Warning: Implied Rape 

::

"Extra training?"

"Yes, has Sakura-chan been doing anything too advanced for her? Maybe additional jutsu exercises, or... or working when she should be resting?" Mebuki questioned. Ibiki couldn't remember a time where Sakura had been doing something she couldn't handle. Lately, she's mostly been practicing her seals and working on higher level problem solving. Genma's been rather lazy as well, teaching chakra control and better utilization of her wrist blades.

"She hasn't," he replied. "Why?"

"I don't think she's been sleeping enough. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and see her light beneath her door. I'm not quite sure how long it's been going on or how she's able to look completely fine every morning... I'm just so worried about her, Morino-san. And I know she won't confide in me for any of it."

Ibiki thought it over for a few moments. "Does she drink anything caffeinated?"

"Not really. She prefers juice drinks."

"What about medications?"

"Nothing but regular vitamins."

"Her sleeping conditions?"

"We normally keep the temperature at around 23°C (74°F)..." she answered. He considered her words and made sure to keep them stored safely in his memory. The first thing that came to his mind would have been that Sakura was under copious amounts of stress, but there wasn't anything that came to mind that would make a six year old suffer from it.

Stress in kids was completely normal as far as he knew. It happened when kids had a schedule that was too packed. Ibiki immediately ruled that cause out. Sakura was far more intelligent than her classmates, excelled in every single subject, and had no issue with anything he and Genma taught her.

He glanced around the kitchen. Her parents seemed like normal, middle-class civilians that probably had no monetary problems and were able to provide a safe, loving environment for her.

"Both parents live in this house, correct?" he asked. Mebuki nodded.

"My husband and I work on the weekdays and get home by six. Sometimes my husband works on Saturday, but most of the time, we're off on the weekends and spend more time with her then," she said. All this information was getting Ibiki more and more confused.

"Family problems?"

"None that I can think of. Morino-san, all these questions you're asking..."

"I'm sorry if they were intrusive, but it's better to get answers out of you than Sakura."

Mebuki saddened. "I understand."

::

Dressed in his ANBU gear and porcelain mask nowhere in sight, Kakashi walked down the street with his hands stuffed in his pockets. He slid through the crowds like a foreboding shadow that no one dared to bother. He looked like the world was heavy on his shoulders, but was too stubborn to do anything about it and carried on the weight like it didn't matter.

His eyes were pools of thunderstorms, always troubled and never close to a resolution. Years it probably brewed, but not a single thing was capable of returning them to the calm sunny day they used to be.

"OOOiiiiii! Kakaaaassshhhiiiii!"

A silent sigh slipped through his face mask as a cheerful Obito popped at his side and fell into step beside him.

"I haven't seen you in forever! Did you go on a mission or something?" he asked. Kakashi cast him a short stare before giving a quiet grunt of assent. Obito flexed his fingers and made his grin wider.

"So you wanna go get something to eat with my otouto and I? I mean, we haven't hung out in a long time," he said. Kakashi kept his eyes forward.

"I'm busy."

"Oh. Well, how about—"

"I don't have time, Obito," he answered, cutting him off. "Maybe next time."

He disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving his oldest friend and ex-teammate by himself on the street. The Uchiha's shoulders sagged forward and he sighed heavily.

"That's what you always say," he mumbled. He scratched the back of his head and walked back down the street. Kakashi had never been the same ever since Rin had been crushed underneath that rock eight years ago. He knew Kakashi relentlessly blamed himself for that incident to this day no matter how many times he told him otherwise.

"Did Hatake-san say no again, nii-san?"

Obito looked down at his fourteen year old brother. "Yeah. But it's okay, you know how he is. Come on, Shisui. Let's get dango and bring some back for obaa-chan."

::

Two hours later, and the fire was still sky high. Darkness everywhere... horrible, burning darkness. The ground was torn to pieces, and one could barely call it a battle ground. Obito was at one end, leaning against the tree while holding his stomach and holding his fractured leg. Sakura was at the other end on her hands and knees, blood coating her fingers.

She hated sharingan fire. Hated it. Hated that it couldn't be put out no matter what you did, and you had to remove what it was burning to get rid of it, because it only gets put out when it's finished burning what it's on.

And that's how she ended up with a neck coated in red liquid and a pile of burning skin hurled to the side.

Obito scoffed. "You're more like Tsunade than I thought."

Sakura raised her head, black lines crawling down her face. "More than you know," she growled.

Sakura was snapped back to reality when Iruka clapped his hands together and regarded the whole class with a wide smile, her hand unconsciously coming up to rub at her neck.

"Alright, everyone! Pass your worksheets down the aisles and I'll come and collect them!" he chirped. He assigned the class some simple icebreaker questions to get to know them better since he joined the classroom a couple of weeks into the year. People asked where their old sensei went to which he gave a vague reply of 'he had a sudden decision to change careers'.

She almost laughed out loud at the excuse.

But Sakura was happy with the change of educator. In this specific timeline, the teacher stayed with the same group of students until graduation to ensure the student-teacher connection remained strong and that the students would be comfortable with someone they knew and hopefully learned better that way. She had no qualms with the curriculum as long as Iruka wasn't shit like the other sensei was.

Sakura gave her paper a quick once over before handing it down to her left.

Name: Haruno Sakura

Directions: Finish the sentence.

1) I feel happy when... I'm with my friends.

2) I feel sad when... I can't help.

3) I help at home by... doing my chores and carrying kaa-san's grocery bags.

4) My friends like me because... we're friends.

5) I like to... train.

6) My favorite food is... umeboshi.

7) My favorite animals are... slugs.

8) My hero is... I don't believe in heroes.

The icebreaker was as simple as she thought it would be, though she hoped it didn't make Naruto uncomfortable. The whole class started to relax and casually converse amongst themselves when Iruka announced the last fifteen minutes of class to be free time, so he could read through their papers.

Unwittingly, Sakura was brought back into one of her worst memories of the war at the sight of the scented candle flickering innocently at the edge of Iruka's desk.

Devastation couldn't even begin to describe the landscape. It had looked extremely ugly before, but now it looked as if a meteorite shattered the Earth and left dark flames as its mark on the surface. Sakura lay at the center of all the wreckage with low chakra and barely any will to move.

She fought her hardest. She attacked him as brutally as she could. She used every ounce of knowledge given to her the past years of her life.

... Why wasn't it enough?

Obito limped over to her with a haggard appearance and blood smeared across his body. His mouth was twisted in an enraged expression. He crouched down, placing a knee on her stomach and a hand on her freshly healed throat. "You just turned out to be an annoyance, didn't you?" he hissed."Impairing my health and delaying my plans... I should kill you for this." His hand tightened. "But I won't. It won't do this inconvenience any justice." Obito leaned forward, their noses almost touching and their harsh breath mingling together. He smirked. "At least you're a pretty little thing. You're a virgin, aren't you?"

He laughed when her face contorted into pure horror. "What am I asking? It won't matter when I'm done with you."

"Sakura-chan!"

She pushed down the horrid thought and turned to Naruto. The little ball of sunshine was frightened as he pointed accusingly at Sasuke. "He-He never had ramen! Ever! He's crazy, Sakura-chan! CRAZY, 'ttebayo!" he cried. Sakura smiled and pinched his cheek.

"We can go after school today. How does that sound?" she grinned. Naruto brightened up considerably and spun around back to his black-haired friend.

"There! Now you're gonna see how awesome ramen is!" he exclaimed. Sakura looked behind her.

"Chouji, Shikamaru, want to come with us? Oh, and Shino! You too!"

::

Iruka read through each of the icebreaker papers with amusement. Each set of answers gave a lot of insight to the student's background and upbringing.

Name: Uchiha Sasuke

Directions: Finish the sentence.

1) I feel happy when... aniki's home and playng with naruto and sakura

2) I feel sad when... no ones home

3) I help at home by... lisening to to-sama

4) My friends like me because... im awsom

5) I like to... train and be with friends

6) My favorite food is... tomatoz

7) My favorite animals are... cats

8) My hero is... aniki

There were a few exceptions with more adult sounding answers if anything, but there was one paper in particular that caught his attention. Naruto's.

Name: Uzumaki Naruto

Directions: Finish the sentence.

1) I feel happy when... im with sakra-chan and saske

2) I feel sad when... __________________

3) I help at home by... __________________

4) My friends like me because... i dont no

5) I like to... eet ramen and be with sakra-chan and saske

6) My favorite food is... ramen

7) My favorite animals are... fockses cuz thats wat evriwon calls me but i stil like them

8) My hero is... sakra-chan

He knew about Naruto-- about what resided in him and about what the demon did. He would try his hardest not to be biased towards him. Iruka understood what it was like to be a lonely child since he himself lost his parents during the Kyuubi attack, but he couldn't imagine living the way Naruto did everyday.

And his hero being another student? That never happened before.

Iruka looked up at the petite girl talking between Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji. He might only be a chuunin, but he knew an advanced shinobi when he saw one. From what he'd seen in the records, she had top marks in every single subject whether it be academically or physically. She was also the one the previous sensei warned him about.

It was something along the lines of her being aggressive if anything happened to her friends, especially to Naruto.

He saw that there was only a minute until the bell rang and that the kids were packing and lining up at the door.

"Uh, Sakura? Can you stay behind for a few minutes? You're not in trouble, I promise," he called over the sea of students. She bobbed her head and said a few things to her friends before walking over to his desk. Iruka waited until the bell rang and for all the students to clear about, then turned to the little girl standing patiently.

"Yes, Iruka-sensei?"

"You're close to Naruto, aren't you?" he asked. Suspicion passed through her eyes so quickly that Iruka thought he was seeing things.

"Yeah..." she answered slowly.

"A-Ah, it's nothing bad, I'm just a little worried about him. I know he's having a hard time by himself because of the Ky—I mean, because of how he is—I mean, not because of how he is, but his situation and, um..."

Sakura's lip twitched.

"What I'm trying to say is that I was wondering about his home life. If he's okay or not. It must be really hard for him at his age," Iruka said. He blinked nervously when Sakura peered at him for a long while before answering.

"You have no idea where he lives, do you?"

"No?"

Sakura stared at him a little longer then nodded to herself. "Come back to school tonight at eight. I think there's something you should know about Naruto."

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EDITED 1/31/18