"How is she?" Kakashi asked him. Sasuke shook his head. "I thought so."

He pocketed the ninja star he had been spinning around his finger and rolled up the scroll he had been studying. This has been his routine whenever someone came to visit while he was studying.

Sasuke looked at his idiotic pink-haired teammate. She had taken a hit meant for them as if it were some sort of payback for when he look a hit for her. He had to catch her and everything seemed to just get worse.

Gaara had transformed into an enormous monster-- the One-Tailed Beast, if he heard Itachi correctly. And he wanted to get Sakura out of there but couldn't just leave Naruto so he was almost thankful when Shisui came after Naruto summoned this huge toad.

He handed Sakura to Shisui, giving him a rundown of what had happened. And from the way his cousin blanched and cursed, he assumed that Sakura hadn't told them everything about her injury. That fact alone made Sasuke furious.

Before Sasuke could question his cousin, Shisui disappeared with a promise to send Itachi as soon as he could. His brother found him after the Suna trio left and helped him lug his teammate to the hospital. Naruto only had to spend a day in the place, getting patched up and released for the Hokage's funeral.

Apparently, while they were fighting a huge monster, Orochimaru killed the Hokage. The same freak that targeted him during the exams. Naruto got to go and pay his respects. Whereas Sakura was in the hospital, in what he would call a coma. Itachi corrected him and said that it wasn't exactly a coma because Sakura was still responsive-- she muttered odd things every so often and sometimes her features scrunched together in pain.

She just wouldn't wake up. It had been three weeks. Naruto left with Jiraiya to find the next Hokage-- who was apparently Sakura's idol. The famous med-nin that Sakura gushed about was going to be the next Hokage. His mother also mentioned the fact that Sakura explicitly stated she would only let Senju Tsunade heal her brain.

Sasuke would have gone with the idiot if he knew it would quicken the mission. But this was Jiraiya and there was a reason Naruto called him Pervy-sage. He had to count on the idiot to not let his teacher get sidetracked with certain entertainment venues. Sakura's health depended on it.

"Just wanted to check on her," Kakashi said walking over and placing a hand on her forehead. "I can't train you tonight. They're sending me on a mission."

"Fine," Sasuke accepted, almost thankful that his brother and cousin had been pulled off the active-missions list for a while now. He knew it was so they could work on whoever was behind the police station attack, but they were both home every night. It was nice; he had someone to train with whenever he came home.

"By the way, they're choosing Chūnin soon," Kakashi told him, taking his hand back and walking back towards the door. "I'm recommending you two. And Naruto if Jiraiya agrees."

"You think we're ready to be captains?" Sasuke questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"I think the three of you have outgrown D and easy C missions," Kakashi answered. "Though, I'll be recommending you all as a unit."

Sasuke's head snapped away from Sakura and to his sensei. "A unit?"

Kakashi nodded. "You've all grown since your first test. Seamless teamwork is difficult for seasoned shinobi and yet you three are almost at that level. Of course, you all need a little polishing on your own, but bringing you together will be more beneficial than separating you."

Sasuke saw the underlying meaning about the recommendation; apparently Kakashi was aware that the Uchiha elders were attempting to remove Sasuke from Team 7. He shouldn't be surprised so he just nodded instead.

"Thank you."

Kakashi raised a hand before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Sasuke didn't even get the chance to readjust to an empty room, well empty besides Sakura, as Shisui appeared on the other side of the bed.

"They're back," He announced, glancing down at Sakura with a frown. He placed a gentle hand on her forehead. Sasuke didn't hide his grimace at the gesture. "Naruto is dragging Tsunade-sama into the hospital now."

"Really?" Sasuke sat up straighter, catching the teasing glint in his cousin's eyes so he continued before Shisui could utter anything about his behavior. "Don't look at me like that."

"Don't look so jealous, then," Shisui quipped, pulling his hand away from Sakura and crossed his arms.

"Why do you like Sakura so much?" Sasuke questioned, trying not to sound as annoyed as he usually was when thinking about how snuggly Sakura fit in with every member of his family. Especially with his brother and cousin. Mostly his cousin.

"Unlike you, Sasu-chan, I actually like to talk to people," Shisui replied smugly. "And she reminded me of this girl my cousin would bring to the compound from time to time when I first met her."

"That answers nothing," Sasuke pointed out dully.

Sasuke watched his cousin smile softly at Sakura, before looking back at him. "She's the little sister I never got to have. Though, if I don't play my cards right, I won't be alive to see her become my sister-in-law."

"What?"

"Sasuke!" A familiar and overly irritating voice yelled as he opened the door. Naruto's face brightened as he caught sight of him. "Good! You're here!"

"Why did you hell my name if you didn't know if I was here or not?" Sasuke hissed, shoving the boy away when he bounded around the bed to pull him up from his chair. "I'm going to murder you."

"I was hoping you'd be here," Naruto responded with a wide grin, before his demeanor calmed down as he looked at their teammate. "She looks so. . . sad."

"She's been unconscious for three weeks, idiot," Sasuke scoffed, causing Naruto's features to contort with temporary anger.

"I know that!" He said loudly, but then looked back to Sakura and his voice dropped in volume. "But. . . Sakura-chan's always smiling when I think of her. Or angry. Not, not like this."

"Well, if you move away from the poor girl, maybe I can fix that!" A woman snapped and that's when Sasuke remembered that Naruto was bringing Sakura's idol to Konoha. The woman made a disapproving noise and gestured to Shisui and Sasuke.

"I don't even want to know why this girl is surrounded by Uchiha's," She said, moving towards the bed and placing glowing hands onto Sakura's head.

Naruto and Sasuke stayed by their teammate's bedside until Tsunade threatened to break every bone in their body if they continued to hover. And because they grew up with Sakura, they didn't second question the threat and did as they were told.

Sasuke almost didn't notice Itachi come up besides Shisui, whispering to each other behind held up hands.

"What did you do to this poor girl?" Tsunade muttered, glaring at all the boys in the room. "She's suffered much more than a concussion, Naruto."

"What do you mean?" Shisui asked, sharing a concerned look with Itachi when Tsunade sighed. She looked at his brother and cousin, some hidden message behind the woman's harsh stare.

"Mother wanted you two home now," Itachi said suddenly, locking his gaze with Sasuke's.

Sasuke didn't like it. In fact, he hated it. Because this was Sakura they were discussing. And she was their teammate. She was-- she was Sakura.

But Sasuke knew the look in his brother's eyes. It was the one he wore whenever he came back from particularly haunted missions and he couldn't say anything to him. It meant that whatever was about to be spoken was not something he should know.

And that pissed him off. Because his brother and cousin knew, but he didn't. Naruto didn't. They were the ones closest to her. So, what was so important that they couldn't know? And why did Itachi and Shisui know?

Was it something in her medical records? Was he getting angry over something that Shisui found without her permission? And his cousin was taking her threats seriously about disclosing patient information to the point where it excluded them?

"What?" Naruto exclaimed, pointing at Itachi. "But we're her best friends! We're family! I brought Baa-chan here, ya know! Why can't we stay?"

"C'mon," Sasuke said before anyone else could respond. When Naruto started to protest, he grabbed the collar of his jumpsuit and started to drag him away.

"Oi! Teme! Not you too!" Naruto howled as he pulled him out of the room, ignoring his brother and cousin.

He stopped only to close the door and Tsunade demanded to know what happened to Sakura. He heard the way she emphasized "The truth."

Sasuke pulled them away and barely caught what his brother said. A single word.

"Gōhō."

The effects of karma? Inevitable retribution? How in the hell did that explain anything? How did either of those relate to Sakura of all people?

Sasuke had to endure Naruto's complaining all the way to the compound. At the very least, Itachi wasn't lying. His mother was expecting them. And maybe she knew they would be in a bad mood because she had ramen for Naruto and his favorite onigiri ready for when they walked in.

"Gōhō," Itachi stated bluntly. Shisui watched as the older woman's features scrunched together. He heard her curse and then look down at Sakura with what he thought was compassion.

"Portions of her cells began to deteriorate," She told them in a clinical tone. "Naruto said she had a concussion two months ago? And that she refused to let anyone heal her?"

"Yes," Itachi confirmed. "She reacted poorly to any sort of chakra fluctuations after that. She was hospitalized a little over a month ago after the second Chūnin exam."

"She's a smart kid," Tsunade noted seriously, though her frown only deepened. She pulled her hands away and looked at the two boys. "She probably saved herself from permanent brain damage, if I'm correct. And about this stuff-- I always am."

"What do you mean she saved herself?" Shisui asked, thinking back to her medical file. "She insisted she was fine. Now, she's practically in a coma and you're telling us her brain cells are deteriorating? How is that saving herself?"

"Sakura, right?" Tsunade said, continuing when they nodded. "Well, whatever complication she's experienced left portions of her brain imbalanced. Some are consistent with her age, others seem far more mature than they should be. It seems like her brain barely adjusted to it and functioned properly with little hitches. She probably experienced difficulties growing up when training, though."

Shisui thought back to the few times Sakura got overly frustrated and berated herself for not being able to do something when she was younger. She accepted it in stride after a short period of time, but he remembered how angry she had been when she couldn't sharpen her chakra control enough to create a genjutsu.

Sakura had been eight at the time and was learning genjutsu from a Sharingan user. He always wondered why she got frustrated with herself when he was teaching her difficult things-- until he found out she was from the future. Things made more sense after that.

"And when she sustained serious damage from the concussion, it sent her imbalanced brain into overdrive," Tsunade continued. "It frazzled her individual nerves in specific areas and cracked the chakra pathways in her head. Healing something like this can only be done by me. Hell, I'd be a bit nervous handing a task like this to my assistant, who's the second most advanced medic in the entire shinobi world."

"Should we be concerned the hospital found nothing about this?" Shisui questioned.

He sort of knew about the deteriorating cells. His eyes picked up on small details in the scan that just looked a bit off. Sakura had explained it all using very confusing medical jargon that he only understood partially. But she had promised she put in preventive measures in the meantime and that everything would be fine after the Chūnin Exams.

"It's rather difficult to detect something like this through imaging," Tsunade shrugged. "Normal eyes can't pick up on details like your clan can. But, anyway, this kid picked up on it herself. It looks like she's applied just enough chakra to every deteriorating cell and crack in her chakra pathway to isolate the issues. I'd assume something like that would be impossible for a genin, but here we are. She's even got it set so it stays even when she's unconscious. That's quite a feat."

"If she hadn't done all of that?" Itachi asked.

"She could have died or suffered serious brain damage," Tsunade answered bluntly. "And because she was refusing help, it means she knew how serious the problem was. Had she let the doctors here attempt to heal it, even if she guided them through the process, the marginal chance at full recovery comes to about 3%."

"I'm never going to trust a word that girl says again," Shisui said in disbelief. "She goes on rants that she's perfectly fine and that it's nothing to worry about-- but she could have died. She was risking her own brain on a gamble."

"Heh, I like this kid even more," Tsunade grinned.

Itachi placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "We shouldn't doubt Sakura-chan. She knew exactly what was happening and how to proceed. Will she make a full recovery?"

"Now that I'm here?" Tsunade said thoughtfully, looking back down at Sakura. "She'll be completely fine. After I'm done healing her and she wakes up, send her to me. I want to talk to this kid."

"There will be things-" Itachi started to warn the woman but she waved him off.

"Just because I left the ninja life years ago does not mean I forgot the codes of our village," She told them. "I understand that the. . . complication is need to know and she'll probably end up telling me at some point. But she's got skill. And without her body literally rejecting her attempts to strengthen herself, she might just become a better medic than I am."

"You got that from a single reading?" Itachi asked, his tone more curious than doubtful.

"It's not hard to see my work in what she managed to heal and isolate," Tsunade admitted, throwing them a glance when they both grew stoic. "She's tweaked it a bit, made it her own, but I can read how she learned to do it. When you're a great medic, you can read other's healing patterns. It's similar to great shinobi who can clearly read their opponents moves."

Tsunade sighed, looking back at Sakura and then to them. "Get out. For Uchiha's, you're both pretty bearable to be around but I'm starting to suffocate in here. And I've got my work cut out for me, even if it's partially been done already. I'll have Shizune notify her parents and the head of your clan when she's in the clear."

The boys took their leave, silently vanishing from the room.

"Hey billboard brow!" Ino shouted, pointing a rather smug finger at her forehead. "Didn't expect to see you here. Thought they'd flunk a pathetic excuse for a ninja like you."

"Well, whoever decided you could stay, I'd like to thank them," Sakura responded with false sweetness, grinning at her old friend. "By letting you pass, I get the chance to wail on you and get praised for it."

"Billboard brow!"

"Ino-pig!"

The girls swapped insults for another minute or so before turning their backs to one another.

"Good luck, billboard brow."

"Good luck, pig."

Sakura was in pain. She felt the wiring in her brain snap into place, the frayed portions slowly melding back together. She wanted to flinch but could only managed to scrunch her features together.

"Ne, ne, Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, barging into the Hokage's office. "We have to go!"

"It's nice to see you too, Naruto," Tsunade commented from the side, throwing Sakura a look of pity. "You're excused."

Sakura bid her sensei goodbye, a tad too excited to be concerned over proper greetings and such.

"Do you think it'll work?" Sakura asked her best friend, as they walked out of the building.

"It's gotta!" He exclaimed. "I spent all night thinking of this plan! All. Night. Man, Sakura-chan, I'm so tired."

"But not tired enough to delay the plan, right?"

"Never! Operation: Get Kakashi's Mask Off.2 is underway!"

She hit him on the head and hissed, "Be quiet!"

"Hehe, sorry, Sakura-chan."

The process felt like it was taking forever. She didn't understand what was going on. Everything in her memory felt jumbled and she wasn't even sure which reality she was in.

"You're good at that," Sasuke commented, not bothering to move from his spot against the cave wall as she healed Naruto.

"Thanks, Sasuke-kun," She replied, willingly herself not to tear up.

She was already emotional because Naruto almost died again and now Sasuke was complimenting her on the very thing she's dedicated herself to since she was thirteen. It just wasn't fair.

"Why a medic?" He asked, and while she might have questioned his motivation months ago, she knew these small questions were his way of getting to know them again.

They were few and far between, these moments, but she cherished them nonetheless.

"I wanted to become strong," She told him truthfully. "So I went to the strongest person in the village and requested that she train me. Medical ninjutsu was the first step in getting stronger."

Sasuke made a noise of approval, satisfied with her answer.

"It was also to find you, even if you didn't want to be found at the time."

Sasuke didn't bother to say anything at first, but she saw the internal conflict from a single look in his eyes.

"Helping people suits you," He decided on, the conversation ending after that.

It was okay. She was now content with it too.

Sakura opened her eyes first. The lights overtook her entire field of vision and she blinked a few times before things started to separate. Her hearing was muffled until she tried to focus, and then the voice became distinctive.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked cautiously, watching her with wide eyes as she pushed herself onto her elbows.

She blinked a few more times, lifting her head to see her best friend bouncing on his heals . "Naruto?"

"Sakura-chan!" He threw himself at her, wrapping his arms around her. It was almost too much all at once, but she figured he had been restraining himself from doing that since she opened her eyes. "Sasuke's going to be so mad-- his shift starts in an hour. Ha! I got to talk to you first!"

"What?" She asked, aware of her groggy tone.

Naruto pulled back, sitting on the edge of her bed and he helped her sit up. "We've been taking shifts, ya know. Tsunade-baa-chan healed you up a day ago so we've been swapping on and off so someone was here when you woke up."

"Hold on, Naruto," She paused, gathering her bearings and she slowly processed the fact that she was in the hospital. "What happened?"

Hearing this, Naruto's eyes somehow got even bigger and he launched into the story. He told her about Gaara, her being hospitalized, Sandaime's funeral, his journey to find Tsunade, and finally how her old master came in and healed her.

"Tsunade-sama?" Sakura repeated after he finished.

"They said you refused to let anyone else heal you," He shrugged, a cheeky grin forming as he continued. "So I just went out and got her to come heal you. Pretty awesome, right?"

"Bet you needed a new trick to manage that," She replied with a small smile. "Unless you're telling me you won her over with your shadow clones and dreams of being Hokage."

"Well, that's part of it, Sakura-chan," He said, rubbing the back of his head. "I did learn a super cool jutsu, though! I'll show you when you're discharged!"

"Do you know when that'll be?" Sakura asked, jumping a little when the door opened. It looked like her senses were still a bit off-- she didn't even feel the chakra signature.

"Naruto, stop yelling at Sakura and hoping she'll wake up," Sasuke said in annoyance. "If she wakes up with ruptured eardrums, I won't stop her from killing you-" He paused after he closed the door, actually taking in the scene before him.

His eyes locked on hers and he was too shocked to continue making threats on her behalf.

"Hi, Sasuke-kun," She whispered and he rolled his eyes.

"Of course, you'd wake up when the dobe was here."

"You're just jealous!"

Sakura sighed. "Naruto."

"Oh, sorry, Sakura-chan," He apologized, then amended his volume. "You're just jealous."

Sasuke looked unimpressed and sat down in the chair to her left.

"My cousin is pissed at you," He told her and she shrugged.

"He cares and it's sort of sweet. Are you mad at me?"

"Oh, we're both furious," Sasuke assured her, earning a supportive nod from Naruto. "But you get a free pass until you're out of the hospital."

"And after that, Sakura-chan, we will never let you take a hit for us again."

"You can have our backs by healing our wounds when you become a medic," Sasuke added. "But until then, don't be an idiot."

"Sasuke, that's a little mean."

"He's a little mad," Sakura defended him. She didn't have the energy right now to fight them on this decision of theirs.

And she saw the seriousness in both of her boys' eyes. Naruto's held a determination so similar to when he promised that he would get stronger so he could bring Sasuke home in her old life.

And Sasuke's fierce gaze was so painstakingly familiar in this life, and she only saw it sparingly in her old life. That Sasuke rarely let her see his face when he decided something-- he had been afraid she'd see right through him and make him hesitate even more so. This Sasuke was different. He held her stare and wasn't afraid to show her that he fully meant his words.

Her boys-- forever wanting to protect her. She just had to ensure what happened in her old life didn't repeat because they were overprotective fools.

"But okay." She decided.