Unexpected || MadaSaku ||

The Meeting Commences

~Naruto~

Sarada burst through the doors immediately getting everyone's attention in the room with tears streaming down her face, trying to catch her breath and hunching over in exhaustion. I continued to watch her as she wiped away the salty water running down her cheeks and pulled herself together. She was once again composed, waiting for the meeting, that Tsunade demanded, to begin. I wasn't sure what any of it was about, but I'm sure she had a good reason to bring all of us together and for dragging Sarada into it.

"Sarada, are you okay?" I asked, but didn't get a reply. Instead she turned her head to the side and avoided my question. Tsunade and Kakashi seemed just as confused and concerned as I was. And I think we had every right to be.

"Let's begin the meeting," Sarada cleared her throat, approaching my desk with a more serious expression plastered on her face.

"But, Sarada--What about Sasuke? You told me that you were bringing him with you," Tsunade cut in, causing us to all put our focus on her yet again.

"He has more important things on his mind..." She trailed off. It was clear something was bothering her. But should I keep asking? Maybe I can ask her when we're finished. If this has to do with Sasuke I swear I'll-. "Please, let's just start the meeting."

Tsunade hesitated for a moment, but began like Sarada insisted, "As we know, in our last battle against the last remaining members of the Otsutsuki Clan, we were able to defeat the enemy, but we also lost someone who was deeply important to each of us. She risked her life in order to protect, not only Naruto, but the entire village," She paused for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts before the doors slammed open.

Sasuke barged in with Karin trailing behind him, he was silent as he approached us, placing a scroll on the table from me to open it. But before I could read it, Tsunade quickly took it from my reach.

"Tsunade, what is this ab-," I stood up from my chair and slammed my hands on my desk, being interrupted by her stern, unwavering glare.

"I will explain the contents of this scroll, once I have finished," She shut her eyes, once again collecting her thoughts. "As I was saying before, Sakura willingly sacrificed herself for the sake of her friend and the village. And as far as we knew, Sakura was no longer with us. That was until Sarada approached me about her visions of Sakura and how they progressed into actual contact with Sakura. At first, I wasn't sure if it was her mourning her loss, but the way she described it made me realize we were experiencing the same thing."

"Wait, contact with Sakura?" Kakashi became wide-eyed.

"Are you sure?" Sasuke and I chimed in at the same time, too caught up in the conversation to care.

"Like I said, I wasn't at first. But after a little digging, I was able to find more evidence that there's more to the situation than any of us realize." Tsunade said, unraveling the contents of the scroll, making the anticipation in the room grow by the second. "I've seen this scroll a million times as a member of the Senju and Uzumaki clan, and not once was she ever on it..."

As Tsuande turned the scroll in our direction, a silence hit the room as everyone saw Sakura's image on the family tree. "H-How?" I asked, a loss for words.

"That part I'm not quite sure of, but since Sarada and I are the only ones who've had a connection with her, I can only guess there must be a common link between the three of us," Tsunade hypothesized.

"well, maybe it's the fact that you were all so close with each other, your bonds could be tying you together," Kakashi guessed, but Tsunade shook her head in disagreement.

"If that were the case, then Sasuke and Naruto would also be linked to her," She pointed out, causing Sarada to scoff at her father's name in disgust.

"Maybe she is a distant relative of the Senju, Uzumaki clan, that would explain why Tsunade would see her. And if Sakura is a descendant, that would mean Sarada would be too," I hypothesized.

"It's a good guess, but Naruto and Karin are also a part of the Uzumaki Clan, it doesn't make sense if they couldn't see her either," Tsunade sighed. "This is getting nowhere. We need to figure this out and soon. Sakura is probably trying her best to return home as well."

"I have a theory," Karin spoke up, causing each of us to turn our attention towards her--Well, everyone besides Sarada, she refused to look at both Sasuke and Karin. I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was disappointed and hurt.

"What exactly do you mean by a theory?" Kakashi raised his eyebrow.

"Well, the more I keep asking what the three of them have in common, it always comes down to one thing," Karin explained, keeping us on our toes in anticipation, "The byakugou."

"Sarada doesn't have the byakugou," Sasuke huffed.

"No, she doesn't, but it's in development. Sarada has Sakura's chakra control and has been teaching her how to store chakra, so she can achieve it when she's older. Tsunade and Sarada are the only other people besides Sakura who have the ability to use the byakugou," Karin said, causing us all to exchange looks.

"Maybe so, but that doesn't explain why she's in the Uzumaki/Senju scrolls," I cut in, but Tsunade seemed convinced.

"Actually, it might," Tsunade smirked, "I based my byakugou on the first Hokage's wife, Mito. She married into the Senju Clan after her father arranged a marriage with Hashirama's father. But ultimately, she was an Uzumaki. The seal on her forehead was created by both the Senju and Uzumaki to seal away the nine tails. But, maybe the reason why I was able to recreate the byakugou was because I was descendant of the two clans, the same would go for Sarada and Sakura."

"How could Sakura and Sarada be Uzumaki or even Senju? The Haruno are hardly a clan," Kakashi raised his eyebrow in question, earning a glare from the small Uchiha who cherished both her family names, especially the name her mother had made for her own. 

"Well there must be something in our lineage that connects us. I'll find out more from Mebuki," Tsunade pouted her lip in thought. 

"Karin, that was some great thinking, thank you. We might have found out the reason the two of them are seeing her," I thanked her.

"But Lord Hokage, we still don't know where my mom exactly is-," Sarada's lip quivered with worry.

"We might. Tsunade said she's seen the scroll more than once and can vouch that she's never seen your mother on their, so doesn't that mean something happened to change that. Those scrolls are kept in a room under one of the most well-guarded towers, and it's more than a few generations old, there's no way it can be swapped out so easily. That would mean something would have had to have happened in order to change its contents," Karin Interjected, catching all of Sarada's interest and attention unlike before.

"Then what you're suggesting is-," Kakashi realized what she was implying before any of the rest of us had.

"Yes. I think that Sakura was sent to the past," She nodded.