Class was out early today so that everyone would be able to attend one of the country's most important ceremonies: the inauguration of the next Hokage: The Godaime.

Sakura stayed at the edges of the large crowd, lingering away from others and taking refuge in the shadow of the weapon's shop. The Sandaime was giving a speech about Konoha and how it was a great Hidden Village that needed a great leader to lead them forward even more so than they already were. Mito's journal was kept between her folders, bookmarked on the explanation of how she managed to seal all of the Kyuubi within herself, by herself.

Mito's work was her heaven-sent. Here, she would have a reason to regaining her Yin seal. She had already begun the process of collecting chakra in two places on her body; the center of her forehead and the base of her spine above the tailbone. That way, she'd have even more of an expansive chakra reserve to dip into. With her past experiences and her knowledge of the technique, she deduced that it would take her at least an entire year to build them up enough to where they'd start showing. Of course, this meant that she would have to not use chakra on a normal basis if she wanted to pull this off smoothly.

So stamina taijutsu training it was.

Up on the Hokage Tower, Dan stepped into view. Once he arrived at the railing, he regarded the sea of people with a wide smile. His voice boomed over the vast audience for a while before they erupted into applause and cheers.

There wasn't anything wrong with him taking up the position, it just... Sakura didn't know how to feel about it. That was Tsunade's spot he was taking and she had yet to discover how his morals were aligned. What changes would be made to Konoha's policies? How different were the genin teams going to be arranged, or, would there be anything that would change?

Too many questions swirled uncomfortably in her mind and she didn't like the state it left her in. The other changes of this timeline were doable, for they didn't necessarily sway personalities or attitudes. She knew her and Sasori would alter the course to make for a better future, but she didn't want to speculate too much on things they couldn't control—and she hated that.

She suddenly felt a prickly feeling at the back of her neck.

Sakura's eyes snapped above her to scan the ledges and rooftops for any sign of life. There would be tons of ANBU lurking, no doubt, to act as security measures for the ceremony. But that didn't give an excuse as to why one of them kept their eyes on her longer than necessary. Now feeling unsafe, she slipped from her cover beside the building to walk the alleyways towards her home.

::

Kakashi's eyes narrowed as he stood on the other side of the building from where he kept his post. His porcelain dog mask kept strapped to his face, hiding the constant inscrutable nature of his expression. But even this time he couldn't help but shift his jaw and glance back to where he once was.

The girl saw him.

That little, no-name Academy student knew he was there.

That was impossible. Should someone like her exist, he thought that all upper-ranked shinobi should've been informed of her. And from the looks of it, she didn't come from any well-known shinobi family. If she were, then he was assured he would've caught wind of her one way or another. Unless they were keeping her off the radar?

He silently flickered back to that girl's previous location after he was sure she had left. He knew that she wasn't supposed to be any of his concern, and that he was here for one reason and one reason only, but...

Kakashi looked to the Hokage Tower. The ceremony had just ended, leaving him to report back his findings to his superior.

He then looked the direction the girl left.

...

His superior could wait. Just this once.

Driven by suspicion, Kakashi took to the rooftops and trailed after her. The girl took an unusual route of alleys and backlots to reach the civilian sector and enter one of the apartment complexes. He watched her from a far off distance, letting a frown befall his lips. So that's how it was; how foolish of him to think otherwise. He turned his back on the complex, taking one last glimpse at it before returning to HQ.

The girl was more than likely one of those unfortunate enough to carry the title of prodigy.

::

Ibiki took a rag from his back pocket to wipe the blood from his hands and the small spatter on his cheek. The action itself wasn't tedious, but it took time to weed the information they wanted out of the person they were working on. That meant he had even more papers piled up for him, inevitably doubling his desk work.

Sometimes it sucked being the T&I Director. In addition to all the extra time he was putting in, he now had to deal with the matter of his dwindling interrogation force. There just weren't enough efficient bodies for the job and lately, they've had a surge of shinobi in need of "questioning". Hell, all their holding cells were filled! He was lucky he had the tokubetsu jounin to try to subdue the problem.

It was hard to get people into the force. Shinobi they might be, but many of them still stood by the fact that one shouldn't torture a person for information. Konoha shinobi held a sort of honor to them, believing that there shouldn't be blood on their hands where blood wasn't due. It was a downfall in Ibiki's eyes. Konoha was too nice and peace-loving where only the elite had the mental capability to get the job done.

He paused for a moment when a pair of calculative green eyes flashed in his mind.

No, he couldn't do that.

... Could he?

When thinking of suitable candidates for recruitment, he could help himself from thinking of his student. Sakura was supposed to be exclusive in intelligence because of her advanced smarts and talent. That was all. But her abnormal ability didn't just have to apply to one specialized part of the sector. One could plainly see that she could be lethal with any path, or paths, she chose.

Her parents wouldn't agree to it, surely. Mebuki and Kizashi were law abiding citizens with good hearts that wanted nothing but the best for their daughter.

"Shiranui," Ibiki said as he entered his office. Genma looked up from his spot on the couch, capping his pen and rolling the scroll on his lap.

"Yeah?"

"How is Sakura progressing in her physical training?" he asked. The other man leaned back in his seat and stretched his arms over his head.

"Man, I feel like there's nothing to teach the kid. Remember what I told you before? Was able to tree walk her first try, walked on water the first try, created three clones on her second try, has 100% throwing accuracy-- I bet her that if she was able to use the Shinju Zanshu Jutsu, you know the one where you hide underground and pull your enemy neck deep into the ground, that I would buy her lunch for a whole week. Brat caught me not even an hour after the training session," he grumbled. "She's a freakin' machine. I don't know, I think we're gonna have to up her lessons to jounin level."

Ibiki sat behind his desk and began to slowly tap his fingers on the wooden surface. "And we will."

Genma moved his attention to his friend. There was a contemplative gleam to the interrogator's face, one people rarely saw. He hadn't known Ibiki too well until he discovered Sakura and directed her to the first person he thought could handle her. That probably wasn't the best course of action, he admitted, but it all worked out in the end as far as he was concerned. In the year and a half he began to get to know the guy, he'd been able to pick out some tells about what he might be thinking.

That expression right now, for example, was far from good.

He sat up immediately, a grave look on his face.

"Morino-san, she's seven. Putting her in intelligence was one thing—one big-ass leap at that—and you know we barely scraped by with it. But interrogation? Sorry to say, but that's kind of real fucked up."

Ibiki sighed. "I know it sounds bad—"

"No kidding."

"—but think about it. Sakura's unnaturally gifted with both brains and brawn. You think she'll be beneath everyone's notice? The second she graduates, her files will be available to every elite who wants a look. Her internship, grades, abilities, observations, everything will be listed. You know well enough that either ROOT or Team Ro will come to try and stuff her into their ranks."

Genma lips thinned at the thought.

"Not to mention her mental stability. You've noticed it, haven't you?" Ibiki questioned. "She always looks like she's been to hell and back, adding to the fact that she rarely gets any sleep."

They could clearly see it in her face every time they saw her. Something in her had broken, and whatever it was looked like it was eating her very being. They hadn't conducted a mental health assessment on her yet but they could safely say that there was a diagnosis that needed to be made.

"You think that torturing people is going to be a good outlet for her?"

"If not that, what else do you think she's going to do? I'm not saying we should make her an interrogator full time, but the option should be opened. Give her choices. Let her grow in several different reaches. Then she'll become a well-rounded shinobi that'll help her survive the fucked world we're getting her into."

Genma exhaled harshly and flopped back against the couch. "I hate you sometimes."

::

Mebuki hummed a quiet tune as she unlocked the door of the apartment and stepped through the threshold. She spotted Sakura's sandals neatly set beside the entryway. She'd almost forgotten that her daughter would be home right after the ceremony wrapped up. And really, she didn't expect that of her. Sakura rarely went straight home from school, opting to make sure her friends got back safely, study with Morino-san and Shiranui-san, or stop by the library.

Well, if Sakura was happy, she was happy.

She set her pair of shoes beside the smaller ones and placed her things down before heading towards Sakura's room. Mebuki knocked twice then peeked inside, smiling when she saw her little girl working away on her bed.

"Welcome back, kaa-san."

"I'm back, sweetheart!" she exclaimed. Her eyes swept around the room, heart clenching at what she saw. The shelves that used to be filled with small trinkets and plushies now held weapon care kits and books; books that were titled things such as Higher Level Chakra Control, The Basics of Healing, Herbs Around the Elemental Nations, The Code of Medical Shinobi, and Advanced Seals. Mebuki's gaze moved to the study desk. Once, it a place always kept neat and clean because it had no real use in the past. Now, it was a mess of inked paper and notes that she was sure she herself would never understand.

"... Did you eat already?" she questioned. She willed herself to keep up an easy smile as she went further into the room to sit at the edge of the bed.

"Not yet."

"Oh? Then how about we go over to your tou-san's restaurants and have lunch?"

"Okay. May I finish this work first?"

Mebuki smoothed down vibrant pink hair and planted a kiss on her forehead.

"Of course you can," she said. She glanced at the work in her small hands, seeing the vast mathematical calculations befitting of someone with a civilian college degree. It pained her to think that her baby was not a child any longer, and that there really wasn't any left to call her childhood a normal one. Mebuki placed a second kiss atop the fluff of hair before leaving and quietly closing the door behind her.

In doing so, she missed the apologetic look plastered to her retreating form.

'I'm sorry I'm not the daughter you wanted, kaa-san. But I can't afford to mess up this time.'

::

"Gaara-sama!" Komushi exclaimed. He placed both hands on his hips and looked around the Kazekage household. He was sent over to check on the youngest son because he hadn't been seen around for a couple of days. This was a regular occurrence, but since he had such a powerful being within himself, he had to be checked on by an elite shinobi on a routine basis.

"Gaara-sama, are you home?!"

He turned the knob of each door and peeked into the rooms for a few seconds before moving on to the next. At the second to last door he checked, he had to think for some moments as he backtracked and re-opened it. The room was free of clutter and practically devoid of personality. A bed and a nightstand were placed against one wall, a wardrobe sat by the wall across from it, but no pictures or posters to be seen. A sad looking place to be.

Though the one thing that caught his attention was the single object sitting on the nightstand. Komushi picked it up with shaking hands, holding it up to the light to make sure it really was what he thought it to be.

"Hiruko's prototype," he whispered. "Sasori took it when he left, w-why...?"

There was an engraving of a scorpion on the puppet's leg; Sasori's signature. Gaara wasn't supposed to be in possession of a foreign item, this one especially, as the only way he could've possibly obtained it by being gifted...

Komushi carefully set the puppet back in its place and hastily left the room.

::

"Haruno Sakura."

"Here."

"Hyuuga Hinata."

"H-Here!"

"Inuzuka Kiba."

...

Iruka looked around the chatter filled room to see an empty desk near the window. He sighed as he marked the absent box on his roster. Kiba was one of the lower-performing students in class, earning lots of D's and F's on both assignments and tests. Mostly tests. He knew the boy was ditching school rather than being sick because he did make it a habit to cut class after lunch hour every now and then, and it only got worse once he was given Akamaru.

"Do you want me to get him, sensei?"

He looked at Sakura. "Huh?"

"Do you want me to get him?" she repeated. "Kiba, I mean. I might know where he'd be."

Iruka scratched the back of his head. There'd be no real use of keeping her in class, would there? She would get perfect marks regardless of what she was given and was the most physically fit of everyone in class. There were even a few moments after the last bell where she'd come up to his desk and give pointers on the lessons and what he should do with them.

He cracked a sheepish grin. "Would you, please?"

She nodded and removed herself from her seat. Naruto leaned over his desk, pouting when she started walking towards the door.

"Sakura-chaaaaan, where're you goin'?" he whined.

"I'll be right back, Naruto," she said. Sakura slipped into the hallway and outside the Academy's front doors.

She was never that close to Kiba. They were acquaintances at best, talking more to each other during the war because of their roles. He worked as one of the Allied Force's messengers and she would be the one of the receiving ends of his rounds. Normally, he was the one who went from infirmary camp to infirmary camp to be the medics' connecting voice.

He was a short-tempered and impulsive person, but he was of the kind sort and completed his duties with vigor.

"Here's the inventory list from Camp B, Sakura!"

"Thank you Kiba-san, Akamaru. Want to stay for lunch? Some traveling chefs stopped by with a generous donation of meats."

"Aw, hell yeah!"

She turned a corner to the largest market plaza of the village. It wasn't that busy this early on one of the weekdays, it also being only a few days after the Kage ceremony. Arms crossed over her chest, she relaxed slightly (only slightly) to expand her senses and try to pinpoint Kiba's distinct chakra reading. Sakura suddenly flinched when she caught wind of an incredibly powerful signature approaching her from behind.

"Could you be Sakura-san?"

She grit her teeth as she turned around at a normal pace, her eyes fearlessly raising to who called her out.

Uchiha Itachi peered down at her.

"That's me. You must be Sasuke's older brother—Itachi-san, right?" she replied. Sakura nearly flinched a second time when he smiled.

"You'd be correct. Why aren't you at the Academy? Classes have barely started and I doubt Umino-san would let his students leave unattended."

She was aware that his eyes had gone down to observe her hands, most likely because of the use of arm wrappings at her young age. If she could take a guess, she would say that he probably could tell that she wore concealed wrist blades.

"I'm looking for a classmate. He has a tendency to skip out and is on the verge of having the word 'truant' in his files. Have you seen an Inuzuka around? One with a small, tannish-white dog."

Itachi pointed towards the east. "He was walking down to the sunflower beds, I believe. I suggest you catch up to him before he decides to leave."

Sakura nodded. "Thank you. I guess I'll be seeing you around, Itachi-san."

She shunshinned from her spot, leaving the elder boy with a curious look on his face.

::

Kiba was indeed at the sunflower beds. He and Akamaru were sprawled out on the ground facing the sun with peaceful expressions on their faces. She halted her movement towards them, an involuntary frown surfacing onto her lips.

They looked happy, and she wanted to leave them as such.

She then heard an annoyed sigh.

"Shouldn't you be at school?" Kiba grumbled.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," she answered. "I told sensei I'd bring you back to class. You've been missing a lot of lessons."

"So what? I ain't good at that kind of stuff and it's not like I'll get better at it anyways. I ain't like you either, always being smarter and stronger than everyone else. I know I can't ever be like that so I'm not gonna try," he huffed. Akamaru picked up his head gave a high pitched whine, causing the boy to shoot up into a sitting position.

"Huh? Whose side are you on?!"

Sakura unconsciously started rubbing her neck. So it was sort of her fault, eh? Of course it was. She took a few more steps and took a seat next to him. "You could always ask for help."

He whipped his head around to narrow his eyes at her. "What're you talking about?"

"I could help you with the work. Or, we. Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Chouji, Shino, Hinata, and I. It's good to work in groups sometimes and not just be on your own," she smiled. "Our study group's meeting up again this Friday after class. You and Akamaru are more than welcome."

Akamaru popped up to his feet and barked happily, tongue hanging out of his mouth. Kiba's stare lingered on his best friend's for a few moments before relenting.

"Fine. But I'm not gonna go back to class today."

Sakura stood and dusted herself off. "You are."

"Then make me."

...

And that's how one hour into Iruka's lecture, the door was thrown open and Sakura casually strolled in with Kiba thrown over her shoulder—him yelling at her to put him down because dammit, he got the point.

Akamaru trotted behind them, tail wagging enthusiastically.

::

EDITED 1/31/18