Blood spotted on the horribly pale skin of her hand as she coughed inside the bathroom. Sakura partially blamed her Uchiha genes there. She was also sick, and paleness could present itself thanks to that fact. Scowling, she washed her hands off with soap, watching as the reddish tinged water vanished down the sink. No one would know. No one could know.

Besides, she could always soothe her lungs using her chakra if it became too bad. It took the edge off, though it was nowhere near the kind of medical jutsu she had used before, and it was ten times harder thanks to the change in her chakra nature.

How she missed her soothing water-earth nature…But she would hold out until she became a genin. Until she earnt money and had shinobi-grade healthcare. Everything would be fine until then. There was no other option. She knew her own limits better than anyone else.

Medics make the worst patients, a voice vaguely reminiscent of Tsunade-shishou sounded.

Sakura shook her head. She knew best – she was a medic, and she knew her limits. The wastelands and Obito were the proof of that. She'd survived there for years until her jump to her new reality. There had been no one around for her to rely on there, aside from a grumpy Uchiha – and he was anything but reliable. Her arrival in the wrong timeline was case in point.

She was only grateful what she had wasn't contagious. Her siblings would have all been sick by that point if it was. They weren't – which meant it was something to do with her unique situation… or maybe some faulty genes. She blamed Obito, as per usual, and silently plotted on how best to prank him.

"You nearly done in there, Sakura-chan?" Tomoe called, knocking softly on the door.

Sakura hurried out, yawning all the while. "Mhm," she mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes even as her stomach grumbled. "Breakfast?"

"On the table, sweetie," Tomoe said, ruffling her hair for a few moments before she hurried into the bathroom. Vaguely, Sakura heard the sounds of her throwing up, and her eyes narrowed. She hoped Tomoe wasn't coming down with anything too serious. But Tomoe was an adult… who hopefully had health insurance if anything went south. She was luckier than Sakura in that respect.

"Saku-nee!" Mio called from across the table. "I saved you a seat."

Akira snorted. "You tried to steal her pancakes," she declared.

"Liar!" Mio hissed, hair bristling like a cat.

Sakura plonked herself down between them, claiming her portion of the pancakes Tomoe had so helpfully made. Their family loved their pancakes. She lathed the golden syrup on, figuring she deserved the extra sugar. Maybe it would help her feel more awake? she mused, chewing slowly on her breakfast as she prepared herself to face the day.

"Nee-chan?" A tug at her sleeve had her turning to face her youngest sibling. "Can you play with us today?"

She pulled at her messy mop of hair with another yawn. "Sorry, 'zomi," she mumbled through her yawn. "Gotta go to the academy… but maybe after?" she said, sleep clawing at her eyelids, her muscles aching far too hard from her morning training. Maybe she had pushed herself a bit too hard. She'd used a fairly decent chunk of chakra as well – but she still had enough to make a clone to watch over her little sisters

Sakura yawned, resting her head against the desk as she waited for the day to begin. Really, all she wanted to do was curl up and sleep, but there was no time for that. Her schedule was full, and classes were about to begin—

"Class S," Izuna announced, pulling the door open. "It's time for you sorry lot to report to the medical bay," he all but sang, and Sakura groaned as she realised it was already time for physicals. Maybe she could escape via the window?

"Come on!" Renka all but hauled her up from her not so comfy pillow, dragging her right to the very front of the makeshift line which was being formed. "The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can get back to class and spar, Rival!"

Sakura grunted listlessly, gathering chakra towards her lungs, praying she'd have enough to get her through the exam without a hitch. If she'd known it would be physicals that day, she wouldn't have trained as hard in the morning. "You're way too enthusiastic about this," she muttered, glaring at the end of the corridor Renka was dragging her through – towards a door to a room which could ruin everything if whatever issue within her lungs was discovered. She didn't want to say goodbye to her shinobi career before it could begin. She had to pass it. There was no other choice.

Her stomach clenched anxiously as she waited there, so not ready to be called in – but the universe hated her, and all too soon she was inside a familiar-smelling room. Hospital bays always smelt the same, no matter whether they were in Konoha's main hospital or the one attached to the academy.

"Sakura," she offered to the pretty brunette nurse who looked over at her expectantly as she seated herself on the edge of the hospital bed.

As far as things went, the physical was just like she remembered others to be in her past life – though there were parts which were far more thorough than she remembered. The parts around the lungs and heart were far too long for her liking. It was more and more tiring the longer she coated her lungs in soothing chakra, preventing any abnormalities from being heard or seen by the lady's careful hands.

Silently, she prayed – though not to the damned universe because it hated her, as proven numerous times – that she had done enough. Enough to keep herself there in the academy. Enough so she could graduate and then earn herself wonderfully free healthcare. Only then could her lungs be fixed.

"Finally!" Renka exclaimed as she walked out of the door, looking and feeling completely and utterly drained – both in body and mind. "Come on! We need to catch up with 'tachi!" she shouted, dragging a very tired Sakura along behind her as she ran back to their classroom. "I think Izuna, or some other Uchiha is looking after our class for the rest of the day – whoever chose the daily, repetitive B-Rank Mission…"

Sakura blinked. "Wait… our class is worth a B-Rank Mission?" She peered over at her eternal rival, eyebrows raised at the new little snippet of information.

Renka nodded. "We're a class of baby geniuses, according to pretty much everybody," she remarked, chest puffing up in pride. "So supervising and training us is hard work – well, according to Tobi-oji." Humming quietly in amusement, they both arrived outside the door to their classroom. Renka's permanent smile turned into a cheeky grin. "Shall we see which sucker has gotten stuck with us for today?" she asked, infecting Sakura with a small amount of her enthusiasm, before she slid open the door.

Silvery hair met her curious stare, and Sakura felt her mouth drop open ever so slightly at the sight of Kakashi standing in the classroom. The same Kakashi who had hated teaching in any and all forms in her last life. Sakura blinked slowly. What a strange world she was in…

"Oh! It's Kakashi-san and Obito-san!" Renka exclaimed loudly, and Sakura froze – half in and half out of the room. Her head swivelled around, eyes locking on the figure which had been hidden behind the silvery-haired alternate of her old sensei. A grin broke out on her face then, all teeth, and suddenly she was looking forwards to the rest of the day – her exhaustion forgotten as she laid eyes on that familiar figure. Though it was lacking the scars the imbecile who'd sent her into this dimension had. Not that it supressed the urge to teach him how much of an idiot he was. Today was going to be far more fun than she had originally thought.

She let Renka drag her over to their usual spot – where Itachi waited for them, having completed his own physical in a faster time than either of them. Though they had been split between girls and boys. Still, her eyes never left Obito's figure, her glee practically palpable as she waited for the pair to take them to the training grounds.

Obito shivered.

"Sakura-chan," Itachi said, glancing at her curiously over their lunch. "Has Obito-san done anything to irritate you as of late?" he enquired, tilting his head in question. "It's just you seemed rather enthusiastic with your traps and the paint bombs."

Her smile was all teeth, and she swallowed her last mouthful. "He looked in my direction," she said softly. "And his face irritates me for some reason." Given its resemblance to the alternate version of him.

Renka sniggered. "Sucks to be—"

"Sakura-chan?" a voice called, and Sakura blinked up at the unfamiliar chunin sensei calling her out. Confused, she climbed to her feet, waving to get the woman's attention. "Tobirama-sama wishes to see you in his office."

Her stomach dropped down to her toes.

Itachi frowned. "I wonder what he wants…" he mumbled. "He seems to call you in a lot…"

Sakura folded her arms with a huff, hiding her nerves with a thin veneer of confidence. "Probably 'cause I'm so awesome," she muttered.

"Sure you are, Eternal Rival!" Renka said, giving her a thumbs up and a twinkling grin, and in the corner of her eye, Sakura noticed Kakashi abruptly changing direction as he milled around the lunch courtyard.

"You had best be on your way," Itachi reminded. "Tobirama-sensei will not like it if you are too late."

Nodding, Sakura made her way back inside, heart thumping in her chest as she all but dragged her feet to Tobirama's Office. It felt like she was walking to her doom. The knock on the door almost seemed to echo, and Sakura pushed said door open before she could lose her nerve – and run and hide halfway across the village. Or better yet in the middle of the Forest of Death.

Blinking, she frowned at the empty office, hesitantly venturing further in as she waited for the overbearing white-haired Senju to make an appearance. Her gaze flickered over the walls, finally taking in all the decorations – from the numerous scrolls to a board nailed to the wall with a list of Problematic Students on it, under which was pinned a picture of herself and a list next to her name. Frowning, she ventured closer to the pinboard, freezing mid-step as the door swung open and Tobirama entered – carrying a thin pale blue file which Sakura realised was an academy student's file. Her file. And the nurse's – the med-nin's – report from her physical would be in there.

Swallowing audibly, she stiffened at the hand which landed on her shoulder and guided her over to the nearest sofa. A nice ocean blue coloured one.

Red eyes were narrowed, and Sakura gulped once more. "Do you know why I've called you here today?" he asked, voice alarmingly soft – missing the bite his usual scathing comments and accusations had. Sakura shook her head, not trusting her voice. He couldn't have found out. "Do you remember one of the questions you were asked in your most recent physical?"

Sakura stared at him, face utterly blank, panic in her eyes. Chakra thrummed behind her eyes, and she could feel her sharingan pushing behind her eyes. Stress was the likely cause of that. She had noticed it that much more in the past few weeks – the urge to activate her sharingan. She was keeping that urge down though… just about, and she was hardly about to let up on that right then and there.

"She asked you how much you slept a night," Tobirama said, glancing down at the notes in her file. "You said nine hours, but oddly enough neither me nor Makoto-san believe that in the slightest."

Sakura felt her shoulders slump in relief. It wasn't her lungs.

"Given the state of your eyebags"—Sakura's eye twitched—"and how tired you seem, I think it's safe to say you haven't been getting as much as a child of your age needs," Tobirama continued, and she blinked dumbly as Tobirama moved to sit down next to her. "So right here and right now, I'd like for you to close your eyes and count to thirty."

Frowning, Sakura decided to do as she was told for once without an argument. She was too tired to get into a battle of wits with the Senju. Or was it a battle of who was the snarkiest? Glancing up at him, she started counting out loud.

She didn't remember anything beyond the number eleven.

"Neh, Sakura!"

Blearily, Sakura opened her eyes at the whispered-shout, blinking hard as she spotted Renka hovering over her. "Huh?"

"Tobi-oji said to come and get you for the last two hours of class," she said, beaming down at her, and Sakura propped herself up her elbows – noting the fact that she had a pillow under her head and a blanket had been tucked over her up to her chin and the mask which was thankfully still covering her face. No one had seen her face. "You alright, Rival?" Renka asked, peering at her closely, nose brushing against her own.

Sakura scuttled back. "Don't get up in my face, moron!" she grumbled, pulling her hood back into place as she pulled herself out from under the blanket. "I'm fine."

"Good." Renka nodded then, and Sakura was by then used to the slightly older girl's tendency to drag her everywhere. Mainly because she was a ball of violent energy, and she wasn't patient enough to wait for Sakura to make her way places at the snail's pace she favoured. She didn't have the boundless energy everyone else her age seemed to have. Though maybe that was because she was always using it up before the academy day started?

Shrugging, Sakura let herself be pulled back over to class.

It seemed it was finally time for round two of let's traumatise Obito-sensei. A shark-like grin curled at her lips at the thought. There was plenty to do before the day was out.