THINGS WE LOST TO THE FIRE Chapter 9 *Warning for body horror and graphic torture this chapter

Things we lost to the flame
Things we'll never see again
All that we've amassed
Sits before us, shattered into ash

These are the things, the things we lost
The things we lost in the fire, fire, fire
These are the things, the things we lost
The things we lost in the fire, fire, fire

Flames they licked the walls
Tenderly they turned to dust
All that I adore

Years later, living alone in the woods with half a dozen dogs, questionable reading material, and crippling attachment issues, Sakura realizes she turned into her teacher. Agebent Sakura Sensei

"Tell Danzo he's going to lose more men than it's worth if he wants to take this kid back," she hissed into the ear of the ROOT agent who lay pinned beneath Waffle's giant paw.

Sakura had ripped his left arm from its socket but left the agent alive as a warning. The only reason she left him alive at all was because she needed her message to get to that old man's ears.

Souta ran ahead of her, but Chainsaw was on her heels, feeding them both updates on where to turn because it was as she feared-Shisui wasn't on the path to the mansion anymore.

Sakura cursed low under her breath with her blood boiling in her veins. She could feel it make her fingers itch and her teeth tingle. She wanted something to rip apart.

What was Danzo doing now? What did he want with Shisui? If he wanted an Uchiha there were far easier targets who didn't have the advantage of a fully developed sharingan.

Unless that was what he needed.

If he wanted to send a message to the Uchiha he would have done well in targeting Itachi who was a personal guard to the hokage, or Shisui who could make whole enemy units turn tail and flee at the drop of his name.

A dark sarcastic part of her brain quipped that maybe all Danzo wanted was to talk with Shisui about something. Maybe she had overreacted.

And maybe it'll snow in July.

As one unit, she and her pack flickered with chakra into the dense trees. Dusk was over and the shadows were all out. So far away from the neon signs it was as dark as it was ever going to get.

A knife came down into her neck and Sakura burst into a log. A second later her leg was extended down onto the shoulder of her attacker.

"We smelled you coming," Sakura snarled before pinning the nin in place with a kuni through his arm.

He screamed but Sakura ribbed his mask off and wedged her fist into his mouth, grabbing onto his tongue. She pulled it out and saw the same seal Sai hid on his. ROOT.

"You have both your arms, need to fix that. Danzo didn't learn the last time."

Sakura reached for his injured shoulder and pulled. She felt it tear off the same time she heard paper rip. The explosion bombs woven into the fabric of his shirt sleeve, (right where they knew she would tear him apart) detonated before she could move to avoid it.

The encounter was over in less than a minute but Sakura had no idea how much time had passed since the detonation.

She felt her Yin seal pop and leak as a massive amount of chakra spread across her face to knit it back together subconsciously, the way she had trained it to, programed it in the event of suffering a fatal injury.

She hadn't expected to utilize it in her own village so close to the general store she bought her dog food from.

The creation rebirth was painful as cells split at a rapid pace to replace the destroyed tissue and muscle. Her eyes had been shut in time to miss the explosion, but they still needed to come back from near total burnout.

Dango was on her chest, feeding his own chakra into her, aiding in the restoration. His whining was high pitched and panicked.

"I'm alive," she gasped. She meant it to be reassuring but it came out sounding strangled.

On the brnt earth she remembered a story of a girl and a monster in a forest, and how the girl was almost always clever and lucky enough to make it through the creature's domain and back home again.

'How clever, how lucky I am!' she would say.

But the monster only needed to be lucky once. For as clever and skilled she was, the monster only needed to be better than her once. Once was all it took.

"Asshole. I wasn't fast enough."

Dango whined, pawing at a long cut that was still stitching itself back together near her neck. "He predicted your choice to rip that man's arm off. He knew." He barked and then edged closer so she could reach his collar. "Take a cell regeneration pill."

Sakura reached for one of the light blue pills. She was fine on chakra, but because of the rapid cell division, she needed the medicine she had developed using the Mizu jellyfish's adaptations to reverse the age of her oldest cells and return them to their youngest form. It only seemed to work after rapid cell loss so it wasn't exactly the elixir of immortality she had hoped to create, but it was good enough for helping cancel out the negative side effects of her most famous life saving technique.

"The kid blew himself up on purpose. There's no corpse to bring back is there?"

Sakura blinked and started to see shapes as more of her eyes regrew. It was a lengthy process that she cursed. Battles wouldn't wait for her. Where was Shisui? She would be incapacitated for another four minutes. That encounter had lasted less than twenty seconds. Where was Shisui?

"Souta!" The dog barked in reply. "Take Mop and follow Chainsaw to where Shisui is. Waffles will be there soon. Dango, help me here so I can provide them with backup."

The dogs moved as a single cell, dashing to their jobs without delay. Her pack.

Sakura grit her teeth, feeling their edges as the most painful part of the healing came up: regrowing the lost nerves.

She screamed and then snarled and almost thrashed as pain made her blind. It was a medical miracle how she was able to even recover so much on her own when she was in such a state, but all she could comprehend at that moment was PAIN.

Dango whined low and it turned into a howl that helped to guide her back.

"I'm going to kill him," Sakura snarled as she grasped what she could of her sanity. The anger helped her focus on something other than the pain of being burned alive-only backwards.

She heard her name being called and she reached for Dango who was trying to get as close to her as possible without hurting her further. She smelled terrible, like burn hair and blood and gore, but he didn't seem to care.

"We'll get him."

"I'm going to kill him, Tenzo!"

She couldn't feel it like she used to, but she stood on numb legs. She felt like she was made of clouds as she staggered once and then inhaled. She smelled so bad but she knew there were other things out there for her to track.

"This way," Dango barked before taking off in the direction of the rest of the pack.

There was no one else in the forest and she cursed the laziness of her friends. Hadn't they seen the explosion that blinded her-that killed her!? Or had Danzo prepared for such a possibility? Likely.

"Lead the way!" Sakura snarled, unable to speak in any other manner.

She tore into the earth, feeling it under her toes. Her sandals were gone, like most of the front of her flack vest. It flapped like broken wings behind her as she ran.

When another assassin came at her to take her out before reaching Danzo she didn't give him the opportunity to detonate. Her fist was full of chakra and he was leagues away from her with a hole through his chest before he knew he had died.

She had been careless once and she wasn't about to repeat the same costly mistake. She had learned her lesson and the blood was still thick across her face. She didn't want to know what she looked like with parts of her hair sheared off and others grimy with blood.

She was careful and the third person she killed was a girl with soft red hair, dyed black in places. She didn't scream but died like the one before her, with a hole right through her. Sakura didn't think about how she was killing leaf shinobi because she couldn't. She was too busy trying to survive and she wasn't strong enough to pull her punches anymore.

Sakura found herself digging into an incline and recognize the path they were taking. She pressed herself as much as she dared, knowing the way by heart and stumbling upon the dueling figures within a stone's throw from home.

Her heel came down between them and both Danzo and Shisui were fast enough to avoid it, she noticed in a strange delayed sort of way that Shisui was injured and one half of his face was bloody-though not like hers.

He called out to her but Sakura ignored him completely, turning and launching herself at Danzo before she could think about it.

For an old man he moved exceptionally well, and it would have been too much if her pack was unable to keep his subordinates away from him. She heard Dango go straight for Shisui and heard alarm in his bark, but didn't hesitate.

"I'm ordering you to stand down, Haruno," Danzo growled.

"He's lying, I didn't attack anyone!"

Sakura snarled something inhuman and felt her palm open to swipe at him with claws instead of chakra fused fists. It didn't connect but she realized her mistake before she could counter with a new attack. Her rage made her careless. She wouldn't allow it to keep her from her revenge.

She was almost on top of him, close enough to shatter his chest, but another shinobi in an ANBU mask came in and knocked her hand down into the earth. Sakura rolled into him and backhanded him across the field. He hit a tree and his mask fell away.

She saw his face and didn't believe it, turning instead to rage into where Danzo was struggling up to his feet. Someone called out a name but she didn't know who or what was said. Everything was a mess around her as she zeroed in on Danzo. Nothing else mattered.

A cloth was striped between her and him-a distraction?!

Sakura ducked around it and rounded with her heel raised. Over her knee she saw something red and then he reached for her with a dozen red-red-red-red eyes.

"It's not a perfect because I'm not an Uchiha, but I am still able to perform the Tsukuyomi."

Sakura looked up and saw a sick yellow sky that started to bleed to red, like it was being stained by blood. She glanced down and saw her hands shackled in chains and connected to the ground. The world around her was black and smoky, like the rocks and divits in the earth had a hard time holding their own shape.

"What?" Sakura still felt her rage but a new fear forced its way into her mouth.

"This is your nightmare, or more technically, this is the Tsukuyomi of an Uchiha who died several years ago. I'm not able to hold it for longer than a day, whereas the original user could have made it a good three days, but I think that's frankly impressive considering the circumstances."

Danzo stood in front of her with his shirt ripped away and his robe torn down to the waist. His right arm was covered in spinning red eyes, each looking in a new direction, one was bleeding as it stayed fixed on her.

"You monster." Sakura felt herself pinch in terror. "What have you done?"

"I've defended myself against dissidents. I was attacked on your lands after being summoned there." He tilted his head to the side and almost smiled. "Don't you remember?"

A forged paper fell between them.

"No one would believe that scrap. I would never-"

"I didn't believe it either, which is why I took my personal guard with me. Your esteemed Hokage insisted I wouldn't need them though. Imagine my surprise when half of them ended up dead."

Sakura felt her rage mount. "Shisui?"

"A distraction. I knew you would come if the pieces were all in play. You're more predictable than you think." He inclined his head in her direction. "The arms? How tacky."

"The Uchiha would vouch for me. I was at their home having dinner with them. They-"

"Would get swallowed up in this assassination plot just as well as you. I'll thank you now before we get down to business. It's been such a bother dealing with them, but after this I think we can continue with our best laid plans."

Sakura felt almost too angry to speak, but the words came out of her mouth like she couldn't help them. "Tenzo. The shinobi I backhanded, he looked just like-he looked like him."

"His name is Yamato and he is an upstanding shinobi. You nearly killed him. Maybe you did. Maybe he's bleeding out right now. But yes the similarities between twin brothers is quite striking." He smirked at her. "I don't think there are any flames of romance to burn between you two now that you've nearly killed him. Sorry to ruin that for you."

Sakura felt like there was salt in all her wounds, like she was burning from them all over. She had played into his hands, incriminated the Uchiha, let down Naruto and Sai who she was supposed to protect above all else, and attacked Tenzo's brother….a boy raised in darkness after Orochimaru's experiments. Hadn't Danzo financed the snake bastard through all of that? Danzo had been the one to grab the children, she suspected. It made sense.

"You can't do this. No one will believe you."

"All the ones still left alive will swear up and down. They've been brainwashed with Yamanaka mind techniques. No one will believe Shisui if he lives, not with those cursed eyes of his."

Sakura felt the tears. "You're a monster. You're the rot of this village. Because of you-"

"We have survived this long! Foolish girl. How do you think we have grown to be such a superpower in the world with as many enemies? Because we are strong. Because we are ruthless. Because I do not allow us to fall. Even your precious Hokage knows this. Why else would he forgive so much."

A sick thought rolled in her gut. "Does he know about this?"

"About me incriminating you?" Danzo scoffed. "He would have dissuaded me. His intention was for you to mentor the Fourth's brat."

"Naruto."

"Excuse me?"

Sakura looked up and snarled. "His name is Naruto."

"Inconsequential."

He loomed larger than possible and Sakura felt a pull as her chains clattered upwards. She was raised up into the air and then pulled onto a cross. Nails stabbed through her feet in place of chains. She felt the spikes in her palms too-even though one arm should have been fake. In the dream world she could feel that much.

Shuriken tore through her one after the other. They passed right through her-in one way, out the other- taking strings of meat and blood with them during each passing. She screamed as they kept coming. She was emptied and then healed and then emptied again, for hours.

Then there were swords. Danzo stabbed at her again and again. Sometimes he took his time serving out pieces of her and other times he was as fast as sight.

Sakura lost track of time, but she felt like it went on forever. He said it would only be a day, and she knew she could do torture if there was an end to it. She could do it. He wouldn't have her forever.

And then it wasn't Danzo, but it was Kakashi, Hana, Tsunade, and finally Tenzo stabbing her through. And it should have been the worst thing ever, but for as horrible as he was, Danzo was unable to sway her heart and make her believe that the people she loved were really the ones hurting her. Because Tenzo didn't smile like that, and Hana always smelled like dog, and she had seen Kakashi under his mask, and Tsunade would never be so composed.

"You're shit at this, Danzo. I'm going to kill you once all of this is done."

"You won't be able to stand after all this is done."

Sakura snorted and clawed for the last bit of her sanity to muster up one last quip. "That's what the last guy said, but he wasn't anything to write home about."

She lost her arm, and then her leg. The stumps grew infested with worms that ate up the rest of her, only to start over again. Then Yamato or Tenzo was there, watching her at her ugliest.

In the end her cross crumbled and she fell forever.

She came out of the illusion screaming and her eyes weren't working. She could feel the blood on her face but couldn't tell if it was from the regeneration earlier or because something had happened to her eyes. She was blind.

"Take her. I'll take the Uchiha." That was Danzo.

"SAKURA!" That was Shisui.

She heard a whimper and then a snarl, followed by howls of pain. There was something loud and then wind was all around her. She couldn't focus on any of it. She felt the proximity and lashes out with an open hand but someone grabbed her by her throat and shoved her into the dirt.

For all her justu and genius there was nothing she could do.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!"

The weight was gone and she blinked hard enough that something started to come into focus. Sakura couldn't see color, it was too dark for it, but she knew that voice.

"It's the Kyūbi brat!"

"Sai, do your job. Restrain him."

Sakura blinked and saw a ruffled looking Naruto standing in front of her. Shisui was across the way, too much blood on half his face and one eye was bloated and closed. Sai was next to Naruto with his back to her, but Sakura could see how he trembled.

"Sai!" Danzo yelled. The boy flinched but didn't move.

"You can't tell my friend what to do and you can't hurt her anymore!" Naruto screamed. "I"m going to be Hokage one day and I'll always stop people like you. That's a promise and I never break a promise, that's my ninja way!"

Danzo sneered and then composed himself. He didn't shout but gestured to Yamato who was shaking his head and standing. "Deal with the Kyūbi before this becomes a mess. We can rehabilitate Sai at a later date."

"I told you that ya can't! He's my friend and I won't let you hurt him!"

Yamato began to move and Naruto made a seal with his hands but it failed because there was too much chakra and he couldn't make it work. He tried again as Yamato drew closer. Again it failed.

Sai stepped in front of Naruto but Yamato bat him away like he was something brittle and Sai fell onto his side, even more white than usual and sweating all over. His whole body looked like it was in pain.

"We can figure out what story to spin with the Kyūbi back at base."

Yamato reached for Naruto.

Blood jumped from the wound she made on his hand and his body followed the momentum into the mud. Sakura then kicked Yamato hard in the gut, enough to knock him out, but not enough to kill. Her face was a mess of blood but she could see better than before.

"His name is Naruto and you can't have him," Sakura seethed under her breath.

Danzo sighed, turning away from Shisui and raised a hand.

"Now!" Sakura screamed.

She ducked just in time for a black blur to pass overhead and tackle the elder to the ground. Waffles held him in her jaws just as Mop and Souta trotted into the clearing. Each dog had a number of wounds, but that didn't keep them from growling low and looking vicious with their teeth bared.

"Kill him," Dango growled, standing over Shisui. The other Root operative was knocked out from blood loss he had already stopped.

For framing her, for Sai, for Naruto, for all his crimes against the Uchiha, for his murders, for his dark decisions, he deserved nothing more.

Waffles stepped back, her bloody paw the only thing left on his chest, but moved to sit on his mutated arm.

Danzo chuckled when she knelt on his chest with a curved knife under his chin. "You won't survive this. Leaf won't survive without me."

Her knife trembled. It wasn't even a kunai, like that made a difference. It was still going to murder him.

"You have festered long enough," Sakura whispered.

She felt something cold overcome her. She could finally feel the details of his chakra, see how tapped his body really was. Using Tsukuyomi had drained him too much.

He glared up at her, but there was still poise in his tone, like he didn't believe she would do it. "Then kill me and be done with it. Let Leaf burn above my grave. It will all be because of you, murderer."

She felt the bodies all around her stir. The ROOT operatives who weren't dead would soon rouse. She needed to be fast.

"I'm not a murderer, I'm a shinobi."

Her left arm opened and from the compartment in her fake arm a senbon coated in green winked in the moonlight. She pulled it and swung it like a sewing needle into his neck.

Danzo tensed as the toxins leaked into his blood from the wound. She watched his eye go wide and face pale. She closed up the compartment on her arm and clicked it shut as the councilman shook into a rigid recline. Waffles backed up too.

A moment later he went stiff.

"Is he dead?" Shisui asked, his voice a whisper.

Sakura still felt cold all over, like she had been somehow thrown far away from the anger that once burned her up inside. "No. He will live to see trial. I can't be a murder who plotted his murder if I bring him back like this. Not even the Hokage can pardon his actions after this."

"You're going to let him live."

Sakura glanced back at Shisui and then down at Danzo. "Not how I see it. I'm letting him suffer. That toxin doesn't have an antidote. It'll take days, maybe weeks for his old body to filter out. I won't kill him, but this will still be my justice."

Sakura turned on her heel and walked over to where Naruto was crying over Sai who looked sick with fever. Sakura pressed his mouth open and looked inside. The seal on his tongue was burning and then breaking up in parts before fading away.

"It's going to be fine, his body is in shock right now, but Sai is strong so he'll survive this." Sakura ruffled his hair and smiled at Naruto. "You saved me and you saved him."

"He-he-you were going to die. You still look like you're going to die. Sai said you were going to die but I didn't want to believe him."

Sakura hummed low. "He did. Then I guess you both saved my life together. I owe you one, kid."

Naruto crumpled into her arms with one fist still closed around Sai's wrist. Sakura gathered both boys up and tucked them close to her chest, not caring how they were older and too big to fit on her lap or anything like that.

In a few months they would all graduate together.

"Come on, let's drop this guy off and then go home."

Naruto sniffled into the shred of her shirt but nodded. She wiped his face clear with her wooden hand.

"Sakura," Dango whined from behind her.

She turned to look over her shoulder and saw Waffles standing at the edge of the clearing with something white and limp in her mouth. Her heart sunk.

"Chainsaw," she gasped as Waffles lowered the dog into her hands.

Naruto made room to let the dog take his place and gasped with new tears at the way the dog settled into her arms in barely held together pieces. There was a little blood, but the body was obviously broken. His muzzle was bloody like he had sunk his teeth into someone.

"Stupid dog, you're a sensor," Sakura whisper sobbed. "You're not supposed to do the fighting, just the finding. Stuu-upid." Her words caught on different sobs as she started to leak chakra through her hands into his body.

"No," Naruto cried.

It was barely a sound, but chainsaw whimpered and managed to force his tongue out to lick her bare thumb. Naruto choked on a gasp as the black lines from Sakura's seal stretched out over her arms and onto his body. Chainsaw whimpered louder as his body broke again and he was forced back together and then healed.

"I'm not losing any of my family tonight," Sakura whispered as the last of her energies seeped out of her.

The moon was a cut of a smile in the sky, shining down on them through the broken clouds, but they found their way down to the Hokage's mansion where Sakura proceeded to read Sarutobi the riot act for 'sending Danzo to kill her on her way home' or something like that.

Sarutobi denied it but Sakura didn't relent.

"You spared his life when you knew what sort of man he was to you and then to me, so this is your responsibility no matter how dirty. Either deal with him or start digging our graves," Sakura snarled with no room left in her voice for respect.

Waffles threw Danzo's limp body down and the guards beside Sarutobi flinched at the half open but mostly closed eyes on his arm as well as the state of his body.

"What has he done?" one of them asked.

"What have you let him do?" Sakura growled.

They were then all strong armed into the hospital and Sakura insisted with, threats and coercion finely honed from years of working the ghost hours at the hospital, to all be given one communal room.

Sakura slept with her dogs all under her bed, except for Waffles who wouldn't fit, and Chainsaw who stayed on her lap.

She woke up a week later.

Sakura ran a hand through her hair, or what was left of it. She reached for the damp cloth to wipe away any excess hair that stuck to her neck after the shaving. Her hair had been horrible looking after the fight and instead of working through it Sakura had decided to cut it all off.

The sides were shaved shorter than the top, but she could still see the places where her hair refused to hold color. Parts and patches would grow in white and she grimaced at what that might look like.

The door to the outside rolled open and Dango huffed in greeting, but Sakura didn't hear or see anything from where she was in the tiny bathroom. Still, she knew his chakra well enough by now.

"What did they say?" she asked without leaving the mirror.

"It's not going as smoothly as we would like, Danzo is playing the misunderstanding angle again. He's even offered to come apologize to you directly."

Sakura felt her fingers curl around the sink. "And how did he explain trying to take your eye?"

Shisui moved so she could see his reflection in the mirror behind her. He wore a silk eye patch over his injured eye, protecting it while it healed from the trauma of being nearly plucked out. They were still waiting to see if he would be able to use it the same way.

"He was real talkative about that bit, citing a lot of covert intelligence about my abilities. He claimed it was too much to leave unfettered or something like that. He freaked out when he saw me, supposedly.

"Sarutobi?" Sakura asked.

Shisui winced but didn't chastise her. "Hokage sama is unreadable at this time. He's asked for recess on the hearing until tomorrow. I think having you there might help."

Sakura sighed deep and then pushed away from the sink. The towel around her head fell down to her shoulder and she flung it back into the sink. She saw the moment her new haircut registered with the Uchiha but neither mentioned anything about it.

"It depends on the time. I promised I would help the boys out at the academy. Naruto has finally gotten a handle on creating shadow clones. I think telling him it was a forbidden technique helped more than anything."

"It was kind of the Hokage to part with his scroll for Naruto."

Sakura snorted. "Nice isn't the word I would use. He owes that kid a lot more than some dusty old scroll with basic clone techniques."

"Where are the brats now?"

"With your cousins. I'm on my way to pick them up now. I've been officially discharged."

Shisui smiled to himself. "Like that matters anything to you. I'm sure you could have forced yourself out whenever you wanted."

"Forced is a strong word. I'd just tell them and they would let me. It's the least they could do for all the extra work I've helped them with over the years."

"I'll walk you out then," Shisui said, pointing to the door.

Sakura hummed and then reached down to pick up Chainsaw and cradle him in her arms. His legs were all still healing so she left her flack jacket open wide enough for him to nestle there. He was bigger than he had been a year ago but he still fit. It was the only upside to small breasts in her opinion.

The rest of her pack stood and silently stalked behind her at a matching pace while Shisui fell into step beside her.

They were outside and halfway down the main road when he stopped to face her. Sakura took an extra step ahead of him before turning and looking back. Once he had her eye he bent low at the waist with his arms pressed to his sides.

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Danzo's shit isn't for you to be apologizing for."

"No-not that. I mean what I said several days ago when you were, when I was trying to invite you to have dinner with me." He swallowed audibly. "I was rude."

Sakura could see it meant a lot to Shisui but didn't give it that much more thought. "You're fine, I don't even remember what you said so don't sweat it. Stand up already."

When he stood up his face was set and the unclothed eye was just as determined. "I want to try again."

"What?"

"I want to ask you to dinner. Please let me make you a dinner, or take you out. I want to-I would like to go out with you."

"Shisui I…" Sakura looked around her for something to save her. Her chest hurt and she felt her face flush. She didn't know what she was supposed to say to her friend.

"I know you don't like me, or you don't look at me like that right now. I understand you might even have feelings for someone else, but I would still like the chance to treat you out because I really like you and I think you deserve it."

"What do you mean someone I like-I don't-I-"

"It's fine," Shisui chuckled, face softening as he watched her fluster in the middle of the road. "I have always liked a Sakura who liked someone else, that's not going to change. I just want the chance to grow closer to you, maybe as friends even."

"You sound plenty confident," Sakura chuckled, feeling her chest flutter as her face stayed hot.

"I'm really not, but I am pretty desperate. It was in the back of my head the whole time, but then when Danzo attacked this thought that I hadn't done my best started to scream at me and I regretted how I treated you so childishly. Just because I didn't get my way I turned sour and what's worse, I didn't apologize about it but instead ignored you. I hated it and I didn't want to die like that." He paused watching her for a moment more. "When you showed up I didn't know if it was real or some horrible trick pulled straight out of my heart."

"I'm pretty sure I looked horrible, so it would have been a nightmare to see."

Shisui blushed and ducked his head, scratching at the base of his scalp. "Nah, I think you're always amazing no matter what. You're a badass."

Sakura snorted and clutched Chainsaw closer. He was huffing happily in content. "I think something is wrong with your remaining eye, Shisui Uchiha."

"I guess I need a medic who knows what she's doing to take a look at it. It needs to be someone I trust though."

"Funny." Sakura laughed again. "I guess I could do a dinner."

"Really!"

Her face still felt warm. "Don't act so surprised. It's not that big of a deal."

"It's a date!"

"O-oi, you said even as friends though!"

"It's a date between friends but it's still a date!" Shisui laughed, bouncing up and down. "I'm going to take you out. No! I'm going to cook for you, that way you can see how good of a house husband I can be."

"Hou-hou-husba-" Sakura spittered, feeling the heat intensify under her skin. "Husb-what?" She couldn't even speak.

Before she could form the words Shisui leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, then flicker stepped away, leaving nothing behind but his laughter to ring in her ears.

Sakura whimpered and then crumpled at the knees, holding her face in her hands while Dango chuckled along beside her.

"It's about time you got back out there."

"Shu-shu-shut up!"

Life imprisonment was too kind, but Sakura was appeased by the ruling because the gag order on her that kept her from talking about the true events was also a part of the punishment to be lost from Danzo.

Sakura didn't waste time tarnishing Danzo's good name, especially with the youth. Some elders and old folks didn't like hearing that one of the heroes they trusted and respected so much was so terrible a person and refused to believe the stories of child experiments and abductions. That pissed Sakura off, but she made herself content with the youth who were able to see right from wrong without so much bias.

Life almost returned to normal after that. Sakura wasn't sure what normal was, but things settled and tensions eased and that was good enough for her.

She even got used to the haircut, and the way it made her finally seem like an adult. She had never had her hair short, Kakashi played with it when it was long, but she had to admit it made some things easier for her. Also, Naruto thought it made her look more like one of her dogs, and coming from him that was a compliment.

"So yeah, I think I'll stay like this, Sensei."

Sakura stared down at the memorial stone and traced over the names almost too small to read. Too many friends had their names in stone, but she always felt the need to confess to Kakashi sensei instead of anyone else, even Tenzo.

She imagined Kakashi smiling down at her from wherever he sat and nodding along to her stories. He would have been so proud to hear about how she handled herself with Danzo. He would have laughed at how mad she got at the old people who thought Danzo should still be respected for all the good things he did. He would have pretended to ignore her after a while and then chuckle sheepishly when she yelled at him for it.

"The kids are still all brats though. I mean, I don't think that's going to change anytime soon but I thought at least that things would quiet down with time," Sakura sighed out loud. "Naruto never slows down and the dogs are just as bad. How did you do it, Kakashi sensei? How did you manage it all?"

Sakura held back all the other things she wanted to say as a new presence came into the clearing. The ANBU guards flickered away and Sarutobi walked up the rest of the way to stand beside her.

"He dealt with it the same way you will deal with it. He took things one day at a time."

"Is that the secret to it all?" Sakura coyly inquired.

"You're not satisfied with the way things played out?" He hummed.

"I don't think it is in my nature to be so easily sated, sir. I'm still eager to do more."

"It is alright to be pleased with your work every once and awhile. I hear Torune Aburame is making some progress in reintegrating to the clan. Shibi sends you his thanks for returning his nephew to the clan."

"I didn't do that bit," Sakura mumbled, ducking her head and going red behind the ears because of the praise. "He should have been free to go home much sooner."

Sarutobi grew quiet and a moment of stillness settled between then before he spoke again. "I understand your feelings. You care deeply for others to the point of it being painful. It's why you closed yourself off, after all. But we do not live in a world meant for peace, and every day is a day I wake up wondering if some great terror is there to darken our doorway. There are some measures you might not agree with that are necessary for survival."

Sakura felt her body coil in anger. She wanted to lash out but she held herself back. In front of the memorial stone where the dead were remembered, she had to listen to an old man try and make excuses for unparalleled evil.

Because while it was okay to expect such dark behaviors from an enemy, or another nation honed and ready for war, it was that much worse when the actions came from a village that professed peace and were the 'friendly ones,' after all.

"Hokage sama, there was a individual in ROOT, I think he was named Yamato. What happened to him?"

Sarutobi hummed and looked up, stroking his beard. "I don't see any harm in saying he's safe and working in my direct service this time. You might see him around, you might not, it depends on how good he is at his job."

"So he's back in ANBU."

He smiled at her slyly. "I wouldn't tell you that."

"It's not like I needed to see him for anything, I was just curious. He looked just like Tenzo but older and I thought I heard they might have been twins or brothers. It doesn't matter to me at the end of the day, but I'm glad to hear he's working all right."

"There you go with that big heart of yours. I knew you still had it in you."

"Is that why I'm being groomed for sensei duty?"

"Why, I believe Sakura Sensei has a nice ring to it, don't you?"

Sakura groaned and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm already the caretaker to those two. Who do you think you'll give me to make it a three man team? Sasuke or Kiba?"

"Did you hear the Aburame requested you too?" Sarutobi's eyes were alight with a mischievous gleam. "These clan heads can be annoying when they all clatter for the same thing, but I'm afraid I will have to sow my good favor with the Uchiha in this case so there might be a harvest to reap."

It took a moment before Sakura caught his subtle meaning. "You plan on taking Itachi on as an apprentice?"

"I've heard some people think I am too old for the job."

Sakura held back a snort but she didn't hold it back well enough for him to miss it. Sarutobi eyed her critically before loudly huffing.

"It is time someone with the ideals of a pacifist take my place. Let us see what he can bring about in the years to come. Some might not like having an Uchiha as Hokage."

"There will always be stupid people that believe stupid things," Sakura mumbled. Her thoughts drifted back to the old folks who still believed in Danzo. It was frustrating how stubborn and stupid they were.

"Itachi will do well. He has a strong clan to back him and plenty of good favor from all the people he has worked with. It is hard not to appreciate him."

"Sasuke will be proud. So, speaking of kids, when do they graduate?"

"If they pass?"

"They're going to pass. What's the date for that?"

He laughed and the forest around them seemed to shudder with the sound. "Ah, it is soon enough. You have a couple of months yet to brace for the lifestyle change."

"It-it won't be that much different."

Sarutobi laughed again and pulled out his pipe from inside his robe. It was not lit but he rested it on his lips just as well. He eyed her slyly. "You keep telling yourself that, dear."

Sakura woke up in the night, reaching for Waffle's fur, only to find empty air. She hadn't woken from a nightmare, and she seemed fine, but there was a tickle in her brain that told her she needed to be alert.

She heard a shaky inhale and turned to look at the doorway. Sai's silhouette stood in the doorway, and she could just make out the trails down his face, reflecting silver moonlight.

It wasn't unusual for Naruto to have nightmares and cry, but the dogs almost always calmed him down and it wasn't a big deal. Sai never cried. Even when he was hurt, Sakura had never seen him cry.

"Sai, baby, what's wrong?" She asked.

Sakura crawled over to the edge of the bed on her hand and knees, having left her prosthetic in the box for sleep. She sat at the edge of the bed and held out her hand for him.

Sai took one shaky step and then another. One after the other, like each lift of his leg pained him. Eventually he was close enough to reach and she tugged him over to her bed so that he stood between her knees and was level with her eyes.

"Sai, honey," Sakura called out in a softer tone. She spoke to him in near whisper volume, instinctively knowing and acting on what she thought he needed to hear. "What's wrong?"

"There's no one anymore. I don't know what to do."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, even as her suspicions grew.

"There are no more orders. I don't know what to do. What am I supposed to do now when no one needs me?" he asked in a voice that sounded more broken than any child's voice has a right to. It made her chest hurt to hear him speak like that.

"You mean you're not getting any more orders from ROOT, right?" Sai nodded and Sakura exhaled. "They raised you. It has to be hard to not have them anymore, but you are not alone. You hear me, honey, you are not alone."

"Naruto doesn't understand."

"Understand what?"

"I lost them. I don't have orders anymore and Naruto is my friend, but he isn't going to tell me what to do. He's never lost like this."

"What...do you want to do? You are free to choose anything you want now."

"I don't want to!" Sai snapped. He was shaking with emotion now. "I don't want to have to choose anything. I don't want to do that. I just, I want someone to tell me what to do. It's gone. They're all gone and I'm….I'm still here…."

Sakura felt terrible as she tugged the small child closer. He was thin and frail and barely a twelve year old but he looked far too lost. Someone that he had always identified with and drawn support and direction from had been taken from him. Sakura didn't regret what she did with Danzo or the fall of ROOT, but her heart broke for Sai.

"Listen, Sai. I am the one who took away the man who gave you orders. I am responsible for all the pain you are feeling right now. Blame me if you have to. But I took his place in your life for a reason. I'm your guardian now, and one day I might be your sensei who gives you orders into battle. I hope I am, one day, because my orders are simple and clear. Do you want to know what they are?"

Sai nodded but didn't speak.

Sakura raised a finger. "First, those who break the rules and don't complete the mission are trash. You should always try your best to complete the mission, but those who abandon their friends and teammates are worse than trash."

"Sakura chan, while those who break the rules of the ninja world are trash, those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash." Kakashi's voice in her brain rolled like a sweet memory, even years later.

"You must carve these words on your heart, Sai, because theses are the words I live by, along with all those under me."

"You want me to-you still want me?"

Sakura nodded. "Yes. I'll still give you orders though, even if you don't want to. All you need to do is graduate the academy with Naruto and Sasuke. Then I will be your sensei."

"Sensei."

Sakura didn't hate the way it sounded when Sai said it.

"Yeah….I-I guess so," Sakura muttered, looking away and blushing.

She heard a scuffle in the doorway and looked up to see Mop and Souta. One of Mop's eyes had been too badly damaged in the last fight so he wore a black silk eye patch over it until the stitches healed. He claimed he liked the way it made him look cool and asked Sakura if she would let him keep it, even after the stitches healed.

Souta whined low and made room for Naruto to stumble in with Chainsaw curled up in his arms. The smaller dog's head rested on Naruto's shoulder.

"Naruto?" Sakura called out. She was worried he had woken from a nightmare as well. "What's wrong?"

"I heard you guys," he yawned.

He stumbled the rest of the way into the room and then helped himself to the bed, climbing to the middle of it and collapsing there. Chainsaw woke, yawned, and then got up out of Naruto's arms to curl up into a ball behind his bent knees.

"Hey, this isn't your bed," Sakura chuckled. She reached for Naruto and felt his face with a bit of chakra. He was fine. His chakra was docile and he seemed at peace. No sign of nightmares.

"He's not going to leave. I guess you have to sleep on the couch now," Dango chuckled, trotting into the room and laying his head on the edge of her mattress. His scars were all healed and he looked no worse than he had before the fight.

"Quit chuckling at me. Move over Sai, we're going to make a Naruto sandwich."

Sakura awkwardly turned around and tugged at the back of Sai's shirt to guide him to a place on the bed behind Naruto. With one hand she then waved to the rest of the dogs who whined eagerly. As soon as they saw the signal they scattered to take up places on the mattress around the boys and Sakura.

"Looks familiar," Dango chuckled. He reached out and licked the side of Sai's face when he saw the boy start to stirr. "Settle now, pups. Time for rest. No more nightmares."

Sakura laid down around the boys and watched them all breath easily. Sai soon drifted off to sleep along with the rest of her pack. Before she followed them down into a dreamless slumber she felt a pang in her heart.

How many times had her pack curled up around her at night to chase away nightmares? She was glad they were doing the same for the boys.

Several months later

"A bell test? What do you mean, Sakura chan? I thought we already became ninjas with these headbands," Naruto whined.

Sakura reached out and flicked his nose. "Sensei! Sakura sensei. I got a jacket to prove it an everything, so remember better."

Naruto huffed but rubbed his nose and nodded along. "Yeah, yeah, old lady."

"What was that?" Sakura bellowed. Behind her Waffles howled and the sound made Naruto shiver down to his bones as he scrambled to hide behind Sai.

"Sensei! Sakura sensei! Sorry, sorry, I'm sorry!"

Sakura crossed her arms and looked over the trio. "That's what I thought. Listen up you brats. You all did a great job and passed your academy exams. You're ninja of the village, but that could change depending on how well you do with my entrance exam."

"You have an additional entrance exam?" Sasuke asked, an eager glint in his eyes as he steeled himself for whatever she would say next.

Sasuke had been overly eager to prove himself to her and stand out, since he was the only one who didn't live with her. He had complained about it to the other boys how it wasn't fair that they got extra help at home, but Sai pointed out that Sasuke was the only one with a brother who was going to be Hokage.

Sasuke had only thrown his hands up and then started to complain about how Itachi never had any time for him at home and Shisui was too annoying to work with.

"Of course. I'm a pretty big deal to have as a sensei, so I can chose to send you all back to the academy if I don't think you can work under me. To prove you have what it takes, you will be taking the bell test!"

Sakura pulled a pair of bells out from her back pocket and turned them around on her fingers.

"Is it a retrieval mission?" Sai asked, eyes narrowed keenly.

"Good guess. That's sort of the easiest way to explain it. I've got these bells you need to steal from me before the gong rings at noon. This is what my sensei had us do before and after being deployed during war times. Back then there was no way he was going to not take us-the village needed bodies in a war, but we almost failed the first time, regardless."

"Wasn't your sensei super powerful?" Naruto asked.

"He was," Sakura said, closing her eyes and nodding. "But he was also very wise and he taught me how to be a ninja with a ninja way. I am going to tell it to you now and then you are going to try your best to take these bells from me. Understand?"

"Yes!" All three cheered together.

Sakura caught Sai's eye and grinned. She raised a single finger.

"First, those who break the rules and don't complete the mission are trash. You should always try your best to complete the mission, but those who abandon their friends and teammates are worse than trash."

The dogs barked all around her.

"Now, go to it!"

AN:/ Done.

I'm sorry for the delay. I meant to update this weeks ago, but work switched up and required me to come in on Saturdays and then last week was ComicCon week so I was a limp pineapple trying to mentally piece myself back together after that. This is the first break I've had since and later today I need to turn over my laptop for 'hopefully' some repairs. It's been dying and doing bad things so I would like for the smart people to fix it cheaply is so I don't have to shell out 12 hundred for another one. :) I'm not hyperventilation in fear, I'm not, I'm not.

I like how this finished. I mean to say, I am satisfied with how this story ended. It got a little gory there, but no one died this time, and everyone got to see a happy almost ending. Shisui got his date, and knowing Sakura's tendency to fall for dorks, that'll probably go well even if Itachi thinks they are mismatched and ill suited to each other.

'He's too much of an idiot to be with Sakura.'

Iruka hummed knowingly. 'Yeah, she' much better suited to being with a guy who's on track to being Hokage or something, huh?'

Itachi blushed red all over but didn't waver as he answered with a strong, 'Maybe so!'

Yamato and Itachi end up being friends partly because of how much Shisui dislikes the ANBU operative who looks like his girlfriend's dead lover. Itachi knows better but Shisui is petty and frets too much to not be cute. Anytime they have a minor argument Shisui cries about how she's going to leave him and live in the forest with the 'wood man.'

I really loved this story and I'm sad to see it end, but I'm glad it's so well finished. UTRM was started on a lark and I'm struggling to figure our how to continue it to its end, but with this story I always knew. I'm glad with how it all went and I hope you enjoyed it too!

Feel free to leave me a review and tell me what you thought? Was there something I missed in the wrap up? Was there something else you wanted to see?