A little late I know. I wrote this from scratch, completely original from Dyslexic's version. I hope this meets the high expectations that you all have.

Also, before anyone says anything about Sakura's abilities, note that I just made up something after reading through her fandom wiki page for a few minutes and decided that I liked it. Until the third Heaven's Feel movie comes out, I have no idea what the full scope of her powers and limitations are.

I am aware that some of them are because she became the vessel for a god, but I don't care anymore.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 4 – Nara Sakura

Shirou was currently in the market, buying food for his house. He sighed, it had been three days since his reunion with Rin and so far, things seem to be looking up. If you ignored the fact that she roped him into being her errand boy, again. He now had to figure out how to secure more funds to buy the materials she needed for her experiments. Even if he accepted more commissions for weapons, and there were a lot of them since news spread of him re-forging the White Light Chakra Sabre, that might not be enough.

Kakashi had already banked in a million ryo into his accounts, despite his protests, which was equivalent to paying him for an S-ranked mission. Not that he could access the money right now. His inheritance was currently held in trust by the village until he was either sixteen or a genin, with him receiving a monthly stipend which he supplemented via his work as a blacksmith and renting out rooms in his house for shinobi.

He had long since mastered the art of balancing a budget before he even got into high school back in his old life, and his supplementary income paid for his magecraft experiments. Unfortunately, Rin's magecraft was quite expensive. But it was equally as powerful as it was expensive so it would be an expense well spent.

Rin's clan was rich, one of the richest in the village. The Hyuuga clan owned shares in various businesses throughout the Land of Fire and ran a very successful hair care product business. The wives of noble lords and Daimyos bought their product, that was how popular their products were.

Unfortunately, the finances of the clan and the finances of her family itself were separate. Part of the income earned by a member of the clan earned either from shinobi missions or business was given to the clan as a whole, not the clan head himself. Hiashi, as clan head merely controlled the clan's finances, their wealth did not belong to him. That money was for the use of the clan as a whole, buying gear for their shinobi, medicine, maintaining the compound's buildings, etc. Not just for the clan head's family.

As the line that ruled the clan, Rin's family was in of itself, quite rich. However, Rin did not have access to it and was not given any money to spend for herself. Anything she wanted to buy herself, she would have to ask her father to buy. And that would raise questions she did not want her father to ask. She took the secrecy of her research seriously after all.

So far, he and Rin had thought up various ways to earn more money, after he had vetoed her idea of hunting down missing-nin and cashing in on their bounties. That could wait until they were actual shinobi. What was she thinking, that someone who betrayed their nation and village would just roll over and die because she wanted to cash in on their bounty to buy a shiny rare jewel? Though knowing his luck, once they become official shinobi, and they would be shinobi since that was the only way to be worth anything in this village, they would encounter a missing-nin or two within a few months of entering service. His luck was just that bad.

One of the ways to make money they had thought up was to take advantage of their world's extensive amount of culture and literature. The Elemental Nations had a culture similar to his old world's East Asia, mainly Japanese, with some sprinkling of Korean and Chinese. And that was about it. Sure, from stories his occasional housemates told him, the different nations had their own unique cultures that differed from the Land of Fire's, but it was still mostly the same. Not quite like the difference between Europe and East Asia, more like the difference between Hokkaido and Tokyo. The social structure was the same, food culture had few variations depending on the region, and literature was rather limited.

He had found tales and historical figures that had startling similarities to his old home country, though the characters and stories were different. The tale of Kiyohime was one example. Instead of a daughter of a wealthy family, Kiyohime was an Uchiha who fell in love with a wandering samurai instead of a monk. Apparently, her turning into a giant dragon was due to him being killed by her clansmen who found out and disapproved of their love, instead of her love being rejected. She then proceeded to kill off the last of the Uchiha hit squad that survived the fight with the samurai then burned half the clan to death before escaping to who knows where. A true story apparently.

Then there was Minamoto no Yoshitsune, or Ushiwakamaru. Here she was a female samurai from Land of Iron who eventually became the General of the Land of Iron, the first female samurai to hold the title. In his old world, history remembered her as a man despite her katana in his Reality Marble telling him that 'he' was a 'she'. How anyone could mistake her gender in that revealing armour was a mystery to him. Arturia at least had the excuse of Merlin using his magic to hide her gender.

It was eerie how the history and people of this new world seemed to mimic Japan's. There was the leader of Amegakure, Hanzo the Salamander of the Hattori clan who seemed to be this world's analogue for the famous samurai of the Sengoku era. He was a monster of a shinobi who personally slaughtered an entire platoon of Konoha shinobi during the Second Shinobi World War, sparing only three.

Then there was the Legendary Sannin, whose names and abilities were coincidentally similar to the Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya. A toad sage named Jiraiya, the slug princess Senju Tsunade, and the traitor Orochimaru. It was like someone read the Japanese folklore and adapted it for this world.

Technological development in this world was interesting. Weapons technology seemed to not have advanced at all. Gun powder was never invented so, even though his house had electricity and appliances not too different from what he had in Fuyuki, the world's warriors were still using swords and bows in combat. Chakra probably made up for it.

Regarding his funding problem, their idea was to adapt some of their world's literature for the Elemental Nations. And the food culture as well. Apparently, nobody here had ever heard or eaten a cake before. Chocolate was commonly sold as bars or drinks but not used in desserts. He wondered how well cookbooks on Western cuisine would sell. He would also have to set up false identities and new bank accounts for the money. For that, he would need Rin's help. Despite his adopted father's former occupation, he did not exactly pass on the tricks of the trade before his untimely passing.

Shirou examined the vegetables on front of him and haggled with the stall owner over the price like an experienced housewife. Eventually, both found a price they could agree on and Shirou paid up and left with fresh cabbage and carrots.

Shirou paused as he caught a familiar scent in the air. It was 'hollow' and held a hint of darkness. Almost dropping his bags, Shirou looked around, hoping to catch sight of who he thought it was. His luck must have improved since it was only three days since his reunion with Rin.

Jumping on top of a roof by using a man's stall as a step, much to said stall owner's chagrin, Shirou looked down at the busy marketplace. The people there were not even surprised that a four-year-old just jumped several metres into the air with no effort. Citizens of shinobi villages had a high tolerance for weird things happening.

There, with Reinforced eyes, at the edge of the market, Shirou spotted two purple-haired girls just leaving. One was older, around seventeen by his estimate holding the hand of the younger girl, sisters maybe, who looked around his age. Both carried several bags of groceries.

He was too far to make out features and the two were facing away from him. But his sense of 'smell' for mystical energies was rarely wrong and no one else he knew had 'hollow' as an Element. But he did not want to get his hopes up. Purple hair was surprisingly common in this village. He had played host to five so far and had seen several others possessing the same hair colour in this village. Chakra, like the magical energy of his old world, had an interesting effect on genetics.

Forgetting about his recently bought items, Shirou followed after the two purple-haired girls from a safe distance. If he was right, then he would have some great news to tell Rin when he next visited her. Now if only he could figure out how to approach the two without looking like a creepy four-year-old stalker.

*Line Break*

Nara Sakura enjoyed her new life. When she first became aware of her rebirth, she was confused and scared. She remembered enough of her final moments when her sister's experiment ended up dragging her and senpai into the portal with her to realize what had likely happened to her. The giant-sized man holding her calling himself her otou-san was a good clue as well.

She was hopeful then, that her new life would be nothing like her old one. That her parents would not abandon her. When she was a year-old, both her parents went and got themselves killed defending the village against a giant demon fox. She just could not catch a break, could she?

She was awake and well aware of the conversation between her aunt from her mother's side and her uncle from her father's side. Her aunt was maybe fourteen while her uncle was a grown man. It was obvious who her new guardian would be.

She did not keep her hopes up, believing that with her luck, history would repeat itself and her uncle would turn out to be a terrible person. She was pleasantly surprised.

She had a loving family, adopted though she may be, an aunt who loved her with all her heart and always visited when she was on break from missions, an uncle who treated her like his own daughter along with his wife, their son who looked up to her as his big sister along with his friends.

Yes, compared to the childhood of Matou Sakura, the now Nara Sakura felt blessed in comparison. She wondered if this was karma for all the suffering she endured in her past life. She always did have an interest in Hinduism despite officially being of the Shinto faith.

'I'm bored.'

No, she was not crazy for having a voice in her head. That was just a side effect from all the abuse she endured and once containing the blackened remnants of a Holy Grail. Dark Sakura was born of the influence of Angra Mainyu, who had corrupted the Greater Grail since the end of the Third Holy Grail War, and all her pent-up dark emotions and thoughts.

According to Zelretch as he worked to free her from both the Crest Worms and the Grail pieces, the only reason their Holy Grail War did not end up with Angra Mainyu and Dark Sakura attempting to destroy the world was because Shirou asked her not to come to his house during the war. Talk about close calls.

Either way, despite Zelretch's best efforts, she was still stuck with Dark Sakura in her head and various abilities that being the pseudo host of All the World's Evils gave her.

'Hey! I thought you loved me!' Dark Sakura said in her head.

'You know what I mean,' Sakura thought back as she rolled her eyes.

Dark Sakura was thankfully, still her but darker and more expressive. She did not cause any trouble and helped her keep what abilities she still retained from Angra Mainyu in check.

She had mixed feelings about those abilities. On one hand, they were the result of Zouken's machinations and could have caused the end of the world. On the other hand, they gave her a tremendous boost in power when compared to other magi.

Despite no longer containing the grail pieces nor having accessed Akasha, she still ended up with a vast amount of magical energy in her reserves. Most of which she had nearly no control over, which was where Dark Sakura came in.

'Yeah, yeah. I know, I know. What would you ever do without little old me?'

'Probably live a normal life and marry senpai once we graduated from high school,' She shot back easily.

'I wish that would happen too. I'm still bored,' Dark Sakura said.

Sakura sighed. Her darker half had a point. She was bored as well. Her uncle was at work and Shikamaru-kun was playing over at Chouji's house, leaving her with Yoshino-oba-san at home. All the chores were done, and Yoshino would not let her use the kitchen until she was older. If only senpai was here, he would let her use his kitchen.

'Maybe I should go look for senpai. I'm sure that the boy oji-san was talking about a few days ago was him,' Sakura thinks.

'That's a great idea! We have to make sure no skank of a woman gets to him first!' Dark Sakura agreed. Shirou was theirs and no one else's! But she supposed they could maybe share with their sister. Maybe.

Sakura moped a bit. Senpai was hopelessly oblivious at how he attracted women like honey attracted bees. His combination of good looks, great personality and godlike cooking made him the perfect man to many women. How he never noticed she and nee-san would never know.

'Hey, don't be so down. We'll just jump him and kiss him senseless again! No way he can mistake that! And if any girls think they can get in our way!'

Sakura let out a dark aura, thinking about what she would do to anyone who was woman enough to get between her and senpai! It was bad enough having to compete with her sister, but throw in Luvia, Gray and senpai's legion of admirers and suddenly there's a problem.

Suddenly, the door opened and in stepped a young woman. She was seventeen years old with straight, purple hair reaching down to her waist, warm brown eyes, and a shade of red lipstick. She was dressed in civilian clothing but that did not mean anything when one was a kunoichi. For all anyone who looked at her knew, she could have been hiding knives in her pockets, which she was.

This was Uzuki Yugao, her aunt from her mother's side. She was often busy, doing classified work that from what Sakura could piece together meant that she was part of some black ops group in the village. Because of her work and young age when Sakura was orphaned, she could not look after her, so she left her upbringing to her brother-in-law and his clan. She still visited whenever she was not off at work though, like right now.

"Oba-chan!" Sakura went to give her aunt a hug, which she returned.

"Ooof! Sakura-chan, you're getting so big now! I was just gone for a month and now look at you!"

Yoshino walked into the living room from the kitchen and saw the two. "Oh, Yugao-chan! I didn't know you were back already."

"Just got back last night and bunked over at HQ for the night. I came to see my favourite little niece once it was morning and I was done with my mission report."

Sakura giggled. "I'm your only niece oba-chan."

"If it isn't too much trouble, could you take Sakura-chan to the market to buy some groceries? I know you just got back but we're low on groceries and I know Sakura-chan is bored with Shikamaru-kun over at Chouji's house," Yoshino asked, waving a list of groceries she needed.

"Sure, a day out with my cute little niece sounds great doesn't it, Sakura-chan?"

"OK, can we get some dango while we're there?"

"Sure. Let's go!"

Yugao accepted the list from Yoshino and left the house with Sakura. They went to the market not too far from the Nara clan compound and bought everything on the list plus dango.

"So, Sakura-chan, made any new friends while I was gone?" Yugao asked as they left the market.

"Not really. You know I don't usually leave the compound and when I do it's to be with Shikamaru-kun when he visits his friends in the Akimichi and Yamanaka compounds," Sakura answered as she ate her dango.

That was true. Most of the people Sakura knew in this new life were from the three allied clans. She never really left the house if she could and preferred to help Yoshino with the housework.

Inoichi once commented that she was the most un-Nara like Nara he ever knew. Most Naras, male and female, hated work. Oh, they trained, normally during the hours of dawn and dusk, when their shadow manipulation techniques were at their strongest, but getting a Nara to work usually required bribery of the strategic game kind where said Nara proceeds to school their opponents as if they were playing against five-year-olds, even if said Nara was five years old themselves.

Sakura was the exact opposite. She readily helped anyone who asked and often did so without any prompting. She also had unusually large reserved for a Nara, who were not known for large reserves like say the Hyuuga, Uchiha or Senju.

Sakura experimented with her abilities when she found the time to be alone. Her old life's abilities seemed to have meshed well with her Nara ones. Her shadows were unlike anything the clan had ever seen, not that they were aware that she was really just doing what she did with her shadow tendrils in her past life.

She had experimented with her chakra as well, having found a few books in her uncle's office regarding it. After some trial and error, one Nara Sakura had officially created a new form of shadow manipulation that was unrecorded in the clan's history.

Really, if the clan did not consider pride to be 'troublesome', they would have considered announcing her as a prodigy by now.

Fortunately for her, the Nara clan was well aware of the fate that awaited prodigies so often had their children hold back when in the Academy.

Naras were geniuses, due to the higher concentration of Yin chakra they were born with to use their shadow techniques. It meant that their physical strength took longer to develop but their minds matured and worked faster than others.

Sakura decided to change the subject. "Besides, when are you going to bring my new uncle to meet me?"

Yugao choked on her dango. "Who told you that!" Yugao was red-faced as she recovered.

Sakura cheekily answered, "Well, you came back yesterday but didn't come home immediately. You said you bunked at your workplace, but I know that isn't true since you once told me you hated the barracks. Then this morning, you smelled of using a man's shampoo and soap, and not the one you usually use since it smells different. Oh, and your reaction earlier just confirmed everything for me."

Yugao sighed. She, a hardcore ANBU agent, able to stare some of the toughest bastards in this world in the eye without flinching, bested by her four-year-old niece. "If there was ever any doubt that you were a Nara, they're gone now."

Sakura giggled. "So, who is it? Is it that kenjutsu teacher of yours? Hayate was it? Ooh, having a relationship with your sensei. Oba-chan is so naughty!"

Normally, Sakura would not be so open, teasing her aunt like this. However, the years she spent with her nee-san and senpai have been good to her and she became more open.

"Yes, it's my kenjutsu sensei, Gekko Hayate. We're trying to keep it quiet so please keep it to yourself."

"Only if you bring him to meet me! I need to make sure he's good enough for my oba-chan!"

'And if he isn't, scare him away in plausibly deniable ways!'

'That too,' Sakura agreed with her dark half. If he hurt her, well her shadows ability to consume people was a great way to dispose of evidence.

"Alright, alright. Let's get home and give Yoshino-san her groceries." Yugao left out the fact that she felt as if they were being watched, but she could not pinpoint where their watcher was and wanted to get to safety as soon as possible.

Contrary to popular belief that the civilians and less experienced shinobi subscribed to, Konoha was not as secure as they would believe. Oh, there were safeguards and patrols, but the village had been infiltrated before.

The two left for the Nara compound as their watcher looked on from afar.

*Line Break*

'Yup, definitely Sakura,' Shirou thought as he watched the two purple-haired girls leave. He had trailed after the two and managed to get a good look at their faces. The younger one looked exactly like how Sakura looked at a young age from the pictures he had seen in the Tohsaka Manor, just with purple hair and eyes instead of looking like a miniature Rin.

The older one was definitely a kunoichi. The way she subtly searched her surroundings indicated that she knew he was observing them. She had not found him yet since he was observing them from a kilometre away and he doubted that she could see that far or was a sensor.

Chakra could be used like Od to Reinforce the body, but it had limitations as well. Put too much chakra or Od and you might just cause your muscles or organs to give out. He had seen gruesome images from when that happened. Not pretty. And the stronger you already are, the more you can safely reinforce your body.

He straddled the line between life and death quite often when Reinforcing himself. He took it to the very edge of his limits. Any more and he would kill himself. No sane person would willingly risk himself for some enhancements when you could just design some Mystic Codes to do the same. He did not have that luxury starting out and even when Rin became his teacher and sort of quartermaster when it came to Mystic Codes, he continued Reinforcing himself to near-suicidal limits when in combat.

Besides, he doubted that she knew how to Reinforce her eyes. Reinforcing organs were always riskier than doing so to muscles. You overdo it with muscles you go to the hospital for a few days or weeks as the medics fix you up. You mess up with your organs you might just die. Shinobi regularly reinforced their muscles and senses with chakra, but eyesight was not one of them. Something about eyeballs literally popping out or some other gruesome tale.

He doubted that she was a sensor either, or at least did not have the range needed to spot him from this distance. He was about a kilometre or so from them, most natural sensors had a range in the hundreds of metres and some talented ones in the kilometres, or so that one sensor he played host to said. You could train yourself to sense chakra signatures, but the range was often limited to a few dozen metres around you. Good for spotting ambushes, not so good for tracking targets.

Shirou observed from his perch as the two made their way to the Nara compound. Shirou frowned, he would have to infiltrate another shinobi clan compound. Of course, the girls could not have made it easy for him. Damn his E-rank luck.

Shirou reviewed what he knew of the Nara clan from the stories his guests told him. They could manipulate shadows for various purposes. They could force you to mimic their movements if ensnarled by their shadows or even kill you by solidifying their shadows as sharp tendrils or hands to strangle you. And they were also undoubtedly almost all naturally born strategists and tacticians.

Shirou doubted that they were as lazy as people said they were. It was likely a mask they used to make others underestimate them. And being lazy but brilliant had its advantages. They would come up with a plan for the best results using minimum effort. The best kind of plan, right up there with using overwhelming firepower to achieve your goals.

Shirou frowned. He would have to plan this carefully. He got lucky with Rin he might not be so with Sakura. Major clans like the Hyuugas and Naras had great influence in this village. If he was not careful, they could make his life difficult even if the Hokage decided to protect him.

He would have to come back later after he took his forgotten groceries back home. In his mind, a plan was already taking form as he took in the layout of the Nara compound from where he was.

*Line Break*

"Shikamaru-kun, does that cloud look like a bunny to you?" Sakura asked her little brother.

The two of them were spending the afternoon cloud watching on a hill in the Nara clan forest. They did this every afternoon as sibling bonding time, along with some games after dinner before bedtime.

"Looks like a deer to me," Shikamaru answered after taking a look at it with half-opened eyes. He wanted to take a nap before his mother inevitably called him home to do chores. Troublesome. Why couldn't his kaa-chan be like Sakura-nee-chan? She never gave him work to do.

In his overdeveloped three-year-old mind, he had already decided that his nee-chan was the least troublesome woman in existence and thus his favourite. She was not like Ino, who was a bossy girl and never stopped talking, or his kaa-chan who seemed to always have something for him to do and tolerated no delays. His numerous aunties in the Nara, Akimichi and Yamanaka clans just liked to coo over him and his friends over how cute they were and never left them alone. Nee-chan just let him sleep in her lap when they were cloud watching and soothingly stroked his hair.

He already had his life planned out. He would become a shinobi, as expected from the next head of the clan, advance no further than chunnin, retire from the field sometime in his twenties, marry a woman who was not troublesome and maybe have a child or two. And pawn off raising the brats to his nee-chan. Yes, Nara Shikamaru had the next two decades of his life planned out at the age of three. Such was the way of the Nara male. Too bad that Nara males had a tendency for falling for females of the troublesome kind and thus ruining their life plans so painstakingly planned from childhood.

Sakura just smiled as Shikamaru dozed off in her lap. She cherished moments like this where they could be children and forget that in a few years, she would be off to the Academy and learning to be a child soldier. She had accepted the fact easily enough, what with the cultural difference between her two lives. She had no plans to graduate early, wanting to hold on to her childhood as long as possible.

'Besides, we would wipe the floor with those chibi-shinobis anyway!'

Sakura mentally shrugged. She was not wrong. Her shadows could even take out several experienced shinobi with little effort, as her uncles found out when they annoyed her a bit too much and her darker-self decided to retaliate. They were fine, a few moments covered in utter darkness never hurt anybody. She could use some work on her Taijutsu and Bukitjutsu though, having never really focused on fighting in her past life.

"Shikamaru! It's time to feed the deer! Get over here and don't even think about having Sakura do it for you!" Yoshino yelled from their home. Considering that the house was around a kilometre or so from where they were, that was a remarkable achievement and a skill all those who married into the clan learned quickly to motivate their significant others.

'How does she do that? Is it a jutsu?'

'No, I think it's a skill people develop to deal with lazy Naras,' Sakura theorized. Her senpai and nee-san did not need much to get them working since all three of them shared the housework and were generally hard-working people, if in different areas of interest. So, she never saw the need to be loud, just kindly ask and one of them would usually get to it.

Shikamaru grumbled and buried his head deeper in her lap. Sakura just smiled and nudged him awake. "You should go now. You don't want to make your kaa-san annoyed at you do you?"

Shikamaru groaned and muttered the Nara clan's customary 'troublesome'. But he did get up and start to move towards their house where his mother was no doubt already waiting with a bucket of feed for the deer.

Sakura smiled at her little brother's leaving form and laid back down. She sighed as she spotted a cloud that looked like three friends playing together. How she missed her nee-san and senpai.

She wondered where they were and if they were even reborn in the same village as her. Senpai she was mostly sure was here. Who else could return a broken legendary blade to its former glory as a child?

Her nee-san whereabouts were still unknown to her. She hoped wherever she was, she was safe and happy as she was.

She was so immersed in her thoughts that neither she nor her dark counterpart noticed that she was no longer alone until the sound of someone laying down next to her caught her attention.

*Line Break*

'This was surprisingly easy,' Shirou thought as he made his way through the Nara clan forest. He had found a gap in the clan's guard rotation and made a dash for it. He had used a different tactic this time, his method of infiltrating the Hyuuga clan compound not needed here since Naras, unlike Hyuugas do not have eyes that were utter bullshit.

He had traced Carnwennan, King Arthur's dagger which had the ability to hide the wielder in a shroud of shadow. With it, he moved about unseen as he followed the scent of where Sakura was. It was remarkably useful for a C-ranked Noble Phantasm and something you would not expect the chivalrous King of Knights to have or use. Who expects a knight to sneak around unseen like an assassin?

He followed the scent as he moved close to a small hill where Sakura was. He passed by a small Nara boy who grumbled something about chores as he walked towards where all the houses were. He made it to the field where his nose lead him.

There, laid back on a small hill watching the clouds flypast was a girl who he had not seen in years since his rebirth. Her purple hair flew in the light breeze and the peaceful, content look on her face as she gazed at the clouds. There were no doubts now, he had found Sakura.

Quietly, he made his way next to her and laid down, dismissing Carnwennan in the process, startling her. She looked at him in shock.

"Long time no see, Sakura-chan," he greeted.

"Senpai!/ Senpai!" She got up and stared at him, wide-eyed as if not believing that he was next to her. She looked up at his hair and had to hold in her giggles. "Senpai, your hair!"

In her mind, Dark Sakura was not so restrained.

'Hahahaha! Oh kami, did you dye your hair to resemble a poodle?! Hahaha!'

Shirou's mood darkened a bit. Even Sakura, sweet, kind Sakura who couldn't say a bad thing about anyone, was laughing at his hair. He could understand if it was her darker half, but the nice Sakura as well? Curse his E-ranked luck!

His dark thoughts vanished as he felt her hug him, holding on tight as if he would disappear if she let go. He hugged her back.

"I missed you senpai," Sakura said, holding back tears.

"I'm here, Sakura-chan. I'm here," Shirou said.

*Line Break*

"You look happy. Did something good happen to you today Sakura-chan?" Yoshino asked.

Sakura's new family was having dinner. Everyone was there, even Yugao. Sakura did have a happy smile on her face, one more expressive than her usual kind smiles. She came back sometime after dusk, later than usual and too late to offer to help her aunt cook dinner. Really unusual as far as the Nara household was concerned.

She had spent the time catching up with Shirou, after setting up a Bounded Field to alert her to anyone getting close and to block off sound leaving the field. She did still keep her skills as a magus and what her nee-san taught her. She was glad as well when he told her of his meeting with nee-san a few days ago. After a while, she let Dark Sakura take over as she wanted to talk to senpai as well.

Of course, she had to start the conversation by asking if he seduced any girls in this new life, causing him to splutter. Then he talked about this Tenten girl whose father owned the shinobi supply store that he worked with. This bears investigating.

'You mean murder,' Dark Sakura said. 'Four years old and already the competition is showing up!'

Sakura sighed. Senpai and his uncanny ability to get girls to fall for him without even realizing it. She and nee-san had to practically kiss the lights out of him for him to realize that their relationship was more than just friendship.

When dusk came, they reluctantly parted ways and she promised to visit him at his house. It would be just like the good old days when they were in high school, though she was unlikely to visit with the frequency that she used to. She had a true family to go home to now, after all, something senpai was happy for her. Maybe she could bring Shikamaru-kun and his friends along with her. Senpai even promised to let her use his kitchen, something she had been itching to do for a while now. Yoshino-oba-san did not let her help in the kitchen, citing her young age.

"I met a boy today," Sakura answered, causing Shikaku to choke on his rice. A boy! Already?! He thought he would have more time than this! Don't girls usually not notice boys until puberty? He was going to murder the fool who thought he was good enough for his precious little Sakura-chan!

Shikamaru suddenly looked more awake than he usually was, giving his sister his full attention. Who was this boy that his nee-chan met? Was it after he left? Why was he only hearing about this now? Was he good enough for his nee-chan? Ino would know! Her kaa-chan knew everything in this village and would probably tell her.

Yoshino and Yugao, on the other hand, had a marginally different reaction to that statement. Yugao was ecstatic. Finally, her little niece was making friends that were not from just three clans. "Tell us more."

"Yes, who is this new friend of yours and when can we meet him?" Yoshino asked.

Sakura put down her chopsticks as she contemplated her answer. She and senpai had come up with a story for how they met. She absolutely would not get him in trouble by mentioning he snuck into the clan compound. "He got lost and wandered into the clan's forest. We met after Shikamaru-kun left to feed the deer and we spent the rest of the time getting to know each other and cloud watching."

Shikamaru felt betrayed. He thought that cloud watching together was something reserved only for him. He would sulk about this later. Getting more information out of his nee-chan was more important.

"Aww, how sweet! But tell us more! What's his name? Is he cute? When will you bring him to meet us?" Yoshino asked in quick succession.

"Uhm, his name is Shirou. I guess so, he has pink hair and is kind of cute. And he invited me to his house two days from now."

"My cute little niece is making friends now! I'm so happy!"

"Yugao-oba-chan!" Sakura felt embarrassed by her aunt's reaction. Was making a friend such a big deal? "So, can I go?"

Skikaku made to answer but was beaten to it by his wife. "Of course, you can! Maybe you should bring Shikamaru-kun as well. Get him to leave the house every once in a while."

"Maybe next time. I kind of want to go alone at first. Of course, he can come with me if he wants too."

Shikamaru frowned as he mentally debated the pros and cons of this. Going with her would mean disrupting his preferred daily routine. On the other hand, this was his nee-chan making a new friend outside of the clan. Decisions, decisions.

"Actually, I wanted to bring Shikamaru-kun out of the village to visit some of our clan's holdings. Let him have a tour of what our clan has beyond the village as heir," Shikaku said. He originally wanted to bring Sakura-chan as well, but her making a new friend was probably more important right now. Let her have a childhood before duty rears its ugly head and she had to be a kunoichi.

He still was not sure about the boy, having never met him. But he trusted his niece, she had a good head on her shoulders despite her young age. Besides, if the boy hurt her, nothing short of an act of kami would stop him from getting vengeance! He was already planning on asking Inoichi to compile a personality profile on the boy, who from Sakura's description of pink hair, was probably the same boy who caused such an uproar a few days ago by re-forging a legendary blade.

"And when were you going to tell me this?" Yoshino asked, eye twitching at having not been informed.

Shikaku picked a piece of beef from a plate. "It wasn't anything urgent. Just a tour of our holdings within a few hours walk away from the village. Nothing big, we'll be back by dinner."

What happened next was Shikaku defending himself from an irritated wife as said wife tore him a new one for not informing her of something she should have been informed of, Yugao trying to calm them both down, Shikamaru resting his head on the dinner table with a muttered 'troublesome' as his parents have one of their regular arguments that he was mature enough to know did not mean anything bad.

Sakura smiled, glad at the change in topic. She used her chopsticks to grab a piece of steamed broccoli as the family went about its usual shenanigans. Just another night in the Nara household.

*Line Break*

Sakura stood in front of a door, unsure if she should knock. She had checked the address and it matched the one senpai gave her. Yugao-oba-chan had dropped her off here before she went to find her boyfriend.

'Coast is clear. Looks like Shikaku-oji-san really was telling the truth and not giving a half-assed excuse to spy on us,' Dark Sakura said after using her sensing abilities to check for any followers.

She had half-expected Shikamaru and his friends to follow her, but it seemed that she was in the clear for now. Once she and senpai got their story clear, she would ask if she could bring them along next time.

Steeling herself, she knocked on the door. She heard the sound of someone moving from the other side and the door opened. There, standing in front of her was her senpai, wearing an apron. He smiled at seeing her. "Good morning, Sakura-chan."

"Good morning, senpai."

"Please, come in." Shirou moved to the side, motioning for Sakura to enter. Placing her sandals on the rack, she walked in and put on the slippers Shirou had prepared for her. She took a look around the living room. It was different from his house in Fuyuki and the house they stayed in in London, but it had a homey feel to it. She could spot where senpai had tried to make the place look like his old home. Many good memories were made for both of them there.

"Why don't you make yourself comfortable while I make us some

tea," senpai said as he went to the kitchen. She knelt on a cushion at the low table, noting that the living room layout was just like she remembered back in Fuyuki.

Suddenly, a sliding door leading to deeper into the house slid open. "Shirou! I can't believe you consider this an adequate workshop! It's better than your old shed but then again that's not much of an improvement! I thought I taught..."

Sakura stared at the newcomer. Redshirt and black mini-skirt, check. Hair in twin-tails, check. Bossy attitude but secretly sweet on the inside, check. White featureless eyes, well that was new. All in all, she was sure that this was her nee-san.

Rin could only stare at the person sitting in Shirou's living room. She remembered feeling ecstatic and relieved when Shirou told her he found Sakura. Ecstatic because she was found, relieved because she was born into a good family. She deserved the chance at a happy childhood this time around, after all, that she had been through.

The two stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. Sakura stood up slowly and walked to face her sister. Were they still sisters? They no longer shared blood after all.

The two were face to face, unsure of what to say before Rin threw caution out of the wind and pulled Sakura into a tight, desperate hug. The two sisters were finally reunited after four years apart.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry..." Rin cried into Sakura as she hugged back.

"I'm a terrible sister! I got us all killed and... and..."

"There, there. I forgive you," Sakura patted her sister on the back. What was there to forgive? She had a wonderful new family now and a fresh new start. "There is nothing to forgive." Sakura started to tear up as well. How she missed them both.

Shirou smiled from the door leading to the kitchen. He placed the tray with the teapot and cups on the table and stayed back. The three of them were reunited at last.

Omake

Shikamaru grumbled as he accompanied his father on his tour of the clan's holdings outside of the village. He would rather be back home with his nee-chan. He had to make sure that this guy nee-chan met was not a creep after all.

He conveniently ignored the mature part of his mind that whispered he was merely being a clingy little brother. So what? It was his right as a little brother to make sure that his sister was not hurt. What if this Shirou guy was mean to her? What if he was a bully? Was he stealing his nee-chan from him?

Shikamaru's mind went a mile a minute on how his nee-chan's new 'friend' might hurt her while waiting for his tou-san to finish talking to the clansmen who looked after one of their farms where they grew and processed medicinal herbs for medicines and soldier pills.

The two were on their way to another one of their clan's holdings, this time a research facility when his father spoke up. "So, what has your mind going as fast as it is?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Troublesome brat. It's about Sakura-chan's new friend isn't it?"

Shikamaru did not answer. He did not have to. His father was dead on about what was bothering him.

"I understand. I'm not too sure about it either. I'll have to meet the boy myself to be sure."

"Then why did you let her go alone?"

Shikaku sighed. "Because she needs to make friends outside the clan."

Shikamaru was about to protest. Was he, Chouji and Ino not enough? Were the other kids in the clan not enough? His father explained before he could voice it though.

"Look, there are more people in this world than just those in the clan. One day, you'll be making friends your age that aren't beholden to you as the heir of the clan. Besides, friends are an important part of growing up. You'll meet all sorts of people when you join the Academy, not just Naras, Akimichis and Yamanakas. Who knows, you might even like some of them."

Shikamaru grumbled out an 'unlikely' and 'troublesome'. That still did not elevate his fears for his sister.

"Now enough about that. There's still an hour's walk to the next place. Let's talk about what we will do if this boy hurts Sakura-chan."

Shikamaru perked up. Soon, father and son bonded over the increasingly humiliating and scary ways to set Shirou straight should Sakura-chan even get a papercut.

*Elsewhere*

In the Nara clan's head house, a woman felt the sudden urge to smack her husband over the head with her frying pan and bury her son in enough chores to last all week.

'Why do I have this feeling we should have a 'conversation' with Shikaku-oji and Maru-chan?' Dark Sakura asked as they were catching up with their sister.

'They're probably thinking of something stupid. We'll set them straight when they come back.' Sakura replied.

Any criticism is welcome. Dark Sakura is here to stay though no matter what the reviews might say.

Stay safe and here's hoping that the Americans can resolve their issues without resorting to an American Civil War 2.0.