"So Itachi and Kisame came to kill your father," Ino said, mulling over the words slowly so that Yamato could interject if she was incorrect, "Kisame did the killing while Itachi took you and Sachi away from them."

Yamato nodded, seemingly unperturbed by Ino's casual mention of his father's death.

"And then he took you with him to Toyeiki while Kisame took off in a different direction?" Ino finished.

"That's right," Yamato confirmed.

"Do you know where Kisame went?" Sakura asked. She assumed that he probably headed back toward Akatsuki's base, which would be useful information to have.

"I don't know," Yamato said.

"Well, it's not as helpful as I would have liked," Ino said, tapping her lips with an expertly manicured finger.

"Thank you for telling us, Yamato," Sakura said in her most appeasing tone, "Now let's get you home."

Sakura glanced at Ino who was watching them both. Her mind seemed to be elsewhere. She made no effort to hide her annoyance at having no luck with gathering new information. Sakura felt that it was rude and unnecessary – Yamato had done exactly what she'd asked him to do.

But she also understood the blonde's frustration. They were at a dead end again. It seemed that information about Itachi was not readily available. Who'd have thought?

Ino had suggested that she use her Mind Transfer jutsu on Yamato, much to Sakura's dismay. She was outraged that Ino would even suggest such a thing – like Yamato hadn't willingly offered up all of the information he had anyway. Even though Yamato didn't know much about Itachi's life in Konoha, he wanted to learn more about him just as much as Sakura and Ino did.

Sakura was careful not to let Yamato and Sachi know about Itachi's crimes. She didn't want to demonize him in their eyes until she had learned the truth about him – if there even was a truth. She was beginning to suspect that it was all her imagination and that nothing suspicious was going on at all.

Sakura dutifully walked Yamato home and left without greeting Sachi or saying anything to her parents. It was unlike her, so her parents probably chalked it up to being in a bad mood. She hoped that Sachi wouldn't be too offended, but all she wanted was to go home and crawl into bed.

"God, why are you still here?" Sakura asked when she walked back into her apartment, spotting Ino devouring the rest of her baked goods at the table.

"I have a plan," Ino said, licking sugar from her fingers. "Well, I have the first inkling of a plan."

Sakura gave her a skeptical look. Ino's plans were notoriously half-baked, and if even she recognized that this one wasn't up to par, then it must have been a bad plan.

"Look, Ino, I'm exhausted and I can't deal with this right now," Sakura said, "Can we do this later?"

"Yeah, yeah," Ino said, pushing herself away from the table and meandering to Sakura' front door, "You're off tomorrow. Meet me at the training grounds at noon. I'll have the plan worked out by then."

Sakura didn't argue.

.

The next day, Sakura woke up early to go to her parents' house. She wanted to apologize for her brusqueness before and spend some time with Sachi before she met with Ino.

"Are you having trouble at work, Sakura?" her mother asked. Sakura was sitting with Sachi in her lap as the girl flipped through the pages of a book.

Sakura stared at her mother for a long time before an answer came to her. Mebuki was perceptive, always noticing Sakura's foul moods before Sakura even realized she was in one. She was grateful to have a mother so understanding and patient with her. She was the perfect foil of Sakura's father, who was notoriously oblivious to her moods.

"No," Sakura said, "I've just got a lot on my mind right now."

"Is it Sasuke?" Mebuki asked.

"Yes," she lied. It didn't feel like a lie because Itachi was really the one who was bothering her. To some extent, Sasuke was bothering her, too.

"I wish I knew how to help you," Mebuki said. Sakura was refreshed by her candor. Everyone was constantly trying to reassure her that everything would be alright and that Sasuke would come back. It was a ridiculous thing to say, especially to a shinobi. And even if Sasuke did come back, Sakura was certain that things wouldn't just go back to normal, if they could ever have been considered normal in the first place.

"It's okay, mom," Sakura said, squeezing Sachi a little bit tighter, "You've always been really supportive of me and I appreciate that."

"I just want you to be happy."

Sakura resisted the urge to sigh. She didn't think it was possible for a shinobi to be truly happy. There would always be conflict and fear – if not for her own life then certainly for the lives of her comrades.

"Yamato and Sachi make me really happy, mom," Sakura said.

"They make us happy, too," Mebuki said with a wide grin. Sakura grinned back, unable to resist. Maybe that was enough. Maybe fleeting moments of happiness were enough to outweigh the cloud of fear and danger that loomed over every shinobi.

.

When Sakura arrived at the training grounds, she was surprised to see that Sai was sitting beside Ino. They both smiled at her as she approached.

"Sakura!" Ino said, waving her over.

"Did you finalize that plan?" Sakura asked, making sure her tone conveyed that she did not believe that Ino would have finalized the plan.

"Sort of," Ino replied, earning an annoyed and yet somehow also pleased look from Sakura. "I asked Sai for help."

Sakura turned to Sai and gave him her brightest smile. It had been a while since she'd seen him and she'd forgotten how much she had grown to love his company. It had been awkward at first, but his intentions were good and she let his little social blunders slide.

"My father told me about an underground base that the ROOT members used," Ino said, "I think we might find some information down there regarding Itachi's missions."

Sakura sent a warning look to Ino.

"Don't worry, I already told Sai everything," Ino said.

Sakura growled. "I knew I couldn't trust you with a secret."

"I've got it under control, Sakura," Ino said, the smile never leaving her face. "After I left your place last night I went back to the Hokage tower to look through all of the old mission dossiers."

"You went sleuthing without me?"

"You said you were tired."

Sakura glared at her, crossing her arms over her chest. She hadn't been expecting Ino to be so interested in Itachi. She had only told her about him because she wanted to get the secret off her chest. Now she was regretting that decision.

"Aren't you interested in what I found?"

"What did you find?"

"All of the information about Itachi's prior missions was still there, with a few bits of redacted information. His final mission was completely redacted. There wasn't a single thing that was left in the file," Ino explained.

"How is that helpful?" Sakura demanded.

"If I may," Sai interjected, "Much of the redacted information from the archives is kept in ROOT's underground base."

"So that's why we need Sai," Sakura said.

Ino grinned even wider, "Exactly!"

"I won't be able to sneak either of you down there with me," Sai said, "But I'm confident that I can get inside and find the information you're looking for."

"Why would you do this for us, Sai?" Sakura asked, concerned, "It seems like a pretty huge risk for you. Aren't you already in hot water with ROOT?"

"You're my friends," Sai said, his grin matching Ino's, "And you need help."

Sakura bit her lip and looked down at her feet. They didn't really need his help because they didn't really need to know about Itachi. She felt very selfish for wanting Sai to help (which she most definitely did). If what Ino had said was true, then the redacted information from Itachi's file was exactly what she was looking for.

"Please be careful, Sai," Sakura pleaded, "I don't want to lose you, too."

"Do not worry, Sakura," Sai said, "You will not lose me."

.

Ino and Sakura went back to Sakura's apartment. Sakura had to hand it to Ino – she had found more about Itachi than Sakura had, and her plan was fairly substantial. If Sai could get Itachi's mission file, they'd be golden.

Sakura didn't like the idea of Sai going in alone, but there wasn't much she could do about it. He was right. Taking Sakura and Ino with him would slow him down and make them significantly easier to catch – especially since they knew nothing about ROOT's headquarters.

Waiting for him to come back was agonizing. She assumed it would be over quickly. Sai would simply go in, take what he needed, and leave. Lingering around too long meant risking getting caught.

But after an hour, Sakura and Ino both grew restless.

"We could spar to pass the time," Ino suggested.

Sakura didn't think she was in the best frame of mind to be sparring. She was distracted and didn't want to let Ino get her with her Mind Transfer jutsu. There were all kinds of conflicting thoughts in her head right now and she certainly didn't want Ino to be privy to any of them. She'd lost a little bit of her faith in the blonde after she'd told Sai her secret.

"Actually, I think we should help Yamato with his training instead," Sakura countered, "I want to see what he can do now. I heard from his academy instructors that he's got impeccable aim."

"Alright, let's do it," Ino said with a little too much enthusiasm.

Together, Ino and Sakura collected Yamato from his home and walked with him to the training grounds. Sakura enjoyed the amicable silence that filled the air around them as they walked. It was rare to be with Ino and not be bombarded with constant chatter.

Yamato's eagerness showed in his perpetual grin. Sakura could tell that he was excited to show off what he could do.

When they arrived at the training grounds, Yamato surprised Sakura and Ino by immediately launching an attack at them. Four shuriken flew at them, flung from his tiny hands. They dodged them and glanced at each other with amusement.

"We need to lay some ground rules first, Yamato," Sakura chided, but she was smiling.

He shrugged indifferently.

"Let's start with taijutsu," Sakura said, "Sound good?"

"Are you going to use your chakra enhanced strength?" Yamato asked.

"No chakra," she answered. That would hardly be fair.

The trio sparred for several hours, Sakura and Ino against Yamato. Sakura noted that Yamato favored shuriken and kunai over hand-to-hand combat, and that his aim was indeed spectacular for someone his age. He was a far cry from the boy that had attacked her with a single kunai outside Toyeiki.

He had even learned how to bend and redirect his weapons with a skill that surpassed Sakura's. She wasn't necessarily the best with that particular skill, but it was impressive nonetheless that he was able to best her at it.

When they finished and had collapsed near the outer perimeter of the training grounds, panting and sweaty, Sakura beamed with pride. It was obvious that Yamato had been putting great effort into his training. She couldn't have been more proud of him, and with a pang of sorrow, she thought Itachi would have been proud, too.

"You're good, Yamato," Ino said, "Better than we were at your age."

"I'm going to be the best shinobi," Yamato said, his face set with determination, "No one will be stronger than me."

"Aim high," Ino said, grinning like an idiot.

"Maybe Naruto could teach you some cool jutsu," Sakura said, slumping down against a thick tree trunk to catch her breath. "Or maybe Kakashi-sensei could. He knows so many."

"Iruka-sensei said not to worry about learning that stuff until I become a genin," Yamato said, "He said there's too much going on in the village right now for me to be pestering people about it."

Sakura hummed in response because that was probably true. Still, she could probably get Naruto or Kakashi to do her a solid and teach him something cool. She wished she had something she could teach him, but he probably wasn't interested in learning medical ninjutsu.

They sat in companionable silence for several minutes, watching the sun as it slowly dipped down below the horizon. The air seemed to still, but it was oddly calming and Sakura felt herself relax into the grass.

It had been a while since she had sparred with anyone. It was regrettable, of course, because she was a shinobi and she needed to stay sharp, but her duties at the hospital had always taken precedent. It didn't help that nearly every mission she was assigned to was medical in nature. She wasn't complaining about it – she knew what her strengths were. She just hoped that in the future she would have more time to devote to her fighting skills.

"I'm getting hungry," Ino said just as her stomach grumbled loudly.

"Yeah, we should get going," Sakura said, "Sai must be done by done."

Sakura and Ino walked Yamato back home, making sure to stop inside and spend a few minutes with Sachi while they were there.

When they arrived back at Sakura's apartment, they weren't surprised to find Sai sitting on her stoop. He stood to greet them, and instead of his usual impassive face, he wore a somber expression. It worried Sakura.

"Sai?" Sakura asked.

"We should go inside," he said.

Once they were inside and seated around Sakura's table, Sai pulled a file out of his pouch and placed it in the center of the table.

"This file details Itachi's last mission," Sai said, "All of the redacted information is there."

Greedily, Sakura snatched the filed from the table and opened it. Ino hovered over her shoulder to get a closer look. Sakura was careful to read every word, not skimming over anything. She noticed the date – the day of the massacre, who gave the order – Danzo (wasn't he one of the elders? she thought).

With each word, more dread pooled in Sakura's stomach.

"Oh my God," Ino whispered.

Sakura couldn't agree more. Oh my God. Her fingers trembled; her heart was thudding in her ears. For a moment, she felt dizzy and her vision tunneled.

It explained nearly everything – Itachi's behavior, the reason for the massacre. Sakura felt a pulsing anger at the Konoha elders for even suggesting a mission like this to Itachi. The Third that she knew would never have agreed to this. Or would he? She didn't know anymore. And how could Itachi have accepted such a mission? Sakura knew that she would never have been able to do what he had done. Maybe that was why he was a better shinobi than she was.

"Why would he have accepted a mission like this?" Ino said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"To protect Sasuke," Sai provided, "If Itachi had refused the mission, it would have fallen to ROOT. They would not have left Sasuke alive."

Nausea worked its way up in Sakura's throat and she rushed to the kitchen sink, knocking over her chair in the process. She retched, dry heaving into the sink. It hurt and she couldn't breathe.

"He killed his parents," Ino said, her voice distant, "His friends and family. All to protect Konoha from a civil war."

"He saved us," Sakura said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

"He had no choice," Sai said.

Sakura came back to the table and righted her chair. Instead of sitting, she gripped the back of it with white knuckles and leaned against it.

"I don't understand," Sakura said, "Why did he torture Sasuke the way he did? Why did he join Akatsuki? If he was always interested in protecting Konoha, then why go after Naruto?"

"There's something else I need to tell you," Sai said.

Sakura and Ino watched him expectantly.

"Tsunade gave Team 7 a mission," he said.

Sakura furrowed her brow. "Why was I not informed of this?" she demanded.

"You were not included," he answered, "It's meant for me, Kakashi, Yamato, and Naruto. We were instructed to find Itachi. We received intel that Sasuke was on the move again. He assembled a team to kill his brother and is actively searching for him now. If we get to Itachi first, we can stop Sasuke and bring him back to Konoha."

The nausea returned, but Sakura bit back against it, squeezing her eyes shut.

"You weren't told to kill him, were you?" Ino asked.

"Our instructions are to capture him alive."

That was good, Sakura thought. If her team got to Itachi first, things could work out fine. Itachi wouldn't attempt to kill anyone – only incapacitate them. If he was captured alive, Sakura could tell Tsunade the truth and make an argument for his release. They couldn't possibly hold him accountable for his criminal actions after knowing the reason he committed them.

The only problem left would be Sasuke. How would Sasuke react to the truth?

"When do you leave?" Sakura asked.

"Two days from now," Sai answered.

"What are we going to do?" Ino asked.

Sakura sucked in a deep breath and sat down in the chair. She really wanted to go to Tsunade and ask her for advice. She would know exactly what to do. But while Itachi was still technically a criminal, she couldn't risk the trouble she might get in for cavorting with him. Tsunade didn't play favorites and she wouldn't give Sakura any special treatment if she found herself in trouble.

"We should keep this information to ourselves for now," Sakura said.

"I agree," Sai said.

"We'll hope that your mission will be successful. Then we can worry about Itachi later. Right now we should focus on getting Sasuke back home," Sakura said.

Sai and Ino hummed their agreement. They sat in silence for a minute, nobody quite sure of what to say in such a delicate situation.

"I should get home," Ino said, breaking the silence.

"I'll walk you home," Sai offered. Ino gave him a small smile and they both made their way to the front door.

"Try to get some rest, Sakura," Ino said, turning back to look at the pink haired woman who sat still at the table, her head bowed, "I'll come visit you at the hospital tomorrow, if you aren't too busy."

"Okay," Sakura said, her voice small and strained. She knew that sleep wasn't going to come easy tonight.

When Sai and Ino had gone, Sakura made her way up to her bedroom and curled up into her bed. She couldn't get Itachi's face out of her mind. She tried to recall every time he had made himself present.

The first time he'd come back to Konoha after the massacre he approached Naruto with the intent of capturing. But he didn't. From what she knew of the man, he was more than capable of tackling a genin. He had also faced Kakashi, Asuma, Guy, and Kurenai. He could have killed them – Kakashi had told her so. But he let them live.

And he let them live again when he came across them during Gaara's rescue mission. He hadn't even hurt any of them. Not substantially, anyway.

Hot tears prickled at the back of her eyes. The unfairness of it all struck a painful chord in Sakura's chest. Itachi was a shinobi taking orders just like everyone else. He had been dealt the worst hand and accepted it with such tact. Even when the village hated and rebuked him, he still chose to protect them.

And Sasuke. When he had asked her about Sasuke back in Toyeiki, she had been angry. What right did he have to ask about the brother he abandoned and tortured? But he had accepted the mission solely to protect him. From their conversation, it seemed like Itachi still cared very deeply about Sasuke. If that was true, how did he feel knowing that Sasuke's one goal was to kill him?

Sakura stared up at the ceiling, willing herself to fall asleep. Her heart was still racing and the tightness in her chest was distracting. She could never fall asleep like this.

A tap at her window jolted her back to reality. The only person who ever came to her window was Naruto.

With a groan, Sakura got to her feet and wrapped her robe around herself. Maybe talking to Naruto would help put things into perspective for her. He had always been good with sticky things like this.

But when she reached her window, it wasn't Naruto's face staring back at her.

It was Sasuke's.

She yelped and took a step back away from the window. For a moment, she imagined that it was Itachi there instead, but she knew Itachi's face. It was recent and fresh in her mind. Sasuke's face, however, was more like a mythical figure. It had been so long since she had seen him. It didn't seem real. Why would he be here?

"Let me in, Sakura," he demanded, tapping on the glass again.

Sakura swallowed hard and unlatched the window.

"Sasuke-kun," she breathed.

He hopped through the window and stood in front of her. He was tall and imposing and looked far more villainous than Itachi had when she first stumbled across him outside Toyeiki. His eyes were red, the tomoe of his Sharingan stark against the uncharacteristic brightness there.

She couldn't look away from him, but seeing the active Sharingan in his eyes made her drop her gaze to his mouth instead. It was set in a hard, determined line.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I need you to come with me."

She nearly choked. Almost four years ago Sakura had pleaded with Sasuke to take her with him. She'd have gone anywhere with him as long as he wanted her to.

Now, though, she wasn't sure.

"Why?"

"Does it matter?"

A little of her boldness returning, she glared at him. "Yes, it does," she said, "I have a job, you know. I work at the hospital. People depend on me."

"I'm depending on you now," he said.

"For what?"

He pressed his lips tighter together, and Sakura remembered this as one of the things that indicated that he was annoyed. And if Sakura remembered correctly, Sasuke had called her annoying on more than one occasion.

"I need a medic," he said, his voice carefully controlled like he was trying to prevent himself from snapping at her.

Sakura inhaled sharply. Kabuto had told her that Sasuke was assembling a team to kill his brother. Was he asking her to be part of that team?

"Why?"

"You know why, Sakura."

Now it was Sakura's turn to press her lips together. Sasuke had made it clear that he did not want anything to do with her. He admitted that he thought she was weak and annoying. Now he wanted to come back and demand her help? She couldn't blame him for wanted her as his medic. She was the best, after all. But he had no right to demand her help. And she didn't want to give it to him.

"I'm not going to help you kill Itachi," she said.

He laughed, a dark and ominous chuckle. It sent a tingling vibration coursing through Sakura's chest. "Don't be ridiculous," he said "You won't have anything to do with the killing part."

"Either way," she said, "I'm not going to help you. Find another medic."

"I don't want another medic," he said, his brows knit together in a confused glare.

"I don't want to help you."

Sakura considered telling Sasuke the truth right then and there. Itachi's mission file was still downstairs on her kitchen table. It was undeniable proof of what he had done. He would reconsider his plan for revenge, surely. How could he still hate his brother even after knowing the lengths he'd gone to in order to protect him?

But this wasn't Sakura's secret to tell. She didn't know what Itachi's plan was, but he had to have one, right? He knew Sasuke wanted to kill him.

Sakura gasped. He knew that Sasuke wanted to kill him. He was going to let Sasuke kill him. That had to be his plan. He would never kill Sasuke – that much Sakura knew. He was going to let Sasuke find peace this way, by letting him get his revenge.

The realization hit Sakura sharply, and she didn't even try to stop the tears that fell. She wished that it had been Itachi at her window instead of Sasuke, so that she could talk some sense into him and make him reconsider. He didn't need to die. He could tell Sasuke the truth.

But maybe he wanted to die, Sakura though. Maybe he wanted to be put out of his misery. The thought made Sakura's tears flow harder, dripping onto the floor at her feet.

"Why are you crying?" Sasuke demanded, a scowl deepening the lines on his face – too many lines for a teenager.

"Get out of here, Sasuke," she said angrily, "I'm not going to help you. You do what you have to do, but I'm not going to be a part of it. I'll be waiting for you here in Konoha when you've returned to your senses."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed and the tomoe in his eyes began to spin. That was the last thing Sakura remembered before darkness filled her vision and consciousness left her.