"Sakura-chan I can't believe you're alive and here. I was so sad when they said you where killed in action. You should have seen your funeral every one was there, even some people I didn't know and they we're all there for you, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said glomping her.
"I get it Naruto, you missed me, but you need to get off." Sakura stated pulling him off her by his collar with one hand. The room stared in shock as Sakura put him down.
"It's great to be back and all, but I do need to report my mission to Tsunade." Sakura stated calmly. A bunch of grunts were heard as everyone filed out of the office except Tsunade, Jiraiya and Shizune.
"So what happened, I remember sending you with a team, what happened to them?" Tsunade asked and Sakura went stiff and her expression turned from happy to cold.
"They died." Sakura said coldly
"What! They were all strong Jounin and Chunin, how could they be killed?" Tsunade asked worry evident in her voice.
"The group you had us hunt is stronger, faster and had more numbers than we originally thought." Sakura said still in her cold demeanor. Tsunade looked at her worry written all over her face.
"Please explain from the beginning." Tsunade requested.
"Well we had finally tracked them down six years into our mission and had killed them, but then men got cocky and then the reinforcements came. The only reason I survived was because I made Bushins , all of them had exploding notes so when someone attacked them instead of just disappearing they would explode.
By the time I had killed them all, only one person from my team was alive and he would be dead any second. I tried to heal him, but his heart just stopped beating and I could do nothing. More of them came, I was pretty weak from using a lot of chakra trying to heal him so I was very badly wounded. It took me two and a half years to recover and then I ventured back here and Jiraiya can tell you the rest." Sakura finished her eyes gleamed with unshed tears, "Don't worry I destroyed every single body so as not to leak out information."
A lone tear rolled down her face, but she quickly wiped it away.
"It's okay to cry Sakura you went under some emotional difficulties, I'm surprised you can still smile." Tsunade finished. She grabbed a sake bottle and poured herself some sake. As if remembering something Tsunade stopped drinking, this was odd for her.
"Sakura I'm going to have to give you a check-up for any wounds that haven't healed properly, alright?" Tsunade asked.
"Alright, but no one can be in the room but you, agreed?" Sakura asked.
"Agreed. Shizune go prep a room in the hospital." Tsunade commanded
"Yes Tsunade-sama." Shizune bowed and disappeared with a 'poof'.
"Lets go. Oh and Jiraiya you're dismissed." Tsunade said waving him off. Sakura, Jiraiya and Tsunade disappeared with a 'poof' from Tsunade's office.
"Tsunade-sama the room is ready for the check-up." Shizune said as she led Tsunade and Sakura to the room. Once they arrived in the room, Tsunade dismissed Shizune.
"Alright Sakura lets see your back first." Tsunade said.
"Uh. Alright." Sakura said taking off her shirt and showed Tsunade, Tsunade just gaped. On Sakura's back was some many wounds, shuriken, kunai and there was even a few katana slashes here and there. There we're just too many to count.
"All those came from when my last teammate died and the enemies lunged at me. That was mostly how I was injured and it took a Hell of a long time to heal everything that they cut." Sakura said not losing her cool or wincing when Tsunade ran a finger over them, "I have no clue how many there are, but it was a pain in the ass to get them to heal. Well with out getting infected."
Tsunade nodded even though Sakura couldn't see it. Telling her to put her shirt back on Tsunade moved on with the check up.
"Alright let's check your face, hitai-ate off now." Tsunade commanded. Sakura nodded and first slid her mask down. There were no scares, just smooth skin. Tsunade nodded and Sakura took off her hitaite. What Tsunade made her pause for a few seconds, Sakura's right eye, the one she had covered, was completely black except her pupil which was red and slitted like a cat's. Sakura put her hitaite back on.
"Everything looks fine except for your right eye which is almost completely blind." Tsunade said
"Don't worry its fine." Sakura explained.
"Alright all take your word for it. Ready to face your adoring public?" Tsunade asked mockingly.
"Ready as all every be." Sakura said with a sweat drop. As Sakura and Tsunade walked out from the hospital, there was a small crowd waiting for her. When she exited, all of them cheered. Sakura looked at the crowd; she knew every single face and could name every single person in the crowd. Sakura stared wide eyed at the people, but quickly regained her composure. She just nodded towards people an shock hands received hugs.
Making her way to the training grounds, she began to train. She started with throwing shuriken and kunai at the dummies. She never missed her mark; after she used up all her weapons she walked over and started to collect them.
Suddenly a kunai hurtled towards her, Sakura caught it with ease.
"Thanks Ten-Ten." Sakura said with gratitude.
"Nice catch Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted at her catch.
"Ya, nice catch Sakura-san." Ten-Ten said.
"Thank you Naruto, Ten-Ten. Shouldn't you head home and get some rest?" Sakura asked retrieving the rest of her weapons.
"We were. Shouldn't you do the same?" Ten-Ten asked.
"I was going to stay out here for a couple of minutes, then head in." Sakura stated as she sat down on the soft grass.
"Oh, well, bye." Ten-Ten said setting off dragging Naruto behind her.
"Hey Naruto, Ten-Ten, bring everybody from the 'Rookie 9' and Gai's team here tomorrow at 10:00AM; I've got a surprise for everybody!" Sakura shouted as she waved goodbye to her friends.
"Okay!" They shouted back. Sakura smiled but got back to her training when they where out of sight. Sakura continued to train all night long, not caring about lack of sleep. She was used to staying up late, not caring about her health.
"Tomorrows going to be a long day." Sakura sighed exasperated.