Sakura heard the medics surrounding her sigh in relief when the gates of Konoha finally peeked through the dense forest. After the hectic week they'd all endured, three days of hard travel - some of it through desert terrain - was their limit. Suna's hospital was at a much more manageable level than the first day she'd walked through the doors. The overflow of patients had subsided, leaving only those who had been more critical at one point in time still within the facility. The staff there could handle the problem now.

Her own group of medics were exhausted, but happy. However, the frustration running through Kakashi's group was palpable. They were no closer to solid proof as to who attacked Suna nor where the individual was located than when they'd left. Shikamaru shared a short, tense conversation with Kakashi before waving a hand vaguely in the rest of the groups direction and taking off. Sakura thanked her group for their hard work and sent them off to their respective homes.

Unfortunately for her, she was unable to go home and rest herself. Being the captain for her particular team, she was required to meet with Tsunade-sama upon her return to the village. She tried to ignore the days worth of dust that clung to her frame as she made her way by Kakashi's side to the Hokage's tower. She was just looking forward to handing in her report and taking a long, hot bath...and perhaps sleeping for more than five hours straight.

Her shishou's voice beckoned them beyond the closed doors and they entered into the office. The frown marring Tsunade's forehead spoke of her growing impatience with the mountain of paperwork that cluttered her desk.

"Welcome back you two." She gladly placed her pen down to the welcome distraction. Her eyes swept her apprentice's frame. She was happy to see her without injury but the dark circles beginning under the pinkette's eyes caused her brow to scrunch up once more. She truly wished she could give her a few days off after the hard work she had put in, but it wasn't possible. Shizune was busy organizing the hospital and the remaining medics within the village and there wasn't another field medic who had the talent and knowledge that either of her pupils had. A short, tense sigh escaped her and she tried to push her personal feelings aside once more.

"Thank you Tsunade-sama," Kakashi answered for them.

"I received a message from Gaara late last night. He's already briefed me on the status of their hospital. Sounds like your team did an excellent job Sakura."

She felt herself flushing from the praise of not only her own Hokage, but Suna's ruler as well. "Thank you shishou. Everyone did very well, especially considering the circumstances, but you had already completed the antidote for us."

"I only had to adjust the one you already created. The credit is yours alone this time Sakura."

"Thank you."

"I would like to tell you to go home and take a few days off to recoup, but I'm afraid that's not possible."

Sakura's face fell in obvious disappointment and Tsunade could only give her a placating smile in return.

"What's happened Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi asked.

"I have a different mission for you as well Kakashi but it's all tied together," she turned to her student once more. "Is there anything in particular we should discuss about the mission you just completed or can I just read through your report?"

Sakura shook her head absently and handed over the scroll she had only finished writing that morning before they'd broken camp. "No ma'am. Everything's in the report."

"Good. Shizune is in the hospital; find her and she'll give you the information and supplies you'll need. I've already fully briefed your captain for this mission and he's finding the other members of your team now to give them their orders. Make sure you restock your medic's pack as well. You'll be needing it."

Sakura nodded in understanding and turned to leave the office. It was obvious in her shishou's tone that she had just been dismissed. She wasn't upset at the dismissal, but she did find herself curious as to what mission Kakashi would be sent on if he wasn't going with them.

As she made her way down the long corridor of the Hokage's tower, the fleeting thoughts she'd had of lazing about her house for a day or two passed through her mind once more. A frown soon took root on her face as those thoughts were dashed aside by the early hour she would have to rise in the morning.

"You have another mission for me?" Kakashi asked as soon as the door closed behind Sakura.

"Actually you'll be a day late getting started behind the others I've already sent out, but I don't think that'll be a problem for you."

Kakashi grinned behind his mask at her phrase that seemed more of an order than praise. She tossed him a scroll that he caught with practiced ease.

"I'll be sending your team out without you this time to handle a new incident that's been brought to my attention. Sakura and the others should be able to deal with it without any problems." She gave him a moment to read over the instructions she'd given him before continuing. "That's the area I want you to cover."

"This is a rather large area Tsunade-sama." Kakashi remarked as he re-rolled the scroll and placed it in his flak vest.

"And as I said I've already got several others out searching other areas."

"Understood."

"Kakashi," she stopped him before he could leave. "There's something else I want to discuss with you."

"Yes?"

She leaned forward and steepled her fingers in front of her as she caught his questioning gaze. "It's about a certain member of your team."

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The soft pat of raindrops had an almost hypnotic effect on Sasuke as he sat watching them trickle down the glass. The conversation before had been lacking, but the apartment felt overwhelmingly empty without Itachi there. For such a brief moment he'd had his brother back once more. Not the man he'd spent years loathing with a soul consuming passion, but the brother who'd carried him on his shoulders as they made their way home from the village. Sasuke had been able to see him smile once again as he had so very long ago. The heavy burdens that had weighed him down in life were removed and it truly seemed that Itachi had enjoyed the last few weeks he'd spent in the living world.

No matter how empty this place felt now, Sasuke was thankful that he could see his aniki like that once more.

With his brother's soul now in peaceful rest, he still had another problem he'd yet to make a firm decision on...what was he going to do now?

He couldn't bring himself to loathe Konoha as he once did. Itachi and (begrudgingly he would admit) Naruto were right; the villagers never knew of the danger they'd faced at the Uchiha's hands. They also had no part or knowledge in the hand that Itachi was forced to play. While this village had it's problems, from his own knowledge and observations, they were much less than other villages faced.

If her words were to be believed, Tsunade was leaving the decision with him as to what path he would take now. All he knew was the way of a shinobi. The talent he was born with and the skills he'd acquired were all designed for a ninja's life.

He had no interest in being a mercenary. The thought of living his life out as a merchant or a farmer was not one he could even contemplate.

That left only one option.

It wasn't that he had not thought about it already. Knowing Itachi's wish for his life, he'd ran the idea through his mind several times. This was the only time the thought didn't make him cringe with disgust.

A knock at the door brought him out of his revere. He quickly felt for his visitors chakra - and sighed in resignation. The moment he stepped foot back into the village he had been expecting this meeting. Reluctantly, he opened the door for the Hokage.

"Sasuke," she stated without aplomb and eyed the younger man. He said nothing, only stepped aside - giving her the indication that she was being welcomed into his home.

Tsunade brushed by him, her blond hair bouncing behind her as she entered the silent apartment. She didn't wait for him to offer but instead took a seat in one of the empty chairs of his living room. He felt his eye twitch slightly in annoyance but didn't remark at her brass actions. He closed the door and returned to his seat across from her – waiting on her to be the first to speak.

"I've reviewed Kakashi's reports on your inspection of Suna," she began. "As thorough as the investigation was, there's no way to pinpoint who was responsible for the attack." Tsunade resisted the urge to throw him through the nearest wall when his eyebrow raised in an 'I already knew that' way. "According to Kakashi, everything is getting back in order."

"Aa," he finally replied. She sat watching him for a moment, her brown eyes seeming to be searching for something.

"How was the mission?"

Now he was confused. Naruto did say she was using a type of henge to make herself appear younger; perhaps she was going senile in her old age? "You said you read the reports. You know how the mission went."

"That's not what I mean brat!" she huffed then caught herself and leaned back in the chair once more. "How was it working with everyone again? Were there any problems?"

"I'm sure you would have already known by now if there had been," he coolly returned.

"Pfft. You're right about that." Her eyes wandered over to the uncovered window he sat watching earlier. Sunlight was trying to break through the darkened clouds that were no longer covering Konoha in their light mist. She didn't turn to him once again as she spoke yet an irritated look fell upon her face. "Two days ago I received a letter from an old gambling buddy of mine."

"Gambling?" he inquired, almost amused at her admission.

"Shut it," she muttered. "Like I was saying, he said there's something going on in his village. For the past two weeks, people have been getting sick with a gastric virus. Thankfully, no one has died from the illness but they believe their main water source has been somehow contaminated. He sent me a vial of the water and asked me to take a look at it."

A familiar feel of unease began spreading into his gut at the stony look on her face and the silence that accompanied it.

"While it isn't rare for water sources to become contaminated by various things, I ran the sample anyway." She stood and made her way over to the window, continuing to gaze out on the village that had not so long ago been rebuilt. "I did find some natural bacteria that would cause gastrointestinal problems in humans but...there was something else I didn't expect to find."

"What?" he found himself asking.

Her intelligent, honey eyes caught his gaze. "I'm sure you've never heard of it but there's a poison that can be found naturally in some foods called amygdalin. It doesn't normally cause too many problems for people as they can't eat enough of it to raise the levels to a toxic state." A hard look fell over her face. "It doesn't even matter what the levels I found in the water were - though, they were dangerously high - as this isn't a substance that should have shown up in a water source. Someone's poisoned this village intentionally."

"Where is this village?"

Tsunade moved away from the window, stalking her way back to the couch and dropping her tired form onto the plush cushions. "It is in the Land of Fire, but only just. It lies next to the border to the Land of Hot Water."

Sasuke crossed his arms as he regarded her. "That's no where near Suna."

"I know."

"Why travel so far and poison a completely different area? Though it is in the Land of Fire, this village doesn't have a direct connection with a hidden village does it?"

"No it doesn't," she answered with a wry smile to her face. "And that's exactly what Shikamaru was wondering."

Sasuke wasn't surprised to hear the Nara had questioned that as well. He was becoming accustomed to the intelligence of that particular nin. While all of this puzzled him - not to mention incited his fury once more as he knew Kabuto was behind it once again - the question was why the Hokage had felt the need to bring him this information on her own. He didn't see where he could supply her any further information from his time spent with the snake sannin.

"I've already sent a message to the other kages about this recent poisoning. While we don't have any further evidence of the assailant, I want them to be on guard for any potential threats to their villages - that includes us as well. The shinobi are on alert as well as our medics. There are numerous antidotes I want them to begin making, as well as stocking up on the various herbs and medicines we could potentially need. The situation doesn't seem as bad as the one Suna was in so I don't think I need to send out another team of medics to handle it. Truth be known, I don't know if I can afford to. It's been barely two weeks since the last attack and I don't want to leave our own people short handed in case it happens here."

Her reasoning was sound but he could see the impact making it caused on her. For some reason, today she was being fairly unguarded with her facial expressions around him.

"I'm only going to send one team out to investigate and assist with this problem."

When she met his eyes, he instantly knew who she would send. "Sakura."

"Team Kakashi," she corrected. "Although, I have Kakashi preparing for another mission right now so I'll have a different captain assigned this time."

Sasuke was silent for a moment, pondering her words, before he finally asked the question foremost on his mind. "And why are you telling me this information?"

Tsunade shook her head and mumbled something under her breath. He chose to believe it was not 'baka' that he heard. When her head lifted, he was momentarily stunned by the earnest look in her eyes. "What do you wanna do now Sasuke?"

When she was met with his silence - and perhaps a bit of confusion showing on his face - she continued. "I know this may seem a little early to be bringing this up. You have only been back in Konoha for a few months and...Itachi..." she stopped her sentence as a wince crossed his face - no matter how brief it was. "But I want to ask you openly about your decisions for the future. Have you even thought about it?"

Though he didn't answer her, he briefly met her eyes before lowering them once more. It was clear that the thought had been weighing on his mind.

"You're skills are easily a jonin level with some of your jutsus ranking in the S class. You would be an asset to any shinobi village." Her lips tipped upward for a moment. "I had to point that out as a kage of a hidden village myself." He didn't return the smile but his ebony eyes found hers once more. "By all reports, you worked well with everyone in Suna. I know you had a team of your own when you left Orochimaru so it's clear you're still more than capable of working together with others. Also, I know you want to see Kabuto stopped, and I want to give you that opportunity."

She had his full attention now.

"Of course, there's a catch to that." His eyes narrowed slightly and she smiled, almost in apology. "I can only send out active shinobi on missions; you know this. We do not employ mercenaries in this village and we will not as long as I have anything to say about it. I want to be able to give this chance to you Sasuke but I also know what I'm asking of you. I've apologized for the village's past actions in the death of your family but I can't do much else beyond that. There's no way to correct the mistake that was made on that day. All I can do is give you my promise that nothing of that nature will happen again. I will work to make sure that the decisions myself and the council make are for the good of every single person in this village."

His head hung downward, the long raven bangs hiding his eyes from her. Tsunade stood and turned towards the door. "I wouldn't mind having another set of eyes helping me keep a watch on those goals either."

She made it to the door, her hand just barely touching the cool metal knob, before she heard his low voice call from behind.

"Wait."

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Sakura knelt beside the open gates of the village, her medic pack unfurled before her as she rearranged the various vials and syringes she brought. Some last minute thinking as she was getting ready for her mission that morning prompted her to stop by the hospital and pick up some extra supplies that she was now trying to find room for in her already crowded pack. Naruto stood across from her, his arms folded across his chest while he awaited the rest of their team to assemble. They were already aware of the change of captains for this particular mission, so no look of surprise crossed either of their faces as Neji strolled up to them.

"Sakura, Naruto."

"Good morning Neji," she replied while finally standing and strapping her pack to her waist.

"So, where's Yamato-taicho?"

"Naruto," Sakura hissed.

"What?" he rebuked. "I'm just wondering."

"Apparently Yamato-taicho has another mission as well. Tsunade-sama currently has several of her jonin out on scouting missions."

"Well, this incident is obviously connected to the attack on Suna so everyone is worried," Sakura replied.

Neji's pearlescent eyes turned to her. "Very true. It would be best if we could find Kabuto and put a stop to this quickly."

"I'm all for that," Naruto piped in. "I just wanna kick his ass and be done with this. He's got a lot to answer for."

Neji nodded in agreement. "Where is Sai?

"He stopped to pick up some more ink since we still had time before we...oh, there he comes."

Sakura pointed out his familiar pale form as he approached them – with Hinata at his side.

"Hinata-sama," Neji began. "What are you doing here?"

Her cheeks pinked lightly as she caught Naruto's eye. "I just wanted to wish you all a safe journey."

"Thanks Hinata."

"You're welcome S-Sakura-san."

"Aa...thanks for coming out Hinata," Naruto said, his hand coming up to absently rub the heated flesh at the back of his neck.

"O-of course, N-Naruto-kun. I h-hope you have a successful j-journey." She took a step closer to her long time crush as she spoke to him.

"No worries," his trademark grin broke onto his face. "We'll take care of this."

She smiled at the strength his voice conveyed. "I do hope so. I j-just worry about all of those people who are sick."

"That's why we've got Sakura-chan. You know how great a medic she is!"

Though the pinkette rolled her eyes, she smiled at his praise. She watched the conversation between Hinata and Naruto. She was proud to see the usually shy woman being able to speak openly with him. Sakura wished Hinata luck as she continued to chase after her dense team mate. Hopefully, one day Naruto would be able to see how wonderful of a person Hinata was and the love she could give him. Until that happened, Sakura was content to sit back and watch the show unfurl. Of course, it probably wouldn't hurt for her to lend a helping hand every now and then.

Hinata said her goodbyes to the group and Sakura checked her supplies once more as they prepared to leave.

"We are supposed to wait for one more person," Neji announced to the group before they could head out.

"What? The four of us are here. Who could we be waiting on?" Naruto questioned.

"It's the Hokage's orders."

The team mates looked to each other in question as the unexpected information was presented to them. A ray of sunlight bounced off a reflective surface that caught the corner of Sakura's eye. Her head turned in the direction of the offending object and she felt the breath catch in her throat. Transfixed, she watched him walk up the road towards them with his usual proud demeanor. The sight her eyes fell on caught her off guard so badly she felt her knees buckle. She quickly spun back to the open road, turning her back on the rest of the group.

"Teme!" Naruto yelled out and rushed towards his best friend.

"If you touch me, I will kill you," Sasuke replied in his baritone voice.

"Come on Sasuke."

"No."

Naruto grinned and continued walking closer to the frowning Uchiha. "Sa-su-ke."

Naruto lunged for his friend with arms open wide. The final member of their team used his body flicker to bring him up along side Neji, leaving his friend to fall face first into the dusty road.

"Oh come on Sasuke! This deserves a hug!"

"I said no."

Naruto stood and brushed himself off, walking over to Sasuke with that ever present grin still on his face. He threw an arm around his friends shoulder, ignoring his attempts to brush him off. Naruto admired Konoha's hitai-ate gleaming in the morning sun from Sasuke's forehead. "It looks good on ya."

Sasuke grunted at this but his face didn't hold its usual scowl.

"Hey Sakura-chan, did you see?"

"Uh huh."

Naruto was taken aback by her lack of response. He knew she – just as he was – would be overwhelmingly happy to see the familiar headband on Sasuke's forehead. After all, this was the very goal they'd worked so hard for the past four years to achieve. He called her name again, but to no avail. She continued to stand facing the open road out of Konoha, her head hanging down slightly as she avoided all of their faces. Sai walked over to stand before her but his expressionless face gave nothing away to the waiting men behind them. Sakura tried to brush by her pale companion but he blocked her escape. His head tilted slightly as he studied the woman before him.

"I am confused," he began. "You are smiling but crying as well. How can you be happy but also be sad?"

"Just leave me alone Sai!" She pushed him away from her, perhaps using a bit more force than she intended to, causing the young man to fall back onto the hard ground. Sakura took a few steps forward, sweeping past Sai's fallen form before she stopped abruptly. Her team mates saw her shoulders slump and she slowly ambled back to her fallen friend. She helped him up, brushing the dirt from his pants as her soft voice carried over the short distance to them all. "I'm sorry Sai. I know you don't understand but just...just ask me later and I'll explain, okay?"

She turned to peek at Sasuke through the curtain of her cotton candy hair. His sharp vision caught the glistening streaks of tears falling from her emerald eyes. In contrast, her lips were drawn back in a bright smile that crinkled the corner of her eyes. He couldn't remember seeing her like that since their genin days. Her head turned away, hiding her face from him once again.

"I am happy Sai. Very happy."

Almost like a child peeking around her mother's skirts, Sakura turned to glance over her shoulder at him. His ebony eyes were locked onto her as she stared back unabashedly. The smile on her face softened, never losing its bright form but changing into something else as another emotion seemed to take root within her. With tears still clinging to her rosy cheeks, her eyes wavered to the hitai-ate once more before she turned back around. The sight caused the part of him that had been tense since placing the protector on that morning to melt away.

The group heard her gentle sniffles and watched as her hands flew up to wipe away the evidence of her cries. Pink locks swayed as she shook her head and squared her shoulders once more. "Can we just get going now please?"

The men fell in step behind her, none of them commenting any further on her various emotions.

Naruto didn't point out the smile lingering on Sasuke's face either.

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A/N:

Though I've already started doing this, let me say that I will be using some actual poisons and names of medications throughout this fic. It's just too hard to try and make up a whole new agent when there are thousands of them to freely choose from. However, I will be stretching the facts with them at times so that they work for the story. I wanted to say that outright in case anyone is knowledgeable of them (or really just felt like looking them up after seeing them here).

I do try to respond to all the reviews and P.M.s I get but if I did not please know I am very thankful for your reviews/questions/comments. Thank you all so much and I will humbly ask for them once more.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!