"What did she do to you?" a curious gennin asked. "What punishment is worse than death?"
Sakura sighed. How long had she held onto that childish naivety? That the worst that could happens was dying. She had learned there were much worse things over the years.
"Dying is not a punishment." Sakura corrected. "Death is the world's one certainty. It tolls for everyone, and earlier for shinobi. Death is release, freedom. It's preferable to fighting a war with no end, to losing all those around you."
The children quieted at her prose. Sakura decided to move away from the morbid topic. She had plenty of depressing stories to share.
"Tsunade, in her infinite wisdom, decided since I was so determined to have Team Hebi freed and brought back to Konoha, that it was my responsibility to look after them. Which, in vindictive woman speak," several girls giggled here as boys looked at them nervously, "that any trouble they caused would be put on my record and I would pay for any damage."
"You've got to be kidding me. I've must have drunk more than I thought. Sakura, please tell me that the three brats standing behind Uchiha are a drunken hallucination?"
Sakura winced at her shishou's honey sweet tone, knowing she was in for it. "So, shishou. Suna was holding them captive since the end of the war. I couldn't leave them there."
She blamed her heart, soft to the core. Sakura hated the idea of people suffering, and that extended to include misguided subordinates of Orochimaru that had no place to go besides Sasuke. "They came at no cost to Konoha," she felt the need to add.
Tsunade's eyes narrowed at her apprentice. They may have come at no cost from Suna, but the same could not be said for the other villages.
"I will accept them on one condition. They will be limited to the same restrictions as Sasuke."
Team Hebi, who had laughed uproariously, complained, or sympathized, with Sasuke's punishment immediately protested. Each of them was at least chuunin when a part of Sound. Only Juugo wasn't complaining about be demoted to gennin, but Sakura got the feeling that he didn't really want to be a ninja. At least not in the true assassin of the night, cold blooded killer manner. He was a really gentle soul that dislike killing and fought to protect Sasuke because he could control Juugo's enraged state.
"Enough. That is my decision. If you don't like it, feel free to go shack up with your old master."
Suigetsu and Karin paled at the indirect threat on their lives and hurried to agree to the Hokage's terms.
"Sakura, all four of them will be rooming with you."
"Shishou! I don't have enough room in my apartment for . . . did you say four?" Sakura blinked. "I have to put up Sasuke too?"
She had avoided looking at her one time crush since they stepped in the office, seeing as she wasn't as confident as she had pretended to be that Tsunade would welcome his second team into the village. Glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, Sakura was afraid that he would be angry, being forced to move out of his apartment.
Surprisingly, Sasuke didn't look annoyed at the idea. In fact, she thought she might have caught a slight upward tilt of his lips.
"And you will be moving into one of the inconspicuous safe houses along the village's wall so that they're well out of the way. You'll be held responsible for any misbehavior, damage to training grounds or other village property, or any other crimes they commit." Tsunade said cheerfully.
Sakura sagged at that announcement. Considering Sasuke went out of his way to find new teammates exactly like his old ones in personality, there was no way they could all live under the same roof and expect the building to remain standing. Especially not once Naruto, Kakashi, Sai, and Yamato caught wind of it. Naruto would be demanded they all move in too and be one big happy Team Seven family.
She could already imagine the fights.
"And Sakura," the busty Hokage called as the five were exiting her office, "you have to pay their bounties."
"She made you pay their bounties?" one student repeated incredulously. "That's totally unfair."
"Sasuke thought so too," the pinkette remarked. "He had to catch me when I fainted and carried me to our new home for nine months. When I woke again he told me that Tsunade was quite possibly the cruelest of the three Sannin."
"But wasn't it bad enough she was making you completely responsible for them?"
"Tsunade hates paperwork." Sakura said simply, causing many students to facepalm. "By bringing them back, I would have caused international issues with the villages they attacked and abandoned to join Orochimaru. By paying them the bounties as reparations, they were happy to let the matter slid.
"Still, it killed my savings and caused me a lot of overtime. But paying it off was easier than dealing with Karin."