Kaiza was a good man.

After he came back home the day the shinobi arrived, he greeted them all with a chipper attitude and utmost respect for them willing to stay and protect Tazuna as well as the rest of the people. When asked what he thought of Gato and his reign, his response had been that their fishing village had to find the courage to stand up on both their feet and fight back.

"I know everyone's scared of him, but I won't let that get me down," he'd said. "Until they find that something to help them stand up for themselves, I'll be there to do that for them! I'll protect this town with these arms!"

Sakura was curious. Sasuke was impressed. Haku was amazed. Naruto had stars in his eyes. Though Kakashi and Zabuza had no reaction to his strong proclamation. There was always the one person who first rose to lead the change, and Kaiza happened to be one of them.

So for the first six days of the official start of the Konoha-Kiri joint mission, the shinobi had settled into a routine. Kakashi and Zabuza would take a rotation of three genin everyday for simple practices and exercises. Whichever jounin and single genin not in the rotation would accompany Tazuna and his workers on the bridge.

On the seventh day of the mission, a slightly humid Tuesday, Zabuza and Sakura stationed themselves on the railing closest to the unfinished side of the bridge, being the ones out of rotation this time around.

"Hey, Momochi. I have a question."

He glanced at the girl to his left. It didn't take him long to realize that Kakashi's exasperation of her was not unfounded. Haruno Sakura was cheeky, blunt, and had an enormous problem of not using honorifics when needed. At least she used some respect in speaking with him compared to her first name usage with her teacher.

"What?"

"I'm not going to beat around the bush here. You're one of the Seven Swordsman and Kiri's huge on weapon making. I need a top-notch double kodachi. And when I say top-notch, I mean top-notch . Meaning, spring steel—probably the 5160 over the 9260—or tool steels like the L6 Bainite or S7 Shock. And none of that folded steel. I've heard those aren't as durable as a shinobi would like," she said. Zabuza straightened. "I'll take any price as long as the kodachi turns out well."

Not to mention the girl was also way too intelligent for a genin. He was positive steel types were never taught in any sort of Academy setting, and he had to internally applaud her for the ones she mentioned. The 5160 spring steel had critically important heat treatment stages and were rumored to take off animal heads with a single slice from a civilian hand. The 9260 spring steel held a reputation for durability and being able to be molded back to its original form even from being bent at a 90 degree angle.

L6 Bainites could be called the toughest steels on the market, but were prone to rusting and had to be particularly taken care of. The same properties could be said about the S7 Shocks', being tough and damage resistant, but they were even rarer than L6 Bainites and were hardly put out onto the production lines.

And those were just the properties without them being modified by chakra or jutsu.

"I didn't take you for the type to be interested in swordsmanship."

"I do have a small thing with them, as you can see—" Sakura flicked her hand to extend one of her wrist blades, let him observe them for a few moments, then retracted it. "—but the kodachi isn't for me. I've got a friend requesting the best of the best for a gift. Just trying to help in any way I can."

"A damn expensive gift," Zabuza snorted. She shrugged.

"They can be over the top when they want to be."

Their day went without much to worry about. Sakura loved small talk and used it to fill in the time spent lazily keeping an eye out for the bridge builders. Inari even managed to come by to hand-deliver the lunch his mother made for the both of them.

"Good afternoon, Inari-kun!" she greeted. He blushed. "Tell Tsunami-san we said thank you, alright?"

"Okay!"

Before he turned to leave, Zabuza called out to him. "Wait. Kaiza said he had something to show us today. Is he back yet?"

At the sight of Inari's tilted head and pursed lips, Sakura began to pay extra attention to him. For the days she spent in the country, they would take hours formulating different scenarios and instances of whether or not he was going to die in this world or not. For his family's sake, she would take any measures to ensure his safety.

"It's weird 'cause tou-san hasn't come home, but kaa-san says he's really busy so we shouldn't worry. He'll come back safe and sound, like always."

The two exchanged glances.

"Make sure you make it home safe!" she said. Inari cheerfully waved in return as he ran back. There was quiet between the both of them for a moment before she opened the top of the bento and broke apart her pair of chopsticks.

"When do the builders finish up today?"

Zabuza undid the bandage wrappings over his face. "In a couple of hours. We'll tell Tazuna that we'll be a little late in meeting up with everyone else. Will Hatake be fine with you taking a detour?"

Sakura scoffed. "Like I've said many times before: he's going to have to deal with it."

::

"I. HATE. EVERY. THING. DA. TTE. BA. YO."

"Naru—"

"I'M DRINKIN' SO MUCH OF THE WATER THAT I SWEAR I'M GONNA BE PISSIN' SALT FOR A WHOLE YEAR! JUST SALT!"

"Dobe, I swear to—"

"I'M GONNA KILL THE OCEAN! I'M GONNA KILL THE WHOLE DAMN THING!"

Naruto's sopping wet jacket and pants were piled along with Sasuke's shirt at the edge of the dock they decided to train at. Haku sat cross-legged leaning against a wooden beam with a towel draped across his shoulders. He was able to achieve water walking after two hours had passed and was allowed to rest and spectate the failure of the other two.

They were... frustrated, to say the least.

"The chances of you killing the ocean are the same as you not being an idiot," Sasuke hissed. "Never going to happen. Now shut up , your stupid voice is ruining my concentration."

"Concentration? HA! Is that why you look so constipated?!"

"Dobe!"

Kakashi turned a page of his book.

::

Construction ended at about seven once it began to get harder to see the work in the light of the setting sun. After making sure Tazuna made it home without trouble, Zabuza and Sakura took to scouting the streets from the shadows.

The poverty they could see was nearly unbearable. Children sat huddled at street corners, dirtied with a battered cup stationed in front of them with low hopes that someone somewhere would help them. Men were hanging around doors, holding grim acceptance that they were going to die under the reign of an iron fist. Women were walking the streets in the highest heels they could find, more than likely with the aim to earn money the only way it seemed possible for people of their likes.

"Gato's a little shit," Sakura huffed. She and Zabuza were crouched behind a roof to scan the streets below. "These people are miserable. Kaiza-san and his family look like the only ones who still know how to be happy."

"That's why they're the ones on Gato's list. Can't have someone that inspires people when you want to kill a whole country," Zabuza replied. They moved from the streets to the more secluded area of the town where all shipping and packaging of products were managed. By this time, all plants should've been closed due to the work curfew Gato imposed on the people.

But one of them had three armed men standing outside the entrance.

Sakura dropped down first, knocking two of them out with the blow to the head and elbowing the third's face while breaking his nose. Zabuza appeared beside her.

"I doubt you're a genin."

"I'll take that as one of the many compliments Kakashi has failed to admit giving me."

He snorted quietly as he opened the iron door and peered inside. Even with the towering boxes stacked all over the building, the soft lantern glow gave all visibility to what was happening on the warehouse floor. Mercenaries of all shapes and sizes, samurai and shinobi alike, created a ring around the center of the open space.

Kaiza was knelt on the ground, welts and cuts over his body as he carried a slender log on his back that kept his arms stretched and tied. His assaulter struck him with a bamboo stick as Gato watched with a disgusting smile on his face.

"I heard you were going to protect this town with those arm of yours," Gato smirked. "That's what you said, right?"

Kaiza didn't speak.

"Fine. If that's how it's going to be, then I'd like to see you try," he grinned. He jerked his chin and motioned two of his lackeys forward. They were the biggest ones in the warehouse with each one holding gigantic wooden mallets poised to destroy both Kaiza's arms.

But just as they were to deal the blow, all the lights went out.

::

8:56 pm.

Still, nearly two hours from when they were due back, Zabuza and Sakura had yet to return.

Naruto stationed himself at the window, his eyes glued to the darkness outside with worry and a pinch of curiosity for where his best friend could've disappeared to. Sasuke and Haku were a little less concerned at the problem, them sitting at the table with cups of cooling tea sat in front of them.

Kakashi?

He stood on the roof of the house with both his black eyes peeled for any sign of them. Thirty minutes from when they were due back, he wouldn't have been worried. He imagined Sakura would have gone on some short adventure to save another wounded animal or help one of the kids on the streets. He couldn't put it past her.

But, she was aware of the gravity of the situation. The mission was vital to Konoha's political relations and she wouldn't screw around with that even for the sake of her strange quirks. He turned at the sight of Zabuza abruptly appearing beside him with an unconscious body on his back.

"Momochi. Report."

"Kaiza was tortured in one of the warehouses at the west end. Gato was to have both his arms disabled, then hold a public execution for him tomorrow morning. We got there before anything went down," Zabuza said, shifting the man against his swordless back. "I gotta say, your kunoichi ain't half bad. Saw her kill a guy by jamming one of her wrist blades through his eye socket on our way out."

Wrist blades?

"And just where exactly is she?"

"Here!" a new voice chirped. Sakura stepped out of a cloud of smoke on the other side of her teacher. "Sorry I didn't catch up, Momochi. I listened in on more of their plans. Gato's pissed, of course, and he's gathering all his men to storm the bridge on Monday. On the same day, he's sending two mercenaries to eliminate Tazuna's whole family."

She looked relatively unharmed save for the shredded bandages on her right arm and a small rip on the hem of her shirt. Kakashi narrowed his eyes as he spotted dark lines etched into the bicep she always kept hidden, but held his tongue and moved his attention to Kaiza.

"Do you know where Kaiza-san can get the medical attention he needs?"

"Haku could probably clean him up a bit and dress his wounds. Nothing too serious as far as I can tell," the Kiri-nin replied. "I'll head into the house. And clean those blades, girl. A rusty weapon won't do you any good."

Sakura was about to deliver one of her cheeky retorts but stopped when Kakashi rounded on her with the stormy eyes he had when they first met. She held her hands up in defense. "Yeah, yeah, I know. 'Sakura, why didn't you inform me of your whereabouts?' Because Inari-kun said his tou-san wasn't back yet and we were suspicious. Nothing happened. 'I didn't give you permission.' He could've died! Can you get off my back? I'm okay! 'You're in trouble regardless because I can't have one of my cute little genin risking their life because I care about them so much even if I'm too much of an asshole to admit it.' That's how this conversation would've gone, right?"

She was smiling, but Kakashi didn't feel the need to reciprocate the act. She had once again insulted him by her horrible rendition of mimicking his voice and insinuating that he secretly cared for the lot of them. He didn't. He was just worried. He didn't like the thought of her not following his orders and going off on her own accord to possibly get herself killed.

He had been just like her when he was younger. And being reckless cost him...

He sighed. "Don't do it again. Next time, there will be consequences. Now you said that Gato planned to attack on Monday?"

::

The only sounds in the office was the scritch-scratch of pen on wood and the the occasional thud of metal into a wall. Genma, after marveling over his art of a duck made of senbon, turned over on the couch and pouted. "It's only been a little over a week and I'm already starting to miss the brat. It's real quiet without her here."

Ibiki set down his pen. "She'll be back at the end of the month. Then you can whine to her and stop complaining to me."

"Don't give me that, Morino. I bet you miss her just as much as I do."

"Hardly."

He didn't look up from the stack of papers in front of him. In all actuality, he was too busy with things besides work to dawdle on things like missing his ward. He had compiled a list of all missions Danzo distributed over the last six years, looking for even one that might have anything to do with Sakura.

ROOT being all up in her business was something he never wanted to happen, and he wasn't about to let that slide now.

"I talked to Kinoe today," Genma said. Ibiki finally glanced up from his endeavor. The experiment that lived? "I asked about any weird instances that might've crossed his mind, and he said something strange went down about a year ago. Danzo talked about recruitment possibility with the candidate at HQ."

Ibiki straightened. No one outside the organization got to see the inside of the place without being killed right after. He pressed his fingers into his forehead to try and obviate his oncoming headache. "Tell me she didn't."

"I would, but I'd be lying."

He withheld a prolonged sigh and returned to reading through the mission reports. It wouldn't be too hard to gather more of those classified mission reports. After all, being head of T&I wasn't his only job in Konoha.

::

Sakura stretched her arms over her head. This was the day Gato's men would swarm the bridge, and she swore to herself that both Zabuza and Haku would get out alive and in one piece. They hadn't exactly been informed by the jounin the plan they were going to carry out, but it definitely would have to be better than what took place in the other timeline.

As she situated her kunai pouch against her thigh and adjusted her wrist blades, she felt several chakra signatures leaving the house as one of the stronger ones stepped into the room.

"We're heading out?"

Kakashi closed the door behind him. "I sent Naruto and Sasuke along with Momochi and Haku-san to scope out the place early," he said. Sakura paused, suspicion rising in her bones. "There's something I need to speak to you about before we engage with Gato's men."

No.

"Kakashi, I hope you're not doing what I think you're doing..."

He wouldn't dare .

"You're staying behind to keep Tsunami-san, Kaiza-san, and Inari safe. The likelihood of Gato sending his personal bodyguards, Zori and Waraji, are high if he's dispatching all his men to the bridge. You have—"

"Are you shitting me?! You guys need me there!" Sakura exclaimed. Her eyes blazed with a fire she never before directed at her teacher—not now, and not in the life behind her. Kakashi shifted slightly backwards with the surprise of her outburst.

"Momochi and I agreed that this course of action is for the best," he tried to conciliate. "We need all the people we can have out there to fight, but we can't help all the people when the rest of Tazuna's family is being targeted. They need all the help they can get, especially since Kaiza-san still can't move around with all his injuries. You're the only one skilled enough to handle them without assistance."

She didn't know what was worse: having her past repeat itself or the reason behind them doing this to her again.

"I can leave a clone here and go with you guys!"

"Sakura, that won't—"

"You said it yourself! I'm already strong and you're damn well aware that you don't even know half of what I'm capable of!"

"Sa—"

"I can help you against Gato and his men! There's over eighty of them and only two coming here! You're asking me to wait for these assholes to come, and who says how long they'll take to get here? One hour? Six hours? Chances are by the time I get to the bridge, Naruto and Sasuke are well on their way to their graves because you don't know what the hell you're doing !"

Something inside Kakashi snapped. "Just do as you're told," he hissed. Sakura glared at him.

"The hell I will! I'm a part of this team and I'm a part of this mission—I think it's a little late for you to start coddling me! You saw me kill Meizu and now you're worried about me getting to trouble? I'm not the one you're supposed to be concerned about! Naruto and Sasuke—"

"—are under my watch so you should focus on the task you've been given," he growled. "God, for once in your time as my student, would you just listen to me?!"

Incredulous, her fingers curled into fists and she spoke in a softer but nonetheless angry tone. "Why are you doing this?"

He crossed his arms. "Me needing to explain myself is the last thing you need to bother with. Go find Inari and his parents and protect them."

Then, beyond all his expectations, her seething gaze tore away from his as she turned and stalked out of the room without another word. Kakashi let his shoulders drop at her departure as he unlatched the window and made his exit from there.

Haruno Sakura was the type to be reckless on the battlefield. He saw it in their D-rank missions—her quick thinking in saving her friends, her attack on the client that abused his son, her disregard for authority, her absolute selflessness, and most recently in her remorseless murder of missing-nin Meizu.

She was a shinobi quick to act on her emotions and morality. If it came down to it, she would always pick the other person and never herself.

So why was he doing this?

He already lost Rin on her account to save her teammates.

He wasn't about to let that play over a second time.

::

"Are you upset, Sakura-san?"

She stepped away from peering out the window and regarded the little boy with a small smile. Fourteen minutes and thirty-nine seconds later, she was still stuck in the house doing nothing and being attacked by no one.

"It's nothing," she answered as she patted his head. "Just waiting for those mercenaries to show up. You should go back and stay in that room with your parents. It's dangerous."

"But... But you sounded really angry when Hatake-san was here. I heard you yelling. Did you guys get into a fight?"

Sakura gently pushed him in the direction of the safe room. "Don't worry your little head over it, Inari-kun. It'll all be over soon."

He reluctantly nodded before trotting back to where Kaiza and Tsunami were. She must've been more than enraged with that whole fiasco with Kakashi sixteen minutes and three seconds ago for it to ring throughout the house, but her fury refused to recede to where it should stay and lay dormant.

Though it had been years since she strove to become a better person. Despite the war. Despite everything .

But it all doesn't matter, does it?

No matter how strong she'd get, she would always end up getting left behind.

"Frowns like that are so unbecoming of you. Did you know that? I'd very much prefer that look you have when you yank my chain—literally. Remember when you did that when you and Chiyo-baa-chan fought against me? Good times."

Sakura spun around. There, sprawled out at the low table in the kitchen, was a cheeky looking Sasori in all his glory.

"Of all the stupid—there are people in here that can't know you're here!" she whisper-yelled. He pouted and tapped the back of his hood so that Kou would crawl out.

"Oh, I see how it is. No 'Nice to see you's or 'How was your day's to the person who accompanied you all this way from the good of his heart. It's not like I put up a small genjutsu over that family so that they don't leave the room like a decent S-Class criminal would," he huffed. "By the way, what are you doing cooped up in here? I saw the next Great Shinobi World War about to start at that bridge and you weren't there."

She grit her teeth. "Kakashi ordered me to stay here and protect Inari-kun's family from the mercenaries sent to get them."

His eyebrows rose. "And you listened?"

"We had a falling out. If I leave, Inari-kun's family dies. If I stay, Sasuke might get a repeat of his near-death experience and Zabuza and Haku might really perish for sure. So Kakashi really struck me with a lose/lose situation. And get this. His reason for doing it is because I'm strong," she grumbled. Sasori couldn't stop the downward tilt to his lips. What a bullshit reason.

"Well, it doesn't matter what he thinks. What he didn't account for was that there would be a small loophole in his plans. If he wants a real person in the house to protect this family, then he'll get one."

Sakura looked at him with some confusion, but it dropped at his hands flew into three familiar seals: dog-boar-ram. There was a small cloud of smoke that dissipated into an exact copy of herself, save for the half-lidded stare and the ever amused smirk.

"You'd... protect them?" she questioned. "For me?"

He grinned and made a shooing motion with his hands.

"Let's say you're one of those special cases. Now get outta here and wipe that dumb smile off your face, your team can't wait around for their knight in shining armor forever."

She hurried over to the door and practically jumped into her sandals. "I'll make it up to you! I promise!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever! Just focus on coming back in one piece!"

::

This was going to be the end of him. Sasuke was fully accepting of it.

Gato's men didn't exactly add up to eighty or even ninety like they'd expected. The number could easily be estimated to be in the higher one hundreds, lower two hundreds, and he could effectively say that they were screwed.

The good side was that the thugs didn't have too much skill over them as genin and were chuunin, low jounin at best, so fights were just a tad under fair. The bad side was that the fights were completely unfair in the regard that they were being swarmed and were on the losing end because of it.

Him, Naruto, and Haku had been ordered to stick together to increase the chance of them bringing down enemies and lowering the possibility of being caught off guard or injured. Again, there was the good side and the bad side. The good part was that Haku had incredible ice abilities and that they all pretty much had off the chart stamina.

The bad part was that Sakura wasn't there to help them.

"We're so dead," Naruto moaned as he punched a thug in the head. "I don't know how much longer we can keep this up. There's too many!"

Haku produced some senbon and shot them as he kicked in the chest of someone that tried to sneak up on him from behind. "We have to keep trying, Naruto-san! We can't let ou—"

He stopped short when a thug managed to grab hold of his neck. Sasuke sprung into action and flung a couple of shuriken and knocking him to the ground. Haku gave him a quick nod.

"Thank you."

"No pr—"

"SASUKE! LOOK OUT!"

A sword slashed downward from above him, a sure dead hit to split him from his temple to his navel. The glinting silver of the blade reflected the black depths of his eyes, showing him an abyss that had no light to save him.

So. Was this how he was going to die?

"Oi! Better move those feet unless you want to become Ino's next home-cooked disaster!" a voice crowed giddily from above. Before they knew it, a foot came swinging down to smash the sword wielder's face into the concrete ground. "CHA!"

Naruto whipped his neck to the right. "Sakura-chan!" he cried. "You came! You really came!!"

She flashed him a grin and flicked both her wrists so that her blades made themselves known. "Of course I did. Why wouldn't I?"

In the far distance, Kakashi punted one of his assailants over the railing as he spun to check up on the genin. Not very surprised but upset all the same, he watched Sakura make a mad dash in his direction, cutting down those who stood in her way.

She landed beside him.

"I told you to stay back," he intoned. "And I doubt the mercenaries had come to fulfill their mission. What happened to Tazuna's family?"

Lightning ignited his hand as he jabbed it through one of the men. Sakura scoffed and decapitated the nearest of the thugs.

"I know you think lowly of me, but cut me some slack. They're the safest they could ever be without me having to be there," she spat. She dropped onto her hands and spun around to catch a few of the thugs in a chakra-induced whirlwind kick before popping back up and reaching behind her to pull out a man's throat. "I hate it when people doubt me."

Kakashi turned away to shield the aghast look in his eyes. Four people dead in less than two minutes, half of them with their blood splattered all over her apparel. "I'll deal with you later. Stay with the other genin."

Once he got back to Konoha, he was going to read her file. And maybe... maybe push through with the decision he came to weeks ago.

"So she did come through, huh?"

He avoided a punch to the face and ignored Zabuza's comment. The man shook his head. "Fucking Hatake."

::

"Yo, Morino. Is the A/C on in here?"

"No. Why?"

"I dunno. I'm getting goosebumps—can you feel that chill?"

"Mm. But the building gets drafty from time to time. It'll pass."

"Man, I hope so. It feels... off."

::

"Look, I just want you guys to say you're sorry. It's not that hard," Sasori drawled. Zori and Waraji dangled from a tree branch, utterly humiliated and tied together with a great expanse of rope. They were a little into the forest Waraji hocked a loogie in which he leaned to the side to avoid. "Geez, I guess you've skipped out on your etiquette classes. I mean, you're already fucked over. Might as well tell me what's up."

Zori's dark purple beanie slipped off his head.

"Doesn't matter. You're too late, little bitch," he taunted. Sasori punched him in the face and rolled his eyes. Just because he currently had pink hair didn't mean that he was a bitch. He was an asshole at best. Probably even a bastard.

"Too late for what?"

Waraji flashed him a dark grin. "Sorry, girlie. The next time you see your teammates, some of their bits'll be there, there, and waaay over there while their blood turns the ocean red!"

Sasori halfheartedly backhanded him. Even if he'd been a criminal for much of his life, he still found it kind of annoying when people in his line of work gave cryptic threats instead of keeping their mouths shut like the good ones do.

"Ugh, you're all so irritating."

Suddenly, a deafening blast bounced in his eardrums followed by three more of the same magnitude. He turned around to see the end of the bridge crumble into the waves below. Mere seconds passed before a fifth explosion went off—not on the bridge exactly, but on a crane that carried something metal that collapsed onto whoever had the misfortune of being below it.

And it was then that Sasori's stomach churned in a way that made him feel horribly sick.

"Ha!" Zori laughed. "What I tell you? You're too late!"

Sasori slowly cracked his neck. "I hope you're praying she's not dead," he whispered. Waraji sneered.

"You ain't the least bit threatening, kid."

As he took his sweet time in facing them again, his Sakura facade melted away to display bright red hair and eyes that descended into infuriated madness. The smiles on the captives' faces quickly dropped at the sight of a man prominently featured on every single wanted list across the black market.

And by the heavens, they'd never seen someone look so livid.

"Because if she is, not even God can save you now."

"Sasori-kun..."

Kou stood on the branch the two mercenaries were tied on with his stare glued onto the bridge. His ears were flat against the back of his head, fur sticking up on end, tail tucked between his legs and back arched. Yori, from his place on the cat summon's head, stayed absolutely silent.

"...Sasori-kun... I can't feel Sakura-chan's chakra ..."

::

When the first explosion went off, everything at the end of the bridge tilted to the right. Boxes were flying and a couple of cranes came crashing down. Gato's men didn't even falter in their attacks and kept going despite the growing chaos that surrounded them.

Zabuza met Kakashi's gaze.

"I'm going to check for more bombs and defuse them!" he shouted over the tumultuous battle. "Take care of everything up here!"

Kakashi couldn't get a reply out as another explosion rocked the bridge. He and the Kiri-nin fought on the safer side, but the kids—

Oh god.

Oh god, no.

He twisted his head towards the four genin who were hundreds of meters away from where he was. The four of them he could still recognize with the far distance, doing much better with Sakura there to help them attack the thugs. No matter how many men he cut down or how many he threw into the ocean.

There were so many of them.

More still streamed onto the bridge to fight the battle.

Some had taken to the boats and fired flaming arrows into the discord.

The mission had long foregone its B-rank status and was snug in the center of being an A-rank, too far beyond any of the genin's capabilities. If they retreated now, they could save their lives but they'd doom the country into its downfall.

If they didn't leave...

...which one of his students was going to die first?

A third and fourth explosion shook the bridge's foundation. Kakashi pushed through some thugs that thought it had been a good idea to pile atop him. With these incredible numbers, even he could begrudgingly admit that he was repulsively impressed. These thugs were not simply meant to stir fear in the hearts of the locals.

They were here to slaughter.

"I have to get to them," he found himself muttering. "They don't stand a chance. They're going to die."

Kakashi jumped onto the railing and began running from there, strategically avoiding arrows and any weapons the thugs were chucking or slashing at him. The closer he got, the easier it was to see how the four were doing.

Sasuke had an arrow lodged into his shoulder. It wasn't too deep, and could be dealt with without any instant medical treatment. His visible pallor was littered with cuts and bruises and a relatively long gash ran from his right knee to his ankle that caused him to limp. He practically propped himself up on his blond friend to help with the pain.

Naruto was known to not be as good at dodging as the rest of his teammates. Suffice to say, he looked absolutely exhausted with his beloved orange jacket ripped in numerous places and a second degree burn proudly showing on the entirety of his left cheek. His right eye was partially closed due to the swelling of an oncoming black eye, but he wasn't letting up.

Haku was doing a little better than the two boys. He had long given up using ninjutsu techniques and stuck to his seemingly infinite amount of senbon and taijutsu. It seemed that he was keeping off his left foot, his ankle probably sprained or broken, but he persisted in attacking every man possible. Blood spilled down from his face from some sort of injury on his head.

Sakura was trying the best she could to help her boys and her new friend. There was blood on her clothes and in her hair, but if the feeling in Kakashi's nerves said anything, it was safe to assume that most of it wasn't hers. The bandage on her right bicep was now cleanly off, giving him an eyeful of the dark markings that encased her entire upper arm.

Poison?

That's not important right now.

A seal?

Save your team.

There was a fifth explosion. Strangely, it did not thrum through the steel and concrete foundations like the four other ones had done. Small vibrations instead shook the ground they stood on. A crane, one that carried steel bars and metal scraps, plunged downward towards—

—towards Haku that stood beneath it.

Kakashi could never forget the feeling of seeing Rin crushed under that boulder. A terrifying feeling took hold of his lungs and he couldn't breathe—he drowned with every breath he took and his legs turned into a jelly he couldn't find the power to stand on. Obito's face in that moment was the second hardest thing to look at with his red puffy eyes and the endless tears that just wouldn't stop no matter how many times he rubbed at them, or how long it took him to scream his voice hoarse.

He vowed to himself that never again in his entire life would he feel that or see that on another person's face.

Haku looked up at the metal, frozen out of his wits, and unaware of the blur that shot in his direction.

And before his brain could catch up to his vocal chords, Kakashi found himself screaming.

"SAKURA!!"

::

After Naruto got kicked out of the orphanage, he'd spent a bit of time wandering the streets of the Akasen. The people there were much nicer than any other shinobi or civilian he met and wouldn't kick him around if they saw him loitering around their business. In that time before Mari took him in, he saw many things children weren't supposed to.

Abuse. Prostitution. Murder.

He was sure nothing else would surprise him when he got older. The first instance of that being proved wrong was when his precious Sakura killed a man the same way the murderer did when he was hiding behind a dumpster. He was scared on both accounts, but Sakura was his best friend. She said she would be there for him no matter what and she told him that she loved him many times before.

And he loved her too. She was one of the people he loved more than anything in the world. She said she would always be there for them no matter what happened.

Then she pushed Haku out of the way.

Sasuke tried to hold her back—grab her before she could do anything drastic, but she was too quick for his weakened reflexes. She'd left them to both watch in horror as she disappeared beneath a mountain of rust and silver. They were sure that she would've gotten away from it. She always did, didn't she?

Their Sakura-chan was strong.

Their Sakura-chan was determined.

Their Sakura-chan was invincible .

But they could see pink hair and a hand that stuck out from all the metal that crushed her. Haku was thrown against the railing of the bridge, only his side nicked but a fresh stream of tears pouring down his face. He was safe.

But...

But...

When had everything gone silent?

Naruto turned away from his friend- his protector- and faced the mass of Gato's men who waited for the next move to be made.

"...I won't forgive you," he whispered. Shuddering tension began to rise as something positively gruesome dampened the air. "I won't show mercy."

A blast of pure orange chakra burst into a column that reached for the sky. The wounds he sustained had disappeared in a wisp of steam. Blond hair became spikier and wild, fingernails grew to a sharpened tipped length, and eyes the same color as freshly spilled blood took over what was normally azure blue. Then, to nearly everyone's terror, an apparition of a fox's head hovered over Naruto's form, complete with serrated sets of teeth and eyes that showed Hell itself.

" DEATH WILL BE THE ONLY APOLOGY FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE ! " he roared. Four orange tails whipped up and stretched as far as the eye could see as he charged forward, revenge and pain being the only things that could be clearly seen in his features.

Sasuke was taking much slower in digesting what was going on. He saw Sakura run towards Haku and made every fiber of his being reach out to grab her and keep her out of harm's way. Had he been able to take hold of even just the hem of her shirt, he could've delayed her enough to keep her from having all of that metal fall onto her.

He failed.

He failed, and now one of the people he kept in his heart was dying, if not already dead.

"I... let her die..." he muttered. "I let... I let Sakura... die?"

His eyes burned.

"I couldn't have... but I did ."

His left eye glowed red and began spinning with two tomoe.

"I let my best friend die."

Sasuke stood onto unstable legs and faced the thugs that had not already been flattened by Naruto's uncontrollable rampage.

"I let her die," he told them, "but you wanted to kill her."

His right eye gleamed with a six-pointed pinwheel.

::

When Zabuza finished defusing all the bombs stuck on the pillars beneath the bridge, he didn't expect the rush of malevolent chakra that sent a prickling feeling up his skin. He climbed back onto the bridge from the destroyed end and saw a scene beyond his wildest imagination.

Kakashi and Haku were both frantically digging up a pile of metal debris. Behind them, the orange aura that saturated the air was gradually fading, collecting into the Uzumaki boy who stood amongst a pile of dead bodies. The Uchiha wasn't too far behind him with blood on his hands—the very same color his mismatched eyes had turned into.

What the fuck?! He was gone for a couple of fucking minutes and everything went wrong!

He paused his thoughts as Kakashi finally caught what he was looking for, gingerly pulling his arms backwards and slowly hauling a body away from the rubble. That body, particularly small in nature, had bright pink hair caked in dust and blood and had two steel shards impaled through pale flesh.

One through the stomach and one through the chest.

"... Oh, hell."

Zabuza rushed over to them the same seconds Sasuke and Naruto did. The boys promptly crumpled at her side as Haku shakily dumped out his mess of medical supplies and began searching for a pulse, if there was any left.

"Sa... Sakura-chan?" Naruto whispered. They couldn't see her breathing and there was so much blood on her that they didn't know if it was hers or the thugs she ruthlessly cut down. Tears started to drip down his cheeks as he called out her name like a prayer.

"SAKURA-CHAN!!!" he screamed. Sasuke was frozen, finally out of his furor, as he stared down at the face of the girl who once told him that she'd protect those she cared about no matter the cost.

"Sa... Sakura?" he mumbled. "No—I didn't—NO! Sakura! Wake up—I'm sorry! I didn't mean—I..."

Kakashi couldn't look away. He extended his hand to extract the metal from her body, but was stopped when Haku practically launched himself to grab his arm.

"No! If you take-If you take it out it'll make things wor-worse!"

The jounin recoiled jerkily, as if acid had been dumped onto him.

"She wa-wasn't hit in any vital points an-and there's a pul-pulse!" Haku exclaimed after some agonizing moments. But he was still sobbing. "It's so weak, though. S-So weak- but even if we can get her to stop bleeding out a lot, she'll only have a two days at b-best. The closest... The closest hospital that c-could help her is Konoha ."

Kakashi bowed his head. Damn it! Of course it was! The only place that could help her was a three to four days travel away and he had two others who were just about ready to enter the world of unconsciousness right alongside her.

"Haku can patch her up the best he can," Zabuza intervened. "After that, you're gonna head straight for Konoha no stopping for anything. I got a supply of chakra pills in my pack that'll help you along the way. Forget about the mission, we'll stay behind."

The jounin felt his heart beating in his throat. In all his years, he never thought he'd find his saving grace in someone who was once a part of Chigiri in its prime. "I need a favor, then."

The swordsman looked at him. "Shoot."

"Use my blood and summon my ninken with this scroll," he said as he held it out. "They'll help carry Naruto and Sasuke. They can—"

"Who cares about us, sensei?!" Naruto cried. He brushed the hair away from Sakura's face and sniffed. "We're not the ones who're gonna die here! Just GO!"

Kakashi carefully gathered the girl in his arms and threw Zabuza a pleading glance. "My blood—the ninken'll know—"

"I got it, Hatake!" Zabuza barked, throwing the bottle of chakra pills for him to catch. "Get out of here before she's gone!"

Following orders was always his strong suit to the higher-ups in Konoha. Whenever they gave him a command, he pulled it through with his greatest ability and without question. Ever since he was six years old, it was one of the things he took pride in.

But nothing made him run faster than the yells and shouts that resonated so soundly within himself and followed his entire dead break towards the village.

Hurry.

Take care of her.

Save Sakura.

And, along with it, was that little voice at the back of his head that lingered just behind his already piled up torment.

You let it happen again.

::

A/N: Hey guys, next week's update may be a little late or a day early. I'll be out of town so I'll be busy. Thanks for understanding! :D

::

Ah, a new cover.

But here's the one I've used for months and months—the very first fan-made cover of this story by Ninja_Duck !

And another cover here, drawn by Mitsuru_Tomato !

::

EDITED 2/8/18