Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
A/N: Same thing as before, if you catch and big mistakes or things that don't flow, let me know. Thanks for all your patience!
In a secluded orchard, Sasuke trained. He ran, he jumped, he threw shuriken and kunai, hitting his mark each time. His body hurt from the brutal physical training but he wouldn't allow himself to take a break, even though he knew he had a long mission the next day.
Not for the first time, Sasuke was furious at himself. Why had he started that stupid fight with Kiba? Why had he let the other boy get to him so much? Why had he let his pride get in the way? Why was he not doing hard missions? Why had he not achieved Itachi's level of Sharingan and skill? For that matter, why was he not killed Itachi yet? The more he questioned himself, the angrier Sasuke got, and the angrier he was, the more he pushed his body. The rage built and built in him until he couldn't even see what he was doing. Couldn't see, that is, until he was suddenly knocked flat on his back, hard.
A familiar face and blond hair appeared in his view, looking down on him as he caught his breath.
"Naruto."
"Sasuke, for working out so hard, you sure are a shitty ninja. I even waved at you before I hit you. I was calling you name. How in the hell did you not see me?"
Naruto squatted, moving his face right in front of Sasuke's.
"Baka." Sasuke pushed Naruto out of the way and sat up, drawing up his knees and crossing his arms over them. His shoulders slumped.
"So, Sasuke… about you being my subordinate…" Naruto's voice sounded surprisingly compassionate. Sasuke managed a small smile. After all the grief he had given Naruto over the years, it touched him that Naruto was willing to be so adult about such an absolutely mortifying situation. He looked at Naruto, hopeful.
"…About you being my subordinate… YOU HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING I SAY, SUCKER! How in the hell did you, you of all people get demoted to genin? AHAHAHA! This is the best day of my life! I had only dreamed about this day, never thinking it could come true, and yet here it is and I am superior and…" Naruto probably would have continued had Sasuke not hit him hard enough on the skull to knock Naruto facedown in the dirt.
He thought that was the end of it. Normally a warning bash like that from Sasuke was enough to put the blond ninja in his place. However, Naruto looked at Sasuke with his dirty face, huge smile beaming and said, "It is not a very smart idea to hit your superior, Sasuke. Especially if your superior is the one who decides when you become a chuunin again." At this, Naruto collapsed on the ground, holding his sides as he let out a fit of laughter and glee.
Disbelief spread over Sasuke's normally stoic face. Oh God, he thought. He never could have imagined his life getting any worse, but somehow, it had. He sighed and began to prepare himself for three months of absolute hell.
Shino watched his teammate's shoulders shake with anger and tears as Kiba cried. It wasn't that Shino was not sympathetic—he was as full of pity and surprise as he could possibly be. It was just that Kiba never asked him for help, and yet that morning he had shown up at Shino's door looking crazed and hurt. After Shino heard the news, he could understand Kiba's anger and disbelief. Even he was having a hard time wrapping his mind around the Hokage actually demoting someone as talented as Kiba. What was more, he could find absolutely no motive for Sasuke to have acted the way he had. From what Kiba had said, Sasuke had overstepped the average fighting bounds. Hell, Sasuke had overstepped the bounds of being human. The only positive was at least the Uchiha was in trouble, too. Not that it comforted Kiba much.
"I am going to kill him." Kiba's clawed hands clenched and unclenched. "There is no way in hell I am going to be on a team with that spiteful asshole."
Shino just sat and listened. It was a little weird for him to see Kiba cry. Kiba had recently turned twenty, making it at least six years since Shino could remember the boy breaking down like this. Back then, it had been because Akamaru had almost died and Kiba had blamed himself.
Akamaru was by Kiba's side, trying to snuggle up to his master. Eventually, Kiba began to loosen up and slipped his arms around the dog's neck. Aka's pink tongue sneaked out and licked the tears off his master's face. The sensation made Kiba smile, then giggle and finally push Aka away playfully.
"Aka, that tickles!" Kiba began to shove Aka more, who in turn shoved back, and in no time the boy and his dog were wrestling and sparring in their own weird way on the ground. Laughs and barks were plentiful and Shino's eyes widened in amazement at how fast his teammate's mood had recovered, returning him to the energetic and loud teammate he trained with. He took it as a good sign and knew Kiba would be a chuunin again in no time, if he could just tough it through the next mission.
Of course, with Naruto having seniority would make it incredibly hard for his arrogant teammate to keep a lid on his temper…
Sakura was, as usual, the first person to arrive at the front gate. After becoming a medic ninja, her ability to wake herself up refreshed and ready to go had improved—constant chakra practice helped with things like that. This time, however, she was the first because she was an hour early, and she was an hour early because she had been unable to sleep the night before. When Tsunade had given her the mission, and the details of its "special" situation, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Special" really meant that Sasuke, her good friend, was now demoted to genin along with Kiba. Her heart ached for Sasuke all night, her mind turning over the limited details Tsunade had told her, and sleep never came.
Now she was here, an hour early, and still unable to give her thoughts a rest. She remembered how, when Sasuke had returned from Orochimaru, she and he had become closer. Sakura smiled as she remembered how ecstatic she had been when Sasuke had let her become close to him. They had walked for hours, her talking and him listening, spending their days in each other's company. Of course, she had really wished that Sasuke had been doing the talking, had let her into his inner most thoughts, but eventually she had learned to accept that he was simply not that type of guy. He did, however, kiss her once, next to the Memorial monument. They had gone to look at the names of the ninja who were honored after being KIA. It had been raining a little and Sakura's bangs kept sliding into her eyes. After an hour of standing silently, she had turned to leave when Sasuke grabbed her gently by the shoulders, making her face him. He had gazed into her eyes, his dark black eyes piercing hers, causing her to shiver. For the only time in their entire relationship, past and future, she felt as if she truly understood him. Sasuke had raised a hand to her face; his fingers gently pushed the bangs out of her eyes, then ran down her jaw and lastly moved into her hair. He pulled her in and kissed her, long and steady. At the time Sakura had been so overwhelmed with excitement she had almost fainted in his arms. When he had kissed her, it had seemed perfect, everything about it, the rain, his eyes, and his touch…oh god, his touch. But now that she was older, Sakura could analyze that one kiss and know that she and Sasuke weren't meant to be. There was no real passion in the kiss, but more of a silent pleading or desperation, a loneliness in Sasuke that Sakura would never be able to fulfill.
Remembering that kiss made Sakura's stomach twist and turn with sadness and empathy. She knew, once as a potential girlfriend of Sasuke's and now as his good friend, how lonely he was. Though she chided him for alienating himself, for picking fights with the other ninja and constantly criticizing their skills, for being so aloof from everyone, she knew he didn't really mean any of it. It was just that Sasuke's life had been filled with trauma and grief since a young age and no other ninja seemed to be able to understand him, to share the same level of pain. So instead of making friends or moving on, Sasuke still pushed everyone away and absorbed himself in his sorrow
And now, as if Sasuke had not suffered enough, he was demoted to genin, something almost unheard of and what was, Sakura was sure, the ultimate slap in the face to the Uchiha. For someone so talented and proud as Sasuke, being demoted was most likely the most mortifying thing that could happen, and Sakura wasn't sure how he would handle it. Or even how she would handle it, with him now being her subordinate. It was almost enough to make her laugh, that the boy who had saved her life more times that she could remember, was now under her charge. She would have laughed if she weren't so afraid of what that would mean for the group, and more importantly, her relationship with Sasuke.
Though she had been unable to sleep, Sakura had at least made the early morning hour fly by, because before she knew it the rest of the team approached.
Naruto was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes while Sasuke came slinking up, hands in pockets. Not too far behind him were Kiba and Akamaru, looking very chipper for such an early hour. Sakura was glad for his energy, though, because she and the other two looked like they could use a boost.
"I'm glad you all made it on time," she began. The previous night she had demanded Naruto allow her to be team captain. Who knows what that insensitive baka would have Sasuke and Naruto doing if he was in charge!
"Our mission is pretty simple, but it will be a long one."
Kiba groaned. His last mission had been "simple" and it had lasted a long time, and it had left him almost useless by the end of it. In fact, it had take Sasuke's help to even get him home. Kiba growled at the reminder of Sasuke.
"We will be going to the Hidden Village of Mist and spying. We won't be going undercover or anything, just setting up a post near two main roadways and monitoring the people coming in and out of the village. Apparently some strange people have been sneaking in and the Kage asked for our help, since no one would recognize us. The time period could last anywhere from a week, if we see what is unusual, or up to three months, if things remain calm. At the end of the mission we will report our findings and come home. Easy."
"OK then! Let's get going!" Kiba was ready to begin this mission: the sooner it began, the sooner it would be over and the sooner he could be a chuunin again.
"Hold on Kiba, there is one more thing we need to, uh, discuss." Sakura was very uncomfortable about this part. Both boys were older than her and much better ninjas, so it made her feel wrong about being their superior.
"About your, uh, situation. Naruto and I know all of the important details, and are sympathetic to you both. He and I agreed that, because this is such a simple mission, there is very little you need to do to earn our approval for, you know…becoming chuunin again." She could see Sasuke look away as his face got red, and Kiba looked uncomfortable. "All you need to do is listen to Naruto and I when we ask you to do something, and, uh, that's it. Easy, right?"
"Hn." Both boys quietly agreed, and things seemed to be going ok. That is, until Naruto had to open his mouth.
"THAT'S RIGHT! YOU TWO HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING I ASK YOU TO OR ELSE!" Naruto collapsed in a fit of laughter.
Kiba and Sasuke looked at each other with grimaces on their faces. They may not like each other but they both knewthatNaruto was going to make it a long three months. Not knowing what to say, they both began walking out with Sakura and Akamaru, leaving Naruto laughing on the road.
"WAIT! I DIDN'T TELL YOU TO LEAVE WITHOUT ME!"
All three team members looked back at the noisy ninja, only to see him holding a small pad and a pencil, writing.
"Ok, so starting without their SUPERIOR Naruto punctuated each syllable of the word, that is one demerit for Kiba and one demerit for Sasuke." Naruto's tongue stuck out of his mouth a little as he concentrated on writing. When he finished, he looked up, thoroughly pleased with himself.
"Baka," muttered Kiba and Sasuke in unison. They looked at each other, and Kiba thought he could almost see a smirk on Sasuke's face, until each boy realized who the other was. Their faces changed instantly from amused to angry, and they glared at each other. Sakura imagined she could see lightening racing from their eyes. Ugh. It really was going to be a long three months.