Chapter Text
Chapter one
Sakura Haruno
Haruno Sakura, jonin of Konohagakure, one third of the Neo Sanin, and best medical ninja in the world, was hurtling through the space between time at a speed faster than a rogue Rasengan and screaming obscenities that would make even Jiraiya blush.
"YOU BRAIN DEAD HOMICIDAL MANIAC I CAN’T FUCKING BELIEVE YOU! I SEE MORE NEURAL ACTIVITY IN A ROTTING CORPSE THAN YOU’VE USED IN YOUR ENTIRE SHITTING LIFE- ALL THAT FUCKING POWER FROM YOUR KAMI DAMNED REINCARNATED SOUL AND THIS IS WHAT YOU CHOSE TO DO WITH IT?? YOU FUCKED IT! FUCK YOU SASUKE UCHIHA I’LL TEAR YOUR DUCK ASS HEAD OFF MYSELF!!"
The words tore out of her as she ripped through time, lost to the aether between dimensions.
She was 20 years old and damnit, she'd already done this before. The war had ended a year ago, and after 3 years of fighting, she'd thought they'd finally gotten a break. But no. Her emotionally stunted, overly powerful, wandering loose canon former terrorist of a teammate had finally snapped, and of course, it was Sakura who once again had to take the fall for it.
Literally.
Compared to being shot through dimensions during the battle against Kaguya, this time felt different. Instead of a slingshot with an end destination brought about by gravity, her chakra felt stretched thin, as though there was something tugging both ends of a string and she had to end up at a destination before she was relieved of the rather agonizing sensation.
She didn’t know how long she had been falling for- time had no meaning in the space between time after all- but she was able to sear the inter-dimensional plane with even more expletives as her body twisted around and tumbled across the timelines.
Sakura felt as though Tsunade would have been proud of her language, her own tirades towards Jiarya were legendary, and Sakura had thus far refrained from giving Sasuke the same treatment as something of a gift to Naruto and his desire to have a cohesive team once more now that the war and the subsequent ridiculousness had concluded- not that they’d ever had that, even before the prick had gotten a curse mark and fucked off from Konoha.
It was only her previous experience with dimension hopping that let her know she’d finally been released from the free-fall, and reality snapped into place around her with a sickening rush of clarity and oxygen. With her face towards the sky, she saw a massive purple rip in the fabric of reality, humming with an incredible amount of chakra, begin to knit itself back together as she fell, wind whistling in her ears. Sakura knew she’d be unable to stop the impact into the ground, so she reinforced her body with all the strength she could muster, and grit her teeth, refusing to scream and let everyone within a two mile radius know of her presence beyond the obvious shock of an inter-dimensional tear in the fabric of time and space already had.
Trees, familiar to her from her many missions around Fire country, flickered into the edges of her vision, and she shut her eyes before she hit the ground with the force of a small comet. Dirt and rocks flew into the air, trees fell with a crash, and Sakura found herself at the bottom of a large cracked pit of earth, somewhat in the shape of a human body, a haze of both dust and tree bark slowly coming down back to earth around her.
She allowed herself a moment, breathing deeply, relishing in the feeling of proper oxygen and life, instead of the stale muted air that permeated between dimensions, cracking her eyes open to stare at the sky, catching the final moments of the rift sewing itself closed with a quiet hum of chakra.
With a groan, the medic began to scan herself for any immediate damage. Despite the reinforcement to her bones and organs, there was only so much chakra she could have spared for her skin and muscles given the speed at which she had fallen and impacted the earth with. A massive gash had opened up along her back, and her shoulders were torn to shreds, alongside some tearing in the muscles of her legs thanks to the strain the sudden reinforcement had caused along her thighs.
Sitting up, blood dripping down her skin and hair askew in a dirty halo around her head, Sakura let out another few choice swears. Pushing herself up into a standing position with legs as shaky as a newborn kitten, she shook off as much dirt as she could, before simply giving up and running healing chakra through her entire body, the chakra pushing the dirt up and out from her wounds as the skin knit itself together from the inside out. Green light rippled out from her, igniting the trees with a haunting glow, reflecting in her eyes as they gleamed acid green.
Scanning the environment, she pursed her lips as her chakra did its work. Yes, she did recognize the trees, so she was aware she was still in Fire country, though beyond that, there were forests all over the country, so her finding herself within one did not really help her pin down her exact location. Grumbling nonsense to herself, she hopped out of the crater, chakra lacing her muscles, and landed silently on a smooth patch of ground less disturbed by her impact.
Sliding down against the bark of a tree, she sat with legs crossed and hands on her knees and took a deep breath, expanding her lungs from her stomach to her shoulders. Though she knew she'd get an earful, there were only so many ways to replenish her stores of chakra healthily besides the horrid soldier pills, and she needed more help than her own mind and internal frustration would allow at that moment.
Sakura closed her eyes and sank into the meditation required for Sage Mode.
Unlike Naruto, who had the attention span of a very enthusiastic flea, Sakura had always been able to set her focus on something entirely when she put her mind to it. It had been one of the reasons she had succeeded so well during her time as Tsunade’s apprentice- well, alongside her eidetic memory and a healthy dose of spite.
As someone with nigh on perfect chakra control, her ability to balance both her own energy alongside natural nature chakra was essentially unparalleled, something which came in handy at times in which she was still feeling the drain on her energy from the tumble through time. Despite it still taking Naruto a concerted effort to activate sage mode, Sakura had felt quite pleased each time she activated hers quicker than his.
She was no fated hero or prophesied one, she would damn well take the wins where she could find them against him. It fell to her to make sure he never got a bigger head.
Sakura felt the different chakras meet and then meld, balancing within her until she was full to the brim with a roiling mass of energy, the steady flow of her personal chakra evening out the riotous nature chakra as it flowed into her system from the environment. Equalizing them was as easy as breathing for one who worked with both her energy and that of others each and every day. Finally, they stilled as one, the sensation urging her to move only a few minutes later.
Her eyes snapped open, and the clarity of the world stood out in stark contrast to itself. The trees rippled with thrumming pulses, mirroring their growth rings within their trunks, and she could trace each living creature within sight through their own multicolored energy, squirrels and birds flitting along branches and within the canopy of leaves above her. The earth hummed with vibrations, thick and teaming with life hidden below, and Sakura felt the pull of a smile at her lips as she breathed in time with her slowing heartrate.
Looking down at her arms, Sakura could see the brilliant lines of luminous teal chakra outlining her limbs, could feel the markings around her eyes and lining face hum with energy as the three Byakugou seals on her forehead began to refill and emerge with bright blots of color.
Humming slightly, the woman gnawed at her lip for a moment before finally shaking her head, refusing to put off calling for her summon any longer. She needed her help.
She bit her finger, slamming her hand against the earth as she activated her summoning contract with Lady Katsuyu with a puff of smoke and flash of green chakra.
Her summon and long-time companion appeared, about as tall as her knee, and Sakura could almost feel the scowl Lady Katsuyu wore down to her bones. The slug would be crossing her arms if she’d had any.
Silence permeated the space between them as Sakura and Lady Katsuyu stared at one another. Sakura attempted a shaky smile, and the slug's eyes narrowed dangerously.
“Lady Sakura, I told you that boy was more trouble than he’s ever been worth.” Her voice rang clearly through the trees around them, sharp and full of ire, and Sakura's face twisted as she pinched the bridge of her nose, huffing out a frustrated sigh.
“Well hello to you too, Lady Katsuyu. Yes, yes you did tell me that. However, I agreed with you, if you’ll remember-”
“Oh, I remember. You begrudgingly agreed only after he tried to kill you. You only agreed with me after he tried that. Attempting to kill you for the second time, if you recall." Sakura sent Lady Katsuyu a flat stare, and her slug merely cocked her head in response.
“We were all in a rather difficult spot, Lady Katsuyu. What with terrorists and wars and all that. I did have hope-”
“No, Lady Sakura, Naruto had hope, you merely piggybacked off of him. There were never any consequences for that child’s stupidity and inane actions. Terroristic ones as well went unpunished!” Katsuyu let out a spit of green acid to the side, her displeasure plain to see, rocks bubbling and popping as they melted, “You and your bleeding heart of a sensei give Naruto far too much leeway when it comes to anything he deems ‘salvageable’. Now look where it got you!”
“Who would you rather have dealt with: an absentee Sasuke or a pissed off Naruto? It wasn’t like Sasuke was ever in the village after the damn war, but a moping, grumpy, and overpowered Naruto? He would have made his bad mood everyone’s problem!” Sakura huffed out an irritated breath, head leaning back so it landed against the trunk of the tree she leant against, the tree seeming to push out chakra to cushion her aching skull.
“Oh? And how did your inaction work out, hm?” Her slug slid towards her, voice flat and yet volume rising against Sakura’s admittedly lackluster excuses, “You’ve been accosted and banished by that supposed ‘absent’ teammate of yours and left your village with wrath incarnate in the form of your father-figure sensei, an infuriated Naruto, and bloodthirsty Kurama!”
Sakura threw up her hands, casting her eyes towards the sky, looking for patience she knew she wouldn’t find in the cloudless expanse of blue above.
“Kami, no one told me you were this snippy! Shishou always told me how courteous and respectful you were, and yet here I am with you in some unknown forest and you’re just beating me over my metaphorical head with my past idiocy.”
“Well, Lady Sakura, there has not been a Slug Sage for quite some time. There would have been no one to tell you. We have high standards and prefer our sages to meet them. Besides,” Her slug companion sniffed, her eye stalks twitching in what Sakura generously assumed was laughter at her, “I prefer to call it sass. You can find respect and courtesy with Mother.”
“I have already spent more than enough time in Shikkotsu Forest with your mother, Lady Katsuyu! I sincerely hope to only see her on special occasions- if that.” Sakura grimaced, shuddering at the memory of hallucinogenic mushrooms and constant acidic pain, before shaking her head and turning back to her summon, “But we’re getting off topic."
Both sage and summon locked eyes and Lady Katsuyu grumbled something about interfering eyes and locked doors. Sakura pursed her lips and crossed her arms, one eyebrow arching as she cast her eyes around the space in which she sat, shaded by trees and the agitated chirping of birds.
“Lady Katsuyu, where in Kami’s name are we?”
"I think I can answer that. Though, I'll admit I have a few questions of my own in turn." A familiar voice rang through the space, one which Sakura could identify almost as easily as her own, and she felt the blood drain rapidly from her face. Head snapping to the source, Sakura's eyes widened at the sight of her Shishou stepping out from behind one of the trees towards her, and she scrambled to her feet, falling automatically into the familiar stance she took when she was in her Master's presence, hands clasped behind her back and shoulders drawn back over a straight spine.
Swallowing heavily, she took in Tsunade Senju's appearance, and barely held back from blanching at the sight. Her master looked physically as she always did, long blonde hair pulled back in a low ponytail, purple rhombus framed by two chunks of hair on either side of her face, and amber eyes gleaming dangerously from within a timelessly beautiful face.
However, around her neck she wore a blue crystal necklace, her grandfather's necklace, which in Sakura's recollection had been given to Naruto many years prior when she first became the Hokage. Tsunade's clothing was different as well, no green cloak or grey tunic in sight. The woman wore a stained black cloak over a pair of dark brown trousers and a rumpled tan shirt with long sleeves tied around her wrists to keep them in place.
'Well, shit.' was all Sakura could think of as the woman stepped closer to her, standing still as amber eyes catalogued her torn and bloody clothing, before sliding up and tracing the lines of her Sage Mode markings along her face, at last coming to stop at the rhombus marks on her forehead.
Tsunade came to a stop a few meters away, arms crossed as her brow furrowed slightly, lips tightening at their corners. Sakura bit her tongue, flicking her gaze down towards Lady Katsuyu, who was merely watching the two women closely, her eye stalks twitching in place.
Her shishou closed her eyes briefly, shoulders rising and falling with a disgruntled huff, before she snapped them open to look at Lady Katsuyu.
"Lady Katsuyu," She began, voice hard, "While I don't recognize this girl, I would know you anywhere. I take it you have a good explanation for how this girl is your summoner despite there only being my name on your contract, as well as that wave of chakra I felt a few minutes ago?"
Their summon merely sighed, a sound so full of years-long frustration and displeasure it made Sakura cringe slightly, which made Tsunade's gaze flick to hers with a raised brow.
"Lady Tsunade, I do know why we are here, though calling it anywhere close to a 'good' explanation would most certainly be overstating it," She shook her head, body rippling, "As for who this is, this is Lady Sakura Haruno, Shikkotsu Forest's Slug sage, and your second apprentice."
The silence that fell at Lady Katsuyu's declaration was thick, and Sakura shifted at the disbelief that lined her master's face.
"While I respect your age and timeless wisdom, Lady Katsuyu," Tsunade started slowly, "I feel the need to remind you that I have only one apprentice, have only ever had that one apprentice, and she has never looked like that." She absently flicked one finger towards Sakura, waving it up and down in her general direction. Sakura felt her nostril's flare at the dismissal, though bottled the frustration back down, gritting her teeth and letting their summon take the lead, knowing her Shishou would not take kindly to an interruption.
Lady Katsuyu's eyes narrowed at the elder summoner, managing to look down at Tsunade despite only coming up to her knee.
"If you would be so kind as to summon me, Lady Tsunade, I believe Lady Sakura and I would be most grateful," Katsuyu's voice was as dry as a Suna summer, "We might be able to better explain this situation with your disbelief somewhat eased."
Tsunade's brow furrowed, blinking slowly, before casting her eyes up to look at Sakura, who merely nodded.
"It should work. Just trust her." Her voice cracked slightly, both thanks to exhaustion and the very uncomfortable realization that she was most certainly in the distant past, face to face with a much younger version of her mentor who did not know her in the slightest. Her master pursed her lips, but bit her thumb and summoned a moment later, another flash of green chakra and smoke appearing within the decimated clearing.
Another version of Lady Katsuyu appeared, coming up to Tsunade's waist. The exact mirror image of Sakura's Lady Katsuyu looked between Tsunade and Sakura, before her eyes landed on her smaller form, and she froze, mouth parting as she gaped. Sliding forward rapidly, both Katsuyu's brushed one another with the sides of their heads. Sakura's Katsuyu slid back to her side, though Tsunade's remained where she was, still, seemingly processing whatever had passed between them. Sakura felt stirrings of jittery fear take root in her chest, and she clasped her hands even tighter behind her back.
Another heavy silence hung in the air, before the larger of the Katsuyu's closed her eyes and groaned. It was slightly cathartic to hear such a defeated sound come from someone else this time, though it did nothing to help Sakura's growing unease.
"Oh dear," she murmured, "That is not good."
"No," Sakura's summon agreed, "It surely is not."
Tsunade's Katsuyu looked up at Tsunade and nodded at the blonde, who had turned quite pale upon the appearance of two slugs.
"Lady Tsunade, what that version of me said is correct. Lady Sakura is both our Sage and your former apprentice. However, she was sent here from just about 25 years into the future, and from a different dimension to this one- hence why there are now two of us inhabiting the same space."
Unable to restrain herself any longer, Sakura let out a slightly hysterical laugh, and covered her face with her hands, shoulders shaking with a mix of disbelief and discomfort.
"Of course, the bastard couldn't help himself, could he?" The rhetorical question answered itself, because Sasuke never could help himself when selfishness came into the picture, he never had. Her chakra wavered and rippled in a riotous waterfall of rage and betrayal, the thickness of the nature chakra brought in by her sage mode making it hard to breathe around the tightness in her chest. She was not unfamiliar with the sensation of a panic attack, but the strength of her sage mode made it rather dangerous to have one while still immersed, as the amplification of her power was exponentially increased with both emotion and energy.
Her version of Katsuyu moved to lean against Sakura's leg, providing what little support she could, absorbing some of the overflow, and Sakura felt her increase in size as her chakra stilled to a more manageable level.
"Lady Sakura," She heard Tsunade's Katsuyu sigh quietly and felt her energy bubble with a mix of empathy and understanding, "You have my sympathies for your situation, though might I suggest explaining things to Lady Tsunade?" Sakura looked up at the other pair. Tsunade's face had taken on a slightly ashen hue, likely a result of Sakura's barely restrained outburst, as well as the information she was receiving. Guilt rose up in her throat and she swallowed, looking at her Katsuyu for help, feeling very much off balance.
At the nod she received, Sakura breathed out harshly, pulling herself together with all the strength of a war veteran medic on the field of battle, noting Tsunade's sharp gaze piece the action together with alacrity and no small amount of alarm.
"Shish- Lady Tsunade," Sakura corrected, shaking her head, "While I understand the oddness of this situation, our summons are correct. I am your apprentice and a sage, and if what your version of Lady Katsuyu says is accurate, then I have unfortunately been displaced from my own time and space quite badly. My former teammate," and at that her eye twitched, jaw clenching for a moment, "decided to take it upon himself to send me away because he got it into his head somehow that he wanted something done that- apparently- he could not do himself."
At that, Sakura saw Lady Tsunade slump forward and close her eyes, moving one hand from where her arms banded across her chest to rub at her forehead, consternation pinching her face. Sakura grimaced in sympathy at the gesture, feeling much the same.
"You can't be anyone but my apprentice, what with my Byakugou seal on your forehead, improved as it seems to be," Her master grumbled, shaking her head before looking back up, amber eyes assessing and warming as the acceptance of who Sakura was began to take root, "Sage mode increased its output, right?" Sakura let out a huff of nervous laughter, nodding.
"And, I take it that you have no way back to your time unless said teammate brings you back, yes?" Tsunade's accurate assumption reminded Sakura that, despite being a medic, Lord Second had been her granduncle, and his aptitude towards intelligence had remained within their family despite Tsunade's best attempts to drink it away.
"That tends to be the case with dimension hopping," Sakura let out a grim smile at her Shishou's look of surprise, and shrugged, "It's not my first time. I need that same damn eye to send me back, and there's only one of them that I know of. It won't be given in this time for another 20 or so years, so my teammates will have to convince him to bring me back."
"Lady Sakura..." Her Katsuyu's voice wavered slightly, and both women's eyes moved to the slug. Solemn eyes met hers, and hoarfrost began to spread under her ribs at the sight of it. It was the first time since the war that Sakura had seen Katsuyu with defeat written so plainly across her features, so she sobered, taking a deep breath. Voice tentative, Sakura attempted a mumbling question.
"What-" Sakura managed to get the word out, though the rest of the question froze in her throat.
Katsuyu sighed, eye stalks drooping and her face alongside it, a frown pulling at the edges of her mouth.
“Lady Sakura, what do you remember when that boy activated his Rinnegan?” Sakura swallowed heavily, mouth dry as she attempted to recall those rapid moments before the purple eye activated in a swirl of energy.
"He told me that I had to save them, that I was the only one who could," Her voice was a quiet thing, creaking like a dying tree in a storm, "That I know when and how everything went wrong but could never do anything with the knowledge. That I could stop it before it's too late."
Katsuyu nodded slowly. Sakura felt as though she were being treated like one of the dying elderly patients in the hospital being told their time had come, being led with all the delicate grace of one who saw the end but could do nothing to stop it.
"Yes. And do you remember what he was holding in the hand he wasn't using to grab onto you?" Sakura sucked in a sharp breath, the memory of metal glinting in her periphery sharp in her minds eye.
"A kunai. He was holding one of his brother's old kunai." Sakura heard Tsunade's quiet groan of realization before Katsuyu said another word.
"Yes," The gravity of Lady Katsuyu's agreement hit her like a boulder to the chin. Sakura stayed standing only thanks to the tree behind her, "Upon your disappearance, Sasuke then used that kunai to destroy the eye."
Sakura turned her eyes towards the sky. Blue and bright, brighter Naruto's eyes. Her vision blurred slightly, the realization that she was never going to see his face again ringing in her head like a death knell. She blinked a few times, the ice in her chest having solidified, dulling the sensation of loss and grief and whywhywhy enough so that she could still somehow breathe despite the sharp pain every time she inhaled.
“So... that's what you meant by 'wrath incarnate', right?" Sakura's voice was flat and still, distant as thunder rumbling before a monsoon, "Because I'm not getting back. And they know that."
"Yes, Lady Sakura. You cannot go back now. There is no one who remains in your timeline with enough skill or chakra to be able to heal the Rinnegan. You were the only one who might have been capable, but it was you who Sasuke sent away."
"Well, shit." Tsunade's shock rippled out from her chakra, and Sakura turned her face towards her former mentor. Green eyes met amber and Sakura could see the sympathy swirling around the golden brown depths, more emotive than they had been in her time.
"Shit indeed, Shishou," Sakura agreed, voice hollow, feeling more like a corpse than human. Focus distracted, she felt sage mode slip from her grasp, the natural energy flowing back into the earth. The teal markings receded from her face and arms.
"What do you intend to do now, kid?" Tsunade's voice had moved closer to her, and Sakura felt her master's hand on her shoulder, a grounding warmth that she clung to with all the desperation of a drowning man at sea, staring at the stars.
Sakura and Katsuyu locked eyes for a moment, and Katsuyu finally relented, sighing and shaking her head.
"We're here now, Sakura," Her summon confirmed Sakura's thoughts, "Despite his stupidity and recklessness, Sasuke was correct in the assumption that, among the four of you, you would be the most likely to succeed and save others in the process if you chose that path."
Sakura felt the stuttering of her heart in her chest. Flashes of memories rose up unbidden in her minds eye: Neji's cold and still face, spattered with blood and lined with a faint smile frozen in time. Kakashi's stricken expression of grief as he stared at what Obito had become after seeing him for the first time in over a decade. Shikamaru and Ino with hollow eyes after the death's of their fathers. The depth of Gaara's loss after waking up and realizing that Shukaku had been torn from him after finally bonding with the surly tanuki. Itachi allowing his body to rot from the inside out for a decade in a twisted form of penance for what he'd been asked to do. The sounds of Naruto's weeping after he lost his father for the last and final time once the Edo Tensei had been ended.
She could change it. There was a reason she had read all the journals and records kept by the previous Hokage's as Tsunade's apprentice and Kakashi's assistant. If anything, maybe the clarity of her memory would do her more good in this time than it had in her own besides medical memorization- it could show her how to find a way out instead of nightmares of all the faces she couldn't save.
If there was anything all that loss had shown her, it was how she might have changed things, if she'd had the chance. Maybe, just maybe, she could save someone. Perhaps, if she were allowed, if she was careful enough, she could spare many people of the lives they had lived. Change things for the better instead of live in the wreckage after.
Opening her eyes, she locked gazes with Tsunade, who tilted her head at her, waiting for her answer.
"I guess I'll have to try my best and save them, then," She spoke, voice stronger than she thought it would be, despite the shaking fearful thing in her chest, "Not just Sasuke's family. But everyone. I was trained by the best, after all."
Straightening up, she nodded once to herself. Tsunade's eyebrows raised, gaze sharpening with focus as her own posture molded to mirror Sakura's returning poise, watching the young sage as she fused herself back together piece by piece, her hand on her shoulder grounding them both.
"Shishou, I'll need your help though. And you might want to sit down, I have a lot that I have to explain before we start, and it isn't a pretty story."