Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto


Warning: contains spoilers, blood, and language


Hello my dear readers,

I'm really glad that you liked the last chapter. I want to let all of you know that this is a long story so I won't be rushing the development of Sakura's and Minato's feelings. Rest assured that there will be plenty of moments for those two, but things won't be easy for them.

Thank you to all those who took the time to review, favorite, alert, and read last chapter. You guys are really amazing and keep me motivated to write more. I will try to update weekly because I want to keep the quality of the story as high as possible.

Please enjoy and review. Until next time!

~L.H.


Chapter Seven: Nine to Five

Rain.

Sakura inhaled a deep breath and enjoyed the scent that surrounded her. She snuggled her face deeper into the sheets and let out a content sigh. The faint comforting smell of a damp forest alleviated the throbbing in head and she felt the pressure behind her eyes ease up some.

Sakura risked opening a jade eye and surveyed her surroundings. She was in a respectable sized room that was spare of redundant furniture. She liked it. It was minimalism at its best. Sakura was never one for extra luxuries. She was a ninja. She had to be accustomed to sleeping on the floor as much as sleeping in her own bed.

Her internal clock told her that it was about six in the morning. She burrowed her head further into her pillow fortress. She only had five hours of sleep but she knew that there was no use in staying in bed. Once Sakura was up, she was up. Besides, she had promised herself that she would get back into shape. Her current level of fitness was laughable for a shinobi. Academy kids could easily beat her in a foot race.

With a soft sigh she pushed herself up onto her elbows and gathered enough resolve to get out of bed completely. She didn't know where she was but she wasn't too worried. She was safe as long as she was in Konoha. She stretched her hands above her head and touched her toes. She stretched until she heard her joints pop.

She wrinkled her nose at her shirt, she had slept in it. The once vibrant orange top was now dull and crusted. It stuck to her frame in an uncomfortable manner.

While she was stretching something had caught her eye. She made her way over to the nightstand and reached for a note that she assumed was left for her.

Morning bubblegum!

Didn't want to wake you, you don't seem like a morning person. The old man said that you're expected at the hospital at nine, try not to be late.

I left breakfast for you on the counter. If you need to contact me I'll be at training ground six with my team. You can start training Rin-chan tomorrow.

Yours,

Minato.

P.S. I've drawn a map to Uzumaki-san's house on the back.

Sakura repressed a growl at his note. She could practically visualize the wide smile he must have had on his face. The part that really riled Sakura up was that the bastard had known where Kushina lived this whole time. He could have easily dropped her off last night.

It took all her self control to not rip the letter into tiny pieces. She ignored the way her heart fluttered at the use of the word 'yours'. She refused to let herself obsess over why the idiot had chosen the words he had.

Sakura let herself into the small bathroom that was attached to the room and waited until she calmed down. It was weird experiencing something other than numbness but she welcomed it, all of it. She splashed cool water on her face before she took off her shirt so that she could wash out the blood stains. She fought back a shiver as the cool air touched her bare skin.

Sakura watched dully as the water in the sink turned from brown to red to finally pink before disappearing. Sakura wrung the orange garment with her hands before she pulled it over her body again. The dampness of the cloth did not faze her. She was planning on working up a sweat anyway.

She started at her reflection and almost did not recognize herself. The woman that stared back at her had life in her eyes, her cheeks had color, her hair was lustrous- albeit messy, and the three markings on her forehead almost had a glow to them.

She narrowed her eyes to get a better look at them. She was used to the Yin-seal, the seal had been a part of her for over five years but the new orbs would defiantly take some getting used to. 'Great even my forehead is getting crowded'. She thought sullenly as she began the laborious task of undoing and redoing her braid.

She passed by the kitchen and found the breakfast Minato had mentioned. She planned to just eat a piece of toast but once she has polished it off she realized that she ravenous. 'I can't train on a full stomach.' She spared the plate of food a longing glance before she walked out the door. 'I'll have to thank Minato for his hospitality.'


She hit the ground running.

Sweat was cascading down her arms, neck, face, and back. She felt gritty and dirty but she loved it. She hadn't gotten in a solid training session in years and it showed. All her muscles protested from the abuse she was putting them through but she relished it.

She relished all of it. She had worked so hard to get to where she is in now and she got here with blood, sweat, and ocean's worth of tears.

She had been at it for a solid two hours and she figured that would be enough for a day. She left the training grounds feeling accomplished and so much better. She followed the directions that Minato had given her and found Kushina's apartment with little incident.

She waited patiently after knocking on the door. The deep rich wood of the door spoke volumes of the type of place in which Kushina lived in. Sakura was disappointed at herself for not recognizing such a distinguished building. She could not dwell long on her lack of observation skill because in a blink of an eye Sakura found herself at the receiving end of a bone crushing hug.

"Sakura-chan!" Sakura winced at her louder than necessary tone. "I was so worried! You just upped and vanished. Don't do that ever again, dattebane!" Sakura lowered her eyes guiltily at the hurt and worried expression on the kunoichi's face. The red haired woman looked every bit the part of a worried mother hen.

"I'm sorry Kushina-chan. I'm fine though really, it won't happen again." Sakura looked at her apologetically. She smiled sheepishly at the woman before her. She wasn't accustomed to telling someone where she was headed and what she was doing. It was nice to have someone worry about her, for a change.

Kushina puffed her cheeks out in frustration and planted her hands on her hips firmly. "You promise?" She asked fiercely.

"I promise." Sakura said with equal fierceness. She was relieved that Kushina's cold exterior melted away with her words. The woman's hands instantly left her hips and they loosely pulled Sakura in.

"Good, now let me show you your room." Kushina beckoned the girl to follow her up the narrow stairs. "Ne Sakura-chan, where did you sleep last night?" Kushina looked over her shoulder to scrutinize the younger kunoichi.

Sakura fidgeted slightly on her step before answering. "The hospital, and I got a job there." To her pleasure her tone was light and utterly convincing. It would not do to tell the redhead the full truth. If she had any hope of uniting Naruto's parents her little sleepover should not be mentioned again. It was frightening how good she was getting at lying to people.

"Really?" Kushina's face brightened at the news. "That's great Sakura-chan." It sounded so sincere coming from her.

"Yeah, now I can finally start paying for rent and groceries around here." Sakura said with equal enthusiasm. She looked forward to the day that she could start pulling her own weight.

Kushina stopped abruptly on her step and turned back to fix Sakura a glare. "I'm not letting you live here so that I can collect rent ya' know? I may have agreed to the Hokage's request because I sympathized with you but I meant what I said at Ichiraku. You're my friend, Sakura."

Sakura stared at her with wide eyes. Kushina's tone and thought process had completely blindsided her. She realized that Kushina was waiting expectantly for her to say something with her arms crossed over her chest.

"No! No! That's not what I meant at all Kushina!" Sakura hurried to explain herself. "I just want everything, all the responsibilities to be divided equally amongst us. It's really important to me to get back up on me feet. You understand right?" Sakura looked at her pleadingly. Kushina felt her anger dissipate.

"Sure thing Sakura-chan. Sorry that I blew everything out of proportion, dattebane" Kushina laughed sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her head in a very Naruto-like manner.

"So are we good?" Sakura asked hopefully.

"We're great!" Kushina held out her fist and Sakura bumped it instantly. The two women grinned at each other in the middle of the staircase.


Sakura felt immensely better after showering. She had borrowed another shirt from Kushina again but thankfully it was just a simple white v-neck. She also donned identical black shorts to the ones she wore yesterday. 'I need to go clothes shopping today.' She did not know how much longer she could get by, by raiding Kushina's closet. Her host was incredibly generous but Sakura felt that she was pushing it.

Sakura shoveled down whatever she could get her hands on. Kushina just watched her in a mix of awe and slight disgust. After her meal Sakura bid her friend good-bye and headed off to work.


The second she passed through the doors of the hospital she felt her arm being tugged and before she knew it, she was being dragged down a hallway by a medic who was talking a mile a minute.

Sakura looked at the tiny woman-even by Sakura's standards- with black frizzy hair, thick black glasses, and grey eyes push her way through the halls. "I'm sorry, who are you?" She asked once the other woman had come up for air.

"My name is Akikio, Sakura-san." The woman dipped her head slightly. "Sorry we don't have much time for introductions. Hokage-sama already explained everything to me." Akikio assured whilst never breaking stride. 'Wish he explained it to me,' Sakura thought humorlessly.

She made sure to memorize what direction she was being led. This hospital was older and vastly different than the one Sakura worked in. The halls were dingier and narrower than she remembered. After Pein had leveled Konoha the hospital had been completely remodeled from the ground up. She barely recognized this place.

Akikio had stopped moving and led (shoved) Sakura into a room. "This is your office Sakura-san. Hokage-sama gave me your bonus." She shoved a pouch of money into Sakura's limp hand.

"Please let me know if you'll need anything." Akikio left quickly after. Sakura stared in horror at her office. She saw a mountain of papers resting on top of what she assumed was a desk, she wasn't sure she couldn't see anything but white. The office resembled more of a jail cell than anything else. But perhaps the look and feel of it was accurate. Sakura had a feeling that she would spend countless hours trapped in this very room with no hope of escape. She groaned, somehow she had been scammed and she could almost picture the Hokage grinning manically behind his desk.


Sakura officially hated her job. This hospital had no rhythm or reason to it. It was quite literally in pandemonium. No wonder people had clung to her every word. These medics were starved for structure.

Sakura's day had begun with her holding a meeting for her staff. She had introduced herself to a roomful of new and slightly familiar faces. She pretended not to notice the way the older medics looked down their noses at her. She would have to gain their trust and respect but she was ready to do just that.

Tsunade had lost complete faith in her healing abilities and left the hospital to it's own devices. It was a miracle that place was still standing and functioning after all this time. The hospital had been without a head medic since the death of Dan. The Hokage could not find any medic apt enough to handle the responsibility. Konoha had been once known for its medics and revolutionary healing techniques. Sakura made it her personal mission to restore the hospital and Konoha's reputation to its former glory. Sarutobi had trusted her with the task and she would not let him down.

She had then gone about restructuring the hospital's hierarchy and protocols. The flow of the hospital resembled what it would have been like eighteen years in the future, when she was more or less running it before the start of the war. She had completely guttered and slashed the old status quo of everyone doing their own thing.

The medics had been doing a horrendous job of keeping records up to date. Patient files were often mislabeled and had valuable data missing. The medics were not used to having answer to anyone other than themselves and they certainly did not have to fear getting punished for their half-assed attempts.

But she was going to change all that. If someone went against her rules then there was going to be hell to pay. She would not tolerate disobedience because there were too many lives at stake.

Did she mention it was only her first day? She got more done in a couple of hours than people had gotten done in days. All the hospital needed was steady, enforceable rules and she gave it just that.


A knock on her door interrupted her from her work. She looked up and was surprised to see a young girl at her door. She had a cute face, kind brown eyes, short brown hair and distinct purple markings on her cheeks. Sakura furrowed her brows this girl was vaguely familiar. "Can I help you?" Sakura asked her pleasantly.

The girl hesitated before she took a tentative step into her office. "Hai. Minato-sensei said that you would be teaching me how to become a medical-nin." The girls seemed to be gathering confidence the more she went on. She looked at Sakura hopefully. Sakura put down her pen and sized up the girl before smiling.

"You must be Rin?" The girl nodded. "I wasn't supposed to meet you until tomorrow, right?" Sakura asked gently. The girl looked at her feet as if she had been admonished.

"Hai. I'm sorry for bothering you. It's just I was really excited to finally be useful to my team." She mumbled the last part but Sakura's ears had picked it up. Her heart swelled and her eyes softened. 'Oh Rin-chan,' Sakura thought sadly as she took in the girl's hunched shoulders and shaking fists. It was like looking a mirror, almost. She had once been in the same position this girl was in now. She could easily sympathize with her pain.

"Tell you what, I need new clothes. Would you care to join me?"Sakura asked her kindly. She watched as the girl looked up at her with surprise.

"S-shopping?" She asked confusion clearly written on her face. Her tone implied that Sakura had asked her something absolutely outrageous.

"Yep. I'm not from around here so how about you help me find some clothes and then we can buy some medical supplies for you, sound good?" Sakura grinned at the girl's timid expression. It was clear to her that she was eager to learn but Rin's shyness was keeping her from answering right away.

She had a feeling that Rin lacked a strong female role model in her life. Sakura had her mother, Tsunade, and Shizune to look up to. But this time was different, everything was more male dominated and oriented. It made sense that making kunoichi feel empowered was not a priority during times of war. Sarutobi had his heart in the right place but he was still a male. Most shinobi did not comprehend the additional hardships and unfair stigma that their female counter parts had to overcome on a daily basis.

Silly things like equality and building confidence amongst the female population was a strain on resources that Konoha could not afford. Whether Rin knew it or not Sakura was ready to give this girl someone to look up too, and some to come to for guidance. Everyone needed a mentor and if the girl would allow it, Sakura would be hers.

"Okay." The girl said firmly which caused Sakura's grin to widen. She had a feeling that she will get along swimmingly with this girl.

"Lead the way Rin-chan." Sakura was excited she was finally back to doing normal things and the best part was that she had a pocketful of money that was just begging to be spent.