Warning: I do not own Naruto or any other characters related to the series.

CHAPTER 1

She had been in Suna for the past month. Gaara had finally had to reach out to Tsunade to allow the pink haired kunoichi to come and try to revive Suna's hospital system into what it once was under Chiyo-baasama during the Second Great Shinobi War. The young kazekage had often wondered whether it was that their village had suddenly fallen behind on medical knowledge or that Konohagakure was advancing too fast; it was probably both, but Gaara secretly mused that the latter was truer: Tsunade truly was a medical genius, and even with Chiyo-baasama, there was no way that Suna could have caught up. With Akatsuki making so much trouble, Gaara knew that his village could be seriously damaged by outdated medical practices. He also knew that Tsunade could never leave Konoha, being the Hokage. So he asked for the next best thing – Sakura.

She had been hailed as a hero in Suna ever since she had fought beside Chiyo-baasama against Sasori and saved the now-beloved Kage's brother, Kankuro, from a very probable death by poison. Gaara suspected that Sakura was invaluable to the Konoha medical life, yet Tsunade accepted his request to "borrow" the medic nin very willingly. The Leaf and Sand had come a long way from their bloody history.

Upon arriving in Suna, Sakura quickly found herself becoming something of a favorite in Suna. She was, in a word, beloved, and during her month of running the hospital, she found that she, too, enjoyed Suna a lot. Sure, the people weren't as friendly or open as the ones in Leaf – but the people of the Wind had a stoic charm about them. Something about their awkward, gruff affection for Sakura endeared them to her.

She also became very close to Gaara and his two siblings. Sakura was undoubtedly an intelligent girl, and Gaara found, to his great surprise, that he enjoyed her company immensely. They talked about anything and everything from politics to their favorite books. Kankuro had an especially soft spot for Sakura, having been saved by her from the brink of death, and Sakura often sparred with him and his puppets to keep herself from getting rusty while she was running the hospital. Sakura also became friends with Temari – the older girl reminded the pink haired kunoichi of her shishou. Temari was blunt and easy to anger, but she also had an enormous heart and cared deeply for her people as well as her two brothers. Sakura also liked that she could often tease Temari about Shikamaru. The medic nin suspected that the two had something that was more than friendship, and was glad for both of them. Not that the two involved would admit anything was going on, of course.

But after what felt like a quick month, Sakura knew she had to return to Leaf. With the threat of Akatsuki constantly hanging around, she knew she couldn't afford to be away from home for too long. She had done her part in Suna; now it was time to go back – back to home.

As gruff as the people of Suna were, they were sad to see Sakura go, and let her know it. Sakura had always loved to feel appreciated, and she said her farewells fondly.

"Don't be a stranger, alright? Chiyo-baasama wouldn't have liked you to only come whenever it's mandated, you know." Kankuro had said at the gates as he and several others sent Sakura off.

She smiled. "I won't – wouldn't want to get Chiyo-baasama's spirit angry, now, would I?" She said as she hugged the puppeteer goodbye. Then she turned to Temari.

"Will I be seeing you soon in Leaf?"

"Probably. This ambassador thing is going to be the death of me – all this traveling back and forth, so troublesome." Replied Temari as she also hugged Sakura. The medic nin smiled, knowing that Temari didn't really mind the "troublesome" journey, as long as she got to see her favorite lazy, cloud-watching jonin.

Finally, after her round of goodbyes to everyone, Sakura turned to Gaara. She knew what an honor it was to be personally sent off by the Kazekage – but it meant more to her that Gaara was there because she was his friend, not because she was a diplomatic tool between the two allied nations.

"Well, Kazekage-sama," Sakura said teasingly, knowing that Gaara didn't like her to be so formal, "guess this is it for now. Not that I won't visit," she added hastily as Kankuro and Temari growled at her. "Take care of yourself, alright? Naruto would never forgive yourself if you didn't make it to his inauguration, you know. And trust me, he still has a long way to go until Tsunade-sama will let him take over for her."

Gaara looked at her with warm eyes. "I will. And what Kankuro said about not being a stranger." The Kage, to Sakura's surprise, enveloped her in a brief hug. Sakura felt a fond pang in her heart – seven years ago, as her twelve year old genin self, she could never have imagined Gaara giving anyone, let alone her, a warm hug good-bye. That Naruto, always affecting people in strange ways – strange but good, permanent ways, she thought.

With a beaming smile and a final wave good-bye to everyone, Sakura was off on the three day journey. She didn't necessarily have to hurry back to Leaf, but she found her feet moving faster than they needed to, regardless. As much as she had enjoyed Suna, Sakura missed Leaf. She missed Tsunade's yelling, and the familiarity of her own bed. She also missed Naruto beyond belief – Gaara had reminded her of Naruto's unfailingly good nature, and she missed his idiocy and how comfortable he was to be around. And, of course, she missed everyone else, too. The more she thought of her friends back home, the faster she found herself moving.

Sakura made it to Leaf just shy of three days. She was pretty exhausted, but excited about seeing everyone again. She hoped that Naruto and the rest of her friends weren't out on missions – of course, it was very unlikely, almost impossible, that everyone would be home, but she hoped nonetheless that her friends were, for the most part, home safe and sound. During her journey, she had mused that if Naruto was indeed in Leaf, he'd definitely drag her to Ichiraku for some ramen as her welcome home gathering. She didn't have a love of ramen like Naruto did [did anyone love ramen like Naruto does..?], but she never minded going with him to his favorite spot. It was one of the remnants of the memories from her genin days that carried over to her present, 19 year old self. Those were rare – everything had changed so much from their genin days that Sakura always treasured whatever bits she could still hold on to.

However, once she got close to Konoha's gates, she realized that her homecoming would be nothing like she imagined. She could hear and feel it – the village was… unsettled. Disrupted. Something was off.

She found out what it was as soon as she stepped foot into Konoha. It turned out that people had been waiting for Sakura to turn up from Suna for the past 6 hours – Tsunade had sent their fastest carrier pidgeon for Suna to order Sakura home as soon as possible 6 hours ago, but of course, by that point, Sakura was long gone from Sand. They had gotten their signals crossed, but it was for the best, because Sakura was here now. And she was needed immediately in the hospital.

To heal Uzumaki Naruto. Who had turned up from a mission bloodied and battered.

Alongside an equally bloodied and battered Sasuke Uchiha.