BOUND
Chapter 11: Getting Along

My team and I sit in scowling silence.

Well, at least Sasuke, Sakura, and I are. Naruto is tied up to the stump as punishment for having tried to steal the lunches instead of fighting for them fairly. And, speaking of lunches, Kakashi has placed them right in front of us. Our stomachs groan, not liking the fact that we're being taunted, but we don't dare reach for the food we haven't deserved. Mostly because Kakashi intimidates us.

"Oh, you guys look hungry," Kakashi says, his voice lacking the appropriate sympathy that should be behind those words. He stands a ways away from us, about a meter from the stone slab that is lined by a semi-circle of brush. He has his arms crossed and a cool look on his face as he says, "By the way, something about the training: there's no need for any of you to go back to the Academy."

Sakura and Naruto cheer; Sasuke smirks. I glower at the food that is presently not inside my stomach, wondering how I can fix that without anyone noticing.

"Then, then, then," Naruto says, squirming with excitement. "We all…we—"

Kakashi smiles at us as he shoves his hands in his pockets. "You're all hopeless. More schooling would be pointless. None of you will ever become shinobi."

Hearing this, my head jerks up. Naruto and Sakura deflate, their faces contorting with incomprehension. Sasuke glares at Kakashi, daring him to say that again.

"What?" I deadpan, refocusing my glower at the Jounin. "I sincerely hope you're kidding."

I say this mostly in regards to myself. I don't care about the other three on this supposed 'team.' Two of them hadn't even bothered to help me when I'd asked, when I'd had a good plan, even. Besides, this training aside, I deserved to pass. Five years of a solo mission at the age of seven to twelve doesn't count for nothing.

"Hmm? Actually, yes, I am." My teammates brighten again only to again deflate when Kakashi says, "Ren, you pass."

Thought so. I go back to watching the food, but my annoyance has derailed my train of thought, and I can't properly focus, no matter how much I want to eat.

"Anyway," Kakashi goes on, "you three should do as I advised before and quit being ninja all together."

"Quit as ninja?" Naruto repeats, angry. "What do you mean? All right, sure—we didn't get the bells, but neither did Ren! Why is it that she passes and we have to quit?"

The way he says it is reminiscent of the way he talks about Sasuke, which stings me. I glare at him too, not knowing how else to alleviate the pain that wrenches my gut besides redirecting it toward anger and irritation.

"Because you three," Kakashi explains, "are punks who don't deserve to be ninja."

I feel another surge of anger bubbling up from a place deep inside me, a place I know doesn't belong to me. My arm reaches out to catch Sasuke too late as he leaps to his feet and charges at Kakashi.

"Sasuke!" I shout, annoyed, at the same time Sakura does, although her voice voice is considerably more filled with concern.

Kakashi is quick to catch Sasuke and pin him to the ground so that he's sitting on the younger boy's back with his foot on Sasuke's head and Sasuke's arm twisted behind his back.

"See what I mean?" Kakashi asks as I tense, my fingers rolling into fists. "No-good, foolish punks."

"Don't step on Sasuke-kun!" Sakura snaps.

Yes, wouldn't want to crush his pretty little head, would we? I roll my eyes. But, honestly, I am doing all that I can not to jump up and push Kakashi off Sasuke myself. The difference between Sakura and me, though, is that she genuinely cares for Sasuke's wellbeing, whereas I don't want to give into the pressure of the bond. Besides, Kakashi's not going to try to kill Sasuke or anything. He wouldn't. Can't.

"Are you trying to make fun of shinobi with your behavior?" Kakashi asks as I try to figure out Kakashi's motive. "Have you even considered why you were put into teams?"

My teammates stare at him, uncomprehending, and Kakashi scoffs. "So you missed the entire point of this exercise, the point that determined whether you passed."

"But," Sakura says, becoming anxious as Kakashi doesn't seem to be any closer to letting Sasuke free. "You haven't explained it to us."

"I don't believe this," Kakashi says with a shake of his head. "Teamwork. Excluding me, there are enough of you to form a normal shinobi cell. If the four of you had come at me together, you might have been able to get the bells."

"But if we were expected to function as a team," Sakura says, "then why do you only have two bells? Even if we worked together, two of us still would have failed! You're preaching teamwork, but you turned us against each other!"

"Of course!" Kakashi says, unwavering as Sasuke struggles slightly beneath him. "This test was purposely set up to make you fight amongst yourselves. But it was to see if you could put your own interests aside and successfully work together under certain circumstance. Sakura, instead of helping Naruto who was right in front of you, you were only thinking about Sasuke, even when you didn't know where he was! Naruto, you thought that you could do this all by yourself, and Sasuke, you thought that the others would get in your way and tried to do everything yourself, too. On the other hand," he says, his voice softening. "Ren realized that she couldn't do this alone. She asked you for help, Naruto, but you dismissed it, and when she wouldn't cheat with you, you left her. And I'm sure she asked you too, Sasuke. But the two of you were too selfish to take her up on her offer. And though Ren didn't come to you, Sakura, I'm sure that if she had asked, you would have let your worry for Sasuke get in the way and dismissed her, too. That's why she is the only one who passes."

To be honest, I hadn't thought about it that way. I only wanted to get the bells, only wanted to pass to prove to the Hokage that I didn't have to be here. But, I suppose, if Kakashi thinks 'working together' and 'using people' are the same thing, I'm okay.

Kakashi sighs, massaging his forehead. "You are a team," he says. "Try to act as one! Yes, it's important to have individual skills, but what's even more important is teamwork. Individual play that disrupts the team can put your comrades in danger. For example."

He reaches into the pouch around his waist and extracts a kunai. "Sakura," he says, pressing the knife to Sasuke's throat and causing the hair son the back of my neck to bristle. "Kill Naruto or Sasuke dies."

"Hey!" I shout, bolting to my feet. "Don't you dare, Kakashi."

Though my teammates are panicked about Kakashi's request too, they stop to stare at me. Even Kakashi seems surprised at my outburst. But no one is more surprised than Sasuke himself. He has seemingly forgotten about Kakashi and stares at me, brow furrowed together.

I'll admit it: Sometimes I can't help this bond thing. It just happens.

"The day could come," Kakashi starts slowly, putting his weapon away, "when one of you may be taken hostage and you're forced to make such a choice. When you're on a mission, your lives will always be on the line." Kakashi gets off of Sasuke, letting him go, and walks over to the stone slab behind him. Sasuke comes back to us, sitting down on the other side of Naruto in the space he had occupied beforehand. He doesn't acknowledge me as he returns, but just as well I'm careful to inch over to the other side of the stump where Sakura is standing to avoid him.

"Look at this, the numerous names carved into this stone," Kakashi says. His tone has changed from before, grown quiet and melancholy as he stands before the stone. "They are all heroes of the village. Ninja."

Naruto's ears perk up at this, and he proclaims, "That's it! I made up my mind! I've decide that I'm going to have my name carved on that stone too! A hero! That's what I'll become."

"But," Kakashi says, "they aren't normal heroes."

"Oh yeah?" Naruto asks, like that's even better. "What kind of heroes are they?"

Kakashi stays quiet.

"Come on!" Naruto presses.

"The dead kind. The kind that died in the line of duty."

Slowly, this sinks into Naruto's head. His face falls, his body relaxing in his discomfort.

"This is a memorial," Kakashi explains. "The names of my best friends are on here."

I wince, considering the possibility of seeing Shikamaru's name on there, the possibility of staying here in the village, creating new bonds, only to have them die off and have nothing left of them but a lowly name carved onto a slab of rock. Or maybe having my own name carved on that memorial some day.

I really need to get out of here before anything like that can happen.

"I'll give you guys one more chance," Kakashi says, glancing at us over his shoulder. "You may split the lunches, but after you eat, I'll make it even tougher to get these bells. Oh, and don't feed Naruto. It's punishment for trying to cheat," Kakashi says in response to Naruto's frown. "And if anybody tries to feed him, I'll automatically fail you, despite how well you've done." The last part is directed towards me. "My word is law. Understand?"

"Yes, sir," we answer weakly and he leaps away.

"Heh, don't worry about me," Naruto says, trying to be the bigger man. "I don't need any food, I'm fine!"

His stomach gurgles, announcing the contrary.

"There are only two lunches," Sakura says, looking between me and Sasuke.

"You guys go ahead," I grumble, sitting down. "I had breakfast, so I'm not as hungry as you guys are." My stomach, like Naruto's, begs to differ. I roll my eyes and plant my chin on my knees. "Seriously. Eat. I'm okay."

After a moment's hesitation, Sasuke takes one of the lunches, prompting Sakura to go ahead and do the same. They eat, Sakura glancing up occasionally in her discomfort while Sasuke stays focused on his food, but, after two straight minutes of hearing Naruto's stomach go on and on about how much it needs food, Sasuke holds his bento out to the blonde in offering.

"Ah, but Sasuke-kun!" Sakura says as I lift my head in wonder. "Sensei said—"

"Don't worry," Sasuke says. "I don't sense him near. After lunch, we'll work together to get the bells. Without food, he'll be in the way, and that will only hurt us."

Hearing sense in Sasuke's words, Sakura looks down at her own bento box before thrusting it towards me. It nearly knocks me back.

"What the hell, Sakura?" I ask, using an arm to brace myself against the ground.

"You should eat something too, Ren," she mutters, looking away sheepishly.

Naruto and I exchange a quick look before smiling to our teammates.

I'm about the take the bento when the winds start picking up around us. From it, Kakashi erupts, looking like he's about to blow. Sakura shrieks, throwing her food to the ground while Sasuke and I jump to our feet, ready to defend ourselves. The vibrations buzz closely against my ear, prepping for battle when the malice fades from Kakashi's eyes and he says, "You guys pass!"

We stare at him blankly, our postures sagging as his words his home.

"Pass?" I repeat, lowering my arms.

"Pass," Kakashi agrees with a smile.

"Pass?" echoes Sakura this time. "But why?"

"You guys are the first," he says. "Everyone else did whatever I told them. They were all morons. A ninja must see underneath the underneath. Those who break the rules and codes of the ninja world are considered trash. But you know what? Those who don't take care of their comrades are lower than trash. So." He gives us a congratulatory thumbs-up. "That ends the training. All of you pass. Starting tomorrow, Team 7 will begin working on its own missions."

"Yes, sir!" Sakura cries, jumping up and down as I scowl, displeased that he had made our situation seem so dire before delivering the news. The rotten bastard.

"I…I did it," Naruto says. "I'M A NINJA! I'M A NINJA, NINJA, NINJA, I'M A NINJA!"

Sasuke allows himself a self-congratulatory harrumph.

"Let's go home then, yes?" Kakashi says and we nod. Sakura follows after him, and I'm about to get up, but then Sasuke offers his hand before I'm given the chance. I quirk my brow at him and take his hand.

"Thanks," I say, brushing myself off.

"No problem," he says, letting go of my hand that buzzes from where his flesh had touched mine. "What happened to your other glove?"

"Huh?" I look down at my hands to find that my left one is still covered by a glove that cinches at the wrist before flaring out and that my right hand is bare and white. I tuck my hands sheepishly behind my back. "I lost it during my fight with Kakashi," I answer, shrugging. It's a good thing that I'd thought to heal my wounds and such before joining my team again, or else I might have had to explain exactly how I 'lost' it.

Sasuke blinks at me before turning on his heels and following after our teacher. Once he's out of earshot, I release the breath I'd been holding and groan.

Stupid trademark Uchiha good looks.

"Uh, hey Ren."

I turn around to find Naruto staring at me, looking annoyed. "Yeah, Naruto?"

"Would you mind untying me?" he asks. "I'm starting to lose the feeling in my arms."

[+]

"That wasn't so bad was it?"

I sit across from the Hokage with my arms and legs crossed. I frown at him, refusing to dignify his question about my earlier training session with my new team with a response. He flashes me a satisfied smirk as he sucks on his pipe, the sweet scent of tobacco making my eyes water. He settles back on the opposite couch and closes his eyes.

"Good," he says, "because this is just the beginning. From here on out, you are part of Team 7, and they are part of you. This isn't some solo mission anymore. You have a responsibility for and to these people, whether you like it or not. Also, please keep in mind that your presence here does somewhat throw off the balance of things."

"Then maybe," I say, "you should let me leave. I would hate to mess things up."

The Hokage sighs, extracting his pipe from his lips. "While your spot on Team 7 is unorthodox, it was nothing that could not be explained away. Students were told that an odd number of students graduating this year forced our hand in this decision, and the other Jounin leaders have been told as much as we were able to tell them about your predicament."

"And? Don't they think it's unfair either to them or Kakashi to have four students on a cell instead of three?"

"They expect a team of four will be unsuccessful," he says and I scowl at their lack of faith, even though I shouldn't be concerned about how they feel anyway. "Four students to a Jounin has never been done before and five members total exceeds the number of shinobi that should be placed in a normal shinobi cell. But it is a challenge to you and your team and Kakashi to prove them wrong."

"Sure," I say with a roll of my eyes. "So? Is that it?"

The Hokage takes a long drag on his pipe. The cloud of smoke that he exhales nearly engulfs his entire head. He removes the pipe at last and says, "One last thing. I know you are more concerned about breaking bonds than you are about creating them, but when you are working this closely with people, sometimes it cannot be helped. You must realize there is more to having bonds than being burdened by them. You would be cheating yourself out of experience, out of what could be a lifetime of memories, if you do not give your bonds a chance."

I give the Hokage an imploring look, wondering why he continues to bother me with these kinds of lectures. "Okay," I say, standing from the couch. "Is that it?"

He nods.

Just as I'm about to leave the room, though, he stops me, saying, "Never forget that you are on a team, Ren. While you have that kind of responsibility on your shoulders, you cannot shirk your duties as a ninja and abandon your teammates, no matter how much you think they are going to get in your way."

[+]

Our teamwork is reduced to doing mundane tasks around the village, chores, basically, for everyone in the village who has enough money to pay. We pack our holsters and hip pouches, but never once do we unsheathe our weapons, unless it is to cut weeds out of an herb garden.

Every day, I seem to grow farther and father away from my goal.

The forest stands stoically around us. I slouch against a tree with a headset on, playing with the microphone that curves toward my mouth. This is as official as our missions have gotten lately, and still it is a sad one.

I sigh, watching the cumulus pass overhead, not believing that I have actually taken the time to learn the name of these cloud formations over the past few weeks. I have had too many chances to watch the clouds lately, even on missions as I am now. Honestly, who knew being a 'real' ninja would be so boring.

Finally, a crackle of static sounds in my ear. Kakashi's voice comes through the transmitter. "What's the distance to the target?" he asks.

"Five meters," Naruto is quick to answer. "I'm ready at any time."

"So am I," says Sasuke.

"Me too," answers Sakura.

I sigh, straightening out. "Ditto," I say.

"Okay…go."

On cue, we pounce out of hiding and into the open where our target unknowingly waits to be captured. We have it surrounded—Naruto from behind, Sasuke and Sakura from the sides, and I from the front—so it can't escape.

There is a feral hiss, the sound of claws being unsheathed and digging into the dirt. Still, as ninja, we fearlessly attack our target head-on, because we have him outnumbered, and there's no way we can lose. After all: we're full-fledged shinobi now.

Not to mention, our target is a cat.

A small struggle ensues, one that I manage to avoid, letting Naruto tackle our target. Ultimately, he's able to grab the cat and Sasuke calls it in.

"Remember, our quarry has a ribbon on its right ear that says 'Tora.' Make sure that it's no mistake."

"Target confirmed," Sasuke says, a few seconds of delay over the headset makes his voice ring in my ear another time. Naruto fights with the cat a meter away from us, Sakura watching with amusement and admiring the adorableness of the cat.

"Good. Lost Pet 'Tora,' search mission, complete. Let's bring it in."

"Is this what we're subjected to?" I complain, turning off my headset after signing out with Kakashi and promising to meet back at our starting point. "Looking for pets, running lowly errands. WE'RE NINJA, NOT SLAVES."

"Relax, Ren," Sakura chides, plucking the cat from Naruto and petting it sweetly. It starts to purr and melts in Sakura's arms, much to Naruto's disbelief. "This is all building up to when we can do more things for our village. We're only Genin and—"

"Don't lecture me," I say, rolling my eyes. "Jeez. I get it. Let's get back to Kakashi so we can go home."

We rendezvous with Kakashi at the edge of the forest where the cat was lost, and together, the five of us make our way back to the administration building to file our mission report and return the cat to its rightful owner. I feel almost sorry for it, the way it grows anxious as we approach the building, and downright pity it as soon as the daimyo's wife crushes the cat in her arms when we given it back to her. No wonder it ran away in the first place.

"Oh, my cute little Tora-chan," the lady says. "I was so worried!"

"Now," the Hokage says without further ado. "Team 7, your next missions are babysitting a council elder's grandson, shopping in the neighboring village, and helping with potato digging."

"No way, no thank you! That's all boring," Naruto says, shaking his hands in front of him to push all our assignments away. "Give us something different! Something important! Something amazing!"

I can't disagree with him. Unlike Naruto, though I have more sense than to argue with the Hokage. What he doles out, we get, as evidenced by how I am here in the first place. But, by god, if I wanted to do any of these things he's assigning us, I never would have signed up for this ninja business in the first place.

"You idiot!" Iruka shouts, standing in his seat. "You're all still rookie ninja! Everyone starts off with simple missions and works their way up."

"But, but, but," Naruto stutters classically. "We keep getting the crappiest possible missions!"

Kakashi chooses now to intervene. He smacks Naruto upside the head and hisses, embarrassed, "Be quiet you!"

"Naruto, it seems I'm going to have to explain to you what these missions are," the Hokage sighs. I sigh as well, propping my cheek on my fist tiredly. It seems that ninja protocol calls for a lot of lecturing, considering how many I've had to sit through since we've graduated.

I tune the Hokage out while he starts his speech, explaining the ninja ranks and how they divvy up the missions according to those ranks. Over his shoulder, the sky gleams through the window. I wonder what I could be doing now, instead of standing around wasting time. For one, I could get back to researching how to break the bond.

After the success of ten consecutive missions, Kakashi awarded us with gifts. He gave me a book, and I figured that it would be some stupid ninja manual, but it turned out to be a book on religious cults. At first, I didn't understand what he was implying by giving me something like that, but after skimming the table of contents, I found a section called Blood Rituals. It didn't tell me anything that I didn't know, but it kept me motivated for the next few days and got me back into researching and stuff. However, over the years I'd been gone, the Konoha library had, unsurprisingly, not stocked up on books about oaths or commitment rituals or the Kagiru-Uchiha-centric part of Konoha history, so there was no improvement to be made with the whole researching thing.

"HEY. LISTEN!"

Thinking that the Hokage is talking to me, I snap out of my thoughts and straighten up. No one is paying attention to me though—Naruto is still causing a riot with his disrespectful behavior—so I relax again, but decide to focus on the conversation at hand instead of shrinking back in the recesses of my mind.

"I…I apologize," Kakashi says, scratching his head. I can imagine him plotting Naruto's untimely demise for making him seem like a teacher who doesn't have his kids under control.

"All you do is lecture us!" Naruto shouts, despite how much he's embarrassing Kakashi. "But you know what? I'm not the trouble-making brat you still think I am!"

"Yeah, but you're still a loud and obnoxious brat," I say, cradling my head in a lazy hand. "Lower your voice, Naruto. Shouting isn't going to convince the Hokage of anything."

"…okay," the Hokage relents, much to everyone's surprise. He holds up a hand to stop Iruka's protests, says, "If you want it that much, I'll give you a C-ranked mission. It's a protection mission for a certain individual."

"Who?" Naruto wants to know, while we're still wondering how he got the Hokage to do something like this. "A daimyo? A princess?"

I scoff. What an optimistic kid. His happy-go-lucky attitude is what makes him so hopeless.

The Hokage is more amused by his behavior than I am though. "Calm down," he says. "I'll introduce him now. Will you call him in please?"

We all turn toward the door. It slides open slowly and an old man emerges from it, carrying a bottle of liquor and a slightly flushed face. "What's this?" he asks, his words not slurring, but his speech impeded, slow. "They look like a bunch of wet-nosed brats."

I roll my eyes at him as he takes a hearty swing from the bottle.

"Especially the midget," he adds, wiping his lips. "He's got the face of an imbecile. It's a joke, right? You kids aren't really ninja?"

"Ha, ha," Naruto laughs, looking between Sasuke, Sakura, and me. "Who's the midget with the stupid face?"

I can't help but to laugh a little, amused. He measures himself up to me to find that I'm nearly five centimeters taller than him. Sakura is the same height as I am and Sasuke is the tallest of the four of us, even slouching the way he is. We all straighten and glance toward Naruto as the boy in question finally registers that it's him that the old man is talking about.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Naruto screams, running towards the old man, but Kakashi catches him by the collar.

"Wrong," Kakashi says like Naruto's picked the incorrect answer on a pop quiz. "No killing the man we're supposed to protect."

"I am the super expert bridge builder, Tazuna," he says, putting his hands on his hips. The alcohol in the bottle sloshes around as he leans forward to make a point with his next words. "And so I expect you to provide me with super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge."

"Great," I mutter, massaging my brow. "I'm super excited."

[+]

We don't waste time starting our mission. Kakashi sends us home to pack our things for travel, which isn't hard for me, considering I don't have much to begin with. I end up having to borrow a few of Sasuke's things, which irks him, although he doesn't verbally complain. It shows in the way he scowls as we walk to the village gates together.

Upon arriving, we meet up with Naruto and Sakura. Sakura, as per usual, gives me dirty look for turning up with her beloved, though I have to say, the intensity of it isn't as harsh as it used to be. Not that it annoys me any less. What is she trying to imply anyway by looking at me the way she did every time I'm at Sasuke's side? That I love him or have some irrational crush on him like she does?

As if.

Kakashi and Tazuna show up as I'm thinking this. We're all surprised by Kakashi's timely appearance, but we don't bring it up because, as soon as we step outside the village gates, Naruto starts to jubilate.

"All right!" Naruto shouts, pumping his arms in the air. "Let's go!"

"What are you so excited about?" Sakura asks, propping a hand on her hip, irritated.

"I've never been outside the village before," Naruto says, looking to and fro for something interesting. Unfortunately, there's not much to the immediate area outside the village besides trees.

"Am I really going to be safe with a kid like that protecting me?" Tazuna wants to know, jabbing a finger at Naruto.

"Well, I'm a Jounin," Kakashi consoles. "So don't worry about it."

Naruto makes a face like he wants to punch Tazuna. "Hey, old man!" he shouts, whirling around to address Tazuna. "Don't mess with ninjas! I'm incredible! One day, I will take on the elite title of Hokage! My name is Uzumaki Naruto! Remember it!"

"Hokage is the village's number one ninja, right?" Tazuna asks, pressing his bottle of alcohol to his lips like he has something stressful he doesn't want to deal with. "I don't think a guy like you will ever get there."

"Shut up!" Naruto shrieks. "I am prepared to do anything to become Hokage! And once I become Hokage, you will acknowledge me!"

Tazuna lowers his bottle for a moment, considering this. "No, I won't, you brat," he says, taking a drink. "Even if you do become Hokage."

I groan, irritated with the argument already. I march on ahead of my teammates, Sakura and Sasuke following slowly after.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Naruto proclaims again.

Kakashi catches him by his collar like last time. "I said stop, idiot."

This is going to be a long trip.