They ran through numerous forests. The land north of the fire country was the opposite of their home climate—cold and oppressive. If Sakura's internal geography had any merit, they were close to the border of frozen Shimo.

Despite it being early fall, it was freezing. An unending drizzle covered the mountainous landscape in a fine dew that made it impossible to run without using chakra. The sheer amount of rain made it unpleasant to talk while traveling, so they moved in a diamond formation with Kakashi in front, Yugao, Sakura and finally Ko.

They reached their first destination after three days of travel. Sakura was frozen to the bone by the time they arrived, and grateful she had the foresight to bring a traveling cloak despite the balmy weather in the fire country. She clutched the cloak tighter to herself.

Approaching the small village, Sakura confirmed the location. Kasugai-mura.

Kakashi fell back from the front of the pack to let Sakura overtake him. She silently removed her mask and clipped it to her waist. It was early morning, and they'd run into a thick fog several miles ago. In the geography of a town, the fog wove through the shanty homes and structures and tricked the eye into movement in the peripheral.

Sakura shivered again. She recognized a building painted as a medical hut, and gestured to her team to follow. Sakura rapped lightly on the door.

There was a minute of nothing. Behind her, Yugao exchanged confused looks with Kakashi.

Then the door slowly opened. A woman, maybe mid-thirties at oldest, studied Sakura from behind the half shut door, keeping it as protection between them. Thin brown hair fell around a boney face. The woman's eyes were dull, and deeply set.

"Hello," Sakura greeted, putting on her most well-meaning smile. "I'm Sakura Haruno. This is my team. I was sent here from Konoha to give medical aid."

The woman said nothing still. But after staring deeply at Sakura, she slowly released her hold on the door and let it open. Tentatively, she gestured for them to enter.

Sakura shot a glance back at Kakashi, who nodded, before stepping into the otherwise entirely dark room. Inside, it took her eyes seconds to adjust to the dimness. Only a small candle was lit in the corner of the sitting area. A faucet leaked into the sink.

One by one, the rest of her team swept in behind her. Finally, the woman closed the door, and came to stand in front of Sakura. She leaned on a dining table in the middle of the room, looking exhausted.

"I'm Orika," her mouth stayed a thin line on her face. "I'm the local healer. We're a small village, we don't have anything to offer for your help, if you choose to stay."

At seeing no waver in resolve from Sakura, she gestured to a small door behind her. "Do you want to come with me?"

Sakura nodded with a small smile, and shrugged off her travel pack. Ko offered out his hand to take it, and she gratefully handed it to him.

Six cots lined the room, five of them full. In the dim lighting, it looked like mostly youth and children. Their faces looked pale, and mouths parched. They might be feverish, but not enough to sweat, Sakura thought.

Orika was looking at Sakura, gauging her reaction. Realizing she was being watched, Sakura put on another smile. "May I?"

She approached the first of the beds. A teenager, maybe no older than twelve, lay asleep. Sakura laid a gentle hand on his forehead, and closed her eyes in concentration. Then she moved her hand down to his chest, and gently pulled the lightest amount of chakra through her hand.

She swept into his chest and looked for strangeness.

One by one, Sakura checked all five of the cots. Finally, she stood and nodded to Orika. They went back to the main area, where Yugao and Ko were crouched on the ground, Kakashi leaned against the sink.

"At first glance," Sakura began quietly, careful not to wake those in the next room. "It looked like just malnutrition. Which can be solved with long term care and upkeep."

Her eyes darted to Yugao, who was watching her intently.

"But, I think there's something else that's impairing their body's natural healing. Even for malnourishment, they should have more energy than they do."

Orika's dark eyes stared back at Sakura in an unwavering gaze.

"I'd like to take a look at the local food and water sources, and rule out environmental factors. I can also provide some direct treatment, to speed up their natural healing. Would you be alright if I did that, Orika-san?"

Sakura knew this wasn't good news to the healer, who's expression only got more grim. Still, she nodded her permission.

The pink haired medic turned to Kakashi. "Captain, request to spend up to a week here in Kasugai-mura?"

"Granted."

Orika looked between the members of the anbu team. "We are grateful you are here. Haruno-san, you can stay in this building if you'd like. I will set up a spare cot for you in this room."

"Another family can put your teammates up. There is a small backroom rented to travelers. I'll make arrangements for you."

Kakashi nodded, "Thank you, Orika-san."

She shook her head, and repeated, "We don't have much to offer."

Kakashi straightened and addressed the other nin. "Since Haruno will be staying here, and there's only one other room, let's do a continuous watch. Eight hour shifts—morning, afternoon and night."

The nodded, and Sakura felt herself relax. Shrugging off her coat, she got started on the task at hand.

For the first day and a half, Sakura busied herself with manual healing. Her chakra was low from the traveling to Kasugai-mura and it took a quick nap into the afternoon of the first day for her to feel revived. When she awoke in the same, small and damp room, Ko was sitting guard at the dining table.

They shared a quick meal of their packed meal bars, which would be their source of food for the rest of the trip, before Sakura ducked back into the room with cots. Orika was wiping down one of the patients with a sponge.

Sakura sat down at the first cot, placing her hands over the boy's chest, and began to heal.

It took around two hours to get him in decent place, enough for Sakura to have confidence that he could naturally recover.

Two hours across five of them, Sakura thought she could finish at least three that night. Four if she pushed it.

Late into the night, after Orika had kindly also moved a candle into the current room, Sakura sat up from the third cot. She rolled her shoulders tiredly. If she sought it out, she could feel Kakashi's chakra signature in the next room. He must have gotten the night shift.

Going from bed to bed, she quickly examined each of the patients, making sure they were stable for the night. Quietly, Sakura blew out the candle.

Stepping back into the main room, she found Kakashi quietly chatting with Orika. Sakura cleared her throat to make herself known, and approached them at the table, sitting down with little grace.

"How are they?" Orika asked.

Sakura nodded, "Well. I think they're getting stronger, especially the ones who were less sick to begin with. Once they wake up, we'll have to make sure they get something nutritious to eat."

The other woman stilled.

"Some of them are orphans. We don't have…"

Sakura's mouth went dry.

"We can spare some of our supplies." Kakashi spoke from where he sat. He met her eyes and nodded.

The next day, after administering treatment on the last of the patients, Sakura recruited Yugao, who was on morning watch, for a trip to the only grocer. It was a small store with a tiny grandmother, sitting on a highstool, overseeing her goods.

There was some produce, two whole chickens, and condiments like salt and pepper.

Sakura felt like a glutton when she pulled out her wallet and bought one of everything. The storekeep was overjoyed, and Sakura's own mouth watered at the thought of eating warm rice and fresh produce, after less than a week of eating only meal bars.

When they brought the purchases back to the medical house, she laid out the goods and tested each one for common poisons. She looked at the apples, pockmarked but red. The cabbage, which was wilted but full. And she thought of how thin the children looked, lying in the cots. The thought made her heart hurt.

Yugao seemed to read her mind, and put a hand on her arm.

At night, the four of them gathered for food, meal bars, and drinks, water, at Orika's table. Sakura had donated the purchased goods to Orika, who'd made a healthy broth and other snacks for the sick to eat. The four shinobi chewed on meal bars.

"This is my first time in this area."

Sakura and Yugao both nodded at Ko. "Us too," Yugao agreed.

"Not many reasons to come into an unincorporated area like this," Kakashi drawled.

"Seeing the state of things here, it reminds me of Ame."

Ko nodded too. "Both areas destabilized by war."

The meal quieted. Sakura looked troubled, Yugao tired, and Kakashi impassive. Ko tried to revive the conversation, "Sakura-san. Yugao tells me you were on the same genin team."

Sakura smiled at the mention of that, earning her a smirk from Yugao. "Aa, until we were chunin. At first, Yugao and I didn't even get along. You can see how that would be—"

Yugao lightly socked Sakura in the arm, who cried out in admonishment.

"Over time though, I wore Sakura down with my charm." Yugao said in a louder voice.

Sakura laughed, "More like I learned to look away when you were being annoying."

Both Kakashi and Ko were smiling. It was rare for genin teams to end up together again once separated.

"Why did were you split up in the end?"

Something in the air changed a little. The two women's smiles calmed and slowly dropped lower until barely there.

"On a hard mission," Sakura started very slowly, her mind slowly turning back to that time. "We ran into hunter-in where we didn't expect them—reports had placed them at 30 miles south of us. Our other teammate, Yosuke, was injured during the run-in. Our sensei died helping us get away."

"I'm sorry," said Ko.

Sakura gave the smallest smile, polite more than anything. "Our teammate died in the hospital."

Yugao sat silently, head tilted down. Sakura looked at her to see if she wanted to contribute.

"Yu-chan and I, we had to carry Yosuke back."

The purple haired nin nodded, "It was the heaviest run of my life. We had to trade off because we were both so spent."

"Eventually, anbu found us on the outskirts of Fire. They took Yosuke and sped him to the hospital. But the whole time, I thought—if I knew how to heal, would Yosuke-kun still be here right now?"

Kakashi watched Sakura and Yugao quietly, studying them. He wondered if he had been part of the team that had grabbed the boy.

"That's when you left with Tsunade," he stated.

"Yes," she nodded, "That's when, and why."

Sakura smiled at Ko and Kakashi, settled on the other side of the table. She crinkled her eyes but caused a few tears to drop, which she quickly wiped away with a laugh.

Sakura woke early the next morning. She opened her eyes and observed the blue light trickling in through the window, and the gently smoking candle. It must have been pre-dawn, and still Kakashi's watch.

She didn't see him in the small room, and doubted that he was with the patients. The man seemed to have a penchant for finding the quietest corner of any room. Pulling the duvet around her like a cape, Sakura padded to the main door and opened it to a rush of frigid air. He sat on the porch, back facing her.

"Captain," she called.

He turned to look at her and gave a wave. Sakura yawned as she ambled up to him.

"What time is it?"

"Almost five."

Sakura laughed and shook her head, "It's too early. But now I'm fully awake."

She breathed in deeply, humming appreciatively at the sweet fragrance of grass and moss.

"Captain, I was going to hike to the springs where the villagers get their water today. It's two hours from here, do you want to come with me?" Sakura paused. "Your watch shift would be over by the time we get back."

Kakashi snorted, "I'm not just on duty when I'm on watch. Get dressed, I'll come."

Sakura shrugged and held up her hands in faux peace. She smiled as she went back inside and quickly slipped on her tight anbu vest. It made her feel warmer with how close to the body it sat. She pulled on her cloak over that, and met him back outside.

They walked along in silence, Sakura leading the way based on Orika's directions. Kakashi hadn't said much to her after last night's conversation. In fact, he hadn't said anything at all.

Keeping step next to him, Sakura wondered if he was a person who closed up at tragedy, or even just at the sight of tears. She was the opposite, and sometimes had the effect of oil on water with people like that. She wondered if her sharing last night would only repel her already cold captain further.

The path stretched out in front of them, and as Sakura thought harder and harder, she couldn't help the words before they'd already tumbled out of her mouth.

"Have you ever lost anyone?"

Kakashi stopped walking. Sakura mentally kicked herself.

"Captain, I'm sorry. That was inappropriate for me to ask."

He slowly moved his eyes from the ground to her. Sakura looked genuine, he thought.

"No. It's alright. My sensei. And my friend."

They stared at each other, standing feet apart in the misted forest floor. Fog creeped around their legs. The trees sang with birds.

"My father, too."

"I'm sorry," Sakura admitted softly.

Kakashi looked wistful as he looked up into the treetops. For a moment, Sakura felt like he looked simultaneously his age, much older, and much younger. She reminded herself that he was only a few years older than she was. His eyes looked so sad.

"Me too."

At the spring, Kakashi kept careful watch over Sakura as she tucked back her cloak and dipped a vial into a pool of fresh water. She gave it a perfunctory sniff, before tucking it into her small hip pack.

Surveying the area, she couldn't help but smile. "It's beautiful here," she said.

Kakashi nodded. He followed her gaze around. The sun was a quarter of the way up the sky. The tree line in this area was dense, lush plant life growing around the life-giving springs. Ferns peppered the landscape and drops of water rolled off of leaves, giving the sense of continuous motion all around them.

And maybe more than that.

There was something that made his hair stand on end. Sakura had felt it too, because she suddenly stepped closer to him and presented him with her back. Instantly they fell into a defensive position, backs pressed tightly together as they circled, watching.

Sakura could feel Kakashi's shoulders flexing, electric with energy.

A glint flashed out of the trees. Sakura twisted her body to avoid the senbon, and shot a kunai back in the same direction. From behind her, she felt Kakashi spin around and give chase to the source.

Sakura darted into a tree as Kakashi's tanto found register with the enemy, a single man in a dark tunic, with no hitai-ate. They blades clashed with a piercing sound, as the man knocked Kakashi's tanto with a kunai. With space between them, he lunged. This man moved sloppily, leaving openings to his vitals.

Praying that Kakashi would move, Sakura dropped down directly down above him. As the man lunged into view, her chakra laden fist caught his shoulder and Sakura felt a satisfying register. He roared in pain, and blindly slashed at her, forcing her to take several steps back.

As Sakura and Kakashi circled him, his eyes darted madly between them. Sakura noted the gray sheen of his skin, and the opacity of his eyes. The man looked terrible, and if he wasn't attacking them right now with vigor, she'd think he was… dead. As much as she searched, she couldn't find a chakra signature, though she was staring at him directly. Every living thing had one, even if they couldn't possibly perform ninjutsu. Rabbits, mice, toddlers. This man had nothing.

Sakura bit back the bile in her throat. She shot a glance to Kakashi, who acknowledged her. Then, throwing chakra into her feet, Sakura sprinted towards the nin. She cocked her arm back and went for a swing. Predictably, he dodged to the side, but Kakashi was already there with his tanto, driving it through the man's stomach.

The clearing was silent as they took several deep breaths. Kakashi finally relaxed and tilted his tanto down, releasing the body with a slick shhhp onto the soft ground. Sakura moved her gaze from the body to Kakashi when—

Light strands, barely catching the dim light, slung around Kakashi's form. They settled softly, like they had no weight. Like Sakura, Kakashi had noticed, and had barely managed to yell, "Move—!"

The strings tightened around him and pulled back. His body launched back through the air as he made a mangled sound of surprise.

Sakura leapt into action. Grabbing the tanto which he dropped, she darted after him and grabbed some of the strands around Kakashi's abdomen. The sharp wire cut painfully into her fingers, but Sakura slipped the tanto through the loop and cut those free. Kakashi's own hands were clasped around his neck, which was tangled in a mess of razor wires. Blood poured.

Forcing herself to stay calm, Sakura surveyed the tree line. She saw a dash of motion—someone had also seen her. She bound towards them and with one huge hit, toppled the tree they hid behind. The enemy nin leapt out of place, reaching into a bag for another weapon. Before they could finish, Sakura split the ground below their feet and leapt on them as they fell.

She stood up from the smashed body, frantically surveying the trees around them more carefully than before. The clearing, previously beautiful, felt dangerously open.

Kakashi lay askew, hands gently detangling the wires around his face. He made soft gurgles from his throat. As Sakura fell onto him, she cried out at the painful sight. His reinforced mask had thankfully spared him from the worst of it, but a few razor wires still managed to cut deeply into his throat, making it hard for him to speak. The man was weakly picking out the wires from his own open flesh.

Sakura knocked away his hands and elevated his head on her lap. She pulled down his mask gingerly, and grimaced at the sight. Doing one more scan around the area to make sure nobody was left, she set upon healing the worst of the gashes.

Sakura's hands trembled. Kakashi was looking increasingly pale, but his mismatched eyes stayed calmly fixed on her.

She almost laughed. It reminded her of when he'd stabbed himself in the thigh at training. Was this a sick test from him, again?

His muscles stitched themselves together under the glow and movement of her hands. She watched with relief as his skin slowly went from broken open to looking more and more like one pale, smooth, plane.

When the healing was finally done, Sakura placed one shaking hand on his throat, blindly feeling to confirm that it was no longer broken, and rested her head on her other hand. She was trembling.

"Haruno," Kakashi rasped.

Her head shot up to look at him. Kakashi batted at her hand, weakly. "It's hard to breath… if you grab me… like this."

She startled and quickly pulled her hand off his neck.

"I'm sorry, captain. Feeling nervous and glad."

He gave her a chalky grimace.

Sakura moved to set Kakashi back down on the ground. She surveyed him again, some cuts on his abdomen and around his arms. Her fingers on one hand were split open too. Her chakra was at halfway, and if there was another fight, she'd need it. Sakura quickly bandaged Kakashi's remaining wounds up, and tightly wrapped up her wounded hand.

With a kunai, Sakura slowly approached one of the two bodies. She blanched at what she needed to do.

Kakashi was watching her.

"I'm going to take a biospy," she explained. "These nin, I don't feel like I saw a chakra signature from them, I've never seen anyone… Tsunade can…"

He nodded slowly. Sakura set about the unpleasant task.

Wiping her hands on her skirt, she came back to where Kakashi was lying. He looked like he would be comfortable on the mossy ground, if not for the fact that he was spread eagle and utterly vulnerable.

Kakashi wiggled a hand weakly. She gave him her attention as he mussed the moss.

"It smells like almonds."

Her eyes widened. Sakura dropped onto her hands next to Kakashi and took a deep breath. He was right. With the kunai, Sakura wiped it on a nearby patch of grass, and cut up a large part of the nearby moss and sod. She looked at Kakashi with wide eyes as he nodded again. Tucking away the samples into her pack, Sakura slowly helped Kakashi to his feet, and eased him onto her back.

She took off before anyone else could find them.

Sakura burst into the medical house. Before entering the village gates, she'd spiked her chakra as a message. By the time she shouldered through the door, Yugao and Ko were waiting for them there.

Kakashi's head lolled weakly off her shoulder. Yugao gasped and jumped to them, easing Kakashi off and onto one of the cots in the other room.

"What happened?" Ko asked with a hand on Sakura's arm, as they followed Yugao into the care room. Some of the other patients had woken up and were startled at the mess of blood. Ko smiled placatingly at them.

She shuddered, smoothing her hands roughly through her hair. "Attacked—we must have been tailed. We noticed one of them but the other one took us by surprise. They went straight for Kakashi."

Sakura had to force her hands to stop shaking. The attack had been so sudden. "I'm going to finish healing him," she murmured.

"I'll go get Orika-san," Ko said before leaving the room.

Yugao kept vigil over Sakura. Something about the Sakura's body language told Yugao that she was scared. She stood as tall and alert as she could, determined to help Sakura feel more safe.

Orika rushed in soon, followed by Ko. She took one look at the scene, and her eyes darkened.

It was nearly dusk when they were done. Kakashi lay asleep in the cot. Ko was standing guard at the foot of the bed. Yugao had returned to the side room to get more sleep for the night shift.

Sakura sat on the floor, leaned weakly against the cot. Orika padded over to her and put a hand on her shoulder, beckoning her to follow her out.

Pulling herself off the wall, she staggered into the main room, self conscious of how ragged she looked, and felt.

"Yugao-san told me most of it." Orika faced Sakura with her thin arms crossed against her chest.

"I apologize. We were supposed to help you and now—" the words tumbled out of Sakura's mouth.

"It's not your fault."

Sakura stopped.

"Men like that, I've seen one of them before. Grey, pallid—" Sakura nodded numbly at Orika's description. "Eyes glazed over. I thought I was hallucinating. I don't know who they are, but they've been around here."

Sakura felt a rushing in her ears. Her mind struggled to put it together. Who was that? And what did they want? Why didn't they have chakra signatures?

"It's not your fault," Orika impressed into her again.

Sakura shook her head tenderly. She was surprised when Orika put a hand on her arm. The first pats were mechanical, but as time went on, Orika gently stroked her arm comfortingly.

Sakura grabbed her hand. The touch brought her focus.

"Orika-san, I think I found the source of the sickness." She looked towards her pack, where the ground sample lay. "There's cyanide in the ground."

As Kakashi gathered his strength to travel over the following days, Sakura monitored him closely, giving him double the number of checkups a normal patient would get in a hospital. When she wasn't busy trying to ensure her captain's survival, Sakura sat closely with Orika at the kitchen counter and drafted out a plan for detecting and avoiding the poison in the ground.

Yugao and Ko felt anxious too. They carried out continuous 24 hour watches, with Ko and Yugao pulling slightly longer shifts and Sakura filling in.

Much to Kakashi's chagrin, they would also stand directly at his bed, allowing for little privacy.

On the last morning, Sakura popped her head in to the back room. Kakashi was lying on his side, asleep with his cheek on a book. Ko stood tall on the spot, back to Kakashi.

"Ko-san," Sakura whispered, "Breakfast?"

The Hyuuga gave her a small smile and nodded. He followed her into the main room, where she had laid out a few bricks of meal bar.

"Mmmm," she intoned with a laugh. "I prepared these specially for you."

He grinned at her. "Thank you Sakura-san." He picked up a dry bar and sniffed it. "I'll have to try your actual cooking sometime."

She waved, "Don't expect much better."

"How are you feeling?" Ko asked after a bite.

"I'm tired," she admitted with a small tilt of her lips. "It's been a lot of healing, and I'm still a little shaken."

"Understandable. I hope we can get some rest when we get back to Konoha."

"How often between missions, usually?"

He shrugged and gave a sly smile, nodding to the backroom. "Usually depends on the whims of the one in there."

Sakura flitted a playful eye roll. She'd never disrespect Kakashi in front of him, especially not knowing how he felt about her still. But the Yugao's blatant rebellion against Kakashi was infectious and made Sakura also want to be ill-behaved.

Ko was watching her with a warm look. Sakura felt herself blush slightly. The Hyuuga was attractive, stately looking with boyish dark hair. The contrast undeniably made her a little girlish around him. He was unflappably polite, and seemingly a true gentleman, through and through.

There was something compelling about him.

Sakura schooled herself to stop daydreaming. Chancing a glance at him, Sakura smiled and stood up. "I'm going to check up on the captain, and we should go good to go back today."

Ko nodded at her with a smile.

Sakura tiptoed into the backroom. With Orika's careful work and Sakura's healing, the other five young villagers had returned to their homes the night before. Kakashi was the last one in the sick bay.

Sakura quietly watched him sleep. He look relaxed, a posture that seemed more comfortable than the aloof slouch he kept at almost all times. He was curled up on himself, and there was a tiny book that he was lightly drooling onto.

She leaned over him. Recalling academy lessons about pickpocketing, Sakura carefully descended her hand and gripped onto the orange cover of the book—

A strong grip seized her hand.

She exclaimed in shock. Kakashi's head twisted to look at her, sharingan blazing.

"What are you doing?"

Sakura stammered, "W-What do you mean? I thought you'd be more comfortable without it."

She shook her hand free, scowling. "Keep it if you want, I'm here to make sure you're fit for the road."

Kakashi eyed her with suspicion, carefully tucking the book under the pillow before sitting up to present himself.

Sakura kept her frown and refused to look at him. The captain could be so temperamental. She slipped her hands under his shirt—

"Cold!" He shouted.

Sakura snapped. She quickly pulled her hands back. "Captain. You have to be a grown up, please."

"Is this your usual bedside manner, Haruno?"

"Only for troublemakers like you and Genma," she replied scathingly. This got him to shut up. His eyebrows shot up at being compared to Genma, mouth hung open in disbelief.

Sakura had already resumed her exam, brusquely with her horribly frigid hands, for several minutes before Kakashi spoke again.

"How am I like Genma?"

She opened an eye to regard him. "Well, you're both fussy when sick. Though, Genma seems to flock to the hospital at the first sign of any hurt."

She thought for a bit. "But there's something about that, I'm strong guy and I'm gruff, attitude."

Kakashi took offense. He was so offended he was at a loss for words.

Satisfied at his shocked silence, Sakura hummed to herself. "I will say though, biggest difference is that Genma will stop at nothing to romance me."

She felt the anbu captain stiffen under her touch. Sakura laughed.

"Team Ro presenting," Kakashi announced from behind his mask. His voice sounded well and strong to Sakura's relief.

Tsunade glanced at them and then went back to studying the documents on her desk. She spoke without looking up.

"How did it go?"

"Successful, shishou," Sakura answered. "The patients had malnutrition, worsened by cyanide in the ground. I left the local medic with triage techniques."

"Where was the cyanide from?"

"Unknown. Recommendation for us to send a poisons specialist over and identify the source."

"Noted."

Tsunade looked up at them, scrutinizing.

"Any injuries?"

"Haruno and I were attacked two hours out of the village, when we were scouting for the groundwater. I was injured, Haruno hauled me to safety."

Sakura blushed a little at the description.

"Who?"

"Unknown. Two unmarked nin."

"Shishou," she stepped forward, unrolling her pack. "The two hostiles—neither the captain nor I could detect their chakra signatures. But they were trained." She hesitated as she pulled out the biopsy sample. "They had the strangest look to them. Glazed eyes, gray skin. Like the bodies in the morgue."

Tsunade sat very still. Sakura wondered if she'd said something that sounded outrageous, clearly to her own ears it sounded insane.

Then the Hokage slowly raised her head and looked straight at Sakura. Her gaze was heavy, and Sakura couldn't entirely read what she was thinking.

"Please leave that with Shizune. I'll take a look," she said quietly. "Dismissed."

Author's note:

So many things going on! I love writing Sakura's relationship with everyone. She's so tender with Yugao, sweet with Ko, and cautious with Kakashi. Thank you for your kind favorites, follows and reviews this week. Especially thanks to smar0403, guest-san and MarchIII for your reviews! I read them all and appreciate every single one.

I would say next week's chapter is genuinely hilarious (funnier than the training scene, I promise), and has one of my favorite monologues of all time. Also some SOLID breakthroughs for kakasaku and kosaku. I can't wait to share.

Until next week!