A/N: Credit to 'tis_unfortunate' on Ao3 for my new cover! She did an absolutely amazing job with this.

"To another job well done!" the brown-haired boy cheered, holding a cup of tea up like a toast.

"Yeah yeah," the blunet, Ryūji, said, hitting his own cup to the brown-haired boy's. "Less talk, more food. I'm starving after saving your ass back there!" He quickly grabbed the bowl of tonkotsu ramen in front of him and began eating it happily.

"Oh shut up, Sataki-san!" the brown haired boy, Hayase Akira, called to his teammate. "I didn't need saving, you just decided to jump in! I had that covered, you nearly blew my cover with your so-called 'saving!'"

"You're joking right? I can't believe you allowed that kunoichi to just stroll right past you! What were you doing, ogling her chest?" Ryūji replied, incredulous.

"No, actually, the ninja behind her was ogling her butt, and I was going to use that as a distraction. But you just had to ruin that," Akira muttered.

"Sure... Yuki-san, what's your take on our perverted little teammate?" Ryūji asked, clearly trying to get a second opinion on his side. These two are going to get us all killed. Haku thought as he took his hand off his face. Sataki Ryūji was skilled – Haku had heard he'd graduated the Academy younger than most – but was far too emotional at times, and tended to let those emotions get the better of him in a fight. Hayase Akira, on the other hand, was as normal an Academy Student as one could find; both of his parents had been ninja, and he'd joined the Academy to follow in their footsteps. When his parents joined Mei's cause, he'd joined them too.

"Look, Sataki-san, Hayase-san," Haku began. "I wasn't there for whatever that was. I was busy helping Zabuza-sama kill the bridge guards. We only found out when you two didn't show up with the charges and were surrounded by fifteen loyalist ninja. So, whatever happened, you two failed miserably at being stealthy."

"Oi! I take offense to that!" Ryūji loudly objected. "Those idiots got dealt with quickly once you got there, anyway. The mission was a success, we were only caught because of bad luck, that's all!" Hayase scoffed.

"Right. If you call charging in yelling 'take this!' at the top of your lungs before using a huge flashy jutsu, bad luck, I suppose it was," he said, taking a bite of the tonkotsu in front of him.

Ryūji raised a finger as if to say something, then put it back down, as if realizing that Akira was telling the truth. "And? I noticed they were heading towards you, so I figured I'd give you some time and make sure my moves don't get rusty." Haku and Hayase didn't even bother to respond to him. He was clearly bullshitting and they both knew it. Ryūji clearly wasn't even trying to hide it, either, given how he changed his story within 5 minutes.

"Well, if you are done," Haku said, noticing his ramen bowl was now empty, "why don't you go and think about what you are going to say during your debriefing? It wouldn't do to change your story abruptly in front of Godaime-sama, after all."

He looked at Haku deadpan, "You know Yuki-san, sometimes you…" before he finished, Haku noticed his gaze shifted to behind them, "Ya think that cute waitress likes me, the redhead?" Haku sighed.

"What is it with you and redheads?" he asked, shaking his head. "Whatever, head out back, I'll meet you in a few minutes to discuss what actually happened."

"Fine, come on Hayase-san, I wanna head to the bookstore, rumours about my favorite series is circulating and I wanna know the slightest details," Ryūji muttered.

"No, Hayase-san stays here. You go out back. I'll talk with him, then meet you," Haku clarified. "Zabuza-sama left me in charge while he was gone, so you better listen." Ryūji simply blinked and grinned.

"Fine, tell me when my break is over!" he said as he almost skipped out of the diner. Haku pinched the bridge of his nose as he groaned. The Demon Brothers had been so much easier to manage, even when he was twelve. But, Mei wanted them to take care of these two Genin, and as she was the only thing preventing their heads from going on spikes, they had to grit their teeth and do their duty.

"Okay, Hayase-san, give me your story," Haku said, as soon as their third teammate was well out of earshot. Hayase looked to the door, and nodded.

"Sataki-san, he didn't just rush in blindly. He seemed to deliberately want to do something. But, I'll explain. We were hiding out in the bushes, waiting for the patrol to pass by. I noticed a cute kunoichi, but then Sataki-san burst out and yelled some battle cry before engaging them in combat, leaving me no choice but to break cover and assist," Hayase explained. "He did make sure to keep me safe where he could, but it lead to them overwhelming us before you and Sensei could arrive and help." Haku nodded. He hoped Sataki had a good explanation. Otherwise, Haku would probably need to dig a shallow grave and come up with a perfect cover story within the night.

"Thank you, Hayase-san. Keep eating here, I'll go talk with our teammate," he said, ruffling the boy's hair. Hayase nodded at him with a smile. Sighing, Haku left the restaurant and slipped out onto the streets. It didn't take him long to find Sataki, sitting on underneath a window in the fetal position, handing a scroll to what looked like a swarm of moths. Said moths then vanished into smoke. Haku bit the inside of his cheek, but knew how he had to start this. He dropped down next to Sataki and sat down next to him.

"I didn't know you were a Summoner, Sataki-kun," Haku opened with. Sataki nodded.

"Yeah. Sorry I didn't mention it before. They're just moths, so I prefer to keep it a bit close to the chest. All these badass summons and I just have little moths? It's a bit embarrassing. I've used them to help with some recon, but otherwise I've had no need to use them, thus no point in mentioning it," he explained. "Let me guess. You're wondering 'what is he sending to the loyalists?,' right?"

"That was my first idea. From the report Hayase-kun gave me, you always seem off, always look like your gathering things, and now you're handing scrolls to summons. You have to admit, it doesn't look good for you," he said. Sataki sighed and bit his thumb and pressed the ground, a small swarm of moths flying from the summon circle, he extended his hand and took the same scroll Haku had seen from them.

"Ya see, here's your scroll," he muttered, a small blush adorning his face. Haku took the scroll and opened it carefully. Icha Icha Special Complete Edition, featuring all collectors editions with extended chapters and whole new endings, as well as a special book of notes from the author himself! Order now and get a special discount on Icha Icha Domination, coming soon! Haku blushed and carefully closed it, handing it back to him with an apologetic look. "I didn't really want to show my teammates while I'm ordering it. I finally got my bonus, so I was gonna just buy it to avoid the looks I get for reading it at the library." Haku coughed in embarrassment.

"So, um… the whole ambush thing?" he asked, trying desperately to change the subject. Sataki tried to say something but sighed and looked to the ground, his face shifting to resentment.

"I knew one of the ninja; Look, after my parents died, I was passed around relatives," he explained, "one of the ninja in that unit was Kā-chan's brother, he was the last one I had to stay with before I graduated. The ass spent most of the money my parents left me on whores and gambling.I realized I screwed the mission but-" he looked at Haku, "Please Yuki-san, I don't want to get kicked out of this unit, Momochi-sensei was taught by Tō-san, if he could teach me then—" Haku placed a finger on his lips and shushed him.

"Calm down," Haku whispered. He had to remain calm, both of them did. "I understand. Trust me, I do. But you can't let your emotions get to you, especially now. You admitted your mistake. That's good. When you took the oath as a ninja, you chose to put your feelings aside for what needed to be done." He took a deep breath, before continuing. "Everyone screws up, everyone has their moments of weakness." Haku remembered a small redheaded boy on a bridge crying over a pink haired girl as he explained. "You made a mistake, now try to learn from it." Sataki smiled at Haku.

"Thanks Yuki-san...Haku?" Haku shook his head.

"Maybe you can call me that in the future, once we know each other better. Stick with family names for now, okay?" he said.

"Fair enough," Sataki said with a shrug. "You're not going to have me apologize to Hayase-san are you? I managed to kill plenty of them, so it wasn't like we were doomed." Haku sighed.

"Sorry. Orders are orders. If you two don't make up when I order you to, then Zabuza-sama will be much less gentle about it," Haku said. Sataki sighed but then his face lit up and he grinned.

"Ya know, I am at least trying to save up a bunch of stuff, and once I have enough," he said, "you get Hayase-san; you, me, and him can have a nice night of fun, how about that?"

"No," Haku said, shaking his head. "For having graduated early and at the top of your class, you seem to have a very loose grasp of the ninja rules." All Haku got for that statement was a laugh, and not a happy one.

"Yuki-san, we are soldiers. At any time, we could be sent off to die based on our stupid rules. I might as well live while I can, so I won't regret anything when I die; honestly, with this war we might not be able to reach our twenties, and I want to survive long enough to kiss a girl," he said. Haku smiled a bit.

"Well, I'll make you a deal, Sataki-kun," he said. "If you fight as well as you can until we take down Karatachi? I'll put in a good word with Godaime-sama to let you retire to inactive duty, then transfer to the reserves. She does owe me, after all. I might just take that chance myself, try and find if I have any relatives left." Ryuji scoffed

"You're joking right?!" he said laughing, "Don't get me wrong, I hate how much we waste the lives of our comrades but that doesn't mean I plan to abandon any of you," Haku saw something in his eyes as he said this, some untapped ambition, "When this is all said and done, I will climb the ranks; and when I'm Mizukage, I'll make sure no one will have to suffer in a pointless war again!" Haku looked closer, and saw something else in his eyes. It was a blanket. It wasn't ambition, he was trying to hide some emotions. He knew those eyes; he'd seen them in himself every time he looked at his reflection for years.

Haku stood up silently, and offered his hand to the blunet. Sataki took it and Haku helped him up. Carefully, the two walked back to the restaurant. Things would be fine, the kid was just clearly troubled. Haku knew what that was like, and he would make sure Zabuza understood that when he got back.

-D&D-

The sun was high in the air when Sakura finally awoke. Sitting up slowly, she winced as her shoulder throbbed in pain. Carefully, the medics won't be here for another few days, she thought. Her wounds had been bound more properly after the attack, but the one on her shoulder would probably give her trouble until it was healed properly. A few moments later, a knock came on her door. Sighing, she quickly tossed on a shirt and looked at the door.

"Come in!" she called. The door opened and Kakashi stepped in, before walking to lean against the wall.

"Thought I heard you wake up. You didn't leave the room at all yesterday, you feeling better?" he asked. Sakura nodded, but looked down at the bed.

"Yeah, much. I still feel terrible about it but-" Sakura took a deep breath, before looking Kakashi in the eye. "I can focus until we get back to Konoha. I'll deal with it there." Kakashi looked her up and down, then sighed.

"Look, do what you want there, but try not to keep everything bottled up. It worked out terribly for me, and I don't want you to repeat that mistake," he explained. Sakura nodded.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of it once we're home," she said, smiling despite herself. That answer seemed to satisfy Kakashi, because he changed the subject.

"Naruto-kun left his room this morning, and I know he's still not feeling well. Could you go and talk to him? We do have to leave in a few days, after all, and if he's not ready to go by then, we'll have to wait even longer for a replacement team to escort Madam Shijimi-sama to the Capital while we head home," he explained. After giving Kakashi confirmation, the man simply crossed his fingers and popped out of existence in a puff of smoke.

I wish I had the chakra level to use Kage Bunshin, Sakura thought as she dug up some casual clothing from her bag. Maybe if I keep up my current level of training, I'll be able to make a single one in a few months. After putting on a jacket due to the chill that had blown in, she walked out her door and out into the temple complex.

Many buildings were still in ruins, and everywhere she looked, there were dark spots of red, ranging from the size of one of her nails to what looked like ponds of dried blood. Sakura looked away from the latter, not wanting to think about what caused that.

Looking up an alley, she saw several monks carrying what seemed to be makeshift body bags. They had been using real ones before, from what she'd remembered.

Just how many monks died in that purge?! Sakura wondered in shock. Two more improvised body bags were carried past her as she made her way to the garden in the back of the temple. Once she was in the garden, it was trivial to walk up the cliff face to the small clearing. In the clearing, she saw two feet hanging from either side of a tree branch rather high up. Sakura walked up the tree, and sat down on the branch. Naruto was a few feet up from her, staring out over the temple.

"Thought you might be here," she began. "What's troubling you?" She knew the answer, but his answering it would make her feel better about all of this, if only marginally. The boy shook his head, not even looking at her.

"You know exactly what's wrong, Sakura-chan," he said, looking out at the temple. "He was like me. Sora, I mean. He was cursed with having chakra inside him that he couldn't control. When they broke it out of what sealed it, I tried to save him, I almost did. But I was forced to kill him." Before Sakura could speak up, he stopped her. "I know. I don't blame you. There was no way you could have known, and I'm not such a child as to blame you for something you had no power over." Sakura wrapped one arm around a protruding branch as she looked back over at Naruto.

"You two had… had similar chakra. Was he another jinchūriki?" she asked. That would clearly explain why he was so upset, as he didn't tend to bond to people that quickly. Naruto shook his head.

"No. He wasn't a jinchūriki, I'm sure of that. I would have felt the other bijū when mine and Kyūbi's chakra smashed into his form," he said. "He had some of Kyūbi's chakra in a seal," Naruto continued, pointing at Sakura's hand. "Just like you do, but without the countermeasures we put in place to protect you from it." Sakura looked at the mark on her hand carefully, terrified at the idea that the chakra could burst forth from it at any time and turn her into a nearly unstoppable killing force. Naruto seemed to hesitate for a second, before taking a deep breath and turning to her.

"Honestly, it's not really even about Sora… it's that fact that I killed an innocent blindly, outside of my control with the power inside me," he said. "Kyūbi always kept saying I would, I kept yelling at him that he was wrong, that I wouldn't let it consume me… but I did. I let it consume me, I lost control, and I killed a kid barely older than us for it!" Sakura reached over and placed her hand over his, squeezing it lightly.

"Naruto-kun, I get it. But, what else could you have done? You did all you could for him. When that failed, you rushed over to protect your allies, and killed the attacker. You did exactly what was expected of you, and the absolute best you could do. It's not your fault, either. You protected yourself and me, as any good Konoha-nin would do," she smiled and leaned over further, wrapping her arms around him. "Besides that, you probably saved me there. I'm not sure if I can ever repay that." Naruto embraced her back.

"Sakura-chan, you don't ever have to repay me for protecting you or anyone else. Like you said, a good Konoha-nin always protects their friends. And, of course, Nii-san's motto," he said, reassuringly. Then he let go and shifted a bit. "Also, Sakura-chan? I'm enjoying the hug and all, but you're putting too much weight on the branch. I'd rather not have saved your life only for you to die from falling off a tree." Sakura sighed and let go of him, shifting back to the larger part of the branch.

"Please, Naruto-kun. You're not some kind of mindless murderer. You're a kind boy who protects his friends… friends like me and Sasuke-san. Come on, Sensei is worried about you, and you know how he gets when he's worried," she said. After a few more moments, Naruto nodded and followed her down the tree.

-D&D-

After the stress of training for a few hours, the cold feeling rushing around Sasuke's arms as he plunged them into the small fountain was a great relief. After splashing some on his face to let himself focus again, he sat down next to the fountain.

Why am I even here, at this point? he wondered, staring down at his hands. Naruto spent the time fighting some crazed monk apprentice pumped full of demon chakra. Sakura was taking down rebels left and right even with her bad shoulder… and I was only playing second fiddle to her. I didn't do anything.

Clenching his fists, Sasuke looked up at the training dummies, all filled with kunai, each embedded deep in the wood and straw. If I can't even be of use to my teammates, then how can I expect to be strong enough to avenge my clan?! Part of him was saying that it was worthless, that he'd never match up to the golden-boy that had been thought of as a potential Godaime candidate. He didn't want to listen to it, but that evening had proven that they didn't really need him for much, if anything.

"Oi! Sasuke-san!" he heard behind him. Glancing behind him, he saw Sakura run up to him, Naruto dutifully following her as usual. She clearly wanted something from him, but what exactly he was unsure what exactly. Not wanting to be caught off guard, he initiated the conversation first.

"What is it, Sakura? You found Naruto, at least, so he's around," he said, sitting down on the corner of the fountain. He leaned over and looked at Naruto and softened his expression a bit. "You certainly look better." Naruto gave a small smile and nodded.

"Yeah, I feel a lot better. It still hurts, and I feel it creeping up always, but right now I can focus on the better things," the redhead said. Sasuke nodded at the boy. He certainly understood that, probably better than Naruto knew. Before any tension could arise, Sakura quickly spoke up.

"Ultimately, we were caught off guard when the betrayal happened. Even with Naruto's unmasking of them, it took us longer than necessary to actually start fighting. And we fought mostly incompetent goons or people who didn't know how to use chakra. If that had been an army of shinobi, we'd have been slaughtered," she said. Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes, but ended up doing so anyway.

"No duh. We're Genin. This is our second C-ranked mission. We don't have the capability to fight entire armies of shinobi on our own, and if we ever do, then I'd be surprised," he said. Sakura just pointed to Naruto.

"We have him. His mother is infamous for slaughtering an entire Kumogakure platoon on her own; kā-chan told me about that one, apparently beat a Shimo-nin to death with his own spine?" Sakura said. Naruto sighed.

"That's not possible to do, Sakura-chan," he said. "She did rip out a man's pancreas and try to get him to eat it, though. Nii-san told me she was aiming for his liver, but missed; she apparently failed the anatomy portions of her training. Some cultists call her the Bride of… um... something, I don't remember exactly what it is. It started with a J, though." Sasuke scoffed.

"Yeah, like it matters. Okā-sama wrote of Kushina-hime in her journals quite extensively, so I know that story very well," he muttered. "So, why are you here? Surely it's not just to reminisce about the past. That's not like you two at all."

"I don't know, maybe we needed a break? It was only days ago that we tore through a bunch of monks in the temple. We need to relax for a bit. At least comparatively. I aggravated my shoulder injury, so that'll need to be looked at once the iryō-nin get here. We need to cool off, before things inevitably go wrong again," Sakura stated firmly, crossing her arms with a slight wince. Naruto stretched and yawned loudly, before placing his hands behind his head.

"Come on, guys. If we need to cool off, let's spar, 1 v. 1 v. 1!" the boy said, pumping a fist in the air. Sasuke and Sakura both turned and looked at him for a moment, before sighing. Sakura spoke first.

"Look, Naruto-kun, I can't spar until I get my shoulder looked at," Sakura said, frowning deeply. "If you wanna test your mettle against Sasuke-san, go ahead; I can referee the fight. But, I can't do anything physical right now." Sasuke just looked at Sakura, a bit annoyed that she had put him on the spot like that. I could say I don't want to spar right now, but… damn it, I have my pride, too! I can't walk away, not when I've been overshadowed by those two this entire mission. He took a deep breath and stood up. Even if the only person I'm proving anything to is myself.

"Alright," Sasuke said after a moment. "I'll spar here. Only rule I want to offer is no using your jinchūriki abilities. I'll shut it down if you do." Naruto coughed into his fist.

"You can't, only Nii-san can. Sorry," the redhead said, his cheeks going a bit pink. Sasuke went a bit pink, too, and closed his eyes for a moment. When they opened again, his vision was suddenly much sharper, with a slight tint towards the red in the fringes of his sight.

"Fine then, just don't use them," he said, as Naruto tossed off his hoodie and got into his own awkward starting position. Sakura then stood halfway between them.

"You two can begin whenever," she said, not even really looking at them. The two stared each other down, making the seal of confrontation. After a deep, breath, both charged.

-D&D-

Several minutes later, both of the boys were lying on their backs, panting from the exhaustion of the spar. Sakura had run off to find Kakashi once the fight had ended, so the two were alone when Naruto finally stood up and walked over to Sasuke, offering him a hand up. After looking at his hand for a moment, Sasuke finally took it and Naruto pulled him to his feet.

"Nice job," Naruto offered. "I know that was technically a draw, but you've been training for hours, and I was fresh. Had you also been fresh, you would have beaten me cleanly." After looking surprised for a moment, Sasuke's face returned to normal and he looked away.

"I guess, but this was also a fight with specific limits. It would have been far different with no limits on our powers," he replied. "If I just had a bit more…" he trailed off, crossing his arms. "No point dwelling on it. Power doesn't come freely, as you've so masterfully shown. You have a ton of power inside you, but at the cost of it always trying to take you over." Naruto shrugged and nodded. He's not wrong.

"The obvious answer is to keep training," Naruto said. "It's a… not sure exactly what you'd call it, but as you train more, you have to train harder and harder to keep getting the same results, until you get to the point where a fight for your life in a battle is about the same as a normal training session." Sasuke looked at Naruto, the red eyes still faintly glowing, his face twisted slightly in annoyance.

"Do you really think just training will let me stand a chance against him?" he demanded. "If it was that easy, he'd have been killed before he managed to kill everyone." Naruto wasn't sure how to say his answer precisely, but gave the most honest thought he could.

"No, not really. But, you have something the rest of the Uchiha didn't. You have me. ANBU work mostly with ambush. It's a lot harder to ambush someone who can sense you and has the raw power to punch out a Kage stuffed inside them," he said. Naruto had to admit, he was embellishing his power a bit there; he didn't think he stood a chance against any of the Five Kage, but it got his point across better… and he wasn't going to admit weakness like that in front of Sasuke of all people. It seemed to get his point across, at least, as Sasuke closed his eyes and his face relaxed. When he opened his eyes again, they'd returned to their normal onyx hue.

"Come on then," Sasuke finally said. "Let's go and find Sensei, it's not like we have anything else we can do today."

-D&D-

Yawning deeply, Sakura went over the room one more time, ensuring that she had packed everything. Everything was inspected from top to bottom, ensuring she wouldn't forget anything. After a second look over, Sakura put her bag carefully over her shoulder, to not mess with her new sling, and walked out of the room, going down the halls until she reached the area where the ashigaru stood. Two of them nodded and moved aside as she walked by.

The handmaidens and the few eunuchs were all double checking the procession and ensuring that everything had been loaded into the carriages. All of them nodded as she passed by, walking slowly to the room where Madam Shijimi had resided. After a few moments discussion, the guards allowed her into the room.

"Ah, Haruno-chan, is your arm healing well?" the woman asked after noticing Sakura. She nodded in response.

"Yes, Madam Shijimi-sama, the iryō-nin said that it should be fully healed by the time we reach the capital," Sakura said, trying to maintain her formal tone. The woman nodded to her.

"I am going to inform my husband of all of this, so this entire temple may be watched for some time to ensure everyone was taken out," Madam Shijimi said. "Some of my husband's lesser wives may be implicated in this as well. Few others have any reason to wish me dead. So, your presence in the capital with me sends a strong message." Sakura nodded, and allowed her to continue speaking, only interjecting occasionally, until Madam Shijimi finally dismissed her to finish final preparations for departure.

Focused intently, Sakura walked through the temple, looking at the scaffolding everywhere, monks of all ages carrying materials to repair the temple. The procession would leave soon, and while Sasuke and Kakashi were already waiting, she still needed to get their final teammate.

After a few minutes, she arrived in the clifftop clearing, where a small stone shrine rested. As expected, Naruto was sitting in front of it silently. Carefully, she walked up next to him and sat next to him.

"Naruto-kun, it's time for us to go. I'm sure he'd be happy with the grave you arranged for him," Sakura said, smiling at him. After a moment of reluctance, Naruto returned the smile, and the two stood up.

"I pray that he will find the peace in the pure land that he failed to find here," Naruto said, as the two walked back down to the courtyard of the temple, where the large party awaited. Kakashi ruffled their hair when they arrived and got into position. A few minutes later, the group began to move out, as the Chūnin squad that had arrived to relieve them waved, as did the monks. As the group moved out, a certain happiness flowed through Sakura, knowing that these people were happy and waving because of, at least partially, her. It was a feeling she never wanted to lose.

A/N: Finally finished the chapter. This one took it's toll on me, but the story is not dead! I won't say it's going on hiatus, because it's not (honest!) but it is going to at least take me a bit of time to get the wheels greased and flowing again. But, when it does start moving again, expect it to keep doing so for at least a while!

Follow, Favourite, and, of course, Review, and I'll see you all next chapter. And if you do review, please share your thoughts on the story's new cover, I'd love to hear them!