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Finding the Way - Part 1
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Kakashi rose an eyebrow at the assignment Naruto handed in. The boy was standing in front of him, a big grin on his face. Kakashi wondered if he truly thought that this was how an essay was supposed to look like. There were some notes here and there scribbled on the paper, and Kakashi could spot at least two spelling mistakes just by skimming over the first sentence.
"Naruto, you really need to work on your writing. Do you think people will respect you as a Hokage if you don't even know how to spell chakra?"
Naruto's smile didn't falter. "Yeah, yeah. I'll have plenty of time to worry about that once I know all those awesome jutsu. So, Kakashi-sensei, what do you say? Which one are you going to teach me first?"
Kakashi looked at the list again. It was a lot longer than he'd suspected. "Fireball Jutsu," he read first. "Didn't that nice little paper show your affinity was wind? Why a fire jutsu?"
"Naho and Sasuke both know how to use it! It looks cool!"
Kakashi kept reading. "Wood style. That's not even a technique, Naruto."
"But the First Hokage used wood style, right? And he was the strongest, so I want to be like him. He's my idol!"
Kakashi couldn't hold back a sigh. "You have to master water and earth style before even thinking about learning anything wood style related. And, again, if anything you should start with wind jutsu."
Naruto only pouted. "Why do you even ask which jutsu I want to learn if you are only going to lecture me?"
"I was telling you to choose something that made sense. Alright, go and practice wind style and chakra control for now." Kakashi gave the report back to Naruto and buried his hands in his pockets again. "Sakura, it's your turn," he called over to Sakura, who was sitting by the river to practice water jutsu.
Naruto reluctantly turned around and returned to Naho. She wasn't training herself but was waiting for Naruto to come back to give him tips on his ninjutsu. Sasuke was further away on a mission to wrinkle leaf after leaf until whole trees looked dead.
Kakashi read through Sakura's assignment. It looked nothing like Naruto's but was well-written and neatly formatted. The way she phrased sentences seemed straight out of a scientific paper. "You want to become a medic?" he asked after having read through all of it.
Sakura nodded. "I've thought long and hard what I could have done better to save Tazuna. And Sasuke too. There should be someone on a team able to use medical jutsu. It just seems so indispensable."
"Medical jutsu can save lives, you are right. But medical jutsu are also some of the hardest to acquire and master. It takes a long time, and most shinobi find out they aren't capable of learning them after all, which is why most don't even bother. If you really want to focus on medical jutsu, you will have to dedicate your life to it, all of your studies. Are you sure this is the road you want to take?"
Sakura nodded again. Unlike Naruto, she hadn't written down whatever appeared cool enough to her on a whim. She'd sat down, thought about it, had done her research in the library. This was what she wanted.
"You sure are talented in chakra control, and you have an affinity for water. I can see you being the medical type. I can't teach you any medical jutsu because I don't know any myself, but that shouldn't be a problem. We'll focus on your chakra control and water jutsu. That should prepare you for a career as a medic once your first Genin year is over." He looked over her essay again, nodding. This was more what he'd expected of this assignment.
"Kakashi-sensei? If our first year is over… will we still be a team? I mean, if I go and become a medic, will I still see the others and go on missions with them?"
Kakashi wasn't quite sure if she asked because of Sasuke or because she'd grown genuinely attached to her teammates in general. Maybe a bit of both. "I'm afraid you'll see them a lot less. But the four of you still trained together as Genin, the Hokage always keeps that in mind when assigning teams to missions. You'll likely do some missions together every now and then." He smiled at her.
"And what about you, sensei? Will we still go on missions with you too?"
"Me? Well… I'll mostly be doing higher ranked missions again. You'll have to train hard if you want to join me on those." He hadn't expected her to think about him too, but he appreciated it.
Next was Sasuke. His essay was similar to Sakura's. Well written, little to no mistakes. But his self-assessment wasn't as honest as Sakura's had been. He acknowledged there was still a lot for him to learn and practice, yet he also pointed out it was his team that held him back, not his own talent.
"Mastering the Sharingan, learning basic lightning jutsu, learning more proficient fire jutsu," Kakashi read over Sasuke's list. "This sounds reasonable, I guess. What do you suggest we do about your team holding you back? You want a new one?"
"They are still my team. I just want you to give me the practice and opportunities I deserve. I need to grow fast, get strong as soon as possible."
Kakashi was slightly surprised by his answer. But Sasuke wasn't finished yet.
"I heard the Chuunin exams are being held soon. Let me participate."
Now Kakashi understood where this was going. "You haven't even finished your first Genin year."
"I've looked up the requirements to become a Chuunin. I meet them all. I deserve to participate."
"Deserve, huh?" Sasuke surely was the most talented out of the four, and he surely met the requirements to become a Chuunin. At least the physical ones. His mind and attitude were childish still. Sasuke becoming a Chuunin would only make him more arrogant. "People in this world barely ever get what they deserve. You should learn to appreciate what you have first before you expect more."
"Appreciate what I have? I had everything taken from me, so what exactly am I supposed to appreciate? That my whole clan got murdered?"
"You are stuck in the past. But right now, you have a team to worry about. Your team. You did well on our last mission. I want to see more of that before I'll allow you guys to take the exams."
"But I meet the requirements!" Sasuke blurted out. His teammates all looked over to them, realizing they had some sort of argument. "Do I have to wait until they are ready too? That's not fair!"
"I don't care about any requirements you might have read about. I'm your teacher, and as long as you are still my Genin, I'm deciding on the requirements for you here. And in my book, none of you meets the requirements. Not even you, Sasuke."
Sasuke stormed off without saying another word. But Kakashi let him go. Sasuke's behaviour only proved him right.
Naho was the last, and slowly walked up to him. She didn't manage to actually look him in the eyes. "I… My essay's not finished yet."
"Even Naruto had something to show to me." It surprised him that Naho hadn't finished her assignment in time. And it worried him. She behaved differently since they were back.
"I'm sorry. I'll have it tomorrow."
She still didn't look at him, so he grabbed her arm before she could run off as well. "Naho," he said, but he didn't actually know what he was supposed to tell her. Should he apologise to her? Because he definitely felt sorry. But he couldn't. Not for showing her the reality of life. "Death is part of a shinobi's life," he said instead.
This obviously wasn't what the girl wanted to hear. She ran off as soon as he let go of her. He watched her go back to her team. Naruto instantly bombarded her with more questions on ninjutsu.
Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck. Three out of his four students worried him, and two seemed to have a habit of storming off. Yet he couldn't deny that he'd grown attached to them. He wanted the best for them. All of them.
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Naho didn't go straight home after her training. She barely thought of the orphanage as home anyway. Instead she wandered around the village. It wasn't dark yet, and many people were still on the streets. She spotted Naruto too, who was on his way to Ichiraku's to meet with Iruka and a bowl of ramen. He would be glad if Naho joined him, he always was. But Naho wasn't in the mood to talk and be all bubbly, so she walked into the opposite direction before he could spot her.
Seeking silence, she eventually ended up back at the training grounds. They were like little woods and even had a river running through them. Outside of the usual training hours for teams, they were one of the most peaceful places.
Naho soon realised she wasn't alone though. Sasuke was still practicing. Part of her wanted to go over to him, but she was too scared. They hadn't talked since their mission in the Land of Waves. Not that they ever talked much anyway. But Naho felt like it was all her fault. Tazuna's death was her fault. Sasuke getting hurt was her fault.
So she left.
Out of nowhere, a kunai came flying straight at her from behind. Naho heard it, felt it almost, and her muscles instinctively dodged.
Sasuke appeared in front of her, blocking her way. He held another kunai in his hand, spinning it around a finger with ease.
"That could've hit me," she said, but her voice barely sounded angry. Irritated and confused maybe.
"We've been teammates for many months now. I knew you'd dodge." Sasuke's expression was as blank as it always was. He slowly rose the kunai. "Fight me."
Naho didn't move at all. "Why should I?"
"You have good reflexes. Good movement. Yet they go to waste because you are so diffident you don't even talk back when insulted." His look grew more serious. "You better fight back now or I will hurt you."
Sasuke charged at her. Even though he announced his attack, Naho was still so surprised that she stumbled backwards and fell butt-first to the ground. She had to roll aside to get away from the next attack. He barely gave her time to consider what was going on.
"Stop it!" she gasped at him while pushing herself up again.
But Sasuke didn't stop. He was throwing his kunai at her. Naho dodged it too by jumping up a tree. But he was already there, completely reading and predicting all her movements. He tried to kick her, only missing by an inch.
They'd often sparred. Yet Naho could feel this was different. He was angry at her. He was going to hurt her.
Sasuke's attacks continued, one after the other. Though Naho managed to dodge them all. So he eventually stepped it up. He threw shuriken at her, forcing her to dodge into a certain direction. He knew exactly where she would go, so he spit a fireball her way.
Naho could feel the heat whooshing past her. But the fireball was just another means of pushing her into a certain direction. Sasuke was already waiting for her. And this time, his punch connected with her face.
He hit her so hard that Naho instantly fell to the ground.
"You are constantly on the backfoot, because all you ever do is to reactively dodge my attacks." He walked up to her, looked down at her.
"There is no reason for me to fight you." She wanted to get up, but Sasuke put a foot onto her shoulder, pressing her back down.
"I can't stand you. You are never going to be a good shinobi with that mindset. You choose to be a liability when you wouldn't have to be one. That's what I hate the most." He removed his foot and grabbed her shirt instead to pull her up. "You choose to be a liability." He looked into her eyes, eyes that were of the same dark colour as his own. He abruptly turned away, realizing he'd stared at her too long. He let go and left. "You might as well give up on being a shinobi now. I'm sick of seeing your face every day anyway."
Naho was left alone. She didn't feel like taking a walk anymore. Instead she wished she could just leave, vanish, go back to her farm. To her home. How her teammates could just go on with their lives like nothing had happened was a complete mystery to her. She didn't want a life filled with fighting and death. She wanted peace.
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Kakashi was meeting with Gai in the evening. They climbed a nearby mountain and raced each other back to Konoha. Gai won the challenge, which had him fall into euphoria while cheering for himself.
"You put up a good fight, Kakashi." He clapped Kakashi's shoulder. "I'm glad, you seem much more invested in our challenges again. Which is exactly how it's supposed to be! I could feel the power of youth in both of us."
Kakashi stared back at him with a blank face. He'd never quite understood where Gai found all that enthusiasm.
"I'm meeting with some of the other Jounin for dinner. You should join too."
He was about to decline, but Gai gave him no time and simply pulled him along.
"How is your team doing? I heard there were some problems on your last mission," Gai said while walking next to him down Konoha's main street.
"They are fine, I guess. Maybe…" Kakashi stopped to reconsider what he was going to say. "I don't believe teaching is the right job for me, that's all."
Gai carefully listened, waiting a moment if there was more his friend wanted to say, before replying, "Well, any effort you put into their training is useless if you don't believe in yourself, and in them. They are good students, otherwise they wouldn't have made it so far. And you are a good teacher, I truly believe that. Because you are my eternal rival, you need to be able to keep up with me – in all aspects of life." Gai smiled at him.
Kakashi smiled too under his mask. "If I'm still sane by the time I finish their training, it'll be a miracle."
Gai's smile turned into a toothy grin. "Hey, I have an idea. I've actually been waiting for this moment ever since I became a teacher, but…" He grabbed Kakashi's hands, taking them into his own like a man in a cheesy romance movie about to confess his love. "Let's do a mission together. You and me. And your team and my team. This is going to be GREAT."
Kakashi noticed people around them staring at them, at Gai in particular – an adult man dancing on the spot wearing a tight green jumpsuit while holding another man's hands. But he didn't care. And neither did Gai. Instead, Kakashi nodded. Maybe a mission with another team was exactly what his team needed.
Kakashi again stopped when they reached the barbecue restaurant. And again, he wanted to excuse himself and leave after all. But he'd barely opened his mouth when Gai already pushed him through the door. He looked into the surprised faces of Asuma, Kurenai and Genma.
"Kakashi, it's nice to see you," Kurenai soon said. She sat between Asuma and Genma.
Kakashi only nodded and sat down next to Gai.
"Man, we really need to find more women for our group. Don't you have some nice female friends?" Genma leaned more towards Kurenai, which earned him dark glances from Asuma.
Kurenai ignored him and studied the menu instead. "Today Kiba asked me if they could participate in the Chuunin exams. I had no idea what to say. Isn't this too early?"
"I asked my guys if they wanted to participate and they all agreed. Mine are definitely ready. They have some nice teamwork." Asume nodded to himself.
"Kiba really wants to take part in it. I feel Shino is ready too. But I don't think Hinata wants to. She only agreed because of the others."
"You can't pamper her just because she's a shy cute girl. She has to make her own decisions. If she says yes, then let her participate and have her see where it gets her."
"I'm not taking any advice from you, Genma. Your Genin team disbanded long ago. What do you think, Gai? Your team didn't participate the last time, right?"
"It's not like I didn't want them to. They decided for themselves that they'd rather practice some more first."
Part of Kakashi envied Gai for his students. They sounded more like adults than children. He could only think back to the conversations he had with Sasuke and Naruto that day. Words like those passing their lips was unimaginable.
They ordered drinks and food to share. Kakashi quietly listened to the others talk, only really joining the conversation when directly asked a question. They talked about their Genin and the stupid things they did on missions, about the village's economy, and, thanks to Genma, about the women sitting at the table next to them. Kakashi couldn't even remember the last time he'd had dinner with his old classmates. But he enjoyed himself more than he thought he would.
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The next day, Kakashi found Naho standing in front of his flat, waiting for him. He wondered how long she'd been there. He still had the habit of pulling out Icha Icha to go on a walk to the cemetery first before even thinking about going to his students. There was no way she could know when he'd leave his home.
"Kakashi-sensei, I…" She was trying her best to look at him. He didn't say anything but waited for her to continue. "I've decided to quit. I don't want to become a shinobi after all."
He raised his brows a bit while looking down at her. "Well, that's too bad. Because you became a shinobi when you graduated the Ninja Academy. I don't think you can undo the fact that you passed those Genin exams."
She stared back at him with worried eyes. There was a big blue bruise on her left cheek.
"What happened to your face? You don't seem like the one to get involved in fights."
She quickly covered her cheek with her hand. "It's nothing. But please, sensei. I don't think I have what it takes to become a shinobi. I'm only… a liability."
"You can't take our mission in the Land of Waves as an indicator on how well you are doing as a shinobi, I told you that, right? It was my fault for putting you guys in a situation that was way more than you should be able to handle as Genin." There was a time Kakashi had wished for his Genin to just give up on the shinobi life. It was a harsh one. He knew better than anyone else the hardship and pain it involved. He didn't wish such a life for anyone else. Especially not for those four little kids. But he couldn't accept that this was the reason for Naho to quit. He couldn't accept having failed them.
"But I will have to do those sorts of missions eventually, right? I'll have to… fight other shinobi. Kill people in order to survive or get killed. That's what shinobi do, right? I knew that. I thought I could do it. But really, I think I can't."
Kakashi wondered if Naho had turned out differently had she grown up in a clan instead of a civilian family. And a civilian family outside of Konoha of all things. She was so much softer than the other three. Softer than Sakura even, despite having done so well on their hunting exercise. Yet she was also talented.
"Actually," he eventually continued. "If you stayed a Genin, it's very unlikely you'd have to do those sorts of missions again. And no one can force you to take the Chuunin exams. There are a lot of shinobi that choose to stay Genin and do easy missions. They aren't paying well. But they are enough to survive." He could see that he caught her attention. So he kept going. "But I won't keep you from quitting. If you are sure about this, then go on and give up on all you've achieved so far. It's really unfortunate though. I have a very special mission for you guys, together with Gai's team. But I don't think we can do it if we are one member short."
"What kind of mission?" There was worry in her voice.
"We were supposed to leave for Sunagakure tomorrow. But if you are sure about quitting, you should tell the others right away. We need to find someone else for the mission then."
He decided to skip visiting Rin and Obito for now to accompany Naho instead. She silently followed after him to the training grounds. Kakashi wondered just how serious she was about quitting, and if the bruise on her face had anything to do with it.
His other three students were already busy training when they arrived at the training ground. Kakashi called all of them over. He wasn't as late as usual, but still late.
"Sorry, guys. Today I got a bit lost on the path of life again. But fortunately, Naho showed me the way."
Naho wasn't greeting her teammates, but quietly stared at the ground.
Naruto was the first to look at her in confusion. "Huh, did something happen, Naho-chan?"
Sakura spotted the Icha Icha book in Kakashi's hand and instantly pulled Naho towards her. "Kakashi-sensei didn't touch you in any inappropriate way, did he?" she said, loud enough for Kakashi to hear.
"Now, now… don't make such jokes. People will start talking. Actually, Naho and I were just talking about something on our way. Naho, do you want to tell them?"
He looked straight at Naho, and for the first time in days, the girl returned his look.
She straightened herself and stepped away from Sakura to face all of them. Except for Sasuke. "Kakashi-sensei just told me that we are going on another mission. With Gai-sensei's team. Isn't that right?" She looked back at her teacher for approval.
Kakashi nodded. "We are leaving tomorrow."
There was less enthusiasm on Naruto's face than he'd anticipated. Their last mission left its marks even on him too.
Instead of getting all excited, he stared at Sasuke like his teammate had just eaten the last cup of ramen.
"Alright, then let's get back to training, everyone! We got a lot to work on until tomorrow," Naruto yelled. Another thought crossed his mind before he could stomp off with determination. "Wait, you should tell us more about this mission first, right Kakashi-sensei? That way I can get ready for it. Right, that's the first step. So, what are we going to do? Whatever it is, I'm going to be prepared!"
Sasuke smirked. "You are hoping I won't have to save your life again, right? Don't stare at me all angry now, I'm hoping for the same."
Kakashi interrupted the two before Naruto would use his fists to fight back. "It's a top-secret mission. You mustn't tell anyone about it. We are going to Sunagakure to deliver some documents."
"Why are we doing a mission with another team simply to deliver some documents?" Sasuke asked though his voice sounded even more annoyed than it usually did.
"Must be important documents." Kakashi shrugged.
Naruto nodded, though he wasn't too satisfied with the information he'd been given. He wanted to prepare himself, and prove himself to be better than Sasuke. He eagerly went back to practice.
Sakura and Naho left too, but Kakashi stopped Sasuke from following them.
"That bruise on Naho's cheek was your doing, wasn't it?"
"Does it matter? We are covered in bruises all the time anyway."
"It's not so much about the bruise but how it got there. I'm just wondering if there are any internal issues in our team I should know about."
"There aren't." Sasuke turned around to leave.
"Don't treat her differently because she reminds you of your past," Kakashi said after him. He could only imagine how much Naho had to look like one of Sasuke's dead relatives. But it was obvious that Sasuke behaved differently towards her. Kakashi couldn't make up his mind quite yet if it was a good thing or not.
Sasuke immediately whirled around to him again, a big frown on his forehead. "Don't ever talk of my past again. You are not a part of it, so you have no right. And neither is Naho. I don't care about her." His voice became more heated. "She's weak, that's all I care about. All of them are weak. Even Naruto, who's supposed to be our Jinchuuriki."
Kakashi quietly waited for his rant to be over, not showing any sort of emotional reaction. He was only glad the other three seemed too invested in their practice to actually notice Sasuke and him having another argument.
"He's been given this immense power by the Fourth, hasn't he? Hashirama, Madara, Tobirama. The strongest shinobi of our village have all been Jinchuuriki. If I had this power…"
"… you would not be able to use it either." Kakashi interrupted him. "I'd go so far as to say you would not be able to control it one bit."
Sasuke laughed straight at Kakashi's face. Kakashi only stared back at him with cold eyes.
"You are wishing for a demon to live inside of you. Yet you can't even control your own emotions and attitude without one. They would feed right off on all those thoughts about revenge inside of you. They'd slowly eat you away. You think controlling a tailed-beast is easy? You think Naruto was just gifted power without having to work for it? Even the First and Second Hokage couldn't control their beasts properly. It was the demons that eventually led to their deaths. To the deaths of the two greatest shinobi this village has ever seen."
"That's not what they taught us at the Academy."
Kakashi laughed. "Of course not. The truth is not always what people want to hear. They want to remember Hashirama and Tobirama as heroes. Because they need heroes."
"How would you know anything about this?" Sasuke asked. He didn't quite trust his teacher's words yet.
"There's a lot you learn once you move up in ranks. And often you realise that reality isn't always what it seems like." Kakashi opened Icha Icha again and skipped to the page he'd stopped at. "Don't tell any of this to the others. Especially not Naruto. It's better for all of us if he continues to think of Hashirama as the first person to fully control the ninetails. A hero."
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Kakashi handed an official document to all of his students, signed by the Hokage himself and told them not to lose it. It was their pass that would allow them to enter Sunagakure freely. Despite the two villages being friendly, their leaders rarely appreciated it if foreign shinobi visited without reason.
Gai handed the same documents to his team.
"You are Sasuke Uchiha, right?" Lee approached him, offering him his hand.
Sasuke didn't shake it.
"Huh, seems the last Uchiha doesn't care about manners." Neji eyed Sasuke from head to toes. He'd often been compared to him. But while Sasuke's destiny was to be the last living heir of the respected Uchiha clan, Neji was destined to be a branch member. His talent wasn't going to do him any good.
"Manners don't count anything in this world. Only strength does." Sasuke put the document from Kakashi away in his backpack.
Lee smiled, pulling his hand back. "That's fine by me too. I'm looking forward to fighting you one day and prove my own strength. Maybe you will accept my handshake after I've beat you. I assume we'll face each other in the Chuunin exams?"
Sasuke didn't answer, but only threw dark glances at Kakashi.
"Huh, the Chuunin exams? Are we even allowed to take those while we are still in our first Genin year?" Naruto asked. He'd heard people around the village talk about them.
"You need the approval of your sensei. But if you have it you are good to go." Tenten was standing next to Naho, an arm put around her shoulders.
"Well, my team will participate next time. I still have a lot to teach them," Kakashi said before Naruto could get all excited thinking him taking the Chuunin exam was an option.
Gai raised a fist into the air. He was filled with excitement. "Alright, team. Let's go! We have a long journey ahead of us. I say we do 30 minutes of sprinting followed by 200 sit ups and repeat that until lunch time."
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Kakashi's team was completely out of breath when they finally stopped to make camp. It wasn't dark yet, but neither Kakashi nor Gai wanted to continue. They would reach the desert soon, and a night in the desert was anything but enjoyable.
Naho let herself fall to the ground next to Tenten. She'd done her best trying to keep up to her throughout their journey, but somehow, Tenten didn't seem remotely as beat as her.
"I'm just used to it." Tenten laughed, patting Naho's shoulder.
Naho wiped the sweat away from her forehead and cheeks. She'd wanted to talk to Tenten. She still did. But the constant running had kept all of them too busy to talk. And even in their breaks, Naho didn't know how to address it. She wanted to know if Tenten had ever been scared. She wanted to know if feeling terrified by life was normal. Because Naho sure was. But Tenten looked too carefree, with a constant smile on her face and banter between her and her teammates. Naho didn't think she would understand after all.
They started to put up tents once the Genin had given their arms and legs some rest.
"The daughter of our First Hokage is the current Kazekage's wife, right?" Sakura asked Kakashi, happy she could show off that she'd paid attention during history classes.
Naruto on the other hand seemed rather surprised their old Hokage had relatives in another village. "How come I've never heard of her before if she's the daughter of Hashirama? He's a legend after all! Is she just as strong as him?"
Sakura hit Naruto's shoulder with one of the sticks she'd collected for the campfire. "It's because you've always skipped classes, you idiot!"
"Anyway, I want to meet her!"
"I'm afraid that won't be possible, Naruto." Kakashi was leaning against a tree, watching his Genin prepare the camp while reading. "She died many years ago."
Naruto was disappointed that pretty much every shinobi who was considered a legend or was somehow related to one was already dead. "But how come she married someone from Sunagakure? She was a shinobi of Konoha, wasn't she?"
"Political marriages are quite common among noble clans," Neji added to the conversation. "Even today." It was a topic he was quite familiar with. The Hyuuga clan had a long history of arranged marriages. Barely anyone ever married for love.
Gai straightened himself to give a little lecture on Konoha and its alliance to Sunagakure, an alliance that went back all the way to the beginnings of the First Shinobi War. He proudly shared his knowledge with them, explaining how the marriage between Hashirama's daughter and Rasa assured that their alliance was strong enough to survive two more wars afterwards, lasting until the present. Kakashi only quietly nodded, glad someone else had the enthusiasm to explain common knowledge to Naruto.
They went to sleep early. Gai explained they would have to get up before sunrise again, to make the most out of the early hours of the day. The desert was too hot around noon and in the afternoon to effectively cover a big distance.
Naho lay in her tent awake, wondering when it would finally be her turn to keep guard. Sakura was sleeping next to her, but whenever Naho closed her eyes, she would fall half-asleep and have vivid dreams of an enemy entering their tent, and sitting next to them, watching them. Most of the time, she wasn't even sure if she was asleep or not.
After a while, she decided to get up and see if she could be of any use outside. If she was already awake, she might as well take over guard.
Tenten was sitting by the fire, yawning, a blanket wrapped around her. "It's not your turn yet," she said when she spotted Naho.
"I couldn't sleep. I can take over if you want." She sat down next to Tenten. The heat of the fire felt hot against her skin.
"I was hoping you and I would get to go on a mission some time. I guess we've both been busy with life lately." Tenten didn't seem to plan on leaving.
Naho quietly nodded. Being a shinobi surely took up a lot of time. It was more than just a job.
"Don't you have some exciting stories to tell me from your missions? Or any interesting jutsu you have learned?" Tenten's voice was filled with enthusiasm.
Naho didn't want to think about her missions. None of them had been exciting. Especially not the latest one. "Well, Kakashi-sensei taught me to use some fire jutsu," she said instead.
"Really?" Naho hadn't expected Tenten to be that surprised. "Show me!" she said, clapping her hands.
Both Kakashi and Sasuke could use fire jutsu as well. Better even than Naho. To her, this was nothing special anymore, yet Tenten acted like she could use some special secret technique. "I don't think I'm supposed to use those outside of a fight or training."
"Ah, come on. No one's going to notice. And if they do, I'll take the blame."
Naho looked around before picking up a dried wooden stick. She formed a sign and breathed fire onto it, turning it into a little torch.
Tenten clapped her hands again. "I wish I could do that too."
"What's your elemental affinity?"
Tenten grinned. "None, I guess? It seems like I don't have any talent at all regarding elemental ninjutsu."
Naho looked at the glowing stick again that slowly burned down. She threw it into the campfire before it would reach her hands. "Have you ever thought about quitting? Like, giving up on becoming a shinobi?"
"Of course." Tenten nodded. "Many times actually. Do you know Lady Tsunade?"
"One of the Sannin?" That was all Naho knew about her.
Tenten nodded again. "She is the best medical-nin there is. And my idol. She trained my mother."
"Really? Sakura says she wants to be a medical-nin too. You never told me you wanted to be one."
"Yeah because… I gave up on it a while ago. And I also almost gave up on being a shinobi altogether at that point."
Naho quietly listened. She'd met Tenten almost two years ago, yet Tenten had never told her anything about this.
"You know, I always wanted to be like my mom, though I never actually got to know her. I thought… she would be proud of me if I became a medical-nin just like her. And my father told me that she always looked up to Lady Tsunade. But it seems like I'm 100% my father and can only work with a hammer in my hand or something like that." She made a silly face and laughed at herself. "But really, for most of my first year, I tried to be someone I wasn't. I created this picture of my mother in my head, a collection of everything my father had ever told me about her. But I just failed over and over again to become that person until I was ready to give up."
"And why didn't you?"
She looked over to the tents. "My teammates were trying so hard too. Especially Lee. He never gave up, despite having even less talent. He was set on finding a way, a different way. So who would I be to just give up?"
Naho nodded, but Tenten's words hadn't really helped her with her own problems. They didn't take her fear away. Finding one's own way sounded nice. But Naho didn't even know where she was going.
.
.
.
They continued their journey a few hours before sunrise and soon reached the Land of Wind. An ocean full of sand lay before them. It made walking and running harder and left them even more exhausted before the sun even started to rise, together with the temperature.
Kakashi and Gai had been leading the group of Genin until they stopped at around noon. The sun was right on top of them.
"Are we finally going to take a break again?" Sakura complained. Her nose and cheeks were of a light red colour already and she was looking around to find some shades. "I really need like two bottles of water right now."
One bottle after the other was emptied. Kakashi and Gai watched them, giving them a few minutes to recover. "Actually, no we are not taking a break," Kakashi eventually said.
"Right, from here on, our ways will split," Gai said. "Kakashi and I will bring the documents to Suna. You guys will get a new mission."
"What? What kind of mission?" Naruto, Sakura, Lee and Tenten all started to talk at the same time, each of them tried to get their questions answered first before the others.
"Just listen and I'll explain," Kakashi said.
Gai interrupted him before he could continue. "It's a race!" he yelled enthusiastically. "Team Gai vs Team Kakashi! I'm so excited to see who will come out on top. The team that reaches Sunagakure first, of course, with all its members, is the winner. Who knows, maybe if you guys can beat my team Kakashi will rethink letting you join the Chuunin exams." Gai laughed at team 7. "Though you won't!" His laughing intensified even more.
Kakashi rolled his eyes. He could see that Sakura was about to raise her hand this time to ask questions, so he cut her off. "Alright, you all know what to do, right? Just manage to get to Sunagakure first. Gai and I will go ahead and wait for you. It starts…"
"Now!" Gai yelled again and sand whirled up around them.
The seven Genin had to cover their eyes, and when they opened them again, Kakashi and Gai were gone. The two teams stared at each other for a moment, baffled with the sudden turn this mission had taken. But it didn't take long until the determination to win made its way into their eyes.
"Lee, Neji! Let's go!" Tenten dropped smoke bombs around them.
And again, team 7 was left covering their eyes and nose. They coughed and sneezed from the smoke around them. When it slowly dissolved, Gai's team was gone as well.
Naruto immediately dropped his backpack in search of a map. "Where are we? Where are we supposed to go? Like, does any of you know the way?"
"Well, we came from that direction over there." Sakura pointed backwards, towards a larger hill they'd passed earlier. It was pretty much the only landmark around them, apart from some dead trees their teachers had left them at. "So I guess we'll just continue straight on?"
Sasuke quietly pulled out a compass from his backpack. "Sunagakure is located in the southwest of Konoha. If we took the direct route towards Suna, we'd just have to continue going southwest. Which would be… this direction."
The four Genin all looked into the direction Sasuke pointed at. There was nothing but more sand.
"Look! There are some footprints! This means either Kakashi-sensei or Gai's team went that way as well, right? That's it! Let's go!" Naruto stormed off. He wasn't going to lose this challenge.
His teammates followed him. The compass had to be right. And the footprints only confirmed it was right.
The scorching sun followed them. They were another day's walk away from Sunagakure. But there was no time to hide from the rising temperatures when one had a race to win.