange?"
"What color is your chakra?" Madara asked, evading the question with one of his own.
Sakura held up her hand and allowed it to glow green with her healing palm technique.
"Hn. Medical ninjutsu. Your chakra is the same green as Princess Mito's," Madara murmured. He released her and gestured towards where she left Obito's unconscious body. "I suggest you leave. I won't allow this moment to change. It's not on my agenda to kill you, but it doesn't mean I won't."
"Um, can you tell me what your plan is? Why did you want all the tailed beasts collected?" Sakura asked. He wouldn't kill her, right? She just told him his reincarnation was her husband.
Madara stepped back and ran his hand over his face, tired and world weary. "Peace."
She reached for the side of his face and was only somewhat surprised when he let her touch him. "The Purelands are peace, Madara. Your next life is full of love."
He laid his hand over hers and stared down. "Finding love is never the problem for an Uchiha. It's keeping it." He squeezed her hand painfully and then yanked it away from his face before forcefully pushing her away. "I suggest you leave before I make my future self a widower."
She could have stood up against him — he was an old man after all. She could have called forth her monstrous strength, unleashed the power of her Strength of a Hundred seal— and — died without any of her friends ever learning of her fate. Without further protest, she hurried to Obito and dug him out of the ground. She woke him up with a surge of medical chakra to his brain. "We need to leave now."
His eyes had a disturbing vacant look to them. Obito nodded wordlessly and together, they departed the field and wound up in a wooded area outside the castle of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire.
.
.
.
OoO
.
.
.
Kakashi
.
.
.
His team wasn't successful at finding Sakura or Obito. Their chances became even lower once the Amegakure shinobi caught up with them. Pain explained that Obito had taken one of his Rinnegan eyes. Sakura's seventeenth birthday came and went. Kakashi had gotten incredibly drunk with Guy and Shisui. And then Sasuke asked Kakashi to come to his daughter's first birthday — of course it was still publicly proclaimed that Sarada was Itachi and Izumi's child.
It had been on the way to the Uchiha household that Kakashi felt a sharp, piercing headache. He brought his hand up over his mask-covered mouth. The memory fresh and new of his first kiss with a seventeen year old Sakura while he'd been no more than thirteen and a half years old, on the day Rin had died.
"You okay?" Shisui asked, voice laced with concern, his warm hand upon Kakashi's shoulder. "We can leave the party early, go find a bar and get piss drunk."
"I just had a memory surface," Kakashi murmured. The idea of drinking while having such a migraine was far from appealing. "It was the day Rin died. I remember Sakura being there." He looked over at Shisui's worried frown. "She just showed up, comforted me while I sat vigil over Rin's body until Master Minato came."
"Then what happened?" Shisui asked.
Kakashi narrowed his visible eye. "Then she body-flickered away and vanished. I assume you taught her how?"
"Ah, I might have. We were bored during our time in Sand," Shisui admitted. "Sakura doesn't have Lightning chakra, so I told her how I saw the Mist shinobi use a variant of the technique with Water."
"Hm," Kakashi said with a nod. Absently, he rubbed his hand over his left pectoral. He was still sore from the tattoo he'd asked Sai to draw on him for Sakura's birthday a few days before. Ino had offered to heal the tattoo's soreness, but he rather appreciated the pain. The cherry blossom branch he'd had Sai place on his chest was a promise to himself.
He would make sure Sakura returned home. She might have missed her seventeenth birthday and her daughter's first birthday, but she would come back. She promised him.
.
.
.
OoO
.
.
.
Sakura
.
.
"This is the Daimyo's castle," Sakura observed, laying her palm over the ground and mapping out the area with her chakra. She could sense there were shinobi guards — Konohamaru's father was amongst the elite bodyguards. Other than him, Sakura didn't really recognize any of the others. "We should leave."
Obito stumbled next to her, shaking his head. "No, she's here. Rin is here, I know it." He grabbed hold of Sakura and the two of them teleported to a tree closer to the castle's courtyard.
Sitting outside with a couple of kunoichi guards was a pretty young woman with long light brown hair that looked about Sakura's age. She had a small white dog in her lap and was petting it while she was singing softly along with a servant that played a flute.
"It's her," Obito whispered.
Sakura and Obito both masked their chakra signature and watched the young woman until she finally retreated inside the castle close to sunset. She was the Daimyo's second daughter. "Maybe that's why you couldn't save her — she was meant to be born again." Sakura didn't mention Madara's interference. Neither she nor Obito stood a chance against the formidable opponent.
.
.
.