So, new story. :P Sorry, but I really can't help it! When I finish a chapter of an idea that has at least a certain amount of momentum going on in my head, I've just gotta post it! Can't be helped, it's how I am.

Anyway, if you've read the first chapter of another recent fic of mine, The Silver Cherry Forest, you might notice a slight similarity here in regards to Yamato/Tenzou. That's because I actually have three different ideas with that bit in it, though this one came first. So I've got a MinaSaku, a KakaSakuMina, and the other one I don't have much on yet is actually an ObiSaku. That one's gonna just be a one shot, though. Hopefully. Maybe. Jeeze, I dunno! I mean, this was supposed to be a one shot too! But I think it won't be a long fic, shorter than ten chapters maybe?

Anyway, my writing proclivities aside, please enjoy this chappie and remember that I don't own Naruto!

Fire And Shadows

Chapter One

The village of Biratori in the south of Hi no Kuni specialised in a combination of tourism, and rice production. Of the total rice exported from the village, two thirds went to the nation's hidden village, Konohagakure, with the rest exported to the town that encircled the Daimyo's palace. The tourism was mostly due to the fact that there was a natural hot spring, which the village had been built around.

Right now, there was a festival, and two people walked through the streets, one with awe at the sights before him, the other with an indulgent, nostalgic smile.

"Can I play that game, nee-san? What about that one? Or-or that one?" a child of about six years excitedly asked.

A genuine smile graced his nee-san's face. "Whichever one you want," she told him, and giggled as he ran off to one of the stalls, though she made sure to catch up quickly to him.

It was hard to believe, but two years ago, when Haruno Sakura ended up back in time, she never thought she'd have a rescued Yamato with her. She'd decided to call him Tenzou, as Kakashi-sensei always did. (she never did hear the story of why that was) But seeing as she knew where Orochimaru's lab was (hello, being the apprentice of the Godaime Hokage here!) she decided that she was going to get him out of there before Danzou could get his slimy paws on him.

Lucky for her when she got there, Orochimaru hadn't long abandoned the place, and Danzou hadn't raided it yet. Sakura really wanted to get the bodies of the other children out and bury them properly, but she wasn't sure what kind of timetable she was on, and so settled for scourging the place with fire, then collapsing everything with some handy explosive tags she found in the hideout.

Since then the two of them had been living in Biratori, as Sakura had secured herself a job with the local salve maker as her 'apprentice'. They made enough to get by in a small cottage a little outside the village, that Sakura had bought with a bunch of cash plundered from a bandit group's lair, though there hadn't been much left over for anything more. Sakura and Tenzou were mostly self sufficient at the cottage, with a garden in the back to grow their own food, and a few chickens for their own eggs, as well as a cow that she'd saved from the slaughter house.

Sakura had already started training Tenzou, teaching him to defend himself. If it weren't for Danzou, she would have taken him to Konoha, in the hopes of keeping him safe. But with that rotten Councillor there, there was no way she was risking it. Tenzou knew not to use his mokuton, which he was still getting a handle on, around other people, in case it got back to the wrong ears.

There were so many things to do, like deal with Orochimaru, for one. And keep Obito out of Madara and Zetsu's grasp. Oh, and speaking of those two, what the heck was she supposed to do about them? Maybe if Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi had come back with her as well…

No use dwelling on that, she supposed, her attention diverted back to Tenzou, who was concentrating hard on one of the games. Sakura smiled indulgently as she watched, cheering when he won a large, stuffed crane. They spent the next hour or so going from stall to stall, though Tenzou had a strict 'no jutsu, and no showing your true strength' embargo on him. The mildly disappointed boy reluctantly 'lost' a few games so as not to arouse suspicion.

As the evening wore into night, Sakura piggy-backed a sleepy Tenzou and his prizes on the trip back to the house, where she immediately made him get ready for, and then go to bed. Once he was asleep, Sakura went out to reinforce the perimeter around the house, double checking the traps, genjutsu and seals she put up. They wouldn't stop anyone determined to get in, her traps weren't that good. But they'd provide enough warning for them to escape if necessary.

Once that was done, Sakura sat in her favourite tree, close enough to the house to sense Tenzou's chakra, but out far enough that she could also sense the town a bit, too. She liked to come out here at night, listen to the cicadas chirp, and the owls hoot. Sometimes, she could even fool herself that she was in her own time, perhaps just out on a mission, and would be home soon. But eventually she would need to go back to the house, remind herself that that was not going to happen ever again.

Tonight seemed no different from those other nights, but then something stirred on her senses. A prickling on one of her outlying wards. Quick and silent, she masked her chakra and headed out to where the ward had been triggered. Once she was close enough, Sakura used chakra to enhance her hearing, and heard the sounds of fighting. Reaching the spot in question, she saw four ninja in Kiri attire attacking someone in a Konoha flak jacket.

Instinct drove her, and she leapt down into the fray, the surprise attack allowing her to take out three of them right away. The fourth one managed to hold her back a bit, before he eventually went down as well.

"Are you alright…?" Sakura asked, turning to the Konoha ninja, her words cutting off when he fell to his knees, then forward into the ground. "Oh no! Hey! Don't pass out! Stay awake! You've got to stay awake!"

Sakura poured her healing chakra into him, noting severe damage to his ribs, internal bleeding, and some broken bones. Just how long had he been fighting them? She worked hard to keep him from dying, healing him to the point where she would be able to safely get him… where? To her house? To Biratori? There was no way she could get him to a Leaf outpost, she had no idea where one would even be. And there was no-one in the village that could look after him, not even Junko, the salve maker.

So, to the house, then.

Utilising her chakra enhanced strength, Sakura carried him all the way back to her house, carefully adjusting her sealing wards one handed so that she could bring him in. Kicking her shoes off in the genkan, she carried him in to the main room, where a futon was set up for when Tenzou couldn't sleep, and the two would 'camp out' in the living room.

Sakura lowered the ninja onto it, keeping him unconscious, because despite the fact he was a Konoha ninja, she still had no reason to trust him since she wasn't properly affiliated with the village in this time. She got up and switched on the lights, stoked the slowly dying fire in the irori back to life, turned to get a better look at her patient, then gasped at the sight of him.

He was a bit younger here, than the last time she saw him. And alive, for that matter. His bright, yellow hair was dirty and matted with blood (getting those stains out of the futon was gonna be a pain) and the superficial wounds she hadn't healed had scratched his face up quite a bit, but as a child of Konoha, growing up on the legends of the village, there was no way she was ever going to not recognise the Yondaime Hokage whenever she saw him.

Namikaze Minato lay bleeding on her futon, in her house.

So what did you think? Review please! :)