Everything was a blur. The concept of time nor space existed.

A constant, throbbing pain racked through Sakura's brain. Her head hurt so bad that she couldn't even see straight. She touched her head and felt the dried blood on her scalp. She'd probably been bludgeoned with a blunt object. There was no need for that when she could've easily been knocked out through a safer, more effective method like chakra suppression.

Sakura brought her glowing green hand to the wound. No matter. When she got out of…wherever this was, she would be making a formal complaint to anyone who mattered until she got justice. Her vision cleared bit by bit.

The healing process took longer than usual because she was in so much pain. Her vision and the rest of her senses slowly came back to normal. The room reeked of an unidentifiable must. The air was humid. The way the air stuck to her body and made her hair limp and her clothes stick unnaturally to her body was unnerving.

She could finally see the slimy steel bars that kept her locked away. She rushed off the dirty cot she lied on to grasp them. She looked through the bars frantically. She was completely alone. There were no chakra presences near her and only the sound of the water leak from the roof of her imprisonment chamber could be heard.

Sakura wanted to cry out, but she thought that it wouldn't be the best time to in a situation like this. She didn't want to draw attention to herself. She linked her hands together for a chakra suppression seal. It would be harder to do now with less chakra, but she pulled at the steel bars with all the strength her chakra would allow her.

Sweat poured down her face from what could've been exertion or anxiety. It took a few minutes before she heard the bars creasing from her brute strength. When she made a hole wide enough for her body to slip through, she cautiously placed a toe out into the darkened foyer.

Nothing passed but the eerie droplet sounds from the leaking wall. Sakura was sure to keep her footfalls silent. She had no idea of what lurked in the poorly lit hallway. She wished she would've worn her black jumpsuit instead of her red one with her family symbol. She was just asking to get caught.

The light at the end of the tunnel was coming into view. Sakura picked up her pace. The taps of her footfalls were light, but not silent. It didn't bother her though. She'd find out where she was as soon as she reached the end.

In the midst of her jog to freedom, a figure obscured the light that filtered through the tunnel.

Someone's coming.

She jumped and clung to the dirt ceiling watching as the figure moved in closer. It was tense. Her anxiety was on ten watching the figure come closer, ever so slowly as it continued to look all around as if it had noticed her.

The figure came directly underneath and paused again to look. She figured it would be pointless to just hide around these mud-caked walls playing a cat and mouse that would probably end in her defeat. She counted to three and pounced onto the figure.

At closer inspection, she could see that it was a man. He looked scared shitless.

Good. That'll make it easier to get information out of him.

She held him down on the ground with her knee pressed to his neck. He gasped for breath, but she was not feeling very merciful.

"S-Sakura," he choked out.

She shifted her knee off of his neck and turned his body over belly up. She made sure to keep him down on the ground her strength.

"Where are my teammates?" she barked.

He made a move to sit up as he tried to gather more air into his lungs. Sakura pushed him back down with an unforeseen animosity.

"I…came…to…release…you."

….

The Kage Summit was…going. They'd all been here for the past few hours after having a few short days' notice to even attend. The agreement was to meet in Kumo, the hub for the program. The atmosphere was tense. Not much of anything was said in the past few hours that they'd all been sitting there. The conversation felt pointless.

"Well, isn't this all quite nice?" Mei, the fifth Mizukage, mused.

No one in this room looked happy to be here. It was expected though. The dreaded kage summit was something that everyone had been dragging their feet on. It was Tsunade who demanded they all gather in a matter of three days or she promised hell. Even though all the kages possessed skills that allowed them to don the title, this woman was a seasoned shinobi with more experience in war, combat, and death than all of them combined.

Her fury was not something they wanted to unleash even if they did believe that they could beat her. Plus, no matter how much they didn't want to come to this summit, everybody had grievances with one another that they wanted to put all out on the table.

Onoki, the third Tsuchikage, offered nothing but a disgruntled huff. The senile old man had better things to do than pretend to be friends with all these other, younger high rollers from different villages. He was set on never reopening this confounded program again.

It was peer pressure that made him give in the first time. Everyone else had already approved and signed ninjas up for the program. If he didn't play along with them, Iwagakure was in no position to go into a war against the other villages.

The reveal of Suna's plan to attack Konoha was no surprise. That village had always been full of wolves in sheep's clothing. Iwa had been in conflict with them for years and the news of the attack did nothing to ease the already high concentration of distrust held between both the villages.

"This is ridiculous," the bitter old man spat. "The program is not going to be reinstated and this meeting is not important enough to have so suddenly. Especially just for your apprentice Hokage-sama."

Tsunade ignored him. She sat at the table with her hands folded seething in rage. Shizune, with Tonton in her hands, was frazzled. She'd barely caught Tsunade before she left with Naruto. Thankfully, Shizune was able to gather Kakashi and Yamato last minute to guard her.

Shizune had never seen Tsunade move so fast. All that she knew was that something had happened to Sakura and it had mobilized Tsunade in a way she'd never seen before. The apprentice that she took in without question - who'd become a pseudo daughter - was in danger. What other motivation did she need to apply pressure to her fellow kage?

Tsunade had a history of riling people up. She'd been the one to advocate for more accessible teaching of medical healing in the ninja world. If everybody was so focused on being in the action of the ninja world, who would be there to heal the wounded?

This was lesser known, but she'd also fought tooth and nail for better mental health services to be available for those in the village. They couldn't honestly expect these people, ninja and civilian alike, to experience as gruesome a war as they did and just end up okay.

This was one of the many reasons why the council held such a disdain for her. They weren't willing to allocate the excessive funds from their salaries into programs that would actually better the village.

"This summit is necessary. You are all letting your petty beliefs and long held prejudices hold you back from looking at the truth. This program has helped all of us, not just the Raikage. It'd be foolish to look at it any other way just because you couldn't get the unexpected revenue from it," Tsunade snapped. "Maybe next time you'll offer up your own villages for future international endeavors."

The Tsuchikage pouted.

Mei placed her chin onto the palm of her propped up hand. There was no denying the talent that came back to Kiri. As much as the fifth Mizukage tried to right the wrongs of the previous administrations, she could not do it all by herself. When she'd received the offer, she didn't hesitate to approve it. From the political turmoil, the Bloody Mist Village, and other conflicts, Kiri's need for growth stretched farther than she could reach.

"I agree with Hokage-sama. I'm seeing water release techniques that haven't been seen for decades in Kiri. Who knows?" Mei took a pause for dramatic effect. "Our prized Seven Swordsman might even make a comeback. I've seen some great potential candidates!"

The roundtable considered her enthusiasm for a moment. Ao watched her carefully. The woman was very optimistic and though it could be useful for certain situations, it could be used against her. Her naivety was both a blessing and curse.

Chojuro stood on her other side shaking in his boots. The tenseness of the situation was getting to him and he feared that he would disappoint his dear Mizukage when it came time to battle.

Gaara blinked slowly. He drank in the entire scene. It was clear to him that the only reason disagreements were being held was because of embittered histories between the villages, not because of the recent program.

Gaara had done a lot of growing since the planned attack on Konoha. All that anger he harbored had nowhere to release itself, so he held it all in until it found its way out. It wasn't until he was met with Naruto's unbreakable spirit that he was finally able to look at himself.

Naruto's words of affirmation were a good starting point, but a bit tone deaf because he had his parents standing beside him. It took Gaara more self-reflection to understand what he'd become. The tailed beast was sealed inside of him without his consent. His father saw him as a tool, not as a person capable of love or being loved. His mother sacrificed everything for him and he was pushing away the only people who truly loved him, Kankuro and Temari.

Realizing the love that they held for him was what ultimately helped him to change. He glanced at his brother and sister who gave him a reaffirming smile. He drew attention to himself and watched as the other kages turned to him.

"The program has nothing to do with you all's past transgressions. It set out to fulfill one purpose: to avoid another war and to boost a sense of comradery amongst ninjas of all nations. Ignoring the positive results of this enactment of this program would be a disservice to all parties, but mostly to the ninjas who have fostered such great relationships in their time spent together," Gaara finished in his monotone.

Onoki still looked disgruntled by it all. He didn't want to make peace with what he found to be bullshit. "That's all swell and dandy, but when it all comes down to it, only one village has benefitted from all of this," the old man ranted with a brief look in the Raikage's direction. "We're all only here because the Hokage's apprentice was arrested on a mission for performing a technique that was once only traceable to the first Hokage. If we can allow behavior like this, there is no telling the amount of 'forgotten' techniques that will now pop up as a result of this program."

Tsunade gritted her teeth. She was tired of playing with old fuddy duddies who wished for nothing more than to return to the old days of dreary war. She'd lost too much to regress to the way things used to be.

"With a village as corrupt as yours, I'd avoid speaking on anyone's credentials. Especially with the questionable ninjas you've hired to do your dirty work," Tsunade snipped.

Onoki looked just about ready to jump on the table and fight. A, the fourth Raikage, slammed his hands on the table. His face was scrunched into a silent fury. A shouting match was about to start and they'd gotten nothing done in all their time here.

"This is a pointless argument. It's obvious that you all have biased opinions that can't all be based in concrete facts. If you want to know how everything is run in my village as a result of the program, I suggest you all send those ninjas back here and let them show you what they so desperately want to return to."

….

"Let's go." An ANBU agent from Konoha exited the pristine hospital room.

Sasuke placed his hand on his head ever so gently and recoiled in pain. His head felt like someone was repeatedly thumping him with a mallet. Even with the medical assistance he'd just received, he was sure Ibuprofen wouldn't be able to knock out the headache he was experiencing.

Sasuke had been released from prison earlier that morning. He'd been woken up to loud noises that he couldn't decipher in the confusion. His vision had only just returned to him about thirty minutes ago so he couldn't identify the bastards who'd done this to him if he wanted.

From what he could tell, he was not in Konoha. He wasn't familiar with the terrain he caught glimpses of out of the hospital window. The hospital room also looked vastly different from any he'd ever seen in Konoha. Even Sasuke, who avoided the hospital at all costs, knew what it looked like…or at least what it was supposed to look like.

He rose from the hard cot and stretched. Wherever they'd placed him previously didn't have a comfortable bed for him to lay on. His back ached with kinks and soreness he'd never known were possible. Sasuke kneaded his hands into his lower back. Much to his chagrin, he'd probably have to schedule a trip to a masseuse to feel better.

He trudged out of the weirdly designed hospital room. The ANBU agent from before was waiting outside for him with a straight face. If Sasuke had the energy, he believed he would've slapped the shit out of the smug man for his insensitivity. The ANBU agent walked off leaving Sasuke to follow blindly after him.

The Uchiha boy followed behind him at a considerably slower pace. Every movement he made felt like electric shocks to his head. The doctors probably hadn't even given these ninjas the ok to have him up and about so soon. Sasuke promised to himself that the next time his mother or the godaime put him on bedrest, he would oblige them without complaint.

It took a while before they reached their destination, but Sasuke knew he was in no shape to deal with whatever they were about to subject him to. The ANBU agent opened the door for him – the first kind action he'd done – and shut it hard behind him.

Sasuke jumped slightly in surprise. All these loud noises were not helping the throbbing headache he was trying to nurse. When the tremors from his headache died down, Sasuke looked around the room to find ninjas with both Leaf and Lightning headbands all around.

Fuck.

He was under investigation with a debilitating headache.

A Kumo ninja walked over and pulled out a chair for him. Sasuke, with a hand holding onto his head for superficial pain relief, took the seat with a small nod of gratitude. A Konoha ninja sat directly across from him fixing a stack of papers. Sasuke raised a brow. The ninja smiled at him as if he wasn't probably facing serious charges.

"Good afternoon. I'm sorry to hear about your injury. It was a thoughtless, yet precautionary move our ANBU had to use to ensure that you wouldn't try escaping."

Sasuke scoffed. There was no reason to knock him out in such a brutal way. Especially since he was now an ANBU member himself.

He guessed that's what came with taking Itachi's leftovers. Only Itachi would be trusted to handle them. His little brother wasn't half the ninja he was and therefore not to be relied on.

He would have given a snide remark if he wasn't in such pain. The ninja before him took his silence as agreement.

"Through the extra surveillance measures that we put in for this mission to take place, we saw that Haruno Sakura used the wood release technique that she was previously held under investigation for using before, correct?"

Sasuke wanted nothing more than to smack the smug grin sitting on this guy's face. Placating him with these ridiculous questions they already knew the answer to was affronting. Who did they think they were fooling with this act?

"Get to the point," Sasuke barked.

The other ninjas in the room shifted, their hands reaching for their weapons at Sasuke's tone. The teenage boy couldn't care less. If it came down to it, he would fight them all. Injury or not. He was tired of being slighted.

The ninja questioning him put a peaceful hand up and the other ninjas relaxed their stances. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Alright, Sasuke. I won't beat around the bush. We want to know if you think Sakura, with her new ability and obvious disdain for following rules, is a potential threat to Konoha's safety? Would her and her teammates possibly be willing to release village techniques to others for some type of gain?"

This had to be the stupidest question he'd ever heard of. Did they even know Sakura? How would a girl from a family with no ninja history even know the first thing about committing treason?! Her and her friends looked like nervous wrecks the entire mission. The way they clung to each other was weird. It was as if they wouldn't be able to survive without one another. Not to mention, from the way they ate at the mission's lunch, they'd never have the energy to even commit a crime if they wanted. He knew Sakura had been under investigation, but accusations like these were coming from completely out of left field.

"There's nothing in the history of me knowing Sakura that would suggest anything as serious as that," Sasuke replied with a bit too much bass in his voice. "Nor her teammates."

The interviewer took in Sasuke's statement carefully. He could see the ninjas around the room passing each other secret glances. The interviewer looked back at Sasuke with a huge smile.

"That's good to hear, Sasuke. To guarantee your belief in this admission, you will be her permanent guard until further notice."

….

Yamato dropped onto the familiar platform of the Root building. Danzo stood menacingly before him. His hand gripped his cane tightly. His lone, visible eye squinted in disappointment.

"Did anything come of your 'training' with the Hokage's brat?"

Yamato shook his head. Really, what were they trying to find out about this teenaged girl?

"No. She has caught onto everything fairly quickly. I think she could be a very valuable resource to the village in the future."

Danzo's grip on his cane tightened. Yamato watched as the muscles in his jaw tightened. He figured Danzo must have some ulterior motive for the way he was mobilizing around this girl. He didn't believe that it was just his hatred for the Senju woman alone that was causing all this distress.

"I'll trust your judgement. I recently sent out some goons to attack that brat and her team on a mission to test her loyalty. She used the wood technique, so now she's being held captive in Kumo for questioning. I will have you go there under the guise of protecting the jinchuuriki to watch her. Report any suspicious behavior you find."

With that, Danzo dismissed him. As he watched his mentor walk away, Yamato ran his hands down his face completely exasperated. Why was he stuck babysitting some child?