Arms tied behind her back, Sakura inwardly rolled her eyes as she kneeled in front of her old sensei and the newest Hokage, Kakashi. Honestly, she couldn't believe that they chose him to become the next Hokage because of his lack of motivation and love for perveted books. But, the past is the past—it has been five years since she disappeared with Madara and Sakura has finally returned to the village. She has spent those years training under Madara and doing his dirty work (literally, his dirty work a.k.a. his nasty laundry) while being relentlessly hunted down by her former comrades.

Speaking of comrades, Sakura looked around the room and sighed with annoyance and disbelief. Not only did Kakashi bring the entire Konoha 9 into the office to rise in the glory of Sakura, one of the most wanted rouge shinobi, reduced to kneel in front of the Hokage, but he also brought in another familiar face. She didn't know that he came back and was curious to see why he was still alive—Itachi Uchiha, standing next to his younger brother, Sasuke Uchiha. Unbelievable.

Her brows furrowed as she looked at the both of them; why wasn't Sasuke ripping his brother apart? How is Itachi back? When did he come back and why isn't he dead? Too many questions, all of which (Sakura shook her head and scoffed at her idioicy), Madara probably has the answers to.

She continued to look around the room and saw Naruto and Hinata standing next to each other.

Oh?

Well, what do we have here?

Are they…holding hands?

God, be a little bit more discrete about it. If you guys are going to get all freaky in front of a wanted kunoichi, at least do it outside. You hooligans, you.

Sakura smirked. At least that idiot finally realized his true feelings. Always blurting around about how much he loved me…what a total moron.

Of course, she saw the others: Neji, Shikamaru, Kiba, Ino, etc. But they don't mean anything to her anymore—Madara made sure of that.

Still kneeling, Sakura took a deep breath and finally, to break the 30 minutes of silence, spoke to Kakashi, "Well, you look old."

Kakashi did not respond. He continued to stare at her with his one eye.

"Good talk," Sakura sarcastically scoffed, "good talk." She slightly nodded her head towards Itachi and questioned, "So, what the hell is he doing here? I mean, I think we've both done some things that we might not be so proud of, so why am I tied up and he isn't?"

Silence.

Sakura blinked. She sighed in annoyance and exclaimed, "In the five years I've been gone, did you all lose the ability to speak? Or were you all just this stupid before I left?"

Ino's concentration and sudden interest towards the wall in front of Sakura broke and she rushed towards her former comrade, holding her up by grabbing onto her collar. Ino snarled, "You ungrateful, unbelievable, little bi-"

"Enough!" Kakashi yelled. Sai walked forward, gently grabbing Ino's wrists as she slowly let go of Sakura's collar. Sakura stared straight at Ino, staring at her with an amused look on her face. She'd never seen Ino lose her temper so realistically and was surprised at it.

"I can see that I've made you all a little," Sakura scoffed with a smirk on her face "tense, but assure you, I'm here all on my own. I've left Madara and wish to return home."

"You sure have a funny way of showing it!" Naruto cried, pulling his hand from Hinata's grasp. "You've been gone for so long and the first thing you do is call us stupid?"

That idiot's got a point. I probably shouldn't be so condescending to them. You're here for a mission, Haruno Sakura—get the scrolls and get out. How hard could that be?

"You're right. I'm sorry," apologized Sakura. She looked at Ino, trying to look as sincere as possible, "I know it was hard when I left. It was something that I needed and yeah, it probably wasn't the best way to go about it, but you all wouldn't have listened to me if I told you."

"Excuses."

Sakura looked away from Ino and locked eyes with Sasuke. "Excuses? Are you serious?"

Sasuke, blank as always, responded, "Yes. Excuses."

Honestly surprised and angry, Sakura exclaimed, "You know, how is this any different than when you left?" She whipped her head around and glared at Naruto. "How about when you left, Naruto? Didn't really fill me in on that, did you?"

Ino rolled her eyes and sneered, "Oh, get over it. That was a long time ago."

Her temper finally snapping, Sakura zoomed in front of Ino, shoving her harshly against the wall with her foot. Ino's eyes were wide and her body was tense as she looked into Sakura's viridian eyes; they were not the eyes she grew up with, the ones that she believed belonged to her best friend.

Everyone in the room suddenly went into high alert, all jumping to separate the two girls. Sai, being closest, grabbed Sakura by her bound wrists and pulled her away from Ino.

Grumbling to herself, Sakura was forced back into the center of the room and pushed onto her knees. She took a deep breath and locked eyes with Kakashi, still sitting calmly at his desk.

"So," she started, "what are you going to do?" Sakura looked around the room and then back at Kakashi. "Are you going to let me back in? Are you going to lock me up? Torture me?" She smirked at him. "Kill me?"

"Now, my dear pupil," Kakashi sighed, "why would I kill you?"

Kakashi rose from his desk and walked towards Sakura. He then put one of his hands on his desk and affectionately rubbed her hair. "You are my student, no matter the choices you've made." He lightly stepped behind her, pulled out a kunai, and proceeded to cut the ties around her wrist. "I'm willing to let you back in, under supervision, of course. All you have to do is just proceed with your life as you did five years ago."

He stepped away from Sakura, allowing her to rub her previously bound wrists and fix her hair. Kakashi proceeded back to his seat and kindly smiled at her underneath his mask. "Of course," he said, "if you decide to break the trust I am giving you again, I will be forced to take harsher measures on you."

Sakura concealed a scoff and responded, "Of course." She began to back away from the room, heading towards the door. "If anyone needs me," she grinned, "I'll be at my apartment." With that, Sakura exited the room, leaving everyone with an unsettling pit in their stomachs.

"Kakashi, don't you think you're being a little to easy on her?" Itachi stated. "She did defect. She probably has information on Madara as well. And knowing him, I doubt that he just let her walk away that easily."

Rubbing his eyes and yawning, Kakashi leaned against his chair with exhaustion. "You're right, Itachi," he sighed, "which is why I'm commanding all of you to keep an eye on her. Take shifts and observe her actions 24/7. I want full reports of her day every morning at dawn and if she does anything slightly suspicious…take her out. Understood?"

All of Konoha 9 and Itachi straightened their stance and retorted, "Understood!"

That, Sakura thought, was way too easy. I thought they would at least torture me to gain information on Madara, but they didn't. Sakura rolled her hands into fists as she strolled down the street toward her apartment. Of course, everyone that saw her had a double-take and avoided her at all costs, not that she cared.

She finally reached her apartment, finding the spare key exactly where she left it. Sauntering inside, she coughed as a cloud of dust flooded into her nostrils and throat. Waving her arms back and forth in front of her, she took of her shoes, turned on a light, and sat at her dining table.

As soon as she began to relax on her chair, a little bump began to form behind her ear. Zetsu, she thought. Curling her lips in disgust at the fact that Zetsu was with her, she mumbled, "Tell Madara I'm in, surprisingly." Her eyes took notice of her vase, the one that Naruto almost knocked over a few years back, and smirked. "I'll be done soon, so tell him to sit tight until then."

"Understood", Zetsu murmured. He then disappeared, leaving Sakura to notice a flicker of light outside of her living room window.

Standing up and walking towards her window, she smiled at her first observer: Shikamaru.

Here we go.

Something was wrong. Shikamaru got chills as he made eye contact with Sakura from her living room window. He calmly nodded back as she smiled at him, even though something was telling him to get out of there.

She got caught way to easily. Honestly, Shikamaru thought, she just walked in through the main gates without any weapons of any kind and with her hands behind her head. If she was truly Madara's student, she should've appeared with more of a dramatic flare.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Madara and his stupid dramatic entrances. Damn that eye and its abilities.

He leaned against the tree, feeling the breeze against his face. Something was very wrong with Sakura, he just didn't know what.

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

Hello readers!

I understand that it has been a VERY long time since I've last updated. I'm going to be honest with you guys—I haven't been on this website since the last upload and that's due to life (school and other stuff). I'm sorry to keep you guys waiting and I'll try to be better at updating, though I won't guarantee anything.

I had to reread the story because I kind of forgot the plot (lol, my bad), so if there are any inconsistencies, please let me know. J Hopefully not.

Anyway—PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW! More reviews, the more it'll influence me to update, believe me.

Tata for now, lovelies.