"Sakura… Sakura…"
"Close the blinds, mum…" Sakura mumbled, half asleep, as she pulled the pillow over her head. "Just five more minutes… Oi! Give it back!"
Feeling the morning sunlight on her eyelids, Sakura launched into a perfect imitation of a crocodile's death roll, arms flailing, in a vain attempt to snatch back her pillow— only to end up wrapped tightly in her bedsheets, looking every bit like a disgruntled mummy.
"Tenten?" Sakura groaned groggily, cracking one eye open. "What are you doing here?"
Sakura was still a bit sleep deprived.
After their bath, Karin and Fū had snuck into Sakura's room, carrying snacks Fū had brought back from the Hidden Waterfall Village. Despite Sakura and Karin having gone three days without sleep, Fū had insisted they stay up late to play cards and cement their friendship… and seeing as she was starving, Sakura had reluctantly given in.
"You do know that girl's teammates are tearing up the building looking for her, right?" said Tenten, glancing at Fū's sleeping face. "You should let them know she's here before you cause a diplomatic incident…"
Somehow, Karin had lodged herself in the gap between Sakura's bed and the wall, where she had fallen asleep. As for Fū, she had managed to spin herself a hammock in a corner of the room using some of her own insect webs.
"You still haven't answered my question," yawned Sakura, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. "Did Lady Tsunade send you here?"
"That's right, she did," said Tenten, handing Sakura a scroll. "The details of your mission are in here, but the gist is that Lady Tsunade wants you to keep an eye on the Kazekage from the inside."
Unbeknownst to Sakura, but knownst to Tenten, there was a second reason the Hidden Sand had accepted to sponsor the second part of the Chūnin exams. Even though Gaara had mellowed out a great deal since his childhood (thanks in large part to Sakura's breasts reminding him of the warmth and love of his mother), the Council of Elders of the Sand still didn't fully trust him.
The only reason Gaara had become Kazekage was because the position was hereditary in the Hidden Sand— so, to unite a village that still distrusted him, he had been forced to put on a show of strength. His plan? Serve as bait for the Akatsuki and proctor the joint exams at the same time. If his gamble paid off, the Elders would have no grounds to challenge his leadership any longer.
Normally, the Hidden Leaf wouldn't (openly) interfere in another village's internal struggles, but Gaara was the linchpin holding their fragile Mutual Defense Pact together. If he died to the Akatsuki due to his stubbornness, the Leaf risked losing a valuable ally for no gain whatsoever…
"So, on top of watching for signs of the Akatsuki, I'm supposed to protect the proctor for the Chūnin exams I'm supposed to be taking?" said Sakura, bemused. "An exam I've already passed, mind you."
"Leaf Jōnin are standing at the ready on the outskirts of the Demon Desert, so just know you won't be acting alone," explained Tenten. "Even so, since they're not contestants, so there's a limit to how close they'll be able to get in case something goes wrong. They're not allowed to go into testing grounds, so they'll be laying low."
Tenten sighed.
In her past life, neither Tenten herself nor Sakura had been privy to the power games the Leaf played with the Sand. But thanks to the incredible growth they had shown, both were now eligible to take part— as pawns, in the great game of shogi quietly unfolding between the powers that be.
"Okay, I can do that," said Sakura, chewing her bottom lip in thought. "I think."
Starting from Shippuden, Sakura had begun learning how to steer clear of filler episodes. As a result, from the Three-Tails' Appearance arc onward, she would have even less information to work with— anything outside the canon was a complete mystery to her.
"There's two more things," continued Tenten. "I wanted to ask you for a favour… or two, actually. You don't have to accept, but I'd really owe you one if you could help me with this."
"What is it?" asked Sakura curiously.
Tenten rummaged inside her weapons pouch and handed her a kunai.
"The first one's pretty easy," Tenten explained. "You made friends with Fū, right? Give this to her when she wakes up— and make her promise to always keep it on her."
Lying in her hammock, Fū was listening to their words in silence. Were her new friends talking about her?
"That's one of your Flying Thunder God kunai, isn't it?" said Sakura, inspecting the intricate carvings on the weapon. "You think the Akatsuki is going after her too?"
"You know what she is?" asked Tenten in surprise.
"Karin said she sensed a chakra like Naruto's from her while we were taking a bath together," Sakura explained. "Actually… how do you know she's a Jinchūriki?"
Fū clapped her hands over her mouth. The Village Head had made her swear to keep her identity as a Jinchūriki a secret— yet her new friends had figured it out in a flash! And they didn't hate or fear her for it! As expected, friendship really was the best! Wahoo!
"I have my sources," said Tenten vaguely. "Anyway, I'll need to borrow Karin's help to extend my sensing range so that I can keep track of Fū… and I'll also need you to step in, just in case she's attacked on the way back to the Hidden Waterfall Village. So, make sure to tell Karin, okay?"
As always, Future Tenten seemed to be up to something, and Sakura didn't quite know what to make of it. But having befriended Fū, Sakura really didn't want her to die, so one more time, she was willing to lend a helping hand.
"Fine, I'll ask her to hold on to it," sighed Sakura. "What's the second thing you wanted?"
"Only a single team from the Hidden Rain made it past the prelims," began Tenten, retrieving a senbon needle from her pouch. "There's a purple-haired kunoichi among them by the name of Ajisai. If you can find her in the second exams, I want you to stab her with this needle— that's it."
Sakura blinked. What was Tenten playing at, seriously!? This time, she was putting her foot down!
"Okay, I'm actually going to need an explanation for this one," said Sakura stubbornly. "Why should I do that, and what's the needle for?"
The last time Tenten had tried to change history, Hinata was kidnapped by Kumo-nin— and Sakura ended up having to travel all the way to the Land of Lightning to rescue her… minus two of her eyeballs.
To be fair, a small part of the blame did lie with Sakura. By making it to the third phase of the original Chūnin Exams— without having fought and tied with Ino in the preliminaries—she'd thrown off the final matchups entirely. That set off a chain reaction that ended with Gaara rampaging through the Hidden Leaf. And with the One-Tail on the loose, Tenten, Neji, and Kiba were too distracted to notice Hinata being kidnapped!
But before Tenten could explain anything, a muffled voice called out from beneath the bed.
"They're here…" groaned Karin.
"Who's here?" asked Tenten, frowning.
"The underground people," Karin gasped. "Hundreds and thousands of them. Right underneath our feet…!"