Chapter 2: Rainy Days

~oOo~

The new day started with crusty and still slightly puffy eyes for Sakura. Groaning, she stopped her alarm clock from further terrorizing her. The first thing on her agenda was to get out of yesterday's dirty clothes.

'A shower…I really need a shower' she thought with some disgust.

She should also probably change her bedsheets, but she just could not be bothered at the moment. No matter how annoyed she would be with herself later.

Getting up she stumbled to her closet for something fresh to wear. After successfully grabbing another outfit, she found her way to the bathroom and took a long, well deserved shower. Her thoughts drifted off while thinking about the day ahead.

She did not want to face her team. She did not want to see them, talk to them or take a mission with them. Especially after yesterday. The idea to just go back to bed and pretend the world would stop for her until she felt ready to meet up with them again was terribly tempting. Her belly ached.

She stepped out of the shower and mechanically brushed her teeth and put on her clothes.

As she knew she needed to get a move on, no matter her reluctance, so she finished her morning routine, forced herself to at least eat some dry bread for a bit of energy and left her home.

She made her way to Training Ground 3, contemplating what kind of disaster this day would turn into. The pinkette hoped the mission to catch Tora would be handled by some other poor suckers. Maybe this would be her lucky day? No Tora, if the stars aligned they might even finish their mission without any problems, arguments or accidents.

'Please' she thought rather desperately.

In a daze she took out one her library books, one on advanced anatomy, settled down for a long wait and started to read. She did her best to ignore her teammates when they arrived, this was her only way to improve herself at this point and she could not waste the time she did have. Before she knew it she became fully engrossed in the knowledge at the tip of her fingers.

~oOo~

"Yo" Hatake-san's arrival interrupted her in the middle of a most interesting chapter about the nervous system.

"YOU ARE LATE!" came the incensed scream of the loud blonde.

If their team leader noticed that the shrill voice normally accompanying the Uzumaki was missing, he did not let it show. Sakura could not muster the energy today – even though she normally took some vindictive pleasure in making her voice pitch just right for maximum effect after she had found out that he had heightened senses. Petty as it was, it was the one way she felt comfortable letting her anger out with.

"Maa, sorry I am late, I had to teach a young fledgling how to fly, you see, its parents weren't around and it definitely needed help. I couldn't just leave it there, you know…"

'If only you were this concerned about your team' thought Sakura uncharitably.

"LIAR!"

"Calling your sensei a liar is not nice. I am hurt." The unpunctual menace of a man said in a cheerful voice. "We really should not waste any more time. Chop chop" he continued as if the late start of their day was not his own damn fault.

"Ne ne Kakashi-sensei, what are we going to do today? Are we going to train?! I came up with the most awesome combo with my clones and…" Naruto started to babble, apparently not even noticing that they were leaving the training ground behind, which meant that they were going for a mission first thing.

"Hmm? Oh, first things first! We need to grab our payment from yesterday, afterwards I have reserved a nice little mission for my cute little students."

"Ha! I knew it! The mean granny totally overreacted yesterday, dattebayo!"

"Actually, Sakura-chan here felt so bad about messing up the mission for the kind old woman, that she turned back around and fixed the damage all on her own. That means the mission was marked as a success and we get paid."

Sasuke-kun just hned. Was that even a word? She was pretty sure it was not, but the Uchiha had certainly successfully made it into one for her.

"Whoa, Sakura-chan, you did? YATTA! Ichiraku here I come! That's at least four bowls of ramen! Uhh what to choose, what to choose…Ne Sakura-chan, we should go together! Like a date!" In comparison the blonde had a more enthusiastic reaction.

"I am not interested Naruto." she said shortly.

"Oh come on Sakura-chan, it's gonna be fun! You will love Ichiraku, Teuchi-ojisan makes the best ramen in all of Konoha!"

"No means no" she repeated firmly.

"But Sakura-chaaaaaan!" he whined.

"NO!"

"But –"

"Maa, calm down, we are here" Hatake-san finally interrupted. The pinkette felt ever so slightly bitter that he did not take Naruto to task for his continued harassment of her. She was under no illusion that he would have interfered if they had not arrived at the mission desk. He never stopped the blonde.

And so they ambled to the Chunin on duty, which once again was Iruka-sensei. Apparently if he was not at the Academy, he was a firm presence in the tower. They got their paychecks and Iruka-sensei gave her a discreet thumbs up and a wink before accepting to meet up with Naruto later for ramen.

Sakura suppressed the urge to scream violently. Yes, she had not acted according to protocol the day before, but this was a bit too much. First Hatake-san implicated that she herself had messed up the mission yesterday, when that failure was completely her teammates fault. Second he made clear that they would all get paid for her hard work, which the other two just happily accepted, Naruto making immediate plans for the money and there was not a single thank you or acknowledgement in sight. Thirdly Iruka-sensei behaved like he had done her a huge favour, and maybe he had, but she was at her wits end and did not want to feel like she was the one who had done wrong, when the others behaviour hurt her so much.

Even a rebuke from any of them would be quite welcome in comparison to her efforts being once again ignored. She was so sick and tired of them taking taking taking and never giving anything back.

"So what kind of mission are we doing today? Are we finally going to do something cool? Oh man, do we get to safe a princess? Or! We could protect some super-secret powerful ninjutsu scroll or we could…!"

Sakura wondered if Naruto was actually certifiable insane – after all they said that someone who went through the same motions and expected a different outcome was just that. When would he learn that they were Genin and had to complete a certain amount of D-Ranks before even being considered for a C-Rank? And what was that talk about super-secret scrolls?

"Why, our mission is really important. You see the Fire Daimyo's wife is in great turmoil and it is our job to set her heart at ease."

Naruto's eyes started glistening in anticipation.

'Turns out this isn't my lucky day, surprise' thought Sakura.

"I am afraid Tora has escaped once more. It is our duty to return him safely to his mistress. Shijimi-sama is counting on us" Hatake-san continued with fake seriousness. She was sure he was taking some sadistic pleasure out of this.

"NOOO! Kakashi-sensei, why does a talented ninja like myself have to waste his time looking for that evil thing?! Let someone else do that stupid mission and get us something better!"

"Ma, not so loud Naruto-kun. This really is an important mission, Shijimi-sama's distress could have terrible consequences for the Land of Fire and Konoha. Besides, this also doubles as a good teamwork exercise. Mission and training in one! Did you not say you wanted to train when we met up?"

Sakura understood the dig at her just fine. Teamwork indeed. Message received Hatake-san, message received. She wanted so badly to straight out tell him to just punish her officially and let that be the end, his passive-aggressive assholery was not appreciated at all.

"This is not what I meant and you know it, Kakashi-sensei" Naruto grumbled downtrodden, but did not stay that way for long: "We will just have to finish this stupid mission in record time then! Afterwards we can actually go and do something useful!"

"That's the spirit." Hatake-san commented dryly.

"Let's just get started" Sasuke-kun muttered and turned around to head outside. The rest of Team 7 followed him. Sakura just hoped that they would get the mission done as quickly as Naruto wanted them to.

~oOo~

Yamanka Soru was typically not the type to let anything get him down for long. Still he had a hard time trying to find positives in his current situation. The four year mark would be up in October. He would be lucky to be an official student until then.

Around him the last remaining Sakura-petals were softly swirling through the air. Hanami season was coming to an end. What should be enjoyed for its beauty now just meant that time was ticking for him, there were less than six months left.

Six months until he would be shipped off to the Genin Corps.

Six months until he might lose his clan status.

The urge to poison something, preferably Maketa, was consuming him. He took a deep breath.

It was not that he could not understand the reasoning behind the Four-Year-Rule. Jonin were too precious to be off the field for too long. Four years should be more than enough to get a bunch of Genin to Chunin-level. Those who had not made it by then probably lacked the talent to climb up the hierarchy and were better left to the Genin Corps.

The problem in his team's case was not the lack of talent or ability – according to Kawaru-sensei he and Kotai had reached High-Chunin level and were pushing Low-Jonin in their specialities – but their terrible luck. Team 13 indeed.

Technically speaking a Jonin-Track-Genin had eight chances to complete the Chunin Exams until their four years with their sensei were up. The first two chances – three and nine months after graduation respectively – were typically not used at all. Genin who had spent less than a year training under a Jonin were very rarely recommended for the exam.

Team 13, while completely consisting of clan-members, was still a team geared towards information gathering and data-processing. The only one with a strong combat ability had been Maketa. Kawaru-sensei had wisely decided to only nominate them for the exam for their third possible try. That was where their misfortune started.

The January-Exams in 374 had been held in Kusa. They had made it through the first round successfully, but had a bad run in with some Kusa-Genin during the second round. They had been surrounded by two teams of poison-specialists. It was only thanks to Kotai's quick thinking and him dragging both Maketa and Soru out, that they did not die. The failure smarted, but was quite understandable considering their circumstances. Soru swore to himself never to be that helpless in the face of such a threat again and had taken up a Poison-Specialisation himself as a result. He had seen how effective they could be and they fit his fighting style perfectly.

No Konoha-Team participated in the following exam, as it was held in Iwa. The relationship between their countries was far from good enough for their village to dare to send a team there.

As Team 13's cursed luck would have it, the January-Exams of 375 were held in Kumo. While some Konoha-teams had been sent to that exam, none who held a Kekkai Genkai were among them. Maketa was a Hyuuga, his participation was never on the table. Kotai and Soru could have pushed for a replacement to be allowed to participate, but they decided that they would just tackle the following exam together, after all, the situation was not Maketa's fault and there was time for more exams left. They were a bit disgruntled, true, but teamwork had long been drilled into them and they would not leave Maketa high and dry.

They should have.

For while they would not just turn their back on their teammate for better opportunities, he did not return the favour.

Both Kotai and Soru had been too heavily injured to participate in the Summer-Exams that year. A mission had gone wrong. Maketa had only been superficially injured and had teamed up with Team 12, whose third member had passed during the Kumo-Exams.

Maketa passed and became a Chunin.

He left for the Chunin Corps and hardly looked at any member of his original team. Since then Team 13 consisted only of Kawaru-seinsei, Kotai and him. They were competent enough by then not to need a fourth member when running missions.

For the Chunin Exams that was not enough. You needed a full team of three Genin to participate, no matter an individual's strength.

When they asked around the Jonin-Trackies, the only Genin available was his own cousin, Yamanaka Ichiko, who had preferred to team up with someone else, citing that two Yamanka on the same team would be too easily countered and would leave the team unbalanced. Soru did not believe a word of that bullshit, Ichiko had always had a mean streak and they did not get along. The asshole was just that petty.

They had been forced to ask a member of the Genin Corps to take the Taki-Exam with them. One had been found easily, eager as they all were to get out of the pit. The boy – Soru had pointedly banished his name from his mind – had been extremely cocky and excited, only to lose his nerves during the first part of the exams and getting them all disqualified.

Which all led to this point, they were more than ready, more than qualified and utterly at their wits end, because their eighth try would be the Kiri-Exams in July. Not a single Jonin-Track-Genin or Career-Genin was desperate enough to take the test with them.

If they did not miraculously find anyone to be the third member Kotai and he needed, they would have used up all their chances of advancing. Despite their talents they would be thrown out of the Jonin-Track.

Clan-members were not supposed to end up in the Genin Corps, it would be a huge scandal. The honor and strength of their clan would come into question, as well as its importance to Konoha.

Soru shuddered just thinking about it.

To mitigate the damage done to their clans and to safe face – something more important in the shinobi-world than most realized – most clans typically disowned these Genin.

That would include sealing away all knowledge of clan matters and techniques, as well as being left without a family and a home.

Soru felt cold. The need to grab one of his poisoned senbon was great, if for no other reason than the feeling of control and safety it stirred in him.

That reminded him, he needed to stock up on some herbs.

Taking another deep breath and trying to banish his tumultuous thoughts, he changed directions and headed to Himeno-san's.

Yasashi Himeno had long been a part of the Yamanka-network. While in the beginning clans like the Yamanaka and Nara had grown their own herbs and flowers, it soon became apparent that the demand was much higher than what they could supply on their own. As such some of it has long since been outsourced.

This particular woman had worked with the Yamanaka for over thirty years. She had been one of the people Soru had first sought out when he decided to pursue poisons.

Ringing the doorbell he waited patiently for the old lady to open the door.

"Oh, Soru-kun, good morning! Here for some supplies?"

"Ah, Himeno-san, you know me so well." He gave her a charming smile.

"Hmpf, it's not like you just come over for tea to keep an old woman some company. Youth these days…." She teased him slightly with a twinkle in her eyes and stepped out of her home, beckoning Soru to follow her to her greenhouse.

"I know, I know…and do you know what? It just keeps getting worse, I swear, the kids back at the compound are some mouthy little monsters, intent on giving everyone around them heart attacks!" the blonde agreed with her playfully.

"Ha, your warning comes too late, you should have seen the spectacle a bunch of new Genin made here yesterday, I swear, those two boys did not have two brain cells to rub together between them. The girl turned out to be lovely though. Poor thing – she will probably have to save them from their own stupidity countless times." Himeno-san reported.

They arrived at the greenhouse, a tube-like construct made out of special glass panels. With a speed that belied her age, she slightly sliced at one of her fingers and pressed a bit of blood on a hidden indent on the door. A brief glow and a pointed 'click' later the greenhouse was open to them. For all that she was not a shinobi, her herbs were worth a lot and could be dangerous in the wrong hands. The Yamanaka ensured all their suppliers, even the civilians, had a form of security that was not that easily bypassed.

"Oh? Do tell." Soru encouraged her. Gossip was always good to have. Hearing about other teams' misfortunes was also a bit of a consolation. He took what he could get.

Listening to Himeno-san's story while examining some of her herbs and choosing the best ones for his purposes, he began to wonder just how much one could actually mess up a fairly straight forward D-Rank of all things. If he understood it right – and considering that he heard her mention a Jonin-sensei accompanying them, he was actually very sure he was right – these were members of the Jonin-Track. These were the top students in their year. Konoha was doomed. This could not be the heiresses' team, right? The Nara and Akimichi were too smart and respectful to be involved in such a mess.

There were only two other Jonin-Track teams this time around. One with the Hyuuga-Aburame-Inuzuka heirs and one with the Uchiha and the Jinchuriki.

"…and then that blonde idiot…"

Team Uchiha-Uzumaki-Unknown it was. Sounded like an explosive mix. Soru mused as he carefully packed his haul away.

"…left. The little dear turned around and offered to fix what she could. Did an excellent job, too. Really, I feel bad for her. She seemed quite exhausted. I would be too if I had to spend my day with that team. I invited her in for tea, she looked like she needed it, and we got to talk; apparently this is not the first time those two messed up…"

He felt for the girl if that is what she had to put up with, but worried about how willing she was to complete the mission on her own. Not only was that disobeying orders, but the lack of teamwork she showed did not sound promising to him.

'This is not how teams are supposed to work' Soru thought, suppressing the frown that wanted to form on his face.

"…From what she told me, those two are walking disasters. I guess she can only pray to find some sponsor to train her in a speciality, it would at least give her a bit of breathing room, if she had some hours away from them. Everyone needs a break once in a while after all, don't you agree?"

Abruptly coming to a stop at the direct question, a wild thought hit Soru.

"I completely agree with you, Himeno-san" he said seriously, as if his thoughts had not taken him to a somewhat different direction before.

"That's what I thought. Got everything you need dear?" the old lady asked kindly.

"Yes, you are the best Himeno-san. I really need to go now though, sent me the bill, will you?"

"What's with you youngsters always being on the run? Well then, of course. Get going. Maybe next time you will just come over for some tea and company. An old woman can only hope."

"One of these days I will." Soru promised charmingly as he leapt away.

Time for some information gathering.

~oOo~

Sakura could do little more than to stare ahead blankly in horror. Once again a trail of destruction had followed Team 7. Her headache attested to how messy it had all gotten.

'At least the mission was a success' she thought desperately trying to find a silver lining.

That had to count for something, right?

Hokage-sama looked distinctively unimpressed at the dirty and scratched up youth before him.

The pinkette tried to be unobtrusive, she did not dare make eye contact with her leader or the Chunin on duty. Seeing their exasperation and the judgement on their faces was more than she could handle at the moment. So she just stood still and tried to become one with the scenery.

A bit of sludge – she did not know what it was for sure – slid down her arms and landed with a dull 'thud' on the floor. She cringed. In the background Shijimi-sama was still enthusiastically celebrating her reunion with Tora and Sakura could only hope that that had masked the sound somewhat.

"Dismissed."

'Thank goodness'

"I guess that's it for today then, any objections?" Hatake-san asked casually.

"Hn."

"RAMEN TIME!"

For once Team 7 was in agreement and fled the office together, their Jonin instructor's chuckles accompanying them.

On her way to a glorious shower, Sakura had to pass the Market District once more. She could still spot produce where there should be none. The poor merchant's scream of "MY CABBAGES!" continued to echo in her mind hours later. It was unfortunately not his first disastrous encounter with her team. A part of her wondered how long it would take until he put a hit on them, if for no other reason than self-protection.

Heck, she wanted to put a hit on the others for far more petty reasons. Committing treason sounded sweeter every day.

Quickly she made her way through the winding streets, not wanting to spend more time on what could be considered their crime scene than absolutely necessary. Maybe she should have taken a detour home, but the siren call of her bathroom was too strong.

In record time she had cleaned herself up and left for the library. She hoped to finish her book on anatomy the next day and was on the lookout for more reading material. As she reached her destination and calm settled over her. She loved the smell of parchment and ink. Sunlight filtered softly through the few windows and the tomes and scrolls in the bookshelves promised unexplored knowledge. While not as wonderful as the Haruno Library, here she was much more likely to find the relevant information. The Harunos after all were civilians.

The librarian greeted her politely as always.

"Hello Sakura-chan, already finished with your latest haul?"

"Just about. I would like to return these."

"Of course, dear" Efficiently the woman checked the books for damage, nodded contently when she found none and noted the return in Sakura's file.

"Well then, good hunting!"

She smiled happily and wondered over to the Genin Section. Another member of staff was seated in front of it and checked her ID before waving her through. A small bit of chakra allowed her to pass the barrier protecting the data kept there.

Anticipation filled her. She had decided to actually go for the Ninjutsu this time. Before, she had still waited for Hatake-san to instruct her, something she had now all but given up on. Special Paper would have allowed her to know her elemental affinity, which in turn would have been the most logical starting point in her Ninjutsu-training… the Jonin had not delivered. As only Chunin and above were cleared to purchase the paper, her affinity remained elusive to her.

In all likelihood it was fire, considering that that was the most common affinity to be found in Konoha. Sakura would like to know for sure though.

In the end she decided she could no longer wait around. She needed to broaden her horizons and seeing both Sasuke-kun and Naruto perform high level Ninjutsu had left her anxious to add to her own repertoire. Besides, their current Hokage was famous for his use of all five elements; predisposition towards one made things easier, but learning others was not impossible. It just required more work and she was unafraid to put in the hours needed.

This meant that Sakura had to adept her original plan and instead of starting with a certain element, she would instead start with what looked most practical and was the least likely to blow up in her face without supervision.

Of course even this did not work out as well as she had hoped for. The Ninjutsu Section was depressingly small and mostly filled with theoretical knowledge about basic chakra composition and Handseal-Guides. Honestly, how many of those did one village need? Jutsu were few and far between. Even if they were only E- and D-Ranked ones, shinobi disliked giving any of their secrets away and hoarded any and all advantages they could. A mentality she understood and cursed now at the same time.

That did not mean that she did not find anything of use, thankfully. After a lot of consideration she chose free different jutsu to start with:

Katon: Hibana no Jutsu

Suiton: Izumi no Jutsu

Doton: Kudo no Jutsu

The first was an E-ranked jutsu that would allow her to start a small campfire. She of course knew how to do that without a jutsu and it was not nearly as impressive as Sasuke-kun's Great Fireball, but you never knew when things like that came in handy. After all what if she was separated from her mission gear and had no access to a flint? Or if her surroundings were so wet, that the wood did not catch fire easily? It was nice to have options.

The second, Izumi no Jutsu, was the one she was most eager to learn. The D-ranked jutsu would allow her to attract a small amount of water from her surroundings and the ground, giving her access to drinkable water wherever she was. In theory at least, she doubted it would be effective in an environment like Suna. Still something far too useful to pass up, careful rationing of resources was something emphasized in the Academy for a reason.

The third was another D-ranked jutsu. It could make earth and stone more malleable and was used as a carving tool. Shelter was important on missions and this would help her create a more suitable one should there be the need.

They might not be that impressive and in a fight pretty much useless, but shinobi life was not all about fighting, it was also about surviving. These jutsu would certainly help Sakura with the latter. None of them were likely to have dire consequences should she fail to perform them correctly either, so she felt confident in her ability to train in their usage on her own.

As she checked the relevant scrolls out she was reminded not to leave them out in the open, but to secure them in one way or another at all times. This was a protocol she had come to be aware of ever since entering the Genin Archive. There was actually quite a bit of red tape and regulations involved in accessing these sections of the library. NDAs, terms of service, restrictions, obligations…the stack of paperwork she had to sign to be allowed into it might have been intimidating to others, but Sakura had gleefully filled it all out in a few hours. She wondered how many Genin decided it was just not worth the hassle and never visited.

No matter, their lack of drive was not her problem.

Determined to finish her book and get started on the Ninjutsu, she made her way home once again and settled in for a quiet evening.

'Oh blessed silence, how I adore thee'

Now, showered and equipped with new reading material, her day seemed to look up in its later hours. With a bit of luck her headache would ebb away soon too.

"SAKURA-DEAR, YOU HAVE A VISITOR!"

She cursed silently.

'I jinxed it, didn't I?'

But she could not deny being very curious about who would actually visit her.

'Please don't be Team 7 related, please don't be Team 7 related…' she chanted in her mind. She had enough of them for the day.

"COMING!"

The cabbage-man could not really have sent someone after them, right?

Sakura and her continued struggles on Team 7 and we get to know Soru some more :)

This chapter focuses a bit more on the characters and the way they interact.

I fought with this chapter a bit as I had to cut it in half and work it over as it got too long. It does not flow as well as I would like, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway ^-^