ZERO
My reflection, dirty mirror, there's no connection to myself. I'm your lover, I'm your zero. I'm the face in your dreams of glass.
A mission.
Of course- Sakura scoffs and thinks of how horrible this can turn out. Not only does Team Seven have a knack to gravitate towards the worst possible scenarios in history but now she is going to be known as the one to completely fuck up this versions of Team Sevens perfect track record in seconds. She doesn’t know why but that sparks a thrill in her she didn’t know she had. Haha, good! This team has been nothing but havoc since she came here. And it seems like this team didn’t try to stop her other self from quitting either which leads her to other conclusions that get her so worked up she could punt kick all these bastards to the heavens.
Judging by Naruto, Sasuke and Sai’s demeanor they are not thrilled she is along for this mission, well tough shit! She turns her head over to the white haired asshole.
Kakashi seems eager though, surprisingly, she's not sure if it has something to do with the mission or if he is just excited to use this time to catch up on some reading.
And Tenzo is like a mulled cider just calm and collected as ever, as always. She runs a hand through her hair and strides on over to their tent. She will be sharing the tent with Tenzo and Kakashi while the three boys share theirs. When Naruto found this out he heavily sighed and folded his arms in irritation but didn’t say anything. They were briefed on the mission, and it is only supposed to be a drop off. Highly classified information needs to get to the Daimyo in the Tea Village. Sweet and simple, perfect for where they are headed. She is almost excited to get her hands on her favorite green tea from there as long as nothing goes sour. Sakura continues to stare at Kakashi who becomes more rigid by the second, what is he doing over there? She squints.
“So… what kinda problems do you guys have…? I mean to be honest when I first came here I thought this was a jutsu to lull me into a false sense of security because it was so grand.. Aside from this other Sakura’s father.“ And of course she would think this as it wouldn’t be the first time.
Kakashi stops searching through his duffle and looks up at her then he sighs and looks over to the others. “Don’t tell her anything.”
“WHAT!” Sakura yells.
“I want to know what you remember from our Sakura’s memories and that won’t happen if we tell you everything.” He goes back to searching through his bag.
Sakura turns and makes a beeline to the weakest link on the team and as if summoned both Sasuke and Sai step in front of her before she can make it to Naruto. Sasuke crosses his arms and scowls at her meanwhile Sai is behind him with a smile and closed eyes and putting a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder.
“Oh no you don’t! You heard what Kakashi said.” Sasuke growls.
“It’s Kakashi-sensei, if you’re gonna respect the guy do it right!” Sakura lifts him up by his shirt and throws him for the hell of it. Sai backs off and drops into a fighting stance. Sasuke lands awkwardly on his feet and tumbles to the ground and looks up, his hair disheveled and eyes wide in shock.
“You!” At a loss for words this is all he can manage. Sai starts to chuckle and Naruto laughs out loud, so loud birds from the bushes nearby take off.
“Sakura!” She hears Kakashi scold behind her, however it sounded less of reprimand and more of an exasperation. He must be used to the disrespect, figures. Some things don't change.
Sakura ignores him and focuses on Naruto who takes notice and shuts up immediately looking nervous. Sai drops his smile and moves again to take a protective stance directly in front of Naruto preparing to take whatever attack she might come at him with but she ignores him. Honestly, these guys are so protective of each other now that she's their enemy. She briefly wonders what her team would think of this situation... they would probably start sparring with the other team seven. Her mind is going to fry from just thinking about this- the black void in her gut that makes her want to vomit as she knows this is impossible. Her team is dead.
“Naruto, I promise you I tried to merge with your Sakura, and so if you give me at least the run down it might jog her back into this body!” Sakura knows it’s not right, and it's complete bullshit but she will go crazy if she is left in the dark here.
A small drawn ink bird comes down on her head and poops an ink blot on her.
“Sai!” She screeches, “You’re so dead!”
“You started it.” He frowns.
“And I will end it!” But before she can make a move the ground rumbles and roots jet up from the ground and wrap around her legs tightly.
“We are on a mission, get ahold of yourselves.” Tenzo says. “If you manage to mess up this simple C rank…” His face shadows over. “I will personally see to it that you don’t get anything above a C rank for a whole year.”
“He will too!” Naruto shudders.
“From experience?” Sakura asks jokingly but the rest of the team seems to deflate. And here she thought they had a perfect track record, oh that's funny and she would laugh if she wasn't being held to the ground by the roots bruising her legs. She sighs and looks down. “Fine! Can you let me go now?”
“No, keep her there. I need to talk to the guys and I don’t want our extra dimensional friend to eavesdrop.” Kakashi waves over the team and they move into the woods and out of sight.
“You gotta be kidding me.” She mutters. But knowing Kakashi, the perve is probably using this as an excuse to try and convince the boys that those pornos are actually worth while. Without her on the team she can only imagine how wayward this one became, especially if Sai entered it early on.
“Not kidding.” Tenzo is behind her suddenly.
“Waaa! Don’t just sneak up on me!” She snarls over her shoulder. “Come on Tenzo, I know not to follow them and besides that I honestly don’t care!” She will figure out Konoha’s history one way or another, she wasn’t top kunoichi of her class for flower gathering.
Tenzo doesn’t say anything and instead decides to take a spot near a tree and lean against it with his dark eyes trying to bore a hole in her soul. She glares back at him then laughs out. She couldn’t glare seriously at him like this, not when he is alive and well standing in front of her. And seeing as they're on this simple C rank and doesn't really call for having not only Kakashi but Tenzo here she knows that Tenzo is here primarily to watch her and not for their actual mission. When her team was this age, she and Sai were doing the occasional C ranks but mostly B ranks and A ranks. Naruto was usually off doing his own thing but at the end of the day he was genin for a long time. Was this normal for them... does this team actually suck? They clearly aren't genin level but they aren't wearing their chuunin vests... but she knew of several people who went without their vests... she did. What rank were they even, oh Kami...
“You might look at me and see your useless Sakura standing here…” She walks from the roots holding her down, they rip apart from the sheer force of her leg power. Tenzo’s blank eyes suddenly shine with surprise. “But I’m not her. It might be good if you remember that.” She pats his shoulder.
“You should clean the ink off your head or it might stain.”
She scoffs in disgust and turns from him. “Well then I am going to the river nearby, you coming?”
“You’re right about one thing, you’re definitely not our Sakura.” Tenzo says, something in the bitterness of his tone catches her off guard.
“And what does that mean.”
She is met with silence but she is fine with it. Whatever feelings they had for her other self will have to be faced head on. Kami knows if these guys bottle up their feelings they might go nuts on her by the end of the mission... or day. Best to rip it off like a bandaid and make sure they know who she really is now or else it won't be pretty. She feels bad for Naruto out of everyone, but now after hearing Tenzo she wonders how this will really impact the team if she doesn't regain the memories of the last Sakura.
Useless is dead, and powerful is in the game. Whatever game she is now playing is up in the air but manipulation, self-preservation, and recon are on her priority list.
The boys come back from their team huddle in the bushes and she sighs heavily. Her hair damp from washing it for a good ten minutes before giving up at the ink fading. She will get at Sai at some point, she will have to think of something good for revenge on this.
Sasuke bursts out laughing at her and Naruto turns around and she can see him cover his mouth with his arm. Oh yeah… forget saving these guys… this new world can go to hell.
---15 Minutes Earlier---
In the bushes the four stand in a circle out of hearing from Sakura and Tenzo.
"Hand it over Sai." Kakashi mutters.
"Aren't we here to talk about the Faker?" Sai responds.
"Should have known, this is why I don't respect you Kakashi-sensei." Sasuke says smugly.
Kakashi ignores the Uchiha and puts his hand out to Sai.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Sai says. Kakashi sighs in frustration and puts his hand down. Uh-oh, it's getting serious.
"Okay, listen... if one of you don't give me my Icha Icha... I'm gonna do something you will really regret."
Sai turns to Naruto. "Well it's gotta be you since Sasuke is a prude."
"HEY! I am not a prude, I have class, I wouldn't-"
"He really is, but it's not me, I swear, besides I don't need Kakashi-sensei's I have my own." Naruto smirks crossing his arms proudly.
"Wow." Sasuke deadpans. "Just wow. Does your dad know?"
Kakashi unkindly shoves Sasuke away and stands close to Naruto, "Which one is it?"
Naruto looks giddy and bounces on his feet, "I can't wait to show you it's a new one-"
Sai looks over at Sasuke. "See what you started."