sakura harano and the terrible horrible no good very bad day

by Tht0neGal666

Summary:

She stuffs all her Chakra away, makes sure no one could sense her, and changes course right as she gets to the battlefield, because she can hear a child sobbing and she could smell blood and that took immediate priority. Probably. As long as it wasn't anyone she knew she'd regret healing. Kabuto came to mind, though she's fairly sure he's dead. Point stands.

Instead, she sees a girl trying and failing to hold back tears staring helplessly at a boy stuck under a small hills worth of boulders, Leaf headbands firmly on them both.

Notes:

ok so. This was actually the second Naruto Fanfic idea I ever had (I'm still working on the first one) so it's a little troupey and cliched, and some of the minor details are fucked up b/c I didn't know they were wrong and when I did I didn't bother changing them (Sakura has a Konoha Hitai-ate, for example), but! What can I say? Time travel team 7 fics have my soul. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Sakura's head hurt. A lot.

that was the first thing she noticed when she opened her eyes, wincing at the bright sky and normally mundane sounds of nature that were all but pounding into her head. 

Where the fuck was she?

She moved to sit up, but her headache was having none of that, and she suppressed a groan at the pain. She reached an arm up to her forehead and didn't even bother closing her eyes as she alleviated the headache, biting her lip to make herself focus on the situation at hand. 

Aside from the headache and a light soreness covering her body, she felt fine. She didn't bother healing the soreness. She could barely notice it anyway, war does that to a persons pain tolerance, and she didn't want to waste the Chakra before she even knew the situation. She soundlessly leaped into the tallest nearby tree and looked around the land.

With trees like this, she was definitely still in The Land of Fire, which wasn't much but it was Something, at least. Better then nothing. Her eyes scanned the landscape for familiar landmarks, which shouldn't be hard. Like most Konohan Shinobi, she knew the forest like the back of her hand.

There was something about the land though, something throwing her off. It looked a little wonky, felt a bit wrong. Every-time she was sure she knew where she was, she saw a tree that wasn't supposed to be there, or a rock formation that should be collapsed, or burnt soil where there should be foliage. it was disorientating, and there was no way it could be a good sign for her. How long was she out?

Suddenly, there was a burst of Chakra and killing intent, a distinct taste of o-zone warning her of Raiton as she ran towards it despite a voice in the back of her head that sounded like Shizune chiding her for running into danger. And to think she was the one with the most self preservation on her team (To be fair, it is a very low bar). But what was she supposed to do? it was the closest thing to a lead she had as to whats happening.  And this felt Important in a way she couldn't place.

She stuffs all her Chakra away, makes sure no one could sense her, and changes course right as she gets to the battlefield, because she can hear a child sobbing and she could smell blood and that took immediate priority. Probably. As long as it wasn't anyone she knew she'd regret healing. Kabuto came to mind, though she's fairly sure he's dead. Point stands.

Instead, she sees a girl trying and failing to hold back tears staring helplessly at a boy stuck under a small hills worth of boulders, Leaf headbands firmly on them both.

Were Sakura a lesser Kunoichi, the sight would make her vomit. The Boy was so obviously in so much pain, stubbornly clinging onto life, and she could all but see the will of fire flickering out in his eyes. He was trying to smile at The Girl, blood splattered across his teeth and chin, and his eye was also bleeding, very tightly squeezed shut. It seemed like he was using every last bit of his strength to grip The Girl's hand, and The Girl's breath hitched every time the grip loosened, bit by wretched bit. Fear was so painfully visible despite his attempts to cover it, to be strong for this girl in what he must believe to be his last moments. 

Literally everything about this made Sakura seethe, and Inner was screaming to find the person that did this, but Sakura knew she couldn't afford to. This boy didn't have very long; hours, at a very hopeful most. 

She couldn't afford to lose her temper, though. The Boy's life depended on her. instead, she took a deep breath, calming herself as much as she could as she tied her hair up, and let loose a spark of Chakra in warning as she jumped down.

The Girl was on her feet immediately, posture shaky with grief and probably Chakra exhaustion, if Sakura had to guess. Despite that, her eyes were steely and her grip was sure on her kunai. Her mouth was even trying to quirk into a taunting smirk, trying to make herself the Target. Draw attention from The Boy. 'Me, Not Him' was written all over her stance in an achingly familiar way, despite the fact that there's no way she could think The Boy could make it out alive. She doesn't care, because she has to do something.

Ok, maybe she should pull back a bit. That sounded dangerously close to projecting, and she can't afford the clutter of nostalgia and emotion if she wants The Boy to have any chance. She needs to get to work.

She moves suddenly, pushing The Girl to the other side of the small cave with enough force to knock her down for a few seconds. She knows better then to underestimate a Shinobi because they're young, so she keeps the girl in her sight-line as she lets Inner take the catharsis of lifting the small hill's worth of rocks off of the boys half-broken body and throwing it as far as she could away from the fight outside with a cry of "Shannaro!", begrudgingly admitting that the reward of maybe hitting the fucker responsible was far outweighed by the risk of hitting literally anyone else that could be out there.

She turns to The Girl as she stands, Sakura kneeling next to the boy in an empty spot where there had just been boulders. The Girl looks very pale now, eyes flickering between Sakura and The Boy with only the barest attempt at subtlety. 

"Rin...?" The boy mutters, fingers twitching and mouth marred in confusion. "Rin, are...you ok?" He gasps, suddenly tense and scared. 

"Yeah." She assures the boy quickly, eyes not leaving Sakura, which was Impressive, really; were Sakura's boys anywhere close to this injured, she wouldn't be this calm, especially not when she was as young as The Girl looks. "Wha- What do you want?" The Girl (Rin?) Demanded, fearlessly storming over, kunai still at the ready, despite just watching Sakura throw a few tons of solid stone. Sakura gave the softest smile she could (much closer to a grimace) and tapped her own headband tied around her arm. She liked this girl.

"To help. Can you let me do that?" Sakura requests, as patiently as she can, though her fingers are itching to start her work. The Boy needs her now and, she almost hates to say it, but she can't waste time easing The Girl's (justified) suspicions. 

They're interrupted just as the girl is about to answer (or Sakura's about to knock her out and get on with it) by a boy with silver hair and one Sharringan. 

Sakura's breath hitches because what the actual fuck, but she can't lose focus. She feels a small army of Chakra coming their way, and (can't be Kakashi not Kakashi not Kakashi-) Hatake must feel it as well, because his eyes narrow on her in what he must feel is a far too quick threat assessment. He's breathing heavily, more exhausted then the girl no doubt, but moves to pick up The Boy (Sakura feels dread pooling in her stomach as Inner pieces things together and starts swearing up a storm, but Sakura very purposefully ignores whatever her revelation is) despite his fatigue. Sakura frowns, debating the merits of arguing with Hatake about his health, and then almost laughing aloud at the thought as she dismisses it.

"Hatake-san," She started firmly, ignoring the discomfort she feels at the words, "Hide. Don't be dumb. I swear if I have to heal your fatally Chakra exhausted ass on top of whatever the fuck happened to your friend, I will throw you through a mountain." She growls, because she can see in his eyes that he's still itching for a for a fight and she needs to shut that shit down. Hatake's eyes widen at the threat (and the back-hand offer to heal The Boy), probably used to more respect (fear?) than that, but she doesn't care. "Don't give me that look, I fucking will. Find a nice tall tree that these Rock-heads wouldn't think to climb and suppress your Chakra until you feel like a newborn squirrel, and wait."

Hatake glares, eyes sharpening, Sharringan spinning sporadically (don't think about it). "I don't take orders from you." He all but snarls, and The Girl is looking very unsure what exactly she should be doing.

"Oh, my bad Hatake-Sama," She drawls, resting a hand on The Boy's  chest and doing everything she can to stabilize the boy, wringing every second until the enemy arrives for all it's worth expertly. Towards the End, seconds of healing could be and more often then not were the difference between mobile and dead. She doesn't break eye contact with Hatake as he readies for an attack. "I'll just leave you to it then. Let you watch your teammate die because you're too damn proud to take orders." she smirks, talking a little slow because Fuck, this wasn't meant to heal fast and if she were anyone else it wouldn't, but she pulls her arm away, satisfied that she's given the boy another half hour at least. She could work with that. Hatake's eyes boggle as The Girl gasps behind her as breath comes to The Boy just a bit easier already.

The Boy almost ruins her demonstration as he starts hacking a laugh at Hatake's expense in light of the mocking. his right eye is twitching until it finally opens, searching as discreetly as it can until it lands on the girl, who looks crossed between amused, horrified, and hopeful.

"Name. Name and rank." Hatake demands with more confidence then he probably feels, voice even for the most part as he tears his eyes away from her frankly fantastic miracle work. She's almost a little insulted, as she rolls her eyes. They don't have time for this.

"Ah yes, because you are obviously the one in the position to make demands here." She presses, "It's not like I literally have his life in my hands. Or like you both aren't dead on your feet with Chakra exhaustion and absolutely no chance against the incoming Iwa-nin." and stares into his black eye, blown wide with fear. Of her or the incoming attack she isn't sure, but she sees the second he breaks, staring at the mangled-almost-corpse of his teammate.  

"Fine." He grits out, glaring at her as he walks over to the boy as Sakura takes a step back. He dead lifts the boy, arms shaking, and doesn't seem to notice or care about the fact that he's reaching his absolute limit.

"That's what I thought. Take this and Hide." She ordered, handing The Girl a bag of Chakra hiding seals. She only takes a moment to recognize them before she nods, hope-caution-fear fighting in her eyes as she gently pulled Hatake away until he starts to walk on his own, legs shaking with exhaustion but hold of The Boy never faltering. 

Sakura nods, cracking her knuckles and Henge-ing herself into Hatake. It was hard to Henge a Sharringan, so she didn't even bother. She would need every scrap of Chakra she could get for the healing of The Boy. her goal here isn't really to trick them into thinking she's Hatake, anyway. It's to kick their asses and get back to her patient.

She runs through the trees, projecting as much fear as she can and acting oblivious to the few dozen Iwa-nin on her tail, wrapping her excited thrill up as tight as she can.

She's got a plethora issues with this situation, full Chakra reserves, something to protect, and a Konoha-Standard indoctrinated grudge against Iwa-nin. These bastards won't know what hit 'em.

--

Chapter 2

Sakura wiped her brow with one hand and her rusted kunai on a dead Shinobi's clothes with the other. One platoon of Iwa-nin dead, and she was still shoving all of her cataloged hints and information gathered (attire fit for an actual war, tactics that went out of style over a decade ago, headbands without the modern standard authentication seals-) into Inner's waiting arms and refusing to think about her situation until she was done healing the boy. She had a patient, and couldn't afford to loose focus. 

Inner giggled, and Sakura grimaced.

"Ok brats, you can come out now." She called up into the surrounding trees, lifting kunai, shurriken, senbon, Ninja Wire, and various seals, scrolls and pills from the down Shinobi. Barely any of it was even slightly rusted, and Sakura almost cooed as she traded her old supplies in. "Seriously," She continues, considering stealing a Tanto despite having no idea how to use one, "Your friend doesn't have much time, and his Shinobi career and almost definitely his life is over if anyone but me heals him, unless you can convince Tsunade-Shishou herself withing the next 12 hours." She continued without looking up. 

A Genjutsu was dropped and there was a pained gasp from the boy, before Hatake spiked his Chakra in a desperate but begrudging cry for help. Sakura decided to pick up the blade. It looked cool and she had learned any weapon is a good weapon.

She had about 90% of her Chakra stores in tact, facing most of the platoon with pure Taijutsu in the interest of conserving Chakra. Still, she doubted that would be enough to heal the boy and, willfully ignorant to specifics or not, Inner was screaming instances that she heal the boy completely.

"I need him down here, right over there." She commanded, waving to a clearing by a lake about ten yards to her left, where only one Iwa-nin was laying dead. No one responded, but she heard the tell-tale chime of a Shun-shin, followed by the sound of a collapse. She couldn't stop a mocking laugh from slipping past her lips as she walked over and saw the Hatake finally collapse from Chakra exhaustion. 

"Kakashi-kun!" The girl scowled, and Sakura laughed again as she sat besides the boy, stoutly refusing to register the Hatake's name. Inner's own laugh gave her a headache, and she almost winced.

"Chakra pills." Sakura identifies as she drops a bag next to the girl, shifting into 'Med-nin Mode' and looking over the boy critically. "Don't disturb me unless I ask something of you. Do you know Iryou-Ninjutsu?" She inquired sharply, and the girl nodded in her periphery as she pushed a Chakra pill past the Hatake's lips. "Good. You may run diagnostics whenever you wish, but do not talk to me. I need to focus, got it?" She insisted, and the girl nodded again. "He'll need real food and water when he's done, not pills. If you or Hatake need something to do, work on that." The girl nodded a third time, and Sakura's full focus shifted to her patient.

Sakura lost track of both time and the other two Shinobi, as she worked on the boy. She trusted that they wouldn't leave her alone with the boy, and thus should an attack come she wouldn't be caught completely off guard. For the first time in months, she had time to take her time healing a patient, and she was utilizing it. 

About 10 hours by her internal clock, 2 Chakra pills, and 37% of her Yin-seal later, the boy is perfectly fine, with the exception of his missing eye. She could have used another 4 hours and 11% of her Yin-seal to make him a new eye, but it wasn't worth it at the moment. She had time, but not that much time. Besides, oddly enough, she didn't feel the compulsion to do this boy any favors.

She took a deep breathe, closed her eyes, and pulled her Yin seal back in. She opened her eyes, and it was the dead of night.

"I'm done." She announced for whoever was listening, eyes focusing on the smokeless fire beside her, cooked rabbit on sticks stuck upright in the ground next to it. She remembered Kakashi-sensei teaching her how to make a smokeless fire, angry it had been removed from Academy curriculum in favor of a smokeless-long lasting Katon. Her eyes darted automatically to the Hatake, who was passed out, and then trailed up the girl, who was also asleep. 

She was sure they'd tried their hardest, but they were both exhausted. It was unfair and reckless of her to just assume they'd be able to stay awake out of sheer will. Most people did not have the constitution of her team. Naruto had one confessed that he'd never even had Chakra exhaustion before- just occasional corruption, corrosion, and/or poisoning.   

Despite her long work hours, she wasn't tired. She was too full of Chakra left over from her Yin-seal to even think about sleeping, so instead she resigned herself to watch duty and finally let Inner release all of her observations to the front of her mind with a head-splitting cackle.

She groaned and massaged her head as she finally accepted that, yes, Hatake was Kakashi-sensei. She had time traveled to the third world war (the new trees and collapsed structures and old uniforms and the smokeless fire and a million other things to prove it) somehow, in the middle of the Kanabi bridge mission that Kakashi had told her and the boys about before. The girl was Rin, the teammate Kakashi killed. The Boy was Obito, the man that ended the world. She had, somehow, dramatically changed the past.

She processed all of this with controlled breathing and a stony face, because she was a professional. She couldn't remember how she got here. The last thing she remembered was cutting off Shikamaru's hand after he got skimmed by one of Kaguya's ash bones. They made camp in a cave that Sasuke and Naruto were hiding in with Chakra dampeners to hide themselves, and when she opened her eyes her head hurt a lot and the sky was bright for the first time in nearly a year.

There was a breeze, one she would think nothing of were she a lesser Shinobi. She wasn't, though, so the breeze had her on her feet, kunai at the ready. She bit back a gasp as she stared into achingly familiar blue eyes on a face she'd never seen before. At least, not like this. Not so young and natural and full of life.

"Good evening." The yellow flash started, mock casual, but his smile was all teeth. "Care to tell me exactly what you want with my team?"

Chapter 3

"Um." Sakura vocalized smartly, weighing her chances of beating the future Yondaime. She could probably do it, but she'd definitely need her seal. And she had to cut off his kunai pouch so he couldn't Hirashin. She should try a diplomatic approach first. "I was just leaving, actually." She tried, mourning her chance for a clean get away that she wasted moping by a smokeless fire. 

"Oh, were you? Good thing I caught you when I did!" He beamed, and it didn't even seem fake. His mannerisms reminded her in parts of both Kakashi and Naruto, and it was weird. "What were you doing with my team before now, then?"

"I was healing your Uchiha." She stated, pretending not to notice the slight tensing of the man's shoulders.

"He's hurt?" The man demanded, easy demeanor slipping for a moment as his eyes glanced at the boy resting besides the fire pit.

Sakura pursed her lips. What she said and how she said it was very important for her easy (well, as easy as it ever was) survival, but she had little to no real experience talking to the man. What was the right thing to say here?

"He was. Severely. He would have been dead with anything short of a miracle." She stated plainly. It was risky, but if she succeeded in making him indebted to her it might be worth it. What was that horribly civilian saying her mom taught her? Honesty is the best policy. "Luckily enough for you, I've got a few miracles to spare." She finished smugly, moving her bangs absently and letting him see the corner of the Yin-seal. He gaped at it, but his eyes focused on top of her head, instead.

"Konoha-nin, huh? Have we met?" He frowned, as if searching some sort of memory bank. She suppressed a wince; she was hoping the seal would soak up more of his attention.

"No." She deadpanned, leaving him to decide whether she meant she wasn't of Konoha or they hadn't met. Technically, both were true. Technically, neither were.

"Ok," He nodded easily, "we can come back to that. You still haven't told me what's going on here. I'm going to need details, if you don't mind, on what lead to my team going off mission and ending up sleeping without someone on watch as an unknown heals a horribly injured comrade. That just doesn't sound like my team, ya know?" He shrugged, spinning a dulled shurriken on his finger. 

It was probably supposed to be a threat, she recognized, but Sakura huffed a laugh at the action. Naruto had callouses and scars on his fingers from cutting them while absently spinning a shurriken, lost in thought until blood dripped onto whatever seal he was working on. It always ended in disaster, and it always happened again. She had given him dulled or academy grade shurriken to use instead multiple times before, but he never actually remembered to use them. She had the same issue, so she couldn't even give him too much shit about it. The only real difference was that she coated her thumb in Chakra so it wouldn't get cut when she flicked the blade.

Minato, proving himself as the genius he was advertised as, didn't use his thumb at all; he just twirled his finger with the motion of the weapon to keep it spinning. She'd never put enough thought into it to try another way, really.

"Sorry," She apologized sheepishly when she realized she just laughed without prompting, not looking up at Minato's undoubtedly startled and/or alarmed reaction, "I just. My boyfriend does that and shreds his fingers up. He'd be pissed that there was such a simple fix he'd never thought of." She explained, leaving out that she herself was, in fact, a little pissed about it, and was also probably going crazy, if she's laughing in The Yellow Flash's face and letting her mind wander as much as she was. 

To be fair, she's been fighting god for the past year. And she just time traveled decades into the past. Inner snickered a joke about a 'meet the parents' occasion, and she giggled again. 

She should really give the situation at hand more weight. Minato was probably just about ready to kill her, but she couldn't help it everything was ridiculous and awful and so damn laughable.

Minato shifted and she tensed up, still laughing nigh-hysterically but ready to dodge, when a voice rang out.

"Rin?...Bakashi?.." Obito creaked, and Sakura instantly snapped out of it. Mental breakdown later, Inner snapped scornfully, patient now.

"Name, rank, registration number, date of birth, last thing you remember." She ordered as softly as she could, laying it on thick with the patented 'Med-nin voice' as she came to kneel besides the Uchiha. She had never been very good at it, really, but it seemed that the Uchiha- fucking Obito- was too out of it to really notice. 

"Uchiha Obito, Chunnin, 010886, February tenth." He recited dutifully, in the drawl of a ninja who had spent plenty of time in a hospital before. She felt Minato hovering right behind her, suspension and concern evident in his stance. She didn't spare him a glance. She had a job to do. "Last thing I remember?..." He trailed off and then gasped. The entire right side of his body went limp, not expecting to work, and his left hand trailed up to his missing eye. He didn't continue. 

"Good." She noted with a kind smile. Obito's brow furrowed. "You will feel phantom pains and slight soreness on the right side of your body, but I assure you there is no risk of injury. Move your right thumb." She requested.

He looked skeptical and braced for pain, but followed instruction. There was a gasp of surprise from the boy and an awestruck smile, contrasted by a displeased sound from the man behind her. She was fairly sure it wasn't aimed at her, so she proceeded.

"Very good, Obito-kun." She praised. "Now the rest of your fingers. Your wrist. Your elbow. Your shoulder." She worked him through stretching the newly repaired bits of his body, his wonder growing with every movement, even with both eyes closed. They reached the end of his test-stretches, and she smiled at the boy again. She tried not to match him to the man that destroyed her world. "Okay, Obito-kun. Open your right eye. I don't know enough about the Sharringan to recreate your left." She lied through her teeth, and refrained from smirking as Minato audibly startled behind her. That's her chance.

With no hesitation, she tripped the startled man and moved out of the way, letting him take her place. Obito may panic if the first face he saw was an unfamiliar one and, if she timed it right-

"Pffft!" A muffled giggle broke out from the child, as he opened his eyes to see the feared Yellow Flash, in all of his glory, fall in front of him with a quiet 'oof'. Minato was tense as he fell, probably scolding himself for letting his guard down and expecting an attack, but took his chances at his student's laugh. He looked over the boy's shoulder and saw the mysterious Kunoichi, amusement and fondness and something bitter dancing in her eyes. His eyes were drawn back to his student as the boy's wheezing laughter stopped, and confusion crossed his face. 

"Obito. What happened?" He demanded, voice of a commanding officer muddled by his obvious concern. Nonetheless, it made Obito sit up and start to recount his mission. Sakura walked over to the remaining children, still passed out from Chakra exhaustion. She kept one eye on Minato as he kept one eye on her, and an unspoken ease was reached.  She gave the sleeping children water and adjusted their covering and positioning, as they had both basically collapsed and had not bothered to make sure they weren't laying on, say, a very pointy rock.

Which Kakashi was. Because all of her boys, no matter the age, were dumb-asses. Geniuses, but still dumb-asses.

She healed the bound-to-be-infected cut silently and cleared a spot for them to sleep, bringing them closer to the fire. While she was at it, she checked Rin for injuries during her kidnapping (bruising, two broken fingers, and a concussion) and healed Kakashi's injuries from the mission. 

Just as Minato came over to check what she was doing, she pried Kakashi's left eye open.  To his credit, Minato barely stilled as he caught sight of the Sharringan.

Chapter 4

"I need to stabilize the transplant. Rin-chan did the best she could, but Ocular Iryou-Ninjutsu is a very precise thing, and without a specialization something is bound to go wrong. Honestly, her ability to do this well is prodigious." She explained without prompting to to the curious and tense man behind her, sneaking in a praise of his student because he probably needed the mood boost. "there's dust and debris in the socket that will cause a chronic pain and impact his vision, and the Chakra pathways weren't connected perfectly. Believe it or not, if done properly then a medical nin can make it so that Dojutsu is able to be turned on and off." She claimed, pausing expectantly.

"That's not possible!" The man protested as she predicted. "Jiraiya-sensei said even Tsunade-Hime couldn't do that." 

"First of all; Jiraiya-ero is a dumbass and shouldn't be used as a source of information about Iryou-Ninjutsu." She sneered, ignoring the strange small pang at the reminder that Jiraiya was alive. "Second of all; if I've learned one thing in my life, it's that everything is possible if you're on my absolute natural disaster of a team." she huffed, bristling as her hand hovered above Kakahsi's face. "Now, I'm going to take his eye out so I can put it back in properly. Please don't freak out." She informed him.

"Wait." He commanded, and she almost laughed at the authoritative voice. Just because she had a Leaf headband didn't mean she took orders from the next Hokage To Be. "How do I know you won't just take the Sharringan and run off?"

Sakura tensed, boiling anger bubbling at the accusation. "I'll have you know-" She started, but interrupted herself by biting her lip hard enough to make it bleed. She couldn't say My boyfriend is an Uchiha, because she really didn't need the questions that came with that. Especially not if taken with her apparent expertise in ocular Iryou-Ninjutsu. "-that I was left fully unsupervised while treating your Uchiha." She pivoted mid sentence, sticking the landing perfectly with an appropriately offended huff instead of an outraged scream. "If I didn't take off with the eye of that little dumbass while there was no one but a Chakra-exhausted Chunnin to stop me, why would I try to take the eye of this little smartass while The Yellow Flash himself is looking over my shoulder?" she tried. He hesitated and she seemed to get through to him a bit, but he was still wary. She was getting antsy- the longer this took, the harder it would be. "Look, I really do need to fix his eye, if you don't want him handicapped on the front-lines of a goddamn war. Unless you think the loss of an eye is gonna be enough for Sandaime-sama to pull the last Hatake from the roster?" She pressed pointedly, and he gritted his teeth.

"Fine! Fine." He relented reluctantly, running a hand through his hair. She let out a small huff of relief- for a second there, she was worried she might have to fight Namikaze to fix Kakashi. She would have, too. She'd do almost anything to help her boys, and Kakashi might be the only one who fit that category now.

Inner snatched the thought away before she could dwell on it.

"But," He continued, and she tasted blood in her mouth as she bit back a snarl, "You have to be partially restrained for the operation. I appreciate all you've done and all you're trying to do for my team, but I can't take your acts at face value, and I refuse to underestimate someone I know nothing about. You understand." he said firmly, and she sneered at him.

Yes, she understood. Of course she understood. She just didn't care. Kakashi might have been his student first, but he was her sensei longer. It was infuriating to have someone this cautions of her on his behalf. She just healed the harbinger of the apocalypse for his peace of mind. She was going to heal him if she had to go through Minato to do it.

But it hadn't quite come to that, not yet at least, so she took a deep breath and nodded.

"Sure. Whatever. Don't be an ass about it or I'll rearrange your fucking nervous system." She warned. "You have thirty seconds. I really need to start on him." 

Namikaze wisely didn't waste a second, reaching down and tying her legs up with Ninja wire. She heard a brush, and turned to glare. "No seals. I don't know you, and I don't know enough about seals to tell what you'd make. I don't trust you either, hotshot; I'm only still here because I have a patient to attend to." She half-lied. She knew seals pretty well (Naruto insisted that she did), and she trusted him as far as being a good person and Shinobi with his team and village's best interest at heart, but not her own.

"You're about to preform an unprecedented procedure on my student." the man almost growled.

"Yes, and I understand your reservations about this; I just can't bring myself to give a single fuck about them." She snarled right back, and she would swear she was somehow channeling Kurama. Namikaze tensed, and she dialed it back as much as she could. "Not right now, at least. I have a job to do." She bit out. "You can hold the eye for most of the procedure, if you must, but I will still need to be the one who removes and reattaches it." She tried to compromise, and barely waited for his nod to turn to the youngest member of the team and carefully pluck the Sharringan out.

The man beside her tensed, and she bit back her overprotective outrage as she set it into Minato's waiting hand. She didn't like trusting anyone with her Sensei's eye. She shoved her contempt at Inner and bit her lip to drown out the internal hissing she was rewarded as she continued the procedure.

It's not like she could see any other real choice. For all she was picturing it in her head, she couldn't really kill or maim Minato Namikaze. Naruto would forgive her, but she wouldn't forgive herself. Especially if she somehow stopped Naruto from being born.

Inner didn't let her dwell on that either.

She unsealed two small wooden bowls from a medical scroll and filled one with water, sterilizing it with a quick influx of Yin Chakra. She used the clean water to clean out the socket, carefully removing contaminative properties that were stuck in the socket. When she was satisfied with her work she murmured a self-made preservation Iryou-Ninjutsu for the raw socket and turned to the eye itself. After  a quick Doton to raise walls of stone to block any wind from complicating the job, she took a deep breath and fell into a light meditation as she carefully worked with the eye.

In all honesty, Minato's skepticism was more then reasonable. He was even right as far as this being something not even Tsunade-Shisou could do. However, Sakura had long since surpassed the Godaime, and had far more experience with the Sharringan anyway; greatest Medical Shinobi to date or not, the Senju princess was rarely if ever allowed to inspect the coveted eyes of the Uchiha. She pushed away thoughts of how she perfected this Jutsu in particular (Kakashi-sensei was dead and it was his last request but she didn't have the reserves so she had to figure out something-) as her right eye throbbed and she modified Obito's eye.

She modified the Chakra pathways, draining some of the Uchiha Chakra that clogged them up and made them impossible to change. She healed the minor damage done to the eye itself and carefully took it from the hand of the Yellow Flash. The bandage laid over Kakashi's remaining eye was lifted, the eye was painstakingly connected to the clean socket, and she slumped back with a deep sigh. She fell sideways to the ground and didn't really care in that moment. Kakashi and (less importantly) maybe even the future was safe, and she was tired.

The careful procedure alone had drained a fifth of her natural Chakra reserves (she didn't want to set Namikaze off by activating her Yin-seal), and she was emotionally exhausted from the events of the day. Her eye throbbed, and her legs were falling asleep, and she was fighting to stay as tensed up as she always was for the first time in a year, and her paranoia was slipping at the second worst possible time (the absolute worst being the situation she was in before, obviously). She Took a shuddering breath, healed her bitten-bloody mouth with a flick of her Chakra and tongue, and hoped that her brief moment of weakness would be written off as Chakra exhaustion.

"Woah!" The Yondaime-to-be squawked at her sudden fall, barely leaning forward and catching her before she hit the dirt. "Wow. You're lucky I'm quick on my feet, huh?" He teased halfheartedly, nerves almost cracking his famously light and steady voice. He didn't speak again when she didn't respond, shifting his grip on her awkwardly, like he couldn't decide if he should lie her on the ground and treat her as a threat or sit her up and thank her like a hero. 

She took a deep breathe and let herself wallow for an entire dangerous minute, before pushing back from the concerned but wary man. She twisted and put her back against a tree, her bound legs pulled against her chest. It would only take her a moment to snap the wire like string, but she didn't want to put Minato even more on guard. Especially not when he was finally relaxing a little, either because he had watched her heal his student or because she seemed like less of a threat after her sudden exhaustion. 

She really wanted to get through this encounter without fighting.

Chapter 5

"You wanna do me a solid and get these off me, champ?" She tried, Kakashi's eye finished fading from red to black as it slipped closed into rest and Minato's mouth gaping like a damn fish. His body shifted automatically towards her after she moved but mind still focused on the phenomenon happening before his eyes, focus finally snapping to her when she spoke. 

"Kind of." He admitted, which was sweet, "But I don't know if I should. You still haven't given me a name."

"To be fair, Shinobi-san, you haven't given me your own either." She pointed out, as if she didn't obviously know who he was. As if everyone didn't know who he was. As if he face wasn't carved into the mountain she grew up under and into the mind of every Shinobi in this time along with the caption 'flee on sight'. He looked ready to say as much (Well, granted, probably not the mountain thing), but instead shrugged and humored her.

"My apologies, Kunoichi-san. I'm Namikaze Minato, Loyal Shinobi of Konoha. You are?" He prompted, and she rolled her eyes.

"Nice to meet you, Namikaze-San. I'm Sakura Haruno, Loyal Shinobi." She shrugged, putting a hand out for a handshake. He eyed her suspiciously and didn't return the gesture, but there was more curiosity then hostility there now. Progress.

 

"That's creative." He said dryly, one eyebrow raised in a gesture Kakashi must have stolen from him, but she just shrugged at the unspoken doubt and he moved on. "Of?"

"Of what?"

"You said you were a 'Loyal Shinobi', right?" He prodded, huffing a frustrated sigh through his nose. His hand twitched. She nodded. "A Loyal Shinobi of what, exactly?"

"Hmm...The better question would be 'to who', really." She claimed, stalling as the thought her question over. Namikaze waited for the answer, tapping his foot and checking on his kids. 

Inner twitched with anxiety, and almost shed the binding wire then and there. Apparently, the confusion and contempt and newly deep-seated feeling of wrongness was getting to her, and she was processing it into the paranoia Sakura felt uncomfortable lacking. Inner's mental contributions at the moment amounted to little more then memorized statistics and facts about Konoha's T&I and War Policies during the Third Shinobi World War. It was helpful, but not ideal when she was trying to play nice with a Jonnin. 

"...To a lot, I guess. I'm a Loyal Shinobi to the injured, a Loyal Shinobi to the hopeless, a Loyal Shinobi to the weak and, of course, an Endlessly Loyal Shinobi to my comrades. Really, Just 'Shinobi' is fine. It's the most accurate term, really. Above all else, I endure." She answered with a bitter smile.

"That's an awfully round about way to say you're a Nukenin." Namikaze comments dryly, and she shrugs.

"Not really. I'd have to abandon a village to go missing, and I've done no such thing. In fact, I spent my formative years trying to retrieve the most dangerous Konoha Nukenin since Madara Uchiha himself." She bragged vaguely, heart beating like a jackrabbit, and she was proud her voice stayed strong.

 Inner kicked her paranoia up to 13. There was no way out of this peacefully- she knew how to tamper with the Sharringan. She was far too dangerously powerful; if he didn't know it already, he was sure too once Rin reported the medical extent of Obito's injuries and Kakashi reports her battle of Iwa ANBU. Naruto's dad or not, he's going to take her back to Konoha, and that would only spell disaster. She might have to hurt a lot of people she didn't want to hurt if she were to escape, much less the people she would freak out upon seeing them alive again- Sage she could barely handle Kakashi! It would only raise more questions! She couldn't stay here any longer! She had to Leave!

Her best bet was to confuse him. He's an air-headed genius, Inner prompted; as she had already said, he was an eerie mix of Naruto and Kakashi. Maybe she could get him caught up inside his own head, chasing her words until he was easier to escape. With her pinpoint Chakra control, she spun a light Genjutsu. Nothing noticeable unless he was looking for it; something to oh so slightly dull his awareness. It would have to do. Any edge is  a good one.

"Orochimaru?" Minato hedged, but she knew that he knew it couldn't fit right. Orochimaru only defected shortly before the Yondaime's election. He had been missing no where near long enough for anyone to spend their entire adolescence hunting him. But, really, he's the only Konoha Nukenin who holds even the flicker of a candle to Madara; who else could she possibly mean?

"Not quite. The boy that killed him." She drawled, and Inner delighted in his slight flinch at the information that couldn't be true. 

"Who are you?" Namikaze asked again, though it was more of a demand this time. She smiled and took a deep breath, lying limp but ready for her escape. She was a twitch away from breaking the restraints and a jump away from top of the tree she was against. She was a survivor. She was a Shinobi long after the word meant nothing. 

"Sakura. Loyal to my most precious people and all who need and deserve aid. I've provided all the aid I needed to. May I go now?" She tried, still desperate not to fight but resigned to the inevitable.

Minato was silent for a long minute, and Sakura was only barely keeping her emotions in check. Rin started t whimper in her sleep. She watched him fight the urge to check on the girl, as he stared Sakura down.

"...you may not." He decided, voice thick with guilt but dominated by obligation. "I am sorry, Sakura-san, but I cannot allow someone like you to roam free without ensuring you will never be a threat to my village or my own most precious people. you understand." He continued, voice getting more firm as it went, though not unkind. "I appreciate everything you have done for my team, though. I will do everything I can to be sure you're treated kindly and released swiftly, as long as I have no reason to do otherwise. I'm sure you have nothing to worry about, right?" He tried to smile down at her. It didn't quite work.

Her breathe hitched. She bit her lips. A single tear rolled down her carefully blank face. Minato looked her in the eye until he couldn't bear to anymore. He closed his eyes only long enough to take a steadying breath.

"Weakness." Inner snarled, the only prompting she needed.

Sakura didn't make much of a sound. There was only a faint metallic snap to alert Minato of his now-prisoner's quick escape. His eyes snapped open at the sound, catching a flash of pink jumping through the low branches of the trees. Without any hesitation he threw a Hirashin kunai and landed in front of the teenager. She ran and he chased her for no longer then 30 seconds, before he grabbed her wrist firmly. She squirmed.

"I really am sorry." He repeats truthfully, not meeting her terrified eyes as he pulls out a coated senbon. "This won't even hurt, I promise. It'll just put you to sleep." He swore, pricking her with the senbon.

Then his stomach fell, as he heard a loud 'pop' and caught sight of a watery smirk. 

The clone disappeared.

(The girl was hidden at the top of the tree Kakashi was leaning against, masking seals all around her. Her Chakra signature shrunk to nothing but a branch, then nothing but a twig, then a leaf. She pulled out a silent fidget tool. She would be here for a while.)

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