Addendum
Sasuke stares at the blond and pinkette that are making faces at each other and running around a few yards away. They invited him to play tag with them during recess, and now he is standing unsure off to the side as the two friends duck and weave around each other. Even at five years old they are graceful, just like himself. They will undoubtedly move on to the academy at eight alongside the promising Uchiha.
Suddenly Naruto gives up on chasing Sakura and spins around to charge at Sasuke. The surprised child stumbles out of the way of the charge just in time and runs in the opposite direction on instinct, laughing in exhilaration. Soon he is it and he chases Sakura. Later the three of them are scolded by their teacher for missing the signal whistle to return to the classroom. They still miss it the next day. And the next.
After nearly a month the exasperated civilian teacher calls in the three children's guardians. Both of Sakura's parents and Naruto's orphanage caretaker come in. Not surprisingly Fugaku Uchiha does not make an appearance, but Mikoto is there, along with a surprisingly attentive Itachi. At thirteen he just graduated and has been training with a team and sensei for two months now. He has already applied to take the Chunin exams and has arranged for solo missions in the near future. Fugaku was frustrated by the new regulations that prevented Itachi from graduation much earlier, but the Lady Hokage forbade any exceptions to the new graduation age of thirteen. Itachi was advancing at a very rapid rate now that he has his headband, but Fugaku was still very bitter about what he perceived to be invasive restrictions.
In his day you could altogether skip the academy if you were already trained by your family at the age of eight. He had been planning to do the same with Itachi as the boy was very advanced from a young age, but the first thing that Tsunade did as Hokage was demand the end of child soldiers and order all shinobi to send their children to civilian school until the age of eight. Luckily by the time the law was enacted Itachi was already eight and of age to apply to the academy, but he still had to wait until the age of thirteen to graduate, even though he had been training from the age of four.
After a long discussion about the newly inseparable pair and their need for outside stimulation besides recess during school, Itachi volunteers to take them to the park when he's not on missions. Mebuki suggests they all start picking flowers on the weekends for the Yamanaka shop for pocket money, and the orphanage director suggests they start taking practice missions such as catching cats and painting fences, which have all officially been declassified as missions so that genin are trained only in real mission scenarios with a sensei. The Harunos invite the others over for dinner to discuss a schedule and let the kids play, and Mikoto and Itachi graciously accept while the director readily agrees to send Naruto over with a caretaker escort there and back.
"Nonsense! We can stop on our way over to bring Naruto with us. You have so many children to attend to, don't worry about it." Mikoto waves off the offer and beams at Mebuki and Kizashi who smile warmly back. Mebuki bites the inside of her mouth nervously and thinks of all of the things she and Kizashi need to speed clean when they get home, not wanting the Uchihas to judge her very average home.
Later that evening with four different courses cooking on the stove or in the oven, Kizashi runs to greet the Uchihas and Naruto before running back to keep stirring the food so it won't burn. Mebuki is upstairs washing the mud off of Sakura from her after school frolicking with Ino and an older Yamanaka cousin, which she returned late from. The girl brought home a beautiful fistfull of flowers, which Kizashi placed in a vase on the dining room table after he finished setting the table.
Sakura comes running down the stairs in a fresh yellow shirt and jumper with a red bow tied in her hair. She pulls the boys with her to the living room to show them a card trick while Itachi follows silently to observe the seemingly odd trio. Sasuke is already starting to show signs of pride at the age of five, yet he has chosen to befriend a civilian girl and the jinchuriki. He asked his brother earlier in the day if he knew about Naruto, to which Sasuke responded with a story of Naruto's parents heroically rescuing the village and sealing the beast in Naruto so he could keep protecting everyone. Itachi had never thought of it like that before, having only heard it told as a horror story, but he supposed it was true and said nothing more on the subject.
Mebuki brings tea to the breakfast table where Mikoto has sat and the two enjoy a cup of green tea while Kizashi finishes dinner and plates all of the food. When he is finished they help carry everything to the table before calling the children to eat. The three young ones dictate the conversation while the adults and Itachi comment here and there to acknowledge that they are paying attention. After dinner the families sit down in the living room to talk and listen to Kizashi and Sakura play the grand piano, the Harunos' prized possession.
The dinners become a Friday tradition, with Itachi attending when he can, and sometimes Ino joining Sakura. Over the few years Itachi is able to make it less and less as he progresses up the shinobi ladder. He quickly meets the requirements for Jonin promotion before joining the ranks of the ANBU, which has been becoming more and more elite as of late, with less demands because of the ban on assassination missions that is enacted when Itachi is fifteen. Somehow he is assigned on even more missions and is transferred to a classified team under the direct orders of the Hokage herself. For the few months before he turns sixteen he doesn't make it to any of the dinners. Mikoto doesn't miss a single one, until she, along with Sasuke is absent after nearly a year of Itachi going missing from dinners. They never even stop by the orphanage to pick up Naruto. The Harunos eat alone that night and Naruto joins the other orphans in the mess hall.
Saturday morning news reaches the civilian household from Ino before her morning sparring with Sakura. They have just begun their second year at the academy and are locked in a rivalry for top of the class with Sasuke, and are training and have been studying together everyday for over a year to beat their snooty Uchiha friend to prove to him that girls are just as good as boys. Ino has red eyes when she knocks on the Harunos' door as she tearfully explains that their friend is in the hospital psychiatric ward after he saw his clan wiped out during the coup d'etat they attempted last night. His mother was arrested even though she stayed home and did not participate. She stands accused of conspiring against the Hokage, as do all other registered or retired ninja within the Uchiha clan.
Instead of training, Ino goes home under the protection of an older cousin as there is still a declared state of emergency in act from the night before, while Sakura goes to the hospital with her parents to try to see Sasuke. The streets are being combed by shinobi and what remains of the police force, and Mebuki and Kizashi are asked to present their IDs at several checkpoints on their way to the hospital. Once they finally make it, they find Naruto already at the reception desk demanding to see Sasuke.
"Sakura-chan they won't let me see him!" Naruto whines as he points an accusing finger at the frazzled looking psychiatric nurse behind the desk.
"I am sorry but Mr. Uchiha is on a psychiatric hold for 72 hours and is not permitted guests at this time. Don't worry, he has 24/7 monitoring and will be released to his immediate family once he is released." The nurse assures Mebuki and Hizashi when they inquire about Sasuke.
"What family? They killed or arrested them all!" Naruto yells, tears in his eyes. Sakura grabs his arm and pulls him to her side where she can wrap a comforting arm around him. Ino had a cousin placed on psychiatric hold once and the blonde told her how it was because he tried to kill himself after a mission. Sasuke is probably on hold because he needs it right now.
"His brother is the one who brought him in. He will return in a few days to bring Sasuke to his apartment to live with him." The nurse explains, a sympathetic look on her face. Mebuki and Kizashi thank her for explaining when she didn't have to and take the two distressed children out of the hospital and back to their home. Mebuki calls the orphanage to reassure staff that they have Naruto and he is safe before she sits down with the two and Kizashi to play a game of partner Shoji over tea. It is a game the children learned in the academy to teach team strategy, and they have been obsessed with it ever since.
Naruto stays with the family for the rest of the weekend before returning to the orphanage Monday morning to get his school things. The state of emergency has been lifted so the academy opens as usual. All of the children are shaken up and their is an ominous silence even during sparring sessions, but the teachers go on as usual to maintain a sense of stability. Several children besides Sasuke are absent, as they also lost family members in the coup, who died defending the Hokage.
When Sasuke is finally released from the hospital, Sakura and Naruto don't know how to contact him, as they don't know Itachi's address and he's not in the phone book. In a desperate act to find their friend they decide to sneak into the Uchiha compound and his old home to look for a personal address book or anything that could be a clue as to his location. Crime scene tape surrounds the property, but no one is guarding the house so they slip in undetected. Sakura screams when they find blood stains near the entrance and runs outside to get away from gore, something she has never been exposed to before. Naruto has seen a lot of blood, including his own from fights with older orphans who blame him for their parents' death. He fights down the flutter of fear that tickles the back of his throat and runs through the halls to reach the master bedroom. Inside he digs through their things looking for clues. After a few minutes Sakura climbs through the window of the bedroom and joins him. She quickly finds Mikoto's address book in her desk and on one of the newer pages is Itachi's address neatly printed. Sakura packs the book in her bag, as well as a few other keepsakes from the matriarch, such as a hair pin with the Uchiha sigil on the end, a half empty bottle of her perfume, and a family portrait of the four of them. Her and Naruto crawl back out the window and quickly make their way across town to a brick apartment complex between the Hokage's tower and the Hokage monument. It's conveniently located for quick unseen exits from the village into the quickly expanding civilian districts up above the cliff, as well as ease of access to the Hokage herself.
Before they can even knock on the door, Itachi opens it and stares down at the two, surprised that they managed to track them down so quickly. He expected it to take at least a day before the pair worked up the courage to break into his parent's home. He opens the door wider and stands back to allow them to enter. Sasuke has been worryingly quiet since Itachi picked him up from the psychiatry unit, so hopefully his friends can get some sort of reaction out of him.
They sit on either side of his younger brother, saying nothing as they lean their heads on his shoulders. Sakura pulls out a textbook on genjutsu to start reading aloud the chapter they just completed in school so Sasuke won't fall behind while Naruto asks questions periodically about things he missed while he was spaced out. Sasuke still says nothing, but his eyes flicker to the two occasionally, or dip to look at a diagram whenever Sakura calls his attention to something. Itachi's lips twitch up at the corners for a second for the first time in days before he turns to go back to making a simple lunch for all of them. He needs to go visit their mother and her lawyer soon, so he hopes that Naruto and Sakura are alright with staying with Sasuke while he is gone.
He pulls Sakura aside when she inevitably gets up first to come help him set the table to murmur to her to keep an eye on Sasuke for a bit. He knows she is the most perceptive and empathetic of the group and will be the most likely to be able to handle any emotional response that might erupt if Sasuke snaps out of his psychosis during Itachi's absence. She'll at least have the sense to call for help if she needs it. Naruto tends to amplify Sasuke's emotions, which might not be the best if his shock wears off to be replaced with grief.
The next few weeks go by and Mikoto's trial date comes and goes. She is sentenced to house arrest for five years, and Sasuke is removed from her custody and placed in Itachi's. The elder Uchiha brother is rarely home, but because he was in no way involved with the coup and has proven his unquestioning loyalty to Konoha, he is the only family the elders will allow Tsunade to place him with. Sasuke lives with him for nearly a year before Itachi defects from the village that thought him so loyal. The Harunos' offer to adopt Sasuke and Naruto, but Sasuke refuses and moves into the orphanage, his pride and anger preventing him from abandoning the Uchiha name, even in principle. Naruto decides to stay with him. They stop coming over on Sundays for dinner. Sasuke spends all of his time outside of the academy training, determined to become a hunter nin and kill his brother. He thinks it will exonerate the family name, although deep down he knows as well as everyone else it will carry its shame for generations to come. Uchihas are banned from police service or joining the Hokage's personal guard. Most choose to join the chakra tech departments where they can work alone and unbothered by distrusting stares. A few like Sasuke's cousin Shisui are still in active shinobi service working outside of the village.
By the time the pair reach graduation, Sakura has been distant from the boys for nearly three years. Her once good natured rivalry with Sasuke for top of class became a bitter point of resentment for the Uchiha now full of wounded pride, resentment for both his family and village, and too little self preservation for someone so young about to enter a dangerous profession. He pushes himself too far several times a week and is a frequent visitor at the hospital for chakra depletion. Sakura, not knowing how to reconcile with her suffering friend, allowed him to push her away with the knowledge that Naruto would still be able to be there for him. The blond sticks loyaly by the Uchiha's side, through all of his mean outbursts and over the top sparring sessions. Under all of the hurt he is still Sasuke, his best friend, and Naruto is often the one thing keeping Sasuke from deserting like his brother.
That is why Tsunade makes sure the two are assigned together when the academy instructors make the genin teams. They weren't planning on placing the two on the same team since they were the top two in the taijutsu category at graduation and would be better suited to other teammates, so to balance them out the teachers decide to assign Sakura to their team as well, despite their knowledge of Sasuke's resentment. Her promising potential in genjutsu and already basic understanding of medical ninjutsu from a two year apprenticeship at the hospital will be perfect for the reckless pair. With her above average speed and skill in tactics, she will be able to keep up with the two and maybe even bring a sense of control to the wildness of the boys.
When Kakashi was told he would be receiving his first genin team, he knew it was because his late sensei's child was finally of age to become a genin. He had put in the request to be Naruto's sensei years ago, having decided he wanted to be a part of the boy's life after years of mandatory therapy. He happily leaves the Hokage's personal guard, worried that he was being groomed for Hokage, a position he hopes he never is forced into. Perhaps he will like being a sensei, and he can become a full time babysitter to avoid the overwhelming duty that he fears looms on the horizon.
His hope of liking his new duties flies out the window the minute he steps in the empty classroom to find Sasuke Uchiha and some pink haired girl arguing while Naruto attempts in vein to end the verbal sparring. It seems that the Uchiha has insulted Sakura for being scrawny and unfit for her headband (which for her age, Kakashi admits, is a little true), which has obviously set off the pinkette's temper, her fists tightly clenched. The way she is eyeing the Uchiha, Kakashi worries she might throw a punch and escalate the situation. It looks like Sasuke wants her to do it.
Kakashi clears his throat and steps fully into the room. The three look up and Naruto seems to noticeably relax while Sasuke and Sakura turn their anger on Kakashi for being late. "We have been here for nearly an hour!" Sakura yells, gesturing to the two boys. "And I need to talk to the Hokage, because I can not possibly be on a team with a sexist pig!" Sakura turns her nose up at Sasuke who rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. "It's not sexist if it's true." he grumbles, and Sakura whirls with her fist raised to strike him. Kakashi catches her arm before she can. He is surprised by the strength in her toothpick arm and notes that for the future.
"Why don't we go up on the roof where there's a nice breeze to cool you two off, and then we can begin introductions." Kakashi suggests, doing his best to look stern with only one eye visible. He's been told the look is intimidating, which he hopes holds true for his genin. He has heard from the orphanage director that Naruto can be rowdy, and from his brief meeting with the other two they may be even worse. Why has he been looking forward to being a sensei, exactly?
After a brief introduction where Sasuke manages to make more rude comments in an attempt to rile Sakura, the pinkette declares that her goal is to always be stronger than Sasuke so she can rub it in his sexit face, and Naruto pulls at Kakashi's heartstrings with his dream to be just like his dad and become Hokage, Kakashi sends the three home with instructions to get a good night's rest and skip breakfast in the morning before meeting him at dawn at training ground three. He plans to show up around noon, but they don't need to know that. He wants to make the conditions for their test tomorrow as realistic as possible, to push them to their breaking point to see if there is any chance they will ever be able to work as a team. He fears the animosity between Sakura and Sasuke has had too long to fester without intervention, and that team dynamics will never be able to form, which will put everyone's lives at risk on any mission. If the two don't work together in any way during the exercise he has planned, then he will disband the team and send them back to the academy to be placed on different teams next year. He will not risk Naruto's life.
The next day Kakashi shows up right when the late summer heat reaches its peak. The three are already covered in a light sheen of sweat when he appears suddenly in front of them, and all three are a mix of annoyance and outright anger for his tardiness.
"I was visiting my dead team's graves." Kakashi explains when Sakura accuses him of being lazy. Her cheeks blaze with shame as she glances at Sasuke before averting her eyes and murmuring an apology for being rude. Sasuke continues to glare but says nothing and turns his back to walk away to an appropriate sparring distance. Naruto scratches the back of his head awkwardly and looks to Kakashi for instructions, unsure of how to handle the awkward situation. When Kakashi explains the bell test the blond launches into the drill before Kakashi can even say go, anxious to cut through the thick tension in the training ground. It works and Kakashi is smiling when he grabs the boy by the ankle and holds him upside down.
"I didn't even say start." He drones wryly, staring down at the blond's electric blue gaze that is sparking with energy, just like his mother's. When he throws a kick with his free leg Kakashi flings him away and toward Sakura, who surprisingly catches her teammate instead of dodging. She rights his feet on the ground and takes up a fighting stance, waiting obediently for Kakashi's command. Sasuke stands a few yards away from the two also ready to fight, and an idea forms in Kakashi's mind.
"Begin." he says right before disappearing to flicker behind the Uchiha. His punch is dodged and he quickly moves out of Kakashi's reach just in time for a flying kick from Naruto that forces the experienced shinobi to raise his arms to deflect. He notices Sakura in the background forming hand seals for a genjutsu to confuse his senses into seeing her movements as delayed, which he quickly releases with a hand sign behind his back. He pretends to be caught in her trap so when she flings a kunai she is surprised when he not only catches it, but flings it back at her. Sasuke deflects the projectile with a thrown shuriken and smirks at the pinkette. "You think a kunai is going to take down a jonin?" He scorns before dodging another kunai just in time thrown by Kakashi. It knicks his arm just enough for a drop of blood to run down and stain his pristine white arm guard. He scowls at Kakashi while Sakura snickers.
"Looks like it works just fine on you, though." Sakura retaliates, moving quickly to catch another kunai thrown in Sasuke's direction and whip it back at Kakashi. She locks eyes with Kakashi and he can see the determination alight in her stunning green eyes. Despite her mocking words, she still moved to defend Sasuke, as did he for her. Their actions speak for themselves, so Kakashi decides to keep pushing them, hoping they will grow tired enough to stop barbing each other.
"Will you two stop it?! We need to work together if we want to even stand a chance at getting those bells!" Naruto yells in exasperation.
"There's only two bells, baka, why should we work with Sakura?"
"Because there needs to be three on a team you dunce, he can't actually send just one of us back." Sakura retorts to the Uchiha.
Sasuke opens his mouth to reply snarkily, but is interrupted by Kakashi shadow stepping behind him again and placing a kunai lightly against his neck. "And I've already taken one of you captive because you are distracting each other." His voice comes out more threateningly than is has in a long time, and he can see the fear on Naruto's face and the shock and horror on Sakura's. He sees a light green chakra swirl around her fingertips and realizes she has summoned medical chakra to her hands in case he actually slits Sasuke's throat so she can attempt to save him. He smiles internally at the instinctual show of concern. So his sources were right about the tight bond the two used to have. He releases Sasuke and pushes him into the pinkette, who rights him as she did Naruto moments ago.
"Now start again. I have all day." Kakashi smiles at the three genin who glance at each other after Naruto's stomach audibly grumbles in hunger.
Kakashi pushes the trio ruthlessly for the next few weeks, increasing his strength, speed, and aggression as they adapt to his style as well as each other's. Tsunade has personally called him to her office to find out why he hasn't accepted any missions yet for his new team, and he explained that he wants to squash any animosity between Sakura and Sasuke before he does so. Tsunade grudgingly accepts, but tells him to hurry up as there has been an influx of escort missions, as there has been an increased volume of rogue ninja raids and attempted assassinations of officials. The whole of fire country is more on edge, and her ANBU scouts report that the same is happening in the other nations as well. Akatsuki is also continuing to acquire high profile rogues, which has kept Jiraiya, her closest advisor, busy and away from her side for months. Her unease is growing, which is reducing her patience. Kakashi caves to her continued pressure that he take a mission for his team earlier than he would have liked, as Sakura and Sasuke only speak to communicate battle tactics. Sasuke has stopped insulting her and Sakura has stopped lashing out in response, but the glares and stiff silences remain. Naruto however, is still able to get the Uchiha to talk and has begun to grow close with Sakura once again. Hopefully their ability to work together in a battle setting and Naruto's likability will be enough for a simple escort mission to the land of waves. It's a country away from everything, and their charge is only a bridge builder, a construction worker of little significance and with no wealth to his name to draw thieves.
When Zabuza, the demon of the Hidden Mist Village attacks on their fourth day of travel, Kakashi's hope for a successful mission is dashed. He insists that they return home, but between his genin's insistence, the fact that the leaf village is now involved in an international incident, and the threat of complete economic collapse of a nation rich in resources, Kakashi decides against his better judgement to send the three genin home alone while he completes the mission. He can handle Zabuza on his own, and the three of them are insignificant to the monster.
He shouldn't be so surprised when the three show up on the bridge in the middle of his intense fight with Zabuza and his deadly devotee, Haku. Kakashi was suffering from chakra exhaustion from overuse of the sharingan and a sliced hamstring courtesy of Zabuza's butcher blade when the three saved him from certain death. Sasuke and Naruto set off a series of explosions and smoke bombs to create a distraction while Sakura quickly heals Kakashi's hamstring before looking to him for orders. Sasuke grabs the bridge builder and moves him away to a safer location while Naruto does the same with his grandson, who is cowering in fear. Kakashi is in no position to scold them for insubordination as they had just saved his life, along with countless others. He would remember to later regardless; he couldn't let them make a habit of disobeying him and charging into situations above their heads. He orders the three of them to defend Tazuna while he fights, but Sakura checked his chakra reserves when she healed him and immediately exposes him to the boys as weakened. Before he can retort that he still has more chakra left than she does even at full strength, she was barking orders at Sasuke and Naruto to engage Haku and pull him away from Zabuza, which to Kakashi's disbelief they both do without hesitation, not even a glare from Sasuke at being bossed around by Sakura.
The pinkette slides into a fighting stance next to Kakashi with a look of determination on her face, the only sign of fear is the the slight trembling in her hand as it is raised in front of her, ready to attack or defend. "Will genjutsu work on him, sensei?" She asks quietly, her eyes darting around to make sure no one else is around to sneak up on her or make a break for Tazuna behind them. Kakashi stands up and tests his weight on his newly healed leg and is surprised to find it completely repaired. He's used to patch jobs in the field that always require painful fixes later on. Sakura, a green genin who has never seen real battle, just healed his wound better than most ANBU medics would all while formulating the best plan for this particular scenario and assessing her Jonin opponent. And Kakashi had just been sitting on his ass watching her.
"Yes, although he is an elite Jonin, so do not bet on them always working. Nothing you learned at the academy will work, so get more creative. And no matter what, do not attack head on. Only attack his weak spots and provide support while I lead the offense."
Sakura nods firmly and rotates left around Zabuza when Kakashi charges straight forward. She throws kunai and messes with his senses from a distance while Kakashi engages in taijutsu, and Zabuza is quickly forced to draw back and use up a large chunk of chakra to cast his hidden mist jutsu. Kakashi was waiting for this moment, and quickly summons his ninken to track Zabuza. He hears Sakura's scream just as his dogs lunge through the fog in front of him and he launches forward to tackle Zabuza away from Sakura, who barely ducked under his blade and has fallen to her hands and knees after losing her balance from the surprise attack. He is thrown by his enemy easily and before Kakashi can recover or before his ninken can close in for the kill, Zabuza has a foot planted in the small of Sakura's back and a kunai poised at the base of her neck. She is looking through the mess of her hair with wide fearful eyes at Kakashi, her mouth wide as she pants in fear. Tears well in her eyes and he can see her shaking from meters away in fear.
"Surrender right now, or the brat is dead, Kakashi." Zabuza scrapes his kunai along the back of Sakura's neck to draw blood and she whimpers.
"Don't kill me. I'm just a little girl. Please." Sakura pleads with Zabuza as her voice cracks with a sob.
Kakashi surges forward half a second later and just as Zabuza shoves his kuani through Sakura's neck Kakashi shoves his chidori through his chest. The genjutsu clone of Sakura dissipates as Zabuza's knee hits the ground. He coughs up blood and glares bitterly at the pinkette, who has materialized a few feet away, placing herself between Zabuza and Tazuna. Her eyes are not focused on her would be killer though, instead distracted by the hot plume of raw energy further down the bridge cutting through the thick fog.
"What are you waiting for Hatake? Fucking finish it!" Zabuza growls, ignoring the hand still inside his chest. I was fooled by a fucking child. Now end my life before I take yours."
Kakashi wrenches his fist from Zabuza's chest and pulls out a kunai. "Sakura go check on Naruto and Sasuke. I don't like that chakra." He also doesn't want her to see what comes next, but he doesn't say that. As soon as she is out of sight, Kakashi slashes for Zabuza's throat. His sharingan is deactivated, so he doesn't realize until it's too late that his slash cuts deep across another's throat instead. The already cracked mask falls from Haku's face as he falls backwards over Zabuza's hunched form, blood flowing from his carotid artery.
Sakura quickly recognizes that Sasuke's heart was momentarily stopped by a well placed needle and removes that before healing the worst of his injuries. Naruto is also unconscious nearby and she checks on him only to discover that his wounds are quickly closing, visible to the naked eye. She tucks that information away for later before returning to the Uchiha who is beginning to regain consciousness. She notices his eyes are red and quietly tells him he has activated his Sharingan before using her chakra to switch it off for him so his eyes can relax and he can conserve his chakra. She is completely drained of chakra, so what gashes she hasn't yet heeled she cleans and bandages up. Sasuke, after Sakura has assured him Naruto is alive and perfectly fine, closes his eyes and gives in to his chakra exhaustion. Sakura is sitting between her unconscious teammates when Kakashi emerges from the fading fog, bloody and ragged looking, but otherwise unscathed.
A week passes while Kakashi and Sasuke sleep away their chakra exhaustion and Naruto and Sakura assist in the repairs to the bridge the boys caused with their explosion distraction. Kakashi watches the bridge builder's grandson, Inari, quickly go from the brat he once was before when Kakashi met him alone to a determined worker like his grandfather after a heart to heart Naruto has one night with him outside of Kakashi's door. The boy worships Naruto, and the blond manages to worm his way into the hearts of the whole family while he helps complete the bridge. When Tazuna names it the Great Naruto Bridge, Kakashi is glad his mask hides his proud grin from his sensei's kin, for he would be very embarrassed to be seen being so mushy. He is annoyed when he notices Sakura grinning mischievously at him, like she's on to him. Sasuke mocks the gloating Uzumaki the whole way back to Konoha, but he does so with a smirk that is closer to a smile. Kakashi notices the lack of animosity between him and Sakura as well, with him allowing the pinkette to redress his wounds without resistance and even murmuring his thanks each time.
When they return to Konoha, Tsunade is furious with him for not returning with his students immediately upon realizing it was above a C ranked mission, but when a generous trade deal arrivees from the Land of Waves days later she lays off the scoldings and threats and allows Team 7 to take missions once again, although she personally vets them all before allowing Kakashi to accept anything. As if it was his fault Tazuna lied to get a cheaper price.
As Kakashi becomes more familiar with his team and they continue to become a well oiled machine, he begins to specialize their training to fit their strengths and weaknesses. Sakura naturally takes command during spars, so he designs exercises to test her tactic improvisation. He also teaches her genjutsu, which she begins to practice on Sasuke, so he can train his Sharingan at the same time. The two will often stay late after training to finish up whatever they are working on. He discovers Sasuke has a lightning affinity and has him work on his own signature technique, the chidori, when they are working individually. In order to use the attack the Uchiha needs to train his speed while building his chakra pool. He has him chase Naruto and his shadow clones for speed training, while the blond practices setting seal traps to keep the Uchiha on his toes. Naruto has his mother's scrolls on Uzumaki techniques, and Kakashi has been helping him decipher the notes with what he learned about seals from Minato. Sunday dinners at the Harunos have begun once again, and now Kakashi is invited.
After months of training and the steady grind of C rank escorts, stolen package retrievals, and even a little dabbling in border patrol, Kakashi decides it's time. "I would like to nominate Team 7 for the chunin exams."