Of Armor and Pink Petals

Chapter 36

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Itachi had showed to her door early in the morning and if he saw the dark circles under her eyes, he did not say anything to her. The only thing he mentioned was that she might want to let the Hokage know what she went through and what she planned to do. In his opinion it would be better to explain her future disappearance now than have him try to do it.

She agreed with him and put on fresh clothes before to leave her apartment with Itachi. On their way, she saw Ino, who gave her a surprised glance, looking between her and the Uchiha heir multiple time. The glint in her eyes told her that she would have to explain later.

When they were standing in front of the office, Itachi took in a breath and faced her, unsure.

"The Hokage can be quite... Blunt and aggressive-"

With a laugh, Sakura cut him, waiving her hand in dismissal. "She was my shishou. I know."

Remembering what she had told him he closed his mouth and nodded. He only hoped she knew how to approach the situation. They knocked and entered when her voice sounded on the other side of the door. When they walked in, her eyebrows raised, questioning. She had seen the pink haired kunoichi a few times, though she did know really know her, but seeing Itachi with her was interesting... They stopped and looked back at her.

"Don't stand there staring! What do you brats want?"

Sakura chuckled, some things, no matter which time period you were in never changed! Without any prompt from Itachi, Sakura told Tsunade everything that had happened. Everything. She left her story with the Nidaime out of the details, only mentioning that they had worked closely.

The blond woman was quite shocked, but seeing that Itachi Uchiha was backing Sakura's claims and taking in the seal on the girl's forehead, Tsunade had no choice but to believe her. The only way for her to achieve the seal was with rigorous teaching and medical training and Tsunade was quite certain that she had never trained the pink haired girl that was on Kakashi's team.

Smirking, the Hokage had a devilish idea. The only way to know if this Sakura had been trained by her in another time was to have her dodge her attacks in a spar. So a few minutes later found them in training ground far from the Hokage tower. Both women faced each other while Itachi leaned on a tree nearby.

Tsunade observed the young kunoichi and frowned. The idea of sparring with her did not even scared the pink haired girl. Interesting. With this thought, Tsunade started to come at the pink haired kunoichi who dodged every single blows. Even the chakra enhanced ones. She was impressive and seeing her in action, the blond woman understood why she had taken her as an apprentice in the first place. There was cold determination in her eyes, a purpose. Pure strength.

Being distracted for a moment, Tsunade was surprised to feel Sakura's kunai on her throat. Yes indeed. In another life, she had been her apprentice. Huffing, the blond woman crossed her arms on her breasts.

"Your great uncle was a sore loser as well." Sakura's voice had been soft and nostalgic when she spoke.

Tsunade turned her head in time to see the sad flicker in the pink haired kunoichi's eyes. Puzzle pieces clicked into place. Removing her blade from the Hokage's throat, Sakura cleared her throat, bowing to the blond woman.

"All this conversation today was to inform you that I intend to go back in time and stay there if I can find a way to do so. Itachi-san and I have a plan."

Having a suspicion of the reason why she might want to do such thing, Tsunade prodded.

"Why? Why going back after everything?"