"Please, Lady Fifth!" a woman's voice rang out from the Hokage's office, just as Sakura happened to be walking by. "I beg your permission to let me take part in this mission!"
Startled by the sudden outburst, Sakura almost dropped the small box of sweets she'd brought to share with her mentor. Her curiosity piqued, she tiptoed closer and pressed her ear to the door to eavesdrop…
"Keep in mind that even with a full squad of elite Jōnin, you still wouldn't prove a match for that man," came Tsunade's voice. "Still… I'm rather short on personnel, so I wouldn't mind letting you participate, as long as you can keep your emotions in check. Am I understood?"
"I understand that this is only a reconnaissance mission," answered the woman. "If I'm found out, I'll prioritise my life and those of my comrades."
Sakura recognised that voice— it belonged to the purple-haired beauty Uzuki Yūgao. She held a grudge against Orochimaru for indirectly causing the murder of her lover Gekkō Hayate, which could only mean that something was afoot with the Sannin…
"Jiraiya is away on business, so I'm counting on you," said Tsunade seriously. "Find out what he's searching for in my ancestors' burial grounds."
In the original timeline, the Third Hokage had sealed away Orochimaru's arms at the conclusion of the Konoha Crush, greatly limiting his powers and sealing away his ability to perform large-scale Jutsu. However, this did not appear to have been the case this time around, since he'd easily managed to fight off both Jiraiya and Tsunade during the time-travel arc.
Sakura suspected this might have something to do with the butterfly effect.
By saving Kin Tsuchi's life, Sakura had prevented Orochimaru from using her as a sacrifice for the Edo Tensei, therefore forcing him to find another sacrifice. In Sakura's opinion, Orochimaru must have found a stronger sacrifice, which would have allowed one of his summoned dead to demonstrate more of his strength, potentially allowing him to save his master from Hiruzen's Dead Demon Consuming Seal…
"Understood, Milady!" said Yūgao. "Then, I'll rendezvous with the others at the Senju clan's ancestral burial grounds."
'Senju?' said Inner Sakura quizzically. 'Not Uzumaki!?'
It stood to reason that Orochimaru wouldn't need to research the Uzumaki clan's Shiki Fūjin if he wasn't sealed, but what on earth could he possibly need from the Senju? He must have already cultivated plenty of Hashirama cells from his secret dealings with Danzō, so it's not as if he needed to go grave robbing to get more…
Hearing footsteps, Sakura hastily backed away from the door. A moment later, a woman wearing a cat mask and a flak jacket burst out of the Hokage's office and strode away without giving Sakura a second look.
"What are you doing here, Sakura?" said Tsunade, spotting Sakura in the hallway outside. "I thought I gave you the week off for the winter holidays."
"I brought you some strawberry daifuku, Lady Tsunade," said Sakura as she slipped into the room before the doors closed. "I thought you might like them…"
It had been a while since Sakura's last big mission.
She'd spent the entire month of November treating civilians' colds, sprains and broken ankles at the Konoha General Hospital, and just like that, December had rolled around. For shinobi, it seemed like winter was the off-season— there weren't as many mission requests as in autumn, spring or summer. Everyone stayed inside, from peasants to nobles to shinobi, so there wasn't much to do except household chores, training and having fun with personal hobbies.
"You shouldn't have," said Tsunade, nonetheless stuffing a red-coloured daifuku into her mouth. "As a shinobi, you don't get a lot of free time, so you should cherish the time you do have. Now get out of here— go and have some fun with your friends!"
And just like that, Sakura was unceremoniously ejected from the Hokage's office, minus one box of rather expensive sweets, which she hadn't even got the chance to sample for herself…
Shivering, Sakura held her sides as she stepped into the shallow snow outside of the Hokage's house. Due to her recent growth spurts, she didn't fit into any of her winter clothes properly, so her midriff was left exposed to the elements.
Sakura tilted her head slightly, allowing the snowball flying at her face to sail harmlessly past her.
"Apologise to Sakura-chan right now!" Naruto crossly told one of the kids, before adding sheepishly, rubbing the top of his head, "by the way… ya know… Sakura-chan… do you have any plans for tomorrow, y'know…?"
The culprits behind this shameless sneak attack were naturally Naruto and the three kids he liked to hang out with: Konohamaru and his two friends from the academy, Moegi and Ise. It seemed like they were having fun, playing in the snow together.
"Sorry, Sakura-neechan," said Ise, snorting up the ever-present drip of snot hanging from his nose. "I wasn't aiming at'cha…"
The cold seemed to have worsened his nasal congestion, because his snot was hanging down farther than usual.
"That's quite all right," Sakura assured Ise.
Naruto was growing rather fidgety as he anxiously awaited Sakura's response. He wanted to be more than just friends with her, so he desperately wanted to spend the holidays with her— because for some reason, Christmas existed in this world, even though Ninja Jesus went by Hagoromo rather than Christ.
However, Christmas was more often referred to by the inhabitants of this world as the Rinne festival, a celebration of the dead and the eternal cycle of rebirth. Just like in real life, Christmas— or rather, the Rinne festival— was an excuse for couples to spend time together, go on dates, eat fried chicken, and exchange presents.
'Tsk,' spat Inner Sakura. 'Normies should just explode!'
Or at least, that's how Christmas had been in the Japan Sakura had known and in the Hidden Leaf Village, which was now her new home.
"Are you sure you're not like that—," here, Konohamaru held up his pinky finger, "—with Naruto-nii-chan, Sakura-nee-chan?"
"You're pretty sharp, Konohamaru!" said Naruto embarrassedly. "Yeah, we're pretty much an item, y'know…"
"You wish, Naruto," said Sakura with a laugh. "Well, I'll catch you later. I need to do some shopping…"