The next day, team seven plus Tazuna's family sat around the dining table, having breakfast as they discussed their next plan of action.

"Gatou, of the Gatou Enterprises, happens to be a very shady businessman. He controls the whole Economy of wave by controlling the shipping regimes. The only way to bring some economic stability back to the people of Wave would be only if they have some access to the mainland, which happens to be the reason why Gatou wants Tazuna dead. If Tazuna happens to complete the bridge, then people of Wave will have access to the mainland again and they will have a way to break out of Gatou's control." Kakashi surmised their situation. He then raised his eyebrows at his students and asked "Am I missing anything?"

"Nope. That's all, Sensei!" Naruto exclaimed as he gulped down the whole loaf of bread and earned himself a punch to the head by Sakura who scolded him for not chewing properly.

Tazuna took a gulp of his sake and chuckled "By the way, you lot have my thanks. You all brought me back safely to my home, even though none of you look Ninja material to me."

Naruto and Sasuke's eyes twitched in annoyance and they clenched their fists under the table, while Sakura simply kept serving everyone, and didn't react to his comment at all and said "You really shouldn't drink sake this early in the morning, old man. It is not good for your old bones."

"Who are you calling old, brat!" Tazuna snapped at her, while Tsunami scolded her father for being so rude to their guests. Naruto just snickered in the background.

Sasuke bit into his piece of bread slowly and muttered "You have to admit though, Gatou's plan had been quite good." Sasuke pointed out. "The people living in an island usually depend on their imports and exports. Controlling the shipping industry of an island -especially one such as resourceful as Wave- equals controlling the entire island itself."

Sakura hummed as she applied butter to another piece of bread and handed it to Kakashi, who gave her an eye smile and ate it with a blink of an eye, without even removing his mask. Inner grumbled about how he was getting better at hiding his face, even while eating. Sakura said "Even if he is a good planner, Gatou happens to be a bad businessman." Sasuke looked at her questioningly, and she rolled her eyes "I mean, come on, he tried to control the economy of the land of Waves by force and tyranny which only gives him one time profit. Now the country is so poor that he can't sell his imported items. Isn't this like, bad business? A good businessman would've made a mutual trade treaty with Wave, which would be more profitable than a one-time deal."

Kakashi blinked, and then smiled softly at the pink haired girl. "I knew you were smart Sakura, but I didn't know you were this smart." She is so much more than a girl with book smarts. She actually knows how to use her book knowledge in real life.

Sakura blushed at his compliment, while Inner's jaw hung open in a gobsmacked expression. 'No way, did Bakakashi just praise us?!' he then shouted out 'Who the hell is he and what did he do to Bakakashi?!'

Sakura's eye twitched and she could barely keep the smile on her face, all thanks to Inner. (To Kakashi, she just looked a bit constipated.) She grunted a mental reply 'Jeez Inner do you want to give me a headache first thing in the morning?'

That quietened him down for a while. Kakashi placed down his chopsticks, and said "Considering the fact that Zabuza is alive, and the fake-Hunter nin is his acquaintance, we need to plan what to do next. I am sure that as soon as he is recovered, Zabuza will attack once again. We need to be prepared for them."

"Why do you even bother?" Tazuna's grandson, Inari, muttered quietly, and everyone's eyes fell on the short boy who was sulking in a corner.

"I'm sorry?" Kakashi said in a faux-sincere tone.

"There is no way you can beat Gatou." The brat said with a snort. "You don't stand a chance against him."

Naruto's eye twitched in annoyance and he yelled "WHY YOU-?!"

Sakura clamped her hand down on his shoulder and forced him to sit down with her superhuman strength. When Naruto looked up at her, he found her smiling sweetly at the younger boy, "Oh, and why do you think so, Inari? Why do you think we can't beat Gatou like awesome heroes we are?" She said in a joking tone to ease up the boy, but it seemed like her words just tensed him even further. Inari glared at her and snarled-

"There is no such thing as a hero! You're just full of stupid ideas!"

Sakura's smile tightened, and a vein popped over her head. 'If he wasn't a kid, I swear I'd have pummeled him to the ground! SHANNARO!'

Inner sweat dropped and said in a complacent tone, 'Eh Outer, calm down. No need to be so violent, He's just a kid,' he then muttered under his breath, 'a bratty one at that.'

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Naruto exclaimed angrily and he stood up and glared at the younger boy.

Inari scoffed. "If you value your life then go back to where you came from." He then stood up and left the room, leaving his breakfast untouched. Tsunami called out to her son but he just stormed away. Tsunami shook her head and followed her son out, after stuttering out a quick apology to the ninjas.

"What a brat." Naruto clicked his tongue in annoyance and sat down with a harrumph.

"I'm sorry," Tazuna muttered in a quiet tone. "Inari hasn't always been like this."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked quizzically. And then Tazuna told them about Kaiza, Inari's adopted father, who was like a Hero in the Land of Waves. But Gatou had him murdered, and ever since then, Inari has been depressed.

The once jolly atmosphere was now filled with tension. Everyone stared down with solemn looks.

'Inari lost someone precious to him,' Inner muttered sadly, 'No wonder he is sulking all the time.'

Sakura slammed her fists on the table and stood up, startling everyone. Her pink brow quirked as she stared at her fellow gennin, unimpressed. "Well? Don't we have training to do?" She asked, "We do have to kick Gatou's and those missing-nin's asses, ya know."

Naruto beamed at her, while Sasuke smirked. "Right." The Uchiha drawled out, as Naruto whooped in joy and the three genin made their way out of the house. Kakashi watched them go fondly, and shook his head in exasperation.

'They make such a good team…..' he thought fondly as he watched their backs as they went together, side by side, teasing and joking with each other.

"Ne, ne Kakashi-Sensei! What are you gonna teach us today?" Naruto exclaimed excitedly as he bounced on his feet, never standing still for even a moment.

"Well, Kakashi muttered as he eye-smiled at his cute little gennin who stared at him with wide, eager eyes. Leaning against the crutch, he chuckled and said "Today, I am going to teach you Tree Climbing."

Cue a dramatic pause.

Sakura gave him a bored look, while Sasuke scoffed at him and Naruto huffed and folded his arms, yelling "That's so lame, Sensei!"

Kakashi said "It's not lame, Naruto. See, I'm going to climb a tree without using my hands." Kakashi was expecting disbelieving or at least surprised looks on his cute little gennin's faces. What he got instead was deadpanned looks from the three of them.

"Yeah, you're going to use chakra on your feet and walk up on the tree, right?" Sakura said with an eye roll. "We already know how to do that, Sensei." She then muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like "Baka-Sensei." which earned her a punch to the head.

Kakashi eyed his three students and drawled out "Care to show me?"

The three of them shared a glance and then shrugged in unison. "Sure." Each one of them picked a tree, and ran up on its' trunk vertically.

"Happy now, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura hollered from her perch on the top of the tree, along with the two boys who snickered at the Hatake's expense, making Kakashi give a long suffering sigh.

"Sassy much, eh?" he muttered under his breath. He then cleared his throat and shouted out to his students, "Alright, you proved your point. Will ou three get down from there now?"

The three of them shrugged and jumped down, landing on their feet before kakashi –except for Naruto, who stumbled and face planted on the ground, making Sakura roar out in laughter and Sasuke smirk at him. Naruto got up and scowled at the two of them, and yelled "Jeez, you could've helped me up instead of laughing at me, dattebayo!"

"Were's the fun in that?" Sasuke drawled out, and shared a high five with Sakura.

Kakashi clapped his hands, grabbing their attention and said in a cheery tone, leaking a small amount of Killing Intent. "If you're done with your antics, can we proceed with our training?"

The three genin gulped and nodded, with beads of sweat rolling down their neck. 'Scary…..' Inner whimpered as he hid behind a couch- where the hell it came from, she had no idea.

"Alright," He said cheerily, "Since you already know Tree walking, I think it's time to teach you three each a jutsu of your chakra nature." The three genin cheered. "But first," he pulled out three papers from a storage scroll and handed one to each of them. "this is Chakra paper." He explained. "Push some chakra into it and it will determine your chakra affinity."

The three of them did as they were told. Naruto's split into two. Half of Sasuke's paper crinkled, while the other half burned to ashes. While Sakura's paper soaked wet, however, a corner of it burned into ashes.

Kakashi whistled, impressed. "My, my, we do have diverse affinities in our Genin team." He then turned to Naruto and said "Naruto, your chakra affinity is wind." He then stared at Sasuke and said "Sasuke, you have dual affinities- Lightening and Fire." Kakashi eyed Sakura's almost soaked chakra paper and said "You have a primary Water affinity Sakura, with a minor fire affinity."

Naruto sulked in a corner, rocking back and forth, amking Sasuke and Sakura shot incredulous looks at him. "No fair," he muttered depressingly, "how come I have only one affinity while that bastard has two. Even Sakura has two affinities!"

Sakura's eye twitched and she bonked his head with her fist. "What do you mean 'even Sakura has two affinities?'!" She air quoted his previously spoken statement.

"A-Ah Sakura! I didn't mean you're weak or anythi-" He clasped his hand over his mouth as an angry aura surrounded Sakura. She cracked her knuckles murderously, and Naruto knew he was doomed. While Naruto was getting beaten up by Sakura, Sasuke rolled his eyes and muttered "Idiot."

Kakashi sweat dropped at their antics. "If you're done, can we focus on Jutsu training?" he asked out loud to his genin, who stared at him eagerly and replied in unison-

"Yes sir!"

Training was hard, but they persevered. By the end of the three days, Sasuke was the only one who mastered his Jutsu. Naruto needed to finesse his Wind chakra in a sharp form, and hence was closer to mastering it. While strangely, Sakura was the only one left behind. You would think that she would be the first one to master her Jutsu, considering the fact that she was smarter than her fellow teammates, and also had a voice in her head to help her out when she was in a jiff. However, the only thing stopping her from mastering the Jutsu was something very basic. It was an obstacle that also hindered her when she activates her sharingan. In fact, her problem was so basic that it can make even an Academy student face palm.

To put it simply, she did not have enough chakra.

The thing is, among her teammates, Naruto is the powerhouse who has tons amount of chakra in his body –so much that he can create thousands of shadow clones and it won't wind im up even for a moment. (where he stored all that chakra in that pint sized body of his, she has no idea.) While sasuke may not be a chakra powerhouse like Naruto, the amount of chakra he has is nothing to scoff at. Sakura, however, is the odd one out of her genin team, since has the least amount of chakra. Her chakra capacity is so pitiful that it can even embarrass a freshly entered Academy Student. The thing is, dearest readers, Sakura has chakra capacity just a little higher than a civilian adult (which isn't much for a Ninja, who has to shoot out big ass Jutsus to save their asses.)

Since the new Jutsu she is learning happens to be a low B rank water Jutsu, she can only perform it twice before her chakra levels turn low. And if she pushes for a third time, then she hits the brink of chakra exhaustion, which is not a pleasant experience considering the fact that it takes days to recuperate from chakra exhaustion. Why do you think Kakashi isn't roaming around, scaring his students and drilling them to the ground in the name of 'training'? A Jonin of Kakashi's caliber needs even more time to recuperate from chakra exhaustion, since they have bigger chakra reserves then genin. At least there's a plus point of having low chakra reserves- her recuperation rate is higher since she doesn't have much high chakra reserves to begin with.

"Damn it!" She hissed as once again her knees gave out, and she was left lying panting on the hard ground of the forest clearing she had been practicing. "At this rate, I won't be able to master the jutsu for weeks, and by that time we might even we go back to Konoha."

'Maybe we should practice something else rather than wasting our chakra on such a chakra extensive technique?' Inner asked weakly. Though he knew she wouldn't agree with him until she masters this jutsu. Stubborn idiot.

'Like what?' She asked mentally as she pulled off her dark blue jacket and orange goggles and wiped off her sweat. Damn it is so hot here. Isn't Land of Waves supposed to have cooler climate?

'Maybe we can practice our sharingan?' He asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, no." She deadpanned out loud as she flopped on her back and stared at the evening sky and it's various shades of pink and orange. Thank goodness the others left her alone to practice. If they had been here and caught her talking out loud all alone, they'd think she has gone crazy –more so than she already is. "Leaving a technique half assed isn't a good idea. Who knows? Maybe I'll need it in our upcoming fight." She muttered under her breath.

'the sharingan can help us fight too, ya know?' He piped in.

"And it drains way too much chakra once activated. Do you want me to keel over in first fifteen minutes of the fight?" she said dryly.

'Good point.' He grumbled unhappily.

She sat up and sighed. 'Let's head back and get something to eat. It will help restore our chakra reserves faster.' She hummed a tune under her breath, and grabbed her jacket and goggles and made her way back to Tazuna's house.

"I wonder what Naruto and Sasuke are doing right now." She wondered out loud.

Meanwhile, Kakashi sent both Sasuke and Naruto to the town to run some errands with Tazuna and guard him if any trouble arises. To them it was just a glorified babysitting task. The depressing state of the town made their mood plummet down even further.

Most of the shops were closed, and the ones that were open sold things at a very high price. The streets were dirty and filled with unemployed people and street rats. The people here had sullen looks on their faces.

"Things sure look bad here, huh." Naruto said as he took in the desolate scene.

"This is what happens when a country's economy is literally in the hands of a scum like Gatou." Sasuke muttered under his breath as he kept walking on next to Naruto.

"Here we are." Tazuna said uietly and the two boys followed him to the grocery store, where there wasn't much left in the name of groceries. The two boys shared a look, and sighed.

"How the hell people survive in this place, I have no idea." Naruto said, and Sasuke mumbled-

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but for once, I totally agree with you."

"Less talking, more shopping!" Tazuna ordered them around, making the boys roll their eyes.

"yes Sir." They said sarcastically.

While Sasuke and Naruto were busy looking through which groceries to buy, a thief sneaked behind Sasuke, eying his backpack and made a move to steal it. The moment his hand touched the backpack, Sasuke slammed his elbow into his gut, and sent him flying into the wall, crashing it into pieces. Tazuna and the store owner stared incredulously at the thief, who was twitching and groaning in pain, while Naruto huffed and exclaimed "Oi bastard, don't you think that was too much? He was just stealing, dattebayo, it's not like he attacked you or something."

The Uchiha scoffed and said "Be glad t isn't Sakura in my place. She would've leveled the store into dust in her fury."

Naruto paled and muttered "Point taken."

When they made their way back to Tazuna's house, Tazuna walked away an arm's length from the two genin, who stared at him in amusement. However, Sasuke's amusement turned to annoyance when once again, he felt a hand brush through his shirt. He turned around to punch the fucker to the ground but reeled in shock when he found himself staring at a young girl of five, her clothes dirty and torn, her hair a mess, and her way too thin body caked in mud. She stared at him with innocent brown eyes, and then smiled shyly and held out her hands in a begging gesture "Please?" she said softly, her eyes shining with barely restrained hope and hunger.

Naruto's eyes softened and he pulled out a few candies from his pocket that he had pick pocketed from Sakura's secret stash of sweets when she wasn't looking. "Here." He muttered quietly as he handed it to the little girl. Looking at her, he felt as if he was staring at a reflection of his past self. How many times had he slept in hunger, knowing that nobody in the village is willing to sell anything to a 'monster' like him? Staring at the young girl reminded him of all the hard times he had to endure in his childhood.

Sasuke pulled out a few coins from his pocket and gave it to the girl and muttered "Buy some sweets for your friends too." He eyed the group of children huddling in a corner of the street.

The young girl gave them a beaming smile that lightened their hearts. "thank you so much, Misters!" She then ran back to her friends with a happy smile on her face.

"this is how it has been since Gatou came here." Tazuna spoke softly, snapping the two boys out of their trance. "The children suffered, and the adults are afraid to stand up to up. They've lost all hope." They both stared at Tazuna, who clenched his fist and said "that's why I have to finish the bridge. It'll bring commerce and trade and more importantly the bridge is a symbol of courage." His eyes burned with determination. "We must restore the spirit of our people. When the bridge is finished, people will start to believe again. They will believe that they can live with dignity." He stared at the two genin and said "We can't let Gatou stop us."

Naruto whooped "Damn straight!"

Sasuke smirked and folded his arms. "As if a petty business like him can stop us."

Naruto snickered and said "I bet Sakura can pummel him to dust with a flick of her finger."

Sasuke snorted and muttered "I don't take losing bets, idiot."

Naruto glared at him, and snarled, "Who are you calling idiot, you bastard!"

Tazuna sighed in exasperation as the two boys got into an argument, again. "these two are impossible." He sweat dropped.

When they both got back to Tazuna's home, they found that Sakura still hasn't come back yet. They asked Kakashi about her, and he informed them that she hasn't come back yet. Worried, the two boys set off to get her back.

They returned back half an hour later, her arms slung around their shoulders as she limped to the dining table.

"What happened?" Kakashi asked quizzically, staring at sakura's exhausted face.

"The idiot was passed out some distance away from chakra exhaustion." Sasuke deadpanned as Sakura chuckled sheepishly.

"I blacked out when I was travelling back here from the clearing we were Training in." She said, and ducked her head when she saw Kakashi giving her a glare. "Oops?" she muttered weakly as his glare on her intensified.

"You're a medic, Sakura. You should know better than to waste your chakra like that. You know how detrimental Chakra Exhaustion can be." He scolded her.

Sasuke and Naruto helped her sit on a chair and she leaned on it and mumbled "Sorry sensei."

He then sighed and said "So, how was your training?"

She averted her eyes from him, looking everywhere but at him. He shot her a pitying look. He knew Sakura always tried to be on the same level as her teammates. It must've been hard for her to be so behind on a technique while her teammates have already surpassed it. He sighed and said "It matters not, from tomorrow onwards, you will come along with Naruto and Sasuke to guard Tazuna. You can practice your technique there if you want."

"Okay sensei." She muttered quietly and slumped on the table with exhaustion.

The dinner was a quiet affair. Tsunami served the dishes while everyone ate. Inari eyes the three genin as they teased each other and joked around. Sakura was teasing Sasuke about his fetish with tomatoes when Inari suddenly couldn't take their happy attitude anymore and snapped in anger.

"All this stupid training is just a waste of time!" He said angrily, his outburst startled the three of them. "Gatou's got a whole army! They'll beat you down and they'll destroy you! These cool things you all say, they don't mean anything! No matter what you do, the strong always win and the weak are crushed by them!"

The thick silence that remained after his outburst could be cut with a kunai. It was broken by Sasuke's quiet question.

"Are you done?" Sasuke muttered unimpressed as he quirked a brow at the younger boy who stared at him in shock and fury.

"What?!" Inari hissed at him.

Naruto rolled his eyes and said in a loud tone "Shut up, brat. I've had enough of your attitude. Damn, you're even worse than this bastard." Naruto ducked before Sasuke's punch could hit him, and then stuck out his tongue at the Uchiha, whose eyes twitched in annoyance. "Besides," Naruto said. "We're different. We won't get defeated so easily."

Sakura smiled sunnily at the boy and said softly "Believe us, Inari. We don't intend to leave until we defeat Gatou."

Inari's eyes flled with tears that rolled down his cheeks. He snarled at them. "Why don't you three be quiet! Just looking at you three acting so carefree makes me sick!" he snapped angrily. "You don't know anything about this country! Stop butting in other people's business! You three are always laughing and playing around and teasing each other as if you don't care about anything at all! You don't know what it's like to suffer and be treated like dirt! You don't know what it's like to be lonely!" Naruto gritted his teeth at his comment. "You don't know what it's like losing someone precious to you!" Sasuke clenched his fists murderously, barely stopping himself from lashing out on the brat, while Sakura's usually warm emerald green eyes froze into a jade green colour. "There is no such thing as a Hero! What is the use of being a hero when you can't protect what's precious to you?"

.

.

.

"Please protect this village and the honor of the Uchiha name." Shisui then said in a soft voice "….and Sakura too. Take care of her for me, please."

Shisui smiled warmly as he stepped off the cliff, accepting his death.

.

.

.

Sakura slammed a chakra enhanced fist on the table, shattering it into pieces as the dishes placed on it fell on the ground, making various clankering sounds. Everyone present reeled back in shock at what happened. Sakura's whole form was trembling with barely restrained rage and her hands were clenched in fists. Her right eye leaked a tear that rolled down her right cheek, and her limps twisted up in a snarl.

"Shut the fuck up, you brat." She hissed at Inari, who cowered in terror at the face of a furious Sakura. "You think you're the only one suffering here? News Flash, Inari, you're not the only one who has suffered a loss! Have you ever thought that your mother and grandfather must be suffering too? Just because they're not a crybaby like you doesn't mean they didn't suffer the loss of their husband and son-law." She then said fiercely "And stop shouting stupid things at people you don't know anything about!" She grabbed his arms and tightened her grip, barely restraining to use chakra so as to snap his puny bones to pieces, making the younger boy cry out. "You don't know what we've been through, so stop judging others on their appearances! Just because we smile and laugh doesn't mean we don't know what losing someone precious to us is like!" Her grip tightened a bit more, bruising his arms. "We smile and laugh because we know that our dead precious people would want us to be happy, no matter what. They wouldn't want us sulking and wasting our lives that they've protected by giving up theirs."

"Sakura! That's enough!" Kakashi's stern command made her release the brat from her whole. Her expression flipped a 180 degree. She scoffed and pinned Inari a scathing look. "You're always whining and crying like a sorry little victim." she sneered at him. "People like you disgust me."

Inari reeled in shock at her venom filled statement, but she paid him no heed. Instead, she stormed out of the house, slamming the door shut behind her, making cracks appear on the wooden door as well as the wall. A tense silence settled in the room, which was disturbed by Sasuke who stood up and followed Sakura out. Naruto sighed and shook his head.

"You messed up, kid." He shot Inari a pitying look and said "Though you shouldn't have said that." He scratched the back of his head and said in a solemn tone. "I know what it is like to be lonely. I never knew my parents, and I never had any friends until Sakura literally bumped into my life, dragging Hinata with her. I was a street rat for the long time, and I lived on street to survive, until the Hokage allowed me to live in an apartment of my own and gave me monthly allowance." He then paused and stared down at his hands "Sasuke's entire clan, along with his parents, was killed when he was eight. And Sakura….." he bit his lip, "A few years ago, her brother committed suicide." He chuckled morosely, "He was a Hero to her, so it was a huge blow for her when she came to know that."

Naruto glanced up at Inari and gave him a sad smile. It made the younger boy want to vomit his dinner. He didn't like the sad smile on the blonde's face. He looked better when he was beaming happily and chattering excitedly with his friends, and not looking so sad and solemn. "You see, we all have suffered too, Inari." Naruto said. "Just because we are strong enough to smile everyday doesn't mean we have suffered any less."

He then stood up and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly "I gotta go and calm Sakura before she demolishes the whole Island." He rushed out of the room, but not before waving in goodbye and yelling "Thanks for the dinner, Tsunami! The food was great!"

Four pairs of eyes watched him as he went to console his friend, leaving them behind pondering on his words.

"That brat, how dare he-" Sakura hissed as she punched a tree with chakra enhanced fist, demolishing it.

'hey, hey, Sakura! No need to be so angry!' Her Inner said as he held up his hands in surrender not that she can see him considering her mindscape is nothing but a dark void. 'He is just a kid! He didn't know what he was saying.'

'Don't tell me you aren't angry at his words.' Sakura said mentally, to which he replied quietly.

'I am angry at him. But that doesn't mean I go scaring away any person who piss me off, especially those who are harmless, innocent civilians.'

She quieted down for a while, and then groaned. 'I hate it when you make sense.'

'Hey!' His offended tone made her quirk up a smile.

'You suppressed my anger and calmed me down again, didn't you?'

'If I didn't, you would've harmed yourself even further and lost every ounce of chakra you have restored.'

'What do you-'

She couldn't even make a coherent sentence as chakra exhaustion hit her and she realised that in her bout of anger she used up all her restored chakra punching and kicking with chakra enhanced fists. She groaned and stumbled down on the ground. "Sometimes, I hate my explosive temper."

Inner chuckled and said 'At least you didn't blow up the house like you did the last time when you had a fit.'

She moaned in embarrassment, letting her head fall in her hands and muttered mentally 'Don't remind me.'

His booming laugh echoed around her mindscape, making her lips twitch upwards.

"You're such a bloody idiot, you know that?" Sasuke said to her as he jogged towards her.

"hello to you too Sasuke." She greeted him sarcastically.

He rolled his eyes and sat next to her, her hands glowing green as he scanned her body. He glared at her and said "You regressed your recovery by three days. What is your excuse?"

She chuckled nervously and scratched the back of her head sheepishly "The brat had it coming…..?" She said nervously.

He paused and hummed in contemplation. "Good point." He said in a quiet tone, and she beamed at him, making him roll his eyes. He gave her a few medical pills for chakra exhaustion from his medic kit that she downed with a gulp.

"You know you'd make a good medic Sasuke." Sakura muttered as Sasuke fussed over her.

He rolled his eyes and said "You're doing a great job of being medic, I don't need tow aste my time on it too."

"There is no such thing as enough medics." She quipped back at him, to which he shot her an unimpressed look.

"hey guys!" Naruto yelled as he rushed towards them. "So what did I miss?" He asked when he saw Sakura smiling slightly and Sasuke being his emo self as usual.

"Nothing much, Naruto." Sakura shrugged and then smirked mischievously, "Sasuke here was just declaring his undying love for you." She said dramatically.

She had never seen anyone doing a spit take faster than them.

Some days later...

"That damn Naruto," Sakura sighed as her glowing green hands hovered over the blonde's body. "He overdid his training last night and his chakra reserves are low. What the hell was he doing last night anyways?"

"He was perfecting his Wind Jutsu." Sasuke muttered quietly.

She snapped her head at him. "You mean he has mastered it already?!" She asked with wide eyes.

Sasuke nodded in answer.

She whistled in awe as she stared down at the snoring blonde. "Damn that's impressive." She then sulked and muttered "I still haven't mastered mine yet. I'm so pathetic."

Kakashi chuckled at her antics, while Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Oh quit it Cherry, we have better things to do." He quipped.

She shot him a look. "Cherry?" She deadpanned. "that's the best insult you could come up with, Chicken?"

"Like Chicken is any better." Sasuke scoffed.

"Why you-"

Kakashi sighed and muttered sarcastically "Girls, girls, you're both pretty. Now can we move on to our work?" the glare both of them sent him would have made any lesser man run for the hills, too bad he was immune to such looks. To him they looked like adorable little kittens trying to be intimidating. How cute.

"Let's leave Naruto sleep in for some time, while we head for the bridge along with Tazuna." Kakashi suggested. "Naruto can join us once he is awake."

"In that case," Sakura said with a sunny smile. "there is something I want to try out."

"What are you-" Sasuke was cut off when Sakura did some hand signs and slammed her hand down and cried out-

"Summoning Jutsu!"

A poof of smoke appeared and soon the members of Team seven sans Naruto found themselves staring at three baby bears the size of Sakura's arm. The three of them had similar dark brown eyes and white fur, however, the colour of the curved markings of their bodies were different.

"Sasuke, Kakashi-Sensei, meet my personal summons- Yukishirou siblings!" Sakura announced in a smug tone as she gestured to the three baby bears.

The bear with red markings on his body shot her an annoyed look, "What is it do you want now, brat?!" Rou hissed angrily at his summoner, "You disturbed our nap time! It better be something important or I swear I will rip out your innards and make you watch as I chew them out."

A shiver of terror ran down the humans' spine as they shifted nervously. Sakura's face dusted with pink as her summons embarrassed her before her team.

Shi, the one with green markings on her body bumped into Rou and said softly. "Be more respectful of our summoner, brother." Rou just scoffed and looked away with a huff.

The one with the blue markings, Yuki, yawned and muttered "Rou, you're such a baby."

"What did you say?!" Rou rounded up on Yuki, who sent him an unimpressed look.

"Are you deaf or something? Maybe you should let Shi check up on you."

"WHY YOU-!"

Kakashi groaned in horror. "Oh God, not another Naruto and Sasuke pair."

"WE'RE NOT LIKE THOSE INSOLENT HUMANS OUR SUMMONER SPENDS HER TIME WITH!" Both the male bears roared in unison, making the three humans wince.

"Jeez, they sure are loud." Sasuke muttered.

Kakashi asked quizzically "How do they know about Naruto and Sasuke?"

Sakura said "Naruto has met Yukishirou some years ago along with Hinata when I stared summoning them, and Sasuke met them during one of our Training sessions. That reminds me," she scratched her cheek "I didn't introduce them to you, did I Sensei?"

Kakashi shook his head in negative. She sighed and muttered, "here goes nothing." She pointed towards Yuki, who had blue markings, "This is Yuki, the eldest of Yukishirou siblings. He has Wind and Water affinities, and is good at Information gathering and general spy work." She then pointed to the one with green markings, "Shi is the youngest among them, and has a earth affinity. She is also the medic of the group." Her green eyes then fell on the one with red markings, who now shot her a death glare, to which she face palmed. "The grumpy one with red markings is Rou, who is an expert bomber and seals master. His affinity, is predictably, Fire." She then smiled warmly and said "Together, these three are unstoppable. They are expert trackers and though their best ability is to communicate telepathically with each other." At the bewildered looks of her Sensei and teammate, she exclaimed, "I'm not joking, really! They can really talk to each other telepathically, I think it's because of their triplet bond." When the two male members of her team shot her an unimpressed look, she said confusedly "What? Didn't I tell you the three of them are triplets?"

"No." Kakashi and Sasuke said dryly.

Sakura scratched the back of her head and said "Ehehehehehehehe, oops?"

"Why do we have an idiot for a summoner?" Yuki muttered tiredly.

Shi licked her paw and said softly "I don't know, I like her the way she is."

Rou scoffed and said "She is so annoying!" Though the light blush on his cheeks didn't went unnoticed by his siblings as Rou stared at their Summoner from the corner of his eyes.

"He is such a Tsundere." Yuki and Shi deadpanned in unison.

A/N: Hiya everyone! Sorry for the long wait! No excuses this time, just simple confession that I was being a lazy bum and not writing this chapter sooner, even though i had planned on it months ago. Sorry. And thanks for all the Favourites and follows! You guys are awesome!

To my fellow reviewers:- Thank you so much for your Reviews! They truly made my day! I don't know how many hours I spent reading them again and again with a stupid grin on my face (which honestly scared my sister that she literally scooted away from me like I am crazy or something... Wait, don't answer that.) I truly love reading your reviews.

I know many of you thought I had abandoned this story or something like that, but this is not true. I love this story as much as you do, and I simply can't wait to write more of Sakura and Obito's adventures!

I have also written an EXTRA scene for this chapter which I had wanted to add in the chapter, but didn't know where to add it. So i opted to place it in the end. It's not an OMAKE. This scene also takes place in the story, though it is a bit sad and depressing. i hadn't wanted to add it in the chapter above since it'd have ruined the Fluff.

Bye everyone! stay tuned for the next chapter! (Which I can't promise will come out sooner or not)

EXTRA:-

Sayuri absently hummed a tune under her breath as she took in the vitals of her patient. She wrote something on her notepad and turned to grab a syringe and filled it with a transparent liquid. She then injected the liquid with the help of syringe in his arm, and once again checked his vitals. Her jade eyes were pinned on the heart monitor as she watched his pulse and sighed in relief when she saw that her medicine didn't affect her patient in a worse way.

"Get up soon, my dear." She patted her patient's hand and whispered softly. "Your dear one is waiting for you to wake up."

She then turned and made her way to the door, however, she suddenly froze as her eyes flashed red, and morphed into a pentagram pattern of the Mangekyo Sharingan, and her dojutsu was activated.

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Sakura's green eyes widened and she coughed up blood and glanced up at the boy before him, who stared back at her with hurt and anguish. His mangekyo sharingan eyes stared into her own sharingan, his hand deeply embedded into her chest, crushing her heart. "Oh shit…" He whispered in horror at what he had done.

"Sa-su-ke…?" She whispered hoarsely, as the raven haired boy's eyes spilled tears down his cheeks.

A cry of anguish sounded from behind her, and the pink haired girl turned her head a bit to stare at the blonde boy from the corner of her eyes, whose eyes flashed from blue to red from time to time, tears running down his cheeks as he choked out a sob. His right hand pierced through her lower back and crushed her liver as well as her gut.

"No, No- sakura, I- NO-!" Naruto mumbled incoherently and tried his best to not hyperventilate.

"Na-ru-to….?" She muttered softly, as agonizing pain shifted through her body at the point of contact where the two of them pierced their hands through her body.

To the horror of the both of them, she smiled her warm smile at them, and whispered "I-It's a-a-alright." She coughed up more blood, that trailed down her lips, and dripped down her chin. "I-I f-f-f-forgive you, Naruto, S-Sasuke."

"SAKURA!"

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Sayuri gasped and stumbled in shock as her Mangekyo shifted back to the normal sharingan, and the three tomoes spun wildly in her eyes. Blood dripped down her eyes, which she wiped away from the back of her hand.

"What is the meaning of this?" She hissed as she stared at the blood in her hands, trembling slightly as the vision replayed in her mind.

"Why now?" She whispered as she slumped her shoulders. "After decades of remaining in an inactive state, why did you activate now, Mirai?"

She sighed and muttered "Why would you show me these visions now, my stupid eyes?"

She let her head fall in her hands and choked out a sob. "First Obito, then Shisui and now Sakura. Why do you intend to take away my grandchildren from me, O cursed vision of mine?"