Naruto's first mission had not been as positive an experience as Sakura's and Gaara's.
They sat cross legged on his apartment floor, Sakura wrinkling her nose at the mess around them but gamely suffering through it.
Her brother had noticed that Naruto seemed uncharacteristically subdued when they saw him in front of the Hokage tower early that day, so here they were, having brought ramen from Ichiraku's in an attempt to cheer him up.
Sakura's jaw had dropped as Naruto told them about their mission, enthusiastic in parts and sad in others.
"So...they died?" Sakura asked in a soft voice when he told them about the missing nin he'd befriended and then been pitted against, and Naruto nodded.
Most people probably wouldn't be that upset if someone they'd only met once had been killed, but Naruto had always held his connections close to his heart.
"I just...we're more than just tools, aren't we?" he asked Gaara in a pleading voice.
"We are," her brother agreed. "Shinobi are people first," he said thoughtfully.
"If your friend was just a mere tool, he would not have felt so strongly for his master, after all. He would not have the emotional capacity to conceptualize what a precious person would even be."
Naruto blinked a little at that, obviously breaking apart what Gaara had said, before nodding once and smiling brightly.
"You're right! You and Sakura are two of my precious people, you know," he said, and Sakura had to hold back a grin when Gaara blushed.
Really, his crush was just cute, even if the person he was crushing on was extremely annoying.
Case in point: "So, Sakura, now that I've proven I'm an amazing and talented ninja, do you want to go on a -"
His downstairs neighbors' dinner was interrupted as an orange, wailing streak fell past their kitchen window, causing them to pause midbite in consternation.
The next day Kiba looked between the two twins, mouth opening and closing a few times before he wisely decided to say nothing at all. He'd always wondered what a fight between the siblings would look like. He should have figured it would consist of meaningful looks and angry silence.
Sakura was practicing moving around underground as the next step of the Hidden Mole technique, and Kiba was attempting to include Akamaru in the jutsu. If he could hide both of them underground, that would give them a major edge.
Kurenai had been intrigued by the idea, and had spent the morning going through the theory on it. Since he and Akamaru had identical chakra - one of the side effects of their partnership - it was possible.
They separated at lunch, Gaara to go to the hospital, Sakura for her torture session with Rooster, and Kiba to work with his mom on their clan techniques.
When they met back up for their evening run around the village and the siblings still weren't talking, he decided he'd had enough.
"What the hell crawled up your asses?" he hissed, and was immediately pierced with two identical glares. He just huffed and crossed his arms. "Don't give me that. It's not fair to make Akamaru and I suffer because you two are being pissy.
What could have happened in the one day we had off?"
Sakura broke first, surprisingly. "Apparently I'm supposed to allow Gaara's friends to slobber all over me in an attempt to keep them from 'feeling sad,'' she hissed, and Kiba blinked.
Gaara had friends? The only one he knew of outside of himself and Sakura was - oh, okay, that made sense.
"I do not, but a simple 'no' would suffice. You hardly needed to throw him out of a three story window!" Gaara replied, voice heated. A three story window? Damn, that was cold.
"I've said no! I've said it in about fifty different ways. But you take his side every time, because you -" Sakura cut herself off and glanced at Kiba furtively, and Gaara blushed.
They both went silent as they stood from their stretches, and Kiba thought about what they'd said as they took off into a light jog for their first lap. A smart man would probably stay out of this argument but, well, he left the heavy thinking to his teammates. He was an action-oriented guy.
"Seems to me, if someone doesn't listen to 'no' the first time, Sakura has every right to toss him out the window. Somebody disrespected my sister like that, I'd help her hide the body."
He'd been raised by two independent women, after all, and had a different perspective than some male shinobi. It bothered him when people treated his mother or sister like something they had a right to, just because they found them attractive.
Of course, they only made that mistake once before Hana and Tsume straightened them out - aggressively.
Gaara sent him a betrayed look, and Kiba shrugged, unmoved. "I know Naruto doesn't mean any harm by it, but if it makes Sakura uncomfortable, than he should stop.
You want me to talk to him, Sakura?" he said casually, and to his surprise, she stopped running, staring at him in surprise.
"I - you'd do that for me?" she asked, voice bewildered. "I mean, no, I - I can handle it. I just. Thank you, for offering." Kiba rubbed the back of his neck, then shrugged.
"No problem. My mom would kick my ass if I harassed a girl after she turned me down. Though, Naruto never had anybody to teach him why it's not okay. He'd probably stop if somebody explained it to him."
Gaara blinked at him, then looked at his sister.
"I - never thought of it that way," Gaara finally said, and Sakura crossed her arms and looked away.
"No, you just thought I was being mean because he's annoying."
Gaara looked down at his feet. "I'm sorry. You're right, I should have sided with you."
Sakura bit her lip and glanced at Gaara, then stepped forward and hugged him when she saw his miserable expression. "It's fine, I know you're protective of him because of how everybody treats him. And I am kind of mean to him sometimes for no reason."
Gaara returned her hug. "Still, I should have thought about it from your perspective. I will speak with him."
"I can handle it myself -" she started, and he stepped back, face a familiar mask of stubborness.
"I know you can, but it's important that somebody explain it to him. Like Kiba said, he's never had anybody to tell him these things.
And I'm not sure you have the...patience that the conversation will require."
Kiba just snorted. "Understatement," he grumbled, and grinned when she glared at him.
After a moment, though, her eyes softened.
"Sorry we dragged you into our fight, Kiba," she said, and he shrugged, then moved back into a jog.
"Nah, that's what teammates are for, right?" he said and was rewarded with two smiles and a happy bark from Akamaru.
The next day, Kurenai stopped them before they could start in on practice. "I have something important to talk to you about." They exchanged looks, then turned back to her.
"What is it, sensei?" Gaara asked, and she smiled at them.
"Nothing bad. Actually, I've nominated you for the chunin exams, and it was approved." She was met with three blanks stares, and sighed. "They're international competitions that are held once a year. Allied villages use them as a chance to showcase talent, build international relations, and decide who should or should not be promoted to chunin."
Sakura frowned. "But...we've only been genin for five months," she said. "Doesn't it usually take a year on average to be promoted?''
Kurenai nodded. "Yes. Honestly, the goal here isn't promotion. I just think this will be good practice for you all, and a way to get some first hand experience with foreign shinobi.
Not to mention it puts you in combat situations in a controlled environment. That does not mean," she said in a sharp tone of voice that they knew better than to argue with, "that this is not dangerous. People die in these exams. I want you to think carefully on whether you want to attend. If you don't feel you're ready, that's fine. We can wait for next year's."
The three of them exchanged thoughtful looks, and Sakura already knew they'd agree. Any chance to get experience was something they couldn't turn down. Kurenai seemed to catch on, because she smiled ruefully.
"The exams start in a week and a half. They're being held jointly between Suna and Konoha.
Generally, they only take place in one village, but Konoha offered to have Suna co-host this year as part of our continued efforts to jump-start their economy."
At her students' questioning looks, she explained. "Many people come from other countries to watch the tournaments or network, so it brings in a lot of tourism. Sand has worked hard to rebuild, this is a good way to get people to take a chance on them."
They nodded their understanding, and Kurenai held out a stack of papers to them. "The first two rounds are in Suna. If you decide to attend, fill these out and bring them to me tomorrow. We would leave in four days."
Sakura glanced at her parents, then at Gaara. They had been acting strange since their mission to Wind Country. She knew that they weren't happy about the direction Gaara and she were taking with their careers - what parent would be? - but this level of tenseness was overkill.
They'd asked leading questions about people they'd met while they were there, and whether they'd met any Sand shinobi. They'd seen a few at a distance, but not talked to any of them, and for some reason her parents had seemed relieved about it.
Gaara had suggested that maybe they were worried about them having a run in with shinobi after hearing the rumors going around about Team Seven's mission.
Sakura hadn't been able to think of any other explanation, and had accepted it.
Their reaction to Team Eight's plan to travel to Suna for the chunin exams was making Sakura think they'd been wrong about the reasons behind their weird behavior.
"You're too young! You should wait a year, take this time to continue training," Kizashi said. Sakura glanced at her mother, whose face was white, lips pursed and eyes wide.
"Kurenai-sensei says it would be just for practice," Sakura said soothingly. "I don't think she actually expects us to be promoted."
"These exams are dangerous. I can't believe she'd be so cavalier with your safety," Kizashi said, and slammed his cup of sake down on the table with an unnecessary amount of force. "Plus, Suna is still in upheaval. You should stay far away from it until it's back on its feet."
Gaara frowned. "Sensei says that Sand is doing well in its rebuilding efforts -"
"I forbid it," Kizashi said abruptly, and Sakura and Gaara gaped at their father. He was generally very easy going, and despite his unhappiness with their choice of specialization, had always been supportive of their decision to become shinobi.
"Dad you...can't actually do that," Sakura finally settled on. The conversation just went downhill from there.
They met at the gates four days later, Sakura and Gaara with identical faces of annoyance - their father had remained steadfast in his disapproval of their decision to participate in the exams, and had been horrible to live with as a result.
Sakura glanced over at Ino's team, who were standing a few feet away.
Kurenai was smiling at Asuma as they discussed the route they'd be taking, and Ino was loudly lecturing her male teammates on the importance of not embarrassing her.
Apparently they'd heard it all before, because Chouji was steadily making his way through a bag of rice balls, nodding periodically, and Shikamaru was leaning against the wall, expression grumpy and arms crossed over his chest.
Team Seven had just arrived, and Sakura waved at Hinata, who was glancing back and forth between Naruto and Sasuke as they bickered. Surprise, surprise.
Naruto stopped talking when he saw them, and immediately went solemn when he spotted Sakura. Looks like Gaara had found the time to talk to him about his Sakura-stalking. To have been a fly on that wall...
After years of being followed around by Naruto, Sakura had doubted that it would make a difference, but to her surprise, he just gave a small wave and greeting instead of yelling out her name or telling her she looked pretty.
Huh, Gaara really did have some special talent in Naruto communication.
"Dynamic entry!" Sakura jumped as the silence of the early morning was broken by two green blurs appearing in front of Team Seven. Sakura gaped at the large man wearing spandex that was now leaning into Hatake Kakashi's personal space.
"Hmm? Did somebody say something?" Kakashi said in a bored voice, eye riveted on his book.
"Eternal Rival! I challenge you to complete this journey walking on our hands! The first to falter loses!" He struck a pose, and a miniature version of him with oddly shaped overly round eyes and bushy eyebrows stared at him in obvious worship.
"As usual, my rival is so hip and cool, but you cannot get out of this challenge that easily!" The man yelled. Kakashi continued to read.
"Gai-sensei! I too will partake in this challenge. You!" the smaller version of the man harassing Kakashi pointed at Sasuke.
"Are you Uchiha Sasuke, rumored genius and student of my sensei's eternal rival?"
Sasuke stared at him, looking him up and down with disdain, and scoffed before turning away.
"Aha! I will prove that I, a genius of effort, can beat the genius of circumstance in any challenge!"
Sakura exchanged glances with Gaara and Kiba as the drama continued to unfold - Gai and his student goading Sasuke and Kakashi until suddenly all four of them had taken to their hands and were darting out of the village, feet in the air.
It was...truly undignified. Even Naruto looked a little shell shocked.
Sakura looked over at their abandoned teammates. "Um. You guys can walk with us," she offered, and found herself following the four challengers at a more sedate pace in the company of girls her own age while their male teammates followed behind.
Tenten was a little quiet and focused, but she pulled Sakura into a conversation about her katana, which had appeared at the end of her bed the day after Kurenai had announced their nomination.
Sakura had assumed it was her mother who had put it there, though she had just smiled mysteriously when Sakura asked about it. She knew better than to make a big deal of it, considering her father's stance on them attending the exams.
Rooster had told her to start carrying it strapped beside her bokken, and spent four brutal hours practicing with her so she'd get used to using a naked blade. He'd then warned her only to draw it when she intended to draw blood - otherwise she should stick to the bokken. Rooster was just a ball of sunshine.
The sheath was black, as was the handle, the only spot of color an engraved cherry tree blossom just below the top of the hilt. Sakura, of course, loved it, and had already spent a ridiculous amount of time admiring and cleaning it.
All in all, as they walked through the fresh, warm summer air, her team at her side while she enjoyed the company of their fellow genin, Sakura couldn't help but feel optimistic about the upcoming exams. After all, what could be worse than training with Rooster-sensei?
The end.
I hope you enjoyed this story a lot.
Thanks for reading!