'No, no, no, this wasn't happening. He's not here, he's not alive, he won't do anything—but what if he does? What if it happens again? All of it? He wouldn't, he wouldn't, please don't let him!!!"

"You're real hard to find, you know?" Obito whined. "I was out looking all over Konoha for you! You weren't at any of the restaurants, the bars, the training grounds, but you end up in the bowels of the T&I building!"

His complaining was short lived when he saw the little girl at Genma's side. His lips stretched into a friendly grin.

"Uchiha Obito," he introduced happily as he put out a hand, "And you?"

Sakura swallowed down her fear and kept a neutral facade as she took his hand and gave a firm shake. The memories started up again. Him, his mocking smirk, the look of pleasure lit up in his sharingan when he'd--

She frantically tried to erase the image of the man who started the Fourth Shinobi World War. He wasn't the same as he was back in her time. It was impossible.

"Haruno Sakura."

It took all of her willpower to stop the quiver in her words.

She was grateful when there was an interruption of the door opening and the sound of footsteps coming their way. Ibiki graced the three of them with his presence, acknowledging Obito with a glance and the slight tilt of his head. His gaze then flickered to Sakura.

"You have your parents approval. Come with me. Shiranui, join us when you finish your business," he said. She nodded, waved at Genma and Obito, and left with the head interrogator.

::

"Eh? She has something to do for you guys?" Obito asked once he and Genma were alone in the basement. Genma nodded.

"Yup. We're bringing her into the intelligence sector."

Obito made a displeased face. "Already? She's so young..."

He didn't like when young kids were brought into the shinobi lifestyle at such a young age. He knew two people who had been subjected into that kind of thing. One of them was his cousin, the prodigy of the clan, and the other was his best friend, the prodigy of his team. And by the looks of it, this girl-- Haruno Sakura-- was starting out far earlier than the two. Even slightly earlier than Kakashi.

"We aren't going to force her to do interrogations if that's what you're thinking, and we're not going to turn her into some killing machine. This was purely her choice and if she wants out, she's out."

Obito wasn't convinced. Genma sighed and clapped him on the shoulder. "Lighten up, goggles. It's not the end of the world. So why'd you come looking for me anyways?"

"Hm? Oh, right. You've got a mission with me, Aoba, and Raido. Real easy A-rank to Ishigakure. We meet at the gates tomorrow morning at seven," he provided. Genma groaned. It wasn't that he didn't like going on missions, it was just that Ishigakure was so humid that taking a shower in the hottest months of the year was wasted effort.

"Fine, whatever," he grumbled. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back up to Morino-san's office before he bites my head off for being late."

"I still don't like it!"

Genma was already up the stairs. "Deal with it, red eye!"

He left the basement and took his sweet time on his way to Ibiki's office. Maybe Obito did have a point. She was just a little girl just under six years old who wasn't even in the Academy yet and they were already bringing her into one of Konoha's forces. But what could he say? It was hard to find talent like hers. And if they were able to cultivate such skill from such a young age, she could become a great asset to Konoha.

'Damn, when did I start thinking like Ibiki?'

When he entered the office, Sakura was sitting on the chair in front of Ibiki's desk. She had a clipboard in her hands and was writing something intently. Genma looked over her shoulder, eyes widening when he recognized the paper she was working on. It was the chuunin exams written test-- the one from last year. She had already answered eight out of nine questions, and as far as he could see, all eight of them were most likely right.

Jeez, where did this kid come from?

Her pencil tapped her cheek a few times before she scribbled in the last answer. Again, correct. She gave the pencil and clipboard to Ibiki.

"Finished already?"

"The questions weren't that hard. I've seen kinda the same ones in books I've read," she replied with a light smile. Ibiki grunted and quickly scanned her answers. Thinking his eyes had somehow deceived him, he went back to the beginning and reread her answers.

"Well, I'll be fucking damned," he mused. "You got all of them right."

Genma let out a low whistle and leaned against Sakura's chair. "Holy crap, kid, you're a genius. What's next? You can use elemental jutsu?" he joked. Well, she did pick up quite a few in the war, but it wasn't like she was going to tell them something like that. Ibiki put her exam paper in an empty folder and locked it in one of his drawers.

"The next thing we'd like to test are your physical skills and see how advanced you really are," he said. He and Genma led her to the training grounds that Sakura recognized as the place the former Team Seven would sometimes meet up. Her chest ached at the sight and she sighed, looking up at the sky to try and forget.

"How deep are your chakra levels?" Ibiki asked. Sakura forced her gaze back down.

"Still kinda low. I know I've got a long ways to go, but I'm trying to reach maxium cipa—maximim—max—"

"Maximum capacity?" Genma grinned, throwing back a teasing glance. She visibly wilted and hung her head.

"Yeah," she sighed. She needed to stop using large words and embarrassing herself like this. They stopped on a red bridge that stretched over a thin river. Ibiki gestured to the water.

"Stand on the water."

Sakura did as told, hefting herself over the railing and dropping silently onto the river's surface. She waited patiently for the next order but grew suspicious when they stood there with matching smirks on their faces. She saw Genma's hand flinch and instantly brought out her kunai. She blocked six senbon that were shot at her and caught the seventh one between her fingers.

"Your reaction time is pretty good too," Ibiki commented with an impressed nod. "Looks like you can hold your own with the unexpected."

She looked at the senbon in her hand, glaring at the purple liquid dripping from the tip. "I guess it's okay to test me, but why'd you use poison senbon? What if it hit me?!" she exclaimed. Genma shrugged.

"Luckily it didn't, then."

For the next hour, she was asked to perform certain jutsu. Most of them were Academy and genin level techniques with one or two chuunin techniques thrown into the mix. They had also asked for her to handle weapons such as kunai and senbon and even her wrist blades.

"You know," Genma said, "at this rate, I don't think you even have to go to the Academy. You could graduate in one semester and be in a genin team around this time next year."

Sakura shook her head. "I won't graduate early. There's someone I don't want to leave behind."

::

It wasn't quite that late, but if she didn't get home soon she knew her parents would get worried. As Sakura walked towards her apartment, she passed by the playground where she usually met Naruto. She did indeed see him at the swings, but he wasn't alone. He looked like he was arguing amiably with a black haired boy.

'Sasuke.'

She walked over to the both of them.

"—so 'nnoying, 'ttebayo!" Naruto growled as he grabbed fistfuls of blonde hair, "All you do's act all high an' mighty when you're just a bastard!"

"I don't even know what that means so joke's on you, idiot!" Sasuke hissed. They were glaring at each other so intensely that they didn't notice Sakura walked up to them.

"What did I tell you about getting into fights, Naruto?" she chastised. He whipped towards her and pointed an accusing finger at Sasuke.

"That bastard—"

"Language."

"—said he could swing better than me! 'Course I don't care 'bout that stuff 'cause I know I'm super awes'me, but then he said that he's better 'cause he's an Uchiwa—"

"It's Uchiha!" Sasuke corrected vehemently.

"—an' all Uchiwa's are better than ev'ryone else!"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. She didn't think that Sasuke acted pretentious even at a very young age. Frowning inwardly, she noted that his clan seemed to be relentless in implementing their values into their clan members even at such a young age. Sakura saw a glimpse of that sort of upbringing in the Sasuke from her time and bit back a cringe.

She knew the real reason why Itachi carried out the massacre, and she had to say, he wasn't completely wrong in doing so. There were a million of other ways he could have done it and the path he chose was unethical, but she saw exactly why he did it. And she didn't blame him.

"Well, that's just his opinion. You can't fight everyone on every little thing," she said. Naruto pouted. She then turned to Sasuke, "And you can't just go telling people that you're better because you think you are."

He glowered at her. "I don't think I am, I know I am!"

"You're not even in the Academy yet," Sakura countered smoothly. Sasuke clenched his fists.

"Like you can say somefin' about it! I bet you aren't either! But I'm a Uchiha and the Uchiha are always better," he snapped. She bit the inside of her cheek and stood in front of him defiantly, hands crossed over her chest and eyes narrowed a fraction.

"I don't believe you."

Sasuke bared his teeth and threw a fist forward. Sakura quickly blocked it and knocked him onto the ground faster than Naruto had ever seen. Sasuke stared at her in shock when he realized the situation he was in in. She was on top of him, one foot near his arm and the other folded in a way so that it was over his legs. Her left hand was pressed on his stomach and her right was tightened into a fist that was held in front of his face.

Did he just lose...? Just like that?!

Sakura was still in that position for a few moments before she got up and dusted herself off. She extended a hand to help him up. "See what I mean?" she asked. Sasuke, once recovered from shock, slapped her hand away and got up himself.

"Whatever! You guys are losers anyways!" he snarled. He turned and ran away from the playground. Naruto didn't mind as he bounced in front of Sakura with a hopeful look in his eyes.

"Ne, ne, Sakura-chan, can you teach me how to do that?!"

She slowly dragged her gaze away from Sasuke's retreating form and smiled. "Only if you get better at throwing kunai."

"Oh, come on, Sakura-chan!!"

As he continued to whine to her, Sakura couldn't help but think she went too far. But he really did need to get put in his place and she'd be damned if she was ever going to let him turn into the person she knew.

And the first thing that she had to do was wipe away that stupid arrogance of his.

::

Edited: 1/29/18