Sakura stared at the Yamanaka in front of her, a frown worrying her features. The table between them was scuffed and ugly and she was picking at the marks with irritated jabs.

"You know, refusal to cooperate is actually a negative mark on the record," the man commented, studying his nails in faux-disinterest. He looked at her lazily, his blue, pupilless eyes boring into hers before she looked away. "I get paid either way."

"What do you mean 'a negative mark?'" She asked suspiciously, her lip curling in irritation.

He heaved sh a put-upon sigh. "Half of the point of these meetings is to make sure you're an effective shinobi at the end of the day. It doesn't matter what we go through to get you back to top shape, what matters is you get to top shape."

She continued to pick at the table. Her nails were no longer manicured and perfect like when she began her kuoichi career. They were dirty and her fingertips were callused. "Are you saying I'm not in top shape anymore?"

"On paper, you're stronger than ever. Also on paper? You're the least emotionally balanced you've ever been and on your last excursion you functioned as a liability because of that." His bored demeanor was gone and now she had all of his attention.

'Liability.'

The word echoed in her head like an ugly gong. She'd known she was a liability when Gaara crushed her against the side of the tree and even in Wave Country when she'd been relegated to guard duty because of her physical limitations.

That she would be called a liability for impulsive behavior was not something she thought she'd ever have to deal with. That wasn't who she was, was it?

Sakura ignored the hot prickling at the corner of her eyes and imagined crumpling the feeling up and shoving it into a cupboard somewhere in the back of her mind. It felt like it clicked into place, held by something else and then it lifted off of her conscience.

"So do you want to work through these problems and get better or not?" He asked. His pen was in his hand.

"What happens if I say no?" She asked in irritation, folding her arms across her chest.

He folded his arms across his chest, too, and she wanted to roll her eyes. "It could go two ways. You score well enough to get back out there and you get a comrade killed. Or you score poorly and you end up a paper ninja and you don't leave the village."

Sakura's stomach felt sour at that. She couldn't wring the life out of a snake she couldn't catch. "Alright, fine. I'll cooperate then."

She was grateful to be working with anyone other than Inoichi. It made it easier to lie.

Every time a shadow passed his door, Sasuke felt his heart rate skip a beat. Sweat would form at the nape of his neck and he felt queasy.

Whatever had happened the night before left him wrung out and sapped. It was still incredibly difficult to move his body and everything felt blurred and awful.

When Shizune came for her morning rounds like she usually did, Sasuke's heart was pounding so hard he could feel it in the vein on the side of his neck like a hammer.

He pretended to be asleep, shame rendering him unable to meet her gaze. He'd never felt so weak and helpless. He hadn't decided what to do yet about Kabuto's proposition. The power was tempting but he felt incredibly violated and unsettled by the blatant threat to his team's safety.

Shizune pressed a hand to his forehead, hissing before pulling the hand back. "Sasuke-kun?"

He cracked an eye open, then shut it again when the light of her penlight immediately scoured into his retina.

"Open up, please, you're not well and I need to check your vitals," she commanded. She was leaning in close and Sasuke could smell her ylangylang perfume. His mother had had some of those bushes in their backyard.

Shizune was writing things down on a clipboard. She looked worried.

"Y-You," he began. His voice was raspy. "Jiraiya…"

Talking took so much energy he couldn't fathom continuing. His eyes slipped shut and he leaned back. His muscles were aching like he'd been sucked dry of all his chakra.

"He's supposed to leave in a few hours on classified business." She finished writing his vitals in his clipboard. "Somehow the blockades failed and—"

"Please." His head was pounding. He opened his eyes and tried to convey with a look all that he wanted to say. "Jiraiya."

Shizune stared at him for a moment, her lips parted as she reasoned with herself. Then she clicked her tongue and nodded, standing up straight. "Please wait, then, Sasuke-kun. I'll see what I can do."

Naruto cackled to himself as he crawled out of the hole Kakashi had buried him in. "I can't believe you got me so easy, sensei!"

"I can't believe you still think you can sneak up on me after the first time you tried that," Kakashi quipped, patting Naruto affectionately on the head. Plumes of dust water into the air with each pat.

"How can you tell so easily where I am?" Naruto whined, crossing his arms and pouting.

Kakashi started walking over to the targets and Naruto trotted after him. "Well for starters, you have the finesse of a goat, bleating and stomping all over as you fight."

Naruto frowned and nodded to himself.

"You also might consider bathing a little bit more frequently, kid. I have an especially strong nose but if you ever want Sakura-chan to actually say yes to a date you'll have to work on how you present yourself. Girls don't like stinky boys."

Naruto stared at him with an open mouth for a beat until he recovered and spit out a retort with his hands on his hips. "Yeah, but you probably smell like your dogs sometimes, Kaka-sensei! What about that?"

Kakashi chuckled.

"I neither smell nor have trouble with the ladies, Naruto, so you're just going to have to trust me." Kakashi flicked a shuriken at one of the targets. "Now get back to work I want to visit Sasuke before I head out on my next mission."

Naruto nodded and threw a shuriken at one of the targets. "I do," he affirmed. He missed the way that Kakashi's face softened when he heard the honesty in the short statement.

"What happened, kid?" Jiraiya asked. His voice sounded like gravel on pavement.

Sasuke studied Jiraiya's features. He was looking, praying even for a reason to not trust him and to run off to power that seemed so easy and attainable. If he trusted Jiraiya, that meant friendship which always included pain in his experience. But if he went with Orochimaru it would be all pain and hopefully power to overcome deeper, more personal pain.

But as he studied Jiraiya's face, he only found kindness. It reminded him of his mother and how fiercely she'd spoken to him and Itachi about the Will of Fire and what it meant to be a part of the Leaf Village. It was still possible to honour the family here.

"Orochimaru… He sent someone." It was laborious to get the words out. "He did something."

Jiraiya's face was like stone now, the softness gone. "The ANBU don't report anything unusual. The machines don't have unusual readings except a slight hiccup in your heartbeat once last night and a few times today."

Sasuke tried to sit up, needing to feel the control of sitting in a defensible position. It felt like his whole body was one big Charlie-horse "They offered… a deal…"

Jiraiya's eyes were narrowed at him in a vicious way that sent a chill down the boy's spine. He didn't want to end up on the wrong side of the battlefield from this man. "What kind of deal?"

"Power." Sasuke stopped to swallow. His throat was dry. "2 days from now…"

The last Uchiha's heart was thundering in his chest and the vein in his neck felt like it would fly off of his body if it wasn't trapped beneath skin. He could hear the beeping of the machine next to him reflecting his inner reality.

"And you intend to stay loyal, then?" Jiraiya asked with a smirk. He held a hand to his own chin, tapping his index finger against his cheek.

Sasuke nodded, somehow feeling embarrassed. He studied his own hands, resting on top of his sheets. He couldn't remember when he'd acquired all the scars around his knuckles. How much more would happen to his body without his approval if he went along with that slimy creep Kabuto?

"He threatened my… the team," Sasuke said eventually. It felt hard to say with his throat so tight; whether it was from emotional or physical discomfort he could not tell.

Tears welled at the banks of his eyelids and he scowled, looking away from the older man. He felt foolish, weak. Any time he felt this deep grief of loss, the image of his brother's Sharingan swirled to life in his mind and he was terrified to hurt like he had in his youth.

Jiraiya's hand settled on his shoulder and Sasuke closed his eyes, unable to look at his mentor. "Look at me, kid."

Sasuke sighed and lifted his head. Jiraiya smirked at him. "We're gonna take care of it. The only thing to figure out is how. I'll talk with Tsunade-hime and Kakashi and see what needs to be done."

He let himself relax a little at that. Something felt bubbly in his chest, but he was unable to determine the emotion.

Jiraiya ruffled his hair and turned to leave. "Don't talk to your teammates about anything yet. No point stressing them out with only a handful of details."

Sasuke nodded and then Jiraiya was gone. He leaned back against his pillows, suddenly exhausted. He slipped off to sleep without any problems and didn't dream at all.

I know this is short. I'm feeling a bit stuck even though I know how I want this to go. It felt a bit clunky, so I'm just gonna put this out for y'all and move on. I wrote this while I was recovering from a sprained ankle from wrecking my moto in Cambodia. It hurts being stupid. Unfortunately for you all, I was not particularly feeling inspired by the walls of my hotel room. I've winced healed, but have a team in and so I'm going to be busy for the next two weeks. Hoping I feel more inspired when I have more time to work on fun projects. 3