Living with Tsunade was… odd.
She wasn't a bad person to live with, honestly. She was barely home most of the time, as was Sakura, but it was the little things that kind of freaked Sakura out. It was the way she learned how the blonde talked slowly when she first woke up and hadn't had coffee yet or how she always liked to sit on the corner of the sofa or even how she fixed her hair only after she had breakfast.
It was strange seeing her Hokage who had always been this imposing, untouchable figure, become this woman who was no less intimidating or fierce but so much more human.
Sakura didn't have much time to contemplate this drastic change in perspective, though. Tsunade had buried her completely in hospital work. She had been doing rounds all day long, healing scrapes and learning to mend broken bones. She had been promoted as Tsunade's assistant during surgery but while those were always interesting, they were few and far between.
She hadn't been to a single mission outside the village for almost three weeks and the only physical training she managed to squeeze in was her nightly routine of exhausting herself to sleep, only now her books where always on genjutsu, and Lee's workout regime. She hadn't trained with Tenten and Lee in over a week and they were all in the village.
She got up early to do her laps around the village and rounded back to the Senju Estate to do the rest of her workout. The property was installed on the right side of the Hokage Mountain and it was gigantic. There were many training grounds on the backyard that Sakura took full advantage off.
By the time she got back to her room—that was equally large and traditional—Sakura was sweating but nowhere near getting the itch under her skin taken care of. She needed to do something.
The hospital was buzzing that morning. Tsunade was performing a heart surgery never done before that afternoon and they were all expected there bright and early to prep for it.
"Haruno!" An annoying voice called from down the hall and Sakura fought back a sigh.
Momoe Satsuki was the chief nurse and an ambitious kunoichi. She was still a genin in her twenties, sure, but she had managed to climb the hospital ladder faster than anyone Sakura had ever seen. Satsuki would never be considered a good combat medic nin, but her word was law at the hospital.
Tsunade hated her, just like Sakura did, but even she couldn't deny how efficient her role on Konoha's General was.
"Hey! Did you hear me? I need you to do something for me." Satsuki's bland face stared up at Sakura with a frown.
"What do you need, Momoe-san? I'm supposed to help Tsunade-shishou prep." Sakura gave the woman a polite smile, already prepared to make an excuse and leave.
She took a step past the plump woman that was blocking her path but stopped when she felt a pudgy hand grip her wrist firmly.
"I don't like your attitude, Haruno." Sayuri said with a strained smile on her face. "While you're in my hospital, you will do as I say and be respectful towards your superiors."
Sakura didn't take her eyes off the hand that was still holding on to her. The past three weeks of no action and the months of suffering through this hag's self-righteousness suddenly exploded in white hot anger inside Sakura. The same sharp calmness she felt on the battlefield descended upon her and before she knew it, Sakura was leaning closer to the woman.
Inner brought forth the same fierceness she used on her enemies and, clad in a blanket of darkness and a mask of danger, raised her eyes to finally meet Satsuki's. The woman's dark green eyes were wide in fear as Sakura slowly peeled her hand out of her arm. She used the tiniest amount of chakra when she touched her pinkie and watched in satisfaction when she cried out in pain.
"Don't ever touch me again." Her voice was dark and low and flashes of monsters with too wide grins kept going on the back of her mind.
Sakura left Satsuki a shaking mess on the floor, not bothering to look back or hide. She was done. She was fucking done.
"I'm not doing this anymore." She barged into Tsunade's office at the hospital without knocking and found her and Shizune hunched over some papers. She was marginally calmer in that she had managed to push the darkness back, but nervous energy still cursed through her bloodstream.
"Not doing… what?" Shizune asked.
"This whole hospital thing!" Sakura threw her hands in the air and started pacing. "What am I even doing? Cleaning bedpans and healing easy injuries, what is it doing for me? Absolutely nothing, that's what!"
"You don't clean bedpans," Tsunade said.
"I might as well for all the useful things I'm doing here!"
"Working at the hospital is useful, Sakura-chan," Shizune chastised her and Sakura had to fight very hard not to jump at the girl's throat for her condescending tone. "You are bettering your medical skills and helping others in here. If you ever want to take on my mantle and then Tsunade-sama's you also need to know how the hospital works."
Sakura took a few deep breaths before turning her head away from her senpai to look at Tsunade. She knew she was being rude but she had reached her breaking point.
"You told me you would train me in everything you know. You haven't taught me anything new since that first lesson on augmenting muscle force." Sakura stared unblinkingly at her shishou's golden eyes. She wouldn't back down on this. "I get you have a lot of work to do and I'm fine with learning a few things on my own but I barely have any time left for it!"
"You're learning how to lead here, kid." Tsunade didn't offer anything else but Sakura had an answer for that.
"I'm a chunnin, I can lead on the field." She raised her eyebrows. "I'll be more useful out there than here, at this rate. You know, maybe there's something wrong with the Medical Program, Shishou. It doesn't make sense to keep combat medics at the hospital all the time, it's why your proposal was shut down by Sandaime-sama." She felt like she had crossed the line with that one but Tsunade just stared at her for a moment and when Shizune went to protest she raised a hand to silence her. Sakura took it as her cue to use the big guns. "I won't be able to catch up to Naruto at this rate, Shishou. I need to be ready to fight by his side when he comes back, not to stay back at the hospital where it's safe. It's not where I belong. At least not yet."
There was a beat before Tsunade grinned at her. It was more a snarl than a grin, really, full of sharp annoyance and fierce pride but it was still a grin. Sorta.
"I'm turning you into a little shit, aren't I?" She barked a laugh. "A week, girl."
"What?" Sakura said through her smile.
"I'll take a week off to give you only combat training. That first week will be only theory training and then we'll settle a schedule where you'll take missions while I can't train with you and we'll focus on your training when we're both available."
"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune's eyes were as wide as saucers. "You can't leave the Hokage post for a week!"
"I can do it in three days." Sakura rushed to say.
"You can half your learning time now, kid, but I can still only teach one thing at once." Tsunade raised her eyebrow at her.
"Not if your clone teaches mine." Sakura countered. "You have enough chakra for that."
Tsunade barked another laugh. "Little shit is right. Let's go."
She got up and tossed her white coat on the desk before moving around it to grab Sakura's head with one hand.
"Tsunade-sama, the surgery!" Shizune cried out.
"Reschedule it for next week!" Tsunade yelled over her shoulder. "We need more time to go over the final details and I have a sudden urge to kick a certain pinky's ass."
Sakura thought her brain was about to explode. Tsunade had given her so many new and wonderful information on medical ninjutsu and chakra control—after beating her soundly, of course—that a whole different world had opened itself up for analysis. Not to mention the fact that she had learned the theory behind all of her shishou's signature jutsu including the Byakugou seal and how to get a start on that.
The Strength of a Hundred Seal was probably one of the most complex and amazing technique Sakura had ever heard of. The thought that soon her training would be directed towards that was enough to make her heart pound and blood rush.
Even if her head did feel like there was a tiny Tsunade inside it, constantly punching her brain.
She trudged her way back home with dragging feet that seemed clumsy enough to make fear of falling a reality. Tsunade had left her a couple of hours ago when the sun began to set but she stayed behind at the Senju training grounds to practice some of the basics. All she'd gotten for her efforts was a sprained wrist so far.
Sakura had done exactly like her shishou had instructed and tried to punch the boulder into smithereens like demonstrated but two hours later and she was feeling more discouraged than ever.
She went to bed that night with a weight on her chest, thinking how she had felt so confident she could do this and how wrong she'd been.
However, there was nothing like a healthy dose of night terror to shake the glum out of a person. Dreams vivid enough in a way that was only possible because they were actually memories plagued her night. Her own screams woke her up and she was briefly grateful that Tsunade apparently had already left for the Tower before she was on her feet.
Sakura didn't bother with breakfast or even changing out of her pyjamas, she simply marched outside to the training ground in her backyard and faced one of the boulders there. Sasuke was still out there with Orochimaru. Naruto was unreachable. And all night she'd been stuck in flashes of her friends falling in front of her and blood, so much blood.
She would master that technique today. She couldn't afford not to.
With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and coached her chakra towards her right fist. A sudden bout of inspiration struck her and she used her left hand to make the tiger seal to help her focus. Keeping her flow steady, she guided as much as she could towards her knuckles and pulled her fist back.
She let go of the breath she was holding the same time she left her fist fly, still not opening her eyes, and heard the deafening crack that ensued.
Sakura opened one eye warily to look at the boulder and whooped in celebration. There was a large crater in the boulder before her, the cracks a spidery web reaching the edges of it. She hadn't managed to pulverize it like her shishou but it was still something. If that boulder had been a person, she would have done some serious damage.
And she loved it.
It was a week later that Tsunade managed to escape the office long enough to join her for an early morning training session. The two of them had been sparring for a while and Tsunade had seemed proud of Sakura, even if she hadn't explicitly told her so.
Sakura knew her shishou was pleased by how her grin was that much fiercer and her eyes that much sharper. She knew because she realised Tsunade kept increasing the intensity and speed behind her hits to see just how much Sakura could take, like she was testing her but also like she was rewarding her.
Every time Sakura managed to evade or successfully block a blow that would have broken someone else's bones, Tsunade's smile grew. When Sakura finally managed to switch to the offensive for the first time ever while sparring with her shishou, she felt a rush like none other.
Tsunade dodged easily from her well-aimed punch, but the tree behind her had been completely obliterated. She hadn't actually managed to do it to the boulder yet, but she was getting there. She knew she was and it was downright exciting to see the progress in herself.
"Alright!" Tsunade clapped her hands together and snorted. "That's enough for a pre-workout don't you think?"
Sakura would have scoffed but she was too busy falling to the floor in a heap. Every muscle in her body ached and she was pretty sure she couldn't get any wetter if she jumped in a river. Sweat ran into her eyes making them sting and the hair that had escaped her usual braid was plastered to her forehead because of it. At that moment, tired was an understatement.
"Get up, brat, we're not finished." Tsunade's shadow fell on Sakura as she leaned her hands on her hips and bended a little at the waist to look at her. "Or are you? I have more to do than sit around and watch you pant, girl."
That was enough incentive for Sakura to gather a breath and gasp out, "No!" Tsunade raised an eyebrow at her and she was sure she would have blushed if her cheeks hadn't already been flushed from the exercise. "I can keep going, just give me a few seconds."
Tsunade rolled her eyes but to Sakura's surprise, she sat down next to her and leaned back on her hands to tilt her face towards the first rays of sun, like she was soaking up its warmth. A few minutes went by in silence and Sakura had calmed her heartbeat enough to get up and try again but Tsunade cut her off before she could.
"Did you mean what you said?" She asked, her tone subdued in a way that Sakura had never heard before. She didn't have to ask what Tsunade meant because she continued shortly after a heavy pause. "Do you really think there's something wrong with the Medical Program? Shizune said you were just being ungrateful and inpatient like the usual teenager but I don't think you're the type of girl to run from work like that."
Sakura blinked at her. Her shishou was sitting next to her after finally finding some time to spar and was actually asking for her opinion on official matters. She was stunned to say the least.
It was only after careful consideration of her words that Sakura answered.
"I think when you introduced it here you did the best you could considering the shitty situation Konoha was facing. But," Sakura took a deep breath and hoped she wasn't overstepping her boundaries by continuing, "things are not like they were anymore. The hospital is well stablished and staffed, the people there can handle the normal influx and with you and Shizune-senpai around, the possibilities of anyone dying from an injury while at the village is practically null."
Sakura paused to let Tsunade take over but when she looked at her, her amber eyes were still watching the tree tops in silent consideration, so she decided to keep going.
"The problem right now is that there aren't enough medics out there because becoming a medic is so time consuming and, frankly, bureaucratic that the only ones who end up doing it are ninja who later on can't keep up on the field. It's almost field career suicide." Sakura bit her lip. "During the disaster that was my first chunin mission there was this Anbu guy at Kakashi-san's team. His name was Fox, or at least his codename was, and he could do some basic medical ninjutsu. Enough to give Ino a fighting chance."
It was quiet for a while, the only sounds in the clearing of a few distant birds and the wind rustling the leaves and Sakura was afraid she had said too much but then Tsunade was speaking again, her voice uncharacteristically soft, like she was still lost in whatever thoughts plagued her mind.
"Some Anbu who have better chakra control sometimes take it upon themselves to learn the basics."
She still wasn't looking her way but Sakura nodded anyways before bringing her gaze to where Tsunade's hadn't left since the beginning of the conversation.
"Maybe what we need out there isn't fully trained medics. Maybe what we need for now are those that have enough control to know how to do patch up jobs. Emergency field solutions until they can get somewhere safe." Sakura untied her hitae-ate and scratched at the healed scar that bisected her right eyebrow, courtesy of that Kusa ninja from her first mission as a leader. "I'm sure some of them will feel much more inclined to work in the hospital after they've experienced the field one too many times."
Sakura forced her fingers from scratching anymore at the scar and brought them to her lap to fiddle with the ends of her headband. Every time she thought back to that mission it itched as if a reminder of what could have happened. The wound on her shoulder had been completely healed by that nurse but Sakura had brushed her off before she could heal any of her scratches. The tiny wound across her eyebrow had been enough to make blood fall on her eyes but had long since clotted and Sakura had only remembered it again when she had stood beneath her shower head. It was now a constant reminder for Sakura of what had happened.
The silence had stretched on for a little too long when Sakura realised her shishou was looking at her, eyes narrowed and eyebrows furrowed.
"You're way too smart for so early in the morning, brat." Tsunade continued looking at her before scoffing and rolling her eyes. "And you were right about why the old man refused to follow my advice on having a medic on each team." Tsunade pursed her lips before saying in a low voice, "Imagine all the deaths that could have been avoided if you had been there with that way of thinking."
Sakura felt warmth in her chest at the blonde's words but acknowledged the compliment with only a faint smile before responding.
"Konoha wasn't ready for that, Shishou. The hospital was a disgrace and the medics clueless, they needed your guidance to grow to how they are now. The only reason we can think about field solutions now is because of you, really."
Tsunade's eyes widened minutely before she turned towards Sakura.
"Flattery won't get you out of another round, girl."
Sakura knew it was Tsunade's way of avoiding the sentimental turn their conversation had taken but didn't take offense to it. She could read now the pride in her shishou's eyes and the mirth in her scowls and she was glad they'd shared that talk even if she could barely walk throughout the rest of the day.
Hey, babes! Sorry for the unexpectedly long wait for this chapter! I hope you liked it as much as I did 3 There shouldn´t be another long wait like this one because I´m going back to uni which means going back to having a routine and things won´t be as crazy anymore lol Thank you all so much for reviewing, I really cherish each word from y´all
AND NOW FOR THE MOST EXCITING PART!
THE WINNER OF THE RAFFLE IS... oh_jeez! Thank you so much for commenting on every single one of my chapters, specially when sometimes you´d do it twice lol You can send me your prompt as a review on this chapter or as an ask on Tumblr (s-scorpiusmlfy). Thank you again 3
Now, you guys, I have to confess something... While I was away I ended up writing a little something... It´s supposed to be the first chapter of a spin off for this story that just wouldn´t leave my head and I just had to write it but now I kind of don´t want to write it anymore so it´s just a really confusing AU one-shot thingy? Should I ever shape it up to let it see the light of day or should I just keep it to myself?
See you soon ;)