Forged Beyond

HOKAGE... WHO?

A week later...

The hospital buzzed outside the window, but inside Tsunade's chambers, the world felt too quiet.

Sakura sat curled up on the patient cot shoved into the corner — not because she was injured, but because she had nowhere else to go. Her legs were hugged close to her chest, her chin resting atop her knees, pink hair falling in waves around her face. The room smelled like ink and old parchment and the faint scent of medical alcohol.

Tsunade sat at the desk behind her, half-listening to a couple of shinobi giving an official report.

Sakura didn't even glance back. These days, she didn't have the energy to care unless something was bleeding in front of her.

Then she heard it — the sharp snap of a scroll.

"You've GOT to be kidding me," Tsunade muttered, her voice low and tight.

Sakura peeked over her shoulder just in time to see Tsunade shoot up from her seat, eyes blazing with a cocktail of stress, rage, and something dangerously close to panic.

"Sensei?" Sakura asked, blinking.

Tsunade didn't even turn around. She was already halfway across the room, muttering curses under her breath. She grabbed her cloak from the chair and stormed out, heels thudding down the hospital hallway.

"I'll explain later!" she called over her shoulder. "Don't leave my office!"

Sakura blinked again.

"Cool," she mumbled to no one. "Wasn't gonna anyway."

She flopped backward onto the cot with a dramatic sigh.

Her fingers absentmindedly traced the threads of the blanket beneath her. She stared up at the ceiling.

No home.
No family.
No idea what came next.

"I should probably buy a place," she whispered. "I do have money from the surgeries at Orochimaru's. But like... a house costs a lot."

Just as she buried her face in the pillow and groaned...

Knock knock.

"Ugh. Come in," she mumbled, not lifting her head.

"Yo."

She peeked out from under her hair.

"Naruto?"

He stepped in, arms folded across his chest, an odd little smirk on his face.

"You look like a sad potato," he said.

Sakura glared.

"What do you want?"

Naruto cleared his throat. "Sasuke asked me to tell you—uh—well, that there are 2 individual houses. For us in the Uchiha district."

"...what?"

He scratched his head. "Yeah. Apparently there's still a ton of space over there. Most of the houses are broken, yeah, but like, they're there. Izumi's the clan head, so she can lend 'em out on rent or something."

Sakura blinked. "I thought you had to be eighteen to own your own place?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. But that's for owning. Renting's fine, especially with Izumi running the paperwork. She's legit. Said it'll be under special reconstruction protocol since the village got wrecked."

Sakura sat up, brushing her bangs back with a groan. "Why would Sasuke care, though?"

Naruto gave her a dumb grin. "He cares cares."