The books were now at a staggering height. Trying to keep his balance and the books in neat order, Naruto trudged, trying not to topple over with the heavy load on his arms. Sakura sure was a mean reader, and he struggled with the idea that this may be the worst mission yet. So far, nothing happened. Sakura remained just the same- no neck cracks, busting dance moves, and so forth out of the ordinary. After a long grueling walk down the hall, he began to think that this was all just a cruel joke that Tsunade was playing. He thought that perhaps she wanted him to suffer. First off, Sakura didn't even know who Sasuke was, and neither did he. Still, the image of Sakura wearing the mask of another girl and playing a different persona that night was implemented in his brain.

'Am I going crazy…?'

"Oy…, Naruto, hurry up over there! You're as slow as a turtle right now!" Sakura called out to the struggling boy behind her. The tall, leaning mass of books formed a tower so that she couldn't clearly see his face. Hearing this, Naruto tried to move his legs a little faster. He wobbled and waddled, and swayed from side to side until he finally tripped over to the ground, flat on his face. The books were airborne for about a second, and then toppled all over his head.

Sakura sighed. She stared at the pathetic scene in front of her- the blond boy grinning and scratching his head like an idiot on the floor. She raised her eyebrows, her arms akimbo. Few hallway lights flickered lightly. Naruto slowly stood up and tried to pick up the books.

"It's okay, I got it," he said as he stacked the books in his arms again. Watching this, Sakura knelt down and began to pick up the books as well. But instead of stacking them back in his arms, she placed a few in her arms.

"I guess I gave you too much…," she said, smiling gently at nothing while picking up the books mindlessly. "Thanks, Naruto."

"Heh…," he grinned. He had nothing to say to her. He was rather happy about it. He didn't know why, but this kept him feeling satisfied. Still, the images of two different Sakura ran through his mind. He began to stare at her cautiously, remembering Tsunade's words to keep an eye on her.

She noticed him watching her strangely.

"What's wrong with you?"

"No…. nothing," he quickly began to stack a pile of books in his arms again. He stood up abruptly and began to make a hesitant pace.

'Something's definitely up…,' she thought, watching him trot and fall apart again a few minutes later. She sighed and briefly walked up to him.

At the place where she stood before, the light above began to flicker madly. It repeated the procedure until it could barely keep up with its pattern. Soon, with a quick flash, the light went out.

"Hokage-sama, you called us?"

"I want you to go back to this place and investigate. Find out anything useful and bring the information back here, pronto! Understand?"

"Yes, hokage-sama."

"Oh, come on, Naruto. We're almost there," Sakura called out to the boy with a tower of books at the back. Truly, even though she had taken a few loads away from him, the books were still tremendously heavy and formidably tall. So this is why they say knowledge is power, Naruto thought as he kept on waddling along awkwardly. A small bead of sweat rolled down on his cheek, and small children, possibly from the Ninja Academy, zoomed right by him. He almost toppled over again by their speed and tiny arms and hands bumping into his legs. The air was beginning to cool. The sun was almost about to set, and the sky was dyed in mix of dark fuchsia, red, orange, and blue. The clouds were swirls of whipped cream in the colorful background. The children were shouting and laughing in front of him, and he enjoyed the calm moment. Suddenly, the shouts and laughter of the children began to become rough and rowdy.

"Ah ha ha, she's ugly! Look at her! She's an ugly girl!"

He couldn't see past the books, but the small, piping voices spat out nasty words. He heard more rowdy, scrambling noises. Finally, he dropped the books onto the ground and stared at the wretched scene in front of him. Near a small corner next to the fences and houses plastered with unimportant papers, there sat a girl with her hands covering her face. Three small boys and a girl were pulling her hair and hitting her head. The more they used their fists and nasty threats, the more the small girl cried.

"Ugly girl, why don't you stand up and fight? You can't even throw a shuriken today! You chickened out!"

Another thwack…

Naruto's face crumpled. Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, he began to march up to the bullying children. He was about to shout….

"Hey! What the fuck are you shitty little brats doing there?"

The bullies and the victim, surprised by the foul language and rough tone of voice, turned their chubby heads around. Not too far away from the children, but a little distant from Naruto, there stood Sakura. Her arms were crossed, and her legs were a little wide apart. Getting a grip, one spunky child gave his nose a quick rub with his thumb and crossed his arms. Quickly, the rest of the gang bullies followed the kid's behavior and sneered at her.

"Sa, Sakura-chan, what do you think you are doing?" Naruto told her as he slowly walked towards her. But suddenly, he noticed that same familiar, sinister grin on her face. His blood and body froze.

"What do you want, ugly hag?" the spunky child quipped. His back-up crew snickered and jeered at her. Oddly enough, Sakura kept her same position, same looks, the same, awful grin.

"What… did… you… say?"

"Get lost. You're just as ugly as this girl here. I mean, what's with that disgusting pink hair anyways? It looks like someone barfed out a huge chunk of bubblegum on your head, and you're wearing it as a wig!" the bully girl yelled out. The boys began to give each other hi-fives and blew a raspberry at the tall, pink haired girl's face. And then, out of nowhere, all of the sudden, the pink haired girl swiftly ran toward the bullies and punched the ground right in front of them. The earth started to rumble, and soon enough, there were huge cracks all over the place that the children once stood. Disoriented and shaken up, the children tried to restore themselves by standing up. But before they could, Sakura held the spunky boy by the collar.

"Hey, what's the big idea….!" the boy began to shout and fret. She pulled him up close to her face, just so that he could see how scary she looked at the moment.

"Now," she whispered in a lethal that could kill an innocent baby. "What… did you say to me before? Be honest~!"

Her last sentence had a sweet, girly tone, and plus, she was smiling brightly at the frightened boy. Slowly, he regained his strength and began to speak.

"You are an ugly…."

"RRRRAWWRRGGHH!!!!" she hammer threw the boy away to the distance, where the sun was about to sink into the horizon. After seeing the boy fly away, she dusted her hands, narrowed her eyes, and nimbly turned around back to the remaining children.

"Now, who is going next?" she said, turning her pretty, girlish smile into a menacing, deadly smile that began to frighten the children. Behind the scary teenager, the sun was saying its good bye in the middle of the horizon….

"Shizune, I want you to bring all of the old reports that date back about three months ago, right now!"

"But Tsunade-sama, that would take such a long time and it's hard to get the files ready…"

"Shizune, this is no laughing matter!"

"Hai…!"

The sky that was once dark fuchsia, red, and orange slowly metamorphosed into royal midnight blue. One by one, the stars began to show their twinkle in the darkness. The cry of the screaming children was in the air, until it was no longer heard by Naruto. He stood there for many hours, ignoring the cold air and chills on his arms. He did try to stop her from mentally torturing and dictating the children in such a tedious fashion. Still, it was fruitless. In the end, the children ran away screaming that there was a crazy chick in the village, and he ended up standing there staring blankly at her. She laughed like an evil dictator to the direction where the children ran off.

"Stupid snot-nosed brats…, they should fucking know better not to mess with me," she derided. She rubbed her nose with her index finger and yawned. Beneath her, near a dark corner, she heard a distinct whimper. It was the little girl. She was curled up into a little ball, with her face buried into her arms. She glared at the small victim strangely, and Naruto, noticing this, quickly grabbed her arms.

"Sa-Sakura-chan or whoever you are…! Don't kill that girl!" he yelled and tried to drag her away. It was effortless to even try- the strange, pink haired girl was brutally strong. She pulled herself away from his grasp and marched up to the little girl. Frightened, the small victim's cry began to grow louder. The pink haired teen slowly knelt down….

"Don't…!"

"You loser," the girl screamed. "Are you just gunna cry like that all the time when those idiots beat you up?! Huh, is that what you want them to do, you stupid crybaby?!"

The poor little girl in the corner cried so hard that she began to hiccup. The tall, menacing, pink haired girl reached into her pocket.

"No…!"

"Here," she said as she handed the little girl her handkerchief. Slowly, the small girl rubbed her red, puffy eyes and unfurled herself. She stared at the hanky and the scary woman in front of her. The pink haired girl wasn't smiling, but she didn't look intimidating right now either. Slowly, very slowly, the tiny girl reached her small hands out to the hanky. She quickly grabbed it away and blew her nose.

"Oh, don't you know how to wipe your face with it too?!" The pink haired lass impatiently snatched the hanky back and began to roughly wipe the little girl's face. The girl stopped crying and sat still. Despite the roughness, somehow, this all felt so warm and motherly.

Behind, Naruto stood there quietly, watching this all in shock. This violent, audacious, boisterous, insolent, foul-mouthed girl was actually quite… nice. Nice?! He was still confused as ever, - heck, he didn't know if it was all an act. But watching the pretty girl caring for such a tiny creature made him understand. Somehow, she knew it all along. It was all in her plan for that small child, and now it quietly revealed itself to him. It was all too innocent, brash, and time consuming, but somehow, it worked.

Behind there, still confused as ever, the blond boy smiled.

It was soon dark, and the moon hadn't made its visit yet, but the streetlight hovering above them was soon lit up brightly.

With an armful of papers and files, Shizune barged into the hokage's office, almost breathless.

"Tsunade-sama, Tsunade-sama! I've gathered all of the reports that date back three months ago!"

"Good, Shizune! Now," Tsunade said as she stood up from her desk. "It's your duty to sort and analyze them all out one by one. Make sure you make some notes if there's anything unusual in those reports, understand?"

"But…. But!!!"

Too late. Tsuande was already gone.

The night was becoming darker and deeper....