“That’s what I thought,” I nodded. “I’m hoping Naruto, Hinata and I can form the core of a new, non-aligned faction on our world. Sort of a ninja clan of the spirit world.”
She grinned. “The Village Hidden in the Afterlife? I like that. There’s a whole world of supernatural powers outside of the Bright Kami and the Demons, so I think you’d have plenty of business. But I suspect this isn’t a social call.”
“Well, I do want to start getting to know this new kinda-sorta-aspect person I’m going to be sharing head space with for the rest of eternity,” I pointed out. “But yeah, I did have a purpose for visiting now. I was just thinking about all those young Sakuras out there who are going into the Forest of Death tomorrow morning. If their lives go like my first few loops most of them are going to die, and I don’t want that. So I was hoping you could give them all a little care package.”
I manifested a memory bubble, and offered it to her. She eyed it speculatively.
“What’s in it?” She asked.
“The basics of what we are and how our aspects work. Chuunin-grade taijutsu skills. Full mastery of the basic three academy ninjutsu, plus some C-rank genjutsu. Oh, and a full briefing on how the exam goes in my loops, including warnings about Orochimaru and the invasion and a guide on how to fight each of the other ninja in the exam.”
“Cheater,” she admonished.
“As Anko likes to say, if you aren’t cheating you aren’t trying.”
She chuckled. “Fair enough. But that’s all? You don’t want to give them our true name, or any of your better techniques?”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t want to turn them into a thousand little clones of me. There’s plenty of room in our name for them to all find their own unique ways to be Sakura. I just want to see them live long enough to grow up.”
She smiled. “So do I. Thank you, eldest self. It will take some doing, but I think I can pass this on to all of our little sisters who need it in time.”
“Do you want to be present for his judgment?” Astoria asked me sympathetically.
I glanced at the winged figures that were leading Sasuke away, and sighed.
“No,” I decided. “Obsessing over revenge would just give him more power over me. He’s going to face the same justice as anyone else would, and that’s good enough for me. I’m done with him.”
She nodded, and put a hand on my shoulder. “Good. But I’ll keep a recording, just in case you change your mind someday. Take care of yourself, alright? And feel free to call me, if you need anything.”
I chuckled. “Oh, I’m sure you’ll be hearing from me again soon.”
Naruto sighed, and leaned back against one of the giant trees. “Do we have to sit around all night waiting for emo boy to get over his evil hickey? I can’t move him or he’ll die, but I was hoping you’d have a better way.”
I giggled, and snuggled a little deeper into his lap. “I sure as hell haven’t been healing him with the power of love all these years, Naruto. But after what I did to his seal we’d better give him a few hours or he might die on us anyway.”
“Huh. What was that about, anyway? I’ve been getting used to your seal-singing thing, but the gold glitter-cloud was new.”
“I just reversed the polarity of the Heaven Seal, and tinkered with the wording” I explained. “Now it really is a heavenly seal. Instead of summoning demonic power it calls down heavenly blessings.”
Naruto snickered. “What, it makes him be all kind and forgiving and stuff?”
“No, but the nicer he acts the more power it will grant him. It can even make him immune to Itachi’s Sharingan if he works at it. Of course, if he pushes it that far he’ll probably lose his desire for vengeance…”
“Nice,” Naruto said appreciatively. “Say, this thing wouldn’t happen to be invoking the blessing of some particular goddess, would it?”
I looked up innocently. “Why, Naruto, would I do something that sneaky? Next you’re going to accuse me of putting in a self-destruct feature, so I can blow his psychotic little head off if I ever want to.”
“As long as you feel safe,” he replied seriously. “But you know, this isn’t the same Sasuke.”
“I know, I know. I’m not going to do anything crazy, Naruto. I can work with him when I have to, and my seal really will help him out. Hell, I can even believe he might turn out different this time around when I force myself to be logical about it. Just don’t expect me to ever trust him.”
I drew Ino as my opponent in the preliminary match. That actually bothered me a little, since I had every intention of renewing our friendship again now that she would actually be able to grow up. I did my best to drag the fight out a little and let her show off her skills, just so she wouldn’t be completely humiliated. I even let her land a hit, before I snared her senses in a basic distraction genjutsu and darted in to lay my kunai against her throat. The referee called the match at that point, so I didn’t even have to knock her out.
Naruto drew Kiba. Apparently he had some of the same reservations I did, because what followed was a wild little melee where the Inuzuka boy threw out every technique he had before Naruto finally knocked him out.
Hinata drew Neji, as always. She smiled at Naruto’s shouted admonition to kick the boy’s ass, and proceeded to do so with flawless efficiency. The taijutsu skills she demonstrated in the process were easily jounin level, though I doubted anyone outside her family would question that. She was the Hyuuga clan heir, after all.
“I’m very proud of all of you for making it to the finals. Congratulations. The last time this happened in Konoha was when the Sannin took the exam.”
Kakashi hesitated, and went on. “But even more, I’m proud to see that you’ve finally learned the true value of teamwork. Sakura, Naruto, you both went out of your way to let your comrades keep their pride as ninja when you could have crushed it. Sasuke, you’ve already thrown off most of the malevolence of Orochimaru’s cursed seal. You’ve all done well.”
Naruto and me exchanged a surprised glance. Kakashi had never said anything like that before.
“Thanks, sensei,” Naruto finally said. “So, what kind of training are we going to do for the final?”
Kakashi sighed. “Unfortunately you’ll probably end up fighting each other in the second round, so training you all together would be a problem. Also, Gaara is insanely strong and we’ve seen he likes to kill his opponents. I have some ideas on how to make sure that doesn’t happen to you, Sasuke, but it’s going to require intensive training. Fortunately, I managed to talk one of Konoha’s best instructors into helping us out. Sakura, Naruto, this is Ebisu. He’s going to be training both of you…”
We played along until Kakashi finished his explanation and left with Sasuke in tow, and then left a couple of clones with Ebisu while we went off to do other things. Kakashi really had called in some favors to get the jounin to train his students, after all, so it would be rude to just ditch him.
Hinata frowned slightly as we joined her on a rooftop a few blocks away.
“That was a little different,” she commented. “Although I note that he still abandoned you both to an inferior instructor so he could concentrate on his precious Uchiha.”
“Not exactly,” I replied thoughtfully. “You know, I used to get pretty mad about that, but I think I understand him better now. From his perspective we’re young, the world is at peace, and whether we make chuunin this time around isn’t that important. But Gaara really will kill Sasuke if he gets half a chance, so making sure that doesn’t happen has to be his first priority.”