Here goes chapter 6 of EB. As I promised, I won't let this half-way through. I will finish it, even if I take my time. But now I am on a writing binge, so I will probably post a few chapters during the following months.

Hope you enjoy.

"Do you understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"Okay. Can you please stop calling me sir?!"

"Yes sir!"

Sasuke sighed. A long, long day waited ahead of him.

Chapter 6: Of Problems, Worries and Hopes

Sasuke entered the Hokage's building at ten to four.

He had left Sakura at home after having eating with his mother. During lunch, he had pretended that nothing had happened, just sitting with his usual stoic face and making his usual sarcastic comments. But he had spent the whole meal thinking about the strange quantities of chakra produced by Sakura. The more he thought about it, the more he realized nothing made sense. Nevertheless, he just kept his gaze fixed on his food, like he didn't care about anything else.

However, when Sakura had excused herself and left for some minutes, he had briefly told Mikoto about the incident with Hinata and her proposal. She hadn't said anything while he spoke, but as soon as he asked for her opinion, she started talking.

"I think the conditions you imposed on her should be fine. If she does what you told her, I'm sure there's nothing to worry about. Hinata is a sensible and mature girl, and I'm sure she'll be able to help out Sakura a lot. And it might turn out for the best. After all, Sakura needs to waste her energy on something. Helping me around won't do it. So I approve."

"Thank you, mother."

"However, you are aware that you must talk this over with the Hokage, right? I can give you permission, but she is the leader of the village, so she should be informed of this. If she doesn't find it convenient, and she forbids Sakura from training, we will have to agree."

"I know. I will tell her today. But knowing her, I'm sure she will let us do it as long as it doesn't threaten the village's peace. I'll also tell her to try and locate her family."

"Right now, that's our most important priority. If we can contact with someone who knows her, I'm sure a lot of mysteries will be solved."

"I also think so."

"But you have to be more careful from now on, Sasuke. I know it was my fault for telling you to introduce her to your friends. I could've never imagined that something like this would happen. But since we know now, we have to be twice as cautious. We should try and put some barriers around her. There are too many Uchihas and Hyuugas in this village that could see her chakra and try to harm her. So we must try to get all the village to know her before we can actually let her be around alone. So she will have to be kept in company until that happens."

"That…"

Sasuke closed his mouth as soon as he heard Sakura coming down the stairs. A few seconds later, her head peeked from the doorstep.

"Am I interrupting something?" she asked.

"Of course not, sweetheart! Sasuke was just telling me he's going to see the Hokage now, so he's already leaving."

"Yeah, that's right." He agreed.

"Oh… okay then." A look of loneliness invaded Sakura's eyes for a second, but she was fortunate enough to recuperate her composure before Sasuke or Mikoto noticed.

"I'll be going now." Sasuke announced.

He walked out of the kitchen and out to the corridor. As he sat down on the entrance to put on his ninja sandals, which were between Sakura's wooden thongs and Mikoto's ones, he noticed someone staring at him from the back. When he turned around, he saw Sakura there.

"What do you want?" he asked, tiredly.

"Um… nothing really." She said. "Just take care."

Sasuke grunted in response, as he tied the last strip. As he stood , he heard his mother's scream from the kitchen.

"Have a safe trip!"

He sighed. His mother still treated him like he was her pretty five-year-old son. He left the house. But before closing the door, he heard Sakura.

"Mikoto, what's a Hokage?"

Sasuke knew his mother would probably spend the whole afternoon explaining the most basic things to Sakura so she wouldn't blow up the cover they had created for her.

After walking for some time around the village, Sasuke entered the Hokage building ten minutes earlier than expected. As he went inside, he was greeted by Tsunade's assistant, Shizune.

"Hello Uchiha-san. I see you are a bit early. Tsunade-san wasn't expecting you until four."

"I didn't have anything else to do." He bluntly explained.

Shizune was satisfied with that brief but explicative reason. Everyone knew Uchihas didn't like wasting words.

"Tsunade-san is not busy right now, so she might receive you a bit earlier. Please wait for a minute."

While Shizune called Tsunade, Sasuke sat in one of the room's cosy chairs and waited. He started reflecting on what Tsunade would want to tell him, and what he had to tell Tsunade. But just the thought of Sakura bothered him, so he separated those thoughts from his mind, while his inner Sasuke pestered him. He spent the next minutes having an internal fight with himself, which ended with his victory after he mentally attacked his inner self with a fire jutsu.

"Um… Uchiha-san?"

As he raised his head, he noticed Shizune's strange gaze.

"I'm sorry to bother you. Were you thinking about something important?"

"No, not really." At that moment, he was glad that she couldn't read his mind: she would laugh if he saw how he was sticking a sword in and out his other self's chest.

"Tsunade told me she was ready to attend you. You can go up to her office."

"Thank you for telling me, Shizune-san. I'll be going now."

As Sasuke walked up the stairs to where Tsunade was waiting, he tried to organize all the information he had about the Sakura in his mind in a somehow comprehensible way, so his speech would make sense. If he started talking about made up names, chakra flows and arranged marriages, Tsunade would kick him out of the same door he had come in through.

He knocked on the door. Nothing. He knocked again. Nothing. As he knocked continuously on the door, and no response came, he decided to go inside. If Tsunade had summoned him, he would not waste his precious time waiting for her to decide when she felt like answering.

Tsunade was sitting on her chair, with her back facing the door, as she contemplated her village through the glass window. Sasuke knew she was perfectly aware that he was there, and she was probably just making him wait. He sometimes needed to be reminded that Uchiha Sasuke was not the most important person in the world, and Tsunade had seriously decided to do so. He opened his mouth to say something but, as if reading his intentions, the Hokage was quicker than him.

"Ah, my precious village. Isn't it beautiful?" Without waiting for an answer, she continued. "I definitely think it is, and that is why I fight so hard every single day of my life to protect it, both the place and the people who live in it. Home is where the heart is, right? If so, this is my home, and I'm sure most people living here will agree with me. I would die protecting this place. But…" she turned her chair round with a swift movement, and Sasuke found her clear eyes staring directly into his. "… I'm not so sure about the reasons why you fight, Sasuke-san. Is it because you love the village? Or just because this is what you have been told to do?"

Sasuke reflected on his feelings for a second.

"I don't know whether I love this place or I just appreciate it because this is where I have grown up. But I will protect it with all my might, because this is the place where my precious people live, and where my memories take place."

"You have just spoken almost like a true ninja, Sasuke-san. I am very proud of you."

"Thank you, Tsunade-san."

"Sorry for asking you such extravagant questions. I am just feeling nostalgic today. Age makes you see how truly precious, but ephemeral things are. Sit down, Sasuke-san. I am sure you will welcome the news I have to tell you."

Sasuke took a seat in the chair Tsunade was waving her hand towards. He sat there, looking at her, while she seemingly put some of the papers on her desk in order. But both of them knew she was only doing it to make him wait. A minute later, she was done.

"Sasuke-san. Why do you think I have summoned you here today?"

"I don't know."

"But surely, you must have some kind of intuition."

"You are right. I was thinking it might be a mission, hopefully an ANBU one, since you didn't call my ex-team along."

Tsunade smirked.

"I can see your deductions are still quite right, Sasuke-san. You are absolutely correct." She paused for a few seconds as she fell deeply in thought. "I have called you because we have detected an abnormal mass of ninjas which are starting to move near Sound. This happens normally. Ninjas travel. But this time, there seems to be something wrong. They aren't just travelling. They are organised, and each of them seems to know exactly where they are going. It might not be something that will harm us, but we are still worried about it. Therefore, we will send a team consisting of five people to investigate. The details..." she handed him a rolled scroll. "...are in here. But I will give you some relevant information."

"You will be paired up with Neji, Sai and Shikamaru. And you will be taking Ino as well."

"Ino? But she is still a chuuin, right?"

"Yes. But as you know, her body transfer ability might come in handy. She is a very experienced ninja, and I don't doubt she will be capable of handling everything that comes in her way. But I would like you to take good care of her. She can be kind of an airhead sometimes."

"I am sure she will be very responsible." If Sai was going, Ino would do everything she could to make things easier and to impress him. "And how did you choose the other members of the team?"

"As you know, all of them have abilities which will help. Neji has the Byakugan, Shikamaru is our best strategist and he has his shadow technique, with which he can capture ninjas silently. Sai can attack people distantly and discretely with his ink, and is also extremely skillful spying and eavesdropping. And you... well, you have your Sharingan, and you are one of our most strong and reliable ANBU members. Isn't that enough?"

"Of course, Tsunade-san. I was not asking for you to excuse yourself."

"Don't worry, Sasuke-san. However, be sure to read all the information in the scroll as soon as you get home. You will be leaving on Monday, as soon as the sun sets."

It was Friday.

"Understood, Tsunade-san."

"However, Sasuke-san, don't think I am done yet. I have to comment some things with you. I received your brother in my office a while ago, and he told me something very interesting..."

Please, don't let it be true!

"What is this about an arranged marriage?"

Sasuke felt his head fall to the floor. He sweat dropped, cursing his brother with all the swearing words he could imagine.

"It is actually not like that, Tsunade-san."

"Then, how is it? I would like to hear it from you."

"I know this will sound strange, Tsunade-san, but I can't let anyone else hear about it. Can anyone hear us?"

Tsunade pulled on a confused face.

"Of course not. As you know, this room is protected against all kinds of eavesdropping, be it physical or by jutsu means."

"Okay, then listen to the story."

Seeing how serious Sasuke looked, Tsunade looked at him attentively. Maybe it was a story worth listening to.

Sakura hummed happily as she scrubbed the last clean plate with a drying cloth. She it put it in its corresponding shelf, along with the others she had cleaned previously. She had offered to help with the domestic chores. It was all she could do at that moment to thank the Uchihas for having taken her in. Mikoto had thanked her, and had gone to change into nicer clothes. They were going shopping that afternoon, so Sakura wouldn't have to walk around in her kimono all the day, and she wouldn't have to feel embarrassed about asking Mikoto for clothes.

Meanwhile, Sakura was thinking about Hinata's proposal. She started daydreaming. If she turned out to be a good ninja, maybe she could get a part-time job as one, and then she could maybe earn some money and help out at the Uchiha's (even if they were already scaringly rich) and...

They were all dreams. But she hoped they would come true some day.

Not knowing who she was, where she belonged to... was scary. She didn't know if she had a real family, other friends and maybe another home. But, since she didn't remember, it didn't bother her at all. If she remembered someday, if her true family appeared someday, if something happened... she was sure everything would work itself out. However, all she wanted at that moment was to enjoy her new life, and to be accepted by all her new precious people. The Uchihas, the teams, Ino, Hinata... She felt happy.

She had made new friends. She had a new family. She was going shopping. What else could she ask for?

She closed the door of the kitchen and she sat down on one of the couches. Seconds later, the sound of someone going down the stairs was heard, and Mikoto's sweet voice rang clearly throughout the house.

"Sakura, dear, shall we get going?"

"Yes!"

When Sasuke finished the story, Tsunade remained there, with her eyes now closed, thinking about everything that the Uchiha had told her.

"There are some points you made which make sense, Sasuke-san."

"For example?"

"For example, what you said about her absorbing chakra from the outside. That is a secret which is kept from most ninjas, but following sage training, you learn how to absorb and control the natural chakra. This ability to use the absorbed chakra is what makes a difference between usual techniques and sage ones. However, to do that, you must remain completely still to allow yourself to bond with nature."

"That doesn't make sense. She was standing there, moving from side to side, and even walking while that happened!"

"I can't help you out then. And what you told me about her apparent amnesia... I agree with you that it is not normal. If she is a ninja, maybe some kind of restrictive jutsu has been applied on her memory. Because if everything you told me about her chakra is true, then the only alternative we have left is to assume that she is a ninja. But it is somehow strange that I have not heard about it. Usually, when a ninja disappears on a mission to a country, the kage of that country will tell the other kage to search for the lost ninja. I have not received any kind of news regarding lost ninjas since a few weeks ago, and we found the group soon afterwards."

"But we just found her yesterday night. The village might not have had enough time to realize that she has gone missing."

"I agree with you, Sasuke-san. It is very possible that they have not realized yet. However, if in three days' time I have not received any special notice, I will ask if any nation has sent a pink-haired kunoichi to Konoha on a mission. I doubt she has appeared here by coincidence, Sasuke, especially if she is as powerful as you described."

Sasuke thought he saw a shadow of worry clouding over Tsunade. He was left in shock by it. Tsunade never worried over such trivial matters.

"Tsunade-san, are you worried?"

"I actually am, Sasuke-san. I don't know if you realize what you said. If she is actually as powerful as Naruto, that means that, as soon as she is fighting at her full capability, she will be more powerful than you or me. She can cause extreme danger if we are not able of controlling her. That is why I would like to request to attend her first training session too. There, I might be able to figure some things out."

"You do not need to ask for permission, Tsunade-san. You are welcome to come."

"Fine. I will tell Hinata to give Sakura her first class on Sunday. That way, before you go, we will get to see if she truly is dangerous."

"That would be perfect. None of us will have anything to do on Sunday."

"However, before you leave, I need to comment something else with you, Sasuke-san."

Sasuke was silent. Tsunade continued.

"After all you've told me about Sakura... Think about it. A mysterious appearance. No single memories. The ability to use chakra... don't these things sound familiar?"

Sasuke reflected on Tsunade's words for a moment. And he then understood what she meant. He knew someone else who had been through the same as Sakura. It was, in fact, someone whom he and Sakura had met that same morning.

"Sai?"

So this was all this time again. Any comments, suggestions, ideas and contructive critics are welcome!

COC