Konoha's Cherry Blossom {REWRITTEN}

Chapter 13

Sakura froze, muscles locked in a momentary paralysis, her eyes wide with astonishment, surprise momentarily rendering her immobile.

"I found them in Root headquarters."

Sakura heard Tsunade say. It was them. The council members. They were the ones who pulled her out of Team 7. They were the ones responsible for the lack of response to her letters. Her boys were not at fault. Her poor boys.

"I...I..." she stumbled over her words, tongue tripping over the rush of thoughts clamoring for attention.

Tsunade gave her a sympathetic glance before glaring at the opened letters, "They were isolating you." She said with gritted teeth.

Sakura looked at her, questions glimmering in her eyes, "Isolating me...- But why?" Her mind was spinning with all the possible reasons.

Sakura missed the way Tsunade's gripped the edge of the wooden table, causing it to splinter.

"Look at that scroll and you'll know." Her voice was dripping with rage.

Sakura looked at the scroll beside the letters and opened it. Her eyes scanned the contents. Shikamaru and Neji read over Sakura's shoulder. Their rage building with each word written on the scroll. And Sakura getting paler.

"Kami-sama...." She breathed out, feeling disgusted.

She could feel Neji's breath hitching as both of her teammates were sending out their KI in waves.

The scroll mentioned a way to create a fetus that would have dual Bloodline limits. Not only that, the fetus would be able to cultivate those Bloodline limits in a way that by the time it'll be born, it'll have the Bloodline limit fully matured. But using the mother's body. For example, if a fetus has the DNA of both an Uchiha and Hyuga, they might have Mangeko Sharingan and a byakugan by putting the mother through the grief. But for that, they need to find someone with four crucial things. An exceptional chakra control, insane chakra reserves, accelerate healing abilities and a young, fertile body. Her. They have her name there. It was also mentioned that the DNA samples were already acquired. Everything make sense now. What made her blood run cold, was the name of their dead teammate. Kai. Kai was assigned to their Anbu squad as fourth member. Sakura and Kai dated briefly before he ended up stabbing her in the back, both literally and figuratively. He was Root spy. Sent to keep an eye on her. Everything mentioned about her abilities in the scroll was reported by Kai. God, she really have the worst taste in men.

Her hands were shaking now

They had it all planned. If it wasn’t for Naruto and Sasuke dragging Itachi to Konoha to reveal the truth, their plan would have been already complete.

She took a step back, nearly running into Neji's chest , body instinctively retreating as though her subconscious had triggered a defensive response to protect her. "Shishou, may I be excused?" She asked, voice barely audible.

"Sakura..." Tsunade's familiar voice kept her grounded to the reality.

Neji felt a jolt surge through his body. Rage sent his senses into overdrive, as if the anger had momentarily heightened his awareness, sharpening his perception of the world around him.

He was about say something but Sakura shook her head, cutting him off before he could open his mouth. Tsunade must have gave her the permission when he was busy looking at Sakura because suddenly the pink haired kunoichi disappeared in smoke.

"At least that solves the mystery of the letters." Shikamaru drawled, face murderous, hands twitching to pull the kunai and use it cut the already dead danzo in small pieces.

Sakura didn't know where she was going. She just ran. Sakura love Konoha. She knew that every village has flaws. Danzo was Konoha's. She knew that. But still, this ugly feeling of wanting to abandon Konoha reared it's head in her.

She stopped suddenly and heaved. Bile rising up to her throat as the contents of her stomach churned. Nostrils flared and her breathing became laboured.

"Sa..kura-chan..?"

Kakashi was on his way to Hokage Tower when he saw his ex-student being the verge of meltdown in the middle of the street. When her called out to her, he wasn't expecting her to lunge at him, breaking into tears.

She clutched the his vest like lifeline, burying her face in its familiar scent, her shoulders trembling with silent sobs that racked her entire frame.

Her heart felt like a shattered mirror, each piece a jagged shard that cut deeper with every beat, a reflection of the fractured soul within.

She felt his rigid body relaxed. Slowly, he leaned down as if hiding her from the enemy. One of his hand was brushing through her hair with other rummaging through his trousers pocket.

Soon, the sobs turned into sniffles and she pulled away to face Kakashi. His lone, grey eye was already looking at her with fondness.

"Finally decided to welcome your sensei, huh Sakura-chan? I missed my favourite student too." His lighthearted teasing make the corner of her lip tilt upwards. The hand that was brushing her hair, was now patting her head just like he used to do when she was a genin. The nostalgia made her tear up once again.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked asked after few minutes as he pulled a white handkerchief from his pocket and calmly wiped her tears and snot. He patiently waited for her answer as he cleaned her face with a tenderness of a father.

Not knowing where to start, she opened her mouth few times before closing it. Seeing her struggle, Kakashi gave her one of his closed eye smile, "Let's catch-up over some tea and dango. My treat." And that's when Sakura found herself sitting down in her favourite tea house, across from her former sensei.