Early December, Konoha Year 60 – Konoha Village
Ah, home sweet home. Sinking into bed felt like pure bliss. But Sakura's peaceful afternoon nap, nestled between two small lolitas, was not meant to be. Annoying shouts echoed from downstairs.
"Sakura-chan!… Sakura-chan!…"
Sakura clamped her hands over her ears, burrowing under the covers, but the insistent calls didn't weaken in the slightest.
Losing patience entirely—so much for her nap—Sakura's eyes snapped open. Furious, she stormed onto the balcony and peered down.
Of course, it was Naruto. Sasuke was beside him too.
"Shut up! You're so noisy!" Sakura glared down, planting one bare foot firmly on the balcony railing as she pointed accusingly at Naruto.
Seeing Sakura appear, Naruto beamed. "You're okay! That's great! Granny Tsunade wasn't lying after all!"
Sasuke, too, visibly relaxed upon seeing Sakura. Naruto had been pestering the Godaime Hokage incessantly for days to let him go search for Sakura, but his requests were denied. Sasuke knew his own strength wasn't enough to help, only hinder, but feeling useless had been frustrating. Which was why the Sandaime Hokage had found himself quite busy lately.
"Sakura-chan, Granny Tsunade told me to tell you she wants you at the hospital this afternoon," Naruto relayed, then asked curiously, "Are you injured?"
"Go away! And don't come back!" Sakura snapped, thoroughly irritated by Naruto's loud ruckus, turning back towards her room.
Just as she reached the door, a thought struck her. She spun back around and yelled down to Naruto, "Wait! Stay down there for a minute, I have something to ask you."
"Eh?" Naruto, who had been about to leave, paused.
Sakura glanced at the time. It was almost time for hospital afternoon hours anyway. She gently nudged Karin awake, whispering in her ear, "Time to get up. Don't wake Junko."
"Mmm…" Karin mumbled, half-asleep, then groggily sat up.
Junko wasn't a ninja. After traveling all night and spending the morning dealing with identity checks and registration, she hadn't rested at all. Best to let her keep sleeping.
When Sakura got downstairs, Sasuke had already left, leaving only Naruto.
"Hehe, Sakura-chan, it's really great you're okay! Granny Tsunade was so mean, she wouldn't let me go look for you at all," Naruto said, rubbing his nose, clearly overjoyed.
"Let's go. Head to the hospital. We can talk on the way," Sakura said, starting off in that direction.
Walking through the streets of Konoha, seeing the familiar people and shops, Sakura felt like she'd finally returned to civilization after half a month adrift. Peace… it really is nice…
"Sakura-chan, what did you want to ask me?" Naruto asked curiously, trotting alongside her.
"Do you remember the final round of the Chunin Exams?" Sakura began.
"Chunin Exams? Final round? Yeah, I remember! Orochimaru invaded, and the exams got cancelled," Naruto replied, hands clasped behind his head.
"Not Orochimaru's invasion. The first match. Your fight with Neji," Sakura clarified.
Sakura hadn't actually watched Naruto's match against Neji. She'd been called away by Kakashi-sensei to prepare for Orochimaru. All she knew was that Naruto had won.
"Hehe, oh, that fight! Yeah, I won that one! Pretty amazing, huh?" Naruto puffed up with pride at the memory. Neji was almost as strong as Sasuke, but Naruto had still beaten him.
"Did Neji say anything significant to you during that match?" Sakura asked casually.
"Hmm…" Naruto scratched his head, looking troubled. He thought for a moment. "Doesn't seem like it. I don't think he said anything important."
Hearing Naruto's uncertainty, Sakura understood. Neji likely hadn't told him about the Branch Family's suffering. Still, Sakura felt a nagging persistence. "Did you say anything significant to Neji?"
"Ngh…" Naruto scratched his head again, frustrated. "I was really mad back then, just wanted to get revenge for Hinata. Then… after I beat him, it was over."
Just as I thought. Neji hadn't spoken of the Branch Family's plight, and Naruto hadn't delivered his usual sermon about changing fate.
But where exactly did things go wrong? What changed? Sakura hadn't interacted with Neji herself. Her head aching, Sakura still couldn't figure it out. Maybe the world's path shifted the moment I ceased to be the original Haruno Sakura. That was the only comforting explanation she could find.
"We're here." Sakura stopped. "You can head back now."
"Sakura-chan, want me to come with you?" Naruto asked, a little worried.
"Go home. I'm not injured. Lord Hokage probably wants to see me about something else," Sakura said, shaking her head.
"Oh… okay then," Naruto replied, sounding slightly dejected.
"If you don't have anything else to do, you could go find Hinata," Sakura turned back, her expression serious. "Hinata told me she'd really like for you to spar with her."
"Huh? Hinata?" Naruto blinked. "She said that?"
"That's right," Sakura nodded firmly. "You should take the initiative sometimes. You know Hinata's really shy, but she really wants to be your friend."
"R-really…?" Naruto looked stunned. Besides Sakura, this was the second person who actually wanted to be his friend without him having to chase after them.
With that, Sakura stepped into the hospital, leaving Naruto standing at the entrance, pondering her words. It only took a couple of sentences; Sakura didn't mind saying them.
Inside the hospital, Sakura went straight to Shizune-senpai's office. As luck would have it, Tsunade-sensei was there too.
Seeing her master, Sakura instinctively hunched her shoulders.
Tsunade glanced up at Sakura. "You're here."
"Yes, Master. Naruto said you wanted to see me," Sakura replied, feeling guilty. She really had caused her master a lot of trouble this time.
"Mm. Lie down over there," Tsunade instructed, pointing to an examination bed in the office.
"I'm not injured, my body's fine," Sakura protested, but still obediently lay down on the bed.
"Hanzo's poisons are more potent than anything from Suna. Your level of medical ninjutsu isn't nearly enough to handle them," Tsunade scolded bluntly.
"I'm really okay! Back then, I used Creation Rebirth—" Sakura stopped abruptly mid-sentence.
Creation Rebirth only uses cell regeneration to suppress and expel minor toxins; it can't completely neutralize potent poisons. But when I woke up, there were no signs of poisoning… She hadn't thought about it much at the time, lost in the shock of survival. But thinking back now, it didn't make sense.
Who cured me? Granny Rika? Impossible… impossible… Then how was the poison dealt with?
Sakura felt like her brain wasn't working properly. Racking her mind, the only possibility was that something unknown happened while she was unconscious. But who would be kind enough to not only treat her wounds but also cure such a potent poison?
"Creation Rebirth, hm? That's one approach, but entirely insufficient against an opponent like Hanzo," Tsunade commented, placing her hands on Sakura and beginning a diagnostic chakra scan.
After a moment, Tsunade stopped, looking genuinely surprised. "Indeed, no trace of poison. How did you manage that?"
"I… don't know either," Sakura admitted, sitting up and shaking her head. She hesitated, then said, "Actually, the fatal wound wasn't the poison, but Hanzo's final strike."
Sakura lifted her top, revealing the healed entry and exit wounds on her abdomen and back to Tsunade.
"Hiss!" Shizune gasped, seeing the ugly, centipede-like scars. "T-to be injured so severely…"
Seeing Sakura looking healthy and energetic, Shizune hadn't imagined the injuries were this grave. Seeing the dark red scars marring Sakura's pale skin shocked her.
Shizune reached out, gently tracing the scar on Sakura's abdomen, her voice laced with sympathy. "Does it hurt?"
"Doesn't hurt," Sakura answered truthfully. By the end of that fight, her body had been numb.
Tsunade frowned, channeling chakra into the scar tissue. After a moment of silence, she asked gravely, "How are you not dead?"
"…" Sakura desperately wanted to retort, but it was the same question haunting her.
"Entry through the abdomen, diagonally upwards, piercing the liver and heart, exiting through the back," Tsunade analyzed clinically. "If I'm not mistaken, you were completely spent by then, unable to dodge that final, fatal blow."
Tsunade's analysis was accurate. Sakura had possessed a sliver of chakra, perhaps enough to dodge, but it would have been pointless. So she had risked taking the hit to land her own fatal blow on Hanzo. Unfortunately, Hanzo's attack was equally fatal.
"Sakura, you… you were too reckless! Do you have any idea how worried Lady Tsunade was when she heard you were missing?!" Shizune burst out, scolding Sakura. "To find you, Lady Tsunade—"
"Shizune!!" Tsunade shot her subordinate a sharp glare.
"…I'm sorry, Master," Sakura lowered her head, genuine remorse flooding her. I still have a master, friends, parents… If I had died then, it would have been over for me, but the pain it would cause those who care about me…
"Think back carefully about what happened then. Don't omit any detail," Tsunade ordered, turning back to Sakura, her expression serious.
"Back then…" Sakura lowered her head, thinking hard for a long moment before shaking it. "Nothing special happened. By the end, I couldn't suppress Hanzo's poison anymore. My vision was already blurry. If I hadn't seized the opportunity presented by Hanzo's final attack, I wouldn't have been able to kill him either. After that, I lost consciousness. When I woke up again, I was already in Junko's house."
"Lie face down," Tsunade commanded abruptly, dropping the line of questioning.
"Huh?"
"Lie down. I need to check your nerves," Tsunade huffed, clearly annoyed. "You definitely used that half-baked Lightning Release Chakra Mode in that fight, didn't you?"
Hearing her master's words, Sakura obediently turned onto her stomach. She had used the Lightning Release Chakra Mode, despite Tsunade-sensei warning her previously not to overuse it.
"Speaking of which, what do you plan to do with that Junko girl?" Tsunade asked casually while performing the nerve examination.
"I plan to teach her ninjutsu," Sakura replied. The topic had to come up eventually; no point hiding it now.
"She's from the Land of Grass!" Tsunade's voice turned cold.
"I know. But she's just a civilian. Her grandmother being killed by Grass Village ninja… it was partly my fault. I promised her grandmother I'd look after her," Sakura said, her voice lowering slightly.
If I hadn't been recovering there, Junko wouldn't have gone to the Land of Rain to sell herbs for my sake. Then maybe those Kusa-nin wouldn't have misunderstood and struck Granny Rika. Maybe they still would have come, but perhaps they wouldn't have resorted to violence if they'd just quietly paid… Either way, I bear some responsibility.
"What is her goal?" Tsunade asked.
"…Revenge," Sakura hesitated, ultimately deciding not to mention Junko's desire to destroy Kusagakure. That sounded too much like inviting trouble for Konoha.
Tsunade didn't reply, continuing her examination in silence. After a long moment, she said, "If she doesn't have the talent, advise her to give up early!"
Master agreed! A weight lifted from Sakura's heart.
"For the time being, you are suspended from mission duty. The Sandaime's decision was too rash," Tsunade said, frowning at Sakura.
"Then what will I be doing during this time?" Sakura asked, feeling secretly delighted.
"You'll train under Kakashi," Tsunade stated unequivocally. "Starting with D-rank missions."