2,888Chapter Warning: Graphic Descriptions of Corpses! And Temporary Main Character Death
Sakura took in the whole of the small room, but there wasn't a clock anywhere to be seen. "What's the matter?" Izuna asked, right by her side again.
"It's nothing," she assured him, even as she tried to puzzle out why it felt like there was a clock somewhere, out of sight and ticking down to the big event. What even was the big event?
"Don't be shy." A woman told them kindly. "We've all been chosen, haven't we? You can get closer."
Her face, amicable and round with just the slightest hint of creases at her eyes, called to a faded memory at the corner of Sakura's consciousness. No matter how much she tugged on the string, it did nothing to jog her memory, and in the end she submitted to the request to avoid arousing suspicion. These villagers were ordinary people who might not have even known what they were dealing with.
"We, your chosen, thank you." An older man began, his voice warbled and reverent. "We draw power from you, granter of all our wishes, manifester of all our dreams." One by one, everyone reached out a hand to splay over the meteorite, its glow spilling out through their fingers and traveling up their arms.
'This isn't what we need to be worrying about.' Even as she and Izuna were encouraged to place their hands on it along with the others, and even as she fought off momentary distraction from having her fingers intertwined with the man she loved, Sakura was already zoning out. The clock no one else seemed to hear kept ticking through her head, warning her…
If there was even the smallest possibility that what she couldn't remember was tied up with the alarm bells ringing in her subconscious, then the pinkette knew she had to act quickly.
"We are now all connected to you. The power of your blessing flows through us and strengthens our might." The old man hummed, and everyone else began chanting under their breath.
She almost thought that would be the moment, that the inner tension warning her of impending disaster would gain credence right then and there. But the people around her didn't lift their faces. Most had their eyes closed, chanting with determination. Izuna's fingers flexed over hers, just the slightest sign that he felt her apprehension and was there for her. It grounded her enough to keep her from giving them away.
Sakura had already let her mind roam to parts unknown by the time it concluded, most of the tension in the air dissipating as everyone chanting at the meteorite began to mingle in more amicable discussions.
She didn't have to try and figure out how to blend in while slipping out unnoticed, because the woman who had been so encouraging cut a clean path straight towards them. Once they met eyes, Sakura knew it was over. There was no way to get out without speaking to her first, unless they wanted to seem rude. "We're happy to have you here." She told them, her auburn hair framing her unassuming face. "It's always lovely when more of us come over."
"Through the barrier, you mean." Sakura guessed, the older woman nodding excitedly.
"Yes, of course!" She giggled. "Only the chosen few are allowed entry here into paradise. You're here, so that must mean you were meant to be." That explained why they were so welcoming. To them, they all belonged to an elite and special club of hand-selected people. "Anyway, there's bound to be a big feast later this evening, for you and all our other new arrivals. We'll see you there, won't we?"
It was clear from the look on her face there was only one answer she was expecting, the last answer Sakura wanted to give.
"We wouldn't miss it." Good thing she had Izuna there to give it for her, and to fake all the enthusiasm she couldn't. She could still hear the clock no one else did, and right now it sounded like it was ticking faster.
"Lovely!" The woman gushed. "Oh, I'm Nodoka."
They gave fake aliases, and while Nodoka continued to chat them up, Sakura counted down in her head. Somehow, she knew it wasn't meant to be a long conversation, and that she had something to do elsewhere.
That was probably just a logical conclusion to come to, though. They had a whole town to explore and investigating to do. At least maybe then they'd find something out before the night was over.
Given how pale he always was, suffice to say that Sai wasn't designed for extreme heat. He hung near the front entrance of the cave dwelling, as far back from the inner workings of the forge as possible. Inside felt like swimming around in a large bowl of Naruto's precious ramen broth, freshly made.
The same way he had watched his friend scald his mouth trying to drink it down too fast without cooling it first, Sai didn't want to scald his body. That didn't even take into consideration how cramped it was in there.
There was fire pouring out of at least two areas, bricked off and raised from the floor, with a floor to ceiling shelf of every blacksmith tool and implement taking up an entire back corner.
There was shelving wedged near that, with samplings of iron and other semi-precious metals waiting patiently to be of use, one particularly large deposit of a material he couldn't identify glittering a mix of emerald and obsidian.
A work bench cluttered with half-completed projects was placed arbitrarily in the middle of the floor, as if someone was begging to stub their toe. Considering the god the space belonged to only had one foot, Sai supposed he had already done much worse than that.
It stood to reason that gods didn't sleep, because there was no space for any sort of satisfactory bedding—and he was someone who had grown accompanied to sleeping on a thread-bare cot during his time with ROOT.
It was incredibly difficult to tell just where they were. So where remote was all he could glean, and somewhere far from Hoshigakure. They had left Sakura behind. And the Sasuke double too, but there was a whole clan of people with that face here, so it wasn't like the Uchiha were all that rare anymore. Who would miss the absence of just one?
The first errant drop to fall from the sky hit the tip of his nose, another landing on his forehead, until the ground was splattered with more raindrops falling in rapid succession. Sai slunk back until he was better shielded by the lip of the cave, watching the water soak the world, soft, echoing footsteps approaching in between the steady noise. "Not much of a view out here, is there? Not that there's much of one in there either." Ino sighed, "You should come inside."
Sai wasn't a whiner, wasn't a complainer. Growing up in the ranks of ROOT, he literally had no right to be. Insubordination, no matter how small, was not allowed and a highly punishable offense.
He'd like to think of more openly expressing his dislikes as a human rite of passage he was catching up on, and he really disliked the idea of heading back into that dank yet simultaneously sweltering cave.
Before he could even voice his discontent, Ino held up a silencing hand. "Don't wanna hear it. I know the forge area is like a hot spring from hell, but there's another area Mizuchi's been recuperating in, and that's fine. Comfortable. Climate-wise at least."
At best, that news brought him tentative acceptance. There were very few people he took at their word without question, and he wasn't sure if Ino was one of them. Sakura trusted her implicitly though, and she had earned his as well, so he supposed at the very least it was okay here, in this instance, to assume she spoke the truth. "We need to be able to retrieve Sakura if she needs us."
"And Izuna." Ino reminded him, leaning against the opposite side of the cave entrance.
"If we have time." That wasn't high on his list of priorities. In a children's story he had read some months back, a young boy had a beloved fish, and when it died unexpectedly his parents replaced it with another, identical fish, leaving him none the wiser.
It wasn't that he thought Sakura would be easily fooled like that, but generally, with how closely the Uchiha resembled each other it wasn't completely outside the realm of possibility that others might be if they swapped Izuna out. He'd discovered people didn't pay close attention half the time.
"Just come inside, okay?" Ino had already retreated back into the dark depths of the cave, clearly expecting him to follow. "We need to strategize about how this is going to work. I doubt we'll have unlimited chances so there can't be any screw-ups."
She certainly had the confidence of a leader, always anticipating people were going to fall in line. It was no wonder she and Sakura butt heads, as close as they were. Then again he'd learned that when they met, their relationship dynamic was much different.
As Ino had claimed, the area of the cave where Mizuchi was resting turned out to be nothing like the extreme heat of the forge area. It veered sharply off to the left, a short path that lead to a small 'room' that reminded him of a rabbit's warren.
The goddess sat on a bench, sipping something hot, a plate of sliced fruits in front of her and a thin blanket wrapped around her shoulders. The other deity, Hitotsu, sat at a picnic table adjacent to that, leafing through a book he'd probably gotten from the small shelf behind him. He snapped it shut when he and Ino entered, sighing deeply.
"You're looking better," Ino commented, plopping down at the table. "That means you've recovered enough for this, right?"
Mizuchi sucked down the juiciest nectarine Sai had ever seen, his stomach gurgling faintly as he watched her. "Ripe divine fruit, from the gardens of the Heavens. I was fortunate to have some on hand." She smacked her lips, tossing down the pit, which clattered across the stony ground. "My musubi's been replenished and my superficial injuries are healed. To answer your question, I'm more than back to full strength."
"Which isn't to say the odds are any better." The morose god grumbled. "We're dealing with a reality-warper."
"As far as I'm concerned, a reality-warper's dealing with me." Ino narrowed her eyes sharply, which was always a sign that she wasn't to be crossed. They flicked down at the deity briefly, her nose turning up. "Maybe you don't have any faith, but I'm sure as hell not going to sit on my ass when I can at least try."
In ROOT, there was no such concept as trying. It was a results-driven organization, which meant Sai had abided by the concept of doing his entire life. Danzo's world was black and white, for all that he preached about the gray area he had founded ROOT in.
It was a world of absolutes, and once he'd broken free of his programming, Sai had expected to despise him for that. But he was learning even absolutes existed in shades of gray; they weren't always entirely bad.
That he would support his friends, that he would put his life on the line for them was an absolute. He wouldn't have this new life if not for them. "We both can. I was raised to succeed at all costs." His only true failure had been with not betraying Team 7. The best failure.
All eyes shifted to him. "Sakura's taste in companions is impeccable." The goddess lifted her eyebrows approvingly, speaking to her fellow god. "I like them."
"Of course you do," he scoffed, "your infatuation with humans grows worse by the day. If we could return to the problem at hand, how do we intend to counter the bar—"
"Forget that for a second." Ino said, only managing to sound more impatient than before. "Why don't you go back and tell us whatever you know about this god we're dealing with." She motioned at the two deities, hurrying them along. It's possible one of us could come up with an angle you haven't thought of yet."
The deities traded looks, and even Sai wasn't too oblivious of that unspoken cue to guess. They were choosing exactly how much to reveal. "Everything." The word came out unbidden, but unlike most things that slipped out accidentally, Sai had no desire to take it back. "Tell us everything."
"Where should I start?" Mizuchi, having finished her fruits, appeared to get comfortable, crossing one leg as she pondered. "Nesaku, the God of the Stars? He's an interesting one. In a pantheon full of capricious gods brimming with ambition, Nesaku's always largely been fine with living unattached to glory. He's never been one to seek it out."
"And before you assume that's for any reason other than laziness, don't." Ippon-Datara interrupted. "Though in his case, that was deliberately fostered. The less he cares about meddling with the affairs of the Heavens, the better for the ōkami."
"The who?" Sai asked. If he were truthful with himself, it was still jarring that there were gods out there. Real gods. Living under Danzo's thumb simultaneously made him feel like there were no gods, and that the only one who could possibly exist was the source of all his pain.
The old warhawk controlled every aspect of his life, including whether he got to have a name or not—which was only granted when it became convenient for his assignment—elderly and the regular god-fearing, spiritual people who gathered at shrines to avoid divine wrath always spoke about their lives being at the mercy of the higher powers above them. For him, his entire life Danzo was that higher power. Now he sat next to enigmatic creatures that would flick such a man away like an ant.
"You ninja have your village leader, we gods have a whole council of them." Mizuchi picked at her nails. "They stand at the top of the pantheon. Admired, feared, respected, and most importantly…obeyed. Trying to act against them is one of the most blasphemous things a subordinate deity could do."
"Nesaku is…not a god one would look at and assume could best the ōkami." Ippon Datara continued. Sai wasn't the best at correctly inferring action based on tone, but he would bet a mission's pay that if not for his helmet, and his disinclination towards effort himself, the god would have pinched the bridge of his nose. "But if a god that can alter reality wishes it so, then, it would be."
"Unless there were failsafes." Ippon Datara let his head drift down, as if the weight of his acerbic attitude and that helmet had finally become too much in combination. "He could be truly frightening, if he were any other god. Easily the most mighty and impressive of the amatsukami, the heavenly gods, except for the ōkami. The power contained in a granted wish is extraordinary,"
"That's why when he was born, it was decided that could never be."Mizuchi's wry chuckle signaled a but… "He can never grant a wish for himself. And he was carefully raised under the watchful eye of Sarutahiko, leader of the earthly gods, to make sure he cultivated a…particular personality."
"Yes, a dumb one." It almost sounded a bit familiar…
"Nesaku is absentminded and good-natured, easily persuaded to take part in indulgence, and unconcerned with being pragmatic." Ah, so the gods had their own Naruto. "Whatever's happening now, it's surprisingly more…meticulous than anything I would have thought he could pull off."
"The chaotic nature of what's going on in that village feels enough like him though." Ippon Datara added.
"He always did enjoy a revelry." Mizuchi hummed.
The background on their next foe was appreciated, but Sai wasn't sure it answered the true question hanging in the air. "Is Sakura trapped? You said we could get her out if we came here."
"Nesaku rarely uses the full extent of his abilities, and overall I'd say he's harmless…" Ippon Datara's eye narrowed on Mizuchi, and she lifted her slender hands in acquiescence, "save for this event proving otherwise. Humans are often driven to…behaving peculiarly when their every desire is at their fingertips."
"Part of the reason the okami eventually instructed the pantheon to take a more hands-off approach to dealing with humanity." The blacksmithing god spat, "They couldn't rely on the gods for everything. It led to too much madness if they felt they could curry a god's favor with a few offerings, or even more uncouth, sacrifices. I don't need anyone casting their newborns into a fire in my name."
As unpleasant as he was, Sai thought he could consider himself lucky if anyone even wanted to wipe their ass in his name, but given he was hardly better in his people skills, perhaps he shouldn't be so quick to judge. "Be that as it may," Mizuchi teetered forward before catching herself, slipping from the small space. Her voice echoed as she kept talking. "We have to work within the situation we find ourselves in. If we aren't sure we can go in, it's best to focus on how to pull Sakura out. Hitotsu I know it's not exactly in your wheelhouse, but I trust in your crafting intuition. We should fashion a tool that can be tossed inside the abnormality bubble, something to hone in on her unique signature. From there, we'll drag her out."
"Alright, I'm in." Ino slapped her palm against the wall. "Sounds like a stealth-job."
"Right. We want discreet."
"Want, want, want. Everyone wants." As he complained, he stood from the table, already stomping his way
Whenever she entered the throne room, her first thought was the heavens had come crashing down from the sky. Revelries always meant that all the lights were off, the only glow coming from all the bodies writhing and twirling as they danced across the open floor.
Gold dust and glittering paint was brushed over much of the visible skin displayed. The constellation they made was quite a sight.
Dancing stars, dipped in the shimmery essence of wishes draped over them like gossamer. But everyone in the room was perfectly mortal, perfectly human. All except one, their celestial host laughing easily and drinking from his goblet as he took in all his eager disciples having the time of their lives in his name.
She skirted through the crowds, almost tripping over the sheer lengths of material strewn on the floor, both from the strips of material hanging from shoulders and from the clothes that had already been shed. Passion caused quite a few of the dancers to press against each other bare skin to bare skin, indulging in a different kind of euphoria.
Though she supplicated before the throne out of courtesy, she already knew what he would say even before he told her to rise. "You don't have to do that." The arm he raised to gesture her to rise shimmered, deep navy slathered generously against his pale skin, silvery glitter twinkling over the blue. She hadn't quite worked out if it actually was body paint, yet. The glitter shone more like pieces of stars trapped just under the surface of his skin, and with a god that was entirely possible. "I keep telling you that you don't need to do that." He held out his goblet toward her, and she watched it rapidly fill with the sweet, heady scent of the wine he favored. It was certainly an enticing fragrance, but she knew better than to partake if she didn't want to be knocked out and useless for the rest of the day, or a squirming, babbling, giggly mess. Perfectly normal for gods, she was sure. But mortal lips really weren't meant to consume heavenly wine in excess, so she felt no guilt about turning him down.
"I didn't come to party, just to report."
"You always come 'just to report'." He swished the drink around in his goblet before bringing it to his cyan blue-painted lips. "I admire your dedication to being my eyes and ears, but you really have to learn to relax." All of this is possible because of you. You should take the time to enjoy it."
There was a slight stumble to his steps when he slid from his seat; he swayed and then caught himself against the side of his throne, motioning for her to follow him as he descended the gold steps.
Draped in the same gossamer robes as many of the revelers, only the bright gold twinkle of the pattern all over his clothes and the crooked circlet on his head differentiated his attire. But in her opinion, he would have stood out even in the most drab fashion. His dark hair, streaked with navy when it caught the right lighting held cyan highlights that matched the paint of his lips and the mesmerizing color of his eyes.
"How can I? It feels like there's still so much more to be done." She muttered, eyeing the way everyone else around her was having a good time. In this crowd, she was probably the only one who thought so. Everyone else had long since surrendered the worries and limitations of their mundane lives from before the God of Stars had paid a visit.
A spinning, dizzy female dancer tripped over her own feet and fell shamelessly into his arms. She would have spurned the touch of a drunk stranger, but he only chuckled, twirling her like a patient dance partner and then setting her on her feet again, waving as she stumbled away. "Such as?" He asked, sounding absently interested.
"Expanding. That was always the goal, wasn't it? I know I said you should be selective, but if we…I mean, you, decided to grant paradise to the entire town, it seems like your power would grow, doesn't it? And then you could…"
He shimmied between a couple dancing when they finally broke apart, not paying their nudity any mind. She hurried after him, averting her eyes as they came crashing back together. "Hmm…I have to be honest, it sounds like a lot of hassle. You're the out of the box thinker here. I'm just here for the execution. But on the other hand, partying with more humans is bound to turn up the good time. Not even the gods know how to get down like this."
In the shadows of the rooms, almost out of sight, she saw a dancer jerk unnaturally, convulsing as if stricken by a seizure. He wilted, going limp like a puppet with its strings cut, and his body became swallowed up by the crowd. The oblivious god never noticed as shadowy figures swooped in, one making eye contact with her from beneath his hood. She nodded, giving the signal, and the body was carried off, like all the others had been. To be studied and then disposed of.
"On that I can agree," she replied steadily, "You throw the best celebrations. They can't help it. Your parties are worth dying for…"
"What's that?" There was no way to tell his true age relative to human years, and really, it didn't matter. But when he looked down at her, so trusting and curious, the same navy blue spread heavily over the bridge of his nose, under his eye and down his cheekbone to his jawline, sparkling with that starry glitter-like substance…he appeared so painfully young, no more than twenty.
"I said your parties are to die for."
"Then you prove it to me." The god clapped twice, and festive music began to play with no discernible source. His powers were an oddity. Wishes, he couldn't grant for himself, but if it had to do with merriment of some kind, the God of Stars was perfectly capable of that. The dance floor changed, lightning quick. Where before everyone was flailing their limbs in slow, sensual movements, the music prompted them to fast, sensual and chaotic dancing. "Go enjoy." He wagged a finger at her. "I want to see you mingling at least once before you leave."
She hid an eye roll from him, barely withholding the sneer that went along with it as she scanned the crowd, spotting a rather conspicuous person hanging near the side of the room outside the god's peripherals. "Actually, you're right. I should take the time to rub elbows. If you'll excuse me." A small part of her felt something close to pity when he beamed, but it was fleeting. She had a job to do, and misplaced superfluous emotions didn't have a place in it.
While the God of Stars kept playing the carefree host, she shoved through the dancers aside, staring into the vacant eyes of the thrall with boredom. "Well? Are we stepping outside?"
She couldn't say she didn't feel ridiculous, dancing her way out of the room to keep up appearances, but as soon as they were in the clear, a ways down the deserted palace hall, the charade fell away and it was back to business. "What took so long?" she complained as she got a good look at him. "Did you have to get his hair done?"
The human puppet her master had chosen had the most excessively luxurious hair she had ever seen, man or woman. "This is not my only concern. I have far more responsibilities than a mortal could comprehend, I—"
"Are entrusted with tasks directly from the most righteous gods." she drawled. "I've heard it all before. Now, onto what matters. I've located the…snag."
The hypnotized man's brow dipped, "Where? Why didn't you report to me immediately?"
"I thought you were too busy? That's why we have the arrangement we do, isn't it? I keep whispering in Nesaku's ear and playing babysitter, and you…prep."
"I have one shot to nip this in the bud." He held up a long finger under her nose that looked as though it had been broken before. "One. That godslayer's already advanced more than she ever should have been able to, and we've all seen what Kanayago's pride got her."
She had no idea who Kanayago was, but she knew the gist of the plan, and that Sakura Haruno was a thorn in the side of the Heavens with a considerable celestial bounty. She didn't particularly have any investment in the vendetta a bunch of gods had against a single human, but indirectly, the girl was keeping her from achieving her own goals. That she refused to allow. "Do you want Nesaku super-charged, or don't you? I need more time with him. He's only just begun to use his powers, a little more coaxing, and—" He seized her chin, making her focus on his overbearing face.
"Understand this. A fool though he may be, he's been taught how to suppress his potential by Sarutahiko Ōkami himself. It's so great that he holds back on a subconscious level." She twisted her face out of his grip, glowering. The puppet paid her no mind. "If you feel molding him isn't going quickly enough, give him this." Rummaging into his coat pocket, he plucked out a small ring, onyx inlaid in a silver band.
It didn't look like much, but she had learned it was better not to question him. Depositing the ring into her own pocket, she waited expectantly for what he would say next. "Continue plying his mind, and I'll continue with our…experiments. Having more options is never a bad thing in war." The dancer that had been collected from the floor was no doubt already safely stored with the other fallen townspeople, waiting his turn to be studied closely.
Having delivered his instructions, he pushed off from the wall, turning as she grabbed for his sleeve. Those unnervingly blank eyes stared down at her impatiently. "What is is now?"
"It's agreed that Sakura Haruno is mine to eliminate?" She waited breathlessly, knowing he was never one to deny himself the thrill of the hunt.
"If she escapes your grasp," He cleared his throat, "if she bests you, if everything I've worked towards is jeopardized because you fail to eliminate her…then there will be no second chances for you…and nowhere you can hide from me." There was nothing all that intimidating about the human he was controlling, but the essence of godhood leaked from him, sending a shiver through her body as the hairs at the back of her neck lifted.
"You have my word. It'll be done, and done right."
The man's eyes rolled into the back of his head, his shoulder crashing against the wall as her master severed his connection and he slid limply to the ground. One odd, violent twitch was the only movement he made before falling still. Even being the temporary conduit of a divine connection seemed to do a number on a human. She spared him a pitying glance before stepping over the body. She had more work to do.
As soon as she possibly could, Sakura left the welcome banquet dinner for some fresh air. "You know just because I stepped out, you didn't have to. What if there's someone in there who wants you to make a toast or ask you for a dance?"
"Why do you think I followed you?" Izuna joined her on the stairs, offering his arm gallantly in a gesture clearly meant to be playful. Still, Sakura took it, her fingers tingling. "Plus, I thought you'd have figured it out by now. Uchiha are selective about what partners they dance with. Once we find the right one, that's it."
It called to mind thoughts she should have known better than to ponder on, ones that almost made her wonder if she could truly be happy in the illusion of distance from what her heart wanted.
'Happy in illusion…' Again, Sakura heard the clock no one else seemed to. Accompanied by a flash of an image she wasn't sure whether to classify as a lucid daydream or a memory that had faded at the edges.
She didn't realize how hard she was gripping the side of her head until Izuna placed a hand on her back with a light touch. "What's wrong?" he whispered.
It wasn't going to work to lie to him even if she wanted to, and more than that…she trusted Izuna to be on her side, no matter what she told him. "Would you humor me for a minute?" His eyes didn't lose any of their confusion or concern, but he nodded eventually. "What if there was a world where you could have all the desires of your heart, even the forbidden ones, with no consequences? Would you want to go back to life the way it was before?"
The wind blew the silence between them around, past their ears. Izuna bowed his head, jaw set as he thought. "When gods are involved, there are always consequences." He said, "We both know that. What these people think they're getting is going to come at a price they aren't prepared to pay. And besides that, who's to say that all the desires of your heart can't become reality, even if they don't happen like you thought they would?"
Sakura sucked in a deep breath as he turned her gently, his hands a steady presence on her arms keeping them close. "There's no way I would've thought this would be my life a few years ago. I thought I was going to die a warrior's death, like my parents." Izuna's soft stare seemed to be honing in on a place deep inside her. "But do you know what the deepest, most forbidden desire of my heart was?"
Given the tumultuous nature of his childhood, of all the Founders' childhoods, Sakura had to assume that all of them shouldered their fair share of pain as a direct result. Pain could be formative. "That the fighting between the Uchiha and Senju would stop?"
"That I wouldn't have to make the sacrifice, and that instead of dying for honor, I could live and find something worth living for."
Sakura swallowed around the nerves making her stomach twist and flutter. Even if she had stared directly into his eyes so many times before, she never quite got over how easy they were to fall into. "And you didn't die."
"Then I met you." There was a laugh in his voice, "Without even having to do anything except live, I ended up on the path to my deepest desire becoming my reality." Sakura couldn't help but smile when he squeezed her closer, "It didn't happen like I imagined, but it still happened."
Just like how she fell in love again. No one could have convinced her she would lose her feelings for Sasuke, only to end up finding herself falling all over again under impossible circumstances. Subconsciously, without even realizing, she'd distanced herself from the possibility of a romantic connection, unsure if she could trust her heart after everything that had happened. And in spite of herself, in spite of her every denial and attempt to resist, it had happened anyway. Not with one person, but with four. "That's how I know these people don't need a god to grant their wishes, they just need to see life is worth living without burying yourself in a cheap fantasy." Izuna concluded, releasing her. Sakura almost wanted to reach for him again, but they needed to get going anyway.
"You're right, and we'll help them realize it…" Sakura lifted a hand above her brow line, surveying the mostly empty village. With practically the entire population inside that banquet hall, it was a ghost town out there. "That's what I'd like to say, but I'm really not sure how to…" The stars up in the sky winked down at her, and a very peculiar idea dawned on her.
She wasted no time performing a summoning, Natsume popping out in record time. The mujina stretched, raising a paw in greeting. "Can't say it's been that long, but—"
Sakura scooped him up, the yokai's mouth hanging open in surprise. "I need your nose!"
"Okaaay," he cocked his head. "Glad to see you again so soon too. I'm guessing this isn't just a friendly chat kind of call."
Aware of how rude she was being, Sakura sighed, setting him down. "Sorry Natsume, I didn't mean to be so pushy."
"It's fine, sounds like there's work to do."
Izuna stared between the two of them, "Your summon…I'm guessing?"
"Her summon." Natsume saluted. "Natsume the Nose. And who're you? Pretty the Boy?"
"Play nice," Sakura told him. "I was hoping you could lead us in the direction of a scent…I don't have anything for you to sniff." She admitted, watching Natsume's ears droop. "But it should be distinct, maybe it'd smell like something…magic?"
"Almost everything around here smells like magic," Natsume dismissed, snuffling his way down the stairs, Sakura and Izuna instantly following. "And stardust."
"We believe the God of Stars is influencing this town," Izuna explained, watching Natsume wandering down the street, nose still in the dirt.
"That explains the stardust. Granted wishes always smell like that. The blood scent is new though."
Izuna and Sakura traded a wary glance. "Blood?" They said simultaneously.
Natsume didn't lift his head as he hummed distractedly. "Oh yeah, everywhere, coming from that direction." he pointed a claw. "It's heavy on the wind. I'm surprised even your weak human noses can't pick it up."
"Natsume," Sakura heard the clock, ticking faster, ever invisible and urgent. "I think you should show us the way."
"Follow me then…" he said, only sounding a little baffled, to his credit.
Like all the other mujina, despite how much they toddled around, they were swift when they wanted to be. Sakura sprinted after Natsume, skidding abruptly to a halt in front of an alley dappled with enough moonlight to make out the grotesque sight they'd stumbled upon.
The ground was stained crimson, still fresh splatters decorating both walls. In a heap, broken, twisted horrifically, almost unrecognizable as a person, a man lay dead. Sakura approached cautiously, able to make out what was left of his shredded clothing. A russet yukata.
His face was ghastly, mouth still open, letting her know he'd died screaming. Given the state of his corpse, she couldn't imagine his end had been quick, or pleasant.
One side of his face was almost as shredded as his clothes were; the attack had taken his eye, and his larynx hung loose from his destroyed neck. The further down her eyes traveled, the worse it got somehow. One of his hands was pulverized, his entrails stomped on in the dirt. He was missing an entire foot, and even on the foot still attached, he was missing toes. There was so much rage in his demise it made her head spin. Someone didn't just want him dead, they wanted him to suffer.
"I haven't seen bodies in this state since some of my earliest days on the battlefield. But if I didn't know better, I'd think a pack of wild dogs got to him." Izuna crouched, face somber. "Whoever he was, he died in agony."
"Yeah, but why…" Sakura almost couldn't make out the color of his hair, but when she did, she drew back. "I…I know this man."
"You're…sure?" Izuna had every right to sound skeptical. If not for the faded straw color of his hair—hard to make out under the blood dried in it—and the cloth tied as a makeshift bandage on his leg, the kunoichi might have doubted herself.
But it was him, the man from the street she'd briefly spoken to. Unlike all the people in town earlier in the day who had been losing their minds, drunk on the power of access to unlimited wishes, one man had been hanging quietly in the background.
In an ordinary setting, he wouldn't have stood out at all on a street, going about his work with a slight limp. But it was because everything and everyone else was so turned upside down that a seemingly normal person caught Sakura's eye immediately.
And even knowing she couldn't be too careful, when she saw him hobbling along and recognized the type of injury troubling him, she had to go out of her way and recommend a poultice. He had been appreciative, thanking her in a soft but sincere voice, politely declining her offer to help him move the thirty pound barrel he was rolling down the street.
"He didn't look like this, obviously," Sakura wondered if he had someone looking for him, someone to miss him, "but it's definitely him."
Natsume raised his nose in the air and took a deep sniff, growling. "Somebody's nearby, and they don't smell too friendly."
"Could it be…?" Izuna hurriedly stood.
Sakura was sure they had arrived at the same thought. "The person who did this? Natsume!"
"Yeah, yeah! I know!" The mujina barreled out of the alley, faster than before, "They're on the move! Smells like blood and candy floss."
'That's…disconcerting.' Sakura didn't bother replying as she sped after her summon, but she had no small amount of apprehension about just what kind of person they were chasing.
Under normal circumstances she wouldn't be that afraid of danger when she was a godslayer accompanied by an Uchiha with the Mangekyo Sharingan and a mastery of the sword, but things were very off.
When they saw the flutter of a cloak in the silvery light of the moon, Sakura knew there was no time for hesitation, not when they were closing in. It only took a courageous leap to send the suspected assailant toppling to the ground, her claws coming out to get a good grip on them.
Two things happened simultaneously.
Sakura found herself looking directly into hate-filled eyes, and the clock…at last, right as static white light winked Izuna and Natsume out of existence, the clock stopped ticking.
The steady ticking had the pinkette's heart hammering before she even opened her eyes, nearly knocking heads with Izuna as he ran a hand across her cheek. A room. She was safe and sound in her room after a very pleasant, slightly embarrassing dream, but the adrenaline pumping through her veins made her feel more like she had just outrun some brush with death.
"Do you hear that?" Sakura was aware her eyes were too wide and wild even without seeing her reflection. Izuna tilted his head, listening.
"What am I supposed to be hearing?"
"That…that…clock…" Sakura scanned the entire room, but there wasn't a clock in sight. Drawing the sheets almost up to her eyes, she shrank down as Izuna looked around, puzzled.
"I know we're on a time crunch, but hear me out…" he cleared his throat, clearly trying not to come across as pitying. "I think you should rest a little longer. Give it another hour or two to feel less out of sorts."
"So you're benching me?" Sakura asked rhetorically, "You think I'm crazy."
Izuna leaned in, and just as the details of her dream came back to her, he tapped her forehead instead. Instantly, some of the defensiveness she was feeling melted into nothing. This was Izuna she was talking to, someone she could always count on to be on her side. "Sakura. I've seen far, far too much since you came into my life to think you're crazy because you hear clocks…although," he glanced around, adding conspiratorially, "it's at least a little eccentric, you have to admit."
Sakura didn't hesitate to fling one of the pillows at him, watching him raise his hands as he dodged. "A good eccentric!" She watched him zoom out of the door in record time, peeking around the edge. "Stay put. Rest. I'll be back with breakfast."
It wasn't like he was giving her much choice, seeing as how he had already left, and she still barely knew where she was. There was no way she was getting back to sleep, though. The feeling weighing her down was disorientation, but she wasn't tired. Slipping her feet over the edge of the bed, Sakura decided it was a good time for a little meditation. It wasn't something she made a habit of, admittedly, but it didn't hurt either. The best case scenario, she'd clear her head and work through all the fragmented images her mind was showing her. Worst case scenario, she'd slip into lucid daydreaming that steamy dream again.
It might not have been the best plan, but it was the only plan she had. Sakura knew if she followed her gut, the rest would become clear. The clock was back, ticking faster, like every step she ran was drawing her closer to something. She wasn't entirely sure what it meant, but knowing her luck, she should expect the God of Stars himself to appear—not that she would recognize him at first sight.
Though he had been reluctant to do so, she'd convinced Izuna they needed to split up while everyone continued to enjoy the banquet. Natsume and his nose were by her side instead, their running feet swallowing ground as they tore through empty streets. And when they made the grisly discovery of a heavily mutilated body in the alley, the clock ticking faster, Sakura felt numb dread in place of surprise. 'I…know him.'
Once she'd closely examined the corpse, the waxy skin and blood-soaked clothing hardly recognizable, the kunoichi recalled meeting the man and briefly interacting with him. Thinking about it, he had been perhaps the only person relatively close to 'normal' that she had encountered since setting foot in Hoshigakure.
"Look alive," Natsume nudged her urgently, "I can still sense that malevolence nearby, even smell it actually."
Not one to balk in the face of danger, Sakura was already formulating a plan in case of a likely confrontation. "Which way?"
"It'd be faster if I showed you."
Foreboding was a weighted blanket heavy on her shoulders—unshakeable, unbearable. Every step she ran didn't feel fast enough, like her heart was already touched by the cold grip of hopelessness telling her it was too late. 'Too late for what?' It was driving her crazy, and with Natsume skidding to a halt in the dirt, sniffing hard at the air, it didn't exactly help.
"Blood in the air. So much…blood." Natsume shuddered, galloping off again, "And death."
Coming to a complete stop physically hurt, her knees locking up so hard they clicked. There shouldn't have been anything to be scared of on a deserted street, save for the sole figure slumped over on the ground at the opposite end. Ice ran through her veins, freezing mid-circulation, stoppering her voice so that when she attempted to scream it was a strangled croak of despair. Sakura's feet propelled her forward, clumsy, all but tripping, and as the shape got more distinct, more familiar, the world shattered.
Natsume froze beside her, talking in what might as well have been an unknown language for all she understood it.
"Izuna?" He didn't respond to the call, didn't even raise his head. "Izuna!" More frantic, hardly even recognizing her own voice, Sakura threw herself down next to him, immediately wanting to vomit over the smell of iron invading her nose, as much as the heavy, sticky sensation on her hands. Izuna's body fell forward, his head coming to rest on her shoulder.
Sakura had been through enough training, seen enough trauma to keep calm in almost every situation. Being a battlefield medic was hardly different than treating patients in the village, once she learned to adapt.
One stressful condition was the same as any other. But that didn't prepare her for the raw surge of grief that hit her like a Chidori blast to the chest. Sasuke was impaling her all over again. She was trapped in another cruel genjutsu. Izuna wasn't cold in her arms, his spine severed from what she could feel. Trembling, her hand slid up, feeling his neck as the medic in her finally kicked in and she furiously pumped chakra into him, simultaneously running a diagnostic. "Please," she squeaked, "Izuna, please!" Sakura was holding him so close, it probably looked like she was trying to constrict him, when all she really wanted was to hold herself together long enough to fix him. "Why isn't this working?!"
Natsume stood by, silent as she continued on. When her fingers pressed down at the back of the neck, the pinkette could recognize exactly what she was feeling. People who had no medical background assumed the worst battle injuries were the bloodiest, that every decapitation was a head lopped clean off. But the word was a misnomer, and they would be wrong. The ligaments in someone's neck that attached their skull to their spine could be severed just so, and the effect would be the same. Internal decapitation, that was what it was called.
"Sakura," Natsume's voice had grown louder, "it's not safe out in the open. We have to—"
"I'm not leaving him like this! When he wakes up…" The searing pain running through her bottom lip as she bit into it viciously barely registered as even a mild discomfort. She'd repaired the deep gouges in his back; she could repair his other injuries too! "I'll use every drop of chakra I have if that's what it takes!" The mujina's ears lowered at her vow, his beady eyes full of pity. "I can…I can do this!"
Healing hadn't been so much of a struggle since she'd started apprenticing, but there Sakura was years later, straining so hard she was seized by a terrible headache. If she focused long enough, she could push out more than chakra. She could push out a miracle. "It has to work!" Her head lowered, bent into his shoulder. "If I…if I can't do this, if I can't save him…why did I do all this for?" Weaving, snapping, rising, falling. There was no rhyme or reason to the way her mind ran at light speed, torturous seconds spanning into longer minutes of no change. "I fell into this time. I became a godslayer. I met you," Tears had never scalded the way the ones running down her face did. "I f…I fell in love with you, a-and…" The taste of the snot bubbling from her nose and streams of saline made her words hard to talk. She had become incomprehensible even to herself. Nothing mattered, nothing but the final click of a stopped clock.
Izuna wanted to think he had been honest when he told Sakura he'd never stand in her way, impose his feelings on her. The mission was just too important, and considering the circumstances, whether his feelings were ever returned or not, it was a miracle in itself just to know her. To be allowed the stolen glances and fleeting touches that he was. Like now.
As he watched her, sleeping peacefully from what he could tell, his hand moved on its own, brushing over her cheek. It twitched under the pad of his thumb, and Izuna was positive she'd pick that moment to open her eyes and he'd be caught.
But Sakura slept on, and Izuna allowed himself the smallest sigh. She was tired. Although she would never admit how hard she pushed herself or how it wore her out, he'd like to think in the time since meeting he had come to understand Sakura quite a bit. His finger skimmed the faint circles under her eyes, feeling bad about even the thought of waking her. The mission was still out there. Time was still of the essence, and really, they were almost assuredly still in danger, but…
Watching her sprawled out, delicate in slumber, content beneath the threadbare sheets with her hair fanned around her, Izuna felt contentment. Waking up to see her this way every day wouldn't be so bad, though it was torturing himself with the selfish desire he had already sworn not to entertain. Madara would be more than glad to do that for the both of them.
He'd promised to consider the possibility of Sakura staying, to have faith in what his brother wholly believed could happen. Sakura, with them for the rest of their natural lives. It was…everything he could want, and therefore everything he knew he shouldn't push to have.
A gulf separated them, not just space but time itself. An Uchiha's love was a mighty thing, a world-shaking thing. But was it really mighty enough to overcome that?
Izuna wanted to trust that his ancestors had left him with more than an inherited war and the pointless grudge that came with it. If nothing else, he wanted to believe they had left with him with the capacity to love hard enough to overcome the impossible.
Sakura's breathing changed suddenly, and he knew she really was waking up. It should have been his sign to stop touching her and prepare the image he would present to her of the affable but courteous friend.
The pinkette stirred, now fully on her back, and Izuna realized he didn't want to be a friend, and he didn't want to be courteous. He wanted to passionately kiss her lips as she woke up, every day for the rest of his life. The Uchiha had enough self control to go on behaving himself, but that was a desire that was probably never going to change.
"Welcome back." Sakura sat up slowly, and he could tell she wasn't really aware of her surroundings as she sleepily rubbed her eyes. It made him very cognizant of the fact that it was the little things about her that had ultimately charmed him, and then shifted into love over time. The way her lips unconsciously puckered into a confused pout, for instance, hazy eyes drifting over him for a minute before they grew large with shock and recognition.
Sakura didn't really give him much time to contemplate just what that look meant or where it came from; she was throwing herself into his arms with a strange noise in seconds.
Izuna stayed perfectly still, a little stunned speechless as his heart used a whole new drumbeat to play out his emotions. It wasn't the first time they'd been so close. Hugging wasn't even as scandalous as it once felt (it was tame, sure, but the first few times Izuna had over thought about what to do with his hands), but there was something more to it now.
Call it a hunch, a ninja's intuition, or his alarm as he placed a hand on Sakura's back and noticed the quivering, or the hot, wet liquid dripping down the side of his neck.
Had she had a nightmare? That might explain the sense of desperation radiating from her while she clung to him as if they were physically inseparable.
He almost got the impression she was trying to confirm for herself he was really there, to ground her mind in the moment through touch.
Trying for reassurance, Izuna carefully wrapped his arms around her and squeezed. It didn't feel like the time to talk and pepper her with questions, so he did what he could without being intrusive. The brush of her lips against his skin, he realized, was her muttering something under her breath. Although he strained to make it out, Izuna was at least sure he had heard "…lost you…I thought…you weren't breathing…"
It broke his heart to see her so devastated—even safe from whatever dream had brought it on—and hurt all the more to know he was the cause. Sort of.
A hand drifted up, cupping the back of her head, "I'm here. I'm not leaving."
Sakura stiffened, whispering something he couldn't make out at all. Izuna gently pried her from his shoulder, finding anguish washing over her flushed face and grief-stricken eyes. "I didn't catch that."
"What if you don't have a choice? What if you…"
Her lips clamped shut, as if she were stubbornly resisting what she wanted to say. Gently, with all the care one would use to handle a piece of glass, Izuna touched her wet face. "If I…?
"Die."
It all made sense then. Love was an incredible, mysterious force. Finding it had shifted his whole perspective on life, and losing it all too often drove men mad. He'd seen it enough times among his clan, with members who had lost too much. Sakura may not have loved him the way he did her, but she cared; he was confident about that at least. His death, vivid and fresh in her memory, had brought on the gripping sadness of coming to and finding the nightmare didn't fade so quickly…because it wasn't something only possible in a dream. Because it was something that could easily become reality.
The Uchiha let his knuckles skim across her cheek, red and sticky. "Is that what you dreamt about?"
"It wasn't a dream." Sakura's hand kept his in contact with her face as she leaned into his touch. "I think…I saw…" Her eyes fluttered, cringing away from the details even as she probably recalled it. "What I experienced was too real."
"Are you saying you saw a vision…about my death?" Those weren't entirely new to him. In fact, a little over a year ago there was a time when he would find himself imagining the manner in which he'd die on the regular.
It wasn't because he had some fixation on death, but he had accepted the high chances of his life being cut short, and there was nothing he presumed he could do about it. All that was left was to indulge his morbid curiosity.
Run through by Tobirama Senju was going to be his original manner of death, as it turned out. Didn't happen that way, thanks to a little divine intervention, but the experience had nonetheless impressed upon dying of a ghastly infected wound caused by a mortal enemy was as overrated as it was classic shinobi demise.
"I don't know. Maybe?" Beryl green eyes darted around wildly for a second before settling back on his features. The way she drank them in, really processing that he was there alive and well with her, seemed to settle her a little. Though clearly she was still rattled. "But I just…I know I held you in my arms and you…"
Izuna picked up her wrist, dragging her hand across his face until her palm brushed his chest. He let the warm of it sink through his shirt, over his heart. Sakura glimpsed at her own hand like it was something strange to her, spreading her fingers so the fabric underneath was visible through the gaps. It was his heartbeat that was drawing her in, really. "See?" he reassured, "Still beating fine."
The tension uncoiled from her shoulders as she swallowed roughly, agreeing silently with a jerky nod. "Glad it's sinking in," And like he found himself doing ever since they had developed their easy camaraderie, the urge to tease reared up. "I thought about blowing hot air in your face to prove my point, but I had bitter tea this morning and making you smell it would just be cruel."
The attempt at levity appeared to work, Sakura dabbing at her eyes one last time with the arm that had been on his chest.
The other remained loosely curled around his shoulders, where it had been since she'd thrown her arms around his neck.
They were so close, but Izuna was never going to say no to a chance at physical contact, especially when she needed it from him. "I needed that. I'm glad I can always count on you to understand."
"Me too," he replied, earnest to his core. It was enough to know she saw him as someone dependable enough to trust her emotions to him, even the hard to parse ones. He wasn't greedy enough to expect more than being a shoulder to lean on. Really. It meant something that he was a part of her life. Madara was somewhere with the distinct urge to get in face and probably not knowing why. Yeah, his brother would be a lot pushier, and a lot more insistent they could fill other roles in her life, even if they were filling them together. Good thing he wasn't here. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing the next step is getting to the bottom of your premonition."
"It's moved up a few spots on my list of priorities." Sakura scooted enough away from him to stand. The first thing she did was check for the scroll he knew housed her axe. Oh. She expected things to get…messy. "Piecing it together is the only way I can get past it."
So very Sakura. This was the part where he was beginning to understand why people in love got exasperating to be around after a while. He was so gone on the woman in front of him he was a little obnoxious even to himself. At least she couldn't hear any of these swooning thoughts.
Needless to say he was ready to follow wherever her quest for answers took her; and finding out if he was actually going to die and if it could have been prevented was factored in there somewhere, as a secondary motivation.
Hanabusa gleamed vengeance under the cold moonlight, every one of her senses on high alert, Izuna at her back. The Dragon State was fully engaged too, if only so she could have access to her heightened senses, able to detect even the smallest shift in the wind. Sakura had the presence of mind to be thankful to someone, the universe maybe—certainly not to the pantheon of gods currently trying to kill her and destroy everything she loved—that she was born with the ability to multitask in the midst of high-stress situations. It gave her time to assess, adjust, and work on her evolving theory while preparing for the enemy attack that could come at any moment.
Time travel and threats from on high had been, previously, the furthest she had ever had to push her limited human understanding (though it was disturbingly simple to do in hindsight because by the end of the war with a bunch of dead guys coming back to life, what was there left to be shocked by?). Now the new piece of novelty? Timeloops. She was fairly sure that was what she had been experiencing, though apparently she was the only one who knew that.
Sakura didn't know how long she had been stuck, or even why, but she was starting to assume she knew who was responsible and coincidentally whose ass she needed to kick to break out. 'Last time…last time she came from…there!' Hanabusa flew in a perfect arc, nearly missing bisecting the figure who tried to ambush them from above.
Her landing wasn't as graceful and coordinated as a shinobi's might have been, but she still escaped death by a hair, skidding across the ground with one arm and leg slowing her momentum. "You've gotten good at this song and dance, I should have expected that much."
Sakura narrowed her eyes, rage traveling swiftly through her blood. It was hard not to give in to the urge to let herself be consumed by it. Keeping it tethered when it was a tempest inside the china shop that was her heart felt wrong, running counter to the nature of the beast that surfaced most when she was transformed. She had never thought one day she would personally understand Naruto's struggles when he entered the Kyuubi mode, but here she was.
"This is her?" Izuna's sword was drawn, his stance ready to attack or defend.
"It has been all of the other times." Sakura ground her teeth, refusing to tell him the rest. It wasn't necessary in the moment, but she hoped the young woman realized just how much Sakura hated her.
It had never been her purview to sadistically enjoy watching the life leave from someone's eyes. She was a healer at heart, even if the path to get there had involved becoming a trained killer first. But that aside, Sakura assumed that every so often every self-respecting ninja found themselves up against someone that became the exception.
For her, right now, that would be the young woman calling herself…Eniguma.
"How many is that?" Eniguma taunted. There wasn't much of her body that could be seen given the oversized cloak, but she flung her arms out from its depths. "I let you keep the knowledge of every encounter. I gave you the benefit of the wisdom from your mistakes, and you still haven't been able to stop me." She was right. If she wasn't they wouldn't still be doing this. But in every scenario, every battle, it always ended here.
Their opponent won, and then Sakura woke up back in that room, Izuna watching over her again. "Don't worry, one way or another I'm going to make sure this is the final time." There was a trick to this, some key she needed to clinch victory. Sakura just had to push herself to discover it before time ran out. 'Head in the game, Sakura! Look for a pattern, anything. Focus!'
Well, it was clear Eniguma was sick and twisted, and was in cahoots with the deities, so that sort of made the first part redundant. Then again, she was a godslayer herself. It didn't get any more 'in cahoots' than that.
Could it all be a mistake? Everything had pointed them to suspecting Nesaku, and Mizuchi herself seemed absolutely sure it was his work at the heart of the mystery. But Eniguma was the one doing this, and also the one blocking their path from learning more. 'Things shift back to the way they were before after this confrontation. Always to this morning.' That was really all she knew.
After the third time, the pinkette came to the conclusion that Izuna didn't share the convenience of having his memories. It didn't stop her from updating him about what she believed to be going on, even if repeating herself each time got tedious. Natsume, for that matter, was none the wiser every time she summoned him.
"Admit it." Her attention snapped to Eniguma, standing perfectly still in the street as if she knew they wouldn't dare attack. Admittedly, it took an embarrassing amount of tries to learn going after her head on was a mistake. Maybe just keeping her talking was the way to go. "You still don't know how to stop me and you're getting desperate."
"What's she saying?" Izuna mumbled, "How many times have we failed already?"
"How many indeed," Eniguma waved her hand, and his sword melted away into sand. The Uchiha watched it slip between his fingers incredulously. "I'd say thirty-seven, give or take. But then who's counting?" The devious smile she wore under that hood made Sakura sick. "I guess you are, Sakura."
The problem was that the girl hell bent on ending them had harnessed improbability. Under no circumstances should two capable ninja have lost so many times.
Not with a divine weapon, an Uchiha with Izuna's doujutsu and sword skills, and her preternatural summons on their side. It wasn't arrogance, only fact. Eniguma didn't even seem to have shinobi training. She was just a girl…roaming around with the power of a god who had decided to toy with them. Over. And over. And over.
"I'm pretty sure I've boiled this down to how you're doing this," Sakura eyed her in disgust as Eniguma tilted her head to show she was intently listening. "But I think if you're going to play with our heads we deserve to know why!"
Eniguma reared back, as if that was the last question she'd been expecting. Her face, cold and unflinching in the shadows of that hood was as expressionless as ever. "Once upon a time I was innocent, and because of this world, I had my whole life ripped apart." Slowly, one of her hands raised, and Sakura tensed, standing in front of Izuna. She was sure he was confused, but he didn't speak on it.
If only he understood what was going through her head. Every time the kunoichi thought they had outmaneuvered her with their superior battle intelligence, Eniguma went and rewrote the odds. Instinct told her that throwing herself at the problem repeatedly was never going to work. Hell, that had already been proven, really. They had to outsmart her if they wanted to even the playing field. Otherwise the time loop would become their reality forever.
"So the deities emboldened you, and gave you powers you use to take it out on others." Izuna surmised.
"What can I say?" Her bandaged hand assumed the position of her thumb and middle finger touching. "I'm just paying it forward."
All her powers, all her rage, and Sakura was still a split second too late, throwing her axe down and spinning to face Izuna as he blew apart like he'd tripped a land mine. She stood trembling, eyes blown wide, covered in the blood and gore of the man she loved. Chunks of him were in her hair, her eyes, her mouth. And that was it. He was gone in a snap with nothing but the last sight of his confusion to remember him by.
Hanabusa flew into her hand, called by the strength of her will. It didn't matter if she had to rend heaven and hell, Sakura wanted Eniguma's head. The Dragon State compelled her ferocity and her weapon sang out for blood, Izuna's murderer breathlessly dodging her wrath. Apparently, the thirty-eighth time was the breaking point.
"This isn't going to get you anywhere." The earth split apart, the fissure created by Hanabusa striking the ground where Eniguma once stood spreading out and drawing homes in its path down into the depths. "Honestly, I think the deities overestimated you. I. Control. This. World. If I wanted, I could control you."
"Don't be so sure about that," Sakura could feel it, the world trying to rip itself apart under Eniguma's command, the spot she was standing on gone, and even her. She'd wake up in that damn room again, Izuna alive only to die horribly hours later. Again and again for eternity. Power sparked inside, like a loose live wire flailing and sputtering. The kunoichi heard Eniguma grunt, pained. "Why isn't it working?" She rasped, glaring in her direction. "How are you resisting my overwrite?"
Ignoring her, Sakura flew right for her, the feeble arms Eniguma threw up in an attempt to block her doing nothing as her clawed hands seized her by the throat. "Let me give you a tip," Sakura hardly recognized her own voice as she shoved the girl's face hard into the ground. "If you wanted to win, if you wanted to erase someone from existence…" Her claws lashed out, marking a deep, jagged path down the side of Eniguma's face and neck. She cried out, thrashing, but there was no way in this life Sakura was going to relent. "You really should have started with me." All the color drained from her face as the pinkette's tears mixed with the blood on her skin. "There isn't any reality I won't rip apart to find you." It was strange, hearing herself speak so calmly even when the pain and rage were consuming her inside. "There's no timeline you can twist," She pressed down on Eniguma's wrist until she heard it snap. Snap the way Izuna's neck did when she killed him for the twenty-second time. "And no wish you can make that's going to keep things from ending up the way they are now. Your rewriting no longer has any effect on me. You're at my mercy. Too bad there is no mercy for what you've done." Under her, the auburn-haired girl choked on what Sakura sincerely hoped was fear. In other circumstances, if she had pissed off a godslayer who had the power to tear her to pieces and make it really, really hurt, Sakura might have been regretting every life choice that had led her to that moment too. But the stench of blood and death that still clung to her and the gore sliding from her chin directly onto Eniguma's nose as the godslayer bared her fangs probably made her seem a little… unhinged. A look she'd proudly wear if it conveyed the right message.
"Wait!" She lifted a hand, coughing around the crushing pressure on her windpipe. "You…y-you can kill me…as slowly as you wa-want…but you know the problem with that? Y-You wouldn't really get true…satisfaction. It wouldn't bring him ba-aack,"
Sakura faltered, a small reprieve in the gallons of adrenaline pumping through her system that gave her a flash of the truth. Right now, revenge was driving her to the edge of insanity, and she was letting it. But when she'd torn Eniguma's throat out, when the dust had settled, then what? Izuna was dead. He was dead.
It wasn't a genjutsu. It wasn't something she could fix. One of the men she loved was truly dead, and with him, a part of her had died too. The part that would have wondered if she had gone too far, replaced by a new, chilling side that told her no amount of torture would be enough to make her whole again, but she would at least enjoy attempting.
"Then bring him back," Sakura gripped the wrist she had broken and squeezed until the bones were pulverized to dust, relishing in the shrill scream Eniguma let out. "We'll rip your heart out together."
"I…I don't think so," It must have taken her great effort to gasp that much out, but the venomous defiance in her eyes was still present. "I'll only do it on the condition that you take his place. I'll break the time loop and bring him back, but then I want…" She struggled to sit up and cough, but Sakura slammed her back to the ground as her head bounced, "you."
The plasmic red and black bubble was expanding rapidly, pulsating with life and visible even from a mile out. 'No, no, no…it's already happening.' Just the way it was predicted, or rather, the way history said it did. There was no coming back from what happened next. She had one shot and one shot only.
Clutching her lucky charm tight in hand, she squeezed her eyes shut for a little boost. 'Lucky charm, lucky charm, don't fail me now.' Hopefully the chant worked, since she'd made it up on the spot and all.
The first step in the plan was locating the two deities and their human tag-alongs, Ino Yamanaka and Sai. The map placed in her head was still intact after her rough landing, thankfully. It would be…unfortunate if the future wound up doomed because she had brain-damage.
They had picked an appropriate place to hide, she noticed with some satisfaction. Someone— she was guessing one of the gods—had placed a protective warding around the area to befuddle any unwanted intruders who got too close. It was only knowing the exact location of Amenomahitotsu's forge and her bracelet being crafted to counter most of the tricks gods used that allowed her to make it in.
As she walked, she thought about what she'd say to all of them. Somehow, 'hey, hope you've got room for one more, because I'm here to help!' didn't feel like it was going to cut it. Understanding everything that had happened up until this point made it abundantly clear that they would be rightfully distrustful of a stranger appearing under the circumstances she had.
The trees rustled, whispering her options, and she slumped, because the consensus of the forest was essentially that she was totally doomed. It probably wasn't incorrect, as cynical as the opinion was, because she could see two people heading out of the cave as she approached and she was no closer to knowing what to say.
The first one to spot her was Sai, stopping dead in his tracks and unfurling a length of scroll, eyes narrowing dangerously as his inked brush hovered over the paper. One wrong move and he'd be ready with a barrage of drawings. Maybe she should have been terrified, but it wasn't something she could bring herself to be given everything she knew about him.
Time had been kind, not that he knew that yet. Years from then he'd more or less look the same. "Not another step." he warned, and she remained where she was obediently.
"Okay, I've got it. I'm here."
Ino Yamanaka sized her up, and though her feelings toward the kunoichi were as amicable as they were for Sai, the intimidating aura around her did give her some pause. No one could rip a mind apart as quickly as Ino could. "This can't be a coincidence." She decided. "We haven't seen anybody out here the whole time and then you show up. You'd better start talking, kid. Truthfully. Because how painlessly I get my answers depends on you."
What was she supposed to say? By the gods, she was too awkward for this. Also did Ino call her a kid? Weren't they the same age right now? "I…er, hi," she waved, neither of the shinobi in front of her relaxing in the slightest. Right, because they didn't know or trust her. Made sense. "I know what this is about to sound like, but we don't have much time…" Taking a deep breath, she touched the beads of her lucky charm. "I'm here to help, well, I need your help but I'm here to help you too, because I think you know what's going on in Hoshigakure isn't normal and your friends are in danger, which means the world and the future are in danger, so please—"
"Oh my," That voice she would recognize anywhere. Heart galloping, she turned around, wanting to cry out in relief as Mizuchi appeared from the depths of the forest with Amenomahitotsu in tow, carrying some kind of box with the arm that didn't have a crutch tucked under it. "Aren't you a marvelous curiosity."
"Do you know who she is?" Ino asked, never taking her eyes off of her. "She just showed up and started sputtering about needing our help or…something."
"I can't say I do," The goddess sounded as whimsical as ever, more amused and genuinely intrigued than upset. Maybe the fanciful nature of the deity would be in her favor! A girl could hope. "But there is something about you that feels almost…familiar." Caught between Sai and Ino still rigidly guarding the entrance of the forge, and Mizuchi and Hitotsu coming from the forest, she stayed where she was as the goddess approached, bending into a sort of crouch to observe her better. "What did you say your name was?"
"I didn't…but it's," Mind running through possible aliases, there was one that immediately felt right. "Hanami." That was close enough.
"Hanami, you'll have to excuse our apprehension, but you shouldn't be able to get so close to my forge uninvited." Hitotsu tended toward suspicion as a default. Not the most trusting nor the most affable god. If he ever developed a soft spot for someone at all, it was nothing short of a miracle.
"I know, but see, it's because I have this!" She hurriedly held her wrist high in the air for all of them to see.
"Those beads…" Mizuchi grazed the bracelet with her index finger. "Magatama from the necklace of Amaterasu…" It was like the dragon goddess was seeing her for the first time. "You have the blessings of the most exalted ōkami in the pantheon. Tell me child, where did you obtain this?"
Finally, a question she could answer truthfully, without dancing around or looking for a way to be vague. "It was inherited, or it will be…one day. But if what's happening soon comes to pass, that day's never going to get here. So please," Hanami fell to her knees, not too ashamed to beg. It was dramatic, but her family tended towards that. "Please help me stop it."
"Stop what," Ino questioned, "because if you mean the freaky wish stuff, we're working on it." Not fast enough, she wanted to tell them, but that didn't seem likely to go over well.
"We have to stop the death of Sakura Haruno."
Mizuchi's hand fell away from her bracelet, the pupils of her reptilian eyes shrinking until they were nearly nonexistent. There wasn't a single sound in the forest, like the very heartbeat of nature had stopped.