"Shishou," Sakura greeted the busty blonde who was seated in a bar. She was already drunk but seemed somber at the same time. They were at a table at the far back, away from most of the noise and commotion. "Sakura," she drawled out lazily. "Good to see you again brat," she said with a drunk smile. "It's good to see you too Shishou," the pinkette replied with a smile. "Is there anything you need me to do for you?" she asked innocently. "Am I not allowed to see my own apprentice?" she said with a glare which made Sakura almost cower, almost but not quite. "Whenever you call me when you're drunk, it's either you need me to do an errand for you or buy more sake," she replied with a shrug. "Hmmm, I guess there's no use beating around the bush then. I have a mission for you," she said, immediately snapping out of her drunken stupor and going into what Sakura dubbed as the 'Hokage mode.' She was silently celebrating. She hadn't had a mission in six months and she was growing restless by the day. Being Sasuke and Naruto's babysitter didn't count as a mission. "It's a diplomatic mission with an Ame diplomat," she said. The pinkette was quiet as she listened to her master explain the mission.

"I'll probably be Hokage soon, with Jiraiya hot on my trail as he usually is. So before I go into office, I want to settle a few things with the other villages. The tension which is brewing between Konoha and Ame isn't good and the old man doesn't know how to deal with this. He's not as smart as he was anymore, age and stress seem to be taking toll on his body," she said as she sighed. "I want you to meet up with an Ame diplomat called Kurotsuchi. She's the granddaughter of the current Tsuchikage. You'll be discussing terms of a treaty between Ame and Konoha, mostly about trade and all. It might not seem like it yet but both our economies are slowly declining, especially Amegakure. Prices are going up, shortage of basic commodities and the likes. It's unfortunate that the government can't do anything about it, in as much as we're close to the capital, Tokyo. We're still the ancient Leaf Village so the workings of our city is different from the rest of Japan," she elaborated. "We're sort of like our mini country, if you know what I mean. So we have to connect with the other villages from the past to ensure that the city is still standing strong," she finished. Sakura nodded in understanding.

Konoha was located on the outskirts of Tokyo, surrounded by mountains and all which was why it seemed almost non-existent. The only difference was that the buildings and structures were know modern. Instead of the forest which covered the village, there were roads and railway lines which led to Tokyo, although there was still a bit of a forest around the city. Yes, it was large enough to be a city but not as bit as Tokyo or Kyoto. The other villages from the past were located at various points around the country, and like Konoha, they were on the outskirts of the major cities and almost non-existent. They weren't forgotten, it's just that they weren't given as much attention like other cities. They seemed to be self-sufficient on their own, one reporter had said when he was commenting on Konoha. "When do I have to meet her?" the kunoichi asked. "Tonight at a local bar near the outskirts of the city, just as to not gain too much attention," the blonde explained as she went back to drinking her sake. "Oh, I almost forgot," she said as she looked up to stare at the girl straight in the eye. "Expect Jiraiya's brats today. They're looking everywhere for you. So let's decide to humor them for a bit, you know what I mean?" she said as she dwindled her glass. Sakura nodded. She meant to say that she was going to meet Jiraiya's pupils and somewhat engage in a battle so that they could catch her. She, on the other side, was not to get at caught at all costs. It was sort of like a teaser, a game of cat and mouse with the mouse walking right into the cat's trap. They had to know that Tsunade knew that they were looking for her but she wasn't going to get caught anytime soon. "Consider it done," the medic said with a smirk.


"I forgot to read on the Biology pop quiz!" Naruto exclaimed loudly. "Keep it down Naruto otherwise I'm gonna lose my concentration!" Ino seethed at the blonde. "But I forgot to read and I'm gonna fail and Jiraiya is going to refuse to let me eat ramen for a week!" he continued to whine. "Naruto, I swear to Kami I am going to pound after this test," the Yamanaka sneered.

They were during a Biology pop quiz which they had forgotten all about. Naruto had reminded Sasuke the previous day but even he did not read on it. And now they were during the test, communicating through Ino's mind transfer ninjutsu about how they were going to pass the test. The test was hard, just like the one they took during their first Chunin Exams, except it was just Biology. No one wanted to go home with a bad report card. Even Kakashi and Jiraiya had warned them that if they failed their tests, they were going to seal their chakra for a week as punishment. No one said anything against that.

"We know Naruto, even Hana is going to kill me if I fail this test. I already failed the last one, I can't fail again so be quiet! You're not the only one who's going to get in trouble," Kiba said annoyedly. Despite all the protests coming from the rest of the group, Naruto continued to complain about how he was never, ever going to taste holy sweet ramen for a week because of the stupid Tsunade's apprentice whom they had spent the entire night discussing, not to mention that he did not immediately go to sleep after the meeting but instead played video games till sunrise. "Dobe, shut up. You're not helping," Sasuke said with a hint of anger. "Guys I have a plan!" TenTen said excitedly. "I hope it doesn't include threatening our Biology teacher with fuma shurikens to give us good marks," Neji said with a smirk. "No... Well, I did think of that but that's not my plan. We'll use mind transfer on the smartest person in class so we can copy them and pass," she said as if it was the most intelligent idea in the whole world. "Yosh, that is a great idea TenTen!" Lee exclaimed.

"Actually, that might work," Ino said thoughtfully. "It's a great idea TenTen," the meek Hinata piped in. "All those in favor of using the Mind Transfer Jutsu on Sakura, say ai," Shikamaru drawled out. "On Sakura? Why her?" Naruto asked. "Dobe, she's the most intelligent person in this class especially when it comes to Biology," Sasuke said as he rolled his eyes. "Oh," the blonde said sheepishly. "Ai." "Ai." "Ai." "Let's go for it." "Yosh, I agree!" "A-ai." "Hn." "Okay guys, I'm gonna perform the technique. Just make sure I don't fall off my chair," Ino said as she readied herself. "And display your underwear for the whole world to see," TenTen said with a snicker. "TenTen!"

Ino took a deep breath before forming the sign for the mind transfer jutsu. She faced Sakura who was seating three seats away from her. The pinkette was facing forward but the tenseness in her shoulders told the blonde that she was already deep in concentration. 'Okay, here I go. Mind Transfer Jutsu,' she thought and immediately slumped onto her desk, her mind entering Sakura's.


"Wow, that's was so easy to do. Okay, now let's see some Biology answers," Ino thought as her mind possessed Sakura's body. She was about to check the answers when she felt a dark figure slowly rise into Sakura's subconscious. "Hmmm, what's that?" she asked as a figure began to take form. It formed into a Sakura who was clad in their uniform with a white outline, everything else black. On her forehead, there was written the kanji worder "Inner." "What in the world is this?" the blonde asked as the figure continued to grow in size until it towered over her. The figure stared down at her with hard eyes. Before the kunoichi could comprehend what was happening, she found the figure's giant fist flying towards her and hitting her entirely, knocking her out of Sakura's mind.


She woke up with a start. Her entire front was sore all over, as though she had been punched by Chouji using his clan's technique. She groaned out loud in pain. Gosh, it hurt that her eyes watered. "Ms Yamanaka, would you mind telling me why you're moaning in my class?" Mrs Shenji, their Biology, said disdainfully. She did not bother hiding her contempt towards the petite blonde. Everyone knew of the feud between the two females and they had no shame displaying it to the whole world. "I'm trying to concentrate! Now, if you would be so kind as to keep your mouth quiet so that I can concentrate on this stupid test," the Yamanaka replied with barely contained anger. The woman rolled her eyes, obviously dismissing her rude behavior as normal. Ino glared at the gesture, wanting somewhere to vent our her anger on literally getting punched out of Sakura's mind. She ignored her friends' puzzled looks.

"It didn't work," she grumbled. "What, how come?!" the jinchuriki asked disbelievingly. "I don't know, she literally punched me out of her mind!" she exclaimed almost hysterically. "Oh man, what're we going to do?" TenTen groaned out loud. Shikamaru chuckled in the background. "You knew it, didn't you?" Ino said to the lazy genius. "Who are you talking to?" TenTen asked. "Shikamaru! You knew it wouldn't work that's why you're laughing at me!" she shrieked. "I just wanted to see how it turned out is all," the brunette replied with a yawn. "I don't get what you guys are saying," Naruto said puzzledly. "Dobe, he means Sakura doesn't easily fall under genjutsus meaning her mental strength is stronger than yours. Maybe that's why I I couldn't enter her mind because of her mental strength," Sasuke explained. "I really saw another figure in her mind, seriously!" the blonde said. "Sakura always she had a split personality disorder when she was young so I guess you met her Inner Persona," Hinata chimed in. "I'm guessing so," Neji agreed.


They had resignedly copied from another student who had no mental barriers and at least a quarter of Sakura's intelligence in Biology. It was enough for them to get better marks than they were going to have had they both copied. Shikamaru had received a smack to the back of the head from Ino because he had let her try to use her jutsu on a person with a strong mental barrier which injured both her ego and body. At least, their chakra wouldn't be sealed for a week. And now they were meeting with Jiraiya because he had called for an immediate meeting soon after their lessons and the ninjas hurried there.

"We've got a trail on the apprentice," the white haired man said. A murmur resounded in the room. "My source says she has a missiom with a diplomat from another village, namely Ame," he explained. "Your mission is to catch her. But do not, at all costs, sabotage her mission with the Ame diplomat. We don't want to start crisis between the two cities," he said. "So we'll catch her after her mission is complete?" Naruto asked. The Sannin nodded. "They'll be meeting at Asuna's Pub around 10pm," Kakashi said. "Asuna's Pub, the one near the Uchiha district towards the outskirts of the city," Kurenai piped in. "We would've gone there but I think it's a bit of an overkill to send four jounins and Sannin for her apprentice. While I do recognize her abilities but I think she would destroy half of the city trying to get away from us," Kakashi drawled out.

"Think of it as a learning experience for you. You've never been on my tracking missions except Kurenai's team and even they haven't had a worthy mission since they came here. Also you'll be learning to track smartly. Try not to set the city on fire while you're at it," the Sannin said with a pointed look at Sasuke in which the Uchiha looked away. "Or have thousand Narutos running around the city," he said as he looked at the blonde and he blushed. "Or shuriken and kunai raining down on everyone," he finished with a glance at TenTen. "What he's trying to say is that keep in mind that there are civilians all over the city and they are not familiar with ninjutsu," Asuma said lastly. "We got it old man," Naruto said with a thumbs. "Shikamaru is the leader of this mission. I don't expect you to catch her on your first chance but it's worth a try."


Done with this chapter. The technique they used to communicate is the one Ino used the Fourth Shinobi War to talk to everyone, giving them instructions on how to perform the Earth Wall Jutsu to stop the Tailed Beast Bomb. Sakura's was never prone to Ino's Mind Transfer Jutsu and that's why it didn't work when they wanted to copy from her. Tsunade and her apprentice know that they're being hunted. Next chapter is the ninjas' encounter with Tsunade's apprentice. Thank you to those reviewing, following ad favoring this story. Read and review, they're still much appreciated.

Tozoonana

AfricanFire