Hiya, guys :) Happy friday, all. I'm still waiting to figure out a nice quirky way to call our weekly update fridays 'cause I be a nerd like that, mkay?
This is a month after last chapter, just so no one gets too confused. I'll probably write down the timeline soon for you guys lol.
Enjoy :)
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Sakura entered the village through the eastern barrier. It has been six months since she first learned the way to get in and out of the secret barrier and nothing felt quite as exciting as taking point on an ANBU mission to her. Her team moved smoothly behind her, following her orders as quickly as they did Tenzo-taichou's.
They moved fast through the woods. It was the middle of the day and while those training grounds were mostly used by ANBU, she didn't want to risk anyone seeing them. They looked feral.
It had been one of those missions. One moment, everything was okay, intel saying that they would be outnumbered two by one but that was okay because they weren't just any team. They were elite and the enemy's skill wasn't a match for theirs. Still, no one could have accounted for bad intel.
Instead of two by one, they were outnumbered by about ten to one. Bad intel, that's for sure, they'd just have to figure out if it was on purpose or not. No ANBU could have gone through that city and not noticed how disturbed the forest around it was. As in, there was a huge ass camp of rogues outside the city limits that they hadn't been informed about.
It was a tough mission, not because it had almost killed them but the idea that someone in their ranks had set them up had settled in their stomachs like lead. Sakura could actually taste the bitterness of it.
She had sent Kaede, the fastest of the pack, ahead with a scroll for Tsunade and the Commander, asking for a meeting as soon as they arrived. Team Ro didn't bother cleaning up or even going to the hospital, they made their way straight to Tsunade's office.
Sakura had taken two hours while her teammates were asleep just before dawn to heal most of their injuries. She was exhausted, but she wanted to get this out of their hands as soon as possible.
She opened the doors to the office and paused.
Her surprise only lasted a millisecond before she was stepping further inside the room, her team in diamond formation behind her. They were strung up and relaxing seemed to be impossible for the near future.
"You said you suspected the bad intel was on purpose, Haruno," Toshio said without preambles. "Why?"
He was leaning against the wall to the right of where her shishou was sitting behind her desk. What had given her pause, however, was that Kakashi was dangling from the windowsill, one foot hanging down inside the room with Kaede sitting next to him, being petted on the head.
As soon as the wolf noticed her, he came to bump his head on her hip.
"The signs of a large group were unmistakable." Sakura gave Kaede a scratch behind the ear and rested her hand there. "I remember reading the reports on that recon mission and seeing that one operative stayed behind to continue assessing the situation. There's no way he couldn't have noticed anything."
"That's a strong accusation, you need to be absolutely sure of this, Wolf-taichou." Neither of the usually carefree ninja in the room were taking this lightly and Sakura was glad. She didn't think she could stop herself from punching a hole through the wall if they had joked about anything at the moment.
"All I'm sure, Commander, is that my team was welcomed into a delicate situation by a fucking bloodbath." Sakura tried to stay calm, but she was so tense, her body was almost shaking. Inner was having a hard time pushing all her emotions back and Sakura could do nothing but close her fist tighter on Kaede's fur.
"Did you make contact with the operative?" Tenzo asked from her left. Sakura eased up on her hold when Kaede warned her in her mind that she was hurting him. With a quiet apology, she patted him once more before using her hand to take off her mask.
Screw protocol.
"We sent a hawk more than two hours ago. He has," Toshio chanced a look at the clock on the wall, "fifteen minutes to answer and then we're sending the hunter nin."
Tension settled on the room like a blanket. For a second, Sakura wished she was on the squad that would be hunting down the bastard, but she knew that was stupid. First because while it hadn't been completely confirmed that he had fed them false intel, the hunter nin would have to question him on the field and she wasn't so sure she would be able to pull her punches. And second because while she had taken the time to heal her teammates, she had just fixed the sprain in her ankle and kept moving.
"You're hurt," Tsunade spoke for the first time. She had a deep frown between her brows, her golden eyes fixed on Sakura.
Sakura merely fixed her mask on her belt and brushed her hair away from her face properly. Tsunade tsked and muttered a few obscenities before ordering her to heal herself or head to the hospital. Sakura narrowed her eyes at her shishou in irritation.
Whatever, she thought. Inside that office were only people she trusted. There was no need for formalities. Sakura dragged the chair she usually sat on and pushed it closer to the open window Kakashi was sitting on. She needed a bit of air.
"What a fucking mess," she muttered to herself as she sat down. She stripped her gloves and arm guards, letting them fall to the floor with a thud alongside her outer armour. She had been stabbed quite a few times and her long sleeved shirt was ripped along her ribs. Thank fuck everything major wasn't hit because that would be a bitch to fix with three broken ribs like she had.
The others sat down in different chairs after Tsunade barked at them to relax if they were going to stay.
"Are you okay?" Kakashi spoke so quietly she almost didn't hear him.
For once, Icha Icha was nowhere to be seen. He was just as tense as she and the rest of her team were, the muscles of his forearms visibly strained as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"They're sending you." It wasn't a question. If Kakashi had been in the village when Kaede got there, he would be the obvious choice. Friend Killer Kakashi. Cold-Blooded Kakashi. He had done his fair share of hunter nin missions in the past. He was the perfect candidate for it. An excellent hunter. Ruthless but not immoral.
Kakashi merely hummed in response, his eye tracing the bead of blood that was mixing with sweat on her temple. Sakura sighed and got to work.
The others had settled around them in different chairs and were looking worriedly at her. Kaede sat next to her and rested his head on her lap.
"Sakura," Toshio said, "just go to the hospital."
Sakura frowned at him. She was almost done anyway, there was no need for that. And she really didn't appreciate how exasperated he sounded. She wasn't Kakashi, she wasn't refusing treatment out of stubbornness she just… had the abilities to heal herself.
"I'm going to get a headstart on that report." So she ignored him.
Sakura finished healing her ribs but didn't have any chakra to spare on the small cuts all over herself. She took the mission scroll from her pack and gestured for Kakashi to give her some space on the windowsill to work on it. It took her all of ten minutes to write it while the others talked quietly to each other.
"Yosh… This is it." Sakura blew on the ink to let it dry and then looked at her team. "Take a look at this and see if you want to add anything. Kakashi should read this before he leaves."
Sakura pursed her lips and glared at the scroll. She would have to get up to go hand it to them.
"Just have Kaede bring it over, Pinky," Genma suggested. It was a testament to how exhausted they were that no one was volunteering to get it.
"He has blood all over his muzzle, old man," Sakura replied. Then with an exaggerated pout, went for the kill, "Gen-chan, your taichou is soo tired…"
Genma rolled his eyes but there was a small smile on his lips when he forced himself out of his chair. Yugao snickered tiredly and Tenzo looked at them with a tired expression on his usually placid face. Sakura was glad she could manage to make her team relax at least a little bit after all the shit they had to deal with during this mission.
"Shit, my head is killing me," Sakura muttered to herself while her team read her report. She took the tie out of her braid and started smoothing her hair out of it as the others worked. Kaede growled low on his throat to show how unhappy he was that she was hurt, making Sakura's heart swell with love for him. It was strange how quickly they'd gotten attached to each other. Sakura massaged one hand against her scalp while the other scratched Kaede behind his ears.
So what that the wolf's already red fur was drenched in blood. She was just as nasty at the moment.
Sakura quietly listened to the conversation going on around her, leaning her head on her arms against the windowsill as she paid attention. She closed her tired eyes when a particularly pleasing breeze ruffled her bangs. God, she was going to pass out any minute now if she didn't focus on something.
Bringing her focus to her chakra, Sakura heightened her senses. Smell, sight, hearing. It had become a common practice for her while working with the wolves. Something she was slowly improving on, and learning how to use during battle.
Using a bit of chakra concentrated against certain areas, she could heighten her senses just like she did while using her muscles to obtain super strength. It was dangerous, yes, but Sakura was extremely proficient with her chakra.
Sakura frowned.
"You smell like blood." Her voice was low enough that it didn't cut through the light chatter around the room but it still made Kakashi's head turn slightly towards her.
Sakura took another careful sniff, trying to determine how old it was. She wasn't good enough like her wolves yet to be able to determine the exact hours or days but she could tell it was on the fresh side, mostly situated around his hands. Curiously, though, his gloves were clean. Upon careful inspection, there were only a few tiny spots on his flak jacket's right shoulder. She could also smell the faint sting of ozone.
"How can you tell?" Kakashi asked quietly but Sakura ignored him. A sudden rush of emotion she couldn't quite control in her exhausted state rose from her stomach to her throat, making it knot and burn.
He had just come home from a mission, one that had him using Chidori, and now he was being sent away on a hunter nin specialised mission that was going to be so emotionally taxing… Sakura scowled.
"Sakura-hime is practising with the pack," Kaede huffed, his tail quietly thumping on the floor. He seemed to sense her mounting anxiety and added, "She's come a long way! Tou-san is really proud of her."
"Sakura-hime?" Tsunade asked and all the warm and fuzzy emotions that had begun making their way to Sakura's heart at Kaede's words disappeared. "That's the cutest shit."
Sakura straightened her back and dropped her arms from where they had been resting on the windowsill. She turned to her shishou, a cold glare directed her way.
"You're sending him on another back to back mission." Sakura's voice was low but the barely restrained aggressiveness underneath it gave everyone pause.
She could feel the tension in the room skyrocketing, her own anxieties bubbling to the surface. Maybe she was stepping out of line, specially by bringing this up in front of other people, even more specifically in front of someone who they weren't even sure they could completely trust yet, but still. Still.
Sakura was fucking tired. She had just spent the last day fighting for her and her teammate's lives on a fucking shitshow of a mission, slept for a grand total of three hours, spent the next couple of them healing her loved ones only to run back to the village and realise one of the people she cared the most about was being sent into a complicated mission right after coming back from one he had to use the Chidori.
She was tired. But she was also fucking pissed.
"He's available and he's perfect for this mission," Tsunade replied, unabashedly taking a bottle of sake from her desk and pouring herself a drink. She didn't look at Sakura. "We need him for this."
With something close to a snarl, Sakura quickly got up and marched to her shishou's desk. Her chair skidded slightly behind her.
"We need him," Sakura seethed, "for a lot more than just one mission. Shishou, send someone else, he needs to rest, he needs to—"
Tsunade set her cup forcefully to the table but still wasn't looking at her when she cut her off.
"I'm well aware of the brat's usefulness," she conceded, showing Sakura that she knew she'd been talking about their war with Danzo and the council. "Right now, I need him hunting this bastard down and figuring out whether he was responsible or not."
Something inside Sakura just snapped. She smacked her hands on the desk and was satisfied when she heard the sound of the wood cracking. Tsunade finally—finally—looked at her when the sake fell over. Her amber eyes were alarmed and growing as angry as Sakura's but she could feel nothing but grim satisfaction at getting a reaction.
"What fucking use is he to us if he's dead?" Sakura exclaimed, voice shaky and full of emotion.
Inner was having a hard time pushing all her emotions to their respectful boxes. She seemed to be short-circuiting a bit, wrapping Sakura up in the cloak and mask she used for missions. Sakura felt tired and unstable, like the simple crack in her armour was spindling all over it. She wanted to scream and to cry and she really wanted a nap.
Sakura lost control of the chakra she'd been gathering on her eyes, ears and nose for her practice and it spiralled out of control for a second, making her violently flinch and cover her forehead with a hand.
Suddenly a warm hand was settling on her shoulder, grounding her on one side while Kaede pushed himself against her other side.
"It's been fifteen minutes, Sakura." Sakura composed herself enough to look at him. She was glad he wasn't giving his trademark fake grin and was instead furrowing his brow at her. She was even more glad when he didn't immediately retract his hand, she'd thought she'd fall without it. "You should go and get some rest. I'll see you when I get back, okay?"
Sakura grit her teeth when Kakashi took a slight step back but kept looking at him. She took a deep breath to centre herself and used the slightest amount of chakra to keep her eyes dry. Fuck, she wanted to cry so bad.
She'd been worried about Kakashi for a long time now but something about him giving the wolves to her had set something off. She felt more responsible for him now than ever and what he had said that day had been niggling in the back of her mind for over a month now.
Kakashi had completely rejected the idea of him having kids and while that alone wasn't particularly troubling or even her business, really, there had been a sort of finality to it that had scared her. It felt for a moment like he was conformed with the fact that he probably wouldn't have a future. Like it was okay that he wouldn't stick around to attend one of her classes because he'd figured that he'd die in battle and that staying alive for a day longer was just a luxury at this point.
Sakura took another breath before nodding slightly and stepping further back. She immediately bumped into Genma and almost sobbed at how comforting his presence was then. He put a hand to her forehead.
"You're burning up, Pinky," he muttered around his senbon and allowed her to brush his hand away. Thankfully, he didn't step much further back, sensing correctly that she needed him close even though she had pushed him away.
Sakura turned to her team, completely ignoring Tsunade and the Commander at this point but not missing the looks on their faces, furrowed brows hiding surprise and alarm. Both Yugao and Tenzo were standing now and looking quite worriedly at her.
"You're dismissed," she said. "We meet at Genma's in an hour for food, sake and a movie."
"Hey, wait a minute." Genma jostled her with his shoulder a bit but quickly took a hold of her waist when it looked like she couldn't quite take it. He tried valiantly to infuse some levity in the room. "What if I was planning on entertaining today?"
Sakura glared at him, her earlier anger leaving her almost completely and exhaustion taking its hold on her.
"We're having a sleepover." She raised her eyebrows at him and didn't wait for him to reply before turning on Kakashi.
"I'm watering your plants while you're gone." Sakura raised her chin and slightly narrowed her eyes. "So you better let me know that you're back or else expect me to be popping by your apartment unannounced."
Kakashi chuckled and followed Genma's cue to try and dissolve the lingering tension. He waved a carefree hand in the air.
"Don't worry, Sakura-chan~"
"I'm watching over Mr. Ukki, Kakashi," Sakura sped over him, saying it more like an order than an offer.
He sighed, seemingly resigned and Sakura nodded to herself. Then she patted Kaede on the head.
"Good job today, pup." She smiled slightly at him. "You can go back now, okay?"
"Will you be okay, Sakura-hime?" Kaede licked at her fingers in concern. "I can stay longer."
"Don't worry about me." Sakura used what little strength she had left to start clumsily climbing Genma's back. "Gen-chan is taking care of me. Go on now, tell everyone I said hi and I'll see you tomorrow at noon, sharp."
With a huff of goodbye, Kaede puffed away. Sakura coughed slightly on Genma's shoulder. Her eyes caught Tsunade's for a bit and she felt herself relax.
Her little tantrum had been ill timed but necessary and she didn't quite regret it, even if it was already making her a bit embarrassed. In her shishou's eyes there wasn't any reprimand, though, only concern. She understood Sakura.
"Go on then, old man." Sakura patted Genma on the chest. "Shunshin us away so I can take a shower already."
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It was barely a week later when Sakura received a summons from her shishou. It was Ino in her shiny purple get up, coming to find her before she left the house for the day. Not only was it strange that Tsunade was summoning her when they lived together and mostly settled things together at home but also that she had sent Ino. She wasn't used as a messenger, normally.
Sakura had no idea why her shishou wouldn't just talk to her at home. The incident in Tsunade's office had long since been put to rest, none of them apologising but both okay with moving on from the tension. Kakashi had caught the guy—who had indeed been guilty—and brought him back to prison, all in just a few days. Everything went fine, and Sakura could breathe a little easier, especially when Tsunade sent him to a mission with Asuma and Gai in the land of Iron just the day before.
That was practically a vacation.
"Why are you acting as an errand-girl today, Ino-chan~?" She asked the blonde before coming to grab her arm with a smile.
Ino sighed dramatically as they began to make the path to the tower.
"I bumped into my dad in the tower and he blackmailed me into coming to get you." Ino faked a pout and her pupilless eyes glittered mischievously towards Sakura. Sakura prefered taking the long way if she wasn't in a hurry and since they had sent Ino to get her, she wouldn't pass on the opportunity to talk to her friend.
"Hmm," Sakura smirked at the blonde's playfulness. "That must have absolutely ruined your day."
Ino giggled lightly before schooling her features again and nodding as if in grim acceptance. Then her face suddenly became mischievous.
"I haven't seen you around in a while. Wanna gossip?" Ino wiggled her eyebrows and Sakura snorted. She had almost forgotten how her friend's mood swings were fast.
"Let me guess, you want to talk about Shikamaru and Temari?" Sakura smirked at Ino's indignant squawk that she had beat her to it.
"You already know?" She asked and this time the pout on her full lips was real.
"No, Ino-chan." Sakura patted her on the arm she was holding. "I just guessed. Tell me all the dirty details."
Ino immediately launched into an enthusiastic retelling of their two friends' love story. Sakura smiled at her and let herself be swept away from her troubles by her friend's bubbly personality. Her crazy schedule was taking its toll on her and she hadn't even come close to seeing Ino since Lee's party, about a month ago. Sakura focused on her story.
Apparently, Shikamaru and Temari had been keeping in contact through letters ever since that first chunin exam they helped organise. According to Ino, some innocent kissing had happened back then and she thought for a while that the two of them were dating. But years passed and they never really defined their relationship, leaving Ino completely confused. Then after Lee's party, they had sex for the first time and proceeded to ignore each other for the next few days.
Sakura raised her scarred eyebrow at Ino's complete lack of discretion about someone else's sex life but didn't question it. She had noticed that her friends from the Academy had gone from their exploring phase and entered the next one where they adopted the carefree attitude towards sex that most shinobi had. It wasn't something to discuss while having dinner with the clan heads and funnily enough just a couple of them had even had it before but they all pretended it was something they were used to while chatting between themselves.
Sakura personally thought it was a weird phase for them all. They had much more liberty and responsibility, especially after becoming chunin, but they were still so young in her eyes. Shikamaru had a curfew, for fuck's sake. And none of them had experienced even half of what Sakura had gone through.
She found herself less able to connect with them as time went by, especially the clan kids. Sakura felt awful just even thinking about it, but she couldn't help what she felt. The truth was that they were sheltered and Tenten, while an excellent friend and the one she could relate to the most, wasn't exactly the type of person to go out of her way to incite a girl's night out.
It was a bit sad to realise that while Sakura was sure they cared for her and she for them, they didn't quite fit together anymore. Still, it wasn't like she was lonely. She had found her place and was increasingly content with who she was.
Ino's chatter brought her back to attention.
"So it turns out they had been terrified to catch feelings while living in different villages and totally freaked out after that night." Ino flipped her long hair behind her shoulder with a graceful flick of her wrist. "And they're not just anyone, right? I mean, Temari is in the Suna council and the Kazekage's older sister and Shika is the Nara heir. Talk about complicated."
"So they're not dating?" Sakura clarified.
"I mean, they were definitely getting it on before she left this week." Ino snickered. "It's ridiculous that they thought they were being sneaky about it. But, anyway, they decided to just stay friends."
"That makes sense." Sakura nodded and stopped when Ino did to window shop. "Less chance of either of them getting hurt."
"I don't know," Ino said when they returned to their path. "I think it would have been super romantic, you know? Star-crossed lovers, having to overcome the obstacles to be together."
Sakura rolled her eyes and huffed a laugh.
"This is real life, Ino, not a romance novel." Sakura ignored the frown on her friend's face and continued. "And we're not talking about just any obstacles here. You said it yourself, they both have serious duties to their villages and clans and that comes first for any shinobi worth their salt."
Sakura kept walking and not looking at Ino but she could see her gaping incredulously at her from the corner of her eyes.
"Are you—" Ino scoffed— "Are you serious? What happened to the Sakura that believed in love? The Sakura that thought she could help Sasuke-kun by loving him?"
"Do you want me to still be in love with Sasuke?" Sakura shot her friend a look and Ino quickly backtracked.
"No, of course not. I just didn't think you'd turn out this cynical about love." Ino shrugged, making Sakura sigh.
"I'm not cynical, Ino." She rolled her eyes slightly. "I'm practical. Love in real life isn't really like it is in romance novels. That doesn't mean it's not powerful, just that not everything is about love, is it? At least not in the sense of romance."
"I guess…" Ino muttered but Sakura could see that she was still a bit thrown off by Sakura's dry assessment.
It's not that she had given up on loving and being loved. It's just that she had learned that, sometimes, love wasn't enough. Sakura tried to change the subject, so as not to upset her friend any further. Before she could think of something to say, though, Ino turned towards her with a teasing smile.
"So, Sakura-chan." She wiggled her eyebrows a bit. "Want to tell your best friend why the most important people in the village are looking for a meeting with you?"
"Most important people?" Sakura asked. She thought she was being summoned for a meeting with Tsunade.
"Dad said Hokage-sama was calling you but it's a meeting with the Council." Ino raised an eyebrow at her, suddenly more reticent. "Is this about… you know, you wearing a mask?"
Sakura narrowed her eyes and tried to see if anyone was paying attention to them. There were more people now that they were on the main street towards the Tower but everyone was minding their own business. Sakura sighed.
"Ino." She raised an eyebrow at the blonde. "You can't bring this up like this in the middle of the street."
"Everyone knows or at least suspects it, Sakura-chan." Ino was giving her such a worried look that Sakura felt her stomach tighten. She didn't want to make her worry. "I told my dad that I was worried about you… I asked him if he didn't have enough say to pull you out of it."
"You what?!" Sakura exclaimed in a whispered cry. "Ino! I'm okay where I am. Honestly!"
"Sakura…" Ino looked surprised at her outburst, if not a bit scared. Sakura reeled her emotions in and took a deep breath. "You haven't really hung out with anyone for quite a while. We barely even see you."
"I went to Lee's party!" Sakura tried to be calm but it still came out more accusatory than she wanted to.
"That was last month. And before that, no one had really spent more than a few minutes with you for months," Ino countered, making Sakura frown.
They were almost at the tower now and the ninja influx was higher so Sakura tried to keep her voice down and cut the conversation short. She didn't want to talk about it anymore but she knew that it was mostly because there was a piece of truth to what Ino was saying that she didn't quite know how to deal with.
The truth was that she had distanced herself from her friends. It wasn't anything intentional but it still happened. Sakura felt more comfortable with her routine of barely having time to worry about social obligations than she did when she was constantly trying to fit in when she was at the Academy.
She loved the Rookies dearly and would most likely always consider them friends but she found herself holding back whenever she was with them. None of them could understand her like Genma did, like her teammates and even her students and subordinates did. And she was just so busy. If she tried to find more time to fit the Rookies into her schedule she would surely break.
There was a war brewing in the distance and Sakura knew she'd be at its centre when it came. She had to be ready.
"Ino-chan," Sakura tried to give her friend a reassuring smile, "I'm okay. You don't need to worry about me."
Ino didn't look convinced but they had already made their way inside the tower and the ninja influx was too high for them to keep having a private conversation. The blonde gave her a sad little smile that made Sakura's chest tighten.
"I have to meet my team at the missions desk." Ino gave her a hug that felt like she was trying to break her in half and whispered in her ear, "I love you."
Sakura stood frozen for a second, not really knowing how to react. She couldn't remember the last time someone had said that they loved her. Tsunade, while someone she would gladly call family, wasn't exactly the touchy feely type, and Sakura had grown to be just like her. She tried a bit harder to remember and came up with a blank. How depressing.
Sakura shook herself out of her thoughts and hugged Ino back. It's not like she wasn't loved. She had Ino, Tsunade and Genma. She had her pack. She didn't feel alone.
"Love you too." Sakura gave Ino a bright smile and shooed her slightly with her hands when they parted. "Now, go! We both have meetings to get to."
She left Ino at the mission desk floor and continued up until she reached her shishou's office, the frown on her face growing with every step she took. Now that Ino wasn't there to distract her, Sakura could properly think about what was happening. What reason could the council have to summon her?
With a quick check, Sakura saw that they were all inside. She paused to take a deep centring breath and fixed her face into a look of polite detachment before going in.
"Good, you're here," Tsunade said from behind her desk. "We can take a break from all this nonsense."
Four plushy chairs were placed two on either side of the Hokage's desk, creating a semicircle. Homura and Koharu to one side and Shikaku and Inoichi to the other. Sakura nodded at them all politely, ignoring the Elder's look of barely veiled contempt. Old fuckers.
"This isn't nonsense, Godaime," Koharu said, her wrinkled cheeks growing red. "The Hokage should always listen to what the noble clans have to say and Hyuga-sama is right—"
"Hyuga is throwing a tantrum over nothing," Shikaku boldly interrupted the Elder and Sakura raised an eyebrow at his curt tone of voice. "The Council was created to assist the Hokage in protecting Konoha in the best way they can, it has never undermined the importance of the noble clans inside the village. The fact that the Council is growing in numbers doesn't change that."
Homura seemed to be gearing up to speak but Sakura interrupted the discussion with a polite clear of her throat. Tsunade's eyebrow was twitching like mad and Sakura knew she wasn't too far off from an outburst.
"How can I help you today, Shishou?" Sakura said and watched with distant amusement as Tsunade visibly took a deep breath.
"The Elders have brought to the Council's attention that it's unbecoming of one of the great noble clan's heirs to be hidden away in ANBU." Sakura fought the urge to narrow her eyes at her shishou, not liking at all where this was going. "I believe the words used were "improper" and "unwise". So the Council has decided to pull you back from ANBU's active roster. Partially."
"Partially?" Asked Homura, a frown so deep in his face it looked like it would never go back to normal.
"I won't stop Sakura's work at the workshops, that would be stupid," Tsunade said curtly, her patience clearly at its end. "Nor will I retire her from her duties at sixteen. That would obliterate her career. Surely that's not what you were suggesting I do." Tsunade raised an imperious eyebrow at him.
"The girl is an excellent medic, is she not?" Koharu said, raising her chin in defiance. "I believe it's more than appropriate for her to work her way up the Hospital's ranks. She could even become director one day, if she wanted."
Inner pushed all thoughts of violence forcibly to the back of her mind. The old crone wanted to bury her under hospital work. She didn't know they had felt this threatened by her being turned into the Senju heir. Why now? What had changed? Sakura fought hard not to ball her hands into fists and kept her placid expression firmly in place. She couldn't, however, keep quiet.
"I'm a combat medic." Sakura kept her voice level but the coldness in it was clearly noticeable as was the unconscious narrowing of her eyes. "I'm at the beginning of my career, I belong in the field."
"Sakura is right and my word is final." Tsunade seemed to finally have had enough. She got up from her chair and waved one hand to the door before turning her back on them and moving to the window behind her desk. "We can schedule another meeting later, I have a lot of work to do. Sakura, stay."
For a second, it looked like the Elders would protest further but they decided against it and left, muttering angrily between each other all the way to the door. Inoichi lingered by the door as Shikaku turned to look at Tsunade's back.
"You made them angrier," he observed calmly.
Tsunade simply shot him a glare before turning back to look out the window.
"You're dismissed."
The two men spared her goodbyes before leaving but Sakura didn't answer them. Now that she felt safer, she was positively shaking with anger. She ran her hands through her loose bangs and paced in front of her shishou's desk for a while before forcibly expelling the air in her lungs.
Sakura felt her chakra roll angrily inside her belly and the concerned response the chakra signals outside the window emitted. She had forgotten today was Team Ro's turn at the Hokage Platoon.
It seemed Tsunade was just reminded of the fact as well, because she quickly moved to her desk and activated the privacy seal there.
"Fuck," Sakura exhaled, fingers scratching at her bare forehead and catching at her scar.
Tsunade came around the table and placed both hands on her shoulders.
"I'm sorry," she said and Sakura couldn't quite look her in the eyes so she focused her gaze on the diamond in the middle of her forehead.
"What about my team?" Sakura asked, her voice wooden.
"They'll keep their same schedule, mostly taking shifts at my Platoon and you'll still be sent to any mission that requires their expertise outside the village," Tsunade assured her. "Their plan to undermine you backfired. Wonderfully."
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked with a confused tilt of her head.
Tsunade's lips turned into a small but nonetheless fierce smile that made hope blossom in Sakura's chest.
"I need you being seen, girl. If something happens to me, it's up to you to continue fighting this war and we need to build up your reputation for that." Tsunade squeezed her shoulders and the feeling echoed inside Sakura's heart. She didn't even want to think about Tsunade dying.
"But, Shishou…" Sakura sighed slightly. "ANBU is great for my career."
"I know you like it there, brat, but I need you making a name for yourself out here in the light as well. I'll put you on as many missions with other jounin as possible, see if we can get your name in other Bingo Books other than Suna's." Seeing the dejected look Sakura couldn't quite hide, Tsunade patted her on the arm. She used to pat her on the head but Sakura had long since grown taller than her and she had a feeling Tsunade hated that fact.
"I guess…" Sakura pursed her lips. She wasn't pouting. Just expressing how inconvenient this all was. She liked ANBU, goddamn it, she didn't want to leave.
"I'm not forcibly retiring you from the shadow corps, brat," Tsunade said, affection clear in her voice making Sakura smile slightly. "Besides, you're going to be taking missions as a jounin who has experience leading ANBU teams. I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself."
Sakura was sure she was right. She would be coming back to the regular forces with a much different status than she had before. It certainly would be a good idea to start making a name for herself.
Despite feeling less discouraged than when she first got the news, Sakura couldn't help the feeling deep in her stomach, like something heavy had settled over it. The war in the distance was looking closer every day.
.
.
.
Senzen means the period before war. *wink*
Sooo what did you think? About Sakura's lil tantrum, give the girl a break okay? In my opinion this is a girl-woman that is naturally very emotional but has been suppressing her emotions way too much over the course of the last 3-ish years. She's gotten good at it, it's second nature by now to let Inner hide the things she doesn't want to show but everyone has their breaking point. Add hormones, continuous stress and sleep deprivation to it and we get a tantrum. Also, keep in mind that Sakura would never have reacted like that in front of just anyone. It was an important scene to show how comfortable she feels around the people in that room, even Toshio.
I don't know if it was clear, but Sakura has been training with the pack for the last month. Yeah, I wanted to show a bit of that but I don't want to drag on these last few months before the hugeass time skip and I figured chapter 27 was enough. Sakura is reaching a bit of a plateau on her abilities, she still has a lot of growing up and learning in the fic but for a while this is as far as she gets. I feel like we've seen her climbing the ranks and developing her skills at an alarming rate and now it's time for her to chill a bit, put those skills to use, get used to working with the pack and shit.
You guys I'm so SOOO close to the best part of the fic I can almost taste it but like... I just can't seem to reach it lol. I think the next chapter will finally FINALLY be the last one before the timeskip. If all goes well and the characters don't rebel against me like they normally do, next chapter will be a roller coaster of emotions, lot's of new developments and TIME. SKIPPED.
That being said... I... maybe... won't update next week...? I'm still not sure, it's just that I suddenly have so much on my plate bc of the end of semester and I didn't write ANYTHING this week so I have a grand total of zero words for next chapter. I was sooo close to completing a two month streak but, yeah, RL sucks. Who knows, if you guys give me lots of great wonderful comments I may just find the time to post chapter 30 next week... Just kidding. (Or am I?) No, no pressure.
If you guys didn't notice, I changed my username! Remember that project we talked about in a P.S a while ago? Well, I decided to move that forward. So, yeah, that has been on my mind a lot lately. You guys can now find me virtually anywhere by this username (twitter, tumblr, twitch, youtube, instagram) and follow me! I'm currently only active on Tumblr but pretty soon will bring new stuff to all platforms. I'm pretty fucking excited.
Anyway, enough A/N for now. I love you guys so much! Thank you for all the support you've been giving me, it makes me feel less alone during these fucked up times. I hope we can connect further soon :)
Stay safe,
J