A/N: This chapter has a piece of art to go with it! The best place to see it is on my Archive of Our Own page, where I am cross-publishing this story, although you can also find it on my Tumblr. Simply google my handle and the name of each site to find either one. On a side note: a lot of writers I know have stopped publishing on this site because they don't get a lot of support here, so I just wanted to thank you to everyone who still reads me here! I've been using this site forever and I have a lot of nostalgia for it, so it makes me happy to still be publishing here.

Sakura arrived at the practice field a full fifteen minutes early the next morning despite having slept very poorly the night before. Over the next ten minutes Tenzo arrived, followed by Genma, neither man saying much past a basic greeting. It seemed neither of them were morning people, which suited Sakura just fine.

She took some time to stretch as she waited, her eyes passing over her surroundings. Training ground 3 was thick with trees, but they had met in the circular clearing in the middle that featured bare sandy ground and three tall stumps. Like most places in Konoha, it was graced with the sound of birdsong and windswept leaves.

At six o'clock on the dot, Kakashi appeared with a brief pop of displaced air, in full ANBU gear complete with his hound mask. The first thing he did was turn his head toward Genma, who stood barefaced with a senbon on his lip and his mask perched atop his head. "We'll be maintaining mask discipline today."

"What about me?" Sakura asked.

"You don't need one," Kakashi said dismissively.

Maybe it took a while for the masks to be made—or maybe this was his way of saying that she wasn't going to last long enough to get one. Sakura clenched her teeth and struggled to keep her silence even as her temper began to rise. She'd guessed that Kakashi was going to do his best to intimidate her into quitting, and thus far she'd seen nothing to dissuade her from that notion.

As Genma stored the senbon away and pulled his fox mask into place, Sakura could feel Kakashi's attention focused on her even though his expression was hidden. "Today is about measuring your abilities. I need to know how well you can function as a medic on the battlefield, and whether your offensive capabilities are worth using."

His tone was even and without emotion, but Sakura rankled anyway, sure that he was implying that her offensive skills were useless. Swallowing her rising anger, she asked, "What's my objective?"

Reaching into the pouch at his hip, Kakashi withdrew an object that glinted in the morning light, letting it dangle from his finger. The soft ringing sound that accompanied it told Sakura what it was. "You have two objectives. The first is to retrieve this bell from me." Reaching down, Kakashi fastened the string to his hip.

Sakura frowned. She may not know the full extent of Kakashi's skills, but if he was leading an ANBU contingent, then he was certainly a highly ranked ninja. It was going to take a lot to take that bell from him.

As if reading her mind, Kakashi added, "If you want a chance of getting it, you're going to have to come at me with the intent to kill."

Tipping her chin up slightly at the challenge, Sakura asked, "What's the other objective?"

"Your other objective is to keep Fox and Tiger alive." In a movement that was almost too fast to see, Kakashi drew two kunai from his thigh holster and threw them at where Tenzo and Genma were standing in relaxed positions. One caught Tenzo in the shoulder, knocking him backward, and the other buried itself in Genma's thigh.

As Genma sank to the ground, he groaned, "Oh, you are such a bastard."

Surprised, Sakura tensed and prepared to move into action. Kakashi coldly added, "You have one minute, and then I'm coming for you."

And then he was gone.

"Fuck," Sakura spat out as she ran toward her teammates, dropping to her knees in the space between Tenzo and Genma. As she examined their wounds, she found that they weren't fatal, but that was mostly only because she was there to heal them. She couldn't believe their captain would wound his own men just to test her—no, not to test her. To teach her some kind of lesson about not being good enough.

"If you let them make you angry, they'll control you with it," she heard Ibiki echo in her head, and she took a deep breath as she frowned in determination. If Kakashi wanted to play dirty, she could play dirty. Biting her thumb, she smeared the blood on her palm and then slapped it against the ground.

From his perch in a tree about eighty yards from where the rest of his team was, Kakashi tilted his head as he heard the distinct sound of Genma letting out a shriek. He frowned beneath his mask, wondering what Sakura had done to Genma to cause him to make a noise like that. What the hell kind of medic was she?

He knew he couldn't completely discount her skills—after all, she'd been taught at different points by Tsunade, Ibiki, and even Anko, according to the file Tsunade had sent him. But neither Anko nor Tsunade were known for their subtlety or ability to strategize, and Ibiki's proficiency at attaining information would not be useful here. Kakashi fully expected that this exercise was going to prove one thing: Sakura wasn't cut out for his team.

The last seconds of the head start he'd given her ran out, and he began to dart from tree to tree, moving on silent feet as he moved from one branch to another. As he got closer, Kakashi flashstepped to a tree that stood by the clearing and he peered down to assess the situation, using both his Sharingan and his normal eye. His frown deepened as he saw that Tenzo and Genma both still lay where they had fallen, and Sakura was nowhere to be seen. His Sharingan caught some sort of movement coming from their wounds, and Kakashi narrowed his eyes.

Before he could tell what the movement was, there was a flash of pink at the base of the tree he perched in, and Kakashi looked down in time to see Sakura materialize and slam her foot into the ground. It cracked beneath her foot, causing the entire tree to lurch violently to the left, and Kakashi darted neatly off the branch he was on to a neighboring tree.

Sakura was already following him to the next tree, and as she began to run up its trunk, Kakashi found himself to be a little curious—curious enough to call out, "Aren't your charges going to bleed out?"

With every step she gained toward him, he took one away from her, and he could hear the frustration in her voice as she ground out, "You should worry about yourself, Captain," and then punched through the trunk that was supporting them both.

It wasn't much of a victory for Sakura, because she fell at the same time that he did and was unable to take advantage of his tumble toward the ground. He could see the increasing frustration written all over her face, and he smirked slightly beneath his mask. It was probably time to start wrapping this up.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, he launched himself toward Sakura, who was just landing. She managed to block the first flurry of blows that he delivered, but he wasn't really trying, just testing out her defenses. Her taijutsu was good—which was to be expected of someone who had worked with Tsunade—but the anger that was rolling off of her was sure to be her undoing.

That was good. Kakashi wanted her undone.

Deciding to drive home how outclassed she was, he pulled back enough to let her make an attack, easily dodging it at the last second. He expected her to explode with anger but was instead surprised when a small smile curled on her lips as her fist sailed completely past his head.

Suddenly, the tenor of the fight changed as Sakura withdrew and went on the defensive, allowing him to drive her closer to where Tenzo and Genma lay. She defended herself fairly aggressively, and Kakashi could still sense her anger beneath the surface, but she no longer seemed to be trying to come for him as hard as she'd been only moments before. His brow furrowed—why had her strategy changed?

There was a small pinch at the back of his neck that temporarily distracted him enough that Sakura was able to launch herself into a spinning kick. He evaded it, darting back and putting some distance between them, and she didn't follow him, deciding instead to remain in a defensive stance between her two fallen teammates. Working to keep him away from Genma and Tenzo was a valid enough strategy for one of her objectives, but it would do nothing to earn her the bell, and Kakashi was surprised to feel a brief pang of disappointment that she'd given up so easily. He'd known he was going to beat her, but he'd thought she'd at least be better than this.

With the distance between them, Kakashi had a brief moment to observe what Genma and Tenzo were doing. Tenzo was watching the fight with keen interest, while Genma looked like he was trying not to be sick as he stared at whatever was moving on his wound. What was it? Kakashi got the surprising impression of many small legs, but Sakura obscured his view as she stepped between him and Genma, watching him closely.

Ready to finish things, Kakashi threw a volley of kunai at Tenzo before rushing in again. His distraction worked because Sakura was too busy throwing herself in front of her teammate and blocking the kunai to defend herself from the flying kick that Kakashi followed the projectiles with.

The kick caught her in the jaw, and she was knocked to the ground, but she landed in a roll that quickly brought her back to her feet again. She could do little more than raise her arms to block the fresh round of blows that he rained down upon her, but then something strange happened.

Kakashi stumbled.

It came to him all at once—not just the stumble, but the creeping pins-and-needles feeling that was spreading over his body. She'd done something to him. His arms and legs were responding sluggishly to his commands. He gritted his teeth and lashed out in an attempt to grab her and force her to reverse whatever she'd done—but this time it was she who easily avoided him. A small frisson of uncharacteristic panic went through him as he felt his legs begin to tremble.

"What... did you do?" Kakashi managed to grind out as his legs finally collapsed beneath him, having lost all feeling.

Sakura relaxed her stance, obviously no longer seeing him as a threat. Considering he could no longer move his limbs, she was correct in her assessment, a fact that deeply insulted his pride. He bit back a curse.

"It took her less than five minutes," Tenzo said in an impressed voice.

"I didn't need to actually hit you," Sakura said as she knelt next to his prone body. Kakashi couldn't move as she reached out toward his neck, holding her hand there for a moment. "I just had to get close enough to pass over my little friend." Pulling her hand back, she held it in front of his face.

Kakashi struggled to focus on what perched on her finger, and as his Sharingan whirled sluggishly he finally saw it. It was a spider, with a bulbous black body and long, delicate legs. It also appeared to have—and he had to blink for a second to make sure he was seeing this right—a little red cape with a Konoha leaf emblazoned on it.

"And she's got a fuckload of them on my leg stitching me together!" Genma spat out with obvious disgust.

"Summons," Kakashi managed to croak out, even as he felt his throat begin to close up. His eyes followed her free hand as it dropped to his waist and deftly plucked the bell from his belt.

"Yep," Sakura said with a pleased tone, and there was no trace of anger in her now as she smiled. The spider she held skittered up her arm, tiny cape flapping, as she extended glowing hands toward him. "I'll have the poison neutralized in a second."

"And then you're going to heal me the right way, instead of with spiders like some kind of goddamn witch," Genma complained, and the generally stoic Tenzo snorted a laugh.

Fully, annoyingly humbled, Kakashi could do nothing but wait for her to heal him and chastise himself for having clearly underestimated her. As she worked and he regained the ability to breathe freely, he took a deep breath as he considered what had just happened.

Kakashi had thought her to be a miniature, less-controlled Tsunade. One that also carried Anko's flare for being a little unhinged, perhaps. But she'd shown careful planning and kept her head long enough to ensure that her plan went off successfully. She'd seen to Tenzo and Genma's wounds while outfoxing a shinobi as formidable as himself as if it was nothing.

As she leaned closer to him, Kakashi could easily see the smug gleam in Sakura's eyes as she asked, "So, do I get a mask now?"

Kakashi exhaled and looked away, glad she couldn't see the way his lips had twitched upward beneath his mask.

Sakura was proud of herself. After she'd finished healing Kakashi, he'd dismissed them all, but not before stiffly telling her that he still wasn't sure that an ANBU team was the place for a medic. But this time she could hear a difference in his tone, and she thought that maybe she'd managed to impress him—just a little. She was surprised by how much that pleased her, even if his obvious doubt in her still pissed her off.

She spent the rest of the day at home in her apartment, alternately cleaning and meditating in her continued attempt to focus her chakra and achieve the same seal that Tsunade bore. For many reasons—the main one being that Tsunade didn't trust Sakura and her unpredictable temper—Tsunade had refused to teach her the secret of the Strength of a Hundred Seal, but Sakura was determined to figure it out on her own. She hadn't managed to do it yet, but she was determined not to give up.

She'd finally given herself a break to eat a quick dinner when she heard a knock at her door. Glancing at the clock, she noted that it was almost nine as she went to open it.

Her new team was on the other side. Tenzo stood straight, his face completely emotionless but for a very slight smile that seemed to be for her benefit. Genma was leaning against the hallway wall with a senbon-laden smirk. Behind them both stood a slouching Kakashi, his headband pulled over his Sharingan and his single visible eye heavily-lidded and bored.

"Ready to bond with your team?" Genma drawled.

Sakura looked from him to Tenzo, who deadpanned, "That means get drunk."

"We can drink, and bond, and share our secrets," Genma continued.

Tenzo added, "That probably means he's hoping he'll get you to take your shirt off."

Genma flashed Tenzo an incredulous look. "Are you kidding me? She probably has fucking spiders everywhere!"

Kakashi, sounding like the conversation was causing him physical pain, stepped forward and said, "Whatever you do, just be ready for training again tomorrow at six." Pulling a flat white box out from under his arm, he held it out to her.

Taking it, Sakura looked at it curiously and then opened it, revealing a white ANBU mask. It was a perfect oval, with a series of painted eyes clustered around the eye holes, and four leg-stripes on the edges of either side. Above it was a small white card, and Sakura picked it up, reading the scratchy handwriting scrawled on it.

Code Name: Spider

A grin slowly spread over her face and Sakura looked up, opening her mouth to thank him. But Kakashi had already turned and hopped to the railing that separated the building's corridor from the outside. Lifting a hand next to his head in a lazy wave, he vanished in a swirl of leaves without looking back.

"Well, come on, all that sake isn't going to drink itself," Genma said, turning on his heel and proceeding down the corridor, obviously planning to leave the building in a less dramatic manner than his captain. Tenzo followed, and Sakura ducked inside her apartment quickly enough to put down her new mask and grab her hip pouch before she followed them to the building's exit.

An hour later, Tenzo and Sakura sat at a table in mostly companionable silence as they watched Genma at the bar. He'd left the table five minutes before to get them more sake but had become distracted by a pretty brunette who sat at the bar. Sakura snorted quietly as she heard Genma asking when she'd fallen from heaven. He really needed to get some better lines.

"You impressed him today," Tenzo spoke up, idly fiddling with his empty sake cup.

Sakura turned toward him, brows raising. "Genma?"

"Kakashi. He's not one to hand out compliments, but no one's ever beaten his bell test that fast. Most people never beat it." Tenzo delivered all of this in his usual mild manner, but his eyes were sharp as he watched her reaction.

Sakura hummed thoughtfully, her eyes returning to the bar, where Genma appeared to be getting rejected. "He still thinks I don't belong on the team."

"He'll come around," Tenzo predicted, sliding his cup out as a slightly grumpy-looking Genma returned to the table with a fresh bottle of sake.

"Kakashi?" Genma asked, having apparently caught the tail end of the conversation. "Oh, not a chance," he said, laughing. Sakura looked at him quizzically, and as he began to pour sake into everyone's cups, he continued, "He's not going to come around. A medic who can overrule him in the field? He's gonna fuckinghate you."

"You said he didn't hate me!" Sakura said, scowling.

"That was a long time ago. Back when I was still trying to be nice to you." Genma set the bottle down and took a sip from his cup with obvious relish.

"That was yesterday," Sakura ground out.

"That was also before you covered me with fucking spiders," Genma said, flashing her a dark glare.

Tenzo looked downward, but not before Sakura caught the hint of a smile. Apparently Genma's intense hatred of spiders was new to him, too. It was kind of funny, and Sakura felt herself starting to smile as well, until Genma continued.

"Speaking of which, I hear people call you Black Widow."

Sakura stiffened.

"Why do they call you that?" Genma continued in a deceptively casual voice, brown eyes fixed on her. When she didn't answer, he continued, "Is it because the head of Torture & Interrogation is your mentor? Is it because of those creepy-ass summons? Is it just because you're kind of creepy in general?"

Maybe it was just the alcohol loosening her lips, or maybe it was the building anger she felt at Genma's obvious attempt to get a reaction out of her, but she gave him exactly what she knew he wanted. "It's because everyone on my first team is either dead or a missing-nin. And because no team would keep me after that." Her voice grew icy as she finished, "Apparently I don't play well with others."

Tenzo spoke up as he shifted uncomfortably. "This probably isn't the best topic of—"

"Listen," Genma interrupted, leaning in slightly as he narrowed his eyes at Sakura. "You'd better get one thing straight. You aren't dealing with little genin and chunin teams anymore. This is ANBU. We all have reputations—we're not going to be impressed by yours." Pausing, he raised his cup to take a long drink before continuing. "We're also not going to get scared off just because you have some anger issues."

Sakura blinked as his words sank in. She'd thought he was insulting her, but it almost sounded like he was accepting her. It had been a long time since someone had offered her that kind of acceptance, a thought which conjured images of a whiskered face and smiling blue eyes.

"To Team Ro," Tenzo said abruptly, holding up his cup. Genma lifted his as well and looked at her expectantly.

Sakura stared at them—her team—for a long moment, and then raised her cup.

"To Team Ro."