Summary: Sakura never expected that going on an S-ranked mission to a country ruled by women and with three of Konoha's hottest and most powerful shinobi as her harem would be her worst assignment yet. In which Sakura's understanding of the shinobi world is completely changed. Rewrite in process. [Sakura-centric] [Non-massacre] [Reverse harem]

Standard disclaimer applies.

1

Before the Maelstrom

"Any other questions?" Tsunade demanded, giving each of them a pointed look. She noted that the four had frozen briefly upon hearing the details of the mission, but now, besides herself (who still felt quite flushed), the other three didn't appear particularly affected.

After a few minutes - which seemed like forever to Sakura - Tsunade seemed satisfied with the lack of questions and leaned back against her chair. "You see, Itachi, going back to your question earlier about why I sent you three… The rulers there have a penchant for attractive shinobi. While certainly not required, I thought it would only help strengthen diplomatic ties if I happened to send my ANBU member with the largest fan clubs to show them my commitment to this whole arrangement."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama." Itachi murmured in acknowledgement. He could only begin to wonder how the Hokage had managed to find out that statistic, which was no doubt the result of some unofficial village poll amongst teenage girls.

"Great. You leave Monday, two days from now." Tsunade barked. "And now, you three," she gestured at Sasuke, Itachi and Neji, "you're dismissed. Sakura, you stay. I'll give you additional instructions. Sakura is the team leader this time – yes, not you, Itachi – so she'll give you detailed instructions throughout the mission and you better listen to her, regardless of what may be required."

The four ANBU nodded, and the three boys each gave a quick bow before exiting the room. Sakura could only admire their professionalism that none of them protested the sheer ridiculousness of the mission.

"Sakura!"

"Y-yes, Tsunade-sama?"

"Now, this mission will be extremely difficult. I know that you're extremely qualified since I trained you myself, but there are two things to note here. First, On'na no Kuni is a matriarchal society. Their norms are opposite to what we have here. Since we're still trying to establish diplomatic ties with them, you better do your best to integrate you and your team into those norms, no matter what it takes, you understand me?"

Sakura nodded tentatively.

"Good. Next, before Monday, read these and start preparing for the mission." Tsunade opened up one of her drawers and pulled out a few binders, dropping them onto her desk.

Sakura picked up the binders in front of her, giving the blank covers a quick glance, and hugged them to her chest. "Understood."

"Great, just what I expected from my capable student." Tsunade flashed Sakura a beaming smile. "Now, any other questions before the meeting is adjourned?"

"A-actually, yes…" Sakura hesitated a bit, but decided her desire for answers outweighed any shyness on her part, "why did you choose me for the mission? I understand that Sasuke, Itachi and Neji are incredibly powerful shinobi and their appearances would endear to the rulers of On'na no Kuni, but…certainly someone like Hana Inuzuka or Anko would be better suited for my current role?"

I'm too easily embarrassed and how would you expect me to survive bossing around those three, especially as my harem?

"Sakura, I've let you join me on diplomatic missions to liaise with other countries' and hidden villages' heads of state and even act as my assistant at the Five Kage Summit. You're tactful, capable and respected in your own right. Do you really think I would let anyone else handle those three? Besides Itachi, the other two look like they perpetually have something stuck up their asses. Though of course, Itachi isn't that much better, but at least he doesn't scowl nearly as much." Tsunade searched Sakura's face. "Do you really think I'd trust this mission with anyone else?"

"No, I guess not," Sakura sighed in defeat, "Fine. But if those three end up murdering each other, it will not be my fault alright?

"Of course that won't happen," Tsunade waved her hand airily, "not like they'll want to fight each other anyway. If this mission isn't a success, I'm putting all of you – yes, all four of you – on D-rank missions for an entire year."

"Wait what -"

But before Sakura could finish the rest of her protest, Tsunade yelled at her to get out of her office. "Meeting adjourned! And no arguing, or I'll demote you from ANBU this instance!"

-x-

Sakura wandered the streets of Konoha in extremely low spirits.

Great, my life will be ruined starting Monday. Enduring even a day of this mission sounded like a terrible genjutsu. What she would give for a real, dangerous S-ranked mission.

She sighed, hugging the binders against her chest even tighter. At least reading about On'na no Kuni would certainly be fascinating…

"Oi, Forehead!"

Someone called out to her and she turned around to look for Ino, most definitely the only person who would call her by that moniker, and saw Ino waving while running towards her. "Ino-pig?"

"Forehead! Are you going on a mission with Sasuke-kun, Neji and Itachi? You better tell me if you are!"

"Yes, how did you know?" Sakura narrowed her eyes. Those three didn't seem like the type to share this piece of news, especially when it was so confidential.

Ino rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Sakura, of course I'd know – one of the nurses at the hospital, Ami, said she overhead Tsunade and Shizune talking about the most popular boys in the village. Of course, Ami was curious why a baa-san like Tsunade would be interested in boys so she eavesdropped on the whole conversation – that girl is stealthy. She didn't gather too much, except that this was for some official business, and we all know that the hottest boys would be those three. And then I ran into Shikamaru while I was telling him how I planned to organize a get together for the Konoha Eleven next Saturday, and he let slip that he doesn't think you, Sasuke or Neji could make it, so of course I put two and two together... He didn't tell me any more details, but ugh, I'm so jealous!"

Ino finally stopped and caught a breath of air. "I don't know why you're going, but I must say, I wouldn't mind being in any tight situation with those three…" She raised her eyebrows at Sakura suggestively.

"Pig, it – it's not a mission you'd want to go on, okay?" Sakura gritted through her teeth. "I mean, I've been on missions with each of them, but with the three of them together…!"

"Sakura." Ino looked at her seriously, taking Sakura aback. "You are going on a long mission with the village heartthrobs. Do you know how many girls would die to be in your position? Also," Ino hesitated briefly before continuing, "don't you still have some feelings for Sasuke-kun? Wouldn't this...be an opportunity for him to maybe finally see you in a different light?"

Sakura looked at her feet in contemplation. Ino did have a point. Sasuke and she were teammates and he would always be her first love. Even though Sakura liked to pretend she had moved past that phase, old feelings still lingered.

"Look, Sasuke-kun – he doesn't like me like that, okay? I'm happy just being his teammate and friend." Sakura reasoned, "Also, Itachi and Neji will be there! I-I barely know them! And –" Sakura had to stop herself before she revealed any more information on the mission. "Just…just know that this mission isn't nearly as exciting as you think it'd be."

Ino studied Sakura with a concerned look, before finally throwing her hands in the air and sighing. "Fine, fine. Just know that you can do it, whatever you're going to do, okay?"

Ino leaned into Sakura and gave her a hug. Sakura felt Ino's embrace comforting and eased into it, getting a good whiff of Ino's floral-scented hair.

"There, there." Ino patted Sakura's back for a few minutes, ignoring the odd looks passersby were throwing their way. "Now, since you feel so bad, let's grab a drink!"

"Now? It's like four p.m.!" Sakura pushed away from Ino to glance at her watch.

"Yes and a great time to start drinking! Since I won't see you for goodness knows how long. Let's go to that new club that opened a week ago! I was planning on having the get together there, but since you can't make it, we should just check it out now."

"Fine, but let me drop these documents off at my apartment first."

-x-

The bar's loud music reverberated within the entire venue.

Although it was only early afternoon, many civilians had gathered in the club, clearly wanting to check out Konoha's hottest new addition.

"Forehead, you look hot!" Sakura had just entered the bar, and turned her head as she saw Ino walking towards her. Ino looked stunning in a form-fitting purple halter neck crop top, black shorts and black stiletto heels. Not too different from what Ino usually wore, but the bar's dim lighting gave her a lovely glow.

"Thanks Forehead, finally being pleasant for once, I see." Sakura herself was wearing a red bodycon dress that accentuated her toned muscles. The platform heels she was in were making it hard to walk, and she couldn't help but admire the civilian women who had to wear such shoes regularly.

Ino gave her a wink and then grabbed Sakura's wrist, leading her towards the bar area. "Two cups of sake please," Ino told the bartender.

The bartender nodded and poured the alcohol into two cups, and Ino promptly handed one over to Sakura.

"Cheers, Forehead! To your hot mission with the three hottest boys in town!" Ino cheered, clinking her cup against Sakura's, after which Sakura reluctantly lifted the cup to her mouth.

"Oi, Ino, does that list include me?"

Wait wait wait – Sakura's eyes widened in horror and she froze momentarily. After having been on a team with him for years, she knew this voice only too well. And if he was here, then his best friend would be too…

She finally directed her gaze away from her cup and towards the source of the noise, and there was no mistaking it.

"Naruto, what do you think? Of course not!" Ino huffed indignantly at the blond. "But Sasuke-kun here on the other hand…" Ino trailed off suggestively and batted her eyelashes at the raven-haired boy next to Naruto.

Fuck.

-x-

There were many things Sasuke disliked. Some were serious, such as the pressure his father constantly exerted on him, and some were trivial, such as his dislike of natto, but they were all annoying nonetheless. Being here was definitely going to be added to that already long list of dislikes.

Ever since he walked into the establishment, he had been getting attention from the women around him. They were most likely civilians, as they had no idea who he was (not to be cocky, but he and his family were household names amongst the shinobi), and in the short amount of time he had been standing at the bar, at least four women had approached him and at least ten more were giving him appreciative glances.

To be fair, Sasuke didn't completely dislike the attention. His father had always favored Itachi at home and since young, Sasuke was always striving to get his father's approval. While being popular with girls was of an entirely different sort of attention and largely annoying, it did occasionally feel nice to be lavished with such attention.

Plus, he was aware that he looked particularly handsome in his white shirt, with the top two buttons undone, and his black slacks.

"Hey, are you new in the city? I would've remembered a face like yours." Sasuke looked up and saw a buxom brunette sit down on the bar stool next to his. He wasn't particularly impressed by her line, and scowled at Naruto when he belatedly came over with two drinks in hand.

"Oi, teme, how dare you pick up girls without me?"

The brunette next to him giggled and Sasuke gently slapped the back of Naruto's head in annoyance, and gestured for Naruto to follow his lead to head towards another part of the bar.

"Wow, rude much?" Naruto noted, glancing at the crestfallen expression on the brunette's face as they were leaving.

"Hn," Sasuke gave a noncommittal reply, before yanking Naruto away by the sleeve. Just as he was searching for a relatively quieter spot in the club, he saw a glimpse of pink hair. Sakura?

He turned his head around to confirm and froze slightly when he saw her. She looked different from usual - not that his pink haired teammate wasn't attractive usually - but today she stood out. She was wearing a tight red dress that barely reached her knees. Without the practical kunoichi outfit that she usually wore, he realized for the first time how she had grown as a woman physically, the silky fabric stretched tight against her chest and showing off her newfound curves. He felt an uncomfortable heat spread across his cheeks as he caught a glimpse of the shadow of her cleavage. He averted his eyes. He did not want to be thinking about Sakura like this.

He turned away from her, planning on slipping away before she saw him – at least, that was his plan until Naruto caught sight of their teammate.

"Hey, it's Sakura-chan! Let's say hi!" Naruto threw his arm around Sasuke's neck and dragged him towards Sakura, who was talking to Ino, it seemed.

"…mission with the three hottest boys in town!" Sasuke overheard Ino as they approached the two girls.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. It didn't seem like Sakura to gossip about a mission, but then again, Ino was surprisingly adept at collecting confidential information.

Naruto gave a reply, but Sasuke didn't catch what he said (probably just nonsense, as per usual). Instead, he was eyeing Sakura, who looked extremely uncomfortable. Just like she did this morning… Sasuke smirked at the thought.

While he was horrified upon hearing the mission, he supposed that it couldn't be too bad since he got to spend time with his brother and it seemed fairly relaxing. After coming back to the village wounded or near chakra exhaustion for each mission in the past few months, Sasuke didn't mind a break once in a while. Plus, Sakura was his teammate, so while he wasn't entirely comfortable with being in someone's harem, Sakura – in all his years of knowing her – wasn't the sadistic kind who took pleasure in embarrassing people.

"Sakura." He finally acknowledged, his gaze still on her.

"Sasuke-kun, Naruto, didn't expect to see you two here," She giggled nervously.

Ino gave a devious smirk and approached him, wrapping her arms around his neck, "What's this I hear about you going on a mission with Sakura? I just want you to know that she snores in her sleep." She winked at him, before pulling away and turning to stick her tongue out at Sakura.

Sakura's right eyelid twitched. She raised an angry fist and was about to start yelling at Ino, who laughed casually and batted an eyelid at her in response. Resigned to accepting the jab, Sakura sighed and watched as Ino started to banter with Naruto.

She was surprised when Sasuke joined her side a few minutes after.

"You don't look like you're enjoying yourself," Sakura remarked drly.

"Tch," Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "the dobe wouldn't stop talking about this place for the past few days, so I finally relented to come here with him."

"Hmm."

They continued watching Ino and Naruto bicker and after a few minutes, Sakura asked, "Do you want to leave this place?"

Sasuke cast a quick glance at the two, who were still deep in conversation. "Yes, but we better leave now. I can't stand being here for much longer."

She flashed him a winning grin. "Follow me then, Sasuke-kun."

She grabbed Sasuke's wrist and starting leading him through the crowd, and she felt a bit giddy when he would place a hand on her shoulder gently to steady her whenever someone bumped into her.

-x-

Sakura giggled as they stumbled out of the club together. "When do you think they'll notice we're gone?" She asked him playfully.

"Probably another few hours; I believe Ino may have inadvertently insulted Ichiraku right before we left." Sasuke's obsidian eyes were glinting with humor.

She let out another fit of giggles. Maybe it was the alcohol or the rush of having done something normal with Sasuke, but she felt light-headed and happy.

They continued walking for a while in comfortable silence, neither really talking as they enjoyed the warm nighttime breeze and the ease of being in each other's presence. She hadn't spent time with Sasuke alone in a long time, and she rarely realized how easy it was given she used to be so nervous around him.

She noticed that he was also looking relaxed, his hand in his pockets and his posture less tense compared to how he usually carried himself, and it wasn't before long that they ended up at a street corner near her apartment.

"Sasuke-kun, I'm almost home, so I guess I'll see you soon?"

Sasuke shrugged casually, "I can walk you home. My night was disrupted when the dobe dragged me out anyway."

Sakura smiled upon hearing Sasuke's offer. He was always kind in his own way, but he didn't often go out of his way to perform acts like this.

"So, Sasuke-kun," she asked as they were just steps away from her building, "Would you like to come up for some tea? Tsunade-shishou gave me these materials on the mission that you might want to check out."

He nodded and followed her up the stairs to her tiny flat. Thank goodness she cleaned this morning.

"Your apartment is clean," he noted with approval upon entering.

She rolled her eyes playfully. "You say that because your frame of reference is Naruto. Give me some credit please."

"Tch," he shook his head in mock exasperation and eased himself onto her couch. He reached for one of the binders for the mission on the coffee table and started perusing it.

Sakura headed over the bathroom to change, eager to pull off her skintight dress. She sighed in contentment as she unzipped her dress, feeling like she was finally able to breathe the first time in the night.

I wonder how civilian women my age wear heels and go out so often, she marveled as she glanced down to examine the purple bruises that were already forming at the heels of her feet. Although she knew of the saying "beauty is pain," she found it odd that men never had to go through such torturous rituals to show off their assets.

She looked at her half-naked reflection in the mirror and appreciated how her red lacy bra accentuated her already sizeable breasts. She decided to forego her usual chest bindings for something less practical, the push-up bra that Ino got her for her birthday.

Sakura smiled wryly as she remembered the note that Ino had enclosed alongside the gift. "Happy birthday, Forehead! You know, you're not as flat as I originally thought, but you only wear those awful chest bindings that make you look like a thirteen-year boy. Of course, unless Sasuke-kun is into that sort of thing, but then that would be weird. Here's some underwear that'll make you get lucky today, cause you sure need it."

Sakura couldn't believe she was horrified when she first received the gift; now, she only was extremely thankful towards Ino for getting her something she never would've bought otherwise.

She was still admiring the way she looked in the underwear set when she heard Sasuke's muffled voice.

"Sakura," he sounded slightly on edge for some reason, "have you read through these reports yet?"

"Not yet, I haven't gotten a chance to yet," she replied, confused.

"I was reading and… In On'na no Kuni, the shinobi ranks consist almost entirely of kunoichi and few men are given fighting roles. Additionally, On'na no Kuni has an extremely developed economy due to their past Kages' success in trade, and while there is no official data, there are estimates that its wealth could even surpass that of Tenkūgakure." Sasuke paused and sounded almost pained as he uttered the next few words, "Because there's so little reason to keep men around, the only purpose for which they would need males is for reproduction purposes. Therefore, all men who enter On'na no Kuni - and it says here in the mission notice that includes us - would need to prove their virility."

"Virility, wait doesn't that mean - "

Sakura swung open the bathroom door and rushed into the living room, her jaw agape in awe.

"Their ability to have…?" She didn't dare to say the last word.

Sasuke nodded and looked up, his eyes widening fractionally once he realized that his pink-haired teammate was half-naked.

She wearing barely anything but a set of red lace underwear. Her bra only emphasized her curves, and they did little to cover her. While he had known from tonight that Sakura had grown curves, he didn't quite expect to see them so exposed, nor did he realize how much she had grown. While they were smaller than Hinata's, they were the perfect shape and size. Not too large, but still full and round.

He couldn't help but notice the way her breasts rose and fell with each breath she took, and he realized in horror that he was curious if they felt as soft and silky as they looked.

He averted his eyes to avoid continuing to ogle her chest, but realized that didn't help much. Unfortunately she was wearing a matching set of underwear, and he caught a quick glance of the creamy expanse of her soft skin, marred by a scar on her stomach (when did she get that?), the slender, feminine curve of her waist and her toned thighs.

It had only been a few seconds since he saw her half-naked, but it felt like hours to him. He finally decided to fixate his eyes on a tea stain on her rug.

He felt his cheeks heat up and a tightness growing in his pants.

He stared at the tea stain harder.

Sakura looked at him in confusion for a brief second before she looked down at herself and covered her mouth in horror. She ran back into the bathroom, slamming and almost breaking the door in the process after realizing what she was wearing – or not.

She wanted to bang her head against the bathroom wall – how could she have forgotten she was half-naked? Now Sasuke had seen more of her than she would have liked, especially when she was wearing the only flattering pair of underwear she owned. Oh goodness.

But then again, they were all mature adults, and this probably wasn't something he had never seen before, right?

She had seen him topless frequently during their trainings, his shirt casually discarded for the sake of convenience. Surely him seeing her like this shouldn't be any different? Yet for some reason, the thought that it was him who had seen her life that made her blush even harder.

They were mature adults – she was eighteen, for crying out loud. Sasuke seemed fine - she didn't really get a chance to look at his reaction closely since everything had happened so fast, but except for mild discomfort, he appeared to be relatively unaffected.

At least, that's what she hoped.

She grabbed a loose t-shirt and shorts and quickly pulled them on. She mentally prepared herself for a few minutes before having the courage to leave the bathroom once again.

"So, Sasuke-kun, you mentioned something about our mission earlier?" She laughed nervously. He looked unflustered, in her opinion, so perhaps he was just as unaffected as she had assumed. She also felt a small wave of disappointment at that thought.

He nodded. "Since On'na no Kuni has no real use for men, as they have women fulfilling the roles assumed by men in traditionally patriarchal societies, such as hunting and gathering, providing protection or conducting trade, they don't have any real use for men. In fact, it wasn't until around a few years after the establishment of the country that the ruling daimyo agreed to allow men into the country on a limited basis. Harems aren't actually common in On'na no Kuni, but the hidden village we'll be visiting, Namigakūre, has required that each kunoichi of her village have multiple lovers in order to continue to continue to pass on their bloodline. Since there was always a high chance of death for their kunoichi given the nature of their job and the number of their kunoichi was small to begin with, they decided to bring in men from neighboring countries based on a highly selective selection process to ensure they would be able to pass on the kunoichis' genes."

"So they have harems for survival purposes?"

"Only initially. As time passed on and the country became more established and wealthier, the chance of extinction for kunoichi in Namigakūre became much lower, but they still kept the tradition of harems. As time passed, the reason for keeping a harem transformed from being utilitarian to much more recreational."

That didn't sound good to Sakura.

"What does that mean, Sasuke-kun?"

"The standards for men to be inducted into a harem became much more focused on visual appeal and how well they would be able to meet women's requirements. But at the same time, interestingly, they kept certain traditions that were passed down through generations and for the purpose of survival, such as male pregnancy or binding men to the harem for their entire lives."

Her jaw dropped. "How is that medically possible? I'm a medic, and this is just counter to every notion of basic human biology –"

"They've developed special jutsu. Being a country dominated by women, they had to develop creative means in order to survive."

"Do you think the scroll that was stolen from Hiro Itō…do you think that would contain something similar? Sasuke, this is revolutionary, I can't even begin to imagine how society - how we – would change if that were to happen."

She plopped herself next to Sasuke on the couch to collect her thoughts. She didn't notice that Sasuke tensed slightly when she sat down, close enough that he could feel the warmth of her body.

"At first I just thought that Tsunade-shishou sent us on this mission and made it S-ranked because she's a sadist, but it seems like this scroll we're looking for, whatever it does, may contain something extremely powerful."

They both fell silent at that thought.

If they were ingenious enough to create ninjutsu that would allow for male pregnancy, Sakura shuddered at the thought of what other things they potentially could be capable of. She felt like her entire worldview was going to be transformed soon.

-x-

The cool night breeze brushed against Sasuke's face again. He had been walking for only fifteen minutes, but the stroll oddly seemed very long compared to earlier when he was walking with Sakura.

He made a turn to enter the Uchiha compound and he nodded politely at the friendly vendors, whose stores lined the streets within the clan's commercial district even at such a late hour.

As he passed by the obaasan who sold fresh produce, he decided to peruse the leftover produce for any tomatoes - anything to distract himself from thinking about that.

Even after leaving Sakura's house, he still had the scene of her half-nakedness imprinted in his mind. When did his former teammate become a woman? He scowled at the thought as he picked up a tomato, squeezing it slightly to examine its ripeness. He wondered if Sakura's breasts were that firm and that passing thought caused a faint blush to flush across his cheeks.

"Sasuke-sama, looking for tomatoes again?" The elderly vendor smiled at him warmly.

"Yes, Miyu baasan."

She looked at him curiously, "But I've never seen you come in so late, Sasuke-sama. A sudden nighttime craving, I'm assuming?"

He nodded in response, "just looking for a late night snack."

The old lady chuckled and picked out some particularly ripe tomatoes for him from the pile and placed them into a plastic bag. "Here you go, Sasuke-sama. I really wish you would stop coming here alone all the time, it would make this old lady very happy to see you come by here with a companion sometime when I'm still alive!"

His blush deepened as he took the bag from Miyu-baasan. He hoped that his face was nowhere nearly as red as the tomato he was holding and he cursed internally as he suddenly imagined Sakura half naked – in the same set of red, lacy lingerie - and making a cherry tomato salad for him.

It wasn't even like he had never seen naked women before – he had caught glimpses of the female body when Naruto forced him to read Icha Icha Paradise or when Naruto had transformed using his sexy no jutsu. Granted those were not exactly real women per se, but he had always been relatively immune upon seeing them. Witnessing the real thing wasn't supposed to affect him thusly. Or maybe it was the person who was causing such a reaction in him?

He cursed under his breath again and he tried to push that thought to the back of his mind. A cold shower sounded like a really good idea at that point.

-x-

The clock on her living room wall struck four times.

Sakura lifted her head in disbelief – it was already 4 a.m. and she barely felt like a minute had passed. She had been so absorbed perusing the materials Tsunade had given her, devouring the binders only until one was left.

In the span of hours, she had learned that the kunoichi of On'na no Kuni were initially loyal to Iwagakure, but they collectively defected when the daimyo decided to purge the country of kunoichi from the fighting force.

She had finished reading almost all the binders, save for the last one and which also happened to be the thinnest amongst the materials she had received from Tsunade.

She stifled another yawn and decided to finish this last binder. Hopefully it'd be a short read.

That was what she thought until she flipped open the binder and found a handwritten note from Tsunade scribbled on the first page.

"Sakura, the women of Namigakūre are incredibly skilled genjūtsu users, which is a perfect match for your jūtsu type. I don't believe you've been adequately trained in this area yet and unfortunately I lack proficiency in this area. Here are some some materials on genjūtsu that I asked Kurenai to compile for you in preparation. Read up and learn as much as you possibly can from the women in Namigakūre when you're there."

She knew that she was a genjūtsu type, but she had never really trained in the area as much. While Tsunade taught her how to utilize her perfect chakra control when she was a teenager, she had stagnated in the area of genjūtsu since she didn't have an adequate teacher.

She had thought about asking Kurenai to train her on genjūtsu, but she heard from Hinata that the raven-haired kunoichi had pretty much stopped her teaching and team leader activities after her pregnancy, something that was unfortunately common amongst kunoichi. To Sakura's recollection, the only kunoichi who continued to practice were all single and without children.

She cast another glance at the clock. It was 4:15 a.m. and the binder in front of her contained incredibly detailed information on the human nerve system and chakra flow.

She groaned. She was definitely not sleeping anytime soon.

TBC

A/N: The mission officially starts next chapter and that's when the adventure with our four favorite ninjas will officially kick off! Also, poor Sasuke, amirite?

Huge, huge thank you to the kind reviews! For readers who have read this story before, it means so much to me that you're continuing to follow this story and I hope I don't disappoint. To those who are just starting, I'm so incredibly excited that you're joining me on this journey.

Hope you all enjoyed the chapters; your feedback is great appreciated! :)