Story: Melancholia, Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

A/N: We are beginning to get back into some canon material with this, because I do still have to keep in mind the original time line. I don't want to change too much, only keep Sasuke in the village, and I have my plans to work around that with detracting as little as possible from his canon character. But that will come up in future, not just yet.

Gen. Malaise chapter 14 . Sep 28

Don't respond to the flame comments. Especially the ones about pairing choice. Just let them scream into the void. Keep up the good work, enjoy the positive comments and take the genuine critique under consideration.

Yeah, after that last one Imma just ignore the haters in the future lol. And thank you for your support.

GunBlade2020 chapter 14 . Sep 26

Hi there

It seems that Sakura is taking a back foot for now, concerning her issues, I hope it does not go too dark, since we already have that with the other team members...

Keep up the great writing and stay safe!

I do have plans for Sakura, but I plan for some of her issues with her parents to tie into Naruto as well, since it's implied they also encouraged her against associating with Naruto. I feel like it will help develop NaruSaku and will also develop Sakura too, as well as her bond with Tsunade, and friendship with Ino(which I definitely plan on bringing in soon enough), because Mibuki especially isn't all that supportive in this at all. I'm still debating what I'm going to do with Kizashi, but he struck me as a pushover that would never stand up to Mibuki so I doubt anything will change there. And Sakura will have some issues similar to Naruto and Sasuke but only on a fundamental level. I want each characters problems to be unique and to add to the table in different ways. Sakura may have similar problems but they cause of them are different. Like Sakura's problems with eating ties into her self-esteem and emotional problems caused by her mother, while Sasuke's problems with eating goes more into his PTSD and the nightmares. As such the fixes won't be the exact same, but I definitely want to focus a lot on Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi in this as well. Anyway, thanks for the review and support!

Lineheart chapter 14 . Sep 25

I love the book and concept. Your doing it very well. Wheree it feels real yet not cringe. It's to early for me to say anything about it story wise. And I don't want to step o. Toe's I do think it would really serve the story to slow done once in the village. While by no means fast. Honestly pretty slow in getting to the leaf. It really feels like once there your story is going to open up. And there are so many things that could be done out side of team 7. While they are the main focus and rightfully so. Interaction with other side characters we know would go along way.
As I said way to early for any of this to matter. The story is coming off it intro. So really excited to see where it goes. Alot I would like to see out of it. But where your going now is a fairly unique and exiting place.

Yeah, I've finally reached the point where things will finally be able to start really coming to light, and I'm really excited to go from here! I'm glad you like the interactions so far and I hope you stick with me to the end! Thank you for the kind review..

zachosg7 chapter 14 . Sep 25

not a bad chapter all in all it was a good chapter, nothing too mind blowing

I'm glad you liked it. :)

MoonLightSkies16 chapter 14 . Sep 25

I feel really bad for Kakashi, having to see his student like that. He doesn't want a repeat of what his father did. And I also get where Naruto is coming from and why he won't stop. It feels nice sometimes, having something for your mind to focus on, a different kind of pain. I like thus chapter too, and how Izumi can relate to Naruto and little.

Yeah, I'm trying my best to consider what both people feel in such a situation, as somebody who has sort of been in both before. Being in Kakashi's position can be incredibly stressful for anybody, but with his trauma and how he lost his father, I can only imagine the toll it put on him.

To be fair, I did lose my father when I was 9 and my uncle committed suicide, and I even had a friend who self-harmed so to a certain extent I can understand. But I'm also pouring my own experiences into Naruto as well, since I have self-harmed before and know all too well the guilt that can come from that so yeah, I'm just trying my best to write what feels realistic to me. I hope you'll stick with me.

...

Anyway, ONTO THE STORY

…

When they reached the village gates, Sasuke quickly excused himself, saying there was something he needed to take care of, and everybody else was tired from the long journey.

Despite that, Naruto was rather quick to excitedly proclaim his hunger. "Oh, man, am I starved...! First stop is Ichiraku!"

"Hold it, Naruto. You're not going anywhere." Kakashi said, stopping him right as he was about to walk off. "You and I still have some unfinished business to discuss with the Godaime."

The mention of Tsunade sent a pang of guilt into the boy's chest, and he looked up at Kakashi with a desperate look in his eyes, having been trying to avoid thinking about this possibility.

"What? Why? Can't it wait until later or something? I already told you guys I'm fine! If I need to talk to somebody, I have people I can trust now, ya know? I can go to Sakura-chan or even Sasuke or you if I have to! Just please, you absolutely can't tell her...!" He said, desperately trying to convince Kakashi to not get Tsunade involved. He would no doubt be stopped from going on missions for quite some time if she found out at the very least if she found out.

For a moment, Sakura and Kakashi were uncertain how to react by Naruto's sudden change in demeanor, and in all honestly, Kakashi wished more than anything he could listen to him, believe him, but this just wasn't a risk he was willing to take.

"I'm sorry, but this isn't my call to make." Kakashi said in a soft voice, trying to reason with him, but also making his stance clear. "I'm only following mandatory procedure and doing what is required of me as your teacher. If she says you're fine, then you'll be free to go. Otherwise, just try to cooperate, alright...?"

Chances were Tsunade would probably insist that Naruto was put under suicide watch for at least fourty eight hours, most likely more, and Naruto might hate him for it, but his student's safety was all that mattered to him right now.

Then again, he realized grimly, what did hospitals ever do about this kind of thing except delay the inevitable…? It's not like they really had any kind of plan in place to encourage people against those kinds of behaviors...

As Naruto started to grumble, Kakashi noticed that Sakura had stopped walking and was lingering behind.

"Sakura, what's wrong…?" Kakashi asked, expressing his concern regarding her depressive behavior. At hearing his question, Naruto turned to observe her as well.

"Huh? Oh, no, it's nothing. I'm just getting a little tired is all. I should probably head home and let my parents know I'm back…" Sakura said, waving he hand dismissively. In truth, she actually didn't want to go home right now, her anxiety about what Mibuki was going to say, or do, once she got back, yet again getting the best of her, but she didn't want to worry them.

However, Kakashi was no fool and he could tell that she was trying to cover up her feelings.

"Hold on, before you do that, why don't you come with us?" Kakashi suddenly suggested, catching her attention. For one, he didn't really feel good leaving her by herself as she was, but also having Sakura along might not be such a bad idea. "I think Naruto would do good to have somebody he's more comfortable with right now anyway."

Naruto, however, was stunned by the suggestion. Normally, he would have accepted such an idea without hesitation as Sakura's company was always welcome to him, but for some reason he was afraid. What if he let something slip out and she hated him for it? There were all kinds of possibilities of things that could go wrong. He immediately jumped to speaking up before Sakura could. "What? No way, Sakura-chan, you really don't have to put yourself through that for me!"

"It's not that much of a problem, is it?" Sakura asked, having actually considered Kakashi's suggestion, but became a bit awkward. "I really wouldn't mind, but if you don't want me here, I would understand..."

"No, wait, that's not what I meant!" Naruto immediately felt worse than ever, seeing the guilty expression on her face. Suddenly, the insecurities he'd been dealing with for the past few days, months and even years came spilling out. "It's just… This whole situation… It's driving me friggin' crazy... ! I don't even know why, I've just been so afraid everybody is going to start hating me or something, just like all the rest of them do… I-"

"Naruto…" Sakura gently caught his hand before he could reach for his arm. At hearing her voice, and feeling her touch, Naruto relaxed a bit. "We are not going to judge you, and we'll say that however many times we have to. If you want me to come, then I'll come. Alright?"

"...Alright…" Naruto said sheepishly after a moment of hesitation, his face heating up a bit as he felt himself lightly squeezed her hand back. Sakura couldn't help but give a small smile when she noticed that Naruto was blushing.

Kakashi, meanwhile, felt rather awkward at watching them, deciding to speak back up and make his presence known again, patting them both on the head. "Well, since that's out of the way, let's get going, shall we?"

…

The whole trip there, Sakura once again took note of the way the villagers looked at Naruto; the way he tried his best to pretend not to notice. But now, knowing the supposed "reason" behind the glares and animosity towards him, it burned her to her core.

Naruto always put on such a tough act, but when it came down to it, he was actually really sensitive. And she could see it now, clear as day.

His entire life… He'd had to deal with this alone… And worst of all, she too had once been a part of it, shunning him alongside other classmates. Even since being put on Team 7, she still had had issues with tolerating him sometimes.

If only she'd known the truth all these years - what Naruto was going through every day, what some of these people had done to him - She would have never acted that way or said the things she had about him. The fact that Naruto still trusted her and looked up to her after all that… In truth, she didn't even deserve to call herself his friend.

"It's him… That boy."

"I feel bad for them… Imagine having to be on the same team as him..."

Some whispers suddenly caught her attention, and, within an instant, something inside of her snapped. Quite frankly, the men were lucky, because right before she could walk over and pummel the people responsible for letting such slander slip out of their mouths, or even give them a piece of her own mind, Naruto softly grabbed her wrist, looking at her with pain-filled but pleading eyes. "Don't, Sakura-chan... I don't want you getting caught up in this too, ya know…?"

"But, Naruto…" Sakura's heart broke into a thousand pieces at hearing that.

"Please… It's okay…" Naruto pled in a small voice, tightening his grip on her hand, afraid of her doing something reckless and causing the people to get mad at her too. Besides, it wasn't like he could entirely blame them. They'd lost people they loved because of the fox inside of him. In some ways, he understood why they hated him.

"No, it's not okay, they're always saying bad things about you when they don't even know you…!" Sakura retorted, anger welling up inside of her, alongside tears of frustration.

"...They know the thing inside of me, and that's more than enough reason to justify it in their eyes." Naruto reasoned.

"That may be, but that thing isn't you...!" Sakura said.

"Yeah, well it might as well be...!" Naruto finally snapped at her, his shoulders shaking. Sakura was stunned for a moment, and only a split second later did he realize what he'd just said. He couldn't deny it though. Sometimes, he did almost begin to believe the things they said about him, the things Mizuki had said about him, that nobody would ever love him, that he was just some monster. He tried to always tell himself that everything was fine, to tell others the same thing, tell himself to ignore what they said, put on a smile and pretend it didn't matter, but that didn't stop it from hurting. He doubted it ever would.

Before either Sakura or Naruto could speak up again, Kakashi placed a hand on their shoulders, interrupting their argument.

"Both of you two calm down... and try your best to ignore them..." He said, sternly, noticing the attention they had brought to themselves. He too had heard the things the villagers were saying about his student. And honestly, if Naruto hadn't stopped Sakura, Kakashi might not have either.

He was glad that Naruto had said something, though, because, if he was being completely honest, hurting civilians wouldn't exactly look good on any of them, and might just make things worse for Naruto. As such he knew he needed to restrain himself from taking such actions against them.

"But, Kakashi-sensei, they-" Sakura started to protest.

"I know…" Kakashi said in a dark voice, making it clear that he wasn't any happier about it than she was. "But picking a fight with the villagers isn't going to solve anything. This is something we need to take up with the Godaime. Now come on..."

Sakura still wasn't like it, but for Naruto, only Naruto, she forcefully held her anger at the villagers back, having no choice but to admit that Kakashi was right. "...Fine…"

…

Tsunade was up to her neck in paperwork and since shinobi right and left kept charging into her office with more, she was quite frankly on the verge of snapping from the stress.

"Tsunade-sama...?" Shizune peeked into her office.

"What is it?" She asked, a dangerous edge in her voice, suggesting that if even one more piece of paper was put in front of her, she was going to burn each and every single pile to ashes and toss her desk out the window.

Shizune smiled nervously. "Team 7 is back from their mission. Kakashi-sensei wants to speak with you. He says it's urgent, but it's not about the mission."

"Send him in…" Tsunade sighed.

When Kakashi entered the room, followed by Sakura and Naruto, Tsunade could immediately tell that he wasn't in good health. Judging by his eyes, he hadn't slept in a least a week, and judging by his posture, he was beyond anxious about something.

Kakashi thanked Shizune, who regarded the gesture and left them to their devises.

"Sorry for the delay… We had expected to be back sooner, but we sort of got caught up in some stuff on the way. It wasn't anything we couldn't handle, although Naruto here did end up suffering some back injuries and his ankle also appears to be sprained..." Kakashi scratched the back of his head as he handed her the papers for her mission report. "I really hope I'm not causing too much trouble by asking you to heal him…"

"No, none at all. I'll get to it right away. By the way, you seem troubled, Kakashi. Was there something else you needed to talk about?" Tsunade said, waving a hand dismissively, as she took a moment to skim over the report, before getting up and approaching them.

"Well, about that…" Kakashi started to say, a little nervous considering who he was speaking to, before looking down at his blonde haired student, who seemed to be avoiding eye-contact. "Naruto, can you show her your arm…?"

Tsunade looked down at Naruto, inquiring for an explanation without saying anything.

Naruto gazed up at Kakashi before turning to look at Tsunade, who seemed more confused than anything else, but was none the less patient.

"I…" He murmured, clutching at his arm protectively.

"Naruto, it's going to be alright… I promise you can trust her..." Sakura tried to comfort him, remembering how he'd reacted when she and Kakashi had first found out about him harming himself. She didn't want him to fly into a panic again, and she meant what she said. Tsunade had been so nice and encouraging to her and Sasuke last week and she even healed Sasuke when he was in his coma. She hadn't known her that long at all, but she already had found herself growing fond of her.

Naruto still refused eye-contact, hesitating. This wasn't any easier than when his secret had been discovered by Sasuke, Kakashi and Sakura. The fear of Tsunade thinking less of him for this when she'd just began to acknowledge him was just as overwhelming as this situation had been the first time.

Tsunade had no issues sensing his hesitation, as well as his fear. Folding her arms, she observed at him with uncharacteristically patient eyes, already having her own suspicions about what it was the boy was hiding. She needed him to be open with her on his own terms and not hers. Otherwise, getting him to trust her would likely be impossible.

"You're forgetting I am a medical ninja, kid. Whatever it is you're hiding, I can assure you it's nothing I haven't seen before." she chipped in after a moment to say in her own way that she wasn't gonna jump on him for it.

At hearing that, Naruto looked up at her hesitantly before once again gazing back at Kakashi, whose expression was relaxed, as if to tell him it was okay, just like Sakura urging him to trust her. Kakashi had known Tsunade for years, so he could say for a fact that she would at the very least handle the knowledge of Naruto's self-harm far better than he had.

Naruto glanced back down at his arm, feeling some level of ease at Sakura's and Kakashi's presence. Maybe… Things would be alright.

The boy then swallowed as he slowly reached up to pull his sleeve back, revealing the cuts on his arm. Some of them appeared irritated and Kakashi could tell he'd been scratching at them, reopening numerous wounds, apparently when he wasn't looking. Fortunately, most of them had already healed, thanks to the Kyuubi's chakra, but it still didn't look too good, and Tsunade could easily tell it had been far worse before.

For a moment, she was silent, having her guess confirmed. As a medical ninja, she was no stranger to self-harm. She'd seen the behavior in numerous people with various traumas, and even just in patients in general.

Despite that, as she looked at the angry slashes covering his arm, her eyes softened and a lump began to form in her throat. Maybe it was her history as a surrogate mother figure to Shizune or the protective instinct she'd developed as an older sister to Nawaki, but, without even knowing what overcame her, a strong urge to pull the boy before her into an embrace suddenly consumed her(just barely, she refrained).

Beneath the confident appearance Naruto always held up, he was still just a child and he'd been doing everything in his power to keep himself together. In a manner of speaking, this was likely his own way of telling himself not to give up, to push himself forward when things got too hard. Despite that, it still hurt to know that Naruto felt he had no other way to deal with those feelings, like he had nobody else to talk to.

"I'm sure you can see my cause for concern now… We found out about this five days ago." Kakashi murmured, his voice sounding a little too weak for comfort. "I've done my best to keep him from hurting himself any further, but he's had several slip-ups since then, so..."

"It's alright… Not everybody knows how to deal with something like this..." Tsunade mused grimly for a second, before reaching up, and gently taking Naruto's hand into her own. "Here."

Facing his forearm towards her, she took a moment to roll his sleeve back further so she could get a better look at the damage he'd caused. Afterwards, she placed a hand over the wounds, a green glow surrounding his arm, slowly healing the marks as though they never existed in the first place.

Sakura became entranced by watching the process, once again, her insecurities immediately coming back full force. If she'd been able to heal Naruto while they were on the trip, then so much trouble could have been prevented. If only she had the skills Tsunade did, she could have even woke Sasuke up from his coma like her, or healed them both all those other times they'd got hurt on missions for her sake.

"...Heh… You probably think I'm weak now, don't you…?" Naruto asked bitterly, letting his bangs shadow his eyes. He was certain she was judging him, they all were. Realistically, he knew it probably wasn't the truth, but he still felt that way.

"...No, not at all." Tsunade gave a heartbroken smile. "I just think… that you have some things you need to work out right now… And there's nothing wrong with that. Besides, you're not the first person I've met that did something like this, Naruto… There are plenty of others out there just like you."

"Wait, really? There are?" Naruto looked up at her, a bit surprised, relieved even, to know that he wasn't the only one.

"Mnhm." Tsunade nodded.

"Izumi-san… actually showed us some scars the other day... while you were asleep. He once did it as well..." Sakura said, catching Naruto's attention.

"That guy too, huh…?" Naruto pondered it. Suddenly, he felt as though his actions weren't so foreign or strange, after all.

"Naruto… I need you to be completely honest with me." Tsunade said, working on the last of them. "Do you have any more of these injuries on your body?"

"No, usually, I don't like doing it anywhere else." Naruto said.

"Usually?" Tsunade inquired.

"Well, I mean, sometimes, I do cut on my legs a bit, but I mostly just prefer my arm is all." Naruto explained.

It wasn't like Tsunade had any reason to doubt him. A lot of self-harmers had one preferred spot.

"Alright. I believe you." Tsunade smiled, gently, as she'd finally finished healing everything. "Now about your back and ankle… What was that about?"

"Oh, that…?" Naruto laughed nervously. "Um-"

At the mention of his back, Sakura briefly looked away with a guilty expression, before deciding to explain the situation for him, before even Kakashi could speak up and before Naruto could continue. "If I may, I'm assuming you skimmed over the report to get a basic gist of what we dealt with, but there was this guy there named Juro who was selling off women and young girls for profit…"

"Sexual slavery." Naruto added in, bitterly.

"We came up with the idea of infiltrating his human trafficking ship. Naruto used his Orioke no Jutsu to appear as a girl, and when we entered the building some of Juro's men were at, they led us into a room where the floor collapsed. Naruto sprained his ankle in the fall. And later, when we were fighting Juro… Juro pulled out a bomb, so I tried to push Naruto out of the way before it exploded, and Naruto protected me..." Sakura fidgeted with the fabric of her dress. She then smiled weakly. "Anyway, it's kind of my fault he got hurt, so try not to go too hard on him, alright?"

"I see… Thank you for telling me, Sakura. " Tsunade brushed her head, before looking at Naruto. "Well then, why don't we go ahead and get you healed up and then we'll discuss where to go from there, alright?"

Naruto knew he had no choice but to comply with whatever she decided on.

…

Of course, that didn't mean he had to like it.

"The hospital?!" Naruto exclaimed, after Tsunade had gave them her plan. "But why?"

Under any other circumstance, if it had just been over Naruto's back and his leg, Tsunade would have just sent him back home, but since Naruto had been self-harming on top of that, she couldn't just ignore it. She just couldn't lose him, not like this.

Spending time in the hospital certainly wouldn't get rid of the problem by itself, and nor was she stupid enough to think it would, but, at the very least, having people who cared about him by his side during his recovery would hopefully encourage him to open up a bit about why he was doing it and give others an idea of how to help prevent it in the future. However, that didn't make it any easier to see the hurt look in Naruto's eyes.

And furthermore, if it was the villagers causing this, Naruto needed to be away for a bit, because usually there was more than just one reason people self-harmed.

"You've already healed my injuries, remember? I'm fine now!" Naruto said, once again repeating the same mantra he had earlier. That he was fine, that he knew he had people he could talk to, etc.

"Naruto, you've been hurting yourself. Try to see this from her perspective…" Sakura suddenly pled with troubled eyes. "What would you do in her position…?"

"I..." Naruto started to argue back, but cut himself off and looked down with a guilty expression, seeing her point. And yet the truth was he honestly didn't know how he would react, because while he was aware it wasn't good for him, it always calmed him down and made him feel more in control of his situation. It helped him. He understood why they were worried, and yet down deep, a part of him still wished they didn't know anything or that they would just leave him alone.

He fidgeted with the fabric of his jacket, making his frustration known.

"I promise you that Tsunade-sama isn't trying to punish you…" Kakashi said in a soft voice. "She's just worried about you..."

"She could have fooled me..." Naruto grumbled.

Tsunade sighed. "...Look, Naruto. It's not like I want to do this to you, but I can't just let you go off and start cutting yourself again. You have to understand that."

That aside, Naruto was going to be Hokage one day. Before even coming back to the village, she had already decided that she would do everything in her power to pave that road for him. She wasn't about to let him risk his dream by doing something like this.

"Yeah, besides, Hokage-sama already said it won't be too long, just enough time for her to get an idea of everything that's been going on. We're all just trying to help you..." Sakura added.

"...Fine. I get it. " Naruto felt his shoulders slump at hearing that. "None of you trust me. It's not like I care..."

"Naruto-" Kakashi started to say, but before he could make his statement, Naruto cut him off, his shoulders shaking.

"No, just stop! Stop staying you'll fix this, that everything will be 'alright', because guess what? It can't be fixed! None of this can!" The boy finally felt himself snap, not even knowing where the outburst was coming from. "This whole village hates me, and I've long since accepted that! The only thing I can do about now it is the same thing I've always done…! Just suck it up and live with it! I'm not some baby who needs everybody to come to my rescue when something bad happens. I told you before, didn't I? My goal is to become Hokage one day and make everybody acknowledge me, but that's not something that can just happen over night. I realize that! This stuff takes time. I can't…"

Naruto trailed off into silence, his voice becoming weaker than ever. "I can't just force them to stop..."

Everybody in the room became silent after that, taking in the implications of his words. He wasn't just talking about the glares and whispers, this was something else entirely.

Sakura already knew what he was referring to, and Kakashi at least had an idea based off the things Sasuke had said and even Naruto's behavior the other day. And even Tsunade herself picked up on the innuendo. But with the mental state Naruto was in right now, outright stating their suspicions wasn't a good idea. But maybe… they could urge him into speaking.

"Stop what…? What are you talking about, Naruto..?" Kakashi asked, softly.

Naruto was quiet as he realized the gravity of what he let slip out.

"You know you can tell us, right...?" Sakura urged in a gentle voice.

"I-" Naruto felt his words catch in his throat as he around at them and then Tsunade. The concern in their eyes sent a pang of guilt into his chest and he swallowed. Everybody was worried about him and he hated it. If they knew the truth, they would hate him for it. He couldn't say it.

He turned away and pulled on Kakashi's sleeve, heading to the door. "...No, it's nothing… Let's just go..."

Once again, nobody could bring themselves to press the matter. Kakashi tried his best to give Tsunade a bow, before calling out for Sakura(who jumped a bit), questioning if she was coming.

She smiled nervously. "Oh, uh, you two go on ahead. I'll catch up later, there's something I need to talk with Hokage-sama about. And, Naruto, listen to Kakashi-sensei, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever..." Naruto scoffed, causing Sakura to sigh once he and Kakashi were out of the office.

"...I swear, all he ever does is worry me..." Sakura sighed.

The woman sighed, feeling as though she could break at any moment from the stress.

"Well, that is Naruto for you..." Tsunade smirked, giving a small fond smile, despite the fact that she too was stressed after all this.

Perhaps now wasn't a good time, Sakura thought. No, she couldn't back down, especially not now. She'd watched Tsunade heal Sasuke and Naruto and she'd heard numerous stories about her amazing strength. If she'd had that kind of training on the ship, she could have done more to help Naruto without him getting injured, and him and Sasuke wouldn't always have to be coming to her rescue.

Her mother was right about her, that she did nothing but cause trouble for those around her, the people she cared most about, but she didn't want to be like that any more. She wanted to be able to help people. Not just Naruto and Sasuke either, but civilians and children too.

And the only possible person who could make that a reality was standing right before her. She didn't know if Tsunade would agree to it or not, but she had to try.

"Hokage-sama…" Sakura straightened her posture, gazing up at her with determined eyes.

"Hm?" Tsunade rose an eyebrow.

"I have a request." Sakura said.

"What is it?" Tsunade wanted to know, raising an eyebrow.

"Please…" Sakura swallowed. She hadn't felt this nervous since her days as a child, suffering from social anxiety, practically afraid to even look somebody in the eye for fear of being trampled on. Despite that, she pushed passed it, refusing to let herself second-guess her decision. "Make me your apprentice."

At hearing that, Tsunade studied her for a moment, once again seeing herself in the girl's eyes. Nawaki and Dan might be gone, but even so, she recognized all too well the fear of losing those closest to her, her desire to help them, to support them and everybody else.

A small smirk tugged at the corner of her lips as their eyes met. She could already tell based on what she'd picked up about Sakura, that, without a doubt, she had what it took to become a medical ninja, and was willing to endure whatever harsh training she had to.

"I've heard from Kakashi that you're very smart and you're able to persevere." She finally said, having made her decision. "Alright, I'll take you on. But this isn't going to be easy, you got that?"

"Y-yes!" Sakura stammered, a bit shocked. She hadn't expected it to be easy, but she was more than grateful Tsunade agreed to train her.

"But first…" Tsunade said. "There's something I need you to do for me."

"Of course. What is it?" Sakura asked.

"I want you to head to the academy and tell Iruka I need to speak with him. Make sure he knows it's urgent. He's going to have to cut class short." Tsunade said. She would likely have to find a substitute for the time being, but, from what she understood, Iruka was probably even closer to Naruto than Kakashi was. Perhaps, his involvement would help encourage Naruto to open up. And, even aside from that, she could tell that Kakashi was in no state to continue looking after Naruto by himself… He was clearly exhausted, even showing signs of insomnia. He probably hadn't got a moments' break this entire week.

"I understand. I'll head there right away." Sakura said.

Tsunade nodded. "Alright, you may be dismissed."

With that, Sakura bowed and left immediately after heading off to the academy.

…

A/N: I'll tell you, this was a pain in the ass to write, because I was conflicted between so many different ideas I could have went with (like whether I was gonna bring in Jiraiya yet or whether I was going to have Naruto open up more about his situation, but I decided that it was best to wait a bit, because realistically I'm kind of considering a past trauma of my own as I write in Naruto's part. I will get to it but I think it's best if I wait a bit. People don't just open up about everything over night. I want this to be relatable.