Kimura Ryuu introduces himself as a teacher. His smile looks genuine, but his chakra is cool, restrained. Tucked away.

Sasaki sits next to him, wearing her own slightly-less-genuine smile, smoothing her hands down her clothes over and over again. A nervous tic, Sakura's mind supplies. She doesn't know what that means. But apparently, she will.

They're all gathered in her family's living room, Kimura and Sasaki on one sofa, Sakura on the other. She feels very small beneath their collective gaze. She can feel the seals on the walls, new and hastily-slapped on. They're probably privacy seals, meant to keep this conversation from her parents in the next room. Sakura guesses they weren't allowed in just in case Mikoto was wrong and they were the ones behind her sudden issues. She hates the idea that someone might think her parents would hurt her.

"So, Sakura-chan," Kimura begins, his voice light and breezy, "How do you feel today?"

Sasaki's chakra gives a pulse of mirth Sakura recognises from interactions with Shikamaru – Sasaki is expecting something to be funny. Probably the answer she's about to give.

"I'm a little hungry." Sakura says, testing the waters. As expected, Sasaki has to hold back a laugh. "And I saw a dog yesterday."

"Did you?"

"Uh-huh. Big one."

"Do you like dogs?"

"Yeah. They're cute."

"You don't find them scary?"

"Well, I guess some are. But that doesn't mean they're not cute."

"You think some things can be scary and cute?" Sasaki interjects, an eyebrow raised in interest.

"Yes. My friend Ino-chan is very pretty, but when she gets mad she can be pretty scary. She doesn't like bullies, you know. She's always nice to me, though."

"Have you met many bullies?"

Sakura thinks about it. Ami was mean to her, yes, but there were a lot of conflicting emotions going on inside her. She was oddly afraid of Sasuke's anger. His opinion had meant a lot to her, and they'd never even spoken. Sakura thought that was sad.

"A few." She says vaguely. "An old man was mean to Naruto, once. I hit him in the knee."

A curl of trepidation in Sasaki's aura. She didn't like where this was going.

"Do you often hit people?" Kimura asks.

"No." Sakura says honestly. She did in her dreams, but she hasn't yet. Though she would have hit Kakashi if she'd gotten the chance. She really needs to learn more from Shisui.

Relief from Sasaki.

"So, tell us more about this mean old man. What happened?" Kimura sits forward, his face open and interested. His chakra is coldly calculating – like Shikamaru's, but without the warmth of curiosity or concern – and focused solely on her.

"I was in the park with Ino-chan and I saw a man go up to a boy and spit in his face. For no reason at all! And then he started shouting at him and I got really mad. I told him to say sorry and he got even meaner! He said horrible things about Naruto. He wouldn't say sorry and my parents always said I should stand up to bullies, so I did. They also said I shouldn't stand up to anyone who's bigger than me, but everyone's bigger than me! He called Naruto a monster so I punched him in the leg. I'm not sorry!" She looks up at them, defiant, daring them to tell her off.

Sasaki is secretly proud, for some reason.

"Is this when the nightmares started, Sakura-chan?" Kimura asks softly.

Sakura blinks, startled. She looks down at her feet, which barely meet the end of the sofa cushion. "Yes." She says quietly to her shoes. She feels Kimura's satisfaction at her answer. She doesn't look up to see if his face matches.

"Can you tell us a bit about these nightmares?" Sasaki asks.

"O-okay… Um… They're… they're horrible." Sakura blurts out, desperate to finally talk about the awful things she's seen, "I keep seeing Naruto dying over and over again… and there's never anything I can do! And if I can't stop it, that means it's basically my fault, right? Be-because what if I'd never stopped that man in the park? What if I never said anything to Naruto? He didn't have any friends before we met! If I hadn't done anything that day, what would have happened to Naruto? Would he still be alone? A-and how long was he alone before I met him? I've got two whole parents who love me and they're really nice to me and Naruto d-doesn't have anyone but me! I was fine before we met and if I'd let that man be horrible to him, my life would still be fine, right? But Na-Naruto! He… he… he needs me…"

Sakura scrunches up her face, trying to keep the tears from spilling over. They're welling up, blurring her vision. Sasaki and Kimura's concerned faces look strange and distorted.

"You know Naruto has people to take care of him. At the orphanage." Sasaki says gently.

Sakura violently shakes her head, "No! They're horrible! They don't care about him at all! Naruto told me all about it. And all the other kids get 'dopted but he never does because people like that horrible old man think he's a monster but there's NOTHING WRONG WITH HIM!"

Sakura's shout rings through the room. She freezes. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a faint voice hopes the privacy seals kept her parents from hearing that little outburst.

The adults are silent.

"He… he's so nice." Sakura says, her voice shaking. Pleading for them to understand. "He smiles all the time. He barely has any food but he still tries to share his ramen with me. He deserves a mummy and daddy to love him and take care of him. I wanted to take care of him, but no one will let me. Please… please let me take care of him. I'll be really good, I swear. I can cook! I'll clean my room every day, I'll do all my chores and my dad's, I'll sell my books so I can buy food for Naruto and… and…"

"Sakura-chan, Naruto is not a pet that you can adopt and take care of with your parents' permission." Kimura says matter-of-factly.

Sakura stares at him, trembling, barely noticing the fresh round of tears springing up. "I never thought that. I don't want to keep Naruto. I want to keep him safe."

"You don't think he is?" Sasaki asks, sounding politely interested. Her chakra shows just how interested she really is.

"I've played with him a lot and I've seen how mean some of the grown-ups are around him. They shout at him and some of them won't let him in their shops. I've got other friends and this never happens to them. Never. That old man didn't even know Naruto and he got so mad at him that he spat in his face. I don't ever want that to happen again."

"How would you stop that?"

"Well, Naruto would live with me and I'd keep him safe." Sakura says seriously.

"You know that's not going to happen." Kimura says in that I-know-better voice so many adults use.

"Why shouldn't it?" Sakura scowls, crossing her arms.

"It just won't. Now, let's discuss your first meeting with Naruto one more time, please."

Sakura lets out a long, dramatic sigh – a bad habit she's picked up from Shisui – and starts the story again, in a bored monotone.

Sasaki's chakra twitches in amusement three more times that day.

xxxxxxxx

It's been a week since Mikoto came to Sakura's house and broke her parents' hearts.

Since then, Sakura's been treated to three meetings with Kimura and Sasaki. Kimura seems to be the interrogator, albeit a softened version to keep her from getting scared, and Sasaki is the therapist. Kimura wants to know what happened, Sasaki wants to know why. Since she's not meant to know about the potential abuse claims, the two pretend that they've come just for a nice chat every time. Sakura thinks even a real four-year-old would be suspicious of that.

Sakura hasn't seen Naruto or the Monsters in a whole week. She hasn't seen Ino since she forced her into silence – which didn't even make a difference, thanks to Mikoto's terrible timing – and the longer it gets, the worse Sakura feels. She wonders what would have happened if Ino really did tell her father. Would he have helped? Or would things be even worse than they are now?

It couldn't get much worse than having a scheduled playdate with Sasuke, organised by Mikoto and chaperoned by Itachi.

Sakura tries not to sigh, because Itachi is on high alert and would undoubtedly notice. Sasuke is clueless, walking alongside them down the street. His chakra says he's happy, probably because his big brother's with him. Itachi feels like the Masks – his chakra is a void, completely gone. If she couldn't see him, she would have no idea he was there.

The three of them are heading to Sasuke's house, because apparently Mikoto just had to have Sakura round for lunch. Sakura thinks about all the things she would rather be doing right now. Climbing trees with Naruto. Making daisy chains with Ino. Sharing food with Chouji. Cloud-watching with Shikamaru. Playing shinobi with Shisui. Bickering with Kakashi while Genma laughs in the background.

Itachi seems to be waiting for an attack, which is silly. They're in the middle of Konoha, heading towards his own home. Why would he be worried about being attacked?

Sakura senses two familiar chakra signals approaching. They slow down as they get closer, coming towards them at a politer pace. Itachi stops walking. Sasuke follows suit so quickly that he almost trips.

"Yo." Kakashi drops down onto the ground in front of them, book in front of his face. He's scanning the pages, looking completely disinterested in their presence despite greeting them.

Genma appears next to him, offering Sakura a little salute and a grin, though his chakra gives a sad twinge at the sight of her.

Itachi moves in front of her smoothly, cutting off her view of the two older shinobi. "Hello, Hatake-san, Shiranui-san. Can I be of service?"

Genma is amused now, for some reason. Kakashi's a little irritated, though it doesn't show in his voice.

"Yeah, we need a chat. Now would be great." Kakashi says, false cheer permeating his words. Sakura grimaces at the sound, and almost misses Sasuke frowning at her reaction.

"I'm busy watching my little brother and his friend." Itachi says.

"Oh, not with you. With Sakura." Kakashi says blithely. There's a flicker of mischief in his chakra.

Itachi's stance tightens, just a tiny shift of his feet. His hands twitch towards his belt, just like Shisui's do whenever he gets nervous. "What do you need with her? And how do you know her?"

"We're old friends." Genma remarks. Sakura can hear the smile in his voice, though she still can't see him, thanks to Itachi's back solidly blocking the way.

"…with a four-year-old." Itachi says dryly.

"Time is relative. And wasting with every second of this. This is official business, Itachi. You can take it up with our superiors – and with their superiors, if you like." Kakashi says.

"Am I in trouble?" Sakura pipes up, poking her head out from behind Itachi. Sasuke very gently tugs her back, though not before she sees Genma give her a wink – and another twinge of sadness. What's wrong with him?

"Not at all, Sakura-san," Itachi says softly, "I'm just going to talk to my colleagues for a moment, okay? We'll be right over there if you need us." He points to a nearby spot down the street.

"I told you, we don't need to talk to you – "

"Yes, you made that very clear, Hatake-san. But I need to talk to you." Itachi says, his voice chilly and formal.

Sasuke gives Sakura a conspiratorial grin, bright enough that she feels compelled to return it.

Genma snickers.

"Okay, then." Kakashi says calmly, though he's getting more irritated by the second.

The adults – and Itachi – walk off a fair distance, far enough that they would have to strain to hear them, but not too far to keep track of them. Sakura can see Itachi's face pointed squarely in their direction. It's clear where his focus is, despite the conversation going on.

"This is boring," Sakura says to Sasuke, "Want to go find Naruto and the others?"

Sasuke looks sorely tempted for a moment, then glances at his brother, "No, they'd see us leave."

"They can't catch us both if we run different ways!" Sakura declares.

Then they both get lightly whacked over the heads.

Shisui smiles down at them, "They absolutely could catch both of you. Just one of them could catch six of you with his hands tied behind his back, blindfolded. Also, the first rule of teamwork is don't split up, dummy."

"Shisui-kun!" Sakura says happily. She'd once said that she liked Genma more, but she changed her mind at the sight of Shisui's amused face. She really needed to talk to him about this whole mess.

"Why were you planning to run? Tired of being babysat by a baby?" Shisui asks, jerking his head towards Itachi, who was staring straight at them. His intense focus had faded somewhat at Shisui's arrival, he was clearly relieved to see him.

"Itachi-nii's not a baby." Sasuke says, scowling up at his cousin.

Shisui laughs, ruffling his hair, "You're all babies to me. So, what's going on?"

"Someone's hurting Sakura so Itachi promised our mother he would look after her." Sasuke says, straightforward as ever.

Shisui gapes at him, "What?!"

Sakura flinches as his chakra surges in rage.

xxxxxxxx

Kakashi had known from the moment Sakura had warned him not to sleep in trees, concerned that he – a complete stranger – might fall out and hurt himself, that he was in deep trouble.

He had been worried about the future, when Sakura inevitably became a genin and started taking on missions. He was worried about the kid with too much heart being sent off to kill other people, worried that she would find herself in a fight she couldn't win and die young just like Obito, just like Rin. He was worried about the chance that Sakura, talented little genius Sakura, would turn out to be good at killing after all. Just like him.

With her ever-present smile, joyful words and boundless enthusiasm, he never thought to worry about the present. The battles she might be facing now.

But the report Genma had sent him, the one he read half a dozen times before the words sank in, it made it clear in terse, precise language, that Sakura was under attack by an unknown force. And he hadn't noticed. He'd assumed her parents were the overbearing, controlling type, forcing their little girl to train over and over again, but for some reason he hadn't considered the fact that they might go beyond that particular evil. The therapist had seemed convinced that Sakura's parents were innocent, but Kakashi wasn't willing to rule them out just yet.

Without having to discuss it, both Genma and Kakashi had waved off Naruto-Watch for the day, leaving him in the capable hands of the rest of squad. They met up early, both still tired from their last mission from a few days ago, and headed out to find Sakura. And some answers, if possible.

He hadn't expected to find Sakura being lead through the street by Itachi, who looked more on edge than Kakashi had ever seen him outside of a mission.

"How can we help?" Genma asks, the senbon in his mouth shifting with every word, reflecting the sunlight. He'd taken the news of Sakura's psych eval a lot better than Kakashi had, so much so that Kakashi wondered how much of this he'd seen coming.

Itachi straightens up, looking about ten seconds off a salute since he's facing down two of his superiors. He's one of those poor kids who've had every inch of innocence and joy beaten out of them by life, the very picture of what Kakashi doesn't want for Sakura.

"I'd like the truth of how you know my brother's friend. You said this was official business, but I happen to know that nothing official has been implemented regarding the Haruno family." Itachi says stiffly. For Kakashi, it's like looking into the past and seeing himself in all his stuck-up, rules-obsessed glory. He can't say he misses being that uptight.

But maybe Itachi's not as uptight as he appears, if he's willing to lie to his superiors' faces. Because the issue of Haruno Sakura is about as official as it gets now. Not only has she been forced to see the therapist more than once, Kimura Ryuu from T&I has been tasked with gleaning exactly what has happened to the kid, using the mildest form of interrogation possible.

Kakashi's not an idiot. He knows why Itachi is stiff and defensive right now. There's an invisible threat surrounding Sakura and she was reported to have regularly approached adults, seeking friendship. Kakashi has worked with Itachi a number of times, despite his comparatively low rank, knows he's pegged for ANBU one day. He knows Itachi is naturally suspicious and protective of younger children, thanks to his bond with his little brother.

And if Kakashi was in his position, babysitting a potentially-abused child, he would be very interested to know why two jounin wanted a chat with her.

"Sakura's far too curious and determined for her own good. She decided we were going to be friends and that was it. We didn't have any say in the matter. But then, when we heard the rumours about the civilian child being treated for trauma, cause unknown, we suspected…" Kakashi glances meaningfully over at Sakura.

Who is standing with Sasuke, where they left her, but with the sudden addition of Uchiha Shisui, Itachi's older cousin. The boy is smiling down at the younger children, mischief alight on his face. Kakashi knows him well enough to shudder at that look.

Itachi has been carefully keeping the children in his eyeline throughout the conversation. Kakashi is reminded of the way sheepdogs watch their flock.

"I witnessed her suffer from a flashback, recently. If that is what it was – the situation was unclear. She became very pale and was unresponsive for several minutes. She said, 'please don't hurt him.' Upon 'waking,' she was still very disoriented and upset. There was no apparent trigger, but my mother has seen her similarly afflicted once before, also without any obvious reason. It seems likely that she suffers these attacks frequently." Itachi says, in the same tone he uses to deliver reports.

Kakashi has known many shinobi suffer what Itachi is describing. Being suddenly besieged by your worst memories and nightmares all at once. Being trapped inside your own mind. A civilian girl of Sakura's age has no reason at all to have the same condition as a veteran shinobi.

A spike of killing intent has them all whirling around.

Shisui is blank-faced, a telling sign that he is absolutely furious, too angry to bother slapping on a smile.

He sets his jaw and heads over to them, leaving the two kids staring at him, bewildered. A line appears between Itachi's brows, the closest the boy gets to looking concerned.

"Did you know." Shisui demands, glaring up at Kakashi. Whatever it is, it's not a question.

"Know what?"

"That Sakura's being – that someone's – " Shisui splutters impotently.

"Ah. No. I didn't. Should I have?"

Shisui's hands flash out, spelling shinobi code: You're on the squad that watches the jinchuuriki kid. She's his best friend. You must have watched her too.

Kakashi doesn't bother dignifying that with a response. Shisui's angry, and probably guilty, and lashing out to blame others instead of himself.

"Sakura once said that you were her friend," Kakashi says lightly, "She listed all of her best friends and your name came up. Imagine my surprise."

Shisui looks between Kakashi and Genma, his dark eyes narrowed and assessing. It's a foreign look on the normally cheerful shinobi. "Genma knows the story already. I was an idiot, I accidentally hurt Sakura with a Katon while training. I took her to the hospital and at some point between there and back she decided we were the very best of friends."

"You said she got hurt and you took her to the hospital, not that you were the one who hurt her in the first place." Genma points out, his tone deceptively mild.

"I was ashamed," Shisui snaps, "It was my mistake. It should never have happened."

"Shisui-kun!" Sakura says brightly, peeking around him. "Don't be upset, Shisui-kun. Everything's okay. I saw a dog last week. And I'm going to have dumplings again tonight. You should have dumplings too. They always cheer me up."

"I'm not upset, Sakura-san." Shisui says, the formality coming off a little false.

Sakura tilts her head, her eyes inquisitive. "Sasuke said that someone is hurting me, so Itachi-san has to look after me. I don't think anyone has hurt me, Shisui-kun. I would probably notice. So, everything's okay! Oh, hello, Kakashi-san, Genma-san. I didn't get to say hello before. Hello!"

Kakashi and Genma both chorus hello in return, shamefully quick to return the greeting.

Sasuke appears at Sakura's side, "Sakura, I think we should be going. Okaa-san's waiting."

"Okay!" Sakura agrees cheerfully, then quickly seizes Shisui around the waist, squeezing tightly for a few seconds.

She toddles over to Genma, who willingly opens his arms and kneels down for a hug, then she looks up at Kakashi hopefully. He sighs, returning his attention to his book, but doesn't simply vanish in a swirl of leaves. For him, that's practically an invitation. Sakura hugs him carefully, as though afraid he might break.

Itachi looks briefly terrified at the possibility that Sakura might want to embrace him too, but she just offers him a respectful nod, which he slowly returns, a little smile gracing his face.

Sakura gives them all a considering look, lingering the longest on Shisui. "Have you all been worrying about me? I don't really understand what's going on, but you should know that I'm just fine. I promise. Please don't worry anymore. Bye bye!"

"Bye bye." Sasuke repeats in a much more solemn tone, following after Sakura without hesitation.

Itachi gives Kakashi and Genma a shallow bow, looking stressed, then hurries off after the two children.

"I heard something about Mikoto, which means lunch can't be far. I'll be off too, then." Shisui grins, no trace of his anger remaining, and flickers away with his trademark speed.

Genma and Kakashi look at each other.

"Should we verify his story at the hospital?" Genma asks.

As much as Kakashi trusts Shisui, this is pretty much the only lead they have so far, and it fell in their laps so obligingly.

"In and out as quickly as possible," Kakashi says with a shudder, "I've discharged myself from that place so often that they've started trying to jab me with needles the moment I walk through the door, just in case."

xxxxxxxx

Showing their hitae-ate at the hospital gets them through several doors and up the chains of command until they find someone who remembers seeing Sakura.

A harried-looking woman pushes them on a young boy, who looks more like an apprentice than anything official, then hurries off to continue working. Shinobi hospitals are always bustling.

"Hello," The boy says, his smile friendly enough but there's a hint of caution in his dark eyes, "I'm Yakushi Kabuto. What can I do for you?"

"We're here about a recent incident involving Haruno Sakura." Genma says, leaning against the counter Kabuto's standing behind. They have an unspoken agreement to let Genma do the talking on missions like these. He's friendly and approachable, Kakashi is perverted and obnoxious. Genma's also an assassin with a massive body count and Kakashi uses his terrible reputation like a shield, but no one really needs to know that.

Kabuto pauses, tapping his chin. "Little girl, pink hair?" He asks after a moment of thinking. When they nod, he frowns. "She came in with minor facial burns. My superior, Kuronuma-san, wasn't going to heal them, but since facial wounds scar so easily, and she was so young, I decided to do it."

"How did she get the burns?" Genma asks.

Kabuto's lips purse, "An idiot. He was practicing in a training field and failed to notice he wasn't alone."

"Does this idiot have a name?"

Kabuto's glasses glint, and Kakashi gets the feeling the boy's used to receiving payment for handing out information like this. He's young for an information broker, but they're not uncommon in shinobi villages. The only really bad thing about them is that they don't like handing out facts for free.

"Shisui. He looked like an Uchiha. He seemed contrite enough."

So far, Shisui's story is checking out in full. It makes sense. Kakashi doesn't really have a reason to doubt Shisui. His only real concern was a vague thought that he might be protecting someone else, taking the blame for Sakura's injury on their behalf.

"Can we see Sakura's medical file?" Kakashi asks.

Kabuto is silent for a long moment, dark eyes shaded by his bangs, then: "No, I don't think so."

"Pardon me?" Genma says, eyebrows raised.

Kabuto glances back up, smile firmly in place, "I don't believe I have the authority for that. You'll have to take it up with someone else. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of work to be getting on with."

And with that, the bespectacled brat leaves without a second look.

Kakashi says, vaguely wounded, "Do we look suspicious or something?"

"I think we might." Genma smirks.

It takes a while to find someone free enough to talk who actually is willing to give them Sakura's file, then it takes even longer for them to actually retrieve said file, by which point Kakashi is considering lying down in one of the vacant beds and checking himself in with exhaustion.

The file is slimmer than Sakura's official one, which is full of copies of Naruto-Watch's reports that include her, as well as her psych evals and transcripts of her therapy sessions.

"She was born outside Konoha," Kakashi notes, "Her mother gave birth on the way back from visiting some relatives. Other than that and the Shisui thing, there's pretty much nothing."

It's a pretty big relief. If Sakura was being abused, you'd expect records of hospital visits, and if she had wounds or scars during a check-up, they would not have been overlooked.

Sakura had seemed pretty certain that no one was hurting her.

But he owes it to Naruto to make sure she's right.

xxxxxxxx

One second Sakura was walking alongside Sasuke, the next she was tucked under someone's arm and speeding away.

Terror gripped her. She instinctively lashed out with her chakra, which was lazily batted away like it was nothing.

"Settle down, Firefly," A familiar voice says, amused, "Anyone would think you didn't want to hang out with me."

Shisui!

Before she could shout, Shisui deposited her on the ground gently. She staggered, looking around. They were in a far-off, deserted corner of Konoha.

"The only place they wouldn't dream of looking for us is somewhere no Uchiha would ever go," Shisui says, by way of explanation, then leads Sakura down a passage, "Put this on over your eyes, please. Clan secrets, you know. Boring stuff."

He offers her his hitae-ate. Sakura clutches it with an odd feeling of déjà vu. She had one of these once. Or she will, one day. She loved it more than anything, except –

(There is a picture on her dresser, of her and Naruto, Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-kun. In it, only she and her teacher are smiling. Maybe it was a sign of things to come. Looking at it only brought her pain these days, remembering the times she used to stroke Sasuke's face through the glass. Team Seven has shattered beyond repair.)

Team Seven?

Her teammates were Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi? That's perfect, Sakura thinks happily, I can look after all of them together. And this time, Team Seven won't break. We'll be the strongest team in the village.

Sakura puts the hitae-ate on as a blindfold, then stumbles as a wash of familiarity hits her again –

("When you fight the Sharingan," Kakashi says patiently, standing across from her in a field, "Your only chance is to close your eyes. But it's basic human instinct to open your eyes to seek information, so if there's a sudden noise, pain or any kind of distraction, you're done. So, short of mastering the Gai technique of being too insane to be distracted by stimuli, your best bet is to blindfold yourself. So, today, let's learn how to fight without sight.")

Shisui is holding her hand, and she's walking without realising it. They're underground – she can't hear any birdsong or feel the breeze, and there's a suffocating sensation of earth overhead.

Shisui releases her hand and they both stop. He mutters something, she hears fabric rustling, a tell-tale sign of quick movement – hand seals, maybe? – and then there is a shift of stone.

Shisui leads her through a doorway – or something like a doorway – then tugs off the hitae-ate.

"Sorry for the subterfuge. It's not that I don't trust you, it's that you're four and you've proven that you don't have the capacity for deception. Not a bad thing in a kid, but a terrible thing in a shinobi."

They're in some kind of shrine, with red and white fans painted on the walls. The floors are wood, but they didn't creak under their feet as they walked, despite their obvious age.

"So, Firefly. I think it's time you told me what's going on. The truth, please."


Hello, friends.

For reasons totally unconnected to this fic I swear, can anyone tell me about summons? I've googled (again, this is where I get all my Naruto info. It is not 1000% effective, sadly) but I didn't find much. Where do the contracts come from? Can you buy them? Can they be customised to summon specific animals? I DON'T GET IT, PLEASE SEND HELP

Shisui is Not Happy. He also snatched Sakura away right in front of Sasuke, but behind Itachi's back. I'd like you to take a moment to imagine the Uchiha brothers' faces at that very moment.

Sakura's youth has kept her from the Torture and Interrogation department, but they still sent a dude out to interview her a couple times and make sure there's nothing weird going on. I figured they wouldn't resort to Yamanaka intervention unless there was a potential threat to the village, and I don't know if a potentially-abused civilian kid counts? But these are ninja. A suspicious bunch.

Everyone in this chapter was overly suspicious and jumpy and it was hilarious to write.

Sakura was only supposed to hug Shisui originally but my fingers slipped on the keyboard and everyone got a hug because FLUFF

(I deleted a scene of Genma and Kakashi getting drunk because it didn't fit, but who knows, it may come back at some point. With a vengeance.)

Also, Kabuto is petty and isn't going to hand over potentially-sensitive info for nothing, especially not when it might affect the nice girl who smiled at him one time.

Sakura's attempts to diffuse tension is pretty much HEY I SAW A DOG, YOU GUYS

Also, she's going to adopt Naruto if it's the last thing she does! Being four won't stop her from being the best big sister ever! Some of you talk about Sakura like proud parents, and it warms my heart.

Quick poll for fun: What was the saddest moment of Naruto for you?

For me it was the scene where Hinata confesses her love for Naruto and gets ping-ponged around by Pain, because it was the very first time someone ever said that to Naruto and meant it (romantic stylez) and he had to WATCH HER GET BEATEN TO A PULP. ARGH. MY POOR HEART.

But younger me also sobbed all the way through Zabuza and Haku's deaths. I was very much Not Okay.