Sakura had been surprised when Kakashi, her ex-sensei she supposed, had knocked on her door. She had been even more surprised when he had asked her if she had a few minutes to give him. Nodding dumbly, she had said yes.

Now they were sitting in the living room of the Haruno house in front of two steaming cups of tea. As Sakura's parents were both gone on a mission, they were alone.

Sakura saw Kakashi scratch his head as if he were nervous. She mentally scoffed; Kakashi Hatake, elite jounin, nervous? In her presence? No way. Suddenly, she was startled out of her thought as the shinobi bowed.

"I came here to apologize, Sakura," said Kakashi with his head lowered. Slowly, he rose his gaze to meet Sakura's eyes. "I failed as your teacher and team leader."

Sakura felt dizzy as she inwardly screamed in vindication. More than that, however, she was surprised. Kakashi had no real obligation to apologize to her. It was nice, it felt nice to have the man admit to his own shortcomings but he was a jounin and Sakura… Maybe not even a genin anymore. She had no basis to expect an apology apart basic human decency.

Kakashi sighed. "I would like to make amend but first, I need to explain to you why I behaved as I did. Would you like to hear it."

Sakura nodded. And so Kakashi spoke to her of his father taking his life in front him and how it made him obsess over orders and rules. Kakashi then spoke to her of his team, of Obito and Rin, of how he lost them and how it gave him his creed. Kakashi spoke to her of his failure to save his sensei, Minato Namikaze, Yondaime Hokage.

Then, Kakashi spoke to her of his fears that he would lose them the same way he had lost his previous team.

Sakura didn't utter a word during the jounin's short but intense explanation. It was a lot to take in and she needed several minutes before her thoughts were in order.

She couldn't relate. Understand possibly, offer her sympathy completely but she couldn't empathize. The worst she had ever lost was Ino's friendship over their rivalry for the Uchiha's attention. It seemed so silly now.

A part of her was angry at Kakashi for squandering her training but then again, she had had plenty of time to think since all had gone wrong. She had had plenty of time to realize how little of a kunoichi she was, in spite of her parent being ninjas themselves. Even if Kakashi had trained her, even if he had taught Team Seven, would she even have gotten anything useful out of it? She had close to no work ethic, had a big brain full of pretty theories she had no idea how to apply to reality and was wholly out of shape but she had been so happy and distracted being in the same team as Sasuke she honestly believed it didn't matter.

So she squashed this angry part of her mind and looked at her ex-sensei. She wasn't that mad and he had offered her a proper apology. "I appreciate you telling me all that, Kakashi-san. It… Gives perspective." She breathed in deeply. "I accept your apology. You said something about making amend?"

"I know you're going through a difficult phase right now so I thought you'd maybe like to… Spend time with other people and talk with them, to get a clearer view of what you want to do."

It had gone unsaid but Sakura heard it loud and clear. Her future as a ninja was in the balance; the dissolution of Team Seven meant she was in an administrative grey zone where she could decide to basically end her service before it had truly begun. If she waited too long, of course, she would be put in a team with the next batch of graduate. She had to serve her time under a jounin-sensei after all if she decided to stay a ninja.

Sakura had no idea what she wanted to do. She had tried to get some answers from her parents, about the village, about what it was to be a shinobi. About Naruto.

They had been more or less forthcoming with everything except her questions on her ex-teammate. The discussion had turned sour when she had insisted, not understanding what it was that they weren't telling her, and her parents had clammed up in answer, telling her it wasn't her business and that even if it were, they couldn't answer anyway.

Between the Hokage making her realize the obvious truth that it wasn't okay in any way to treat Naruto like he had been treated and her parents who refused to tell her anything, she felt boxed in, trapped in a place she couldn't escape. She wanted to believe her parents, she didn't want them to be horrible people. She didn't want to be a horrible girl.

She wanted to hear it wasn't her fault or at least that she could make it right somehow. She wanted to apologize to Naruto because guilt was eating her nonetheless. She didn't want to have all those questions looping non-stop in her head, squishing her brain and making her feel overwhelmed by her own thoughts.

She gave Kakashi a hopeful glance and something seemed to pass between the two of them because the jounin gave her an eye-smile.

"How would you like to learn a bit of kenjutsu with me, Sakura? Naruto will be there and possibly Sasuke if he accepts my offer."

Sakura nodded eagerly and allowed a relieved sigh to escape her lips. She would do her best.

Hiruzen Sarutobi eyed the letter he was holding once more, wishing for its message to change.

He had just spent two hours explaining to his surrogate grandson the fine points of friendship and how it was natural to unconditionally gift and receive between people who called themselves friends.

He had rarely felt so much shame as when Anko and Ibiki had dragged the blond boy in his office, saying there were things to clear up about how human relationships worked. He had rarely been this tired when Naruto had shown to be entirely confused about how one didn't necessarily have to pay something of equivalent value to get something out of someone they were close to.

He had rarely loathed himself and the village so much for being responsible for that.

So when this letter had arrived, he had hoped for good news. Of course, Jiraiya couldn't know - and probably couldn't be bothered about Hiruzen's state of mind anyway - when he had sent the missive.

Dear Grandpa,

I hope you're doing good. I'm doing fine and the vast expanses of Wind Country are very inspiring. Can you believe that, as far as my eyes can see, there's nothing but sand? The beauty is truly breathtaking. However, the best part is the oasis, those little havens of water in the middle of the dry land. This is where my muse is the most talkative. I have found a good rhythm to my writing and hope to send the next manuscript to my editor soon. We'll have the next instalment before you know it. But I'm not only working you know? The ladies of Wind Country have a peculiar charm and it's important I spend some time with them to truly capture it. I think it'll make my next book that much better.

On other news, the desert is full of animals. Did you know some snäkes even live there? They have a special way to move to avoid burning themselves on the hot sand during the day. Some use their strange tail to make a warning soünd. I personally find it fascinating. I think it requires further exämination.

Anyway, I wish you the best. Until next time.

The letter was signed by a silly drawing of Jiraiya with one eye open and the other closed while blowing a kiss in the shape of a heart and one of his thumbs up. It was the key to deciphering the message. Not that it was too complicated to guess at the true content of the letter. The channels through which it had been sent allowed for very soft encryption. Hiruzen smiled wearily at the little drawing and sighed before he seemingly spoke to the air. "Kuma."

Immediately, a ninja masked in the likeness of a bear, one of the four ANBU always guarding the office, kneeled in front of him. "Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"Assemble every people with ultima-level clearance in meeting bunker number one."

The ANBU saluted, "Yes, Hokage-sama," and disappeared. He didn't stop to question or think about how the orders he had just received basically meant war. Clearance Ultima concerned all top-level commanders of the Konoha military and gathering all Hogatana in the same room could only mean conflict was brewing somewhere.

The three other ANBU, however, did have time to wonder and come to these conclusions.

"Would you be so kind as to brew some tea, Neko-san? I feel like it will be a long reunion."

Another ANBU appeared, dissimulated under a cat-like mask. "Of course, Hokage-sama."

Slowly, Hiruzen rose from his seat, the two remaining shadows immediately following him.

AN: What is the encrypted message? As a hint, you're looking for a single word. You'll know in the next Meanwhile.

So, I want to thank you all for playing along with me and sharing your thoughts on the previous chapter.

Both endings basically tell the same thing: Naruto's views have been distorted badly by his upbringing and he sees relationships purely like a business. While the true ending only hints at his fear of abandonment (after all, in a deal, if you stop giving, you stop receiving), the scrapped ending is a lot more "on-the-nose" about it. Someone mentioned it was like a hammer to the face. I agree with it and that's why I originally scrapped it.

A lot of you found the true ending better for its flow and noted it was more consistent with this Naruto who is in control of his emotions. A lot of you found the scrapped ending better for the drama value it carries, regardless of it coming a bit out of left field. Many of you noted both things as advantages and encouraged me to rewrite a perfect end or at least to develop Naruto's fears. While I won't re-write (for purely psychological considerations that are my own) I'll say this now: I fully intend to explore Naruto's fears. A character is only as human as his flaws.

A few of you noted that going by the scrapped ending, logically, Naruto should probably go see a psychiatrist and be withdrawn from active duty. While they would be entirely right if Konoha was a modern military, it's not the objective of this story and it's not like Konoha shinobi are mentally balanced.

Once again, I thank you all for your feedback. It is precious and helping me write chapter 25 as of now. For everyone to be on the same page, only the true ending is valid. It doesn't mean elements of the scrapped ending won't be re-used later on. Best,