An absolute, almost palpable silence had fallen over the streets. No light came from the buildings to cut through leaden darkness of the night. Only the moon hanging far above gave even the dimmest glow, casting deep, inky shadows across the ground. The air was still, seeming almost to press down on him. He crept through the narrow streets, the houses towering above him on both sides. Where was everyone? It wasn't so late that there should be no one else out here, yet the streets had been completely deserted.
No, not deserted. There was single figure, half in shadow, leaning against a wall by the side of the road. Why were they just sitting there like that? He rushed over to the man, waving his hand. He was about to call out, but the words died in his throat as soon as he saw the blood. It spread down his chest like spilled ink on paper, and in the darkness it looked like pitch. His eyes trailed up from the wound, to the head with glassy eyes staring out through half lidded eyes, and his stomach seized up. He quickly averted his eyes from the sight, something sour and acid welling up in the back of his mouth, only to find another body sprawled in the middle of the street.
His heart pounded against his ribs, like a raging caged beast, and the taste of bile in his throat threatened to spill out over his tongue. Breath hitching in his lungs, he took one step back from the scene, before breaking out in a full sprint down a side alley. He had to get home, to find his mother and father. They would know what to do. He just needed to get to them it would all be okay.
The streets rushed by him in a blur, but he could still see the figures of bodies strewn about like unwanted dolls, the puddles of dark blood reflecting the moonlight. Each one was like a knife wound in his belly, and by now he could feel wetness streaming down his cheeks. He forced himself not to look, to keep his head down as he ran, but not even averting his eyes could stop the way stomach roiled and swam like the sea during a hurricane.
His home came into view at last, a great manor perched in the heart of the district. The windows were dark like the others, and an icy dread ran through him as he barreled through the front door. He met total silence, the air seeming to cling to him like a thick cloud. The entrance hall was dark and empty, and no one came to greet him. A thought flickered up in the back of his mind as he crept forward, urging him to call out, but his voice had abandoned him.
Then, there came a dull thump from one of the adjacent rooms. He rushed towards the source of the noise, ripping open the sliding door, and froze at the sight that met him on the other side.
His brother stood in the center of the room, his face as cool and impassive as ever. Blood dripped from his unsheathed blade, fresh and bright crimson against the shadowed room. And there, laying at his feet in a spreading puddle of that same blood, was- Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan eyes flicked almost lazily to him, and it was if the bottom had dropped out beneath him. Everything seemed to drain out of him, leaving him a hollow shell. He couldn't even cry.
"Why?" the question came out on its own, his tiny, hushed voice echoing in the room. "Why did you kill them?" He knew the answer to that already, had heard it ring through his skull countless times.
His brother stared at him with those red, unblinking eyes. "I didn't. You did."
Sasuke's gaze plummeted to the floor, and his heart froze in his chest. In his parents' place was the figure of Mizuki, blackened and charred by the flames of his jutsu. Those burnt, shriveled eyelids flicked open, revealing the same Mangekyō eyes of his brother spinning in the sockets. Before he could scream, the room melted into darkness.
000
A strangled, almost whimpering cry rang in Sasuke's ears as he awoke, his eyes flicking open to greet the pink and orange of the dawn. He wildly cast his gaze around, lurching into a sitting position in his sleeping bag as he tried to locate the source of the noise. The Uchiha's eyes landed on Naruto, staring down at him from his spot atop a flat gray boulder, his head cocked to the right.
"You okay?" the blond called, a hint of concern tinting his voice. "Did a spider crawl into your sleeping bag or something?"
"What?" Sasuke asked groggily, squinting up at his teammate. Why did everything seem so oddly clear, and why was Naruto shimmering like that?
"You just woke up screaming, moron," Naruto answered, hopping down to the dry, barren earth. He stepped over to Sasuke and leaned down to peer into his eyes, his face coming almost uncomfortably near. This close Sasuke could actually see his own red eyes reflected in Naruto's pupils, and he quickly turned away.
"Was it a nightmare?" Naruto straightened back up, that same concern in his voice. "Must've been a pretty bad one, to make you freak out like that."
"Just be quiet," Sasuke grumbled, shaking his head and cutting off the steady trickle of chakra to his eyes. "It's none of your business."
He opened his eyes to find Naruto still staring down at him, something approaching sympathy written on his face, and Sasuke felt his temper rise. "Go away," he ordered.
Naruto frowned at the Uchiha, shaking his head and turning his back on him. "Awake for two minutes and already an asshole," he muttered to himself as he went back to his stone seat and dropped down upon it.
Sasuke didn't bother giving a retort. He pushed himself to his feet, already dressed save for his sandals, and felt the cold, rocky ground bite into the soles of his feet. As he began rolling up his sleeping bag, he could feel more eyes on him and turned his head to find Kakashi staring him. The jōnin was watching him over the pages of that orange book of his as he leaned against one of the massive boulders that surrounded their campsite. He didn't seem all that embarrassed to be caught looking at his student, and let his gaze linger a moment longer, before his single gray eye slid down to his book.
The Uchiha scowled to himself, his pride rankling at the situation he'd been put in. Why did those two think his dreams were any of their concern anyway? Surely they'd had nightmares before, so why did they find his so interesting?
He slipped his sandals on and tore open one of his container scrolls, sealing the bed roll inside. Jamming the scroll into his pocket, he trudged over to the black smear on the ground which marked the remains of last night's campfire. Sasuke's eyes trailed over the charred ground, and forced back a shudder as the image of Mizuki's burnt form drifted past his mind's eye. Chastising himself, he brushed it away.
The fire had been a small, pathetic thing, there being nothing in the way of decent firewood out here past the border of the Land of Wind. As such the only thing available for breakfast that morning were some onigiri they'd packed back in Konoha. Sasuke normally wouldn't have minded, but this was all they'd had yesterday, and the day before that as well. Frankly, it was beginning to wear out its welcome. But there was nothing much to be done about that until they reached Suna, certainly they couldn't hope to find a sushi bar out in the middle of the desert.
So resigned, Sasuke plopped down next to Hinata, who sat by the plastic container and was already nibbling on one of the rice balls.
She quickly swallowed at his approach and looked up to greet him. "Ah, Good morning, Sasuke."
Sasuke gave a grunt in reply as he grabbed one of the onigiri from the clear plastic tub. He took a small bite and frowned as he chewed. He had no idea where Kakashi had gotten these from, but it certainly wasn't the same place he frequented. There weren't terrible, but still, he was pretty sure that he could make better onigiri himself. It didn't help that they weren't exactly fresh, and by now the cold rice was beginning to harden.
"Ugh," Naruto said, wrinkling his nose as he looked down at the two of them. "How can you stand those things?"
"They're better than ramen," Sasuke countered in between bites. As unappetizing as these particular rice balls might've been, they did still beat that miso garbage that Naruto had brought with him.
"That's a load of crap and you know it," Naruto fired back, crossing his arms stubbornly. "You just have unrefined tastes."
"Wow, who taught you that word?" Sasuke's tone was as dry as the rice he was chewing on.
"I know words," Naruto defended himself, his brow furrowing. "Like 'fuck' and 'you.'"
Sasuke shot a glare up the blond, but said nothing. It was too early to be dealing with him right now.
Naruto stared down at him for a few seconds longer, expecting a response, but when it didn't come his attention began to wander.
"Hey," he said, looking over at Kakashi. "Do you know if they have ramen over in Suna?"
"Why?" Kakashi asked, his eye still locked on his book.
"'Cause, I haven't had any since the, uh, accident," he explained. "You've been there before, right?"
"I have," Kakashi said evenly.
"Then come on," Naruto urged. "Do you know any good places there or what?"
"Even if I did, it wouldn't matter," Kakashi said, his eye still tracing the lines of text. "We're not going there to see the sights. We're on a mission, and as soon as we've completed it, we're leaving."
"What?" Naruto almost shouted, dropping down from his perch and kicking up small cloud of dust at his feet. "We can't stay there for just a little while?"
"No," Kakashi answered, his voice flat. He flipped the page of his book.
"But why?" Naruto whined, a pleading look in his eyes. "We've been out here eating this crappy food and sleeping of the freaking ground for days now! Can't we just spend one day there?"
"I already told you, no," Kakashi repeated, he didn't raise his voice or even change his tone, but it was plain that further argument would go nowhere.
Naruto scuffed his sandal in the dirt. "This sucks. This was supposed to be a cool mission, but it's just more of the same crap. The Old Man should've just sent a mailman."
Kakashi ignored the boy's complaints, his eye scanning over the pages of Icha Icha Paradise. He wasn't really taking the story in, but that hardly mattered to him at this point. This was the first book in the series, and he'd already read it multiple times over the years, yet whenever he went out on a mission, he always brought it along. He flipped the page of the book again, and let his eye drift over the text. The truth was, had they been going almost anywhere else, he wouldn't have really minded taking a day or so to rest, but they weren't headed anywhere else. They were headed to Suna.
Officially, Konoha and Suna were allies, but no one was willing to tell the people of the Hidden Sand that. The Second Shinobi War, little more than history to Konoha, still cast a long shadow over that village. Suna had been an enemy of Konoha during that war, and that had resulted in the most catastrophic defeat in the admittedly short history of the Hidden Villages. It was well known that the generation of Konoha nin that fought during the Second War had been the finest in the world, producing such legends as the Sannin and Kakashi's father. With such power on its side, Konoha had torn through the ranks of Suna's shinobi like so many training dummies. Faced with the mounting casualties, Suna had even resorted sending fresh genin into the field, who only managed to get themselves killed even quicker than their more experienced comrades.
The Land of Wind, already the least populous of the five great nations, had never fully recovered from those losses. Suna today still had fewer active shinobi than before the war, lines of trade had been cut and never reestablished, and the wealthy customer base that propped up a peacetime shinobi economy had all but fled Suna. Only the genius and sheer power of the Sandaime Kazekage had kept the village from being swallowed up by the sands, and even then only just. And, of course, the people of Suna had been quick to identify Konoha as the source of all their misery. The passing of years had only given them the opportunity to nurse their grudges, to sow the seeds of hatred into the next generation. Whatever any piece of paper might have said, the people of Suna and Konoha were not friends, and the less time they spent in that village wearing their Konoha headbands, the better.
"Alright," Kakashi said, flipping his book closed. He stepped away from the boulder and cast his eye east, where this great rocky field continued, as if some deity had strewn these enormous stones across the border like so much gravel. "Suna's not too far away now, and if we hurry, we can get there today. So, let's get going."
000
"Oh my god, how can it be this hot?" Naruto complained out loud. The sun had arced its way across the sky, going ever more intense as it did so. It now hung directly over Team Seven, glaring down as if it had a personal grudge against them. Sand stretched away in every direction, seeming to go on forever, even behind them, and grains were more than willing to reflect the light and heat back up. The effect was to make it fell as if they'd stepped into some giant oven.
"We're in a desert," Sasuke said, his voice cool, but the sweat dripping down his brow told that he wasn't doing much better in this sweltering air. "What did you expect?"
"Yeah, but this is crazy," Naruto waved his hands over his head as he walked. "Like, just yesterday were in that country with all those rice paddies and that fog. How can it just suddenly turn into all this?" He gestured out over the vast sands.
"There's actually a story about that," Hinata spoke up, more to herself than either of them.
Naruto turned his gaze behind him on her. "Really? What is it?"
"Ah, w-well," Hinata stuttered, lowering her eyes. She'd taken her jacket off hours ago, the heat really was unbearable, and now wore only her black t-shirt which was about two sizes too big for her. Still, having Naruto's eyes on her without that familiar beige shield left her feeling like she'd accidentally walked on stage in her pajamas. "They say that the Land of Wind wasn't always a desert."
"Then how'd it get like this?" Naruto pressed.
The Hyūga looked down at her fingertips pressing together. "It was Shukaku."
"Who's Shukaku?" the blond tilted his head.
"One of the legends of Suna. A demon that's said to be one with the sand," Kakashi abruptly entered the conversation, from behind the three of them. He was staring out over the sands to the horizon, his book nowhere to be seen. He frowned slightly under his mask. Hinata shouldn't know about the Ichibi. Talking about the other bijū besides the Kyūbi wasn't exactly forbidden, but most people knew better than to go blabbing about that sort of thing. It seemed that Hiashi was more talkative than he'd thought.
"And he made all this?" Naruto prodded, his curiosity piqued.
"That's what the stories say, anyway," Kakashi said, keeping his gaze focused off in the distance. "Apparently, some time long ago all of this used to be green plains, and sprawling forests dotted all over with lakes that seemed to never run dry. They say it was a paradise. Well, Shukaku wasn't too happy with that, so he ripped apart the plains, tore down the forests, and used his sand to soak up all the lakes. He turned the land into a massive desert, and it's been that way ever since."
"Is any of that actually true?" Sasuke asked, skepticism in his voice. To turn an entire country into a desert, was even the Kyūbi that powerful?
"Probably not," Kakashi admitted, still watching out over the sands. "There's all sorts of stories about Shukaku. Some even say that he the vengeful spirit of a drunken monk. It's all just a bunch of old ghost stories, really."
"Oh," Naruto's disappointment was clear on his face. That story had actually sounded kind of cool. "But then where did this desert come from?"
Kakashi shrugged. "It's been here for as long as anyone can remember. The rain just doesn't seem to like this country."
"Yeah well, I'm pretty sure no one likes this country," Naruto said sourly. He took a swig of his canteen, grimacing at the warm, metallic water, and wiped his brow with his sleeve. "God, it's hot."
"You're the one who wanted to wear a jacket in the desert," Sasuke shot at the blond, sick of his whining.
"Thanks, mom," Naruto fired back, glaring at the Uchiha walking next to him.
"He's right, you know," Kakashi said. "Out here, you want to keep as cool as possible."
"But how are people gonna recognize me without it?" Naruto asked, a frown tugging down his lips.
"It'd be better if they didn't," the jōnin answered. He held his hands up in a resigned shrug. "But, if you want to die of heatstroke, then I guess that's your problem."
"Fine, I get it," Naruto grumbled, defeated. He unzipped the loud orange jacket, sighing in relief as the breeze fluttered in over his torso. He folded the heavy jacket up, and tied the sleeves around his waist, his step seeming to become light almost instantly.
Hinata glanced over at her blond teammate, her pale eyes tracing over his form. She'd known from their earliest days at the academy that Naruto had been a very slim child, but seeing him now was still something of a shock. Even after six years he looked as scrawny as ever. Hadn't he grown at all? With the jacket on, one could look at him and see a healthy, if short, twelve year old boy, but now that illusion was shattered. It honestly seemed as if an academy student from one of the lower years had tagged along with them. If not for the fullness of his whisker-marked cheeks, he'd look positively sickly, but how could that be? He certainly never acted sickly. Heck, he was the only one of the three of them who had enough chakra to make Kage bunshin. So then why did he look so small?
Naruto felt the Hyūga's eyes on him and turned to look at her, an eyebrow raised. "What?"
"Um, n-nothing!" Hinata said quickly, dropping her eyes to the ground as a red hue dotted her cheeks.
"Oh, I get it," the corner of his mouth pulled back in a smirk. "Now that the jacket's off, you're trying to get a look at the goods, right? Well," he made a pose he'd seen once in a back alley. "See anything you like?"
"No! I-I mean- That's not- I was just-" Hinata looked as if steam was about blow out of her ears as he stumbled over her words like a clown doing pratfalls.
Naruto burst out laughing at the sight of the Hyūga, tilting his head back as his narrow shoulders bounced. He waved at her with one hand while wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. "Relax, I was just screwing with you. Geez, you freak out worse than Iruka-sensei."
Hinata crumpled in on herself, turning her head away from the source of her humiliation. The Hyūga's eyes fell to the ground, and she searched for convenient spot to curl up and die. Naruto frowned slightly at her reaction, but simply shook his head turned his attention ahead.
Kakashi kept his attention on the horizon, the shimmering sheet of air that rippled in the distance. Outwardly, he appeared as unconcerned as his students, but in reality his ever never was as a taut as piano wire. The sands of the desert had spread farther and thicker as they walked, until there was not even the barest hint of road to guide them. The risk of getting lost, however, was not what the jōnin as tense as a mousetrap. The real danger was in what the sands might be hiding. Any Iwa nin, or anyone familiar with doton jutsu, could easily use this sand to sneak up on them undetected, and leap out at them from under their feet exactly as he'd done to Sasuke during the bell test. It was a relatively simple trick, but damn if it wasn't effective. A skilled jōnin could have them all imprisoned in less than a second. He might have been fast enough to avoid such a strike, but these genin that the Hokage had insisted go on this mission with him certainly weren't.
The masked nin let his eye glance down at Hinata for a moment. He'd asked the Hyūga exactly how long she could use that Byakugan, and she had given him an estimate of one hour before chakra fatigue set in. That had been less than encouraging. The last Hyūga Kakashi had worked with before Hinata had been a fully grown adult, and a jōnin. He had been able to keep his dōjutsu active almost from sunrise to sunset. It was hard to overstate the protection that had afforded. Nothing could sneak up on him, no one could avoid his sight. It was like having a whole army of people scanning every inch of their surroundings. Hiding from the Byakugan was about as close to impossible as one could get, and they'd never for a second had to worry about being caught off guard on missions. If only he was with them right now.
But he wasn't, Hinata was, an inexperienced genin barely two years into her second decade of life. It really came down to resource management, in this case the resource being Hinata's chakra. If he made her keep her Byakugan active as they walked, she'd quickly run out, and then be completely useless if something did happen. Which left him staring out over the sands with his single, mundane eye, ready to nudge Hinata's shoulder if he noticed something.
Missions like this gnawed away at the lining of the stomach. That endless waiting for it to happen, hoping desperately that it didn't, Kakashi had been feeling the beginnings of ulcers form all throughout the mission, but this final stretch across the desert was by far the worst. Any gust of wind, or shift of sand could signal the opening strike, what sounded like a lizard crawling under the loose grains could in fact be an assassin after their precious cargo. Kakashi kept telling himself not too worry, that the Hokage wouldn't put them in any serious danger, that this really was nothing more than a simple C-rank. The shinobi nations were, technically, at peace, after all, and it wasn't as if Iwa and Kumo had shinobi out scout their rivals' territory anymore. His brain seemed to agree with him, but his nerves didn't and neither did his roiling stomach.
Honestly, what was the Sandaime thinking? There had to be something else to this mission, something he couldn't see, but what? What else could it be but what it looked like, which was an incredibly dangerous mission far beyond what any genin should be taking. The Hokage had to know what an incredible risk this was, so why do it?
That question, mixed with his mounting tension as the desert rolled past his eye, writhed and squirmed within him like a pair of angry snakes. It was a very lucky thing he was wearing that cloth mask over his mouth, or else some of that stress might very well have shown on his face.
By the time the great, towering mountain which marked the entrance to Suna rose up over the rolling dunes, it was all Kakashi could do to keep from sighing with relief.
The sheer, flat face of that enormous mesa towered above the flat, barren sands of the surrounding country, the sheer breadth of it devouring their view as the approached. Nothing, not even the Hokage mountain, came close to matching the sheer scale of this incredible mass of stone. Looking up at the mountain, its sandy colored face glowing in the afternoon sun, it was difficult not to feel like one of the Aburame's kikaichū crawling under a boulder. Just ahead of them, the mountain split open, as if cleaved in half by a sword, revealing a deep canyon which led to the village proper. A meager, but steady trickle of people flowed in and out of the mouth of the gap, their dark skin hidden beneath shawls, turbans and long, flowing robes.
"Alright," Kakashi said as they passed into the canyon, the small, adobe structure of a guard post planted some distance ahead, right before the city proper. The shadows cast by the sun stretched long between those high rocky wall, a small pebble leaving a long dark streak behind it. "Here's what's going to happen. We're going to go up to that guard post, explain why we're here, and they'll take us to where we need to go. Then, we do what we came here for, and leave. So, from now on, just keep quiet and stay near me at all times, and everything should go smoothly, understand?"
He kept his voice low, but the sparse collection of people hanging around Suna's front gate on a hot afternoon were hardly the most attentive sort. One decrepit man, who made the Hokage seem positively spry, shot them a dirty look upon noticing their headbands as he hobbled by, but that was the extent of the scrutiny they were subjected to. Kakashi strolled up to the earthy structure, keeping himself as relaxed and nonthreatening as possible. Behind the gaps in the metal grate of the guard booth, a Suna nin sat, boredom written on his face. But upon seeing another shinobi approach, and one wearing a Konoha headband at that, his features quickly hardened.
"What is a Konoha nin doing here?" he demanded, his voice icy. His brown eyes held that same edge to them that seemed universal among the shinobi of Suna. It looked like he could cut someone with only a glare.
"We've come with a message from our Hokage, to be delivered to your Kazekage," Kakashi answered, all business, as he stared down at the guard.
The guard narrowed his eyes as he glanced behind the masked jōnin to the three genin clustered together. "And what message is that?"
Kakashi shook his head. "Come on, you know how this works. I can only show it to the Kazekage himself."
The guard stared up at the jōnin, peering into his masked face. Kakashi stared back, his single eye unwavering. Finally, the guard looked away with a snort. "Well, good luck with that. Kazekage-sama isn't in the village right now."
Kakashi frowned under his mask, and crossed his arms. That the guard was willing to tell him that indicated that he didn't consider them to be a threat, which was good news in itself, but that hadn't been what he'd hoped to hear. "Then when will he be back?"
The guard gave a small shrug. "Whenever he sees fit to return."
"You can't really expect us to just wait here for him," the silver-haired nin scowled.
The guard leaned back in his chair, that look of boredom already returning to his face. "Does that look like my problem? Find an inn, or something," he waved toward the village. "Or go camp out in the desert. Makes no difference to me."
"Does that mean we get to stay?" Naruto looked up at his sensei, as hopeful as a stray puppy.
The jōnin sighed. "I guess we don't really have a choice."
Naruto whooped and pushed past Kakashi, placing his hands of the steel grate. "Hey, you. Where can I get some ramen in this place, huh?"
The guard wrinkled his nose. "How should I know? I don't eat garbage like that. Now, piss off, all of you."
Naruto puffed up in outrage, but before he could say something that would get him in trouble, Kakashi grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and pulled him along. Naruto shook his fist at the mud colored building as he was dragged through the mouth of the canyon into the village of Suna.
000
"You can't be serious," Ino said, lowering her arms. She gave an uneasy half smirk to the pink-haired girl before her. "Right?"
Sakura gave no answer, her breath coming in short pants as the adrenaline worked its way through her. Had she really just tried to punch Ino? It had almost seemed like she had simply been watching her fist swing forward, like her body had done it on its own. A part of her, a big part, was already scolding her for having done something so foolish. Who did she think she was, Kiba? Or Naruto? This wasn't proper, wasn't how a kunoichi should behave. She clamped down on the doubt welling up in her, tried to focus on the anger that had made her lash out at Ino.
"Come on," Ino urged, taking a step forward. "This is stupid. I'm not gonna fight you."
"Why? Are you scared?" Sakura attempted to goad the Yamanaka, but even in her voice it was clear she was wavering. Seeing Ino standing there with her arms crossed, and that disapproving look on her face drained her resolve. She was suddenly painfully aware that she was standing in a fighting stance right in front of the Hyūga compound with three people looking at her.
"Sakura," Ino said, sounding more like an angry teacher than her former classmate. "Seriously, knock it off already."
"You just don't want to fight me because you know I'd win," the pink-haired genin made one last attempt to get under Ino's skin. It was clear from the empty bluster in her voice that she didn't believe that herself.
"Okay, I don't know what the hell's gotten into you, but I'm not playing along," Ino turned away and began walking back down the stone steps. The Yamanaka glanced behind her. "You need help, Sakura, like really bad."
Sakura could do nothing but watch the blonde's ponytail swish back and forth as she strode away. Her eyes fell the ground, and she wanted nothing more than to sink into the gray stone and stay there forever. She could feel the eyes upon her, but she couldn't bring herself to face them. She was about to take off running back to her house, lock herself in her room, and spend the rest of her life huddled under her bed when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
She dragged her head up to find Kurenai at her side. To see the frown at her sensei's lips, to see the tinge of disappointment in those red eyes, it was like staring into the face of her own shame.
"Sakura, what was all that about?" the jōnin's voice carried only a hint of scolding, blanketed by concern like a mother lecturing a disobedient child. Somehow that only made it worse.
Sakura shook her head, her eyes misty. "I-" she let out a sigh and brought a hand to her cheek. "I don't know."
Kurenai wasn't satisfied with that answer. She grabbed the girl by the wrist and gave a gentle pull. "Come with me."
Sakura complied wordlessly as the jōnin led her down the steps. At first, Sakura assumed her sensei was going to take her to Ino, but Kurenai took a right at the bottom of the steps, while Ino had gone left. They made their way around the outer wall of the compound, obscured by a long row of trees which stood like the Hyūga's personal sentinels. They came to a small, empty path connecting two larger roads, and shadowed by the tall, broad trees. All that adorned the small path was a single bench built right against the trunk of one of the thicker of the trees.
"Sit," Kurenai instructed. Sakura seated herself on the hard wood of the bench, crossing her arms as a sudden chill came over her in the shade. The ruby eyed jōnin stared down at her student, crossing her own arms. "Now, I need you to tell me why you just attacked a fellow kunoichi."
"She was making fun of me," Sakura cringed to herself as she spoke. Saying it out loud made it sound so childish and stupid. Had she really almost gotten into a fight over something as trivial as that? She braced herself for Kurenai to start telling her off any second now.
"About what?" Kurenai asked, her face almost thoughtful. The question caught Sakura completely off guard. Surely she wasn't about to take this seriously? She'd done a stupid thing, they both knew that, so why not simply dole out whatever punishment she had in mind and be done with it?
"About Sasuke," Sakura said, dropping her eyes to her lap. "She said that I'd never get to be with him."
Kurenai's frown deepened. She suspected that might've been the reason, but that didn't make it any less troubling to hear. The Hokage had told her that Sakura had something of a crush on Sasuke, but to be getting into fights over him?
"You must really like Sasuke, for you to react as you did," the jōnin said.
Sakura gave a small nod, her eyes still fixed on the backs of her hands folded over her lap.
"But, that doesn't make this okay," Kurenai continued, disapproval edging into her voice. "I can understand schoolgirl crushes but-"
"It's not just a crush," Sakura's head snapped up, her mint eyes shining. "I love him."
Kurenai was taken aback at the girl's sudden fierceness, but she quickly recovered and gave a shake of her head. "Sakura, you're twelve years old. You can't know something like that at your age."
"But I do," Sakura was adamant. "I know what everyone says about puppy love and youth and all that, but this is different. I know what I feel. We're meant to be together."
"Really." Kurenai didn't look convinced. "And how does he feel about this?"
Sakura's resolute expression crumbled at the question, and she found she couldn't meet her sensei's eyes. Of course she had no answer, that was the reason all happened in the first place. Sasuke didn't care about her in the slightest, and it seemed there was nothing she could do.
A pang of sympathy went through Kurenai at the girl's miserable display. She uncrossed her arms and stepped forward to take a seat next to Sakura. She placed a hand on Sakura's back as the genin seemed to curl in on herself.
"It's not fair," Sakura said, her voice thick. "I've tried to show him my feelings so many times, and it never works. I've asked him out on dates, given him card. I even wrote this stupid love poem one time. He didn't even bother to read it before he threw it in the trash."
"Well, maybe that should tell you something," Kurenai suggested. "If he's not interested in you, then maybe you should move on."
"No, I can't" Sakura shook her head, giving the jōnin a clear view of the tears running down her cheeks. "This has been my goal since I met Sasuke. It's my dream, and I've been trying to make it come true for as long as I can remember. I even-" Sakura's voice cracked as a sob welled up in her throat. "I even gave up my best friend to be with him. That's how much he means to me. And now he's off on a different team, so I can't even talk to him."
Kurenai bit back a sigh. If only she'd known how bad this had gotten earlier. Why dd kid have to be so dramatic about everything? She had made her pestering of that poor Uchiha boy sound like a great tragic romance. Kurenai herself never had much experience with teenage romance. She'd thrown herself so completely into genjutsu that she simply hadn't had any time for boys. She hadn't so much as gone on a date until she was nineteen, and that was fine with her. If Sakura was the example of young love, then, as far as she was concerned, she'd dodged a shuriken.
The jōnin looked down at Sakura as she wiped her eyes. Perhaps that was what she needed.
"You're going about this all wrong," Kurenai said, drawing the girl's attention.
"Huh?"
"You say you've been chasing Sasuke all this time, and it hasn't worked, right?" the jōnin questioned. Sakura gave a small nod. "Well, when a tactic isn't working, what's the smart thing for a shinobi to do?"
"Try a different one?" Sakura offered. Her brow creased. "But I've already tried everything I can think of. What else is there?"
"You've only tried chasing after him," Kurenai corrected. "And since that hasn't worked, then you'll have to get him to chase after you."
"But he wont," Sakura countered. "He's never chased after anyone. He's just not like that."
"Maybe," Kurenai tilted her head. "Or maybe he just hasn't found what he's looking for yet."
"Looking for?" Sakura repeated, looking up at her sensei.
"It's what all shinobi are looking for," Kurenai explained. "Something every boy his age is attracted to. Something that his clan prized more than anything else."
"And what is that?" Sakura's voice was hushed. Could this woman really have the answer she'd been searching for all this time?
"It's power," the jōnin answered.
"Power?" Sakura raised an eyebrow. "You mean strength and skill, that sort of thing? What does that have to do with anything?"
"Think about it," Kurenai prodded her student. "Why is Sasuke training under someone like Kakashi? Why did he push himself to become the best student in his class? Why did he join the academy in the first place? He's chasing after power. And so he's only going to be interested in people he considers powerful."
"But I'm not powerful," Sakura looked down. "Definitely not as powerful as him."
"That's where you're wrong," Kurenai said, a smile at the corners of her mouth. "Sasuke might've been the best student in general, but do you know who outclassed him when it came to academic knowledge? It was you. It's just like you said, power is a combination of strength and skill, and in terms of skill, you're way ahead of everyone else. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call you a genius. All you need is the right training to put that skill to practical use."
"And you'd train me?" Sakura asked, looking back up hopefully.
"Of course," Kurenai nodded. "But if we do this, then you have to put every bit of yourself into it. No slacking off, no quitting halfway through. Unless you're willing to go all the way to the end, don't bother taking the first step. So, think you still have it in you?"
"Yes," Sakura said resolutely. If it was for Sasuke, then she'd march to hell and back.
"Good," the jōnin gave a warm, approving smile, which then shifted into the beginnings of a smirk. "Sasuke's probably thinking that with his Sharingan, there wont be anyone able to match him in genjutsu. You're going to prove him wrong. By the time we're done, you'll be the best damn kunoichi this village has produced in a generation."
