CHAPTER 46

Sasuke sat – or rather was sprawled – on a seat in front of Danzo's desk. His eyes searching and questioning, in a rather analytic manner. No anger, no rage and no emotions. His mind was just trying to read Danzo's face and words carefully.

"I don't think I have to repeat myself." Danzo said in his usual impatient tone, to which Sasuke simply kept on staring making the older man sigh. "I have nothing to do with anything with whatever is going on with the medic."

"Sakura."

"With Sakura." He bit. "Don't test my patience."

"She's got a name." He said rather courtly. It was only in times like these – in which Danzo and Sasuke were on their own – where Sasuke took the liberty of being less formal with his teacher. Danzo was a hard and ruthless man, but he wasn't as bad when it came to his student.

"You also can't possibly expect me to know what you're accusing me of if you haven't even told me what happened." Danzo explained with a rather uncharacteristic patience.

"You would know what I'm talking about." Sasuke replied vaguely and Danzo observed him for a moment, making the Uchiha wonder for a moment if he was upset by his lack of trust.

"Also, if there's someone I want out of the way, I do the job right and you know that. I don't dislike her in that way."

"I know you don't like her." Sasuke retorted.

"And that's where you're wrong, again." Danzo explained. "It's not that I 'don't like her'. It's just that she's not fit to be a ninja, nor an Uchiha matriarch. It's her character that bothers me when it comes to those issues. I don't consider her a threat. Yet."

Yet. Danzo was always open to considering other people a threat or enemies. He never trusted anyone fully and Sasuke wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing in a Kage. Given the matter at hand, he decided to not consider his last sentence. "I disagree."

"Of course you do, you're a brat." Danzo snorted and Sasuke glared back. "You only care about how you feel because you're still a kid. The moment you become the head of the Uchihas you'll understand how her character will only mean trouble for the clan, for your family. The heads of important clans are meant to be composed, cold when needed, disciplined and rational - just like any other important leader - and that's the reason why clans always choose carefully who the heir will marry; that's why they always raise their kids in a strict manner."

Sasuke stayed quiet for a moment, eyes closed, and then spoke up. "Sakura isn't how you make her sound. Also, it doesn't have to be that way with clans."

"Maybe it shouldn't be that way, but that's the way it is. That's how it works."

Sasuke's memories and views of the way he was raised were still fresh in his mind. "Maybe that's what should change."

Danzo laughed once, and it was a strange mixture between amusement and sarcasm. He only lifted his hand and waved in a dismissive manner. "Get out of here, kid. You're too young to be teaching me. After all, I won't be changing your mind; you're as stubborn as your father."

Sasuke clicked his tongue. "I just expect you to not interfere with my life. Or Sakura's."

"I won't as long as she's not asking for it and we've already discussed this."

"Aa." Sasuke nodded his head in greeting and left the office at once.

Sasuke had wondered for a moment if Danzo was behind Sakura's seal. He knew the Hokage didn't like her, after all. But Sasuke knew him well - much more than Danzo would be comfortable knowing - and he was quite sure that he wasn't behind it. A part of him was frustrated because he had no other clues or concrete ideas and it had taken him weeks to find Danzo alone to talk, but also another part of him was glad. If Danzo were to be behind the attack on someone close to him, he wouldn't really know how to react. After all, despite the many flaws he had, Danzo had been an important part of his recent years as his sensei.

-x-

Sakura and Ino had gotten into a fight. They'd never fought like this before. When younger, it had been childish banter and rivalry, and afterwards it had usually been a friendly teasing. This had been something else. Because they cared about each other now. Because they knew each other now. And because the words had been meant. And it hurt. Because Ino was important.

Ino had stopped by her apartment and demanded – once again – that they go out together and have fun. Sakura knew that she was doing it because she wanted to help in her own way and she would've loved to, but it was impossible for her.

First of all, Sakura was broke and had used what little money she could afford during Sasuke's birthday. She also had tons of debts to pay, and she was slowly starting to realize that the rate of interest of the loan had been quite abusive – something she at the time had not managed to quite grasp (a mistake she would not make again even in such desperate times). So she had to work overtime to try to pay for all of it along with her mother's treatment on top of everything else. Sakura was also working extra hard on trying to finally finish the poison that she and Itachi had agreed on, which took whatever little time she could squeeze into her day. She still helped her mother with her exercises so that she could recover movement properly, because she wanted it to be done right and she also didn't have the money to pay someone else for it. There was also all of the housework she shared with Sasuke on top of training. And if she were to have an hour or two for socializing, she would definitely use that time with Sasuke or her mother. Not at some random bar, wasting her income on alcohol only to wake up the next day with a hangover and be useless for kami knew how many hours.

Sakura knew what she had sounded like. Exactly what Ino had called her; a bitter old lady. That she was making a huge fuss about everything and that she needed to just relax and take it easy. Somehow that struck a nerve within Sakura. Yes, maybe the blonde was right. But Ino had no idea. She didn't have a goddamn clue about how much was on her shoulders.

Ino lived with her parents; she came home to clean clothes, a working house, a hot meal. Ino didn't have to worry about bills or bedridden people. Leaks in the kitchen, food on the fridge, clean windows, reparations, taxes paid on time and so much more. Yes, it was ok to be that way because Ino was a regular seventeen-year old. She wasn't supposed to understand any of it. But gods it made it so hard for her to empathize with Sakura.

Sakura didn't expect Ino to help out around her place, or with her mother. Or with her overtime working hours. Or at grocery shopping. She didn't expect any help from Ino, because Ino lived in a different world. Of course, she was a shinobi, but she was still under the protection of other people when she was home. So Sakura had simply expected understanding or at least not criticism.

But Ino snorted and mocked her explanation in a way that reminded her so much of when she was a young teenager. And it made her realize just why Sasuke hadn't tolerated her back then. And it made her realize that Sasuke had been living under the pressure of adulthood since he was a young child. And it all made her so angry.

But she was mainly hurt by her friends dismissal of what she had been going through. So she said everything that she thought aloud. And she had called Ino a spoiled clueless brat and said that she'd expected more of her as a friend. And things had gone downhill from there.

Sakura regretted insulting Ino, she did. She didn't want them to be angry at each other. Because she loved Ino like a sister. But she was still hurt and disappointed by her lack of understanding.

Sakura entered the house to see Sasuke and her mother sitting while having tea in the dining room. Mebuki's eyes met her own and then her blonde eyebrows shot up in question. Sasuke's eyes rested on her for a couple seconds, and then he looked at Mebuki to confirm his suspicions. He finally looked back at her and spoke up.

"What?"

"What?" Sakura repeated the question.

"What happened?" he elaborated.

"Ah..." Sakura sighed; Sasuke would obviously know something was up as soon as he laid eyes upon her. "Ino and I got into a fight."

Sasuke didn't say anything and just listened to her as she explained the whole situation. Sasuke listened with clear irritation – at Ino – while Mebuki simply smile knowingly. When she was finished, Mebuki spoke first.

"You regret fighting with her, don't you?"

"Yeah..."

"That's because you actually value her as a friend. She just hasn't been through what you've been and doesn't understand how you act. She just doesn't know how else to help you."

"She could simply ask, instead of pushing me to party non-stop."

"Yes. But it's Ino we're talking about." Mebuki was obviously referring to Ino's pride. "I also don't understand how you managed to… skip the whole teenage period, but Ino definitely didn't. You shouldn't be too hard on her."

Sakura didn't skip those years, she just lived them in her past life. In all honestly, she kind of remembered being more childish… but she didn't remember much detail. It seemed like decades ago and she could only recall the most important things.

"I know you and Ino will work things out. She just need to think over what you told her and you need to accept the fact that she leads a different life from your own."

"I guess we will… it's just… on top of everything, I have to put up with this."

Mebuki simply smiled and almost giggled – as if putting up with brats was something ridiculously obvious to her and, then again, Sakura remembered being slightly insufferable in her early years – and then spoke again.

"I have some news." Mebuki said and both Sasuke and Sakura raised their eyebrows in question. "Now that I've been feeling better, I decided I wouldn't be a burden to both of you anymore. So I found a job."

"Mom! Are you sure? Won't a job put too much of a strain on you?" Sakura asked, her medic mind knowing quite well that it would go some good on her mother, but the emotional side of her worrying that something would happen.

"You don't have to think of yourself as a burden." Sasuke pointed out.

"I know. The job I found is as a teller so it allows me to sit for most of the day. It's also only three blocks away and a friend works at that place too. I'll be fine." Sakura's mother still limped when walking, but she was capable of walking three blocks.

Sakura was reluctant for a moment, but then she took a deep breath in and decided to let go of things and smiled. "I… I'm glad you found something, mom."

"Yeah, I'll finally be able to do something useful. I needed to find a job. I just hope I do well, since I've never worked as a teller before."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do just fine." Sasuke nodded and patted Mebuki's shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm keeping a positive mind. I'm starting tomorrow, so I need to see if I have any suitable clothes for that."

Mebuki stood up and left, leaving Sakura alone with Sasuke, who was sitting next to her.

"I'm glad for your mother. She deserves to rebuild her life." Sasuke said.

"She does." Sakura smiled sadly. "She's been though a lot."

"The two of you have."

"… we have." Sakura smiled sadly. "I still miss him."

"I know." Sasuke was quiet for a few moments and then looked into Sakura's eyes. "I miss them every day too."

Sakura held his hand softly and allowed her thumb to go over his knuckles. "I know… but it's different now, isn't it?"

"Aa. I miss them in a better way now."

Sakura's smile widened and she allowed her head to rest on Sasuke's shoulder for a while. Sasuke didn't seem to suffer as much when he remembered his family anymore. He seemed to remember them fondly now and wasn't as tormented as before. Sakura spoke after a while again.

"You didn't say a thing when I told you about Ino. You actually hate her, don't you?"

Sasuke shook his head. "She's kind of stupid and vain most of the time… but she's a good friend to you."

"Oi..."

"You asked." Sasuke shrugged, probably having wanted to complain about Ino aloud for a long time but having not found the chance until now. "Though I must say I agree with your mother. How come you don't act like her?"

"Should I? You certainly don't."

"Well… you were the same as her some time before we graduated from the academy. And even so, I can't find a reason why you became so much more mature than the rest of our classmates."

"You can't think of a reason?" Sakura lifted her eyebrows, trying to deviate the subject.

"You've been this way since around the time we became a team." Sasuke pointed out. "Something must've happened."

"..."

Sasuke squinted slightly, his obsidian orbs on Sakura the whole time. He finally sighed, probably figuring out that it had something to do with the whole other issue that he wasn't aware of. Yet. "Anyways… Danzo should see you like this."

"Like what? What do you mean?"

"Like this. Bitter and old." Sasuke chuckled once and Sakura playfully slapped his arm. "He seems to think of you as some sort of rebellious teenager, and therefore thinks you're unfit for the position."

"Am I getting a promotion at the hospital?" Sakura raised her eyebrows.

"To the possibility that you might get promoted to a clan someday." Sasuke said, and Sakura's face fell in sight of his seriousness. "You do know clan heads get married at a young age."

"And he thinks I'm not good enough." Sakura pointed out and he nodded. "Well, he's not wrong. I don't think I'm fit to be in that position."

"Sakura-"

"Really. I lack the discipline to do things that I feel are wrong. I lack the discipline to raise my children the way you were raised. I don't even know for sure if I'm going to have children, Sasuke."

Sasuke stayed quiet for a while. "I think the opposite. I think you're strong enough to do all that and not give in."

"Strong in a different way, maybe. But still not the kind that the position demands."

"What about your job? If we ever did have children, would you want to keep on working as a kunoichi or as a medic?"

"I do love my job..." Sakura trailed off for a moment and Sasuke noticed doubt in her eyes. "Before, I was pretty sure about keeping my job before and even looked down upon women who stayed at home. Even my own mother. But after what happened to my mother… seeing her helpless and vulnerable like that… I don't know. I wasn't really comfortable with anyone else looking after her, and I don't imagine me being comfortable with it when it comes to my children. If they happen to be the only Uchihas left, they will probably be targets most of the time."

Sasuke frowned and looked down. "I feel conflicted too. I think you're too smart to quit your job. But I feel the same way you do."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Would you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Quit your job."

"What? Quit my job and stay at home?" Sakura nodded and Sasuke seemed rather taken aback by her suggestion. "I… what? You'd work and I'd stay at home?"

"Yes."

Sasuke was quiet for at least a couple minutes. Like in the life he had planned in his head, he had never even considered the option of himself being a stay at home dad. After a while his eyes trailed downwards. "Actually… that'd be nice, since I would have the time to train their dojustsu… but Sakura, I would be the Head of the Clan."

The smile that had appeared on Sakura's face disappeared. Being Head of the Clan required to be available at all times, and so did looking after children. It definitely wasn't something that could be reconciled.

"What if I managed a flexible schedule on the hospital?"

"Maybe…" Sasuke sighed.

"Well, that shouldn't concern us now. You're planning too far ahead." Sakura smiled – trying her best not to look bitter – and took his hand for a moment.

Sakura was quite sure that the council would take a thorough look at the candidate for Uchiha Matriarch, and she was quite sure that she wouldn't pass it. Not only that, but that would bring hell to Sasuke's life as well.

As things were, Sakura couldn't even consider submitting herself for that position. She probably never would be able to.

- x -

Danzo was smart. He knew politics and people well enough to know how to play the game. He had managed to change the village dynamics in an almost imperceptible way. Instead of dealing with the Akatsuki in private and as a national security issue like Tsunade had, Danzo had made them a public enemy and had brought them up every chance he got. Fear for them was now widespread and had made people accept things they wouldn't have before. Root ANBU were now almost unquestionable among villagers and regular ANBU had lost the position they once had, which was a problem because ROOT were not loyal to a village or to an ethic. They were blindly loyal to Danzo.

Sakura hated it. She wanted Danzo gone from office so bad, that she had even wondered if Kabuto would wait. Danzo was a much bigger threat at the moment for everyone… but Kabuto was a much bigger threat for her. And Kabuto was a much bigger potential threat, since he only cared about himself and his own power, unlike Danzo who did things partly for the good of the village – in his own way.

Sakura had felt stuck and afraid of Kabuto for a long time after what had happened to her parents. It had stopped her progress regarding Kabuto, but it had taught her a lesson. It had taught her that she wasn't invulnerable, that people around her could take the blow of her actions and that she needed to be extra careful from now on. But she also needed to act when the time came.

A few months ago, every spare minute that she had at work she had been spent in figuring Kabuto out. After the fire, a lot of her free time at home had been spent in making sure her mother recovered properly. Nowadays she had left Kabuto to his own business and her mother was mostly self-sufficient. Sakura recovered all of that time for something else; developing the poison that she and Itachi had talked about. And it was finally done. All these months of hard work had finally paid off.

The poison was one strong enough to block a Jinchuriki's chakra for a fair amount of time. Difficult to inject, but they would have to make it work somehow. Now she only needed to let Itachi know about it and, to do that, she needs to leave to village. She was not going to take a chance in letting someone else know she has ties with him.

So, she had to request a new mission outside the village borders, and with her mother in a much better state of health, she could do it. Sakura had immediately gone to the headquarters and requested a new mission with Kakashi as soon as he was available, which had to be soon since he'd been gone for more than three months. It was really important that Kakashi was there with her in case she needed a distraction to meet with Itachi, because she was most certainly not going to get a solo mission at this point. Danzo wouldn't allow it.

With all of that dealt with – for now – Sakura decided to take care of the great threat in her life. She couldn't stand by anymore. She was not going to let him fuck up her life anymore. Kabuto needed to be gone and she was going to kill him. For good.

"Oh, hell no." Shizune had a frown on her face. "I'm not going down that path again."

"Shizune, just think-"

"I have been, Sakura." Shizune looked around as she whispered harshly, making sure no one was in the hallway. "For all these months. Going against Kabuto is a no-no."

"We're not standing up against him." Sakura shrugged. "We'll just be reading through the archives for a bit."

"I'm not playing around, Sakura. So stop treating me like a naive child."

Sakura cringed. "I know… sorry. It's just that… would you be able to live all your life knowing what has been going on down here and having done nothing?"

"I would be staying alive."

"But would you be able to live with yourself? In thirty years, how would you feel about yourself if you had done nothing and simply watched atrocities happen?"

"..." Shizune bit down her lip. Sakura knew Shizune; her ethics and her heart were bigger than her fear. "Damn it, Sakura. Why do you do this to me?"

"I'm sorry. It'll be just one last time, ok? I promise." Sakura slammed her hands together in prayer.

"I can't believe you." Shizune sighed. "You'll be the death of me."

"So….?"

"All right. One last time."

"Thank you!" Sakura had a bright smile on her face.

"Just get back to work already, ok?"

"Hai!" Sakura smiled broadly and hurried down the hallway.

Her heart was feeling less heavy that day. First of all, Shizune was willing to go look into Kabuto with her again. Sakura could've done it by herself, butif she were to – say – die, all the knowledge would be gone with her. She trusted Shizune to do what was right, even if sometimes fear made her reluctant.

On the other hand, Kakashi had just arrived for a general check at the hospital the previous day. She obviously had made sure to be the one to do it, since not only had she missed him a lot and wanted to make sure she was all right, but also because she needed to talk to him. Kakashi had come back from his mission with only some scratches and chakra depletion. Well, that and a lot of pent up exhaustion. She had immediately told him that she wanted to go on her next mission with him, as soon as he was good to go once again – which would be in around a month or so, if she wanted to make sure Kakashi was in good shape after such a long mission. Kakashi, as expected, immediately figured why she needed to go on a mission – Sakura could tell by the way his visible eye widened slightly – and agreed. 'Ah, I've been wanting to go on a mission with my favorite kunoichi student.' he said as if she weren't his only kunoichi student, but Sakura just laughed slightly already being familiar with his sense of humor.

Sakura was getting her hopes back up, for once in a long time.

- x -

That morning, Kabuto had been scheduled for a long visit with the Daimyo in order to inform him of how the health system was looking in Konoha, so he would be gone for a couple days. Sakura and Shizune hadn't even locked eyes the day he informed them, but they both knew what that meant. It would probably be the best chance they would get in a long time to do some research, and they'd already had to wait several weeks.

So, they waited for hours to make sure that snake was far away and worked as usual during that period of time. Sakura found Shizune at her usual work station when she deemed it was safe enough and, in silence, nodded her head towards the archives. Shizune followed Sakura without another word, quietly and slowly walking down the hallway.

The both of them had already worked out the security measures and all recording systems that Kabuto had implemented. He would never find out that someone had gotten into that room. Sakura and Shizune disabled every measure taken and then quietly entered the archives.

After one hour of tirelessly looking into old records, Shizune called Sakura over. Sakura quickly does so and looks at the file Shizune was holding.

"Look at this." the brunette pointed at a particular sample explained in the file. "It appears as if this DNA has been the one Kabuto draws a sub-product from to use on the children most of the time."

"..." Sakura's shocked face turned into a confused one.

"Sakura?" Shizune questioned. "What is it?"

"I..."

"Do you know where this DNA sample comes from? You do work more closely with these issues."

"I… think I do." Sakura had been the one to realize the children's DNA had been messed with, but all the samples she'd ever taken had always been deformed into different configurations so she'd never figured out what had been the cause. She also had no way of fully proving how she knew this since she had studied it during her previous life, but Shizune needed to know this fact. "This is DNA belongs to Senju Hashirama..."

A long pause followed as Shizune's face became increasingly pale. "What? How can you be sure?"

"I… you know how I've been trying to find a cure for these children." Shizune nodded, and Sakura tried her best not to feel bad about the lie. "Well… since the cause was a disruption in the DNA, I've been studying different kinds of DNA. I stumbled on the code and description of Hashirama's DNA. And it matched this one exactly."

Shizune was quiet for a moment. "Why? Why are they doing this? I don't understand… Hashirama's cells? How did he even get ahold of them?"

Sakura shrugged without a word, but her mind was a mess. In her previous life, Danzo had gotten his hands on the only cells that remained from Hashirama, so how on earth did Kabuto have them? Does that mean that Danzo never implanted those cells into his arm? Or is it that Kabuto managed to somehow get a different sample? Had Kabuto used those cells on himself? If he did…..

"Sakura. Look at this." Shizune pointed at a file number that was written on a corner of the last page of the file.

"There's a follow up file." Sakura's eye lit up.

"Let's find it." Shizune nodded and both women immediately began looking around for it. However they never found it. Both were groaning in frustration.

"I don't know why, but I had the feeling that this file would be really important." Sakura bit her lip.

"Me too." Shizune looked tired.

"If our hunch is right, then this file may not be with the others..." Sakura locked eyes with Shizune.

The next moment, they had left everything where they'd found it and closed the archives, and were getting into Kabuto's private office – making sure they took every precaution as they'd done with the archives.

They searched all around the room, in every drawer and on every shelf. They found nothing, until Sakura suddenly froze.

"Wait." she called up and looked at Shizune. "Walk backwards."

Shizune's eyebrows shot up and she did as Sakura requested. Two steps later the faintest sound was heard as she stepped on the floor.

"That sounds like-"

Both girls immediately crouched down and held their ears to the tiles and knocked on the floor. As they'd imagined, there was the faintest hollow sound. Sakura was about to open up the tile when Shizune held her hand in place.

"Stop." Shizune's eyes frowned. "If this file is that important, then there might be a catch to getting to it."

Sakura had the best chakra control of the both – not that any of them had anywhere near regular control – and she allowed tiny traces of her chakra to go through the tile and around it. Her eyes remained closed for a while, but then she opened them.

"There a seal in here. It's not a complex seal, but it can only be removed with the use of a particular chakra."

"Kabuto's chakra?" Shizune guessed.

"Most probably, right?"

"So, I guess this is as far as we get..."

"For now."

"Sakura, we've talked about this."

"I know, I know. One last time. All right, this is as far as we go." Sakura nodded, but both girls knew that it was way too obvious that she would try to find a way no matter what. Shizune sighed and decided to simply go along with the pinkette.

When they were done putting everything in place and making sure the room looked just like it did before they left. However, and Shizune never realized, Sakura purposely took a strand of her pink hair and allowed it to fall right in the middle of the room.

That snake bastard would come to find his own grave.

- x –

Today was the day. Sakura had everything sorted out.

Kabuto was returning to work that day and Sakura was certain that the snake would check his office before he checked anything else. So, Sakura had made sure to take the day off, but go to work all the same. She was lucky to know the hospital like the back of her hand, so she made sure to get in without anyone noticing her. She made sure to use enough makeup to make her skin look pale and to simulate bags under her eyes. Sakura had trained her chakra control enough so she could make even a shinobi like Kabuto think that she was low on chakra.

She waited at her assigned working station, in which fortunately she was the only worker, and made sure to look very busy and very frustrated with some samples; nothing farther than reality. Her mind was as sharp as it got, her body was as ready as it could get and her chakra reserves were the highest they had been in a long time. She would kill the bastard that day and nothing would get in her way.

Strategy and careful planning was probably the only way Sakura could think of killing Kabuto. It didn't matter which of them was stronger in battle; Kabuto wouldn't die in battle. He was smart and capable of healing all damage done to his body… as long as he had chakra. He was very careful with his chakra usage and he probably had lots of chakra, so that's where the poison came in. It was properly hidden in the long sleeves of her hospital uniform. That bastard had probably built a resistance to most if not all poisons, but certainly not for this one.

Sakura heard faint steps on the hallway and, apart from her, only Shizune and Kabuto used that wing of the building. She had made sure that Shizune would be in the other wing of the floor checking some samples. Sakura wasn't wrong. Not long after, Kabuto stopped at the threshold of her door and looked inside for a moment.

"Well, if it isn't Sakura-chan." His insufferable voice spoke up from there.

"You're back." Sakura spoke in a monotone, acting as if she was trying to conceal an inexistent exhaustion.

"You sound delighted."

Sakura ignored him and fumbled with the papers on her hands. She heard him snort at her in a mocking manner and then his footsteps walking away. She heard the door to his office open and then close. Sakura closed her eyes and sharpened her senses. And waited. And waited. She cleared her head and time stopped as she sensed her surroundings.

The faintest sound was heard; a door had been carefully opened. Sakura didn't hear footsteps – Kabuto was a fine shinobi – but she could feel it in the air. Only a skilled shinobi in battle mode and putting all of their attention into it could notice. Someone was moving in the hallway and trying not to be noticed. Sakura forced her hands to fumble on the paperwork in front of her, but her mind and her whole being stayed focused on the door behind her. She made sure to keep her body language frustrated, tired and non-attentive.

Despite the silence, the air in the room moved slightly. Sakura kept her hands and eyes on her files. Another wave of air twisted around and one of her hands moved slightly to straighten her white sleeve.

Sakura wasn't looking and Kabuto wasn't making a noise. But her senses as a shinobi had been polished throughout the years. She'd been part of a sannin team in her previous life. She's been trained by Tsunade and no one could give better training to avoid damage than a medic sannin. She'd training with Gaara's sand and she'd been through war.

Kabuto was skilled too. But he made the mistake to think that Sakura was too tired and distracted to notice him. It wasn't a grave mistake for someone like Kabuto, mainly because he could recover from practically any wound, just like her. Too bad that it would cost him this time.

Sakura allowed her chakra to expand in a fraction of a second at the same time as she twisted around and her free hand took firm hold of Kabuto's shoulder. It all happened in an instant. Kabuto's eyes widened and he immediately took firm hold of Sakura's forearm, almost crushing it as he pulled her away. However, her chakra was set on making her hold steel-strong and keeping his shoulder close to her. Kabuto was fast, but so was Sakura. And she'd had the advantage of the surprise attack, whilst Kabuto thought that the advantage was his.

The long needle went into his chest and into his heart with ease, as Sakura had picked a particularly thick syringe and had used her chakra enhanced strength. In the blink of an eye, not only had she stuck the needle into him, but she'd also managed to inject the contents into his body.

Kabuto had a free arm, and he used all of his strength to hit Sakura straight in the collar bone, breaking it immediately and sending her flying to the other side of the room. Sakura quickly twisted her body and softly landed with her feet on the wall. She couldn't make a noise, or else they would be found. Sakura stood on the ground again, her eyes never leaving Kabuto as she quickly healed the worst damage to the bone.

Kabuto had probably planned a different speech before entering the room.

"Do you think some kind of poison would kill me?" he narrowed his eyes. "Do you think that I can't cure whatever damage is done to my body?"

Sakura stayed impassive. "You're not invulnerable."

"Neither are you. And still, I can't kill you." Kabuto lifted an eyebrow and smirked. "So we're on even ground."

Sakura was certain that Kabuto overestimated her body's ability to heal. Yes, she was a great healer. Probably the best after Tsunade. But Kabuto wasn't a healer. He experimented on bodies and she was sure that his own had gone through many modifications. His body probably was only part-human by now. And that was probably the reason why he was so confident and playing with her.

That's not a regular poison. Sakura could've told him and she could've enjoyed watching his face as she explained what would happen. However, Sakura wasn't a child. She was taking no chances of Kabuto surviving. So she just narrowed her eyes at him.

"You knew I was coming, didn't you?"

"Apparently."

"So you know why I'm here." Kabuto's smiled widened and it looked as sick and twisted as always. "I thought we had an… arrangement."

"We did?"

His eyes darkened. "Looking through my stuff once again is going to cost you."

"What stuff?" Sakura played the confused part to stretch the conversation.

"Don't play stupid!" Kabuto bit back.

Sakura was quiet for a moment. It seemed as if she was trying to decide if telling the truth would cost her, when she was actually deciding if it would buy her more time. Sakura was in silence for a while, until she sighed. "All right."

"So you admit it."

"I was looking for a file in the archive. I needed it for my task. I didn't find it there and since you would be gone for many days I decided to look in your office."

"Quite bold of you, wasn't it?" Kabuto smiled smugly. "You thought you could get away with it? Or did you know from the start I'd find out and that's why you were carrying that syringe?"

"…"

"Poison?" Kabuto snorted. "Do you think I'm some sort of rat or a civil-"

Kabuto froze. Sakura inwardly smiled in victory, but narrowed her eyes. "Or a what?"

"What did you use on me?"

"Poison. I thought you knew already." Sakura explained simply.

"What poison." Kabuto's smug little face was already gone, his serious face was accompanied by huge – almost delusional – eyes.

"It was – it was…" Sakura faked confusion. "Damn I'm not sure anymore."

Kabuto jumped at Sakura in rage and she had to use her chakra to move away. Kabuto was furious and he was faster than usual. Kabuto lifted a hand towards Sakura, probably trying to use chakra, but groaned in pain when he did. He seemed to think that the poison wouldn't allow him to use chakra for a while, so he decided to use taijutsu against her. Sakura evaded and blocked every attack he threw at her, but never wasted an ounce of energy on a counter-attack. Sakura's eyes never left him; taking mental notes of the way his eyes looked, of the rhythm of his breathing, of how pale his skin got, of how his body moved. Not a long time passed by, when Kabuto seemed to realize something different than what he thought was happening to his body and with Sakura. It was written all over his face; fear.

Sakura kept her cool the whole time. She had the faintest idea of a way to reverse the effect of the poison and she was sure that if given a peaceful mind and some time, Kabuto might be able to figure it out. According to normality, he would never be able to actually reverse it, but it was Kabuto we were talking about. So Sakura was playing a mind game.

"Why aren't you fighting back?!" He raised his voice. "What the fuck did you put in my body?!"

"I'm not so sure. Why are you attacking me? I thought you already knew what it was." Sakura moved her finger from side to side as she answered his questions.

Both Shinobi engaged in a fight once again, Sakura trying her best not to make noise and evade, evade, evade. For a long time she hadn't used her shishou's teachings, but now she was embodying them.

After a while, Kabuto stopped his movements. He stood there for a moment, sweating like crazy (certainly not from the fight but from the effect of the poison… or maybe his distress). Sakura didn't move and watched him. Kabuto narrowed his eyes, took a deep breath and looked down, certainly trying to figure out another way.

Oh, hell no.

Sakura's chakra molded into a scalpel and she engaged in a battle now. She wouldn't allow him time to think. Kabuto clicked his tongue in annoyance, knowing what she was doing. He needed time to figure out what was going on.

Sakura's attacks on him were merciless, her whole body now making sure he had no time to fight back. She didn't use ninjutsu though; they couldn't use it inside the hospital and she just needed to distract him. Not long after, Kabuto doubled over in pain and fell on his knees.

Sakura wasn't about to believe it just like that, so she took him by the shoulder and flung him face-down on the floor. Her trained eyes immediately noted that he wasn't faking – maybe Kabuto hadn't tried to fake before because he knew she could tell – and held him down as she watched his face contort in pain. Sakura wasn't one to attack and murder people like this, but he'd pushed her to do it.

"You forced me to do this." She repeated aloud.

Kabuto chuckled though his pain. "Took you long enough."

"Don't talk like you're winning a bet or something." Sakura snorted, but kept all her senses alert as she scanned his state; Kabuto's chakra was incredible low by now.

Kabuto closed his eyes as another wave of pain hit him. He then opened one eye, looked back at Sakura and croaked. "This position reminds me of a different occasion."

"Except now you're the one underneath." Sakura's voice was calm, but remembering the day her father died sent shivers up her spine. She quickly took control of herself again.

"I haven't been underneath a woman in the longest time."

Sakura didn't say anything. Maybe Kabuto was doing it to mess with her in whatever way he could. Maybe he was trying to distract her by making her overly conscious. It didn't matter. Kabuto was probably saying the truth. He probably also hadn't had a friend in a long time… maybe he'd never really had one. Sakura felt a bit sorry for the bastard for a moment. His whole life had been dedicated to accumulating power for himself since he had never learned how to love or care for anyone else.

Kabuto seemed to notice her thoughts because he averted his eyes. He then shook once again in pain as his chakra reserves were almost gone. "Like a real shinobi." He regained his breath before speaking again. "You killed me like an original shinobi. Before chakra was even a thing, when battles were never part of the plan."

Sakura guessed he was right. Many modern shinobi had lost a part of what used to be distinctive to shinobi centuries ago; killing in the dark and never leaving a trace.

Kabuto's chakra started decreasing at a really fast rate, past the point where shinobi usually faint. But it seemed that his body was well aware that fainting would lead to death instead of recovery. Sakura decided it was time. She flung Kabuto's shaking body over her shoulder with help of her chakra and she took him to his office. She opened the door and carelessly put him on the ground in the middle of the room.

Kabuto was too weak to speak, apparently, but his eyes moved to the concealed door under a tile. His eyes then moved back to Sakura.

"Open it." Sakura said, not really expecting him to do it.

Kabuto was quiet for a moment, but finally a shaky hand moved towards the hidden door. Kabuto groaned as he used his last drop of chakra, and the door opened. Sakura was struck as she watched the tile move aside. What the hell? Why did he help her?

She looked back into Kabuto's face and saw the faintest expression of sick satisfaction in it. Her eyes narrowed at that. What was really down there? Sakura was curious.

Sakura watched Kabuto's body grow stiffer with the passing seconds until he breathed in no more. Sakura felt like she'd won for a moment. She was a medic and she could say with certainty that the snake was dead. However, this was Kabuto we were talking about, so Sakura was going to make sure he was completely gone for good before celebrating her freedom.

In that place, they got rid of children's bodies all the time. Sakura knew exactly how to do it, since she and Shizune were the only ones allowed down there and thus had to do it themselves. There was a crematory room at the end of the hallway and Sakura decided that it would be the best way to proceed. She flung Kabuto's body over her shoulder and burnt it down to ashes in no more than ten minutes. She collected each of his ashes inside a small steel box, where she afterwards put a seal to make sure nothing could ever get in or out of the box. She made a few hand signs and summoned a small slug relative of Katsuyu.

"Sakura-san." The slug spoke up as soon as it appeared.

"Hello." Sakura smiled courtly. "I need to ask for a favor. It's really important."

"Tell me."

Sakura explained what was inside the box to note its importance and asked the being to bury it in the deepest pit possible in the farthest and most inhospitable and isolated mountains in the shinobi lands. After making sure she would be notified once it was done, she bid it good bye.

Sakura sat still for a moment processing what had happened.

She'd done it. Kabuto was dead, burnt to ashes, sealed inside a steel box and would soon be buried never to be found again.

Kabuto was gone. And Sakura was free.

The crushing weight that had been resting on her shoulders was gone. Her soul felt finally free and her future now seemed much brighter. Tears of joy came to her eyes and a huge smile spread on her lips. She quickly went back on her feet and rushed towards Kabuto's office. She removed the tile that had previously been sealed and then looked inside.

There was a huge folder with hundreds of pages inside. Sakura took it in her hands and started going through the pages. Her eyes quickly scanned the documents, only reading what was necessary to have a broad idea of what was written. All documents explained the developments of Konoha's Clans abilities; mostly Uchiha's and Hyuuga's dojustsu.

As what was inside that file got clearer, the world seemed to freeze around Sakura. She felt a shiver up her spine, her hands shook, her breath was caught in her throat and her heart was beating in her chest. Sakura almost chocked on her own breath.

"No…"

She had never even considered it. The sharingan and the Byakugan had been developed through experimentation on war orphans of previous wars. Many, many innocent children had been sacrificed so that these people could get a powerful bloodline. They had perfected their bloodline through time and had made Konoha powerful, but at what cost.

It explained everything. The Clans' connections with the hospital research, the power clans held over their village and the council. Did someone know about this?

Sakura felt nauseous and the folder in her hands felt as if it was burning her fingers. Sakura dropped it and was frenzied for a moment as she put it away under the tile and left the room. Out of breath, Sakura entered the bathroom and washed her face in hopes she would wake up from a nightmare. She didn't.

Kabuto wasn't the one who had started this. It seemed he had only been hired to do a job that had always been done inside Konoha. The bastard had known how this knowledge would affect her and had therefore allowed her to look under the tile. But that didn't seem to matter anymore.

How long had this been going on? Had Naruto's father known about this? What about her shishou? Had Tsunade known about this? How could she not, being Hokage and the head of the hospital?

Sakura stood up, her mind a whirl of confusion and anger, took a deep breath and made sure to contain her emotions for a while. With her chakra properly hidden, Sakura left everything as she'd found it and went home. Her footsteps were hurried and slightly clumsy as she entered the kitchen, quickly burning her medical gloves with a small fire jutsu and washing the ashes away into the drain.

"Sakura?"

She straightened up and looked behind her to see Sasuke in the hallway, looking at her with worry. She didn't say anything back, her throat felt constricted and she didn't know what to say. Kabuto is dead? I'm free? Your family has done so much evil?

"What happened?" he walked to her and looked her up and down. "Are you all right?"

Sakura opened her mouth, but no sounds came out.

"Sakura." Sasuke spoke louder. "Why are you so affected? Did someone hurt you?"

"I-" Sakura swallowed. "Sasuke. Sasuke."

"Tell me."

"You do know lots about the history of Uchiha's." she stated and Sasuke nodded. "Do tell me this then. Was the sharingan always the same?"

Sasuke seemed confused by the nature of her question, but seeing the seriousness in her eyes he answered. "No. There have always been changes in its nature in fact; a disease, a way to awaken it. It's seemed to change quite rapidly throughout generations… I actually have wondered about this before. I wanted to ask you about your opinion in fact. What does that have to do with anything?"

Sakura felt her voice caught in her throat. Her eyes wandering aimlessly around the room.

"It was real." She said more to herself than to him.

"What was?"

"Sasuke. It…" she swallowed hard and looked into his worried eyes. How was she supposed to tell him about this? She hadn't even expected him to be home at this time of the day.

"You seem to have found out something that has to do with the sharingan."

"Damn it…" Sakura clenched her eyes shut. "Please give me a second."

Sakura moved back and went into the living room, sitting down and holding her head in her hands. How to explain everything? The experiments on children she'd watched at the hospital? What would he think of her weakness? How could she even expect to complain about what his clan had done, when she had been watching it be done all this time? When she had – forcefully, but still- taken a part in it? How would she explain Kabuto's relationship with her? It was all connected to her time travel, to her past life, to Kabuto and to her lies.

"I can't do this anymore. I have to tell you." Sakura said as she clutched his shoulders.

"Sakura, first of all, calm down." Sasuke said, his baritone voice making her feel at home, as he sat down next to her. "First tell me what just happened."

Sasuke had the right to know. He carried those eyes, he lived by the Uchiha name. Sasuke had the right to know.

Sakura took a deep breath. "I found something about your clan and the Hyuuga's. Sasuke… it won't be easy to accept."

"I don't care. Tell me." Sasuke said not wasting a second, his hand hold her own.

"Your dojustu's… they… were perfected through time. It was… engineered to change." Sakura looked into Sasuke's confused eyes.

"Engineered? How? By whom?"

"Both clans have been funding the hospital ever since records were kept… especially in research."

"So the hospital developed our dojutsus?"

"In a way… yes." Sakura swallowed. "But genetic changes can't be studied in theory. Gens are too chaotic to do that and they always require… an empirical study."

"Empirical… you mean it had to be tested before it was introduced into our family." Sasuke said and then the light in his eyes shifted, the implications beginning to dawn on him.

Sakura nodded, her words lost for a moment. "You do know that wars have been going on since the warring era… and wars always leave orphans behind."

As soon as her sentence was finished, Sasuke's hand retracted as if she'd burned him. His eyes wide and his body stiff. He didn't say a word, and he didn't move. Seconds passed, feeling like an eternity to Sakura. It was so unlike Sasuke to not react but be affected.

"Sasuke… say something."

Sasuke looked down and his eyes were hidden for a while. He stood up to leave, but Sakura followed his lead and held his arm in place.

"Sasuke." Sakura called, but he didn't turn around to face her. "Sasuke, stop. Don't push me away."

"Did you just learn all of this? Who told you?" Sasuke's voice was contained. He was upset.

"I…"

"Don't lie to me about this Sakura." Sasuke turned around, his eyes blazing red and he held her shoulders firmly. "If I'm the living flesh of such atrocities, if my family has always been involved in this… then at least I want to know you won't lie to me. Not anymore. Not when it comes to this."

Sakura didn't blame him. She had kept the truth from him for so long… he knew it. But he deserved to know everything. He deserved everything.

"I'll tell you." Sakura said, feeling her chest expanding in anticipation. "Sasuke, I found out just today. I had some questions regarding this matter, but I had never expected this. It seemed the whole development of the dojutsu… was tested on them."

"When did it happen? The… experiments?"

"It documented as back as the first years of the hospital. So… there's no way to know if it began earlier." Sakura took a deep breath.

"When did it stop?"

Sakura didn't answer and Sasuke's face became pale.

"When?" Sasuke asked again, expecting a straight answer. Sakura looked away in silence, guilt eating her away. "What? You're implying… it's still going on?"

"Sasuke… I wanted to tell you before-"

"What? No." Sasuke seemed struck. "You, Sakura, knew that children were being experimented on in our hospital, and yet said nothing?"

"Sasuke… I couldn't-"

"Does everyone at the hospital know about this?" Sasuke's face was grave.

Sakura swallowed. "No. Only a few."

"…"Sasuke released himself from her hold and took a few steps back. His eyes bore into her emerald ones. "You're one of the few. Sakura… have you been a part of this?"

"I… I…"

"What?" Sasuke's eyes widened in disbelief. "I can't believe it."

"I didn't have a choice, Sasuke!" Sakura answered.

"Yes you did." Sasuke answered. "Yes you did. We all do."

"I…" Sakura swallowed. Yes she did. She did. But she chose to remain quiet to keep her secret so that Sasuke would remain safe, she would remain alive and that she could stop the other future from happening in this timeline. She'd had reasons – maybe good reasons? – but she still chose.

"I don't recognize you." Sasuke said, his face contorted in confusion, as his eyes looked down to the floor. "The Sakura I know would never do this. She would never take part in this."

"Wait." Sakura lifted both her hands, pleading Sasuke would listen. "My work was to try and make sure they would survive and I hated seeing them like that. I felt trapped inside my job and I wanted to do something about it."

"So you just remained quiet and allowed it to happen." Sasuke snorted in irony, but the disappointment was clear in his eyes.

"I've been trying to make things right!" Sakura raised her voice a bit. "I have. I didn't know how to… Maybe I could've tried harder, or maybe I made mistakes and wasn't strong enough. But I tried. I have been trying."

"…" Sasuke looked into her eyes, seeing how deeply ashamed she was of her actions – or lack of.

"It's just as you explained when we found out about the human trafficking. It's something that was beyond my personal and immediate action… it was something that needed careful planning. Doing the contrary would've gotten me and the children killed probably."

Sasuke looked down for a moment, his mind working out what was going on. He was about to ask if it had something to do with the death of her father, but she beat him to it.

"I tried and I found a way." Sakura explained. "It cost me a battle, but I got to the documents. It-"

"Battle?" Sasuke asked, frowning. "Against who?"

"Against the bastard who has been making my life a living hell. I finally managed to kill him."

His eyebrows shot up. "The one who put a seal on you?"

Sakura nodded. "Yes, against-"

Her mind went numb and she almost passed out, holding on to Sasuke with all her might. Her head was as light as a feather and her legs shook as she struggled to stay awake.

"Oi!" Sasuke held her shoulders firmly. "Sakura!"

Sakura took a deep breath and her world froze for a moment. She regained whatever strength was left in her and speeded towards the bathroom. Her shirt went off and fell the floor in the hallway as she opened the door. Standing in front of the mirror, Sakura turned around and looked at her lower back. Sasuke walked in as she stood there dumbstruck.

"No…" Sakura bit her lip and felt a lump on her throat as she watched the symbols and markings on her skin. "No… No… why is it still there?"

"The seal?" Sasuke was quiet for a moment. "You do know some of the highest ranked seals go beyond the life of the creator."

"I know. But this was my one way." Sakura's hands closed into fists and she slammed them on the counter, almost breaking it. "How… how…"

"Your way… to freedom?"

"Yes. And so much more." Sakura closed her eyes tightly as tears streamed down. "I can't live like this, Sasuke."

"Sakura…"

"I can't. I won't be a pawn, a slave, a liar. If you feel as disappointed as you do now, I can't imagine how you'd feel if you knew how much I'm being forced to keep from you."

"No." Sasuke stopped her and held her face in both hands, forcing her to look at him. "You won't be a pawn and I won't feel like that. Ever."

"Sasuke, just now you-"

"I know how I reacted." Sasuke spoke clearly. "It was a mistake. I trust you, I know you. I didn't consider that this might have something to do with the seal."

"Do you think I would do such thing of my own accord?" Sakura slowly breathed out and then looked up into her own eyes in the mirror. She looked into her own gaze for a while and then looked back at Sasuke. "Sasuke, I can't keep up all these secrets. I don't care."

"Don't-"

"Sasuke, his name is-" Sakura struggled with every word and then doubled over as she tried to say Kabuto's name. It probably wouldn't be enough. Sasuke would probably need to hear the whole story to understand her actions, her chains. But she needed to say something, it was a symbolic action, but she needed to do it so bad.

"Stop." Sasuke complained and she felt him squeeze her shoulders in complaint. "You know I'd rather wait than-"

"K… K" Sakura growled in pain, feeling deeply in her spine a thousand needles. She collected her strength and forced every ounce of instinct she had out the window. "Kabu…to."

Sakura heard Sasuke mumble something, but couldn't make anything of it, as the pain became unbearable as she fell over and everything went black.

A/N: Hey everyone. I've been absent for over a year… I'm really sorry. I know there are many of you who have kept a close eye on this story and have been sending PMs to ask about it.

There's been a lot going on in my life, so it was hard to find the time and energy to actually finish this chapter (I actually started it over half a year ago oops).

I hope you're still up to reading and, as usual, I'm looking forward to read all your comments.

I also want to thank my beta reader for sticking to this story (and to a not that responsible author) despite everything.

Anyways, I hope you've enjoyed and I plan on updating sooner this time! Thank you for reading!