Sakura is three days into official chunin-hood (she has the vest and everything) when she feels someone nearby pulse their chakra out in a recognizable distress signal.
It's the middle of the week and her shift at the hospital just ended. She thinks she shadowed the doctor successfully, but the doctor was a Hyuuga and their faces are absolutely flat and expressionless no matter who they're talking down to. It could've been worse, Sakura figures.
She could have been working under an Aburame.
Sakura is hard-pressed to stifle her shudder at the thought of being exposed to bugs, so she lets Inner do it for her (even though it's a very civilian state of mind). Then she almost shudders, again, at what would happen in Tsunade-shishou caught her being so unprofessional.
Sakura tunes back in just as the flashing chakra signal disappears. She cuts off her shunsin in that direction and stares in confusion. She can't feel any other ninja in this block of the city, but she can't sense chakra further than a block and a half away from her, anyway. That's Hinata's strength, not hers.
If someone is there, whether it's a fellow Konoha-nin or an intruder, she should be able to feel them. Sakura leaps onto a rooftop and starts running.
Better to get the aerial advantage and get a look at the situation before going in. I -
"Ah!" She yelps in surprise as a familiar chakra signal lands right next to her without warning.
"Kakashi-sensei! Did you feel that?" Sakura turns her head slightly, not trusting him to not disappear.
"Maaa, Sakura-chan. Not even a single hello for your poor, old sensei?"
Sakura snorted.
"Sensei, I saw you yesterday. Tsunade-shishou says you need to go back to the hospital to have your lungs checked, by the way."
Kakashi grunted in acknowledgement and rushed ahead. Sakura sighed, unsurprised, and jumped down to the ground to follow him.
Huh? What is that? Inner said.
Sakura stared at the ground in suspicion. Small white squares of glossy paper littered the sidewalk beneath her.
"Is this..." She trailed off.
Stay alert. Kakashi sighned in Konoha Standard. He carefully peeled one of the squares off of the ground and flipped it around. And stared.
Sakura peeked over his shoulder, only to catch a glimpse of Kohona headbands, or and , and pink.
"Is that our old team photo?"
Kakashi tilted the photo to face Sakura and she caught a glimpse of a whiskered face and someone who reminds her of the Uchiha policeman that helped her home once when she was was seven years old.
"We need to see the Hokage." Kakashi says, with a strange, hushed sort of undertone to his voice.
Sakura nods, speechless.
We really, really do. Inner agrees.