Tutoring with the Illusion Mistress, Kurenai!

As she roamed the Village, pondering on the many new avenues now open to her, Sakura's inherited awareness and social savvy bore two curious and disconcerting revelations.

The first hit her as her stomach grumbled, and she made a detour to Ichiraku in her first attempt at a Shunshin, which she didn't consider half bad herself. The sight of the Ramen stand and home to ambrosia-like noodles elicited a double set of reactions in the girl: there was Naruto's usual excitement, stressed by an eager rumble in her stomach, but there was also a distant sense of distress and sadness. She must have looked like a fool, standing schock still smack in the middle of the road, trying to wrap her mind around the contrasting emotions, so she entered, waved at Ayame and plopped herself down on Naruto's usual stool.

A minute later, Ayame was there to take her order. "Ah, Sakura. Good to see you. Naruto isn't with you?"

She smiled back, amused. "No, he -" and then froze as Ayame's smile slipped a bit.

Where was Naruto?

It dawned to her she had been referring to herself as Sakura, not Naruto, where not thirty minutes before the obnoxious but brave blond had been her. Hell, he stil was, after a fashion. And yet here she was, sitting like Sakura, wearing her clothes, even thinking broadly like her. Who was she?

When the first answer to come to mind was Haruno Sakura, of course... 'ttebayo? , she excused herself from a perplexed Ayame, exited the booth and Shunshined to Naruto's apartment.

Two hours later, she was smiling in exasperation and listening to Naruto's step-by-step of his mission with Jiraiya-sama as they walked to Ichiraku's.

As it turned out, the Kage Bushin no Jutsu still well worked and produced Sakura-clones... with a Naruto core just one suit away. She wasn't really surprised at her faint disgust when the first clone slipped out of his Sakura-suit - and it really spoke of how quickly she'd come to adapt in just a few hours to her new body and memories - and the suit vanished in a pop. After a bit of experimentation, it turned out that making a Naruto-suit out of one clone and having another wear it circumvented the annoying fragility of her clones, even with her own enhanced chakra control.

Kissing his old self, and several times at that, was quite... odd, but not overall... unpleasant. There was little of sexual and much more awkwardness and practicality to it too; the narcissism wasn't lost to her though. Thing is, she didn't attempt to remove the air tank from its hiding place, fearing what would happen to her if she tried fo remove her suit. Not to her body, rather to her mind: all of the clones included in the experiments were obviously mightily uncomfortable once their Sakura-suits were removed, something she did experience entirely when they dispelled.

Which led to another decision, and why she was now walking down the streets of Konoha in comfortable companionship with an excited Naruto, who couldn't stop grinning and was very much relaxed in his own body: she sucked the copy of the Sakura air from her Naruto clone, and the results were very, very interesting..

As they ate, her discomfort mightily abated and her mind only half on the amicable banter with Naruto, Ayame, Teuchi and Iruka-sensei, Sakura's mind was on other matters. Point in case, Sasuke's obsession streak, which she couldn't deny now that her mind wasn't clouded by "love" - thank Kami for the Naruto in her - her newfound combination abilities, the results of today's experiments, and Kurenai Yuhi's offer.

0 - 0 - 0

At Naruto's and Sakura's insistence, Jiraiya-sama agreed to take a look at Sasuke's cursed seal. The Ero-Sannin was actually eager to do so, especially after Sakura unleashed the waterworks at him; that eagerness turned to apprehension and an entirely new containment Seal that made Kakashi's look like a kid's writings. Sasuke sulked, moped and glowered, but he was actually surprised when Jiraiya extended his training and tutelage offer to him as well. Despite exclusivity issues, the Uchiha avenger accepted, and Sakura left the boys (all three of them) to their devices.

With another worry dealt with, Sakura turned her impressive focus to her own education. Kurenai Yuhi was ecstatic to see her new pupil, especially after she lost her previous one, Hinata, to the Hokage: word around was the Hyuga heiress was on the fast track to medical greatness with those eyes of her. Sakura's entrance in the Illusion Arts, marked by a mix of impressive creativity, inexhaustible chakra and in-depth knowledge of the workings of the human mind, was both disconcerting and exhilarating for the beautiful Jonin.

For beautiful, Kurenai Yuhi was. Long, tumbling raven hair, eyes one could get lost in, full lips, a lithe but generous body sculpted by years of training and a brain second to none in Konoha, Sakura found her thoughts turning more and more to her sensei as the days turned into weeks.

Admiration morphed into adoration, until one morning, on her way to the Genjutsu Mistress's house, Sakura realized she didn't want to be like her as much as she wanted to be her.