***I was asked to Copy to here by someone. This is a direct Copy from AO3 via me (the author: Scarecrows_to_CherryTrees)***
Please do NOT post my work anywhere else (i.e. wattpad). I do not give permission.
***NOTES***
This story is really just a really long, entirely self-indulgent, love-letter to my Husband.
We have an age-gape even larger than Sakura and Kakashi's, and I often wondered what it would have been like if we met at the same age. (The honest answer: probably terrible lol)
But! I came into this KakaSaku by accident-fell in love-and never wanted to leave. So, here we go!
Note: It doesn't always fit Canon, and it's not supposed to. If you think I sat here debating temporal validity, time-loops, cause/affect...you'd be terribly disappointed. Let's just go with the flow.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or Boruto. That's all Kishimoto.
Chapter 1: Prologue
Sakura cringed as her fist made contact with the hard outer shell of the insect summon. It was hard. Harder than stone—it barely cracked under her fist.
"Ow." She hissed to herself. "Madara's lumbar, sacrum, and coccyx—that actually hurt."
Why a centipede? she thought, completely disgusted.
She blew out a slow breath as she cradled her damaged fist. Sakura jumped back giving herself some space and gazed up.
The summon was huge—beyond what Sakura was expecting honestly. It was a small miracle that the enemy was located quickly. The bug was already close to the outer border of the village, and had broken through the tall protective walls that surrounded their territory.
The insect spotted her. Numerous legs slithered like waves as it pushed forward to charge at her again. She decided not to move though—one of her teammates would take care of it.
The purple of the Susanno caught in the corner of her eye, as Sasuke rammed the beast off its course.
She grinned at the Uchiha, "See? Teamwork."
He snorted at her taunt.
Naruto's kyuubi-enhanced chakra was beside her in moments, rearing a Rasengan into the hard outer shell on the top of the centipede's head. Only a small crack was seen despite the enormous impact, and the beast was momentarily stunned as its head was shoved into the crater below it.
Sakura paused. Taking note of the battle infront of her, she turned her head slowly behind her and locked eyes with her Hokage.
"Why am I here again?" she scoffed.
"Maa, Sakura it's a giant centipede," Kakashi said as if it were obvious. "Isn't it venomous? We figured you were the best one to handle it."
Several ANBU behind him shifted uncomfortably as the beast rose from the dust with an angry roar, and the battle began again. The cautious security detail circled around the Rokudaime although he seemed completely unfazed by the raging sounds of combat just a few feet away. She knew he probably wanted to join in on the fight, but would never be allowed to unless things looked dire.
She snorted softly in response. "I mean…people rarely die from centipede bites."
He blinked and stared back at with half-lidded eyes.
"Fine." She sighed, "A shinobi's summon has to be lethal. I told them not to get bitten and keep their distance, but I'll see if I can land the killing blow. Its venom shouldn't be too much trouble for me."
For once—even though the sun was hot and blaring above her and sweat was running down her back—she was glad to be in her ANBU training gear instead of her medic-approved outfit. Even if it was all black and covered almost every inch of her skin.
The sleeveless black shirt and tight black compression pants covered most of her body, while bandages covered her arms and leather gloves covered her hands. It was all ideal to provide some much-needed protection from any wayward venomous wounds (at least she hoped it was).
She observed the centipede for a moment, and made the decision—this wouldn't need a hammer; it needed a scalpel.
Sakura reached behind and grabbed the tanto strapped to her back, and signaled to get Naruto's heard that this enemy was foreign Jonin. One that was a Fourth Shinobi War veteran that blamed the Hidden Leaf for the war.
Unfortunately, he wasn't alone.
Although the five Shinobi Villages have been at peace for the last eight years since the end of the war, many individuals felt that Konoha should have been held responsible for all the death and destruction the War caused. Some even went so far as to blame Kakashi personally for Obito's part.
This Jonin—like many others who had probably lost loved ones—went rouge to avenge them.
… A sentiment Sakura was tired of, frankly. Avenging was entirely overrated.
"I need you and Sasuke to attack that same point of the top of its head where you cracked the exoskeleton," she said, jumping to Naruto's side. "If you can crack it a little more, I'll be able to penetrate it. Think you can manage?"
He laughed loudly, a huge smile painted on his face framed by his whisker-like markings.
"Easy peasy, Sakura-chan!" he bellowed as blue eyes turned towards his teammate. "Oi! Teme! Pin him down for me!"
Sasuke wasted no time. A large arm of the Susanno swung its sword down mid body on the giant centipede as its other free hand grabbed the beast's front mandible, thus pinning it to the ground. It screeched and thrashed violently, however Sasuke was able to keep it mostly immobilized.
Sakura felt Naruto's warm chakra claw wrap around her waist, as he quickly jumped and propelled them upward. She could feel the rushing wind and familiar swirl of chakra, as he formed a Rasengan behind them with the other claw. His grasp released her at the peak of the arched jump, as he descended down before her—Rasengan aimed at the small crack from earlier.
Sakura followed suit behind him—tanto grasped in both hands over her head, and chakra pouring into the tip.
She heard the impact of the Rasengan, and Naruto's war cry rang out around them. He quickly flipped backwards making room for her entry.
The medic-nin landed hard on the head of the beast, her legs spread on either side of the crack, and thrusted her tanto down with both hands. Its tip connected through the hard outer shell of the exoskeleton, its chakra piercing down. Although the blade could only cut so deep, the pinpointed chakra beamed down through the monster with surgical precision.
She could feel the soft, scrambled tissue inside—her chakra shredded and tore its way through—as she hoped. Now if only it was able to pierce far enough into the brain. At least she hoped that's where the brain was—Sakura reminded herself later to brush up on arthropod anatomy.
…And then, (she would recall later) many things happened at once.
"Sakura! " She heard Naruto scream distantly. But it was not his scream that alerted her.
Instead, the Rokudaime's coarse howl of her name made her eyes look up.
While her focus was directed at the tanto pushing into the centipede's skull, the foreign nin appeared on the back of the beast charging towards her.
She only sensed the chakra when it was a few feet away and realized a kunai was aimed at her throat. His arm was extended towards her neck and on it, she barely noticed, were two small centipedes racing toward her as well.
He intended to pierce and poison her thoroughly.
And just for a millisecond, Sakura took note of her boys:
Naruto—reaching a chakra claw towards the enemy nin.
Kakashi—hand moving upwards in a one-handed ram sign to most likely shushin to her side.
Sasuke—looking down from above in his Susanno as his Sharingan spun hastily in a panic, and the Rinnegan glowing.
Time stopped and the kunai inched towards her bare neck slowly and lazily—as if mocking her.
And even though she willed her chakra and arms to pull the tanto out as quickly as possible it felt weighted and sluggish and—
so, so slow ...
And then she saw it all swirl.
The world shifted and twisted into a whirlpool of colors and sounds.
…And then it was all gone.
When she was able to reorientate herself somewhat, she noticed it was dark, and still, and quiet.
So very quiet.
It was like she was standing in a bright room, and someone had suddenly turned off all the lights. The sun was missing in the sky, and in its place was a pale moon. The warm air from before was now a cool night breeze. And the sounds of battle were now a quiet rustling of leaves in the wind.
Her mind was racing and jarring from the substantial contrasts.
But she remembered this feeling once before.
Her heart sped up in panic, and she knew: it was the Kamui.
Or at least, the Rinnegan's version of it.
She had been displaced in both time and space.
***かかし***
Kakashi had just left his team at the Sandaime's office and trusted that their leader would safely get them medically checked over. He was tired—both physically and mentally.
And fuck—
How a simple C-Rank escort mission to the Land of Waves became that—he wasn't entirely sure. But he knew he needed a break from all three genin for at least another day or so.
Despite the numerous near death experiences—and this mission being truly and wholly an absolute shitshow—he thought they did fairly well.
If anything: this trip confirmed Kakashi's prediction that Naruto and Sauske had the potential he thought they did. He will admit that he may have slightly underestimated the difficulty of keeping three genin (plus a civilian) all alive against two S-Rank shinobi.
And he is, enormously thankful for the boys' potential.
But the civilian girl, Sakura, was an entirely different problem.
On paper she was the highest ranking kunoichi. In reality, she knew nothing of this world.
He understood why the Sandaime placed her on the team, but he couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She was a place holder—a third wheel. And if he was being honest, maybe even a calculated casualty.
Kakashi didn't mind the girl herself. She was what he thought any normal eleven year old girl would be like. She liked pretty things. And had lived an easy, carefree life.
But she didn't belong in this world.
Shinobi are broken, cruel creatures that fight and claw their way to their survival. They devour the weak or they die.
How could a simple eleven year old girl ever understand that?
It was all a matter of perspective—and Sakura's was filtered and askew. Innocent.
Kakashi didn't want to watch her be dragged into the bog. If he was lucky, this would be a good wake-up call for the civilian girl and maybe—fuck, please—she would silently and gracefully return to civilian life, and he could properly focus on the other two.
Kakashi greeted an empty apartment under his breath as he got home and changed from his standard jonin blue fatigues to his ANBU uniform.
The Hokage asked him to cover a short patrol shift tonight since they were short on personnel, and even though he was tired, Kakashi was never one to say no when given an order.
He was, after all, ever the loyal dog.
The Copy-nin sighed and sealed his porcelain mask in place with chakra. He felt a dull sting and a headache was quickly forming somewhere behind Obito's eye. But he would never complain.
Quietly, he made his way out of his apartment, down the stairs and into the dark street in front of his worn-down apartment building.
Eight dogs sat lined up in a straight line, awaiting orders. The small pug-of-a-leader stepped out of line, as he addressed the others.
"You all know the drill. Make a perimeter and keep an eye for other human patrollers. If anything is unusual, report back immediately," Pakkun ordered curtly as alpha of the pack.
A chorus of barks affirmed the command. Seven blurs dispersed among the village. The small pug turned and gazed at him as if sizing him up. They both began walking towards the edge of the village through an outer training ground to the village walls.
"Are you sure you're up for this, Boss?" Pakkun panted beside him.
Kakashi shrugged, "What's the worst that can happen?"
The pug gave him a pained look and frowned.
...And then they heard a loud Boom! followed by a cloud of smoke.
Ah—Fuck.
***さくら***
The second thing Sakura noticed after the realization of the Kamui was that she was falling.
Plummeting—head down straight towards the ground—would be a more accurate description.
She cursed Sasuke silently for his lack of control over her placement, and turned to flip her body upright. As she did, she made the quick decision to negate her fall by imposing an opposite force towards the ground.
Fist cocked back; she punched down just as she was about to impact the ground. She adjusted the chakra in her arm to meet a calculated brace for her fall.
Despite her going for 'subtle': a resounding blast still happened, as well as a small crater forming around her. Not her best work.
Whoops. Must have been higher than I thought.
She stayed in her kneeling position, one fist on the ground and one knee up, as the dust began to settle around her. She saw two centipedes on the floor next to her. Their bodies were twisted and mangled in a tortured posture that she could only assume was a result of the Kamui.
Next to them, was the tip of the kunai that was aiming towards her throat. It too was broken in half and brought along with her teleport. She nudged the centipedes with the tip of her tanto and confirmed they were dead, before sheathing it within her shoulder strap behind her back.
Sakura huffed out a sigh, content that the fight was over for now. She began to stand up, wanting to scan her surroundings and search for chakra signatures, but she quickly realized what a mistake that was.
As soon as she stood, the blood rushed to her head suddenly and her vision crossed. She felt her stomach flip as she tried to keep bile from rising in her throat.
The world tilted sideways, and she was falling towards the ground again.
She braced herself for the impact—
But a warm, large, fingerless-glove-covered hand had grabbed her bicep and kept her from keeling over.
She smelled bitter green tea and the pages of old books—and something that reminded her of rainy days in a bookshop.
And although she didn't see him right away, Sakura knew the chakra. This smell. She knew it all.
She knew she was safe.
She relaxed immediately. Her eyes firmly shut to stop the disorientation she felt.
"I'm okay, Kakashi. Just give me a minute to settle," she said in a soft grumble.
His grip tightened, instead of relaxing. He said nothing. Something made her skin prickle. After a few deep breaths, her stomach settled as she slowly, cautiously pried open her eyes.
What she expected to see was her Hokage.
Black fatigues and green-grey vest with the red blazing words "ROKUDAIME " embroidered on the back. Messy silver hair that never seemed to obey. An ever present slouch and maybe his beloved porn in hand.
And those two charcoal grey eyes that were crinkled in a smile hiding beneath the mask. Diplomatic and well-behaved, when needed (well, sometimes).
That is not what she found.
Instead, Sakura was looking up at an imposing Hound mask that was attached to an ANBU armor clad body.
The slouch was alarmingly gone, instead he stood to his full height—practically towering over her with killing intent oozing into the air around them. If Sakura had enhanced her senses, she was certain the smell of blood would be lingering off him hidden underneath his natural scent. His hair was slightly longer and untamed even more so than usual, giving him a feral aura that reeked in a warning to stay away.
And although it was the same man she's always known, the warmth of his two charcoal eyes were missing.
Instead, beneath the holes of the Hound mask she found a pair of mismatched eyes: one void and empty, the color of a rumbling storm cloud, and the other a glowing swirl of red. The color of blood.
Sakura's stomach dropped.
It had been a long time since she'd seen this Hatake Kakashi.
This Kakashi was the true Copy-Nin. Sharingan no Kakashi.The "Friend-Killer " Kakashi.
He was cold and calculated. And dangerous.
She had forgotten how he used to be—or maybe the current Hokage did a better job at hiding it.
"Who are you? " He demanded sharply. His voice was deep and low as always but held an unfamiliar harshness to it.
She didn't know what to say. She was too stunned.
Silence to his inquiry seemed to be the wrong answer as it brought about his impatience. He shifted her to her feet, and brought the other hand—Sakura just realized—holding a kunai toward her heart. She then vaguely felt several other chakra signatures quickly approaching them. She could only assume ANBU.
She had to hurry.
"I'm Haruno Sakura," she breathed out. His grip tightened hard on her arm. Sakura winced as its sting. She fought the urge to rip his hand off of her.
"Haruno Sakura is an eleven year old girl. And a genin. You are neither of those." The tip of the kunai dug a little harder into her solar plexus. "Now, try again."
His killing intent was swirling and swallowing them whole. Sakura watched horrified as the tomoe of his Sharingan spun faster. The other chakra signatures were coming fast. Any moment they would be here.
"I am Haruno Sakura." She demanded, her hand coming up to grip his hand on her arm. "I am twenty-six years old. A shinobi of the Hidden Leaf: ID# 50262."
She pointed hastily up to her hitai-ate wrapped in her hair as if that was proof. Was she sweating? She may have been sweating.
"And you are Hatake Kakashi. My Sensei."
She swallowed dryly as the ANBU patrol were walking out into the clearing from trees around them. She had to convince him, or she would be taken to who knows where. Torture, interrogation—
Kakashi scoffed, obviously not believing her.
"Then..." He snarled in a mocking sarcasm. And spat out the last two words with aversion, "Prove it."
He finally let go of her bicep, but kept the kunai aimed at her chest. Sakura moved squarely in front of him, as she looked up and tried to meet his eyes directly although he was looking out of the Hound mask and at least a foot taller than her.
She could do this. Eye contact—she needed his trust.
She tried to ignore the five other ANBU circling around them with all their weapons drawn and ready to strike. Prey. She was their prey.
"Fine! Okay, um—the first time we met, Naruto did that stupid prank with the eraser—to which you said your first impression of us was that you hated us!" She blurted out in a rush. "And when we did introductions, I prattled like an embarrassing eleven year old fangirl…Naruto went on about ramen and being Hokage like usual! Sasuke went full-on about revenge against his brother…And you! " she paused. Mind drawing a horrific blank, "You gave us no information about yourself whatsoever."
His kunai dug into her solar plexus even harder.
"Not good enough," Kakashi growled.
Shit, I'm going to die. Her mind blanked again.
There were so many moments she wanted to list off for him—but if she was only eleven here–then most of them haven't happened yet. Oh, gods. She might cry.
This Kakashi hasn't spent time with Sakura yet. What was she supposed to say ?
That he made her watch Sasuke die in a genjutsu during the bell test? She watched him poke Naruto in the ass just because he's a perverted jerk? She used to sit on his back when he did push-ups?
And then she remembered what was strapped to her back.
She reached up behind herself slowly, and made sure he was watching the movement. She unsheathed the tanto as deliberately as possible, its shrilling sound making the other ANBU around them tense, weapons at the ready.
When it was out all the way, she slowly presented it to the man in front of her.
"It's your Father's. One of the reasons for his nickname the 'White Fang'—you know, besides the hair."
She tilted it back and forth so the moonlight would catch the engraving at the base of the blade. The Hatake name's kanji was engraved on a shining silver-white steel, on the hilt was the clan's diamond shaped kamon.
Sakura continued, "You gave it to me for my Jonin promotion. Said you would never use it again, and that it was just gathering dust. That you preferred someone would get use out of your Father's legacy."
His hand slowly reached for the blade. His finger grazing the engraving through his fingerless glove. She brought it down towards her face and forced him to look into her eyes.
She pleaded silently.
"You said that I'm eleven now? If I'm right—and this is fifteen years in the past—then you have the exact same blade stowed away somewhere now, " she swallowed nervously. "I'm not lying, Kakashi. I really am Haruno Sakura. And you were my genin Sensei."
***END NOTES***
FUN FACT #1: When I first started writing, I set out to write this entire story with no uses of the f-word and no sexual scenes. This did not happen. Ha. Such high hopes.
FUN FACT#2: Centipede bites are venomous, but non-lethal. I just don't like Centipedes (I'm sorry.)
FUN FACT#3: I've never posted a story, and I bet you can tell. (Sorry, again.)
PLEA #1: This story is completed. 75k words. 10 Chapter. 10 weeks (I'll update every Friday or Saturday). It takes a little setting up, but if you bear with me. Take my hand. Maybe even trust me-I think it's a lovely story, but then again, I'm biased. (Chapters 7-10 are my favorite; don't tell the other ones).
PLEA #2: This work is indulgent. I wrote it for me. But kudos/comments are welcome-literally, if 1 single person reads this story, I will be so impressed. Fanfiction is so cool.