ANBU HQ.

Sakura walked out of the vicinity at last, after a long moments of being in her thoughts.

Their squad had been the one to bring Sakura back to herself. A massive help in restoring her sanity. Nothing would ever bring it back completely, but it was at the very least a step in the right direction.

'What the hell am I gonna do with three brats running around here? And one of them is Minato's legacy no less. I swear that old bastard trusts me way too much.'

A few hours later

Sakura walked quickly down the streets of Konoha. She was back on regular duty for the first time in 7 years. She discarded her ANBU plated vest and opted to change her outfit.

(Imagine her with waist-length hair, pulled up into a high ponytail. Her outfit is basically what it looks like in the Last, but she has on a black jacket with the kanji for ' Mountain' in a red circle)

Sakura sighed contentedly as she laced up her black knee length Shinobi boots.

"This is way less heavy than that ANBU gear." Sakura nodded to several young girls who looked at her like a goddess. One girl with black hair and grey eyes came up to her.

"Sakura-Sama? It's an honor to meet you! I wanna be a great Kunoichi like you when I graduate!" Sakura smiled genuinely.

"That's a fine goal. What's your name little one?" She asked in a motherly voice.

"My name is Mai Uwabami. I graduate the Academy next year!" Sakura patted the girl on the head.

"Make sure to focus on your studies! I'll see you some other time, kay?" Mai ran off happily. Sakura smiled again and began her walk to the Academy.

At the Academy

"Finally, Team 7 will consist of Hinata Hyūga, Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki. They will be led by Sakura Kato." Naruto groaned.

"Why's a great ninja like me gotta be on the same team as a slug like Sasuke?!" Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You got somethin' to say to me Dobe?!" The two growled at each other as Hinata tried to diffuse the situation.

Iruka cleared his throat, stopping the chaos. "Sasuke was the very top of the class while you were at the very bottom. Then you have Hinata who was in the middle. A balanced team." Iruka said philosophically.

Naruto scoffed. "Whatever. I still don't have to like it." Hinata looked at him shyly before quickly turning away.

Iruka shook his head at the boy before explaining that the Sensei should be coming. He waved as he walked out of the class.

Two hours later

"THIS IS RIDICULOUS!! WHERE IS SHE?!" Naruto broke the agonizing silence. This kind of tardiness was downright ridiculous. Sasuke looked at him, annoyed but deep down he agreed.

Hinata twiddled with her thumbs, becoming inpatient.

Naruto grinned deviously. "I've got a plan for a PRANK!!" He grabbed the chalkboard eraser from Iruka's desk and set it up on top of the door.

His teammates were too indifferent to reply. Naruto sat down, grinning from ear to ear. After a while, they heard a small knock. A relatively short figure entered.

Sakura saw the eraser but decided to ignore it. When it got close to her head, her chakra naturally repelled it.

"Pranks aren't funny Uzumaki-san. Meet me on the roof." She disappeared in a blur. The trio wordlessly followed.

On the Roof

Sakura regarded the Genin with a lazy eye. They couldn't seriously have passed.

The Hyūga with limitless potential as a Kunoichi— perhaps even more than Sakura herself. But was a fucking wimp.

An Uchiha, who was overly obsessed with surpassing his brother and killing his cousin.

And finally, a jinchuuriki who was an idiot. And loud. And annoying.

Pathetic. Was all Sakura could think. In times of peace, they were allowed their childhood. Well, at least to some degree. They all had a bit of a sad story, to say the very least.

Regardless, they'd been babied for far too long. When Sakura was 12, she was already spilling blood on her hands almost daily as an elite ANBU member. Those days were long gone though.

Sakura cleared her throat. "My name is Sakura Kato and I'm your Jounin sensei. Introduce yourselves please. Goals, hobbies, likes and dislikes. The usual."

Naruto, of course, had to interrupt.

"You go first pinky!" He guffawed stupidly. Sakura's eyebrows twitched slightly before her face schooled of emotion.

"Introduce yourself or get the fuck outta here!"

Her jade eyes turned venomous. The blonde and Hyūga heiress introduced themselves.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki! My goal is to become the strongest Hokage! Even surpassing the old man! My likes are ramen of course, and more ramen. I think miso is my favorite. What's a hobby? I dislike..." He trailed off, looking toward Sasuke with a grunt.

Sakura merely nodded. The boy had his work cut out for him if he wanted to surpass Hiruzen, that was for sure. He had fine goals, but Sakura wasn't sure if they were realistic at his current level.

"Next." She said boredly.

"M-my name is Hinata Hyuga. I like..." She looked at the Uzumaki who was completely oblivious to her crush. "I dislike hateful people. My hobby is reading books, a-and studying. My goal... is to make my father proud." The girl finished lowly.

Hmm. So I guess Hiashi is still the same cold bastard that Shinichi used to tell us about. She wants to prove her usefulness to him. Not a bad goal, but having a crush at her age can stunt a kunoichi's growth. I'll be sure to handle that accordingly.

Sakura pointed a finger at Sasuke. "You next."

Sasuke's gaze was blank. He was already annoyed, and the obnoxious blonde and annoyingly timid Hyuga only made his temperament worse. Not to mention his Sensei who looked like she would rather be somewhere else.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things and I don't really like anything. My dream is to surpass my older brother, Itachi. But my ambition... is to kill a certain someone.

Sakura rolled her eyes. She didn't mean to step on the boy's dreams, but the words just spilled out.

"You poor, poor fool. I see Itachi has fooled you into thinking you have a hope in hell of surpassing him. Not just that, thinking you'd have even an iota of a chance against Shisui?" She scoffed.

Sakura had instantly wished she could take the words back, but it didn't show on her face. Sometimes her mouth said things before her mind could stop them.

Sasuke felt his rage boil over as he stood up from the steps to attack. Before he could even fully get up, a sword was at his throat.

"Really bad idea kid. Attack me again and I'll KILL YOU!" Sakura raised her enormous chakra as the ground around them started to rumble.

The chakra was so dense that the stone steps easily cracked. The Genin had never felt such ominous chakra in their lives. Just when it seemed like death was coming for them, she vanished stopping all the commotion.

Sasuke fell to his knees.

Naruto and Hinata were both trembling at the display of power. Seeing Sasuke so easily beaten was unnerving. So this was the skill gap between rookies and a seasoned Jonin.

Sasuke had known not to underestimate her, she was a Jonin after all. But such chakra... he couldn't believe how helplessly outclassed he had been.

The pinkette appeared in a flash again.

"Just so you know, I'll be having a test to see if you're truly ready for Genin life, starting at 6:00 am sharp. Be there. Or else." She looked at them forebodingly before vanishing once more.