Chapter 8 :

Iruka Umino was often thought as soft hearted, a man blocked at chunin level because of that. It was true that Iruka cared a lot about the children, making him the punchline of a lot of jokes, but Iruka wasn't naïve. He had never forgotten the objectives of his teaching, what those children will become but he did all he could to protect those minds from what they were ordered to do. He was glad to see that almost all his students have grown strong enough to protect themselves, yet there was the one who couldn't. They were easily recognisable even before their first mission or kill. Often it was some talented clan kid with too much talent, the pressure always becoming too much. Itachi Uchiha, Hyuga Neji, Sasuke Uchiha. Naruto could have been one of them, even if for different reasons. Iruka knew that and always gave a little more of his attention to those one.

As it was, Iruka liked to think he did his best. Yet, he never saw Sakura Haruno.

"Iruka-sensei ? What can I do for you ?" The woman was surprised yet he could see apprehension in her green eyes, only a few shades darker than her daughter.

"Hello, Haruno-san. Would it be alright to talk with you ? It's about your daughter, Sakura-chan."

XxX

The genin,( Lee ?), looked crestfallen. At the loss of his smile, so similar to Naruto's, Sakura tried to cheer him up.

"B-But we could train together if you want? We can be friends!" she blabbered.

'In what are you putting us ? I don't want to spend time with this weirdo !'

Say weirdo seemed surprised for a moment before his smile came back with even more whiteness. 'What the heck ? Is it a jutsu ?'

"Of course ! I will be honoured to be your friend, Sakura-chan !"

She smiled back.

"I'm sure you will get along with Naruto !" seeing the blond, banging his head against the wall, the pinkette called to him. " Hey Naruto ! What are you doing ? Come here !"

"Uh ?" the Uzumaki stared surprised at her.

"Didn't you hear me ? This is Lee ! I'm sure you will become good friends !"

'Why is he looking at us like that ?' Sakura didn't know either, but she must have done something right because the blond seemed right about crying. Without notice Naruto run to hug her. She would never admit that her first reaction had been to reach for the handle of Kubi. 'You're sick'. Panicked she stared dumbly at the blond. It was Kubi's growl that "woke" her up.

"Hey Naruto ! Let go ! What are you doing ?"

And with that Naruto let go of her, before introducing himself to Lee, who didn't seem shocked by the display. 'What the hell was that ?'

XxX

It was the first time, someone introduced him. The first time someone helped Naruto make friends. It was strange, being happy for something you never knew you missed.

XxX

" Is she alright ?" There was worry in Mebuki Haruno's voice but no for immediate injury. After all her daughter wasn't on mission and the Chunin exam just begun. No, the woman must have same see the same thing as Iruka.

"She isn't hurt. I came here to ask some question, it's a procedure after every first mission. Nothing to worry about. Has Sakura-chan been acting strange lately ?"

He had lied. He wasn't proud about it, but seeing as Kakashi refused to answer any question, Iruka needed Mebuki-san's aid. The woman seemed stressed, refusing to look at him in the eyes.

" A need of solitude is normal after a first mission. I just want to assure that Sakura-chan hadn't received a traumatism too strong for her. I'm here for her welfare."

"Did you know what happened there ?" her voice was trembling and suddenly Iruka was worried about what he was about to find. He had seen a glimpse of a more violence-inclined Sakura, but could she have … ? " She refuse to say anything about it, or even to talk. She hadn't been as quiet since elementary school !"

" As I said, the need to be alone is normal for the first day after a mission. Her mission having become A ranked, had been classified, she can't talk to you about it. Has she been outside more often? Has her routine changed?"

"She isn't home anymore. I thought at first it was as normal as you said, b-but I can't help feeling there is something amiss! I mean she spend all her time with this sword of hers! At first, we tried to separate them, she couldn't just come eat with it on her back ! But it only worsened the situation, she refused to come and if she did she wouldn't speak. We tried talking to her about it, but she would only said that she was fine ! And then she would spend the whole day outside, sometimes until late at night !" The woman was now almost crying, her body trembling. " And her body … her back is full of burn marks!"

Again, even though not ideal, the situation won't be the first among the citizen-born ninjas. The need to attach one self to a weapon, even though given by the enemy, was pretty common even if not healthy. The mental damage she received didn't match the mission's report. As it was, Sakura had always been on the side line, protecting the client, and receiving the blade by reason unknown. There was something missing …

"Excuse- me, did you say burn marks ?"

" Yeah, on her shoulders. She refused to give any details of course."

The problem? Zabuza Momochi didn't use any fire technique.

XxX

Sasuke stared at his teammates, the two chatting happily with the weird green genin. Naruto was boastful as always, his grin rivalling the stranger, his arms moving in the air as he continued to tell his story. Sakura was subtler, a polite small was on her lips and slightly softer as she stared at Naruto, amusement clear. Her cheeks were back to a rosy pink, all signs of a previous blush erased. It had been a long time since he saw her blush. Even though she used to almost every day before that (and always because of him), the action seemed almost alien now. Surprise was something that couldn't affect Sakura anymore. Her eyes didn't even widen when she learned about the Chuunin exams. As Sasuke could see, her reality revolved around her sword and those it had found interesting, all the rest seemed to be a boring stage that she passively played in for Naruto's sake. The question was: where did Sasuke fit anymore?

Where before she would have stared at him before taking any action, asking for his guidance, she now only needed to caress softly her blade and all her being would suddenly be full of confidence. She used to send her smiles at him, now those were Naruto's every greeting. Every gaze, joke, grin, blush was his and now it seemed a dull headed weirdo could cause it. The same idiot who blocked his previous kick. His gaze darkened, darks thoughts turning in his head as a drop of red slowly started to surface in his eyes. Then those red eyes met Sakura's green orbs. Her eyes , always dull when looking at him nowadays , widened slowly at the Sharingan. And then … she blushed.

"… my heart is already taken."

His skipped a beat. His slowly turning back because of the shock. Regaining control of his body, he let his usual smirk appear before walking toward his team. Without a look at the green genin, he called them.

"Sakura, Naruto, we are going."

Ignoring the weirdo's demands to fight, team 7 continued to the meeting room. He rolled his eyes. Didn't the idiot see? He glanced at the pinkette, recalling how her cheeks had reddened. Sasuke already won.

XxX

"Can you explain yourself Kakashi ?"

He tried to keep his voice calm and detached but he knew he failed. Kakashi, on the other hand, succeeded on keeping his nonchalant persona.

"I know that I never showed up, but I lost myself on …"

"You know what I'm talking about Kakashi."

After he learned about the burn marks, Iruka went to the hospital. The nurse confirmed that had even if Sakura Haruno had been admitted for minor injuries (only a broken nose and fingers) the girl sported burns marks too old to erase. The nurse had easily identified those as the result of an explosive tag.

"You lied on a mission report ! " Iruka lashed. "Do you understand what you have done Kakashi ?"

Nowhere on said reports did Sakura fought directly. She got beaten up by a Zabuza's clone explaining her injuries, but not those scars. Being on her back, it couldn't have been Sakura's tag that failed to activate correctly. Being nowhere near the missing nin's real form, there wasn't any reason for Sakura to be ready to be sacrificed by her teammates.

Receiving no explanation, Iruka exploded.

"It's as good as fucking treason ! For what ? You were always the one to talk about camaraderie yet all seems to say that you tried to kill you own student !"

He knew he went too far before finding his back pressed against the wall. Gone what the seemingly blasé Kakashi, before Iruka was the shinobi, the killer.

"K-Kakashi you've got to tell me. Was it Naruto or Sasuke ? I'm sure it was a mistake but you've got to tell me. You've seen Sakura, something is wrong with her, she need help."

Iruka was a ninja of Konoha, and as one he had his own will of fire : protect the children. Yes Kakashi was better ranked, but team 7 was made of his students. He deserved to know what happened. If Sakura had been gravely injured, it could explain the drastic changes of the team. But why would Kakashi try to cover it up unless it was inflected by one of own students?

This time he didn't expect an answer. And yet, he got one.

"She did it herself. She went against Zabuza."

"W-What ? Why ? Sakura is not one to act so rash!"

" She robbed the sword."

W-What ? The sw- but before Iruka could try to comprehend he found himself staring at red jewels. So peaceful, so…

Staring the still figure of Iruka trapped in a genjustu, the jounin couldn't feel guilty. Kakashi knew very well what would happen to the team if Sakura was recognized as suicidal. She was a danger to the team, to herself. It would be the end of team 7. Kakashi couldn't lose them, not now that he could finally see past the illusion of his old team. Not now.

XxX

"Sword Thief."

Her heart stopped. Kubi growled. She needed blood. Now.

Hello ! So what do you think ? I hope you liked this chapter ! I read you comments and I'll really like to thanks all of you because they're what motivate me to write this story. I have a last question : against who would you want Sakura to fight in the Chunnin Exam ? I myself don't really know if I want to keep the Sakura/Ino fight even if it was one of my favorite episode when I was young. So don't hesitate to comment ! See you next chapter !