A/N: Welp here's the first chapter I guess. I'm kinda worried it was a bit rushed but lemme know what you think. Also I was considering using suffixes but I'm not very good with Japanese so I'd probably use them all wrong. In the end I just decided to only include -sama (for the Hokage) and -sensei (for Mizuki and later on Kakashi) since it just sounds wrong to write Kakashi instead of Kakashi-sensei lol. Anyways, enjoy :)

[chapter 1]

Sakura woke to painfully bright light and white-washed walls. Her head pounded in pain and she struggled to form a coherent thought. Where was she?

She remembered the graveyard, opening the crypt with the key Mizuki had given her and then…

She sat up in bed with a jolt, adrenaline flooding her veins. Vaguely she noticed she was still wearing the same clothes from the night before.

Oh no no no no no.

"Finally awake, Sakura?" the third Hokage said from the left of her hospital bed. He sat on a hard wooden chair dressed in full Hokage attire, the only other occupant in the clinically barren room. In his hands he held a large scroll and it was obvious he'd been waiting for her to wake up for a while.

She started, "I-"

The Hokage gently raised a finger to his lips in a gesture for her to be quiet. For a moment he sat there in silence, examining her with old eyes before he sighed.

"This morning, two chunin were found unaccounted for," the Hokage told her slowly, in a voice that was free of emotion. He sounded like he was reading a report. "One later turned up dead, poisoned at about nine last night. The other is still missing."

Sakura looked at him, not quite sure where this was going. What had even happened last night?

"The latter was someone I'm sure you'll recognize: your academy teacher Mizuki," the Hokage continued. "Now the former - and this is more interesting - was on duty at the time he was murdered, tasked with guarding the Konoha graveyard."

The Hokage gave her another unreadable look. "The same graveyard where you were found early this morning in the unlocked crypt of Hashirama Senju, unconscious and with a pocketknife on the ground next to you."

By all accounts his words should have sounded accusing, yet instead there was something else - something deeper - in the Hokage's tone. Sakura didn't know what it was, or even if she wanted to know what it was.

She panicked, her face pale. A chunin dead and Mizuki missing. Suddenly, everything was going so so wrong.

"I-I can explain-" she said frantically.

Again, the Hokage stopped her from speaking, this time with a slight shake of his head. He stood up from his chair, robes unfolding around him.

"The council wishes to speak to you," he said. "Come."

She hated how toneless his voice was. She knew shinobi were trained to not give away a single emotion, but at this moment, she wanted to know nothing more than what the Hokage was feeling. Was he angry at her? Everything since she'd woken up was slowly spinning out of her control.

Shakily, Sakura stood up from the hospital bed and slipped on the shoes waiting for her at the foot of the bed. The Hokage stood waiting at the door, expectantly holding it open. She walked over to him and out the door, refusing to meet his eyes.

"Sakura" the Hokage said softly, causing her to turn back towards him and hesitantly meet his gaze.

"Do not worry so much."

The walk to the Hokage's tower took longer than she could ever remember it taking. As they walked through the streets she could feel people staring at them. The Hokage and an academy student. While deep down she knew they were probably just curious as to what the two were doing out so early, the suspicious part of her mind saw narrowed eyes and whispered conversations with each other.

They knew, she told herself. They knew what she'd done and they were disgusted with her.

Slightly ahead of her the Hokage didn't even seem to notice the stares, marching forward without a sideways glance. Attempting to imitate him, Sakura turned her gaze straight ahead, refusing to meet the eyes of any passerbyers.

The rest of the walk passed this away and then they were at the base of the tower. She dragged her feet a bit as she followed the Hokage up the stairs to his office. She'd never met the council of elders before, although she knew who was on it.

Councilor Homura Mitokado, Councilor Danzo Shimura and Councilor Koharu Utatane. The council had been put together years ago back in the early days of the Sandaime's reign, tasked with helping the Hokage govern the village and to ensure that all decisions were made with the best interest of Konoha in mind. That was the official role of the council at least; to provide advice. From what she'd heard though, the elders had much more influence than that. They'd been garnering wide support from both the village's shinobi and civilians for years, now holding a social position similar to that of the Hokage. She'd even heard rumours that the Hokage wasn't even truly in charge anymore; that the elders were pulling all the strings. The Hokage had told her not to worry, but…

She squeezed her eyes closed for a moment as she they reached the Hokage's office. Stop it, she told herself. Taking in a deep breath, she composed herself as best she could.

The Hokage opened the door for her, gesturing for her to enter. Inside, she was surprised to find Iruka arguing with an older woman and an older man. Another man wrapped in bandages and holding a cane stood off to the side.

"She was found with a glass petri dish and pocketknife near her. What else was she doing if not collecting cell samples from Hashirama?" the woman exclaimed loudly.

"And who would want those cell samples if not Orochimaru! He's tried once before!" the man added loudly.

"She's not working with Orochimaru," Iruka said exasperatedly, as if this wasn't the first time he'd said it. "Sakura has been my student for six years now."

"The chunin guard was poisoned with snake venom. It had Orochimaru's mark all over it," the woman spat.

Iruka opened his mouth to reply but the Hokage's voice boomed from behind Sakura, as he stepped into his office and closed the door behind them.

"Quiet!"

He placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Sakura has just woken up. I'm sure we will all agree to wait until after she has told her side of the story to throw around accusations," he said softly, although his voice seemed to fill the room. His voice was pleasant enough too, but there was an undercurrent of steel hidden in it.

Uneasily, she noticed how the elders narrowed their eyes viciously, as if unwilling to concede. The people in this room… who held the true power?

To her relief the elders grudgingly turned to look at her.

"Very well. We will hear the girl," the woman said.

Sakura took a brave step forward, opening her mouth to speak. As her eyes flashed around the room though, they caught the eyes of the bandaged man who had not yet said a word. Her throat clenched and suddenly she couldn't get a sound out.

There was something burning in his eyes - something that scared her. It was like fire, but it wasn't. Fire was warm, wasn't it?" Her breath quickened and she strained to tear her eyes away, instantly moving her gaze to her feet. All she could feel was an unnatural fear for the old man - who she assumed was Councilor Shimura.

"Well?" Councilor Shimura said, finally speaking up. His voice was raspy and cold, like a dead man. "We're all waiting."

She forced herself to swallow her fear. "It was a-after the g-genin exam," she stuttered.

"You don't sound very sure," the older woman - councilor Homura - said, scoffing.

The Hokage quieted her with a look before placing his hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Please continue, Sakura."

"R-Right," she said, trying again. "It was after the g-genin exam and Mizuki-sensei asked me to stay behind."

She'd been so happy in those few moments before he approached her, she remembered. She'd held her headband so gingerly, like it was made of glass and not out of steel.

"So I stayed behind and then he-he told me I hadn't p-passed the e-exam," she said, shaking a bit. "M-Mizuki-sensei said that I'd been given the headband to avoid em-embarrassing me in front of the class."

Here, Iruka let out a gasp. "Sakura," he exclaimed, interrupting her. "Of course you didn't fail! How could you think that - you even made top kunoichi!"

She stared at him for a moment, wordless. She hadn't failed. But then everything…

Sakura felt like crying. Her head pounded and she could see her vision becoming blurry. She hastily rubbed at her eyes. She could feel the eyes of all the elders on her. She couldn't cry.

"What happened after that?" the Hokage prompted her gently.

Sakura took a deep breath. "Mi-Mizuki-sensei told me that he'd be willing to give me a headband though if I could do something for him," she continued. "So I-I agreed and t-then he told me to go to the graveyard and retrieve some of the f-first Hokage's cells a-and he gave me the k-key to his tomb and-"

"And so you carried out his wishes, with no respect or thought of the Shodaime himself," Councilor Shimura said coldly, cutting her off.

"I-I just didn't want to fail," Sakura said weakly, hanging her head.

There was silence for a moment before Councilor Koharu burst out. "How do we know she's not working with Orochimaru? She could be a spy!"

She saw her academy teacher look over at him in disgust. "Did you not hear a single word she just said?" Iruka exclaimed loudly.

From behind her she heard the Hokage let out a tired sigh as the room erupted into argument again. He rubbed his head as if it hurt.

She couldn't be trusted, was the main argument of Councilor Mitokado and Councilor Utatane. To her surprise, Iruka didn't seem threatened by their power at all, arguing loudly for her case. She felt a bit of warmth in her chest at that. She knew she'd never been Iruka's favorite student. She was a good student, sure, but she just didn't have the type of emotional bond Iruka shared with Naruto - she'd seen them eating ramen together at Ichiraku's on multiple occasions. That he cared about her so much to go against the council of elders… She smiled. It was nice.

The smile dropped off her face though as Councilor Shimura spoke up over the others, his heavy gaze still on her.

"What I would like to know," he said softly. Just like the Hokage though his voice seemed to fill the room despite the lack of volume. "Is why we found you there unconscious. Was it intentional?"

For some reason she didn't want to tell them about the odd feeling that had invaded her. Her instincts screamed out that it would be a bad idea. Sakura shook her head frantically. "I-I dpn't know. I just sort of touched the first Hokage's skin and then I b-blacked out."

Councilor Utatane sniffed. "A likely story."

She felt a bit of hot anger burn inside her just as a few tears escaped her eyes. What was with them? She wasn't a spy. She'd never done anything against them either, so why did they have to keep accusing her at every turn.

From behind her the Hokage sighed again - he seemed to be doing that a lot.

"It's possible that the actual contact of Hashirama's skin caused Sakura to have a panic attack."

"A spy having a panic attack?" Councilor Mitokado asked snarkily and within moments the room was in argument again.

Councilor Shimura didn't participate - not that he had before. With his cane he took slow shuffling steps towards them until he stood facing the man behind her. She stood quietly in the middle, both of the men looming over her.

"Hiruzen," Councilor Shimura said. There was something in his voice she couldn't quite place. "You know that despite their ignorance those two are right."

He tilted his head to the two elders currently still arguing with Iruka, not seeming to care if Sakura heard.

"We have found nothing connecting her to Orochimaru," the Hokage replied.

"She could be one of the experiments that somehow managed to slip through out search," Danzo said.

"The girl is a potential threat if kept alive," he continued emotionlessly. "She must be disposed of. You yourself know exactly what Orochimaru is capable of."

The Hokage was quiet for a moment and Sakura felt fear bloom in her chest. He didn't mean… she must be disposed of. The words echoed in her mind.

"Danzo," the Hokage said quietly. "She's 12, barely a genin."

Councilor Shimura's face was unreadable, without a hint of emotion. "Age is simply a number in the shinobi world."

A hint of bitterness entered the Hokage's voice as he responded. "I suppose that's what you told yourself last time too, when you ordered…" he trailed off, both men sharing some unspoken conversation.

The Hokage closed his eyes for a moment before turning to the three others in the room.

"Iruka," he said, breaking up the argument. "If you would be so kind as to fetch an available Yamanaka from interrogation? Perhaps then we can get to the bottom of this."

He turned back again, sharing another unreadable conversation with Councilor Shimura.

"Hokage-sama, are you sure that's necessary?" Iruka protested briefly.

"Please make haste Iruka," the Hokage said without answering, his tone leaving no room for negotiation.

Iruka left after that, with a quick bow to the Hokage.

In his absence, the room was quiet. Councilor Shimura and the Hokage moved away from the others to talk quietly in whispered tones. The Hokage's face was stony and it was obvious he didn't like what was being said. The other two elders moved away as well soon after, conversing in hushed tones and with the occasional glance towards her that made it obvious what they were talking about.

Feeling awkward and scared Sakura looked around the room. She'd never actually been inside the Hokage's tower before. It was odd to look out the large windows and see the city below while she was so used to gazing up at the intimidating building.

She took a deep breath. Councilor Shimura wanted her dead.

She watched the people below bustle around, the city slowly waking up. Oh god, why was she so stupid.

She hadn't failed the exam.

Mizuki was missing.

They thought she was a spy.

Sakura felt her eyes water and hastily rubbed them, unwilling to show weakness here in front of the council. What was she going to do now?

A knock sounded at the door, pulling her out of her thoughts. By her estimate it had taken Iruka about eight minutes.

"Come in," the Hokage called, breaking off his conversation with Councilor Shimura and moving towards the centre of the office.

Iruka entered, looking slightly out of breath. That made sense, she supposed. Torture and Interrogation was on the outskirts of the village, in order to prevent dangerous interactions between the prisoners and civilians. Iruka nodded at someone outside the dor who she couldn't see.

"After you," he said respectfully. stepping aside. A blond shinobi who she didn't recognize entered the room.

"Hokage-sama, Councilors," he greeted with a slight bow of his head.

The Hokage smiled at him. "Thank you for coming, Inoiba."

"Of course, Hokage-sama," the Yamanaka said. "You needed me to examine someone's memories?"

Councilor Utatane stepped forward.

"Indeed," he said. "The girl over there claims," here he cast a hate-filled glance over at Sakura, "that an Academy teacher ordered her to break into the Konoha graveyard and steal a sample of Hashirama's cells."

The Yamanaka blinked, seeming to take it in without feeling. She wondered what type of cases he was normally assigned to.

The Hokage smiled kindly. "If you could please just confirm Haruno-san's story as well as see if she was working with anyone else, that would be helpful, Inoiba."

Inoiba nodded, turning towards her. He knelt down in front of her, forming a hand seal she didn't recognize.

"Please hold still miss," he said.

Sakura stumbled back though, scared. This was a good thing, she told herself. They'd all know that she was telling the truth. But her mind kept replaying something she remembered reading years ago. As a shinobi, their body was given to their village, leaving only the mind as truly theirs. She didn't want this stranger sifting through everything that made her her.

Suddenly - she hadn't even noticed him moving - Councilor Shimura was behind her, his hands clamping down on her shoulders to prevent her from moving.

"He told you to stand still, didn't he girl?" the man said coldly. In front of her, the Yamanaka made a movement with his hands.

This time as she lost control of her body, it was sudden. Nothing like the slow static she'd felt down in the crypts. She could feel acutely as Sakura was shoved into a small corner of her mindscape, only able to watch on as Inoiba took over.

"Alright, I'm in," she said, but it wasn't her speaking.

The Yamanaka in her mind started pulling up memories and Sakura looked on as he flicked through the events of the past few days as if in fast-forward. She re-watched as Mizuki pulled her aside after school. The sight of his gray hair sent a shot of anger through her.

"A man she refers to as Mizuki-sensei talked to her yesterday," her voice said blandly. "He told her she had failed the final exam. She was shocked and felt like a failure."

Sakura felt her cheeks flush in anger as the Yamanaka she'd never met before - this complete stranger - reported to the council the emotions she'd felt almost like a doctor diagnosing a patient.

"Mizuki-sensei offered an alternative solution. She agreed immediately. He informed her that he would give her a headband if she retrieved a sample of the first Hokage's cells for him," Inoiba said through her mouth.

Every memory he skimmed through felt violating, like someone was stealing something that was purely hers. Sakura pushed against the imaginary prison Inoiba had built and shoved her into when he'd entered her mind. She wanted him out of her head. It didn't work.

"She was hesitant but worried about what her classmates would think of her when they learned she failed," she continued. "Hoping to prevent this, she took the items he gave her - a key and glass petri dish to contain the cells once retrieved, I believe - and snuck into the graveyard later that night."

Here, Councilor Utatane interrupted. "Did she make contact with anyone else between when she left the academy and entered the graveyard. Possibly the chunin tasked with guarding the graveyard."

Inoiba flashed back through her memories before responding. "No, Councilor-san, although she briefly interacted with her mother. Is that sufficient?"

The Councilor seemed disappointed. "Yes, please continue."

Sakura felt herself nod. The movement was so odd. It felt like the nightmares she got sometimes, where people were chasing her but she couldn't move her feet. Except of course this time it was real.

"She was scared but made her way to the first Hokage's grave," she said. "Here, she used the key Mizuki-sensei had given her and unlocked the tomb. She then entered the crypt and opened the coffin inside."

Sakura pushed against her invisible confinement harder.

"Get out, get out, get out!" she hissed mentally.

To her surprise Inoiba paused his scroll through her memories for a moment before continuing at a slower rate, as if it was getting more difficult to view them. Had it worked? She pushed the bars again, but nothing happened.

"She debated on whether to remove a sample of skin from the first Hokage's body but decided against it," Inoiba continued. "She reached down, meaning to take some skin from the top of Hashirama's finger. However, as she touched his skin she felt large amounts of fear for something and blacked out."

The stream of memories slowed down even further, almost down to a sludge. She could feel Inoiba struggling to view the next image.

"Her next memory is of a hospital," the Yamanaka finally reported, his voice sounding slightly strained. "Should I continue?"

The Hokage shook his head. "That will be all, Inoiba."

Just as suddenly as her consciousness had been pushed aside, she felt herself regain control over her body. Behind her, Councilor Shimura released his iron grip on her shoulders and she keeled over, feeling like throwing up. It had been horrible, losing control of her mind. Even now as she kneeled on the floor, supported by her palms, she could remember the feeling of Inoiba looking through her mind.

Slowly, she stood up, grateful that she hadn't actually thrown up. Iruka was smiling.

"Hokage-sama, as Inoiba has confirmed Sakura's story, I assume she is cleared?"

The two councilors who had been arguing with him were grumbling to each other, but it didn't seem as if they had any remarks to make. Sakura carefully moved her fingers around to test if she had truly gained control of her body again and let out a small smile. At least it had been worth it if they believed her now.

The hope disappeared as Inoiba cleared his throat. "Permission to comment, Hokage-sama?" he asked respectfully.

The council looked over at him and the Hokage nodded. "Granted."

"There was an odd presence in the girl's mind," Inoiba reported emotionlessly. "Especially near the end, it grew stronger, as if it was trying to prevent me from seeing her memories."

The room was silent for a horrible moment. Sakura felt panic rise inside her. Was it because she'd pushed against the prison? She hadn't thought it had done anything. A chill ran down her spine. Or was it the thing that had froze her last night?

The room burst out in sound.

"This only proves it. The girl's a spy!" Councilor Mitokado hissed to the Hokage.

"Sarutobi, memories can be tampered with," Councilor Kohary added.

"Hokage-sama-" Iruka started.

It was as if a dam had broke. The volume just kept rising in the room and Sakura felt a little claustrophobic despite never having had a fear of small spaces.

"Enough!" the Hokage boomed. It was like someone had turned a switch. She looked at him in surprise. His presence hadn't been non-existent before, but it was different now. It was as if he commanded the attention of everyone in the room and finally she could see why exactly he was the Hokage.

He turned to the two councilors beside him. "Homura, Koharu. I would've hoped that Inoiba's examination of Sakura's memories would be enough to alleviate your suspicions but it seems not."

The two elders narrowed their eyes in discontent but finally looked away in submission. Sakura felt some of the tension she didn't even know she'd been holding melt away. It wasn't something she was proud of, but she'd doubted the Hokage. He had comforted her at the hospital, but he'd practically let the Councilors walk over him.

From behind her she heard Councilor Shimura scoff. "So the girl will be let go without punishment?"

The third met his eyes and it felt like their previous confrontation all over again, only having switched places. "We have confirmed that she has no affiliation with Orochimaru, Danzo."

The man behind her was silent. "And I presume you will make no changes to the teams? She is a danger to the Uchiha and Jinchuuriki," he said coldly.

Sakura blinked. Sasuke was on her team? For some reason the thought didn't make Sakura as happy as she would've thought.

The Hokage cast a glance over at her. For a moment he seemed worried about something.

"Danzo, you will not speak of that," he said. "Besides, it is too late. The clan heads have already been informed of their children's placements. A change now would cause discontent."

Sakura turned around to face Councilor Shimura and for just a flash she saw hate burning in his eyes. She blinked and it was gone, his face as emotionless as before. Had she imagined it? The third Hokage and Councilor Shimura were childhood friends, weren't they?

"It seems we are finished here then," the bandaged man stated. "I will take my leave."

He moved away from her, his cane tapping on the floor as he walked. The Hokage sighed, suddenly seeming much older.

"Council dismissed," he said, waving a hand. Councilor Utatane and Councilor Mitokado hurried towards the door after Councilor Shimura. He cast a quick glance at the Yamanaka who still stood patiently waiting near her. "Inoiba-kun, thank you for your help. I trust that this matter will not leave the room?"

The Yamanaka gave a curt nod. "Of course, Hokage-sama."

The Hokage turned to Iruka. "Iruka, if you would be so kind as to wait outside? I would like a word with Sakura."

Her teacher nodded filing out of the room with the others, and soon she was left alone with the Hokage. She turned to him, unsure of what to say. He looked at her kindly.

"Have a seat, Sakura-chan," he said, gesturing to the seat opposite the desk from the Hokage's chair. She sat down, watching with wary eyes as he crossed to his own chair. For a few moments they just sat there, the Hokage looking at her with his old eyes.

"I believe you," he said breaking the silence. "I don't believe that you are working for someone, or spying on our village."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," she said gratefully.

He sighed."Don't thank me."

Sakura looked at him, confused, and he shook his head. "I believe you, it's just the fact that you chose to do this…" he looked straight at her.

"I'm disappointed in you, Sakura."

Her cheeks flushed and she looked down, ashamed.

"A good ninja must look underneath the underneath, yet you didn't even look underneath," the Hokage continued, scolding her. His voice didn't rise at all, yet it was worse than any time her parents had ever yelled at her. "There were so many things wrong with what Mizuki was offering to you, yet you let your foolish desires lead you and in the process performed an act for which I would legally be allowed to hand you over to Torture and Interrogation."

Sakura hung her head, letting her hair cover her face as she felt tears well up. She stared at the wooden desk right in front of her, the swirls and patterns in the material blurring as she felt tears cloud her vision.

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama," she said, and she truly meant it. The Hokage sighed again.

"Look at me, Sakura." She looked up reluctantly, her teary eyes meeting his.

"Learn from this," he told her seriously. "you have a bright mind, so use it."

She swallowed down her tears and nodded.

The Hokage looked at her sadly, seeming unnaturally tired. "Just promise me you'll think before you act in the future. I've seen far too many promising shinobi die because they let their emotions govern them."

Sakura wiped away her tears with a sleeve.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," she said for the second time.

Oh god, she'd been so stupid, hadn't she? She'd known that Mizuki didn't have the authority to grant her a headband just for carrying out a personal favour, yet she'd ignored that in the hopes of not having Ino - not having Sasuke - realize what had happened. She'd ignored everything - that Mizuki had literally asked her to commit a crime - because of how desperately she'd cared about what people thought of her. The headband was just a piece of cloth and metal, but it represented so much. It was success, it was finally becoming an adult.

Mizuki had known this, she realized with a jolt, and he'd taken advantage of it. He'd used her. Sakura felt pure rage course through. How dare he. She hated him - she hated him so much.

But it was her fault.