... hi?
I'm so so sorry I missed the last two updates! I let you guys know I probably wouldn't post and then I did but that kinda fucked up my schedule bc I had nothing to post on the weeks that I had to work the most at uni so... yeah. I'M BACK THO. For good. You guys really stepped up your reviewing game last chapter and I have no words to thank you, fuck. Truly, you have no idea how you guys always make my day. You've made this quarantine and end of semester shitty combo infinitely better 3
This chapter was a huge one (like seriously humongous 14k+ words, more than 47 pages long) and I was originally gonna hold it until this friday but then I realised I already kept you guys waiting long enough. So, this first part is kinda filler-y in a way but it's very important and the next chapter comes out Friday as scheduled so you won't have to wait too long! Please don't forget to review both on this one and the next.
Enjoy :)
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Kakashi entered the conference room deep into ANBU's headquarters with the ease and familiarity of someone who knew every inch and cranny of the place. And he did. He had, in fact, even lived there for some time between the Kyuubi's attack and the renovations on the apartment Usui had guided him and Genma into buying the plants for.
He remembered Usui's heavy hand on his soot covered shoulder as the man had guided Kakashi and Genma to clean up and eat something. There had been no one at the time to take care of either of them and even though there hadn't been a shortage of things to be done around the village, Usui had stuck by them. By the end of the week, the both of them had bought two apartments just a couple of doors from each other.
The months Kakashi had lived in the ANBU barracks were one of the worst of his life but there had been moments of reprieve. Moments that brought fleeting smiles to his covered lips, moments in which he would feel alone and desperate, yes, but then he would look at Genma—Yugao, Yamato, Usui—and realise he wasn't the only one like that.
The man himself was sitting inside their assigned conference room, the one with only a simple rectangular table in the middle that could seat twelve people and a white board that wasn't used much. This was conference room 10, the one assigned only to extremely important missions. The kind of mission briefings that required more than one team and that the Hokage themselves sometimes sat in.
Genma saluted him with a cheeky smirk when he saw him come in. He was on the last seat at the table, the one closest to the white board, balancing his weight on the two back legs of the chair. Directly across from him sat Tenzo.
"Good morning, senpai," his kouhai said with a faint smile.
Kakashi had to admit to himself that it was a nice change not to be instantly berated for his lateness. Usually for important meetings and ANBU related things he was always on time, or at least close to it, as opposed to all his dealings as a jounin.
While he felt he owed it to Obito to keep his Will of Fire burning and incorporated some of his traits into his personality, Kakashi in his core was a stickler for the rules. Usui had helped him mellow that part of him down in a way, always going on about how he was perceived and that it was always best to keep everyone guessing. Still, that day he had forgone his visit to the memorial stone. He knew he had a predisposition to getting stuck inside his head there and quickly losing track of time, so it felt safer to not go at all.
Even though his stomach was still rolling with guilt and unease at not paying his respects.
Kakashi took his seat next to Tenzo and forced himself to at least nod occasionally as his two friends chatted. As much as he tried to keep himself in the present, he felt off kilter and the slightest bit nauseous. Guilt and the mounting anxiety of having the Akatsuki finally making some noise kept him trapped inside his own head.
Kakashi took a deep breath to try and centre himself and then one more to slow down his heartbeat. On the third, his breath stuttered out of his chest when he saw the next person to come in.
It was Sakura, in the same ANBU uniform she had been wearing the day he gave her his father's summons only she was slightly taller than the last time he had seen her about a year ago. Kakashi's heartbeat sped up, his anxiety skyrocketing.
What was she doing there?
If this was the type of mission he thought it was, he didn't want her anywhere near it. He knew it was stupid of him to wish to protect her from everything but he couldn't help it. When he saw how fast she was climbing the ranks and how out of her depth the girl he had met at Iruka's classroom at the Academy would be in all these situations, he couldn't escape the panic that closed his throat. He had given her his father's summons so she wouldn't be alone anymore.
Sakura was Team 7, she was family, she was pack. He didn't think he'd survive losing another one.
Logically, he knew Sakura was an extremely capable ninja. Not only did she have a high standing inside Konoha but he had heard whispers of her name all across the nations. Her reputation preceded her and Kakashi felt equal parts proud of who she was becoming and guilty he hadn't played his part in it. Sakura wasn't on legendary level yet, but she was only eighteen. Kakashi had no doubt in a few years she'd reach and surpass the Godaime.
Still, having Sakura step inside this part of his world, hidden in the shadows and subterfuge, made anxiety rock through his body like he'd used Chidori on himself. Kakashi's back straightened and his eye focused, and he wouldn't be surprised if his chakra had spiked.
It didn't matter that Sakura was capable because if she was going to be his subordinate in this mission, he would make sure to be at his best so he could watch over her. Keep her safe.
"Are you okay?" The girl herself asked, making Kakashi snap his eyes to hers.
She was standing next to Genma on the other side of the table, getting ready to take a seat next to the man. Kakashi nodded slightly and Sakura offered him a small smile while she reached across the table to… was she going to squeeze his hand?
Kakashi didn't know. It didn't even matter because in the next second, a heavy hand was clapping him on the back, rattling his whole body forward so hard he hit his chest on the edge of the table. Thank fuck for chestplates.
"Ready for some action, kid?" Usui ruffled his hair with a teasing hand and Kakashi immediately turned his head to glare at his mentor. "This one will be a hard one. You better be on top shape. Do you need Wolfie-chan to give you a checkup?"
Genma snickered and Kakashi turned his dirty look on him before accidentally catching Sakura's eyes. She was also holding back a grin, he could tell.
With a heavy sigh, Kakashi rolled his eye at them both.
"Maybe you should sit down, Usui," he drawled. "A man your age should take every chance he has to rest. Your old bones will probably complain if you don't."
Usui immediately took a hold of his hair and shook his head around like he used to do when he was a kid and was being particularly obnoxious.
"I'll show you old bones, you little white haired punk."
Sakura was giggling now and Genma full out laughing while the rest of his old team were stuck between exasperation and amusement. Kakashi was glad Usui had used his uncanny ability to read him like a book to diffuse some of the tension.
The other team arrived then, almost at the same time. Boar's team would be going with them then. That was great. As much as he didn't particularly like the guy, he knew he was good.
When Kakashi had first gotten into ANBU he wasn't exactly liked. There were some that sympathised with him but most were old enough to have lived through his father's disgrace and still remembered it greatly. He had kept his head down and worked hard as usual but that kept him from truly ingraining himself in their tight knit community and only earned him the title of Cold Blooded Kakashi. A monster among their ranks.
After a while, when he had been placed into Team Ro, things had smoothed out. By the time he was almost twenty, things had settled down enough that he had earned not only their respect but also their admiration.
Boar was not one of those people.
Kakashi had originally been placed on his team. Team Boar even then was a team that held high regards. After the four elite ANBU teams, Team Boar was the best ANBU had to offer. And Kakashi had made the mistake of not giving Boar the proper respect as a captain.
The fact that later on he had been placed on Team Ro, one of said four elite teams, hadn't really helped with the man's opinions of him.
Rumour had it that Team Ko would be retiring because half of their components had reached an age that didn't conduct well on the field. Kakashi was sure Boar would be chosen to captain it. He gave the man his patented crinkled-eye smile and hid a chuckle when his broad shoulders tensed.
Keiichi was the last operative to arrive and then Tsunade walked in.
Kakashi frowned at the integrants of the room. There was himself, Genma, Tenzo and Yugao composing Team Ro and then the four members of Team Boar, Sakura and Keiichi. It didn't make sense. Unless they were thinking of adding a medic in each team making them a teammate bigger than protocol, those two were the odd men out.
Tsunade sat heavily down on her chair and steepled her fingers in front of her face.
"Good morning, operatives." She took a slight breath and Kakashi's attention was diverted to how tired she looked. He didn't remember Minato-sensei looking as tired as the Godaime did at that moment. Then again, his sensei was almost a decade younger than Kakashi himself when he took on the hat. "This mission is going to be an S-Ranked one with layered aspects to it. I'll let the Commander do your briefing."
Usui, sitting on the Hokage's left and sharing the head of the table, nodded slightly.
"A team on a B-Ranked mission was attacked near our borders with Water yesterday night. Only one of them made it out alive." Usui was blunt and to the point and everyone in the room stood at attention. "The southeast outpost's patrol found him in the woods and initial investigation showed that a large group had made camp nearby. Their previous reports showed that there had been a large activity of thefts in the area and it's suspected that the large group is responsible for it. We had already been assembling a team to deal with them before the distress call came yesterday."
Sakura shifted minutely on her chair and Kakashi's eye fell on her for a second, enough to assure she was okay before turning back to Usui.
"The rumours our spies have been picking up suggests that some members of the Akatsuki were spotted near that area. If the Akatsuki are connected with the thieves, we're going to need a stronger team manning the outpost. Team Boar, you'll head out at noon to relieve the men over there and replenish the outpost's supplies and you'll hold your post until further notice."
"Hai, Commander," Boar said with a sharp nod.
"Team Ro, I want you to leave as soon as possible to circle the area and gather more clues as to what happened. I want to know who killed our men and why, I want eyes all over that part of our Land and I want to know if this crime syndicate has any connections to the Akatsuki. Expect possible confrontations. Until further notice, both teams will be stationed on the outpost."
"Understood," Kakashi said at the same time Tenzo said "Hai," and Sakura, "Roger."
There was a beat of silence in the room only broken when Tsunade let out an unladylike snort.
"By Team Ro, Usui means Tenzo as the captain and Fox filling up the missing spot," she said, not bothering to hide her smirk as she took in Kakashi's furrowed brows. "The two of you have other priorities."
"The jounin-only mission." Sakura nodded to herself and Kakashi's brows furrowed further. This was the first time he was hearing of this. He had only received a quick missive via bird the night before to show up at six, a hidden code implying it had something to do with the Akatsuki. "Shouldn't Asuma be here for this meeting, as well?"
"Sarutobi doesn't have the clearance to be here," Usui answered. "And it's not paramount that he is. He'll get his own instructions once that mission is ready to be deployed."
"You mean until Team Ro has enough confirmation that the thieves have connections to the Akatsuki," Kakashi deduced. The rolling in his stomach was returning a bit, but in the focused state he was at, it was relatively easy to push it down. He chanced another glance at Sakura but didn't linger to see what he could read in her green eyes.
"Yes and no," Usui answered, being completely unhelpful as usual. The sentiment behind Kakashi's reproving look was echoed in Sakura's annoyed sigh. "What I mean is that Team Ro won't be the only ones investigating. Kakashi, I want you to head out with them and help them out. Your dogs should be a good advantage. Sakura, I want you to accompany Team Boar to the outpost. The only survivor is there and in need of medical assistance, your mission is to heal him and find out everything he knows." Usui stopped and stared severely at Sakura. "We don't know if he's been compromised. He's one of us but a survivor of a very sketchy situation so tread carefully."
"And the mission?" Kakashi asked, his voice taking the usual timbre it did when he was commanding an ANBU mission.
It was Tsunade that answered.
"It'll be a jounin-only S-Ranked mission even if the syndicate isn't connected to the Akatsuki," she said, putting one of her hands down on the table and using the other to brush her bangs from her face. "You, Sakura and Asuma will infiltrate the group and dismantle it from within. You'll take whatever prisoners you can and kill if necessary. If you need backup, Team Ro will be on standby to assist."
"If they are connected to the Akatsuki, the best thing we can do is have two people already involved with the investigation leading the mission, you see?" Usui grinned at him and shot them both a cheeky thumbs up. "There's no one else we trust more."
Kakashi knew what he meant by that. It wasn't only that he and Sakura were trusted by the Commander and the Hokage but that they had enough standing inside and outside the village to deal with a situation as delicate as this. The Five Great Nations were already realising the threat that the Akatsuki posed and were acting accordingly. It would look bad if Konoha didn't deploy their best to deal with them.
And didn't it throw him for a loop that Sakura was the one they decided was best fit to be his partner.
Kakashi looked at Sakura to find she had already been looking at him. He could see the fire burning in her jade eyes, the stubborn tilt to her jaw that had long since lost all bits of childness that had clung to it when they met. She was a fully fledged kunoichi now and she was ready to fight.
Kakashi nodded once at her, his face just as serious.
The Akatsuki was not only a threat to their village but to the other half of Team 7. They would do anything to neutralise that threat and Kakashi would do anything to keep Sakura safe in the process.
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Sakura punched at Tsunade but the woman moved at the last minute and her fist caught a tree instead. The explosion of splinters that followed wasn't enough to slow either of them down.
"Shishou, hear me out, damn it!" Sakura yelled in frustration and went for a series of rapidly issued kicks that pressed the blonde further into a copse of trees.
"I will when you manage to land a hit." Tsunade, unfairly, hadn't even dislodged her hairstyle despite the fact that there were now a few flyaways stuck to Sakura's face.
In the next second, though, Sakura used an extra bout of chakra to her legs to propel her forward so she could grab the collar of Tsunade's haori. Tsunade thought she was going for a punch and dodged away but it had only been a distraction so she could aim a well placed kick to the blonde's ribs from her other side.
Tsunade flew through a tree.
For a second, the two only blinked, both set of eyes wide and surprised as they stared at each other through the remains of the poor tree.
It had been a move a bit too intense for a sparring match on Sakura's side but, really, the two of them didn't spar against each other so they could go easy. They already had to do that with virtually anyone else. The only time they could really unleash the power behind their moves was with each other because they had complete faith that it wouldn't kill them.
What was surprising was that Tsunade hadn't been able to dodge the kick.
Her shishou got up from the forest floor with a loud bark of a laugh and walked until she could throw one arm over Sakura's shoulder. The other one went to heal her torso.
"You broke a couple of ribs there, brat." Tsunade grinned at her as they started walking home. "Good job."
Sakura's heart swelled with pride and affection. She loved this woman. Receiving praise from her wasn't exactly common but it just made these moments all that more important. It didn't, however, make her forget she had a point to make.
As soon as they entered their house, Sakura shot her shishou a reproving look.
"Let me at least sit down to eat before you start yelling, alright?" Tsunade didn't even give her time to reply before she was moving towards the kitchen table where Shizune was placing their breakfast.
As soon as the meeting at HQ was over, Sakura had been dragged by Tsunade to the training grounds. Apparently the woman only had to go into the office at ten and it was still barely seven, so it was the perfect opportunity to do some exercise. Sakura had been a bit reluctant since she would be leaving for the mission at noon but she didn't really have too much to do before then so she didn't fight much.
Until she remembered her dream the night before.
It was more of a nightmare, really, with all her loved ones having to run for their lives. Sasuke's eyes and Naruto's smile dimmed and flat and wrong and all throughout the dream, red clouds in a dark night sky.
The Akatsuki was making noise. At this point, the rumours around the nations were getting louder and the more time Sakura didn't have Naruto in the village so she could look after him, the antsier she got. Not to mention the fact that, in her opinion, the sooner they reached Uchiha Itachi the better and the fact that they were running against the clock was making it harder for her to sleep at night.
Who knows how Sasuke's training with Orochimaru was going. For all they knew, he could have been moving at that moment to murder his older brother. Sakura was afraid he wouldn't ever come back home if that happened and he found out the truth.
"We need to contact Itachi," Sakura said as soon as the three of them were all seated. Tsunade sighed into her coffee but Sakura powered on. "Sasuke is out there, thinking his brother murdered his entire family and seeking revenge for it."
"He did murder them," Tsunade said around her bite of rice and eggs.
"He was following orders. He was thirteen for fuck's sake and that was the only way he could find to save his brother! That has to—" that has to count for something, she didn't say. Sakura sighed, then changed gears. "As of right now, the only two Sharingan in the world are outside Konoha and at least one of them is actively against us."
"I'm not saying it isn't important to get Itachi back on our side," Tsunade said, finally turning her full attention to Sakura. "But we have to be careful. That old cog Danzo cannot get even a whiff of this and besides that, the last contact made with Uchiha Itachi was nine years ago."
"Then assign him a handler! What good is an infiltrated spy if they don't have anyone to report back to!" Sakura exclaimed, getting riled up when faced with her village's incompetence in dealing with this situation so far. She hoped that wherever Sarutobi Hiruzen was, he was suffering. She would make sure Danzo got what he deserved on this side.
"Nine years is a long time to be undercover, Sakura-chan," Shizune explained, her voice calm as ever if the slightest bit condescending. "Even if we see them as the 'bad guys', that's almost a decade of working together. It's almost impossible for Itachi to not have developed an attachment."
"Enough of an attachment that he would forget about his brother's wellbeing?" Sakura challenged and was slightly mollified in her anger when Shizune bowed her head in acceptance.
"You may be right about that," she offered, then turned to Tsunade. "What about Kakashi-san? I'm sure he would be one of the best people to approach Uchiha Itachi."
"That's true, but he's needed elsewhere." Tsunade sighed. She looked seriously at Sakura for a moment before her eyes softened. "I'm not taking this lightly, Sakura. The Akatsuki as a whole is a top priority at the moment, you focus on your mission and let me handle this. I already have my best spymaster working on tracking down Uchiha Itachi for initial contact."
Sakura nodded at her shishou, letting the subject drop, and focused on her breakfast.
She still felt her stomach churning at the thought of leaving Itachi to his own devices for too long, but she could see Tsunade's point. Koharu and Homura had several meetings between themselves that Team Ro had documented and even a couple of them had Danzo included.
The two Elders didn't agree with Tsunade's promotion of Shikaku and Inoichi and she knew they needed to be careful until the rumours that Ibiki would be joining the Council consolidated. If Sakura had to guess, it would be a few weeks until Tsunade appointed him and they had to keep everything on the down low until then.
As of right now, anything that came down to a vote would have Shikaku and Inoichi taking Tsunade's side while the Elders would stand against them. They needed a tie breaker and a way to settle down Hyuga Hisashi's hurt pride. They absolutely needed everything to go according to plan at least until they had the majority votes in the Council to their favour.
Homura and Koharu had kept antagonizing Tsunade, showing their displeasure that she had been chosen to take on the hat but now with Shikaku and Inoichi participating in meetings and supporting her, they didn't have much ground to stand on. That had made them angrier.
If Sakura had to guess, Tsunade had been their last choice to place as Hokage and the only reason they had gone to her after Jiraiya refused had been because they assumed she'd be malleable because of her traumas. How wrong they had been.
Her shishou had come back to Konoha already overworked, with heaps of unhealthy coping mechanisms and got placed in a position where every single thing she did was challenged or overruled. Sakura had watched how the truth about the Uchiha Massacre had changed Tsunade.
It was like she had said enough was enough and then she had a purpose. Her bad habits, while still present, had been thrown to the back burner and she had stepped up and she had thrived. Sakura couldn't be more proud of her.
She trusted her completely, even if it meant swallowing down her anxieties when it came to Naruto, Sasuke and Uchiha Itachi. She wondered as she finished her breakfast, how long it would take until this war finally knocked on their door and they had to bring more people into it.
That day, Sakura spent organising herself for a long mission. She had to pack anything she would need to heal the chunin at the outpost along with her ANBU gear and warmer clothes for the cold. Then, she had to pack enough clothing to help her disguise while infiltrating the thieves camp.
During their mission briefing, Tsunade had said that their cover would be rogue nin from Konoha that had been selling information to other villages to earn extra cash. Sakura would pose as a medic that used to work at the hospital since they probably didn't have anyone with that particular set of skills and Kakashi and Asuma tokujo that couldn't reach jounin status because of their lack of birth status. Their cover was that they were heading to Water to find a job as mercenaries.
She had to dress like she was a kunoichi but still kept a fairly civilian lifestyle.
She would be using the same untraceable genjutsu she used in ANBU to make her hair a dark auburn and another one to hide her tattoo. Sakura thought for a few seconds that it would do well to hide her scar but she settled for using them to further deepen her cover story.
This character she was creating, Akari, used to be a genin studying to become a medic ninja when her whole team was killed on a mission. She had the scar to prove the fateful mission that had sent her straight into the hospital and had made her decide to climb the ladder there instead of working in the field. There she became friends with Kakashi and Asuma when they came in to get fixed up and the rest she could decide with them later on.
Akari liked wearing dark clothes that contrasted nicely to her bright and bubbly personality. She preferred simple yukata-style vests with large but soft obi and lycra pants with short black sandals. She always kept her hair up in a high ponytail and she wore makeup because she didn't have to worry about it melting off in the middle of a fight or training. The only thing Sakura would keep to her style were her nails, painted blood red like her shishou's.
Sakura carefully folded Akari's things and closed her inside a simple backpack. Right at that moment, she had to put on Wolf-taichou.
Sakura readied herself in her ANBU uniform again, tied her braid and left the house with her full pack. She made a quick stop to say goodbye to her shishou, already wearing her mask and auburn hair so she wouldn't be recognised.
Shikaku was the only one inside the office with her so Sakura slid her mask up so she could place a quick kiss on her shishou's temple.
"I'll be back soon, try and keep the village from burning while I'm gone." Sakura smirked at the snort Tsunade gave and replaced her mask.
"You keep your head on straight, you hear me, brat?" Tsunade asked. "This isn't a 'let's be reckless and go hunt some Akatsuki members' kind of mission. Your orders are to gather as much intel on them as possible and deal with those thieves. If they just happen to be a source of income to the Akatsuki? Great, obliterate them and get your pink ass home."
Sakura huffed a laugh.
"Roger that." She saluted the two of them cheekily. "See you when I get back."
Then Sakura shunshined away from the office, leaving only a puff of cherry blossoms behind her.
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The chunin was still in shock when Sakura got to the outpost with Team Boar. He had a few deep cuts on his torso and severe chakra exhaustion from using so much of it to run away but nothing life threatening. He wasn't exactly communicative, however, and that made Sakura's job infinitely worse.
She usually didn't have the patience to deal with situations such as this. Inner helped a bit to try and put up a calm and sweet façade to draw the man out of his misery but it was tedious work.
The sun had already set when the man finally managed to string more than two words together, his brown hair matted with sweat against his forehead.
"Red clouds… in the distance," he rasped finally.
Having been given an in, Sakura wormed herself further into his mind trying to pick up things to show her the full picture. From what little he had managed to say, his team had been on their way back from a B-Rank mission in Water and had stumbled upon two Akatsuki members engaged in a fight with two other ninja who seemed to be jounin-level.
The chunin, Arai Jun, was covering his team's back when his jounin captain that had been the one taking point had been quickly decapitated. He yelled for his teammates to run and didn't waste any time before using all his chakra to reach the general direction of the outpost. His friends hadn't followed him.
Jun had then dissolved into tears, his face scrunching up as he tried to take a heaving breath.
"Yukihito-kun, he—" Jun choked on a sob and turned on his side, clutching the blanket in tight fists. "Yukihito-kun… I didn't stay. I-I couldn't stay! Please, Yukihito-kun!"
Sakura averted her eyes, unable to block his heartache from reaching deep inside her. She couldn't imagine what he was going through. She didn't want to. So she put a chakra laden hand over his fist.
"Sleep now, Jun-san," she muttered as her chakra entered his system to slow down his heartbeats and finally got to his brain to put him in a medically induced coma.
She didn't think he was a flight risk or a traitor but she did fear for his mental state. He didn't need to be awake for the way back home, it was best for him to rest up. At least until the team that had been manning the outpost took him to T&I and his case was overseen by a Yamanaka.
The team left a few moments later, trying to hide their relief at being extricated from the situation. They had left the place spotless at least.
Team Boar was in the mess hall, sitting around one of the three round tables and discussing their schedules, who would take what shift and be responsible for what chores.
"Taichou~" Starling drawled dramatically, placing his still masked face on top of his hand on the table. "Please don't give me kitchen duty again!"
"Dinner tonight, breakfast tomorrow," Boar grunted then shrugged. "Not my fault you're the best cook, kid."
"Should never have told you guys that…" Starling muttered to himself while his teammates snickered.
"Boar, I'll do a perimeter check while Team Ro is still out there," Sakura said, sliding her mask back into place. "Will that fuck up your roster?"
Boar's teammates were looking at her from behind their masks like she was a ghost and she was sure their mouths were hanging open. Inner smiled smugly as Sakura tilted her head slightly to the side.
"You'll be doing us a favour, actually," Boar replied, his tone significantly more polite than before. "Although, we're the ones responsible for keeping up this place, Wolf-sensei. You don't have to do anything, really."
Sakura smiled at him even though she knew he couldn't see it and squeezed one of his massive shoulders.
"I know. I just feel restless with my team out there." She turned to leave. "I'll see you soon, then!"
"Don't forget to take your warmer clothes!" Boar called, making Sakura halt her steps. "It gets pretty cold this close to Water during autumn."
Sakura paused by her bag near the entrance only long enough to put on a long sleeved shirt beneath her chest plate, arm guards and gloves. She saluted the men on the table.
"I'll be back in time to taste Starling's dinner." She smiled cheekily. "Ja!" And left through the front door.
As soon as she was outside, Sakura took to the rooftop. The structure of the outpost was made of wood and stone and the design was familiar. She would bet everything she had that Tenzo had been the one to build it or at least the one to fortify the way it was now.
It was a circular tower of two floors and a basement, great iron doors on the front and rectangular windows much like the Hokage Tower only these windows were floor to ceiling and made of wood. Each level had its own pagoda style roof and the top one was growing a tree. It blended with the surrounding trees, its canopy meeting the others, so the outpost was invisible from a bird's-eye view.
On the stone walls, moss grew much like it did around the forest. The climate this close to Water was cold at night but held plenty of humidity this close to the sea so the trees were denser and moss was abundant.
Sakura climbed to the tree growing on the roof and sat silently in one of the branches, just breathing in for a few moments.
She activated her chakra enhanced senses and translated what she felt into usable data. When she had just begun learning from the pack, it was overwhelming to receive all of that information at once, the smells of each different plant, animal and person around her easily becoming a jumbled mess to her brain.
But with practice came perfection and Sakura wasn't one to slack off in her training.
Her nose wasn't as good as her pack's but she could know exactly where her team was at the moment and any different smells around the perimeter of the outpost were easily identifiable. It looked like Team Ro was already returning from their search.
Sakura did a quick lap around the tower, setting up some traps to help her sleep better at night, and intercepted Team Ro on their way back.
"Yo!" She smiled at them from behind her mask, giving a little wave for effect as she stepped into the branch Kakashi had just touched down from his position of leader. He wasn't the captain in this mission, but with his expertise and respect in Team Ro, it was understandable that he would take point while Keiichi covered their back with the Byakugan.
"Got tired of waiting around for us, Princess?" Genma asked.
"Something like that." Sakura cocked her head to the side, noticing how the five of them were shivering even beneath their travel cloaks. Sakura had eschewed hers for the mission first because it took too much space and second because she had never been comfortable in fighting with them. She much preferred to wear a long sleeved shirt like she was at the moment, protocols be damned.
"Did you heal the guy?" Keiichi asked but was quickly cut off by the sharp way Kakashi turned his head to look at him.
"Let's get back," he said curtly, making Sakura turn her head to look at him, her gaze appraising and calculating.
She hadn't known Kakashi to be this curt. The commanding voice he used as a jounin instructor demanded attention just the same as this one but it didn't hold any of this sharpness. The only thing she could compare it to was the way he had spoken to her that day inside his bathroom when she had witnessed his private moment.
It took her a while to realise what she had been looking for as they made the short way back to the outpost.
Kakashi's voice wasn't the only thing that seemed to be changed. It was like he put on the ANBU uniform and became someone else. While his posture still held an air of detachment, there was no slouch in sight and in its place, a new kind of tension cursed through his form. Like he was always battle ready without making it seem as if he was.
They were both leading now, their heads swivelling to scan their surroundings and once or twice their gazes met. The closed canopies of the forest impeded much light from reaching them even with the moon just beginning to wane but the next time their eyes met, they were passing through a sliver of moonlight and Sakura could notice what else was different about him.
From behind the hound mask, the Sharingan was glaring bright red, the contrast between the white mask looking like blood on fresh snow.
Sakura felt her heartbeat speed up, her breaths shorten as if she was preparing for battle. The rush of chakra was dizzying because Sakura hadn't been prepared for the instinctual reaction Inner had. She clamped down hard on the Killing Intent that was wanting to leak and forcibly calmed herself down.
This wasn't a battle. She had nothing to get worked up over.
Sakura wondered briefly if the rest of the team had noticed this sudden change in Kakashi. They were probably used to this, she concluded. They had known ANBU Kakashi long before being introduced to Jounin Kakashi, after all. Still, her mind reeled a bit, trying to reconcile the two.
It had gotten even colder before they reached the outpost. Still, when they got there, Team Boar met them with a feast. Well, compared to what could usually be served at an outpost.
The mission talk was quickly gone over while they ate, Team Boar in one table and Team Ro in another. Even though they were sitting at different tables, they were close enough that they could talk easily between them.
Team Ro had found evidence of a large camp about ten kilometres of the outpost, the proximity making everyone tense. It seemed like they had moved further north along the border, putting more distance between them and Sakura wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.
Kakashi had estimated twenty ninja through his pack and noticed two others had veered course inland. The Akatsuki duo, if Arai Jun was to be believed.
The report had already been sent to the Hokage via Uhei, the fastest of the pack and Asuma would surely join them in the morning so they could proceed with their mission. Team Ro would be on standby in the outpost, doing routine scans of their surroundings while Asuma, Sakura and Kakashi infiltrated the rogue camp.
Sakura suggested having Kaede as a liaison between their two teams. After all, their bond connection let them talk to each other as far away as a kilometre apart. The rest of the pack and Sakura needed to be within eyesight but there were perks to having a bond like she did with Kaede. Kakashi suggested having both their packs around the forest, keeping their eyes peeled to any suspicious activity and Sakura agreed.
Dinner went by faster than she expected as the wind rattled their windows and soon enough, the alcohol and cards came out. Sakura wasn't sure why exactly she was surprised by that. It wasn't unusual for ANBU missions to proceed like that but maybe Kakashi's presence and the fact that they would be taking a decidedly non-ANBU mission in the morning had thrown her off.
It was different, having him in this space that she had made hers. She didn't know why she was feeling so possessive of it. Maybe it was because in a way she had always held back whenever with him. Even though their relationship had changed drastically ever since her jounin graduation and then when he gave her his father's pack, she had still been a version of the old Sakura with him. Their interactions since then had been few and far between and he had never really seen who she had become.
Sakura frowned down at her whisky before examining her cards. Team Boar was boisterous on the table over and from time to time Boar himself would call her to yell some kind of praise as his teacher while teasingly insulting his teammates. Team Ro was not as loud but no less outgoing, their usual overly affectionate handling of each other taking place. Keiichi's cheeks were perpetually red once they reached the second round.
Sakura took a deep breath and released all the tension in her shoulders. She had been a bit uncomfortable with Kakashi there. Having to reconcile the girl he knew with the woman she'd become wasn't as easy as she had been expecting and she found herself not quite knowing how to act. But enough was enough.
This—being in an ANBU mission, having her students looking up to her and her teammates comforting warmth around her—this was her turf. She was comfortable there and no matter what kind of past she shared with Kakashi, it couldn't change the person she'd become. She had worked hard to get there and Tsunade hadn't trained her to push herself inside boxes and labels that didn't fit her anymore. She wasn't genin Sakura. She wasn't Hatake Kakashi's student.
She was ANBU Captain Wolf. The Red Wolf of Konoha. Sakura-hime, the Ghost Wolf. She had stopped diminishing herself.
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Yoooo I have so much to say! Okay, first order of business is the timeline that I promised y'all. It get's wonky and I completely disregard canon as you've noticed.
-The story starts when Sakura is 13, about six months after Team 7 graduated the Academy (it's my personal hc that Sakura and civilian borne Academy students in general are older than the clan kids so Sakura, in this one, is almost a full year older than Naruto) so by the time she goes on her first chunin mission, she's like four to six months shy of 14.
-Sakura first entered ANBU when she was 14 1/2, then she spent roughly six months there as an unofficial member.
-She turned 15 a week before she became Wolf officially and got appointed as jounin immediately after.
-A month later (so she's still 15) the jounin exam takes place.
-Six months later (so Sakura is well on her way to 16) Kakashi gives her the summons.
-Almost two months later Sakura gets pulled from ANBU and starts taking mostly only jounin missions
-The first few months is when she starts hooking up w Neji but it's still very sporadic, she goes on that mission to Iwa
- Six months more, Sakura is like 16 1/2, she stopped taking missions only w the rookie jounin and goes to that mission in Sand w Kiba and his fam.
-Sakura is 17 whenshe goes to the mission in Wave and meets up Choujiro and Ao.
-17 1/2 when she goes to Kiri and hooks up w C.
- This chapter (31) takes place roughly six months later, Sakura has already turned 18.
I hope I didn't fuck this up or forget something lol. Anyway, I wasn't sure when I started this if I wanted to follow canon's loose 2 and a half years timeskip but it felt right to change it. Like, objectively speaking that's a really short period of time to train, right? I think it's okay that things take place in a longer period of time. That being said, I'm still not sure how close I'm gonna play this to canon from now on, I already changed too much, the ripple effect is already being noticed. I'm excited :)
In regards to ANBU! I created a few headcanons lol. So, in Japanese the hiragana character for Ro (as in team ろ) resembles the number 3. I always found it funny and peculiar like what the fuck does Ro stand for? No idea. It could be something, honestly I'm a beginner at best when it comes to japanese, but I kinda liked the idea that it just... resembled a 3. Lol. And like, in fiction and I'm pretty sure in canon too, the other teams are like: Team Boar, Team Tiger, etc. So, my hc is that inside ANBU there are tiers much like genin, chunin, jounin. Only they're not about specific ninja but about the team and the kind of missions they take. So I looked at the hiragana chart and noticed four other characters kinda resembled numbers and went with it. Kakashi kinda explained it in this chapter but not in detail so: Team ろ (ro), Team ら (ra), Team こ (ko) and Team や (ya) are the elite teams in ANBU. They take the best and most dangerous missions. (Also, I know the ya character is a bit farfetched but it looks like a mirrored 9). This chapter is called Kaigijitsu no Ta （会議場のた）. Kaigijitsu means conference room and Ta (た) loosely resembles the number 10. So. Conference Room 10. Lol. So, after those four elite teams, comes the teams named after their taichou (Team Boar, Team Tiger, etc). In here, Team Boar (Boar especially) is being considered to take over as one of the elite teams when they retire. Usui will make that decision based on their skills and mission success rate... :)
I'm deadass SO EXCITED for this next arc in this fic, you guys have no idea lmao. Next chapter we pick up almost immediately after this one with almost 8k words of Kakashi's POV hihi :)
Thank you so much for sticking around, you guys mean the world to me. I'm honestly blown away by your support and also: HI LURKERS-SAN! You guys really stepped up your game last chapter, I was so happy to see so many new faces (ahem, usernames) and I'm immensely grateful that you guys took the time to review :)
Much love and see y'all this next Fire Friday,
J