(A/N: Play music for more effect!)

A knocking sound on the door alerted the Hokage. "Come in," he called, and the door opened, revealing Anko.

"Ah, Anko. Good evening," the Third Hokage greeted the chūnin.

"Hokage-sama." She bowed respectfully and stood up straight. "I received a hawk telling me to come here. Is someone watching the brat, Sakura?"

"Ah, Sakura. What an appropriate name for her...and yes, I have someone watching her," he said, eyes glimmering with amusement.

"What is it you called me here for?

"...The lab results came back," he said, handing a clipboard to Anko.

"Th-this is—"

"A 97% DNA match. Sakura is a Senju."

"Orochimaru," she growled, her fists clenched. "Damn that bastard!"

"The Council is trying to decide whether or not to find Tsunade and tell her."

"Tsunade Senju, one of the legendary Sannin?!"

The Third Hokage nodded. "Yes. It seems Jiraiya has made an appearance in the village and is now teaching Sakura chakra control. He visited earlier and I told him about her. Jiraiya will observe her while she's under his temporary tutelage. You won't have to check on her for the next week or so. One of my ANBU will."

"Good to know, Hokage-sama. Is that all?"

"No. We must prevent the village's knowledge that she was found from Orochimaru's laboratory, and that she is a Senju. It is absolutely essential that she does not know. I don't want another Naruto situation. I already informed the one doing the DNA tests. You are dismissed."

Anko bowed before saying, "Hai, Hokage-sama!"

:::

Sakura walked to the clothing store where she had ordered more outfits like the one she was wearing, still carrying the shuriken and other items she had bought earlier, along with her library books. "Dog-san, is there a purpose for still following me?"

They are following me under the orders of the Hokage. To be this suspicious of me, though...

They see you as a threat.

The ANBU watching her still didn't jump down from the tree they were in. She knows of my presence, or rather, suspects it. Watching the conversation between her and Jiraiya shows she doesn't know how to tap into her chakra reserves, Dog noted.

A few minutes later, he watched the girl walk out with even more things in her arms. He followed her, memorizing the items: 10 kunai, 20 shuriken, explosive tags, smoke bombs, a standard weapon pouch, two books, and five sets of clothing tailored just for her. She seems to be getting a head start on chakra, and with the Toad Sage, too.

Squinting, and moving cautiously closer, he saw the titles. The Sannin: Legendary Shinobi Trio and From Genin to Legend: The Sannin. She's doing research on who she's training with. Smart.

Dog kept tailing Sakura, up until her apartment, masking his chakra just in case. When she went inside, he stayed in a tree nearby, hidden in the leaves. "Hey," a voice suddenly said behind him, startling him and pulling out a kunai to attack. "It's just me, Tenzou," The fellow ANBU said, still grabbing Dog's wrist. With his other hand he lifted up his own mask, revealing large eyes and brown spiky hair. "I'm here to switch with you, Senpai."

"Ah," Dog withdrew his kunai and stuffed it back in his holster. "Hasn't done much. She just caused trouble with the librarian, who somehow knew about where she came from."

"And you erased her memories of the evidence?"

Dog nodded silently before leaving.

"U-uh, wait, Senpai!" Dog stopped, not turning to look at Tenzou. "Maybe we could have dango sometime?" Everyone in ANBU knew of Tenzou's admiration for Kakashi Hatake, the ANBU captain and prodigy. Who wouldn't?

After a silent nod, Dog left.

:::

"Hey, Kid!"

Sakura, after returning the books in the morning as she had promised, headed over to the training grounds where she had practiced yesterday, equipped with her kunai and shuriken in her pouch. Is hey usually yelled at people? Perhaps I should try.

...Maybe you should just skip it this time.

Instead, Sakura nodded at the Toad Sage. "I have done my research on you," she stated.

"Research? Kid, you're seven," Jiraiya exclaimed, "Y—oh. That type of research. Oh, really? What did you find out about me?" He crossed his arms and grinned.

"Jiraiya, the Toad Sage. one of the legendary Sannin and student of the Third Hokage was once a hopeless student. You failed your test, and always depended on others to carry you. However, you mastered senjutsu, the ability to draw out nature energy, after reverse-summoning by accident to the home of toads, Mount Myōboku. The area is unknown. After that, you began to improve, along with your teammates, Tsunade Senju and," her green eyes flashed. "Orochimaru. You fought in the Third Great Shinobi war, which allowed you and your teammates to rise in rank and power. You earned the nickname the Sannin because of that."

"Impressive. And you found all that out yesterday?"

"Yes."

"Very impressive research skills," he said. "And do you know more about my old teammates?"

He is clever, trying to give up information about Orochimaru.

"Yes. Tsunade Senju, her grandfather was the First Hokage, who founded this village. She is known as the Slug Princess, and one of the world's best medic-nin out there. She is one of the only people to activate the Byakugō no In, and is one of the Sannin as well. Her summoning is a giant slug that had healing powers and spits acid. Orochimaru is the Snake Sannin, and an S-class missing in from the village of Konohagakure. His summonings are all snakes, that can be from the size of my hand to the size of your personal summoning, Gamabunta."

"I see...well, let's get started on tapping in."

Sakura nodded. "The first step is meditation. You need to feel the chakra running through you. Chakra is a life force, so everyone has it. Close your eyes, relax..." She sat on the grass and closed her eyes, and let her arms fall limp in her lap and lose feeling. "Can you feel the chakra?"

"...Yes..."

"Good. Now, you have certain points where chakra can be exerted from them. You can control the chakra by focusing at one point for now. Today, we're going to practice climbing trees."

"Trees," Sakura repeated. Climbing trees does not require chakra...

"Yes. Watch." She watched Jiraiya step on the trunk of a tree and kept walking up. Vertically. With only his feet.

I-impossible...unless—! He focuses chakra into the soles of his feet!

Sakura watched as he kept climbing, the clopping noise coming from his geta. When he reached a certain point, he jumped down smoothly. "You used chakra and pinpointed it to your feet," the pinkette noted.

The Sannin nodded. "You try."

Sakura walked up to the same tree and closed her eyes.

Focus your chakra...not too much, but not too little—!

Her green eyes snapped open, and she got a running start before making it about twenty feet onto the trunk, not far from where Jiraiya had stopped. When she felt herself begin to fall, she jumped to another tree, then another, back and forth until she was at the bottom again. "That was a good first try. It seems you have excellent chakra control." Orochimaru...you made this girl to be a real shinobi, unstoppable and excelling in everything, Jiraiya thought to himself. "Again."

Sakura nodded, and went even higher this time, at 30 feet. She stopped on a branch and looked down at the small white form at the bottom. Then, she repeated the action of climbing down slowly from tree to tree.

"It looks like I've got to go Kid, I need to do some research."

"You were here for five minutes," Sakura said.

"No, we were here for an hour. You meditated for quite some time. Bye!"

The girl frowned. I know the basics of chakra use now, and he said that I can meditate to make my reserves even bigger... There must be other ways too.

The library, then?

The library.

:::

Dog had taken over watching the experiment again. He had watched as she climbed the tree with ease on her first try ever using chakra. That was unheard of...but so was being grown entirely from another's DNA.

He followed her back to the library, the librarian not saying much because she had 'forgotten' the quarrel. The two chūnin, Kotetsu and Izumo stopped her as usual, but she managed to slip on by.

He watched as she asked for books on chakra and how to control and increase it. The books she took to her apartment were Chakra: For Beginners and one simply named Chakra. Dog watched as she tore through them in a matter of minutes, then leave with her shinobi supplies. She must've read how it can increase chakra levels with stamina practice.

Do you think Dog is watching Sakura obsessively?