There was a test Sakura was determined to make any boy pass. It was fairly simple, if one was really determined.

Just wait.

The first boy she had ever loved had not even seemed to take any interest in her. Sasuke never gave her a second glance, and so when he turned her down she would sadly look at his retreating figure before turning dejectedly around herself and walking away, always hoping that NEXT TIME, it would be different. She was willing to pass her own test for him. She would wait.

When she met Lee, she wasn't really interested. Still, if he was SERIOUS, if he REALLY MEANT it, MAYBE he might pass.

But by the time three years had passed, his crush on her had receded to nothing more than an occasional joke or mention, meant more as a good laugh at a faint, naive memory than anything else.

He failed.

Naruto, though, HE was determined. He had managed through those three years fairly well, and even asked her on a date the day they reunited (she declined, just for the fun of it; for old times' sake).

But he failed, too.

She had hoped he would. Hinata had been pining for his affection for SO long. Sakura had always felt guilty, sometimes wishing for the idiot to just OPEN his EYES, sometimes wanting to force him to.

Hinata did THAT for her, though, on the day when Pain attacked the village.

The boy took his time, of course. He did not leap from fancy to fancy like Lee; he gradually let his feelings for Sakura recede enough to let some for Hinata bloom.

But by the time Sakura had tried to turn Naruto away from going after Sasuke, he had sealed his feelings enough to reject her "confession."

That was when she knew he had failed, too.

And Sasuke had failed somewhere along the way.

But he had never entered the test on his own anyways, so she just decided that after all these years, perhaps it was time to pick up the exams. Life was only so long, after all.

So when Naruto and Sasuke returned together to the village, she gave them both equally loving (but only friendly) hugs. She cried, yes, but only because they were both alive and safe and HOME, not because Naruto had kept his promise, not because her beloved Sasuke was alive and safe and home.

She had never been so happy yet sad in her entire life.

Naruto officially passed in his failed test the day he and Sakura went shopping together. He had been incessantly bugging her about spending some time together, and she had to admit she was curious about why he wanted to SHOP, of all things.

Curious enough to agree, anyways.

"There," he said excitedly. Sakura followed his finger and gaped.

After her rather loud questioning, Naruto shyly rubbed the back of his head.

"Uhm... I... Er... Hinata..." He took a deep breath. "I'm gonna ask Hinata to marry me! I got her ring size from Hiashi but I don't know what girls like when it's jewelry and Ino couldn't come and Tenten just waved her wooden one from Neji in front of me so uh... Yeah..." He trailed off. Sakura sighed and patted his shoulder, reassuring him. They went inside and bought one with as many carats as he could afford (a fair number, actually; saving the world and being named next-in-line as Hokage brings many profitable offers).

And he smiled and thanked her many times over, and when she smiled back and waved goodbye to his figure running to find Hinata, she really did say goodbye.

Lee officially turned his in when he and a pretty girl he had met through Naruto (something about ramen, so Sakura had only half-listened to Naruto's explanation) invited her to their wedding. Lee had run up, handed her an invitation, also delivering a jovial verbal invitation as well. She grinned broadly and told him she would come, and gave him and his betrothed her blessings and good wishes, which he received most happily (not to mention tearfully). He ran off and she waved again, saying another farewell.

After that, she began to ponder traveling. After all, as long as Tsunade was in the village, Sakura's skills could be shared with the world pretty freely, especially with the relative peace it had fallen into. Of course, she would not reveal anything that could be used against Konoha, but surely seeing the world and healing a few people along the way would be pretty harmless, right?

And so, after much deliberation (and organization, so she wouldn't be wrongly classified as a missing-nin), the day for her departure arrived.

She slung her pack over her shoulder, and lightly touched the hitai-ate tied to her head as a headband. It identified her as a ninja from her village, the place where everything (and everyONE) she held dear lay. She had already carefully dusted off her priceless picture of her old Team 7, carefully re-adjusted it so that it was turned down, awaiting her return. Her parents had objected a bit earlier when she had told them of her plans, but of course, she had long ago moved out and had been an adult long enough to realize they no longer held power over her decisions. She had persuaded them to her side, emphasizing her need for personal growth and self-realization, among a thirst for knowledge and, ultimately, the need to LIVE, to THRIVE.

Kakashi, on his part, gave her a long lecture and a list of reasons not to go, before smiling at her and saying, "But none of this is gonna stop you anyways, but I had to try, right?"

Naruto was not so easy to convince, particularly since a new baby ("Kushina," Naruto had breathed when he saw her, "She looks just like Mom." Hinata had been more than pleased with the name and resemblance) had drained him of sleep. And when Naruto was exhausted, rational (or irrational, for that matter) thinking was highly limited. "But your home is HERE!" he had said. "You really need to figure out who you are when I know for a fact you had that down YEARS ago whenever you'd punch me straight across roads?" To prove her point, (and to prove it wasn't all THAT long ago) she had screamed at him about not having much time to really think things over before war broke out, and then promptly punched him not only across a road but through a wall. She would have felt bad about her rash actions if Hinata, baby stroller in tow, hadn't laughed and wished Sakura luck in place of her husband.

She smiled, opening the front door now. That had been a few days ago, and as she walked to the village gates, she felt energy and anticipation growing inside her, something she hadn't felt in a long time. It was the innocent kind, the kind that wasn't tainted by blood or pain or trickery, but rather the childish kind that is felt on the first day of kindergarten, or the first time the sunset or sunrise is seen.

She reached the gates and turned around to look at the village again. There were the ever-proud trees and bushes guarding the entrance, strong enough to have withstood Pain's barrage on the village but beautiful enough to still change with the seasons. The road was just as well-trod as the last time she'd seen it, if not more, the rocks scratched and cracked from wear, the dust and dirt from travelers' feet still blown across in odd intervals from the occasional breeze or gust that greeted the strong trees. And the vibrant buildings seen upon entry- the tailor shop where Sakura and her family had had their custom clan clothing made, the little antique shop above it advertising glittering old pots, the Hokage Tower gleaming from a recent cleaning (courtesy of some water-nature Anbu), and the Hokage Monument with the past and current leader's faces engraved upon ancient stone, to further protect the villages past, present and future.

Sakura felt a shudder pass through her. Konoha was truly beautiful, she realized.

There was one person she had not told about her plans, although he probably knew of them anyway. She did regret not ever settling things with him, though-

And then she saw him. Hopping over the buildings towards her with speed that even Lee might have been jealous of.

Sasuke landed in front of her with a huff. His breath was a little hurried, but Sakura assumed it was because of his rush to meet her before she left.

He righted himself and looked her in the eye, coal, deep eyes meeting emerald, equally deep ones.

"Why are you leaving?" he asked.

She launched into the same explanation she had told everyone else before. None of it was a lie, after all, and he seemed to be the first to accept it without any protesting.

"So you're gonna come back, right?"

She blinked, taken aback. No one else had asked. She had assumed that was because it was obvious. She WAS wearing her hitai-ate, after all. But apparently, it wasn't.

"Of course," she said.

Sasuke smiled at her, relief flooding his features. "Good," he said, "Because I'll be waiting. There's something I need to tell you when you get back. Something," he continued, "I think you've been waiting to hear for a while."

Sakura's breath hitched, before tears filled her eyes.

She blinked them away, turning to leave. She threw a smile of her own over her shoulder at him.

"I've got something to tell you, too, when I come home again," she said. "You'll be here, right?"

He nodded. "Like I said," he replied, "I'll be waiting."

She waved, and so did he, and then she turned and walked out the gates.

When she got back, if he really was still waiting for her return (he would be, she knew), she would tell him a two-worded response, seven letters long in total, three in the first, four in the last. And it would be different from the other results she'd seen so far.

After all, she thought brightly, turning her head up to look at the blue sky, I never said there weren't re-takes.