Surprise, surprise! I have no idea why I suddenly wanted to add onto this story. No, wait. I know. I wanted to do a story while male!Sakura being Sarada's dad alongside of Sasuke—it's not yaoi, it's just weird, sitcom-inspired stuff. But I wanted to do a Part II continuation before I did a Part III sequel, so…here it is! It doesn't feel as good as I wanted it to be, but it's hard to be Sakura-centric in Part II for me.

Disclaimer: Blu Rose doesn't own the Naruto series or its characters. Only this fic.

Summary: Two years had passed and Sakura had developed into a young man. But did he even change during the time?

X-X-X

#1: Results

For several years, Sakura had been training under the Sannin and Godaime Hokage, Tsunade. Everyone was proud of him for gaining an apprenticeship under her, although Sakura didn't share their excitement at first. Becoming a medic wasn't really something Sakura had in mind, but Tsunade refused to take on a student who didn't desire it. But he'd taken to the role of a healer like a fish took to water thanks to his fine chakra control, and he found some strange happiness in knowing that he could help people in ways beyond fighting.

But he could do more than mend. Sakura could also break. With his training in medical ninjutsu, he learned how to channel chakra to obtain the same iconic and monstrous strength as his master. It was the sort of strength he often longed for as a kid, but at the same time, he'd gotten so used to it that he would often grant himself boosts of strength for inopportune moments. Like expressing his anger.

"You PERVERT!" Sakura shouted seconds before his fist met Naruto's chin and sent him flying up into the air. He eventually fell back to earth, face first, behind of the pink-haired chunin. Sakura whirled around, picked up the blonde and put him into a headlock. "I can't believe I convinced myself that you were gonna come back as some cool guy! But you're still just a perverted kid!"

"S-Sakura…! You…got really strong…!" Naruto pointed out in a daze.

"Because unlike you, I've been taking my training seriously!"

Just as he lifted up Naruto with ease and prepared to power bomb him, he heard Jiraiya sigh, "Well, what do you know? A male Tsunade…"

"SHANNAROOOO!" People could feel the tremors created as Sakura slammed Naruto down into the road.

"GYAAAGH! I yield! I yield, damn it!"

X-X-X

#2: Value

The reason these days why Sakura so doggedly pursued strength and power was to be of use. He still remembered how it felt when he was left behind by Naruto, Shikamaru and the others. Hell, he remembered how worthless he felt compared to Naruto and Sasuke long before their team fell to pieces. What good was a ninja who was of no use?

No better than a wimpy little cherry blossom that seemed to die as soon as it bloomed, that's what.

These days, though, Sakura had value on the teams he was sent with. He was the healer, first and foremost. It was his job to keep everyone alive so they could live to see another day. He was the one who stood in the back and resisted the urge to jump into the fray, ready to throw punches and crack skulls like a certain blonde jinchuriki, unless it was absolutely necessary to fight back, because those were the rules of being a medical ninja.

But he tells himself that one day, there will come a time when he will be able to break those rules. He thinks that it will be the day when he completes his Yin seal. He knows it will be when he proves he is on the same level as Naruto and Sasuke, rather than someone who is beneath them. Until then, Sakura was content to bide his time and wait for the opportunity to arise so he could pounce on it, just like on a mission.

X-X-X

#3: Team 7

Due to Kakashi getting injured on their mission to rescue Gaara, he had to be replaced. Yamato Tenzou would be his substitute, and he was certainly had a more serious—and intimidating, in the words of Naruto—air than the Copy Ninja. And due to Sasuke…well…not being there, he also had to be replaced. His replacement was probably even more difficult to bear than Sasuke used to be—a guy named Sai who not only took up the time to badmouth Sasuke, but also label Sakura with the nickname 'Pinky'. Both Yamato and Sai were fully capable ninja and perfectly fine people—well, Sai was a jerk like Sasuke whose faker smile annoyed Sakura. But he didn't like the thought of replacing two members of the original Team 7.

Especially when their first mission together would be related to finding the location of Orochimaru, and in turn Sasuke.

When he imagined confronting Sasuke again, Sakura thought it would be him, Naruto and Kakashi teaming up to beat the ever-loving crap out of the Uchiha before convincing him that they were there to save him. Not a pair of strangers who might not have been as concerned with bringing the Uchiha back alive.

Or maybe he, like Naruto, was desperate to hopelessly cling to memories of their past. Because realistically, this was Team 7. At least for now.

"Do either of you even have penises?"

"You won't have one in a second!"

Though Sakura was certain to happily welcome Sasuke back with open arms if it meant getting rid of Sai.

X-X-X

#4: An Unhappy Reunion

Sakura hadn't been expecting their reclamation of Sasuke to go smoothly. Sharingan users, he learned, could be annoying to deal with. And Sasuke surely wouldn't come quietly. In fact, he damn near destroyed Orochimaru's hideout after encountering Sai. But he wasn't quite expecting a team of four—which included a jonin wielding Mokuton, a jinchuriki, and a chunin who utilized the monstrous strength of his teacher—to be unable to take down a single guy.

The loss hurt significantly less than when Sasuke started to speak. "I let you live on a whim," was what he told Naruto, and he knew what he was talking about. He was talking about the bloody state he'd left their blonde teammate years ago in the Valley of the End. He was dismissing the idea Sakura had that maybe if he let Naruto live, it meant some part of Sasuke still cared about his ties to Konoha—about his friends.

And it upset Sakura to hear that he intended to sever it by killing them all. The blood rushed to his head. Common sense left him and he forgot he was the medic here. He just wanted to smash Sasuke's face in for dismissing them so easily, to beat him to the edge of death, but let him live not because of a whim, but because he still cared about the bastard.

But he never got the chance to do that, because Orochimaru and Kabuto whisked Sasuke before he could even lay a finger on him. And like he did all those years ago, he felt as if his results over the years paled in comparison to whatever the hell Sasuke had done.

X-X-X

#5 Sempai & Kohai

"It was ridiculous… He was far stronger than I guessed he would've been. Faster, too. I think Orochimaru gave him drugs to boost his performance. Maybe did alterations to his body. Too bad his stupid face stayed the same. Bastard deserves the ugliest scar-covered face ever…" Sakura's speech devolved into a series of grumbles as he focused on the book in front of him, but the name 'Sasuke' could still be made out.

"Ugh! How long are you gonna keep moping?!" Ino shrieked seconds before slapping a palm against Sakura's forehead, making him cry out in pain.

"What the hell is with women in this village?! I come for emotional support and you hit me in the forehead!" Sakura snapped as he held a hand over the newly made bruise on his forehead.

Ino put her hands on her hips as she bent over the table the pink-haired teen had been sitting at. "You're the one who constantly calls himself my superior! You oughta be made of tougher stuff than that!" Ino's statement had made Sakura wince worse than her attack. She then held a fist up in the air as determination burned in her eyes. "Next time you see Sasuke, you'll land a 1-hit-KO on 'em! I won't accept anything less from you!"

Yes, shortly after Sakura himself had become Tsunade's apprentice, the Yamanaka clan's heiress had begun training as a medical ninja as well. She made it sound as if Sakura himself had forced her to in order to make up for their tie during the chunin exams. He hoped that maybe it meant she wanted to become close again. And they certainly were close these days despite the occasional barbs they threw at each other. Some people liked to insinuate that there was something more between—something that Ino vehemently denied and Sakura managed to avoid talking about by stomping with enough force to crack the ground. But he couldn't deny that Ino had become a person he could confide in, despite her loud nature.

"That's easier said than done! And if you acknowledge that I'm your superior, you could treat me with more respect, you pig!"

Ino narrowed her eyes. "Like I'm gonna do that for anyone who insults me like that! Besides, I know it'll only grant your perverted desires!"

"Like I'm gonna be arouse by someone like you," Sakura muttered as he resumed reading.

"…Sa-ku-ra-sem-pai~!" At the sound of Ino's sensual voice enunciating in his ear, Sakura's face reddened and he dropped the book he'd been holding, eyes large and blank. The next thing he heard was the blonde kunoichi laugh and proclaim, "There's not a man out there that can resist my charms!"

"I wasn't charmed! I was stunned by how close you were, you—you pig!" Sakura snapped.

"Hey, do you think I'd be able to woo that Sai guy into asking me out on a date? He reminds me of Sasuke a lot, but he actually seems approachable!"

Sakura didn't say how rude it was to flirt with him, dash his hopes, and then talk about her prospects of dating another guy. He just sighed and went back to reading the book, hoping he could come up with a means of hindering Sasuke's new physical prowess.

X-X-X

#6: Hopeless and Faithless

Sakura and Naruto had once made a promise together to bring Sasuke back to Konoha. They would get stronger, find their teammate, and beat him black and blue before dragging him back home, where he belonged. But it seemed as if their reunion at Orochimaru's hideout was a sign of the decline that Sasuke was going to go through afterwards.

When he killed Orochimaru, rather than returning to the village, he gathered a team of ninja to seek his brother Itachi, which was at least excusable because Orochimaru and Itachi were both too dangerous to be left walking around. But then he joined the Akatsuki, infiltrated Rai no Kuni, and attacked and captured the jinchuriki of Kumogakure. His actions actually led to the five Kage of the Great Shinobi Countries calling a summit to discuss how to deal with the Akatsuki. All because of Sasuke. All because of the teammate he and Naruto struggled to bring back home.

Sakura didn't need Shikamaru and the rest of the Konoha 12 telling him how Sasuke couldn't get away with committing these acts. He didn't need them to say that they ought to start treating him like the typical missing ninja and just kill him before he makes things worse. And he wanted to ask Naruto if he felt the same way before breaking the news about their decision…

But the bruised and swollen state the pink-haired teen found his friend in made him hold back the most important question on his mind in exchange for another, "What the hell happened to you?!"

"Some ninja from Kumogakure were here," said Sai as he stood by and watched Sakura heal Naruto. "He refused to give up information about Sasuke that could help them, so they attacked him. But he refused to fight back."

"You shouldn't have done that," Sakura muttered.

"I couldn't do that. If I let them kill Sasuke, it would just continue the cycle of hatred," Naruto spoke. "I have to go to the summit and tell them to leave Sasuke to me."

"I-I'm sorry, it sounded like you think you can convince five of the most powerful ninja leaders to do what you want! You're kidding, right? I know you're kidding!"

Naruto pulled himself away from the pink-haired boy and stood up. "Sakura. Do you remember what we promised? No matter what, we would bring Sasuke back to the village. Right now, we're his best chance of survival." Sakura opened his mouth to say how Sasuke had no chance of survival after all the shit he'd done, but Naruto continued, "You stay behind and keep looking over Granny, okay? We really need her support behind us right now."

And then he left. And Sakura released his pent up anger by punching the road, creating a decent-sized crater. "Idiot…! What makes you think she'd agree with you after what he's done…?"

"Sakura." Sai's voice drew Sakura's attention to him. "Do you think that Sasuke can possibly be forgiven after the things he's done?" The medic refused to answer that. He felt as if Sai knew what he thought anyway. "I understand now how much you and Naruto care about him and his wellbeing…but when the person you care for begins to do the things that Sasuke has done, personal feelings and history should be put aside before more innocent people get hurt."

"God damn it…I know." And the thought that came up in Sakura's mind made him feel so low…

X-X-X

#7: Breaking Promises

"What…did you just say, Sakura?"

Sakura took a shuddering breath, breathing out cold air. All eyes were on him as he stared at Naruto with a serious expression. "I said I'm giving up on Sasuke coming home. I don't know why we bothered to continue chasing him even before this mess happened. What good is saving him gonna do now that he's become a fugitive criminal?" Naruto still continued to stare at him in disbelief, so he continued, "The Sasuke we knew is someone from the past. The Sasuke of the present isn't someone we should be calling friend, let alone someone who we should be protecting. So let's both stop chasing the past and let the Kage decide what ought to be done about him for a change."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Why would you come all this way to say something like that?"

"Because I care more about your life than Sasuke's! You're a target of the Akatsuki and Sasuke's one of them now! Going after him would just be putting yourself in danger! That's why I'm here to take you back to the village where you can be safe, so just forget about the promise we made together!"

The blonde and the pink-haired boy stared at each other as if their respective groups didn't even exist. "This doesn't have anything to do with our promise anymore. I know why Sasuke's joined Akatsuki and done what he has…and I want to save him."

What happened next felt like an instant reaction. Sakura swung his fist, it met Naruto's face, and he was sent tumbling back across the snowy ground. The medic ignored everyone's shocked reactions and Kiba and Yamato's shared cry of 'What the hell?' as he jumped forward. "Then I'm sorry that it's come to this!" He landed with a kick that made the snow rise up into the air, exposing the barren ground beneath it. Naruto had recovered from the blow in time to jump back and avoid the attack. "Because I want to save you, you idiot!" Before he could charge forward, he felt something snake around his legs and waist that stopped him from moving. Looking down, Sakura could see that it was wood.

"That's enough of that, Sakura." At some point, Kakashi had arrived at the pink-haired boy's side. "This isn't the time to start petty fights."

"Petty?! Sensei, why are you encouraging him?! It's not worth it to care about Sasuke anymore!"

"You say that…but the look in your eyes doesn't match your words." Kakashi's statement made Sakura still. "Even your attacks seemed half-hearted."

"Sakura…" At that point, Naruto had approached him. The bruise on his face wasn't a bad one, so it had already started to heal. "Why are you trying to lie to yourself?"

"…DAMN YOU TWO!" Sakura shouted as he raised a fist in the air. Both his teammate and sensei backed off, fearing they would get attacked, but all Sakura did was punch wood restraining him to free himself. Then he stalked over to Sai, Lee and Kiba, saying, "You're both idiots for clinging onto the hope of saving Sasuke!"

But in a way, Sakura was just as much of an idiot as they were.

X-X-X

#8: Because we're Friends

He once considered Sasuke like an older brother figure—someone he hated at times, but still wanted to emulate in some areas and be an equal or superior. They cared for each other's safety, and after a while, they acknowledged each other's skills. It may have been simply because they were placed onto the same team, but Sakura felt they passed the minimum requirement to consider each other friends.

And that was why he had decided to head off to kill Sasuke.

It was a decision that he hated himself for coming to so easily, but it felt like a better option than trusting Naruto. Sasuke was like a rabid dog now. He had to be put down before he caused more trouble…and further tarnished the memory that he, Naruto and Kakashi had of him from the past. Yes, Sakura had been trying to convince himself that Sasuke's death would be beneficial for Sasuke, too, before he'd become some maniac.

He certainly looked like he was on the road to becoming one when Sakura found him after abandoning Sai and the others. Sasuke's clothes were a mess, it appeared as if one of his eyes were bleeding, and his hand crackled with electricity as he made to seemingly attack a woman. He only stopped because Sakura had called out to him and asked to join him, claiming to want to join him in his goal to destroy Konoha. He expected Sasuke to try and kill him outright, but instead gave him a simple order.

"If you really want to join me, kill her right now." He had wanted Sakura to kill the woman he had been intending to kill himself. "She's a member of the team I put together, but she's useless now. Since you're a medical ninja, you could replace her easily."

Sasuke didn't seem to think much of the poor woman. Heaven knows if she had done any criminal things or had a record free of mars. Sakura just couldn't help but feel sympathetic towards her. But his sympathy had made him hesitate, and he would've had Sasuke's Chidori plunged into his chest if it wasn't for Kakashi coming to save him.

But instead of running off and carrying Sasuke's former teammate to save her like his teacher said to, Sakura stuck around and waited for the opportune moment to strike him down. His mind had told him to stab him in a particularly fatal place, but instead, his kunai was plunged into Sasuke's shoulder, and the Uchiha took that opportunity to grab him by the throat and pull out his kunai to use against him. Sasuke had a deranged look in his eyes as he prepared to stab Sakura. The medic channeled chakra into his foot and kicked the Uchiha with enough force to send him flying back, but not enough to even break his bones. Perhaps his heart just wasn't into the thought of killing his former friend, no matter how much he convinced himself it was for the greater good.

Then Naruto came along and confirmed how he was a better friend to Sasuke, proclaiming that he was either going to stop Sasuke without killing him or die trying. It certainly made Sakura feel like a low-down person.

"You're a better person than I am," Sakura had told Naruto on their way back to Konoha. Sasuke had slipped away from them once again thanks to the help of Uchiha Madara. "You still wanna save Sasuke even if he sees you as an enemy…"

"I'm not a better person than you," Naruto began, "Because you still care about what happens to Sasuke, too. That's what all of that from before was about…right?" He started to smile. "I mean, if you were really serious about killing him like you wanted to do, we'd have been able to bring him back a lot more easily!"

The pink-haired boy sighed. "Don't joke about that. You're only making me feel like a failure. It's always been you and Sasuke in the end…"

"Sakura… Do you believe we can be a team again?"

"…Yeah. Just promise to give Sasuke a punch for me when you fight for the last time." But Sakura couldn't deny how disappointed he was at that thought. That once again, he would be forced to be a watcher while his teammates—his friends fought in some perilous fight. It really did make him feel like just a bit player.

X-X-X

#9: Stand Together

At last, his dream had come true. Here he was, fighting back to back with both Sasuke and Naruto. It was upsetting to know that this happened due to a world-ending catastrophe brought on by years of shinobi hatred, but it couldn't be helped. His Yin seal had reached fruition and he could really let loose and show his true power.

"Do you both see it now? I'm a student of one of the Sannin and a member of Team 7, the same as you! Maybe I should aim for the title of Hokage myself, seeing as how my master's one!" Sakura exclaimed as he held up a fist.

"Huh?! Sakura, not you, too! Next even Sai'll ask if he could become the Hokage!" Naruto sounded like a whining child—an attitude that didn't match the ethereal glowing yellow aura he had.

"You say that after you were nearly killed." And that was Sasuke, sounding as unimpressed by Sakura's accomplishment of punching out a massive creature that dwarfed him.

Sakura couldn't help but smirk as he stood back to back with Naruto and Sasuke. "Well then, this time you guys can be my backup and stare at my back! Unless you think you can keep up!" This was war. He shouldn't have been so happy, but he was. Because he could finally say that he was his friends' equal. Because they were finally together again.

Later on, they would once again be placed into a category where Sakura wouldn't be able to follow them due to history and prophecies and fate. And even sooner after that, his friends would once again keep him out of the way to settle issues between themselves. But for now, standing together, Sakura could fool himself into believing that they were a team again and that things might be okay when the dust settled.

#10: Sorry

Sakura was pissed. He had woken up this way. It wasn't just because he was still sore and tired after succeeding against Kaguya–although the fight against the mother of chakra certainly was exhausting, having exhausted a good amount of the chakra Sakura had channeled into his Yin seal. No, it was because of Sasuke. He had a feeling that things wouldn't be so easy—that Sasuke wouldn't peaceably come back to Konoha and forget his feelings of anger and hatred. But why the hell did the bastard have to go and knock him out?

To make matters worse, when he woke up, he learned from Kakashi that Naruto and Sasuke had left to have that duel they had been hyping up for a long time. Meaning they had left him behind again. So Sakura would like to think that he wasn't making mountains out of molehills when he ran to find the two idiots so he could give them the pain of a lifetime.

Those feelings didn't change when he found both of his friends lying on the ground in the Valley of the End all bruised, bloody and each missing part of an arm. "You two…! You two are the worst! Do you know that?" If they had more energy to move, Naruto and Sasuke might have shown fear of their pink-haired teammate. "The both of you deserve even more of a thrashing than you've given each other! And I suppose you expect me to heal you and make you all better? I'll give you what you need!"

The pink-haired young man bent over and began to forcefully poke the Uzumaki and the Uchiha. Naruto was the most verbal with his complaints of "Stop it, Sakura! Ow! It hurts! Ouch! Damn it, I'm in pain here!" Sasuke just took it all while grunting in pain. Kakashi stood nearby, his smile hidden beneath his mask as he ignored Naruto's pleas to help them.

Once Sakura's anger had subsided, he got to work healing up the two. He worked on Naruto first just to make Sasuke suffer. "Consider that your punishment for knocking me out, dick."

"Sakura... I'm sorry," Sasuke spoke simply.

"For what?"

"…For hurting you. All of you."

"Can I believe that?"

"Yes."

Sakura and Sasuke stared at each other for a few seconds before the medic flicked his finger against the Uchiha's forehead. "If you do anything like that again, I don't care what Naruto or anybody else says. I'll break every bone in your body and literally drag you back to the village."

"Hn. You haven't changed. You're still annoying."

Sakura snorted before poking another sore area of Sasuke's body. The Uchiha flinched, which made him smirk. "You're still annoying, too. Both of you are."

"Hey, I thought I was forgiven?" Naruto asked.

"It'll take a lot more than apologies for either of you to get back into my good graces!"

"So annoying…"

As their childish bickering continued, Sakura looked up at the sky. He took a deep breath, exhaled, and found himself genuinely smiling. At last, their team was on the path to becoming whole once more.