A/N: Events in this chapter reference Naruto Shippuden Episode 180, "Inari's Courage Put To The Test".

Kakashi immediately goes back on his promise the next morning. Or, rather – Sasuke is expecting more, and what Kakashi gives him isn't satisfactory. When Kakashi said a little, he meant it, teaching Sasuke was the different amount of tomoe in the eye mean, having him practice activating and de-activating, things that Sasuke would know if he had grown up surrounded by Uchiha.

Instead, he's being taught by Kakashi.

They sit cross-legged in the same clearing where – was it really only days ago? – the team had learned to climb trees, and stare across at each other.

"Remember, Sasuke," Kakashi says, very serious. "You will remember everything you see with your Sharingan activated."

He seems to be hinting at something, something important, but Sasuke can't see it and doesn't want to SHOW that he can't see it. He already knows this, anyway – he remembers not-dying as viscerally as if it had happened just a minute ago, and goosebumps go up on his arms. Kakashi notices, damn him.

His teacher eye-smiles at him. "Come on, let's go back to the house and see how the others are doing."

Sasuke frowns. "I still have chakra. We can train more." That Man had had his Sharingan for YEARS by the time he was Sasuke's age. He needs it, needs the training. Oh-so-badly.

Kakashi shakes his head. "You're still recovering. Not yet."

It's true, when Sasuke stands up, that he feels shaky. Unbalanced, and maybe a little queasy. Very, very tired. But that doesn't mean he couldn't keep pushing, couldn't keep going, and he shoves his hands into his pockets as he surly follows Kakashi back to the house. He's being underestimated, and he doesn't like it.

Sakura and Naruto aren't being underestimated, Sasuke thinks.

Countless Narutos dot the bridge, being ordered this way and that way by the workers. Kakashi says they won't leave until its done, and that they'll go home by walking instead of by boat, which means Naruto has been wholly enlisted to help out. The sooner they get back, the better.

There are so many Narutos, in fact, it's hard to find his other teammate amidst the mess. You'd think it'd be easy to find bright pink in the middle of bright yellow, but apparently not? Sasuke furrows his brow, and turns to his teacher to ask, before arms come up around his shoulders.

He stiffens. Barely resists the urge to toss the offending person over his shoulder – and Naruto's voice sounds in his ear. "Hey, hey, Sasuke, are you okay?"

It's just Naruto. Relaxing almost immediately, Sasuke glances to the side, to where his teammate is almost resting his chin on Sasuke's shoulder. The other's eyes are squinting at his face, mouth pulled into a thin line. "You don't look so good."

Before Sasuke can protest, Kakashi ruffles his hair. "He pushed himself too hard. Go take him over to Sakura, okay, Naruto?"

"Okay!" Naruto chirps, excessively loud right next to Sasuke's ear, and the next thing the Uchiha knows is he's being dragged across the bridge and being manhandled into sitting firmly on a bench next to Sakura, who seems to have materialized from nowhere.

He blinks at her, and then blinks up at Naruto, who's gripping Sasuke's shoulders tightly and forcing him down on the bench. He obliges, and the blonde beams. "Good!" With that, he plops on the other side of Sasuke, and it's all of Team 7, sitting right there on the bench.

There's a few moment pause, Naruto swinging his legs and beaming, Sasuke staring straight ahead and contemplating when the fuck his life reached this point, and then Sakura giggles. "It's nice to take a break," she says.

Sasuke finally looks at her again, frowning slightly. She swims before his eyes, a little blurry, but Sasuke ignores it. "What were you doing?"

She flushes underneath the attention and smiles. "I was helping out Naruto. The idiot doesn't know where to put all the wood and stuff he's carrying!"

Naruto pouts. "Hey, hey, I thought we were working together, Sakura!"

The girl grins mischievously, shrugging. "Maa, maa," she says, imitating their lazy, lazy teacher. "Maybe. I think I was doing most of the work."

"Sakura!"

They bicker, him sandwiched between them, and Sasuke lets it wash over him. He doesn't mind this. It's okay to be between them, to let them talk, and to not actually engage. Since he's part of this team, he needs to work with them. Since he's part of this team, being able to trust them enough to watch his back is probably necessary.

But it doesn't mean that he has to be friends with them, or trust in them for more than fighting, and he closes his eyes as their bickering fades into the noise of the waves.

When he wakes, it's morning. He hadn't realized he was that tired, and as he checks his chakra levels, he begrudgingly has to admit Kakashi was right. He had exhausted himself, and it galls to be that week.

Something had happened when he was asleep, it seems, and it means that Sakura gives him more attention than normal, that she's terribly, terribly mad at Naruto, and Naruto seems to waver between being terrified of her and unable to look at Sasuke.

Sasuke promptly decides he really, really doesn't want to know.

It takes them almost a week more until the bridge is done. Kakashi trains Sasuke on his Sharingan every other day until the world goes woozy, and he spends the off day recuperating and watching Sakura and Naruto work on the bridge. He's pretty positive that if it isn't for his blonde teammate, they wouldn't be leaving this quickly.

Kakashi does know what he's doing. Sometimes.

Of course, the moment they leave it turns out Naruto forgot a ramen ticket and they go back, and embroil themselves in a fight to save Inari, and then end up taking out at least a dozen thugs. Fun, even if they weren't ninja.

Naruto can't seem to be happy with the whole winning a battle on their own without their teacher thing, though, and bawls the whole way back to Sakura and Kakashi about his "poor, poor free ramen ticket!"

Finally, Sasuke snaps. "I'll treat you to ramen when we get back if you just shut up!"

Naruto looks like Sasuke's given him the Hokage hat. "You will? Really?"

"Yes!"

He ends up tackled in a hug by the moron, and of course that's when Kakashi decides to jump down from the trees and congratulate them on a job well-done. "You did well, my cute little students!"

Sasuke curses him out under his breath.

A few hours later, he curses himself out under his breath as they head back to Konoha because him and Naruto? Going to ramen together as Sasuke's treat?

That sounds like a date. No wonder Naruto had hugged him for that.

Thankfully – or not-so-thankfully, depending on your perspective – they can move a lot quicker without Tazuna with them. Kakashi teaches them all the traditional Konoha tree-jumping, now that they had mastered the whole 'sticking to a tree' thing. Add in using chakra to make longer jumps, and they are moving far more quickly.

Sasuke would have thought they'd move at Sakura's pace, resting when she needed to rest, or maybe letting Kakashi or a Naruto clone carry her when she tired. He's wrong, and it's humiliating.

He's exhausted from his constant Sharingan practices, and it looks like Kakashi is swallowing down an 'I told you so' when Sasuke starts flagging. At first, neither of his teammates notice. Sasuke starts lagging behind more and more until finally he jumps and doesn't- doesn't quite reach the next branch.

He reaches out desperately with one hand, trying to catch himself that way at least but his fingers fall short and he's falling and falling and-

Kakashi scoops him out of the air, cradling him like a child. He lands lightly on the ground, with Sakura and Naruto quickly following suit after a moment. "If you're too tired, Sasuke, you need to tell me," he chides, and the Uchiha is ashamed to realize he's breathing heavily, almost panting.

Both his teammates' brows are knit with worry, and Sakura reaches out to put her hand on his forehead. "He's hot, Kakashi-sensei," she tells him, and Sasuke frowns.

"I'm fine," he protests, trying to squirm his way out of his teacher's arms. Kakashi holds fast.

"Sasuke," he says, in the tone of one speaking to a small, dimwitted child. "You almost died-" And didn't Naruto flinch at that- "And then you pushed yourself too hard. You've exhausted your chakra, and you made yourself sick."

Naruto peered into Sasuke's face, getting so close their noses almost touched and Sasuke went crosseyed, before pulling back. "He'll be fine, right?"

Kakashi nods, and then says, with what seems to be glee in his voice, "I'll have to carry him the rest of the way."

Sasuke closes his eyes at that point. Just let him die, honestly.

Sharingan or no, he's ready for this thoroughly humiliating mission to be over.