"Why're we at the hospital again?" Naruto whined. "We were here for so long and we did all those stupid check ups already!"

Sasuke crossed his arms and glared at their sensei. He too was tired seeing those white walls and smelling alcohol and antiseptic. And Sakura wasn't even here with them.

"For the past month, you were being treated for your injuries and made sure that there were no lingering effects of the attacks. Here, you're taking an official mental health screening. And before you start complaining about it, every shinobi has to go through this at one point of their lives," Kakashi answered. They took the elevator to the psychiatric floor.

"So I guess Sakura-chan doesn't have to go through this, huh? Since she already has a shrink and all," Naruto hummed. Kakashi signed their names on the sheet on the receptionist's desk, running the boy's words through his head. He nearly forgot that she was already seeing a therapist for reasons still unknown to him, but he supposed she still had to go through the standard proceedings.

"Either way, she can't do it until she gets back from her mission."

"Oh yeah."

Kakashi's hand stilled as he slowly looked over his shoulder. "What do you mean 'mission'?" he questioned softly, a rigidness forming at the edge of every syllable. "She's supposed to be kept away from missions, not commissioned to them when I'm not around."

Naruto growled and stepped forward, defiance flickering in the depths of his eyes. "So what?! Why do you care anyways?!" he snapped. "You're the one who kicked her off the team in the first place so you're not in charge of her anymore! Sakura-chan can go do whatever the hell she wants, dattebayo!"

"You're not in any position to question my authority, Naruto. You saw that she disrespected my orders and she needs to be punished for her insubordination."

"So what? As of right now, you're not her sensei so you don't get to say what she can or can't do. Leave her alone," Sasuke bit out. Kakashi held his temple between his fingers and let out a sigh. He was right about the fact they'd be more than upset about what he'd done, but he didn't anticipate the continuous headache it would cause him.

"It was necessary."

"No it wasn't!" Naruto shrilled. "She saved someone and you told her she was wrong! If she never comes back to the team, I won't blame her! She deserves a better sensei than you'll ever be!!"

"Naruto-kun, loud arguments aren't good for the patients here."

He dropped his head as soon as someone rounded the corner and pinned him down with a chiding look. "Sorry, Inoichi-san."

"That's fine," he sighed. "Just don't do it again. Imagine the trouble you'd be in if Sakura was here."

Kakashi noted the familiarity with a slight downturn to his lips, not that anyone could see it. His team was quite familiar with many of the main families, it seemed, and while it was strategic it was also strange. How many clans did they interact with? Were they on good terms? Bad? How were they all intertwined?

He'd been so busy documenting and trying to find a solution to his students' new problems that he still hadn't gotten a chance to look at any of their files.

"Hatake-san, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with these two. If it helps, I gave my permission for her to go," Inoichi said. Kakashi's eyes hardened.

"You're her therapist."

"The only one she's ever had. And as her therapist, I suggest you read up on her information before you, ahem, pursue with her suspension. If you know what's good for you," he smiled, adopting the phrase Sakura had used in their sessions many times in the past. "I can take Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun for their appointments if you want to read up on what you've been missing out."

"Yeah! All you're doing is making stupid decisions because you don't know what the hell you're talking about!! I oughtta—!!"

Inoichi clamped his hand over the boy's mouth and looked up to see that Kakashi was already gone.

::

"I request access to Haruno Sakura's complete dossier, sir."

The Godaime looked up from the report he was writing. Kakashi held a frazzled appearance that Dan had never seen in the younger man before, but he supposed he wasn't surprised. Ever since he'd been assigned his team of early graduates, there was an unexplainable difference to him that no one could quite put their finger on.

Dan laced his fingers together.

"If I recall correctly, you told me that you refused to read any information on them unless an emergency occurred," he said. "But you did not seek it out the entire time she was in the hospital nor during your decision to suspend her. Give me one good reason I should grant you this privilege."

Kakashi was taken aback at the show of coldness in his Hokage's eyes. Dan was a popular Kage due to his openness and unparalleled compassion and was never once seen without a kindness to his face. Seeing him in such a light sent an uneasiness down his spine.

"I made a mistake, sir, and I wish to amend it," Kakashi answered. The other didn't look too convinced.

"And if you can't?"

"... I have to try."

Dan returned his attention his report. "Go to the T&I building. You'll find what you're looking for in there."

With an odd regard, the jounin reluctantly left to the place he tried to keep from setting foot in. It was minutes after his departure when Shizune decided to speak up.

"I still don't understand why you sent Team Kakashi on that mission, ji-san," she commented from his side. "You and Yagura-san knew the politics of that country but sent the teams you did unaware of what they were getting into. Sakura-san nearly died because of that mission!"

Dan averted his gaze to some other papers on his desk. "I am far from proud of the actions I decided to take with that team, but I'm left with no other choice. Kakashi's students are good together, but it's their differences that will cause problems for them in the future."

He knew he couldn't control the direction that team was heading to.

If Kakashi kept hanging onto the threads of Rin's death, he would go on to fail his team because he was too caught up in what couldn't be instead of focusing on what would be.

If Sasuke kept believing that Sakura was faultless in every way and that the only way forward was by gazing at his brother's back, he would fall into the depths of a mentality where he would never think he was good enough for the others around him.

If Naruto kept seeing himself as a monster and Sakura as his only protector, then he'd live on the false hope that she was somehow an angel that was one of the few people who could go to understand him, not reaching out to anyone else.

And if Sakura kept putting herself in dangerous situations, like the near sacrifice she made for a stranger or the endless self-blame she held over herself in her severe case of PTSD, she might fall into the hands of her own blade or worse—into Danzo's clutches.

Kakashi needed to learn to trust. Sasuke needed to stand up on his own two feet. Naruto needed to open his arms for his already open heart. Sakura needed to know that she never needed to go through anything alone.

Dan didn't want to put them in a position where their team would fall apart at the seams, but if they didn't learn to see their faults, then one of the strongest teams to form in Konoha would lose themselves to what they failed to see.

"I may be Hokage, Shizune, but there are things that are still left out of my control. Danzo, the rest of the council, and the clan heads are their own entities with shinobi to fight behind them if it ever comes to the decision to turn against me or the village. If it were up to me, Danzo would be far away from Team Kakashi and others like them. There's very little I can do with people with as much power as him."

He turned his chair to gaze out the window. "I know it's not what you want to see, but all I can do—"

"—is help those teams try and help themselves," she finished quietly. Dan nodded minutely as he ran a hand through his hair.

"And it's part of the reason I allowed him to suspend Sakura in the first place. They all need to work out their problems, and if it's space they need, it's space they'll receive."

::

Hiashi, along with all the others that attended the Clans of Konoha session every month, was intrigued with the direction their most recent meeting decided to take. Never before had a ROOT candidate discussion lasted more than twenty minutes, or left the conclusion to be met upon after the entire gap between meetings.

But then again, it was necessary. Haruno Sakura did not stem from any notable Konoha clan and came from the lowest ring of shinobi affiliates: civilian born. People like her were rare because with no clan, there was no telling what kind of skill set she'd acquire or was thinking of obtaining.

Loose cannons could not be allowed to have such wide roaming freedoms, as many clan heads would agree on.

But surprisingly, Hyuuga Hiashi was not part of that popular opinion.

He didn't want her to be a part of ROOT.

He already tried to keep as many of the Hyuuga Clan away from that organization as best he could. That organization twisted and corrupted, and Danzo was the last person he would ever entrust the byakugan to. Its secrecy and underhanded tactics kept him on edge, and though there were those who supported such a foundation, he saw it as a stain on Konoha's good name.

But, he would still admit that it was one of the stronger forces the village had to offer. Shinobi the epitome of a talent gathered there to work as the bloody shadows of the surface world. If Danzo was able to get his hands on someone with a Yin Seal—someone like Tsunade, he would be unstoppable.

Then again, if she turned to Tsunade's path she would no longer be a part of the village.

Everyone alive over a decade ago knew her story. Senju Tsunade, famed for her physical prowess and paramount medical skill, became one of the most powerful people known through the shinobi nations at a young age. She was loud and determined in her youth with a personality that matched her capacity, but it all washed away when her beloved brother Nawaki died the day after he turned twelve.

He ran into an explosive trap set up by enemy forces that destroyed his body beyond recognition.

Tsunade became obsessed with revenge after that. It was some more years before she finally snapped, taking along Kato Shizune and Konoha's most heavily guarded forbidden jutsu before leaving her village without so much of a glance back.

Dan went after her, of course, but couldn't find a trace of his lover or his niece until the day Shizune showed up injured and unconscious in front of the gates.

Hiashi wasn't sure if Sakura had an incentive to leave the village just as Tsunade did, but she certainly had the same skills as the sannin.

And if he wasn't mistaken, she had the guilt of letting someone close to her die, didn't she?

::

He didn't like coming to the building for a number of reasons. For one, he didn't appreciate the act of torturing or ruining a person's mind just for a bit of information. He only did it when absolutely necessary, but these people made it a regular act and made it seem like it was natural to break bones and peel skin of anyone they had a suspicion of.

The sector itself wasn't for the light-hearted. The things they did on and off the record fueled fear and rumors that weren't just rumors, and even he would shy away from such infamy.

Two, he didn't particularly associate with anyone affiliated with that side of the business. Those he knew of he didn't like, had a few screws loose, or did things so out there that it made even him flinch away.

Those in T&I were no good.

Some more so than others, such as the one he was currently faced with.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes in distaste. "Mitarashi."

Anko grinned. Her complete takeover of Ibiki's office for the time being resulted in her feet being propped up onto the desk and dango sticks built up into a small house figure at the corner near Ibiki's name plate.

"Well, well, if it ain't I'm-A-Lone-Wolf-So-I-Don't-Need-No-Goddamn-Friends. We haven't talked in so long that I was beginning to worry that you forgot about lovely ol' me."

"Lovely? Pity," he sneered. "It's either you're blind or you're living in denial. Though I'd say it's both."

If there was one person he could say he hated with every fiber of his being, it had to be her. She was wholly obscene in her everyday conduct who didn't have an ounce of respect running through her bloodstream. She was inappropriate in every single action she pushed through with and came up with the most absurd situations for herself. She was also annoying, insulting, vulgar, and obviously far too insane to be let into the profession but was allowed anyways.

She threw her head back and laughed.

"Assholes like you never change, eh? Well, you'd better shape up that attitude or you'll never get your hands on the file you want," she sang. Horrible singing, in fact. With her voice to reach up her tone-deaf ears. But despite her terrible display, she held up an old folder so that the tab with the name 'HARUNO SAKURA' could be clearly read by him. "Unless you came down here for some other reason. I know I'm your favorite person."

Kakashi clenched his fists. "Why is her dossier in your possession, Mitarashi?"

"Because I'm a good sensei. I read my student's files right before taking them on so I know what type of shit I'm getting into," she drawled mockingly. She relished in the way his face twisted in disbelief and offense and laughed. "What? You thought you were the only sensei she's got? Come on. Now you're acting like a fucking moron."

But Anko handed him the ridiculously stuffed file anyways. Kakashi gazed down at it, knowing fully well that there were going to be blackouts in her information like any other special case and confidential files that even he couldn't see for himself.

"You're the sixth person who officially has access to this information, the other five being Hokage-sama, Ibiki, Genma, Inoichi, and myself."

Ibiki? The commanding officer of T&I? And Genma?!

"... Why do—"

Anko bared her teeth in a derisive smile. "We like to take care of our interns, Hatake-chan."

He stalled, suddenly feeling sick. The puzzle of Haruno Sakura was starting to piece itself together and it was making bile rise up in Kakashi's throat.

::

Eyy, a fantastic cover by SadsiticGaara !

And by atrabiliar !

::

EDITED 2.10.18