Chapter 7

I know – it's been about a month, right? My apologies with this extra long ch! Enjoy!

Sakura sighs deeply – it's mornings that make her doubt her choice of deciding to be a medic-nin the most. What made her wish to get up at dawn every day?!

She stretches and brushes her teeth mechanically, wishing she had more sleep after her long shift last night.

She's dressed, and heads to the kitchen – she should make some food for Sarada to eat for once –

There's already someone eating at the table at the Uchiha household.

"Eh! Sarada?!" Sakura blinks, rubbing her eyes. "Just how little sleep did I have?"

"Probably far too little." Sarada says calmly, eating breakfast while it's still dark outside. "I scheduled to exercise with Cho-Cho."

"At dawn?!" Sakura demands – if she could she'd sleep until noon every day.

"Early mornings are the only time we both had free. Mama you should sit and eat, I made us food."

Embarrassed, Sakura sits and helps herself.

"I could've prepared breakfast Sarada ~" Sakura pouts.

"It's fine, you work hard." Sarada nods at her and keeps eating.

Sakura tastes her omelet. "Mmmh! So good!" She suddenly feels more awake.

"I made a lot – so take some for work." Sarada says.

"Hey hey, who's the parent here?" Sakura frowns, securing a pink lock of hair behind her ear so it won't get in the way as she eats. "So what are your plans for today, besides training from hell?"

Sarada doesn't roll her eyes, but Sakura knows her daughter enough to know it was an effort.

"A meeting with Seventh."

"Naruto?" Sakura asks sharply. "Why?"

"Well, I don't have a team anymore." Sarada says nonchalantly.

"…I was the same you know."

Sarada's head snaps up in interest, and Sakura smiles sadly; it really bothers her daughter.

"Yeah, your father left the village, and Naruto left to train with his sensei because an evil group was chasing after him."

Sarada blinks with surprise. "That sounds a lot like what happened with Boruto."

"Right!" Sakura points out. "Well, I was alone for two years because of those two idiots! So Lady Tsunade agreed to take me on as an apprentice, and Ino eventually joined us as well, so we'd go on odd missions here and there too. I ended up becoming a Chunin on recognition of my progress, instead of through the Chunin exam, because I couldn't enter alone." Sakura tells, getting rather nostalgic. "Well, it was a long time ago. There's a chance you'll be assigned to another group. Or you could use this opportunity to find your own path – like your mom did."

"Mama,"

"Mm?" Sakura asks encouraging her daughter to ask questions.

"Aren't you late?"

Sakura looks at the clock.

"Ahhhhh!" Sakura jumps up in frenzy, grabs things left and right, and puts on shoes at the door.

"Lunch." Sarada hands her a bento.

"Waaaa thank you Sarada – I'll see you tonight have fun with Cho-Cho-chan! Oh, why are these shoes so small suddenly?!"

"Because they're mine."

"Oh." Sakura reddens and changes into her own shoes, then runs out the door, mind already on her patients and the workload waiting for her at the clinic she's assigned herself for the week.

There's a static sound heard in the darkness.

"Are you recording this threat?" a familiar voice calls calmly, as though through the radio.

"Yeah. I'll make it the music on my alarm clock tomorrow."

"If I wake up at dawn and wait for you to help you out, you better be there awake and ready, or else I'll genjutsu you to see delicious food all around you – which you won't be able to eat." The voice comes into focus, and Cho-Cho groans, barely getting herself out of bed to turn off the alarm clock.

"Ugh, alright!" Cho Cho grumbles, and drags herself to the bathroom to brush her teeth reluctantly. "Why do I have such a scary best friend?" she asks the mirror tiredly. "Who also wants me to be healthy? What did I do wrong in my past life?" She whines, getting dressed quickly.

Fifteen minutes later Cho Cho rushes out of the Akimichi household, to the meeting place – center of the village by the big frog statue.

Sarada Uchiha is already there, leaning on one of the fences. The streets are almost empty, except some food shopkeepers who are getting ready to open at six, and some shinobi here and there.

"Wahhh I'm here, I made it!" Cho-Cho whines, reaching her friend. "Don't torture me!" She cries.

"I would never." Her best friend says at once with a straight face.

A blatant lie, Cho-Cho knows.

"…Cho-Cho, I figured we'd do some physical training. Wouldn't you rather wear something more comfortable you won't mind sweating in?" Sarada asks her.

"Huh?" Cho-Cho now realizes that unlike the usual red and dark purple outfit Sarada wears a clean-black sleeveless shirt, long black sports-tights, and a deep-red fish-netted overall jacket that's loose and baggy on her, looking comfortable for stretching and training.

"What are those for?" Cho-Cho asks, looking at the purple cloth around both her wrists.

"It's to wipe off sweat, and to hide shuriken and poison bombs in – since I didn't bring my tool-bag in case we get ambushed."

"What the heck – why are you so well prepared for this?!" Cho-Cho demands.

"Why aren't you prepared in the least for this?"

"I don't know!"

"You're a mess."

"I know!"

"Alright, running or pushups?"

"Urghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh -!"

"Cho-Cho, don't make me punch you in the face."

"Running." Cho-Cho calls out eventually, and Sarada nods and starts jugging away.

"Wahhh wait for me! Hey!" Cho-Cho catches up, and for a while they maintain a rhythm that's not so bad.

"Hey this is easy!" Cho-Cho delights.

"We'll slowly pick up the pace."

"Or course we will. Oh, Potato-Chips this one's for you…" Cho-Cho laments, and pushes forward.

Shikamaru-San's head pops out through the doors, nodding her in. "Come in, Sarada-Chan."

Sarada straightens up from where she's been leaning on the wall opposite the Hokage's office doors for the past ten minutes and walks inside.

The round spacey office is the same as usual. There's the light from the big window overlooking the Village, there are stacks of paperwork the seventh starts shoving to the sides so he can be seen from behind them, smiling tiredly, and a large computer on the left side of the desk, getting in the way with its various large wires. The portraits of the previous and current Hokage all hang overhead around them on the walls, and Shikamaru-San stands next to the Hokage with his clipboard and serious expression.

The only thing that's new is that for the first time, Sarada finds herself standing before them all alone.

Konohamaru-Sensei's getting an official work-related complaint for his birthday this year.

"Lord Seventh, Shikamaru-San." Sarada greets formally.

Shikamaru-San nods in acknowledgment of her greeting.

Naruto scratches the back of his head distractedly, shuffling through the papers on his desk. "Yo, Sarada-Chan! Hang on, hang on!" he pleads, as though Sarada would get annoyed and walk out on the Hokage.

"Hey Naruto, I told you you'd lose it if you put it down anywhere on your desk." Shikamaru says, annoyed, sounding like his life is mostly babysitting the Hokage.

"Haaa – found it!" Naruto huffs at Shikamaru, and Sarada got the impression he might've said something rude if she hasn't been present.

"Anyways, Sarada you're in somewhat of a situation, and we've been wondering just what to do." Naruto tells her, blue eyes kind but serious. "I think this could be an interesting opportunity for you – most genin don't get to focus too deeply in any specific field, constantly focusing on the formation of their teams, and missions."

Yay me.

Sarada's eye twitches but she doesn't say anything. Shikamaru's little lip switch, however, tells her he easily sees through her and is fighting a snort. If her friend Shikadai is definitely one thing, it's not adopted.

"I'd like you to consider doing a bit of looking into some fields of study, see if anything seems particularly compelling for you." Naruto grins and she realizes she must be visibly surprised.

"I'm sure you've learned the basics in the academy, so you probably have an idea of what they might demand of you. Let's see, I wrote down some things I thought might suit you, but you're welcome to look up anything else that sounds good to you, and pursue it." Naruto reads for a minute, presumably his own notes, before nodding. "Right, so there are these ones; Fuijutsu, Kekkai Ninjutsu, and Iryō Ninjutsu." He tells her.

Sealing Jutsu, Barrier Jutsu, and Medical Ninjutsu. Likely because of my precise chakra control.

"If not these, there are more physical ones, such as Kenjutsu, Bukijutsu, and Taijutsu, since you do have a lot of talent with Shurikenjutsu I thought you might relate to these as well... let's see, what else?"

Sword techniques, Weaponry techniques, and Body techniques.

"There's also Techno-Nin, who've become rather relevant as of late, and the Intelligence Gathering Unit are always looking for more apprentices."

Not Genjutsu? Is it simply obvious that I'd want to focus on my Dōjutsu? Should I bring it up?

Sarada decides against it, unsure why.

Techno-Nin. She can ask Sumire or Denki about it, see if they recommend any specific basic theoretical reading that might tell her if she'd be interested in it or not. Still, isn't Seventh supposed to hate Techno-Nin or something? Why is it suddenly so important, because of Ao-San's and Kara's interest in it?

Sarada remembers the battle against Ao – it's been confusing and dangerous more than anything else, and that boy's appearance was the strangest thing about it – Kawaki.

Not that she cares about him – but what he did to Boruto always angers her.

"If there's one you find yourself drawn to the most, we'll help you find a teacher. I'm sure there won't be a problem – you're a hardworking girl, if the recommendations from your teachers at school are any indication, and Konohamaru speaks confidently about your ability to pick things up." He says casually, eyes glancing at the paperwork in front of him, as though reading said recommendations as he speaks.

Don't blush. You like compliments too much – you were third in your year at the academy and Shino-Sensei is a marshmallow who probably wrote recommendations to every student of his; it's not surprising at all.

Still, Sarada finds herself at the center of the Hokage's attention and his right hand man, and somewhat blushing, annoyed at herself.

"Alright, you'll have to turn in reports every other week on your progress and we'll take it from there. Any questions?" he asks happily, pleased to have gone through all of his notes for this meeting.

"What about missions?" She asks, suspicious it hasn't been brought up by itself and rather bored with all the talk about studying all of those things.

"Well, I'm sorry to say we have nowhere to put you for the moment, and without a team we just can't assign you any work. So in the meantime, why don't you focus on deciding on your path regarding what we've talked about?"

Lord Seventh may be grinning apologetically, but that's unacceptable for Sarada.

I'm not letting you bench me. I'll stay right here all week if I have to.

She steels herself. "So what, Boruto and Mitsuki leave and I have to stop? I refuse. Find me a new team, or whatever you want, but I'm going to be sent out on missions so my record can keep filling up, I'm going to keep moving forward no matter what."

"Sarada-chan,"

"I worked hard to become a genin – and chunin and jonin don't operate regularly on their three-people assigned teams after they're no longer genin. It's not fair that I have to be held back by something that was outside of my hands – and"

"Sarada-chan –"

"And I'm a Leaf genin – you have a responsibility of taking care of the ninja who aspire to better themselves and –"

"Sarada-chaaaaaaaaaan!"

"A wise Hokage would reassign me to a –"

Lord Seventh's left eye twitches badly and before Sarada can finish her sentence a mission sheet appears in front of her face (suspiciously it coves her lips enough to force them to stop moving).

"D rank missions within the village and the surrounding forests of the village only!" Lord Seventh calls, uncharacteristically annoyed.

"Hey hey!" Shikamaru-San scowls, looking up from his clipboard, but Naruto ignores him.

"Just for a while, until we have something more permanent decided for your situation." He says testily.

"…" Sarada stares at a request to retrieve a cat from a rich resident of the Leaf.

"Well?!" Lord Seventh asks, shaking the paper in emphasize.

Clearly only lame missions will make it her way, but as she'll do those on her own entirely, that seems logically safe. Knowing she'll have to restart her lecture and rant all over if she wants to annoy the Hokage into a better deal, and that might get her disliked or run out of the office by Shikamaru-San.

She nods sharply.

"I'll take it." She grabs the paper sharply from Naruto, who sighs in relief – clearly glad it's over.

Shikamaru-San grumbles unhappily. "We can't just send her on missions without backup!"

"Shikamaru-San," Sarada says in the most mature and serious voice she can manage, pushing her glasses up her nose. "in the world of shinobi there are no backsies."

It's Shikamaru's turn to eye-twitch.

Naruto nods sagely until Shikamaru glares at him.

"Hey she's twelve, which makes her behavior excusable. You're supposed to be an adult, Naruto."

Twelve and three quarters.

The Hokage looks like a scolded child in his swiveling chair. "Hey I'm a perfectly good adult! I know all about taxes, and those are hell'a hard!"

"I know for a fact that Hinata does the taxes." Shikamaru-San says dryly, amazingly unimpressed.

The Hokage looks like he's refusing to blush. "She knows so much about stuff like that, coming from such a stable household. They teach the Hyuga's the strangest things…"

"By strange, you mean practical?" Shikamaru turns away before the Hokage can argue further. "Sarada, I'm afraid we simply can't let you –"

Sarada makes the tiger hand seal.

Body Flicker Technique!

And flickers out of the office before he can finish, appearing at the first floor of the building in a second, in front of the genin missions administrator desk.

Nobody much blinks at her appearance but, seeing how this is a building assigned mainly for shinobi, that makes sense.

Well, if Shikamaru-San is anything like his son, I'm going to pay for pulling that trick over him sooner rather than later, and with no small amount of interest.

Wincing at the thought of how that's going to go, she quickly hands the administrator the mission approval paper, and gets the blue colored scroll officially giving her the mission.

"There you go good luck."

"Thank you." She puts it in her standard tool bag – attached to her lower back – and makes a swift exit from the building before anybody stops her.

"Hey!"

Sarada turns around to see the short-haired Wasabi waving her over from a food-shop window.

"Come join!" the girl demands.

Sarada grins with pride and shakes her head.

"Can't! I've got a cat to catch!"

A\N: Sneaky Sarada – I love her! Comments are food and water for me! I'd love to hear your feedback, and you're welcome to find me on tumblr too!