"I am called Sabaku no Gaara."
000
The familiar three sharp knocks of his guard came at the Hokage's door.
"Hokage-sama, Team Seven reporting for their mission."
"Good, let them in."
The heavy oaken door swung open with an audible creak-he really needed to get those joints oiled-and the four members of Team Seven strode in to stand before him. Sarutobi couldn't help but smile at the sight of those three genin lined up in front of his desk. It was a sight the Sandaime had seen countless times during his two tenures as Hokage, and even after all these years it never failed to warm his heart. There was no reason that the new genin teams couldn't get their missions directly from the requests office, but Sarutobi felt that the first few times should be something special. Besides, getting to see these fresh faced young genin take their first steps on the path was something he wouldn't miss for the world.
His eyes glanced past Naruto and Hinata to land on the closed off, impassive face of Sasuke, and that warm smile of his cooled as if someone had poured ice water on it. Of course, this was no ordinary genin team, and their path was destined to be rockier than most, Naruto by himself ensured that. Add in the Uchiha, and that great towering thundercloud that hung over him, and you had a team just about as far from ordinary as you could get. Poor Hinata, the girl likely had not even the slightest inkling of the mess she was in.
"So," the Sandaime brushed away his dour musings, and did his best to put some cheer in his voice. "How are you three enjoying the shinobi life so far?"
"I-It's fine, Hokage-sama," Hinata spoke up. She was the only one to do so. Sasuke offered only the small lift of his shoulders in a shrug, while Naruto crossed his arms and looked sullenly away.
"Is something the matter, Naruto?" Sarutobi asked, but he didn't need to. That look on Naruto's face spoke of a complaint that had been coming since the day he graduated.
Naruto scuffed the heel of his sandal against the floor, his lower lip stuck out in a pout.
"The missions you've been getting so far aren't very fun, are they?" The Hokage expertly poured sympathy into his voice. "For you to be stuck, doing glorified chores right when you've finally become a shinobi, it must be frustrating."
"Yeah, it is," Naruto nodded his head. "It sucks."
"I can imagine," actually, no he couldn't. When he was a genin, Konoha was still young and small enough that its survival was in question. The village couldn't afford to waste trained shinobi on simple labor, and so D-rank missions hadn't even been concieved of yet. Still, he could certainly understand how times of peace, wonderful and precious as they were, could get a bit dull. "So then how about I give you something a bit more exciting?"
"Really, you mean it?" A hopeful look came over Naruto's face, like a dog watching his master eat.
The old Kage nodded, the corners of his eyes crinkling in a smile.
"Awesome!" it was like sunlight breaking through cloud cover. Naruto's eyes were shining with excitement, and it was all he could do not to hop up and down. "So who's ass are we gonna kick?"
"Well," Sarutobi chuckled. "You wont be, er, kicking anyone's ass, but I assure you that this extremely important to Konoha. In fact, it is the most critical mission that will be issued today."
"Wow, so cool," Naruto seemed almost to be vibrating from sheer giddiness. Finally, a real mission!
"Er, if I may ask, Hokage-sama," Kakashi began, wariness clouding his voice. "What exactly will we be doing?"
"This will take you out of the Land of Fire, and into a foreign village, so it can be considered a C-rank. However," Sarutobi let the word hang in the air, thoroughly enjoying the seven eyes locked on him. "that ranking does not begin to describe how absolutely vital this is."
The four members of Team Seven stood waiting with baited breath as the Hokage reached into his robe, his face hard and serious. In one quick movement, he pulled out a small, white scroll, and placed it on the table.
"You four are to take this scroll into the Land of Wind, and deliver it to the Kazekage of Sunagakure."
Naruto stared down at the unassuming cylinder, all of that excitement melting off him. "That's it?"
"I assure you," the Sandaime said. "Despite how simple it may sound, this is no D-rank trash collecting mission. Carrying the correspondence of Kage is an incredible responsibility."
"Hokage-sama, are you sure this is a good idea?" a hint of nervousness was beginning to creep into Kakashi's voice. What on earth was he thinking? "They are only genin, after all."
"Have some faith in your students, Kakashi," Sarutobi admonished, a smirk dancing at the corners of his mouth. "I would only issue a mission like this to those I considered capable."
"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto rounded on the jōnin. "We're not just some dumb brats, you know. You're looking at the guy who's gonna be wearing those robes someday!" he pointed at the Sandaime, putting on the most dramatic face he could.
Hinata watched her teammate's display silently, the tips of her index fingers pressing together. If only she could share Naruto's confidence. To her, it didn't make any sense at all why the Sandaime would choose them for a mission like this. There was no way to guess the contents of that scroll, she certainly wasn't about to try using her Byakugan to peek, but she clearly understood the sort of weight it carried. Her father took the security of such missives so seriously that it bordered on paranoia. He would never have trusted anyone other than members of the clan known personally to him and of jōnin rank to send anything more important than a birthday card.
For the Hokage to place such trust in them, in her, could only mean that he was grossly overestimating this team.
"Very well, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, defeated. This seemed like a terrible idea, especially after what they'd learned yesterday. Given that, it would seem like the best course of action would be to keep Naruto and Sasuke safely within the village walls and under close observation. Yet, if the Hokage was doing this, it meant that there had to be some deeper reason for it.
"Good," Sarutobi nodded, satisfied. "The trip to Suna should only take a few days, so I don't expect you to take too long getting back. Oh and Naruto," he glanced sharply at the blond. "I want you to remember that for this mission you will be serving as the face and voice of Konoha. Please, please, don't do anything to offend the Kazekage."
"Aw don't worry about me, Old Man," Naruto waved the concern off. "I'm the most polite bastard in this village."
"Right," the Hokage said, dragging out the word slightly. "Well then, you'd all better get going."
"Yeah, let's go!" Naruto pumped a fist into the air and bolted for the door. Kakashi quickly grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and yanked him back.
"You can't run off into the wilderness with just the shirt on your back, you little moron," the masked jōnin scolded. "Before we go anywhere, we'll need to pack some supplies."
"Like what?" Naruto asked, struggling uselessly against his sensei's grasp.
"Food and water, mostly," Kakashi answered, and released his grip on the orange jacket. "We're going to Suna, and that means we'll be spending some time in the desert. So make sure you bring an extra supply of water in some container scrolls."
"Can I bring some ramen?"
Kakashi sighed and rubbed the side of his masked face. "Yes, you can bring some ramen. Now, go home, gather your things, and meet me by the gate in an hour."
000
Any road that one took out of Konoha, no matter which direction one was going, would have you walking through the dense forest for which the village got its name. That great mass of trees spread out over the Land of Fire like moss on a stone, making the land that surrounded the village almost impassible, save for these wide dirt paths which cut through it. A quick look at a map would offer an assurance that it would eventually give way to the broad, flat planes that marked the border to the Land of Wind, but at the moment that didn't seem to be the case. The trees stretched out as far as the eye could see, even if they were Byakugan eyes, and it seemed as if the forest would never end.
"So what's Suna like, anyway?" the question came out of the silence as Team Seven walked along the road, a product of one of Naruto's random thoughts. He turned his head back to look at Kakashi as he walked, his overstuffed backpack jangling nosily with every step.
"Well," Kakashi said, tilting his head up at the pale blue sky. "There's a lot of sand there."
Naruto just about fell over. "I know that. I mean, what's the village like? They've got ninjas and stuff there too right?"
"Of course they do, Suna is one of the Five Hidden Villages, after all," Kakashi answered, his eye drifting lazily from one cloud to the next. A few steps behind him Sasuke trudged silently, the jōnin's words sticking in his head.
Did that mean, then, that Suna also had someone like Naruto? His eyes trailed over to back of the blond's head. Apparently all five of the major nations had at least one such person, and so the same must have been true for Sunagakure. What were the chances they might run into them? Would he even be able to tell if they did? He had been face to face with Konoha's jinchūriki for more than six years now and he'd never suspected a thing. Sasuke frowned to himself. It still didn't seem right, that someone carrying something so monstrous could look so normal.
"Hey, so when we get there-" Naruto began, but his foot caught in a small pothole, and, tilted off balance by his heavy backpack, he tumbled to the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust around him. There came an audible crunching sound as the pack was badly jostled by the fall. His three teammates all came to a halt around him as he pushed himself out the dirt, one hand at his head.
Kakashi shook his head disapprovingly down at his student. "Naruto, you have too much stuff in your backpack."
"But you told us to pack," Naruto protested, wobbly getting to his feet. The pack he was carrying was heavy enough to make him tilt back slightly, and he been constantly readjusting the straps as they dug into his shoulders.
"You weren't supposed to carry it all on your back," exasperation crept into the jōnin's voice. "Why didn't you just store your supplies in a scroll like the rest of us?"
"Oh uh," Naruto gave a sheepish grin, his hand going to the back of his head. "Yeah I'm not so good at that."
Kakashi had no idea what to say to that. Sealing items into container scrolls was one of the most basic fūinjutsu taught, and the only one that could be considered simple. The scrolls came pre-written and with instructions on how to do the sealing. It took no thought at all. For god sake this was Minato's son and an Uzumaki! How could he have such little talent in this area?
"Fine," he reached into his pocket, and tossed Naruto an empty scroll. "One of you two help him."
Sasuke quickly turned away, he wasn't about to cover for the idiot's incompetence. Naruto wouldn't have asked the Uchiha for help anyway, and instead turned to Hinata. With the blond's gaze upon her, color began spreading on her cheeks and the tips of her forefingers began pressing together. There was no one else around to aid Naruto, however, and so she gave a small nod.
"Cool, thanks Hinata," he grinned at her, before looking down at the scroll in hand. He scratched the side of his head. "So what do I do?"
"F-First, we have to open it and lay it down flat," she said, repeating word for word what she'd learned in the academy. Naruto slid his finger under the seam of the scroll and picked clumsily at it. He frowned. This was worse than a brand new roll of toilet paper. Finally, he managed to get a proper grip and pulled it open, revealing the squiggly ink strokes of the seal. As Hinata instructed, he laid it down on the ground, right in the middle of the empty road. He looked up expectantly at the Hyūga.
"Now," she said, that warmth on her cheeks seeming to intensify under those shockingly blue eyes. "You place the items you want to seal on top of it."
"Okay," he slung the backpack from his shoulders and pulled the zipper open. A couple cups of ramen tumbled out, their orange labeling almost as garish as Naruto's jacket.
"How many of those did you bring?" Kakashi asked, eying the mass of dark orange threatening to burst from the backpack.
"Enough," Naruto answered defensively, stacking the cups on top of the scroll. That stack would quickly be joined by another, and then another until the paper of the scroll was entirely obscured under a great pile of ramen cups. The backpack lay slack, its mouth hanging open to reveal that there had been nothing else inside. Looking at all those boxes now, it was difficult to imagine how Naruto had managed to fit them in the pack without it bursting at the seems.
"Didn't you bring any water?" Kakashi peered into the empty backpack.
"There wasn't any room," Naruto waved off the question, before turning back to Hinata. "Anyway, what's next?"
"Ah," she tore her eyes from the sprawling collection of ramen. Would all those even fit in the scroll? "All you need to do it focus some of your chakra into the scroll. The seal should do the rest."
This was the part Naruto had been worried about. Attempting to do this had never gone well for him in the academy. He fidgeted slightly. "Uh, can you do it?"
"No," Kakashi said, holding out his arm in front of the Hyūga. Receiving instruction was one thing, but for Naruto, a trained genin, to be unable to do something as simple as this? It was unacceptable. Since becoming Naruto's sensei Kakashi had discovered that the boy was utterly incompetent at the simplest of things. Basic taijutsu, ninjutsu, chakra control, things that any other shinobi would know as a matter of course were beyond him. It was like finding a composer who didn't know the difference between a C note and a B note. "You can't just let people do things for you. This is one of the most basic shinobi skills. You should know how to do this."
"But-"
"Do it yourself, Naruto," the jōnin's tone brooked no argument.
"Okay," Naruto looked nervously down at the end of the scroll that was still exposed under the pile of containers. He made the ram seal and began pooling chakra into his hands. The first bad sign, to Kakashi, was when the boy's hands actually began glowing a faint blue. To be able to actually see a person's chakra without a dōjutsu indicated that it must be quite strong. Too strong, in fact, for this simple task. The second came when Naruto pulled his hands apart and chakra seemed almost to arc between his palms for a second. Yes, this was definitely too much chakra, far, far too much.
The jōnin was already stepping away from his student in anticipation of the impending disaster. It came a moment later, right as Naruto touched his hands to the scroll. All at once there was loud bang thatrang out through the woods as the ramen cups all exploded. Naruto took the brunt of the blast, and was knocked flat on his back, but Hinata and Sasuke were close enough to be hit by the shrapnel, in this case shards of dried ramen noodles. A thick, brown cloud hung in the air, coating them all in the stench of miso.
Naruto blinked, dazed, as his sensei stood over him. Kakashi looked down expressionlessly at the genin, his silver hair tinged just the slightest shade of orange.
"Alright, let someone else seal your equipment from now on."
000
The sun had long since slipped beneath the horizon, and without its overpowering light covering the sky the stars had their chance to shine. With no buildings or artificial light to obscure the view, the field of stars stretched out with no end. Far beneath that infinite expanse, a modest campsite sat within a small clearing some distance away from a road.
With the coming of dusk Kakashi had suggested they stop and find a spot to spend the night. They had passed a small inn some time before, and Naruto had wanted to turn around and head back to it, but Kakashi quickly vetoed that idea. The jōnin had explained that they couldn't afford to waste time backtracking, and that they needed to get used to sleeping outdoors if they were going to be shinobi, but that hadn't been the whole story. He'd brought them, instead, off the road and into this tiny break between the trees of this seemingly never ending forest.
Hidden on his perch in one of the trees that surrounded the clearing, Kakashi sat with his nose buried in his copy of Icha Icha Paradise. He wasn't giving the material the attention it deserved, as he kept himself ready in case of an attack. He didn't think it likely that one would come, but, on a mission like this, it didn't hurt to be cautious. That little white scroll seemed almost to be burning through his pocket, and he found that it actually took some willpower to keep from taking it out and looking it over.
What on earth had been going through the Sandaime's head when he assigned them this mission? Obviously, there was some sort of plan or deeper motivation, but what could possibly justify sending a genin team out on a mission like this? The line of communication between two Kage was one of the most closely guarded and valuable things in the world, especially when it was between the Kage of two allied Hidden Villages. Any shinobi from Iwa or Kumo would cheerfully slit all of their throats to get their hands on this scroll. Why then, did the Hokage think it acceptable to send a single jōnin with three barely out of the academy genin tagging along?
And to think that the Sandaime had told him that being a sensei would be a low stress assignment.
Out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of bright orange standing out against the night. Naruto was sitting on a tree branch some distance away, that jacket of his still as loud as ever even in the dark. The genin had spent all of his time after dinner-a spare meal Kakashi had thought to pack just in case- walking up and down the trunk of the tree he was now sitting in. Kakashi had told him that he needed to practice his chakra control, but Naruto didn't need any urging. He'd spent almost every free minute yesterday running up the sides of walls and trees, stopping only when someone had come out of one of the buildings he'd been scaling and started shouting up at him. It was amazing, really, to see him progress so quickly. The so called dead last of the academy had actually managed to give Sasuke a run for his money at this, and yet he couldn't even use a basic container scroll.
Eventually he'd finally seemed to run out of steam and took his spot on the tree branch. He'd hardly moved since, and had been gazing up at the sky for the last couple of hours. It was getting late, and Naruto should've been asleep by now, but Kakashi wasn't about to go over and explain that to him. If he wanted to spend all of tomorrow groggily trekking across the Land of Fire that was his business.
A small movement from the campsite caught Kakashi's eye, and he glanced down to see Sasuke sitting up from his bedroll. The Uchiha was turned away from him, staring up at Naruto. A moment passed, as he seemed to be contemplating something, and then he rose. Kakashi tensed up slightly in spite of himself as the dark-haired genin began climbing his way up the tree, but he made no move to intervene. It wasn't as if Sasuke would do anything while he knew the jōnin was watching. Still, what exactly was the Uchiha intending?
As it turned out, Sasuke didn't really know himself. He'd been laying in the thin sleeping bag, completely awake, and simply happened to spot Naruto sitting on that branch staring up at the sky with an expression he'd never seen on his teammate's face before. The blond's face looked as if he were lost in thought, contemplating something. It didn't suit him at all. He'd quickly rolled over and tried to ignore him, but even now when the noisy brat was silent, that was impossible. It wasn't long before Sasuke found himself looking back up at his teammate, and mentally scolding himself for doing so.
They hadn't talked at all about the Kyūbi, never said a single word to each other about it. Since that night, they'd simply gone back to their usual roles, pretending that everything was normal. And, really, why shouldn't they? What would they even have to say to each other, and why should he care? It shouldn't be any of his business. Of course, it was, Kakashi had made that very clear. Of all the things Sasuke had expected to happen when he awakened his Sharingan, this had certainly not been it. Still, there was this vague, amorphous feeling that he needed to care about this. It was, in some sense, his mission to care, even if that mission had been foisted on him without his knowledge or consent.
All of this had lead to him climbing the tree Naruto was perched in, and sitting himself on one of the branches adjacent to the blond. Propping his elbows on his knees, Sasuke glanced over at Naruto. He hadn't seemed to notice the Uchiha at all, his face still tiled upward at the night sky. Bathed in the dim starlight, Naruto looked mesmerized, as if there was no one else in the world around him. It suddenly seemed that way to Sasuke too, there was no wind, not event he chirping of cricket, nothing except for the sound of his own heartbeat.
"Nice job with the scroll," Sasuke finally said, breaking the silence. Normally he didn't mind the quiet, but this had become almost unbearable. Naruto was a loud person, that's just who he was, how he was supposed to be.
Naruto blinked and turned away from the stars. He looked at Sasuke as if this were the first time he'd ever seen him. "Huh?"
"The scroll," Sasuke repeated, turning his gaze back to the treeline. "How did you manage to screw that up?"
"Oh," Naruto shrugged. "Sorry."
Sasuke's eyes snapped back to the blond, only to find that he'd already gone back to staring at the sky. That had not been the intended reaction. Normally, that sort of goading would set Naruto off like an explosive tag. He never could stand being mocked, especially not by Sasuke, and at any other time he would've been stomping his feet and shaking his fist by now. So what the hell had gotten into him now? Naruto had always been a nuisance, and he should've been glad that for once the brat wasn't acting like his usual self, but this seemed all wrong. Naruto's face almost seemed slack, as if he'd been put under a genjutsu.
"What are looking at?" Sasuke asked, once again trying to drag things back to normality.
Naruto didn't answer for a moment, and the Uchiha thought that he might not have heard him, until his voice came, hushed and low. "The moon, it's full tonight."
"...So?" What was so fascinating about the moon? Sure, it might have looked pretty, if you cared for such things, but was that giant boulder hanging in the sky really worth this sort of attention? Had he really been staring at the thing all this time?
"I don't know," Naruto said, his voice far away. He turned back to look at Sasuke, and the Uchiha had to stop himself from jumping back. It might have been a trick of the dim light, but in that moment it looked as if Naruto's pupils had narrowed into slits. "There's just something really beautiful about the full moon, you know?"
Sasuke turned his gaze away, suddenly unable to meet Naruto's eyes. "Hn."
000
The Hyūga compound was one of the greatest prides of that clan, second only to the Jūkenpō. Out of all the buildings in the village, only those of the compound perfectly maintained the traditional architectural style used before the founding of the Hidden Villages. Yes, there were some others that came close, but none could quite match up to the absolute majesty displayed by the home of the Hyūga. At least, that is what any of the clan would say. Whatever the veracity of the Hyūga's boasting, there was no denying that the Hyūga compound was a marvel. It had been constructed only a few decades ago, but to walk within its walls, to see its fastidious traditionalism, one would be forgiven for assuming that it was far older.
At first, Sakura had been completely taken in by it all. Seeing the old style wooden structures and the stoic Hyūga in their kimonos had been like walking through history. She could almost imagine that she wasn't in a modern village, but rather in one of the Hyūga's old strongholds from before the Senju-Uchiha truce. When she had entered the main courtyard, the sight had almost taken her breath away. On the surface, it wasn't quite so impressive, a simple training yard for sparring adorned with a single modest tree off in the corner, but Sakura had been utterly transfixed by it. There was something about it, a certain serenity, that had made her sorely regret the fact that she hadn't been born a Hyūga.
Now, however, as she painstakingly worked her way through tangle of overgrown branches with her clippers, and those dour faced Hyūga watching below, all of that envy had evaporated like fog under the hot sun.
"Yo, Sakura!" Kiba called through the branches from the other side of the tree. Above him, Akamaru was cheerfully hopping from one branch to the next, oblivious to his human teammates laboring below. "There's a whole bunch left near the top. Can ya get up there?"
"Why don't you do it?" she called back irritably. Honestly, if he could see the parts that needed pruning, then why didn't he climb up there himself?
"Aw, come on," the Inuzuka pleaded, hanging down from the branch to look at her. "You're lighter than me and some of those branches don't look like they can take a lot of weight. You don't want me to fall, do ya?"
"I wouldn't lose any sleep over it," she grumbled, but began climbing her way to the top of the tree, the branches bowing under her weight. Near the peak of the tree, the branches were indeed slimmer, and with no ladder to stabilize her, she was forced to angle awkwardly out of the branch to get to twigs that needed pruning. It occurred to her, as she balanced wobbly on one the narrow branch, that the risk of falling out of this tree made this the most dangerous mission she'd been on since becoming a genin. The last few missions had been nothing more than simple menial labor, no more challenging than the daily chores expected of anyone her age. Kiba had been complaining almost nonstop about it, but she could only feel relief. She had read the history of the Third War, how shinobi as young as her had gone out on missions with little hope of returning. If she'd been born only a decade earlier then, instead of simple gardening, her first mission could have been her last.
She leaned out further to get at a loose twig stick out of a branch right above her, and at that moment Akamaru came leaping right for her, with that blissful look in his little doggy face. The ninken's head crashed right into the small of Sakura's back, throwing her off what little balance she had. With a small yelp, she went tumbling down through the branches, twigs scraping at her arms. Right as the ground rushed up to meet her, she abruptly stopped, the hard ground less than a foot from her face.
"Are you alright?" Yūhi Kurenai asked, righting her and putting her back on her feet.
"I-I think so," she said, her voice shaking slightly. She rubbed her hands over the scratches on her arms, before looking up into the ruby eyes of her sensei. "Thank you, Kurenai-sensei."
"Whoa, what happened?" Kiba called down, loud enough for his voice to echo through the courtyard.
Sakura grit her teeth, a vein standing out on her temple. "Why can't you control that stupid mutt?" she shouted back just as loud.
"Hey!" the Inuzuka's voice filled with outrage. He quickly dropped down to the ground and stalked up to the pink-haired girl, trying to stare her down. "Don't talk about Akamaru like that."
"Your dog almost got me killed!" she shot back, undaunted by his warning. "Why the hell did you even bring him? He hasn't done anything!"
"You-!" Kiba began, but their argument was abruptly ended as Kurenai's hand was put between the two of them.
"Calm down," the red-eyed jōnin admonished. She fixed a disapproving stare on the Inuzuka, her arms crossing over her chest. "She's right, you know. Akamaru did knock her out of the tree. If I hadn't been here she might've gotten seriously hurt."
Kiba looked away from his sensei, a hint of shame appearing over his face. "'M sorry."
Satisfied with that, she turned her attention back to Sakura, and the scratches that by now were beginning to bleed.
"Here," she said, taking one of the girl's arms. She held her open hand over the row of wounds and a faint green glow appeared in her palm. The scratches immediately stopped bleeding, and in another few seconds they'd completely healed.
"You know medical ninjutsu?" Sakura asked as Kurenai moved on to the other arm. Out of all the various types of jutsu, this had always been by far the most fascinated to her in the academy. Something about using chakra, mainly utilized as a weapon, as an instrument of healing appealed to her. It seemed appropriate, poetic even.
"Only the basics," Kurenai answered, releasing Sakura's arm. She stood and looked down at the younger kunoichi. "I've always had good chakra control, and that meant either medical jutsu, or genjutsu. I dabbled a bit with the former, but ultimately I decided to focus on genjutsu."
"Why?" the question came out of Sakura's mouth before she was fully aware that she'd asked it. It wasn't like she intended to be rude, but really, why genjutsu? It might have been interesting simply because of how intricate some genjutsu could be, at the end of the day it was nothing more than simple misdirection. Where was the romance in illusions? Still, saying as much to someone who had clearly devoted so much time to it, and who was also her sensei was about as impolite as one could get. "Er, I mean-"
"Why didn't I want to be like Tsunade?" the jōnin finished for her, her expression souring slightly. "Every kunoichi graduating out of the academy wants nothing more than to follow in her footsteps, right?"
"Um, I guess so," Sakura shifted uncomfortably. There was a hint of accusation in that question, the faint glimmer of disapproval.
"I used to feel the same way, you know," the jōnin's tone softened, and a look of sympathy came over her. "Back when I was a genin, all I wanted was to be the next Tsunade. We all heard of the lives she saved during the war, the countless people who would've died from Suna's poisons if not for her, the families forever in her debt. Who wouldn't dream of being like her? Well, one day I broke my leg on a mission and spent some time in the hospital, and while I was there, I noticed that some of the nurses used medical ninjutsu. I asked them about it, and do you know what they said?"
Sakura shook her head, her brow creasing slightly.
"They told me that they had all been kunoichi who'd tried to follow in Tsunade's footsteps, but, since they could never be as good, they'd all just quit. Can you believe that?" a fire had sparked in Kurenai's voice, one that Sakura hadn't heard from her sensei before now. "All these people joining the ninja ranks just to end up stuck under that woman's shadow, didn't they have any dreams of their own? I swore, then, that would never be me, and so here I am."
"I see," was all Sakura said, her gaze dropping to the ground. Where had all that come from?
"Well," Kurenai coughed awkwardly. "Why don't you go help Shino sweep out front. I think Kiba can handle the rest of the tree by himself."
"Yes, sensei," Sakura nodded, and made for the sliding door.
"Hey, where're you going?" Kiba called down as she pulled the door open, Akamaru now seated firmly upon his head. "There's still a whole bunch left up here."
"Let Akamaru do it," she called back, and slid the door shut.
The interior of the entrance building was quite plain compared to those in which the main, or even branch families lived, but it still held that same peaceful quality, the same feeling of distant springs that had passed long before her birth. Without Kiba or his dog to distract her, it was almost like dipping into a cool pond on a summer's day. She strolled out to the front entrance to the compound, breathing in that mild air which carried the scent of incense to her. By the time she got to the front door, she almost didn't want to open it. Yes, life as a Hyūga would be nice, as long as she didn't have to prune any more trees.
She slid open the front door with some effort, it was quite a bit heavier than the others, and stepped outside to meet her other teammate. It seemed as though Shino had already finished out here, and stood leaning against the outer wall of the compound, utterly silent as usual. As it happened, he wasn't alone. A young girl, a Hyūga if her eyes were any indication, was sitting on the steps leading up to the entrance. Upon hearing the door open she'd twisted around to look at her, giving Sakura a clear view of her face. It was a little hard to tell, since all the Hyūga looked so similar, but she was sure that she'd seen this one before.
"You're Hanabi, right?" Sakura ventured. "Hinata's sister?"
"I am," the younger girl answered, a hint of caution in her voice. "Why do you want to know?"
"Oh, uh," Sakura turned her eyes away. "I was just wondering, because Hinata's on Team Seven, right? Do you know where they are right now?" Sakura hadn't seen Sasuke at all since they'd been separated into teams. Maybe if they finished up here quickly enough she could go track him down. Perhaps their time apart had left him missing her as much as she missed him.
"They've left Konoha," Hanabi said. "Hinata told me that Hokage-sama had sent them on some mission to Suna."
"What, really?" Sakura couldn't hide her surprise at that. Weren't all the new genin teams only supposed to be doing simple D-ranks? Then why would they be leaving the Land of Fire to go to another Hidden Village? "Do you know why?"
"No," Hanabi stated, a frown forming on her small face. "Hinata wouldn't tell me."
"Oh," Sakura's eyes shifted away from the young Hyūga. She let her eyes wander a bit over the front entrance to the Hyūga compound, a wide, flat row of steps flanked on both sides by the trees which bore her namesake, before falling on Shino. The Aburame hadn't seemed to notice her presence at all, in fact he almost looked asleep. She scowled at her teammate, and was about to go over and give him a shove, when Hinata's sister spoke up again.
"What do you know about Uzumaki Naruto?" she asked the question with all the politeness of an interrogator.
"Naruto?" Sakura blinked at the question, before a small frown formed on her face. "He's just some boy from the academy. Why?"
It was Hanabi's turn to break off her gaze, and her eyes went to the concrete steps. "He's on Hinata's team."
"Right," Sakura said, cringing internally. The poor girl had never seemed very formidable. She could only imagine how Hinata was coping with having someone like him on her team. "Well," she said aloud. "I'm sure she'll manage."
"What do you mean?" Hanabi asked, a perturbed look came across her features.
"Uh, well," Sakura hastily made to explain. "Naruto's not exactly the nicest person to be around. I don't want to sound mean, but he's actually kind of a brat."
"Huh," Hanabi tilted her head slightly. "That's strange."
"What is?"
Hanabi's pale eyes broke of from Sakura's. The Hyūga wasn't sure that it was okay to be talking about this with a stranger. Hinata had never directly told her that it was secret, but still. "Hinata looked happy to be on his team."
"Oh, really?" Sakura raised an eyebrow at that. She had never really talked much with Hinata, no one had, but the heir of one of the noble clans of Konoha surely wouldn't have much patience for Naruto.
"Are you sure Naruto's like that?" Hanabi pressed, skepticism in her voice.
"I had to be around him for six years," Sakura said, crossing her arms. "Of course I'm sure. What's got you so interested in him anyway?"
"Hinata-" Hanabi paused, looking suddenly uncomfortable. She gave a small shake of her head. "Hinata told me, once, that she admired him."
"What?" Sakura's eyes went wide. Admired? Naruto? What could she even make of this information? Why in the world would Hinata-?
"Well, look who it is," a familiar, grating voice dragged Sakura out of her thoughts. At the base of the steps, looking up at her with that smug little smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth, was Ino. "Hey forehead-girl."
"What are you even doing here?" Sakura demanded, feeling her pulse begin to quicken. "Shouldn't you be with your team right now?"
"Oh come on, Sakura," the Yamanaka heiress swaggered up the steps, passing Hanabi and closing in Sakura. "I haven't heard from you in days. Aren't we supposed to be friends?"
"No, we're not," Sakura stated coldly, leveling a stony gaze at the blonde.
"Honestly," a mock hurt poured into Ino's voice. "And to think I came up here to see how you were doing. I mean, you didn't take your team assignment very well, after all."
"You didn't get put on Sasuke's team either," Sakura retorted quickly, her temper beginning to bubble. She wasn't going to let Ino dance around the point, insulting her without actually saying anything insulting.
"So what," Ino's smirk never left her face. "I was probably never going to be put on his team anyway. In any case, it doesn't matter. Someone as smart a Sasuke can't help but notice me. You, on the other hand…"
"Shut up," Sakura glowered darkly at her rival, her hands forming fists at her sides.
Ino's laughter was like splinters under Sakura's fingernails. "You know it's true. When was the last time he said more than a single word to you? Why would he even pay attention to someone so bland? Face it, he's out of your league."
Sakura smouldered, a vein standing out on the back of her fist, but said nothing. There was no denying the truth to the Yamanaka's words. Sasuke never had initiated any of their brief conversations. She always made the first move, only to meet a brick wall. It was like he didn't even care that she existed. For god's sake, even Naruto apparently had an admirer, while she was stuck here pining for someone who hardly seemed to notice her at all. She felt something beginning to boil in her chest, rising up and making her heart pound. And now Ino, popular, beautiful Ino who could have any boy she wanted was going to gloat about stealing her love away? It was the last straw. She wouldn't just stand here and accept it, she couldn't.
Ino stalked up the pin-haired girl, absolute superiority written on her face. She leaned to face Sakura. "Maybe he'd notice you if didn't look like a boy."
The fist came at Ino's face like a thunderbolt, only her reflexes keeping it from landing square on her nose. She jerked to the side, feeling Sakura's knuckles graze past her cheek. The Yamanaka hopped back, instinctively taking up a defensive stance.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" she shrieked at her rival. Sakura took a step toward the blonde, her fury finally boiling over in her green eyes.
"This ends right now!" she shouted, her voice echoing off the walls. She raised her fists, sliding into the standard academy kata. "I'm gonna wipe that smirk off your face!"