Satori (Between the Lines)
Chapter 1

Sakura's hand fidgets around Ino's as she stares up at the surprisingly nondescript building. It is a bit shabby, certainly not befitting the reputation spoken of among civilians in hushed tones.

Konohagakure Intelligence Division.

Sakura swallows and clutches tighter to Ino, willing herself to walk through the door. Why, oh why, does she have to be here?

"Relax, Sakura-chan!" Ino says, watching Sakura with those guileless, confident blue eyes. When she looks at Sakura that way, she feels like she can do anything. "You'll be working with my dad most of the day and everything he does is boring!"

Sakura thinks back to whispers snatched among parents on the playgrounds and in the civilian markets, away from shinobi. It is surprisingly simple for a child enrolled in the Academy to eavesdrop on such adult conversations. In the moment, Sakura felt giddy, really feeling like a true ninja as she gathers information to share with Ino. Now, remembering the tawdry tales of severed limbs and hypnosis, Sakura regrets her eagerness.

She never expected to be assigned a field experience assignment with Konohagakure Intelligence Division.

"Sakura," Ino says, taking in her stiffness and pallor. "Seriously, tou-chan has already promised me that he'll keep an eye on you. You'll just be sorting paperwork. You won't be anywhere near the actual action."

"Promise?" Sakura asks.

"Promise," Ino replies, tucking Sakura's hand into the crook of her arm and dragging her forward. "C'mon. I have to head over to my assignment too. Genma-senpai is surprisingly a stickler about punctuality. I don't want him tattling to Mizuki-sensei!"

Somehow, Sakura's feet begin to move and they pass through the heavy doors into the building. There is an artificial cheer about the place, an austere colorfulness perhaps sharpened by the lack of natural light. There are no windows, though Sakura didn't really expect there to be any. The halls are silent even as they pass by people. Most wear masks and walk with a lethal grace. Some wear leather aprons and gloves. These Sakura turns her gaze away from. It is strange to see Anbu walking around beneath the florescent lights, as they so often work in shadows. Sakura and Ino head up a few flights of stairs, making their way into an open office space.

"Tou-chan!" Ino exclaims, releasing Sakura and bounding toward her father. They embrace, Inoichi chuckling as he ruffles his daughter's hair. "I brought Sakura!"

"Hello, Sakura-kun," Inoichi greets, reclaiming his seat and smiling at her kindly. Sakura has always liked Ino's father, the laugh lines in his face making him kind. "I'm glad you were able to make it. Ino, I'll see you at dinner. You should hurry along to your post."

With one last squeeze of encouragement, Ino is gone and Sakura is left feeling bereft.

"Come with me," Inoichi says, leading Sakura across the hall. They enter into a small, cramped room, furnished with a chair, desk, and stacks upon stacks of documents. They're nearly swimming in papers. "Take a seat," Inoichi says, taking pity on the girl. He sees the way she folded in on herself the moment Ino left her side. He waits for her to take a seat in the sole chair in the room before he pushes a large stack of documents her way. "While you are here, Sakura-kun, you will be sorting the missives that come in from our informants." He points to the top left corner of one of the documents. "Feel along the edges there."

Sakura does so. "There's...raised dots?"

Inoichi nods. "Yes, that let's us know which department the document goes to. Can you tell me the pattern on that one?"

Sakura concentrates, running the pad of her finger across the paper. "There's a vertical line of three dots, followed by two single dots."

"Well done, Sakura-kun!" Inoichi praises, taking the file and discreetly double-checking it as he places it into one of the boxes. "That is the signature for the quartermaster." He passes her a scroll. "This displays all of the codes as well as the departments each code is meant for. You will be sorting these during your time here. With the preparations for the chunin exams, we've become a bit backlogged. Take your time; there's no need to rush."

Sakura looks over at the large pile of documents, finding them quite daunting despite Inoichi's encouragement. She picks up the next one, blinking as she realizes that she cannot read any of the text. The symbols are neither hiragana or katakana. They don't even seem to be kanji.

It's strange, especially as Sakura prides herself on being an excellent reader. Her bedroom stacked full of books and worn library card are testament to her love of reading. She's one of the very few people in her class who can even read kanji.

"Yamanaka-san," Sakura begins, voice barely above a whisper. Inoichi turns his attention her way regardless. "What are these?"

"Ah," Inoichi says. "All of these documents are written in code to keep prying eyes from reading their contents." Sakura flushes guiltily. "You do not need to concern yourself with that, just make sure they are sorted into the right piles and someone else will decipher the codes."

Sakura nods meekly and takes a seat, running her fingertips along the next document. Two horizontal dots followed by a cluster of four all bunched together. She checks the scroll he gave her. "This is for the Council of Elders. Where do I need to place it?"

"Council of Elders: Shimura, Utatane, Mitokado," Inoichi replies almost to himself, stepping away from her and rummaging around for a series of small boxes stacked upon each other. He comes back, placing down the boxes with a smile to Sakura. "This here is where you'll place the documents once they are sorted."

Sakura looks at the boxes, taking in the names that go alongside each of the individual boxes. She slips the document for the Council into their respective box.

Inoichi looks her over, making sure she's settled. Sakura looks small, swallowed by the large chair and the disorganized pile of documents around her. Still, she seems comfortable enough, already running her fingers over the next document. "I have to get back to my duties," he says, waiting until she looks up at him. "I'll be right across the hall if you need anything."

Sakura nods, watching as Inoichi leaves the room. Then she turns back to the documents at hand, a determined smile set upon her face.

It is time to get started.

"How's your assignment going?" Sakura asks, passing Ino a bento box.

Ino sighs, showcasing stained fingers. "I think my hands are going numb from all of the polishing and sharpening I've been doing. Genma-senpai is a perfectionist, but now I know the right balance to both short and long form kunai and shuriken." She changes the position on her chopsticks, holding them like a weapon. "I can throw a kunai perfectly now."

"That's great," Sakura replies, as she finishes a bite of sticky rice. "Could you show me later?"

"Of course," Ino says. "Tou-chan says you've been doing a good job with the Intelligence Division."

It's a leading statement, one that makes Sakura light up. "It was scary at first, but the people there are really nice." She pauses, nose wrinkling. "There's one lady, Anko-san, she's kind of scary, but she's also funny and secretly nice. I think she's the one who leaves me umeboshi sometimes."

"And how's the work itself? Tou-chan said that you sort documents. It sounds kind of boring," Ino says.

"No, not at all!" Sakura replies, emphatically. "All of the documents are written in code. All sorts of different codes. Remember when Mizuki-sensei covered cryptography?"

"My ears are burning!" a voice sings out behind them.

Both girls jump, turning to look at Mizuki who is crouched behind them, giving them a quizzical smile.

They are seated out on a grassy hill on the Academy property, where many students hang out between and after classes. It's one of Sakura's favorite places in Konoha, allowing her to look out over the downtown merchant section of the civilian sector. It's comforting, as the Haruno clan has a shop among the section, run by her aunt and uncle. When her parents are out of town, being able to see the Haruno shop is soothing.

"Hi Mizuki-sensei," Ino greets. "We're just talking about our field experience assignments."

"You're working with Shiranui-san in the armory, aren't you Ino?" Mizuki says, stroking his chin. "Sakura, you're in the Intelligence Division with Yamanaka-san?" Both of them nod. "Cryptography, huh? You cracked any codes, Sakura?" His smile is kind and teasing.

Sakura bites her lip. "Not really," she says. "I can tell which codes are the same and even the patterns, but not really any of the words." That isn't quite right. She has managed to decipher certain small words and even repeated code names but she has yet to figure out the contents of any of them.

"Well, if you want to get better at cryptography, there's some books I can suggest for you," Mizuki says. He has a soft spot for Sakura, the quiet, intelligent first-generation student studying to be a shinobi. There's a common ground between them; she's a younger reflection of who he once was, before all the destruction and pain.

"That would be great!" Sakura exclaims, grinning up at him.

"Just make sure to share any secrets you learn with me," he says, winking.

She is almost vibrating wiggling with excitement and anticipation as they head back to class after Mizuki promises to compile a list.

It is time to get to work.

Sakura frowns down at the document before surreptitiously glancing up and around. No one is in the room with her, however, Sakura cannot help feeling a guilty squeeze as she scribbles something on her sheet of paper. She's cycling through substitution ciphers, seeing if any stick.

R.

The rest of her sheet is filled with blotted out letters, crossed out nonsense words that she attempted a variation on the same substitution cipher on. Cipher cracking, at least the process of learning it, is slow going.

E.

This is a document for the Council of Civilians; Sakura assumes that it has the least amount of security when compared to the documents for the Hokage or clan heads.

P.

There is a slight murmur and Sakura pauses, fighting to keep her expression neutral as a pair of conversing adults, both wearing gloves and aprons covered in a dark, viscous liquid, pass by. Once she is certain they are gone, Sakura returns to her paper.

O.

Sakura's guilt is assuaged slightly by the knowledge that deceit and deception are the bread and butter of shinobi. While many in Konoha are trained for full-frontal assault, the class of shinobi is dedicated to stealth and espionage. Konoha is still in the mindset of gearing students up to be soldiers, not shinobi.

Sakura does not want to have a career as cannon fodder.

R.

So really, Sakura thinks to herself, this is just applied practice of the skills that will be vital to her one day. In fact, they may just be vital now.

T.

Sakura's victorious smile is so wide that it hurts her cheeks. This is the first time she has decrypted a full word.

At least, she believes it to be the intended word.

The encryption leaves no spaces between any of the letters so she'll have to continue the process to see if the rest of the message aside from "Report," makes sense.

Still, it is rewarding to see some progress.

With determination fueling her, Sakura sets to her task once more with fervor, silent room filling with the sound of her pen scratching away.

Sakura inhales deeply, settling further into her seat as she takes in the scents of old paper and warmth and coziness. The library is a second home to her, more so when her parents are out of town as they are right now. She rubs her fingers along the parchment within the book, enjoying the coarse texture of the heavy paper.

There are only a few people in the library at midmorning like this and Sakura likes the quiet. A couple of civilians and a chunin guard who is on break are the only other occupants of the library.

Sakura bends her head back over her book, picking up where she left off on scytales and their function within cryptography. Apparently, scytales fell out of fashion in Konoha during its early days, when the First Hokage ruled, but they are still popular in Iwa and Suna. She wonders if there are any scytales in the Intelligence Division's storage or if she herself could create one. She wants to try it out with Ino.

The slight rustling of clothing draws Sakura out of her reading. She looks up, blinking as a boy takes the seat across from her. The boy is tall and lithe, wearing a partial mask that obscures his eyes and ears but leaves his nose and mouth clear. Between his dark hair neatly combed hair and mask, Sakura guesses that he's an Aburame. She's never seen him before, even though he's certainly of age to attend the Academy, as all good clan children do.

"Hello," Sakura greets warily, shifting her book closer to her chest. "I'm Sakura."

He cocks his head to his side, assessing her. She can feel the weight of his gaze and she flushes. "I know," he replies.

"You do?" Sakura asks with a frown. "How?"

"You come to the library quite often. Every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday at the very least, if not more often. I am at the library everyday; it was not difficult to observe the most frequent purveyors of the library, including yourself. I overheard the librarian say your name," he says, a slight smile on his face as he gives the explanation. He doesn't seem or sound smug, though Sakura cannot be sure.

"Alright," Sakura says, bringing the book even closer to her chest. She isn't sure how she feels about this, this invasion of her sanctuary. She hasn't noticed the boy's attention over the past months, but now, sitting in front of him, he doesn't seem to have ill intentions. "Obviously, I have not been nearly as observant. What is your name?"

His smile widens. "What do you believe it to be?"

Sakura straightens up, putting the book down on the table as she chooses to engage in his offered game. It is her turn to look him over. "I know that you are of the Aburame clan," she says, concentrating on him. As she pays him closer attention, Sakura hears the slightest buzzing noise emanating from beneath his skin. Her mouth pulls down into a thoughtful frown. Shino is already a host as well, but she has never heard him buzz like that. Perhaps this boy's control is lacking?

"You don't attend the Academy, even though you're older than me. Did your parents choose not to enroll you? No, you are from one of the founding clans; all children are enrolled unless they are found to be lacking or dangerous to other students." She hears the buzzing increase ever so slightly in pitch as a frown tugs away the boy's smile. Got him. "You struggle to control your bugs, which is why you are not enrolled in the Academy."

Sakura looks at the boy and, for a moment, she fears she's overstepped. Then his scowl clears away and he begins to clap. "Bravo," he says. "You may not yet be self-aware, but you do possess skills in observation. In time, you will hone your self- and situational awareness or you won't make it far in this career. But still, you haven't answered my question. What is my name?"

"The only Aburame that I have met is Shino," Sakura says, pausing at the boy's nearly imperceptible flinch. "Shibi-sama is the clan head," she continues, again catching the way he flinches.

Whoever he is, he is much more closely related to the clan head than she thought. Sakura stops for a moment, closing her eyes as she pictures the genograms that they made in class a year ago. Sakura enjoyed making hers at the time, but the main interest in the class was clan children comparing genograms to each other, side by side. It was a competition of sorts for them, a measurement of how successful their clan was.

As such, Sakura made special note at the time of the genograms of the four noble clans of Konoha, Choji's, Ino's, Hinata's, and Shino's, as well as Sasuke's genogram since the Uchiha ran the Konoha Military Police Force.

There is only one person this boy can be.

"You are Aburame Torune," Sakura says, opening her eyes once more. "Shibi-sama has adopted you, right? Shino is your cousin and now adopted brother."

He nods, a bright smile gracing his features. Her victory feels like a triumph for him. "Well done."

"So why approach me now?" Sakura asks, looking at him with new eyes. Aburame Torune, the adopted son of the clan head. "You've been watching me for weeks, months even. What changed?"

He turns his gaze downward, embarrassed. "I just thought it was time to introduce myself." His eyes light on her stack of books. "How is your study of codes going?"

"Well," Sakura says, looking down over her selection of titles. Most are Mizuki's recommendations, but some she has gathered based on citations within other cryptography books. Sakura has made a fine dent in the library's collection and she believes she can finish them all within the next month. "I've learned transposition and substitution ciphers well; at this point, I can usually recognize them on sight." She gestures down to her current book, on the history of subterfuge. "Now I'm getting some historical examples of steganography."

Torune nods, though he doesn't really seem to understand. Sakura doesn't mind. In fact, she bites her lip, warring with herself for a moment.

"Would you like to go stick hunting with me?"

"Stick hunting?" he repeats, obviously lost. "Why sticks?"

"We need them to create scytales," Sakura says, nodding decisively. She stands, packing away her things. "We'll need to find three sticks of equal thickness. One for Ino. One for me. One for you."

Torune's responding grin is a breathtaking thing as his buzzing picks up in frequency. There's something soothing, almost melodic about the hum. "Lead the way."

The two children head for the door eagerly, leaving behind a neat towering pile of books.

Sakura keeps her concentration on the documents before her, ignoring the uproar outside the door. She is well-used to how loud Anko and her associates can be at this point and she barely flinches when they get started.

That is, until a large man barges into the room.

"Where is it?" he roars.

Sakura's hand immediately goes to the kunai strapped at her calf, pausing as Inoichi charges in after the man. She keeps her grip on the kunai, watching, assessing as Torune often reminds her to do.

Ibiki stops, blinking at her. "Who are you?"

"Ibiki, I need you to calm down. This is Haruno Sakura, she's the Academy student assigned to Konoha's Intelligence Division for her field assignment," Inoichi says, getting between Ibiki and Sakura, hands up in a placating gesture.

"I don't have time to be calm," Ibiki says, voice slightly lowered from the bellow it was but moments ago. He is huge and hulking, making the small room feel even smaller. He wears a thick black leather trench coat, one that is similar enough to the leather aprons worn by other Torture and Interrogation Force operatives: his job is obviously related to wetwork. The only aspects of him exposed, his face and hands, are heavily scarred. "I need a document right now!"

They both round on Sakura, looking at the stacks and stacks of unsorted documents.

"Which document do you need, Ibiki?" Inoichi asks, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I need Fox's report on his infiltration of Kirigakure's hunter-nin," Ibiki says, cold gaze on Sakura. Sakura realizes with a start that the shininess of his leather coat is fresh blood. She turns her gaze down to the remaining documents, searching. "The report is for the Council of Elders."

Inoichi glances at the boxes, sighing. "These things take time; everything is in code. Sakura-kun hasn't sorted those—"

"Here!" Sakura calls, interrupting Inoichi in her excitement. She'll be mortified later, when she's out of the moment and aware of the possible ramifications of interrupting a clan head. She picks up the scroll, proffering it to Ibiki. "This is the document you need."

Sakura's smile fades at the stunned silence that greets her. Ibiki snatches the document from her, running his finger along the border to make sure it is addressed correctly. He squints at the document, frown making his scarring even more severe.

"I'm no code breaker, but I do recognize Fox's unique handle here," he tells Inoichi. He raises his eyes, locking onto Sakura. She swallows, tempted to duck her head and hide away. She resists, however, and stays steady. "How did you figure it out so quickly?"

"I've…" Sakura squeaks. She stops, clearing her throat. "I've been studying ciphers in my free time."

"Since you started here."

It isn't a question, but Sakura nods anyway. "I wanted to do a better and more efficient job here."

"That's why Ino has a scytale!" Inoichi exclaims.

"I made one for her," Sakura says softly. "We write messages to each other."

Ibiki moves suddenly, striding forward and slamming his hands down on the table before Sakura. She bites the inside of her cheek to keep from jumping. His face is impassive and Sakura bites down on her cheek until it bleeds.

Then, he grins, the pull warping his scars into an expression even more terrifying than his scowl. It looks uncomfortable on his face, as if the muscles are unused to it. Sakura gets the sad feeling that he doesn't smile too much.

Inoichi makes a noise, as if he wants to interfere.

"There's someone I want you to meet, girl," Ibiki says, amusement thick in his voice.

Sakura, reading the apparent mischievousness in his face, gulps.