So nice sleeping own bed, not forest danger lurking every bush! Second stage, Sakura dreamed home, relax: no ear-crawling poison bugs asleep; no spotting campfire smoke; no Sasuke-kun dying; no pre-dawn survival doubt...
Many times sure never see parents, room again—but miracle, broke through. Survived. Thanks Lee-san, Ino team...
Sakura hugged knees, wiped tears. Forest, seemed home bed = world fine. All good. But no, no easier.
Obsessive thoughts crowded head.
Why shinobi? Why cursed forest? Fighting for?
Academy—parents decided. Then... Sasuke-kun. Girl worthy him. Pace equal, not back-watch. Maybe notice? And Ino—no yielding. Long vowed never yield ex-friend...
No, not ex.
Friend.
A lump rose in her throat. Naively, she had thought she understood everything about female friendship back in childhood, but in truth, the real insight had only come to her now. Female friendship was special. Sakura thought she hated Ino. Every encounter, they spat venom at each other, called each other names, and argued, but in the face of mortal danger, Ino had stepped forward to protect her, even though she knew there was virtually no chance of defeating the Sound Trio. If not for Lee-san's team... And if Sasuke-kun hadn't awakened...
Why am I so weak?
But Sakura felt that she had emerged from the Forest of Death as a completely different person. When loved ones face mortal danger, everything else fades into the background: pain, fear.
Lee-san... Sasuke-kun... How are you? I should go to the hospital.
"Sakura-aa! Stop sleeping!"
Sakura frowned in annoyance.
Her again.
"I'm not sleeping!"
"Then stop sitting there! Come down, help me!"
"Leave me alone! I'm busy!"
"Oh, you rude girl! What are you busy with up there, huh?"
Sakura clenched her teeth in anger.
Damn it. You can't even imagine what's going on in my soul. Go stroke that damn laundry yourself, shannaro! R-r-r.
Her parents drove her crazy. Her personality was undergoing a metamorphosis. Sakura was trying to sort herself out, to put her new discoveries on shelves, and finally decide what to do. Meanwhile, her mom was concerned with far more mundane and banal things: laundry, cleaning, shopping.
Sakura approached the mirror and looked at her swollen face. Outwardly, she had transformed just as much as inwardly. Short hair, carefully trimmed by Ino back in the forest. A massive hematoma covering half her face, split lip. Her entire skin was covered in abrasions and bruises.
"Sakura, who did this to you?"
She was still mulling over that phrase, examining it from all sides.
Am I really not indifferent to him? Did he regret not being able to protect me, or was he just looking for an excuse to unleash that terrifying power he felt inside him?
Flashes of images flickered before her eyes. Sasuke's battle with Orochimaru, the bruise on his neck. And how he writhed, clutching her hand in pain and pressing against her chest. Did he realize it was her? Did he trust her specifically? Or did it not matter who was with him right now?
I really thought he was going to die. How terrifying it is: to hold your beloved as he suffers, powerless to ease his agony, to help in any way.
Sakura tidied her face as best she could, quietly slipped out of her room, hoping to sneak to the exit unnoticed, but she still ran into her mother and had a full-blown argument with her.
Right after the second stage, Sakura had tried to visit Sasuke in the hospital, but she wasn't allowed in. The girl at the reception desk said the young Uchiha wasn't receiving visitors, and she didn't know why. Today, Sakura wanted to try again and visit Lee-san as well, but suddenly an idea struck her.
What if I go to Sarada? Maybe if I'm with a Uchiha, they'll let me see Sasuke-kun? They're from the same clan, after all. And Sarada must know the details; she'll at least tell me if he's okay.
Sakura confidently headed to the house where the Uchiha lived, but with every meter, her confidence evaporated. She had never been to Sasuke-kun's home before, and barging into his apartment felt improper. She wasn't close enough to Sarada to impose, and then there was that jonin whom Ino liked so much. How would he react? For some reason, Sakura imagined all Uchiha must be like Sasuke: cold, sharp, arrogant... Sarada wasn't arrogant, but she kept her distance in conversations with Sakura, acting formal and a bit dry.
This isn't Ino. You can't mess around here.
Nevertheless, Sakura found the strength to reach Sasuke's building, go up to his floor, and ring the doorbell. For several minutes, there was silence behind the door, then the scrape of a lock, and Sarada's face appeared in the crack. The Uchiha girl's black eyes widened in surprise.
"Mom... what happened to you?"
Sakura flushed. She had tried to cover the bruise on her face with whatever she could and convinced herself she looked pretty good, but to an unprepared person, her face must have seemed simply horrific.
"Your hair..."
"Oh, that. I just decided... It's more convenient for the exams."
"Of course."
Sarada recovered a bit from the shock.
"Who's there?" a male voice called.
The door swung wider, and a tall young man appeared behind Sarada. He was wearing a loose home t-shirt and regular uniform pants.
"This is Shisui of the Body Flicker Technique," a lazy voice echoed in her head—Shikamaru's. "If he used his full power, you wouldn't even see him."
"Oh, you're Sakura, right?"
The young man pushed Sarada aside and opened the door wider.
"Come in, what are you doing on the doorstep?"
"Huh?" Sakura was surprised and a little scared. "Me?"
Oh no, what will Sasuke-kun say if he finds out I came to his house!
"Maybe I shouldn't..."
"Nonsense," cut off Uchiha Shisui. "Come on in, girl."
"I... thank you, Shisui-san."
Sakura modestly stepped into the entryway. Sasuke's guardian went to his room, and Sarada offered her tea and invited her to the kitchen.
The Uchiha home was impeccably clean. That's how Sakura had imagined Sasuke-kun's place: a modern apartment, living room... Only in the wall on the way to the kitchen, several shuriken stuck out crookedly for some reason, and that design element added a rebellious spice to the perfect Uchiha apartment.
"Sorry, this is awkward," Sakura began right away. "We're hardly acquainted, and... I just stopped by to ask... You're from the same clan..."
"About Sasuke?" Sarada guessed.
Sakura nodded.
"I wanted to visit him in the hospital, but reception said no visitors. Is he okay?"
"Shisui said he'll recover," Sarada smiled encouragingly and pressed her palms to the hot cup.
Sakura relaxed a bit and thoughtfully stared into her half-empty cup. Her face cleared, and she suddenly giggled softly.
"What?"
"Just... I always tried to imagine how Sasuke-kun lives, what his home and family are like. And it turned out not quite like that."
Family—this guardian. Sakura hadn't expected him to greet her so warmly.
"I wanted to ask. Aren't you going to visit Sasuke-kun? We could go together."
Sarada mumbled into her cup:
"I don't think he'd be happy to see me."
"But aren't you..."
Sakura faltered. That conversation with Ino still gnawed at her. Asking about something like that was tactless and utterly foolish, but Sakura desperately needed to know.
"What?"
She suddenly looked boldly into Sarada's eyes.
"Are you going to marry Sasuke-kun in the future, right?"
Sarada choked on her tea and coughed.
"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Sakura half-stood. "Are you okay?"
Sarada wasn't entirely sure she wanted to go to the hospital to see her father, but for Sakura's sake, she decided to go anyway. She guessed why Mom had come to her first. It was clear as day.
Sakura's question had knocked Sarada flat. Would they marry Sasuke?
Of course, I'll marry my own father, what else?
Though Sakura's concerns were quite justified. Sarada had told her herself that she and Sasuke weren't relatives. It was logical to assume the last Uchiha, not closely related, would marry to preserve blood purity. Sarada belatedly wondered if that thought had occurred to her father too.
No, Shisui-san will set him straight quick. Won't happen.
Sarada looked at the narcissuses Sakura had bought at the Yamanaka shop.
"Why did you get two flowers?"
"These are for Lee-san."
Mom, remembering something, smiled.
Lee. Not the father of Metal, is it?
"Rock Lee?"
Sakura nodded and darkened.
"What's wrong with him? Is he badly hurt?"
"Yeah. That one from Sand seriously injured him in the prelims. So sad..."
"Are you close friends?"
Sakura brushed away tears.
"He saved us. Me, Sasuke-kun, and Naruto. In that forest, when the boys were unconscious, Sound shinobi attacked us, and he stood up alone, even when he couldn't fight anymore, he still tried..."
Saved them... So without him, I wouldn't exist?
Sarada thought she should have stopped by the flower shop too, to visit Lee-san. She hadn't gotten flowers for Sasuke, no way. He didn't deserve it. But when Mom's words fully sank in, Sarada felt scared. Naruto and Sasuke unconscious, Sound shinobi... It had all happened before, in that strange dream.
"What happened to you in the forest?" Sarada asked cautiously.
Sakura flushed a bit but started telling. Sarada listened and realized with each word it was getting creepier. She asked what the Sound Village ninja looked like. Turned out exactly as she remembered. Mom didn't go into details, just the gist. How she couldn't figure out how Naruto and Sasuke lost consciousness—Sakura deftly dodged the topic every time.
But Mom hadn't had it easy in the fight like Sarada in the dream. Sakura didn't have Sharingan; she couldn't trap the whole trio in genjutsu without fuss. Still, it was enough for Sarada to seriously ponder her dream. Something strange was happening to her.
Disappointment awaited them at hospital reception.
"Sasuke-kun isn't receiving visitors," the girl spread her hands.
"But she's Uchiha," Sakura insisted, nodding at Sarada. "She should be allowed!"
"No one is. Sorry, girls."
Sakura sighed heavily, and Sarada frowned.
To guard Sasuke so fiercely? Shisui-san, what didn't you tell me? What's going on?
"And Rock Lee? Can we see him?"
"Rock Lee..." the girl rustled papers. "Oh, he's in very critical condition. You can, but briefly. Sign the log, quick—my lunch is already five minutes late."
"Thanks. Sorry for the trouble."
They signed the log and went to find the room. The corridors were empty. Everyone who could had scattered for lunch. They went the wrong way first—the room numbers didn't match floors oddly—but figured it out.
Rock Lee lay in a private room. Sakura knocked softly, slid the door open, stepped in, and froze. A visitor stood over Lee-san's bed. He was short and strangely dressed. Short red hair curled slightly, and a huge gourd hung on his back. Sarada followed and closed the door.
"What? What's wrong?" she wanted to ask.
Not understanding why Mom froze, she looked closer at the stranger by the bed. Lee-san was asleep or unconscious, and his bed was full of sand.
"What..." Sarada began.
But Sakura suddenly gripped her hand tightly, as if ordering silence. Her palm was cool and damp.
The stranger slowly turned. Goosebumps ran down her spine. Sarada recognized his features and the kanji on his forehead.
Love. It's... Kazekage Gaara!
But something was off with the young Kazekage. His gaze unnerved Sarada. Palpable blood lust, and that sand... in the bed...
"What are you doing here?" Sarada finally asked with a hint of threat.
The future Kazekage tore his attention from Lee and fully turned to them. The sand in the wounded man's bed stirred, slowly returned to its owner, and swirled in the air around Gaara.
"Came to kill him."
Sarada barely held his gaze. It held icy certainty. He wasn't joking.
Fresh air rushed into the room through the open window, billowing the light tulle like a sail.
"Why," Sakura said tensely, clenching her fists. "You already won. Why do this?"
Gaara answered grimly:
"To confirm my existence."
His gaze burned through them.
"And now I'll kill you too."
"This isn't the Kazekage. He's insane," Sarada thought.
She desperately tried to understand why déjà vu tormented her so. Something like this had happened before.
That evening when she returned to the district littered with corpses and found her uncle sobbing over her dead grandparents' bodies. Aura of death. An invincible killer. And that killer was mad. It was all repeating.
If she hadn't agreed to go with Sakura, Mom wouldn't have entered the hospital at all, but now Sarada had unwittingly endangered her life. But Metal's father shouldn't die here, now. He lived even in the future after the Fourth Shinobi World War. Yet no one would have entered if not for them, meaning in a few more minutes, Rock Lee would be dead. Was everything no longer as before? Had the world changed catastrophically?
"It won't hurt."
The Kazekage slowly extended his hand. Sand flowed toward them through the air.
No one to call for help; they wouldn't make a step. Medics useless. Needed a jonin.
Damn.
Chakra surged to her eyes.
Sharingan!
Gaara was confident and didn't even avert his gaze. Mistake. The sand hadn't covered half the distance when Sarada trapped the future Kazekage in genjutsu.
In the illusion, she controlled the sand. It poured from the ceiling, walls of the hospital room. Everything turned to sand, even her and Sakura. Gaara looked around viciously, uncomprehending. Sarada gripped his mind tighter, overriding his senses.
But suddenly...
Everything vanished.
The illusion she wove so carefully evaporated. Darkness surrounded her, solid black. Sarada stood ankle-deep in black water rippling around her feet.
Counter-genjutsu?
No, impossible. Only another Sharingan could break hers, and this guy definitely wasn't Uchiha.
Something stirred indistinctly in the dark; she couldn't make it out. A sneering, screechy cackle hit her ears and echoed through the blackness. Her gaze finally focused.
Right before Sarada, amid tips of sharp spikes protruding from the black water, sat a colossal sand monster. Its hide was covered in blue markings like bulging veins. The creature tilted its muzzle and bared huge teeth shedding sand. The sandy snout above its nose wrinkled threateningly like a snarling dog's. In the black sclera, a yellow iris burned, pupil trembling like a four-pointed star.
"What little runt?" a high, cracking voice rasped.
The monster laughed again. Sarada forgot herself in fear. What technique was this?
"Uchiha..." the beast finally realized and roared: "Get lost!"
The air wave from its bellow hit her face. Holding against the pressure grew harder; her feet lifted from the bottom, and she was swept away.
She realized she was still next to Sakura, in her body, just skin damp with sweat, chilled by the draft through the open window. Gaara, arms crossed, stood in the same spot, staring at her.
"Genjutsu won't work on me."
"What was that..." Sarada murmured shakily.
Sand scattered around the room stuck to her sweaty skin, filled her mouth, gritted on her teeth.
Rinse it off quick.
"What's that inside you?"
"Sand entity," Gaara replied.
He slowly extended his hand, sand flowing through the air toward Sarada.
"I've decided. You'll be first, Uchiha."
Genjutsu was her strongest weapon now, and it failed. Sarada realized they were in deep. She had nothing against the future Kazekage. On an arena, she could dodge, flee the sand, use katon. But in a hospital room! Nowhere to go. Space filled with sand. Gaara controlled everything. They wouldn't reach the door.
Sarada hurled electrified shuriken at the guy. They hit sand that instantly rose, got stuck, and clattered to the floor.
Useless.
How was it... Ball lightning.
Sarada tried to form seals but realized her right arm wouldn't move—something blocked it. She jerked her head and saw sand wrapped around her arm.
"No!" Sakura cried in horror.
Seen this technique before?
"One more moment and he'll crush my arm like Lee-san's," Sarada realized.
Gaara clenched his fist.
"Sabaku Kyū..."
Sand squeezed her arm. Pain... too much pain... Fingers numbed. It felt like her fingers were gone, or if there, just bloody mush. No time to think. She poured more chakra into her eyes. The red world sharpened. Arm pain drowned in eye agony, like slowly plunging a knife tip into them.
Sarada gritted her teeth to not scream.
Mangekyo Sharingan activated.
Her gaze touched the rough dry sand, pierced inside, and she fired a massive chakra blast through her pupils, distributing it along her arm with her gaze. Her sensations seeped into the sand with the chakra, distinguishing Gaara's chakra within.
Warm tears streamed down her cheeks.
Kanren!
Her retinas burned with searing pain, and the Desert Coffin burst. Gaara, fist clenched, froze mid-technique. Sarada slumped to the floor from weakness and touched her right arm with fingers: it hurt badly, but bones intact. Made it.
"Run for help, now!" Sarada yelled.
Sakura froze motionless.
"What happened to your eyes..."
Saw the Mangekyo. Right, Sharingan pattern changes.
"Now!"
Sakura bolted.
Gaara twitched. Sand surged after her. Sarada tried to stop it with Mangekyo technique, but too many grains. She couldn't handle dispersed sand. In midair, sand formed a dense tentacle stretching for Sakura, which she sensed crystal clear.
Now!
She struck the sand with chakra; it crumbled before reaching Mom. Sakura shoved the door panel and squealed out of the room.
Weakness spread through her body. The red room swam. Warm drops continued down her cheek, as if her eyes, burned by agony, were melting from sockets.
How much chakra does it take?
Sarada, gritting sandy teeth, stood. Sand reached for her. Gaara was losing it, gripped by insane frenzy. He grinned with unblinking mad eyes. Sarada eyed him with Mangekyo. Gaze probed clothing layers: shoulder cloth, thin t-shirt, mesh undershirt beneath. Tender skin under dense sand layer. Then... soft muscles bathed in blood. Rib bones, rhythmically contracting heart.
Like with ANBU. She sensed it all, freely penetrating another's body.
I could kill him in a fraction of a second. Just strike the heart with chakra. But can't. He must become Kazekage, future war hero; without him, we might lose. But how? He's mad!
Back. Heart, solid ribs, vessels, connective tissue, subcutaneous muscles, skin... Reverse order. Sarada tried fixing her gaze on Gaara's chest surface under sand, not delving deeper, extended left hand as if to better control Mangekyo.
"Amaterasu transfers chakra to the point Itachi focuses on, turning it into some energy form. Your technique seems similar. Just different chakra transformation on output," Shisui's words recalled.
Chakra-to-energy transformation moment. To fully master Kanren, catch that instant.
Sarada locked on Gaara's chest skin under sand. Chakra instantly transmitted through pupils to target. Eyes slashed with pain, knees buckled from weakness surge.
Stop! Too soon!
Sarada strained to control chakra. Not delve into madman's body, but spread even layer over skin. There. And only then...
Transformation!
Gaara flew to the wall but hit with gourd, which instantly softened into sand cushion. Sand sloughed from his body—chest sand armor burst. Sarada flung shuriken, hoping surprise push caught him off-guard, but sand shielded him autonomously, separate from future Kazekage's will.
"You..."
Wall impact didn't weaken him. If anything, his blood lust eyes now blazed with fire, not cold steel.
"Pure blood..."
What excited him? Sudden resistance or blood on cheeks? What nonsense? Why pure? I'm... half-blood. Not pure Uchiha. And what does that...
Gaara rose, eyes bulging—vessels burst in whites. Sand rushed at Sarada with hiss. She dropped to knees. Mangekyo weakened her too much.
Sand slid over back, roughly coiling around neck.
Can't look at my neck—can't break technique. Clever...
Throat crushed by sand, breathing harder. Weakened body couldn't handle breath hold too.
Don't want to die again. Things just settled. Maybe... should have... killed him...
Gaara extended hand.
"Sabaku Kyū..."
Consciousness plunged into darkness.