Sayaka opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling of her bedroom. She groaned and pressed the palms of her hands against her eyes. It was the worst part of summer, where it was far too humid and far too hot. There was no respite from the oppressive mugginess, even stripped down to as little clothing as she could manage and lying on the floor with only a thin sheet and her pillow. She'd barely gotten any sleep.

She wondered idly if Naruto had slept any better. Since that awkward lunch with the Hokage in the hospital cafeteria, Naruto had been secreted away into dungeons unknown, deep below the Hokage's tower. Hinata hadn't been amused when Kakashi suggested that at least it was probably nice and cool down there.

At least Naruto was finally coming back. Apparently he was being kept for observation overnight after some final experiment they'd run on his seal, which wasn't worrying at all, but he was otherwise cleared for duty with no restrictions. It would be good to finally see him after that idiotic stunt he'd pulled with the Kyuubi.

Team training that day was going to be interesting too. Kakashi had mentioned that they would be doing a combat exercise with another team. It was especially interesting because Naruto's "bloodline" was apparently cleared for action around friendly ninja. What that meant, exactly, Sayaka had no idea, and based on what had happened to Zabuza it couldn't actually mean that everything was fine. But it did mean that something useful had happened in that basement, thank the gods, so Sayaka would take it. In fact, if it weren't for the damn heat she'd even be excited to see what Naruto was capable of now.

As it was, Sayaka felt like death.

With another groan, Sayaka pushed herself upright to grab a change of clothes and go shower. She turned the water cold enough nearly to make her teeth chatter, dried her hair with a flicker of fire chakra, then brushed her teeth. Hiroyo was cooking tamagoyaki when Sayaka padded out into the kitchen, tying on her kunai holster in the doorway before yawning and walking the rest of the way in.

"Morning," Sayaka mumbled as she crossed to the icebox.

"Good morning," said Hiroyo, disgustingly cheerful. "Did you sleep well?"

"No," said Sayaka. They surely were not out of iced coffee?

"The heat?"

"Yes. Do we not have any canned coffee?"

"Sayaka, you shouldn't drink so much of that," Hiroyo scolded. "It's bad for you, it'll stunt your growth."

"I'm pretty sure that isn't real."

"Well it has lots of sugar, and that's bad for you too."

Sayaka looked down at her belly and poked it experimentally.

"I think I'll be fine," she said, and closed the refrigerator door. "Combat training today, so I might want the sugar anyway."

"Combat training?" Hiroyo asked. She turned an omelette out onto a plate to cool. "You've been cleared for action?"

"I've been cleared," Sayaka said. She walked over to the pantry door and opened it to squint into its depths. Maybe there were some cans in the back? "I'm so behind on my conditioning though, and sensei didn't want us taking missions until I was ready."

"Ah, well, that's frustrating," said Hiroyo. The pan sizzled as she poured in new egg mixture for another omelette. "How has Hinata been about it?"

"She's worried about Naruto," said Sayaka. Hmm, those cans looked promising. She shifted a sack of beans to look more closely.

"Understandable."

Damn it, this was just canned congee porridge. "Yeah, but he's still a moron," said Sayaka as she turned the can over in her hand. Thinking about it, she did like the stuff. "Can I have some of the canned porridge for breakfast?"

"No, I already made some fresh," said Hiroyo. "Besides, the canned stuff definitely is bad for you."

That was fair. It was really a dessert food, and the last time Hiroyo had made dessert congee she'd put in half a mug's worth of sugar to get it half as sweet as the canned junk.

"Well we're out of canned coffee," said Sayaka with a sigh. "I'm going to go down and buy some more at the store."

"Alright, but get the low sugar kind," said Hiroyo. "And pick up another carton of eggs while you're there."

"Alright."

The street outside was already busy. The sun was only just starting to light up the horizon as Sayaka climbed out of the window in her stairwell and let herself fall to the alleyway below. The convenience store down the way was a twenty-four-hour deal that was run by a pair of retired ninja who had never gotten out of the habit of sleeping in shifts.

"Morning Sacchan," said Shoyu from behind the counter as Sayaka pushed open the door of the store. It had always been mystifying to her why the man had introduced himself as soy sauce for the last eight years.

"Morning Shoyu-san," said Sayaka, bobbing perfunctorily as she picked up a basket and made her way to the back.

The drinks case in the back of the shop was its usual multicolored array of beverages next to the icebox of ice creams and other frozen things. The coffee was, as always, between the beer and shochu to the left and the tea and sodas to the right. Sayaka yawned and peered at the many cans, looking for the scowling sumo wrestler that adorned the cans of Yokozuna Coffee—Top of the Ranks since the First Hokage!—and its different varieties of coffee-related beverages.

There was Yokoccino, Yokospresso, Yokolatte, Yokozuna Mountain Tengu, and many more. Sayaka normally got Yokozuna Black, even though most kids her age drank Yokofrappe, if they drank canned coffee at all. Yokofrappe was just too sweet, and Sayaka avoided it even without Hiroyo's urging. Even so, Yokozuna Black was still lightly sweetened, and with a sigh Sayaka reached out for Yokozuna Midnight, the one kind that really had no sugar at all in the can. She debated for a moment maybe getting Yokozuna Twilight instead, which at least had some milk in it, but it wasn't really that good and had a weird aftertaste. Yokozuna Midnight at least was just straight coffee flavor, and it came in six-pack boxes.

Sayaka grabbed a box of Yokozuna Midnight and placed it in her basket, then made her way over to the case of fresh produce, milk, and eggs. The egg brand that Hiroyo liked was out, it seemed, but there were still plenty of eggs from Hiroyo's backup brand so Sayaka picked up a dozen of those. There were also little cartons full of cherry tomatoes available, which Sayaka grabbed two of.

Mmm. Tomatoes.

"Got a mission today, Saya-chan?" asked Tobiko as he tied on his apron behind the counter.

"Just some training," said Sayaka, shaking her head.

"It's always training with you, girl," said Shoyu. He poked Tobiko in the back with his magazine. "Isn't it always training, Tokkun?"

"It is," said Tobiko. He began to add up Sayaka's purchases. "At least she eats healthy, Sho-chan, unlike you."

"Bah I eat plenty good," said Shoyu. He flicked his magazine back open with a grunt. "You just can't cook veggies to save your life."

"I can totally cook vegetables, Sho-chan," said Tobiko. He checked the price of the tomatoes and turned back to Sayaka. "That'll be eight hundred and twenty-seven ryo, Saya-chan."

Sayaka fumbled in her pockets for her wallet and pulled out nine hundred ryo in bills. "Here."

"I haven't had any good vegetables from you in years, Tokkun," said Shoyu with a snort. "What was that thing you did last night with the carrots?"

"You asked for seconds, Sho-chan," said Tobiko, rolling his eyes as he fished out Sayaka's change from the moneybox and recorded the exchange into the store's sales ledger. "If you didn't like them then why did you ask for more?"

"'Cause I hadn't eaten any vegetables all of last week," said Shoyu. "I gotta eat some, even if curry buns are the best."

"A ninja can't live off just curry buns," said Tobiko, rolling his eyes again while bagging the goods. "Though this morning's batch is pretty good, do you want one Saya-chan?"

Sayaka shook her head. "Nah, Hiroyo's already finished cooking."

"Ah, too bad."

"And anyway, you can live off just curry buns, since we started adding carrots and peas to them," said Shoyu. "There's potatoes in there too, for a little extra energy."

Sayaka waved goodbye as the two started bickering over whether a curry bun was a meal or a snack, then headed back upstairs. As she ascended the steps, Sayaka switched the bags to her off hand and broke into the box of coffee to crack open a can and begin sipping it as she walked. The dark black liquid hit her tongue with a whipcrack of bitterness that made her lips pucker and a shiver race up her spine.

Blegh. Why did she drink this stuff?

Then the electric rush of caffeine hitting her bloodstream reminded her. Sayaka shivered again and thought of the group training happening later and how she'd get a chance to see what Naruto was capable of. She felt her lips curl into a grin and took a sip of coffee.

"I'm back," Sayaka called as she pushed open the door to her apartment, balancing the can on the top of her head with her chakra. "I got some tomatoes too."

"Alright," said Hiroyo. "Come eat, breakfast is ready."

Sayaka dropped the coffee and eggs into the icebox, then put the tomatoes out on the counter. The secret to delicious tomatoes was to keep them at room temperature and eat them quickly, but she wouldn't have them for breakfast today.

"You're looking better," said Hiroyo, amused. "You're not going to get addicted to that stuff are you?"

"It'd be bad for missions, but this is a special case," said Sayaka as she sat down across from Hiroyo, then downed the can. "Last night was terrible."

"It's that time of year," said Hiroyo with a helpless shrug. "I'll make some barley tea later, but let's eat and you can go to your team meeting. Itadakimasu."

"Itadakimasu."


Kakashi was already present and leaning up against the wall looking bored when Sayaka turned up at the Hokage's tower. They would be meeting Naruto in a secure briefing room, but genin didn't have clearance to go in without an escort. Kakashi would be escorting them, and the intent was that they would meet outside the secure section of the tower before heading in when the time was right. Sayaka had made an effort to be a little early.

"Good morning, sensei," said Sayaka. Kakashi nodded at her, hands tucked lightly into his pockets and looking very bored indeed. "Did you sleep poorly?"

Kakashi huffed. "Weather's been terrible lately. Maybe if it rained, the humidity would go down."

"Don't you know a jutsu to suck the water out of the air?"

"You can, but doing it indoors is a little risky," said Kakashi. "You're basically making a rain cloud in your apartment."

Sayaka mulled that over.

"That would be a problem."

"Yep."

Sayaka glanced up at the clock, then looked back to Kakashi.

"I think I want to buy new clothes," said Sayaka. She toyed with the edges of her skirt. "I liked the leggings they gave us in Senfuku."

Kakashi looked over at her again and flicked his eyes across her profile. "Not satisfied with your current look?"

Sayaka quirked her lips thoughtfully. "It's kind of cutesy, don't you think?"

"A little," said Kakashi. "It's useful for a ninja to be cute, though, especially girls."

"Not boys?"

"Well, you can do some things with that, but it's usually harder," said Kakashi. He scratched his chin. "People expect boys to be more, you know."

Sayaka wrinkled her nose. She did, in fact, know from kunoichi lessons what Kakashi was talking about. "Does it take a lot of work to make a boy look cute?"

"Well, cute really means harmless, right?" said Kakashi. "The thing to do is to make the boy look cuddly. When I was eight or nine, I got sent on a surveillance mission in enemy territory. My team leader was a seventeen-year-old chunin who thought I was the cutest little ninja she'd ever seen. She made me look like a kid who was wearing his older brother's hand me downs and handed me a lollipop to nibble on while gathering the intel."

He paused, and Sayaka took a moment to imagine Kakashi as a small boy that was a full head shorter than her and waving a lollipop. It was very hard to imagine.

"But you know, that took more effort to pull off," Kakashi continued. "We had to source the clothes special and without the lollipop it might not have quite worked. For that mission, if I'd been a girl, the enemy would probably not have noticed."

Sayaka frowned. "That just makes me want new clothes more."

"Ah," said Kakashi. He shrugged. "Well, it's up to you, but don't throw away what you have now. We'll want the clothing options if we end up doing infiltration work."

Sayaka grunted and fell silent, looking down at the floor and scuffing it with her toe. To be honest, she'd never really experienced the kind of casual dismissal that Kakashi was talking about. It was almost impossible in Konoha—everyone knew "Uchiha-hime" after all. In Senfuku, everyone had known her status and treated her like the heir to a feared—if now weakened—clan. The treatment Kakashi was talking about could only really be expected for clanless kunoichi who wouldn't be introduced with the title "Lady", something that would only happen to Sayaka if she was working undercover, which at least until now Team 7 hadn't done.

But those missions would happen eventually, and the idea of being treated as "just a little girl" filled Sayaka with bitter, spiteful anger. She remembered her kunoichi lessons and how flower arrangements were essential kunoichi skills.

Fine. Maybe they were. Maybe for other girls, who didn't have a family to avenge. But not for her. Sayaka wasn't "just a little girl" and she wasn't going to be another housewife and she had no plans of being a "beautiful, elegant kunoichi" or whatever such nonsense. She had things she needed to accomplish, things for herself and for her clan. She was a ninja and it galled her that this was somehow surprising to people.

Well whatever. She would go shopping later. There were ways to look nice and not be cutesy, and if it really came down to it she would ask Sakura and Ino for help. But she was going to ditch the skirt.

"Um, am I late?"

Sayaka blinked and looked up at Hinata, then shook her head. "We're both very early."

"Ah," said Hinata. She tapped her fingers together, looking down at the floor, then looked back up. "T-there are no changes, s-sensei?"

"Nope," said Kakashi. He glanced up at the clock again. "Still supposed to be coming out in twenty minutes."

Sayaka sighed. They were ridiculously early. "We're all idiots."

"Well, we have a fourth idiot we're picking up, so it's not that surprising," said Kakashi dryly. "We shouldn't make it a habit though, or we'll get a nickname."

"Team Moron?" asked Sayaka, smiling a little.

"Oh gods, I hope not," said Kakashi.

"It would be v-very unfortunate," said Hinata, smiling as well. "Shall we g-go get some tea?"

"Sure," said Kakashi, and he pushed himself off the wall. "The break room is this way."


It was far too hot for tea, but the break room had an icebox too, and they each filled a cup with ice and then filled it halfway with hot tea to chill it down. They drank in silence for a few minutes.

"Ah, Hatake-senpai, it's been a while," said a passing ninja. "Is this your genin team?"

"Morio-san," said Kakashi, raising his cup in salute. "We're waiting on our third member, but yes this is my team. Sayaka, Hinata, this is Tezuka Morio, one of my subordinates from the war."

Sayaka and Hinata stood to bow. "Morio-senpai," they said. "Good morning."

"Morning girls," said Morio, waving with his cup of tea as they sat back down. He was older than Kakashi, somewhere in his mid-thirties, stubbled and wearing leather gloves that were worn smooth across the palms and the gap between the thumb and forefinger. The backs were plated with steel and, unlike the typical ninja's, Morio's gloves fully enclosed his hands and wrists. "Figures you get the big clans' kids, Hatake-senpai."

Kakashi shrugged. "I doubt any favoritism was involved. I have the only friendly Sharingan in the village, and Hinata and Sayaka were always going to be paired together as genin."

"Sure, fair enough," said Morio easily. He rubbed the stubble on his chin. "What have you been up to since we last got a chance to talk?"

"Oh, this and that," said Kakashi. He swirled his tea. "You've heard about my team's last mission, I assume? Everyone seems to have."

"Ah, well, that's a matter of course," said Morio. "Barge escort can get kind of dull sometimes, but it's a hell of a lot better than getting surprised by Zabuza."

"Now now, I'm sure you'd have done well," said Kakashi. "We fought his squad once didn't we? I remember you putting up a good fight."

Sayaka felt her eyebrows jump and struggled to maintain a placid expression. Their sensei's history was always very blurred.

"That's a bit of an exaggeration," said Morio, snorting. "I remember a lot more panic and a lot more running around until the Fourth came sailing in."

"Ah, well, maybe I have my memories crossed."

Morio snorted. "Like you'd ever forget anything."

Kakashi smiled cheerfully and said nothing.

"What happened was," said Morio as he turned to Sayaka and Hinata, "we were trying to fight our way up out of a valley. There was a river at the bottom, so the Kiri-nin of course wanted us down there so they could kill us. Zabuza was at the top of the ridge and we couldn't get past him, while the Kiri-nin in the river were starting to wear us down. Hatake-senpai held the squad together as we made a push for a cliff that Zabuza couldn't guard properly without being too exposed to our weapons specialist, but then the weapons specialist took a water cannon in the head and went down. Things got a bit chaotic then, but the Fourth appeared in that yellow flash of his and we managed to make it out okay."

"Like I said, you put up a good fight in that one," said Kakashi. His tea had mysteriously lost some fluid while Morio had been talking. "In fact, I remember you being the reason we held our own, since you knew more water-based ninjutsu than the rest of us at the time."

"Tch, it was a team effort then," said Morio, rolling his eyes. "We had a good team leader, even if he was a thirteen-year-old kid who'd only made jounin a year ago."

Sayaka and Hinata looked over at their sensei in surprise. That certainly explained why someone older than Kakashi was calling him "senpai".

Kakashi rolled his eye and didn't comment. "I never understood why you went for Tokubetsu Jounin. You could have been a full jounin by now."

"I'm a water ninjutsu specialist, not someone who can lead a team into combat," said Morio. He folded his arms. "I'm chunin-class in everything else, after all."

"Well, if you insist," said Kakashi with a shrug and a sigh. "Still, the water gates into the Village can't possibly need that many ninja to man, can they?"

"I'm actually leading that guard force now," said Morio, looking a little smug. "Just got promoted up from guard captain of Gate Three."

"Oh," said Kakashi, smiling through his mask. "Well, my mistake then, congratulations."

"Thanks."

"Excuse me, but what does that mean?" asked Sayaka, because she was starting to get lost and Hinata would never interrupt.

"Oh, right, so you remember that we had the D-rank to sort the fish," said Kakashi. "I mentioned afterwards that the barges are escorted in from outside the village."

Sayaka nodded. She remembered that, and also remembered that over-land transport wasn't feasible for a city as large as Konoha.

"Well before it can actually enter the city, it has to be inspected," said Kakashi. "Then—well, Morio-san should explain. He'll know it better than me."

Sayaka and Hinata turned to Morio, who thought for a moment before starting. "Well, Konoha's walls are pretty far out, but the village expanded away from the Hokage Mountain for, well, pretty obvious reasons."

The genin nodded. While the Hokage Mountain and its five massive carved faces certainly was an impressive strongpoint for defense, it certainly was not anyone's idea of an obvious direction to be developing land. The mountain's imposing size and impressively dense rock made it an excellent barrier, but also made defending anything on the opposite side of it very difficult without a tremendous amount of investment. Far easier to just go the other direction, until eventually the Kokkyo River, which had once been one of Konoha's natural borders, was densely settled on both sides.

"Once the wall went up, we needed a way to make sure that we didn't have infiltrators just slide in from the river," continued Morio. "A water gate is pretty standard for these things. It's just a metal grate where the spacing is wide enough not to inhibit the water flow but narrow enough that you can't slide anyone, or anything, in to get at the gate cranks. It's a bit of an engineering task and you have to spend a lot of time keeping the gate clear of debris. It gets especially bad during the rains, and you actually can't send genin in, in case they drown."

Sayaka thought for a moment, then nodded. It made sense—the rivers usually ran high and muddy during the rains, and if you needed to dive underwater to clean the grates then you wouldn't be able to see and might get hit by something.

"You'd want someone who knew their way around water jutsu," said Sayaka.

"And who can keep calm if things go wrong," said Morio. "Combat experience usually helps."

"It's a pretty important specialization," said Kakashi. He tossed his cup over into the bin and stood up. "Konoha has a lot of specializations like that you don't notice right away. We'll have to talk about it later though, we have to get going. Morio, good catching up."

A glance at the clock told them they had only a few minutes until Naruto was supposed to be released from the Hokage's care.

"Ah, then I'll leave you to it," said Morio with a nod. "Good catching up, Hatake-senpai, and good to meet you Hinata, Sayaka."

Hinata and Sayaka stood and bowed again before Team 7 left the breakroom. Morio returned the bow and waved them goodbye.

"Were you r-really a jounin when you were our age, s-sensei?" asked Hinata.

Kakashi hummed. "I was."

"That is a-awfully young."

Kakashi shrugged. "It was a battlefield promotion. I was a chunin and my team got tasked with destroying an enemy supply depot. We succeeded, though we lost two KIA and three wounded when we found out our intel was bad and they actually had twelve ninja guarding the depot. I was the only one without a scratch, but it was only because I snuck around the back and detonated the charges while my team was engaged. The explosion threw the enemy off their game, and I was able to flank them and kill six before the rest of my team finished off the survivors. Everyone on the team was very good at their job, but I was the only one to get promoted."

Sayaka and Hinata looked up at their teacher, shocked at the sudden disclosure of his childhood history. He sighed and reached out to pat them both on the head.

"Don't get too impressed," he said seriously. "I shouldn't have been promoted."

"What?" asked Sayaka. "But, you killed—"

"Kills aren't meaningful for promotion to jounin," said Kakashi, shooing his genin along. "That's fine for a tokubetsu jounin, maybe, but jounin need to lead teams."

He stopped speaking for a moment, and Sayaka suddenly had the sense that they had wandered into dangerous waters with their sensei. She glanced back, and the face Kakashi was making was unlike anything she'd ever seen him make before. It was almost like regret? As if he should have failed his mission instead. But that didn't make any sense.

"Well anyway, it looks like we're just in time," said Kakashi, his face clearing into a cheerful smile. "Come along ducklings, I'll need to sign you in to the secure section."

Sayaka turned Kakashi's expression over in her mind as they signed in and thumb stamped a little seal that would immobilize them if they did anything stupid. The seal was attached to the skin on the inside of the wrist, but Sayaka didn't really pay that much attention to it. She was too occupied by the look of regret.

Kakashi… had succeeded. His mission had been completed, and he'd been able to create a tactical opportunity to neutralize the enemy. She couldn't imagine why he would think he had done a bad job, but she wondered, also, about what she would have done if she'd been in the same position. Could she have done it if Hinata and Naruto had been on the mission?

Probably not.

That made her pause. She'd known Hinata and Naruto since she was nine. It had been three years since they'd become friends. For that matter, it occurred to Sayaka that they were the only people her age she was really close to. In her defense, most people were very annoying. Asking her to be friends with those people was like asking Naruto to put up with being vegetarian. It just wasn't going to happen.

Well, she supposed, there was Kiba, but that didn't really compare. They'd only really just met a few weeks ago, and there'd been a long gap in the middle where they hadn't been able to talk much to each other. Thinking about him did funny things to her, but it… it wasn't the same.

The whole train of thought made Sayaka very uncomfortable, and she was glad to be distracted when the three of them reached the briefing room. Kakashi knocked on the door.

"Come in."

The door opened to Naruto rocketing into them with a shout of joyful laughter. In the background, Danzo was sighing and shaking his head while the Hokage was chuckling. Two ANBU guards stood impassively in the background, looking for all the world like statues, and a small set of teacups and a thermos stood in the center of the conference table.

"It's over!" Naruto crowed as Kakashi herded his genin into the room and shut the door. "Finally! It's been a week! A week!"

"Not even a chance to go up for ramen?" asked Kakashi.

"No! Grumpyface over there was all like 'oh it's a security risk' and 'what if someone sees you' so one of the ANBU brought in takeout from Ichiraku but everyone knows it's not as good," said Naruto, bouncing and waving his arms in indignation at Danzo's rough treatment. "We spent the whole week meditating and then I couldn't even get good ramen! It was cruel!"

"Meditation's good for you, moron," said Sayaka. She rolled her eyes and flicked him on the forehead. "Your chakra control is better now, right?"

"Yeah but it'd have been even better if I got ramen afterwards!"

Sayaka rolled her eyes again and Hinata laughed at Naruto's antics. It was good to have the team together again.

"D-did you do anything else?" Hinata asked.

"Well, I guess we did more than meditation," said Naruto, folding his arms and putting on a serious thinking expression. "Turns out Fuzzy's chakra definitely lights everything on fire unless I tell it not to, so that was kind of fun. I really understand why Sayaka likes to do it to scarecrows when she's upset at Kakashi-sensei."

Sayaka blanched. "Don't say that stuff around the Hokage, moron!"

"Eh, I bet he already knows," said Naruto, flapping his hands dismissively. "You knew, right gramps?"

"No," said Hiruzen, chuckling again, "but I certainly encourage it. Goodness knows that Kakashi-kun can be frustrating."

"You wound me, Hokage-sama," said Kakashi blandly.

"Anyway anyway, other than lighting stuff on fire, the chakra's also really good for grabbing stuff," said Naruto. "Like, watch this!"

Naruto turned and flicked his hand out to grab a teacup off the table. There was a rush of something almost sickly that made Sayaka flinch backwards as a tendril of red chakra lashed out, grabbing the teacup before reeling it back with a flick. The chakra disappeared, leaving the teacup to flip through the air before Naruto caught it.

"See? It's super— ow hot hot hot—!" Naruto yelped, juggling the teacup for a moment before dropping it onto the table, where it wobbled for a moment before coming to rest.

"Naruto-kun, what have we discussed about using that around friendly ninja without warning?" asked the Hokage gravely.

"Ara, sorry, sorry," said Naruto, clasping his hands in supplication and bowing. Sayaka glanced at Hinata and saw the other girl had flinched just as bad as Sayaka had. "Fuzzy's chakra always feels gross like that, but I guess I'm used to it now."

"It's f-fine, Naruto-kun," said Hinata. She took a deep breath, then smiled encouragingly. "You've r-really learned a lot."

"Yeah! I'll show you today, Hinata-chan, it'll be super cool!"

"What are the major restrictions on using his abilities?" Kakashi asked, looking over to Danzo and the Hokage.

"We haven't been able to recreate the demonic state Naruto entered in your engagement with Zabuza," said Danzo.

"And we won't be attempting it," said the Hokage. A glance, unnoticed by the genin but caught by Kakashi, flicked between the Hokage and Danzo. Interesting.

"No we will not," said Danzo, nodding. "Still, our best guess is that it is awakened by extreme anger or distress. As long as his teammates aren't hurt, it seems unlikely to come up again."

"More generally, the Kyuubi's chakra is dangerous to other ninja, so Naruto is not to use it directly against fellow Konoha shinobi in a spar," said the Hokage. "At least, not until he has better control over it. For now, it is plenty useful for deflecting projectiles and moving quickly across the battlefield. It is also effective as a fire jutsu, and can enhance speed and strength in the usual way."

"Not that interesting a bloodline ability, it seems," said Kakashi idly. "People will wonder how Naruto managed to kill Zabuza."

"Oh, you'll want to cite the Hirata clan if anyone asks," said the Hokage. "As well as the Naoi clan. Both of them had a bloodline that induced a hypnotic, extremely powerful state in great emotional distress, but were somewhat unremarkable if used normally."

"Didn't both those clans implode because their members tried too hard to induce the hypnotic state actively without needing to be in emotional distress?" asked Kakashi with a raised eyebrow.

"Conveniently, Naruto's bloodline seems to come from a clan that appears to be extinct," said the Hokage. "We are of course hoping that he does not kill himself like his presumed ancestors."

"Fascinating," said Kakashi with a voice as dry as the desert. "Fair enough then."

"You're free to go, in that case," said the Hokage. "Unless you had anything to add, Danzo?"

"Naruto, don't forget that you need to visit tomorrow," said Danzo. "I have informed the front desk to let you through for our training."

"Bah, alright, I'll remember Grumpyface."

"If you try to skip I'll send the ANBU after you."

"Geh, alright alright I get it, jeez," said Naruto. He folded his arms grouchily.

Hinata and Sayaka sighed, the first fondly and the second tiredly. Naruto had totally been planning on skipping until Danzo had threatened ANBU.

"Well then, ducklings, we should get going," said Kakashi. He clapped his hands together cheerfully. "Training time!"


Naruto was impressively good at inane chatter, Sayaka decided, because his training in the basement had been classified as a matter of course, but he was still managing to talk about it in nonspecific generalities. He kept up a constant stream as they walked to the training ground—with prompting from Hinata, of course. At some point Naruto had grabbed Hinata by the hand while they were walking. Sayaka elected not to notice that Hinata had turned bright red, but didn't let go.

It was going to end up being a problem someday, their relationship.

For now, Sayaka set that thought aside. They had arrived at the training ground, and waiting for them were Team Ten with their jounin sensei. The team's genin were Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji. Each were the presumptive heirs of their respective clans. Ino and Sayaka hadn't made too much of an effort to be friendly. They found each other somewhat irritating, and Sayaka quietly looked down on the Yamanaka clan heir. She didn't really fight that well, and what exactly was the point of spending so much time on her looks and her charms when her clan's secret techniques required such careful aim? She needed to be faster and stealthier to have a good chance of pulling them off in combat. Still, Sayaka could acknowledge that they were at least a useful set of skills, and kept her opinions to herself.

Shikamaru, of course, Sayaka had just had a date with a week or so ago. The Nara clan's secret techniques were a little more versatile. It gave the clan's members the ability to extend their shadows and connect them to their opponent's. This allowed them to paralyze and control their enemy like a puppet, though there were a few other techniques Sayaka had heard about when learning about them before her date with Shikamaru. While Sayaka didn't really find Shikamaru all that interesting, getting touched by his shadow in this fight was probably an instant loss. She'd have to either be very careful or be extremely violent to prevent him from getting a chance to make good use of it.

The last member was Chouji, heir of the Akimichi clan. They weren't really in talks at the moment, at least partially because the Akimichi clan's abilities were hard to see working well with the Uchiha's. The Sharingan was a dojutsu that ultimately emphasized speed and stealth, seeing as it granted, well, better sight. The Akimichi, meanwhile, could grow their bodies to tremendous sizes and use them to tremendously violent effect. This was fine, but ultimately made them much closer to samurai than most ninja. Maybe a merging of bloodlines could come up with something interesting, but there were a lot of more obvious options there. Still, the boy was definitely dangerous, and would synchronize well with both Shikamaru and Ino.

All in all, the only thing Sayaka was worried about in today's match with Team Ten was that one of them would react to Hinata and Naruto. She saw Ino's eyes flick down to Naruto and Hinata's joined hands, then flick back up to Sayaka.

"If you tell anyone I'll kill you," said Sayaka with her raised eyebrow as Naruto let go of Hinata to wave and shout a greeting.

"Like I'd come between such a cute romance," responded Ino with a roll of her eyes.

Well, it was good that Ino was supportive at least. Shikamaru and Chouji were, like typical boys, oblivious, so it seemed things were okay for now.

"Kakashi, hey," said Asuma-sensei, raising a hand and waving.

"Asuma," said Kakashi, nodding.

"Man, I can't believe we're fighting Team Seven," said Shikamaru with a sigh. "So troublesome. You know they've been in real combat already, right?"

"That's exactly why we're having you guys fight," said Asuma. He pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his combat vest and tapped it against his palm to make a cigarette slide out. "You guys may have heard the rumors already, but let me make it official: the Hokage is deploying Konoha's ninja to suppress Gato and his organized crime empire. All genin teams will be deploying, as well as a good chunk of Konoha's chunin and jounin. In light of that, we want to make sure you guys can hold your own if Gato turns out to have a lot more missing ninja in his payroll than we expected."

"Here is your scenario," said Kakashi, clapping his hands together to call attention. "You will each roleplay as if you are enemy ninja teams. Team Ten will attempt to capture Team Seven alive, while Team Seven is seeking to find and destroy Team Ten."

"Obviously we expect each of you not to hurt your fellow Konoha shinobi, and we will step in if we think you've lost control," said Asuma. "However, we expect each of you to take the fight seriously, as if it were a real mission."

"Yes, sensei," said both teams. It was a credit to both sets of genin that their attentions immediately sharpened. Even Shikamaru, who Sayaka had been less than impressed by during their date, seemed more focused.

"A few special rules for Team Seven," added Kakashi. "No shadow clones, Naruto, and no razor wire Sayaka."

Sayaka nodded and rolled one shoulder. She hadn't gotten enough practice with it yet anyway.

"Got it, sensei," said Naruto, cracking his knuckles with a grin. "I can kick plenty of ass without them."

"Are you going to be okay?" Sayaka asked, tone light and teasing. "Shadow clones are your only gimmick."

"Naruto-kun will be fine," said Hinata. Her Byakugan was already active, and her face was serious.

"See, you should have more confidence in me," said Naruto. He flicked a kunai into his hands.

Sayaka huffed and smirked. "Fair enough," she said.

Asuma gave Team Seven an amused look and took his cigarette out of the pack. "On my mark," he said, and tucked the pack into his pocket. "Ready."

Sayaka tensed.

Asuma placed the unlit cigarette in his teeth. "Set."

Sayaka could feel Naruto's chakra start to boil, while Hinata's smoothed out into a still pond.

Asuma lit the cigarette. "Go."

The two jounin disappeared as Team Ten retreated immediately, making for the trees to put distance between themselves and Team Seven. They couldn't be allowed to make it there, where Shikamaru's shadows could be put to good use.

"Naruto, cut them off!" Sayaka shouted as they charged in.

"Got it!"

There was a blaze of foul chakra, and suddenly Naruto was flying across the training field. A tendril of red extended from his hand to grab a tree branch opposite Team Seven, then catapulted him towards Team Ten at ridiculous speeds.

Shikamaru's eyes went wide. "Chouji!"

Naruto and Chouji collided in a cloud of chakra smoke. The Akimichi boy had inflated like a pufferfish, sending Naruto careening off into the trees, but the impact had been powerful enough to break his stance and send him rolling backwards into his teammates.

Excellent.

"Nara-san first!" Hinata called from Sayaka's right, "Before Yamanaka-san can—"

"Yes," said Sayaka, and she arced towards Shikamaru's left while blitzing him with shuriken. His reaction speed was noticeably slower than hers, and he didn't have enough time to form a replacement jutsu. Instead, Shikamaru was forced to dive to the ground and try to roll back to his feet, kunai in hand.

But then Hinata was on him, and Shikamaru was forced to flee, still making for the trees, but Hinata was just fast enough to catch up. She reached out a hand and—

—slid back smoothly into a defense spiral as Ino dived in, hurling shuriken. Sayaka grimaced. If she tried to help Hinata, Shikamaru would have his opening to use his shadow paralysis technique, and then they'd be done. Already, she could see his hands lifting to start the jutsu.

Damn it.

Sayaka put on a burst of speed, kunai flicking out of her pouch to force Shikamaru to deflect or dodge the knives. It bought her three steps, then she was on him. She reached out and—

—froze, hand a centimeter from Shikamaru's shirt collar. The boy's eyes were wide, sweat dripped down his forehead, and he was breathing hard.

"Shadow possession complete," Shikamaru managed between gasps. He lowered his hands to his sides, and Sayaka felt herself forced to do the same.

She was trapped.

Something bubbled up inside of Sayaka's chest. Her heartbeat quickened and her muscles trembled and time seemed to slow. Shikamaru was saying something, but she wasn't paying attention. She remembered what had happened the last time she'd been trapped like this, by Zabuza, and how that water had sucked away her chakra and left her helpless. She remembered the way he had slung her violently into two walls and how if Naruto hadn't reappeared she'd have been cut in half by his massive sword.

But Naruto wasn't here, and Shikamaru was making her pull a knife out of her holster. Her hand shook as she was forced to point it towards her belly.

She could imagine the feeling of the blade sliding into her, slicing her open, her blood running out and across her fingers like it had in Senfuku. It would smell like iron and feel like fire being pressed deep into her body and— and—

Shikamaru made her look up at him and the world abruptly crystallized, like it was carved out of glass. She saw with incredible clarity the way he flinched back, attention broken for just a second in surprise and she didn't pause to wonder why, her chakra already flaring like a bonfire in her lungs and rushing out of her in a white-hot storm, shrieking as it tore at the world.

Or maybe the shriek came from her.

Then someone grabbed her in a grip made of iron and forced her to the ground. Sayaka screamed and clawed but the person wrenched her arms behind her and pinned them and someone was shouting her name.

It was Kakashi.

Sayaka went still. Her throat hurt.

"…are you back now, Sayaka?" Kakashi asked cautiously.

"…yes, sensei," Sayaka rasped.

"I'm going to let you back up now."

"Yes, sensei."

Slowly, Kakashi stood and let her get up. Sayaka got up equally slowly, arms and legs suddenly weak and shaky and her stomach roiling. The world was still like carved glass.

"Sayaka, look at me," Kakashi said softly. Sayaka raised her head up and looked at Kakashi.

She saw that he had pulled up his forehead protector, exposing a left eye that had a scar running across its eyelid and across his cheekbone. The fully matured Sharingan that gave Kakashi his reputation as "Kakashi of the Sharingan" sat where his natural dark eye should be, the three tomoe turning slowly around the pupil, where Sayaka could see her reflection.

Oh. She'd activated her own Sharingan.

She'd also been crying. Tear tracks ran down her cheeks and had picked up dust from the ground when Kakashi had wrestled her to the ground. Her face was pale white, standing starkly against her dark hair, and she'd cut her lip from the impact on the ground.

"I'm going to have you take a break," Kakashi said gently. "Do you understand?"

Sayaka nodded. The tomoe were very entrancing. "Yes, sensei."

"Okay. In three, two, one, and—"

Team Ten and Team Seven watched as Sayaka swayed and collapsed, Kakashi easily catching her and easing her into his arms.

"You okay, Shika?" Ino asked quietly.

"Yeah," said Shikamaru. He examined his arms, where the hair had been singed off and the skin was an angry red. "Thanks, Asuma-sensei."

Asuma nodded. "You're good, Shikamaru."

"What happened?" asked Naruto. His hair was full of leaves and twigs, but he'd reappeared just in time to see Sayaka nearly kill Shikamaru.

"Looks like Shikamaru accidentally triggered a flashback," Kakashi said as he brought Sayaka to the teams. "What did you do, Shikamaru?"

"I had her trapped in my shadow possession," said Shikamaru. "I just— I did the usual thing where I had someone hold a knife to themselves and make them surrender."

"How specifically?"

"I had her point a knife at her stomach."

Kakashi sighed. "That would do it. She nearly died after being stabbed in Senfuku, so you probably triggered a flashback to that moment."

Shikamaru frowned. "But… she seemed fine?"

"That's not how battle stress works, unfortunately," said Asuma. "Not everyone gets the symptoms, but if they do, it can show up very suddenly."

The genin exchanged looks, except for Naruto. He seemed unusually quiet and pushed his hands into his pockets, eyes downcast and avoiding the gaze of the others.

"Um, s-sensei, can you explain?" Hinata asked, glancing between her teammates with a worried look. "I-If there's anything we can do to help…"

Asuma and Kakashi exchanged looks. "Let's get Sayaka home first," said Kakashi. "Asuma, you can take care of your kids?"

"Yeah, of course," said Asuma. "If they have any questions I'll send them to you."

Kakashi nodded. "Sounds good. Come on Hinata, Naruto."


Hiroyo was worried but unsurprised.

"I was hopeful she would bounce back, but I suppose that didn't happen," she said as she placed a pot of tea on the table that Team Seven, sans Sayaka, who was lying on the couch, was seated around.

"It's not uncommon for symptoms to be delayed by some time," said Kakashi. He poured Hiroyo a cup of tea, then one for himself. "Battle stress is strange that way."

Hiroyo nodded. "I have several family members who were impacted by it."

"Sensei, p-please," Hinata broke in. Her hands were clenched anxiously on the surface of the table. "You s-said you would explain."

Kakashi sighed again. "Right. Battle stress is a mental disorder that's caused by exposure to traumatic events. It's relatively common among shinobi. Symptoms vary, but flashbacks like Sayaka had are typical."

Hinata looked down at her hands, thinking, then looked back up to Kakashi. "S-sensei, forgive my impoliteness, but d-do you—?"

"I do," said Kakashi. He swirled his tea. "My symptoms manifest as night terrors. They come and go, depending on my recent missions and how many I'm taking."

"A-and Naruto-kun, is battle stress the r-reason you didn't want to e-eat the beef, back in Senfuku?"

Naruto swallowed, but nodded. "Yeah. The smell reminded me of… of after. I get nightmares too, like sensei."

Hinata looked down at the table again. "I see."

"Not everyone gets symptoms," said Kakashi. He poured Hinata a cup of tea. " And it can easily take a month for symptoms to manifest. During the war we tracked cases as long as a year out from the traumatic experience. You shouldn't feel any guilt about not having the same experiences as your teammates."

"Yeah, if you don't have nightmares or anything you're really lucky, Hinata-chan," said Naruto. He placed his hand on top of hers on the tabletop.

Hinata nodded, lips setting in a firm line. "How can I help?"

"Try and be supportive," said Kakashi, shrugging. "I know it doesn't sound like much, but an open ear is more important than you think. Naruto's already seeing a counselor, and we'll get Sayaka one too, but counseling can only do so much."

Kakashi sighed, leaning backwards in his chair and looking off into the middle distance. "With things like this, it often seems like you're on your own. We'll have to be sure to remind each other that nobody is alone."

Naruto looked down and away. Kakashi's eye traveled over him, then to Hinata, before turning back to Hiroyo.

"Hiroyo-san, how did your clan handle it?" he asked. "If I remember correctly, the Chikurin Clan is mostly samurai and ashigaru stock?"

"It is," said Hiroyo. "Of course, plenty of my kin choose to be shinobi as well. We try to talk to each other and share the load, but I must admit that most seem to handle their symptoms with ease and we don't think of it very much. Sayaka's case is more severe than I am used to. Was the fighting in Senfuku worse than I realized?"

"No, it is an Uchiha trait," said Kakashi. He swirled his tea. "Nobody is totally sure why, but it is suspected that it is related to the Sharingan. A bloodline advanced through strong negative emotions… there may be a terrible symbiosis with battle stress. At the least, the eidetic memory the Sharingan gives can amplify the symptoms. It certainly did for me."

The table unconsciously looked over to the headband that covered Kakashi's Sharingan.

"Well, we'll keep an eye on her, but there's not much to be done," Kakashi continued. "What's important is to make sure that nobody is alone. That's what it means to be part of a team, after all."

He looked at Naruto again.

"I didn't— it seemed like a lot of bother," said Naruto. He looked down at the table and rubbed at his nose. "I should have mentioned it I guess, but like, it's just some bad dreams, y'know?"

"It's not," said Hinata, and this time she gripped Naruto's hand firmly so that he looked up at her. "It's okay, Naruto-kun. We're teammates, r-right?"

Naruto looked at her for a long moment, then nodded. "Right. I was being stupid again, huh Hinata-chan?"

Hinata smiled a little and gave Naruto's hand a squeeze. "It's okay. Just t-talk to us in the f-future, okay?"

Naruto smiled back and nodded.