Although I don't know how this story is going to end, chances are I'm still going into Shippuden. If so, that will be a sequel. So Rainy Days is all pre-shippuden, alright? I have goals in mind, which I'm trying to keep, but you can help.

Request: If you read anything that you think is not necessary or does not add to the story, tell me. Please? And tell me why or how.

Off topic, I'm super-duper happy with all your support. You haven't abandoned me! XD And people keep finding this story, which is fantastic. Keep up the hard work, fellas!

Enjoy!

—CHAPTER TEN—
Team Dynamics

She couldn't rest.

She didn't know if it was because of guilt that she lost the scroll, or because she just couldn't calm herself down enough to slip into slumber, but either way, she sat curled up between Naruto and Sasuke, chewing on some leaves she found nearby that helped clean her insides of toxins. It wasn't a particularly effective means, as it was more potent if the leaves were crushed and boiled, but she couldn't risk another fire.

Besides, she was sick of it.

Dawn was breaking over the canopy of the forest in front of her and birds were beginning to come out of their nests. She eyed one or two that left their nests in a low tree nearby, mentally noting about checking it for eggs later on. She was hungry but had no appetite, her skin was tingling with the nights use of adrenaline, and she had blisters on her fingers.

Naruto and Sasuke were completely covered in dirt, soot and mud like her. The blond was jacket-less, and Sasuke's shirt had been torn here and there, tinged with blood that she stopped and healed. And it was clear Orochimaru had left them for now – hopefully forever, but that was a wish she knew wouldn't come true. From what it sounded like in her time, Orochimaru was fanatic about taking control of Sasuke. It was a goal he had intended. He wouldn't stop, then, now. He just wouldn't because it was only one missed chance. There could be others, but she wouldn't always be there.

No, she stopped the first time now. It didn't happen. Sasuke was clean, and whatever happened from here on out, Sakura was horrified of the thought of. It wasn't really in her control anymore. She took that leap.

A broken cough cut her thoughts and she tiredly looked to her right side at the Uchiha. He turned slightly on the tiny pebbles, hacking and wheezing hard enough that Sakura felt momentarily bad that her attempts of clearing his lungs of smoke with some special incense hadn't really worked. His bruised and ashy limbs shook as he turned over onto his stomach and pushed himself up to his knees, sinking into a cross-legged sit. Dark eyes peered at her through a muddy face and under black locks. His cracked lips were bleeding, like Naruto's, and he looked so horribly tired she was surprised he woke up at all.

"We're alive," he breathed. Sakura nodded stiffly, and he craned his head to see the brimming sun. "Dawn."

"Yeah."

"You look horrible."

"So do you. So does Naruto."

He licked his lips but cringed at the taste of dirt. "We sound bad as well."

"Smoke inhalation. A lot. I tried to clear some while you slept, but a proper way would require another fire for me to boil water."

"Water." He leaned towards the stream. "Water."

That didn't sound good.

"Is he gone?" Sasuke whispered, head bowed, back hunched, shoulders forward.

"Yes," Sakura answered tentatively. He looked so fragile.

"She was actually a he," he said. "He ripped his face skin off to show me what he looked like."

There was a pause.

"Sakura, I—"

He trembled, and she saw how tightly his hands were gripping his knees as he held back any sort of emotion that was dying to get out.

"I was so scared." His words were so light they were like a gentle breeze. "So scared. I was—I almost—died. We all did."

He was in shock. He was in a daze as he tried to come to some sort of an understanding.

Sakura reached out her sore arm and grabbed his hand, putting strength into it to remove it from his knee. He jerked a little, settling with staring at her hand. Last time he had been petrified as soon as he met Orochimaru, but with how things played out this time round, there was no time.

The fear was slowly dawning on him that he had of his opponent. It was a delayed reaction, but it was something Sakura was gonna let happen. Maybe it would deter him further of ever going to Orochimaru for power. Maybe it would help him choose his opponents precisely, and gauge whether a tactical retreat would be better than fighting.

Whatever the result, something good would come of the bad.

"Did you sleep?" he asked after a few minutes of silence.

Sakura shook her head.

"Sleep," he commanded, trying to move his back to against the cliff beside her.

The rosette was tempted, but when she felt his head collapse on her shoulder, she cracked a smile and decided she could stay on watch for a little bit longer.

Or so she thought.

She woke up in a rush an hour later, feeling as though her skin was on fire, burning, blistering, peeling. She had jolted, jostling Sasuke, and just started running until she fell into the lake. The water felt like a slap across the face as she clawed at the bank for safety, fingers digging into the soft dirt.

Her breathing grew laboured and she gripped her head, feeling herself losing control as the memories of the heat, the flames and the blistered bodies screaming for attention resurfaced. Even though she was doused in water, her brain could still imagine the heat of fire, so her skin felt hot.

She heard birds nearby, and the gentle rustling of wind threading through trees. The trickling of the water and the fresh scent of grass were almost beautiful to her, a sign that she was alone and in the green. But the fresh smell was overpowered by the stench of smoke blowing in her direction, and she cringed as she slouched against the bank and gripped her head harder.

"It's okay, Sakura," she told herself. "It's okay. They're okay. He's-he's… not trying to kill me. The fire is gone. A nightmare."

Her words dissolved to nothing, of no use to her as she could not shake what her brain chose to conjure. There were times she did have to tend to burnt victims, some of them left in the wake of Sasuke's or someone else's wrath, and there was a time when Sasuke tried to kill her himself, but he never tried to burn her alive like that.

Nightmares were strange like that, stringing bad things together into the same scene and making it far too convincing. It broke down her mental barrier of keeping all that shit out, and she started crying – loudly.

She hadn't cried like this in weeks, but the pressure was just stupid. Not just that though, but she was far too exhausted already. At that very moment, she was just over it. She wanted to leave, she wanted to just drop her ninja gear and leave. She understood, now, of all the times Shikamaru would moan about retiring early because it was far too much trouble.

No one should have to re-do life again. Ever. The drain was intense, and Sakura, at first, thought she could handle it; handle the pressure with the Hokage and Kakashi backing her, but they couldn't take that strain from her tired body.

In that moment, crying loudly (made worse from the smoke inhalation), she was just. Fucking. Over it.

Eventually that exhaustion pushed her to sleep, but it was fragile.

She jerked awake the second Naruto moaned and rolled over. Her eyes hurt as she looked around and realised how warm it was. It must have been afternoon. She glanced over the boys, relieved to see that they were still asleep; their faces were incredibly close to each other. She forced a smile to her face. She had to.

Sakura felt like absolute shit, but she knew that if she didn't somehow try to convince herself or her body that she had to keep going, she'd be a liability. She stretched herself over the bank, fingertips pressed slightly into the grass until her bones cracked comfortably.

I'm well. I'm alive. Sasuke's clean. Everything is perfect, she chanted to herself.

She had to force herself to act normal, at least until the end of the Exams. Her sub-conscious, though, reminded her that forcing herself to keep going was like depriving her of sleep. Sometime, someday, she was going to drop, and she would need medical help.

Until then.

Not long after she got herself cleaned up – washed the mud off her body and re-did her stringy, grimy hair – one of the boys started to wake and she heaved in relief. Naruto groaned loudly, complaining about aches and pains all over his body, but focused more on the fact that breathing was so hard. Sakura instantly made him chew on some of the leaves she found, meanwhile debating how to tell him about the scroll.

She healed Naruto's burns a bit better and eased the chance of scarring on Sasuke's biggest gash. She, for the most part, had remained almost unwounded, bearing the same fire wounds they had. It was the moment soon after that she told Naruto he could wash himself off, and it was a moment that Sakura groaned and rolled her eyes to as he pretty much flung off his clothes and attacked the water, splashing some onto Sasuke who jerked awake and grabbed a kunai, his eyes darting about.

He had similar breathing problems to Naruto, and Sakura decided to risk a fire to brew some of the leaves for a more potent mix. Sasuke was groggy, the complete opposite to Naruto who just seemed to revel in the fact that he was alive and breathing. At one point Sakura had glanced around to see him standing in the lake with his head back for the sun to shine on him, exposed for all to see. Honestly, the only reason she looked away was because they didn't know she had seen too many naked bodies to count, and Naruto's was no exception.

Sasuke was a little hesitant to bathe, glancing at Sakura as she brewed the potion, her back to the lake. Eventually he conceded.

It was then that Sakura just randomly remarked that she had lost the scroll in an attempt to ease the Uzumaki's pain of the burns. She heard some splashes and could feel some heated looks on her back, but neither of them growled at her like she expected; though bitterness was obvious. Naruto remarked that they still had time to find the Heaven scroll from another group; luckily Sasuke still had the Earth.

They ate, they took Sakura's medicine, then moved to a small cave Sasuke had found when he scouted for food. Sakura slept as the boys rested, probing the area for weaknesses, and it was dusk by the time she woke up to a bigger meal of three fish each.

It was moments like these that reminded Sakura of the missions she had back home, when she'd camp out with her teammates and warm themselves by a contained fire; when they'd talk as much as they could without alerting the enemy, and could bathe in front of each other without worrying about courtesy. It was easier. It was comfortable.

It was missed.

Then darkness fell.

Sarutobi sighed as he signed the final paper and set it aside, spinning in his chair to look out the vast windows. There were little clouds in the sky, grey and ashy compared to the pristine night blue, and the moon was full. It was so still that it felt ominous but, surprisingly, there were plenty of nights like that in Konoha.

It had been nearly a day, exactly, since Sakura had completed her mission in the forest. As soon as Anko had found out Orochimaru was in there, she set out to stop him. When she came back she was visibly troubled, though he was assured that Orochimaru wasn't going to set foot in the forest again – perhaps.

That last word she added came with an explanation that when she encountered the Sannin, he was furious. Something hadn't gone to plan, something had gotten in the way, and Anko knew that he wouldn't risk another chance to complete it. She even had several proctors comb the forest without engaging with any teams, just in case the Sannin would take another shot, but it was clean, and the two other ninja of his 'group' were gone too.

So she had done it. Sasuke was mark-less, and from here things may get a little unstable. He could feel it in his nerves.

He sighed again. "Hello, Jiraiya," he spoke into the empty office. He spun in his seat to see the Toad Sannin leaning casually against the wall by the door, his arms crossed and his giant scroll resting at his feet.

His aging face was grim, eyes tired but still oddly alive. "Sensei," he acknowledged. He frowned. "Without your pipe? Heh, now I've seen it all."

"Smoking can kill you," the Hokage responded, gesturing for the Sannin to come closer.

The Sage complied, choosing to lean against the large desk. "You called for me to return early. Why? What's up?"

"Then you haven't heard."

"Heard what?"

"Orochimaru was sighted in the Forest of Death."

Jiraiya went silent. "Is that so?"

"Anko pursued him, and whatever plans he had in there were foiled. He's since disappeared."

"Who was he after?"

"Sasuke Uchiha."

Jiraiya hummed as he stood and turned to the Hokage. "An Uchiha. There could be a long list of reasons for why he would want the boy, and none of it good." He paused, then frowned. "Wait, what do you mean foiled? He isn't one to give up on a plan, and don't get me wrong, the Uchiha has potential, but there's no way he could have slipped through the Snake's clutches untouched."

Sarutobi smiled grimly, bowing his head as he answered, "We had an insider working with us."

"Not Anko?"

"No. Her name is Sakura Haruno."

"Don't know her, but I know Haruno. The family who owns a pottery shop, right?"

"Correct. Sakura only recently graduated from the Academy earlier this year."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "Recently graduated? I wasn't going to comment on her being a genin and being an insider – Might Gai had let his team wait for a year before they were submitted, after all – but recently graduated has to make me ask: what's on your mind?"

"She's from the future."

The Sannin gave the Hokage a poker face before he threw his head back and laughed. "I'm not as naïve as you, Old Man. That's too much to swallow even if it were possible."

"She mentioned Itachi," Sarutobi cut in and Jiraiya's smile dropped like a stone. "Academy students are not taught about the massacre, you know that. She also told us, months before the Exams even started, that Orochimaru was going to come, and that Sasuke is involved."

Jiraiya's jaw shifted as he ground his teeth together. "I see. And who is 'us'?"

"Myself and Kakashi Hatake. Ino Yamanaka is also aware of Sakura's condition, but that's all."

Slowly red accumulated on Jiraiya's tanned face and he broke away from the desk, floating about the room as he let everything sink in.

"That makes sense," he finally spoke, his voice deeper, a sign that he was taking this seriously. "How Orochimaru was foiled. Let me guess, where she came from the Uchiha boy probably got whatever Orochimaru intended for him?"

"Yes."

"And you decided that stopping that would help… what?"

"You did not see the girl when she told us, Jiraiya," Sarutobi responded swiftly.

This was a delicate matter, and he could see some sort of frustration brewing in his old student. He expected it. The younger man didn't know all the details to understand why they made such a huge change, but in the least he could have trusted in his old mentors decisions. Sakura Haruno's reaction promised darkness for Konoha's future.

"Kakashi, as her mentor, had seen differences in her since she was assigned to him, long before he found out the truth. He saw everything to how she reacted to those around her, how she was able to accelerate in ability, how she was able to possess knowledge of healing and martial art far too similar to Tsunade's."

At this Jiraiya widened his eyes. "And did this Haruno admit to that?" he asked softly.

Sarutobi closed his eyes and sighed. "No. But it is obvious. Time travel is hard to swallow but the pieces fit. In that twelve year old body is a twenty year old experienced kunoichi."

Jiraiya swallowed thickly and wiped his sweaty fingers on his clothes. "This is crazy."

"Now that Sasuke did not get the curse mark, who knows what will change. I told you this because you are one of the few people who would be able to make a difference, to keep a lid on things in case something blows out of proportions."

He folded his arms. "And what sort of damage are you expecting?"

"Anything. Everything. Sakura cannot handle this all by herself. This decision alone was something she had difficulty accepting, she doesn't know I have told this at all, and she trusts Kakashi or she would have not told him."

"Or the Yamanaka."

"True. Ino Yamanaka may be of some help in the future, but that remains unseen."

Jiraiya sighed. "I'm good, Old Man, but I'm not that good. I can't keep everything that's going to happen under my control, the same with Kakashi. I guess that means you'll have to leave this office for once."

The lack of formality was slowly getting to the Hokage. "I'll be leaving this office sooner than you think."

The Sannin paused for a beat. "That doesn't sound good."

"You know that Orochimaru would have not just stopped at getting Sasuke in the Chuunin Exams. Whatever is his real motive, he's going to attack Konoha, and he'll have to fight me."

Jiraiya didn't answer.

"I am going to be killed by him, Jiraiya."

"No," he said instantly. "Not if I can help it. Things are changed enough that you could live."

"But my death may simmer that fire after what we've changed, putting it, with any luck, back on to some sort of track for Sakura to follow."

The younger man was not happy. His brow was furrowed and his eyes were steely, matching with his thinned lips that added to his radiating disapproval of the idea. His muscles were tight, like he wanted to do something more to stop whatever was happening.

"I am content with this, Jiraiya," Sarutobi stated, his voice and eyes softening by the end of his sentence.

The Sannin faltered for a second. "I understand," he reluctantly answered. Konoha would cry, but it was a part of life. It was always hard to change someone's mind when it was stuck on something, and sacrificing ones life was one of the best ways to die for a shinobi.

"I'm trusting you," the Hokage said.

"I'm not becoming Hokage," Jiraiya dismissed quickly.

"You may change your mind when the time comes."

"We're being followed," Sasuke murmured to his teammates as they trudged upstream, keeping close to the cliff-side for cover. It was past dawn and they had been travelling for only a little while.

"I know," Sakura answered. She kept her tired green eyes on the curving bend of the river, hoping that they'd see the deflation of the cliff sometime soon so they could slip back into the forest. Scaling the cliff was a dismissed idea, as it required chakra and that would be needed in case they got attacked.

Naruto casually looked at the fish in the stream as he expanded his field to detect the ninja following them. He found them; three. They were on the cliffs on the other side, hidden in the trees that grew close to the edge. Vines and roots veiled the side of the rock face, some trees tilting slightly towards the dip.

"How long?" Naruto asked.

"Since my shift," Sasuke answered. He was the last to take watch that morning. "They've just been watching us, probably to figure how to split us up to take us out. We're much weaker that way."

Sakura was desperate to increase their pace, but doing so would alert the ninja that they knew they were there. She didn't trust these cliff walls. If the team watching them was who she thought they were, they'd be able to send the rock down on them in a jiffy.

Sharp whistling was the only warning before a shinobi came flying down at them.

"Move!" Sasuke shouted.

And seconds later their ears were ringing with the sound of an explosion, the ground beneath their feet shivering as they evaded the spray of rock and dirt and pebbles. Her vision, she knew, was fine, but everything was shaking so badly that all she could see was blurred forms as Naruto and she pranced back from the collapsing rock crashing into the stream. A ringing siren could be heard nearby, and more rock went flying out from the cliff as the ground shook again.

"They cut Sasuke off!" Naruto shouted as soon as they gathered their footing on firm earth on the other side of the river. True to his word, they could see the Uchiha engaged with a Sound nin Sakura recognised; the one with the furry hunched back and his head shrouded in bandages.

The wind suddenly got so rough and so harsh that they started to lose their hold on their ground and lift slightly into the air, hair whipping madly; Sakura felt something dig into her cheeks and neck as her braid swung like mad. However, they were separated in seconds later as Naruto went flying back further upstream and Sakura was suddenly belted forwards into a rock, snapping her out of the wind.

She felt blood trickle down her face and the makings of a lump on her forehead as she lifted her head and saw a dark shadow flitter by her towards Naruto; it was the second male nin with the wild black hair.

That means…

"That your natural colour?" a feminine voice sounded. "Lovely hair."

Sakura peered up at the long-haired Sound nin looming over her, a wicked smile on her face and her hands on her hips.

Talk was impossible when the rosette swiftly twisted and punched the ground, sending the rock flying. But the nin had dodged, and Sakura smiled when she felt a sharp tug on her braid and then lurched forward, ripping her hair through the hands of the other female. A cry of pain flooded the trench instantly and the scent of blood hit her senses as the rosette shifted back to the other kunoichi.

Anger graced the Sound nin's face as her black eyes glared at her shredded hands. "What the hell?"

Her answer was a swift punch in the face and she flung back hard into a boulder blocking the path. The rock broke – and more else, the sound of it echoing up and down the trench – and Sakura followed without stopping, delivering another bone breaking punch to the nin's face.

A shrilling sound met her ears and a desperate cry from Sasuke's direction and the rosette saw the first Sound nin lunging towards her, his hand out, his fingers spread to grip her head and explode her brain. The smell of smoke was Sakura's only warning and she plunged into the stream in front of her the same time a plume of fire breezed over the surface.

She felt the tide carry her back down stream, but at least she was out of the way of boiling water from the fire. She grabbed at the stone on the side to stop herself, and broke the surface to see through her fringe covered eyes that she was at least ten metres from Sasuke.

Heaving herself up onto the bank, Sakura gasped for breath, ignoring the sting of her fingers where she had probably ripped her nails or just broke her skin. The battle was still going on ahead, the body that had been leaping for her was nothing but a clone, now a charred log that crackled into ash and was swept away into the air.

Orange clones could be spotted in the distance beyond Sasuke as he handled his first opponent, who was attempting to save the girl Sakura had downed.

Sakura hurriedly strung some seals together before slamming her hand on the ground. Instantly a small tide of rushing earth shot towards the trio, shoving the female up from the rock and into Sasuke's kunai. The ground rippled on violently further down the bank of the river, and she couldn't see if it reached Naruto, but the first Sound nin had had enough. He disappeared seconds later with the girl, and then a dozen of Naruto's clones had burst into smoke.

Panting, the rosette pushed herself up to her feet as she joined up with her teammates, who were huffing as well.

"Is everyone alright?" Naruto asked.

Sakura and Sasuke nodded. "Your jutsu worked, Sakura," the latter said, his voice breathy. "All that training had paid off."

The kunoichi managed a broken smile. Her training before the Exams had flourished like theirs had (Sasuke with fire, and Naruto with wind). She wanted to do something that she hadn't learned last time, and she hadn't actually developed jutsu in her element at all.

Earth was her element. She had known it, but never followed it.

"So tell me… you intend to learn something different from before, right?" Kakashi asked, sitting down opposite the rosette at the table peeling a banana. She was in his apartment, about the only place she felt safe enough to converse with him with nobody else listening. She nodded. "Genjutsu?"

"No. Well, maybe. Genjutsu was… hard for me."

"Hard? You'd excel in genjutsu if you trained in it."

"No, I… I trained in healing-ninjutsu and taijutsu up until a certain point. After that, I tried genjutsu, but it seemed that no matter how good my chakra control was, it was difficult to balance that with my healing. I was spreading myself far too thin, that I was risking my patient's lives. The only genjutsu I learned were ones I could deploy without draining too much chakra and escape; simple ones."

"And now?" Kakashi voiced. "What's stopping you from doing more of it now?"

"It may still turn out the same," she answered. "Before I came here, I had begun the theory of combining my element with my main expertise, though I had not yet pursued it."

"And since your element is earth… hmm… That seems like a good combination."

"Right. My plan is to focus on ninjutsu to expand and back my healing. I'm not disregarding genjutsu entirely, though, as I want to have a solid base in all areas, with a stronger one in ninjutsu."

"You know, you might find yourself doing more genjutsu than you first thought. I can see you still going with that, as well as with healing-ninjutsu."

"Maybe. Maybe." Just maybe. The more she thought about it, the more the idea of genjutsu interested her. She remembered as a genin that she excelled in what little she learned, before she went down a different pathway. She had intended to fortify her old pathway by learning things she didn't do previously, but genjutsu... Maybe she could still.

"Whatever you decide, sounds good to me. There are plenty of other ninja in Konoha who are exceptionally skilled in genjutsu to cover your blind spots, but admittedly, we are lacking in the healing department. I support this decision," Kakashi said. He tilted his head down at her, smiling. "I can help with the genjutsu if you'd like."

She grinned back. "If you have time between reading your books."

He chuckled. "Alright, I get your point. There is also Kurenai."

"What—" Naruto huffed, bringing her back. He swallowed. "What happened with her hands? I heard her scream and then blood and then this guy was on top of me – and not like that, Sakura!"

She rolled her eyes. "Do you really think that low of me, Naruto? I don't have a one-tracked mind."

He scoffed.

Sakura lightly grabbed her braid and pulled it over her shoulder. It was covered in blood, and she could actually still see some skin tissue clinging to some thin pin-prick points sticking out from the strands of pink hair.

"I buried caltrops into it," Sakura explained quietly. "Long hair is a liability, so I was negating that by making it a strength."

Naruto was in awe and stated so, and even Sasuke looked a little impressed, but he tried not to show it. He nodded curtly to her, instead, as a sort of approval of the idea. He pointed to stab marks all about her neck and face, and said that that was how she got those marks then, when her hair went wild in the wind; she said yes.

"I'm hungry," Naruto interjected. "And we still need to find a Heaven scroll."

"Dammit," Sasuke cursed. "I should have checked if that guy had one."

"The forest should be coming up soon. We'll go hunting then," Sakura suggested without thinking.

Naruto double-taked. "Hunt?" Even Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the rosette. "That's the sort of thing Sasuke would say."

The Uchiha glared at him. "No it's not," he defended.

"It's just not you, Sakura." Naruto ignored him.

Anger sparked within her and she narrowed her eyes. That did not help her at all. She had been spending her time trying to stop herself from falling apart, but that comment was poking holes through it.

Her anger may be unreasonable to them, but to her, she was surprised it hadn't happened sooner. They didn't know that she was trying to save their lives, or that she wasn't exactly the Sakura they knew. But what he just said brought back memories of not just this Exam, but even up until the point when they both last interacted with her; how she still hadn't really caught up them.

"What?" she asked. "So you want me to stay back and let you do all the work?"

"He didn't say that, Sakura. You're overreacting."

She snapped her jaw closed as she fought against lecturing them properly. The irritation was brimming, but she had remarkable control when need be. Sasuke, though, could see the conflict within her, and perhaps even Naruto could as well.

"We're a team, okay?" she started out slowly, trying to push herself to get rid of the menacing look she no doubt had on her face. "I… am just doing… my part."

"And that's fine. The point, Sakura, is that your behaviour and words are different," Sasuke tried to reason. She didn't expect him to add to the topic at all. "You don't talk the same. You don't move the same. You are not the same. We're just saying that you've changed a lot since we were Academy Students."

She glared, trying to think of a way to explain this change without it being ludicrous. But somehow she knew just what to say. "I've had to step up my game!" she shouted. "My teammates were the Uchiha prodigy and a knucklehead who was known for his persistence and determination! It's hard to be who I was and keep up with that sort of level, okay? Something had to change, and it could only be with me. Is that wrong?"

Naruto looked ready to cry, but Sasuke remained stalwart.

"Your personality had a major change weeks before graduation. You didn't even have us as your teammates until later."

"Stop, both of you," Naruto cut in, and simultaneously Sasuke and Sakura turned to him to see his small tears flowing down his cheeks. "Sakura's right. We're a team. That's what Kakashi-sensei taught us, and that is what we've been following. We've done great, haven't we?" He smiled, but it was half-hearted. "I think we stand a chance, an even greater chance, now that we've gotten to know each other and have been in several life-threatening situations. So let's not stop that, please?"

Neither of them really knew what to say.

"And Sakura…I'm sorry," the Uzumaki continued.

She widened her eyes in surprise. "What?" she breathed.

"I didn't mean to insult you, though I don't know how I did…" He winced, as if expecting her to give him a punch for being dense, or something similar, but he got a simple tough nudge on his shoulder. "That's all?" he asked.

Sakura frowned and held up a fist. "You want more?"

"No!"

"I can't believe you two are my teammates."

"Ahh, so you're asking for it."

Naruto laughed. "Suck it, Sasuke!"