Word had spread quickly about the contestant that plowed through the first portion of the Jounin Exams like it was nothing more than a child's game. When Naruto had caught wind of it, he immediately stopped what he was doing and confronted Sakura on her front porch.

   "Sakura-chan! My tou-san told me that you were the one who completed the test in fifteen minutes! Is that true?!"

   She nodded.

   "Really?! You're so cool, dattebayo! When I took the test, it took me an hour and a half and teme took fifty minutes! You really need to tell me how you did that!" he exclaimed. Naruto looked at her expectantly with shining blue eyes. She tried to resist his puppy stare, but she relented.

   "Alright, alright." she sighed, "Come in, I just made some cake."

   Sakura stepped aside and let him in. Once Naruto stepped through the threshold, he looked around the two-story house in wonder. Just then, he realized that he never once had been in her house when they were younger, and after a few moments of looking around, he was kind of glad that this was his first time here.

   The house was painfully empty. There were couches, chairs, tables, and a TV as well as a fully stocked kitchen, but it was void of any sort of personality. The furniture was gray and the walls were white. There were no pictures at all, and really, this place looked more like a hotel room then a normal home. Sakura was cutting a delectable piece of chocolate cake in the kitchen.

   "So, what did you want to talk about?" she asked as she placed a slice of cake in front  of him.

   "I wanna know how you figured out that test so fast! Tou-san said this year it was a genjutsu that you had to... die... in, and he was sure that it would take a long time for everyone to figure out. You didn't let them kill you, right?"

   "Of course not." Sakura said, popping a piece of dessert in her mouth. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief.

   "I killed myself."

   He choked. Before he could send her his barrage of concerned questions, she held up her hand and explained herself.

   "Listen first, Naruto." she said, "When I was a rogue for five years, I did plenty of jobs for Amegakure. There, I was able to pick up a couple of techniques from the locals. One of them specifically was the genjutsu used in the exam, Daaku Yuuyo. The only way to dispel is was to die, so I did it."

   Naruto grew silent.

   "... Oi... Sakura-chan?"

   She looked up.

   "What is it?"

   "What happened to you?"

   She sighed softly and averted her eyes. Sakura opened her mouth to speak, but the sound of the door opening was a welcome distraction. Both Naruto and Sakura stood and walked to the living room.

   "More people, Sakura-chan?! Who the hell is this one?!" he shouted, pointing towards the doorway, "And why is he not wearing a shirt?!"

   "Like that's your fucking business, blonde and bitchy." the stranger snarked, carelessly tossing his pack onto the couch. Naruto growled.

   "I don't need the both of you scrappin' in my house, you got that? I already had to deal with another fight not too long ago." Sakura warned, glaring at the two. The stranger raised his hands up defensively.

   "Alright, alright, chill. I'll leave Little Miss Sunshine alone."

   "Hidan."

   "I'm done!"

   Hidan met Naruto's angry stare with his own arrogant eyes, causing fury to bubble up in the younger man's stomach. Sakura smacked the back of Hidan's head before looking at Naruto apologetically.

   "Sorry about him. He's always this rude."

   "Not always." he pouted.

   "Yes, you are. Remember what happened when that guy accidentally bumped into you on the street? Even Mr. Cosmopolitan thought you were rude."

   Hidan scoffed.

   "That fucking fruitcake always thinks I'm doing something wrong, seriously."

   Naruto, for once, was silently observing from the sidelines. He didn't like this guy all too much, which was understandable, but he was a good friend to Sakura and that was all that mattered. But there was an ache of familiarity at the back of his mind. Hidan... he was sure he had heard that name and seen that face somewhere before.

   "Naruto, want some more cake?" Sakura asked, directing the attention to the kitchen.

   "Sure, Sakura-chan!"

   "Yo, blondie. What's up with those whiskers? You got an animal fetish some shit like that?"

   Naruto really didn't like this guy.

~

   Jiraiya and Orochimaru were on their way to the Hokage's office with a peculiar pair of visitors beside them. Tsunade and her apprentice Shizune had come to Konoha on a plea from the Hokage. The village was in a day spell in medics and they needed someone new to train new medics and retrain the old ones.

   Who better to ask for help than the renowned Slug Queen herself?

   Both Jiraiya and Orochimaru were at a loss for words. It had been over twenty years since they had last saw her, and still looked as young and beautiful as they remembered. They had been looking for her for so long, yet they couldn't bring themselves to speak with her.

   Tsunade herself wasn't all that ecstatic being back in her old village. She left for a reason and she persistently told herself she wouldn't be back for years to come. Yet here she was with the people she never thought she'd see again.

   The group of four entered the Hokage's office to see the heads of both the Hyuuga and the Uchiha; Hiashi and Fugaku. A cluster of Jounin were standing in the office as well, Kakashi being amongst those Jounin. Beside him was Yamato, and ANBU level Jounin who had just returned from a six month long mission.

   Minato smiled at the new arrivals.

   "Tsunade-sama, Shizune-san. Thank you for agreeing to come to the village on such short notice." he greeted.

   The rest of the meeting was boring as they all should have predicted. Tsunade would only stay for as long as she was needed for, which was an estimated two weeks to a month, and then she would go back to being a rogue with no trace for them to follow. Jiraiya and Orochimaru didn't know how to think about that.

   Two hours later, the meeting was dismissed and everyone was free to return to their duties. They were about  to leave until they heard Yamato's surprised exclamation from his conversation with Kakashi.

   "Eh?! Sakura-chan returned to the village two months ago?!"

   Tsunade and Shizune quickly paused their steps to look at the Jounin in surprise. Fugaku took note of the reaction and safely tucked that piece of information away.

   "You know Sakura Haruno?" Kakashi asked. He was unaware of the attention suddenly placed on both him and his colleague as they walked down the hallway.

   "It was hard no to. She stuck to Ibiki-san when she was younger so pretty much anyone who was a Jounin or ANBU over ten years ago had heard her name at least once."

   "ANBU too?" Kakashi mused, "I thought only the Jounin knew who she was."

   "Well she did make an effort to make friends with everyone she came across. Maybe I'll pay her a visit."

   Jiraiya looked at Tsunade.

   "Would you like us to show you to the hospital?" he offered. She waved her hand around nonchalantly and continued down the hallway.

   "I still know where it is."

   Jiraiya opened his mouth to speak. There was so much he wanted to say, but he kept it in and let out a tired sigh.

   "Maybe I'll see you later, then?"

   "Who knows. I'll be busy."

   He watched her disappeared down the corridor. Maybe... Maybe he should listen to what Sakura had told him all those years ago when they had first met.

   Chasing after this memory might be a waste of time after all. She couldn't be that same person from twenty years before.

~

   "So that's how it is." Sakura said after hearing the information Hidan had relayed to her after Naruto had taken his leave, "That would explain all the occurrences. But do you know who could be leading this organization?"

   Hidan shook his head.

   "Nope. Unfortunately. But I've confirmed that the organization that killed your friend and kidnapped those two brats from Kirigakure are brimming with shitty intentions. Definitely full of people worth sacrificing to Jashin-sama." he said. Sakura rubbed the back of her neck with an irritated look on her face. She was going to kill whoever this leader was with her bare hands even if this was the last thing she ever did. He was also so annoying elusive if his identity couldn't be discovered by either Kakuzu or Hidan.

   "I'd be more worried if I were you." he commented suddenly. Sakura met his gaze.

   "Why?"

   "You're strong, I'll give you that, but this guy is doing what he's doing for two stupid as fuck reasons. The first is to take over Konoha. I have no idea why because it's completely unoriginal, but the second reason is just to kill you."

   Sakura furrowed her eyebrows. A lot of people wanted to kill her as it was, so this wasn't anything new.

   "From what I've heard, this guy's obsessed with murdering you. Watch your back, alright? This ain't worth dying over."

   She gave him a reassuring smile.

   "Don't worry about it. It'll take a hell of a lot to kill me."