"Leaf has almost a thousand ninja to call upon, but when this decade is out, there will be a single orphan left."

Ishikawa, First Tsuchikage of Iwagakure, shortly before his assassination started the Second Shinobi War

-O-

Sakura would be making a full recovery. It was the first thing the nurse had told her, even before mentioning the lack of infection or that her ear would be regrown. It was about as comforting as the cool green walls and crisp white sheets of her hospital room – sterile, that was the word she was looking for.

It could have been worse.

She'd heard it from half a dozen different people so far. Her parents were happy she was (relatively) fine after her first real mission. Her team-mates were glad she would be ready for action again soon. Kakashi was probably the only one who knew how close to death she'd been, and had seemed appropriately relieved afterwards; on the other hand, nobody except Kakashi himself knew how much of what he said and did was an act.

A cut to the throat instead of the head would mean her bleeding out before reaching Konoha's walls. A solid stab in her eye socket was another almost guaranteed kill. If the prisoner had been through a single year of the Konoha Academy curriculum, Sakura wouldn't have come home at all, rather than as a nervous wreck with her first real injury.

The short not-really-a-fight kept replaying in her head.

She simply hadn't been good enough. Sakura hadn't even known she was in danger until it was too late. If she wasn't safe as a fully qualified genin against a man who'd repeatedly burned himself trying to eat soup the night before he attacked her, and was wearing manacles, then how could she ever be safe when her missions inevitably pitted her against other ninja?

Sakura reached up to touch the bandages around her right ear. It was scheduled to be regrown the next morning. The ear would be submerged in nutrient slop, and then medical jutsu would be used to create new flesh and mould it onto her. The nurse had explained it all to her on her rounds earlier. Sakura remembered the pitying look she'd received along with her hot drink – it had really hurt to be seen as a scared fourteen-year-old girl instead of a ninja.

The situation was intolerable, and Sakura meant the word literally. She couldn't face her own mortality. She couldn't face her team-mates. She definitely couldn't face her parents, not when she had to keep such a secret.

Hey Mum, Dad, I almost died yesterday and there's nothing I could do, or either of you for that matter. I didn't die though. It'll probably happen at a later point in my career – do you know what proportion of ninja live to retirement? And how much lower that percentage is for ninja who don't have a clan behind them? There's a reason Konoha doesn't release those statistics, by the way.

Sakura laughed hysterically to herself as she imagined the conversation that would follow. Her laughter slowly dissolved into sobs.

When her parents came to visit her, she told them she would be out soon, and not to worry. Her smile was almost skin deep. Kakashi stopped by but she asked him to leave. Naruto sat next to her for an hour while she stared at the wall. She didn't greet him when he came in, although there were so many things she wanted to tell him.

Naruto, do you know why so many orphans have the surname Uzumaki? It's because a handful of surviving Uzumaki set up in Konoha after the fall of Uzushiogakure, and this way it's harder for an enemy village to find the real Uzumaki amongst all the fakes. Konoha doesn't want a repeat of what happened to the Yondaime's extended family after his death. Sure, Iwa lost almost their entire spy network in Konoha, but that didn't bring back any of those killed.

The Namikaze dead included a four-year-old child and his three remaining grandparents. 'Branch and root', Iwa gloated afterwards.

She could almost picture the way Naruto's face would fall as she spoke, the denial bubbling up and being choked as she kept talking and dispelling his illusions. Like her, he would carry on being a ninja, and the extra knowledge would only hurt.

In the end, he left before she worked up the nerve to say anything.

Sasuke didn't come at all.

He was the reason Sakura had stayed at the Academy – him and Ino, her crush and her friend-slash-rival respectively. To learn that she meant so little to him was breaking her heart, one tiny piece at a time.

"Hey, Sakura," she heard a thoroughly unexpected voice say. It had become dark outside without her noticing, and standing in the doorway was Iruka, one of her teachers from a mere month and a half ago. The Academy seemed further away, somehow, as though there was more than time alone that separated the girl she'd been and the girl she was now.

"Hi," she replied, the surprise breaking through her misery for a moment.

Iruka came to sit beside her bed. He had a cardboard ramen container that he set on her bedside table, and the smell reminded Sakura how long it'd been since she'd eaten. He passed her a pair of chopsticks and gestured for her to tuck in. "I was going to get ramen with Naruto, but when I heard what happened, I thought you might get more benefit from it."

Sakura paused, noodles halfway to her lips, feeling oddly guilty. "I didn't mean to-" she began to say, but Iruka interrupted her.

"Naruto and I will get ramen on a different evening, and he'll enjoy it all the more for the anticipation. But let's forget about him, and talk about you. I know I'm not your teacher any more, but the reason I took on the job was because I wanted to make a difference. To help Konoha's young ninja. And right now I feel like you need the support of somebody who's been through a rough mission, and isn't emotionally crippled because of it. You might have noticed that your teammates and teacher aren't exactly well-adjusted."

"Sasuke is…" Sakura trailed off, not quite willing to defend the boy who she was currently extremely unhappy with. She covered her hesitation with another mouthful of noodles.

"Sasuke is a complex young man who has his own demons. I'm sure he'll open up to you about them in his own time." Iruka fixed her with a look that had been honed on hundreds of children over the years. "You've just had your first taste of what ninja life can be like, when things go wrong. Let's talk about that."

"I was just so, so helpless, and even Kakashi, who's a jounin and meant to keep us safe, he couldn't do anything in time." Sakura's hands clenched around the hospital blanket in her lap. "I know that's probably how it's going to end one day. I'll be surprised by something, and before I react, I'll be dead."

"I see you've overheard some ninja joking about 'shinobi retirement'," Iruka said, sighing. "Sakura, look at me. I'm going to be entirely honest with you. I went through a similar period of worry when I got this," he gestured at the scar across his face, "on a mission. The world is a scary place.

"But you're very unlikely to die to an enemy ninja. Most ninja fights end with the losers running away. If they can't escape, they surrender. Over the course of the entire Third Shinobi War, less than a hundred Leaf ninja died. Another fifty had to retire due to their injuries. The Yondaime became a legend when he killed thirty jonin and chunin in a single battle.

"If an enemy ninja has a knife at your throat, you surrender to them. Konoha will then ransom you back. Unless you have any very valuable secrets, or you're caught by Iwa-" Iruka paused to spit at the mention of the village, but reconsidered it when he took in his surroundings "-then your captors will want the money that Konoha offers for your safe return. Likewise, if you capture an enemy ninja, you'll get a portion of the ransom."

Sakura stared at her teacher in disbelief. "Why don't we get told any of this?"

"You're being told now. Normally it's not something that would matter to you until later on in your career, when you become a chunin. As a genin, you shouldn't meet any enemy ninja for a long time." Iruka shifted in his seat. "I would have preferred to cover this in the Academy curriculum, but information on inter-village agreements is sensitive and until you're official ninja the village doesn't want to share some facts with you."

Sakura touched her injured ear. "You make ninja missions sound… well, safe."

Iruka laughed. "They're not as dangerous as they sound, otherwise nobody would live long enough to become a jounin. But C-rank missions won't involve other ninja, so if you can escape from soldiers or bandits then in theory nothing will hurt you. The dangers come when you let your guard down. A-rank missions are a different story, but there's a reason I've never been on one of those."

She let out a shuddering breath, then a sob, and all her pent up stress and worry flowed out of her in a river of tears. Iruka held her until she was finished, then passed her a tissue.

"If you ever feel overwhelmed, or you just need a friendly ear, I will always help however I can," he told her.

Sakura slept much better that night than she had any right to.

When she woke up, she was alone. Despite Iruka's words she'd come too close to death. She wasn't sure how to handle that. One thing was sure, though – Sakura never wanted to feel like that again.

And that meant getting to work.

She wrote a short note apologising for leaving, because some parts of her couldn't be changed. Then she climbed out of the hospital window and slid down a drainpipe, because other parts could.

She had the seed of an idea, and she wanted to grow it as soon as possible. Sakura was restless, and wanted – no, needed – to be active, to be doing something. To be doing anything at all. Thoughts and designs were picked apart and refined as she hunted through the village.

She couldn't find Sasuke, her first choice for a training partner. He'd always been able to give her the slip at the Academy, so apart from the team training area she had no idea where he might have gone. He could have been sleeping in after a stressful mission, she considered, but he'd not gone a single day without training since they'd been on a team together and Sakura doubted he'd start now.

Kakashi was even worse – on days with no team training, he seemed to simply evaporate. Naruto claimed that he drank and slept around a bunch, but surely a proper ninja would be more, well, dignified than that? Sasuke hadn't even tried to hide his laughter when she'd mentioned that to them.

That left her with two options – the childhood friend who was never around when Sakura needed her, or the team-mate who was always there no matter how much she wished he'd leave.

Making up her mind, Sakura set off towards the training ground Ino's team usually met in. Halfway there she stopped when she spotted an orange figure slowly carrying a decent-sized boulder across a field.

-O-

Naruto was working hard when Sakura found him. He dropped his rock and wiped the sweat out of his eyes with his orange top, then turned away from the boulder he'd been moving, leaving the damp and smelly jumper on top of it. Next time he'd wear just shorts and a t-shirt for strength training, he decided.

Sakura was pale, and her head was still bandaged. She wore the same clothes as usual, including her headband, which was securely fastened on her forehead. She looked a much sorrier sight than normal.

"Naruto, I need to ask you for help." The words didn't sound like Sakura. The voice was right, but the tone was too direct. Naruto had hoped she'd bounced back from the mission. Seeing her sat there, blood all over her and surrounded by the dead had been horrible. Sitting with her as she stared blankly into space for an hour was worse. This was progress of a kind, he supposed.

"Um," he began, "don't you have an operation to go to? You know, for your..." He gestured at his own ear.

"No," she said, and he decided he wasn't going to press the issue.

"In that case, sure. What should I do?"

Naruto had no idea what she'd want, or whether he'd be able to help her, but he'd dreamed of some private time with Sakura for years. And while now didn't seem like the right time for romance, it was still a golden opportunity to become closer to the object of his affections. Like his training schedule said in big orange letters at the top: Nothing ventured, nothing gained...

"I'm going to place a genjutsu on you. I want you to wait ten seconds, then tell me how many fingers I'm holding up."

She kept talking but Naruto's attention was abruptly caught by the branch of a tree to her left. It was sturdy, three times his height and with a gnarled trunk. Its leaves rustled in the wind, turning over and revealing their silvery undersides. The tree as a whole swayed slightly, scattering small shadows over the ground.

Naruto was unable to look away. On some level he knew he needed to... the tree distracted him again before he could properly form the thought. He could almost feel the distortions around Sakura that pushed his attention away whenever he tried to look at… whoever was standing in the spot he couldn't see. He suppressed his chakra for a second, trying to break the illusion, but it settled back onto him every time he thought it was gone.

It was almost as frustrating as it was terrifying. Sakura was slowly walking over, her hands doing something – the tree's bark had such a fascinating pattern – Sakura was getting closer. There was nothing he could do right now to stop her.

She was watching him intently, green eyes wide and staring. The eyes! Naruto focused on her feet and found it much easier to ignore the seductively shifting branch. However, he still couldn't do whatever it was he was supposed to do. As soon as he thought about whatever Sakura had said, his eyes turned to the tree again.

Naruto wracked his brain, trying to remember what the Academy had taught about genjutsu. It started with the caster identifying an experience the target had – like seeing a specific picture, or hearing a specific sound – and then seamlessly altering the target's sight from that point onwards. But when Naruto dispelled the illusion, it had just settled on him again.

What else could he try?

He didn't know what Sakura was using as a trigger, but whatever it was, it stopped him from looking at- suddenly he was staring at the tree again, and Naruto angrily closed his eyes.

Walking forward and reaching out to both sides of where he knew Sakura must be, he swept his hands inward, grabbed and pulled. He scooped Sakura into his arms and as soon as he interrupted her concentration, the illusion broke.

Naruto was suddenly aware of just where he was holding Sakura. Some of her hair was sticking up and tickling his nose, and he could feel her breath whispering over his neck and chest. Her hand was on his stomach, feeling the slight muscle there – and now he cursed himself for every time he'd skipped doing crunches. He was breathing harder than usual, his teenage hormones taking hold. And if he'd noticed that, she would definitely have noticed it too.

Their hug had already lasted several seconds, and Sakura hadn't moved away yet. She turned her face up to him, and Naruto noticed – surprised – that he was half a foot taller than her. She was so big in his mind, he'd forgotten how small, how fragile she looked. Her eyes were so very green, and as her lips parted slowly, she licked them nervously…

Then she shook off whatever mood had taken hold of her. "Let's try that again."

"Sure." Naruto cursed himself for not kissing her when he had the chance. After all, what were the odds that he'd ever get a better moment than that?

-O-

Iruka had had a long week. His mission – a simple theft of incriminating documents from a merchant – had gone horribly wrong. The building he wanted to break into had burned down, a mere two days before he'd arrived in Gero, and he was a day behind schedule getting back to Konoha. Then he'd found out one of his former students was in the hospital. And now he couldn't find Naruto.

Naruto's home was empty, and the lights were off. Team Seven weren't on active duty, and Kakashi hadn't booked a training ground for his students. Naruto must be roaming Konoha somewhere, but Iruka was damned if he knew where.

In desperation, he took to the rooftops, scanning the packed streets below for a flash of orange.

There! Iruka leapt down to Naruto's side, a smile spreading across his face. "How's my most tenacious student doing?"

"Hi Iruka! I was looking for you, I wanted to tell you about my first real ninja mission!" Naruto had a look that Iruka had learned meant he was after something. "Now that Sakura's out of the hospital, I'd love to tell you all about it. Now, where can we get some time and space to ourselves..."

"How about we go get some ramen again?" Iruka smiled as Naruto beamed. If only everyone was so easily pleased, the world would be a better place. And if everyone were so transparent, that would help too.

As the pair walked towards the ramen stand that was becoming their regular haunt, he listened to Naruto's tale – Naruto's discussion with Shino, the boring as hell mission, the sudden danger (although it was unclear what had happened exactly, what with Naruto not being there), and Sakura's new temperament. That last one caused Iruka to stop walking.

"Are you sure? She doesn't want to have her ear fixed?"

"We were talking after training, and she said she wasn't supposed to be outside of the hospital yet. But she showed me and it's not that bad." Naruto pulled a face. "Well – she thought it was fine. I thought it looked weird and gross. But she doesn't want the doctors to repair it."

"I need to talk to her again." Naruto looked confused and a little hurt at this second abandonment in two days, so Iruka softened his tone. "Don't forget, I taught her as well as you. And she's not the only one with scars she doesn't want to have healed. It's probably not necessary but I want to make sure."

Naruto was still baffled, so Iruka pointed to the scar that stretched from one cheek to the other, cutting a notch into his nose in the process. "Where is she, do you know?"

"She went home after we trained together. Do you think she might need help?"

"I'm not sure. I'm going to have to put the ramen on hold for now, but we can get some later. Meet me back here in two hours or so, I don't know how long this will take. And it's better if Sakura and I have a private conversation."

Iruka remembered roughly where Sakura's parents lived and set off to talk to her. He focused on what she might have gone through to avoid remembering his own scarring experience. It was easier to keep it at arms' length; joke, deflect and project; avoid the turmoil and pain that recall brought with it.

It was easy to get to the house. Taking to the rooftops was second nature for him by now, and with a few jumps and dashes, Iruka landed in front of Sakura's front door. All the lights were off but he could hear faint sounds from inside.

He rang the doorbell and all noise stopped for a second.

He strained his ears, trying to pick up anything at all. Barely detectable footsteps told him how Sakura was feeling – she didn't feel safe even in her own home. She opened the door and he could barely recognise his ex-student. Here was a scared, scarred young woman instead of a happy and optimistic girl.

Even her clothes had changed. Her red dress was replaced with a loose brown-grey robe that she almost disappeared into, and her hair was concealed by a dark grey bandanna. She looked like she was trying to hide. Iruka's eye caught on the one spot of colour – a bright red patch of shining skin, at the top of what remained of her right ear.

"Hello Sakura. I heard from Naruto about your decision, and I wanted to talk to you again."

"Thank you for your kind words last night, but I'm fine." Sakura tried to shut the door in his face, but Iruka blocked it with his foot.

"You don't have to talk, just listen to me." After Sakura didn't say anything for a few seconds, he swung the door back open.

"You're not the only person to keep a scar that could have been healed. Nowadays, Konoha's medics can fix anything except eyes and some internal organs, and they can often transplant those too, but there's plenty of people who want a reminder of a particular wound. Look at me." Sakura had been mostly staring at his feet so far, but she flicked her gaze up to his eyes for a moment – and caught on his scar, understanding spreading across her face.

"I almost drowned in my own blood."

The words hung in the air, and Iruka realised it had been years since the last time he'd spoken them.

"I don't like talking about it. I don't like thinking about it. But I can't let myself forget, because I have to know it will never happen again. And because I know I'll always remember, I can relax and put it aside. It doesn't have to be at the forefront of my mind all the time, because I know that next time I look in a mirror I'll see the scar."

Iruka looked away, finding it made it easier to speak. His voice trembled a little but his face was utterly expressionless.

"That's why I kept it."

Those five short words hid a month of shouting at medics, avoiding his friends and hiding from his family. In the end, they'd all given in.

Sakura could do the same, he knew. She was soft in so many ways, but that was because her firmness of will was focused to an extreme degree.

"That's why several of the other teachers have small scars, and some of the active ninja have larger ones. You've seen the jounin with half his face burnt off, right?"

Sakura nodded, eyes wide and mouth half-open.

"He was working on a fire technique when he almost killed himself." Iruka continued, emotions creeping back across his face. What did it say about him, he wondered, that he could mourn for others but not for himself? "For him, it's about not being reckless. For me, it's about being smarter, not rushing in without a plan. Whatever your big lesson was, and however you want to remember it, just know this: you can put it aside for a moment, because you'll never lose it."

Iruka wasn't sure when he'd started crying, or when Sakura had joined him, but they were both sobbing and hugging each other, drawn together by the loss of something indescribable.

-O-

When Team 7 met up for training the next day, there was one person missing. Kakashi had hoped that Sasuke would manage his problems on his own, as there wasn't really any advice he had other than 'get drunk and sleep around for a few years'. Regardless of how free a hand he technically had when it came to his team, saying that to an impressionable young genin could get Kakashi into a lot of trouble. Now, however, he was faced with the unpleasant prospect of having to drag Sasuke to a therapist of some sort.

But first, he'd focus on Naruto and Sakura. After all, they were still lagging behind Sasuke, and needed his help more.

"Naruto! Pick up the pace. You're supposed to be running, not going for a walk in the park!" Truth be told, Kakashi was impressed by how much Naruto had improved. Again. Before the mission, he'd been much slower. It just went to show that sometimes this teaching thing could be quite easy. Naruto just needed to be pushed as hard as possible, and he'd keep up or die trying. Sakura, on the other hand...

"You can't just hide there forever, you know." She was in the bloody forest. Kakashi considered just leaving her to her own devices, since Sakura was doing everything she could to avoid following his training routine. "Come and run some more laps. And I mean run, not jog half-heartedly and quit when you get tired. It's important to have proper conditioning if you want to be a strong ninja."

Sakura walked out, still in that strange outfit. Kakashi didn't see the point in wearing camouflage – any time she wanted to change her appearance, she could just use a transformation technique, so it didn't really make a difference when it came to hiding – but maybe it was psychological. He had no idea of what was normal for teenage girls, specifically teenage girls who'd recently been traumatised, so the best he could do was to try to make her a competent ninja and hope she sorted that emotional stuff out on her own.

As she paced after Naruto, who was racing around the grassy field and generally acting like an oversized puppy, he called after them. "I'm going to look for Sasuke. I think he might have gotten lost, or had to take a detour to avoid a black cat or something. Don't slack off, I'll know if you do!" Kakashi left a shadow clone behind to report back to him and dashed away.

He found Sasuke at home with a girl, and was half-tempted to wait for the most embarrassing moment to burst in. Kakashi thought he recognised her as one of Asuma's or Kurenai's lot – definitely a new genin, at least. She wasn't bad-looking for her age and Kakashi was torn between wanting to congratulate Sasuke and maybe get him some booze, and dreading the inevitable when Sakura found out.

Blondie, as he'd nicknamed her in his head, was eyeing Sasuke like a piece of meat. It was slightly off-putting to watch, especially with the way she was running her hands over his arms as she corrected his stance.

And then he realised that Sasuke was training with her. He was using a single, longer sword instead of the two shorter blades he'd started with and she was guiding him through a rudimentary series of downward cuts and lunges. It was probably for the best overall, Kakashi thought, but he was still faintly disappointed in his student.

"Oi, Sasuke. You missed a team training session today." Kakashi was pleased with the way both of the genin jumped at that. He'd dropped down from the ceiling when they were both looking in the other direction, and hadn't made a sound when he landed. "Make sure it doesn't become a habit. Tomorrow we meet at dawn, so be there on time. We might be going on another mission," he casually lied.

And there it was. The slight tensing of the shoulders, the widening of the eyes. Maybe if Sasuke used his bed for something other than sleeping he'd get this crap out of his system. Otherwise, he'll be a liability the next time there's any blood or corpses, and for a ninja that's a recipe for 'early retirement'. The euphemism for those whose name ended up on the memorial stone was dark and faintly bitter, as most ninja humour tended to be.

"Anyway, see you tomorrow. You two have a nice session together. And Sasuke, a longer sword doesn't help if you don't know how to use it." Kakashi smirked and waggled his eyebrows as he left. Sasuke blushed, he was gratified to see. His blond companion didn't seem to notice the double entendre.

When he got back to his other two genin, Sakura had buggered off to do more genjutsu things in the trees. She'd stopped quietly not putting much effort in and was openly defying him now, but he didn't know how to call her on it while she was still so emotionally fragile. Naruto was playing some sort of keep-away with clones of himself and a small leather ball, and although he quickly pretended to have been hard at work with target practice when Kakashi showed himself, the memories of the shadow clone he'd left behind painted a very different picture.

"Naruto, do you remember what I told you?"

"You were going to look for Sasuke?"

"And after that?"

"You'd know if we didn't work hard?"

"Exactly."

"But I did! I ran around a load, and then I thought, 'Wouldn't it be better to practice changing direction at the same time' – you know, like in a real fight – and then I thought I could use my clones for that, but then I needed a target to run towards, and then things got out of hand a bit but it was training, honest!" Naruto looked rather like a puppy that had just had its ball taken away. Kakashi rolled the round leather toy around in his hand.

"You can have it back after training, if you work hard."

Kakashi tended to think in dog metaphors anyway, but with Naruto, it was particularly common. Something about how warm and open he was, combined with his endless energy and enthusiasm (and his lack of sense, Kakashi had to admit to himself) just seemed very canine.

"Anyway, for now you get to do even more training! Isn't life great?" Kakashi motioned for Naruto to copy him, then dropped to the floor, ready to do some abdominal curls. "Try to keep up with me. You'll definitely have to surpass me if you want to get anywhere near to the Hokage's level, after all."

It was a cheap trick but it worked. As Kakashi almost effortlessly performed sit-up after sit-up, Naruto sweated and grunted and did his best to not fall behind. Kakashi was impressed that Naruto kept up as long as he did, but eventually the boy collapsed backwards and stayed there. Sweat was running down his face.

"I'll get you one day, and then I'll make you do sit-ups until you puke. While I do twice as many with no problems and laugh at you!" It was impossible, he was starting to find, to keep Uzumaki Naruto down for long.

Kakashi chuckled as he picked a blade of grass and tossed it into Naruto's open mouth. "Well, you'll have plenty of spare time in the next week. We've got another mission lined up! And Sakura," he raised his voice, "you'll need to wear something suitable for civilians."

As she walked over out of the forest, he noticed that she was still weaving illusions around herself. Naruto hadn't seemed to notice her approach until his gaze swept right past her.

"What the fuck is that?" When Naruto realised he was pointing at his team-mate, Kakashi had to bite back a laugh.

Sakura wasn't the first person to mess around with invisibility genjutsu, but nobody outside Iwagakure had ever managed it. And whatever secrets they had, they weren't sharing. He hoped Sakura moved on sooner rather than later, or she'd fall even further behind Sasuke, and even be overtaken by Naruto.

"Stop messing around, you two. Sit down over here." Kakashi put as much authority as he could into his voice, and was pleased when both genin instantly did as they were told.

"We're going to be going on another mission eventually, although I'll make sure it's very different to the last one. Our whole team will be travelling undercover. There's regular missions to either protect or interfere with trade between Fire Country and Wind Country, so I'm planning to snag one of those in a few weeks."

"What does that mean, in concrete terms?" Sakura asked.

"We're going to be joining a caravan that passes through here on the way to, or from, Suna. In order to be ready, we need to practice maintaining a backstory. From now on, outside of training, we'll be using this cover. It's hard to get used to, and I don't want any mistakes while we're outside Konoha, so make sure you take this seriously. I'll be the owner of the carts we'll use, and you'll be the children of my sister, who's sadly passed away. Yes, Naruto?" Kakashi stopped as Naruto raised his hand.

"What's she called?"

"Ummm..." There was one name in particular that Kakashi wanted to use, but it brought back a lot of memories. Then again, he was a jounin – and he'd have to confront his inner demons one day, unless he wanted to take them to the grave. "Rin. Her name is Rin."

"Gotcha," Naruto said.

"If there are too many names to remember, someone will slip up. Do we call each other by our real names, or do we get fake ones?" Sakura asked, practical as ever. It was nice to see her use her brain – when Sasuke was around, she tended to contribute less.

"Everyone will use their real names, but don't mention your surnames if you can avoid it. Calling yourself an Uzumaki or Uchiha will instantly mark you as a ninja, so we're all going to be Haruno for the duration of the infiltration, if the subject comes up. Other than that, make sure to share any details you have to invent on the fly. We need to coordinate so that our story adds up. But avoid talking about your past if you can. We won't be going far with the caravan anyway. "

"Alright! Time to practice not being a ninja!" Naruto shouted, leaping to his feet. He hunched his back and shuffled around slowly, looking like a parody of an elderly man.

Kakashi sighed. Why did I think a subterfuge mission was a good idea?