Never Be Undone
—---------
“Well you’re all set Kakashi. Next time don’t wait for your check up, it screws everything up! The paperwork is a bitch and we have to make up excuses on why you were late on record.” Tsunade complains as she's putting away his file turned from him. “I don’t know why you don’t have Rin do your check ups.”
“Mahh, we’re too close for that, and besides Obito would begin to nag me.” Kakashi pulls up his mask.
“You’re right, it’s better to have the Hokage nag you instead.” Tsunade turns back to him and smiles. “Well, I am off. Take it easy! And remember what I said, or else!”
Kakashi sighs and starts his way home. It’s been a while since he saw his teammates. Rin and Obito recently got married and so he felt like he was intruding on their time as a freshly wed couple. Speaking of, he notices them together in front of a fruit stand. Rin goes for an apple and looks up and spots him, she waves, Obito turns and sees him as well.
He goes over to them.
“Well if it isn’t Kaka-Baka!” Obito greets, Rin smacks his shoulder. “Hey, Kakashi! Heard you finally had your check up, how did it go?”
“I passed with flying colors. How are things with you guys?” Kakashi asks as they begin their way down the street.
“Rin has been promoted to head nurse!” Obito pulls Rin close, “We gotta celebrate her promotion soon, we were going to tell you when it happened but you were out with your team. How did the mission go? You guys get hit with that heat?”
Kakashi smiles at Rin and nods. “Of course, just let me know when. The storm we ran into was so bad we had to wait for it to pass before we could continue on. And by the sounds of things you guys are going to have your hands full with evacuation practices at the hospital and at the Academy. I was reporting to the Hokage about it when I was ambushed by Tsunade. I just got finished with my check up, I still haven’t been home yet.”
Obito crosses his arms, "Yeah, the change in the weather is too extreme... There's gotta be more to it."
"Well, whatever it is, we will be ready, right Kakashi?" Rin smiles over to him swinging her bag of produce. “Let’s shoot for this Friday at that sake bar… what was that place called again?” Rin asks them.
“Rabbit House?” Obito asks at the same time Kakashi asks. “Sakaya?”
Rin puts her fist to her palm, “We will flip for it later! I just remembered Obito, I need to pick up more leek, meet me back at the house, see you later Kakashi!”
With that Rin takes off back from where they came to get the rest of her groceries. Kakashi watches as she takes off and turns to Obito, the guy smiling goofily at his wife.
“She’s the best Kakashi.” Obito sighs, “She’s making my favorite tonight, cauliflower and leek soup.”
“Oh it's not the kimchi shoyu with pork anymore?" Kakashi asks.
Obito chuckles and knocks his elbow into Kakashi’s side.“Yeah, that one too! Oh and by the way, Guy has been hounding me like crazy! You need to go see him, man.”
“Why?” Kakashi can’t think of anything pressing at the moment.
Obito rolls his eyes, “You know why! Another challenge and he’s been trying to get me to do them with him because he didn’t want to get rusty with you being gone! I'm busy coming up with lessons for the kids.”
“Kami sake, I was gone for two weeks.” They continue towards Rin’s apartment. It has been a while since he has had a challenge with Guy. He’ll see him soon, he could use the training.
Kakashi sighs and looks over at Obito. The Uchiha becoming a teacher at the Academy ended up being a shock to all of the team, especially Minato. Obito and Iruka were both the biggest goofballs back in the day, and now they’re Academy teachers. Kakashi couldn’t think of any other ninja who would be better suited for the job. His two friends really cared for the future of Konoha and always included the most practical and instrumental practices that the kids would need if war were ever to break out. The Uchiha clan also took it well, thankful that they could send their children to be taught by one of their own.
Kakashi is brought out of his reminiscing when a crow lands on his shoulder. Obito looks over. “What’s he want?”
Kakashi looks down at the note, “One of my students is missing. I’ll talk to you later.” With that Kakashi disappears with a swirl of leaves.
"Kaka-Baka!"
—---------
Sakura begins her walk to the Uchiha compound from the library and on her way there she starts to take notice of how large the Uchiha clan is. Her throat starts to close up as she realizes just how many people were killed that night. The amount of blood that must have poured through the compound streets must have taken weeks to clean up, if it ever was. No one was allowed inside the compound after the massacre and Sasuke never invited anyone in. It would make sense why Sasuke was unhinged if he had to stare at blood stains, the constant reminder for vengeance.
The Third also wasn’t the type of man who cared about cleaning up after the massacre, only covering up the coup. She feels deep sorrow burn inside of her for Sasuke in a way she never felt before. She simply didn’t understand until now exactly what he lost, all of them walking before her now unknowing.
She takes a deep breath and clears her throat trying to dislodge the ache in her throat. Sakura rubs her head looking down for a second before hearing a familiar voice call to her. Her body freezes, she knows Ino is already stomping towards her because she can hear the foot stomps coming closer. Sakura looks up to see the blonde before her looking youthful as ever, her long hair whipping behind her as she throws her chin up.
“What the hell, Sakura!”
“Hey, Ino.” She tries to smile and rubs her neck, “What’s up?”
A loud scoff comes from the Yamanaka. “That’s all you have to say!?”
Sakura takes note of Choji and Shikamaru behind her watching the drama unfold silently. She waves to them. “Hey guys.”
“How’s it going Sakura?” Choji asks before awkwardly opening his chip bag and digging in.
Shikamaru looking bored asks, “Where have you been?”
“Oh, you know, studying and training… Mild out, huh?” Sakura tries to relax her shoulders, the sound of Choji's chip crunching directs her attention. “Those barbecue chips?”
“Heck yes, they’re my favorite!” Choji holds out the bag to her in offer but she waves her hand in thanks, but no thanks.
Ino seems to have had enough and takes Sakura by the shoulder and starts to move her away from the guys. “That’s it, we need to have a talk, you guys tell my mom I’m gonna be late!”
“Ino-!” Sakura tries to get out but is forcefully pushed.
“No!” Ino shouts and is pulled back by Shikamaru’s hold while he tells Choji to be the messenger and they’ll catch up later.
The three of them begin their way towards the Nara training ground that’s located neighboring the Uchiha compound and takes them about fifteen minutes to get there. To Sakura it feels like a walk to an interrogation, with two guards beside her making sure she won’t run. Shikamaru normally isn’t one for talking but even Ino is without her typical banter on the way to the grounds. She follows the two of them in silence trying to keep calm and clear her mind. These two were not to be underestimated and she will have to act this out as best as she can and take the few seconds of interaction she had with the previous Sakura and apply it to these guys… Kami.
The two of them stop before a tree that’s standing right under the sun, the shadow of it blanketing them. They know exactly what they’re doing, and they don't know it but she knows exactly what they're going to do. She sniffs and then licks her dry lips.
“Start talking.” Ino glares at her.
Sakura looks over at Shikamaru but he is also glaring at her. The usually docile teammate’s anger comes as a surprise. Did they already know?
“Well… I had chicken teriyaki for breakfast…” Sakura lies and lets out a chuckle. Why is she getting nervous? These kids never been in war. They haven’t had to kill for their country, kill to survive, kill for their friends, kill because of their hatred. Haven’t had to kill precious children of the Daimyo for no reasons other than Danzo’s sick antics. Looking at the both of them it's hard not to think of the last memory she had of them both as it continues to haunt her everyday. ///Hands deep in her best friends stomach, trying to put her decimated intestines back in but failing/// Gently taking the noose from Shikamaru's stiff body///
“Sakura-“
“What do you want to know, Ino?” Sakura leans against the tree and crosses her arms. “This seems like you’re interrogating me and I can’t fathom why?”
“Because we know you aren’t Sakura.” Shikamaru says looking a second away from clapping his hands. The shadow user is behind Ino, his shoulders squared and determined.
“Oh?” Sakura looks to Ino for confirmation, the girl nods her head and crosses her arms.
“We have our sources!” The blonde gets into Sakura’s face. Sakura goes to push her back but the shadows around her clamp down on her legs and arms. “I’m gonna get to the bottom of this right now!”
“No, Ino, we already discussed this!” Shikamaru snaps in frustration, his hands together holding Sakura with his shadow possession jutsu. “Answer the question, who are you?”
Sakura stares directly into the blue eyes before her. This Ino clearly cares about the other Sakura… she deserves to know the truth. So does Shikamaru… She looks over at the young man. He’s so loyal to Ino here as well… She closes her eyes.
“Maybe you can be of use to me, Ino.” She opens her eyes. “You may surpass Uchiha Itachi with your pig head of yours.” Sakura laughs out as Ino’s face contorts with fury and before Shikamaru can stop her Ino is using her mind transfer jutsu.
Sakura welcomes Ino in. The transition is smooth from reality into Sakura’s subconscious leaving them standing in the vast white expanse of her mind. Nothing is around them and it feels as if they are in the center of it all. Sakura looks at Ino who is shocked at the emptiness around her.
“This is your mind?” Ino asks sounding concerned. The Yamanaka has never seen inside Sakura’s head, but knows even this is not normal. She has seen the inside of her clan’s minds and they were all unique but never bare, desolate, blank space going on and on. It was disturbing.
“Your Sakura is here somewhere, and I need your help to find her.”
Ino snaps her head to the girl before her and takes a step back, “Your forehead, you have the seal! The same as Tsunade-sama! What do you mean find her… so you’re not really…”
Ino looks around again then back at Sakura finally taking in the woman before her. She is noticeably older than her appearance outside. She also looks ragged and worn with old scars and new ones decorating her arms and face. Ino takes a step towards her and reaches out her hand to Sakura’s cheek.
“What happened?”
“Well Ino-pig… I was transported here from another dimension, accidentally kicked out your Sakura… and even though I met your Sakura and we tried to merge our souls together I haven’t seen her since. Before you blame me, I didn’t want this… I do want to fix this.”
“Another dimension!” Ino frowns and bring her hand to her mouth. “That shouldn’t be possible.” She turns from Sakura.
“Yeah…” No shit.
Ino starts to walk away following her gut instinct to try and find her Sakura somewhere inside the white abyss. “Sakura! Hey Forehead!” Ino shouts and begins to walk faster towards seemingly no destination as she continues into the white void. “Sakura!”
Sakura follows sullenly as she watches the mind expert go from determined to frantic relatively quickly as they continue forward with nothing to be shown for it. She’s kind of surprised her mind is such a blank state, did Itachi’s torture wipe out her other mindscape or was this from merging together with Normal Sakura? She will never know. She tunes back into Ino’s desperate pleas.
“SAKURA! Please! You can’t… YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME!” Ino is screaming her voice raw, tears streaming down her face. “Sakura!”
Sakura rubs her eyes, this was just as bad as Naruto to watch. If the Sage is watching she hopes he is happy with himself, that idiot thought that this would be a good idea, what the hell.
“Ino… Ino!” She goes to the sobbing girl and rubs her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
“No, you don’t get it! I saw Sakura in a nightmare, she said goodbye to me! She was, and then that day you didn’t show up for your father’s flower order and I… I felt something was wrong but!” Ino continues to wipe her face trying to pull herself together. “Don’t you get it!? Sakura said goodbye to me! And now this…. It only confirms…”
“Hey! Don’t you say that! Ino- INO! Look at me!” Sakura shakes the girl roughly and when Ino looks up at her she says, “I may not know your Sakura, but the few seconds I met her I knew she was a fighter! You don’t give up on her, I know I’m not! We will find her, believe it!”
Ino stares at Sakura numbly before nodding. “Right.”
Shikamaru decided to sit down once the girls were knocked out. He had just managed to grab Ino from falling to the ground and was able to ease Sakura to the ground with his shadows as soon as the mind jutsu was successful. He had been sitting besides them watching the clouds for about thirty minutes when they started to come to. Shikamaru stands up watching nervously waiting for them to become more aware. Whatever happened in there couldn’t be good as Ino had been whimpering while she was out.
Sakura is the first to sit up and when she gains her bearings she looks over at Shikamaru. She has a solemn expression on her that makes his stomach turn with unease, something about her wasn’t right. He's about to say something but Ino begins sitting up rubbing her head.
“You okay, Ino?”
Ino looks over at him and shakes her head, her gaze saying it all. “No.”
Shikamaru runs his hand through his hair and looks back over at the Sakura impersonator. She's looking down and making no effort to get up. Shikamaru gets up and pats his clothes of grass and helps Ino stand, then offer Sakura a hand but she gets up without it.
"I know you guys want to know more but to be honest, this is way above me. If it makes you feel better, Kakashi knows." Sakura says while fixing her hair.
"That, in fact, does not make me feel better." Shikamaru says.
A laugh bursts out from Sakura startling Ino out of her glum mood. "This isn't funny Forehead!"
—---------
Tenzo left Kakashi behind to face Tsunade’s wrath alone and went home to refresh when he finds Sai in their apartment with little paintings strewn about the room. This was Sai’s usual way of coping when something was bothering the ex-ROOT member. Tenzo and Sai had gone through plenty of therapy courses and one of their early recommendations for Sai was to take up painting when he’s distressed. Hundreds of paintings over time were put in a cabinet, which only served as a physical reminder to Tenzo how fucked up the poor guy was. And Tenzo never had the heart to toss them.
“What’s wrong Sai?” Tenzo asks. Sai’s sitting on the couch crouched over staring at a blank canvas on the table before him, his paintbrush loosely held in hand waiting for inspiration to strike.
“Sakura… she was in ROOT.” Is all he says but he knows it’s all that is needed. Tenzo knows the trauma he went through as well as with losing his brother when they were so close to getting out made it all the worse.
Finding out this different dimensional Sakura had been programmed only triggered Sai to think about all the torture he and his brother went through. What Tenzo went through. What really bothered Sai was how Sasuke and Naruto treated her about it… is that how they thought about him? Did they look at him with disdain for the years he served under the madman? Tenzo, and his therapist had explained many times he was only doing what he had to survive… but maybe he should have tried harder.
He should have died like his brother because that would have been honorable. He survived and that only meant he was…. He clenches the brush tightly.
Kakashi: The Captain of Anbu, Undercover ROOT member and Uchiha Coup Operative- all in one, was the beast who took down Danzo and while he didn’t do it single handedly he played one of the biggest roles. Minato Namikaze, Fugaku Uchiha, Itachi Uchiha, Shisui Uchiha, Tenzo, Kakashi Hatake and a small group of their most trustworthy took down ROOT from inside and out. To Sai they were all heroes. He begins a painting of a sitting crow. He could not let their efforts be in vain, he couldn’t give up… that’s what his therapist told him.
Just then a crow comes through the window, one of Itachi’s, with a message and lands before Tenzo. He takes the note and reads it quickly.
“Sai.” Tenzo says demanding his attention. Sai stops his brush stroke as he gets to the crows beak.
“Yes, Tenzo.”
“Sakura is missing, we should try and find her.” Sai looks over at Tenzo knowing well this may be a ruse to get him out of their apartment and to get fresh air, Tenzo and Itachi have done that before… but something in his mentors stance is telling him it wasn’t.
“How long?”
“Since we came back from the mission.”
Sai nods and they both head out the door.