as always, a massive thank you to everyone for continually supporting this story of mine - i love reading your comments! have this monster of a chapter as an end-of-summer present, and a distraction for those of you already at school/college ;)
much love!
A month passed since she became a tokubetsu jounin and during that month, Sakura had been sent on five missions. Three of which were with Genma.
She knew that it was pretty much a given that they would work well together, seeing as she was practically a tailor-made partner for him, but she'd still been shocked at just how seamlessly they moved around each other, included the other in their plans then executed them without a hitch. It seemed that all she needed to do was think something, and Genma was already there, doing it. Her illusions and his accuracy with throwing weapons made for a deadly combination attack, just like they had planned, and yet she was still in awe. And, for the first time, Sakura found herself laughing and joking around as she completed an assassination, able to think of more than just the nauseating fact that she was already in the triple-digits of successful targets.
Tsunade's face when they got back from a mission that was meant to last a week three days early was also a perk.
For that first month, Sakura was living on cloud nine, inwardly laughing in the face of anyone who'd told her she should've held off, should've enjoyed being a chunin and whatnot, instead of rush to get her promotion. It was the happiest she'd felt since that mission to Suna with Shikamaru, a year back.
Shikamaru.
While she'd been in recovery from the concussion she earned from her fight with Gaku, the Nara had come and briefed her on their next mission – a three-way joint Chunin Exams between Konoha, Suna, and Kiri, just as they'd suspected.
Her and Shikamaru were responsible for the Konoha part of the Exam, also like they'd suspected.
The surprise came a month before the First Stage was meant to begin.
Every time she returned to the Village, she saw more and more foreign shinobi milling about, until Tsunade called her into her office and dropped the bombshell – she now had a Hokage-enforced month off missions to design the written exam with Shikamaru.
Not implement it.
Design it.
Not for the first time, Sakura wondered about the percentage of important decisions that were made when Tsunade wasn't 100% sober.
When she found Shikamaru and told him just what Tsunade wanted from them, he glared at her. "Okay, very funny. Now what did she actually say?" he snarked, and it was only when Sakura's expression didn't change that he paled. "Don't tell me you were serious."
All Sakura could do was nod, then start laughing, because even if her reaction had been exactly the same, there was something to be said about sharing that ridiculous responsibility with someone like Shikamaru.
As they said; a burden shared is a burden halved, right?
Especially if the person she was sharing with was a certified genius.
A week later, that optimism was shot five ways to hell.
"This is ridiculous!" Sakura groaned as she balled up yet another mock question paper they'd designed and promptly dismissed. "Certified genius, top kunoichi," she said, pointing at Shikamaru then at herself dramatically, "this shouldn't be so damn hard!"
"Troublesome." The Nara huffed, lobbing the balled-up draft he'd snatched from Sakura to the waste paper pile. "The worst is that we have to take this seriously, or Tsunade-sama will murder us."
When Sakura froze, his eyes widened slightly, "No. Whatever you're going to say, the answer is no." he shook his head, and although Sakura had indeed been about to suggest something, she closed her mouth and pouted.
"But you don't even know what it is yet!" she whined, letting herself act fourteen for once and tilting her head this way and that when Shikamaru tried to avoid eye contact.
"No, but I know you. You're gonna say we should mess with the candidates or something." He snorted, resuming his position of lounging on the sofa as they went through the drafts of the question papers they'd each sketched up over the week.
Sakura shut her mouth with a click, then poked his side. "That's creepy." Was all she said, knowing that that was exactly what she was going to suggest.
All Shikamaru did was roll his eyes and throw the next rejected test at her forehead. "'Certified genius' I believe you called me."
"Ha-ha." She retorted sarcastically, then sobered. "No, but just hear me out: you know what really grated at me after graduating? That what we learnt in the Academy hardly ever talked about other Hidden Villages. When we went to Kiri and Suna, I had to consult other books, other people, otherwise I'd have been stumbling in the dark in an unsafe, unstable environment and would've probably made a fool of myself in the first five minutes." She paused, seeing the moment Shikamaru caught on. "So, I was thinking, pop quiz. The exam will test what they know about the other nations."
The glint in Shikamaru's eyes was calculative, sly. "And," he continued, suddenly seeming completely on board with the idea despite his protests not five minutes back, "there's no way they can know every answer. We should make the pass percentage something ridiculous, like ninety, so that they'll have to talk to the foreigners."
Sakura stared at the brunet so long he actually started fidgeting. "What?" he asked at last, flinching back a little when the rosette grinned, wide and toothy.
"I created a monster." She observed, but she didn't seem in the least worried or repentant. Instead, she offered her hand to him, palm perpendicular to the ground in an expectant high-five, and Shikamaru snorted, but obligingly slapped it lightly with his own. "Let's do it."
Two weeks later, on the day of the written exam, Anko and Ibiki were staring at the copy of the question paper they had designed, eyebrows raised and, in Anko's case, grinning evilly.
"And you didn't think to confirm this with anyone before the actual test day?" Ibiki demanded, so Sakura shot him her best smile while Shikamaru coughed to smother his laugh.
"Tsunade-sama didn't say anything about that, sorry." And now it was Anko's turn to smother a snort. "Is it to your satisfaction?"
Ibiki shot her a disbelieving look, one that said very clearly that he knew what she was trying to pull and was very tempted to put a stop to it. "I'll answer that if we don't have an international crisis on our hands by the end of the day." He told her dryly, and Sakura saluted, making his eyes narrow. "Am I to assume you've already put this into circulation?"
If possible, the rosette's grin only grew. "Circulation? Not quite. I have, however, laid it out on the desks where the Exam participants have been told to gather, and hid it under a large-scale area-effect illusion." She paused, noting the incredulous expression on her supervisor's face, as well as Anko's almost hysterical state. "A…Along with all the invigilators?"
Ibiki took a moment to pinch the bridge of his nose in exasperation, and Anko recovered enough to choke out a reasonably-serious "So what's the plan, pinky?"
"Well, they walk in, see an empty room, then Shika and I come in and explain the Exam, they do it… and at the end I drop the illusion and the invigilators say who passed or failed?" Sakura tried to explain the plan her and Shikamaru had come up with, guessing by the glint of approval in Anko's eyes that her senpai was very much on their side.
Ibiki opened his mouth to say something, but a loud call of 'Sakura-chan!' cut him off. All four turned in the direction of the voice, but only one recognised the woman heading towards them.
"Eri-san?" Sakura asked, puzzled, taking in the civilian woman's haggard state and the fussing toddler in her arms. "Is everything alright?"
Eri stopped before the group, but her eyes were trained on the teenager. "Sakura-chan, I'm so sorry to ask this of you, but Rai was sent out yesterday, I can't find Genma anywhere and the daycare I'd normally take Kei-chan to is closed today and I've got to go have some tests done-!"
"Eri-san." Sakura cut the woman off, noticing that Kei was starting to pick up on his mother's distress. "Do you want me to take Kei-chan for the day?" she suggested, trying to confirm if she guessed right.
The woman seemed to sag with relief right before her eyes, but there was worry in her gaze. "I-I did hope that you could, yes, but it looks like you're busy so I'll just-" before she could quite finish, she found herself short of a toddler and with a bag of melonpan in her arms instead. She blinked owlishly at the rosette, but Sakura just smiled, hitching Kei up so he rested more comfortably against her shoulder.
"Go, Eri-san. Do whatever you need and try to relax, okay? I'll look after little Kei-chan for a few hours."
Eri stared at her for a few more seconds then darted forward and hugged her, mindful of her son still in her arms, then waved and hurried in the direction of the hospital, promising to pick him up in a few hours.
When Sakura turned back around, three raised eyebrows greeted her.
"Babysitting?" Anko asked at last, eyeing Kei as if she was waiting for him to explode. "Better yet, babysitting strangers' kids?"
Sakura scoffed and with a flick of her fingers, a butterfly was circling Kei's head, just like the first time she'd met the boy. "He's Namiashi Raido's son, senpai."
There was something like approval in Ibiki's eyes while Anko snorted, and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'bloody paranoid bastard'. But it was Shikamaru who drew her attention, a light hand on her elbow and a meaningful nod towards the sundial on the wall of the Academy.
"…Shit."
They were late.
Ino was unbelievably nervous as she watched the seconds tick by, scanning the crowds to try and spot the other Rookies even as she exchanged a nervous glance with Chouji by her side. Finding themselves in an Academy classroom empty of either exam papers or invigilators had been odd, but finding out that teams could sit together had thrown her considerably more, especially as she thought back to how much effort had been put in in her first Chunin Exams to separate teams. She watched as the minute hand moved to the middle between '1' and '2', officially making their proctor seven minutes late. Seven dreadful minutes, during which Ino couldn't help but picture a horrible invigilator, some twisted mix of that Mitarashi woman and Morino-san and those creepy Ame guys from the previous exam and she could feel herself growing green-
"Alright!"
The doors slammed open, hitting the walls with a crack like thunder and at least half of the chunin hopefuls jumped a foot in the air at the noise, tense as they were. And then, Ino watched two very familiar figures walk down the aisle between the desks, decked out in the standard Konoha flak jackets and mission gear, looking imposing and in control despite being decades younger than some of the other participants.
And then, Sakura and Shikamaru came to a halt at the raised platform at the front of the room, and Ino finally realised that Sakura's left arm was holding up a child.
A toddler, by the looks of it, no more than a year and a half, maybe two years old. The child seemed very comfortable in the rosette's arms and was swatting at a butterfly fluttering just outside of his reach.
"Sorry for the delay, a minor issue came up-" Shikamaru snorted at Sakura's side and the pinkette bared her teeth in a sharp grin, "but crisis has been averted. Now, we have been assigned the questionable honour of explaining this part of the Exams to you, so listen up 'cause we're only going to say this once." And Ino couldn't help but marvel at the way half the room immediately straightened up, clearly at attention.
Shikamaru stepped forward and, at some unseen sign, Sakura's fingers twitched, and suddenly, a question paper and a pencil were laid out before every candidate and a surprised murmur rose up across the room. Ino tried to catch Sakura's eyes, but apart from the tiny curl to her lip, she remained largely nonplussed, unconsciously bouncing the toddler up and down when he sneezed and started fussing quietly.
"Your jounin sensei should've informed you that, in the spirit of the alliance that now exists between Suna, Konoha and Kiri, this Exam will be split between these three countries. Konoha has been entrusted with the written section. The rules are as follows: you have an hour to answer as many questions as you can. The test is out of a 100. Each team must get 270 altogether to pass." He glanced back at Sakura, and she nodded, turning to look at the clock at the front of the room, waiting till the second hand came up to the very top before she grinned and clapped her hands.
"Begin!"
Describe the geographical position of Suna and explain how it affects its climate.
What is the name of Kirigakure's famous kenjutsu group?
Name the two founders of Konohagakure.
Who is the current Raikage?
With reference to its geographical position and recent history, explain why Amegakure has the highest percentage of immigrants in its active shinobi ranks.
What is Sunagakure's signature dish?
Ino gawked at the paper, disbelief and anger warring within her in equal parts. How on earth was anyone expected to be able to answer these questions?! She raised her head and glared at the duo at the front of the room, only for her eyes to grow wide when she took in her old teammate and once-best friend. Sakura and Shikamaru were sitting at the teacher's desk, talking in low voices and not paying any attention to the rest of the room, while the toddler Sakura had brought in was sitting in her lap, back resting against the rosette's chest so his head and torso was above desk-level, babbling quietly to himself while he attempted to finger-paint with ink on what Ino belatedly realised was Sakura's very expensive fuinjutsu paper.
But the one thing that stuck out was the fact that neither Sakura nor Shikamaru were looking at any of the chunin candidates, weren't trying to spot any cheaters or make sure no one was talk-
Hold on a minute.
Ino frowned as she recalled Shikamaru's introduction to the test, realising too late that her old teammate hadn't said anything about cheating. Hadn't mentioned the punishment nor the penalty, and, now that she thought about it, hadn't even mentioned the 'absolute silence' rule that the Academy senseis had always stressed.
And, when Ino looked at some of the questions, well. There was no way she was ever going to be able to answer most of them.
Not alone.
As surreptitiously as she could, she nudged Chouji, then pointed at the question about Suna's food. Slowly, though his hand trembled slightly, the Akimichi pulled his own test over and pointed at his answer, letting Ino copy it down. Glancing around again, Ino realised that she wasn't the only one nudging her teammates, though most people were still sitting with their heads bent down, working quietly, or running their hands through their hair in clear distress.
Throwing caution to the wind, she turned completely around in her seat and faced a young, blue haired girl from Kiri.
"Hi." Ino mouthed with her best smile. "How do you feel about helping each other? In the spirit of the alliance, of course."
The girl eyed her distrustfully, exchanged a look that seemed to carry an entire conversation with the other two kunoichi on her team (and wasn't that just unfair? An all kunoichi team!) before turning back to Ino with an adorable, gap-toothed grin.
"Deal." She mouthed, and promptly slipped Ino her paper, while Ino quickly grabbed Chouji's and pointed to all the answers about Konoha while she copied down the Kiri-specific ones.
"Do you think they're gonna figure it out?" Shikamaru asked absently, pulling the fuinjutsu paper towards him so that Kei's ink-drowned finger landed on the paper and not the table. The toddler, for all of his adorableness, had not quite grasped basic hand-eye coordination yet, and his motor functions were questionable at best.
Sakura shrugged, trying and failing to coax Kei into making shapes that at least vaguely resembled kanji or at least something recognisable instead of a big, black blob. "I dunno. You were very vague with your instructions, so at least some of them should realise it was intentional."
"And if they don't?" the Nara pressed, looking around surreptitiously and noticing that some people were staring to turn around and talk to those around them.
Sakura looked up from Kei's artwork and levelled him with an unusually serious look. "Then it will highlight a very obvious fault in our educational system, won't it?"
Shikamaru stayed silent at that, then breathed out a mix between a sigh and a laugh. "I suppose it will."
A few more minutes passed, and at a little over the half an hour mark, there was movement from the desks. Ino stood up, consciously not looking at neither Shikamaru nor Sakura, and headed towards the end of her row, crouching next to a team from Iwagakure.
And then, it was as if a spell broke, and at least one person from each team got up and wandered to whatever team they needed help from, conversing in low voices, some laughing, others only a step away from hostile, but overall, Sakura couldn't help but send a victorious smirk at Shikamaru when he turned back to her.
In response, he scowled and threw one of the balled up sealing tags at her head. "Shut up."
In the end, almost half of those who sat the exam didn't pass, and it was largely composed of those who did not come from Konoha, Suna or Kiri and were even more unwilling to work together than the former. There was – and luckily so, Sakura mused – at least one team from the other Villages that did pass, so Konoha wasn't going to be accused of fixing the results. Then there were also those who point-blank refused to ask others for help or simply never looked up from their own paper and didn't get enough points to qualify for the next stage.
On a completely unrelated note, Sakura had to admit that dropping the second layer of the disillusionment jutsu and revealing that the walls of the room were lined with grinning chunin from T&I had been one of the most satisfying moments in her career so far, and made the chakra drain that came with maintaining such a large-scale illusion for over an hour more than worth it.
Still, after everyone had dispersed and Sakura had managed to escape the T&I workers who knew and recognised her and wanted to share in their schadenfreude with her, her and Shikamaru were summoned to Tsunade's office about their, ah, performance, during the first stage. To their surprise, the woman had laughed, told them the Elders were livid, and threatened them with a mission to Frost if they ever gave her such a headache again, then promptly told them that they were going to be separated for the next stage.
When Shikamaru found out he was going to Suna alone, the expression on his face sent Sakura into a laughing fit that even Tsunade's glare couldn't calm.
"H-Have fun w-with Chiyo!" she managed to choke out in-between giggles, barely dodging the swat the Nara made at her head.
"Is there no way for Sakura to come with me, Tsunade-sama?" Shikamaru asked, and though he wasn't begging, not quite yet, there was a slight trace of a whine in his tone.
And Tsunade, the sadist, smirked. "Haruno's particular area of expertise will be needed for an infiltration mission in Kumo. I'm sure you can survive two weeks with the Sunagakure Elders, can't you, Nara?"
And so it was, that the next morning, Shikamaru was at the head of a large, international party heading to Sunagakure, while Sakura was assigned to a considerably smaller group of mixed chunin and jounin and snuck out of the Village in the early hours of the morning, dressed for battle and with a grim feeling in her gut.
Two weeks later saw her back in the Village, sniffling from a cold, with a considerably higher kill count than when she'd left and the chunin from her mix-'n-match squad jumping at her every move, while the jounin tried for understanding looks and ended up looking incredibly patronising instead.
It wasn't her fault none of them had thought about how effective a mass-effect genjutsu could be for an assassinations specialist before.
Debriefing with Tsunade granted her a week's break, by which time the international contingent would be heading towards Kirigakure for the final stage of the Chunin Exams and she and the rest of the Konoha-nin going to see the matches (Tsunade coming a few days later) would be able to intercept them.
During her week of Godaime-imposed R&R, Sakura caught up with Genma, met up with Izumo and Kotetsu, went to Eri-san for thank-you cookies and playtime with Kei (he really was too cute to stay away for too long) and actually found herself genuinely resting. Revolutionising the educational system of multiple countries at once had proved to be quite exhausting, and her stint in Kumo hadn't given her time to quite recover from the mental hangover it had caused.
And then, her week was up and she barrelled into the house, intent on packing everything she might need quickly and leaving as soon as she could because she missed Shikamaru and they were going to Kiri and Kiri meant Chojuro and Yuki-san.
It was as she was rummaging through her scroll box that Genma came in and leant against her doorframe. The first hint that something was wrong hit her when she turned to shoot him a grin and found his expression to be unreadable, the look in his eyes seeming far away.
Frowning, but deciding that he would say whatever it was that he had on his mind if she stayed silent, she went back to looking for that one scroll she was certain Yuki-san would appreciate. She hummed as she searched; if she were honest, packing since she'd learnt how to seal things into hammerspace had become more fun that stressful – it was more the question of fine-tuning what she'd need for a particular climate or person she was supposed to be meeting than actual packing, since she had come into the habit of always having a week's worth of clothes, medical supplies, rations and water on her person.
(and she adamantly did not think of why she felt the need for that habit, because the moment she did, flashbacks of a pulverised leg, a feverish blue-haired boy, cheeks starting to hollow and eyes permanently bloodshot flashed through her mind, bringing with them nausea and phantom pain in her leg and a need to runrungetaway-!)
Sakura shook her head, chasing the images away, and focused back on the box in front of her. Then, just as her fingers wrapped around the scroll she was after, a quiet, triumphant 'a-ha!' escaping her, Genma spoke, shattering the peaceful atmosphere.
"Will you tell me where you're going, or is this another ANBU mission that you'll conveniently forget to tell me about?"
The scroll slipped out of her suddenly numb fingers and fell back into the box, disappearing from her sight, but she didn't care.
Not when Genma's voice was that cool, indifferent drone that could've almost been sarcastic but instead just sounded flat. Cold.
"E-Excuse me?" Sakura asked, hating the way her voice broke, but Genma and cold just didn't compute in her mind.
"I asked whether you'd be so inclined as to tell me where you're going this time, or are you planning to disappear for another month and forget to tell me you joined ANBU while you were gone, Jackal?"
Slowly, Sakura turned around and found that she really would rather have lived without seeing that expression on Genma's face. A mix of anger, disappointment and… betrayal?
"I… what?" she managed at last, then shook her head. "Are you angry that, that I joined? Or that I didn't tell you?" when Genma remained frustratingly silent, Sakura felt the barest stirrings of anger in her chest and she clung to it, because anger was a lot easier to deal with than the horrible guilt that was suddenly eating away at her.
"If it's the former, then I would like to remind you that I can make decisions without consulting you on every step." She bit out, guilt doubling when a flash of something that looked suspiciously like hurt passed through Genma's eyes. "And if it's the latter, then I don't know if you've ever had Bear pin you in place with his Killing Intent while he lectured about how ANBU is a secret organisation and how to keep it a secret, but I did and I would rather not cross that man."
"That rule refers more to the shinobi who see ANBU as a proof of masculinity or whatnot and would be tempted to run around the Village screaming their mask name from the rooftops, not to lying to those closest to you about where you were for a month!" Genma snapped, and now the anger hit her like a tidal wave, guilt momentarily forgotten when suddenly Genma was angry too.
"I wasn't lying!" she shouted, hurt more than insulted, but Genma just scowled.
"Lying by omission is still lying, Sakura." And suddenly, hearing her name from the brunet didn't bring the usual fuzzy feelings and affection, but instead rage and indignation.
"Do you realise how controlling you sound?!" she demanded, rising to her full height, absently noting that Genma only had a little over a head on her now. Huh. "You are not my mother! I don't have to tell you everything!"
"And do you realise how hypocritical you sound? First getting angry when I didn't tell you about something you deemed 'your business', but calling me controlling when I want to know about you signing up for something you are far too young and inexperienced for?"
Sakura recoiled, more startled and hurt than if he'd slapped her.
But it seemed that Genma wasn't bothering with pulling punches anymore and kept going. "I don't know what delusions you may have about ANBU, but I thought all my stories would've served to free you of them. ANBU are nothing more than glorified murderers, Sakura."
"And have you thought," she replied, her voice miraculously steady even when inside, she was shaking with pent up emotions and hurt. "that maybe I knew that?" judging by Genma's face, he hadn't even taken that into consideration, and suddenly, there was wariness in his eyes. Sakura took vindictive satisfaction in driving that blade in deeper. "And have you maybe thought that I chose to join ANBU because I am a glorified murderer? My killcount is in the triple digits, Genma. Some of my classmates haven't even had their first yet. Did it never occur to you what training the last two years to be your partner would mean? What a solid mastery of illusions and anatomical knowledge that comes with medic training creates? I took out a dozen chunin in my last mission with a C-Ranked genjutsu and well-aimed senbon. So just take a minute to realise that maybe I didn't join ANBU to spite you, or to hurt you, or to prove myself or whatever you might think, but because I knew that I would be good at it? And that if I took the shitty, gritty missions that come with our specialisation, then maybe you wouldn't come home shell-shocked because your morality kicked in when they told you to kill children?"
When Genma had no retort at that, Sakura pushed past him, packing abandoned, and shunshined the moment she was outside the house.
Her shaken, distraught mind took her to T&I HQ, and her face must've been something in its own right because nobody stopped her in her path to Anko's office, and even her senpai didn't try to dislodge her hold when she grabbed her by the lapels of her trench coat and all but dragged her to the lowest level training ground.
(the fact that Anko would've probably come easily on her own didn't matter. She needed that bit of control, and, thank the heavens for her senpai, because she must've understood that. Or she was just amused by the situation and didn't try to break her hold.)
They must've made a scene, what with Sakura flushed and breathing hard and Anko dishevelled and bewildered, but she'd puzzle over the raised eyebrows and scandalised glances when she could actually bring herself to care.
When the heavy door shut beside her, Sakura set Anko down and dug out a handful of kunai, giving the woman a moment to clue in to what she wanted before she launched them.
She had to give it to Anko – her senpai gave as good as she got and had no qualms against playing dirty or undignified, even when Sakura stopped being able to throw straight and started something that wouldn't go amiss in a pub brawl.
After they'd sufficiently destroyed the training ground and each sported bruises and cuts, Anko sat down next to her and broke the silence with something other than trash talk for the first time in an hour:
"Now that you've gotten it out of your system, wanna talk about what caused this?" She said, then waved her arm towards the destruction they caused in an all-encompassing gesture.
Sakura was silent for a moment, and when she spoke, she was measuring every word. "What do you know about ANBU?" she asked at last, adamantly not looking at the woman beside her.
"Enough to know we probably shouldn't be taking about it." Anko replied easily, seemingly not in the slightest thrown. But then her words actually registered and Sakura sighed, slumping.
"Right, yeah, you're right, sorry. Forget I said anything." She mumbled, trying not to curl up as she so wanted to do.
But then, Anko proved yet again why, exactly she was the first person Sakura tended to go to.
"Hey, hey, I said 'shouldn't'. You should be well aware by now that I'm not in the habit of caring what people think I should and shouldn't do. Fire away." And Sakura honestly and truly could've kissed her then.
Still, Sakura didn't know how to word her confession, so she took a deep breath and pulled her long sleeves shirt over her head then dropped the notice-me-not illusion she'd taken to permanently having over her arm.
Anko didn't say anything, but her slow, measured breath said everything her words didn't.
Sakura closed her eyes and leant back on her hands, not in the slightest fussed by the fact she was just in her chest bindings. "I didn't tell Genma about it. At first I had no plans to, then I just...didn't have time." She ignored how weak her reasons sounded even to her, but they were valid reasons, not excuses. "He didn't say anything so I thought he hadn't realised. Then today," Sakura made herself pause to ensure her voice wouldn't quake or break. "today, he said 'a genuine mission, or another ANBU stint you'll conveniently forget to tell me about?'."
Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura saw Anko wince at that, and fought the urge to cry with renewed vigour.
"Ouch." The kunoichi commented, sympathy and humour all in one syllable.
It was the lack of anything that sounded even remotely like pity that made Sakura give in to the desire to curl up and rest her chin on her knees, wrapping her arms around her legs. "Was I wrong?" she asked, her voice sounding small even to her own ears, but over three feet of solid concrete separated her from any potential witnesses so she simply didn't care.
Anko frowned and fell silent for a minute, and when she spoke, her words were blunt, factual. "It was hypocritical of you not to tell him, yeah, especially after making a big deal of him not telling you about the captured foreign ANBU."
And Sakura couldn't quite hold back the wince because yeah, she'd gathered that herself, thanks.
"However," Anko continued, "you were also in the right not to tell him. From what I know of the protocols, if someone figures out you're ANBU, you're allowed to confirm it. But active operatives don't tend to make a habit of announcing it just like that, even if it is to friends or relatives."
Sakura frowned at that, surprisingly not as satisfied as she thought she'd be at the confirmation that she was also right. "So… we're both at fault?" she asked, realising how stupid she sounded when the words were already out.
But Anko just nodded, not picking on that in the slightest. "Well, you're both being damn idiots about this, that's for sure." She said, and there was the Anko Sakura had grown used to. Tough love and passive-aggressive concern all in one explosive mix. "Normal parents fight with their kids all the time, pinky. Granted, it's probably not for joining the top secret murder organisation, but my point stands. Give it a few hours, go back, apologise or not, up to you, and you're golden." Then, she frowned. "And stop making me your fucking relationship counsellor. I don't get paid for this, damn it." Another pause. "Oh, and maybe explain to Ibiki that you were angry and essentially kidnapped me and that's why you were dragging me to the lowest-level training ground. Just, y'know, so I don't have to."
Sakura stared at her, momentarily thrown. "...Why would that need explaining?" she asked at last, and Anko paused.
"Uh, c'mon, you, as frazzled as you were, dragging me to the most secure training ground that locks from the inside…?" she explained, speaking slowly as if the rosette was daft.
Apparently she was, because she still didn't understand what Anko thought needed explaining. "So? I didn't want to be interrupted. And I checked, I have the security clearance needed to enter here. I don't… understand?"
This time, it was Anko's turn to blink slowly, then she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Nevermind. I suddenly feel sorry for the Nara. And mist-boy, now that I think about it." When all Sakura did was make another confused noise, Anko waved her off. "Nevermind! Go blow off some steam or raid a dango stand or read or whatever. You and Genma will be fine. And if he's still prissy, my couch is still open. Now shoo!"
Sakura wimped out. She only snuck back into the house once she knew Genma was out because she'd spotted him at the market. Once in, she grabbed her pack, fished out the scroll for Yuki-san, shoved some snacks in her bag and headed to Anko's, metaphorical tail between her legs.
But all senpai did was laugh in her face, then direct her to the couch – which was indeed as ratty as she had been warned – but folded up on the armrest lay one of the fluffiest blankets Sakura had ever seen so she was optimistic.
Surprisingly, Anko stayed up for a bit with her, chatting and telling crazy stories ("There's no way you took out someone with a fish, senpai. I'm calling bullshit.") and gorging on a platter of snacks Anko had organised until all the food was gone and Sakura was yawning every other word.
A ratty couch was nothing to a sleep deprived teenager.
The next morning, the Konoha contingent set out towards the Land of Waves where they were hoping to intercept the international group coming from Suna. Sakura remembered, with a twinge of bitterness mixed with nostalgia, walking to Wave at civilian pace; it had taken them five days, with frequent breaks and camps. Getting to Wave with a group of chunin and above, however, took less than a day.
They indeed managed to intercept the group Shikamaru was leading, and the moment Sakura had finished greeting Temari and bowing politely to Gaara, Shikamaru was dragging her away and muttering that if he had to spend one more second with the blonde he was going to combust.
Once they were a safe distance away, the Nara proceeded to regale her with tales of how insufferable Chiyo was, how much paperwork Temari made him do, and how some kid Matsuri was fascinated by his shadows and almost stalked him.
"Puppets, Sakura." He told her flatly, glancing back every once in a while to check that no one from Suna was eavesdropping. "She wanted me to do shadow puppets."
And at that, all the laughter that the rosette had been holding back broke free. It began slowly, with a quiet snort. Then, a slightly louder one. Then she chanced one look as Shikamaru's indignant face and she was off, laughing loudly and staggering slightly when she attempted to hold her stomach and keep walking at the same time, only laughing louder when Shikamaru elbowed her to shut her up.
"I hate you." He grumbled, rolling his eyes. "I bear my heart to you and you laugh."
Naturally, Sakura couldn't even look him in the face without snorting after that, so she gravitated to the back where she found Ino and Chouji, and with only slight hesitance, she stepped right up to her old childhood friend and struck up conversation. And Ino, true to her character, needed little more than a prompt of "So, how did you find Suna?" to launch into an hour-long description of how awful the heat was for her hair, how she now sported really unflattering tan lines, how the Suna population really needed to learn about subtlety because she could sense at least one person following her whenever she went to the market, and how the second stage was 'like a bastard child of the Forest of Death and that exam you and Shika created. We had to work together to navigate unknown terrain and bring some pointless scroll back or we'd fail."
Sakura hadn't even noticed they had reached the edge of the peninsula until the crowd in front of them thinned and she realised that almost everyone had already boarded one of the boats in the little flotilla that had come to transport them over to Kirigakure proper.
She ended up on a boat with Ino's team, an all-girls Kiri team and a silent trio from Iwagakure. Sakura sat with her back to the direction of travel, facing the three teams and their oarsman and pulling out a book when she noticed that Ino was more interested in admiring the islands they passed by than idle chatter.
Smiling, she settled more comfortably on the wooden bench and stuck her nose in the newest text she'd found on elemental compatibility, considerably more prepared for the half-hour voyage than she was last time.
When Ino glanced back at Sakura, she almost screeched. Not because of the rosette, because her old friend was living up to her bookish reputation in their childhood and was completely immersed in the book she was reading, but because of a figure creeping up behind her.
Creeping atop the surface of the water was a man – not an enemy, since nobody had moved to attack him yet, but not a friend either, judging by the startled gasps from the Kiri team on board. And while it was true that Ino had not had many dealings with Kiri shinobi, she was almost convinced that one of the requirements to be admitted into the ninja force was creepiness. The man who was currently slinking closer and closer to the rosette had long, black hair that wouldn't go amiss on a Hyuuga but far, far wilder, blades criss-crossing over his back, loose, long hakama pants and kimono top and the wild look in his eyes gave him a dangerous appearance that wasn't dulled in the slightest by the grin he sported, nor by the finger he raised in the universal sign for 'ssh' when he met Ino's gaze. The fact that he was clearly intent on Sakura unnerved her, so she surreptitiously reached down to grab a kunai and waited. She'd give him a chance.
Still, she couldn't help but gape as the man jumped lithely onto their boat without making it wobble in the slightest. The Kiri team behind her let out another gasp when he only grinned wider and moved to spook Sakura, but the rosette reacted first. Glancing up from her book, she craned her neck to look at the nin and shot him a bright smile.
"Yuki-san! Got stuck with the tour guide duty this time?" she greeted cheerfully, teasingly, even, not in the least creeped out or apprehensive about someone who had clearly been trying to startle her.
The man laughed and settled down next to the teen, all fluid, deadly grace, and a smile that was all sharp teeth. And Sakura, Sakura just smiled wider and visibly relaxed and Ino wanted to shake her.
"Just herding the flock. Still think Mizukage-sama should've made getting to mainland part of the test." Yuki replied, never losing the slightly crazed grin, as if Sakura had just said the greatest joke. "And hey, you're getting better at this!" he added, which Ino didn't follow, but Sakura obviously did because she seemed to glow at the praise, though she assumed a mock-scowl.
"People don't tend to think clearly in test situations, and just think of the paperwork Mei-sama would've had to fill out if 3/4 of the participants got killed by the locals. You're a cruel servant if you wish that fate upon your military dictator." She chastised, but even Ino knew that she wasn't serious. "And of course I'm getting better! If you recall, last time, I was home, asleep and doped up on painkillers. And I don't make chakra sensing when at home a habit, I'm not that paranoid yet." She added indignantly, gesturing wildly seemingly in an attempt to encompass the sheer ridiculousness of that idea.
But it seemed 'Yuki-san' was hung up on one particular part of her speech, the same that Ino was. "Yet?" he parroted, one eyebrow rising and grin turning sly.
Sakura, however, just waved him off. "In our specialisation, paranoia is more of a certainty than a possibility, wouldn't you say? I've embraced the fact that I'll reach that stage at some point." She explained, so matter-of-fact that Ino felt a shiver go down her spine. But Sakura just closed her book and leaned further into the man at her side, glancing up at him as she spoke, "Think I'll be able to take you up on that spar at some point? I think Shika and I are here as more of a formality than to do the whole diplomacy shebang again, so I'll probably have a fair bit of free time."
Yuki snorted, then snaked an arm around the rosette's shoulders, pulling her into his side like they were old friends. "I'll never decline an offer for a live sparring partner." He told her, surprisingly sober, before he smirked, "Most people tend to try it once then leave me high and dry when I need them most." He sighed, and if Ino was feeling particularly brave, she might've even said that he whined.
Sakura huffed a laugh and shrugged, "Well, you do kind of give off this 'I'm going to send you home in a matchbox' vibe, so on one hand I'm not surprised." She offered, laughing at the indignant noise from the Kiti-nin.
"And on the other?"
For some inexplicable reason, Sakura's smile softened as she said, "On the other, I know better." Then, the look disappeared and she clapped her hands, pulling away to grin at the man. "But you've got a reputation to uphold and everything, so I'll keep your secret."
"I'll come after you if I hear otherwise." Came the response.
Ino expected Sakura to back off or grow serious, because that was a threat, she could have sworn, but all the rosette did was laugh and drop her head to rest on 'Yuki's' shoulder.
"Mhmm, I'll look forward to it." She said, careless, as if this was all a big laugh to her. "What's new in the land of filed teeth and awful humidity?"
Apparently, Ino mused as she watched her old friend, in the years that she hadn't been paying attention, Sakura had gone and grown balls of steel.
Sakura had been right – while her and Shikamaru did get a nod and a wave from Mei, the actual formalities of the final stage of the Exams was being handled by other people, so the two of them had time to wander around the Village, chat with some shinobi and civilians alike and, what threw Sakura the most, get a lot of free food and produce in general from the store owners.
"Apparently, saving a Village from an economic downfall gives you celebrity status around here." Shikamaru noted, amused and a bit embarrassed, then turned to the rosette, only to snort. "How are you still stuffing your face? You've had like, ten of them already."
"Pfeven." Sakura corrected, indignant, though that did not stop her from pulling another powdered rice cake from the bag. "And they're really good!" she defended once she'd swallowed what she had in her mouth.
Then, a flicker of powder blue caught her eye, and she dropped the bag and was off before she quite realised what she was doing.
"Chōjūrō!" she cheered, barrelling into the teen and almost taking them both down.
"Sakura…?" there was a hint of surprise in the bluenette's voice, then he gasped. "Ah, Chunin Exams, of course."
He smiled at her once she pulled back enough to see his face. "It is good to see you. Congratulations on your Jounin promotion." And Sakura felt her cheeks grow warm at the soft-spoken praise, and linked her arm with the swordsman's.
"I hope you're not busy?" she asked by way of hello, grinning when she got a head shake in response. "Good. Then I hope you don't mind if I kidnap you to the nearest café for a long-overdue catch-up?"
"That's a really polite request for a kidnapper." Chōjūrō observed, smile softer now but still not dropping so Sakura counted that as a win.
"Oh, that wasn't a request." She assured him, grinning wickedly before she turned in the direction she'd come from, "Shikamaru!" aaaand there was the bushy ponytail, ducking out of one of the stalls resignedly and strolling towards them. "Do you want to come with? I'm kidnapping Chōjūrō to the nearest café." She announced, and got an eye-roll in response.
"Of course you are." The Nara sighed, forever long-suffering, nodding at the bluenette Sakura was still clinging to. "Good to see you. However," and here, he yawned, and presented Sakura with a narrow-eyed look, "what I want, right now, is a nap and an actual bed. Socialising hours will resume tomorrow from ten to five in the afternoon. Have fun and don't do anything stupid."
And so saying, he raised his hand in a lazy wave and sauntered off in the direction of the accommodation assigned to the Konoha block.
"I don't think your partner likes me very much." Chōjūrō observed, a slight frown pulling at his brows.
"Shikamaru?" Sakura confirmed, just to be sure, then scoffed, pulling her companion to the café sign she'd spotted. "It's nothing personal – he's just an old man in a fifteen year old's body. He needs his naps or he gets cranky. And he doesn't have a legendary chakra sword, which might contribute to his grumpiness. Y'know, boys and their toys and all that." Sakura babbled, not quite sure what was coming out of her mouth but just really happy that she could actually enjoy this, enjoy time with a friend in a little coffee shop, enjoy foreign foods and being a teenager.
Chōjūrō just smiled a bit wider to the point where Sakura could see the hint of a sharpened tooth poking out, so she stuffed another mochi in her mouth before she could do something stupid like call it endearing.
What was wrong with her?
Genma didn't pretend that it didn't hurt when Anko slapped him.
Right there, in broad daylight, across the face, in the Jounin HQ.
Then; "The Hokage wants to see you. You and Hatake are to be her guards to Kiri for the final stage of the Exams."
And suddenly, Genma wanted to smack himself.
It didn't make any of his anger at his kid's hypocrisy go away, but it kick-started the guilt he'd been trying so hard to ignore. Because of course it was Kiri. The Nara went off to Suna for the second stage when she got sent to Kumo, he'd heard her complaining about them being separated, had gone out to buy a store's supply of sweets and hot chocolate for the kid.
They were both idiots.
And so Genma found himself travelling to Kiri, him, Senju Tsunade and Hatake Kakashi.
But never, upon entering the Village, did he think he'd hear one of the gate guards mutter to his companion; "Apparently Yuki's conned the Swordsman and that diplomat from Leaf into a spar. Think they'll survive?"
Judging by Hatake's twitch, he too had heard the man, which made the way he froze after hearing the response all that much clearer.
"Two kids, one from Leaf at that? Mei-sama better prepare a matchbox to pack up what's left of them into."
Luckily, Tsunade only laughed when both he and Hatake turned to her with the same request on the tip of their tongues.
"Go."
Two after arriving – and, if anyone asked, she was not the one to blame for the situation, shut up Shikamaru – Sakura found herself on a training ground, weapons drawn, Yuki to her left and Chōjūrō to her right, and a surprising number of spectators hiding in the tree line.
"First blood?" Chōjūrō suggested tentatively, slowly unclasping his sword from his back and bending his knees, but Yuki waved him off.
"With mine and pinky-chan's specialisation, that would make this really short and boring, and I haven't had a proper spar in months." He said, waving a hand that was already wrapped around the hilt of his signature twin swords in a dismissive gesture.
"I second that." Sakura piped up, her own hands grasping her twin daito, even as she wondered whether the Hiramekarei couldn't just snap the blade in half in one swipe. "Until forfeit or complete incapacitation?" She suggested instead, and got an appreciative, if a little wild grin from Yuki for her efforts.
And then, not waiting for any formal 'go ahead', Sakura concentrated, forced her chakra in the right channels even as she felt them burn and pulled.
She felt the moment Yuki broke the illusion and she dropped one of her swords and snapped through three more sequences when she realised that Chōjūrō still hadn't broken it, then she was ducking Yuki's swipe at her head and reaching for her discarded blade for more range and protection.
"That was basic for you, pinky-chan. -1 for effort." Yuki commented, not fazed in the slightest by the zing of metal or the fast pace of their fight. "But seal-less? That's interesting."
"Thanks." Sakura grinned, breathless, then ducked just in time to avoid the giant shadow she saw coming from behind her that told her Chōjūrō had broken all the layers and was not happy about being left out.
Seeing Yuki and the bluenette had both hands occupied with each other, she began peppering the ground with explosive tags then threw a hasty notice-me-not on them before she rejoined the fray, alternating between coming at Yuki's back and Chōjūrō's, until she suddenly found herself as the piggy in the middle and could think little more than oh shit.
Time for some fireworks.
BANG!
The dust cloud that rose up in the air gave her enough time to put distance between herself and the two considerably superior swordsmen. She renewed her attempts at snagging them in her illusions and alternated between constructing more and more layers and sending barrage after barrage of kunai and shuriken at the place she'd last seen them.
Then there was a giant chakra hammer coming right at her oh sweet lord and she went with her tried and tested emergency procedure and sunk underground.
With the amount of chakra he was using, Chōjūrō was painfully easy to find, so Sakura got right under where he stood and snagged one of his ankles with both hands and yanked.
A startled curse tumbled from Chōjūrō's lips when she resurfaced, but then she felt the sharp sting of a blade cutting flesh and rolled in the opposite direction from Yuki's assault, amused to note that the man now had twigs in his hair and a rip in his yukata even as her side protested at the movement.
"Eager for that one-on-one, are you, pinky-chan?" the hunter-nin teased, then he sheathed one of his swords and folded his fingers in a familiar seal.
"Don't-!" but the clearing they were in had already filled with milky-white mist and Sakura swore. It was like Zabuza all over again.
Then there was a shift in the air behind her and instinct more than anything else made her duck, just in time for the swipe at her neck to shear off some of her ponytail instead of her head.
"Boo." Yuki taunted, about to advance, but was instead forced to jump over Chōjūrō's blade as the bluenette appeared behind him and swung at his waist. Ever the opportunist, Sakura sheathed one of her knives and produced chakra strings instead, hoping to take advantage of Yuki's still-airborne state. She managed to snag one of the wakizashi from his hand and throw it away from him, but Yuki merely used his free hand to grab a kunai from his pouch, use the flat of Hiramekarei as a springboard and cut through the chakra strings, leaving Sakura to admire his agility even as she cursed him in her mind.
Then, it was as if the same thought passed through their mind, and as one, Sakura and the hunter-nin turned on Chōjūrō, relentless and probably more than a bit mean, chipping away at his defences until he finally made a mistake and Yuki immediately exploited it, sneaking up behind him, holding both his hands in one of his while Sakura held the tip of her blade to the bluenette's throat.
"Do you give?" she panted, watching as Chōjūrō tested Yuki's hold until he reached the same conclusion she had – unbreakable.
"I-I do." He replied, and Yuki released him with more care than Sakura expected. They waited until Chōjūrō made it safely to the treeline before turning on each other.
Immediately, Sakura went for chakra strings again, hoping to rid the hunter-nin of his swords because he was far too good with them for her taste. To her surprise, the knives came easy, but then she wished she hadn't done it because the moment his hands were free, Yuki flashed through the seals for the Hiding in the Mist jutsu for the second time, and they were enveloped in thick fog once again.
This time, Sakura tried to keep her senses on high alert while also setting her own traps, but that just made her jumpy and she ultimately missed the barrage of kunai that came at her legs and a shower of shuriken that shot straight at her head. Unable to neither duck nor twist out of the way, she let a few of the throwing stars hit her shoulders, sending a quick prayer of thanks for the padding of her flak jacket when only her upper arms were really hit, then sent a wave of Killing Intent in the direction the shuriken had come from.
Instead of the mist dropping, a laugh rang out and Sakura whirled – it was completely not the direction she had been expecting and she panicked. Then, almost slapping herself for her idiocy, she found the chakra trace of one of her explosive tags that was scattered around the ground and activated it.
Having chosen one far away, she was safe from the blast, but as the mist cleared, she found that Yuki hadn't been so lucky and was actually a lot closer to the explosion than she'd thought.
Still, that was the window she needed.
Sakura used Yuki's momentary distraction to dart forward and stick a tag she'd been palming on his back, too low for him to reach with the sword sheaths above it. She saw the flash of alarm in the other's eyes, but before he could react or she could reconsider, she was pumping chakra onto the seal and feeling a grin stretch on her lips –!
BOOM!
Pale purple smoke surrounded Yuki and he started coughing, the training ground filling with the almost nauseating smell of lavender. When the smoke finally dissipated, the smell stayed behind, and Yuki turned to her with an expression torn between disbelief and amusement, and Sakura knew she looked like the cat that got the canary, but she couldn't care less.
"The fuck, pinky-chan?" Yuki asked incredulously, but the corner of his lip was twitching up so he was clearly fighting an answering grin.
Sakura tried to smooth her expression but she had a feeling she failed miserably. "Can't sneak up on me when you smell like an old lady's closet, can you?"
Yuki stared at her for a few seconds then finally gave in and started laughing, and Sakura let the giggles she'd been holding back escape. Her giggle turned into a shriek and she barely dodged the valley of shuriken that came her way, feeling one of the stars nick her thigh. Then Yuki was on her again, grinning even as his twin wakizashi reappeared and forced her to dodge, roll, parry, dodge, kawarimi with a discarded kunai, dodge!
The next time she gained enough distance, she flashed through the seals for the Earth jutsu that almost didn't make her flinch anymore, the waterlogged earth sucking out more chakra than she was used to, and just as it was about to solidify around his leg, Yuki jumped and it crumbled.
Just as it seemed they were at an impasse yet again, Sakura felt the air around her grow cold, the water crystallising, growing heavier, colder, sticking to her skin and-
-freezing!?
She realised too late that the cold was making her sluggish, that she was almost completely covered by ice, but just as the last of what was covering her arm started freezing, she managed to snag a the last handful of explosive tags she had in her pouch and throw them a few feet away from her, and then she could move no more.
She took a moment to absently wonder where the hell Yuki got off, using ice techniques on her, then breathed as much as the ice surrounding every inch of her body allowed her, trying to calm the rising panic at being physically unable to move at all. Then, knowing she'd already wasted precious seconds, she sought out her explosive tags and pulled-!
The resulting explosion made her certain she'd have at least a mild concussion and first degree burns along her left side, but hey, looking on the bright side, at least she could think straight. When she got her wits back and looked up from where the force of the blast had thrown her, Yuki was patting down his yukata which had caught on fire, but Sakura was pretty sure he hadn't been close enough to be affected unless-
She shunshin'ed to less than a foot away and yes, that was the barest hint of worry in the hunter-nin's eyes, and Sakura felt undeniably touched. So she raised her hands up in the universal halt, then began helping Yuki pat down the still-smoking fabric of his yukata. When they were done, she stepped back a little, eyebrow raised.
"That was new." She observed, amused despite herself, referring to the ice prison he'd caught her in.
"And that," Yuki said, a slightly crazy glint in his eyes as he pointed at the crater left behind by the stash of explosive tags she'd triggered, "was genius."
Sakura grinned and shrugged, then took a few steps back, "Ceasefire's over, then?" She asked lightly, though the look on Yuki's face made her drop her hand to her weapons pouch and palm a smoke bomb.
Her suspicion was only proven when Yuki raised an eyebrow, expression devious. "What ceasefire?"
The whistle of air behind her was Sakura's only clue that she was screwed.
Watching her fight with Yuki, Genma realised that he had been wrong about his kid.
He'd thought and spoke of her as a genjutsu mistress, someone who could bend reality to suit her will and make her targets not even see the knife coming until it was too late, but nothing more.
But now, watching her fight someone who, by all intents and purposes should've been able to kill her within the first strike – he realised something he'd failed to see during the Jounin Exams or any of their previous spars.
Sakura wasn't a genjutsu mistress.
True, she used genjutsu. That had been what she'd sought out when she was still a fresh-faced genin, what had brought the two of them together in the first place. True, she tended to start off a fight with her illusions. True, she liked to use them to confuse their target before either she or Genma dealt the finishing blow.
But she wasn't a genjutsu mistress, not like Kurenai.
Genma had watched the latter fight often enough to be certain that while her other skills were sharp enough to get her the jounin promotion, they could be summed up in a 80-10-10 ratio in favour of genjutsu over the other two.
Sakura, however, wasn't like that, and Genma was kicking himself that it took him so long to notice.
Surviving a fortnight of enemy pursuit should've been the first alarm bell, almost a year ago. Illusions, when in a state of permanent chakra exhaustion, would have been nigh impossible.
Defeating a Hyuuga should've been the second. A Hyuuga, whose eyes see through genjutsu, who stole her best asset from her in the first minute of their fight.
Qualifying for ANBU should've been the third. ANBU didn't accept one-trick-ponies into their midst, Genma himself could vouch for that. And yet, his kid had gotten into the Assassinations squad at that.
But it wasn't until he was watching her blow away the mist with explosives that imitated a jutsu he remembered the Sand girl using in their Chunin Exams that he truly realized what he was seeing.
His thoughts whirred as he watched Sakura dance out of the way of a water dragon, throw some light-hearted teasing back and forth with an S-Rank assassin and use a jutsu he knew had been the one responsible for pulverising her leg in her opponent's moment of distraction.
No, Sakura wasn't a genjutsu mistress.
His kid was a survivor.
Sakura lost that spar.
Badly.
The swishing of air turned out to be the blade of two Water Clones that had somehow stuck behind her – one struck, while the other predicted exactly where she would move to dodge and struck too, and while both of Sakura's hands were busy fending off the dual assault, the real Yuki managed to sneak up behind her and press close to her back, both wakizashi at her throat in such a way that even breathing deeper would've cut her skin.
"You ass." She sighed, knowing a loss when she saw one. Still, that didn't make her resist the temptation of flicking her heel up in hopes of nailing the most sensitive area but Yuki just laughed and stepped away a little, not letting his knives lose contact with her throat.
"Mmhm, maybe. Question is, do you give, pinky-chan?" he whispered, body shaking with poorly supressed mirth.
"Yeah, yeah, I give. It's not like I'm not getting out of this one any time soon, is it?"
Satisfied, Yuki let her go, and the clones that she was still holding off with her swords turned to puddles before her eyes.
Then, just as she was turning to thank the hunter-nin for the spar, her eyes fell on two figures standing just behind the treeline and her breath caught.
Because right there, standing both a little wide-eyed and having undoubtedly just witnessed her fight and staring at her were Genma and Kakashi.
Sakura turned and fled.
Kakashi found her first.
But Sakura wasn't hiding, not really. Just… avoiding the areas most of the foreign-nin would know of and be comfortable at.
Perching beside her on the pier, legs joining her in dangling off the edge but resting on the surface of the water with the aid of chakra, signature book in hand, Sakura could almost pretend that she was twelve again, that they were back in Wave, that Zabuza was the biggest threat she'd ever faced and Sasuke riddled with senbon the most traumatising thing she'd seen.
But as it was, almost two and a half years had passed since that moment, and the man next to her could have very well been a stranger.
She didn't know how long they sat there, but eventually, Kakashi broke the silence.
"You've grown worryingly fond of explosive tags." He observed, not raising his gaze from the porn in his hand, but even Sakura could see the tension in his shoulders when she chanced a glance at him.
She snorted. "First-degree burns are well within my skillset, Kakashi-san." She assured him, caustic and sarcastic and bitter.
She revelled in the twitch the change of honorific earned her, but it was followed almost immediately by an even more forcefully-blasé statement.
"An ever-expanding skillset, from what I hear."
This time, Sakura narrowed her eyes but still refused to turn her gaze away from the sea in front of her. "I've found that dependence on one party trick can get you killed."
"That's what the team is for." Kakashi replied evenly, as if she was being particularly slow. "And chunin are never sent on high-level solo missions."
"No, you're right." She agreed. "But jounin are. And I'm a jounin now." Then, she paused and bared her teeth in a crude mockery of a smile. "As you well know, Hound-taicho."
It was as if she'd slapped the man – he recoiled, then his visible eye narrowed. "How do you-?! Oh." And now, that eye twisted with an emotion Sakura couldn't quite identify; guilt? Remorse? Regret? Before he spoke. "The only rookie in Assassination. Jackal."
She let the humourless grin fade slightly as she nodded. "Got it in one. Your chakra is rather distinctive. As are the rumours."
They lapsed into silence again, but just like before, Kakashi broke it after only a few minutes.
"Why the rush? Why couldn't you have stayed- why did you change so much? There was no pressure, Sakura." He asked, looking physically pained.
Sakura, however, was tired of that question. She wasn't rushing, she was just-!
She was scared.
Suddenly, with that realisation, it was as if all the barriers went down. "There was all the pressure! On our first mission outside the Village, we came across an A-Ranked criminal. Because Orochimaru of the Sannin appeared at my Chunin Exams. Because my teammates were the son of the Yondaime who was, coincidentally, the host of the Kyuubi, the last of the Uchiha whose brother belongs to an S-Ranked criminal organisation, and Nakamagoroshi no Kakashi who graduated the Academy at five, became chunin a year later and jounin at thirteen. And I was a civilian. A paper-ninja. Don't you see? I'd have died ten times over if I stayed as I was."
When she finished speaking, Kakashi's complexion was ashen.
But Sakura had shared too much – it had taken Inoichi almost a year to get her motivations out of her and she trusted the Yamanaka Clan Head far more than the man who in his teenage years had earned the moniker Friend Killer Kakashi.
So she flipped the metaphorical knife so the blade faced him. "And," –she tested the hold– "because whatever you may think, whatever parallels you think you see, I am not her." –stabbed– "I am not Nohara Rin." –and twisted.
A split second later, her back collided painfully with the quay and there was a hand pressing tightly into her throat; "Don't you dare-!" but then, the seal she had stuck onto the back of the Kiri headband around her neck for this precise reason activated, and a flash of bright light later, Kakashi was thrown a good fifty feet away from her with the force of the chakra field that his touch triggered.
"Sorry," she bit out, sitting up and bringing a green-glowing hand to her throat. "it's nothing personal. Just a bit touchy about this area – killed too many people using the throat, you know how it is." And to add to the nonchalant insolence, she shrugged a shoulder.
Kakashi, to her surprise, looked like that knowledge physically pained him, though the anger still simmered just below the surface.
"Half of what you said is classified. The other half isn't talked about. Tell me why I shouldn't report you to Tsunade-sama."
"What for?" Sakura laughed, though the threat stung more than she'd care to admit. "Have you forgotten what my other day-job is? I'm a Senior Interrogator. Nothing's sacred to someone with a Level III clearance level. It's all technically above-board too."
Kakashi stared at her for a moment longer, his gaze far more piercing than she'd like to admit before he seemed to deflate and huffed something than may, once, have been a chuckle as he settled back down next to her.
"That's going to paint a target on your back, I hope you know." He told her flatly, but Sakura waved him off.
"Assassin, remember? Yuki-san's an exception; normally, the targets don't live long enough to write your name down in the Bingo Book." She grinned wryly. "Genma's been in the field for two decades and he's still not in it. I'm safe, sensei." She explained, the old honorific slipping out against her will.
Kakashi's eye crinkled, but it wasn't in humour. "For now."
Sakura didn't quite know what to do with that rather ominous statement, so she rose to her feet with a sad smile. "We've said what we needed, I think. So we can either keep going as we have been and ignore each other, or we can get over this. I am not who you thought I was, I could have maybe involved you a bit more; there, it's out. Now, we can at least try for a professional relationship, or we can ignore this conversation ever happened."
Kakashi stood up too, and his eye crinkled into the familiar eye-smile, but this time, it didn't feel forced nor fake. "I'd rather like to be able to talk to my old student, Sakura-chan."
Sakura backpedalled slightly at that, then narrowed her eyes and stuck out her hand. "This by no means a 'forgive and forget', sensei. But… a new page?"
Kakashi smiled and clasped her hand, then before she could even blink, he was gone.
Sakura huffed, half amused, half offended. "Bastard."
Still buzzing with the adrenaline of her monumental conversation with Kakashi, Sakura almost bulldozed over Genma in her attempt at reconciliation. She weathered the anger and frustration and the hurt when the brunet threw her words back in her face, then startled when she was roughly pulled into a hug.
Turns out Anko may not have been the sole one responsible for her passive-aggressiveness.
The tournament matches ended up being almost an afterthought in the wake of all that Sakura had accomplished during her trip to Kiri, but she still dutifully went to watch them and cheered for all the Konohagakure participants.
She was almost bouncing with joy when, at the end, after Hyuuga Neji finally bested the Iwagakure participant in the final round and the winners were announced, all of the Konoha 11 got promoted.
Sakura watched the newly-minted chunin cluster together in a group hug, Ino even going as far as to drag the ever-stoic Neji into the fray, and their laughter audible even up in the stands where the rosette was.
Finally, after two and a half years, Sakura felt at peace. With Shikamaru on one side and Chōjūrō on the other, her friends happy and working together, with her conflict with Kakashi resolved and with Genma as her official partner and her as the first jounin in their graduating class, she was exactly where she wanted to be.
and here we are!
12k later, and we finally have a suitable ending before the transition into Shippuden - next chapter will be a ~6 month time-skip & Naruto will return!
however, before that, a bit of an A/N: i will be staring university in two weeks; as it will be my first time, i don't know what my schedule will be like or when i'll acclimatise, so the break between this chapter and the next may be even longer than the usual month. you have been warned!
now, thank you for reading and as always, please do leave a comment with what you liked/thought/disliked!