Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Crack.

Sakura leapt back as the tree she had been practicing on fell apart. She lifted her head and surveyed the damage to the training ground. Sakura had demolished four trees, and the number was steadily growing. If only someone was here to help me train. she thought bitterly, as she turned towards another tree.

"Naruto's on some stupid mission with that Sannin." she said aloud.

Thwack.

"Kakashi-sensei is doing who knows what."

Thwack.

"Sasuke freaking defected!"

Crack.

The tree was destroyed much quicker than any of the others. Sakura stared, eyes wide, as she realized that she had broken a tree with her bare hands in three hits. She vaguely noticed the way her knuckles were bleeding. She could care for them later. Wiping her hands on her leggings, Sakura continued with her training routine. She had created it herself when Kakashi has begun to spend less time with her and Naruto. Apparently the man had been too busy tutoring Sasuke. And for what? His precious student had ended up defecting from his own village.

Now, don't get her wrong. Sakura was not happy about Sasuke leaving, but she had always known that her teammate didn't quite fit in. He had always had a darker side to him, and it had contrasted greatly with Naruto's ball-of-sunshine personality. Sakura had done what she could to change Sasuke's mind, but she had not been able to sway him. As she ran laps around the training grounds, Sakura thought back to that night.

{O}

{O}

Sakura ran as quickly as she could. Even though she couldn't sense his chakra from such a great distance, she knew exactly where he would be.

The only road out of Konoha.

As she neared her destination, Sakura thought of what she was going to say. Her old self would have spouted confessions of love, trying to convince him to stay. But she was not that girl anymore. Might as well tell him the truth, ne? she thought. She burst through a small cluster of trees, flipped, and landed silently on the road. Looking to her left, Sakura could see him.

Sasuke.

Sakura slowly approached him from behind, careful not to make any sudden movements. She stood a few feet behind him, silent. After he had made it obvious that he wasn't about to speak first, Sakura spoke.

"Why are you going?"

Another silence.

"He offered me the power I need to defeat my brother."

Sakura rolled her eyes, did the boy not understand that he could gain power while in Konoha?

Sasuke scoffed. Apparently she had said that out loud.

"You wouldn't understand." he spoke. "You do not have anything driving you to gain power."

This time, Sakura scoffed. "Oh really?" she spat. "Have you ever wondered why I started working at the hospital? Have you noticed the way I try harder than before? I've given up distractions. I'm no longer the vain, little girl. I don't spend my time thinking about boys, or the newest outfits. Do you know why?"

No answer.

"It's because I have a goal now." she continued, practically throwing the words at Sasuke. "I have a reason to be successful now. Sasuke, I want to save the world. Remember Wave? Tazuna would've died if we hadn't been there. I want to protect the people who can't protect themselves. I can't do that as a weak genin, I need to strengthen myself, gain more knowledge and power to do that." She paused, hands on her hips. "I think I understand very well, Sasuke."

"Hn."

"You little worthless piece o-"

He was instantly behind her. Sakura quickly spun around, kunai automatically in her hand. She glared at the boy standing in front of her, his hands in his pockets, a smirk on his face.

"You're a lot faster now." he said.

"Of course I am." she responded. "But how would you know? You have been too busy training on your own." Unfortunately, the remark did nothing to Sasuke's demeanor.

They stood there a moment longer, Sakura warily staring at the boy, her teammate, and Sasuke simply observing her. And then, he was behind her again. "Thank you." he whispered before trying to hit the pressure points in her neck. Before he could disable her, Sakura swung around. The blade of her knife came in contact with his arm, drawing blood. It was enough to get Sasuke's hand off of her neck. "Nice try." Sakura spat. Her teammate was starting to really get on her nerves.

A blink, and he was gone.

"DANG IT!" she yelled to the sky.

{O}

{O}

Shaking her head to get back into focus, Sakura realized how late it was getting. She allowed herself to cool off properly, before gathering all of her supplies. She would have to go to bed a little earlier for she had a shift at the hospital the next day.

After Benjiro had accepted her as his apprentice, the two had created a schedule. Sakura would work at the hospital three days a week, while the other four days would be for missions and training. It would be a lie to say that three days at the hospital wasn't much. On those days, Sakura worked nonstop. She would run between rooms, checking on patients, cleaning, and would work on her lessons. Benjiro-sensei was a wonderful teacher, and Sakura was a great student. She had excelled in her lessons, and Benjiro had even assigned a few patients to Sakura. When somebody would come in with a gash on their arm, Sakura would stitch it. Academy student with a cold? She would diagnose quickly and prescribe the appropriate medication. In short, Sakura was becoming an advanced nurse.

Benjiro had taught Sakura everything that he could, but he was not a medic-nin. Being a civilian doctor meant not being able to use medical ninjutsu, and Benjiro was unable to teach Sakura anything. But that didn't mean that Sakura couldn't use her ninja skills in other ways. When she was in a rush, Sakura would quickly jump onto the ceiling and walk above everybody else, so as not to accidentally run into anyone. Being a kunoichi meant that she was stronger than most of the nurses and doctors, so when a particularly stubborn patient was admitted, Sakura could restrain them easily. She had quickly gained respect from almost all of the other workers at the hospital.

Starting her walk home, Sakura sleepily noticed how quiet her day had been without her two teammates fighting with each other.

{O}

{O}

Sakura continued training and working at the hospital. Her hard work had finally made her stronger. Her muscle had built up, and she was much faster. Her chakra control became even better, after a few special exercises, and her jutsu became more powerful and took less work. All in all, Sakura had improved immensely.

She had been training on the edge of the village when Naruto abruptly dashed into the clearing.

"Sakura-chan!" he yelled, hopping up and down. Sakura finished off the shadow clone she had been fighting, before turning around to face her friend.

"Hi, Naruto." she spoke with a warm smile. "Glad you're back!"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head with his hand and grinned. "You'll never believe what happened on my mission, Sakura-chan!" Sakura laughed.

"I might be able to believe it if you tell me." she said, giving her friend a hug. Naruto stepped back, shocked.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"What? The hug? Am I not allowed to miss my teammate and friend when he's gone for a month?" she replied, hands on her hips.

Naruto smiled sheepishly. "No, no it's fine, Sakura-chan! I was just a little surprised."

"Well then. It sounds like you had a lot happen. Want to go get something to eat while you tell me your story?"

The boy nodded quickly. "Come on! Let's go to Ichiraku!" Sakura rolled her eyes but did not protest. She had truly missed her friend.

The ramen stand wasn't far from the training grounds Sakura had been at, but Naruto had managed to talk the entire time. She couldn't lie and say she was surprised by this, it was normal behavior for the blonde-haired genin. As they sat down in the stall, Naruto had started to tell her about how he had met the famous kunoichi, Senju Tsunade.

"-Pervy Sage tried to get her to become Hokage, ya know? But she of course wa-"

"He what?" Sakura interrupted, unsure if she had heard her friend correctly.

Naruto looked at her dubiously. "I said, that Pervy Sage was trying to get Granny Tsunade to become Hokage."

"I didn't know this!"

"Of course you didn't, Sakura-chan! I didn't know until I met Granny Tsunade!"

Sakura paused. "She lets you call her 'Granny Tsunade'?" Naruto chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Uhh," he stuttered. "Not really?" Sakura rolled her eyes.

"You should have more respect, Naruto!" she admonished him. "Tsunade-sama is one of the three Sannin, and she is the best medical-ninja ever!"

Naruto scoffed. "I knew all that. I saw her fight Kabuto and Orochimaru! She healed me afterwards, but I had blacked out for a good section of it." He slurped some ramen, worry-free.

Meanwhile, Sakura had adopted a look of fright. "You- you faced Orochimaru?"

Unaware of Sakura's distress, Naruto grinned. "Yeah! It was super cool. I got to use my new jutsu and everything!"

Sakura's frown deepened. "You're not hurt still, are you?"

Naruto finally looked at his friend. Noticing her distraught features, he gave her a quick hug. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan!" he spoke. "We didn't kill the creepy snake, but we managed to defeat him. And I am perfectly healed! Granny Tsunade has this thing where she can heal almost anything!"

Sakura smiled, her friend truly was okay. "Yeah, idiot. It's called healing ninjutsu for a reason." she giggled. "I thought you 'already knew' that Tsunade-sama was a Sannin and medic-nin."

Naruto grinned once more. "Did I say that?"

She just laughed.

{O}

{O}

The day Tsunade was inaugurated was one of joy for the entire village. The well-known kunoichi had finally returned home, as the Hokage, no less. The festivities had begun in the morning and had lasted all through the night. Sakura, after a full day of fun with her friends, had retired early for her hospital shift the next morning. She had lain awake for a little while, listening to the muted music and the sound of drunkards limping and laughing not far below. She imagined herself in a different land. How many people would she be able to reach out to if she was somewhere else? Her mind ran over this a few times before she fell into sleep.

The morning had been typical. Sakura had woken up around five and quickly got herself ready. She had gotten dressed in her leggings and tank before wrapping her hands in bandages. She had busted them badly during her training, and the bandages would help protect her wounds. After wolfing down a simple breakfast, Sakura left her house, thirty minutes before her shift. She decided to train as she walked...on her hands.

Sakura had occasionally sparred with Lee, before she had made it a goal to train with him every-other week. She had unintentionally picked up a few habits from the boy, but she wasn't going to complain. Sakura had made it to the hospital in record time, it had only taken her ten minutes. She clocked in early and began her rounds. The morning passed by quickly with almost no disruptions. Only two patients had acted up and the incidents had been minor.

Not wanting to waste even a minute of her precious time, Sakura had studied during her lunch break. Benjiro-sensei had given her a new text to work on and she was eager to finish it. After lunch, Sakura had assisted in a minor surgery, which had ended successfully. As she was moving a large stack of supplies from the storage room, Sakura heard a commotion in the lobby to the left of her. Planning to drop off the supplies before checking to see what the ruckus was about, Sakura pushed ahead.

Only, she couldn't see where she was going due to the humongous load she was carrying, causing her to nearly collide with someone. Sakura jumped at the last second, chakra channeled into her feet. She easily latched onto the ceiling and her supplies were safe. Sakura had threaded chakra through the stack of boxes to keep them stacked together and in her arms. She cautiously looked down to the person she had almost run over.

Sakura faltered, almost falling. Why was she here? Gracefully leaping to the ground, Sakura stood in front of the waiting woman and bowed at the waist, boxes carefully balanced in her outstretched hand. "Forgive me, Hokage-sama." she spoke, her voice portraying all the confidence she could muster. "I had not seen you coming."

The tall, blonde woman stared down at Sakura for a hot minute. The girl tried her hardest not to crumble underneath her superior's glare. "Just watch where you're going next time." Tsunade suddenly spoke, almost causing Sakura to flinch.

"Understood, Hokage-sama. Now if you will excuse me, I need to drop off these supplies." Sakura bowed once more before easily shifting her load into both hands and carefully walking around the Hokage and the doctor escorting her. As she rounded a corner, she heard Tsunade say something like, "She's thirteen and you let her work without someone to assist her?"

After moving a few more loads of supplies, Sakura went to Benjiro's office. Every day, an hour before the end of her shift, Sakura and her sensei would have a lesson of sorts. Walking up to the door, she knocked thrice. Hearing a muffled, "Come in." she opened the door and walked in swiftly. Noticing that her sensei was not alone, Sakura bowed respectfully to both occupants of the room.

Benjiro nodded in greeting. "Sakura-chan," he began. "Let me introduce you to my guest, Godaime-sama." Tsunade waved her hand at him.

"Please just call me Tsunade." she spoke. "All this 'Hokage-sama' business is wearing me out." Benjiro, unfazed my her brusque dismissal, merely smiled.

"Of course, Tsunade-sama." he said before turning to Sakura. "Sakura-chan, take a seat." Sakura nodded and sat in the chair to her right. Tsunade was sitting on the small couch in front of her and Benjiro was seated at his desk, in the middle of the room. Looking to her sensei, Sakura gave him an inquisitive look.

"Ah, of course." the man said, breaking the odd silence that had settled. "Sakura, Tsunade-sama has some questions for you."

The girl glanced to the woman in front of her, surprised. "Me?" she asked, incredulous. "I really hope you didn't come to the hospital just to see me, Tsunade-sama. I'm not all that interesting."

Tsunade smiled. "No, I didn't come here just for you. I didn't realize that you were the girl that brat Naruto always talked about."

"If this is about running into you earlier, I am so sorry!"

Tsunade barked out a laugh. "No, no." she said. "Though, I was amazed by your reflexes. Do you normally walk on the ceiling?"

It was Sakura's turn to laugh. "Actually, yes." she replied. "If I'm trying to get somewhere quickly, or stay out of the way, I'll hop onto the ceiling." she pointed upwards. "I'm short enough not to hit anyone."

Tsunade smiled and Sakura felt herself relaxing in her presence. The Hokage shifted in her seat before continuing. "I assume you are a genin?" Sakura nodded. "You have great chakra control, especially for a genin. I saw it in the way you held those boxes upside down."

Sakura blushed at the praise. "Thank you, Tsunade-sama." The woman waved her hand, dismissing Sakura's thanks.

"Just stating the facts. Now, how long have you been a genin?"

Sakura thought for a moment before answering. "Around six months."

"And how long have you been at the hospital?"

"Four, maybe five months." At this, Tsunade turned to Benjiro.

"Akane-san." she spoke. "this girl has only been here for five months, and you allow her to assist in surgeries?"

Benjiro chuckled. "Yes, Tsunade-sama." he said, smiling. "Sakura is a quick learner and does a wonderful job with her duties. I trust her."

Sakura looked to Benjiro in surprise. He had never praised her in such a way before. She looked back to Tsunade when the woman cleared her throat.

"Have you ever been interested in healing ninjutsu?"

Yes. Sakura wanted to shout. Of course she had! It had been Sakura's dream for the past half-year.

"I- I have." the girl stuttered. "But I've never had the- the chance to learn."

Tsunade quirked a brow. "And why not?"

Sakura looked down at her lap. "The last med-nin we had was not loyal to Konoha; he defected to Oto during the last chūnin exams. The Sandaime had not even known that Kabuto was capable of medical ninjutsu." Sakura heard a faint gasp and looked up. Tsunade had apparently not anticipated this answer. But the next words out of her mouth caught Sakura so off-guard, she actually fell out of her chair.

"Would you like to learn?"

After righting her chair and taking her seat once more, Sakura spoke. "I am not sure what you are implying, Tsunade-sama. But, yes, I would like to learn healing ninjutsu at some point."

Tsunade rolled her eyes, but she had a smile on her face. "I'm asking you if you would become my apprentice."

Sakura's head jerked up, and it was obvious that she was thinking about what Tsunade had said. "I- I would love to, Tsunade-sama, but I am already an apprentice to Benjiro-sensei."

"Sakura," Benjiro said, drawing her attention to him. "I have already discussed this with Tsunade-sama. If you would like to learn under her, I will gladly let you go."

"R- really?" Benjiro nodded, smiling. Sakura looked back to the Hokage before standing and bowing at the waist.

"I accept, Tsunade-sama."

{O}

{O}

Word Count: 3,117

Hello again, my faithful followers! This is the last of the introduction arc. Next chapter will set the main arc into motion! This chapter was super fun to write, and I am so proud of myself that I got over 3,000 words! I have been working on making my chapters longer; I know longer chapters are more enjoyable to read. Thank you for following my story! If you enjoyed it, please leave a review, even if it is something short.
~Rus