Recovery Arc: Trouble on the Horizon

The last sprint to the border tower was less intense, but they still kept up a quick pace. Once they were there, Kakashi put Hokeno-sama down, who shakily took a seat. "You shinobi can travel quite fast, it's impressive."

"Thank you, Hokeno-sama," Sakura said as Kakashi went to speak to the commander of the tower. They decided it would be best to have Mita and Kizashi checked on by the medical-nin stationed there and move out the following day.

That night Sakura sat by her teammates as her parents helped out around the tower. Sasuke looked annoyed but wasn't saying anything. Sakura bumped her shoulder against his "something is bothering you."

He looked away and said, "I'm fine."

Sakura rolled her eyes, and Naruto scoffed, "see, even Naruto can tell you're not in a good mood."

"Oi!" Naruto started to protest, but Sakura held a hand up to stop him.

Sasuke looked around before sighing, "I'm lagging. I thought I had gotten stronger, but I couldn't even lay a finger on Itachi, and then earlier, my Chidori failed to hit its mark. I'm not where I should be."

Sakura leaned back and looked at the ceiling. "Your brother is an S-rank missing-nin, so it makes sense. We've got a lot of work ahead of us if we're gonna take him down."

Sasuke looked at her, bewildered, "what do you mean we?"

She looked at Naruto, who nodded, and she smiled, "yes, we as in Team Seven. We're your friends Sasuke. We'll help you take down Itachi. At the very least, we'll keep his shark friend from getting in your way."

He looked pensive but nodded, "we're friends."

Kakashi appeared and patted his head "we're family. We help each other grow strong and help when needed. Get some rest, you three, you fought well."

"Thank you, sensei." they all said with differing levels of enthusiasm.

While the others headed to rest, Sakura found her parents and pulled them both into a hug, "I missed you guys a lot, you know."

They both smiled sweetly and hugged their daughter. Her father laughed, "you did well in that fight, Sakura. It's easy to tell you've been training a lot."

She grinned. "Yeah, well I took the chunin exams so-"

"You what?!" her mother shrieked, and Sakura laughed.

"You'll get filled in on everything when we get home, but yeah, we took it, and all three of us made it to the final exam. That's all I think Kakashi would want me to talk about right now, but let's forget that your mission took a long time."

Her father sighed, "civilian bureaucrats take their time doing anything. We had to go to the capital to get him then escort him to Yugakure, which took quite a while. Not to speak ill of Hokeno-sama, but the man is getting on in age he may need to think of a new job."

"Well, I'm glad you both survived. I missed you two though I did have Ino around a lot. In fact, she spent too much time over at our house instead of her own home; her dad got onto her about it." They chatted for some time before Sakura headed back to her team and fell asleep.

The attack came out of nowhere. It was an ambush set up once they were well away from the border tower. Kakashi was hit first and driven away by five Oto shinobi. Sakura's parents were held back, and Naruto got knocked to the forest floor and pursued. Sakura and Sasuke stood back to back as they were surrounded. "Why are they here?"

Sasuke grunted, "Probably saw us when we were in the Land of Hot Springs and decided to take us out. Let's show them why it was a mistake."

Sakura nodded and grinned, "Never fight a Konoha Shinobi in the woods."

They were outnumbered and outmatched, but everyone fought with all their might. Naruto's chakra erupted upwards, all red and full of hate and killing malice. It always sent a chill down Sakura's spine the few times she had felt what she figured now was the Kyubi's hatred. More Oto shinobi diverted their attention to Naruto as he fought like an animal. Sakura looked over as Sasuke's Chidori drove through a shinobi's chest. The shinobi gripped his arm and pulled himself closer to Sasuke. He leaned in and whispered, "Lord Orochimaru requested your presence."

Sasuke threw the man's corpse away from him, and suddenly all the Oto shinobi pulled back and ran for it. No one pursued, and Kakakshi came back with a few cuts and bruises and an unconscious Naruto over his shoulder. Sasuke pulled a senbon out of his side, and they all set about patching up their various injuries, none of which seemed severe.

Kakashi looked over his team and sighed, "alright, let's get moving before anything else happens."

The return trip was routine from then on except for Sasuke, who looked like he was getting exhausted far too quickly. By the time they were almost to the village, he had collapsed, and Sakura picked him up. They hauled it double-time back to the village and signed in quickly before rushing the group to the hospital. Once the injured were admitted, Kakashi, Sakura, her mother, and Hokeno-sama went to speak to the Hokage.

Sakura's mother took the news of the Third Hokage's death well and gave her congratulations to Tsunade, who congratulated her on a safe return. Tsunade's mood soured as she heard about the incident, and then she nearly broke the desk as they informed her about the Oto ambush inside their borders. "I'll arrange for an escort back to the capital Hokeno-sama; in the meantime, we'll set up accommodations in the village for you."

He bowed, "Thank you, Hokage-sama." he was escorted out by a chunin.

"Good work Sakura Haruno on bringing your parents home. You're dismissed for the day, go check on your teammates and rest."

Sakura bowed and left the office. She took the scenic route back to the hospital and found Naruto up and about. She was surprised to see Hinata was there talking to him quietly. She smiled and slipped out before either knew she was there. Sasuke, on the other hand, was still out cold though the nurse confirmed he would be fine in and probably out of the hospital in the next couple of days.

She wasn't sure what to do and ended up wandering to the Yamanaka flower shop. Ino's father was at the register, which was unusual; he was usually too busy to personally man the shop. He smiled, "ah Sakura-chan, how nice to see you. It's rare to see you here. About as rare as is it is to see Ino at home."

Sakura chuckled dryly as she looked over the flowers. "I'm sorry, Inoichi-san. With my parents gone, Ino decided all on her own it was in my best interest to let her stay over for a few days, which turned into a few too many."

He laughed, "It's quite alright. She's been making up for lost time since you went on your mission."

There was a silence that fell over the store for a moment before Sakura spoke again "I got them back. My parents, I mean. We got their team back successfully."

Inoichi smiled, "glad to hear. Do you need any flowers?"

"Uh, yes, my idiot teammates are both in the hospital."

The days went by, and Team Seven was back in fighting condition again. There was an issue though; whenever they left the village, Oto shinobi would ambush them. At least one would practically throw themselves onto Sasuke's attack and whisper to him before dying, and the rest would retreat. Tsunade grumbled and looked over the reports. "Sasuke Uchiha, I don't want you to leave the village. Something is going on, and it's not good."

Sasuke crossed his arms and said, "I don't like the idea, Hokage-sama. Our team has been doing good work. I would prefer to be out there, even with the risk."

Tsunade tapped her finger on the desk. "Nonetheless, you're on temporary leave. Now Kakashi out. The rest of the genin should be here now."

Kakashi left as the rest of the Konoha twelve came in. the room felt a little crowded as they looked at the Hokage, who pulled out some papers. "The Chunin Exams were interrupted before they could be completed. You all performed to varying degrees of success. I looked over the reports of your performance and spoke to observers and various lords present for the third exam."

"Some of us are getting promoted, aren't we?" Shikamaru said, 'ugh, that's such a drag."

Tsunade smiled. "Well, Shikamaru Nara, Shino Aburame, Naruto Uzumaki, come forward. I've decided the three of you shall be promoted to chunin. This was not an easy decision, and I debated it for some time, but now it is official, and you have to live with it." She placed the three vests on her desk.

Shikamaru grumbled but took his vest, Shino had his usual unreadable expression, and Naruto looked ready to burst with excitement. Everyone congratulated them, and Ino announced, "alright, we're going to go celebrate. Choji, your family has a new barbeque place, right? You think they'll mind us coming by?"

Choji finished off a bag of chips and shrugged, "they'll be fine with it."

Ino, with help from Kiba, and Lee's enthusiasm, guided the Konoha twelve to the barbecue restaurant. They cheered and congratulated the new chunin as they started to eat. A few minutes into the party, Sakura looked away as Ino congratulated Hinata on getting the courage to talk to Naruto while he was in the hospital. She saw Sasuke fidgite and doing his best to hide his emotions as he and Kiba went back and forth bantering. She made a mental note to talk to him later and make sure he was ok. She looked back to Ino and Hinata, smiling and joining back into the conversation.

As the party died down and everyone started heading home. Sakura looked around and frowned, "damn it."

Ino bumped shoulders, "what's wrong?"

"I was gonna talk to Sasuke, but he ran before I could."

Ino slipped her arm around Sakura's and pulled her along "oh well, there's always tomorrow to talk to him. I'm sure he'll be fine. It's Sasuke-kun after all."

Sakura chewed her lip. "Yeah... I'm sure he'll be fine until tomorrow." She looked to Ino, "so where are you dragging me off to?"

Ino smiled, "what, it's dark. I'm just walking my friend home."

Sakura rolled her eyes "is your dad still giving you grief about missing out on clan training?"

"I barely missed any training. We were just going over basics that I've got down anyway."

Sakura shook her head "come on, Ino, you're not gonna be a great kunoichi with that attitude. You're lucky you've got a clan with specialized training to help you along. You'd outpace me pretty quickly if you took it more seriously." She grinned, "Might have been able to beat me in the Chunin Exams then."

Ino sighed, "I know I know. I'll endeavor to do better, so the next time we spar, I can kick your butt."

"Good. I expect a good fight when the time comes."

That night, while Naruto was in his apartment grinning as he looked at his chunin jacket, Sakura took her time walking home while talking with Ino; Sasuke was in his clan's training ground running drills.

In the Hokages Tower, Kakashi stood before Tsunade, flanked by the elder council and Danzo. She groaned as she looked over the papers in front of her "Your mission to the Land of Hotsprings went well by all accounts except for the fifteen dead Kumogakure shinobi you left behind. They're furious for obvious reasons and demanding recompense in the form of the team responsible for their deaths."

She looked up at Kakashi's guarded expression, "I'm not stupid enough to hand you and your team over. We'll figure something else out in the meantime. I'll be keeping you guys inside the border, so you don't have any 'accidental' run-ins with a Kumo team."

Kakashi bowed, "understood Hokage-sama." Tsunade dismissed him, and he quickly disappeared.

The next day Team Seven gathered up at their training ground. They noticed Naruto was wearing his chunin vest over his jacket. Sakura smiled, "why not just wear the vest without the jacket?"

Naruto shrugged as he pulled on the vest. "It's weird to not wear the jacket. I've always worn it, ya know."

She shook her head. "Sasuke, please tell him he needs to get new clothes."

Sasuke just shook his head, not looking over. "He'd never listen. Send him to get clothes; he'll spend his money on ramen instead."

"Fair point."

Naruto huffed, "No, I wouldn't!" he pulled out his frog wallet, and they were both surprised by how bulging it was. "I manage my money well I'll have you know!"

Kakashi appeared, snagging the wallet. "You certainly do. Though it's not a good idea to go flaunting your cash around." he snapped the wallet shut and tossed it back to Naruto. "Gather round. We're doing team exercises. Naruto, you're a chunin now, so you may have to lead a team one day. You'll be the leader, and I'll be the enemy force." he produced a scroll, "get behind enemy lines and steal the scroll, then get out back to your base simple as that."

"You gonna use a bunch of clones again, aren't you sensei?" Sakura asked.

He smiled with his eye "of course, it's no fun if it's not a challenge. Now I'm gonna go find a nice spot in the woods and set up base. Once half an hour has gone by, your mission begins."

He disappeared, and Naruto's teammates stared at him crossing their arms. He fidgeted "what?! Why are you both staring at me like that?"

"Well, team leader, you should come up with a plan, shouldn't you. You already know how Sasuke and I fight, so come on, think up a strategy."

Naruto scratched his chin and hummed as he paced around. After about five minutes, Sasuke sighed, "he's got nothing."

"Oi, I have something! It's just... not complete yet."

Sakura sighed, "Yep, he's got nothing."

Naruto groaned, "when have we ever had a solid plan?! We usually just go with a gist, and a goal, then adapt!"

Sakura smiled. "Then why not give us a gist. We have our goal already."

"Hm, I'll send clones to go find the base and set off traps. Then um-" he tapped his foot and looked around, "we'll come in from different sides. Sasuke, you're fast; you get the scroll and run Sakura, and I will keep sensei from getting to you."

"I'm impressed. Dead Last, that's not bad."

Sakura stepped in before they could start arguing, and they went over how the clones would search the woods. Once the thirty minutes were up, Naruto made a dozen clones, and they went running off into the woods while the three of them moved in slowly. His clones moved in a tight formation, and Naruto could feel when they got popped, so they adjusted their movements to hopefully avoid the Kakashi clones and get closer to the scroll.

It took several close calls and almost an hour, but they found the scroll lying on a tree stump with no Kakashi insight. "That's a trap," Sasuke said bluntly.

Naruto nodded, "Of course it is. That's why we're going to uh... look around first."

Sakura rolled her eyes, "great idea, team leader; what are we looking around for?"

"Traps and things. Signs that sensei is nearby. Once we think it's safe, I'll run in first and grab it then toss it to Sasuke."

They split up Sasuke and Sakura, going along in the trees while Naruto moved across the ground. Once they were reasonably sure, Naruto approached the scroll cautiously and grabbed it. When nothing happened, he tossed it to Sasuke, who slipped it into his weapon pouch. It was when they went to head back they ran into two Kakashi's. Sasuke immediately opened up with a fireball splitting them up. Naruto made several clones to rush his Kakashi clone while Sakura put an earth wall up to keep her Kakashi from running back right away.

Sasuke poured his chakra into speed and took off jumping branch to branch. Naruto slipped past his clones and Kakashi's to catch up while Sakura fought her opponent with taijutsu. She threw several flash bombs before making another wall as they went off and used earth walking to slip into the ground and pop out away from the clones. She started running to catch up with her teammates.

Sasuke blocked a kick from Kakashi as Naruto showed up. Kakashi looked surprised to see Sasuke pull back and let Naruto rush in with clones. Sasuke tried to run, but two more Kakashi's showed up, and shortly behind Sakura, the other two closed in as she made it to her teammates. They were thoroughly surrounded as the real Kakashi stood on a branch "You're surrounded. You should give up."

Sakura and Sasuke looked at Naruto, worried. He looked back and smiled, "we'll never surrender. You want the scroll, you gotta get it sensei!"

Team Seven put up a good fight and dispelled several of Kakashi's clones, but they were ultimately defeated. Afterward, Kakashi went over their weak points as a team and had them rerun the drill. By the end of the training, they were exhausted and ready to call it quits for the day. Kakashi waved them off, and Naruto grinned, "I'm gonna go see Iruka-sensei. He's gonna be so surprised that I got chunin."

As he left, Sasuke scoffed and started to trudge off. Sakura jogged and caught up. "Hey, Sasuke, wait up."

She huffed as he didn't really slow down. "You doing ok?"

"Why wouldn't I be ok? I can't leave the village because we get attacked everywhere we go, and the Hokage doesn't think I can handle it, and to top it off, Naruto got promoted."

"I'm sure Tsunade-sama doesn't doubt your abilities, it's just for your safety while we figure out what they want, and of course, Naruto got promoted. He was the bottom of the class, and he beat Neji, who was the top of his year. Plus, he beat Gaara- You're not mad about the promotion; you're upset by how quickly he's progressing compared to you, aren't you?"

Sasuke huffed and picked up his pace. "No, I'm not. Naruto isn't better than me, and he never will be. I need to go train some more."

"I'll train with you-"

"No, I'd rather just do solo training for a while. I'll see you tomorrow."

He took off, and Sakura sighed, deciding not to pursue. Sasuke wasn't doing well, but she wasn't going to fix it in a conversation. "Maybe Kakashi-sensei can help with this." she wandered off to try and find him.

It took some time, but she found him talking to Jiraiya. As she approached, she bowed her head, "Hello, Jiraiya-sama."

He smiled, "ah Sakura-chan, was it? What do I owe the pleasure?"

"I actually need to ask Kakashi-sensei for some help."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Oh, what do you need help with?"

"I'm sure you've noticed Sasuke is on edge and short-tempered. Ever since the run-in with his brother, I think he's been feeling powerless, and on top of that, Naruto and I have both been progressing pretty well. I think it's getting to him. I don't know what to say to help him understand he's still strong despite how much his teammates are growing."

Kakashi rubbed his chin "Hm, I'm sure he'll be ok. I'll talk to him when I get a chance, and then-" he stopped and looked off in the distance for a moment. "Then we'll work as a team to make sure he's ok. Now, if you'll excuse me." he vanished, and Sakura looked over to see Jiraiya had disappeared as well.

"They are only good for learning how to be a shinobi. Why did I expect more than I'll talk to him later."

Sasuke slumped against the tree, taking a break from his extra training. He tensed, feeling a malicious presence appearing nearby and looked up to see four shinobi with Otogakure Hitai-ate on their foreheads. "What do you want?"

The four sound ninja grinned, and the six-armed one approached, "We're here to escort you to Lord Orochimaru. He wishes to see you about the gift he gave you."

Sasuke's hand covered his curse mark, "and when I tell you to leave, what are you going to do?"

"We'll have to insist you come with us."

Sasuke stood up and threw several shuriken before bolting; he was quickly surrounded. Sasuke smirked as he avoided their attacks and threw them into each other. Sasuke was feeling good as the four attackers laid in a pile. They poofed into logs, and Sasuke turned in time to catch a foot to his abdomen, sending him flying back. He looked up and clenched his teeth as the curse mark started to spread across his body.

The two-headed guy grinned and kicked Sasuke before he could move. Sasuke gathered himself and saw curses spreading across the four of them. "You didn't think you were the only one with the curse mark, did you? We all have it and more than you."

The fight quickly turned away from Sasuke's favor as he was tossed around like a rag doll. Once the beating was done, the sound four stood over him, and Tayuya spoke, "We'll be outside the village waiting for you. Best come along willingly, or we'll be back to collect you forcibly."

They left Sasuke crumpled on the ground of the training area. He coughed and cursed at not being able to take them down. After about half an hour, he got up and staggered back home, where he cleaned himself up.

Sakura was picking at her food, mind wandering. She sighed, and her parents looked at each other before her father spoke, "everything alright, dear?"

Sakura put her chopsticks down. "Sasuke is having some issues. He's talking about it some, but I know he's diverting or ignoring the big issues when I press him on it. Whenever Naruto talks to Sasuke, it devolves into an argument, and they usually spar then ignore each other for a while. I can't tell if Kakashi-sensei really doesn't see the issue or if he's actually too busy to help, and I don't know what to say to him either."

Her mother rubbed her chin "Hm, before I was on a team with your father, I had a teammate from a shinobi family who lost all of them during the third shinobi war. He did a similar thing in letting revenge against Iwagakure drive him. It got him killed when we were on a mission, and instead of retreating, he charged some Iwa shinobi and died. My team didn't try hard to talk to him, we were busy doing missions, and we didn't get much downtime to talk."

She smiled at her daughter, "use this time where you don't have to do so many missions and just let him know you're always there to talk if he needs it. Push him to talk, but don't force it too hard, or you'll just push him away."

Sakura nodded and stood up, "thanks, mom. I think I'm gonna go for a walk and think about it. I'll be back in a bit."

She left her house and walked down one of the most familiar roads in the village for her. She walked down it all the time to head to the front gate. Sakura sat on one of the benches and looked up through the trees "what am I gonna do? I don't want him to do something stupid. I know Orochimaru is trying to get him to go to Otogakure, but there's no way he'd-" her eyes snapped over. She saw Sasuke walking down the road.

Sakura stood up "oh, hey Sasuke, what are you doing out here at this time?" she eyed the backpack straps and bit her lip.

Sasuke looked away, "Just going for a walk. Trying to clear my head."

"Really? How'd your solo training go?"

He shrugged, still not looking at her "about as well as it can." he started to walk, and she stepped in his path. "What are you doing, Sakura?"

Sakura gritted her teeth, "Just having a chat with my friend."

Sasuke stepped to the side "well, I'm going for a walk so we can talk later."

"Then I'll come with."

He stopped. "No, I think it'll be better if I go alone."

Sakura stepped in front of him again. "Sasuke, what's the bag for?"

He tightened his grip on the bag. "It's just some training equipment."

"Hm sure. Why are you heading down this road in particular? there's not much to see but the front gate at the end of it."

"Just picked it at random. Now, if you'll-" Sakura put a hand out to keep him from walking past her. "What are you doing, Sakura?"

"Hopefully? Stopping a friend from making a stupid choice. Practically? Doing things the hard way."

"What stupid choice am I making?" He actually looked at her now, and she felt a chill run down her spine.

"I think you're frustrated, and Orochimaru's attempts to get your attention are working. I don't want it to be true, but you're going to see what he wants, aren't you?"

"So what if I am? I need more power. I need to get stronger so I can avenge my family and kill that bastard Itachi!"

"I understand that you want-"

"How could you?" he snarled. "You haven't lost anything in your life. Your parents were in danger, and you saved both of them. I couldn't save anyone in my family. They're all dead because I was too weak!"

Sakura balled her fist, "I only saved them because I had you and the rest of our team. We're stronger when we work together. Remember, we can actually stand a chance against our sensei when we work together. We beat all those Kumo shinobi by working together. Don't you get it? If you stay, we can help you get your revenge."

Sasuke pushed past her, and Sakura spun, attempting to kick his legs out from under him. Sasuke flipped over her kick and took a couple steps back. "Sakura, don't."

Sakura set her stance and glared at him. "If you aren't gonna listen to me like a reasonable person, then I'll just have to do things the hard way."

Sasuke put his pack on the bench. "You aren't going to beat me."

"Guess we won't know until we fight."

Sasuke dropped into his stance, and for a moment, they just stood there staring at each other. Sakura moved first, rushing in quickly and attempting to punch him. Sasuke jumped back, and Sakura's punch collided with the ground cracking it. Sakura pushed him, and he kept falling back. She scowled, "what's wrong, Sasuke? I thought you were better than me, why are you just running away?"

Sasuke's eyes flared with anger, and he stopped falling back. "Fine then if you're serious about this." he charged in, and they started fighting. Sasuke was fast, and his attacks hit hard, but her punches hit harder, and she has sparred with him as an opponent and a teammate, so she understood how he fought, and he understood her.

Sasuke jumped back and put distance between them as his hand ran through the signs for a fireball. Sakura quickly made an earth wall to block it. She slipped into the earth and moved away from her wall as it cracked. Sakura popped out behind Sasuke and threw a brace of shuriken. He blocked them easily and rushed her faster than last time.

Sakura blocked and used her hair to try and stab Sasuke whenever his hands were occupied, blocking her punches or punching her. Sakura cursed as he started to use his version of Lee's taijutsu. Sakura broke off and attempted to slow him down. She ran through the hand signs and punched the ground, "Doton: Dosekiryū!"

The ground under Sasuke's feet turned to mud and moved, pushing him away from Sakura as she made several clones who rushed into the trees before running at him. Sasuke threw several kunai, poofing most of them. The last two ran straight at him as he kicked one and punched the other, they both disappeared, and he felt a hand grab his ankle and start to pull him down. Sasuke pulled a kunai out and slashed at Sakura's hand, making her let go and sink back into the ground.

Sasuke jumped away as Sakura pulled herself out of the ground and started to wrap her bleeding hand. Sasuke growled, "will you stop it now, Sakura? You're going to get hurt if you keep this up."

She huffed and tightened her bandaging. "Sorry, but we're doing this the hard way you picked this, Sasuke, but I'll let you forfeit, and we can go talk it out."

Sasuke gritted her teeth, "Fine, then you asked for this."

"No, I didn't. You did," Sakura rushed him as he activated his Sharingan, and the fight went downhill fast for Sakura. Her attacks stopped landing, and her defense broke quickly. Sasuke flickered and appeared behind her, delivering a quick shot to the back of her head. Sakura collapsed unconscious.