"After Summer, Autumn. After Autumn, Winter. Some things we ninja cannot change. And yet, if we endure, it will be Summer again."
– Hiruzen Sarutobi, Third Hokage of Konohagakure, also known as the God of Shinobi
-O-
Kirihara was a small village near the border of Fire Country. Like all the other run-down border towns Sakura had seen in the past week, it had a grocer's, a pub, a jail, and nothing else. By nightfall all the farmers and tradesmen were making their way home. Team Seven watched the locals scurry along the dusty streets.
"I think that's her," Sasuke whispered, pointing at a tall woman with close-cropped brown hair. At first glance she was just another peasant in torn and dirty clothes, but Sakura took a closer look. The woman was trying to look dishevelled and poor, but the material of her blouse was too fine, and the tearing looked more like cuts from scissors. She wore a shawl over her face, but as Sasuke unrolled the Wanted poster in his left hand, Sakura could see a resemblance.
"Looks like we've finally tracked one of the smugglers down," Sakura murmured. "Naruto, do you want to do the honours?"
Naruto smiled and stepped off the edge of the roof they were hiding on. He hit the ground silently and slipped away into the shadows.
"What do you think?" Sasuke said. "Fourth time lucky?"
Sakura frowned. It wasn't like Sasuke to need reassurance, but they'd spent five days searching the area for any leads and hadn't had much luck.
"We did hand one thief in for a bounty," she replied. "And we spent it on that stay at a hot springs inn the next night. That was nice."
"And twice I gave the order to harass someone innocent," Sasuke countered.
"One of them was the brother of the smuggler we mistook him for – that's hardly our fault!"
"The other was a waitress who was sneaking out to meet her boyfriend, though. Hardly a hardened criminal."
"Nobody got hurt, though. So far we've not made much progress with the mission, but we put a criminal behind bars and it's been nice to travel around Fire Country a little," Sakura said. "I know you feel like we're under pressure, but we have Kakashi as a safety net in case we can't find a solution on our own."
"I don't want to rely on Kakashi." Sasuke was glowering down the road, avoiding looking at her. Sakura knew what he was thinking, though. If they couldn't manage a straightforward C-rank, how would they cope as chunin? Needing Kakashi's help, to Sasuke, meant he wasn't ready for a promotion.
"Naruto's coming back," Sakura said, ending the discussion for the moment. She hated disagreeing with Sasuke, but she also hated seeing him so miserable. He was an effective leader, but he wasn't a happy one. Responsibility weighed heavily on him.
Naruto walked up the rear side of the house that Sasuke had repurposed as a lookout point. "It's definitely the target. She's gone home, I think – I'm keeping watch on the building she's in, anyway," he said. He gave them directions, then disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"I will never get used to that," Sakura said. "It's so odd to be talking to a clone and not realise."
Sasuke shrugged as he moved off. "It's a technique like any other, with its upsides and downsides. You go with Naruto and try to track down more of the smugglers. I want to see where she came from. Perhaps there will be more evidence."
At least Sasuke acting like a surly loner meant he was less stressed about the mission, Sakura decided.
-O-
Naruto – or perhaps a shadow clone – was peering through a ground floor window when Sakura found him. She did a quick circuit of the house, marking the front and back door, before joining him. He shuffled over so she could see inside.
"She's just been sitting there, smoking," Naruto said. "She arrived about ten minutes ago."
Sakura frowned. "There wasn't anyone else in the building?"
"No. She had a key for the front door, but she took a little while to unlock it. Maybe she doesn't come here often?"
Sakura filed that bit of information away for later. For now, she took a thorough look around the room. The low ceiling, held up with wooden beams, was stained with woodsmoke, and a small fire crackled in the corner. There were three internal doors – one led to the front entrance, and the other two hid what Sakura assumed were bedrooms or bathrooms. The back door of the house must be in one of the other rooms.
"Did she light the fire?" Sakura asked.
Naruto thought for a moment. "She went over to the chimney place, but she was only there for a few seconds. I think she added some wood, but the fire must have been burning already."
"That means other people used this house today. Or maybe she set the fire earlier, and she's just returned." Sakura continued her analysis by cataloguing the furniture. Four wooden stools sat around a long table set with a tablecloth. A pair of cupboards in the corner were the only other furnishings.
"It's not a home," she said, and Naruto raised an eyebrow. "No pictures on the walls, no rugs on the floor, there isn't any trace of personality here. I'm thinking either a safehouse of some sort, or a hiding place for the smuggled goods."
"I don't think it's a safehouse. There's too many neighbouring homes, so if she had to flee here, someone would see her."
Sakura frowned. "That's true, the house might be used for something else. On the other hand, these aren't professionals. It's possible they would make a mistake like that. We shouldn't rule it out."
"Good point," Naruto said. "I think– someone's coming. Let's hide on the roof."
They scaled the wall in silence and settled down on the red tile roof. Sakura wove a genjutsu that warped the shadows to fully conceal her form, while Naruto slid into a nook beside the chimney that hid him from the front of the house.
A tall man with a limp and a lot of black stubble walked up the garden path, checking over his shoulder every few seconds. Sakura's estimation of the smugglers went down a few notches. These were amateurs. How had it taken this long to catch them?
"How did you know he was coming?" she asked Naruto.
"I left a shadow clone guarding the road," he replied.
They watched as the man let himself in via the front door, cursing at the stiff lock.
"I'll keep watch up here," Sakura offered, "if you want to go back to looking through the windows. I can get a better view of the road while I'm cloaked by my illusion."
Naruto agreed easily enough, and so they continued their impromptu stakeout. After a while, Sakura grew bored, and once the two people in the house were settling down to sleep, Naruto joined her on the roof again.
"One of my clones is keeping an eye on the bedroom," he explained. "They're in separate beds though. They must have some level of trust, but they aren't in a relationship."
"I wonder what's taking Sasuke so long?" Sakura asked. "I hope Kakashi's keeping an eye on him."
"Sasuke will be fine. He's the strongest of us – but don't tell him that!" Naruto said. "He's self-important enough already."
"He's not that full of himself," Sakura said weakly, then started giggling. "Maybe I should tell him that you secretly want to be just like him, and I caught you shopping for black hair dye."
"I like the way I look, thank you very much. I'll have you know that I've had two separate people compliment me in the last year." Naruto stuck his nose in the air in faux disapproval.
"Well, make it three people now. Your hair's nice, and you can be pretty funny."
Naruto grinned. "Your hair's not so bad either. I suppose you can be kind of funny, sometimes at least?"
Sakura mock-pushed him off his perch on the roof as they both burst out laughing. Not loud enough that the targets could hear, of course, but Sakura felt much better afterwards. The tension of the last few days flowed away, and she stretched some of the kinks out of her back.
It was easy to let the time pass by, under the stars and with a night breeze bringing the scent of fresh-cut grass from two gardens over.
"So what's actually up with those special Uchiha eyes?" Naruto asked after a few minutes. "I still don't know what they do, or why Kakashi has one."
"I don't have all the details, the Uchiha kept a lot of knowledge secret, for obvious reasons," Sakura began in a lecturing tone. "What's widely known is that the Sharingan is awoken by a handful of Uchiha, and normally in combat situations. It uses a lot of chakra but in exchange, it lets the user see all genjutsu, somehow copy ninjutsu techniques, and even makes the Uchiha better at hand-to-hand combat. The Uchiha's Sharingan and the Hyuga's Byakugan are the two most powerful eye-based bloodlines in the world. Some people think they're related."
Naruto's eyes were starting to glaze over, and Sakura took pity on him and ended her explanation there. They waited in companionable silence until Naruto's clones passed on the message that both people in the house were firmly asleep.
"If we can find more members of the group, even just one or two, we should be able to question them and then turn them over to the border patrols." Sakura tied her hair back and slid a dark hood over it. "Let's scare them and see where they run."
"We just need to break the smuggling route, remember. With just a little more information we should be done," Naruto said.
Sakura hopped down and took position behind the back exit of the house. Naruto made a handful of clones that transformed into muscular men and women wearing standard Fire Country soldier uniforms. Sakura saw that one soldier's hair looked more like carpet, and another didn't have any fingernails, but she knew that in the dark and confusion, the targets wouldn't spot the little flaws.
"Give me a count of twenty to get ready," she whispered to Naruto before he led his clones around to the front door. She found the likely path the two targets would run along, and wriggled between the branches of a tree that gave her a good line of sight.
The crash of Naruto kicking down the front door was loud enough that she heard it from her hiding spot. Panicked cries from the bedrooms were followed by shattering glass as the two smugglers escaped through the windows, rather than the back door where Sakura was lying in wait. Sakura frowned as she pictured the scene – where would they go? Would they stick together?
Sakura leapt out of the tree and raced to the shadow of a small shed that held gardening equipment. Her guess was proven correct a moment later when two figures stumbled past in the dark. Her eyes narrowed as she took in the scene and started weaving a subtle illusion.
"Shit! I think they're following us!" the woman said. "We need to head to the next safehouse."
"Let's get clear of them before we plan our next move. I still think we should cross the border and wait until the heat dies down before we come back," the man replied.
With a final flourish, the technique was complete. Sakura pushed out thin tendrils of chakra and was rewarded a moment later by a muffled shriek.
"I just saw someone right there!"
"No, there's a soldier hiding in those bushes, we need to go this way!"
It was a straightforward enough application of genjutsu, Sakura knew, but one that she had developed all on her own. She was looking forward to seeing it in action. Every half-glimpsed shape or movement would feed the pair's paranoia. They were seeing faces and people for just long enough to feel under threat. The plan was to watch them snap under the pressure and see where they ran to.
Sakura followed them into the night as they crashed from one stretch of undergrowth to another. She didn't need to help her teammates track them – Naruto and Sasuke could follow the trail with their eyes closed, most likely.
The man especially was slowly breaking down. More than once he'd rushed at a branch or bush, thinking it was an attacking soldier.
"Don't you think you're enjoying this a bit too much?" Kakashi asked from right behind her, and Sakura almost screamed. When did he get there?
"Shouldn't you be keeping an eye on Sasuke?" Sakura countered. Her victims staggered on and she paced after them, staying out of sight. There was zero chance of them spotting Kakashi, of course.
Kakashi cocked his head in thought for a second. "I'm sure Sasuke's fine, wherever he is."
Sakura blinked, surprised. That was the first time she'd managed to divert Kakashi's attention from a question he asked her. "Are we doing well so far?" she asked, but he had already left again.
-O-
Sakura and Naruto had followed the pair to another safehouse in a neighbouring village, and pulled the exact same trick. The smugglers ran from Naruto's disguised clones again, racing down the road until they collapsed, gasping for air. Flushing the pair out of hiding over and over would force them to either contact more of their gang, or gather their things and flee. Either way, Sakura would be ready to pounce.
The two smugglers were now sitting in a large warehouse with, as it turned out, a hidden room at the rear that held bales of untaxed tobacco and a few crates of swords. The man was rifling through a heavy cashbox, bundling up the notes inside for easier transport. The woman stashed them on her person.
Naruto had volunteered to stand watch. Something about peeking on the target as she slid money into her underwear made him uncomfortable. Sakura was surprised; after some of the rumours she'd heard about Naruto's 'Sexy Jutsu' she figured he would be more of a pervert.
After five minutes the smugglers had taken all the cash and were leaving the warehouse. The next journey they took was much shorter, although they were no less jumpy. Sakura dropped the genjutsu to save chakra. It wasn't needed any more as the pair were already a paranoid mess.
She and Naruto trailed them to a large house in the same village, where they frantically knocked on the door. An overweight man in silk pyjamas answered and after a brief conversation all three headed inside.
Sakura positioned Naruto and his clones to cover all the exits to the house. This man was probably another of the ringleaders, so capturing all the targets here would complete the mission to Konoha's satisfaction.
"Sasuke's back," Naruto called, and she moved to join her teammates. It was nice to have good news for Sasuke, and she couldn't wait to see his face.
Sasuke was covered in dust and had a small scroll clutched in his hand. The stress had fallen off him and he looked to be in high spirits. "I found the route the smugglers use. There was a faint trail I followed, and I've mapped the whole thing out. We can pass this on to Konoha in our debrief – it's a serviceable if slow way to secretly move personnel out of the country. Let's take that woman into custody, and we should be finished."
"She's in that house, along with two other smugglers we picked up," Sakura boasted. "We also found one of the warehouses where the goods are stashed on this side of the border."
"Well done, both of you," Sasuke said. Sakura basked in the praise.
Naruto whistled once and his clones piled into the house, dragging out the three smugglers a few moments later. They were tied up, gagged and blindfolded. Sakura didn't think it was necessary to use so many restraints, but didn't want to argue about it.
"That is a very convenient technique to have," Sasuke said appreciatively.
Sakura nodded. "Naruto's a very convenient person to have around, as well."
"Let's go turn these guys in," Naruto said, visibly pleased by the compliments. "Although… is it just me, or did this feel too easy? It was a pain to track the first smuggler down, but after that none of this was a challenge."
Sakura laughed. "Not every mission is going to go horribly wrong."
"Maybe we're just that good," Sasuke said, yawning.
The woman still had quite a lot of money concealed on her, and Sakura made sure to remove it before they moved the captives. Sasuke decided they should set up a camp near the border guards' barracks. The smugglers would be handed over in the morning.
-O-
"Congratulations on finishing the mission. I hope the captain was polite," Kakashi said. He was waiting at the barracks entrance for Sakura and her teammates.
"He was in awe of the headbands, I think. We had no problems turning over the captives. So do we just go home now?" Sakura asked. "No tests, no training, no wacky adventure?"
"Yup. Now the authorities know about the warehouse where the goods were moved to, and with three of the smugglers in custody, they can take it from here. Konoha wanted this route closed, and that's been achieved. Congratulations." Kakashi looked half-asleep; he was leant against the wall, hands in his pockets, and his eye was almost closed. "Although, come to think of it, there's one thing I did want to teach you."
He finished speaking and they waited in silence for a while. Sakura exchanged a look with Sasuke. Getting information out of their teacher was all-too-often like pulling teeth.
"What is it?" Naruto finally asked. He had the least patience for Kakashi's games, Sakura knew.
"I understand you got your hands on some of the smugglers' ill-gotten gains," Kakashi said. "Could I have a look?"
Sakura pulled the stacks of bills out of her pouch. "It's a decent amount, but nothing life-changing."
"Two pieces of advice for all of you. Spend the money before you get back to the village, so it counts as mission expenses. Even if you use it to buy a fridge for your flat, as long as you don't have the money itself any more, you're in the clear. If you're not sure whether you can spend it all, I'm happy to help out." Kakashi had a slight gleam in his eye. "There's a few shops near Konoha that specialise in high-quality booze and… other recreational substances, although you're not to go there until you're eighteen. I'll know if you break that rule."
Sakura knew she spoke for the two boys when she asked, "Isn't that embezzlement, or fraud, or something?"
"We're ninja, Sakura; embezzlement and fraud are useful skills rather than crimes. Besides, it's traditional. I learned this particular lesson from the Fourth Hokage, when he was still a jounin." Kakashi frowned. "If the village had a problem with it, they wouldn't leave the same loophole in the rules for decades and decades."
"What's the second piece of advice?" Sasuke asked.
"You get paid per mission, not per day. The less time you take to travel to and from the mission, the more you'll earn. But at the same time, an extra night outside of Konoha can be a nice way to relax. And in our business, it's important to take care of yourself. Too much stress and you'll make mistakes, which can kill you. Don't hurry home for no reason."
"That's quite a depressing perspective," Sakura said. "'Have fun or die.'"
Kakashi nodded. "But since you might be doing your next mission without me, it's something you need to hear."
"So how much money do we have, exactly?" Naruto asked, bouncing up and down. She told him and he grinned. "Well, where do we want to spend it?"
"I fancy another evening at an inn with hot springs," Sakura said. "Other than that, I want a nice meal, and maybe a new dress."
Sasuke drew a kunai and checked its edge. "It might be worth replacing our equipment if we get the chance."
"You can't buy high-quality ninja gear outside of the hidden villages," Kakashi said. "I can take you to a good weaponsmith, though. You should be able to pick up a new sword if you want, or whatever takes your fancy."
Naruto was counting on his fingers. "I don't think we'll end up spending it all at this rate."
Sakura smiled. "We can at least try. Tanzaku Gai is almost directly on the way home." She led her team out of the grimy village.
-O-
Tanzaku Gai was primarily a gambling town, and Kakashi had banned them from visiting the casinos, on pain of jounin mindfuckery. Despite that, Sakura had a wonderful afternoon wandering through Tanzaku Castle and sightseeing around the town. Naruto and Sasuke had run off to do their own things, so Sakura was free to just be a teenage girl on her first tourist trip. It was freeing. Ice-cream in hand, she roamed the market stalls and boutiques, trying on silly hats and buying a new hairbrush (Silky curls guaranteed!) and scarf.
Later, when she met up with her team for fifteen kinds of sushi, she saw Kakashi's advice in another light. What he couldn't say was that ninja needed a chance to not be ninja. And that evening, watching Naruto and Sasuke compare their oversized new weapons and bicker over who got the biggest room at the inn, she realised there was more.
Sakura never relaxed like that inside Konoha.
She was lost in thought all the way to Konoha. When the gates came into view, Naruto cheered and even Sasuke had a small smile on his face. Sakura knew Kakashi would be noticing her own blank expression. Well, she didn't care what conclusions he drew from that.
The gate guards waved Team Seven through, and Kakashi stopped them just inside the village walls.
"I've written up the mission report for you, and I'll turn it in to the Hokage's office. Think of it as a reward for a job well done," Kakashi said.
"So there's nothing else we need to do?" Naruto asked.
"Here's the paperwork for the Chunin Exams," Kakashi said, handing out three forms. "Read it over carefully, and don't make any mistakes or you won't be able to participate. Hand it in tomorrow at the Academy by 10am at the latest. That's when the exams start."
"They're tomorrow?" Sakura shouted. "Why did we take the scenic route home? I could have been preparing. And what if the mission had taken longer to finish?"
"If we'd taken another two days to finish the mission, we wouldn't have been ready for Chunin rank. And yesterday's rest was better preparation than another day of throwing kunai or running laps. Right, Kakashi?" Naruto was shockingly good at reading Kakashi sometimes. Sakura reminded herself not to underestimate him.
"Any last-minute advice?" Sakura asked.
Kakashi frowned. "One of Konoha's genin recently died in suspicious circumstances. His team was due to take part too, although now they obviously won't be. I don't suppose you knew Kabuto Yakushi?"
Sakura had no idea who he was, and Sasuke and Naruto hadn't heard of him either.
"Konoha is on high alert, so there's no need to worry about any attempts on your life. Well, apart from the Chunin Exams – some of the contestants from other villages will be out for blood."
Sakura saw him struggle with the next sentence for a moment. It wasn't like Kakashi to show any weakness, but he pulled himself together and continued. "Don't forget what it is you're really fighting for. Next time I see you, I expect you all to be proud Chunin."
He disappeared with a puff of displaced air, leaving Sakura standing just inside Konoha's gates.
"I'll see you tomorrow," Sasuke said, and left. Naruto was already a distant speck on the roofline, heading for his own home.
Sakura walked back by herself. It had been a week since she last saw her parents; she should be happy to be home.
If only Konoha's walls were less confining.
-O-
New update schedule: new chapters will be added every two weeks, on a Tuesday.
