Hatake's ink-covered finger painted a series of lines over her forehead as he leaned over from the hospital bed. A palm laid flat against it and he pulsed a chunk of chakra into the seal, ignoring Tiger's protests from the other side of the room. Uzumaki and the New Kid had gone their respective ways after reassurances that Tiger would get Sakura's seal removed.
Sakura felt the blessed feeling of her chakra awareness returning and she sighed, collapsing back into the chair. She circulated it faster and faster, feeling her body warm pleasantly. Hatake went back to his porn.
"Oh thank god." She said. "I was going to go completely insane if that went on for much longer."
"You must be very aware of your own chakra." Tiger said and she tilted her head.
"What do you mean?"
"Most people wearing a seal like that wouldn't notice anything wrong until they tried to perform a jutsu." He explained, her brow furrowed.
"Really? But my chakra went all foggy and horrible, how could you not notice that?"
"…What does your chakra feel like, to you?"
"…Like my chakra? Threads of constantly moving energy throughout my body?"
"And you're aware of that movement."
"Yep." She nodded. "Ever since I was a baby, I liked to play with changing the circulation as a toddler, really freaked mum and dad out, you know?" She chuckled, Tiger looked vaguely disturbed. Even Hatake had looked up from his porn to slowly blink at her. She looked between them. "It is really that abnormal?"
"I've never heard of anything like it." Tiger shook his head. "Up until now I wasn't aware of anyone that didn't have to really concentrate to get even a vague idea of their chakra flow."
"I can't even imagine that being possible." Sakura admitted. "I mean you two have massive reserves, I always imagined it must feel like having a bonfire under your skin."
"Maa, Sakura-chan." Drawled Hatake. "Are you aware of the movement of blood through your veins?"
She frowned. "That makes sense." Her brows furrowed. Was it because of her memories of Tristan? Her brain recognised her chakra as seperate from herself and as such was constantly aware of it? She hummed thoughtfully and stood, heading for the door. "Thanks for fixing me, Kashi, and thanks for coming to get me from the creep, taicho." She opened the door and peeked backwards. "I would stay, but I don't want to get between your super secret love affair and I have to go bother the Hokage."
She closed the door to the confused exclamations of Tiger and a loud, resigned sigh from Hatake.
(When she came to visit again later that afternoon, she brought an overfilled bag full of cookies and a pug-sized racoon plushie)
"It has come to my attention that I have terrible chakra reserves." Sakura said, the Hokage glaring at her over the desk as if the woman wasn't incredibly grateful for something to divert her attention from the mountains of paperwork she was surrounded by.
"This is well known." The Hokage replied, brows furrowing. "There was quite a lot of fuss about it when I made you jōnin, but those in the know about your mission record agreed it didn't matter."
"Why did you make me jōnin?"
"You deserved it." The Hokage said, Sakura raised an eyebrow. "And I was getting annoyed with everyone thinking you were some unbloodied genin." The woman admitted. Sakura snorted and quirked a corner of her mouth.
"People still think I'm some unbloodied genin."
"Because you're a manipulative little shit." The woman growled and Sakura nodded her agreement cheerfully. "Why are you here?"
"Aah, well I came to the realisation that my reserves are pathetic and that I desperately need to change that." Sakura explained, her face turning serious. "I've been lucky so far, but they will get me killed one day."
"That is a very likely possibility." The Hokage nodded, a troubled expression on her face. "And what exactly do you want to do about it?"
"Well, I realised the solution is quite literally staring me in the face." Sakura said, the Hokage still looked confused so Sakura tapped a finger to her forehead, causing the woman's eyes to widen before they narrowed in consideration.
"I only offer to teach that to medic-nins." The Senju argued, though it was more thoughtful than anything.
"They have not been successful." Sakura replied. "You've already taught me your fighting style."
"True, but that was a favour for a favour, even if you manipulated me into it." The Senju was grinning. Sakura's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"And you want a favour in return." She said flatly. The Hokage made a hand sign and her guards disappeared, a swipe of a bloodied finger under her desk and the windows and doors slammed closed and lit up with a solid purple barrier.
"An S-rank mission, completely off the books, entirely unmentioned except behind these seals and with only the two of us." The Hokage leaned forward, opening a drawer and withdrawing a vial of blood as she did. "I want you to break into ROOT and make a copy of as many files as you can get your hands on. This is Shimura Danzō's blood, I trust you will be able to gain access with this."
Sakura took the vial and looked at it with wide eyes. "Why?" She asked.
"I know you were the one to leave me those binders. They all lead back to Danzō." The Senju said. "I've been keeping your abilities a secret from everyone but those who it was absolutely necessary to know for this very reason. But obviously since this mission is not to be written down or spoken of-"
"You cannot hold me accountable for refusing." Sakura finished. She looked up from the vial. "Alright. A favour for a favour."
"If you are discovered," The Hokage begun, face deadly serious. "I will mark you as a traitor and you will be forced to become a missing-nin. I cannot risk Danzō becoming aware of my knowledge of him and acting against me in a more aggressive manner. If such an eventuality should occur, I want you to cripple his forces as much as possible, desert the village and assassinate the man. I will pardon your actions after his death."
"One other thing." The woman said, holding up a hand. "That seal requires a constant, steady flow of chakra. If you decide to form it, you will only have thirty percent of your reserves until it's finished. With your reserves?" Her brows furrowed as she considered it. "Maybe around five years?"
"That's fine." Sakura said, not a moment of hesitation.
"Are you sure you don't want to think over your answer?" The woman said and green eyes looked back at her seriously.
"There's no use in hesitating." Sakura said. "If I put it off because of the current danger, what's to say the next danger won't be even greater? Will I keep putting it off until I'm killed or forced to retire? I'll just have to get used to it. Of course, with this favour and the seal you will have to give me some easier missions."
"I've given Tenzō leave from his position as captain of Team Ro. He will act as an extra member when required, but wishes to focus on his placement as a member of Team Kakashi instead." The Hokage said and Sakura nodded warily. "You will be replacing him as captain. I will also be putting you on my guard rotation."
Her eyes widened. "On thirty percent reserves? You'll kill me." She hissed.
"You can always hold off on forming the seal." The Hokage said, tone overly nonchalant. Sakura's eyes narrowed poisonously.
"Fine. It's about time I was made captain anyway." She said.
"I'll admit, I would have promoted you late last year if I hadn't been aware of Naruto's impending return." The Hokage said as she stood, making her way to the small, personal bookcase filled to the brim with informational books and scrolls. Sakura slipped the vial of blood into her weapons pouch.
The woman dumped two handwritten notebooks into Sakura's hands before returning to her desk and running her thumb under the wood. The barrier deactivated and the guards returned to their positions.
"I don't want you to bother me again until you've read through those and passed the first three stages." The Hokage said, waving a hand at Sakura and returning to her paperwork. "Even with your ridiculous chakra control it should take at least a week."
"Understood, Hokage-sama." Sakura bowed and left, books clutched in her arms and hyper aware of the blood vial in her pouch.
It would be fine. She had the backing of the Hokage. She was a jōnin. An ANBU captain. Sakura couldn't just be disappeared without anyone being the wiser anymore.
Sakura pulled the two boys along with her, buzzing with excitement and her arms looped through theirs.
"Where are we even going?" The Uzumaki whined, yawing widely. Apparently for the blonde a day without a mission or team meeting meant a day to sleep. Sakura suddenly hadn't found it so surprising he was, frankly, substandard for someone who had trained for two years with a Sannin. Sakura herself had spent the morning training and fully intended to spend the afternoon studying before she went to more training. This was her only break for the day.
"My friend opened a shop!" Sakura said cheerfully, pulling them down another turn and towards the market district.
"A friend? Do I know them? Are they a shinobi?" He asked.
"Yes. No. And they were, they retired!" She said. "To open a shop!"
"A former teammate?" New Kid asked and Sakura nodded.
"Someone I don't know was in Team Kakashi?" Uzumaki asked, incredulous. She snorted.
"During the years you were away I was in many other teams." She said and furrowed her brows at him. "I actually have a very extensive mission record… you do know that, right?"
"Eh?" He scratched his head. "I don't know I kinda thought you were just… training?"
"I made jōnin. You make that through having many shinobi recommend you for the position and an extensive mission record."
"I… what kind of missions did you eve-"
"We're here!" Sakura said with a smile and pulled them to a stop outside the small store. A small sign decorated with the name and a cartoon panda drinking from a rainbow cup hung out the front.
"Kita smoothies?" Uzumaki said. "What's a smoothie?"
Sakura smiled. "Something magical." She had been the one to introduce Panda to the concept when he'd expressed his wish to open a shop, after all. Before she'd come along this world had had some fruit flavoured teas and milk drinks but no concept of smoothies. It was one of the few things she'd truly missed from her time as Tristan.
Of course, she could make them herself, but there was something infinitely more satisfying about spending far too much money on a convenient, deliciously filled plastic cup.
She pulled the pair inside, ducking through the flap-covered entrance, and noted the two dozen or so people inside the store. Far more than could comfortably fit. Still, the man was an ex-ANBU. Even run ragged and directing two helpers whilst taking a series of orders, he immediately noticed their entrance.
"Pinky! You made it!" Panda called and she grinned.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Itsuki." She said and the man gestured for one of his helpers to take over ordering and wandering to lean over the bar at the three of them.
"Who're the hang ons?"
"Hey! I'm not a hang on, I'm her friend! Uzumaki Naruto!" The blonde became loud and distracting, slamming a hand on the bar in offence. Panda's grin widened.
"I like your attitude kid. Kita Itsuki!" He held out a hand and Uzumaki shook it, grinning in return. "Look after Pinky for me, her self preservation instincts can be a bit shaky."
"You can count on me!" Uzumaki said and the man laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. He turned to New Kid, his face almost imperceptibly becoming a little guarded. Sakura headed that off before it could begin, and leaned across the bar and faux-whispered.
"I know he looks a little shady, but he's a total sweetheart."
"Well you would know." He nodded and his face opened again. "Kita Itsuki, it's a pleasure to meet you." He held out a hand. New Kid took it.
"My name is Sai." New Kid answered. "But my nickname is Hedgehog. It's a pleasure to meet you… um…" Sakura felt a wonderful sense of foreboding. Her smile widened. "Obnoxious Fruity."
Both her and Panda started cracking up simultaneously.
"It's a bit of a mouthful, but fitting." Panda said before turning to her. "What'll it be?"
"Mango Madness for the blonde, Berry Bonanza for me and Dragonfruit Dance Party for Sai." She handed over a wad of cash, the man hesitated to take it but she just held it in his face. "Trust me, start giving me free drinks and I'll bleed you dry in a month."
"Coming right up." He took the cash and turned to begin their drinks, commandeering the blender section from one of the helpers.
"Mango Madness?" Naruto asked as he squinted upwards at the hanging menus.
"You'll love it. Sunshine drink for the sunshine boy."
(He did, in fact, love it. New Kid drank his with an upwards twitch of his lips.)
It was… disturbingly easy to break into the archives of ROOT. Sakura had just had to spend an afternoon following the old creep and, once he lead her right to the secret compound, look for the most heavily sealed door she could find.
A swipe of stasis protected blood, a burst of fake Shimura chakra and it was open.
It went to show how heavily this world relied on sealing as the pinnacle of defence, when a bit of research put into physical locking systems would probably work just as well, if not better.
She had been worried that ROOT would have a sensor that could pick her up, but at her level of ability with chakra suppression it would likely take an extremely talented born-in sensor to tell she was there and they hadn't been seen since the Uzumaki were basically wiped out. Sakura wouldn't have been surprised it the old man had hoarded one, but she also wasn't surprised that he hadn't.
Of course, they could just be on a mission, but at the very least it was a good sign she hadn't yet been discovered.
Sakura spent the following night methodically transcribing the files in the room onto sheets of paper, carefully sealing them in a complicated library storage scroll.
When light started to peek through the single window, she mentally marked the place she was up to, packed up her scroll, and disappeared.
Hatake stared down at her with a strange intensity. Sakura pulled the smoothie straw out of her mouth.
"Um, hi, sensei?" She greeted with a great deal of bewilderment. She deftly ignored the non-chakra-created heat creeping over her cheeks. "I'm glad to see you out of the hospital… Should you be out of the hospital?"
"Training." He said mysteriously, a foreboding note to his tone.
"You were training?"
"No. Training. For you." His eye narrowed dramatically. "I've organised you a teacher."
"And who would that be?"
"MY ETERNAL RIVAL!" Came a call from behind them, a green blur racing down the street towards them.
"No." Sakura whispered. Kakashi nodded solemnly. Then disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
"AH, WHAT A COOL AND HIP ATTITUDE!" Maito yelled, skidding to a stop before her. "BUT TODAY I MUST LET HIM GO FOR I AM HERE FOR YOU, THE YOUTHFUL SAKURA!" Maito was not good at volume control.
"Hello, Gai-sensei."
"WE WILL BE TRAINING TOGETHER EVERY DAY WE ARE BOTH IN THE VILLAGE." He started doing squats as he talked. Sakura, deciding just to go with it, joined in and hurriedly started finishing her smoothie. "I WAKE UP AT FOUR EACH MORNING TO RUN FIVE HUNDRED LAPS AROUND THE VILLAGE."
"Sounds great." She said and threw the empty cup over her head, the plastic landing perfectly in a nearby garbage can.
"THEN I YOUTHFULLY DO A FULL BODY WORKOUT!" He moved on to pushups, Sakura followed. "IN THE AFTERNOONS I DO TAIJUTSU PRACTICE AND THEN ANOTHER SIX HUNDRED LAPS AROUND THE VILLAGE. USUALLY I AM JOINED BY LEE."
"I can't wait."
"YOSH! YOU WILL WEAR THESE. ALWAYS." He handed her two sets of weights to strap around her calves, when she grabbed them she immediately followed them to the floor with an 'oof', lifting them and strapping them to her legs with a great amount of effort. She tested a step. It was like moving through a mountain.
She was going to die. Again.
"OFF WE GO! THE POWER OF YOUTH AWAITS FOR NO MAN!" He disappeared in a blur of green. Sakura stared for a moment before chasing after him.
Her legs were already hurting.
Sakura took five days to pass the first three stages of forming the Strength of a Hundred Seal.
The first step was meditation. The seal was formed at a natural intersection of yin and yang chakra in the body. Not a tenketsu point, but an area where the two forms rubbed against each other and became parallel cycles. Most shinobi had four or five of these areas, with the strongest usually being on the forehead or between the collarbones. Sakura was not an exception to this.
Her strongest was on her forehead, with a secondary point between her collarbones, a third at the base of her stomach and a fourth- oddly enough- off centre on her right forearm.
The second step was to create an exact combination of yin and yang chakra to produce a purple glow at the chosen point- since this was her first she was using her forehead, with was her strongest possible point- using seventy two percent yin to twenty eight percent yang. This took Sakura an afternoon to perfect.
The third step was the hardest. It was producing that glow whilst she was using ninjutsu. She'd trained her chakra her whole life to suppress itself, to become as small and unnoticeable as possible. To suddenly put a giant, glowing sign on herself as she used chakra went against her very nature. It was incredibly frustrating to try and achieve, but she did it. With stubbornness and willpower she did it.
Now, she was standing in the Hokage's office, showing this new skill off to an exasperated Hokage.
"I know I said a week but I was joking." The woman said after Sakura had shown off the new skill. "This is ridiculous. It took me three months to manage what you did in five days."
Sakura shrugged. "I have perfect-"
"Chakra control, yeah I think I'm actually starting to get that." The woman said. She stood, pulling a scroll from a drawer in her desk and walking around it. "Right, I'll get you to kneel for this bit." She said, Sakura kneeled. "I need you to project your chakra through that point the entire time. If you stop before I tell you to, the entire process will fail and that point will forever be blocked from your ability to use."
Sakura nodded seriously and channelled her chakra. The Hokage took out a kunai and pierced the skin, causing a line of blood to drip down Sakura's face. The woman dipped a tiny brush in the blood, spread the scroll out in front of her, and drew a series of sealing runes in the centre circle, the red standing out against the black runes it was surrounded by.
The scroll lit up and the black and red swirled, lifting off the paper in a stream and rushing into her forehead in a lance of niggling pain. Sakura's eyes watered and her hands clenched but she forced herself to keep channelling, essentially keeping her wound forced open for the foreign invasion. It wasn't even close to the most painful thing she'd ever experienced, but it was very, very, very uncomfortable. Like ants crawling under her skin.
She kept going.
After an eternity and no time at all it stopped. Sakura opened her eyes, still channeling, not remembering when she had closed them.
"You can stop now." The Senju said, rolling up the scroll and tossing the brush. Sakura stopped, but the pull continued.
"Hm, it's still draining." She murmured and the Senju glanced at her, surprised.
"You can feel that?" She asked. Sakura nodded.
"I only recently found out that being constantly aware of the exact position, flow, and state of your chakra is abnormal."
"That explains your talent for control." The Hokage chuckled and sat in chair behind the desk. "It will drain continuously until your reserves reach thirty percent, after which it will continue draining what you create above thirty percent, so essentially your new reserves are capped there. The seal also works as a shield against sensors, preventing them from just seeing a giant, glowing dot on your forehead. All your stealth tricks will still work fine. Now you just leave it to do it's work, it'll be a long five years but you'll figure it out."
"Thank you, shishou-oba-san." Sakura said with a bow. The woman waved her out.
"Yeah, yeah, get out of my office brat."
Sakura headed to the small bathroom on the floor, washing off the face and staring at her reflection in the mirror. For now, the seal was just a thin purple 'V' on her forehead, but it would eventually fill out to a small rhombus. She thought it would suit her, offset her forehead's slightly oversized nature.
"Right." Sakura started, standing before the blackboard and staring at the group of three ANBU.
(Panda had been replaced with Otter, a quiet earth user from her very first ANBU mission.)
"As you all know, Tiger has stepped down from his position as captain." She said. "I have hence been made captain of Team Ro. As this will be my first mission in a leadership role, I except there to be some growing pains, but I trust and respect all of you to help me out when it is needed. I will not pretend to be a kind person, nor a kind captain. I do not see you all as beloved children. What I do see you as is mine. Mine to order. Mine to deal with. Mine to use as I see fit."
She leaned forward, putting both hands on the table and looking over them.
"I do not like people touching what is mine." She hissed. "If you get into trouble, I promise I will tear apart the bastards that touched you and then I will ensure you never let it happen again. Are we clear?"
"Yes, taicho!" The three said in unison. Their voices serious under the distortion.
"Good. Now as my teammates you should be aware that I only have access to thirty percent of my chakra stores." There was some incredulous shifting. "I'm not telling you this to worry you, if you are worried I'm happy to take you to a training ground and beat your asses, I'm simply letting you know why I won't be using a lot of my jutsu arsenal.
"The mission is a simple one, we'll be hitting a caravan heading into the Land of Sound. We have intel the enemy shinobi…"
Sakura was on Monkey's back, pressed as close to the man as possible, and mimicking his signature as they approached the convoy of wagons filled with supplies. They'd gotten intelligence a sensor of unknown capability would be on the guard. The advantage of them underestimating their numbers would be tremendous.
She shifted her position as he flew through the trees and her bare shoulder touched his.
They both sucked in a breath and she ripped her shoulder away. The man didn't need to be told not to make any noise and focus on the mission but she could practically hear him shelving the questions for later. Having your chakra forcefully pulled from your body was far more noticeable than the internal drain of the seal.
Her mind whirled. She had definitely begun sucking in his chakra. The only explanation was the seal.
Was it automatically registering other people's chakra as hers if she mimicked their signature? Could she effectively use other people as batteries to charge the thing?
Things to explore back in Konoha.
For now, she gave a quiet birdcall and leapt off Monkey's back, ducking into the fight with her zero-chakra elemental transformation speeding her movements but without the draining chakra pumped into her sword.
She ducked and weaved almost entirely under her own power. Kusanagi slicing through the enemies as she went. It was truly a beautiful sword, slicing through muscle and bone alike as if it were butter.
Sakura was barely panting by the end of it, but her thighs were screaming. She blamed Maito.
"You can use other people to power the seal?" The Hokage said, baffled. Sakura nodded, an excited smile behind her blood splattered mask. She'd been a little enthusiastic about testing and sharing the new revelation.
"Can I show you?" Sakura asked, already shifting her chakra to mimic the Hokage's.
"Sure." The woman replied. Sakura ran to the edge of the desk, twisting sideways and leaning her shoulder towards the woman.
"Touch my skin."
The Hokage did. "Oh. That is fascinating." She said. "Will it drain me to thirty percent?" She took her hand off and shook her head. "Too risky that it'll mess with my own seal. Naruto's too high risk." She was muttering under her breath, Sakura returned to her position in the middle of the room and waited. "Fox!" The woman barked and an ANBU appeared next to Sakura. "Get Kakashi."
It took thirty minutes for the man to appear, apparently choosing to answer a Hokage summons fairly promptly. The Hokage spent that time pouring over her notes and muttering. Sakura, only being knowledgable in a few specific niches of sealing work- particularly locking seals and home security- from limited research, left her to it to instead stare out the window and mentally run over future training for Team Ro.
"Hokage-sama." Hatake said as he entered, sending a curious and more than a little worried glance at her. "Sparrow." He nodded
"Kakashi." She replied with her own nod.
"Right, touch her." The Hokage said, glancing up from her notebook to point between the two. "Skin-to-skin contact."
Sakura mimicked Hatake's signature as the tips of his fingers touched her shoulder. He sucked in a gentle breath and the hand pressed over her shoulder completely. She let out a quiet "oh". The Hokage's eyes narrowed.
"What is it?" She asked and Sakura tilted her head.
"It's… warmer?" She said. "You and Monkey both automatically started draining, but it itched uncomfortably. Your chakras were both distinctly other in my system. His actually feels quite nice." Sakura was fully aware there was a flush building on her cheeks but she did nothing to stop it. One of the benefits of the mask. Both Sakura and the Hokage turned to look at Kakashi.
He had one hand in a pocket but the other had still noticeably not moved from his grip, if anything it had tightened a little throughout explanation.
"Maa, the same I guess." He paused and looked to the sky. "This won't kill me, will it?"
"It shouldn't." The Hokage said. "It should automatically stop when your reserves reach thirty percent." The man nodded, seemingly content to stay like that until then.
"Maybe it's because we both have lightning affinities?" Sakura suggested. The Hokage shook her head.
"I have a lightning affinity." She said. "Maybe it's a matter of continuous, close proximity?"
"If it was just that I would have reacted better to Monkey."
"Possibly because of the time spent around each other during your younger years, when your chakra was still growing? Any family we could test?"
"No. The closest would be Genma, I've been friends with him since after my first C-rank."
"Hm, we'll test it after we figure out if it will stop. How are your chakra levels Kakashi?"
"Aah, about halfway." He said, a tired note to his voice. His eye was suspiciously lidded.
"You're not falling asleep, are you?" Sakura asked, a little incredulous. Had she ever seen the man sleepy if it wasn't directly after waking up from chakra exhaustion?
"It's a bit like being in an incredibly relaxing, hot bath but without the wetness." He explained, somewhat helpfully. "It's proving strangely difficult to stay awake."
"And you're not tired at all?" The Hokage asked, Sakura shook her head.
"No, I feel really energised. Though that might change once ten times the amount of chakra I've ever had stops flowing through me." Her tone had an edge of mirth and the Hokage nodded.
There was a few more minutes during which Kakashi actually stifled a yawn- definitely a first- before the warm rushing feeling turned into more of a slow trickle of contentment. "Hmm, thirty percent?" She asked him, he nodded.
"Around there."
"Alright, you're free to go." The Hokage said and Kakashi nodded, hand lingering a little before it dropped and he begun to walk out the door. Sakura swayed alarmingly as the connection was cut off. He caught her by the elbow.
"You alright?" Hatake asked, hand carefully avoiding her skin as he helped her straighten. She nodded.
"Yep, just suddenly exhausted." She said, taking a deep breath and drawing herself up. "I'm good." He hummed.
"I'll leave you two to it, then." And headed for the door with a wave.
"See ya-" Sakura was cut off by a yawn.
"Rabbit." The Hokage called and a masked Shiranui dropped down from the rafters, reaching to press his gloveless fingers to her shoulder without needing to be asked. Sakura mimicked his signature.
They both jolted their skin away immediately. Sakura fell to her knees, scrambled to push up her mask and threw up. Shiranui stumbled away and leaned heavily against the wall, panting.
"Oh fuck that, Pinky, I am never touching you again." He groaned. The Hokage was running a glowing green hand over him and frowning.
"You're such an asshole even my chakra hates you." She giggled, pushing away from the pool of vomit to sit heavily on the floor. The Hokage came over to run a hand over her, frowning further.
"Well medically there's nothing wrong with either of you." She announced, sounding very put out about the whole thing. Sakura was reminded distinctly of her experience after her summons debacle. She hastily pushed herself to standing, feeling the intense and sudden urge to retreat.
"I'm going home and I'm going to sleep. No more tests." Sakura said, heading for the window.
"Oi, brat! I'm the Hokage you can't just leave!" The Hokage scowled.
"We've done this before, you can't keep perfectly healthy people prisoners!" Sakura retorted.
"I'm the Hokage! I can do what I want."
"Good night, shishou-oba-san." Sakura said, perched on the windowsill, and took off into the night.
Sakura showered and brushed her teeth three times before she collapsed into bed, out before her head had hit the pillow.