It said a lot of things about Konoha that the psychological evaluations happened right next to the Intelligence Division building instead of the hospital.
Oh, it did a solid job pretending to be kind. The inside was all mild, inoffensive colours and comfortable furniture. Even the waiting room was cozy. The ambiance did little to distract Sakura from her upcoming nerves.
The secretary cleared his throat. "Sakura Haruno, the evaluator is ready. Please head towards room 16."
She gathered herself as well as she could manage, and headed towards the office hallway.
The man waiting in room 16 was short and blond. When he noticed Sakura enter, he smiled. "You must be Sakura Haruno. I'm Ishino Yamanaka, but please, just call me Ishino."
Sakura attempted a smile in return. "It's nice to meet you." She awkwardly shuffled the rest of the way inside, sitting on the comfortable armchair across of Ishino.
"Unless you have any questions, we can begin." Sakura shook her head. "Alright, let's start with something easy. How are you feeling about your promotion?"
What wasn't she feeling about her promotion. "It was definitely a surprise," she said slowly. "I wanted to make chuunin eventually, but I didn't actually expect for it to happen on my first try."
Ishino chuckled lightly. "You're not the only one surprised by far. Do you have any concerns about being a chuunin?"
So, so many. "A lot of changes are happening all at once." She said eventually. "I'm a bit worried about juggling them all, but I think I'll be able to figure it out." Saying she wasn't concerned would just be an obvious lie. And probably some kind of mark against her in the evaluation.
"It's important to reach out if you're struggling." He said, marking something down on his notepad. "How is your current support system?"
That was a funny joke. "I have a few former teachers I can reach out to, and I can talk to my squad captain." She said, ignoring the fact that she hadn't seen Shisui since the Invasion and her current relationship with Kakashi and Genma was-strained. "I also have some friends that could help me if I need it."
Well, she had Ino. Tenten and Lee had welcomed her pretty easily, but she wasn't sure how far that went. Sakura had no idea how much of her relationship with Team 8 could be salvaged. She still wasn't how much of it she wanted to rekindle. That sounded like a lot of conversations she didn't have the energy to have.
Ishino made a concerned noise. "All three of your teachers have pretty heavy mission loads. It's likely you'll have to lean more on your friends for emotional support. Who would you say is closest to you?"
Edges of unease crept along Sakura's spine, and she was suddenly reminded of when Kakashi had refused to leave for her debrief after the Forest of Death. Like he was guarding her against something.
"Probably Ino." She said slowly, carefully watching Ishino's expression.
He hummed. "You say that, and yet it seems you haven't sought her out at all recently." Ishino said. "Did you have another fight?"
Sakura shook her head. "No, nothing like that."
"Do you think there's any lingering problems in your relationship? From my understanding, you had quite a brutal fight during the preliminaries of the chuunin exam."
A sebon straight through the hand. Words sharp enough to cut spat carelessly.
"It was just a test." She said slowly. "We made up afterwards and agreed to try to get to know each other the way we were now."
"We can be friends again. If you want."
"And have you?"
Something stuttered in her chest. "What?"
"Have you gotten to know each other again?" Ishino asked. "You don't sound very close to her."
Sakura resisted the urge to bristle. "We're working on it." She said, unable to keep a hint of sharpness from her tone. She hadn't expected to be interrogated on her few remaining friendships.
"Are you? Or are you assuming your relationship is fully repaired and falling back into old habits. Have either of you had a serious conversation since the preliminaries?"
Well, sort of, but that-
Sakura dug her nails into the side of her arm and forced her thoughts in order. He's trying to get under my skin.
"We're working on it." She repeated, firmer this time. She had to remember that this was a thinly veiled interrogation, and that saying the wrong thing could throw her entire life upside down. "I don't see what this has to do with my rank evaluation."
A mixture of irritation and satisfaction flickered in Ishino's gaze, too quick for Sakura to even be sure it existed. "Let's move on then. I understand you had some difficulties with your genin squad. Do you think that's affected your ability to function on a team?"
The questions continued like that for another half an hour. Sakura did her best to answer accurately, but didn't answer anything too deeply. They didn't need to know her every thought, and she had more than a few things she'd rather keep to herself.
Finally, Ishino closed his notebook. "Well, that's all the questions we need to get through today. All that's left is the Mind Walk."
Sakura's heart leapt to her throat. "A Mind Walk? Isn't that a little much?"
Ishino smiled. "I understand your hesitation, Sakura, but a Mind Walk is an entirely normal part of a rank evaluation."
The feeling of unease increased. "No one has ever mentioned it to me." She said slowly.
"These sessions tend to leave people feeling a bit vulnerable, so I'm not surprised they don't talk about them." He chuckled. "Now, just place your hands on mine, and we can begin. It'll be over before you know it."
Sakura didn't move. "This didn't happen when I became a genin."
"The jump from genin to chuunin is much more significant for the village." Ishino explained. "You have a lot more responsibility than you did before. Chuunin are leaders-Academy students and genin usually aren't."
Everything he said made sense. He was being calm, and reasonable, and if she closed her eyes, she could almost believe she was talking to Inoichi.
And yet.
And yet.
"Is it mandatory?" She asked.
Something flickered in his gaze, too fast for her to dissect. "It's a regular part of rank evaluation."
That wasn't what she'd asked.
"It really isn't anything to be worried about. It's a procedure I've done many times-"
"Am I free to go?"
"-isn't intrusive at all. It's just meant for basic evaluation and mental status-"
"Am I free to go?"
"-quick too. The longer you wait, the more anxiety you'll feel over it. I really recommend-"
The cup of water in Sakura's hand shattered. Jagged edges of glass were flung outwards and onto the floor. Blood began seeping from the cuts on her hands, but she paid it no mind.
"Is the door locked?" She asked quietly.
Ishino stared at her with a mixture of surprise and concern. "No, of course not."
"Are you going to stop me from leaving?"
"That's-no, Sakura, I will not stop you if you chose to leave."
"Good." She placed the remnants of the cup on the table and stood. She didn't bother avoiding the glass, and the crunch of her steps echoed in the silent room.
"This will go on your record and potentially jeopardize your promotion." Ishino said, still maintaining his calm, soothing demeanor. "I implore you to reconsider, Haruno."
The change to her last name didn't go unnoticed. Something about all of this was off.
Sakura made the mistake of locking eyes with Ishino.
Her head throbbed violently, and when she opened her eyes, she was back in the Forest of Death.
"I wouldn't open that if I were you."
Sakura's body lunged with a kunai, and she could feel the adrenaline pumping in her veins. She couldn't control anything her body was doing.
"Whoa!" Kabuto tumbled backwards and out of her range. "Slow down there. I'm not a threat."
What. The. Fuck.
Even with her disorientation, Sakura knew what must have happened. Ishino must have activated his jutsu and was now Mind Walking her.
Fear and anger rose in equal measure.
Calm down. Ishino's voice was everywhere. This will go much quicker if you stop resisting.
Get out of my head! Sakura tried to scream.
"I could heal some of your injuries." Memory Kabuto suggested casually. "I know medical ninjutsu and it'll make the rest of the trip a little easier."
She tried to gather herself like she had last time, allowing her emotions to solidify lash out against the intruder in her mind.
It was met with a wall of resistance that hardly wavered under her attack.
I'm not an Academy fresh genin. That's not going to work.
The scenery changed, and suddenly she was in the hallway after her match with Neji.
"You should be careful." Kabuto's words echoed through the memory.
Sakura tried to resist again, this time attempting to pull her memories back in rather than push him out. It worked for half a second before an invisible hand reached inside and pulled them back out.
"You've made a lot of very powerful people very uncomfortable. Angry, even." Memory Kabuto was just as unsettling as he was in person. "They won't treat you kindly, when this is all over."
Why was Ishino targeting memories about Kabuto? Even if this was regulation, this had nothing to do with her rank evaluation.
She couldn't stop the words from leaving her. "And we're both dangerous, aren't we?"
Did you suspect Kabuto? Ishino asked, and she could feel his presence sink deeper into her mind.
Suspect him of what? She demanded. There was no answer.
Memory Kabuto leaned in. "Be wary of Konoha's roots, Sakura Haruno. They don't see the light of day, and if they latch on, neither will you."
The scene shifted again. This time, she was on her back in the preliminaries, Ino perched triumphant above her.
The dual sensations of reliving having Ino in her head and also having Ishino in her head was disorienting.
I win. Memory Ino's voice echoed in Sakura's head.
What do you want from me?! Sakura demanded. Why are you doing this?
Nothing she was doing worked. She couldn't push Ishino out, couldn't contain her own thoughts.
That's right. Memory Ino laughed. I'm in control.
She hated this. He had no right to her thoughts, to her mind. This was a million times worse than the memory she was reliving, because at least then Ino hadn't clawed through her head.
This is me, making you give up.
But this wasn't like Ino's Mind Transfer Jutsu. Sakura still had control over her own body.
It felt like her lips were moving, "I, Sakura Haruno…" But they weren't, because none of this was happening.
She switched tactics, turning her attention back to her present self. She'd stopped feeling her own body the second the mind walk had started, but if she could bring that awareness back…
Are you going to cry, Sakura? That's all you ever did at the Academy.
Sakura focused on the sharp sting of the cuts on her hand. On the tired ache in her arms and legs.
Her mindscape resisted, trying to drag her back into the memories that Ishino was still looking through. She couldn't see the office, but as long her body moved, she had a chance.
Sakura clenched her jaw and she could feel it.
Distantly, she was aware of her past self pushing Ino out, releasing a million pent up emotions.
What are you doing? Memory Ino demanded.
How did you know that this would work? Ishino asked. Did someone teach you how to resist? When did you gain this much awareness over your own mindscape?
She reached for where she could feel her pouches and pulled out a poisoned senbon. Ishino had been three steps forward and sitting on a chair when he'd began his mind walk.
Sakura very nearly didn't make the first step. Her legs felt uncooperative and heavy. Move.
The second step was easier, but she nearly lost her grip on the senbon.
It was like trying to walk against the current of a river.
Just one more time.
She took the last step.
"I, Sakura Haruno, do not forfeit!"
Now.
Sakura wound her arm back, and with one last burst of energy, struck where Ishino's shoulder should be with a senbon.
The world snapped back into focus, and Sakura was suddenly back in the office, hand still outstretched.
Ishino stared at her in shock, clutching the arm Sakura's senbon had embedded in. She'd missed her target, but it had clearly worked well enough.
"You-"
Sakura didn't bother letting him finish his sentence. She tore out of the room, uncaring of the attention her noisy and frantic escape garnered. She needed to get out.
She needed to go somewhere safe.
The door to the flower shop chimed, and Ino fought the urge to curse.
"One minute!" She called out, hastily stamping a coded scroll and shoving it into a sealed drawer. She'd been doing a lot more paperwork for spy reports in the past few weeks, but she hadn't quite managed to be as efficient as her mother yet. Reading the coded messages was one thing, but the complicated organisational system they had was annoying to navigate, and Ino had been doing it since she was seven.
From the corner of her eye, she saw pink hair, and her mood immediately brightened. It had been way too long since Sakura had come to visit her. Ino would normally have sought her out herself, but she didn't want to overwhelm her. With everything that had happened, the idea that her presence would do more harm than good was enough to keep her waiting until Sakura decided she wanted to see her.
She resealed the drawer and turned, the edges of a grin curling onto her lips-
Sakura was shaking.
Ino immediately rushed forward, pulling back from grabbing her at the last second. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?" She demanded, scanning Sakura head to toe. She noticed dried blood on her hand and immediately darted for the first aid kit. This was far from the first time someone had entered the flower shop injured.
"It's not that bad." Sakura rasped.
"Better safe than sorry." Ino said. "Come on, we can sit in the back." She gently pulled Sakura with her, closing the door behind them and subtly activating the silencing seals.
They sat at a small table and Ino pulled antibiotics, gauze, and bandages from the kit. It was a little overkill, but she refused to take any chances.
"Are Mind Walks a normal part of rank evaluation?"
Ino paused, something cold sliding down her spine. "Did something happen during your psych evaluation?"
"Is it?" Sakura asked, a hint of desperation in her voice.
This needed a lot of delicacy. "Occasionally, a Mind Walk will be used on particularly volatile candidates, or ones they suspect of treason. But you have to fill out a ridiculous amount of forms before it will even be considered for a psych eval. It's considered invasive enough that using it on anyone but an enemy without permission can get you in a lot of trouble."
It was part of the balancing act that clans played with the state. They needed to be dangerous enough to be useful, but not dangerous to the state or those it employed. At least, not past a certain degree. Hyuuga weren't supposed to use their Byakugan in Konoha outside of training and clan grounds unless there was an emergency. Aburame had to keep their insects contained to their clan grounds or on their person unless they were given direct permission. Akimichi below a certain clearance level were flat out not allowed into certain buildings out of fear they would expand and destroy them.
The idea of Sakura being deemed acceptable to Mind Walk was ridiculous. Ino would have heard about it and it would have almost definitely not been approved. Anger curled in her gut, but she forced it down. Facts, she needed facts before acting.
"Did your evaluator Mind Walk you?" She asked, unable to keep a hint of ice out of her voice.
There was a pause, and then Sakura nodded.
Ino didn't bother hiding her fury this time, cutting the bandages with more force than was really needed. "That is absolutely not a regular part of a psych evaluation, especially not for a chuunin promotion."
Some of the tension drained from Sakura's shoulders. "So I won't get in trouble."
Ino furrowed her brow. "In trouble for what?"
"Stabbing the evaluator." Sakura clarified blandly. "It wasn't-he's not dead or anything. He'll just have a laceration and numb arm for a while. I thought that enough pain would shock him out of my head."
And, well, she wasn't wrong. It wasn't unheard of for the person being Mind Walked to be broken out via injury to the caster. That was why it was only supposed to be done on captured enemies. Pulling that in the field was dangerous and liable to fail.
"Tell me everything that happened." Ino said, applying antibiotic cream to Sakura's cuts. "If a Yamanaka is pulling this shit, then my dad needs to know. This breaks so many regulations it's not even funny."
After a stretch of silence, Sakura began.
Ino continued dressing her wounds as she spoke, being as gentle as possible despite her internal fury. The last thing she needed was the drive Sakura away.
By the time Sakura finished her story, Ino had half-written an official complaint in her head. Even if she hadn't been friends with Sakura, there was no way she would've been able to let this slide. The Yamanaka could not have rogue phycologists doing Mind Walks just because they felt like it. Her dad was going to be pissed.
"I just don't know why he was so focused on Kabuto," Sakura said. "Our match, I understand, but it makes no sense to target him."
It struck Ino that Sakura must not have heard. "He was a spy for Orochimaru." She explained. "He went after a council member-Danzo Shimura-and was the one who put the genjutsu over the stadium."
She went dead still. "He what?!"
Ino launched into an explanation of what she knew, which admittedly, wasn't as much as she'd like. Everyone was being pretty tight lipped about this.
"Dad's been doing overtime trying to root out traitors. No one is sure how many Orochimaru has left in the village, or the damage they've already done. It's a bit of a mess."
"I had no idea." Sakura murmured.
"Well, we haven't talked since the Invasion, so I wasn't able to tell you when I found out." Her voice came out sharper than she meant it to.
Sakura startled a little, but before Ino could apologize she spoke again. "I know we said we would get to know each other again, but-have we?"
And just like that, all the buried insecurities Ino had shoved down sprang to life. "No, not really." She admitted. "I never talked to you about anything more serious than mission annoyances. You didn't either. We've been-casual friends. It's not bad, it's just, not what we said we'd be."
"I don't think I'm a very good friend." Sakura said quietly, still staring into the distance. "I had a big fight with my team and broke Sasuke's nose. I feel more relief than anything that they're gone."
Ino let the words sink in, slowly digesting what Sakura was telling her. "When we were still rivels, I knew that my treatment of you made the other girls copy it." She offered. "Even when you stopped trying to ask out Sasuke, I didn't let up because I wanted to interact with you somehow. Even if it was hurting you." It had been a cruel thing to do. "I was terrible and I'm sorry."
Sakura immediately understood what Ino was offering here. One vulnerability for another.
"I don't know how I'm supposed to act towards Team 8. They were my first real friends after our split, but they didn't tell me about the Caged Bird Seal, and I don't know if I can forgive them for that."
Ino had never offered up the information herself, but she'd assumed Hinata would have at some point. This was why her father kept harping on her about making premature conclusions.
"Asuma-sensei has tricked my entire team more than once, and sometimes I'm worried it won't be for something as mundane as training." Ino said softly. "He didn't want us as a team at first, Lord Sandaime made him take us, and I don't know if that resentment is ever going to bleed into the way he interacts with us."
They were all getting better at recognising the manipulation now-Ino's training had been ramped up, and she knew Shikamaru's had as well. Akimichi didn't get as extensive mental training as Nara and Yamanaka did, but even he had commented on his family getting more serious about it.
Ino trusted Asuma to protect them and to train them, but there would probably always be that little bit of doubt in her.
Sakura looked Ino dead in the eyes. "I killed two people on my first mission outside the village. They were both civilians. I've killed fifteen in total and the fact that it doesn't bother me disturbs me more than the fact that I've done it."
Ino didn't falter. "I used my Mind Transfer Jutsu to get five shinobi to kill themselves during the Invasion. I'd do it again."
She'd grown up in a shinobi clan, one that wasn't made of frontline fighters, but rather those that picked apart opponents until they wished they were dead. The Yamanaka was largely made up of interrogators and spies, but their hands were painted just as red as any other shinobi clan.
It was just how things were.
There was a long pause after Ino spoke, and for a moment she wasn't sure if that had been too far.
Then-
"My parents died in the Invasion."
Oh.
"I don't know what I'm supposed to do anymore."
There was no secret of equal value that Ino could offer. So instead, she pulled Sakura into a tight hug.
"I'm so sorry." She whispered into her shoulder. "They didn't deserve that."
Ino had met Sakura's parents dozens of times when they'd been friends. They had always been kind and welcoming, full of life and personality. It was hard to believe they were just…gone. It had to be a million times worse for Sakura.
Sakura didn't say anything in response, just squeezed Ino even harder.
They stayed like that for a long time, both of them ignoring the wet spot on Ino shoulder when they finally pulled apart.
"Thanks." Sakura's voice was hoarse and tentative.
Ino smiled. "That's what friends are for."