The day they were meant to set off for Sound, Sakura got up before the sun had even risen over the horizon and made a beeline for the cemetery, dropping down beside two familiar headstones. As she knelt by her parents' graves, the melancholy and grief that were usually at the forefront of her mind were pushed to the back by the satisfaction of finally being able to her revenge.

"It's been a while, Hahaue, Chichiue." She greeted, bowing her head. "But I've been assigned to Sasuke's retrieval at last, so I can bring you some justice." Sakura paused and lightly ran the tips of her fingers over the various trinkets and souvenirs she'd left by their graves over the years as she tried to sort through the mess in her head. "I really should've seen Inoichi..." She sighed, feeling a headache coming on. "But Shikamaru needed me to stay and then we were summoned... I forgot how long it's been since I've seen him. I think I've been procrastinating dealing with some things, like Naruto's return or Kakashi's... Or even the fact that Anko is still in the coma. Now there's Chiyo too and that goddamn forest..." Even as she was speaking, Sakura felt her mind splintering, felt the steel boxes she'd forced those thoughts into start to rattle and threaten to burst open, a Pandora's box of issues she was ill-prepared to deal with. She hung her head and breathed deeply through her nose, only just noticing that her hands were clutching the grass by her knees in a white-knuckled grip. "Wish me strength, Hahaue, Chichiue. I'll need it. I'll come by... after. After everything." Sakura arranged the flowers she'd grabbed along the way neatly between the graves and rose to her feet, heading home.

When she got in, Genma seemed to have only just gotten up, his hair a mess and pillow creases still evident on his cheek, and Sakura was hit with an overwhelming wave of fondness for the man. She crept up behind him and wrapped her arms around Genma's waist, standing on her tiptoes to hook her chin over his shoulder.

She opened her mouth to somehow voice the fondness she felt, then her eyes zeroed in on what the brunet was drinking out of and she snorted. "Is that a coffee pot?" she asked incredulously, unable to keep the laughter out of her voice.

"A coffee pot can be a coffee mug if you just don't care," Genma replied sagely, then snorted and downed the rest of his drink and put it aside. One of his hands dropped to cover Sakura's while the other tried to comb through his hair. "Everything alright?"

Sakura sighed and unhooked her chin, loosening her arms so Genma could turn around, then grabbed his sleeve and tugged him towards the sofa, pushing him on it once they were close enough. Genma went willingly, the corner of his mouth quirking up even as there was an edge of concern in his eyes, and Sakura couldn't help her own grateful smile.

She flopped onto his lap, delighting in the startled 'oof!' and let her head drop onto Genma's shoulder. "I got the Uchiha mission." She announced at last, and felt Genma go momentarily still as he registered her words, then-

"Ah." And in that single syllable, he managed to encapsulate everything Sakura had been worried about how to breach with him since she got her orders.

Laughing, she let herself relax slightly, picking at a loose thread in Genma's shirt. "Yeah." When nothing more was forthcoming, Genma laughed.

"You don't know what to think, do you?"

And Sakura snorted, meeting his eyes so he could see the gratitude in them, and replied, "Not in the slightest." When Genma asked her to walk him through her thought process, she sighed. "I've been after this mission for the last three years, but now... well, firstly, I'd much rather go with Shikamaru. Secondly... Naruto is going with me. And this time, we won't have Kakashi to keep him in check." At Genma's confused hum, she elaborated. "Kakashi got assigned as Team 10's back-up, which I'm grateful for, but... the jounin we got instead... I recognise his chakra, Gen, but I've never seen his face."

"ANBU, then." Genma summarised, confirming her suspicions.

"That's what I thought too. But, more importantly – I got separate orders. I was explicitly told to bring Sasuke back so he can face trial. My team was just told to see whether he can be persuaded or convinced of the error of his ways. I... I'll break him, Genma. He's the apprentice of a monster I can't ever hope to touch, if I have to overpower him, I'll have to break him to the point he can't fight back. And then Naruto will never forgive me."

Genma hummed and lightly patted her thigh. "Don't let him see then. Orochimaru will doubtless be there. Tell your jounin leader your mission if you must, get him to help you take Naruto away from your battle with the Uchiha." When all Sakura could do was stare at him, he sighed and ruffled her hair. "And Sakura, even though you refuse to tell me for whatever reason, I know you have some sort of ace up your sleeve. If anyone doesn't have to worry about fighting the Uchiha, it's you."

"Plausible deniability, Gen." she mumbled, then yawned. "I don't have to be at the Gates for another two hours. I'm ordering nap time. Night."

Genma was apparently aiming for the Worst Pillow Award because he laughed, shaking her with the force of his chuckles. "Are you sure you aren't actually part-Nara? But fine, sleep. You'll need it."

Sakura couldn't help but smile as she closed her eyes and cuddled in further, as always unbelievably grateful for whatever twist of fate let her into Genma's life.

When she met her team at the Gates, all of her new teammates were already there. Naruto seemed to be arguing with 'Sai' over something, while their team leader just watched.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled when he spotted her, running over to her and dragging her towards their pale teammate. "Tell this asshole to can it!"

Sakura assessed situation between the boys, Naruto fuming and Sai smiling in a way so fake it set Sakura on edge.

"By hiding behind Ugly-san, you're not persuading me at all to change your nickname, Dickless. In fact, you're proving it right." Sai said, and it took Sakura a moment to realise 'Ugly' was directed at her.

Beside her, Naruto growled, ready to snap again, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Yamato tense, so she held up a hand and turned to fully face Sai, her fakest, Kakashi-inspired smile in place.

"I realise that we've only been made teammates for the purpose of this mission, but I'd still appreciate if we were able to show some basic professionalism. My name is Haruno Sakura. I expect you to use it, Sai, was it?"

Naruto gawked at her, but their team leader relaxed, so Sakura counted that as her win, even more so when Sai eventually bowed his head.

"I apologise, Haruno-san. The books I read recommended giving the people you meet nicknames based on the first thing that comes to mind when you meet them." Sai explained, and Sakura mentally catalogued had to read books on social interaction to the folder dedicated to 'why this whole mission is giving me the creeps'.

"Then remind me to recommend you some books on basic manners when we get back to the Village. You might find yourself less likely to land in the hospital if you read those first." She replied, and, because she was looking for it, she saw Sai tense.

"Was that a threat, Haruno-san?"

"Not at all." She smiled innocently, waving him away. "Just some advice. Teammate to teammate. I look forward to working with you." And she turned on her heel and moved to stand beside their team leader.

Naruto went back to squawking at Sai, but Yamato this time turned to her.

"That was skilfully handled." He observed, "Not many teenage girls would have let the insult slide."

"I am a jounin of my Village before I am a teenage girl, Yamato-san. If we all let playground insults affect us, we'd never get anything done." She replied, noticing the minute widening of the man's eyes when she mentioned 'jounin'.

"You're Shiranui's partner." He said, more of a statement than a question, and Sakura nodded with a murmured, 'yes, sir'. "Why were you assigned to this mission though? Godaime-sama isn't in the habit of splitting partners up."

Sakura shrugged, offering the man a wry smile. "I'm Naruto's old genin teammate. I think Tsunade-sama was humouring his sentimentality more than anything else."

"Ah," Yamato murmured, as if he'd had an epiphany. "You're senpai's third student."

"Senpai...?" Sakura mumbled, then her eyes widened. "Ah." And she suddenly knew exactly who she was talking to. The only other canine mask in ANBU. The best performance record in ANBU under the Sandaime. And, under rumours, conjecture, and hastily-pieced together redacted records from the T&I and Intelligence archives, the only survivor of Orochimaru's attempts at recreating the Shodai's kekkei genkai.

She shook her head at the questioning look she received from the jounin and they set off.

When they finally made camp, Sakura was very tempted to put her entire team under genjutsu just to shut them up. Naruto and Sai did not shut up the whole way to the rest point, and if Sakura had to explain emotions and interpersonal relationships to Sai one more time, she would have gone mad.

But as they all crawled into their tents, Yamato's clones spread out around them keeping watch, Sakura waited until her teammates' breaths evened out then snuck out of her tent. She pulled back the zip of Yamato's tent and ignored the man's start, crawled in and slapped a silencing tag between them.

"Evening, Yamato-san." She greeted calmly, ignoring the slightly indignant stare she was on the receiving end of. "I think it might be beneficial to the both of us to touch base, so to speak."

Yamato narrowed his eyes but obediently put down his book and sat up. "And why could we not have done this during the day?"

"Because I doubt you would've wanted Sai to overhear that you're here to watch him." She pointed out innocently, frowning when Yamato froze in place at her words. "Relax. They can't hear us." She gestured at the tag she'd stuck down. "But I know that, apart from Naruto, all of us have some ulterior motives for being here, a secondary mission, if you will. I don't need to know the specifics of yours," she assured him, when the man looked ready to argue. "But I have an inkling nonetheless. I do, however, want you to know mine."

Yamato relaxed, but there was still a guarded look in his eyes. "Go on?"

"I am here to bring Uchiha Sasuke back. Not the way Naruto is. No matter what. By force, if necessary. By breaking every little bone in his body, if I need to, so I can take him back to face trial in Konoha. That's my mission. And I want you to know, Yamato-san, that you will be needed to keep Naruto in check should he happen to see me. He still believes Sasuke can be saved. He still believes that whatever 'bond' he might have had with him will be enough to convince him to come back. It won't. The Uchiha Sasuke that I remember before his defection was bitter, power-hungry, and overtaken by a single-minded drive to avenge his family, whatever the cost. His bond with Naruto won't even register on his radar. But Naruto is an optimist at heart and he will not take that lying down. So I want you to take him away."

Yamato startled, then grew suspicious. "Explain, 'take him away'." He ordered gruffly, and Sakura quirked a wry smile.

"Orochimaru will likely be there. Let him try his hand at the Sannin, if he must. But last time Sasuke provoked an emotional reaction from him that I know of, he underwent a partial jinchuuriki transformation." She saw Yamato pale at her words. "I think I know why Tsunade-sama assigned you particular to this mission, but I would rather it didn't come to that. Do you see what I am asking?"

Slowly, the jounin nodded an affirmative. "I will try to keep Uzumaki-san away from the Uchiha after the initial confrontation, and provided there is no threat or provocation from Sai." He told her blandly. "But I would like to know how you know about me. I wasn't briefed about your mission so I doubt you would have been briefed about mine." This time, his tone wasn't so bland, but instead held a clear note of threat, of challenge. Sakura was suddenly reminded of Genma's words before they went to rescue the Kazekage; "do you realise how much danger you put yourself in? If anyone hears you talking about this, you could be tried and stripped of your rank!"

For the first time since she heard those words, or since she first decided to take out files she didn't actually have the proper clearance or authorisation for all those months ago, that became a real concern. Because Yamato didn't know her. He wouldn't be as fond of her as Genma, or as secretly-indulgent as Ibiki, or as proud of her for finding loopholes in the system as Anko would be. Yamato could, and most likely would view her as a security threat.

So Sakura took a deep breath and settled for the safest option – an embellished truth.

Yamato knew of his senpai's female student only vaguely, having spent too long in ANBU to be able to keep up with most of the Village gossip. Connecting 'senpai's student' to 'Shiranui's partner' was a jarring thought, but it was nothing compared to the girl's rolled-up sleeve revealing an ANBU tattoo. Not all that new, either. The words that followed were even worse; "You are famous and I was curious. It wasn't hard to listen in to gossip or recognise your chakra once I knew where I'd felt it first. I also work at T&I, and have almost unrestricted access to the files kept there. I'm sorry if what I said startled you – nobody outside of T&I really knows what we do there, and this, well," she gestured to her tattoo, "is pretty clear why this wouldn't be common knowledge. I hope this hasn't changed your decision to help me?"

Yamato blinked, then slowly shook his head. "I will still assist you, if I can." He confirmed, then watched relief blossom across the girl's face, lighting up her features and chasing away the heavy frown of worry that had marred her brow, suddenly making her look years younger. Freer.

"Thank you, Yamato-san." She murmured, entirely sincere, and bowed her head before bidding him goodnight. When she left, Yamato settled back against his covers and sighed.

"They gave me Itachi's brother, sensei's son, and a civilian girl. I can't fail them, Tenzo, but what am I going to do with kids?"

"Sasuke is skilled, but he's no Itachi. Naruto has Kushina-hime's chakra stores, but none of sensei's control. I don't know what to do with the civilian girl."

"Zabuza Momochi on our first C-Rank. Even Team Ro's first mission wasn't that fucked up."

"Naruto lost control of the fox for a minute."

"Sasuke unlocked his Sharingan."

"I've nominated them for the Chunin Exams."

"Orochimaru was after Sasuke. God, Tenzo, how do I protect the kid from a Sannin?!"

And then, at last –

"Sakura-chan surprised me."

"Sakura became chunin."

"Sasuke defected."

"Naruto left."

"Sakura won't talk to me."

"God, Tenzo, I fucked up again."

And then, when Yamato was swamped with ANBU missions and Kakashi was taking on more and more frequent high-ranking missions to make up for the shortages in the forces, even their sporadic talks ceased. But the girl's lightning-quick rise through the ranks reached even him, as did his senpai's team's official dissolution.

Yamato's respect for Kakashi knew no bounds.

Yet he couldn't help but wonder whether he shouldn't have given such an easy acquiesce to the girl's request. Because back in the day, Uchiha to Jounin in three years' time was not 'common', but it wasn't completely unheard of.

But civilian nobody to jounin/ANBU/interrogator/assassin in three years? That never happened. And for Kakashi of all people to have missed when it happened?

There was something they were missing, he was sure.

He only hoped he could see it in time.

The base exploding hadn't surprised Sakura.

The knowledge that Sai had been a spy sent by some sub-division of ANBU hadn't either. She had figured as much.

Sai's mission had given her pause, but the fact that he had been unsuccessful was a comfort. A cold one, but a comfort nonetheless.

But nothing could have prepared her for the fight that broke out.

Sasuke was...lazy. Mocking. Showing off. Exploiting Naruto's trust, Sai's sudden empathy, Yamato's lack of familiarity with either his or his charges' fighting styles.

Sakura hung back and watched even as Yamato was ran through with Sasuke's blade, even as Sai and Naruto were mercilessly electrocuted. She watched and catalogued and strategized and sent her clones and explosives underground and waited –

And then she could wait no more.

She lashed out with her chakra strings, hauling Naruto and Sai's still-twitching bodies out of the makeshift arena and atop the cliff edge, then shared a meaningful look with Yamato, and sensed more than saw him disappear. Then, her attention was on Sasuke.

She bombarded him with kunai tagged with explosive seals, letting them scatter harmlessly after being deflected, but keeping the threat there. Then, she closed in with her daito, testing Sasuke's skill with his chokuto he carried so proudly. He was good. Better than Kakashi. The lightning chakra that sparkled off his body and sword was enough to make Sakura wary, but not enough to stop her. Yuki was a far craftier opponent, and Chojuro far more skilled, and she matched blades with both often enough to power through the current, the static, the burn of electrocution until she finally knocked Sasuke's blade out of his hand and stamped on it, the blade shattering into dozens of pieces.

Sasuke's anger rolled off of him in waves of lightning chakra, and Sakura had to retreat to avoid complete paralysis.

"That's all you've ever been good at; running and hiding." He sneered as he advanced, yanking the sword's sheath from his belt and tossing it aside. "I see nothing's changed."

"And you," Sakura snarled back, resisting the urge to advance again, knowing she had surprise on her side if she waited just a little longer – "could always be relied on to underestimate your opponents." And just as some degree of alarm entered Sasuke's eyes, Sakura smirked, "Surprise, Uchiha."

Five clones burst from the ground, surrounding Sasuke, but Sakura knew the distraction would only grant her a second, maybe two.

But that was all she needed.

She swapped places with one of her clones just as two more were destroyed, ducking under Sasuke's swing and jumping over the sweeping kick, all the while swiping blue-tinged hands over his quads, calf, bicep, lower back-!

Sasuke noticed the numbness, snarled, and Sakura watched his eyes bleed red and the air fill with the sound of a thousand chirping birds, then she moved.

Palming the seal she'd made, she let Sasuke's chidori connect with her chest just as she reached up and slapped the paper on his forehead, and on a shuddering exhale, pumped it with all the chakra she had left.

The paper ignited and fell away, black ink bleeding onto Sasuke's forehead, sinking into skin like tattoo ink, burning red and spreading, then shrinking back into a small, empty circle above each eye, connected by a single line of black ink