Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of the characters therein. I do not make any money from writing fanfiction.

It had been a long three years.

Two silhouettes alighted on top of the Hokagé monument and paused to take in the sight. Konoha lay before them; a valley carpeted with twinkling lights and glowing avenues. It was late – or early, depending on how you wanted to look at it – and the city slumbered. She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the scent of smoke and crushed pine. Glancing at her constant companion of the last three years, she offered him a small smile and received one back. As quietly as they came, both creatures of the night disappeared, flitting down the mountainside, to report to the Hokagé.

They were home.

Cool, amber eyes regarded them from across the desk. Taking them in. Noticing every detail. Tsunade had received warning that they were coming home soon, an ink-hawk had contacted her personally as no one other than herself and the Council knew the full details of their mission, but she was unprepared to see with her own eyes whom they had become.

The quiet but strong girl whom she had taken under her wing so long ago had transformed. Long, luminescent locks of coral hair blushed lilac under the moon's blue glow. The woman in front of her was dressed for work. A standard mesh undershirt covered by a black short sleeved tunic melted her body into the shadows of the office. Slim, steel plated vambraces covered her forearms and underneath them, armoured gloves ran up to her biceps but her black Anbu tattoo remained uncovered. 'Still proud of it,' Tsunade thought, taking a quiet moment to reminisce on the young woman's exhilaration upon passing the Anbu exams five years ago.

The young man beside her had changed just as much. He had gained muscle, but had not quite lost his near feminine beauty. His jaw had become more defined, but even in the dark room, she could see his skin was still an ivory white. A more practical Anbu chest plate now covered his broad shoulders in place of his old half-length shirt. The corded muscles in his arms rippled as the ninjas pressed their palms together and inclined their heads in a gesture of respect.

Tsunade couldn't move. All the regret and sorrow she'd felt over the last three years decided to choose this moment to lodge in her throat, forcing her to choke on her greeting. Yes, they had both changed, but it was her pupil that rendered her speechless. It was her eyes. The new strength in her gaze.

"Welcome back," she forced out.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama."

"Thank you, Shishou."

The pair before her straightened.

"Did find what you set out for?" she ventured, eager, but apprehensive. No other squad she had sent out had come back with anything valuable. A new trick or two, or an improvement on a technique yes, but none had accomplished their mission to the degree she had hoped for.

As Hokage, maintaining the Land of Fire's political and economic power was her responsibility. The Village Hidden in the Leaves was the backbone of the country's economy; leaf ninja, its lifeblood. With so few kekkei genkai left, it was her responsibility to make sure every squad she sent out had an ace to play; a trump card in the event they ran into enemy forces. At least, that's what the Council lectured her on after her inauguration. Tsunade agreed, but her motivation to strengthen Leaf's squads differed. She just wanted to do whatever was necessary to protect what was precious to her.

She had sent out every qualified ninja in her command. Across the Five Great Shinobi Nations, from to the Land of Snow to Sea Country, chunin and jonin travelled the lands, researching, stealing and learning as many techniques as possible. Ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, she didn't care. So long as Konoha would be stronger for it. So long as more ninjas would returned home.

But their efforts had not been entirely fruitless, but no one had delivered the results that she had been looking for. She had reconciled her loses. Originally, she had hoped that by finding or learning what had already been developed, but forgotten, they could maintain the Land of Fire's status as one of Five Great Shinobi Nations.

Developing new techniques had been the only option left.

It was a wrenching decision to make. Throughout her years as a medic, she had seen the hellish results of chakra experimentation gone wrong. Gruesome memories of blood splattering on bleached tile, the harsh sting on antiseptic in her nose, the cold bite of medical instruments cutting through flesh – desperately trying to save as much of a body as possible – still plagued her nightmares. Young ninja in particular were prone to dabbling in forces they didn't understand. Anything to prove their mettle.

Idiots.

To dapple in unexplored realms of chakra manipulation was to meddle with the soul's attachment to the body; dangerous at best, lethal at worst. It required both extensive knowledge of the nature of chakra and the ingenuity to transform it in previously unconsidered ways. Her pool of potential candidates for the mission had immediately shrunk to an infinitesimal size.

So, three years ago, with a heavy heart, she had sent out her could-have-been-daughter, accompanied by one of her most loyal ninjas. She had nurtured Sakura's affinity for healing and had watched her grow into one of Konoha's top medics. Her unparalleled chakra control, coupled with her talent for genjutsu and more than satisfactory aptitude in the other ninja arts made her perhaps the prime candidate for experimenting. Moreover, her skills as a medic would be crucial if mistakes were made.

'When mistakes were made,' Tsunade had corrected herself. To think otherwise was to embrace ignorance and naivety. She could not fool herself; when it came to chakra experimentation whatever could go wrong, would go wrong. And by god, everything could go wrong.

To decrease the odds of the pair being harmed, she had decided to send Sai. She had known his infallible concentration and detached, collected demeanor would be invaluable when carrying out risky trials. In addition, his extensive training in Root had exposed him to an array of uncommon ninja arts. He was what every Kage longed for in a ninja: obedient and deadly. He understood perfectly why such risks had to be taken to make Konoha stronger.

Their bond from working together in Team Seven was an unexpected bonus. Sending out a team that had extensive experience working together always yielded a higher mission success rate.

"Yes, Shishou."

Her heart gave a painful throb, jolting her mind back into the present. They were back, standing in her office, safe and unharmed after so much time.

Sakura stepped forward, bands of moonlight and shadow rippling across her form. She reached into the side slit of her skirt for the thick scroll secured to the side of her leg band.

"Our full report," she said, as she leaned over to place it on the desk. Sakura glanced up into Tsunade's eyes and lifted the corners of her lips in a melancholic smile. The student and teacher shared the same expression. Pain and love were two sides of the same coin.

'Families,' Tsunade decided, 'were never meant to be apart for so long.'

Heaving a great sigh, she stood up, scraping the chair against the floor. Treading softly towards them, she stood facing two precious members of her surrogate family. An arm went around a shoulder of each as she pulled them into a hug. The pain from spending the last three years without them, which had tightly wound itself around her heart, clenched a few last times and vanished, making room for a soaring feeling of relief.

"It can wait until the morning," she breathed. The corners of her eyes filled with moisture that she rapidly tried to blink away. An arm encircled each side of her. "You both need to get some rest. Go home, go sleep in your own beds. You both deserve it," she said.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," murmured Sai.

Sakura inclined her head in acquiescence.

Straightening, she reluctantly ended their embrace and smiled at them, gesturing towards the door. Both ninjas bowed and spared her a grateful glance before they turned and headed for the exit. As they were half way out the door, she spoke.

"I'm proud of you."

Both ninjas turned and looked at her. Shared a brief look. And smiled.

"Thank you," they answered together.

As silently as they came, Sakura and Sai slipped from the room, into the darkness of the night.

They were home.

To Be Continued

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

1) I feel like telling anyone who is reading this that it is currently snowing outside my window. It looks gorgeous.

2) Hello there! …I probably should have started with a hello.

3) The idea for this story has been building in my head for a while now. Even though I have read fanfiction for about five or six years, I rarely write my own stories… However: I have almost run out of stories to read. Yes, you read that correctly. I have read nearly every story that features my favourite character pairings and my favourite authors just don't write fast enough. Thus, I am faced with two choices. A: read the stories that do not make grammatical sense (which I previously skipping reading), or B: write my own stories. I decided on option B.

4) In case you're wondering, my favourite character pairing is Sakura and Kakashi. An older Sakura. Don't ask me why, I really don't know. Usually I'm not into pairings that aren't at least hinted at in the anime/manga, but this one has hijacked my brain and force-fed me delicious, addictive, obsession-forming drugs.

5) So it's not my fault. Got that?

6) If you do review, I hereby promise that I will respond, no matter how short the review, and I am always grateful for constructive criticism.

I do hope that you have enjoyed reading this story so far and I will be continuing to write more Naruto fanfiction in the future.

Have a lovely day.

Love, KaKiara