Note:

" talk " - The characters are speaking in Japanese.

" talk " - The characters are speaking English.

' talk ' - The characters are thinking.

More notes at the end of the chapter.

This chapter is unedited/ not proofread. (8/8/20)

Eternal

Part Two: Thallo

Chapter Eleven:

Doubt II

Fifteen years ago...

Tsunade felt the energy move towards her balled fist, a power she never imagined could exist manifesting onto her fist as she willed it to.

In this forest, her only target was the large tree a few feet away from her as she readied herself before running at a faster speed than she thought she was capable of. Her fist met the tree trunk, and as he had said would happen if she did it right, the tree was uprooted and flew back, the power in her fist the cause.

She smirked, amused at how he was right and the irony of her hands being the cause of destruction and healing at the same time. Shaking her head, she looked behind her.

"Well?"

Jiraiya grinned as he gave her a thumbs up. "Perfect."

"How the hell did you even think this would work?"

Shrugging, he walked to her side. "Just trust me on this."

She rolled her eyes. "Know of anyone else that has this… whatever it's called?"

"A few people. One particularly," he paused for a moment, looking for a word. "Artistic one led me to you."

He had found out about her through her reputation as a doctor and had come to the conclusion that she, too, had the same kind of power he had possessed.

It was an odd feeling to Tsunade when they first met. She knew his name without even asking for it. It just rolled out of her tongue as if it was a name she had spoken countlessly before.

At the time, she had no idea why, but he knew. He knew everything. It was why he tried so hard to meet this world-renowned doctor, why he would go out of his way to track which country she would be in for a chance they could talk.

It was imperative they meet again.

She just didn't know at the time.

Present

Surrounded by lush greenery and a clear blue sky, the day felt hotter than it should have been. Beads of sweat rolled down each person's face as a group of five hiked their way to their destination. None of them bothered to ask why the heat didn't match the sight around them. They already knew.

A few miles southeast, a small town called Maiso was sectioned off from the world to prevent the spread of what the public thought of as a disease. In truth, it was something that the public could never comprehend. It would be a wonder to an outsider how this group so easily accepted it as fact.

Sasuke couldn't care less about Shikamaru and Naruto's conversation about the recent thesis their class required them to submit before we left for Maiso. Being accompanied with two political science majors, one had to expect a debate of some sort looming. However, the debate Sasuke was intent on listening to is the one he had with himself in his mind.

Sakura had been ignoring him. He was sure it was due to a memory she had unlocked about their past lives, but he had to ponder. Why was she so intent on keeping a distance between them now when up until that morning, she did not hesitate standing close to him, talking to him as if it were the easiest thing to do.

That friendliness, the unabashed confidence she had to engage in conversation with him was something rare. People were usually afraid to talk to him. He had admirers, women vying for his attention, but for the most part they never spoke with him in the way that Sakura would speak to him.

He knew it was due to their unusual connection, a similar connection he felt to Naruto and Kakashi upon meeting them. But even in the similarities, there was something inherently different about Sakura, something he knew that tied them together close.

In his dreams, his brief glances at his past life, when their eyes would meet, conversations would be held without either of them having to utter a single word. He could feel her pain, her hopefulness, her fear, her sorrow, but he had never even thought that the cause of all of those emotions were because of him.

Then there was that one odd dream he had recently. A little girl, with his coloring, referring to him as "Papa." He could have sworn that she looked so much like…

Her.

Was this wishful thinking on his part? He shook his head at the thought. What did he do in his past life that made him think about her so much, made him think about how she felt so much, made him care so much about what she thought of him?

Why, after years of rejecting romance, that one pair of green eyes and a head of pink hair would make him teeter on the edge would be enough to break down his walls and start waxing poetic about their past lives in his head?

He had to stop. There were more pressing matters to attend to.

The hike to Poroshiri-sanso was spent in silence on Sakura's part. She walked behind the group, watching Shikamaru and Naruto talk while Sasuke would pitch in every now and again. Itachi led them, also occasionally adding his two cents to their conversations.

Sakura took this time to go through recent events, the hike somehow calming her down, having time to herself to finally think clearly despite their absurd circumstances, despite the worry billowing within her about their lost feline companion. 'Hopefully Kakashi finds him,' she thinks.

She had become more wary. In less than a week, she's now among people she thought of as strangers no more than a month ago, but they all share something completely unique, unknown to outsiders. A large secret that must be hidden.

Instead of joining in their conversation, her mind reeled of all the things that could possibly happen. Having a powerful political figure against you naturally would make anyone panic. She thought of the ways he could ruin their lives, have them flee the country, anything that could make their lives a living hell.

But she thought of the positives, as well. Being as studious and knowledgeable as she was, she had to look at both sides. By their side was a powerful businessman, and a world renown doctor. They also held influence that could shield them from Shimura, especially knowing his dirty past.

Whatever they do now, they had to watch their steps, cover their tracks, and above all, trust each other.

Trust.

Her eyes find Sasuke's back. He's faced forward, his hands in his pockets.

Her mind was yelling all sorts of contradictions at her as her eyes remained glued to him. How could she trust him? That dream felt so viscerally painful that a part of her was telling her to keep her distance, to be wary of the younger Uchiha. But there was another part of her, willing her to give herself to him, wholeheartedly. It was so confusing because being with him, it felt natural to trust him, to talk to him with no walls built up, no stone unturned. She couldn't help but wonder why.

Of course, she was aware by now that in their past lives, they had known each other, but she had no clue to what extent. They had to be close, though. Close enough for her to feel her heart physically tear itself to pieces whenever she would so much as look at him, and yet, those pieces felt hopeful enough to rebuild itself, wholly, completely.

Contradiction after contradiction.

Just who is Sasuke Uchiha?

Itachi stopped, halting everyone midstep, his arms outstretched and signalling them to stand still.

He turned slightly and in that moment, Sakura could feel an unknown presence, the new presence of heat. Her breath hitched at the feeling, but even with her nervousness, she found herself standing next to Naruto, readying herself for what's to come.

To his right, Sasuke stood, eyes squinted as he searched for the source of the new presence.

They were a colorful sight, the three of them standing next to each other. Sasuke's darker colors mixed with a vibrant pink and yellow.

Itachi watched his surroundings with a critical eye, his senses heightened with his memories fully restored. His body remembers what to do. It was only the matter of if his body could take it. Having only just recently regained his memories, he didn't know the effect of using his chakra as he used to seeing as his current body had not grown up the same as his past life's body did.

Suddenly, Tsunade stood in front of Sakura, faster than the eye could see, pushing her back. A sharp swish in the air was heard as she moved the younger woman out of the way, and what landed on the spot where she stood made Sakura's heart drop.

"Is that… A kunai?'

Tsunade looked at the direction from where it was thrown, her hands folding into fists as she could feel anger begin to bubble out into the surface.

In a flash, Itachi disappeared from their side, Shikamaru and Tsunade unsurprised by his sudden disappearance, but the rest looked confused. They heard a gasp, and then a loud thud as a body fell from up a tree.

Turning quickly, Tsunade spoke, commanding, "Run. Follow Shikamaru's lead."

Shikamaru nodded and ran before the rest, his arms stretched out behind him, followed by the group of three who still had no full understanding of what they were capable of with Tsunade behind the group to guard them from the rear.

Another kunai landed right next to Sakura's foot as she ran, causing her to jump, her heartbeat accelerating, feeling as if it were to rip itself out from her chest. She stood for a beat until she felt someone pull her with him.

Sasuke had seen her falter. He wouldn't say it out loud, but he, too, was afraid. Nothing made sense to him, nothing would make sense until who knew when, but his instincts kicked in, and it screamed at him to run, it screamed for him to get her safe. He didn't even process the fact that he was pulling her with him, his body reacted.

"Are they only targeting Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked as they ran, eyes squinting at the thought of it.

"Just run!" Shikamaru yelled.

Tsunade sensed five people, the sixth having been taken care of by Itachi.

In the years she had met Jiraiya, he had nudged her into testing her abilities in specific ways. She was aware now of how he knew just what she was capable of and silently thanked him for it.

She never had to use those abilities, but she had no choice now.

A man with a white mask appeared behind her, kunai in hand, ready to attack.

Tsunade's feet stopped, and she turned around, meeting him face to face. She could sense the rest of them continue their escape.

The man ran forward as she balled her fist, concentrating on the flow of chakra to move towards it. The heat flooded her hands, power emanating on her fist as she steadied her feet. Her eyes were focused, all remnants of fear and self doubt washed away as if a different part of her had taken over.

One.

She clenched her teeth.

Two.

He was close.

Three.

Thrusting her fist forward, she felt the air around her change. The chakra she focused on her fist released into the world, forward to where she aimed it, forcing the man to fly back, astounded by the sheer power.

The trees shook, its branches and leaves flew back, some had been broken from its roots and flew back, leaving a trail of wood and leaves in its wake.

Suddenly, the weapons stopped coming at them, a pregnant silence filling the air as everyone stopped to witness the aftermath of such a powerful force.

It was as if a tornado had blown past them, green now back to brown soil, patches of grass littered where she had aimed.

Shikamaru thought it both incredible and terrifying, all of that power from one being. He was not as startled as the rest, however. Having had more experience with the unknown power that now had a name.

Looking to the direction of their destination, he told himself to focus. Tsunade and Itachi can handle them. They needed to get to the helicopter, out of the trees. If need be, Poroshiri-sanso was an open field.

Grabbing Naruto's shoulder, he lightly shook him out of his reverie. Naruto, remembering where he was, understood and did the same to their other two shell shocked companions.

Sasuke tilted his head to where Sakura was standing, Sakura's hand covering her opened mouth, her body shaking at the sight. Desperate to flee from the scene, he grabbed her wrist and began running.

She felt him tugging her away from the scene, and her feet went on autopilot, following his lead, yet she couldn't tear her eyes away from Tsunade, from what she had done.

Her head began to pound, her heart hammering in her chest as fleeting images filled her mind, grainy pictures of broken terrain, of uprooted trees, of the debris it left.

She wanted to scream, but her body wouldn't let her. Instead, it continued running, even as the destruction moved farther away from her line of sight.

Tsunade watched as the four continued running and sensed Itachi had finished off the two he was dealing with. Judging from the unconscious body a mile away from her, that meant there were two left.

'Kakashi's nearby,' she thought, sensing his chakra, before she leapt up into the trees and ran as quickly as she could.

Naruto felt his lungs scream for air as he ran, the heat and the energy he was spending beginning to get to him. He forced himself to look up and saw the upcoming field.

'Almost there,' he thought, willing himself to go faster.

Shikamaru sensed Temari ahead of them and had never felt more relieved to feel her presence. He also sensed someone else, a man he had met a few months ago, his name on the tip of his tongue. Running out of the trees, the group could see two helicopters on standby, a man with short black hair and pale skin standing next to one of them.

But they weren't in the clear yet.

Another masked man appeared a few feet ahead of them, his hand holding a long sword.

"Shit!" Naruto exclaimed as they all came to a halt. The only thing between them and escape was a dangerous weapon.

Shikamaru gritted his teeth, eyes narrowed in focus as he recalled the signs he needed to weave.

Bird. Boar. Dog.

"This is the end of the line for you kids!" The masked man laughed.

Dragon. Ox. Tiger.

He ran towards them.

Serpent. Rat. Horse.

The three disperse, running away. His pink haired target ran left, and he followed.

Monkey. Hare. Ram!

His shadow grew out, webs of black interlocking with each other until they met the masked man's shadow, taking over it, making his movements his own.

The masked man stopped, his body not listening to his commands. Looking down he sees the long stretch of black from where his shadow should be to the only one who didn't run, a smirk on his face.

Naruto ran to the waiting helicopter, past the pale man who had stood by it as he ran towards Shikamaru.

Sakura couldn't comprehend what had just occurred but followed Naruto and Sasuke's lead. Sasuke got in after Naruto, standing by the entrance, his hand outstretched to Sakura. She took his hand and hauled herself up.

Naruto watched in confusion from the helicopter as the pale man who ran past them took out a scroll and what looked like a brush, and began drawing onto the parchment.

His eyes widened as out from the paper, out of nowhere, a lion leapt out onto the field, running toward the masked man who was still standing still. The man continued drawing and out from the page now was a giant bird that flew to Shikamaru's direction.

Shikamaru undid the jutsu just as the black and white lion was close enough and leapt onto the bird, flying away, the artist leaping onto his creation as well before the small explosion erupted when the lion went in contact with the man.

Red, black, and white blew through the area, the gust of wind from the explosion made Sakura look away. Ink blots littered the open field, smears of red tainting the flowers that had remained unscathed.

"You guys better buckle up," the woman at the cockpit turned her head. Upon setting her eyes on them, she tried her best not to look affected, but the familiar sight of Team 7 in a new life spurred a newfound sense of hope she needed.

Naruto looked the same as he did in his past life at this age, although his hair was longer, the same length as it was when he was sixteen. She hadn't seen much of the Uchiha after the war, but from Sakura's past descriptions, it would seem his hair was shorter than in his previous life.

Then, there was Sakura. She had become one of her closest companions when she moved to the Leaf. The two of them alongside Ino had formed a friendship that lasted until their unfortunate last moments. Being reunited with her means that it was only Ino they had left to find among the three of them. She looked just as she did back then, except there was a stark difference. It wasn't in appearance, but in her eyes. The fear, the lack of the twinkling confidence present in her eyes, in her demeanor.

A part of her had hoped in the short period of time between Itachi calling her and now that she had somehow regained her memories, but it would seem that it was not the case. She had the same hope that Shikamaru, too, would remember, but that was highly unlikely, too.

Still, Shikamaru seemed to love her all the same, despite not knowing the complexities and deeper levels of their relationship that had yet to surface in his memories.

Shikamaru came in through the door, sliding it closed behind him as he walked past the three now buckled up and seated and to the seat in front, next to Temari.

"You alright?" She asked, a hint of concern bleeding through her words.

He breathed out a sigh. "Yeah," he said as he sat down and buckled up. "All things considered."

"Didn't think you'd have to use that technique this weekend, huh?"

"Didn't think I'd have to ever."

He was a bit shaken, that she could tell. But having no recollection of his past life, she figured that would be as much. Still, she was glad he came out safe.

Itachi, Kakashi, and Tsunade boarded the second helicopter, having taken care of the last masked man.

"It's a good thing everyone's safe," Tsunade said as she sat down.

"We saw this coming, but I didn't expect them to just target one person," Itachi pondered.

Kakashi thought about the reasons why they'd attack her, but without much information, nothing made much sense yet. He did have a theory, though. "Maybe they picked a target at random."

Tsunade looked skeptical for a moment. "What? To gauge what abilities they have?"

"Exactly."

"If that's the case, then there's someone on their side that knows about our past lives. Could it be the man you met the other night?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No. He hasn't regained his memories yet." He paused. "Any ideas, Itachi?"

"A few," he said, as he looked out of the window, wordlessly. "In any case, thank you for coming to their aid earlier, Sai. It was a good thing you packed explosive tags."

Sai's lips formed an empty smile. "Was I supposed to just leave them be, knowing our history?"

"You wouldn't have." Kakashi shook his head at his attempt at humor. It was a good thing he kept it vague, since Tsunade still had no recollection either. "Let's get out of here before anything else happens."

Sakura held her hands to her chest, hoping to calm her erratically beating farther they got away from the Hidaka Range, the calmer it got, but still, she felt enormous guilt on having left the patients in Maiso.

With a heavy sigh, she dropped her hands onto her lap as she recounted the morning's events.

Toma disappeared.

They were chased through the forest with weapons.

A kunai almost sliced through her foot.

Tsunade deforested a portion of the woods.

She sighed. There was too much that happened in the span of less than an hour and if she thought too much of it, she'd get a headache and start feeling like a chicken.

What was important is that everyone made it out of there.

"You okay, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked beside her, worry swimming in his words.

"Yeah," she replied. "Better than I thought I'd be."

Above all else, it was a sign that she was toughening up, at least. In the short period of her stay in the Maiso area, she had found out things about herself she had never thought she possessed. Some she feared, others she was getting past.

But there was one more thing.

Sasuke didn't speak, his eyes out the window.

She wanted to ask him so many things, but it wasn't the time nor place. She'd have to talk to him in private later. If only to get some of the worries she had to die down, even just a little bit.

Something in her knew it would only hurt them both if she kept on running away.

A time lost…

Sarada ran past everyone running the opposite direction, dodging debris along the way.

Her parents cautioned her to get away, but she couldn't. She refused to leave them behind.

The way they were talking made it seem like they weren't going to make it out of the fight, but that would be impossible. They were two-thirds of the Legendary Neo Sannin! She searched her mind for anything that could bring them down and nothing had come up.

But it worried her. It wasn't like her parents to act that way.

Balling her fist around the scroll they had given her, she wondered what on earth could be so important that they relinquished their possession of it to her.

It was stupid to go against their word, but Sarada couldn't bring herself to leave.

She sensed them running to the outskirts of the village. She was certain they could sense her coming, too, yet they did nothing to stop her. They must not have the time to.

An explosion erupted ahead of them, in the direction they were heading. 'That must be Lord Seventh,' she thought as she sped up.

"Sarada!" A familiar voice boomed in her ears. Boruto had appeared running beside her. "Where are you going?"

"Where does it look like I'm going? I'm following my parents!"

"Where your parents are going are probably where my dad is," he said. "I'm coming with."

"Have any idea what's going on?"

"No, but if your parents and my dad are fighting together, then that means it's something worse than bad."

It was far worse than they realized.

Notes:

Part 2 of Doubt is here and I hated writing every minute of it (lmao jk, kinda).

And surprise, here's Sai! I had to have him here!

And some new information/ questions:

1) They don't know where Ino is. There are other people of the K12 that they haven't met up with either, whether they will be part of the fight as a whole, it depends. Some will be, some won't. ;)

2) They targetted Sakura. Why?

3) Jiraiya re-taught Tsunade some of her abilities, not all. Why did he die?

4) Remember, I wrote in Orochimaru's brief appearance in Chapter Nine: Fate. What's his purpose here?

Be safe, y'all! Wear a mask and social distance. Wishing the best for everyone!