A/N: Happy one year anniversary of ALC! Thanks to everyone who's stuck with me so far this past year. Over 150 reviews, 350 favorites, and 500 follows later, and we're still going strong. Since there were a few questions I wanted to address from recent reviews, I've answered a few of them down below. Thanks again y'all, and enjoy :)

Chapter 24

"I'm exhausted," Sakura complained, back slumped as the four-man-squad stumbled their way into the village. At the admission booth, the two bored-looking chuunin openly laughed at her.

"First time outside the village, girlie?" Kotatsu, or whatever the hell his name was, taunted.

The pinkette gave him a baleful glare as they passed them. Beside her, Naruto, supremely energetic Naruto, gave her a cheery smile as he laced his fingers behind his head. He was covered in grime and smelled like the many fish he'd caught during their time on the trail, and she just had to glare at him, too.

To be honest, she herself was smelling pretty ripe too. The only streams they'd passed were far too dirty to bathe in, at least by her standards, and they'd traveled two days on foot just to get back.

Not to mention, Sasuke was still injured. It was a miracle he'd gotten back home in one piece, and he looked dangerously close to passing out despite how well he held himself.

"Go to the hospital, Sasuke-kun," Kakashi ordered, as if reading her mind. "The rest of us will do the mission report. I'll collect your pay and give it to you tomorrow."

The Uchiha tsk'ed, but branched off from the group, muttering under his breath. Sakura sighed; he'd been in a bad mood for days. Well, he was... admittedly, usually in a bad mood. But this was pretty bad. She wondered if anything happened...

"CHA! Let me find out someone hurt my Sasuke-kun's feelings! I'LL KILL THEM."

"Err... Sakura?" Naruto and Kakashi were looking over their shoulders, giving her weird looks. Realizing she'd been staring off at where Sasuke'd gone with an evil look on her face, Sakura shook her head and jogged to catch up with them.

"Anyway..." the blond boy intoned as she rejoined them at his side. "I was thinking that we should pay Charlie a visit. It's been a while, I'm sure she misses us," he said.

Kakashi hummed. "She may not be home," he hedged.

Sakura glanced towards her feet. She didn't really want to go see Charlie. The two of them had never really hung out- in fact, she used to kind of dislike her for hanging out with Sasuke more than her. But she felt absolutely awful for virtually stealing her spot on the team, and for what had happened to her arm. "I dunno, Naruto," she mumbled, "I might just go home. I'm not really in any shape to be hanging out with anyone right now." She laughed offhandedly.

The blond slumped. "Maybe next week then," he grumbled to himself.

Sakura bit the inside of her cheek. She really sort of disliked letting Naruto down. Was that weird? She didn't like him at all, pretty much, but she still felt bad. He was a hardworking person, and not as dumb as he looked, despite what everyone said. He'd even managed to get her to laugh once or twice. And even though he was kind of gross (which all boys besides Sasuke were, to be clear), he still had something about him... a radiating light.

As they neared the Hokage Tower, Sakura abruptly sighed. "Y'know what, fine," she said, mostly to herself. Naruto glanced at her, blue eyes swimming in hope. "I'll go with you. But I'm not staying long," she insisted.

Naruto gave her a wide, toothy grin. "Sweet!"

They debriefed the Hokage on their mess of a mission, and received their pay- much, much higher than what she'd expected, given the increase in rank. She was kind of proud of that- what other genin could say that they had an A rank on their record? None!

Then, Naruto and Sakura headed towards his and Charlie's apartment complex. It was rather late in the evening, and so she hoped that meant that the workaholic would be home.

To make conversation, she said, "So, how's Charlie-chan been these days?"

"Dunno. She's... private like that," Naruto replied. "It's kinda hard to get a read on her. I mean..." he sighed, giving her a sideways glance. "Being a ninja was... is really important to her. I... don't think she's taking what happened very good."

"Very well," she absentmindedly corrected. "Yeah, I guess I can understand that." Top kunoichi. Charlie had been so talented and smart in their class- leagues ahead of Sakura, who'd been relegated to second place.

Naruto paused in his steps as the apartment building came into view. He appeared lost in thought, which was strange because she didn't even know that he thought at all. "Sakura... if you were a person like Charlie, would you really stop being a ninja? Even if the Hokage himself told you to?"

The pinkette, too, came to a stop. She watched him for a minute, before murmuring, "No... No, I don't think I would."

Naruto swallowed. The two of them climbed the rickety steps to the top floor, and Naruto rapped on the door. "Charlie, it's me and Sakura," he called.

There was a thud, and a muted curse. "H-Hold on," Charlie's voice filtered through the door. They heard uncoordinated stumbling to the door, before it flung wide open.

Charlie grinned sheepishly at the two of them. "Come on in. Sorry, I was just sleeping." Indeed, the apartment was completely dark. She was dressed in a baggy t-shirt and sweatpants, hair damp as though she'd had a shower not long ago. She looked... good. Not as good as she had before, but better. Her skin had more vibrancy, and her eyes held more shine in them than before. The smile she gave them was real.

The redhead turned on the lights in the hallway and living room, and sat on the coffee table while the two of them took the couch. "You both look like someone ate you, threw you up, and then ate you again," she said, grimacing at their sorry states.

Sakura winced. She knew she should've gone straight home. But Naruto was unrepentant. "You wouldn't believe the mission we just had," Naruto exclaimed excitedly, all but bouncing in his seat. He then winced, as if the thought just occurred to him that perhaps now was not the time to talk about missions.

Charlie didn't seem to notice, though. In fact, her hazel eyes glimmered with mirth. "Well, go on then," she urged.

"SO we only got, like, an hour outside of the village, but then these water dudes-"

Sakura sighed loudly. "Naruto, you're starting in the middle," she grouched. "Tell her about how you complained to Hokage-sama."

"OH!" Naruto nodded. "So we were all sick of chores so we asked the old man if we could have an actual mission. And we got a C rank escort mission to the Land of Waves! But we had to escort this old drunk dude and he called me short."

Charlie smiled. "Well, you are pretty short."

Naruto glared at her. "Anyway, we were ambushed by these two dudes from Kiri who jumped out of a puddle. Kaka-sensei let us take care of it, and then Tazuna- the old dude- fessed up and said that he couldn't afford an A rank, but that's what it was.

"And so then Kaka-sensei wanted to go back but then Sakura said no, and so we kept going. When we were closer to the Land of Waves, this cow dude named Zabuza attacked us and Kaka-sensei beat him up! But then this hunter-nin that wasn't actually a hunter-nin named Haku came and got him. Then we went to Tazuna's house and they finished the bridge but then Zabuza and Haku tried to attack us. Sasuke awakened his Sharingan and I... I dunno, got really mad at Haku."

Naruto paused, eyes flitting downward. "And then afterward, Kakashi-sensei went to go finish off Zabuza, but Haku moved in front of his Chi-Chi-"

"Chidori," Charlie supplied.

"Yeah, Chidori. And it went straight through his chest. Haku died, and Zabuza acted like he didn't care, but I knew he did. And we were just about to be fine, but then Gato showed up with a bunch of dudes to try to beat us. Zabuza took care of all of 'em, but then... he died too. Then we went home. They named the bridge, 'The Great Naruto Bridge', though, so."

Sakura suppressed a sigh. He'd ran through the story going a mile a minute, but she supposed he'd hit all the main points.

The redhead smiled gently. "And how are the two of you doing now, then? Are you both okay?"

The two of them nodded. "Yeah, Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke are okay too, but Sasuke had to go to the hospital 'cause he got beat up pretty bad, -ttebayo."

"Will he be okay?" Charlie asked, worry creasing her forehead. Instinctually, Sakura stiffened; what business of hers was it to know how Sasuke-kun was doing?! But she pushed it down. Charlie wasn't like that. If she liked Sasuke-kun like that... if she did...

As much as it hurt to think about, if Charlie liked Sasuke, Sakura didn't doubt that she'd have him already. Honestly, Charlie was everything that Sakura wasn't. She was way smarter than her, quieter, calmer, stronger, better with her words. Pretty, in a weird sort of way. She seemed like the type Sasuke would go after, if he hadn't already.

"Yeah, he's fine. He was just being a bit of a bas- rude person on the way back," Naruto grumbled.

The pinkette rose to her feet as the conversation dwindled. She'd really just come to make sure Charlie was okay, and now that she'd regained her good cheer, well... Sakura was content not to worry anymore. Plus, her previous revelation was causing her stomach to churn. "I'm gonna get going," she said as warm hazel eyes landed on her. "I gotta wash up and get to bed, I'm exhausted."

The redhead blinked at her, but nodded. "I'll walk you out," she said, getting to her feet soundlessly. The two of them migrated to the door, out of Naruto's hearing range. Charlie gave her that same gentle smile she always had. "You did a good job. I'm glad you all are back safe."

Sakura bobbed her head. "I'm happy you're doing better," she offered quietly as she opened the door and stepped out.

"Oh, and Sakura-chan?" Charlie added, eyes seeming to gleam in the lowlight.

Sakura swallowed. "Yeah?"

"Thanks for stopping by. You... really don't have anything to worry about, okay?"

The pinkette flushed as embarrassment rose like a tidal wave. "Goodnight, Charlie-chan!" she called, turning on her heel and speedwalking towards the staircase. The door to Charlie's apartment closed quietly, and only then did she catch her breath. A small, wobbly smile formed on her lips.

The redhead returned to the living room and watched in great humor as Naruto's head bobbed. He looked dangerously close to falling asleep, despite how much energy he seemed to give off. 'I guess even human powerhouses need to sleep sometimes, eh?' she thought.

"Naru-chan," she said. The boy snapped to attention. "What did you mean, when you said that you got really mad? On the bridge?"

He shifted uneasily, eyes flickering to the side. "It's hard to explain," he hedged. "When Haku... hurt Sasuke, it really looked like he was d-dead. I really thought- and I just got so mad, Charlie, it was like I couldn't control it. Then, some sort of orange chakra surrounded me. It wasn't mine, but it was coming from me. And I just- I really wanted to kill him. I've never wanted anything so badly in my life."

Charlie sat down next to him and grabbed his hand in hers. "Do you think it was the fox?" she asked.

The blond gasped. "You... know about that?"

'Ah, right, I was losing my arm the night he found out for himself,' Charlie thought with a deadpan. "The Hokage told me not too long ago," she made up on the spot. "Don't worry, I don't care. It doesn't make you any less you."

Naruto seemed to accept it, even giving her a small smile. "I-If it was the fox... that chakra was evil, Charlie," he muttered. "Do I really have something like that inside me?" His head drooped sadly.

The girl felt her heart break a little. "The fox isn't you, Naruto, you know that," she reminded him sternly. "It seems like he felt your anger and used it to take control of you, but it wasn't you."

"Even if it wasn't," Naruto spat, "it won't matter if it takes control of me. I don't want its power. Am I really that weak? How can I- how could I stop it, if it did something like that?"

Charlie frowned, gripping his hand tighter. There was no easy way to convince him that Kurama wasn't all bad, but if they just talked to each other sooner, became friends sooner, then perhaps they wouldn't be so SOL later on. "Naru-chan, have you ever, y'know, talked to the fox?"

"Of course not!" He looked at her like she was crazy.

"I'm- gonna be honest with you, now," she mumbled. "Maybe this makes me sound insane, but- it would be very difficult for you to control him. The fox has incredible amounts of power- it's one of the reasons you have so much chakra and energy. And all of that energy, being cooped up into such a small boy? I mean... wouldn't you be angry too? Wouldn't you want to be free?"

"It's a demon, Charlie, it killed a bunch of people!" Naruto said, hand clenching in hers. "What are you trying to say?"

Amber eyes glinted as she reached up and grabbed his chin, forcefully turning him to face her. "I'm saying that it would be much easier to try to work out an agreement with him than to try to repress him more. I'm not denying that he's got a lot of malevolent energy, or that he killed people, or that he's probably the most dangerous creature to try to reason with, but- I dunno." She cut off, looking away. "He's gotta be lonely, stuck in there all by himself."

Naruto winced. "Even if I wanted to, I have no idea how to," he muttered.

"It's okay, Naruto," she soothed. "Look, it's just me thinking out loud. You have all the right in the world to ignore me."

"But you're never wrong," the boy pointed out sulkily. "If you say that I should, then-"

She pinched his cheek. "While that's probably true, it's still your choice. I just don't want to see you torture yourself, y'know?" Standing, she made her way to the kitchen, wincing as her body ached. Sai was a slave driver. "I bet you're hungry," she added. "I made stew earlier, let me heat some up for you."

Naruto looked at her with stars in his eyes, previous moping quiet forgotten. "Really?!"

"Really." 'God, what was I worried about? This kid bounces back like a rubber band.'

She grabbed the bowl she'd premade for him and set it in the microwave, leaning her hip against the oven to wait. "Ne, Charlie?" Naruto voiced, coming towards the counter that separated the two rooms. "I was wonderin'... are you, y'know, okay?"

The girl glanced over in time to see his sky blue eyes wide and beseeching. Sweat built on the back of her neck; she was always weak to that look. It reminded her evermore of how young he truly was, and how much she actually had hated him being outside of the village. "I'm fine, why?" she asked.

He scuffed his shoe on the floor. "Well, 'cause, y'know... have you thought about what you're gonna do now?"

Charlie smiled gingerly. "That's not something you need to worry about, Naru-chan," she told him softly. "I've got it squared away. I know what I'm going to do, and I'm- I'm as happy as I can be, given what's happened."

To her surprise, the little ball of joy frowned at her. "Why do you always do that?"

"Do what?"

"Act like that. Like you're not somebody who needs to be worried about," he grumbled. "I'm not a little kid, y'know, we're the same age. I dunno why you always gotta go off and handle stuff on your own."

The microwave beeped, saving her from replying. She pulled down the bowl and set it in front of him, steam curling in the air and heating her face. It was hard to explain to Naruto why he didn't need to worry about her. For him, she was another twelve-year-old. But she wasn't- she was a full grown adult, who happened to have someone she couldn't help but confide in.

"Well, I'm used to it," she finally began. "Beyond that, I think you have enough to deal with than to worry about my problems. But for the record..." She ruffled his hair playfully, and grinned. "If I ever do need a shoulder to cry on, you'll be there- won't you?"

Naruto huffed in annoyance, but gave her a small smile. "Yeah."

"And I'll be there for you. Obviously."

"Obviously," he echoed.

Uchiha Sasuke sighed heavily.

He had only needed to spend the evening in the hospital- they'd rather swiftly healed him, and all he'd had to deal with after was a bit of latent chakra exhaustion, a devil of a headache, and a stiff body.

But the real headache came later- the next day, actually. God, did he hate apologizing.

He was an Uchiha! Uchiha didn't make mistakes, and if they did, they simply shoved it onto another person's lap and moved on. They never apologized for it. But here he was, standing outside Shimizu Charlie's apartment, about to do just that.

It was even more sad that anxiety was beginning to bloom in his chest. Uchiha didn't get nervous, either. But this time, he couldn't pretend it was excitement- he was damn nervous. What if she didn't forgive him? What if she'd turned into some kind of ghost, the kind that he would've turned into if he'd gotten the same injury? Hell, what if she didn't even want to see him?

'Tch, this is annoying,' he thought to himself. Stupid, that he was standing outside some girl's house and actually being nervous about it. But... well, if he's honest, she wasn't just 'some girl'. They were training buddies in the Academy. She was virtually his equal back then. And she'd never harrassed him- or at least, not in the way the other girls in the class did.

Maybe that was just him putting her on a pedestal, but... well, she really seemed like perfect ninja material. Almost on par with himself. And she didn't treat him like a charity case, or like a heartthrob. She just treated him like him. She looked at him as if she knew him.

And now, he was too scared to even talk to her. What a wuss he'd become.

Shaking his head, Sasuke rapped firmly on the door, peeling his ears to listen for any clattering on the other end. There wasn't any, and so he knocked again, and waited. Still nothing. He tried once more before deciding that she probably wasn't home.

'Isn't that a little weird, though?' he thought to himself, shoving his hands in his pockets and feeling admittedly relieved. 'I guess it's almost noon, but- where would she have to go?' He wondered if she had a new job, or if maybe she'd joined the Corps.

He made a face. 'I... don't think she'd join the Corps.' Her talent would be wasted there, surely she knew that already. So then... what? 'Do I... ask Naruto?' he glanced back at the door right next to Charlie's, and grimaced. Hell no, would he make a visit to that kid's house just to ask about Charlie. That would certainly ruin his image.

'Guess I'll go train,' he thought, resigning himself to visit her later- perhaps in the evening, when she should be home.

"This sucks," Charlie whined, cracking her back as it throbbed. Sai had just kicked her into a tree, and damn, did it hurt.

Sai gave a frown. "Sorry," he said.

She smiled a little, rejoining him towards the center of the training grounds. They had been training together for almost a week now, and already she could see a marked improvement. See, while Sai was helping her regain her physical strength and her ninjutsu, Charlie was helping him pass as a person.

It had all started their second day of training.

"Sai, please stop that," Charlie sighed out, rising to her feet after being flattened (once again).

"Stop what?" the black-haired boy asked.

She gestured broadly at his face. "That. That expression. It looks so... contrived."

"I don't understand," he replied flatly, face smoothing out from the fake frown he'd given.

"If you can't make a genuine expression of sadness or happiness, you shouldn't make an expression at all," Charlie told him bluntly. His moony-eyed blink caused her to continue. "Whenever you make a face like that, you only turn down your mouth muscles. You don't move your eyes or your eyebrows. When you smile, you don't crease your eyes or lift your eyebrows. It's even worse than if you just kept your face neutral."

To her abundant surprise, Sai pulled a notepad from his back pocket and began to write. "Please continue," he said.

She chuckled. "You want me to teach you how to fool people?"

"Yes," Sai replied evenly. She squinted searchingly at him; she couldn't decide if he truly wanted to rediscover human emotion, or if he just wanted to use the information to properly blend in.

A deep sigh through her nose. "Sai..." she began hesitantly. "If I try to teach you how to act like a normal person, you have to promise to try to feel like one, too." She knew he had those emotions deep within him, but she also knew that he had been broken a long time ago. He would never be the person he could've been, had Danzou not plucked him up as a child. But she could damn well try to make him so.

Sai's pale hand froze in the middle of writing. "I am afraid I don't understand how to," he told her.

"You'll get it," she promised him. "But you have to promise me first. Pinkie promise." She approached him, holding out her little finger. When he made no move, she sighed again. "You wrap your finger around mine. If either of us breaks the pinkie promise, they have to break their pinkie. Very painful."

"Actually, there are numerous other bones that, when broken, emit-"

"Just do it, Sai."

He did it.

And that was how it became that Charlie was teaching him how to be a human again.

"Good, Sai," she told him. "But I'm upset with the situation, not you. Only say sorry if the person looks genuinely upset with you. Right now, I'm just complaining because I'm tired."

As always, he wrote her words down on his notepad. "Okay. We will move on to the next lesson of the day," he said eventually, stowing the pen and paper away.

Charlie tilted her head. "Aren't we trying to-"

"While your fitness is important, there is more to being a member of this organization than being physically strong. Follow me." Sai turned on his heel, and all but disappeared. Cursing, Charlie boosted chakra to her feet and followed the fast-moving blur as they took to the rooftops. This must've been how ANBU were everywhere at once; they didn't know how to take the time to walk.

A mere minute later, they were halfway across the village. Sai hopped down right in front of the ANBU headquarters, and the redhead followed suit, lips in a firm line. The black-haired boy led her into the building, footsteps silent on linoleum.

"Where are you leading me, Mole?" she said, exhaustion leaking into her tone.

"It is not normal practice for people in this organization to be unaware of the actual art of assassination," Sai said in a monotone as the two began to scale the stairs. "However, as you are a special case, I have been given clearance to train you. You are a... quick study, yes?"

They emerged on the same floor she'd been on just a few days prior, the one where she'd been knocked out on. Her fingers tingled as anxiety swelled in her chest; he wasn't going to... try anything, was he? "I have an eidetic memory," she explained shortly. "I only need to be shown once."

"Excellent." Sai led her into the empty gym. It smelled like disinfectants, and she wondered just how often they had to mop up the blood that spilled here. The black-haired boy wordlessly made a set of four clones, all with the same blank expression as he had.

"You're going to make me kill you?" Charlie blurted, finally having figured out the kid's plan.

Sai turned, giving her a small smile. "First, I am going to kill me. You are going to watch. Then, you are going to copy."

'Egh,' she thought. 'So gross...'

She supposed that it was what she'd signed up for.

"There are a few key points which are vulnerable on the human body- areas such as the throat, groin, instep, and anywhere on the face. These can be exploited during a fight. There are also a few areas which one should target when going for the kill. Main arteries such as the carotid on the throat, as well as the lateral circumflex on the thighs, can result in death in minutes or less." He gestured on the first clone where they were.

Charlie stopped him. "I'm aware of human anatomy, Sai," she chuckled. "I read a whole book about it. Just show me what your most common techniques are."

Sai blinked, accepting the information. "Usually, clean-up is an issue, so we try not to get too much blood everywhere." He explained it casually, as though talking about the dango stand down the street, and a chill crawled up her spine.

She wondered if she could get Sai back to a somewhat-normal life. If she could help him feel again.

"My preferred method of execution is poisoning," Sai said, which surprised her greatly. "It is easy to transport the body to a sealing scroll and leave. Some ANBU prefer more graphic ways. What you must be, however, is subtle."

And just like that, black ink spilled from the first clone. It fell to its knees, then dissolved into a black pool at Sai's feet. In his pale hand, Sai loosely gripped a kunai. Charlie swallowed; she hadn't even seen him move. "Silence. Speed. Your target cannot have the time to call out, or even notice your existence," the black-haired boy said quietly.

The redhead didn't say anything.

"That is how many ANBU kill their targets. I, on the other hand..." He pulled a single senbon from his pouch. It looked just like any other senbon, but if what he'd said was true, he had probably coated it in poison. "Colorless, odorless, and effective even through simple touch. And it works, even from a distance. For educational purposes, I will show you what this particular poison does."

To her surprise, he jammed it into his own forearm. She watched with widened eyes as the area around the needle quickly turned a darkened purple color. "This particular poison causes necrosis of the area in seconds. As I've already repeatedly exposed my self, it cannot kill me. However..." No pain registered on his face as he took a syringe from the same pouch and injected himself with the antidote. "I would still like the use of my arm."

"Is that the only poison you use?" the redhead wondered. It looked kind of... gross. The bruising faded around the edges, and recedes as fast as it had come. How had an antidote brought the tissue back to life? 'Anime physics...'

"It is the most effective. It would take over a regular person in a little over a minute. It is virtually the only poison I use for assassinations."

He moved to the next clone. "Some ANBU have enough medical training to form chakra scalpels and kill that way." Blue chakra flowed steadily past his fingers, creating a sharpened point. He cleanly sliced through the clone's throat. To her surprise, its skin remained intact- and yet it fell to its knees and perished anyway.

"Chakra scalpels do not leave open wounds, and are quite a clean way of killing someone. Best not to use in a real fight, though, as they're quite hard to maintain." The chakra flickered from his hands.

"Every ANBU has their own reasoning for whatever they choose to do, but these are quite popular methods. Now, kindly repeat what I did on the next two clones." His lips curled up as he tried at a smile.

Charlie took a deep breath, and pulled out her kunai.

Lyrigami: Sai's brother is unfortunately already dead at this point :( I can't answer as to whether or not the 3rd will die during the chuunin exams, but I do intend for mama Tsunade to make her appearance as scheduled. Thanks for your continued support!

lullabydono: Thank you so much for your compliments! To answer your question, Charlie isn't in ROOT- just ANBU. Danzou knows that trying to make her 'disappear' wouldn't work out well for him as she and the Hokage are much too close. That being said, I like to think that Danzou is sort of the overseer of most ANBU-related tasks, including their aptitude tests. ANBU of course answer primarily to the Hokage, but beyond sending them on missions and enlisting them as his security detail, at least in this story he has less to do with them and their training.

EriesAston: I feel you hardcore regarding slowburns. I love them. Tangentially, I have to say though that even though this story is rated M, I'm a little leery about including any sort of 'mature' scenes in the main sequence of the story. I'm not opposed to writing them though, so I guess I will leave it to the reviewers to decide what everyone wants to see.