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"Kakashi! A woman was just attacked at the border bu-" I clicked the radio button to respond.

"Go help her, Yuuko." Bandits again?

"No, that's the odd part. She dealt with them by herself, I watched her!" Strange...

"Is she a ninja?"

"Undoubtedly. I'm following her as we speak."

"Cease pursuit, you need to stay at your post, Yuuko. What village is she from and which direction did she head?" The forest floor sped by underneath as I leaped from branch to branch towards Konoha.

"Unknown, she's not wearing a protector. Be cautious Kakashi, she killed 7 men with a mass genjutsu and headed north from checkpoint 4. She has brown hair and a blue dress, she might be a missing nin." I clicked my microphone off. A missing nin was bad news. I changed course to intercept and came across another jounin on patrol and stopped briefly.

"Shikamaru. There's a possible missing nin heading towards Konoha, I might need your help to stop her." He sighed and rolled his eyes up, indicating that he didn't want to be bothered with something so troublesome, but followed me as I continued on.

It wasn't very long before the girl in question came into sight. I stopped Shikamaru and he hid out of sight as I did. She was just walking down the road, brown hair bobbing back and forth in time with her steps. That walk was, however, familiar. She was kinda cute actually, with blues eyes and a petite frame along with some nice assets. Actually... she looks exactly like Mayu, a minor conquest from Icha Icha Tactics Vol. 7. Odd, but still very interesting.

As she passed the tree where I was hiding, she perked up, looking around quickly. She looked the tree up and down, quickly settling her eyes on me. Staring directly at me, she smiled sweetly, As she did so, her eyes changed all at once from blue to green, her hair shortened and appeared bubblegum pink, and her dress changed from blue to a red top and black shorts.

"Thanks for waiting, Kakashi-sensei. I appreciate it." Her lips never moved, and she reverted as quickly as she had changed. I shook my head, unsure of what I had seen. Shikamaru glanced between the girl and I, obviously unaware of anything I had just seen or heard. Absently, I plucked an empty report scroll from my vest picket, scrawled a quick note in it and handed it to Shikamaru.

"Take this to Tsunade-sama." He sighed and disappeared. She was still staring at me with those fake blue eyes, smiling and watching me. I hopped down from the branch and landed among the roots of the tree.

"It's been awhile, Sakura-chan." I leaned against the tree, unable to think of anything to say to her. It had been far too long. She just smiled at me, twirling a strand of her fake brown hair between her fingers.

"I missed you, Kakashi-sensei, I missed everyone. Even Naruto." The smile softened and turned a little sad. I could feel myself turning ever so slightly pink underneath my mask. Not necessarily because of what she said, but the way she said it. It gave me a shiver down my spine.

"You should get back to the village. Naruto's been worried for you, not to mention Ino and the other girls. Tsunade-sama will already know you're back, so you should hurry." I tried not to think of Mayu's chapter as she stood there, continuing to twist her hair, but this time looking sheepish.

"Was I really gone that long? It seems like It's only been a few months, and everything's going to be the same when I get there, like I was just on a mission or something." She turned and resumed walking towards Konoha's main gate, letting out a sigh and shifting her bag on her shoulder. I followed her, walking a few steps behind her, careful not to let my eye wander where it shouldn't.

"I see your genjutsu skills have improved considerably while you were gone. How was the rest of your training?" It was hard to believe it had been only six years. Naruto's worrying and whining made it seem much longer. And her absence by itself had made the team just seem to be missing a huge part of itself. She took a backwards glance at me and grinned happily.

"It was productive, and fun. Some of the other Hidden Villages are so cool." I smiled at her enthusiasm as she continued.

"I'll have to take my jounin exam soon and make use of it on some A-rank missions! Oh..." She turned her torso and rummaged through her bag as she walked. She pulled out a green book that was all too familiar.

"Jiraiya-sama gave this to me to give to you. I saw him in the hidden village of Sand a few days ago." She held the book out to me and smirked. I turned a little pink and took the book from her, thumbing through it. It was the newest one, not supposed to be on shelves for almost a month.

"S-Sakura... Jiraiya gave you this for me?" She nodded and put a finger to her lips.

"This is what I looked like while I traveled. Jiraiya-sama gave me the idea, So when I look like this, I'm Mayu, not Sakura." I looked at her blankly and pointed at the book in my hand.

"Have you read...?" She giggled and twirled, her skirt fanning out.

"Have I got her down or what?" She winked. I nodded, realizing she was just teasing me.

"Oh, we're here..." She looked up at the town gate, eyes shining. She smiled, wiping her eyes.

"It's nice to be back."