Once again, the ages were done on purpose. And this is still AU.
Three months had passed since Sakura had come back to the Leaf; three long, strange, nostalgia-fulfilling and creating months. There was an odd dichotomy between her adult memory and her short memory, sometimes showing up in her dreams, and sometimes revealing itself in her day-to-day interactions. Some days, Sakura would wake up before the sun even rose and spend three to four minutes panicking over the lack of weapons on her person, only to see a teddy bear or hear Jinya puttering around sleepily, and realize that she was no longer in a time where weaponless was only a status gained through capture.
More than once, when around her mother, Sakura opened her mouth and had to restrain herself from referring to the woman as 'Tsunade-sama.' Somehow, she didn't think Haruno Nadeshiko would appreciate or even understand it if her six year old daughter confused her for a woman who'd all but abandoned the Leaf before she was even born. It was times like that when Sakura had to hold back tears and fight off a headache; she loved Tsunade like a mother, but the only way the woman would come to the Leaf was dependent on the death of Sarutobi, who Naruto loved like a grandfather.
Something similar, yet radically different, happened when she was around Naruto. This was primarily because Naruto was... Well, Naruto. He was quiet where he'd once been loud, calm where he used to be hyper, and a lot easier to overlook in a crowd than she was used to. The blonde had a strange way of blending in with his surroundings as soon as you stopped paying attention, and a lightness to his steps that was slightly disconcerting for a trained kunoichi to notice in a child. For the most part, Sakura had tacked this down to his still-mysterious relationship with the ANBU in the village. Considering that they were the only adults she'd ever seen him around besides their civilian teacher, it made sense that he would subconsciously copy them.
Of course, walking wasn't the only thing Naruto had gotten from the ANBU, as Sakura found out. No... He'd learned more things from the Leaf's silent protectors than she'd likely ever learn about him, even with her own previous knowledge of him from the future that wasn't particularly valid anymore.
"...said I'm going to the Academy next year, when I turn seven," the pink haired child told her light-haired friend in quiet tones. "It took Jinya a long time to convince them, but he did. He's already teaching me how to throw kunai and some basic stances, so I think I'll do well." She paused, and her emerald eyes locked onto the paper that Naruto was writing, which he hadn't paused from once as she spoke. "What about you? Are you going to follow the civilian track and go to trade school?"
"You know I'm not," Naruto mumbled. He put down his pencil and glanced towards her, before slowly continuing, "I'm pretty good with projectiles. And I don't know the basic Academy stances but I do know a few others. Do you wanna...?" His words trailed off, but it wasn't unexpected. Sakura was surprised he'd even said that much, to be honest. He tended to say whatever was necessary and not much else.
"Sure!" Sakura chirped. A glance at his paper told her that he was finished; he seemed to have a strange amount of talent when it came to writing about historical figures, which had come as a real surprise to her. Every time their teacher assigned a paper, he chose a different person to write about, ranging from the former leaders of other nations to famous bounties that the Leaf had claimed. It made her curious. "Ne, Naruto?"
"Yeah?" He wasn't looking at her anymore. Instead, he was packing his papers into his bright orange backpack (one of the most familiar things about him) and eying the group of civilian boys entering the park warily in his peripheral vision.
Sakura looked up at them too, wondering if she knew who they were. "Why do you know so much about all these people that you write about? I mean, you never even look at the books you take out about them..." Sakura remembered one memorable occasion, where Naruto had completed three pages on the history of the Yondaime in less than forty minutes, without once looking up from his paper.
Her attention was drawn to Naruto again as a curious thing happened: a dull red flush slowly crept up Naruto's neck, then his cheeks, and finally began coloring his ears as he stared down at his backpack, opening his mouth to reply only to shut it again, biting his lip.
Raising her eyebrows, she prodded him in the side with a finger, grinning when he released a quiet squeak, reminiscent of the sound Hinata used to make whenever he noticed her. "C'mon, Naruto! Tell me!"
"...You can't laugh," the boy warned.
Sakura furrowed her brows. "Why would I laugh?"
"You just can't, okay?"
"Fine, fine... Now tell me!" She scooted closer in anticipation. "I promise I won't laugh!"
Naruto glanced from side to side, as if checking for listening ears; somehow, Sakura doubted he noticed the ever-present ANBU perched in the tree above them, although she could be wrong. Finally, however, Naruto relayed lowly, "I'm gonna be Hokage when I grow up, so I hafta know lotsa important stuff."
Sakura, for the first time in a long while, didn't know how to react. It was impossible to tone down the slight widening of her eyes, or hold back her quiet whisper of, "Really...?"
The whiskered boy bit his lip at her reaction, but deftly nodded. "Really. I mean it. I have to know the important people without a book, and be able to look at everything without giving stuff away, and I have to write really, really neat. Then I have to become one of the best fighters, and master one-thousand different jutsu, and..." He faltered. "It's a lot of stuff, but I'm gonna learn it. I'm..." There was another pause, but he stared her in the eye and continued in a strong voice, "I will be the Hokage someday."
With the sheer determination in his voice, Sakura suddenly couldn't believe she'd ever wondered why her Naruto and this Naruto were so completely different. That promise, and that gaze, and that absolute surety in his voice... The green-eyed girl grinned broadly. "I think you're going to be a great Hokage, Naruto."
If nothing else, his wide-eyed expression at her response was worth it. "Y-you... Do?" he stuttered out, blinking.
"Of course!" Her grin grew even wider. "In fact, I'll even help you. Still, that's a long way, and it's a lot of stuff you gotta learn, right? Let's just go train for right now. We can see who throws the most kunai to the center!"
"...Yeah."
Was it just her, or had he whispered a 'thank you' under his breath as they walked away?
Sasuke threw the best kunai by the tiniest, tiniest margin, and it was driving both the boys absolutely insane.
The young blonde was introduced to Sasuke by Sakura, who'd invited the dark haired child to join their kunai throwing contest when he showed up to train with them nearly a week ago. It quickly went from a simple contest to something more along the lines of a battle, because for some, insane reason, it seemed that Sasuke and Naruto threw their kunai the exact same way.
If it weren't for the blonde's slightly lesser coordination, Sakura was sure that the boys would be evenly matched in beating her out. Since she'd started training under her older brother's supervision, she'd increased to getting four in seven shots directly, and they were almost always close to the center when she did manage to get things right. But both Naruto and Sasuke made almost all of their shots, and half the time they were bull's eye hits, whether their kunai were dull or live.
When they really got into it, she sometimes felt just as she had when Team 7 first formed; she was just some civilian girl with big brains, stuck between two veritable powerhouses for teammates...
"Ow!" Sasuke stumbled and, somehow, scratched himself with his kunai. He stared at the shallow cut on his left arm with a slight quiver of his bottom lip as he fought not to cry from the blood welling up.
"I'll get a bandage," Naruto spoke up after a moment, biting his lip.
"Wait!" Eagerly, Sakura shot forward, startling Sasuke from his watery-eyed pout as she wiped at his cut with the hem of her shirt, then clumsily began forming seals with hands that didn't yet have the dexterity necessary for truly complicated techniques. "I learned this last week..." With a frown of concentration, she placed one hand over the cut, and then watched with glee as the tiny amount of chakra she'd managed to gather up turned green over his hand and, slowly, knitted the skin back together.
She sat down once there was nothing but a thin, fading pink line left on Sasuke's skin where the cut had been. "See? Isn't it cool?" Sakura exclaimed, beaming widely even as she tried not to waver from the sudden drain she felt. Even a simple bunshin took a lot out of her at the moment, but she was sure that she'd improve with practice. "That's the Mystical Palm technique! For healing!" She knew far more medical techniques, each of them ten times as complex as that, but it made her proud that she could do such a thing when she was only six years old for all intents and purposes.
Naruto and Sasuke both stared at the Uchiha scion's arm in awe, then sat down near her on the grass, each taking turns to poke at the healed wound, as if expecting it to pop open once again. "That's really awesome," Naruto said, looking to her. He'd been talking more freely ever since confiding his dream in her a week ago.
"Thanks, Sakura-chan!" Sasuke exclaimed, smiling at her widely. "This is really neat. I wish okaa-san was a medic-nin, then she wouldn't use the stingy stuff on me... Are you learning to be a medic-nin, Sakura-chan?"
She still startled a bit every time the boy added the suffix to her name, which had never happened before, but she was getting almost used to it. Picking at a blade of grass, she smiled at Sasuke and nodded. "Yup. And when I grow up, I'm gonna go with my onii-chan on missions and heal him every time he gets hurt. I think onii-chan is learning some when he teaches me about it, but I guess the more the merrier, right?"
"My nii-san is really cool. I bet he already knows how to do loads of medical techniques, even better than your nii-san," Sasuke boasted. Luckily, Sakura had quickly learned that Sasuke absolutely adored his older brother and thought he was the best thing in the entire world, and so, she didn't take any offense. "Do you have a nii-san, demon..." He paused under Sakura's sudden glare. "...Um, Naruto?"
Suddenly subdued, Naruto shook his head, and joined Sakura in picking at grass. While he was focused on the ground, Sakura gave Sasuke her best impression of an irritated Uchiha Mikoto, which was surprisingly spot-on despite her age. Sasuke flinched, and joined them with picking at grass. He knew why Sakura was angry; he'd called Naruto demon again, which he'd been trying not to. It was just that everyone he knew called Naruto the demon boy, and he'd never really referred to the blonde kid by any other name. He tried to remember to call him Naruto, but he still slipped up and made him sad.
Making Naruto sad was a big no-no when it came to dealing with Sakura. On a good day, she was talkative and cheerful and smiled a lot. On a normal day, she still smiled, but it took coaxing to make her talk without stuttering and stop fiddling with the ends of her pink shirt. But a bad day was radically different; on a bad day, Sakura could go completely blank faced, and, if provoked, explode into a red-faced, glaring, fire-breathing creature of devious malice that sent everyone smart running, far, far away.
Sasuke didn't like it when Sakura had bad days, but it seemed that once again, he'd somehow caused one. "Sorry," he mumbled.
"'s okay," Naruto mumbled back.
"...Sakura-chan?" the Uchiha prodded.
She shook her head. "Don't worry about it."
Strangely enough, as irritated as she'd been only moments ago, she really did mean it. Sakura supposed that it was just so strange to hear Sasuke apologize that she couldn't really stay angry. Still, she wouldn't have been bothered for very long anyways; it was just too nice being together with her team again to ruin with a temper.
Mentally, she sighed. Just a little bit closer...
At some point there will be action in this story.