Kizashi was Not Happy. This didn't happen very often, as he was extremely laid back, especially for a ninja of higher rank. He figured it was probably because he chose to specialize in bodyguarding, which didn't involve as much blood and terror as some of the other shinobi arts.
He had been a tokubetsu jounin for seventeen years, and never once in that time had he treated his Hokage with anything less than respect. Until now.
He had stomped past the chunin at the front desk, ignoring his protests, and burst into the office. Then stopped and blinked when he saw a snarling Tsume was already present, the Hokage sitting calmly and listening to her rant without complaint.
"So I see your kids told ya that the Hokage has decided to send them to their death ," she growled, and Kizashi gave a short nod.
"Please close the door, Kizashi-san," the man said without rancor, and if Kizashi slammed it a little, well. He'd stayed up listening to his wife cry half the night, he was entitled to a temper tantrum.
"Reconnaissance and Sabotage? You would put my children - both of my children - on what is essentially a suicide squad? Do our youth really mean so little to the leaders of our village?" Kizashi hissed, and Kuromaru growled and bristled in agreement from his partner's feet.
"Do not," the Hokage said, the air around him darkening ominously, "doubt my resolve to keep the children of our village alive."
Kizashi simply met his eyes, unrepentant. He had lived through war, he knew the life expectancy of those teams, and they almost always died together. The thought of losing not one child but both of them was unbearable.
Gaara might not be his by blood - though nobody but he, Mebuki, and Mebuki's father was aware of that little fact - but he loved him just as much as he did Sakura. He was his son in all the ways that counted.
Finally, the Hokage sighed, and was just a tired old man again. "Please, sit down, and I will explain myself."
"How can you possibly come up with any explanation that will make this okay?" Tsume growled.
"I said, sit," he commanded.
They sat. He sighed and rubbed at his temple before picking up two pieces of paper and handing them to them. They glanced at each other before looking down. Kizashi's brow furrowed.
"What is this?" he asked.
"Your children's training schedules," Hiruzen said, chewing on his pipe.
"This is...not a normal regime for genin," Kizashi said, looking at the list with a raised eyebrow.
"It is not. The council has been pushing me to create a Reconnaissance and Sabotage team for awhile now.
I was hesitant, as I understand exactly what the fate of these teams tend to be. I did some research into past formations, and I realized that, unlike other dangerous jobs, the training is not historically as intensive as the programs created for other high mortality units, such as ANBU."
Tsume sent him an unimpressed look. "So, what, you're gonna run 'em into the ground? Why not wait until they're older?"
"Because we need them to pick up the habits that will let them survive now," the Hokage said bluntly. "I believe, and Kurenai is determined, that with extra, focused training, this squad will have better luck than past ones.
It should also be noted that the team is being formed outside of wartime conditions, which means they'll have a chance to wet their teeth on missions that are less dangerous at the beginning of their careers."
Kizashi stared at the paper, closing his eyes as he realized he was looking at the end of Sakura and Gaara's childhood. He also knew that there was nothing he could do about it.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was more lenient than most kages would have been - even allowing them to vent their frustrations to him - but he was still a kage, which meant his word was law, at least when it came to his soldiers.
"I assure you, with all the resources I am putting into them, I have no plans to send them to their deaths," the Hokage said dryly, and Tsume looked down for a moment before glancing over to Kizashi. In her gaze he saw everything he himself was feeling - anger, helplessness, fear...he nodded, and as one they stood.
"Thank you for taking the time to speak with us, Hokage-sama," Kizashi said. The leader of their village looked at them with a sad, resigned air, and nodded.
"Of course."
They left together, and without discussing it headed to a sake bar that was open twenty four hours a day. They had sat down and downed a drink and asked for another before either spoke.
"Well, shit," Tsume said, and Kizashi couldn't help but agree with the sentiment.
The next two months were the most intense of Team Eight's life, and all of them regretted agreeing to the Hokage's request at one point or another. Kurenai wasn't kidding when she said they'd be training all day, every day.
They met on the village walls at six am, and Kurenai led them in a timed run around the perimeter - which was about twenty miles. She expected them to cut their time by at least five minutes every day. If they didn't, she forced them to run a second punishment lap.
Then, their sensei would put them through a series of stretches that was more painful than a relief and had them bending into shapes Sakura hadn't thought were physically possible. To her surprise, Kiba was was already extremely flexible.
"Aa, gotta be bendy to do our clan jutsus without tearin' anything," he said, and somehow shrugged while his legs were crossed behind his head. Sakura and Gaara had winced, and worked at getting their own less flexible limbs to cooperate.
They'd then go and eat breakfasts so large that Ino would probably pass out in horror if she saw before heading to the training grounds and sparring for a few hours or doing some sort of horrible 'survival' exercise that Kurenai thought up.
The afternoons were spent in an empty classroom in the Academy, to Kiba's horror.
They all learned about the flora and fauna in different regions throughout the elemental nations - what was edible, what was poisonous, how to find it, how to tell if water was contaminated and so on and so forth.
They also were given access to historical texts and scrolls that Sakura and Gaara could only have dreamed of before. Information was not something that was freely given in the shinobi world, and politics and history were especially shrouded in mystery.
Kiba didn't exactly take to that part, but Kurenai had just shrugged and said 'that's why you have a team' and started taking him out for extra combat lessons while Sakura and Gaara soaked up the information like green-eyed sponges.
They would then break for dinner, before separating to their individual training. Gaara went to the hospital to work under a medic-nin, Kiba stayed home to work on his clan jutsus, and Sakura headed back to the training grounds to work on her swordsmanship.
Her kenjutsu teacher was an ANBU member, to her surprise. Kurenai had introduced him as Rooster, then left them to it after giving Sakura a long bokken. Rooster was a brutal but efficient teacher. He only ever spoke to bark orders at or reprimand her, and she'd spent more than one practice in tears.
"I don't care if you cry while you do it, but you will hold your stance," he'd growled once, and she'd stared over at his red and white mask in surprise. It was the longest sentence he'd ever spoken to her.
On Saturdays they met a little later - eight am - and Kurenai spent the mornings putting them through their paces on genjutsu. They learned how to identify and dispel them in just about any conditions Kurenai could come up with.
It turned out that she'd gone easy - really easy - on them in their test. Kurenai was a genius illusionist. In fact, Sakura and Gaara's father had told them that she was considered the best genjutsu mistress in the village.
Akamaru couldn't be put under a genjutsu, so generally he got to laze around while they were being terrorized, confused, and generally humiliated by illusions.
They all agreed that the worst ones were the subtle, layered genjutsu that made your aim just a bit off, or had you seeing flickers of things that didn't exist out of the corners of your eyes, distracting them long enough for Kurenai to get a good hit in, or, on one particularly memorable occasion that they agreed to never speak of again, send them walking straight into a scummy, smelly pond.
On Saturday afternoons Gaara went back to the hospital, and Kiba and Akamaru went to a separate training ground with Rooster - who Sakura and Kiba agreed was both a talented shinobi and a horrible person - to 'get his ass kicked,' as Kiba liked to describe their sessions.
Kurenai had dryly explained that he was learning melee tactics against a single strong opponent or multiple opponents, when Rooster felt like bringing his team along.
"You're going to be facing people who are stronger, faster or just plain outnumber you frequently in your job.
The only way you'll be able to complete your mission and get yourselves home is by being better prepared and smarter than them. Rooster-san is one of the Hokage's best instructors for combat and survival - you should feel lucky that he's giving us so much of his time." She had given them a soft smile, but the glint in her eye told Sakura and Kiba that they had better show Rooster respect, or else they'd be running some extra laps of the village. Both of them shuddered.
Sakura stayed with Kurenai and started learning the subtle art of genjutsu while Akamaru and Kiba shuffled off with Rooster. And it really was subtle - the hardest part of casting good illusions wasn't the act itself, but the thought that went into it. Situational awareness, a more than passing knowledge of human psychology, and a creative mind were all just as important as excellent chakra control.
If she wove a genjutsu that barely changed the colors of the leaves around them, or forgot to have somebody's breath crystalize in the air on a cold day, it would give away the game to an observant enough person.
So Sakura weaved genjutsu after genjutsu under teacher's gentle but watchful eye until she was completely drained every Saturday. Kiba, Akamaru and Gaara would stumble back to the training grounds, looking worse for wear in different ways, and then Kurenai would take them out for a team dinner.
They spent the time reviewing the week - what they'd done right, what they'd done wrong, and discussing what they'd learned.
Sundays were their 'off' days, though in reality Gaara spent it calmly reading and memorizing the texts that his mentor at the hospital gave him, and Sakura used it to study geography, politics of the five great nations, and psychology, and Kiba studied battle tactics - the only form of studying he'd actually taken to. Of course, he also still fared much better in all of their sparring matches.
In general, they were tired, sore, and dirty about ninety percent of the time, and Sakura had taken to crawling into bed with Gaara and crying herself to sleep those first few weeks. If one of them faltered, however, the other two would be there to egg them on. Gaara with kind, soft words, Sakura with fists and threats, and Kiba with his unending sense of humor.
Five weeks after they started their brutal training regime, the four of them showed up to their usual starting point on the wall feeling refreshed after a whole day where they weren't being run ragged. Gaara had mastered the Mystical Palm Technique and brought a fish back to life that week - apparently the fastest anybody has learned it since Senju Tsunade herself. On Saturday he'd healed a nasty cut on Kiba's arm under Kurenai's watchful eye.
Today, however, Kurenai wasn't waiting for them alone. Standing with their sensei was Rooster, much to Sakura and Kiba's horror.
"Kurenai-sensei, Rooster-sensei, good morning," Sakura said a little nervously. Rooster inclined his head and Kurenai smiled at her, though it was a little strained.
"You four have done very well in your training. This week we're going to do something a little different. Rooster-san will be taking you on a survival exercise. The Hokage will be counting this as a C-rank mission." They looked at each other nervously. Because their situation was a little different than most genin, they'd been receiving a small stipend - equal to what most genin made while taking on the usual five to ten D-ranks a week, along with their official records stating that they had completed said D-ranks.
Kurenai had explained that the Hokage didn't want anybody to realize how much extra training they were receiving and drawing undue attention to themselves. If the intense schedule they'd been living was D-rank pay, than what in the world would a C-rank involve?
Their thoughts were cut off when Rooster threw them each a heavy pack, and motioned for them to follow him. After exchanging looks and sending a sympathetic-looking Kurenai a wave goodbye, they put on their packs and followed the black-clad nin. They were hard pressed to keep up with him, even with all of the extra running they'd been doing lately.
Finally, after twenty minutes, they came to a stop outside of a tall, ominous looking fence with a sign warning people to keep out without prior permission. "This is Training Ground 44," Rooster said gruffly. "It's the largest training ground in the village. This is where we will do our exercise. First, though, Sakura, give me your bokken. You're to complete the exercise without it."
She stiffened, but knew better than to argue, and unstrapped it from where it always sat on her back before handing it over. He had unlocked the gate, and motioned for them to go through.
Sakura looked over at Gaara with wide eyes. We're going to die!
Gaara pursued his lips. Perhaps, but if so there's no point in dwelling on it.
She looked at the dark, twisted trees on the other side of the fence with trepidation, ignoring the shifting in Rooster's posture that she knew meant he was getting impatient.
Finally, Kiba sighed, and strode forward, passing through the gate and turning to look at them with challenge written all over his face. Akamaru gave a small, encouraging bark, and with a sigh both of the Harunos entered the training grounds.
Rooster led them into the trees at a run, the three of them again struggling to keep up. He didn't go in a straight line, instead meandering this way and that without any apparent destination in mind. Finally, they came to a stop in a small clearing, and he turned to them.
"To survive the next few days, you will need to learn the following skill quickly," he said in his usual blunt manner, and the three genin exchanged nervous looks as Rooster walked to a tree, and then kept walking up the side of it.
"This is called tree walking," he said to the three gaping genin from where he was crouched upside down on a branch. "You accomplish this by feeding a steady stream of chakra into your feet. You have three hours to learn this."
He disappeared in a swirl of leaves, and the three genin stared at where he had been standing, before scrambling out of their packs and racing up to a tree. Kiba immediately tried to run up the side, and they winced as he was blown off of it, landing with an ooph of air on his back several feet away.
Gaara immediately ran to his side, scowl firmly in place as he scolded the sheepish boy.
"You used too much chakra, I think," Gaara explained once it was obvious Kiba was fine. "Try using less."
Sakura bit her lip and stared at the tree in front of her. Taking a deep breath, she made a hand sign to help her focus, and pushed a small amount of chakra into her feet. Tentatively, she put one foot on the tree in front of her, slowly increasing the amount of chakra flow until she was confident that her hold was solid.
She then put her other foot on the trunk, and carefully began to walk up the trunk, not stopping until she was on a branch high up in the air. She looked over to Gaara's tree and saw he had also figured out the exercise already. She smiled smugly - ha! Like we needed three hours, she thought to herself.
Then she looked at Kiba, who was scowling up at them from the ground, rubbing at his lower back. With a sigh, she walked back down the trunk to help her teammate.
Two hours later, Kiba was finally getting it down after judicious help from Gaara and Sakura.
They'd taken turns helping him and going through their packs to figure out exactly what they had.
"How are we supposed to survive for any amount of time on these supplies?" Sakura finally said with a scowl as she packed them back up. One pack had been entirely made up of extra kunai, explosive tags, and wire.
The other had two blankets, three empty water bottles, and some ration bars. The third was entirely made up of medical supplies, much to Gaara's joy. Sakura felt a twinge of guilt when she realized Kiba had been carrying the much heavier pack with weapons in it, and when she repacked the supplies she made sure to spread the weight more evenly.
They were practicing tree walking with the packs on their backs when Rooster returned. "You are to stay in the trees for the next two days. If you touch the ground, I will take one of your packs as punishment."
Sakura was suddenly very glad she had separated their supplies more evenly across packs, so each held equipment, medical supplies, and weapons. Losing one wouldn't be quite as devastating now.
"I am an enemy nin, and you are evading me in enemy territory. You have ten minutes before I follow." They glanced at eachother, and dashed up the nearest tree, stopping to take stock of their situation for a moment before exchanging a look.
"We'll need to jump between branches," Sakura whispered, and both boys nodded uneasily. "I'll go first, since I have better chakra control than Kiba. That way, I can try to catch you if you miss," she whispered.
Gaara frowned, but before he could protest Sakura gave him a look. "You're the medic-nin - we'll need you to heal us if something goes wrong, so you should take the least amount of chances."
Before he could argue, she turned to scan the trees around them, and chose a branch that was about ten feet away and big enough to allow for some error on her first try. Narrowing her eyes, she fed just enough chakra into her jump to hopefully make the distance without overshooting.
Her feet hit the trunk and started to skid. For a moment her stomach lurched and her arms pinwheeled, but then she was automatically pushing chakra into her feet and sticking them to the bark below them.
Grinning, she turned to her team, who were both sporting relieved smiles. Gaara went next, and was so close to undershooting his jump that half his feet were hanging off into the air, though he kept them from slipping the rest of the way with the application of chakra.
Kiba easily made the leap, and landed in a crouch next to them with a smirk. Sakura was pretty sure he hadn't even needed chakra at all, and was impressed and a little jealous. "Okay, we should probably get a move on," Kiba said, and Akamaru barked his agreement from his spot on Kiba's head. "Rooster-sensei isn't one for holding back."
Sakura snorted at that understatement, and after a few awkward starts, they were soon sailing through the trees. Rooster caught up to them in eleven minutes, and within three had beaten them all thoroughly, though somehow they managed to keep themselves in the canopy - Kiba more by accident, as he'd gotten wedged between two branches at an awkward angle.
"You need to suppress your chakra," Rooster growled as Gaara carefully healed a scratch on Sakura's arm from a kunai the ANBU member had thrown her way, and almost seemed to slump at their blank faces.
With a sigh, he made a hand sign that they all copied, and spent half an hour teaching them how to pull their chakra into themselves until it was compressed into a tight ball in their centers.
"Gaara, excellent. Sakura, you're close. Kiba, average. You have half an hour before I come for you," Rooster grunted out, and then was gone.
The next two days were torture. Rooster would pop out at them at random times, peppering them with fireballs and kunai, and after trouncing them he would give them gruff, fast instructions that were always very useful - if they could pick them up quickly.
Sakura was knocked out of a tree and lost her her pack twelve hours into the exercise, much to their dismay.
She hadn't had time to feel guilty, though, as Rooster had then pulled them into a lesson about how to use ninja wire tied to kunai as a way to redirect your momentum and hopefully recover from a fall.
At the end of the two days they were exhausted, hungry, thirsty, and in desperate need of a shower. Sakura's dress was singed at the bottom from where she hadn't dodged a fireball quickly enough, and Gaara had a tear up one pant leg from hem to knee.
Kiba's jacket had holes and bloodstains on it, and poor Akamaru no longer had a pristine white coat. In other words, they were all ready to go home.
Rooster stared them all down from behind his mask. "You've learned a lot these past two days," he began, and they couldn't help but glow a little at the almost-compliment. "It will make the next stage easier on you," he continued, and they all stilled.
"Next...stage?" Sakura squeaked, and he hummed.
"That's right - survival in a hostile area. I'll return for you in ten days. Don't die." Once again they were left staring at the spot where their sensei had been standing, shocked into silence.
It was only a few hours later that they discovered what their sensei had meant by hostile territory. They'd decided to take a much needed sleeping break in the trees before coming up with a game plan - Rooster hadn't allowed them more than half an hour of rest at a time for the past two days.
All three fell asleep feeling surly and dejected, because ten days was a long time with the supplies they had on hand. They'd managed to keep the other two packs, but they'd still lost a third of their medical supplies and food and one of their two blankets.
They were woken two hours later by a swarm of large flying centipedes. It just went downhill from there.