"What game are you playing?"

Danzo slowed his walk from the Hokage's office and half turned to glance at the call from behind him. Ibiki stood with a sheet of paper crumpled in his angry fist. When the councilman said nothing, he took another step forward.

"I don't know where your interest in Sakura came up, but I'm warning you right now that it's not going to do you any good. She won't take an interest in ROOT or consider it for a second. She knows perfectly well what type of people you churn out and she won't let herself stoop that low."

The older man smirked. "We'll see, Morino," he said. "And if I were you, I would fix that insolent tone of yours. I may not be in a magnanimous mood next time."

He turned back forwards and started his leave, his cane clacking on the floors with equally separated intervals. Ibiki gripped the note harder. "Forbidden jutsu or not, she won't turn into Tsunade."

Danzo didn't stop his retreat. "As I said, we'll see."

::

They stared at each other for what seemed like hours of which were actually seconds filled with an intense and distrusting air. Both instructors were ANBU turned jounin, taking on disciples for the first time in their careers and slowly adjusting to what it was like to look after others besides themselves. But, each had their own tumultuous reputations at their backs. Zabuza with his position as one of the Seven Swordsman and his success in slaughtering his classmates for graduation; Kakashi with his running streak of 327 B-Rank missions where he came out unscathed and his mastery of his lightning jutsu.

They were never meant to get along.

"You know, Kakashi, now would be a good time for you to start making friends. Did you forget what kind of mission this was or do I need to read you the intro of How to be a Good Diplomat: Idiot Edition like I did before we left?"

There was a snort from the black-haired boy and a snicker from the blond one. The girl, with the most absurd hair Zabuza had ever seen, flashed a cheeky grin at her sensei despite the irritated glare he cast her way.

"I told you to be quiet."

"And I think it's reasonable to assume that I never listen to a word you say," she returned. She looked up at the taller man. "Speaking of diplomacy, you probably should talk to me about that stuff because Kakashi doesn't like people."

"Yeah, Sakura-chan's a great speaker! And she's really smart, dattebayo!" Naruto vouched. Kakashi's left eye began to twitch as he crossed his arms and kept the straightest face he could master.

"You're aware of how the mission was compromised, I'm assuming," he said. He was doing a fantastic job of ignoring his entertaining genin, Zabuza noted with a raised brow.

"We were attacked by ex-Kusa-nin before our arrival yesterday. They had no useful information on them and were disposed of. Yourself?" the Kiri shinobi asked.

"Ambushed by the Demon Brothers. Both were taken care of: Gozu by a kunai through the stomach and Meizu by snapping his neck," Kakashi informed. He unintentionally lowered his voice when he spoke the last part, causing Zabuza's eyebrow to travel a bit higher. "We can talk about the rest of it once we meet up with the client, but the mission does breach what's detailed in the contract. If you aren't willing to stay, we aren't either."

Zabuza glanced at his student. Haku's reply was a hopeful, wide-eyed stare that simply couldn't be said no to. "... We'll stay. By the looks of it, the country isn't getting the help it needs."

"Awesome!!" Naruto exclaimed. He punched a fist into the air. "We get to stay! Let's go, let's go, let's go—that Taganu can't wait for us forever!"

"Tazuna," Sasuke corrected. His friend paid him no mind.

"We found his house when we got here, but decided to wait until you guys got here. His house is on the other end of this platform. I can lead you there," Haku said. Sakura gestured forward with a wide grin, all traces of her earlier discomfort hidden beneath her happy facade.

"Lead the way!"

As the four of them walked off, chatting cheerfully amongst each other, Zabuza slowly turned to the only one left on the dock. "Your team is certainly... eccentric."

"If Sakura ends up dead, I take full responsibility," Kakashi deadpanned. He strode towards the genin, completely suppressing the need to trap the girl in a headlock and tossing her into the ocean. It wouldn't be proper and certainly wouldn't reflect his professional status. One could dream, though.

With a shift of the kubikiribocho against his back, Zabuza followed at a slower pace.

Yes. Eccentric was the right word to use.

::

A Clans of Konoha meeting was being held in one of the conference rooms in the Hokage Tower. In secret, as always, and filled with the council members and the heads of all nine influential clans: the Aburame, Akimichi, Hyuuga, Inuzuka, Nara, Sarutobi, Shimura, Uchiha, and Yamanaka.

There used to be fourteen seats to be filled, but the five unused ones only occurred due to certain circumstances. The Kohaku and Kurama clans never attended due to their dwindling size and their stations near the borders, the Uzumaki were desolate (save for Naruto, but his situation was trickier than most), the Senju were so dispersed that there were no known direct descendants (Tsunade was another case that was rarely discussed), and the current head of the Hatake refused to return after what happened with his father.

So it left twelve people in total. And among these twelve people, items of particular interest were necessary to be reviewed here and were not allowed to be spoken to others outside those in the current forum.

ROOT was one of those items.

Whoever was considered for a position in the organization underwent review and had to get approval of 7/12 of the members in order to join.

"I don't have a list of candidates at this time," Danzo said, being both the Shimura representative and a councilman. "I only have one in mind. The one I have chosen already knows of the interest I have set and has refused the offer. For now. Her future has yet to be decided."

Utatane Koharu, the only councilwoman, turned to him. "Her name?"

Danzo looked all around the table, preparing to gauge the reactions. "Haruno Sakura."

Nine pairs of eyes sharpened immediately.

::

Meeting Tazuna went better than the first time around. Turns out he was the same drunk old man from Sakura's previous timeline who lived with his sweet daughter, Tsunami, and his surprisingly enthusiastic grandson, Inari. Sakura kept her antics down a bit when they introduced themselves while trying to figure out why Inari wasn't the same bratty kid as before.

Everything was advanced two years. Why hadn't this?

As she contemplated the difference, sat between Sasuke and Haku, her eyes flickered up to a picture frame that hung proudly on the wall. Tazuna was smiling on the left, Tsunami laughing on the right, Inari grinning in the middle... and a man standing behind them all, tousling the boy's already messy brown hair.

"Kaa-san!" six year old Inari called out, finally looking away from staring up at the shinobi in awe. "When's tou-san getting back?"

"Kaiza said his fishing trip would take a while. Maybe by dinner?"

Sakura subtly slid her hand to the top of her pocket and tapped the scorpion with a short message in a revised morse code that only she and Sasori knew.

There's something I can change.

"Sakura."

She looked up at Kakashi.

"Did you listen to a word that was said?"

"Nope," she grinned. She pointed to Sasuke. "A fifteen word or less summary, please."

"Tazuna-san works tomorrow. Today's free. Tree climbing exercise. You and Haku-san are excused," he complied before taking a sip of tea. Sasuke wasn't always one for too many words anyways and Naruto had selective hearing, so their system worked out well. Kakashi was exasperated, of course, but Haku looked positively amused.

"If that's all, then I'm going into the forest to find those caterpillars," she informed as she stood. She met Haku's eyes—hopeful and full of love. She averted her gaze. "Wanna come with me? I can teach you how to catch them."

Haku brightened. "I'd love to, Sakura-san!"

He looked at Zabuza, who gave the barest dip of his head, before following after the younger girl with a radiant smile. Inari watched them go with pink-tinted cheeks.

"I like Sakura-san. She's funny," he said. Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Please don't encourage her."

::

"That's... probably not good."

"What's the matter, Sasori-kun?"

He had to be extra careful when the genin team landed in the corruption that was Nami no Kuni. With both Zabuza and Kakashi to watch out for, he had to keep careful control of his chakra to make sure he wouldn't be discovered.

He was given a small break when Sakura removed herself from everyone else's general vicinity, taking the Kiri genin with her to gather those poison caterpillars. He watched her interact with the boy—Haku?—in the forests a little ways away from the lake and river system.

She looked... oddly disconcerted but happy enough to have him around. Near the beginning, she made subtle motions in avoiding meeting Haku's gaze, but kept a normal demeanor in directing him what to look for in the caterpillar and what to do if he found any. As time passed and their time together neared an hour, Sakura began smiling more and gaining some genuine happiness.

"Do you see anything weird in the way she's acting?" Sasori asked. Kou poked his head up over his shoulder from his spot nestled in the hood. The cat cocked his head and hummed.

"Sakura-chan looks positively elated. Doesn't look like a bad thing, if you ask me, nya."

"It's not bad that she's happy. What's bad is the reason behind her current happiness," Sasori sighed. "Believe me, the last thing I want to do is take it away from her, but she's displacing her feelings."

Displacement was a defense mechanism. Simply put, it shifted a person's actions towards a target to a substitute target if for some reason, access to the intended target was unavailable. The mechanism was normally meant to let out pent-up feelings when a person was barred from doing it elsewhere. Examples include cases where a husband who might direct his anger at his wife because he's furious at his boss, or when a woman is so ecstatic at winning the lottery that she kisses the nearest person she sees.

It could be used for any emotion on the spectrum.

"Displa... oh."

Sakura spared a cursory glance towards the treeline before giving the glass box to Haku, which was filled with seven or eight of the spiked insects. "Can you take this to Tazuna-san's for me? There's a couple of things I need to take care of before heading back."

"Of course, Sakura-san!" he smiled. "Where do you want me to put it? With the rest of your things?"

"Anywhere Naruto won't see it. It doesn't matter how many times you tell him to not to do something 'cause he'll do it anyways. I always have to keep an eye on him, especially after what happened at the waterfall—did I ever say anything about that?"

Haku leaned closer to her. "Is it worse than the potato incident?"

"Nothing's worse than the potato incident."

The clearing rang out with their joined laughter and she reached up to ruffle up his black hair. He waved and walked down the path they first arrived on, leaving her to stand in silence until he was far from any sort of awareness. She leaned against a tree.

"Glad to see you haven't been detected. I'm surprised you even made it this far."

"Yes, because I'm obviously nowhere near S-rank level, have less than thirty years of experience to brag about, and never took out an entire nation single-handedly, armed with only the Sandaime," he drawled from his perch on the branch above. Sakura scrunched her nose.

"Alright, sarcastic, no need to brag. And hi, Kou-chan."

The cat popped up from the hood. "Good afternoon, dearest!" he exclaimed, then snuggled back into the warm cloth. It just felt so nice against his wonderfully sleek fur. After all, he deserved the comfort after painstakingly tagging along on the journey right after Itachi so lovingly-without being coerced whatsoever—brushed his coat of bistre brown.

When Sakura looked back to Sasori, she saw the concern floating warily in his eyes. She turned away.

"... The more you do it, the more it's going to hurt you in the end," he said, voice softer than the cotton cloths she kept in her medicinal pack. "He's not her."

"I can't help it, Sasori. He just..."

"I know."

"I've... for so long..."

"I know."

Sakura steadied herself against the tree as she tried her hardest to keep any tears from dripping down her face. "He has her eyes," she whispered. His lips formed a sullen line. He hoped the mission wouldn't dare deepen the wounds she already had to live with.

::

Shibi stood outside the conference room a bit after the meeting ended, hands in the pockets of his tan coat and his mind lingering back to what just transpired. Danzo had thrown them all into a loop saying that he wanted Sakura in his ranks. It was no secret that the clan heads knew her personally considering that all their kids were in the same group of friends.

He was never one to really pay attention during these Clans of Konoha meetings because of their boring, monotonous nature. But the ROOT thing nearly caught him off guard and made him disagree with the decision right off the bat. Shino was already lonely, having lost Torune to the tight-lipped, time-consuming nature of the job, and he wasn't about to allow another one of his closest friends to be taken to the organization.

ROOT made people... lose their emotions. He didn't want that for her.

Inoichi had been another one to reject the proposal immediately. When questioned by Mitokado Homura, the third and final of the council, his face grew stony.

"My reasons fall under patient confidentiality. I'm not allowed to say."

That sent questioning murmurs through everyone and left the matter to be officially decided in next month's session.

Shibi had a feeling there was something off about her from the very beginning, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. Though one thing he knew for sure was that she was forthright and had her moral compass worn on her shoulder.

Danzo had no reason to bring her in.

"Sticking around for something, Aburame-san?"

He shifted his glasses, the red tassel wriggling a bit. "I just had a question, Danzo-sama," he said. The councilman made a motion for him to continue. "I'm interested in why you find Sakura so intriguing. I understand that she's more advanced that her peers and that she's different than most, but she doesn't fit—"

"—the mold. I'm aware. But there was something I wanted to test."

"... Test?"

Danzo's normally impassive face twisted into something darker. Something that Shibi felt that he should've expected from such a foul man, but was still uncomfortable in witnessing. "I wanted to see how far 'faulty electric wiring' and 'malfunctioned heating units' drove a person. She has managed to catch my attention for far longer than you all are possibly imagining," he said. Shibi's eyebrows knit as the older man took his leave.

What did broken household commodities have to do with anything?

::

EDITED 2/8/18

::

A/N: Alright, heads up guys! Next week's chapter comes a new cover change!

Look for pink.