"Indra-san," Hiruzen said quietly as Indra walked into the Hokage's office.

"Hokage-sama," he said, albeit a little cockily. What? He kind of liked getting under the guy's skin. He deserved it. "You called for me?"

"Could you please release Danzo from the genjutsu?"

Indra frowned and his plausible deniability mode kicked in on instinct. "You think I can?"

Hiruzen's expression flattened and dried out, akin to Suna's planes. No, seriously, that was too amusing. "I am many things. A fool is not one of them." The point could be argued. "You did it. We need him released for questioning. You won't be punished as you obviously had good reason."

Not to mention they both knew Hiruzen would have a very difficult time punishing Indra at the moment. He'd be wanting to save any punishments for something more… drastic. Not that Indra had any plans of making him use anything that could remotely scare him, namely team 7.

Finally, he shrugged. "Very well. Although I insist on multiple chakra suppressors and a T&I cell to hold him."

It was only fair.

Apparently the Hokage realized that too, because he nodded tiredly. "Cat. Make sure Shimura Danzo is transferred to a cell in T&I, then escort Indra-san there."

Cat appeared before the Hokage, kneeling down. "Hai, Hokage-sama." Then they disappeared.

After a moment, the Third seemed surprised that Indra hadn't left yet. He looked up, curiously, if warily.

"May I ask you something, Hokage-sama?" Indra ventured carefully.

The man behind the desk's eyes narrowed as he studied the time-traveler for several seconds before finally nodding, albeit stiffly.

"How much did you know about the Massacre? Really?"

Silence that could have been cut with a kunai, lasting an eternity, but only moments.

Finally, the old man sighed. "I knew the clan elders would be killed. But that was supposed to be all."

So he'd known. About the coup, and the supposed 'solution'. Sasuke fought the betrayal that rose inside him. He'd known it was a possibility.

"Did you try talking to them?" he had to ask. Had they been given a chance?

When Sarutobi spoke this time, his voice hung heavily with shame. "No. I was… advised against it."

Sasuke (he was not Indra right now) felt his teeth clench. "By Danzo."

Another sigh. "Yes."

Sasuke pushed his anger down. Attacking the Hokage right now would not be beneficial in the long run, no matter how cathartic.

"Why didn't you just give him the hat?" he finally asked "You didn't want the Hokage's seat again. He did, he was strong enough. So why?"

"I couldn't let him have that kind of power and control."

Sasuke breathed. It helped. A little. "So you knew. What kind of man he was."

Hiruzen scoffed. "Of course, I did. I just… didn't think he'd go that far."

The time-traveler met the older man's eyes. "You did." Because they both knew it.

More silence until Sarutobi shook his head. "Perhaps you're right. I just…"

"Didn't have the will to fight him anymore?" Sasuke asked, practically spitting the words out, uncaring of the accusation in them.

Another sigh. "Yes."

"You shouldn't have taken the hat back."

"I didn't have a choice."

"Danzo was practically running this village behind your back."

"But he couldn't do so in the open," Hiruzen said. "I made many mistakes, Indra-san, but keeping the hat away from Danzo is not one of them."

Sasuke kind of hated that he was right.

Still…

"Sasuke-kun," Hiruzen said suddenly, his voice quiet as he sat forward. Oh, he'd dismissed his ANBU… Sasuke must have been very distracted to miss that. "I realize this is far too little, far too late, but… for what it's worth, I am sorry. I did not want the Massacre to happen like it did… or at all."

"But it did happen."

Another pause. "Yes. It did. And I will take the burden of the decisions I made that led to that to the grave. I will bear your hatred because I deserve it." With that, he rose, walked calmly around the desk, then knelt down in dogeza. Sasuke could hear those knees creak as he lowered himself, and the time-traveler's eyebrows rose. "I do not ask for your forgiveness, or your understanding, but know that I regret everything that happened—everything that led up to that event—from the bottom of my soul."

Sasuke blinked. He… hadn't expected that. He didn't quite know what to do with it either.

"Get up," he finally muttered. After all, nothing could be done about it now. Except… "Bring Itachi back to the village and I'll… consider your apology." Because just dismissing it felt wrong, but… the apology did help. He wished it didn't.

"I've already begun to lay the groundwork," Hiruzen said as he (very slowly) rose to his feet. "It will be up to Itachi-san himself, but if he wishes to return, he can, with my full blessing."

That still didn't seem like quite enough, but it was probably more than Sasuke should have expected, so he simply nodded. The Third slunk behind his desk and eased himself into his chair, likely playing up his age just to put Sasuke more at ease. It didn't work. Much.

"I wish I still had my advisors from before the Kyuubi attack," he said tiredly.

Sasuke scoffed. "More people running the village behind your back?"

Hiruzen shrugged. "Biwako was good at it." Hiruzen's eyes lost their focus for several seconds, obviously lost in a memory. Sasuke frowned, trying to remember who that was.

"Your wife?" he finally realized, surprised.

The old man nodded. "I may have become a little too dependent on her advice." He snorted. "She never did like Danzo."

Then she had to be pretty decent in Sasuke's book. "She died during the Kyuubi attack?" Sasuke asked, remembering hearing that somewhere, vaguely.

Hiruzen nodded. "Along with too many other good friends. Afterwards, all I really had to lean on were my old teammates."

Oh. Well… that explained a lot. A heartbroken old man had to retake the title with the most responsibility in the village without any of the support he was used to. Didn't excuse anything, but it did grant some perspective.

"She wouldn't have let things escalate like that," Hiruzen muttered.

Sasuke sighed. He got it, he did. If Sakura died, he wouldn't take it well, but at least he'd have his friends to lean on. Still…

"Just, get Itachi back," he said again, then turned to leave. "And don't underestimate Danzo again." With that, he walked out.

"Hai," he heard the old man say behind him as the door closed.

xXx

Tsunade knew her expression soured as she saw the gates to Konoha: The village she both loved and loathed; the village that had taken any love she'd ever had and twisted it. Her love was still there, still strong, still love, but a shriveled version of it. Like a dying, poisoned plant. Knowing that Danzo had been behind it all both helped and hurt her perception of the place she used to (still did) call home.

It was complicated, and she wasn't sure what to think of it all. Which ticked her off, of course.

If she'd been anything but completely focused on that and the information from Jiraiya, she may have noticed Shizune's own face light up, squeezing Ton-Ton just a little tighter. But she didn't. Instead, she stomped up to the gate (she was not throwing a tantrum, no matter what anyone said) and practically slammed her information papers down at the desk of the ninja guarding said gate.

The two men there stared up at her with slack jaws.

"T-Tsunade-hime?" one of them asked.

She narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Yes. Are you going to stamp my papers or am I going to have to go talk to Sensei illegally?"

Because she'd like to see someone try and stop her.

Both of them gulped and exchanged glances (amateurs, they should keep that kind of emotion off of their face on duty unless they could back it up) and then scrambled over themselves to check both her and Shizune's papers.

Three minutes later, she stalked vertically up the side of the Hokage tower while Shizune waited below with Ton-Ton. Several shinobi had stopped to stare at her, but she paid them no heed. Hefting herself in through the window, she landed in the Hokage's office and saw her old Sensei sitting there doing paperwork behind the desk.

"Where. Is. He?" she asked, stalking up to his desk.

Her old teacher sighed as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders (dramatic much?) and just looked up at his student.

"Hello, Tsunade. Wonderful to see you. How have you been doing? It would be nice to hear from you."

"Stuff it, old man," she growled, leaning over the desk, "and tell me where Shimura Danzo is."

Slumping back in his seat, the Hokage took a deep whiff of his pipe and let it out before answering. "I can't tell you that."

"Don't you dare give me that!"

Before she could say more, he cut her off. "How much did Jiraiya tell you?"

She felt her teeth grinding and took several calming breaths. "Enough."

"So the cliff-notes version," he said dryly.

She growled but didn't contest the point.

"That man—" she started, but again, he interrupted.

"Has done this village dirty. Yes."

"From dramatics to understatement," she said loudly, exasperated. "I'm going to destroy him, and you can't stop me. You may as well just tell me and save us both the trouble."

"I can stop you, and you'll have to get in line to kill him."

She felt her temper go from simmering to boiling. "He killed off everyone I ever loved!"

Wait, was that hurt in her Sensei's eyes? Tsunade wanted to take those words back almost immediately, because she did love her team and her sensei, but her pride wouldn't let her, so she just folded her arms and glared.

Hiruzen seemed to wither just a little more, but he still somehow, simultaneously stood strong. "He took Hatake Kakashi's entire family at the age of four, and then his team and his future during the war. He took Uchiha Sasuke's entire clan and stole their bloodline—multiple times—while framing Uchiha Itachi for it all. He let out information on Uzumaki Naruto's jinchuuriki status and encouraged the village's horrible treatment of him for his entire childhood in hopes of gaining him as a weapon he could train. We have over a hundred people—including children—who were taken into Root who have had their very identity stripped from them, Tsunade. That doesn't even include the spies—most of which are children—we've discovered. Half of them not even from this village, and the other half… we don't know where their loyalties lie. There was a very promising medic in the hospital who I'm not entirely sure if he even knows where his loyalties lie. I have stacks of information regarding people my former teammate has wronged, up to and including myself.

"So, as I said, get. In. Line." He took a deep breath. "You're not the only one whose life he's ruined."

Oh, no. No. She did not come this far to have her shot at Danzo taken from her. So, maybe a little childishly, she lashed out.

"And whose fault is that? Who allowed that all to happen?! Huh?"

This time, when he shrunk back, he seemed so much older, withered… weaker.

She'd never seen her sensei as weak before. Even in his old age he was strength just barely contained. He'd earned his title as 'The Professor' and one of the strongest men in the villages' history. But… her word had had more or less just implied that he'd grown weak, hadn't they?

She really needed to think about what she said before she said it sometimes. She needed a drink too.

"Mine. It's entirely mine." He looked up, meeting her eyes with a drooping gaze. "So if you want a shot at me, Tsunade, take it. Have at. I have no doubt you can." Almost as soon as he spoke, ANBU made themselves visible in the corners of the room, crouched in warning and preparation. Tsunade didn't so much as blink in their direction. They couldn't stop her. And everyone in the room knew it.

He… he was being serious. That shook her more than almost anything else he could have said.

"At this point," Hiruzen went on, "it would be a blessing. Perhaps then I wouldn't have to see everything I ever worked for come crashing down around me—see all the people I hurt because I was too weak and old to do anything—wouldn't have to watch them suffer for my incompetence. Maybe I'd finally have the rest I should have gotten twelve years ago. So please. Take a shot. At least then Orochimaru won't be the one to take me out."

Tsunade took a step back, hurt at the accusation, not just that she would even consider hurting her sensei, but that her old teammate would definitely do it. "Orochimaru? He's had problems, and I know he left, but he would never—"

"He's going to attack the village at the chuunin exam. With intent to kill me and either take over or completely destroy Konoha." The old man shook his head. "And he's another name on the list of Danzo's victims. Just in a different way." His eyes looked so distant… so haunted. "In some ways, worse.

"So please, Tsunade, tell me how to fix this? Almost everyone in Konoha deserves a shot at the man I trusted to help me run this village without turning it into a martial state—another Hidden Mist. And he tried to do just that. I need someone I can give this hat to, because I stopped deserving it a long time ago. But no one will step up. Jiraiya has his spy network that it would take years to hand over to someone else. If it weren't so vital to Konoha's survival, I'd say let it go, but I can't. You and Orochimaru both left. I had Danzo and my old teammates to choose from, and that's about it! Everyone else remotely capable of running the village either died in the Kyuubi attack or was undermined in the same attack to a point where if I had handed the hat over, it would have sparked a revolt!

"There is no one else. Not even me! We haven't had a real Hokage running this village since the Kyuubi attack. That's become blatantly apparent recently. And the only people who would do it would have hurt more than help.

"So I am begging you, Tsunade. Give me a solution."

They sat in silence for several seconds as her teacher did something he never did: he unloaded onto her. It was almost as shocking as it was sad. She'd never realized just how much this weighed on him… not that she hadn't known how difficult it was to run the village, but still. Her sensei had always been such a pillar… but even a pillar weakened with age, she supposed.

It was a wake-up call she hadn't realized she needed.

When she didn't answer, her teacher let out a long breath and sat back, putting a hand over his eyes. "And I've become so desperate as to ask someone who hates this village for advice. Surely that alone tells you how terrible the situation is."

Tsunade didn't shift uncomfortably, but it was a near thing. Hiruzen always did have a way of making her feel like a twelve-year-old gennin again.

"I… don't hate the village," she finally muttered.

The Hokage just shook his head. "You left. With no intention of coming back. If Konoha would have been razed yesterday, would you have cared at all?"

She wanted to say she would have—and it was likely even true, but… she would have gotten over it. Pretty quickly, too. Still would, to be honest.

"Indifference isn't hatred."

"Same result," he muttered with a shrug.

Then he shook his head. "I've realized why so few shinobi grow old. Because no one wants to see how badly they've hurt everyone around them. And I don't think there's a way for an old shinobi to avoid that.

"Age is a curse. The worst curse anyone could ever place on a ninja."

Okay, now he was almost sounding suicidal…

Which scared Tsunade more than she'd like to admit, even to herself.

They needed to get off the topic, and she still wanted to destroy Danzo… so…

She sighed herself. "What will happen to Shimura?"

Hiruzen curled in on himself a little more, but she refused to comment on it or feel guilty. Thankfully, he answered. "Right now, we're interrogating him." She almost asked if she could be involved. Almost. "After that, we'll have a public execution."

She took a deep breath. "Who will be the executioner?"

A pause. "Probably Hatake Kakashi. If not, one of the remaining Uchiha."

Tsunade frowned. "If I could… heal him… would you let me have my own shot at him?"

Hiruzen stiffened, and looked up, blinking. "Excuse me?"

She shrugged. "I can heal most of what someone could inflict at this point. I'd just have to have enough preparation."

Well… it would be more complicated than that, but she didn't need to be as careful as she would need to be if she was trying to save a life. Overstimulating cells could give someone cancer. But that wouldn't matter at this point. His bones didn't need to be aligned, even. He didn't even need to be functional. Just mentally present enough to feel her hand go through his heart.

Her sensei looked up, staring intently. His gaze seemed more present and more… alive than they had that entire conversation. Her hackles rose. That didn't mean anything good for her…

"It could take days—weeks even—to finish interrogating him."

Ah, so that was his angle. She grit her teeth. "I can take a spot at the hospital for a couple of weeks." She'd just have to avoid blood. She could do that.

Oh… right, killing Danzo might require her to see more blood. She may have to work on that too…

She could do this.

She could.

(Why did she not quite believe that?)

Well, she was determined to try.

"You'll find the hospital has changed quite a lot."

Oh. There was that too. She felt her eyebrow twitch. "Then it's a good thing I'll be here until his execution," she said through gritted teeth.

His face lit up. Which only succeeded in making her feel more guilty, but she refused to back down. "Only until his execution."

"Of course, of course," he conceded easily… too easily. He had something up his sleeves. "I assume you'll be taking over the Senju residence again?"

She snorted. "Not on your life. I'll be at a hotel. With Shizune. You'd better be willing to pay for it, because I won't."

His eyes narrowed. "We'll take this one week at a time. Come talk to me again next week, and we'll see."

There was the sensei she knew. That put her mind more at ease than she would have thought possible, but he was conceding, so she could put up with a couple of sessions with her old teacher.

"Fine. Inform the hospital I'll be in tomorrow."

He smiled at her. "Naturally."

She stood to leave, walking quickly towards the door.

"Oh, and Tsunade…" She paused at the door. "It is good to have you back. I missed you."

She couldn't answer. Her heart hurt just a little too much. So she just nodded and left.

Now to explain everything to Shizune…

xXx

Sakura had learned so much about the human body in the last weeks. She was good at memorizing things, so learning the names of the muscle groups hadn't been too difficult. It helped if there were diagrams, or if she could put it into practice, but even without all of that, she was good, and she knew it.

And was thankful for it. Because being quizzed on them while training with her team made it more… difficult. The fact that she had to do twenty pull ups on a tree branch, without chakra if she got the question incorrect sucked. She hated it. So much. As much as she liked an aid in helping her memorize things, this wasn't the way. Groaning in pain, she dragged herself through the streets of Konoha, heading for her house. They'd been doing a sort of crash course in training for the last couple of weeks and it hurt. It hadn't stopped hurting, the pain would just move around her body depending on the training. She could name each aching muscle, even. And she kind of hated that. She'd never felt them before like that. She really didn't want to feel them now, even if she knew it was making her stronger.

Her sensei was a demon. A one-eyed demon. He'd probably eat them if they let their guard down around him. Maybe that's what he was hiding under his mask: a monster mouth ready to suck them in when they were… ready?

Ready for what though? When they had enough muscle to—

No, she needed to get off of this ridiculous train of thought. Therein lay madness.

At least Naruto had gotten off of his whole "Rescue Indra" plan once he heard the man had been released. Sakura wasn't entirely sure as they hadn't seen him since he'd been arrested, but it had been enough for Naruto. She wondered how long that would last, because she had a sneaking suspicion he'd somehow drag both her and Sasuke into rescuing the guy if he really was still in T & I. She didn't remember Naruto being that persuasive in the academy, although he had been more focused on pranks at the time… and undermined.

Thinking of Naruto as a potential prodigy was… surreal.

"Oi, Billboard Brow!" a voice broke through her numb mind and she managed to drag her gaze up to meet…

"Ino?" she asked, almost as if she couldn't comprehend what she was seeing before her. Well, she wasn't quite seeing two of her former friend, but she couldn't seem to really focus either. She needed to get home.

"Wow," the blond (who always looked so perfect, why… stupid jealousy) flipped her ponytail over her shoulder and frowned at Sakura, who didn't even bother trying to stand straighter. She wasn't entirely sure her body could handle it at this point. And if she didn't want to be in utter pain tomorrow, she'd have to use half of her chakra pool to heal her muscles once it refilled… at least she should be building her reserves quickly this way. "You look awful."

Oh, right. Ino.

Sakura scowled. "Thank you for that. If you don't have anything else to say, I'm going home."

That seemed to take the blond back. "I… what?"

"You know, home? The place where we rest?" And hopefully recover before repeating everything tomorrow.

"You know, you're making it so easy," her former friend said, recovering quickly.

Normally Sakura could figure what the other girl meant, but right now she was just too tired. "Making what easy?"

"Sasuke, of course! You're practically handing him to me on a silver platter." She giggled. Meanly.

A wave of protectiveness sent a shot of adrenaline through Sakura's body, and managed to wake up her brain a little.

"'Handing him over'?" she asked lowly. Then she took a deep breath. Calm, she needed to stay calm. "There's so much wrong with that I don't even know where to start anymore. Okay, I'm focusing on getting stronger, with my team. You know, so we can survive out in the world where even the strongest genin don't always come home. That's a little more important to me right now than looking my best all the time. Besides, if I look good all the time, then I'm not working hard enough."

That seemed to confuse Ino, and she frowned, an angry blush rising to her cheeks. "Not working… are you calling me weak?"

No. Ino had some perfect ability to always look amazing. Sakura just didn't have that ability, but she wasn't about to tell her former friend that. She also wasn't about to tell Ino about how Uchiha liked strong spouses. Not that she wanted Ino to die (she didn't) but if Sakura got stronger first, she'd have a better shot. Right?

Ugh. Maybe she should rethink that.

Later. When she wasn't so tired.

"I don't know, am I?" she replied instead.

Ino stopped her foot, fists clenched at her side. She somehow still made that look graceful. Screw her. "You may work more closely with him, but I'll show you! I'll win him over, you just watch!"

A month ago, that would have had Sakura shrieking. Now, though…

She just snorted. "Good luck. You'll need it."

Ino's face darkened. "You really think I need luck?"

Sakura continued to stare dryly. "Yes."

The other girl's blue eyes narrowed dangerously. "Are you calling me ugly?"

The pinkette blinked. "What? No." Where did she get an idea like that? Oh… wait, did she think Sakura wished her luck because she wouldn't be pretty enough? Weird. Why had she jumped to that conclusion…

Wait, had she always jumped to that conclusion? And had Sakura just gone along with it, equating 'pretty' with 'best'? Yeah, that sounded about right.

Wow. Shallow much? Both of them. That kind of hurt to realize.

"Then what did you mean?" Ino asked, folding her arms in a huff.

Sakura sighed again. "I mean that Sasuke thinks differently than us."

"Of course, he's a boy."

That's not what she meant, but whatever. "I don't think you realize what I mean," Sakura muttered. "What he values and what we value are—or may be, I suppose—different. And we were pretty self centered to not realize that. It makes sense, we were kids, I guess, but…" she saw Ino's blank look and shook her head. She was still tired so rambling was a danger. She had to move on. "Anyway, when I instigated this stupid rivalry, we were both being dumb. I forgot there was a third opinion involved."

Ino's eyes widened. "Third op… what?!" she leaned forward, but didn't lower her voice. Of course. "What do you mean, 'A third opinion'!? Do we have another rival? Did Hinata decide to go after Sasuke too, now?"

Sakura blinked. "What? No! I… Ugh! You just proved my point. You and I were competing for his attention so much that we dismissed everyone else, including him. We forgot that he has an actual opinion, too, and he may not choose either one of us! As much as that would hurt, it's his choice. And he has a right to that choice. We do not have the right to take that away, Ino! And that's exactly what we were doing!"

Ino's eyebrows had begun to draw together nervously. "What? No we weren't!"

The pinkette rolled her eyes. "Really. So if two guys were fighting for your attention, and they refused to let you choose, how would you feel about either of them?"

"I…" Ino's mouth opened and closed for a moment, with no sound coming out.

"Exactly," Sakura said, trying to hold in a wince herself, because this didn't get any easier to say and continue to realize. Speaking it made it more real somehow.

"Think about it, Ino," she continued. "We were being awful and obsessed because we wanted what the other one did. But that 'thing' we wanted isn't a 'thing' at all! He's a human being. Everything about us for the last couple of years of school revolved around a boy, Ino. Take out the fact that it was Sasuke, and you just have a boy. What else was there? If he'd suddenly died—for whatever reason, his brother came back to kill him or something—then what would our lives look like?"

"Sasuke-kun wouldn't lose!"

Sakura snorted. "There are plenty of people out there stronger than Sasuke. And more importantly, us. So, I know what our lives would look like." She'd had nightmares about it. "In our final academy year, we'd have an empty expanse of nothing sprinkled with a couple of relationships to our parents, halfhearted schooling, and lackluster training. Because if he took up so much time, it did cut into our training. Who are we without him, Ino?"

The other girl looked really troubled now. "I… um…" It felt kind of good to render her friend speechless. Sakura nodded in satisfaction.

"Precisely, Ino. And I refuse to be nobody.

"Now, I'm going to go home to take a long shower and then go to sleep, after I eat the entire, very fattening dinner my mother is no doubt making. Oh, yes, by choice, because if I can't maintain my figure while I'm eating that much, then I'm not working hard enough."

"That… doesn't sound healthy," Ino muttered.

Sakura paused. Well, she wasn't entirely wrong. And yet… "Neither is starving ourselves so we look like some civilian ideal. Do you really think that's what Sasuke-kun wants?"

Oh… she'd gone too far, given too many hints.

But if that pushed Ino to become better, Sakura was strangely okay with that. More so than she thought she'd be, even if it lost her Sasuke. Not that she wanted tha… ugh. No, really. She. Was. Too. Tired.

"Goodnight, Ino," she said firmly when her friend didn't answer. Then she turned and continued down the street towards her home, leaving her former best friend staring after her.

xXx

AN: For those of you who would like actual updates on ffnet, this story is also on AO3 under the same name.

Obi- I'm not super happy with the Ino and Sakura scene, but there are some things I wanted to address without reading too much more into canon. We've done that enough already. LOL

This has gone from weekly updates because we kind of caught up with what we had written and Obi's been posting more of other fics and is working on getting her first original book up on Kindle Vella. If you want more info on that, let us know. :)

Discord: discord. gg/xDDz3gqWfy (no spaces)