...Two years later…

Sakura handed Naruto his bento she made him.

"Thanks, Kura." Naruto smiles at her and she smiles back.

"Bring me back the other bento box from yesterday ok? Washed!" She tells him.

"Sorry, I forgot, I will I promise." He smiles. The last two years have been the happiest Naruto has ever had. He had friends. Some were closer than others but still, he had Sakura, Sasuke, and Ino as friends. He was so thankful for it, he loved them so much.

They sat down to eat their lunch as they did together every day at the academy. Sasuke sat by Sakura and Naruto sat on the other side. Ino came up then with her bento and sat down groaning.

"What's wrong Ino," Naruto asked her.

"My extra classes for my mind control are starting to get to me. I'm tired all the time!" She gave Sakura puppy dog eyes.

"Come here Pig." Sakura smiled at her and green chakra pulsed over her hands as she placed them on Ino's temples.

Ino let a sigh of contentment leave her and she smiled at her best friend. "Will you ever tell us where you learned how to do that Forehead?" Ino complained, not for the first time.

"No." Sakura smiled at her, not for the first time.

"Just keep my secrets, I don't use it for anyone else." Sakura reminded them and they all nodded sagely.

It had been almost a year ago, Naruto had fallen out of a tree and broke his arm. Sasuke and they had been training when he did it and she hadn't thought but reacted and healed his arm. They were so surprised no one spoke for almost an hour. When they did, Naruto was so loud she had to use a chakra hand to clam over his mouth which made his eyes grow even larger. She explained to them a half truth, that she had imese chakra reserves and perfect chakra control.

She told them that she had been training on her own privately before she had enrolled at the academy from scrolls. Naruto had clapped his hands and Sasuke had sat there nodding wisely pretending he understood. Not wanting to leave Ino out and feeling guilty, Sakura swore her to secrecy and told her the same story as Naruto and Sasuke. It was nice to be able to relax a little around her friends.

After lunch it was shuriken practice. Sakura and Sasuke were the best in the class and got to go first so they could do as they wished, while the others practiced more.

"My mom wanted me to invite you for dinner this Friday, can you come?" Sasuke asked her as they sat together on the bench.

"Yeah, I will be there, I love your mom's cooking." She smiled at him and he smiled back.

Sakura had been going periodically to the Uchiha compound since their first day at the academy two years ago. Sasuke invited her almost once a month after school and they had become good friends. Sometimes Naruto was invited too but not as often. He annoyed Fugaku, Sasuke's dad.

Sakura and Sasuke had started to take advanced classes with Iruka on Wednesdays but they were a bore to her. Sasuke liked them and wanted her to keep going but she wanted to be training on her own. She went for Sasuke though, she was glad to see him so happy.

Naruto would hop through her window at all hours of the night or any time of the day and it annoyed her to no end but like with Sasuke, she was happy to see him so happy. Having watched Ino, Sakura and Sasuke eat lunch and play with Naruto the other kids started to come around a little at a time and talked to him more instead of shunning him. By and large, that hadn't changed too much but at least most of his classmates tolerated him now.

Thursday night was Ichiraku night with Naruto. They would meet at her house and walk to the market together and eat at the ramen bar. Naruto always called it a date but she reminded him they were only 9 and it wasn't a date because that was creepy. He was happy he had a regular friend to eat with so he didn't mind.

Sometimes Sasuke and Naruto would come to her house for dinner. Naruto more than Sasuke but her parents didn't mind, they knew he was an orphan and respected their daughter's, big heart. Ino came and went as a regular just as Sakura did at her home. Sakura had to admit, life was good, she was very happy.

Inner constantly reminded her that they had to improve their skills still and concentrate on learning new jutsu, but to be honest, Sakura was just happy for this small break, no war, no crazed maniacal Uchiha trying to kill everyone she loved to take over the world. It was nice but Inner was right she did need to improve her skills.

With that thought in mind, Sakura walked up the steps to the library. Before the war, she had started her research into the 2nd Hokage's Flying Thunder God Technique and his formulas that made it possible to go from point A to point B in less than a second, no matter the distance. She had only managed to do it once, she planned on perfecting it and to do that she needed to research a bit more and try again.

Crouching down to peer at the bottom shelf she heard them before she saw them and sensed them before she heard them. She masked her chakra signature and kept looking for the books she wanted. Itachi Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake walked into the next aisle over from Sakura.

"Doesn't she have dinner at your house once a month?" Kakashi asked Itachi.

"She comes for my little brother, they are friends from the academy," Itachi replied

"Have you seen them spar?" Kakashi asked.

"I have, she holds back. Sasuke can not tell but it is obvious." Itachi spoke quietly.

"I have put in an inquiry to test her skills, I need to know more about her. She might be a good candidate for Anbu." Kakashi informed him.

"She is only 9 years old Kakashi, I do not think that is wise," Itachi argued.

"Only two years younger than you, and she has 5 times as much chakra as you did then," Kakashi said and walked away.

Itachi didn't move even though Kakashi had gone. "I know you're there Sakura." He said as he made his way into her isle and she stood to meet him.

"Kakashi didn't." She said.

"No, he is not a sensor nin like me, like Shisui and like you." Itachi inclined his head gracefully.

"He was referring to me wasn't he?" She asked Itachi.

"Yes." He admitted.

"This test of skill, what does it entail?" She asked him.

"It is different for everyone." He looked at her. "I think for you he will want your chakra reserves tested, and he will want to know what your seals do." He touched his forehead and the back of his neck. "You can not hide those with such a weak genjutsu from an Uchiha. He smiled at her.

"That was never my intention, I knew most of your clan would be able to see them." She shrugged. 'When will I be tested and by who do you know?"

"I do not know when but by Kakashi, be careful, he will want to push you to the limit and he is not...gentle about it. I don't know how you got on his radar but, I could guess." and he poofed away leaving only a few small spirals of smoke.

"Great." She sulked back to the section she was looking at previously.

-How the hell are we going to manage this one-

'Hell if I know." She said to herself.

Friday came and with it her dinner at the Uchihas'. Per usual dinner was delicious. Mikoto was an excellent cook and Sakura loved looking out of the tea room into their garden after dinner. She and Sasuke were sitting on the edge of the porch eating Dango when Shisui dropped down from the roof and swiped a stick off the plate much to Sasuke's annoyance. Sakura just laughed.

"Hello Love turds." Shisui smiled at them and ruffled Sasuke's hair.

"Shut up Shisui." Sasuke glared at him.

'Hey, Shisui mind if I ask you something about your body flicker technique?" Sakura asked him

"Not at all little blossoms go right ahead." He grinned.

"Do you use a formula like Minato and Tobirama did?" She couldn't remember if he had or not.

"Nope, I don't use a formula just me." He smiled at her then asked, "Why are you trying to learn it?"

Sasuke scoffed. "She is too young, not enough chakra, she can't possibly learn it."

Shisui gave him a pitying look and was about to reprimand him for being so rude when Sakura disappeared from the porch and stood a second later in the middle of the garden, then back to the porch.

"I have learned it, I only wished to confirm what I had guessed." She raised her eyebrow at Sasuke.

"With jutsu like that, you will have no issues passing the testing to come," Itachi spoke from the tea room door.

"Testing?' Shisui asked at the same time as Sasuke did.

"The dog," Itachi says to Shisui.

"Ah, I wondered if that would happen," Shisui replied glancing at Sakura.

"Good luck, he will not go easy on you," Shisui warned her.

"So I have been told." She replied.

"What the hell are you guys talking about?" Sasuke all but yelled.

"Nothing," Itachi said and walked out of the tea room.

"It's getting late Sasuke, I think I will get going okay?" She smiled.

"I'll walk you home." He said and they left.

Itachi walked back into the room and took the last stick of dango from the plate then walked back out.

The next morning found Sakura at the training grounds. Training ground 5 again. She had gotten up before dawn to try out her new Jutsu. With closed eyes, she concentrated her chakra focusing on her destination and flickered away to the village outside of Konoha, 20 miles away, then back to her first position and collapsed on the ground breathing hard.

"Shit." She wheezed out. That had taken almost all of her chakra. She released the seal on the back of her neck and black lines raced down her face and chest arms torso and legs. She focused her chakra and flickered then disappeared to a predetermined spot 30 miles away, and she flickered back. That was better, she was still out of breath but she didn't feel sick like last time.

That was the first time she had released that seal and wasn't sure of the effects or how much chakra it contained. It apparently had a lot. Sakura wondered if she would have any of the after-effects that she had with her own original seal as she collapsed to the ground and started to shiver and quake. She was shaking uncontrollably when Itachi touched down beside her lifting her up into his arms and flickering away.

She woke what seemed like moments later in an unfamiliar room, in an unfamiliar bed, Itachi Uchiha sleeping in a chair by the bed. She tried to move her arm but couldn't. She looked down at it and sighed, useless. Using the seal apparently did have the same aftereffect as her original seal, she wouldn't be back to herself for a few days. Damn.

Itachi opened his eyes and sat up looking at her.

"We are at a small outbuilding on Uchiha land, Shisui and I come here a lot it is kinda our place, we come to train or to be alone. You may use it to recover if you like." He said to her.

"Um thank you Itachi, did you bring me here then?" How much had he seen?

"Yes, after you collapsed the second time I didn't think you were going to get back up like the first time." So, he had seen everything. Great.

"What was that? What did you do? I know it was the body flicker but it was 20 miles then 30 miles, how is that possible, how do you come by so much chakra.?" He was looking at her in what could only be considered awe for an Uchiha.

"Well, I hadn't done that before actually. Today was my first attempt, I wanted to see what would happen." It was the truth for the most part. She hadn't released the rabbit seal before and was testing her body flicker technique as well as it's boundaries.

"You can use the body flicker as well as Shisui, and he is the best. You are only 9, you will be incredible when you get older. I am impressed Sakura." Itachi really meant it. He was impressed.

"Could you um, could you please keep this secret for now? I don't want people to know." She had to go out on a limb here, she had to give him a valid reason why she wanted it to remain a secret. "Danzo is gone but Root remains."

Awareness flashed in his eyes, yes, he knew that some Root remained but it wasn't common knowledge, how did she know? "I will keep it a secret but you might want to make this request of Shisui too, he is in the other room." Itachi rose to go get Shisui she guessed.

She sighed as Shisui came into the room and sat in the chair Itachi had just vacated. "Hey, little enigma." He grinned at her. "How ya feeling, you look like shit." Itachi hit him over the head.

"What?' He grinned at his cousin.

"Thanks, um Itachi said he wouldn't tell anyone but will you?" She was watching him carefully.

"Not a soul but you know, we aren't the only ones who noticed your chakra outburst. Itachi is fast, faster than Kakashi. If he wasn't you would have a whole lotta questions to answer kiddo." He reached over and ruffled her hair smirking.

"He came?" She said quietly.

"Of course he did, you let lose a massive flux of chakra out of nowhere at dawn! He probably thought we were under attack. Don't do that again ." He laughed at her.

A crow landed on the window of the bedroom they were in and tapped its beak on the glass.

Itachi went to greet it and took the note from its neck and read it. He frowned and handed the note to Sakura.

I have withdrawn my testing request in regards to Haruno Sakura. Instead, I have put in a request for her to join the ranks of Anbu. - Hatake Kakashi Anbu Captain -

"Shit.' Sakura said and fell back onto the bed with her eyes closed.

Shisui and Itachi exchanged a worried look.

"Sakura, I don't presume to know what you want in life, but you don't belong in Anbu," Itachi said.

She stiffened. Did he not think she was good enough?

"It isn't that he doesn't think you aren't good enough flower. Anbu is a dark world. Look at Kakashi, he is lost in the darkness, all he lives for is death. We don't want that for you." Shisui was serious for once.

"Anbu is for life. I had to join, I did not want to." Itachi told her.

"I joined to keep him out of trouble." Shisui grinned at Itachi.

"I don't want to join, I see what it has done to Kakashi." She spoke softly. "I had never planned on joining Anbu.

"Technically we aren't allowed to talk about it but since you are being requested we can, and we won't tell anyone. You knew we were Anbu though, it didn't surprise you when we told you." Shisui looked into her eyes for a hint of unease...and he found it.

"Yes." She didn't elaborate.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is Kakashi will not let this go easily. He wants to reform his team and I think he has his eyes on Sakura now." Itachi said.

"We don't need another member, we are fine as a three man team," Shisui said.

"He won't let this go," Itachi said.

"She needs to eat, no use worrying about it now." Shisui turned to Sakura, "Hungry?"

"Yes. " she admitted.

"Okay, I'll go get us some food, be right back." He flickered away.

"Sakura." Itachi began but stopped when she looked up at him.

"Yes?" She asked him curious.

"You don't speak like a normal 9-year-old. You didn't speak like a normal 7-year-old either. Who is your master?" He asked her.

She hadn't been expecting that. "My master is." She started to say but stopped, how could she word this. " They are here but not themselves yet." It would have to do.

"Here but not themselves yet? They are alive but not as you know them?" He asked her.

Wow, Itachi was quick. "Yes."

"But that." He started to say but she cut him off.

"I can not answer the questions you wish to ask me Itachi, please, I do not want to tell you lies." He could respect that couldn't he?

"Hn." He nodded, then smiled. "Thank you."

She smiled back at him.

Shisui returned shortly after, with food, it was delicious. Sakura spent the next two days there, Itachi having stopped by her parent's house asking for their permission for Sakura to stay with them at the compound, not letting them know where she really was. Sakura gradually recovered and spent her time talking about different Jutsu with Shisui and about other genjutsu with Itachi.