A/N: Sorry this chapter took me awhile, I haven't felt very inspired lately. Nevertheless, I hope it's enjoyable. Now let's get through all of the less enjoyable growth so we can get to the good stuff in the next few chapters! :D

Thank you for your patience. Reviews make life worth living! ^_^

1/2 page format recommended!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter Seven: The Bell Test

Sasuke found it unusually difficult to drag himself out of bed the next morning. Collective thoughts of the past night's festivities danced through his mind, despite halfhearted attempts to dispose of them. He buried his head into the pillows diagonal to his position, a familiar scent filled his nostrils as he took a deep breath in. "Mm," he mumbled lazily to himself, he recognized this Sakura; her warm scent of cherry blossom in the springtime. The aroma still coated the pillow from her stay just two nights ago. Along with the familiar scent came irrepressible memories of the pink haired girl. His thoughts flashed back to the way she had looked that night.

He really hadn't wanted to go. His piqued comments of disapproval and a coated discomfort had ensued on the way to the festival, which were simply combated with Naruto's stern yet playful fists. All he could think about was finding a way out of it as he strode through the crowd- until he saw her. Something about seeing Sakura looking the way she did made Sasuke think, reconsider. Did he really not want to be there, or was he simply having a hard time adjusting? Truly, he wasn't sure. But Sakura, she had something to do with it. He couldn't help but picture the way she looked that night. Her smile, the way she congenially greeted everyone with such warmth and a modest excitement. Her hair, how it swept gently past her feminine features in the cool breeze that seemed to appear from nowhere. And those eyes, the way she looked at him beneath the moonlight; how it made him uneasy yet eager; the way they gleamed with sheer benevolence and a hint of something else. What else? Hell if he knew. He just couldn't read her the way he used to, or the way he did others.

Shaking the warm thoughts from his mind, he took a deep breath and flung the covers away from his body. "That's enough," he said to himself, rubbing his eyes as he sat tiredly on the edge of his bed.

The simplicity of his upcoming day was almost depressing. It was his last D-rank mission thanks to some strings pulled by none other than Uzumaki Naruto, but it would also be his last actual task for the day. Perched atop a building as his eyes searched lazily through the streets for the requested brown puppy with an injured ear, Sasuke tried to think up things to occupy his time. "I could actually make dinner for once," he proposed, "that should take some time." He sighed at the thought, he had never cared much for cooking, nor did he care much for time wasting. Oh how he hated his new found down time.

"Sasuke!"

Turning his gaze to the kunoichi down below, Sasuke couldn't ignore the spark he felt ignited in himself at the sudden human interaction. But it wasn't just any human interaction. He didn't resist and held a hand up nonchalantly in greeting; it felt so odd, to feel contented at the sight of another human being. Swiftly, he flickered from atop the building to standing beside her. Obviously startled by his speed, Sakura pivoted between spots and looked at him with an annoyed pout.

"Haven't you ever heard of stairs? Or maybe just anything other than impossibly fast movements. It's overwhelming, you know," she crossed her arms and glared at him.

"I don't like wasting time," he explained with a smirk, amused at her reaction.

He felt her eyes flicker over his face as he turned to look down the road, noticing the crimson that pooled in her cheeks. He snorted.

"What?" the kunoichi inquired.

He shook his head, "Nothing, now what is it that you wanted?"

"Oh!" Sakura exclaimed, suddenly remembering why she was there, "Hokage-sama has reinstated you officially as a member of Team Seven."

"Hmm," he chuckled smugly to himself, it was only a matter of time before old lady Hokage would decide to loosen his leash. "That it?"

"No," she said, trailing away from him, "Training starts now."


Sakura would be lying if she said she wasn't excited for Sasuke to be back on the team. Hell, if he wasn't then she would hardly have any excuse to spend time with him now that his eyes were almost entirely healed. Walking beside him now, she peered at him from the corner of her eye. An air of disappointment came along with Sasuke being reinstated, Sakura would no longer have the opportunity to see if he would have taken the initiative to see her. But then again, this could've saved her from the pain of when he didn't take the initiative to see her. Whether he wanted to spend time with her or not, now he would have to. And that was fine with her.

Kakashi lounged very nostalgically in one of the trees, his eyes buried in his favorite adult novel. Sakura smiled, times like this made her forget about all of the awful things that were going on. Naruto and Sai sat in the middle of the training ground, the blonde jinchuriki seemed to be hard at work on something, his eyes glued to a scroll in front of him. "There!" she heard him shout as he lifted Sai's quill from the parchment. A deformed, leaking mouse-looking thing stumbled off of the paper just to erupt into an inky splash as it hit the ground.

"Hmm," Sai sounded, "I guess you're even terrible at drawing. Perhaps you need a dick for this too, hmm?"

Sakura interfered as Naruto raised a fist to the unaware ex-Root member. "I see you boys are getting along swimmingly without me."

"As always," Kakashi remarked, lowering himself from the tree that he had so comfortably been seated in. He pocketed his orange book and looked around at the teens. "You know, it's interesting looking at you all now, after all that's happened."

All eyes suddenly fell on the dark haired Uchiha standing a few paces behind Sakura, who simply scoffed at the sudden attention that was cast his way. Sakura chuckled, avoiding any more thoughts towards Kakashi's words, 'after all that's happened.' And so much really had happened.

"Welp," Kakashi continued, "no matter. I think it's about time we have a little recap of something I call," he opened his hand to expose three jingling bells, "teamwork."

All four teens stood lined in front of the three memorable wooden posts. Their former sensei stood before them, not looking a day older than the day that they had first encountered the infamous bell test. Something about this felt different from the first two tests to Sakura. Everyone was older, more experienced. Some could even argue that one if not two members of Team Seven had even surpassed Hatake Kakashi, the renowned copy cat ninja. Sakura eyed her teammates from her peripherals. Naruto looked as ready and as anxious as eve. Sai maintained the same pleasant yet uninterested expression, it was his first bell test, but Sakura couldn't fathom what sort of tests Danzo had his Root members endure. Sasuke looked as bored and indifferent as ever, but Sakura had a feeling that things were about to get interesting.

"Well, traitor," Sai peered past Sakura, addressing Sasuke, "you and I might be at the bottom of this bunch. Judging by your entirely self-centered tendencies."

Sasuke glowered at grey boy, "Piss off."

Kakashi held the bells out in front of him, "I don't really need to do a recap of the objective of this test, do I?"

"No! Can we just start?! The anxiety is killing me, dattebayo!" Naruto shouted.

Kakashi chucked, "As you wish," and he lowered his mask to expose the sharingan.

Sasuke snorted.

In a flash of orange, black, red, and white, the young shinobi came at the the grey-headed ninja with their all. Shuriken flew in streaks of reflected sunlight only to be blocked by uncovered kunai. A barrage of shining stars and metallic clinks, almost too quick to be noticeable. Sakura couldn't help but be shocked at how well Kakashi still held up, even against four fairly skilled shinobi.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto exclaimed as an explosion of orange and black flew past them.

Sakura sighed at the extremely typical move. Sasuke leaped over the head of a clone, facing Kakashi head on with a fire jutsu, the ball of flame poured out of his mouth in a tidal wave of heat. Sakura squinted from the tree she was stooped in, "Damn, Sasuke." The Kakashi clone dissipated, leaving everyone slightly baffled.

"When did he even have time to make a clone?!" Naruto cried, completely exasperated.

Sasuke smirked to himself, "I guess we're not at kiddie level anymore."

Closing her eyes, Sakura searched the area around her for the familiar chakra signature of the stealthy grey-haired nin. Most ninja couldn't mask their chakra so easily.

"There!" she said to herself, pouncing from the tree in the direction of the chakra signature. Flying past her comrades with ridiculous speed, she raised a heavy fist and propelled it into the ground, "SHANNARO!"

Her comrades grunted against the brute force that crumbled the ground beneath their feet like eggshell. The signature stumbled and attempted to flee, but the kunoichi was much too quick. Kakashi raised himself from the ground and looked at his belt; a bell short. He chuckled at the sight before him. Sakura smiled smugly, a single bell dangled from her finger with a victorious jingle. "Kudos," the copy nin remarked, before dashing away at the sight of the three remaining ninjas flying towards him.

The battle for the bells lasted no more than several hours, much shorter than its predecessors. Naruto placed second, oddly enough. The goofy jinchuuriki managed to distract his expert sensei with the a quick rasengan, which Kakashi was sure to dodge. Much to the blonde boy's fortune, he fell for the decoy rasengan as Naruto managed to snatch a bell. "Hmm," Kakashi had said, "my sensei's son after all."

And then there were two. Sakura didn't spot Sasuke at any moment, his speed was more than notable, it was borderline legendary. She wondered if this was similar to what people felt when they watched Naruto's father, the Yellow Flash. The mere notion gave her chills, but it was unlikely that the two were comparable.

"Have you seen any of them?" Naruto inquired.

She simply shrugged, "I doubt any of them have seen each other."

The sun sank lower and lower in the sky until it was a deep shade of orange. Naruto yawned and leaned back, "They better hurry it up- whoa!" From the trees above were they laid, the whoosh of an inky dragon flew past them, accompanied by two blurs and the crackle of electricity.

"Now, Sai!" Sakura heard the raven-haired Uchiha command.

"Hai!" Sai responded dutifully, and the lightning charged creation went crashing into the bushes.

Sakura and Naruto ran anxiously to the sight of the inky explosion. The sight before them was quite bewildering. Against the tree, with a kunai to the throat sat their beloved sensei, an defeated look in his weary eye. He held his hands up, recognizing his loss as the last bell sat in the palm of Sai's hand.

"So the dragon was yet another diversion?" Kakashi inquired.

"Indeed it was," Sai informed, "Traitor-kun's idea." His eyes crinkled kindly.

Sasuke snorted, helping Kakashi from the ground.

"Working with others, are we, Sasuke?" Kakashi pat his troubled student on the back.

"Way to go, Teme!" Naruto congratulated the arrogant boy, "And you too, Sai!"

"Why thank you, Dickless," Sai said with a slight bow.

Sakura ambled over to the Uchiha, who looked away, he was preparing to be annoyed at her words; she recognized that face.

"Traitor-kun, hmm?" she giggled, poking him playfully.

"Hmph," he grunted, "the purpose behind it all is teamwork, Sakura."

She simply smiled, no longer feeling stupid when he said her name like that.

"You're right," she said.

Turning away from him, she began her walk home, only to soon be accompanied by the arrogant boy that had stolen her heart so long ago.

"Hungry?" she asked.

"Hn."