A/N: My first Naruto story, so don't expect too much :) I would classify this as 'Semi-AU' as the setting of the story is the same as canon, but many of the events which took place in canon haven't been included. Basically this is a "Orochimaru who? Akatsuki who?" story where the Kyuubi was never released. Things might seem confusing at first, but hopefully they'll get clearer as the story progresses.

Also, I have not seen the anime. So my knowledge of canon is limitted to the manga. Bewarned that there will be SPOILERS FOR THE MANGA till chapter 400 or so.

-1-

Sakura was quite certain that her job was the most boring and insipid one in entire Konoha. And considering that Konoha was a very sleepy village in itself, this was saying something.

She sifted through the piles of medical records placed precariously on her desk to pull out a file belonging to a certain 'Himiko Kudou'.

Stifling a yawn, she read the contents out loud to herself. "Hmm…Himiko Kudou…age 12. Medical history…no record of serious ailments. Current medical examination reveals complete physical and mental fitness…." Her attention turned to a huge list of names held in her other hand. Picking up a pen, she ticked the small square next to the name 'Kudou, Himiko'. "Pass," she proclaimed and carelessly threw the file on top of another pile on the floor.

"Sakura, you could be bit quieter, you know. People are trying to sleep here."

Sakura threw a glare at Shikamaru Nara, her so-called assistant. Not that he lifted a muscle to do any work. Unless you counted the thin muscles in his eyelids, which lifted occasionally to glare at her for disturbing his sleep. Currently, said assistant was lounging in his chair, legs propped up on his desk and frowning at her in irritation.

"Don't you give me that look, Shikamaru! I'm running out of patience with my job as it is. Now if make another remark about how I'm disturbing your daily quota of 20 hours of sleep, I'll just snap and report your lazy ass to Tsunade!"

Shikamaru's frown vanished at her outburst and he gazed at her, considering her threat. He and Sakura had known each other since their days as students in the Academy and had always been the thickest of friends. Even now, in the office of the Genin Medical Evaluation Center of the Ninja Academy, Sakura was more of a friend to him than a boss. There were several occasions were Shikamaru would forget that she had the power to fire him.

It was true that he hardly helped her with her work, but it wasn't as if she required his help in the first place. Their job was to evaluate the medical fitness of each student in the Academy and determine if he/she was fit to be a ninja, or more specifically a genin. It was admittedly a very dull job and one that Sakura truly and clearly hated. There was hardly anything to do except paperwork as they never did any proper medical examination. The job description suited him just fine. But Sakura was a woman of action and Shikamaru had to admit that she was wasted in a place like this.

He considered her indignant expression for another moment before saying, "It's that time of the month again, isn't it?"

Sakura spluttered in annoyance. "Why is it that whenever my voice goes one notch above my usual tone, you decide that I have PMS?"

"Well, then what's wrong with you?" he asked irritably. And regretted it the moment the words left his lips.

Sakura huffed. "What's wrong with me? I'll tell you. It's my job…that's what's wrong with me!" She slammed the list of student names on her desk. "I can't believe I spent years of rigorous training at the Academy and then another three years with Tsunade for this!" She gestured around her office, which was full of shelves messily stuffed with files and paperwork.

Shikamaru shrugged. "Look at the bright side. At least there's no fighting involved."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at him. "That's supposed to make me feel better?"

He gave her a half-smile before lounging back into his chair and bringing one arm over his eyes. "It's what I say to make myself feel better."

Sakura rolled her eyes. Typical, she thought. Intelligence combined with laziness gets you nowhere. Shikamaru had the capacity for greatness but a serious lack of ambition. Sakura wondered if what she felt for him was pity or frustration.

Ino Yamanaka envied a lot of things about Sakura Haruno. For one, she envied Sakura her job. A job where she could quietly relax behind closed doors and not worry for her life. Absently fingering the ugly bruise on her left arm, which had been the result of her most recent mission, Ino scanned the crowd of the little restaurant for the familiar mop of rose-colored hair.

"Ino!" came a yell from her right and she suddenly found herself engulfed in a tight hug. She smiled and returned the hug. "Sakura…"

Sakura pulled away and gave her a bright smile, absently brushing a lock of hair from her face.

That was another thing Ino envied about Sakura. She was a late bloomer, but her transformation had been quite spectacular. Gone was the nervous, waif-like girl Ino had befriended so many years back. In her place stood a confident, intelligent medical-nin who made heads turn wherever she went.

"God, Ino…you look terrible! What happened?"

Ino sighed. "You know how these missions can get. I'm so exhausted I could sleep for days!"

Sakura smiled in sympathy. "You've been gone for over a month. You deserve some rest."

Ino waved her hand in dismissal. "Tell that to Tsunade." She shook her head. "There are times when I desperately wish I had a job like yours."

Sakura's smile dropped immediately. "Please, let's not discuss my job right now."

"Why is that?" Ino smiled mischievously. "I heard you created quite a stir in the Academy while I was gone."

"Oh…that? That was no big deal. Just doing my work."

Ino chuckled. "Ever the modest Sakura. You do realize that not many people in Konoha would dare fail the Third Hokage's own grandson."

"Konohamaru was deeply disturbed by his grandfather's death. He was mentally unfit to become a ninja…" Sakura said matter-of-factly.

Ino wagged her finger. "Doesn't change the fact that you've got some balls, girl." She laughed softly. "What are you doing wasting your life in that dead place?"

Sakura raised her arms in resignation. "Tell that to Tsunade," she repeated back at her friend.

They spent the better part of an hour catching up. As much as Ino envied her for certain things, like Sakura being Tsunade's favorite, she still loved spending time with her best friend. They had been best friends since childhood, though that wasn't how it had always been. After three years of close friendship, something had drawn them apart to the point of bitter enmity. Or more specifically, someone.

Sasuke Uchiha.

But that factor no longer remained. Sasuke was dead...had been so for the past two years. And it was the mourning that had brought the two former friends back together.

Sakura never talked about him anymore. Ino knew it was a painful topic for her and begrudgingly admitted to herself that Sakura's loss had been greater than hers. After all, Sakura had been in the same team as him and had grown closer to the man than Ino could've ever hoped to.

That was another thing Ino had envied Sakura for. But not any longer.

Ino smacked her forehead. "Wait, I almost forgot to tell you something. Ibiki Morino said he wanted to see you."

Sakura raised her eyebrows. "Ibiki Morino? You don't mean that Ibiki Morino…?"

Ino remembered the scarred, imposing man who had conducted the first phase of their chuunin exam so many years back and empathized with Sakura's nervousness. Ibiki's mere presence was enough to make your palm's sweat. Ino nodded grimly.

Sakura frowned. "Why? What does he suddenly want with me?"

"I don't know. I'm guessing he wants to offer you a new job." She jumped when her shoulders were grabbed and a wide-eyed Sakura stared at her in shock. "What? Seriously? A new job?" the pink-haired girl asked excitedly, all traces of nervousness suddenly gone.

"Yeah…"

Sakura sank back in her seat. "We've been talking for more than an hour and you tell me this now?"

Ino grinned sheepishly. "I forgot…and honestly, I didn't expect you to be so happy about this. That man is a sadist and an expert in physical and mental torture. He's the head of the ANBU Interrogation and Torture Squad, for crying out loud! I would be quite scared if he asked me to come and work with him."

"I don't care. I just want to get out of this job before I die of boredom."

Ino shrugged. "It's your choice. Whatever he has to offer you, it's bound to be something twisted. Don't say I didn't warn you." She paused before continuing. "If you're planning to leave your current job, could I have it? I mean, if you could recommend my name to Tsunade…"

Sakura laughed. "Yes, you can have it. But since you warned me, I have to warn you too…it's a place where time stands still."

Ino smiled. "Well, as long as I don't have to fear for my life every single day…"

"By the way, your interest for my job doesn't have anything to do with the fact that Shikamaru is my assistant, does it?" Sakura teased.

Ino snorted and looked away. "Please, I have better taste than that."

What Ino envied the most about Sakura was the fact that she got to meet Shikamaru on such a regular basis, but she would never admit that. Not even to herself.

The ANBU headquarters were hardly impressive. Just a bunch of small building grouped together haphazardly. Sakura had to ask around a lot to finally locate the office of the Torture and Interrogation Squad. She'd decidedly ignored the raised eyebrows and suspicious glances thrown her way.

"Sakura Haruno. This way please." Ibiki spotted her and gestured at her to follow him.

Sakura bit her lip in nervousness. Ibiki Morino hadn't changed at all from what she had seen on the first day of her chuunin exam. If anything, the scars on his face now seemed more prominent and he seemed more terrifyingly commanding than ever.

"In here, Miss Haruno."

They entered a room, lined with shelves filled with voluminous files and books. Sakura was strongly reminded of her own office and had a sudden doubt if she would be condemned to do paperwork here as well.

"Please sit down." Ibiki pointed to the many chairs placed around the room. Sakura chose one and sat down, looking up at the man enquiringly.

Ibiki crossed his arms. "Firstly, the reason I called you here. I have a mission for you."

Sakura nodded.

"It's not exactly a mission. More of an assignment. It's not easy though and not everyone's up to it. The Fifth Hokage recommended you as the best candidate for this."

She gulped unconsciously, nervousness overtaking her desire for more interesting work. Maybe Ino was right…maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

Ibiki turned away and started walking towards one of the shelves. "This room…this is the ANBU library." He paused in front of a shelf titled 'U'. "Miss Haruno, do you know what an ANBU is?"

"Um… protectors of the village…" she answered unsurely.

"Spies," he corrected. "We are basically spies. No one knows our true identity. No one knows our true mission." He picked out a thick file from the shelf and turned to face her. "But in the ANBU library, it's all there. Every sordid detail, every dirty little secret. Of every ANBU, known and unknown."

He walked back to her. "You are a medic-nin Miss Haruno and I hear you specialize in gauging the mental state of a person by mere skin-to-skin contact."

"That's the gist of it, yes."

"And your current job is to evaluate students at the Academy to see if they are fit enough for the life of a ninja."

Sakura nodded.

"Then I want you to evaluate the mental condition of a certain ANBU who has been giving us a lot of trouble lately." He held out the file he had taken from the shelves.

Sakura took the file and placed it on her lap. On the cover were the words 'Uchiha, Sasuke. Codename: HAWK'. She felt her blood run cold. Looking up, she asked incredulously, "You want me to evaluate the mental condition of a dead man?"

Ibiki chuckled darkly. "This might come as a shock to you, Miss Haruno, but Sasuke Uchiha is very much alive."

A/N: Reviews are love :)