He honestly didn't know what to make of this situation. All he wanted was to speak to Sakura's parents about her recent behavior, not be stared down by a man he knew could kill him in the most terrifying ways possible.

Morino Ibiki, clothed in his trench coat and all, sat against the table closest to the teacher's desk in the painfully empty classroom. His arms were crossed over his chest and his face stayed wholly unamused at the ordeal. Sakura was in the chair behind and to his right, seeming bored and a tad bit irritated.

"Tou-san and kaa-san aren't in Konoha right now. So he's here instead," she supplied.

"Kizashi-san and Mebuki-san are civilian citizens and not too well versed in shinobi activities. They've entrusted me to manage her education, as I'm the overseer of her studies," Ibiki said. The teacher gulped and sorted some papers. That explained a lot, actually. Her smarts, intimidation, and rage... Maybe being under the head torturer didn't make her into how she was now, but it sure gave more insight to her background.

"I-I see... well, um, I suppose I'll get right to the point, then. Sakura does exceedingly well in all aspects of Academy, curriculum, though the only problems are her disruptions in class, especially when it comes to Naruto."

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "Nothing's wrong with him."

The teacher sighed. "Sakura—"

He snapped his mouth shut when Ibiki reached over and clonked her at the back of the head. She rubbed at her pink hair and mustered up the audacity to glare at him.

"What the hell, old man?!"

"You've got that cheek again, and I got enough of that yesterday. Now go and stand out in the hallway. I have a few things to say to your sensei," he said. Sakura grumbled as she hopped off her seat and strode out the door while closing the door behind her. The teacher stared after her for a few moments before some sick feeling dropped in his stomach.

He was alone in a room with one of the most dangerous men in Konoha. He then turned his head to see a pair of black eyes piercing through him.

'... Shit.'

::

Sakura patiently waited outside the hallway with a bored glint in her eyes. She appreciated Ibiki coming down in place of her parents, but he really didn't have to. Her plan was to make clones and henge them, though once more, the trouble was saved by this twisted timeline.

Speaking of her parents...

"Konoha was attacked!"

An uproar spread through the medical unit like wildfire, but Sakura kept her mouth uncharacteristically shut as she continued her duties. The war had reached the middle of its fifth year and Sai had just been killed. When told of it, Sakura looked blank-faced despite the despair that surged through her body.

Hands down, she was hopeless. This wasn't a war any longer, this was a worldwide graveyard and everyone she held dear were dying off one by one.

It only made her wonder when she'd be next.

"Haruno-sensei, the casualty list!" a shinobi informed, presenting her with a thick collection of papers. She sat down at her makeshift desk and scanned through the list. She would have to make a distinction between shinobi and civilian to account how much of their forces they'd lost. It was near the end of the stack when she noticed two names that only tacked onto losing Sai.

Haruno Kizashi

Haruno Mebuki

Sakura stared at the names a little longer than the rest before highlighting the names in yellow and continued on her task.

A small sigh escaped her lips. Her parents died in their home during the night only because they had the misfortune of living in the assaulted district. The had done nothing wrong, yet suffered the unjust death of an elaborate fire jutsu.

Sakura let the back of her head lean against the wall and stared at the ceiling. She already placed the unsuspecting protection seals around the apartment to keep intruders out as well as put chakra trip wires up that would alert her if anything happened. She wouldn't let them die this time around, she swore. Her parents would get to live to their old age.

The sound of footsteps echoed down the hallway, making her turn her head ever so slightly. Someone came down the hallway dressed in typical ANBU gear with a dog-resembling mask hanging from his waist. He held himself in a highly dignified manner- like someone who knew how to hold their power and exercised just how dangerous they were on a regular basis.

Not only that, but his chakra seemed unsettling in a troubled sort of manner. It was very tense and dark, something she decided to keep in mind and look up later. His eyes, both black and unnerving, slid over to her for a few seconds before he looked back ahead of him and walked down the hall. Sakura's fingers twitched at their cold, dark blankness and the oblivious offending air he seemed to maintain wherever he went.

She held her tongue.

'I see that Kakashi's different.'

::

"You smell really sweet, nya!"

Uchiha Itachi was taking a short break at a dango stand along the route back to Konohagakure. There wasn't anyone else around, and he was waiting for the rest of his team to meet him back here. As he took a bite of the treat, a brown cat appeared in his lap and stared at him with big green eyes. Itachi blinked.

"... Hello."

"Nya! You smell like honey and cantaloupe. I haven't smelt a shinobi like you before. Do you like eating sweet things a lot? 'Cause you really seem like you do," the cat purred. His tail flickered back and forth, brushing against Itachi's arms every now and then.

"I suppose... Are you one of Nekobaa-sama's cats?"

The cat jumped onto Itachi's shoulders and stretched out. "Sometimes."

He returned to the comfort of Itachi's lap and flashed a sharp grin, showing off white pointed teeth that added to his look of mischief.

"My name's Kou, but you call me Kou-chan, nya! Nice to meet ya', 'tachi-chan!"

::

"Singling out Naruto in class?" Ibiki questioned. The teacher scratched the back of his head as he reclined in his chair. Sakura had become very apparent at his bias against that thing and jumped at every moment he would treat him unfairly. She, out of everyone else, had the gall to defend him at all costs.

"I don't believe that monster should become a shinobi. He destroyed Konoha once already, and I won't stand to see it happen again," he replied. Ibiki cracked his neck, eliciting a nervous flinch from the other man. He himself didn't have a positive image of Naruto, but didn't have a negative image of him either. The interrogation and intelligence sectors were less likely to hold it against him because they knew more than anyone that the world wasn't painted black and white, because the nature of their work.

Their points of view many times differed from the others and this was undoubtedly one of them.

"Is that so?" he mused. "And it's just Sakura who calls you out on it?"

"Yes. Though recently, Akimichi Chouji and Uchiha Sasuke have spoken out as well. I would have let it slide considering which families they come from, but they crossed the line after taking up Sakura's example yesterday," he said with irritation. Ibiki couldn't help but feel smug at the other's distaste, but it was washed away with his question.

"Does... Is Sakura aware of him?"

"What makes you say that?"

The teacher flinched again when the interrogator's gaze intensified. He shifted in his chair and diverted his eyes to the side. "I had a short discussion with her after detention, and she implied that she knew about the demon. I don't know if you've disclosed that information with her or..."

"I haven't. I'll bring the topic up with her later," Ibiki inputted, "but there is something you need to understand about Haruno Sakura."

He pushed himself off the student desk and strode to close the distance between them. The teacher moved his chair back as Ibiki placed both hands on the wooden surface and leaned forward, an ominous look in his expression. "You and I both know that she's not an ordinary kid, even more so that she's caught even my attention. You've only known her for two weeks, but I think you're starting to get an idea of her. She has an attitude that can't be stifled no matter what you do, and she'll stand up for what's right despite the consequences. Give her detention, extra work, tell her to run a million goddamn miles and she'll sure as hell do it if it means doing what she thinks is right. And you know you can't expel her because she's so far at the top of the class that she'll be considered a prodigy."

He straightened and tucked his hands into his baggy pockets. "She's not going to stop. And if you're not willing to change your stance on Naruto, then expect hell every single day."

He walked out of the room, leaving the teacher to finally breathe and think.

When Ibiki stepped out of the room, he found Sakura inspecting her wrist blades. He was aware that the room was not sound proofed whatsoever and that she probably heard that entire conversation. She acknowledged him by sliding the blades back beneath her bandages and looking up.

"Done?"

He grunted. "Turned out to be more fun than I thought. I think I see why you like acting up all the damn time."

"I wouldn't have to act up if he treated Naruto like everyone else," she huffed. Ibiki walked down the hallway with her, donning a small frown quite typical of him. There was no possible way she could've found out about the Kyuubi. The people's lips were sealed and it wasn't a flattering topic to talk about anyways, and if that didn't stop them from talking about it, the Sandaime would.

The question still remained.

Who told her about the demon, and why was she okay with it when most of Konoha wasn't?

"Well, I guess I'll be on my way, old man," she said. They were out at the front of the Academy, the morning sun hanging in the bright blue sky. He looked down at her with furrowed eyebrows.

"You got somewhere to be?"

"Yup. Since Sasuke's with his family and Naruto's with Mari-san, I'm gonna go look for something. That's fine, right?" Sakura asked. Ibiki stared at her for a few moments before sighing and waving her off.

"Get outta here, runt. But be at my office sometime in the late afternoon. We've got some things to talk about. Got it?"

She lazily saluted him and walked down the growing street of people. And he watched after, eventually losing sight of her in the crowds. He'd have to go talk with the Hokage now, unfortunately, and ask permission to disclose information of the Kyuubi attack. Could she be trusted with the information? Probably so. The only goals she had (as far as he could see) were to get stronger and protect her friends.

The task had a simple road ahead and kept her busy most days. He wasn't complaining about that. But... there was something about the motivation behind her cause that wasn't right. Or normal, he'd put it as. She was too young to set herself at such a high standard and was leaning more and more into becoming an elite shinobi, like Hatake or Fugaku's eldest.

He pressed his lips into a grim line.

The resemblance was uncanny.

::

EDITED 1/30/18