Here is the next chapter! Enjoy.

The next morning when Sakura woke her mind was rested, though the weight of her limbs told her she over did it the day before. Wincing, she stretched her muscles before getting ready for the day. Naruto and Uchiha were still sleeping, so after Sakura dressed she quietly left the room to check on Kakashi-sensei.

Sakura slid open the door and poked her head through. There was no movement from the sleeping jonin, so she walked in and knelt by his side. She hovered a green hand over his chest and measured his levels. Higher than the night before but still too low for Sakura's comfort. If she had to guess he would recover enough to wake before lunch, she would feel much better about this mission if he did. Despite the flare from yesterday, Sakura still trusted Kakashi-sensei, though the incident did leave her with questions.

Sakura sat back and stared at her Sensei. Did he really have the Burning? Or was it a fluke? She wiggled her toes as she contemplated. Sensei was a jonin, so if he really wanted to hide his pain from his students it would be possible, but he was like everyone else.

A forgetter, he wasn't like her in the least.

Besides, flares are not something one can hide, and she would have noticed a genjutsu by now. There are some cases where the mind is not stronger than the body, you couldn't just will the Burning away. Did he just develop it? She sighed and sat back closing her eyes, taking a moment to enjoying the fleeting silence before the rest of the house woke. It was then she heard movement from downstairs. Sakura was up with a kunai in hand before she walked out the door.

'Don't be too hasty Sakura, it could just be Tazuna and his family.'

'I won't be.'

Sakura crept down the stairs and relaxed when she saw a Naruto clone sitting at the table, talking to Tsunami while she made breakfast.

"Mornin' Sakura-chan!"

"Morning Naruto."

"Good morning Sakura-san, its nice to see another early riser besides myself." She heard Tsunami call from the kitchen.

"Just Sakura is fine, Tsunami-san. Where is Tazuna?" Sakura called out before she glanced at the clone.

Naruto shook his head, so he didn't know either. The woman walked out carrying a platter containing rice and various side dishes, placing it on the table. She started making a plate when she spoke.

"My Father is still sleeping, the lazy man. He's sharing a room with my son, Inari. That little boy refuses to leave his room, so I have to bring this up to him. Enjoy the food. " She raised the plate in her arms and left the room.

Sakura sat down and grabbed a bowl, filling it with rice, egg, and various vegetables. She took a bite and and sighed, it has been a few days since she had a tasty home cooked meal. Tsunami was a good cook, and a nicer mother than her own. If Sakura refused to come down for breakfast, she knew she would either be dragged down or have her books confiscated. Both options were unpleasant in her experience. Sakura glanced at the clone on her left.

"Hey Naruto, any movement out there last night?"

"None Sakura-chan! My presence must of scared them away." Sakura highly doubted that, but she was glad they were cautious.

Sakura finished eating, gathered her dirty dishes, and rose from her seat.

"Nice work Naruto, I'm up now so you can dismiss yourself." She gave him a tap on the head and walked into the kitchen.

"You can always count on me Sakura-chan!"

Sakura heard the pop and she was alone once more. After her dishes were washed and set aside to dry, Sakura walked back out into the main room and took the time to observe what her tired mind glossed over the day before.

Their house was nice, beautiful even. The furniture was on the newer side, and they had some gorgeous art on the wall. Small pieces of decor were spaced throughout the house in a tasteful manner, and the wood accents made the place feel cozy. The problem Sakura had was that this house was too nice for a country 'supposedly' in poverty. Her first assumption was correct.

They had money, yet they paid for a C-rank?

Sakura walked out of the house and sat on the front steps, recalling the initial assignment of this mission for the things that were out of place. First was the Hokage, who normally wasn't at the mission desk, second was the fact they got a C-rank despite being green genin, and third was that Tazuna had the money to pay for a higher mission, but didn't.

What did all of this mean?

It was a completely crazy idea, Sakura didn't believe it, but... what if all of it happened because they had to go on this mission? If that was the case though, then why did Kakashi-sensei freeze? In fact, how exactly did he get free from that water jutsu in the first place?

'Naruto and Uchiha freed him.'

'And how do you know this?'

'Just because you couldn't see out of your eyes due to the pain, doesn't mean I couldn't.'

'What did they do?'

'After a distraction on Naruto's part, he transformed himself into a shuriken, and had Uchiha throw him. Once he got close to Zabuza he released it and made Zabuza break the jutsu.'

That was more thinking than Sakura thought possible for Naruto.

'Ok, so somehow the jonin fell for it.'

'Yes.'

So what was the goal? Why this mission, and a better question was, what was Kurama talking about last night?

Sakura remembered his words mentioned to take out a circle, but what circle was he talking about, was it a circle of enemies? Sakura grabbed her head and leaned forward. There were too many questions and not enough answers. She needed more information, but what to investigate first? Naruto wasn't going anywhere, so Kurama's request could be set aside for now. The chances of her getting anything out of Kakashi-sensei was slim, so all that was left was Gato.

She heard the door behind her slide open.

"Haruno, Kakashi is awake."

Sakura abruptly stood and went into the house, Uchiha already up the stairs. Sakura joined the rest of her team and sat by Kakashi-sensei, running her green chakra covered hands over his chest. Better, but still not great. He needed to rest more. When she was done he gave her a pat on the head and leaned back.

"Well team, there's good news and bad news." He gave a light chuckle.

"Bad news first." She wanted to get it out of the way.

"Zabuza is alive."

Damn.

"So he faked his death then?" She questioned, ignoring the outburst from the blonde across from her. Sensei nodded.

"What's the good news?" Uchiha asked, entering the conversation.

"It should take him a week to recover, so that means I have time to train the three of you."

Sakura was glad to hear those words, they definitely could use more training. She just hoped it would be enough.

"What about Tazuna? We can't leave him alone in the meantime." Sakura pondered. Maybe they would take shifts guarding and training, that would make the most sense.

"Today he will be stuck here, but as for tomorrow? We will see how it goes... now, its time for you to learn something new my cute little genin." Sensei rose and hobbled off.

Something new? Sakura was excited, she hadn't learned something new from Kakashi-sensei since the genjutsu. Sakura and her teammates followed Sensei outside, and after watching him do his demonstration, she drew a conclusion.

She was no longer excited.

Not at all.

Sakura was ready to set the trees on fire, because she hated everything in this moment. Why? Why was what they were learning tree climbing? She already knew how to do this! Not only that, Uchiha and Naruto knew how to do this, so why did they forget? Couldn't an incident not happen for once in her life, and with something she didn't tear her hair out teaching them?

"Don't think you can beat me Sasuke-teme."

"Hn, in your dreams Dobe."

"Just you wait, I will make it up the tree first, believe it!"

"Like you could, you can't even stick to the tree."

"When I reach the top first Teme, you will eat your words!"

"Hn, Dobe."

Naruto screeched.

Sage help her, Sakura couldn't handle hearing this all for the second time. She would pay a fortune if they would just shut their pretty little mouths. She had the money, she would do it.

"Maa Sakura-chan, not going to give it a try?" Sensei asked from his spot on the grass.

She glared.

"Kakashi-sensei, I already know how to do this, can't you please teach me a genjutsu instead?"

"What really? I couldn't have possibly known." Sensei gave an exaggerated gasp, a hand raised to cover his mouth.

If that was directed at anyone else she would have loved it.

"Show your poor old Sensei, please?"

Fine, she would do it because he was still her favorite.

Sakura grumbled and stalked off. With a look over her shoulder she walked up the tree to the top and back down, before plopping herself on the ground in front of him.

"Please teach me a genjutsu now Sensei."

Sighing, he spoke.

"Since you asked so nicely I can show you one, how about Demonic Illusion: False Surr–"

"I already know that one Sensei." Sakura interrupted, already doing the shortened hand signs when he grabbed her fingers.

"Ok, I believe you. How about this one instead? I don't know the name and I can't remember who I copied it from, but it's handy. Requires less chakra than the one you know too." Sensei formed the first sign, then paused.

"Actually Sakura-chan, could you spin around in circles until I say stop?" Sakura looked at her Sensei skeptically, but stood anyways. He probably had a good reason for this.

"Uhm, ok."

She spun.

"Stop."

Sakura stopped and faced her Sensei, she was slightly dizzy but it would wear off.

"Ok, now I'll start."

Sakura watched Kakashi-sensei hum and move through three signs. She felt the genjutsu settle, and the next thing she knew she needed to get to the bushes.

Immediately.

Sakura covered her mouth and darted towards the nearest piece of green foliage and emptied her stomach. She leaned against a tree for support and turned to her Sensei, feeling betrayed.

"Seriously, Sensei?"

"Oh? Did I do that?"

Sakura's expression blanked.

Sensei chuckled.

"Sorry Sakura-chan, but that's the quickest way for you to understand what it does. It takes an existing condition and intensifies it, and because you are not creating the condition it cuts down on the chakra required. Depending on where in the brain you pool more chakra, it affects different things. Now, did you figure out what type of genjutsu it is?"

Apprehensively Sakura made her way back to her previous spot on the grass, pausing every few seconds to make sure he wouldn't do anything to make her run back to the bushes. Once seated she repeated the demonstration through her head a few times when it clicked.

"Auditory right?"

"Correct! I knew you were the smartest out of the three."

A true statement but he wasn't forgiven yet.

"This jutsu works better if you can get it seal less, and with your level of chakra control that should be doable in a week. You will just have to find your preferred 'sound' to practice with. This genjutsu has a lot of applications, so you will just have to play around with it. Knowing you, I know you will think of something great."

He stood, pat her on the head and walked over to the boys.

"Maa, it seems like Sakura-chan here is the closest to being Hokage..."

Sakura zoned out her Sensei, her mind calculating the different scenarios this jutsu could be used in. The possibilities were endless. Where should she start? Should she think of her sound first? Get her hands used to the signs? Or maybe think of where in the brain to target first? Did it work on fish? Sakura still had some saved, that could work for practice. She should ask Naruto for a clone too.

"Sakura-chan."

She would need more than one clone, could she get the genjutsu on multiple at the same time? But if they don't have the same condition perhaps it wouldn't work.

"Sakura-chan."

She would just have to create a situation where they would get the same condition naturally, and then use the genjutsu to intensify it... yeah that could work.

"Sakura-chan!"

Sakura felt a weight bear down on her head. She looked up and saw her Sensei smiling down.

"Please listen when I speak Sakura-chan. I need you to go accompany Tazuna to the bridge."

"I thought today was a practice day Sensei."

"It was, you did, now go." He shooed her.

"What about Naruto and Uchiha?" She protested.

"They still haven't mastered tree walking so they will stay here and practice. You have, so I need you to go. That's an order, not a suggestion."

Sakura puffed her chest before deflating, letting out a heavy sigh. She's a Haruno, she should expect to carry the slack of her teammates since they can't compare to herself. It's a burden she will have to get used to.

"I understand Sensei, I will follow your order."

"Great!"

Sakura turned and made her way back to the house.

'Hehe someone got in trouble.'

'Oh shut it.'

.

Sakura sat on the rail of the bridge and watched it slowly be assembled. She had just gotten back from her second patrol, nothing of importance stuck out, and though she was unhappy to have to be on guard duty at least the day itself was beautiful. Sakura's gaze wandered to her client and stayed there. Her opinion on Tazuna slightly improved as the day went on. He worked hard, she could respect that. Still, his personality itself left a lot to be desired.

One of the workers went up to Tazuna, and a heated conversation broke out between the two. Sakura hopped off the rail and walked closer to the client. If things were to get physical she would make sure the old man was safe.

"It's been a long day, let's call it early today. Giichi, don't show up for work tomorrow." Tazuna spoke before turning to approach Sakura.

"Shinobi-chan, I need to pick up a couple of things from the market for dinner."

"Again, it's Sakura... but lead the way."

From the way her Father described Wave she was expecting a vibrant town full of trade, not whatever this was as she walked on the main drag.

It was very...weird.

There were countless people sitting on the streets, calls of 'thief!' echoing about, and a layer of grime stained the outside of buildings. She looked around once more, and if anyone from the slums of Konoha saw this they would be insulted.

What were these people playing at?

For a town supposedly under an outsider's control for months it was not what she expected to see. The people begging for food were not malnourished in the slightest, and the clothes everyone wore were still in great condition. Even the 'grime' itself looked painted on recently. What made all of these people act like this? In the end it wasn't just Tazuna at all, this was an incident on Konoha proportions, and Sakura was feeling very out of her depth.

She followed Tazuna into a market and placed her back against the wall. She leaned over and picked up a vegetable and examined it. The carrot itself was covered in a thick coat of wet dirt, but after a few wipes revealed a good quality vegetable.

Strange.

Sakura placed it back and followed Tazuna back outside. They were making their way back to Tazuna's house when she heard a shout.

"You're being deceived, it's all an illusion! Don't listen! Don't look!"

Sakura swiveled in place, and faced the sound.

The old man who spoke had seen better days. The hunched posture, ragged clothes, stringy hair, and wrinkled face was a sight to see when mixed with his jaundice complexion. If anyone here looked like they were impoverished, it was him. His bloodshot eyes locked with hers.

"You there stranger, get out while you still can! Before the man with the red eyes tries to trap you too."

He darted closer to her, his fingers twirling.

"He'll get you as they spin, and spin, and spin, but not me!" He froze.

"No illusion shall entrap me, it's a gift from the goddess! They'll get you and take you, just like they took him! Get out while you still can!"

He made to move closer, reaching out for her shoulders, when Sakura's sight was blocked.

Tazuna.

"Ugh, go home Toya! We don't need you bothering the shinobi I hired. Who let you out anyways? Go home, go on, get!" Tazuna pushed the man and he stumbled back.

"Heed my words stranger, or he'll get you." Toya slunk away.

Sakura narrowed her eyes, at first glance he seemed crazy, but there was something in his words... it seemed truthful. The question being, how much? She needed to find him again... was he like her?

Tazuna's cough drew her attention back to him. He adjusted his hat and gave her a sheepish smile.

"Sorry about that Shinobi-chan, don't mind old man Toya. He went crazy after he was the only survivor of a shipwreck and he...hasn't been well since. Raving about being saved by a Goddess but that's a whole lot of crap if you ask me, pay him no mind."

"Again, it's Sakura. I will take your words into consideration." And only consideration. After all, Tazuna was part of the incident too.

"Right, Sakura. Let's head back now shall we?"

.

Sakura sat between her teammates as they had dinner, at her rightful spot at the end of the table. Like usual the Burning was ever present, which made her give a light tap to Naruto. Sakura frowned, the amount of times she needed to tap him have increased, and she wasn't sure why. Sakura ate another bite of fish and savored the flavor, Tsunami really was a great cook.

After a short while she noticed movement on the stairs, and saw Tsunami pulling a sulking boy down them. That must be Inari, seems like Tsunami got fed up with it in the end. Tsunami placed him at the table against his will and made him a plate. Inari glared once at his mom before forcibly eating a bite of fish.

The two idiots though, were starting to get on her nerves. Were they animals? The way they were shoveling food into their mouths made it seem like they forgot all human decency. Sakura slammed her bowl on the table and stared in disgust.

They froze.

Seeing Sakura's face Naruto turned a light pink and slowly resumed eating. Uchiha hunched over and turned away from her, though she noticed he slowed as well. She relaxed once more.

Much better.

Sakura continued to eat her dinner, letting her eyes resume their perusal from the morning. Her eyes spotted something and stopped.

A torn picture? That wasn't torn earlier.

Naruto followed Sakura's gaze and asked.

"Why is that picture torn, who's the guy with no face?"

Tense silence blanketed the room.

"My husband, he has passed on from this world." Tsunami answered, melancholy coloring her voice.

Inari abruptly stood and threw his plate.

"No he's not! My dad isn't dead, I saw him! I'm not crazy!" He cried out and ran from the room, his family sighed.

"He's still in denial." Tazuna explained, resuming his own meal.

Inari's words dug into her heart, and she unconsciously stood. She saw Naruto begin to rise and tapped him to sit back down.

"I'll go talk to him." She spoke and left the room.

Sakura looked around the house and saw the front door slightly ajar and went out. She spotted him at the water's edge and sat next to him.

"You here to tell me I'm wrong?" He said bitterly.

"No, I'm here to tell you I believe you." Sakura spoke honestly.

She would give him the words she never heard when it all started.

Sakura learns something new and pieces are starting to fall into place. Alright, this is the last one for tonight, more tomorrow. Thanks for reading!