I present the next chapter! Enjoy.

Sakura will forever be surrounded by idiots. She glanced at the shinobi in the room around her, the proof sitting right there. It was a cold hard truth that she had come to realize over the years, and one she had struggled to accept. It's just, she thought medics were supposed to be smart, why did all of these wannabes put in zero effort before signing up for the classes? How hard was it to pick up a book and read it? You should know what blood cells are!

Honestly, these people.

It took all of Sakura's patience to wait the week for testing after she got Kakashi-sensei's approval, and these medics were treating it like it was a daily trip to the grocery store. Sakura and her fellow shinobi had just finished taking the placement exam, and the questions coming out of their mouths regarding the test made it hard for her to keep a straight face.

'You are a genius in your own right Sakura, don't be too hard on them.'

'It's not genius Inner, its called curiosity and discipline. They could have prepared for the exam but they didn't, and that's all on them.'

'You are the exception, not everyone has an iron will and memory like you.'

'Well they should try harder.'

'Sakura.'

'No! I'm not budging on this Inner, when I'm with my team I have no mental stimulation except for the rare time I get Kakashi-sensei all to myself. I had really hoped I could have found an outlet here, but they are worse than Uchiha and Naruto combined! They could get people killed for their stupidity.'

'Anyone can get someone killed due to stupidity Sakura. Give them a break, they aren't real medics yet. If they complete the course and they are still inadequate, then you can say whatever you want.'

Sakura grumbled laying her head on the desk.

'Fine, but I won't hold back when the time comes.'

'And I won't stop you, just remember why you're here and stay focused.'

'The Burning, I know.'

'And your teammates.'

'Yeah that too.'

The medic hopefuls stayed in the classroom waiting for the results of the placement. They were already there for an hour, and Sakura was really starting to wonder what was taking so long. There weren't that many of them who took the test, maybe about ten or so, which shocked her more than their stupidity. Sakura may not be completely politically aware about shinobi matters, considering she had a civilian background, but she read history books. It wasn't hard to see that they had three shinobi wars in the past. One would think that since there were so many in a short period of time, that they would take a more active approach at recruiting and retaining medics. It wouldn't surprise Sakura if a war broke out in the next ten years or so, that's just the way the world worked it seemed.

She continued to muse on the topic when she heard a door slide open. In walked the panel of doctors that gave the test earlier. The oldest one out of the group stepped forward, leafing through the pages in his hands. Absentmindedly he pushed up his glasses and pulled out one specific paper. He skimmed the contents before he spoke.

"Haruno Sakura, please come to the front and follow Dr. Higurashi for additional testing."

Sakura stood up from her seat, ignoring the hushed whispering of the rabble. Was she being advanced? It would make sense, she was above the rest of these fools. Sakura followed the blue-haired woman out into the hallway to a room a few doors down. Inside was a table, a coffee and tea station, as well as various magazines.

She was testing in a break room? Seriously?

The woman gestured for her to sit down at one side of the table as she sat down on the other. She coughed once before sliding a packet over to her.

"My apologies Haruno-san about the location, I'm afraid all of the other rooms we would use for testing are unavailable at the moment."

"I understand, but why was I pulled for additional testing?"

"Ah, there has been a disagreement among the doctors running the program concerning your test scores. Some are convinced you cheated so we decided to give you a different exam."

Sakura refrained from rolling her eyes. She didn't need to cheat to pass, the questions were laughably easy.

"I will just get started then." She picked up the pen and went to work, it didn't take her long to finish.

Sakura watched the older woman scan through the packet, her face expressionless. After a while she nodded once before standing to leave the room, packet in hand.

"Wait here while we discuss the results, feel free to help yourself to some refreshments in the meantime."

Prepared to be alone for a while, Sakura explored the room with a cup of green tea. There really wasn't much to see, so she took a couple of magazines and sat back down. Most of them were boring, or filled with facts she already knew, but there were a couple that caught her eye. One was on herbal remedies, and the other was a narrative on a smuggling ring. The herbal remedies one was informative, touched on various key plants in a variety of climates so she was glad she read it, but her attention was really stolen by the other story. It was interesting, the smugglers covered up their operation by convincing the local population that there was a vengeful spirit in the caves near the village. The villagers were required to leave offerings whenever they heard loud noises, which was really just a cover up for the underground tunnel they were digging to transport stolen goods. Konoha shinobi broke the smuggling ring once they were hired, and the spirit turned out to be a harmless genjutsu in the end.

"Haruno-san?"

Sakura glanced up from the magazine in her hands, she was so absorbed in the contents she didn't hear the door slide open. She really needed to work on that, maybe Kakashi-sensei would be willing to give her a few pointers. Sakura stood up and returned the magazines.

"Follow me."

Sakura placed her cup in the sink and walked out the door following Dr. Higurashi. They walked through a few corridors before the woman ushered Sakura into an office. Inside were the doctors she saw in the testing room. She went and stood in front of the desk.

"Thank you for your cooperation Haruno-san, I am Dr. Sato, the current head doctor of Konoha's hospital. The panel and I have graded your exams and I will admit the the results were astonishing." Dr. Sato spoke, passing her the exam results. Sakura glanced down at the papers and saw what she expected, full marks.

"They are what I figured they would be, I have been studying for a while now." She said dismissively, putting the tests back on the desk.

"Well they took us by surprise, it would be a waste of talent to leave you in the beginner classes, but we currently don't have any advanced ones in progress. In the meantime, we will have you mentor under Dr. Higurashi until the next session begins."

"Thank you for the opportunity." Sakura bowed. She was confident not ungrateful.

"Just to be clear you will be under a mentorship, not an apprenticeship with Dr. Higurashi, which means you will be following her schedule. So don't be surprised to find yourself in the hospital most days. Now to better understand your roll under her, we will be doing a chakra control test. Dr. Higurashi, could you please explain." He waved over the woman from earlier.

"Haruno-san, I am going to be checking your current chakra levels. Afterwards you will perform a series of chakra control exercises, and then I will examine your levels once more. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Dr. Higurashi."

"You may call me Higurashi-sensei. I will not be an official teacher but I will pass along what I know."

"Thank you Higurashi-sensei."

"I will begin now."

Higurashi-sensei placed a palm on Sakura's shoulder and measured her levels. It was a warm feeling, a welcomed one compared to the Burning, and Sakura was slightly disappointed when she pulled her hand away. She pulled out a marble and passed it to Sakura.

"I want you to take this marble and move it around your body using chakra. Start from your head and move it to both arms, your stomach, back, and both legs. If you are able to succeed, we will increase the number of marbles. Are you ready to begin?"

"Yes Sensei."

Sakura placed the marble on her forehead and attached it with chakra. This exercise was similar to the leaf one they did at the Academy, though she could see how it was more difficult. The smooth surface on the marble would make it harder to attach when compared to a leaf, and moving an object would be unheard off for most people.

Sakura wasn't most people.

It was funny how simple it was, maybe it was all the chakra suppression training she did when she was younger, but it was too easy. Was this a trick? Sakura was able to complete the circuit for one marble quickly. She held out her hand for another marble, the results were the same. Three through seven marbles were still on the trivial side. Eight, nine, and ten made her concentrate more but it was doable.

"Is this the second coming of Tsunade-sama?" Sakura heard a quiet voice speak from the side before a loud smack echoed after.

"Don't say that! Are you trying to make her leave the village?"

"No, but you didn't need to hit me for it."

" Yes I did, I won't let you put bad energy on us."

"Fine, but I'm taking your pudding."

"Haruno-san you may stop now." Sakura stopped her eavesdropping and brought all of the marbles back to her hand. Once the marbles were collected Higurashi-sensei tested her chakra levels once more. She faced towards Dr. Sato and stepped back.

"Ninety-ninth percentile, having perfect chakra control is something I can see her achieving in the future."

The room that was mostly silent earlier erupted in conversation.

"Good, good, . You may escort Haruno-san out now and discuss the terms of your mentorship." Dr. Sato dismissed them with a smile and brought the room back into order.

Higurashi-sensei and Sakura walked back towards the front of the hospital.

"Haruno-san, since you are still on a genin team we will only meet twice a week, though I expect you to train and practice the material I will teach you on your own time. We will have our first lesson three days from now. I will be in touch with your Sensei regarding a schedule. Before we meet again I want you to catch ten live fish and bring them to our next lesson, make sure you take care of them. We are done for today, you may leave."

Sakura bowed to the stoic woman and left the hospital excited. She was finally beginning the journey to get rid of the Burning.

But, why did she need to bring fish?

.

Sakura saw a figure standing outside her house and smiled, it seemed Naruto could still keep his promises. Naruto had been meeting up daily with her since their team picture, and she was already seeing progress in the genjutsu Kakashi-sensei taught her. It just sucked that every time she went to ask Sensei a question she had to remind him he taught her it in the first place, just another incident to record. Sakura touched the folded paper in the pouch on her hip, grateful she was able to get a copy of her medic class sign ups. She had a feeling she will be flashing Sensei that paper with his signature on it every time she had to leave.

Sakura waved at the clone and pointed to her backyard. The clone gave her two thumbs up and headed to the back. She stuck her head inside to let her mother know she was home before joining him.

"Are you ready Naruto?"

"Believe it Sakura-chan! You're going down!"

"For your sake, I hope you're right. Let me prep the field." Sakura started running through the hand signs Kakashi-sensei taught her.

"Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Jutsu!" Sage, she couldn't wait until she no longer had to say it out loud, but it will take a while before she feels comfortable using it, It was a C-rank after all. Sakura felt the genjutsu wash over her like a summer breeze, the Burning finally masked. The illusion settled over the surrounding area and it held, perfect.

She really was great, wasn't she?

'Sakura.'

'Right, focusing.'

"Huh? Where did you go Sakura-chan?"

Naruto picked up a stick and looked around in caution. His gaze narrowed in on a bush she purposefully made look off and approached it. Oh Naruto, he should really use his brain. Sakura wasn't going to use the same tactics she used in the last spar again. Really, who did he think she was, lazy Nara? No, this time Sakura did something a bit different, she used the false surroundings jutsu to make it look like she disappeared by overlaying the surroundings behind her to be in front of her. It worked like she thought it would, considering she knew her backyard like her own hand, so copying that image wasn't an issue. Too bad she could only hold it in place while standing still, but there had to be a jutsu out there that allowed for movement. Still, it would work if she had to treat someone stationary and that was good enough for Sakura.

For now.

She waited for the clone to turn its back on her before she sprinted in unsteadily with a burst of chakra. She had been experimenting lately now that the Burning was somewhat under control, but she couldn't do it too much since her medical training only just started. She raised a fist and punched the blonde in the back of the head, sending him down to the ground.

Oh that felt good, perhaps she was taijutsu inclined?

'You do like punching things, so that would make a lot of sense.'

'Shush, no one asked you.'

'Then stop asking yourself rhetorical questions, I am here.'

'Who is the dominate and smart one between us? I'll give you a hint, it's me.'

'Oh wow I never could have figured that out on my own, since you're so humble and all.'

'Oh shut it.'

'Hehehe.'

Sakura let the genjutsu drop and stumbled, biting back the urge to grunt as the Burning hit her full force. Pushing through it Sakura approached Naruto and helped him up. He knocked shoulders with her.

"Ugh you got me this time Sakura-chan, but you won't get me next time. Let's go again!"

"Don't think the results will change so quickly. I know your are helping me practice, but just remember in the field if you notice something off you flare your chakra."

A blush appeared on the clone's cheeks.

"Ah, I did forget that, hehe. Thanks Sakura-chan you're the best!"

"I know I am, ready?"

He grinned.

Sakura got into her stance when she heard a voice call out to her from inside the house.

"Sakura-chan! My cute little flower, I'm home!"

Dad? Sakura relaxed.

"Sorry Naruto, my Dad got home early from his trip. Same time tomorrow?"

"Believe it! And when I win you owe me ramen!"

"Ha, unlikely. Thanks again Naruto."

Naruto gave a smile before bursting into smoke. Sakura turned to find her father watching from the kitchen window, a frown on his face. Not that look, she wasn't in the mood for a lecture. Sakura went to the back door and bracing herself she opened it and stepped in. She took off her sandals and headed to the kitchen.

"Welcome home Dad." Sakura said as she gave him a hug.

"Thanks sweetheart, I'm glad to be home." Kizashi held her close and kissed her head.

"But, who was that?" Sakura glanced up at the question.

"A clone of my teammate Naruto, we were training."

"A teammate?"

"You think I'm lying?" Sakura felt her frustration build.

"No no... its just, its not the first time you've been deceived." Kizashi tried to placate her.

It didn't work.

"Dad, I wasn't lying back then and I'm not lying now. I really did have a brother! Ren! Haruno Ren! It wasn't someone pretending to be family to kidnap me like you think it was. He was my brother, I had a brother. " She gripped his shirt as she tried to prevent the tears from falling.

She's not lying, she had a brother. Her whole childhood wasn't a lie. The things she learned from him wasn't a lie, and the way he would hold her in his arms and tell her she was the most important thing in the world wasn't a lie! He was a Haruno, who told her that she could be anything, do anything she wanted because she was one too. His little hime-sama, part of the best family in Konoha.

It wasn't all a lie.

Sakura felt two palms hold her cheeks gently. She looked up at her father and saw a look of worry and helplessness on his face. His thumbs wiped the tears that managed to escape.

"Sakura honey I never meant to upset you, but you are my only child who I love immensely. I don't know what stranger you hung out with in the village, but I can see that you care for him deeply enough to view him as a brother, and that's enough for me. I believe he is a brother to you, so please don't cry." Kizashi ran his fingers through her hair in a soothing manner.

He still didn't get it, Ren was her real big bro, not a fake one, yet his words managed to calm her back down. Despite not having memories of Ren left he still believed Sakura to an extent, or at least he was trying to. He only threatened to move the family from Konoha once, and that was only after their first big fight. He was trying and that was enough, but one day she hoped he would remember, because Haruno Ren wasn't someone who was coming back anymore.

If she forgot then he was truly dead.

Sakura sniffled a few times before speaking.

"Naruto really is my teammate, Dad. I have my team picture if you need proof."

"I don't need to see it, I trust you." Her chest warmed.

"Now, I was in the middle of making dinner. Why don't you give your old man a hand?"

"Ok Dad."

Dinner that night had a peaceful air to it. The heart to heart the father-daughter pair had improved their relationship more than Sakura expected, the awkward tenseness that would show up at times was gone. She had always loved her father, don't get her wrong, but now there was one less wall between them.

"Dear, any interesting stories from your time in the caravan?" Mebuki asked as she handed out drinks to her husband and Sakura.

"Oh nothing other than the usual, though I did hear something interesting. You know Gato Shipping Company? Apparently the fool thought it was a bright idea to kidnap the beloved concubine of the Land of Tea's Daimyo. Got himself arrested and thrown in jail, awaiting execution. Good riddance, he was not a good man."

"Not everyone can be as smart as us Dad."

"Maybe just you and I Sakura, I'm not sure about your Father."

"Mebuki!"

Sakura laughed as her parents settled into their usual quips. She hoped things would stay like this forever, but there was always a part of her that was worried. Worried because she used to think like this when she was younger too, when they were a family of four and not three.

Would she be forgotten?

.

After dinner Sakura excused herself and went upstairs to get ready for bed and some downtime. After she washed Sakura spent some time reading about genjutsu, hoping that she could find some ways to fine tune what she knew.

'Sakura, you know your Father loves you right?'

Sakura rubbed her eyes and glanced at the clock, she lost track of time.

'I know.'

'Maybe so, but the love a parent has for their children is special. It makes them do crazy things.'

'What, you have personal experience or something?'

'Hmm, I just wanted to make sure you knew.'

'Yeah, I know.'

'Sha?'

'Na'rro.'

'Good night Sakura.'

'Good night Inner.'

Sakura finally gets her medic classes and a family reunion happens. Thanks for reading!