"Are we good?" Mum asked as we came to meet in the clearing, we had just done a quick search of the area to make sure no-one would see what I'm about to do because let's face it- seeing a ninja (who doesn't even specialise in fire-type Jutsus) creating something that looks very similar to Fire Release: Great Fireball without any chakra would cause some worry.

"We're fine." Dad said, his blue eyes giving the clearing one last scan, "No one's around."

"Okay, let's do this." I said rubbing my hands together, "Be warned, I haven't done this in a while."

Dad raised a brown eyebrow at me, "You may not have performed it in a while but I'm betting you go over it in your head at least five times a day." I laughed at this, he knew me so well.

Composing myself I turned to the side, so my parents could still so what I was doing but the flames wouldn't be directed at them. "Would one of you throw that tagged Kunai at me please and release it just before it hits me?"

"What?" Mum asked, her face white, "I'm not throwing anything at you. You're my baby I don't want to hurt you."

"It's okay, my body can withstand extreme heat, and I trust you." I told her a small smile gracing my features, "Besides for this I need to inhale some fire." I gave her one last reassuring smile and she nodded.

"Okay." On that word she let the kunai fly,

5 seconds, 4, 3, 2, 1. It exploded in front of me and I inhaled deeply. The flames from the explosion warmed throat like hot chocolate does on cold days, "Fire Dragon Roar!" I called bringing my hands to my mouth, kind of like a trumpet, and blew through my fingers. A long thin flame streamed out before me and it expanded just before it hit the tree I had been aiming at.

I smiled to myself, happy that I had been able to do it first time. I had missed the feeling of fire coursing through my body.

"That was amazing!" My parents shouted together, rushing to hug me

"Your chakra didn't even flare!" Dad exclaimed as he gazed at the pile of ash that had once been a tree.

"It was so hot, is your throat alright?" Mum asked concern in her eyes once the excitement had calmed down.

"I'm perfectly fine, in fact I feel better than I have in a while." I told her pulling away from her hug so I could stretch my arms, "I might start using that during fights, it would surprise enemies." I said thoughtfully.

"Let's go get that ice-cream we talked about earlier." Dad said a giant smile on his kind face as he slung an arm over my shoulder and wrapped the other one around mum's waist.

XxXxXxXx

"I'm home!" I called as I pushed open the front door, when no one replied I assumed Shika was still out and head into the kitchen for a drink. Our apartment was nice, we had three bedrooms (one was for guests) a good size living room and kitchen and a bathroom, I had fallen in love with the place when I was looking at places to live, I need to move out my parents' house because I felt as though I needed to start taking care of myself and while I loved them with all my heart all their attention got to be a little to suffocating. I was very close to giving up hope of finding the perfect place to move into when I found this little gem, I knew it was for me straight away but it's far too big for one person so I asked Shikamaru, who had been itching to leave home and have some independence of his own, if he wanted to be my roommate. He'd said yes and that was that.

People used to mistake us as a couple but we had quickly squashed those rumours and I explained that he was like an older brother to me.

The sound of the door opening and shutting brought me out of my thoughts and I poked my head through the kitchen door.

"Hey." The lazy brunette said when he noticed me, "How was your day?"

"It was good how about yours?" I asked, raising an eyebrow when I noticed his clothes were torn and he had cut above his left eyebrow.

"Oh it was fantastic." He said, sarcasm dripping from his voice, "I went on a quick info retrieval mission. Everything went great, and then on the way back some rogues attacked. Took use by surprise, they had no noticeable chakra and they were using Justus I've never seen before."

"Let me look at your wounds and you can tell me all about it." I told him using my no-nonsense tone of voice. He immediately sat down on the couch knowing that it would be easier to let me help than to argue.

"There were three of them, they didn't look like much. Didn't have headbands just these weird tattoos. And one of them was using wind Justus but it didn't feel right. He didn't use seals and no chakra flared or anything." He trailed of and stared at the wall behind me, I had seen this look before. He didn't like not knowing things and he was determined to figure it out.

I was mulling over what he said as I finished healing a gash on his arms when I remembered something dad said today "your chakra didn't even flare!" I tensed as I put two and two together.

"I need to speak with Tsunade-Sama." I said quickly as I stood up, "Don't wait up for me."

"Do you know what he was using?" Shika asked looking up at me shocked at my sudden outburst.

"I think so. I'll explain later right now I've got to go." And with that sped towards the tower.

XxXxXxXx

"Tsunade-Sama!" I called knocking on the large wooden doors, "Its Sakura, I need to talk to you!"

"What are you waiting for then?" My teacher's disgruntled voice hollered back and I [pushed my way into the room. I had apparently woken her up from her Sake induced sleep and she didn't look to happy about it.

"I think I know who the rogues are." The words left my moth in a rush and I watched as it took her a moment to process what I had said.

"What do you mean you know who the rogues are?" She was sitting up straighter now, her honey brown eyes where hard and serious.

"The ones who attacked Shikamaru's team. The ones who didn't have chakra signatures."

"Sakura, I'm working the leaders of the other Hidden Villages to find out who is behind this string of attacks. We haven't even begun to understand what kind of Justus their using and then you come in here and tell me you know. Can you see how I have trouble believing you?"

I knew something like this might happen, "I know why they have no noticeable chakra signatures and they aren't using Justus. They're using magic."

A moment of silence passed and Tsunade just stared at me before you she stood up and walked around her desk to stand in front of me.

A cold hand pressed to my forehead "You're burning up. I think you've over worked yourself, that's why I've given you three weeks off. I think it's for the best."

"No, you don't understand," I started brushing her hand off, "I'm not going crazy. The rogues aren't ninjas. They are wizards."

"Sakura-Chan, I want you to go home and-"She trailed off when I held my hand up. I was determined to get my point across, so I may have channelled a bit of fire to my hand.

"Your hand is on fire." She stated, dumbfounded "Why is your hand on fire?"

"Because I'm using fire magic. Now can you feel my chakra flaring?" I raised a pink eyebrow and watched as her eyes grew wider.

"No. Sakura I'm going to need you to explain."

I spent the next two hours explaining all I could remember about magic and guilds (basically large groups of Wizards who accepted missions). I told her about how I hadn't even been born in Kohona and that I could remember my brother and the rest of the guild that had taken us in when our father went missing, (although I left out that he had been a dragon because even I couldn't help but wonder if I was making that up).

"So how do you remember all of this?" She asked as she rubbed her temples, I reached forward and placed my fingers on her forehead channelling chakra into her to relieve her headache.

"Photographic memory. It's a gift and a curse." I joked trying to lighten the mood.

"Go home and get some rest, I have to think somethings over but I will be calling you in at some point tomorrow."

"Okay," I stood up and bowed "Have a goodnight Tsunade-Sama."

"Goodnight, Sakura-chan."