Torune found her in HQ, once again sitting on the railings of a walkway with her carefree grin and her lack of regard for her being in the heart of ROOT. He did approach her this time with a tilt to his head and his monotonous voice underlying gratitude.
"I didn't get the chance to thank you for what you did. Shino was very happy when I came home."
"It's no problem. If you need anything else, I'm not that hard to find."
He nodded once and went off to wherever he'd been going in the first place. When she could no longer pinpoint his exact location, she hopped onto the walkway and started walking down the maze-like corridors towards the Archives. She needed to look up how exactly the Kazekage's children measured up to their status in the other timeline.
On her way there, she passed numerous other operatives who all either acknowledged her as they passed or greeted her from behind their immaculate porcelain masks. Her effect on them was starting to bud, and a few more years of this would have them choosing her over Danzo any day.
"You've been making a lot of friends in the organization," someone observed from her left. Sakura looked up, seeing a familiar cat mask with red and green markings on the edges.
"You guys aren't half bad once you drop the stuffy fronts you need per regulation. I still have to wheedle names out of a few, though. Can't keep calling everyone by their mask animal."
"That's what you're supposed to do."
"I'm not very good at following rules, Kinoe-san."
Kinoe chuckled and followed her to the Archives. The guard in the room quietly addressed them both as they entered, allowing them to search the files and scroll shelves at their own volition. In the Sunagakure section, Sakura picked out the folder of the current Kazekage and started flipping through it. Kinoe peered over her shoulder.
"I thought you were already acquainted with his children."
"Just Gaara. His older siblings Temari and Kankuro, not so much," she said. "I just want to know what they're capable of. See Kankuro? An emerging puppet master. We don't see too many of those outside Suna's Puppet Brigade and even then those numbers get slimmer each year."
"Puppetry requires the most delicate chakra control and you know where the largest density lies."
"Konoha. But people like that are the reason we have such a large medical community compared to other nations. Not a bad thing, but definitely helped us get named the 'soft ones'."
Kinoe had always been intrigued at all the knowledge Sakura could hold in her small body. She was intelligent, wise, and clearly had the skill to keep up with it if she was able to maintain her duties at T&I, the Regular Forces, and keep behind the scenes at ROOT all with extra time to spare. Not to mention she had such an open, friendly personality that made him and many others forget she was just twelve years old. How she was able to manage it even under Danzo's influence, he'd never know, and he'd always been curious about it.
"Sakura-san, may I ask you something?"
She tucked the file away and moved on to the Iwagakure section.
"What's up?"
"What exactly are you doing at ROOT? I mean, what are your plans here?"
She paused briefly before continuing with her current task.
"Are you happy with the methods ROOT uses?" she asked suddenly. Kinoe was taken aback. "Don't you ever wonder what exactly you're doing for work here? Or are you ever tired of being kept in the dark for what you're dedicating your entire life to? Don't you question any of it?"
