Hello you wonderful people! How are you all?

Thank you for the reviews for the last chapter, and I present you with the next update ~ There is a lot of Neji in it…

If any characters are OOC, I apologise. However, I am still learning and improving my writing as I go, so please bear with me : )

Anyway,

ENJOY!

The nurses at the hospital deemed him to be 'on a smooth path to recovery' and Neji could not have been any happier. Of course, they still forced him to stay at the hospital to make sure that he was stable, and he was not allowed to leave the bed or do anything strenuous. But Neji was grateful to be alive at all, so he had no problem with these restrictions.

That is, of course, until a man appeared in his room, startling the Hyuuga so much that he automatically activated his Byuakugan, hands flashing to his hip, only to realise that he was in a hospital gown, and his kunai pouch was nowhere to be found.

"Woah, easy there, kid!" the man, who he now vaguely recognised as Sakura's sensei, exclaimed, raising his hands in the universal gesture of 'I mean no harm'. "Neji Hyuuga, right?"

Neji frowned. "Yes. But who are you?" the teen would later blame his bluntness on the painkillers the medics had him on.

"Ah, sorry for that." the man scratched his head sheepishly, and Neji barely resisted the urge to snort – the action looked ridiculous on a grown man. "I'm Izaya – Sakura's sensei. But you probably already knew that, seeing as the two of you are practically joined at the hip." the last part was grumbled, clearly not intended for the Hyuuga to hear. But he did, and he briefly wondered if this man was really a jounin...

"Seeing as we are not very close, and have never spoken a word to each other prior to today, I am quite stumped as to what you could possibly want from me, Izaya-san." The teen stated brusquely when Izaya didn't look like he was going to explain why the hell was he in Neji's room.

Izaya stared at the teen, a bemused expression on his face. Finally, he sighed. "Have you seen Sakura at all, Neji-kun?" he asked.

Neji's eyes widened at the honorific, but then, the actual question registered in his mind and he frowned. No, he hadn't seen Sakura, and he was quite disappointed – Tenten had told him that the rosette was the one who brought him back, and the medics who attended to him kept praising the girl's quick thinking, and claimed that what the pinkette did bought him enough time to be brought back and healed properly at the hospital. Yet, for the nine days since he was brought to the hospital, he hadn't seen the rosette even once, and he was quite worried.

"No, I hadn't." he replied, realising that the man was still awaiting his response. "You claim that we're joined at the hip, but I have not seen her, nor heard from her since I was admitted to this hospital."

His eyes narrowed when Izaya's shoulders slumped, and all the previous spunk evaporated from the man. "Why?" the teen inquired. "Is something wrong?"

Izaya sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "She's missing." he announced, the bone deep exhaustion and resignation in his voice finally making him sound like the jounin he supposedly was.

A beat of silence passed, then, "What?" the Hyuuga was not amused. His lilac eyes glared holes into his friend's sensei, wordlessly commanding the man to elaborate.

He did so, albeit reluctantly. "She'd been gone for eight days. Nobody can find her. The Godaime claims that she didn't send her on any missions, so she should still be in the Village. Well, let me tell you that if she is, then she's hiding damn well."

Neji frowned, sitting up. "What do you want me to do about that? Haven't you checked her house?"

"I had." Izaya sighed again. "And I guess that I would like you to help me look for her. I know of your condition, but... her teammates aren't available at the moment and you probably know Sakura better than I do at this current point in time." Neji relished in the pain that last observation seemed to bring the man. "So, I guess what I'm asking for is, could you please help me?"

The Hyuuga felt pity for the man. Also, he was genuinely worried for his friend. "Fine. But if Uncle finds out, I will tell him exactly who convinced me." he was surprised at the gleefully sadistic look that appeared on Izaya's face at that proclamation.

"Oh, please do. I haven't gotten in a real argument with Hiashi since I was a gennin. I almost miss being chased around the Village." he snorted at the end.

Neji decided that it was better for his sanity to let the sudden subject drop. Instead, he focused on getting out of bed and searching for his clothes. "Haven't you tried tracking her chakra signature?" he asked as he went through a mental plan of where he would start looking first.

"Oh, trust me, I tried. But I'm still trying to get reacquainted with her signature. It's not easy after being in a coma for a year." Neji did not miss the bitter tone, but once again chose to simply dismiss it.

When he was done, he turned to face Izaya. "I will do my best to find her, but I'm not making any promises. If Sakura doesn't want to be found, she won't be." He stated simply.

Izaya nodded. "I know. Thank you, anyway."

With a last nod of acknowledgement, the Hyuuga vanished.

Damn it. Since when is this Village so damn big? Neji thought irritably. At least in his mind he didn't have to hide what he was thinking. And he was irked – he'd been running around the Village for the last four hours, and he still hadn't found the rosette. It was like she'd simply vanished.

Neji's shoulder ached, he was out of breath, and he'd been dodging or hiding in the shadows whenever he spotted a Hyuuga, or one of the hospital workers – all the running around was making him really tired. He had been near comatose only a few days ago. Finally, the teen couldn't take it anymore; he collapsed on the riverbank close to the Hyuuga compound, breathing raggedly. His head was spinning and he was sweating profusely. Suddenly, he felt bile rising up his throat, and with only a second to spare, he turned to the side and retched.

His discomfort overweighed his concern for Sakura and his pride, and he decided that he really shouldn't have obliged to Izaya's request. Because, really, weren't there any better candidates for a search party than him: a wounded, only partially recovered gennin?

He snorted. Apparently, there weren't.

Just as he was about to get up again and head back to the hospital, a flicker of something caught his attention. Pushing his annoyance to the back of his mind, he was able to focus on that flicker. It was faint, so faint, in fact, that it took him a moment to realise that it was actually chakra, and even longer to realise whose chakra it was.

Impossible.

Neji tracked the signature along the riverbank, eyes trained before him, searching for that familiar head of pink. He reached the place where the signature was the strongest, frowning when there was still no sign of Sakura.

"Byakugan." He muttered quietly. Immediately, his world turned monochrome, apart from the faint blue colour emitted by something half buried in the mud and half floating in the river. Something human-shaped.

No…

Neji jumped over to the opposite riverbank, brushing aside weeds and branches that obscured the figure from view. Finally, a dirty pink peeked through, and Neji's heart plummeted.

No, no, no, no, no…!

He grasped the figure's shoulders and pulled. With a great big squelch, the body moved. First, the torso was revealed, then the abdomen, then the legs. When the whole body was out of the water, Neji gently laid it out on the dry ground. He lightly touched a mud-smeared cheek, but quickly recoiled – it was cold as ice.

NO!

Not caring for much more, he lifted Sakura's frail body, and ran as fast as his legs could carry him in the direction of the hospital, praying that he wasn't too late.

When he reached the hospital, the rosette was quickly taken from him, but he followed, ignoring the medics who were trying to usher him into a hospital room. He was fine, damn it!

As the medics cleaned Sakura, he realised that there weren't any wounds present on the pinkette's body. His frown deepened. Surely, she wouldn't willingly…

Then, Izaya's previous words came to mind, "her teammates aren't available at the moment."

Neji knew of the close bond Sakura had with the two teens, and he could see that they cared for her as well. He was certain that if they knew, they would have ripped the Village to shreds and turned it upside down in order to find the rosette.

If they knew… and suddenly, he put two and two together.

"You found her!" Izaya ran into the room, heading straight for his student's side, but Neji had other plans. He grabbed the man by the back of his flak jacket, and dragged him out of the room.

"Yes." He hissed. "I found her." He shoved the man into the wall. "Yet, when you said that Sakura was missing, you failed to mention that her teammates are conveniently missing as well." He mock-gasped. "Oh, let me correct that. They left."

Before Izaya could even attempt to formulate an answer, the Hyuuga interrupted him, his anger reaching its boiling point. "Did you not see it fit to mention that particular detail? Did you think that I would be any less inclined to help you out if I knew? Or did you simply deem it 'not important enough'?" he kept up the verbal assault, causing many of the medics nearby to shy away from the two men. "She wasn't attacked. Not injured in the slightest. Her condition is her own decision. Did you not know how dear those imbeciles were to her?" when the raven remained quiet, Neji had had enough. "You don't deserve to call yourself her sensei." And with that said, the brunette turned on his heel, and walked back into the rosette's room, leaving Izaya in a state of shock, with only one thought short-circuiting his mind.

Maybe he's right.

Over the next few weeks, Sakura had recovered from the severe hypothermia, but she was far from back to 'normal'. Sometimes, Neji felt like he would have preferred for the rosette to still be in bed, because, at least then, he knew what was wrong with her. When the teen finally snapped and asked her what was wrong, she turned those detached eyes on him, and uttered two words:

"They left…"

"They left…"

They left, and Neji lost one of his most precious people as a result. And in the following months, he watched Sakura change.

She was no longer the generally quiet, but able to laugh and relax girl she was before she nearly drowned. Now, when she walked the streets, her face was devoid of emotion, eyes cold and empty, and just plain unsettling. Neji saw how the people who had once envied, almost worshipped her, now shied away, afraid that those bottomless eyes would fall on them. Still, the rosette tried her hardest to make it seem as if everything was normal. And she was largely successful – those who were unaware of how she acted before merely assumed that this was the true face of one of the strongest children in the village, for, Neji thought, Sakura gave them no reason to think otherwise. The rosette still carried out her missions to the utmost perfection, and when Tsunade assigned her for the jounin exams that were taking place in Kumo, Sakura passed with flying colours, gaining the title of Tokubetsu Jounin, before any of the other Konoha 12.

And from there, Neji watched the pinkette fade.

Her laughs grew even rarer, her face always set in a blank mask, and Neji soon grew to suspect that the black gloves she wore were meant to cover the blood that stained her hands. Because as much as she might deny it, dismiss any concern with a few cold, unforgiving words, Neji knew that under the frigid exterior, Sakura was far from OK. The Hyuuga still heard her screams at night when he passed by her house, coming back from a mission or on his way to gate duty. Neji knew. But he kept his silence, hoping that one day, it would get better, and he would get his friend back.

Yet as he waited, he grew to realize that it wouldn't get better. In fact, it was only getting worse. And though he laughed at the people who called her the Black Widow, he could see why they felt as if the rosette was mourning. She only wore black, never smiled, cut off all the contact with the outside world, and just existed. It was hard to even call it ' living'.

Finally, Neji snapped.

Enough is enough.

He cornered her on the way back from one of their missions, where, as per, what was becoming, usual, they had not even exchanged a single word. The Hyuuga let the chunin that was with them go on to file the mission report, and waited until it was only the two of them left.

He spent a few seconds staring into Sakura's eyes, trying to discern something from the icy pools of emerald, but it was futile. If eyes were regarded as the windows to the soul, Sakura's were shut, locked and bolted. There was no emotion in her gaze.

Neji sighed, all the aggression that he previously approached her with leaving him.
"Were they really that great?" he finally asked, his voice no more than a whisper. The rosette didn't seem to understand what he meant. He was glad that, even with all that had changed between them, he was still able to read even the most miniscule shifts in her expression.

"Your teammates." he elaborated, and masked a wince when he felt the rosette freeze. "Were they really so great that you must mourn them, even though it's been so long?"

"I'm not mourning." was her reply. But Neji was not giving up so easily. "It's been almost a year, Sakura. Accept it. They're not coming back."

Neji barely managed to stifle gasp – for a single moment when he was talking, he saw the walls Sakura built around herself come down ever so slightly. Unfortunately, he didn't even have the time to appreciate the rare moment of vulnerability, because not a second later they were back, stronger than before, and he could almost feel when she shut him out. But this time, there was an unfamiliar emotion in her eyes, in the way the corners of her mouth curled down. It took Neji a few seconds to place it. Anger.

"Butt out, Hyuuga." the simple sentence felt like a slap to the face for the brunette. Sakura had never, ever, called him by his clan name. "You have no idea what you're talking about. You're not the one who lost everything you ever cared for."

"If that is your problem, why are you making such a big deal out of it?" Neji hissed, disbelieving, old wounds reopening. Her anger was infectious. "Neither of us is new to loss, Sakura."

The stare that the rosette levelled him with said otherwise. But she still managed to come off as threatening, even if on the inside, she was screaming in agony. "I am tired of loss, Neji. Everything I care for gets taken away. First my mother, then my father, then my sensei, then the people that I had sworn I wouldn't care for. But do you feel this, Neji?" before he could react, she snatched his hand and placed it on the left side of her chest.

Above her heart.

"There's a bright, phosphorus gnaw in there," she began, eyes never leaving Neji's. "and it's telling me that I failed. It's telling me, that somewhere, through the years we'd been together, I had grown to care. To love. And what for, I ask?! To feel like this?!" She let go of his wrist and gestured at herself. "To feel like there's no point in living, no point in continuing on with this nightmare, no point in clinging onto useless memories because they'll only hurt me more in the long run?! If this was meant to discourage me from ever caring for anything ever again, then it worked! I'll never put myself through this! This is the pain that no medic-nin can cure, and it's agonizing."
Sakura was panting by the time she finished, cheeks flushed and eyes wild, daring him to object. And though Neji knew better, he also knew that he had to. Sakura was stuck in the darkness, much like he had once been, and just as she made it her job to shine some light into the little world of self-denial he had created for himself, he now made it his job to do the exact same to her.

"There's something you don't understand." when the rosette bristled, he merely raised a hand to stop her and continued. "If you were given a choice, to go back in time to graduation, and still have the option of completely detaching yourself emotionally from your teammates, would you do it?"
Sakura didn't answer, but her silence spoke for her. "Life doesn't just hurt you, Sakura. It gives you lessons, and you have to learn from them. The one you were given... You immediately assumed that there was only one reason, and you didn't even pause for a second to think that there might be more to it, did you? This... experience wasn't just to hurt you, Sakura, or to keep you from caring for anything. It was to show you, that in the world we live in, nothing lasts forever, and that you should appreciate it while it's there, and not regret a single second when it's gone. Do you understand?"

Sakura glared at him, and he returned it, both teens too stubborn to back down. As ridiculous as it seemed, they had rarely clashed before. Now, this was a battle of wills. Neji was desperate, but he was also determined for Sakura to see where he was coming from.

Finally, the rosette broke eye-contact and swayed on her feet. Neji surged forward, arms snapping out almost instinctively to catch her. With his arms safely around her small frame, Neji allowed a relieved sigh to escape his lips. The pinkette mirrored his action, but when she inhaled, the air got caught in her throat, and she released it in a shuddering sob. Small hands fisted his shirt, clutching the material in a deathly grip, almost like she was afraid to let go. Her body shook with every heart-wrenching sob that escaped her, but Neji merely held her, hands occasionally moving to stroke her back or pet her hair.

How long they stayed like that, the Hyuuga had no idea. He merely waited till Sakura's body stilled and her breaths evened out. Only when he was sure she was done did he move his hands to the rosette's shoulders and, as gently as he could, pried her away from him, to hold her an arms' length away.

A tiny chuckle escaped the pinkette when she noticed Neji's worried gaze. Her small hand reached up to smooth away the frown lines that appeared on his forehead. "Be careful or you'll give yourself wrinkles, Neji-chan." She muttered, a small, but genuine smile pulling at the corners of her lips.

Neji, a bit startled by the old nickname making an appearance, chuckled as well. "Hyuugas don't get wrinkles." He denied, though his tone was teasing.

"Everybody gets wrinkles, you idiot. Just because you have super genes that allow you to have nicer hair than me, does not mean that you'll never get wrinkles." Sakura rebutted, bottom lip jutting out in annoyance. It was almost like she was back to her old self again.

The brunette blinked, mind struggling to process Sakura's words. Unable to stop himself, he snorted. "I have nicer hair than you?" Then, answering his own question, he added. "Though I see where you're coming from – my hair, unlike some people's, isn't pink." another snort. Then, he paled, realizing something. "Oh, Kami, when you get old, you'll be a pink-haired grandma." There was a moment of silence, and then it seemed as if the Hyuuga's mind couldn't bare the ridiculousness of their conversation any more, and he burst out laughing, body shaking as tears streamed out of his eyes. Sakura joined him, laughing so hard her stomach hurt and her knees buckled and she hit the ground, but her laughter didn't stop.

Once again, for how long they laid there, calming down and getting their breathing under control, simply enjoying each other's company, they had no idea. But at some point, the sun had set and disappeared, the moon taking its place. A gust of wind blew by, reminding the two that it was nearly winter, and Sakura shivered, the thin clothing she'd had on in Suna providing little protection against the cold.

Neji noticed her discomfort, and his arms came around the rosette once again, this time rubbing gently up and down her arms. He allowed himself the out-of-character gesture; his Sakura was back. Now, the ultimate goal would be to keep her from slipping back into that dark, detached, far-away world she'd created for herself.

"So, I guess you're my light, huh, Neji-chan?" the random question snapped him back to reality, and he raised an eyebrow at the sudden sobriety of her voice.

"Light?" he echoed curiously.

"Yeah." She nodded, turning her head to face him, serious emerald meeting his own curious lilac eyes. "My father once said that 'In every darkness, the light will come and lead the way'. And I think that, for the first time, I would not mind being led by someone else…" she paused, looking up at him, an almost desperate look in her eyes. "Will you be my light, Neji? Please?"

And as he realised how much she needed him to accept, and also, how hard it would be if he did, he also knew that he could do it. He was certain of that. The rosette was the single person he could not bear to lose; he would do his best to protect her, even if it meant protecting her from herself.

"Of course I will."

Meanwhile, in the Hokage Tower

"So, the kid passed, huh?" Ibiki asked, smirking.

"Yeah." Tsunade replied sipping from her cup what she insisted was water. Ibiki knew otherwise, but he didn't comment. It wasn't easy being leader of a Village, and he understood that. "Though the Raikage kept complaining, since her fight apparently took the longest out of all, and they weren't sure whether she should pass onto the next round."

Ibiki quirked a brow. "Oh?" he prompted.

"They couldn't decide whether her opponent died before, or just after the proctor said 'go'" Tsunade explained, smirking. "Apparently, she moved too fast for them to quite catch it, and then her opponent's guts were splattered on the floor."

The Head of T&I mirrored Tsunade's smirk. "Cute." He commented sarcastically. "She was one of Izaya's brats, wasn't she?"

"Yeah. A major pain in the ass that team was, I tell you." The Godaime snorted. "At least now, when she's with the Hyuuga on practically every mission, I don't have to worry about people trying to re-enact the First Shinobi World War in their spare time." Ibiki barely restrained himself from snorting.

"They did that?"

Tsunade grimaced. "They did. And it wasn't pretty."

Tsunade knew that prodigies liked to sometimes take breaks from being their usual, genius selves. However, the teens standing before her pushed that notion to a completely different level.

When she asked the first time, Sakura denied it passionately, saying that they were all mature and deserving of the title of Chunin, and Chunin don't do ridiculous things like play around and destroy things. Nuh-uh.

Akane smirked, but when she asked him, he blushed and refused to give any further commentary, whereas Kaoru just hung his head and mumbled to himself, and the Godaime – with no small degree of amusement – caught some questions like what, oh, what had he done to deserve being stuck with such idiots?

However, Tsunade knew better. And, when asked the seconds time, all three admitted to it, albeit bashfully.

The Godaime's eye twitched.

"So. You three staged the First Great Ninja war at midnight, starting by decimating several perfectly good training grounds and a good part of the forest and ending up, Kami knows how, in the middle of the lake, and draining it of a good one-sixth of its water using A-ranked jutsu – which, by the way, you shouldn't even know yet – and completely exhausting your chakra. Have I left anything else out?"

"No, Hokage-sama… though there was that swing in the Academy playground…" Akane mumbled.

An angry tick made a permanent appearance in Tsunade's eye. "Three weeks of D-Ranks. And be glad I'm not fully sober, otherwise it'd have been three years!" She added when all groaned in annoyance. "Now, get out of my office!"

Ibiki snorted. "Well. All geniuses snap at some point." He said.

Tsunade sighed. "I know, I know." she sobered up a bit. "But, their abilities were not like those of typical genin. Or even chunin. I'd only known the three as a team for about five months, and even I gathered that. Sarutobi had a whole file on them. I'd been reading through it, all the missions he'd sent them on, all the third party reports, and to be honest, I feel quite sorry for any poor bastards who were unfortunate enough to get in their way." Ibiki raised an eyebrow. It was rare for Sarutobi to focus on one particular team, and he wondered what made those three so special. Tsunade noticed his curiosity, and, to his surprise, decided to indulge him. "They had genjutsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu specialists in their team. Each excelling in their field. Some ANBU teams don't have such variety, or balance! Here," she paused, rifling through some of the papers on her desk. "The last report Hiruzen had on them before the Exams: D-Ranks: 22, C-Ranks: 31, B-Ranks: 40, A-Ranks: 12. Over all, that's a hundred and five missions. And they weren't even chunin yet. I know jounin who hadn't had that many missions in their entire lives. How many A-Ranks have you had, Ibiki?"

The man mulled that over. "About fifty? Maybe fifty-five?"

Tsunade hung her head. "Exactly. Also, Sarutobi wrote that the Council had been pushing him to make them ANBU." She confessed.

Ibiki's eyes widened. "When they were still genin?!" he must have misunderstood. He knew those children were good, but ANBU were exceptional.

"Yes." She confirmed. "But he always denied them. Ever since I took the position, they had been trying to convince me as well. I denied. Yet now, when only one of them is left, and she's already jounin, it's only a matter of time until my influence runs out. They will have her going for ANBU by the end of the year, I can promise you that."

The Head Interrogator shook his head. "That won't accomplish anything." He stated suddenly. "Even if they make her ANBU, she will just be another Uchiha Itachi. Exceptional for a few years, then all the bloodshed, all the gore and violence of the profession will get to her head and she will snap."

Tsunade snorted. "Funny." At Ibiki's concerned look, she quickly elaborated. "It's exactly what Izaya came in here with not a week ago. He is not all that happy, since his student is no longer his little adorable kōhai and he does not seem all that keen on having to refer to someone almost twenty years younger than him as senpai. Plus, in all of his notes, Sarutobi mentioned that Izaya was like an overprotective mother hen – as long as he can resist, he will. And even if he has to stop, he will not do so willingly, or peacefully. He's adamant about the kid not getting into ANBU."

"Hn. Adamant or not, he will have to cave if the Council keeps pushing. That kid is a prodigy – a new shiny toy for them to play with. There's no way they'll give her up."

Serious once again, Tsunade nodded. "I know." she sighed. "I guess I'll have to call her into my office sometime soon. I'd rather she hears this from me than those old conspirators." She seemed to realise that Ibiki was still in her office. "You may go, Ibiki."

The man bowed respectfully then made to walk out the door. However, just before he reached it, he turned around once again. "Just a thought, Hokage-sama." When Tsunade nodded at him to continue, he allowed a grim smirk to surface. "When the Council finally gets what they want, I think I know a person who could take the kid under their wing, show them the way of ANBU… Just a thought." And with that, he left.

Tsunade snorted. "Cunning bastard."

Sakura sneezed.

Neji raised an eyebrow, not even bothering to hide his amusement.

"Shut up." The rosette muttered, swatting at him. The Hyuuga's smirk grew.

"Think somebody's talking about you?" he teased.

"Ugh. I hope not." She muttered, frowning.

"Hey, relax, I'm kidding." Neji assured her, when the frown didn't recede.

"I know. Which is the only reason why I haven't thrown you through a wall yet."

"You would risk Uncle's wrath when he finds out that one of his walls had been ruined?"

They had relocated from the grass by the outskirts of the Village to Neji's bedroom. Using the night's cover – though that did little when dealing with a clan who could see through walls – Sakura snuck in through the window. The rosette didn't feel like being alone, and Neji could understand that. Besides, he vowed to keep the girl in his line of vision as often as possible. Right now, lying on their backs on his futon, keeping a respectable distance between their bodies while waiting for sleep to take them, he felt at peace. And, judging by Sakura's relaxed breathing beside him, he would hazard a guess that this would be the first good night's sleep for her in ages.

"Goodnight." He muttered, almost certain that the girl was asleep.

"Mmhm. Sleep tight, Neji-chan…" was her mumbled reply, before she once again fell silent.

Neji chuckled quietly. Finally, things were looking up. And if anyone found out that the rosette spent the night in his room… Well, he would deal with it in the morning. Right now, he chose to succumb to the silence and let sleep overtake him.

Two months later, Sakura stood before the Hokage, dark shadows under her eyes and lines of exhaustion marring her face, though her eyes were alert.

Tsunade had asked her to stay behind after she'd given her mission report, dismissing the Nara who accompanied them, and sending Neji away when the teen remained by her side.

Normally, the rosette could keep her composure under pressure, but right now, due to the fatigue she felt and the strain she could feel on her muscles even when standing still, she allowed the Hokage's piercing gaze to get to her.

"You requested for me to stay behind, Hokage-sama. May I ask why?" she prompted.

Finally, the Godaime sighed, relaxing her brow which had been creased with a frown. "I lost, pinky. Those old bastards won. Here," she thrust something at the rosette – a piece of paper. "you just need to sign at the bottom."

"What is this, Tsunade-sama?" Sakura questioned, not quite believing her eyes.

"Isn't it obvious?" the woman replied tiredly.

"I'm signing you up for the ANBU Exams."

Ta-da!

Update!

Thank you to all the wonderful people who reviewed or favourited the previous chapter – love you guys!

Also, the quote about the 'light' was given by Darkened Blossom14 so thank you!

Now, I know that it's really sudden, and some of you will undoubtedly dislike how I maneuvered the characters and events, but it will all make sense in the end, I promise you that.

The next chapter is in the process of being written, so it should be out probably by the end of next week, maybe earlier. There is hope!

So, if you have any questions, or opinions, please drop them off in your review, or just PM me!

Lots of love,

Invincible Shadow.