Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sakura is focused enough on her book that she doesn’t actually notice Naruto putting an eraser in the door until it’s landing on their new sensei’s head. After several hours of waiting on him to show up, Sakura does not have any sympathy for him.

“My first impression of you: you’re a bunch of idiots,” the man says and Sakura silently seethes. She doesn’t exactly have a high opinion of him, either. Still, she places her bookmark and follows him to the roof.

“Alright, why don’t you introduce yourselves?” their sensei says once they’re all sitting.

“Why don’t you go first?” Sakura says. She doesn’t trust this man not to run off without even telling them his name if they let him.

“Me? I’m Hatake Kakashi. Things I like and things I hate, hmm, I don’t feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future, I never really thought about it. As for my hobbies, I have lots of hobbies.”

Her other new teammates give introductions that are equally bizarre, if slightly more informative. Naruto, at least, seems nice enough but Sakura is starting to get the feeling that he’s the only one on this team who is.

“I’m Haruno Sakura,” she says when it’s her turn, “I like dango and I dislike bitter foods. My hobby is reading, I guess. My dream is to be a combat-type jounin.”

Kakashi doesn’t seem to care much about their introductions and that idea is only reinforced when he spends the next several minutes trying to scare them about a test tomorrow before sending them on their way.

Sakura stops to buy some ration bars on her way home. She doesn’t know exactly what Kakashi means by survival training but it can’t hurt to be prepared, especially if it involves spending the night in the forest like most of the Academy’s survival training.

When she gets home, Sakura kisses her fingers and presses them to the drawing by the door without even looking at it before going to prepare dinner. If she can’t eat tomorrow morning, she’s going to eat extra tonight.

---

Sakura wakes with laughter still in her ears and tears on her pillow, like most days. Her alarm hasn’t gone off yet but she figures she’s probably not getting anymore sleep tonight so she gets ready and heads to the training field.

Sakura has been stretching for about half an hour when Sasuke shows up.

“Good morning,” Sakura says.

Sasuke scoffs and sits against a tree. Sakura hopes it’s just that he’s not a morning person but she saw his introduction yesterday so the hope is small.

Naruto gets there about ten minutes later.

“Good morning,” she says again.

Naruto looks around for a moment and then points to himself. When Sakura nods, Naruto yells, “Oh, yeah, good morning to you too, Sakura! Hey, what’s that you’re doing?”

Sakura looks down at herself for a moment, confused, and says, “I’m stretching.”

“Why?”

Sakura is even more confused as she asks, “Are you asking why I’m stretching now or why I stretch in general?”

“Eh, both I guess,” Naruto says.

Sakura gives him a long look but she starts in on a lecture on how muscles work and the benefits of stretching. She has to stop several times for Naruto to ask questions but by the end of it he’s so excited he’s bouncing on his feet.

“Hey, you should show me some of these stretches, yeah?” Naruto says.

Sakura smiles a little. It’s been a long time since someone listened so attentively before.

“Okay, but we’ll have to start out with the basics. If you haven’t stretched before then you probably can’t do the same ones that I do.”

Naruto nods and he still looks excited so Sakura leads him through a very basic version of the stretches that she’s been doing. Naruto is very enthusiastic about them so he ends up falling over several times but he gets back up every time so they make it to the end.

When they’re done, Sakura looks for a spot to sit in and chooses one under a tree nearby. Naruto is still standing in the same spot he was before when she sits so she pats the spot next to her in invitation and he runs over. Sakura had brought a book in case they were left waiting by their sensei again but she’d allowed herself to be a little hopeful so she also has her paper shogi board.

“Ne, Naruto, do you know how to play shogi?” she asks and predictably he shakes his head. His eyes light up though when Sakura says, “Would you like to learn?”

Sakura takes out the paper she’s drawn the board on and the small packet of strips that she uses instead of pieces. She looks speculatively over at Sasuke until he looks back at her and she calls, “Do you want to play shogi with us?”

Sasuke scoffs again so Sakura turns back to Naruto and starts explaining the rules to him. He asks even more questions than he did with her lecture on muscles but he does actually seem to be getting the rules, somewhat. It takes almost an hour to explain everything and answer his questions to the best of her ability but by the end Kakashi still isn’t there so she and Naruto start a game.

Naruto has to ask questions a few times to remind himself of the rules but it’s less than Sakura thought it would be and he really is trying so she doesn’t mind. Sakura wins the first game but Naruto doesn’t seem to mind at all when she immediately asks if he wants to play again.

It’s another four games before Kakashi finally shows up and Naruto has lost all of them but he’s getting better and he keeps insisting that he’s really going to beat her the next game. It’s not actually a bad way to spend a morning, despite Kakashi’s tardiness.

“You’re late!” Naruto stands and yells as soon as Kakashi shows up.

Sakura gets to her feet as well, figuring their ‘survival exercise’ is finally going to start.

“Sorry about that,” Kakashi says, “a black cat crossed my path so I had to take the long way around.”

When Kakashi has explained his test and the time limit, Sakura has a bad feeling about this. She has to ask anyway.

“Sensei,” she says, “you only have two bells.”

Kakashi’s eye curves up in a smile that is so false Sakura’s teeth hurt. The bad feeling gets much worse from there.

---

Sakura feels a little bit bad for using Naruto’s attack as a distraction but she figures if she really does get the bells, she can always give one to him. She’s been inching her chakra strings across the field towards Kakashi for about half a minute and she’s very close when he suddenly disappears from the field.

“Sakura, behind you,” he says and it’s obviously a trap but it’s not like leaving him at her back would be better so she turns.

---

Sota is standing in front of her and Sakura can’t breathe.

“Imouto,” he says, “when did you get so big?”

A thousand apologies are on the tip of her tongue but Sakura can’t seem to say any of them.

“Where have you been?”

Sakura can’t even get out a squeak.

“Why didn’t you look for me?”

He’s so close.

“Sakura? Why won’t you say anything?”

Sakura reaches for him but she finds he’s just out of her reach. She tries to move to him but her feet are sunk into the earth.

There is only one word Sakura can say and she knows it will take her away from him again. She stares at him for a moment and re-memorizes his face.

“Kai,” she says and finds herself alone in the trees again. A few tears fall but Sakura wipes them away and heads back to the clearing. Kakashi wants them to come after him with the intent to kill? Well, she can definitely do that now.

Sakura doesn’t find Kakashi in the clearing, though. Instead, she finds Naruto hanging by his foot from a tree. She disables the traps underneath for him and helps him down.

“Sakura! Sakura! I found the lunches! We can go eat them while Sensei is busy with the bastard!” Naruto yells in her face once he’s down.

“You’d rather have lunch than pass the test?” Sakura asks. It’s harsher than what she would usually say but any patience she has is gone now. If Naruto thinks his lunch is more important than his hitai-ate, she won’t stop him but she doesn’t think he’s actually thought of it that way.

Naruto looks torn for a moment but he shakes his head and follows her when she takes off. Sakura explains the outline of a plan along the way. Naruto will attack with those solid clones from earlier but this time she’ll be among them with her chakra strings.

---

Sakura’s chakra gets within an inch of the bells before the timer goes off. Sasuke ends up tied to a stump because, apparently, he’d spent the last several minutes buried in the ground while at least Sakura and Naruto were still attacking. Kakashi offers them another chance after lunch and warns them not to feed Sasuke before disappearing again.

Sakura immediately offers Sasuke a bite of her food.

“Sakura?” Naruto says.

“We don’t stand a chance against Kakashi and he knows it. I’m not going to be cruel to someone just so he can play stupid mind games with us,” Sakura says.

Sasuke stares at her for several seconds and then nods and eats the bite she offered him. Naruto looks briefly torn but he nods and offers a bite of his own food as well. It’s too bad that they won’t pass. Sakura thinks she’d actually enjoy being on a team with Naruto.

Kakashi suddenly appears in front of them.

“You,” he says and pauses for several moments before finishing, “pass.”

Apparently, it was a mind game but it wasn’t the kind Sakura thought it was. She feels herself relax a little, especially when he tells them why he set it up like this. She thinks she can get behind the team first philosophy he’s pushing.

Kakashi fakes another smile with his one visible eye and then disappears again. Sakura thinks abrupt endings to meetings is something she’ll probably just have to get used to.

“Well,” she says as she cuts off the rope on Sasuke’s hands, “he’s definitely a weirdo.”

“Yeah,” Naruto says, sniffling, “but he’s kinda cool.”

Sasuke scoffs again and Sakura is starting to wonder if he has a speech impediment or something. They all look around at each other awkwardly for a moment.

“Do you guys want to go get dango?” she asks.

Naruto cheers and Sasuke rolls his eyes but he doesn’t actually leave so Sakura grabs their hands and heads towards her favorite stand. If she’s going to spend an awkward afternoon trying to turn them into an actual team, she at least deserves dango.

Sasuke leaves after about half an hour and he’s only said maybe three sentences the whole time but Sakura figures they can work up to actual conversations with him.

Naruto stays another hour with Sakura and even then she’s the one who suggests they head home for the day. He still insists on walking her back to her apartment. Sakura waves him off when they get to the building but Naruto’s goodbyes follow her up to her door.

Sakura walks in and kisses her fingers before pressing them to the drawing by the door. She stares at it for a moment, even though she knows it by heart. It’s signed in the corner with blocky letters, the best ones in the world.

Sota.

Chapter Text

Sakura had thought that, maybe, after he passed them, Kakashi would be slightly more bearable. This, it turns out, is not true.

Kakashi shows up several hours late every morning, takes them to get a D-rank mission, and then disappears as soon as it’s over. He doesn’t teach them anything. He doesn’t even help on the missions, even though he gets paid for them as well. It’s enough to make Sakura want to pull her hair out.

The first two days of this behavior, Sakura gives him the benefit of the doubt and doesn’t exert herself in the mornings in case they do some kind of training later on. The third day, Sakura has had enough. She gets to the field and does her customary stretches but she immediately transitions after into kata. Naruto enthusiastically joins her but after the first few minutes, Sakura has to stop him.

“Naruto,” she asks, “what are you doing?”

“I’m training with you,” he says, confused but still grinning.

“No, no, I get that but why are you doing it that way?”

“What way?” Naruto asks and Sakura demonstrates what it is that seems odd about his kata but Naruto just shrugs and says, “This is how I was taught to do it.”

This, combined with the ignorance of stretching yesterday, is putting a sinking feeling in Sakura’s chest.

“Ne, Naruto, do you think I could show you the way I do things instead? I think it will work out better for you.”

Naruto is enthusiastic as he agrees and for the next few hours he slowly goes through his kata as Sakura watches to correct movements or positions. By the end, it actually looks decent, although it’s still not fast.

Sasuke doesn’t actually help with the corrections but he does his own kata a few feet away so it’s almost like a team exercise. At least, until Kakashi shows up and interrupts them for another D-rank.

---

The next day, Sakura shows up with a bag full of notebooks and a plan. When she and Naruto finish their stretches, she sits next to her bag and pats the ground next to her instead of moving into katas again.

“So, I don’t know why it happened and I don’t need to know, but clearly there are some holes in what you learned at the Academy,” she begins. Naruto shrugs but Sakura isn’t really asking a question so she takes it as agreement. “Okay, well, I brought some of my Academy notebooks with me today and I thought maybe we could go over some of the really important stuff, just to make sure. I have a list of what I think are probably the really important things here, do you know how to do these things?” Sakura says as she hands him the list she’d made.

Naruto looks unusually hesitant as he says, “Yeah, yeah, I know this stuff.”

“All of it?” Sakura asks.

“Yeah, of course,” Naruto says. Sakura stares at him for a few seconds until he throws his hands up in the air and yells, “Fine, I don’t know!”

“What don’t you know?” Sakura asks.

“I don’t know if I know them,” Naruto mumbles.

“Oh,” Sakura says, “are my descriptions confusing? I thought they were pretty straightforward.”

“I can’t read them,” Naruto mumbles and he’s looking at the ground as he says it. It’s probably the most subdued Sakura has seen him and she doesn’t like it.

“Okay,” Sakura says, “I guess that’s where we need to start.”

Naruto looks up at her and there is something very fragile about his expression. Sakura has a lot of skills but comforting people is not one of them. She reaches out and awkwardly pats his hand twice before getting out the blank notebook she’d brought for him to take notes in.

“Well, I guess we start with the basics. If you already know any of this tell me but it’s okay if you don’t. It’s way better to learn now than when we need it for a mission or something. You can ask any questions you want, too,” Sakura says and she looks very intently at Naruto until he nods.

They spend about an hour on characters before Naruto starts to get visibly frustrated. Sakura stands and holds out her hand to help him up.

“We’re not done with this, though, are we?” Naruto asks as he takes her hand, brow wrinkled.

“No but we can come back to it later. Let’s run through the kata again,” Sakura says.

Sasuke has been running through kata since he arrived so Sakura and Naruto move closer to his area before beginning. By the time Kakashi arrives, Naruto is remembering the corrections well enough that Sakura can run through her kata with them.

---

Sakura’s mornings start to fall into a schedule: stretching, reading practice, and then running through kata with Naruto as she talks about something he missed at the Academy with regular interruptions for Naruto to ask questions. She starts with chakra theory and has gotten to elemental chakra before anything significant changes.

“So earth chakra is weak to lightning chakra and-” Sakura says before she’s cut off by a question. For the first time, though, it’s not Naruto asking.

“Lightning is absorbed by the ground so how can earth be weak to lightning?” Sasuke asks quietly.

Sakura is thrown off-guard so she probably ends up going too deep into the theory, talking about disruption patterns and fulgurites. Naruto is definitely confused. Still, at the end of her explanation, Sasuke nods at her. Sakura has to take a moment to get over her surprise.

“Okay, so we were talking about the cyclical hierarchy of elemental chakra,” she says and continues on from her previous point. This time, though, she makes a point to look at Sasuke every once in a while to see if he’s following along. To her continued surprise, he stays engaged the whole time.

For the first time, Sakura is almost disappointed when Kakashi shows up.

---

Even once they leave the Haruno House, pretty much all of the kids who grew up there spend a lot of time in the Flower District looking for familiar features and in this, Sakura has been no different. Even while she was in the Academy, Sakura would spend a couple of afternoons a week sweeping or cooking in one of the brothels so she could watch the women there for any resemblance. She never found any resemblance but it means that she knows the women working in the district and many of them are at least passingly fond of her. So, when Sakura walks into a few houses asking about a gray-haired ninja with one eye, she gets answers.

All of this means that when Kakashi walks up to his favorite house almost three weeks after passing Team 7, Sakura is waiting outside for him.

Kakashi’s eye widens when he sees her and he stops in his tracks. “Sakura?” he says.

“Hi, Sensei. I think we need to talk,” Sakura answers. Kakashi looks between the door and her for a few moments but eventually he sighs and agrees to follow her to a nearby tea shop. They sit down and Sakura waits for their order to appear before she begins.

“You said that you believe people who abandon their teammates are worse than trash?” she opens with.

“Yes, I did,” Kakashi says, raising his visible brow.

“I find that hard to believe considering your behavior the past few weeks,” Sakura says. She has never particularly believed in pulling her punches. She doesn’t wait for Kakashi to respond before she continues, “Do you even know that Naruto couldn’t do a proper kata when you passed him? Do you know where the gaps in any of our knowledge are? Do you have any plan to fix them?”

“You seem to have very few gaps and with you helping the others-” Kakashi says before Sakura cuts him off.

“I have very few gaps?” she says, incredulous, “There are so many things I don’t know! I know more than Naruto thanks to how ridiculously lacking his education was but I don’t know nearly enough for the field. That’s where you’re supposed to come in! Teaching myself, much less my teammates, isn’t supposed to be my job, it’s supposed to be yours! And you’ve abandoned it!”

“I’m trying to give you time to bond as a team-” Kakashi says but Sakura cuts him off again.

“And we couldn’t do that with you there? Are you part of this team or aren’t you?” Sakura says, finally getting to the crux of her argument.

Kakashi is silent for several moments before he raises his brow again and says, “Well, you don’t mince words, do you?”

Sakura glares right back at him and says, “That wasn’t an answer. I’ve been patient. I’ve given you time to get your act together on your own but I don’t have forever. We’re going to be sent out of Konoha eventually and if you don’t start actually teaching us before then we aren’t going to survive the first enemy encounter.”

Kakashi deflates so quickly that Sakura almost feels bad for him. She thinks back on the past few weeks, though, and the almost-regret evaporates. He nods eventually but Sakura waits for a verbal response. She can’t afford to let him be vague about this. She’s learned her lesson.

“Fine. We’ll start actively training as a team tomorrow,” he says eventually.

“Good,” Sakura says and waits for Kakashi to get up and leave. When he pours himself another cup of tea instead, she raises an eyebrow and says, “Didn’t you have plans for tonight?”

Kakashi tries to play it cool but he chokes very slightly on his tea. “Maa, I think I’ll have to reschedule. And maybe find a different venue,” he says, finishing in a mumble.

“I don’t know, I think Chiharu is a perfectly nice ‘venue’,” Sakura says and grins when he gives her a very dry look.

“Weren’t you just saying you had questions?” he asks.

“Ne, I was going to wait until training but if you’d rather talk about obscure chakra theory, I guess I can do that,” Sakura says before she launches into a long list of questions.

Judging by the way Kakashi keeps rubbing his temples, he’s not going to be any less tired tomorrow than he would have been with his original plans. Sakura finds she’s okay with that. As the one to kick him into gear, she deserves some time to ask questions without the others.

Kakashi is only one hour late to meet them the next morning. Naruto actually falls down in shock when he appears and accuses him of being an imposter.

Kakashi awkwardly rubs the back of his neck and says, “Training?”

It’s definitely an improvement.

Chapter Text

It is immediately clear that a large part of the reason Kakashi was avoiding teaching them anything was because he has absolutely no idea how to teach. He consistently seems surprised with how long it takes them to learn things and he often gets frustrated and disappears when he can’t find the right words to explain concepts to them. It is still a million times better than what it was.

They mostly focus on taijutsu for the first week. Sasuke has his own style but Sakura and Naruto are still using the Little Leaf style that’s taught at the Academy. Kakashi offers to help them pick out a new style and both of them immediately take him up on it. He demonstrates several styles for them as well as bringing them scrolls from his personal library.

It doesn’t take Naruto long to decide on a style from the Land of Wind that mostly focuses on redirecting your opponents blows. “It’s like you're pranking them, ne? Cause you’re using their own hits against them?” he says and no one can really argue with that.

Sakura takes a little longer but eventually settles on a style from the Land of Earth that focuses on concentrated bursts of chakra to augment your strikes. It’s not until Kakashi mentions it that she realizes the connection to Princess Tsunade but by then it’s too late.

The new training schedule is very helpful but it leaves little time for the lessons Sakura has been helping Naruto with. They only have an hour in the mornings now and, while that’s enough time to work on his reading and writing abilities, it is not enough time to continue their lessons on theory or the things he missed at the Academy. So, at the end of the first week of Kakashi actually training them, Sakura asks Naruto and Sasuke to hang back.

“I was wondering,” Sakura says, steeling her nerves, “if you would like to come to my apartment to study. It’s just, we don’t have a lot of time to study theory in the mornings anymore or anything so I thought maybe we could study it now.”

Sasuke and Naruto are both silent for a moment before Naruto cautiously asks, “Do they, um, do your parents know who you’re inviting over?”

“Oh, I don’t- I don’t have parents,” Sakura says and all three of them look at each other in shock for several moments. Sakura had assumed they knew but judging by looking at them, apparently they had not.

“Oh, okay,” Naruto says and he looks much more at ease now. It’s very much not how people usually react but Sasuke is also looking distinctly less uncomfortable with the idea now that parents aren’t part of the equation.

“I should be training,” Sasuke says, looking at the ground.

“You could do that,” Sakura says slowly, careful with her wording, “but theory is another kind of training. If you train without the right knowledge, you end up learning the wrong things.”

Sasuke looks seriously at her face for a few seconds and Sakura is careful to keep it as neutral as possible. Eventually, he nods and says, “I’ll have to go take care of a few things first.”

“That’s fine,” Sakura says and finally starts to relax, “I’ll have to shower and stuff, too, so maybe we can meet at my apartment in an hour or so?”

Both the boys nod so Sakura gives them her address and takes off for home with a smile on her face. She really hadn’t thought that would work.

---

Naruto knocks on Sakura’s door about thirty minutes after they went their separate ways. He’s talking a mile a minute from the moment she opens the door but he doesn’t actually enter the apartment until Sakura literally drags him in and even then he seems hesitant to move from the spot he lands in. Oddly enough, Naruto’s obvious discomfort helps Sakura to get over some of her own uncertainty discomfort and she wastes no time in pulling out their reading notebooks to work on until Sasuke arrives.

Sasuke shows up approximately on time but he doesn’t knock on her door immediately. In fact, he doesn’t knock on her door at all. He spends several minutes lingering outside uncomfortably before Sakura decides enough is enough and goes to open it anyway.

“Please just come in,” Sakura says as she opens the door. Sasuke’s eyes widen and then narrow in short order but he does as he’s told. Sakura puts some tea and snacks on the table and starts, “Okay, we finished up with basic chakra theory and elemental affinities last week so I thought we could move on to talking about bloodline abilities.”

“Bloodline abilities?” Naruto asks. Sakura has made her peace with the fact that Naruto somehow made it through the Academy while learning almost nothing so she isn’t exactly surprised by his question but she has to take a calming breath anyway.

“Bloodline abilities are when certain abilities are passed on through families. For example, the Hyuuga have inherited differences in their eyes and the nature of their chakra which allow them to see the places chakra exits someone’s body and put blocks there. They call it the Byakugan.”

“Inherited?” Naruto asks.

“They got it from their parents,” Sakura says and takes another calming breath to reset. Naruto’s face falls for a moment before he pastes on a bright grin.

Sakura has seen him do this several times and has tried to find differences between the grins he pastes on and the ones that seem to occur naturally with no success. Her heart clenches a little every time she sees either kind now.

Sakura pastes on her own, likely less convincing smile and clasps her hands in front of her before saying, “So, I thought we could talk about the types of abilities, which clans have them and where those clans live, and what’s typically done to combat them.”

Sakura deliberately does not look at Sasuke any more or less as she continues on the subject. They won’t get to the Sharingan tonight but when they do, there’s likely nothing she can do to prevent the awkwardness of it. That doesn’t mean she can’t try, though.

At the very least, she can pass off any of her own discomfort with the subject as a byproduct of Sasuke’s connection to it. Her own connection doesn’t have to come into things at all.

---

The first time Sakura uses the Mokuton, she is four and she’s incredibly nervous about starting at the Academy in a few months. Sota has already been going there for a few months, though, so at least she has some idea of what to expect.

Sota is showing her a trick they taught him at the Academy so she can be ahead when she gets there. He takes a leaf and holds it to his forehead and when he takes his hand away it sticks there on its own.

“Now you try,” Sota says and he holds out a leaf to her.

Sakura concentrates really hard on the wiggly feeling in her stomach that’s supposed to be chakra. She thinks she can feel it but she keeps getting distracted by the wiggly warmth all around her.

“Come on,” Sota says, “if stupid Ayaka can do it, so can you!”

Sakura focuses as hard as she can and she thinks she feels something warm making its way towards the leaf. She lets go and the leaf flutters to the ground. Except-

It doesn’t look like the same leaf. It’s winter so the leaf had been dead when she picked it up but now it’s green like it’s alive. There’s only one person Sakura can think of who could make plants turn alive like that: the first Hokage.

Sakura stares at the leaf. She looks up and Sota is staring at the leaf. Then, he looks at her and Sakura bursts into tears.

“Shh,” Sota says, looking around to make sure they’re alone.

Sakura nods and tries to take deep breaths.

“It’ll be okay. We’re the only ones here. You just have to keep practicing so it doesn’t happen where anyone else sees, okay?” Sota says.

Sakura nods because yes, that’s sensible. No one else has to know.

Supposedly, kids from the Flower District who show clan abilities get taken in by the clans. There’s a form to fill out and everything. But everyone knows that the clans used to kill kids who could do their tricks and weren’t them.

Supposedly, that kind of thing is against the rules now but everyone in the Flower District knows someone who did a clan trick and disappeared. Everyone knows they aren’t actually going to live with the clans.

Sakura calms her breathing down and goes to pick up the leaf from earlier but Sota stops her.

“No, you should use another dead one. That way we know if you’re still doing it,” he says.

Sakura nods and they spend the rest of the afternoon trying to make a leaf stick to her head without it turning green. She finally manages it and, together, she and Sota bury all the green leaves. Sakura bursts into tears again at the sheer relief of being done with it.

“It’ll be okay,” Sota says as he wipes her tears away with a muddy hand, “No one else has to know.”

Sakura nods and even though it’s riskier for Sota to know, she’s so incredibly glad he is here. He always seems to know what to do.

---

Sakura’s introduction to the topic of bloodline abilities takes up most of an hour so by the end of it, Naruto is just about ready to burst out of his skin. Naruto gets up as soon as Sakura has indicated she’s done for now and begins bouncing all over the room. How he can have so much energy after a full day of training, Sakura has no idea.

Naruto makes several laps around the room before coming to a stop near the door. “Ne, I didn’t know you could draw, Sakura,” he says.

Sasuke also moves closer to examine the drawing and Sakura has to fight an instinctual urge to push them away from it.

“I don’t, really,” she says carefully, “It was a gift.”

“Oh, well it’s really nice,” Naruto says and he continues on his path around the room. Sasuke is staring at Sakura now, though.

“What?” she asks. Sasuke looks between her and the photo a few times but eventually he shrugs and turns away from her.

It’s become clear by this point that Naruto is not going to be calming down enough to continue any time soon and it’s beginning to get dark outside so Sakura shoos both of them out of her apartment. Naruto leaves quickly once Sakura agrees that they should do this again but Sasuke lingers a few more moments by the door.

“You don’t have any other pictures in your apartment,” Sasuke says. At Sakura’s shrug, he continues, “You put the only one you do have right next to the door.”

“What are you getting at?” Sakura asks and even she can tell it sounds defensive. Sasuke looks at her for a few more minutes and Sakura raises an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to get on with it.

“Thank you for your hospitality,” Sasuke says instead and leaves before Sakura can respond.

Sakura watches him walk away for a moment and doesn’t close the door until she’s sure she can do it without slamming it. When she finally releases the handle, a leaf has sprouted at the edge of it.

Chapter Text

“No! No more stupid chores! I know that D-ranks are essential to civilian relations but we can contribute more than this!”

Underneath Sakura’s annoyance at Naruto’s outburst, she can’t help a well of pride at the fact that he used the words ‘civilian relations.’ She’s probably said it to him thirty times over the past few weeks but even when Naruto understands concepts, he rarely remembers the words used to describe those concepts.

Iruka goes to speak but the Hokage holds up a hand to stop him. “Well, Naruto,” he says, “what exactly do you think you should be contributing?”

Naruto opens and closes his mouth several times before looking to Sakura. After a short and silent argument, she decides he is going to owe her big for this.

“With all due respect, Lord Hokage, I think what Naruto is getting at is that, as a team, our skills tend more toward combat. There are teams with abilities better suited to fostering good in-village relations and I think Naruto just wants to know that we are serving the village in our most efficient capacity.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Naruto chimes in, “we aren’t gonna specialize in diplomacy or anything so shouldn’t we spend time doing things in our area?”

The Hokage takes several puffs of his pipe before answering. Sakura spends every second of the silence with an almost imperceptible trembling in her left hand. This, she thinks, is why I could never do diplomacy.

“Very well. You are correct that your skills are more suited to combat and you have made a surprisingly well-developed case for yourselves. Therefore, Team 7’s next mission will be a C-rank. Bring in Tazuna.”

Sakura’s first impression of Tazuna is not good. He’s drunk, unkempt, and, judging by his smell, unwashed. Her second impression is worse.

“What? A bunch of little snot-nosed kids? And one of them a shrimp with an idiotic look on his face? Is this really the best you can do? There’s no way these brats can protect me.”

Sakura grabs onto Naruto’s arm, concerned for when he realizes who Tazuna was calling a shrimp, but Naruto doesn’t even try to move toward him.

“Hey! We’re not kids, we’re ninja! And you better remember it!” Naruto says, putting his other hand on his hip.

“I assure you, Team 7 is the best choice for the mission you have requested,” the Hokage adds, passing the scroll to an aide who hands it to Sasuke.

Tazuna may be a slob who thinks insulting his guards is a good idea but even he isn’t willing to speak directly against the Hokage so he doesn’t question the assignment so loudly again. He doesn’t seem to realize that they can hear him as he mutters under his breath, though, and Sakura has to wonder how deaf civilians are if they think that sort of thing is safe.

“We’ll meet in two hours at the main gate,” Kakakshi says, cutting off Tazuna’s muttering. His face is perfectly neutral but Sakura thinks his usual slump seems a little more deliberate for a moment, especially after Tazuna’s comment about ‘lazy men older than I am.’ Kakashi disappears without waiting for a response and the rest of the team takes this as their cue to file out the door.

“Okay,” Sakura says once they’re outside, turning to the boys, “let’s see the scroll.”

Sasuke hands it over and Sakura reads the important parts aloud for Naruto’s sake, “Category: client protection. Expected duration: three weeks. Destination: the Land of Waves.”

Sakura rolls the scroll up and hands it back to Sasuke before saying, “I think we should pack together. It shouldn’t take long at each house and it means we’ll all know what everyone is bringing. That way, we don’t bring double of anything or leave anything out.”

Sakura makes sure to stare hard at Sasuke as she says it, flicking her eyes to Naruto only at the end. Sasuke rolls his eyes but he doesn’t actually say no so Sakura turns to Naruto and says, “You first, then. Lead the way.”

---

Naruto’s apartment is a mess but one he apparently knows how to navigate since the longest part of the time spent there is spent arguing over how much instant ramen is appropriate to bring with them. Sakura starts with a stance of none while Naruto starts with a stance of as much as he can carry. Eventually, they meet at three though neither are happy about it.

Sasuke’s house is large and mostly empty. It’s cleaner than Naruto’s by far but a lot of it is simply by virtue of not having much there. Sasuke tries to simply grab his mission bag and go but the point of this whole venture was so they could see what everyone is bringing and eventually, he relents. This time, Sakura is stuck trying to argue in favor of bringing more with them.

“Sasuke,” she says at one point, “a toothbrush weighs almost nothing. What point is there in leaving it behind?”

“Only necessary items,” Sasuke replies, which is the same refrain he uses throughout the argument.

Sakura does manage to talk him into a toothbrush, one set of extra clothes, and a single training scroll. She doesn’t manage toothpaste or soap but she is only willing to fight so many battles so she decides they can share.

Sakura’s apartment takes the least time but they do end up having an argument there as well.

“You don’t need five books,” Sasuke argues.

“What am I supposed to do during downtime?” she asks.

“You can hang out with us!” Naruto says, at which Sasuke starts to look considerably less invested in his argument.

Sakura allows herself to be talked down to two books and a notebook in case there is time for lessons and doesn’t allow herself to smirk. She may have won but now it’s going to be her responsibility to teach the boys how to negotiate. The fact that they believe she actually wants to haul five books around is just proof of how much they need to learn.

---

Sakura’s impression of Tazuna continues to fall as they set off for Wave.

He can’t walk faster than a snail’s pace and every third word out of his mouth is a complaint about something or other. If it’s not about getting stuck with them as escorts, it’s about the heat, or the pace, or how sore his feet are getting.

Sakura is perfectly content to let him stew in whatever misery he’s making for himself until she notices how Naruto’s face gets steadily darker with every insult. Frankly, they’re going to be protecting Tazuna from Naruto if this keeps up and Sakura certainly can’t count on Kakashi or Sasuke to intervene.

“Could you tell us more about Wave?”

“Why?” Tazuna asks, narrowing his eyes.

“I’ve always wanted to see the ocean,” Sakura says, widening her eyes and signing ‘suspicious behavior’ behind her back. “I’ve heard it’s beautiful.”

As Tazuna smiles for the first time since she met him and starts into a rambling description of his home, Sakura chances a glance back and sees Kakashi’s fingers twitch into ‘acknowledged’ as he continues reading. Sakura tells herself that Kakashi is a capable jonin and she isn’t really sure if it’s to reassure her suspicion or to prevent herself from trying to burn the stupid book. It’s not helpful in either case.

Her rage is redirected, though, as two nin appear in their path, killing Kakashi before turning on the rest of them. It’s not redirected at the enemy, though, at least not most of it. The majority is reserved for her teammates.

Sakura falls into a defensive position in front of Tazuna, expecting Naruto and Sasuke to take up similar positions at her side but neither do. Instead, Naruto stands frozen several feet away while Sasuke jumps forward to attack. Sasuke engages one of the enemy nin while the other slips behind him, leaving Sakura as the only thing between him and the client.

“Move aside and we won’t have to kill you,” the man says. Sakura answers with a kunai.

Sakura manages to keep the man’s metal claws away from her for the first few seconds but it’s very clear that she is going to lose this fight from the beginning. She’s barely been a genin for a month, her mostly-absent sensei is now dead, her teammates have seemingly forgotten about both her and the mission, and somehow she doesn’t think a week of taijutsu lessons and a slightly dull kunai are going to save her or Tazuna at this point. She can hear his bottle shatter as it hits the ground and knows he knows it, too. So when Sakura raises a kunai to block the man’s claws a moment too late and sees them slip off the side to continue toward her face, she figures she’s done for. Kakashi not being dead and appearing in front of her to stop them is not something she accounted for.

“Hi,” he says, casual as can be.

“You absolute asshole! How dare you!” Sakura has never been so angry in her life and it is only the client behind her that stops her from actually attacking this time, even knowing she wouldn’t be able to touch him. “A single leaf may fall,” she growls out instead.

Kakashi raises an eyebrow but responds correctly with, “But the tree grows ever upwards.”

Sakura doesn’t bother to acknowledge his answer, just grabs Tazuna’s arm and walks him to the shade of the nearest tree, sits him down at the base, and hands him her canteen. “Drink,” she bites out, turning her back to him so she can watch for further threats. She hears Kakashi say something to the others about having done a good job and feels her rage climb even higher.

Kakashi appears directly in front of her and Sakura hates that she doesn’t realize who it is until after she tries to stab him. It’s much less satisfying.

“You’re angry,” Kakashi says, sounding disapproving. Sakura turns away from him, deciding her attention is better spent watching for threats that won’t run into him first.

“You let us think you were dead.”

“I needed to know who they were after. I’m sorry it upset you but sometimes these things happen,” Kakashi says, confident and condescending and everything Sakura hates about men who think they know better than her.

Sakura whirls around at that. She refuses to let some horrible, emotionless, uncaring man talk down to her when she knows she’s right. Her eyes burn with tears and her cheeks burn red enough to clash horribly with her hair and none of it can match the burning in her chest when Kakashi’s hand comes down on her shoulder as though to comfort her.

“You think I’m sad because I thought you were dead? You think I was grieving you? I don’t know what gave you the wrong impression but let me correct it for you: I’m not in the habit of caring about people who make it clear they don’t care about me and that includes you,” Sakura says, laughing in a way that sounds a little too much like sobbing.

“I’m not sad,” she continues, “I’m pissed. You could have added something to that ‘acknowledged’ that you signed but you didn’t. You just left me alone with no warning and then told those two that they did a good job by leaving me alone, too! Sasuke ran off to play the lone hero; Naruto was following him before he was so traumatized by your little act that he froze; I was the only one defending the client! I had to try and cover three positions when you haven’t even taught us enough to cover one! What happened to not abandoning your teammates? Hell, what even happened to finishing the mission? The client almost died! I almost died! All so you could play another fucking mind game!”

Sakura doesn’t realize she’s yelling until she’s stopped and her chest is heaving. Kakashi is looking at her with wide eyes and Sakura crushes the tiny part of her that says she may have stepped over the line so she can stare back, gaze hard and unflinching. Kakashi looks away first and it doesn’t even feel like a win.

“I didn’t think of it like that,” he offers quietly, rubbing the nape of his neck..

“That’s the problem.”

“Ah, yes,” he acknowledges but Sakura keeps waiting. “I’m sorry?”

“Not good enough,” Sakura says and Kakashi’s gaze jerks back to her. “I don’t need an apology. We aren’t friends and this isn’t about feelings. This is about safety. It’s about whether or not I can trust my direct superior in the field.”

“You can,” he says.

“Right now I can’t,” Sakura corrects, “and an apology isn’t going to fix that. Being trustworthy is what fixes that.”

Kakashi nods and Sakura studies him for a second longer before allowing her gaze to slip away. She turns back to Tazuna. “Are you alright?” she asks.

“Yes,” Tazuna says. There’s a pause before he continues, “Thank you for the water and for defending me in that fight. I may not have been entirely correct about you.” He puts enough emphasis on the last word to exclude the rest of the team from his statement. Sakura finds that she’s alright with that for the moment.

“Sakura?” Naruto says from somewhere behind her.

“Not now, Naruto,” she says through clenched teeth. Of all of them, it’s Naruto she wants to be angry with the least. She needs time to work through it, though, to assign fault where it belongs with a clearer head.

“I’m really sorry, Sakura. I didn’t mean to leave you alone like that, I just-”

“Not now, Naruto,” she says again and reaches out a hand to help Tazuna to his feet. “Are we ready to continue?” she asks Kakashi.

“Not quite yet,” he says, avoiding her eyes and staring at Tazuna instead. “Whether or not it was right, faking my death did reveal who the enemy were after and it wasn’t us. So, Tazuna, we aren’t leaving here until you tell us why someone is sending ninja after you and, more importantly, why you lied to us about it.”

---

Sakura sympathizes with Tazuna’s story and maybe, in a different world, she’d want to keep going on the mission to help him. In this world, though, the sting of the last fight is too fresh.

Kakashi tells them that unless they are unanimous in wanting to continue, the mission stops here. Gato has already sent one team of missing-nin and he doesn’t sound like the kind of man to stop at one attempt. If anything, he sounds like the kind of man who escalates and quickly. Sakura can’t trust her team in a fight. It should be an easy decision.

It should be an easy decision but Naruto is looking at her with wide eyes as he begs her to say yes so they can keep going. He promises her that she’ll be able to trust him next time, elbows Sasuke until he promises too. It doesn’t sway her. He promises that they can defeat any enemy as long as they work together. She laughs. He tells her that he knows she’s too kind to abandon someone who needs help. Sakura hesitates.

Anyone who knows Sakura knows she is smart. They know she is disciplined. They know she is ruthless. It’s been a long time since someone knew she was kind. Sakura isn’t sure that she herself knows that she is kind.

Sakura hesitates and maybe she miscalculated how many negotiating lessons Naruto will need because he clearly knows he’s won.

“Please, Sakura, you’ve helped me so much without even asking for anything, just because you’re a good person. Tazuna will die without us. His family will die. We can’t just leave him alone.”

“If Tazuna can’t pay for it-” she starts.

“There are ways around that,” Kakashi cuts in, still not looking at her, “if that’s your only objection. He could do a delayed payment schedule from the revenue the bridge brings to Wave, for example, or make it a toll bridge and use that money to pay.”

“Please, Sakura,” Naruto says again.

“Okay,” she whispers and feels like a thousand kinds of idiot.

Chapter Text

Sakura’s nerves do not let up at all over the next two days.

On the one hand, this is a good thing because she’s almost entirely certain that something’s going to go wrong and this keeps her ready. On the other, it makes it really hard not to snap at Naruto. Every time he yells it grates at her already frayed edges until she’s pretty sure the wincing is no longer internal.

When Naruto suddenly rushes forward and throws a kunai at what turns out to be a rabbit, she finally snaps.

“What the hell, Naruto?”

“What?” he says. “I thought I heard something!”

They’re both saved from further argument when Kakashi yells, “Down!”

They all drop, Sakura acting on instinct to bring Tazuna down with them, barely dodging the massive sword that lodges itself in the tree above them. Sakura pulls Tazuna back up as soon as it’s hit and drags him further from whoever swung it, Naruto and Sasuke scrambling up to follow.

“Momochi Zabuza,” Kakashi says, “the demon of the hidden mist, working for a low-level thug. How the mighty have fallen.” He moves his headband for the first time since she’s known him and Sakura pushes away the annoyance that comes with being behind him as he does. She doesn’t need to see it, anyway, when Zabuza speaks again.

“Kakashi of the Sharingan,” Zabuza says with a biting grin, “I’m honored to know you’ve heard of me.” Zabuza does something with his chakra as he speaks and, suddenly, Sakura’s blood runs cold.

“Kai,” she whispers, flaring her chakra, and savors the warmth that rushes back.

Sakura can feel Sasuke trembling beside her and she doesn’t think it has anything to do with the genjutsu. She doesn’t dare take her eyes off of Zabuza as she pinches his arm to break it anyway and says under her breath, “Enemy takes precedence. You’ll have time to interrogate Kakashi later.”

Sasuke stops trembling and Sakura sees him nod out of the corner of her eye. Moments later, he disappears from sight entirely as mist engulfs them all. Sakura backs up until she bumps into Tazuna, certain she will lose him otherwise.

“Stay behind me,” she orders.

Zabuza starts listing fatal points and his voice comes from everywhere at once until Sakura flares her chakra again. Then, his voice comes from much too close. She stabs blindly with a kunai and is shocked when she makes contact and again when the liquid that rushes out is cold.

“A water clone,” she whispers and Zabuza’s answering chuckle comes from further away.

“Smart girl,” Zabuza says and Sakura pulls Tazuna out of the way just as a sword cuts into the ground he was standing on. “But not smart enough,” he adds from directly behind her.

Sakura is shocked to feel water on her back rather than a blade. She turns and finds Kakashi with a kunai through Zabuza’s chest, his one red eye spinning. Kakashi turns out to be a water clone as well but he buys Sakura enough time to rush Tazuna back to the others.

“Water vapor absorbs faster when it’s hot,” she says breathlessly to Sasuke who just stares at her. “Fire. Now.”

Sasuke nods and his fire jutsu clears the mist just in time for them to see Kakashi get caught in Zabuza’s water prison.

“Take Tazuna and run,” Kakashi orders.

‘I’m not you’ seems a little cruel when they’re all probably about to die so instead, Sakura goes with, “Not a chance.”

Naruto and Sasuke have an indecipherable conversation which ends with Sasuke throwing a shuriken at Zabuza. Sakura almost laughs at how pathetic a defense it seems they’ll be able to put up before a second shuriken hidden its shadow turns into a Naruto clone.

A Naruto clone that frees Kakashi. Sakura feels like laughing for a completely different reason.

The battle that follows is entirely terrifying and on a completely different level from the one they were having before Kakashi got trapped. Zabuza seems weirdly reluctant to escalate, though, and Sakura files it away to consider later, when she’s not a few feet from him.

Just as Kakashi is about to strike the final blow, a senbon flies at Zabuza from the treeline, stealing his kill. A Mist hunter-nin follows it and catches Zabuza’s body before it can hit the ground.

“Thank you for your assistance. I have been tracking Zabuza for some time,” the hunter-nin says before disappearing.

Sakura turns to Kakashi. “Why did he not just let you kill him?” she asks.

“A good question,” Kakashi says before passing out.

---

Tazuna’s daughter is very kind when they show up on her doorstep with her grandfather and an unconscious Kakashi. His grandson is less so.

Still, Tsunami gives them two rooms and offers to make them dinner so Sakura supposes she can’t complain. They set Kakashi in one of the rooms and unanimously decide that they’ll all stay together in the other. Naruto leaves a clone in Kakashi’s room, though, so they’ll know when he wakes.

Sasuke stays inside just long enough to set his pack down and then goes to sit on his own on the back porch. When Tsunami tells him dinner is ready and he just shakes his head. Sakura decides she’s given him enough space. She fills two bowls and heads outside, gesturing for Naruto to stay at the table on her way out.

Sakura doesn’t realize until she’s actually outside that she has no idea what she can do to help him. She isn’t even sure of what all is wrong. She hesitates a moment before setting one of the bowls down next to him and sitting down a few feet away herself.

The quiet lasts long enough that Sakura considers getting up and going back inside before Sasuke says, “Did you know?”

“Know?”

“Kakashi’s eye. Did you know it was-” Sasuke can’t finish his sentence.

“No, I didn’t,” Sakura says anyway.

“Ah,” Sasuke says, his posture relaxing a little as he picks up his bowl. “You’re closer to him. I thought maybe he told you.”

“He didn’t.” When Sasuke doesn’t answer, she asks hesitantly, “How bad-”

“Bad,” Sasuke cuts her off. “Clan law says he has to die.”

“Oh,” Sakura says, pausing before adding, “do you want to kill him?”

Sasuke’s jaw is clenched so tightly that it must be painful. “It doesn’t matter what I want. He stole a Sharingan. He has to die.”

“How do you know he stole it?” Sasuke scoffs but Sakura presses on, “I’m serious. You won’t know for sure until you ask him and he can’t exactly answer at the moment.”

Sasuke stills and Sakura isn’t sure if he’s relaxing or preparing to move. “He can’t answer until he’s awake,” Sasuke says slowly, almost as if he’s testing the words.

“Right, and you don’t have to decide what to do until he does,” Sakura agrees quickly.

“I wouldn’t-” Sasuke shakes his head. “I wouldn’t know where to start. What to ask. I’m not- I’m not good with words like you are.”

Sakura is stunned for a moment at the indirect compliment. It makes her bold enough to offer, “I could go with you, if you want. That way, if you get stuck, I could help. Maybe.”

There’s a long pause before Sasuke says, “I should be able to do it alone.”

“Maybe you don’t have to, though.”

Sasuke inhales sharply. “I don’t want to do it alone,” he says. There’s venom in his tone but it’s all directed inward. Sakura takes a risk and moves closer, still not touching him but close enough to feel his body heat.

“Things aren’t more meaningful because they’re harder. That’s just something powerful people tell you so they don’t have to fix things,” she says as softly as she can.

Sasuke nods after a few seconds and stands, offering her his hand to help her up as well. She takes it.

“I shouldn’t have gone off by myself before. I didn’t think about you being left alone,” he says, releasing her hand. It’s not an apology but there’s something painful about the way Sasuke says it that makes Sakura think it would be if he were anyone else.

“You’re young,” she tells him, grabbing his hand back for a moment to squeeze it once, “and you learned from it. Don’t do it again and we’re all good.”

---

Kakashi wakes up two days after they reach Tazuna’s house.

“Kakashi-sensei! You’re alive!” Naruto yells as running ahead of Sakura and Sasuke as they enter his room.

“You knew he was alive, Naruto, he was just out of chakra,” Sakura reminds him. “Why don’t you go check the bridge to make sure there aren’t any traps before Tazuna heads out for the day.”

Naruto starts to protest but nods once Sakura looks pointedly between Sasuke and Kakashi. “Right, right,” he says, running out the door, “traps.” He pauses just out of Kakashi’s eye line in the hall to hold up a fist and nod again before he leaves.

Sakura starts to walk further into the room but stops when Sasuke grabs her hand, eyes blank and looking straight ahead.

She turns to him and leans in to whisper, “You don’t have to do this but you won’t be alone if you do.”

Sasuke’s next breath is shaky but his nod is sure so she turns back around. She sits down a few feet from where Kakashi is lying on his sleeping roll and Sasuke, still holding her wrist, follows.

Kakashi opens his mouth but he closes it again when Sakura shakes her head. She turns to Sasuke and waits but his mouth stays closed as well. “I can start,” she offers. He nods.

“Right,” Sakura says, turning back to Kakashi, “You told us to retreat when Zabuza captured you and we didn’t. You have no right to be surprised at that when you keep giving us reasons not to trust you. You’ve been lying to us since day one. Hell, passing your test required us to disobey you. If you want us to trust you, to listen to you, things have to change and they have to change now.”

Sakura keeps a hard stare on Kakashi until he looks away. “You may have a point,” he says quietly.

“I know I have a point,” she says matter-of-factly. “What I don’t know is if you’re going to listen to it and make actual changes.”

“I’ll try-”

“Nope,” Sakura cuts him off, “trying isn’t good enough. If you aren’t willing to commit to actual change, nothing’s going to happen. I didn’t force you to give a real answer when we had almost this exact conversation a few days ago and that was my mistake. I won’t make it again.”

Kakashi is the first to look away again. “I’ll do better,” he says.

“Good,” Sakura says, “then you can start now. Whose Sharingan is that and how did you get it?”

Kakashi flinches. Sakura reminds herself of all the reasons she shouldn’t feel bad about that. It doesn’t quite work. It is even less effective when he curls in on himself before he begins to speak.

“Uchiha Obito was on my genin team,” he says haltingly, after several false starts. “We had a mission. Our other teammate, Rin, got taken. He wanted to save her. I wanted to finish the mission. He left without me. I went after them but it was too late. They were in a cave. An earth jutsu had caused a cave-in and the right side of his body was crushed by a fallen boulder. His last request was for Rin to transplant his eye to me so I could use it to keep her safe. She did. The Uchiha were angry but Fugaku agreed to honor his last wish.”

Sakura tries to think of something to say to that and can’t. She’s grateful when Sasuke finally speaks instead.

“You gave us the bell test to make sure we would make his choice,” he says.

“Yes,” Kakashi answers hoarsely.

“Why?”

“What do you mean?”

“You wanted to finish the mission. Why give us a test to make sure we wouldn’t?”

The silence stretches on long enough that Sakura thinks Kakashi might have fallen back asleep. Finally, he says, “Obito was the worst ninja I’ve ever known but he was better than me in every way that counted. I didn’t see that until it was too late. I didn’t want students who would make my mistake.”

“You loved him,” Sasuke says. His tone isn’t kind but it isn’t unkind, either. It’s just searching. Sakura still thinks it’s the cruelest thing she’s heard in a long time.

Kakashi laughs, a harsh, pained sound, and says, “I thought I hated him. I told him so. Often.”

“What happened to Rin?” Sasuke asks after a moment.

Kakashi laughs again, harsh and hard enough that Sakura worries they may have missed water in his lungs. It breaks on a single sob. Kakashi takes in several shuddering breaths before he speaks again.

“She died,” he says, eventually. “Friend-killer Kakashi,” he mutters a moment later, sounding dazed.

Sasuke is silent and still for a moment. Kakashi sobs again and it seems to break him out of his trance. He stands abruptly, pulling Sakura with him by the hand still on her wrist, and they retreat to the back porch again.

Sakura fidgets silently for a moment before asking, “Do you need me to sit here quietly or do you need me to help you figure out what to say or do you need something else?” Sasuke holds up two fingers. “Okay. Can you shake your head for no and nod for yes?” Sasuke nods.

“Okay, do you want to kill him?” Immediate no. “Do you want him to give up the eye?” No. “Do you want to be the one to tell him that?” No. “Okay, I can do that. Do you want to talk to him about it again anytime soon?” No. “Do you want me to tell him it’s okay or reassure him somehow?” The most violent no yet.

“Alright, I won’t. Do you want to know anything else?” A shrug. “Do you want to know more about Obito?” A shrug. “Do you want to know what happened to Rin?” A shrug. “Do you want me to tell him you may have more questions about him later but leave it for now?” The first yes.

“Do you want to be there when I tell him?” Sakura thinks the hand squeeze is involuntary and Sasuke doesn’t move his head at all. “Do you want me to walk with you to the bridge so you can supervise Naruto?” Yes. “Do you want me to tell Naruto?” A slow yes. “Do you want me to wait until you aren’t there?” Yes.

“Okay, then. I think that’s enough for now. Let’s go see what kind of trouble Naruto’s gotten into. He’s been on his own long enough that there should be something,” Sakura says, standing. Sasuke stands with her.

Sasuke lets go of Sakura’s hand just before they reach the bridge. He doesn’t look at her but his hands form the signs for ‘thank you.’

“Anytime,” she tells him.

Naruto bounds up to them as soon as they come into view.

“Hey,” Sakura says before he can speak, forming the sign for ‘later’ at her side, “I thought you could use some company but I have stuff to take care of back at Tazuna’s so you’ll have to settle for Sasuke.”

“Yeah, well, we wouldn’t want to hang out with you anyway,” Naruto says, nose in the air as he links arms with Sasuke and pulls him away. Sakura feels a rush of affection for him as he signs ‘acknowledged’ and ‘assist in progress’ behind his back as he walks away.

---

Sakura goes back to Kakashi’s room and isn’t sure if she’s relieved or disappointed that he’s still awake.

“Thank you for answering our questions. Sasuke will respect the decision Fugaku made. He needs time to process all of this but he may have questions later,” she tells him, voice carefully blank. She turns to go but Kakashi’s voice stops her when she’s almost to the door.

“I would have traded places with him if I could,” he says, an almost-apology in his voice.

Sakura thinks about Sasuke’s violent ‘no’ when she brought up reassurance and takes another step forward. She thinks about Sasuke’s almost-apology and stops.

“You were young,” she says. “Now you’re not. Make better choices.”

She leaves without waiting for a response.

---

Sakura tells Naruto the whole tale as Sasuke showers that night. He’s frowning from the moment she starts and it only grows deeper. For once, though, he doesn’t interrupt to ask questions.

“You deserve a better sensei,” he says at the end. It's the exact voice he used to tell her he couldn’t read, the exact same defeat. Sakura doesn’t like it any more now than she did then. The difference this time is that Sakura can’t fix it.

“We all do,” she tells him, “but he’s the one we’ve got.”

“Yeah,” Naruto says, bitter and angry and exhausted.

Sakura can’t fix this but she can’t just do nothing about the hurt in his voice, either.

“You know what, though?” she asks after a second. “I wouldn’t switch teams if someone paid me.”

“Really?” he says quietly.

“Really. You and Sasuke are worth it,” Sakura says. She pauses to let Naruto search her face for a moment. There’s no lie for him to find. “We deserve better but we’ve got each other and that’s going to have to be enough. I’m going to make it enough.”

“We’re going to make it enough,” Naruto says, all determination. “Believe it.”

Chapter Text

Tsunami finds a crutch to help Kakashi hobble around the morning after he wakes up. It’s a kind gesture so none of them bother to mention that most ninja would rather walk unassisted on broken legs than lose the use of one of their arms to a crutch.

“Zabuza is almost definitely still alive,” is the first thing Kakashi says when he joins them at breakfast.

“How could he be alive?” Naruto asks. “Didn’t that hunter-nin guy kill him?”

“I doubt he was really a hunter-nin. They tend to dispose of bodies immediately to decrease the risk of village secrets getting out. He also used senbon, which can be used to put someone in a death-like state without killing them if the user is incredibly accurate,” Kakashi answers.

“So he might be coming back?” Sakura asks.

“Oh, almost certainly,” Kakashi says, “but probably not for a week or so. It takes time to recover from something like that.”

“So what do we do?” Sakura asks.

“We train.”

“Train?” Sasuke says, incredulously. “What can we do in a week that will help in a fight like that?”

“Nothing but I figured that if you’re going to be on an A-rank, you should probably know more than the Academy three and some basic taijutsu.”

“An A-rank?” Sakura asks.

“At least,” Kakashi says.

“How much does that pay?” she asks.

“Seriously? That’s your question?” Sasuke says.

“Some of us have to worry about things like rent,” Sakura says. “Assuming we survive, it will be good to know.”

“It’s about ten thousand ryo each,” Kakashi intervenes before Sasuke can reply.

“Holy shit,” Sakura whispers, “I could buy so many books with that.”

She’s too busy thinking of the possibilities to pay attention to Naruto’s head hitting the table with a groan.

---

Kakashi demonstrates tree walking and Sakura feels her stomach sink to somewhere around her knees.

On the one hand, tree walking seems very useful and they should all definitely learn it. On the other, trees tend to like Sakura a little too much. Putting her chakra so close to one seems like a recipe for a disaster.

Of course, there’s no way to explain any of this so when Kakashi tells them to try it themselves, Sakura does.

Sakura has to go more slowly than she thinks she would on a rock or something like that. The thin layer has to be carefully maintained, a difficult task when the tree seems to suck at it as she goes. She’s so focused on keeping the layer of chakra even that she doesn’t realize she’s passed by the first few branches until Naruto yells.

“Woohoo! Go Sakura!” he says from below. Sakura turns and sees Naruto and Sasuke both still on the ground and smiling for her anyway.

“Not bad,” Sasuke yells.

Sakura smiles back, the warmth of affection and pride running through her. She realizes a second too late that the warmth is not solely emotional.

“Kai,” Kakashi says. A few seconds go by before he adds, “Sakura, did you know your name was quite so literal?”

Sakura glances back to find her tree in full bloom, several weeks too early. She doesn’t answer.

“Ah,” Kakashi says distantly.

“Ne, Sakura, I didn’t know you were from a clan,” Naruto says as Sakura jumps down to the ground.

“I’m not,” she says, moving past him toward Kakashi.

“But you said in the lessons-” Naruto starts before Sakura cuts him off.

“I know what I said, Naruto.”

Sakura stops in front of Kakashi. She looks away first.

“This isn’t in your file,” Kakashi says.

Sakura scoffs, “I don’t have a death wish.”

“A death wish?”

“Everyone knows what happens to clanless kids who show clan abilities,” she says, “no matter what the rules officially say.”

“They get adopted into the clans,” Kakashi says. He sounds confused enough that if Sakura didn’t know he was such a good liar, she might even believe him.

“Sure they do,” she says. Sakura can feel Kakashi’s eyes on her for a few seconds but she keeps her own on the ground. She doesn’t look at him again until he speaks.

“I think,” Kakashi says slowly, “that I should go check on Tazuna. It should take the rest of the day. I’ll leave twenty minutes ago.”

“What?” Sakura asks. What he’s offering is too good to be true. He can’t be serious.

“I left twenty minutes ago to check on Tazuna. I can’t possibly know about anything that happened in the last twenty minutes because I was several miles away at the bridge,” Kakashi says and disappears.

Sakura is stuck staring at the spot he disappeared from until she hears Naruto call her name.

“Yeah?” she says dazedly.

“What happens to clanless kids who show clan abilities?” Sakura is shocked out of her daze and turns back to him.

“They disappear,” she tells him. “Please, I- Please don’t tell anyone. I know it’s a lot to ask and I’m sorry I didn’t-”

“Of course,” Naruto says, like it’s obvious.

“Of course?”

“Do you really think I’d tell people something that could get you hurt?” he asks.

“I just-” Sakura says, “It could get you in a lot of trouble if someone finds out you didn’t report it.”

“You’re worth it,” he says, a small smile crossing his face at the reference.

Sakura turns to Sasuke and she doesn’t even ask anything before he’s nodding. She’s so relieved that her knees give out under her and she ends up lying on the grass, looking up at a sea of green leaves and a single blooming tree.

A hand appears in her face and Sasuke says, “Oh no. If we’re keeping this secret for you, the least you can do is make sure you don’t blow it getting too excited. It’s time to practice.”

Sakura smiles and takes the hand. She starts heading to another tree.

“What are you doing?” Sasuke asks.

“Well it would be weird if only one tree was blooming.”

“Yeah, which is why we’re going to burn it down when you’re done.”

“Oh,” she says, “okay.”

Sakura ends up slipping up one more time by the end of the day. She blames this entirely on Sasuke who takes to throwing rocks at her as she climbs, claiming she needs to learn to ignore the distraction. The fact that he’s right doesn’t stop her from catching the next one and throwing it back.

---

Around noon, the three of them decide to take a break from lunch.

“Could your parents use it too?” Sasuke asks after a few minutes of resting in silence. No one needs clarification of what ‘it’ is.

“I don’t know,” she says. “I never knew them.”

“Were they ninja?” Naruto asks.

“I don’t know,” Sakura says.

“You don’t-” Sasuke starts before Sakura cuts him off.

“I’m from the flower district.”

“Haruno,” he says, realization crossing his face.

“What about it?” Naruto asks.

Sakura draws the kanji in the dirt between them: ‘of spring.’ “It’s supposed to be funny, I think,” she says.

“It’s not,” Naruto says.

“I’ve never thought so,” Sakura agrees.

“Does anyone else know about it?” Sasuke asks.

Sakura thinks he means her name for a moment before she realizes. “My brother knew,” she tells him. Sasuke’s face makes it clear he understands the implications of that. He elbows Naruto when he goes to speak and shakes his head.

“What?” Naruto asks.

“Past tense, Naruto,” Sakura says. Naruto’s face drops into pity and Sakura can’t stand to look at it so she gets up.

“We haven’t eaten yet,” Naruto says as she walks back to her tree.

“I’m not hungry anymore,” she says without turning around.

---

Sakura excuses herself from dinner as well, going to sit on the back porch instead. Naruto and Sasuke bring her a bowl and come to sit with her anyway.

“I had a brother,” Sasuke says. Sakura starts to tell him he doesn’t have to say anything because she knows this story and it’s not the same at all but then Sasuke continues, “His name was Shisui.”

“Shisui?” Sakura asks quietly.

“He wasn’t- We were raised as brothers. I didn’t know he wasn’t my brother by blood until his funeral.”

“Sota never had a funeral,” Sakura says eventually. “There was no body. He was just gone. It happens, sometimes, where I’m from. I was the only one who even looked for him.”

“Shisui used to smile all the time,” Sasuke says. “He was the only one of us who did. I asked him once, why he did, and he told me it was to keep toads away. I was terrified of toads. I didn’t stop smiling for a week. He got in so much trouble for it but he said it was worth it to see me smile like that. He said I had the best smile in the world.”

“Sota liked to draw. He was so good at it, too. The picture, the one in my apartment, it’s one of his. He had to move into an apartment in the shinobi district when he started at the Academy. He taped it to my bed at the orphanage and told me it would keep me safe until I could leave, too,” Sakura tells him. The words burn in her throat as she says them but they don’t burn like fire. They burn like soap in a wound.

“It’s a good picture,” Sasuke says.

“The best,” she agrees. After a pause, she adds, “You do have a nice smile.”

Sasuke shrugs and says dryly, “Thanks.”

Sakura bumps her shoulder against his gently and says, “The one time a year you show it.”

That startles a full-on laugh out of Sasuke and he looks so shocked by it that Sakura can't help laughing, too. Naruto joins in a moment later.

If Sasuke or Naruto notice that she's crying as well, they don’t mention it. Sakura does the same for them.

Chapter Text

Sakura being alone in the forest when the fake hunter-nin reappears is entirely Sasuke’s fault.

Honestly, he’s the one who suggested that being here, so far from Konoha is the perfect place to practice her Mokuton. And, when Sakura said she didn’t need to practice because she couldn’t use it around anyone else, he’s the one who said that maybe it would be easier to control if she used it more.

Unfortunately, Sakura can’t quite find a way to blame the realization that crosses her face when the hunter-nin speaks on Sasuke. At least, she can’t find a way to blame him yet. If she lives, she’s sure she’ll think of something.

“My name is Sakura,” she says as he gets into a ready-position. “I’m twelve years old. I don’t-”

“I don’t want to fight you,” the fake hunter-nin says, cutting her off.

“Right, me either,” Sakura says, keeping her ready-position regardless. The hunter-nin does not keep his. Sakura studies their face for a moment before saying, “You don’t want to fight at all, do you?”

“My master bids me to fight, so I fight,” they say.

“Why?”

The fake hunter-nin, who is apparently both male and named Haku, tells her what is essentially his entire life story. It doesn’t really answer her question.

“But why are you working for Gato in the first place? It doesn’t sound like you like it,” Sakura says when he’s done.

“My master has,” Haku says and then pauses before continuing, “certain plans that require money to succeed.”

“How much is he paying you?”

“Four thousand ryo for the bridge builder’s life.”

“I’ll give you six thousand to switch sides,” Sakura says immediately.

“You brought six thousand ryo with you on a mission?” Haku asks with a raised brow.

“Well, not exactly, but I’ll have it when I get back to Konoha. I could mail it to you or something.”

Haku shakes his head. “My master will not agree to stop the mission without being paid now.”

“Well,” Sakura asks, “has Gato paid you?”

Haku tilts his head thoughtfully, “No, he hasn’t.”

“Do you really think he’s going to?”

“You have reason to believe he will not?”

“You’re out here gathering herbs to heal Zabuza so he can come back and fight someone who already beat him once. Has Gato even mentioned hiring more ninja for backup?”

“He has not,” Haku says, facing growing stonier by the second.

“If our teams fight again, you might win or you might lose. The sure thing is that you won’t do it easily. If you lose, you’ll be dead and Gato can come in, kill us while we’re injured, and finish off Tazuna. If you win, why wouldn’t he do the same to you?”

Haku rises abruptly and says, “I will take your offer to my master. I will return tomorrow night with an answer.” He turns to go but stops and turns back when Sakura calls after him.

“Wait a second,” she says, “what herbs did you need? I’ll see if I can find some.”

“Peppermint, basil, and helichrysum,” Haku says, face softening. “I do hope we do not have to cross blades, Sakura. I would hate to kill you.”

“Yeah,” Sakura says, realizing how true it is as she says it, “me, too.”

---

“I have six thousand ryo,” Kakashi says when Sakura has finished explaining what happened.

“Wait, with you?” she asks.

“You never know when you’ll need extra cash,” he says with a shrug.

“I can pay you back when we get to Konoha,” she offers.

“Maa, no need for that. I’ll file it as a mission expense when we get back and they’ll pay me back,” Kakashi says.

“Even better,” Sakura says with a grin.

---

The rest of her team insists on coming with her the next night. Sakura tries very hard to talk them out of it until Sasuke says, “Please don’t ask us to abandon you.” And really, there’s nothing to say to that.

Sakura deliberately ignores the look Sasuke gives her when they arrive to find that Haku has brought Zabuza as well.

“I don’t trust tree-huggers as far as I can throw them,” Zabuza says, “but Haku thinks I should hear you out, Pinky, and I’ve never known him to be wrong.”

Sakura holds out an envelope and says, “Turns out we have six thousand on hand after all. This is a thousand ryo. The rest is hidden away. You can have this now and the rest when the bridge is finished.”

Zabuza eyes the envelope. “I haven’t agreed to anything yet,” he says slowly.

“No, but you’d be stupid not to,” Sakura says. “If you take this and kill us, you’ll still end up with less than the original offer. If you take it and we kill you, we’ll make sure to collect it from your corpse.”

“And all you want is for us to keep the bridge builder alive until the bridge is built?” Zabuza asks.

“All we want is for you to help us keep the bridge builder alive until the bridge is built,” Sakura corrects.

Zabuza scrutinizes her for a minute and neither of them look away. Instead, Zabuza cracks a smile. “I like you, Pinky. You’ve got a deal.”

---

Even Sakura isn’t entirely sure how she convinces Tazuna that Zabuza and Haku should be allowed to stay with them but he agrees quickly.

“Kid, you could’ve run out on me half a dozen times on the way here but you stayed, even when you were risking your life. I’d have to be some kind of stupid not to trust you now,” he says.

Sakura holds back several comments about how she could have been convincing him to lower his guard and just nods and thanks him.

Haku and Zabuza set up their bedrolls in the living room despite Naruto’s best attempts to get Haku to stay with them. That doesn’t mean Haku avoids them, though. He actually spends most of their downtime with at least one member of Team 7. Sakura figures he probably doesn’t get a lot of opportunities to hang out with people his own age and decides to be extra nice to him, which is how she ends up doing his makeup one day. Despite how much Naruto in particular seems to like Haku, both of the other boys bow out of that one.

Pretty much any kid from the flower district can do makeup that’s at least passable but Sakura is particularly good at it. Sota had loved watching people doing makeup and had convinced one of the women to teach the two of them personally. Sota said it was probably the closest he’d get to painting until he had his own money. The few times Sakura has come up short on money for food or supplies at the end of the month, she’s been able to find someone who’s willing to pay her to teach them.

Haku doesn’t know anything about doing makeup himself but he’s very good at getting his makeup done. He doesn’t fidget, he can control the reflex to blink, and he’s incredibly complimentary at the end.

“You have a gift,” he says to her when he’s looked in the mirror.

“I have a steady hand and a lot of practice,” she corrects him.

“A gift,” he repeats, smiling when she rolls her eyes. “Why do you not wear makeup yourself when you do it so well?”

“Some women wear makeup for themselves,” Sakura says, “but men always assume it’s for them. When my face is plain and dirt-smeared, it is a signal that I do not care what they think.”

“You may have a point,” Haku says. He pauses a moment and adds, “You would look stunning, though.”

Sakura picks up a pot of black ink, much too dark to be anything but striking with her fair complexion, and lines her eyes with it. “If there is anyone I wish to stun,” she says as she paints it on, “I will use my fists, not my face.”

“Or your words,” Haku adds wryly.

“Or my words,” Sakura agrees.

---

It is mostly luck that all of them are on the bridge the day that Gato decides to strike.

“I knew I shouldn’t trust you ninja types,” Gato says. “You’re all the same: no honor, no loyalty, no brains. You’re practically savages. It’s a good thing I wasn’t planning to pay you or I might have been put out when you left.”

The mob he’s standing in front of would be terrifying to a civilian. Several of the men working on the bridge are, in fact, cowering. Sakura just wants to laugh. There must be a hundred people in that mob but there isn’t a single ninja among them. She almost wonders if they should be insulted.

Zabuza turns to Kakashi and says, “I’ll take the right?”

Kakashi shrugs. “Alright with me.”

None of the rest of them even bother to move. Honestly, one well-placed fire jutsu could take the whole group of them out. Zabuza and Kakashi are probably just showing off for the civilian bridge workers.

“Thank you for making your offer in the forest,” Haku says as they watch Zabuza and Kakashi cut through the mob. “I wish we did not have to work for such men. It was an unconventional solution but an effective one. I may try such a thing myself in the future.”

“Thanks for not killing me when you had the chance,” she tells him. “And it may have been effective this time but I wouldn’t try it in some cases. Against the Mizukage, for instance.”

Haku stiffens beside her and Sakura knocks her shoulder against his. “Relax,” she tells him, “he’s a horrible person and I wish you luck. You may want to be a little more careful about telling your whole life story to people you’ve just met, though.”

“Noted,” he says, a small smile crossing his face. Sakura would smile as well but she’s a little too worried she’ll get blood in her mouth.

---

After Zabuza kills Gato, everyone who quit working on the bridge out of fear returns and the whole thing is completed in two days.

Sakura is not the only one on her team who wishes it had taken longer. Sasuke had remained suspicious of Haku and outright distrusting of Zabuza to the end but Naruto had connected with Haku’s childhood stories before he’d even met him and immediately declared him a friend. Sakura isn’t as sure of where Kakashi stands on the missing-nin, as she’s been avoiding any conversation he and Zabuza are both in. She overheard one where she’s pretty sure they were not really talking about swords and that was enough for her.

Overall, it makes for a bittersweet goodbye on the bridge when they go their separate ways.

Sakura waits for Naruto to be done with his tearful goodbye hug before she approaches Haku for a hug of her own.

“This is my address,” Sakura tells him, slipping him a scrap of paper. “If you ever get a more permanent address, write to me. I think I’d be an excellent pen pal.”

“I will,” Haku says, “and I will also keep your advice in mind.”

Sakura isn’t sure if he means advice about makeup or about the Mizukage but her answer is the same either way. “Good, I’m rooting for you.”

“Alright, enough with the sappy stuff,” Zabuza says, trying to rush them along. Just for that, Sakura runs over and gives him a hug of his own.

“Take care of yourself,” she tells him, laughing a little at his shocked expression. “Haku would be very upset if something happened to you.”

“Yeah, yeah, Pinky,” he tells her. Sakura notices, though, that she is the first to step back from the hug.

“Before you all go,” Tazuna says, “there’s something I wanted to show you.” He pulls back the cloth on the sign over the bridge to reveal ‘The Great Zabuza Bridge’ painted across it in large letters. “After what happened the other day, a lot of the guys kinda insisted.”

Tazuna sends a wink Sakura’s way, though, as Zabuza stares up at it, dumbfounded, and she decides maybe Tazuna turned out okay after all.

---

They have to make a verbal report to the Hokage immediately when they get back because of the change in rank but Kakashi, as the team leader, is the only one who actually has to speak. He doesn’t mention tree walking at all.

The Hokage approves the change in rank so they’re able to stop and collect their pay on the way out. Kakashi grabs a form from one of the other desks and fills it out as they wait in line. Sakura assumes it’s for his reimbursement until he hands it to her to sign after they’ve collected their pay.

“You want to make me team leader?” she asks.

“You’re already team leader,” Kakashi corrects, “I want to make it official.” Sakura stares at him for a moment and he adds, “It comes with a pay raise if that helps.”

Sakura turns to the others.

“He’s kinda right,” Naruto says, grinning. Sasuke just raises an eyebrow.

“Okay,” Sakura says and signs.

“Great,” Kakashi says, switching out the form for his mission pay. “Consider this backpay.”

“This is more than we made on the A-rank,” Sakura tells him with wide eyes.

“Yes, well, dealing with those two is worth at least an A-rank.” He disappears before Naruto can finish yelling.

Sakura looks at the envelope and then up at Naruto and Sasuke. She does it again. “Well,” she says faintly, “I guess dango is on me today.”

“We could get ramen instead,” Naruto says.

“I am not eating ramen again,” Sasuke says. “It is dinnertime, though. We could get sushi.”

Sasuke and Naruto are focused enough on arguing between sushi and ramen for the next several minutes that neither of them seem to notice when Sakura links arms with them and starts leading them away from the Tower, much less where she’s taking them.

The outraged looks when they realize they’re already at the dango stand are a memory Sakura decides she’ll treasure forever.

Chapter Text

Sakura, very politely in her opinion, waits until a full hour after they usually meet for training to wake Naruto up on their rest day after their mission. It still takes fifteen minutes of very loud knocking and two yelled arguments with the neighbors she’s waking up as well before he answers the door.

“Sakura?” he asks, rubbing his eyes but fully dressed.

“Good morning, Naruto,” Sakura says. “We need to go shopping.”

“We?”

“Yes,” Sakura says, “you, Sasuke, and me-” Sakura has several arguments prepared (and two bribes) but she doesn’t end up having to use any of them when Naruto just shrugs and steps into the hallway with her, locking his door behind him. “Just like that?” she asks.

“Well, yeah,” Naruto says. “I saw his house too, you know. If anyone needs a shopping trip, it’s him. Besides, I need bigger shoes.”

“And a new outfit?” Sakura asks as they start heading towards Sasuke’s house.

“Hey! What’s wrong with my outfit?”

“Would you like the answer to that to be listed categorically or alphabetically?”

---

Sakura has covered the color issue and moved onto the lack of armor or padding by the time they reach Sasuke’s. Luckily, he’s already stretching outside when they get there.

“It’s our day off,” he says suspiciously as they approach.

“Which makes it the perfect day to go shopping,” Sakura says.

Sasuke scoffs and heads for the door. Sakura is about to call after him and invoke her new status as official team leader when he fishes his key out of his pocket and locks the door before turning back to them. “Well?” he asks. “Are we going or not?”

“Right,” Sakura says, unable to stop the slightly goofy smile growing on her face, “let’s go.”

---

Sakura and Sasuke share a Look the first time Naruto frowns and pats his wallet before moving on from an item as they shop. It’s a burnt orange jacket but it’s got enough padding and pockets to make it infinitely more practical than his current jacket.

‘Mission assist?’ Sasuke signs, tilting his hand to indicate a question before jerking his head towards Naruto.

‘Affirmative,’ Sakura signs back. ‘Distract and exit.’

Sasuke drags Naruto off to look at shuriken outside while Sakura takes the jacket up to the front to pay for them. It’s honestly not even that expensive, maybe a little more than her regular tops are, but Sakura knows intimately how it feels to weigh quality supplies against your food budget and has no judgment for Naruto.

When she gets outside, Naruto is frowning at a set of kunai and it only takes a single look from Sasuke before she’s linking arms with Naruto and setting off for a shoe store.

“Hey! You found something!” Naruto yells as they set off down the street. “What’d you get?”

“I’ll show you at lunch,” Sakura says. “If you can convince Sasuke, I’ll even agree to eat ramen.”

Naruto’s cheers echo down the length of the street, drawing glares from almost everyone they pass. Sakura can’t quite bring herself to mind.

---

Their last stop before lunch is a home goods store. Sasuke’s face shows no preference for anything despite Naruto’s best efforts at acting as a salesman but Sakura knows that she and Naruto both catch the way his hand strokes absently along the absolute softest blanket in the store.

‘Distract?’ Sakura signs, tilting her head towards Sasuke’s back.

Naruto is in Sasuke’s line of sight so his only response is a slight narrowing of his eyes before he’s loudly declaring that he and Sasuke are going to go look at ‘guy stuff’ and to meet them at Ichiraku’s while pulling Sasuke outside. Sasuke’s too busy protesting that he hasn’t agreed to ramen for lunch to protest being pulled along.

---

Sakura is staggering a little with all of her bags by the time she meets Naruto and Sasuke for lunch.

“That’s a lot of stuff,” Naruto says with wide eyes as she drops her bags to sit on the stool they’d saved between them.

“Most of it was on sale,” Sakura says, which isn’t even a lie. Naruto avoided full-price areas with enough dedication that she couldn’t get a read on a single thing he’d liked from any of them. “Besides, we did just get paid.”

Whatever reply Naruto would have made is lost as the chef comes over and they all place their orders.

“You waited for me?” Sakura asks.

“Well, duh,” Naruto says, screwing his face up the way he only does for what he considers really stupid questions. Sakura feels a warmth in her chest at it that is at least one part exasperation along with the million-and-three parts gratitude. She turns away before she does something ridiculous like hug him over it.

She reaches down and grabs the bags from all the stores but the last one, drawing out the bandage-wraps she’d bought and putting the rest on the counter in front of Naruto. “Here,” she says, before passing along the bags Sasuke hands to her as well.

Sakura assumed that Naruto would be excited, would tear through the bags with a grin, but instead she waits with her heart in her throat as he only opens the first bag before stopping. He pulls out the burnt-orange jacket and stares at it, running his thumbs over the fabric, with absolutely no expression on his face.

“You bought this for me?” he asks softly.

“Well, I don’t think I could pull off burnt orange,” Sakura says but the joke falls flat as Naruto’s eyes meet hers.

“How did you even-” Naruto begins before cutting himself off with a shake of his head. “You didn’t have to do this,” he says instead.

“We know,” Sakura says, glancing back at Sasuke to include him in the statement. “We wanted to.”

Tears are streaming down Naruto’s face as he jumps up to hug Sakura but he’s smiling, too, so Sakura lets herself relax as she brings her arms up around him. Sasuke must feel similarly given the small but genuine smile she sees from him before Naruto moves on to hugging him and a scowl slides firmly back into place.

“Ugh, seriously,” Sasuke says, grumpy but noticeably not pushing Naruto away, “you’re the worst.”

“Maybe,” Naruto says, still grinning. “But you like me anyway.”

---

They agree to train after lunch and Sakura manages to convince Sasuke that they should stick together while they drop off their bags with minimal effort. She thinks she might even catch a smile as he nods.

Sakura waits until they reach Sasuke’s house before handing him the bags from the last store. She keeps her face implacable as he glares at her for several seconds before taking them with a sigh.

She really has ridiculous teammates.

Sasuke’s eyes widen slightly as he opens the first bag and he strokes a hand across the blanket that had inspired her before setting it aside and opening the others.

“How many blankets and pillows do you think I need?” he asks incredulously as he opens the final bag, bringing the blanket count to seven and the pillow count to nine.

“As many as possible,” Sakura says, Naruto backing her up with a decisive nod. “They’re soft and cozy.”

“Plus they’ll make your house way less creepy,” Naruto adds, refusing to back down at Sasuke’s glare.

Sasuke turns away with a scoff so he can put his bags inside but he brings the bags of pillows and blankets with him so Sakura counts it as a win.

“Nice work,” Naruto stage-whispers as Sasuke disappears through the door.

“You too,” Sakura responds in kind before they both break into giggles.

“I can hear you, you know,” Sasuke says as he comes back through the still-open door. He stops just in front of them. “Thanks,” he says, very quietly.

“Of course,” Sakura says.

“You’re worth it,” Naruto adds.

Sasuke looks distinctly less calm at that so Sakura sets off for the training field before anything else can be said, grabbing an arm from each of them to pull them along.

“Training time,” she declares.

“Hey! We haven’t gone to your apartment yet,” Naruto protests.

“I only have one bag. I can just carry it.”

“Two bags,” Sasuke says quietly. Sakura stops to give him a narrow-eyed look but it’s Naruto who holds a bag out to her. “Naruto said we should get you something for your promotion.”

Sakura opens it to find a thick book on plants from across the nations. Flipping through it shows fully colored sketches of each one rendered in detail.

“It seemed like your kinda thing,” Naruto says, rubbing the back of his head shyly. His face turns serious, “If you don’t want it, though, we can find something else.”

Sakura feels the warmth in her chest from earlier come back ten-fold and this time doesn’t bother to hold herself back from pulling them both into a hug.

“I love it,” she says, and because it’s from them, it’s even true.

---

It’s on the way back from dropping off Sakura’s bags that Sakura notices a stranger coming toward them in puppeteer face paint. Her eyes flick to his headband and that of the girl next to him, both Suna.

Sakura lets herself stumble slightly so her footsteps can tap out the code for, ‘Possible enemies ahead.’ She unlinks her arms from her teammates’ as she pulls ahead slightly.

“Identify yourselves,” she says coolly, planting her feet and feeling Naruto and Sasuke stop just behind her.

“And why should we do that, little girl?” the puppeteer asks, moving into an aggressive stance.

Sakura feels Naruto and Sasuke shifting as well and forms a holding sign behind her back.

“All foreign shinobi within Konoha are required to present identification and travel papers to any Konoha shinobi who should ask. I know you were informed of that. Either show me your papers or your stay in Konoha is over.”

The puppeteer smirks and goes to speak again until the girl beside him holds up a hand and he subsides with a scowl.

“We’re here for the chunin exams,” the girl says, still not pulling out any papers.

“Which is a perfect excuse for infiltrators, now isn’t it?” Sakura says, finally shifting her stance to match the foreigners’ aggression and pulling out a kunai. “Papers, now.”

The girl’s eyes narrow but Sakura is focused on the flicks of the puppeteer’s fingers until-

“Temari, Kankurou,” a voice says from a nearby tree, prompting the two nin in front of her to shift into heavily defensive stances. Sakura looks over and finds another Suna nin, this time with red hair. “You’re embarrassing yourselves.”

The red-haired nin dissolves into sand, reforming in the street in front of them.

“We weren’t- These guys were just trying to show us up before the exams start. We really didn’t-” the puppeteer says before being cut off.

“Shut up before I kill you,” the red-haired nin says. “I’m sorry for whatever hassle they’ve caused,” he adds, turning to face Sakura. His voice doesn’t change tone at all.

“You are all still causing a hassle. I need to see your travel papers,” Sakura says, nervous for the first time that her voice might shake.

A single look from the red-haired nin has the other two pulling their papers out of their pockets. Sakura walks forward to inspect them. She keeps the holding sign as she goes, half in case of a trap and half because she suspects both Naruto and Sasuke would conveniently interpret anything else as an excuse to attack.

Both the puppeteer, Kankurou, and the girl, Temari, have perfectly acceptable papers and Sakura makes sure to roll her eyes where they can see it at the dramatics of the two. They bristle at first but she can see both of them stiffen in her periphery as she approaches the red-haired nin.

“Papers,” she says when he still doesn’t have his out as she stops in front of him.

The boy steps forward and Sakura catches herself before she can lean away on instinct and leans forward instead, holding out a hand impatiently. He stops less than a foot away and takes a deep breath, almost like he’s scenting the air.

“You don’t smell of fear,” he says, almost like a question.

Sakura isn’t entirely sure it’s an intimidation tactic but she knows her answer either way. She’s been around enough false bravado and real danger to know that showing weakness never helps with either. “What exactly am I supposed to be afraid of?” she asks.

“Me,” the boy says but he also holds out his papers so Sakura honestly isn’t sure what to make of it. Gaara’s papers are in order and Sakura is heading back to her team when he asks, “What’s your name?”

“Haruno Sakura,” she says without stopping or turning around. She finally drops the holding sign as she makes it back to her team, heading for a left turn down a side street rather than leading her team by the Suna team or retreating back the way they’d come.

“I suggest complying more promptly, next time,” she calls over her shoulder, “unless you just enjoy wasting your time.”

She feels Gaara’s eyes on her back long after she turns the corner.

---

Sakura waits until they reach the training field to stop and face the boys. Sasuke’s eyes are as wild as she’d expected from the way his breath had hitched for the last two blocks and Naruto’s eyes are as intense as she’s ever seen them, intense enough to be dangerous.

“First of all, I want it to be noted that I am fine. Secondly,” Sakura says, pausing for a deep breath, “thank you so, so much. I trusted you to listen and to have my back and you did.”

Sasuke’s gaze softens before he breaks eye contact. “I learn from my mistakes,” he says softly.

“Yeah,” Sakura says, a small, relieved huff of laughter escaping despite her best intentions, “you do.”

“I’m sorry,” Naruto says suddenly.

“What-”

“We didn’t have your back. On the mission.” Naruto frowns, “We didn’t.”

“And now you do,” Sakura says slowly, feeling far more out of her depth trying to comfort Naruto than she had felt when faced with the Suna team.

“But we didn’t,” Naruto insists, still frowning.

“I don’t know what you want from me,” Sakura admits honestly. “I forgave you. I trust you. I know you have my back. I don’t know what else I’m supposed to say.”

“You trust me,” Naruto repeats, not quite a question but not quite anything else, either.

“Of course I do,” Sakura says.

Naruto smiles at that, a blinding grin growing on his face that Sakura doesn’t think she’s ever seen before. He grabs her hand and pulls her towards the middle of the field.

“Come on, slow pokes,” he yells, loud and confident as ever. “We have training to do!”

“Unbelievable,” Sasuke mutters but Sakura just grabs his hand and pulls him along with them, a grin to rival Naruto’s growing on her face.

Her team trusts her. They have her back. She thinks she’d take on that Suna team every day if she had to, just to keep this.

---

“I’ve signed you up for the chunin exams,” Kakashi tells them the next day when he shows up to training.

Well, Sakura thinks, two steps forward, one step back.

Chapter Text

To Sakura’s surprise and dismay, she barely even gets to consider the idea of just not taking the exams before she has to admit that it’s a poor one.

Naruto takes a deep breath, presumably to begin persuading her, and she holds up a hand.

“It’s a good idea,” Sakura says, only a little sourly. She absently notes that Kakashi has already disappeared.

“Really?” Naruto’s eyebrows disappear into his hairline. He hurries to correct himself, “I mean, of course it is! We’re gonna be chunin!”

“We are almost certainly not going to be promoted in these exams, actually,” Sakura says before Naruto can work himself up even more. “That’s a good thing. For one thing, we aren’t ready to be chunin yet. For another, chunin are team leaders. When we do eventually make chunin, we will likely stop running most of our missions together.”

“You said it’s a good idea, though,” Sasuke not-quite-asks.

“It is. The exams won’t be in Konoha again for another three years. This will give us a chance to assess what the exams are like and how we compare to the other genin before we go to another village when we’re actually ready to advance. We probably won’t be promoted this year but we’re also less likely to die horribly if we’re in Konoha.”

“How likely is ‘less likely’?” Naruto asks.

“Well, I can’t give you an exact number,” Sakura says, tapping a finger against her chin. “We were definitely more likely to get killed by Zabuza, though, at least before we made our deal.”

Both boys stare at Sakura for a moment.

“I guess that’s better than nothing,” Sasuke says slowly.

---

Given Kakashi’s absence, Sakura spends lunch designing their training schedule for the next day and a half. It is neat, color-coded, and includes approximately a week of ordinary work.

“Obviously,” she says, turning it around to show the boys, “this schedule is not going to work if we limit ourselves to our ordinary training time. For maximum effect, you will both need to stay with me so we can eliminate wasted time due to showering, traveling, or unforeseen sleep problems.”

Naruto actually raises his hand before asking, “Unforeseen sleep problems?”

“If we can’t sleep, we might as well be studying.”

“It’s efficient,” Sasuke says. He nods sharply. “I like it.”

Naruto looks slightly shaky as he glances back and forth between them but he doesn’t voice any protest. Sakura’s slightly manic smile may be a contributing factor in that. She decides she doesn’t mind.

---

They manage to get through a practical lesson on code creation, a brief overview of the most common techniques from the different nations, basic lessons on both emergency medicine and toxic plants, and no less than three instances where Sakura wants to strangle every academy teacher who ever interacted with Naruto before they turn in for the night. They are still ever-so-slightly behind schedule.

“We’ll have to go through our supplies, plan our emergency formations, and go over escape and evasion techniques tomorrow in addition to our stretches and exercise,” Sakura mutters as she settles onto her futon. “I was hoping we could at least get the supplies done tonight but it’s just too late to be effective.”

She doesn’t quite manage to stop muttering until she’s cut off by Naruto’s groan as he turns his face into his pillow.

His groan when he wakes up almost an hour early to her muttering as she checks their supplies is less effective at silencing her.

---

Sakura manages not to hunt down and castrate any academy teachers as they train the day before the exams begin. It is a near thing.

As for Kakashi, the only thing stopping her is skill.

Sakura doesn’t remember the end of her lesson that night. She thinks she begins dreaming somewhere between lecturing on the danger of dull kunai and the political situation in Kumo.

(She is correct. This does not mean, though, that she stopped speaking.)

---

The morning of the exams finds Sakura quietly drinking tea.

“Are you-” Naruto hesitates. “-okay?”

Sakura raises an eyebrow. “As well as I can be, I guess.”

“You’re weirdly quiet, now,” Sasuke adds, bluntly. “It’s freaking him out.”

“At this point, we’re ready or we aren’t. Worrying about it is only going to hurt all of us from here on in.”

Sasuke takes a moment to consider this before his eyes narrow. “You’re still going through your disaster list in your head, aren’t you?”

Sakura takes another sip of tea, emptying her cup. Her eyes narrow as she smiles but the two movements are not quite connected.

“Always.”

---

Sakura is just far enough ahead of the boys that they don’t run into her back when she misses a step as they head towards the exam room. They’re close enough to reach back and touch without any obvious movement, though, which lets Sakura break the genjutsu for them as well.

Luckily, everyone else who might have caught the brief touch is focused on the boy getting beaten up a few feet further up.

Naruto’s hand brushes her leg. When she glances back, he signs, ‘Mission assist?’

Sakura signs a sharp negative at him. ‘Observe and assess.’

Sakura starts to lead the way to an empty stretch of wall but stops short as the boy from the fight suddenly appears in front of them.

Sakura wouldn’t admit it even to T&I, but her first thought is just, ‘Eyebrows.’

Luckily, her second thought is more useful: ‘Fast.’

Those two are all she gets through before the boy begins to speak.

“You are Uchiha Sasuke, yes?” the boy asks, staring unblinkingly at Sasuke.

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” Sakura says, moving to pass around him. She gets maybe two steps, her team following, before the boy appears in front of her again.

“Your clan’s reputation precedes you,” the boy says. “My name is Rock Lee. I challenge you to a fight!”

Sasuke doesn’t even bother to respond, just looks Lee up and down before scoffing and walking away. Sakura had almost forgotten what Sasuke is like around new- Well around people who aren’t on their team. It almost makes her grateful for Kakashi’s incompetence. Almost.

They make it three steps this time before Lee stops them. Sakura doesn’t bother letting him speak again.

“Do you really think we’re that stupid?” Sakura asks, cutting Lee off as he opens his mouth. “The exam starts in less than an hour. Trying to draw Sasuke into a fight now to disadvantage us shows a serious error in judgment, intel gathering, or both. Now, would you like to prove that you’re actually an unintelligent coward, or would you like to get out of our way?”

Sakura doesn’t wait for an answer before stepping around Lee again, her boys following. Naruto manages to wait until they’re in the stairwell before he bursts out laughing.

“Wow, Sakura,” he says, breathless but somehow as loud as ever. “That was awesome! He was like, ‘fight me,’ but then you were like-”

“We were all there, loser,” Sasuke says, monotone enough that Naruto actually stops talking.

“Sasuke?” Naruto prompts quietly.

“Not here,” Sakura says, though she has her doubts that Sasuke would have answered anyway. She taps Sasuke’s hand with the side of hers, their new ‘Ready?’ sign.

Sasuke nods.

Sakura nods back before turning to lead the way to the third floor, a bad feeling settling low in her stomach.

Chapter Text

Sakura and her boys are standing off on their own, not making trouble, and clearly rookies, so she’s already suspicious when Kabuto approaches them. It’s not until he offers them intel because ‘he feels like they deserve the warning about what they’re getting into,’ though, that the real alarm bells start.

Sakura doesn’t stop Sasuke from asking about Gaara’s team, or Lee’s, but she does tap out a ‘possible intruder’ code on both boys’ hands while Kabuto is shuffling through his cards. She pauses for a moment and adds ‘possible commander’ as well. If there’s a sign for proctor, she doesn’t know it.

“That’s a lot of information for a genin to have,” she says casually as he walks away after, elbowing Sasuke when he stiffens too noticeably. “It’s just odd.”

Any further discussion is cut off as another ‘genin’ attacks Kabuto a few feet away from them, just in time for the official proctor to intervene before any real damage happens.

Yeah, Sakura has a bad feeling about this.

---

The proctor for the second exam may be certifiably insane but Sakura has to respect her commitment to her persona.

They get released to wait for their numbers to be called and Sakura leads her boys as far as she can without risking being unable to hear when it’s their turn to get a scroll. She makes sure most of the other genin can only see their profiles before she starts speaking.

“We need to hit hard and hit fast. Teams pass one at a time so playing the long game isn’t going to work. That means we’ll be in close contact with other teams,” Sakura pauses until she gets two nods. “Right, so Naruto, you need to take the scroll.”

“Me?” Naruto’s wide eyes might be comical if Sakura’s brain weren’t still going a hundred miles an hour.

“You,” Sakura confirms. “If we start losing a fight or, gods forbid, get captured, you need to switch with a clone and get out. We can regroup with you later.”

Naruto’s face scrunches unhappily as he says, “Wait, wait, wait, you want me to run away and leave you guys in a losing fight?”

Sakura is about to double down when Sasuke adds, quiet but firm, “I’m with Naruto on this one.”

“Fine,” Sakura says, recalculating as fast as she can. “Replace with a clone, hand off the scroll to a different clone, then you can come back. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

“Agreed.”

---

They get lucky with their gate-neighbors, rookies from Grass with a mostly genjutsu skillset and an earth scroll to match their heaven. Less than three hours after the exam starts, they’ve got both scrolls in hand.

“Nice work, team,” Sakura says seriously.

Naruto’s eyes widen but he straightens up and salutes her, completely seriously. He’s not quite able to keep still but his movements look closer to fidgeting than actual spasms. Sasuke looks suspicious but he just nods at her.

Sakura manages to keep a straight face for about fifteen more seconds before she lets herself laugh. Naruto’s righteously angry face doesn’t last another ten before he’s laughing, too.

Sasuke, as expected, does not laugh with them, but he does crack a smile which is basically the same thing for him.

They get one singular, perfect, victorious moment in the sun before it falls apart.

---

It starts with the wind, so strong it has to be a jutsu.

It starts with the separation, Naruto blown so far that Sakura can’t even feel his chakra.

It starts with the cold terror so deep, even Sasuke’s eyes turn red.

It starts with: “Hello, Sasuke.”

---

Sakura doesn't wait for it to end. She grabs Sasuke's hand and runs.

---

The enemy nin’s face is cracking open as he catches them, which might have been the most horrifying thing about this fight if Sakura didn’t recognize the one underneath.

“Orochimaru,” Sakura says, and immediately regrets it.

“So, my reputation precedes me,” Orochimaru says, smirking at her.

Sakura is caught in his gaze long enough that she almost misses the giant snake, dodging only at the last minute.

‘The eyes of a predator.’ It runs through Sakura's mind on a loop, forceful enough that there’s no room to plan, to think, to move-

She can’t-

She can’t-

“You stay away from them!” Naruto’s voice shatters the haze.

Orochimaru turns to him, eyes narrowing, and Sakura isn’t sure what he does to Naruto, only that she starts moving as soon as he turns and she still barely manages to catch Naruto before he hits the forest floor. Only that there's a distant pop and a burning sensation as her shoulder is forced out of place by the force, by how fast Naruto was falling. Only that Naruto's eyes are still closed when they do reach the ground.

Only that he doesn’t open them, doesn't respond at all, when she says his name.

Sakura doesn’t check his pulse before she starts running back up the tree. If it’s not there-

Sasuke is still dodging the snake but he’s only managing because Orochimaru is just standing there. If he attacks-

Orochimaru moves and Sakura doesn’t have time to think, to plan, to move.

She has chakra, though. And they are surrounded by a lot of trees.

Orochimaru’s teeth close around a branch, inches from where they would have closed around Sasuke’s neck.

His eyes meet hers.

His head tilts.

“A shame,” he says, strangely softly. “We seem to be out of time.”

He disappears.

Sakura stands there, frozen, until Sasuke calls her name, suddenly next to her when he had been several trees away. She manages to turn her face enough that he’s at least in her periphery.

“Your shoulder,” he says, pointing.

Sakura nods dumbly. She freezes again as Sasuke walks the rest of the way up to her, not untensing until he’s popped it back into place.

“Naruto,” she says, pointing.

Sasuke nods and they climb down to him together. Sakura manages not to look over her shoulder every few feet. Sasuke doesn’t.

They reach Naruto and Sakura kneels down next to him. She places two fingers on his wrist.

She finds a pulse.

---

They find a cave to make camp in as the rest of the day passes in silence.

Sasuke mutters a quiet ‘thanks’ exactly once, when Sakura passes him a rations bar, and she almost startles out of her skin. By the time he speaks again, it’s full dark.

“That man- He-”

Sasuke doesn’t continue and Sakura looks at him full on for the first time since the beginning of the fight. He’s standing a few feet away from her and his face has the same open panic on it now that it did then. Sakura has the brief, half-wild thought that maybe it’s frozen that way. That he’ll be scared like this, on the surface, at least, forever.

She bites down on whatever’s crawling up her throat. Whether it’s laughter or sobs, it’s hysterical and she can’t-

She can’t-

“I can’t,” Sakura says.

“Can’t what?” Sasuke barks out a short, half-hysterical laugh and it’s the final straw.

Sakura is so close to shouting, to breaking something, to doing anything that makes her feel a little less like prey. A little less hunted. A little less four-years-old-again-and-so-terrified-she’s-furious.

There's an echo of warmth in her chest, of rage, that she is so close to chasing.

And then she looks up. Sasuke is looking at her, the closest to pleading she’s ever seen him. The same way he probably has been all day. When she wasn’t looking back.

Sakura takes a breath. Then another.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers when it feels a little less like it will cut her on its way out.

“Sorry for what?” Sasuke doesn’t quite shout but it’s a close thing.

Sakura looks down. Takes a minute to find the right words. Takes a breath. Looks back up.

“You deserve to feel safe. To be safe. I’m sorry I can’t give you that.”

Sasuke stands, frozen, for a few seconds before he slowly, carefully sits down beside her, close enough that she can feel his warmth but not quite touching. He takes a breath.

“I don’t know how to do this,” Sasuke says, barely audible even this close. “I don’t know if I can do this again.”

‘Oh,’ Sakura thinks. ‘Oh.’

“I don’t know, either,” Sakura says slowly. “But I know that if I don’t- If I have to do it alone, I don’t want to.”

“Oh,” Sasuke says.

Sakura leans over slowly, so that, even sitting so close, he has plenty of time to move away. He doesn’t. She rests her head on his shoulder, feels the shudder of his next breath.

“Please don’t make me do this alone,” Sakura whispers, humiliating desperation in her voice.

Sasuke doesn’t speak but she feels his arm settle around her shoulders. She hopes it’s an answer.

Chapter Text

Naruto wakes up the morning of the fourth day, impossibly energetic for having been unconscious minutes earlier.

Because he’s Naruto, he manages to mostly hold still anyway as Sakura examines him. Because he’s Naruto, he does much better at it when she drags him into a hug after, pulling Sasuke in as well when he doesn’t join on his own.

“Come on, Sakura,” he says after a few seconds, voice getting unsteady. “You weren’t that worried, were you?” When Sakura doesn’t answer, when she doesn’t even pull back to look at him, he lets out a very soft, “oh,” and his arms tighten very slightly around them both. “We’re all okay now, though, right? You don’t have to worry anymore?”

“We’re alive,” Sakura says softly, finally pulling away. It’s not quite the reassurance he asked for but it’s the closest she’s got right now.

“We’re-” Sasuke shakes his head as he cuts himself off. “We’re all here. Together.”

Sakura catches his gaze and he nods. “Right,” she says after a moment. “Together.”

“Right,” Naruto says as well. He doesn’t seem sure of what he’s agreeing to but he’s agreeing to it anyway.

Sakura lets the terror of having almost lost this, lost him, wash over him for exactly three seconds before she forces herself to shake it off. They aren’t out of the forest yet.

“Well, we have two scrolls and one more day. If we focus entirely on stealth, we may be able to make it to the tower without any more problems.” Sakura gives herself one more minute just to look at them, just in case, before adding, “Eat a rations bar if you need one and then pack up. We’ll have to move slowly to avoid detection so we need to head out as soon as possible.”

---

For once, luck seems to be on their side, as they make it to the tower just before dark. Sakura claims first watch and gives second to Sasuke once they reach their room, refusing to assign a third despite Naruto’s protests that he just slept for two days.

“That wasn’t sleep,” Sakura says. When he continues to protest, she adds, “No, I’m calling this one as team leader. We don’t know what happened to you, even if you seem fine now, and sleep is good for recovery.”

“Sakura-”

“You fell, Naruto. You fell out of a tree and you weren’t responding and we didn’t know if you were-” Sakura cuts herself off before she chokes on panic again.

Naruto looks at her and Sakura can feel every fear, every angry outburst, every desperate thought she’s had in the last few days sitting just beneath her skin. She doesn’t think she’s ever really minded before, that Naruto can read her so well.

“We’re alive and together,” Naruto says, as though he’s put something together. He nods after a few moments and lays down, crossing his arms behind his head and staring up at the ceiling.

If a few tears slip down Sakura’s cheek as Naruto’s eyes fall shut, well, at least she keeps them quiet.

---

The Hokage smiles down at her as rough hands pull her away.

“For the good of the village-”

“Sakura?”

Sakura moves on instinct but someone grabs her wrist before her swing can connect.

“Sakura!” Naruto shouts, inches from her ear.

“Naruto?”

Naruto lets go of her wrist, but it’s only to grab her hand instead. He sits next to her on the bed and pulls both their hands into his lap. He doesn’t answer.

“You’re supposed to be asleep,” Sakura says. She looks around the room and manages to catch Sasuke’s eye but he just shakes his head. “What-”

“You were crying,” Naruto says softly.

“Oh.” Sakura pulls her arm away and brings her knees up to her chest. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Well I know that,” Naruto says, playful tone at odds with the careful expression still on his face. He waits a beat. Then, “What happened?”

“Bad dream,” Sakura mumbles, hiding her face in her knees so they won’t see her blushing. Gods, she woke them up over a nightmare? What is she, six?

“About what?” Naruto asks, shifting even closer on the bed.

“It’s not-” Sakura starts to say it’s not important, that nothing happened, but she can’t quite manage.

If she disappears, Sakura wants them to know why. She wants them to know that she wanted to stay.

“I did something, in the forest. In the fight.” Sakura looks up as she says it so she sees Sasuke stiffen in her periphery, but Naruto still looks confused. “I couldn’t- He was going to hurt Sasuke and I wouldn’t have been able to get there in time. But we were fighting in the trees.”

Sakura can see the exact moment Naruto realizes what she means, can read it not only in his face, but in the way he reaches for her without quite touching her, arm hanging suspended halfway between them. She takes his hand again and he squeezes hers tightly.

“We were the only ones there, though, right?” Naruto asks, looking between her and Sasuke for confirmation. “No one else knows?

“We were the only ones there,” Sasuke says tightly. “But that doesn’t mean no one else knows.”

“Oh,” Naruto says. He puts on a smile but it’s brittle, the first clearly false smile she’s seen from him. “That’s- That’s okay. We can handle this. We just need a plan. As long as we’re together, right?”

“Right. A plan,” Sakura says and it’s worth it to see Naruto’s smile ease but Sasuke’s shoulders rise even higher from where he’s sitting on the floor.

Sakura doesn’t think there’s anything she can say to make Sasuke believe it’s okay. He trusts her but not with Naruto’s blind faith. He knows that whether this goes right or wrong, it will have nothing to do with them.

So instead of speaking, Sakura stands and walks over to where Sasuke is still keeping watch, pulling Naruto along with one hand and the blanket with the other. She sits close enough that he can feel her warmth but not quite touching him.

He leans against her.

“First step of the plan,” Sakura says as she spreads the blanket across all three of them. “Team sleepover at Sasuke’s house as soon as we’re out of here.”

Sasuke huffs out a surprised laugh and Sakura marks it down as both a win and a yes. “You can’t just plan a sleepover at someone else’s house,” he says.

“Sakura’s team leader,” Naruto chimes in from her other side. “She can do what she wants.”

“Exactly, thank you, Naruto. I can and I am.”

“Hn. Whatever.” Sasuke rolls his eyes but Sasuke can see that he still has a small smile. She counts it as another win.

Sakura isn’t quite sure when she falls back asleep but she knows she can feel her teammates’ steady breathing on both sides of her as she does. It’s almost enough to convince her that everything’s going to be okay.

Almost.

---

They make their way to the meeting spot almost half an hour early the next day. Naruto screams like he’s seen a ghost as soon as they walk in.

“You!” He yells, pointing at Kakashi, casually reading a book as he leans against the wall. “You’re early!”

“Am I?”

Naruto doesn’t bother responding, just keeps up a steady glare as Sakura leads them to stand a few feet away from Kakashi. Just close enough to clearly connect them in everyone else’s minds but not so close that they can’t exclude him from a private conversation if they want to.

“You know,” Sakura says after they settle into their spots, “you should really stop provoking him like that, Kakashi. You’re already gray, you don’t want to lose your hearing, too, or you’ll really be an old man.”

Naruto switches his gaze to her, confused, and Sakura pointedly sweeps her eyes around the room. He nods after a moment and doesn’t go back to glaring.

Instead, the three of them (and probably Kakashi behind his book as well but who can tell with him) watch as the other competitors trickle into the room.

In the end, six teams are in the room by the time the Hokage walks in at the front.

Sakura very carefully stops herself from stiffening as he starts to speak.

---

Sakura’s eyes are pulled away from Kabuto’s retreating back as the first match is called: Sasuke against one of Kabuto’s teammates, Akado Yoroi.

Sakura can’t quite stop herself from grabbing Sasuke’s arm as he turns to head toward the starting mark. He stops and turns to look at her.

“Just- Good luck,” she says eventually. “Not that you’ll need it.”

Sasuke smirks at that and Sakura forces herself to smile back before releasing him to head up to the spectators’ area.

“Maa, Sakura, you worry too much,” Kakashi says lightly when she reaches him and Naruto.

“Well, I suppose that almost makes up for you never worrying,” she responds, just a hair too tightly to be casual.

Naruto grabs Sakura’s hand and she forces herself to relax after squeezing back once, turning to watch the fight begin below.

---

Sakura ends up exchanging Naruto’s hand for Sasuke’s when Naruto gets called next.

Sasuke looks down at their hands and then up at her, a little like he’s trying to solve a puzzle and a lot like he’s about to say something about it, but Sakura just holds his gaze for a moment and silently dares him to say a single word. Sasuke, having slightly more self-preservation than sass, keeps his mouth shut and his hand in hers.

Sakura pretends she doesn’t see him smirking at her a few seconds later so she doesn’t have to hit him. As a thank you.

---

Naruto’s detailed retelling of winning the fight that they all just watched is interrupted three times in quick succession.

First, as the match between Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji is called.

Second, as Chouji narrowly wins the race to forfeit.

And third, as Sabaku no Kankurou and Aburame Shino are called for the next match.

Naruto, very put out with the interruptions, threatens to stop his story. Sakura barely manages to put an elbow to Sasuke’s ribs before he starts something they don’t have time for right now.

She does not manage to stop Kakashi’s teasing, “Promise?”

---

Gaara’s face stays expressionless as his name is called for his match with Lee but his eyes find Sakura’s and stay there for a moment too long to be casual.

Sakura narrows her eyes and doesn’t look away first.

---

“The next match will be: Haruno Sakura versus Yamanaka Ino.”

Naruto immediately begins cheering Sakura on as she winds her way down to the first floor. He’s still cheering for her when the buzzer starts. She manages to catch exactly zero of the words,her mind too caught up in planning for her match.

Sakura immediately considers and discards genjutsu as she walks. The Yamanaka are a mind-based clan so that has a low probability of success.

She seems to remember Ino as being a decent marksman in the academy so she doesn’t want to turn this into a kenjutsu battle.

No, with everyone watching and the need for close range, there’s really only one way to play this: strike hard and strike fast. Luckily, that’s exactly what Sakura’s taijutsu style is built for.

As the start of the match is called, Ino is opening her mouth. Sakura is already moving.

Sakura never actually finds out what Ino was planning to say.

She hits the ground, unconscious, before she can make it through a word.

Naruto either starts cheering again or he was just taking a breath and never actually stopped. Either way, he’s still yelling when she reaches her team again and he drags her in with an arm around her shoulders so he can do it closer to her ear.

Sakura manages to hear the next match get called over his yelling, though, and he cuts off as he feels her tense up at the names.

“Sakura?” he asks, at a much more reasonable volume.

“Remember our lesson on the Hyuuga clan structure?” she says, quiet enough to only reach him and Sasuke. At Naruto’s nod, she continues, “Well, Hinata is heir to the main family. Neji is a branch member.”

“Oh,” Naruto says. “So this-”

“Is not going to end well,” Sasuke finishes for him.

---

“Very well, then,” the Hokage says as they finish drawing numbers. “The finals will begin with the following matches: Hyuuga Neji v. Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru v. Sabaku no Temari, Sabaku no Kankurou v. Uchiha Sasuke, and finally, Haruno Sakura v. Sabaku no Gaara. The best of luck to you all.”

Naruto is so tense at Sakura’s side that he’s practically vibrating and she thinks she can faintly hear Sasuke grinding his teeth. It’s luck alone that lets her grab them both as Kakashi suddenly appears in front of them before things come to blows.

Kakashi smiles, like he wasn’t just about to be murdered, and says simply, “Training tomorrow at 8,” before disappearing.

Well, at least he’s planning to help this time.

Chapter Text

The first thing both Sakura and Naruto do when they finally make it out of the tower is to turn and stare expectantly at Sasuke. Sasuke pretends to either not know what they’re asking or to not care for approximately three seconds before caving.

“Fine, we can have the sleepover at my house,” Sasuke starts before he has to pause to wait out Naruto’s cheers. “I don’t have any food, though, so we’re picking something up. And no, it can’t be ramen or dango this time.”

Naruto and Sakura look at each other for a moment before Naruto turns back to Sasuke and asks, “What about dango and ramen?”

Sasuke opens his mouth, thinks better of it, and shuts it again a few times before he actually speaks. “My house, my rules. We’re getting sushi.”

He walks off without giving either of them a chance to protest but the point was probably moot anyway. Neither of them would have been able to get a word out around their laughter.

---

All three of them are loaded down with bags by the time they make it to Sasuke’s house, Sasuke with the food and Sakura and Naruto with what they picked up from their apartments.

Naruto throws his down on the floor as soon as they get inside, though, yelling, “I call dibs on first shower!”

“It’s my house so no you don’t,” Sasuke says, grabbing the back of Naruto’s jacket so he doesn’t run off anyway.

“Yeah, but I’m the only one who’s covered in snake guts. Do you really want snake guts all over your house?”

Sasuke looks over at Sakura, who shrugs, and slowly removes his hand from Naruto’s jacket.

“This better not be a trick,” he says, which is close enough to an agreement. As soon as Naruto’s left the room, Sasuke turns back to Sakura. “Snake guts?”

Sakura considers it for a moment before landing on, “I think I’d rather not know.”

“Yeah,” Sasuke says, wiping his hand on a towel. “That’s probably for the best.”

---

When they all feel a little less like they’ve been living in a forest for five days, and, more importantly, all the food is gone, Sasuke drags out two futons and the softest blankets they’d given him.

“Sasuke,” Sakura says, “it’s a sleepover. You’re supposed to sleep out here, too.”

Sasuke looks at her like she’s an idiot. It’s interesting to see it from this angle, usually he only shoots it at Naruto.

“Not while I’m on watch,” he says.

“I’ll take second,” Naruto yawns from where he’s already deeply snuggled into several of the blankets.

“Oh,” Sakura says softly. “I’ve got third.”

Sasuke gives her that look again, which is both the second time tonight and ever. Sakura beams back at him and he shakes his head.

“You’ve been spending too much time with Naruto,” he tells her.

“No such thing,” Sakura says. “For either of you.”

She ducks the pillow he throws at her a second later before grabbing it to add to her small mountain of fluff.

---

“Goodnight, Naruto. Goodnight, Sasuke.”

“Goodnight, Sakura! Goodnight, Sasuke!”

“Shut up and go to sleep.”

A few beats of silence pass, only broken by a slight sniffling from Naruto’s corner.

“You’re both idiots. Goodnight. Now, go to sleep.”

---

Sakura’s just starting to fold her blankets up in the morning when Naruto comes back from the shower.

“What are you doing?” he asks.

Sakura raises a brow. “Folding the blankets?”

“Don’t bother,” Sasuke says, walking in from the kitchen.

“You don’t mind?”

Sasuke looks at her for a second before abruptly switching his gaze to the wall. “You’re just going to mess them up again tonight.”

Sakura doesn’t quite manage to process that before Sasuke’s gone again so it’s Naruto whose eye she catches after.

“What?” he asks. “I tried to tell you.”

Sakura drops the blanket and runs after Sasuke.

---

“Wha- Sakura! Get-”

“Yeah! Team hug time!”

“Naruto!”

---

Kakashi is shockingly close to on time for training, showing up only ten minutes after the planned start time. Even more surprisingly, he isn’t alone.

“Kids, this is Jiraiya,” Kakashi says. “He’s here to help train Naruto for the final exam.”

Sakura’s pretty sure she’s heard that name before but her thoughts are cut off by-

“What kind of introduction is that? I am not just some average shinobi you picked up off the street,” Jiraiya says.

If Sakura can see Kakashi’s suspiciously frantic signals to ‘abort mission,’ she knows Jiraiya must be able to as well but, if he can, he pretends he doesn’t.

“I am the Most Holy Hermit Sage of the Mount Myoboku Toads, the greatest of the Sannin-”

“You’re the asshole Haruka punched for spying on the women’s bath!”

He doesn’t even try to deny it.

“Ah, one of your friends, I’m guessing?” he asks, rubbing the back of his neck. “That was quite the young lady. A bit of a spitfire but her legs-”

“Seriously?!” Naruto cuts the man off as he moves slightly in front of Sakura. On her other side, Sasuke does the same. “No, no, no! No! You need to leave!”

“Naruto, Jiraiya is one of the Sannin,” Kakashi says. “He’s a sealmaster and an S-rank shinobi and he’s willing to train you.”

Sakura grabs Naruto’s arm as he opens his mouth to keep yelling and turns him to face her.

“Look, I appreciate what you’re trying to do. I’m glad some of what I’ve been saying has been getting through,” Sakura says quietly. And she is. If she never has to see Naruto’s sexy jutsu again, it will be too soon. “But you shouldn’t let it stop you from training with Jiraiya.”

“Sakura-”

“Do you know how many sealmasters there are in Konoha? One. If this is really him, you can’t afford to pass this up.” Sakura sees Naruto open his mouth to argue again so she adds, “We can’t afford for you to pass this up.”

Naruto stares at her for a long moment before eventually nodding. “If he tries anything-”

“Flare your chakra,” Sakura says immediately. “I’ll keep a lookout just in case.”

“What-” Naruto shakes his head, “No, I was gonna say if he tries something with you to kick him in the balls.” He pauses, looking unsettled. “You think he might try something with me?”

“Very unlikely,” Sakura says immediately. “Or I wouldn’t tell you to train with him, either way. He spies on women’s baths, though. People who do that- they’re unlikely to target both genders.”

“I don’t like this,” Sasuke says over his shoulder, still keeping one eye on the men waiting for them to finish deliberating.

Sakura makes sure her face is hidden by Naruto’s shoulder before answering, “Better this Sannin than the other one.”

It doesn’t help dispel the tension but it does solidify their decision. She only mostly regrets bringing it up.

“Fine,” Naruto says, turning back to Jiraiya with a glare. “You can teach me seals and stuff but you better stay away from Sakura! And I’m not calling you sensei!”

“Seals weren’t exactly the plan, kid-” Jiraiya says.

Sakura cuts him off this time. “Seals or the deal is off.”

Jiraiya glares at all of them. “You know I’m the one doing you brats a favor right?”

“Seals or the deal is off.”

---

Once Naruto and Jiraiya have left, Kakashi asks if Sasuke and Sakura have an idea what they’d like to work on.

“Speed,” Sasuke says immediately and Sakura nods.

“Distance attacks would be a good idea for you, too,” she adds. “Suna is known for their poisons.”

“And you. You saw what yours did to Lee.”

Sakura grimaces. “Yeah, I did. I just don’t understand how he did it. I mean, the amount of chakra it would take to control that much sand at that level, it’s insane.”

“Chakra isn’t likely to be much of a barrier for someone like him,” Kakashi says with a clearly false lightness.

“Someone like him?”

“He’s suspected to be the container for Suna’s tailed beast.”

Sakura distantly feels Sasuke’s hand grab at her wrist and squeeze it but her mind is moving too fast for her to process it beyond ‘not a threat.’

“Wait, so he’s-”

“Incredibly dangerous?” Kakashi offers.

“Constantly exposed to foreign chakra,” Sakura finishes.

Kakashi catches her meaning immediately.

“Why yes,” he says, slowly, looking as close to excited as Sakura has ever seen him. “I suppose he is.”

Chapter Text

Sakura looks up at the crowd as the proctor, Genma, she thinks, introduces the exam. With all these eyes looking down on her, she would’ve expected to feel small but-

Sakura just feels proud.

Genma orders all of them but Naruto and Neji to the stands and Sakura pauses to whisper in Naruto’s ear before she leaves.

“Kick his ass.”

---

Sakura can hear the people around her calling bullshit on Shikamaru’s explanation for his forfeit but his chakra pool really does feel drained.

“Uchiha Sasuke versus Sabaku no Kankurou,” Genma announces from the arena.

Next to her, Sasuke tenses to stand but before he can Kankurou’s voice reaches them.

“I forfeit!”

Instead of relaxing, Sasuke tenses further. Sakura does too.

“He forfeit?” Naruto’s voice joins several hundred asking the same thing around them.

“He’s good but he’s not the best of his team,” Sakura says slowly, considering. “They may be trying to make sure Gaara advances.”

It feels hollow given Gaara’s performance in the preliminaries but it’s the only explanation she can think of.

“We can figure it out later,” she adds, turning to go. Naruto catches her hand before she can take more than a step.

“Kick his ass,” he says grimly.

“That’s the plan.”

---

Facing Gaara down in the arena, the plan feels much less solid than it had from the stands.

“Begin,” Genma calls and shunshins several feet back.

Sakura replaces with one leaf, then another, as Gaara’s sand immediately comes after her. She gives herself a moment to cast the first genjutsu before diving out of the way of a third attack.

She glances back for just a moment to confirm that it would have hit a foot off of dead center before she’s up and running again.

It’s another six attacks and two genjutsu before Gaara’s aim is off enough that she can stop dodging. The next genjutsu in her plan is much more complex and she can't afford the distraction.

First, she needs a visual layer to convince Gaara that she’s still dodging his attacks but while approaching him, rather than distancing herself.

Second, she needs a tactile layer, to convince him he’s been hit.

Third, she needs to repeat it, again and again, until he thinks his only option is to forfeit.

Sakura doesn’t manage to get to the third step.

As soon as the tactile component hits, Gaara screams, agonized and feral, and closes his sand around him into a sphere.

Sakura tries to rework the illusion so she’s breaking through it but, before she can, her chakra hooks in his system are burned away.

Sakura has a kunai in her hand and a replacement jutsu primed to go within moments but it’s already too late.

A very not human arm reaches out from the sphere and bats Sakura into the wall of the arena.

She feels genjutsu pushing into her system as she scrambles to her feet and cancels it but Gaara’s half-transformed figure is already disappearing out of the arena with his siblings on his heels. Sakura only has a moment to be surprised that no one is following him before she sees the Suna shinobi in the crowd, attacking the Konoha shinobi and slaughtering anyone who hasn’t broken out of the genjutsu.

“Haruno!” Genma yells to her as he runs towards the stands. “Don’t fucking stand there! Finish your fight!”

“Finish the fight?” Sakura mutters, already running to follow orders.

For what may be the first time in her life, Sakura cannot think of a single plan.

---

“Slow down, woman.”

Sakura has thrown a kunai before she registers that it’s Shikamaru who’s speaking. Luckily (for him), the rest of his group is spread out enough that his dodge doesn’t allow any of them to get hit.

Inuzuka Kiba and two ninken are with him but, more importantly, Naruto and Sasuke are with him as well.

“What are you doing here?” Sakura demands, ignoring Shikamaru’s protests over the kunai.

“Kakashi sent us,” Sasuke answers.

“I didn’t realize he hated teaching that much,” Sakura mutters, eyes wild. “If he wanted us gone-”

“Can we focus for a minute?” Shikamaru says sharply, finally catching her attention. “I have a plan.”

“A plan to defeat a tailed beast?” Sakura asks, incredulous.

“A plan to give us the best odds at it,” he answers.

Judging by the grim set of his mouth, Sakura doesn’t think she’ll like those odds.

(She’s right.)

---

They catch up to the Suna shinobi and, as Shikamaru predicted, they run into Temari first, as she waits in their path to slow them down.

Shikamaru only slows down enough to down a soldier pill as he throws himself full force into the fight, the smaller ninken at his side.

The rest of them don’t slow at all.

---

They run into Kankurou a few minutes later and he finds himself met two-on-two as Kiba and the other ninken go straight for his throat.

Sakura runs on, Naruto and Sasuke behind her, and tries not to feel like she’s leading them to their deaths.

---

If Sakura hadn’t known that Gaara was a jinchuriki, if she hadn’t known he was who they were chasing after, she would have never imagined that he could become the feral, half-formed being he’s become by the time they find him.

She tries exactly once to use genjutsu on him but it fizzles out before it even reaches him, burned up by the chakra raging in the air around them.

The last of Shikamaru’s plan fizzles out with it.

“Okay,” she says, slipping back into the treeline to where Naruto and Sasuke are waiting. “That’s fine. We just need a new plan.”

“What do we do?” Naruto asks.

“Um,” Sakura gets a moment to think as they’re forced to dodge the shrapnel the-thing-that-used-to-be-Gaara is making of trees.

“The plan?” Sasuke asks as they reconvene a few feet away.

“We need something big. Naruto, how close were you to getting the hang of that summoning jutsu?”

“Um, pretty close! I’ve totally, definitely, almost got it!”

They have to pause again as more shrapnel flies their way.

“Okay,” Sakura says, closing her eyes for a moment. “Naruto, summon the biggest toad you can. Sasuke and I will let you know if we need to move.”

“Right!”

Sakura turns and waits for a few tense moments before she hears the whooshing smoke of a completed summoning. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see the tadpole flopping on the ground.

“Damn it! Don’t worry Sakura, I’m definitely gonna get it this time!”

“You can do this, Naruto,” she mutters, not quite loud enough for him to hear.

---

Naruto tries another three times. He gets another three tadpoles.

Sakura knows Naruto could manage this if given enough time. She wants to give him enough time.

The next tree that comes for them isn’t shrapnel, though.

“I smell your fear!” the beast roars, getting louder as it approaches. “Come out and face me!”

“Scatter to his six,” Sakura orders, flickering away.

They’re out of time. She’s out of time.

Naruto and Sasuke are already there when Sakura makes it to the meeting spot.

“Naruto, keep trying. Sasuke, watch his back. I’m going to distract him.” Sakura sees both of them tense to protest and cuts them off. “I’m team leader and this is my call. You either trust me or you don’t.”

She doesn’t bother waiting for a response before flickering into the open.

They're out of time.

Sakura hates leaving them.

They're out of time.

Sakura hates lying to them.

They're out of time.

Sakura chooses her spot carefully so they won't be able to see her once she's moved.

She's out of time.

“I can do this,” she whispers as she grounds her stance.

“You,” the beast hisses, barreling towards her.

Sakura flickers behind it at the last minute and pours every ounce of chakra into the ground at her feet.

A cage, she tries to direct it. We need a cage.

Some of Sakura’s intent seems to get through as the trunks shoot out to wrap around the beast, growing even faster as it makes contact. The wood shudders and creaks for a few moments before going still. She can just barely make out through the branches that the massive form has shrunk back into Gaara.

Sakura feels herself start to fall as her muscles fail for lack of chakra and is just alert enough to be surprised that she doesn’t hit the ground.

Chapter Text

“Says who?”

“Says everyone. You can’t unpromote a piece, idiot. It stays like that the whole game.”

“You can if you capture it,” Sakura automatically corrects. It’s not until several moments of silence pass that Sakura remembers they aren’t in Sasuke’s living room.

“Sakura?” Naruto asks, eyes wide as he stares at her. Sakura expects him to jump up, to yell, to do something- but he just sits there, quietly trembling.

“What?” she mutters. “Something on my face?”

Sasuke is the first to move, making his way towards her slowly, not hesitant but unusually precise. She doesn’t want to call it fear, but she can’t quite find another word to fit. He sits on the edge of her bed, still silent, and Sakura can’t quite help the way her breath catches when none of the tension leaves his frame.

“They said-” Naruto cuts himself off as he stands and begins pacing, eyes kept directly in front of him where there’s no risk they’ll meet hers. “They said you could have died. If Kakashi and Jiraiya hadn’t shown up, they said you could’ve died.”

“Would have,” Sasuke corrects, still staring directly at her. “Would have died.”

“Right,” Naruto says. He finally looks over at her and he raises his finger to make what would likely be an excellent point but-

Sakura bursts into tears.

She dimly notices Naruto’s mouth hanging open as he hastily tucks his pointed finger behind his back. The same part of her somewhat recognizes the way Sasuke leaned back slightly before noticing and stopping himself.

Most of her, however, is too busy trying to claw down the terror and guilt and guilty terror eating its way through her chest to notice much of anything.

A door opens and suddenly Naruto and Sasuke are both at her side, pressing her back into the bed she doesn’t remember trying to leave.

The nurse standing in the doorway looks at them, exasperated but not surprised. “One of the many reasons we told you to let us know when she woke up.”

It takes Sakura an embarrassingly long time to process the sentence.

“Is this,” Sasuke hesitates, “a side effect?”

The nurse stares at him long enough that even Naruto, standing beside him, starts to squirm. Sakura herself manages to finally stop sobbing when faced with such a look. Sasuke, being Sasuke, gives no ground and doesn’t so much as blink.

“Of a sort,” the nurse finally says. She shoos the boys away from the bed while she checks Sakura’s vital signs but doesn’t make them leave the room. After a few minutes, she declares Sakura to be officially no longer dying and leaves herself, ordering the boys to come get her if that changes.

The door closing behind her finally cuts through the tension in the room but it leaves an awkward silence behind.

“So,” Sakura says eventually, “it seems like I may have missed some things.”

“Yeah, kinda,” Naruto says, dropping down to sit on the edge of her bed. Sasuke scoffs and does the same.

“We beat the invasion force. The Hokage died. The Suna girl is becoming Kazekage. Gaara,” Sasuke pauses his summary at the name as some of the tension returns to his frame, “is to remain a guest in Konoha for the next three years to prevent a repeat performance.”

“He’s still here?” Sakura hardly notices she’s pushed herself up into sitting position until Naruto adjusts the pillows behind her. The frown on his face is drawn unusually tight and she rests a hand on his before turning back to Sasuke.

“He’s staying in the diplomat’s quarters and Jiraiya’s got a seal on him but yeah, he is.”

Silence falls over them for another moment before Sakura’s brain finally processes through the rest of what Sasuke said. “Wait, did you just say the Hokage died? Do you know who’s replacing him?”

“It’s kinda complicated,” Naruto says slowly.

The door opens again before Sakura can force him to explain.

“Good, you’re awake,” Jiraiya says from the doorway. The boys both stand, shifting slightly so that they completely block Sakura’s view of him. Alarm bells begin to stir, and then to blare as he continues, “You’ve all been summoned to the Tower,” before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

“Kakashi and Jiraiya,” Sakura distantly hears herself say. “You said Kakashi and Jiraiya-”

“Yeah,” Naruto confirms, not turning from the closed door. “We did.”

---

Sakura manages to keep her distant, emotionless haze going until they leave the room. The guilty terror from before almost manages to break through again when Naruto hands her the clothes he sent a clone to get while waiting for her to wake up, but Sakura manages to shy away from it after a single choked breath.

Even without the distance, though, she doubts she’d be surprised to find Kakashi waiting for them in the hall.

“Sakura, it’s good to see you.”

Sakura thinks she may nod. She knows she does not stop.

Sasuke falls back slightly as Kakashi follows them out of the hospital and onto the street, while Naruto drifts in front of her.

He signs behind his back: ‘Ready to assist; on your signal.’

Sakura carefully draws her eyes away from it before they can fill with tears.

---

Jiraiya is waiting for them in the Hokage’s office and even though his eyes are professional as he looks over, likely just looking to see how well she’s healed, Sakura still has to suppress a glare.

Sitting behind the Sandaime’s desk- though Sakura supposes it will be the Godaime’s soon, whoever that is- is Mitokado Homura, with the Sandaime’s other advisors on either side of him.

“Well, we might as well get this out of the way first,” Mitokado begins and Sakura curses herself for tensing slightly. “Haruno Sakura, you’ve been promoted. Here is your vest and registration papers. Congratulations.”

Sakura only realizes she hasn’t moved when Kakashi pushes her shoulder lightly. She walks quickly to the proffered vest and papers, bowing as she takes them. When she turns to walk back, she sees that Naruto’s eyes are as big as hers but Sasuke’s have narrowed even further.

“Right,” he says once she’s standing with her team again, “the rest of you are here because you’re being assigned a mission. It’s a diplomacy mission so the medics agreed to clear Haruno to leave today. You’ll get an extension on the paperwork until you return. That is all.”

With that, Mitokado goes back to writing something on the stack of paperwork in front of him.

Sakura is stuck staring at him for several seconds before Jiraiya clears his throat and she realizes Kakashi has already left somehow.

“Meet at the gates in two hours, kiddos,” Jiraiya says, ruffling Naruto’s hair on his way out. “Pack for long term diplomacy with other shinobi. And possibly combat.”

Sakura nods slowly when the others look to her before beginning to follow him out, her mind finally coming back online and starting worst case scenario planning. Before she can make it out of the office, though, Shimura Danzo appears in her periphery.

“Ah, Sakura-san, I wondered if I might have a word with you before you go.”

“Of course, Shimura-sama,” Sakura says and waves the boys ahead of her. She hopes they try to keep their eavesdropping discrete but it's a faint hope.

“Please, you may call me Danzo. I prefer not to be reminded how old I am by others. My body does more than enough of that itself,” Sakura is embarrassed to find herself laughing out loud at that but Danzo smiles at her so at least she didn’t offend him. “I wanted to offer you a reassurance, if I can, and perhaps also a warning.”

“A warning, Danzo-sama?”

“Yes. I do not know if your leaders will inform you of the goal of your mission, I am sure they know the same rumors I do and they will likely assume it will be an easier mission if you do not know you are seeking out Tsunade-chan.” Danzo clearly sees Sakura tense at that- she doesn’t even blame herself for that one- and he sighs and nods. “I know the rumors, Sakura-san, and how worried you likely are about your newfound abilities. However, I also know the truth.”

When he pauses there, Sakura asks, “The truth?”

“Tsunade-chan left the village eight years ago because she believed the last of her family to be dead. Now, I will not claim that clan-born shinobi have never done anything to keep their abilities out of other hands, those with doujutsu especially. However, Tsunade-chan has always loved her family more than anything in the world. I have no doubt that she will be overjoyed to know she is not the last of you.”

“Is it- There’s no way I could not be a Senju, then?” Sakura asks carefully.

Danzo raises one brow. “Did the hospital not show you the bloodwork they ran?”

“Ah.”

Sakura sees Danzo’s hand make an aborted half move toward her shoulder before he sighs again.

“I am truly sorry, Sakura-san. I know my words are likely little comfort, but I thought it best you know all the same. Good luck on your mission. Stay strong and stay safe.”

“Thank you, Danzo-sama,” Sakura calls after his retreating back and he turns briefly to smile at her before making his way back to his seat with the other advisors.

Sakura takes stock of herself for a moment before leaving and finds that, for the first time since the arena, she feels like she can breathe.

---

Sakura meets up with Sasuke and Naruto outside the office- close enough and shifty enough that they’d clearly managed to hear everything- and they make quick work of packing a few things at Naruto’s apartment and then Sakura’s before they head to Sasuke’s where the majority of what they need already is.

Sasuke doesn’t put up a fight about bringing a training scroll this time, visibly derisive of the very idea of diplomacy missions, much less of him being assigned to one. On the other hand, he still refuses to pack soap or toothpaste.

“Sharing worked last time. What’s the point?”

Sakura rolls her eyes and tells him he’s buying her next refill but it’s really not worth fighting over when they’re meant to meet at the gate in less than an hour. Sasuke smirks like he’s won something, though, and she almost changes her mind.

“You know,” Naruto says as they head out the door, “we could just bring all our stuff here. Then we wouldn’t have to go to three different places before missions.”

Sakura’s hand isn’t even halfway to Naruto’s wrist, ready to comfort him or silence him depending on Sasuke’s reaction, when Sasuke quietly says, “When we get back.”

It takes a few moments for Sakura to realize that’s the end of the sentence but when she does, she reaches for Sasuke’s hand instead, twining their fingers together for a moment before releasing him.

“When we get back,” she agrees.

They both ignore Naruto cheering beside them.

If we get back.

Chapter Text

Traveling with Jiraiya is about as awful as Sakura would have expected.

By which she means, it’s four days in and she and the boys are watching Jiraiya flirt in the third bar of the day after getting slapped by a woman in the first bar and by a different woman’s husband in the second. The only thing he has going for him at this point is that he didn’t hit either of them back, though in Sakura’s opinion, that’s not exactly asking for much.

The woman he’s with at the moment doesn’t seem happy to see him either, but she’s not going to hit him. Sakura can see the way her eyes dart around the room, how she was moving backwards until she hit the bar, the half-steps to the side she keeps taking, and she knows Jiraiya can, too, but this is not a woman comfortable dealing violence. If she was, she would have done it by now.

Jiraiya lays a hand on her arm.

“I’ll be right back,” Sakura says as she stands, flashing a holding signal behind her back.

Sakura makes sure not to meet the woman’s eyes as she heads in their direction so she can’t tip Jiraiya off. She adjusts her hair a little and blinks rapidly until a few tears form in the corners of her eyes.

“Jiji, you can’t wander off on your own like that! The doctor said it’s not safe,” Sakura whines when she reaches them, tugging at Jiraiya’s sleeve.

Jiraiya is distracted for only a moment but the woman sees her chance and takes it. She nods to Sakura over Jiraiya’s shoulder as she rushes out.

“Seriously, kid,” Jiraiya says, glaring. “You three can’t entertain yourselves for an hour?”

“Yeah, but it’s been four hours of this today.”

Jiraiya glances around before nodding once. “Right, you three stay here. I’ll be back for you later.”

“If we’re going to be alone anyway-”

“No,” Jiraiya cuts her off. “If I let you go out and threaten loan sharks on your own, Kakashi will try to kill me, and then I might have to kill him to ever get some peace again.”

“Then shouldn’t you-” This time, Sakura cuts herself off. There’s no point in finishing her point once Jiraiya’s disappeared.

She makes her way back to the boys where Naruto is looking slightly awed.

“What?”

“Sakura-chan,” Naruto says. “That was amazing! I didn’t know you liked pranking! You should have told me. We could have been pulling pranks this whole time!”

“I don’t-” Sakura stops to consider it for a moment. “Naruto, you’re a genius.”

“I know!” Naruto agrees, ignoring Sasuke’s snort.

“I need you to teach me everything you know about pranks.”

Naruto nods sagely, “Okay. That’s going to take time, though. And require hands-on learning for a full education.”

“Even better. I know just who to practice on.”

All three of them are still sitting in the bar when Jiraiya gets back, plus a few extra supplies from a few extra Narutos.

---

Three days later, Sakura is adding the second strip of tape of the day- eighth overall- to the bottom of Jiraiya’s shoes, when Kakashi comes back to camp early and stops in his tracks when he sees her. Sakura opens her mouth but Kakashi just holds a finger to his lips with one hand and shoos her away from Jiraiya’s pack with the other.

A few seconds later, Jiraiya returns and puts on his shoes.

“Alright then, let’s hit the road,” he announces.

Kakashi says nothing at all.

---

They’re two hours in when Sakura notices Naruto’s roll of tape has made its way into Kakashi’s hands.

By the time they stop for lunch, there are at least twelve pieces of tape on Jiraiya’s shoes.

Sakura catches herself smiling slightly whenever she looks his way for the rest of the day but she decides she’s okay with that. Positive reinforcement of team-like behavior can only be a good thing.

---

Without Kakashi’s interference hanging over their heads, they decide to up their game with the rest of their supplies.

It’s Sasuke’s turn to take last watch and, even though he makes a face about having to touch Jiraiya’s hair, he admits the results are worth it: six little strips of color on the back of the man’s head, forming a temporary rainbow in the midst of all the white.

Naruto, on the other hand, is much more enthusiastic about the results of the honey they put on Jiraiya’s bed roll. Even Sakura has to admit that she hadn’t expected the spider that showed up to follow the ants. She’s not sure the ants alone would have pulled quite the same pitch of shriek when he woke up.

---

It takes Jiraiya three more days to show the first signs of cracking.

“That’s enough,” he says, jumping to his feet and spinning so he can point his finger at Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke in turn. “There are bugs on my bed roll and only my bed roll every morning! I know one of you three is behind it. What do you have to say for yourselves?”

Naruto is tensing to respond in kind but Sakura simply places her hand on his arm and calls up her sharpest smile. “Jiraiya-san, as genin, we couldn’t possibly manage to pull such a trick on a shinobi such as yourself.”

“Well then how do you explain it?” He demands, crossing his arms.

“Perhaps you’re just that sweet?” Sakura suggests.

Jiraiya stares at her for a moment longer before throwing up his hands and storming away. Their laughter at the now-exposed rainbow in his hair only makes him walk that much faster.

Kakashi sighs. “So dramatic, that one.”

Sakura holds up a hand and he high-fives it without looking up from his book.

---

They all know the end is near now that Jiraiya’s catching on. With how much they’ve stepped up their game, the only surprise when Jiraiya stops suddenly and steps out of his shoes- now three inches taller than they started- is that it took him so long to notice.

That he confiscates their tape and honey is also unsurprising, though it’s certainly still annoying.

The six bottles of dye, hidden in one of Naruto’s empty ramen pouches, go unnoticed, as do the streaks still adorning the back of his head.

---

“We could use the rest of the day to make all his clothes rainbow?” Naruto suggests a few hours later as they wander the newest stop on their mission.

“But then we wouldn’t have dye for his hair anymore,” Sakura points out.

They continue on several more steps down the road before they realize that Sasuke has disappeared and turn around.

Sasuke points to a stray cat lazing in a window nearby- one of the many that they’ve passed, Sakura realizes.

“Catnip,” Sasuke says.

“Sasuke, you’re a genius,” Naruto says breathlessly.

---
There’s nothing quite like watching a legendary shinobi run from a herd of cats.

“Kakashi, you bastard, do something!”

Kakashi glances over at the team. They stare back expectantly.

“Maa, my ninken would be very disappointed if they found out I was chasing cats without them.”

Jiraiya’s outraged screams do nothing to scare off his newfound admirers. Sakura looks at Kakashi consideringly for a moment before Sasuke’s voice startles her out of her thoughts.

“Hey, Kakashi,” Sasuke asks. “You still haven’t told us who we’re looking for.”

Kakashi glances over at him before going back to his book. “Isn’t life more about the journey than the destination?”

“Right,” Sakura says. “I guess we forgot who we were talking to for a minute.”

“It won’t happen again,” Sasuke adds, looking in her direction. After a moment, she nods.

Chapter Text

Jiraiya vanishes approximately 0.5 seconds after they reach their hotel room in the next village.

“I’m kind of surprised he even followed us up here,” Sakura admits.

“Maa, you know what they say about old dogs,” Kakashi says.

Sakura glances up at Kakashi’s hair pointedly. “Hm, I guess you would know.”

“So cruel to your sensei,” Kakashi says, slouching even more than usual before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Sakura turns to look at the boys. Then she looks down at herself. A leaf falls out of her hair as she turns her head, floating slowly to the floor.

“Showers.”

---

After showers, Naruto’s stomach is growling loud enough to bother the neighbors so Sakura makes the executive decision to get dinner next. She opens the door.

“Ah, we were just about to knock,” Itachi Uchiha says. “In any case, Kisame, please collect the jinchuriki. I will deal with my brother.”

Well that only leaves- “Naruto’s the client, shadow formation,” she calls out, falling into position and pushing chakra into the doorframe to grow a barrier. She absently feels Sasuke hesitate behind her before he falls in as well.

They send Naruto out the window first before dropping down into the alley on either side of him and sprinting away from the city. Sakura begins to sign her rough plan. ‘Clones, retrieve outside assistance-’

She’s forced to dodge as a sword taller than her almost runs her through. It shaves off the skin on one of her arms instead and she feels fatigue set in immediately.

“Don’t let the sword touch you-” she yells before having to dodge again.

“Hey! I’m not that behind!” Naruto yells back.

“It eats chakra,” she manages in between dodges and gasped breaths.

“Impressive, little girl,” the blue man, Kisame, says. “But not impressive enough. I’m getting tired of playing games here, Itachi.”

It’s not Itachi that answers him, though.

“Maybe you should try fighting grown-ups then,” Jiraiya says, appearing behind Kisame.

“Kids these days,” Kakashi adds as he pulls Sakura behind him, where Naruto and Sasuke are already waiting. “They just aren’t as fun as they used to be.”

Between one moment and the next both of the missing-nin are gone.

Sakura turns to check over her boys. Naruto looks rattled but mostly okay. Sasuke is already walking away from her.

“Anyone hurt?” Jiraiya asks. Sakura flexes her arm but doesn’t feel any new bleeding. “No? Then come on. Turns out we’re not staying here tonight after all.”

---

Naruto is quiet as they continue traveling through the night.

Well, they’re all quiet but-

It’s Naruto.

---

Despite everything, when they get to the next town, Sakura’s out before her head hits the pillow.

Naruto and Jiraiya are gone when she wakes up.

“Training and all that,” Kakashi says as she bolts upright. “So, it’ll just be the three of us today.”

Sasuke slams the door on his way out.

“Two of us,” Kakashi corrects.

Sakura eyes him for a moment before sighing. “Does this at least mean I finally get to help gather intel?”

Kakashi ruffles her hair and manages to pull his hand away before she can swat it. “Anything for my students, of course.”

Sakura has a sudden, suspicious desire to take her request back.

---

Jiraiya shows up late to lunch dragging both boys with him. The moment they’re done eating, silently, Naruto heads back to the woods to practice whatever it is that Jiraiya’s teaching him.

“Come back in time for dinner!” Sakura yells after him. He raises one hand in acknowledgement but keeps walking.

Sasuke has already disappeared by the time Sakura turns back around.

Neither of them are back in time for dinner.

---

Kakashi and Sakura manage to convince a mob boss that Sakura ‘really, desperately needs to be healed by Tsunade-sama, no, no one else can help, please I don’t want to die, sir’ by late afternoon. They head back to the hotel where Jiraiya is ‘resting’ because ‘teaching that kid takes more energy than fighting in two wars.’

Sakura ignores them both wholesale until dinner as she reads one of the books she packed. Kakashi ignores Jiraiya as he does the same. Jiraiya may or may not notice that neither of them are listening to his fascinating tales of nomad life. Either way, he doesn’t seem to care.

Around sunset, though, they’re still down two bodies and Jiraiya starts looking meaningfully at Kakashi every few lines. Kakashi’s page-turns fall into a rigid three-second interval.

Sakura cuts through their little standoff as she heads out the door.

“Don’t wait up.”

---

Sasuke has been sitting, unmoving, in one spot on the city wall for the last three hours and it shows. Sakura sighs as she pulls herself up to sit beside him.

“He doesn’t look much like you,” she says after a few minutes of silence.

Sasuke doesn’t turn to look at her, keeps his gaze straight ahead. “I have to kill him.”

“Okay.”

“I have to.”

“Okay.”

Sasuke finally looks at her and at first Sakura thinks he’s angry with her but then he just stares.

“Do you want to kill him?” she asks.

A nod, yes. A shake, no. Yes. A pause. A definitive yes.

“Do you want help?”

Sasuke jumps down from the wall and starts pacing, a very strong response but Sakura can’t decipher it. She follows him down and he takes off away from the city as soon as her feet touch the ground.

It’s not quite a struggle to keep up with Sasuke but it’s close. They reach Naruto’s practice clearing in minutes and he’s the one to break the silence.

“Sasuke? Sakura?”

Sasuke just moves to stand in front of Naruto, back turned to him. Naruto meets Sakura’s eye for the first time since the fight, over Sasuke’s shoulder. Sasuke moves in between them again.

“Uh, Sasuke, Sakura’s not gonna hurt me,” Naruto’s voice drifts out from behind Sasuke and his face tightens.

“He knows that, Naruto,” Sakura says, pieces coming together. “But I’m not the one you’re worried about, am I?”

No.

“You’re worried Itachi will hurt him-” Sasuke turns so his back is to Sakura instead. “-will hurt us.”

Yes.

Sakura walks around to the other side and puts a hand behind Sasuke’s neck, tugging him forward until their foreheads almost touch.

“I need you to listen to me, Sasuke, really listen. I mean it.” Sakura waits for his eyes to meet hers before continuing. “I know you’re not stupid so I know that you don’t actually think that Naruto is going to be the client forever. Sasuke, why do you think Konoha sends her shinobi out in teams?”

Sakura feels more than sees his shoulders shrug and holds back a sigh with his face so close to hers.

“No one can do everything alone, Sasuke. You can get strong and become an S-rank nin yourself but what do you think happens if you come up against two S-ranks? You turn to your equally badass teammates and let them help you.”

“Yeah,” Naruto says from somewhere behind her, “You let Sakura and me handle the fish man so you can do what you need to do with the other one.”

A sob-laugh-breath gusts out of Sasuke and he leans forward to rest his forehead against hers. Sakura holds out one arm and soon Naruto’s head is leaning in, too.

“Fish man,” Sasuke whispers after a moment, drawing back. Sakura takes his hand in hers and Naruto quickly grabs his other one as they start heading back to the hotel.

“Do you think he came out of an egg?” Naruto asks after a moment.

Sasuke’s laughter startles three birds in the surrounding trees into flight. He doesn’t seem to notice.

---

Sasuke doesn’t go back to bed immediately after waking Sakura up for her guard shift that night.

“My mother,” he says. “That’s who he looks like.”

“Oh,” Sakura says. “Thank you. For telling me.”

Sasuke nods and lays down. Sakura thinks he’s fallen asleep before he startles her by adding, “She was the last one that night. Just him and her left out of everyone.”

“And you,” Sakura adds softly.

Sasuke doesn’t answer. Sakura moves to sit on the floor so she can rest a hand on his back. His breaths alternate between meditative and panicked the rest of her shift.

When she wakes Naruto for his watch, he silently takes her place.

Chapter Text

“You four stay put while I go scope things out and make sure there aren’t any other world-class shinobi lurking in this town,” Jiraiya says. A moment later, “That was a joke.”

“Was it.” Sakura does not ask.

Jiraiya disappears quickly after that.

Kakashi looks around (faux?) lazily before commenting, “It’s a nice day for taijutsu practice. I think you’ve sparred enough with each other though.”

“So you want us to fight you?” Naruto asks hopefully.

“Hmm, no. My finger is twitching today and I clearly can’t fight with such an obstacle.” Kakashi bends down and places his hand on the ground adding, “I think I have a better idea, though.”

He proceeds to summon eight of the fluffiest dogs Sakura has ever seen.

Sakura supposes Kakashi may still have some use. If she’s going to die today, this is how she wants to go out.

---

Taijutsu practice has dropped all pretense and turned into puppy-cuddling by noon. When Jiraiya comes back with Tsunade in tow, Sakura still manages to get to her feet before they can cross the clearing. Her team, Kakashi included, are upright and in front of her even faster.

Tsunade shoots a sharp look at Kakashi before turning to catch Sakura’s eye instead. She crosses her arms but doesn’t come closer.

“So, you’re my what? Niece? Cousin?” Tsunade asks.

Sakura’s shoulders move just enough that a generous person might call it a shrug. Tsunade eyes her up and down for several long moments before nodding decisively and turning to look over her shoulder at Jiraiya.

“Fine, I’ll come back to Konoha. If what you say checks out, I’ll even take the damn hat. But if I find out you’re fucking with me, Jiraiya, you’ll wish you were dead.” Tsunade turns her head to look at Sakura again for a moment before adding, “And if you start pulling your usual shit with this one I will skin you alive.”

“I haven’t done anything, swear to the gods,” Jiraiya squeaks.

“That true?” Tsunade asks. When Sakura hesitates she adds, “Has he said anything to make you uncomfortable? Looked at you too long or too weird? Pretended to fall and grabbed your ass?”

“No.”

“Keep it that way,” Tsunade directs to Jiraiya again. “Now then, I guess I’ve got what, nine years or so to catch up on. We can talk on the road. Maybe start with enemies. Someone’s fucked with you and I wanna know about it yesterday.”

Sakura’s brain stalls on most of that so she picks out the only rational response she can muster. “Um, I’m twelve.”

“Close enough.” Tsunade’s hand comes down to land on her shoulder. “So, kid, you ready to learn what it’s like to be interrogated by nosy family members?”

Tsunade hasn’t been back to Konoha in years. She’s the strongest shinobi in the world. There’s no reason in the world for her not to have killed Sakura already.

Unless she doesn’t want to.

It’s a heady thought and it stalls Sakura’s brain again for several moments.

Finally, she squeaks out, “Is anyone?”

Tsunade’s booming laughter almost topples Sakura over with its force. She finds she doesn’t mind.

---

They’ve packed up and gotten about twelve miles out of town- giving them enough time for introductions to Shizune, exchanges of favorite foods and birthdays, and bizarrely in-depth lines of questioning about two of the orphanage’s matrons- before Sakura feels chakra flicker on the edge of her sensory field.

“Tsunade-obaa-san,” Sakura starts, feeling the thrill of the honorific rush through her for the third time, “someone is-”

Tsunade stops dead in her tracks and grabs Sakura, pulling her behind her. “Orochimaru,” she whispers.

Sakura signals the boys but they’re at her side almost before she can finish. ‘Stay back,’ she signs three times before adding, ‘assist only if necessary.’

Both boys nod before a voice from the trees draws all eyes ahead.

“My, isn’t this a reunion?”

“Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, stay back. This isn’t your fight,” Kakashi tells them.

Sakura thinks she might roll her eyes if she could move. She disrupts her chakra but her paralysis isn’t genjutsu-induced. She hasn’t eaten anything the others didn’t eat so it isn’t poison.

It takes several moments before Sakura realizes she’s afraid.

“Tsunade-obaa-san,” Sakura starts again. There’s no end to her sentence though, too much to say and too little coming out.

“Don’t worry, Sakura-chan. Little Orochi hasn’t beaten me in a fight since we were ten. I’m not letting him break that streak today.”

“But Tsunade-chan,” Orochimaru says, spreading empty, withered hands wide, “you’re already assuming I’m here to fight. That’s not why I’m here at all. I’m here to make a trade.”

“Are you now? Sorry, Orochi, but I think that may be a little difficult at the moment. You see, I don’t trade with traitors.”

“Funny, I didn’t think you cared about Konoha anymore.”

“I could give a shit about Konoha right now,” Tsunade says, dropping her playful tone of before for pure ice. “But you of all people know how I feel about family. You put my kid in danger, could have fucking killed her. There’s nothing in the world you could do to make up for that. You can take your ruined hands and shove them up your-”

“Now, now, Tsunade-chan, you’re making assumptions again. I didn’t know the girl was one of yours or I would have made sure she was protected. But you’re right, I did put her in danger. So, my offer is tailored to make up for that. I’ve completed my project Tsunade-chan, and I’m offering to use it for you, to bring back your family, as many of them as you’d like. All for just one healing.”

“Tsunade, don’t listen to this-” Jiraiya yells.

“Shut the fuck up,” Tsunade snaps back at him. To Orochimaru, she asks, “Your project, you mean the one you used in Konoha?”

“Ah, not quite. That one has certain features that are simply, undesirable in the current context.”

“Like the people basically being your puppets?”

“Precisely.”

Tsunade looks down at the ground in front of her and for a moment the world holds still. Then-

“No.”

“Excuse me?” Orochimaru asks, eyes narrowed.

“No,” Tsunade repeats. “I can’t trust you anymore Orochi and, even if I could, this- I can’t.”

“Your family-”

“My family loved Konoha.” Tsunade pauses and draws in a long breath before continuing more softly, “And they loved me. I never understood it before, how that wasn’t a conflict for them. How they could claim they loved me and then go die fighting for the village and not even hesitate. To volunteer for it even. I get it now, though. When you love a kid, you want to give them a home. A future. As good as you can make it.

“To make this trade with you, now, when I finally see what they died fighting for, they wouldn’t want that. I don’t know what kind of world it is you’re fighting for Orochi but I don’t trust it with my kid. You’re gonna have to find someone else to help you.”

“Very well then,” Orochimaru hisses out slowly. “So be it.”

And then The Snake crashes through the trees behind him.

Chapter Text

Sakura has had more nightmares about The Snake than possibly anyone else besides Tsunade (which, by the way, she is refusing to feel guilty over given that it was reasonable based on the information she had).

She could almost imagine she’s dreaming now.

Everything moves in slow motion. The Snake crashing through the trees. Naruto’s flinch away. Tsunade running forward. Her fist pulling back. Sakura’s breath in her lungs.

“No!”

Instead of the binding tendrils Sakura had hoped for, a giant oak surges from the ground, limbs spreading in every direction. The Snake was pushed back but so was Tsunade.She fell to the ground hard.

Tsunade pulled herself to her feet and fell still as she caught sight of the tree in front of her. Sakura’s breath caught in her throat.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Tsunade said, shaking her head slowly before doubling over, shoulders shaking. Sakura only managed a half-step forward before it became clear she was laughing.

Jiraiya and Kakashi looked away from Tsunade almost in unison before going to check for any remaining enemies.

“He’s gone,” Jiraiya said, coming back around the tree with his eyebrows drawn.

“Of course he fucking is,” Tsunade gasped out between laughs. “He can’t manage to beat one Senju, how the fuck is he gonna manage two of us?”

Sakura can’t help the small, slightly hysterical giggle that slips out of her at that. Tsunade must hear it even over her own laughter because she turns to give Sakura a feral, slightly bloody grin.

“Tsunade-obaa-san, you’re hurt,” Sakura gasps, moving forward.

“Barely a brush, pipsqueak,” Tsunade says, blocking her from doing any sort of confirmation. “Besides, what were you gonna do if it wasn’t?”

“Sakura-chan is great at first aid,” Naruto says loyally from behind her.

“Is that so?” Tsunade asks.

Sakura blushes. “Nothing like what you can do. I just know a little more than the Academy teaches. I learned all of it from books.”

“Well,” Tsunade says, her feral grin returning, “that’s something I could probably help with.”

Somewhere to Sakura’s right, Shizune sighs softly but audibly.

“I-” Sakura forces herself to keep going. “I want to be a combat shinobi.”

Tsunade’s grin only widens, “Kid, who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?”

---

Tsunade begins teaching Sakura anatomy, medically-focused anatomy, as they continue back to Konoha. It takes about twenty minutes to be sure that Sasuke is actively listening to the lecture rather than just walking in their vicinity.

The next time Tsunade looks her way, Sakura tilts her head back towards Sasuke and flashes the Standard sign for ‘eavesdropper/company/being watched.’ Tsunade raises a brow at her before shrugging.

“Uchiha!” Tsunade beckons him over and Sasuke responds more quickly than he ever has for Kakashi. “You aren’t gonna learn anything skulking around. Stick close and pay attention.”

Tsunade launches back into her lecture, doubling back to demonstrate a few points Sasuke wouldn’t have seen from his previous position.

Sakura bumps Sasuke’s shoulder with hers. He bumps her back before signing a quick ‘pay attention.’

---

Naruto quietly joins them a few minutes later, putting his balloon away for the moment.

Tsunade doesn’t pause in her lecture.

---

When they stop for the night, Tsunade demonstrates how to channel medical chakra, the green glow turning her face eerie in the darkness.

Sasuke matches it on his first try.

“Impressive,” Tsunade says. “I’ve only ever seen one other person pick it up that fast.”

“Who?” Sasuke asks, turning his hand back and forth. Waves of color ripple across his face as he lets his control slip and pulls it back to green over and over.

“Me.”

Sasuke is startled enough that he loses his grip on his chakra. It flares and goes out.

“You’ve got a gift, boy. I’ll teach you as long as you wanna learn.” When Sasuke just stares at her, Tsunade continues, “Do you want to learn?”

Sasuke’s gaze flickers around their circle before coming back to his hand. He calls the medical chakra forth again and looks at it for a moment before cutting it back off. He doesn’t look back up.

“Yes, I want to learn.”

“Good,” Tsunade says, turning back to Sakura and Naruto to continue her advice.

Sakura manages a few moments of green within the hour. Tsunade says she’s still ahead of the curve and that it takes most people at least a couple of hours to manage anything at all.

---

Three days later, on their last day of travel, the dark blue of Naruto’s chakra hasn’t wavered once.

---

Naruto heads a few minutes from their camp to start working with balloons again after dinner, pulling out one after the other as his frustrated chakra pops them within minutes.

Sakura sits next to him after a few minutes. He doesn’t stop. She reaches out and barely manages to touch his arm before he jumps out of his seat, pacing.

“I just don’t understand,” he says, stopping and turning to face her after a few minutes. “I know I’m not as smart as you and Sasuke are but- There has to be something I’m good at, right?”

“There are plenty of things you’re good at-”

“Not like you and him are,” Naruto cuts her off, dropping down beside her again and speaking into his hands. “I’m good at pranking and making clones that are just as bad at all of this as me. I- I just want to be able to help.”

Sakura scoots closer, so they’re pressed together from knee to shoulder but she doesn’t speak, considering and discarding options rapidfire as she tries to come up with one he’ll hear. Before she can decide on one, another voice comes from behind them.

“You willing to work for that?” Shizune asks.

“Of course,” Naruto answers, offended at the question.

“Not just work for a day or while it’s fun,” Shizune clarifies. “What I’m asking is if you’re willing to work until your hands bleed and then keep working in order to protect your team. If you’re willing to work for their sake, even when you’re fighting with them, or exhausted, or given an easier way out.”

“Of course,” Naruto repeats.

Shizune studies him for a moment before pulling a senbon out of her sleeve. She throws it so it sticks in a tree across the clearing before doing it again and again, too fast to count, until a second later, the Konoha symbol shines clearly in the low light.

Naruto looks back and forth between her and the tree for several silent seconds. “That is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Yeah,” Shizune acknowledges, twirling another senbon between her fingers. “Wanna learn?”

Chapter Text

The group gets quieter once the gates come into sight and by the time they pass through them, not a single person is talking.

Sakura meets Tsunade’s eyes and smiles slightly, heart speeding up.

“Okay, there will be plenty of time for family bonding later,” Jiraiya says, clapping his hands before putting one arm around Tsunade’s shoulders to steer her away. “We need to check in at the Tower, write up reports, yada yada yada.”

Sakura is still staring after Tsunade until she leaves sight so she catches all three times she looks back.

“Come on,” Naruto says, grabbing Sakura’s hand. “We’ve got moving to do, remember!”

Sakura takes a deep breath and her smile grows as she lets out the tension of the mission. “Right, let’s do it.”

Sasuke sighs but follows dutifully behind them as Naruto starts a one-man argument about chore wheels. Somehow, he still loses.

---

They manage to sweep everything from both apartments into a storage scroll in two hours so it’s just before dinner time when they make it back to Sasuke’s.

“Good,” he says. “That gives us enough time to unpack everything tonight.”

Naruto and Sakura look at each other.

“Nah,” Naruto says, sliding up on one side of Sasuke and hooking an arm through his while Sakura does the same on the other side. Sasuke’s sputtering only increases as they drag him out of the house.

“We have things to do! Where are we even going?”

“Ramen!”

---

Sakura is still only barely awake by the time Shizune arrives the next morning but Sasuke has already given her three ‘I told you so’ looks as she and Naruto rifle through boxes to get ready so it’s not that early.

“Shizune-sensei!” Naruto yells. “Are you gonna teach me some more awesome moves today? Or poisons? Or-”

Shizune raises an eyebrow and Naruto immediately cuts himself off. Sakura looks at him, betrayed. He doesn’t notice.

“You wanna learn what I do, you need supplies. We’ve got an appointment at the tanner in fifteen for wrist holsters.”

Naruto scarfs down what’s left of his cereal and runs out the door, apparently not noticing Shizune still standing inside.

“Sakura, Tsunade would like to see you at the tower if you’re fr-.”

“I’m free,” Sakura says, getting up to wash her own bowl out immediately. “I’ll go now.”

“Hey,” Naruto yells, poking his head back in the door. “What are we waiting for?”

Shizune raises her eyebrow and his head disappears again.

“You’re welcome to come as well, Sasuke,” Shizune adds, ignoring the low grumbling still drifting in from outside. “There are some things I can recommend if you’re going to be studying under Tsunade.”

“Of course, thank you.”

Sakura ducks behind Shizune as she runs out the door.

“Meet us for lunch later!” Naruto yells after her.

Sakura raises a hand in acknowledgment without looking back.

---

“Tsunade-obaa-san!” Sakura says as she runs into the office, panting.

“Sakura-chan, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. Why would anything be wrong?”

Tsunade just smiles and shakes her head, gesturing to a chair in front of her desk for Sakura to sit in. “Would you like some tea?”

“Sure,” Sakura says, blinking in shock as a cup appears in front of her.

“Rat-san,” Tsunade says. She doesn’t continue.

“Oh, right” Sakura says, as if it explains anything.

A silence settles for a moment before Tsunade sighs, leaning forward and resting her arms on the table. “I’d hoped to be able to wait before asking you this but with the swearing-in ceremony approaching, there’s simply no time.”

“No time?”

“Sakura, I would like to adopt you. As a Senju. If you’ll let me.”

“...”

“I know it’s sudden-”

“What- What would that mean?”

“Well, you’d take the Senju name, live on the clan grounds, gain access to the clan funds, and be the heir to the clan as a whole,” Tsunade explains casually. “It’s not all upsides though. You’d also be expected at family dinners when you’re in the village and you’ll have to be okay with occasionally wearing Shizune’s awful holiday gifts at least once.”

“...”

Tsunade sighs again. “You’d be my kid, basically, even if the law says you’re an adult and all. I’d be responsible for you but that means you’d have to listen to me sometimes. We’d fight and get pissed and storm off but we’d come back because we’d be family and that’s what family does. Not that you’re not family if you say no. It’s just different. If you want to be.”

“I-” Sakura is humiliated to find her eyes filling with tears. Tsunade comes to her side and hugs her, which only brings more tears.

“I already have a family,” Sakura finally manages to get out. “Naruto and Sasuke are- I can’t just abandon them.”

“Of course not,” Tsunade says, matter-of-fact. “I would never ask you to.”

“I just- I just moved in with them. I can’t leave now.”

“So bring them, too.”

“... what?”

Tsunade chuckles at Sakura’s expression. “Clan law is shit but it’s important shit and it says that if I adopt you, you have to live on the clan grounds for the first year. It doesn’t say anything about keeping other people out. If you want to bring your team too, I say go for it.”

Sakura knows Tsunade is literally the strongest person in the world which makes it all the better when she lets Sakura’s hug tackle her to the floor anyway.

---

Three hours later:

“Ha! I knew we didn’t need to unpack!”

“Hn.”

“You were wrong!”

“Hn.”

“Sasuke?” Sakura asks.

He looks at her steadily for a moment before smirking. “If I got the opportunity to live on Senju land for free and didn’t take advantage it, I think Madara’s ghost would come back to murder me or something.”

“...”

“But you don’t think there’s actually ghosts out there right?” Naruto asks, looking around nervously as if he might spot one in the street.

“Hn.”

“You never know, Naruto. The world’s a big place.”

“... you’re joking, though, right?”

Chapter Text

“One more time,” Sakura mutters. “I can get it this time.”

She has to jump out of the way as another full grown tree appears where there should be a sapling.

“Hmm, not quite,” Kakashi says, not looking up from his book.

“You fucking-” Kakashi’s hand over her mouth cuts off Sakura’s sentence but it only increases her rage.

“Now, now, where did my cute little student learn language like that?” Kakashi asks, removing his hand.

“The goddamn Godaime, you-” Sakura cuts herself off this time as Kakashi disappears, switching to a scream of incoherent rage instead.

“Uh, maybe you should take a break, Sakura,” Naruto suggests weakly. He ducks down as she turns her glare on him.

“That’s,” Sakura pauses and takes a deep breath, “not a bad idea, Naruto. I’ll see you guys at home.”

---

Two hours of aimless wandering later, Sakura collapses onto a bench. She looks to the sky and concentrates. When she looks down, a full grown orchid extends from her hand. She rolls her eyes and tosses it to the ground.

“Sakura-san? Is everything alright?”

Sakura shoots up straight in her seat and sees Danzo looking at her. She tries to discreetly brush the most obvious dirt off of her shorts. It does not help.

“Oh, Danzo-sama, sorry. Yes, everything is fine.”

Danzo hesitates for a moment before asking, “Are you certain, Sakura-san? I only ask because I saw you throwing aside such a lovely flower. I would not want to think that someone has been making you feel poorly about making such beautiful creations.”

“Oh, no, it’s just-” Sakura sighs and looks down. “I didn’t actually mean to make a flower like that. It was just supposed to be a seedling. For some reason, though, I can’t control it like I should be able to. Everything I do just grows like crazy lately and I can’t stop it when I want to.”

“Ah, well, I certainly wish I ended up with such lovely results when I make mistakes.” Danzo smiles at her and Sakura attempts to return it but it feels more like a grimace. “Do you mind if I join you, Sakura-san?”

“Oh, of course,” Sakura says, scooting over to make room.

Danzo sits next to her and picks up the orchid from the ground gently, admiring it for several moments. “Do you mind if I bring this home with me, Sakura-san? I believe I should like to press it.”

“Of course, Danzo-sama. Someone should get some good out of it,” Sakura says, shrugging with a half-hearted smile.

“Thank you very much, Sakura-san,” Danzo says, smiling gently. “Now, while this is much lovelier than a seedling, I believe that is not the problem you have with it. Your problem is that you wish to have more control over the result?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm, have you had any large changes in your life recently? Things that would make you feel less stable emotionally?”

“I guess,” Sakura says. “I mean every single mission we go on turns out completely insane and now I have Tsunade-obaa-san and I love her but it’s just- different..”

“Ah, yes, that would likely do it. Chakra control can become much more difficult to control in times of great change,” Danzo says, nodding. “But perhaps, Sakura-san, you could choose to see how well you are doing in spite of that. You are an impressively hardworking girl but no one can expect you to be perfect at all times, now can they?”

Sakura chuckles weakly. “I guess not.”

“Hmm, well, perhaps it would help if, instead of spending the afternoon alone and unhappy here on this bench, you allowed me to treat you to dango in exchange for the lovely flower you have given me?”

“Oh, that’s very generous but I couldn’t accept, Danzo-sama. The flower didn’t exactly cost me anything.”

“How about in exchange for your company then? I do know several stories about Tsunade as a child you may be interested in.”

“Well,” Sakura considers for a moment before grinning. “Alright, thank you, Danzo-sama.”

“Ah, the pleasure is mine, Sakura-san.”

---

“... and then she hopped up onto the council table and stuck her tiny fist in the air and yelled, ‘No one talks to my Oji-san that way!’ Her mother was mortified of course but Tobirama-sensei simply smiled and thanked Tsunade-chan for her support, basically daring anyone to contradict him again and risk getting chewed out by a child.”

Sakura bursts into giggles for the third time during their conversation. “I think I would have paid to see that.”

“Ah, it was not an uncommon enough sight that payment would have been needed in those days,” Danzo says, shaking his head and chuckling. “Tsunade has always been a loyal girl. That is why her departure after the war shocked us all so greatly and one of many reasons we are so grateful to have her home.”

---

Sakura pushes food around her plate at dinner that night, still full from the dango that afternoon.

“Tsunade-obaa-san, can I ask you a question?” Sakura finally asks.

“Of course. Anything.”

“Why did you leave Konoha?”

Shizune sucks in a sharp breath but Tsunade simply looks consideringly at the table for several moments before meeting Sakura’s eyes again.

“I felt trapped here after the war. As the last Senju, or, the last one we knew of, and the best medic in the village, no one would even let me go on missions. I was just stuck in this village full of ghosts constantly and it made it impossible to find my ground.”

“Your ground?”

Tsunade hesitates. “A lesson for tomorrow. It’s time you learned the history of our family and I want you to learn it right.”

Chapter Text

The next morning:

Tsunade tells Sakura, “This is the way my mother told the story to me and her father told her and on back to the time the story begins, if the legends are true.”

She tells her, “This is your heritage, your birthright.”

She tells her, “This is why I left.”

Then she tells her this.

---

Unlike most shinobi clans, the Senju did not begin as samurai. They began as priests of a shrine in the Far West, where only the demons live now. At that time, the Senju were not a hereditary clan but a chosen one, ebbing and flowing in number with the needs of their people.

(“Senju,” Sakura interjects. “That’s how we got our name.”

“It is,” Tsunade agrees, smiling for a moment before turning serious again.)

In that time, chakra was still considered a primarily academic mystery by most. It would still be generations before the first use of chakra in battle when the Senju began adopting it into their rituals.

It is unknown who the first user was but it was not long before many of the rituals of the shrine were altered to make use of it. The most common use, however, was meditation.

(“The head priest would hold a visible manifestation of chakra in his hands, pulsing it with a more steady beat than any flame could manage, and all the clan would match his rhythm. It was a unifying ritual.”

“How long could they possibly do that for, though?”

“Some records say days.”)

The Senju developed these chakra practices in their shrine for generations, refining them until even the children of the clan could manage most of them with only a few lessons. Chakra became as natural to the people of the shrine as breathing while retaining its inherent spirituality. Upon stumbling upon chakra’s ability to influence the elements, many rituals adapted to make use of them in reality rather than symbolically, but nothing else of life in the shrine changed. To use it in violence would have been considered something close to blasphemous.

(”So what changed?”)

Unbeknownst to the Senju, a samurai clan had been gaining power in the east. In those times, the rise and fall of samurai clans happened rapidly and with little fanfare.

Until the samurai discovered chakra.

(“No one knows how it happened, whether a deserter of the Senju taught them or whether they stumbled upon it themselves but-”)

Until the Uchiha.

They were not the only samurai clan using chakra in those but they were the best, learning and adapting with more ease than any other clan.

They established their dominance in the east and with no more honorable fights to be had, turned their attention west.

(“They didn’t kill the children outright but with no adults to look after them, many died anyway on the long flight east. By the next spring, there were four survivors.”)

The survivors of the Senju clan vowed themselves not to vengeance, but to protection. They swore to never be so defenseless again.

Unlike the samurai, the Senju possessed far greater yin chakra than yang, allowing them to develop different branches of jutsu and preventing the singularity of elemental affinity that limited most clans.

The variety of affinities and small population also meant, however, that most users were essentially teaching themselves how to use their primary element in battle, a situation which quickly proved unsustainable.

(“Her name was Chiharu. Her primary element was lightning. They say that she was unrecognizable in the end.”)

The three remaining Senju became more careful in their experiments but two of the three quickly grew restless under the tight leash they had given themselves. The third, a boy with a water affinity, discovered his capabilities growing under the rigorous structure he was limited to.

And thus, the Senju discovered grounding. With such strong affinities inherent in their clan, it is still the only way they have found to grasp control of their elements.

Those with water affinities must control their natural draw towards fluidity and thus ground themselves in structure.

(“Like the Nidaime,” Sakura realizes.

Tsunade nods, brushing a hand through Sakura’s hair before continuing.)

Those with air affinities must fight the desire for expansion by grounding in contentment.

Those with fire affinities control their power of destruction by grounding themselves in protection.

(“Thus, the will of fire,” Tsunade adds.)

Those with lightning affinities must control the draw to catalyze by grounding in serenity.

Those with earth affinities must avoid the draw of stability by grounding themselves in freedom.

---

“But what about me?” Sakura asks. “The Shodaime was the first mokuton user. How did he ground himself?”

Tsunade hesitates for a moment before sighing. “Oji-san was known for being a risk taker and for his expressive emotions. People often wondered how he could be a good shinobi with those qualities. His family didn’t though. We knew that he acted that way because he was grounding himself in death.”

“He expressed his emotions and gambled to ground himself in death?”

“Wrong order of cause and effect. Oji-san had to keep himself constantly aware of the fact that he was going to die and that-” Tsunade pauses to sigh again. “It took a toll on him. Made him, not scared exactly, but unable to see the future. If he ever let himself forget, he’d have lost the ability to protect his family. And he wasn’t willing to do that for anything.”

“He was living like every day was his last because he had to assume it was,” Sakura says slowly, testing the weight of them on her tongue.

“He did.” Tsunade reaches out and takes Sakura’s hands in hers. “But you don’t have to.”

“If I want to control the mokuton-”

“If you want to then yes. But you don’t have to. Sakura-chan, you are a brilliant girl. You have so many other skills. And we aren’t at war. If you don’t want to use it, you don’t have to.”

“Yet.”

“Sakura-chan-”

“We aren’t at war yet. But we might be someday. I can’t-” Sakura cuts herself off, shakes her head. “I won’t sit by and wait until we are. I need to be strong enough to protect my people.”

Sakura dares to glance up at Tsunade and sees her cheeks are wet. She has to steel her resolve before she continues.

“I will do my best to become strong, Tsunade-obaa-san, and to be safe. But I can’t just sit by and let my team or you or Shizune get hurt if I can help it. I couldn’t live with that.”

Tsunade smiles through her tears and runs a hand through Sakura’s hair again before pulling her into her chest for a hug.

“I’m still here, Tsunade-obaa-san,” Sakura says into her shoulder. “I’m right here.”

“I know,” Tsunade whispers. It only sounds a little like a lie.

---

At practice the next day, Sakura grows a perfect seedling, a quarter-inch tall.

She smiles.

Chapter Text

“Sakura-chan,” a voice calls in the street.

Sakura turns to see Danzo waving to her from across the way and a smile blooms on her face. “Danzo-sama! It’s good to see you! How are the flowers?”

“Ah, they were so beautiful I almost couldn’t bring myself to throw them out when they wilted yesterday. They brought me much joy and I am in your debt for that, Sakura-chan.”

“Oh, well I could make you a few more if you like?” Sakura offers, embarrassed to find herself giggling. “If the accidental flowers were nice, surely the ones I make on purpose will be even better?”

“Ah, I couldn’t impose on you for such a thing,” Danzo insists, shaking his head. “It is good to hear that your chakra troubles have cleared up, though.”

“All thanks to you,” Sakura hedges slightly, figuring that he was the reason she asked Tsunade about her past. “Which is certainly worth a few flowers.”

“My words cannot hold a candle to your talent, Sakura-chan,” Danzo says. “However, perhaps we could make a trade? You seemed to appreciate the story I told of Tsunade before and I have many more where that came from, including some that she would perhaps be a bit embarrassed to hear? I could buy you a meal and tell you some of them in exchange.”

“Hmm,” Sakura says, tapping her chin in faux-thought. “I’ll take you up on the stories but I think dango is a more fair trade than a full meal.”

Danzo laughs. “Ah, that I can agree to, Sakura-chan. Are you free now? I wouldn’t want to intrude on your plans.”

“Oh, I’m free,” Sakura says. “But even if I weren’t, I don’t know of many plans that I wouldn’t cancel for dango and funny stories.”

“Ah,” Danzo says, chuckling, as they begin to walk towards the nearest stand, “to be so young and free again.”

---

’I don’t understand,’ Sakura says, shaking her head and backing away from Kayama-sensei. ‘I thought you said these missions require training and-’

‘Oh, Sakura-chan, don’t you see? Your whole life has been training for this. I mean, given where you grew up, who could be more perfect.’

‘No, I can’t do this, you can’t make me do this-’

‘Maa, Sakura-chan,’ Kakashi-sensei says from behind her. ‘There’s no use in making such a fuss about things.’

‘You-’

“Sakura-chan!”

Sakura wakes up to Naruto’s face about three inches from hers. He’s lucky she couldn’t get any kind of leverage from that distance or the instinctive punch she responds with would have hurt a lot more.

“Naruto, what time is it?”

“It’s, like, super late,” Naruto says and Sakura panics for a moment before he continues, “like almost 9.”

“Naruto, it’s a rest day.”

“Well now it’s a mission day!”

Sakura shoots straight up. “What?”

“The courier came by and said we have to get to the Tower! We have a super awesome mission! Let’s go!”

Sakura immediately climbs out of bed to get ready of course but she can’t resist asking as Naruto turns to leave, “Super awesome mission? The courier said that?”

“Well, he said it’s for you, me, and Sasuke, and not Kakashi-sensei so yeah, basically! Now, hurry up, we have to go!”

Well, she supposes Naruto’s interpretation could’ve been less accurate.

---

Kakashi is already in the mission room when they arrive and he interrupts Naruto’s immediate protest to assure them that he’s already got another mission assigned.

“Wouldn’t want anyone meddling and ruining your fun,” he adds, just before disappearing.

“Weird fucking kid,” Tsunade mutters under her breath before turning to them. It takes Sakura a moment to realize she means Kakashi and she has to hold in a giggle. “Well, let’s get down to business then, you three. You’ve got a non-standard, B-rank, escort mission in the Land of Tea. Departure is scheduled for two hours. Expected duration is two weeks. Have at it.”

Tsunade tosses a scroll to Sakura before taking off her hat and standing.

“I’m taking an early lunch. I’ll be back after the kids are gone. Shizune, run off any emergencies.”

“Tsunade-shishou!”

“Hokage-sama!”

“Cool,” Naruto says, falling in step right beside her. “Do you want ramen for lunch?”

Tsunade raises a brow at him for a moment before cracking and ruffling his hair.

“Sure, kid, lead the way.”

---

After ramen, they head back and grab their two-week packs.

“Seriously, you aren’t even going to check them?” Tsunade asks.

Sakura’s face stays dead serious. “Tsunade-obaa-san, if I have to argue about Sasuke’s hygiene supplies or Naruto’s ramen stash one more time, you will need a new leader for this mission.”

“Well, fair enough, I guess,” Tsunade says, laughing. “I was on a team with two boys myself. I know how that can be.”

Sakura considers what she knows of Tsunade’s teammates and whatever face she makes at the thought, it makes Tsunade’s laugh double in volume.

“Just,” Tsunade starts when she’s finally run out of breath. “Just come home safe.”

She pulls Sakura into a hug and runs a hand over her hair once before stepping back.

“I’ll do what I can,” Sakura answers honestly.

“Good, now head out before Shizune comes to hunt me down for sport.”

“You could take her,” Sakura laughs.

“You’ve got too much faith in me, kid.”

“Never,” Sakura says, and waves, before closing the door behind her.

Chapter Text

“I spy something green.”

“Naruto, I swear to the gods-”

“It’s not a leaf this time! Honest!”

“Hn. Grass?”

“Maybe.”

“Naruto, that’s still a leaf!”

“What? No way!”

---

“So, you’re from Konoha?” Sakura asks.

“Yeah? What’s it to you?” the client answers.

Sakura throws up a ‘do not engage’ behind her back. Naruto’s quiet grumbles should be indecipherable to anyone but her and Sasuke but she still keeps the sign held until they taper off.

“Just making conversation.”

The client just grunts back.

Sakura takes a deep breath and very carefully does not respond.

---

Sakura tries to be as genuine as possible when she compliments Naruto but it’s not a surprise anymore when he sees straight through her.

“What? I only used one senbon! It was a super efficient takedown!”

“Oh yeah, needles are totally badass,” the client interjects. “Real manly move there.”

Sakura takes a deep breath.

“You did exactly the right thing, Naruto. I just need a bit of a workout, I think. To destress and all.”

Naruto’s eyes flicker to the client. Sakura jerks her head sharply to the side. He shrugs.

“Spar on the way home?” he offers.

“Spar on the way home.”

---

The client wins the race.

Sakura smiles through the gratitude of the city elders, graciously accepts the invitation to stay for the ceremony, and carefully does not scream.

“Don’t worry,” Naruto whispers as the festivities begin. “He’s going to enjoy this as much as we are.”

Naruto opens his kunai pouch for a moment and Sakura can just make out the empty itching powder packet lying on top before he shuts it again.

She shouldn’t encourage it.

“Think your clones could find out which one of these houses is his?”

“Absolutely.”

---

“I’m gonna need to restock tomorrow,” Naruto says, freshly showered and thus allowed to collapse on Sakura’s bed with the rest of them.

Sasuke doesn’t even open his eyes on her other side. “I need new shoes.”

“Again? You just got new ones last month.”

Sasuke grunts affirmatively and Naruto groans. “You’re growing too fast, bastard. How am I supposed to catch up?”

Sasuke’s lips twitch. “You’re not.”

Naruto glares for a moment before definitively leaning back so he can’t see him anymore. “What are your plans Sakura?”

“Danzo-sama and I are supposed to meet for dango and then I’ll probably just train.”

Naruto pulls a face. “Training on your day off is lame.”

“You calling me lame?” Sakura raises one brow.

“Well, time for bed,” Naruto declares, jumping into his own bed and pulling the covers over his face.

“That’s what I thought.”

Chapter Text

“The teacher was so angry with the both of them,” Danzo-sama says. “But what could she do to Tsunade-chan? She was the Shodaime’s granddaughter, Tobirama-sensei’s grandniece, and a favorite of both. So it was my Chiasa-chan that she decided to punish.”

“Tsunade-chan, though, refused to let her friend suffer alone. When Chiasa-chan had detention, Tsunade-chan would stay in her seat until someone carried her outside and then she would sneak back in. When they tried taking her all the way home, her family refused to intervene. Eventually, the punishment for that prank ended but that teacher never punished Chiasa-chan again.”

Sakura had been giggling throughout the story but her laughter spills over then, stealing her breath for several seconds before she could speak.

“Your daughter sounds like someone my team would love,” she finally got out. “Naruto, especially.”

“Ah, that was my Chiasa-chan. Smart, funny, courageous, loyal; to know her was to love her. Much like yourself, Sakura-chan.”

“I can think of no higher compliment.”

“Nor can I. It is not something I say lightly.”

---

While their team was not ideally suited for tracking missions, it’s a basic enough skill that Sakura has it come up fairly regularly in their training schedule. The team is hunting down a deer in one of the furthest training grounds when Sakura feels unfamiliar chakra approaching fast.

“Unknown approaching. Back-to-back.”

The team has barely gotten into a circle facing outwards when the strangers enter the clearing. Their headbands mark them as Sound nin.

“No need for hostility,” the blue-haired boy says. “We’re just messengers.”

Twelve breaths a minute. Fifteen blinks. Sakura hates diplomacy.

“Must be an important message,” Sakura says. “For you to travel all the way here.”

“The most important you’ll ever hear.”

“Which is?”

“Your team is invited to escape the sinking ship that is Konoha.”

---

Sakura has Naruto’s clones lay three false trails while she and the boys go full stealth towards the Tower.

Halfway there, she sees movement out of the corner of her eye and instantly throws a kunai. When she turns, all that’s there is a rock reflecting the sunlight filtering through the trees.

She forces herself to take three slow breaths.

“Sorry,” she whispers. “I thought I saw a mask.”

“ANBU?”

“No. Blank. It’s just a rock, though.”

“Better safe than sorry,” Naruto says, scanning the treeline.

“Right,” Sakura says. She shakes her head. “Let’s just- Keep your eyes open.”

---

Tsunade is in a meeting with a foreign delegation when they reach the Tower but a chakra almost as familiar is alone in his office. He calls for them to enter almost before she can knock.

“Danzo-sama, I am sorry to interrupt your work but I have an urgent report.”

“Were you already assigned another mission, Sakura-chan?”

“No, sir. My team and I were training when we were approached by four Sound nin who had infiltrated within the village walls. They claimed to be sent by Orochimaru with a message. They said my team has three days to leave of our own volition or they will take us by force. Tsunade-obaa-san is meeting with foreign nin in her office and I didn’t know where else to-”

“Sakura-chan, breathe.”

“I’m sorry, I just-” Sakura cuts herself off to follow the order and Danzo-sama nods approvingly. It steadies something inside her.

“It’s alright. I assure you, I will not allow you to be taken anywhere. Please, sit, and start from the beginning.”

Sakura’s heart falls but her voice remains steady as she speaks. “I guess it really starts during the chunin exams.”

---

Danzo-sama does not interrupt Sakura a single time during her tale but when it is done, he stands, circles his desk, and pulls her into a hug. She is horrified to feel her eyes begin to burn.

“I am so incredibly sorry that you have been carrying this burden, Sakura-chan. But I must say that you, all three of you, have acted with more courage, strength, and honor than anyone could rightly expect from shinobi your age. Konoha’s strength is made greater through your team.”

The boys say quiet thank yous at her sides and she thinks she hears Naruto sniffle before Danzo-sama pulls back and looks her in the eye.

“Your trust in me is an honor I do not take lightly. I will ensure that Hokage-sama is informed and that all three of you are kept safe.”

“Thank you, Danzo-sama.”

“Unfortunately, your sensei is still away on a mission or these Sound scum may have never had the courage to intercept you in this way. It may be that you will need to be supervised when training for the near future by another. I know that Shizune-chan has been active in Naruto-kun’s training in particular but her presence is needed here more often than not. Are there any other jonin you would trust to oversee you?”

Sakura looks at the boys. They look back. After a few moments of silence, she says, “I would trust any shinobi you recommended to me, Danzo-sama.” She’s almost surprised to be saying it and even more surprised that it’s true.

“Then there can only be one answer, Sakura-chan. If it is not objectionable to any of you, I will oversee your training for the time being myself.”

Sakura should protest. It’s too much kindness. She can never pay it back.

Her boys are still looking at her.

What will they do once she’s gone if she says no? They need someone else to trust. Someone better than her.

“We would be honored, Danzo-sama. I cannot thank you enough.”

“Sakura-chan, your trust in me is more than thanks enough. There is nothing I value more highly.”

Chapter Text

“What were you thinking?! You could have been killed while I sat through that pointless meeting! You should have come straight to me! If you ever behave so stupidly again-”

Tsunade’s rant cuts off as Naruto approaches her. He wraps his arms around her and leans into a hug.

Sakura looks at Sasuke. His eyes are glued, wide, to the lack of movement in front of him.

Finally, Naruto pulls away slightly to say, “Sorry we scared you, Baa-san. We’ll probably do it again but we’re still sorry.”

For a moment, Tsunade’s mouth opens and her brows lower, and Sakura thinks he’s read her wrong.

Then, Tsunade lets out a deep breath. Her hand comes up to rest on his head for a moment. “Don’t call me ‘Baa-san’ brat. I’m not that old.”

---

“Alright,” Danzo-sensei says to begin their first day of training (exactly on time!). “We’re going to need to do a little bit of an evaluation first, to see where I can help you all most to improve. Whenever you’re ready, come at me.”

Sakura thanks every god she knows that she had already calmed all of Naruto’s concerns for Danzo-sensei’s strength last night when he doesn’t say anything in response, simply getting into a fighting stance and holding for her signal.

Well, she wouldn’t want to keep their sensei waiting.

---

Three days in, Sakura still can’t quite let go of the bittersweet knot in her chest.

Danzo-sensei has been working with Naruto on his taijutsu, interspersed with quick ninjutsu techniques. The variety keeps Naruto interested and the combination is perfectly suited for his clones to barrage an enemy.

Sasuke has been working with Danzo-sensei on his fine chakra control through sparring with chakra blades. According to Tsunade, it's already paying off in his medical jutsu lessons.

Sakura’s days have been split between poring over the Shodaime’s journals, battle strategy, and speedwork. She falls in bed every night totally exhausted, eager to wake up for the next round.

Her team has a real leader.

---

Danzo-sensei’s responsibilities didn’t suddenly end when he took over their team but he tries to keep all of his appointments to one day a week so that their training is as uninterrupted as possible.

This means that one day a week, the responsibility falls to Sakura to keep the boys from burning down the Senju compound while they’re stuck inside the wards.

“876, 877, 878…”

“Keep going,” Sakura says, eyes not leaving the journal in her hands. “You’ve got this.”

“Maa, this feels familiar.”

Kakashi’s voice startles Sakura into a fighting stance but she drops it quickly enough to hope he hasn’t caught it.

“What are-” Naruto starts. He and Sasuke are both standing now, push-ups forgotten as soon as Kakashi spoke.

“How was your mission?” Sakura cuts in.

“Long and boring. I see you three have been keeping busy while I’ve been gone.”

“We have.”

“Good. We’ll spar first, to see what you’ve picked up while I’ve been gone. Training ground 18.” Kakashi disappears in a cloud of dust.

“Do we…” Naruto trails off, gesturing towards the door.

“We’d better.”

---

Kakashi spars against them, has them spar against each other, says nothing remotely useful, and disappears again.

Sakura is composing pleas to Tsunade in her head on the walk home when sees light glint off something white in the corner of her eye.

Then everything goes dark.

Chapter Text

A dark cave. Thunder crashes- no, rocks- no, thunder. His hands-

“We have at least one defector, a genin medic, Yakushi Kabuto. Possibly more. I’m told there is evidence of at least four foreign nin present at the time of the abduction as well. We believe they are headed for Otogakure.”

“Is this the full team?”

Gai is the most capable nin Kakashi knows. Shizune is Tsunade’s right hand, a force to be reckoned with.

“Please,” the girl says. Rin’s voice. Pink hair. His hands, the blood-

It’s still only three nin against an unknown force.

“Do you have someone else in mind? We need to move quickly and most of our non-genin forces are assigned to the post-invasion mission rush.”

“There’s always the prisoner,” Shizune interjects.

Tsunade touches her forehead briefly, eyes closed.

“Fine. If you think he’ll do more good than not. And if you’re sure you can bring him back.”

“I’m sure.”

Kakashi doesn’t know who this prisoner is but Shizune thinks they can help.

“Kakashi, please-”

This time will be different.

---

Shizune fills Kakashi in on the way to the diplomat’s wing. He manages to pick up the important bits over the ringing in his ears.

The Suna jinchuriki’s handler says he’s attached to Sakura, possibly obsessed. There is an 82% certainty that he would not harm her if given the opportunity and a 96% certainty that he would protect her from outside harm.

They reach his rooms. Shizune breaks off to transfer paperwork and explain things. Kakashi goes straight to the prisoner.

“Sakura has been abducted. We are the team responsible for getting her back.”

“Bring me with you.” The prisoner’s voice is-

(young, too young, when was the last time he saw the sun)

-not what Kakashi expected.

“We leave now.”

---

They’ve been gaining on the Oto nin since departing, unburdened by captives, but it’s choice, rather than happenstance, that sees them facing their enemies in an open field. The Oto nin have only a few moments’ time to prepare but Kakashi’s squad is still faced with an immediate wave of projectiles upon emerging from the trees.

Kakashi can just barely make out a pink head of hair several feet behind the furthest of the Oto squad. As he watches, the head lifts and a few clumsy motions bring it out of sight.

Furthest from him are two Oto nin guarding against bypass maneuvers, both clearly the product of Orochimaru’s experiments. One of them seems to be part-spider; the other is twice the size of even Chouza.

The two closer nin are the defector and the pale boy who launched the projectiles. They seem to have come from his body- bone, possibly.

“Gai, Shizune, on the defector. Gaara, on the pale one.”

Kakashi is immediately barraged with the bony projectiles as he swings an arc around the forward fighters until Gaara forces a stop to them with his attacks. It continues each time Gaara is forced to a pause as he approaches the rear guard.

The pale boy does not seem to care about damaging the rear guard much, one of the projectiles even hitting the spider boy at one point. A few fly past them and Kakashi spares a thought to hope they hit only the ground.

Kakashi catches the spider boy with a chidori first before sending a multi-wind blade at the large one that rips him to pieces.

Sakura is lying on top of what must be the boys.

There is blood on her shirt.

His hand tears through flesh-

“Sakura.”

He is suddenly standing over her, hands twitching uselessly at his sides.

“Kakashi,” Sakura slurs, before she gags and retches, managing to aim mostly for the grass rather than the boys. “You’re late.”

Just like that, his limbs unlock and he lifts them, boys over his shoulders, no wounds on either of them, and Sakura in his arms. Her wound is deep but clear of any organs, not nearly life-threatening with Tsunade waiting at the village.

“Sorry,” he tells her as he begins an arc away from the fighting, back towards the village. He can’t think of a proper excuse this time. “It won’t happen again.”

“Liar,” Sakura says, eyes fluttering shut as she fights unconsciousness until she has the last word.

A burning starts in Kakashi’s chest and spreads toward his throat. She’s still-

Sakura.

“I forgive you. This time.”

It’s more than he deserves.

Chapter Text

Sakura wakes up in the hospital and immediately sits up to look for Naruto and Sasuke.

“Ow, what the fuck,” she says, grabbing her side.

“Sakura, what are you doing? Lay back down!” Naruto is by her side almost immediately, guiding her back into the bed like she can’t even lay down by herself.

“Leave her alone, Naruto,” Sasuke calls from the other bed in the room.

“You’re hurt, too?”

“No, just some sort of seal on my neck.”

“A seal?!” Sakura is halfway out of bed before she’s finished speaking. “What kind of seal?” She sees bandages on his neck and lays her hand lightly on top of them, not moving them until he nods.

“Sakura! You’re supposed to be in bed!”

She climbs fully onto Sasuke’s bed, laying down next to him once she’s seen the seal and replaced the bandages. She’d never admit it to Naruto but she does feel better once she’s laid back down.

“I don’t need them,” Sasuke tells her. “They’re supposed to remind me I’m hurt or something. Jiraiya did some sort of other seal on top of the original, though, that’s supposed to keep everything in check.”

“Supposed to?”

Sasuke shrugs. Sakura looks over to Naruto who shrugs as well.

“Well, I guess he is good at seals. I’m sure it’s fine.”

Sasuke scoots over a little, giving Sakura more room on the bed.

“Go back to sleep. No one’s dying in the next few hours at least.”

“Actually, every eight seconds-

“Sakura,” two voices groan in unison.

“Fine.” Sakura wiggles a little to get more comfortable and ends up lying half on top of Sasuke. He doesn’t complain. “You need to eat more. Be more comfy.”

He sighs at her.

Mission accomplished. She’s asleep in seconds.

---

Sakura wakes next to arguing.

“I’m not leaving and you can’t make me!” Naruto is whisper-shouting, unaware she’s awake then.

“Don’t be an idiot, kid-” Jiraiya is also whisper-shouting but she suspects Naruto’s influence there.

Tsunade catches her eye and winks before shouting, “Enough!”

Both Naruto and Jiraiya startle, though only Naruto knocks over an end table.

Sasuke rolls his eyes from a visiting chair by the door, bandage disappeared from around his neck.

“Jiraiya, Naruto isn’t going anywhere if he doesn’t want to. I told you you could make him an offer, not badger him into accepting. Naruto, you’re a five foot nothing genin and a pain in my ass. You’ll go where I tell you. Lucky for you, this time it’s exactly where you already are. Now Jiraiya, get the hell out. I don’t wanna see you again until dinner.”

As the door closes behind Jiraiya, Tsunade finally turns to Sakura. “You’ve got a lotta nerve, leaving me to wrangle your teammates for five days on my own. I just about pulled someone’s hair out.”

“Sorry, Tsunade-obaa-san, I’ll try not to do it again.”

“Hmm, good. Now sit up and give me a hug.” Sakura does, surprised at the lack of pain in her side. “You got damn lucky, kid. No organs hit and that drug they gave you didn’t do anything permanent.”

“Does that mean I’m released?”

“No training, sprinting, or intentional chakra usage for two days. Light duty for the rest of the week. And if you aren’t at family dinner every single night, on time, I will track you down and readmit you, no excuses. Deal?”

“Deal!”

---

“Sensei!” Sakura calls, seeing Danzo exiting the Tower. She hasn’t gotten to seen him since her release the day before, which means they haven’t seen each other in almost a week, even if she was asleep for most of it.

“Sakura-chan, I am so glad to see you are well,” Danzo says, waiting for her to catch up before falling in step with her. Feet unerringly headed toward their dango stand. “If my hair weren’t already gray, it certainly would be now.”

“I’m so sorry I worried you. And I guess it isn’t ‘sensei’ anymore. It’s crazy how fast everything happened, I guess I’m still trying to catch up.”

“No need to apologize, Sakura-chan. And it may not be an official arrangement anymore but it is always an honor to teach, especially such a wonderful pupil. I would be happy to continue being your ‘sensei’ as long as you agree.”

Sakura closes her eyes for a moment and focuses on her breathing. She opens them again when she is sure she won’t cry and sees their dango stand in front of them. Immediately, she feels tears well up again despite her efforts.

“I forgot. I’m not supposed to use chakra for the rest of the week. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s alright, Sakura-chan. We’ll call it a get well present, shall we?”

Sakura’s laugh is a little wet but Danzo doesn’t seem to mind.

“Thank you,” she says, hugging him briefly before sitting beside him.

“Of course, Sakura-chan, anything for you. But I must admit, it is hardly a hardship to spend time with my prized student, especially when you were so recently in danger. This is the least I could do.”

She hasn’t seen Kakashi since those brief moments in her drug-fueled haze.

“It really, really isn’t,” she tells him, steering the conversation after to happier things.

---

It’s a little weird getting summoned to the Tower to see someone she saw twenty minutes ago at breakfast but Tsunade likes to keep work separate from their home life and Sakura doesn’t really mind.

The summons was for all of team 7 so she’s unsurprised to see Kakashi in the office as well. He doesn’t tend to keep Tsunade waiting.

“Alright,” Tsunade begins. “I don’t wanna hear any protests until I say I’m done. You aren’t gonna like this but this is how things are.

“Now, you three kids obviously work well together. Long term, I plan to have you sticking together. However, Sasuke’s seal isn’t something I wanna play around with. He needs time in-village to get used to it and the village needs the rest of you to keep taking missions. So, for the next few months, Sasuke is going to be training full time with me, focusing on his medical jutsu. You two will keep going on missions with your sensei and your temporary teammate in the meantime, and no one’s gonna pout about it. You got that?”

Naruto’s jaw is tightly clenched and Sakura grabs Sasuke’s hand, squeezing sharply, but no one makes a sound.

“Good. Your new teammate is outside. He’s a combat-focused chunin named Sai. He’s about your age too, 14, so there shouldn’t be any issues. Shizune, send him in.”

A dark-haired boy steps in through the side door, coming to a stop near Tsunade’s desk. He’s tall, slender, dressed all in black. He turns towards them.

Sakura’s ears begin to ring.

“Sota?”