Sakura was given one day to listen to Tsunade and Jiraiya talk about Orochimaru and take notes. She was given a run down of everything the Sannin could remember: abilities, jutsu, physical prowess, weapon proficiency, summoning animals, even tidbits on Kabuto from their spar with him almost a year ago. But not just fighting prowess, no, they went into his personality as well. How Orochimaru thought, how he approached a situation, what strategies he tended to employ, even something as simple as what food he preferred, which Sakura had never cared to think about but now she knew. (And it was admittedly a bit hilarious that the shinobi known for being able to swallow any object he got his hands on preferred foods he could take in large bites: sashimi, in particular, was one they remembered him indulging in often. Sakura wondered if Orochimaru had atrocious table manners...and hated how much the thought humanized him.)

After the one day, Tsunade told her to memorize everything they had gone over, which was fairly easy for Sakura. She expected some sort of test for Tsunade to confirm that she'd taken in everything she'd learned.

She didn't expect Tsunade coming at her with the full force of a raging bull, demanding that she both dodge her technique and recite information about Orochimaru that Jiraiya shouted from the sidelines.

"What's the name of his largest snake summon?"

Sakura cursed out loud as one of Tsunade's punches broke a tree next to her, wood splinters cutting into her skin as she desperately tried to avoid the next blow.

"I'm pretty sure his name wasn't "Fuck" the last time I checked!"

"M-Manda!" Sakura forced herself to call out, ducking low as Tsunade swung a kick towards her face. She wasn't supposed to attack back, only dodge, but it was still difficult just to do that. And Sakura got the feeling that Tsunade was holding back.

Jiraiya was getting a major kick out of this, of course, but Naruto was as well. Tsunade had apparently trained him similarly before the chuunin exams, and Naruto told her that being able to see someone else dodging Tsunade's massive blows was vindicating.

Gaara looked almost constipated as he tried to hold his sand back from rushing around Sakura. No point in dodge practice if Gaara was just protecting her the entire time. And Sai, of course, was sketching the whole affair, and every time Tsunade landed a hit, Sai recreated the whole affair to tease Sakura with later.

Sakura swore she was going to learn Tsunade's technique one day and see how he liked it.

"What's his dominant hand?"

"Neither!" Sakura wheezed. "He uses both equally to prevent weakness!"

And then she slipped, and Tsunade's fist was headed straight for her face, but instead of feeling a bone-breaking punch, Tsunade shifted at the last moment and flicked her on the forehead. The force was still enough to knock Sakura backwards and onto the ground, but nothing was broken. Maybe some bruises, definitely some bruises on Sakura's ego. Maybe she'd trained under Onoki in Iwa taijutsu, but Onoki had always been defensive, encouraging Sakura to learn the confidence to attack and push forward in a fight. Learning to be defensive was another feat entirely, especially when she couldn't block any of Tsunade's attacks without risking her arm getting broken. She was nowhere near Kage level of skill yet.

And Naruto had been doing this daily before the chuunin exams had begun.

Of course, Naruto had Kyuubi-enhanced stamina and had been dodging angry shinobi since he could do pranks. So maybe the comparison wasn't the greatest.

"You're done for the day." Tsunade told her. "We'll work on improving your passive reaction time. You won't be able to think strategy in a fight if you're also thinking about dodging."

"That's what Gaara's for." Sakura retorted, her voice a bit squeaky as she tried to catch her breath.

"And when Gaara is otherwise occupied? What if you're separated?"

Sakura just groaned in response. Tsunade was right, of course, and there really wasn't any downside to training her reaction time. But that didn't mean it didn't suck.

She barely remembered the walk home, and only just remembered the sight of a couch before she threw herself face first into it and let the blessing of sleep overtake her.

She woke to Sai gently pushing at her shoulder, her body still sore from training and her eyes stubbornly refusing to open. Sleep was good, sleep was life...that was, until Sai informed her that Naruto was waiting at the door and was asking for her and her alone.

Naruto didn't look himself. He was quiet, which was really the first sign that something was wrong, and he was uncharacteristically nervous as he asked her to join him for dinner. Sakura was expecting Ichiraku, but was surprised when Naruto took a different turn and led her to his apartment instead.

It had been cleaned up since the last time she'd seen it. Sakura noticed several houseplants sitting at his windowsill, looking well watered and groomed. Instead of empty boxes of ramen scattered about in his kitchen, she saw a clean stack of dishes and what looked to be a rack full of spices, most of which held the Akimichi label. There was new furniture: instead of a dingy dinner table and mismatched chairs, Naruto had acquired a matching dining set, and sitting in the middle of the table was a cut of fresh flowers that were no doubt from the Yamanaka shop. Naruto hadn't taken kunoichi classes, so Sakura was fairly certain he'd missed the double meaning of the flowers Ino had chosen to grace him with. (White camellias front and center...Ino had never been particularly subtle.) It looked pleasantly homey, and Sakura couldn't help but smile. Team Ten...they'd given Naruto what she and Sasuke hadn't. A sense of camaraderie, even at home.

And manners, by the look of things, as Naruto immediately went to put together a kettle of tea. Sakura let herself sit at the table and waited. Naruto would talk when he was ready.

"...Jiraiya finally told me everything."

She'd figured that was the root of the matter. Jiraiya had promised her, after all, and she'd sworn to herself if Jiraiya hadn't told Naruto who his parents were, she would.

"So...how do you feel?"

"I dunno. It's been kind of weird." Naruto chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean, I think I kind of felt everything when he told me. The Fourth being my father, I mean he's been my hero for as long as I can remember. It should be awesome that I'm his son, shouldn't it? But…" Naruto looked back towards the tea, his solemn attitude from before returning. "In a way I'm kind of upset. He put the Kyuubi into me, and I get he had to do something to stop him from rampaging, but...why me? My mother was the previous host, and she was put through so much for it. Why put me through that too? All the hateful eyes, all the words spat at my face when I was old enough to understand them…"

"He wasn't stupid. He probably knew." Sakura answered quietly. "He was probably thinking...he could put the Kyuubi into a random child and they would suffer and maybe they couldn't handle it. Maybe they'd end up like Gaara was. Alone, scared, weak...but maybe he thought his child would be strong enough to handle it, like Kushina was."

"Maybe." Naruto nodded. "But I think I'm still...Jiraiya said it was okay to be confused. They kept it from me for so long and I think...I think I'm upset with everyone else, too. They said it was to keep me safe. I think I would have rather been in danger and known."

"I can understand that."

Sakura didn't really know how she'd react if she was in Naruto's shoes. She'd always known her parents, always known that she would have a loving family to come home to. To feel scorn every day from everyone around you, to feel unwanted and unloved because of a burden you didn't choose to carry...Sakura didn't know how anyone could inflict that fate on any child, let alone their own.

But she wasn't the Fourth, and she hadn't been there. Maybe things had been desperate. Maybe things had been inevitable.

Naruto sat a hot cup of tea in front of her before sitting across from her at the table. "I don't mean to be a mope." He began. "I think everyone's used to me being optimistic. I think...I'm used to me being optimistic. It's easy to just believe that if you keep moving forward, everything will turn out alright. It's easy to try and think the best of people regardless of what they've done. I don't hate the Old Man for keeping things from me. I don't hate Tsunade or Pervy Sage. They were doing what they thought was right, even if I don't agree with them. And I think, in a weird way, it helped me realize something."

"Oh?"

"I don't hate Sasuke either."

Sakura's smile turned soft. "Well, of course you don't, Naruto."

"I think everyone else did, though." Naruto admitted. "Because of Sasuke leaving, Neji and Chouji got hurt real bad. They could have died. I...I could have died, too, if things had gone just a little bit differently. I hadn't really thought about it until I started working with Team Ten. They were wary of me, at first, like they thought just 'cause I was around that things might go bad again. And it wasn't because of the Fox. It was because they were thinking about what Sasuke did, in leaving. The village talks about him too, you know. Sasuke used to be 'the Last Uchiha'." Naruto did a dramatic wave of his hand at the title. "And now he's just...the traitor."

"His actions had consequences." Sakura agreed. "For the village, they didn't see Sasuke. They saw the loss of an asset. They saw someone abandoning their home for a murderer."

"Just like they saw me as a weapon."

"...yeah."

"But I don't hate him for leaving. I didn't before now. He was my friend. Nobody else saw him like that. Maybe if they'd seen him, he wouldn't have left. Maybe if the village stopped seeing shinobi as tools, we wouldn't be like this. Danzo wouldn't have been like this. Maybe...maybe Haku wouldn't have died."

Haku. Now that was a name that brought her back. Sakura hadn't thought of the Land of Waves in some time.

"You made a promise then, didn't you? That you'd change things."

"Yeah. And I will."

Naruto looked her in the eyes, and Sakura saw the spark again. The spark of when Naruto promised something and meant it. But there was something more to it now, a maturity that hadn't been there before.

"I didn't get it. Sasuke was right. I should have, but I didn't see it then. I can't just be a Hokage anymore, Sakura, I have to be a Hokage that makes things right. I have to be a Hokage that makes it so the village doesn't see shinobi as tools or weapons. I have to be different than all the other Hokage before me, not just better. I gotta...I gotta be like you!"

Sakura blinked at this. Like her? "You mean, like the neutrality pact?"

"Exactly! When you left the village, you did so because you wanted to make things better! And you didn't care who tried to stop you or what the village would think of you, you just went! And maybe the village thought you were a traitor before now, but then you came back and you and Shika just took on everything!"

Sakura laughed nervously. "Well it's not so glamorous as that, Naruto. I was scared out of my wits when I left, and I'd always intended to come back before Onoki got to me. It wasn't really noble, Naruto, if anything it was selfish. I didn't want to be left behind anymore. If anything I'm...I'm just like Sasuke. I just happened to leave in a way that ended up benefitting the village, and even then…" Sakura thought of the battle reparations, of everything Tsunade now had to shoulder with the absence of Root. "It's been rough, Naruto."

"I mean, hasn't it always been?"

Sakura's laugh was more genuine this time. "Yes, I guess so."

"Besides, it doesn't matter because you're doing the right thing now. And I'm gonna too. One day, I want to be a Hokage that can be proud to sign your pact. I want to be the Hokage of a village that takes pride in their people and looks after them. I want to be Hokage of a village where nobody ever wants to leave!"

Then Naruto finally grinned, and it was like a fog had been lifted over the room. "Yeah, that's exactly what I want!" He continued. "And I guess I just wanted you to know that, Sakura. And I was hoping, if you meet Sasuke again, that you could tell him that for me, and maybe tell him that it's okay if he doesn't want to come home, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try to make the village something he'd want to come home to anyway. Somewhere that doesn't have people who talk about killing clans just because they want their eyes, you know?"

"I do." Sakura smiled in turn. "I really do, Naruto. And I think...I think you're going to be the best Hokage there's ever been."

"You know I will!" Naruto insisted. "And don't you forget it! You tell all the other Kage that they better step things up, otherwise I'm going to leave them all in the dust one day with how great I make the village!"

It was refreshing to see Naruto cheery again, and there was something that had been eating away at Sakura that had cleared with his confession. Deep down, under the weight of Danzo and Akatsuki and uniting the shinobi countries, she'd always carried an even heavier weight, the weight of a promise to bring Sasuke home.

But Naruto was right. After all this, after what Danzo had done...she couldn't hold it against Sasuke for leaving the village that treated his clan like disposable tools. Maybe she still needed to speak with him, but she no longer had the pressure of convincing him.

Ino was right. Naruto just had a way of making everything seem like it would be okay again.

They chatted well into the night, talking about everything they had missed while they were apart and everything that was to come. Sakura promised Naruto that they'd get a chance to spar the next time she returned to Konoha, and in return Naruto promised her that he'd write every month she was away. (Sakura considered it 'staying in touch with the future Sixth Hokage').

It was, in a weird sort of way, their goodbye. But unlike the last time they had parted, it wasn't bittersweet.

By the time a week had passed, Sakura was exhausted and absolutely positive she could spout facts about Orochimaru in her sleep. When she wasn't spouting facts, her dreams were filled with anxious visages of Tsunade's fists coming at her with terrible speed.

It might not have been the most orthodox method of training, but in a way Sakura was grateful for it. Even a week's time under Tsunade's guidance had helped her see weaknesses in her own fighting style, and forced her to learn methods of dodging to combat those weaknesses. Her mind adjusted quickly enough, and by the final day Sakura wasn't just reciting facts about Orochimaru, but facts about the rest of Akatsuki as well in rapidfire succession.

Around her, things had calmed down considerably. With the village reparations finished, Sakura was allowed to call one final meeting of the Kage, getting official signatures from Tani and Kusa on her pact and conveying everything she knew about Akatsuki and the threat they posed. There were several suggestions thrown about, including a quarantine of the Jinchuuriki in a protected area, but that idea was shut down quickly by Taki, who relied on Fuu to help mitigate the flow of 'demons' into their country. The villages compromised on a less extreme option: a collaborative information gathering effort that would attempt to locate and track each member of Akatsuki as well as ascertain their skill sets. Sakura would be a part of the effort by virtue of her traveling and gathering information anyway, and they would use Konoha's hawks to coordinate who was tracking which and to share anything new that was discovered.

An expedition into the Mountain's Graveyard, though proposed, was turned down for the moment. Konoha was too fresh from the battle with Danzo, and considering expeditions there had gone poorly in the past, no one was quite ready to try again. Maybe in the future, if all the villages were allied under Sakura's pact, but not before, which meant the mystery of the 'demons' would remain a mystery a little longer.

Sakura passively packed and planned. Sai was able to craft massive sealing scrolls, which meant she could afford to take more with her from home. Her parents would always welcome them, that much was abundantly clear, but Sakura had to face the truth: Konoha couldn't be her home anymore. One day she would find a place to settle down, where the shinobi ambassadors could live separate from any village's influence, but for now they were wanderers. She packed every article of clothing she'd ever owned, she packed her entire bookshelf of basic shinobi texts she'd studied at the Academy, and she packed all the non-perishable food she could afford to splurge on. Her team was decent enough at survival at this point, but she refused to take her chances.

There was a question of money and what the ambassadors would do to obtain it, and for now it was decided that they would simply take up odd jobs when they could and hope that other countries would be charitable hosts otherwise. Shinobi mercenaries made just as much of a living as village shinobi, and until their group of ambassadors was big enough to integrate into the world economy, they'd simply take things day by day as most others did.

Eventually, they reached a point where they couldn't draw out the inevitable any longer. Sakura announced to everyone she knew that the next day, they would be leaving Konoha to continue their journey.

It was only natural that Kakashi sought her out before then. She hadn't seen much of him since the village reparations had begun, and Sakura had an inkling that part of it had to do with Kakashi getting roped into the rehabilitation of Root, alongside that other strange man, Tenzo. Both had been a part of Root at some point, and thus were able to provide a personal touch in helping bring many of the agents back into Konoha proper. The few times Sakura had seen him, she had seen a couple of younger agents following him like ducklings, much to the older shinobi's chagrin.

There were no ducklings when he came to her, however. Sakura had retired to her parent's home for the evening and had gone to the rooftops to stargaze with Gaara when Kakashi had appeared in a quiet puff of smoke. Gaara scooted to another corner of the roof to allow the two a moment to talk.

"Yo." Kakashi began.

"Yo." Sakura answered.

"You're leaving tomorrow."

"Yup."

"I can't come with you this time."

"I know." Sakura let out a small sigh at the thought. It had been somewhat comforting to have Kakashi with them, but she'd always known at some point they'd have to part ways. Kakashi was, through and through, a loyal Konoha shinobi.

She suddenly felt a weight on her head as Kakashi rested a hand on it. "Here I am, watching my cute student leave the nest for good. I don't know if my heart can take it."

"You know I'll be back!" Sakura insisted with a pout. "It's not like it's going to be the last time you'll see me."

And then they were both quiet, because there was something unspoken in the words there. They didn't know. With Akatsuki hunting Jinchuuriki, with Orochimaru, and even with the uncertainty of how Sakura would be received in other villages, there was no guarantee that Sakura would be alive a month from now, even a week.

"You could write to me." Sakura suggested suddenly. "If you're so worried about your cute student."

"Maa, do I seem like the letter writing type?"

"No, but I was kind of hoping I could squeeze at least one out of you. Everyone else promised."

"Ah, emotional manipulation. Kunoichi tactics for beginners." Kakashi chuckled. "I suppose I could send a word or two on occasion."

Sakura grinned at that.

But it was hard to keep the cheer. She'd needed to talk to Kakashi for a while now, and this was a subject that she hadn't really been quite sure how to breach. Sakura decided to take a leaf out of Sai's book and dive in without any transition.

"There's another Uchiha in Akatsuki."

She saw Kakashi freeze up at that mention. "I've told Tsunade a bit of what I know." Sakura continued with a sigh. "As well as the other Kage, but I've tried to keep mention of it quiet because I'm...not quite sure what to think. When Shikamaru and I were investigating the Uchiha compound…"

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that."

"Tsunade pretended too." Sakura stuck out her tongue. "But while we were there, we were approached by a man in a mask. He had a Sharingan. And at one point, when I got the mask off him, I got to see...he only had one Sharingan."

She could almost see the confusion and fear in Kakashi's eyes. He knew why she was bringing it up with him. He knew what she was implying.

"...only one?"

"His right eye." Sakura pointed. "And that side of his face was...it was distorted, like...like his skin was strange somehow, like it had been crushed and then molded back toge-"

Kakashi suddenly stood, and for a moment Sakura was convinced he was going to leave. Kakashi looked as though he wanted to run away. She'd never seen her sensei distraught before but there was no other word for what he was showing now.

"You're absolutely certain?"

"Shikamaru can verify."

"It shouldn't be possible...but why?"

"I don't know." Sakura admitted. "He referred to me as 'Kakashi's student', sensei, like it was important to him that I was named as that."

Kakashi began to pace, and Sakura had to stop herself from saying more right away. It was a massive bomb to drop on someone, the knowledge that an old teammate might be alive and might be with the enemy.

"...he claimed he wanted a world of peace. He tried to recruit me. He said he wanted to end war and stop suffering. Whatever it is Akatsuki's doing, he thinks it's right." She decided to leave out the part where he'd tried to kill her and Shikamaru. Sakura got the feeling Kakashi didn't need to hear the bad details right now. "He might not necessarily be an enemy."

"If he comes for Naruto he will be. If he hurts you, he will be."

"Sensei-"

"I haven't seen Obito Uchiha in over a decade." Kakashi interrupted. "I don't think...I don't see how it could be possible. But if it is, and if he comes for my students, I won't let my grief hold me back."

"I know." Sakura nodded. "You've always said you'd keep us safe, sensei, and I know you mean it. But if there's a chance it could be him, I just wanted you to be prepared."

"...thank you, Sakura."

They were quiet for a while. Sakura wasn't sure what else to say that wouldn't hurt him further. She'd never known Obito Uchiha of course, but it was clear what the man had meant to Kakashi. An Uchiha didn't just give a Sharingan eye to anyone. There was a bond there, a bond that might need to be broken.

Kakashi left the rooftop eventually. Sakura knew she'd see him again before they left. After learning something like that, anyone would need space. Even she felt cold and depressed after such a conversation with her sensei.

However, she certainly didn't complain when Gaara came to sit close to her again, putting a gentle hand over hers. At some point the boy had begun to learn how to comfort her, and Sakura couldn't help but smile as she noticed him picking up subtle gestures that she had begun with him when they had first traveled together.

Whatever the masked Uchiha had been, regardless of what came after, she had her team. Even if Kakashi wasn't there, Sakura would never be alone.

Sakura stood at the gates of Konoha and several dozen others stood with her.

Her parents, her fellow graduates, her sensei, even Tsunade and Jiraiya had come to see her off. She reiterated promises to her friends that she would write, that she would visit again, that she would do her damndest to keep herself and her boys alive. She exchanged hugs and fond farewells. She even coerced a hug out of the still somewhat broody Kakashi, whispering him a promise all the while that she'd find the truth.

Naruto followed them out the gates, pulling out one more promise from Sakura.

Find a way to keep Sasuke safe.

She wasn't sure she could keep it, but Sakura gave Naruto a thumbs up anyway.

"It's the promise of a lifetime."

Naruto had laughed, and as Sakura made her way down the road away from her old home, he waited at the gates the longest, waving at them until they were too far away to see.

"So, where next?"

The road Sakura had steered them upon headed northeast. The main path would take them to the far north, towards Kumogakure. Sakura unfolded her map in front of her, tracing routes as they walked.

Kumogakure was on the list, of course, as was Otogakure. But there was one place that Sakura wanted to visit before either of those. One place that was too important to put off anymore.

"Yugakure." Sakura announced.

"Yu?"

"Yup. It's time we figured out who the hell Jashin is."