Oiroke no Sakura
by Oniko
Chapter Four
… … …
Naruto was waiting for Sakura when she got on shift at the hospital. He was sitting in the small waiting room off of Rheumatology that was closest to the employee entrance, tapping his foot impatiently. Nurses and technicians eyed him as they went about their routines. Nervous shinobi made for nervous medical staff. The minute he saw her, he jumped up with a loud greeting and the tension in the room drained as everyone else heaved a sigh of relief that it wasn't their problem.
Sakura glared at Naruto and the staff indiscriminately. She was tired and the transformation to go back to Sakura after being Sakumo had been particularly difficult this morning. "What do you want, Naruto?"
His smile faltered a bit, and he shuffled his feet against the thin rug that sectioned off the waiting room from the main walkways. "Um, about this morning- What's going on?"
She sighed and signed in, stalling while she looked for an answer. She had been trying to explain it to herself for weeks—years really—and she wasn't any closer to answer. "It's complicated."
Naruto stared at her; she stared at her schedule. The seconds ticked by in their little bubble of silence as the hospital started gearing up around them for the day.
"You never wanted to lean that jutsu in the first place," Naruto said after it became clear she wasn't going to continue. "Why are you- Where you-" He flailed around trying to find the words.
"Because, I thought it was just a stupid prank henge you used to harass old men," she said. "I didn't realize it would be like that!"
"Like what?"
"Like an actual physical transformation," she snarled. "Like real."
"Of course, it's real," Naruto said. "It's a henge."
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Exactly. A henge. A chakra shell around you that you mold- to-" She slowed to a stop, staring at Naruto's utterly baffled expression. The sheer energy cost to actually mold the physical body would be- Sakura brought her hands up to rub at her temples. "Naruto, go away. You're giving me a headache."
Naruto opened his mouth to say something but paused when a medic nin approached them waving a file. "Haruno-san, I have the tests you requested."
It took Sakura a moment of blinking at the file and trying to remember what tests she may have requested recently before she recognized Sakumo's name written on the tab. She snatched it from his hand. "Finally!"
"Sorry, Haruno-san," he said with a sheepish smile."Seems it was misfiled."
"Fine, fine," Sakura said, waving him off and flipping eagerly through the charts.
"What's that?" Naruto asked. He had that pouty frown that he was a little miffed at the interruption.
"I requested that Sakumo get a complete work-up done," she said, absently reading through the shockingly average numbers. Chemical and hormone balance was good. She was healthy for male her age.
"Why?" Naruto asked.
"'Why' what?" She even had a good, energetic sperm count, which surprised her because reproductive organs were complicated, and she was focusing more on form than function during the transformation. Sakura frowned at the papers. There were a lot of things the jutsu added that she didn't directly influence during the transformation, like the length of her hair or the color of her skin. The jutsu must have some kind of underlying rules that she just hasn't figured out yet.
"Why are you-" Naruto snatched the file out of her hands, ignoring her protests and forcing her to look at him. "Why would you have an exam done? The transformation was just for the one night, right?"
"At first, yeah," she said, scowling at him and crossing her arms over her chest. "But then Hinata got that mission for Sakumo, and he seemed to be okay working a full shift but I needed to be sure. Some of those toxins can build up over time and do a lot of damage."
"But, you're Sa-"
"Don't!" Sakura grabbed Naruto's arm and dragged him to an empty exam room nearby. She flipped the colored flag above the door to 'occupied' and slammed the door shut behind them. "You can't just say that!"
"Say what?" Naruto snapped, clearly getting to the end of his rope as well. "Sakura, what is going on with you?"
"I-." She froze. She wasn't sure she could actually say it. Sakura took a shaky breath and forced the words out in one long rush. "I-don't-think-I'm-a-girl."
Naruto blinked at her, deliberately and slowly he looked down at her chest before silently pointing at her breasts.
"Naruto." Sakura covered her face with her hands and groaned. She took a deep breath, and tried to explain. "Okay, try to imagine if you were born in a girl's body."
"Like my Oiroke no Jutsu?" Naruto asked, screwing his face up as he thought about it. "Then I'd be- I dunno, me with boobs?"
Sakura tried really hard not to growl. "I know you are not this stupid. Stop being deliberately obtuse."
Naruto shrugged, looking sheepish. "I'm sorry, but I just don't get where you're going with this. If I was born a girl, then I'd be a girl."
Sakura did growl at him, and threw the pillow from the examining table at Naruto's head for good measure. He didn't even bother dodging.
"Fine, forget that," she paced in the small space allowed her while Naruto watched her warily. She debated bringing up Haku, remembering Naruto saying how pretty he was in a pink yukata, but Haku was already a touchy subject with Naruto and she didn't want to make any assumptions about a boy she'd barely glanced across a battlefield. Finally struck with an idea, she rounded on Naruto. "Think about it like this. You are stuck in a transformation jutsu. In the form of a woman. But you are still you. You think of yourself the way you do now. How you see yourself is the same as now. You expect to be a man. But when you look into the mirror you're a woman."
"Because of the transformation justu," Naruto added helpfully.
"Right. But you can't dispel it, or change it." She said.
Naruto shrugged. "Okay. Sure it would get old fast, and it would suck getting mistaken as a woman by strangers. But I'd still be me, and people would know me-"
"But it's always been like that. All anyone has ever seen was this fake image of a woman that wasn't really you, and no one believes you when you try to tell them," Sakura said, and suddenly she wasn't talking about a hypothetical Naruto anymore. "And they're constantly 'girls do this' and 'girls don't do that' and everything you do is picked apart and put into little boxes, until you can't remember which way is up, and every time you have to look at yourself, it's all wrong, wrong, wrong."
"Hey, hey, hey. It's okay." Warm arms wrapped around her, and she was crying. Sakura was starting to hate crying. She was always crying over Sasuke or stupid shit, and it never fixed anything. She smacked Naruto's shoulder with an open palm in frustration at her helplessness. It was all noise with no force or chakra behind it.
"Feel better?" Sakura could feel the wry humor in Naruto's voice vibrating through his chest where she leaned against him.
"No." Yes.
Naruto chuckled and let her go, one trailing hand tousling her hair. He gave her a long sober look. "I'm sorry."
Suddenly uncomfortable Sakura turned away to fuss with the assorted jars of cotton balls, tissues, and other supplies kept on the counter next to the small sink.
"I never knew it was like that," Naruto said. "Why didn't you ever say anything?"
She shrugged. "It wasn't like there was anything I could do about it. Mostly I just buried it. I threw myself into my crush on Sasuke, my rivalry with Ino, into the team, training. Anything. As long as I didn't have to think about being me."
"And then the jutsu."
"And then the jutsu," she agreed.
He nodded thoughtfully as he mulled it over. "So, what's up with the double life?" He finally asked. Sakura shrugged.
"At first I didn't want anyone one to know that I even knew your perv- your prank jutsu. Then Hinata handed me that mission, and it was easier to do the mission than explain. And then, I couldn't stop." She turned to Naruto with pleading eyes. "I need this."
"If you hate life as Sakura so much, why don't you this stop then?" he asked waving his hand at the room around them.
"Because I worked too hard to get where I am," she said. "I can't just give up my position here, and people depend on me."
"I'm sure baa-chan would understand," He protested.
Sakura shuddered slightly. She thought her parents would understand when she had been a child young enough to think that her parents were perfect. She couldn't go through that again. Not with Tsunade who, as her mentor and Hokage, had virtually complete control over her life. Some of that must have shown on her face because Naruto looked equally devastated at the realization that, no, she didn't think she could trust Tsunade.
"Please don't tell anyone," she whispered. He looked torn, shifting nervously from foot to foot.
"I don't know, Sakura," he said. "You're lying to everybody. That can't end well."
She didn't say anything, just looked at him, silently begging that he go along with her on this. Naruto groaned.
"Okay, fine." He gave in. "But I won't lie for you. Anyone asks me flat out, and I'll tell them."
Sakura nodded, relieved. "Thank you, thank you."
Naruto scrubbed his fingers roughly through his hair. "Oh, this isn't going to end well. When Tsunade figures this out-"
"She won't," Sakura said confidantly. "With Sakumo and Sakura working different shifts no one would expect to see us together. And I've found balance in Chakra usage." She knew she was babbling, but she was so happy she finally had someone to talk to that she couldn't stop the words from pouring out. "I know we had told Hinata I had low chakra reserves-"
"Yeah, um, why did you do that?"
"Because she was a Hyuuga, she could see I'd been drained, and I didn't want to explain it was me using your prank jutsu."
"Why not?"
"Can you see me explaining to Hinata that I was using your 'sexy jutsu?'" Sakura asked. "She'd implode from embarrassment. I'd implode from embarrassment."
Naruto just looked at her blankly. "Why-?"
"Because it sounded good," she snapped impatiently. "Could you just listen. With the Yin Seal I can store that extra energy that Sakumo doesn't use for the change back to Sakura, and-"
Naruto held up his hands in surrender. "Please don't go into the technical details, I don't think my brain could take it."
She swatted him hard enough to stagger him back and drop Sakumo's file. "You are not that stupid."
"Ow! I'll figure it out when I need to." She snatched the file up and hit him again with it for good measure. Papers came loose and scattered. He grinned at her. "So, ah, what's going on with you and Kakashi?"
Sakura froze. "What do you mean?"
"Don't think I didn't notice," he said with a sly grin. "Kakashi's been looking at you funny ever since the party. Well, looking at guy-you. Sakumo."
She blushed. "It's not my fault! He blindsided me. With hormones."
"Urk. Wha-?" Naruto's expression of concern quickly melted into confusion.
"He asked me out on a date," she said, blushing harder as she thought about Kakashi's intense look.
"You?" Naruto looked stunned.
"Sakumo," she clarified.
"But, he's Kakashi-sensei," Naruto protested. "He's old!."
"He's not!" She protested automatically. "He's-"
"Do you like him?" He asked, his tone a mix of fascinated and horrified. "How does he rank on a scale of one to Sasuke?"
"Shut up," She smacked him again. Then considered the question he was really asking more seriously. She sighed. "I don't know. But when he looks at me like that, my brain just shuts down."
Naruto grinned. "You have the hots for Kakashi-sensei."
"Shut up," she grumbled again, burying her face in her hands.
"I take it all back; this is like the greatest prank ever."
She hid her face behind the file in her hands and groaned. "Naruto, go away."
Naruto just grinned at her and pulled open the door. "Let me know if you need anything, and keep me updated."
"I will," she promised.
"But no details!" Naruto said, waving his hands back and forth, half in and half out of the room. "Details, I do not need!"
She threw a nearby box of tissues at him. He just laughed and dodged out the door. She shook her head and gathered the file back together.
… … …
Kakashi found Sakumo at the end of his shift fussing with an excessively complex trap wired into an unused side door. Eager to get a look at his kit, Kakashi slowed his steps to ghost up behind the other man. Sakumo had the sensitive spring loaded wires held in place by surgical forceps
Kakashi frowned at the kit rolled out by Sakumo's knee. That was Sakura's. He recognized the mix of surgical and jewelry making tools; the latter leftovers from a onetime hobby that had lasted less than a week. Most Ninja supplemented their standard equipment with additional bits and tools that they found useful. It could give an insight into where the nin had been, and what work they've done, as well as their hobbies and general state of mind.
That Sakura would give Sakumo her kit spoke of a level of trust that was rare outside long time teammates. That he would feel comfortable not only asking, but using the personalized kit, spoke of a level of familiarity and training that didn't quite line up with Sakumo's cover story. Kakashi filed the information away for later examination as Sakumo carefully released the clamps, activating the trap. Kakashi gave Sakumo extra bonus points for not setting off his own trap when he turned around to find Kakashi looming over his shoulder.
"Color me impressed," Sakumo said with a nervous smile. "My shift only ended ten minutes ago."
"I see my reputation precedes me," Kakashi said as he casually stepped back out of Sakumo's personal space.
"You did leave quite an impression on Sakura." Sakumo's smile was a wry twist of his lips.
"Hmm." Kakashi eyed Sakumo's form appreciatively. "Some things are worth being on time for. Shall we get going then?"
"On time?" Sakumo raised a single eyebrow.
"Close to on time," Kakashi amended.
"Well, then," Sakumo smiled. "Lead the way."
Kakashi led them to a small hole in the wall place that catered to shinobi. It was in one of the upper floors a downtown building that had weathered the various catastrophes reasonably well. The public access was through an open balcony door on fourth floor. Sakumo followed him up the building without complaint.
Training beyond academy level, Kakashi noted. Not a very damning piece of evidence. They had been pretty open with basic skills during the war. Tree climbing, water-walking, if it wasn't a bloodline skill, there were orders from the Kages to teach it to anyone who would learn.
The bar had no name and no signs advertising its presence. Most of its business was by word of mouth. Inside it was well lit as a balm to shinobi paranoia, but dark wood paneling and a low ceiling gave the place a seedier atmosphere. Tables were placed a generous distance apart with seats and mirrors strategically positioned so that the exits could be watched from any position.
It was quiet for so early in the morning. That didn't mean the place was empty. There was a scattering of Jounin drinking quietly in opposite corners, and the bar was manned by a one armed boy who was entirely too young to be so badly scarred and maimed. Kakashi laid a hand lightly on Sakumo's shoulder.
"Find a seat," Kakashi said. "I'll get our drinks."
He made his way to the bar and ordered a bottle of warm sake and two cups. One his way to the table Sakumo chose he made a show of juggling the warmed ceramics in order to press a small premade seal to the bottom of one of the shallow cups.
It was fairly weak as interrogations drugs went. Most of the work was done by enhancing the effects of the alcohol. It lowered the inhibition and disengaged the brain-to-mouth filter, making the subject more likely to say the first thing that came into their head. It wasn't foolproof and a determined liar could still power through it, but it also slowed the reaction time, which gave the interrogator more time to look for tells that subject was lying or holding back. It really was too bad that you needed to have seal master to write out the damn things and compress it to a small enough size to actually be useful.
Sakumo chose the expected table. It was near equidistance to the other patrons which placed them at the center of the room, but slightly to the side so that it wasn't in the direct line attack from a of the entrances—the balcony door, and the hallway leading to bathrooms and manager's office. Sakumo's choice of seating was more interesting. He was angled to take the entrances while leaving the optimal spot for watching the patrons to Kakashi. It was a subtle acknowledgement that, if there was trouble, he trusted that Kakashi to protect him—and that Kakashi hadn't been the one to set him up.
"Here let me help you with that," Sakumo said, taking the jar of sake while Kakashi deposited the cups in from of their designated seats. He was careful to place the one with the seal in front of Sakumo. Kakashi almost missed the subtle twist of fingers as Sakumo tested the rice wine for tampering. Of course the sake met with his approval and Sakumo was generous enough to pour for both of them, never once thinking to examine the cups. Kakashi let himself have a small hidden smile that under his mask that never reached his eyes.
"So, getting to know you," he said slowly, dragging the words out. "Likes? Dislikes? Dreams?"
Sakumo rolled his eyes. "Really?"
Kakashi simply waited, taking the moment to examine Sakumo closely. Not even bothering to hide his close examination of Sakumo's features. Since extending the invitation for a drink Kakashi used his time wisely and swiped the file on the Haruno clan from Intelligence for study. He compared the young man before him to the images in the file. Sakumo definitely had Haruno features in the lines of his face and body.
"Fine. Fine," Sakumo said, blushing slightly and covering it up by taking a long drink of sake. After he had gathered his bearings Sakumo looked up with a small smirk. "I like my friends, dislike my enemies, and forget my dreams when I wake."
"Ha! I'll have to remember that one." He raised his cup briefly in salute. Sakumo paused slightly in raising his own drink as Kakashi lowered his mask.
"What?" Kakashi asked. He smirked slightly and tossed back the sake. "Have I got something on my face?"
"More like, you don't," Sakumo said, finally sipping at his sake as Kakashi pulled his mask back up. "I thought you were obsessively protective of people seeing you without your mask?"
"I don't care for it, true," Kakashi said. "But I'll admit I may have gone a little overboard when Naruto and Sakura were genin."
"Why?"
Kakashi didn't bother hiding his evil grin, that he was sure was perfectly clear through the thin material of his mask. "Because, it was fun."
"You trolled your genin team?"
"Ah- maybe?"
"You are an asshole." Kakashi chose to interpret the tone as admiring and preened accordingly. Sakumo rolled his eyes again. Clearly he was spending too much time with Sakura.
"So, how are you finding living with your cousin?" Kakashi asked genially.
Sakumo gave him a suspicious look. All good feelings gone in an instant. "Why? Are you going to warn me off of her, too?"
Kakashi winced slightly and didn't bother to hide it. "No, I deserved that. If I mis-read the situation, I'm sorry. I hope this doesn't impact my chances here."
"It's okay." Sakumo flushed slightly and dropped his gaze to the small ceramic cup he was turning idly around and around. "We all just want what's best for Naruto. I don't actually see much of either of them, actually. Not with Sakura and I on opposite schedules."
"I suppose it's just as well," Kakashi said, raising his cup. "Here's to avoiding her cooking and her temper."
"I didn't think it was that bad." Sakumo protested. One hand half raised in an aborted defensive move.
"Which?" Kakashi asked, trying to ignore the wounded puppy look. Maybe he actually liked Sakura's cooking? Note to self: introduce Sakumo to real food at some point.
"Either!"
Kakashi shrugged, and gave him a reassuring smile. "If no one's been poisoned or broken; we consider it a sign of affection. I remember, there was this one Rock nin convinced that Sakura had a crush on him when she punched him out and didn't break his jaw in three places. No one had the heart to tell him she was suffering from chakra exhaustion."
Sakumo just stared at him with a slightly befuddled expression. "That didn't happen."
"Swear," Kakashi raised his hand. Sakumo stared at him a moment longer before shaking himself free of whatever thoughts were circling and laughed. Sakumo had a nice laugh, warm and soft, and Kakashi couldn't help but smile in return. They drank in silence for a while before Kakashi tried another topic. "Is she teaching you any of her jutsu?"
"Her jutsu?" Sakumo asked tilting his head slightly. "Like what?"
"I dunno, enhanced strength. The yin seal would be particularly useful," Kakashi said with a lazy one shouldered shrug. Sakumo went still, but when he didn't say anything Kakashi offered, "I'd heard you had low chakra reserves."
"Where did you hear that?" Sakumo asked with a small frown on his face.
"Ninja gossip," Kakashi answered with a smile. "The yin seal stores chakra, you can use it to help expand your reserves."
"Oh. That does sound useful." Sakumo sounded distant. Something had unbalanced him. What about the yin seal would be unsettling? Tsunade shouldn't have too much of a problem with Sakura taking on an apprentice of her own, in theory. She probably would prefer doing the vetting herself first.
"Hm-hmm. Do you have perfect Chakra control as well?" Perfect control wasn't exactly rare, but like many other traits it was tied to blood and was another point in the "actually family" category. Kakashi topped off Sakmo's cup and not subtly urged him to drink by raising his own glass in a silent salute at nothing.
Sakumo drank. "Yes, I've never really noticed that it meant much."
"Prize for a medic-nin. Will you be following in your cousins footsteps?" Tsunade would probably kill to have another medic of Sakura's talent.
"I- I don't think so?" Odd that he didn't sound sure, like he was testing the idea out for the first time.
"Not a medic nin? Then what do you want with your life? I'm sure you didn't plan on just doing C and D rank grunt work forever?" Kakashi asked, lifting his cup and gesturing a bit before lowering it back to the table without drinking.
Sakumo shrugged. "Does it really matter? Plans never survive the first engagement with the enemy."
"Sad." Kakashi shook his head. "So young to be so disillusioned. Why did you want to be a ninja then? Back when things were new and shiny?"
"Shut up," Sakumo said. But he still looked thoughtful. "I haven't thought about that in years. I- I think I was looking for- family?"
"Haruno is a civilian clan."
Sakumo shrugged. "Acceptance, maybe. I was always the odd one out."
"Friends are the family you choose."
"Something like that." Sakumo nodded but wouldn't meet Kakashi's gaze, busying himself with his drink instead.
"And now you have Sakura." Kakashi tilted his head slightly to study Sakumo. He was expecting a lie, but that was- interesting. Sakumo was hedging enough that it was probably truth, but vague enough that it probably wasn't true in the way that it seemed.
Sakumo made some non-committal noise before looking back up at him. "What about you? What did you want to be when you were young and stupid?"
"I was young, but never stupid."
"Bullshit," Sakumo retorted. Kakashi just smirked at him. "I bet you wanted to be Hokage. Everyone wants to be Hokage."
"No. I didn't want to be Hokage," Kakashi said. He pulled down his mask and swallowed a mouthful of Sake. He fussed with pulling his mask up a bit before answering. "Perfect. I wanted to be the perfect ninja."
"No pressure there," Sakumo said softly. He poured their next round. "So, are you?"
"What do you think?" Kakashi asked archly. He thought the answer should be obvious.
"You're perennially tardy, and you read porn in public." The dryness dripped like acid.
"My definition of perfection has evolved over the years."
Sakumo rolled his eyes at Kakashi. "Right. And what is your definition of perfection now?"
Kakashi looked away. He stared over Sakumo's shoulder at a mirror that reflected him and the window behind them. The glare from the morning sun making them silhouettes against the brightness. "Perfection is standing with your team. Protecting your village."
Sakumo nodded in silent agreement. He raised his cup and drank. Kakashi checked the time, the alcohol should have started to work its way into Sakumo's blood and brain. The seal would bypass any of his normal tolerances and speed up the process. Time to get a baseline reading. "So, how did you end up losing your apartment anyway?"
Sakumo looked momentarily startled by the sudden change in topic. Then the question fully registered and his mouth twisted in a practiced grimaced. "Out of control Earth jutsu. I've been looking for a place, but space right now is at a premium."
Well, now wasn't that interesting. Nearly the first words out of his mouth were a lie. Kakashi knew from Tenzo that he had been helping them knock out cookie cutter apartment buildings fast enough that they were actually at a surplus at the moment. And what's more it came out with ease and no obvious tells or stutters. This might be more of a challenge then he expected. Kakashi smiled and leaned forward.
"And how are you finding Konoha?" Kakashi asked, Sakumo should be relaxed enough that Kakashi could fish around a bit.
"What do you mean?" Sakumo asked looking puzzled, but not alarmed.
"Hmm, I thought I heard you had moved here from somewhere. The capital? There were a lot of Harunos out there." Kakashi said, dangling an easy lie in front of him.
"No, we've always lived here."
"We?" Kakashi jumped on the plural. Sakumo's eye widened as he realized he had made an error and he quickly looked down to cover his reaction.
"Me and Mom. She used to work in the shops, mostly civilian," Sakumo said. His words tumbled over each other in the rush to escape. The alcohol and truth seal was clearly slowing down his thought process and making it harder for Sakumo to cover his tells. Although, it was crappy work to begin with if he had to come up with basic details like this on the fly.
"Hm, and where is the venerable Mrs Haruno now?" Kakashi asked.
"Gone," Sakumo said, staring down at his sake with grief that was all too real.
Kakashi winced slightly. He knew that there was already too much grief to go around. It seemed that there was always too much. "I'm sorry."
"Thank you."
They fell into awkward silence after that. Sakumo seemed determined to drown in sake. It was heading into midmorning and the jounin left to their homes or their missions until Kakashi and Sakumo were the only ones left. The bartender helpfully brought over another jar.
"So, chuunin right?" Kakashi asked while refilling their cups. "Field promotion? Or did you go through the exams?"
"Never made it to the chuunin exams," Sakumo said. He brushed an imaginary hair from his cheek and accepting the drink. "Jounin sensei- failed me out."
Kakashi watched him thoughtfully. What an interesting thing to lie about. So, Sakumo was in the Chuunin exams. Records of all entrants were sent to the participating nations. Kakashi was still going to look, but he doubted that he would find "Haruno Sakumo" on any of them. "Your jounin sensei must have been blind."
"Half-blind," Sakumo muttered into the rim of his cup.
Kakashi smiled. He loved this seal. "That's a pity. I'm sure we could have used you. I got a peek at your trap there. That was an intricate piece of work."
"Hm-hmm. Automatic reset repeater," Sakumo said. "I came across plans for it awhile back but never had the chance to use it. Seemed like a good time to try it out."
"Not much use for traps in civilian life," he said quietly.
"No," Sakumo agreed. "What traps do you use?"
"I prefer quick slip nooses that can be set on the fly."
"That won't do much against civilians much less ninja."
"No, but it does slow them down. That's usually good enough," Kakashi said leaning back. "I take it your jounin-sensei wasn't big on traps either."
"I don't know what he was looking for," Sakumo said, his voice starting to slur slightly. "I don't know even why I was on that team. I was useless most of the time and my teammates were trying to kill each other the rest of the time."
And didn't that just sound like every genin team ever? Kakashi mused to himself. He was half convinced that the genin teams were set up around conflicting personalities to give them drive through competition until they found they found the Will of Fire and figured out their own nindo. "That bad?" he asked.
Sakumo stilled and glanced up, giving Kakashi a hard look that surprised him. "You really want to know?"
The low and dangerous tone lent more weight to the question than it should have warranted and Kakashi's hackles rose. Before he could answer Sakumo slammed the cup down forcefully."
"My jounin sensei was an asshole," he said harshly. "He egged us on when he wasn't ignoring us. Always having his nose buried in those- those stupid books."
Kakashi made some vaguely sympathetic noises. He suspected that Sakumo's jounin sensei had about as much of an idea on what to do with a handful of children than Kakashi did. That is none.
"If it helps, they don't give any of us training on what to do with genin team." Kakashi said. Sakumo looked skeptical. "You're just dragged into the Hokage's office, handed a bunch of files, and somehow expected teach fresh-faced kids straight out of the academy how to be ninja."
"He never taught us a single thing," Sakumo said. He poured but didn't drink, staring at the colorless liquid. The anger rolling off him seemed real enough. "No. I take that back, he taught us. He taught us a few basic skills after he had been crippled and three children were the only defense we had in enemy territory."
"Well, that-" Kakashi paused, trying to think of something to say. But, he was too distracted by runaway thoughts trying to match the scenario to rumor. Something like that would have had the jounin-sensei censured and made the rumor mill. Except he was coming up blank. "That sounds rough."
Sakumo tipped his head back, draining the last of the sake in his cup. "That was pretty much the last I saw of him. I heard he kept teaching the other two before the team completely fell apart. But I was out."
"Because you weren't battle oriented?" Kakashi asked. There was a long delay before Sakumo nodded.
"I didn't jump out into the fight like my teammates. We had civilians with us and I focused on keeping them out of trouble and safe," Sakumo shrugged. "I guess I blew my chance."
Kakashi frowned. If Sakumo was telling the truth, that man was an idiot. A good team was balanced. Support was in many ways as vital as attack. However, he didn't think Sakumo was in a place to hear those words.
