I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

Sorry I haven't been writing lately, guys. I've been writing piano music to my favourite songs so I can learn them, my friend's girlfriend threatened me because she thought I had a crush on him and she's extremely overprotective, so yeah. . .

Also I got kind of pissed off that the same person kept asking me to update, kept PMing me and posting on my conversation wall and kept commenting on this and another book asking me to update this and it was really annoying me.

Sorry to all you lovely, patient readers who had to wait so long because a single person pissed me off.

It all hit me and I'm making the storyline now. At the end of this chapter there will be some polls for decision-making. And remember, the sooner you vote the sooner the story gets updated~

Sakura stretched and gazed up at the bright blue sky. Tobirama and Hashirama were both off training courtesy of their father's demand, leaving her alone. Of course, Tobirama had kindly provided her with a multitude of books after realizing what a bookworm she was, but now she was feeling rather restless.

Glancing at the border of the forest, Sakura wondered if anyone would miss her if she went wandering for just a little bit. The pinkette glanced outside the house to where Hashirama was sparring with Tobirama. Or was it more accurate to say Tobirama was sparring with Hashirama, since the younger one was dominating the spar. . .?

Sakura giggled at the thought and stood up. It would be nice to stretch her legs instead of just reading while waiting around for those two to finish. Honestly, she was starting to feel like she was with Team 7 again, what with the way the Senju brothers were acting.

Sakura walked straight for around fifteen minutes and then heard the sound of water. Looking to her left, Sakura noticed the river that held a lot of meaning to both the Uchiha and Senju clan. It was where Madara and Hashirama had befriended each other, where Tajima and Butsuma had clashed with each other, and where Izuna and Tobirama had first met and clashed.

Izuna. . .

Sakura pursed her lips, wondering how the younger Uchiha was doing after almost being killed by her new father-figure. The pinkette grimaced when she remembered the feeling of the tanto buried deeply into her back. Nothing like what the hideous wounds were during the war, but the wound still hurt sometimes. Not that she would ever tell someone, they'd just make a mountain out of a molehill. Kind of like what Naruto often did. . .

Sakura sat down by the river and slipped her feet in, enjoying the soft current and the coolness of the water.

'I kind of forgot how peaceful it can get,' Sakura mused to herself. 'I'm just too used to being in places with loud noises. I never got any quiet time since I became a Genin, and I guess I just got used to being with loud people. Then there was the war, and that was a very loud time too.'

Twigs snapped and footsteps came crashing towards her.

"SAAAKKKKUUUURRRAAAAA-CHHHAAANNN! "

Sakura sighed and lifted her hand, punching the top of the male's head with the intent to knock him out temporarily as she said in a bored voice, "Be quiet Naruto, I'm trying to think."

Sakura blinked as if just realizing what she said. "Wait. . . Naruto?" Her head snapped to look at the knocked-out man with a mop of dirty blonde-brown hair lying beside her.

The man suddenly jumped up and whipped out a kunai. "You got some strength there, little girl. But will you be fast enough to dodge this?" he sneered and lunged forward.

Sakura's eyes widened and she jumped up, leaning to the right just in time to avoid the blade that would've sliced her cheek open. While dodging his rather wild but somewhat experienced attacks, Sakura noted that the man was very skinny to the point of obvious malnourishment, and his face was drawn and hollow, his eyes portraying animalistic wildness.

She knew at once that he was a war-torn shinobi who had gone through too many losses, and most likely succumbed to insanity. If she hadn't had Sasuke and Naruto by her side during that war, she suspected that she herself might've gone insane.

Sakura snapped out of her musings when she realized she was getting pushed back further and further. Deciding to take this as an opportunity to re-learn the skills Lady Tsunade had taught her, Sakura quickly brought up her foot and kicked the man's wrist.

The man let out a howl as the kunai flew from his grip, and the shinobi gripped his probably broken wrist. Seething at the young girl, the man rushed at her in a taijutsu battle. Unfortunately for him, taijutsu was Sakura's forte.

Sakura quickly flung herself to the side to dodge the wildly-thrown punch and immediately gave a punch of her own to the man's elbow. He ended up giving himself a punch in the face. Growing angry, the man did a very familiar jutsu to Sakura.

'Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu,' Sakura thought, smirking to herself as she noted that her unknown opponent had disappeared. 'The jutsu Kakashi-sensei used to take down Sasuke in the Genin Bell Test. If this guy thinks he can catch me unaware, then he's got another thing coming to him.'

Sakura's fist tightened as a smirk grew on her face. She lifted her hand and with a loud "CHA!" punched the ground with all the force she could muster. And that was a lot of force.

The ground cracked and flew up, exposing the shocked shinobi. The man tried to run off, but Sakura caught him with a punch and kick to the gut, both chakra-enforced. The man flew off somewhere in the forest from the impact, coughing out blood as he did so.

Sakura sighed, somewhat relieved that was over. She had released some stress during that so-called battle, but she also discovered that she was completely out of shape, and a "battle" which should've been like a mere warm-up to her took longer than it should've.

Her eyes suddenly widened and Sakura did a complete 360, looking around her as she tried to suppress her panic. She glanced up at the sky and her panic only increased. 'Crap, I'm lost! And the sky's darkening!' Anime tears started streaming down her face. 'I'm gonna be spending the night in the forest, waaaaaaaahhhh!'

Sakura sighed heavily and started to trudge through the forest, hoping to go somewhere that she recognized. Why the hell did she go to the forest, especially when she didn't know the way back? Actually, a better question would be "why the hell did I let that guy push me back so far?"

Sakura started to get hit by the many flashbacks of Team 7, smiling at the memorable missions that she had taken as a Genin, particularly the horrible days of catching the Demon Cat Tora. . .

"Can't we get a better mission?! I HATE CATS!"

"HAHAHA! Stupid cat, that kitty deserves to be squashed."

Whining to the Hokage for a better mission. . .

"NO! Can we get a real mission already?! Something challenging and exciting, not this little kid stuff!"

"He's got a point. . ."

"Babysitting's not a real mission, it's just a stupid- argh! "

"Will you put a lid on it."

And then there was the C-rank-turned-A-rank mission to the Wave, where they were lucky enough to encounter Zabuza Momochi and make it out alive. . .

"These are Chuunin from the Hidden Mist, who specialize in relentless attacking. That means they keep fighting, no matter what the sacrifice."

"I had to know who their target was. And, what they were after."

"I will never back down again, and let someone else rescue me. I will not run away, and I will not lose to Sasuke."

"He's over there! Standing on the water!"

Then there were the Chuunin Exams when Naruto encouraged everyone at the first phase and Sasuke got his curse mark, and when Naruto faced off against Neji and, against all odds, won.

"Don't underestimate me! I don't quit and I don't run! You can act tough all you want, you guys aren't gonna scare ME off! I don't care if I do get stuck as Genin for the rest of my life. I'll still be Hokage someday!"

"Hinata. . . I give you my word. I vow to WIN!"

Sakura was so lost down her trip down Memory Lane that she utterly and completely freaked out when a rough voice called out,

"Oi, Pinkie."

"S-Sasuke?!" she blurted out without thinking, snapping her head up to the branch above her, where the Uchiha sat, smirking down at her with his leg hanging. Sakura blinked rapidly and the image disappeared, replaced by an amused-looking Madara.

"You were about to crash into my tree," Madara said simply.

"O-Oh," Sakura said, slightly flustered and quickly turned to the left. "S-Sorry about that, I'll be on my way now."

"You're lost, aren't you," Madara called from where he was sitting.

Sakura spun around, red staining her cheeks. "N-No I'm not!"

Madara sighed. "There's a river nearby. Jump across it and follow it upstream to the Senju camp," he told her.

"Uh, thanks," Sakura said sheepishly, biting her lip as she started to her right, which seemed to go deeper into the forest.

"Pinkie. . . the river is the other way."

Sakura blushed like an overripe tomato and she quickly turned around.

"Troublesome," Madara muttered, sighing heavily. He then jumped down from his branch and grabbed her hand, proceeding to drag her along.

For a brief moment, Sasuke's back overlapped with Madara's, and that made Sakura smile. The Uchiha avenger had often dragged her around like this, and he was often cranky about that back when she was still a fangirl.

Madara glanced back briefly and saw the soft smile upon the girl's face as she stared at the ground, and the Uchiha cursed himself as he felt heat rise to his cheeks. He quickly snapped his head forward, squeezing his eyes and shaking his head as he forced the blush down. He couldn't be falling for Hashirama's adopted sister. That just didn't and couldn't work, especially since their clans were still at war with each other.

A few minutes later, the Senju clan's base was in his sights. Madara saw the white-haired Senju child training with his brother, and he quickly made a signal to catch Hashirama's attention.

Hashirama, being the idiot he was, did not notice the signal. Luckily, his brother did and he somewhat understood. Tobirama appeared behind Hashirama and grabbed his shirt collar just as the older Senju was about attack, and started dragging him to the Uchiha and Haruno.

"What the hell, Tobi?" Hashirama whined as he struggled to get out of his brother's hold.

"Madara was signalling you," Tobirama muttered in annoyance, his brother finally seeming to realize that they were heading to the border of the forest where Madara was standing.

"I wonder what Sakura's doing with him," Hashirama mused aloud.

Tobirama raised an eyebrow at the comment and then squinted. Now he could properly see that a pink-haired girl was standing next to Madara. His eyes roved up and down to check if Sakura was injured, and happened to see their interlaced fingers. For some unexplainable reason, Tobirama felt a burning rage explode in his chest when he saw them holding hands. He abruptly dropped his brother without caring what next happened to him and marched over.

"Tobi!" Hashirama whined from where he was lying on the ground, but was ignored by both Uchiha and Senju.

Tobirama's eyes screamed murder as he marched over and snatched Sakura from Madara's side, holding her to him in a protective manner. Sakura blushed heavily, wondering what on earth had gotten into her Senju friend.

Madara lifted an eyebrow while smiling in amusement, his hands up in surrender.

Hashirama cocked his head at Tobirama and Sakura, but merely spared them one more glance before walking forward to grip Madara's shoulder. "I need to talk to you about something," he muttered in the surprised Uchiha's ear.

Madara nodded understandingly and he turned to head to the forest. But just before they left, Hashirama turned around with a wicked grin on his face as his eyebrows wiggled suggestively.

"I'll be back soon, so don't do anything naughty, Tobi-kun."

Madara stifled a laugh and quickly dragged Hashirama away, lest he be swept up in Tobirama's wrath as well.

Tobirama blushed furiously and he quickly whirled around, grabbing Sakura's wrist to take her back into the house.

Sakura smiled slightly when she saw a mix of both Naruto and Sasuke overlapping Tobirama's back. Naruto had been as easy to fluster as Tobirama now was, and Sasuke often turned cranky whenever something embarrassing popped up.

Sakura glanced up at the pinkish-orange sky as her mind drifted to her self-proclaimed brothers. 'Sasuke, Naruto. . . I miss you both so much. I never got the chance to say goodbye before you left.'

Tears filled her large emerald eyes as Naruto's cheerful grin and Sasuke's reassuring smirk flashed into her mind. Those two had always been the reason she'd kept going during the war. Their presence was the reason she never lose hope during that difficult time.

'I never. . . got the chance to tell you how much you both meant to me.'

Tobirama was at the doorway, about to go in when he glanced back and saw the top half of Sakura's face was shadowed by her hair, and her body language told Tobirama she was about to cry. Tobirama internally winced, assuming she was about to cry because she probably thought he was mad at her.

'Dammit Tobirama, she's just a girl who needs protecting. She's got memory loss, and she lost her family. She's still frail, and you need to be more careful with her,' he mentally scolded. The boy sighed slightly and turned to face the pinkette.

Sakura was so lost in her memories of the blonde and the raven that she didn't even notice Tobirama had stopped walking. She stiffened when arms were brought up around her and she was gently enclosed against someone's chest.

Tobirama felt slightly awkward since he never knew what to do when someone cried, but he made up his mind to try his best to comfort her because, for some reason, he felt protective of her.

"Just because you live with shinobi. . . because you had a background as a shinobi. . . doesn't mean you have to suppress your feelings here. Let it out," Tobirama muttered when he saw that Sakura was holding in her tears.

Sakura's eyes widened at the softly uttered words, and like a dam broke, she started to cry. As the wave of sadness from losing her two brothers came crashing onto her, she started to sob into Tobirama's chest as the Senju merely held her.

Tobirama's eyes softened as he gazed down at the shorter girl. 'She lost her brothers, her family, and now she's living with a clan that's at war with another. The reality must've just sunk in. . .'

His grip tightened on Sakura as he felt his shirt get soaked by her tears.

'She's so frail, like she could break apart at any given moment. She seems so strong, but she's just as fragile as a girl her age who has been through as much as she has should be. Sakura. . . no matter what, I'll do everything in my power to protect you in your brothers' stead.'

As Sakura's sobs slowly subsided into soft weeping, she couldn't help but feel safe in Tobirama's arms, the same way she felt safe in Naruto's.

For a brief moment, when Sakura opened her eyes, it was not navy blue fabric that greeted her, but the cloth of a dirty, ripped orange jacket. Sakura's eyes closed as she started to fall asleep, emotionally drained from crying. "Naruto. . ."

Tobirama listened to Sakura's soft crying, and when that subsided into even breaths, he knew she was asleep.

"Naruto. . ."

Tobirama's keen hearing picked up the softly whispered name, and for some unknown reason, jealousy started to grow in his chest. The Senju quickly shook it off and suppressed it as he knew Naruto was her brother, and there was no reason to be jealous.

Tobirama bent down a little to slide his arm underneath Sakura's knees and carried her into her room and gently laid her on her bed.

Tobirama was about to leave the room, but looked back one last time to gaze at the sleeping girl with soft eyes.

"Goodnight, Sakura. Sleep well."

Well, there's some TobiSaku fluff for you all lovely readers! Now I need some help making some ideas:

1. Should Butsuma and Tajima talk it over and end the war early? :

(This will affect the storyline)

- Yes

- No

2. Should there be a time skip to when they are adults? :

- Yes

- No

3. Should Sakura tell Tobirama and Hashirama she's from the future? :

(This affects the alternative ending, so choose carefully!)

- Yes

- No

4. Should Sakura and Tobirama marry? :

- Yes

- No