A/N: When you're about to finish university studies, midterm week is actually the one where you have more free time. Yay! *pushes back pending papers and coming presentations* Free time!

btw, thanks for all your follows and favorites. I'm actually having a lot of fun writing this story ;)

Now to the wall-punching drama!


The shocking revelations and the sadness of the previous days gave way to a newfound frustration. For Sakura the fact that she had so little control over the situation, plus the anxiousness about how her teammates and friends would react had her considerably stressed out.

It was Saturday morning and Sakura was sitting inside her apartment. The pinkette could not help but to be rummaging the life-changing news that had been given to her. Her parent's story as well as what Tsunade had told her added up. As if that wasn't sufficient, she had found a silk-covered package full of scrolls in her living room, and in them, the whole story of the Harusaki Clan was explained with family trees and all.

Some pictures had been also inside the scrolls, with an old family portrait particularly standing out. In it, a happy couple carried their baby girl between them. The picture emanated peace and happiness, a vibrant garden being the background for the portrait. The baby had bright green eyes, the exact same shade as the man in the picture. The elaborate kimonos and the elegance of the couple in the picture left no doubt about who they were. Still, it was weird looking at her … biological family like that.

Sakura passed a hand through her pink tresses and sighed.

A text message got her out of her musings. Unsurprisingly it was Naruto asking if she wanted to go for some ramen.

"Sugar. Honey. Iced. Tea. ! Naruto and Sasuke! What am I going to tell them? And what about the girls? Ahhhhh!"

According to Tsunade, it was up to her to tell her friends, but how would they react? Still, they had come to retrieve her from the forest. She clearly owed them an explanation. What would Sasuke say about her being a princess? And about her leaving Konoha? Would it mean that they were over even before they had started?

"Gaaaaahhh!" Sakura cried out loud and banged her fists on her wall for the umpteenth time. At this rate she was going to break another hole on her wall - she had already punched a hole in it after she got back from talking with her parents.

The only thing that she wanted to do was overwork herself until she couldn't think anymore.

"Hmmm… an epidemic break doesn't sound too bad right now… If I'm lucky there might be a surgery with complications. " Were her thoughts to try and cheer herself up.

Too bad flu season had just ended and the warm summer meant that the most interesting things got at the hospital were a bad case of insolation.

All those holes in the walls were going to be trouble when the winter came.


After Tsunade got the report that Sakura was back in Konoha she had sent the royal scroll over to her apartment. She'd had to send a letter to the officers at the Fire Temple politely indicating that Sakura's definite response would need at least a couple of days more. With this the Hokage thought that until she talked again with her pupil - an appointment had been set for the next morning - she would be able to let the issue rest.

It was one of those days when not much paperwork was left so the Hokage was already planning to go home early with quite some sake with herself. However, the Legendary Sucker hadn't earned that title for nothing.

Just as she was about to go home early for the day, Shizune announced the head of the royal officers had come to her office. With a heavy sigh, she let him in.

"Good afternoon, Kousuke-san. What can I do for you?"

"Hokage-sama, pardon my sudden arrival, but there is something that I must show you."

Tsunade was tempted to ask if it could wait until the following day, but a purple seal in the letter that the officer held caught her attention.

"What have you got there? Is it a letter from… her Highness?"

The only response was a nod.

There was no refusing it then, and most likely, not going home early either.

In the world of shinobi, most of the messages sent were coded, though the sophistication of the method used increased with the level of security of the message. What the Hokage held in her hand at that moment was written in such a way that only her chakra signature plus a drop of her blood would be able to make what was written visible, but only for a short amount of time, after which the letter would disintegrate. Usually, such extreme measures of security only happened between the heads of the shinobi villages, and only in rare cases were they used by the civilian royalty.

The Godaime Hokage read the letter intently, committing the words to memory before they faded. A serious frown settled on her face as she finished reading.

"You should have told me of the last time you came to see me." She said sternly.

"I am afraid that her Highness' specific instructions were that the rest of the officers' party was not to know of this. They would most likely leak that intel to the council, and they would not be pleased. Surely you understand, Hokage-sama" He said with a bow.

"Hmm… still, this would have made disclosing the news a bit easier…" Tsunade said with a thoughtful tone. "The Queen is indeed a wise woman. Tell her to leave it to me. I will send my best soldiers in this mission. After all, we have everything to gain from this plan coming to fruition."

Apparently, no more words were needed. The agreement was set. Standing up the officer gave a respectful bow and left the Hokage to herself. Forgetting her plans for sake, Tsunade opened the mission registry. She had some careful planning to make.


The following day. 11 am, Fire Temple.

All of Sakura's pent up frustration returned the moment she met those stuck up royal guards. It had been bottling up since that morning's reunion with Tsunade. The younger kunoichi had asked for more details about how she was supposed to proceed with this whole welcome-to-the-royalty thing. But for once her Shishou had not been of much help, only telling her to go and meet the officers at the temple. Supposedly they were the ones that would give her any information she needed to make a decision. What exactly her "decision" entailed she wasn't even sure yet! That's what she had gone to ask Tsunade!

Still, she had accepted to meet them in order to learn more about her family and the court but was beginning to regret her decision to do so. What on earth was wrong with this people? Sakura met a group of seven officers, who apparently had needed to take 15 servants with them just for the trip. Not to mention the ones in charge of the horses. The first impression they gave was of being some arrogant nose-wrinkling old men. The pinkette had tried to dismiss this impression thinking it was only a silly stereotype, however, the officers had decided to prove her impressions correct.

After some stiff introductions, they had taken turns to explain how things worked in the palace, as well as the precarious situation of her little sister's health. Regarding the latter, it turned out that she was almost three years younger than her and, in Sakura's absence, had been expected to succeed the throne when she came of age. Although her health had never been optimal - it seemed she had a weak complexion - it had gotten much worse during the past year. She had some sort of degenerative disease and it was now taking a toll on her respiratory and cardiac system.

Sakura could not help but listen to that information with the expert ear of a seasoned medic, after all, she had been in the field for almost seven years now, including her time of training. The problem was that the moment she began mentioning the possibilities for diagnose and cure they had looked at her like she had suddenly grown a second nose in the middle of her forehead.

"Has she gotten a chakra mapping done? I'm sure that if I could see it, that and an EKG and a full MRA, we could find out the source of the disease. Even if it is an autoimmune, the new techniques that Tsunade-sama and I have been exploring would surely..:"

"Ahem, your Royal Highness" the bald officer interrupted "you need not worry about such issues. The medics of the Royal family have been serving in the court for decades and are doing their best to treat the Crown Princess."

"Still, if there isn't even a set diagnose at least I could help with it…"

"As you shall surely find out, the life in court is going to include an occupied agenda, so please let the experts do their job." Another one said with a tone of condescendence.

Sure, she could deal with all the protocol and baby-kissing, but were they not going to let her exercise as a doctor? That was the droplet that exhausted her patience.

"Experts? Oh, I will show you experts! I have been under the direct tutelage of the Legendary Tsunade, best medical ninja in the WORLD, FYI. I have personally treated four of the five Kages of the Great Nations, and patented over a dozen new treatments, without counting the antidotes and medicines that I developed myself against the deadliest toxins. And I know that I can put my medical knowledge to use in order to help my little sister!"

Sakura got dangerously closer to the man with every word. She extended her arm and poked the annoying guard on the chest "And you will. Not. stop me. mister." she said through clenched teeth.

"Sakura-sama," said another one of the officers, using a more conciliatory tone "Please understand that the political situation and the government, plus getting acquainted with the ways of the palace will consume most of your time."

He almost seemed reasonable, almost… until he stuck his foot up his mouth. "Your job is to be the Princess. It would be unprecedented that you are running around as a nurse. As we said, the Capital does host some very good medical…"

Suddenly they were surrounded by killing intent, and a faint glow could be seen emanating from the pinkette's clenched fists.

'Why, why can't I simply punch them back to their precious capital! That would teach them not to look down on me SHANNARO!'

Sakura tried -very hard- to quench her murdering instincts.

Breathing heavily she squared her shoulders.

"If you won't let me be a DOCTOR then you'd better find yourselves another Princess." she said with a definite tone.

With this, she turned around and left, and though she wasn't really stomping her feet, her chakra was concentrated enough so that her soles left cracks on the previously impeccable marble floor.

"Damn! If we don't bring her back we are as well as dead. Remember what happened to the party that tried to return without her all those years ago?" They shared a collective shiver.

However, Kousuke, the head of the officers lifted his hand in a calming motion.

"It's okay. Let her go for now. She will come with us when the time is due."

Not everyone seemed convinced, particularly the bald man that had been at the receiving end of her speech, but they knew better than to question him. Or to try to go after the floor-breaking princess.