Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tick…tick…tick . That’s all that passed through her head. The empty sound of the clock ticking, 

“Is time linear?” A quizzical frown crossed her face.

Such a deep question for him to ask.  

“That idiot asked me when we spar last time…what even is linear? Sounds like food.” 

Of course, why would such a question come from his mouth.

“Well for one linear means straight, ongoing, forever if you will. As for the context of time, he was simply asking if you think time is forever moving…not just going in circles.” She flipped to the next page of her book. The kunoichi had been avoiding her edgy teammate since their previous interaction. She internally bit her lip worrying the edges of the page she was skimming over. 

“Hm…what do you think Sakura?”

The girl sat and thought before offering a small smile, “I'm not sure Naruto,” Sakura closed the book with a small sigh. Flopping down on the bed next to the blonde he turned to look at her, 

“Hn…What's wrong Sakura?” He stared at her, those bright blue eyes exposing her every thought.

“Naruto, how…how do you apologize to someone who has been nothing but kind to you, yet you said something terrible about them?” Naruto’s eyebrow raised,

“Just apologize, if they it’s truly bad at least you wouldn’t be lying to them and you would clear your concise.” She stared at the him, 

“I see…Naruto, Im sorry-”

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The Chunin exams had left Haruno Sakura a complete mess, not just her hair… why had I cut my hair dumb move Sakura. She looked in the mirror, her fingers running through the tips of terribly cut hair. She sighed, “Maybe I could ask someone to cut it more evenly…so it doesn’t look too terrible. I wonder if Ino could do it, her mom is usually too busy.” Are we really going to trust that Ino-pig? Well whatever…maybe I should’ve asked Lee. The Ninja had been on her thoughts  since the exams she had just gotten back from getting flowers for him per Hinata’s suggestion. She had gone with Shiki and her to find the best ones to get. Guilt wasn’t the only thing that ate away at her conscie, the flowers weren’t simply some pity gift they were something more than that. Whether Sakura would admit that was up for debate. His smile danced around her thoughts and she smiled before quickly clearing her throat. Oh don’t deny it, we totally like bushy brows! “Hush up brain not right now, not with our hair in shambles,” Gosh had we gone to see bushy brows with our hair so…so, disheveled. That word couldn’t even properly describe how it looked. Shiki and Hinata hadn’t brought it up. Maybe it wasn’t terrible? “ Let's both face it…they were both lying.” Well we did put it in a ponytail when we saw Lee right? But I suppose he was there when we had cut it off. A deep scowl crossed her face. It’s fine, we can fix it later.    The hair wasn’t the issue. It hadn't looked bad no, not her hair, rather everything else. The uneven ends were fine fixable even, but the deep dark almost black circles that rested under her red eyes from sleep deprivation was what concerned Shikamaru and Hinata. The near death experience had kept her up at night, which entails crying herself to sleep before quickly waking up in a cold sweat. The phantom pain she felt was all too real, slowly they had manifested into night terrors. The experience with death was terrible, some nights she would see herself holding Sasuke’s lifeless body and trying to bandage it while Naruto tried to fight off Haku. Other nights it was Naruto trying to save Gaara or Lee fighting till his last breath against the kid. Over the weeks it had gotten better, the missions they had occupied her mind as slowly those fears had calmed. But there was still that lingering thought in the back of her mind. The only person she had told was Kakashi-Sensei, he had simply nodded and placed a hand on her hair ‘I see’ was all that he said. She could see that he saw right through her concerns and his eye gave way to that plotting look. Another thought crossed her mind at that moment. She had been too weak to save them, to defend them, to stop them from getting hurt and in the end she wasn’t the one to save them either. 

A small sigh escaped her trembling lips. “Some Ninja I am,” She couldn’t protect her teammates or her own life. All she could do was cut her damn hair. She was lucky the others came to her rescue. She couldn’t stand the thought…others saving her, not being able to help. Kakashi-sensei had taken Naruto and Sasuke out for training and told Sakura to ‘rest up’ because she ‘needed it’ but she didn't. She needed to train like Naruto and Sasuke to get stronger to never allow something like that to happen again. Suddenly her face felt warm and wet. Tears, because all she could do was cry, when Naruto had passed out or when Sasuke was lying unconscious next to him. A fist meeting the sink was the only thing she could do before wiping the tears. A crash was then heard but it wasn't her doing. Another fight . With a sigh she dragged herself out of the bathroom and out of her room. Civilian parents were such a pain…I spent too much time with Shiki. “Ma, Dad! Stop fighting or- another crash…shit. Ma, Dad stop-

“Just what the hell do you need Sakura Haruno!? What is so important? Or do you think because you’re some fancy ninja now you can waltz in and act like you own the damn place. I pay for this house that apparently you’re too good for!”

This again…

“Oh so suddenly you pay for everything? who do you think covers the bills of your shopping sprees or when you complain you want to go on dates?” 

Why am I always in the middle of their bickering

“So suddenly me wanting my husband to pay some attention to me is the same as food and groceries!?”

Couldn’t they handle this later.

She couldn’t deal with their bickering today, not right now. She walked back up the stairs before another yell followed.

“Hey don’t walk away when I’m talking to you-”

She didn’t hear the rest of her yelling, her ears buzzing. She needed to leave, it doesn't matter where, just not here. She went to her room, not bothering to close the door as she grabbed her duffle bag. It's almost routine at this point. Maybe sleeping in one of Naruto’s makeshift sleeping bags would get rid of those pesky night terrors and she wouldn’t have to sleep through her mothers drunken antics. It was not worth going downstairs hearing insults hurled her way as she sprinted to Naruto’s dingy apartment. Instead she climbed out of her window and began jumping across rooftops, a trick Naruto taught her. Even when she was trying to be strong alone somehow it always linked back to them. Maybe because she needed them to be strong. She was weak on her own. 

Soon she had made it to his house, if you could call it that. She didn’t bother knocking or asking permission. They were past that it was her second home, though she would never admit that to them.  What had basically become Sasuke and Naruto’s apartment was also becoming hers in a small way. Naruto was always welcoming and Sasuke seemed unbotherd by her presence though she could see the apprehension in his posture. She couldn’t blame him either; she had been obsessed with him throughout their entire time of knowing each other. She still found the man attractive but someone else had truly caught her eye not just because of his looks either. Though after the Chunin Exams he seemed to pick up on her new found crush and actually began to act somewhat pleasant to her. Speaking of him becoming pleasant even she had to admit Sasuke used to be a loner which added to his bad boy charm in theory but in practice. Total buzz kill. The only person he was ever soft with (if you could call it that more like less prickly) was Naruto. They were both extremely close whether or not they could tell it was not for her to decide, ‘they’ll figure it out…eventually’ Kakashi-sensei had told her. She gave him a questioning look, but his eyes simply just crinkled at the sides. After observing the two she finally understood.

She pushed up the window to his small apartment and slipped inside. She sighed as she dropped her bag to the floor.

“Sakura!” two voices rang out. It startled her before the two preteens ran up to grab either one of her hands. 

“Sakura tell this Usuratonkachi he can’t just make up rules when playing cards.”

“Nuh uh, Sakura tell this idiot it’s not making up rules if you forget to establish beforehand,”

 They both continued to bicker before Sakura rested a hand on her forehead “Will you two shut it!” A silence filled the air between the three of them. “Sorry Sakura” they both said in unison. A small grin spread across her face. The two boys let go of her hand as Sakura joined them on the floor. She looked at the two boy’s stack of cards, a small frown dressing her brows

Sakura settled down into the circle and began to deal out the cards, “Both of you have been playing wrong, I'll teach you the correct way.” Sasuke pinned Naruto with a smirk,

“Told you dobe,”

“You too Sasuke,” A grumble escaped his lips before a small laugh escaped Naruto’s mouth. 

Maybe being weak without these two wasn’t all bad

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“hey Sasuke show Sakura what Kakashi-Sensei got for you!” Sakura was stirring a pot of food as Naruto filled up the rice cooker, “Kakashi-Sensei got something really cool for him.” Kakashi-Sensei giving out gifts, odd but not unlikely…hey wait gifts, where the hell is mine?

Sakura looked over curiously as Sasuke pulled out a wooden flute. 

“It’s nothing special…I don't even know any jutsus I could do with it.” The flute was a light brown wooden one, though the valves and holes were placed in an interesting way. Sasuke looked over at Sakura and pinned her with a knowing smile, “Most flutes you see in books aren’t how actual ones are shaped or made.” Her face flushed a slight pink as she went back to cooking, 

“I wasn’t going to ask about that…I was just surprised you knew how to play the flute.” Sasuke nodded and placed it back into the holster on his shorts, How hadn’t I noticed that before it’s in a massive holster. 

“Kakasi-Sensei said he had something for you too.” Sakura nodded but looked at the soup she was stirring. Yes! I knew Kakashi-Sensei would get his favorite student a gift. She smiled, her eyes now overflowing with joy. 

“Of course he got me a gift, Naruto, I'm his favorite,” She smirked at the boy, taking in his shocked expression.

“No way, really! I’ve got a bone to pick with that guy anyway.” He mumbled something off to himself before dropping down to sit next to sasuke. She looked over at the two boys and smiled. Naruto always recovered quickly but that doesn’t mean she still wasn’t concerned while Sasuke always bounced back but sometimes she needed to tell the two to take it more slowly. 

I wonder what Kakashi-Sensei got me?

Chapter Text

Blinking herself awake, Sakura moved around, feeling Naruto’s leg pushing into her back. How did he even end up on the floor? Groaning, she rolled over pushing herself up. The sun hadn’t even risen as her head began to ache, “I need a coffee…” sliding out of the makeshift-bed between Naruto and Sasuke. Sakura heard one of them grunt before quickly falling back into a normal sleep pattern. Letting out a sigh of relief she quickly walked past the bed to the corner of the room. Which was simply a foot away from it. Naruto should invest in a bigger space. Crouching down she feels around the floor before her hand touches a bag. Feeling around the base of the bag she pulled out a leather wallet. Sakura stood up dusting herself off before slowly walking towards the door. Her body cringing at every creek in the frame of the floor. Finally she reached the door and pulled the handle stepping outside before softly shutting it again. “Why is everything louder at night? I hate an extra grouchy Sasuke, lucky I didn’t wake him.” She began walking down the stairs before stepping outside. Cricket chirps filled her ears as she took in a long breath. She took large steps dragging each one as she stumbled into the night market of the village. The smell of late night street food overwhelmed her senses as she walked through the cool air.

Strolling through the night life of the village as she pushed forward. Taking in the candle of the street lights she waved at the people greeting her. Some people tried offering her food, a polite shake of her head followed as she stood between taller adults and the young children clinging to them. She chewed the inside of her mouth as she walked through the crowd. She began humming a song to herself, one her mother and father used to sing to her when she was younger. Back when they were in love, or at least tolerated each other for her sake. Now they had just let whatever they wanted to say spill out of their mouths. Maybe they think I'm old enough now…not to pretend. Shaking her head from the thought she heard the soft plucking of strings and a kind voice singing out. She took a small step in the direction of the music before turning the corner and walking towards the sound almost sprinting. She had heard the song before, she couldn't remember where, but almost magnetically the song pulled her in. Stopping in front of the man she stared as his voice carried through her ears. The mas fingers glided across shamisen, “Don’t try…to live so wise.” He belted out the words as Sakura’s first tightened. Mom and dad…was it all my fault. Was all the fighting and bickering my fault. “Don't dry…with fakes or fears 'Cause you will hate yourself in the end,” The words struck her as the song ended. A few clapped and some threw money onto a small bowl as the man thanked everyone. Why am I still thinking about them...I'm out here for myself, not them. It's not my fault that they're fighting. I just wanted to be a ninja...it isn't my fault, right? The man looked over at Sakura, her face distant and pained. The man set down his instrument, tugging at the thin jacket that covered his arms and rested his hand on his exposed knees. The man looked over at the girl, “Did you not listen to the song kid?” Startled out of her thoughts, Sakura quickly looks over. The grouchy man pushed back his jet black hair, his fingers lacing into the black strands.

“Huh…sorry I was distracted.”

“Clearly.” The man grunted “don’t try to fix whatever is wrong…you’ll end up hurting yourself. If it was truly worth trying to fix, you’ll know it.” The man looked at the money and took it out of the small bowl. Taking it in his hand he counts through the money and groans as he scratches the back of his neck. “And by that look, hell kid, it ain’t” Sakura nodded, 

“Your song was beautiful…well the parts that I heard.” The man nodded as a small sigh escaped his lips. Sakura looked down at her leather wallet. It was a gift from Ino, it was a small bright pink wallet. Sakura had blushed when Ino had given it to her, it was slightly embarrassing as Ino compared the wallet to her hair. Taking out a bit of money she handed it to the man. “Thanks, for the advice.” Looking slightly surprised the man took the money carefully before placing it into a small pocket in his gray shorts. The wrapping around his fingers flexed as he tapped the bandages around his ankle. She stood there for a moment bouncing on her heels before quickly walking away. 

“Thanks kid!” The man yelled as Sakura found herself being led back to the main road of the night market. She smiled a bit as the food once again filled the air around her. Walking along the road she felt her head begin to ache again. Coffee, that's why she was out here. A thought crossed her mind as she began to walk down a small off road.

Finally she stumbled upon her favorite spot. A small coffee shop located in a very unassuming alleyway. She turned the corner and pushed open the door. A small bell chimed as the owner looked up, “Welcome! Sakura? Nice to see you. You know Kuzuryu missed you during his dayshift.” Sakura smiled and nodded as she approached the intimidating man. He towered behind a wood counter lined with bright red stools. His apron was covered in different colored frosting stains and small coffee drops.

“I'm sure he did Mr.Lou, but he only has himself to blame. He told me caffeine everyday at my age would stunt my growth.” The man grinned as he finished stirring something and placing it on the counter in front of a tired blonde with her head on the counter. She looked at the woman curiously. Shaking the thought from her head she focused on her beating head and sluggish movements. Walking over and sitting down a couple stools over, she watched the woman with slight unease.

“Lou? That’s your name…pfft what's that like from the village of sound.” The woman lifted her head revealing her flushed cheeks. The heck is her problem, let's tell her off. Shaking her head from the thought she frowned at the woman. “That’s like…different, there is a word for that. Something Shizune told me, e-lectic or something.” Lou nodded, walking away to grab a mug. He picked the mug from a cabinet and began to pour coffee into it. He handed Sakura a mug before leaning onto the counter, his mouth buried in his hand as he looked at the blonde. She curtly took it before blowing steam from the top. Now that I think about it she totally reeks of liquor. A frown crossed her face, “What the hell do you want kid?” Her voice came out raspy and rough as she looked at the girl.

Slightly surprised, the drunken woman could feel her gaze. A frown crossed Sakura’s face before she quickly took a sip out of her mug. “Nothing…” The woman accepted the response, she grunted before chugging down her boiling hot mug. Slamming it down on the counter she leaned back and smiled. Sakura felt her left eye unconsciously twitch. Lou let out a hearty laugh. He grabbed the mug and walked over the sink. He frowned as he placed it on the other stacked dishes.  

“I’ll be back I need to fix the drain pipe.” Lou grabbed a rag and threw it over his shoulder as he walked behind a bright red curtain. Nodding Sakura turned her attention back to the woman. An annoyed grin crossed her face as she showed a forced smile at the woman

“Ma’am your mouth is probably going to burn from that, maybe you should see someo-” She paused as she watched the blonde woman’s hand glow in a sapphire blue as she placed it near her lips. The woman nodded and looked over at Sakura.

“Y’know kid, you should learn to hide such a judgemental gaze. You’re a ninja right?” Sakura’s cheeks gained a slight pink hue as she nodded. What a nosy old hag. The woman smiled as she took her hand away from her mouth. “ I can tell by the way you walk…though you’re not quite a good one.” She chuckled at the offended expression enveloping Sakura’s face. “What kid, it's not hard to tell or anything.” Let’s kick the old hags ass! Who the hell does this grandma think she is? The woman looked over at the girl's pissed face. “Hn…kid, what do you know about medical ninjutsu?” Medical ninjutsu? Such a random question, what the hell is this lady’s deal.

“Enough,” Sakura responded. The blonde nodded and she looked over at her and smiled. The woman stood up as Sakura flinched. Walking over and standing behind Sakura, “Pass me your hand kid,” Sakura bit her lip but she sat down her mug and turned to face the woman. She extended her hand to the woman. The blonde woman grabbed her arm and pushed a few nerves on her hand. Suddenly Sakura’s arm felt empty and heavy. “What the hell did you do to me grandma!?” Sakura yelled at the blonde woman. The woman's face quickly contorted into shock.

“Grandma!? Kid I was going to fix your arm, but now I’m tempted to not!” Suddenly Sakura’s eyes filled with more panic as she tried to move her arm.

“Wait, wait, fix it please!” She looked up at the woman, panic lacing her voice. The woman smirked at her concern as she grabbed Sakura’s arm and pressed a few spots. Quickly, feeling regained in her arm and fingers. She moved it around feeling the counter top and mug before letting out a shaky breath. She looks back at the smug woman, her arms resting under her chest, “How the hell did you do that?” The woman smiled and leaned down to be at face level. 

“Medical ninjutsu, clearly.” The woman pushed Sakura’s forehead and grinned.

“Is that what you used to heal your throat? I thought for sure you would have a second degree burn, at a minimum.” The blonde woman nodded. 

“I was going to teach you…but you called me grandma,” A frown crossed the blondes face. Suddenly Sakura felt a slight pang of guilt. 

“I was just shocked at the sudden lack of movement and I kind of went into defensive mode.” The blonde nodded and she pressed her lips into a thin line. “But you were going to try and teach me?” Sakura asked as she looked up at the woman. The blonde smiled. 

“I was…you seem to have good chakra control from when I touched your arm and cut off a few nerves. I mean I had a hunch, but the arm was just confirmation.” Sakura smiled, her face feeling warm. 

“Well, I wouldn’t mind you still teaching me.”

“Really?” 

“Mmh” 

A smirk graced the blonde’s face and flexed her fingers, “I knew you would make the right choice, Now listen kid, I'm not going to say this twice, close your eyes, channel your chakra to the tips of your finger.” Sakura fumbled at the sudden directions, she hesitated but slowly followed after. She closed her eyes, clearing her thoughts. She felt the chakra flow through her arm. “Think about the temperature of it, once you feel the temperature of it allow yourself to let it drop. Allow your fingers to feel cold.”  Now that Sakura thought about it, chakra did have a temperature. The thought never truly occurred to her. I mean of course she realized that it felt warm throughout her body but controlling that was something so simple yet so ingenious. Something Naruto would say off the fly . The woman let out a low whistle disturbing Sakura’s thoughts. “Wow…open your eyes kid.” Sakura let her eyes open as she looked down. Looking down at her hand. Her fingers glowed with the beautiful sapphire blue that the woman before had once displayed. It wasn’t as bright or strong as the blonde’s but enough to maybe heal a small cut. She felt a smile creep into her features. 

“So now I can heal like you?” Her smile quickly faded as the woman broke into hysterical laughter. She grimaced before rolling her eyes, “Fine laugh it up.” Sakura allowed the blue to fade from her hand. The woman wiped away the tears pricking at the corner of her eyes. 

“Oh kid you have got a long road in front of you to do something like me…but I'm sure with a bit of guidance, you could. I wasn't sure if that explanation would work...this technique is basic but still requires lots of background knowledge” Sakura nodded slightly dejected but hopeful. “But hey, at least you can heal small cuts now, and most people take at least a week to even feel the temperature of their chakra. You did it in a few minutes” The thought filled Sakura with relief and she grinned, “Got any chakra left in you pinkie?” Sakura nodded her smile growing at the nickname, 

“Sure Auntie, what did you have in mind?”

Chapter Text

Sakura sat in Naruto’s kitchen flexing her fingers, “So the blondie just started yapping to ya? Huh, what a weird lady.” Sakura nodded as Naruto handed her a plate. 

“Thank you.” She took the plate from his hands as he turned back to his stovetop biting his lip as he turned it off. Walking over to the small table he sat down with his own plate. Sakura bit her fork as she focused out on the window. 

“So-“

“Are-“

They quickly made eye contact and smiled. A small laugh escaped Sakura’s lips, “Ladies first.” Naruto smiled and shook his head. Pausing he gestured for her to continue. “Oh, how kind of you ma’am. Well what I was going to say was, you have gotten really good at cooking. I’m proud of you.” Naruto blushed slightly taken aback.

“Thanks Sakura…my turn I guess?” Sakura nodded while shoving a forkful of pancakes into her face. “Well, I just wanted to ask if you were okay. I mean I know you are but, what if the crazy lady taught you some forbidden technique.” He frowned slightly before tracing circles into the bottom of his dark blue t-shirt. “I just don’t want something to happen to you…y’know?” Sakura nodded.

“I appreciate that Naruto, but you have nothing to worry about.” Sakura placed her hand on her bicep flexing the muscles. “I’m going to be the strongest kunoichi ever!” She reached over, placing a hand on Naruto’s shoulder. “I also have you, the future Hokage, on my side.” Sakura smiled, leaning back into the chair. She jutted a thumb towards a sleeping Sasuke, a smirk growing on her lips. “Plus we have this edgelord prodigy on our side.” 

Naruto smiled and laughed a bit. His eyes crinkled in the same way Kakashis did when he was clearly proud. “You’re right, I have nothing to worry about.” His smile quickly faded as he stared at Sasuke still sprawled on the ground. “We should probably wake Sasuke.” Both sat there hesitant and nervous. “Last week I woke him up so it’s your turn.” Naruto shot up from his chair and, “I’m going to go make Sasuke a plate, and your food looks cold, let me heat it up.” He continued to ramble while grabbing plates.

“Hey I wasn’t even done with that.” Sakura said, irritated. He shrugged and turned on his heel. A groan left Sakura’s mouth as she slowly stood from her seat.

“Curse me, huh?”

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Naruto and Sasuke had been sparring while waiting for Kakashi to show up. Sakura sat under a tree, her gaze switching between the fighting and a book on controlling and strengthening medical ninjutsu. That woman yesterday was so strange, teaching me something like that, then being snatched up by some black haired woman. Totally weird. She was right though all these books over complicate things. Sakura’s fingers flexed as she tried to follow the instructions of the book. Looking at her fingers she frowned, her fingers were even duller than they were before. “Damn it…maybe I should try to find Auntie again.” She let the chakra fizzle from her fingers and let out a sigh.

“Yo, Sakura!” The voice rang out in her ears. Without looking up she closed the book she was reading. Channelling chakra to her fingers she felt the temperature drop to a cold faucet level. Huh I wonder what something hot would do? Stopping her thoughts from wondering, she shook her head and looked at the two boys now in front of her. “Just because I can heal you guys doesn’t mean you should start purposely hurting each other.” Sakura’s hand glowed over Sasuke’s arm. The cut wasn’t deep; it had probably been caused by a kunai. The wound closed quickly and Sasuke flexed his arm. “Do you feel anything?”

“No.” They both stared waiting for more.” 

“Anything else…or?” Sakura asked, her gaze a mix of unimpressed and concerned.

He looked between the two and looked at his arm. “Hm, yeah.” He finally decided on, like he was contemplating whether to disclose it like it was confidential information.

“Okay, do you want to?” Naruto raised an eyebrow as if to try and coax it out of him. Naruto and Sakura had gotten used to Sasukes usual social ineptness, but he was being especially hard today. Luckily Sasuke finally decided to share.

“Kind of felt crazy. I couldn’t feel anything but when you stopped, my arm felt like before. That’s kind of cool.” Sakura blushed at the compliment, an uncontrollable smile growing on her face. 

“Thanks, but just try not to hurt yourself.” Breathing out slowly her hand soon returned to its regular temperature, but her hand still had remnants of the cool air. Huh it started to heal faster towards the end when my hand had been using it for the longest. She smiled before standing up, dusting herself off when a revelation came to her. “I totally lied. Hurt each other till your heart's content.” Both Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other utterly confused. Sasuke soon shrugged and socked Naruto in the face. 

“Keep up you dobe!” 

“Hey, not fair teme! I wasn’t ready.” 

Sakura cringed at each blow they dealt to one another. God they’re such idiots…well at least I get to test my theory. Walking back to her previous spot she leaned against the tree and closed her eyes letting the banter of Naruto and Sasuke, mixed with the rustling of the tree fill her ears.

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Naruto practically hobbled over to Sakura while Sasuke casually followed. Clearly Sasuke had won most of the rounds, he was covered in small scratches and a single growing bruise on his arm. Naruto had been covered in several bruises and a couple shallow cuts along his arm which had started to heal already. Curse him and his amazing unexplainable healing factor. A smile filled her face as she observed the injuries. “Just so you boys know, this is only a theory…I’m not exactly sure if it will work.” Sakura felt exposed as Naruto glared into what felt like her soul.

“You should have told that one not to go all out.” Sasuke smiled and nudged Naruto in the side. A scowl crossed their face as he groaned softly from the pain.

 “Damn it Sasuke, how bad did you hurt him!?” Sasuke simply shrugged. “Well whatever, both of you sit down. I need to focus if this will work…in theory.” Both followed her instructions. She joined them on the soft grass and closed her eyes. 

“Stay quiet please.” Soon chakra filled her fingers, her fingers felt cold, soon the cool temperature felt like ice, then her hand rested on the grass. She felt the small traces of chakra in the grass and tried to imagine herself pulling it from the individual blades. After her hand felt like the chakra was going to overflow out of her, she stopped. She then allowed it to spread throughout her hand. Her palm felt like holding ice cubes but without the numbness pain that came with it. Just the cold feeling. Opening her eyes she smiled brightly. The same brilliant blue the woman had displayed was now glowing across her hand. 

“Wow” a breathless voice came out. “Mmh sorry silence right?” Sakura shook her head and smiled at Naruto.

“No I’m good, now give me your arm.” Naruto extended their arm and as Sakura closed her eyes she held her hand over it. The wound quickly closed, the wound had closed so perfectly and the skin where it had been looked rejuvenated and soft. Sakura smiled and began her fingers gliding over the rest of the bruises and cuts. 

“Nice work, though may I recommend going in sections and dealing with more serious injuries to more easily preserve chakra.” 

Startled all three pre-teens jumped. “Kakashi-sensei!?” We thought we would have at least another hour.” Naruto glared at the man, his sentiment shared through all of them. Kakashi jumped down from the tree he was perched on.

“Aww, my students know me so well, shucks you kids are too kind. Also Sakura, your healing is remarkable for someone your age, don’t tell me you went and found another sensei.” He looked at her with faux disappointment and sadness. 

Sakura was about to laugh when suddenly She felt Naruto squeezing her arm and his face in a state of concealed fear and pain. “No I haven’t…I was just reading that book and wanted to try something out.” Naruto let out a sigh and Sakura squeezed his arm back. Kakashi nodded knowingly, his eyes squinting as he observed the group. 

“I’ll hold out on your gift for now, Sakura.” He smiled before placing a hand on her head. “Sasuke, start running laps while blowing into your new toy.” Sasuke rolled his eyes and grabbed the instrument from its holster in his waistband. “Naruto and Sakura, how about you two spar.” Sakura looked at him slightly confused. 

“Kakashi-sensei, not to question your authority, but why us?” Kakashi shrugged. He smiled and rested his hand on her shoulder.

“You’re a lot stronger than you think Sakura.” He pressed a finger into her forehead, “mentally,” he then pushed his finger into her arm. “And physically. Trust me, I saw you during the exams. You’ll be fine.” Sakura nodded hesitantly. “Good now get out there so I can read.”

Sakura followed behind Naruto as they walked to a more open part of the grass. Taking first position Naruto got into a fighting stance. Swallowing deeply, Sakura followed suit, her heart pounding in her ears. 

Naruto leapt off of his left foot advancing towards her. Sakura quickly moved to her right and held up an arm to block the incoming kick from them. He quickly jumped back before sweeping his leg under her. Sakura fell over but quickly rolled over onto her back. She quickly lunged back to her feet but suddenly saw the flash of a fist before it made contact with her cheek. Staining her cheek with a red mark her expression turned dark. Okay no more nice Sakura. Bitterly stepping back as Naruto’s expression changed from proud to terrified. She swung her leg up as she made contact with his stomach while grabbing for his arm. He stumbled back as she used her other arm to grab the collar of his brightly colored jacket. Pulling him close she lifted him over her shoulder before shifting her weight onto his back causing them to both fall over. While Sakura landed on their back Naruto landed in the grass face first their expression dazed a bit as he tried to regain a steady vision. Quickly Sakura moved away from him as she found footing back in her original position. Now that we’re warmed up let’s totally kick his ass. Internal Sakura pumped her fist, as she outwardly smiled.

“You know Sakura, you hit like a-“ His sentence was interrupted by a fist to his face. He stumbled back, “fuck!”

“Language!” Kakashi yelled not bothering to look up but clearly watching intently. At this point Sasuke had stopped to watch the two suspiciously. Kneeling on the ground Naruto cradled his nose covering it with his hands. 

“Shit,” Sakura looked at him her hands extended towards him.

“Language! Are you kids deaf” Rolling her eyes she turned her attention back to a kneeling Naruto. “Naruto are you okay? I didn’t mean to punch you that hard. I mean I did but-“ She suddenly felt her arm being pulled forward as her feet were swept behind her. Falling face first into the grass and heard a laugh escape Naurto’s mouth. 

“Heh you actually fell for that whole act?” Sakura looked up, spitting grass from her mouth and pushing her hair to the side. She saw thick blood running out of Naruto’s reddened nose, matter of fact now that she truly started it looked crooked. “Thanks for caring so much Sakura.” He offered her a bloodied hand. She gave him a disgusted look as she pushed herself up. Standing, she dusted herself off as Kakashi leisurely walked over. Sasuke trailed behind him clearly wanting to see everything. 

“Naruto, why would Sakura accept your hand covered in blood.” Kakashi scolded as he grabbed Naruto’s chin. Turning his face to look at him, Naruto flashed a goofy grin. “Yeah, you definitely broke his nose, good work Sakura.” She looked slightly confused and taken aback. “Poor Sasuke over here has been trying for weeks.” Sasuke nodded as if it was something so basic. Odd is he some sort of sadist?!  A shiver ran down her back, but wait, she had broken his nose?!

“Naruto I am so sorry!” She tried to approach him, her hand already glowing blue. Kakashi waved her off.

“Don’t worry Sakura I’ve got this,” He paused and looked at Naruto, “I was planning to get some food later. Naruto, do you have any recommendations?” Naruto’s eyes lit up and he began listing different places to eat. Kakashi placed his hand on his nose. A large snap followed by a high pitched shriek. “There, all better.” Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes.”

“That hurt like hell...”

Chapter Text

Sakura stared at the bookcase that lined her bedroom wall. The emptiness of it all made her stomach turn and her head constrict.  The deep blue walls were a nice contrast to her brown bookcase that reached the ceiling. Sakura still remembered when her mother had helped her pick it out and set it up. Back when her mom treated her with respect. Now she purposely had all the books dumped. Her room felt completely empty. Her mothers excuse for the complete overhaul of her years of collecting was, ‘you hadn’t been home in a week, assumed you moved out’ it was as simple as that with a small shrug. At this rate it felt like she wanted to move out. She let out a small sigh and ran her finger across the shelf, dust sticking to her finger. “Mom…” Groaning, she moved over to her desk. 

The stationary sprawled across it in complete disarray. Pens were knocked over, and the papers half torn. Accident my ass, she did it on purpose. Bawling her fist, she took a deep sigh before shaking them out. “It’s fine, I just get another excuse to go book shopping.” She tried to stay positive, her smile slightly faltering. But where the hell am I going to get the money to replace those? Walking around her room rather defeated and honestly quite crushed at the thought of her mother tearing away and trashing something so important to Sakura, she remembered something. A box full of straight cash, it was about 200 ryo all gathered together in a large black lock box. 

Sakura swore that if anything were to happen to her she would give half of it to her parents so they could pay for anything that wouldn't be covered. And the other half to her future team. Honestly it had been childish to think about, and her parents had been shocked and very uncomfortable at the idea of their only daughter creating a fund for if she ever died while serving her village. Now that she thought about it, it was quite morbid. She still remembered her mother tearing up and her father ushering her out of the room. She stilled at the thought, now her mother could care less if she died. Pushing away the memory she was reminded of its current purpose, it now functioned more as a savings box which she occasionally used to buy things. Recently due to her moms actions and her fathers dismissiveness of it, spending it all didn’t seem all that bad.

She walked over to her nightstand and pulled open the middle drawer. She reached her hand inside of it and felt around the top of it. Feeling the key taped to the roof of the drawer she pulled it out and shut it. She took a step over to her bed and crouched down. Reaching under the bed she dragged out a heavy metal box, her jaw almost dropped open at the sight. A slew of scratch marks covered the box along with dents like someone repeatedly tried to bang it open. Her hands began to shake but she quickly bit her tongue to stop it. She let out a small sigh as she inspected the box. No, there’s no way she would stoop that low. Quickly she grabbed the key and pushed it into the keyhole. A wave of relief washed over her as she stared at the box still brimming with the money she left there. She ran her fingers across it like it was some sort of illusion that would disappear if disturbed.

Quickly she picked up the box grunting softly as she hobbled out of her room. She walked down the stairs, the box still clutched tightly in her arms. Her father looked up from his seat in the kitchen. “Saki, what’s that in your hand?” Quickly her mother looked up, studying the box for a long time.

“Just my box,” Sakura smiled softly at the nickname. It felt like forever since she had been called that. It felt like the time before she graduated and her family still loved each other. Like they still loved her.

“Huh, well don’t spend it all in one place,” He looked at the box indifferently before his gaze fixed back to the mug he was idly stirring. Sakura nodded and smiled.

“Sakura,” a serious voice rang out, “give me that box.” Her mother looked at her seriously with nervousness lacing her tone

“Why?” Sakura asked accusingly and held the box a little tighter to her chest. Her mother paused at the question and looked at her shocked. Quickly her mother took a breath and pushed her hair away from her face.

“It’s just, I wouldn’t want you to go on some spending spree, is all.” She laughed nervously at the unimpressed look gracing Sakura’s face. “Look I know you’re mad at me, but no need to go nuclear and throw away my money.” She blushed at the slip up and moved to push her hair out of her face. That nervous tick again. Sakura rolled her eyes and continued to walk down the stairs. Her mothers demeanor suddenly changed at the action, “Listen, it’s our money, you can’t just spend it how you want.” She sounded calm and composed but judging by the gritted teeth and clearly furrowed brows she was anything but that.

“No way, it's my money which I saved. I can spend it however I want.” Sakura sighed tiredly, she was speaking in a tone like one used on a child who simply didn’t get it. With a dismissive wave she began walking towards the door. Quickly she heard the steps of someone approaching, she now felt a hand pull her shoulder.

“Where do you think you get off talking back to me?” She dug her nails into Sakura’s shoulder. Sakura was barely moved by the squeeze. She pushed her mothers hand away before turning to face her.

“It isn’t back talk, and this is not your money. Plus you sold all of my books,” She pushed a finger roughly into her mothers chest. “You don’t get to tell me how to spend my money,” Sakura rolled her eyes and gripped the box tighter. “Plus don’t you have enou-” Suddenly her cheek burned and tingled. Sakura’s father quickly looked up, his eyes locked on her cheek. The inside of her mouth felt warm and full of liquid.

“Insolent brat, who the hell taught you to speak to me like that?” Her other cheek now felt the same as the other. Sakura looked at her mother dumbstruck. She wasn’t scared, rather her feelings were that of betrayal. Maybe shock or indifference she simply stood there, swallowing deeply.  She continued to listen but was beginning to disassociate. What…what just happened. Didshehitmenowayshedidright? She heard her name being called but it barely felt like hers. She slowly began to reach for her cheek, her fingers barely brushed the mark. She was stuck in one place and truthfully it looked like she had stopped breathing, she was but it was the shallowest breaths one could take. “Sakura, are you even listening? I bet it was that demon brat, huh? I knew he was a terrible influence on you.” 

Sakura quickly blinked back into focus at the mention of a demon brat. Unconsciously she squeezed the bottom of the black box. She felt her stomach twist at the usage of demon. He isn’t some thing or a demon, why does everyone look at him like that? He doesn’t deserve that. Why did I ever look at him like that? Why did she tell me to look at him like that?” The more her thoughts began to race the more spiraling she began doing and the more she felt something hot boil inside her stomach. “And that other one, he’s just as crazy as the demon child.” Her mother began to shout, spouting outlandish claims about her team. She walked around with her hands on her hip, her step occasionally flattering as she began pacing. Sakura's shock and hell, her fear had dissipated in almost an instant. She hates them, who cares if I hate her.

“Shut. Up.” Her voice was low and almost inaudible.

“Excuse me!?” Sakura’s mother stopped and turned to face her. She walked over to her daughter. Bending down she moved her face closer and narrowed her eyes, the smell of alcohol wafting from her clothes.

“I told you to shut up! Don’t you ever talk about them like that.” Sakura’s mother stepped back shocked. Sakura was now seething. Her body felt hot, and the box in her fingers felt soft as she squeezed it. The ends of it began curling up at her grip.

“Sakura.” A deep voice rang out. It was low and calm, but extremely stern and almost angry. “don’t yell at your mother.” Her father calmly said. Sakura bit down on her lip to keep it from trembling. “You two should step away for a bit. Sakura, this house was peaceful until you caused a ruckus.” He sighed before taking a long sip from his mug. “Mebuki…you’re drunk, leave her alone.” Sakura felt her body begin to cool, and she loosened her grip on the box.

“I'm going to leave, I don’t know if i’ll be back tonight.” Sakura’s father nodded as he turned back to his mug. Her mother looked at her, eyes downturned a hint of regret hidden in them, before walking away in a huff. Walking out of the door Sakura closed it behind her. Licking the now dried blood from her lip she lifted a glowing hand to her cheek.

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Walking into the bookstore she patted the wads of cash stored in her belt pocket. The box was securely tucked under her arm. It had been quite a burden to carry it, but she would rather that, then returning home. A soft elderly woman's voice cut through her over crowded jumbled thoughts “Afternoon Ms. Haruno.” The greeting had become a small way of acknowledging the quite frankly obscene amount of time Sakura spent in the bookstore.

“Good Afternoon granny,” Sakura greeted calmly as she grabbed the bright green baskets. She smiled while taking in the smell of paper and ink. Nothing like books to fix any situation. I should probably re-buy some of those books. Looking through the store shelves she began picking up new books along with some old classics she knew she would miss. She looked through the shelves when a dusty brown book caught her attention. 

She pulled it back to read the title, but it was blank. Now this is something interesting. She pulled the book into her arms and began flipping through pages. She skimmed through the book, it was written like someone's personal journal, hell it might have been if Sakura was honest. The book was handwritten and had lines like the ones you find in diaries. Words were misspelled and scribbled out. She was about to put it back when a certain name caught her eye ‘Uzumaki’ in bold letters. The hell!? No way there was someone else with the surname uzumaki. Her eyes re-read the word over and over again like it was going to disappear. She quickly picked up the book and threw it into her basket. “Maybe I should ask Naruto if he has any relatives he doesn’t mention,” She placed a hand on her hip proudly. Naruto is going to be totally floored. She grinned as she began walking down the aisle. Maybe I can find another one. 

Sakura meticulously began to search the shelves, her eyes looking at every title and empty cover. Lost in her own thoughts and without looking she bumped into a taller man. “Sorry sir, I’ll watch where i'm going next time,” The response was quick and robotic, in a certain mindset Sakura couldn’t be bothered with pleasantries and politeness. 

“That’s no way to treat your elders, show a little respect.” Stopping in her tracks she looked up from the shelf to see Kakashi standing over her looking down and smiling. “Yo,” He curtly greeted, with a small wave. His posture was lazy, he clearly had been perusing the aisle for a bit. His eyes were droopy, a telltale sign of his exhaustion

Kakashi-sensei! What are you doing here?” Sakura looked up at him questioningly, and frankly accusingly 

“Just shopping, can’t your poor teacher do that. Swear you kids act like I don’t have hobbies...though why you're in this exact aisle is far more concerning.” She raised an eyebrow. Kakashi pointed to a sign hanging on the top shelf. She turned and looked at the bright red sign reading ‘Adult Romance’

Oh. “It’s not what you think, honestly. I'm not some weirdo like you.” Kakashi raised an eyebrow, Sakura simply shrugged and waved her hand dismissively. “Whatever, what are you doing in this aisle?” Kakashi frowned and rested his book on her head.

“Adult business is adult business. Kids should keep their nose out of it.” Sakura stuck her tongue out and pushed his book away from her head, 

“Well, teenage business is teenage business so stay out.” He chuckled a bit and added a book to his basket.

“You’re barely a teenager.” He laughed slightly uneasily at the joke and began to walk away. “How about you join me for some food, I’ll pay!” Her eyes lit up at the request. Free food and I got books, hell yeah I’m coming. Quickly she followed behind the man. “Did you want any more books?” Sakura shook her head.

“I came here and got most of what I wanted. Plus I can always come back.” Kakashi nodded and looked down into her basket, a look crossed his face like he was ready to ask a question, though he held his tongue. When they made it to the older woman at the front she gave Kakashi a knowing look.

“My, have you heard, he started a new series under a new pen name, sneaky fellow i'll give him that.” Kakashi’s interest was now thoroughly peeked. He leaned over the counter to better hear the woman. He began to talk to the woman like a teenage girl gushing over the male lead in some stallion novel. Luckily the only person in line behind Kakashi was Sakura, and if she wasn’t promised free food, she would be absolutely pissed. After his midday gossip session with the owner, he thanked the woman for the recommendation and walked away to the stand by the door, inspecting the it with great focus. Total freak. When it was her turn to be rung up she pulled out the massive wad of cash and pushed it towards the woman. 

“Don’t you already have a few of those?” Kakashi’s posture didn’t change truly nothing about the way the man looked changed, but he was now clearly listening

Sakura paused before taking the large bag in her hand and the leftover money. “Yeah but my mom accidentally threw out all of my books, no big deal though.” The older woman nodded and pushed her glasses up.

“Well Ms. Haruno, feel free to stop by anytime. I'll hold onto a few books I know you’ll want back.” Sakura nodded and smiled sweetly,

“Thanks granny.” She began to walk over to where Kakashi had been secretly eavesdropping. She could feel the pitiful gaze of the older woman dragging her down. Kakashi looked over at her and smiled.

“Ready to go kid?” Sakura frowned at the nickname before nodding. Free food, it’s free food. Sakura followed beside him, Kakashi smoothly changed his pace to match hers. “So kid, what have you been up to? Sasuke told me, you’ve been making food at Naruto’s apartment. Don’t tell him I said this, but he said that you’re a great cook.” Sakura raised an eyebrow, but smiled at the compliment. 

“Did he now,” Sakura grinned her eyes full of pride. “Well I won’t say anything, but I’m glad he liked it. It took me and Naruto, for what felt like hours, to convince him to try it.” She huffed and rubbed the space between her eyebrows, “That kid I swear,” Kakashi laughed at her tone and slouched posture.

“Well you were right, you aren’t some kid, though I fear you skipped straight to the nagging grandma stage.” Sakura gave him a disgusted look before sticking up her nose and turning her head away.

“Oh shut up, I’m not some grandma, I'm young and spry…just a bit of back pain though.” Sakura blushed slightly at the admission while placing a hand on her lower back. Kakashi nodded, trying to hold in his laugh. He cleared his throat and stopped in front of a large building as he placed a hand on her head.

“Don’t worry Sakura, Sasuke is how to put it.” He paused to think for a moment. “A little closed off and usually opposed to trying new things. He likes things the way he likes them, and it’s just the way he is. Trust me though, he likes you guys. And I think he enjoys trying new things with the two of you.” Sakura blinked, dumbfounded, her gaze fixed on Kakashi. He ruffled her hair and smiled. “Well that was a fun talk, but now we’re here.” Kakashi smiled as he pushed back the curtain to allow Sakura to walk in.

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Flipping a piece of pork on the hot plate Kakashi looked warily at Sakura as she blew steam off of a piece and tried shoving it in her mouth before taking it out, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. “Sakura, you’re going to burn your mouth, just wait for it to cool off.” Sakura waved a hand at him and tried to eat the piece again. It burned her tongue and the roof of her mouth, but to spite her teacher she swallowed roughly. Quickly she held up a glowing hand to her mouth. Kakashi sighed and rested his head in his hand. “I told you kid.” Sakura nodded as the burning sensation left her mouth.

“I know, I know, I’m just really hungry.” She took a sip of water from her glass and leaned back in her seat. “Kakashi-sensei what do you look like under your mask?” Kakashi placed a piece of meat on her plate and handed it back to her.

“The village of sound has another dialect, interesting right?” A deflection of course, what do I expect. Sakura shrugged and nodded.

“Yeah, it’s cool I guess. Glad that he not so gracefully avoided the question he changed to a different topic.

“So, what do you have that box for?” Sakura paused the tapping of her finger on the table.

“It’s…well it was money. I spent a lot of it on buying books today.” Kakashi nodded and observed her posture.

“You already own a few of those, why buy them again?” Sakura rested her cheek against her fist and looked down at the wooden table. She simply shrugged and reached for her hair to twist the ends. “Sakura” A voice called, “I’m your teacher, I already know everything. You can always tell me.” Sakura nodded slowly. She lifted her head from her fist and reached for her cheek slowly. 

“Kakashi-sensei, am I a good person?” Kakashi was unmoved and nodded. “I'm starting to think I'm becoming just as bad as them.” Kakashi leaned back and closed his eyes. “I start to think about the way I treated Naruto. I wonder if I’m just doing it to feel better about myself, or superior to everyone else” Kakashi nodded along while listening. “I can’t stand to think I’m becoming like them, like her. I just want things to be simple again, where mom loved me, and dad acted like he cared.” Tears had now begun streaming down her cheeks. “I want everything to be easy, but I don’t want to go back to that old way of thinking.” She quickly began to wipe the tears, her head hanging. The silence stretched on for a long time before Sakura opened her mouth again. “She hit me today. I think I sort of hate her.” Kakashi nodded and looked at her.

“Well now you have two choices, try to fix what you know is unfixable at this point, or start new with people who care.” Sakura sat in silence. Not because she was thinking but because she wasn't sure if Kakashi needed her to vocalize it. “Well kid, I fear I know by your silence your choice.” Sakura frowned at the name, her regular demeanor returning.

“Don’t call me, ‘kid’ Kakashi-sensei.” He waved a hand at her dismissively like she had earlier. U sing my own methods against me! Well played, Kakashi-sensei, well played. But i also have something up my sleeves. “You know my dad used to call me kid, that and Saki…not sure how I feel about it anymore.” Kakashi paused, the silence stretched for a long time before finally being broken by him.

“Yīnghuā…?” Kakashi proposed, it left his mouth like a mistake rather than an idea.

“What does it mean?” Sakura looked at him, her judgeful scowl pressuring Kakashi.

“It’s in the village of sound dialect, it’s a direct translation of your name. Trust me.” He swallowed deeply and rubbed his arm “Please?” Sakura thought for a moment.

“Sure. It sounds totally cute anyway.” She smiled and rested her head on the back of the booth seat.

Kakashi nodded. After a long moment of silence between the two. Kakashi looked over at the large white bag containing her books.

“Yinghua…would you like to store your books at my place?” Sakura looked surprised at the offer. She took a piece of food off of her plate and shoved it in her mouth.

“Seriously?” Kakashi nodded, he placed a wad of cash on the table. The waiter walked by to quickly pick it up.

“Damn vulture…” Kakashi complained, “So?”

“Sure”

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Placing the last book on the shelf Sakura smiled as she dusted her hands off. “Kakashi-sensei, I finished” She smiled proudly at the work she had done. Kakashi’s apartment had been dingy to say the least. She walked into his less than clean apartment, the tables were covered in dust and dishes were piled up in his sink. When she inquired about his wreck of a living environment he looked at her confused. She pointed out the less than ideal setting and he plainly told her.

“I barely live here, most of my stuff is at Iruka’s house.” That made her feel a little better but that begged the question, how long had those dishes been sitting in the sink. She shivered at the thought, but Kakakshi quickly reassured her, “That was probably Sasuke, he sometimes comes here to make food. Or if he can’t sleep at home.” Sakura quickly moved on from that topic. The memory of Sasuke telling her off still haunted her to this day. She had done a bit of research into the topic, but quickly ended it after a bit of surface level digging. The thought of her family, as much as she hated them, being killed by someone she loved, truly was an earth shattering thought. She avoided Sasuke for what felt like forever, and honestly she still was to a degree. While the relationship had improved, she could barely hold a conversation with him without Naruto around.

 Kakashi’s voice interrupted her train of thought. “That’s great Sakura.” He leaned against the doorframe. He looked at the 20 or so books that covered the once empty shelf. “Are you going to Naruto’s to get some sleep?” Sakura shook her head. 

“Nah, I think they’re asleep.” She paused and looked down. Kakashi placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m not going to go back home if that’s what you’re asking. I might go to Shikimaru’s house.” The hand was still tightly clasped on her shoulder. “Or Ino.” The hand let go of her shoulder before quickly returning. Sakura whipped her head around to glower at Kakashi, “Really sensei, she’s seriously just a friend!” Kakashi averted his gaze to look at anyone but her.

“Well Sakura, truly I’m just concerned for your safety, you know how far that girl's house is.” The word girl had been said like it was a damn slur. Sakura gave an unimpressed look.

“You and I both know damn well that isn’t your reason.” Kakashi shrugged and removed his hand. He placed it firmly on his hip and looked down at her.

“Well what if it is? Maybe I’m concerned about the types of people who come out at night.” Sakura rolled her eyes and sighed. She placed a hand on her hip, mirroring the man in front of her.

 “What’s your deal with Ino, ever since our fight at the chunin exams you always give her the evil eye.” Kakashi shrugged.

“ She looks at you in a weird way.” His delusions were truly getting out of hand. Pointing to her headband Sakura smiled.

“I graduated top of my class and technically beat Naruto in a sparring match, I’ll be fine.” Kakashi groaned.  Sound logic beats out any type of delusion Kakashi-sensei. She smiled in Kakashi’s silence. Looking up she saw her teacher's face. She suddenly felt a pang of guilt, unsure of why she bit her tongue. After a long time determining  and shifting her weight from foot to foot. She mumbled out a small proposal “Or…I could stay here tonight.”

Kakashi paused at the offer, before quickly responding. “If you want to, I suppose.” Sakura felt a strange emotion leave Kakashi's expression. She couldn’t describe what exactly he was feeling at the time, but it made her feel happy despite the annoyance. “I have a couch that you could-” The sentence was interrupted by a loud thud and the crash of glass. 

“Just me Kakashi-sensei.” The voice was unconcerned and oddly familiar. Sakura looked over at Kakashi. His face was twisted into a scowl as he walked off into the other room. 

“Why can’t you enter through the door like a normal person?” Sakura was hesitant. She stood in the same spot as Kakashi left her in. Kakashi walked back to the room, his head peeking past the door frame. “Are you going to just stand there?” Sakura shook her head and quickly followed behind Kakashi. Walking into the main hallway she tilted her head to see past Kakashi and saw a crouched figure picking up pieces of glass off of the ground. “ Xiǎozhú dí, Don’t pick up glass with your bare hands!” Sasuke quickly looked up and frowned shards of glass already gathered in his hand.

“I couldn’t find the broom, stop yelling at me for trying to help.” Kakashi sighed and walked over to a closet off to the side. Sasuke's head was hanging and he let the glass fall from his hand onto the ground. Kakashi walked back with a broom and sighed. Looking down he tapped Sasuke’s shoulder with the bottom of the broom.

“Move so I can sweep this up.” He paused and groaned. “Stop mopping, I’m not even mad. I could honestly care less about whatever you broke.” Sasuke stood, his head still downturned. He took a step back and murmured something under his breath. Looking up he narrowed his eyes at Kakashi. “I haven’t even asked you to do anything. Maybe a few laps tomorrow, but that’s all.” He shrugged and started sweeping, Sasuke sighed and turned to walk away. He jumped at the sight of Sakura standing there. She had been observing the whole interaction awkwardly to the side of everything.

“What is she doing here?” He emphasized the word ‘her’ with such disdain Sakura felt bad just standing where she was. She smiled nervously and started shifting her weight side to side. 

“Hey there.” Sasuke had now fully begun to scowl at her. She averted her gaze to look at the ground. Her hands were behind her back and she flexed them.

“You two are teammates, act like it,” Kakashi hit Sasuke in the back of the head as walked over to the trash can to dispose of the glass. Sasuke rubbed the back of his head and muttered something softly. 

“Fine, but seriously why are you here?” He asked the question and rested a hand on his hip. His tone and posture were less accusatory but still guarded.

“I was, uh.” Sakura scratched her hand at the question. “I bought some books and Kakashi-sensei let me store them here.” She looked at his expression and he seemed to have relaxed. “And I’m,” the words died in her throat as he raised an eyebrow. “Kakashi-sensei I’m going to lea-.” Walking past her and into the kitchen he rolled his eyes. 

“No you’re not, he’ll get over it.” Sasuke watched his teacher with an intense gaze. Scary. His stare went back over to Sakura.

“What does he mean?” He was now staring at her with that same intense gaze. She laughed awkwardly. Kakashi walked over to his couch and sprawled out across it. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back.

Please stop looking at me like that . Her teeth were drawn in a thin line and her hands were suddenly sweaty. “I’m just going to stay the night” Sakura watched his expression change. Kakashi picked up a pillow and perfectly aimed it at Sasuke’s head.

“Shut it kid, I was the one that offered.” Sasuke picked the pillow from the ground and chucked it back at Kakashi, he easily caught it and placed it to the side. Sakura saw as all five stages of grief crossed on Sasuke’s face. Finally he shrugged. 

“Why are you storing books here, don’t you practically have a built-in library in your room?” Sakura nodded and frowned slightly. 

“I did have a large book collection, but…” She scratched her arm and looked off.

“But what?” He asked quizzically. Groaning, she shrugged and looked away. Gosh this kid really is socially inept. “Wait, do you not want to talk about it in front of Kakashi-sensei?” She smiled and simply nodded. So close Sasuke, so close. “ Well don’t worry, let’s go to another room.” He began to walk down the hallway into the room she had once been in. “So these are the books you got? You already have like ten of these, why buy them again?” 

Sakura internally debated on whether telling the kid with dead parents that she hated hers so she wasted almost her entire life savings to spite them, was a good idea. Honestly she felt like he would tell her off again and she would feel incredibly guilty about spending the money and crying about it in front of her teacher. After a bit of self reflection she sighed. “My mom kinda got mad at me and threw all my books out. Well, more like she sold them and wasted all of the money.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and walked over to the bookcase. “Asshole move on your moms part. But how the hell did you afford this?” She was surprised the conversation lasted this long and that Sasuke was genuinely interested in what she was talking about. “Oh well, I had a ton of money stored in a lock box.” Sasuke nodded.

“Then you're staying here till your mom cools off?” She shook her head and nervously walked around the quite empty room. “Then why are you staying here, unless you’re mad at her?” Sakura hesitated but nodded. “Well, I’m sure if you talked it out with her she would understand.” Sakura shook her head.

“She sorta…hit me. I don’t want to see her until she’s ready to apologize.” Sakura scratched her hand. I knew this was a bad idea, he probably thinks I’m being immature and sensitive.

“She did or she didn’t, so which one is it?” Sakura looked at him, she was shocked by his tone. He looked pissed and still somehow calm. 

“Uh, she did, but honestly it wasn’t that bad. Plus I healed it after.” Sasuke looked at her a little concerned but nodded.

“As long as you’re alright.” Sakura smiled and nodded. She walked over to the side of the room. The conversation is going great. I can't let it end.  

“Something weird did happen though.” Sakura picked up the black lock box and brought it over to where Sasuke was standing. She placed the box on the ground and sat down. Sasuke looked down at her. She waved him to sit down across from her. “When my mom was yelling at me, she mentioned you and Naruto…” she bit her lip, but continued. “I got really upset and told her off, but that’s not the point, I felt my body and hands get really hot. It was super weird. And later when I checked the box the ends of them were bent.” Sasuke picked up the box and inspected the bottom.

“It looks like it’s bent, it has finger marks in the bottom…freaky.” He set down the box and looked at her. “You don’t know how you did it?”

Sakura shook her head. “I didn’t even know I did it.” Sasuke nodded and grabbed Sakura’s hand. She jumped at the touch and looked at him questioningly. “What are you doing?” 

Sasuke didn’t bother to look up, “make your hand do that healing glow thing-y.” Sakura let her hand feel cold and channeled the chakra to it. “Kakashi-sensei was right, you do have good chakra control.” Sakura smiled, pride evident in her eyes. “How does it make your hand feel when you do it?” 

“Cold, well that was the way I was taught to do it. The woman I met taught me to cool my fingers and I discovered that if I use the chakra around me and practically freeze my fingers, I’ll be able to heal more serious injuries.” Sasuke nodded. He interlocked their fingers and quickly let go.

“She wasn’t lying, it feels cold as hell. Though that does pose the question, do you think temperature affects what you can do with your chakra?” Sakura nodded as her hand returned to normal.

“Well yes, the colder my hand got the more serious injuries I was able to heal, well that was my theory until I tested it onto you and Naruto.” Sasuke closed his eyes and clenched his hand.

“Weird, you said you changed the temperature of your chakra, I can barely even feel mine. Though that does give me an idea.” Sakura leaned in closer to him.

“What idea?” He looked at her and turned his head away to look at the door. He looked down the hallway and sighed.

“Well, it’s sort of a dumb idea, but I’ll tell you.” Sakura nodded. She was happy that Sasuke didn’t think of her as some bug who crawled into his life that he couldn’t squish. “Well, that lady told you healing is cold, so the opposite would be heat. Cold is healing, heat is damage.” Sakura sat for a moment, the answer was so obvious, but also not.

“That’s really smart actually.” Sakura relaxed her head and leaned back resting her hands on the ground beside her. “Well there’s only one way to find out.”  Sakura returned to her regular position and sighed. Crossing her legs she looked at the box. Sasuke handed her the lock box and looked almost excited, if she didn’t know the boy better she would’ve sworn it was that.

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Sasuke half shrugged and smiled. Sakura was a little taken aback by it but she still felt good about it. Taking in a deep breath she gripped the bottom of the box and she closed her eyes. Feeling the chakra flow into hands and fingers. She felt the temperature like she usually did, but this time instead of that cold feeling enveloping her entire hand she tried to feel it heat. Her hand at first felt warm but then, her hand started burning and not the good type. It felt like she was holding her hand on a hot stove. 

“Shit.” She threw the box from her hands and blew on them like that would work. “That burned like hell.” Sasuke picked up the box and inspected the bottom. 

“Well, it burned but it worked.” Sasuke held up the lock box and grinned. The box had a massive dent where Sakura was holding it. “What did it feel like?” Sakura’s hands had finally cooled off and she scratched it. 

“Well, at first it was warm then it got hot, like really hot. My muscles started to burn and I just couldn’t take it anymore. Y’know?” Sasuke nodded as he inspected the box. He pointed to the finger marks digging into it.

“Well, you definitely did some damage. A lot more than when you originally had…” Sasuke paused at the mention of it. “I mean look at this indent here.” He pointed at the largest dent in the box. “This is what you just did.” He moved to point at the smaller one. “This is what you did earlier. Clearly the more you focus and the more heat, the more damage you’re able to do.” Sakura nodded.

“How long did it take for me to make that dent?” Sasuke shrugged 

“Roughly ten seconds, but fifteen before you threw the box.” Sakura nodded and groaned. “Well it was worth a shot, and it proved our theory that the more heat you have in your chakra the more damage you can do. Only issue is how to use it without feeling like you’re being burned.” Sasuke sat for a moment. “How does it feel when you make your hand cold?”

“It doesn’t feel cold, if that makes sense. It feels like holding ice cubes in your hand but without the feeling of your hand becoming numb with pain.” Sasuke sighed and buried his face in his hands. 

“I have no idea how we would be able to fix that. Maybe a book could give us an idea?” He stood up and walked over to the bookshelf. Sakura stood up and followed behind him. Sakura began looking through her books while humming a random song running through her head. “Sakura.” She looked over at Sasuke and swallowed deeply. “Are you mad at me?” Sakura paused before shaking her head slowly.

“Why would you ask that?” He shrugged while continuing to look for a book. His fingers combed over different titles.

“Every time we’re alone you avoid me like I’m some disease. And without that dobe around we usually never talk, this is the first we’ve ever had a conversation longer than a minute.” Sakura nodded as her hands tried to act like she didn’t know the contents of every book played out before her.

“It’s not that really, honestly I was going to leave when you asked me to. I kinda assumed you hated me.” Sasuke paused to look at her. “After the conversation we had…I just felt like a terrible person, especially around you.” She crouched to look towards the bottom of the shelf and move around a few books.

“I was mad about that.” Sakura cringed and squared her shoulders “key word is was. I still think that was a pretty shitty thing to say. I was pissed for a really long time. Then I was talking to Naruto one day, he brought up the fact that you apologized. You simply could’ve never told him about the things you said. But you didn’t.” Sakura paused to look up at him; he was now standing in one place, his hand resting on the shelf beside him. “You told him every terrible thing you said, and asked for forgiveness. If you ask me, that's a sign of maturity. And you made a genuine change in character. The old Sakura I know would have never spoken of it again and continue to berate Naruto. If that isn't a change in character, I’m not sure what is. So I’m pretty sure that qualifies you for my forgiveness.” 

Sakura smiled and stood up dusting herself off. “Thank you.” Sasuke smiled slightly and turned back to the bookshelf. He suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around him. He looked over to see Sakura smiling, her eyes closed as she rested her head on his shoulder. It was a toothy grin, and frankly way too much, but he didn’t push her away. Despite his best efforts he didn’t hate the feelings that were bubbling in his stomach.

“Okay okay, it’s not even a big deal, lay off.” Sakura let go and clasped her hands behind her back. “You’re such an idiot.” He grinned a bit and pushed her shoulder.

“Ah, but an idiot you forgive!” Sakura smiled. “Oh and we probably won’t find anything in these books. Most are not related to medical chakra manipulation.” Sasuke looked at her slightly disappointed and sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

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Turning on the couch Sakura rubbed her eyes. She let out a small yawn and stretched her arms and back. Sitting up she looked around her mind still half asleep, suddenly she felt strange, like something was out of place. She blinked back to reality and looked around frantically. Where the hell am I? Wait a minute weren’t we sitting with Sasuke last night. She calmed down as the memories from the evening slowly flowed back into her head.

Pulling the blanket away from body , she stood up and walked to the bathroom to change. If she was honest, she looked completely ridiculous and disheveled. She was wearing one of Kakashi's shirts which looked massively oversized on her and a pair of Sasuke’s shorts he let her borrow. After a bit she lazily walked over to the kitchen in Kakashi’s apartment. She yawned and looked at the table. There was a small plate on the table with a bright blue sticky note. ‘Made you some food, hope you like it >:)’ Sakura smiled and took the sticky note away from the plate. She tucked it into the pocket of her shorts. Sitting down in the already pulled out chair she picked up the mug of coffee. After taking a sip she walked over to the sink and spit it out. She ran water over her tongue and coughed a bit before wiping her mouth. What the hell was that?

She looked over her shoulder to stare at the mug. Waking back over to the table Sakura picked up the mug and brought it over to the sink. She poured it out and the contents of what came out had beyond pissed her off. Half ground coffee beans, and other particles left over from it. Picking up the sticky note from her pocket she flipped to the back. ‘Sasuke made the coffee :p’ 

Sakura growled as she crumbled the note in her hand. Sakura stormed over to her plate and picked it up. She dumped the food straight in the trash and practically threw the plate into the sink.

She grabbed a pen and one of the sticky notes left on the table from the stack. ‘Haha very fun, I trashed your food >:(‘ Sakura stuck it to his trash can before walking outside. With a huff she decided Naruto’s place was her best bet to get actual decent food considering she made most of the food in his fridge. A shower with fresh clothes would also be guaranteed since she spent most of her time there while Sasuke wasn’t around. Plus this time she actually had a reason to be there that didn’t require her lying to his face about her less than ideal home life. She always hated lying to him, it felt like kicking a dog, sure he didn’t realize she was lying but the idea of it all made her frown every time.

Jumping across roofs of buildings she finally got to the outskirts of the village. Jumping onto the ledge she swung her legs over and walked to his door. Knocking on his door she took a step back and waited. After a minute Naruto pulled open the door. “What’s up Sakura, I was just about to go out and train.” Sakura shook her head and pushed past Naruto and pulled him back inside by his collar. “Woah hey be careful.” Sakura rolled her eyes and moved the clothes on the floor from around her to sit down.

“Close the door, there's something I want to tell you.” Naruto complied and shut it. He sat down next to Sakura on the floor and Sakura looked through her belt “is this place secure?” Naruto closed his eyes and shrugged.

“If by secure you mean nobody stops by, then yes. And as thin as these walls are barely anyone knows about the outskirts of the village.” Sakura nodded as she pulled out a book, “If you came here to make me read it’s not gonna work.” His eye was now twitching as Sakura flipped through the pages. She finally landed on one and pointed to a bolded word. “Sakura, I already told…you.” His eyes started at the word. He grabbed the book out of her hand and began inspecting it. “Where did you find this!?” He began flipping through pages.

“I found this at the bookstore, it was for sale so I bought it.” Sakura looked around as her hands rested in her lap. “Do you have any family you don’t tell me about?” Naruto shook his head as he read the pages slowly and carefully, his finger brushed over the word ‘Uzumaki’ “I assumed so. I didn’t read through it but I’m sure we could do more research on the topic.” Naruto nodded absentmindedly as he continued to read. He flipped to the back of the juronal.

“Hey, I recognize these symbols, well I think I do.” Sakura leaned in to see the page. There were swirls and different markings on the page. She looked at him confused.

“Where did you see these?” Naruto scratched the back of his neck and closed the book.

“Well, my shadow clone jutsu might be a forbidden technique that only jounin and higher ups have access to…” He paused, gaging Sakura’s reaction. She sighed into her hands.

“Naruto…” She groaned and fixed herself to look back at him. “That’s besides the point, you saw these on that scroll?” Naruto shook his head.

“Not exactly, I saw a sealing technique and it was a reference to another scroll I saw. I was going to go and find it, but I heard footsteps and ran.” Sakura nodded as she looked at her hands. 

“Maybe we should try and find out where the book is from.” Naruto nodded and flipped to a page, he pointed at the word. 

“The author is probably from here or at least this was where he was when he was writing it. Somewhere called Uzu-”

“Uzushiogakure, I’ve heard of that place before. Iruka-sensei told us about it one time in class, but he was extremely vague on the topic” She pointed at the other page, her eyes quickly scanning the words. “And this, the writer refers to the Uzumaki’s as a clan.” Naruto looked up at Sakura with slight disbelief. 

“So there are others, like me.” They sat in silence for a bit before Naruto spoke. “We need to break back into that place so we can get those scrolls.” Sakura placed her hand on Naruto’s shoulder. 

“Naruto we shouldn’t-” He stood up suddenly pushing her hand away from him.

“I don’t care if it’s dangerous, if we can find my family or clan, I'll do it.” Naruto clenched his hands. Sakura sighed and continued to stay sitting next to him.

“I was going to say, we shouldn’t tell anyone. Well we should probably tell Sasuke, he could probably help us.” Naruto looked at her shocked for a moment. “I think something weird is going on. I’ve never even heard of that place besides the one time with Iruka-sensei. It could be one big mystery.” Sakura stood up beside him cracking her knuckles and grinning. Naruto’s eyes lit up as grinned along with her. 

“You really think so?” Sakura nodded

Chapter Text

“So this book is written by Naruto’s family which is allegedly some clan that no one ever talks about?” Sakura nodded now, slightly unsure of her own claims. “And you want my help to break into the closed off library only able to be accessed by jounin?” This time it was Naruto’s turn to look unsure. Sasuke tossed the book back towards the pair. “Sure, but before we do that, I might have something to help us.” Naruto raised an eyebrow and folded his arms.

“And what might that be exactly?” Sasuke turned and looked at Sakura completely ignoring Naruto’s question. 

“Where did you find this?” Sakura chuckled a bit as Naruto began mumbling under his breath. She picked up the book and ran her finger down the spine. 

“The bookstore, a few minutes from here. The one run by the old lady.” Sasuke nodded before standing up. He dusted himself off. 

“I’ll be back soon enough.” He walked over to Naruto’s window and leaped out. While Sasuke was supposed to be in bed rest as advised by the nurses at the hospital per him being discharged, Kakashi apparently had a different idea and was practically asking the kid to train day and night. Naruto hadn’t been much better while allegedly training with ebisu he had actually evaded his teacher for some random man who punched him in the stomach. He had just been home to grab a few things before heading back out.

“What do you think he’s talking about?” Sakura shrugged and tucked the book in her pouch. Naruto grumbled as he got up to inspect the items sprawled on his bed. A few kunai and a first-aid kit. “Sakura, is this enough?” Sakura shook her head exasperatedly. 

“It’s not a good idea to go off with this guy, I’m sure you know that.” Naruto nodded and walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a few more things. “Just make sure to be safe, alright?” He placed everything in his bag and patted it absently mindedly.

“Sakura, if I had a bad feeling about this guy I wouldn’t leave.” Sakura nodded and sighed. “I’ll see you later, I’ll be back in time, don’t worry.” Sakura waved goodbye as Naruto leapt out of his window and down into the street. Now she was alone with her thoughts in Naruto’s apartment. She stood there for a few seconds, her mind completely blank as the silence slowly broke her. Walking into Naruto’s kitchen she reached under his sink and pulled out cleaning supplies. She set it on the counter before walking back to his bed. She picked up as many shirts and shorts she could carry and threw them into a white laundry bag.

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After about an hour she stood from her crouched position and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Peeling the gloves off of her hands she took off the mask that was covering her face. She sighed and stood strolling over to the now full trash bag she had used. It was full of disinfecting wipes and dust. She had impulsively cleaned his entire apartment without much thought. His wood floors were shiny and every surface was sparkling. She had even collected all of his clothes in a white laundry bag, planning to wash, dry, fold, and put them away. Was she doing this because she was bored, maybe. Was she sure his apartment would end up a mess again by him simply existing in it, that was more of a guarantee than anything. She grabbed the laundry bag and pulled the drawstring closed. Slinging it over her shoulder she picked up the trash bag and walked over to their door. Opening it she walked down the staircase, the trash bag dragging behind her. 

When she finally made it to the dumpster at the back of the apartment complex she threw the trash into the dumpster, her fingers burning slightly. Not from the straining of it, but because of her chakra heating up. She didn’t need to use it but Sakura wanted to get better at handling the scorching that came with the extra strength. While her hand had slightly adapted to the feeling of it, she could only use it for a minute at most. After she easily tossed the trash she picked up the laundry bag and began walking towards the laundromat.

Pushing open the door, a bell chimed. She walked over to an unoccupied washing machine and began loading in clothes. She closed the door and clicked a few buttons before the machine asked for money. “Greedy machine, the price went up.” Digging into her pockets Sakura filled the machine with coins and frowned as she looked for more. Suddenly the machine started. Sakura looked up confused, turning her head to the side, she saw a smiling Tenten.

“Hey Sakura.” She was grinning and leaned against the dryer. “Your hair looks nice.” She pointed to her own hair awkwardly and tried to smile. Sakura unconsciously reached for her hair, her finger rubbing the ends. She had finally got it professionally cut, as professional as Ino could make it look at least. And truthfully, if Sakura ever wanted to admit it, she had done a good job.

“Thanks, I finally got it cut.” Feeling the awkwardness in the air at the comment, Tenten cleared her throat. “And thanks for the assistance with the machine.” Tenten nodded, relieved the silence was over. “I’ll pay you back, I have to go back and get more anyway since I still have to dry these.” She shook her head.

“Don’t worry about it, honestly we should be paying you for all the flowers you’ve brought Lee.” Sakura reddened slightly before pushing a stray strand of hair away from her face. Sakura on more than one occasion ran into Tenten at the hospital visiting Lee. It had been very awkward and uncomfortable but eventually they were able to hold a conversation while Lee interjected with his own points. On a few occasions she had even seen Neji, he quickly left after she entered and was clearly uncomfortable with being in the hospital. “So what brings you here?”

Sakura was interrupted by Tenten’s voice, focusing back her hand dropped back to her side. She had been unconsciously twirling her hair and cringed slightly at the thought. “Oh well, Naruto is gone, so I’m just doing his laundry.” The words sounded dumb as they left her mouth and she let out an awkward laugh to try and salvage what dignity she had left. “I was deep cleaning his apartment and, well you know. Had to finish the job.” And there goes the last of my dignity. Tenten nodded slowly, her eyebrows slightly furrowed.

“Well, I guess that makes sense. Guys are completely disgusting. I don’t know how they even function in such filth” Sakura nodded as Tenten giggled a bit, her head now resting against the dryer. “I mean honestly, I would expect Neji of all people to be clean. But nope, his room is a wreck.” Sakura raised an eyebrow.

“You have to be joking, he seems so fancy, I assumed he would have his room sparkling with marble window seals” Tenten rolled her eyes, her head hanging. 

“You would think, yet here we are. Lee is an exception though, he treats cleaning like it’s a sport. Neji is just a perfectionist. Had to learn the difference the hard way.” Pushing herself from the dryer, Tenten grabbed Sakura’s hand and placed a few coins in it. “Here, and don’t worry this is Lee’s money, not mine.” Sakura nodded hesitantly, not sure if she should keep the money. Tenten picked up a basket and started walking towards the exit. 

“You should come visit Lee with me.” Sakura nodded and quickly followed after her.

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“Ah Tenten you have returned!” The voice was extremely enthusiastic and energetic as Tenten stepped into the room with Sakura following close behind.

“Lee, you're supposed to be on bed rest.” Tenten sounded exasperated as she set down the basket on a chair. Lee was on the floor doing one handed pushups and sweating profusely.

“Do not worry Tenten. This is my last set of one hundred. Together it will be a thousand.” Tenten groaned as she walked over to grab a water bottle. “I have been following what sensei has been recommending.” He finally stood up from his position and smiled. Tenten simply sat down in a chair and crossed her leg. Sakura stood awkwardly in the door watching the interaction unfold. 

“Hey, Lee.” Sakura cringed a bit as she slowly walked into the room shutting the door behind her.

“Good afternoon Sakura, it is great to see you.” His voice was softer than when speaking to Tenten but still firm. “What brings you here?” Sakura shrugged, why was she here?

“Waiting for laundry to finish. My team is totally M.I.A and training for the chunin exams.” Lee nodded and walked back over to the hospital bed laying down on it. “Well Lee, do you think you’ll be able to…” the words died in her mouth when she saw his face fall slightly.

“I am not so sure, but I will keep training so it doesn’t matter.  As long as I am able to improve I will be happy.” He smiled his face now more motivated than sad. “Now I can learn and grow from my mistakes of the past.” Tenten nodded teirdly.

“Yeah, he cut himself this morning, eating.” Tenten began to fan herself as she reached for a water bottle. Lee smiled as he held up his hand. There was a large scabbed over scar down his entire finger. “I’m not even sure I knew something like that was possible.”

“Oh, I can heal that.” Tenten paused as Sakura walked over to Lee. She sat down next to him and reached for his hand. Turning his hand over she let her own cool and hover over the scar. Quickly the scar disappeared and Sakura let go of his hand. “I’ve been practicing recently so it’s no big deal.” Lee nodded slowly, a little shocked and flustered. He flexed the finger and grinned.

“Thank you Sakura I appreciate the help, your healing prowess is very strong. Continue to work hard.” He gave her an over energetic thumbs up with a toothy grin. Sakura smiled and nodded, pushing her hair to the side.

“Thank you Lee.”

“I just hope everything goes okay at the exams.” Sakura nodded in agreement. Tenten folded her arms her face cynical

“As long as everything doesn’t go to shit, it’ll be fun.”

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It all went to shit. Feathers had started falling and everyone had passed out. And Sasuke was completely gone. Clutching a kunai in her hand she had begun fighting next to Kakashi. He told her to go back and hide, which she had happily compiled to. She had pulled Ino and choji onto the ground to protect them from any stray weaponry. In theory she thought A-Rank missions would be fun, but she was exhausted and holding Ino in her arms. She had healed a couple other jounin and was mostly watching Kakashi’s blind spots from her hidden position. Ino in her arms and choji resting on her side, she quickly became bored and wanted to go after Sasuke.

“Sakura, go find Naruto and go after Sasuke.” Her prayers had apparently been answered and she had nodded as Kakashi cut open his finger and summoned Pakkun. Crawling through the arena she spotted Naruto and Shikamaru lying on the ground. She crawled over to Naruto and placed her finger on a pressure point, disrupting his chakra flow. He lifted his head and looked around, tired and confused.

“Sakura, what happened?” Sakura moved over to Shikamaru and repeated the action. “I’ll explain on the way there, but Pakkun has Sasuke’s scent, and we need to go help him. Shikamaru didn’t bother to ask any questions and simply stood.

“So which way?” Shikamaru’s hand rested lazily on his hip. Sakura stood up next to him and frowned.

“How should I know? He left with Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro.” Pakkun sniffed the air and grunted.

“Shut it, he went this way. If you have any hope of helping him. You’ll both shut it.” Pakkun raced off in the direction taken by Sasuke with Naruto following closely behind. Sakura and Shikamaru both looked at each other before chasing after the pair.

Sakura felt terrible leaving Shikamaru behind to deal with Temari alone, but there were bigger things to deal with. Shino was taking care of Kankuro, which left Gaara alone with Sasuke. That made her feel a bit more relieved. Gaara was not as much of a threat, especially now with Sasuke using his Sharringan to copy Rock Lee’s taijutsu. Sakura and Naruto were approaching Sasuke according to Pakkun. Sakura was following behind Pakkun before her eyes finally caught onto a hunched over Sasuke. Gaara, or what seemed to be him, covered in sand, was about to attack Sasuke.  Naruto intercepted the attack and delivered a kick to his face.

Sakura rushed over to Sasuke and scooped him into her arms. He was laying on a branch and very delirious. Luckily the thick branches and other foliage were enough to walk along and rest. She tapped his face, trying to make sure he was awake. “Shoot, Sasuke, don’t pass out.” She stared at the gash down his arm and side. Sakura’s hand glowed as she rested it against his arm. She hadn’t even thought about it as the scar began closing. I’m getting better aren’t I? Wait, stop bragging and get it together. Sasuke groaned as his eyes began to focus.

“Sakura?” She looked down at him surprised he was still conscious. “Where is Naruto?” Sakura jutted a thumb to where Gaara and Naruto’s brawl was taking place. He turned his head to look at Naruto, he stared for a moment. Not jealous or proud, just something Sakura couldn’t quite place. “Sakura, I’m pretty sure I have a concussion.” Sakura thoughts stopped spinning to try and analyze Sasuke’s face, and she froze before quickly resuming healing the cuts.

“I don’t know what to do besides not letting you go into R.E.M sleep.” Sasuke turned back to face her, his eyes studying her.

“That should be good enough, until more help arrives. Are you alright?” Sakura nodded as she moved to the scar on his side and pushed further into his side. He clenched his eyes shut as he squirmed around.

“Sorry, but I have to get deep into the scar for it to truly heal correctly.” He groaned in pain and nodded. “How did Temari and Kankuro get you here while carrying Gaara. If I didn’t know any better I would have thought you came here to finish your fight with Gaara.” Sasuke cleared his throat and looked off to the side. “Sasuke, they did threaten you, right?” He groaned as Sakura pushed further into his almost healed scar. “Sasuke.” She gritted her teeth as Sasuke cried out in pain.

“Stop, stop. I’m sorry alright.” Sakura looked at Sasuke in disbelief as she pulled her hand away from his now healed scar. He rubbed his side and let out a sigh of relief. Sakura stood and dusted herself off. “Sakura…” She didn’t bother to answer and turned to where Naruto was fighting Gaara. “I’m going to go help Naruto, stay put.” He nodded and swallowed deeply. Her face was now downturned and by  Sasuke’s standards she looked pissed off. Though now she was slightly more motivated by her anger towards Sasuke to help Naruto fight. She grabbed a kunai and flipped it in her hand. She heated her hand and threw it at the Gaara hybrid.

Jumping from the tree Sasuke was lying on, she jumped on the tree branch next to Naruto. “Oh Sakura you’re here.” 

“Shut it Naruto.” Sakura launched forward at Gaara. Her now scolding foot connected with his body. He rolled a bit before sitting up, rubbing his head. Looking up he was met with Sakura’s burning fist. The punch had sent him flying back against the trunk of a tree. Sakura cooled her burning hand and tried to lunge again but the sandy hand punched her back. Naruto braced her impact. Standing up she wiped the dust from her face.

“Sakura, are you okay?” She shook her head and stood up shaking a bit.

“No, not really, but I healed most of Sasuke’s major injuries.” She wiped her lip and gave him a determined look. “I don’t have much chakra left, and I can’t get close enough to land anything. We can probably catch him off guard one last time before he catches on to what we're doing.” He nodded and followed behind her. Jumping up she tried to kick at him again but was sent flying back. Luckily Naruto was quick behind and landed a punch which stunned the Gaara hybrid. While less Lucky, Sakura, affected by the impact of the attack, hit the trunk of one of the trees. Falling onto the wide branch she crawled onto her legs and rubbed her head.

“Sakura, don’t worry, I’ll handle him. Just make sure Sasuke is safe.” Sakura wanted to protest but those last attacks had completely drained her of her last remaining chakra. And she could no longer get in a close enough range. Her kunai also had no effect now that she couldn’t even throw them with her depleted chakra. She would have enough to drag Sasuke back to the village, but just barely.

“Fine…” Sakura nodded and hopped back to the branch she had left Sasuke and Pakkun on. She lifted him up and slung his arm around her shoulder. “Naruto!” The blonde turned around to see her. “Make sure you come back safe.” They nodded and grinned before summoning a shadow clone jutsu.

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-

Cutting an apple by the bedside she pulled too hard and cut her finger. “Crap.”

“Are you okay?” Sakura scowled at the boy lying down next to her on the hospital bed. She pulled her hand away from the fruit and healed the cut. The boy next to her frowned, his arms crossed. “I already told you I was sorry.” Sakura paused cutting the apple in her hand to look up at him in disbelief. She quickly composed herself and sighed. You think sorry is really going to cut it, you punk. I outta kill you.

“Sorry doesn’t really cut it. And I’m mad at you so be quiet before I leave.” Sasuke nodded and layed back on the pillow. She finally finished and handed him the plate. He took it hesitantly, his gaze still fixed on her. “Naruto is returning, I’m going to go and see him.” He watched as Sakura quickly stood and gathered her things.

“I’ll make it up to you Sakura, I promise.” She huffed and frowned before turning on her heel. 

“Me and Naruto will be back, don’t leave you’re on bed rest for a reason.” Sasuke didn’t bother to nod and simply looked out at the window. Sakura walked out of the door, making sure to slam it behind her. What was he thinking doing something like that? Sakura walked down the hall, her head spinning and hands practically shaking. Her head was filled with the memories of everything falling apart in front of her. She felt sick to her stomach when she thought about the matches. She tried to heal anyone that needed it but by the end she could barely stand, all of her chakra exhausted. If she was completely honest she was still tired and her body was cold.

She remembered everything that happened and it kept replying in her head like a bad nightmare. Then the third Hokage died, that was still unbelievable to her, crazy even. Everyone had been devastated during his funeral. She began to massage the space between her brows. Then Sasuke’s grand escape to chase after Garra, alone. What the hell was going through his head. On one hand she was livid with Sasuke and felt like she wanted to strangle him. She also felt the need to defend him at every turn. Every excuse she made up in her head for his actions were more and more ridiculous and outlandish.

She walked down the street, her hands flexing unconsciously as her brain racked to understand his actions. Her face twitched when a contradiction came to her that canceled out her last stupid theory. Finally she pushed the thought away. The explanation was for another time to overthink. She was now approaching the entrance to the village, and she needed to focus on seeing Naruto. She leaned against the side of a nearby tree and closed her eyes. Just as quickly as her eyes closed she opened them again, a voice cut through the silence. Looking up, Sakura smiled and began walking towards the entrance. 

“Hey Sakura!” She waved politely and looked at the people flanking him: a tall man, slightly older, with long white hair. The other was a younger woman with short black hair and a slouched posture. The last was a taller blonde woman who looked oddly familiar. Before she could place who the woman was, she was tackled to the ground. Naruto had been running at her full force and knocked both of them to the ground. “Sakura, I missed you so much!” Quickly Sakura pushed the blonde away from her and groaned, moving her hair away from her face. 

“Naruto you idiot, what did you do that for?” Naruto tumbled back and rubbed his arm before smiling and hugging Sakura. Sakura allowed the hug to last for a couple seconds. She had missed him more than she wanted to admit, and her guilt had been eating away at her. She pushed him away again with an exasperated huff. She stood up and dusted herself off. Great, now I have to clean this outfit, and I just did laundry. If I didn’t miss him, I’d totally kick his ass.

“I haven’t seen you in what feels like forever.” Sakura reached out a hand and pulled him up next to her. The white haired man walked up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Naruto it was barely a month, if that. Calm down alright.” Naruto grinned at Sakura and pointed to the man behind them. 

“This old grump is Pervy sage, he’s the one I told you about. He punched me in the stomach” The man scowled at the lackluster and frankly insulting introduction.

“Why do you insist on calling me that, and I didn’t punch you.” He let go of Naruto and extended a hand towards Sakura. “Nice to meet you. I'm Jiraiya, you must be Sakura. Naruto talks about you a lot.” Sakura took his hand and shook it. A woman’s voice suddenly cut through.

“You’re the girl from the coffee shop!” The group turned to look at the blonde woman. “I knew I recognized that pink hair.” Now that Sakura truly looked, the memory rushed back to her.

“Auntie!?” The only difference from their last interaction was that the woman’s words weren’t slurred and she looked rested. The woman frowned at the title. 

“My name is Tsunade.” Tsunade looked back at the black haired girl who was quietly laughing and gave her a threatening look. Sakura swallowed deeply. She’s the same old auntie, that’s for sure.

“Are you here to heal Lee, and Sasuke?” The woman nodded and walked over to where she was standing. Crouching down, she poked Sakura’s arm. 

“Yeah, well that and Hokage, I suppose. Have you been practicing? It looks like you’ve gotten better in such a short period of time.” Mentioning something like becoming Hokage, so casually, what’s with her. Regaining her focus, Sakura nodded and flexed her fingers as Tsunade squeezed her hand. “Your arm is cold, you overexert yourself anytime within the month?” Sakura pulled her hand back and bit her lip.

“It was during the Chunin exams. I tried healing people before going after Sasuke with Naruto. I tried to heal some of Sasuke’s injuries but I couldn’t do much other than the cuts along his arm and side. My chakra was almost completely gone.” The blonde nodded and stood up.

“Chakra exhaustion, especially from someone like you is odd. You have great chakra control. You sure nothing else happened?” Sakura scratched her arm and tried to think. 

“Well, after something happened I learned I could heat up the chakra in my hands to make myself stronger. Though only for a bit, I’ve been practicing to hold it for longer periods of time, but.” She trailed off as Tsunade and Jiriya stared at her. Tsunade looked down at her, Sakura would call it pride if she didn’t know any better. Jiraiya looked at Tsunade shocked but the expression was soon one of confirmation. 

“You weren’t lying.” He whistled and squeezed Naruto’s shoulders tightly.

“Don’t worry.” She walked behind Sakura and crouched. She placed a hand on Sakura’s shoulder and took a deep breath in. Sakura looked at Naruto nervously. He simply shrugged and watched the woman closely.

“Lady Tsunade, that seems like a bad idea.” Tsunade waved a dismissive hand and eyed her dangerously.

“Relax Shizune, I’m sure she can handle it.” The black haired woman huffed and placed her hand over her ears. Jiraiya placed his hands over his ears and motioned for Naruto to do the same.

“Trust me kid.” He winked as Naruto followed suit, albeit confused.

“Why are they doing that?” Tsunade pulled her hand back, and grinned.

“Don’t worry about it.” Sakura felt Tsunade’s palm dig into her back.

“Shit!” All the birds that had been sitting in the trees nearby had flown away at Sakura scream. Sakura suddenly felt all of her nerves and muscles seize up. Her chakra felt like it was being filled with a familiar energy. Sakura gasped for air and clutched her chest. Tsunade steadied her, her hand still gripping Sakura’s shoulder. When Tsunade pulled back she shook her hand like she accidentally touched a hot pan. Her screams and groans had also ceased and she was currently out of breath. Sakura felt the need to fall over but simply placed a hand on her forehead. She stumbled a bit but stayed standing, though slightly hunched over.

“What the hell was that Auntie!?” I should end her right here, who does she think she is? Despite it being raw and raspy her voice was slowly returning to her. Tsunade smiled and let go of Sakura’s shoulder. The others had all uncovered their ears and were watching Sakura warily, beside Naruto who looked deep in thought.

“Chakra transfer, well something close enough to it.” Naruto made a sound and grinned.

“So you’re the lady that taught Sakura all that heal-y stuff.” He crossed his arms and nodded. “Yup, that makes so much sense.” Jiraiya groaned, running a hand down his face. 

“You honestly just figured that out. Man, you're slow.” Naruto stuck his tongue out a Jiraiya's comment. Tsunade looked less than impressed and crossed her arms.

“Hey, that’s not very nice and I wasn’t thinking about this the whole time. Unlike you grandma, it took us so long to get here because of you.” Tsunade’s eyebrow twitched as she placed her hands on her hips. She walked over to Naruto, her shadow looming over the pair of men. She was smiling but the smile was more of a threat than a comforting one.

“Wanna call me Grandma again, brat?” She raised a shaking fist, ready to hit him. Jiriya thankfully did it first.

“Shut it brat, she’ll kill us both.” Naruto grumbled and rubbed the back of his head. Shizune walked over to Sakura and placed her hands on Sakura’s shoulders to steady her.

“Hey are you alright, I knew Lady Tsunade shouldn’t have done something like that.” Sakura nodded and tried to give her thumbs up. “I’m Shizune, I was the one who grabbed Lady Tsunade at the coffee shop. I don’t think I properly met you.” Sakura smiled at the woman and pointed to Tsunade, who was now threatening Naruto and Jiraiya.

“What did she mean by ‘Chakara transfer’ ? I've heard of it before but that process is longer.” Shizune sighed and as her gaze lingered on Tsunade’s threatening form.

“Lady Tsunade took a chance and assumed you had at least one of her dominant chakra types and transferred it to you. The first time it happens it’s extremely painful and in some cases can cause people to faint. Though after the initial process it smoothly transfers and allows the receiver to use the chakra just given to them.”  Sakura thought for a moment.

“What do you mean by ‘took a chance’ and ‘next time’?” Shizune bit her lip for a moment before sighing.

“Usually there is a process and it identifies your Chakra nature. The person who is transferring the chakra makes sure they have a compatible nature with the receiver.” Sakura raised an eyebrow but chose not to interrupt. “If they don’t, it could seriously mess up the chakra flow.” Sakura looked at Shizune and nodded.

“I’ve read something like this before. If your chakra is mixed with another nature it can damage your chakra and decrease the amount you have.” Shizune smiled slightly and squeezed her shoulder.

“Yeah, exactly. Well if both have the same chakra nature the process is able to happen, just like now. Lady Tsunade did something I wouldn’t personally advise. She took a gamble with your nature and simply transferred her chakra to you.” Sakura blinked a bit, unsure if she heard correctly.

“I didn’t take a gamble Shizune. I already had a hunch about her nature but holding her shoulder was just confirmation.” Shizune swallowed deeply and smiled shyly.

“You heard that part, huh?” Tsunade clicked her tongue and looked out past the trees. 

“Okay, enough fun. Where’s the hospital your friends are at?”

Chapter Text

“Are you seriously asking me something like that?” Sakura looked down and frowned, a bit embarrassed. She clenched her fist and groaned.

“Well when you say it like that it sounds dumb.” Tsunade giggled as she rested her head against her hand.

“No, not stupid or anything I’m just surprised you figured it out so quickly.” Sakura raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Tsunade shook her head as Shizune set down a cup of tea while holding Tonton in her arms tightly.

“No, it’s a compliment, trust me. Your skills have surpassed what I thought you would be at.” Sakura grinned and placed her hands on her hips.

“Well I suppose it wasn’t too hard-“ Tsunade held up her hand to stop her and reached for her teacup. Taking a long sip from her cup that was entirely too drawn out. She set it down and sighed.

“I wasn’t exactly finished. I'm surprised you figured it out that fast, but disappointed you couldn’t figure everything out.” Sakura grumbled, her hands falling back to her sides. “Instead of centering your chakra in your hands, let it flow through your entire arm.” Tsunade picked up the teacup in one hand and closed her eyes. She gripped the cup and it suddenly burst into shards. “Damnit!”

“Lady Tsunade.” Shizune groaned as she began to pick out the ceramic shards stuck in Tsunade’s hands. Sakura laughed a bit as Tsunade cringed with every piece that was removed.

“Now I’m disappointed. You’re supposed to be Hokage.” Tsunade narrowed her eyes as her hand began to heal. Shizune bit down on her lip and held back a laugh. Groaning, she turned to face Sakura.

“Whatever, you get the idea, right?” Sakura nodded and looked down at her arm and felt it heat. The burn was no longer there and now it felt like a warm mug. Tsunade threw a pen at her. Sakura caught it haphazardly and looked at Tsunade questioningly. “Try and crush it.” Sakura nodded and applied a bit of pressure. Instantly it broke apart in her hand. She smiled at the now crushed pen.

“Now I’m practically unstoppable.” Sakura smiled as she flexed her arm. “Thanks for letting me stay so late.” Tsunade waved a dismissive hand at her.

“It’s fine, plus you helped Shizune organize a ton of filing cabinets.” Tsunade grabbed Tonton and held her closely, gently stroking her head. “You should get home though, I’m sure your parents are worried.” Sakura shook her head and teetered on her feet.

“I might go to Kakashi-sensei, or Naruto’s for the night. You know, just closer.” Tsunade paused stroking Tonton, her face neutral, before continuing. “I’m pretty sure Naruto is asleep, so Kakashi-sensei is probably the better option. He gave me a spare key for when he’s not home.” Tsunade nodded.

“leave earlier, next time so you have more time.” Sakura bit her tongue and nodded. Her muscles felt tight as she watched Tsunade’s calm expression. She felt like it could read every thought she had and was tearing her apart. “Tomorrow get your team and report to me, I have a mission. B-rank.” Sakura let out a sigh and nodded, a bit more calm at the change of the conversation.

“Of course auntie.” Sakura bowed and turned to leave.

“I’m not auntie, call me Lady Hokage or something.” Tsunade called after her as Sakura jogged through the hallway, dodging office shinobi. B-rank huh, should be fun.

-

-

-

“The land of tea, what is lady Tsunade thinking?” Naruto was slouched over as he walked next to Sakura. Sakura patted his shoulder and smiled.

“Maybe Lady Tsunade just trusts us, though I am tired.” Sakura slouched next to him as they tiredly followed behind Sasuke. He was reading the map and studying the foliage around them.

“Sasuke, I’m hungry.” Naruto groaned as his stomach began to growl. He walked closer to Sasuke and began poking him. “Sasuke. Sasuke, Sasuke, I’m hungry.” Sasuke shoved him off and gave him a scowl. Sakura’s stomach began to growl and she joined Naruto to poke him.

“Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke, I’m hungry.” He frowned and grabbed both her and Naruto’s hands. He paused for a moment before he let go and took a deep breath. He pointed to a small building on the side of the map.

“There’s a small restaurant here, we could still make it in time if we stopped.” Naruto turned to Sakura and grinned before giving her a high-five. Walking off the main trail Sakura and Naruto happily followed behind him. 

Reaching the end of the trail Sasuke pointed to the small Inn. Naruto’s eyes lit up as he ran past Sasuke down to the building “Naruto slow down, you’ll hurt yourself.” Sasuke continued to call after him to no avail.

Walking into the Inn they were greeted by an older woman in her mid fifties. Ushering them to a table she set down a few menus. “Take your time dears, it’s been a while since the younger crowd has come here, well other than him.” She pointed over to a figure sitting in the chair in front of the counter. She brushed off her apron and walked back to the kitchen.

“Leaf ninja, I’m surprised they let a bunch of kids come out here alone. The voice was distinctly male and clearly annoyed. He wasn’t much older than them and was running a finger along the rim of a glass.

“Watch it kid, we’re great ninja, personally sent by the Hokage herself.” Naruto was already fired up at the insult and was waiting for the man to respond. He was silent and Naruto took it as him winning the short lived spat. “Tch serves him right to badmouth us.” The older woman walked out and back over to the table, a writing pad in her hand. “I’ll have a slice of cake and he’ll have an herbal tea, brown sugar instead of white.” Sakura looked over at Naruto, slightly confused. He simply shrugged. “He’s very particular about his tea.” Sasuke nodded in agreement. Sakura took the response, though still not satisfied with it.

“I’ll have a jelly ma’am.” The woman nodded and finished writing. She smiled politely and walked off. Naruto started to ramble on about something as Sasuke sat and listened. Sakura listened to the idle chatter but her main focus was on the man sitting at the counter. The woman had walked out but was stopped by the mysterious man. He had jutted a thumb over to them. She simply shrugged and nodded. Walking over to them she placed the items down.

“Anything else?” They all shook their heads and she smiled. Walking away, the mystery man took it as his cue to leave.

“Well you kids better hurry up with your snack time before it gets too late.” The man was smirking and studying the faces around the table. He spotted Sakura and leaned over onto the table. Naruto was about to speak but was interrupted. “Who knew the leaf village had such cuties.” He winked at Sakura and flashed a smirk. “The names Idate, why don’t you tell me yours.” Sakura, shocked a bit at first, simply stared dumbly.

“Hey, leave Sakura alone.” Naruto’s voice cut through Sakura's thoughts and her cheeks turned slightly pink.

“Hey shut it kid, I just want to talk to your cute friend over here.” Sakura was now blushing as Naruto glared at Idate. Apparently feeling his gaze, Idate turned to face Naruto and gave him an equally viscous scowl. Spotting the woman approaching from behind he sighed and stood up. “Well later losers, unlike you I have a job to do.” That caused even Sasuke to stir a bit. Just as Naruto was about to hurl an Insult at him, they were interrupted by the older woman. She had returned with the check, she handed two of them to Sakura.

“We didn’t order this.” The older woman shrugged and frowned.

“The boy over there said you were paying for him.” Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke all looked at eachother shocked. Sakura pulled out the needed amount for both and slammed it on the table as Naruto practically ran out of the Inn.

“Later granny, thanks for the service.” Sakura was quick behind Naruto and Sasuke was following albeit more calmly but still urgently. Naruto was already down the path with Sakura not very far behind.

“Hurry Sasuke, we have to catch the scammer.” Sasuke shook his head and sighed.

“Are you forgetting we're Ninja, wherever he runs off to we can track down easily.” Naruto paused and let out a breath he had apparently been holding in.

“I didn’t think about that.” He looked a bit more calm, but still a bit angry.

“Of course you didn’t think, you barely do dobe.” Sasuke smirked at riling up Naruto as he crouched to the ground. “He couldn’t have gone too far.” He placed his ear to the ground and listened intently. He let out a tsk as he lifted his head. Reaching for the flute in his holster he closed his eyes and played a few notes. He opened his eyes and pointed in the random direction. “Over there, that's where the Chakra signature is the strongest.” Sakura and Naruto stood in amazement for a bit. “Well are we just going to stand here?” Naruto shook himself from his thoughts and hopped onto a branch.

Hopping from branch to branch they finally caught up to the perpetrator. He was running quickly much faster than a civilian should be able to run at. Naruto spotted him first and immediately called after him, despite Sasuke’s protest to corner him silently. “Hey, miss us!” Idate frowned and looked up. He growled under his breath and began to run faster. Finally he stopped by a tree and bent down, taking off the weights around his ankles he smirked.

“What are a few weights going to do?” Sasuke narrowed his eyes, his eyebrows slightly furrowed. Naruto shook his head, as they grew closer to him.

“After seeing what Lee did.” He didn’t bother to finish his sentence and simply shivered. Sakura nodded approvingly. Sasuke rolled his eyes at the action. Idate sprinted off much faster than before and looked back to smirk at the group. “Crap, get him!” The group chased after him and jumped across the tree branches.

“Sasuke, give Sakura a shuriken.” He gave Naruto a knowing look and looked over at Sakura. He tossed her a shuriken. “Sakura, when I tell you, throw it.” Sakura nodded, albeit a bit confused. Naruto squinted his eyes and focused on the foliage surrounding Idate. He smiled and pointed to a branch. “Heat it, then throw it there.” He pointed at a small branch that was about to fall off the tree. Sakura nodded and heated her arm. The shuriken flew out of her hand like a bullet and cut down the branch. 

The weapon bounced off of a rock and back at Idate, he stopped and ducked, but the branch fell onto his head. Sasuke took the opportunity to jump down and kicked him in the back. “Shit!” Idate was sprawled on the ground and Sasuke’s sandal was digging into his back. He twisted his foot a little into his back and growled. Naruto and Sakura jumped down to join him. Naruto took over Sasuke’s position as he squatted down and dug around in Idates pockets. He pulled out a few coins and started to count.

“This should cover the amount right?” Sasuke looked over at the money and offered it to Naruto. They frowned at Sasuke, brows furrowed. “What are you talking about? We aren’t taking that.” Sakura nodded, proud of Naruto for talking sense into Sasuke. “That’s way too little, grab some more.” He said it so as a matter of factly Sakura continued to nod until she thought back over his words.

“Wait a minute, we’re not stealing from him!” Naruto and Sasuke looked at Sakura confused. “You two are insufferable…” she groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. “He stole from us, but it doesn’t make it right. Plus look at how sad he is. He can barely afford a small coffee.” Idate groaned, his face still buried in the dirt. He turned his face to the side to be heard better.

“I’m not broke,” Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke all scowled at him.

“Shut it.” They all spat together. Sasuke placed the money back in his pockets, albeit annoyed.

“So now what?” Naruto pushed a bit into his back as a silent revenge. He wasn’t fazed by Idates uncomfortable groan.

“We let him go.” Naruto and Sasuke booed, as Naruto lifted his leg to let go of him. Idate stood and wiped his mouth. The dirt smudged and he growled at the group, truly growled. Did he just growl at us? Sakura pushed the thought and turned to her team. “If we hurry we can meet the deadline, let’s book it.” Naruto and Sasuke nodded as they hopped back in the trees. I hope to God or Buddha we never see that guy again.

-

-

-

They saw him again. His face was no longer obscured and he wore proper clothes, unlike before. He looked baffled to see them but kept his mouth closed, looking on quietly. “Quite frankly I’m surprised Lady Hokage would send such young people. If she trusts you then I shall too, please accept my proposal.” Idate laughed at the mention of young people which caused Naruto’s eye to twitch.

“We will accept it, Lady Hokage entrusted us with this, we will fulfill it.” Sasuke was also annoyed, but was hiding it much better. “Who will we be escorting?” The man laughed deeply.

“My dear Idate here.” He ushered to Idate who looked absolutely bewildered. It was now Sasuke’s turn for his eye to twitch while Sakura’s face twisted involuntarily. Quickly the two composed themselves as Naruto bit his collar to restrain himself . “I take it you’ve had the honor of meeting him?”

“More like displeasure.” Naruto grumbled before he was elbowed in his side by Sakura. He rubbed his side before glaring at Idate.

“Oyabun, why am I being escorted by a bunch of leaf ninja? I can handle myself just fine.” The older man chuckled. And placed a hand on Idates shoulder and squeezed.

“Are you questioning my judgment?” He squeezed Idates shoulder and flashed a threatening smile.

“Of course not. I’ll be happy to take these Ninjas with me for the race.” He smiled and as the man slowly let go of his shoulder.

“That’s a relief, well you all should get some rest, big day tomorrow.”

-

-

-

The crowd waited anxiously along the sidelines. Idate knelt down and took the weights around his leg off. Naruto was sitting in a tree next to Sasuke. Naruto had a bun in his mouth and his legs hanging over a branch. Sasuke was sharing the branch and leaned against the trunk, tuning his flute. Sakura sat on the branch above them sharpening a few weapons from her bag

“When Grandma said this mission was a b-rank, I thought it would be fun.” Sasuke didn’t bother to look up and blew another note into his flute and adjusted it absentmindedly.

“Why worry, it’s easy.” Naruto nodded and swallowed his food. Watching Idate he shivered a bit. Sasuke looked up. “Are you cold?” Sakura wrapped her legs around the tree and swung down. She hung upside down behind Naruto.

“If you’re cold you might have a fever.” Naruto jumped slightly and slowly moved his head to look at Sakura. Sasuke grinned at Naruto’s reaction.

“Sakura stop doing that, it’s creepy.” Sakura simply shrugged and continued to sharpen a weapon upside down. “Anywho, I’m not cold. I just have a bad feeling about this. Call it a hunch.” Sakura nodded and handed them an overly sharpened kunai. “Are you trying to kill someone, why is this so sharp?” Sakura smiled and silently dropped onto the ground.

“Let’s go wait by Idate.” She walked away silently with her hands clasped behind her. Naruto tried to look over at Sasuke but he was gone and walking next to Sakura. 

“Wait for me.” Naruto hopped down to join the two. Walking to the starting line Idate looked at them and cursed under his breath.

“Look you guys can just enjoy the show, I don’t need you or anyone else’s help.” Sasuke rolled his eyes and huffed. Naruto snickered at the reaction before feeling a soft punch in his side. He narrowed his eyes over at Sasuke. “See you all can barely get along as a team, how are you supposed to work together to ‘protect me’?” Sakura cleared her throat as the group looked around nervously.

-

-

-

When Tsunade had explained the mission to her she took it all with ease. Simple, escort mission, she wasn’t going to underestimate it by any means, no. She had learned that lesson with the bridge builder. And few more lessons about the fickleness of mankind and that in her line of work life and death weren’t a given they were earned. She had learned that when Sasuke died, he hadn’t truly died according to Kakashi, but she didn’t believe that. Naruto was probably the second most traumatized, he had held that lifeless body in his hands and basically spiraled from there. Apparently only remembering a few things from the incident. Sasuke, he doesn’t talk about it, the few times it was ever brought up he seemed to completely shut down and honestly Sakura couldn’t blame him. I mean who could? It's totally understandable. But this mission is a snooze fest.

“Haruno Sakura are you listening!?” Sakura snapped out of her daze and dropped a box. Naruto gave her a concerned glance before turning their head. Sasuke was looking at her with slight concern but mostly annoyance.

“Sorry, my mind was-“ the words died in her mouth as she felt her face heat.

“Don’t worry lots of girls get lost in thought when thinking about me.” Idate lazed on the side of the ship his legs crossed. His head was resting against the board and his eyes were closed. Sasuke rubbed the space between his brows grumbling. Sakura was ready to brush the comment off when a voice interrupted both of them.

“Will you knock it off you ass! All we’ve done so far is help you. Yet all you do is sit there, make snide comments, and hit on my teammate.” Sasuke stayed quiet, not the shocked type but the type to simply stay out of whatever was happening. 

“And what? I don’t want you here, I’d be fine on my own. What unless you’re jealous that I’m not hitting on you” Naruto rolled his eyes and fiddled around in a box. He grumbled something under his breath as he found the item he needed. “I could start calling you a girl if it’ll make you feel better.” He snickered as Naruto grumbled. He pulled the sail rope roughly and tied the knot. He finished and walked over to Sasuke, he sat next to him and huffed. Sasuke let out a noise akin to a laugh and nudged Naruto. Naruto rolled his eyes and grinned.

“God, no wonder everyone thinks you’re an ass.” Idate scowled as Sakura bent down to look through the box.

“You’re a lot cuter when you talk less, you know that?” Sakura gave him a tight lipped smile before her focus went back to the box.

“You really are sad. I don’t want to hear your backstory or whatever, no thanks.” Sakura clicked open a compartment of the box. “Those two, they used to fight a lot, even before we became a team.” Sakura dug around and fished out a pipe. She made a face before dropping it back in.

“If I can’t tell you mine you can’t tell me yours.” He frowned and rested his head again.

“Hm…mine isn’t sad. Well anyway when we became a team it seemed to get worse, honestly I ignored because. Well I suppose that’s none of your business.” She picked up a small coin. She slipped it in her pocket and smiled. “Anyway, we get a simple mission, one like yours: escort a bridge builder. Easy I thought. Then my teammate died.”

“He what?” Idate sat up now listening intently. Sakura shrugged and picked up a small wallet. Took the bait. She opened it and looked around. “Hello…are you going to finish?” Sakura looked up and blinked.

“Oh, yeah. Well he didn’t die, just felt like it. I had to learn a hard truth that day. I’m weak, weak people die in my line of work.” Idate nodded slowly, like he understood, but Sakura wasn’t sure if she had placed the feeling correctly but it was past the point of questioning. She also honestly didn’t care. 

“So why’d you take this job?” Sakura pocketed the wallet before looking up at Idate. He gave her a look but didn’t bother to take it back.

“I took this job because I kick ass, you on the other hand can’t even get yourself out of a genjutsu.” Idate narrowed his eyes at her, clearly annoyed.

“I haven’t seen you kick ass, so that’s hard to believe.” Sakura nodded.

“You’re right, because I heal people I like and hit people I hate.

“Thought you said you were weak.” Sakura tossed a gold plated trinket towards Idate.

“Key word is was. That implies past tense.” Idate caught it and nodded.

“So do you hate me?” Sakura paused. He looked at her curiously. She stayed quiet for a bit, if Idate was honest he thought she had froze. She blinked a few times before opening her mouth.

“No, I don’t hate you, so no hitting. That said, I don’t like you either. So don’t expect me to heal your sorry ass.” Idate smiled, it wasn’t big, it was barely noticeable before it faded back to its usual disdain, it was there. He leaned forward.

“Move your hand.” Sakura made a noise but moved. He dug around for a few seconds before pulling out a first-aid kit. He held it out for her to take. She swiped it but smiled.

“Hm, that’s one point, you have officially made it back to the neutral zone.” Idate smirked as Sakura sat next to him.

“Why’d you need the first aid kit” Sakura popped it open and rummaged around. She grinned and pulled out a white bottle. She pulled a small white pill out of it.

“This bad boy will keep me going for…about a day. If I time it correctly.” He reached in the kit and pulled out the bottle of pills. She set the bottle down after inspecting the label.

“What led you to that?” Sakura downed the pill and huffed.

“The old man you borrowed the boat from had sleeping problems, yeah?” Idate nodded and set down the pill bottle. “Well after hearing that, I looked at him and he didn’t look so tired. Meaning he’s been sleeping well. I thought he might have some extra pills lying around. Where better than here.”

“What is the medicine exactly?” He groaned out.

“This, my good man, is Modafinil, about a 200mg dosage if I’m correct. It’s used for people with sleep issues, too much sleep to be exact. I sort of assumed, but it happens I assumed right.”

“Sakura, Idate! Quit chatting, got something, at six o’clock.” Sakura turned to look behind. A larger ship was sailing next to theirs. “Shit. Move.” Sakura grabbed Idate and threw him to the side with her. Spears had pierced the side of their tiny boat and they were being pulled towards the other quickly. Sasuke offered Sakura a hand as she stood.

“What now?” Sakura looked over as Naruto began cutting the lines.

“That apparently” Sasuke watched as Naruto stepped back and pushed the kunai back in his holster.

“Sharpness paid off, huh?” Naruto rolled his eyes before grinning. 

“I thought you said you all don’t fight anymore.” Idate was whispering while standing next to Sakura.

“Never said it stopped, just said it used to happen more.” She gave him a cheeky grin before being interrupted by a shuriken cutting her cheek. “How, the hell?”

“Water clones.” Sasuke was cut off by a clone lunging at him. Naruto tried to help but was overwhelmed by his own mass of clones.

“Wanna see what I do to people I hate?” Idate grinned and nodded.

“Hell yeah.”

“Sasuke, Naruto!” Sakura wrapped her arms around the wooden pole and pulled, her arms heating. “Duck!”