Disclaimer
K. I'm not sure if I have to write these things but I will. I don't claim any rights to Naruto or the charecters. I give full credit to the rightful owners, blah, blah, blah. Except my story line. I mean I have no problem with them using it in Naruto, but I want credit if they do. lmao.
Sasuke leaned against the wall moodily, glaring at Neji's back as the Hyuuga and his ANBU team left the Konoha gates. They had been scheduling this mission for over a week, Sasuke had been the one who was supposed to lead this mission with Sakura - who had planned to take the day off from her three-man squad - was supposed to be his second-in-command. Neji would be there too, of course, he was Sasuke's best squad commander, but he had meant it to be a mission for him and Sakura. And he knew it hurt her as much as him to watch the others leave without them, it was too dangerous for them to leave at that moment. Not that she said anything, but he saw her face fall when he told her that they couldn't personally go pick up Kouta from her Onee-chan's house.
Of course, she hadn't been home long enough for him to try to assure her that Neji would be perfectly able to make sure Kouta got back to the Jinchuuriki District healthy and happy. She had scheduled to meet her three-man squad at the gate's for their first mission the Fire Daimyo's wife had lost her cat, Tora, again - making the Team Kakashi suspect that she 'lost' it on purpose so that the Genin could look for it.
So, that left Sasuke alone to finish his paperwork in peace… which was not what he wanted to do that day. Not that he had any choice at all in the matter. It would only be a matter of waiting before Sakura got back from her mission and could come help him, finding Tora was generally as easy task with a talented Jounin around. Then he could take her back to the restaurant they had gone to the night before, and eat in peace while the rest of the town was working.
When he had mentioned his plans to the others, they had objected - of course - saying that Kichirou might be waiting for them to come back. But, Sasuke knew otherwise. He had only gone to talk with Sakura to prove to Sasuke that he was vulnerable in his new position. When he was with Orochimaru and taka - and even when they were fleeing the Akatsuki - he had been safe. If his life with the snake sannin had taught him anything, it was to never stay in one place for longer than absolutely necessary, keep your patterns different, never let your enemies learn your routine! He had once forgotten those rules and was ambushed on the way out of his room one morning, nearly lost his life - ever since that moment he made it a normal habit to use different exits out of his house so his enemies wouldn't be able to learn his routine - though he couldn't do anything about his ANBU work hours.
He shook his head slowly and pushed away from the wall, it wouldn't do to get caught up in old times at this point in his life. He had a routine that would be very easy for his enemies - and he did have enemies - to memorize and to use to track him down. There was nothing he could do about that, all he could do was make sure they weren't able to sneak up on him.
Slowly, Sasuke pushed himself away from the wall - only when the ANBU were out of sight - and made his way back to their headquarters, already dreading the piles of paperwork on his desk. It was the job of the squad leaders to get their squads individual reports together, use those to make their own and to add any inconsistencies. It was Sasuke's job to read those reports and try to find connections that may or may not exist, occurrences that should repeat but don't, then report to the Hokage and ask for permission to respond accordingly. It was a long, annoying - in his opinion - process, but one that needed to be done. Sakura had suggested a few times that he drop out of the ANBU head position, and move to something that would fit him better - field work as a squad leader - but he refused every time, saying that it had run in his family for generations so it was his duty to take up the position now.
Sakura glanced around the trees, making sure her three genin were in position before signalling for them to move. Like she had expected, none of them coordinated - apart from jumping at the same time - and ended up slamming into each other. Even though Kakashi took every opportunity to remind Team Kakashi how horrible they used to be as a team, these three made their past selves look like sannin. The only reason she had to pass them, was because there were only two other teams that passed - they needed three and Sakura was the most likely to be able to train these three into somewhat decent Shinobi. Even though they were usually horrible, one seemed worse than usual.
Tora leapt off the grass, scratching her youngest student across the face before racing away. The other two genin didn't hesitate to run after it, tackling it and wrestling the large, fat cat to the ground. Sakura ignored the fallen boy - knowing that he was alright and it would only hurt his pride if she stopped to heal him in front of the others - walking towards her only female student, who happened to be holding Tora at arm's length by the scruff of his neck. Sakura picked up the cat and held it in front of her.
"Yeah, this is him. Bow on the tail." She noted that the poor cat's owner had moved the ribbon to it's tail instead of it's ear, but didn't say anything to her students and started back towards Konoha, handing the cat to her other male student as she fell back to walk with the youngest. "You know, my sensai always says that he got lost on the path of life." She said conversationally, keeping her eyes on the distant city instead on the thirteen year old boy. "He just uses it as an excuse because he's too lazy to wake up, but it looks like you're actually lost right now. Problems at home?"
The young boy looked up at her, frowning as he tried to make sense of what she had said. He opened his mouth, about to say 'no' but paused, nodding instead. "My mom says you're the container of a demon…" He told her slowly, gauging her reaction - so he'd have advanced notice if she got angry - but Sakura kept her face neutral. "She says that demon host's loose control of the demon's powers a lot, and that it's dangerous for me to be your student. She's going to the Hokage today, to see if she can get me into another squad… But…. But I like it here! I don't want to leave this squad. I've seen all the other Jounin, none of them have the same look that you do. You've been there, you actually know what it's like and can teach us how to actually protect ourselves. I heard Iruka-sensai talking to another sensai when we were waiting for the Jounin to pick us up, we barely passed, didn't we…? You're the only reason we're still genin, aren't you?"
Sakura sighed deeply, she had figured that someone would complain about the Jinchuuriki being teachers, but she had figured more people would complain about them teaching at the academy than as three-man squad leaders. "Yeah, I am. Tsunade-shishou said that I'd be the one most likely to be able to train you. She said that if you caused too much trouble, then I'd dismiss the team and send you back to the academy. It's too bad, really, you three were starting to grow on me." Of course, she was lying, but she felt bad about being so truthful with him - since it would probably hurt his young mind - and had to add a nice comment to it all.
"She's going to send them back, as well?" The boy asked meekly, his expression falling - probably imagining what his team would do to him when they realized it was his fault they were no longer shinobi.
"Most likely." Sakura said, nodding her head - more to herself than him, though. "Please don't blame your mother, though, she's just worried about you. It's hard for parents to let their kids go and I have lost control before."
He frowned, but didn't say anything, shoving his hands deep in his pockets as they passed through the town's front gates.
Sasuke moved closer to Sakura, wrapping his arms around her waist before pulling her into his lap and resting his chin on the top of her head. She intertwined her fingers with his, over top of her stomach. He knew something was wrong with her, but didn't want to push her so he was giving her the room to answer in her own time. The Uchiha gazed around the room. Ino and Karin were arguing again - they both still thought of Sakura as a rival, but rarely argued with her anymore - with Hinata desperately trying to calm them down, as Naruto told her not to bother from the other side of the table. Shikamaru was teaching Jugo to play Go - and was actually having a hard time winning - with Suigetsu, Sai and Chouji watching with bored expressions. Shino and Kiba were talking quietly. Team Guy still wasn't back. Anyone else would think it was strange how fast they had become friends with each other - considering they were all separated into four three-man teams, the teams merged with one another easily.
Though, anyone else wouldn't know what they had gone through. Not only had they all fought the Akatsuki at some point, at least one of their team mates was a Jinchuuriki which was 'the glue that held them together' - in Naruto's words.
Sakura sighed softly and leaned back so she could look at him. "The parents of one of my students is complaining that her son is being taught by a demon host." She grumbled, her eyebrows creasing together as the only sign that she was truly annoyed by it. "She's afraid that I'm going to loose control around them and kill them, meaning I'm not going to be a teacher anymore."
Sasuke paused, nodding slowly. If not for the expression on Sakura's face, he'd be jumping for joy. Without the children to look after, she'd be sent on regular Jounin missions. Which might sound worse - because they're a higher rank - but it also meant there would be other jounin around to help her. With only genin, she would put all her strength into protecting them and wouldn't try to help herself at all if someone ambushed them, so she'd be in more danger even though it'd only be a D- or C-ranked mission. He kept imaging how injured Kakashi had been after the fight with Zabuza, except Sakura was the injured one and the Akatsuki or Kichirou were in the place of Zabuza. On the other hand, she had been more excited about being the leader of a three-man squad than he'd seen her in a while. Not that he'd admit it, but he'd give anything to make her that happy again.
"You'll just have to wait a while, until next year. Lots of jounin don't have genin right now, so you'll just have to wait for the next genin exam." He told her, trying to be soothing - although he had no idea how to make her feel better. "And remember, Kouta will be here soon so you can train him to pass the exams so he'll be your student this time next year. Think about it, he'll be this year's genius."
Sakura smiled softly to herself, her eyes locked on the wall opposite her, but it looked more like she was looking through it and seeing something that was invisible to Sasuke's eyes.