Note: if you've been here since the beginning, you probably already know, but, I dissapear in the summer months, just vanish from the internet completely, because there is no service in the middle of nowhere. I've written this offline, and might just have to publish it from a trip stop parking lot. (actually im retyping the whole thing on my phone to publish excuse weird formatting)

I hope y'all're doing well through everything that has been happening, because a lot has been happening. And I could go into the details of what I think of it all, but that's not why you're here. You're here to read a story, so here it is.

"I tried kid. I really did."

"I know, Genma. I know." Sakura turned and gave him a small smile. "I think we can get this to work though."

He gave her a disbelieving stare. "I'm serious. It'll give me a better source of information."

"Sakura he practically killed your parents!"

"Dad's still alive." She mumbled. Genma scoffed.

"He's dead to me." Sakura gave a gift that could have been a laugh. "Seriously though. Danzo?"

"It could be a good thing!" She insisted. "Sure he's old, but that just means he has that much more experience." Genma still shook his head.

"I don't know about this, Sakura."

"It'll be good. I swear!"

She really needed to stop cursing her luck like that. Danzo was as much as a slave driver as Tsunade was, tasking her with lists of things to train when he wasn't there teaching her how to fight efficiently. Sometimes she'd have other non, ones that Danzo had sent, teaching her different techniques until she was quite literally panting on the ground, unable to move. She spent the first month under his tutelage in an exhausted state, her schedule changing from one that gave her a bit of free time into one consisting of; wake up, train, spar with whoever was at the training grounds, wait until they left, heal her major injuries, limp to the Uchiha compound, shower, collapse in bed, and repeat.

The second month was a bit easier on her, having adjusted to the schedule and made changes to her lifestyle still spent most of her time exhausted and beat, but there was results for her effort. Danzo started having her go on D-ranks as training. He never showed up to watch, but she knew he'd be told what she had done during them. She noticed the shadows she gained when she started taking missions. They stood in the trees bordering the property when she fixed up a house on the outskirts of Konoha, watching her weed and paint and replace the roofing and side paneling without using her chakra, just like she was asked. They followed behind as she bowed to the civilian who lived there and made her way back to the missions counter.

Month three, under the supervision of Danzo, Sakura was allowed on her first C-rank. She was to escort Danzo for one of his meetings with someone she was never told the name of. This time, her shadows came to stand beside her on the mission. They handed her a cloak and a mask that packed animal features, and she stared at Danzo for an explanation.

"So they do not identify you amongst the rest of my guard." He said it like it was for her safety. She knew otherwise.

"I will not join your organization." He stiffened ever so slightly, but his face didn't give anything away.

"Yet." He said, and her shadows shifted beside her.

"Yet." She agreed, and donned the mask and cloak.

She was in pain from the moment she woke up, her arms and legs strapped to a table. Her mouth was dry and the taste of blood and ink lingered on her tounge. Someone stepped forward and untied her, but she didn't have the energy to move, even with the stale gone.

She had seen Danzo meeting with Orochimaru, no doubt it was something he had planned, not an accident, that she happened to stumble across their meeting on her way back from the hotel bath. Her shadows were not with her, and she was no longer wearing their clothes, so she doubts Orochimaru thought much of her if he saw her though the cracks as she saw him.

Danzo had cornered her after the meeting, the shadows watching from a distance to see if maybe she would be punished for her actions. Instead, she was told to be more discreet in her actions and was knocked out. Her shadows must have carried her home and into the room she was in,and Danzo sealed her.

She tried a few words about what she saw, toeing the line of what she knew couy be dangerous, trying to explain what she had seen aloud to herself, felt her body seize up and her control leave, and cried. Her shadows stood around the room, watching her as she grew hysterical over her loss of freedom. She would be considered as one of them, whether she liked it or not.

Note: Oh I'm having fun writing this now. Whelp, her sensei is Danzo. It was originally going to be Genma, but I had this idea and made a pro/con list between the two, and Danzo had more cons that pros so he was a obvious choice for her mentor. And! I read back with my old chapters (there's a plot issue I'll have to fix eventually) and he showed interest in her skill before.

Oh! and he sealed her so she can't talk about any of the shit he does or plans to do, and now he can be less cautious with his actions around her. Hopefully he never finds out she can heal as well as she can, but it is what it is.