The Immigrant, The Refugee, The Cold Case

If you aren't cheating, you aren't doing whatever it takes to win.

Sakura can't say who taught her that, if it was her aunt or her teacher. Hell, she hasn't crossed Netsu off the list yet. It might be a Kumo-thing instead of an individual ideology-thing. Sakura kicked a classmate in the groin once, and Hanamizu-sensei punished Aina for being "stupid enough to leave herself open." All Sakura knows for sure is that it didn't come from her parents.

They always were… peculiar. But they didn't know better.

She does.

There is no honor in battles. There is no pride. There are winners, losers; victory, defeat. People who cheat, and people who die. That is the reality. It's tough. Life is like that sometimes. Surviving is just gritting your teeth and getting through it no matter what it takes.

Sakura considers herself a good person: she is polite, she is pleasant to be around, and she doesn't burden others. But Sakura isn't kind.

She thinks there is no room to be. When you're young you have what adults call potential. It's empty spaces inside of you that you will grow into and fill out. There's only so much space for that, so you have to decide carefully what kind of person you want to be, and hope that's who you turn out as. If you have a lot of potential, it's freedom — you can fill the gaps with more, because you have the space to choose.

Sakura isn't one of those people. She has limited advantages to work with. She budgets it meticulously.

Every decision matters.

Sakura used to want to be kind. She wanted to be someone others turned to when they needed a sympathetic shoulder. She wanted adults to pat her on the shoulder and say, "You're such a nice girl." Of course that changed when she came to Kumogakure. Nice isn't enough, not here. Nice makes you soft. Soft gets you hurt. She doesn't have the space for niceness anymore.

You see, Sakura's hair is too short to brush her shoulders. She maintains the length now because it's convenient, but the first cut wasn't by choice.

Aina held her down and hacked at it with a kunai when they were eight. It was too pretty, she said.Pretty is for flowers, Sakura. Do you know what happens to flowers? They get ripped out of the ground and put on display until they rot… or they get trampled on. You don't want that to happen to you, do you?

(She deserved the crotch-shot.)

So — Sakura adapted.

No more long hair. No more dresses. No more flinching away from the cheap shots.

She bought shorts and found herself a weapons master and taught herself to seek out vulnerabilities in others. It was tough, but life is tough, and the only way to overcome it is to be tougher.

If you aren't cheating…

Naruto isn't like that.

Sakura has been watching him for two hours and he hasn't realised what's happening. He talked with Sasuke when they arrived. Advice. He had smiled when Sasuke cooperated.

You've been duped, you poor idiot, says Inner. She sounds vindictively pleased about it: any victory of Sasuke's is a victory for her. Naruto continues blasting himself off the wall. Sasuke has encouraged him towards overpowering his feet and now Naruto is one more fall from a cracked skull. I can't believe he hasn't caught on yet.

Sakura isn't surprised. The blond is different from them. From others. It's obvious in the way he speaks, too casual and rapid. He doesn't respect personal space. He doesn't catch onto emotional or facial cues unless they're blaringly obvious. If Sasuke appeared to help him, Naruto would not question it. Yesterday, he missed a lot of Sakura's passive-aggressive comments. She's sure he has no idea.

It isn't his fault, Sakura reprimands. Inner is unrepentant. She wants to talk to Sasuke, who is making slow progress up the wall. It's a bad idea. He seems to prefer when Sakura doesn't remind him that she's surpassed him in this.

That's funny. Because Sakura is the top kunoichi of their year. She's been outclassing Sasuke for a while now.

Now, for Naruto…

First off, let's make it clear. Sakura doesn't feel bad for him. Not even a little bit.

But objectively speaking, this is pitiful. And painful. And a waste of her time. Darui-sensei is not teaching her because the boys have zero talent. It's irritating.

That's why Sakura storms over to him. That's why she sits down and says, "I want you to do something."

She passes him a leaf. Naruto dryly says, "Gee, thanks. What do I do with it."

"Stick it to your forehead."

"What? No, I need to climb the—"

"You can't," she interrupts him, tempted to slap him for it. "You have no concept of holding back. Sheer force isn't going to help; this exercise requires finesse. Apparently you haven't learned that, so that's where you start."

Naruto turns the leaf over in his palm. He doesn't have calluses. Sakura wonders why. "Is sticking a stupid leaf supposed to help me?"

"That's the idea,"

"How?"

"It's smaller. And sure, the concepts are not completely the same: sticking a leaf to your head is way easier than walking up a wall. But don't focus on that. It's about getting down the sticking part. I think that's where you're struggling. You're running before you can crawl."

Although he's doubtful, Naruto gets comfortable on the ground as if he doesn't intend to move for a while. "Okay…" He says slowly — his uncertainty is almost insulting. Naruto slaps the leaf to his forehead and screws his eyes shut. "If anyone knows what they're talking about, it's Sakura-chan…"

Her nerves tingle at the compliment. Her voice is warmer when she says, "You can do it, Naruto-kun. I believe in you."

He keeps his eyes closed and grins. She leaves him to it. Darui-sensei is laying on his back watching the clouds. Sakura hesitates as she draws nearer. He notices, gesturing her over with a lazy hand.

Sakura sits on a nearby rock. "Good of you to help him out," he says.

"I don't want to watch the Incompetent Show all week, that's all."

"Still. I'm sure he appreciates it. He'll remember you helping him out, you know,"

"As long as he gets it and we can move on, finally!"

Darui-sensei snorts. "Alright, alright. I get it... I hear you have weapons?"

Sakura perks up, "Uh, yes. Axes. I've trained with them for six years."

"Six. Pretty impressive. Axes — that's two?" He hums when she confirms it. "Are you satisfied with them?"

"Of course," Sakura says baffled.

"And how would you feel about learning another weapon?"

Her stomach drops with nerves. "Are you talking about your sword, sensei?"

To her immense relief, Darui-sensei chuckles again, recognizing that the idea is preposterous. Sakura is stoutly built. Swords require flexibility. Sakura… isn't. "No," Darui-sensei rumbles, half-smiling, "God, no. I'm thinking something with a chain. You'll need to get an edge on long distance fighters. Do you know what a kusarigama is?"

It takes some thinking but eventually Sakura recognizes it. Kai-shishou has crafted some in front of her. He never explained what it does but she easily guessed just from the design. The chain gave away its purpose.

"It's a flail weapon."

"It seems more your style than a chigiriki," he says. The difference between a chigiriki and kusarigama is essentially pointiness. "Kusarigama are more up my alley too. In the end it depends on what you're more comfortable with. If you want to try out a chigiriki, I can find a teacher for you."

"I wouldn't even know where to start with a chigiriki. Kusarigama's sound acceptable."

Sickles are just small axes, aren't they?

"That is a plan. Of course I have to go over mission codes, sign language, build up your arsenal or jutsu, improve your hand-to-hand…"

Briefly, Darui-sensei looks overwhelmed by the size and weight of what's lying ahead. All the stuff he has to do with Sakura, he also has to do with two other kids who will probably require their unique regime. Darui-sensei can't mess this up. By the way he's spacing out, Darui-sensei already suspect he has.

As Sasuke grunts and slides down the wall scrabbling for purchase, Sakura can't exactly argue with that.

\V/

Feet are the hardest place to channel chakra. It's one thing to learn and a completely different thing to know.

"Damn it!"

Sasuke wipes sweat off his forehead, seething. He is one failure away from a rage-induced heart attack. His blood pressure is already way up: it's pounding in his ears, and just the idea of how close he is to losing control shakes Sasuke enough for him to take in deep, even breaths. He's always had a temper, worse after that night. He isn't about to let it control him now.

To take his mind off his task, Sasuke checks on the others: Sakura and Darui are locked in a deep conversation. Darui is half-lidded and looks disinterested, but his hands are moving, engaged, while Sakura soaks his attention up like a sponge. Sasuke turns away, a scoff stuck in his throat.

That leaves Naruto. Contrary to expectation he isn't throwing himself at the wall — he's sitting down, eyes closed, pressing his hand to his forehead.

… What?

It becomes clear when the hand moves. A leaf. It stays on his forehead for some seconds before falling: Naruto releases a frustrated groan, then picks it up and starts over. He's dirty but relatively energized; like he's been there for a while. How long has he been doing it?

The next time, the leaf sticks for about half a second longer. Naruto doesn't notice, but Sasuke does.

He knows instantly who is to blame.

Naruto doesn't have the necessary brain cells to realize he was sabotaged, but their female teammate has them in spades. She must have felt bad for him. Not surprising. Naruto makes it easy.

Starting off at the basics is… it feels a bit like giving up, if he's being honest. That said, whatever Naruto is doing is obviously helping. Maybe that's the secret. Sasuke has been scornful of Naruto's repetitive bull-headed efforts, but in the end, what was he doing differently?

Shit.

Before he knows what's happening, Sasuke is in front of him. Naruto is so absorbed in his task it takes a sharp, "Hey," to grab his attention. His mouth drops open.

"Sasuke?"

He doesn't sound angry. Cautious, but that isn't anger. He still doesn't know. He's so goddamn slow.

"Why are you doing that."

"The leaf thing? Sakura told me to. She said I was…" He lowers his voice, eyes narrowing suspiciously. "Wait, why should I help you? Your advice was trash, I swear I was getting worse."

Sasuke's nails bite into his skin. He can't have his cover blown now: he needs to know what Sakura said. It could be his only shot.

"How was I supposed to know it wouldn't work for you?" Naruto pauses, considering Sasuke's blatant lie. "I helped you out. Now help me out."

"What do I get out of it?"

"Nothing. That's… we're balancing the scales. You get to do that."

"Not enough," he decides firmly and crosses his arms, "I want you to say I'm the smartest person you have ever met."

Sasuke knows he should stop himself but the snide comment is already out of his mouth. "You're not even close, moron."

Naruto's eyes flash. He says, "Fine. Then no advice for you, bastard."

He goes right back to sticking the leaf to his forehead. Sasuke would follow his lead if didn't already know how to do this exercise. He needs to know why, so he can tailor it for his own attempts. If he has an idea of the theory, that changes things.

Eventually, desperation wins out over his sheer need to be difficult. "You are the…"

God.

"Smartest," Naruto sings. "Say it, Sasuke. I am thesmartest…"

"... smartest person I have— Naruto, come on—"

"Smartest person you have ever what?"

Sasuke exhales deliberately through his nose and says, "... the smartest person I have ever met." Naruto grins with all his teeth. Sasuke is very tempted to hit them. "What did Sakura say."

Looking unbelievably proud of himself, he reveals, "We're running before we can crawl!"

Sasuke waits. When nothing more follows, his tenuous grip on his sanity slips and he kicks Naruto over. His arms spiral as he tries to balance himself. Sasuke sneers, "Is that supposed to be some kind of joke? What did she really say?"

"THAT!"

"How is that going to help me?!"

"That isn't my problem! It wasn't even meant for you, bastard!"

Sasuke growls and goes back to his own wall.Running before he can crawl? What did that even mean? Sasuke can do the leaf exercise, it was insultingly basic. He is ready to run.

"SASUKE!"

"Oh my god. What."

"Keep it simple! It works for me!"

"It isn't and it doesn't," says Sasuke coldly. Resolving to forget about certain morons, he goes right back to his favorite method of doing things the exact same way and hoping for different results, evidently by divine intervention.

\V/

It's an accident.

Naruto is meditating on his stupid leaf and next thing he knows, he hears dripping water echoing in a cavernous space. He opens his eyes to a dark sewer. The water around his ankles ripples after a great exhale skates over the top of it.

Kyuubi's huge red eyes are almost closed, bright beacons of fire in an otherwise pitch black space.

Another breath. This one blows Naruto's hair back from his face.

"What are you doing here?" Kyuubi asks. The sewer vibrates with his barely-leashed power. "If it's to ask for help, you might as well leave."

"I didn't mean to come here," Naruto corrects him. It's cold here. It always is, unless Kyuubi is feeling pissy. "I was just thinking about chakra and… Hey, Kyuubi. Good to see you. How've you been?"

"Are you trying to make me angry?"

"No," Naruto lies. He kind of is. The Kyuubi and him only interact when he's annoying enough. It's how Naruto takes control. Every other time it's the Kyuubi giving him shit for being a human being or something. "So you aren't gonna help out?"

"Why should I? Maybe if you never get this, you'll be deemed unnecessary and I can taste a bit of freedom for a change."

"The old man won't kill me!"

"It may not be his initial intention, but a vessel who can't fight is useless to a man like him. He'll try and fail to trap me into someone he can control, and you will perish in the aftermath. Forgotten. That is your future."

"It's just chakra-walking," Naruto mutters defensively; Kyuubi has a point and that's the scariest thought of all. Worse is that he knows how strong his beast is in a way the Raikage can't understand. If Kyuubi breaks free of Naruto, he will destroy everything. No one in this village is strong enough to stop him.

Naruto is called a human sacrifice for a reason.

"There is always more to see if one looks underneath the underneath. Hey, brat," His urgent tone catches and pulls at Naruto's dwindling attention. "Watch out for the Uchiha."

Whether Naruto is more surprised by the warning or the subject, he can't tell you. Before he can drill the Kyuubi for details, he's being flung from the sewer. Naruto opens his eyes, cross-legged on uneven terrain. Sakura is swinging an imaginary sword while she talks to Darui. Sasuke is doing as Sasuke does.

Naruto looks closely. The other boy is sweating amd bruised, limping as he hides an injury. He has progressed a little bit up the wall. He's perfectly innocuous if not completely irritating. He doesn't even give off a bad vibe. Naruto can't see what alarms the Kyuubi enough for him to essentially tell him to keep his distance.

He's just war-mongering, Naruto tells himself. That's what the Kyuubi does.

Even so, it takes him another full minute before he's able to focus on his own task.

\V/

Sasuke has met talent. He knows genius. He's familiar with prodigies. It's hard to remember the beginning days, and not entirely because of age, but he's sure Itachi was walking on walls since — since Sasuke can recall. It's always been like that. Itachi set the impossible standard and Sasuke, the second son, failed spectacularly to meet them.

Well, at least he's carrying on tradition. The day concludes with two people unable to master a basic exercise. After being put down by Darui at Yotsuki range, Sasuke goes to leave.

His collar is caught by his teacher, who drags him back. "I've decided," he says, "that we are going to do some team bonding." He then stares at Sasuke with lazy reprimand in his face, already anticipating protests. "Non-negotiable. So pick a restaurant; my shout."

Sasuke bites his tongue. Darui's hold tightens on his shirt threateningly.

Naruto pouts. "What do we need some crummy team bonding for? Me and Sakura-chan are solid!"

"And Sasuke?"

"Meh. What about him?"

"My point stands. Look, I am aware that the village doesn't exactly peddle warm and fuzzy feelings between your fellow shinobi. But I'm speaking from a place of experience when I tell you that you —personally — will excel when you have people you can rely on."

"Do you have someone like that, sensei?"

"Yeah. My partner, Cee. I wouldn't be the person I am today without him."

"And now you want to impose that co-dependence on your unwilling students,"

Darui shakes him gently and says, "I do, yes. Because I am trying to help you ungrateful brats to be less of a burden to each other and me. Now. Restaurant. Any ideas?"

Sakura is the only one to put her hand up. "My aunt and I go to a nice barbeque place on main peak. It's affordable too, so you won't go broke, sensei."

That makes Darui as happy as his flattened face can get. He looks at Naruto and Sasuke, who both shrug, before gesturing forward. Sakura leads the way.

It's awkward at first. To start, Sakura and Darui are spotless while the boys are dirtied and injured; it is hard to ignore the seeming power imbalance between them. Besides that it's clear that as comfortable as Sakura is with everyone else, she struggles to look Sasuke in the face and won't talk to him. Since she's in charge of conversation, Sasuke ends up shafted. He didn't want to talk anyway, but not getting a choice in the matter pisses him off.

They arrive at the restaurant with a metaphorical thunderstorm hanging above their heads. Darui tips his head back to read the sign: Hachimura BBQ.

"Never eaten here before. Nice one, Sakura."

"My aunt showed it to me. They do ramen as well. Deserts, fish, bento boxes… Hachimura does it all!"

Sasuke's stomach rumbles. Crap. He didn't have time to eat lunch today, he's starving.

As long as he isn't paying, it should be okay.

"Oh man, ramen? I love that stuff! Let's get a move on, sensei, come on!"

Naruto grabs his pink-haired teammate by the hand and drags her into the restaurant. Darui shouts after them to "behave" like he believes it will work. Sasuke is committed to being the victim and is waiting for Darui to move, so he can slink in behind him.

The interior is dark woods and blue velvet fabrics. Cooked meat wafts through the crevices of the store, and all around them is the sound of grilling meat and happy people talking idly. Above the din is Naruto, loudly marveling at the menu, and Sakura organising a table for them. After being sat down Darui collects their orders and gives them to a waiter.

"So your aunt takes you here?"

"When we can afford it," Sakura nods without shame. "She's a potter, you see. It's kind of slow work."

"A what?"

"You know, pottery? Vases, ceramics?"

Naruto blinks slowly, then laughs and nods. "Oh, thatpottery. Yeah, yeah!"

Sasuke meets his eyes and raises his eyebrow.Really?

His answering glare is unfriendly.

"Well, good on your aunt. She has taste. The atmosphere of this place is nice."

Sakura smiles slightly. "I thought so too. Um, what do your guardians do, Naruto-kun?"

"They annoy me," Naruto answers blandly. "I guess they're shinobi too?"

"He has a brother and a sister," Sasuke hears himself say. He stops, surprised at himself, and pointedly turns away to avoid the eyes he can feel on him. "What?"

Naruto sounds perplexed: "Uh — yeah, what Sasuke said. One bro, one sis."

And the brother's brother, says a voice in Sasuke's head that needs to shut up now.

"Older?" Darui asks, and Naruto sighs resignedly. It garners some laughter from them. "No siblings for you, Sakura?"

"Only child," she says regretfully. "I've always wondered what it would be like to have a big sister or something,"

"It's overrated," Naruto tells her.

"Big brother?" She says hopefully, only to flatline when Naruto shakes his head rapidly. She slumps over. "I suppose I'm lucky to be an only child then…"

"There are always younger siblings,"

"Really sensei?"

"Yeah. I have one. Brother-in-law. He's a drag, but he's cute."

Naruto turns expectantly to Sasuke as if expecting him to weigh in. Sasuke narrows his eyes warningly: Kagen has no place in their conversation. He should keep his mouth shut.

"Sensei! Does that mean you're married!"

"Yup," says Darui unenthusiastically, "Oh look, our food is coming!"

Sakura puffs out her cheeks and rears up determinedly, very much not finished. The waiter delivers their meat, a bowl of miso, and sauces on a platter, cutting her off. Darui immediately gets to grilling their meat to avoid her questions about his marital status, an unsubtle gesture that turns Sakura's cheeks pink.

Naruto, never one to be deterred by polite expectations, asks, "Is she pretty, sensei?"

Darui pushes around a strip of pork. "Eh, so-so."

Sakura's pink turns angry. "Sensei!"

"What?"

"That's no way to— Naruto-kun, can you keep it down—"

Naruto has decided now is as good a time as any to dive head first into his miso ramen. His slurping is as loud as Darui's grilling. Sakura is silenced.

And Darui is destroying that meat.

Sasuke forgoes the tongs entirely, using his chopsticks to flip the meat quickly. If he acts quickly, he can salvage it. It won't take long to cook through, so he puts on some more, takes off what's done, and gets the sauces in place. Eventually Darui cedes control and the metal tongs. "You have a handle on it, Sasuke."

His peers are looking. To get them off his back, Sasuke confesses, "I help my mother out a lot."

"You're very sweet, Sasuke-kun," Sakura blurts, immediately looking alarmed by her own words. She sinks into shameful silence.

Naruto gulps down his broth like a savage. He wipes his chin on his bright orange sleeve and says, "Mikoto-oba-chan doesn't need your help, stop lying."

"Stop calling her that."

"Eh, why? She's fine with it!"

"You can't just do what you want."

"What? How come Naruto-kun's met your family and I haven't!" Sakura moans, put-out. "Did you two already know each other? Naruto!"

"Why are you yelling at me?"

"Can you two try quietly eating the meal that Sasuke has generously prepared for you? You're disturbing the other patrons. Sorry, sir, they're genin."

"I want to meet Sasuke-kun's family too,"

"Forget it," Sasuke bites. He throws some meat on her plate and Naruto's. "I didn't want him meeting them. He just broke in."

She turns a furious gaze onto Naruto. "You broke in? That's so rude!"

Naruto looks cornered. "You aren't even gonna ask for my side of the story, Sakura-chan?!"

"Oh my god, what a drag," Darui stuffs his mouth and evidently resolves to let them do what they want while he ignores their commotion. "You idiots are gonna get us kicked out of this nice restaurant…"

\V/

They are kicked out.

"We can go to my place for dinner?"

"Sorry, sensei…"

"You should be. I had to pay even though we didn't eat."

"My aunt can make us dinner," Sakura repeats. They all feel and look downtrodden, even Sasuke in his own way, although it really is difficult to tell with him. "She wants to meet you guys anyway; two birds, right?"

Naruto is on board: apparently he's starving and ran out of instant ramen this morning. Ayuna will want to send him home with leftovers. Sasuke scowls at his feet and doesn't say anything. Sakura tentatively counts that as a good sign.

Darui-sensei sighs tiredly. He probably wants to go home to his wife, Inner remarks cheekily. Sensei will be easier to interrogate in her home, Sakura is certain. She needs his agreement.

"If she won't mind," Darui-sensei mumbles. He still looks bored even after being kicked out. Nothing bothers him. "Is there gonna be dessert?"

"Probably. Oba-chan has a sweet tooth."

"To Sakura-chan's place! Hey, hey, wanna race?"

"You'll lose," says Sakura. It occurs to her that the challenge might have been for Sasuke. Only, Naruto is grinning fiercely at her and every cell in her body rises up to meet him. Okay, maybe not for Sasuke. "I'm super fast."

"Bet you I'm faster!"

"Bet you you're not."

"If I win, I get your serving," Naruto throws down, and Sakura doesn't need Inner egging her on for her to sneer: "You're on."

Darui-sensei starts tiredly, "Are you two aware that if Sakura runs ahead the rest of us won't know where to go?"

Sakura doesn't hear him. She shakes hands with Naruto.

"Bastard," Naruto shouts, "We need a countdown!"

"Don't involve me."

"Shouldn't you be happy that we're leaving? Cause we'll leave a lot faster if you just count down for us."

The idea appeals to him. Sasuke hisses through gritted teeth, "Three."

Sakura and Naruto instantly scramble into ready stances, palms on the floor, alternating between glaring at each other and looking into the distance.

"Two."

"My aunt lives up the street, second left, she's the house at the end of the street. There's a row of flowers on our porch. I'll point it out when it's in sight. Not that I'll need to since I will be leading the way!"

"One."

"You're gonna eat those words, Sakura-chan," Naruto says lowly, "you're gonna choke on 'em."

"Go, morons."

Sakura and Naruto explode into movement.