Team 7 officially became Chūnin alongside Shikamaru. While Sakura understood that maybe they had the skills of a Chūnin, she knew the ability to lead a squad wasn't up to par for them. Part of her wondered if Tsunade did this to force the Uchiha clan elders to keep Sasuke under her orders. Truthfully, it was possible.
The other part wondered how much sway they had as a team. As freshly graduated genin, they not only passed the infamous Bell Test but also managed to snag them from Kakashi. They then managed to detain a Tailed Beast, though that was mostly through Naruto's determination rather than anything else. And it was their teamwork that allowed them to break Sasuke free of whatever was warping her mind.
Shisui and Itachi had stormed Orochimaru's hideout (they were tasked with following the young ninja and then pushing forward to locate Orochimaru)-- and managed to kill the retched snake while he was at his weakest point. Kabuto warned them that it wasn't the last that they'd see the Sannin and himself before slipping away. Fugaku was furious when he found out Kabuto had slipped away again, but became preoccupied with whoever messed with his son's mind.
And that was an issue Sakura's desperately trying to figure out with the help of Itachi and Shisui. Sasuke's memories weren't intact and Fugaku refused to allow his mind to be subjected to any mind jutsu. It's made it increasingly harder to figure everything out.
Sakura suspected Obito-- but the two older Uchiha were skeptical. If his Sharingan was so advanced, he shouldn't have been able to break free of it-- even with her help. It only made life in Konoha tense for everyone.
Naruto left with Jiraiya not even a month after they brought Sasuke back. She sent him off with a teary wave and made him promise to write often. Though, she knew it wouldn't be much different from how it was in her old life. Sending letters back and forth made Jiraiya uneasy so he only allowed Naruto to send her updates once every few months. Every letter had a little note from Jiraiya telling her not to reply.
Sasuke and Shisui left too.
She wasn't sure what she expected from the duo, but to take a year-long mission protecting the feudal lords was not it. Sasuke explained to her that it was more for his safety than anything.
Apparently, having Sasuke targeted twice by Orochimaru made Fugaku uneasy. Even with the snake being dead, his apprentice was very much alive and there was most likely an insider in Konoha aiding him. Fugaku wanted Sasuke to continue his training but also wanted him somewhere secluded with round the clock protection. Tsunade magically came up with a mission in need of a capable shinobi that didn't mind any extra help.
Shisui made her promise to continue her genjutsu training with Itachi. Sasuke made her promise that she wouldn't 'do anything stupid'.
Really, she felt very loved.
But she actually did listen to both boys. Everyday, she trained with Tsunade and spent time in the hospital, usually working late shifts. She started storing chakra as soon as Tsunade gave her permission to as well. For the days she wasn't at the hospital, she'd spend two hours with Itachi when he was available. If he wasn't, she allotted her free time to her friends for various types of trainings.
With Ino, it was a constant battle to ward off her clan's jutsu. It strengthened her resistance and bettered Ino's skill. They also practiced medical ninjutsu together-- this time Ino learned it to spend time with Sakura rather than a way to shirk off her clan duties.
With Lee, she bettered her taijutsu and strengthened her endurance. Neji and Tenten helped her master evasive maneuvers.
With Shikamaru, she discussed strategies and played shogi with him the rare times both were available. She still lost to him, a fact she was a bit bitter about considering she'd faced him dozens of times over the years in her old life. But what could she do? She was a genius-- not Nara genius.
And then there were the times like this-- the ones she spent with Mikoto.
"Sakura-chan, can you get the flour for me?" Mikoto called as she walked into the kitchen. She laughed but did as she was told.
"What if I had been a criminal?" Sakura asked as she handed the matriarch the flour.
Mikoto waved a single hand and continued measuring ingredients. "I may be retired, but I'm still a capable ninja. Plus, who else bothers to visit me while my sons and husband aren't home?"
"Izumi," Sakura pointed out and the matriarch considered it.
"Yes, I do suppose you are right," Mikoto admitted. "But Izumi-chan is usually on missions with her genins. You're my favorite by default."
"Because I'll get the flour for you?"
"Exactly," She replied with a grin, focusing on whatever was in the bowl. "I hear the boys should be arriving soon."
"Yeah, Sasuke-kun said they'd be traveling back a week ago," Sakura agreed.
His mission had gone slightly longer than anticipated. And by slightly longer, she meant almost an entire year was added onto his mission. They've been exchanging letters almost as often as she received word from Naruto-- which was maybe once every three months. Naruto's were really long to make up for the lack of them, whereas Sasuke's were short and to the point.
Oh, she missed them both desperately.
She'd say she missed Shisui but he actually popped into the village a handful of times during his mission. Or, a clone did. It was always conveniently during her training sessions with Itachi, where he would check up on her progress and then discuss with them the few developments they had.
"Those boys," Mikoto huffed, handing her the bowl and motioned for her to sit it on the counter and stir it as she added eggs to the mixture. "They really know how to worry a mother, don't they? I've been stocking up on what I need to make their favorites for weeks now."
"At least we have a general idea of when they're coming home," Sakura offered, helping Mikoto add most ingredients. "Naruto hasn't been able to send me anything for a while now. I doubt he's coming home for another few months."
"That poor child," Mikoto commented, pausing for a moment. "He's spent so much time with Jiraiya-san. I hope the. . . bad habits of his sensei don't rub off on Naruto. Though, he's a lot like his mother, so I'm sure he'll handle it well."
"Naruto's mother?" Sakura asked, watching Mikoto carefully control her expression as she went back to cooking. "What was she like?"
"Impulsive," Mikoto answered with a short laugh. "And fearless-- well, except for a few things. But she was always loud as a kid. It was a wonder we got along as well as we did."
Sakura stopped in surprise. "You were friends with Naruto's mother?"
Mikoto nodded, a sad smile forming on her features as she took the bowl and set it aside so they could work on something else. "She was my best friend, actually. Don't tell Naruto, but I wanted to adopt him when everything happened."
"You weren't allowed to," Sakura figured out and Mikoto remained passive. "I know Naruto's the Kyuubi Junchūriki."
At this, Mikoto turned to her in surprise. "You know about that?"
Sakura nodded. "I've known for a while now, actually. And I know how. . . people's perspectives might have become had you adopted Naruto. But, it's okay. You basically ended up adopting him regardless."
The matriarch laughed, uncovering a bowl of rice. "Yes, it seems it was fate."
Briefly, Sakura thought of her old life, where it was in fact the fate of both her boys to be orphans. Maybe this was fate. Maybe this wasn't but she forced it to be.
They began making onigiri. Sakura listened to Mikoto's stories about Naruto's mother, who she knew just a bit about. Naruto had shown her a picture Tsunade passed to him after the Pain invasion. Kushina was gorgeous and after he met her during his training to control the Kyuubi, Sakura was informed all about her.
Sakura just hoped Naruto would get to meet his parents in this life, no matter how brief it was.
They heard the door open and Mikoto hurried to greet her husband, while Sakura continued making the rice balls. When the pair entered the kitchen, Sakura tilted her head in respect and somehow managed to keep any grains of rice from falling as she did so.
"Tsunade doesn't have you at the hospital today?" Fugaku inquired, taking a seat while Mikoto set down a cup of tea.
"She gave me the day off from training and work," Sakura answered with a frown. "And she never does that. Usually, it's one or the other."
"Perhaps she knew I'd need your help preparing dinner," Mikoto suggested in a light tone, picking up where she left off with the rice.
"I'll be sure to thank her, then," Fugaku answered, causing Sakura to look back quizzically. When he elected to drink his tea rather than elaborate, Sakura went back to her rice balls. The two girls chatted away and not before long, dinner was ready.
She felt familiar chakra appear outside the home, her attention drawn to it immediately. Fugaku waved her forward and she set down the plates down in its proper place before hurrying to the front door.
"Shisui-nii-chan!" Sakura exclaimed after she slid the door open, throwing her arms around the older Uchiha. She felt the glare of another Uchiha when he finally appeared but she didn't loosen her grip.
Serves him right-- he made her wait so she'd make him wait.
"Who knew you would miss me so much, imouto?" Shisui joked, letting her go. "You're still so short!"
She punched his shoulder lightly, making him dramatically exclaim that he was wounded. And then, her gaze settled on the other Uchiha who arrived just a few seconds later.
Sakura almost broke down in tears at the sight of him. For so many reasons. She's missed him immensely, of course. But this was also a Sasuke she never quite got to see. He wasn't the more mature version she was met with at Orochimaru's hideout in her old life. But he also wasn't the newly dubbed Chūnin she waved goodbye to.
This Sasuke was totally new to her. But still so devastatingly handsome. He looked like he was holding back a smile, but she saw the warmth in his eyes. She may not have known Sasuke at this stage of his life before, but she would always know who Sasuke was at his core.
Before Sasuke could say anything to deter her, she launched her arms around his neck- what surprised her was how quickly he recovered from the action. He overcame his slight shock and wrapped his arms tightly around her figure, the smallest chuckle escaping him.
"You were always so emotional," He commented, his voice muffled by her hair. She tore herself out of his grip to point an accusing finger in his face. He looked both surprised and amused.
"You were gone for almost two years!" She yelled, ignoring the tears that inevitably fell from her eyes. She was so damn happy. "I prepared myself for a year without you and Naruto! Not two! I have the right to be emotional! Damn it, Sasuke-kun, I missed you!"
Sasuke let himself smile just a bit at her ridiculous dramatics before he was engulfed in his mother's arms. She watched as the family reunited, Fugaku greeting his son with a mere acknowledgement before stating that he'd hear about the results of Sasuke's training later that night. When Mikoto stopped fussing over the boys, she clapped her hands and said dinner was ready for them an disappeared inside. Shisui ruffled her hair before disappearing after Mikoto and Fugaku.
She smiled at her dearly missed teammate, gesturing for him to go ahead of her. And he did step forward, but he stopped and reached towards her face. Her cheeks grew scarlet when he quickly wiped the tears off her cheeks, muttering that she hadn't changed much.
"I missed you too," He told her quietly, before walking into the house. She stood there frozen for a moment before she hurried in behind him. It took a couple of deep breathes as they walked to the kitchen for her to control the massive blush on her features.
The dinner was almost the same as Uchiha dinner had been before both her boys left. A bit less dramatic but still lively with conversation. Sakura couldn't help the wide grin that never seemed to leave her face. After dinner, Mikoto and Sakura cleaned up and were preparing tea when someone knocked on the door outside.
She already knew it was for her and excused herself from the kitchen to answer it. When she opened the door, it revealed an ANBU. Sasuke appeared beside her, a scowl on his face when the ninja pointedly focused on her.
"Haruno-san, you're needed for an emergency procedure at the hospital," He said, handing a scroll to her before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
She frowned, opening the scroll and started to read its contents. When Sasuke leaned over to read it with her, she pulled it closely to her chest.
"Sorry, Sasuke-kun, this is classified," She apologized, but his frown only deepened. Even Shisui's lighthearted joke about doctor-patient confidentiality fell on deaf ears.
"Why'd they summon you?" He questioned, though she knew he wasn't dismissing her skills. It was more like. . . asking why it had to be her.
"Sakura-chan is one of the head medics," Mikoto said, the pride in her tone tinged with sadness. "She gets summoned much more often on her days off than one would think."
"Not much of a day off," Fugaku noted calmly. "No matter, it gives me more time to hear about your training results, Sasuke."
"Sorry," She said again, this time to the entire family. She bit her lip, trying not to let her worry become noticeable. "I have to go. Now."
She spared one last look at Sasuke, who's expression hardened, before she took off for the hospital.
This was a patient she's has for almost two years now. She's been working with him ever since she mastered chakra control and basic medical ninjutsu. Because he, like everyone in her life, was incredibly stubborn and almost demanded she leave it be.
And if there was one thing Sakura excelled at, it was bossing people around. She won in the end.
When she arrived at the hospital, she was given a clipboard and room number. She traveled to the third floor of the hospital and knocked once before she heard the strained call for her to come in.
She came in quietly, shutting the door and activated the seal built within the room. ANBU cases remained confidential at all costs. And this particular ANBU didn't need his nosey little brother overhearing things he shouldn't.
"Itachi-nii," Sakura greeted in a soothing tone, though they could both hear the sliver of disapproval in her tone. "Your blood cells are rather delicate nowadays. What did you do?"
"Tracked down another one of Orochimaru's hideouts," He answered weakly. His skin looked rather pale, the lights around him not doing anything to help his image. "I found evidence he may still be alive."
"That isn't surprising," She said, setting the clipboard down on the bedside table before running a chakra-laden hand over his chest. Her frown only grew worse. "He's obsessed with immortality. You have to expect that he's developed ways to extend his life no matter what happens to him."
"How bad has it gotten?" Itachi asked, watching her carefully as she examined him.
"The stress is causing your blood cells to become inflamed and burst," She informed him, allowing her chakra to soothe the cells individually. This was the tedious part about this particular auto-immune disease.
She would individually heal each of his damaged cells and strengthen the formation of a cell membrane. These treatments, along with medicine, slowed the disease down considerably. But it was still a rare mutation that made it difficult to cure. If this were her old life, she would assume it was terminal with no hope of curing. That Itachi probably avoided medics and only swallowed a pill every so often to help him stay alive.
But this Itachi has been receiving weekly treatments to his cells, when he could. Otherwise, it was as soon as he could get back home. His condition was normally much better than this, but she assumed he exerted too much energy and relief on his eyes too much.
She just needed to buy herself time while she figured out why his immune system was misfiring. It's been a question that's stumped her for almost as long as her question about what happened to Sasuke just before he left with Shisui.
"You used it, didn't you?" Sakura asked, though she knew the answer. Her one hand came to cover his eyes, the trauma evident in the deterioration of the cells.
About a year ago, Itachi thought Izumi had been killed in a landslide. It was rare for the two to be on a mission together, but he was her jounin team's escort. An ambush led to half of the team falling victim to the sudden explosion that dropped the side of a mountain onto them.
Itachi thought he saw Izumi die and awakened his mangekyo sharingan. There were now four Uchiha's with that particular sharingan unlocked. Funnily enough, it almost outweighed the number of sharingan users after the police station was destroyed.
"The situation called for it," Itachi said hoarsely. "It takes much more use to become blind from the mangekyo."
"That doesn't mean I intend to let any of your cells go untreated," She told him fiercely, gently pulling her hand from his head. "Thank you for allowing me to even heal them."
"My eyes are not the first you've treated within my family," He reminded her and she smiled. Technically, his were the first eyes she healed. She just decided to neglect to inform him that his eyes were the ones Sasuke had.
The Uchiha bloodline trait was odd, to say the least.
"Sasuke-kun in my old life was incredibly reckless," She said. "You're at least smarter about your usage. But, I did get a lot of practice with him."
They made a bit more small talk-- particularly about the dinner his emergency healing session interrupted-- and the rest of the time went by smoothly. While she was confident she could cure the disease in time, that didn't mean it wouldn't complicate itself to a point where neither her nor Tsunade could heal.
It was fatal in her old life-- or she assumed it was from the little bit Sasuke revealed about fighting his brother. It had been a more dismissive, 'He was also deathly ill.' that he added on bitterly during a particularly difficult conversation that Team 7 had.
It wasn't so extreme in this one, yet, but that was mostly due to the late emergence of his mangekyo and her incessant healing sessions. Once she determined why there was a misfire in his immune system, she could heal it easily. She just had to figure it out.
If she didn't and Tsunade couldn't, Itachi may not live to be 25. And he was only twenty now-- he had been eighteen when it first appeared. Much too young to be saddled with a disease like this, even if it was middle aged for shinobi.
"Will you tell them?" Sakura asked as they left the hospital.
"It would unnecessarily worry them," Itachi dismissed and she only frowned.
"Not afraid Shisui will steal your medical records?" Sakura questioned, her teasing slightly strained at the memory. Now that she was back to being a full-fledged medical ninja and second in command of the hospital, the entire incident with Shisui left her irritated.
"Haven't you implemented seals around the medical records and taken cautionary measure?" Itachi asked with a raised eyebrow.
She waved his question away. "Don't you go turning this back on me. I've dealt with your family for far too long to fall for something like that."
"I'll tell them if a complication arises," He compromised, stopping at the dango stall they normally frequented. It was a bit late, but fortunately the server recognized them and gave them a package almost as soon as they walked up.
"I've made progress, if it's any consolation," She said, thinking back to the dozens of scrolls currently crowding her bedroom floor. "On that research and the genjutsu we've been practicing."
"It's one I hope you never have to use," He said seriously, though she could see the pride in his smile as he handed her one of the dango stick. "I'm impressed with your ability to almost replicate sharingan developed genjutsus. Was that a skill you had before?"
She shook her head. "I never had a teacher really. I think my extensive knowledge on your clan's abilities give me a one up over other genjutsu users, if I'm being honest. If I didn't understand the science behind it, I don't know if I'd pick it up as well."
Sakura sat down at the bench they usually did, taking a bite when she felt a rather subtle chakra signature start to approach them. At least, unlike last time, he wasn't hiding in a tree line. He was walking straight to them.
"Still, it's rather impressive," Itachi concluded. "It's almost like you were destined to become an Uchiha. Isn't that right, little brother?"
"I'd expect a comment like that from Shisui-nii, not you," Sakura grumbled, before looking up at her teammate with the slightest blush rising on her cheeks. Thankfully, the sun was almost totally set.
"It's nice to see you too," Sasuke replied dryly. "I was actually going to the hospital to talk to you, Sakura. Your medical emergency is over, I assume?"
"He'll be okay for now," She nodded, eating a bit more of her dessert. "What did you want to talk to me about?"
He merely nodded to his side and she understood.
"Tell your mother I'll see her tomorrow to finish that cup of tea," She told Itachi, who smiled in turn. "And thank you for the dango."
"It's the least I can do for you, Sakura-chan," He responded. "I believe Izumi will be over tomorrow as well, so you'll be able to see her. She's been asking how you are."
"I'll be sure to bring her favorite, then," Sakura nodded and got up to take her place by Sasuke's side.
He wasn't as tall as the Sasuke she fought in the war with, but he was certainly getting there.
"Walking anywhere in particular?" She asked as they resumed a slow pace.
"Somewhere quiet," He answered, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
"Let's go to the training grounds," Sakura suggested. "They're usually deserted by now."
Sasuke nodded and they headed to the training ground where they were first given the bell test.