Sitting across from Kakashi, Sakura fidgeted with the end of her futon. They were still in her room at Tazuna's house, each unsure of what to say. After Kakashi had hugged her, Sakura had felt a wave of hope that her old friend was still inside of this harsh Kakashi. But she quickly doused that wish, not wanting to raise her expectations for nothing. Nails digging into the futon, Sakura stared uncertainly into Kakashi's one eye. It was looking right back at her, full of emotion. Gathering her courage she asked him, "You remember me then?" Her voice shook despite her efforts to keep it steady.
The older man took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and let it all out in a rush, "Yes. Of course I do, how could I not? You're the one who saved my best friend after all." She could see he was biting his mask, a habit that appeared whenever he was frustrated or nervous. Sakura wasn't sure which one she wished he was.
Covering her own insecurities about what was taking place, Sakura raised her eyebrow and said, "Best friend? Funny how I never see him around you." And she hadn't. Not by him, not in the Uchiha compound, not anywhere in the village, really. It had troubled her but she'd never given it too much thought, still trying to acclimate to her new life and regain her old strength. Now it seemed her question could be answered, "So where is Obito?"
"He's been away on a seven year mission in the village of Sound." Sakura's heart stopped for a moment. "Orochimaru..." She breathed out. In all honesty, Sakura had forgotten about the former Sanin. The appearance of Danzo as Hokage and Kakashi's sudden change in attitude had taken up most of her thoughts. She knew he'd have to be dealt with soon, considering the Chunin exams were coming up.
"Orochimaru?" Kakashi's eye bore into her, the one word enough of a question.
"Yes, he's the Kage of the Sound Village. Or, at least, he was..." This was it. She'd have to let go of some of the information from her past, but before that, "Is this area secure? What I have to tell you is highly confidential information." Really, she should have checked right after she woke up, before they started to talk. Nodding his agreement, Kakashi disappeared.
Moments later he was back. Sitting down, a little closer to her this time, he affirmed, "We're alone. No traps or jutsu to hear us." Sakura nodded, glad that her oversight hadn't caused any real harm.
"Good. For now I'll just tell you the basic information from my time regarding Orochimaru." Sakura relaxed into a more comfortable position. "As I said before, he was Kage of the Sound Village. And a formidable one at that. The only difference I can tell between the two villages is that in my world, Sound was formed a little while before the upcoming Chunin exams, not seven years ago," Sakura frowned. Her coming here couldn't have done that, could it? Although, Danzo was now Hokage so it might be possible. Shaking her head, she returned to the conversation.
"During the Chunin exams, Sound attacked Konoha along with the Sand village, all lead by Orocimaru disguised as the Kazekage. Many Shinobi and civilians died, including the Sandaime. Luckily we managed to drive him away," Kakashi made no remark, waiting for her to finish. She did so quickly, "Some years later Orochimaru came back in a new body, as he's had to do to keep his youthful appearance for years now. Team Seven, that is, you, me, Naruto, and a man named Sai, were sent to eliminate him. In the end, I was the one to kill him."
A silence followed her confession as Kakashi took it all in. Letting out a breath of air, he started to speak but was cut off abruptly as Sakura had a sudden, terrible realization, "Are you going to report this to Danzo?" He blinked.
How could she have been so stupid as to forget about that horrible man and his hold over Kakashi? Sure, having Kakashi act like her old one was wonderful, but she shouldn't be so willing to give out infor- "Of course not." Wait. What? "I'm going to report this to the Yondaime." Huh? Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. Sakura managed to make a strangled sound in response.
Kakashi's smile widened, "I presume you thought I was Danzo's man?" Sakura nodded. "That's good. If I can fool you I'm fairly certain no one else should question me."
"...if you can fool me...?"
"Maa, I'm assuming we were close, since you always want to address me as just 'Kakashi'." She grimaced at his remark, had she been that obvious? Well, old habits do die hard. "Now, besides the hundreds of questions I still wish to ask you, do you have any for me?"
"Well, yes. A lot." A small laugh escaped the older man. "But...to start with, why is Danzo Hokage in the first place?"
"Because the council elevated him to that position after the Yondaime was injured. Nobody said a word against it, although many are rethinking their decision now." About to ask why she was cut off by his answer, "Everything's become much more militaristic since he's taken power. Almost like the land of Waves in that account, yet the change was gradual so it's taken people a while to complain."
That made sense. If Danzo had made slow, subtle changes to the village, no one would really notice. At least, not until it was too late. Storing the new information in the back of her head, Sakura asked her other pressing question, "Is there a following under the Yondaime?" It was almost too much to hope for, but she was sure not everyone would be too happy with Danzo's rule.
Kakashi's answer was brisk, "Slightly less than half of the shinobi forces, a third in ANBU, and almost all of the civilian population." Sakura could only stare. That was more than she had hoped for.
"..Who's at the head of this?"
"Why the Uchiha, of course."
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The Uchiha? But why would they oppose Danzo? Struggling to think of a reason, Sakura voiced her confusion, "Why woul-" She was cut off by a yawn. It had been a long day, with the added emotional roller coaster of the last twenty minutes. She was exhausted.
Smiling under his mask, Kakashi reached out to tousle her hair affectionatly, "We'll have to talk another time then. You're obviously tired and we're going to have to fit in as much training as we can before Zabuza comes back." He stood up, "Besides, I still have questions for you, Little Blossom," Kakashi absentmindedly rubbed his stomach, where Sakura knew one of his old scars lay. It was a quirk he'd picked up whenever he had a lot to think about. Sakura smiled a little, stifling a giggle. Kakashi had many small habits that she'd picked up on over the years with him. She was glad to see they hadn't disappeared in this new time. "I'm especially concerned about our upcoming fight with Zabuza. We'll have to discuss it further."
Silently agreeing that Zabuza would have to be dealt with more efficiently this time around, Sakura slipped into the blanket on top of her futon, "Will you stop with that nickname? It's worse than Killer Cherry."
He laughed, "Now I'm going to use it just to spite you."
Sakura sighed. Yup, he was the same old Kakashi, "Well then, I'm going to call you Neko-san," Kakashi hated cats. She got no response for her comment.
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The next morning, Sakura could tell immediately that the boys hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the night before. Both had dark circles under their eyes. Whether it was from the excitement of training or worry about their upcoming fight with Zabuza, Sakura couldn't tell. Still, she hadn't gotten much herself. Thoughts of her talk with Kakashi and the threat of a more established Sound village had kept her awake for most of the night. Getting up early to talk to Kakashi about Zabuza had almost been a relief.
At her entrance, Naruto shouted with joy, "Sakura-chan! You're up! Come and sit next to me!" He moved aside to make room for her.
Obliging him, she lowered herself onto the purple cushion. Once seated she looked up to see Sasuke staring at her, "Something wrong?" At her question he scowled and looked down at his rice bowl. He quickly picked up his chopsticks and began to eat, ignoring her question. His brush-off didn't bother her though, knowing that that was just his way of saying hello.
"Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei's gonna teach us some cool Jutsu today! Isn't that awesome? I can't wait!" Wolfing down his own rice while he spoke, Sakura was bombarded with small flying rice specks. Instead of getting angry at this, it made her laugh.
"Naruto, eat first. Talk after." He smiled sheepishly at her small admonishment, though it was not unkind.
While they'd been talking, Kakashi'd plopped himself across from her. Reaching across Sasuke, who was next to him, he grabbed the water jug to pour himself some. Once he'd taken a lightning fast sip (without showing his face), he addressed his team, "Listen up my precious students, I've got something to tell you." Naruto squirmed in his seat while Sasuke tilted his head slightly in acknowledgement of the words. Looking at Sakura, Kakashi said, "I'm going to train you separately for a while, instead of together. This is to work on your personal strengths before the fight with Zabuza."
Sasuke frowned, "How are you going to do that all at once? You can't be in three places?" Naruto voiced his agreement while Sakura just sighed. Well, everyone deserved their moments of ignorance, didn't they?
Kakashi seemed to have the same opinion since he answered their question without mockery, "I'll use clones, of course." Seeing the comprehension dawn on their faces he continued, "As I was saying, I'll train you all separately for a while. During this time, I'll keep another clone with Tazuna at the bridge to alert us when Zabuza strikes. When he does we must all be ready, so keep your weapons on you at all times." As they all agreed with him, the Jonin picked up his chopsticks. "Well then, time to eat."
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Naruto sat in the small clearing waiting for Kakashi-sensei. So far the man was only late by twenty minutes. Idly tossing a Kuani up in the air, Naruto wondered how high he could throw it before being unable to catch it. About to test that theory he was stopped by the sudden appearance of his absent teacher.
Standing up quickly Naruto was about to shout 'You're late!', but Kakashi-sensei interrupted him, "You're able to preform the Shadow Clone Jutsu, correct?"
"Of course! I am an awesome Ninja after all!" He threw the Kunai up again, catching it on his finger. He was secretly please, worried he'd miss and look a fool for it.
Kakashi-sensei smiled, "Well then, make ten." Naruto scoffed, only ten? Well fine then. Putting the kunai away and his hands together in the seal, he gathered up his chakra. "Without seals." Naruto froze. What?
Pointing an accusatory finger at Kakashi-sensei he shouted, "How am I supposed to do that!?"
The man simply smiled serenely back at him, "Surely an awesome Ninja like you can figure that out?"
The blonde growled but lowered his hands nonetheless. Focusing on his Chakra, he tried to push it throughout his body. The first thing to do was to get a reading on his body. Meandering his Chakra about, Naruto found that it was much harder to do without using his hands as a focus. Sweat formed on his head as he painstakingly gathered all of the information.
Once that was done, he tried to push it out of his body into ten separate areas to create the clones. After a few minutes of struggling, he was dismayed to find that he couldn't. "Come on..." He shuffled his feat, trying to gently coax it out. That worked a little better, the chakra went out of him for a few seconds before leaping back in. "RAaah! Get out of me!" With a large burst of frustration the Chakra was forced out of him in an explosion of smoke.
Once the air cleared, Naruto looked around to see two exact copies of himself standing in on either side of him. Darn it, there were supposed to be ten. Cussing under his breathe, Naruto gathered up Chakra to try again.
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Sasuke was annoyed. Why was that man late when they were going to have to face an S rank Jonin in a few days? Did he have no idea of reality? Grumbling he leaned against a nearby tree. He was in the middle of the forest, having been wait there after breakfast.
"Sasuke-kun, I'm so happy you waited." Voice dripping with sarcasm, Kakashi appeared on a branch of the tree Sasuke was leaning on. Looking up, Sasuke replied with a scowl. "Well now, that's not very nice." Kakashi jumped down to land in front of the boy, hands in pockets, "Alright, are you ready to begin?"
"Hn."
"Good. Hold out your hand." Sasuke did as he was told, wondering what was in store for him. "Bring a small amour of chakra to that hand."
Confused, Sasuke did as he was told.
Kakashi grabbed his hand, pushing some of his own Chakra in to mix with Sasuke's, "Now, pay close attention to what I do."
Kakashi increase the speed of the Chakra flowing in their hands, letting a few loose ends spike out into the air. After a couple of seconds, small bits of lightning crackled in the air around the two hands. Increasing the speed even more made the sparks grew until it was as if Sasuke held a bolt of sizzling lighting in his hand. Holding the lighting for a few moments, Kakashi then slowed the Chakra down until all of the electricity disappeared.
Sasuke stared at his hand, awe and excitement in his eyes. Kakashi took a step back, leaning on a nearby tree. His voice held amusement in it, "Now, I want you to slowly copy what I just did. To begin with, just try to create a few sparks. I'd rather you not blow your hand off accidentally."
Grinning, Sasuke did as he was told.
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Sakura smiled with surprise, Kakashi was actually here before her. Standing on the singular dock that adorned the small lake, he was contemplating the view in front of him. At her approach, he glanced back and turned around. "Hello Little Blossom, so good of you to join me." Sarcastic as always.
"Hmmm, Neko-san, I'm surprised to see you here before me." She stepped onto the dock, looking out across the water. It was a beautiful day out, only a few clouds in the sky. "Anyway, what are you going to teach me? I'm sure a great Ninja such as yourself must know all sorts of powerful Jutsu." Two could play at the sarcasm game.
Chuckling a little, Kakashi stepped out onto the water and walked towards the middle of the lake. Sakura figured water-walking would be involved, since he'd told her to meet him at a lake. That and the fact that they'd talked about her abilities this morning in preparation for her training. Unzipping her jacket, Sakura let it fall onto the dock, having something dry and warm to put on after her training session would be nice. Underneath her jacket she wore a simple mesh shirt with a dark band to hid her almost non-existent breasts.
Sakura closed her eyes and dragged her Chakra down to her feet. Once there, she let it stabilize before setting a foot onto the water. Acclimating to the motion of the waves, she waited until she could let go of the Chakra in that foot so it could support her without her constant awareness. When that was done she did the same for the other foot.
Kakashi watched her do this, still surprised at her fast pace of learning even though he knew she must have done this before. What kind of future had made her come back to relive this all? Surely going through life once was tiring enough...
Once both of her feet were secure, Sakura walked towards Kakashi. "Well, what kind of training do you have in store for little old me?" She was honestly curious, not sure how this Kakashi's training style differed from her old one's.
"We're going to fight." Sakura blinked, that's it? Her Kakashi did the same thing. Huh. Putting that mildly interesting bit of information aside, Sakura settled into a battle-ready position. Well, it would be nice to have someone to spar with instead of fighting imaginary foes. "Are you ready?" She nodded.
At once he charged at her, lifting his fist to strike her. Dodging his attack, Sakura kicked out a foot in an attempt to hit him. The older man easily grabbed it and, using her own momentum, swung her around his hip to fall in the water. Still not entirely used to using Chakra to support herself in a fight (she hadn't practiced it much on her own, to her embarrassment) Sakura fell under. Before she could pull herself out, a hand grabbed her and yanked her up.
Far from being grateful, Sakura tightened her stomach and angled her body into the flow of the punch as Kakashi took the opportunity to hit her. Grunting, she flew backwards with the force of it, but managed to keep herself on her feet and above water.
Kakashi grinned, "Not as easy when there's no ground to split open, is it?" Sakura smirked in response. She'd figured that's why he wanted to fight on water. After the bell test, he hadn't asked her about her super strength. This morning, however, she'd let him know she'd trained under Tsunade. Both Taijutsu and Chakra control took a certain amount of concentration, and now that part of that attention focused on keeping herself above water, fighting was much harder.
Determined, Sakura raised her fists and attacked him once more.
