I'm not as weak as you think

7

Months have gone by since I've been bitten by Orochimaru and I've been gradually controlling it's powers. I was having a blast being back with the Akatsuki and all, but I had received a letter from Konoha saying that my mission was over and that they wanted me to return immediately. As much as I hated it, I had to because of my undercover work for the Akatsuki, which turned into undercover work for Konoha. When I told the Akatsuki, they were a bit disappointed, but were understanding. Hidan cursed more than he usually does, which was a lot. Kakazu counted his money every hour, which was only something to keep him busy on easy days. The rest did whatever they do, but more often and secluded. Konan even helped me pack in her free time. Once I was done packing, I had to leave if I wanted to be back in Konoha within a week or two. I hugged everyone, that wanted to be hugged, goodbye and left, promising to return soon. I dreaded going back, but I kept pushing forward, wanting to see my parents again. 

I traveled for days before making it near Suna, which was 3 days time from Konoha. I got word that someone from Konoha was in Suna for a training boot camp thing, so I decided to head back with that person. To my surprise, that person was the one who was teaching in the boot camp. She was one of the nicest people I knew, who would never hurt a fly unless it deserved it. But here she was, teaching other shinobi how to kill and engage battles properly. Hinata Hyuuga, eldest daughter of the Head of the Hyuuga clan, was teaching a class on how to kill people. I waited after her class was finished before approaching her. "I never thought I would live to see the day that Hinata Hyuuga would teach a class like this," I said. "Sakura-chan, are you on a mission?" she asked with not one stutter. "I'm returning from one. Hopefully, you can join me on my way back," I said. "Today is my last day, so we can head out tomorrow. Come, you can stay in my hotel room for tonight," she said as she grabbed her things and started walking away. I followed her to the hotel, which was near the middle of the village, and up to her room on the second floor. That room happened to have a second bed, which she had placed her things on. She took her things off of the mattress and stored them away in scrolls. I placed my things on the bed and began to unload the necessary things for the night. A set of clothes, toothbrush and toothpaste, hairbrush, etc. Then, Hinata and I went out to a nearby food stand and got each other up to speed on the events.  She said that Naruto and Sasuke were on probationary watch because they did went out of the village and were discovered in a a nearby cave. They, apparently, were conducting their own investigation on Itachi and stole files the the Uchiha Massacre. The punishment they received was no missions for the time being and being watched 24/7 by off duty ANBU.

After the meal and talk, we headed back to the hotel room to get some sleep. It was one of the uneasy nights because I was so far from my home. I couldn't sleep, so I decided to sneak out and look at the stars from the roof of the hotel. I stayed up there for an hour or two before going down and finally going to sleep. I woke up at dawn, when the sun first showed, and packed my bags. When Hinata woke up and had packed her bags, we headed out, informing Gaara before we left. The journey was easy and we made it back to Konoha in the expected 3 days.Arriving in the morning, we both checked in with the guards at the gate and walked together to the Hokage's building to fill in our reports. "It feels good to be back," I said, putting my act on again. "Couldn't agree with you more," she said, "I loved getting out of the village, but spending 3 weeks in a desert with only sand surrounding you gets annoying. I don't know how they do it." I turned to her and asked, "Why is it that you don't stutter anymore?" She returned my look and said, "I needed to toughen up before the boot camp, so I had Father and Neji train me to be a tough person. I guess the stutter went away after a while." I nodded and continued to walk in silence. I wondered why send Hinata to conduct a boot camp in the first place. If they had to, why not send a whole team to teach the importance of team work and trust. And why send a relatively 'soft' person to teach the proper way to kill. I continued to think about it until we reached the door to Lady Tsunade's office. I knocked on the door and opened it, letting Hinata in first. Lady Tsunade was working on paperwork with a cup of hot tea next to her. "Lady Tsunade," I said as I walked towards her desk. She raised her head and smiled when she saw the both of us. "I see you two met up," Lady Tsunade said. We both nodded and looked at each other, like we were deciding who would state their report first. I guess I won, because it looked like Hinata had given up.

"Everything I discovered were stated in the letters that were sent via letters. No one suspected a thing and I managed to get out undetected," I said. "Excellent, and you, Hinata?" Lady Tsunade asked. "Boot camp went better than expected. The Kazekage said that I should come down and do another boot camp for the newer bunch, so I think you should expect a letter from Suna sooner or later," Hinata said. Lady Tsunade smiled and said, "Excellent. Both of you. I'm so proud of you two. Keep up the good work and I think of promoting both of you." We, both, nodded and walked out together.

We went our separate ways and I walked home. Mom and Dad were home, so I surprised them with my return and told them that I was going out to train. I went to an empty training ground and activated my curse mark. I practiced for a while before going home and changing into my ANBU uniform. I wanted to take on a mission before night fall, so I headed out after 1. I got a simple, yet difficult, mission from my supervisor. I had to watch Naruto and Sasuke for the next week and a half because there were no more off duty ANBU except for me.  I know that wasn't true, but my supervisor knew that I was just back from spying on the Akatsuki. He must've thought it was very difficult so he gave me an easy mission. He gave me the whereabouts of the two and told me to release the active ANBU on duty right now. I nodded and went to Ichiraku Ramen, where Naruto and Sasuke were eating. The ANBU that was watching them was standing inside the stand, but wasn't near the table. I put my hand on his shoulder and nodded. He nodded back and left, leaving me to take his spot. I waited and waited for them to finish, but Naruto kept on ordering bowl after bowl. He must've been on his 30th bowl when I exclaimed, "That's enough!" Both of them turned around, Naruto with noodles hanging out of his mouth. "S-S-Sakura-chan?!" Naruto exclaimed after he swallowed. "That's Cherry to you," I said, "now hurry up. My legs are getting tired." He finished the rest of his bowl and paid before standing up. Sasuke followed him. I trailed behind them, around 5 feet, and followed them to Naruto's apartment, where both of them stay. When Naruto unlocked the door, I could tell that it was really messy inside, just telling by a small scent. "Do you ever clean?" I asked as he opened and walked in the door.

I could hear what he was saying but it didn't matter because when I stepped in the apartment, I could see for myself. Empty instant ramen cups were laying on the floor and clothes were on a chair piled up. I sighed and summoned some clones, who began to clean the apartment. They also pulled out a mat for me to sleep on. Naruto had his bed and Sasuke had the couch. My clones had placed the mat in between, which was near the doorway of Naruto's room. We talked for a bit before turning in for the night. I didn't sleep until I made sure that both were asleep. The last thing I thought was, 'I'm going to hate this mission.'