"How far away is the target?" Kakashi's voice crackled in my ear, courtesy of the cheap headsets that had been provided by the village for low-rank missions. Trying to peer from behind cover, I felt tree bark dig deeper into my back as I shifted.

"About five meters, over." It was a quiet response as I watched the target growl and tear out a piece of vine which had become entangled in their hair.

"I'm ready anytime." Naruto said. I caught a glimpse of him crouching down, getting ready to take off.

"So am I." Sasuke's low voice came through the earpiece, but I couldn't see him. There was a small spark of chakra nearby, however. He probably began pushing chakra down to his feet in order to propel himself towards the target upon Kakashi's command.

"Go!" Having received Kakashi's approval, we jumped straight into action. In the front row is Naruto, Sasuke to the left, and I to the right. In case a breakaway was launched in the opposite direction, Kakashi held ground behind the target.

"You're mine!" Naruto yelled as he embraced the target with his arms.

ROWRRRR!

"Are you certain we've got the right target, Tora?"

"Yes, we're sure of that." A scowl swept over Sasuke's face as he turned away from the commotion.

"Ribbon on left ear, eager for freedom..." I began, frowning at the cat's nimble behavior as she turned around and gripped Naruto's face for scratching with her back legs, in an act of appreciation for the rescue. "It's Tora, all right."

Poor thing...

"We should go back to the Hokage's office and get you home, Tora." As I called to the cat, I clicked my tongue a couple of times. When Tora heard me calling her name, her eyes grew wide and she turned to me, giving Naruto's face one last swat of her back claws, using it as momentum to leap into my arms. As the purr machine heated up, I cuddled Tora in my arms and tucked her fluffy tail in safely.

Mrraow~

She rubbed her whiskers into my hand as I scratched below her chin and cooed at her. I met Sasuke's eye and shared a smirk with him as the cat's instantaneous change in behavior resulted in a very angry, bleeding Naruto crossing his arms and side-eyeing the cat, muttering lowly about evil, sinister felines beneath his breath.

The walk to the Hokage's office didn't take long, but my mind still had plenty of time to wander, as it always seemed to. Tora had hidden yet again inside of a wooded area beside the park that vendors tended to set up their stands. The fried fish stand was most popular around this time of year- I had heard a group of parents say in passing, just before we got geared up to enter the forest earlier that morning. Children were throwing their scraps to the ducks in the pond and along the edge of the forest. The parents had scolded them for not taking the fried breading off beforehand. Apparently bread is bad for ducks. You learn something new every day.

That must be the sustenance that brings Tora back time and time again. How she is able to find her way back here, I do not know...

Tora was resistant to allowing herself back into Madam Shijimi's suffocating arms after we entered the Hokage's room, and it took some coaxing and gentle prying from both Kakashi and myself before she would undo her sheathes from my shirt and skin. My entire bicep turned a bright red from her claws and small pinpricks of blood poured out from the largest of welts. We had tracked Tora down three times this month alone, and I was one rescue mission away from making a henge of Tora and setting my bedroom up as her furrever home. There was only Kakashi's ninja hounds standing in the way, and the possibility of damaging Sakura's clean record if a catnapping charge was filed against her.

Special cases may require that laws be broken...

Before I could convince myself to plot out a catnapping, I was drawn toward Tora's haunting yowls and look of betrayal, and I felt compelled to flee the room.

"Ah, Sensei, I'm going to use the restroom." Saying this quietly, I pulled the end of my sleeve up to prevent blood from seeping through it. "When I get back, can you catch me up on the details of our next mission?"

"Sure thing, Sakura." A smile showed in Kakashi's eye as he closed it.

Immediately after the door clicked closed behind me, Naruto began yelling about wanting a better mission. Trudging down the hall, I heaved a deep and slow sigh. I made quick work of using one of the two single stall unisex restrooms a couple of hallways down from the Hokage's office. In addition to washing my bicep of the dried and crusty blood, I rinsed my face with warm water and patted it dry with a paper towel. When I slid open the bathroom door and stepped outside, I bumped into a man. Or rather, it was more that he stumbled into me. Consequently, he dropped something. My recent ninja training heightened my reflexes, enabling me to maneuver and catch the neck of a large glass bottle mere inches before it hit the ground.

My nose was suddenly filled with the strong aroma of alcohol.

Oh, no...

"You saved my drink!" Tazuna cheered as I returned the bottle to him. The hint of red on his cheeks and the odor of alcohol on his breath added to the mounting evidence of his intoxication. One of the most important being an open container. "H-hey, d'ya know where the Hokage's off-isss is? I'm supposed to meet my escorts, 'ceptionist said..." I shook my head at the man's antics and politely asked him to follow me with a small, patient smile gracing my lips.

As Tazuna and I approached the door of the Hokage's office, Naruto's booming voice could be heard once again. Briefly I wondered if the Hokage had silencing seals placed on his office, and whether Naruto's volume could be loud enough to overpower them.

"It's gonna be a princess, right?!"

The pipe dream slid past me as the door opened and everyone turned to stare. Sasuke and Naruto were considerably piqued with interest at the sight of me with this strange, drunken man.

"Pure timing indeed, Sakura." A warm chuckle escaped the Hokage's lips. "It is Tazuna here who you will be escorting back to the Land of Waves, and guarding until the completion of his bridge. He is a contracted bridge builder."

"Then my life's in their hands?" Tazuna scoffed, appearing to sober at the sight of his guards. Another gulp of his drink was followed by a look down at Naruto. "I'd rather go with the lady here who has proven herself already, she's been very good in escorting me here. I have my doubts, particularly about that short one."

Sasuke and I stared at each other knowingly and turned to our blonde teammate, realizing immediately where all of this could lead. Naruto pulled me over to him and Sasuke after a very long, pregnant pause. Upon realizing that Tazuna was speaking specifically about him, he protested loudly.

"It will be a pleasure for you to hear that Sakura, the young woman you mentioned, is also a student in my group of young and promising ninjas." In an effort to ease tensions, Kakashi laughed and grabbed Naruto's shirt collar in one hand and covered his mouth with his second gloved hand.

"MMRF MMM NYUU" Naruto struggled to shout over Kakashi's hand and wriggle out from his grasp.

Perhaps I should go out for a drink myself. I thought as I exasperatedly brought a hand to my forehead.

Then Kakashi dismissed us to pack for the trip, allowing us 30 minutes to do so, and pointing out that it would take two weeks to travel to the Land of Waves by foot and boat alone. My essential supplies, along with one journal I was working on, were packed. A black hoodie was thrown around my waist once I had changed into dark grey cargo shorts and a forest green t-shirt. I didn't know what kind of temperature variations were possible in the Land of Waves.

In my remaining empty pockets, I put some extra ninja tools and medical supplies. I carried my heavy pack over my shoulder and found that the strap pressed into sore chest muscles, courtesy of pushups the evening before. As a result, I rearranged the clips and adjusted the tightness of the straps to make it into a backpack that would distribute the load between both shoulders.

My lungs felt a sudden suffocation after checking the clock in the kitchen and I took a deep breath to fill them. I had only 15 minutes left to get to the gates.

And once again, Sakura's parents were out on duty. As a courtesy to them, I left a short and simple note on the refrigerator indicating that I would be out on an escort mission with my team for an unknown period of time.

Maybe two months? We could not get a concrete timeframe from the bridge builder, he said the supplies he ordered were on back order and would take 4 weeks to arrive- as of a week ago. I had written.

As I reached the bottom of the page and signed out the first letter of my name, the pencil stilled in my hand. My mouth fell open in a heavy groan of annoyance, and I shoved the crumpled paper into my pocket aggressively, despite its already overwhelmed state. I intended to dispose of the letter appropriately at a later time, when I wasn't in a hurry to be elsewhere. My note was rewritten on a clean sheet of paper.

Love,
Sakura

Having reviewed it for errors and finding none, I ripped the note from the legal pad I had used and attached it to the fridge with a cherry blossom magnet. From the journal she had written when she was nine years old, I had learned it had been designated for Sakura since she was a child. I have been reading Sakura's journals from newest to oldest and just finished reading one of the few entries she wrote when she was eight years old last night. My bag contained it safely, along with another, inside of two more waterproof bags. As a precaution.

I guess this is easier on me...

"I'm leaving now..." I murmured, listening to the sound of the emptiness in the living room, carefully observing it. Though it might not have been my home, Sakura still called it that. There was a sense of safety in my body and mind here. As if it were home away from home. Moreover, Sakura's parents weren't bad company, when they weren't bickering with each other or fussing over me.

Better than my parents were. After a quick shake of the head, I slid the front door shut and locked it. The possibility of a new timeline is just making me anxious...that's all.

All of us met back up at the main exit to the village right on time with our packs, including Kakashi. He presented the mission scroll to the Chunin guards, who were indifferent to reading the contents and waved us through without bothering to open it up. I thought they would let us leave regardless of whether we had a scroll or not, as long as Kakashi was present. Upon taking our first few steps outside the border and ascending the dirt path that had been worn down by various travelers before us, Naruto breathed in noisily.

Here we go...

"Alright, we're outta here!" Seeing the forest around him, Naruto glowed, practically skipping as he looked around excitedly. Unimpressed with the childlike wonder and disregard for the mission, Tazuna grunted. "My first time out of the village!"

"You're kidding me, right?" Tazuna scoffed silently, glowering at Naruto from over the spout of his bottle. "Am I really going to be safe with this kid?"

"As a ninja of Jonin rank, I can comfort you," Kakashi faked laughter to comfort the client. "There will be no harm to you."

"Hey, don't you dare underestimate me!" Defending himself, Naruto gritted his teeth before he regained his smile. "I'm going to be the Hokage of the Land of Fire one day."

"You, the top ninja of the Leaf? I can't believe you." Tazuna retorted after taking a big swig from his bottle.

"I am willing to do anything to become Hokage." Naruto's fists were clenched as he glared at the man. "And you'll acknowledge me when I am."

Having argued with the boy enough, Tazuna pointedly began walking alongside Kakashi from then on. It was hard to blame him. There was no connection between Naruto and him yet.

He will become Hokage one day, though... A world-class Shinobi. By the end of this mission, you'll regret what you said to him.

In the absence of memory, I didn't bother to try and recall how Sakura managed to incite Kakashi's lecture on the Five Great Shinobi Nations and the titles of all the Kage. It was much too easy to be distracted by the road ahead and the danger that awaited us. Plus, that was information that should have been taught to each of us in the Academy, and I knew the broad gist of it well enough not to need a refresher.

I felt my hands begin to shake as we travelled further, and I pressed my hands against my thighs to steady them, leaving my left hand just above my kunai holster. Sasuke's side did not stray far from mine. He hadn't spoken since the two of us parted ways at the Hokage's office a couple of hours earlier and his hands had remained stuffed in his pockets since we left the village. In his usual fashion, Naruto led the way down the path before us.

Will it be much longer before we see it?

Is it even going to be there this time around?

Suppose there isn't a puddle, maybe I can try to sense the ninja in advance...

Will I be strong eno-?

My anxious thoughts abruptly halted when I sensed something reaching for my head and I only had time to flinch reflexively out of surprise and fear at the weight of a hand.

"Don't worry, Sakura." The young man gently ruffled my hair as he smiled at me through his mask. "There won't be any ninja combat in a C-Rank mission. You can relax."

Kakashi's gesture was meant to calm me, and I appreciated what he said to comfort me. But the manner he chose to do so unintentionally raised my guard and awakened a sense of flight in me as I followed his gaze down as it shifted to the left... toward a puddle beside him.

Don't worry this, don't worry that. Inwardly, I mocked Kakashi as I looked at Sasuke, who was concentrated on Tazuna. Are you saying that to make our enemy feel confident too? As he untangled his fingers from my hair, Kakashi slowed his pace down and arranged his formation so that he was behind us, more between Sasuke and Tazuna than between me and Sasuke.

There was an instantaneous shift in the air that invited me to experience a new, unfamiliar chakra presence that sent tingling chills down my spine. As I abruptly stopped in my tracks, Sasuke's attention was drawn to me. His gaze caught mine as my breathing quickened. The jangling of chains and Sasuke's eyes widening as he surveyed the scene behind me represented the start of the battle. I rapidly drew my kunai from it's holster and whipped around, taking several steps back until I was aligned with Sasuke in front of Tazuna. Chains had encircled Kakashi, visibly biting into his skin as they tightened.

"One down." The taller of the two rogue ninja spoke. A proper assessment of the situation was impossible without time to register. In a single jerk of their hands, Kakashi was torn into pieces, sliced up by the razor sharp chains. My lips twitched and I inhaled deeply as blood and body parts splattered everywhere.

That's not real...

In wake of my recent training in genjutsu with Sasuke, I was able to recognize and see through Kakashi's illusion, briefly interrupting the flow of my chakra. The limbs and torso of Kakashi were replaced with branches and a log. There was no doubt in my mind that Sasuke had seen through it as well.

The enemy strode behind Naruto in that next moment, and the boy was frozen in place with a horrified expression on his face. I had previously been confused watching this moment, wondering why the boy stumbled in courage and failed to act. He had already encountered a life or death situation before. But I became painfully aware in real time of what caused him to freeze.

He has no idea...

Sasuke quickly sprang into action as our teammate became surrounded by enemies, unsnapping the buttons on his holster and leaping up into the air.

Shooo!
Thunk.

...that it was just an illusion.

His shuriken snagged the chain and lodged it into a nearby tree. As his wrist flicked, Sasuke's kunai drove into the middle of the shuriken, securing it's capture. He landed on the metallic casing of the dispensing claws on both arms of the foreign ninja, crouching with his head down at first. However, rage and determination erupted darkly and quickly on his face as he lifted himself up on his arms and pulled his legs in close before kicking them in the face. As a result of the force used to knock back the Mist ninja, the chains snapped from their dispensers.

"An Uchiha child?!" After he picked himself up off the ground, the taller opponent exclaimed upon recognizing the symbol on Sasuke's shirt. "There should be none left."

"It doesn't matter..." The shorter scoffed.

The taller one sideswiped and rushed at Naruto once more. The other turned towards me and Tazuna.

Kakashi will intervene on Naruto's behalf, no doubts. Sasuke, will he still...?

I ignored the surge of adrenaline that spread from my stomach as I widened my stance in front of Tazuna, staring down the ninja as he sprinted towards us with a claw outstretched. My hands shook once again and I tightened my grip on the kunai in my right hand. The situation was too chaotic for relying on an ally or trusting the original turn of events. Tazuna gasped in disbelief as his mind finally caught up to speed. My attention was briefly drawn behind the ninja. Sasuke's tormented gaze was unwavering, locked on mine. It captivated me for longer than I recognized was wise. I watched as his lips curled into a deep, troubled frown and a red hot anger graced his face.

"You shouldn't take your eyes off your enemy, girl!"

My jaw clenched as I drew my left hand up, tucking my index finger under my thumb and stretching out my other fingers. Once more, my eyes met the ninja's narrowed ones. With his approach, all rational and conscious thought slipped out of my mind as I began to summon chakra. Only one instinct swept through my body at that point.

Survive.

An ever familiar flash of black and blue appeared before me, and my breath caught in my throat in response to the low, dark growl emitting from the boy in front of me. Exactly as it had gone in the original timeline, his arms were outstretched to the sides as if they were guardrails, acting as a protective barrier. Sasuke's head dipped lower as he came face to face with the enemy.

Why, Sasuke?

In the blink of an eye, Kakashi had hooked the enemy's neck into his elbow and disabled him.

It took Sasuke a moment to recognize what happened. Slowly, his head rose back up and the tension in his arms and shoulders dropped. I watched carefully when his fists clenched and shook, before his hands opened back up again and fell into the pockets of his white shorts. As Kakashi apologized to Naruto and Tazuna sighed with relief, I tried to calm my erratic breathing and recognized the importance of personal space after such an intense encounter.

We are safe now. I will thank him later. Still, my chest thudded ominously.

"Well done, Sasuke. Sakura." The visible eye of Kakashi crinkled as he smiled at us through the mask. At Sakura's name, I felt the compliment go through one ear and out the other, but I smiled sincerely at our Sensei nonetheless.

"Hey..." Sasuke began, looking at Naruto whose expression was sour.

"You're not hurt, are you..."

Jesus Christ, Sasuke.

"...scaredy cat."

The veins in Naruto's neck throbbed and he clenched his jaw in anger. In a tired gesture, I ran my hand over my face in response to the boys, turning to Kakashi who was trying to deescalate the tension between them by explaining to Naruto that he had been poisoned.

I pulled an enemy from his arm and began the binding process as the discussion turned to Tazuna when the issue regarding the reclassification of the mission to B-Rank came up.

"This was supposed to be a simple protection until you..." Kakashi's voice faded into the background as I finished tying the first ninja and worked on securing the shorter brother's hands.

"...might be too much for Naruto."

I noticed that there were a number of pouches strapped to the shorter brother's waist and that neither of them had stricken through the symbol of their home village on their headbands yet. With a tut, I immediately pulled off their headbands by the horns and began wrapping rope around the tree that they were leaning against, ensuring that they would not escape.

"Perhaps we should return to the village to treat Naruto..." Kakashi sighed. At that que, my full attention was drawn to Naruto, who had turned away from everyone. This next moment warranted all of our full attention. He whipped one of his kunai knives out of its holster and plunged it directly inside the wound on the back of his hand. The sound of Tazuna's gasp filled the air, and I frowned as blood began to spill down Naruto's arm.

Sasuke and Kakashi's eyes were wide with surprise.

"With this kunai..." He turned and stared at us with glazed eyes, shallow breaths rushing through his lungs. As sweat cascaded from his face, so did blood drip noisily to the ground from his hand. My smile encouraged the boy after I caught his eye. "My oath is to protect the bridgebuilder and complete this mission!"

"...Naruto, that's great that you're releasing the poison and all, but." As Kakashi began, he offered the boy a supportive smile. "Anymore and that's it. You'll die of lack of blood. Seriously."

The orange-clad ninja paled and his eyes became clouded with fear. In turn, I tossed Kakashi the bandages I had in my back pouch and turned my attention once again to the enemy while Kakashi wrapped Naruto's wound. During the short time I had turned away, both of them woke up. I regarded the both of them carefully with an enigmatic smile and a hand on my hip, which still held their headbands. A brief moment of uneasiness occurred between them before they turned back to me as I pulled two kunai from my holster with my free hand and slipped my fingers into the holes at the base, spinning them around in Kakashi-like fashion for a moment.

I had to learn this over the course of days, but the reaction was so worth the effort.

"Ahh, Sakura..!" As Kakashi realized that I was brandishing and spinning weapons threateningly, he began moving.

After a quick jerk of my wrist, I halted the spinning abruptly and held the kunai parallel between my fingers, striking both of their headbands. The damage left a deep scar in the metal across the symbols of the Mist village. Their headbands were thrown on the ground before them and I kicked dirt up over them, sullying their clothes and getting dirt on their faces in the process. I leaned down and snatched the pouches off of the shorter brother.

I looked at them both for a long moment, bringing my face closer to theirs. They had both flushed red, and their lips were sneering in contempt at me and at their own helplessness. My team remained silent as I took a deep breath.

"Enjoy your extended stay in the Leaf Prison after patrol comes through and arrests you scum." I began before straightening my posture. "As a result of the threat you made to my team and our client, you deserve everything you get from the interrogation unit. The moment you saw Team Kakashi, you should have turned back."

After turning my back on the demon brothers, I stepped away from the tree and took my place alongside Tazuna and the boys. To find space for my newly acquired items, I removed my backpack from my shoulders so that I could rearrange my supplies. My expression remained neutral as I noticed Sasuke keeping an eye on my face.

"...How did you read our movements?" I heard the taller brother ask Kakashi.

A/N: As always, thank you for the reviews and for your patience waiting for the next chapter. :)