Pulling My Weight

by Invincible Shadow

During the mission to Wave, Sakura realises that she has to become a better ninja for her teammates' sake and be someone they can depend on. She vows to take her training seriously, and receives help from the most unlikely of sources; Genma Shiranui. The two form an unlikely bond and stick together through thick and thin, while Sakura improves and meets other people along the way.

24. Chapter 24

so, ah, sorry? it's been a bit longer than usual between updates, as uni is slowly but surely eating at my free time and will to live.

BUT!

we have a new chapter here at last, and more than that, we have FANART!

apart from the lovely citrusine with their work on Yuki, yourmoonbun (on tumblr, or on ig and LeuicisticArt on twitter or just my account itsthechocopuff [it's the first post you'll come across]) has made incredible art of Sakura's jounin outfit! i'd include the links but is still a pest with the formatting, so you're better off just heading over there and screaming at the author! and NinjaPenguinLover on DeviantArt, cause wowza watching their art style develop since the first fanart to the more recent art has be screaming!

but anyway! enjoy!

Once the surprise of the upcoming trials wore off and they were caught up on the charges pressed against Danzo and the bare bones of the operation Ibiki and Tsunade had been running right under everyone's noses, things… relaxed a bit. Kakashi got into a battle of wills with Yuki, Shikaku took over entertaining Kei, and Anko dutifully went to help Eri-san in the kitchen, after a unanimous decision that everyone feared Anko in the kitchen far less than they feared Anko with a baby. Then, Sakura finally found the time to seek out Inoichi.

The man noticed her coming and stood up, and Sakura quietly led him to the guest bedroom which was sometimes her and Genma's when they were babysitting Kei or too lazy to leave after dinner at the Namiashi household. Once they sat down on the double bed, Sakura sighed, and Inoichi chuckled.

"Tough week, hm?" he offered, not unkindly, and Sakura couldn't quite hold back the snort.

"Week. Mm. Tough month? Year, really." She shrugged, then fell back on the bed with another sigh. "My head's a bit of a mess, Inoichi-san. And I… lost control. With Sasuke, I mean. I never meant– I didn't mean to let it go that far. I wanted to bring him back, just to put this whole affair to an end, and maybe I did want to hurt him, just a little… but not like that."

No shit. Inoichi thought darkly, but refrained from voicing that particular thought. Instead, he hummed and leaned back on his hands, looking up at the ceiling in thought, but before he could speak, Sakura continued, quieter than a whisper this time. "But… I don't regret it."

Inoichi paused, then nodded slowly. "…That's understandable. Is there anything you can identify as a trigger to your behaviour?"

Sakura took a deep breath and thought. This part was familiar. This part she could do. But this also meant telling Inoichi what even Tsunade didn't know the full extent of.

"Senpai's coma was a poorly-handled trigger." She admitted, then closed her eyes and tried to relax. "Naruto's return. The idea of Team 7 coming back together – it's something a small, naïve part of my brain still wants, this idyllic relationship with my genin team, but then… I like what I've built for myself, and going back to them would be sacrificing that. Then there was Shikamaru's… loss. And then… when Genma and I fought Deidara." She felt more than saw Inoichi snap to attention. "Genma's gotten good at barrier seals, but the tag he used was an old model. He'd tethered it to his own chakra. It was going to suck him dry for nothing, because Deidara wasn't incapacitated, just trapped. So I… tampered with it."

She kept her eyes closed, even as she heard Inoichi draw a sharp breath. "I know Genma. Inside and out, I know his chakra, his thought process, the way he approaches fuinjutsu like it's a dance rather than a set of orders. It wasn't difficult to alter the seal even with the barrier already up. All I did was switch the energy source, from Genma's chakra to… to the natural chakra around us." Inoichi's sudden silence meant more than any words he could've said. "Deidara blew himself up. He committed suicide. The barrier held. But… when we got back… all the life force of the area of forest I had extended the seal to had been drained. Trees, grass, flowers, animals – all dead. And I… it grated at me more than anything I have done as a Konoha shinobi so far. More than any of the lives I've taken. And I don't understand why."

To his credit, Inoichi managed to limit his reaction to a small tremor in his voice. "Do you not understand, or do you just not want to admit it to yourself? I won't judge you, Sakura-chan."

Sakura grit her teeth and sat up, then levelled the blond with a serious stare, brimming with fear and confusion and a trace of disgust. "Because I felt like I was playing god." She admitted, voice wobbling, eyes filling with unbidden tears. "Shinobi do impossible things on a daily basis – we command the elements, walk upside down, summon sentient animals and have them follow our command – we do things civilian children read about in fairy tales. But that… there are still limits to what we can or what we should be able to do. And that was so far beyond that limit, I couldn't–!... I reminded myself of those I hate most. Shinobi who've engaged in something unnatural. And yet, what I did… that was more than unnatural, and for equally selfish reasons. I messed with natural energy, Inoichi-san. And how does that make me anything other than an enormous hypocrite?"

There was an odd light in Sakura's eyes, not quite fury, not quite fear, but more like… contemplation. Inoichi wasn't quite sure what she was getting at, but he tried to respond nonetheless; "What you did, Sakura-chan," he began, choosing his words carefully, "was for within your orders-!"

"Don't, Inoichi-san." Sakura cut him off, frowning severely. "That's a slippery slope of an excuse that I don't want to go down. I wasn't ordered to alter the seal like that. I chose to. And, again, I don't regret it, but it terrified me."

Surprisingly, Inoichi smiled. "Then you're not a hypocrite at all, Sakura-chan. You're aware of the dangers, and you're aware of your own morality."

Sakura snorted derisively. "I'm aware that my morality is fickle, Inoichi-san, and entirely dependent on a select few people I hold dear." She admitted, and Inoichi paused.

"This is not just about the forest, is it, Sakura-chan?" he asked quietly, and Sakura slumped and shook her head. "You're trying to convince me you're somehow awful or immoral, but I'm not so easily swayed. Yes, you went overboard with Sasuke. You tampered with something I'm struggling to grasp, but it was to save a comrade. Yes, you selfishly wish to keep the relationships you've made yourself, your little family of choice close to you instead of forsaking it for what has failed you once before – but that doesn't make you a bad person. Sakura-chan, you are an incredible, talented, loyal young woman, and a valuable kunoichi of the Leaf. It'll take more than a breakdown and a fuinjutsu misstep to change my mind."

Sakura regarded the blond for a moment, surprised and oddly touched, and it was as if something flipped. "I… thank you." She stuttered out, then offered the blond a hesitant smile. "I'll book a proper appointment in a bit, I just needed to get this off my chest."

And Inoichi smiled, bright and warm, and extended a hand. "Do you feel up to joining the others?"

Helpless to do anything but reciprocate the smile, Sakura nodded and allowed the blond to pull her to her feet. "Yeah. Here's to hoping they're still alive, what with senpai cooking dinner."

Sakura pretended that she didn't hear Inoichi's snort and muttered 'kami help them' and grinned instead.

Over dinner – which, to Anko and Eri-san's credit, was surprisingly edible – Sakura found out that Genma had been sent on a week-long mission to Hidden Valleys almost as soon as word of what she had done got around.

Plausible deniability, Sakura realised, and decided Tsunade was her favourite kage thus far, for protecting Genma when she wasn't able to and in a way that the jounin wasn't able to refuse.

Then, she found out that Team 10's mission had been a success, and they got back the day after Sakura hauled the Uchiha into the Village. Which reminded her–

"Ano, Shikaku-san, how's Shikamaru doing?" she asked once everyone had finished with their meal, grinning when Yuki got up to help with the dishes, only just managing to hold back a snort at Kakashi's disbelieving expression. The Terror of the Mist in an apron and yellow rubber gloves. She wondered how the Copy-Nin was handling that.

Then, she focused on Shikaku. "Better, Sakura-chan." The Nara replied, and Sakura sighed, relieved. "Whatever you did with him when you got back, it helped, and being able to personally avenge his sensei must've done something too."

"What did you do?" Anko asked curiously, watching suspiciously as Sakura tried to feed Kei some peeled apple slices without the toddler grimacing and turning away, which, understandable, Sakura thought, but still teetering between amusing and irritating.

"Basic grief counselling." She informed her senpai, then elaborated when Inoichi and Kakashi both looked curious. "I got him to talk about Asuma-san, their fondest memories, his hobbies and so on… then supplemented that with emotional and physical comfort and, well. Just… being there, really." She finished with a shrug.

"Is that why you didn't come see me after the Kazekage retrieval mission?" Inoichi asked, and at her nod, chuckled quietly. "'Select few' indeed." He murmured, too quiet for anyone but Sakura and Kakashi to hear.

And then, the front door opened again, and Sakura couldn't fight the smile that bloomed on her face.

"Shikamaru!"

With the way Sakura barrelled into him and almost knocked him off his feet with the force of her momentum, as well as the blinding grin she gifted him with when she pulled away enough for him to see her face, he never would have said this was the same girl who broke the Uchiha until he couldn't run away and gouged out his eye not even a week earlier.

But Sakura had always been a paradox, gentle and pink and polite in one instant, then cold and vicious and devastating the next, and Shikamaru found himself selfishly grateful, not for the first time, that he was firmly on the list of people she would never turn her more destructive abilities against.

The girl in his arms was a hurricane trapped in a bottle, and yet he felt no fear when he let his forehead thunk gently against hers. Sakura's expression softened, and the blinding grin turned into a small, private smile, and a murmured, "It's good to see you."

Before he could reply, there was a cheer from inside the house and when Shikamaru looked up, Yuki of all people stood at the other end of the hallway, wearing obnoxious yellow gloves and a pink 'Kiss the Cook' apron.

"You look cosy, shadow-boy." The assassin teased, and Sakura laughed, though didn't relinquish her hold, making Shikamaru feel a bit more justified when he smirked and shot back-

"And you look ridiculous."

"Hey!" Yuki crowed, though there was only humour behind it. "Can't you read? It says kiss the cook, not insult the cook!"

Sakura pulled away enough to twist back and grin at the hunter-nin. "If you come over here, I'll do just that." She offered, and in less time than it took Shikamaru to blink, Yuki had crossed the few metres that separated them.

Shikamaru loosened his grip so Sakura could stand on her tip-toes and press an obnoxious kiss against the assassin's cheek, giggling when he snorted.

"That is a let-down of epic proportions, pinky-chan. I'm sure even shadow-boy could do better." Yuki grouched, but he was grinning, so Shikamaru loosened his hold a little more, grabbed the edge of the apron, twisted, and pressed an equally obnoxious kiss to the hunter-nin's other cheek.

"There. Now you know." He declared, and Sakura had to lean against the wall to stay upright with the force of her laughter, and at Yuki's slightly incredulous expression, Shikamaru merely quirked an eyebrow. "Anything to say?"

Yuki stared at them for a few seconds, unblinking and utterly amused, then smirked. "Who's up for a spar?"

Because Yuki and Anko were clearly twins separated at birth, they were that alike, they ended up going flat-out, no-holds-barred against each other, both wearing equally unhinged grins. Sakura and Shikamaru were content to watch from the sidelines, trading sarcastic comments and snacks Eri-san had bestowed them with, waiting till the two jounin got all the crazy out of their systems on each other and would be happy with controlled sparring.

In one of the few lulls in the fighting, Sakura decided to address what had been nagging at her since she saw the brunet, "So… I assume you heard about the Uchiha." She murmured, eyes trained on Shikamaru's face to catalogue any disgust or fear that could appear, only to draw up short. Shikamaru was… smiling. Content. Proud, even.

"I did." He replied evenly, turning that odd expression on her in its full force. "Well done, Sakura. Good riddance."

When Sakura kept staring at him in clear incomprehension, he sighed. "You told me this day would come almost four years ago, right as we got back from Mist. Even then, you could see that Naruto's method wouldn't work. You agreed when I said you want to bring him home in a matchbox. You more than most have suffered at the Uchiha's hands or as an indirect effect of his actions – you'd be more than justified to do it. But instead, you took away the part of him that poses the greatest threat and ensured he would actually have no other option but to face trial. Frankly, Sakura, I admire your restraint."

Sakura blanked for a few seconds, staring at the Nara in disbelief then slowly, a smile bloomed on her face, tentative and enormously grateful. "Thanks, Shika." Then, she turned to watch the two assassins spring apart for the umpteenth time and grinned. "Feel like joining them?" she asked, at which Shikamaru snorted.

"I'll leave that questionable pleasure to you. I've got something I wanted to ask my old man about anyway."

Sakura laughed and stretched, and was about to stand up before a shadow fell over her and Shikamaru. Looking up, she found Kakashi standing over them, an unreadable expression on the visible part of his face.

"Actually, I was hoping I could steal you away for a chat before you go, Sakura-chan." He said, and Sakura froze for a second then nodded, rising to her feet and waving to Shikamaru.

(the suspicious way the brunet regarded her sensei warmed her heart and exasperated her at the same time. Clearly, she'd need to limit Shikamaru's interactions with Genma if the former was starting to pick up on her partner's mannerisms.)

Kakashi led her a little way away from where Shikamaru was sitting and further back from the clearing so Sakura's view of her senpai and sparring partner was mostly obscured by the trees, then stopped and sighed.

"I don't blame you for what you did to Sasuke." he began, and Sakura gaped. Instead of letting her get over her shock, Kakashi barrelled on. "I don't approve of what you did, I think it was excessively cruel and you're likely to get some backlash for it…but I don't blame you. I had a look through your records." When Sakura recoiled, the expression in Kakashi's eye turned wry. "Once an ANBU Captain, always an ANBU Captain. With access to paperwork of all active agents. And I'm sorry, Sakura. I'm sorry I wasn't there to make sure that you didn't go down this career path, to ensure that you could postpone experiencing the grimmest aspects of our lives for at least another few years. I'm sorry for what you had to have done to your imagination to be capable of doing… to cast the illusions you cast. And because of that, I don't blame you for what you did to Sasuke. But I need to know – are you completely against the idea of ever being Team 7 again?"

Sakura took a few seconds to collect her thoughts, and Kakashi must've realised he'd thrown her because he gave her the time she needed to respond. "There was more that played a part in my treatment of Sasuke than just a string of bad missions, but… thanks for understanding. And no. I love the idyllic notion of a team – team as family, closest bonds you'll ever have, reliable mentors and people with whom you can experience all the milestones in your shinobi career… But that was never our team. I was too weak and uninterested in being a proper shinobi at first, Naruto was too oblivious, Sasuke too self-absorbed, and you too detached. There were times we could've done something with it. After Wave, or after the Chunin Exams even – we were close, working together in the Forest of Death, but we needed something to keep us together. I will admit that I could've tried harder. But at the time, I was getting to know Genma, reeling after losing my parents, dealing with becoming chunin… clinging onto relationships that I felt were detrimental to my recovery seemed pointless. So I let them go." She sighed, then looked Kakashi in the eye, noting his surprise at the fact she was more resigned than angry, which had been the tone of most of their previous conversations. "And now it's too late. Sasuke will stand to face trial, I will testify in his detriment, Naruto will never forgive me for what I did to Sasuke…" she sent Kakashi a wry grin. "It's up to you, sensei. Unite us or let us drift apart for good."

Kakashi assessed her for a few seconds, then slowly reached up, letting her see his hand coming, and lightly patted her on her head. "That's more reasonable than I expected. You've grown, Sakura-chan."

Sakura shrugged, feeling ever so slightly awkward even as she quirked a grin. "Sasuke is in the Village. Genma is out of the Village. There are four less Akatsuki to worry about. Anko is awake. I'm happy that all the precautions have either been taken or losses avenged. And I realised that I don't want to be a hypocrite, or become so embittered by my anger than I can't move on. So, perspective."

Kakashi seemed to smile, then nodded. "We'll see how the trial goes. Take care, Sakura-chan."

Sakura, taking that as a dismissal, nodded, flicked two fingers up in a bastardised salute, and turned to join Anko and Yuki, a grin forming on her face at Yuki's crow of excitement when she appeared.

This is going to be fun.

As usual when her and Anko sparred outside of the T&I basements, or Yuki was in the Village, a small crowd of nosy shinobi flocked to the outskirts of the training grounds, some amused, others sneering, but it didn't change the fact that suddenly, the onlookers of their impromptu spar had more than quadrupled.

Still, Sakura didn't let that stop her as she wove and danced between Anko and Yuki, missing her daito something fierce and reduced to the single wakizashi Yuki had lent her and a handful of kunai and shuriken she'd grabbed from the ground or mid-air. Most of her kit was with her clothes which she was informed Genma had taken back to their house soon after she'd been brought in, and she was justifiably unwilling to dive into her hammerspace seal, especially when she thought about what the last thing she'd sealed in there had been.

Even as she thought that and dodged Yuki's swipe at her head, she noted that the assassin was a lot more careful in the placement and speed of his strikes when directing them at Anko even though he was his usual vicious self with Sakura. When the rosette realised why Yuki was being so careful – because he knew that she had just woken up from a six month coma that very day – she nearly stopped the match in favour of tackling the man in a hug.

Medic-nin were amazing in the ways that they could minimise the loss of musculature the way civilian doctors could only dream of, but that didn't change the fact that Anko had been on bed-rest for months.

Still, Sakura knew that if she made it known that her and Yuki were taking it a bit easy on Anko, her senpai would rip them a new one and set her snakes on them, so she kept up with the spar and decided to hug Yuki later.

And then, as she chanced a small cut from Yuki's wakizashi in order to tug his feet out from under him by chakra strings, a commotion appeared on the edges of the training grounds.

"SAKURA!" a black and orange blur burst from the foliage and Sakura tensed as it sped towards her, already having an inkling as to who it was going to be.

Yuki, however, didn't, and reacted just as he would've done to any other threat and stepped in front of her, twin blades crossed defensively. And then, proving that he was very much not human, Naruto brushed the jounin aside with a clawed backhand, orange, vicious, corrosive chakra surrounding his body in a way that made Sakura more nervous than she'd care to admit.

And then, Naruto zeroed in on her, and she barely dodged the first punch that came at her face with the intent to hurt.

"We were meant to bring him back!" her old teammate roared, rage and frustration and grief in his voice, "Bring him back to us, not break him and imprison him!" with every word that came out of his mouth came another punch or kick, wild and uncontrolled and unpredictable and aimed to hurt, but Sakura did her best to dodge and stay out of reach (Yuki still wasn't up and she didn't want to think what that chakra had done to him, what it could've caused just because he tried to defend her-!)

Then, when Naruto came close enough, Sakura tried to slap a paralysis seal on his wrist, hissing at the way her skin burnt and blistered when she pressed the paper to his body, then watched in more than slight horror as the orange chakra burnt through her seal, and Naruto swung at her again, seemingly not even noticing her efforts.

"Did you feel anything at all?! When you shoved your fingers into his eye or broke his legs so he couldn't run-?!"

"I was fulfilling my mission!" Sakura snapped back, narrowly dodging a clawed swipe that would've taken out her eye, feeling her cheek blister. "Not everyone is as indulgent of traitors as you are, Naruto!"

"Traitors?!" her teammate bristled and lunged, but this time, Sakura side-stepped and jumped away, hands flashing through seals for Anko's gift for her jounin promotion that almost didn't make her wince anymore. Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!

Snakes appeared from the billowing sleeve of her borrowed kimono and shot towards Naruto, wrapping around him and constricting just slightly even as two burst from the pressure of the chakra he was exuding. Finally, Naruto was restrained and the orange chakra faded, even if the murderous glare in his eyes stayed. Sakura kept her arm outstretched, not caring that the clearing around them had fallen silent.

"I need you to listen to me!" she ordered, feeling the not inconsiderable drain on her chakra from maintaining the technique but aware that if she were to drop it, Naruto would go right back to attacking her. "I know you love him, but your 'bond' or whatever you cling to isn't enough anymore, Naruto! The moment Uchiha Sasuke attacked Konoha shinobi, the value of his kekkei genkai was no longer enough to keep him safe from punishment. He would've been immune to reason, and if I'd simply incapacitated him, he would've ran away the second he was released. He's a traitor and he needs to face trial."

"You keep using that word." Naruto sneered, the expression alien on his face and his voice dripping with disgust. "And yeah, sure, you're right, maybe he made some bad choices, and yeah, he betrayed the Village, but, you, Sakura-chan, you're worse!" Reeling more than if he'd slapped her, Sakura's control over the snakes wavered, and the technique dispelled. Naruto stayed where he was though, the corrosive kyuubi chakra having receded a few seconds after Sakura caught him even though his eyes still gleamed with barely-restrained fury. "You betrayed your team for your ambition and decided that breaking every bone in your teammate's body was the right way to ensure he'd stay in the Village! Yeah, Sasuke might be seen as a traitor, but you, you're a monster, Sakura!"

Monster.

Monstermonstermonstermonstermonstermonstermonster-!

Sakura took a small step back. Then another. Her eyes were burning, her hands shaking, her heart hammering in her chest, but her voice, when she spoke, was steady with a calm she did not feel.

"Ah." She murmured, letting her arm drop, the sleeve falling past her fingers, covering their tremor. "So that's how it is." And then, she reached for that place inside her that assured her she was never really alone, felt the traces of familiar chakra and the blood in the seal, and pulled.

She was gone between one blink and the next, just a second too soon to see the dawning horror on Naruto's face as he realised what he'd said.

Jiraiya had caught sight of his godson at the Village gates, having been recalled to Konoha for a judicial matter Tsunade refused to specify over her message. Just walking through the Village, he'd heard enough to know just what that matter was – Uchiha Sasuke had been apprehended, apparently straight from under Orochimaru's nose, and was now going to stand trial. When Naruto came barrelling into the Village and heard the same news Jiraiya had; only with the added benefit of knowing that it had been his teammate who had done the apprehending and upon learning just how she'd done it, Jiraiya had gone a little green too. But when Naruto's eyes turned red and slit-pupiled and a haze of orange chakra surrounded his body and he took off towards the eastern side of the Village, a jounin Jiraiya vaguely recognised as Yamato hot on his heels, Jiraiya didn't hesitate.

He reached the training grounds just in time to see Naruto throw a familiar but clearly foreign nin twenty feet across the clearing with one, vicious backhand. From there, the blond rounded on the rosette, his strikes brutal and unpredictable, growing all the more frustrated as none connected.

His opponent – 'Sakura-chan', if he recalled correctly – was doing an admirable job of keep-away, gracefully dodging the chakra-charged taijutsu barrage by a hair's breadth, always just a millisecond before the strike would've connected. There was something niggling at Jiraiya's mind, something that said he had seen this before, an odd sense of inexplicable déjà vu and nostalgia as he watched the scene before him.

He saw the girl attempt to stick what looked like a handmade seal on Naruto, and watched as her face drained of colour when whatever she'd planned was rendered useless by the fox's chakra.

Jiraiya was certain that he wasn't the only one to freeze at what happened next.

Snakes burst from the girl's billowing sleeves, wrapping around her teammate. Familiar snakes. Snakes that had no right being used by any Konoha shinobi bar Mitarashi, and he doubted that woman would've ever taken on a pupil, much less taught them that technique.

And then, it clicked.

The pieces slotted together, the jigsaw puzzle forming one, big picture, and Jiraiya felt as though he'd had the breath knocked out of him.

In front of him, his godson, with his sunshine hair and orange jumpsuit; loud, brash, bright and clinging to his morality, to his friends and bonds and humanity. A good man, even if not a good killer.

Before him, his teammate – hair loose, flowing with every movement, the colour not contrasting but highlighting the deadly grace of her movements, clad in a dress and a kimono, impractical for all but those hyperaware of their own bodies, managing to balance and twist out of the way in geta sandals that made Jiraiya's look like the pinnacle of comfort and practicality. The twist to her lip, the bite to her words, the jaded realism viciously attacking Naruto's idealism –

He'd seen it all before.

He'd lived it all before.

Just for a second, superimposed over the two teens in the clearing was a mirage of two boys – one, unapologetically optimistic despite the war raging around him, with a big heart and an even bigger dream. And the other – jaded even then, always caustically realistic and brutally efficient and terrifyingly ambitious. Just for a second, pale pink hair became flowing raven, green flashed golden and blonde became brilliant white, and then –!

"-you're a monster!"

The mirage shattered, and in the stillness of the air that followed, the rosette's sharp recoil was doubly startling. Jiraiya saw the momentary lapse of control – an expression of heartbreak, of betrayal, hurt and disbelief flashed across the girl's face, emotions so potent that even he felt the hurt bone-deep. And then, like flipping a switch, her features smoothed out, unflappable, cold calm taking over, her gaze flat, distant, and her voice steady when she spoke. The only tell was in the minute tremble of her fingers, hidden almost immediately by the sleeve of her kimono as she retreated.

And then, no seal, no exclamation, just a surge of chakra and there one second, gone the next, just a second before Naruto's expression crumbled and a strangled, "Wait, Sakura-chan, I didn't mean it-!" escaped him.

But before he could do anything, before he could so much as move, black shadows streaked across the ground and wrapped around him, eerily reminiscent of the snakes from mere minutes before, and from the foliage came a boy. A Nara, clearly, tall and tanned and brown-haired and –

And furious.

The teen didn't stop, even as he raised his fist and swung, connecting with Naruto's face at the same instant as he cancelled the jutsu that immobilised him, sending the blond flying. He let Naruto crash into the ground then his shadows were wrapping around him again, not a word to betray the technique, just cold fury and a vicious sneer.

"How dare you?" the Nara asked, towering over Naruto's prone form, disgust and disbelief warring over his face. "How fucking dare you? Out of a team comprising a man who became just as famous for killing his friends as he did his enemies, a fucking jinchuuriki and a literal traitor, you choose to call the only loyal member a monster?! The only one who stayed in the goddamn Village, fought and killed and bled and struggled and survived against all odds – you call her a monster? Pathetic."

The Nara stood there for a second, then sneered and released his technique, and with a handseal, he too was gone.

Jiraiya released a breath he hadn't even realised he'd been holding.

Dangerous. He realised, and cursed. He remembered now, the letter about two chunin in Suna, remembered what he'd promised himself then. Remembered how he'd said he wouldn't let history repeat itself. And now, history was laughing at him, presenting him with each of his failures at once. And those failures were dangerous.

Sakura landed in the middle of a battle.

She located Genma, noted the location of the other man with a Konoha hitai-ate, and focused on the band of miscellaneous missing-nin they were fighting. A handseal and a flex of the last dredges of her chakra later saw a large-scale, carefully-restricted Temple of Nirvana technique fall on the missing-nin, while she made sure Genma and his teammate remained unaffected. Genma, despite his clear surprise at seeing her, didn't miss the opportunity she'd provided. His senbon found the arteries and delicate veins of the ninja who'd already began to break the genjutsu, while his partner ran his blade through all who'd been completely caught. Within thirty seconds of her arrival, the missing-nin were down; dead, dying or incapacitated, she didn't care to know. Sakura was glad that Genma's partner – a man she vaguely recognised from the Chunin HQ – had gotten with the program, as she didn't think she'd have been able to maintain the illusion, as pin-point accurate as it had to be in order to not affect Genma and his mission partner, and fight at the same time. The fatigue of the day, the fight with Anko and Yuki, and later Naruto, as well as the chakra she'd expended on getting to Genma, was finally showing up and coming to bite her in the ass.

"Kid," Genma greeted, surprise, curiosity and no small degree of confusion in his voice, "not that it's not great to see you, but what are you doing here?"

And then, it was as if a dam had burst.

Sakura turned to Genma, eyes burning, and tackle-hugged him, letting all the emotions she'd forced down since waking up in the hospital come to the surface – all the anger, heartbreak, confusion, frustration – until she was holding on to Genma for dear life, and being held in return, shoulders shaking with sobs she didn't bother smothering and feeling an almost unfathomable relief at finally letting go.

"Ah." Genma smiled wryly, comprehension dawning, and gently stroked her hair, turning to his partner. "Tsuzumi, mind grabbing on to me?"

His partner, clearly stupefied at the appearance of a crying teenage girl in the middle of what, not two minutes earlier, had been a battlefield, nodded and grabbed onto Genma's elbow. Not a second later than he had done that, the brunet tugged the three of them along in a whirlwind Hiraishin. When they landed at the Main Gates, Tsuzumi let go and staggered, falling to his knees and vomiting into the grass. Sakura felt Genma wince sympathetically, nod to the gate guards, then tug her along into the second Hiraishin, this time ending up at their house.

Genma wriggled a little and she heard his pack drop, then they were waddling over (in a movement that Sakura amusedly noted was not unlike that of penguins, and hiccupped a laugh through her tears) to the sofa, where Genma turned and unceremoniously plonked down, dragging Sakura along with him.

They ended up in a tangle of limbs and elbows, but familiarity and practice found them in a comfortable position within seconds, and Sakura started talking. She went on for what felt like hours, and when she was done, she finally allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief.

"What will I do with you?" Genma asked lightly, still idly stroking back her hair as she cried herself out. "Always biting off more than you can chew and running off into danger."

Sakura laughed, wet and sniffly and ugly, but free and relieved, and smiled. "You've always done amazingly whenever something came up, so I don't see why that should change now." She told him through sniffles and smiled at his grumble.

"But that was either related to ridiculous missions, dickish teammates or you growing up too fast. This… this might get me locked up before I can help you. Or find the goddamn Terror and thank him."

Sakura snorted, "'Locked up'? What for?!"

"Hmm, I'm not 100% sure but I think killing the Village's jinchuuriki counts as high treason." Genma told her, a sharp, sly smile on his face that gave Sakura genuine pause.

"Gen, I don't like that expression. Get it off your face. It makes me feel like you're going to do something stupid."

Genma laughed, but the smile didn't disappear enough to put her completely at ease. "Don't worry, I won't." then, he paused, reconsidered, and the smirk returned full force. "Not before the trial at least."

Sakura groaned and let her forehead thump against Genma's shoulder, exasperated.

"Geeeeen!" she whined, though she couldn't keep the smile from her face. A few seconds passed in comfortable silence, then Sakura sobered and sighed. "I'll probably request a long-term mission after the trials are done."

"Kiri again? Like after the Chunin Exams?" Genma asked, and Sakura thought about it for a few seconds and brightened.

"Good idea! I haven't seen Chojuro in ages and I could always justify Kiri as 'bolstering relations' or something Ao-related. You're a genius, Gen."

The brunet snorted and ruffled the hair he'd been gently combing back since they landed on the sofa. "Tell me something I don't know, kid." He sniped, and dodged the retaliatory smack. "And you going to Kiri would get the goddamn Terror out of the Village. So yeah, definitely good idea."

Sakura snorted. "Yuki's growing on you and you know it. It's just his utter disregard for things like, y'know, Village security, that you have an issue with."

Genma glared at her, though there was no heat behind it. "He shouldn't be able to just get in and out whenever he likes! It's like he disappears, and that's coming from someone who can do the Hiraishin."

"And the fact that he's never actually hurt me or anyone within the Village and has, more than once, helped me, is, what, irrelevant?" Sakura demanded, amused more than accusatory, but she knew Genma still understood that she actually wanted a proper answer.

"Of course it's relevant! And it's one of the reasons I still haven't reported him, and, if you recall, actually considered hugging him. Hugging, kid. That's like, worse than hugging Hatake would've been."

Sakura met Genma's eyes and held his gaze. For a few seconds, they just looked at each other, both silent and considering, and then, as if at some unheard signal, they both burst out laughing, bodies shaking with untameable mirth and tears springing, unbidden, to eyes and some even escaping.

When they were done, Sakura smiled and curled into Genma even more securely, then closed her eyes.

"Any plans for what you're going to do before the trials?" Genma asked eventually, wiping away the few errant tears from her cheeks with the pad of his thumb. Sakura smiled at the gesture even as she kept her eyes firmly shut and hummed.

"T'n'I. Bullyin' 'biki." She mumbled around a jaw-cracking yawn, then huffed. "Di'n't tell me shit. Bastard."

She could feel Genma's chest shake with hastily-smothered chuckles, and it was with a deep fondness and a smile on her face that Sakura fell asleep, relaxed for the first time since she woke up in the hospital.

"You're kidding."

Ibiki's face, when he turned to look at her, was anything but amused.

"No. No way. Since before my Jounin Exams?! How could I not have heard of this?!"

"Ibiki was of the opinion that you wouldn't want to collaborate with 'Awaku-kun', regardless of whatever 'greater purpose' we tried to sell you. Plus, y'know," Anko shrugged, "there was always the 'conspiring against a Village Elder' that we didn't particularly want to get you involved in."

Sakura looked from Anko, to Ibiki, to the pale teen she'd come to know as 'Sai'. "And you knew he'd cooperate because…?"

"You can't erase emotion." Ibiki told her gruffly. "You can suppress it. You can punish people for expressing it. But you can't get rid of it. The trick with Sai here was figuring out what buttons to press and how to get around the seal."

"That's another bit I've got issue with – complete paralysis when you so much as mention the organisation or Shimura himself, but no failsafe for people just… writing it?"

"Root are trained to absolute, unquestionable obedience. Who could they write to? Who would listen to them? They were orphans, raised in Root bases, loyal only to Shimura, with no contact with the outside world." Anko explained, a look of clear distaste on her face. "There was no need for a 'failsafe' because it was assumed that they would never 'fail'."

Sakura scowled, then turned to Sai. "And you're okay with this? Being implicated in bringing down Elder Shimura?" She asked, highly sceptical.

"Yes." Sai nodded, then added a flurry of signs of which Sakura caught 'took away', 'brother', and 'made to kill', but it was enough. She promptly backed away.

"No. Nuh-uh. That's some Yondaime Mizukage-style practice. It would never float in Konoha." She denied, horror and sympathy warring within her.

"Shimura is a throwback to the Warring States mentality." Ibiki explained, staring at Sai with an unreadable expression on his face. "Making family kill each other as a test of obedience…is not beyond him. Question is, Haruno," he turned to her, his eyes sharp, reading far more than she was comfortable with, "question is, knowing all this, are you in, or out?"

Sakura took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds. She looked at Sai, the complete lack of expression on his face, bar a small glint – determination or stubbornness, she couldn't quite tell – then turned to Anko, alive, awake Anko, thought about the theories her senpai and Ibiki had thrown back and forth as to why and how she had been kept asleep for as long as she had been, then looked at Ibiki. Cool, unflappable Ibiki, who had broken an agent trained to be unbreakable then gone straight to the Hokage, spies and plants be damned. Who had spent the last year and a half working on a way of bringing down one of the key pieces on the chessboard and who looked furious now, killing intent rolling off of him in vicious waves whenever he looked at Sai.

And she could be a part of this.

She exhaled.

"Yeah." She nodded, "I'm in."

Five days later, Sakura found herself being led deep down into the Hokage Tower, lower underground than even the Academy was, chakra seals on her wrist and an ANBU agent on either side. They reached a door, and as Sakura was led through it, she fought the instinct to freeze. She'd been warned about this. Dozens of shinobi sat in the galleries, Clan Heads, clan heirs, notable jounin, all the Rookie Eleven sensei, Elders bar Shimura. In the front row, surrounded by ANBU on both sides, sat Tsunade, and at the front of the room, in the Judge's chair, was Jiraiya. Sasuke – chained and bruised and dressed in a nondescript navy kimono and still sans an eye – was on his left, and to Jiraiya's right was an empty seat.

An empty seat Sakura was shepherded to.

She sat down, looking over the familiar and unfamiliar faces before her, doing her best not to fidget with her overlong sleeves and trying to be the picture of calm and confidence Anko had instructed her to embody.

She wasn't the criminal here, Anko had said, and proceeded to take over Sakura's preparation for the trial, and we'll make everyone remember that.

"Haruno Sakura." Jiraiya's booming voice broke her from her musings, and Sakura turned to regard the Sannin, noting that Sasuke was doing everything in his might to avoid looking at her. "Jounin, partner of Shiranui Genma. Senior Interrogator at T&I, Ambassador to Kiri and Sunagakure, ANBU assassin. Is that right?" Jiraiya asked, and Sakura nodded, smiling placidly.

"Yes, Jiraiya-sama." She confirmed.

"Do you know why you're here?"

"I was informed I would be called in to testify in Uchiha Sasuke's trial. I assume that is the case?" she intoned blandly, as Anko had instructed her to, noting that some of the shinobi gathered in the room were staring at her with wide eyes and an unreadable emotion on their faces.

"Indeed. And do you know why I'm here?"

Sakura thought for a second, then quirked a wry smile. "I don't know for sure, but I'd hypothesise that it's because of your loyalty to Mount Myobuku takes precedence over your loyalty to Konoha, thus making you the perfect judge for this trial?" she guessed, and by Jiraiya's face, she knew she'd played her cards right.

"Right, well." The Sannin cleared his throat, turned to look at the Uchiha, then at the audience, and finally shared a meaningful glance with Tsunade. "Let's begin!"

Kakashi did not miss the whispers that broke out when his old female student entered the room.

Homura, a still-recovering Tobitake, and Tenzo had been briefly called to testify beforehand and now sat on the front bench, yet Kakashi had no doubt that his student had caught and now held most of the room's attention without even saying a word.

Sakura had opted out of her ninja gear, and instead looked like something Kakashi would have expected to see in a daimyo's court. Dressed in a pale blue iromuji, half of her hair up in a simple knot, the rest flowing down her back in delicate waves, and an expression of idle curiosity on her face, the teen looked ephemeral. Yet despite the almost effortless, simple beauty, there was something off, something dangerous emanating from the rosette. It was difficult, Kakashi realised, very difficult to imagine the girl in the stands ripping out someone's eyeball in cold blood.

When Jiraiya read out just who Sakura was, and just what she did, and Kakashi heard the whole room collectively hold their breath, he realised that that had been the point all along.

Sakura's appearance screamed innocence, weakness, yet her aura was fierce, dangerous and not to be underestimated.

Kakashi had learnt that over the past three years, and thus knew about the walking paradox that was his student even before Sakura had walked in.

Within the first two minutes, the rest of the shinobi gathered in the room learned that too.

"Could you describe what happened when you reached Orochimaru's base?" Jiraiya-sama asked, and Ino watched her old friend fold her hands over her lap and deliver a report so flat and factual one would've thought she was talking about the weather.

She had distantly registered Sakura change since graduation, but she'd thought she'd seen the last of the changes at the Rookie 9 dinner, back when the rosette was taking the Jounin Exams. Now, looking at the young woman – because she could no longer be called a girl, not really – at the front of the room, Ino realised she couldn't have been more wrong.

From the way she was dressed to the way she carried herself, Sakura's entire being screamed 'power', and it hadn't escaped Ino's notice that Sasuke adamantly refused to meet her gaze or even look in his old teammate's direction since she'd entered the room.

"Could you explain why you sent your team captain away before you confronted the Uchiha?"

Ino tuned back into what was happening just as Sakura tilted her head, the movement oddly languid, as if she had all the time and all the answers in the world, and answered.

"I didn't want them to get in the way." She said simply.

The effect of the statement was tremendous, and Ino saw something flash in Jiraiya-sama's eyes, saw the surreptitious glance he exchanged with the Godaime, saw the almost…apprehension? when he turned to look at Sakura.

"Ah, sorry, that came out wrong." Sakura apologised, looking like her old self for the first time since she entered the makeshift courtroom when she smiled sheepishly. Then she straightened and her expression grew serious. "I have already said that I had my own mission that I was tasked with fulfilling. I sent my teammates away because their goals–well. They didn't clash with mine, so much as our focus wasn't the same. Yamato-san, due to his unique abilities, was charged with containment of the Nine-Tails, should the jinchuuriki seal weaken or begin to unravel. He didn't know Sasuke. Agent Sai was ordered to assassinate Uchiha Sasuke, but upon failing, switched to containing him and bringing him back to the Village for Naruto's sake. He didn't know Sasuke either. And Uzumaki Naruto was blinded by his nostalgia and the ideal of his old teammate he seemed to have in mind and would therefore hesitate. While he knew Sasuke, he would have refused to approach him as an enemy. As you can see, none of them were suited for the task of bringing Uchiha Sasuke back home to face trial."

"And you were?"

At that, Sakura laughed, short and derisive. "I'm an assassin, and a genjutsu mistress, Jiraiya-sama. With all due respect, hiding in wait, cataloguing and waiting for the opportune moment to strike and deliver the most damage is in the job description."

There was a moment of silence as Jiraiya regarded the rosette, an unreadable expression on his face, then he nodded and moved on.

"And would you say that gouging out the Sharingan was within your mission parameters?" Jiraiya asked at last, and the room grew quiet enough Ino could've heard a pin drop from the other side, especially when Jiraiya added, "A Sharingan which still haven't been recovered, may I add."

Sakura froze for a second, then shook her head. "Perhaps not. But if you don't mind, I'd recommend you go to Yamanaka Inoichi if you want a psychological profile and justifications." Then, she smiled guilelessly. "And I have the eye on my person. I haven't been asked for it since I woke up, is all."

There was a collective gasp as Sakura's words registered, and Jiraiya looked on the verge of face-palming. "Then yes, for the record I would like to see the Sharingan in your possession."

Sakura nodded, then slowly raised her hand to her mouth, maintaining eye-contact with what Ino realised were Tsunade-sama's ANBU guards, and bit her thumb, then swiped the bloodied finger on her forearm. A frown of concentration later, the rosette produced a jar with–!

Ino gagged, and heard a couple of shinobi around her do the same.

Yup, that's an eye. She thought absently, then passed out.

Shikamaru knew, the moment Sakura resurfaced from T&I with a grim look of determination on her face that he hadn't seen since Ao's case, that the Uchiha trial would not be easy.

Sitting in the court room, his dad by his side, and all the other Clan Heads and heirs in their row just hammered that point home.

Seeing the façade Sakura was limiting herself to, seeing how much it was hurting her to remain nonchalant and indifferent was starting to grate at him. He didn't know who had advised the rosette to take this course of action, but while he couldn't dispute the effect it had on the audience, he couldn't help but wonder whether putting Sakura through the act was worth it.

Everything from the way she was dressed – (and wow hadn't that been a mindfuck and a half, not seeing the turtleneck and the armour and the ponytail and the practicality but a kimono-!) – to the way she was speaking and holding herself, was an act meant to do three things at once:

Propagate, address, and destroy any myths and stereotypes the audience could or would have about kunoichi.

Show them a pretty, delicate, indifferent young woman and tell them that she's a murderer-for-hire for their military dictator, that she works in the least desirable division of their ninja forces, that she is an equal partner of a man who'd become a tokubetsu jounin before she was even born.

Shikamaru could see what they were going for.

Everyone in the room was now firmly on the rosette's side, even if some had been apprehensive before. This didn't change when she produced a jar with saline and an eyeball trapped within, lightly tapped it almost as if to go 'here you are', and placed it on the flat desk part of the pew she was sitting at.

And then, there was a blur, a flash of movement, a whistle of projectile weapons flying through the air aimed at the rosette, making her leap up and away and then a shape materialised in front of her desk, hand reaching for the jar but somehow unable to pick it up, jerking back as if stuck, and then shadows wrapped around the figure, tight and unforgiving and restraining, and Shikamaru could see his dad in his peripheral vision, and he looked pissed.

Tsunade's ANBU guards were tense and armed, the various Clan Heads up and alarmed, Jiraiya himself leaping over the judge's bench to get into the man's space, a move Shikamaru had seen Ibiki pull to a far greater effect but.

But.

Shikamaru never took his eyes off Sakura.

He watched as she stood and dropped down from the seat she'd leapt on, brushing some invisible lint from her shoulder, the very picture of unaffected even as their gazes met and he saw just how serious she was.

And because Shikamaru didn't look away, he didn't miss the second blur, this one sending a barrage of shuriken at the rosette which were all deflected by senbon she'd somehow produced from thin air, landing in the same place and reaching for the jar, only for Sakura to snatch it back with chakra threads and Shikamaru to pierce the man like a pincushion with his Kagenui.

There was a moment of silence and stillness where everyone turned to regard the scene, and even the ANBU guards paused while whisking away the first attacker.

Sakura stood, hair loose and swaying in a non-existent breeze, her arm outstretched and chakra threads keeping the jar with the Uchiha's eye suspended in mid-air a good ten metres from her, the chakra-suppressing seal starkly visible against her pale skin. Her attacker frozen mid-step, suspended in an upright position only thanks to the two dozen separate threads of shadow piercing him, the steady drip drip drip of blood the only sound in the room, and Shikamaru, standing beside his father, the same position, not relaxing until the nin's last breath stuttered in his chest and died.

Shikamaru cut the chakra supply and watched the man drop to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut. "Sorry," he said, not feeling very sorry at all, "haven't quite got the hang of that technique yet. My bad."

And he heard Sakura snort, unapologetic and knowing, because he'd mastered that technique with her there, before he even set out to avenge Asuma. But a tiny white lie never seriously hurt anyone.

"Thanks, Shika, Shikaku-san." Sakura nodded, a smile on her face, then reeled the jar that started all this towards her and peeled what turned out to be a seal-tag from the bottom. Then, she calmly walked towards Tsunade and placed it on the desk in front of her. "And thanks for the replacement, Tsunade-sama."

"Glad to know your seal held." The Hokage replied, equally vaguely, and lobbed the jar over her shoulder to Shizune who sat a few rows up.

And as Shikamaru watched the Godaime get up and explain that she'd had the real eye in her possession for over a week, that this was all part of an elaborate plan to gather more evidence against Elder Shimura and that Sakura had agreed to put her personal wellbeing at stake to provide said evidence, Shikamaru saw the public opinion on Sakura set itself in stone.

"Just one thing before we go back to the trial," Tsunade said, and everyone stilled, "you're wearing chakra-suppressants and I know my ANBU aren't incompetent. You shouldn't be able to manipulate chakra."

And Sakura smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck, inadvertently flashing even more of the seal. "Ah, yeah, about that… this seal is a bit rudimental, Tsunade-sama, sorry." Sakura pointed out, then shrank back when Tsunade's face spelled 'explain now'. "It, ah, only blocks two of the three chakra pathways we have running through each limb. If you can direct your chakra to the one that isn't being blocked, it's, um, not that hard to, ah…bypass them?" she trailed off the further along in her explanation she got, because Tsunade's face had gone straight from intrigued, to insulted, then amused, disbelieving, and finally settled on exasperated.

"Shiranui!" she barked, and Genma perked to attention from where he'd been attempting to smother his laughter in Aoba's shoulder, standing up. "As our resident seal master, consider yourself commissioned to draft up a replacement chakra-suppressing seal that your goddamn kid can't get through!"

Genma blinked, stifled a snort, and saluted. "Yes, Ma'am!" and sat down.

Then, Jiraiya took back the reigns of the process, and the real hearing began.

Through a democratic vote, Sasuke was sentenced to being stripped of his ninja rank, having his chakra permanently suppressed and his remaining Sharingan sealed away. He'd be incarcerated for an initial period of one year, with the potential to get out on good behaviour after his year was up.

The remnant of the Uchiha district which had been uninhabited since the massacre almost a decade back was going to be assimilated back into the Village and rehabilitated into affordable housing for orphaned shinobi trainees and civilians.

Sakura and Genma had been conscripted into designing the various seals needed for the Uchiha and the new district, with Jiraiya occasionally popping in with advice or to drink and get nostalgic with Genma. With the Uchiha hearing over, and Elder Shimura's scheduled for the next week, everyone found themselves in a curious limbo of inactivity.

It was on one such afternoon that Shikamaru was laying on the carpet in Sakura and Genma's living room, Sakura draped over him, scribbling furiously at something by his elbow, her tongue poking out in concentration and her warmth and Genma and Jiraiya's quiet voices lulling Shikamaru slowly to sleep.

It was in that moment between the cognizance of wakefulness and the oblivion of sleep that Shikamaru entertained the thought that he wouldn't mind having more of this.

Wouldn't mind having this for the rest of his life, in fact.

So! Here we are! As always, tell me what you thought, and though I can't promise that the wait for the next chapter will be short, I'll try not to make it be almost four months (whoops). Till next time