IMPORTANT NOTES PLEASE READ.

So this story takes place in a slightly alternate chapter 700! However there have been some changes; in this story Sakura never married Sasuke and they never had Sarada. This is pretty much the only change.

This story has no pairing for now. It may change in the future and it could be a number of things.

Sakura is thirty, as is everyone in her age group, all their kids are twelve.

Baruto wears the same outfit as that in the manga.

A/N Welcome to a new story! I'm not sure how many people will be interested in this story, so if you'd like to see more please leave a review-

Chapter one

"What do you want from me, Naruto?" Sakura sighed wearily, her stance lazy and bored as she stood before the Hokage's desk, both of her hand stuffed into the pockets of her black jounin pants. There were plenty of other places she'd rather be, tending to patients, training, or even visiting Kakashi-sensei, but sadly when the Nanadaime summoned you, you tended to show up regardless if it was your knuckleheaded old teammate or not.

"Eh, Sakura-chan, now you're just being mean." Naruto grinned from his seat behind the desk, a sprawling vista of Konohagakure laid out behind him seen through the bay window that surrounded his office.

"Baka Naruto." Sakura barked, her eyes scanning over the complete and utter mess that covered his desk, swathed with cups of instant ramen and towering pillars of books jammed with loose pages of important political papers. It seemed Shizune hadn't been keeping up with the mess Naruto had been making, which was unusual for the strict, tidy older woman.

"Haruno-sama, please have more respect for the Hokage-" The nameless jonin that had stepped forwards from the pack behind her got sent back into line when Sakura sent a dry, unimpressed look over her shoulder; her teeth grit and lower lip jutting out to let them know they were walking a thin line.

Naruto merely laughed at the reproach and the way Sakura handheld her fellow jonin, taking amusement in the fact that after all these years Sakura was still Sakura, just as beautiful and volatile as ever.

Hence why he needed her for this very specific task.

"You're here for the same reason everyone else is here, Sakura-chan!" Naruto chirped brightly, gaining Sakura's attention in the same manner he always had, with his bright enthusiasm and unwavering cheerfulness.

"You're going to be a Jonin Sensei!"

A pause.

"No." Sakura replied in a monotone voice before turning on her heel, intending to make her leave. She was met with the disbelieving faces of her fellow jonin, obviously all quite happy and ready to take on their students. 'Of course. Yesterday was graduation, today the teams are being selected and assigned, then tomorrow the genin meet their teachers.'

"Ah, Sakura-chan! Wait!" Naruto yelped from behind her, scrambling up from his seat in a flurry of activity and knocking a few empty and discarded ramen cups to the ground in his hurry.

"I'm not doing it, Naruto." Sakura didn't even pause in her stride towards the door, avoiding the throng of jonin awaiting their teams by skirting the outside.

"But you have to, I'm the Hokage!" Naruto pleaded as he followed after her, but Sakura didn't falter as she grasped for the door handle, swinging it open and stepping through the into the hallway. She didn't bother closing the door, knowing it would only slow Naruto down for a second if he was truly intent on following her.

Another plea from behind her had her rolling her eyes.

"I said no, Naruto. I have things to do, much more important things to do. You're the one that put me in charge of shinobi affairs at the hospital, you knew how important that would be to me and how busy it would make me." Sakura didn't break in her stride or look back on the towering blonde who had taken up stride behind her, instead she continued on her way navigating the Hokage's tower.

"Sakura this is important." Naruto pleaded and Sakura nearly stopped, finding this demure and beseeching behaviour coming from Naruto odd. He had never begged her like this and she almost thought this might have been a serious and dire situation/

"No, what's important is saving lives." Sakura's tone grew agitated, but she felt her next biting remark catch in her throat as she left Naruto's fingers grasp onto her sleeve, bringing her to a sudden hault. Turning, she looked up at Naruto, equal parts annoyed and curious; Naruto returned her gaze as they stood in the middle of the small, standalone hallway that bridged the span of two buildings, each wall set with glass for the inside world to gaze out.

"The next generation is more important than this one, Sakura-chan." It was in this moment Sakura was reminded about how much Naruto had grown, how he had matured and how wise he had become. It made her feel petty and small when he looked down at her from his towering height and talked to her with words far wiser than she had ever spoken before.

She bit her tongue as she held back the desire to tell him saving dying shinobi was more important than teaching genin, for she knew that was not what he had said. 'When did Naruto get so good at hiding things underneath the underneath.'

"You have hundreds of capable and strong jonin, Naruto. My skills are better suited elsewhere." She tried once more.

"Yes, but I only trust you with this one, Sakura-chan." That was the moment when it all fell into place.

"Boruto." The stern, unforgiving tone in Sakura's voice let Naruto know she wasn't pleased with him abusing his position to try and get his son a favorable teacher.

"Give me a chance to explain." Naruto asked, his eyes hard and concerned, but it was only because they softened ever so slightly when looking down at her that she agreed to hear him out instead.

"I tried to find a Kakashi-sensei, I tried to find someone who was like him, thinking he'd be a great match for Boruto, but I looked everywhere and I couldn't find someone that matched." Sakura rolled her eyes, wondering why he'd want to find someone as useless as Kakashi to teach his kid. "I thought Shino, but he's too dry and tactile, then I thought maybe Shikamaru? While he's as brilliant and as smart as Kakashi-sensei, he's too lazy. Then there was Anko, Junko, Koji, Raiden, Kotetsu, Sayuri, hell, I thought maybe even Tamari, and that's just the first quarter of the list, Sakura-chan." Naruto finished in an exasperated tone, as if even reciting a small part of his so called 'list' exhausted him.

"But there was always one name that kept coming up as the best choice." He paused, his vibrant, blue eyes catching hers. "And that's yours, Sakura-chan." He mused as he begun resting against the side of the covered bridge. Sakura responded by folding her arms over her chest, gazing out through the window to watch the world tick by.

"I remember back in our genin days." Sakura felt embarrassed about such memories, aware of how humiliating her entire childhood had been and how hard she had been on Naruto. "You always kept me in check,Sakura-chan! When I said anything stupid or did anything stupid, you were always there, bam!" Naruto mimicked the way Sakura had always brought her fist down upon his head when he got too boisterous, laughing the entire time he did.

"And when I got back from training with Jiraiya-sensei! Wow you were gorgeous!" Naruto laughed more to himself now, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head as a demure blush caught his cheeks. Sakura scoffed, her eyebrow ticking in ire as she rolled her eyes. 'Trust Naruto to say that was his first memory when he came back to Konoha.'

"When you beat Sasori with the help of Chiyo-baasama I knew you were strong! But I always knew you were strong, Sakura-chan, dattebayo!" Naruto chirped with a small fist pump, his enthusiasm building with every memory recalled.

"And there was that ti-" "I get it, Naruto." Sakura caved, her shoulders slumping with an exasperated sigh, but Naruto just grinned down at her sheepishly.

"You helped me become the man I am today, Sakura-chan, and I want you to help Boruto do the same." He asked sincerely, his eyes softening and body relaxing as he thought of his son. "Only you can do that, Sakura-chan, you can help him like you did me."

"This isnt just because of all the trouble he's been causing lately, is it?" Sakura's stone cold gaze cut deep, causing Naruto to flinch and step away from her, arms waving in front of him as he tried to deflect away any ire she may have.

That was enough of a confirmation for Sakura.

"Baka! Trying to get me to take on your rowdy, misbehaving son! Did you know he painted the Hokage monument again?!" Sakura advanced on the poor Nanadaime Hokage aggressively as he shrunk away nervously.

Sakura sighed for what felt like the hundredth time today as she wandered down the compacted dirt road towards the shinobi academy, her lips pulling at the can of lemonade she had purchased from a streetside vending machine. She held up the scrunched piece of paper she had been given yesterday, scanning the names of her soon to be students.

"Uzumaki Boruto, Inuzuka Uisuka and Aburame Shizuka" Sakura repeated the names of the three students she was about to take on as she turned into the academy. Stuffing the crumpled piece of paper back into an empty scroll pocket on her jonin vest she took another sip of her drink, only to find little left. With an annoyed tick she tossed the can with little thought, disregarding it as it happily fell into a nearby waste bin.

"It's been awhile since I saw you here, Sakura-chan." Sakura perked, her mood immediately brightened as the familiar, docile tones called to her from the end of the corridor.

"Iruka-sensei!" Sakura chirped, a friendly smile sweeping across her face as she jogged down the hallway to take up the company of Iruka.

"Please, just Iruka, Sakura-chan, you've long since surpassed the need to refer to me as your teacher." As calm and as welcoming as ever.

"Old habits die hard." Iruka simply nodded as he begun walking, Sakura easily keeping stride as she followed her old teacher.

"I take it you're here to pick up your team?" Sakura raised an eyebrow, wondering how the information of her genin team got around so quickly, not even she had known till yesterday. "Naruto told me, he came looking for advice."

Sakura snorted, as she should have known better. 'It seems even Naruto still comes back to his old Sensei for advice.'

"Yep, Naruto managed to talk me into it." Sakura answered, realizing Iruka had been waiting for confirmation.

"He has a way of doing that." Iruka replied almost cryptically, and which Sakura responded to with a nod, thinking back on how Naruto could talk someone into doing just about anything.

"Aren't you a bit late to pick up your team, Sakura-chan?" Iruka carried over the conversation with a curious note in his voice. Sakura had known she'd been running late, but for the life of her she hadn't been bothered to try and make up the time by running here.

"I had some loose ends to tie up at the hospital. Naruto didn't give me much warning, but the entire upper staff in the hospital seemed to know what was going on." Sakura could feel her eyebrow twitch at how this had seemingly been kept a secret up until the last moment. "I still had to run my replacement through a key things and debrief the staff on what was happening before I could begin my new position." She finished blandly, sure that Iruka wasn't that interested in the topic as he nodded along in silence.

"Ah, Iruka-sensei, I thought you retired from your teaching position?" Sakura asked as she changed the subject, curious as to why the older male was here when he was no longer teaching the new kids.

"Old habits die hard, I suppose." Sakura could only laugh as Iruka threw her earlier words back in her face, though his tone was wistful instead of mocking.

"Ah, here we are." Iruka broke her out of her cheerful laugh, bringing her attention to the slightly ajar door in front of them. Sakura attention was caught on the little sign hanging slightly above it, the familiar numbers bringing back memories of the days she had spent holled up inside of room, learning the key aspects of what it meant to be a shinobi. How different everyone had looked, how young and vibrant and full of hope for the future.

How naive and trusting, thinking the future would be so bright.

"Let me get the door for you, Sakura-chan." Iruka reached for the door, intent of stepping through and opening it for Sakura.

"Ah, Sensei wait!" Sakura reached for him, but it was too late, for as he stepped over the threshold an eraser dropped from its hiding position and smacked Iruka in the head, a cloud of chalk dust rising after the skilled attack.

A brief moment of silence as the air stilled.

"Boruto! What's the meaning of this?!" Iruka cried as he whipped the eraser off his head, waving it at the boy Sakura could not see from her position hidden behind her old Sensei.

"Eh?! Iruka-ojisan is our sensei?!" Came a familiar voice, causing a vein to pop in Sakura's forehead. It was only through force of will that Sakura didn't barge into the room and thump that boy on the head like she had done to his father so many times.

"I'm not your sensei!" Iruka already sounded agitated and Sakura took that as her time to intervene as she stepped through the doorway.

Sakura made her impressive entrance as she tore the eraser from Iruka's hand and whipped it at the blonde haired, lavender eyed boy sitting in the middle of the room, the object spinning at the hefty throw sent it careening towards the unsuspecting and unprepared kid. As the soft side of the eraser smacked him square in the face it erupted into a cloud of chalk dust, which then settled and stained the boys black jumpsuit. The eraser held its position for a second, clinging desperately to his face before falling limply onto the Boruto's lap.

"No, I'm your sensei, you Brat." Sakura barked, flicking her nose with her thumb as she stared down her new students.

"So cool." A small girl on the left of Boruto whispered and Sakura could swear she saw stars in the girls eyes. 'Uisuka.'

"Ah, Haruno-sensei?" A boy to the right of Boruto sat up a little straighter, a thick band of black glass strapped across his eyes. 'Shizuka. Odd pair of sunglasses he's chosen.'

"Sakura-onesan?!" It was Boruto who seemed the most surprised at her appearance as he jumped from his seat onto the top of the table, a hand clutching his red nose. 'AH, it seems Naruto didn't tell him.'

"You're late!" Boruto barked at her, anger swelling as his face contorted. Sakura was interested to see him overcome his surprised so quickly and run full on into anger, but then, this was Naruto's child.

"Yeah I had things to do." Sakura offered no explanation, even if she did have a perfectly legitimate one. If anything the non-answer annoyed Boruto even more, but as he opened his mouth to yell at her again, Uisuka intervened by jamming the head of a dark orange cat into his mouth. Sakura's eyebrows shot up as the poor kitten mewed pitifully before Boruto ripped the cat out by the scruff, the blonde rounded on Uisuka, his face bright red with anger. Shizuka jumped to his feet, intent on stopping the Uzumaki boy if need be, but Uisuka was already there, in Boruto's face egging him on as her Inuzuka attitude kicked in.

"My first impression of you guys is" All three stopped, turning to look at their Sensei, only inches from a fight.

"I might have something to work with!"

Sakura leaned back against the railing, a cool can of banana flavoured milk in her hand. They were high off the ground, currently relaxing within one of the rooftop parks Konoha loved to fund, her students sitting on the steps before her, large concrete archers lay behind them, framed with tree's at their bases. Sakura shifted slightly, raising her arse up so that she could sit on top of the railing instead of leaning on it, unconsciously mirroring Kakashi's position from when he stood in this exact spot twenty years ago.

And copying the copycat ninja was all she was doing at this point in time, for Sakura was completely clueless on how to proceed.

Sakura had never trained any kids before, she didn't have an apprentices, hell she didn't even have the desire to become a jonin sensei. 'This is bullshit, Naruto.' She cursed the Hokage silently in her mind 'If you had given me some kind of warning I would have studied!' But for now she'd just have to follow Kakashi-sensei's lead.

Taking another sip, she watched the children watch her and took this as the time to give her team the one over.

Uisuka was the shortest of the group, though Boruto only just pipped her for height. Her hair was the same colour as her father Kiba's, but styled more like her mother Tamaki's, except for the small braid at the right side of her face. She certainly took more after her mother than her father, except for the distinct eyebrows and her eye shape, those were Inuzuka through and through. She of course had the ritualistic face markings that all Inuzuka shared, the two dark red fangs on each cheek.

Her clothing was unusual for an Inuzuka, as they generally prefered greys and black with assorted furs. Her jacket was the most unique, as it seemed to be a brown leather jacket, with sheeps wool trim and a large hood hanging from the back. Sakura had to give a mental nod at whoever had picked it for her, the wool would keep her warm but the thick hide would deflect senbon with ease and reduce damage and depth from a kunai or shuriken. She had the standard black shinobi pants tucked into shin covering black sandals.

The two companions on her lap were really what made Sakura curious. Of course, she had heard of the unusual predicament, anyone that had ever met an Inuzuka had. It had been more dramatic than when Kiba married Nekobaa's grandaughter, for who would of thought a cat and a dog could get along so well?

'I guess when they can set aside their differences.' Sakura thought amusedly to herself as she watched the dark orange ninneko groom the small, white ninken, one of Akamaru's pups. Unlike Akamaru, the pup had short, pointed ears, obviously a trait inherited from the mother.

Inuzuka Isume could be heard from the other side of Konoha when she had discovered her first granddaughter had not only picked her first ninken, but how she had also been given her first ninneko, A gift from her great nekobaa.

Sakura's gaze moved onto Shizuka next, only to be met with a flare of light glinting off the expanse of black glass strapped over the top portion of his face. It was hard to tell what the boy looked like, as he was covered from head to toe, as was the Aburame way. He had a large black cloak that stretched from underneath his nose all the way to his knees, small metal clasps positioned off centre kept the contraption closed.

Unlike a lot of Aburame, he did not have a hood, allowing his long hair to be viewable to the rest of the world; it sat in a high bun atop his head, almost perfectly spherical in its circumference. Sakura was almost jealous, never having had a bun look so well styled before. Shizuka carried no gourd or container, another telling aspect of the clan he didn't adhere too. Sakura was curious as to what species of insect he was harbouring, having heard rumours that the Aburame clan may have been in the works of breeding a new species.

With her appraisal of the Aburame boy done, she moved onto the third kid sitting on the steps before her: Boruto.

He looked like a splitting image of his father, if not a bit chubbier in the cheeks; his eyes were a pearlescent lavender with a distinct pupil, a feature that had caused a big stir and quite a few hushed rumours. By all accounts the boy should have been born with the Hyuga kekkei genkai, the Byakugan, but he showed no signs of the trait. Sakura had even personally examined the boy along with Tsunade, but there was no indication he had received it, nor had his younger sister.

Tsunade had given the Hyuga patriarch hope, theorizing that the boys Byakugan may manifest like the sharingan does with the Uchiha. The Uzumaki blood may have been stronger than previously thought if it was able to suppress the Hyuga bloodline.

On his chubby cheeks Boruto had the unusual cheeks stripes- "Oi, Sakura-nechan, when are we gonna get to missions and training?" Boruto interrupt Sakura, a pinky finger firmly inserted into his left nostril. Sakura felt her eyebrow twitch.

"From now on, Baruto, you call me Sakura-sensei. I'm your Sensei now and you have to treat me with the respect that title deserves." Sakura took a deep breath, realizing her long past with the boy was going to make it hard for him to see her in a different role. Even now she could see the confusion on his face as he scratched his cheek absentmindedly.

"How about we start off with introductions?" Sakura clapped her hands, gaining the students attention before taking another mouthful of her banana milk, spying Uisuka doing the same. 'At least I'm not as cheap as Kakashi-sensei and bought the kids a drink.'

"Why do we need to do something like that?!" Boruto yelled, standing from his perch as he threw a couple of jabs. "We already know each other!"

"I think it's a good idea, Sakura-sensei!" Uisuka chirped, coming to Sakura's defence while shooting Boruto a filthy look. "What do you want to know, Sakura-sensei!"

"Uhhh, how about we start off with likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, hobbies, just stuff like that" Sakura mentally ticked off the things Kakashi had asked them twenty years ago.

"I'll start!" Uisuka wriggled in her seat, upsetting the two furry babies in her lap.

"My name is Inuzuka Uisuka. I like Shiromaki!" She held up the small white pup by the scruff and it did nothing but hang there limply, panting away as its tongue lolled out of its mouth.

"and Orenji!" She held up the cat this time, and it followed the dogs lead, simply hanging limply by the scruff. Sakura simply deadpanned as she realized Uisuka had simply named her companions 'white' and 'orange.'

"I dislike when they fight! My dreams for the future is to make a home for unwanted cats and dogs and train them to be the best ninken and ninneko in all of Konoha!" Uisuka declared in a triumphant manner and Sakura could respect the girls determination, pleased to see the girl wasn't as boy crazy as Sakura was at her age. Sakura looked at Boruto next, and the boy took this as his cue.

"I like oden!" He all but yelled and Sakura could do nothing but pinch the bridge of her nose in exasperation, aware of the boy affinity for the winter soup, mirroring his fathers love of ramen.

"I dislike Chikuwabu in my oden!" Sakura's sigh grew louder, though it was quickly silenced by the next sentence out of Boruto's mouth.

"My dream for the future is to make my father recognise my strength!" Sakura's breathing stilled as she gazed down at Boruto, her eyes widening before softening slightly, her head tilting to the side. She could see the look in his eyes and it reminded her almost painfully of Naruto as a distressed kid sitting next to her on these very steps.

'So this is why you wanted me to teach him, huh, Naruto?' Sakura had been aware of the strife between Boruto and his father, she had guessed Naruto's busy life style was the reason for Boruto's acting out, but she wasn't aware that it stretched this Naruto hoping to use her to help bridge that gap between them? To make his son understand through her?

"My hobbies include pranking!" Sakura's empathy for the boy and his particular situation waned.

"Shizuka?" Sakura called to the boy, not entirely unused to the Aburame's introversion, she supposed she'd have to get used to drawing the boy out of his shell.

"My name is Aburame Shizuka. I like insects, I dislike birds, I don't have any dreams and my hobbies include helping my father with clan duties." He was dry and monotonous, but Sakura knew that didn't exactly mean he was emotionless. Sakura nodded along until she realized that all three were giving her the stare down, she sighed as she came to the understanding that now was her time to share. She wondered if she could simply brush them off like Kakashi-sensei did to them.

"My name is Haruno Sakura, I like helping and healing other people, I dislike being useless, my hobbies include reading, helping out at the hospital and spending time with my friends. My dream for the future…" Sakura had to pause, not quite sure what her dream for the future was. Once upon a time she would have answered with something to do with Sasuke, even at sixteen that would have been the same answer, but now? What truly mattered to her?

"My dream for the future is to be the best damn Jonin Sensei I can be!"

Sakura had spent the next thirty or so minutes talking to the kids, trying to get a better understanding of them and just a general knowledge of their skills through a brief talk. By the time she had finished the sun had already begun to descend and it was only at that point that Sakura realized just how late she had been; by this time most of the jonin sensei's would have tested their students and decided their fate.

Instead, Sakura took the time to walk her students towards their residence. As they came to the fork in the road, the Inuzuka clan down one road, the Aburame down the other and Naruto's apartment straight down, Sakura stopped to look down at the three kids Naruto had put into her care. Rifling around in a spare scroll pocket for the papers she had carefully rolled up and put away this morning, she carefuly tugger them out until she was holding them triumphantly. Seperating each one, she handed one off to each kid, only to be met with curious glance from Boruto.

"What's this?" He asked without even looking at the paper.

"Details for our training exercise?" Shizuka asked softly, a quick reader.

"Eh?! But I thought we were going to be going on missions now?!" Baruto cried, looking mildly devastated.

"I thought we finished all our training?" Uisuka asked, gazing up at Sakura.

"You never finish training" Sakura reprimanded lightly, knowing that these kids had years and years of training ahead of them, and it only got harder from here on out. "This is less of a training exercise and more of a test."

"Test?!" Baruto sounded even more devastated and distressed, his hand coming up to pull at his thick blonde locks. "What's the test for?!"

"Ah, you kids didn't know?" Sakura looked down at them, an eyebrow raised. "Out of the twenty-seven graduates, only nine will be chosen as genin. The rest will be sent back to the academy for further training. This test is incredibly difficult, with a failure rate of over sixty-six percent."

"What?!" Still just as distressed as ever, Baruto needed to learn to some of his mothers placidity. "There's no way I can lose, dattebasa!"

"Good! Then show up at training field three at seven a.m, don't be late!" Sakura commanded before disappearing in a puff of smoke, although she hadn't gone far. Perched on top of a nearby rooftop, Sakura watched her assigned students talk among themselves until they decided to split up and head home under Shizuka duress for a good nights sleep to be properly prepared for the coming exam.

Sakura spent the next few seconds gazing out across the city she called home, the revolutionized layout so startling to the view she had grown up with so many years before. The hokage monument stood as proud as it always had, yet a top it, reaching into the sky stood pillars of glass, the new buildings showing how the village had risen from the ashes of war to prosper like never before. The economic stability the surge had bought was causing the village to flourish, though it was only allowed to grow so healthily due to the unheard of peace stretching between the villages.

However, that didn't mean the world was at peace and without strife.

With no more words spoken, Sakura sprung away, intent on reaching a bed for her own nights sleep.

Sakura was awoken with a jolt when a clattering bash met against the wood of her front door. The frantic pounding had her out of bed and on her feet in a matter milliseconds, her body moving before her mind had caught up. In naught but a pair of soft cotton shorts and a washed out red tank top she covered herself with a white silken robe coloured with cherry trees in bloom, a cliche present from birthdays past.

"Sakura-sensei! Sakura-sensei! There's an emergency at the hospital, please respond!" A frantic masculine voice pleaded from behind her front door as she pounced down the flight of stairs. The door was only a few steps down the hallway, each side leading to a separate room, one to the kitchen and one to the lounge, each with a bay window out onto the quiet, docile backstreet that she lived on.

Wasting no more time on thinking of schematics, Sakura ripped open the door, her hair a mess and eyes blurred, but she didn't wait for the man to talk nor did she address him, instead she simply closed her front door before she began to sprint down the road, the man falling into step beside her.

"We had a team of six retrieved from patrol, we have no idea what happened, all were unconscious when they were found. We guess they were about an hour out-" That was far too close to the village for Sakura to be comfortable.

"Was Naruto informed?" It was a stupid question to ask but it still had to be done, it only took one time of not asking for someone to mess up.

"Yes, another messenger was sent to him at the same time I was sent to you."

"He's probably already dispatched squads to deal with the situation, then." Sakura mindlessly tagged on, not really meaning to speak out loud but not having the focus not to. "Tell me more of the injured." This was the important part.

"All six in critical condition, all devastating physical injuries, massive blood loss, injuries seem indicative of some kind of animal, but we're not sure what kind or if it was a summons. That's all the information the medic on the retrieval team reported."

"What actions have been taken?" Sakura rounded a corner, seeing the hospital grow in the distance. It was times like these she was pleased she had dealt with the ridicule of being called a workaholic for having moved in around the corner to the hospital.

"Basic." Sakura's eyebrows pinched, not liking those odds. "Blood increasing pills were administered and bandaging applied to the most serious candidate, the others had to suffice for pressure being applied by other shinobi while being transported."

"Dismissed." Sakura waved the messenger off as she strode into the hospital and into the flurry of activity as she was immediately swarmed by nurses and assistants.

It was at several hours later when Sakura broke through the doors of the operating room, discarding her blood splattered gloves into a biohazard container before ripping off her equally soiled operating gown and throwing it in as well. She wiped the back of her hand along the length of her mildly large forehead, wiping away the sweat that had accumulated on her brow. It had been a lengthy surgery, the deep gouge to the male abdomen had nearly been too much for Sakura to be able to deal with, and if it hadn't been for her assistants, she was sure the man wouldn't have made it.

The pale blue pair of scrubs swished slightly as she trolloped down a small set of stairs leading away from the operating rooms and into the ICU, a hand absentmindedly reaching up to her ponytail to give the thing a small tug, adjusting it slightly so a few of the hairs didn't pull so painfully. It was then she was joined by another medic nin, the taller woman holding out a clipboard stuffed with sheets of paper for Sakura to take and look over.

"Buto's vitals, he's stabilized nicely and we can probably schedule a surgery as soon as his next of kin signs off on the paper." Sakura gave the stack of papers a quick glance before looking up at the willowy brunette.

"I thought I said give him till eight, he could drop again and I don't want to have to resuscitate him in the middle of surgery." Sakura palmed the clipboard back off to the woman, only to be met with an amused scoffed.

"What time do you think it is? You've been in surgery for the past two hours." Sakura stopped in her tracks, her eyes quickly seeking out a clock to verify her colleague's statement.

"Well fuck." Sakura sighed, a hand coming up to catch her face before she begun to rub at her eyes, ignoring the quizzical look of the woman beside her. "I was supposed to meet my students an hour ago."

"Ah." She responded, having heard Sakura had been assigned a team but not quite sure how to respond this is unusual situation.

"Oi, I need a messenger!" Sakura raised her voice over the din, this wing of the hospital still alight with movement and noise as six lives were still on the line. A short, brown haired genin responded, darting through the gaps people left to respond to Sakura's command.

"Training ground tree, there should be three graduate students, age twelve, two males one female, Uzumaki, Inuzuka and Abrame. Bring them there." And with that, he was gone in a flash, flitting through the throngs of busy medical staff like he was born in a river.

"Do you think that's wise, Sakura-sensei?" The brunette asked, her eyebrows pinched in worry, not sure these was the time nor place for three graduates to be spending their morning.

"They have to be tested today and the results handed in or they will be failed automatically." Sakura responded, her eyes peering through the doorway and into the room where four of the six men were currently being held, the other two having been taken to the post-anesthesia care unit after their successful surgeries.

"So in other words no, I don't think it's wise," And without a glance back she strode into the room, intent on doing her job. "But I am left without any other choice."

Sakura's plan to simply redo the bell test were shot, and it was the first time Sakura had deviated from Kakashi's curriculum of being a Jonin Sensei. She simply hoped this would go well and not end up mentally scarring the kids, as the last thing she wanted was three clans and Naruto on her back for fucking up.

It wasn't for another fifteen minutes did she hear the tell tale call of Boruto making his appearance, an angry cry of her name echoing through the hallways and over the buzz of medical staff and equipment.

Sakura steadfastly ignored it, as the situation she was currently embroiled with was far more important than one of her bratty students. Currently elbow deep within the abdomen of Buto, she was fishing through his small intestine trying to find the foreign material that had entered through one of the gashes in his gut that was causing his blood pressure to spike and drop so dramatically.

It had happened quickly, the man had been stable one moment, and then his blood pressure had dropped so sharply Sakura had thought the man was having a heart attack. It hadn't been till her bare chakra entered his body and found his heart in perfect health that she knew something else was was going on. A quick diagnosis sweep with her chakra had shown something foreign currently sitting within the lower half of his abdomen, slowly leaking out an unusual chakra that was disrupting Buto's chakra flow and causing his heart to respond in a similar fashion.

Sakura had needed to retrieve it immediately, but the problem was there was no available operating room and Buto's next of kin hadn't responded to the summonings yet and the paper work was still left unsigned.

'This is the fucking problem with shinobi who don't sign their medical care over to the Shinobi Medical Union.' Sakura seethed, knowing she'd have been able to have Buto in an operating room before this had happened; she wouldn't have had to wait until he'd nearly died for her to be able to override the lack of signature and act.

"Oi, Sakura-ne-!" Boruto had burst into the room at this point, a scowl on his overly expressive face, obviously ready to rip her a new one for leaving them hanging for an hour; a companionless Uisuka and quiet Shizuka stood behind him. However his voice stopped mid sentence as he bore witness to Sakura at work, frantically sifting through organs to find the foreign object.

The colour drained from his face as Uisuka whimpered behind him, a hand to her mouth, even Shizuka look physically distressed. It was at this point Sakura was thankful for the short, small partitions that had been erected around Buto's torso to offer the man and Sakura some privacy for this gory operation, she was sure if the kids saw actual organs they might not have the composure to remain standing.

Shizuka visibly swayed and Sakura had to wonder if this was reason enough to fail them.

'Is it too soon for them? If they can't handle this, then what will happen when they're called upon to kill someone? What happens at the first slice, the first stab? Will they falter and be killed instead? Perhaps they're not ready.' It was a fair call for Sakura to make, and she was sure Naruto would be understanding; but before Sakura could thinking further on the subject, she was interrupted by a hysterical scream as an older woman cried out from behind her graduates.

"Buto! What are you doing to my Buto!" The civilian woman cried as she reached out, her feet wobbling as she tried to get into the room and to her unconscious husband.

"You are not allowed in here!" Sakura commanded though her voice was muffled before the surgical mask, hands still within the women's lovers stomach. "Stop!"

"No! What are you doing to him?! Let me see him, you can't keep him from me!" The woman cried, tears pouring down her face as she hiccupped and wailed pathetically, which seemed to rouse the small bundle in her arm as an infant's cry joined that of its mother.

"Do not let her in!" Sakura barked, which seemed to snap her students out of whatever kind of shock they had found themselves ensnared in.

Boruto acted first, his hand grasping at the older woman's forearm, stopping her advancement before sternly looking up at the older woman. Shizuka moved a split second after Boruto, but it was enough to let Sakura know he was taking the blonde haired boys lead, but he instead gently held the woman's elbow, careful not to jostle her arm as it was the one supporting the baby. Uisuka was the last and least hands on, instead turning to stand in front of the woman, both hands up in a placating manner as she softly shushed the woman, intent on calming her down.

"I'm sorry but we can't let you in, Ma'am, this room is off limits. What we can do is get you a seat, you can sit down with the baby and let Sakura-sensei work." The woman tried to suppress her sobbing as the hands holding her seemed to help calm her, she gave a weary nod, her face still torn in distress.

"Please, take a seat over here." Shizuka motioned towards the bench behind the woman, not too far from the operating room and still within sight of the doors when they swung open. The woman nodded again, taking a timid step back and away from her husband, followed by another step, and another after that, spurred on by the gentle hands and words of reassurance.

"Don't worry, Obasan, Sakura-nechan is the best medic-nin alive, theres no way she's gonna give up on your old man, dattebasa!" Boruto gave the last remark as his flicked the side of his nose with his thumb, and it was truly the last word Sakura paid attention to as she dove back into her work, looking desperately for the item that was causing her so much strife.

The surgery passed with no more interruptions, and every now and again Sakura would look up from her work when someone walked through the doorway, catching a peek through the gap to spot her students, all three of which sat with the distressed woman. Uisuka seemed to hold the woman's attention the most, chatting animatedly with her to keep her attention from the current situation. Shizuka was oddly enough the one caring for the baby, holding the now quiet bundle and rocking it gently in his arms, his face turned down to watch it.

Boruto seemed to be doing the least, at least outwardly, but Sakura could see his keen lavender eyes flicking around the hallway, gazing at those that walked by and for all intents and purposes, keeping an eye out.

The surgery came to a swift end as Sakura felt her fingers touch some hard, she quickly switched her fingers to a pair of small, nimble forceps. Sliding them down into Buto's body she grasped at the object, making sure to pull it out slowly as to not catch on anything of tear his intestines. Sakura felt her breath catch as she spied the object for the first time.

A massive, dark purple, nearly black, hooked claw.

"Specimen cup, large one." Sakura called to her assistant and was relieved to have the object in question within the second. Sakura dropped the claw into the cup, glad to see it actually fit within the largest one they stocked. The claw itself was larger than any Sakura had seen on an animal before, even that of a bears; it would have barely fit in her hand.

'It has to be a summons.' It was the only way Sakura could rationalize a claw that large, but even then she left like that guess was off. 'Wrong colour for a ninneko, wrong shape too and I've only seen one that could match that size.'

Sakura would have time to think on it later.

"Tama-san, how are his vitals? Is his chakra flow back to normal?" Sakura asked, her eyes watching the specimen cup being labelled.

"Yes, Sakura-sensei, everything is normal." Sakura let out a sigh of relief as she stepped away from Buto.

"Aiko-san, please close and dress Buto-san, you're in charge from here on out." Sakura gave her last order as she once more pulled off her gloves and gown, striding away from her patient and towards the door. "I have students I need to see."

As she pushed through the door, she pulled down her mask. The woman Sakura didn't yet know the name of stood, her hands desperately grasping from her child who Shizuka easily gave over to the woman.

"How is Buto?!" She asked nearly frantically. If Sakura was entirely honest, this was the last thing she wanted to have to deal with after a physically taxing surgery and an all around stressful morning.

"He's fine," The woman gave a sob but her hand quickly covered her mouth, stifling any further outbreaks. "we removed the obstruction and he's being patched up now. If things continue on as they are now, he should make a full recovery. We don't know the extent of the damage, so I can't give you an estimation on when he'll be released." The woman nodded her head frantically, obviously relieved as she held her snoozing baby closer to her breast.

"For now, you should head down to the cafeteria, get a drink, get something to eat, and take a few deep breaths. Buto is with my very capable staff." Sakura looked up, quickly spotting the woman she was looking for and waving her over. "Jun-chan here needs to go over some paperwork with you, so she'll escort you to the cafeteria and discuss it there."

And with that, the two women departed and Sakura was left alone with her students, who seemed much quieter than before.

"You did well." Sakura was the first to break the odd quiet that fell over them, and it worked in breaking the three out of their awkward stupor. Their heads turned up to Sakura, Uisuka looking just a bit more gleeful than the two boys about the praise.

"You executed a task given by your commanding officer with no second guesses and showed an excellent initiative when completing that task. You showed skills that are needed when working in the field including conflict resolution, defusing a volatile subject, adapting to a foreign task and you always remained alert and ready to act." Sakura gave a nod as she ticked off the mental checklist she'd been keeping of her students.

"But above all else, you showed an admirable sense of teamwork, and in the end, that's all you needed to prove." Uisuka clapped her hands happily, looking positively joyful, Shizuka adjusted his glasses and Boruto looked as smug as ever.

"Congratulations, Team Haruno, you passed."

Notes:

Non-canon characters: Shizuka, Uiska and Orenji!

Shiromaki is a fan name I've given to Akamaru's pup that you see in one frame of chapter 700 manga-