Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.

Those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.

Those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.

Worse than trash.

Trash. Trash. Trash.

Kakashi-sensei’s mantra repeated like an air-raid siren through Sakura’s skull as she left Naruto’s hospital room. The hospital room he was stuck in, covered head to toe in bandages because of her. Because she was weak, because she couldn't stop Sasuke-kun from leaving, because she was dead weight, a burden.  

She had let Naruto run after Sasuke-kun, because she was too scared to go herself, the sting of his rejection fresh. She let her teammate go off on his own against Orochimaru’s shinobi. Shinobi who had taken down jounin with ease. She really was trash. Worse than trash. The thought made her lips curl into a very un-ladylike snarl, as a wave of rage and self-loathing came over her.

‘Well? What are you going to do about it?’

Sakura stopped short as she was exiting the hospital, the sight of Inner in her mind, standing with her arms crossed, defiance burning through her chalkboard silhouette as she raised an eyebrow in question.

‘Didn’t you say we were going to stop being dead weight? Didn’t you promise Naruto?’

Inner was right. Sakura couldn't just sit here wallowing in self-hatred. What's done, was done. She had to become stronger, better. She had to no longer be a scared little girl on a team of giants. She could be a monster too, she would be.  

‘What do you propose we do then?’ she asked, and she saw Inner smile like a shark in her mind's eye.

'Sasuke’s gone off to Orochimaru, Naruto has Jiraiya, who's to say we don't get our very own Sannin?’

And just like that, Sakura’s own shark-like smile crawled upon her face as she set off from the hospital, the Hokage tower in the distance.

Sakura smoothed out her red qipao top, anxiously wringing her hands together to avoid the urge to pull at her hair. After she had made an appointment with the secretary to see Tsunade-sama she had run back to her apartment to change, knowing that if her mother was still alive she’d have organised an entire ensemble complete with perfume and the perfect lip shade.

Hell, Hahaue probably would have written her an entire speech to present.

Most of her clothes had gone with the house, when it had been decimated in Orochimaru and the Sands attack, her only clothes that were even salvageable were the ones carefully sealed and protected in her go bag she kept at the bottom of her bed for surprise missions. 

Which meant no fancy dresses or kimonos to greet the literal supreme leader of her village with.

She could go find Ino, the girl definitely wouldn’t turn her away for something like this, she’d probably be over the moon but, some part of Sakura knew she had to do this on her own. If she couldn’t get through a simple request for an apprenticeship, then she really was a worse ninja than she thought.

Because that's all this was, she was just asking for an apprenticeship, that's all. Simple. She just needed to ask one of the most legendary shinobi in the elemental nations who now wore the Hokage hat to train her.

Easy!

Sakura shoved her hands into her hair and pulled. She was so screwed, what was she thinking? She wasn’t Naruto, she couldn't just waltz in and talk her way into this! She wasn’t Kakashi-sensei or Sasuke-kun where her talent or potential could speak for itself. She was a below average genin from a civilian background, what chance, what right did she have to demand Senju Tsunade to teach her? 

'It’s not just about us, Outer, remember who we’re doing this for.'

Her team. She may not be like them but she could be. Wasn’t Naruto a dead last loser for the entirety of the academy years? Now he was on the same level as Sasuke-kun! Because he hadn’t given up. Because giving up wasn’t something the dumbass blonde even knew how to do.

‘Imagine telling us from 6 months ago we’d be inspired by Naruto of all people.’ Sakura thought in begrudging wonder.

'Please, we’ve always admired him for his ability to speak his mind. Even if it was extremely annoying.'

Sakura took a deep breath, removing her hands from her hair to smooth it back into place. This was her first mission to become a worthy comrade, to be someone her precious people, as Naruto would put it, could rely on. She would give it her all, even if she had to let Inner take the reins to see it through.

With a nod to herself, Sakura walked out of her apartment, knees positively trembling in what she was stubbornly insisting was excitement and not fear so big it felt like it would swallow her whole. She had an appointment to get to, and while she may have disappointed her mother with her career choice, she’d never be as disrespectful to Haruno Mebuki’s memory as to be anything less than 10 minutes early!

“What the hell do you want, brat, I have a village in the shitter I have to attend to.”

Sakura blinked, caught off guard by the woman's demeanor.

‘The books about her did not mention the language so foul that it’d make Hahaue cry.’ Inner commented, definitely impressed.

Sakura repressed a scoff. “Sorry, Tsunade-sama, I’ll be quick.” she said instead, waiting for the Hokage's go-ahead. When none came, Sakura's eyebrow twitched.

'Had Sandaime-sama been this rude?'

“Uhm, Hokage-sama, my name is Haruno Sakura, I’m a genin formerly on Team Seven under Hatake Kakashi.” 

That got the woman's attention, her eyes flitting up to take in the girl standing in front of her. Sakura blushed at the attention, hoping she hadn’t already embarrassed herself by mentioning her disaster of a team.

“As you know, due to recent circumstances, our team will no longer be a 4 man squad. I assume, because of this, Kakashi-sensei will no longer be available to teach me.”

“You said you’d make this quick?” Tsunade intoned, her hand twitching unconsciously to her desk drawer.

‘So rude!’

‘She’s so cool.’

“Ah, yes.” Sakura folded herself into a bow. “I’d like to be taken on as your apprentice, ma’am!”

“No way in hell.”

Knowing that if she were to come out of her bow her indignant scowl would be on full display, Sakura remained bent at her sharp 90 degree angle. “Please, ma’am, all I ask is for a chance, one chance to show you I’m worth it. I promise to give it my all.”

Sakura bit her lip, what would Naruto say?

“You won’t regret it! I’ll become the best combat med-nin in Konoha if you’ll have me!”

Her parents would be rolling in their graves at her cockiness, oh Kami.

“Hmmph. The best, you say? You plan to usurp me?”

Sakura snapped upright, paling considerably. Her mouth flapped open and closed uselessly as the woman in front of her, attention now fully on the pinkette, raised an eyebrow.

‘I got this.’

With a gulp, Sakura let Inner feed her lines.

“Is that not the whole point of an apprenticeship, Tsunade-sama? To groom your apprentice to be greater than you were?” came Inner’s daring response that had the Hokage’s eyes narrowing.

‘Inner, what is wrong with you?!’

‘Trust me.’

Tsunade leaned forward, challenge dancing in every word she spoke. “It’s the hope, I suppose, though whether an apprentice would be able to overtake me in skill remains to be seen. Tell me, do you think your quivering snot nosed self is capable of that?”

“Only under your guidance.”

Sakura was imagining a thousand rusty kunai coated in lemon juice impaling Inner right now.

The blonde was silent for a moment, looking over Sakura with a calculating expression before pursing her lips and answering. “Go find my apprentice, Shizune. Tell her to get you fish and the scrolls on the mystical palm technique." Her eyes narrowed as she raised a finger almost accusingly at the girl. "If you aren’t just blowing smoke up my ass I want you back here in three days with a resuscitated fish using only the mystical palm technique.”

‘Told you to trust me.’ Inners voice sang with an air of smugness that had Sakura struggling to keep a growl trapped in her throat.

Sakura, very maturely in her opinion, ignored her Inner, and bowed deeply. “Thank you so much, Tsuande-sama! I’ll see you in three days, first thing in the morning!”

“Sure, kid, now scram.” She said dismissively, head already ducked down into her mountains of paperwork.

 With that, Sakura bolted out the door, feeling like her stomach was caught in her throat.

After hunting down Shizune, Sakura had taken her goods back to her still painfully empty genin apartment before proceeding to positively devour the scrolls with an intensity and passion she hadn’t felt since before she had graduated the academy.

Her hand was beginning to cramp with the amount of paragraphs she was annotating, her highlighters nearly out of ink. Inner spent all her energy committing diagrams and hand signs to memory. With every scroll finished, her sense of “holy crap, I think I could do this” grew exponentially.

Sakura was, for the longest time, only a paper nin. Her greatest strengths were books and studying and obscure knowledge. And she had let that strength turn into her greatest weakness. Not anymore, she knew what her strength was and more importantly she knew she was a ninja.

Honour and working to become better than your strengths was for powerful people and samurais. Sakura was neither.

She needed every edge she could get if she ever hoped to fulfil her new mission, her new goal. Kakashi-sensei had years of experience over all of them, Sasuke-kun had innate skill due to a clan upbringing and Naruto had such a vast amount of chakra and constitution it was ridiculous. Sakura had her mind, and now she had her determination. 

It would be enough, she would make it enough .

Chapter Text

Sakura let out a shriek as, yet again, she was blasted with fish guts. Despite Inner’s assurances that they could do this, that they could become a combat medic, Sakura was teetering on the edge of a nervous spiral.

On the first day, after pouring over the texts provided by Shizune for so long she saw them on the backs of her eyelids when she blinked, she took her notes and headed for the library. At the surprised, but pleased, wave of the librarian she felt a small sense of shame creep up her chest. How long had it been since she had utilized the library? It used to have been one of her favourite places, where she could spend hours away from bullies and her parents disapproval tucked up with whatever text had got her attention. Vowing to return as often as she could she continued with her work.

She had spent as much time as she could justify studying before Inner’s protests finally swayed her into actually attempting the Jutsu itself.

Jade eyes closed as Sakura concentrated on her chakra, forgoing the signs of the technique at Inner’s request to get a better feel of her own chakra. She let her chakra pool into her hand. The first few times, she ended up giving herself some light chakra burns but after thirty minutes of concentrating on her chakra flow she was able to get her chakra to manifest visibly on her hand with no pain. 

Sakura blinked at the blue glow surrounding her hands before quickly dismissing the flow. 

‘Holy shit, I just manifested  VISIBLE CHAKRA.’

‘Damn right you did, SHANNARO!’

Her confidence growing, the pinkette tried again, this time with the seals, watching in glee as her hand lit up in the mint green indicating the use of medical angled chakra.

‘It’s still wobbly, I have a feeling it’d waste more chakra than we need it to if we were to try it, keep meditating on it.’

And so she spent hours into the inky blackness of the night performing the mystical palm technique until the flow of visible chakra that would surround her hand was steady and uniform. By the time she had lain down to sleep she was feeling quite proud of herself and her abilities.

Now, she was here, staring at a bloated and half exploded carp on the desk in front of her. Resisting the urge to run for the nearest shower, she knelt down to grab the next fish from the tank to her left. If she wanted to be a med-nin, and an equal to her teammates, she couldn't allow a little bit of fish intestine to freak her out, no matter how bad it smelt. As a combat medic, she’d likely see worse, Inner cheerfully reminded her.

With a sigh she continued with her attempts to not blow up a fish with chakra.

“Hey Sakura-chan! Woah, you really stink!”

Sakura shot a half-hearted glare at Naruto, tired as she was, she couldn’t even raise her arm to poke him, let alone pound him into the ground like she usually would have done.

“Say that again and the Ichiraku I so kindly brought you is going into the medical waste bin.”

With that, she plopped the takeout bowls of ramen onto his lap and fell into the incredibly uncomfortable hospital chair with an exhausted sigh.

“Thanks so much, Sakura-chan you’re the best! The hospital food tastes awful. A few bowls of Ichiraku and I'll be back up and fighting in no time, dattebayo!” 

Despite how his volume control was definitely worsening her already painful headache, Sakura still found herself smiling softly at her teammate as he devoured three bowls of ramen in under 5 minutes. Tsunade-sama had really only said Naruto couldn’t leave to go get ramen, she’d said nothing about the ramen coming to him.

Maybe it also felt good to do something Sakura knew would have the Hokage twitching with annoyance. Kami knows Tsunade-sama’s instructions had left Sakura in such a state.

She listened to Naruto chatter about his day and his visitors and the hospital staff and the bird he saw outside and whatever else had gotten his boredom satiated while chained to a hospital bed. It was nice, just listening to him talk. She definitely should have gone home, but the idea of facing her empty genin apartment after the abysmal failure she’d suffered all day had been a bit too much to bear. 

“What about you? The pervy sage said somethin’ about you askin’ the old hag to train you with all that cool medical stuff! I bet you're gonna be even better than her when you’re done!”

Sakura let out a groan and smacked her head down onto Naruto’s bed.

“Kami, don’t remind me. I think I've just made a fool out of myself in front of the new Hokage.”

“What! No way, what’d she say to you, huh? I’ll kick her ass!”

Sakura huffed out a laugh.

“Naruto, you can’t even get out of your hospital bed you idiot, how are you gonna fight the Hokage?”

The blonde let out a bark of indignation but before he could continue on, explaining some half-baked plan to beat the crap out of a Sannin, Sakura held up a hand to stop him.

“Besides, it's hardly her fault. I’m the one who can’t even heal a stupid fish without blowing it up” she elaborated glumly.

“No way! You’re so smart you’ll figure it out in no time, ‘ttebayo! Like with that tree walking stuff, you got that so easy, me and Sasuke kept blowing our trees up!”

“Well maybe if you had paid attention at all to our academy lessons on chakra, you wouldn’t have overloaded the poor tree!”

“That stuffs so boring though, Sakura-chan! Besides, we have you to help us with all that st--” Naruto's speech was cut off as Sakura's hand clamped over his mouth.

“Shut up!” She said, eyes blown wide.

“Mmpfh?!”

“Just wait a second I’m thinking!” Sakura’s brain was going a thousand miles a second. Sasuke-kun and Naruto both were using too much chakra, causing the trees to splinter at the force of it, but her tree had been fine, why why why-- OH!

‘Because you matched your chakra with the natural wavelengths of the tree’s! Outer, I think we figured it out!’

With a cry of joy she flung herself forward, wrapping her arms around Naruto.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you! You really are the best knuckle-headed ninja!” 

With that she bolted out of his window.

“Uh... No problem..?” Naruto muttered out to his empty room. Then quickly covered his burning face with his hands because Sakura-chan had just hugged him willingly.

The moon watched over Sakura as she spent the rest of the night with the fish. Come morning she had successfully resuscitated 13 out of the 15 she had worked on. The repetition had been Inner’s idea.

‘We have to make sure we can do it more than once if we want to impress Tsunade-sama!’

And so, exhausted beyond belief, covered in fish guts and sweat, she stumbled her way to the Hokage’s office, a bucket of her living and breathing and not dead fish weighing heavy on her thin arms. 

She attempted a smile for the woman manning the counter as she swayed dangerously, bucket sloshing with her, but given the fact that she couldn't even feel her face and the muscles she used (upwards of thirty, depending on how the muscles are counted her mind sounded off on tired reflex) it probably appeared more as a grimace of pain. 

‘Mother would strangle us for even looking like this, let alone going outside and letting other people witness it.’

‘Shut up. Fish guts are very lady-like.’

The receptionist had given her a disapproving look for dripping water on the floor but had waved her ahead anyways, likely deciding the crazy genin was beyond her paygrade. 

She stood in front of the heavy wooden doors to the Hokage's office, letting Inner fix her posture, spine ramrod straight and chin held high, before knocking loudly 3 times. A loud crash sounded from inside the room, followed by a plethora of colourful language before a voice called out:

“Enter.”

Pushing through the doors she walked straight forward to Tsunade-sama’s desk and plopped her bucket of fish onto its paperwork-ridden surface.

“Lady Hokage, I completed your first lesson. Here are the 13 fish I was able to heal out of the 15 from my last attempt.” Sakura stated, then quickly hid her now trembling hands behind her back because, shit, Tsunade-sama was scary and, shit, the gallon of water was heavy. Inner made a quick note to fix her strength and endurance training stat. 

Shizune-san gasped from where she stood behind her master, eyes wide at what Sakura knew was her rather dreadful appearance, but Tsunade-sama said nothing. Awkwardly shifting her weight Sakura continued,

“Uhm, I can demonstrate if you want?” She said, earlier fire was now rapidly consumed by embarrassment. She had just stormed into the Hokage’s office and dropped a bucket of fish on her desk! Was she about to be demoted for insubordination?

“You healed all of these fish?” Tsunade-sama finally asked.

“Uh. Yes, Lady Hokage.” Sakura bit out, her cheeks were definitely matching the colour of her dress now.

‘Get it together, Outer, you’re embarrassing us!’

“Are your parents shinobi?”

“No ma’am, they w-were civilian merchants.” Sakura answered, chest tightening at the reminder of a decimated home and almost unrecognizable bodies buried under rubble. With a flash Inner snapped that line of thinking away and threw it away as fast as possible. She couldn’t spiral about that here, she had a mission.

“Have you ever learned or been taught medical ninjutsu?”

She felt a quick stirring of gratitude as Tsunade-sama barely blinked at the information about her parents, even if Shizune shot her a sad look.

“No ma’am. However, I did learn the academy’s basic first aid course and finished top of my class.”

Sakura congratulated herself on not stuttering again and watched as Tsunade-sama’s eyebrow twitched. Her mouth was set in a hard line as she suddenly snapped into motion, leaning down to open one of the drawers at her desk. With little fanfare she pulled a bottle of sake and a saucer out and onto her desk before knocking back a gulp straight from the bottle.

“Shizune!” Tsunade-sama yelled out, as her assistant broke out of her gaze on Sakura and stumbled forward.

“Yes, my Lady?”

“Get me this brats file and then bring me the names of her academy Sensei's and that damn Kakashi brat. Someone better have a good reason for not even mentioning her when I was being brought up to speed on our genin.”

Sakura startled, her anxiety immediately gripping her chest. Was she in trouble? What had she done? 

“Lady Hokage?” she asked, voice wavering slightly despite Inners best efforts to steady her. She quickly stepped out of the way as a harried looking Shizune began flitting around the office before shun-shining out. “Have I done something wrong?”

Instead of answering, the Hokage opened another drawer. With a quick search through, from what Sakura could hear, were exceedingly messy drawers, she brought up a small crystal in between her perfectly manicured nails. Sakura repressed a shudder at the thought of her own nails, fish scales caking her hands. Her mother would have had her head for showing up in the state she had in front of the freaking Hokage.

‘Shinobi aren’t civilian girls, Outer.’ Inner sneered.

‘Well excuse me for wanting to look presentable in front of my idol!’

“Catch.” The command grabbed her back from her internal dialogue as the crystal went flying out of Tsunade-sama’s hands and on instinct Sakura snatched it out of the air. It felt strange in her hand, cold, too cold. Questioningly she glanced up at the blonde.

“Channel chakra into it.” Blinking owlishly, Sakura complied, feeding her chakra through the crystal in her palm.

“Motherfucker” Tsunade stood up with a thunderous roar and, after leaping over her desk, gripped Sakura's wrist to glare at the rock. Now Sakura’s fear and embarrassment was joined by just a little bit of anger. With great self control she ignored Inner’s cries to rip her hand back to pummel the Hokage.

“Lady Hokage, please, what’s going on? What did I do?” Amber eyes locked with green ones and the Hokages grip on her hand loosened.

“Do you know what a chakra crystal is, Sakura?”

“Chakra crystals are used to ascertain one's chakra control level.” Sakura replied automatically before glancing back at the woman in front of her,  “Right?”. Tsunade-sama nodded and Inner fist pumped the air, whilst Sakura stood waiting for an explanation of any kind.

“That’s correct. Med-nin require exemplary chakra control, way above the average shinobi. Do you know the average most med-nin fall into?”

“No, ma’am, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologise, brat. Just learn it and remember it. Most med-nin fall between the 80th and 84th percentile.”

Sakura nodded so fast her head hurt, but Inner took that information and immediately burned it into her brain.

“Shizune falls in the 90th percentile, I, myself, fall in the 98th.” A grin stretched across Tsunade-sama’s face, her eyes twinkling with delight. “Would you like to know where you rank?”

“Y-yes ma’am!”

“96th percentile. Your chakra control shouldn't even be possible, especially given your age. It is exceedingly rare. The fish exercise I gave you should have been impossible to do in 3 days. And yet you not only completed the exercise, you perfected it.”

Sakura blinked. Then blinked again. Then as subtly as she could, performed a kai. Not subtle enough as she watched as Tsunade-sama heaved her head back and laughed.

“Kid, your self confidence is going to need a lot of work if we’re gonna do this. I won’t hold your hand the whole way.”

“Does-Does this mean you’ll teach me?” Inner was holding back a floodgate of hope and fear and insecurity, but Sakura still felt herself angrily blinking away tears. Stupid crybaby Sakura, get a grip--

Her internalised self hate spiral was interrupted when a manicured hand fell on her shoulder, warm and secure.

“Yes. I will take you on as my apprentice, Sakura.”

To avoid having her Hokage, her now teacher and master, a legendary sannin, see her tears, Sakura folded herself into a bow.

“Thank you, Tsunade-sama. I won’t disappoint you, I promise, you won’t regret this!”

“First lesson, bow to no one. Not to me, not to any other superiors, not even to a damn Kage. Medic Ninja have no business bowing to any mortal idiot.”

Immediately, Sakura straightened back into the stance Inner put her in when she first entered the office.

“Yes, Tsunade-sama.” She replied, voice no longer as watery as it had been, but her eyes were still burning. To her surprise she felt a sharp pain in her cheek. Did the Hokage just flick her with her finger? And she definitely put chakra behind it because no finger flick should hurt that bad!

“Second rule, brat. It’s Tsunade-shishou to you. None of that ‘-sama’ crap. Makes me feel old” 

‘Isn’t she like 50?’

‘Shut UP!’

Inner stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry, ever the picture of maturity.

“Yes, Tsunade-shishou.” Sakura nodded sharply, trying to keep her face smooth and unrumpled but holy SHIT. Senju Tsunade wanted to teach her. She was a civilian and weak and a joke and--

‘Not anymore.’ Inner promised, her tone final.

Tsunade-shishou patted Sakura on the head before moving back to her desk to get another drink, thankfully not straight from the bottle this time.

“When Shizune gets back she’ll have you go over all the paperwork. Besides your Jonin sensei, do you have any other guardians?”

Sakura felt her lip twitch downward but replied.

“No, Shishou. My…parents…they died in the crush and as I have no more relatives in Konoha, I’ve been given my parents estate. Or what's left of it, I guess.” 

The corners of Tsunade’s mouth dipped but the woman didn’t press further.

“Alright then, less paperwork for me. Now shoo, come back here tomorrow at 0900 hours.”

Sakura let out a quick “Hai, Shishou!”  before scampering out of the room. The distance between her and her team just got that much smaller! Not to mention how much fun it was going to be to brag to Ino about this! She should go track her down now, ride this high out…

‘Save the bragging until after we’ve showered, dumbass’

With a yelp, Sakura immediately changed course for her apartment, bragging could wait until she no longer smelled like a sushi bar.

Chapter Text

After thoroughly scrubbing out the last of the fish guts from her hair and nails Sakura started out into the village heading to the Yamanaka flower shop, to totally just get flowers for her friends. No other reason. Sakura Haruno was a polite young lady! Bragging was for boys.

‘Polite young lady my ass!’

The door chimed as she entered the store, the immediate scent of flowers curling nicely into her nose and her shoulders relaxed at the sight of a familiar flash of platinum blonde hair.

“Hey! Ino-Pig!”

The blonde's head immediately whipped up to gaze at Sakura before a smile stretched across her face.

“Forehead, hey! It’s been a minute!” Her face softened slightly as she took in the pink haired girl before her. “How have you been? With, well, everything?”

Ignoring the immediate tightness in her chest at the sheer love she feels for her friend, Sakura just smiles back.

“I’ve been okay! Just really busy with checking in on Naruto and you know…” Sakura paused long enough for Ino to raise an incredulously and undeniably curious brow at her before smirking;

'Wait for it…'

“training under the Hokage as her apprentice...”

Ino’s mouth fell open. Then clamped shut. A choked “What.” pushed passed her lips.

'Another win for us, Outer! Shannaro!' Inner commented gleefully, Sakura preening privately at the aghast look on her best friends face.

“What, Ino-pig? Thought I'd be all weak and mopey after Sasuke-kun? I’m still your rival, you know!”

Ino snorted, “Please, like you’ve ever been weak and mopey!”

Sakura’s face immediately lit up red.

'Pull it together, Sakura, she's gazing at us!!'

A calculating look crossed over Ino’s face before it was quickly smoothed over into her classic “you are annoying me by breathing near me” expression of nonchalance.

“Anyways besides bragging about your shiny new apprenticeship, what else are you here for?” Ino asked, leaning over the counter and blowing a stray strand of her blonde locks out of her face.

'Kami, she’s prettier than Sasuke!'

‘ No, no, no, BAD INNER!’ Sakura thought before shoving a cackling Inner into a box in her mind. 

“Just grabbing some bouquets for the guys who are still stuck in the hospital. Gotta grab Ichirakus for Naruto before heading in as well.” Sakura replied, beginning to peruse the flowers out on display. Ino perked up at the pinkette’s explanation.

“KAA-SAN! I'M GONNA GO VISIT CHO AT THE HOSPITAL WITH SAKURA-CHAN I'LL BE BACK SOON!” Ino yelled loudly enough that Sakura jumped at the noise. 

“I don’t recall inviting you, you know.” Sakura sniped, but the warm smile crossing her features dampened any heat that might’ve been felt at her words. The blonde sniffed before swinging herself gracefully over the sale counter.

“I don't remember asking, Forehead.” she said flicking a finger at the aforementioned facial feature, getting a scowl in return. “Besides, Chouji's also probably fiending for some good grub now that he’s out of the ICU.”

Sakura pushed down the guilt at the statement. The poor boy was only in that hospital because of her and her weakness and--

‘Save it for the empty walls of our apartment, Outer.’ Inner reminded, tone sharp, cutting through the sickly weight of responsibility.

Schooling her face with now practiced ease, Sakura replied to Ino, “Naruto’s been claiming that if he gets enough Ichiraku it’ll do a better job of fixing him up than Tsunade-shishou, maybe the same will apply to Chouj-san.”

Ino made a soft noise of consideration. “It’ll probably actually work for Cho, Akimichi bloodline and all that.” She said flipping a thin hand dismissively before focusing in with intensity at the flowers. “Also, Tsunade-shishou? I swear, only you, Forehead.”

After both the girls chose their flowers they headed on their way to Ichiraku’s. Sakura's arms were full and she had to carefully readjust as she walked as to not jostle the flowers too much. She couldn't even find it in her to be truly mad about being reduced to an errand girl as her rival/enemy/friend/crush, who had all but insisted she was only tagging along for Chouji, had snagged three extra flower arrangements before shoving them into Sakura's already full arms. 

They place their orders quickly with Teuchi-san before returning to, in Sakura's professional opinion, an undeniably awkward silence. Her and Ino now existed in a space that didn't exist and Sakura for one was uncomfortable, shifting her weight from foot to foot and looking at anywhere else but her blonde tag-a-long.

“I know your parents are dead.” Ino said, breaking through the silence with the finesse of a fucking sledgehammer in Inners delicate, but decidedly apt phrasing. 

Sakura whipped her head around to look at her, eyes bugging out of her head. The shock of the situation seemed to take out the usual sting that came with mentions of her parents as of late.

Ino bashfully continued, words stumbling out of her mouth;

“I-I mean, Team 10 took some D-ranks to do clean up duty in the civvy districts after the Invasion and I saw your house and then I might’ve broken into the civilian records office…?” Ino said, insecurity lacing her voice for one of the first times Sakura had ever heard. At Sakura's silence, Ino's teeth bit into her bottom lip. “Fuck, okay, I don’t know when we became so distant and honestly a stupid boy, regardless of how stupid pretty he was, wasn’t worth it and I just miss my best friend and I wish i would have heard what happened from you instead of searching through civvy obituary reports which looking back you might see as a total invasion of privacy a--”

“Ino.” Sakura interrupted, a little dumbfounded at the fact she had just heard Ino Yamanaka ramble. “I missed you, too.” With a split second hesitation, Sakura reached over to grab Ino into a hug. Ino slipped her arms around Sakura in turn, like it was reflex, like it was something she would do for the rest of her life.

“Forehead, this is nice but the rose thorns are digging into my arms.” Ino grumbled into Sakura's ear. With a yelp the pinkette launched herself back, face once again flushed red.

“Sorry!” she said quickly before registering the dancing mirth in the blondes eyes. With a snort Sakura launched a fist forward, tapping Ino on the arm. “You're such a bitch! We were bonding, pig.” setting a very serious and not at all fond glare onto Ino.

“Please, some of us care about our skin!” Ino shot back, trying to hide a giggle behind a fist. Sakura's face screwed up into a scowl;

“You try using fish scales and guts as an exfoliant!” Sakura shot back, avoiding the urge to cross her arms, the poor flowers in her care already trampled enough at the two girls' antics. 

Ino baulked, “FISH SCALES?!” she shrieked, getting two chunin walking past to jump at the volume and shoot a glare at the two girls that forced them into uncontrollable giggles.

“I asked Tsunade-shishou to train me after barging into her office in the middle of the night and she tasked me with trying out mystical palm on a bunch of FISH.” Sakura explained dramatically, enjoying the further laughs she gained from Ino. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed this but not applying the correct amount of chakra into a surface can sometimes result in it blowing up.” With this she mimed fish guts blowing up in her face that resulted in Ino doubling over.

“GIRLS! If you’re quite finished, your ramen’s getting cold.” Teuchi-san interrupted with a fond smile on his face. Sakura flushed for the millionth time as she dug through her wallet to slap the ryo on the counter with a quick bow.

‘Tsuande-shishou said no bowing, Outer.’ Inner reminded with a stern glare.

Sakura, ignoring Inner’s reprimand, said a quick thanks before swatting Ino’s attempt to pay for Chouji and her own share.

“It’s on me, pig.” Sakura said dismissively, ignoring the overly perceptive eyes gazing at her. 

They walked away from the ramen shop, the bags of takeout stretching under Inos arms. Silence stretched between them, and with every minute Sakura felt herself tense up more and more.

“What happened to the retrieval squad wasn’t your fault, Sakura.” Ino murmured quietly to Sakura’s left. 

Sakura flinched. Damn Ino at her ability to still read Sakura’s every thought like they were still 5.

“I should have stopped him before he ever left the village. I’m supposed to be a kunoichi. I should have brought him to ANBU.”

“If it was Cho or Shikamaru I don't think I would have stopped them.” came the blonde's reply, though her eyes were trained resolutely ahead. “You are not weak for loving your comrades, Sakura.” 

A high keen sounded from Sakura’s throat as she rested her head on Ino’s shoulder as they walked. Her words hit deep and there was nothing else Sakura felt could display how grateful she was for this girls presence than;

“Thanks, pig.”

They got to the hospital and with a quick wave to Shikamaru, Sakura plopped her flowers next to a rather ravenous looking Chouji.

“Don’t be a stranger, Forehead” Ino said warmly as Sakura moved to leave the room. With a pause she looked back at Ino, the blondes’s blue eyes gazing honestly at her.

“Of course, pig, I’ll need help decorating my new apartment, you know.” Accepting the soft smile from Ino as a dismissal, Sakura took her leave.

After dropping her gifts off at the remaining members of the retrieval squad (featuring Lee) she went on her way to Naruto's room, sleep tugging heavily at her consciousness.

With a yawn, she opened the door to Naruto's room and offered him a tired smile before depositing the bags of takeout on his lap and draping herself unceremoniously across his hospital bed.

“Thanks, Sakura-chan! You’re the best, the hospital food here sucks, and the pervy Sage said hes gon’ be busy for a whole MONTH before he can break me outta here for trainin’” Naruto said as he tore open the ramen bowls on his lap.

Sakura was tired, her conversation with Ino and the chakra utilised during her Fish Training having drained heavily on her. Despite this, she mumbled a positive sound that Naruto took as encouragement as he rattled on about what had happened in his day.

Eventually, Sakura fell into the best sleep she had had since before the chunin exams, curled around her teammates legs.

Chapter Text

The meeting with Tsunade-shishou the next morning had gone well, with a few snide comments about Kakashi-sensei’s ‘ability to rear children’ and ‘stupid fucking sensei, third Hokage my ASS’ that Sakura tucked away into Inner’s filing system with interest.

Tsunade-shishou had thrown a collection of scrolls at her and had assigned her to shadow the hospital's med-nin. Inner had raged at the indignity but had been quickly hushed by Sakura as she had timidly but courageously introduced herself to the surgeon on call with her note from the Hokage (it was written on the back of a receipt, but apparently the heavy seal stamped on it was enough to convince the med nin that she was serious.) 

For the next two weeks Sakura found herself in the pit, tending to minor injuries. Dressing wounds, prescribing antibiotics, and soothing civilian children with tummy aches. Despite the slight she felt was being made at her skills, she refused to back down. If the Hokage felt this was where it was best for her to learn, Kami, would she learn. 

She had taken to sleeping in Naruto's room with him, to maximise her time studying, occasionally explaining concepts to the boy when he would read over her shoulder and point at words or procedures he didn’t understand. He was surprisingly a good student.

“What’s a himpo campus?” Naruto questioned from his spot opposite her, leaning over the mess of scrolls and notes littering his hospital bed that Sakura had been turning into her makeshift study desk.

“ Hippocampus.” She corrected automatically, though it lacked any of the disdain that had appeared in her voice during the academy and missions when Naruto made an error. It was beginning to dawn on her just how… sabotaged Naruto's learning at the academy had been. So instead of making a comment about his intelligence, she simply explained instead, grabbing the diagram of the brain that had slipped down the side of the bed.

“ This” she said, pointing at the labelled diagram. “This is the hippocampus. Its job is to sort and save memories, including spatial.” Sensing his impending question she quirked her lips in a smile and explained before he could ask. “Just refers to a space, you use spatial awareness whenever you move anywhere. Ninja’s have a much more advanced sense of spatial awareness.” 

Her eyes flitted over the boy as his brow furrowed. “Like when we go running in trees right? We know where the next branch is and stuff.”

Sakura grinned. “Exactly! The hippocampus works in spatial memory--”

“Like how I know the way to Ichiraku's blindfolded!”

'This boy!'

“Yes! That’s the hippocampus.”

“That’s so cool! I have an entire part of my brain dedicated to finding Ichiraku’s.” Naruto replied earnestly and so sincerely it had Sakura laughing rather obnoxiously. 

She even began to use her new found skill with teaching Naruto by subtly re-enforcing some of his academy training knowledge, especially focusing on chakra theory and gen-jutsu. She wasn’t always going to be around to break him out of those illusions. She found the thought to be terrifying.

Between her time at the hospital and tutoring her (surprisingly not so idiotic) teammate Sakura also began to notice the Green Jumpsuit duo racing across the village in the early mornings. She recognized the shorter of the two as Rock Lee, the boy who had declared his love to her, handed Sasuke-kun his ass in what she could now quietly admit was an embarrassing smackdown, and then had proceeded to be beaten within an inch of his life by Gaara of the Sand despite his own physical prowess. 

It was 6am when she awoke, preparing herself to begin her new routine of chakra meditation. Tsunade-shishou had not requested her presence yet, but it was only a matter of time and she refused to be weak. 

“For the Spring Time of Youth, My Young Student!” a voice called, interrupting her concentration. Curiosity found Sakura with her head out the window. She was greeted by THE sight of heinously green and, HEINOUSLY skin tight, suits bolting passed her third floor window.

'Look at the glutes on that guy!' Inner leered, as the older man dropped into a deep squat before performing a chakra-less eight foot vertical leap.

Madara's BALLS!

'Can we PLEASE do that?'

Decision made, she threw on a turtle neck over her tank top and black spandex mid length shorts before leaping out the window after them.

She couldn’t remember a lot from the chunin exams, as the Snake Sannin (hurt her team, murdered her parents--!) had taken up quite a lot of her energy so she called upon Inner's memory banks to refresh what she knew about Rock Lee.

'Taijutsu expert. Little to no chakra usage? Extreme physical conditioning. Incredibly fast due to training with weight seals.' Inner supplied, and Sakura furrowed her brow.

She knew her chakra levels were lacking, even with the exercises she had picked up from the library. Being a ninjutsu powerhouse like the rest of Team 7 was simply not something that would be possible. But with her control that even Kakashi-sensei, disinterested with her as he was, had praised, strength and more interestingly, speed augmentation was within even her admittedly small grasp.

And so, finally, after two weeks of trying to figure out a way to improve her physical conditioning, Sakura had come up with a solid plan: Follow in her Sensei's footsteps and copy. Stifling her chakra the best she know how she leaped after the duo.

As she slipped back into her apartment to change out of her now sweaty beyond belief gear, she found herself floundering with a weird shame in her hidden attempts at training. 

She reasoned she was practicing her surveillance skills, by not immediately announcing her presence to the duo.

Really, she was just afraid of embarrassing herself in front of the two. Despite how much effort and progress she had made she was still leagues behind where she should be, let alone where Lee and his Sensei were, despite the boy's healing injuries. 

She knew  the Green Sensei, as she had taken to calling him in her head, had more than definitely noticed her presence as she watched and copied their training routines. She didn't do anything bad, making sure to make herself scarce when Green-sensei announced he and his disciple were going to train for the Gates.

Civilian as she was, she had read enough about clans after becoming friends with Ino to know the importance of clan techniques, and more importantly how important it was that if you were not clan, that you were chosen to learn clan techniques. Attempting a clan technique with no instruction was a recipe for disaster.

Besides, she thought as she pulled on the seal weights she had bought for everyday use, she really only wanted to perfect her physical conditioning enough that her Shisho wouldn’t be disappointed. Tsunade-shisho had thought she was worthy and Sakura intended on proving the woman had been right (and that her parents, and her bullies and every clan brat who had ever laughed at her was wrong) .

Bitterness flared, she viciously tugged on the straps around her legs. Kakashi-sensei never thought she was worth teaching, and how could she blame him ? She had been uninterested and unmotivated with anything remotely resembling real shinobi work.  She was more concerned with the idea of Sasuke than who the boy actually was. Not to mention how cruel she had been to Naruto even though she had noticed how cruel people were to him. The flair of self hatred threatened to consume her whole at these thoughts before Inner consumed them herself;

‘Not anymore, Outer.’

'We'll be better Inner, we’ll protect Naruto, prove ourselves to Kakashi-sensei and save Sasuke from himself.’ Sakura replied, heart steeling in determination. 

Her team had splintered, because she was weak, because she had failed. 

‘Never again. We’ll protect them, Outer, we'll protect them all.’

And once again, at those words, Sakura found herself at her childhood nickname, as her chest heaved painful sobs into her arms. But these were not cries of weakness, these were cries of wrath. 

She would not let Naruto carry the burden of bringing Sasuke home by himself. She would not let Kakashi-sensei carry the burden of students who turned their back on him by himself. And she would not let Sasuke carry the burden of his vengeance and that damned fucking snake by himself.

Her nindo came forth with startling clarity; her most precious people would no longer ever stand alone. She would grow strong enough, not only so she could be their equal, but so she could for once be the protector. A shield strong enough to withstand even ninja like Zabuza or Orochimaru. Someone who was worthy to be called a comrade.

With a flushed face she moved to stand, green eyes flashing with a burning determination, as her own Will of Fire took shape.

Sakura let out an embarrassing yelp as her cool and determined face promptly became acquainted with the shitty wood veneer of her genin apartment.

‘You cut off your circulation in your legs, Outer.’ Inner cackled.

To ward of this risk of blood clots, Sakura sheepishly undid and redid the ties to her weights. 

I really need to work on accidental chakra enhancement.

‘If it makes you feel better, it was very Naruto.’ she replied placatingly, though her smugness was still palpable. ‘ Besides, even monsters stumble every now and then.’

Chapter Text

The rest of the month passed by in a haze. Sakura's routine was completely set. She woke up at 0500 hours (she had forced herself to the 24 clock as it was what the hospital (and ANBU) used.) She’d wake up and begin with chakra meditation. Tsuande had said her control was beyond what most Jounin could claim and Sakura was nothing if not prideful (and maybe insecure). If control was her strength she would hone it till she could cut with it (not kill, she was a medic, her goal shouldn’t be to kill, right? right?) 

After an hour of weaving her chakra through her tenketsu she’d put on her workout clothes as fast as she could, (her latest record was 15 seconds), strap on her training weights, knock back a protein bar, and jump out her window to tail Rock Lee and the Green Sensei. 

The pair in their matching attire were fucking insane . Their morning warm-up was running (with no chakra!!) around the village's perimeter with a staggering amount of what was honestly, in Sakura's opinion, a completely unnecessary amount of parkour

‘It’d probably be pretty useful to move like that in a terrain you’re unfamiliar with.’ Inner oh so kindly supplied. Sakura didn't even dignify that bullshit with a real response, just a growl and doubling down on her attempts to bury her chakra.

The stifling of her chakra had been something Sakura had added recently. As much as her chakra control had helped with her medic career in the hospital it had been a pain in the ass during her physical training. She had such natural control over it that she was unwittingly using it every time she trained. 

After her embarrassment with the weights, she and Inner had decided she needed to work on her non-chakra-enhanced strength. She would never be a chakra powerhouse, her chakra pool much too pathetic in Inner's honest opinion. So ensuring minimal wastage was their priority number one, coinciding with the other top priority of fixing her piss-poor stamina.

The feeling of otherworldly exhaustion from the forest during the chunin exam haunted her, and she refused for that feeling to ever overcome her again. Not without a fight.

And so, Inner helped Sakura stifle her chakra as she attempted laps around the village before her hospital shift. At the end of the two weeks she was finally at a no chakra and weighted light but continued jog around the village. She didn't dare start timing herself yet, knowing how easily discouraged she was.

Naruto had finally been released from the hospital, much to the collective relief of the staff. Not only had he been incredibly troublesome to keep in his damn bed, he had also become sadder as the days passed by without a word from either of his mentors. Kakashi-sensei had shown up in his room for a grand total of 2 minutes and 45 seconds (Sakura had timed it, he was such a twitchy bastard) during the first few days of Naruto’s stay, all of which the man had spent resolutely avoiding eye contact and making nonsensical excuses for his absence. The sluggish and grey nature of his usually sharp and electric chakra had left Sakura worried and Naruto, who Sakura had begun to suspect to be some kind of chakra sensor, had been left morose for the rest of the day.

So, Sakura began spending what little free time she allowed herself to have in Naruto's genin apartment, most nights spent curled up on an extra cot she had hauled over, going over battle strategies and assigning their own constellations to the splattering of glow in the dark stars the boy had plastered all over his ceiling. She told herself she was only hanging around him to make sure he was eating real food and not just cup ramen, but if she was honest, she missed a home filled with chatter. Naruto was perfect at filling silences and maybe, just maybe, she was just a little bit fond of her annoying blonde teammate. 

Also him telling her how cool and strong she was getting with her secret training was good for her ego.

Nearing a month of her self-imposed hell, Sakura entered the ER to a surprise. The Hokage was standing, arms crossed and an eyebrow raised as well as a smirk that shot a feeling of fear through Sakura’s core.

“Ah, Sakura! I’ve heard you’ve been running hoops around my medics?” Tsunade-shishou commented nonchalantly, her face still holding that impassive smirk.

“Hai, Shishou. I apologise if my performance was not up to your standards!” Sakura bit out, forcibly making her body lock to avoid its ingrained instinct to bow.

“I’ve also heard you’ve been stalking our village's resident Taijutsu expert?”

'Fucking SNITCH!' Inner howled, cursing Green-sensei out with the mouth of a sailor, or maybe the mouth of the new Hokage.

“Pardon?” Sakura said, demure as her mother taught her, head tilting as her eyes crinkled in a perfect imitation of her Sensei. A good normal  girl would not be so filled with rage and violence... Inner thrashed and raged and bit and despite Sakura's best efforts, she felt her lips begin to curl into a snarl.

“You’re trying to fix your rather pathetic physical conditioning by shadowing the two most powerful Taijutsu experts in the village.” Tsunade-shishou dead panned.

Her mother's voice now roaring in her ear, Sakura forcibly dug herself in a sharp 90 degree bow despite Inner’s protests. At least it hid the borderline feral sneer cutting across her face. “I’m sorry, Shishou! I wanted to be able to learn your chakra enhanced Taijutsu but was overly aware of my own limitations. I’ll make sure I'm more honest in the future.” she replied, voice tight with her own attempt at control.

To her surprise, Tsunade-shishou let out a snort. “Kid, what did I tell you was the first rule?”

With a shock of horror Sakura immediately straightened her spine and tried her best to look in the Hokages eyes. It was definitely her eyebrows, but close enough.

“My apologies, Tsuande-sa” The pinkette immediately clamped her mouth shut before she could make another mistake. With a deep breath she refocused her control, carefully putting away the previous rage that had overtook her for future perusal and dissection. She continued, “I apologise, Tsunade-shishou, I didn't mean to disappoint you.”

With a start Sakura registered fingers patting her head and she felt her eye twitch involuntarily, what was with her mentors and messing with her hair?

“It’s fine, kid. In fact I'm impressed. Lots of hopefuls completely write off the importance of a strong physical basis.” Sakura looked up at her Hokage through her bangs, “So, tell me, explain your thought process. Why scout out Maito Gai and his little clone?”

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Sakura called forth Inner to adjust her posture and fill her words with confidence. “Well, ma’am, your style of Taijutsu is strengthened by chakra. It'd be foolish for me to attempt it without a solid basis to work off of, like trying to run before you can walk.” 

“Good. There is also the added danger of severely damaging your musculature if your body isn’t prepared. Gai has agreed to let you join him and Lee for their morning circuits. You’ll meet me at Training Ground Four in the evening, 1800 hours, to start working on my Taijutsu.”

Sakura could feel herself positively buzzing with excitement. Tsunade-shishou looked at the girl with a fond smile. “But, take the rest of the day off, Naruto leaves the village at dawn tomorrow.”

Trying not to let the knowledge that the boy who she had once thought to be the bane of her existence who was now someone she considered one of her best friends was leaving her (just like Sasuke-kun), she smiled, flashing a peace sign at her teacher before zipping out the door.

The rest of her day was spent with Naruto as she helped him pack, which proved to be an exercise in control.

“Naruto, do you really need 5 spray cans of orange paint?” 

“Sage’s ball, two pairs of socks is not enough!”

“Where the hell is your kunai sharpener?”

“Kami above, let me do this, just sit down and watch.”

Throwing his hands up in defeat, Naruto flopped down on his bed. “You’re the best Sakura-chan!” he cheered, throwing a fist in the air. A growl from where Sakura was bent over his travel pack was his only warning before a frying pan went flying into his stomach.

“You have to pay attention or you won't be able to find anything.” Sakura lectured through Naruto’s, in her opinion, over-exaggerated groans of pain.

“Ahg, c’mon why’s it even matter?!” the blonde barked out, resituating himself to lay on his stomach and propping his chin up on his hands to look at what his teammate was actually doing.

“Why’s it MATTER?!" The girl asked, turning on her heel to look at her friend, index finger pointing accusingly,  "What happens if you get attacked and you don’t know where your extra kunai are stored, huh? Or if you can't find your first aid kit? Every second counts, especially since you’ve got those…fucking…cloaked ninja after you!” Sakura spat out, not realising how much panic was lacing her voice. “You have to be prepared, okay, those guys are really, really strong! Just one of them was able to take out Kakashi-sensei an--'' a pillow clocked her in the face, interrupting her tirade.

'Dickhead!' Inner spluttered out.

“Sakura, I’ll be fine, I got pervy-sage with me!”

“You don’t know that! Do we even know why they’re after you? We barely have any information on them!” The pinkette smashed her hands under her eyes, angrily sweeping tears away. Crybaby Sakura.

'He's our friend.'

With a sigh, Sakura's shoulders dropped and she burrowed her face into her fingers. “They could take you, Naruto, kill you, and I’d have no way of knowing.” Sakura mumbled (confessed) into her hands, giving up on stopping the tears. She heard Naruto shuffle, clearing his throat awkwardly, and she looked up, squinting at what he was holding in front of her face.

“It's my kunai sharpener.” Naruto explained, bashfully scratching at his neck. Sakura sniffed before reaching out a hand to grab the piece of metal from his hand. “And um--Thank you.” he said shyly. Sakura looked up at him before dropping the sharpener on the floor. In a flash she stood with her arms wrapped around her friend.

Nuzzling her face into his collar she felt his hands awkwardly come up to grip her shoulders. “I’m sorry if I ever made you feel that I don't care about you. I think you’re my best friend and you're precious to me.” She whispered, letting her green eyes fill with tears once again. His hold on her tightened and she felt his breath stutter in his chest.

“It’s okay, Sakura-chan. And you’re precious to me too, dattebayo!” he said, voice watery. “And I'm sorry I have to leave but I’ll send lots of letters to you and Kakashi-sensei too!”

“You better, or I’ll punch you through the Hokage mountain, you damn idiot.” Sakura replied, letting out a laugh. With a final squeeze she pulled back and wiped at her eyes and her nose. “Kami, if Kakashi-sensei was here, he’d probably break out into hives at the sight of both of us crying.”

Naruto sniffed in response, running his fist under his nose. “You started it, dattebayo.”

With a smile, Sakura grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him to the door. “C’mon put your shoes on, you’re buying me Ichiraku's for making me cry, then we’ll finish packing together.”

Sakura stayed the night and if Naruto ever told anyone how she had gripped his hand as they fell asleep, she’d make damn sure he’d regret it.

The morning of Naruto and Jiriaya's departure came much too fast for either of the two friends. Sakura woke first, her internal clock primed due to the past month of training she put herself through. She got up and started about making tea, delivering a sharp kick to Naruto's ribs as she passed him. “Naruto, wake up, you don’t wanna be late do you?” she got a grumble in response and she watched as the boy buried himself deeper into his blankets. 

Lazy ass!

She assessed him before her eyes flickered to the bucket by his sink.

'DO IT!' Inner encouraged gleefully.

A wicked grin spread across her face. “Naruto, seriously you gotta get up!” She goaded as she moved on silent footsteps to the sink, quickly filling the bucket. 

“Hnnng, five more minutes, please.” she heard him mumble out as she shut off the sink.

“Count of three, dumbass!” She exclaimed, walking over to where he lay. 

“Three”

No movement.

“Two~” she warned voice lilting with delight.

A groan erupted from the mess of blankets, but no blonde boy emerged.

'FUCK YEAH! DOUSE THE IDIOT!' Inner cheered with unrestrained glee.

“ONE!” Sakura dumped the bucket of water onto his head and promptly jumped back to avoid his instinctual swing of a kunai he hid under his pillow before folding over herself laughing.

“WHY?” Naruto looked pathetically at a cackling Sakura, hair hanging limply across his forehead. Sakura looked up at him through her bangs before another burst of laughter came out of her mouth

“You look--” wheeze “ like a wet dog!” she gasped through her laughs, hands bracing her knees. If she had been looking up at him and not screwing her eyes shut from laughter, she’d have noticed the fox-like grin that stretched over his face.

“Sakura-chan~~~I’m all cold now!! I think I need a hug!!” He said, starting towards her, arms wide. Sakura's eyes widened and she stumbled back, laughter devolving into snorts.

“DON’T YOU DARE!” She shouted but Naruto had already pounced and closed the distance between them hugging his friend with such force he picked her up. “You are the worst, how much longer till Jiriaya-sama saves me from your torment?” she sniped, with not a lick of real heat behind her words.

“AWWW Sakura-chan here I thought we were friends!”

“I take it back, the Akatsuki can have you.”

The walk to the front gates was filled with Sakura’s incessant questioning, double and triple checking with the boy that he had everything he needed. Both kids were still wet from their earlier antics which got a raised brow from Tsunade-shishou who had come to see Naruto off.

“Eventful morning, brats?” Tsunade-shishou quipped, eyes dancing with mirth. Sakura shrugged, a similar look on her own face.

Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei had also come by to see their blonde student off, though where Iruka-sensei was clearly holding back tears, Kakashi-sensei's nose was buried in an irritatingly familiar orange book.

'Perv.' Inner remarked, voice thick with something like fondness. Sakura allowed an amused huff at Inners commentary, before facing the gathered shinobi.

While Iruka pulled Naruto to the side, Sakura walked up to her teachers, both new and old.

“I trust you made sure he didn't forget anything?” Kakashi-sensei quipped, momentarily shocking Sakura, who hadn't seen hide nor hair from her estranged Sensei since the hospital room after Sasuke had left.

Defected.

Left.

Despite her sudden discomfort she let Inner help smooth herself back into Sakura-chan, Kakashi-Sensei's Adorable Pink-Haired Kunoichi. “Of course, though he really just needed me to remind him what he didn’t need to bring on the road.” she said snippily, jutting her chin out and crossing her arms.

“Mah, we’d all be lost without you, Sakura-chan.” Kakashi-sensei chirped, his one visible eye crinkling. Sakura had to rein Inner back in so she didn’t smack her old Sensei upside the head.

“Haven’t seen you around much, Kakashi-sensei, any cool missions?” She asked, bitterness carefully kept in check. Though, from the look her shishou was giving her, not carefully enough.

“Oh you know, a cat stuck in a tree here, an old lady needing help crossing the street there.” Kakashi-sensei drawled out. “I hear you have made quite an upgrade in teachers, Sakura-chan.”

'He’s such a dickhead. Kick him, Outer.'

I am not kicking Kakashi fucking Hatake. Sakura shot back, but Kami, did she want to listen to Inner. “Quite right, Kakashi-sensei! Shishou doesn’t show up two hours late unlike certain other Sensei’s I've had.” she joked back, carefully, carefully keeping her voice light.

'Fucking stupid idiot Sensei, never gave us the time of day, soOOoo focused on his stupid fucking porn book and the prodigious, pretty boy Uchiha.'

Listening to Inner's tirade on her dear Sensei definitely helped, and she felt her smile lighten and become somewhat real.

“You wound me, Sakura-chan! What’s an old man to do when he sees a dog that needs petting?”

Her smile became strained a she felt her eyebrow twitch in irritation.

'He's 26, not a senior citizen!'

Thankfully, before Sakura gave Inner the reins, Tsunade-shishou stepped in. “Jiraya, Naruto, I do believe it's time for you to leave, I've got shit to do.” The other Sannin turned to look at the Hokage and nodded.

“Alright, Naruto wrap it up! Adventure awaits!” The white hair man boasted dramatically. 

Realising she was running out of time, Sakura closed the gap between her and Naruto. Resolutely ignoring the blush creeping up her cheeks, she reached her hand out between them. “Give me your hand.” She asked quietly, overly aware of the eyes now looking at them.

The boy slowly, but unhesitatingly stuck his hand out, and Sakura wrapped a certain red ribbon around his wrist. “This was given to me by a friend to give me bravery. I know you certainly don’t need bravery, so instead I hope it serves as a reminder, you know, that um, all you gotta do is look at it to remember you got someone rooting for you all the way back here in Konoha,” Her hand gripped his as she looked him in the eye, voice now steady. "back home."

Naruto looked down at his own hand that had instinctively held Sakura's in turn. For a moment his eyes stared not only at their joined hands, at the stark sign of their friendship and camaraderie, but also at the silky smooth ribbon that was now tied around his wrist. Before she knew it she was being tackled by a laughing and still slightly damp Naruto. Her arms immediately wrapped around the boy's shoulders and she let out a laugh before pulling away and resting her hand on his arm.

“Come home to me.” She said solemnly, before pausing, frowning, and adding, “and I swear if you die. I am beating that old mans pervy a--”

“OKAY! Message received tiny pink Tsunade!” Jiraiya interrupted. Sakura snorted and dropped her hand.

“I’ll write you a bunch, dattebayo, and if any of those red cloak guys try anything I'll let ‘em know they gotta answer to you, kay, Sakura-chan?”

She watched as another teammate walked through the gates of Konoha without her, but the bitterness she expected to be there had mostly been consumed by worry.

Chapter Text

That evening after her shift at the hospital, she met her Shishou at the aforementioned training ground at 1800 hours sharp. The Hokage was already there, arms crossed and her haori flowing dramatically in the breeze.

'Kami, shes so cool!'

Sakura couldn't help but agree as she took in the imposing figure her Shishou struck.

“First lesson: practical demonstration, also known as dodge practice!” The Hokage barked, lips curving into a menacing smile.

“Wh-” the words quickly died and turned into a yelp as a bolder twice Sakura's size came flying at her.

'FUCK!'

With all sense of propriety and ladylike manners flown out the window Sakura threw herself sideways into the dirt before jumping up and moving again as another boulder came flying at her.

She's not cool, she's CRAZY!  Sakura corrected, as gravel bit at every inch of exposed skin and dust stung her eyes.

'She's awesome.'  Outer replied, eyes full of stars.

By the end of ‘Dodge Practice’ Sakura was covered in sweat, blood, and dirt, her chest heaving from the exertion as she lay on the ground studiously ignoring the vomit a foot away from her that had come up only 30 minutes into the exercise.

“Not bad, kid.” At the praise, Sakura lifted her head minutely to squint up at the woman standing above her. Registering the hand outstretched in between them, Sakura steeled herself, before grasping the still perfectly manicured hand (seriously she had just spent two hours throwing boulders and didn't chip a single nail?) and let her Shishou pull her up.

A glowing green hand was pressed to her chest as she leaned heavily into her Tsunade-shishou's side, suppressing a wince as her ribs moved back into place. “I’m fixing the breaks and sprains but you get to keep the bruises.” at Sakura’s affronted grunt, Tsunade explained wryly: “Builds character.”

“Heh, right, character, of course.” Sakura agreed, somewhat deliriously.

“C’mon, let's get you to your apartment before you pass out.” and with that Sakura felt her legs give out as she was swooped up into the Slug Sannin's arms.

Sakura let out a giggle at the sudden movement. “You’re so strong, Shishou!” she exclaimed, arms finding their way around the woman's neck. The blonde looked down at the battered girl with eyebrows raised to her hairline.

“I just threw boulders at you for two hours, and you're impressed by my ability to lift your scrawny ass?”

“Mhm! Strong Hokage. ‘M gonna be stronger tho, just you wait Shishou.” The pinkette drawled out, waving her finger in the Hokage's face. Sakura felt as her teacher let out a hearty laugh from where she was pressed to the woman's chest.

“Keep dreamin’, kid.”

Sakura was quiet, letting the swaying of the pace Tsunade-shishou had set settle into her. “Shishou, I have a request, please!” she said after a moment of thought. Tsunade made a sound of inquisition and Sakura continued; “Wanna learn about the Akatsuki, wanna know all about ‘em so I can kick their asses.”

Though Tsunade-shishou didn’t stop moving she did stiffened. “Why do you want to kick their asses so bad?”

Sakura growled. “They’re comin’ after Naruto, and I can't help Sasuke right now cuz he’s with that stupid creepy snake, but I think I can still help Nar’to. I gotta.” The girl ( and Kami she was just a girl) continued, “‘M not trash, Shishou.” She yawned. “‘S my nindo, gonna stand with ‘em, all three of 'em! Won’t leave me behind.” 

Tsuande tightened her grip on the girl she was holding. “Sounds like a good enough reason to me, Sakura.” Sakura made a pleased sound in her throat before burying her head further into the warmth of her Shishou.

She was asleep by the time Tsuande laid her into her bed and so didn’t notice when the woman leaned down to press a soft kiss to her forehead. “Goodnight, Sakura.” she whispered before quietly leaving to the Hokage tower.

The Hokage needed a fucking drink.

Sakura awoke to her entire body feeling like a bruise. Despite the delicious call of just staying in bed and not moving ever again, Sakura pushed herself up and out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom.

‘Warm shower and pain meds, then you can meet green things 1 and 2.’ Inner advised with all the confident smugness of someone who didn't have a physical body.

Bitch. Sakura replied yet she moved to do just that.

The morning circuit with Lee and Gai went by slowly, Sakura lagging behind more than she had since she started following them around.

“Sakura! Your pain is proof that you have come far, and are using every ounce of the Springtime of Youth that you have! Be proud!” Lee had shouted, tears springing up in the corners of his eyes when she had apologized about how slow she was being.

Odd as it was, she found his words comforting. Maybe his overzealous support was helping with the dull ache that made itself known every time she remembered there was no blonde idiot waiting for her back at the apartments.

Her shift at the hospital had gone marginally better than her morning training had, mostly due to the coffee with a double espresso shot she had bought on her way in. She went about the pit, doing whatever the charge nurse directed her to do, even being allowed to try the mystical palm technique a few times on minor kunai gashes for the occasional genin that came by.

By the end of her shift she was dreading the return to Training Ground Four, where dodge practice awaited her. Thankfully, by some stroke of kindness, another genin had found her as she was leaving the hospital to tell her that Tsunade-shishou would be meeting her in her office instead.

When she arrived, the door opened before she could knock, and a bowl of stir fry was shoved unceremoniously into her hands.

“Sit down, eat up, and pay attention, brat.” Her Shishou said as she sat back down at her desk and pulled out a stack of files. “Let's go over some S-rank classified information.”

Sakura choked on a noodle.

She went home that night, mind positively spinning with information and her limbs aching (world shattering news was not an excuse to get out of dodge practice apparently).

Jinchuriki. Naruto, loud-mouth, obnoxious, heart of gold,  Naruto,  was the nine-tails jinchuriki . Which wasn’t even that shocking compared to the fact that the tailed beasts were actually a thing and not some ninja wives tale. Never had she been so grateful for Inner, as she sorted and filed away every tiny scrap of information they had been bombarded with. 

Not to mention his parents! Sakura had promised not to spill a word, but next time she saw the boy if he was still in the dark about it she’d tell him everything, which going by the twitchy eyebrow, her Shishou knew full damn well would be her decision after the revelation.

But one thing was bothering Sakura. The information they had was almost nothing. They knew the Akatsuki was after jinchuriki, that it was made up of S-rank nuke-nin like Itachi Uchiha, the man who slaughter his own clan in a night, and Kisame Hoshigaki, an rouge ninja of Kiri, member the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist who had earned the moniker ‘Tailless beast' courtesy of his frighteningly vast chakra pool. Both men were in the top 20 of the bingo book with flee on sight orders in most of the shinobi nations as well as a staggeringly large bounty for their heads.

They knew they all wore cloaks with blood red clouds, that they took mercenary work for awhile in their early years. They knew that at one point Orochimaru had allied himself with them.

And that was it. No information on their goals, on where they were based, who their leader was, who else was in the organization, how many were in the organization or what their skills might be.

Their information was tertiary at best. And as a proud paper-nin Sakura was more than a little annoyed at this.

But it was all they had. With a sigh, Sakura went about her nighttime routine, deciding to think about it more tomorrow with Inner. For now, she could let herself feel a little bit giddy that Tsunade-shishou had trusted her, deemed her important enough, to know about this. Despite the anxiety this newfound knowledge wrought upon her, she also felt a swell of pride and determination rise up to meet the fear.

She would be worthy of her Shishou’s trust, or she would be nothing.

Her shifts at the hospital grew in complexity as new scrolls on techniques were given to her every week. She had perfected her diagnostic net, basic chakra scalpel, localised anaesthesia chakra and could use the mystical palm technique to heal most uncomplex open flesh wounds. She now had complete and total recall of every body system, bone, organ, and layer of skin. Knew the enzymes in the intestinal tracts and chemicals in the brain, could locate with ease every tenketsu on her own body in an instant.

To exercise her control she meditated and studied whilst standing or sitting on the temperamental Naka river.

She had attempted to meditate while upside down but that had resulted in a nasty headache, though she had promised Inner she’d figure out how to do it.

Her Taijutsu lessons with Tsunade-shishou also worked to practice her control, which was the entire basis for the style itself. She practiced whenever she could, and even began experimenting with enhancing her senses, in particular her sight. She wanted to be strong but she needed to be fast . Knowing she’d never have the reserves for flashy ninjutsu or crazy levels of endurance she had to work out every strength she had.

'Can’t get hit with a jutsu if it can’t catch you.'  As Inner had phrased it.

She also began sitting in with Tsunade-shishou to study scrolls and medical texts as her Shishou worked. It might've been a request on Shizune-senpai’s end to have a second pair of eyes on their teacher's drinking habits but Sakura wasn't about to complain. She learned all kinds of things from the corner of the Hokage's office, and information would always be her greatest strength.

Despite her advancement, Sakura still felt she wasn't doing enough. Sasuke was out training under a man who planned to steal his body, Naruto was out hiding from the Akatsuki and working to control the Kyuubi chakra. Kakashi-sensei was doing whatever he did in his free time, which was probably crazy violent ANBU missions if she was honest with herself. 

She felt stuck.

It was a Monday night when she finally had a breakthrough. She was in the Hokage's office once again, helping Tsunade-shishou sort through mission reports when an ANBU operative appeared in the room. The stench of blood was thick and on instinct she moved forward to check the ninja out, only pausing to get permission first from the Hokage.

When the Hokage gave her the go ahead, Sakura rushed forward and immediately began a diagnostic jutsu, still careful to telegraph her movements clearly to the agent. She had seen enough nurses startle ninja with invasive healing to know she did not want to do the same with an ANBU agent so fresh out of the field.

 Dimly she registered the tingle of privacy seals activating with a burst of Tsunade-shishou’s chakra. Inner cheered at the show of trust, before focusing on the conversation between the two as Sakura continued her work with her diagnostic justu.

“Swan, report.” The Kage demanded.

“Mission was a success, Tsunade-sama. Mission objective to work undercover under the Takami Ring resulted in full document requisition.” At this the agent gestured for Sakura to back up and they reached into a pouch to receive a sealing scroll. After they had placed the scrolls onto the desk Sakura swooped back in and began repairing what she could.

“Sakura, injuries?”

Sakura didn't look up from her work. “Three bruised ribs and dislocated shoulder, scattered cuts, none that are life threatening, Agent Swan should be able to return to duty as soon as you see fit, My Lady.” She said smoothly before resting her hands on the agent's shoulder. 

“May I?” she asked and Swan nodded. Furrowing her brow in concentration she moved her hands swiftly, and after administering some numbing chakra to the area, popped the offending joint back into place. Impressively, Swan only let out a sharp grunt at the action.

“The targets were all eliminated, a clean-up squad has been requested by my team.” They informed, rolling their shoulder as the pain subsided.

“Very well. I’ll put the order in immediately. I want your written report on my desk by tomorrow night.” Tsunade-shishou ordered before she turned to her apprentice. “Sakura?”

“Injuries are all healed, though I recommend Swan takes a strong dose of anti-inflammatories to help with the swelling, and should come into the hospital tomorrow for a check-up.” she intoned briskly, but startled slightly at the huff of laughter from the ANBU agent next to her. Curious, she looked at her Shishou.

“Very good, Sakura, but ANBU have their own medic nin for non-emergent cases.” She turned to Swan. “You heard her, follow her directives and go see Chameleon-san tomorrow morning.”

“Hai, Tsunade-sama.” Swan replied.

“Dismissed.” And with that the ANBU agent disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

“Good work, Sakura, I’m impressed.” The girl preened under the compliment but noted Inner’s suspicious silence.

'Later, Outer.'

“Thank you, Shishou.” Sakura replied, pride glowing in her chest. Tsunade-shishou waved her hand dismissively.

“Now get out of here, get some rest. And get Shizune to get you up to speed on ANBU protocols. I'm putting you on the official ANBU medic rotation in the hospital.”

Sakura's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “Really? I mean, are you sure? I don't know if I'm fully qualified to--” Tsunade-shishou raised a hand along with an eyebrow, effectively silencing the pinkette.

“Yes, I’m sure, brat. And you will become fully qualified, that's the whole point of this apprenticeship, no?”

“Yes, right of course, Shishou!”

“Now scram, I have paperwork to do.”

Sakura smirked. “Do you have paperwork, or do you have a bottle of sake to get through?” she teased. A paperweight came flying Sakura's way, and with a cackle and a practiced dodge, the girl left her Shishou to her vices.

She was lying in bed, stringing her chakra through her body to stimulate relaxation and to lazily get in some chakra meditation when Inner spoke again.

'Undercover. They need information on the Akatsuki, right? We go undercover, an infiltration mission.'

Sakura sat bolt upright in bed, chakra exercise forgotten. ‘ Explain.’ she demanded ‘ now.’.

She didn’t sleep a wink that night.

The next morning she walked into the Hokage’s office with frayed nerves and determination blazing in her tired green gaze. Tsunade-shishou immediately straightened up and narrowed her eyes after taking in Sakura's expression.

“Why do I have the sudden sense you’re about to give me one hell of a headache.” the woman snapped out, scowling in full force. Sakura grinned weakly in response.

“Eh, probably because I am?” the pinkette said, putting as much of an apologetic tone into her voice as she could, making her teacher just let out a sigh and gesture flippantly for her to continue. Sakura nodded before settling herself into her long practiced posture of reporting, back straight and voice clear.

“Konoha lacks information on the Akatsuki.” She started, the deepening scowl on her mentor's face not escaping her notice as she barreled ahead, “It puts us in a very precarious spot as they were able to actually get their agents into the village and we still don't know how. We do know they’re after the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, and while their motives still remain unknown, that is a situation that must not come to pass under any circumstances.”

“The point being, Haruno?” Tsunade-shishou pressed.

“Assign me an undercover mission to infiltrate the Akatsuki.”

“No.”

“Shishou, please--”

“No!” Tsunade stood up fast, her chair crashing backwards as her fist slammed into her desk. Sakura eyed the furniture wearily as it groaned.

“Shishou, listen, please.” 

'Explain now, before she kicks us out on our ass!'

Sakura readjusted her posture, standing as intimidating as she could in her 157cm stature. Her face became blank, no hint of the roaring anxiety that bubbled in her chest.

“Lady Hokage." She began, jaw tight as she stared her Shishou in the eyes. "I believe that this is a mission of utmost importance to the security of the village. I also believe that I am the only person who would be capable of completing this mission successfully, a success that would supply the village with vital information regarding the Akatsuki organizations motive, location, and members, as well as information that would lead to their neutralization.”

As she spoke, a look of defeat began to cross her teacher's features, as she slowly lowered herself back into her chair. “Explain why exactly you think you would be suitable for a mission of this magnitude.”

“There's multiple reasons, my Lady. First and foremost would be my connection to Naruto, who we know is one of their targets. Secondly would be my connection to you. From their perspective I would be an incredibly valuable asset.”

“Why would they ever trust you, a loyal Konoha nin. It’s as you say, you’re my apprentice.”

“I’d no longer be your apprentice if I defected, Shishou.” At her words Tsunade straightened, her eyes gazing down with an intensity that would have made Sakura from a month previous burst into tears. This Sakura didn't so much as look away.

“Defected? You wanted to go undercover as a missing nin? Who’d believe that.”

Okay, Outer, we got this.

‘ Damn, right.’

Sakura closed her eyes for a second, breathing deep as Inner called up every feeling of resentment and bitterness and rage and hurt that Sakura had either buried or processed on her own.

When she opened her eyes, not a flicker of warmth remained.

“Why shouldn’t they believe it, Hokage-sama? This village never once gave a damn about me or my progress.” she sneered as Tsunade remained stoic, her amber eyes analyzing her apprentice. “You think I wouldn’t notice? I was too much of a stupid civilian girl playing ninja to notice? I was put on a team with legends as an after thought. I was nothing more than a buffer, a way to stop the village's precious golden boys from killing each other. And look how that turned out.” she leaned forward bracing her arms on the desk in front of her, every line of her body flexed and on edge with rage.

“Did you know that Kakashi-sensei" a tilt of her head and violence lacing her every word she continued, "gave the boys private lessons when he sent me off to guard a bridge builder, or to go get food, or to fucking go home? That no matter how much potential I showed it was never ever enough to garner an ounce of attention or respect. My entire graduating class is shocked I'm still a ninja. Or even alive,” Sakura smiled, sickly sweet with her teeth bared, “we both know that civilian raised ninja, kunoichi , are nothing more than cannon fodder.”

Satisfied when the Hokage flinched minutely, Sakura leaned back. Blinking back the feelings of hurt-bitter-resentment-hate-hate-hate , Sakura awkwardly shuffled her feet. “Or, uhm, something like that.” she said, shyly, resisting Inners requests that she bow dramatically for her performance. If Tsunade wasn’t gonna kill her for her speech she’d certainly kill her for that.

With a sigh, Tsunade scrubbed a hand over her face before leaning down and aggressively ripping open the cabinet where she kept her alcohol.

'Senpai is going to kill us.'

Shizune-senpai’s disappointed stare came to mind and Sakura moved to speak but was swiftly shut down.

“Shut. Up.” Sakura moved to apologize but was quickly cut off again with a pointed finger, “Not a word , brat.”

Feeling slightly better that she was ‘brat’ again and no longer ‘Haruno’, Sakura let her Shishou pour herself one, two, three cups of sake, each one knocked back in immediate succession.

“That was quite the performance. Do I need to order a Yamanka evaluation?”

Sakura startled, face flushing, “No, ma’am! I don’t feel like that anymore! I just know, uhm, in undercover work its best to base a persona off parts of yourself that already existed! I used to feel a lot of resentment and anger, I guess, but I worked through it and processed it! I would never actually betray you!” At the raised eyebrow levelled her way, Sakura rushed to correct herself, “or the village, of course!”

“I assume you’ve planned this entire mission out in your head?” When Sakura nodded sharply, a cheeky grin across her face, Tsunade-shishou just laughed. “Well, I’m not saying no  or yes ” she amended when Sakura’s eyes lit up. With a scowl the girl crossed her arms and waited for her teacher to continue.

“But, I'd like to hear what you planned.”

Elated, Sakura began; “Right, Okay, I think I'd need a solid 6 months before you know, actually staging my defection. If I left tomorrow, it’d raise questions. I’d need time to, you know, plant the seeds. I think Naruto leaving is actually a perfect catalyst to base things off of. The need to catch up more importantly the feeling of being left behind would be a believable motivator for me to push myself. Secondly, I'd need a way to publicly distance myself from you.”

“How’d you figure?”

“Everyone who knows me, knows how much I admire you.” (No Sakura was not blushing shut up, this was a serious discussion with her Hokage.)

“Right.” Tsunade-shishou said with a smirk.

“You’re the worst.”

“I thought you admired me, brat.”

“ Anyways , my agemates need to be convinced that the opposite is true. You need to take on another apprentice, preferably a clan kid. I personally recommend Ino Yamanka or Hinata Hyuuga, preferably Ino, I’ll get to that in a second.”

“Why would I start teaching another one of you brats, you’re a headache enough as is.” Tsuande groaned, fingers massaging her brow.

“Ah, but the civilian kunoichi once again shafted to the side for the betterment of her clan peers? That'd be adding to the powder keg.” Sakura replied with glee.

“Hm. So I take on a clan heir apprentice, sure, what then.”

“Well, I still need to continue my medical ninjutsu studies.” Sakura explained,  beginning to walk around the room more, gesturing with her hands as she explained. “I’m not about to let that go, but you have to play favourites with the shiny new clan heir apprentice.”

Tsunade-shishou's grunt of displeasure made it clear what she thought of that but Sakura continued. “So, we cut back on the practical learning I get directly from you. We both know I'm a paper-nin, able to read theory and replicate it after minimal demonstrations, you up my technique scrolls, and we meet, say, once a week in secret to go over what i know.”

“Please, you may be a prodigy, but even you couldn't advance well enough doing that.”

Refusing to jump around the room and squeal at being referred to as a prodigy Sakura just let a grin onto her face. “Precisely, which brings me into the next step, you put me in ANBU, under an alias of course. I patch up teammates after spars and missions and even work a rotation as a medic on call for black ops.”

“No.”

“Shishou, you’ve already put me on the medic rotation for ANBU...”

“Fine. Go on.”

Sakura grinned, “the other point of me joining ANBU would be to fast track my development in taijutsu, ninjutsu, kenjutsu, and most importantly espionage .” Tsunade went to pour herself another drink but waved her student on.

“Besides, Shishou, ANBU is built for the best of the best, if I can’t cut it there, then you have a perfect reason to deny my request for this mission.”

“You really are a brat.”

“I learned from the best, Shishou!” Sakura chirped before ducking out of the way of a stapler thrown her way with practiced ease. She continued with a smile, “I believe six months of ANBU, combined with a drastic uptick in my medical ninjutsu teaching would have me comfortably at high chuunin, maybe even tokubetsu jonin if I choose a speciality.”

With a surge of nervousness she moved onto her next important point. “Especially if I had a dedicated teacher in ANBU who could help prepare me for this mission specifically.”

“Oh?”

“I’d need to be taught by someone with experience, who also has the clearance to be privy to this kind of mission, who would be invested enough in not having me die immediately.”

“You want Hatake.”

“I want Hatake.” without prompting Sakura continued, explaining, “Kakashi, has been ANBU for a very, very long time and is S-rank himself like the people I hope to match. Not only that but” She stopped herself, worrying her lip between her teeth. Admit to this now or later?

“But, what?”

'Now.'

“There’s another reason I'd prefer it to be Kakashi-sensei as well. I’d be…concerned about his reaction if he truly thought I had defected.”

“...His reaction.” Tsunade-shishou repeated in disbelief.

“Yes.” Sakura cleared her throat awkwardly. “I may or may not have snuck a look at his file.”

The temperature in the room dropped a few degrees. 

'EXPLAIN NOW!'

“It was a while back! It was after our mission to the Wave. I was curious and maybe a little bitter and so I kind of snuck into the mission office and stuck my nose where it definitely didn't belong. I didn't really read anything but the first page of his file that listed his entire genin team as KIA. I kinda freaked out and put it back and bolted and definitely avoided eye contact with him for weeks.”

Tsunade-shishou's forefingers were rubbing her temples.

“I swear I didn't see any of his mission reports or anything and I totally understand it was a major breach of privacy and super disrespectful and I never ever mentioned it to anyone.”

“You think…” Tsunade-shishou paused, staring at her student with bewilderment and exasperation. “you think the issue is you invaded Hatake’s privacy? ”

Sakura tilted her head in question. “Uh,...yes?”

Tsunade-shishou’s head hit her desk with a crack as she hissed under her breath something that sounded suspiciously like ‘ I cannot believe I’m considering sending this goddamn stupid baby brat on an S-rank mission, Sages fucking ball s’.

When the Hokage lifted her head back up she glared at the pink haired girl in front of her. “Okay, so what exactly do you believe you gleaned about Hatake’s mental state from your rather weak attempt at treason.”

Paling at the realization that she had, in fact, committed something pretty egregious, she quickly rushed to move on from that subject. “Right, uhm, so I believe Kakashi-sensei is already handling Sa-uhm '' Sakura took a deep breath to steady herself against the urge to cry in front of the very aggravated Hokage in front of her. “He’s been handling Sasuke’s departure” (not defection. She still can't say it.) “poorly.  If it had just been me he was ignoring, I wouldn't have been shocked but he barely saw Naruto before he left with Jiraiya, and couldn't look either of us in the eyes the one time he did come to check on Naruto in the hospital.” Her mouth twitched downward at the memory, his chakra had felt so horribly dim.

“I think that, especially after Naruto has left, my defection would do some serious damage. As one of Konoha’s strongest jounin, that can’t happen.”

“And of course, because you would be worried about him.”

Sakura looked down at her feet, an odd tingle of shame creeping up from her belly. “Yeah, that too.”

Tsunade sighed, and for once, her age and experience was stark in her eyes. “Kid, as someone with plenty of experience, it does not make you weak to care for those around you, even if they’ve hurt you.”

The pinkette felt something soft break in her chest and she sent a grateful smile her Shishou’s way. “Thank you, my Lady.”

Not one to dwell on the touchy feely Tsunade carried on, “So, you want me to put you in ANBU directly under Hatake’s care, moonlight as your teacher while publicly dismissing you, then send you directly into the belly of the beast?”

“I mean, yeah, basically.”

“If… if I were to okay this, what else would you request?”

“I want Ino Yamanka as my handler. Kakashi is too important to spare for that but Ino is an up and coming Intel extraordinaire, not to mention she’s been working on the telepathic mind jutsu with her father and has been doing an incredible job. She’s also an incredible actress and what would be tying me to the village besides you, she can help make it more believable.”

“You want a genin as your handler?”

“Yes, ma’am, I believe she would be the best for the job. Also,” Sakura cleared her throat and looked her Hokage in the eyes. “I want Naruto to be made aware as well.”

Tsunade sighed, “I’m guessing that is not negotiable?”

“Correct.”

“Why couldn’t you just be the sweet little civilian born career genin the academy wrote you off as?” Tsunade lamented into her hands, getting a wry smile out of her student.

“Well, that’d be a bit boring wouldn’t it?”

“Let me think about this, brat, I’ll summon you when I’ve made a decision. Now get out.” Knowing that was the best she could ask for right now Sakura turned to leave.

“I can’t tell if you're crazy or an idiot.” Tsunade lamented.

“I'm team seven, ma’am, I suspect it's both.” Sakura said, giving her best Kakashi-sensei-inspired smile to her Shishou before leaving

Tsunade’s eye twitched and she knocked back another shot of sake.

Senpai is gonna kick our ass for getting Shishou in the bottle before noon.

‘ Definitely’

Chapter Text

Sakura went through the next few days in a nervous haze, noticeably enough that even Lee commented on her poor attention span and jitters. 

Finally, after three egregiously painful days of misplacing lab reports and having Ino flick her forehead everytime she zoned out for too long during one of the blondes retellings of her most recent romantic escapade or scroll on code breaking she’d devoured, a summons came for her.

Sitting with Ino at the girls favourite dango stand, their conversation about Ino’s plan to revolutionise the seduction specialisation was interrupted by a rather haggard looking genin messenger.

“Lady Hokage requests both of your presence at her office, immediately.” he said before disappearing after both girls gave him a bewildered nod.

Walking in the direction of the tower, Sakura looped her arm around her friends, palm flat on the other girls bicep.

“What do you think she wants from me?” Ino asked quizzically, eyes narrowing at Sakura's shrug. “You know something. Spill.”

Sakura let out a nervous laugh. “Can’t. If it's what I think it is, you'll be briefed when we get to the tower.” Sakura replied, but tapped a quick ‘S-rank, classified, don’t freak out.’ onto Ino's arm in the code they had come up with as children. Ino grumbled in complaint but made no further attempts to get answers out of her friend.

As soon as they entered the office, Tsunade dismissed her ANBU guard and lit up her privacy seals. Ino let out a whistle, “Sheesh, did Sakura start a war by accident or something? What's with the subterfuge?”

“Both of you, sit.” The woman commanded and the girls obeyed immediately.

“Sakura, I have decided to approve your mission.” Tsunade-shishou said, but her eyes were dark, her lips a grim line.

Noting that jumping up and cheering might not be in her best interest, Sakura let Inner do a celebratory dance routine in her mind, and instead simply said; “Thank you, Shishou. I won’t let you down. I know I can do this.”

With a glance over at her friend who looked seconds away from tearing the room apart to get any kind of answer, Sakura bumped her shoulder to her friends gently before looking back at her teacher.

“I assume Ino is here to do as we discussed? Permission to fill her in on the mission details, ma’am?”

“Granted.”

Sakura gulped, part of her had hoped her Shishou would explain but this was her mission. 

And Tsunade-shishou is never that kind. Inner added proudly.  

“I’m going undercover to infiltrate the Akatsuki, I requested you as my handler.” She explained, carefully avoiding eye contact with both blondes who were staring holes into her skull.

She felt Ino stiffened next to her. “Undercover? Akatsuki? Why does that name sound familiar and why do I get the feeling this is a stupidly dangerous mission?”

“That would be because it is.” Tsunade interrupted. “Everything that will be said in this meeting is S-rank in classified nature. You will not tell another soul about what you hear today, will not speak of it to anyone outside of this room. Can you handle that, Yamanka?”

Ino startled and looked between Sakura and Tsunade, eyes wide. “What the hell have you gotten yourself into, forehead?” she asked quietly, concern clear in her voice before turning to face the Hokage fully. “I can handle this. I accept whatever this mission entails, and will maintain the utmost secrecy.”

“Good. The Akatsuki is an S-rank criminal terrorist organization that has been targeting Jinchuurki all across the shinobi nations. They've been able to infiltrate Konoha once before but were thankfully intercepted by Hatake, Yūhi, Maito Gai, and your sensei, Asuma. Our darling brat here has come up with a way for us to gain vital information on this organization. Information that could protect Konoha and could result in the complete elimination of the Akatsuki.”

Ino had paled considerably during Tsunade-sama’s explanation. “And you’re sending Sakura, a genin with no infiltration experience, into this organization?”

“Yes, unfortunately. However, by the time she is deployed, she will be well on her way to jounin. Now, Sakura tells me you’ve been learning your family's Mind Telepathy Technique?”

“Yes, Lady Hokage, we expect proficiency within the year.” She replied, though her eyes were still blown wide at the claim of a jounin level Sakura.

“Can you make it 6 months?” Tsunade-sama pressed, leaning over her desk, fingers steepled in front of her.

“SIX MONTHS?” Ino exclaimed, looking at Sakura for help in supporting her in the fact that this was an insane idea, but the pinkette next to her had a look of determination in her eyes that the blonde girl had never seen.

“I know you can do it, Ino, if anyone can it's you.” Sakura said simply, as if the level of faith and confidence she had just placed on her friend wasn’t staggering.

Flabbergasted, Ino found herself responding, “Okay, okay say, I do figure it out, what next?”

Tsunade-sama opened her mouth to explain before quickly snapping it shut just as a loud knock sounded on the door to the office, causing both girls to jump in surprise. With a pulse of chakra the seals deactivated. “Hatake, get your ass in here.” She snapped and, in the blink of an eye, Sakura's jounin-sensei was standing casually to the left of them.

“Yo.” he greeted with a lazy twitch of his fingers.

“You’re late, Hatake.” The Hokage berated.

“Mah, I took the scenic route, have you seen the rose bushes on 5th street? Lovely this time of year.” he said cheerfully, as he settled himself in a lean against the bookshelf behind him. “Now to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing my adorable student and her little friend?”

Tsunade’s fingers twitched in the direction of her sake cabinet. 

“Shishou, the seals?” Sakura asked, hoping to distract the woman from her urge to drink or maybe throw Kakashi-sensei out the window (again…). With a huff and a flare of chakra, the office was once again humming with the buzz of high-level privacy seals.

“Hatake. Your student has requested your assistance in her latest mission.”

“Is that so?” Kakashi said with, finally, a hint of intrigue in his voice. Sakura kept him in the corner of her eye hoping to be able to catch his reaction when the Godaime dropped the bombshell. While she had to tell Ino, she also knew her Shishou was going to take great pleasure in informing the grey-haired man what exact kind of mission his ‘adorable student’ would be undertaking.

Inner snickered. 'Think he’s gonna start doing that sparky thing with his chakra?'

'Shhh!!! Don't interrupt the show!'

“Sakura Haruno approached me with a mission request and after we sorted the final details, I decided to give it the green light.”

“Hm, and can you spare me for a C-rank?” 

Tsunade-shishou's smirk turned deadly. “Actually, it’s an S-rank infiltration mission, and your training of her won't interfere with your regular duties too much as it will include her joining you in ANBU.”

Kakashi remained relaxed, but Inner caught the way his shoulders stiffened and his chakra began to buzz with something.

“Infiltration mission? Isn’t that a bit out of her skillset, Lady Hokage?” He asked in a steady voice. “And ANBU certainly isn’t the place for a fledgling med-nin.”

“Infiltration is outside of her abilities right now. That's why she requested you. You do have a considerable amount of experience in that particular field, no?”

“That's true. What exactly is her mission, if I may ask?”

“Sakura Haruno has been assigned to infiltrate the Akatsuki."

'There goes the chakra!'

Kakashi’s chakra was positively crackling in agitation, although his body remained carefully relaxed as if he was discussing the weather.

“You want to send a civilian raised genin kunoichi into an S-rank criminal terrorist organization filled with the most powerful missing nin in our bingo books?”  

Sakura bristled, despite knowing exactly what her old Sensei would say, the lack of belief in her still stung. She reined in her chakra, though, with a quick glare from Tsunade-shishou.

“Sakura Haruno has laid out an exceptionally intricate plan that I, your Hokage, have felt fit to green light. Do you wish to contest my judgement, Hatake?” steel laced Tsunades voice in an icy chill as she gaze emotionlessly at the man.

Immediately Kakashi’s posture adjusted, shifting back into that of a soldier receiving orders. “No, Hokage-sama. I am yours to command. What do you require of my services?'' The slip from Kakashi Hatake to ANBU agent was fast, with so much ease it made something like pity curl in Sakura’s gut.

“Sakura Haruno will go under an alias to join ANBU, and will serve under your command and on your team. You will teach her everything you know on infiltration. You will train her into the ground in combat. And you will ensure she is capable of physically completing this mission.”

“Hai, Hokage-sama.”

Tsunade smiled before turning back to the girls sitting in front of her. “Now, Yamanaka, how’d you like to be my apprentice?”

Ino blinked, looking between Sakura and Tsunade before understanding dawned in her eyes. “You want to use me to further the believability to Sakura’s defection.” She stated, looking at the Hokage for confirmation. When the woman nodded in response to Ino’s ascertainment, Ino’s lip twitched. “Damn, Sakura, maybe you are cut out for T&I.”

Sakura tried to avoid preening at the praise, but her cheeks still lit up in a flush. She flitted her fingers out to Ino’s thigh in acknowledgment as she spoke further. “To help further my mission, it would help to distance me from Tsunade-shishou, having her take on another apprentice, a clan heir and childhood rival’d be perfect.”

Ino made a hum of appreciation. “I agree. However , I plan to specialize in Seduction or Interrogation. I need your word that I won't be shunted off to the hospital after Sakura's mission ends.”

“Fine.” Tsunade scowled. “You will occasionally serve as a med-nin on missions.” 

“No more than once a month.” Ino shot back, and Kami, Sakura was trying not to swoon as her rival and friend butted heads with the Hokage, respectfully too.

“On the condition you agree to being on a response team to A-rank and S-rank emergencies.” The older blonde said, eyes narrowing. Both Sakura and Kakashi were watching the exchange like a ping pong match.

“Hmmph.” Ino huffed, blowing her hair from her face. “Deal.”

“Fantastic. I’ll publicly announce our apprenticeship next week, which should give you plenty of time to gossip among your friends about it.” The Hokage said, leaning back, her eyes once again flitting to the sake cabinet by her desk.

“Do you also want me to work with Sakura on interrogation using mind walk techniques?”

“Is that safe? You’re both quite inexperienced.” Kakashi-sensei asked.

Ino’s lip curled slightly, and Sakura knew she was repressing the urge to sneer. “Actually, Sakura has already demonstrated proficiency with defense against my family's techniques, seeing as how she was able to push me out of her mind the second time I ever tried it on her."

That got the attention of both Tsunade-shishou and Kakashi-sensei. “She did what?” Kakashi-sensei bit out, disbelief clouding his voice.

Ino blinked at Kakashi curiously. “In the preliminary matches.” She explained, before tilting her head  “Were you not watching your students' matches, Kakashi-san?” she asked, voice deceptively sweet. Sakura felt a twinge of sympathy for the grey-haired man.

“He was a bit preoccupied, Ino. You know, with the whole Orochimaru sealing my teammate thing?”

Ino grumbled, but relaxed back into her chair. “Yeah, Sakura kicked me out on my ass when I tried to use the Mind Transfer Jutsu.”

There was a pause as both the Copy-NIn and Hokage processed that information

“I don’t think that’s supposed to happen.” Kakashi remarked at last.

Tsunade just snorted. “Another reason why maybe this mission will only work for her. Any more party tricks you forgot to share, kid?”

“I figured out how to enhance my sense with my chakra, if that counts?”

“Who taught you that?” Kakashi asked, with a tinge of exasperation that had become commonplace in her conversations with Tsunade-shishou.

Sakura barely managed to rein in the smirk threatened to crack her face.

“Uh, no one, Kakashi-sensei, it wasn’t difficult to extrapolate Shishou’s technique into chakra enhancement in other places.”

“Ah.”

“Colour me not surprised, you little chakra freak of nature.” Tsunade-shishou grumbled. “Let me check you over the next training session to make sure you don't blow out your inner ear or give yourself an aneurysm, which as I’m sure you have figured out by now, is a very real threat of chakra powered sense enchantment. ”

The girl in question smiled nervously, “Hai, Shishou.”

'She’s definitely gonna kick our ass for that one huh?' Inner grimaced.

‘Oh without a doubt’

“Alright, Yamanaka, I’ll organize a meeting with your father and clan elders to discuss taking you on as an apprentice. I trust the two of you can handle your own theatrics?”

“Ino and I can discuss the details of our public breakdown later. When do I begin training with Kakashi-sensei?” Sakura asked, knowing her Shishou’s ability to stay sober was wearing thin.

“As soon as possible. I’ll have your ANBU gear delivered to Hatake.” Tsunade responded.

“I’ll be expecting you at Training Ground 44 in 3 days at 1800 hours.” Kakashi interrupted, his chakra finally having settled into a murky and subdued thing that made Inner twitch.

Burying the dread creeping in her gut at the thought of returning to those damn woods Sakura looked up at the man, hoping to catch his eye, but he was resolutely staring ahead.

'Emotionally stunted dick.' Inner lamented.

“Girls, you’re dismissed. I trust you will use extreme discretion and prejudice in your privacy?”

“Yes, Shishou.”

“Yes, Lady Hokage.”

As soon as the pair had left the office and felt the privacy seals once again light up, Ino turned to Sakura. “What the fuck, forhead.” She hissed and Sakura would have thought her royally pissed off if it wasn't for the clear concern in her blue eyes. Not that she also wasn’t royally pissed off, but the concern was what Sakura was going to focus on, thank you very much.

“Later, Ino. Your house or my apartment?” Sakura murmured, giving a cheerful wave to the poor chunin stuck on secretary duty.

“Ugh, do you have your seals set up?” Ino asked. At Sakuras answering silence, Ino let out a loud groan before tugging the pinkette in the direction of the Yamanaka compound once they’d left the tower. 

The night was spent discussing their plans under the cover of layers and layers of Yamanaka seals, a few of Ino’s own designs. The girls finally fell asleep curled up against each other, Sakura's hand wrapped around Ino’s.

Chapter Text

Tachycardia in humans is when the resting heart rate sits at anything above 100 beats per minute. Shinobi, more than any other athlete, have a very low resting heart rate, usually between 25-35 beats per minute.  Sakura’s heart beat sporadically with unleashed anger and rage, sitting at 127, 128, 132 beats per minute as she stalked towards her target. Her pulse thudded in a staccato rhythm in her ears as her hand struck out, grip bruising soft and pale flesh. With a snarl more befitting a rabid dog, Sakura yanked her girlhood best friend to face her.

“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO, PIG?!” Sakura shouted, face flushing with rage and the hint of embarrassed tears in the corners of her eyes. 

Overcoming any shock, Ino’s lip curled, revealing her sharp and bright white canines.

“What, did you think you were the only one special enough to get the Hokage’s attention?” Ino replied in kind, yanking her arm forcibly from the other girl's grip despite the stinging drag of nails along her biceps. Ino crossed her red streaked arms, small pearls of blood erupting at the fissions of torn skin. At once, her two teammates flanked her, recognizing a threat.

'Only ever a threat when a precious clan heir could be in danger…' Inner whispered, her anger sparking like an angry flame. A flame that was mirrored down to Sakura’s very bones.

 Ino continued speaking through bared teeth, “News flash, forehead, Tsunade-sama doesn't need to concern herself with your feelings every time she trains someone new.”

“Please, you never had interest in medical ninjutsu until I brought it up.” The pinkette retorted.

“Kami, can you hear yourself? I'm so sorry that I wanted to help keep my teammates and comrades from getting injured or killed. We all know how little stake you held in your teammates' wellbeing, given how much you cowered and hid.” Ino said, eyes flickering dangerously. “Remind me again, why my teammates were sent after yours, while you sat pretty at home.”

A hand landed on Ino’s elbow, the Akimichi boy. “Ino, chill, you’re being kinda mean.” He intoned softly, eyes shooting to Sakura and her shaking hands. At his words Shikamaru let out a weak groan, already predicting what the response of his female teammate would be.

“Chouji, come on!" Ino said, whirling to face him, finger raised and pointed at the other girl. "She let you and Shikamaru nearly die because she was too weak to even stop her own teammate from leaving the village. And now she’s trying to drag me down for bettering myself, because we all know that she can't be bothered to do that for herself.” The blonde spat, eyes slitted with rage, as she turned her focus back onto her target. “Please, forehead, tell us why Tsunade-samas life-saving techniques should be kept all to yourself.”

“Fuck. You.” Sakura hissed, the pinkette’s chakra rolling off her in angry waves that made the civilians in the shop hair stand on end.

“No, fuck you! I am done wasting my time with you!” Ino replied with a venomous tone, stepping forward into the other girls space until they were little more than a breath away, “All you're ever going to be is a second rate civilian raised kunoichi who's going to end up coming home in a fucking body bag before you hit 16.”

Sakura flinched back like she had been struck.

“Ino, enough.” Shikamaru commanded, voice severe. Ino blinked, eyes flitting to Shikamaru, before looking back at Sakura and seeing her face wide open with hurt. And then the funniest thing happened, in a second, Sakura's expression shuttered, and her chakra went silent. She locked eyes with Ino, who found, for the first time, that she could not read what Sakura was thinking or feeling at all.

"Have a good day, Ino-san." Sakura said, impassive as a stone wall.

Now it was Ino's turn to flinch at the cold and impersonal voice coming from someone who once held her heart in her hands. “Sakura wai--” before she could finish, a rush of cool wind ruffled the blondes hair, as Sakura used a near imperceptible shunshin to blink out of sight, only a single leaf dancing to the ground remaining where she stood.

“I- I’m sorry.” the blonde spoke with a voice barely above a whisper, her hand moving mindlessly in some aborted attempt to catch the pinkette.

“Ino, you wanna tell me what the hell that was?” Shikamaru cursed, eyes sharp and analyzing every line of her posture.

“I-I-I don’t…” Ino stammered, hands shakingly rising to her mouth, as if she could somehow pull back the acidic words she had spewed at the girl she had once believed she would die for. “I’m sorry, I have to go.” she managed to choke out, before running out the shop, ignoring the protests of her teammates. 

Teammates that thankfully missed the proud smile that overtook her face a moment later.

Sakura really had gotten much better at acting. Suddenly, the idea of her being an infiltration specialist didn’t seem so far-fetched.

The pinkette stormed into the hospital for her shift, immediately locking herself in the staff bathroom.

'We killed that, Shannaro!' Inner cheered, pumping her fist in triumph.

‘ Even Shikamaru seemed totally convinced!’

Sakura hunched over the sink and splashed her face quickly with water, removing tear tracks, but she made sure her eyes still looked red. Distantly she clocked how hard her hands were shaking.

'Might want to fix that, it works with this situation, easily written off as anger, but if it keeps happening…'

‘Agreed, could be a dead giveaway. I’ll ask Kakashi-sensei for tips on hiding tells.’

'Kakashi-taicho, Outer.' Inner corrected with a giggle.

Letting out a snort, the girl did one more quick once over in the mirror before leaving to find Shizune-senpai.

She found the woman right before she headed into surgery. Standing at a desk covered in scrolls and files, Shizune spoke with a small team of hospital staff. Upon approach, she could hear clearly what they were discussing. What case they were discussing. At once, Sakura's feigned irritation and annoyance became so very real. She had worked on this case, she knew the patient well, and the procedure was one she had been dreaming about since she first learned it existed.

'Add it the Akatsuki's list of crimes! Every surgery we miss for this mission can be another kunai in their gut.' Inner schemed, entirely serious. 'Can't believe we're missing out on a TAVI!'

‘Bitch, this was your idea.”  Sakura reminded grumpily. 

Inner let out a huff but stayed silent, Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes. 

“Hey, Shizune-senpai!" She greeted cheerfully, waving excitedly as she walked up to the desk. The conversation abruptly cut off as Shizune glanced over to the smiling girl. If Sakura hadn't been looking for it, she would have missed the slight flash of realization appear in her senpai's eyes. But as quick as it came it was gone, as an uncomfortable expression replaced it. Regardless, she barreled on, ignoring the blanket of tension permeating the area.

"Is it time for Ms. Kaori's surgery? I'm still scrubbing in, right?” Sakura voiced as she rocked forward on her heels, giving her best cheesy smile. One of the nurses let out a quiet snort, that was unconvincingly turned into a cough.

“Ah, Sakura-san! Sorry, I already have someone assisting!” Shizune said, as she began hurriedly gathering up scattered manilla folders.

Sakura let her shoulders deflate, and let her smile dim slightly. “Oh, well, can I observe?” She asked, moving out of the way quickly as Shizune and her team moved to walk past her, before walking along beside them, stumbling over her feet only slightly.

Shizune bit her lip, a small look of guilt in her eyes as she looked at the other med-nin and nurses, though she didn't slow her pace. “Unfortunately, the OR is all full. I’m sorry, we're already a bit late Sakura-san, maybe next time, okay?”

The pinkette’s smile fell for a moment, her step stuttering, before she recovered. “Oh totally! Sorry for keeping you! Is there anything else I can do for you?” She asked demurely, failing to stifle the hopeful thread in her voice.

“Oh! Uh, yes actually if you could go over my post-ops that’d be great, just ask the charge nurse. Thank you, Sakura-san.” Shizune dismissed, her surgical team congregating around her once more, effectively blocking Sakura from sight. The girl slowed to a stop, watching their retreating figures.

“Of course, yeah! No problem, senpai! Let me know if you need anything else!” Sakura called out to the black-hair woman as she and her entourage turned the corner, not sparing a glance back.

Once out of sight, Sakura’s face soured. An action that did not go over the head of a nurse, who had been very obviously watching the entire interaction. She gave Sakura a once over, openly staring, gaping at Sakura like she was some sideshow. 

“Can I help you?” Sakura asked in a tight voice, the nurse startled before a very familiar expression crossed the woman's features.

“Oh, no, its quite alright, Sakura-chan! You're clearly very busy” She said, voice positively dripping with that specific fakeness covered by sweet words that had haunted Sakura through her years at the academy.

'ASSHOLE!'  Inner determined, encouraging Sakura to punch and tear and hurt--.

Sakura's lip twitched, tugging downwards. “It’s Haruno-san.” She corrected, voice low.

The nurse smiled, the same infuriating smile Sakura had grown so used to from her childhood bullies. “Of course, Haruno- san. ” With a quick bow of her head the nurse carried on her way.

'Over-under on how long it takes for that little interaction to be shared around a nurses station?'

Tittering laughter sounded to Sakura’s right, her head whipped around to see the nurse with her head tucked into a gaggle of others, whose eyes would flit occasionally to where the pinkette was standing.

'ASSHOLES!' Inner sneered, violence dripping from her tone

'Assholes.'  She agreed with a violent vindictiveness that surprised herself.

Outwardly, Sakura let an embarrassed flush cover her face as she turned and left. Inwardly, she was doing a celebratory dance with Inner. They were killing this.

The rest of her day was spent running through Shizune’s post-ops and reading the scrolls Tsunade-shishou had assigned her over a cup of tea. When she got home she was delighted to find a letter shoved under the crack of her door.

Carefully inspecting it for traps, or rather, kicking it and jumping back, she leaned down to grab the letter now deemed safe by her incredible shinobi skills.

Familiar code was revealed as she opened the envelope and she let out a warm laugh. It was the same silly cipher she and Ino had come up with when they were 6.

Forehead,

Incredible acting, I wanted to congratulate you on your quite frankly, stellar performance. 

Shikamaru and Chouji totally bought it! As did the civilian girls behind us! Tsuande-sama, or I guess Tsuande- shihsou talked with my dad and the elders and got approval to take me on, not that I'm supposed to know that.

He’s a little peeved I'm not immediately apprenticing at HQ, but hopefully when I make your mission a dazzling success, he’ll offer me a full position, not just an apprenticeship!

Anyways, goodluck with your first training session with Kakashi-san! Try not to piss him off too much. Or kill him, when he inevitably pisses YOU off.

Love!

Your crazy hot, beautiful, and, dangerously intelligent rival, Pig

(p.s. This letter will burn up after 2 minutes of the seal being broken! Don't burn your hands, they need a manicure enough as is!)

Letting out a laugh, Sakura put the letter down in her sink to avoid burning down her apartment. She really was so grateful that not only had Tsunade-shishou signed off on her idea for Ino to be involved, but that Ino was taking it so seriously.

Taking Sakura seriously.

With her heart light and anxiety eased by her friend, she set about making bento boxes for both her and Kakashi-taicho, hoping the peace-offering of food might put a damper on his inevitable sour mood.