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Orochimaru had betrayed the village in a quest to overthrow the Hokage, regardless of who it was. When she was twenty years old, he struck the village hard. The snake sannin had somehow gotten his hands on several forbidden jutsu of their village. He and his bespectacled apprentice struck Konoha with an army of resurrected shinobi.
Team 7 was sent out first to buy enough time for the rest of their forces to scramble in a defensive strategy. Naruto and Sasuke took the lead, leaping over the village wall, already holding a rasengan and chidori. When the pair of them decided to work together, there was almost nothing that could stop them. Sakura leapt over the wall and saw the enemy’s forces for the first time.
Her green eyes widened at seeing resurrected Kage, rogue ninja, and legendary A and S rank shinobi. They would have their work cut out for them. Naruto and Sasuke were already fighting, and she couldn’t just stand back and watch them risk everything for their village. She, the student of Tsunade Senju, would join in the defense of Konohagakure against anything. She leapt onto the battlefield with a chakra-laden kick.
–
Madara had been called from the sweet embrace of darkness into burning light for a swine of a man that would betray Konohagakure. That made him angry, but he found he could not act as he wished against him. It infuriated him.
When he was given the opportunity, he saw who else would fight alongside him. Seeing Hashirama, Tobirama, Izuna and even Megiumi again hurt him, but the vile jutsu controlling him only allowed him his own thoughts. Madara wished to return to his eternal slumber.
When they finally attacked the village, Madara was surprised to feel his heart break once again. He had done everything he could to defend Konohagakure from the outside once he couldn’t stand to be in its walls anymore. He loved it, because it reminded him of her. He cherished it because it was her home. He hated it because it was where his heart broke, and the light was taken from his life.
It surprised him to fight against a man that so heavily resembled Izuna. He wielded lightning extremely well, interspersed with the signature fire jutsu of the Uchiha clan. Madara remembered Sakura telling him about her teammate, Sasuke. He felt the utter vice of the jutsu controlling him slip as he felt the crushing pain of blossoming hope. He could never see her again. Sakura had died and disappeared at their wedding. Scolding himself for his wretched thoughts, he felt the jutsu’s control tighten over him once again. Then, everything turned sideways.
The earth caved in on itself and a pink blur sped into the heart of the fighting. Feeling like he had just taken his first breath, Madara ran after her. The first step was slowed by the jutsu attempting to exert control over him to make him stop. Nothing could bend his will to not check the possibility. Madara ran.
–
Sakura was horrified that Orochimaru had resurrected the esteemed Kage of all the nations for his attack. She recognized some of the shinobi from various history lessons about other nations. She saw Naruto pleading with Hashirama out of the corner of her eye. She focused back on dodging the Second Kazekage when a giant fan knocked her opponent through the air and off the battlefield. She turned to look at who had helped her and immediately went on the defensive again, seeing Madara Uchiha.
The founder of the village that many had whispered had been the first rogue nin, but Konohagakure remembered differently. He had been an undercover agent, sent on a long-term mission and had thus had to give the Uchiha clan to his brother, Izuna. Madara Uchiha was remembered fondly for protecting Konoha from a newly growing Kumogakure. Sakura exhaled and summoned chakra into her fists, ready to fight.
She was not expecting his sole red eye to water and him to reach a hand out to her.
“Sakura. I thought I’d never see you again.” A tear rolled down his face from his one visible eye. She stared at him, incredulous. What was he talking about, seeing her again? She suddenly dodged a kunai thrown from some enemy on the battlefield. Sakura focused herself back on the fray, not wanting to be a burden to Sasuke or Naruto.
–
“I don’t have time for this, Konoha is in danger!” He watched her spin around and start fighting, performing a graceful dance with highly skilled opponents. He watched her move for a moment, basking in her presence once more. If defeating this attack was what would allow them more time together, then that was what he would do.
–
Sasuke leapt to her after it was clear that the resurrected Madara Uchiha was fighting for them. Incredibly effectively.
“I saw you talk to him earlier. Why is he helping us?” He looked at her suspiciously.
“I don’t know. He said he knows me, but that’s impossible.” She shrugged her shoulders and focused back on picking off the few that had dodged Madara’s impressive attacks.
“Capture Orochimaru for questioning in T&I! Should be a piece of cake now!” Sakura yelled at Sasuke and Naruto before joining the battle once again, incapacitating various resurrected shinobi, until she found herself facing off against Kabuto. The ponytailed man grit his teeth when he saw her.
“I don’t know how you broke through the Edo Tensei, but once I finish you off that will end. We will still crush Konoha!” He spat at her before commencing his attack. They were locked in a taijutsu spar mixed with medical ninjutsu. It was a lethal dance. Kabuto was faster, but she was stronger. It was an even match.
She and Kabuto had numerous cuts slowly oozing blood while their fight progressed. Suddenly, a vicious fire jutsu caught Kabuto’s side, and Sakura leapt forward and punched him with an entirely chakra-fueled arm. Kabuto went flying into the wall of Konoha, and she felt his ribs shatter when her fist connected. The wall broke where he impacted, and his limp body fell to the ground.
She looked to find Sasuke, to thank him for the well-timed fire jutsu. But she saw him clear across the field, fighting Orochimaru with Naruto. The battlefield was otherwise clear, now that her fight was done. Sakura sensed Madara approach from behind her. She turned around.
“You said you know me. How is that possible if I’m meeting you for the first time now?” She looked at one of the founders of Konoha with suspicion. He placed a hand over his heart, as if wounded there.
“Oh, my Sakura. Forgive me this one moment of weakness, but I thought I would never see you again.” He stepped closer to Sakura and placed a hand on her cheek, thumb brushing her lips. Her chakra collected in her fists. The tips of his fingers reached into her hair and the feeling sent tingles down her spine, despite the danger of their environment. She stared into his one red visible eye with shocked ones, and he lowered his face to hers.
His lips were soft, and warm. They moved gently against and with hers. He nicked her lip with his teeth, teasing her in a perfect way to get her to react, to want more. Her tongue explored his mouth as she deepened the kiss. Madara’s strong arms encircled her and his tongue met hers in a warm dance. She clutched at his arms. After an unknown length of time of nothing but his warm and skilled mouth, she broke the kiss with a gasp. Her face was nestled into the crook of his neck. One of his hands rubbed at her back while the other kept her close to him.
“Are you happy, Sakura?” His baritone voice rumbled through his chest and hers also.
“I’m very confused right now, but I’m doing great. I’m the assistant director of the hospital next to Tsunade Senju, and all of my friends are doing well,” she chuckled.
“I actually spend a lot of time with the Uchiha clan. They trust me a lot with their health, and the elders are so nice to me. I’m very busy but I couldn’t ask for any more.” She glanced up at Madara, still unsure of why they were embracing or why they had even kissed. What had come over her? He was gazing down at her with a serene smile on his face, and he closed his visible eye.
She felt his body begin to crumble, and in a panic she looked closely at it. It was turning into ash. She stared back up at his face, and she saw a translucent Madara, surrounded by a bright light. His ethereal form floated closer to her and laid one more kiss on her lips.
“Sakura. I love you. Thank you for saving me, my clan, and our village.” Madara’s ghostly form kissed her once more before disappearing with a tranquil smile. She stared at the spot he had stood, and a tear trailed its way down her face. Her heart felt unexpectedly heavy.
“Hey, Sakura! What on earth were you doing? We got Orochimaru! We gotta take him back to the village!” Naruto called to her, and she looked at her teammates. Naruto looked at her with confusion, but Sasuke looked calculating.
As she got closer, Sasuke stepped forward to her.
“What happened with you and Madara? I saw some of it, but I want it with your words.” Sasuke’s black eyes were piercing. Sakura’s heart clenched.
“I don’t really know. I think he did know a woman named Sakura once, and I reminded him of her. I don’t really know.” She scrubbed at her eyes furiously, not wanting another tear for Madara to fall in front of Sasuke. He turned to look at Naruto.
“Take Orochimaru to the village. We’ll be right behind you.” Naruto looked like he wanted to protest but surprisingly did not. He summoned more shadow clones and the team of Narutos carried the snake back to the village. Sasuke turned to look at Sakura.
“There’s a legend in the Uchiha clan that Madara loved a woman once. A woman with pink hair and legendary healing skills, who was also skilled in fighting. The legends are very kind to this woman.” He turned to start walking back to the village, leaving Sakura to stare at him, dumbfounded. There was a legend about a forgotten kunoichi from the founder's time? That had loved Madara Uchiha, no less? Sakura followed Sasuke back to the village, vowing to herself to learn more about that mystery woman from the legend. To know if it was true.
–
Sakura’s heart ached with the truth. The Uchiha elders were almost hostile to her when she had asked. Only an explanation of why she wanted to know the truth calmed them. One of the honorable Uchiha elders had winced hearing her story. She lay on her bed, reflecting. If another version of herself truly had gone to the past, that would explain many things. Recalling Madara’s face when he had looked at her, Sakura’s heart clenched.
He had looked haunted and simultaneously so hopeful. Only for her, his supposed almost wife, to not recognize him. With swollen eyelids, she drifted off to sleep thinking about his kiss, and the warm feeling of his arms around her. She dreamt of Madara.