Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Kakashi was not amused.

In hindsight, he probably should have seen it coming. For years he had managed to dodge the official summons. For years he had conveniently taken months long missions around that particular time. One time he had even so far as to take a detour through hostile territory just to avoid the inevitable. He should have known the Hokage would catch on to his tactics.

Kakashi Hatake was the most decorated jonin in the village, second to only the Hokage. It was a miracle he had managed to stay a free man for so long. Alas, he could not manage to escape the worst fate.

And not for lack of effort.

At first glance, Tsunade Senju looks nothing more than a pretty face with pockets deep enough to fuel her alcohol addiction.

Not entirely wrong. Tsunade had men and women alike stopping to admire her beauty on a bad day, let alone a good one. And as the last Senju (the rest are either dead or in the smaller farming villages scattered in various places surrounding the Great Hashirama Forrest in which Konohagakure resides) she had access to the collective savings of more than a hundred generations worth of ryo.

But to assume her pedigree is the only reason she was eligible for her position would be signing the check for your own coffin.

The old hag was smart. Of course she had recognized his pattern.

Along came the start of April, and there skipped Kakashi, content in the knowledge that he’d fooled his way out of this bullshit once again, out of the village gates.

It was a simple intel retrieval mission in the capital. Travel a third of the way there, henge into disguise, continue travel, exchange info via elaborate verbal code with the plant, return to the village. Simple.

Too simple.

He should have seen it, honestly. Tsunade was not nice. She was never nice. Why would she give her most decorated shinobi a mission that could be considered, at worst, a chakra exercise?

The henge was one of the most simple techniques a ninja could use. It takes very little chakra and average chakra control could make a passing transformation. But the thing with using any jutsu constantly for more than a month, is that even academy level techniques like the henge take chakra.

Even pennies add up over time.

Kakashi was chakra exhausted and brain dead by the time he’d numbly managed to drag himself and his report up to the Hokage’s office. He wasn’t nearly as proficient as Kurenai with genjutsu and conjuring the “memory” into the minds of the men whose merchant caravan he’d weaseled his way into was a bitch. He had no sense of time, nor a care in the world as he went through the after-mission protocols he could march through while asleep.

He considered doing just that and dozing off and taking his chances on sleep walking home when he slammed face first into glass. He stared uncomprehendingly at the window. He didn’t even realize he had actually dozed off.

“I locked it.” Kakashi could hear the scheme in her voice. His blood turned to ice and everything came flooding back. He didn’t have to turn to know the evil bitch’s anbu guards were stationed in front of the door, rather than their usual place in the seal hidden rafters.

He knew all of the ones on duty today. Yuugao, Shisui, Genma. Itachi, as Tsunade’s chosen heir to the hat, was stationed at her shoulder looking vaguely sympathetic. He briefly considered trying his luck, but discarded the idea when he noticed the senbon the Lynx mask, Genma, twirled masterfully around his fingers.

He turned back to the seal on the window, fatigue making the inscriptions swim, poked it, and scowled as it made the tip of finger go numb. No dice.

Tsunade spoke up before he could properly inspect the vent in the ceiling, “I’m giving you a genin team.”

Not even years in anbu could hide the snort that escaped from behind Shisui’s mask as he watched a part of the man die in front of him. Kakashi vowed to steal his dessert later.

“Fuck.”

The sadist cackled as she threw three files in his direction. Kakashi looked back to the vent and wanted to cry at the sight of Itachi blocking his fucking path. Traitor. His internal rage was interrupted not a moment later when all three of the files smacked him in the nose, one after the other.

His scowl deepend as he heard his old anbu pals open the door for that Academy chunin, Iruka. Kakashi didn’t even try to make a break for it at this point. No one had ever succeeded in escaping the inevitable sensei-hood after receiving the student files and his vision swam every step he took so he wasn’t hopeful about being the first.

“Finally caught you, eh Hatake?”

“Shut the fuck up.”

Tsunade shuffled what must’ve been her copies of the dreaded paperwork he had in hand and spoke, “Well let’s get this over with then, shall we? Sasuke Uchiha.” Kakashi couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the predictability of that one. He’d practically helped raise the kid. Even lived with him and his family for a time, back when he wondered whether living was worth it. It was bad, after Minato.

Iruka spoke up as Kakashi dejectedly opened his first student’s file, “Easily the top of his class in everything except History and Chakra Theory.”

“So the book stuff, then,” he clarified.

“Yes, but he’s second in those. Sasuke is a hard worker, diligent, confident in his skills.. His teamwork skills depend on whoever he’s teamed with, so watch out for that one.” Iruka flipped through his notepad and nodded to himself. “He’s far above the average with the Uchiha clan’s taijutsu style and enough chakra and control to make him an effective ninjutsu specialist if he so chooses. You’ve got yourself a prodigy with this one, Hatake.”

“Lovely.”

Tsunade flipped to the next file and he could already predict the next name. “Naruto Uzumaki.”

Another easy guess. Sasuke and Naruto had always been inseparable since birth. Even these days they still fall asleep scheming over their next prank and how to get away with it.

“Average in most courses. Barely scraped by in History and Chakra Theory, but top 5 in Taijutsu, though. Well, not for finesse, but his brawling is effective, I’ll give him that.” Kakashi snorted. “Impressive stealth and trapping skills, definitely something to follow up on,” he said with a glance up at Kakashi to make sure he heard. “Insane chakra capacity, obviously, and teamwork with the nine-tails—”

“Kurama,” Kakashi and Tsunade corrected simultaneously. Iruka’s jaw tightened, but he continued without a hitch.

“—Improves every day. Teamwork with others is also a strong suit of his. Also,” he turned to Kakashi, “good call teaching him the Shadow Clone technique. He has the subtlety of a sledgehammer when it comes to chakra, and with that jutsu, any amount of chakra can be thrown at it if shifted into the right pattern.”

Kakashi didn’t react to the praise.

“Sakura Haruno.”

At this, Iruka sighed. Kakashi glanced over with curiosity. He was practically radiating pride when speaking about the boys, what’s with the change? “Sakura is smart. Eidetic memory, I think, but… little to no practical skills. She insists on a bad diet. One of those calorie limit ones that cripples her ability to build muscle. Good chakra control, but not enough to make use of it. I mean… that’s about it honestly. I’ve spoken with her Academy-assigned civi-born tutor, and we both agree that the most she’ll amount to is a Desk Genin, that is if she doesn’t tap out within the first few months,” he grimaced. “I’m surprised she graduated if I’m being honest.”

Kakashi couldn’t help but blink uncomprehendingly at the teacher. Fodder. Iruka was giving him fodder. Placefiller might just be the nicest thing he could call her. Knowledge and memory is all well and good but without the practical skills to back it up, it would only be a matter of time before she gets herself killed.

“So you’re just gonna stand there and tell me you are giving me two students and a human meatshield.”

Iruka choked on his own saliva and Tsunade scoffed in disgust, “Gods, Kakashi! Shinobi being used as fodder stopped for our people as soon as this village was created!”

Iruka cleared his throat and continued, “Besides, I wouldn’t have passed her if I didn’t believe she wasn’t capable enough to be a genin. I just don’t believe she’ll be anything more than that.”

Kakashi stared at him for a moment. “Right.” The man grimaced.

Clearly, he heard the doubt in his voice.

“Well, that’ll be it then,” Tsunade interrupted, “As per usual, there are four days after graduation where the graduates go more in depth over the standard protocols and procedures that genin follow. This is also when you and the other new senseis get a chance to stalk your new students to find more out about them.

“But graduation was two days ago and as soon as you leave my office, you will be on 12-hour cool down after your last mission before you will be allowed to officially start your new long-term mission of seeing these kids through their career.”

He blinked. “What.”

—————————————

Kakashi watched idly as his ceiling fan spun round and round and round. He’d just slept for 10 hours and now there was only a day and half that he’d be able to prepare before actually officially meeting the hell spawns as their sensei. He rolled out of bed and firmly ignored the snickering of his dogs.

“Oh how the mighty have fallen,” Bisuke taunted. Kakashi bared his sharp canines.

“I have monopoly over your Bacon Bits.” That comment failed to instill the fear Kakashi was going for and instead the giggling evolved into unrepentant cackles and with that change came about the dissolution of his streak of not craving death.

Chapter Text

Sakura was in the midst of a mental breakdown.

She was in sound enough mind to know that she shouldn’t be, she was the only of her civilian born peers to graduate after all! But she was also a realist when it came to her skills, and she was teamed with a descendant of a founder and a jinchuuriki. Even though she was proud of her accomplishments in school, they were purely book knowledge – nothing practical aside from somewhat decent chakra control. Which begs the question.

Why put her on a team with her graduating class’ most watched genin wannabes?

Ah. No. She understood.

She was meant to even it out, right? She had read the history of the Academy, and graduating class’ teams were always somewhat even to prevent prospective senseis from claiming another sensei’s team was better. So, to even out all the talent from Naruto and Sasuke on team 7 with the rest, Sakura was placed. Right? That would be fine, since genin work is menial chores and easy escorts where baby ninja can learn to fight low threat hostiles with supervision from their sensei. That doesn’t add up though! When genin teams get promoted to chunin, they typically stick together for a while. Even when she gets promoted though, how will she keep up? With the sharingan? With a tailed-beast.

Was she expected to act as a last line of defense in case they were threatened? Like a human meat shield? No, that's not right either. She’s read all the history books on the founding and available copies of the founder’s journals and that idea goes directly against everything Konohagakure was created for. It couldn’t be Lady Tsunade separating from their beliefs, because she has made known her intention of leading and improving the village under the guidelines set by her grandfather, grand uncle, and the Uchiha brothers. If that was the case, then there is only one obvious answer left.

They never expected her to make it past Genin.

Sakura wondered what it was that sealed that fate in their eyes. Her personality, maybe? She was quiet, but most of the girls who were loud only fawned over Sasuke Uchiha. Was that a necessary trait for kunoichi? She thought being quiet and observational would be a good skill to have as a ninja, Mizuki sensei thought so, but maybe Iruka sensei and Lady Tsunade thought differently.

Could it be her heritage? Possible. She had once overheard a pair of chunin complaining that their civi-born teammate, and every other civi-born, had no place on their C-Rank mission and should just give up and be desk nin. Ami and the rest of her clique always said she wouldn’t get anywhere because of her parents. Even Iruka sensei had tried to persuade her from the shinobi force. “I’m sure you would be much more comfortable as a traveling merchant with your parents!” Sakura never brought up Ami’s bullying again after that.

Ami had never been deterred for long by Ino, and Iruka sensei wouldn’t take her seriously for long before his attention was pulled away by someone more important – i.e. clan kid – and assumed she was just throwing what some liked to call a “civi-fit” over something irrelevant. Sakura was lucky when that Uchiha Police Force man interfered during one of the times Ami felt like getting physical. She’d been throwing rocks, as well as insults, before the man (teenager?) had suddenly appeared in front of her with a toothy smile that was quite terrifying when directed at Ami and comforting when directed at Sakura.

“So you wanna be a kunoichi, huh? Well, I’ll be looking forward to working with you, Sakura-chan!”

She had considered giving up just hours before. He was the first and only to ever state, without a doubt, that he expected her to make it. That simple five minute interaction had fueled her past the silent doubt and expectations of her failure for years as each and every one of her civilian peers dropt out one by one. She was the only one left with two civilian parents. Everyone else was either from one the Big and Important centuries old shinobi clans or was at least a 3rd generation ninja without a clan. She hoped she’d meet that man again to thank him some day.

Sakura’s work ethic couldn’t be the reason they expected so little of her. Her motivation to become a kunoichi had always been solid, ever since she refused to travel with her merchant parents and they gave the option of the family business or “becoming a ninja and getting yourself killed!” She hadn’t seen them in three years. Sakura loved Konoha and Ino too much to abandon both for a life of monotony. It wasn’t even worth going just to stay with her parents. It’s not like they paid her much attention even when they still lived in the village, anyway. She missed them, but at least they sent enough money back every once in a while to cover the house and food. Cuts had to be made in the grocery budget to pay for minimum gear and equipment at times, but she was coping.

She’d worked so hard! Practically clawed her way to top kunoichi with blood, sweat, and tears. Dug her feet in, and utterly refused to let a classmate beat her out of the position that would’ve bumped down her overall scores to second place. Asked her tutor, Mizuki sensei, for a diet that would suit her. Extra taijutsu training even. He was probably annoyed with her by the end, if she was being honest. For civi’s, tutors are assigned to keep them caught up in all the practical lessons throughout their years in the Academy. Instead of participating with the rest of the class during practical lessons, civis would get one on one training with their tutor for everything except sparring day. Sakura had asked him constantly for extra help, especially after spars, so he was probably sick of her at this point. She couldn’t help but smile at the thought. They couldn’t say she wasn’t strict with her training, at least.

Her smile disappeared, and along with it her pride in what she has accomplished, when Kakashi fucking Hatake walked through the classroom door three hours late with a large sized to-go mug full of triple espresso.

Because of course. Of course her already overpowered teammates got their even more overpowered family friend as a teacher. The Copy-Cat Nin. Freaking Lightning Wolf Kakashi. Of course.

Naruto had enjoyed bragging about how his clones were superior to theirs because his Kaka-nii taught him these. Sasuke had begrudgingly shown off the engraved kunai he’d gotten as a birthday gift from Kakashi-nii, as well.

Suddenly her placement in this team no longer seemed odd. She was the spare with no future, given to Kakashi so he could focus on the ones who had a career to train for. Because hers was expected to end as a genin or a dropout.

This revelation stopped her spiraling thoughts and suddenly any doubts were wiped away and replaced with unadulterated spite.

She was going to make it past genin if it killed her.

Even after having to duck under the doorway, Kakashi flash stepped out of the way of the eraser Naruto set up flawlessly. He regarded it boredly.

“Sloppy,” he scolded, glaring at the boy. “I know for a fact you can do better than that.”

That seemed to snap Naruto and Sasuke both out of their stupor. “What the hell Kakashi?! Why didn’t you tell us you’d be our sensei?”

“I didn’t even know you were back! Did you just get back from your super secret mission, Kaka-nii?! Did you save a princess? Fight evil bad guys?”

“Sensei, boys. Kakashi-sensei,” He gestured at the two with his mug. “And really, Naruto? How many times will you ask me that after I get back from a mission before you realize that I can’t tell you?”

“Meh, whatever. We can just wait a while until you get drunk and spill to all your anbu buddies,” Sasuke chimed in. “Then blackmail Shisui into telling us.” The grin he and Naruto shared was devious and easy in a way that hinted that they’d had this interaction hundreds of times before. Sakura was pulled out of her amusement and reminded abruptly of her place.

She was an outsider here and that would only make her training more difficult. Sakura looked back to Kakashi and was startled to find him looking at her. Like he was picking out all her flaws and ways to end her, both metaphorically and literally. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Vaguely, she wondered if this is how his enemies feel before he destroys them just like he was about to do to her career and friendship with Ino if he refuses to teach her. If she stopped being a ninja, she would have no choice but to leave and travel with her parents.

Kakashi snapped his fingers at Naruto and Sasuke to knock them out of their scheming. “Alright, alright, if we’re gonna chit chat let's do it somewhere more comfortable, hm? Meet me on the roof of the Mission Assignments building ASAP.” And then he was gone.

“HUH,” Naruto screeched, “Who does he think he is just showing up and claiming to be our sensei?! And since when did he get back from his mission?!”

Sakura would really need to fight tooth and nail to keep up with these boys, wouldn’t she?

“I don’t know. Besides, he wanted us to go to the Mission Assignments building so we could talk, and Itachi said this first day is supposed to be about introductions. But we literally grew up together, so what's there to chat about?” Sasuke frowned in thought and Sakura ignored the sting that Sasuke didn’t see the purpose in introductions despite neither of the boys really knowing a thing about her.

“Get to the roof of the Mission Assignments building ASAP.”

That sounded like an order to Sakura. She had thoroughly studied the process of graduation from the academy and every year, consistently, the numbers didn’t add up. Out of the 30 students in each class, out of however many that pass the graduation test, only nine go on to become ninja each year. That means out of the 18 students that sat next to them wearing shiny new head bands just hours ago, only half that number will actually get to keep them. They are in competition with their classmates.

At that moment, Sakura wanted nothing more than to bolt. To take off running like a banshee was on her tail to beat these two privileged clan kids to their meeting destination and away from the title she had fought so hard to earn. But she didn’t. Sakura forced herself to pause and breathe and think.

Alright, so, historically, Konohagakure has always been known as the village who values teamwork. She has heard drunk men raving to their friends about how they were almost shinobi but failed what their sensei claimed was their most important test. So, they need to work together, right? But a race isn’t something you can test teamwork on. Hm. This is testing them individually then. Not something that can get them booted on their first day as genin, but something that will tell Kakashi what he’s working with.

Sakura’s eyes jolted upwards to check on Naruto and Sasuke. No change. Still chatting about how unfair it was that Kakashi hadn’t told them about this. She let out a shaky breath as she stood slowly from her seat.

Kakashi probably expected the boys to treat him as their older brother figure, as usual, and not as their teacher. Sakura would have pondered what he expected of her, but she was currently too preoccupied with inching towards the open window in the back of the room without drawing attention.

The time to prove their teamwork will probably come tomorrow.

Finally close enough, Sakura hurtled out the window and, acting purely through instinct, channeled chakra down her legs and ankles just in time to soften the gravity of the two story fall to catch herself on her hands and feet without her knees hitting the ground. She clamped her mouth shut and held her breath, searching for the reactions of the chakra signatures above. Naruto’s chakra signature, clear blue sky and island waves, flickered in what was most likely brief confusion for a moment but jolted back into place, probably to reply something snappy to whatever Sasuke said to irritate him. Sasuke’s chakra, bonfire with a faint taste of ozone, only responded to his adoptive brother’s confusion before continuing on. Sakura allowed herself a moment to breathe before sprinting out of the Academy gates.

Calculating the fastest route to her destination while taking in average foot traffic for the time of day, Sakura skidded around a corner and through an alleyway. The destination wasn’t just the Mission Assignments building, but the roof. She panted heavily and took a sharp right. On the outskirts of the market, the buildings are closer together here. Older ninja could roof hop using chakra, but she didn’t know how to do that yet, so the reduced distance between the buildings would be instrumental in her victory here. She scaled a fire escape and bolted across the rooftop.

She wouldn’t be able to feel Naruto or Sasuke unless they were within fifty feet of her, but her route was fastest and with her head start, if they took the second fastest route they would still be behind her. Fanning her chakra out, she didn’t feel anything. If luck was on her side, they were still bickering back at the Academy.

Lungs and legs burning, Sakura cursed the renovations to take the Missions Desk outside of the Academy building and into its own. Something about how “chunin and jounin deserve their own space!” and “sure, I guess genin can use it too.”

Just as she was about to take a leap of faith to the next building, Missions building and Kakashi just in sight, she felt them. Naruto and Sasuke dotted into her sensory range, fast. Scary fast. Calculations flew through her mind as she leaped onto the roof of a bakery. A borderline hysterical laugh slipped through her lips when she realized that they were taking the longer routes. Two that would force them through the crowded traffic of the Missions building. She would get there first. Barely, at worst, by more than enough seconds, at best.

Distantly, she heard cackled cheers from jounin and chunin bystanders watching their race on nearby rooftops. She flushed, but only pushed herself faster.

Approaching her last jump quickly, she noticed that it was a lot farther than any of the jumps she’d taken before. Kakashi’s tall form loomed on the next roof over, glancing at her curiously. With a mighty war cry she didn’t even know she was capable of, she threw herself with all her might just a half-step too soon. Sasuke was at the bottom of the stairs inside the building, Naruto ten feet behind.

“SHANNARO!”

Just short, her foot slipped and her torso slammed into the slightly rounded part of the roof, just under where it flattens off behind the rail. Grappling the concrete and gasping for the breath that got knocked out her lungs, she painstakingly pulled herself onto the roof, sweaty and shaky with adrenaline.

Sakura wanted to cry. Her miscalculation on the last jump cost her the test by just a moment too many. Even with a headstart and a route a fourth of the time faster than either of theirs, and she still lost.

A few feet away, Naruto stood waving his arms at Kakashi, Sasuke only slightly sweaty and panting beside him. Sakura couldn’t help but glare when their sensei turned his eyes to regard her with a look she couldn’t quite identify.

Desperately, she cursed the gods and her luck and everything in between.

—————————————

“Don’t eat breakfast.. or you’ll puke.”

What a load of crap.

Kakashi had actually arrived on time today and gave the three of them instructions to each capture one of the two bells tied to his belt before noon. Clearly, the math didn’t add up. She had said as much, too, and felt relieved that Naruto or Sasuke hadn’t been informed of the reason either.

“Well that’s because one of you will be heading back to the Academy, of course!” He gave a saccharine smile and Sakura was numbed with icey dread. It only worsened when she noticed Sasuke and Naruto make eye contact over her shoulders.

Was this the plan from the beginning? Set it up so she would lose and Kakashi wouldn’t even have to deal with her for 24 hours before he could give her the boot without even garnering suspicion?

“How the hell is that fair?! You’re a jounin, Kaka-nii! Even when Itachi-nii helps us we can’t beat you,” Naruto pouted.

“Sensei, Naruto,” Kakashi sighs. “Besides I won’t be fighting offensively.”

She barely registered Naruto jumping the man before the exercise even started. She barely registered anything before Kakashi said, “Begin,” and the boys disappeared from either side of her. With a jolt, she sprinted for cover.

Sharp branches scratched her arms as she bolted through the forest. Distance, she thought in near hysterics, distance and then plan. A loud screech tore her out of her thoughts and she whipped around, eyes wide and heart beating erratically in her chest. Vaguely, through the trees Sakura could make out an orange figure sailing through the air before skipping twice across the pond. Sasuke made a valiant effort with a fire technique– Great Fireball jutsu, the signature of the Uchiha clan, her memory supplied– but quickly followed. She could only stand there and gape as Kakashi raised his head and seemed to sniff the air. What was he…

A terrified squeak slipped through her lips as he turned and made direct eye contact with her. She kept running. The shrubbery tore open her arms and pulled at her hair, short as it was, as she tumbled through a bush in her desperate escape. Her heart skipped a beat when a root caught her foot and she tumbled down a ditch. Choking on a gasp, she got up again and broke through the tree line. If the fall twisted her ankle, she didn’t notice. Some place in the back of her mind whispered that she should’ve stayed in the cover of the forest– maybe try to use her smaller, thinner stature to her advantage– but her panic outweighed her rationality and punishment for this oversight was immediately served.

“Mah, Sakura,” a deep voice drawled boredly in her ear. “That was quite the– graceful dash through the forest there.” A chill shivered through her spine and instinct through many hours of practice took over. She fingered a kunai out of the pouch on her thigh and swung it in a short arc her subconscious estimated to be Kakashi’s eye level. It didn’t hit. Not because she missed, but because he was no longer there.

“Huh?” A gentle breeze raised her hackles and she spun back around. Air caught in her breath.

Blood.

So much blood.

She didn’t recognize the body, not at first. Long blonde hair stained red, clothes that could’ve been blue or.. or purple turned dark with blood and viscera. Ino! Sakura’s teeth grit together painfully.

It would’ve been perfect if not for the absence of the arm band and distinctive hum that filled the air.

It was a gift from years ago. A simple light armor fit onto Ino’s forearm comfortably with a built in sheath for the thin dagger she had gotten and fell in love with the Winter Solstice before from the Akimichi head family. Ino had quickly figured out that the band was custom, from a nice leatherworks shop run by an old retired Nara shinobi and built to take growing into account. It must have drained half of Sakura’s own personal savings she’d hoarded carefully since her parents disappeared.

Ino hadn’t taken it off since.

“KAI!”

The image wavered and disappeared. Vision swimming wildly, Sakura stumbled to her knees and threw up a mixture of bile and whatever she had for dinner. Taking a few deep breaths, she wiped away the moisture from her mouth and eyes and stood back up. The wild panic was gone now, replaced by a new sort of calm she had never felt before. Her mind was sharper than it had been since before she passed her Academy graduation test. Peering around, she came to the conclusion that Kakashi had left to torment the boys some more. Letting her muscles relax, Sakura walked just past the tree line and sat down on a root, closing her eyes and letting her mind do what it did best. Think.

Mission parameters: all genin need to capture a bell before the timer rings. Setbacks: significantly stronger opponent, there are only two bells.

Why would only two genin be able to pass? Legally, that was impossible. Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, as well as their younger brothers Tobirama and Izuna, made it law way back during the Founding. Having less would change it from “genin and sensei” to “apprentice and master.” That would add a whole slew of paperwork that couldn’t even be completed until the student became a genin, and most definitely could not be completed in 24 hours. So they were not intentionally shutting her out then.

Alright then, what does she know?

They are competing. Not necessarily against each other, but rather their old classmates. Only nine can graduate. But what are the factors that go into deciding who graduates, then? Strength, talent, pedigree, potential? Sakura went back to the basics. Konoha is known for… being the first ninja village.. debatably the strongest doujutsus in the modern world.. referred to as the “nice” village. Why was that again? Something about friendship and.. teamwork.

“Teamwork!” She laughed. That was it! It had to be, because Sakura set out with a purpose and a plan piecing together in her mind, and if it wasn’t she wasn’t sure she could pull something out of thin air before the timer rang. So the bells might play a big part in the test, but the teamwork was the real test! They were pit against each other to see if they would stick together! Glancing at the position of the sun she guessed there were three hours left till noon. Including the time she suspected it would take to convince the boys of her plan, she estimated they would finish within the time limit.

“Good guess! But will you put your money where your mouth is?” Kakashi was crouched in front of her. Sakura choked on a scream as she scrambled backwards desperately. One blink– and a wall of air so solid it felt like brick– and she was in the air. Swiveling her arms wildly for some sense of control, she tumbled head over heels above the forest she had run so far in and met the same fate Naruto and Sasuke did the last time she saw them.

Sputtering as her head broke the surface of the pond, Sakura swam back to shore. That, she seethed as she wrung out her clothes and ran a hand through her hair, was not an act of self defense. She huffed. Well. At least she could feel where the boys are now, badly suppressed chakra and all, and made her way in that direction. She ignored with much prejudice the sound of her wet shinobi sandals slopping through the mud.

She had made her way through a section of the forest and into a small clearing before she saw them. A bewildered laugh escaped her lips as she laid eyes on Sasuke, whose legs disappeared into the ground, and Naruto who was giggling profusely as he tugged weakly on one of the other boy’s arms.

“*snort* Eh? Oh, hey Sakura-chan,” Naruto giggled. She couldn’t help but wave back with a laugh. Meanwhile, Sasuke wiggled and straightened as much as he could in a weak attempt to preserve his dignity. “Mind giving me a hand with this poor bastard here?” Another giggle.

Naruto was giggling too much to be of any help in the end, but they did finally end up dragging Sasuke out of the hole Kakashi made just for him.

Sasuke brushed his clothes off with stilted motions and grumbled for a moment before cursing. “How the hell are we supposed to pull one over on him? There’s no way.”

Sakura took a breath to refute, but Naruto beat her to it. “Well, I guess we can try Teriyaki Chicken again…” Both boys grimaced simultaneously.

“That didn’t work when he was humoring us during that spar yesterday, what makes you think it’ll work now? We could give Makizushi a shot…” he trailed off with a flinch. “No.. best not tempt the shinigami.” Naruto nodded sarcastically.

“Yeah great idea, Sasuke! Let’s give the guy with the kunai deflecting fuuton the Makizushi,” he rolled his eyes. “That’s an easy way to lose shuriken and become a pincushion.” Sakura tried to insert herself again.

“Um!” Failed.

“Oh fuck off, I already said it was a bad idea. Besides, I don’t see you coming up with any good ideas either!” Sasuke squated nearby and picked up a few stray kunai. The fancy engraved ones, ugh. “We only have an hour left, so whatever we are doing we need to do it fast. Let's go, dobe.”

Naruto groaned and threw his head back. “This SUCKS!” He kicked a rock and walked after Sasuke, in the direction of the last place they had encountered the jonin. A spike of fear slithered through Sakura’s spine. She was running behind! If she couldn’t convince them to help her soon they would all fail!

“Uh– wa.. Wait!” She flinched at the volume of her own voice. She.. had not meant to yell at them. Sakura flushed. Subconsciously, she understood her embarrassment stemmed from the difference of status between the two of them and herself and hated it, but her blood curdled at her own audacity nonetheless. Anyway, Naruto and Sasuke didn’t seem to acknowledge her slip up and just regarded her curiously. She swallowed a few times. “I– I have a plan.”

—————————————

Kakashi was bored. The kiddos had been pulling Sasuke out of that hole for the past thirty minutes since he’d been so kind as to toss Sakura in their general direction. Idly, he wondered if they’d pass. The time limit didn't mean as much as the application of teamwork, after all. Additionally, teams weren’t just put together in a balancing act, but are also decided by whether or not they could make it as a ninja at their current level. That was an easy way of preventing incapable morons whose best jutsu is the fucking Academy level clone of all things from getting into the genin corps. It was a stroke of incredible coincidence and consistency that the number of wannabes that didn’t get booted back to the Academy leveled out to nine every six months. He yawned.

He should’ve brought that new book he got. It was some trashy romance Yuugao literally threw at him before that dreaded intel recon mission. Was it because he made kissy faces when she mentioned she and Hayate were planning on a short vacation to celebrate their three year anniversary? He couldn’t remember. Knowing her, she’d probably stolen it from Tenzou’s stash of chick flick-esque books to tease his poor kohai with the next time he pissed her off.

That cloud looks like Shiba.

“Huh?! Wait, Naruto!” Oh, is it starting? “Just give my plan a chance, please!” Kakashi glanced to the other end of the field. Sakura was backing up with a distressed look away from Naruto. The blonde stood determinedly with his fist held out towards her. Kakashi recognized that look– the kid always holds that pose when he’s about to declare something profound and then proceed to do something incredibly stupid. Oh, gods.

“Sorry, Sakura, but we don’t have time to gamble. This is mine and Sasuke’s career we’re talking about!” Kakashi winced at the unintentional insult in those words, and the frustrated tears they put in the girl’s eyes. Please, he begged whatever deity that was surely laughing at him, please let them figure it out.

“It’s mine too,” she insisted, taking a step forward. Oh, gods. Naruto didn’t like to be disagreed with when in one of these moods– he always takes every frustrated motion as a personal invitation for a fight. Said boy’s face hardened and his fingers folded into a familiar hand sign.

“Auntie Mikoto’s always told me that kunoichi are just as strong as shinobi, so I won’t go easy on you! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!” Kakashi audibly groaned as at least ten Narutos popped into existence. Sakura’s face dropped in despair and she turned to plead with the other boy.

“Sasuke, please!” Fuck Tsunade. This is cruel and unusual punishment. Sasuke had the decency to look a little abashed.

“It’s nothing personal.” Poor fuckin kid. Kakashi consoled himself with the fact that Mikoto and Fugaku would give him full permission to kick the boys’ asses later. Alright, they broke out the boxing gloves. Not worth waiting to see if they would work it out through beating eachother up like Naruto and Sasuke– and occasionally he and Gai– sometimes did. Not when it's eleven Narutos v. one too thin civilian born who barely made benchmark on practicals. Mentally, he dusted off his old Anbu captain voice.

“OI!” Vaguely, he felt a brief moment of satisfaction when the genin– specifically the Narutos– all flinched in unison. Mhm. They knew what that meant. Suffice to say Kakashi had a bit a of a what the fuck moment when the original Naruto’s face hardened and all eleven of them leaped forward and buried the teary eyed girl in front of him.

Kakashi hesitated for only a moment. He needed to make sure his anger at the boy’s irresponsibility with his new favorite jutsu and reckless endangerment of his teammate wouldn’t make him do more harm than good. In an instant, Kakashi had flash-stepped across the clearing, identified the original by scent, and used a backhand laced with a fuuton technique to hurtle him across the field and into the canopy of the forest. Hmph. Not as nice a landing as the pond, but the brat definitely deserved it. Kakashi finished off the clones brutally.

Later, he would find himself a little embarrassed at falling for the song and dance, but in the moment he couldn’t help the flash of pride. Sakura let slip a positively predatory grin and leaped forward with all the intent of a lioness on the hunt, sporting none of the injuries he had suspected she’d gained. Sasuke was right behind him, and a habitory chakra probe through his feet into the ground– and the orange gremlin that shot upwards towards him shortly after– confirmed that little shit Naruto had a clone fucking dig a hole right under him. They had him pincered. Heh.

With how often he raced Shunshin no Shisui, however, it was simple work to flash-step just outside of the genin’s reach. Predictably, they all reacted badly and tried for a sloppy lunge. Too late. The timers up in just a few seconds.

Sakura let out a damn near primal screech, “SASUKE!” Right as his internal clock struck noon, a kunai struck the thing right through the middle. Yeah, that was definitely busted. What the hell was that about?

“Okay, OKAY! CHILL, genin! It’s noon. Times up.” Kakashi’s eyebrow rose as Sasuke made another leap for the bells– he side stepped easily. “Like I said at the beginning, exercise ends at noon. You lose.” Not really, but the initial pride in their plan was starting to fade into irritation at having to actually go through with the whole “sensei” thing for the foreseeable future. He needed a moment to pretend.

“No.” Naruto stared blankly at him. He blinked back. Oh fuck that look meant the brat was judging him for something he didn’t know and was so obscure but thought he was an idiot for not realizing anyway.

“No?” Sasuke grinned like a psychopath and Kakashi had to physically stop himself from kicking him and his bad hairdo on principle.

“Go ahead, Sakura, this was all your idea.” Sasuke’s voice lilted in a way it always did when he was proud of someone and any reservations Kakashi had about whether the girl would eventually fit into the team that was always just Naruto and Sasuke ebbed away.

Sakura looked at him with a challenging fire in her eye– so different from the distrust and fear when he’d announced the exercise– and he let a grin slip onto his face as she said, “You didn’t say the exercise ends at noon, you said when the timer rings.” Interesting. Would she stick with it if he pushed? He schooled his features.

“Cute. But no. Purposefully obtuse is no way a genin acts.” That is absolutely how every genin ever has acted. Sadly, the girl’s form visibly wilted with abject horror, fully believing that her jonin fooling ruse was a one way ticket back to the Academy for her entire team. Backbone enough to manipulate his words, but not enough to hold him to it– or at least try. Not to mention the absolute trust in a superior officer she has no experience with. That’s a dangerous mentality– one that could come back to bite her hard– he’d have to fix that.

He almost grins, though, when Naruto screeches, “Purposefully obtuse?! You’re just mad that you’re getting so senile that a genin outsmarted you! Sakura-chan’s plan was totally awesome, ya’ know!” Kakashi does grin when Sasuke steps closer as well.

“Even with the time constraints, she added a failsafe in case our initial attack didn’t work. You’re the one always telling us to make sure our plans have plans– even when they're on the spot– and Sakura did just that!” Sasuke took a step forward with all the injustice a tween could muster. “So why the hell are you being such a dick about it now?!” Sakura’s shoulders were shaking with embarrassment. Ah, best to end this. He’s starting to feel bad.

“Itachi-nii said we were totally ready to be genin, but me and Sasuke couldn’t get nearly as close with our plans as we did with Sakura’s!” Kakashi’s eye twitched as Naruto got that look of his and stuck his fist out into that godawful pose. “And you know what? If you’re gonna be such a hypocrite then I don’t want you as a sensei! If you can’t see how totally awesome Sakura chan is then I’ll just go back to the Academy and get a better sensei next time around!” Sasuke angled his body in front of a gaping Sakura and nodded his agreement. Kakashi let them sit in silence for a few seconds.

“Are you done?” He asked, voice flat. It was almost comical that after all that, those three words turned Naruto and Sasuke’s expressions into those similar to chastised children. They both gave a tight nod. Poor Sakura looked like she was barely holding back tears. “Well then,” he made his grin visible in his visible eye, “you pass!”

It was really hard to not laugh at the full three seconds of silence. Naturally, with Naruto around, it didn’t last.

“HAH?!!”

—————————————

Kakashi meandered through the evening bustle of foot traffic and turned into the Rusty Kunai with his student’s– and how weird is that?– files under his arm. He and the other genin sensei, as well as most of their other friends, made an agreement to meet up at the shinobi bar after their individual tests and lament their newly lost freedom for the next few years. Preferably until the genin become chunin.

Upon noticing his arrival, Raidou looked up with a shit eating grin. “Well? Has the great Lightning Wolf taken to the life of a nurturing teacher?” Kakashi pulled down his mask and dodged a kick as he stole Asuma’s vodka and chugged. Gods knew he needed it more than him anyways. He let his actions speak for him. The group jeered.

Anko grinned sneakily at him and he groaned as he plopped down beside Yuugao, not hesitating to push her further into the booth. “Ya’ know, Hatake, I didn’t think it was possible but sensei-hood might’ve made you even sexier.” He glared over his stolen alcohol as Asuma called for another of his own.

“Fuck off, jailbait. Not in the mood for a sassy comeback.” He threw his student’s files onto the table, only barely remaining separate from Asuma and Kurenai’s. Like they were waiting specifically for him to add his two cents, the ninjas– the non-sensei, that is– immediately began deciding which team to unpack first. Kakashi scowled at his now empty glass and called for a beer.

“OI! I’m twenty now, jackass! I’ve been of age for two years!” He grunted.

“And you’ve been trying to convince me to fuck you for five.”

She looked him up and down. “Can you really blame me though?”

He acquiesced, “Fair.”

The others decided to start with who looked to be despairing the least first, so Shizune grabbed a file out of Kurenai's section and paraphrased. “Hyuuga heiress… decent overall placement… uh, doesn’t like to hurt people? Hell of a kunoichi she’ll make..” Kakashi snorted at that mumbled comment, “quiet… unsure.. ‘good technique, but lacks conviction.’” Yikes.

Kurenai grimaced. “She’s a sweet girl, but don’t get me started on her father and why she should not be a ninja.” The group quickly moved on to the next genin. Last time someone had wound up a drunk Kurenai, she had held everyone present hostage until she’d finished her rant, chugging red wine, which quickly devolved into sake, then straight into quadrupled whiskey over a four hour period well into the early hours of the morning.

“Shino Aburame.” Kakashi finally received his beer bottle and debated for a moment whether reaching across the table for the bottle opener was worth it. Nah. He hooked a canine tooth over the lid and peeled it back. Firmly ignoring Shizune’s disapproving stare, he chewed on the metal for a moment before spitting back out onto the table. That was by far the least severe thing he’d done to affect his body negatively, and she knew it. “Aburame heir.. Top three in paper skills, mediocre to average taijutsu, top four ninjutsu..” Raidou skipped over the genjutsu ranking, as that tended to be a particularly specialized skill even seasoned jonin either had or could only manage the basics in. “Intelligent… straight forward. Hm, not bad,” Raidou nodded in approval. Kurenai mimicked it. It seems as though her kid’s files are accurate so far then.

Hana reached for the last packet and barked out a laugh, “Kiba Inuzuka! Confident, yeah, more like arrogant. Proficiency with clan ninjutsu, brawler style taijutsu, abso-fucking-lutely nothing in book smarts, HA! Extremely loyal, good teamwork, yada yada,” she snorted. “Yeah that checks out.” Hana hadn’t even bothered to check if Kurenai agreed. She didn’t need to. She made sure to keep it real with her beloved little shit of a brother. Kurenai chuckled as she sipped her wine.

“They’re good kids, I think. I dropped them into a ravine in the Great Hashirama Forest for my test.” Oh. Wow, okay. The only ravine he knew about in that forest had– “They almost got eaten by the giant spiders, but Hinata, Kiba, and Akamaru distracted them well enough while Shino had his bugs siphon away their chakra.” The Forest was grown in a day by it’s namesake during the First Shinobi War. Konoha had stayed neutral for most of the war, peace was the whole reason the village was created, after all. Well, they stayed neutral right up until Iwagakure started poking their fingers into Hyuuga eyes. The Iwa “diplomacy” team in question was promptly torn apart and scattered under 500,000 acres worth of mokuton teeming with so much chakra it put the local fauna on crack and still overflows with it today.

Genma stirred his drink with a senbon needle. “Pretty solid. You’re gonna make them a tracking team, right?”

“I’d be an idiot to do anything else. I was thinking some espionage training would do them good as well. Also, Hana, Kakashi,” Yuugao stifled a laugh as both of their heads bobbed upwards in a comically dog-like way, “I’d appreciate some help on that front.” Right. Kurenai wasn’t exactly a tracker, espionage and seduction– genjutsu as well, obviously– was where she reigned supreme above her peers.

Kakashi tipped his beer in her direction. “Yeah, if you want to split it, Hana, I can teach the boys a few seduction tips while you do tracking.” Hana had never been interested in the sneakier affairs of the shinobi lifestyle, opting for hunting down her prey, when she wasn’t busy with the Inuzuka Animal Clinic that specialized with nin companions. She rolled her eyes.

“Gods know I’ve already spent most of Kiba’s twelve years babysitting his sorry ass, I’ll help you out.” She nodded to Kakashi to agree with his plan.

Yuugao poured a martini and looked out into the bar. “Well, look what the cat dragged in,” she drawled, sliding the glass to the end of the table. Shisui caught it and grinned.

“Nah, the ninneko in Sky District love me too much to degrade me like a kitten.” He sniffed his drink and made a sound of approval. “Sorry I was late– got caught up helping the grannies in the soup kitchen. Did I miss much?” Across from Kakashi, Raidou elbowed Genma to scoot and make room.

“Just Kurenai’s team,” Raidou grunted as Genma jabbed back at him. “Hyuuga and Aburame heirs and Hana’s little brother. Dropped them down the spider ravine,” he chuckled. Shisui gave Kurenai a startled glance over his drink.

“Always knew there was something crazy behind that smile,” he mumbled, then cursed when the woman in question kicked him under the table. Kurenai smirked as the table laughed.

Kakashi let out a slow breath and hid a smile behind his drink as Shisui bantered with the group. Years ago, he would’ve kicked himself in the balls before even thinking about having a social drink with his peers. Then, of course, the moment he turned eighteen Mikoto quite literally threw him out the door and into the waiting clutches of Gai, Genma, and Raidou who dragged him to the bar that Tuesday night and the Tuesday after that and the Tuesday after that… Eventually he took the hint and saved them the trouble. Getting drunk and gossiping with friends, learning how to laugh again, sharing the details of the worst days of his life– the ones he’d previously thought he’d take to his grave. It was cathartic, almost. Having a pack again. Hatake are social creatures after all, and he had long estranged himself from his clan. The guilt, after Dad died, was too much. That was why Minato took him in. It was kind of awkward, though, dodging them in that bakery close to clan grounds. It’s not like he could go to a different bakery, either. Nakamura’s muffins were too damn good and his family issues were not worth a life without them. So. He made an effort to come out every Tuesday he wasn’t out on a mission.

So. He grinned and said, “Alright, alright, enough bullying the poor boy. There’s only so much humiliation he can take in front of– OW!” Shisui tilted his head with a tight smile. Jeez, is a guy not allowed to tease? “... his friends.” Yuugao stifled a snort.

With a smile, Shizune spoke up, “Anyways.. whose team is next?” Anko, Genma, and Raidou turned to Kakashi and Asuma and studied them both. Kakashi nursing his fourth beer bottle in thirty minutes, Asuma looking like he wanted to ascend his physical body. Genma frowned.

“Can anyone tell who's reacting worse to this?” Silence. “I’m taking that as a no,” He drawled. “Rock, paper, scissors.” He made an encouraging gesture towards the two men. Kakashi took another swig of beer. Asuma continued his dead-eyed stare. Yuugao snorted and the table jumped as both men winced and stuck out their hands.

“Asuma first, then!” Raidou and Anko both made a dive for Asuma’s files. Anko smacked him over the head when she beat him to them. She flipped it open and gave Asuma a sympathetic glance with a curse.

“Ino-Shika-Cho,” The rest of the group mimicked her expression, “Yikes, that’s one hell of legacy.”

Yuugao grimaced and said, “Now we know why he looks so dead inside.” The man scowled. Anko continued.

“Ino Yamanaka. Average taijutsu, proficiency with clan ninjutsu, decent book knowledge… ‘shows above average potential with leadership,’” Anko hummed. “Decent.”

Asuma tipped his glass and huffed, “She’s certainly something. She’s one of those types that’ll decide their the shit and then pester everyone until they feel the same way about themselves.”

Raidou snatched the next file out of Anko’s hand. “Choji Akimichi. Above average taijutsu, above average skills with clan ninjutsu, and average book skills,” He made a sound of approval, then pursed his lips. “... Extremely reluctant to engage in spars with those he considers an ally.”

“My test was for them to get three hits on me while I hold back. They almost lost because Choji kept pulling his punches. I think he’s scared of hurting his friends? I don’t know.” Asuma gestured to the papers in Raidou’s hand. “There’s reports in there, though, that said he broke a kid’s tooth for calling him fat.”

Shizune laughed. “As he should.” Genma gave her a grin.

“That’s not very doctorly of you.”

She shrugged and uncorked a bottle of what had to be the most potent whiskey Kakashi had ever smelled. “If you’re gonna say dumb stuff, you gotta be tough.” Kakashi would have laughed at the deadpan statement if he wasn’t trying to rub the scent of her drink out of his nostrils. He looked towards Hana to commiserate with a fellow sensitive nose, but she only smirked. The bitch took the seat in front of the fan. She could probably barely smell the thing. Kakashi shook his head.

“How the hell do you drink that stuff,” He said, eyes starting to water from the potent smell. She gave him a blunt stare.

“I am the student of the most talented medical ninja to ever live. My body heals minor wounds itself, remember? It’s more of a hassle to get drunk than stay sober, and this stuff tastes good.”

Kakashi’s eyebrows rose. “Tastes… good.” Shizune nodded with a smile and Kakashi gaped.

Yuugao took Asuma’s last file. “Shikamaru Nara… oof… Below average taijutsu, average ninjutsu, and average intelligence. That.. does not sound right. ‘Little to no motivation.’”

“First thing I said the other day when I got those damn files. After introductions were finished I pulled him back and got his IQ tested,” Asuma barked out a laugh. “He tested over 200.” Shisui let out a low whistle and the rest of the table reacted in various degrees of surprise.

“Damn. There’s a Nara for you. All the smarts, none of the drive.” Anko shook her head.

“No kidding. In the end, it was his strategy that passed them the test. Middle line defense, think” Asuma sighed heavily and took a long swig of his vodka. “How the fuck am I supposed to teach those brats without somehow incurring the rage of the hundreds of years old alliance combined force of nature that is Ino-Shika-Cho,” he groaned. The group chuckled and Raidou, Genma, and Shisui made a wild grab for Kakashi’s pile.

“Shunshin no Shisui my ass,” Raidou taunted as he flipped one open. “Naruto Uzumaki, nice. Above average taijutsu skills.. bad chakra control, so next to nothing in ninjutsu except… HA! You taught him Kage Bunshin?!” Kakashi smirked. “‘Exceedingly good at stealth and trapping.’ Teamwork with Kurama is getting better too.”

Genma stomped Shisui’s foot and made a dive for the next file. “AHHH SON OF A BITCH!” Kakashi snickered.

“Love you too, little man,” Genma said, ruffling the younger man’s hair. Shisui hissed like an angry cat.

“Sasuke Uchiha,” Genma laughed. “Wonder duo, together again!”

Kurenai nodded. “Figures. That prank on the Hokage tower two weeks ago showcased their teamwork better than ever.” Two weeks ago? Kakashi was on his intel mission then. Considering the last prank he’d seen Naruto and Sasuke pulled, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what apparently upped that. He said as much. “Trust me, you don’t.”

Genma continued, “Top of the class, of course. Top taijutsu, top ninjutsu, and scored second with book knowledge. Teacher notes say confidence, but not arrogance, and teamwork mindset varies according to teammates. Christ, you pulled the good stick for once in your life, huh Kakashi.” Kakashi gestured towards the last file with his beer. How poetic that the file that was giving him the most trouble was saved for last.

Genma and Raidou made another grab for it and groaned when Shisui pounded their fingers under his martini glass. The drink almost spilled onto the papers, but Shisui made a show of his speed by snatching the file with one hand and gathering the liquid into the glass before it hit the table with his other. “HA SUCKERS!” He grinned as the group laughed at him. “Alright, what do we got here. Sakura.. Haruno? I don’t recognize that name.”

“Civilian born,” Kakashi supplied. The group looked at him with surprise. Kurenai hummed.

“Oh right, I remember. When I realized Lady Tsunade would give me a team I went to the Academy and scouted out who might be on my team, I noticed she,” Kurenai tapped the picture clipped to the papers, “was the only one who left with a tutor during the practical lessons. And you wouldn’t believe who it was. Mizuki,” she growled. Kakashi gave her a quick look, good mood falling fast.

Itachi had gotten the chance to fill him in after his twelve hour mandatory rest period was up. Mizuki held a grudge ever since the night Kurama was extracted and controlled and blamed Naruto for all the bad shit that happened to him since then. Told him how he was proud and had a surprise waiting in the forest. Naruto, naive as always, believed him and followed. He was too confused and hurt because of the betrayal to properly fight back and took a few punches. Mizuki was the sick sort who liked to drag it out, apparently. Luckily, Itachi decided to be nosy and got there just in time to knock the dick out with a single blow. Ibiki was dealing with his sorry ass now.

“What.”

“Just saying. You might want to make sure she knows what she should about practicals, Mizuki has never struck me as the type to enjoy teaching.” Kakashi ran his tongue over his canines until he tasted blood.

Iruka hadn’t thought to mention this? He couldn’t keep the growl out of his voice, “I’ll keep it in mind. Thanks.” She nodded. Shisui frowned and looked back down.

“Below average taijutsu and ninjutsu. Exceeding in everything you can learn on paper.. Ah, eidetic memory,” Kakashi growled. If she had an eidetic memory there was no fair reason why she wouldn’t be aware a decent gust of wind could blow her taijutsu stance over. Shisui grimaced and continued, “Notes say ‘insists on a bad diet,’ ‘career genin,’ and ‘above average chakra control.’” Kakashi snorted.

“‘Above average,’ my ass. I put her under a two layer visual genjutsu in my bell test. She dispelled them both with one chakra pulse. It’s like her chakra folded itself into all the crevices perfectly. I’m not exactly a sensor so it was hard to tell, but I don’t even think she lost as much as she should have,” Kakashi swirled his drink. “‘Exceeds expectations’ fits the bill better. It was her idea that passed them the test. Legitimately had me fooled for a second there too, the little shit.” Anko leaned forward to look at him better.

“So she’s not a lost cause, then?”

He shook his head. “I have a feeling Iruka’s attempts to make this an even team are going to fail. Not sure by how much, but they’re gonna fail.

“Anyways. Frontline assault.”

Everyone looked at him with surprise. “Bit of a gamble, don’t you think?” Yuugao asked. Kakashi stared into the last sips of his beer with his visible eye narrowed.

“Call it a hunch.”

Chapter Text

Sakura was kind of in a state of controlled panic.

Today was Team 7’s first real day of training and she was reeling trying to figure out a way to salvage whatever terrible impression she had made yesterday. Oh god, she cried in front of her teacher! She was a kunoichi in training, how could she go around crying like a baby the moment Kakashi looked vaguely disappointed in her?

The bathroom clouded with steam after the scalding shower she had subjected herself to. Looking at herself in the mirror, she pondered the length of her hair. It was cut short a few months ago, but now it brushed her shoulders and that just wouldn’t do. Hmm. Where had she put the scissors again?

As pink strands fell into the sink a part of her she had thought she buried cringed at the hack job. She beat it back viciously. Kunoichi do not get upset over hair.

Well. Ino did– but she’s a clan heir so it's fine.

Anyway, regardless of the sloppiness of her technique, the style suited her. The majority of her hair, and the longer strands of her bangs brushed her jaw. Simple and convenient. It didn’t look like a huge change, physically, but she felt better about having it off her neck. She’d read in some biography about Touka Senju that the legendary historical figure preferred to keep her hair out of the way because it was easier to feel the shifts in the air around her– it made sense so Sakura had followed the advice since then.

Hopefully Kakashi and her teammates wouldn’t think the new hairdo was vain… After a moment of panicked thought as she stared harder at herself in the mirror, she dismissed the idea. It was too choppy to worry about that. Ino would probably have an aneurysm the next time she saw her, though.

Well. That’s a problem for later. Sakura migrated to her bedroom to decide on her wardrobe for the day. Yesterday, for the bell test, she had worn a long sleeve dark gray shirt and leggings and had almost baked to death in the sun. Something similar would be ideal because of the thick layers that would at least slow down weapons since she couldn’t afford any proper, breathable, shinobi clothing. She would have to ask Kakashi about a way to use chakra to cool down when it was relevant to the conversation, but for now simple workout clothes would have to do. The vest and biker shorts she eventually went with were terribly unarmoured and it made her cringe. Oh well. She’d deal with that problem after a few paychecks.

The last few adjustments she added were the wrappings covered by the kunai pouch on her thigh and the weapons belt with tons of pockets she’d splurged on yesterday after they were dismissed. Last night she had visited the armory and picked up her first monthly supply of legitimate basic ninja weapons. The only kunai, shuriken, and senbon she had ever handled before were old, blunt, hand-me-downs in the Academy. Before graduation, her own supply had consisted entirely of those “lost” weapons she had smuggled off of school grounds. Needless to say, she tossed those out with much glee. Her old shuriken and senbon and only a few kunai used to be the only things in the old, smaller pouch, but she’d done some rearranging and fit a replacement supply in place of her old weapons in various pockets on her new belt. To fill the rest of the space, she added a needle, ninja wire, gauze, and some kind of antiseptic Ino had gifted her.

As she made her way closer to Training Grounds #3 she felt more and more nervous. She had barely done anything except get caught in a genjutsu and get tossed across a forest during the bell test. What if Kakashi realized he made a mistake? Naruto and Sasuke had defended her yesterday, but they hadn’t really seen her fight all that much. What if they complained about her missing the bells in that last grab she’d made at them and Kakashi dropped her to appease them?

Her movements and thoughts had been this jolting ever since she’d woken up that morning— hence the reason she made it to the grounds two hours early. Sakura was fairly certain Kakashi had chosen to meet at seven in the morning just to irritate Naruto and Sasuke, so she was a little embarrassed by her own mid-breakdown actions.

Well. She had two hours to calm down, at least. She quickly ran out of things to worry about without getting repetitive so she decided to do some meditation. She walked over to the three wooden posts in the center of the field and chose the one in the middle to sit cross legged on. Taking a few deep, slow breaths she reached inwards to her chakra. Her reserves were pitifully small compared to all of her classmates. Even those with the lowest reserves in her class doubled hers easily.

Sakura had figured out quickly, though, that chakra control related exercises came easier to her than others. The leaf exercise was one example. She had been the first in her class to master sticking the leaf to any part of her body. In her chakra theory book, it stated that when using any kind of chakra, there would always be extra chakra lost according to how good a ninja’s control is– like a tax, almost. The girl was proud to admit that her “tax” was near nonexistent compared to her classmates. At the time of the lesson, her class had been combined with the one a year ahead. Her class was learning the exercise for the first time and the older class was reviewing what they’d learned. Sakura had completed it better on her first try than Ami had after a year of practice. That resulted in a pretty brutal beating afterwards but the victory was more than worth it in Sakura’s eyes.

Chakra pulled upwards from her core and through her shoulders. Deep breath out. It was pleasing how easy and smooth her chakra responded to her call. It was almost amusing, at this point, that she didn’t have enough to make use of it in a particularly flashy way. Oh well. She could make do with what she had. Probably.

Tenketsu in her left arm stretched as she pulled chakra down her arm. It pooled in her wrist and tickled her palm before she had to let go of her hold, panting. Good. Better than last time. She repeated the motions in her right arm and her fingers tingled as chakra pooled in her palm and made it down the first joint of each finger before her hold slipped again. She didn’t attempt to pull chakra into her head. The brain and senses of smell, taste, and sight were a finicky thing when combined with controlled chakra and she did not want to accidentally turn her skull into a boiling teapot.

Instead, she pulled downwards to legs. The exercise was similar to the one she did in her arms, but for some reason was claimed to be easier in all the texts she had read. She hoped she could find out why someday. The discrepancy between the two was particularly fascinating. As odd as it was, she had always gotten better results when pooling small amounts of chakra into her legs and ankles where arms and wrists had barely gotten any results at all. It was particularly odd in the sense that she could only pull her chakra the same length from her core to her arms as she could with her legs. Chakra pooled in her soles and could only her first toe joint before retreating back, and yet the results in her legs were so much more than what she could do with her arms.

This particular fact was what made Lady Tsunade’s legendary strength a mystery. What was the sennin doing differently with her chakra that made her strong enough to shatter mountains with her fingertips? It was a question of the ages and Sakura could only practice, practice, practice as she pondered the answer.

She had repeated the motions of the exercise multiple times over before she felt a weight on her head. She startled and fell backwards off the post as Kakashi appeared in front of her with an eye smile.

“Early practice?” he asked, looking down at her as she scrambled off the ground and into a standing position. Sakura had to squint as she looked up to him. The sun had come up, apparently.

“Uh- um.. Yes, sensei..” she stuttered, embarrassed to have been caught off guard in front of an authority figure. He regarded her hunched figure for a moment with an unreadable expression. Her skin crawled at the scrutiny.

He leaned back on the post to her left. “Well, you’ve clearly got more enthusiasm than the boys this morning. That's a good trait to have,” her eyes widened as she stared hard at the dandelion near her feet, “as long as you know how to not hurt yourself.” She jumped, waving her arms with a little panic.

“Oh! No- no, don’t worry! These chakra exercises never really bother me all that much! I still have about nine tenths of my chakra,” Sakura insisted. Kakashi seemed to determine she was telling the truth as he nodded.

“Just making sure. How long have you been here, anyway?” She flushed.

“Uhm.. around- around 5:00, I think…?” He narrowed his eyes in belated suspicion.

“Like– 5 A.M. right..?” He asked, hesitantly. Sakura let out a startled laugh. Did he think she meant P.M.?

“Yeah- I mean, yes sir,” She fumbled with her words and cursed herself inwardly at her casual words. Kakashi didn’t seem to notice her slip up as he let out an exaggerated sigh.

“Good. I’m glad I at least don’t have to police your sleep schedule like I had to do with Naruto and Sasuke last night,” he squinted after a moment. “... I hope Shisui remembered to untie them.” Sakura giggled a little at the thought of both boys hogtied in their beds. Kakashi relaxed against his post.

After a moment of thought, Sakura bit her lip. “Say.. sensei?” Kakashi hummed. “Do you know why it’s easier to manipulate chakra in the legs than it is in the arms?” The man scratched his neck and stared down towards the entrance of the training ground in thought. Sakura clarified, “Like.. actually do stuff with the manipulation, not just the manual circulation exercise.”

He blinked and looked at her for a moment with an unreadable expression. “Are you asking about using chakra to form a jutsu, or using it to augment the capabilities of your body?”

She straightened. When was the last time someone hadn’t brushed off her questions? And also asked for clarification so they could better answer? “Uhm- the last one..” A teacher hadn’t given this much thought to all her questions since she was in civilian school and it made her nervous to say the wrong thing. “Er.. well, I understand the gist of augmenting your leg muscles and tendons, I’ve done that before, but I don’t understand why it's generally harder for people to augment their arms.”

“Well,” he drawled, pausing for a moment to gather his thoughts, “you were almost right. It’s roughly the same difficulty to protect the muscles and tendons in your arms as it is to protect the muscles and tendons in your legs. Where it gets difficult is strengthening those muscles. Only a few have that ability. Supposedly it’s a chakra control thing. The only people I know to have mastered it is Lady Tsunade, on a lesser scale her apprentice Lady Shizune, and on an even lesser scale the Raikage.”

Sakura’s hand cupped her chin in thought. “Ah, so like.. how it’s typically easier to defend a fort then it is to attack one,” she thought out loud.

“You’re quick to catch on,” he complemented. She flushed. “That exercise you were doing isn’t typically taught to Academy students, though. It’s dangerous when done incorrectly, especially at your age, so it isn’t taught until a genin’s sensei deems them ready.” Sakura visibly wilts, did she do something wrong? “From what I’ve seen, you’re pretty skilled with it so I won’t stop you. But I need you to tell me who taught you,” Kakashi bent a little so he wasn’t towering over her completely.

Despite his obvious efforts to prevent as much, Sakura feels properly chastised. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knows he wasn’t mad at her, but every other time a teacher had reprimanded her, that meant they were disappointed with her lack of understanding. That meant they would pay less attention to her. They would write her off as a lost cause because they already underestimated her and her questions prove that, in their mind. She couldn’t help but mumble her answer, “... Mizuki-sensei.”

Kakashi fell back against the post with an exasperated eye roll. “Of fucking course he did,” he mumbled. He looked back to her when she made a confused sound. “We have.. a lot to talk about–”

“WE’RE HERE!!” Sakura jumped a near foot in the air at the screech. “IT’S NOT OUR FAULT WE’RE LATE!!” Naruto and Sasuke bolted up the hill and stopped, panting in front of them.

Sasuke looked up to glare at Kakashi. “It’s your fault. Shisui said it was his job to untie us and you know how forgetful he is.” Kakashi gave him a bland smile and patted him on the head like a dog.

“Think of it as escape training.” Naruto seethed.

“No cause Shisui finally made it before we got ourselves out! How do we know you haven’t been teaching Sakura all your cool jutsu while we were all tied up, huh?” Kakashi hummed and his visible eye glinted. Sakura twitched. Unfair, says the one who was taught a literal S Rank technique as an academy student.

“Well, if you’d have arrived on time you’d have gotten all the useful tips,” he smiled. Both boys opened their mouths to yell at him but Kakashi interrupted, “Since you’ve both deigned to join us, let's get started.”

Kakashi turned and walked towards the treeline and waved for them to follow. He stopped at the base of one of the large Hashirama Oaks that surrounded the entirety of Konoha. “This will be the first lesson I will teach you,” he looked back at them and smiled. “Climb a tree.” Naruto scratched his head.

“Like… with chakra, right?” Probably. Children– even civilian children– from the Village Hidden in the Leaves learned how to climb before they could run. A side effect of living in such a thickly forested area.

“No, completely without,” Kakashi sassed. “Obviously, with chakra. I’ll demonstrate.” He exaggerated putting his hands together in what Sakura recognized as the sign they used in the academy to focus chakra and took a few long strides up the tree. The girl stared in awe for a few moments before reaching out with her chakra to try and gain a sense of what he was doing. She had a decent grasp on the concept of feeling for someone else’s chakra, but she wasn’t a natural sensor so the feedback was fuzzy. From what she gathered, it felt as though his chakra– static and ozone– was pooled around his feet and abdomen.

But… the two areas felt different. The chakra threaded around his abdomen reminded her of how she had used chakra to protect her leg muscles the other day. Around his feet, though, it felt like a coating of sorts that swirled gently just outside of his sandals, like a jutsu instead of simple manipulation. Kakashi stopped upside down on a high branch.

“This is the most basic chakra technique you will learn outside of the academy, so I trust you’ll be able to figure it out,” he gave a teasing smile. Sakura was starting to loathe the amount of emotion Kakashi could show in the one visible part of his face. Three kunai landed at each of the genin’s feet. “Pick a tree and use those kunai to mark your progress.”

Naruto snickered and elbowed Sasuke and bolted for the nearest tree, “First one to the top gets the other’s desert!”

“You’re on,” he scoffed as Naruto’s foot slipped on the bark and face planted into the tree. Sasuke took off up his own tree and managed a few steps before flipping backwards back to the ground.

Sakura watched blankly for a moment as her mind whirled. She focused on the boys– or rather, their chakra. Naruto’s overwhelmingly large chakra poked lethargically and sporadically towards his feet. Sasuke seemed the closest to the technique Kakashi used, but not by much. His chakra coated his feet, but it wasn’t nearly as consistent as their sensei’s. Bark shattered under his feet. So… would that mean the key to tree walking would be a consistent coating of chakra surrounding her feet. Sakura thought back to her conversation with Kakashi that morning. If manipulating chakra in the arms was as easy as doing so in the legs then surely the exercise would work the same in her arms.

Experimentally, she pulled her chakra to coat her hand and focused on swirling it in her palm until it felt thick and sticky, mirroring Kakashi’s example as closely as she was capable of recreating. She stuck her palm on the bark and pulled. It stuck.

—————————————

Kakashi lounged nearby as the brats bullshitted their way through tree walking. Idly, he figured the boys would probably be the first to figure it out. Despite Sakura’s apparently prodigious control, Naruto and Sasuke have grown up around this technique. Fugaku and Mikoto may have banned them both from practicing anything above academy level before they made genin— aside from the clan technique taught to Sasuke, Great Fireball jutsu— but they grew up watching their family flaunt the skill their entire childhood. That’s twelve extra years of pondering how it works that they have on Sakura.

Naturally, he was proven wrong almost immediately as the girl in question stuck her palm to the tree and pulled. Kakashi gaped when she didn’t move an inch. What the fuck? Already?

Grinning, Sakura replaced her hand with her foot and pulled again. Same results. No way. No fucking way. Tree walking may be the first and most simple post-academy skill genin learn, but it was hard the first few times– it took even Kakashi at least four tries before his foot stuck. Was Sakura really about to do this her first try?

Yes.

Yes, she was.

Kunai clutched tight, one focused step after the other, Sakura made her way up the tree. Inching forwards a bit, Kakashi made use of his meager sensory skills and checked her control. Damn near perfect copy of his technique. What the fuck.

A sudden foreboding feeling of deja vu raised his hackles, but was quickly ignored as a triumphant cry sounded distantly from above. Faintly, he processed himself rising to his feet just in case he had to jump in to prevent a broken neck. He craned his neck and squinted through the branches. Sure enough, the enigma stood perpendicular to the tree trunk on the highest stable branch.

Kakashi remarked in a state of slight hysteria, “Well, damn.” Near their own chosen trees, Naruto shrieked and Sasuke gaped up at the girl.

“Just what the hell did Kakashi-nii teach you this morning, Sakura-chan?!”

Sasuke glared at his own tree like it was completely responsible for his failures.

Kakashi tensed in preparation for a save when Sakura’s foot slipped a few inches, but the genin only scowled and firmed her stance. With deep breath she strolled down the tree with all the leisure one would have on an evening walk. Naruto scowled and turned to Sasuke, “You better start training harder ‘cause I’m not gonna be the last one to master this technique, Bastard!” Sasuke scoffed and they both took off back to practice.

An incredulous huff left Kakashi’s lips as Sakura made the awkward transition from the tree to the ground without releasing the iron hold she kept on her chakra. Even after that incredible display, she still looked up at him afterwards like she was expecting him to scold her.

Just how badly did Mizuki fuck her up?

Kakashi made a note to pester Fugaku to give him visiting rights for the son of a bitch. At least that way he’d be visiting legally; because he is going to pay the fucker a visit. The jonin allowed himself a brief flash of amusement that Ibiki had apparently broken the man so quickly that he’d been transferred out of the bowels of T&I and into the lowest level of the underground prison already.

Kakashi hadn’t quite prepared yet how he’d congratulate a successful attempt so he settled on asking, “How are your chakra levels?” The girl straightened a little at the sound of his voice and answered quickly.

“I’ve barely lost any, sensei.” Kakashi could only open and close his mouth as he gaped and verified her words with a brush of his chakra against hers. Suddenly, he was very grateful for his mask.

Years of experience were the only thing that saved him his pride. “Take another few laps up and down. Come back down when you think you’ve perfected it.”

—————————————

Sakura dutifully went back to walking up and down the oak. Her mind quickly grew bored of the easy activity and she was confident enough to let her mind wander. Five times, and then a few more times while she gathered the courage to test whether Kakashi agreed with her proffenciency. Somewhere to her left, Sasuke slipped high enough on the tree that their sensei felt the need to make a save, much to Sasuke’s embarrassed horror and Naruto’s smug delight; which didn’t last long as the distraction broke his own hold. Hiding a proud grin that the distraction didn’t waver the steady stream of chakra in her feet, Sakura took one more lap while Kakashi set her teammates back to work.

To be fair, it wasn’t really anything to be proud about, though. The exercise was easy, as the surface was solid and unmoving. Plus, the brutal hold she wrangled her chakra into made distractions obsolete, but the boys were always looking out for each other so they couldn’t afford to not be distracted, right? Right. At the peak of her lap, hidden from view in the leaves, she let herself physically shake out her nerves and walked back down the tree with all the confidence of a chihuahua.

Kakashi’s attention had already moved from the boys to her as she made her last step off the tree– less wobbly this time! He made an approving hum. “Good work. Since you seem to get the gist of this technique, how about we start you on another one while the boys catch up, hm?” Sakura flushed and stuttered out something that could be vaguely described as agreement.

His hands were a blur and a clone poofed into existence beside him. Sakura gaped unabashedly at the fast execution. Fast as he was, Kakashi added way too many hand signs for it to be a normal clone. A shadow clone, then? Or would it be an elemental clone? Now that she thinks about it, Sakura doesn’t actually know the difference between the more advanced clone techniques…

Hm… something to look into.

“With how much chakra I put into this clone a falling genin would probably kill it, so I’ll send it to show you the ropes, alright Sakura?” She nodded vigorously as she was pulled from her thoughts. The clone gave her a friendly eye smile and motioned for her to follow.

As they walked, Sakura couldn’t help but stare at her sensei’s clone’s back as her thoughts wandered back to her previous pondering. Which type of clone is this? Does each clone have different traits or is there only one outcome for the jutsu regardless of the element used? But that couldn’t be it, could it? Because if that was the case then there would be no reason for the Nidaime to create the Shadow Clone technique…. Unless shadow clones are more streamlined? Maybe other clones aren’t able to retain memory–

“If you have a question, you could just ask. That’s what I’m here for, y’know.” Kakashi turned to face her with an amused expression. She flushed at being caught staring. Only for a moment, though, as her brain caught up with his statement and she blurted out her thought process all at once.

Kakashi could only blink as she rambled her thoughts and questions aloud, hardly giving him time to answer. Most genin wouldn’t care to ask these questions unless they were sniffing for guidance on how to complete one of these advanced clone jutsu, but for Sakura, it seemed she only wanted to know for the sake of it. As she slowly ran out of questions on his finite state of being, he prepared his response and mentally apologized to Minato sensei because he’s self aware enough to know he was exactly like this when he found a shiny new jutsu.

“Well, first off, I’m a shadow clone. We’re typically the most superior clone in your average situation, outside of elemental matchups, because of our more flexible tangibility given the amount of chakra put into the jutsu and our ability to transfer our memory to the host after we are dispelled. That said, elemental clones are also incredibly useful if matched with the environment or against an opponent well. For example, years ago I was given the mission to capture Nakai Sadao, AKA Man O’ Water, alive. True to name, his kekkei genkai allowed him to turn his body completely into water. A well placed switcheroo with a lightning clone and he was out like a light. Any questions so far?”

Sakura placed her hand on her chin in thought. “So… shadow clones are the only type of clones able to transfer memory after dissolution?”

Kakashi’s clone nodded and continued. “Yes. Additionally, you mentioned something hinting that the Shadow Clone came after the elemental clones? That’s a common misconception. The Nidaime was actually the first to ever create a clone that is able to be touched. The reason why so many people think his came after is because whoever created each of the elemental versions couldn’t figure out how to apply the memory transfer feature, or even figure out how it was possible in general. Naturally, people assume the more complicated version of the jutsu came last.” Kakashi snickered as Sakura’s eyes sparkled in something akin to hero worship.

“Wow! So the Nidaime did it so well that no one could ever do it better?” Kakashi nodded.

“It’s been nearly a century since the elemental clones were created and decades more than that since shadow clones, but even though scientists all around the world have looked into it no one has been able to figure out Tobirama’s invention process behind the jutsu. Even the most mundane jutsu created by the man was always considered life changing in the times they were created.” Sakura pondered all the unknowns that died with the great shinobi.

“Do you think anyone will ever figure it out?” Kakashi glanced at her.

“The shadow clone’s memory transfer? Maybe. Probably not on their own, though. Depends on if anyone is ever able to unlock Tobirama’s Journal,” he said. After his death, only those close to Tobirama had been allowed to attempt to unlock the journal. But the complex codes and seals and coded seals proved too much for even the cleverest of his friends and family. Though after many many attempts the first seal was deactivated, revealing a seal that could be translated to ‘For the creative mind that does what is right,’ the journal was open for chunin and above with permission from its security or anyone else with permission from the Hokage. Every one of Kakashi’s peers have taken their own crack at it with no luck. Not even Kushina, Jiraiya, nor Minato sensei, with all of their knowledge of seals, could make it very far through the seals that decorated nearly every inch through multiple layers of ink. Kakashi doubts such a mysterious object would be unlocked within his lifetime. And certainly the fact that Kakashi was stumped within a few minutes of his go had nothing to do with it.

Sakura hummed, a little surprised. She had of course heard of the journal, it was something of a legend in the civilian district. Though, because of it’s legendary status she hadn’t actually believed all the talk of the ‘unopenable book’ to be without embellishment. She had thought that surely the Nidaime's grandniece, or perhaps one of his brilliant students to have had unlocked it only for the general public to ignore the fact in favor of a good mystery. Apparently not.

Sakura had always greatly admired Tobirama Senju for his amazingly inventive mind. At this new knowledge of her historical idol, she could feel herself becoming giddy with hero worship. She swallowed her excitement with much difficulty. It would be so embarrassing to fangirl in front of her sensei!

If Kakashi were a lesser shinobi, he would have laughed. However, Kakashi was not a lesser shinobi, so he gracefully steered the subject from the Nidaime Hokage to the technique that would keep his kunoichi busy until his other students caught up.

“Alright,” the jonin started, clapping his hands as he stood at the bank of the pond that had so graciously provided a safe landing for his students during their bell test, “This next technique has basically the same concept as tree walking, except with more steps.” He demonstrated a step onto the calm surface of the murky, algae filled pond and Sakura stared with rapt attention. “Water isn’t exactly as solid as a tree or a wall so you have to constantly adjust your flow of chakra. Basically, you let your chakra swirl just under your feet, like with the tree exercise, but this time make it faster so the water under your feet kind of congeals into something you can put weight on and then it's just a matter of doing the same thing you did with the tree… except all that is happening at one time within the split second of your foot touching the water.” Kakashi ran a hand through his hair, cringing at his explanation. Dammit, he was used to teaching baby anbu assassination techniques, not genin basic chakra control jutsu! He had barely been seven years old when he’d finally weaseled Minato sensei–officially only his tutor at the time, no one was allowed to be genin under the age of twelve no matter how much of a genius they are– into teaching him this technique. Nevermind the fact that he barely remembered anything prior to the collective Team Minato’s death. He’s pretty sure his therapist called that dissociative amnesia, or something.

Nevertheless, Sakura stared contemplatively at his feet, still glued to the pond’s surface. Humoring her studying, he demonstrated a few slow steps. Holding a deep breath, the genin stepped into the shallow part of the pond.

The water congealed slightly under her feet due the quick pace of her chakra circulation just outside the soles of her sandals, but she still sank under the dirty water. She cringed a little at the algae that snuck in between her toes, but ignored it in favor of pondering her sensei’s explanation. Congealing the water with fast circulation and sticking to it with slow circulation–both at the same time… It was harder this time to figure out what Kakashi sensei was doing with his chakra. What sensory skills she had, she trained to be so. She wasn’t a natural sensor, so the feedback was fuzzy. Even if it wasn’t, the change she noted in his chakra happened within a split second–so quick she doubted she could catch it even if she was a natural sensor. She wondered… could she have two separate circulations at the same time? Is that what Kakashi sensei is doing?

She supposes she could ask, but… a part of her very much wanted to surprise him. Experimentally, she swirled her chakra at a fast pace and felt the water at the bottom of the pond take up an odd consistency. As she got comfortable with the motions, Sakura imagined combing through the swirls and leaving behind the more sluggish flow she had gotten comfortable with earlier. She stood there for a few moments with her brow furrowed, concentrating on keeping up the motions. Dismissing her hard work, she stood there in the shallows for the next few minutes practicing calling the complicated formations up over and over again.

With a shaky breath, suddenly very aware of her curious audience and the minutes she had stood there in the algae doing seemingly nothing, she formed her chakra with an iron hold and stepped onto the surface.

The immediate glee of her success was soon washed away when a turtle chasing a fish on the other side of the small pond sent mini waves across the surface. Blanching, Sakura overcompensated adjusting the sticky section of her chakra and careened into the murky water. She sputtered as she broke the surface and flushed, embarrassed at failing in front of Kakashi.

Luckily for the man himself, clones are not bound to such trivial human reactions such as stuttering or shock. As such he made a commending remark and noted dully in the back of his mind to only dismiss himself when the original wouldn’t make a fool of himself because of the information influx. If Kakashi was surprised at Sakura’s chakra control talent earlier, he might just shit himself when he finds out about this feat. In less than twenty minutes, Sakura had managed what Kakashi took two days to master. To the original’s credit, Kakashi was considered a genius more for his abnormally quick learning, and less because of his chakra control, but nonetheless. Sakura was proving to be quite the wildcard.

Reassured by Kakashi’s compliment, Sakura regrouped and practiced shifting the sticky portions of the technique while maintaining the congealing portions before taking a step back up to the surface and trying again. The next time the water shifted, her chakra followed suit–a bit clumsily, but that's better than getting a mouthful of algae. Her arms waved for balance as she got used to random changes and breaks in the water’s surface, but she stood steadily nonetheless. Soon enough she was able to take somewhat confident strides across the water.

Kakashi’s clone gave a thoughtful smirk as Sakura began to experiment with the new jutsu and attempted a clumsy slide across the surface of the pond. Just a few hours and she showed proficiency with debatably the most difficult genin level jutsu. His peers had balked when he told the other jonin he would register his team as a frontline assault squad, but with every expectation Sakura broke the reality of that claim was becoming slightly more of a possibility.

Well–it was too early to say. Kakashi hadn’t yet gotten the chance to test her physical capabilities. Regardless, a visit with Umino would be mandatory within the near future. The understating of everything else on her file could’ve cost the girl her career and it was a mistake that could not be overlooked.

Abruptly, Kakashi called for Sakura to stop. To her credit, she only wobbled a little at his interruption. “How’s your chakra?” He asked, reaching out to check for himself.

“Oh, not as low as I thought it’d be… That is–about one sixth!” With her levels and experience with the technique, it should’ve been much lower. Kakashi added that to the ever growing list of things to ponder about Sakura Haruno.

“Good job conserving your chakra. Plus, you picked up the technique faster than I’ve ever seen anyone do so. You should be proud.” He gave the flustered genin an eye smile and nodded for her to follow. “It’s getting about dinner time so the original will probably call off the boys soon. Let's head back.” Mentally, the clone wished Kakashi good luck on finding yet another thing for Sakura to busy herself with while her teammates catch up.

They walked in a peaceful silence. Sakura was on cloud nine. She, a civilian born, was ahead of her clan born teammates! The feeling wouldn’t last, she knew, so she made sure to revel in it.

They heard Naruto before they saw him. Screaming–as though it would bless him with some godly power–he stumbled sluggishly up the tree, sweating buckets. Sasuke was in a similar state, minus the yelling. As Naruto’s chakra flickered red, Kakashi–the original–rolled his eyes.

“This isn’t a matter of chakra quantity, Naruto! Asking Kurama for assistance will only make wrangling all that chakra of yours all the more difficult,” He scolded, before turning to glance curiously at his female student and the clone. Why hadn’t it dismissed itself yet? Predictably, though, Sakura smelled vaguely of pond muck. Good. At least he found something that was able to entertain her a bit longer than the tree had. He clapped his hands and called Naruto and Sasuke over before they could take another crack at tree walking. “Alright kiddos, it’s getting late. Let's get you all home for dinner, hm?”

“Heh–already?! I still haven’t mastered it yet, though, Kaka nii!” Naruto pouted and Sasuke stood mutinously beside him. Kakashi rolled his eyes, a master of this particular song and dance.

“Sensei, Naruto,” he reminded, and graciously ignored Sasuke’s scoff, “If you want to keep practicing, fine. But I won’t be the one to tell Mikoto why her dinner table is down two genin, so have fun with that.”

The two man rebellion was subsequently squashed with that threat.

As the genin turned to make their way out of the training grounds, Kakashi’s clone dispersed and he cursed under his breath. She already figured out the basics of water walking? The foreboding feeling was back, mixed with sickening deja vu. Kakashi shook his head and took a few long strides to catch up with the munchkin ninjas. He still had to test her physical capabilities. Perhaps the world wasn’t really so cruel?

As the new team came to a crossroads, bustling with a few civilians rushing to get home for dinner, they started to split ways–Sakura to Uzushio District, one of the more civilian populated areas, and the others towards the center of the village near the Tower, where the Uchiha Compound was located. As Naruto shouted his goodbyes, Sasuke’s eyes widened as though he’d abruptly remembered something and elbowed his brother. Naruto looked as though he was about to elbow him back but caught on to Sasuke’s hint.

“Oh yeah, Sakura chan! Come to dinner with us!” He exclaimed. Sakura tensed at the sudden exclamation. No preamble? No warning?

Sasuke elbowed him again, as if sensing her startle, and sighed an explanation, “Mom wanted to meet our new teammate so she told us to invite you to dinner.”

“Uh–that’s really sweet but..” she glanced down at her clothes, stiff with dried pond water and muck, “I wouldn’t want to impose…” Naruto opened his mouth but Sasuke, sensing from experience another oncoming blunder, elbowed him in the gut.

“Don’t worry about it. We have a bathhouse in the compound Mom always makes us go to before we muck up the house after training.” He gives an expectant stare and she flushes something terrible.

Kakashi hid a snort in a cough and tacked on helpfully, “Unlike most bathhouses on clan grounds, this one is separated by gender.” Which sends Sasuke and Naruto flushing bright red, but also has the desired effect of relieving Sakura, if only slightly.

Looking a little regretful, she stated, “Really, it’s a lovely offer, but I don't have a change of clothes.” Sasuke shrugged.

“We have kimonos for visitors.” Ah. Right. Sakura was reminded that Uchihas are, in fact, a filthy rich clan.

Desperately searching for a polite way to refuse meeting the head of one of Konohagakure’s oldest clans, she found none and could only hope the glare of the setting sun would hide her nervous flush as she conceded and stepped forward to follow the boys into the village proper.

Just a few blocks away from the compound, Kakashi stopped and very nearly went unnoticed under Sasuke and Naruto’s bickering. “Heh? Kaka ni– er sensei?” Naruto corrected when leveled with Kakashi’s flat look.

Kakashi stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I’ll catch up in a bit. I need to make a pit stop to sort some things out for our team.” This made all three perk up with curiosity. It was cute, really. Reminded Kakashi of when Shiba, Bisuke, and Urushi were all pups. He didn’t feel like explaining the details of reporting team categorizations, lest the whole frontline detail go to the boys' heads or send Sakura into a panic attack, so he shunshined away before Naruto could open his mouth.

Landing on a seemingly popular roof near the Tower, Kakashi turned to greet Asuma and Kurenai, a little early for once.

“So, you’re really sticking with frontline, Kakashi?” Asuma asked, taking a drag of his cigarette, resolutely ignoring Kurenai’s death stare. Damn, he must’ve had a rough day with the legacy team.

“Yeah.” Kakashi held out for only a moment before throwing his head back and groaning. “My civi kunoichi mastered tree walking within an hour and got the basics of water walking before the day was up.” Asuma nearly sucked down his cigarette and Kurenai’s wild hair flipped as she turned to gape at him.

Naturally, Kurenai was the first to gather herself, and asked while Asuma choked on ashes, “Have you tested her taijutsu yet?” Hiruzen Sarutobi’s grandson kicked a ball with a few other children nearby, so none of the trio were surprised when Ebisu dropped onto the roof beside them.

“No, I haven't had the chance.”

Ebisu had always had it out for Kakashi, even before he put his chidori though Rin’s chest, so it only mildly annoyed him when Ebisu raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “If that's the case then why are you all impressed? It’s not like a civi could do anything worthwhile outside of an office, let alone without any real combat skills,” he harrumphed. And it was at that moment that Kakashi Hatake vowed to make Sakura Haruno the best kunoichi of her graduating class. Technically, on paper, she already was as Top Kunoichi in the academy. But ask anyone in a three way who would win and it comes down between the Hyuuga and the Yamanaka. Not for long, he promised.

Spite was powerful motivator and Kakashi would take any chance he got to embarrass the fuckers that liked to harrass him.

Lined up with the other new sensei in front of Lady Tsunade and Itachi, he stated:

“Jonin sensei Kakashi Hatake, Team 7; categorizing my squad as frontline assault.”

Chapter Text

The Uchiha Compound was beautiful. As one of the village’s founding clans, it had to have been one of the largest in the village, sporting blossoming trees, koi ponds, and a variety of specialty trade businesses. Two of such businesses stood opposite of eachother near the uchiwa decorated front gates; one of the most renowned blacksmith shops in the country and a brightly decorated glassware shop. Historically, these two professions are what garnered the clan the larger supply of their money outside of profits from shinobi work. Even after the creation of the village the Uchiha’s continued to produce master after master of each craft. Sakura recognized the owner of a bakery near her house strolling happily out of the glassware shop, a chime of some sort held delicately between her fingers as she made her way out of the front gate.

As they made their way into one of the more residential streets, it became more and more apparent to Sakura that she was indeed inside of a shinobi clan compound as a guest to the sons of the clan’s matriarch. Her eyes went to her feet and static climbed into her ears as friendly greetings were called to her teammates. Somewhere in the background she heard Naruto throwing lighthearted banter with an old man smoking a pipe. Breathe, she reminded herself, digging nails into her palms.

The people she was about to meet were some of the highest ranking people in the village–both in the shinobi forces and politically. Oh gods, isn’t their brother Tsunade’s political heir!? Sakura sincerely hoped he wasn’t home for dinner today.

Her hopes were dashed when Naruto turned to ask Sasuke just that. “I think I heard him telling Mom he might be a little late, but he’ll make it before we’re done.”

Naruto pouted and said, “Man, I wish Shisui hadn’t had to leave this morning. Dinner’s gonna be so boring without him!”

“Just be glad he remembered to untie us before he left, dobe,” Sasuke scoffed, changing topics with the practiced ease that came with dealing with the hyperactive Uzumaki on a day-to-day basis. Sakura had been so silent the entire walk that Sasuke had genuinely forgotten she had agreed to come along until he caught her in the corner of his eye as he ducked under the noren, decorated with the typical uchiwa fan with waves in the background. Smoothly–and not at all awkwardly–he gestured towards the leftmost of the two doors inside the lobby as he removed his shoes and kicked into some slippers. “That's the girl's side. It’s like any other bathhouse in the village so you should have all you need in there.”

She flushed, which was more relatable than it ought to be for both boys, and thanked them before slipping stiffly under the noren and down the hallway. Sasuke sped walked down the right side’s hallway, eager to scrub away the memory of Kakashi’s teasing remark about shared baths and clan compounds.

Senseis are weird and so are girls.

After scrubbing her skin free of sweat and grime until it was flushed with a red hue in the wash area, Sakura allowed herself only a few moments to enjoy the warmth and cleanliness in the bath. It was a nice evening. The bath was partially outside; the wash area covered on one side with the bath on the other, privacy protected by the high wooden walls and what Sakura assumed were some type of privacy seals. Spring in Fire Country was hot to begin with but as the sun set the temperature dipped just enough for the gentle breeze to be delightfully refreshing on damp skin.

It was surprising, honestly, how she was able to get the bath to herself, but relieving nonetheless. It would be mortifying if someone came in and thought she snuck in instead of being invited. Almost getting lost in thought over a curious seal on one of the stones at the edge of the bath, she shook herself and regretfully pulled herself onto the tile. Towel wrapped tightly around her, she wandered–slightly less stiffly than before– into the cushy locker room. True to Sasuke’s word, a simple but lavishly soft kimono was quickly found. Breathing deeply in an attempt to soothe her heart rate, she gathered her dirty clothes in her arms–very carefully not them touch the kimono– and made her way back out into the lobby.

“Ah! You must be Sakura chan.” Sakura startled slightly at the greeting from an elderly woman behind a desk that previously was not occupied. “The color of that kimono suits you well dear. I had to step out for a moment earlier but I saw you and those boys entering on my way back. When Naruto kun left me a note to fetch you one of the spare kimono, I just knew that color would bring out your eyes.” Sakura flushed and thanked her. She wasn’t wrong, she thought, smoothing her hands over the fabric. That light green color had always suited her well.

The woman’s eyes widened and she put her hand to her cheek in embarrassment. “Oh! Where are my manners? My name is Kaoruko Uchiha, deary. I run this bathhouse,” she stated with a friendly smile. Kaoruko seemed so lovely, Sakura couldn’t help but smile back, some of the tension leaving her shoulders.

“Ah, it’s no trouble, ma’am. I’m Sakura Haruno,” she replied, knotting her hands together in front of her and bowing. Kaoruko waved an impatient hand.

“Now now, no need for the formalities with this old woman. Come tell me about your training while we wait for those two knuckleheads, hm?” She got up from her seat behind the counter and ushered Sakura over to the sofa. “Oh, it’s been so many years since I’ve gotten to go throw around jutsu! Now let me tell you that son of mine is so protective, the dear. Ever since I turned ninety he won’t even let me watch my granddaughter train!”

Sakura laughed quietly as she sat down. “Well, I don’t have too much chakra so I don’t think I’ll ever be able to throw around all those huge elemental jutsu, but-” She hesitated, embarrassed at the brief pride she’d felt in being better at the boys. Already, Naruto was able to do the S-Rank shadow clone jutsu and here she was proud that she was able to climb a tree well? At Kaoruko’s patient look she continued, if a bit quietly, “I was better at the chakra control exercises today than Naruto and Sasuke…”

The old woman gave a fierce grin. “Oh ho! As you should, deary. Us ladies need to bring the men around us down a peg as much as we can!” She winked and whispered secretly, “And they really need it sometimes too, don’t they?” Sakura covered her mouth as she giggled.

Seeming to notice the dirty clothes in her arms, Kaoruko gasped, “Oh dear! Let me take those dirty clothes from you! I’ll get them cleaned and back to you by morning.” Already having whooshed her training clothes away, there wasn’t much Sakura could do to protest.

It wasn’t long before the boys came out and the three were on their way. Sakura made sure to wave goodbye to the kind old woman.

Naruto, now clad in casual civilian garb, hummed a little and scratched his chin. “I wonder if Uncle Fugaku will be able to be home for dinner.” Sakura noticed Sasuke’s face tighten slightly.

“Gods, I fucking hope so. Itachi’s been home so we haven’t had to worry about dinner the last few days, but now that he’s busy we might just be screwed.”

Naruto turned around to walk backwards as he faced Sakura. “The last time Aunty Mikoto cooked dinner, she gave us all Salmonella,” he gagged. Sasuke hnn’ed and his lip curled. He looked at her over his shoulder.

“If she is the one to have cooked today, don’t worry about being polite, just say thanks and refuse to eat. Trust me, she’s used to it anyway.” Naruto nodded grimly.

“Even though they're also gross, we can always steal Itachi’s ration bars,” he stated. “Better than being poisoned…”

Sakura laughed quietly and asked, “She’s really that bad?” At Naruto and Sasuke’s vigorous nod she laughed a little harder. The thought of the respected Uchiha matriarch stumbling confusedly around the kitchen took the larger half of her nerves off her shoulders.

Mikoto Uchiha was a proud woman. Her spine straight and made of steel, she was the main cog of the innermost workings of the clan while her husband dealt with the political annoyances of clan relations in the village proper through his earned spot as Clan Head and leader of the Uchiha Police Force. Unlike the majority of other shinobi clans in Konoha, the Uchiha’s Clan Head was determined not by close relation to the “head family,” but rather, it goes to the one most capable. The individual who shows the best leadership qualities and, more simply, the strength to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Individually, each member of the clan has their own responsibility to look after their close neighbors, and as it goes down the line, each member of the clan can be assured they are looked after. The Clan Head has the responsibility of not only his neighbors, but the entire clan as a whole.

As much as she tries to relieve some of his burden, Mikoto Uchiha does not envy her husband. Though, it cannot be said that he does not hold his position with elegance. For all of stoicism, Fugaku was always the more sociable one between the two of them. His patience is what suited him greatly when dealing with irritable hoodlums and politicians alike. Mikoto, on the other hand, preferred to deal with tetchy assholes the old-fashioned way –which is apparently “barbaric” and “unbecoming,” according to the clan elders.

After an incident including mashed potatoes, a formal dinner with the other clan heads, and Hiashi Hyuuga silky smooth hair, her husband had subsequently barred her from joining the more political conventions that came with the territory of being the wife of the clan head. She had only harrumphed at that, unable to disagree. She and Kushina would have had an absolutely devastating effect on Hyuuga’s bodily well being and she mourned the loss of that opportunity in particular.

Mikoto thanked her lucky stars every day that her clan was an outlier in the typical way of choosing succession. Had it been any other way, as the granddaughter of Izuna Uchiha who became Head after his brother’s peaceful passing, she would have been forced to take up the title after her mother retired.

That being said, no one in their right mind would call Mikoto weak.

No.

Mikoto was trained by two of some of the best swordsmen in the history of the village. Her grandfather and Homura Mitokado. She is the current authority on all things relating to swords and tantos alike. She has trained the future authorities of the subjects as well; Kakashi Hatake, Yuugao Uzuki, and Hayate Gekko.

And she was so, so glad her amazing husband was home early to cook dinner. She was prideful, not stupid, and understanding of her shortcomings in the kitchen. Her boys made her well aware.

Anyways.

Today is an important day, she knew. Naruto and Sasuke’s teammate was coming for dinner!

“Stop lurking by the door, love. You’re going to scare the girl away,” Fugaku called from the kitchen.

Skillfully ignoring him, Mikoto mused out loud, “The boys said her name was Sakura Haruno. Didn’t Sasuke say she graduated Top Kunoichi? Oh!” She popped her head through the doorway to peer at her husband. “Isn’t she the girl with that pretty pink hair?”

Fugaku hummed agreeably. “Though I’m not sure we should put much stock in her graduation status.” Mikoto leaned against the island and made a confused noise. “Itachi and I spoke after he went to catch Kakashi up on what happened with Naruto. Supposedly, her teachers believe she will not make it past genin.” Mikoto’s eyebrows rose.

“If that’s the case then why did I hear Kakashi categorized them as frontliners?” The woman couldn’t help but smirk when her husband’s eyebrows furrowed in the expression he wore when a mystery needed solving.

“He isn’t the careless type when it comes to the safety of his teammates.” His eyes rose to meet hers before dropping back down to focus on shaping the rice ball and placing the slice of fish over it to form mouthwatering otoro sushi. “I suppose we will find out the reason soon. I'll set the table while you greet our guest?”

On cue, the familiar sound of Naruto and Sasuke bursting through the front door rang in her ears.

Fugaku shook his head as his wife flash stepped towards the front of the house.

Sakura was so starstruck at the sight of the beautiful Uchiha matriarch and her bright greeting that she hardly registered being swept up and towards the dining room until she was being sat across from the woman herself with the Clan Head at the head of the large grandiose table directly beside her right elbow.

“So, Sakura chan–” The girl sent a panicky look towards Naruto, who sat beside Mikoto. Then, when he only grinned at her, turned to Sasuke. His pitying glance before he turned to engage in a fencing match with Naruto over a particularly large rice ball made her feel as though she's been lured into a trap. “--tell us about yourself!”

Despite the years without her parents enforcing the strictest of manners, the old habits fell into place immediately. Her spine straightened and her hands fell into her lap in the facade of a demure civilian girl while her eyes dropped to her plate submissively.

“Well, my parents are merchants from the Land of Stone. I was born here in Konoha, though.” Sakura has to suppress a flinch when the Clan Head next to her hums.

“Stone has excellent leathercrafters. My nephew’s tanto strap is made from the native moleskin there.”

Sakura chokes out a reply as she watches the Uchiha Matriarch swipe the large rice ball from the boys and pile a veritable mountain of food on her plate, “Oh, I wouldn’t know. Um– I’ve never been out of the village…”

She didn’t see the man nod as she stared uncomprehendingly at the food piled on everyone’s plate.

The Uchihas have been a shinobi clan by trade for more time before the village than after. Generation after generation has produced shinobi known the world over. Surely, of any clan, the people sitting around her would know how to optimize their diet to best suit them.

But– If that was the case.. then why does almost every dish on this table go directly against the diet Mizuki sensei encouraged her to have?

She didn’t have more time to ponder.

Mikoto's next question prompted her out of her thoughts. “How about the Academy? Who was your tutor?”

This question was not as innocent as her previous– though that was more of an order. In the Academy’s Kunoichi classes, students are supposed to be encouraged into becoming strong, independent women. Women who do not look away from those who intimidate them– because in the field that would be a death sentence.

Mikoto and her husband shared a short glance. Hardly a few minutes into the conversation and already both could tell something was wrong.

Whether it be the fault of her tutor or the teachers who gave her her headband, the girl was being set up to fail.

“My tutor was Mizuki sensei. He taught me most of what I know outside of chakra theory and history.”

Naruto choked on a bite of otoro and Sasuke turned to her with wide eyes.

Well.

That explains that.

“Wh-what?” Sakura asks hesitantly, heart dropping to her stomach.

Naruto looked as though he was about to shout something, but was interrupted by a voice near the door.

“That,” Kakashi said, taking his place beside Naruto, “is a conversation best saved for after dinner.”

Sakura felt a little too sick to properly enjoy the amazing spread in front of her, but tried to eat anyway, afraid of insulting her hosts. A pity she couldn’t taste it, honestly. It all looked delicious.

Dinner came and went far too quickly– and with it every bit of courage she had scrounged up.

Subtly, Fugaku looked at Kakashi and nodded towards his office. Kakashi nodded his thanks before the policeman turned back to the boys and shooed them outside to care for the koi pond in the backyard. Naruto looked as though he wanted to argue, but Sasuke nudged him and he seemed to deflate after a quick conversation through glances.

Kakashi wasn’t sure who he felt worse for. Himself, who had to share the news, or his student, who looked as though she was walking to her execution.

It wasn’t actually as hard to spit out as Kakashi had assumed it would be. He was a hardened veteran of sharing bad news and it was always worse waiting to tell it and actually doing so, in any case.

The metaphorical rug has just been swept out from Sakura’s feet, and she's sure she looks the part.

All that time she looked up to her tutor for helping her along, and now he’s a traitor who attempted to kill her teammate and purposefully tried to make her fail.

But she didn’t fail out of the Academy and now her life was in actual danger because she does not know how to act like a ninja. She knows how to act like a proper little Stone civilian girl, she knows how to pretend like her parents are still around, she knows how to take hits long enough to get enough of her own in to at least not get marked down in a spar. But she is not a ninja and if Mizuki had not revealed himself as a traitor it might have gotten her killed.

Having noticed her spiral, Kakashi spoke up from the chair in front of her. “According to T&I, he’s been purposefully failing out civilian borns for years. One of his genin teammates was one and apparently made a mistake that got their sensei and other teammate killed.”

He grimaced a little when that only made things worse.

Anbu are easy enough to talk out of near panic attacks. All you need to do is lay out the facts and they’re able to calm down within the next few minutes.

Apparently children are not the same.

“This won’t change much, alright? The fact that you were able to claw your way to Top Kunoichi despite this tells me enough to know that you’re worth a couple review lessons.” A few tears dropped onto her hands, clutched tightly in her lap, and Kakashi chose to believe that those tears meant he was helping.

He rose his seat and started towards the door to give her a moment to process alone.

“I–”

He paused and turned to her.

Sakura took a deep shuddering breath, unable to look up at him. “I don’t suppose the diet he gave me is actually good for me, is it.” It wasn’t a question.

He regarded her too thin arms, bony knees, and the generally malnourished look about her.

“No.”

She took another deep breath, easier this time. “Okay.”

And she rose to follow him out.

Kakashi could sense Fugaku supervising the boys from the engawa, ensuring there had been no eavesdropping. They met Mikoto, clearing the last of the plates from the table, as they went to pass the dining room.

“Sakura chan,” she started worriedly, “It’s awfully late now. Should Kakashi walk you home to explain to your parents?” Silently, her sensei sent her a look that echoed the question.

Still slightly numb, she didn’t think before she responded, “Oh, no, it's fine. They aren’t there anyway.”

Shocked, Mikoto unabashedly reproached, “They left you home alone? For the entire night?”

“Er– yes?” Sakura responded, confused. Mebuki and Kisashi had left her home alone even before they stopped coming back, so Mikoto’s shock was something she was not expecting from her slip up. Smartly, she did not mention that they have left her alone for far longer.

“Nonsense!” She declared, setting down the dishes with startling force before sweeping her down the hallway. “I’ve never knowingly let a child spend the night alone before, and like hell I’m going to start now.”

Sakura wasn’t given a chance to refuse before she was swept down a few long hallways and into what must’ve been a spare bedroom.

“Here will do fine.” Mikoto nodded to herself before informing Sakura, “Fugaku and I are just down the hall. The room after ours is Itachi’s and the next two are Naruto and Sasuke’s. The ones after that are my nephew’s and Kakashi’s. This one will be yours.” Sakura was too caught up in her relief at the reminder that Uchiha’s firstborn has yet to show up that she nearly missed the declaration.

Mikoto placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Any time your parents aren’t home you are more than welcome to come here. Decorate however you please, dear,” She smiled gently. “The boys are out back with my husband if you wish to join them.” With that she glided out of the room with all the grace of a queen.

Tears slipped down Sakura’s face as she bit her lip in an attempt to stay quiet.

When was the last time an adult had shown her this much selfless kindness? She wasn’t sure it had ever happened before.

She gave herself a few minutes to gather herself before forcefully shoving her manners back in place and reverently shutting the shoji door to her room.

Her memory supplied her with the way back to the front of the house where she found Kakashi lounging maskless with his feet hanging halfway off the end of the couch with some cheesy romance novel resting between his fingers. With the stress of dinner and the conversation after, she couldn’t recall when her sensei had removed it. Now, after the crying, she felt too drained to be nervous. He gave her the directions to the back entrance with hardly a blink of an eye.

Without the nerves from earlier, she was given the chance to properly observe the main house.

Short version– It screamed wealth.

Not in the “pretentious” old money kind of way, but rather in the “classy” kind of way.

The layout and build spoke of how old it really was. Houses built in modern day didn’t have tsuboniwa, after all. Intricate patterns of hawks and black fire decorated the walls. A few indiscernible scribbles were mixed in as well. Sakura guessed they were seals of some sort.

The path Kakashi laid out for her was long and winding. If her memory was any worse she doubted she could have remembered the way there– or back.

After yet another turn, the open amado doors lead out onto the engawa.

Similarly to that morning, she could hear the boys before she could see them.

“Whoever masters tree walking first gets the other’s desert for a week!”

“I don’t like sweets, dobe.”

“Well– then you can buy me some!”

“Who said you’re gonna win?”

“ARGH!”

Fugaku Uchiha sat beside a shogi board on the engawa watching the boys stumble up an old Oak in the yard. He turned to greet her.

“My wife tells me you’ll be staying the night,” He says. The weight of his gaze feels intense despite his stoic expression. It made her feel like a small child again, bashful at the attention of an adult. It probably didn’t help that he was every bit as handsome as his wife was beautiful.

“I hope it isn’t too much trouble…” she stutters, shifting her weight awkwardly.

“Not nearly as much as it is when my nephew decides it's time for a visit.” He gestures to the open seat on the other side of the shogi board. Now, with her mind clear, it wasn’t hard to notice the vast thrum of chakra next to her. It wasn’t like the crashing waves of Naruto’s chakra that tickled her nose when she got too close to him, even without focusing on his chakra.

While Naruto’s chakra jumped and jolted with almost every word he spoke, Fugaku’s was stretched out and calm, seeming to settle almost protectively over the surrounding area.

Curiosity getting the best of her, she settled into the seat he gestured towards and studied how it intensified as she drew closer to him. His chakra wasn’t an intense bonfire, like Sasuke’s, but rather a calming candle.

Well– if that candle was the size of the entire backyard.

“Care for a game?” Fugaku asked, bringing his legs up from where they were dangling over the ledge and crossed them in front of the shogi board.

“Oh– sure,” she said, mirroring his posture.

Sakura had never actually played shogi before, but as the game went on it was easy enough to put into practice what she had read from the library when she was younger.

As the more experienced player, Fugaku adhered to shogi etiquette by removing six of his pieces before the game began. Even so, he captured her king within half an hour.

Fugaku glanced over to check on Naruto and Sasuke, newly regenerated from a heart dinner, and, deciding it wasn’t late enough for bed, asked, “Another round?”

She nodded.

Now having metaphorically gotten her feet wet, the next game started much more in her favor. It was by no means easy taking the best of Fugaku’s pieces, he was clearly an experienced statistician, but she managed. Slowly but surely backing him right where she wanted. Of course, given her luck, this is exactly when she met her doom.

“Welcome home, Itachi.”

“Ah, sorry I’m late. I was hoping to make it home before dinner was over,” He tried to apologize, but Fugaku was already waving a dismissal.

Sakura sat gaping.

Itachi freaking Uchiha sat to the side of the board, clearly intending to watch their game. The man, teenager really, slated to become Hokage since the tender age of fourteen. Rumors heard straight from Academy teachers claimed he was already on par with his father, Wicked Eye Fugaku who also happened to be seated right in front of her. The Uchiha’s attempts to set her at ease quickly flew out the door as the reality that she was sitting within three feet of two of the village’s most powerful shinobi caught up with her.

To himself, unnoticed by either of the kids in front of him as Itachi’s introduction fell on deaf ears, Fugaku mentally sighed. For the first time, he wished his eldest had taken his time coming home. And to think, they were finally starting to get somewhere.

As an accomplished shinobi and an admittedly handsome man, Fugaku Uchiha was more than used to starstruck and stuttery individuals in his life. This, however, was an exception.

And for some reason, the chief detective and first responder part of his brain itched every time he watched this little kunoichi interact with someone she would consider an authority figure and he couldn’t figure out why. He shelved the feeling to explore later as he subtly tapped his son’s leg with the message to back off the small talk because it was clearly undoing all of the hard work they’d done throughout the evening.

Fugaku loved his son– he did! But humble as he was, there were times when he could be a bit tone deaf.

Message delivered and sheepishly received, Itachi gracefully excused himself to coach the boys on their technique and Fugaku was left to coax the flustered genin back into the game.

Sadly, the calculated strategy he had witnessed earlier had devolved into a more hesitating play style he would have thought the girl to have upon first introduction. She had proved him wrong in their first game and at the start of the second by taking into account the pieces he used most and brutally and efficiently hacking away at them, leaving him only with unfamiliar options of strategies he had seldom ever played. The ease his wife had put her in had let her show her skill with strategy, and Itachi’s arrival proved her overall seemingly underwhelming nature was not due to lack of skill, but rather lack of confidence.

He knew he could have beaten her before Itachi had shown up, brutal efficiency and all, but now it was overwhelmingly easy to do so.

Choosing to ignore the lackluster finish to the game, he spoke, “You’re quite good. Do you play often?” Sakura flushed and lowered her head, clearly aware of his polite ignorance.

“Oh, no sir. This was actually my first time. I’ve only read about it a few years ago.”

“Even more impressive. I’ve always admired those who need little demonstration to learn.” His praise darkened her cheeks further and he could only hope she took it to heart. Kakashi was clearly going to have his work cut out for him with instilling confidence into this one.

“Thank you, sir,” she replied, desperately trying to keep her voice steady. He shook his head dismissively.

“Fugaku is fine.”

Sakura didn’t think she could reply without making an embarrassing noise so she just nodded.

Excusing himself, Fugaku made his way back inside towards the living room, where he felt Kakashi lounging on the couch at the edge of his meager sensory range.

Noticing him, Kakashi put down his book and sat up, his expression asking an unspoken question.

What do you think?

Taking a chair near the couch, he answered, “She is extremely smart.”

Kakashi nodded his agreement at that. “Yeah, earlier I was going to let her have the day to brainstorm on how to water walk and actually explain it whenever the boys catch up but she figured it out all on her own.”

“Not only that,” Fugaku said. “I played a few rounds of shogi with her, and even though she said she only ever read about the game, her strategies were solid and ruthless. She was doing really well before Itachi made an appearance.”

“So, what? Are you saying her confidence is the issue?”

“Yes. Mikoto saw to it that she was slightly more comfortable in our presence, but I believe Itachi showing up a bit like a wild card threw her off.”

Kakashi continued his train of thought, “And Itachi isn’t exactly aware of his infamy with his kouhai.. That definitely didn’t help.”

Fugaku answered with a grimace.

Kakashi, having briefly worked cases with him years before, recognized something in his face. “What is it?”

“I’m not sure yet,” he answered, shaking his head.

Kakashi studied him for a moment as if he would spontaneously come to whatever conclusion he was looking for. Deciding that was unlikely to happen, he changed the subject.

“I guess I’ll give them their first mission tomorrow morning, then.”

“Tora?” Fugaku asked, sounding amused.

“Tradition demands it,” Kakashi shrugged, relaxing back against the cushions. “When me and the others met up last night we drew straws for who gets that damn cat first. I got tomorrow's slot.”

The man hums thoughtfully and wisely advises, “Don’t feel bad when the vindictive pleasure kicks in watching them chase her around. Tsukiyomi knows every sensei this village has had has felt it.”

Kakashi laughed.

Chapter Text

Tora was not like an average cat.

Team 7 came to learn this quickly.

Naruto’s day started off normal. Well, almost normal. Sakura spending the night had thrown him for a loop, as it would for any tween learning the pretty girl who sat behind him in class would be sleeping just down the hall from him. He would like to think he handled the news with grace.

That's the thing about Naruto.

No matter how introverted or shy a person may be, he always finds a way to rope them into whatever activity he may be doing at the moment. Where someone like Sasuke would struggle to hold a conversation, let alone start one, Naruto excelled at sparking a conversation that could last hours out of thin air. He enjoyed finding topics that interested whoever he was speaking to and was good at asking all the right questions to keep even the most socially stunted of introverts talking.

Uncle Fugaku said he was easy to talk to and Auntie Mikoto called him a social butterfly.

So it wasn’t a surprise to anyone, least of all him and Sasuke, when he managed to drag Sakura into a conversation after Uncle Fugaku had left for bed. It wasn’t long, though, his teammate was clearly drained. After she had gone to bed, he wondered to Sasuke if it was because of training. Sasuke had called him an idiot and reminded him that his parents were very important people in the village hierarchy– the kind of people that Sakura, as a civilian born, would likely have never even been in the same room with outside of picking up their children or guest appearances at the Academy.

Despite his apparent lack of knowledge of his own social rank– not that he cared about that sort of thing, he was raised properly, thank you very much– Naruto became aware of two new things about Sakura from that conversation.

First, she spooked easily.

He was more so aware of this from observing her game of shogi with Uncle Fugaku as he took a quick break from practice and from the brief moment when she looked as though she wanted to bolt when Auntie Mikoto had greeted them in the drawing room. Itachi-nii’s arrival had also put the same look of “fight or flight” on her face.

Second, Sakura was incredibly helpful.

After Uncle Fugaku had left and Naruto began working to pull her into his and Sasuke’s banter, he’d asked which of the pair were doing better at tree walking. This made sense, of course, considering she mastered the practice in less than an hour up to even the infamous perfectionist Kakashi’s standard and had even supposedly gotten the basics of water walking through the rest of the day while the pair of boys continued to struggle up even a couple of steps. Despite the ask for guidance being only common sense, she had flustered considerably. 

In the way naturals usually do– like Itachi, Shisui, and Kakashi usually do– it had taken several minutes for her to gather her words into an explanation both boys could follow. When she did, however, that little something that had been missing for Sasuke had clicked immediately and he succeeded for the first time. With a demonstration and encouragement to do less physical looking and more chakra sensing, Naruto had almost been able to follow. 

Having been warned of this for years, he wasn’t surprised when Sakura put a hand to her chin and thoughtfully stated it was likely that his troubles had less to do with confusion on the topic and more to do with the fact that he had more chakra then he knew what to do with. 

Given the chakra beast residing inside of him, he nodded– because Sakura was very nice and he really did understand her explanation. The knowledge and forewarning did nothing to stop the disappointment at being the last of his teammates to master the exercise, though. Naruto dreaded to think of water walking. 

Somewhere in the back of his consciousness, Kurama snickered.

The morning was a whirlwind, as per usual, with Sasuke, the most disgusting of morning people, bursting into his room with the furious holier-than-thou attitude he usually possessed when Naruto slept through his alarm clock. Sakura, back in her rather unimpressive training gear, if it could be called that, had stuttered through breakfast at the same tense stride she had at dinner the previous night. Naruto thought it must be exhausting to be so nervous all the time and wondered if it would drain her before their first mission even began.

Kakashi had arrived back from his apartment midway through the meal, letting himself in and helping himself to the breakfast Fugaku had made before he left early for work. After sensing someone at the door and learning of some dispute between neighbors in the compound, Auntie Mikoto had left Team 7 alone in the Uchiha Main House with all the fury and impatience of a night person who couldn’t be bothered to deal with stupidities so early in the morning. 

Naruto quietly bet Sasuke that they’d soon be able to hear her shouting someone into submission. Sasuke didn’t take the bet. 

“Alright!” Kakashi sat his plate down with a clatter, making Sakura jump. “It’s a big day for you genin. Time for your first ever mission briefing.”

Team 7 Mission #: 1

Captain: Kakashi Hatake

Assigned Shinobi:

            009720 - Jonin Hatake 

            012601  - Genin Haruno

            012606 - Genin Uchiha 

            012607  - Genin Uzumaki 

Category: Capture

Target: Tora (feline)

Status: Frequent Flier

Details: Brown fur, black markings, red ribbon on right ear. History of bolting when found. 

Previously Found: Hokage Monument, Great Fire Cemetery, Great Tree, Tobirama’s Laboratory, Konoha Research Library, Senju Compound Gate, Uchiha Compound Gate.

Client: Madam Shijimi

Naruto groaned, “You’ve gotta be kidding me! That cat’s been around since Shisui was a genin!”

“Longer than that,” Kakashi snorted, “Damn thing’s been around since before I was a genin.”

“Wait a second–” Naruto leaned forward as if he uncovered some great mystery and whispered, “You think this is the cat Auntie Mikoto told us that story about?” 

Sasuke scoffed, “Yeah right. The cat’s immortal and pigs can fly.” He stood up and started towards the door. “Come on. If this cat has as much experience escaping that our ancient and wise sensei remembers chasing it, then we’ll need all the daylight we have.” 

Kakashi wheeled back dramatically at the sudden attack and said through a mouthful of taiyaki, “What the fuck.”

Sakura bit her lip to keep from laughing as she stood to follow the boys out the door. As they made their way out of the Compound, Sasuke glanced around the area.

“We can check off our compound gate.” 

“Figures she wouldn’t go easy on us.” 

“Figures,” Sasuke muttered, turning to face his teammates in a loose circle. “We should make a game plan. I was thinking Miso Ramen.” He realized a beat later that neither Kakashi or Sakura knew at all what that meant and elaborated, “Once we locate the cat, we drop a weighted net from above. Until then, we split up to look at the locations listed.” Unconsciously, he looked to Kakashi for confirmation on the plan.

The man shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I’m just here to make sure you don’t get yourselves killed. You guys are telling me what to do here.” 

Despite her social anxieties Sakura was never one to ignore a good loophole. Seeing the opportunity, she asked, “If that’s the case then you can find and capture her for us.”

Kakashi met her eye for a moment before burying his nose in a romance novel. “As much as I appreciate the exploitation of a loophole– No.” 

Sakura frowned. So he wouldn’t directly assist them but would help them. That’s fair. She can work with that. 

“What about comms?” She asked, looking at the boys. “How will we know when someone finds her?” Naruto and Sasuke, having never participated in an operation that required splitting up, frowned.

“Ah, I’m so glad you asked!” Kakashi snapped his book shut and pulled something out of his pouch. “There are only two earpieces, so we’ll have teams of two.”

Naruto nodded towards his brother. “I’ll team with Sakura and you take Kakashi. Since His Senseiness is insistent on being only the absolute minimum level of helpfulness, it's best that we’re on different teams since we have more experience with this plan.”

The others nodded and they split into their groups. 

Naruto and Sakura would search around the Konoha Research Library, the Great Fire Cemetery, and the Hokage Monument. Sasuke and Kakashi would take the Great Tree, Tobirama’s Laboratory, and the Senju Compound Gate.

Immediately growing bored of the quiet, Naruto decided to elaborate on the great history of the dubbed Foodstuff Strategies.

“So Miso Ramen is the most basic of mine and Sasuke’s capture strategies. Y’know, like how miso is the most common type of ramen?” Sakura nodded, intrigued. “Beef Ramen is the most intricate strategy we have in the Ramen category.”

The girl glanced at him curiously. “There’s different categories?” 

“Yep!” Naruto grinned. “Ramen’s the capture category. Miso just uses a basic weighted net, but Beef involves bait and some gentle coaxing with a couple explosives.”

Naruto mentally patted himself on the back when he noticed he piqued her curiosity. 

“Explosives?”

“Explosives,” he confirmed. “But that's not the tricky part with Beef. The real tough part is the mind games! To pull off a good Beef Ramen strategy you gotta make the target think they’ve got the one up on you.” 

Sakura’s mind raced. Clearly the lifetime’s worth of strategies Naruto and Sasuke had come up with would be useful. 

“That seems like it would be a little hard to pull off with only two people. How did you and Sasuke manage it?” 

Naruto wrinkled his nose. “Well, we haven’t. Not properly anyway. We’ve gotten close a couple of times but there’s just too many factors to consider to keep an acceptable success rate without more people on our side.” As he said this, he realized something. “Hey! Now you’re a part of the team now! Your plan on Kakashi’s test was great too, so I’m sure we could pull it off!”

Sakura startled at his willingness to include her so quickly. She had originally thought it would have taken a while to be brought into the world that was always just “Naruto and Sasuke.” Even so, she paled at the idea of pranking on the scale that the boys pulled off. Shikaku Nara, the Jonin Commander. Tsume Inuzuka, Head of the Tracking Division. Tsunade freaking Senju. Her teammate’s punishment may be a slap on the wrist. They would say it was always good for young shinobi to sharpen their skills. For Sakura, worst case scenario, she would be stripped of her rank for attacking a superior officer.

Naruto and Sasuke standing up for her against Kakashi after their test had proven the boys to be noble and unlikely to let her take such a fall on her own, but sometimes life just wasn’t that fair. Sakura had learned this the hard way.

In an attempt to let him down gently, she said, “Oh, I don’t think I’d be very helpful for pranks–”

But Naruto was already shaking his head. “Nah, nah. Not for pranks. Me and Sasuke only did those cause we were bored at the Academy.” He scowled. “Not bored enough for a mentor like Kakashi and Itachi, apparently, but bored anyway. For missions and stuff. You think these would be any good for C’s and B’s?”

Suddenly much more comfortable with where this conversation is going, she nodded. “Definitely.” 

He grinned widely.

“Oh hey, here we are.”

The Great Fire Cemetery was located on the north-most side of the village, a ways back from the cliffside the Hokage Monument resided on. True to its title, it was one of the largest cemeteries in the Land of Fire, second to only the cemetery in the capital city, Akagahara. The Daimyo’s home city was a hub of trade, civilian merchants lucky enough to make their base of operations there were the envy of the world. The number of inhabitants in Akagahara was easily five times as many as Konoha, so of course a larger cemetery was needed. Shinobi villages didn’t exactly have a low mortality rate, however, so Great Fire wasn’t too far behind Daimyo's Great Cemetery.

Upon taking the first step into the gate, Naruto’s stride faltered as he realized how much ground they’d have to cover. “Uh, we’re definitely gonna need some extra hands here. Kage bunshin no jutsu!” A dozen Narutos popped into existence as he barked the order to search the cemetery. “We can stay here at the gate while they search.” 

Sakura nodded in agreement and, having nothing better to do, scanned the area. In the distance, up by the Hokage’s graves, one of the Narutos searched behind the Fire Country symbol. Sakura blinked at that. Back in the Academy, she remembered Naruto always placing first in the races, but it was easy to forget what a speedy guy he was. 

The original beside her started to say something about another one of his and Sasuke’s strategies, but some commotion near the clone she was just studying distracted her.

“Uh.. Naruto-”

“ACK!” Two screeches echoed across the cemetery, one after the other as the Naruto in the distance dispersed, “THAT DAMN CAT-” A small brown something flashed past them as Naruto’s hands came up to cover his face, “SCRATCHED MY FACE OFF!”

Sakura whirled around in the direction Tora disappeared towards. Seeing nothing– wow, that cat was fast– she turned on her mic and spoke, “Well, we found the target, but–”

“THAT MOTHERFUCKER SCRATCHED ME IN THE EYEBALL!”

“ In the eye? Sakura, how bad is the injury? ” Kakashi sensei’s distorted voice crackled.

“Oh, no. It was just a clone, sensei, don’t worry! But Tora’s probably on her way to one of the locations around in the area.”

An exasperated sigh sounded through the speaker. “ All right, we’re headed towards Hokage Park. Over and out. ”

“Hokage Monument?” Naruto asked, rubbing his face, scrubbing away the phantom memory of sharp claws. Sakura nodded, wincing in sympathy.

Her mind sparked a few questions about the memory transfer of Naruto’s signature jutsu, but she shook her head. Mission now, questions later.

Pausing mid head shake, he furrowed his brows. “That cat looked an awful lot like…”

“Hm?” Sakura asked, curiosity getting the best of her.

“There’s this old story that Aunty Mikoto used to tell me and Sasuke. About how her grandfather’s old friends got into an argument about if making life from scratch in a test tube is possible. Well, the younger brother came back a week later and proved him wrong. Here's the funny part; it was a cat. Brown fur, black markings. Same name and everything! How weird is that?”

She hummed. Pretty weird, but– “Surely there's no way it's the same cat though, right? I mean how likely is it that the pet of the Daimyo's wife is immortal?”

Naruto was already shaking his head before she finished. “If that was the only connection I’d agree! But then there’s also the fact that Kakashi has had this mission as a genin and there's no way a normal cat that old could still be running around like this. One connection is a coincidence, two is a pattern.”

Sceptical, but deciding to humor him, she replied, “Well if it’s true, I’d like to see his notes.”

Naruto grinned. “Like, seriously! I get that Tobirama was supposed to be some kind of super genius since he’s created some the most revolutionary jutsu ever, or however the spiel in the history book goes, but how the hell did he come up with not only life out of a test tube, but also making said cat immortal?!”

Startled, Sakura turned to look at him. “Wait, did you say Tobirama?”

Naruto glanced back at her as he ducked under the guard railings at the top of the cliff before hopping down onto the monument itself. “Yeah, why?”

Sakura hopped down after him. “I’m just surprised. I’ve read pretty much everything having to do with the hokages, the Nidaime in particular, in the Konoha Research Library and I haven’t come across anything like that,” she frowned in thought as she leaped down from Hashirama’s head to one of Tobirama’s hair spikes closest to the cliff face. Struck with a thought, she continued, “Actually, if the story is true, it makes sense that it wouldn’t be common knowledge.”

“Hm?” Naruto prompted her to continue her train of thought, secretly pleased at dragging her into his theorizing.

“Well– do you remember Orochimaru? Lord Third’s student? He’s the only notable traitor in the village’s history– er, aside from Mizuki sensei apparently. Anyway, before he was chased off for trying to steal the Scroll of Seals, he was already a controversial figure and about to be put of trial for human experimentation. One of his biggest topics was finding a way to be immortal.” Sakura shivered as she remembered the spooky contents of his biography. It had included out of context excerpts from the journals he had left behind and they were all so clinical when describing the outcomes of some experiments in horrific detail. After reading more about him, disgusted in the can’t look away fashion, she was convinced he could be clinically diagnosed as a psychopath. “Can you imagine what would happen if someone like him found out a way to make immortal beings?” 

“Oh man, your right,” Naruto grimaced, and they began to search the Nidaime’s stone head. Hashirama’s was much easier to search, Tobirama’s spiked hairstyle made visibility much more difficult. They wouldn’t see Tora until they were on top of her.

The genin split up, Naruto taking one side, and Sakura taking the other. Their eyes met as they made their way to the front of the monument and Naruto pointed vigorously, eyes wide. Sakura looked in that direction quickly and stifled a gasp. There, resting peacefully on the edge of the Nidaime’s happuri, Tora sat, staring them down. If she wasn’t talking about a cat, one who allegedly was supposed to be a perfectly normal cat and not a ninneko, Sakura would go as far as to say she looked almost unimpressed. 

Deciding they have her relatively cornered, Sakura reached up and turned on her mic. She hesitated for a second. Was she just supposed to jump into explaining the situation, or should she address her teacher first? “Um… Kakashi sensei? We have the target cornered up on the Hokage Monu– what the?!” 

“ Sakura? What’s your status? ” 

“She– she jumped! She jumped off the monument, sensei!” 

Naruto screeched and made a wild dive and Sakura had no choice but to grab the back of his collar to keep him from going over the edge after the cat. The genin fell to their knees and stared uncomprehendingly over the edge. 

“I know cats always land on their feet, but that's way too far! There’s no way it’s still alive!” Naruto stared down, trying to catch a glimpse of what could only be a corpse at the bottom of the mountain, but it was too far to see. 

Kakashi’s voice crackled in her ear, “ Considering me and Sasuke just watched her land flat on her back before bolting up the Great Tree, I’m starting to consider the validity of Naruto’s theory. ”

Sakura blinked a moment, before feeling the need to clarify, “So… so we don’t have to tell Madam Shijimi we killed her cat?”

“ No ,” Kakashi replied, sounding amused. “ You and Naruto should get down here before she tries to make another great escape, hm? Though I’d prefer if you two took a different route than our target here. ” 

Sakura let out a breath of relief. “Yes, sensei,” she replied, taking a moment to turn off her mic. “Come on, Naruto! We gotta hurry! Looks like your theory on feline immortality wasn’t so crazy after all.”

Naruto looked back to her from the edge and blinked before laughing, “I told you so!”

Sakura rushed back towards the cliff face, planting her foot on the wall and taking a split second to steady herself before sprinting back up to the cliff side. It was only when she reached the top, a few meters up, did she look back and remember Naruto’s struggle with the technique. He seemed to have it covered, though, as he made a sign for kage bunshin and used a tower of Narutos to vault himself towards the top. Sakura used her chakra to stick a hand to the rail as she reached out to grab her teammate’s hand to pull him the rest of the way up.

He gave her a bright grin and yelled his thanks as they jumped over the railing and booked it towards the stairs. 

Sasuke stared uncomprehendingly between the cat sized crater in the ground and the very much alive cat sitting purposefully in full view of himself and Kakashi. Even without a sharingan, Uchihas already have better than average eyesight and that fact made it all the more easy to see that damn cat staring tauntingly into his soul. It was almost as if it was saying, and what are you gonna do about it?

It was degrading. 

Sasuke Uchiha was being degraded by a damn cat.

“WE’RE HERE!” 

Kakashi snapped his book shut as Naruto and Sakura finally skidded to a stop beside them, panting harshly. “Ah, not bad timing. I think you broke a record, Naruto. Using the technique I taught you yesterday to slide down the cliff face and keep up with your faster teammate was a good idea, Sakura.” 

Sakura flushed, but Naruto was too focused on following Sasuke’s helpful pointing finger and gaping at the somehow uninjured Tora. 

Sasuke mumbled irritably to himself as he thought back to his and Naruto’s conversation that morning, “I’m gonna turn around and see a flying pig.” 

Kakashi snickered behind him and flipped his book back open, leaving the kids to brainstorm Tora’s retrieval.

Naruto scowled up the giant tree. “She’s just staring at us! I don’t know how we’re gonna drop a net on her from all the way up there.” 

Sasuke hummed agreeably, narrowing his eyes and glancing around the area for inspiration.

Sakura took a moment to think back on their previous encounters. At first, Sakura would have assumed she would be led on a wild goose chase. While it certainly did still feel like one, Tora was clearly still leading them in a distinct pattern. Great Fire Cemetery, the Hokage Monument, and the Great Tree were all close to each other. After finding her in the cemetery, the nearest “previously found” was the monument, then nearest to the monument was the tree. Previously, Sakura assumed they would have been led to random places on the list with no apparent rhyme or reason. 

It kind of makes sense, she supposes. Tora’s frequent flier status coupled with the rumors of Madam Shijimi’s cat oasis in her Konoha holiday home. It seems apparent to Sakura that this cat, who she is suspecting to be a little more ninneko than her file suggests, simply runs away for the fun of it. Which– actually makes a lot of sense, she realizes as she remembers a project she had done on ninja companions. Ninneko have always been known to be crafty creatures who enjoy stringing along what they deem lesser beings.

Shaking away the irrelevant thought process, she remembered back to patterns she was thinking of. The locations Tora sticks to are the Hokage Monument, Great Fire Cemetery, the Great Tree, Tobirama’s Laboratory, Konoha Research Library, Senju Compound Gate, Uchiha Compound Gate. Which of those is closest to Hokage Park, where the Great Tree resides? 

Tobirama’s Laboratory. 

Sakura had a plan.

It was only slightly easier for Sakura to speak up and tell the boys her plan. 

Kakashi, while clearly listening even when his head was ducked into his book, glanced over the top curiously as she briefed them. He was an “enemy” the last time she had explained a plan, so he hadn’t been privy to the meeting. He couldn't say he wasn’t impressed though. Despite obviously growing more self-conscious, she explained herself clearly and concisely. She had potential, dammit ! 

He couldn’t wait to see what he was working with, taijutsu wise. 

Finished explaining, and with everyone in agreement, the group split up. Naruto and Kakashi split off to an entrance to the park while Sakura and Sasuke started up the tree. 

Since Sasuke was more likely to keep track of Tora, he led. Sakura trailed behind him, weighted nets in both genin’s hands.

For a few minutes the pair settled on a lower, nearby branch as they waited for a go ahead from their teammates. 

“ All set. Ready when you are!” Naruto’s voice filled her ear. She turned to Sasuke and nodded. 

Her teammate nodded back, and she left him there on that lower branch as she carefully ascended the last few meters. She hoped the cat wouldn’t treat her to the same prejudice she’d treated Naruto’s clone with. Tora stared judgingly as she stepped onto the branch.

“Here, kitty kitty…” she coaxed gently, inching forward.

Predictably, this strategy did not work, and Sakura clocked the tensing of the cat’s muscles as soon as it happened. Already expecting this, she threw her net. The cat dodged and Sakura was only mildly disappointed, having expected that too. 

Tora dove off the edge the same way she had dove off of Tobirama’s head and Sakura jumped back towards the trunk of the tree and connected one palm and one foot and slid quickly down the tree. As she slid down the trunk, Sasuke missed his own throw due to an acrobatic midair twist. 

The boy cursed and slid down the tree, albeit a little more clumsily, after her. 

Tora meowed victoriously to herself as she bolted lighting fast across the park. Oh, how she loved tormenting the baby ninjas. She’s gotten very good at it over the years, if she does say so herself. 

As she sprinted through the entrance and made the familiar turn, she momentarily pondered the whereabouts of the Hatake wolfdog and the yellow Uzumaki child.

Oh well– a few streets over and she could visit her favorite “hiding place.” 

Already, she could smell the old ink and home and–

Bright, singing flashes rained from the sky. Tora howled and took a sharp turn into an alley to escape the onslaught. 

Right into a tightly bound, suspended net. 

Startled, she hadn’t entertained a child proficient in trapping in so long, she quickly disentangled herself and turned around just in time to be scooped up in another net. This one was designed in such a way that the more she struggled, the more entangled she’d become.

Impressed, she let herself become fully trapped. 

Tora has trained many children over her years and usually, the children do not plan, so much as chase her like common fools. Hm. The yellow child was good at this whole trapping business. She will hunt him to encourage this skill. The pink one was doing the talking beneath Tora’s tree, so she was probably the planner. She considered the Hatake standing beside the screeching yellow Uzumaki who held her and glared at the wolf-dog man. She disliked him on principle for smelling vaguely of wet mongrel, but she had trained him well when he was small. Hopefully she could trust him to nurture the girl’s natural abilities. Then, for the Uchiha, Tora would stalk him to encourage his natural affinity for perception. 

Something about him reminded her of falcons and bad hair from her days as a kitten and she vowed to terrorize him a little. As the children screamed of victory and something about beef around her, she contented herself with the knowledge of reviving a tradition she had long thought dead. 

Blinking she considered a sudden thought, and then the boy. Hm. Familiar, indeed. Tora would have to find that old scroll for him in a few years. Falcons would suit him fine, as well. 

She took her claws to the Uchiha’s arm when he swayed too close, and the smiley child yelped while the smart child laughed.

Tora closed her eyes and allowed herself to remember. 

Chapter Text

Taijutsu has never been something that Sakura would consider one of her strengths. To her credit, a lot of this could be blamed on Mizuki. Even after discarding the diet he had recommended, however, not much could have changed because of her budget. 

A pipe had rusted and ended up flooding her bathroom. To make matters worse, it had been her parent’s upstairs bathroom she used to wash her clothes in ever since the washer broke and it ended up leaking through the ceiling right into her kitchen. She was forced to call a plumber and make a dent large enough she still cringed to think about in her savings. Now her emergency funds were nonexistent and the grocery budget was at an all time low. 

Luckily, her teammates deemed group lunches and dinners mandatory, so most days she was able to get away with eating granola bars for breakfast and mooching off her teammates for other meals. A week into Team 7, Ichiraku Ramen was their usual haunt. Kakashi usually ended up getting pulled away early for some reason or another and Naruto enjoyed skipping off seconds before the bill was delivered so he could save his money for more trapping equipment. Sasuke, to both Sakura’s shame and relief, seemed to take notice of her–still rather lackluster– gear and never hesitated to whip out his credit card. 

He never took a second glance at her after doing so, either. They had some sort of unspoken understanding to never speak of it and that suited her just fine.

Kakashi had guided them back to Training Grounds #3 after they successfully delivered Tora back into the loving arms of Madam Shijimi and fumbled their way through post-mission protocols. It had somehow slipped Sakura’s mind that, while normally D and C Rank genin mission summaries were given to the Genin Commander, tradition demands that after their first mission a genin team must go before the Hokage instead. Something about welcoming them to the ranks and congratulating them on their first job well done. Sakura was already jittery standing in front of one of her idols, and Naruto had not helped matters by referring to the legendary kunoichi as “Granny.” She had felt faint for hours after.

Well, she had felt faint right up until the moment her sensei had summoned a shadow clone and sent the boys away to spar, leaving her with the original and the declaration, “While those two spar, you’re gonna show me every taijutsu stance Mizuki has ever taught you.”

It was humiliating. 

Kakashi had taken note of her disappointment and was quick to reassure her that it wasn’t her fault, but she was careful to not repeat mistakes once corrected. Everything about what Mizuki had taught her was only the slightest bit off. Just enough to cripple her taijutsu skill, not enough to rouse suspicion from the other teachers. 

Due to her tenacity and eidetic memory she had perfected each kata of Little Leaf taijutsu style within a week. Of course memorizing katas and being able to call upon muscle memory in a fight were two very different things. The latter was what she needed to work on now, according to Kakashi. 

“I’m gonna split up practice today,” he said to the genin. 

“Eh? But I thought Sakura could join our spars now?” Naruto asked, scratching his head.

Kakashi shook his head. “You two have been fighting people with equal or more taijutsu skill your entire lives. Neither of you have enough skill or self-awareness to know how to hold back enough to make a spar look less like a one sided beating and more like a learning experience. Sakura and I are going to go meet with an old friend of mine and one of his students.”

Sakura, slightly relieved that she was not being subjected to a beating from two very taijutsu proficient genin, asked curiously, “Why am I not just sparing with you, sensei?” 

“Hm, I suppose you could, but it’s better if you get experience sparring someone closer to your height first while you start to develop your reflexes. The genin you will be sparring with specializes in taijutsu.” 

Ah.

Suddenly, Sakura realized she might have preferred getting beat up by her teammates.

——————————

They hadn’t even arrived yet and Kakashi was already regretting introducing Sakura to Gai and his mini-me.

Gods, what was he thinking? Sweet, timid Sakura? Was he really about to subject his most innocent pupil to the human hurricane that is Gai Maito? Kakashi was positive that as soon as he let her out of his sight, Gai would ambush the poor girl with that ugly ass onsie. The jonin glanced sideways to his student. As much as it galled him to admit it’s effectiveness, it probably was a better alternative to her current getup. He made a mental note to take her shopping later.

——————————

“Hello! My name is Rock Lee, and I will be your sparring partner,” exclaimed a boy in a green jumpsuit. 

Sakura jumped a little at the sudden enthusiasm. “Uh, I’m Sakura Haruno. Pleasure to meet you,” she replied, bowing. She should be extra polite– this boy, Lee, is taking time out of his day to help her when he could be sparring someone much stronger! 

A loud wail startled her from her thoughts. “Kakashi! Look at our precious pupils getting along! It’s enough to make a man cry!” sobbed someone, presumably Lee’s sensei, from behind her. She turned and– blinked. Sakura glanced at Lee, and then back again. Is she seeing double? 

“Gai! You’re getting snot on my vest! Stop crying.” Kakashi grimaced and pushed the man away with a palm to the face. Ah, she's not seeing double then. “Gai” was definitely older than Lee and also had somehow even bushier eyebrows. “Sakura, you’ve already met Lee, this is his sensei, Gai Maito.”

“How can I not cry, Kakashi? I’m finally getting the chance to meet the student of my Eternal Rival!” Gai wiped his tears vigorously. “It is wonderful to meet you, Youthful Cherry Blossom!”

A little startled at the man's eccentricities, Sakura bowed again, this time lower. 

“Ah, and so polite, as well!” Gai grinned wide and bright and menacing . “Don’t worry, my rival, she won’t be this polite when she’s returned to you.”

Kakashi sent him a baleful glare. “Please do not kill my student.”

That… did not do anything good to Sakura’s confidence that she would survive the day.

——————————

Sakura almost did not survive the day. Or the next. Or the day after that. 

Kakashi had oversaw her first day of training with Gai and Lee, but had entrusted her with his colleague on the following days, parting with a vague whispered threat in her new instructor’s ear that she hadn’t caught. Sakura met her taijutsu instructors early, early each morning and broke off to join her teammates for D-ranks in the afternoon. 

They had been tasked with retrieving Tora several more times over the weeks and slowly but surely cut down on capture time even as the cat seemed to only grow more cunning. And more vicious. She had taken to straight up attacking them the last time they were assigned to her. She seemed to have a personal vendetta against Sasuke, for some reason, even stalking him outside of assignments. Sakura was fairly certain he was going to snap and roast the cat if he caught her staring at him from a tree outside his window one more time.

“One day Dad’s gonna come to wake me up and find me murdered in my sleep by a damn ninneko,” Sasuke had griped to them during a dinner at Ichiraku’s one day, stabbing his chopsticks towards the rest of them. “Just you wait.”

Naruto had only shrugged. “At least I’m getting to practice perimeter traps to protect your sorry ass.”

Laughing with the boys had become easier and easier over the weeks, but there were times where she was still reminded of the vast distance between them. She had picked up the Foodstuff Strategies fairly quickly on a night at the Uchiha’s after dinner, even helping to brainstorm applications for them for several scenarios around the village, but there weren’t enough plans in the world that would make up for being physically inferior to such an extent. Not to mention the general fact that while Team 7 was a fairly effective genin team so far, Naruto and Sasuke were a unit . They could practically read each other’s minds and occasionally tended to forget that Sakura didn’t have that convenient bond with either of them. It had caused major setbacks on several of their Tora missions.

She had confessed this to Lee a week into their training sessions after Gai sensei had been pulled away by an official summons. 

Lee was bright . Like, if optimism was a person, it would be Rock Lee. And he was kind . He didn’t sugarcoat her mistakes, gave constructive criticism, and after sparring with her several times he had engaged himself fully in a debate with Gai-sensei on what taijutsu style she should start to mix into her katas. He really cared about her progress and shouted rousing encouragements even as she felt as though she would collapse after running several laps around the village perimeter. 

He cared about her too. Had also taken notice of her thin stature and insisted upon meeting for a big, healthy breakfast, on him, every day. Ino had done something similar in the academy, always bringing extra for Sakura to pick off of. She couldn’t be sure yet, never too careful, but she was tempted to call him a friend. The only she could claim outside of Ino. 

Sakura collapsed into a sweaty, gasping pile after receiving a brutal kick from Lee. 

“You’re getting quicker!” He grinned, holding out a wrapped hand. 

“Really? My ribs say you’re lying,” she sassed. “Besides, I never even touched you.”

He chuckled as he pulled her up effortlessly. “You give yourself too little credit. It has only been two weeks since you’ve learned proper taijutsu. What I meant is that your body is reacting and moving to dodge away from my attacks, even if you aren’t quite quick enough yet to manage it.” He gave her a blinding smile and a thumbs up. “You are a quick learner!”

Even after a solid week of being showered with compliments to her quick learning speed, she still felt off balance in the face of it. She waved her hand sheepishly, “Well, I guess some progress is better than no progress!”

Sakura jumped when Gai sensei chimed in from behind her. “Your progress with speed may be slow going, but your technique combined with your natural strength gives you a mean punch!” He mimicked the motion before nodding towards the training posts which bore evidence of her hard work. Several centimeters of bark had been chipped from the oak. 

Shame creeped slowly into her gut. Sakura glanced at him sheepishly. “Still, I guess it's hard to feel like I’m making any progress when my teammates are already using jutsu in their spars.”

Gai cocked his head, face somewhat somber for a moment. “That may be true, and while I encourage self criticism, as it is important to know where to improve, it is also important to know your strengths. Naruto and Sasuke have the benefit of shinobi upbringing, so they are able to indulge in all out spars while you train your body. You, however,” Gai grinned again, “have the advantage of truly prodigious chakra control. So I can assure you, that by the time Lee and I have you up to par, your teammates will only just be waterwalking.”

“And besides,” Lee grinned, “I never use jutsu, and although I’ve never beaten him, I can go toe-to-toe with Neji for quite some time! Our tenacious youth will prevail soon enough!” The declaration was followed by twin cheers from the green clad pair.

Sakura loved training with Konoha’s Green and Blue Beasts. 

——————————

It’s odd, really, she thinks as her fists make a rhythmic thump thump thump against the post. She’s never been good at it, Mizuki or no, and all evidence should point to it being a despicable activity for someone of her upbringing.

Sit this way, Sakura .

Don’t roll in the dirt, Sakura.

A lady never glares , Sakura.

Good little girls never aim to displease, Sakura.

It wasn’t ladylike at all. It didn’t have any sort of feminine quality, but she liked it so much.

The process of wrapping her knuckles. The sting of a solid connection. The way she could throw her weight behind it and finally see something happen because of it. 

Her chakra sung through her coils. She wanted to try something. It wouldn’t work quite how she wanted it to. Not yet. She hadn’t figured it out yet. But she wanted to try. 

Team Gai had been sent on a C-rank shortly after their training session the day before and wouldn’t be due back for several days. Until their schedule could return, she was back with her team in the mornings.

She had arrived at Team 7’s training grounds at the ungodly hour she had gotten used to lately, 4 AM, and had taken it upon herself to warm up and crack her knuckles on the posts. It wasn’t something Kakashi would approve of her trying alone though, she thought, so she sat and exercised her chakra in the meantime. 

Naruto, having apparently forgotten since yesterday, was happily surprised to see her. Using his chatter to challenge herself, she worked her chakra even while she paid attention and giggled appropriately at her teammates bickering. Sasuke, irritated at the age-old argument between them on whether being a morning person made him a psychopath, turned and ignored his brother completely. Instead, asking her about her progress.

“How is everything coming along with Gai and his student?”

She smiled at the thought of the pair’s insistence that she had made progress. She had let herself indulge a little, and believed them, during the mindless punch punch punch on the training post. “Good, I think. Gai sensei says I’ve built up some muscle, and Lee says my reflexes are improving.”

He hummed. “Speaking of training, water walking is hell. Mind giving the dobe and I some tips later when Kakashi sends us off to practice? He’s given us some, but maybe a different perspective will help,” Sasuke mused, shrugging. 

Again, the Uchiha unabashedly asking for her assistance threw her for a loop. It took several seconds for her to stutter a reply. Sasuke simply nodded and ditched both of them to start some warmup katas. 

Damn, her chakra broke its pattern in response to her surprise. She ordered it back into shape and focused on the edge of her sensory range simultaneously. Closing her eyes, she waited to sense Kakashi’s chakra.

This time, it came fast from the opposite direction she was expecting. Likely noticing her focus and trying to catch her off guard, Sakura didn’t let it deter her and quickly spun as she shot to her feet impatiently. 

She glanced at the clock tower in the distance during her ascent and noted that she had at least ten minutes before training officially started. She didn’t know if Kakashi would be willing to waste his chakra on another shadow clone to babysit her, and she was unwilling to try her luck.

“Can you supervise me while I try something?” 

If Kakashi was surprised at either her reaction or the directness of her question, he didn’t make a show of it. 

“Alright,” he stated simply.

Wasting no time, Sakura strode with purpose to a post. With a deep breath she focused and molded chakra in her core like dough and  it obeyed immediately after several hours of warmup. 

Remembering the race on their first day as a team, and how she had protected her ankles and legs from the fall, she applied a similar technique across her knuckles and into the tendons and bone supporting her wrist. 

It felt firm, protected.

Sakura slid into a stance and threw a punch.

It had taken several days, with many many hours each day, working the same spot, to punch the first small crack into the freshly built, tough Hashirama Oak post of the training ground she used when with Gai and Lee. This post was fresh too, having only been replaced maybe two days before.

It had taken less than thirty seconds to punch a small crack into this one.

Sakura stared incredulously for a moment before laughing victoriously. It wasn’t much. It really, really wasn’t much. Only the shallow indent of one knuckle with an inch long crack in the middle of it. But it had taken days to wear down that same amount on the other post and goddamn that felt like progress.

Her chakra had not diminished at all and her stamina was better than ever and she felt as though she could keep throwing punches for at least another hour. 

Your teammates could do better without chakra , a voice whispered as the back of her head. But the victory still rushed adrenaline through her veins and Gai told her to use her strengths and chakra has always been one of them. 

The grin was firm on her face as she threw another punch. This time, confident her technique was accurate, she put her weight behind it, twisting her hips with the punch and let the adrenaline aid her natural strength. 

This time two whole knuckles indented into the bark and Sakura couldn’t remember a time she’d ever felt the visceral need to scream victory so intensely.

Suddenly needing to share this, she whirled around to face her teacher. Almost out of habit, she felt shy suddenly, for achieving something in front of an authority figure. 

But Kakashi, and she was beginning to tentatively hope that no other shoe was going to drop, only huffed incredulously, “Well damn, kid. I wasn’t planning on even mentioning bodily augmentation techniques for like another few months or something.” 

Sakura could only beam at the praise. 

Over the next few hours Sakura continued punching and punching and punching. Sweat poured off her body and her knuckles ached dispite the iron grip she held the augmentation with. Every punch sent a thrill of adrenaline through her veins, making her chakra jump to obey her.

She suspected it would be a feeling she would grow addicted to.

As it turns out, her fear of Kakashi not wanting to use a shadow clone to aid her was unfounded. One stood a few feet to the side, making small adjustments in her stance and recommending stretching the augmentation further up to her elbow and shoulder.

That punch had embedded all four of her knuckles into the oak with not a drop of chakra expelled.

Now, as she stood on the surface of the pond calling advice to her soaked teammates, her mind raced with possibilities. She itched for the library. Kakashi had revealed that the technique she had attempted and succeeded in was a chunin level feat. Chakra augmentation was practiced at genin level, but the deep reinforcement, rather than surface-level “armor”, of her muscles and ligaments was far more advanced. How far off, she wondered, was it to Tsunade’s legendary strength. How was she capable of not just the bone deep reinforcement, but also a cataclysmic explosion of power simultaneously?

Sakura knew she had searched and memorized every book and legend starring and mentioning her Hokage. Now, however, she remembered she now has access to books at a higher clearance level than what civilians or Academy students would be capable of researching. That thought alone almost made her want to book it back towards the village proper, and she went through two afternoon missions in a daze. Luckily for her, Tora had opted to terrorize Kiba’s team if the sounds of Akamaru’s yapping had anything to say about it, and they were only tasked with painting a fence and pulling weeds.

She rushed a goodbye to her teammates after an early dinner at Ichiraku’s and booked it towards the library. 

Konoha Research Library was the largest academic library in the country, including even the capital city of Akagahara. It was four stories tall, the upper floors requiring shinobi clearance depending on the difficulty of each technique, while the first floor was dedicated to history, basic chakra-less first aid, and other matters not relating to chakra usage. The second floor was for genin, the third for chunin, and the fourth for jonin. 

Of course, there were also more “in-between” subject matters or documents too sensitive to be left among the general masses. The former, for example, would be academy level chakra techniques. Low level difficulty, but still potentially risky, so they are kept within the Academy’s library. Not necessarily off-limits to civilian adults, as there were several architecture guilds and tattoo artists who used chakra to aid their craft, but still regulated. Any civilian borrowing a book from the library and using its techniques must have a license to do so, making any and all blame for injury due to said techniques null. The latter would likely be kept somewhere either in the Hokage Tower or maybe even Anbu Headquarters, wherever that is. Of course there were also several shinobi clan libraries on each of their clan grounds for clan specific techniques.

Having visited many times, she bolted up the steps without hesitation. Habit almost threatened to take her to the little nook she adored in a corner of the history section, but she resisted and made her way to the ninja at the desk near the stairs

Often, library duty was for nin recovering from injuries or those being disciplined for something. Judging from the cast encasing the lower half of Renko’s leg, it was the former instead of her usual sentence. She wasn’t a bad shinobi, really! She just… had a bit of a mouth. And was unafraid to tell her superiors when they had a stupid plan. All in all, Sakura was sure her sensei would approve.

Beaming at the chunin, Sakura pulled out her ID so Renko could authorize the seal as the kunoichi made a cooing noise. “Moving up in the world aren’t you, Sakura,” she said, handing her ID back. “Ask me for tips when you get around to garroting.” 

Sakura could only catch a glimpse of the kunoichi’s sharp grin before she spun on her heel and ascended the stairs to the genin section for the first time, throwing a thanks over her shoulder. Even in her excitement, she didn’t miss the dim glow of the seal on the back of her genin ID mirror on a previously blank wall in the stairway. She skidded to a stop to watch with curious glee as the seal faded back into the wall and her ID seal fading with it. 

“Now you don’t have to bring your ID here anymore.” Sakura turned to see Renko leaning against the wall, crutch in hand. “The seals recognize your chakra signature.”

“If the seals are the security, then what’s the need for desk nin?” 

Renko lifted an eyebrow with a smile. “As amusing as it would be to watch people get shocked all day, it’s a liability issue I’m afraid,” she sighed despondently as Sakura giggled. “I’m here to make sure people at least get a chance to not be stupid. Also to check out books.” 

Sakura had to concede the point. 

“Just make sure to bring your ID again when you move up to the third floor, hm?” Renko gave the younger kunoichi a lazy wave before hobbling back to her post. Sakura was hit with a surge of affection for the fellow civilian born. She had said with no doubt, full confidence, that Sakura would one day have access to the chunin clearance floor. 

The layout wasn’t all that different from the Academy’s library, though on a much bigger scale. It wasn’t too difficult to make her way to the ninjutsu section, then find chakra theory. 

Core Energy… Chakra Exercises For Dummies… Stick It! A Guide on Tree Walking and Water Walking.

She made a note of that book in case the boys struggled for much longer. 

Expanding Your Surroundings: The Basics of Chakra Sense… Faster, Stronger! A Guide on Basic Bodily Augmentation!

Aha! Just what she was looking for!

As she made her way towards a desk, she abruptly remembered that she no longer carried her backpack around after she graduated, and therefore didn’t have a notebook with her. Judging by the length of the book, she decided that it would probably take her a few days to finish anyway, so she made her way to genin floor’s check out desk.

After arriving home, she immediately sat in front of the coffee table with a fresh notebook and pencil in hand.

Bodily Augmentation is the protection of a shinobi’s limbs beyond what’s capable without chakra manipulation. Where knuckles would normally break upon hitting a wooden wall, with bodily augmentation a shinobi may reach the true potential of their strength without the same worry of injury due to the armor-like shielding over skin. (*1)

Sakura glanced at the corresponding footnote and turned to the page referenced. The section title was Effects on the Brain .

Upon mastery of the basics of this technique, your body and brain will naturally acclimate over time. The molding of chakra causes an effect similar to adrenaline. The longer and more often you hold this technique, your instincts will sharpen and your limbs will be more likely to obey with speed you may have not previously possessed. With ninjutsu, this “adrenaline effect” is released in the form of jutsu, and is not given time to acclimate properly. However, because of the lack of release, it is common that Taijustu specialists often are attributed to having faster reaction times than a shinobi of equal strength/speed who specializes in Nin or Gen jutsus. …

Flipping back to the beginning, Sakura continued her notes from subtitles Introduction , through the theory section, and finished off with Step One: Channel Your Chakra before the exhaustion of the day caught up with her. 

The next day went similarly to the day before, only Kakashi had pulled her away after separating from the boys for the evening. 

“Follow me. It’s high time we get you some proper gear.” 

——————————

His statement had clearly made the shy kunoichi panic a little, and he felt the need to slap himself over the head. He didn’t, but he wanted to. 

Of course his approach would make her squirm. Kakashi reassured her that he would be paying, but that only made her flush and look not unlike a kicked puppy. Gods, why couldn’t the people in his life realize how much money he could spend on them without making a dent in his bank account?!

Truthfully, that little something off about Sakura that Fugaku mentioned had shortly after become noticeable to him. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much he could do about it at the moment. Along with the fact that he legally could not go snooping around her house due to civilian privacy protection laws— her household being considered  “civilian” due to the 2-1 ratio of civilians to her one shinobi— he really just didn’t have the time , either. 

Everyone liked to joke that sensei duty was boring because of the low rank missions and babysitting, but only the ones stuck with it ever complain about all the fucking paperwork . Getting the kids IDs, figuring out who gets Tora, lesson plans, the general paperwork that comes along with signing your team up as a typically once in a generation match up of genin. Usually shinobi aren’t matched up in frontline assault squads until after a few promotions. Team Tobirama, Team Hiruzen, Team Jiraiya, Team Minato however…

Talk about a fucking legacy he’s betting on. Team Minato hadn’t lived up to it.

 Well, Obito always did say he had an ego.

“Really, Kakashi sensei— you don’t have to! I’ve been saving up! After a few more missions I’ll have enough to buy my own gear!” If that statement wasn’t another puzzle piece to the mystery of Sakura Haruno, Kakashi didn’t know what was. Her parents are supposedly well off merchants. She lives in the “upper crust” of Uzushio district! Her parents weren’t willing to spend an extra few ryo to make sure their daughter had proper gear at least? 

That sentence alone bumped up finding out what’s up with Sakura several places on his list of priorities. 

“Nonsense! No reason to spend your pocket change when your sensei’s got so much inheritance money that he doesn’t know what to do with!” So, in the face of verbal opposition, Kakashi did what he does best. “Go on! Go on! Pick out anything that tickles your fancy! Let’s spend money!” He ushered wildly at the genin, forcing her into the very expensive store and towards the tailor, who was already stalking towards them like a damn piranha.

Kakashi is an expert at bulldozing over conversations.

“Welcome back, Hatake! I haven’t tailored anything new for you since you hit your last growth spurt all those years ago.” Genju pouted at him. “Have you been cheating on me?” 

Ah. It seems Genju hasn’t gotten over the crush he’d had on Kakashi since taking over the family business. It was partially why he’d taken up Fugaku’s offer of the Uchiha’s tailor. But, eccentricities aside, Genju and his family were fantastic at their job, so he was willing to trust them with Sakura’s shinobi clothes.

“ Actually , Genju, I’m not here for me.” Perhaps a little excessively, he gestured to the genin trapped under his arm. As the man turned his sharpened gaze on her, her escape attempts came to an abrupt halt. “This is my student, Sakura Haruno,” he said, before putting on his most charming eye smile. “Please take good care of her.”

Kakashi could only pat her head encouragingly before she whisked away, stuttering unsure answers to rapid fire questions. 

The time passed slowly, and Kakashi was able to fall back into the familiar haze of zoning out whilst waiting for either Minato, or Rin, or Mikoto to finish their shopping. 

Sakura clearly had no idea of what to make of her apparent free reign over her sensei’s credit card, so much of the finished product was decided by Genju’s recommendation. 

She had a red haori with a white trim that cut off at mid thigh, navy shorts that cut off just above the knee, and actual proper shinobi sandals. To tie it all together, Genju added a black belt with several pockets that buckled at the front and some matching arm braces; black gloves long enough to go past her elbow with armor plates running up the length of her forearm and covering the back of her hand. All in all, she looked like a proper shinobi.

It was clear that she thought so too; any fight she had left in her had dissipated immediately at the sight of herself in the mirror.

Genju had managed to shoo them out the door with the instructions to pick up the finished gear in 2 days, to Kakashi’s surprise. The Uchiha main family’s tailor had the same quality of work as Fukuda Shinobi Tailoring but it always took several days longer for them to get the work done. Kakashi had dropped a few extra ryo to put Sakura on the priority list, but he was expecting at least a few more days. 

Genju definitely did good work. He would make sure to sew in enough chainmail to keep her armored, while also light enough to not inhibit her movement. 

So, with one more item checked off his list of Shit to Get Done , Kakashi bid his student goodnight. 

Genju had managed to get them out the door right in time for the general market to close up and the much smaller, yet well trafficked, night market to wheel their carts into the pavilion of Hokage Park. Outside of the holidays, it was mostly used as a showcasing for the less popular or newer shinobi shops that sold anything from customized kunai to diamond encrusted nail polish. Kakashi had taken advantage of the night market to buy both in the past. The customized kunai for Sasuke and the diamond encrusted nail polish for the women—plus Itachi— in his life. The nail polish was specially crafted to become stronger than iron when infused with chakra. He’d gotten the pleasure of watching Yuugao rip a man’s throat out on several occasions. Kakashi suspected the only reason the shop qualified for the “less popular” part of the showcase was because of the frankly disgusting amount of money he’d spent to get some. He was tempted to use the term flushed down the toilet , but he knew that the shit had effectively been the only thing to stand between Yuugao and the Reaper at least twice, so he considered it worth it. 

However, tonight was not a night that he would visit the market. Nor was he able to make this week's jonin bar meetup, much to his chagrin. He sighed as he passed the street leading to The Rusty Kunai. He’d been looking forward to bemoaning the lack of goddamn warning about his kunoichi’s skills. 

Even with Mizuki being Mizuki , there should have been something. Someone should have noticed something was off. Iruka Umino, by all accounts, including Naruto’s, was a good teacher.

 Kind, patient, attentive.

He’d never really interacted much with Sakura’s home room teacher, but he’d never struck Kakashi as the neglectful type. Then again, Mizuki had volunteered right alongside Shisui in the soup kitchens in the poorer parts of town and had apparently been an avid participant in a book club right up until the day he’d tried to kill Kakashi’s pseudo baby brother. Clearly, looks can be deceiving among the Academy teachers.

Kakashi hummed irritably. Either way, he’d reserve judgment for after his visit.

Once again taking a moment to wish he was back in the bar surrounded by booze and friendly faces, he stepped through the Academy gates.

Chapter Text

“Come on, Sasuke! He’s practically an old man! His rusty knees will be his downfall!” 

Itachi threw an exasperated glance towards the sidelines. It was only for a moment, not wanting to take his eyes off his opponent. It was entirely courtesy, Sasuke knew, but he appreciated his brother making a point of it nonetheless. “Really, Shisui? If I were Anbu, I wouldn’t even be old enough to be captain yet. I’m not sixteen,” the man grouched, dodging a spinning kick aimed at his head.

“Ooh– is that pouting I hear? Whether or not you’re old enough, you wouldn’t be able to do it with the whole apprenticeship thing anyway.” Shisui tilted his head to the side a bit so the older of the brothers could see him over the younger’s shoulder as he threw a punch. He idly spun a kunai between his fingers and grinned. “That being said, your birthday’s not that long after Aunty’s, isn’t it? If you’re so bored with your cushy Kage heir job, I’m sure Grandpa Danzo would trip over himself to give you a team.”

Sasuke jumped back for a moment to catch his breath and smirked, “Be real, man. If Itachi quit on Tsunade, she would shit on the Hokage Monument before letting him be anything but a genin team leader.” 

The older man nearly choked on a laugh. “HA–Ha.. True!”

Itachi showed his approval of the visual by sending his little brother flying several meters with a roundhouse kick. Used to mid-spar banters going in this particular teasing direction, Sasuke managed to get his feet under him and slid to a stop on his feet instead of rolling to one. He grinned and threw himself back into the fray. His favorite spars were the ones that went on until someone was well and truly pinned, not any of that one good hit and your out bullshit from back in the Academy or three-way spars. 

Not that he’d know what sparring three-way was like. That fact really kind of sucked because it sounded like a lot of fun. 

Listen, Sasuke liked Sakura plenty. She could hold a conversation, for the most part, and was really smart. Hell, her advice was way better than Kakashi’s most of the time! Like with tree-walking, he figured that shit out immediately after her explanation and it helped Naruto visualize what was supposed to happen a lot better too, so he got it only a day later despite his crazy chakra. Plus, thanks to her, Sasuke is so, so close to water-walking and that’s definitely a lot harder. Sakura’s chakra control was absolutely crazy good. No doubt. The rest of her skill set however…

Well, most of it left much to be desired. 

They’ve been a team for a little over four weeks now and not once has Sakura Haruno been permitted to spar with them. She’s gotten private lessons with both Kakashi and Might Gai, new shinobi gear, and he’s personally watched her imbed her knuckles into a wooden training post with one punch. All of this, but Kakashi still doesn’t deem her ready to spar with him or Naruto?

Well, maybe with Naruto he could understand. That ruse they pulled during the bell test? After mastering Kage Bunshin, Naruto, in his excitement, had almost pulled the same stunt, except real, during a spar against Sasuke. Probably why he’d fallen for the trick in the first place. So, yeah. Not that far off the mark for the jonin to not trust Naruto with their more breakable teammate. The guy really has no sense of restraint. 

Sasuke, however, in his own humble opinion, knows how to take it easy. A brutal ax kick caught roughly on his brother’s arms, crossed above his head. Itachi’s wristwatch shattered under his heel. Sasuke knows restraint. 

Itachi shot him an irritated glance. “Really, Sasuke? That was a gift.”

 Sasuke probably knows restraint. 

Maybe.

“Dude, what the fuck. That was Uchiha forged steel. This is a spar, you’re not fighting for your life, goddamn,” Shisui reproached from the sidelines. “That cost me hella ryo, too.”

In theory.

Sasuke huffed and went back to trying to gut punch his beloved big brother. 

Whatever.

He just hoped the kunoichi would hurry up and get to whatever level their sensei deems acceptable already. They’ve been a team for almost a month now, C-Ranks are just around the corner. Sasuke would prefer to have someone who's fighting style he knows, and they know his when they inevitably face hostiles. Not to mention someone he can trust to take care of themself, however low level the enemy may be.

Well, here's to hoping, he thought, just barely missing Itachi’s jaw with a jarring kick.

——————————

Sweat poured down Naruto’s face, which was scrunched horribly in concentration.

“The difference between how you’re using your chakra versus how it’s supposed to be used is about as subtle a difference as a battle ax to carving knife,” Kurenai noted with amusement. 

The jinchuuriki huffed out a dramatic breath. “Ah, gimme a break, Kurenai sensei! Not everyone can be illusion freaks like you and Uncle Fugaku,” he moaned, leaning back on his hands from where he sat cross legged on the ground. 

“Shisui too, you know. And Kakashi’s friend, Raidou. And Aoba, and Ensui...”

“I don’t even know who those last two guys are!”

“My point is,” Kurenai began, turning to address the rest of her friend’s team, “Genjutsu is a very specialized skill. Some have what it takes, some don’t, and that’s fine. Those who do are always valuable allies to have or be. There is little many shinobi fear more than the reality they perceive being turned against them.”

The one giving Kakashi the most trouble, Sakura, peered up at her admiringly. Her old sensei -turned-master’s son, Sasuke, stared determinedly into the middle distance, likely reframing and redrawing his own genjutsu’s image in his head before taking his own turn.

Kurenai continued on, “This fact is why the majority of the higher ranked shinobi in the bingo book are either masters, or at least adept at genjutsu. Even if a shinobi’s skill set mostly ranks within middle-B tier, if they are a master at genjutsu, it’s likely they will rank high A, or in some cases even low S. So even if you think you’re just simply not built for genjutsu–” she gave Naruto a meaningful glance, “I highly recommend practicing minor techniques. Even something as simple as a quick trick-of-the-eye or sleight-of-hand illusion will be far more beneficial than you think. Remember, the subtler the genjutsu, the less likely you are to get caught.”

Sasuke completed the genjutsu she instructed with relative ease. Not unexpected, but she doubted he’d follow in Wicked Eye Fugaku’s footsteps. While genjutsu wasn’t particularly difficult for him, he lacked the effortless perfection on the simple technique that she’d seen Shisui and Itachi, herself even, complete it with. Average, for most Uchiha, even those without a sharingan, due to the advanced sight all of the bloodline are born with. The boy would likely strive for passability before growing bored of it. Kurenai had already wagered against her fellow jonin, betting he’d pick up his mother’s skill with swordsmanship sometime in the somewhat near future.

Come Sakura’s turn, Kurenai was immediately intrigued. Kakashi’s account of the girl shattering his two layer Hell Viewing technique had her eager to see what the girl was capable of. Generally, the small niche circle of genjutsu specialists looked at that sort of.. pre-made illusion with an air of superior disdain. Proper genjutsu were crafted by their casters. The pre-made kind, while convenient in a pinch, were sloppy, easy to break. Of course, said breakable nature could be subverted by layering the same jutsu on top of the original. Most rookie genjutsu users didn’t bother, as it was difficult to get the placing right, but for someone with chakra control as adept as Kakashi’s it would’ve been easy work. Twice the work for a victim who’d likely never encountered the grotesque nature of the genjutsu. For a genin, it should’ve been hard. Hell, it would’ve taken a prepared chunin a second to work it out. According to Kakashi, Sakura had dispelled the genjutsu with one pulse of chakra. 

If she wasn’t genjutsu inclined, Kurenai would eat her shuriken. 

The kunoichi was almost disappointed that Kakashi had already had his talk with the Academy teacher when the girl’s patch of dandelions, the illusion Kurenai had instructed the group to conjure, appeared as if they’d been growing there for weeks. The jonin’s lecture on casting genjutsu consisted mostly on the basics ocular genjutsu, as visual irregularities are usually the first thing most look for when encountered with a genjutsu, but she’d touched lightly on olfactory genjutsu as well. And damn, the kid did it, Kurenai thought, impressed as the sweet scent of the flowers reached her nose.

“Well done, Sakura! Nice touch,” she mentioned, tapping the side of her nose. The girl blushed. “One thing on that though. Remember to take into account the direction and force of the wind when applying scent to your illusion. I am currently upwind to you, so the scent would be much fainter.” Immediately, the admittedly nitpicky mistake, mostly mentioned to see if the girl could fix the tiny issue without unraveling her whole illusion, was corrected. Kurenai bet that anyone who came across them at this moment wouldn’t be any the wiser, lest they step on the thing and hear no sound. She doubted some shinobi would notice, even then.

Kurenai gave the girl another impressed smile and directed the group to spread out across Team 8’s clearing to practice more on their own, perhaps curb any mistakes due to stage fright. For the next several minutes Kurenai directed Naruto, summoning paper and pencil from a sealing scroll to assist in a more visual demonstration of technique. 

After several minutes, she left Naruto with all the instruction she was capable of giving, short of possessing the boy and manipulating his chakra herself. “Here,” she’d said, taking the genin’s hand and pointing out a small scar, “try to make that scar look no different than the rest of your skin.” Kurenai didn’t begrudge him for his failures. Like she’d told them earlier, with genjutsu you either have the talent, or you don’t. She moved to check on the other genin.

Sasuke was doing marginally better after practicing alone for almost thirty minutes. His dandelions even managed to flow slightly in the breeze. A little off tempo compared to the rest of the flora around them, but she only knew because it was something she was looking for. She congratulated him and moved on. 

Kurenai was the only one of her fellow genin instructors to actually do her homework on the wannabe genin when she was informed that she was going to be assigned as a sensei. Kakashi had arrived too late, of course , and then was too busy dealing with the aftermath of Mizuki and Asuma had spent his days in firm denial, then in a catatonic woe-is-me mood after being assigned his legacy kids. In her opinion, it was entirely hilarious and the idiots deserved the trouble they were given. Karma is bitch, and those two are the bitchiest. It’s fitting really. Her kids, even Kiba, were complete angels in comparison.  

Anyway, because of the research she had done, Kurenai knew the most about Sakura and her skills, aside from Kakashi. She had gotten that itch that something wasn’t right about her file even before she’d remembered Mizuki’s involvement. Average genjutsu ability , it had said.

What bullshit.

Walking towards Sakura from downwind, a strong breeze blowing in her face, she smelled the flowers before she could see them. From here, Kurenai could only guess that either she’d added a few different types to the mix or she’d messed up the olfactory part of the equation. The jonin was willing to bet on the former. She was right, of course.

“Quite impressive, Sakura.”

The girl jumped a little, too focused on her illusion to notice her approach. The illusion flickered and disappeared. Shyness forgotten for a moment, she glared a little where the flowers once stood. Kurenai chuckled quietly at the display.

“There’s a way to make it stick without your complete focus, you know,” she said conversationally, like she wasn’t proposing a chunin level genjustu technique.

The irritation wiped off the genin’s face as she whipped around to stare expectantly at her. “Really? How?” The pink haired girl cupped her chin in thought. “You’d probably have to have some form of contact with it to keep it active though, wouldn’t you? Unless you had a seal, but that kinda defeats the purpose of today’s lesson though, right? So….” Sakura paused and Kurenai decided to keep her silence as well, curious as to where her thought process was taking her considering she’s on the right track, so far. “What, do you– maybe sorta… blanket , I guess, the illusion? Either leave enough that it’d take a minute to dissipate, or stay connected to it with a chakra string, I’d guess.” Kurenai took a breath to speak, but Sakura’s eyes widened comically in realization. “No! You couldn’t just leave a bunch of chakra there, because too much chakra layered on an illusion makes it sloppy and fuzzy, right? So the chakra string theory, maybe?”

If Kurenai was a lesser kunoichi, she would’ve gaped at the clueless display of intelligence. As it was, she stared for a moment at the genin’s wide, curious eyes and replied, “Yes, that’s correct.” Sakura beamed and looked like she was celebrating internally for a moment. Kurenai took that moment to fucking breathe because this average genjutsu ability Academy graduate just pieced together a genjutsu technique unable to be accessed from the research library unless chunin level or with explicit in-person confirmation from a master that a genjutsu user is capable enough of using said technique. Deciding to clarify, the jonin continued, “While the term ‘blanket’ is accurate, I usually picture something like spider silk coating the metaphorical ‘hard edges’ of the illusion, like the stems and petals of each flower. It not only makes the ‘softer edges,’ like where the stems meet the ground, more seamless to our perception, but the hard edges are easier to connect the chakra threads to.”

Sakura hung on her words like scripture, before turning back to the empty grass in front of her. Within seconds, a picture perfect patch of wildflowers appeared before her, scent and all. Making use of her meager chakra sensing range, Kurenai stepped forward and observed. “Let the blanket.. leak , I guess, a little while you lower it to maintain the olfactory genjutsu… Very good. Now as long as your thread is connected and no one disrupts the chakra of the illusion itself, the genjutsu will remain.”

“What about the ambience? Will I have to push and pull like normal to keep it moving with the breeze?” she asked after a second of admiring her work.

Kurenai shook her head, smiling at the insightful question. “Good question, but no. The blanket and everything you let leak from it merges with the natural chakra in the area, so it will shift as everything else does. Now, only an incredibly talented genjutsu user or someone actively using their sensing ability would be able to notice the difference, short of actually stepping on it.”

The genin stared at her creation with a newfound respect, an odd expression on her face. Kurenai assumed she was having the realization that this was an incredible task she had accomplished and it was a shock to her system. Which gave her an opening to something else she had been meaning to discuss with the girl, upon Kakashi’s request. 

He was looking for an outside viewpoint, someone to find out why she wasn’t… not getting along , that wouldn’t be the right word. But– connecting with her teammates. They got along just fine, according to the man, they were friendly but not friends . Kakashi needed a neutral party to finagle it out of the girl. Fine by her, Kurenai is an infiltration expert after all. Getting into people's minds, figuratively, she’s not a Yamanaka, is her thing.

“You’re very good at this. It’s a good skill to have.” Kurenai took a seat next to Sakura and admired the flowers. She sighed and remembered back to own genin days. “I was the only member of my team to not have jonin parents, you know. Shoot, only one of my parents was a shinobi to begin with.” Sakura glanced through her bangs curiously. Hook . “My teammates were, and still are, incredibly talented shinobi even back then. Raidou was very young when he first got his place in the bingo book. He’s a talented genjutsu and kenjutsu master. Anbu.” The girl’s head turned more towards her, expression a little wobbly around the edges. Line . “Then, of course, there was Asuma. Ha, if you thought Raidou was impressive… He made and mastered his own incredibly powerful ninjutsu technique. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s a master of close-range combat with both the tanto and his trench knives. The son of the Third Hokage, was once a member of the Daimyo’s Twelve Guardian Ninja… I could go on.. I was practically a nobody compared to them.” 

“...How did you do it?” Sinker .

Kurenai dropped the, admittedly unsubtle, act.

“Those boys were already a unit without you, Sakura.” The girl flinched at the blunt statement. “Men manspread to fill a room with their egos. There is no room for you and there will be no room for you. You must find whatever thread that connects you to the expectations put upon you as a civilian born and cut it . You are a kunoichi. There is no place for you in a room full of shinobi– so you must make room, ” Kurenai hissed. “Whatever it takes. Bust a hole through the damn wall, if you must.”

——————————

Kakashi was hiding in a tree. 

This was, by far, the easiest thing he’d ever had to teach. Ah, tracking inclined students. Ones who only need practice and not instruction, as well! It was his lucky day. He almost felt bad for Kurenai. No way in hell is Naruto going to be doing anything substantial with genjutsu today.

He did feel a little bad about asking her to see if she could figure Sakura out, though. It felt like a failure, honestly. He should’ve been able to say do or say the right thing– but, then again, that’s never been his strong suit. Tsunade knew that and made him a sensei anyways. He really hoped she knew what she was doing because he sure as hell doesn’t.

That being said, in light of his conversation with Iruka, he was feeling more sure of what steps he’d need to take to get her on track. 

“Heya, Boss,” Bisuke greeted, untangling himself from his post inside a bush.

“He still in there this late?” Kakashi asked, crouching down to scratch the ninken’s chin.

The dog nodded. “I heard some of the other Academy teachers say he lost a bet and has to do all of their grading, so he’s been grinding it out since school let out.”

“Alright, thanks. Go home and get yourself an extra treat.”

“Now however would I do that when you got ‘em all locked up?” The dog blinked up at him innocently, puppy eyes in full effect.

Kakashi rolled his eyes. “I know for a fact that you’ve been picking the lock and sneaking them sometimes. And holding out on the rest of the pack as well,” Kakashi gasped mockingly. “For shame!” Bisuke grinned with all his pointy teeth and unsummoned himself back to Kakashi’s apartment.

Kakashi stood up and avoided the door and instead jumped to a third floor window, disabled the shoddy locking seal and slipped inside. Kakashi had never gotten the questionable pleasure of walking Naruto and Sasuke to school, and he was genin longer than he was actually walking the halls of the Academy on the regular, so he didn’t actually really know where he was going. He’d had his whole tutoring gig, honestly it was more like he was an unofficial ninja or something, with Minato sensei and he’d only really ever had to come to school to breeze through tests. He’d been climbing the walls with boredom until he finally turned twelve and was allowed to smash the genin test, putting him on a team with Obito and Rin under his long-time tutor. He’d stayed a genin for all of three months until the Chunin Exams rolled around and he’d blown through those, as well. 

Despite the unfamiliar layout, Kakashi ghosted through the halls with ease. Anbu Hound, even just plain old Jonin Hatake, had certainly faced greater navigational challenges than a school, of all things. 

He stood mere feet away from Iruka’s desk for a solid thirty seconds before the man happened to catch him out of the corner of his eye.

“OH– my… Gods, Hatake!” The chunin gasped. “What the hell is wrong with you?” Umino slumped back in his chair, hand clutched over his heart.

“Mah mah, Umino, I thought us genin instructors were encouraged to have a follow up meeting with our student’s teachers a few weeks after graduation?” Kakashi plastered on his best eye smile, which, perhaps coincidentally, also happened to be his fakest. “Naruto is your biggest fan. I’d’ve thought you’d be looking forward to hearing about his progress.”

The mildly irate expression slipped immediately into something softer. “Oh.. well. I suppose–”

“Great,” Kakashi exclaimed, bulldozing over whatever the younger man was going to say, “Naruto’s just gotten tree-walking, water-walking has been giving him some trouble. Same for Sasuke. Sakura, now, she's something else…” Kakashi shook his head, purposefully letting no inflection leak into his tone. The statement was neutral. Which way Umino took it would be very telling, indeed. 

Oh boy, was he right. 

Umino sighed with a somewhat defeated expression. “It’s a pity, isn’t it? She’s so bright. You’d think she’d put a little more effort into her training.” Kakashi hummed vaguely and Iruka took that as a cue to continue. “And the attention seeking–” this garnered a raised brow. “That poor girl hardly had any friends. That’s probably why she’d blame her classmates for her own shortcomings. Anything from falling off the agility wall to incomplete homework. I’d normally excused all of these, of course, they’re kids, it’s expected. But shifting the blame to her peers, and so often too, was unacceptable. Luckily, I managed to curb at least one of her bad habits with detention.”

Kakashi actually couldn’t believe what he was hearing. 

The chunin rolled his eyes in a what can you do? gesture. “I can’t say I’m completely without blame, though.” 

Oh you don’t say, Kakashi thought sarcastically.

“I always had my hands full with all the clan kids so I never had the time in the moment to nip the lying in the bud. Anyway, what about her diet , ha! Is she still insisting on being difficult? Her tutor always complained about that.” Kakashi had to unlock that little box in his brain labeled Hound to keep himself in check.

“Oh nah,” Kakashi denied with a saccharine smile. “She was quick to drop it after news got out about Mizuki.” 

Iruka's expression flickered before shuttering with resignation. “You heard then?”

“Kurenai thought to mention it. Though, I must say I’m curious why you didn’t.” It wasn’t a question, but the unmistakable order for an answer was heard nonetheless.

“I didn’t think it was important,” he sighed. Kakashi raised an eyebrow, incredulous, and the younger man shifted uncomfortably. “Traitor or not, he was always a good teacher. Meticulous. He cared about his students.”

“Right up until he tried to kill one.” Iruka winced, but Kakashi plowed on, “ Meticulous , you said? Oh, yeah. He’s meticulous all right. So meticulous that not one teacher had the individuality to think hey, maybe I should correct this kid’s form . Meticulous enough, even, to teach said student her kata all the slightest bit incorrect.” Kakashi leaned casually back against a desk behind him. “But he’s meticulous, right? No need to pay attention to the kid whose parents won’t benefit your career when you’ve got Meticulous Mentor Mizuki.”

Offense spread a comical red across his face. “Alright, I get it. I should have checked in on Sakura more.” For a second, Kakashi almost believed him. He well and truly got it . Naturally, he was disabused of this belief promptly. “But, listen here. You have no right to go around all judgy when you’ve never taught a class of eight children of clan leaders. Hell, six of those kids are heirs! Whether or not you choose to believe it, they were more important than their classmates.”

“Perhaps, to you, yes. But the parents of the others you’ve taught throughout the years may disagree when they have to bury an empty casket.”

Umino paled drastically. A moment later his skin flushed red with rage. Gods, this guys needs to leave his fuckin’ desk behind for a damn minute and train . Kakashi’s seen Genin Corps desk nin with more self-control. “You have.. NO–” Kakashi was tired of this conversation.

“No this is when you zip-it – alright? Your superior officer,” Kakashi pushed off the desk he’d claimed and strode forward, standing at his full height, “Is. Talking.” Umino froze, his high and mighty attitude reluctantly falling as he remembered that he was not , in fact, wearing the metaphorical pants in this conversation. “At attention,” Kakashi ordered, shoving the man’s desk aside. Stacks of papers fell haphazardly across the floor as the desk banged against the wall. Umino’s parade rest was clumsy and out of practice. Kakashi made his disdain very visible on his face. 

He cleared his throat dramatically and began to pace leisurely in front of him, summoning a packet of papers from a scroll. He’d come prepared for this one.

For the next ten minutes, Kakashi delivered an astounding array of facts and statistics relating to how easy and how many ways Iruka could have sussed out Mizuki, all of which involved him giving the slightest of damns about his less genetically inclined students. For the next twenty, he’d gone on to how many civilian born students had failed out of the Academy, and the percentage of them that had Mizuki as a tutor. Hint, prior to Mizuki the pass rate of civi’s was 60%, after he’d been employed at the Academy, it had dropped to 0.06%. In five years, an average of fifteen civilian born students should graduate from the academy. In the last five years, there has only been one. To ensure the coffin of Umino’s holier than thou attitude was nailed the fuck down, Kakashi went on to read the grievous injury reports due to preventable mistakes of several of his previous students. All of whom happened to be without a clan, only second or third generation ninjas.

By the time Kakashi finished, Umino was pale and shaking, staring horrified into the middle distance. 

Now, Kakashi was sure, he fucking got it.

Sakura’s insecurities with figures of authority made all the more sense now. Gods, punishing her for speaking out against bullies? The jonin wished he’d given in to his more feral urges and fed him to his fucking dogs.

Anyway, Kakashi could hear the baying of the Inuzuka’s ninken growing nearer. Pup’ll need to break that habit, real quick. A long day of chasing him around the village will do! Maybe somewhere along the way the kids will figure out how to predict the pattern he’s sticking to.

——————————

Sasuke was pleasantly surprised when Kakashi failed to summon a shadow clone to observe Sakura that morning. Was she finally up to standard?

His curiosity would soon be sated, it seemed. Kakashi indicated for the genin to stand several meters apart, facing each other.

“Alright,” Kakashi stated, clapping his hands together, “Three-way, taijutsu only. Academy rules. If I say you’re out, you’re out . Don’t make me have to drag you out myself. On my mark.”

Having never got the chance to actually witness her sparring capabilities, Sasuke was excited to finally get the chance to see what she could do. The most he knew is that she could punch hard enough to brand her knuckles into a post and that she trained and sparred on the regular with the Leaf’s foremost taijutsu master and his apprentice, a fact that he wasn’t too proud to admit he was a little jealous of. Might Gai was a master of more than fifty complete taijutsu forms and could use over a hundred, any shinobi who has any sense would want to train with him.

That being said, Sasuke managed to temper his curiosity for a bit after Kakashi called start. Might Gai, or no Might Gai, Sakura had never been good at taijutsu before and Naruto was undoubtedly his biggest threat. He’d test Sakura’s mettle after he put Naruto out. 

It shouldn’t be that hard. Naruto’s hand-to-hand style was mostly brawling; effective in the long term, but unlikely to win a fight quickly. 

Across from him, Naruto met his eye. Clearly, their thought processes weren't too dissimilar. 

Sasuke settled in the Uchiha’s signature taijutsu form of Leaping Paw; crouched, weight centered, arms raised, and fists open and loose at shoulder height. Naruto didn’t take the time to do so himself. He dived forward, running low to the ground. His brother’s style was based largely on his what the fuck factor. His kicks and punches weren’t overly powerful, most of the time, but damn he was so unpredictable that there were a helluva lot of them. It was annoyingly effective. Especially when his brother’s opponents weren’t familiar with him.

Luckily, Sasuke was, and he managed to leap straight over Naruto’s head. Sasuke twisted in the air, grabbing his collar for leverage and aiming a kick towards his torso. Naruto caught the kick and landed two punches on his chest and shoulder. As the blond leaned forward in his space, he brought his elbow down on his head and aimed another kick with his opposite leg as soon as the first touched the ground. 

It felt like business as usual, honestly. Sakura had stuck to the sidelines, shifting and uncertain where to insert herself. It felt like she was more of an audience than an active participant. This was probably why it was so easy to slip back into the habitual punches and dodges and flying kicks that made up his and Naruto’s usual spars. Fighting and wrestling until one of them is pinned in the dirt. 

Naruto used a punch caught in Sasuke’s hands to slide right between his brother’s legs and land a kick on his ass, cackling all the while. 

Oh, game fucking on. 

Fists were exchanged for several more minutes when Sasuke caught the barest flash of pink over Naruto’s shoulder as he delivered a brutal spin kick to the blond’s gut. Sasuke prepared himself retaliation.The boy could definitely recover from that, it hadn’t landed as well as Sasuke would have preferred, but–

He just.. didn’t. 

His feet were almost under him again, but then they just weren’t and he was falling ass over teakettle onto his back. Odd, but whatever, he’d make fun of him for it later. Sasuke shifted forward, preparing another ax kick to rough him up a bit before pinning him–

“Naruto, you’re out!” 

Huh?

He hadn’t even kicked him that– oh right, Academy rules, boo.

Sasuke shifted his focus to his other teammate and– she was a lot fucking closer than he realized . Mid attack, even. He brought his hands up to block.

And apparently didn’t manage to in time because one moment, he was staring the pink haired kunoichi in the face and now…

He’s flat on his back looking up at the sky with spotty vision. How did that happe–? All at once, the odd numbness in his face erupted . Pain so acute he could feel it in his teeth. Eyes watered reflexively, crossed. Starbursts clouded his vision, blinding. His eyes clenched shut reflexively. 

Sasuke groaned around the pain, trying to block out the overload of voices, panicky and calm. Finding it in himself to be mildly annoyed as their volume jackhammered his skull, Sasuke squinted and blinked with whatever motion he had left in his already swollen eyes. He wrenched them shut again as the white-out of bright light burned his retinas. As he waited a few moments for the throb to subside slightly, he registered a hand on his shoulder and quickly forgot about it as blood tried to make its way into his mouth. He reached up to wipe blindly at it but his hand got batted away and the voices reached an all time crescendo. 

He didn’t register being shifted to a sitting position until his brain decided to do a pirouette in his skull, causing him to list sideways dizzily. The hands caught and braced him against something. Thank you, hands, he thought drunkenly. He squinted his eyes open again.

This time, Sasuke was able to blink away the brightness before trying to block out the steadily rising pain and see what the fuck is actually going on. His eyes failed to settle on figures for the moment, choosing to focus instead on green, green, green . Lots of green. Makes sense. Lots of things are green. But this– no no, this is very pretty green. Like.. like, moss and tomato leaves. And lighter greens too! Ferns and flowers and shades of turquoise. A smattering of almost gold flecked lightly here and there…

Sasuke’s teary eyes forced him to blink again. He did so quickly, wanting to catch another glimpse of the beautiful greens and– 

Oh.

Those were eyes . 

Ironic, his first thought began, bleeding and punchdrunk, that the first thing I see when I open my fucked up eyes are ones so pretty. 

His second thought, after another blink, he spoke aloud, “Why can I see everything?”

And with another wave of brain melting pain… there was black.

——————————

Sakura could pinpoint the exact moment both of her teammates chose to ignore her in favor of sparring with each other. She knew– she knew – that those two focusing on each other was better for her chances. It was the way their bodies turned, putting her in their blind spot without a second thought. Like they thought they knew she wouldn’t dare put herself in harm's way. 

Like they thought they were trying to do her a courtesy or something, making it easier for her by turning it into a more straightforward one vs. one.

Sakura didn’t want easier. Sakura didn’t need easier. She’s been doing damn fine living life on hard mode for years . Whether or not they meant it the way it was being received, there was the undeniable fact Naruto and Sasuke were trying to make things easier for her. Outside of training and missions, she appreciated it immensely. But now ? Right now, in her first ever spar against her genin teammates, it was just pissing her off . She’s far enough behind, already! Let alone any dumb, misplaced kindness for an opponent . Sakura was willing to bet that Mizuki thought he was doing the world a kindness as well.

Now, with a self-righteous rage and a skeleton of an idea, she… shifted awkwardly on the outskirts of the boy’s fight. How does one go about inserting themself into a fight? Sakura wondered if there was a book on that at the library.

She glanced sheepishly towards her sensei. Kakashi raised his brow amusedly and nodded towards the fight. Well? Go on, then , the gesture seemed to say. 

Okay, well now she’s just embarrassed.

… Gai sensei had mentioned there was no such thing as a dirty trick, right? Alright then. 

Gai had pointed out to her that she tended to lean towards setting heavy in her stance during a fight. She had to, with Lee at least. There was no such luck in outrunning the older genin, ever . Plus, it was just… it– felt right. Or something. She didn’t know how to describe it. Either way, Gai had started teaching her the Strong Fist taijutsu style. It was particularly invigorating when she’d managed to plant her feet to the ground and block Lee’s kick for the first time. He was going easy on her, of course, to an almost comedic degree, but both green clad shinobi screamed of youth and pride and she couldn’t do anything but join them in their celebrations. 

The point being, Sakura was hard to knock over now. And, if she managed to wander a little too close to the edges of the fight… If Sasuke had just sent Naruto stumbling backwards… If her leg just so happened to sweep out at just the right moment… And maybe Sasuke had gotten a little too lost in the fight…

Naruto out of the equation, and Sasuke, distracted. 

There is no place for you in a room full of shinobi.

Her form was perfect, her chakra begged to obey her whim. 

So you must make room. 

Her technique, her execution– it was flawless. It was the first time she had ever landed a hit so solid! And against Sasuke Uchiha, no less! 

Bust a hole through the damn wall, if you must.

The only issue was that Sasuke snapped back into focus much sooner than she’d planned for.

——————————

“I’m SO sorry!” 

Fugaku attempted to wave the girl off. It was spar, these things happen. Getting so torn up about it every time something like this happened would just get tedious. Fugaku tried to say as much, but the girl had caught sight of Mikoto leaving Sasuke’s hospital room and her profuse apologies began anew. 

Mikoto glanced at her husband questioningly, you didn’t tell her?

“I was aiming for his jaw, I swear! I would never aim for an area as delicate as his orbital sockets in a spar, I promise! Especially not an Uchiha!” The young kunoichi paled dramatically. “Oh gods, my punch registered as a traumatic enough event that it activated his sharingan. Oh gods , what if I had blinded him ?” 

Fugaku rubbed her shoulder in comfort. “Now, now. No need to cry over spilled milk and ‘ What If? ’s. These things happen plenty often.” He glanced over the girl’s head to his wife. I’m not touching that with a ten foot pole.

If she keeps crying, you have to. 

The Chief of Police grimaced slightly. Oh, the inconveniences of clan lore colliding with the outside world. Fugaku was tempted to light a candle for the poor bastard who gave him his sharingan when they’d attempted to stab him as a genin. At least he’d never had to deal with the misplaced guilt of well meaning allies. 

The stars seemed to favor Fugaku today, as Kakashi managed to distract her from her tears long enough to get her bloody knuckles healed. His love snickered at his sigh of relief as the tears were replaced with rapid fire questions on the nature of healing chakra.

Chapter Text

An underwater cave has many perks, as far as a revolutionary headquarters go.

That being said, the salty ocean water was fucking freezing this deep down. Deep enough, in fact, that the only way he knew where he was going was because of the sheer amount of times he’s taken the dive.

Well, perhaps it might be a bit of a stretch to say he knows where he’s going, but he knows enough of the general direction to get him in range of the Hoshigaki sharks guarding the perimeter. He felt more than saw a massive Great White lurk up next to him and he grabbed it’s dorsal fin, letting a small amount of the chakra he’d been cycling internally to keep himself from freezing to death slip into his palm. He waved the hand haphazardly, signaling to the sensor somewhere behind him that he’d found their ride.

The shark deposited them at one of the openings of the cave, seeming to nod solemnly at him in the dim light of the bioluminescent algae. Listen, Zabuza is a shinobi, born and raised. He knows how summons, especially clan summons– double especially clan summons who share physical traits with their shinobi– are smart as hell, right? Still, beady eyed sharks nodding at him is something that may never stop being weird as hell.

Zabuza pulls himself out of the water and grabs and lights one of the deposited torches at the entrance of the narrow opening while Haku joins him. Water evaporated from their skin and clothes and they were dry before even ducking and sliding through the entrance tunnel. Perks of having a descendant of an Uzumaki on their side, hm? Zabuza suppressed a shiver as the pair walked through several Uzumaki level barrier seals before the narrow and winding tunnel finally opened up to a makeshift camp.

A little blue Hoshigaki girl darted past him, giggling up at Haku.

This was the civilian sector. Where everyone who would be prosecuted for the crime of breathing had made their, hopefully temporary, home. Zabuza’s student smiled kindly and made a single hand sign, an icy flower appearing in his palm. Haku tucked it behind the girl’s ear and stood to follow the Swordsman.

They continued on.

The shinobi area was next. Much bigger than the last, plenty of workspace and room for sparring. Mangetsu Hozuki greeted him with a two-fingered salute as he fed Hiramekarei chakra. The sword was four feet and counting, already. Zabuza knew there wouldn’t be much left of whoever was dumb enough to pick a fight with his fellow Seven Swordsman in the battle to come.

Said battle was actually why he and Haku were out of Base Camp instead of prepping with the rest of their not-insignificant forces. At this point, the Mizukage had very few true followers left. He was off his fucking rocker and everyone and their mother knew it. So, with the enemy’s resources at an all time low, the time to strike was right around the corner. As the stealthiest of their forces, it had been decided among himself and his fellow co-leaders that he and Haku would do some last minute recon.

Zabuza had lived up to his moniker and slipped through the heavy mist like a wraith. No one had a chance of seeing him coming, not even by sensing his chakra– the Mizukage himself had ensured that. Nobody was sure of the exact reasons why, but it was Mei’s theory, as the resident Uzumaki descendant, that the fuinjutsu master who sealed the Sanbi had fucked something up. Zabuza hadn’t really been paying attention, but he was pretty sure the gist was something along the lines of ‘ leaking raw bijuu chakra .’ Apparently rawdogging that kind of chakra fucking melted his brain, or something along those lines. Or maybe it was the chakra coils in his brain that had melted? Zabuza wasn’t entirely sure, and he really didn’t care. Point was, shits fucked and they gotta take out the trash cause their gloomy little village was a steaming heap of it under Yagura Karatachi. Anyway, lucky for everyone but Shittykage, bijuu chakra had the convenient trait of practically immediately converting to natural chakra after disconnecting from its host. Double luckily, for Zabuza specifically, it was still potent enough that a sensor would get the migraine of the century trying to sneak a peek at little rebels way more inland than they had any business being.

Haku had also made easy work of his own half of the assignment, though perhaps in a way that nearly gave his sensei an ulcer. While Zabuza blanketed the island and noted the comings and goings of several high ranking shinobi in Yagura’s regime, Haku had donned his hunter-nin disguise and walked right into Kiri Tower like he owned the damn thing. Just like how Zabuza fucking taught him. He was torn between proud and pissed off. Of course, not a single person had looked at the boy like he was anywhere but exactly where he was supposed to be. 

This little deviation from the original not fucking suicidal recon plan turned out to be really fucking useful , though, which somehow pissed him off even more.

Haku had overheard Yagura’s guards advise he do something about the food shortage starving almost every-fucking-body, even a few people in the higher castes. Yagura didn’t take too kindly to the suggestion and killed several people occupying the room before stomping away. Thank god, Haku had a molecule of common enough sense to get the fuck out of there . Zabuza had caught him exiting the tower and almost lost it right there in the street, but the kid had simply used the common Kiri nin sign to follow the Mizukage to wherever he ended up going.

Now, he was letting the kid stew because, seriously, what the fuck. 

A warning for the impending heart attack after seeing his only student slip into the Tower, unable to follow, and feeling an absolutely gut wrenching blast of killing intent minutes later would’ve been nice.

Fuck, this was what Kisame meant when he said it was a bad idea to pick up guppies off the street, isn’t it?

They passed the makeshift sickbay and Zabuza cursed Yagura again. Very few of its occupants were there for injury as the Rebels had agreed to keep everything as lowkey as possible until the actual final battle. It's a strategy that has served Zabuza well over his career and it's serving the Rebels just fine now, as according to most intelligence the Loyalists barely spare them a thought. No, instead, the sickbay is reserved for the emaciated these days. There’s only so long a person can go without eating more than fish, and thanks to His Bitchiness that’s pretty much the only thing around. 

Barely around, at that. Zabuza’s fairly certain the only reason they’ve been able to catch any keep in their stores is because they have the Hoshigaki clan on their side. Small miracles.

As with most everything else wrong with their village, this can all be blamed on the Mizukage. It’s fucking crazy how fast his seal went to shit, because at the beginning of his reign, Zabuza can remember how normal the jinchuuriki used to be. It wasn’t until a few years later that the Bloody Mist was born. Some days he still feels the blood of his classmates under his fingernails. He hadn’t enjoyed what he’d done, but he did it for a reason, and his actions the day he was given his headband was why most of the Rebel forces were here in these damn caves today. 

Zabuza wasn’t sorry he’d done it, only that he’d had to.

The more recent of Yagura’s fuckups included the absolutely, astoundingly horrible decision to attempt to annex the country of Uzushio into Water Country. Obviously, as most things do when Uzumaki’s are involved, shit hit the fan quick and hard. The loss legitimately embarrassed him and he didn’t even consider himself a part of Yagura’s Mist, doubly so considering it happened after he defected. Kirigakure had the ocean gods’ tolerance— Uzushio had the ocean gods’ favor . It was like a baby shark trying to kill a whale. Yagura himself hadn’t even made it through the first layer of defensive seals before one of the Dragons bitchslapped him halfway back to his fancy Tower. 

So, as if the Ocean itself were punishing the country, fish were hard to come by. And if that wasn’t enough, Konoha immediately dissolved all trade, and obviously Uzushio wasn’t keen on throwing them a bone. To throw salt in the wound, Suna wouldn’t trade anything of too much value either even though they’d previously had a good deal trading for ocean based products for all their poisons.

The Rebels have been able to hold off this long by stealing from farms on the mainland to supplement their diets. It's still not enough, but if they don’t all die they’ll still have to repay everything they’ve taken if they successfully pull off the coup.

Zabuza was still pissed– and loathed to actually show that he gave a damn– but he clapped Haku on the shoulder and let his hand linger. “Go join your squad,” he ordered, voice carefully blank. The boy held his eye steadily, despite everything. He’d been hunted like a dog for the crime of being born and he still held so much hope. The Swordsman wished he was that brave. Instead of bravery, these days he continued on out of spite.

Zabuza wasn’t expecting the hug, but didn’t push the kid away either. There was a chance they wouldn’t see each other again.

The shinobi turned and didn’t look back. 

Zabuza continued on past the shinobi sector and flashed his chakra at the seal on the wall. It glowed and he strode into the high clearance area, turning right, left, right again, and into the war room. The silencing seals held strong right up until he passed through the doorway. Immediately, his headache grew worse.

“You can’t pay me shit to take up the hat, so don’t even try it ,” Utakata hissed, slamming his pipe on the table.

“Oh come on, take one for the team, asshole! You lead your squadron great. It stands to reason you’d lead a great village, too!” Mei huffed, gesticulating wildly. 

“You barely convinced me to join the rebellion in the first place. That’s not exactly screaming patriotism, you brazen heifer!” 

Kisame snorted water out his nose, coughing hard. Ao just covered his face as if he could hide from the stupidity.

“THE HELL DID YOU JUST CALL ME?! Bold of you to say that with your ugly hair and flat ass, you emo bubble junkie motherfucker !” 

The jinchuuriki looked haughtily down the end of his nose with a sneer. “I’ll take my flat ass over looking like an inbred water buffalo any day of the week.”

Zabuza’s friend turned a truly impressive shade of red and screeched with rage. He pinched his nose and shared a commiserating glance with Ao as the jonin attempted to prevent the murder of one of their greatest allies. 

Kisame pounded his chest, letting out a few more coughs before speaking up. “Everybody calm the fuck down! Utakata would be a bad choice for Mizukage. Nobody outside of our own forces are gonna trust another jinchuuriki in that position for a damn long while.” 

“ Exactly ,” the aforementioned man huffed, gesturing towards the shark summoner.

“The next logical choice would be you, then,” Mei stated, turning to face him.

“First of all, look me in the eyes and tell me you can see me in a damn office doing fucking paperwork all day. Second of all, don’t even bother wasting your time considering the possibility because kekkei genkai prejudice will take more than the death of a kage to get rid of in Water Country. There’ll be another coup before the month is out if you make me the Mizukage.”

Mei conceded the point, turning in place to face Zabuza instead. He merely raised an eyebrow. The kunoichi came to the conclusion that that would be a disaster without any further prompting. Zabuza was good at stabbing shit– not much else.

“Ao, then?”

“With his sticky fingers?” Kisame asked. “It was a miracle no one from Konoha found out about the eye he took back in the Third War. He definitely wouldn’t be so lucky if he came face to face with the Slug.”

Ao scowled at the burly Swordsman, but didn’t deny the plausible outcome.

Zabuza saw the realization and impending argument before it even crossed her lips. “We can decide on this later depending on how everything turns out.”

Privately, Zabuza agreed that Mei would be their best bet with or without any hangups the public had on kekkei genkai users. She had always been the best at commanding the attention and respect of a room. The only reason Utakata got away with pissing her off is because they were almost friends, as much as they liked to deny it.

The Lava Spitter pursed her lips, but moved on immediately. “Report?”

Zabuza didn’t let his face show that she was only reaffirming the thoughts of the room’s leaders by taking charge in such a subtle way, but he did catch Kisame’s smirk over her shoulder.

“The rain is heavy over Tower Island. Most civilians are inside, those that aren’t are few enough to be accounted for. Higher ranking Loyalists are mostly cooped up in the Tower or the jonin lounge. Yagura dismissed his guards and is training on the bay.”

The mood chilled considerably. 

Her shift was subtle, but undeniably there , and the men stood at attention in front of their unanimously elected leader.

“It's time.”

——————————

The rain was heavy. Visibility was low. 

No one paid any mind to the blanket of mist that rolled across the bay and into the streets, eventually encasing most of the island. It was called the Village Hidden in the Mist for a reason. It wasn’t out of place.

The rain masked sound and the mist made sight next to impossible. No one noticed the rogue jinchuuriki using his bubble ninjutsu to whisk stray civilians out of places that would soon become a battleground. No one heard their screams as they rose high in the air, staring wild eyed at the village below.

Yagura trained his body because he knew his mind was slipping away. He was being poisoned by his own friend, and his friend by him in return. His temper was a hair trigger and his judgment waned more with every passing day. Yagura was in pain. Isobu was in pain. He wanted to die.

Even then, when the waters turned shark infested around him, his body reacted. Yagura was nothing more than instinct, now. He was nothing more than an animal .

As animals are prone to do when cornered, bracketed by two Swordsmen and the Lava Spitter, he fought . 

His form shifted, poison chakra coating his body with red, three tails sprouting behind him. Isobu had claimed the sea as his home long ago– he was strongest here! 

Waves crashed around them and under Yagura went, calling the mighty Ocean, his old friend, to aid him. The Ocean did not. For Isobu was a friend, but the Hoshigaki were his . They did not make his kingdom their home like Isobu had– his kingdom was their home. Born of his own son, the Shark god. A clan-full of descendants. Demigods by blood.

As such, Yagura was no match for Kisame beneath the waves. His cloak and tails of chakra stripped away under Samehada’s fierce bite. 

Yagura found himself bracketed again between two great Swordsmen, hanging desperately to the tailed beast cloak shielding his neck from the Executioner’s Blade.

The great battle had swept away the blanket of artificial mist, leaving those left to float at Utakata’s mercy staring wide eyed with something akin to hope as the Lava Spitter’s hand enclosed around the tyrant kage’s throat.

As a jinchuuriki’s lungs melted through his chest, taking the skin and bone of his torso with it, a village was born anew.

The Bloody Mist disbanded with the last beat of the Yagura’s heart, leaving only Kirigakure in its place.

The tide rose to greet the victors—

—and the sun shone above the ever-gray clouds.

——————————

On another island, a king watched the ocean with horror from his palace.

“My Lord! Please, you must get inside,” a guard encouraged, jittery as she followed his gaze to the approaching typhoon. “The storm will be upon us soon.”

The king gaped at the blackened clouds and veritable wall of rain swallowing the outer islands in the distance. “How… what– what is this?” he whispered. “No storm even half this size has ever made it past the weather seals!”

“My Lord–”

“Go! Leave me and evacuate the Water-Side district immediately! Bring them to the palace!” His salt and pepper shoulder length hair whipped around as he strode quickly inside, shouting orders to another shinobi. “Send an announcement over the vocal projection system! Tell everyone to activate every weather and defensive system they have!” 

“Yes, my king!”

The man ran, then. Up the many staircases of his palace to the aviary.

Maybe, just maybe , if he sends word now, the other islands, at least, of Uzushio will have time to activate the supplementary storm shields to bolster their primaries. He looks again and knows it would be a futile endeavor, only succeeding in killing a messenger bird. No, there will be no time to send word to the other islands, but…

Quickly, he writes two letters, both addressed to dear friends. The first flies off towards the mainland immediately, the smart bird sensing his distress. The king prayed the bird would make it out of the storm’s path.

He attaches the second letter to the capsule on the other bird’s back and sends it on its way hardly a few seconds later.

“Go, my pet,” he whispers, red hair waving wildly in the wind, “Send word to the Dragons. We need the sacred emissaries now, more than ever.”

——————————

“Gotta say, I was bummed to hear you finally got around to putting that Academy guy in his place when I wasn’t around to enjoy the aftermath,” Genma grinned. Kakashi threw his head back and groaned.

It wasn’t a Tuesday, so it was only him and Genma around for drinks at the moment, but that suited him just fine. The bar, while generally nice for a shinobi establishment, was fucking rank with the stench of booze. Shinobi metabolize alcohol quicker than civilians, so most drinks in the place were hella strong and Kakashi’s poor nose could attest to that fact. As such, Team Ro had taken to camping out on Koharu Utatane’s balcony when they could swing it. As Genma’s adoptive grandmother, and poisons master, she didn’t mind as long as they kept it clean and weren’t too rowdy. 

“Get the details from Yuugao. I’m done thinking about his shit.”

“That bad?” Genma’s eyebrow raised and he took a swig of his drink.

Kakashi made a hand-wavy motion. “Not bad necessarily. He definitely got the message. It just pissed me off how convinced he was that there was nothing he could’ve done to give Sakura what she needed.” 

Genma hummed, smirking a little as Kakashi sat up in his seat and gestured a little with his beer bottle, preparing for a shittalking. It was always so funny to him how Kakashi would say he didn’t want to talk about something and then proceed to rant about it five seconds later. Then again, he was fairly certain this was a side of the man only he got to see. Anbu brother/Best friend/Former Second in Command privileges, he supposed. 

 “-- Which , mind you, she doesn’t exactly need much of. Really, the only thing she was behind in was taijutsu but Gai and his kid got her up to par real fucking quick considering she was able to sucker punch Sasuke hard enough to activate his sharingan the other day–”

Genma choked a little. “Wait, what ?!”

Kakashi nodded emphatically. “Oh, yeah. Right between the eyes.”

“I.. pft– HA!” He laughed bewilderedly. “I don’t even know what to say to that.”

Kakashi grunted and knocked his glass against Genma’s. “You and me both, brother.”

They say in comfortable silence for a moment before Genma asks, “So how’s Sasuke doing.”

Kakashi glances over— and immediately bursts into chuckles upon making eye contact.

“I can’t fuckin believe this shit man,” he laughs. “It’s like watching Shisui get his shit rocked by Hana all over again!” 

Genma laughs harder, attempting to say something several times but keeps interrupting himself with his own chuckles. “Like— like.. snrk… like we talking mooneyes?” His voice went high pitched at the end with restrained laughter. 

Now it was Kakashi’s turn to laugh louder. “Shisui’s been so bearable with his thing for Hana lately that I forgot what it’s like,” he gasped, trying to calm down.

He almost succeeded— but then Genma tipped sideways in tipsy amusement and sent half his drink down the front of his shirt and honestly what kind of friend would he be if he didn’t bust his balls for that?

Kakashi cackled shamelessly as Genma stumbled between inventive curses and trying to smack him across the head to get him to shut up.

BANG!

The men fell silent immediately, properly scolded for their volume without having seen or heard the voice of the owner of the balcony.

They made eye contact again and Kakashi had to clap a hand over his mouth to stifle his giggles. Gods, this is why he doesn’t drink with just Genma often. Put them in a group and they’re the responsible ones. Hound and his loyal Second, Lynx. 

Put them together on their own and they turn into a more ridiculous, teenage version Dumb and Dumber. 

Kakashi valiantly breathed through the amusement and cleared his throat.

“ Anyway— I should probably get going. The kiddos have got their first C-Rank tomorrow. Wish me luck.”

“Luck,” Genma stood and gave him a friendly fist bump. “How likely is it shit’ll hit the fan, do you think?”

Kakashi shrugged. “I don’t know too much, but I’m thinking not likely.

“The Rookie 9 are being dispatched to Uzushio.”

Chapter Text

“ Please , Watatsumi,” a young girl prayed, kneeling in the shallow water beneath the torii. “The tsunami damaged our primary storm defenses and the storm depleted our reserves greatly!” 

Yoko bowed her head lower, her red hair brushing the surface of the sacred water in the ocean god’s cove. Her mouth opened and closed as she desperately thought of a way to appeal to the Ocean. 

It was uppity, her idea. 

The Ocean gives, and the Ocean takes. This was taught to every child of Uzushio. In turn, the people give and take from the Ocean, as well. This balance has never before been broken. This way of life has kept the people of the Whirlpool Islands in Watatsumi’s favor for centuries. It was what demolished the great fleets from Lightning and Water before they ever reached the outer reefs, many years ago. It was what humiliated the Mizukage during the previous autumn storm season.

The people give respect and prayer to Watatsumi, and he in turn gives bountiful meals and the protection of those claimed by him. The Dragons, they are called. Humans, gifted with the power of Watatsumi’s domain.

What could have changed? 

As far as Yoko knew, nothing. The fishermen offered their thanks in the harvest festivals, Kirigakure was too busy fighting itself to infiltrate the islands to incur his wrath. And surely Yagura had learned his lesson when her master had taken to the battle with his dragon-brother by his side. Yoko hadn’t been privy to details of the battle, but according to her sister, the jinchuuriki may as well have grown wings with the way he’d been made to fly. 

“Please,” she tried again, the water around her glowing dimly as the Ocean listened to her prayer. “I know I haven’t proved myself yet. I don’t deserve to bond with one of your children— but! My home.. If these storms do not abate long enough for the seal masters to fix our defenses in time for typhoon season— so many lives will be lost! My people need me to be better , Great Ocean god, please help me help them !” The glowing water pulsed in time with her distress.

She wouldn’t have noticed her master’s presence, had the water not abruptly calmed as he stepped onto the surface. 

“Princess Yoko,” the old man sighed, pulling her to her feet. Despite kneeling in the water, her clothes were not damp as she rose.

“Shishou,” she mumbled, suddenly feeling childish as the glow dimmed and the water beneath the torii returned to normal. The comfort of the warm light washed cold as she felt her god retreat further back into his domain. The dark clouds above made the midday early summer feel more like a darkened winter evening. 

“What were you hoping to accomplish, child?” Her master, Tetsuno Uzumaki, claimed by the dragon-god of the reefs, asked gently. “Those blessed by Watatsumi may only earn the title of Dragon when chosen. That is not something that can be asked for.” 

Yoko’s chin wobbled as she fought back frustrated tears, but they fell anyway. Master Tetsuno used his thumb to wipe them away, smoothing across the red lines the Ocean tattooed across her cheeks and chin, matching her master’s very own. 

“What else could I possibly do?” She cried. “If I was claimed by the dragon-god of storms, Raijin could pass through and be here instead of stuck in the god realm. We could hold it all back long enough for the seal masters to finish the repairs and upgrades to make it through typhoon season! Maybe even blow the whole storm away so we don’t have to wait for it to pass in the first place!”

Yoko caught a glimpse of her master’s red draconic tattoos, etched upon claiming by Tetsuno’s dragon-brother, beneath his sleeve as he pushed her damp hair behind her ear. The princess wondered if the claiming ritual would hurt, should she ever get her chance to have it.

“What you can do is get some rest . You haven’t slept properly since before the tsunami that began this whole mess. After that— you may not have bonded with a dragon-god yet, but you are still blessed by Watatsumi. The seal masters are struggling to repair the underwater seals efficiently on the main island. You can ferry them beneath the waves,” Tetsuno smiled comfortingly to the young girl. They both flinched as thunder echoed through the sacred cove. Her master sighed and patted her head before walking further from the shore.

“What will you do?” Yoko asked as the dragon who claimed her master, Ryujin of the Reefs, surfaced. His mighty red mane contrasted with the soft teal of his scales, but his presence reassured her nonetheless.

Whatever was happening, Uzushio hasn’t lost the love of the dragon-gods, at least.

“The outer islands, to the east, are being hit the worst. After the fifth tsunami, the storm defenses have been running on fumes and the desperate patches of mostly untrained seal artists. Ryujin and I will try our best to break the waves before they shatter the inland secondary defenses until the masters are able to finish recharging the oceanfront primaries.” Master Tetsuno took his place, kneeling between Ryujin’s massive shoulders. “You are to rest until this wave of the storms passes. You are not to travel during.”

Yoko pouted, about to argue that she would be safe if she traveled beneath the waves, but she was interrupted.

“ No— the storms hitting our country are enough to challenge even the King of the Ocean. You will not distract him by foolishly placing yourself in the position of needing to be rescued,” he ordered sternly. Her shishou was hardly ever one to take such a tone, usually so carefree. 

I’m just a go with the flow kind of guy , he liked to joke. 

The fight drained out of her, and suddenly she was exhausted, several days of stress catching up with her. 

“Sleep, my apprentice,” he told her kindly. “Watatsumi’s temple is the safest place you could be at this time. Rest , so you can help later.”

Yoko nodded and watched as her master and Ryujin dove gracefully beneath the surface of the water. She was hit with a familiar pang of envy. The sacred bond between Dragon and dragon-god, a connection so jealousy hoarded. On an almost metaphysical level, a bond like none other in the world. Yoko ached for it. 

A princess first, and then blessed by Watatsumi, a sacred emissary to the dragon-gods of Uzushio. She has never exactly been prime friendship material.

Sighing, she pushed the feeling away and stepped onto the water’s surface. She was no ninja, and had not opened her chakra pathways for use, but the water carried her to the temple raised in the middle of the cove all the same.

——————————

Sakura stares at the organized chaos of supplies splayed out across her kitchen table and counters and chairs. An abundance of gleaming, sharpened kunai and shuriken spread across the granite countertops where they wouldn’t scratch the cheap wood of the dining table– this may be a relief work mission, but you can never be too careful. Ninja wire beside them, for some reason. She couldn’t remember ever buying any, or getting any in her first or second monthly supply of weapons from the armory. Maybe it had gotten mixed up with her stuff during their last training session? Kakashi sensei had decided that the best way to celebrate a successful Tora mission was to have the genin capture him . 

It wasn’t pretty– nor did it work. He’d grown wise to their manipulations from the Bell Test– capital letters intended and deserved for the minor heart attacks she’d suffered– and sought to destroy all loopholes. At one point her most beloved sensei had deliberately picked her up and threw her directly into the trap they’d painstakingly lured him towards. Sakura had ended up completely and thoroughly entangled in ninja wire, unable to escape without the boys’ help lest she cut herself on it– she must have forgotten to return it to Naruto. 

Sakura was going to continue to forget to return it to him. She’s on a budget, alright?!

Because of him, Sakura didn’t bother splurging for extra trapping equipment. The boy was an absolute hoarder when it came to even the most mundane. According to him, you never knew when a bottle cap or even an empty tube of toothpaste could be just the thing you need to pull off the perfect trap. Sakura couldn’t begrudge him this, not when it had saved them so many times with Tora, and also because of the specific junk scroll he kept to store all of these items to keep his pouches tidy. Naruto had a lot of scrolls. Apparently a bunch of pouches made him feel like he wasn’t as maneuverable as he could be and that just didn’t mesh well with his fighting style at all.

Speaking of scrolls, her own brand new sealing scrolls– plural! – were laid out neatly on the table. Sakura had been making due with the bare minimum stuffed into pouches on both legs, hips, and resting at her lower back, along with the many pockets hidden in her new shinobi clothes. Now, she estimated she’d only really need one at her hip and another on the opposite leg, and that would carry more than she’d previously been able to carry. Kakashi had all but thrown them at her after training one day and shunshined away before she could even think to protest the generosity. 

Alongside the scrolls lay an overabundance of medical supplies that had drained several days worth of food money. This was a calculated decision though! She ate with Lee for extra early morning training now that she was allowed to train with the boys after knocking Sasuke’s lights… on. Which was so incredibly mortifying and she’d apologized profusely almost daily since. Sasuke still silently insisted on paying for her lunch by thrusting his card forward before she could even think to do so herself, even after the Incident . When he’d seen her getting ready to try and beat him to it after he’d been cleared for duty, he had even gone so far as to cause a distraction and pay behind her back. 

He stubbornly refused to acknowledge it, and it wasn’t like she could without bringing attention to the fact that she was dirt poor and getting poorer.

The date is June 7th, and Team 7 had graduated at the end of April. She has been a kunoichi of Konohagakure for a little over a month. Bills are due at the end of each month, and Sakura’s parents, for three years now, have always sent money at the beginning of each month to cover food and bills. They must have known when she’d be old enough to legally earn money under the Hokage, because this month’s supply had not come in. 

Sakura desperately needed the paycheck from this mission.

Not for the first time, she thanked every god she’s never believed in for the Uchihas. Between Sasuke’s silent insistence and Mikoto’s open offer of food and a room to stay in, she’s been set as far as three healthy meals a day go. She still hasn’t spent another night at the Uchiha’s though. It was the best sleep of her life, don’t get her wrong, but Sakura literally could not afford to be in anyone’s debt, let alone the Head family of a founding clan. 

Especially not when the matriarch of said clan already disparaged her parents for leaving her alone for what Mikoto assumed was one night.

Maybe she could pick up some hours at the bakery at the end of the street?

In any case, the kunoichi now had an impressive medical supply covering nearly every inch of the rest of her table. 

After the Incident , Kakashi sensei had herded her away from Fugaku and Mikoto to have a mednin heal her bloody knuckles. The ponytailed man’s hands glowed green and she’d been utterly enamored with healing since. Just last night she had to forgo note-taking and binge-read to finish and return everything she’d checked out from the library on the topic before her first away mission.

Later, after her panic faded, she’d pondered why and how she bloodied her knuckles when her chakra-reinforced punch, minus the aim , was perfectly controlled. 

As far as she knew, that technique was supposed to protect her hands from her body’s full capabilities, bypassing the brain’s natural strength capping mechanism by nullifying the consequences. Does the technique actually just target bones and muscles instead? Maybe there’s a separate technique to protect the softer parts of her body— organs and the like? 

Skin is an organ…

That thought had made her pause, at the time, halfway through brushing her teeth. She had all but ran to the little notebook of questions she kept to ask whenever a convenient time arrived. 

A cheerful knock at the door startled her out of her inventory check. 

Sakura made use of her meager sensory range to feel who was at the door and had a brief moment of blinding panic that she was somehow late before the view out the window confirmed that it was very much still dark out, when she felt the staticky-ozone-weighted blanket feel of her sensei’s chakra.

The way her chakra mimicked the startled leap of her heart rate was completely embarrassing. 

… Maybe he wouldn’t pay attention to that part?

Which only made realize which other parts he could pay attention to. 

Like how she was a thirteen year old girl living, for all he knew, with her parents but said parents were nowhere in sight even though the light to the upstairs master bedroom can be clearly seen from the street– she’d left it on while the last of her laundry dried, she couldn’t dry it outside because her neighbors knew the Harunos were wealthy enough to afford a working drier . No family pictures in sight, either– she’d burned or hid most of them in a fit of teenage rebellion after one her parent’s failed guilt trips to convince her to join them through letters.

Something about the last month and a bit of training must have changed her because she didn’t immediately lose her head. 

Instead, she buckled down to lie through her teeth just like how every Academy level manipulation book recommended.

——————————

Kakashi marveled at the utter silence in Uzushio District, named for the village’s longest standing and most loyal ally. It was early enough that even the early rising shopkeepers would still be getting their last winks of sleep. 

Not this household though, it seemed. 

A two story house with a nice porch decorated with an array of flowers stood with both first story lights and a second story– presumably the master bedroom, good, the parents are home – light on. Gladiolus, arborvitae, belladonna, striped carnations, purple columbine– fuck, did he accidentally copy a plant book?

Kakashi blinked, and mentally named every plant native to the Land of Fire alphabetically. 

That’d be a yes, then. 

He blamed Obito for this. Fucking with him from beyond the grave– 

Whatever.

Kakashi knocked on the door and unabashedly tuned into his chakra sense. He couldn’t ‘see’ more than forty or so feet, but that was more than enough to tell his little civi-born was all alone. At four in the morning. On a Saturday . 

Kakashi had a gut feeling about what was going on here and his gut has rarely failed him. But no–

When he spent that time working with Fugaku after he was forced onto mental health leave from Anbu after Minato and Kushina’s death, he had learned several things about at-home justice. Both referring to the village and referring to households. 

Kakashi sincerely hoped Sakura’s parents didn’t partake in some of the particular at-home justice he’d seen during his time working as both a tracker and an officer in the police force.

Fugaku was like a third father, or the cool uncle who cared enough to step up, to him. He did not want to have to be arrested for the murder of several civilians by the man. Kakashi could cover his tracks better than all but maybe two or three shinobi in the village, but Fugaku worked closely with Inoichi as the leader of the Intelligence Division, with Ibiki as Head Interrogator, and was dubbed Wicked Eye for a reason . 

Gossipers liked to say that someone could think a confession and he’d see it.

Having worked a case of a medically retired anbu operative turned serial killer with the man, he wasn’t entirely inclined to disagree.

One of the biggest lessons to remember on the force is innocent until proven guilty . Now that he actually has a solid excuse to snoop around her home, he can find the evidence and deal with it . 

Kakashi was never really good at the whole ‘not deciding someone is guilty before there is actually sufficient evidence to prove them guilty’ part of the job. 

The lesson he liked better was the one that told him to listen to gut feelings. Right now, it was screaming at him to not brush off all the little oddities about his student, even the ones that could very well be attributed to Mizuki’s teachings.

After several seconds, the door opened rather abruptly. Sakura grinned up at him with a megawatt smile. Eyes scrunched at the corners, grin a little crooked– textbook fake smile. It was a good one though, purposefully off just enough that most would assume it's real. Most jonin would assume it was real, even. 

Unfortunately for her, Kakashi was the king of fake smiles, even if he did enjoy letting most of his be so sardonically obvious.

He’d let it lie for now. Evidence, evidence, evidence.

“Good morning, Kakashi sensei! Did the meeting time get moved up?” 

He pasted on a smile to match hers and replied, “No, no, just doing my due diligence as your sensei. Thought I’d double check that you’d packed all the right things.”

To Sakura’s credit, if he hadn’t been looking for it he wouldn’t have noticed the split second of hesitation before she opened the door wider and ushered him inside, making herself busy by chattering away and offering tea— he declined.

The baby kunoichi shuffled past in a hurry anyway— moving up the pace of the conversation in an attempt to distract him from his original goal and prevent him noticing anything out of the ordinary . The tactic was a solid one, as was the execution. 

Clearly, she had practice with this particular song and dance.

Evidence .

Kakashi glanced around the living space as he moved past it. No family portraits in sight. Sakura rattled off how many kunai and shuriken she had and the exact process of the weapon’s maintenance she did the night before. She didn’t look him in the eye.

Evidence .

The jonin’s eye slipped to the shelf on his left. Spotlessly clean— right up until the shelves go above a thirteen year old girl’s eye level. He ran his finger through the layer of dust. Several months worth of build up, at least. Kakashi would bet on longer, but Detective Hatake wasn’t allowed to until he interrogated the suspects.

Evidence . 

Kakashi strolled further into the kitchen and took in everything laid out across almost every flat surface. Good quality weapons, ration bars, basic trapping gear, plenty of medical supplies, several changes of clothes, including the new stormy weather resistant ones he’d commissioned behind her back… 

The Hatake breathed deeply through his nose. Weapons polish, ink, paper.

“That’s quite a few medical supplies. Are you thinking about becoming a medic?”

Water damage, rust, and a few weeks old paint. She must have painted over the stain from the leak.

Sakura flushed a little and wrung her hands. This wouldn’t be off putting a month ago, but now ? After Sakura’s gained enough confidence to not shy away from most questions on her motives?

The subtle off-ness that comes with shinobi scentless shampoo and soap , strongest of all. A few other common household scents— and not even a whiff of anyone else living here.

Evidence . Evidence.

“Well.. I guess I just got a little fixated on it after the…. Incident. ” Kakashi held back a snort. “I’ve read a lot about it in the past few days, but I don’t know about doing it full time..”

She scuffed her foot against the floor a little nervously.

Kakashi tilted his head and studied her closely. “If you don’t want to be a mednin in the hospital, but you enjoy healing we can work something out. Not all medics stay in-village.”

With that new little tidbit of information, Sakura’s nervousness, and her act, seemed to disappear within seconds. Her eyes sparked and she asked, “Really? I thought medics weren’t allowed on the frontlines?” 

Kakashi hummed an affirmative. “It’s pretty rare, but sometimes we find a medic skilled enough in multitasking that they can become something called a field medic.”

Sakura still seemed interested, but part of that spark dimmed. She didn’t think could be up to it, but still thirsted for knowledge, Kakashi estimated.

He tacked on, “I think you’d be well suited for it, if you’re interested. I’ll get you a pamphlet to look over before we head out. Think it over, and if you decide you’re interested I’ll see about getting you a mentor when we get back.”

The genin sent him a startled look and stared at him. She looked like she couldn’t believe what just came out of his mouth. Her own mouth opened and closed a few times, unable to find words.

“In the meantime, I do have a few questions,” Kakashi continued, taking a nosedive into dangerous territory. He tapped his nose. “You said a while back that your parents weren’t home and Mikoto insisted you stay the night at the Uchiha’s. We all assumed they’d only been gone the night, but that isn’t quite true, is it.” 

It was phrased as a question, but it was clear that it wasn’t one.

Sakura seemed to notice the moment she was sussed out, and decided it was better to drop whatever was left of the metaphorical mask she was hanging on to.

“No, but it’s really not as bad as you think sensei! They used to send money for bills and food before I graduated and now I have my own income! I even get three big meals a day and everything now!”

Even as he stayed laser focused on his student’s every word, ready to build a case and end the Harunos’ careers, somewhere in the back of his mind Kakashi wondered if he would have been in a similar situation had Minato sensei not taken him in.

“You have three big meals a day because you eat breakfast with Lee, lunch with the team, and dinner with the Uchiha’s.” Sakura cringed a little, realizing he had just totally disproved her supposed independence. “ They used to send money for bills and food ’ before about a month ago. How long have you been alone, Sakura?” He asked gently, hunching over a little so he wasn’t looming over her.

She bit her lip, tempted to lie, but there was no point. The damage was already done and there was nothing to be gained from it. 

“… Three years,” she mumbled. 

Holy shit.

Holy fucking shit .

Kakashi had known something was very wrong with his little kunoichi’s home life, but he’d had no idea it was this bad. 

How much of Sakura’s previous bad diet could be attributed to Mizuki, and how much was that she didn’t have enough money to pay for food in the first place? How many meals has she been forced to skip? How many little injuries has she gotten because she hasn’t had enough money for proper shinobi clothes? 

How the fuck did Iruka Umino not notice?

No–

He can’t think about that right now because if he does he’s going to start growling like the proper Hatake wolf he hasn’t been since before he hit double digits. Right now he has a pup in front of him who looks like she's about to have a panic attack. 

~~~~

“Sakura, look at me,” he said gently, abandoning his awkward hunch and kneeling, looking slightly up to where her head was tilted towards the floor. Her breath came in short bursts. Kakashi abandoned that tactic and risked urging her to sit on the floor with a gentle hand to her shoulder and her head between her knees. There was probably a better way to do that, but Kakashi was anbu and no one he’s had experience talking down from an attack appreciated coddling.

Her breathing evened out soon enough. Either Sakura wasn’t too different than his fucked up old anbu friends or the panic attack wasn’t a bad one. 

He hoped it was the latter.

~~~~

She looked up at him, teary eyed. “I.. I can’t go to a foster home, sensei… What if they make me stop being a ninja? I even made my parents leave me here on my own so I’d be able to become one! I know I’m not as strong as Naruto, or as talented as Sasuke, but I’ve gotten better, I swear! I’ll make it worth your trouble, I promise!” 

Kakashi was going to kill someone.

“Breathe, pup,” the Hatake hushed. “I’m not sending you anywhere.” The words left his mouth before he could think about them. To make things worse, they weren’t true. He couldn’t leave her here in this big empty house in Uzushio District. Morally, legally …

Fugaku smelled something fishy about her after one conversation. Kakashi knew for a fact he was keeping an eye out even if he wasn’t actively digging this case open. He could take over paying for her.. everything, but… Fugaku had raised him for the more rebellious half of his teenage years. He knew his every guilty tell– he’d suss him out in minutes . 

That – and…

The circumstances were different but the situation was the same. An underage kid was all alone and needed someone to show them that at least one person actually gave a shit. That not all adults were untrustworthy. 

Kakashi had no idea what he was doing. He wasn’t good at being emotional like a normal human being. He didn’t know the first thing about teaching or mentoring and had bullshitted his way through the past month. 

He hadn’t wanted to be a sensei, but this kid was his now and he was going to do his best to not fuck her up.

Minato had saved his life by taking him in all those years ago, and Fugaku again eight short years later.

Time to pay it forward.

——————————

Sakura was no longer having a good morning.

She was having a very stressful morning and already wanted to go back to sleep. Maybe if she went back to sleep she would wake up and it all would have been a very not fun nightmare.

The jig was up. 

After three long years, she’d been figured out.

Kakashi knew.

She’d lived alone for three years in the Academy and no one could have guessed. A month out, and her new sensei figured it out.

So this is what a jonin can do.

Or maybe just what someone who actually… cared.. could do.

Ino knew, but Sakura had told her. It had involved a few tears shed and many, many held back. If she hadn't held back Ino would have gotten too worried and told. Ino was a good friend. If Sakura was in her shoes, she probably would have, as well. But she wasn’t, and she was glad, because if she had told, Sakura was sure she would have hated her for it. 

Uzushio District was quiet as she walked numbly towards the Uchiha Compound. Kakashi had sent her on ahead with the excuse of having a few more stops to make before shunshining away. Sakura wondered if the change between the daylight scheduled civilians and semi-nocturnal shinobi districts would be obvious. It hasn’t quite sunk in yet, she thinks. When they return from Uzushio, Sakura will no longer be living in the big, empty space that has never quite felt like home. 

She will be living with Kakashi sensei, in his apartment with all eight of his ninken, whom she's never met.

Hopefully there's some down time during this mission. She’s going to have to figure out how to not annoy her sensei into turning her in to child services.

Maybe she can bribe the dogs into liking her enough that they won’t let Kakashi give her away?

Sakura was so caught up in her scheming that she didn’t notice how she’d made her way out of Uzushio District and out of the civilian sectors– where roof hopping was highly discouraged in respect of diurnal sleep schedules. Most retired or village-bound non-clan shinobi lived there as well. 

She was slipping her shoes off in the genken of the Uchiha Main House before she knew it. Mikoto had gifted her her own personal pair of house slippers only a week after that first dinner. They were really soft.

Man, Sakura was really out of it. She shook her head and took a deep breath before twisting and turning through the halls to the dining room. 

Sakura took a breath a prepared to call out a polite good morning to her teammates and their family–

And then she saw him–

Him!

That's the guy!

With the bullies– from the Academy– with Ami–

Several things connected in her brain all at once.

Fugaku has a nephew. Fugaku is the Chief of Police. A large portion of the police are made up of Uchiha. Dark, curly hair and friendly eyes , blacker than night.  

Fugaku Uchiha’s nephew is her savior from so many years ago. 

Fugaku Uchiha’s nephew is sitting at the table right in front of her.

Her savior is sitting right in front of her.

And he didn’t seem to recognize her at all.

…Sakura is not having a good morning.

——————————

Admittedly, Kakashi was so focused on finally getting a legal chance of investigating his student’s home and figuring out what was up that he didn’t entirely think through the fact that he was calling Sakura on her bullshit right before her first C-Rank. 

Shit, why did Tsunade make him a sensei. 

Feeling spiteful, he opted out of taking the long way through the Tower, and instead just broke in through the window. He was a little late to the last minute meeting, but he wasn’t in the mood for apologies and probably wouldn’t be until after he clued in Fugaku.

Why he was meeting with the Hokage for a C-Rank of all things, even one with Uzu, he had no idea. Normally mission updates were given by the Genin Commander in the Mission Assignments building. 

If Tsunade had to deal with every little mission update she would never have the time to entertain her alcohol addiction.

The jonin took his place beside Asuma and Kurenai.

Tsunade wasted no time in getting to the point. “As you all know, the original mission of the Rookie 9 was to provide relief aid after an abnormally large series of tsunamis broke Uzushio’s storm defenses and scattered their own forces across the islands to repair the seals in time for typhoon season. This goal has not changed– but the circumstances have.

“Approximately thirteen hours after the original request was received, an additional messenger bird arrived. Now, in addition to several smaller tsunamis, a storm has overtaken the islands. There are brief respites between them, but King Taro believes something is angering the Ocean.”

Kakashi wasn’t overly superstitious, Kurenai only prayed when it was convenient, and Asuma was just plainly an atheist–

But all of them tensed at that. 

Uzushio was the most ancient settled land in the world. It was said the people had been there since the first creatures had left the oceans and went to land. Debatably, the only people who knew the ocean better were the Hoshigaki, but Kakashi was fairly certain they weren’t entirely human either.

King Taro’s line has ruled the islands for as long as they’ve been walked upon. If he said the ocean had a god and it was angry, even an atheist like Asuma wasn’t inclined to call him a liar.

“Under normal circumstances, I would make this a B-Rank, but in light of the upcoming Chunin Exams, we simply don’t have the resources.” In light of everything, Kakashi had all but forgotten about that. Two months from now, the village security would be at high risk. Anbu, chunin, and jonin were already being briefed on procedures, increased patrols, diplomatic tactics, and so on. To host the Chunin Exams was an incredible strain and an incredible brag of the host village’s organization and power, to be able to let strangers walk semi-freely within its borders. To cancel or postpone in favor of helping an ally would prove them weak. 

The other villages would eat them alive.

“The mission parameters stay the same. Search and rescue, building and manning shelters, cooking and so on. Relief aid . Uzushio is our oldest, most trusted ally, but even King Taro would agree that if things start looking too bad, save who you can, and pull back . None of our genin are getting swept away in some ungodly storm,” Tsunade ordered, face stern. 

The dismissal was apparent in the irritated rise of her chakra. Tsunade was never a morning person, and the news of impending doom on her grandmother's homeland so close to Exams put her in a particularly pissy mood.

Asuma noticed him heading in the same direction when usually he’d go the opposite and looked like he was going to ask, but Kakashi flashed him the Konoha common sign to talk later. They’d meet at the gate in less than an hour and he still needed to grab Sakura that brochure and talk to Fugaku. 

Luckily, the hospital, police headquarters, and the Uchiha Compound, because it was a founding clan, were all fairly close to each other. 

Kakashi assumed he’d need a few minutes to cool off after venting to his surrogate-squared father and left the hospital visit for after. 

Headquarters was fairly empty, save for Emi, the middle aged civilian receptionist he’s known since his own time working here. 

“Oh, Kakashi,” she smiled, pleasantly surprised, “The chief mentioned you and your team were headed out of town this morning. I didn’t expect to see you!”

“Not that your presence isn’t lovely, but I wish I didn’t have the need to come here,” his visible eye drooped tiredly and Emi’s work face slips back on. 

“He’s briefing this sector’s on-duty forces on the basics for the upcoming exam, but if it’s an emergency, they can wait. If not, he’ll probably only be five more minutes, or so,” she informed him, sitting up straight and professional in her seat. That personality switch from motherly sweet and then sternly professional scared him a little when he was young. These days he respects it.

Kakashi glanced at the clock. “I’ve got to go pick up something from the hospital anyway. If it’s not done by the time I’m back I’ll need to pull him out.”

She nodded and Kakashi made his way out the door. 

Well, so much for the hospital trip being able to cool him down.

Then again, he’s always hated hospitals anyway, so it might’ve ended up pissing him off more.

With that thought, Kakashi veers away from his original destinations of the main entrance and instead scales the side of the building all the way up to the Medical Director’s office.

He popped through the window with a grin, “Oh, Shizune~”

A poisoned senbon embedded itself into the wall a centimeter from his head as he jerked it just enough to the side. 

The jonin’s glare was utterly vicious. Judging by the stack of papers and bags under her eyes he’d caught her on the tail end of a 72 hour shift. 

“Kakashi!”

He ignored her exasperated tone and continued on, “Remember my little pink kunoichi? She’s curious about field medics and I think she could have enough potential to be good at it if she wants to. You got a brochure or something I can give her?”

Shizune stares for a moment, attempting to hold onto her irritation but fails, sighs, and goes to rifle through her drawers. 

“Field medics are so rare in peace time we don’t really bother with brochures anymore. But –” she said, pulling out a little notebook, “I do have this. It was Lady Tsunade’s and then my old medical journal from when we were active duty field medics in the war.” 

Kakashi hummed victoriously as he plucked it from her fingers. “That’ll do! Wish I could stay and chat but I gotta go see if I can convince Fugaku to throw another Academy instructor in jail.” Shizune blinks, but by the time she’s done processing that statement Kakashi is already tilting himself backwards out the window. “Toodles!”

By the time Kakashi is walking back into the police headquarters building, officers are filing out of the briefing room and back towards their desks scattered uniformly across the room. Fugaku has his own office by the briefing room, but prefers to work in the same area as everyone when he can. 

When the man spots the Hatake striding towards him, he raises a brow to ask the silent question. 

Kakashi doesn’t bother giving an answer beyond bee-lining towards the back office, the irritation he’d stamped down earlier to appear like a normal human being rises quick and fast once again.

By the time Fugaku clicked the door shut behind him and activated the privacy seals, an inhuman Hatake growl ripped painfully from his chest. The last time he’d let that happen was before his dad died. The uniquely Hatake chakra infused vocal chords of his throat ached from the disuse. 

Most shinobi didn’t have the vocal abilities the Hatake were born with. The Hatake were descended from the oldest of wolves– summons who’d claimed a human territory as their own and meshed themselves into that society. Over a thousand years, something about the Hatake made them a little less human than everyone around them. 

Similar, but not quite, like the Hoshigaki. 

Fugaku studied the man in front of him warily as the room shook from the reverberations of his growl. Static chakra seemed to pour through the vibrations– the Uchiha’s arm hair stood on end. “...Something tells me you haven’t come to share good news.”

The water in the clear flower vase on the window shivered as Fugaku’s not-son growled louder still, and his ears rang as the vocalized chakra reverberated through them. 

Fugaku studied him for a second before moving to make them both some tea. By the time he finished, Kakashi seemed to have regained control of his vocal chords. Fugaku pushed out the chair in front of his desk for the jonin and pulled his own chair around the front to sit beside him. 

He waited.

A few seconds passed and Kakashi took a deep breath. 

“You need to put Iruka Umino under investigation for educational and emotional neglect of his students.”

Fugaku blinked. Not believing for a second that that was the full picture when seconds ago the incredibly in-control ex-anbu captain in front of him shook the room with his with the quiet rumble of vocalized chakra.

“Evidence?”

“Besides Sakura Haruno not knowing a single damn practical thing pre-graduation and him not caring to correct her? Or admitting to ignoring her multiple attempts at reporting bullying? Sakura admitted to me this morning that she was abandoned at the age of ten and has since been living alone despite parent-teacher meetings being mandatory at the end of each semester.” 

Fugaku’s heart dropped. 

Damn. He’d been keeping an eye out but hadn’t had enough evidence to support a legal investigation. Any question of her parents made her uncomfortable and he was scared pushing too hard would discourage her from coming around. If she really was in a bad situation, that would be the last thing he’d want.

He’d been hoping his gut was wrong.

That hoping was usually the case in his line of work. Unfortunately, his gut was never wrong.

“I’ll launch the investigation while you’re gone.” As her current teacher, and a superior officer, speaking his student’s behalf against her former teacher, the information laid out in front of him just this morning was enough to warrant an investigation. With everything else they knew Umino had failed to do regarding Sakura Haruno, now the investigation would be able to proceed without a hitch. The only thing he wondered was… “What will you do?”

Kakashi looked at Fugaku, who stared at him without judgment. The policeman would probably go so far as to call him responsible if he chose to go back on his word and send her to a foster family– not that the Uchiha’s would let that happen without offering her a place in their own home, in light of recent events. If he was smart enough to admit when he was in over his head and had no clue how to take care of a traumatized child. 

Unfortunately, Kakashi wasn’t that smart.

“I’m gonna pay it forward.”

Chapter Text

For the first several days after Sasuke was cleared for duty, he didn’t have a clue on how to act around Sakura.

This was the best entertainment Naruto has ever had in his life.

When Sakura visited after they got back from the hospital, almost falling over herself in her haste to apologize, Sasuke stuttered . Sasuke never stutters!

When Naruto finally dragged her out of her apologies and distracted her with the notebook of harmless seals that used to belong to his father, Sakura’s eyes lit up and Sasuke actually blushed . 

Itachi clearly pitied him, but Shisui had no such mercy.

“So, little pinky packs a punch after all. Was it love at first knock out, Sasu?” The jonin teased, ignoring the breakfast he’d helped himself to and resting his elbow on the table.

As Naruto could have predicted at this point, Sasuke’s ears blushed bright red.

In the past few days, Naruto has come to appreciate his tanned skin more than he ever has before. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about looking like that .

Auntie Mikoto whacked Shisui across the head.

“Oh, stop teasing him. It’s rare enough for the sharingan to be unlocked by an ally, and that bond is sacred. That bond being romantic is even rarer.”

“Ahhh, it’s all in good fun, Auntie. From one blessed, to another,” the jonin promised.

Itachi raised a brow as he swallowed a bite of toast. “As cute as it would be,” Sasuke scowled at his brother’s treachery, “just because you fell in love with Hana after she ran you into the ground with Fang Over Fang, doesn’t mean the same will happen to Sasuke.”

Naruto laughed loudly, latching on to the topic with the glee only a brother with blackmail material could have. “Oh come on, look at him! He’s totally got the hots for her now!”

Sasuke, apparently having broken the final straw of his meager patience, drew his arm back to beat the shit out of him. Naruto knew his brother well, though, so he made his escape back into the kitchen for extras. The deadly jonin could handle the genin’s embarrassed fury instead, probably.

——————————

The man didn’t recognize her at all.

This… wasn’t surprising. She had admitted to herself years ago that he’d likely forgotten her. The police helped people every day, after all! What was a five minute interaction with an Academy student against the hustle and bustle of thousands of citizens in their giant village? 

It wasn’t surprising, but it dropped her mood even further, all the same.

Her throat constricted painfully when he looked at her. 

Her panic was interrupted with an abrupt clap behind her. Sakura jumped at the noise but Kakashi was already talking before she finished turning.

“Alright kiddos, I hope you boys have everything packed and ready because if we don’t leave right now, we are going to be late to the debriefing,” Kakashi impatiently strode past her into the kitchen, grabbing tupperware from a cabinet and stuffing, what seemed like to Sakura, a full breakfast’s worth of each portion. He strode back into the dining room and ushered the boys out of Mikoto’s fretting arms, earning himself a smack on the head and a kiss on the cheek from the kunoichi. 

Nerves still shot, her legs failed to move as the boys walked past her through the doorway, including Itachi and her savior. Shisui, she had heard Naruto call him. 

Her sensei put a hand on her shoulder to steer her quickly towards the front door. The tupperware he had packed was placed in her arms.

“Eat all of that during the debriefing. Don’t worry, it's not considered bad manners or anything. It's more surprising to not see someone filling up before a long away mission.”

She couldn’t bring herself to speak to Shisui. Or look at him…

It was…

Sakura couldn’t figure out whether to be proud or embarrassed. 

It was so embarrassing that she had needed saving all those years ago, but at the same time she did what she told him she would do! 

She did what she told him she would do and graduated as Top Kunoichi, and yet was undoubtedly the weakest of her classmates.

Sakura was glad she would have several weeks to procrastinate this particular thought process.

As the Uchiha Compound entrance bordered the shopping district and had little to no people actually living there, it was a highway, literally and metaphorically, for shinobi, Kakashi had them travel to the Mission Assignments building by rooftop. Kakashi had introduced them to the High Road after Naruto figured out water walking. 

The High Road was exactly as the name implied. A collection of especially sturdy and conveniently placed rooftops scattered around the center of Konoha, leading to important buildings and each shinobi clan compound. Come to find out, to Sakura’s ire, she had turned too early into the wrong alleyway during the race to the Mission Assignments building set her path askew and had her entering at the wrong side. 

Hence the annoyingly curved edge of the roof.

This time, from this side, the roof was not a problem.

Sakura definitely did not hide on the outskirts of the briefing room, near someone she has never seen who was waiting by the wall, behind Naruto and Sasuke to eat her food as Kakashi sensei began debriefing the genin. He was the highest decorated shinobi in their group and, therefore, the captain. There wasn’t any time to chat between arriving and taking their seats, but Ino twisted to look behind her at Sakura to grin hello. 

In true Kakashi sensei fashion, he kicked the wheeled podium to the side and opted to instead sit on the edge of the desk behind it.

“So, I’ll start off by saying we are kind of throwing you genin in the deep end here. I trust you all have received and read over the mission files a few days ago with your respective senseis. The basics stated in the file stay the same. We are to provide relief aid.

“That means erecting temporary shelters to use as a rest stop in between escorting civilians to storm shelters, supplying food and water, and in general just doing whatever the scene commander on site tells us to do. The worst case scenario that we are authorized to accomplish are inland search and rescues, for most of you guys the emphasis is on the search. However, Team Asuma have all completed their natural disaster rescue training, so unless your sensei is Asuma Sarutobi or the situation is literally life and death and there is no time to wait for a more qualified individual, I suggest you adhere to that rule. If you choose not to, know that even if the civilian is unharmed and it was necessary, you will be completing additional documents in your debriefing to justify your actions. Worse case, considering your rank and experience level, you will be investigated by the Genin Corps’ Internal Affairs and you may be subject to suspension and retraining at the Academy level in search and rescue procedures. But that’s only if you go rogue and shove a rescue qualified shinobi out of the way to play hero and end up getting someone killed, so hopefully none of you are that fucking stupid.”

Kakashi felt Kurenai’s deadpan stare on the side of his head and quickly moved on. 

“The things I just briefed you on are the perfect example of what a relief aid C-Rank looks like. However, we received new intel early this morning. In addition to the damage taken by the tsunamis a few days ago, the Whirlpool Islands are being racked by a deadly storm as we speak. According to the intel given by King Taro, which keep in mind is days old at this point, there are brief respites in between each wave of the storm.”

Kiba made a noise of confusion. “If King Taro sent this intel before the storm hit, how does know there are breaks between each wave?” He asked.

“Whirlpool is notorious for having one of the most intense storm seasons in the whole world,” Shino explained. “As the king, it is a part of his job to know how to read a storm. The weather tracking seals also play a large part in predicting heavy storms in Uzushio.”

“Exactly,” Kakashi nodded. “These respites will be our metaphorical golden hours. Especially with any S&R’s that pop up, as well as transportations.

“I cannot stress to you enough that this will not be like any storm you have ever encountered. The storms in Uzushio hit hard, and this one has hit harder than any in recorded history has before. Whirlpool is a tough nation, and its people are tougher. A scholar on the mainland could study their whole life about the islands, but that scholar’s knowledge would always pale in comparison to that of a child born there. Comparisons aside, if one of us,” he said, gesturing to himself, Kurenai, and Asuma, “give you an order, and someone from the island says it will compromise your safety, use your best judgment. In stressful situations people can become desperate and may purposefully put you in danger for their own gain.”

The mood in the room dropped from excited and eager to somber.

“That is not to that is something that you will for sure encounter on this mission. Just something that you will encounter at some point in your career. When receiving advice about your safety or the safety of others, make note of who you are talking to, how much you trust them, and make a judgment of their mental state in the moment. The most important weapon and protection you will always have in the field are your instincts. Don’t let them control you, but always, always, trust them.”

Kakashi scratched the back of his head and glanced at his peers. “Am I forgetting anything?” 

“I think you nailed it.” Asuma shrugged. “Everything else they need to know about field work is kind of ‘learn it as it comes’ kind of stuff.”

“Cool. In that case, I give the floor to…” Kakashi turned an urging look to the lurker on the edge of the room.

The man stepped forward to stand beside him. “Jinji, sir.”

“Jinji. He is a representative from Foreign Relations.” With that, Kakashi joined Asuma and Kurenai by the door. 

“Kakashi did a great job explaining, so luckily for you guys, I can keep this short and simple. Since this will be all of you genin’s first time leaving the village in any official capacity, it is necessary that you know that you will be representing our village. Your actions, good and bad, reflect the views and pride of our village. If prompted to speak on the actions or viewpoints of Konohagakure, do so in a light that is respectful of the image of the village, or if you can, redirect that person to your superior officer.” The man smiled encouragingly at the daunted looks on several faces. “Don’t worry. This whole spiel is just mandatory. Everything I’ve said you already learned back in the Academy. It’s mostly just common sense. Congratulations on your first C-Rank, everyone! I wish you all the best of luck!”

Kakashi took the floor again. “Thanks,” he nodded at the representative. “It will take roughly a day and a half of travel before we reach the rendezvous where Uzushio sea experts will safely deliver us to the main island where we will receive our orders from Uzushiogakure Island’s scene commander. For now, let's focus on more pressing matters. To optimize travel time, as well as practicing our team’s specialties, we will be moving in a specific formation. Up front is Team 7. As our frontline attack specialists, myself, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto will take point. In the middle is our mid-line defense specialists, Team 10, consisting of Asuma, Shikamaru, Choij, and Ino. You will provide immediate backup and support in the event that we run into trouble. Last but not least, our eyes and ears, Team 8. Kurenai, Hinata, Kiba, and Shino will be on the lookout for any trouble we may run into. In the event of an attack, you will be on the outskirts taking care of stragglers.”

Kakashi tilted his head and hummed thoughtfully. “I’m pretty sure that's everything. Let’s get moving kiddos, we’re burning daylight.”

——————————

They were on the road and moving shortly after the meeting adjourned. For the first several minutes the only sounds were the soft shivers of leaves and quiet tap of sandals in the thick, lower tree branches of the Great Hashirama Forest. Since Team 8 were taking turns focusing on their surroundings, the atmosphere was much more lax than what Sakura was expecting. Professional still, but not somber. Kakashi lagged to the back side of their front position to chat quietly with Asuma.

Sticking to a super tight formation was kind of impossible when tree hopping, so their group was kind of oval shaped. Naruto and Sasuke were up front, alternating point position with each stride. Sakura centered behind them, Kakashi to her back left, with Asuma beside him. Shikamaru was centered in line with Sakura, leading with Choji and Ino to left and right, respectively. Team 8 would take turns alternating their section point in shifts, whoever was on point would be the one actively using their respective sensory abilities to keep watch while the others would mostly rest and occasionally make quick checks for anything that their point may have missed. Right now, Hinata was on point, followed directly behind her was Shino and Kiba on either side while Kurenai took up the rear.

For a short while the genin were silent with barely contained excitement. For a lot of them, it  was their first time out of the village, and given the occasion they tried their best to hold on to as much decorum as they could. 

Naturally, it was Ino who broke first and followed her sensei’s lead. 

Sakura blinked as Ino reached out with her chakra and poked at her senses. A little guilty, since she has hardly had any time to spare to spend with her best friend since they graduated, Sakura obediently drifted to the side, mirroring Asuma and Kakashi’s position. 

“Alright, girl. Spill,” Ino ordered with a glare. Their position was somewhat secluded and she’d said it quietly enough that no one would be able to hear enough to make out, but Sakura hunched, embarrassed, all the same.

Even so, she has never been able to keep secrets like this from Ino. 

“Uhm…”

“‘ Uhm ’ what? This may be the longest we’ve gone without having a proper conversation but I know you. You’ve been off all morning.” To anyone else, her tone may have sounded accusing, but Ino knew Sakura would eat herself alive overthinking everything unless she vented. 

“Yeah, yeah I know, I’m just– trying to figure out where to start…”

Ino looked a little alarmed at that, but stealthily swapped positions with Sakura, now on inside of the ‘border’ of their group. Ever the gossip, with a truly impressive information network throughout the village, she knew having herself face away from any onlookers would be key in keeping her reactions out of view to not generate interest in the conversation.

Taking a steadying breath, Sakura began. “Well, Kakashi sensei paid me a visit this morning.”

Ino drew a small breath at that. “Shit…” She dragged out the word under her breath.

Sakura grimaced. “Yeah– Bad news is he found out,” she didn’t have to say what. “Good news is I can still be a ninja. And uh.. ‘ Yet To Be Determined ’ news is that starting from the time we get back I’m….. gonna be living with him so the previously stated ‘Good News’ is possibly strapped to a time bomb.”

“ Shit… ” Ino said with feeling.

“And then–”

“There’s more?!” Ino shrieked, thankfully quietly.

“I finally found that savior I told you about…” Sakura was cringing before she even finished her sentence.

Ino jumped on the topic change with ease. “Wait, actually?”

“...He’s Sasuke’s dad’s nephew.”

“Shisui Uchiha? Holy crap, talk about a coincidence!” She grinned. “Did he remember you?”

“No..”

Ino looked at her weirdly.

“Why do you sound both disappointed and relieved?”

“I don’t know! It was such a pivotal moment that secured my drive to keep fighting to become a kunoichi, but looking back it's so embarrassing!”

“Literally how, exactly?” Ino frowned at her. “It was like 5 vs 1 and Ami and the Cunt Clique were all a year older.”

Sakura took a breath to refute but stopped short.

“Well– when you put it like that…”

Ino had no patience for stalling. “Are you gonna tell him?”

Sakura rubbed her arm awkwardly. Leave it to Ino to figure her out and cut to the important bits immediately.

“What’s the point? I mean it was a huge thing for me, sure, but there's no way it was anything but another Tuesday for him… It might make things weird. Especially since he’s, y’know, Sasuke’s dad’s nephew and I’m probably going to be seeing a lot more of him since I’m moving in with Kakashi sensei.” Admittedly, these excuses were made up on the fly.

Unfortunately, Ino could tell.

“This isn’t about him, Sakura. You’ve been wanting to thank him since the day he sent Ami running. Kakashi is taking you in and the Uchihas half raised him. He’s close friends with Shisui Uchiha. You’re gonna be around him a lot from now on. Ultimately, it's up to you, obviously, but do you really think you can go the rest of your career without telling him he’s a big part of the reason you even have one in the first place?”

Just like always, Ino could tell it was just her anxieties talking. Why rock the boat when the water is already choppy?

Sakura sighed heavily and gave an annoyed glance at her smirking face. “Do I even have to answer?”

Ino continued to smirk at her and Sakura couldn’t help but laugh. Man, she’s missed Ino.

A cry from behind interrupts their giggles.

“There’s some sort of genjutsu ahead!” Hinata’s voice shakes with her warning.

Quickly, but calmly, Kakashi took the lead. “Tighten up formation,” He called behind him. “Kurenai, Asuma, switch places!”

Nervously, Sakura shared one last glance with Ino before she moved forwards, practically on Naruto and Sasuke’s heels. 

“Team 8, what are we looking at?” Sensei asked.

A faint buzzing filled the air as bugs leaked from Shino’s coat. 

“Uhm– it’s starting to surround us! I– I can’t see through it!” The pitch of Hinata’s voice rose with panic.

If her own panic wasn’t busy crawling up her throat, Sakura might’ve given more than a passing thought of empathy with the girl. She couldn’t imagine being able to see everything and then lose that ability.

“Grgh!” Kiba grunted loudly in the back and hit the next branch hard. Their slowed advance grinded to a stop as they turned to check on him.

“It's the genjutsu!” Kurenai warned at the same time as Kiba called out–

“It’s that damn genjutsu! I can’t move! It’s sound based no doubt– I hear a flute!”

Kiba was hunched over awkwardly, like he was tied to something invisible.

Kurenai took some sort of paper from her pouch and shoved it in Kakashi’s hands. She was by Kiba’s side in an instant, hands reaching for his head.

“Whoever this is, is strong,” Kurenai warned, already on the move before Kiba finished slouching with relief. She took out several more papers and distributed them quickly. “Channel chakra into these seals! I designed them myself to ward off auditory genjutsu.” 

No one wasted any time doing what they were told.

Sakura flinched as a small swarm flew by her ear.

“There are four shinobi positioned one click to the north. Three– no, four – males, one female. She’s the one responsible for this genjutsu.” Shino reported, arms raised to greet his insects. 

“Yeah, the wind’s shifted. I can smell ‘em.” Kiba’s nose was tilted into the air. 

Kakashi hummed in agreement, irritated. Gods be damned first C-Rank curse strikes again. He didn’t have to look at either of his fellow jonin to know they were cursing all the same. If one of these mystery shinobi was strong enough to cause an effect from as far as a click away, there was no way this bunch of fresh out of the village genin could outrun them. 

“Change of plan,” Kakashi said. “When they cut the distance, Team 8, break off just enough to give yourself some room to fight. You guys are in charge of the genjutsu mistress. Their’s may be strong but I’d bet ours is stronger. Focus on taijutsu when Kurenai scores you an opening.” Kakashi turned his attention to Shino, “Can you find out anything else about the others?”

“One of the males is large, likely a taijutsu specialist. He may use earth techniques to augment his strength. The last three–”

Shino cut himself off, eyebrows scrunching behind his glasses as he stared intensely at the bug on his finger.

“...One has six arms, and the other two is one person with two heads.”

Alarm bells screeched in Sakura’s head and, desperately hoping someone would refute her, she spoke up, “That.. sounds an awful lot like the Sound Four. From the Bingo Book.”

The jonin shared a glance.

“Yeah.” Asuma huffed. 

“Well this is certainly one way to introduce genin to real combat,” Kurenai grumbled irritably.

Kakashi sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Alright genin, listen up! I know you guys are probably nervous, but don’t worry. Whatever these guys are after with us, they underestimated how much firepower our group would have. Listen to your nearest jonin, remember your teamwork, and you’ll be fine. Your senseis have got this covered,” Kakashi gave them all a reassuring eye smile. “Team 8, same plan as before. Ino-Shika-Cho, focus on distance and take down the arm guy. Asuma, deal with Jirobo then help your team finish off Kidomaru. Team 7, we have Sakon and Ukon. They’re fast and arrogant, so watch your back and remember our practice.

“Naruto, start setting up traps. Sakura, remember the Bell Test?” She nodded quickly. “Do that again.”

Ah. Okay. 

Having been given her orders, Sakura suddenly felt much more confident.

She could play the weak link. She’s been doing it her whole life, after all.

——————————

Truly, whoever ordered this attack was terribly uninformed. 

Well, either uninformed, or terribly dumb.

Jirobo avoided getting singed by Asuma’s opening Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning jutsu and followed up with his own chakra eating earth technique. Asuma ended the fight quickly by letting his knives get knocked away. Counterproductive, it seemed at first, but Jirobo quickly realized this was not the case when the former Guardian Ninja used his wind release to remotely control the knives and cut the tendons of each arm and leg in one fell swoop. The Sound shinobi was rendered a pathetic, bleeding heap on the forest floor. Asuma didn’t bother staunching the cuts after securing him further. Better he focus on not bleeding to death than somehow escaping or providing support for his teammates.

Asuma edged closer to his genin, but stayed on the outskirts of the fight, turning a potential life or death battle into a controlled ‘learning on the job’ experience.

Kurenai did something similar with her team. After rendering Tayuya’s genjutsu useless with Kurenai’s seal, and Kiba ruining any chances of the kunoichi finding a way to get around it by destroying the problem at the source by snapping her flute in half, it ended up being an impromptu practice session for taijutsu focused teamwork.

Team 7’s fight was not at any point life-threatening, Kakashi made sure that was for certain, but it was the hardest.

The two-headed Sound shinobi focused on Sasuke immediately, but Kakashi was quick to cut in. The other attackers were strong, but Sakon and Ukon were their leaders. Kakashi wasn’t going to take a chance. Besides, there was still time before his genin needed to learn just how deadly a fight can get. That lesson wasn’t point of this mission.

It was a good thing Sakura had learned Naruto’s go to tactics over the past month, because she hadn’t gotten the chance to see where he was placing his traps before the battle cut her and Sasuke off from him. 

The conjoined twins were clearly strong. Already, Kakashi had revealed his famed sharingan and engaged in a heated taijutsu battle. After Asuma’s opening fire attack when the enemy first appeared through the leaves, the individual battles were too crowded together to throw around elemental jutsu. 

Sakura tried to lunge back towards Naruto, but was forced to jump back when Sakon tried to sneak a stray kunai in her direction.

She knocked it off course just in time while Kakashi prevented him from throwing a follow up attack. As she regrouped back with Sasuke, she felt Ukon’s eyes bore in their direction.

“How can we get past?” She asked. Kakashi wasn’t lying earlier about the conjoined twins being fast, she thought. 

The battle was all over the place. 

In on the ground, for a split second, through the trees in the next. Luckily, Kakashi sensei could match his pace.

Sakura’s eyes could barely keep up with them, and that was only because of her experience in keeping track of Lee, but Sasuke had no trouble. His glowed red as he analyzed the fight in front of them.

He glanced at the others fighting behind them. “If we try to back track and go around, we’ll just get in the way of the others.”

The pair ducked as Kakashi and Sakon clashed directly above them before they were on the move again.

“Can’t go above, either,” she huffed. 

“Well, only one way left,” Sasuke grinned.

“Huh?” 

Surely he wouldn’t.

Putting his back to the rest of the group’s fights, he put his hands together and breathed fire directly towards Sakon and Ukon’s heads.

He grabbed her arm and pulled her into and out of the fight as the twins sprung away from Kakashi.

Sakon’s kunai clanged against their sensei’s own as he covered their escape.

Sakura was flabbergasted at the utter ballsiness of the move, but vowed to yell at him later and followed him through the trees.

As they caught up with Naruto, who just finished setting up a basic ramen trap, Sakura remembered her role in this battle.

With a jolt of adrenaline and the makings of a plan she locked eyes with boys.

“Make that into Beef!” She shouted nonsensically before sprinting back towards the fight.

Carefully, knowing Ukon would be on the lookout, she edged just into view and racked her memory for a trap to set.

Naruto had drilled his entire repertoire into her head over the past month, and now it would finally come in handy. 

The Makizushi was an impressive technique, but unfortunately, it had never been successfully executed. To pull off the makizushi, at least one ally needs to be, in some way, stronger than the enemy. Sakura set the storage seal full of kunai and shuriken directly above a patch of grass, a couple meters away from where she planned to set the tripwire. The velocity of the weapons coming out of the seal wouldn’t have increased much before they reached their target, but that would be fine. Those weapons weren’t the ones that Sakon and Ukon would have to watch out for. 

The weapons in the storage seal wouldn't hit, she knew. Maybe they would if she was skilled enough in both bukijutsu and fuinjutsu to trap a weapon in motion and seal its velocity, but she wasn’t. 

The real danger of the Makizushi is the target’s pride. 

Sakura pulled the ninja wire she had unwittingly lifted off of Naruto tight and attached the tripwire.

She flashed her chakra in Kakashi’s general direction. 

In response, Kakashi began to push the conjoined twins in her direction. Sakura shivered as Ukon stared at her condescendingly. He whispered something to his brother, too low for either Kakashi or Sakura to hear.

Like something out of a horror movie, Sakon jumped and the twins' body twisted and all of a sudden Ukon was in charge.

She didn't have a chance to react before the seal was being activated. Sakura took off back towards Naruto and Sasuke in a dead sprint.

Ukon laughed at the barrage that fell upon him and shunshinned out of the way.

Directly onto the other tripwire, barely noticeable on the forest floor.

The kunai was barely more than an unexpected glint of steel in the early morning light. It was fast and deadly and was perfectly what the Makizushi called for.

And it was nothing to the jonin level threat now following at her heels in an instant.

Sakura screamed and felt Sakon’s bloodlust behind her. Her heart lurched into her throat as she ducked under something and dived as the forest erupted behind her.

The blast was blinding.

Two pairs of hands hauled her further away from the explosion and behind the ledge of a short ravine as she blinked the spots out of her eyes.

For a moment they all panted in the brief silence.

“...WHAAAATT?!” 

“You just got captured by a bunch of genin,” said their sensei’s deadpan voice from the top of the ledge.

Naruto’s head turned slowly to look at Sakura, slouching against the rock in between him and Sasuke.

“You’re freaking’ crazy.” He grinned manically.

Sakura erupted into astounded giggles.

“Huh,” she gasped. “We really just took down a jonin level rogue.”

“Hell yeah,” Sasuke laughed.

——————————

Ibiki shut the door to the interrogation room.

“Did they talk?” Shikaku asked, having just arrived.

“No.” Tsunade glared daggers through the one way glass as Ibiki wiped Jirobo’s blood from the bottom of his shoes.

“They didn’t say anything, but their conflict with the Uzushio team tells us plenty,” Inoichi spoke from the corner, still studying the exhausted heap on the other side of the glass.

“Why the hell would they attack a bunch of genin? Especially considering their senseis. Kurenai was only promoted recently, but Lightning Wolf and a former Twelve Guardian Ninja?” Tsunade mused.

Inoichi shook his head. “That, we don’t know. What we do know is that Sound has always been a neutral village. They don’t like conflict.”

Shikaku, having already come to the same conclusion as his teammate, continued his thought, “And we’ve heard rumors of a snake in those parts, haven’t we.”

The room became silent.

The snake sannin was a powerful man. A powerful man that liked to be alone, for the most part. If he had successfully overthrown a village…

The results could be disastrous.

Tsunade’s painted lips twisted with a snarl. “If that traitorous bastard dares show his ugly face anywhere near my village, I’ll fucking kill him.”

With a grim look, Inoichi turned to Ibiki. 

“Let this one sit for a few hours. In the meantime, get to work on the twins. They are the leaders, if anyone knows what Orochimaru might be up to, it’s them.”

Chapter Text

They had been traveling for hours when the Sound Four had attacked, but the anbu retrieval squad arrived in less than one. Curiously, Sakura studied the elite and mysterious shinobi. 

When she was young, before she had become enamored with the idea of becoming a kunoichi, the civilian school she had attended had taught all the children about the mysterious shinobi who protect the village from the shadows. Their shadowy nature had given her anxiety at first, but her parents, clearly unaware of the seeds of intrigue they planted within their daughter, had reassured her. They became something like a fairytale to her. 

Soon she began to study every rooftop and alleyway throughout the village, searching for potential hiding spots for these mysterious protectors. Until now, the closest she had ever come to seeing one was dark flashes in the corners of her eye. Now she knows that as the effects of a notice-me-not genjutsu, but at the time she had just assumed they were shy.

She had left peppermints where she’d noticed the flashes.

It was silly, but it was around that time that she had moved on from the children’s section of the library and asked the shinobi at the desk for a recommendation on books about ninjas. 

If Shisui Uchiha giving her his support after saving her from Ami fanned the flames of her resolve, The Chronological Biography of Tsunade Senju was that first spark. The spark that had led her to nearly starve herself in protest against her parent’s refusal to let her join the Academy. They had thought they were humoring her childish fantasies for the first few years. Then they realized they weren’t fantasies at all.

To be a woman as confident in herself as Tsunade Senju was a goal, not a dream.

The shinobi were in full view, but she felt the effects of a figure distortment genjutsu tickling her eyes. She was staring right at them, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to recall specific features about any of them the moment she looked away. It felt… solid? It didn’t feel like a genjutsu just woven into existence, maintained, in detail, at all times. Those felt… bouncy. Was that the word she was looking for? She didn’t know, but it made her curious.

Kurenai sensei and Asuma sensei had been making their rounds, checking on the genin, while Kakashi conversed with the anbu. 

Kurenai sensei sidled up next to her.

“Notice anything?”

Sakura nodded. “Why does it feel different?”

Kurenai smiled and took out a rations bar, putting it in her hand as she urged her to sit.

“There are several ways to cast genjutsu,” Kurenai began her lecture. “The ‘stencil’ type, which are often sloppy and easy to break since they only target sight, and the original kind, which allows for more creativity, detail, and can be made to target every sense. This one feels more ‘firm’ though, right? Like if the others were jello, this would be a plank of wood. That is because, instead of targeting a bystander’s senses, it targets the surrounding natural chakra of the seal itself. It’s much more effective than the normal figure distortment, and much harder to dispel, but like I said it is much more complex. The kind you feel right now is being transmitted from a seal. The seal the anbu use is the work of a master.”

“Cool..” Sakura couldn’t help but mutter.

Soon enough the anbu went on their way, Sound Four in tow. By the time they disappeared from sight, she had already forgotten everything about their appearance except their distinctive masks.

Cool.

They traveled for several more hours after that, setting up camp earlier than originally intended. The battle had been tiring for most of the genin. Especially the other teams due to their mostly taijutsu focused fights.

It felt too early to sleep, and any time she considered it she felt a jolt of adrenaline as she remembered the tough fight from earlier. Most of her peers agreed and sat around the fire talking, bragging really, about each of their fights. Nestled in between Ino and Naruto, Sakura felt something hard tap her on the head. Kakashi sensei crouched as she turned to look back at him.

“They didn’t have the brochure on hand, but I think you’ll like this better,” He said cryptically. Placed in her hands was a worn, leatherbound journal, held shut with an attached thin strip of leather.

Naruto and Ino leaned over each of her shoulders. “What's that?” Naruto asked. Sakura shrugged in response. Kiba yowled from across the fire as Choji wrestled him away from his snacks. Used to these antics from back at the Academy, neither of the genin either side of her paid them any mind.

“Well don’t just look at it!” Ino urged, bumping her shoulder impatiently.

Taped in pages and color coded sticky notes spilled out of the neat edges of the notebook. It was thick and felt heavy in her hands. The broken spine bent easily beneath her fingers. Pages upon pages of handwritten ink notes laid innocently in her lap.

The first page was something like a title page. It read like this:

‘This journal details the Second Shinobi World War from the eyes of a field medic. 

Notes, techniques, and critiques written by Tsunade Senju.’

Below it, in different handwriting:

‘Later detailing the Third Shinobi World War, written by Shizune Kato.’

Sakura felt more than heard Ino’s gasp. The ringing in her ears was too loud. 

“Granny Tsunade’s journal? How the hell did you get that, Kaka sensei?” Naruto asked, much less impressed than Sakura believed he should have been. Regardless, she tried to pull herself together enough to listen.

“That journal started off as Tsunade’s in the Second Shinobi World War, then was passed on to my friend Shizune, who wrote in it mostly during the Third. I got it from her. Most of the notes are chronologically written on each of the actual pages, but both of them have gone back and either wrote in the margins or attached paper with critiques or updated procedures or treatments. Shizune said she'd have the actual field medic brochure ready by the time we get back, but either way, I’d bet that’ll give you a better idea if it’s something you want to pursue. There’ll probably be a lot of jargon you don’t understand, but you’ll get an idea of the experience at least.”

Sakura, reflexively tried to say something, to thank him, but all that came out was a choked wheeze.

She was holding the personal, handwritten journal of one of her greatest idols. Her hands felt sweaty and she quickly sat the journal in her lap. Can leather be stained by sweat?!

Kakashi huffed a laugh behind her and ruffled her hair before strolling away, back towards the other senseis.

Naruto lost interest fairly quickly and Ino yanked her close enough to whisper, “I guess that's one advantage of living with your teacher.”

“No kidding,” Sakura wheezed.

——————————

Fugaku stared at him with those unflappably calm eyes Kakashi had always found so comforting as a teen.

“I’ll put a warrant out. If the Harunos ever set foot in Konohagakure again, they’ll be arrested for neglect of a minor.”

Kakashi sighed and slumped, already tired of the day, against the backrest of his chair. 

“Thank you, seriously,” He said, rubbing his temples. “Is there… any paperwork or something I have to do to get custody? I can’t remember shit from like the first year or two after I found my dad. I don’t know if Minato sensei had to do anything.”

“Legally, I’m obligated to have an official inspection done of your apartment, but don’t worry. I’ve seen your place enough to know you’ll pass. Besides that, you’re her sensei so you automatically have emergency custody rights for her considering her age. Minato took you in when you were just his Academy delegated apprentice, instead of his official student, so you have much fewer hoops to jump through than he did,” his voice was comforting, but Kakashi didn’t take much comfort from the statement.

“He was also much more emotionally stable.”

Fugaku gave him a sardonic smile. “Around you, maybe.”

Kakashi glanced at him, doubtfully. “Hm.”

“I’d bet Sakura would say the same about you.”

Kakashi’s doubtful glance turned into a glare. He’s got him there.

Saved by the ticking of the clock, Kakashi stood and Fugaku rose with him.

His second surrogate father clapped him on the shoulder. “Remember, Kakashi. It takes a village to raise a child. If you ever need anything, Mikoto loves her already and we’re always around to help. Besides,” his tone lightened, “she plays a good game of shogi.”

Kakashi huffed a laugh at the unexpected joke. He slumped into the offered hug.

“I’m always here if you need anything,” Fugaku repeated. 

“Yeah,” Kakashi muttered into his shoulder. “Thanks.”

——————————

“Soooo, yeah,” Kakashi drawled. “That was my morning.”

Asuma and Kurenai stared at him. The jonin sat together, a ways away from the genin.

The duo glanced at each other. “ Damn ,” they said synchronously.

“So, you're basically a dad now,” Kurenai summarized, making Kakashi cringe.

“I wouldn’t go that far…”

“Parental guardian,” Asuma offered.

“ Guardian . Scratch the parental,” he insisted.

Kakashi could tell Kurenai wanted to clap back with something that would undoubtedly put his argument in a shallow grave, but held her herself back. If it was the parallel he didn’t want to admit he was thinking of, it was a good thing she did. There were only a handful of people who could call him out like that that weren’t on Team Ro, and neither of the pair in front of him were the Uchiha Heads or Gai.

“Whatever you say, man,” Asuma chuckled, cutting through the tension. “For my gratuitous conceding of this argument, you can take the first watch.”

Kakashi snorted and raised his hand in a mock salute.

He sat there, leaned against the tree on a high branch as the other jonin urged the genin to set out their bedrolls. 

So you’re basically a dad now , Kurenai had said. Damn her for that.

Kakashi was not a dad. Now, or in the future!

He wasn’t dad material. Not like Minato. He couldn’t push his feelings out of the way to comfort a child. This morning, with Sakura’s panic attack, was the perfect example. All his years of trauma and then anbu had stripped away any ability to offer flowery words of comfort he may have had. 

His mask hid his resting bitch face, and most of the time his smiles weren’t genuine. Just a tone indicator so people didn’t think he was mad at them when, really, his default expression was just rather stoic.

He wasn’t gentle enough to carry a kid to bed when they fell asleep watching movies. He wasn’t articulate enough to express to Sakura properly, whether she believed it or not, that he wouldn’t abandon her. 

He could be a guardian.

Kakashi could be the person that puts a roof over her head, pays for her things, cooks her food.

He was already winging it at this whole sensei thing, how the hell would he manage to pull it together enough to be more than that? He didn’t know, but resolved himself to figure that out once they got back to Konoha. Right now, he was her sensei, not…

Whatever else he may come to be.

——————————

The treeline ended rather abruptly at the outskirts of a bustling port town.

Sangotsuri was the beautiful, and busy, main trading post between the mainland Land of Fire and the Kingdom of Whirlpool. Here, they would be transported to the main island of Uzushiogakure, the city of Whirling Tides, where they would receive their orders from the shinobi in charge of the relief teams.

They would be worked to the bone, no doubt. Most of Uzushio’s own shinobi, young and old, would be focused on repairing and replenishing the seals. Whirlpool was a country built on the art of sealing, inhabitants untalented with the art were hard to come by, in Kakashi’s experience. Even most civilians had their chakra pathways unlocked from a young age so they could partake in everyday tasks. The country’s relief crew could only afford to be made from the few shinobi who weren’t talented in the study.

Naruto had been here a few times before. Mikoto and Fugaku knew Kushina had been so excited to introduce her boy to the islands. They had vacationed there as much as they could, throughout his life. To the others, the port town may have looked lively, but he could tell the difference. 

The brightly painted buildings were all still there, in various shades of pinks, and blues, and greens, and yellows. The flags still hung out on strings between each building. Shop keepers still advertised their stock in loud, booming voices. There was still an abundance of shades of red hair, from Uzumaki sailors or shinobi making their… ahem , rounds, or instead making proper families on the mainland.

All this brightness, and it still looked duller than Naruto remembered. 

The streets were crowded, but instead of mingling townsfolk, there were carts full of supplies, making their way back towards the trading ships. The ships in question didn’t have neat little stalls, open for curious shoppers to come aboard and browse the wares at a reasonable price before they were sold to various shops around the village to be resold at twice the original price as exotic goods . Instead, they were packed uncomfortably full with food, building, and medical supplies. 

It made Naruto’s skin itch. Uzushio was loud, bright, and happy. Rich with culture older than even some of the islands in the archipelago the country was made of. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

Kakashi led the way to a ship named Hondo . It was the largest of the fleet docked at the pier. 

A middle aged salt and pepper black haired man squeezed through a gap between some of the boxes, wiping sweat from his weathered skin with the handkerchief around his neck. He took a glance at the symbol on Kakashi’s headband and reached out a hand.

“Happy to have you aboard, Konoha,” the man said, shaking Kakashi’s hand firmly as he grasped it. “Name’s Sho Akiyama.”

“Kakashi Hatake. Glad we can help,” Kakashi nodded. “Is there anything else that needs to be stored before we get a move on?”

Sho turned his torso to look at the looming black clouds in the distance. The captain turned back to Kakashi with a grim expression. “Always, but there's no time.” Sho brought his fingers to his mouth and let out an ear piercing whistle before opening his mouth wide with a bellow. “GET A MOVE ON LADS! TSUTOMU, YOU’RE SHIT IS THE LAST WE’VE GOT ROOM FOR! EVERYONE ELSE SHUT UP THE REST IN THE DONATION ROOMS! IF THERE'S NO MORE SPACE THEN SHOVE IT IN THE GALLEY!”

“Captain!” A brunette woman called, pacing up the ramp with a barrel tucked between her shoulder and head. “If we throw out the emergency water supply we can fit more medical!” 

“Do it, Kameyo,” Sho ordered. “Watatsumi knows if we get lost in that beast we won’t live long enough to need it,” he mumbled under his breath. As he turned back to the shinobi, he shot a vaguely apologetic look towards Kakashi. Most of the kid’s hearing wasn’t good enough to catch the comment, but judging from the paling of Kiba’s skin, Inuzuka ears were. Sho hadn’t caught the distinctly Inuzuka markings on Kiba’s face until after that blunder.

He gestured for them to follow.

“C’mon. We’ll be cutting it close by the time we’re ready to drop anchor. The water will be choppy and we’ll have to cut through a section of the storm to reach Wan Harbor. The mountains provide some respite from the storm, and Wan himself has been protecting whatever the bay doesn’t. Once we arrive we’ll need you shinobi to grab as much as you can carry and book it to the Temple of Whirling Tides. Half my crew will do the same on rafts, and the other half will focus on finding a safe place to drop anchor. There’ll be acolytes waiting at the front door to relay the supplies into the storm shelter from there. Make as many trips as you can,” the captain ordered. “Until then, shelter in here.” 

The sailor didn’t wait for a response before he was on the move again, shutting the door firmly behind him. A heavy thump on the door was followed by the illumination of several seals around the frame. 

Uzumaki level, no doubt, judging from their complexity. Kakashi couldn’t make them out, but he would guess they had something to do with keeping water out.

The room the twelve Konoha shinobi waited in was small, barely big enough to comfortably fit them all, and empty of furniture. A map was pinned to the starboard wall and a small porthole on the sternside wall gave them a limited view outside. A cursory glance at the floor proved Kakashi’s suspicions. Scuff marks indicated a desk and a few chairs used to be in this room. Whether they were thrown out before departure from Uzu, or abandoned on the mainland in favor of more room for supplies, this probably used to be the captain’s quarters. A hammock slumped limp against the wall on one side of the room. Kakashi doubted Captain Akiyama had gotten much sleep these past few days.

The next few hours were relatively uneventful, filled with briefings and Q&As. Asuma, the softie, deliberately made his expression and tone comforting. That may work for his students, but Kakashi’s and Kurenai’s, not so much. Instead the pair chatted idly about the latest chunin drama, slumped against a wall. Their nonchalance had the same effect as Asuma’s calming tone on their respective students.

And then they hit the storm.

Kakashi had just hit peak of his retelling of how Random Shinobi #1 stormed into the Rusty Kunai and bitched slapped the hell out of Random Shinobi #2 for cheating on him when the ship listed sideways under his feet. When he looked at it, over the heads of the genin stumbling to stick their feet to the planks, the porthole was completely submerged. The darkened sky appeared again as the ship passed the swell, and a dull roar echoed through the room as they hit the storm.

Tuning in to the sounds on deck, Kakashi could hear shouted orders but didn’t hear any panic. From what he could tell, the intensity was expected, and the crew had been prepared. He doubted this was not their first time cutting through the storm. Maybe not even their first time today .

Reassured, Kakashi adjusted his stance to roll with the waves. He didn’t want to waste chakra before even making contact with the scene commander. 

“If you can’t stay standing without chakra, sit down. The mountains protect Wan Bay from the worst of the storm, but the waters will still be rougher than you’ve ever experienced. Save your chakra. Meditate now, if you need to,” Kurenai ordered. She turned back to him, “What were you saying?” And just like that, two thirds of the population of tweens aboard the Hondo relaxed like puppets with their strings cut.

Conversation between the genin tapered off as the sounds of the storm slowly lessened from a terrifying roar. They could tell they were making their way closer to the edge of the storm. Their first real shinobi mission was about to well and truly begin.

——————————

Sakura hit the waves with a splash, three sacks of rice thrown over her shoulder. 

She stumbled for only a moment and thanked every second of her strength training with Gai sensei and Lee. Kakashi sensei was right. The ocean was nothing like even the roughest section of the Naka Kakashi had put her team to the test on. Splitting her focus between her chakra control and keeping hold of her cargo as rogue waves threatened to rip them from her fingers was difficult. Her legs burned as she pushed herself as fast as she could go, but the progress on distance was minimal as the tide and swell each wave pulled her back.

Rain plastered her hair to her forehead. Taking deep breaths, she halted for a moment, both to reassess and to adjust her grip. To the side, she watched Shikamaru abandon running normally across the water, and instead began to leap across the waves. Not dissimilar to how they leaped to the trees on the way to Sangotsuri.

A wave vanished him from her view, so she couldn’t see the results of this technique, but the logic seemed sound.

This tactic was much more fruitful, and Sakura was handing off the first load of supplies to the acolytes of Watatsumi’s most trafficked temple.

The next thirty minutes moved at a snail's pace. In any other circumstance, the work they did in that amount of time would’ve had to have been record breaking. But with the storm they had barely managed to outpace to arrive here descending upon the bay, everything they did felt too slow. 

One by one, her fellow genin were pulled from unloading duty and delegated elsewhere as the waves got choppier and harder to stick to until it was only herself, Sasuke, and Hinata left to aid the jonin. Eventually, they were delegated as well when the first streak of lighting hit with a rumble, tilting the ship sideways. The main mast glowed with absorption seals, sucking up the raw energy to prevent fires or damage.

There wasn’t a moment to breathe between switching tasks once they hit the sand, a blink and you miss it meeting with a scarred and weathered old shinobi, the scene commander, sent them off the beaches and further inland. There, the trio joined their peers in raising windbreakers to shield the temporary structures to house the overflow from those housed in the temple.

It was an hour before nightfall that the genin were retired to an overflow tent they’d claimed for themselves earlier. The wind and rain were still brutal. Sakura’s face was red and raw by the time she collapsed into a cot. At first, she didn’t know how to feel about Kakashi sensei buying more clothes for her behind her back, but after today she was feeling less confused. The waterproof jacket was red and skintight, black trim this time, instead of white with a high collar. The long sleeves made her have to forego the arm guards, but the warmth of her new gloves made up for it. Leggings and shinobi boots replaced her shorts and sandals.

Everyone was exhausted, but few could take advantage of the break. Hearts were still racing from the high pace, high adrenaline work. Several of the genin took the time to meditate. Sakura, on the other hand, took the time to unseal the precious leatherbound journal she’d been itching to crack open ever since she got it. 

——————————

April 3rd, X088

Land of Storms, 30 clicks west of the Fire Country border

My squad wasn’t even on the move for an hour before the Iwa bastards hit us. My mission was to escort a group of injured shinobi back to the border. Obviously, I was pissed at this in the beginning. I get delegated to babysitting duty while Jiraiya and Orochimaru are still busting heads at Earth Country’s doorstep? Fuck that.

And then Hiruzen sensei told me about the squads targeting the injured shinobi we pull out of the front. The bastards we came across seemed to have gotten a heads up on my presence. This squad was roughly three times as large as the previous guerrilla squads, it could almost be considered a full-on attack force. It was over quickly enough, but there were too many to save everyone. We left the frontlines with eighteen shinobi. Three were dead before I finished off even half of the attackers. When the last went down, six more were black tagged and three red. 

The first patient’s dog tags dubbed him a thirty six year old male. I’ve taken care of so many wounded over the past week that now, hours later, I couldn’t even guess the poor sap’s name. Patient #1 was impaled through the lower left lung with a spear suspending him partially in the air. I used a basic medical technique to block the blood flow from the wound. 

Unfolding a sticky note revealed a short critique: ‘ Further research shows this method to cause long term weakening of the blood vessels and possible stroke. Allow light blood flow from the wound. ’

After removing the spear, I began to use my mystic palm technique. 

Another unfolded sticky note read: ‘ Too much use of this technique can cause debilitating reliability to healing jutsu, weakening the body’s own ability to heal. ’

After Patient #1’s organs sealed up enough to classify as a yellow tag, I passed him off to one of the green tags to bandage.

Patient #2 (male, twenty two) was suffering from severe internal bleeding due to blunt force trauma. Three ribs were cracked and two shattered, shards from those two ruptured the liver and spleen. The spleen had managed to escape the worst of the damage, but the liver may as well have been a dart board. Patient #3 was already slipping, so I only had time to get the bleeding under control and secure the shards enough for transport before moving on.

One of the green tags only noticed a head lac hidden in the depths of her (forty three) dark hair because of the steady stream of blood pooling into the dust. One pupil was blown, heartbeat unsteady. A quick diagnostic jutsu revealed she was stroking because of the blow to the head. Priority number one was the brain. I carefully followed a chakra pathway into her brain and patched the bleed with Mystic Palm. When she didn’t show enough signs of improvement, I began work on the heart. A clot had ripped her heart muscles paper thin. By this point backup had finally arrived and the rest of the group was no longer my problem. Since I was able to put all my focus on #3, I did. I took my time thinning the clot and washing out her arteries with a steady Mystic Palm. After that, I doubled back to check on her head. The brain was still bleeding, but not nearly as worrying as before. If we had been back in the village, I would’ve let her chakra naturally repair it, but here, in the middle of enemy territory, we don’t have that kind of luxury. A sweep of Mystic Palm through #3’s neuro-chakra pathways sent her steadily into yellow tag territory and safely onto the stretcher right beside her peers. A bandage on the head lac was suitable to stem the bleeding.

——————————

This storm was weird.

It had been ever since the beginning, when Yoko had glanced outside the palace windows and seen it. She knows how to read a storm even better than her father and this one…

It was unnatural enough that she didn’t need to check the universities to know the scholars were already drafting up the history unfolding in front of them. It did not abate. There were breaks, but not because the storm weakened in any way, instead because it seemed to double back . Not even in the way shifting winds could turn a storm, either. No. This one blew across the archipelago and then turned on its axis and doubled back in a never ending cycle for days now. 

This was not the work of Watatsumi, she now knew.

If it was Watatsumi trying to end them, he would have rumbled the earth, sunk the islands into the great whirlpools they were named for and sent a tsunami to finish off whoever had the gall to try and swim away from him. 

The blinding, deafening lightning, the bone crunching waves, the blackened clouds. This could only be one dragon-god. Raijin. 

And he was very, very angry.

But now was not a time she could ruminate on this. Yoko was a Sacred Emissary. She could breathe beneath the waves and could move through water better than she could move on land. The sealmasters needed her expertise. If the great, patient Watatsumi would not listen, she had no chance catching Raijin’s ear.

And so, she pushed her theories to the back of her mind and dove to the border markers, seals in hand. The ones the masters needed help with were perched precariously on the edge of the reef. With time, preparation, and the right seals, anyone could place the storm wards along their respective markers. But they didn’t have time, so they had Yoko instead. As she ran her hand firmly across the seal paper, the ink glowed as it sunk through the paper and filled in the gaps of the shattered seal on the stone under it. 

A wave of power rippled through the water, signifying the completion of the storm ward seals on the Whirlpool’s easternmost island of Gaisho. With that wave of power came a blinding flash of pain so quick, Yoko almost assumed she’d imagined it. Blinking for a moment, the princess drifted lower onto the sand, placing a hand onto the ward boulder to steady herself as she was struck with a passing dizziness. 

A few moments passed and nothing happened. There were no flashes, no pain, no dizziness. A sudden sense of urgency overtook her nervous confusion as she was abruptly reminded of her time limit as lightning from above made the sand and stone around her glow and light bounced off the multicolored coral. Heart pounding, intent on heeding her shisou’s warnings, her arms raised from her side. In one great motion, the Sacred Emissary sent herself rocketing towards the surface.

Thirty meters…

Fifteen..

Five.

Two–

Red eyes, white mane, white body, fangs even whiter still.

Emotions–

So many, so strong.

Anger. Anger. ANGER.

How DARE you!

A body floating dead in eerily calm water.

Sour. Chakra, poisoned and decaying.

BETRAYAL.

Home–

Friend, not anymore. 

I WILL KILL YOU!

Realms, god and human.

He is both and he WON’T DIE!

A three-tailed beast of massive proportions, figure distorted. Half in one realm, half in another.

he doesn’t deserve to die.

Yoko broke the surface with a heaving gasp. 

She coughed and splashed against the water, frantically propelling herself onto the sealmasters’ ship. 

“Princess!” 

Yoko collapsed to the floor, hand pressed hard against her chest as she fought for breath. The wood of the railing pressed hard against her back. Master Shimiya gripped her shoulders gently and guided her through a breathing exercise. 

“Princess, what do you need?” she asked softly, gripping her hand.

Yoko shuddered through another deep breath. Her lungs ached. She couldn’t remember the last time she couldn’t breathe underwater.

“I need–” she gasped again. “I need shishou.”