AN: Note that I do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or any of the characters from either Anime. This work is a fanfiction written out of my love for the series and not in any attempt to make a profit.
Proofread by: Author and Kyluxia
This chapter was a bit hard to write in the beginning, and I'm entirely sure about how the first part ended up. Thankfully, my muse did kick in towards the middle, so I hope it is enjoyable to read at least.
Chapter 45: Team seven romance?
The new team seven was an odd sight. Team seven had never been normal to begin with, as when they first formed, they had Kakashi, a seemingly lazy and carefree, yet powerful Jōnin as their sensei. However, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had been the best, and worst Genin for the team, at least in retrospect. It applied to all of them. Sasuke, while praised as a Genius by many, holding the influence and advantages of a clan, had little to no interest in working with others. His brother's last words to him, as well as the trauma he suffered doing him no favors. He had been given therapy, but after looking into it, it was obvious that Shinobi protocols were more advanced than civilian ones, they didn't take into account Sasuke's age at the time.
After Sasuke had confided in Naruto and the Haruno twins concerning his brother and the attack, they had later discussed all of their childhoods together. The Haruno twins had been horrified to learn that Sasuke had not been counseled properly, and their teacher's advice to leave Sasuke alone had resulted in Sasuke feeling isolated and alone. This was not helped by the fact that they had all been kept in the dark of what had happened, making Sasuke resentful towards them and their ignorance, continuing with their lives as if everything was alright, while his own world had crumbled.
The worst offenders, however, turned out to be Sasuke's fangirls. Unlike everyone else, they didn't take long to try and break down the distance between them and Sasuke. Sakura herself had been too shy, but a lot of girls had tried to help Sasuke with the intent of making him love them or rely on them. Not only had Sasuke taken offense, but he had seen right through most of them, and had already come to the conclusion that he was the only one serious enough to actually focus on their chosen career, so he could one day avenge his clan. This had made him cold, untrusting, and someone who looked down on others. A poor fit for a team where he was paired with Naruto, the dead last of the class in the Academy, and Sakura, who excelled academically, but had otherwise had average, or below-average scores in physical subjects.
Naruto had a crush on Sakura, Sakura had a crush on Sasuke, and Sasuke disliked both of them. Together, they had made up the barely functional, team seven, and Kakashi hadn't actually done much to help their team dynamic in their eyes. He apparently believed that it was vital for them to sort things out themselves, which, to be fair, they had, but only after several near-death experiences together.
Now, history seemed to be repeating itself, as the new team seven was composed of Karin, Sasuke, and Sai. While they hadn't been a team for long, the parallels were still visible, although they weren't the same ones that could be seen between previous iterations of team seven. Karin did have a temper similar to what Sakura had used to have, and Sasuke was still Sasuke, but Sai was nothing like Naruto, at least not where it counted. Obviously, as a former ROOT operative, he was skilled, and could likely rival Naruto's power, and he certainly seemed to annoy Karin like how Naruto had annoyed Sakura with his personality, but comparing them was nothing but a grasp at straws.
Sasuke had also changed a lot. He wasn't as cold or dismissive towards his teammates, even if he did seemingly hold a lot of dislike for Karin. They didn't get along, but they held mutual respect for each other, and they could work together, putting their differences aside for the sake of the team. It was a lot better than Naruto and Sasuke had been in the beginning, but still nowhere near what they had now. Although, Sakura couldn't see what it was that had started the rumor that they were dating.
Sai… he was the biggest mystery of the team at the moment. Kakashi seemed to trust him and having seen the seals on his tongue, the Haruno twins had agreed with Kakashi and Jiraiya that he was no longer forced to be loyal to Danzō, although he still could be, which left them less inclined to trust him.
Oddly enough, Sasuke seemed to like him. Partially because he seemed to always annoy Karin, leaving her less time to annoy him, and also because Sai made for an excellent sparring partner, whenever he didn't try to hold a normal conversation. Sasuke had sworn that he would kill whoever had given Sai a joke book focused on innuendos.
Naturally, Karin had gotten an immense amount of entertainment out of it at Sasuke's expense. However, no matter how dysfunctional the new team seven seemed, Sakura had to admit that she could already see all the pieces falling into place. Sai was getting better. He was not as emotionless as she had imagined a ROOT operative to be. Karin had become a decent medical Kunoichi under Tsunade, even if her training wasn't finished yet, and Sasuke was willing to work with them. Even if he didn't get along with Karin, there weren't any truly malicious feelings between them, and when asking Karin about it, Karin had revealed that if things ever did get really bad between them, she had a fair idea as to how to fix it, although she refused to share any details.
Eventually, once they had all gotten to know each other sufficiently, they finally got down to business. Kakashi was hoping that Jiraiya would be able to get rid of Sai's cursed seal, just like he had done for Sakura and Anko. Jiraiya had informed him that it would take time, a lot of time, to inspect the seal without any notes, which Sakura had managed to provide for her own seal and the fact that they had first worked with an incomplete one before removing the complete one from Anko.
Fortunately, Kakashi had just the thing for speeding the process up. After all, ROOT headquarters had been raided, and Danzō had fled, leaving most of his possessions behind, including a ton of notes regarding the cursed seal given to his operatives. Something that Kakashi had brought with him.
Deciding to get on it right away, Sakura had offered to summon Fezā, which Jiraiya agreed to. After summoning, and filling Fezā in on what they would be working on, Jiraiya, Fezā, Naruto and the Haruno twins all sat down together to work on the cursed seal. They also had the advantage of consulting a genuine Uzumaki Fūinjutsu Mistress in the form of Kushina. As a result, the project turned into something relatively simple. The only complications were that the cursed seal was designed to kill whoever it was applied to if someone tried to remove it, but through the copious amounts of notes, and the number of minds they had working on it, they eventually found a deceptively simple solution. One that surprisingly came from Naruto.
Apparently, one of the seal's components was a self-destruction function. Unfortunately, triggering it was impossible, outside of the two built-in triggers. One, being the death of the agent with the seal, and the other, the death of Danzō himself, who had placed the seal on the agent. According to the notes, while the seal could have been made to remain even after Danzō's death, like Orochimaru's seals were, Danzō had considered ROOTS continued existence beyond his own eventual death, and the importance that ROOT operatives would need to share information about ROOT to train new recruits after his death. Something that would have been impossible with his seal still active.
Naruto's solution was to simply trick the seal into thinking either Sai or Danzō were already dead, making it self-destruct. Granted, the question then was how to achieve that. Fortunately, with the notes and 3 Fūinjutsu master's present, it wasn't hard to figure out, and before the day's end, they had figured out a barrier-seal that would block the ROOT seal from detecting life altogether, prompting it to self-destruct without any need to tamper with it.
The solution was simple, effective, and most importantly, safe. All they had to do was erect the barrier around Sai after having tested it, and suddenly, Sai was free from the seal. Although, Sai's actions following the removal of his seal made most of them question if the barrier hadn't somehow affected him, as Sai's first decision after being freed was to ask Sakura on a date.
Naturally, Sakura declined, only for Heikō to complicate everything and accept.
"Why did you accept?!" Sakura demanded from Heikō, who chuckled before responding.
"I have several reasons. For one, we need this." Heikō began, mentally stopping Sakura from interrupting. "And I do mean it. We're going through puberty, and our hormones have so far only received positive encouragement in the form of Jiraiya's books and Naruto. If we don't change that, there is a very strong likelihood that we'll be drifting towards Naruto sooner, rather than later. While I personally don't have any problems with that, you do, and it will create a lot of problems with Hinata, both for us, and Naruto. We don't want that." Heikō pointed out, satisfied to note that Sakura was now more willing to listen.
"So, besides acting as a distraction for our hormones, there's no actual reason to deny a date. While normally, a confession would come before dating for couples, that's not always the case. Blind dates for example are a way to meet people that others believe might suit you, or in this case, where one of the two people has shown an interest. Sai might be a former ROOT operative, but he willingly got his seal removed, and he's showing a lot more emotion than what would be expected of a long-time operative. Besides, he was, all things considered, respectful in how he showed his interest in us. I think the least we can do, is agree to the date, get to know him before deciding on anything. That's what dates are for, after all, to get to know the other person. Besides, I think it would be good for Sai as well." Heikō explained her point, leaving Sakura frowning, but considering it, while Jiraiya explained and filled Sai in on the confusing answer he had received.
From Sai's perspective, Sakura had told him no, before rapidly changing her answer, and then going both still and silent, showing a range of emotions playing over her face. As a result of Jiraiya's explanation, Sai became aware of Heikō's existence, even if it was ill-advised for Jiraiya to reveal it to him. Kakashi had vouched for him, and considering everything Sai could now tell them about ROOT, some transparency with him in return was considered acceptable, even if it strictly should have been the twin's decision on who would be allowed to know.
"I guess, sure, we can go on a date." Sakura eventually agreed out loud, drawing a small, but genuine smile from Sai, which was an accomplishment and a half based on Karin's and Sasuke's reaction of shock.
"Ah, before that, we should really sit down and talk about what Sai can tell us concerning ROOT. In the meantime, you two can think about what might be a good idea for a date if you wish. I suspect that Sai here has little to no idea, where to take you on a proper date, especially since he has never been outside of Konoha before this mission." Kakashi suggested, to which Sai nodded.
Sighing, Sakura nodded in agreement as well, trying to think of preparations for her first date… Thinking about it in the way Heikō had laid it out, it didn't feel like a date, which made it both better and worse at the same time.
AN: Ah, another one of the lovable twists that my muse decided to inspire me with. Funny thing is, I originally considered Sai stealing a kiss from the twins as a result of how happy and thankful he felt. However, I felt that Sai, for reasons yet not explained or explored in the story, would have an interest in understanding love, and different forms of attraction between people. Enough to understand that while he isn't physically attracted to Sakura based on her appearance, which I base on the fact that he calls her ugly in canon, he is attracted to her dangerous allure as a powerful Kunoichi that could have killed him before he had a chance to react previously, and that it would be inconsiderate to kiss her out of nowhere. This is why he decided a more reasonable approach would be to take Sakura on a date, showing his interest in her, offering her a chance to explore the possibility of a potential relationship between them, based on what he knows about the concept of a date, and how relationships work.