The air in the Hokage's office felt heavier than usual.
Tsunade stood behind her desk, fists planted firmly on the wooden surface. Her jaw was tight, her eyes sharp with the fury only a Hokage could hold. Sakura entered beside Naruto and Kakashi, her steps quiet, measuring everything in the room with one glance.
Scrolls were scattered. Reports left open. A map of the Wind Country pinned with black markers.
Something was horribly wrong.
Naruto sensed it too. "Tsunade-baachan, what happened? You look—uh—angry. Really angry."
Tsunade didn't even scold him for the nickname. That alone set Sakura on edge.
"They took Gaara," she said flatly.
Naruto froze mid-step. "What… what do you mean, took?"
Tsunade lifted a torn Sand shinobi headband from her desk. It was stained with blood.
"The Akatsuki have begun moving," she said. "Their target is all Jinchūriki. Gaara is the Kazekage, and the Shukaku's host. They attacked Suna last night."
Sakura felt her breathe catch. She knew this event—she knew exactly how catastrophic it could become. In her world, the memory of this arc was carved into war reports and history. But now she was living it.
Naruto slammed his hands on the desk. "We gotta go get him! Now!"
Tsunade nodded. "Team Kakashi, you are being deployed immediately. Your mission: infiltrate the Wind Country, locate Gaara, and support Sunagakure's rescue efforts."
Naruto punched the air, fired up. Kakashi gave a soft sigh through his mask, though Sakura could feel his chakra sharpening.
Sakura bowed slightly. "Understood."
Tsunade studied her—longer than normal. The Hokage's gaze lingered on Sakura's new outfit, her posture, the calmness that didn't match her age.
"Sakura," Tsunade said, voice thoughtful. "Something about you feels different."
Sakura's stomach tightened, but she forced a respectful smile. "I've been training, Tsunade-sama. You asked me to grow stronger."
"Hn." Tsunade leaned back. "Then prove it. Gaara's life depends on it."
Sakura bowed again, hiding the twist in her chest.
If Tsunade pressed further, she'd see the difference—the subtle changes that separated two worlds. But Sakura couldn't let that happen. She couldn't risk breaking this reality by revealing the truth.
Not yet.
---
The desert wind hit like a blast from a furnace, hot and unrelenting. Sand stretched across the horizon like an endless golden sea. Naruto shielded his eyes with his arm, scowling. "How does anyone live here?"
Sakura adjusted the cloth around her neck, the red of her outfit vivid against the pale sand. "Suna shinobi are resilient. They adapt to harsh environments with exceptional precision."
Naruto blinked. "That sounds like… something Sakura-chan wouldn't usually say."
Sakura paused. "Does it?"
"Yeah. You're… calmer. And you talk more like a grown-up."
She looked away. "People change, Naruto."
He opened his mouth to ask something else—but Kakashi cut in, tone unusually firm. "We need to focus. We're already behind. Keep your chakra senses stretched—Akatsuki are not amateurs."
Sakura felt it then, tingling faintly across her chakra network—a distant residue of malevolent chakra. Heavy. Cold. Ruthless.
Akatsuki.
Her breath grew shallow. Not out of fear, but memory—of reading medical reports describing what they did to Jinchūriki. Of funerals. Of missions that came too late.
She clenched her fist.
Not this time.
---
Sunagakure was in chaos when they arrived. Shinobi rushed between buildings carrying injured comrades, medical tents overflowed with casualties, and the air shook with tension. Kankurō was barely conscious, being stabilized by a team of medics.
Naruto ran forward immediately. "Kankurō! Hang in there!"
Temari turned sharply. "Naruto! Kakashi! Sakura—thank the gods—"
Sakura stood beside the unconscious puppet master, eyes narrowing as she recognized the symptoms. Black webbing spread across his skin, poison choking his chakra network.
This poison… it belonged to one person.
"Sasori of the Red Sand," Sakura murmured.
Temari's eyes widened. "You know him?"
Sakura froze.
She had spoken too naturally. Too quickly. Too confidently.
Naruto blinked. "Huh? Sakura-chan, how do you know that?"
Sakura inhaled slowly, gathering herself. "Medical training requires studying different poisons and their creators."
A half-truth. But enough.
She knelt beside Kankurō. The medics stepped back as Sakura placed her glowing hands above his chest. Her chakra slid through his bloodstream with expert control—finer than any medic her age should possess.
She recognized every toxin, every trace of Sasori's handiwork. Her fingers moved purposefully, isolating the poison, extracting it without damaging the organs beneath.
Naruto watched in awe. "W-Woah… Sakura-chan… when did you get so good at that?!"
Sakura forced a soft smile. "I told you—I've been training."
But as she worked, she felt Kakashi's gaze on her back—sharp, calculating. He knew too much. Saw too clearly.
She couldn't afford mistakes.
Not in front of him.
Not when she didn't yet understand this world's rules.
After several minutes, Sakura cut her chakra and leaned back. "The poison's neutralized. He'll recover with rest."
Temari exhaled with relief. "Thank you… thank you so much."
Sakura nodded calmly, but her heart was hammering. She had revealed too much skill again—but she couldn't help it. Letting someone die when she had the power to save them was impossible.
Especially when Naruto was watching.
Kakashi stepped closer. "Sakura," he said quietly, "that level of extraction… even Tsunade would struggle with it."
She didn't look at him. "I've improved."
Kakashi didn't respond.
But she knew he didn't believe her.
---
Hours later, after regrouping and gathering intel, the three of them set out again—this time into the mountainous region bordering the desert. Sakura's body moved automatically, matching her teammates' pace, all while her mind churned.
The timeline was aligning exactly as she remembered:
Gaara kidnapped.
Kankurō poisoned.
The Akatsuki moving in shadows.
Which meant soon—
They'd encounter them.
Sakura's fingers drifted unconsciously to the faint symbols beneath her skin—the Hyakka Inshiki waiting dormant like silent guardians.
Fifteen symbols.
Fifteen chances.
Fifteen lives she could trade for survival.
But she couldn't use them here.
Not unless absolutely necessary.
Not unless Naruto's life was on the line.
Naruto glanced at her from the side as they climbed a steep incline. "Hey… Sakura-chan. You're really different."
She blinked. "Different how?"
He kicked a stone, watching it tumble down the slope. "You're stronger. You're… I dunno. More… confident. Like something happened when you disappeared."
Sakura swallowed hard.
Her Naruto had asked her something similar once—when she began training under Guy and Tsunade, when she pushed herself beyond exhaustion to create the Hyakka Inshiki.
He had looked at her the same way then.
Worried. Curious. Soft.
Sakura held her breath. "Naruto… do you think being stronger is bad?"
"No!" he said immediately. "But… you look like you're carrying something heavy."
Her steps faltered.
His words hit deeper than he knew.
Naruto looked at her with open, honest concern. "You can talk to me, y'know? We're teammates."
She smiled—a real one this time, small and fragile but true.
"I know," she whispered. "And… thank you."
Before he could say more, Kakashi signaled from ahead.
"We're close," he said. "I sense two Akatsuki signatures."
Naruto tensed. "Gaara…!"
Sakura tightened her gloves, jaw set.
Here it begins.
Her first real divergence from the original timeline.
Her first true battle in a world not her own.
And she would not let this world's Naruto—or Gaara—die.
Not while she still had even one blossom seal left to burn.