Chapter Twenty Six

Deep under the rich soil of the Village Hidden in the Leaf's, a hell was carved from sedimentary stone.

Her steps echoed off the damp walls as prisoners clung to the metal bars pleading for their lives upon seeing the only person who could ever set them free. Commander Haruno's narrowed eyes never faltered, ignoring their desperate cries as she strolled through the prison under the leaf village towards the interrogation room.

"What are you doing?" Sakura stopped, turning around seeing the two peeking around the corner.

"Wh-Wha-!?" Tsunade awkwardly laughed having been busted she walked into view with Kakashi beside her.

"I can handle this on my own."

"We know." Kakashi shrugged, "We are just here for moral support."

"Moral support my ass-" Sakura muttered, "-nosy fucks."

"We'll just be in the room observing-"

"Yeah-Yeah." Sakura waved nodding at Carver to follow the two into the observation room.

"You think she'll be ok?" Tsunade wondered as Carver closed the door behind him.

"She's faced worse." Carver reinsured turning gazing through the two-way mirror seeing Sakura walk into the room containing the print.

"Who are you!?" The print stood.

"Sit down." Sakura casually replied, moving to the chair across from the print taking a seat.

"Don't tell me to sit down!" The print bit, reminding Tsunade and Kakashi of her short temper back in the day.

"Sit-" Sakura's tone dropped, "-before I make you." Sakura and the print held a fractured glare before the print slowly did as told.

"Who are-"

"God damn-" Sakura snapped, "-you're not a fucking broken record-"

"No one is answering my questions!" The print slammed her hand on the metal table. "Who are you!? Where am I!?"

"You're in the Leaf Village." Sakura replied.

"No-" The print shook her head, "-I am not in my village. This-This must be a jutsu of some kind or-or..."

"The village you're thinking about-" Sakura's demeanor was calm, she leaned lazily against the chair, leg crossed with her back to the mirror. "-is about eight years in the past."

"Wh-What?" The print breathed, soft emerald eyes widened.

"You're a print." Sakura exposed.

"A...what?"

"A copy of me." Sakura further explained.

"No, I'm not." The print scoffed with an eyeroll. "This is a trap or something, my team's mission must have gone wrong and you're not going to fool me!"

"Was I always this dense?" Sakura wondered more to herself.

Tsunade pressed her hand against the glass, the prints light voice muffled inside Tsunade's ears feeling herself getting ripped into the past. The last time she seen Sakura's round baby face was when she forced her out of the village. The familiar ping of guilt bit the bottom of her heart.

"The resemblance is uncanny." Tsunade breathed.

"It would be." Carver muttered; his stomach soured recalling his time inside the Reaper's lab. He knew how this print was made; he just didn't understand why. "That's why they are made."

"They?"

"Those things." Carver spat the word. Kakashi turned from Carver's darkened expression to gaze at the print. Those soft emerald eyes, her round baby face and short controlled hair were like something out of splintered memories pointing out from the past. Her lenient voice rose goosebumps along his skin.

"Where is my team!?" The print screamed, sending a sharp pain through Sakura's ear.

"I am two feet away-" Sakura was beginning to feel irked. "-you don't need to yell."

"I will continue to scream and fight until you tell me where my team is-!"

"One is behind me the other two are above you." Sakura flatly replied.

"What-?"

"You wanted to know where Naruto and them are right?"

"Where is Sasuke!?" The print leaned forward; eyes watered. "Is-Is he ok!?"

"I don't fucking no." Sakura shrugged. "I don't talk to the moron."

"Don't talk about him like that-!"

"Why?" Sakura tilted her head, "What has he ever done for you?"

"He-He-"

"Exactly."

"Sasuke will come for me." The print mumbled, as if she was trying to convince herself.

"No." Sakura shook her head, "No one is coming for you, because you're not real."

"This ploy of yours really isn't working-!"

Sakura glanced over her shoulder, allowing the three in the hidden room to see her glowing eyes.

"She has been going through her head this whole time?" Tsunade whispered.

"What do you think she's been doing?" Carver wondered, "She wouldn't willingly sit in the same room as one of those things without a good reason."

"I wonder what she found." Tsunade mumbled, her astonished eyes never leaving the prints annoyed face.

"Listen-" Sakura stood. "-because I am only going to say this once. You're nothing but a stolen face, you're not Sakura Haruno. You're not a member of Team Seven, you're nothing-"

"Where are my parents!?" The print looked around the room, Sakura's words refusing to soak in.

"Dead."

"Wh-What!?" The print gasped. "What have you done!?" The print stood so fast the chair fell backwards. "Where are they!?" The print screeched. "What have you done to my parents!? Where-Where is my team-!?" Sakura rose from her chair seeing the print having a mental breakdown.

"About time." Carver stretched his arms. "I'm tired of watching it."

"What do you mean?" Tsunade turned.

"Sakura found everything she needed."

"Wh-?" Tsunade turned to see Sakura on her feet, hand reaching to her leg. "-no!" Tsunade bolted to the door, ripping it open.

"What are you-!?" Carver flipped around running after the Hokage into the interrogation room.

"Sakura stop!" Tsunade rushed over, gripping Sakura's wrist who had pinned the print against the wall about to bless the world by getting rid of the unwanted creature.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked, letting the print drop to the floor gasping for breath.

"What am I doing!?" Tsunade barked, "What are you doing!?"

"I finished going through its head, it's useless now."

"So, you were going to kill her!?"

"Well...yeah?"

"What else do you do with prints?" Carver crossed his arms.

"You-We-We aren't going to kill her!"

"It." Carver corrected.

"She-She is you!" Tsunade pressed.

"I am right here." Sakura retorted,

"But she is still alive, and innocent-"

"It has my face." Sakura tried to make Tsunade understand. "It has memories that don't belong to it."

"That's not her fault." Tsunade shook her head.

"If anyone-" Carver stepped forward, "-has a say on what happened to it, it should be Sakura since it's a stolen copy of her."

"I am not a copy!" The print cried, tears leaking down her face. "Sen-Sensei!" The print jumped to its feet, wrapping her arms around Kakashi's torso. "I knew you would come for me!"

Kakashi froze, unsure of what to do.

"Get your hands off him." Sakura seethed, turning to face the print.

"Sensei, what is going on!?" The print ignored the commander. "We must get out of here; we need to get home and find the others-!"

As Kakashi looked at Sakura, their eyes locked, he knew then. This woman whose eyes have hardened after all she has seen. Her curved face and long wild hair, she was his cherry blossom, the one he would follow to the ends of the earth.

"I-I'm not..." Kakashi pulled from the prints grasp.

"Sensei?" The print innocently gazed at his masked face. Kakashi stepped back, this was something he couldn't have an opinion on. If Sakura felt this strongly about it, she must have a good reason.

"Tsunade-" Sakura glanced to the blonde. "-if you're not cut out for this then leave the room."

"You're not killing her!"

"I am right here!" Sakura snapped, taking steps towards Tsunade. "I am alive and standing right in front of your face!"

"But she-"

"Isn't real!" Sakura dug, "That thing isn't a second chance for you to fix what you did."

"I-I wasn't-"

"Then you should have no problem with me getting rid of it."

"Sakura I...it isn't right."

"What is right is having a ghost of what I use to be walking around my fucking village."

"We...I can't let you do this, it's wrong."

"Its entire existence is wrong." Carver butted in. "We don't know who made it, or why they sent it. It's a hazard to let it walk around the village."

"Then she won't walk around the village." Tsunade perked up, "We keep her locked up until we figure out who sent her!"

"Oh yeah-" Carver grimly laughed, "-that's so much better!"

"Then what do you suggest Carver!?" Tsunade snapped.

"Kill it."

"Why are you talking about me like I'm not here!?" The print whimpered.

"Because we don't care." Carver bluntly replied.

"Who even are you!?"

"I'm her right-hand man." Carver smugly answered nodding over to Sakura.

"Are you now?" Sakura smirked.

"Yeah." Carver boldly nodded.

"Alright right hand, take this thing back to her cell."

"Oh, come on!" Carver groaned.

"You're the only one I trust to watch it." Sakura smoothly buttered him up.

"Fine!" Carver sighed, grapping the prints arm as she complained calling after Kakashi, Carver dragged her from the room.

"Your...going to listen to me?" Tsunade blinked.

"You're the Hokage." Sakura answered, "But whatever it does or whatever may follow it, falls onto you."

"Wait but-"

"Nope." Sakura shook her head. "You won't let me unalive it, so it's your problem not mine. Figure out who sent it yourself."

"But don't you want to-"

"Normally yes." Sakura turned. "But since you decided to say fuck my opinion and ignore my warnings you can do this on your own."

"Sakura-!" Tsunade called after as Commander Haruno left the room.

"And your only getting Carver for the night." Sakura said over her shoulder. "So, you better work fast."