"You're looking much better now, Sai. I daresay you'll be able to leave the hospital soon."

"Thank you, Sakura. I am grateful for your assistance."

"You're, uh, welcome. All that's really left is your burn. I'll look at it tomorrow and determine whether it is still in risk of infection. If not, I can probably supply you with some bandage and let you take care of it yourself."

"Ah, that is the Sakura I know. Always letting others do their fair share."

"Of course. You are one of the hundreds we are treating here. There has to come a time when I move onto the others. At least you haven't lost your twisted sense of humor, even though you did lose quite a bit of body tissue."

"Hm, I will take this as a compliment, I guess. I still feel as though I have not figured you out yet."

"Then trust me when I say this: none of us have figured you out either."

"Ahaha, good. We can't have that changing anytime soon."

"You know, I should start yelling and you and flipping out, because the younger version of me is telling me to do so."

"I remember when you used to do that. You are much more mature now, and you have developed well."

"I will take that as a compliment, and we will end this train of thought. I'll have some food sent up here soon."

"Goodbye, Sakura."

She closed the door to the burn ward and found herself facing a friend.

"Naruto! What are you doing here? We are extremely busy and have no time for distractions!"

"Geez, Sakura. You still view me as that pesky little boy, don't you?"

"Duh! Well actually, I don't know. Sorry, Naruto. Sai has been making me feel all nostalgic."

"Oh, is he in there?"

"Yes, and you're not permitted to speak to him."

"Ha, as if I'd want to! I swear, the kid could annoy me to death."

"You're not the only one. Hey, have you heard anything from or about Sasuke recently?"

"Just the same things that you've heard. He's probably proud of his situation."

"Do you really think so? Have you been completely blind to his changes as of late?"

"I don't pay attention to those sorts of things. When I look at him, all I see is my rival."

"You can't honestly still be bitter about that."

"How would you know? You've successfully outmatched your rival, so now you've forgotten what it's like to have to compete with an individual."

"Psh, I hope you aren't referring to Ino. We are, and have always been, friends."

"Are you kidding me? She hated your guts back in the day! She probably still does."

"That's just what girls do, Naruto! You could travel the world without finding two ninja girls who are best friends. Being a girl in a world dominated by men is difficult. You might think that it encourages us to help other girls, but it really just pushes us further apart."

"That's only because Sasuke was around. Without him, there wouldn't have been any conflict."

"There are always guys like Sasuke. I swear, when I went to visit Iruka one day, there was a kid in the classroom who could have been Sasuke's twin. Although he isn't an Uchiha, I could tell that he's going to be just like him."

"Aw, would you just drop it already? I came here to say hi to you."

"And to Hinata."

"No! Well, if it's possible..."

"It isn't. She is under strict quarantine. Especially from guys like you."

"Hey, you know how she feels about me! Aren't you glad I am finally able to express feelings for another person? You've told me I needed to fix that about myself for my entire life!"

"I am very happy for you both, but I'm dead serious. You, and nobody else, can visit her!"

"Fine, I knew it was a long shot anyways. So...is there anything I can, um-"

"What?"

"You know...help with?"

"Wow, Naruto, haven't you dont enough?"

"I don't know. I feel so useless. There are only three things I can do: sit in my empty apartment, walk around the empty village, or walk through the empty forest. It isn't very fun. And to think that during the war, I wished for a little down time. Now that's all I have, and I hate it."

"Oh, Naruto, there's plenty more to do. You do realize that they are looking for witnesses to testify at Sasuke's trial, right? Maybe you should sign up and prepare for that."

"Huh, really? Hm, if I were selected, what would I say? I'm not good with words."

"That's why testifying should be easy for someone like you. They require that you tell nothing but the truth."

"The truth won't help Sasuke, though! I would be condemning him!"

"Are you actually that naive? Would you have won the war without him?"

"Uh, probably."

"Wrong. It was his idea to bring along the four Hokages to help us fight. Would we have won without all of them?"

"Honestly, we could have done without Orochimaru. Dude is weird."

"I know, but you're missing my point. Sasuke made an extra effort to bring additional support to our battle. That information is worth something in court."

"Okay. Are you signing up?"

"Maybe. I need to see what the situation here is like in a few days before I sign up."

"I thought you really liked him."

"I do. It's just that...I would still rather cure an entire village than save one boys life."

"What if Ino signs up? I bet Sasuke would fall head over heels for her."

"Bah, don't say things like. I'm sure that Sasuke will come around."

"Speaking of that, what do you think he wants?"

"He wants to live, dummy! Why else would he have come back?"

The two of them heard footsteps approaching.

"Eek, Naruto, I'm not supposed to let people in here! Hide!"

"Wait, wha-"

"No time! Into the closet you go!"

"Okay, fine."

He clambered into the closet and closed the door just before Tsunade appeared.

"Oh, hello, Sakura. How is Sai doing?"

"Oh, he's just fine. He really wanted to chat up a storm, but I forced him to quiet down."

"That's good. If we can release him tomorrow, that will help reduce our workload. He's rather needy."

"I agree. And regardless of how alien he tends to act, he depends on us a lot."

"You're right. Who's next on your list?"

"I need to start treating the cut that Shikamaru received."

"Why haven't you done so already? That could become infected."

"Because the cut is on his thigh, and he's too embarrassed to have me heal it for some reason. Shikamaru isn't exactly the type of person to be caught with his pants down, if you know what I mean."

"I should have known, considering how similar he is to Shikaku. Perhaps we should swap patients. I'll take Shikamaru, and you can take...Kakashi? Do you think you can handle that? It's definitely a larger responsibility."

"I can handle it. I'll just need his papers so I know what to start on."

"I've already started treatment on his head wounds. They should be healed very soon. However, he still seems very sick, and I'm not sure why. Perhaps we need your set of eyes on the case."

"Do you think he was poisoned?"

"I couldn't find any traces of poison. Nor could I find any infection. Do you have any ideas?"

"I'll let you know once I see him. What time do you usually go there?"

"I was just about to. I needed to grab some extra gauze and bandages from the closet, but now that we've shifted responsibilities, you can do so instead."

"Okay, Hokage-sama. I'll see you later."

"Good luck, Sakura."

Tsunade turned and walked down another corridor while Sakura opened the closet."

"You are the luckiest person, Naruto!"

"Hey, can I visit Kakashi with you?"

"No! He has a lot of issues that need to be resolved first. He's being kept in the intensive care, a place that you can't access."

"Gah, fine. But at least help me sneak out of here so that granny Tsunade doesn't find me."

"Okay, but just this once."

Naruto stumbled out of the closet while Sakura gathered her supplies.

"You're going to carry all of these so people don't suspect you snuck in. We'll head for the back door,"

They walked down many corridors and took many turns until they found themselves at the loading dock. Sakura entered a code, allowing the door to be opened.

"Okay, take care, Naruto. Consider putting your name in for the trial."

"You should too. You'd give the best evidence. Say hi to Kakashi for me, if he's awake."

"He will be soon. Okay, I've got to go. Goodbye!"

"Bye, Sakura."

Sakura closed the door and headed for the intensive care unit. She hadn't seen Kakashi in weeks, as he'd been in critical condition. She realized how hard it must have been for him to face his childhood friend (rival) in battle. Perhaps he was having trouble going through a psychological recovery. With this idea in mind, she reached the fifth floor of the hospital, where all intensive care patients were kept. She tried to force herself not to look at who was in the rooms, but it was hard not to. At one moment, she saw Lee's former sensei, Guy. He seemed unconscious, but perhaps he was just sleeping. Sakura hurried down the hallway and reached the last room. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open.