564Author's Note: Hello my loves! I know that it's been forever and you all hate me, so I understand. But I am still here, still writing, slowly but surely! I accidentally uploaded the wrong chapter onto the story! Sorry about that! I love hearing from everyone, let me know what you think! Enjoy!
Sakura opens her eyes to the soft sound of low voices next to her. Sakura turns her head a bit to see Madara, laying on his back with Manmaru laying across his chest, staring down at his face while propped up on his elbows. Kuro is pinned between them. Madara smiles sweetly at Manmaru as the little boy caresses his cheek while staring into the eyes he inherited from the Uchiha patriarch.
Manmaru mumbles something, getting louder the further his sentence goes but Madara softly hushes him, making the little boy go, "shhh..." back to his father, giggling when Madara huffs, amused. Madara shifts a bit but keeps Manmaru close with his hands resting on the little boy's ribs to keep him in place while staring back at him, lovingly.
"When can I see Yuzu, daddy?" Manmaru asks, blinking innocently. Sakura feels bad. Yuzu has been so helpful through all of this, Sakura really does hope that she will be able to repay some of that kindness that the older woman has offered to her, and her son. Sakura knows that Yuzu has been instrumental in keeping Manmaru safe while Sakura Seto was away and Manmaru loved her, so Sakura should reach out to the older woman soon.
Madara lets out a soft huff, closing his eyes for a moment in thought before opening them again to look at the young boy. "Soon, Manmaru. You have to listen to your mother. And if things work out the way that we're hoping, you'll be able to see her sooner than you think."
Manmaru wilts like a flower deprived of sunlight, sinking into Madara's chest a bit. He looks down at Madara's chest, fluttering those long butterfly-like winged eyelashes that Sakura is still envious of.
Madara runs a hand up and down Manmaru's back, offering a gentle smile. "It'll be okay, my boy. I know that it doesn't feel like that, but it will be. And this Yuzu? You really like her?"
Manmaru grins so happily that crinkles appear around his eyes that melts Madara's heart almost as much as it melts Sakura's. He bobs his head up and down excitedly, crawling up Madara's chest so that his face is really close to Madara's. "Yes! I do! I want Yuzu to come and live with us!"
Madara reaches up, running his hand through Manmaru's long dark hair, pushing it out of his face as much as he can with the little boy leaning over him and looking down at him. "It's good that you are caring for those around you but you have to be mindful of their thoughts and feelings too. When the time comes, we will extend an invite to her and her family to join us, but you must accept that it is her choice, Manmaru. It has to be what she wants. You can't force her."
Manmaru pouts, dark eyebrows pulling together. "But I miss her. I want Yuzu..."
Madara tucks as much of Manmaru's unruly hair behind his ear. "I know, but if you love someone, Manmaru, and you want to be with them, it has to be their choice. It's the only way it's acceptable."
Manmaru's lips bunch up on one side of his mouth, thinking about what his father said, but not looking like he completely understands it. Although reluctantly, he says, though a pout, "Okay..."
They are quiet for a moment while Manmaru pouts and Madara humors him in silence. After about a minute or so, Madara asks, softly, "Can I ask you something, Manmaru?"
The little boy tilts his head to the side, blinking down at his father with identical black eyes. He nods, smiling at his dad sweetly. "Yes," he says in a soft sing-song voice, making Madara's expression soften even more.
"Do you remember when we first met out in that field?" Madara asks quietly. Manmaru nods, blinking a few times curiously, having no idea where Madara was going with this question.
"Yeah, Manmaru and mommy had to go and daddy was really sad," Manmaru says, slowly, pushing out his lower lip in a caricature reenactment of how he saw the situation with Madara.
Madara nods, not seeming to mind the action from the young boy in front of him, running the pad of his thumb under Manmaru's eye in a very loving manner. "How did you know it was me? Did your mother tell you about me?"
Manmaru hums to himself, looking around as if the answer was floating around his head and not inside of it. "Um, yeah. Mommy showed me a picture."
A picture? Sakura didn't know the full history of the photograph but she wasn't sure that there should have been any at this time, and even if there was, Sakura highly doubted that a poor village girl and a young heir definitely not where he should be, would have been able to get one. So Sakura's not sure how that was even possible. Never mind the fact that if it was in Sakura's possession, the last time Sakura looked into Sakura Seto's memory it was to watch her childhood home burn, Sakura's not sure how she would have still had it.
That is, unless Sakura Seto kept it on herself, which is a possibility. Not only was Sakura Seto pregnant with Madara's baby, but she was in love with him. It's not that far out of the realm of possibility, Sakura supposed.
"Ah," Madara says, softly. "Your mother is still drawing?"
Manmaru nods briskly, eyes sparkling in happiness. "Yep!"
...Did he just say draw? As in, Sakura Seto was an artist? Because, while Sakura had many strengths and skills, art was not one of them. There is no way that Sakura can mimic a skill like that. It's not so bad if Sakura never draws or attempts to do so in front of anyone who knows that Sakura Seto could draw. One such person being Madara Uchiha. Great.
Now all she could think of was when the puppets attacked Manmaru and Sakura drew out a crude version of the Land of Fire in order for them to help visualize her explanation. It was a terribly crude rendition and Sakura couldn't help but pray to all of Kami and the Shinto Gods that both sets of brothers - if any of them outside of Madara knew that she had some artistic skill - figured it was so crude because she only had a vague understanding of the shape of the Land of Fire. And not because her artistic skills were actually sub-par at best.
Sakura could have groaned at her bad luck.
Manmaru leans back into a sit on Madara's stomach, rubbing at his eyes and face, letting out a long, drawn-out yawn. He raises his arms up above his head and stretches out before slouching a bit, dark eyes turning to look at Sakura. His entire face lights up at the sight of her. "Good morning, mommy!"
Sakura smiles despite the dread in her heart at having to remember something as trivial as never attempting to draw anything ever again in front of Madara, holding her hand out for Manmru to take. He does, crawling off of Madara and into Sakura's arms. She kisses his cheek, forehead, and hair, before pulling him onto her chest and cradling him lovingly.
"You're up early," Sakura murmurs, pushing some of Manmaru's hair out of his face while his head rests on her shoulder.
Sakura feels Manmaru's pointer finger run across her clavicle, going from one side to the other. "Um, um, I was just talking to daddy."
Sakura hums, running her fingers through his hair, trying not to be ticklish by his gentle touch. "Oh yeah? What did you guys talk about?"
That was a bit of a mistake. Manmaru launches into a play-by-play of their conversation, which sounds like it started only a few minutes before Sakura woke up, so she didn't miss much, but he started getting sidetracked with side conversations. Some with her. Some with Madara the day before. Some with Izuna. And what should have been a quick two-minute recap turned into a twenty-minute spiel that didn't flow as well as Sakura's sure he would have wanted. He would stop every couple of minutes to yawn again, which helped stretch out the time this story was taking dramatically. Sakura ran her nails up and down Manmaru's back, making him melt more and more into her as his words start to slur while her machinations were putting him to sleep.
Madara, who turned onto his side, propping his head up onto his hand while smiling softly at them. He holds out Kuro to Manmaru, who takes it without pausing in his story and pressing it to his chest, adjusting himself more onto Sakura while talking away. Sakura smiles at Madara as Manmaru trails off, his breathing deepening and the finger on her clavicle stops moving as he falls asleep.
Sakura cradles his warm little body close, kissing his forehead and his hair, still unable to believe that she could love another living being as much as she does.
"Have you been awake for a while?" Sakura asks, glancing over at Madara, who was still smiling softly down at the little boy in her arms.
Madara shakes his head as much as he can while still resting it on his hand. "No, only about thirty minutes or so. I just did a quick patrol around the compound and checked in. Manmaru was already awake when I got back."
Sakura rolls her eyes. "Late to bed, early to get up, I envy his vitality."
Madara scoffs, shaking his head a bit. "Don't I know it? He makes me feel like an old man and I'm not even thirty yet."
Sakura gives him a withering look. "Thirty isn't old, Madara."
Madara's dark eyes turn down toward Manmaru again, this soft sadness washing over his expression. "It is for a shinobi. This may come as a surprise to you, Sakura, but shinobi don't live life without extreme amounts of difficulties. We don't live very peaceful lives and the stress and strain make us die young."
Sakura couldn't argue with that. The average lifespan of a shinobi is thirty years. Thirty years as a shinobi is about average for how long someone can be in life before the metaphorical kunai finds its way to them. Now, Sakura knows that it isn't a law of the land seeing as people make it past thirty years but it's not a lot and it's not as often as people would like. But there had been people who made it well past their thirty-year lifespan for a shinobi. The Third Hokage was in his sixties, having been a shinobi for around fifty years. And the Third Tsuchikage was even older than that. So it is possible, just not as common as people would like.
But they weren't talking about Sakura's present. They were talking about almost a hundred years into the past. Without someone like Tsunade to help improve the overall health of the populous, including but not limited to shinobi. Everyone was living longer and if Sakura wasn't mistaken. Tsunade and Shizune had been talking about the average shinobi lifespan going up by around fifteen years. But that also had a lot of factors. The alliance forming, the medical care and improved overall health of the people, and a few other factors, but still...
Sakura had no idea what the average lifespan for a shinobi would be at this day and age. Considering they were nearing the end of Sengoku Jidai, she would imagine that the lifespan of a shinobi is much shorter than even what she's optimistically hoping that it would be. Sakura doesn't want to think about what that could mean for Manmaru. And peripherally, even herself.
But maybe that is her contribution to this new village. Into future Konoha. It's not her past, Hamura made that very clear. And maybe this is her way to save them as he wanted. If Sakura is recalling her history correctly, Hashirama was in his fifties when he passed away. And he was a God of the Shinobi. In more than just her mind. And Tsunade had attributed her grandfather's death to "improper medical care" that came with the time. Sakura's not sure if it was sickness or old war injuries that never healed properly or what exactly as Tsunade never fully elaborated but it goes without saying that they are going to need a lot of help to get up to Sakura's health standards.
It is going to be a long arduous journey, to say the least. She's not sure where to start on something like that aside from maybe a clinic within the new village. Being in close with the Founders would be beneficial in helping teach the populous better health and hygiene methods. It's definitely not going to improve overnight, but Sakura is hopeful that it will have a positive effect on their future, whatever that may look like.
Now, honestly, Sakura knows that basic health and hygiene isn't what Hamura meant, but it's someplace to start. Sakura hasn't been able to really analyze how they facilitate wounded and treat injuries in this day and age, but she remembers, very clearly, in all the stories and texts that she read about Tsunade that the blonde-haired fifth Hokage made a lot of strides in the medical field and set the standards that Sakura knows of today. Er, in her past? Her future? Not-future?
This is all so confusing.
"It's alright," Madara says, pulling Sakura back into herself. "We are used to this life and perhaps things will be different without the constant threat of war. Certainly being shinobi, our nature will always be to fight, but I imagine this alliance will mean good things for the overall life-expectancy of people," Madara says, misunderstanding Sakura's silence. At least somewhat. But Sakura's happy for his optimism. They are going to need that if they are going to make huge strides toward the future.
This is so daunting, Sakura can feel her hair graying and stress lines forming.
"I understand," Sakura says, running her hands up and down Manmaru's back. "We do what we can when we can."
Madara nods, turning onto his back and stretching out. Sakura envies him, she should have thought to do that before she let the little monkey crawl on top of her. Now that he's asleep, she doesn't want to run the risk of waking him up. As much as she loves the little boy, his boundless energy is beyond anything that she could mimic. Any moment of silence that she can get, she'll take it.
Sakura carefully removes the little boy from on top of her chest and lays him down between herself and the boy's father before curling around him. Her sweet little boy was no doubt going to be fire nature, like his father, if his body heat was anything to go by. Lightning and fire-typed chakra usually lead to warmer body temperature, earth-type chakra was more centered and wind and water-type chakra were slightly lower. Of the polar opposites, the greater the affinity for the element, the greater the body temperature differentiation.
Sakura was pretty skilled in her water but by no means was she a prodigy. Not like Madara and not like Manmaru might be. If nothing else, the little boy is going to have a very strong affinity for fire or lightning.
"He's going to be like you," Sakura hears herself say.
Madara peers at her from over their son's sleeping face, eyebrows raised toward his hairline. "What do you mean?"
"His chakra nature," Sakura says, lovingly pushing Manmaru's hair out of his face. "He's so hot-blooded that he's going have either fire or lightning-type chakra. Either way, he's going to quite strong in it."
Madara blinks slowly, considering her words. "You can tell without a test?"
Sakura nods. "You can usually tell with body temperature which ones it'll most likely be. You're very strong in fire. I can tell both because I know you and because of your body temperature." Sakura reaches out to touch his hand, holding it lightly in her own. His dark lashes flutter a bit but he doesn't pull his hand away or otherwise react. "I know I must seem cold you - well, I suppose many would - but I'm water-based. So my body temperature is naturally colder. I'm not overly proficient at the style itself so it's nothing dramatic, but you get a sense for it as a medical shinobi. It's important to know these things about your patients as a doctor. With how warm you are, you would have to be extraordinarily hotter to be running a fever, while if I was as warm as you, I'm probably about to die. Stuff like that."
"Wow..." Madara says slowly.
Sakura lets out a little laugh. "Don't be too impressed, it's not an exact science and it's mostly used to judge young babies or children who have no control over their chakra. I was just making a note for myself. Luckily, those with hotter element types like fire and lightning get sick less often than colder element types. And despite that, I am in amazing health and rarely get sick anyway so it's more of a hopefully unnecessary precaution."
Madara turns his dark eyes down at Manmaru, waiting for Sakura to release his hand before reaching out to run the back of his finger down the side of Manmaru's face. The little boy sleeps peacefully, not at all bothered.
"Where did you learn medical ninjutsu?" Madara asks softly, turning dark eyes toward Sakura. "Where did you learn to be a doctor?"
Sakura offers a playful grin. "A doctor taught me quite a bit, the rest I learned on my own. I'm not an Uchiha but I am savant in medical ninjutsu."
Madara raises his eyebrows, offering a smile back at her. "I meant no offense. I was just curious. And I've never met anyone other than Hashirama who knew medical ninjutsu." His expression turns a bit more serious as he moves into a sitting position, crossing his legs and turning toward Sakura. "And I don't think for a moment that you have to be an Uchiha to be very skilled."
"I'm joking," Sakura says, sitting up, crossing her own legs, and turns toward the father of her son. Sakura knows that skills come from all people, and logically a wartorn clan would know that others would have skills but it's surprising to hear it. Maybe it's because Sasuke was always so cocky, but still, Sakura is a little surprised. "I just want to also make it clear that he's getting some good genes from me too," Sakura says, jokingly.
Madara tilts his head a bit. "Naturally. I hope he has all of your good traits. Your intelligence. Your heart. Your will. Your kindness. Your love. All of it. I hope he's just like you."
Sakura flushes, not having expected that, She looks away, unable to maintain eye contact after that comment. Obviously, Sakura Seto and Madara Uchiha were in love - or as in love as two kids can be - so he would want the traits that he loved in Sakura Seto to pass on to the child that they shared. Sakura can understand that, but Sakura Seto is just a shadow in Sakura's mind. The woman he loves is gone. She's just feelings felt over a great distance and fragmented memories.
The woman that Madara Uchiha loved has been reduced to just that. How terribly sad.
Sakura looks back up at Madara, offering a small, sweet smile. "Thank you for saying that. I hope he's just like him. I hope he has the best parts of both of us and makes them into the perfect parts of himself. I want him to be happy and healthy. That's all."
Madara offers her a little smile and a nod. "I do too. Will you be teaching Manmaru medical ninjutsu?"
Sakura's eyebrows quirk a bit. "Yeah, I was thinking about it. It won't be as easy for him if his nature is fire or lightning as I suspect that it is, but it is possible for him to at least learn the basics. In fact, all shinobi should know at least a little bit. You and Izuna too."
Madara considers for a moment before nodding in agreement. "I would be willing to learn."
Sakura sends him a surprised look before clarifying, "And it would have to be without the Sharingan. The only way to fully appreciate the power, precision, and discipline that comes with learning medical ninjutsu."
Madara nods again, offering a soft look. "Yes, sensei."
Sakura flushes again, reaching up to tuck a loose pink strand behind her ear, missing her headband to hold her hair back. She took it off when she came back in time but she's missing the connection to her home and her people. Maybe, once they reconstruct Konoha and reinstate the state-issued headband, she'll be able to bring her own back out and claim that she made it herself - which isn't exactly untrue.
Ahhh, but all good things come with time.
Sakura pushes the warmth pooling in her stomach down and turns her eyes back over to Madara. "What is the plan for today?"
Madara rolls his shoulders back, no doubt aching a bit from sleeping on the floor - Sakura knows that. She's not exactly sleeping super comfortably either - and reaches up to ruffle his wild black mane. "I am going to meet with Hashirama to look at spots for our village. I couldn't decipher his secret code, so he'll have to show me in person."
Sakura stares at him, wondering if she had missed something, but then remembered the terrible drawing and had to let out a little laugh at the memory of it. Madara rolls his eyes, only half-amused, but Sakura grinned back at him.
"He means well," Sakura says, feeling it is her patriotic duty to defend the First Hokage.
"I'm sure he does," Madara says noncommital, rolling his eyes again. He shakes his head for a moment before looking over at Sakura, curiously. "Would you and Manmaru like to come with?"
Sakura raises her eyebrows. "I would have to reach out to his secretary but he might be able to squeeze you in, as for me, I'm booked for like a month."
Madara's eyebrows quirk, he blinks a few times, surprised by her words before he lets out a huff of a laugh, being sure to wake Manmaru. The skin around his eyes crinkles, shining jubilantly at her joke, especially when she sends him a playful grin and a wink.
"I suppose I could fit you in, this seems important," Sakura says easily, liking the sound of Madara laughing softly while shaking his head.
"I appreciate it," Madara says, amused. "We still have time. He's got time to sleep and I can go scrounge some breakfast together for us. You should rest a bit more too. I have to send word to Hashirama anyway. I'll wake you when food is here."
"Thank you," Sakura says, curling around Manmaru again, not interested in arguing. She should get rest when she can. Sounds like today is going to be a long one. Sakura forces herself to relax as Madara climbs to his feet, stretches, and then heads out of the room without another word.
Just as Sakura was about to slip into slumber, she could have sworn that she heard Manmaru whisper softly, "Bye Daddy."
Manmaru is having a blast, jumping from tree to tree with Sakura, Madara, Izuna, and their Uchiha escort. Sakura can tell that he's going to sleep well tonight with how hard he's working. Sakura makes sure to stay close to him in case he falls, but his eyes are set on Izuna, who's bouncing back and forth in front of the boy to keep him motivated while Madara leads the way.
Manmaru's dark eyes are bright and he's laughing hysterically, amused by his uncle jumping around in front of him. If Sakura carried him, they could no doubt go faster, but no one seemed too concerned. Sakura recognizes some of the faces of the men around them. She saw them with Madara and Izuna the day that Manmaru was revealed to them.
"Oh, you think you can get me, little man?" Izuna taunts, casting a glance over his shoulder to make sure he doesn't run into anything before grinning back at his nephew.
"Yeah," Manmaru says through breathless laughs. Sakura reaches out for his hand, just in case, in his excitement he loses his footing. Manmaru offers it to her but doesn't stop jumping on his own while Sakura slows down to be right in sync with him.
After about thirty minutes of this, Manmaru is exhausted. Sakura pulls him into her arms and keeps going, managing to speed up so that she was next to Izuna, while he keeps Manmaru busy, making him laugh. Sakura was thinking about transferring Manmaru onto her back once her arms started getting tired, but before she can really consider it, Madara offers to carry him. Before Sakura could say one way or the other, Manmaru nearly fell out of her arms and into Madara's waiting ones. He manages to maneuver Manmaru onto his back.
Manmaru wraps his little arms around Madara's neck and places his face next to Madara's ear.
"Daddy? Are we going to see Yuzu?"
Madara casts a little look over his shoulder, shaking his head a bit. "No, Manmaru. We are going to see my friend Hashirama. Do you remember him? He went out with us last time, with his younger brother. When those scary men came?"
Manmaru nods. "Those men were really scary." He wraps his arms tighter around Madara's neck, dark eyes looking around the forest as if the scary men were somewhere nearby. He digs his nose into the side of Madara's neck.
"Yeah," Madara says, placatingly. "Very scary."
Manmaru nods. "Yeah," he says again, pulling his face from his father's neck. "So we are going to see daddy's friend?"
Madara also nods, hefting Manmaru up a bit more so that they are more comfortable. "Yes, he's the clan leader of the Senju. They used to be our enemies, but they aren't anymore."
"Now he's daddy's friend..?" Manmaru asks in a soft sing-song voice.
Madara smiles, closing his eyes. "Yes, my son. He's my friend."
"Is he your best friend?" Manmaru asks, leaning forward a bit to better look at his father's face.
Madara considers for a few moments in silence. Sakura already knew the answer but there was something sweet about seeing Madara look softly at his son and admits, sweetly, "Yes. He's my best friend."
Manmaru grins brightly at his father. "Yay! Manmaru's best friend is Kuro!" He blinks then looks over at Sakura, black eyes wide before looking over at Madara. "Oh, and Mommy! Kuro, and then Mommy!"
Sakura mock grabs onto her chest when Izuna grinned over at her. The younger Uchiha brother says, "Second place isn't bad, Sakura."
"It is when your competition is a poorly sewn doll," Sakura says, mirthfully.
Izuna's grin widens even more. "If it makes you feel any better, Madara isn't even in top two." Sakura laughs at the look that Madara sends his little brother's way as Izuna asks Manmaru, "Who's your third-best friend, buddy? Is it me?"
Manmaru's eyes widen, staring at his uncle before nodding briskly, making Madara glare harder at his laughing brother.
"Come on, Madara, you have to be in the top five! He doesn't know that many people," Izuna says through tears building in his eyes.
"I should hope I'm in the top five, I'm his father," Madara sniffs, unamused.
"And what an impression you've made on him," Izuna laughs, wrapping an arm around his stomach. Sakura can't help laughing alongside the former Uchiha heir at her son's father's expense. Madara is such a good sport about it, just glaring at his brother and moving on while Manmaru was busy admiring the area around him with bright, beautiful eyes.
Madara speeds off ahead, leaving everyone else to struggle to keep up, Izuna laughing the entire time.