Her parents weren't home yet. Whatever, she didn't feel like talking with anyone anyways. Sakura carelessly dropped her pack on the floor in her room and grabbed a fresh pair of clothing. She ambled towards the bathroom, exhausted, but too dirty to sleep peacefully.

She had just returned from her first mission out of Konoha. What was supposed to have been a C-ranked escort mission, soon became an A-ranked security mission. Sakura was just happy that she was finally home from wave country, and that she could clean the blood from underneath her fingernails.

Sakura slipped into the shower and let the warm water run down her body, relaxing her muscles. She thought over the events that had occurred over the past week. The final battle with Momochi Zabuza and Haku had been gruesome. Sasuke had almost died, and Naruto had gone into nine-tails mode. Both Sakura and Kakashi had been dangerously close to passing out due to chakra depletion. In the end, Zabuza had killed Gato and his men, and escaped along with Haku, both of them sporting multiple severe injuries. The fact that they even had the ability to walk after the battle had amazed Sakura. Maybe it had been sheer willpower that had enabled them to escape, Sakura would never know.

But her team had failed to kill Zabuza and Haku. Sakura was not sure how to feel about the predicament. They had only been genin, with one jounin on their team, against two missing nin from Kirigakure. Haku had to have been at least a chuunin, especially with his unique kekkei genkai, and Zabuza was a high jounin. Now, it had been obvious that the duo had not been loyal to Gato, but the fact that they were missing-nin had unnerved Team Seven.

After scrubbing herself clean, Sakura turned off the water and toweled herself off. Dressed in loose sleepwear, Sakura left the bathroom. She fell onto her back on her bed and didn't even manage to get underneath the covers before she fell asleep.

{O}

{O}

Sakura woke to the smell of breakfast. She brushed her hair and changed her bandages before heading to the dining room. She found her father at the table, reading a newspaper, while her mother finished cooking breakfast in the kitchen,

Kizashi looked up to see his daughter in the doorway. "Good morning, Sakura-chan."

"Good morning, Otou-san." she replied, wearily. She slid into a chair at the table.

"How did your mission go?"

Sakura's faced scrunched up into one of disgust. "It was supposed to be a simple C-rank. But it got bumped up to an A!" She vaguely heard a gasp from the kitchen, before her mother's head poked out of the doorway.

"But you're only a genin!" Mebuki exclaimed.

Sakura sighed. "I know, it was a mistake. We ended up fighting a whole company of thugs and two missing-nin from Kirigakure."

Her parents were beyond shocked when they heard of her encounter with Zabuza and Haku. They were overjoyed to hear that she had not received any serious injuries.

"Why didn't you go to the hospital?" Mebuki asked as she placed the dishes down onto the table. Sakura sighed, she had known that her mother would have worried no matter what she said to console the woman.

"My injuries are not serious enough. I have some gashes and cuts, and I've already done some stitches on the deeper cuts. They are all disinfected." she answered.

Once more, her parents reacted with shock. "You stitched your own wounds?" Kizashi asked, horrified. Sakura shrugged.

"I read a book written by a professional on how to do the procedure." she answered, nonchalantly. "It described how to do the actual stitches, and how to disinfect." Sakura rolled up the edge of her shorts to show her parents the gash on the outside of her left thigh...and the neat, clean stitches keeping it closed. The area was clean and looked healthy.

Mebuki gasped at the sight. "Are you sure your leg won't get infected?" Sakura nodded, growing tired of the conversation. Sure, she loved her parents, but they were retired genin and had never been on a B-ranked mission before. Their concern was sometimes a bit too much. She quickly finished her meal and retreated to her bedroom. If her parents had noticed the change in her behavior, they didn't comment.

Sakura sat on her bed, her legs crossed, with her eyes closed. She relaxed her chakra as well as she could, considering she had only ever read about meditation, never attempted. She quickly and easily slipped into a relaxed state of mind, where she could go over the event of her mission once more without feeling overwhelmed by her surroundings.

Sakura had...changed after the mission. She felt hardened, in a way. She had taken part in her first battle, killed for the first time, and seen the dangers of life outside the village for the first time. It changed the way she felt about her lifestyle.

While she was in Konoha, safely surrounded by other ninja, others were out in the wild, encountering bandits and enemy nin. The world was not as comfortable, innocent, or clean as she once thought it was. Sakura wanted to do all that she could to make the world as peace-filled and safe as possible. She didn't know what she would have to do to reach her goal, but Sakura was willing to take it.

Other things, needs, wants, infatuations, could go burn in hell. Sakura was going to save the world, one step at a time.

{O}

{O}

The next day, Sakura wore a black, skintight, sleeveless top, with a long-sleeved fishnet shirt underneath. She slipped into a pair of black, spandex leggings and wrapped her ankles before donning her ninja sandals. If she was going to change other things about herself, she might as well make her outfit more suitable as well. These clothes had been in the closet long enough. Her red qipao dress would stay in there indefinitely.

After a quick breakfast, Sakura headed directly to the hospital. The night before, she had wondered what her first step in the right direction would be. She had been cleaning her wounds and reciting the rules on disinfection, when an idea struck her. She couldn't let all the medical knowledge she had memorized simply go to waste. She could probably find some way to work in the medical field, even as a nurse. Sakura had decided, then and there, that she wanted to study medicine, maybe even poisons.

And that is how Sakura found herself standing at the front desk in the hospital, (kind of) patiently waiting for the receptionist to understand her request.

"I'm sorry." the blonde stuttered. "You said you wanted to speak to a doctor about career choices?"

Sakura nodded politely. "Yes, please."

The receptionist stared blankly at the girl, before standing and abruptly leaving the room. Sakura huffed impatiently, realizing that the receptionist was most likely not going to get her to a doctor. So much for that, she thought, bitterly. She doesn't believe me. As Sakura turned to leave, the blonde-haired receptionist re-entered with an important looking man behind her. The man looked her up and down as he approached, before extending a hand towards her.

"My name is Akamine Benjiro." he spoke. "And who might you be, young lady?"

Sakura squared her shoulders and lifted her head before firmly grasping the man's hand. "I am Haruno Sakura."

The man, Benjiro, gave her a smile. "What can I do for you, Haruno-san?"

"Recently, I have decided that I would like to work and study in the medical field. I know that you are one of the head doctors at this hospital, Akamine-san. I would like to work as an apprentice of sorts. If you are willing take me as one, that is." The entire time she spoke, Sakura stood tall and held eye contact with the man. She would not let her confidence waver; she was here for a reason.

Benjiro gave her a surprised, though not displeased, look before ushering her into his office. After taking a seat, he leaned onto the desk, his chin resting on his hands. He gave her another thoughtful look before speaking. "Why the medical field?" he asked.

Sakura thought for a moment before answering. "I have already read some basic texts on simple procedures, such as treating infections and making stitches." she paused, briefly. "I found everything that I read to be very useful." At this point, she had stood and rolled up her pant leg to show off the neat stitches from before. "I recently went on a mission and received some deep gashes. I was able to clean and sew them up. I haven't had any irritation or inflammation." She rolled her leggings back down before taking her seat once more.

Benjiro was looking at her with surprise. "You did those yourself?" Sakura nodded. "I am impressed, Haruno-san." He leaned back into his chair. "Are you only learning for your own benefit, or is there more behind your story?"

Sakura sighed, she didn't think that she would have to explain herself so thoroughly. "I have had a...revelation of sorts. As you can see, I am a kunoichi. I was on a mission when my squad was attacked by other ninja. The man we were escorting would have died, had we not been there. I want to do all I can to help those in need, and I feel like I could pursue medicine as a means to help, as I already have an interest in it."

After a moment of silence, Benjiro spoke once more. "I see that you have good motivation behind your goal. Come back tomorrow at this time and ask to see me. I will have your answer then, Haruno-san."

Sakura stood, a smile present on her face, her eyes filled with hope. "Thank you for taking my request into consideration, Akamine-san! I will be here tomorrow."

The man chuckled as Sakura bowed before she quickly left the room, a bounce in her step.

{O}

{O}

The next day, Sakura came home shouting and leaping excitedly.

"What has got you so riled up?" Mebuki asked, a smile visible on her face.

Sakura beamed at her. "Benjiro-sensei decided to take me on as his apprentice!"

{O}

{O}

I am back again, with a new story in tow! This story will have 1-2 more introduction chapters, before we get to the main arc. I am super excited about this story; I've never read one with this pairing involved. Don't let my weird pairings scare you, you just might end up liking it! Inner Selves is going on a hiatus of sorts. I personally do not like that story too much, so I won't work on it as often as this.

~Rus