A cold breeze carried through the quiet room. After hours passed, Sakura had almost finished her work on Tsunade feeling somewhat drained and in a zombie like state.
She had refused the help of the medics that often wondered in to offer aid during the night. She also refused food that they brought her in too, even though she really needed to eat soon. Sakura decided that it was best that she held onto Tsunade's legs for further examination, and she wanted Tsunade herself to take a look at them when she regained consciousness, so she had sealed them away in a blank scroll.
Orochimaru had found a seat during the time he was in the room and one of the medics had tended to his broken nose shortly after Kakashi returned with herbs and alcohol.
Itachi stood quietly behind Sakura, watching the way she worked her medical skills in an almost experimental way. Earning brief glares from Kakashi, Itachi helped Sakura close up the stomach wound and retrieved the equipment she needed to efficiently mend Tsunade's wounds throughout the night.
Kakashi stood far away in the corner of the room, silently looking at Tsunade and Sakura in a fearful awe as Sakura, slowly but surely, restored Tsunade's body.
"I think the worst is over," Sakura stated as she wiped away a lot of idle sweat from her face with her sleeve. Orochimaru let out a long, almost inaudible, sigh before reaching out to touch Tsunade's face.
Sakura tensed her body as she fought back the urge to slap his hand away again.
"You should rest, Sakura." Orochimaru advised, only taking his eyes off Tsunade for a second.
Sakura looked outside and was not surprised to be met with the rising sun.
"I don't, need sleep…" Sakura started as she performed a self-analogy examination. "I need food…" She admitted.
"Itachi, Kakashi, you're needed by the Hokage." A medic had informed as she walked into the room. "We thank you for your help, Sakura, but we'll take over from here." She continued, with hints of irritation intertwining her voice.
"I'll stay with Tsunade." Orochimaru stated, as if he was trying to reassure Sakura.
Sakura merely shrugged before following Kakashi and Itachi out of the building, noisily dragging her feet behind her.
"Heh…" Sakura couldn't help but feel with a tremendous amount of pride, walking ahead of the two ANBU members.
'I don't care about this 'Haruno' power...that…just then. That was all me.' Sakura mused with an exhausted smirk on her face, certain of her own skills.
"You're scary…You know that?" Kakashi stated in a shaky voice, watching Sakura closely.
"Yup, I'm aware." She accepted before turning to face the men. "Thank you, Itachi. I would have had to use a lot more chakra if it wasn't for your help."
Itachi simply looked down at Sakura with an indifferent expression.
"You're welcome." He finally spoke. The two left Sakura without another word, leaving her slightly down as exhaustion set in.
"Where should I get my food?" Sakura asked herself, walking around the food shops while trying to make a decision.
"You're that girl Shisui saved." came a deep voice from behind Sakura. She would have jumped at the sudden noise if it weren't for her exhaustion capping her senses.
"Ah...Mr ninja man." Sakura addressed, challenging him for a name. Zumi ignored his nickname as he considered Sakura's outward appearance.
'She's not particularly shapely...She's got a big forehead, her skin is pale as a ghost and her hair is sickeningly pink. She doesn't seem to possess a great amount of skill given the way she's presented...Why is Shisui so interested in this girl?' Zumi thought before looking away.
"It's Zumi." He stated, not really bothering about asking for her name. "We were supposed to be on a mission right now, but we got an emergency summon from the Hokage. Any idea why that is?"
Sakura raised her eyebrow before shaking her head.
"No Idea," Sakura half lied. "Wanna grab some food? I kinda don't want to be alone right now." Sakura said, feeling vulnerable. Zumi looked at her briefly before walking in the direction of a breakfast shop.
"You're paying." He agreed. Sakura thanked that he agreed so easily as she followed him into the cafe. However, a cold chill ran down her spine. Something was wrong.
They ordered their food and sat at an empty table.
"How did you and Shisui meet?" Zumi asked after a few moments of silence. Sakura shuffled awkwardly before looking to her left.
"Uh…well I guess he saved me from some drunk men, he introduced himself and I introduced myself…This was a few days ago…We don't really know much about each other." Sakura responded through chewing her food, something Zumi found rather rude.
"Shisui speaks of you fondly, and often. Surely there's more to it than that."
Sakura swallowed the food in her mouth before staring straight at Zumi.
"He speaks about me? What does he say?" She asked curiously. Zumi raised an eyebrow before smirking.
"You sound enthusiastic. Are you crushing on Shisui?" He questioned in a surprisingly deep and seductive voice.
Sakura frowned for a fraction of a second before she felt her cheeks heating.
"No! I don't even know him." She started unconvincingly. "I'm just grateful that he saved my life…" She looked down at her food, reminding herself of the prophecy the toad sage informed her of.
"You owe him." Zumi stated before shoving a forkful of food in his mouth.
"Yes…I do." Sakura scoffed the rest of her food down within a minute.
"You eat like you're starved. When was the last time you ate?" Zumi questioned while straightening his stance.
"Six days ago." Sakura replied honestly. Zumi scoffed.
"Right,"
Sakura ignored his comment as she looked into the glass of the hokage tower. Kakashi, Itachi and Shisui were being spoken to…probably about keeping her last name to themselves.
"I reckon Shisui's interested in you because he's just a hormonal teenager." Zumi stated casually, earning a glare from Sakura.
"And how old are you exactly?" Sakura asked, as if defending Shisui's honour.
"I'm 19." He replied. "No matter how hard you look, you'll never be able to lip read an Uchiha…" Zumi stated as he noticed Sakura look over at the tower.
"I'm not looking at Shisui."
"I didn't say you were."
Sakura rubbed her eyes before looking directly into Zumi's eyes.
"Something about you feels familiar." Sakura said after a long pause. Zumi didn't flinch.
"Sakura,"
A voice called. Sakura sharply turned to face Jiraiya and refrained from smiling at him.
"Thank you for the company, Zumi." Sakura politely dismissed herself before rushing to Jiraiya's side, unsure of how to react.
"I'm dying to talk to you about Naruto. But curiosity will only kill me." Jiraiya said as he crossed his arms. "So, I have decided that I will wonder the lands for secret information to protect our village."
Sakura smiled faintly in relief.
'At least he seems to be heading in the right direction' She mused.
"Why are you informing me of this?" Sakura questioned a few moments later.
"I spoke to the Hokage. We both agreed on me sending the information to you as well as the Hokage. But you'll need to look for signs."
Sakura nodded in agreement.
"Did I die? In your timeline?" Jiraiya suddenly asked. Sakura kept a straight face as she looked into his eyes. "How did I die?"
"I didn't say that you did!" Sakura retorted instantly.
"You didn't have to."
"It's complicated…I'm not sure how much I can say…But I will say that your death saved the entire villages life…" Sakura carefully selected her words.
A wide smile spread across Jiraiya's face as the words entered his ears like a soft melody.
"That's very good to know." He voiced before uncrossing his arms. "For now, keep things to yourself, you know you can trust me." He said as he placed a hand on Sakura's head. "I'll write to you soon."
With that, Jiraiya left the village, leaving Sakura standing outside.
"Sakura?"
Sakura sighed irritably before turning around on the spot.
"Yes, yes, everyone wants to speak to me today..." She mumbled before finding herself look at her new teammates.
"S-Kai! Kezune! It's good to see you bo-" Sakura started with a smile on her face, ready to head to the Sand for her Chunin exam.
"The Chunin exams have been cancelled." Sai interrupted, as if he read her mind.
"What?! Why?" Sakura argued, looking from Sai to Shin.
"Some sort of problem with the Kazekage." Shin explained before the two of them walked to the Hokage tower.
"That's it?" She questioned.
"We no longer need to associate ourselves with you." Sai stated, hitting Sakura's nerves directly.
"Because of your secret make-believe faction? I'll gladly stay away from you guys." Sakura hissed after them. They both ignored her as they slowly left her field of vision.
Sakura stood in the same spot for a good half hour, wondering what her next move should be. She wore a sour expression as Sai's choice of words swam around her head.
"Sakura." Sakura turned her head slightly as she nodded at Kakashi.
"The Chunin exams-" He started informatively.
"Have been cancelled. I know." Sakura responded grumpily, making Kakashi grin.
"Whoa, someone's in a mood." He chuckled, earning a glare from Sakura.
"You weren't looking too hot watching me operate on Tsunade."
"Hey, don't drag me down with you." Kakashi held his hands up as Itachi walked to his side.
"Hm…" Sakura hummed as she crossed her arms and looked away, Locking eyes with Shisui.
"Shisui and I need to speak with you, Sakura." Itachi spoke up. Sakura looked over at him with an eyebrow raised.
"Why isn't Kakashi invited?" Sakura questioned.
"It's Uchiha business." He stated bluntly. Sakura frowned further as she had a faint idea on what they wanted to speak about.
Shisui walked over before looking down at Sakura.
"Itachi and I need to talk with you, Sakura." Shisui repeated, tempting Sakura to giggle.
"Alright, I assume we'll be speaking at-"
"My house." Shisui finished Sakura's sentence before leading her and Itachi to the Uchiha compound.
"So, what do you need me for?" Sakura asked the moment Itachi closed the door, but she suddenly found herself breathless as Itachi tackled her to the ground and aimed a punch to her face.
She shook of the shock and blocked the attack by grabbing his wrist.
"What…the hell?!" She wheezed as she went to kick Itachi, however, she felt a heavy weight keeping her legs from moving. She glanced down to see that Shisui has put dense gravity seals on them.
"You killed Sasuke?" Itachi stated, the words tasting weird to his tongue as he spoke, unsure of that the information the Hokage gave him.
Sakura hesitated to answer, which made Itachi scowl at her.
"You killed Sasuke!?" He repeated, anger lacing his tone.
"Look, you don't need to restrain me, I'm willing to talk to you…however I'm not sure what the Hokage has said to you." Sakura stated as she realised Itachi's wrist slowly, starting to feel the pain of the gravity seals.
"…" Itachi huffed silently before getting off Sakura and sitting on the armchair next to her.
She was about to sit up before she felt another weight suddenly hit her chest.
"Oof!" Sakura exhaled involuntarily, noticing that it was Shisui who was sitting on her. "Don't you think that's unnecessary? You're kinda heavy, no offence." Sakura struggled.
Shisui kept quiet as he activated his Sharingan.
A long pause creeped into his house as Sakura stared directly into Shisui's Sharingan, as if to challenge him.
"What did the Hokage tell you?" Sakura questioned, in attempts to break the awkward silence. Shisui frowned before deactivating his Sharingan.
"He told us about your Origin." Itachi stated, waiting patiently for Sakura to respond.
"Yes…I apologise for my Clans mistakes…" Sakura attempted as she looked over at Itachi.
"Your actual origin, and how you're a nobody who's become a somebody, especially to the Uchiha." He continued.
Sakura frowned as she looked back at Shisui.
"I did feel that something about her was…odd." Shisui commented.
"How much do you know? Does Kakashi know?" Sakura continued to ask.
"All of it, and no. I put the Hokage in a Genjutsu and tortured him for 10 minutes because I felt that he was lying about you…which was a good call." Itachi stated honestly, causing a small gasp to escape her mouth.
"And Kakashi didn't notice…" Sakura stated in disbelief.
"He was put under Shisui's Genjutsu. That's all you need to know."
Sakura looked up at Shisui with sad eyes.
'What kind of Sharingan does he have?' Sakura thought.
"Why did you kill Sasuke?" Itachi snapped her attention back to him, making Sakura panic slightly.
"I can't tell you or I die. Just know it was for good reason." Sakura stated, almost removing her gaze from him.
"Why?" He repeated as he drew his Kunai.
"You're going to seriously torture me?" Sakura laughed. "I think we both know-"
Itachi took out a familiar looking scroll before holding it to Sakura's head.
"We found out how to reverse the effects of this badly put together jutsu in 2 minutes. How long did you take to create it? 20 years?" Itachi bluffed, giving Sakura some time to contemplate her situation.
"Would you believe anything I said? Time travelling is a far-fetched concept." Sakura questioned.
"Uchiha's are good at reading people like a book." Itachi smirked.
Sakura didn't take long to weigh up her options.
"Do it…" She eventually said. "I didn't perform the jutsu correctly anyway…I've messed this timeline up…so just reverse it."
Slap
Sakura stared wide-eyed at Shisui, surprised that he'd hit her.
"My guess is that you've created that Jutsu because something in your own timeline was messed up." Shisui observed Sakura as he spoke. "What made you want to travel back?"
Sakura sighed deeply, regretting telling the Hokage everything.
"You two, of all people, weren't supposed to know." She mumbled as she looked away from both Uchiha's, cussing herself for getting into this situation.
"Was it for Sasuke? You were calling his name out when you slept." Shisui asked, getting a satisfying response as Sakura tensed her whole body. "You didn't want to kill him."
"Can you stop speaking for me and just reverse this mess?" Sakura asked for mercy as she looked over at Itachi.
"Tell us why you travelled back and I'll take you back." Itachi lied.
"I wanted a life with Sasuke." Sakura admitted embarrassingly as she closed her eyes to hide her eyes from their reaction. "I loved him so much but he left the village," Sakura continued as tears threatened to pair up to the sadness that built up inside her. "Orochimaru marked him and he went looking for power…Naruto tried to stop Sasuke…But nothing was getting through to him." She said before glaring at Itachi. "He sought power from Orochimaru in order to kill you, Itachi. And I know Orochimaru doesn't seem like a bad guy now but he's bad news." She stated in a shaky voice. "After Sasuke killed you he found out the truth and wanted to eradicate the village. He attacked me while I was on an ANBU Mission with Kakashi Sensei and I almost died…I killed him in order to get his eye for the scroll so I could put things right…" Sakura ended her sentence weakly as a single tear dripped out of her left eye and drew a wet line down the side of her face.
"I don't understand how three different kind of eyes can teleport someone back in time." Shisui admitted as he took the scroll from Itachi and opened it.
"Tsunade was the one who created the scroll…I simply did what she asked." Sakura answered bluntly, unwilling to keep up a good attitude. "You'll have to ask her if-"
"Tsunade was announced dead by the medics ten minutes after we left the hospital." Shisui interrupted her.
Sakura's breath hitched. The room around her became dark and an icy coldness invaded her whole system. Tsunade was in a stable condition when Sakura left the hospital. Nothing was a threat to her…other than Orochimaru. Unlimited mixed feelings mixed up unhealthily in the pit of Sakura's stomach like a dirty pint.
"She's dead?" Sakura asked quietly, silent tears falling from her eyes. "Send me back." She demanded as she looked from Shisui to Itachi. "Send me back!"
"We don't know how to do it…we were bluffing. Tsunade would have been our best option to put things back in place." Shisui spoke up in Itachi's defence. Feeling a deadly aura emit from Sakura as he spoke.
"You lied…" Sakura stated rather than asked as a deadly chuckle tempted her throat. "You should know that Itachi murdered-"
"Our clan. We know everything you told the Hokage." Shisui reminded. "So, I can understand that your sad eyes at me are likely due to my death." He continued. "I'm feeling privileged, though, that Itachi doesn't get sad eyes."
"He doesn't deserve it…" Sakura muttered childishly. "Can you let me go now?"
"No. Now you'll be working alongside Shisui and Zumi so we can keep an eye on you. Otherwise we will leak information about your clan." Itachi stated while taking the scroll back from Shisui.
"Nothing ties me to the Haruno clan." Sakura attempted. Itachi smirked as this was the phrase he was waiting for.
"The upper hand we have is what this worlds' history books don't include. A weapon that seeks out the Haruno and hunts them dead." He informed, signalling Shisui to stand.
"What if you're bluffing?" Sakura said confidently.
"I dare you to find out." Itachi replied before stowing the scroll away in the pouch. Shisui deactivated the gravity seals and held out a hand to Sakura. She looked at it cautiously before looking up at Shisui.
"We understand that you're not the same as the Haruno of this timeline. You're simply an idiot who tampered with time and has suffered stupid consequences." Shisui stated simply. Sakura refused to take his hand as she quickly stood up, only to be met with a sudden rush of dizziness.
Shisui stabilized Sakura's body automatically.
"I wasn't offering you my hand to be polite." Shisui said as he looked at her dumbfounded face.
"The Hokage will be making a recommendation to promote you from Genin to Jonin." Itachi informed Sakura the instant she seemed fully alert.
"He would only be allowed to do that if-" Sakura started in a know-it-all fashion.
"We've found our ways. He'll be setting up your ANBU test right now and he'll have it ready by tomorrow." Itachi stated.
Sakura felt truly trapped. Now there was nothing that could comfort her as she was surrounded by a foreign world she swore she'd change. But now with the information leaked to Itachi and Shisui with the whole Uchiha Clan alive with Sakura's current history was a recipe of disaster.
"I guess I am at your disposal…" Sakura reluctantly agreed. "But what happens now?"
"Your ANBU test." Shisui repeated.
"No, I mean the future…" She elaborated vaguely.
"It won't be the same, if that's what you're getting at." Itachi said before walking to the front door. "Oh, and don't even think about running away…I've got my friend watching you." He said before leaving the house.
"Friend?" Sakura repeated to Shisui. "The guy he thinks is Madara?"
Shisui nodded his head.
"We've been told everything by the Hokage." Shisui repeated a third time as he sat down. "It's incredibly hard to follow…but Itachi said he was certain of what he saw." He sighed.
Sakura took a seat opposite Shisui.
"So, what? I'm your pet now? Where do I go?" Sakura asked genuinely.
"You'd like that?" He chuckled as he rubbed his head. "Let me into your memories so I can see." He requested suddenly.
"I don't really have a say. Otherwise the Haruno hunter will be used." She sighed before looking into Shisui's eyes. "I don't know how to let you in…but the Haruno's…"
"Just take down all defences, relax completely. No one in the world can resist the effects of the Sharingan without a wall of defence…" Shisui said confidently as he held Sakura's face and leaned towards her. "I think I deserve to see the future that would have happened if it weren't for you."
Sakura's heart beat started to beat irregularly as she became painfully aware of the lack of space between them.
"O-Okay, I will try my hardest." Sakura stammered, briefly avoiding his gaze as he activated his Sharingan.
"Show me all that you have seen." Shisui hummed deeply as he stroked the side of Sakura's face delicately with his fingers.
A.N: Thank you for being patient and thank you for reading! (I'll re-read through this later on) I think I have hit a point in this not so realistic story where it's becoming boring? Any feedback will be appreciated and will most likely form the next couple of chapters in the story!
Ultimately should I start again on persevere with this story? (I'll try and add on to other fanfics while I decide on what will happen to this fanfic ;_;)