Maybe

They're all batshit

Even though it had been barely a week since Sakura had told team 10, she could already feel the change in the air.
It wasn't so much that thing went faster than things went smoother.
During those couple of days spent internalizing and overthinking everything she hadn't really noticed the extent to which it had affected her.
The sleep deprivation, constant anxiety attacks and all around fear that had clouded her days and haunted her nights didn't disappear entirely, but it was without saying that they had at least diminished a great deal.
Finally having a normal routine in a relatively healthy environment was also an important factor.

Sakura had adapted quickly to the work at the Hokage office.
Most of the times she just did her job as an assistant, carrying stacks upon stacks of scrolls from one room to the other, working in the lobby and welcoming potential clients or just trailing after Shizune while the older woman taught her the ropes of being what others scornfully called "paper ninja".
It wasn't a glorious occupation by any means. One wasn't proclaimed a national hero because they could do passable sums and calculate the monthly income of a regular fire nation citizen. But it was interesting in ways sparring wasn't and Sakura could truthfully say she had learnt more about the ninja lifestyle after four days working in office than the three months she'd done under Kakashi.

Between the coming and going of a variety of different nin from various specialisations and the occasional break where she'd chat with some of her colleagues, the young woman had become a lot more knowledgeable than the innocent, ignorant little girl she'd been at her academy graduation.

::::

Sakura turned around the corner of the building, nibbling on a small piece of frozen candy as she carried still another scroll to deliver to the jonin commander.
It wasn't unusal per se for her to be assigned missions out of the Hokage tower, but it wasn't an everyday occurrence either.
She finally arrived at the bar where Shiranui-san had told her Nara-taichou would probably be drowning his sorrow, and pushed the door open. Steeling her nerves against the stench of alcohol, and doing her best to compartmentalize, she weaved her way between a crowd of semi-drunken shinobi until she reached the counter.
"Umm... Nara-sama?" Sakura asked, berating herself for the small stutter, "Shizune-senpai told me to deliver those to you." She gestured to the neatly tied scrolls in her hands.
In front of her, the Nara clan head gave a long suffering sigh and took the manuscript from her extended hands.
"Thank you genin Haruno." He drawled out, each word coming out of his mouth like pulled teeth, slowly and painfully.
"Will that be all?" When Sakura shook her head, he waved his hand in dismissal and she didn't need to be told twice before scurrying away.

Back at the tower, she slipped in using the staff door, nodding her greetings at the guard on standby and she hurried back towards Shizune's office.
Since Sakura was fairly new, and with the recent invasion they hadn't had the time to assign her a proper work place so she'd had to share with the poison specialist. Far from being as awkward as she might have previously thought, working with the older woman was extremely inspiring and educational.

Shizune was smart, funny and kind in a way few people had been with Sakura in a long time.
She didn't hesitate to indulge the pink haired genin when Sakura found herself asking questions. She always gave rational explanations and did her best to teach Sakura all she thought was needed to know and more.

Sakura entered the room and took her place behind the small desk set for her in the corner of the room and began to sort through an array of files, classing them by importance, deadline and provenance.
Most of everything was either redacted – above her paygrade – or painfully boring, but the routine was somehow calming.

After a while, Shizune came back from whatever errand she'd been on, and judging by the way she slammed down on her chair, holding Ton-Ton like she was the only good thing on earth, Sakura assumed it had something to do with Tsunade's hidden stash of liquor.

"Are you alright senpai?" She asked, amusment coloring her tone "You seem... tired."

The angry scowl Shizune shot her from beneath her arms was worth all her month's paycheck.

"Never" the woman intoned "ever agree to work for a Senju. They're all batshit."
Sakura pressed a hand to her mouth to smother her laughter.
It was rare to see the usually affable and polite Kato Shizune swear, but when she did, it was a sight to behold.

"Ah... I think that's too late, I'm here aren't I?" They shared a resigned glance before errupting in peels of laughter.

::::::

Short and fluffy chapter before shit goes down.
I love Shizune, so there: a bit of content for one of my fav underrated characters.

Who're your favourite side/underrated characters?

Mine are (obviously) Shizune, Kurenai (badass jonin and genjutsu specialist?!!) and Shisui (if he counts as such? I love him anyways)

Hope everyone's having a nice day (night??) wherever you are. Remember, sleep is healthy lol