Ok so here we are. I'm so happy and surprised that this story is being received well so far!

got this chapter out quicker than usual, so I hope it doesn't suffer from feeling rushed

Thank you to everyone so far that is following along and commenting! it really keeps me wanting to post on this story!

Patients turn into Visitors turn into more Patients

"So just how long are you planning on staying here?" Sakura said to Izuna

"Just a few days. If that's ok with you Sakura. We don't mean to impose and we will help out where we can so if you..." Izuna stopped as he was cut off

"If you don't push recently recovered patients out that would be great" Madara interjected from the side

"Keyword in that statement being recovered," Sakura mumbled, slightly irritated at the tone the kid was using with her. As though she was the one inconveniencing them while they were the ones asking for a favor. She had missed the lack of interaction, but to invite two Uchiha kids into her home? She looked back and forth between the two for a moment.

"I would have thought your village would have been eager to get you two home."

"Not so eager as to put ourselves in danger." Madara said blandly, "There has been more and more activity in the area recently, and there might be more in a few days. So, it would be better to fully recover and head out instead of having to constantly stop and put yourself in a compromising situation more that we would need to. Surely you can see that us heading back on our own, not at full strength could lead to problems on the road."

Sakura clicked her tongue. She could understand what he was saying, what she didn't understand is why he needed to use such a condescending tone. She looked back at Izuna. "Ok," she huffed out, his face brightened and Sakura's shoulders relaxed a bit. "But only for a few days. This is still a place of healing and not an inn." her tone sounding oddly strict along with her light voice. "So while here what do I call you two?"

Izuna looked at his brother and raised his shoulders, "You can call me Izu, if you'd like."

Madara shook his head disappointed over Izuna's name choice, but looking up he responded with his actual code name, "Karasu."

Izuna realizing his blunder opened his mouth and closed it a few times as though he wanted to correct his mistake but decided against it. Even though Skura was not Uchiha, she had helped them freely and been so nice to them, he wanted to share his whole name but only used an old nickname. Which, upon reflection, not a very good way to conceal one's name.

"Ok, then Izu and Karasu it is then." Sakura said slowly watching the odd reaction of the younger Uchiha. She was able to tell now that they were both moving around.

They must have been close in age but Karasu was a bit bigger, his eyes a bit harder and probing. Overall he was simply more of, from what Sakura could tell from her experience, what a typical Uchiha was supposed to be, or at least what she remembered Sasuke to be like. And it truly wasn't fair how attractiveness seemed to be a universal trait of the clan. Both boys, she had to admit, were attractive in their own right.

Izu had softer features and big Onix eyes that gave him a beautiful doe-eyed look, but it wasn't just that. He had intelligence behind his eyes as well, and he had demonstrated some of his ability to absorb and filter knowledge in their conversations while still being fairly innocent in how excited whenever she spoke about certain usable herbs or basic healing techniques.

Didn't change the fact that she saw them as no more than children. They couldn't have been more than 13 and she had the mind of a woman in her 20's she really couldn't see them more than kids. But similar to her they had both been in a war, all of them had seen death that was clear, and both were guarded though each to different extents.

"Just don't mess with the villagers. I am here to serve them since they have agreed to take care of me for the time being. And I don't need two Uchiha kids messing up what I have got here." Sakura said folding her arms and making a point to look at Madara, who immediately huffed and looked away out the window.

"We just need to do some research in the area, we shouldn't bother anyone," Izu said

"You do know that just your presence will bother them. I have seen it. People keep their children inside and stalls will close their doors to you. It is just a fact that right now ninja are generally 'scary bad guys' that are the reason for a lot of civilian death. And well I don't know what kind of reputation the Uchiha have with regular civilian villages, but my guess is not a lot of contact which means secretive which means even more suspicious."

"Well, we aren't small and weak like the Uzumaki or the Akimichi clans. We have no reason to trade much with civilians." Madara said slightly tilting his head to the side.

Sakura looked back at Izuna then back at Madara incredulously, "You have got to be kidding me." she said throwing her hands up in the air in frustration, "you are going to get me kicked out of this village!" and she walked off back to the kitchen mumbling loudly, "Do what you want, yeah it will be fine, they can't be this stupid, I swear if they get me kicked out of this village I might kill them."

During this Madara turned to Izuna, "So," he started, "Stick together and fan around the village before sweeping the village itself. Shouldn't take too long to sweep the outside, just keep your eyes and ears open for any enemy ninja that might have come. After should get the area surrounding area and the town done today if we keep the radius distance starting from this location." Sakura continued mumbling in the back, and Madara sighed in frustration, "you know we can hear you."

Sakura turned from what she was doing, "You know you are still in my house. It is a small house," she said waving her arm around the small makeshift kitchen, dining, living, and treatment room, "so I know you can hear me. I have been doing it so that you would take the hint go away. Maybe all the way back to your village."

"Hn" Madara let out

Izuna shook his head before looking up at sakura, holding his hand up he said, "Best behavior, we understand." it was a bit odd making such a promise to a girl younger than them, she almost acted like his mother the way she reprimanded them for behavior they hadn't even done yet.

"Right, well then also just so you know the cave is really the only part of the area that is off-limits. It's not dangerous or anything just personal space."

The two Uchiha nodded to her before making their way out of the little cottage. Then they turned to nod to each other before jumping off in the areas they had decided to start there search.

Sakura sat in a nearby chair tapping her fingers on the table. Maybe she wouldn't have even mentioned the cave. It wasn't like there was anything bad in there. She got back up and went to the cupboard to get some insense before walking out the door and towards the cave. The smell changed from the woods to that of a hollow cavern; the sent of damp rocks, moss, and incense hitting her nose, her chest tightened at the smell.

There was a little pile of dirt in front of the names and a few old sticks of incense stood in the center. She added another and lit it. She brought her hands together looking at all the names on the cavern wall her eyes lingering on that of one of her closest friends and dear teammate.

"Naruto," she whispered out, "What am I doing here? I have no idea. I thought there would be some sort of path or direction that would lead me to something, anything that would make this world better, but the days seem to be just piling up." Sakura let her hands fall to her sides, "you never wallowed, you could never stay still enough to wallow no matter what hardships you went through." Sakura clapped her hands to her face snapping herself out of the melancholy mood she was letting herself fall into, "So I won't stay still either. I will find some way to do this. I will for all of you."

Getting up she dusted off her knees and walked out of the cave. She looked around the area. Her cottage close and her garden was beginning to really grow now. She could help more people if they would come but right now no one knew she existed. Those villagers that did were either too scared or too skeptical of her talents to come to see her. And now she was going to have two Uchiha boys wandering around and asking questions.

Sakura stretched soaking up the sun that had followed the rainstorm. It had ended earlier that morning but it had left pools of water everywhere and everything outside was wet. After looking around she concluded that there again was nothing else for her to do that day. She had already cleaned or thrown away what she had used last night to heal the one called Karasu. A fake name for a rude person she thought idly. She should probably warn someone in the village about those two.

Then it hit her for what she could do that day. Go into town and warn someone about those two. Making her way down the path she headed in towards the town. It was not as big as she had remembered it being, but it was certainly bigger than just a normal small town. It was fairly easy to make out which one was the main building as it was about four stories tall, a good story overtop the rest of the other buildings in the town and it was the same building she was brought to when she first arrived.

She only had to sit for a few minutes before she was told she could go in. The doors opened and she could see in the familiar room. Stacks of paper still lined the walls and piles of it were on the desk in a manner that she was sure only made sense to the head of the village. After hopping off the chair she entered seeing the head of the village for the second time, his blue beard still as distracting as it was the first time. She idly wondered if he dyed it since the color was so bold before getting her thoughts in order as he addressed her.

"Sakura, it has been a long time since I last saw you. I have heard you have not ventured far into the town since you have arrived."

"I don't want to be the cause of unrest while I am here, I'd rather people get used to the idea of me being here first."

"That is very kind of you child though it may take a while before that happens."

"It seems so." sakura said remembering how long it had taken for just the guards to loosen up a bit around her.

"Now then what brings you to my offices today."

"Your healer in town refused to help two ninja boys that came by here in the storm. Then you sent them to me."

"Ah yes, I assume they made their way to you then."

"They did and I treated them without any issues."

The man raised one of his brows, "One of them seemed on death's door. And it only took a day to heal him?"

"I told you that I was good at what I did."

"I believe you said you were the best at what you did. It was a bold declaration from one so small." there was a slight pause in the air as sakura felt a tad embarrassed for how strongly she had come across in such a small frame. "But is that the reason you are here? The two Uchiha boys?"

"So you knew they were Uchiha?"

"It is hard to not recognize those from their clan, their raven hair and dark eyes are well known to the people in this area."

"I was wondering why your healer did not tend to them, they could have seen it as a slight against their clan had I not been here. One of them was very angry with your village even after."

"Our current healer is up in years, and he like many in this village, has lost family due to the fighting between the clans in the area, the Uchiha being one of those. I can not force him to do something he was not willing, and honestly unable to do."

"I understand, it is good that I was here then. Though there was one matter that I wanted you to be aware of." Sakura said hesitantly knowing the leader of the town would not be too happy with it.

"Well out with it then."

"Right," Sakura said, "So the two boys apparently have some business they are looking into in the surrounding area and they wanted to check out the town too. I warned them that they wouldn't be welcome and that they needed to be on their best behavior, but they seemed determined to check out the town."

The older man groaned pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes. "The village is not going to like this."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"No no no just leave them be, we used to have connections with the Uzumaki clan but over the years the town has fallen on hard times and we can no longer afford them. So best to just stay out of their way and hope they leave soon without causing any trouble."

"Ok, they also said that there was more activity in the area than usual. So your guards might want to keep an extra eye out."

"I will keep that in mind. One of the guards will escort you back to your home. You know you are very meticulous for such a young girl."

"I'm very meticulous because I'm a good medic." The blue bearded leader chuckled curtly before turning back to his papers and with that, the little girl turned and walked out of the room.

As she exited the building one of the guards followed her down the road. The town was not very large, they were a small trading hub for the area but they were mostly a stop on the way to someplace larger. The streets nevertheless were bustling with merchants and locals all moving in different directions.

As she walked through the streets she could hear the haggling of merchants and the arguments of strangers. There were vendors that lined the streets and she could smell some of the food they were cooking. And it smelled much better than anything she could cook up. She was enjoying the sounds and smells when she saw a man pushing a cart with all his might on just one arm. His other arm looked as though it was bound tightly and was in a sling. Suddenly the bandaging came loose and his arm swung free garnering a yelp from the man.

Sakura quickly made her way through the crowd towards the man, her guard following closely behind. Walking up to the man she could tell he was trying to hold in the pain and tie his brace again unsuccessfully.

"Can I help you with that?" Sakura said now standing in front of the pained man.

"Move along little girl there is nothing you can do to help here."

"I'm a healer I can help you if you let me. It won't take very long."

The man looked at the little girl incredulously but the shooting pain in his arm brought made him bitter, he looked up to the guard behind her, "You there is she really a healer or just some rich merchant kid with a vivid imagination?"

The guard hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to respond, "She is a new doctor that lives on the outskirts of the town, but I should warn you that she-"

"Fine fine fine" the man said in pain, "If you are some sort of healer then help me put these bandages back in place."

Sakura moved forward to the man, "Oh I can do a lot more than that." Holding the man's arm in one hand the other began glowing green as she analyzed what kind of injury the man had. It seemed to be a fairly large fracture on the man's radial bone in his arm.

She could see the look of immediate discomfort on the man's face as he realized who she was. And a small crowd of people became onlookers as Sakura continued her work. As it was not a break or something that needed resetting Sakura went along closing up the fracture and healing the broken blood vessels around the area with relative ease.

After a few minutes she looked up satisfied with her work, "Ok then how does it feel now?"

The man still in a bit of shock held his arm up with some hesitation before glee filled his features. "It doesn't hurt anymore!" the man exclaimed and the crowd began whispering. "Its like your fixed my arm entirely!"

"I did, your arm should be as good as new now." Sakura said taking a few steps back from the man.

"I..I don't know what to say, little lady. I don't have much but there must be something I can give you in payment."

"I get all that I need from the village in return for healing people, so I am really just doing my job."

"No there must be something, I sell kitchen supplies there must be something you need here." he said gesturing back to his cart

Sakura's ears perked a bit, "Well if you insist, I would greatly appreciate a small mortar and pestle."

"Yes yes of course," quickly the man got up and went to the back of his cart. Sakura waited awkwardly as the small crowd lessened but continued whispering around her. Finally, the man came round again with a small mortar and pestle in his hands. "Thank you so much four your help, I have been struggling for almost two weeks with that injury and it has really hurt my ability to do business. So if there is anything you need just come find my stall down the street a bit and I promise to give you a good deal."

Sakura gave the man a small bow, "And thank you for this," she said holding up the small stone set, "Please feel free to come to visit if you ever injure yourself again."

"Yes, I certainly will. Thank you again little lady." and with a slight bow to her, he went back to pushing his cart and Skura continued on her way out of the village all along the way hearing whispers.

"Her hands glowed green and then..."

"I saw it with my own eyes."

"But she looks so young."

"His whole arm was broken..."

"Even though she is a.."

"It barely took a minute.."

Hopefully, this was the kind of attention she needed, maybe now people will actually come and be seen by her. As they left the edge of town Sakura stretched out her arms up and over before relaxing a bit and looking back to the guard. "Maybe now I can earn my keep." She said smiling.

"It was certainly an impressive display." the guard said, "I have never seen a bone heal right before my eyes."

Sakura giggles a bit to herself, "It is nice to finally be able to do something for a villager."

The guard seemed softened a bit by her child-like attitude shift, "I'm sure people will warm up to you eventually, just give them some time."

"Thank you," It was probably one of the nicer things the guard had ever said to her, and she thought there was nothing that could dampen her mood until she saw the bush. Sakura quickly looked around before glancing again at the bush then setting her eyes straight forward.

Ohhh great she thought to herself, turning back to the guard, "you know I can really make it on my own from here. Plus I think they are going to add some hours to the patrol soon, so I don't want you to waste your time just escorting me through the woods."

"Are you sure?"

"We are through the village and I think the chief probably wanted you there more for the civilian's sake rather than for mine. So it is really ok." she said putting on her best innocent kid face.

"Well," the guard unsuradly said, "If you are sure."

"I am." sakura said quickly with a smile, she needed to get this guard back to the town, now. She concentrated in the back of her mind sensing what chakra signatures were around her. Immediately she noticed two on either side of the trail they were on, and then two more further back in the woods. She was slightly upset with herself that she hadn't noticed them sooner.

The guard turned to go back, sakura waving a slight goodbye, "Have a nice day!"

The guard awkwardly waved back to her "you as well." before disappearing down the path back towards the village.

Sakura returned to the path on alert. Her senses sharpened and she began coursing chakra through her as she could sense the four closing in on her as she neared her cottage. She kicked her self for not noticing it sooner. The Uchiha boys told her there was more activity in the area, and it took such an obvious clue for her to take notice. It had heavily rained the night before, and everything in the woods was damp or had some evidence of the storm that had roared through, except that bush. A bone dry bush, it looked plain unnatural in the woods she was surprised the guard hadn't noticed it.

Then they moved in. First it was the two closest to her, quickly they made their way towards her. Sakura didn't have any weapons on her and she cursed as she thought of the few senbon in the house or a few of the knives that would have come in handy, but judging from their chakra signatures she surmised it wouldn't be too much of a problem. Non-lethal force should be enough she decided.

Then one of them dropped their genjutsu and attacked with a sword in hand. Sakura created a chakra scalpel quickly defending from the attack with one hand while using the other to punch her attacker in the stomach. The chakra filled punch sent the ninja flying into a tree and she heard a distinct crack as he slumped to the ground.

There was a brief moment of silence before she could hear the second coming at her, this time a water jutsu following her. But it was weak compared to what she had been used to seeing and she easily dodged the ball of water hurtling towards her. The new ninja on the field couldn't have been over 13, but she was full of determination and began doing hand signs for another. But sakura was faster than her, chakra fuling her legs she raced forwards to the girl chopping through her hands the girl let out a yelp of pain.

Sakura planted one foot and quickly propelled into the air and around chopping the young girl lightly at the base of her spine causing the girl to fall to the ground unconscious. There would be a few broken bones in her hands but no damage that would kill her.

The remaining two came down from their perches in the trees, they seemed older than the other two. More experienced but still not enough to face her. The first came at her with taijutsu bad mistake it didn't take but a moment before he was flat on his back, then it was one swift kick to the head and he was out with, probably, a minor concussion. She looked up to see that the man had been buying time for his friend to complete a jutsu.

Sakura propelled herself out of the way jumping high into the air as a strong arrow of wind sliced through the air even cutting his comrade who was laying on the ground.

"Shit!" she could hear the man cuss as he turned up to look at her coming back down towards him he took out his shuriken hoping she would be an easy target in the air.

He began an onslaught of shuriken as she was coming down she created two chakra scalpels one in each hand to deflect the barrage of the little blades. Reaching the ground she propelled herself towards the man who while backing away quickly jumping into the trees continued to helplessly throw shuriken at her.

It was easy to catch up to him and once she was close enough she jumped up to reach the level of his height and he turned to block her punch. She could hear the bone in his arm crack in two before barreling into his chest where she heard another distinct crack. The ninja coughed out some blood before dropping from the trees. He was barely standing cradling his arm to his chest Sakura could see the labored breathing and pain distorting his face.

"Why are you here, what was the reason for attacking me." Sakura ordered from her perch in the tree looking down on the man

"You weren't our main target." The man spat out.

"Who is."

"Like I'm going to tell a little girl like you."

"This little girl just took out your team." Sakura said jumping down from the tree she watched as the man jumped back from her wincing as he moved. "You won't get very far with these wounds. And this will be a lot less painful for you if you cooperate with me."

She was behind him in a moment, she kicked out his legs and as his legs gave under him he knelt to the ground bringing him to her level she hit the back of his neck knocking the man out. Before he could fall forward she grabbed the back of his shirt and began dragging the man back to her cabin tying him up there.

Grumbling the whole way, "This is probably about those damn Uchiha boys. I really didn't need this today. It was leading to be such a good day and now this has to happen."

After tying up the one that tried to escape from her she went around collecting the other ninja that she had knocked out and tied them up as well laying them on the floor of her cottage. She went over to her cupboard and pulled out her senbon needles and placed them up her sleeves leaving one in her hand. She examined their bodies and made some mental notes about their wounds. She healed the gash created by their fellow teammate so that he wouldn't bleed all over her floor. Then after deciding none of the rest were fatal she moved on to getting information first.

She went over to the younger girl and quickly hit two pressure points; one to keep her paralyzed neck down and one of her pressure points to wake up. Immediately jolting her eyes open the girl had a look of horror cross her face once she realized she could not move and was bound.

"Don't worry it's not poison if that is what you are thinking." The girl's eyes made their way to Sakura her pink hair lightly gliding over one of her shoulders as she jumped up and sat on her kitchen chair looking down at the girl on the floor. "But this situation can be made permanent if you don't answer my questions. Right now you have two fractures and four broken bones in your hands." She could see a tear welling up in the poor girl's eye and her heart went out to her.

Sakura sighed and her voice softened, "Don't worry I can fix your hands, and your teammates too. I just want to know why you are pursuing the two Uchiha boys."

"They were just orders that was all." the girl said, but her voice was too high and she was a bit too scared to lie convincingly.

Sakura pinched the bridge nose and a stress mark grew on her forehead, "Look girl, I really don't like doing this. I am a healer, this…" she said holding her arm out gesturing to her unconscious teammates, "Is not something I love doing. So just tell me the truth."

"It is the truth! Thats all I know!" the girl persisted, her voice attempting to find a resolve she didn't have.

"No," Sakura said releasing the bridge of her nose to look at the girl and hoping down from her chair, "No it is not."

A few more cracks and broken bones later Sakura finally had the girl speaking the truth.

"Ok ok ok" the girl said tears now openly streaming down her cheeks. "They are the sons of the Uchiha clan head." the girl let out. No, it couldn't be Sakura thought to herself

"Explain," Sakura said standing back from the girl, maybe they were not the ninja she was thinking of. They could be their brothers or their ancestors, she wasn't still very sure of who was around and who was in charge yet. So it couldn't be, she didn't.

"We got the info from a team that ran into them while on a mission. We were told that they were separated from the rest of their team and to approach and kill."

"Names." Sakura said. Her thoughts running a mile a minute, she hadn't just healed who she thought she did. It couldn't be.

"Izuna and Madara Uchiha." fuuuuuuuuuck, Sakura thought bringing her hands to her face rubbing them up and down with the realization.

"And they sent you four, just you four?" How dumb were these ninja, trying to take on two Uchiha prodigies with only four, and a mediocre four at that. Were they planning on using her as bait? And how dumb was she not to realize who she was treating!

"The other two that survived the attack went back to report to base and send a message to the Hyuga. That's it I swear."

"What do the Hyuga have to do with this?"

The girl shut her eyes tight trying to think more clearly through the pain, but the truth followed a lot easier under heavy pressure. And this girl was not used to holding on tightly to secrets under interrogation. So Sakura held up the girls forearm and grabbed her paralyzed hand before snapping it back onto the arm making a clean break out of the wrist.

The girl yelped and then held in another scream as sakura asked again "What do the Hyuga have to do with this."

"There was some weird chakra signature that put everyone on edge a few weeks ago. We were hired to investigate that. But last year our clan lost 14 to the Uchiha in one battle. And we couldn't find anything in the area that matched what we were looking for, so the mission changed when we spotted some uchihas doing something weird in the woods. They were distracted and we thought we could get revenge. That's how we ended up here."

"And this time I believe you. Now, this might feel odd but bear with it" Sakura said. That was probably all she was going to get from the girl. And she got the info she wanted. Her small hand picking up the girl's newly broken wrist. She aligned it and began healing it. Green light emanating from her hands the young girl watched in wonder as the pain began to recede.

"How are you doing that?" the girl asked in shock

"I told you I was a healer." she said finishing up the wrist.

"So that's what you do beat people to a pulp then heal them?"

"Yup that is basically what I do," Sakura said focusing on the small fractures in her right hand first.

"Seriously?"

"You all were not here to kill me, you were here for the Uchiha kids. Who are long gone by now."

"But we tracked them here."

"And they were, but I healed them and then they left. You must have lost their trail back in the storm, there was a lot of rain. It was even going sideways here at one point you know." The lies flowed easily from her as she was healing the girl. She didn't know why but somehow she felt this was an extension of protecting her patients, ninja who had come to her for help.

"How long are you going to keep us like this?" the girl asked helplessly

"After you are all agreeing to go peacefully. Then I'll heal your friends up too, and you can all be back on your way."

"So we still have some time to catch up to them."

"Look you have lost their trail, and they already have over a half a days travel ahead of you. They will probably be in their own territory by the time you get close to them. You can't succeed on every mission. Just be thankful that you get to return with your lives."

Her senses had been high and on alert since the battle so she had been brought to attention again when she could feel two chakra signature off in the distance. She wasn't sure that it was the two little heirs, but she assumed they were coming back from checking the area since it was getting to be late in the afternoon. Lowering the girls hand she took out the senbon and quickly knocked the girl out again before she could ask any more questions.

Sakura went around paralyzing the other three as she had done to the girl. She contemplated injecting them with something to keep them knocked out, decided it was unnecessary since they were definitely not waking up anytime soon. Then after getting up sakura had a vision of one of them gradually coming back to consciousness while she was having a conversation with one of the Uchiha heirs. Shaking her head, she went to the cupboard and with her new mortar and pestle began mixing what little ingredients she had to keep her new patients asleep for the next conversation she would be having.

Ok so here we are at the end of another chapter

will sakura immediately let them know that she knows who they are

will she keep the knowledge of who they are to her self

who knows!

I don't that's for sure,

because right now I am just kinda going with the flow and we will see where that takes us