at long last, in the break between exams, there's a new chapter out!
as always, thank you all for your continued support for this story, i love each and every comment you guys leave!
ALSO: there's fanart for this story now! hit up 'citrusien' on twitter for their amazing art of Yuki-san! (also 'citrusine' on tumblr & and scream at them cause WOW)
ENJOY
Halfway across the shinobi nations, Jiraiya called his godson to a halt. The toadlet he'd graciously assigned as the messenger bird between the blond brat and his psychopathic jinchuuriki friend had suddenly poofed into existence, a letter in its mouth.
Jiraiya wandered off, giving his charge the semblance of privacy to read the letter in peace. He'd deprived the kid of interaction with his peers and left him only in the company of his estranged godfather after all. He owed him this.
That thought lasted roughly until the moment the usual excited gibbering and short bursts of laughter were replaced with a startled gasp and a coughing fit when the kid promptly choked on his own saliva. Slightly wary, Jiraiya plucked the letter out of his the blond's hands and scanned over it.
When the first two paragraphs revealed nothing apart from the usual emotionally stunted, socially awkward attempt at conversation, he almost thumped Naruto over the head in reproach at nearly giving him a heart attack. But then his eyes fell on the third paragraph and he promptly froze.
I met your teammate a few weeks ago. She came to Suna along with Nara Shikamaru, since Ebizo-sama's requested their presence to work out a treaty between our Villages. I think it will bring you pleasure to know they were successful. Suna and Konohagakure are allies yet again. I think, from what you said, what I am experiencing can be defined as...hope? It feels warm.
I talked to her alone, once, though she spent more time with the Elders or my sister than me. However, she still encouraged me to become Kazekage. I was...surprised, as she is the third person to do so, and even my own sibling was against it. She also told me the Yondaime Mizukage was a jinchuuriki, and that the current Raikage's brother is one as well. Did you know that? I thought they would keep people like us away from positions of power, knowing how many we can kill and how easy it would be if we lost control. But she said that won't matter if we can change people's "hearts and minds". I'm not sure I understand what she meant, but I will try.
She wanted me to wish you well.
Your friend,
Gaara
Jiraiya stared at the letter for a few seconds in silent disbelief. He dropped it on Naruto's head once the blond had gotten his breath back, then slowly stepped away from the camp, a thoughtful frown replacing his usual happy-go-lucky expression.
Naruto's teammate. Naruto's femaleteammate. Sakura-chan.
He'd seen the girl - he was in the office when she'd barged in and demanded Tsunade teach her medical jutsu. It was curious to note her and Nara's stunt in Kiri hadn't been a one-off display of beginner's luck, but a pattern. After all, two chunin successfully convincing two shinobi nations to forge an alliance spoke of talent, not coincidence.
But the knowledge she seemed to have... The Yondaime Mizukage was a controversial topic. Few of the younger generations even knew who he was, and much fewer yet knew what he was. And the story of the Raikage's brother could only have been learnt through being at the battlefield, which Jiraiya was certain she had not been, as she hadn't even been born at the start of the war...Or told by someone else, like these stories often are.
Still, he mused, diplomats were rare in the shinobi world. There was a reason even civilian diplomats were heavily guarded and often requested jounin-level escorts - they were people whose tongues were sharper than the best-honed blades, people who could forge alliances where there had previously only been hostility with careful persuasion, but could just as easily start a war with a single misstep. They were dangerous, and not just because most ended up becoming terrifying shinobi.
They could bring a nation to its knees with just their words, and disappear without a trace if need be.
And to think, there were two such people in Naruto's graduating class...
Jiraiya shook off the chill that went down his back. History doesn't repeat itself, he assured himself. It wouldn't repeat itself.
Still, he'll need to keep an ear out.
For Naruto's sake.
Another week passed and Sakura reflected on the weirdness of the dinner with her old sensei, and although they had not fully mended the bridges between them, the night had been almost civil. She also marvelled at Genma's mother-henny overprotectiveness whenever she left the house, laughed at how awkward and suddenly shy Chojuro became while living with her and Genma, and made sure no one was giving Shikamaru shit for offering up the Kubikiribocho.
Currently, she was standing before the Hokage, Shikamaru to her right, while the Godaime stared at them over her steepled fingers.
"So," Tsunade began, settling back in her chair. "you two have given me a multitude of headaches over the last few weeks. You're now here so we can go through them and see if your written reports add up."
She plucked up a folder and pulled it open, flicking through the pages before she looked up at them. "Diplomatic mission to Suna was a success. I've received a written confirmation from the interim Kazekage that he accepts the proposed treaty. Good job on that." When she saw Sakura and Shikamaru's smug grins at the news, she wagged her finger. "Ah, ah, ah! Not so fast. I've also received a complaint about you threatening one of the Sand's Nobles and all but antagonising an Elder. Mei has said your methods were rather upfront, especially yours, Haruno, but you might need to assume a more diplomatic approach in the future. Not everyone finds being called an idiot by a couple of baby-faced chunin amusing." She said, and Sakura scowled.
"I can't believe they snitched on us." She grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at the window. "I bet the 'Noble' who complained was Chiyo. The old bat had it out for us since the beginning."
"Mmhm." Shikamaru agreed, "And the Elder might be the one who asked you if you were listening during that first meeting. I don't think she liked your response. It was…"
"A bit of a smackdown?" Sakura offered, and delighted in the Nara's snort.
"'A bit' is a serious understatement, but that's an apt description nonetheless." They shared a grin until Tsunade cleared her throat and they snapped to attention.
"As I was saying," the blonde continued pointedly, and Sakura smiled sheepishly. "You might want to think about adjusting your approach. Now then, a successful diplomatic mission makes this an A-Rank. Haruno, this is your fourth. Nara's third, so well done both of you."
The two chunin nodded and prepared to bow, but Tsunade's words stopped them in their tracks. "However, as we well know, unlike the mission to Mist, this one didn't end when you left Suna." Both teens stiffened at her words. "Nara, by successfully evading enemy forces, protecting an Ambassador to Konoha and then taking his case despite it putting you at odds with people within your own Village, yet managing to find a solution that is mutually-beneficial and handling yourself in a professional and mature way, you have added another A-Rank to your name. Congratulations, the money will be available to collect from the missions' desk when you leave my office. The Village thanks you for your service."
Tsunade paused, then turned to Sakura, "Haruno, for successfully evading pursuit for an extended period of time, sacrificing your wellbeing for that of a foreign-nin, protecting him at the cost of your own health, and then ensuring he was welcomed in Konoha, the Village assigns an A-Rank to your records."
Sakura's heart skipped a beat. Her fifth. That means-!
"However, you have also managed to subdue one of your attackers and leave him in a stable enough state that it was then possible to transfer him to T&I and interrogate him. For keeping our Intelligence network up to date, you have earned another B-Rank. Well done."
But Sakura had stopped listening. Shikamaru's slouch also disappeared for a moment as he snapped to attention, sharp brown eyes flickering from their Hokage to his partner.
"Prisoner?" Sakura choked out, slightly nauseous. "In T&I?"
Tsunade frowned. "That's what I said. ANBU agent Fox picked him up and brought him back to the Village while Shiranui and Hatake went on ahead. He's been in T&I since."
He didn't tell me. Genma didn't tell me. Why wouldn't he tell me? No, there has to be another explanation-!
"Did… did ANBU agent Fox set out with Genma and sensei?" she asked eventually, noting Tsunade's frown but ignoring it for the time being. She needed to know-!
"Yes – I sent her after them when I found out Shiranui and Hatake left. From their report, they were able to join up."
Ah.
"I- forgive me, Tsunade-sama, I have to-!" and then she was flicking through the signs for shunshin, feeling the chakra drain as she reappeared downstairs. Sakura ignored the tightening in her throat and the dull ache in her broken leg as she hobbled back home, the rhythmic sound of the crutches ordering her thoughts until indignation and anger replaced the hurt.
When she walked through the door, Genma was lounging on the sofa, his hair down and one of his arms pillowing his head as he read. He sat up when she limped in, dropping her crutches in the corridor and leaning against the wall, arms crossed in front of herself defensively.
"You alright?" Genma asked cautiously, his head tilted slightly as he regarded her worriedly. He didn't seem to understand why she was so angry. "How did your meeting with the Hokage go? Is someone giving Shikamaru a hard time? I can-!"
But Sakura cut him off.
"Why didn't you tell me Fox brought back a prisoner?" she asked and was surprised by how cold her voice sounded.
Genma frowned, "What?" various expressions flickered over his face and Sakura saw the exact moment he realised what she meant. But, to her disdain, he kept going anyway. "What are you on about? Kid, is everything alright?"
"You heard me." Sakura snapped, surprised by how much hurt leaked through her tone. "Why didn't you tell me Fox managed to bring back a prisoner? You know I work for T&I. I could've done something with that!"
Genma stood, his hands outstretched. "Woah, woah, if anything, a foreign ANBU would be waaay above your clearance level – you're Anko's apprentice, not the Head of T&I. And I just forgot – I was a bit more preoccupied by your wellbeing and the month of D-Ranks I've had to serve out."
Sakura did a double-take. Did Genma not know that-? Then, she sighed. Of course he didn't know: when she was interrogating Issei, she was called to the Hokage's office immediately after. There was no time to tell Genma what had transpired in the interrogation room. Still…
"I've been here for a week, and we've been spending every evening together. Did you not think it was something I would've wanted to know?" she demanded, and Genma scowled.
"You were recovering. You still are. I didn't think that was something you should be worrying over so soon."
Sakura twitched. "Don't you think that should be my decision?" she asked, and this time it was Genma's time to wince, but he also stepped closer, looking more indignant than before.
"Why the sudden accusatory mood?" Genma said, and Sakura briefly entertained the idea of reaching up and tugging on his hair in spite.
"I feel like I'm entitled to know about someone who tried to kill me!" she snapped, and Genma came close enough to grab her shoulder and shake her lightly.
"There are people far more experienced and qualified who can get anything they want out of that ANBU! Your job should be to heal and train up so you're ready for whatever comes next. You don't need to do everyone's jobs for them!"
Sakura recoiled at that. "So… you're just concerned?" she asked, puzzled.
Genma, on the other hand, threw his hands up, exasperated. "Of course I am! C'mon, kid, it's been over a year! How have you still not gotten the memo? You're my partner, of course I'm concerned when you come home nearly missing a limb!"
She eyed the tokujo up and down then sighed, all the anger escaping her. "I'm still mad at you, just so you know." She announced, at the same time as she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his waist.
Genma laughed, and hugged her around her shoulders, understanding what she didn't say. "I promise to try to keep you up to date next time."
Sakura smiled, appeased for now.
Small victories.
A fortnight after her mini-fight with Genma, she had her cast removed and was under strict instructions from the nurse to avoid any intensive exercise until all of her physiotherapy was done, and she was still to keep the crutches. (Apparently, even chakra-aided healing was not enough to regrow bone in a month.)
With her newly-liberated leg, she'd hobbled over to the Gates to see off the Mist party. She grinned at Ao who stood in the middle of the group with his freshly-transplanted and perfectly average blue eye, hugged Yuki-san (to Shikamaru's great consternation) and promised to seek him out for a spar next time she was in Mist, which earned her a laugh and a sharp-toothed grin. She hugged Chōjūrō too, promising to keep writing him and waving off his multiple attempts at thanking her for saving his life and welcoming him to her home. When the Kirigakure party finally left, Sakura released a breath she hadn't even realised she'd been holding and accepted Shikamaru's offer to come over to his house to destress and catch up.
An hour later, she was lounging around Shikamaru's house, slumped on the sofa with him as her cushion and Sakura napping while the Nara read. It was incredibly peaceful and she enjoyed being able to just relax around the other teen, especially as she'd been grilling him about how Ao's case had been tied up in the end for the first few minutes after they came in. She was surprised to learn that the Mist-nin had consented to have the kekkei genkai removed even before the order came from the Mizukage, recognising the needs of the Village as more important than his personal shinobi pride. She learnt that Tsunade had been the one to oversee his transplant and even provided a replacement eye from Konoha's hospital. Once that topic had dried up, they settled into a companionable silence and Sakura was perfectly content to use this time and Shikamaru's reassuring warmth beneath her head to catch some much-needed sleep.
The idyllic atmosphere was broken by Shikamaru's mother who came in a couple of times, offering food, drink, and a single, sneaky photo that Sakura hadn't even noticed until the shutter went off and Shikamaru started grumbling about 'troublesome women'. She returned to her nap with a smile on her face.
When Shikaku stepped in through the doorway, he was not expecting his wife to jump on him with a camera and a grin and start whispering about 'cute kids' and 'come see this'. Toeing off his sandals and dropping his vest on the pouf, he followed his wife into the main living room.
Unable to quite restrain his urge to tease his son, especially since such opportunities rarely presented themselves, he announced, loudly and with a shit-eating grin, "I'm coming in, be sure you're decent!"
The answer was absolute silence and Shikaku finally stepped into the room, well and truly intrigued, and snorted at what he found. His son and his oft mission partner were spread over their sofa, with Shikamaru lounging on his back and reading, head propped against the armrest while the rosette's head was pillowed on his stomach and her eyes closed, her face that of utter relaxation.
Shikaku chuckled and turned to Yoshino who walked in behind him. "You didn't tell me they skipped the cute, awkward part of dating and went straight to married." He accused, and while the tips of Shikamaru's ears tinged red, Sakura looked largely nonplussed in a way that Shikaku attributed partly to her absolute relaxation and partly to T&I training which left their agents almost impossible to ruffle.
"Shikaku-sama," she greeted politely, though the well-mannered greeting was promptly undermined by what came out of her mouth next. "I'd apologise for using your son as a pillow, but seeing as he's warm and doesn't seem to mind, I find it hard to be truly apologetic."
The answer startled a laugh out of the Nara Head and Yoshino cooed behind him. To their surprise, Shikamaru just sighed, closed his book and thumped Sakura on the head with the spine before opening it anew.
"I told you we could've gotten the kotatsu out." he grouched, but it lacked the usual tone of long-suffering and was instead, if Shikaku read it right, exasperatedly fond and teasing.
Apparently reading the same, Sakura just grinned lopsidedly, emerald eyes sliding open and glimmering with mischief. "That's troublesome though." She murmured, and Shikamaru paused, considering.
Then, he smirked. "That's true." And they went back to lounging, as if he and Yoshino weren't there at all.
Shikaku has to fake a cough to stifle his laughter.
Like father like son.
The day after the Mist party finally departed, Sakura was woken up by a knocking on her door, and found a harried-looking Anko on the other side. The pinkette felt more than saw Genma slipping into the hallway behind her and merely tilted her head at the jounin.
"Senpai?" she asked curiously, not quite understanding why the normally unflappable woman looked so chagrined.
But Anko's gaze was on Genma instead of her student. "I know you said not to involve her in it, but Ibiki wanted me to bring her in. We've had the brat in interrogation for a month and he's hardly twitched." she said, ever so slightly out of breath.
Genma's eyebrow soared. "And somehow you think the kid can make a difference to that? How desperate are you?" Sakura drove her elbow into the tokujo's gut, appalled, but he stepped away at the last moment, ignoring her hissed 'Genma!'
It was only because Sakura hadn't taken her eyes of the woman since she appeared that the rosette didn't miss Anko's eyes sliding to her for a fraction of a second, a clear question in her gaze. At Sakura's minute nod, she flickered her gaze back to Genma and shrugged, the picture of nonchalance. "We lose nothing from unleashing Sakura on him, and we might just gain something."
"Give me a minute." Sakura threw over her shoulder as she hobbled over to her room and searched for her T&I uniform.
When she emerged, her hair up in a ponytail and the grey one-piece that marked her as an interrogator buttoned up, the two tokubetsu jounin were engaged in a staring contest, not quite glaring at each other but close. Sighing, Sakura raised one of her crutches and smacked Genma over the head with it, only feeling the tiniest but guilty when he hissed and cradled head.
"Let's go, senpai." She murmured, slipping past the woman and starting the arduous hobble over to the T&I building. The only upside of the crutches, she reasoned in search of the silver-lining, was the fact that her upper-body muscles were getting a workout every time she moved. Walking with crutches was hard, and trying to keep pace with two irate jounin proved even more so.
Once they stepped through the double door, Anko led them down the various hallways and corridors which Sakura vaguely recognised as leading down to the highest-security cells, and she wondered how Genma was still allowed to accompany them. Her question was answered when Anko sent her through the door, explaining that Ibiki would brief her, but stopped Genma from entering. The last Sakura saw before the door shut and locked behind her was an accusatory glare the brunet shot at her senpai and she wondered what could've caused such bad blood between the two.
And then, the Head of Torture and Interrogation rounded on her and Sakura was presented with a thick file and stern glare from her supervisor. "Are you willing to try your magic trick on this one too, Haruno?" Morino-san demanded, his gaze pinning her in place more effectively than any jutsu ever would. "Medics ascertained he's about the same age as you. Visible signs of a stunted growth, not fully healed breakages, badly set bones, multiple scars, and a high tolerance for pain. Interrogation revealed complete emotional detachment, lack of the basic comprehension of interpersonal relationships and a conditioned loyalty that even the possibility of death wouldn't shake."
Sakura from the Academy would've paled, probably thrown up, and asked how anything the jounin had told her was meant to help her.
Sakura the chunin carefully catalogued, analysed, and focused on what was left unsaid instead.
Stunted growth means shinobi from a young age. Probably started developing musculature before his body finished growing. Limited access to medical ninja or poor knowledge of those in charge of healing. Trained to resist torture, most likely. Some kind of emotional training? Traumatic event which triggered an emotional detachment? Removed from society or any interaction with peers. And… a sick leader. Great.
But, most importantly:
I can use this.
Sakura nodded to Ibiki, took a deep breath, clutched the folder to her chest and stepped through the cell door.
Outside the cell, Anko was glaring at Genma, barring him from the room.
"Let me in, Mitarashi." The brunet murmured, deceptively softly. "I want to know why you think the kid can change something."
"Listen, Shiranui, I'm not keeping you out here for T&I regulations or Sakura, but for you." When the man looked ready to argue, she cut him off. "I know you have some idea of who the brat is. Her values, dreams, morals, whatever the hell you think is important. But beyond these doors? That matters shit. Within these walls, Sakura is my student and everything that entails. And that means that moral constraints or societal expectations matter little. You're training her to be an assassin, but have you ever actually seen her in action?"
When Genma remained silent, she smiled wryly. "It's easy to think she's still a kid when you haven't seen her rip a man's mind into shreds and walk out with a smile. How do you think she coped with a dozen ANBU after her and swordboy and survived on a broken leg? Kid's vicious when need be, and within these walls and among interrogators, she will only get praised for going at someone from a different angle; there is no such thing as 'excessive force' when dealing with traitors and security threats. Do you understand? I just don't think you're ready."
Genma stared her down, then set his jaw. "I still want to see."
Sighing, Anko relented and stepped up to the door, letting it swing open just as the door behind Sakura swung shut. Genma followed her up to the one-way window, his eyes trained on the pinkette and ignoring Ibiki's glare (which Anko had to admit was a feat in itself).
Inside, Sakura plastered a smile on her face, making sure it was as genuine as she could make it. "Good morning!" she chirped, settling down in the chair opposite the prisoner. Ibiki wasn't lying – if you ignored the boy's deathly pallor and complete lack of expression, he looked to be no more than a year older than her. And… strangely resembling a certain Uchiha from her genin days. That thought nearly managed to dim the smile on her face, but she stubbornly kept it on, eyes trained to pick up the barest hint of a reaction. "I'm Sakura, I'll be with you this morning. My supervisor tells me that you haven't given him a name, but is there anything you'd like to be called? I might just make you up a nickname if you don't give me something." She smiled wider, tilting her head and letting her eyes close with her smile like Kakashi's did.
When she opened them again, the boy was looking at her with the slightest trace of confusion in his eyes. Shrugging, she made sure to keep her cheerful demeanour up. "Alright, you're officially Awaku-san." Making a show of flicking through her folder, she made sure not to look up at the boy until –
"What do you gain from a nickname?"
The teen's voice was soft, quiet, much like Chōjūrō's, but it lacked even the barest inflection. Making sure not to cringe at the monotone voice, Sakura smiled.
"Gain?" she repeated, feigning confusion. "There's no gain from nicknames, Awaku-san. Just a foundation of familiarity. Since you haven't given a name, I need to refer to you somehow, ne?"
The tiniest crease appeared between the boy's brows. "Then why do it if there's no gain?"
Sakura tilted her head, pretending to ponder over the question. "Well, there's comfort, for one. Nicknames are usually based on a diminutive of someone's name or a characteristic, either favourable or not. See, if you'd given me your name, I wouldn't have had to call you 'pale', Awaku-kun." She teased, smiling good-naturedly.
"My name is –" the raven began, then cut off rapidly, frowning for real this time as he looked up at the rosette, looking slightly lost. "I don't remember. I don't recall having one."
Shooting a split-second victorious smirk at the window, she turned back to the boy with a frown that wasn't as fake as her previous expressions. "That's really sad, Awaku-kun."
On the other side of the glass, Anko huffed laugh that was a mix of amused and disbelieving. Ibiki nodded and scribbled something down on the original of the file he'd given the pinkette and turned back to the interrogation. Only Genma was frowning.
"What is she doing? He nearly killed her, she shouldn't be trying to establish rapport!" he exclaimed, suddenly angry.
"She's not." Anko cut him off, prompting a confused glare. "'Awaku' doesn't pick up on social cues. He doesn't understand interpersonal relationship, and by starting familiarly, trying to give him a personal nickname, Sakura forced him to focus on what he doesn't know and, in true ninja fashion, seek more information. Then, he dropped his guard. All we had so far when the question of 'name' came up was silence. Now we know that he was most likely trained in this ANBU mockery from a really young age, or conditioned to respond only to a pseudonym." She side-eyed Genma, smirking at the light of comprehension that dawned in his eyes. "The kid's methods are far from standard, but you cannot deny that they are effective."
The silence that greeted her explanation was answer enough.
Sakura eyed 'Awaku' critically, noting for the first time that the fingers of both his hands were mangled. She didn't have to fake the surprised gasp that escaped her, and she was by the raven's side before she even realised what she was doing. She carefully catalogued the way every muscle in the teen's body seized up when she grabbed his wrist, and instead called up healing chakra.
She carefully set the bones and reattached the torn ligaments and healed the tendons, then switched onto the other hand. Sakura noted but didn't comment on the way the boy's eyes were trained on her, calculating but also confused.
When she was done, she smiled lightly. "They'll still be tender and I'd really splint them if I had the resources, but they shouldn't hurt anymore." She announced when the calculating expression didn't fade.
"I do not understand." The boy replied. "You are being… kind. Why? You believe I am your enemy, no? Or else you would not have put me under that genjutsu."
And like a switch was flipped, Sakura dropped the pleasant façade and narrowed her eyes. "'Believe'? Trust me, Awaku-kun, I don't 'believe' you are my enemy – I know so. You attacked a Konoha shinobi and a diplomat. That makes you my enemy, no?"
"I was acting on orders." Came the curt reply, and Sakura smiled, but slyer and sharper than before.
"Whose orders is the real question, Awaku-kun." She purred, and the teen tilted his head in a vain mimicry of her curious expression, a faux confused frown marring his brow.
"The Hokage's, of course." He replied, and Sakura nodded.
"Of course, of course." She acknowledged, then idly flicked through the file she still had open. "If not for the fact that your explanation is full of shit, I would almost believe you." She observed casually, and when the teen tensed, she bared her teeth. "The Godaime personally sent me and my partner to secure the treaty with Mist. Tell me, what reason would she have to sabotage the very diplomats who'd formed that treaty?" when all she received was silence, she barrelled on. "So, let's try this again: whose orders were you acting on?"
When all that answered her was silence, she slammed her hand on the table. "I know that your leader is a man. I know there's an underground base. I know there's at least thirty other operatives. I know you sleep in bunk-beds, so there is interaction amongst the agents. I know that there were trackers amongst those two platoons after us, so you were planning an ambush, you were a pursuit squad so you knew we wouldn't expect you. I know there are strict punishments for those who break whatever rules that govern you, but trust me when I say those punishments will be nothing compared to what you'll experience here, so tell me whose orders were you acting on!"
The teen blanched even further the more she spoke, then, the first real expression appeared on his face: anger.
"I can't tell you!" he hissed, then froze, though Sakura noted that it wasn't from anything she had done.
Sakura stilled too, noting the stress on the modal, and her eyes narrowed. "'Can't'?" she parroted back, frowning. "Or 'won't'?" when the boy remained silent, she sat slowly back in her chair, her mind working hundred miles an hour. "'Won't' would mean you refuse to tell me for your own reasons, be they stubbornness or loyalty. 'Can't', however, implies that there is something physically preventing you from telling me… or showing me…" she added, thinking back to how it felt as if something had kicked her out when she'd invaded the mind of one of the agents back when they were still on the run. Something had forced her out… was it really such a stretch to think-?
Darting forward, Sakura grabbed the teen's wrist for the second time and concentrated on a diagnostic jutsu. She spread her chakra in a net all over his body, starting from his toes and working up. Then, something ping'ed, and the rosette stood, wobbling only slightly on the quick movement on her still tender leg, and slapped a – probably unnecessary, but better safe than sorry – paralyzing tag on the teen's forehead.
Satisfied with the lack of resistance and with only the raven's eyes following her movements in alarm, she pried his jaw open and gripped his tongue, pulling it out of his mouth. She almost recoiled at the seal she found at the back of the muscle, but then the door to the cell slammed open and Ibiki stormed in.
"You're done. Consider yourself officially promoted." He barked, then pushed her away from the boy, taking her place and grabbing his tongue to study the seal.
Grabbing her crutches, Sakura carefully hobbled out, her mind whirring with what she'd just discovered could mean.
And then, her mind ground to a stop because she raised her eyes and met Genma's gaze.
And he was looking at her like a stranger.
Sakura felt the blood drain from her face, then she was dropping her crutches and flashing through the handsigns for the shunshin, gone before either her senpai or partner could say a word.
Fuck.
Anko found her half an hour later, curled up on top of the Nidaime's hair spikes and staring out onto the Village. Surprisingly, the tokujo just sat next to her and let the silence drag on for a good five minutes before she spoke.
"How'd you know there was a seal?" she asked at last, and Sakura was almost startled by the fact that the first question wasn't 'why did you run'.
So she answered, though still didn't turn to look at the woman. "Medical diagnostic jutsu. You cast a chakra net over your patient's body. It's why ANBU agents have their own medics. Anything imbued with chakra pops up."
"So the ANBU tattoo…?"
"Is visible." Sakura acknowledged. "You can't see the pattern, but you know that there's something there which shouldn't be."
"Aa. I see." Anko murmured, and they lapsed back into silence.
Eventually, Sakura sighed and shifted, laying on her back instead and staring up at the sky. "Thanks, senpai." She said after a few minutes, finally looking at her teacher. "For not making me tell you."
A corner of Anko's mouth quirked up in a wry grin and she stretched her legs out so her feet dangled over the edge. "I got a feeling you wouldn't appreciate it."
Sakura let out a startled bark of a laugh. "You're right, I wouldn't have."
Anko's head lolled over her shoulder to smirk at her. "Feel like telling me anyway?"
Another laugh, not so dry this time and Sakura sighed. "Did you see the look on his face? I'm too much of a coward to deal with that so soon."
To her surprise, Anko just snorted. "Kid, are you really surprised? Shiranui's view of you is that of a kid – skilled and reliable, but still not really well-versed in the shittier aspects of our day job. He didn't seem to realise you've ever interrogated anyone before." Sakura felt more than saw the exasperated glare Anko sent her at that, but she continued when the rosette merely smiled. "T&I has dealt with the darker parts of your training, and generally, what you see or learn doesn't tend to leave the building. So you've gotta cut him some slack, and I'm pretty convinced he'll just take it in stride and you'll go back to disgustingly domestic in a few hours."
At that, Sakura couldn't help but laugh. "Thanks, senpai." She said again, wiping a tear from her eye. "Also, what did Morino-san mean by 'consider yourself promoted'?" she asked, as that was something that had been bothering her since she left.
Anko's grin was machiavellian. "It means precisely that. Welcome to the ranks of Senior Interrogators!" she cheered, and smacked Sakura in the face with a black badge.
Spluttering, the rosette pried it away from her face and squinted to read the tiny text in the light of the setting sun. 'Sakura Haruno: Torture and Interrogation: Senior Interrogator: Level III' Peering up at her senpai, she frowned. "Level III?"
"Clearance level. Newbies get Level I – which is honestly nothing and barely counts – what you had before was Level II, so permission to do some interrogations and the ablility to wander without supervision. Level III is most interrogations as well as access to files of current or previous prisoners; some access to what Intelligence or Tactical dig out, etc. Tonbo's Level IV, I've got V, Ibiki… who knows, but that man is basically the God of T&I and do you really think anyone's got the balls to tell him he can't look at something?"
They shared a laugh over the sheer ridiculousness of the idea till Sakura sobered up.
"I think I better head home. Genma should be there by now." She sighed and shifted to grab her crutches.
"Mm, like I said, he should be fine with it." Then, she winked. "But if he isn't, I've got a free couch in my living room. It's got more holes than fabric and the springs kill your back, but you're welcome to it."
Letting out another bark of startled laughter, Sakura saluted the tokujo and disappeared in a silent shunshin.
It turned out that Anko was right. All Genma did was smack her upside the head for disappearing on him then apologised if it seemed like he wasn't supportive or something like that, and assured her that he very much was. He just didn't realise his 'pink-haired kid was a menace in disguise'.
Then, after a week of purely physiotherapy following the excitement of the interrogation, Sakura had gotten a clean bill of health from her trainer and a reassurance that her leg was in a good enough state to resume light training. As soon as she repeated the news, Genma dragged her away from the desk in her room where she was busy poring over a scroll with the chakra-strings technique she'd picked up in Suna and pulled her outside.
Genma merely laughed at her disgruntled expression which Sakura was sure was a mix of indignant and confused, and winked, "Don't you give me that face, we're just going to see a friend of mine."
Scowling when she realised there would be no more details forthcoming, Sakura sighed exasperatedly and tried to see whether she could figure out where they were going. All her guesses were promptly shot down when Genma stopped outside a modest house on the outskirts of the newly rebuilt civilian sector and knocked on the door. She huffed when he laughed at her bafflement and lightly socked him in the arm, but any further quarrelling could take place, they were interrupted by the door opening and – !
"Namiashi-san?" Sakura gaped, then glanced from the temporarily retired tokujo to Genma and narrowed her eyes at the grin she saw on the latter's face.
"You didn't tell her where you were going?" Raido asked, not even surprised but instead sounding long-suffering, like he almost expected that out of Genma. Sakura briefly considered what she'd learnt of the brunet's sense of humour over the last year and a half and decided that yeah, actually, she probably should've expected this too.
Indeed, Genma just shrugged, his grin never fading. "Gotta keep the kid on her toes." And quickly twisted out of the way of Sakura's elbow and strutted into the house, laughing all the way.
Raido just sighed and turned to Sakura with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, I asked Genma to bring you over as well because I want to introduce you to someone."
Sakura nodded slowly, cautious. Then, an epiphany struck her and her hand flew to her mouth. "Baby-!" she exclaimed, eyes darting to Raido's face to see whether she was right, and at his nod and small smile, she started apologising. "I'm so sorry, I completely forgot –!"
The brunet held up a hand to stop her, and Sakura quietened. "From what Genma tells me, you were in the middle of Suna, negotiating a treaty. After what happened, I am not surprised you forgot, not to mention that I hardly expected you to remember in the first place; I haven't exactly made much of an effort to get to know you personally."
Sakura blushed, feeling as if she was scolded despite being literally absolved of her faults, and frowned. "I'm also to blame for that – I didn't bother learning more beyond the stories he told me of you."
Raido smiled, the expression pulling slightly on the scar marring his face, and inclined his head in the barest of bows. "Well then, I look forward to getting to know you as more than just 'Genma's kid'."
Sakura mirrored him with a relieved smile. "Likewise, Namiashi-san."
"Raido," the man corrected, but was interrupted as a beautiful woman stepped into the hallway they were still standing in, looking fond yet exasperated as she turned to her husband.
"What are you still doing here, Rai? Genma-kun has moved on to making the dinner you were tasked with while you kept poor Haruno-san in this dreary corridor. Off you go!" she waved Raido towards the kitchen and Sakura had to cover her mouth to stifle her giggles when the man actually obeyed, disappearing into the main living area.
Then, the civilian woman turned to Sakura and the rosette paled, slowly dropping her hand. Raido's wife was gorgeous, in that traditional, ephemeral kind of way that only royals normally managed, with pale skin and dark hair, and her eyes a dark, sparkling emerald, only a shade or so darker than Sakura's own.
"Oh, don't look so scared!" she teased, pulling Sakura towards the living room. "I've heard a lot about you, Haruno-san, and since Genma-kun came over a few days ago to tell us you were officially rid of the worst of your injuries, I've been wanting to meet you and to introduce you to little Kei-chan!"
It was only then that Sakura noticed a tiny bundle cradled in the woman's free arm, and she smiled despite herself at the hint of a brown curl and pudgy cheeks that peaked out from the blanket.
Then, she turned towards Eri and bowed. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Namiashi-san." She greeted, only to be waved off by the raven and treated to a sparkling smile.
"None of that! I'll only accept Eri, none of this Namiashi-san stuff!" she demanded, wagging her finger at the rosette who couldn't quite stop a grin from forming.
"Eri-san, then. And Sakura, please."
Before Eri could get a word in edgewise, a loud 'clang!' resonated from the kitchen, and Sakura saw the woman freeze for a second, then scowl. Carefully, Eri pulled Kei free from the crook of her arm and wordlessly handed him to Sakura before she turned in the direction of the kitchen, murder in her eyes. In her peripheral vision, Sakura saw Genma shove the broken wok into Raido's arms and hide behind the bulkier man. The rosette snorted, only to wince when Eri marched in their direction with a shrill cry of "Boys!". Both jounin flinched, and Sakura merely watched, mesmerised, as the frail, barely 5'5" civilian took the broken wok out of her husband's arms and proceeded to use it to bash both men on the head.
"I left you alone for two minutes! This kitchen better be spotless and you both better be alive when you're done, or neither of you get dessert and you, Rai, will be on nappy-changing duty for the next month!" and then she whirled around, a brilliant smile appearing on her face as her gaze met Sakura's, and the teen could only think one thing as the woman started making her way back to her.
I think I'm in love.
And then, a small hand wrapped around her bangs and pulled, and Sakura looked down only to meet pair of sleepy green eyes in the exact same shade as those of the baby's mother.
"Hello, Kei-chan." Sakura murmured, smiling down at the infant in her arms, startled when he grinned right back, his entire face lighting up with the action. He then yanked harshly on her hair and Sakura bit back a hiss, gently detangling his hand from her hair and letting Kei grip her finger instead, laughing when he waved his hand back and forth without letting go.
With the barest twitch of her finger and a flicker of chakra, Sakura called up an illusion of a little butterfly and made it flutter its colourful wings around, and she watched, amused, as Kei tried to track the butterfly, only to scowl cutely when it fluttered away.
"Kid, are you using your genjutsu mojo to babysit?" Genma asked incredulously, coming out of the kitchen with three steaming plates and ducking Eri's swat at the back of his head. "That's cheating!"
"You're just bitter because Kei threw up on you when you tried to burp him." Raido grumbled, coming up behind his old partner with the rest of the plates. The comment made Sakura snort before she could stop herself, and she laughed when Kei screwed his nose up in confusion at her reaction.
Eri's melodic laugh rang out from behind Sakura and the rosette turned, noting that the civilian was also watching the illusionary butterfly with a mixture of awe and confusion. Sakura dismissed the genjutsu, worried that she'd overstepped, but Eri sent her a reassuring grin.
"By all means, keep at it. You just might be the designated putting-Kei-to-sleep person from now on. He's a very fussy baby."
The admission startled a laugh out of Sakura and she easily surrendered the infant to his mother, sitting down at the table besides Genma while they waited for Eri to join them.
"So," Genma started cheerfully in a break between slurping up the noodles. "why, exactly, did you invite me and the kid over?"
"Well," Raido spoke, waiting till his old partner shovelled more noodles and broth in his mouth before he continued, "we were hoping you'd be the godfather."
Sakura ducked under the table a millisecond before half-chewed noodles and broth spattered everywhere.
"A what?!"
If anyone saw him during the few hours after the announcement, they'd have thought Genma had ended up too close to an explosive tag. The man looked shell-shocked, murmuring under his breath every once in a while and blinking owlishly, as if still in disbelief over the bombshell Raido had dropped on him.
Sakura had been waiting for him to snap, patiently curled up on the sofa with one of the books she'd bought over a year back in Kiri. Then, the moment finally came.
"I'm an assassin. I kill people! Have been doing it even before my voice broke when I was a brat! How on earth does that make me a good godparent candidate?!"
Sakura very carefully did not laugh at the brunet's bewildered tone and simply put her book down before pretending to think the question over.
"Well, being an assassin makes you the best babysitter, doesn't it? Not only has Raido-san known you for over a decade and knows that you'd sooner lay waste to the Shinobi Nations than let him or his come to harm, he also probably thinks that due to you being an assassin, you're the best person to prevent any possible assassination attempts." She shrugged at Genma's baffled stare, raking a hand through her hair. "I dunno, but the psychology books I've read say that parents worry over the most unlikely dangers, so the decade of peace we've lived through probably doesn't matter to him."
Genma blinked as he absorbed that, then huffed a disbelieving laugh. "Thanks, kid. But stop making it sound like I'm so predictable, I don't like it."
At that, Sakura had to laugh. "But you are! Totally predictable – you'll use insults instead of endearments, grouch and complain a lot, but ultimately raze any and all obstacles to the ground if it means keeping those you care for safe. It's endearing, really."
The tokujo stared at her for a few seconds, as if not quite processing that, then scowled and threw a cushion at her and Sakura let it bean her right in the face, laughing too much to do more than half-heartedly swat at it.
"I'll whoop your ass at training tomorrow and we'll see who's predictable then!"
"I'm injured, can't hit me!"
"'Injured' my ass!"
Despite how jokingly it was said, Sakura really didn't go back to flat out sparring the next day. Although medical chakra almost completely prevented muscle atrophy, the sheer fact that it had been nearly two months since she had last ran at all meant that anything heavier than basic stretches and katas would've sent her straight back to hospital.
And so, Sakura carefully spread her training over the course of a month, starting with a week of pure stretches, working to get back her flexibility and range of motion, moving on to basic katas, with and without weapons, then gradually speeding her movements up and adding chakra. At the end of the month, she was almost back to how she was before leaving for Suna, and she'd added a lap round the Village to her morning routine to work on her stamina, as that had been something she'd noticed she was severely lacking every time she'd been in a close scrape.
Genma had sparred with her, correcting her each time she unconsciously overcompensated or favoured her left leg. Izumo and Kotetsu turned up a couple of times too, teasing her mercilessly and coaching her through some of the more complex katas and reminding her how to wield the weapons she'd grown unused to using.
She took her first C-Rank since being back in the Village in early February, three whole months and change after Genma brought her back. It was almost insultingly simple and a far cry from what she'd been doing before; a simple solo courier run to an informant in Tanzaku-gai. The run itself took three hours, finding the place the informant was meant to be at took another two, and Sakura was back in her own bed by nightfall. Tsunade clearly took that mission to mean that the rosette was finally ready to run missions again, and Sakura found herself doing more C and B-Ranks throughout the rest of February and the beginning of March than she'd done over a year.
She took another C-Rank leading a team of Genin Corps members to a little outpost between Land of Fire and Hidden Hot Water Village, a B-Rank under an Akimichi jounin to investigate rumours in Land of Whirlpools, a B-Rank to the Tenchi Bridge, and a handful of other missions, most of which ended up being assassinations that blurred into each other and left her with barely a day or two to rest, unpack, repack and leave again.
Genma was clearly torn between amused and exasperated, but he too was out of the house more and more often, much to their joint chagrin. In their collective exhaustion, Sakura's 14th birthday was spent laying around the house and gorging on sweets and snacks, occasionally getting up to let in whoever came knocking with well-wishes. (Shikamaru had taken one look at her pyjamas and sleep-ruffled hair, snorted, shrugged off his chunin jacket, let himself in and promptly stole her favourite blanket. The gift he brought was offered up as compensation, and Sakura couldn't even be mad when she pulled out a beautiful set of calligraphy brushes. The hug she tackled the Nara with ended up sending Genma into hysterics.)
Still, by the time April rolled around, the mission influx eased and Sakura was comfortably back to the level she'd been working at before, if not higher, and her and Genma had finally managed to win a blind spar against the Twins. (10 hits to their 9, but a win was a win and they were going to take it, damn it.)
There was also the additional perk in the fact that, when Sakura had returned to active duty, her mission record had read 80 D-Ranks, 13 C-Ranks, 2 B-Ranks and 5 A-Ranks, but by the end of March, she was only 4 short on her C-Ranks and had 6 more B-Ranks to run before she would officially meet the jounin requirements.
Obviously, this was precisely the moment when things went wrong.
Sakura had been in the process of a 1v1v1v1 spar between her, Genma, Izumo and Kotetsu when a Genin Corps member appeared on their training field, bearing a summon to the Hokage's Office. Genma eyed the messenger, then hugged Sakura and told her to be careful. Taking that as a send-off, Sakura waved to the Twins and shunshined to the Hokage Tower.
Upon entering Tsunade's office, Sakura paused, then carefully closed the door behind her, watching as the privacy seals on the walls lit up before dimming again. There was a bear-masked ANBU in an all-black uniform standing by the Godaime's right side, peering at what Sakura realised was her file.
"You called, Tsunade-sama?" she murmured, carefully keeping her eyes focused on her Hokage and not the unknown man.
"That I did." The blonde replied, sighing. "You ran a mission with ANBU before, right?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama. Back in… August, I believe."
Tsunade assessed her for a moment, then rubbed at her temples before looking her in the eye again. "I'm gonna be honest here, Haruno. The ANBU ranks took a big hit during Orochimaru's invasion. Although it's been over a year, Sabotage and Assassination are still severely depleted. Fewer people are trying out for ANBU due to the peace-time mentality, and even fewer pass the cut-off test due to the changes in the structure of the Academy. Some skills are simply not taught anymore. Bear-sama and I have had to pull some shinobi into the ranks who, before the Invasion, wouldn't have even been considered. You're one of those." Tsunade told her bluntly, and Sakura froze. "Your specialisation means that you'd be fit to fill in the missing personnel in Assassination, and your genjutsu could let you flutter between that and Sabotage. You wouldn't go full-time, I know you want that jounin promotion, but I will probably have to ask you to run some ANBU missions even after you pass that, at least until we fill up the ranks again. What do you say?"
Sakura took a moment to process that.
On one hand, ANBU. Wow. On the other hand… ANBU. Ouch.
There were less than favourable rumours and heresay fluttering around Konoha about the shadow ranks. No one could deny their usefulness, but the hush-hush atmosphere that surrounded Konohagakure's elite meant that it was a breeding ground for speculation. Then again, if she moonlighted as an ANBU assassin, maybe Genma wouldn't have to… and she might be able to get the rest of her missions done through ANBU work.
So she inclined her head. "I will do what you need me to, Tsunade-sama." She replied.
Sakura almost jumped when the woman laughed, short and bitter, and turned to the so far silent ANBU agent beside her. "Told you that you'd like her."
"She still needs to pass the test." The deep monotone of the masked man replied, then grabbed Sakura's file from Tsunade's desk and somehow made it vanish. Sakura barely managed to catch a blank kabuki mask before it smacked her in the face. "Come."
Shooting a bewildered glance at her Hokage, Sakura shoved the mask on her face and followed the ANBU agent, marvelling when a previously unseen door in Tsunade's office opened and revealed a steep staircase. Logically, Sakura knew that they had to have descended underground, far below the Academy levels and probably into tunnels that ran under the Village's streets, but the near-darkness of the passageways was disorientating. Finally, they emerged in what seemed to be another corridor, but Sakura was soon led to what she tentatively labelled a locker room.
Bear led her to a locker labelled 472 and pulled out a stack of clothes.
"This will be yours until you pass or fail the test. You will have half an hour to pack for a long term mission, anywhere between one to three months, and any terrain. No one is to know where you'll be nor who you're going with. Stag will go with you to bring you back here, then you're leaving tonight."
Sakura paled behind her mask, not having expected the secrecy aspect, though really, now that she thought about it, ANBU. She should've expected it, in retrospect. She still jumped when a masked agent materialised seemingly out of thin air and saluted Bear, and after a flurry of sign language too quick for her to make out, turned to her expectantly.
"You've got half an hour." Bear reminded her, and Sakura nodded, saluted, and signed 'go' to her escort. Stag grabbed her arm and with the barest flicker of chakra, they disappeared.
To her surprise and relief, Genma was still not home when she burst through the door – she didn't think she would manage to conceal where she was going or why she couldn't offer any mission details. Still, she made the effort to write a quick note, despairing at the ambiguity even as she wrote it:
Summon turned into a mission, will most likely last over a month. Had to leave quickly so couldn't tell you in person, sorry. Take care of yourself, I'll be back as soon as I can. Love you
She barrelled into her room, grabbing her mission pack and shoving clothes into it, taking the more extreme weather gear and sealing it in sealing scrolls then stashing them at the bottom of her bag – pastel wraps for desert climate, spikes to clip onto her sandals for icy/mountainous regions, closed-toed boots and her travel cloak. Then went her medical pouch, various rations bars, a couple of water bottles and a few books which she stowed into the deepest pockets for any eventual downtime. Taking an extra minute to quickly change into the outfit Bear had given her, Sakura took a moment to appreciate that it was probably the first time in over a year she stepped out of the house in a top that wasn't long-sleeved. She inwardly despaired that after a year in the soft cotton of the standard chunin uniform and long pants and sleeves, the sleeveless, tight-fitting lycra top of the ANBU trainees made her almost uncomfortable. Still, seeing her arm muscles flex as she picked up her mission pack was very satisfying for her vanity, and she shoved her mask on and headed to the back window before she could spend any longer in front of the mirror.
Stag was already waiting for her and like before, he grabbed her arm and with a now-familiar pull of space-time ninjutsu, she was back in the dark locker room. Stag wordlessly led her through another couple of corridors and double doors, then stopped in what looked like an office.
Bear looked up from the paperwork on his desk and seemed to eye her critically. "What you packed will be inspected before you leave. And do something about that ridiculous hair of yours, or the mask will be pointless. You have the next hour and a half to find someone to give you a crash course in the sign language we use, then you are to join up with the rest of the potential recruits at 1900 hours."
"Wig, dye, henge or genjutsu?" Sakura asked after nodding to show she understood, and got a snort in response.
"A genjutsu is too obvious and any decent tracker can smell chakra residue from a henge. Unless you don't waste anything-" and then he paused, because Sakura's telltale pink locks turned brown right before his eyes.
It was an interesting perk of her near-perfect chakra control she'd discovered over her prolonged stay in the hospital and being forbidden from physical exercise – if she concentrated an extra bit more than usual, she could use just the right amount of chakra for the Academy techniques with no wastage. The real reason there were poofs of smoke when shinobi created bunshin or henged was because the wasted chakra took the form of chakra-charged smoke, and it was that smoky residue which trackers used to detect henges and bunshin from real people.
After a bit of practice, Sakura, with her 95th percentile chakra control, no longer produced the puff of smoke when she changed her appearance or created Academy bunshin.
"That works." Bear admitted at last. "Now scram."
The following two and a half months were hell.
It was the worst, most difficult, physically, psychologically and spiritually exhausting two months of her life thus far, and Sakura had been tempted to call it quits after the first week.
ANBU were the elites, the extreme of the extreme athletes. Sakura… wasn't. That was probably the best way to describe it.
Upon leaving the Village, they ran all night, in silence. Then, they slept, on-and-off for four hours with rotating guard shifts, sparred at the break of dawn – rookies vs rookies, rookies vs established agents, a free-for-all, anything went – only to rinse and repeat by the time evening rolled around. Physical conditioning, speed training, dodge training, ninjutsu training, genjutsu training, taijutsu training, bukijutsu training – by the end of the first week, Sakura's bruises had bruises, and she gained the ability of falling asleep while standing. In a group of twenty, of which seven were ANBU agents, it was impossible to get away with slacking off. Cheating wasn't tolerated, nor was sabotaging a fellow trainee, and if you complained, all the exercises were started from the very beginning.
Sakura had cried every night during the second week, then became too exhausted to do anything more than pass out the moment she was in her bedroll, until someone came over to wake her up for guard duty.
Also, sleeping in a clay mask was uncomfortable.
So went the first month, which Sakura supposed was to bring everyone up to a comparable level of overall fitness (a small part of her mind whispered that it was more to scare them away from ANBU before it was too late. She adamantly refused to listen to that voice, regardless of how tempting it was when she lost/fell over/came last for the nth time.)
The second month, on the other hand, was filled with missions – once their physical conditioning was deemed to be at a passable standard, the recruits were divided into specialist groups. Of the ten that remained of the original thirteen trainees, two ended up in Seduction, three in Body guarding, four in Sabotage, and only Sakura in Assassination.
That earned her a one-on-one trip around the Shinobi Nations with the androgynous-looking Horse, and Sakura's kill-count skyrocketed from around thirty to just shy of triple digits by the end of the second month. She didn't really know what to feel about that, so she avoided thinking about it at all.
Horse was cordial, but detached. They'd tell her "Make a statement.", "Make it look like an accident.", "Old age.", "Jealous lover.", "Natural causes.", "Poisoning." Or anything else that was specified in the mission scroll she wasn't allowed to look at, and Sakura would do it.
She killed with a pillow, a scarf, a hairpin, an empty syringe, poisoned tea, electric shocks, knives, pens, senbon, her bare hands – it didn't matter.
She'd spent a week of the time she was in the hospital with the nurses, filling in the gaps in her knowledge and learning how to heal broken bones.
And yet, for every way she knew how to heal and mend, she knew three ways to kill and break.
When the list of fifty targets was finally done – and wow, wasn't that a mindfuck and a half, fifty targets when before she'd had five – they were heading back from the very north of the Land of Lightning to the rendezvous point in the Land of Whirlpools. Horse insisted on sparring with her every evening, so the journey stretched out for nine days instead of the original week, but since Horse said it didn't matter and they'd still be early, Sakura didn't worry.
She'd like to say that the last two months had made her considerably stronger than she was before, strong enough to be on par with ANBU agents physically at least. She'd really like that.
But when Horse called for a spar, every evening, she got her ass kicked each and every time.
When they arrived at the rendezvous point, Sakura had a day to rest before all of the other trainees eventually trickled in. Five of the six other ANBU agents were there, and only seven of the trainees beside Sakura.
After one last free-for-all spar, they were heading home.
It turned out only six of the thirteen trainees passed the test, Sakura included. As of the last week of May, ANBU agent Jackal joined the ranks of ANBU assassins, barely resisting the urge to scratch at the newly-inked tattoo on her arm as she folded her new uniform and stashed it neatly into her locker, finally back to the comfortable uniform of the average chunin.
All but stumbling out of the HQ and down one of the many corridors that deposited the agents inconspicuously onto the streets of Konoha, Sakura crawled her way out of one of the trap doors that led out into the Nara Forest. She staggered a bit but managed to stay on her feet and stash her mask away in her hip pouch, then set about to making her way out of the forest.
The setting sun made the shadows cast by the trees grow longer, spookier than during the day time, but Sakura was far too tired and far too bruised to really care. And then, she came out onto a clearing and nearly laughed with delight. She stumbled over to the two figures sitting cross-legged with a shogi board between them and fell on her knees, not stopping until her head was pillowed on Shikamaru's thigh and her arm thrown over her eyes.
"Sakura?!" The Nara asked after a beat, his tone a mix of surprise and disbelief. "What are you doing here? Where have you been?"
"Ugh," was the only response Sakura felt capable of giving. "R'ning. 'nd ow. Can't f'get ow."
The man Shikamaru was with snorted, but the Nara remained concerned, if the barrage of questions meant anything. "What were you doing? You've been gone nearly three months."
"Mhm… playin' hide 'nd seek." She mumbled, then allowed sleep to take over, only briefly wondering why Shikamaru's sensei spluttered when she said that and started Coughing really conspicuously before she let sleep take her away.
Genma's hovering, once she finally got back home, was hilarious, but the fact remained that she couldn't tell him why she'd been gone, only giving the vaguest half-truths and locations. Still, after a week of recuperating, Sakura was back on her feet, ANBU tattoo carefully bandaged and hidden beneath long sleeves and her bruises almost completely healed.
Naturally, that was when another summon to the Hokage's Office came, and this time, when Sakura walked in, the office seemed almost crowded with over a dozen people dotted around the room.
"Good, now that we're all here," Tsunade began, immediately drawing the attention of the entire room onto herself, "you're Konoha's best and brightest chunin, and I hereby announce the next step in your shinobi careers!"
At the confused, wary silence that followed, a truly devious grin spread on Tsunade's face. "The first stage of the Jounin Exams begins tomorrow!"
and here we are!
as always, feel free to drop a line on anything you liked/enjoyed/found interesting (or not) in the chap! next one will be jounin exams + timeskip!