It was a narrow miss that allowed Sakura to survive their first encounter with Zabuza. Simple luck that saved her life. She knew this, she didn't need the looks her sensei gave her, false smiles and reassuring tones filled with regret. He knew it as much as she did. She was never meant for the field. She was a paper ninja, and her scores in the academy could prove it.
When Kakashi collapsed, she felt a bit of relief fall over her. She could do this. She read about chakra exhaustion back in the academy. She tried to catch him in her arms, forgetting her lack of strength, and ended up teetering over with him, only to be caught in turn by Naruto. His worried shouts echoed through the trees, spooking off the animals and likely any other travelers in the area.
Sasuke grabbed Kakashi from Sakura's grasp, enlisting help from Tazuna to drag him to the man's house. Sakura grimaced as she pushed herself from her blonde teammate, stepping towards her Sensei.
"Is he alright?" Tazuna asked, grunting from the added weight on his shoulders.
"Yeah." Sakura breathed, gaining looks from her two teammates. She shifted, uncomfortable with the new attention they gave her. "Uh, I think he just has chakra exhaustion."
Sasuke slowed, turning to give her a questioning look. "Erm, well, I read about it in the academy. He should just need some rest and a bit of food, to recover his chakra, then he should be fine." He turned back around, and Naruto suddenly filled her view.
"Wow Sakura, you're really smart! I didn't even know about this catra stuff." Sakura felt herself stop, before forcing herself to keep going. Some part of her brain muddled over what the blonde had just said, but she ignored it. Right now, she needed to help Sasuke carry Sensei to Tazuna's house. Everything else could wait.
The air was moist, chilling her through her clothes, designed for the breezy and less humid climate of Konoha. They were almost there, Tazuna's house lights glowing in the near distance, promising warmth. When they opened the door, Tsunami ushered them inside, helping the genin bring their sensei to an empty room and pulling her father's things into the closet.
It was a waiting game, Sasuke sharpening his kunai while Naruto slept across from him. Sakura sat on the floor, back against the wall as she looked at the rest of the room, deep in thought.
That hunter-nin was scary, he took out Zabuza with a senbon, and even Sensei had issues fighting him. "That's right." She muttered, shifting a bit and standing up. "A senbon." She made her way towards the door, pulling it open and stepping out of the room.
"Where are you going?" Sasuke called, eyeing her movements with a critical glance.
She gulped, pulling up a brave face. "I'm going to go collect some herbs for Kakashi-sensei. We learned about it in kunoichi classes. It'll help him get better faster."
"Hn." Inner Sakura cheered. She was alright to go.
Everything looks different in the dark. She grasped at her hip, hand coming up empty. Her kunai pouch, of course, was back in the room with Sensei. It was too late to go back now, she thought, especially empty-handed. She didn't want Sasuke to know she forgot something so important, so she continued onwards, guided by the light glow of the moon through the trees.
There was a field, filled with the exact herb she was searching for, but it wasn't empty. Someone was crouched amongst the furthermost edge of the clearing, picking handfuls of the herb and placing them in the basket beside them. Sakura stepped forward, branches snapping as her foot hit the earth. The figure looked up, freezing her in her tracks.
"Erm… Hi?" She waved awkwardly, praying the person wasn't hostile.
"Hello." They said, barely looking from their basket of herbs.
Sakura sighed in relief, plopping down to her knees to gather some leaves for tea.
Sakura had collected a decent handful, just enough to still have some leftovers for later if they needed, when she saw the person from the other side of the clearing head towards her.
"Excuse me asking, but you aren't a kunoichi, are you?"
Sakura, not expecting the sudden question. She eyed the person with suspicion, slipping the small rock she found into her hand. She recognized that voice, where did she hear that voice before?
"Yes, I am." She answered slowly, watching the person cautiously.
"Ah." They knelt in front of her, a good three feet out of reach. "You must be strong then."
"Yeah!" Sakura smiled, before frowning. "Actually, I'm not that strong." She thought back to the Demon Brothers, and the fight with Zabuza, and how she couldn't even catch Kakashi-sensei when he collapsed. "Compared to them, I'm pretty weak." She looked down at the ground.
"That just means you need to work harder to achieve your dreams." Her head snapped back towards the stranger.
"Dreams?" Sakura remembered her introduction, all her giggles, and sighs as she glanced at her dark-headed teammate. He was quick to dismiss her, to throw her down. "I don't really have a good one."
"That's alright, you have time yet to find one." They said, handing her a handful of herbs from their basket. "And once you do, I don't doubt you'll grow even stronger."
Sakura flushed, embarrassed by the sudden compliment, glancing down at the new herb in her pile. "Thank you, erm…" She trailed off, hoping they caught the hint.
"My name is Haku."
"Ah! Thank you, Haku!"
"You're welcome." They got up and walked away, halfway to the other edge of the clearing with a basket of herbs before she called out to them.
"My name's Sakura!" She waved, watching Haku wave back before gathering her things and making her way back to Tazuna's. The fog was thick, clinging towards the ground as she walked back to Tanzuna's. It was up ahead if the glow of the lights were any clue, but something in the back of her mind was keeping her from walking any further, so she stopped, shivering in the chill of the mist.
She knew that person. Somehow, in some part of her mind, she knew them, she recognized their voice. She tried to remember where she had heard it from, thinking back to the beginning of the mission and scanning through a catalog of events before it hit her.
"Zabuza's alive." She muttered to the cold, empty air around her in shock.
A senbon flew just past her ear, tugging at her hair as it sailed by. Sakura clutched her handful of herbs and raced towards the light, ignoring the bite of the air and the sting of the cold mist.
She let out a screech, dropping her herbs as she ducked down as another senbon came from the opposite direction.
"I can't let you leave here." The voice muttered from the thick of the mist before a figure walked forward.
"Haku." She stumbled backward, falling down as her heel came into contact with uneven dirt. She shook from a combination of fear and cold, attempting to crawl backward from her attacker with little success. Her stiff fingers slipping on the cold gravel. She flinched as their hand came towards her, before her vision faded and she fell to the ground.
Naruto woke up to a quiet room. His sensei was still unconscious, and Sasuke was sorting through his kunai pouch. He yawned, rubbing his eyes before glancing around again.
"Hey. Where's Sakura?" He eyed Sasuke. "You weren't rude to her, were you?"
Sasuke closed his kunai pouch, glaring at the blonde. "No, you idiot."
"Where is she then?" He asked, then realized the insult directed towards him. "Hey! You're the idiot here!"
"You're both idiots." A voice behind them groaned. They flipped around.
"Sensei! You're okay!"
"Of course he's okay you idiot."
"Hey, sensei, Sakura said you had catra exhaustion."
"She's right." He said, as Sasuke muttered, chakra, "Where is Sakura anyway?"
Naruto glanced around the room again, eyeing the wall as if he thought she'd jump out of it.
"She said she was going to collect herbs."
"When?" Sensei looked towards Sasuke, his gaze serious and unyielding.
"Uh, an hour ago?" Kakashi sat up, grasping his head as it lit up in pain.
"Sensei?" He threw the sheets off his legs, stumbling to a standing position, before shakily racing towards the door, stumbling over the bedding his students had been occupying moments before.
"Stay here."
He tripped through the doorway, tugging his mask from his nose and running down the path towards where her scent was strongest. Something flashed in the distance, and he ran faster, ignoring the odd click his knee was making and the pop his ankle made every other step. Something hit the ground, a muted thud echoing through the dark mist.
He went faster, but on the third step he took, his leg gave out beneath him, leaving him with a mouth full of moist soil.
Someone appeared from the forest, grasping onto his student, and pulling her into the trees. "Sakura!" He gasped, staring into the woods where the figure came from. Someone landed beside him.
"Sensei? Are you okay?" Naruto looked down at him, and he was suddenly really thankful about his face being covered in mud.
She was absolutely terrified when she woke up, her ankle tied to the wall and her clothes covered in mud. Her captor, the fake hunter-nin Haku, knelt over the body of her mission enemy. She stiffened as Haku turned towards her. She leaned forward in attempts to get to her feet, only for Haku to move towards her. She flinched, closing her eyes as they grabbed her arm.
"Relax. If you move too much, you'll hurt yourself more."
"What?" Sakura gasped, staring at their hand. "But-But you're the enemy!" She stumbled over the words as they dropped her hand. "Why do you care if I'm hurt, unless," She made another attempt to scramble away. "You aren't gonna do that to me, are you?" Her face was red, eyes wide in terror.
Haku's face turned bright red. "I- What!? No! I would never." They looked away, staring towards the wall. "Why would you even think that?"
"Uh," Years of kunoichi class drilled it into her head, "Well, if that's not why you're healing me, then why are you?"
"Because you're young."
"So are you though."
"But I grew up."
"You're still like, three years older than me. That's young. So why are you fighting alongside someone like him? He's horrible. They call him the Demon of the Mist. How can you help someone like that?"
"Because he saved me."
"Still though. He's killed so many people."
Haku stilled, catching her eyes in a blank gaze. "So has your teacher."
"Kakashi-Sensei? No way. He's strong, yeah, but there's no way he's worse than the Demon of the Mist." She ignored the part of her mind telling her that sensei had definitely killed before, all older nin had. "He's so lazy and-" She cut herself off.
"And?"
"I don't know. I can't think of anything else, he's so closed off."
"Do you want to know what I know about Kakashi Hatake?"
Sakura stared at Haku in confusion. What would he know about- "Sure."
"Kakashi Hatake, '' began, Jonin, former Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai captain for the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Son of Konoha's White Fang, Sakumo Hatake, Student of Minato Namikaze. Alias, Kakashi of the Sharingan, Copy Ninja Kakashi. And-"
They paused, letting Sakura take in the information before adding. " Nakamagoroshi no Kakashi."
Friend-Killer Kakashi. Her mind whispered at her. There was no way. Kakashi-Sensei wasn't like that. Yet- "Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai? What's that?"
"Ah, it's like a hunter-nin. I believe the leaf has shortened the term to just ANBU."
It was like a bullet to the chest. Her sensei was ANBU, an assassin for the shadows, and they let him around children? Then again, they didn't even tell them, her team, who their teacher even was.
"Did I ever really know who he was?"
Haku didn't respond.
"But what if she's dying, Sensei? What are we supposed to do!" The orange-clad child ran towards the door. "We have to rescue her!"
"Tch. She's probably already dead." Naruto turned towards Sasuke, horror on his face and anger in his eyes.
"Sasuke, how could you say that. Sakura's our teammate!"
"She's weak. She ended up getting caught by the enemy." Naruto lunged.
"Sasuke. Naruto." Kakashi was serious, staring down at his students. "Do you really think so little of your teammate?"
"No!" Naruto cried as Sasuke looked to the side.
"She's. Your. Teammate. You're supposed to look out for each other."
"Sensei?" Naruto asked, shaking slightly. Oh, no, that was his hand. He was shaking. Whelp. "We'll rescue Sakura." Naruto opened his mouth. "When I'm recovered enough to fight. Otherwise, we might not all make it back out alive."
He dropped Naruto before turning out of the room. "I'll be in the shower."
Rin, no, I'm sorry, I didn't, I didn't- "Take care of her, Bakashi." Obito, no I didn't mean to. I failed you. I'm so sorry. Minato-Sensei, I'm so sorry. I failed the mission. I failed you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. "Kakashi, I'm sorry." Dad, no!
His hand met cold stone, the tile of the bathroom grounding him as he sat under the brisk water. He slowly pulled his hand into his line of sight, winching at the scars that marred the pale skin. Scars from the lightning that took Rin's life. He blinked a few times, before running his hand past his face and through his hair. "Fuck. Hiruzen, why put me in charge of kids."
When he left the bathroom in a clean uniform and returned to the room, the boys were asleep. That's good, he decided. Two fewer people to look after before I sleep. He stared at his futon in consideration, before forming hand signs. A puff of smoke erupted from where his palm met the earth, and a dog sat on his pillow. "Hey, boss. Long night?"
Sakura had learned a lot about the world she lived in from Haku while she was kept prisoner. Once she got over the initial shock that maybe, just maybe, she had been fed lies and half-truths all her life, she began asking questions. Who are the Swordsman of the Mist? What happens to your family? Who's Minato Namikaze. Land of Whirlpools?
Needless to say, she had a lot of questions.
"Um, Haku? How did you do that with the senbon?" They turned, placing the bandage dressings down beside Zabuza before turning to the girl. Her ankle was loosely tied to the wall opposite them.
"What?" She gestured to Zabuza, who was propped against the wall and covered in a healing salve.
"How did you make him seem, y'know, dead? Even Sensei believed it."
"Practice."
"Well yeah, but-" Zabuza shifted, groaning as Haku turned back to him to stop him from moving.
"I'll show you. See this spot right here?" Haku pointed to a spot on Zabuza's neck. They pulled a senbon from their sleeve and poked said spot as Sakura shifted for a better view. Zabuza went still.
"Doesn't it hurt though?"
"Maybe."
"Why is she here?"
"She knows."
"Well of course she knows, she's here."
"She's sitting right here y'know."
"Oh is she now?" Zabuza turned towards her, still laying in bed. "And does the little kunoichi wannabe have something to say?"
"Yeah." Haku glanced between them, inching to stop Zabuza if he tried anything. "Is it true you're trying to fix the Hidden Mist Village?"
Zabuza turned towards Haku. "You told her? Seriously? That's top-secret, strictly need to know info."
Sakura blinked in confusion. This Zabuza was different from the one she had seen before. He was talking like a kid who's crush was told to the whole school, not some super scary Demon assassin from Chigiri. Haku sighed as he looked at his master.
"She asked."
"B-Wha- And you told her!?" Sakura stifled a laugh and they both turned towards her. "What's so funny?"
Sakura waved her hand in front of her as if dismissing the thought. "I-it's not that it's funny." She paused to laugh some more. "You're just so different from the first time I saw you."
"And?" Zabuza was staring at her intently, waiting for her response.
Sakura sombered up under his gaze. "And, well, I guess, It makes you more human than the stories do."
Zabuza leaned forward, and Sakura braced herself for killing intent, except, that wasn't what happened. Inches away from her face, Zabuza broke into a laugh.
"Haku! Where did you get this kid? She's great."
Zabuza inspected the ice dummy with critical eyes "Aim a bit higher next time." Sakura nodded, moving to collect her knife from its torso to try again before- "You did good, kid."
She smiled, turning towards him, knife in hand. "Thanks!"
"Now go again." Her grin faded a bit, and here eyes steeled with resolve as she aimed towards the point she was told to hit. She threw her hand forward. Moments passed before the tell-tale sound of metal hitting ice echoed back to them. She waited for Zabuza's judgment.
"You hit it! Damn, kid, that's amazing." Sakura beamed, then whisked around towards the noise in the bush.
"What's amazing?" Haku set down the basket they had and walked towards the pair, whistling as they caught sight of the target. "How long have you been at this?"
Sakura stepped forward and pulled the knife from the target. "Three hours."
"Three?" They eyed Zabuza in confusion. "You made me make this before I left to get snacks an hour ago."
"Well, yeah, but I had her work on endurance before that." Zabuza was grinning as he said it. Haku glared at him.
"Really? So why'd you switch to weapons?"
"Her reserves were low."
"Reserves– You're kidding." Zabuza's grin shrank as Haku dragged him away from the dummy, and Sakura. "That's dangerous for someone that young." They whisper-shouted at the taller man. " Were you trying to kill her?" Zabuza shook his head.
"Hey, Haku? Can you help me with this bit here?" Sakura pointed towards the training dummy. Haku turned back towards Zabuza.
"This conversation isn't over, okay?"
"Haku?"
"Yeah, I'm coming."
"I think this is it, kid." Zabuza pulled his sword onto his back, "The final fight."
She ran to him, jumping into his arms and hugging his neck. "You can't die."
"The ninja world is not so kind, Sakura." Haku pulled her off Zabuza, and she clasped onto their robes. "People die, and people kill."
"B-But-" She sniffled. "I can't lose you guys. You taught me so much!"
Haku smiled sadly at her. "Sakura-"
"C'mon kid, give us some credit. You can't get rid of us that easy."
She blinked up at him, eyes glistened with tears. "You- I love you guys!"
"Love ya too, squirt." Haku put her back onto the ground and placed her on her feet. "Now let's go kick some ass."
The bridge towered above them, casting a large shadow over the water. They stood in silence, water lapping at the sides of the boat as Zabuza tuned the earpiece. He waited several seconds before he ripped the earpiece from his head and threw it to the ground, Gato's voice screeching from the speaker. Sakura stared at it in shock, before looking back up at Zabuza.
"This is the guy you work for?"
Zabuza crushed it underfoot before he shrugged. "Money is money when you're on the run."
"And trying to organize a coup."
"And that."
He adjusted his sword and turned to Sakura and Haku. "Ready?"
"Yeah!"
Zabuza and Haku stepped off the boat and onto the water, stopping just ahead of the boat. Sakura stared at them in shock, looking between their legs and the water.
"What?"
"It's like the tree exercise your team was doing, except, not quite." Haku supplied.
"So?"
"Channel your chakra to your feet and try to not fall in."
Sakura glanced at them, before concentrating on her feet and stepping onto the water. She stayed above it for a couple of seconds, feeling the push and pull of the water as it interacted with her chakra before her foot sunk in up to the ankle. Zabuza caught her as she tipped forward and pushed her back onto the boat.
"I can carry you if you need-"
"No! I will get this." She moved to put her foot onto the water again.
"This isn't exactly beginner-"
Sakura was standing on the water in front of the boat.
"Okay, we can go now?"
"Holy shit."
"Huh?"
"Of course you're a fucking prodigy."
They attacked the workers on the bridge, aiming to knock them out, then retreated to the underside of the bridge.
"What- What happened here?" Tazuna's voice echoed from the beginning of the bridge, and Zabuza made several hand signs, his mist filling their range of vision. He motioned towards Sakura and began making hand signs. "This jutsu varies depending on who cast the mist, so don't expect it to work all the time. Watch close."
She followed his hands, speaking the name after Zabuza and casting the jutsu. Her vision cleared, and she was giving a clear view through the mist. "Woah!"
"Yeah!" He grinned, his sharp teeth practically glowing against the glow of the chakra in the mist. "Now hold on, you're gonna be our pretend hostage."
He threw her over his shoulder, her face scarily close to Kubikiribocho, but not quite touching the blade, before leaping back onto the bridge, blocking off Team Seven's exit. He placed Sakura off to the side, near some bushes before facing her team.
"SAKURA!" Naruto screamed, catching sight of her pink hair before it was blocked by the mist jutsu. She saw him tense, and Kakashi lifted his headband, revealing his sharingan eye. "YOU BASTARD!"
"Naruto." Kakashi's voice was stern, and he was looking just beyond where the bridge builder stood. "Guard Tazuna. Sasuke, do your best to recover your teammate." He grunted in response and Kakashi took in a deep breath, spinning around as the shift of air behind him.
"DOWN!" A sword swung over where Tazuna's head was. Naruto shook, glancing between his sensei and the giant sword. As Kakashi rushed to meet his blade with a kunai, Naruto spammed clones, completely surrounding Tazuna with them.
Sakura was too absorbed in the fight between her mentors to notice Sasuke walking towards her.
"Sakura." She jumped, blinking towards him.
"Sasuke?" He gave a hn of confirmation before grabbing her hand, pulling her up roughly. "Wha-" He started dragging her in a direction, that, only because of the jutsu, she knew was wrong. "Sasuke. This isn't the right way." He didn't look at her. "Sasuke." She attempted to shake her hand from his grasp. "This." Another twist. "Isn't." Another one. "Right." Her hand came free, and he turned to stare at her in confused anger. She pointed left of where they were going, where she could see Zabuza and Kakashi clash. "That way." She didn't elaborate.
"HAKU! GET THE BRAT OUT OF THE WAY!" Zabuza's voice echoed through the mist, and Sakura stiffened for only a second before quickening their pace. Realistically, she knew Haku wouldn't kill either of the boys, only maim them a bunch so they wouldn't interfere, and even if she did, Naruto healed really quickly so he'd probably be fine even if he was super injured, but that didn't mean she wouldn't worry.
She watched as Haku's signature jutsu surrounded the real Naruto, and as Kakashi's eyes widened. Zabuza took that second to swing at Kakashi again, kubikiribocho striking his leg and leaving a bloodied mess in its wake. Credit to him, he didn't cry out in pain, but stood, wincing, on his mangled and bleeding leg.
They were all too preoccupied to hear what she did. "Sasuke. Go help sensei."
He stared at her before taking off, pulling out several kunai and rushing Zabuza head-on. She turned towards the noise, catching several voices as they got louder. She recognized Gato's from the radio and zeroed in on his loud voice.
"-wasn't planning on paying them then, but they couldn't even do the job they were bought for in the first place so it's not a loss." She saw a figure beside him nod.
"Ninja are almost never worth the price."
She watched as one man readied his aim to launch a killing blow on Haku from afar, and Sakura saw red. She rushed forward, grasping several of the senbon she was gifted and launching them ahead of her. They didn't hit the targets she'd intended, but didn't outright miss any of them. Several people went down with cries of pain and shock, and Gato foolishly turned around, looking wildly around for the source of the weapons.
"What are you standing here for? Defend me. Get them!" They pulled out weapons and spread out, and, by some miracle, Sakura managed to keep an open sight of Gato the whole time. She threw a kunai with a paper bomb towards the center of his goons, the explosion throwing them and their weapons everywhere.
A sword flew toward her, and she didn't think, just reached out her hand and caught it, the force whipping her arm back. She looked at it in surprise, then tested the weight in her hands a few times. It was decently balanced.
The few of Gato's hires that were standing made their way towards her, and her instincts screamed for her to get out, to leave and let the other's handle it, but she tightened her grip on the sword and calmed her breathing. She didn't really want to kill them, but the ninja world is not so kind, people die, and it was either her or them.
Based solely on the fact that her first strike the blade had not been taken care of properly. Instead of slicing as it should have, it jumped across the skin, tearing rather than cutting flesh and muscle. Three people went down this way before she changed tactics, the sword taking too much energy to cut than it should realistically need. She dropped it and turned, grabbing a kunai and jabbing it into the shoulder of the nearest man.
She rushed forward, aiming for necks and closing her eyes for the splatters of blood that sprayed from their arteries. Something snagged her leg and she went down with a yelp, gravely dirt from the bridge sinking into her skin and wounds. She hissed in pain as she struggled to get up, rocks digging into her palms.
Footsteps neared her, and she steadied her hand, tightening her grip on the kunai and focusing on her breathing like they taught in class to ignore her pain. The feet stopped by her side, about a yard away, and she struck, her muscles seizing at the action. Her kunai soared through the air and struck true, embedding itself into his head to the hilt. He hit the ground with a thud, revealing five battle-ready ninja. Her teammates, Haku, and Zabuza, all poised to strike the man now dead beside her.
She let out a sigh of relief as she made eye contact with Zabuza. His eyebrow rose at her as he surveyed the damage. She shrugged, letting out a small laugh as she forced herself up on shaking limbs. Her team rushed forward but were stopped by a large hand. She gave Zabuza a grateful smile and turned towards Haku.
"Could you give me a hand? I have a gift for Kiri." Kakashi looked at her, eyes wide as Naruto and Sasuke looked down.
"Uh, Sakura?" Haku said as he neared her, "You're covered in blood."
She looked at her arm, then glanced around her. "Oh." She did a number on the people Gato had brought, several were burning still, and a few had bled out from their wounds. Her stomach churned.
"Sakura?"
"Right." She started forward again, stepping over the bodies and rubble from the paper bomb, stopping in front of a mostly alive Gato. "He's yours. He didn't intend to pay you guys, by the way."
"Well, I'd say this is the amount you get after the split, not including bounty." Zabuza handed Sakura a sealed scroll filled with a no doubt generous amount of money, though she knew he had well over double the amount stashed away in a scroll somewhere on his person. "Good luck squirt."
"Yeah." Sakura let out a soft smile before turning towards her waiting team. She stepped forward, before rushing back to the Swordsman, pulling him into a tight hug. "Thanks, Zabuza."
"Yeah." He patted her head and she released him, turning towards Haku. She wrapped him into a hug too, causing him to almost drop the basket he held in his arms.
"Thank you, Haku."
"You're welcome Sakura."
She backed up, nodding at them before turning around and running towards her team. It was time to return to Konoha.