"Hokage-sama," she greeted as she quietly entered the room. "You've requested my presence."

"Ah, Haruno," the old man stood up as he saw her. "Yes, I've a rather important assignment for you. You may remove your mask." She complied. "You know of Uzumaki Naruto, yes?"

She nodded. "He's in the Academy. Before I began my accelerated training I knew him – he was in my year."

"And what do you know of his condition?"

Now she was confused. She had never really given much thought on the blond genin. "His condition? Has he taken ill?"

The Hokage laughed dryly. "No, no – he's healthy as a horse. That, at least." Sakura noticed the badly disguised affection in her superior's voice. "He's the junchuriki of the nine-tailed fox." Wow. "His father, the Yondaime, traded his own life to seal the monster inside him." Wow. "There's been a taboo on this subject though and the younger generation knows nothing about it. I'm afraid the boy has grown rather isolated and hated nevertheless, because even if the children don't know why, their parents hate him." Ah. She almost would have counted as one of those children, except she began her training early in life and was too busy to care about social prejudices and 'who do we hate now'.

"So what do you want me to do?"

The Third sighed, as if he was carrying some enormous weight on his shoulders. "The children of Konoha might not know the truth behind the boy but others have already figured out the power inside of him and what it stands for… There have already been several attempts on the boy's life and not only as an act of vengeance but as a means to extract the beast from him, which would also, ultimately, kill him. All stopped by the ANBU."

She was already figuring out what her mission would be. "You want me to guard him?" Sakura asked.

"No," the Hokage laughed. "It's a bit more complicated: I want you to enter Team 7 as a genin and see that no nation tries to take either the jinchuriki or the Kyuubi from Konoha."

This was just a bit over the edge. "What?!" she nearly yelled. "You want me to pretend to be a genin?" She, Haruno Sakura, protégée of Hatake Kakashi, ANBU at the age of twelve… and her first mission was… this?

"Hokage-sama," she began awkwardly. "I'm not sure Kakashi…"

"Hatake already knows of your mission and, in fact, he quite easily gave me his virtual blessing on this assignment." Well. That last bit was a shock.

"…He does?" Did Kakashi really hate her that much?

"Yes," the Hokage confirmed. "Especially after he learned that he's to be the sensei of the team Naruto is in. I think he's actually terrified of teaching the prankster of Konoha and the last Uchiha."

"Uchiha Sasuke will also be in the team?" Sakura asked faintly.

"Yes."

"Oh, my."

"Indeed."

"Why would you do this to Kakashi?" she asked boldly.

"Because he's the only one capable of handling either of them." A pause. "Do you accept the mission?"

"No."

The Third looked down towards the piles of paperwork on his desk. "Hatake told me you might not take this well. You'll miss many adventures…"

"I'd rather take my chances."

"The payment's really good." Ah, now he was speaking.

"…How good?" He told her. She raised an eyebrow.

"And if unexpected complications happen along the way, you'll get twice as many."

Money; her best friend and mentor, the brilliant Kakashi there all the time; an easy job – if a bit too easy…

"Wait. What's my story? How's a jounin-rank shinobi in a team of mere genin?" she asked, mentally congratulating herself on how quickly she caught the giveaway.

The Third smiled. "Seeing that during your two year training you were so rarely seen in public, and became a bit of a hermit-"

"Hey, I have Kakashi!" she interjected.

"A hermit with one friend," the Hokage amended.

"Yes, actually it's quite fun – we meet occasionally and swap stories about our caves…"

"Focus, Sakura!" Alright, alright! But her lip gloss really needed to be fixated again… Poor Sakura, why did she always end up with lip glosses that turn out to not be permanent? "Anyway," the Third began again, a bit too harshly. "Seeing as you were so rarely seen in public, it won't be hard to fabricate a story. Your clan had been threatened by enemies from another village and you were home-schooled, after that you passed the genin test. It's all been arranged with Iruka-sensei."

"What about my chakra?" Sakura persisted. "Anyone with half a wit can tell I'm not a genin."

Here the Hokage scratched the back of his neck and laughed awkwardly. "Well, there's that." Sakura waited, patiently. "You'll have to wear a chakra-decreasing patch. Only to be removed in cases of extreme emergency."

Sakura forced her eye to stop twitching. "I'll take it," she said finally. "I'll take the mission."

"Are you sure?"

"Practically bribed me into accepting it – now you're asking if I'm sure?"

"Yes, but you have to know that it won't be as easy as it sounds. I wouldn't have asked a second ANBU to aid Hatake Kakashi if it wasn't a potentially S-Ranked mission. This is the Kyuubi we're talking about."

Sakura, who had been merely half an year old infant during the infamous attack, did not feel to shaken. "It's sealed inside the jinchuriki, isn't it?" she said with a shrug.

"Well- yes."

"I'll take the mission, Hokage-sama," she said again. How could she not? She'd be able to buy her own house before she turned sixteen.

The Hokage smiled, not caring if her reasons were selfish, and signed one of the documents on his desk. "Then all is good."

"Is that all?"
"Yes, you may leave."

Sakura turned to go, mentally calculating in how much time she'd be able to buy a new TV, when she remembered something. The kunoichi turned back. "Hokage-sama."

"Yes?" the man said, not looking up from his paperwork. It really was enormous, even if he seemed to put everything in some bizarre order.

"Does Naruto know?"

"Know what?"

"Of the monster sealed inside of him."

"I've told you," the Third said. "There's a taboo on this. No one his age knows, not even him." Sakura felt a shiver run through her as the man sighed. "Do try to be friendly with him, Sakura, no matter how much you've been taught to hate him, he's been through a lot…" But he noticed that Sakura had already gone.

"Kakashi, you look so thin! Have you not been eating regularly again?"

"Mebuki-san," Kakashi said, crinkling his one visible eyes, as Sakura's mother was mothering him for the umpteenth time.

"Why, this is unacceptable! You must try my home-made miso soup with eggplant!"

Kakashi licked his lips beneath the mask. "Ah, I wouldn't want to intrude…"

"Nonsense," it was Sakura who said this as she entered the house and quickly slipped away from her shoes. "You will stay, sensei dearest, and you will tell me more about the mission where I have to pretend to be a genin."

"My sweet, strong Sakura-chan will have to pretend to be a genin?" Sakura's dad gasped, outraged. "For how long?"

"A few years at least," Kakashi replied with a miserable sigh – though doubtlessly for his end of the deal.

"What?!"

"Yes, father, but the payment's so good we'll be able to redecorate the house in a year."

"Hear, hear," Kakashi said with a winning smile that most unfortunately no one saw.

They sat on the table.

Kakashi, who frequently acted as her mentor, though even more often as her irritable, older brother, was actually secretly, unspokenly in love with her family and loved being mollycoddled by her mother. It all happened when she had once brought her team-mate over so they could discuss (mostly argue) about an upcoming assignment. Her mother and father instantly declared him the guardian-protector of their beloved daughter, though – seeing as Sakura was capable of taking care of herself, at least most of the time, and Kakashi didn't like kids too much even if they were smart and mature (though very short-tempered and pink) – they only pretended to be friends at first. Soon the young man was won over by the family and as Sakura grew on him because she started to remind him of himself at her age (and Kakashi was narcissistic as that), they became actual friends.

"At least we'll be together in this," she said optimistically. Kakashi nodded, looking very deep. "Oi, Kakashi!" the kunoichi chirped up suddenly, oddly cheerful. "You know I'll probably pretend to be weak and vain-"

"Oh, please don't." Kakashi blanched.

"And maybe I'll become a fangirl!"

"Of me or Naruto?"

"Of Sasuke Uchiha, of course! Haven't you seen all the hordes of fangirls he and his dark broodiness have? He's quite handsome as well, I already feel the love!"

"Sakura, for the love of Kami, please don't do this to me. I already have an unpredictable prankster slash jinchuriki and an emo kid with anger issues, I don't need an empty-headed little bimbo as well…"

"Well." Sakura smiled. "I have to act like a normal kid, don't I, Kakashi-sen-sei?"

Her guardian-protector-but-actually-spiritual-older-brother seemed dramatically horrified at the prospect. "What have I done in a past life? What? What?" he asked himself.

And so, it began...

"Oh, and Sakura?"

"Yes?"

"Don't be late tomorrow. Be on time for me, please, moral support and all…" But his words faded as she burst into laughter.

"Riiight, tell that to the other kids. Kakashi, aside for strategical purposes during a battle, you can't organize your time at all." He glared daggers and looked woefully at Mebuki, who took pity on him and handled him another bowl of soup.

A/N: Found this draft in a long ago set aside notebook and decided to type it up on the tablet and see the reaction of the readers. I might continue it, if you like it.