Coppery blood was all she could taste in the air as she glared down at the man on the operating table, her hands glowing green as she worked on her tenth patient of the day. She always took on the difficult cases, being the most advanced medical kunoichi in the village. Though it was hardly surprising, considering she was from some odd hundred years in the future. Tsunade hadn't even been born, so she was fairly sure she was stealing some of her shishou's fame, but she'd taken an oath to save as many lives as she could. Unless they were enemy nin trying to kill her or those she cared about, of course.

"Sakura-sama!" Yuki, her subordinate, and arguably her closest friend called, waving her over as she finished up her healing. "Hokage-sama wishes to see you," she said, smiling widely at her as she took both her bloodied hands in her own. "I think it's about the proposal you submitted for the academy – for the med-nin lessons and the internship opportunities."

"You think they've been approved?" she wondered, a smile on her face.

Senju Tobirama had given her a nod of approval after he'd seen her work at the hospital. He'd even given her the title of 'Head of the Hospital' after all her hard work to earn everybody's trust. After all, she'd been nothing but a stranger to them the first time she'd stumbled through the gate, bleeding and injured from her sudden jaunt through time and space.

Senju Hashirama had been both welcoming and kind, yet somehow stern when she spoke of how she'd found herself in the wilds. Officially it was a jutsu gone wrong. A space one which had transported her far away from her homelands. She'd never brought up her time travel. Even after she'd worked out there was no travelling back to her future. The minute she'd landed in the past, she'd fractured the path back to her own future. She didn't really want to mess about with time and space any more than she already had in an attempt to return home.

Team Seven would mourn her and move on. Only Naruto and Kakashi might shed a tear at her sudden demise. Sasuke probably wouldn't even notice her absence. He'd never noticed, but maybe that was partially her fault. If only she'd become stronger that much sooner… then maybe she might've caught his eye.

It was a well-known fact that Uchiha had an obsession with strength. In the Warring Clans Era their clan quite literally collected those they found strong – whether or not the recipient liked it.

But neither Sakura nor Ino had paid attention to that, only seeing how beautiful the Uchiha were, and how beautiful they'd have to become physically to even stand in the running. They hadn't thought of strength or bulging muscles. Not, Sakura noted with mild amusement, that she had any bulging muscles even nowadays. Defined muscles, yes, but they were well proportioned for her size. Sasuke still didn't acknowledge her, only seeing her as weak and useless. He only had eyes for Naruto. Sakura sighed, pulling off the apron she wore to keep her clothes from getting too messy, keeping her hair tied back in the ponytail she'd put it in before beginning her work. Oh well. It wasn't like there was anything she could do about all of that now.

"I wonder if Tobirama-sama has passed off those four clauses I sent him," she murmured, biting her lip as she headed towards the Hokage Tower. She was rarely ever there, usually busy in the hospital whether it be training new medical shinobi or healing patients that otherwise would've died without her expertise. She was fairly sure most shinobi were still unaware of her prowess in the hospital. The final structure had only just been built, so she'd been busy in the Senju's own clinic before then. Where Tobirama had kept a close eye on her in those first few months. Not that she could blame him. Didn't mean it was any less irritating. She'd been twitchy for weeks, even after Tobirama had stopped eyeing her up as a potential threat.

Nowadays she rarely ever saw the younger Senju brother. She rarely ever saw the elder one or his best friend either. She wasn't important enough to. Tobirama was in charge of everything important, like infrastructure and role delegation. Senju Hashirama was a kind and somewhat capable leader when it came to persuading people to do things like form treaties, but Sakura could say with absolute certainty that his work ethic when it came to paperwork and the like was abysmal. He didn't have the head for building layouts, and if it had been left entirely to him, the hospital would've been on the very outskirts of the village with little planning put into its design.

She reached the familiar red building quick enough, heading inside after a sharp nod to the receptionist. She was fairly recognisable with her pink hair, and she'd definitely treated the lady working behind the desk before.

Smiling brightly, she knocked on the door to the Hokage's office.

"Come in!"

Sakura walked into the office, her knee-high sandals not making a single sound as she closed the door behind her. "You wanted to see me, Hokage-sama?" she spoke, smiling briefly at Tobirama as he stood to one side, sorting through a pile of documents on his own little desk in the Hokage's office.

"Ah, Sakura-san." Hashirama nodded, digging through the numerous stacks of paperwork. "Glad you could make it so promptly," he said, a bright grin stretching across his face as he found the sheet he'd been after. "I wanted to talk to you about your academy proposals."

She straightened up, staring at him intently. Had they been passed through? she wondered. They'd better have been.

"They've been passed, and we're hoping you could select one or two of your medical team to present these lessons and practicals at the academy," he continued, still smiling widely, and Sakura found herself smiling too. "As for the four clauses of med nin that you passed along too, me and Madara looked over them, and we passed the first three with some amendments to help." Hashirama grinned, handing her the second slip of paper as if he hadn't just messed with the strict four clauses his own granddaughter had come up with. "We were unsure of exactly what you meant by a medic shinobi being 'the last of their platoon'."

Sakura blinked, trying to quell the raging tide of anger threatening to burst within her.

No medic shinobi shall ever stop medical treatment until the lives of their patients have come to an end.

No medic shinobi shall ever stand on the front lines.

No medic shinobi shall ever die until they are the last members surviving in the hospital.

She took a breath, ignoring the way Tobirama's eyes snapped to her. No doubt her chakra was radiating her fury. He was good enough to sense that face, as well as being able to read her body language. A skill his brother seemingly hadn't quite mastered. Her eyes narrowed, green glaring into that annoyingly smiley face belonging to her Hokage. And she couldn't hit him. No matter how annoying that sunny smile had suddenly become. He was insisting on medics being all but confined to the hospital, as it had been with their clinics during the Clan Wars.

"Hokage-sama, with all due respect, I believe the original ones I submitted, including my fourth clause, are more suitable than these ones," she said, setting the paper back down in front of him. "My intention was to train at least one member of each genin team in the ways of medical ninjutsu, even if it's only basic first aid. I believe it would reduce the chances of casualties in the field," she continued, wishing that annoyingly irritating smile of his would vanish so it actually looked like he was listening and considering what she was saying. "The fourth clause would also be very important for any students whom I train personally – since it's my own technique I mentioned in there, and it gives its user the right to stand on the frontlines, which would be very useful—"

Hashirama chuckled. "Sakura-san, you talk as if we're going to go out to war," he said, and never had Sakura wanted to punch anyone more than she did in that instant. How could anyone be that naïve? "Medics are valuable, and right now we need them all in the hospital to deal with any mission injuries. They – you – don't need to risk your necks outside the village."

"But—"

The door behind them slammed open with a bang and Hashirama's attention was captured by the familiar spiky black-haired figure striding into the room. "Hashirama!"

"Madara!"

Sakura felt her hands curl into fists, her very toes curling as they sunk into the flooring. She'd been planning on taking an out-of-village mission soon to have a little break away from the hospital, but with those amended clauses she wouldn't be able to. Spiderwebs of cracks appeared in the floor as she dug her toes into the tiling, silently longing for it to be Hashirama's head.

She'd worked hard so she could stand at the frontlines with Naruto, and that bastard Sasuke, and those dreams were currently going up in smoke because the benevolent First Hokage couldn't listen to her. He'd decided on his goals, and he was steamrolling towards them.

Her eye twitched.

He was so fixated on protecting their medics because they were invaluable… but she didn't need that damned protection. Not after she'd worked so hard. He was trampling all over that… Sure she was still ridiculously weak compared to people like the Founders and Sasuke, but she could protect herself now. The idiot apparently couldn't see that. But he was her Hokage now, not Tsunade… so she had to listen to him. She had to obey those orders.

Do not hit your Hokage, Sakura, she chanted to herself. Do not hit your Hokage.

"It's advisable to let it go for now, Sakura-san," Tobirama said, coming up behind her. "My brother, in case you haven't noticed, tends to be rather single-minded when it comes to achieving his dreams."

"But that doesn't mean his way is correct all the time," she grumbled. "I need to go out on a mission and collect some damned supplies, but with what that amended third clause is implying…" Sakura resisted the urge to hit something, and then realisation shot through her. "Tobirama-sama, where's the most remote training ground you don't mind repairing?" she asked, hands flexing viciously. She needed to work off her damned anger before she did something she'd regret.

A smile worked its way onto his face. An oddly understanding one, and Sakura wondered how many times he'd released his irritation on a training ground thanks to his brother's antics before. "Training Ground Fifty Seven would probably be best," he said. "How much damage will there be to repair?"

"A lot," she muttered gruffly. "Thank you, Tobirama-sama."

"Have a good day, Sakura-san," he said, nodding, and she turned, ready to ask for permission from her wonderful Hokage to be dismissed, but his voice stopped her once more. "Oh, and Sakura-san, you don't have to use sama all the time. I'm fine with you just using san instead, just please don't try and use kun."

Sakura blinked. "That's fine, Tobirama-san."

Tobirama smiled, nodding once more, before stiffening all of a sudden at something behind her. "Not. A. Word. Brother," he hissed.

"But Tobi, you barely let anyone drop the sama unless…" Those annoyingly puppy-like eyes locked on her green ones after she turned to face the irritant, and Sakura twitched for what must have been the hundredth time since entering that office. "Do you like Sakura-san?" He leant forwards. "The Elders have been—"

"Brother. I am going to say this very clearly as I have the last ten thousand times, I have no interest in a romantic relationship with anybody at this moment in time. Sakura-san, I'm sure you are a wonderful person, but I have zero interest in a relationship with you beyond that of working friends or close confidants."

Sakura grinned. "Excellent, we're on the same page," she said, moving forwards to shake his hand. "To a wonderful, professional working relationship," she continued, ignoring the disappointed noises the idiot of his older brother was making in the background. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a training ground to go and destroy." She walked past. "Hokage-sama. Uchiha-sama." She inclined her head to both of them. "I would ask again that you at least consider the fourth clause again. I'd be more than happy to demonstrate my technique and why it excludes me from the rest of the rules at whatever time you wish. Good day."

With that said, she hurried away, not bothering to wait for his response. No doubt it would only want to make her punch him that much more and punching him unfortunately wouldn't make him more likely to consider what she'd said. "Ugh, what a day," she muttered, running over the rooftops, heading towards the remote training ground Tobirama had suggested. She didn't particularly want to be disturbed in the middle of her rampage. She didn't particularly want to be seen either – she did have a reputation to uphold as the unshakable, professional medic she was.

Towering trees met her eyes, grown by the current object of her ire, and Sakura walked into the training grounds fenced off and noted with a plaque declaring it to be Training Ground Fifty Seven. There was a small uninhabited lake for water-walking, and numerous gigantic trees clustering the area.

Yanking out her gloves, she pulled them on, a wide toothy grin pulling at her lips as she strode forwards. It was time to fell some trees.

Four hours later and Sakura was sitting back at the entrance to the training grounds, staring at the utterly barren training ground. Trees were in splinters, the lake demolished under the numerous craters, one stretching deep into the ground as if some meteorite had stuck it. She'd been imagining Hashirama's head for that one, compared to the slightly shallower ones where she'd imagined Sasuke's annoyingly smug face.

Cracking her knuckles, she climbed back to her feet. The sun was setting, and she had yet another early shift at the hospital. She needed her sleep, so rather than destroying any more of the training ground – not that there was much more she could've done, aside from deepen those craters she'd made – she started the slow walk home, keeping an eye out for any possible threats, not that there'd been many.

Sakura sighed wistfully. What should she have for dinner tonight?

"Um."

The small voice yanked her from her daydreams, her eyes snapping down to the small little girl in front of her. "And who might you be, little one?" she asked, eyeing the Uchiwa embroidered on the sleeve. It was a cute baby Uchiha who still had baby fat clinging to her cheeks.

"I saw you at the training ground," she yelled, high-pitched voice cracking, her eyes clenched shut. "And you're a medical shinobi, but you're really cool unlike baa-san. All my friends at the academy make fun of me for wanting to be a med nin 'cause they're really weak and need to be protected… but you—you, you…"

"Slow down, little one," Sakura said, resting her hand atop the fluffy black mess that was her hair. "What exactly is it that you want from me?"

Black eyes looked up into her green ones with a fire Sakura recognised. The same fire that'd burnt in her own eyes when she demanded Tsunade take her on as an apprentice. "Train me."

"OK, squirt, meet me outside the hospital at three o'clock on the dot tomorrow," she said, turning back around to find her way home and have dinner before catching up on as much sleep as she could. Apparently she'd need it in the coming months, especially with a child to train.

"That's it?" The girl blinked.

"Yup. Actually wait, what's your name, kiddo?" she asked, committing it to memory as soon as it left her lips.

"Yumi. My name's Uchiha Yumi."

"Nice to meet you, kid, now scram and don't be late tomorrow."

"Yes, Sakura-sama!"

Sakura sighed, simply rubbing her temples as the little girl ran off like the bundle of energy she was. Ah, she remembered being that young once upon a time. How fun had that been… though she'd probably started following Sasuke around by that age. She snorted. To think there was a time she'd once thought of that annoying git as cute.

"Tomorrow is going to be fun," she muttered, and in retrospect it was. She finally had her own mini-me, and it was ridiculously cute. Yumi had even tried to dye her hair pink after their first week of training together. Not that she was making much progress, but Sakura had already figured out her chakra control was good enough for her to inherit her skills.

The little Uchiha was an excellent distraction from the irritating Hokage that Senju Hashirama was too. He'd snuck up on them when she'd been teaching Yumi how to heal the fish, using the trees to mask his chakra presence. If it hadn't been for the smouldering sensation of Madara's chakra she might never have realised he was there. Then again, her sensory abilities weren't the best.

"So this is where you've been disappearing off to, Yumi-chan…"

Sakura spun, ignoring the now flopping fish, not even bothering to glance back as it flailed its way back into the stream she'd pulled it from. Yumi was making progress slowly yet surely, just like she had at the beginning. And it was all thanks to her hard work, so she allowed herself to be just the smidgest bit proud.

Yumi stumbled back. "M-Madara-sama…"

"Your uncle has been quite worried about where you've been going at these hours after the academy, Yumi-chan," Madara spoke, and Yumi stared at the ground. At least until she ruffled at that spiky black mop. "You should have asked him for permission before requesting training from Haruno-san," he continued, crouching down in front of his smaller clan member. "Or at least told him where you were going…"

"But uncle wouldn't have let me come," Yumi grumbled, folding her arms in a strop. "He doesn't like the village."

"Things just take some time to get used to," Madara said, and Sakura was vaguely impressed at how the Uchiha Clan Head handled children.

Of course he'd be completely different to the visage of him from her original timeline.

This one hadn't lost his last brother, though another had still forced their eyes upon him for him to see the future for them.

"But until that time comes, I'm afraid you'll have to wait until you've graduated from the academy to train with Haruno-san," Madara continued.

Yumi's face twisted in despair, and Sakura blinked. "No." She stomped her foot and pouted. "I wanna train with Sakura-sensei, and I wanna train with her now!"

"You can't Yumi-chan, now come along. Your uncle is worrying," Madara spoke a little more firmly, and Sakura barely restrained her sigh when she realised how it was all going to pan out. Yumi was a bit too much like her, so she wasn't going to go without making a scene.

"That old fart never cared for me! He jus' doesn't want me making friends and learning from the village," Yumi snarled, grabbing Sakura's waist, and her eyes flickered red. "You can't take me away from sensei."

"Yumi." Red eyes whirled in answer. "You know we aren't supposed to use our sharingan so casually about the village."

"Hn."

Madara scowled, his niceness fading along with his patient expression. "Well, you can't say I didn't try the nice way," he muttered, yanking Yumi away, tucking her under his arm with barely any effort. "And back to your uncle we go."

"No!"

Sakura actually sighed that time. "I'll be waiting Yumi-chan," she called, waving at the little Uchiha throwing a tantrum as she was dragged off by her Clan Head, before she turned to the second presence tingling at her senses. "How may I help you Hokage-sama?" she asked sweetly, as if her precious student hadn't just been dragged away and barred from seeing her until she graduated.

"I was just curious as to what you and Yumi-chan were doing," Hashirama said with a smile. "Her academy teachers told me of how she wanted to be something more of a combat specialist like most Uchiha her age do…"

Sakura felt her eyebrow twitch. Why couldn't the idiot realise he was basically insulting her and everything she'd worked for her entire life? "Well, even combat specialists need to learn how to mend their wounds," she said, ignoring the overwhelming urge to punch him in the face. With a chakra-reinforced fist.

Do not hit your Hokage, Sakura, she chanted once more.

Hashirama grinned even more widely. "That's very true."

"I'll take my leave now, Hokage-sama," she said. She had a date with Training Ground Fifty Seven. Though she'd probably have to put in a request for repairs. Tobirama had been oddly flummoxed by the amount of damage she'd done to it the first time. At least he'd understand why the training ground was in tatters again though. She just needed to say she'd met with Hashirama yet again, and no questions would be asked. Although she could only really tell Tobirama that, possibly the Uchiha too, since they were some of the few who Hashirama's bubbliness and obliviousness always affected in the worst way. Nobody else seemed to understand how irritating the obnoxious puppy that was the Head of the Senju Clan could be. Sure, he was nice, but he had a horrible habit of insulting her, or just generally overlooking her opinions if they conflicted too much with his own.

Maybe she was just so used to her Hokage listening to her. In hindsight, she'd earnt her way up into Tsunade's confidence. She was her apprentice, so it was obvious they'd be close and that the Fifth Hokage would listen to her ideals and opinions. She hadn't done that with Hashirama. There was no way she could do just that.

But at least Tobirama had her back somewhat.

Peace never seemed to last very long for her.

The first sign Sakura had that something was wrong was when the ground shook. Obviously not as much as what happened when she demolished a training ground, but it was still significant. Yelling was what she heard next, along with a sudden rush of both shinobi with mild injuries. Light burns and the like. Then had come the orders for a lockdown of the hospital, and the evacuation of everyone mobile to the cliffs.

She swallowed, wondering who exactly was attacking, but the answers soon came to her in the form of Yuki. "A faction of the Uchiha Clan are rebelling against the village," she murmured, collapsing onto one of the nearby beds. "It's a mess out there. They're attacking everyone indiscriminately."

Sakura went to the window, her heart in her throat as she thought about everyone still out there. Yumi was still out there, her precious apprentice. The window was open just a fraction, the sounds of fire jutsu and weapons clanging against weapons greeting her.

"You should stay away from the window, Sakura-sama… even if Hokage-sama sent over people to protect us, there's no guarantee—"

"SAKURA-SENSEI!"

She froze, eyes snapping back to the scene outside. Her adorably precious student was out there, screaming for her. "Screw the Hokage-sama and his stupid amended clauses," she muttered, slamming open the window and jumping out, ignoring Yuki's yells behind her and the chakra signals she briefly felt making a pursuit before they thought better and resumed their defense of the hospital.

Buildings were on fire, yells and screams echoing above the din as she ran towards where she thought Yumi to be. The little Uchiha was going to be her apprentice, dammit, and nobody could injure the brat aside from her. Dirt pounded under her silent footsteps, her heartbeat echoing in her ears as she made her way through her first battle in her new time.

There was barely a single warning before flames shot towards her, a grinning Uchiha behind them – one who Sakura wasted no time in punching into oblivion before she continued her frantic search for her missing soon-to-be-apprentice. They just needed to wait until Yumi was old enough before it could be declared as an 'official' apprenticeship. "Yumi-chan?" she called, leaping up onto the roof of a nearby building, uncaring at how much more of an easy target it made her. Tsunade had out her through hellish dodging training worse than all the bits of very deadly metal thrown at her in that instant.

She leapt over another street, muttering curses under her breath until she finally found her precious apprentice. And of course she was being used as a hostage. Silently, she crept forwards, intent on snatching her wonderful apprentice away from the man holding her against their wonderful Hokage-sama himself alongside Uchiha Madara. None of them had noticed her as of yet, each too focused on the other to notice a third party.

She recognised the Uchiha holding Yumi, though she'd never met him face-to-face. Yumi's uncle. The one who hadn't been happy with the village. Who'd seen it fit to take her away from her medic training… well, and the Tsunade-style training she'd been starting to put the girl through—

A wall of wood rose up, cutting her off before she could take another step, and Sakura snapped her head to where Hashirama stood, staring at her.

"Sakura-san, what are you doing here?"

Never had she wanted to bash her head, and preferably his head too, against the hardest wall she could find. Oh, that was right, she thought bitterly as she glared over at him, he thought she was a helpless medic.

"Sakura-san… now why does that name sound familiar," the voice she didn't recognise spoke. "Ah, that's the name of that stupid weak sensei you chose…"

Hashirama's eyes widened, his voice for once not sounding so cheery. "Get out of here!"

Fury burnt in her gut—Oh wait. No. That was the purple glowing sword of a Susanoo…

"Huh, would you look at that," she mumbled, watching as the sword broke off a few inches in front of her stomach, leaving the blade buried in her gut. "I've been impaled…"

Black lines crept down from her seal, diamond glowing pink as she released her Yin Seal for the first time since the war all those years ago. A smirk split her face, and she launched herself up over the broken wood wall and towards the purple ribcage.

"It'll take more than that to get rid of me," she hissed, slamming her fist down, smirk only growing wider at the cracks that spread out from under her fist.

"What?"

Blood trickled down from her lips. "Shannaro!" The resistance under her fist crumbled like wet paper, and the solidified purple chakra form shattered. She bared her teeth in a mockery of a grin, slamming her fist into his face, throwing him down into the ground, ignoring the cracking of his skull and the spatter of fluid that lined the newly formed crater as the ground around her trembled.

"Sakura-sensei?" Yumi whispered, shaking from her position under one arm. She'd barely managed to grab onto the girl before her fist had ploughed the idiot into the dirt.

"It's OK," she said, blinking at the eerie stillness which had descended throughout the village. "It's over now, Yumi-chan."

"But… Sakura-sensei…" Sharingan eyes darted down to the glowing purple chakra construct still embedded in her gut. "You're hurt…"

"Sakura-san!" Hashirama called, hurrying towards the pair of them. "Yumi-chan!"

"Sakura-san?" Tobirama stared at her from where he'd just rounded the corner.

Madara was just watching her, a contemplative glint to his eye and a slight flush to his cheeks as he watched her yank the Susanoo sword out of her despite Hashirama's protests. She threw it to the floor, not bothering to watch as it vanished, flickering out of existence as her skin and organs regrew in an instant.

"See?" One eyebrow rose as she looked down at Yumi's tearful expression. "I'm fine… Nothing to worry about."

"Can… can you teach me to do that?" Yumi asked, biting her lip as she stared up at her.

A grin pulled at her lips, all teeth. "Most definitely," she said, flicking her adorable little student on the nose. "But for now I think we should head to the hospital. You remember what I taught you all those months ago, correct?"

Yumi nodded.

"Good, then let's go," she said, ignoring the dumbfounded Hokage. "You've still got a ways to go before you can break spines with a flick of your finger."

Tobirama was just smirking for some reason unknown to her as he looked past her towards where his brother and his best friend waited.

::

Sakura skipped through the hospital, grinning at Yuki as she arrived at her office. "Hokage-sama finally passed the four clauses through. My ones, not the amended ones," she said, glee radiating from her even as she spotted all the paperwork she needed to fill out before the day was over. Otherwise there'd only be more the next day. "About damned time."

"Yeah." Yuki nodded. "How's that little apprentice of yours doing?"

"Cleaning out bedpans. You know… Just the usual initiation tasks," she said, her smile not dimming in the slightest as she thought of her official apprentice. "I'll be taking her out to the usual training grounds later after she's finished her weekend shift."

"Want me to keep an eye on her while you deal with that?" she asked, gesturing at the tall stack of paper piled up on her desk.

"Please," Sakura mumbled, sinking into her chair, pulling the first sheet towards her. Falling into the mindless slog of completing paperwork wasn't all that hard. It was just something that needed to be done, so by the time her apprentice knocked at her door, she'd finished filling out the last sheet and was already packing away her things.

"Sakura-sensei?"

"I'll be with you in a moment, Yumi-chan," she said. "Just start heading to the usual training grounds."

"Sure thing, sensei!"

Yawning, Sakura stretched out her hands, cracking her neck as she made her way to their usual training grounds, eyes narrowing at the prickling of hair as she walked through the village. She was being followed. Still, she was fairly sure she could deal with whatever they wanted, should they chose to reveal themselves. There hadn't been any intruders in the village, and the clans were both peaceful after the last incident.

It was safe to say she wasn't expecting him though, or the eager expression on his face as he challenged her to a spar after sending her adorable apprentice away.

She barely had to consider the suggestion before nodding in assent. After all, it wasn't everyday one got to spar with the legendary Uchiha Madara.

They decimated the training ground obviously, and Sakura had the distinct impression Tobirama wouldn't be as forgiving that time around. Not when she didn't have the excuse of venting her frustrations.

"That was… fun," she mumbled, panting for breath, scowling at how winded she was compared to her opponent. Though she'd heard the legends of how he could fight for a whole day and night before suffering from exhaustion.

"Same time tomorrow?"

Sakura blinked, head snapping around to stare at the Uchiha. "Eh?"

"If you don't want to—"

"That's fine by me," she said, eyeing her gloved fists. She needed all the sparring practice she could get if she wanted to be confident for any missions Hashirama threw her way. She didn't need the suffocating protection and she was going to prove it even more than she already had. "See you tomorrow, then."

The flowers were unexpected.

He gave them to her after sparring one day, and it was a break in the routine that made her head spin. Sakura stared at the red roses Madara had all but shoved into her arms before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

Numbly, she wandered back home, placing the flowers into one of her few vases, staring at them all the while. Why would the Uchiha give her those? They were only supposed to like really strong people – people like Hashirama and Tobirama. Sakura bit her lip, silently wondering whether it was his thank you gift of something for putting up with him and his manic sparring tendencies. He's been there on the dot every single day after she'd finished training Yumi, and while she was grateful for the extra practice, she always wondered why.

In hindsight, she probably should've read more into the meaning of those flowers – she'd been friends with Ino for crying out loud.

As it was, she went about her daily life, ignoring the small pang of disappointment in her gut when Madara didn't show up at the usual time. Perhaps the flowers were his parting gift, she mused, sighing as she leant back in her office chair. It wasn't quite as comfortable with the one she had in the modern era, but it would have to do. She finished up and went home, sighing at the thought of another Madara-free day. She'd grown so used to him over the last few months of them knocking each other around the training grounds whether it be using fist or oversized gunbai. A knock at the door broke her newfound routine. She didn't know who she was expecting at the door. Perhaps Yuki with some urgent paperwork, or Tobirama with an offer to work on seals over dinner with him and Mito.

She most certainly wasn't expecting Uchiha Madara on her doorstep, slightly out of breath, cheeks red from exertion. "Spar?"

"Uh…" She glanced between her cooling dinner and him, biting her lip. His company was always welcome, and it sure beat the loneliness of her home. "Sure?" she mumbled, gathering up her usual supplies from where she'd left them on the counter. "But you're buying me dinner after."

He sputtered, cheeks reddening that much more. "Uh, yes. Yes, of course…"

He was sitting on top of her, pulling his kunai away from her throat when he asked her. "There's a festival celebrating the founding of Konoha tomorrow night," he said, and Sakura stared up at him, confusion plastered all across her face at the minute hesitancy she could hear in his voice. "Will you accompany me?"

Sakura blinked. "Um, OK?"

A smile appeared on his face – not that infuriatingly sexy smirk of his for once, and Sakura blushed. Damn the Uchiha for being so damned pretty. There was a reason she'd been obsessed with Sasuke, but even she could happily say Sasuke had nothing on his ancestor. "I'll pick you up from your house. I know where it is."

"I'm well aware of that fact," Sakura said, still pinned to the ground under his weight. "But do you think you could get off me anytime soon? You're heavy."

He was off her so fast she barely saw him move, his hand offered out to her in an instant.

"Thanks."

"Hn."

Mito sipped at her tea as they poured over seals alongside Tobirama. The three of them were probably the most prominent in the village at fuinjutsu, so the three of them all in one room had one of two ways to end: in an explosion, or with a nice bit of seal work to contribute to the village. "Sakura," Mito said, steady hand completing the last brushstroke on her latest work. "I saw you at the fireworks display last night."

"Well, I was there… though I didn't quite get the chance to talk with you… you were by Hashirama's side," she said, sipping at her own tea.

"Ah, of course." Mito grinned. "I forget how much you dislike my husband."

Sakura clicked her tongue, comparing the difference between Uzumaki fuinjutsu and her own, musing how she could infuse the two styles together… if that was indeed possible. "He's an acquired taste," she mumbled, flicking through her notes. Medical fuinjutsu was her main area of expertise, followed by storage seals and their many applications.

"True," Tobirama muttered gruffly, sipping at his coffee. "But then again, so is Madara, and you put up with him well enough."

Sakura swallowed. "Problem?"

"If you could both stop undressing each other with your eyes every time you're in a room together it would be much apprec—"

The door slammed open. "I do not undress Sakura with my eyes every time I see her, Senju bastard! That's immoral, and I am not that kind of person!" Madara snarled, freezing as his eyes met Sakura's green ones. "You…" he sputtered, swinging his gaze back to the object of his ire. "You deliberately—You… You did that on purpose!" He stumbled back, folding his arms with a huff, his face red. "How long?" he muttered so quietly Sakura barely heard.

Tobirama smirked. "From the beginning, idiot. Do you forget I'm a sensor or what?"

"I hate you."

"Noted, now either ask Sakura out for dinner like you were planning or get lost and let us get back to our work. The work we do is actually important for the village," Tobirama said blithely. "Be snappy about it too."

"Senju bastard…" Madara hissed. "You ruined the surprise."

Mito snorted. "It's not like it's that surprising, Madara," she said, looking up from her inkwork. "Everybody saw you wrap Sakura up in your haori last night… well, everyone aside from Hashirama, but you know how oblivious my husband can be when distracted by sparkly lights and explosions."

"She was cold," Madara grumbled. "What sort of gentleman would I be if I ignored that?"

"A gentleman? You?" Two white brows rose. "Well I suppose there's a first time for everything…"

"You…" Madara seethed, and Sakura sighed as she climbed to her feet, expertly running a hand through those spiky black locks just as she'd done the evening before whenever he'd gotten a bit too riled up. It was awfully cute, the way his spiky hair bristled.

"Six O'clock. Don't be late," she said, going back to her seat, ignoring Mito's smug expression as she concentrated back on her research. He left soon after, and peace returned to the room. Momentarily, of course, as she sipped at her cooling tea.

"So, when's the wedding?"

Sakura spluttered. "What?"

Tobirama snorted.

"We're… not dating?" she mumbled, silently reviewing all her previous encounters with the infamous Head of the Uchiha Clan. "We've mostly just sparred, and then he's taken me out to dinner occasionally afterwards… then there was the fireworks, but that's it… Uchiha are only supposed to like strong people."

Mito sighed.

Tobirama buried his face in his hand. "Sakura, you do know when Madara started taking an interest in you, don't you?" he asked, drinking some more of his coffee as he sat there, looking longsuffering.

"After the Uchiha Rebellion."

"You do know what a Susanoo is, correct?" he continued, closing his eyes.

"It's the tengu-looking thingy Uchiha with the Mangekyou can summon," she said, smiling as she continued to look through all her notes for her next piece of medical fuinjutsu. Sasuke had never been very forthcoming about the Uchiha's abilities.

"It's the ultimate defense of the Uchiha, who few people see and ever walk away from," Tobirama said, taking another sip of his drink – looking like he would've preferred to be having sake instead. "Well, it's the case for Madara's anyway, more so for the stabilised version."

"And?"

Tobirama groaned in exasperation. "You broke through it with your fists, and in the mind of an Uchiha that would be terrifying, and… kami I can't believe I'm saying this… sexy," he spat the word out, looking faintly disgusted. "Don't ask me what goes through the mind of an Uchiha. They're all insane."

"You're just biased because you're a Senju," Mito said, smirking as she continued her precise brushstrokes.

"Uzumaki."

"Fair point," Mito mumbled. "But anyway, long story short, the Uchiha basically consider sparring to be a form of flirting," she said, smirking at the redness creeping into Sakura's cheeks. "Because apparently there is something they find hot about the love of their life trying to breaking their bones."

"Oh…"

Tobirama pinched the bridge of his nose. "You are officially one of the most romantically dense people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting," he said, rolling those red eyes of his.

"I think it's more that she was underestimating her own strength, dear," Mito said, ignoring the way Sakura was looking at the floor – like she wanted to meld into it and vanish from sight. "But still, I'm expecting an invitation to the wedding, a winter one too."

Sakura made a note in the back of her mind to ask her future descendants or students of her own students to punch a boy named Uchiha Sasuke in the face. It was his fault. All his fault she'd been so unbelieving of her own strength. But he didn't matter. A smirk pulled at her face, befitting of the clan she was set to be marrying into.

Looking back on everything she could see it clearly.

The way Madara's cheeks had always flushed pink when he approached her, especially when she was in the middle of some heavy lifting… or when she occasionally flexed her muscles in his vicinity. Though hers didn't have much on his. He was devastatingly handsome, and a far better match for her than silly Sasuke ever would have been. He also didn't mind letting her braid his hair. Smiling, she ran her hand through the fluffy black locks on her lap as she sat on the engawa, listening to the sounds of yet another celebration taking place in the village.

She could definitely get used to this.