It's a long-ass line, but Sakura finds herself at the front in no time. She's barely presentable and her short hair sticks out in all directions, but at least she got all of the mud stains out of her clothes.

"NEXT!" someone bellows from inside the tent, and Sakura hurriedly ducks under the flap. There's a man in a green flak jacket sitting at the cheap folding desk. A figure wearing a bone-white mask and some kind of bizarre combination of mesh and gray protective gear stands guard behind him. The mousy-haired man at the desk is wearing a cheery welcome tag on his right breast that says "HI! My Name is: SHIRANUI GENMA" that doesn't at all take away from the scowl he's currently sporting. If the man in the mask has any opinions about her tardiness, he keeps them to himself. "We haven't got all day, kiddo," the man at the desk snaps. He glowers at her from under his bandana as if she had been the one responsible for the cast on his leg and the crutches leaning against his chair. Well, someone woke up on the right side of the bed today. Sakura bit back a sharp retort and sprang to attention.

"Last name?" Shiranui Genma flicks a senbon between his teeth. Fwip fwip.

"Haruno." Minato had given her one of his trademark sad puppy-dog looks when she refused to take the Namikaze name, but Sakura was adamant about keeping her last name. Kushina-obāsan had completely understood. It is the only thing that her birth parents have given her that she still has.

"First?" The senbon flicks out again like a silver tongue, and Sakura is so engrossed in the action that she doesn't think about what she says next.

"Sakura—um, mo. Erm," she stutters, confused in spite of herself. She had meant to say Kenji, which was the name she had decided upon on the road, or even Sakumo (it sounds oddly familiar, for some reason, but she can't think why) but she is caught off-guard by the senbon and her old name springs unbidden to her lips. She opens her mouth a few times voicelessly, like a gigantic goldfish, before shutting it, and her pale cheeks flush to match the color of her hair.

"So what is it?" Shiranui-san asks irritably. "Any time now, Pinkie. There's about a thousand of you I need to process today, and more coming in tomorrow." The judgment emanating from the man and from the masked figure standing behind him is almost palpable.

Sakura decides to just roll with it. "Uh..." she clears her throat and attempts to pitch her voice a little lower than usual. "It's Sakuramo. Haruno Sakuramo. I'm here to replace Namikaze Minato." She hopes that the two of them don't catch the note of desperation in her voice. Shiranui-san eyes her oddly for a moment.

"...Are you sure that's really your name?"

"O-of course I'm sure, it's the name I was born with!" Sakura snaps. Her palms are cold with sweat.

"Could have fooled me," Shiranui-san mutters under his breath before flipping a page in the ledger and writing the characters for "Haruno Sakuramo" on the blank page. He writes the characters clumsily, awkwardly and Sakura wonders if he has injured his arm as well. It's apparent that he's only stuck on desk duty because of his injuries.

"Alright, you're all set," the man announces. Sakura blinks.

That...was way too easy. "Aren't there tests I have to pass or something? No strip-search?" her mouth moves before her brain can process exactly what she is saying. Shiranui-san guffaws, surprised.

"Kid, we just need cannon fodder," he drawls, and consults another list on the desk. "Hmm. I'll put you in with Team Seven. Hatake-taichou will whup you guys into shape in no time." The man in the mask silently leans over and taps on a blank spot on the ledger. "Oops, forgot one thing," Shiranui-san says. "Thanks Raidou-uh, sorry, Bear. What's your hometown, brat?"

"Uzushio."

"We don't get many Uzu, that's cool," Shiranui-san says distractedly. His pen has just run out of ink, and he's digging around the desk to see if there's a spare he can use. "It's a little far from here. Most people tend to go to the recruitment center near the Hokage Monument because it's closer."

Sakura grimaces internally. Uzushio's a small, sprawling village and like in any small town, everyone knows everyone else and their pet cacti. This recruitment center is closer to the capital than to Uzushio, and Sakura has chosen it for obvious reasons.

The Konoha army only recruits men.

Sakura is a woman. Women are not obligated to serve the Emperor in the same capacity as men, but Sakura has no choice.

This way, she can save both her adoptive father and track down that idiot brother of hers without anyone the wiser.

AN: I re-uploaded this chapter because I found out that I left out something crucial for plot development. Silly me. Anyway, tell me what works, what doesn't work, or what your favorite parts are. It helps me improve my writing and motivates me to give you the best I can. Also, I'll probably update faster if you do. Just sayin'.

Question: Does anyone know if there's a Sakura-centric LiveJournal out there? Is that still a thing? I'm relatively new to fan fiction (I've started reading fan fiction around 2 years ago, and writing it like, a month ago lol), and it would be great to be able to exchange prompts and the like.