Ink's Notes:

Hi all! Sorry for the massive delay. I've had a little something called writer's block. But something came to me last night, so let's hope it results in something interesting~

This chapter's a bit shorter than the others, but mostly because it's just sort of transitionary. Moving from one thing to the next, y'know?

...Also, I recently started a Pokémon fanfiction by the name of Perhaps, My Desire. Feel free to check it out, if you want.

Chapter Twelve

After much deliberation, Sakura had decided that Marco's story was too hard to believe to tell Tsunade the full truth. It wasn't that she didn't believe Marco was telling the truth – far from it. It was just that the things he described would be too hard for anyone who didn't completely trust him to believe. And, after he'd saved her life and fought alongside her, Sakura trusted Marco completely. But Tsunade was still suspicious of him, and to her Marco's story might seem like a glorified lie to try and hide some sinister purpose.

So Sakura had given Tsunade a more believable story, one that matched his earlier abridged version. She'd explained that Marco was the captain of a crew of sailors that delivered valuable cargo to dangerous places. They regularly fought people trying to steal their cargo, which was why Marco was so strong despite not being a shinobi. He'd gotten in the way of a jutsu meant for someone they'd been escorting across the sea, resulting in his phoenix form – and much to his delight, he'd found he was able to change between forms freely. But one day while they were out at sea they were attacked by an S-Rank missing-nin, and that missing-nin used a jutsu on Marco that sent him to a place he was unfamiliar with. Marco had changed into his phoenix form to get information on where he was and how to meet up with the rest of his crew, but then traders had captured him. When he was brought to Konoha, he decided to do some research to see if he could find the jutsu that sent him here, and reverse its effects to take him back to his crew. He'd been doing it in secret because a stranger doing research on Space-Time Ninjutsu would be suspicious, and he was hoping to get home as quickly as possible.

Tsunade had believed her, and said that as long as he helped Konoha he was free to do research on the jutsu, but if he tried anything then she would deal with him personally. Sakura said that she understood, and excused herself to fill Marco in on his new situation. Once she had, she excused herself to her room and decided to mentally address the other issue that was now floating in the air between them.

Marco had invited her to join his crew. His pirate crew. His pirate crew that was in another world. And the strange thing was that she was actually considering it. Sakura was not an outlaw, by any means. She wasn't the sort who would betray her village, and she felt like if she were to leave with Marco, then she would be labeled as a missing-nin. Although, when she thought about it, if she did become a pirate, she would be a wanted woman either way. But she felt close to Marco, like he was some sort of father figure who would never let anything bad happen to her. Somehow, the prospect of going out to sea, going on adventures, and experiencing a whole different world excited her. Maybe they could arrange it so that when they cast the jutsu to send him back home, it brought her along as well, and make it look like an accident? That way, if she ever decided she wanted to go back to Konoha, she wouldn't be an outlaw, and…

Sakura was thankful when Marco knocked on her door and asked if she was okay. When she told him that she was, he asked if she could take him to the Hokage's office. She'd asked why, and he said that Tsunade wanted to see him for some reason. So Sakura had cleaned herself up, Marco had changed back to bird form and perched on her shoulder, and the two had begun making their way to Tsunade's office.

When they arrived, Tsunade had pointed to Marco and told him to change into his human form. Just as he finished doing so, Lee and TenTen entered the office.

"All right, you three," Tsunade began. "Edward here has offered his services as a potential ally to Konoha until he can get home. I'm going to assign him a mission, and I want you three to help him with it and assess his strength. I want a full report on it when you get back. If he's going to be our ally, I want to know what sort of missions he'll be able to help us with. Any questions?"

TenTen raised her hand. "Lady Tsunade, why is Sakura coming with us? Not that I have a problem with it, but if there's too many of us, won't we be easier to see?"

"Because Sakura is the one who offered his help," Tsunade explained. "It's likely that the two of them will be working together in future missions, so I'd like to know how they work together."

TenTen nodded, satisfied with this answer. "What's our mission?"

Tsunade passed the dossier over the desk to her. "We have an important shipment bound for Suna. You guys will be delivering it and making sure that it gets there safely. The shipment is not to be opened until you arrive, and it may be targeted by some rogue shinobi or bandits, so be careful."

"Yosh!" Lee exclaimed. "You can count on us, Lady Tsunade! We will make sure that shipment is delivered with the power of youth!"

Sakura could feel the exasperation off of Marco. She had to sympathize with him, but at least it wouldn't be a trip to Suna with Naruto again. (Although, to be honest, she wasn't sure if this would be worse.) Well, on the bright side, she could introduce Marco to their friends in Suna. Except, she'd have to introduce him as Edward, not Marco… That was going to take some getting used to.

Sakura sighed. Somehow, she felt like this was going to be a long trip.

Yup, I'm sending these dorks to Suna.

The problem with having an ambiguous timeline is that I'm not really sure what to do about the whole Neji situation. So I decided to just leave it ambiguous, like the timeline. Is he not with them because he's out on a mission, or because, well, I'd hope everyone knows by now, but I won't say it out loud so I don't spoil it for people.

Anyway, again, sorry for the short chapter. I blame the aforementioned writers' block. See you next time!

-Ink