A/N It's been a while everyone! I've been having trouble with my PC so updates will come from the app and without being proofread, but that's okay. I figured now was the best time to start posting again since we all need a distraction from current events. Remember to take care of your MENTAL health as well as your physical, stay inside, stay calm, and don't let the panic of others get to you. Set your own boundaries and put some distance between the media and you. I hope me updating again can be somewhat of a distraction. Stay safe, and welcome back!

To say Sakura had changed would have been the understatement of a lifetime. She had grown taller, curvier, and the sharpness in her gaze cut like a blade. Her green eyes had none of the childish glint they once held, none of the mischief and playfulness. Her long hair had been tied into a ponytail out of the way, and sat at the back of her head in a way that reminded me of Itachi. I could see a glint of what was probably metal amongst the sea of pink as well. She looked dangerously weak, and the fact that se was dressed in civilian's clothes made more than pone eyebrow raise when she walked into the room. There was nothing that betrayed her abilities, her specialization, hell, she had been hiding her chakra signature so well I'd actually thought there was a civilian accompanying Jiraiya. The Toad Sage had very clearly not wasted his time with her, this was no sparkly eyed, Sasuke obsessed,superficial brat Sakura. This was a shinobi, a spy, an infiltrator of the highest caliber. Doyun had agreed with me on that matter when he had first seen her.

As the Toad Sannin excused himself to do some research, all eyes turned to Haruno Sakura. She stood at attention, never taking her eyes off the Hokage, silent ever since she had stepped into the room, waiting to be adressed.

"Haruno-san, Konohagakure welcomes you back," started Tsunade. " I trust you can give us a brief account of your time with that leach."

Sakura smiled. Kind of. The right corner of her mouth raised into something resembling something not unlike a grin.

"I can, Hokage-sama. I can also hand in a written report on our findings. Those which could interest the avillage, of course."

Tsunade paled.

"Three years worth of reports?" She asked without bothering to try and cover her distaste for the idea.

"It's much shorter than one would initially think, I assure you, Godaime-sama."

Sakura was amused to no end. We could all tell. Not that she let it show, we were all amused.

I liked her.

Tsunade informed them about the new team arrangements, and the test they would be retaking. She said that the two on two battle would take place in training ground seven, and that the fourth member of their sqad had already been selected. Naruto faltered when he heard that, and attempted fo feign excitement at the prospect. I chuckled.

"Is it someone we know from the academy?" Sakura noticed Naruto's reaction but said nothing.

The room was silent a moment and I knew that was my own cue. I stepped forward and bowed, while Skura's eyes regarded me carefully. She did not know me as well as she wished, but she did know of me . Jiraiya would have made sure of that.

"My name is Uchiha Akane. Chuunin, 21. I have been in Kakashi-senoai's team for a while now. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Haruno-san."

She bowed back without taking her eyes off me.

That would have been unwise.

"You are Uchiha Sisui's sister. He was an exemplary shinobi, I wish I could have met him. Haruno Sakura, I look forward to working with you."

We were all dismissed after that, so after successfully escaping Naruto's confused and excited blabber about how his sister would be in their team, Kakashi and I left for a tea house where we could plan ahead and discuss the new development that was Sakura. It was a beautiful day out in Konoha, so we decided to have everything wrapped up and headed for the nearest park.

It was not an odd sight to see us out and about on our spare time. Even when we practically lived together, there was comfort to be found in eachother, some sort of safety that drew us both closer as time went by. We had been eachother's rock, eachother's safe port for so long that being apart seemed almost unnatural. It had not always been like that, of course, but with how things had gone after the chuunin exams, I'd found that the group of people I could really rely on was much smaller that I had first thought. Morals were funny like that.

It was not a matter of us not being independent adults that couldn't handle solitude either, we simply enjoyed eachother's company more than we did being on our own and, with time, had made that the core of our teamwork. We made sense to eachother, and that was enough.

As we walked by, a couple of elderly men that were playing Go at one of the park tables whispering excitedly to one another and stealing glanses towards Kakashi and I. One of them nodded and shook his partner's hand with a firm nod. How many did that meake already? My amused chuckle got Kakashi's attention, and when he followed my line of sight he let out a tired sigh.

"What do you think the time frame is? Or is it a yes or no kinda bet?" I asked still feeling the mirth in my eyes.

"Well it depends on the betting pool. Asuma asked me to grow a pair and ask for your hand in marrige before you were twenty five. Genma asked me to promise never to get married. Gai asked me to wait until you were thirty."

I stopped in my tracks and stared at him disbelievingly.

"Gai?" I was incredulous to say the least.

"Yeah he said the Hokage had placed a bet that would not benefit him if her streak of bad luck was anything to go by."

I laughed hard. Of course Tsunade-sama had decided to take part in the bet, it would have been suspicious if she hadn't. And with her legendary bad luck it was no wonder why Gai had resorted to drastic meassures.

At first, I hadn't known about the ongoing bet, I had been busy going on missions in order to qualify for a field promotion as well as attempting to raise a teenage boy, so whenever I walked around town, I didn't really pay much attention to the dealings going about. It had been Naruto who had made a bet with Shikamaru long ago, and people had just started jumping on board as time went by.

"You both act like a married couple already." He'd said, shrugging when I asked why he'd done it.

Kakashi scrunched his nose at the Idea when I told him. His ninken all rolled their eyes at him.

"There's nothing against you per se, Akane. It's just I've known you since you were six, so it's kinda not okay in my head."

I told him I had no intention to marry him either, and we'd left it at that.

We made our way to our usual spot in the park in companionable silence.

"So, Sakura. You were her jonin sensei, give me the basics and then, we'll add what we think might be relevant." I said, sitting down on the park bench beneath the tree and unwrapping the dango we'd bought."

"Impeccable chakra control, most likely a genjutsu type. Temper to rival Tsunade-sama herself, so easily provoked, she used to have quite the flexibility, her aim was not bad, and her physical strength was improving steadily but would not be better than the average female shinobi." He took his mask off and bit into the dango when I handed him the stick. "Highly perceptive, logical mind, quick thinking. Her chakra pool was not going to develop much more than it already had unless she underwent some sortt of exhaustion regime. Still, at twelve it was not something to sniff at."

I nodded along, taking mental notes on everything and trying to come up with Jiraiya's known abilities in order to fill in the blanks the past three years had surely made.

"She clearly is a well trained spy now, her chakra signature is felt consistenly civilian-like, her overall appereance betrays very little as well. We should be weary of hair based jutsu, they are a specialization of Jiraiya's and Sakura had barbed wire in her hair."

Kakashi nodded and took a sip of tea as he continued to think of something, anything that could give us an edge. But the problem was, that as a Sannin and a spy, Jiraiya kept his aces hidden well up his sleeve, and if anyone ever got to see them, they wouldn't live long enough to tell.

"Jiraiya-sama is a jack of all trades, i think we're not getting much further than this without actually fighting Sakura."

We finished the rest of our meal in silence, mulling over everything we had discussed. Some would have argued we were going overboard by treating Sakura as an unknown threat, but as of right then, that's what sephe was. Kakashi and I prided ourselves in not being taken unawears, it had happened one too many times, and the results had never been good. We were not going to lose any more comrades, any more friends, any more family to our inability to keep an open mind and our bodies ready for anything. It was not healthy, we both knew it, but if it was what it took to keep eachother alive, then it did not matter.

"Our new team is one of the candidates for the support mission for our contact," he said after a while. "Do you want me to appeal for a removal from the list?"

Are you sure you are ready for this?

I smiled sadly. Yes, we kept eachother as safe as we could.

"Nah, it'll be good to se pe him again, and if anything, I need to work on keeping myself in check. I can't keep running away from it, from him. I just need to learn how to deal with it is all."

"Love is a great weakness,Akane. You know that." He said gravelly.

"It's a double edged sword, Senpai. It's a great weapon as well."

Sakura POV

Kakashi-sensei had never gone all out on us. There was that one time in wave country, but I didn't think that was all he could give, it had been years since then, and him being the copy ninja made anything possible. He was not a known factor anymore. That, and he had never used his Sharingan against us. He had also been working with his partner longer than he'd been our teacher, so we were at a clear disadvantage here, since Naruto and I had yet to get reacquainted with eachother.

Kakashi's partner, Uchiha Akane, was more or less an unknown factor. Naruto said she was ANBU, but that was all he could say about her abilities. She was disciplined, worked hard and encouraged her room mate more than anyone ever had. But of her fighting style, resistence, chakra capabilities, ninjutsu, we knew nothing. Only that she had the Sharingan. Is was exceedingly frustrating for a spy not to have any information on her other than who her brother had been. It irked me to no end to go into a fight blind in one eye. I was even less amused when Kakashi-sensei announced we would be retaking the bell test. Not that I let it show, but I did untie my hair in preparation as Naruto put a pair of gloves on. I hoped we could sync as we once had.

Akane-san's eyes shone as I undid my hair, and a little smirk appeared on her face, triumphant. I hated being predictable, but I guess there was little that could escape her scarlet eyes. I would have to be careful about that. Her stance was relaxed, she had no visible weapons that gave away a particular fighting style other than the Uchiha standard, and the only thing that stood out in her blue Konohagakure uniform was the uchiwa fan on her right shoulder and back, a set of leather armguards -which was no surprise due to the clan's tendency to lean towards fire style jutsu- and a pair of gloves.

She looked like a regular shinobi, even with her Sharingan and laid back posture, which now that I thought of it eerly resembled Kakashi's, and the whole thing gave me the impression I was seeing only what she wanted me to see. She had said she was a Chuunin, but that meant nothing. She was a real Shinobi, I knew nothing about her, and she relied on that. For the first time since I'd met Jiraiya-shishou, I was up against an oponent I knew nothing of and could deduce nothing from. I was impressed.

"You know the rules already," Kakashi-sensei started. " take the bells from us before sunrise tomorrow. You can use all means, and remember..."

naruto Smiled.

"If we don't come at you with the intention to kill..."

"We will jot succeed. Right, Sensei?" I finished.

Akane-san let out a giggle and moved her feet into possition, shoulder width, knees slightly bent. She was ready.

"START!"