Chapter Text
Sakura nervously fiddled with her hands as she stood in the Hokage office. She was tempted to make a joke about moving into the building, with how often her and her team seemed called to the office—but it was stuck in her throat as her nerves threatened to bring her shaky legs to the ground.
She leaned against the desk, trying to slow her breathing. She’d meditated. She’d planned. She’d prepared. She’d talked to Minato, to Mikoto, written and received another letter from Tsunade. She reached out to Mishki Uchiha, to confirm that the Sharingan wouldn’t affect her healing in any way. She’d practiced healing superficial injuries with Sasuke and Kakashi during their sparring matches so she could relearn her new seal.
She was as ready as she could be.
Minato smiled at her encouragingly, “You’re just trying today, Hana. No guarantees, no promises. They know that.”
“I know that too, but it doesn’t change anything. They know how bad it is if I can’t cure him.”
Sasuke stood mutely against the wall, his gaze locked on nothing in particular. She was glad he was here, as he added a level of comfort, but he also unintentionally added a level of pressure. This was where it all started. Where they made their list of what to fix and how. Itachi had been damn near item number one, and it had taken her long enough.
If this didn’t work—she shook the thoughts away.
It had to work. She’d force it to.
The door to the office opened slowly, the Uchiha family walking in. Itachi was taller than the last time she’d seen him, and he slowly took in each of the figures around the office. Minato, the Hokage, Hana, the doctor he’d met before, his usual Uchiha doctor, Mishki. But then, there was Chen. Sakura saw the confusion flicker across his eyes, and she couldn’t blame him.
He clearly looked like an Uchiha, a familiar one at that, but he’d never seen him before. He’d likely only seen the statue and heard whatever Fugaku had told him had happened that night. Fugaku cleared his throat, “Itachi, you know Minato, Mishki and Hana. This is Chen, a friend of Hana’s.”
Itachi frowned, looking up at Sasuke, trying to place where he knew his eyes. Sasuke nodded, “We work together.”
“I know you; you’re on the statue. You’re a doctor too?”
Sasuke shook his head, a smile on his face, “She’s the doctor here. I’m just part of her team.”
Sakura pulled the attention off of Sasuke, reaching into her bag, “Here, I brought you some more dango. Do you know why we’re all here today?”
Itachi reached for the box slowly, nodding, “You’re going to heal me. Stop the coughing fits.” It made Sasuke smile, hearing his brother’s voice, already so clinical and clear, despite him being so young.
Sakura nodded, “I’m going to try. Do you know what this is?” she pointed up to her forehead, her fingers resting just above the diamond mark nestled among the twisting black lines. He shook his head, and Sakura continued, “It’s a healing seal. The most powerful one in the world. And I’m going to use it to try and heal you, does that sound okay?”
Itachi looked up at his parents, his eyes dashed to Chen, and then he nodded. “Will it hurt?”
Sakura shook her head, thankful for the smile she was able to manage, “No, it’ll be just like last time. Except, my seal might do a little more than last time.” She gestured Sasuke over, and he easily offered her his hand. She opened her seal, and she watched the way that the black lines raced down her one arm, twisting and wrapping around their hands and up his arm.
Since she’d started using her new seal, she’d found it was much more precise, if only one hand was in contact, only one hand had the black lines. “It might look like this, but it doesn’t hurt, right Chen?”
Sasuke shook his head, “It just feels warm.” Like you.
Itachi nodded and he handed his box of dango to his mom. Mikoto nodded at him encouragingly, and glanced up at Sakura. “You’re ready?”
Sakura let go of Sasuke’s hand after a final squeeze, the black lines racing back into her crown. She nodded, “As long as Itachi is.”
The young boy nodded. He walked towards her and gave her his stubby hand. She took his hand gently in her own and reached up with her other to poke two fingers against his forehead and hold them there. “Take a deep breath for me,” she whispered. She closed her eyes, opening the seal and she felt the power rush through her limbs.
It poured out of her fingertips, dipping into his skin, his muscles, she felt it racing through his bloodstream. Every time she’d used her new seal, it was like she was able to walk through her patient’s system, taking it apart inch by inch and healing the smallest of particles. She found each infected blood cell, and she targeted it. The exactness of her new seal made it a painstakingly long task, but she was able to deconstruct each bit of infection. From his bloodstream she moved through his organs, finding every bit of tissue that was abnormal or at risk and healing.
Healing, healing, healing.
Endlessly. She mapped through his every system with her seal, her warm green chakra sprinkled throughout his muscles and cells as she fought against the illness that threatened to completely take over. She made it to his lungs, the most affected and she rebuilt the tissue by hand. The new tissue she created, it glowed green, infused with her healing chakra.
She didn’t know how much time had passed in the real world.
In this one, it had felt like hours.
She forced herself to search every inch of Itachi, healing things even unrelated to his illness, an old scar on his knee, the backs of his eyes, already sore from sharingan use, she healed and healed until it felt like she was going to explode. She’d balled up every ounce of infection together, every twisted piece of poisoned chakra, ready to remove it from his system.
She pulled herself back and released his hand as she collapsed back into herself, holding onto the infection that would have one day killed Itachi. She fell back, stumbling into Sasuke who caught her with ease, like he’d been expecting it.
Similarly, Mikoto was behind Itachi and helped keep him standing.
Sakura blearily opened her eyes, blinking to try and get used to the sudden darkness of the office. She glanced down at her hand, the large, glowing purple mess of infection and chakra and glanced behind her at Sasuke.
He stared at the infected chakra and whispered, “Is that—”
“Yes. It’s all out.” She shook her hand, watching the chakra dissipate into thin air, the illness that threatened Itachi’s life gone, with a simple flick of her wrist.
She pushed herself away from Sasuke, kneeling in front of Itachi who was slowly blinking back into consciousness. “Itachi?” she whispered into the quiet office.
His eyes finally found her in the dark, and he nodded, “I’m okay.”
The office let out a collective breath of relief. Sakura waved Mishki over, “I’m really glad. Do you think you can have one more check today?” Itachi nodded, standing up on his own two feet again. Sakura turned to Mishki, “Can you check for me? Search for any lingering sign of infection.”
The Uchiha doctor nodded, reaching out with his palms glowing and he searched. The silence in the office was thick, and Sakura gratefully took a drink of water that Sasuke handed her. He placed his comforting hands on her shoulders, “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” she corrected him, eagerly watching the Uchiha doctor as his brow furrowed. Minutes began to tick by in the office, the only sounds the bated breathing of Itachi’s parents. Finally, as the silence threatened to swallow her whole, he pulled his hand back.
“I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes. I’ve been treating Itachi for years, I know what it looks like and feels like. There’s no trace of infection. I wouldn’t know he’d been ill at all. He’s completely cured.”
Mikoto threw her arms around Itachi, pulling him into a tight hug as she cried. Fugaku dropped down next to them, his arms enveloping both of them in a hug. Sasuke let out a choked breath of relief, tugging Sakura into a hug as he whispered ‘thank you’ over an over.
She didn’t care that the Uchiha family was right there, she pressed a kiss to the side of his head, hugging him tightly, “We did it.” Everything they talked about doing, about stopping, starting, saving—they’d done it.
Mishki cleared his throat, and Sakura stepped back from her hug to see his hand waiting, outstretched, “Thank you, Hana. The Uchiha are in your debt.”
She shook his hand, shaking her head, “No, this is my job. My honour.” She leaned back against Sasuke, her eyes meeting his in the darkness of the office.
Mikoto smiled up at them both, “Thank you, both of you. I don’t know how we could ever begin to repay you.”
“Knowing he will be okay, that’s enough,” Sasuke said, making eye contact with his father. “He’s going to be a great shinobi one day, having you by his side to teach him.”
Itachi looked up at the two of them, the now famous, mysterious ninja who’d appeared in the Leaf Village and saved it from destruction, and he smiled, “Maybe I’ll be better than you, one day.”
And Sasuke needed to grab Sakura’s hand to keep him standing when he nodded, “Maybe you will.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sakura leaned against the lockers, one lazy hand pressed over Kakashi’s eye, and the other on Obito. “I should start charging you for these,” she mumbled before pulling her hands back as her teammates blinked away the pain.
Obito scoffed, “What, and Chen will still get them for free?”
She whacked him with her hand as Sasuke walked towards them, their newest mission file in hand. He smirked, “Perk of living together.”
Obito rolled his eyes good-naturedly, and jutted his chin towards the folder, “What do we have today?”
“A string of killings that have happened across the Sand Village, with potential threat to the Kazekage. They reached out to the Hokage for back up. No one knows who’s behind it, but there was a survivor of the last attack. Said he got attacked by puppets,” he looked to Sakura, and he watched the recognition flash in her eyes.
Kakashi caught the look easily enough, it was hard to miss after so much time spent with the two of them. “Will we win?” he asked drily.
Sakura grinned, “Easy with the four of us. When do we head out?”
“We shouldn’t be too confident, I might know who’s behind the attacks,” Obito said solemnly. He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, “We uh, met up a few times, you know, back in the day—”
“Sasori, of the red sand, right?” Sakura asked, watching Obito’s eyebrow shoot into his bangs.
“You know him?”
She nodded, and Kakashi rolled his eyes, “So as captain, I’m the only one who doesn’t know what we’re up against?”
Sakura smiled at him, “I mean it’s not exactly fair how we know, but you certainly handle it better than anyone else who wouldn’t know.”
Kakashi shrugged, “It’s definitely not fair. But its fine.” He turned to Sasuke, taking the file folder from his hands, “Did Minato-sensei say when we leave?”
Sasuke sighed, “Tonight, after Naruto’s birthday dinner. Minato’s orders.” Sakura grinned as Kakashi flinched, mumbling about needing to still buy a present. Obito agreed, and the two decided to go shopping once they left the changeroom.
Sakura had just pulled on her civilian clothes and was closing her locker when a voice called, “Team Ro.” All four teenagers turned to the voice. Shoda looked them each over in turn and gave them a nod, “Good job on your last mission. I heard it was quite the fight.”
Sakura bit back her grin as Obito chimed in his thanks. Shoda had certainly turned over a new leaf when it came to his least favourite Anbu team. Since the fight, the one that saved the Leaf Village, he’d treated them with a level of respect they’d never experienced before.
He’d even stopped his uncomfortable advances towards Sakura, though that could have been due to Sasuke’s death glare and possessive hand on her waist any time the Anbu approached. When Shoda had made the switch, so had the rest of the Anbu teams.
When team Ro had received their first mission after the battle, the locker room had been eerily quiet upon their arrival. Stares and whispers followed them as they walked to their assigned lockers, until Shoda, of all people, stood up to clap. His team joined in quickly. Followed by every other Anbu squad.
Since that day, there had been a sense of respect and peace in the Anbu changeroom. There was no longer animosity towards the youngest squad. There were no more jokes made at Kakashi’s expense, not when he’d been part of the team that saved the Village. No more snide remarks about favouritism from the Hokage or how his previous missions had ended.
With Minato now solely in charge of the Anbu, it felt like everything was falling into place. Root was being taken apart piece by piece, the ninjas being reintroduced to other Anbu members and squads. No one dared to question it when Team Ro repeatedly took on the highest classification missions, and they continued their work, fixing what they could.
And slowly, piece by piece, they were correcting problems that appeared on Minato’s desk. They’d already stopped Orochimaru, Sasori was the next piece of the Akatsuki puzzle for them to pull apart. Plus, this would give them a chance to catch wind of Garra and his whereabouts in the Sand Village.
They just had a birthday to celebrate first.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sakura tightened the ninja headband around her blonde hair, looking it over in the mirror. After several years, it didn’t faze her much anymore. In the early days, she couldn’t look into the mirror without jumping at her appearance. Now, it was as normal as could be.
She called over her shoulder, “Which training field did he say to meet at?”
Sasuke’s low voice replied, “Four. Which we never use.” He appeared, leaning on the doorway of the bathroom with his arms crossed over his green vest. “Did he tell you what we were doing today?”
She shook her head, “No, just to meet him there because he really needed us to see something.” She tucked her kunai into the pouch on her thigh, casting one last look in the mirror.
She didn’t know exactly when she went from a teenager to an adult, but it was clear that the difference was there. Her seal no longer appeared odd to her anymore, it fit her well. It matched her title, her abilities. Years had passed in their new timeline, and it finally felt like home. Weekly dinners with her team at Kushina and Minato’s house became their new norm.
Meeting up with Kurenai for much needed girl time and gossip replaced her endless training sessions. Dragging Kakashi out to social events was now a two-man operation, Obito as determined as she was.
When she wasn’t on missions with her team, she was working in the hospital, where she had quickly moved up the ranks. There were certainly moments that still hurt, catching sight of a young Ino at the flower shop, seeing Sasuke and Itachi together in the streets of the Leaf, but the good outweighed the bad every time.
Sometimes her and Sasuke would reminisce, talking about the old days at the academy, the days they used to be a team. They had hard conversations too. Talking about Sasuke leaving, and what that did. How that hurt.
It made them all the better. Their house was filled with memories and laughter. They invited Kakashi, Obito, Kurenai, Asuma and Guy over regularly. They took turns looking after Naruto when Minato was busy and Kushina needed a break. Every year on Naruto’s birthday, they had a small anniversary celebration afterwards, when it was just the two of them. They shared a bowl of ramen, toasting to another successful year of saving the world.
Twelve years they’d been in their new timeline. Twelve years since they left everything they knew and replaced it with a world they were determined to fix. She glanced over at Sasuke, gently running her gloved fingers through his bangs, “I need to cut your hair. Remind me to do that later.”
He smirked, pushing her hand away, “You should style it like Kakashi’s.”
Sakura laughed, poking him in the forehead, “In your dreams. Only Kakashi can pull that look off.” She slipped past him in the doorway, “Come on, we can’t be late.”
Sasuke’s hands slid around her hips, pulling her back into the doorway, “He’s always late. We can just say we got lost on the path of life.” His lips pressed against her temple, but she dodged his attempt of a kiss, twisting out of his hands, “Nope!”
She planted her fists on her hips, her pose one of mock anger but the smile on her lips was too genuine. “That excuse didn’t work then; it doesn’t work now.”
“Fine,” he rolled his eyes. He moved to pass her in the hallway and pulled her in by the waist, catching her too quick for her to playfully duck out of. He kissed her, dipping her backwards until she had to grab onto his shoulders to keep herself standing, and she all but melted into his arms. Within a blink, he pulled away, waited until she had her feet under her, and he grinned. He nodded over his shoulder, his smile all too confident at the breathless expression on Sakura’s face, “Come on. We don’t want to be late, right?”
She frowned, crossing her arms, “You’re so mean.” But she followed him happily down the hallway and out the house.
Training ground four was close to the academy, the reason Sasuke, Kakashi, Sakura and Obito never used it. Their training sessions were a bit intense for kids to be so close by. Plus, as famed as they were, it was impossible to avoid the attention of children when they practiced so close. She caught a glimpse of the silver hair through the trees, and she ducked under the final branch. Just as she was about to greet him, she froze.
Because there she was.
The scared, pink haired little girl she once was. Staring, pathetically she might add, at the dark haired Uchiha who lounged next to Naruto. Sasuke next to her froze, his eyes going wide.
Kakashi glanced back at them, smiling, “Chen, Hana, I’m glad you two were able to join.”
Naruto sat up, his cheerful voice so familiar, “Chen! Hana! Hey!”
She walked closer, smiling at him, “Hey Naruto.” Sasuke nodded next to her, his usual greeting for the young boy. She levelled her gaze with Kakashi’s, “Don’t tell me…”
He nodded, his eye crinkled with the smile he was trying to hide, “Minato-Sensei assigned me my genin-team. Meet squad Seven.”
Sakura’s eyes traveled to the young girl, the one with long hair, who was still staring at Sasuke. Yikes. Did she always look that pathetic when she was in love with him? She dragged a hand down her face, muttering to Kakashi, “Kill me.”
He only grinned, asking the three young shinobi to introduce themselves. Sasuke stepped forwards to talk first, and his introduction had changed considerably. Even the fact that he sat, talking with Naruto before they arrived was different. He smiled, “I’m Sasuke Uchiha, and I’m gonna be a great shinobi, just like my brother!”
Sakura bit her lip as she glanced over at Sasuke, her Sasuke, “You’re so cute when you don’t hate everything.”
He rolled his eyes, but she saw the fond smile hidden on his lips. Naturally, when it was Naruto’s turn, he stood up, planted one hand on his hip, and thrust a thumbs up towards them, “I’m Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, and I’m gonna be Hokage! Just like my dad!”
Finally, young, pink-haired Sakura stood up, planted her hands on her hips, and spoke with a confidence Sakura hadn’t expected, that she’d never known, “I’m Sakura Haruno! I’m gonna be a Healer ninja, like you, Hana!”
And it was in that moment, this exact moment of introductions that made Sakura’s heart swell. They’d done this. They’d changed everything for the better. Naruto having parents, two last names—that was because of them. Sasuke wanting to be like his older brother, not kill him—that was because of them.
And young Sakura, blindly in love with a boy, with passion and confidence, and determination to be something. That was because of them. Because thanks to them, Naruto had his family. Sasuke was loved, and he knew it. And Sakura, she had someone to look up to, someone she wanted to be.
Sakura’s fear of amounting to nothing, of being lost without Tsunade, just melted away.
Blonde hair, seal visible to the world, she was her own hero.
She grinned at the kids, introducing herself the way she always did, the name Hana as familiar as her own. She glanced over at Kakashi, whispering loud enough for him to hear, “He’s gonna seem really intimidating, but he’s a big softie.”
That made Sakura and Naruto giggle, and little, stoic Sasuke smile. She stepped back, wishing Kakashi luck with the three of them, and made her way back to Sasuke’s side. He gave himself a brief introduction, they promised to come by to visit again, and they headed out just as Kakashi brought out the bells.
Sakura smiled to herself, glancing at the way the three young shinobi nodded at each other, and she knew. They would have no trouble getting those bells.