Lavender Rain [TIME TRAVEL]

“The heart dies a lingering death—

shedding each hope like leaves

until one day, there are none.

No hopes. Nothing remains.”

There had been a saying once—spoken long ago by someone whose name, face, and scent had vanished into the same void that had swallowed the world: “It’s terrible to lose someone we love. But it’s worse to lose ourselves while loving them.”

Sakura ran.

She ran beneath skies that no longer resembled the ones she’d grown up under. Gone were the soft violet-blue tones that reminded her of Ino’s favorite flowers. The clouds were no longer wide and snowy-white like those over the Land of Snow. She ran because the sun stopped glimmering brightly in shades of dandelions and sunflowers, with hints of amber.

She ran because Naruto was dead. Because the world they once bled to protect had crumbled. Because everyone she had ever loved was gone—dead, dying, or something else entirely.

The dry, brittle soil cracks beneath her hurried feet, and faintly behind her, two other footsteps swiftly follow as they all head towards the safety of the hidden caverns. The only place left in the world that housed and protected the last of humanity. ‘If the seal didn’t work, then this was all for nothing. If I failed—again—there would be no world left to save.’ Sakura pleads softly.

The first footsteps that follow behind her belong to a man who appeared in his mid-twenties and would have been considered exceedingly handsome once. Dirty and slightly torn bandages covered half the man’s face, though they still could not cover where acid steam had fried part of the skin with mottled redness. Spiky silver hair lay limp past the neck, and with quick notice, anyone would realize part of his left arm was missing. His name was Hatake Kakashi.

The man nearly hits the ground on his knees when he feels the bond between his summons and partner snap away. “Pakkun is gone.” He rasps, and the tired pain is clear in his tone. Pain for losing another one, and tired of fighting and losing others.

Pakkun was the last of his pack to be killed.

No one answered. There was nothing left to say.

The second voice came from behind, low and matter-of-fact. “Sakura, are you certain he can’t track us here?” Sai’s pale face was upturned to the sky, his onyx eyes following a white bird just as it exploded overhead. “I know you’re skilled, but your chakra is dangerously low.”

The coral-haired woman heaved a sigh as her haunted green eyes assessed the area, before putting up the final fuinjutsu barrier to keep the evil and malicious man out, as they all passed through the final arc and headed swiftly for the ritual room. “I’m certain he won’t find us here, Sai. I even had Hatake-san set up the last of the barrier seals Naruto-kun gave me.” She confided as she bent down on her knees and hastily opened a scroll, so she could finish the fuinjutsu seal carved and painted into the ground.

“Hai.” Sai simply accepted her words without doubt.

From a scroll, Sakura summoned a deer—pale and limp. Blood pooled slowly from its neck onto the stone. From the depths of her mourning heart, she hopes Shikamaru will forgive her.

Kakashi gave a thin, joyless smile as he clapped Sai’s shoulder. “Mou, we’ll be fine.” He uttered, turning his worn eyes at Sakura, who was finishing drawing the last of the seals needed into the stone floor. “Sakura-chan, are you sure you don’t want any help?”

Sakura shot him a glare. “Still doubting me, sensei?” she asked, voice sharp.

He flinched.

Sai blinked. “I don’t believe Ugly will ever forgive you, Kakashi-senpai.”

The older man’s hand drifted to where his book would’ve been—but of course, that too was gone. “I don’t blame her.” He admitted shamefully.

Sai shrugged, not caring for Kakashi-senpai’s screw-ups. “Sakura?”

“I have enough,” Sakura said, answering Sai’s unspoken question. She stepped forward, hands steady as she faced the complex seal painted across the stone. Then, without hesitation, she took a kunai and sliced deep across her palms.

Blood fell in steady rivulets, soaking into the seal.

“Edo Tensei.” Her voice echoed through the cavern.

The seal pulsed. The wind stirred.

From the pooling blood and inked spirals rose nine figures: Uchiha Obito. Uchiha Itachi. Uchiha Fugaku. Senju Hashirama. Senju Tobirama. Uzumaki Mito. Uzumaki Kushina. Namikaze Minato. And—

“Troublesome,” muttered Nara Shikamaru, brushing off blood and seal ash.

Kakashi let out a breath of stunned relief. “It worked.”

Sakura turned slowly, eyes glowing with power, her coral hair lifting in the residual chakra. “Of course it worked, you doubting bastard!” she roared, throwing a kunai at him. It missed.

“Oh, not this again.” Senju Tobirama sighed in aggravation as his arms crossed over his chest in annoyance and dislike. It was humiliating for the Second Hokage to have his own Jutsu used against him. Not once, not twice, but three times. “I’m starting to wish the thoughts of reviving the dead never crossed my mind.”

Hashirama gave his younger brother a look of utter apathy, “I told you it was going to be a terrible idea.”

“Shut it!” Tobirama hissed at his brother, causing Hashirama to sink to the floor in an exaggerated fashion, much like he did when alive. Uzumaki Mito began to pat him on the back for comfort, her mild confusion evident.

Itachi’s voice cut through the reunion. “Why have we been summoned?”

All eyes turned to Sakura as she finished healing the slashes on her palms.

Sakura opened her mouth to reply, but was immediately cut off by Obito. “Where is Naruto?” he blurted, causing Kushina and Minato to glance wildly around for their son. “Did you manage to seal away that creepy moon lady?”

The numbness in her heart gave a brief twinge of stinging pain as Naruto’s brilliant smile came full force into her memories. She missed her adoptive brother so much, and each day without him was a painful, if barely tolerable one. “He’s… gone.”

Kushina flinched. Minato went still.

“Sasuke was still so angry at what happened to Itachi that he took control of the tailed beasts and began to wage war to control the world.” Sakura heaved a sigh as grime and crusted blood clung to her body due to the fact that she hadn’t bathed in literal months.

There was silence.

“We fought for five years,” she whispered. “But six months ago, we lost Naruto.” Her voice cracked at the revelation. “Sasuke’s control of the tailed beasts has thrown everything out of balance, and the world we recalled, that you knew, is coming to an end.”

Kushina sank to her knees, clutching her chest. Minato knelt beside her.

Itachi lowered his gaze. “This is my fault.” He softly admitted shame thick in his voice as he heard the heavy sobs coming from his godmother at the news of her son’s death.

“Itachi-san!” Sakura sharply chided the former Uchiha prodigy, surprising him slightly, as the only other people who chided him had been Shisui, Kushina-oba, and his own mother. “What Sasuke has done and the monster he has become is not your fault. You do not control his actions; he does.” She insisted with a calm smile on her ashen, covered face.

“We don’t blame the Uchiha clan,” Kakashi reassured the former clan head. “The Uchiha clan was unfairly treated, and the dissent Shimura Danzo helped sow against you did not help.”

“The point is, why are we here?” commanded Uzumaki Mito as she crossed her arms over her chest with an annoyed glare on her face at the fact that the Uchiha clan had the guts to try to take over the village foolishly.

Tobirama nodded his head in agreement with his sister-in-law, “Mito is correct. Why have you called us back from our resting place? I noticed our chakra’s weaker, but we have more movement than before.”

Sakura stood tall. “Because this is the end of our world. And I think… I think we might still have a chance to change it.”

Tobirama narrowed his eyes. “Time travel.”

She nodded. “I’ve spent years modifying your jutsu, Nidaime-sama. No human sacrifices. Animal blood is enough. But Naruto left behind a prototype—a seal meant to send someone back. And I need Kushina-sama, Mito-sama, and Minato-sama to help finish it. Shikamaru will strategize. The rest of you…”

Kakashi stepped forward. “Will help us prepare.”

Suddenly startling everyone around her, Sakura gave a desperate Saikeirei, her knees digging deep into the ground. “Please, this seal is our only hope to correct the many wrongs done and hopefully prevent the Fourth Shinobi War,” she urged frantically.

Hashirama held his hand up, stopping Sakura’s begging rant. “Sakura-chan,” he reassured softly with a smile.”We’ll help you.”

“After all, who would he be if not the God of Shinobi and the First Hokage?”