Chapter 1
The war had finally ended. It only took three days to conclude the fourth great shinobi war, but for a relatively short war, everyone had been drained dry. Most did not have the opportunity to sleep even for just a second, nor the opportunity to fill up their stomachs with anything other than hyorogan, as the undead enemy army bombardment was ceaseless. The stress and anxiety of the agonizing months leading up to the horrible calamity also took a lot of toll on the shinobi. By the time the war was over, everyone was extremely exhausted, and despite the mourning which was to come from the losses they suffered, everyone allowed themselves to forget, just for a day, where they would celebrate life.
The village was buzzing with shinobi and civilians alike celebrating the victory against Madara Uchiha. Every ninja was flocking at the free alcohol distributed around for the celebration, and Sakura was possibly the only one in the whole village who was not chugging alcohol into her system. Instead, she sat quietly at the periphery of the celebration, watching people around her making merry and forgetting about all their troubling thoughts.
Sakura did understand why people turn to alcohol, letting go occasionally was healthy after all. During her three years apprenticeship with Tsunade, she had gotten drunk a few times with her shishou when things were especially difficult in the hospital. It was nice to be able to forget how utterly useless and helpless she had felt when she was not able to save a patient. It was nice to not have her inferiority complex resurface, to not have to think about how she could have saved her patient if she had more skills and chakra. It was nice to not have to cry herself to sleep.
However, today, she could not seem to let go of her thoughts. There were just too many things on her mind that she needed to address. The war posed too many questions to be answered.
As a teenager, Sakura was always very sure of herself. She was not always confident about her skills as a kunoichi, but she had always thought that the scope of her knowledge was leaps and bounds above her peers, and that she was just as wise as the adults around her. She had always thought that every mission she had agreed to take was the right mission to do, as they were missions which embodied justice.
But through the war she wondered, what was really the right ideal and the right thing to do? Obito and Madara started the war because they thought that a world of illusion was ideal, as there were no pain and suffering in that world. Just like war, every mission she took were missions that benefitted one side but harmed the opposing side. So which side was right? Every side fought to protect what they believed in, so which side's ideals benefitted more people at the end? What right did she have to think that her side was more righteous than others? All shinobi obeyed the orders from their leaders. What justified her to attack them for their loyalty? What if it was her order that was wrong? What made it right for her to defend her ideals but destroy her opponents'?
Sakura was startled out of her reverie when she felt something cold pressed onto her cheek. "You know, a drink or two won't kill you," Kakashi told her as his eyes creased into a smile. She smiled weakly back at him as he took a seat next to her.
"I'm just not in the mood to drink, sensei," Sakura sighed as she rested her chin on the bar counter. "Besides, why are you not drinking? Your liver is damaged enough from all those sharp objects piercing through it, some drinks won't kill you," Sakura asked as she gave him a playful grin. Kakashi chuckled and reached out to ruffle her hair.
"People are drinking because they are celebrating. I don't see anything worth celebrating over," Kakashi responded as he averted his eyes towards the crowd to avoid her gaze. He knew that she understood what he meant, but he just didn't like the fact that his former student was getting better at reading him. After all, he had a reputation to uphold, the copy ninja - ever aloof and unreadeable. That, and the fact that he didn't really want to talk about Obito, yet. It was hard enough seeing him being buried alive between those rocks years ago, but knowing that he was the cause Konoha suffered so many casualties over the years were more than heart wrenching. A part of him still blamed himself for causing Obito to change from one of the kindest people who had ever lived to become someone more vengeful than the revenge-driven Sasuke.
Sakura's grin slipped at his reply. She knew how Kakashi-sensei felt about Obito. He was his old teammate; and she had heard about their story from a drunken Shizune. Shizune had told her that Kakashi-sensei was once a stuck-up pain in the ass who was worse than both Neji and Sasuke combined, and that all he cared about was completing the mission, even if he had to sacrifice a teammate to achieve it. It was Obito who had influenced Kakashi-sensei to adopt the principle of teamwork so closely to his heart.
Being the curious girl that she was, she had snuck into the file storage room to dig for more information about 'Obito'. Her thirteen year old self had been so blinded by curiosity that she had not thought about how Kakashi might feel upon knowing that she had pried into his personal life without his knowledge or consent. She had also so naively thought that this great 'Obito' person must still be around, since such a great shinobi like him must be just like her sensei - unbeatable even by death. Well, technically she was right, but at the time she figured out who Obito was and what had happened to him, her heart had ached with guilt, and overwhelming sadness. Upon discovering about Obito, she too learnt about Rin and the Yondaime Hokage. That day, Sakura left the storage room with tears running down her face; she had never expected her sensei's life to be that tragic.
When Sasuke defected, she noticed that Kakashi-sensei had acted somewhat indifferent; a completely opposite reaction to hers and Naruto's. She had thought that he simply did not care about Sasuke as much as she and Naruto had. Upon reading the file of Kakashi-sensei's genin team, she regretfully realized how wrong she had been. Kakashi-sensei had only appeared to be indifferent because he knew that grieving or wallowing in self-pity like she had was not going to bring Sasuke back; neither will swearing to drag Sasuke back by crook or by hook. If the return was forced, Sasuke would just defect again without a care of his teammates like he had the first time.
Looking back, she realized that perhaps, Kakashi-sensei was the one who had actually suffered the most due to Sasuke's action. Leaving the village had not only caused Kakashi-sensei to lose another precious person, but also rob him off his team for a second time, as Sasuke's defection was the cause of team seven dissolving.
"You're ruinning the mood, sensei," Sakura grumbled to break the uneasy tension that was beginning to cloud over them. "Today is supposed to be a joyous day," she muttered as she fixed him an exasperated look.
"Sorry," Kakashi mumbled sheepishly as he rubbed at the back of his neck.
"Let's spar," Sakura suddenly announced as she got up from her seat. Kakashi's puzzled look made her chuckle. "We are obviously miserable among this happy bunch. Why not take things off your mind the shinobi way?"
"Sure, but I would not hold back."
"I will kill you if you do."
…
Panting hard, Sakura collapsed into the ground with her back against cracks on the decimated training ground. Looking at Kakashi, she grumbled as she saw that he was doing so much better than she had. Sure, his breathing was ragged, and he was catching his breath on one of the craters she had created, but he had not looked as spent as she did. "This is so unfair. I've trained so hard for all these years and I couldn't even land a hit on you, and you don't even look that tired!" Sakura exclaimed in exasperation
"I guess having the sharingan all these years has its use. Although I can't predict movements as well as when I had it, I could still make intelligent guesses based on experience on where the next blow would come. But as I had expected, my foresight would not be enough to attempt using chidori in a real combat."
"You were trying to pull a chidori on me? I thought we agreed that this was going to be a taijutsu spar!" Sakura gaped at Kakashi in disbelief. How dare he broke the rule they had agreed on? And chidori is a dangerous jutsu! Sure, he would not use it with the intent to kill but still, raiton is an extra pain since the left-over electric current would linger and sting even after the wound was healed.
Kakashi chuckled at her reaction as he walked towards her. She graciously accepted the hand he offered and relied on him to pull her up off the ground. "I was not even planning to use the chidori at all. But as I fought you, I realised that there was a significant drop in how I could foresee my enemy's movements, and so chidori would be out of the question from now on, unless I'm killing an immobile target or if I have my path cleared from any potential ambushes," Kakashi explained. As he did some post-spar stretching, he winced as he pulled on a particular sore spot.
"Did I manage to land a hit?" Sakura asked enthusiastically as she promptly healed the part Kakashi was rubbing on.
"Wasn't a hit, but I over stretched myself trying to avoid your kick. I had a miscalculation in the beginning of the spar. It was so much harder reading your attacks without the sharingan."
"That, and maybe I'm just getting much better," Sakura said teasingly.
"Yes. You have come leaps and bounds even since that second bell test," Kakashi commented nonchalantly as he ruffled her hair, making Sakura blush. He may have said it just like he was stating a fact, completely devoid of any hints of praise, but the fact that he said it meant that it must have been true. After all, Kakashi was the sort of man who never complimented or degraded another, he was the sort who only gave credit when it was due.
"It's getting late. You should have some rest, I'm sure that you would be needed in the hospital tomorrow," Kakashi said as he began to walk out of the training ground. Not wanting to be left behind, Sakura picked up her speed to walk alongside her ex-sensei.
"You know, sensei, since you just lost your sharingan, even though your performance is still no doubt a few nothes above most jonin, as your self-declared medic, I would not recommend you taking the more dangerous missions.. You will need time to re-adjust," Sakura lectured as they walked towards the main street of the village. While Kakashi managed to avoid all her attacks and was not panting as hard as she did after the spar, she had seen a drop in his reaction time. It wasn't much, and against normal shinobi it would not even matter, but if he was up against a large group, or someone as experience as he was, or as proficient at taijutsu as Gai-sensei, he no doubt would have a lot of difficulties in battle.
"I know, Sakura."
"You always said you know it but you're extremely stubborn! You will still take those dangerous missions. You need someone to remind and nag you about it all the time. You and Naruto are the same" She chided.
Kakashi winced at her words. Surely, he was not as stubborn as Naruto to be grouped together in such regards? Clearing his throat, Kakashi defended himself, "well, if only things are that simple, but even in this peaceful era there are still going to be demands for high ranking missions.."
"Let someone else do it," Sakura cut him tersely. "The burden of the village does not rest solely on your shoulders. We have other capable shinobi too, you know."
"I know. But sometimes, they requested for me specifically for those high-ranking missions."
"But you're not going to be ready for at least a month!"
"They wouldn't care, Sakura. To them, we shinobi are just tools. Plus, because of the war and all the destructions Konoha suffered, we need all the money we can get. We can't afford to be picky right now," Kakashi explained as he smiled at her. "I know you care about me, about everyone. But don't worry too much. I've always came back up until now. I'm not going to break my record just yet," Kakashi grinned behind his mask as he tried to ruffle her hair again. Sakura was quick enough to evade his hand and gave him a pout. After a moment of silence lapsed between them, Sakura got an idea.
"In that case, with Gai-sensei unable to be your training partner until he recovers, Naruto and Sasuke not needing further taijutsu trainings, let me be your taijutsu sparring partner from now on," Sakura pleaded with a determined look in her eyes.
"Well, if you insist. I can't really object a medic's expert opinion.." Kakashi said teasingly as his eyes creased. "And since you are going to be my taijutsu sparring partner, it would only be fair for me to teach you genjutsu," Kakashi continued as he turned away from her, resuming his trek home.
"Wait, sensei! I don't need that!" Sakura blurted out. "It's not that I don't want to learn new things, but I don't need any kind of repayment from you, I just want to help!"
"I know, Sakura. But I'm doing this for me as well."
"Eh?"
"You see, among my three students, you are the only one I never dedicated my time to. When all of you were still genin, I focused most of my attention to Sasuke, especially after the incident with Orochimaru. After Naruto came back from his trip, I focused on him to create his rasen-shuriken. But you, all this time, I have failed you as a teacher. This would be my time to make it right," Kakashi explained quietly, eyes averted from hers in guilt. Kakashi always felt like he had failed Sakura, for leaving her out all these years. But back then, when he as newly appointed as a genin instructor, he was still summoned for A or S ranked missions frequently because he was one of very few people who were capable of taking non-ANBU missions of such calibre, and he was also still occasionally be contacted ANBU to carry out unofficial ANBU missions.
"It wasn't your fault, sensei. For you to still be able to advise on what I should improve on back then was already quite the feat. With you having to babysit both Naruto and Sasuke as well.."
Kakashi's lips quirk up into a small smile, and as he glanced at Sakura's mirthful expression, a small chuckle managed to break out from him.
"That's one way of putting what a troublesome genin team I was assigned to.."
"I know right? They behaved like little kids all the time," Sakura added with a laugh.
"They still behave like kids up until now," Kakashi replied with a wry grin. At Sakura's confused expression, Kakashi explained, "I saw Naruto and Sasuke having a drunken spat at the Uchiha compound just before I came to the bar. Naruto had smuggled a bottle of sake and brought it over to the confinement area. I think he wanted to watch and make fun of a drunk Sasuke which kinda backfire.."
At that Sakura laughed, but as she pictured the drunken brawl in her head, she snapped her attention back to Kakashi. "Wait, are they hurt? Are they ok? Did they destroy anything?" Sakura felt a rising sense of panic. She had barely started making an outline for their prosthetic hands, and those idiots had torn apart another limb?
"They were too drunk to use chakra," Kakashi informed her reassuringly. "They'll probably spot some nasty bruises and swellings tomorrow though."
"Serve them right," Sakura interjected. "And I'm not going to heal them. They can find another medic."
"Naruto would probably be healed by the first medic who he comes across. Sasuke though.."
"Ino or Hinata-chan would probably be nice enough to help him, if he asks nicely."
"Hmm.. Then we can expect Sasuke sporting those bruises for the next couple of weeks," Kakashi hummed.
"Like I said, serve him right. Especially for leaving all of us before."
Kakashi nodded in agreement as he stole a glance on Sakura. She did not look upset at all, only annoyed. He had thought that talking about Sasuke's defection may still be a taboo among his two students, but apparently, with Sasuke finally coming back, or the events leading to the war or the war itself forcing them to mature much quicker than they should, Sasuke's wayward ways was just another topic of conversation now.
As they reached the intersection that leads them to their respective apartment, Kakashi spoke, "so I'll see you after your shift tomorrow?"
"Yep! And don't be late! Or else.."
At that Kakashi chuckled and disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving a fuming Sakura who stomped her way home.
…
A/N
1. This story is designed to be a slow-burn, and I want to make it a story of what Kakashi does before he become Hokage, when he's the Hokage and what he does when he retired. Basically the fic will be focused on Kakashi's reign. It will also tie in with how Sakura expand the hospital services and establish the children's therapy centre (Cue Sakura Hiden)
2. I will be writing the fic mostly from Kakashi and Sakura's perspective. But there would be other characters too, mainly Sasuke. He will be an interesting character in this fic ;)
3. Update to this fic will be very erratic because my life revolves around school schedule*cries*
4. Enjoy! And I appreciate all the reviews I can get 3
5. Chapter 2 is updated as of April 2019
