Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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-X-

Sakura absolutely hated ceremony. It wrapped bureaucracy up in pomp and circumstance to demonstrate superiority and pretend there was order within the village.

The Kazekage presented the Suna emblem representing his clan to a confused but for once subdued Naruto. She glared from her position at the side of the imposing formal greeting hall as the boy accepted the 'gift' on behalf of Konoha and as the son of the current Hokage.

A loud applause briefly filled the room, concluding the formal proceedings. Dozens of officials that represented the governing body of Suna soon trickled out of the room. The Kazekage motioned for Sakura to come forward and deal with the visiting child as he turned on his heel and stalked out of the room.

She quickly took the boy by his hand and led him out of the room in the opposite direction, keenly aware of the bodyguard who followed at a close but respectable distance from Naruto. The masked ANBU made no attempt at conversation, as was expected but her eyes were trained on him at all times.

"Aunt Sakura, what do I do with this?" He presented her with the token of peace, a tiny sand hourglass that was so out of place in the hands of a child.

"Naruto, you need to keep that and give it to your father when you go home." She instructed calmly. Secretly she wished to see the thing destroyed for only a terrible person would use children as pawns in a political game.

Yet, that was the only way Sakura had managed to arrange for Naruto to visit at all. Her skillful manipulation of the Kazekage and her friendship with Minato was the foundation of this visit. Naruto nodded his understanding and stuffed the emblem into the pocket of his orange jumper. "Can I meet Gaara-kun now?"

"Yep! We're going there now."

She skillfully maneuvered through the corridors that made up the residence of the Kazekage and led the six year old, and by extension his bodyguard, to the rooms belonging to her ward.

With a small knock on the door, Sakura entered with the eager child on her heels. "Gaara-kun you have a visitor."

Sitting at the activity table in the center of the room, an equally small boy raised his head to regard his caretaker. His hand paused over a picture that he was coloring with a crayon to stare briefly at the other child. Then Sakura watched with slight amusement and slight concern when the redhead turned back to his drawing, completely ignoring Naruto. She expected that behavior considering Gaara was naturally wary but she had hoped to foster more openness in him during his infancy and early childhood.

Some things didn't change between her timeline and his.

Naruto surprised her by pulling away and walking with a determined stride, as much as a little boy could, towards the table. He stuck out his hand right under Gaara's nose.

"I'm Namikaze Naruto."

Gaara's eyes flicked to the hand and back to his drawing without any acknowledgement. Naruto let his hand drop and stared hard at the boy who ignored him so completely. He needed to change tactics.

Naruto sat down at the opposite end of the table and grabbed a piece of paper and dark red crayons and started to furiously scribble away. After a few minutes, Naruto placed the red stick down and turned his drawing towards his companion.

"I drew a fox! Did you know a fox could have up to ten tails? Aunt Sakura told me that." Naruto counted out each of the tails in his drawing.

Almost reluctantly, Gaara felt his eyes glance at the picture with mild curiosity. Then those pale green eyes switched to the beaming smile of the blonde boy. Naruto jerked his head at Gaara's own paper. "What did you draw?"

Sakura waited with bated breath to see what Gaara did next. Her awareness of his slowly simmering chakra was always there and she monitored its level diligently. So far he did not seem to perceive Naruto as a threat and that was quite the accomplishment.

A hesitant hand slowly slid the colored paper to the middle of the table. Gaara set his gaze firmly on some blank spot near the table's edge.

"Shikaku." He whispered.

"Cool, he looks like Uncle Kakashi's dog Bull, but with a bigger tail and pointy ears. I've played with him before but he mostly just lies there. Is he your summon?" The boy prattled on.

Gaara sat up a little straighter and this time looked right into Naruto's eyes. Sakura noticed the change in the redhead immediately. The bodyguard did as well and took a preemptive step forward.

"He's my…He's my friend." Gaara said quietly.

Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "I have a friend who's like that too. But Sasuke isn't very nice but he's good at playing ball. We should play ball too." He turned his head towards the medic, "Aunt Sakura can we go outside and play ball?"

"Of course. As long as you both want to."

"Do you want to play?" Naruto asked him again.

Gaara looked positively uncomfortable but there was a small shine in his eyes and the gentle upturn of his lips that told her he was already lost. Lost to the utter charm of one blonde-haired prankster.

"Okay." He mumbled.

Naruto shot from his chair excitedly. "Let's go!" He grabbed Gaara by the hand and led him over to where the grown ups stood.

Sakura smiled warmly at them both. "So I take it we are all friends now?"

"Yep! He's a bit quiet but I'll fix that." Naruto said eagerly and without a second thought.

Sakura gazed intently at her charge to confirm that he was on board with the sometimes insensitive knucklehead. Gaara rolled his eyes briefly at Naruto's antics that instantly reassured her. She ruffled both their hair affectionately and indicated for the boys to lead the way.

Out in the hall Naruto called over his shoulder, "You can play too, Yama-kun."

The masked ANBU visibly tensed at the name only a child would dare to call one of his rank and caliber. Then again being the Hokage's son did afford such liberties. Sakura secretly smiled and followed behind the boys with humor dancing in her jade eyes.

Outside, Sakura stood away from the two while Naruto taught Gaara the rules of a simple game. She was immensely proud of the blonde boy for his raw charisma that granted him the ability to draw in any person. That was exactly what Gaara needed. A friend that would push his every barrier.

She stood in the shadowed part of the courtyard next to the masked ANBU. For once she didn't need to start the conversation.

"I have this assignment because of your meddling." Yamato stated.

"Minato would have assigned it to Kakashi but I personally asked that you receive this mission." Sakura explained.

Like always she surprised Yamato with her friendly use of the Hokage's name and her general familiarity with other people in the village like his senpai.

He sighed in defeat. "This is exactly like my ANBU team assignment."

Sakura grinned at his aggrieved words. In truth she hadn't done a single thing to influence his placement with Kakashi's ANBU team. Sakura had always known the two would meet in the secret organization and eagerly let the pieces fall into place. But she wasn't about to tell Yamato that particular secret.

Smiling mischievously she swatted him on the back. "It's only because I like you so much Yama-kun!"

Turning his head slowly to the side, Yamato glared daggers through the eyeholes of his mask at her chipper expression. Curse the Namikaze kid!

Unfortunately he couldn't say half of the comebacks he wanted because despite her hand in his current job, he was in fact doing a job and one of utmost importance that required less banter and more attention. If anything were to happen to the only son of the Hokage, Yamato would be relocating to Suna.

His field of awareness was huge and while conversing he was also actively searching the area for threats. That was why when Sakura froze mid laugh and then suddenly bristled next to him he tensed as well. He scanned the by all accounts empty courtyard and did not see any potential threats to the playing boys.

"He's using a sand cloud to mask his presence. On the east perimeter wall." Sakura said a hair's breadth louder than a whisper, no longer smiling.

Yamato nonchalantly swiveled his head in that direction and zeroed in on a small distortion in the air on the edge of the wall. It was certainly easy to miss the slight waver in the otherwise perfect concealment jutsu.

"Who?"

"Yashamaru, Gaara's less than cordial uncle. The man is planning to test the boy's control over his Jinchuriki."

His eyes widened in surprise but considering the rumors about the Kazekage's family that reached Konoha, things were not entirely stable. His surprise mostly stemmed from the coldness behind Sakura's words like she was prepared to rip the man's throat out given the chance.

Yamato had never witnessed his guardian in real combat before but he knew she possessed exceptional skills and a massive fountain of chakra. The only her presence was not oppressive was the rigid control she had over that vast amount of power. She hid her chakra almost completely. The bracelet on his wrist contained a sliver of her chakra and that alone allowed him to understand the depths of her power.

"What are you planning to do?"

"Nothing right now. But in the future, whatever I must." Her eyes never left the wall.

He swallowed thickly. "Is that wise?"

Sakura shook her head.

"However Gaara is one of my important people and I have to protect him."

The concealed man, sensing he had been detected, carefully dropped away to the other side of the wall. A sigh of relief left her lungs and she rolled the sudden stress from her shoulders.

Yamato studied her face and decided Sakura had aged greatly. Their first meeting he had been young and naïve, and he saw a strong confident kunoichi in her. Years had gone and though she had been missing from the last five or so, she seemed so much older.

That first introduction, she had been alive with what he had always thought of as hope. The person now at his side was still youthful but with a darker maturity that refined her personality. Tenzou wasn't sure if time had changed her or if she had always been this way and was only now showing him the other half of who she was.

"Yamato." She called quietly to focus his drifting attention. "I need your help protecting Gaara."

His eyes narrowed, the ever-faithful Konoha ninja immediately wanted to refuse. Personal favors for the son of the Sand village were out of his comfort zone and would be considered treason. He had done his fair share of that already.

But this was Sakura, who controlled the world in the palm of her hand. She was friend and family to everyone even with her air of mystery. So he waited for her to explain.

Sakura didn't smile as her eyes watched a bright red ball pass between her two boys. Her heart detached from her mouth as she spoke rehearsed words and mentally pictured a knight put into play on a chessboard.

"The Kazekage will cast me out soon. He was always suspicious of my background and thinks me a spy. I am loyal to Konoha, always have been, but I came here to protect Gaara. I care only about him." Yamato noticed a tender look enter her eyes.

"I won't be able to protect him anymore. His father and uncle are planning to use him and the Ichibi. I can't leave him alone but I won't have a choice."

Rule one – broken, she had decided not to allow Gaara to be used by his family and village. Rule two – broken, she had spent six years already raising the boy. Rule three – about to be broken – she wanted to use Yamato to save Gaara. Normally Sakura disregarded one or the other, but ignoring all three carried a haunting weightiness she could not overlook.

"What would you have me do?" Yamato ventured.

"A seal but nothing more."

His eyes narrowed as the pieces were starting to fall together. "That's why I'm here. Why Naruto was sent here and why I'm his appointed guard." There was no denying how Sakura had orchestrated this entire situation, so she merely nodded at his words.

"Why me?"

This time her eyes shifted to his and a similarly gentle smile to the one she held for Gaara was directed at him. "I've always trusted you. I regret never telling you that before." Her eyes glazed over for a second with a wistful sadness. Then it cleared away and she looked at him hopefully. "Will you help me?"

His thoughts were running wild with question after question but all of it boiled down to one single thing. Did he trust her?

Sakura was his guardian, appointed by the Fourth Hokage almost sixteen years ago. The actual times they had seen each other was less than a dozen and most of those meetings had been when he was still tightly bound to ROOT. The things they could talk about had been limited but he supposed it hadn't really mattered. Sakura never asked about Danzou or his missions.

Instead she had provided the only escape he had from the disgusting things he had done. When he was around her, Yamato was finally able to breathe deeply, and while he had never been afraid during those grisly days, he had been in constant agony. She had made it better, endurable. Did he trust her? There was only one answer.

"If it's within my ability."

Sakura uncharacteristically squealed and threw her arms around Yamato's neck to squeeze the life out of him. The two boys heard the commotion and paused in their playing to look over with twin faces of confusion and slight amusement.

Hidden behind his porcelain mask was a gentle smile reserved solely for her. Sakura didn't know it but she was the first person Tenzou showed his entire self to.

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-X-

A/N: Changed up the format by including both Tenzou and Gaara's timelines together! Obviously Yamato was alive well before Gaara, so you can kind of guess how long and how much thought Sakura put into getting him to help her now. After all Tenzou's timeline didn't really need to change.