I had not been expecting my next visitor in the slightest.

"Sakura!"

I dropped the book I had been paging through at the call, gaping at the open doorway. "Ino!"

She rushed over to my side, depositing a massive vase of daffodils at my bedside table without a glance. She leaned down to give me a gentle hug before sitting next to me. "What on earth happened to you? I just got home when I heard!"

I shook my head slowly, mind whirling. Tsunade had told me not to tell anyone the nature of the attack. After everything Ino had gone through last time I was injured, it might even be dangerous to let her know.

I hesitated a moment too long before answering: "I'm okay, don't fuss so much! We got attacked during our last mission, but I'm fine now." I shrugged nonchalantly. "Did you hear Tsunade is back in Konoha now?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I've heard. And don't try telling me you're fine; nobody fine ends up with a giant seal on their forehead."

Oh. Right. I absently rubbed at the seal with some chagrin. "Um... it's classified. Sorry." Even saying that much might be giving too much away, but it was the only thing I could think of to say to Ino where she wouldn't keep pushing. 'Classified' is something she would understand, being the daughter of an Intel member.

She sighed, reaching forward to push my hair away, studying the seal. "And here I thought I was going to surprise you with my mission... But then you get attacked and two of the legendary Sannin are back in the village."

I frowned. "Did something happen on your mission? Is everyone okay?"

She nodded soberly, reaching down to take one of my hands. "Sakura, there's something I need to tell you..."

My heart fell into my stomach. I wasn't sure how many more shocks I could take. But this was Ino; I had to hear her out.

I breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly. "Okay. What is it?"

She dropped her head. "I'm giving up on Sasuke."

I blinked. "What?"

She shook her head, still not looking up. "I still can't believe it, but... I met somebody even better. He's the most gentle, kind, loyal guy I've ever met in my life." She clasped her hands together. "And so gorgeous. We're getting married."

"Um..." Okay, this was better than expected but still weird. "Okay? So, uh, does he know you're both getting married yet?" This was Ino, after all. His opinion on the matter might not hold weight in her mind.

She scoffed, finally looking up. "Of course he does! I told him almost as soon as I saw that pretty face!" She flicked her hair over her shoulder.

"... And what did he say?"

"Well," she began, furrowing her eyebrows. "The first time he said his only goal was to support his master. And since his master was a Missing Nin who was trying to kill our client, I realised it was going to make things very difficult for us."

I stared.

"After we dealt with that, I tried bringing it up again on our way back," she continued. "But he said he 'was flattered, but had other priorities that held his attention.' Ugh, he's so polite, but such a tease!" She huffed. "So I might have to wait a while. I guess it's fine, we should spend our time getting to know each other and-"

"Ino," I cut her off.

"What?" she asked, tilting her head innocently.

"Missing Nin?" I asked. "Trying to kill your client? 'Dealt with that'?"

She waved her hand airily. "You have the weirdest priorities. Some rich mafia guy was controlling the economy in Land of Waves, and he'd hired the Missing Nin to kill our client." She shrugged. "Our client was trying to build a bridge to avoid shipping tariffs from the rich guy's company."

"Yes, that's the part I want to hear about," I said, working hard to keep the exasperation out of my voice.

She hummed. "Well, when we first brought him down, Haku-" she cut herself off. "Haku is my future husband, just so you know. The Missing Nin's name is Zabuza, some S-Ranked Swordsman guy, but anyway..."

My head started to hurt in places other than my forehead.

She continued blithely, "When we first brought Zabuza down, Haku used this amazing technique that tricked us into thinking Zabuza was dead, right? He was pretending to be a Hunter from the Hidden Mist Village, saying he was there to track and kill Zabuza. But after he picked up Zabuza's body and left, Shikamaru pointed out that Hunter-Nin always destroy bodies on the spot, to protect village secrets," she said. "So it was clear he and Haku were partners, and Haku was just trying to save his Master's life by tricking us."

"Right. Of course."

"Shikamaru's pretty smart sometimes. If only he wasn't so lazy..." She sighed. "But anyway, after that, Asuma-sensei said the technique he used would probably keep Zabuza out of commission for at least a week." She studied her fingernails thoughtfully. "So while Shikamaru and Chouji kept guard on the bridge builder, Sensei and I split off to do some infiltration work."

I nodded. After something like that, it made sense to try to get more details about who they were facing. It had clearly become more than a simple C-Rank at that point.

"So we spied on the mafia guy at his secret base, it was ridiculously easy to find," she rolled her eyes. "It wasn't even really a secret; I think he was depending on his henchmen to protect him. He didn't even seem to consider spies at all."

I grinned. "Even if he did, he probably didn't consider ninja spies."

She smiled back. "You've got that right. We discovered that the mafia guy- Gato was his name- had been hiring missing ninja and killing them and their targets off when they were weakened to avoid paying them." She scoffed. "I'm surprised he managed to stay alive as long as he did."

I winced. "Yeah. You have to be arrogant to betray so many ninja…"Not to mention, what did he plan to do if they succeeded?

She nodded. "So after we found that out, we went to spy on Zabuza and Haku." Her expression turned sheepish. "We had no trouble gathering information on Gato, but the ninja found us out pretty quickly."

I hissed in a breath. "Oh, no."

She shook her head rapidly. "It was okay! We had enough time to overhear them talking. The reason they were working with Gato was to save up money, they were funding some kind of secret militia..." She folded her hands together. "I can't go into too much more detail, that part actually is classified, but... After they caught us, we told them what we'd overheard from Gato."

"Oh," I breathed.

"Yeah, they weren't very happy." She smirked. "So we made a plan with them, where we'd pretend to defeat them and be weakened ourselves. And when Gato arrived to strike the killing blow..."

I let out a sharp laugh that lacked any humour. "Oh, wow. That must have been a bad day for him."

Her smile was just as mirthless. "Yeah, so the problem was solved, right there." Her smile faded. "They were going to leave immediately, to find a new client, but Shikamaru stopped them."

My eyebrows shot up. "Shikamaru did?"

She nodded, absently spinning a strand of hair around her finger. "I can't tell you much more, but... he told them it would be beneficial to both sides if they came back with us. As allies."

I frowned. They're from some kind of secret militia, she said... "Yeah, I probably don't want to know, do I?"

She rolled her eyes. "Well, Team 10 has been shoved out of the loop for now regardless. I doubt they're going to give me any more information about it, either."

We sat in silent contemplation, mulling that over.

She had been trusting me a lot, telling me this story, giving me this information. I should trust her too.

"Ino..." I began. "Let's say you had been subjected to a few mental attacks, and someone put a seal on you to protect your mind from the effects. Let's say you're not supposed to tell people what the seal is for, or why it's there. Even if you cover it up with, say, a headband, there's a high chance someone would eventually see it... What would you tell people who asked?"

She looked at me for a long moment, before giving me a small smile. "I would say that person shouldn't cover it up. Seals are like battle scars; it shows what you've been through, and makes people hesitate to attack." The smile turned apologetic. "As for what that person should tell people, like their parents... Well, most people don't understand medical jutsu; it's a very difficult branch. Seals even more so. It shouldn't surprise people to hear it was a medical seal, especially if they knew about one mental attack... Or even just a training accident," she added carelessly. "So as long as that person didn't try to totally brush it off, people wouldn't take it too seriously."

I smiled. "Yeah. Thanks."

We talked together for a while, but before long Ino had to leave for dinner. I ate quietly alone in my room, reading over the texts Mebuki had left for me. I wasn't surprised she'd included my chakra texts since I mentioned them often, but the new books in the stack were a little surprising. They didn't seem like the kind of thing she would select if she were picking them out for me. The introductory text on medical jutsu I could understand, but the others were strange: a book on different taijutsu forms throughout the elemental nations, a book on herbs and poisons, and lastly, a book about different seals and sealing styles.

Mebuki seems more like the type to avoid talking about bad things, I thought. Even after the first accident, she mostly acted like nothing was wrong, hardly ever bringing it up... Something I had been infinitely grateful for at the time. I guess she's changed her mind and wants me to know how to protect myself if it happens again... The thought made my heart ache, a little. She had gone through so much because of me.

Not to mention, with the medical textbook... I didn't really want to have to take a class on medical jutsu. Classroom settings were almost painfully boring to me. With a book, I could read as quickly or slowly through each section as I liked, re-read, and practise at my whim. In a class with many other people involved, a teacher had to ensure everyone was caught up on the material before moving on. Which was perfectly fair, and the optimal way to teach a room full of people, but it was rare to find a class small enough to make it balanced.

Perhaps Mebuki had noticed my hesitation at finding medical classes; how little effort I was putting into finding them for myself, despite their necessity. Perhaps she noticed how seriously I took my reading and personal training.

My hands tightened on the book with the raw impact of being understood.

I was so lost in thought, I hadn't even noticed the next visitor arrive. I jumped when I heard the door snap shut, but relaxed when I saw who it was.

"How are you feeling?" Tsunade asked.

I played with the edge of the book, fluttering the pages between my fingers. "Better. My muscles don't hurt anymore, and my head is starting to feel better."

"Very good." She walked over beside me and hovered her hands over my forehead; the light that emitted from her hands was a soft green colour.

"Is that Mystical Palm Technique?" I asked.

She raised her eyebrows, still concentrating on the task at hand. "Yes. I would suggest not using it without proper guidance. However," she sighed. "Considering the Daimyo's wife and Hokage are both trying to talk me into opening classes, you might even get a chance."

"Classes?" From what I'd heard, Tsunade was a legendary medic. I may have not enjoyed classes, but I was no fool.

She snorted, lowering her hands. "When I told them the Medic Training program needed an overhaul, I didn't think they'd try to talk me into it. I'm trying to pawn the job onto my apprentice, Shizune, but we'll see." She smiled. "The seal is holding up nicely; it's completely repressed the foreign chakra. You should feel much better in the morning." She held up a stern finger. "But listen closely: you must never let yourself become too low on chakra."

I furrowed my brows. "What happens if I do?"

Tsunade crossed her arms. "If you become chakra exhausted, your body will automatically try to draw on the foreign chakra, even with the seal in place. That poison you were given tricked your body into thinking that chakra was part of your own system."

Chills crawled up my spine. "... What happens if I draw on it?"

Her face went blank. "Then you can say goodbye to whomever you are, memories or no memories." Her eyes flickered up to the seal on my forehead. "I don't know who you would become, if you ever managed to wake at all, but I don't want to find out."

Yikes. "Got it," I said, mouth dry.

"See that you do," she said crisply. "In the meantime... I clear you to go home tonight. However, I want to see you at least twice a week for two weeks. And no missions; you're on medical leave."

I swallowed. I had almost been expecting it, but... "For how long? The two weeks?"

"Until I damn well say so."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama." I bowed as well as I could, while still being in a hospital bed. It couldn't hurt to be polite. "Can I train, at least?"

Her gaze softened. "Yes, but only light training. Let your body readjust and don't push yourself too hard too fast. If you're careful, you should be back in fighting condition after two weeks." She studied me thoughtfully. "After that time, I'll take you to review and we'll see about missions."

I bowed again. "Thank you, Tsunade-sama."

She smirked. "And while you're at it, maybe teach that blondie on your team the proper way to address his superiors."

That evening I was discharged, as promised. Mebuki and Kizashi were equal parts overjoyed and exasperated; I was given to understand that I wasn't allowed to get injured again for at least a year. I assured them as well as I could without making an explicit promise. I was a ninja; getting hurt was part of the deal. I wasn't good enough to avoid it. Yet.

I spent most of the night eating far more than I usually did. Which was fair; my chakra still felt agitated and probably needed the energy to replenish itself. After sealing away the foreign chakra that had been overtaking my body, I probably had a huge deficit in my system.

I fell asleep early that night, clutching my book on medical jutsu like it was the only thing holding me together.