It was mid-afternoon when Kakashi woke up in a hospital bed, looking up at the ceiling from his uncovered eye, wondering how he got there. He tried to get up, but a hand stopped him. He looked to his side to see Sakura looking at his medical chart while she had a hand on his shoulder. "You need to rest, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said absentmindedly, peeling her eyes away from the documents after she scribbled something down on them, returning them to the bed's footboard.

"What happened? How long was I out?" the man asked, observing the young teen while getting comfortable in bed, somehow sore from head to toe.

"Chakra exhaustion…"

"Chakra exhaustion?"

Sakura got a chair and sat at his bedside, explaining what she knew about Naruto's Kabaneri. Well, what she had pieced together from what he told her. "From Naruto's jutsu, Iron Fortress. Apparently, it's a jutsu that targets the chakra network in the bodies of humans in a certain area of effect… he says that everyone in that area cannot use their chakra." Sakura said remembering their plan for a team-based test, in honesty, they had three plans depending on the objective. She frowned thinking that she was going with the flow when it came to today.

"You both have improved a lot in the last two and half years," Kakashi said with an eye smile under his mask. "I really should have heeded Jiraiya-sama's warning about you three. Honestly, I am very proud of the two of you. I wish that I could have been there for you more in the last three years. I should have paid more attention to all of you… maybe the three of you wouldn't have had to go to the Sannin."

The teen did not know what to say, on one side this was one of her teachers giving her all due praise for hers and Naruto's hard work, on the other hand, that same teacher was putting himself down for not doing a good enough job. It was weird, it was very strange to her that he was not giving himself that much credit when she could speak for herself here when he was one of the reasons that she wanted to become a better Kunoichi. Hatake Kakashi was one of the shinobi that she looked up to, in a word he was one of her heroes after graduation. "You are not giving yourself much credit sensei. I can't say much about how…" She paused, frowning, thinking about a certain Uchiha before smiling when Uzumaki Naruto's image came to mind. 'Maybe it's time… I'm sorry.' She thought returning to her train of thought. "Sasuke… how he feels, but both me and Naruto are glad and honored to have had you as a Genin sensei, sensei." She finished with a smile.

"Well, thank you for saying so," Kakashi said, fighting the clear fluid that threatened to release from his eyes. "I'm… proud to be a teacher for you two." He said as Sakura stood from her seat.

Moving to the bare room's entrance Sakura was in the same state thinking of the Genin squad the two were a part of. She was thinking of the distance between her and her fellow students, she was stronger for sure, but… but she felt like she had not grown at all mentally in the last two and half years. Thinking about how different Naruto was in the same amount of time had her scared at how much the genius of their year had changed after seeing what the dunce in the same year, Naruto was capable of, given that she had not seen his peak yet. No, he was far stronger from what she saw. "I have to make my rounds… I will come back to check up on you later, sensei. So get some rest, yeah?"

"Yeah…" Kakashi responded with a covered frown when he saw that her smile changed to one that had not reached her eyes.

After leaving the room Sakura's knees gave out under her. She was not ready for the last two days, she was not prepared to confront her own decision making, her feelings for her former teammates, and she was not ready for what this Naruto brought with him. "What have I been doing for all these years?" She questioned herself as her hands found themselves on her face. "I am such an idiot…" She finished feeling something wet on her palms.

(…)

"All done!" Tayuya announced while exiting from Naruto's apartment to the two Anbu from earlier flanked by Naruto. She was in a blue long-sleeve shirt and a pair of black trousers that the Anbu procured for her, her hair featured the two left-side braids that Naruto had done up for her, the symbol of the Uzumaki on the same side's shirt sleeve. Putting her wrist out in front of her with a massive grin for the male/female pair as Naruto locked the door behind him. "You can take me in now, is the food good here? I am fucking starving." She asked, Naruto joining her side.

The female Anbu, Tiger, cocked her head at the question. Was the rogue Kunoichi turning herself in or something? That could be dangerous with how the formerly hype-active Naruto looked. Her purple hair brushed against her turtle neck as she looked between Naruto and her partner Dragon who gave her a nod, the two of them getting out of the teenagers' way. "There's no need for that miss, as long as a Leaf shinobi accompanies you the Hokage says you are free to act as a civilian in Konoha, on orders from the Godaime," Tiger said, trying to keep neutral in her tone.

"Ha…" Tayuya vocalized nudging Naruto in the side, confused that an enemy would be shown such kindness. The Tsunade she knew was more calculating than that, even if she and Naruto were friendly with each other she still took part in the Godaime's master's death. She wasn't one to not look a gift horse in the mouth, she wouldn't be in this position in the first place if she was one of those people, so she decided that it was best just to go with it for now. Tayuya wasn't about to rob Naruto of a home. "Ain't I lucky. Are you sure that's ok?" Tayuya asked more to confirm that this was not some honey trap of some kind.

Dragon was the one to answer. The tallest of the four chuckled from under the mask of his namesake, raising two fingers. "It's fine as long as you remember these two things. One, don't commit any serious crimes punishable by the law." He lowered one finger. "And two, don't leave Konoha, and you have to come back to these apartments by 21:00," Dragon confirmed with Tayuya lowering his hand.

Tayuya scoffed at the final condition, it appeared that she now had a curfew. "Is that all?..." She rolled her eyes. "My first curfew."

"Were you expecting something more?" Tiger quipped.

"No, that's fine." Tayuya started walking away. "Come Naru. I want to have some of this famous Ichiraku of yours." She finished motioning for Naruto to join her.

Naruto sighed, getting a giggle from Tiger at the tired look from him. "Long day? After that Yamanaka and the attitude on that one, you have your hands full don't you?" She spoke from a smug and friendly place.

"You have no idea, thank you by the way," Naruto said, not moving from his spot.

"For what?" Tiger responded confused.

It was now time for Naruto to chuckle, he knew who she was from her chakra alone. She was a woman that he was very thankful for from his original world, his favorite 'older sister' and in a way a former master and sibling student. "I wonder…" Naruto answered, starting to follow after Tayuya. "I will see you later, Anko-nee."

"Ha…" Anko vocalized in her confusion. "'Nee' huh? I guess I left a good impression from that one meeting." She said, moving the big cat mask on her face so it rested on the top of her head and turning it to look at Dragon. "Say Yamato, can you take the kid… if you have to?" She asked, curious.

Dragon, Yamato, took one look at Naruto who had caught up and was talking with Tayuya shivering at his presence. "If I took him by surprise maybe? But if he was with that girl or if his passenger acted I would lose. I don't know... they seemed relaxed, but they were both on their guard, and they were ready to jump into action at a moment's notice. They seemed to be comfortable with each other to do so."

"That's what I was afraid of, the strong ones that give themselves up willingly are always the worst," Anko said, lowering her mask on her face.

"Oh…" The two shinobi were taken out of their conversation with Naruto poking his head from behind the wall across the hall from them. "Anko-nee! If you ever want that thing gone," he said, pointing at a point of his own neck. "Come find me anytime." He finished disappearing around that wall. Anko looked at Yamato who offered her a shrug in return.