Sasori was graced with Kou-chan's ever flamboyant presence once more, this time owing the summons a quick fur brushing. He complied without reluctance.

Uchiha Obito is part of the Konoha Keimu Butai, meaning that there must be someone else pulling the strings in the Akatsuki. You could make the assumption that your leader, Yahiko, really is the one in charge this time. Speaking of your leader, the name "Yahiko" seems familiar. I believe he was one of Jiraiya's old students. Perhaps you could research something about that? Also, I've begun an internship under Konoha's Intelligence Sector. I know I can learn more from them.

Try not to cause too much trouble.

He frowned after reading the note. He wasn't too bothered by the entire Yahiko situation, as he was sure that he could dig up that information somewhere—probably in the Amegakure Archives. What Sasori was concerned about was the way Sakura was throwing herself into work instead of enjoying her restarted life.

When he first met her, she was barely fifteen with determination in her eyes and optimism pumping through her veins. She was so lively and naive that he would scoff at how she viewed the world with bright, shining hope. Now, there was none of that. When Sasori saw her for the first time in this timeline, she looked like she had given up.

Sakura told him how she threw herself in front of Naruto and Sasuke so that they would become the great shinobi she knew they'd be one day. What would stop her from doing the same thing the second time around?

He shook his head and sighed.

She needed to be the kid she was and remember that history had yet to write itself.

But for now, he supposed he could push through with his research on Yahiko. Sasori had to be extremely cautious, though. He was starting to draw too much attention.

::

The mornings were hers to do whatever she pleased. At five o'clock pm every weekday, she would report to the T&I building for three hours before she was allowed to go home. Once she entered the Academy, she would only be there Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Sakura couldn't complain with the schedule as it worked well with what she already had going.

Most of her mornings were spent at Training Ground 44, and her early afternoons were dedicated to hanging out with Naruto, sometimes Chouji. On Saturdays, she would go grocery shopping with her mother and help her cook dinner in the afternoon. On Sundays, she'd either train some more or do chores around the house before Kizashi would whip up a big Sunday night dinner.

"How's your internship with Morino-san, sweetheart?" Mebuki asked during one of their calm Sunday dinners.

"Fine. Morino-san said he wants me to focus on tactical and strategic in-tel-li-gience," she answered, now quite used to the way she pronounced her larger words,."I'm pretty much just studying now."

Sakura took a bite of rice as she noticed the way her parents exchanged glances. She sighed inwardly—that was the look she'd see before she'd receive some sort of lecture. Her father cleared his throat and leaned forward on the table.

"So, Sakura-chan, what have you been doing when we're at work? You must be really bored being all alone at home," Kizashi said. Sakura finished chewing her food, hands tightening around her chopsticks. They knew.

"... I..."

She could lie, but that would just make her case worse, wouldn't it? Then again, if she told them what she really did outside the apartment, she could get into even more trouble. Her eyes suddenly grew wide as she considered her train of thought. She was treating her parents like an obstacle.

"... I train after you leave for work," she admitted with a sigh, "and I leave a clone in my place so I don't get in trouble. After I train, I play with Naruto. I'm sorry I didn't say anything."

Sakura braced herself for the berating or the yelling that was sure to follow from her confession. Instead, she was gathered up from her seat and brought into a tight hug by both her mother and her father. She blinked.

"Um?"

"Oh, sweetheart..." Mebuki murmured sadly. "Why did you have to grow up so fast?"

Sakura didn't reply, simply melting in their embrace.

::

Sakura hissed at a total of five people today. A new record.

Her and Naruto were sitting in the sandbox trying to make castles. The playground was empty, as per usual, but they didn't mind. Naruto was just glad that there was someone he could spend his time with and he didn't care about other people anymore as long as he had his 'Sakura-chan'. Oh—and Chouji too!

But Chouji couldn't come by today, saying that he promised to go somewhere with this one kid named Shikamaru.

Naruto happily hummed to himself as he patted the sides of his castle to make it stand upright. Sakura wasn't doing that much, simply building castles just like he was but without all the struggle. He started to whine. "Sakura-chaaaaan! How are you getting your castles to look like that?"

It wasn't like she was going to tell him she was using her chakra.

They played for about an hour or so until Sakura felt a chakra signature slowly approaching her location. It was small like a child's, but more developed in a shinobi's sense. But aside from that, she could recognize that specific one anywhere. When that person came up to the sandbox, Naruto sneered.

"Oh great! What d'ya want now, asshole?!"

Sakura jabbed him in the stomach. "Language, Naruto," she chided. She looked up at Sasuke. "So? What is it?"

Sasuke pouted with his hands clasped behind his back. He kept his eyes down as he kicked at pebble on the ground. "I... I'm sorry. For yest'rday," he apologized, puffing out his cheeks. "I was being a meanie and... uh... yeah."

Sakura wanted to laugh at how cute that apology sounded, but managed to keep it from bubbling out of her throat. Naruto blinked owlishly for a few seconds before stubbornly turning back to his sand castle. Nobody had apologized to him before and he never thought he'd be receiving one anytime soon. Especially from him. Sakura gestured to the sandbox.

"You wanna play with us?"

Sasuke brightened up.

::

Mikoto was prepping dinner when her mind wandered back to the strange little girl she met those few weeks ago. She herself was a jounin before she retired and had children, so she knew what was normal and what wasn't in the shinobi community. That girl, whoever she was, definitely belonged to the latter. The girl was able to catch every single one of her books and walk away without making the slightest sound.

It shouldn't have been possible. Mikoto glanced at the clock, frowning at the time. It was 4:30 and her youngest son still hadn't come home. Fugaku would be home late because of extra paperwork and Itachi wasn't due back to Konoha for another few days. She untied her apron and hung it up before walking to the front door and slipping on her shoes.

She walked out of the house, intent on looking for Sasuke no matter how long it took. Luckily, it didn't take too long. Mikoto's heart warmed as she saw her son laughing and smiling with kids his own age. One of them was the Kyuubi boy, she noted a little nervously, but he looked just as happy as Sasuke so she decided to leave it be. And the other child...

It was her. The strange one.

Mikoto stared at the girl, inspecting her thoroughly. At first glance, she looked like any other kid one would see in the village. But the more she observed her, the more she noticed the beginning of defining muscles in her arms. And when Mikoto saw the flicker of green that flashed in her direction, she knew that the girl could sense chakra as well.

Who was she?

Suddenly, the tokubetsu jounin Mikoto recognized as Shiranui Genma came up to the three children. He grinned, raised a hand in greeting, and exchanged a couple of words with them. The girl soon stood, waved goodbye to the two boys, and walked down the street with Genma at her side. Mikoto straightened.

That was certainly something she wasn't expecting..

::

"Heya, Sasuke-chan!"

"Ugh."

Sasuke lumbered past an opened-armed Obito. He wilted when the boy passed him and went up the stairs. Why did he have to be like that? They were cousins! With slumped shoulders, he trudged down the hall and sat at the kitchen counter. Mikoto smiled.

"No luck?"

"I don't understand!" he pouted, "Why does Sasuke-chan hate me? I didn't do anything!"

For some odd reason, ever since Sasuke was a baby he hated one person and one person only- his very own cousin Uchiha Obito. When he was six months old, Sasuke's favorite teething toy had been Obito's arm. When he was one year old, he threw up on only Obito. And when he would cry, Obito getting hurt in any shape or form would always cheer him up. No one knew why, and the only one who had a problem with it was the one being hated on.

"There's always something, right?" Mikoto grinned, "Besides, I don't think you have to try as hard to befriend him anymore. It seems that Sasuke-kun made some friends outside the clan."

Obito's eyebrows raised. "Really? Who?"

"One of them is the Uzumaki boy and the other is this... odd... girl. I have no clue who she is. She has pink hair—"

"—green eyes, about the same age as Sasuke-chan, and is way too mature for a kid?" he guessed. The matriarch slowly nodded, dark eyes brimming with interest. "Yeah, that's Haruno Sakura. I met her not too long ago. She's being brought into the Intelligence sector under Genma and Morino-san."

She frowned.

"I really don't like it," he continued. "She's starting out younger than Itachi-chan and Kakashi ever did. I know how bad Kakashi got once he got into ANBU and Itachi-chan's well on his way there, but... I just don't want her to end up like them, you know? I'm tryin' to get Kakashi out of his shell and Itachi-chan just loves to piss me the hell off. What if she ends up like that? What'll happen then?"

Mikoto looked down worriedly. She could very well see the source of Obito's worries. Prodigies that were like both her eldest son and Hatake Kakashi were rare and talented, yes, but they were the worst kind. They always grew up to be reclusive and would risk their lives day to day for the cause they believed in. Prodigies like that had the best physical form and were more intelligent than the most advanced shinobi, but their mental state was unstable. Uncomfortably so.

"... It's her choice, isn't it?" she asked. Obito sighed.

"Yeah."

"Then we shouldn't worry. Maybe Naruto and Sasuke won't let her get that far, ne?"

He really hoped so.

::

Edited 1/29/18