Hello readers! I know i know...some of you probably want to throw tomatoes or sharp objects at me and i apologize. I WILL finished Book 4: Air i swear it i will! I'm just at a creative loss until i can get it back for that fic then it'll be temporarily on hold. I honestly want to get it right so as not to disappoint anyone :) So in the meantime enjoy my first original Naruto fic! It's ItaSaku so if that pairing makes you queasy i'm sorry but it's a fav. Don't worry i AM a canon shipper but this pairing holds a special place in my heart so here it is.

Some general information about this fic. YES it draws from typical Naruto-verse, the most recently posted manga was 584 so everything up to there applies to this fic. With that being said this fic is also AU (alternate universe) and it's also a NON-MASS, meaning Itachi didn't commit genocide. So somethings will be similar and somethings will be tweaked, but in general traditional verse applies. If you have any questions or concerns please leave a review or just PM me, i will always respond :) Happy Reading!

They raced through the trees intent on rendezvousing with their charges before they succumbed to their injuries. Lightly gliding through the trees like forest sprites they sped ahead keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings.

The call came fifteen minutes ago and the Alpha Medic Team was deployed. Clad in their dark blue medic vests and forest green suits and armed with everything from kunai to syringes they made a beeline for rendezvous point C. Between the newly established Med-nin captains and the ANBU intelligence they created a grid that all shinobi were to abide by. Should a mission fail or if the shinobi were afflicted with life threatening injuries they were to activate the medic summoning scroll and meet up with a squad at a designated location according to the grid. This particular squad of ANBU was on their way home to Leaf Village from a reconnaissance mission when they were ambushed by a large platoon of Grass-nins.

"Sakura-shishou?"

"Yes Reiko?"

"I'm detecting multiple chakra signatures up ahead closing fast."

"Hai, Alpha Team prepare to intercept," their Jonin commander ordered.

"Hai!" Came the residual reply from her three subordinates.

"Once we intercept we're going into four point defense around the squad everyone stick strictly to your area and be on the lookout for incoming hostiles," she ordered through her radio.

"Hai!"

Another second later the damaged ANBU squad halted in front of their relief.

"Alpha Medic Squad reporting what is the situation?" Sakura took charge approaching the Captain with a Crow mask.

"Small platoon of Grass shinobi on our 6 about two minutes behind us," he reported briefly.

She nodded, "Girls formation, follow my lead, TingTing you take rear, Reiko throw out some quick-trip traps, Moegi cover our movements," turning back to the ANBU commander, "Do you give permission to relinquish command for the time being to myself?"

"Hai," he answered back without hesitation.

She nodded as they took off again into the trees.

"Reiko, estimated distance between us and our pursuers?"

The thin, short mat-black hair, and Sharingan eyed girl responded, "500 yards and closing shishou."

"Alright girls listen up, were going with Battle Royale once we hit a defensive position. Reiko set up your perimeter then tend to the wounded. TingTing get as high as you can then give 'em hell, Moegi we're gonna try out that new genjutsu you've been working on," Sakura issued orders as they landed in their designated location.

"Shishou it's not battle tested yet," Moegi starting forming her hand seals while conveying her concerns.

"Then this will be a great time to christen it don't you think," Sakura winked at her.

"Shishou? Who's going to play bait?" TingTing asked pulling out four scrolls from her vest.

"I will, Moegi will cover your movements so move fast. Gauntlets please TingTing."

TingTing nodded, her light brown buns sat low on her head with three senbon in each bun to hold it in place, as she unsealed her masters gauntlets from her scroll.

Sakura took the proffered arm wear then watched as TingTing flipped up into the trees. The leather wrapped perfectly around her callused hands and arms protecting her from the coolness of the chakra enhanced metal links that lined the outside all the way up to her elbows. After securing the last strap she looked up at Moegi seeing the girl ready.

"Don't be nervous just concentrate and find a good perch. Once it's completely settled join in and we will see how well it works. Which if judging by Naruto's constant dumb-founded expressions I think we're going to have a pretty entertaining show," Sakura chuckled to herself as she lit her gauntlets up with chakra.

Moegi placed her hands over Sakura's and extracted a small amount of her chakra then weaved more signs as she chuckled with her, "Hopefully I can get away with my sorry excuses for chakra punches since you're wearing those beastly things."

Without waiting for a retort Moegi jumped into the trees 20 feet North West of Sakura's location.

"Will you be requiring assistance?" the Crow ANBU Captain asked.

She shook her head, "Unless one of my girls goes down please don't get in our way it will be very confusing for you if you do." She winked at him. "Protect your squad Captain and we will protect you."

The Captain only nodded but noticed something change about Sakura's appearance, as if something flipped into place and her expression began to darken and her aura rapidly began to change into something...suffocating.

Sakura's head jerked up at Reiko's bird call and she jumped onto the nearest branch. The location was perfect, small open clearing surrounded by dense trees to provide the perfect distraction for this battle strategy.

There…she sensed the incoming chakra signatures. Crow reported a small platoon and that's exactly what it was. 15 shinobi were about to burst through the trees in,

5…4…3…2…1…

Sakura leapt from her perch and slammed into the ground at the exact moment they enemy came into view. The earth was completely upturned and the trees surrounding the small clearing were toppling over from the sheer force of Sakura's enhanced punch. Immediately she jumped out of the way as she spied TingTing's barrage of senbon coming directly from above.

Unfortunately for the enemy ninja the only resistance they could see was Sakura thanks to Moegi's genjutsu. All 15 began to head straight towards her when a large katon jutsu incinerated three from the rear. Reiko sprang back into the foliage then waited for TingTing's senbon to take effect. Just as Reiko landed into safety three more enemy-nin, who stopped and stared at the surprise fire jutsu, were impaled and dropped to the ground dead, leaving the new total at 9 enemies. Sakura waited watching their wide eyes wondering how one kunoichi…

"KAI!" Was shouted by every enemy-nin but nothing happened. Reiko struck out again, her movements masked by Moegi's genjutsu, and she took another life with a kunai slitting the throat of another kunoichi.

Sakura smiled, her jutsu was working. Briefly thinking back to the long months it had taken for her and Moegi to perfect it, making sure that the bait person was the one they were focusing their genjutsu release on while the other stayed safely away concentrating hard on countering the effects…all that hard work was paying off. Without a seconds hesitation Sakura sprang back into action taking one out with perfectly placed, chakra-enhanced round house kick to the thoracic cavity. She could hear the ribs crunch under her foot then the tell-tale gurgle indicating she punctured the lung and heart.

New count 7! She mused with sick delight.

Sakura chuckled to herself as she grabbed the nearest nin and threw him into his kunoichi partner. Reiko and TingTing joined the fray and lowered their numbers to 3 when the appearance of another Sakura entered the field. Reiko backed out of the fray and left to signal her trap at Sakura's command, TingTing pulled three senbon from her sleeves and waited for her cue.

The remaining three watched as two identical kunoichi with pink hair circled them slowly.

"Give up," one called calmly, "To do so would mean I'll take it easy on your transport to prison."

"We have our orders not to be taken captive," one Grass-nin called back holding his sword at the ready.

"Silence Tau!" Another older male nin called.

"Found him," the other Sakura called smirking at their captives.

"Go!" the other Sakura called and they sprang into action.

Two males went to engage while the last kunoichi waited to see which one was the clone. Tau, her sword wielding comrade, landed a hit with his sword butt that caused the clone to disappear. Just as she was about to engage with the other battle the clone flickered back and she barely avoided a chakra punch to her face.

"Pay attention, that was close," the pink haired woman taunted flickering out of existence again.

The two comrades stood back to back when the clone flickered back again only this time it was near their Captain and they both braced themselves for his impact into their bodies. Not a moment later multiple wires sprang from the ground trapping the three together. Then with a flick of the pink haired girls wrist three senbon were lodged into their necks, one for each captive.

Sakura walked up to survey their prisoners, "Nice work TingTing, just below the C6. They can still see, hear, and speak but can't move."

Sakura motioned for Moegi to end her jutsu. With a few hand signs the genjutsu dissolved revealing the second Sakura to be Moegi. TingTing appeared on the other side of the prisoners with a bright smile on my face.

"How'd I do shishou?" she asked with bright eyes.

"Very well, timing was spot on," Sakura praised then chuckled seeing the small girl bounce up and down in happiness.

"SHISHOU!" Sakura's head jerked at Reiko's panicked call.

"TingTing prep them for transport," Sakura ordered before she and Moegi ran to Reiko's location.

"Status?" Sakura asked kneeling next to the injured ANBU.

"Poison but I can't stop it; it's settled on his heart. Universal antidote is not having an effect," Reiko explained her green lit hands over his chest.

"Classification?"

"I don't know…" Reiko admitted bowing her head ashamed.

"No time for that Reiko. Moegi we need to do an extraction if we can't classify the poison. Reiko I'll take over I need you to fill a bowl of body temp water. TingTing!" Sakura immediately removed her gauntlets and lit her hands with healing chakra inserting her chakra into the ANBU's upper thoracic cavity.

"Present," TingTing knelt next to her master.

"Stabilize him, keep his organs running if this poison spreads and monitor nerve activity our patient is starting to seize."

TingTing took immediate notice that their patient was twitching in his arms and legs.

"Moegi hold his legs…this is going to hurt," Sakura took the heated bowl from Reiko as the Uchiha took up her position holding his middle.

Sakura's chakra surrounded the warm water and she held it steadily above his chest, "Hold him tight girls, TingTing I'm going directly into his heart keep it beating no matter what happens."

TingTing nodded then closed her eyes in concentration. Sakura's free hand removed the chest armor and ripped a large hole in the front of his sleeveless shirt. Ever so slowly the water sunk into his chest and immediately the ANBU's back arched in pain.

"Hold him!" Sakura commanded as a pain filled yell ripped from his masked face.

She concentrated around the heart pulling with her chakra to detach the poison that seemed to stick to his most vital organ. She muted out her patients pain filled screams intent on not leaving even a minute amount of this unknown compound in his body and close to his vitals. Thirty seconds later Sakura slowly withdrew the water with the poison encased within.

"How are his vitals?"

"Holding steady, his breathing is normal and heart rate has decreased by half," TingTing answered with a look of relief.

Sakura nodded staring at the bulb of water, "Come here all of you and tell me what you see."

Her team immediately obeyed as did the watching ANBU.

"It's yellow in color, seems to be a little chunky for poison," Moegi observed furrowing her brows.

Sakura nodded, "What else?"

"It's…is that…" Reiko asked her Sharingan eyes wide.

"Light up your hands before assuming and check for yourselves," Sakura instructed. They did as she commanded and all gasped.

"That's chakra!" Reiko exclaimed.

Sakura nodded.

"Shishou have you ever seen this before?" Moegi asked already assuming the answer.

"No this is the first time I've seen anything like this," she answered.

"How's that possible you've seen everything?" TingTing asked shocked.

Sakura chuckled at her innocence, "I haven't seen everything obviously TingTing. We need to run preliminary diagnostics Moegi that's you. Extract all of this so we can have something to analyze when we get back home. Reiko since you know what to look for make sure there are no other traces of this compound in his body, look everywhere then sedate him for transport. TingTing scout ahead make sure there are no stragglers."

Sakura stood up then as her team went into action and approached the other members of the team.

"Let me examine the rest of you for injuries," Sakura directed each of the three man group to sit and they obeyed.

Tiger had a large gash on his arm but thankfully it was shallow and already beginning to clot. Eagle had a couple broken ribs and a sprained ankle. Crow had bruises covering his entire body but no other ailments.

"Your bodies are clean of poison so count yourselves lucky at least. Will you all be able to make it back to Konoha or do I need to arrange a transport?"

Crow answered, "We can move ourselves."

Sakura nodded, "One of you will need to carry your comrade and I'll take the prisoners."

"Our team will carry both parties."

Sakura shook her head, "No, I don't want Eagle putting pressure on his newly healed sprain. Our main defensive formation is the four-point. Reiko will lead, Moegi will be to our left, and TingTing behind us. She has the best instincts for sneak attacks in the rear. Crow you will take right. Tiger will carry your poisoned comrade and I'll take the prisoners while Eagle provides middle defense."

Crow nodded his head, a sound plan, he thought to himself.

Sakura turned back to check on her team.

"Shishou I don't detect any other abnormalities in our patient. I cannot detect other traces of poison in his system with chakra or with the Sharingan," Reiko reported as she inserted a long thin needle into the ANBU's arm effectively knocking him out.

"Very well, Tiger will be carrying him and radio to TingTing and have her come back." Reiko nodded.

"Moegi any good news?"

She shook her head, "Nothing Sakura-shishou…the 6 varieties of poison that attack the heart I've ruled out with preliminary tests."

"Impossible," she gasped kneeling next to her.

Moegi just shook her head, "I know it's weird but what's even weirder is that…I can only detect black widow venom and no other combinations of herbs or anything."

Sakura's mouth dropped open, "That doesn't make sense."

"That's what I thought," Moegi glanced at her teacher's disbelieving expression, "If you want to double check my work…"

"No I trust you Moegi. If what you say is true then it's a good thing we have lots of that compound. We're going to be doing a lot of testing; you and I are going to be busy for the next few weeks."

Moegi groaned slightly…this is what she feared. While she was ever so grateful for Sakura accepting her as her apprentice, she was not as much of a work-a-holic as her master was. And now that they had stumbled along something this terrifyingly significant she knew they weren't going to stop until they got to the bottom of it and knew this poison inside and out.

"Wrap this up for transport Moegi, you're taking left we move out in 3 minutes," Sakura ordered standing.

The Alpha Medic Team and the unpoisoned members of the ANBU squad stood before the Hokage.

"Report," Tsunade ordered leaning back into her chair arms folded under her large breasts. Naruto stood to her right side leaning against the large window. At the conclusion of the Fourth Ninja War, Tsunade told Naruto that if he ever wanted to become Hokage then he better begin to shadow her so he could learn that having such a dream was not as glamorous as he was cracking it up to be. When Naruto asked her why she wanted to retire after such a short reign she simply replied, "5 years serving plus a war against the most dangerous and twisted men ever to be born…I'm done." Naruto was only to happy to begin his new training even though his love for paperwork was just a bad if not worse than the current Hokage.

"At the conclusion of our mission our team was ambushed by a platoon of Grass-nin. One of our members was poisoned and the rest of us sustained extensive wounds that would prove to be fatal if we were to remain. We fled and activated the medic scroll and headed to our rendezvous location. 15 of the men that initial ambushed us followed our trail. The medics took three into custody," Crow reported in a monotone voice.

"Sakura report," Tsuande looked to her next.

"We rendezvoused with their team at the designated location and moved immediately to a more defensible position. Reiko took 5, TingTing 3, Moegi and I finished the rest except for the three in custody which includes that platoons Captain." Tsunade nodded in approval. "The poison extracted from Bear's heart was not identifiable and the universal antidote had no effect. Have you seen my preliminary report?"

Tsunade nodded holding up a small folder, "Field tests were inconclusive and what I found most interesting was…"

"The fact that the poison was chunky and contained chakra," Sakura finished her shishou's sentence.

Tsunade nodded again, "You have more to test on?"

"Hai."

She dropped the folder and pinched her nose, "This is so…irk-some."

"Hokage-sama it is safe to say that your previous suspicions are proving to be true. The smaller nations are going to try and make a play on the large weaker Great Nations. The affects of the Fourth War and the alliance has greatly reduced the numbers of able-bodied shinobi within the villages. They see this and I believe they are trying to exploit it for the years that the larger nations have fought their wars on their homelands," Crow interjected.

Tsunade sighed then, "Medic's you are not to speak a word of what was just said in this room do you understand me." Her voice was as hard as stone making the three young girls quiver at her intensity.

"Hai Hokage-sama," they answered in unison.

"Sakura, crack the secret to that poison. Black widow venom does not congregate in the heart," Tsuande turned hard eyes on her apprentice.

"I will Tsunade-shishou," she vowed.

"Medic's you're dismissed, ANBU stay and finish your report."

The team turned to leave. "Not you Sakura," Tsunade added in softer tone.

She nodded, "Moegi get started on the poison I'll join you when I'm finished."

Her apprentice nodded and shut the door firmly behind her.

"ANBU remove your masks," Tsunade ordered, "Sakura seal the room."

Sakura performed a series of hand signs then tapped the floor and far wall with her hands. Light green chakra flooded out encompassing the entire room in green before fading away. She turned back to see the revealed faces of the ANBU and before her stood two previously unknown men and one she knew quite well although she would never admit it out loud…Itachi.

Naruto sighed then, "We did the entire world a favor by destroying Akatsuki are you for sure that the smaller nations are trying to mobilize?"

Itachi nodded tying his Crow mask to his belt, "It seems Grass and various other countries were hoping for and looking forward to the reign of the Akatsuki leader. The promise of peace was very enticing for them but now that the shinobi forces as a whole, lost just above half of their man power, they have increased their daring to attack us out right. They are looking for weaknesses and trying to lure people away from the Great Nations mostly targeting those who have lost all of their loved ones to the war, preying on the weak of heart."

"And the mercenaries?" Tsunade asked.

"Rebel groups have been spotted from time to time but mostly at the bidding of another village. The platoon that attacked us was one such group," the Captain answered.

"But they were wearing Grass headbands," Sakura noted eyes narrowing.

Itachi nodded, "It seems that if they are to do the bidding of that village they are to bear the symbol of their employer."

The room became silent as they all mulled over the implications.

Tsunade turned to Naruto, "Status of the sealed bijuu?"

He sighed, "Gaara was resealed with one-tail since we was and is still a match to harbor it. The seven-tails went to Kiri and he was sealed last week. The six-tails went to Iwa and they just found a candidate. Kumo has Bee and Konoha has me so since the Alliance decided that in order to maintain peace every Nation was not allowed more than one bijuu the rest were being given to other countries. Of course this isn't being done lightly the two through five tails are powerful beings and every country that is bidding for one has to produce adequate means of proof that they are capable of handling such a life. We're talking records going back years from shinobi counts and bloodlines in the respective villages, financial records, medicine and birthing, crime; everything is being search by the Alliance interrogators."

Naruto closed his eyes thinking of the situation. Ever since his final fight he had a hard time letting go of any of the bijuu, he now felt personally responsible for them after learning their names and being entrusted with their entire beings. He wanted to keep them all with him, sealed away for protection but after careful thought and the protests of others it was decided that only one bijuu would be allowed to be "owned" by one nation, any more than one at any time would be in violation of the peace treaty written by the Feudal Lords.

Tsuande slapped him lightly on the shoulder bringing him out of his thoughts, "What's done is done, don't dwell on things you can't change, stay here in the moment."

He nodded at her slight reprimand even though her tone was soft her unsaid command was not. He nodded and turned back to face the situation.

"Bee and I are ultimately responsible for the bijuu and we are always notified when one get's sold," he concluded.

"And you haven't received any information?" Sakura asked her teammate.

He shook his head.

"It could be possible that these mercenaries are joining the smaller villages in order to get their hands on a bijuu," the light blonde ANBU member, Tiger, commented.

Tsunade tapped her fingers on the desk, "The Alliance needs to be informed…"

"But then that violates the world treaty," Sakura stammered.

"I know…but…" she got cut off.

"We don't know enough yet to come to that decision," Naruto intervened, "If we're trying to change things then we need to first start with trust then act accordingly."

Tsunade nodded, "Yes you little brat, just take my speech away."

He smiled scratching his head giving a nervous chuckle.

"We need concrete evidence that this is the intention of the mercenaries. If they are now aligning with other smaller villages because it will increase their chances of be sealed then they defect…" Tsuande mused to herself while staring out at the sunset, "Like I said if we can have concrete evidence then this situation can be stopped before it even begins."

Itachi nodded, "We are a man down but as soon as he is able we will…"

"No, you have been on non-stop missions since the end of the war," Tsunade interjected, "Your team needs the time off and others need the experience. We have a group of new recruits for ANBU do we not?"

Itachi nodded.

"I want you to set up those new recruits like we did with the Medics, one high rank officer, one middle veteran, and two new recruits." She handed him a scroll, "Give this to Ibiki; it's the orders I just gave you."

He nodded again and bowed his head, "By your leave Hokage-sama."

"Yes get out of here until I have need of you again," she waved her hand at the ANBU as Sakura undid the sealing jutsu so they could leave the room.

"Tsunade-shishou about that poison," Sakura started.

"Yes what about it…" she asked lazily filling up a cup of sake.

"Could it be a jutsu?"

She paused the tip of the cup touching her rosy lips in thought.

"Is that possible?" Naruto asked.

"Who knows, the fact that you found chakra in it makes that theory plausible, but if it's not…" Tsuande set the cup down and poured another.

"This is an entirely advanced brand of poison something the world has not seen yet. It's advanced almost to an unearthly degree. I trust Reiko's body scan, with her Sharingan she would be able to see the poison's chakra signature if it went anywhere else in the bloodstream. The fact that it only attacked his heart and there were no traces of the compound at the point of entry…"

"How did it get into his system?" Naruto asked.

Sakura sighed in mock amusement, "Future Hokage-sama…did you not read my report?"

He smiled sheepishly but couldn't answer since Tsunade cut him off.

"He had a…long night Sakura," she winked at her apprentice.

Sakura's smirk grew as she refocused her attention, "Oh and by late night…that means he wasn't alone…"

Naruto's face turned red, eyes wide with the beginnings of horror.

"And that blush," Sakura tsked happily, "He must have developed that from the one person I know who blushes as bad as that…Hinata."

Tsunade laughed then as Naruto covered his face.

"Move a little fast don't you Naruto…did you wear protection?" Sakura asked innocently, "Wait no need Hinata's physical is scheduled with me in a week…I'll let you know if anything of import shows up; especially in the blood test." She winked at her now appalled teammate.

"WE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" he shouted as he slumped against the wall burying his head in his arms and legs. Sakura laughed at his sad attempt of the fetal position.

"Uh huh…" she teased before giggling like a school girl.

"You're lucky Naruto," Tsunade commented with an audible sigh.

He lifted his head to look at her, "Why's that?" he asked cautiously.

"She's almost as big as I am," Tsunade grinned wickedly at her successor.

Sakura lost it as she held her stomach and fought to keep herself from falling to the ground in laughter. Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs in embarrassment before high-tailing it out of her office saying he was done for the day. Tsunade joined in Sakura laughter but still had control enough to pour herself another cup of sake.

"Priceless…absolutely priceless," Sakura commented breathing deeply to fight off more giggles.

"Indeed, he didn't react nearly this good when he showed up but with you here," She tsked in amusement before down another drink.

"I don't know why he's so embarrassed, we all know he's too inexperienced with relationships to do anything and Hinata is waaaaaay to proper to even tempt something like that," Sakura mused running a hand through her hair, it was getting long she needed to cut it soon.

"Don't assume too much, and what would you know anyway Miss 'I'm-Too-Busy-To-Date'?" Tsuande turned her amused eyes on her.

Sakura scoffed in mild amusement, "My apologies for heading up the Medic Academy and the hospital. With you busy being Hokage and Shizune helping to keep you organized and not to mention losing a lot of medics during the war…"

"I know…there was no one more qualified than you," Tsuande finished with a small smile, "I'm proud of you Sakura, do you know that?"

"Hai shishou," she answered with a smile.

"It was your idea to open the Academy and it was ingenious. We're pumping out more medics with your curriculum than we did when in the 'old days' the ones that were interested took on regular apprenticeships. More of our shinobi are coming home. There will be a medic on every team and it's not just women who are applying and graduating its men too. Not to mention you're the Director of the hospital overseeing scores of healers, nurses, and more med-nins. And to top it all off, you have your own team of medic's training under you, Moegi who is your personal apprentice, Reiko a promising Uchiha, and TenTen's younger sister. Your Alpha team will be great leaders in the field one day."

Sakura smiled and blushed slightly at the warmth surging through her body. Pride shone in her master's eyes and it only made her lift her head higher. With the war impending on their world Sakura new that facing off against skilled S-class ninjas as well as trying to contain seven captured bijuu was just madness. Nobody would survive in order to carry on after the outcome of the war. Her Medic Academy was the answer, with Tsuande's permission and the amount of reconstruction that was happening because of Pein's attack; she proposed to build a Medical Academy.

Her idea behind it was if people could receive even basic first-aid out in the field of battle then that would increase their chances of success by 25%. The universal antidote was created during this time period and given to every shinobi prior to the war. Little cuts that could end up being lethal would be kept at bay increasing the shinobi's fighting prowess thereby enabling them to fight longer and harder and in turn increase the Alliance's chances of success. Tsuande had listened to her idea that she presented in front of the Jonin Counsel with Tsuande at the head and the Elders by her side, she looked each ranking member straight in the eye as she delivered her speech impressing many. Being a newly ranked Jonin only 2 months prior she walked right up to the front like she had been a member of that Counsel for years.

Her short-term plan was to incorporate any ninja no matter rank who desired to learn basic medical ninjutsu in order to administer first aid to more grievous wounds. She wanted to employ Hinata, which surprised the Hyuuga greatly when she was first asked to help, and use her creams as remedies for the less serious battle wounds. Together with the universal antidote Sakura predicted 38% higher rate of survival to all of the alliance shinobi. She conceded that some of the more injured would need to be transported to the hospital area that Shikamaru had drawn up with his father while creating the battle strategies for the war but just allowing or demanding for the shinobi to learn the basics was an idea that was accepted by all yielding a unanimous vote by the counsel.

After the vote was taken she also laid out her plan for her long term ideas regarding the academy. She agreed that all students should continue to attend the regular academy in order to learn and perfect the basics that all ninjas need. She concluded that a more comprehensive study of anatomy be added to the academy curriculum in order for more interest to be spiked in the medical field. Once the children graduated from the Academy they would have a choice to either be put into a regular Genin group or attend the Medical Academy. Once at the Medical Academy they would undergo extensive training as the village's new medical ninjas, training could take up to one year before completion. Then the next year would be spent on a medical squad before officially being assigned to a Genin team. The medical teams in general would not pass as regular squads since it's not a wise idea to lose four completely competent medics in one failed mission. If others wanted to continue their studies and become specialized in areas like poisons, surgery, or healing tonics and creams, then training would be handled in an apprenticeship and applications would be accepted by various leaders willing to take on subjects.

The only problem that was brought up was the age difference between the newly arranged Genin squads and their assigned medic. Sakura had strategically pointed out that due to the decreasing number of living shinobi after the war, having a competent medic on the new teams increases the chances of survival on medial missions by 90%. She used Team Seven's Wave mission as an example, granted they were up against an S-class missing nin Zabuza, but Kakashi might not have been out of commission for as long if a competent medic were on the team. They were fortunate that Zabuza and the other mercenaries decided not to take action while Kakashi healed and her team had time to be trained to better control their chakra. Many more heads nodded in consensus to her logic.

Thus the additions to the regular Ninja Academy with more lessons emphasizing chakra control and anatomy, the Medical Ninja Academy came to life. Other medics from the other great nations visited Konoha a month prior to the beginning of the war to receive this specialized training. They were also given mass amounts of the universal antidote created by the Konoha students to take home for their countries; as well as scrolls for others in the service to learn.

"Honestly," Sakura whispered rubbing her temples, "I was scared shitless when I presented those ideas. If I hadn't practiced on Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai there's no way I would've been able to tell anybody anything."

Tsunade chuckled at her, "But you did, you were wise in seeking their guidance before coming before us. I bet you made some changes afterward?"

Sakura nodded, "Mostly minor things but they pointed out the weak links and promised to be in the room when I presented." She smiled at the memory of both Sasuke and Naruto flanking her throughout her entire presentation.

"Yes their over eager death stares did wonders for convincing us," she shook her head before turning slightly to gaze at the sunset.

Sakura sighed leaning back into her chair, "I better go find Moegi and get started on that poison…then I have to finished my performance reviews, I need to check in with Professor Hahn to make sure there's nothing I need to look at, then I…"

"You need to go home Sakura," Tsuande eyed her.

She let out a breathy laugh, "Home…is that where people sleep?"

Tsunade chuckled with her student, "Yes believe it or not. I believe you do have a bed there and a mighty comfortable one at that?"

Sakura nodded, "I wish I could go visit it…"

"How's your mother?" Tsunade abruptly changed the subject.

"She's good, I keep telling her to call an exterminator because I'm sick of finding bugs everywhere but she's determined that the stupid bug poisons are working great. She won't even let me set of tags or jutsu's to get rid of them, she thinks I'll be wasting my valuable chakra," she rolled her eyes, "But on the bright side she just got hired by an Uchiha and Hyuuga to offer advice on decorating their homes."

Tsunade nodded, "She has a great eye for interior decoration. She was commissioned by the Sandaime to renovate the Hokage mansion before the attack by the Kyuubi."

"Really?" Sakura asked a little shocked.

Tsuande nodded, "Did she not tell you that?"

"No," she tsked, "that woman keeping secrets from me…"

"It's hardly a secret."

"True but still…I bet if she put that on her ads then she would be hired left and right."

"She would be yes but then she would never have any time to see you," Tsuande smiled at her again before offering her own cup of sake, "Here, with your schedule you need one."

Sakura nodded in thanks when they were interrupted by a knock. Shizune poked her head in, "Tsunade-sama your next appointment is here."

She nodded storing the half empty bottle away, "Let me know your results with that poison."

Sakura nodded and took her leave.

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