Chapter VI: Rule of Three

"K-Kaka-sensei?" Sakura called out tentatively, making sure her voice was higher-pitched than normal and added a hint of a tremble for good measure. She wrung her hands together and widened her eyes, trying to look as unassuming and innocent as possible.

It was the sort of image meant to inspire an innate sense of protectiveness, the desire to rescue and shield from all harm. One wouldn't dare utter a harsh word, lest the dam she was just barely holding back would burst, and if the waterworks started, it would be over for him. What sort of cold-hearted monster would want to make an innocent, young girl, naive the cold realities of the world, cry?

After all, the cute-but-dumb routine always worked. People didn't ask her questions they thought she couldn't answer, and half of the time, if she was cute enough, they forgot they even asked them in the first place.

Unfortunately, this ploy only worked if the target was looking at her, which Kakashi was currently not doing. Sakura wasn't even sure he had heard her to begin with, since his only reaction was to turn the page of the book he had his eyes glued to.

"Um..." Sakura tried again. "About the other day..."

As her mind flashed over the events of yesterday, Sakura's voice caught in her throat. Sakura lost track of time as she had dumbly stood in the alley, staring at the spot where Asuma had vanished. Her mind went through all of the various jutsu she was familiar with— which, to her dawning horror, wasn't very many. Body Flicker, perhaps? Yes, that must be it! Asuma just body flickered straight into a solid wall, with no smoke or anything. You're a genius, Sakura. And seeing as Asuma had never been shown to know anything about space-time ninjutsu (as far as she knew, anyway), she was back at square one.

Between Asuma, Ino, Kakashi and her own stupidity, Sakura had gone home after that, having had enough for one day. And realistically, what could she possibly say to Kakashi to convince him she wasn't crazy?

That was the million dollar question.

"Yes, Sakura?" Kakashi finally spoke, still not looking at her, much to her ever increasing frustration. When Sakura said nothing, he flipped another page of his book. Was he actually reading, or was it all for show?

"Huh? O-Oh," Sakura took a deep breath. "I wanted to apologize for acting so odd yesterday..."

"Did you now?" Kakashi flipped the page again. Okay, Sakura glared at the back of his head, he's definitely not even reading that thing.

"Yes," Sakura said, annoyed.

"I hadn't noticed."

"People don't normally talk about themselves in the third person," Sakura pointed out.

"Ah," Kakashi nodded. "That's true. Normal people usually don't."

"I-" Sakura stopped. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"What's what supposed to mean?"

Kakashi flipped another page.

"Stop doing that!" Sakura reached out to grab his book, but managed to stop herself. Not that she would have been able to swipe it from him, anyway.

"Stop doing what?"

"Reading!" She barked out, feeling like an idiot as soon as the words left her mouth. "Th-that is, I mean, it's humanly impossible to be reading that fast. You're just doing it to be annoying."

Finally, Kakashi lowered his book. He looked over his shoulder at her, regarding her carefully. "That's not true," With one hand, Kakashi tapped on the forehead protector covering his eye. "Sharingan, remember?"

"You really expect me to believe that you use your Sharingan to read a book that you've read a thousand times already?" By this point, she was having a hard time keeping the attitude from seeping into her voice. So much for the fragile flower act. "If that even is Icha Icha. Don't think I haven't noticed your cover swaps."

Sakura could make out the hint of a frown from underneath is mask, but Kakashi quickly schooled his expression. "Sure I would. What else would I use the Sharingan for in my spare time?"

Unbelievable. Why were they even having this conversation, anyway?

"I'm going home," Sakura stood up, and left training in a huff for the second time in as many days.

"See you tomorrow, Sakura-chan!" Kakashi called out after her.

"Amazing!" Asuma nodded approvingly. "You really are a natural at this."

"Why wouldn't I be?" Ino waved off the praise, irritation seeping into her voice. "Were you expecting me to be terrible or something? You shouldn't take me lightly."

"I simply mean that you're continuing to improve faster than I would have anticipated," Asuma amended, his good humor unwavering.

Nothing Ino said or did seem to be able to wipe the smile from his face.

The same could not be said for her teammates, however. Today was Team Seven's day off, which for Sakura meant it was a Team Ten-Team Ino training day. You see, Team Ino didn't have days off, and if Sakura was ever caught disobeying direct orders from her superior, there would be hell to pay.

Much to Sakura's surprise, her days with Team Seven had turned out to be a Godsend, of sorts. Other than Kakashi's aggravating laziness and Naruto and Sasuke's complete disregard for her existence in general, nobody seemed to care much what she did, so long as she showed up. And outside of that? Nagging from Ino, the constant invasion of privacy from her parents... Oh, what Sakura wouldn't give to have some control over her life again.

"You shouldn't really be that surprised," Ino said. "I calculated it out and based off of the amount of missions we've gone on, my chakra pool should be at least 50 points higher by now."

"That's a good point," Asuma nodded.

For her part, Sakura had spent most of the day watching Team Ten like a hawk. The more she observed, the more suspicious she became. Outside of an amusing incident where Ino had attempted to force Shikamaru into teaching her the Nara's signature Shadow Possession Jutsu (which had ended in tears; Sakura's tears, that is), nothing seemed to be amiss during the day's training.

And that was just it. Ino was on a roll today. She still hadn't forgiven Sakura for— well, Sakura wasn't quite sure, but from judging from the amount of glaring directed her way, it must have been something terrible.

Ino was just being Ino— and by "being Ino", Sakura really meant "nothing like Ino whatsoever."

At least, Sakura thought she wasn't anything like the real Ino. Ino was out of character, wasn't she? Part 1 Ino was loud, bossy, and arrogant. Truth be told, maybe this Ino wasn't all that different from her Naruto-counterpart.

Except for one very significant detail.

"What did you say?" Ino whipped her head towards Asuma. "What do you mean there are only four other shinobi countries?"

That about covers it, Sakura thought.

"I-Ino!" Chouji barked, sounding scandalized. "Are you serious?"

Shikamaru only sighed heavily before returning to his water walking.

"Well, that's not exactly true," Asuma said. "There are more than that, but only five are counted among the Five Great Shinobi Countries. Each one has its own civilian government, of course, but the most powerful Hidden Villages are located there, as well."

"But we're the most powerful, right?" Ino said. "I don't want to be stuck here doing dumb missions in a village that's just going to get run over by stronger ninja eventually. And besides, real heroes don't normally sit around in town doing nothing all day. They're usually out exploring the world, finding people to save."

"Interesting point, Ino, and a perfect transition back to our original topic," Asuma said, waving the scroll in his hand. "It's nothing too exciting, but it seems we've been selected for a delivery mission outside Konoha. So, how do you feel about heading to the Land of Rice Fields?"

Ino stopped her training in favor of staring at Asuma with a deadpan expression. "That is the dumbest name for a country I've ever heard in my life."

"So it is," Asuma smiled.

Now, a week ago, Sakura wouldn't have given this exchange another thought. However...

There was simply no way that nobody noticed how bizarre Ino's behavior was. What about her parents? If Ino acted like that at home, she'd be a goner. Sakura had no idea what Ino's home life was like, and she supposed it was possible that her parents were as oblivious as Sakura's were, but Ino also happened to come from a clan of mind readers.

And we don't have any memories of Sakura or Ino's lives. That could be disastrous...

With this thought in mind, Sakura had shown up at Team Ino's usual meeting place with an agenda. (For the most part, this location was 'wherever Team Ten was training for the day, only a little earlier, or at lunch, or after dinner.) They didn't really accomplish anything outside of Ino barking orders at her, for the most part.

Speaking of which, where was Ino, anyway?

At least I have a bit more time to think about what I'm going to say, Sakura thought. To start with, I need to warn her about the possibility of her mind being read. If it's not too late, that is... Ah, there she is!

Ino was walking towards her, seemingly distracted. She wasn't even glaring at her, which was a real treat. Maybe this was a good time to talk, after all.

"Hey Ino," Sakura started, "There's something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Huh?" Ino glanced up, now only a good ten feet away. She stopped walking, and proceeded to survey the area. "Oh, sure. Whatever."

"I was just thinking... How are your parents doing?"

Ino brushed her off. "They're fine."

"I mean," Sakura continued, "Have they noticed anything weird about you, or have they started acting strangely, or anything like that?"

"No," Ino gave her a look. "Why would they?"

Really, Ino? Really? "Well, you do come from a family of mind readers."

There was a beat of silence.

"WHAT?!"

Sakura swore she saw birds fly out from the nearest tree line. "Y-You know, that Mind Body Switch Technique. Ino knows it, so you should too— "

"I can't believe I forgot about that! Why didn't you remind me that I could read people's minds? How do I do that? You better tell me how," Ino started walking towards her, and the smile on her face was not at all comforting. "Hey, I want to try it out on you first!"

"What— no! Get away from me!"

"I'm not asking you, I'm telling you! Hey! Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"I-I just forgot that there's something terribly important I have to get to—"

"— and you're not allowed to leave team meetings until I dismiss you!"

"My mother's sick and— "

"Hey, there you are!" Ino's frown immediately shifted into a grin. She was looking over Sakura's shoulder; someone must have just entered the training grounds. Without a second thought, Ino rushed past Sakura, nearly knocking her to the floor in the process.

"I was waiting for you! You're late, you know."

Turning, Sakura looked over to see Ino dragging another person by the arm towards her. She looked like she was in pain.

Poor girl.

"This is Hinata," Ino said excitedly. "She's going to be our newest team member!"

Um. What?

"She is?" Sakura's voice cracked.

Ino had Hinata by the shoulders and was shoving her towards Sakura. "Just look at her! She's perfect."

Hinata stumbled forward, but managed to correct herself before she ended up in a heap at Sakura's feet. Quietly, the girl raised her head, briefly making eye contact with Sakura. There was something in her gaze that left Sakura feeling disoriented - she got the strangest feeling that Hinata wasn't looking at her, so much as the space in front of her.

"I found her wandering around town the other day. Isn't she adorable?" Ino continued. "Of course, I immediately remembered her from the show. She's that girl who passes out every time she sees Naruto walking by. She's totally cute, and she's the perfect candidate to round out our ensemble!"

The "show?" Oh god.

"Ino!" Sakura hissed. "Y-you can't say that sort of thing in front of—" Sakura stopped, looking back at Hinata. She was still staring blankly at the two of them, seemingly unphased by their discussion. If anything, Sakura could have sworn she looked... well, bored. " ..And anyway, you can't just kidnap random people and force them to be on your team!" Okay, so maybe Ino had managed to force her to be on the team, but any regular person wouldn't stand for that sort of thing.

"What are you talking about? I didn't force her! She's here because she wants to be, right Hinata?"

"Correct," Hinata said.

"I was just thinking," Ino began again, "That we can't be a real ninja team unless we have more members. After all, every other team has at least four members, and we only have two. Besides, there's not much point in having a Team Leader and only one team member, is there?"

Sakura stared at her.

"Anyway, I haven't decided if we need four members yet. After all, most all-female anime ensembles have either three members, or five members, or something like that. I mean, just look at Magic Knight Rayearth, or Sailor Moon."

"..We're ninjas, not magical girls," Sakura said in disbelief.

"There are three genin and one jonin teacher on a team, right?" Ino continued as if Sakura hadn't said anything, "And since we don't need a teacher, it would make sense to just have three members. Haven't you heard of the Rule of Three?"

Sakura looked up over Ino's head, staring forlornly up at the sky.

"Hinata, you've heard of the Rule of Three, haven't you?"

Hinata nodded.

Sakura felt her jaw dropping.

"Hey," Ino put a hand on Sakura's shoulder, giving her a shake. "What were you going on about earlier?"

"Nothing," Sakura said. "It was nothing."

"That's good, because there's something else I wanted to show you."

Sakura tentatively glanced at Ino—she was grinning like a maniac. This couldn't be good.

"You remember that secret forbidden scroll you wouldn't tell me about?"

Dread washing over her, Sakura took a step back. "Um… no."

"Well, I ran all around town yesterday trying to figure out where they were, and guess what? I found out!" Ino said excitedly. "All I had to do was find Naruto and he led me right to it."

Naruto led her to it? Since when had they even spoken?

"But that's not the best part."

The best part..?

"The best part," Ino said, taking a battle stance as she spoke, "is that now I can do this."

With that, Sakura watched in awe as wooden vines came shooting straight out of her hands.