Chapter 3: Unit

Naruto stirred at the shrill sound of his alarm clock. He swatted at the damn thing, trying to shut it off without having to open his eyes yet to no avail.

"Fine, fine.." He mumbled, his voice sounding hoarse. He let out a big yawn before dragging himself out of bed to finish packing for the mission.

He shoved what little clothes and food he had into a storage scroll haphazardly. He slipped on his black sandals before heading out, but not before walking back and making sure to lock his door. He tended to forget sometimes.

He noticed the light dew on his neighbor's plants as he waltzed by, wondering if it had actually rained while he slept. The road seemed relatively dry.

It took a good twenty minutes to arrive at the gates due to his slow pace. He wasn't worried though, it was only 4:30pm and it appeared that he was the first one there. He relished in what silence he had left before the others arrived.

It wasn't long before the tranquil evening's silence was bombarded by Sakura's squeals of 'Sasuke-kuuuuuuun'. It took some self restraint for the blonde to keep his mask in check.

"Hey again Sakura-chan, Teme."

"Ughhhh, oh my god would you shut the FUCK UP. No one wants to talk to you for fucks sake!" Okay, ouch. Sasuke passed her a glare and the closest an Uchiha could get to a what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-you sort of expression as he could get. He felt that even Naruto didn't deserve that amount of disrespect.

He yanked his arm out of her grasp and went to stand next to the blonde. The two boys made understanding eye contact but kept further comments to themselves while Sakura whined.

It was nearly 5:20pm when Kakashi finally decided to show up.

"LATE!!!" Sakura wailed, getting odd stares from passing civilians.

"Yo~ Sorry kiddos, had stuff to take care of." He pat her head and further pissed her off by messing up her hair, all while Sasuke and Naruto simultaneously wondered how a 17 year old kunoichi could act like such a toddler.

"So, what's our mission Kakashi-Sensei?" Naruto asked quietly, already fed up with the mission and wished he were still at home in his bed.

The silver haired Jounin pulled a scroll out from his green vest, "Our mission is to deliver this scroll to Sunagakure's Kazekage."

"Then why'd you tell us to only pack for a few days when it takes almost three days to get there?! It'll be at least a week before we get back!" Sakura continued.

"Because we will be resting in Suna for a day and our living expenses will be covered, which will give us plenty of time to prep for the journey back~" Kakashi replied curtly. He enjoyed teasing his students a lot of the time but even the famous Copy Nin had his limits when dealing with Sakura.

Sakura didn't used to be this way. Something in her changed when Naruto dragged Sasuke back all those years ago. No one knew much about why either. They all just hoped she'd pull her head out of her and Sasuke's ass soon. Even Tsunade could barely make a dent in the audacity that the pinkette seemed to sport.

The gates opened with a loud creak along with the wood and steel scraping against the dirt below. Kakashi said a few words to the guard on duty and they were on their way.

The group launched themselves into the trees and moved forward at a quick but steady speed. Kakashi kept to the front while Sasuke and Sakura trailed right behind him, with Naruto in the rear.

They continued like this for a few hours before they decided to stop for the night due to the rain. There wasn't much option for a fire so they all decided to pitch their tents and call it a night and planned to figure out the rest tomorrow.

The problem, however, was that during their last mission, Naruto's tent got destroyed by passing bandits and hadn't yet been able to purchase a new one. He jumped into one of the trees and said he'd take first watch. The other's crawled into their respective tents and went to sleep.

Three hours had passed and it was now Sakura's turn to keep watch. The issue was that she refused. Just what the fuck was her deal? After asking her several times to suck and up and keep watch, Naruto gave up and decided to pull a double until it was Sasuke's turn.

He jumped back into the same tree and yawned loudly. He was running on little sleep as is and could barely contain his anger at Sakura. She is a ninja and should act like it. It frustrated the blonde to no end that she was so entitled and constantly forced her work onto him. He was almost at his breaking point. Someone needed to put her in her place.

"Kyaa!!" He heard the familiar screech and rushed towards his team's tents and what he saw surprised him. It wasn't the bandit attack he was expecting, but Kakashi yanking Sakura out of her tent by the ankles and tossing her aside before yelling, "I have had enough of your childish behavior."

He pointed an intimidating, accusatory finger in her direction, "You are an adult. You made a vow the day you donned that headband, and if you don't get your shit together I will have you removed from this team." Kakashi's dark grey eye held a dangerous glint that made gazing into it feel sharp as steel. As if it could slice through your very core. This made Naruto shudder, but it may have been due to the cold as well. He was soaked to the bone.

Kakashi's eye met Naruto's tired cerulean before the Jounin looked back at their team's pathetic excuse for a kunoichi, "You, do your job, and you," Naruto's stomach did a flip when his sensei pointed up at him, worried if he did something wrong, "Come with me."

Kakashi sauntered off without looking back to make sure Naruto followed. The blonde dropped down from the tree branch he made himself comfortable on and spared a passing glance to Sakura before following his sensei's lead.

'Why did he ask for me? I didn't do anything wrong..Iwas sitting watch!' Anxiety rolled off of him in waves while the two made it to their destination.

"Get in." The Jounin ordered with finality.

"A-Ano...Why..your tent?" The blonde stuttered.

"Just get in." Kakashi's eye gleamed in anger and the boy mistook it as anger at him. "O-Okay.." Naruto's knees shook as he crawled inside his sensei's tent and nearly had a heart attack when the Jounin followed suit.

"Umm..."

"Just lay down." Kakashi pulled a second pillow from a scroll and tossed it to the boy. "I don't have a spare blanket so we'll have to share."

"N-No it's okay! Thank you so much for letting me sleep here.." Naruto timidly responded. Kakashi eyed him before plopping on his side with his back facing the other.

Naruto decided to do the same and had his back face Kakashi's. It all felt so awkward, his mind was reeling. He doubted he could sleep under these conditions.

"Don't let people walk over you." Kakashi stated abruptly, "We're a team. If one of us isn't pulling our share, don't be afraid to speak up. We can't function as a unit if we aren't working together."

"Y-Yes...Thank you...Sensei.." And with that, somehow the blonde was able to fall asleep, feeling the warmth of his sensei seep into the cold, clammy skin of his back.