Sakura returned to the library every day and had conversed with the librarian a few times. She was thankful that the blue haired woman had stopped treating her like a baby and had actually started using Sakura's name rather than 'sweetie' and 'darling'.

Sakura had just entered the library and was expecting to hear Manami's usual cheerful greeting but stopped in her tracks when no such thing came. She turned to look at the desk Manami-san was usually in and was mildly surprised to see a man sitting in her place.

'Where is Manami and who is he? Also, why does he have a long needle in his mouth?' she wondered.

'He is Shiranui Genma, a shinobi and an elite bodyguard to the Hokage. In his genin days he was put on a team with Might Guy and Ebisu. The needle in his mouth is called a senbon it is a ninja weapon.' The voice chimed in.

'…..'

'What? You wanted to know who he is. Cha!'

'I'm not going to ask where or how you got that information.'

Ignoring the voices outraged screams Sakura walked up to the man and cleared her throat.

Genma looked up from the book he was reading when he heard someone clear their throat. He frowned when he didn't see anyone.

"Probably Shisui or someone playing a prank on me. Honestly I wouldn't be stuck with this stupid punishment if it wasn't for him leading me towards the bath-house." He muttered under his breath.

Sakura frowned, "Shouldn't you have realised where this 'Shisui' person was leading you shinobi-san?"

Genmas' eyes widened when he heard the childish voice. He leaned forward on his chair and looked down to see a pair of large, emerald eyes blinking up at him.

'How did she come so close to me without me hearing her?' He thought as he tried to compose himself and save whatever dignity he had left.

"Oh, hello there little one. What can I do for ya?" He yawned lazily.

The girl looked unimpressed. 'Are all shinobi this underwhelming?' she wondered.

'Cha! I hope not!'

"I was just wondering where Manami-san is?" She asked innocently.

"Oh, she's having….. a vacation." He said lamely, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

'Lie, he apparently damaged the bath-house and so his punishment was to work in the library for a month.' The voice supplied.

'..Again, not going to ask.'

"Ok, thank you shinobi-san!" Sakura smiled sweetly and trotted off into the maze of books and scrolls.

Genma waved goodbye to the kid before leaning back in his seat and preparing to continue reading his romance novel when something struck him, 'Wait, how did that kid know that I'm a ninja?'

Sakura kept walking until she found the book she had been looking for, 'Aha! There it is!' she thought as she grabbed the book.

She sat down at a wooden desk and read the title, 'Psychology for Big Brains'. She opened the book to the contents page and slid her finger down the list of chapter until she reached one called 'Voices in my mind'.

'Perfect.' She smirked. She hadn't really bothered to ask anyone about the voice she could hear but now that she could read she had come up with the idea of looking for a book on the subject, she was just lucky that her parents had finally allowed her to walk to the library on her own. 'Maybe now I could finally get rid of the annoying voice in my mind!'

'Cha! What's the big idea? Don't you know how useful I am?' The voice roared. 'Plus I'm not some kind of second personality!'

'You sure about that?' Sakura had given up on not conversing with the voice.

'Of course I am! Cha!'

'And what proof to support your claim do you have?'

'I can give you information about anything and anyone! Cha! Plus all you have to do is look at the title of a book and I can memorise the whole thing!' The voice shouted.

'.. You can really do that?' Sakura asked flabbergasted. It was hard to believe and she was fully aware that the voice could be lying but with what happened earlier with the Genma guy, she was finding it harder to come up with things that could make a good argument against the voice.

'If you think I'm lying I can prove to you that I'm not! Cha!' The voice said confidently. 'You see that old lady sitting over in that corner?' Sakura's eyes drifted over to the old lady who was reading a newspaper.

'Her name is Koharu Fujiwara, she comes here every week to honor the memory of her late husband who died thirty years ago on a infiltration mission.' Sakura's eyes widened as she watched a tear roll down the old woman's face. 'Also, can you see the silver locket she has round her neck? Inside is a picture of her and her husband. Ever since he died she had to raise their three children by herself. Her children's names are Kokoro, Kiaria and Hideo. Hideo is a chunin ranked shinobi and is currently away on a mission. Kokoro has a daughter and is currently pregnant with her second child. Kiara works in school, would you like me to go continue?' Sakura blinked several times in silent shock. All that information seemed far too detailed for the voice to have made up but then that meant that all this was true. She decided to stop thinking about the topic for much longer since her head began to hurt.

She took a deep breath and said, "Ok, I believe you."

'Cha! Finally! You're really hard to convince. In fact I'm surprised you didn't go over to the old lady and ask her about everything I said!'

'Dramatic but ok.'

'Cha! Now that you finally believe in me why don't you enter your mindscape and talk to me face to face?' The voice suggested.

'I can do that?'

'Yup! Now hurry up, cha!'

'Ok, but how exactly do I enter my mindscape?'

'Well I think it would be better if we went somewhere else that is more secluded.'

'Ok. How about the place in the woods I discovered yesterday?'

'That would work!' the voice said joyfully. Sakura closed the book and put it back where she found it before exiting the library and walking towards the training grounds. Once she reached the training grounds she turned left and followed a dirt path through the woods. After a short while the path ended but Sakura continued on in the same direction. Eventually she reached a small clearing in the woods. It was surrounded by tall trees (as most of Konoha was) and the grass was a lush green that matched the leaves. Sunlight peaked through the top of the trees and shone down into the middle of the clearing creating a stunning look.

'Ok, first step is to sit down and meditate.' The voice instructed. Sakura sat down in the middle of the clearing crossed legged with her hands resting in her lap. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, clearing her mind. Her mind faded away and she suddenly became aware of her surroundings: creatures scuttling around; leaves blowing in the gentle breeze; birds chirping in nearby trees. She felt her body completely relax as her breathing slowed.

'Ok, open your eyes!'

Sakura's eyes fluttered open and she examined the space around her.

'What is this place?' She hoped desperately that she hadn't been tricked for she now found herself surrounded by pitch black. Although funnily enough, she could see herself clearly.

"This, is your mindscape! Cha!" The voice said from behind her. Sakura jumped before quickly standing up and turning around, only for her eyes to widen as she stared at a copy of herself. It looked as if someone had gotten a blackboard and had drawn her with a white piece of chalk. The figure was identical to her, all her features and clothing were the same the only difference being the kanji on the figures forehead.

"Inner Sakura?" She read aloud. The figure grinned at her.

"Yup! This is me! I believe you called me 'The voice'?"

Sakura was too shocked for words so she just nodded in response.

"I suppose you're going to call me Inner Sakura from now on huh?"

"E-erm, how about I call you Inner instead?" Sakura suggested coming out of her shock.

"Sure, that sounds cool! Like a nickname, cha!" Inner said excitedly, "I'll call you Outer then ok?"

"Yeah, sounds good! Although I do have one question." Inner raised an eyebrow signalling for Sakura to continue. "If you already had a name then how come you didn't tell me?"

"Well, firstly I found it amusing how you called me the voice. Secondly, I kind of only became aware of my name when you started communicating with me more. Cha!"

"Ok then," Sakura said, "Do you know how I can exit my mindscape?"

"Just close your eyes and try that, if it doesn't work I'll just kick you out!" Inner said happily.

"Ok then." Sakura closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. After a few moments she was going to give up when she felt a gentle breeze hit her body. Her eyes flew open as Inner yelled in triumph.

'Well at least we know how that works,' Sakura thought as she stood up from where she had been sitting.

'Cha! We're the best!'

'We should probably go home. Mama said she and papa had something to tell me.'

'Sounds good! Let's go, cha!'

Sakura made her way home chatting with Inner the whole time. The whole thing seemed crazy but she couldn't help but like the fact that she had a friend who would always be with her. She didn't have any other friends her age since they all teased her for her big forehead and her pink hair but she just ignored them.

"Saku-chan, there you are!" Her mother greeted her.

"Hello Princess!" Her father picked her up in a hug as he kissed her cheek.

"Dinner is almost ready, we're having rice and fish with some carrots and peas on the side." Mebuki said as she entered the kitchen.

Kizashi put his daughter down and Sakura rushed into her seat at the kitchen table. She had been talking with Inner for longer then she had realised.

When the food was ready Kizashi helped his wife serve the food before they all happily dug in.

'I love food!' Inner drooled. Sakura's only reaction was her wrinkled nose.

"Is the food alright Saku-chan?" Her mother asked concerned.

Sakura snapped out of her daze and hastily replied with a no.

"Princess your mother and I need to talk to you about something." Kizashi said.

"What is it?"

"We have a business trip in two days. We will be going to the Wave country for two months accompanied by a team of chunin." He explained.

Sakura face scrunched up in confusion, "Then who will look after me?" It wasn't that she needed anyone to look after her. It just wasn't normal for four year olds to be left alone on their own for two months.

"We've arranged for the neighbor to check in on you every few hours. You know how to cook so she won't need to do that for you. If you need any money then ask her, we'll pay her back once we return. We just wanted to make sure you were alright with all this." He said.

"Yep, I'm okay with it, I'll miss you guys." She said as she gave her parents a big hug.