Tempered in Water Chapter 6: Broken Knives, a naruto fanfic

Tempered in Water

Chapter 6 / Broken Knives

By HitokiriOTD

He had seen it all before. He had seen the clean, unscarred limbs, the un-calloused hands, and the cocky, arrogant gleam in the eye that spoke of invincible confidence; he had seen it all a thousand times before, in a thousand different young men who had never put their hands in the fire. Once, it had been him.

Takeda Shingo was a minor nobleman, the third son in an old, once-influential samurai family. The family had had no need of a third son, no place for him in his own home. His older brothers had received the status and the lands; he had been given a sword and a commission. On the morning of his sixteenth birthday, he had found his possessions packed away and the army waiting. Father had been barely dead for two weeks when his brothers had him commissioned… exiled, though they hadn't said so. For the honor of the family, Jakotsu, the second son, had said. Fourteen years had passed since that fateful day. Fourteen years, and only the gods and his ancestors knew how many battles, how many skirmishes, how many corpses and lost friends, but he had survived.

A minor nobleman, a veteran soldier, and a samurai down to his bones, he had not been particularly surprised when the generals, in their infinite wisdom, had made him an infantry officer a few months ago. Conflict was coming… Shingo could feel it. As such, he hadn't been particularly pleased by his "promotion" either. While a captain's life expectancy on the front lines was greater than a lieutenant's, which measured somewhere below that of a fly in Volcano Country, it was not that much greater, especially when one was a captain in Taki no Kuni, where such officers were expected to lead their men from the front. He prayed dearly that he would be promoted to major soon—they weren't expected to fight with their men.

But Shingo had been a soldier for more than a decade, and he knew how futile it would be to contest his orders. Besides, it was an honor. He snorted bitterly.

That was why he was sitting at a large, dark wooden table in a relatively clean bar called Akahana in Ikeda-shi, the fourth largest city in the Country of Waterfall. He may have been an infantry officer, but as long as the uneasy peace held he was simply a recruiter for the daimyo's forces. It didn't really matter in the long run; once war broke out the daimyo would conscript all of the infantry he needed

Still, perhaps with a month or two of training at least some of these poor fools will survive their first real fight. Life and the army had taught Shingo that while experience may have been the best teacher, it only passed on its lessons if you managed to survive it. In any case, it wasn't like the generals were banging down his door for advice, and the sake in this bar wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Shingo gazed appraisingly at the young man before him. The boy was pale-skinned, dark-haired, and brown-eyed. All in all, he was just another unexceptional, soft noble's son with that arrogant look in his eyes that all young noble's sons seemed to share. Arrogance, pride in his heritage, belief that he was superior based solely on the merits of his blood, it was all stamped into his frame and bearing. Shingo was from nobility, no matter what his occupation or lot in life was, and he had dealt with hundreds, if not thousands of others from the same stock. He had learned to recognize them as soon as he saw them. Their appearances could be deceiving, but they could never hide the impression their heritage had branded into them.

"Your name?" Shingo asked gruffly.

"Taro," was the prompt, flat reply.

Shingo scribbled down the name, despite the fact that it was probably false. Taro looked down his fine nose at Shingo. The older man snorted to himself. That'll be fixed, as soon as he gets into his first fight. Few men ever came out of the infantry without having their noses broken at least once, usually by their own comrades. Fights were frequent in the camps, where boredom, resentment, and fear mixed and made tempers run hot.

"Age?"

"Sixteen." Probably another lie. This boy was a classic runaway noble's son. He didn't bother to ask where the boy came from.

"Any combat training?"

Taro hesitated. "Kenjutsu," he said finally.

Shingo nodded, scrawling a quick succession of characters inside the small box on the grimy paper. It might even have been true… kenjutsu was the most common martial art taught amongst the samurai and the nobility. If it wasn't true, then the boy would receive a very harsh object lesson about the wisdom of lying. Finally, he turned the form to face Taro and pushed an ink pad forward. "Stamp your fingerprint here," he ordered, tapping a small box near the bottom of the form, "and sign at the bottom." Taro hesitated, his eyes darting left for a brief moment. A scowl twitched on Shingo's lips as he turned his head. There was nothing suspicious to his right. A young serving girl moved between the rectangular tables, a heavily laden tray casually balanced on her right hand. Shingo looked expectantly at Taro.

Taro pushed his ink-covered thumb down on the paper and hastily scrawled an awkward looking signature. He hasn't had to write his name much, Shingo observed. Or, his bitter sneer deepened, he hasn't been taught to write well. Old memories tried to push their way forward. He forced them back down. He had not been that boy for more than a decade. Shingo gave the form a quick once-over, making sure everything was in place, before tossing it on top of a pile of paper to his left.

"Report here tonight at nine," Shingo said tersely. "Be ready to leave."

Taro only nodded, turning to leave. A breeze stirred Shingo's stack of forms, forcing the soldier to scramble to keep them from flying off the desk. He scowled as he restacked his pile of completed application forms. Shingo stood and searched for any errant sheets of paper. He sighed as he saw the white sheets scattered on the grimy wooden floor.

"Girl," he barked. There was no reply. He looked around the room, ignoring the gazes of the other patrons.

The serving girl was gone.

The crinkled map stirred slightly as the wind drifted through the trees. The setting sun dappled the ground in liquid gold as the light filtered through the dense tree canopies. Team 7 was gathered in a silent circle around a weathered tree stump. A map of Taki no Kuni was laid out on top of the stump, held down by several small rocks. Kakashi was silent and thoughtful, his eye studying the map as if it would reveal the enemy's secrets if he looked hard enough.

Sasuke brooded, glaring at nothing in particular. Despite the excitement earlier in the day, he was beginning to feel that this mission was a waste of time. Ducking in and out of the shadows and fooling civilians wasn't going to make him stronger. That man was still pulling away while he wasted his time babysitting a pair of incompetents.

Sakura stood pensively, mutely darting her eyes between the three shinobi around her. The continued silence was unsettling her, and Sasuke's rising moodiness worried her. She desperately hoped that he would not revert to the angry, almost vicious attitude he had adopted in the Wave. Perhaps missions outside the village had a bad effect on him? She wasn't sure, but she prayed that things wouldn't end up like they did last time.

Naruto glared at the map, absently chewing on a strip of dried beef. He was trying to recall exactly how to read the map in front of him. Not for the first time, he wished he had paid more attention in Iruka-sensei's classes. Luckily no one had spoken up yet; he had been given enough time to begin to decipher the strange symbols and the many different kinds of squiggly lines that covered the map. Blue lines were rivers, dotted black lines were major roads, red lines were national borders, and solid black lines were… well, he hadn't figured that out yet, but he would. Eventually.

"Sasuke," Kakashi spoke suddenly. "The meeting is at nine o'clock?"

Sasuke nodded. "That's what I said," he grumbled irritably.

"Hmm… Sakura, Sasuke, you two will head back out and join the recruits at the meeting tonight. Find out where their camp is. Naruto and I will…"

"Sensei," Sakura interrupted, "why can't you just find the camp yourself?" It had been bugging her all day. They had been in Taki no Kuni for two days, and today was the first day they had actively begun collecting information. But Kakashi-sensei had spent all day sitting around and reading his book. She was sure he could have gotten all of the information they needed by now if he tried. Ugh! He's so irritating! Sakura complained mentally. Shannaro! She clenched her fist angrily for a moment.

Kakashi-sensei smiled. At least, she thought he was smiling. "Sakura," he began patiently, "would you learn anything if I did that?" She blinked, taken aback. "This is a good opportunity for you guys to gain some experience. If there's something you can't do, I'll step in. Until then…" he trailed off and patted his equipment pouch fondly. Sakura's eyebrows twitched. They all knew where he kept his book.

"You just want to read your book," Naruto muttered accusingly, voicing Sakura's thoughts.

"Hmm…? Did you say something, Naruto?"

Naruto grunted and resumed his methodical chewing of beef jerky. Sakura rolled her eyes at his gluttony. Honestly, how much is he going to eat? Another thought occurred to her. "Naruto, where did you get beef jerky?"

"In town," he replied, still chewing. Sakura winced at the sight. Gross.

"Naruto, you were supposed to be looking for information on where the daimyo's soldiers are gathering," Kakashi mildly rebuked the boy.

"I was!" Naruto protested immediately. "The old man in the store gave this to me!"

"You were gathering information in a store?" Sasuke asked sardonically.

Naruto looked at Sasuke. "Yes," Naruto said slowly, as if talking to an idiot.

Sasuke glared, unappreciative of the other boy's tone. "Idiot," he sneered. Naruto's fists clenched convulsively.

"Maa, maa, calm down you two," Kakashi's even voice was like a splash of cold water. Immediately, the two boys looked away, backing down. Sakura breathed a tiny sigh of relief. "Naruto, did you find out anything?"

"Un," Naruto nodded, his voice still tight with tension. He wordlessly stabbed a finger down on the map.

Kakashi blinked, looking at the map. The other two genin followed suite. "What is it?" the jounin asked, glancing back up at Naruto.

"Ninjin Rock," Naruto grunted around a fresh mouthful of dried beef. "It's supposed to look like a carrot, I guess."

"I see that," Kakashi retorted, a hint of sharpness entering his voice. "What about it?"

"General… what was it? Err… General Taka-something or other's troops are gathering near Ninjin Rock. That's where all the… uh… conscripts from Ikeda are going." Naruto folded his arms and nodded proudly. He had remembered everything! I even remembered 'conscripts!' If he had forgotten that word—taught to him earlier in the day by Sakura-chan—his crush probably would have given him a thorough chewing out.

The other members of Team 7 stared at Naruto, aghast. Kakashi was the first to recover from his surprise. He chuckled. I shouldn't be surprised, he chided himself. After all, I was the one that named him the most unpredictable ninja in Konoha. After everything that had happened, he still ended up underestimating Naruto. It was difficult to remember that Naruto had grown into a capable genin since he was still as loud and overconfident as ever.

"You found this out from the old man at the shop?" Kakashi questioned.

"Yup," Naruto grinned at Sasuke, who was scowling fiercely.

"What kind of shop was this?" Sakura asked. She was miffed that her and Sasuke's elaborate plan to infiltrate a troop of recruits and gain information from the inside had apparently been outdone by Naruto, who had walked into a shop and gained more information in a couple of minutes than they had over the course of the entire day.

Naruto shrugged, "A grocer? A general store? I don't know."

"And you believed this old man?" Sasuke scoffed.

"Yes," Naruto bit out. "Armies have to eat, right? That old man sends lots of food to Taka-something's troops."

"Follow the food, huh?" Kakashi smiled. It was a particular bit of common sense that he hadn't expected from Naruto. Indeed, few genin would think of pursuing such a basic strategy. Sasuke's plot to pose as a new recruit was risky and full of pitfalls, but it was the kind of thing most genin—and many experienced ninja—thought of first. Kakashi nodded decisively, "All right, we'll check out Naruto's lead."

"Now, sensei?" Sakura asked plaintively.

She had been traveling and snooping around all day and she was tired. And now we have to go all of the way to this Ninjin Rock place? She sighed. Damn it, Naruto, she complained inwardly, but without heat. She knew that he was only doing his job, and she couldn't muster much more than mild irritation towards him. Though the fact that he had done so much better than Sasuke-kun—and by extension, herself as well—stung, in doing so he had probably saved her a lot more work.

Infiltrating a group of new recruits would have required Sasuke-kun to maintain Henge for an extended duration, which carried a strong risk of discovery, not to mention the effort involved and the exhaustion that would result. Sakura herself would have had to shadow the group and remain undetected for the duration of the plan, in order to back up Sasuke if it became necessary to fight.

Naruto's way was much simpler and in the long run it would save them a great deal of effort. But in the short run, it denied her a decent amount of rest and quality time with Sasuke-kun—even if it was only watching him from a distance. Sakura sighed as she rose to her feet along with the boys. Kakashi lifted the map off the stump and studied it intently for several moments before nodding and folding the map up.

"All right," Kakashi said crisply, shouldering his pack, "let's go."

The quiet ticking of the wall-mounted clock reverberated through the still apartment. Outside, Haku could hear the bustle of daily life dying down as the sun began to set. The shadows grew long on the walls. Shouting erupted outside as a couple began to argue. Haku ignored it, unable to muster the slightest bit of interest. Instead, her eyes remained fixed on the clock.

6:29, the clock reported. "Three days, nine hours, and nineteen minutes," Haku whispered to herself. She shivered, rubbing her arms furtively. "Naruto-sama will return," she told herself.

Failure.

A minute passed. Haku rose abruptly. She rummaged through the cupboards, humming quietly. There was a clicking noise, and then the soft whisper of the gas stove igniting. She placed a pot full of water on the stove and glided over to the fridge. Her tune became thoughtful as she contemplated the various ingredients stored in the refrigerator.

Flawed tool.

Haku washed the vegetables vigorously. Naruto-sama didn't like to eat vegetables, but it was necessary for him to eat a balanced diet. She moved the produce over to the cutting board, which was still un-weathered by age and unscratched by use. The kitchen knife she produced was similarly shiny and new. It sliced cleanly and effortlessly through a carrot. Haku paused, looking at the new knife, the unscratched cutting board, the fresh carrot in her hand. Her head drooped and her eyelids lowered. Her humming faltered.

"You're too naïve, as usual."

She gazed blankly at the gleaming blade in her hand.

"I don't want you to die."

The steady sound of vegetables being chopped filled the room, accompanied by a different tune. When she was finished dicing the vegetables, she pushed them off the cutting board and onto a plate. A slab of beef took their place. Methodically, Haku began to cut the meat into smaller chunks.

"Kid, do you want to be needed by someone? Can you give everything to me?"

The dried beef stock turned the clear water murky. Haku carefully lifted the wooden slat and allowed the beef to slide into the boiling broth. She opened another cupboard and brought out an electric rice cooker. Grains of rice clattered against the metal pot as she poured several cups in. She glanced at the clock. 6:52.

Three days, nine hours, and forty-two minutes.

"If you need a reason to live, then do it for me."

"Then, starting today, your ability is mine."

Haku shivered violently. Absently, she rubbed her arms as she stood in Naruto-sama's small kitchen. She listened to the sound the broth made as it bubbled, punctuated by the ticking of the clock. The noises from outside faded away into the background, becoming meaningless noise. Time stretched between the steady tick, tick of the clock.

Still, she waited.

The rice cooker let out a shrill, sharp noise. Haku blinked slowly, once, twice, and her eyes refocused on the clock. 7:22.

Three days, ten hours, and twelve minutes.

The rice was done. The stew would still take another half-hour, at least. Haku went into the bedroom and set the alarm before returning the kitchen. She sat daintily on a chair at the kitchen table and leaned forward, cradling her head in her arms. The clock ticked.

"A brat like you won't be needed by anyone, and you'll die a beggar."

"For as long as I'm alive, I'll need you."

The harsh beeping of the alarm roused Haku to awareness. Wincing, she staggered to her feet and lethargically shuffled into the bedroom to shut off the alarm. She walked slowly back into the kitchen to check the soup. It took her several moments and a bit of rummaging to find the soup ladle. Armed with the kitchen implement, she delicately took a sip of the steaming broth and used it to check the meat's tenderness. "Not done," she murmured, and began to stir. It was 7:52.

Three days, ten hours, and forty-two minutes.

"Will you follow me?"

"Come with me."

"What's your status?" Kakashi's hushed voice, warped by a hint of background static, sounded in the earpiece of Sasuke's headset.

"I'm in position," Sasuke murmured softly into the microphone as he came to a stop at the edge of a large clearing. To his right, Sasuke could dimly make out the vast shadow of Ninjin Rock. He didn't really think that it looked like a carrot, but then again he only had moonlight to see by and even that was obscured by clouds.

Sasuke crouched on the rough, broad tree branch and studied the camp through the leaves. To his vision it was a mass of dark shadows, flickering fire, and dirty canvas. Guards patrolled the camp and the outskirts. Focusing on the shadowy figures below him, he tried to read their movements, to understand their intent, and smirked as it became apparent that they were patrolling in a set pattern. The sentries posted around the edges of the camp huddled close to their fires, sacrificing night vision for comfort. Too easy, he scoffed mentally.

"I'm in position, too," Sakura's voice crackled through the earpiece.

A minute passed quietly. Cicadas chirped noisily, and occasionally the leaves rustled as a breeze blew through the trees. In the distance, he could hear the murmur of the military camp, not quite asleep even as the moon climbed high amidst the stars. Sasuke continued to eye the guards intently, studying their patterns.

The wireless radio came to life again in a small burst of static. "Kakashi-sensei, Naruto is…?" Sakura's query trailed off. Sasuke's brows climbed in surprise at the worry he heard in her voice. Since when has she ever worried about Naruto? Sasuke wondered. Sure, she worried over things Naruto did, but he had never heard her voice much concern for Naruto's well-being. Sasuke frowned thoughtfully. He knew that the two had started training together occasionally, and he had seen some—very slight—improvement in both of them. Perhaps the two things were related. Sasuke dismissed his wandering thoughts. It's not my concern.

"Naruto has to work his way around to the east side of the camp," Kakashi answered Sakura. "Give him a few more minutes." Sasuke rolled his eyes. Kakashi coddled the dropout too much. If it had been Sasuke, he would have made it around the camp by now. Absently, Sasuke drew a kunai and began to casually flip it.

Naruto stared down nervously at the helmeted heads of the two soldiers. He was currently clutching the trunk of the tree he was perched in. Naruto didn't dare to move. If he made the slightest bit of noise, the two soldiers loitering less than ten feet below him would probably hear. If they heard, they would probably look up. If they looked up, he was definitely screwed. Kakashi-sensei had been very clear on that.

"Naruto," Kakashi-sensei began, his tone serious, as they walked towards Taki no Kuni, "I need you to remember that this is a very sensitive recon mission. We can't afford to let anyone know that we're Konoha shinobi, and we especially can't let anyone know what our mission is."

Naruto scowled, folding his arms across his chest. He was definitely irritated by their mission. Of course, leaving Sasuke and Sakura alone at point didn't help. "I know, I know," Naruto grumbled discontentedly.

"Naruto…" Kakashi-sensei sighed, "Not every mission is about fighting, you know."

"I know, but…!" Naruto trailed off, uncertain as to how to convey his frustration. "Why do we have to do such a boring mission?" he muttered sullenly.

"How do you know it's going to be boring?" his teacher asked after a pause.

"All we're going to do is look around for some big camps or something, right? That's boring!"

"We're not just going to look around for big camps," Kakashi-sensei retorted. "We are going to Taki no Kuni to determine whether or not Konoha and the Country of Fire need to prepare for war."

Naruto gaped. "War…?" he asked in a small voice, stunned.

Kakashi-sensei flipped his book closed. "Why do you think we're going to survey their troop movements? Hokage-sama thinks that Waterfall's daimyo is planning for a war. The reason we are going to the Country of Waterfall in the first place is to gather information as to whether or not our country is in danger."

"It's that important?" Naruto asked quietly, his mood somber.

Kakashi-sensei nodded, "That's why you need to be careful about what you say and do on this mission. If you blurt something out to the wrong person, our entire mission could be jeopardized." Kakashi-sensei turned his head to meet Naruto's eyes, "We don't know what Taki no Kuni's agenda is, so if they find out that our team is spying on their military, it could become an international incident."

"I understand," Naruto nodded grimly. If they were caught, it could very well start a war, even if that wasn't the Waterfall daimyo's intentions in the first place.

"Naruto, if you get caught… if any of us gets found out by someone…" Kakashi-sensei sighed and looked up at the sky.

"Sensei…?"

"Silence them."

Naruto still recalled the sickening lurch his stomach had made at those words. He felt queasy just thinking about the implications of his teacher's order. But what really made him sick was the fact that he understood the logic behind it. If they got caught, a war could start. But, if they killed anyone who found them out, war might be averted.

Naruto grimaced as he anxiously stared down at the two young men who were joking with each other as they swapped contraband. At least, he thought that was what they were doing. Rations, cigarettes, and what looked to be a can of beer traded hands along with money.

"Naruto, if you get caught…"

Listening to the two wayward sentries below, Naruto came to the conclusion that they couldn't be that much older than him... four or five years maybe, but not much older. They were fresh recruits—or more likely, conscripts—not trained soldiers. One was an avid smoker, the other had a strong thirst for alcohol, and both hated the food cooked in the camp. The smoker came from Ikeda, the drinker from Taki's capital. Neither was married, but both were young enough to have a home and a family to go back to.

Naruto closed his eyes.

"Silence them."

He heard Sasuke and Sakura-chan as they reported their status. Naruto mustered a faint smile as he heard Sakura-chan's concern for him. Kakashi-sensei had faith that he would get in position. Somehow, looking down at the two below him, he couldn't remain glad for long. The minutes stretched on. Naruto counted every beat of his heart as he waited, a hand on a kunai, for the moment when one of the sentries below looked up.

He breathed a silent sigh of relief when they left. Naruto remained still for several more moments, making sure that they weren't about to double back, before bounding off through the trees at a reckless pace. His team was still waiting for him, after all. It took him two more minutes to reach his designated position. Luckily, there were no more wayward soldiers or outlying pickets. Naruto slumped against the trunk of the tree he had taken up residence in, panting.

After taking a moment to catch his breath, he reached up to his neck and pressed the 'talk' button on his radio headset. "I'm in position," he reported quietly.

The response was immediate. "Finally," Sasuke grunted irritably.

"You're so slow, Naruto," Sakura-chan chided, but he thought he could hear a hint of relief in her voice.

"All right," Kakashi-sensei said. "Are you all ready?" He received three affirmatives. "Go!"

Their target was in sight. It had taken his genin fifteen minutes to locate and make their way to the general's tent. To Kakashi, that was at least ten minutes too long... especially since he hadn't even been able to read his precious book while he waited for them to arrive. It was yet another thing to put on his list of things to train his team in. Admittedly, he hadn't gotten very far down the list yet, but it was good to at least keep it in mind. Still, things had been going well, his team's mediocre infiltration skills aside.

They had successfully snuck into the camp and Sasuke had located the most probable location for sensitive information to be kept. Of course, Sasuke should have taken the time to secure the area or at least scout it thoroughly for threats before radioing his teammates with the coordinates, but that was a point for later. The rest of Team 7 had converged on the area in short order, all without raising the alarm. It had come very close several times, but they had done it.

It had helped that the camp was largely asleep. Sentries still stood watch and patrols roamed the camp, but it was clear that no one was expecting anything untoward to happen. The patrol patterns were easy enough to figure out and evade. The only real risk came from stumbling upon an errant soldier or camp follower up past curfew.

Naruto had very nearly given the whole operation away when he had crossed paths with a sleepy grunt staggering his way to the latrine. To the boy's credit, he had reacted swiftly and concealed himself well, but the shadow clone Kakashi had sent to watch over Naruto had been forced to quickly whip out a genjutsu to convince the man that he had just been imagining things.

Team 7 had met up behind the large but otherwise unremarkable tent of General Takamasa, concealed by a profusion of supply barrels. The wooden barrels were rough and smelled of sap and mildew. They had been constructed hastily, the wood improperly seasoned. Kakashi's sensitive nose wrinkled in distaste at the smell of hundreds of pounds of salted pork and damp—and soon to be moldy—biscuits as he stepped out of the shadows to meet his team.

Kakashi silently lifted a hand and gestured quickly. All shinobi villages had a system of silent commands, and Konoha was no different. Students were trained in the basic system used by Konoha before they graduated the Academy. Eventually, as their career progressed and they ascended in rank and experience, they would learn more advanced versions of the system. For now though, Kakashi was restricted to the gestures that all genin knew. Supposedly, at least, Kakashi thought to himself, amused. But if Naruto didn't recognize the hand signal, he gave no sign of it.

There was a silent flurry of movement as his three students darted from their hiding places and snuck up to the rear of the large square tent. Kakashi waited for several moments, observing them and checking the surroundings for any hint that they had been noticed, before joining them. Kakashi crouched and put his ear against the canvas. He listened carefully, trying to isolate and catalogue every noise he heard through the thick canvas walls of the tent. It didn't sound like anyone was moving or even awake, given the faint, snore-like noises he had heard.

The jounin gestured for his team to proceed. They hesitated, looking at him for guidance, but Kakashi remained still. All right, he thought, show me what you've learned. They may have been on an important mission—and in the middle of a potentially hostile camp—but he might not have such a perfect opportunity to assess them again. Their actions in the field spoke far louder than their actions during training did. It was a good training opportunity as well. This mission was a perfect way to teach them practical stealth and information gathering skills, and Naruto and Sasuke were more suited to hands-on learning anyway. If they screwed up… well, that was why he was with them.

Sasuke was the first to take action. When it became apparent to him that Kakashi wasn't going to take the lead, Sasuke drew a kunai from his pouch. He carefully sliced into the canvas and worked his way downward, cutting a slit in the tent that extended to the ground. Kakashi had to restrain himself from speaking up. Cutting a hole in the side of the tent meant leaving evidence that they had been there. But he was the one who had decided to let the kids handle it, and as long as nothing else was out of place it wasn't an unforgivable error.

Sasuke cautiously peered into the tent. The interior of the tent was dark and cast in shadow. Dimly, he could make out the shape of a desk near the front, and there was a small rack of scrolls and books beside it. Next to the rack was a chest. Seeing no one, he then poked his head through. To his left was a small bed—or a big cot—and Sasuke could see, and hear, the sleeping man upon it. But there were no guards within the tent, nor any other person besides the sleeping soldier, who was most likely General Takamasa. Satisfied that the tent was clear, he slipped through the hole.

Naruto stared after Sasuke for a moment. There no way I'm letting that bastard get all the glory again! He grimaced as the image of Sasuke standing over him, bloodied and covered in a veritable forest of senbon, flashed across his mind. Naruto stepped towards the slit in the tent.

A hand clamped down on his shoulder. Kakashi-sensei shook his head in warning and firmly raised a hand. The gesture was clear. You stay here. Naruto's expression tightened and for a moment he glared up at his teacher. A silent struggle of wills occurred for a few seconds. Naruto huffed in discontent, folded his arms, and looked away. Kakashi's steely gaze had left no room for argument.

Another gesture followed. Stand watch. Sakura complied briskly, moving to find a good vantage point nearby. Naruto's scowl deepened as he sullenly crept to find his own lookout point. It's always Sasuke, he thought bitterly. Sasuke always got to do the cool things. Sasuke always got to play the hero. When would Naruto get to be the hero? When would he get the chance to prove himself, and not end up biting the dust as he watched Sasuke's back?

Naruto bit his lip. Stop it, he told himself fiercely. He was not so weak. He didn't need a pity party to make himself feel better. So what if Sasuke got to look cool and he didn't? One day, things would change. He would work harder. He would get stronger. Eventually, it would be Sasuke staring at his back. It would be Sasuke who struggled to keep pace with him.

One day…

Sasuke confidently moved towards the dimly lit desk, where a small lantern still glowed with faint, flickering yellow light. A hand clamped down on his left shoulder. Sasuke turned his head sharply, tensing, but it was only Kakashi. The jounin shook his head warningly and jerked his head towards the sleeping general. Sasuke scowled. Kakashi gestured again. Irritated, the boy moved next to the cot to keep an eye on the sleeping man.

Kakashi quickly moved to the desk and began to scan the maps, documents, and scrolls that covered its surface. The paranoid jounin searched as quickly as he was able to without risking sloppiness. Standing in the light set his nerves on edge and he wanted to finish the job as quickly as possible. If he could have, he would have preferred to extinguish the light; unfortunately, he needed it if he was to sort out the jumble of papers in front of him. Even the Sharingan was not capable of seeing something so mundane as ink in the dark.

Despite how quickly he was skimming the documents, it took him several minutes to finish searching the desk and determine that there were no hidden traps or compartments. Setting aside the documents he needed, Kakashi moved over to the rack next to the desk and began his search anew. Kakashi remained calm and steady, not allowing himself to rush despite the risks of his prolonged search or the clamor of his shinobi instincts. However, a quick glance at Sasuke revealed that the boy was growing increasingly impatient. Kakashi was quite good at reading the emotions behind Sasuke's various glares, and at the moment his glare was definitely an impatient one, not to mention a little irritated at being regulated to watching a grown man snore while Kakashi did the meaningful work.

Finally, Kakashi had finished inspecting all of the documents he could lay his hands on. He had checked the chest, only to find that it contained nothing more interesting than the general's clothes. A careful inspection of the rest of the tent had yielded no concealed hiding places.

He quickly gathered the relevant documents and laid them out neatly on the floor. He reached for one of the pockets on his vest. Deft fingers opened the compartment and snatched the scroll that dropped out. With a quick flick of his wrists, the scroll was unraveled and laid out on the ground. Kakashi removed a brush and a bottle of ink from his equipment pouch and feverishly began to ink esoteric seals and characters onto the blank scroll.

When he was done, he put away the brush and ink bottle, and focused his chakra and mind sharply. Quickly, but deliberately, he began to form seals. An invisible flow of chakra flowed from the kneeling jounin into the scroll at his knees. Sasuke watched, rapt, the hairs on his arms standing up, as his sensei performed a fuuinjutsu.

Kakashi finished the long chain of seals, his hands locking in the tori seal formation, and exhaled slightly.

Tensha Fuuin!

His chakra immediately snapped into place within the inked seals on the scroll, completing the Transcription Seal. Kakashi focused his will, and within seconds streamers of chakra rose from the center of the seal array and began to engulf the documents and scrolls laid out nearby. Kakashi remained focused and still, constantly forcing more chakra into the complex seal array while it did its work. As the seconds dragged on, beads of sweat began to form on his brow. A slight tightening around his eyes hinted at the strain he was beginning to feel.

It took over a minute for the seal to finish its work. When it was done, Kakashi sagged slightly, his mind exhausted, his blood pounding painfully behind his eyes. He instinctively reached up to wipe the sweat off his brow, only for his fingers to come into contact with cool metal. Kakashi smiled wryly as he looked at his smudged fingers. I forgot about that.

His hitai-ate, as well as his genins' hitai-ate, had been darkened with a make-shift mixture of tree sap, dirt, and the ashes from the last fire they had enjoyed, back in Fire Country. Hitai-ate were made with dull, unpolished steel, and their surfaces were not very reflective, especially at night. Even so, a bright light shone on a hitai-ate at night could reveal the ninja wearing it to a sharp-eyed observer. It was standard for shinobi to darken their hitai-ate, if they didn't take them off completely, for missions where stealth and anonymity were essential.

Kakashi quickly wiped his fingers off so that he wouldn't leave any smudges behind. The Copy Nin then wrapped his scroll up and stuffed it into his backpack. He gathered the documents and quickly returned them to their places. His sharp memory and years of experience and training allowed him to place them all in their proper places on the rack, but the documents he had found on the desk were trickier. Still, he quickly dumped the papers on the desk and began to shuffle them into the closest approximation he was capable of within the limited time frame he had left to him.

Sakura watched Naruto out of the corner of her eye. She could practically feel the frustration rolling off of him. To her surprise, she could understand it. Training with Naruto on a daily basis had often left her too tired to yell at him every time he opened his mouth to say something idiotic. She was often too tired to do anything but listen to him ramble, and occasionally what she heard surprised her. Naruto was frustrated at being left behind by Sasuke-kun, at being belittled and ignored. That had startled her; she had thought that simple jealousy was behind Naruto's quarrel with Sasuke-kun. But Sakura understood. She felt just a bit frustrated herself. It stung sometimes, and it hurt when she wasn't able to deny Kakashi-sensei's blunt criticisms.

Sakura had trained hard in the few weeks since their return from the Wave. At first, she hadn't thought that training with Naruto would show much in the way of results, but she had been forced to concede that she was improving. Not dramatically, of course, but she thought that she was better off than before she had started. Her control felt a little bit sharper, and her taijutsu seemed to come easier to her, felt more natural to her, than it had before. Naruto was a close-combat fighter, through and through, and she had been pushed to adapt to fighting him. Once she had pounded it through his thick skull that sparring with 'his Sakura-chan'—she shuddered—was not only all right but actually expected, Sakura had been hard pressed to keep up with him as Naruto's competitive spirit and obsession with becoming stronger shone through.

Truthfully, she had been astonished at how difficult—not to mention tiring—sparring with Naruto was for her. That wasn't to say that she had been helpless though. Naruto may have been faster and stronger than her, not to mention the fact that he could be surprisingly tricky when he wanted to be and his stamina was frankly ridiculous, but she had her own advantages. After all, Naruto was the 'dead-last', while she was the smartest kunoichi of her generation! She still occasionally wondered what kind of miracle had allowed him to scrape his way through the Academy, given the gaps in his basic shinobi training.

As soon as she adapted to being pressed into close combat with him, she quickly learned how to leverage her own talents against her loud teammate. Superior taijutsu training had helped her blunt the edge he held in strength and speed. Her precise chakra control had let her keep up with blond ball of energy and allowed her to pull of complex maneuvers that Naruto couldn't quite manage, giving her an edge when the two had fought in the trees or on top of the stream that ran through the training ground.

Then Sakura stopped playing fair, and Naruto learned why it never paid to underestimate her. It had taken her several days and several painful—and slightly humiliating—losses before she could bring herself to admit that Naruto was just better at planning on his feet than she was. It galled her to admit it, but in hindsight she knew she shouldn't have been surprised, given the way he had produced the plan to free Kakashi-sensei from Zabuza's water prison so quickly.

But while Naruto was good at situational tactics and improvisation, Sakura had a decisive edge when strategizing. Once she had applied her mind, and a judicious use of Kawarimi, Bunshin, and Henge—not to mention all the traps she had laid for Naruto over the past two weeks—her streak of losses had been replaced by a string of victories.

It had felt good to finally release the stress, fear, anger, and confusion that had been building up inside of her ever since the horrible mission in Wave Country. Being too tired and sore to walk properly had meant she was too tired to worry and second-guess herself, too tired to toss restlessly in bed, plagued by self-doubts and recriminations. For the first time since they had returned from the Wave, Sakura had started to sleep well, even if it was the deep, dreamless sleep of the exhausted. Even when she wasn't tired out of her mind from training, she didn't worry as much. It almost seemed as if her negative thoughts and emotions were being bled out of her pores along with her sweat.

She was stronger. She knew it, and she knew that it was only a matter of time before Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei realized it as well. When they did… Sakura wasn't quite sure what would happen, but she had spent a lot of time imagining it. But more than that, she was surprised that she felt pride at making Naruto stronger. He was learning to be more cautious, a side effect of stumbling headlong into Sakura's traps time and time again. His chakra control seemed bit more refined; at least, Sakura thought that was what his sudden ability to use a simple Bunshin to deceive her meant. But it was Naruto's ability to coordinate his Kage Bunshin effectively that she was the most proud of.

He had learned to disperse them, separate them into groups, and to keep them moving. Sakura had experienced first hand the dramatic difference in his battle tactics. At first, Naruto's Kage Bunshin had tended to act as one big mob, moving and attacking as one mass. Those that couldn't attack tended to just sit around and wait their turn, unless Naruto had some sneaky plan in the works. All in all, Naruto's Kage Bunshin had been wonderful fodder for her traps.

After having his Kage Bunshin slaughtered by Sakura's traps and stratagems for the better part of a week, Naruto had eventually seen the flaws in the way he used his favorite technique—or rather, they had been brutally highlighted for him. He had then begun experimenting with different tactics, and eventually he had sheepishly approached Haku—an ever-present observer in their training sessions—and asked for advice. When Naruto returned he had been grinning eagerly. The difference had been immediate, and it had been all Sakura could do to get rid of Naruto's clones. After a few days, her traps rarely caught more than one or two clones at a time.

She had found herself hounded, herded, and under pressure constantly. It had annoyed her, since the balance between them had once again swung towards Naruto. It was hard to believe that the talent-less Naruto could improve as quickly as he had—she was sure Sasuke-kun would have improved much quicker, but then he would never have needed her help in the first place—and Sakura was quite proud of her teaching abilities. Without her help, Naruto surely wouldn't have gotten even half as far.

Well, it was mostly due to her influence. Haku could take a lot of credit as well, which annoyed Sakura to no end. Once again, Sakura had been beaten by the older girl. It wasn't enough that Haku was older, better looking, and more skilled than Sakura; Haku was also at least as smart as her, and more perceptive besides. Sakura had not been sure as to how to help Naruto improve his usage of his favorite ninjutsu, but Haku had come up with a workable and highly successful answer almost instantly. A part of that was no doubt due to Haku's superior skill and practical experience, but that just made it rankle more.

Aren't I supposed to be the smartest kunoichi of my generation? Sakura had wondered, back in the safety of her room. Yet Haku's introduction into her life had eroded her certainty. Doubts had plagued Sakura constantly since their return from the Wave, not just about Sasuke, but about herself. At every turn, Haku stood above her. She had never felt so inferior in her life. Her big forehead and the issues it had caused her, and her admiration—and jealousy—of Ino both paled in comparison to how small she felt compared to Haku. The final, bitter nail on the coffin was the simple, almost overlooked fact that Naruto had gone to Haku for advice first. She hadn't even thought of it until she was almost asleep, but when she did sleep suddenly seemed far away.

Naruto was supposed to be in love with her. It was annoying, but it was one of the facts of her life. Naruto was a nuisance and a hindrance to her love for Sasuke-kun. He had continually made fun of her Sasuke-kun and alternatively asked, begged, and cajoled her to go on dates with him… except that he didn't, not anymore. He was annoying, but he had been a constant. Suddenly, she could no longer count on his feelings for her. She didn't actually like Naruto or anything, and the fact that he was an annoyance was unchanged. Yet, the fact that he had been taken away from her was… irritating.

Humiliating, her treacherous mind whispered.

It was frustrating. Sort of like being left behind by Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-kun was frustrating. Wasn't she stronger now? Hadn't she trained hard? She had pushed herself far harder than she ever had before in her training with Naruto. Sakura had trained until she could barely strand, until sweat had soaked deep into her clothes, pressing herself beyond what she thought were her limits. So why did Kakash-sensei and Sasuke-kun still look down on her? Sakura knew that she was capable enough to handle nearly anything this mission required of her, yet she was relegated to a supporting role.

Sakura could understand Naruto's frustration. She shared it. For the first time, she felt a need to prove herself to her team that had nothing to do with winning Sasuke-kun's affection. Not that she'd object to it… For a moment, the image of Sasuke-kun, his dark eyes glistening with manly tears while he fell to his knees and brought out a small, velvet-lined box darted across her mind.

Sakura blushed brightly, resisting the urge to giggle. She shook her head, clearing away the fantasy. What she really wanted was Sasuke-kun's respect, or at least acknowledgement that she wasn't useless. Sakura wanted Sasuke-kun to acknowledge her as a ninja, and she wanted Kakashi-sensei to acknowledge her, to trust her abilities, as well.

Sakura's lips quirked upward in a faint, wistful smile. Green eyes roved alertly, watching for any approaching threats. She listened intently, seeking to discern activity with her ears. Still nothing, she thought dully. Sakura had to hold back a yawn. Her adrenalin had long since faded, her pulse had slowed to a regular level, and she was bored. It had been a little over fifteen minutes since her teacher and her love had entered the general's tent to search it for documents related to their mission, and as of yet they hadn't come out.

Nothing else had happened in that time. She was left watching the uneventful camp and following the morbid, twisting trail of her thoughts, neither of which were particularly exciting. She understood the importance of being vigilant and she was far from falling asleep on the job, but she couldn't help but wish that her absent teammates would hurry up.

A glance showed that Naruto was still stewing. Her blond teammate was glaring at nothing in particular, or everything, even as his eyes moved watchfully. His fists were clenching and unclenching slowly, methodically. She guessed that he was imagining wrapping his hands around Kakashi-sensei's—or, more likely, Sasuke-kun's—throat. Sakura felt a tiny flash of indignation that Naruto was fantasizing about choking the object of her affections.

Sakura didn't dwell on that thought long, since Naruto's head jerked towards the tent swiftly. In the same moment, Sakura caught a flicker of movement from her peripheral vision. Alarmed, she followed Naruto's line of sight to the tent. Sakura's hand strayed down to her right leg, lightly touching the kunai holster. A head crowned by spiky silver hair popped out. It's only Kakashi-sensei, Sakura sighed, relieved. The rest of Kakashi-sensei's body soon followed, after he had made sure that the area was clear, and Sasuke-kun came after him.

Naruto and Sakura quickly rejoined the other two members of Team 7. As she drew near, Sakura could make out an odd bulge in Kakashi-sensei's backpack. A scroll poked out of a gap in the backpack's zipper. Kakashi-sensei followed her gaze.

"We've gotten what we needed," the jounin murmured quietly, speaking for the first time since they had entered the camp. "Now, let's get out of here."

A chill breeze tousled Kakashi's hair as he lounged on a high, broad tree branch. The moon was obscured by a light cover of clouds. A cacophony of cicadas sang around Team 7's camp site. Beneath that, the wind carried the occasional cries and howls of distant animals. If Kakashi listened closely, he could hear the groans and creaks of the trees around him as their branches and numerous broad green leaves were stirred by the wind.

Four hours had passed since Team 7 had made their swift escape from General Takamasa's staging ground. Only two hours had passed since his students had bedded down, leaving him with the first watch. The jounin had better things to do than sitting around in a dark forest and staring blankly at his surroundings, so he had summoned several nin-dogs and sent them to patrol a wide perimeter around the camp. He had then thrown up a hastily rigged camouflage around himself—essentially just a large net covered with leaves and twigs—to break up any stray light that the tree's natural cover didn't block. After that, he had fished out a flashlight from his pack and gone to work.

Despite the temptation, Kakashi had not pulled out his lovingly worn, much read copy of Icha Icha Paradise. His students would have been proud of him. Instead, he had diligently spent the past two hours poring over the scroll Team 7 had spent the day acquiring. Kakashi now knew the general location of most of the Waterfall daimyo's senior officers in the field. Moreover, he knew where their rally points were. His scroll, once a blank roll of paper, now revealed extensive details about Takamasa's day to day operations, including his budget, the daily amount of supplies his men consumed, and the training of his troops.

Kakashi frowned. He hadn't seen anything to indicate the reasoning behind the massive increase in military activity in Waterfall in the documents he had copied. They hadn't even discovered General Takamasa's immediate orders, much less his long term objectives. Of course, obtaining that information was not in his mission parameters, but… he had hoped to find something more useful. Still, his team's raid had gone a long way to fulfilling their objectives. They were making good time. But there was more work to be done.

While the information they had liberated from the General's tent had revealed much about the movement and positioning of Taki's forces, there were still close to a quarter of the daimyo's senior military officers unaccounted for. While it possible that they had remained behind in the capital, Kakashi wasn't about to declare the mission over until his team had confirmed things. More information was needed.

Kakashi earnestly hoped that they would find more information about why Taki no Kuni was mobilizing its military. It wasn't their job to do so, but it bothered him. He was not about to risk their mission because of his curiosity, but the whole situation felt off. What was the point behind it all? As far as Kakashi knew, Waterfall wasn't facing any external threats. It made even less sense when he considered that Takigakure no Sato had been destroyed recently in a civil war. The Country of Waterfall was in no position to start a war with anyone, and provoking the Country of Fire was just about the last thing it needed.

Even if the country was facing an external threat, taking such a provocative stance was the height of stupidity. The Country of Earth was not about to invade Waterfall. Not only did the small country lack the abundance of precious resources—or any other suitably favorable assets—that would make such a move profitable, such an action would pitch Iwa and Konoha into war. Waterfall was an ally of Hi no Kuni—in actuality, it was more like a satellite nation—and both countries had a long-standing mutual defense treaty. Any invasion of Taki would draw the Fire Country and Konoha into war with the aggressors. After Iwa's defeat—and by extension Tsuchi no Kuni's defeat—at the hands of Konoha in the last war, it was doubtful that they would be eager to match themselves against the Leaf anytime soon.

Essentially, it boiled down to the fact that alienating the Waterfall's greatest protector was an extremely foolish move, if Waterfall was in fact being threatened. The Fire daimyo and the Sandaime were worried, which meant that they thought that Taki no Kuni might cause direct harm to the Country of Fire, or at least serve to destabilize the region. To Kakashi, that seemed like a strong hint that the Waterfall daimyo was not worried about being attacked. But war against either Tsuchi no Kuni or Hi no Kuni, both members of the five great nations, would be suicide for Taki no Kuni.

If the Waterfall was indeed intending to start a war, the more likely targets would be Kusa no Kuni to the southwest or Na no Kuni to the east. But the Country of Grass possessed a shinobi village, while Waterfall's had been all but destroyed, and in any case Grass was allied with Earth and the Fire Country had no obligation to help Waterfall if it was the aggressor. Even attacking Na no Kuni was not rational. The Vegetable Country was a weak nation, with few urban population centers and a weak standing military. As its name implied, it was a land of agriculture. The population, which consisted largely of farmers, was distributed sparsely. Any attacker would find Na no Kuni ill-prepared to mobilize a defense.

Yet Na no Kuni was a prominent exporter of produce and an ally of the Country of Fire. If Taki attacked, it would soon find itself embroiled in a war against its mighty southern neighbor. Kakashi sighed. It doesn't make sense, he thought, mildly frustrated. He had been an ANBU captain for too long not to let such mysteries bother him, but he just couldn't see any rational explanation for the Waterfall daimyo's actions or determine the man's intent.

Team 7's jounin-sensei shrugged. No use worrying about it now, he decided. There would be plenty of time in the morning to contemplate things. Until then… Kakashi reached for the pouch that contained his book. His hand froze. I need sleep, he told himself firmly. Even so, his hand wavered. Just for a couple of minutes, he reasoned. The pounding headache behind his eyes and the sluggishness seeping through his limbs convinced him otherwise. Kakashi switched the flashlight off, wincing at the spike of pain as his pupils adjusted to the sudden absence of light despite how dim the artificial beam had been.

Carefully, he re-rolled the hard-won scroll and bound it with a length of wire. Once both the flashlight and the scroll were packed away, he slipped the straps of his pack around his shoulders, retrieved his makeshift camouflage netting, and hopped off his perch. For an instant, the sounds of the night were drowned out by the whistling roar of wind in his ears as the ground rushed up to meet him.

The Copy Ninja landed lightly, almost soundlessly, his knees bending smoothly in a well-practiced motion to absorb the shock. Had that been all there was to it, his legs would have snapped under the force of his impact. Fortunately for him, his legs, and every other ninja who had performed a similar maneuver, his chakra was up to the task. If released properly and at the right moment, it served to both cushion the impact and reinforce his legs to stand the rigors of leaping off a branch that was thirty feet off the ground. Proper application of chakra, combined with a good landing posture, also helped him minimize the noise his landing made and kept his feet from making any deep impression on the soil.

Team 7's jounin-sensei retrieved his sleeping bag from its resting place in the hollow between two roots, near the rest of his field gear. He put his pack down, cleared a relatively flat piece of ground of rocks and other debris, and laid out his sleeping bag. Preparations complete, Kakashi approached Sakura and quietly nudged her awake.

"Huh?" the girl groaned sleepily, sitting up.

"It's your turn to keep watch," Kakashi explained, pitching his voice low to avoid waking the two boys slumbering nearby.

Sakura extracted herself from her sleeping bag and staggered to her feet. She stood for a moment, rubbing the crust from her eyes. Kakashi made his way back to his sleeping bag and lay down. Within moments, exhaustion had pulled him into sleep's embrace.

Sakura drowsily gathered her equipment. She hooked her kunai holster through the gauze wrap on her right leg, tightened the strap securely, and tied her equipment pouch to her waist. The kunoichi stood for a moment, her mind still not finished dragging itself out of sleep. A faint breeze blew through the trees, causing Sakura to shiver. She rubbed her arms with her hands, trying to force some warmth into her skin.

Not for the first time, she regretted not being able to light a decent camp fire. Day after day of cold food, usually field rations, was more than monotonous—it was torture on a budding kunoichi! At night, the lack of fire meant that she spent nearly every moment outside of her sleeping bag cold. Taki no Kuni was farther north than Konoha, and she could acutely feel the difference at night.

Sakura sighed unhappily. She shook her head, trying to drive wistful thoughts of warm fires, hot baths, thick blankets, and Sasuke-kun—Shannaro!—out of her head. Just concentrate on watch duty, she scolded herself. Boring, monotonous, miserable watch duty… Sakura sighed again. Team 7's kunoichi looked around for a comfortable spot with a good line of sight. A flash of white peeked out from the deep shadows, catching her gaze. The scroll in Kakashi-sensei's pack, she realized. A surge of curiosity rose within her.

While she was desperately curious as to what Kakashi-sensei had learned, she knew that she needed to keep watch. Besides, if she waited a bit and let Kakashi-sensei slip deeper into sleep, she would have a better chance of sneaking a peek. Resigning herself to patience, Sakura settled for Kakashi-sensei's perch and leapt upward.

As the minutes passed by, Sakura could feel her curiosity growing, gnawing at her resolve. With nothing to do but think and watch the still, dark scenery, her mind constantly returned to the contents of the mysterious scroll Kakashi had emerged from the general's tent with. Still, she forced herself to wait patiently, even though the minutes seemed to drag on forever. A half an hour passed before Sakura reached the limits of her patience. He's as asleep as he's going to get by now, she rationalized as she dropped down off the branch.

Her heart pounded nervously as she stealthily crept her way to Kakashi-sensei's backpack. Kakashi-sensei may have been asleep, but it would not take much to wake him. Sakura didn't think that he would punish her harshly if he caught her reading the documents, but she was couldn't be completely sure of that. Either way, she did not want to be caught. Despite her worries, she reached her objective without incident.

Silently, carefully, she extracted her prize. Sakura held her breath, clutching the medium-sized scroll, and stayed absolutely still. When Kakashi-sensei didn't rise up, filled with righteous anger, and smite her, she smiled slightly in relief and retreated with her bounty. Unwittingly copying her sensei, Sakura returned to the high boughs of the tree she had picked out to serve as her vantage point. Unlike Kakashi-sensei, she didn't dare risk a light, and so had to make do with the snatches of silver moonlight that she could get.

Luckily for her, the bulk of the clouds had passed and there was more uninterrupted moonlight to be had than there had been earlier in the night. Sakura still had to contend with leaves blocking the light, but they were much easier to deal with than clouds and she did not have too much trouble finding a good spot to read in. Sakura carefully loosed the knot of steel wire that bound the scroll and opened it. The kunoichi scanned the scroll quickly, skimming through the haphazard collection of documents that had gone into its creation.

After almost an hour of fruitless reading, Sakura was just about ready to scream in frustration. Most of it was too dry and technical for her to understand, and the few bits that weren't seemed to be scattered randomly throughout the scroll. In fact the whole thing seemed to be a disorderly mess lacking any sense of rational organization whatsoever! She was just about to give up on the whole thing when a passage caught her eye.

Sandwiched between a table of meaningless figures and abbreviations and a report on the latrine duty roster a week and a half ago was an order commanding some lieutenant to take a company of men and move a convey of supplies east to an undisclosed location, designated as Point 3. It was the vagueness of the order that caught her eye. If it wasn't important, wouldn't the orders have been clearer? Sakura reasoned. She might have ignored it anyway, but Naruto's success earlier in the day at locating General Takamasa's camp, upstaging both herself and Sasuke-kun in the process, was still fresh in her mind.

Sakura smiled wryly, remembering Kakashi-sensei's words. Follow the food, huh?

Sakura quickly rewrapped the scroll and tied it shut. This was important. A hidden base was exactly the kind of thing they were supposed to discover. But if she told Kakashi-sensei about it, she would have to admit that she had read the scroll. A worried frown crossed her face as she recalled Iruka-sensei's lecture on information security. Sakura bit her lower lip, thinking hard.

She remembered her earlier aggravation and saw Naruto's clenched fists and weary, disappointed eyes again in her mind's eye. Another image of Naruto, back when he had been more innocent and less experienced, came to mind. Sakura remembered Naruto with blood seeping out of his left hand, a kunai clenched tightly in his right, and a look of defiance and determination on his face. Her own dissatisfaction at constantly being relegated to a supporting role returned forcefully. Even if she told Kakashi-sensei about what she had discovered, he'd just tell her to stand guard while the others did the real work. She would just be pushed aside again.

Sakura took a deep breath, her fists clenching. I'm stronger now, she thought unhappily, but Sasuke-kun still won't acknowledge my growth. I know it's not much, but still… Simmering beneath that was her irritation towards Kakashi-sensei. He never gives me a chance to do anything useful, Sakura frowned bitterly. During the mission to the Wave, she hadn't been ready or capable to truly do anything against their opponents. Her failure then still burned. Even though no one had said anything, she knew her performance then had made an impression in Sasuke-kun's—and Kakashi-sensei's—mind. It had not been a good impression.

But now things were different. Sakura wanted to prove herself to Sasuke-kun, to her teacher, even… Even to Naruto, she admitted to herself. It was Naruto who had helped her train and pushed her so hard, even if it was just to keep up with him. In a way, it was because of Naruto that she had even started to take her training seriously in the first place. If she hadn't had that odd impulse to apologize to him, she would never have become embarrassed and unwittingly blurted something about training out in the first place. If she hadn't, she probably would have never started training herself in earnest. If she hadn't, she might still be the weak girl that Sasuke-kun had deservedly held in contempt.

But I'm not that girl anymore!

Sakura's back straightened. The idea that had been tickling the back of her mind bloomed. A plan formed.

It didn't take her long to return the scroll to Kakashi-sensei's pack and arrange it to her satisfaction. Her task completed, her curiosity satisfied, Sakura crept away from her teacher. Quietly, she made her way over to Naruto's sleeping form. Sakura nudged him with her foot. When he didn't stir, she sighed and reached down to clap a hand over his mouth. With her other hand, she gave him a firm pinch to the cheek. The boy yelped, his eyes flying open. Fortunately, his cry had been quiet and her hand had proven enough to muffle the noise.

Sakura brought a finger up to her lips in a shushing gesture. Wide-eyed, Naruto nodded slowly. She released her hand.

"Sakura-chan…?" Naruto whispered quietly, bewildered.

"Get ready to move," Sakura whispered back.

Naruto looked around at their sleeping teammates and looked back at her, utterly lost. Sakura gave him a tight, almost savage, little grin. Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-kun were both talented shinobi. Indeed, they were geniuses… prodigies that were hailed by the village for their skill and potential. Sakura and Naruto were inevitably left in the shadows that they cast. For a long time, Sakura had been content with that.

Yet, now… For some reason, the thought of being stuck behind her teammates, unacknowledged and thought of as useless… it made her stomach churn. If she wanted to be respected, if she wanted Sasuke-kun to look at her and Kakashi-sensei to trust her, she needed to go out and make it happen. It wouldn't come to her. Sakura needed to step forward. Naruto had already done so, and yet it hadn't changed much in the minds of Team 7's geniuses. Sakura knew it wouldn't be easy and she knew it wouldn't be instant.

But still… I want to move forward. I don't want to just look up at others for my whole life. I want to be looked up to.

Sakura understood Naruto's frustration now. She understood it, she felt it, and now she would start fighting against it… just like Naruto did.

Now they had a new mission.

If Kakashi-sensei won't give me… give Naruto and me a chance to prove ourselves, then we'll just have to take that chance for ourselves.

The sound of the wind rushing past had built into a dull, constant roar. Naruto was beginning to feel the burn in his legs as he ran after Sakura through the hilly, temperate terrain of Taki no Kuni. Grass whispered as they passed, and occasionally a careless step brought the sharp exclamation of a twig snapping. Moonlight filtered through the canopy of the towering trees around them, lighting their way.

Naruto nimbly hopped over a small, wayward boulder and wondered, not for the first time, just what Sakura-chan was thinking. She was acting very strangely. It wasn't like her to act rebellious, and going off alone to who knows where without Kakashi-sensei's approval definitely fell under that category. The strange eagerness she had displayed when she had told him what she was planning had struck him as, well, strange. Since when did Sakura-chan need to prove herself? Naruto wondered, paraphrasing Sakura's hurried explanation.

Sneaking away from the team, going solo—or, in this case, duo—and infiltrating another military camp in search of information was a little bit above and beyond anything he had ever tried to do. He didn't think she had to go that far to prove her worth, not like him, but all of his arguments seemed to have gone in one ear and out of the other – that is, if they had went in at all. Besides, it was hard to argue and run at the same time.

Sakura wasn't like him. She was not a talent-less dropout. She had never faced the scorn, hatred, and neglect of an entire village. So why is Sakura-chan doing this? He had spent several minutes trying to wrap his mind around it, trying to find an explanation behind her sudden recklessness. But he could only come up with one. A surge of bitterness welled up within him as the conclusion he had been trying to avoid loomed large in his thoughts.

Sasuke.

Of course. It was always about Sasuke, wasn't it?

Sakura-chan is doing all of this to try and get Sasuke to look at her.

How could he not know? Her behavior was a mirror image of his, once upon a time—and perhaps it still was, even now. The circumstances were different and their roles were reversed, but it was the same. Naruto understood exactly what was driving her. The pain and despair, the denial, the fragile, treasured hope that bloomed fierce and bright when a new path to her dreams seemed to open up… he understood very well. He also knew from dismal experience what would likely follow. Every time he had ran down that bright road—thinking, this time, for sure!—it had turned out to be a mirage.

But he could not say it. Naruto tried, and found the words stifled in his throat. I can't do it. Even though he knew she would be hurt, even though he knew that it would not end well… he couldn't do it. Naruto couldn't step on her hope. Maybe it was just selfishness on his part. He didn't want her to blame him, and a small part of him hoped that she would learn better when she found out that it was all just an illusion.

Nothing had ever stopped him from trying. His own doubts, the words of others, they were all so small compared to that wild surge of hope, to the looming shadow of the dream ahead, so close that it seemed like it could be touched. I can't stop her, but I can go with her and make sure she doesn't get hurt. Even he had never done something quite so dangerous while trying to draw her attention. He was not about to let his teammates get hurt again.

He had failed dramatically in the Wave. His heroic—stupid, in hindsight—entrance had made him look like an idiot and had nearly gotten him killed, and the rest of his attempt to save Sasuke hadn't fared any better. In the end, Sasuke had saved him. It had been one of the most humiliating moments of his life. After all of his boasts, all of his promises, and all of his hard work, he had once again been saved by Sasuke. He had been so weak, so pitiful, that his rival had stepped in front of Haku's attack to save him. When Sasuke had died, or at least had seemed to die, his humiliation had evolved into horror beyond anything he had ever known.

It was the first time he had ever seen anyone die. The fact that it was his teammate that had been killed made it a hundred times worse. No matter how small or bitter or envious Sasuke made him feel sometimes, the arrogant Uchiha was still his teammate. They were both Konoha shinobi… comrades in arms. More over, Sasuke was his rival and his goal. Naruto would never surpass Sasuke if the jackass died, after all. The dead couldn't be beaten… not by the living. At that moment, Sasuke might have even been his… kind of, sort of… friend.

It had pretty much been one of the worst moments of his life. Perhaps it hadn't been as bad as it seemed, especially now that he knew Sasuke had lived through it, and it was largely overshadowed by the bloody events that had followed, but even so… Naruto was determined to never let his teammates down again. He would protect them with his life—even that idiot, Sasuke—and he was not about to let Sakura-chan put herself in harm's way alone.

They had been running eastward and a bit south away from Taka-something's camp at a steady pace for at least an hour, according to Naruto's reckoning, when Sakura began to slow down. Naruto slowed down to match her speed. When she stopped completely, Naruto stopped beside her.

"Sakura-chan?"

The girl didn't look at him, her eyes roaming the nearby ground intently.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked again, a bit louder than before.

"What?" Sakura asked distractedly.

"What are you doing?" She still hadn't told him the intricacies of her plan, and he had no idea where they were going.

"Looking for the trail," she muttered.

"What trail?" If anything, her answer left her even more bewildered.

Sakura turned to stare at him with her patented "What are you, stupid?" look. "You haven't noticed the tracks we've been following ever since we skirted General Takamasa's camp?" she asked disbelievingly.

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly, feeling about ten inches tall. "We've been following tracks?" he asked.

Sakura rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her search. Naruto frowned, cursing himself inwardly for his obliviousness. He hated it when he looked incompetent in front of others, and he hated it when he made a fool of himself in front of Sakura-chan most of all. Naruto resolved to redeem himself.

The air whined as ten Kage Bunshin appeared around Naruto. Sakura jerked her head back to stare at Naruto, startled by the noise and the sudden appearance of the clones. Naruto barked out a quick string of orders and the shadow clones sprinted off in different directions, searching for any signs of human passage. Naruto merely grinned when he saw that Sakura was looking at him.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan!" he exclaimed boisterously. "We'll find the tracks you're looking for!"

Sakura only nodded, smiling. If they did, it would save her the work. But she wasn't able to leave it up to Naruto. Sakura began moving forward again, her eyes scanning the surroundings. Naruto stared after her for a moment, nonplussed, before he realized that he was being left behind.

"Wait up, Sakura-chan!"

Five minutes later, one of Naruto's clones came barreling through the trees. The clone spotted the convoluted mass of orange, yellow, pink, and red as he passed overhead and immediately adjusted his course to land back in front of them.

"I found tracks, twenty meters that way!" the Kage Bunshin explained excitedly, throwing an arm out to point in the indicated direction.

Naruto grinned proudly. "Show us," he said grandly, feeling smug. One of his clones had found the tracks after all. His copy nodded and darted off the way it had come. Sakura ran after him. Naruto stood there for a moment, his arms folded, his head nodding in satisfaction. Several seconds passed before he realized that he was being left behind again. "Crap!" Naruto cursed, sprinting after Sakura.

When he reached the clearing, he found his clone gesturing enthusiastically at the various signs of passage he had found. Sakura turned face him as he ran up to her, nodding, "This is it."

Naruto studied the tracks in the ground, seeing the faint groves where wagons had passed, the hoof-marks embedded in the dirt where horses or some other pack animals had passed, and the faint hints of boot prints. He tried to commit it to memory. Now I know what to look for. Naruto looked up at Sakura, "Sakura-chan, what exactly are we doing?" She had given him a brief, rushed explanation before hustling him out of his sleeping bag, but it had left him with a lot of questions.

Sakura hesitated, biting her lip. "I read Kakashi-sensei's scroll," Sakura admitted.

Naruto's eyes widened for a moment. That sounded more like something he would do rather than Sakura-chan. He grinned. "Really?" he asked excitedly. "What did it say?"

"Most of it was worthless," she said dismissively, dimming Naruto's excitement. "But, I did find a lead. General Takamasa sent a convoy of supplies to a place he called Point 3, and the orders were extremely vague. I could only find out that they went east, and that they left through the south entrance of the camp."

"That's why we went back there," Naruto muttered, nodding sagely as if he had known that all along.

"Right," Sakura agreed, humoring him.

"So… we're going to find this 'Point 3' place?"

Sakura nodded eagerly, "We didn't find anything out about their plans or any really detailed information about the situation in General Takamasa's tent, but if Point 3 really is a classified outpost of some sort…"

"It might have more stuff about their plans," Naruto completed her sentence.

"Exactly."

"But…" he trailed off, frowning thoughtfully.

"What?" Sakura asked anxiously.

"Why are we doing this?" Naruto wondered aloud. "Shouldn't we have waited 'till tomorrow and told Kakashi-sensei?"

"No!" Sakura said quickly.

"Eh? But…"

"Naruto," Sakura began earnestly, "don't you think Kakashi-sensei doesn't trust us?"

Naruto blinked, startled. "What do you mean?" he asked uncertainly.

"Think about it," she urged. "Aren't we always being treated like little kids?" she asked, conveniently ignoring the fact that they were little kids. "We always have to play support roles. In training, he always focuses on our faults," she pointed out. They both knew that it wasn't entirely unjustified, but that didn't lessen the sting. Besides, he hardly did anything to really help them correct their weaknesses.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed uncertainly, feeling a flicker of irritation at Kakashi-sensei rising within him, "but still…" He remembered the trust Kakashi-sensei had shown him after the battle on the bridge.

Sakura took a deep breath. She didn't want to do it, but she knew that she was out of options. She went for the kill. "Kakashi-sensei trusts Sasuke-kun to do things well all of the time," Sakura murmured.

Naruto stiffened, "That's…"

"Don't you want to show them that we can do just as well?" Sakura prompted.

Naruto's fists clenched. In a flash, memories of Kakashi-sensei comparing him to Sasuke tumbled through his mind. Every time Kakashi-sensei picked Sasuke to carry out an important task, every time Kakashi-sensei took Sasuke aside to give him tips or help him train, every time he… Naruto took a deep, calming breath. What would it be like, he wondered, to be held up against Sasuke's example and not be found wanting for once?

Naruto met Sakura's eyes, seeing the determination within them. I've never seen her like this before, he mused. It felt sort of strange, seeing Sakura-chan so determined about something other than Sasuke. He nodded slowly. "Okay," he assented.

Sakura beamed. "Great!" she exclaimed, hiding her relief. For a moment, she had feared that Naruto wouldn't follow her. But it seemed like she could still rely on him when it really counted. "Let's go!"

"When?"

Sasuke woke to the sound of a quiet but intense discussion. He blinked, forcing his heavy, sleep-crusted eyelids to move despite their reluctance.

"They passed the perimeter almost two hours ago," a deep, unfamiliar voice replied.

Sasuke began to sit up. His muscles protested, stiff from sleeping on the hard ground.

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" Kakashi's voice asked, exasperated.

"I assumed you already knew," replied the other voice. Sasuke could practically see the shrug that accompanied the statement. "They are your students, after all."

Kakashi sighed heavily. "Find their trail and follow it," he ordered.

The deep baritone grunted affirmatively and the owner disappeared before Sasuke could get a good look at whoever Kakashi had been talking to. Sasuke's teacher rose to his feet and briskly began donning his equipment.

"Kakashi," Sasuke called, his voice still somewhat hoarse from sleep. He cleared his throat.

The silver-haired jounin looked towards Sasuke. "You're up," Kakashi observed, not stopping his preparations.

"What's going on?"

"I'd like to know that myself," the older man replied. After a pause, he continued, "Naruto and Sakura are gone."

Sasuke stared. Did the man think he was an idiot? He had noticed that the moment he had awoken. "…And?"

"I don't know where they went or why," Kakashi replied briskly, slipping his pack over his shoulders, "so I'm going after them."

Sasuke stood, "Then I'll…"

"Stay here," Kakashi interrupted.

Sasuke scowled. "Why?" he demanded.

"You won't be able to keep up," Kakashi replied bluntly. "It's better that you stay here."

The young Uchiha's jaw clenched tightly as he glared at Kakashi. The jounin met his gaze unflinchingly, and it was Sasuke who looked away first. "Fine," he bit out.

"Don't do anything stupid," Kakashi cautioned.

Sasuke scoffed, still angry at his teacher for the implication that he was deficient in some way. "I'm not like those two," he replied coldly.

Silence was his only reply. Sasuke turned his head back towards Kakashi, but the jounin was already gone.

Point 3, Sakura and Naruto came to discover, was disturbingly close to the border of Fire Country. The mysterious outpost turned out to be a small camp, nestled deep in a dense wood of towering redwoods growing in a small valley between a network of rolling hills. A creek sliced through the hills and ran through the center of the woods. After marking the location on her map, Sakura had noted that they were less than two kilometers from the great river that carved out Hi no Kuni's northern border.

The ethereal crescent that was the moon cast the valley below them in dim silver light. It hung low in the western sky. Sakura cast a worried glance at it. We don't have that much time left.

"Sakura-chan."

Startled, Sakura turned to look at Naruto. The blond boy looked strangely serious. It was sort of unsettling to see Naruto look like that. She never had any good memories of Naruto wearing that expression. Of course, she didn't have any good memories of Naruto, the nuisance that he was, but still… Sakura felt goose bumps on her arms that had nothing to do with the chill breeze.

Nothing's going to go wrong, she told herself reassuringly. "Yes?" she asked.

"The watch is changing," he nodded towards the camp. "If we're going, we should move now."

Sakura stared at him, amazed. Is this really Naruto? Sakura wondered. Since when did Naruto think about things like the best time to slip through an enemy's security?

"Sakura-chan," Naruto said again, more urgently this time.

The kunoichi snapped out of her musings. "Right," she replied, adrenaline beginning to course through her bloodstream. Sakura nodded to Naruto, "Let's go."

Quickly, silently, they slipped through the shadows, darting from cover to cover as they made their way down the gently sloped hill they had chosen to make their approach from. Despite the color of their clothing, they were trained shinobi. To any non-shinobi, their ability to use the environment, lighting, and subtle distractions to conceal themselves would seem nearly supernatural—if they were noticed at all. Naruto and Sakura may have been rookie genin, and their clothes weren't considered stealthy by conventional wisdom, but unless they made a mistake it would have been extremely difficult for the soldiers of Taki no Kuni to spot their approach.

Dear Hikari,

Are you doing well? How is your health? Thank you for your last letter. I am doing well. I have gotten a new posting that…

Katsuo hummed thoughtfully, lightly tapping the pen against his lower lip. He closed his eyes, the sounds of the slowly waking forest and the burbling creek next to him filling his ears. Dawn had broken not a half-hour past, but the sun had yet to peek over the canopies of the massive trees soaring skyward around him, leaving the camp in submerged in the eerie pre-dawn twilight. I'm not supposed to say too much, he thought to himself. He didn't want his letter call attention from the censors.

I have been promoted and transferred to a new company, and the pay is much better. I am sending some money back with this letter. Please use it to buy your medicine.

The young soldier nodded, satisfied. It was true, and it gave nothing away. For a moment, his expression tightened sorrowfully at the thought of his little sister. She was the reason that he had enlisted in the first place. The life of a thief was too dangerous and unpredictable for him to properly care for his sister. But he had had few other options.

Few were willing to give work to a young orphan, much less one that was whispered to be a thief, in the small port town of Mikan, which was located on the cold, damp northern coasts of Taki no Kuni. Once he had discovered that she was terminally ill with some disease the doctor had called 'Wasting Lung', he had desperately sought to gather enough money to pay for treatment. The money he made from stealing hadn't been enough, and in any case his income wasn't steady.

His search for work had been full of failures and disappointments. He simply didn't have the skills to win and hold a steady job in the face of competition, most of whom were willing to work for less than he was. Eventually, Katsuo had found his way into the army. They were more than willing to take him on, and Katsuo was willing to join in return for steady pay. It had meant leaving Hikari-chan. Katsuo would never have done it if he had not been desperate, and he knew that the local orphanage, run by a stern, matronly grandmother named Haruko, would take Hikari in. It was Katsuo she had had a problem with, and with him leaving...

Eventually, his skills at sneaking around and his deft touch with a knife had caught the attention of the higher ups. He had been promoted and transferred to the 9th Company, which he soon learned performed clandestine operations. Despite his worries, Katsuo and the men in his immediate unit had yet to be called on to do anything truly dangerous or dirty. Still, he was uneasy about sitting so close to the border with Fire Country.

Katsuo had no idea what was going on or why they were there, but he had a feeling that it could become very messy for them if things went wrong. But the pay was good. He had no complaints about that, and if things went well it wouldn't be long before he could gather enough money to send Hikari to see a good doctor in the capital, or maybe even a medical nin.

…hope you are well, and tell Haruko-baasan "Thank you" for me—even if she is a crusty old bitch.

Katsuo considered that last line for a moment before scratching it out. Hikari-chan wouldn't be amused. She was a gentle girl, and she always scolded him when he insulted or made fun of others.

…take care of yourself. I will see you soon, and we will go fishing together on the rocks again…

A rustling noise caught Katsuo's attention. Shit! Katsuo swore inwardly. I'm supposed to be on watch! If that's Sergeant Goro… He shivered with dread. But it wasn't his demonic sergeant. Two forms emerged from the shadows, following the creek away from the camp. Katsuo squinted, barely making out their worn uniforms in the dark. Are they new? Katsuo wondered. I've never seen them before. But something in the way the pair moved caused Katsuo to reconsider. Greenies didn't move so quietly. These two had clearly been in the special operations division for longer than Katsuo had.

Still, they weren't his sergeant, nor did they seem to be officers. Katsuo quickly put his pen to paper to finish his letter before the other soldiers approached close enough to read it and see all of the sentimental things he had written to Hikari.

…feel better soon. I will come home to visit as soon as possible.

Love,

Katsuo

He stood, stuffing the letter into his right pocket. "Good, uh, morning," Katsuo greeted formally, just in case they really were his superiors. They still hadn't emerged completely into the light of the dying fire behind him, so he couldn't make out too many details of their appearances.

"Good morning," the one to his right, the closest to the creek, replied.

"Hi," the one to his left greeted casually.

Silence yawned, broken only by the sounds of nature whispering around them. "Are you new here?" Katsuo asked hesitantly, breaking the silence. "I don't think I've ever seen you around."

"We just got in," the one on the left said, sounding almost… amused? Katsuo frowned.

There was a grunt as the other soldier elbowed his comrade. "We were transferred here recently," the one on the right corrected.

"I see." There was something very strange about the pair, about the whole encounter. Katsuo felt his uneasiness growing.

A gust of wind rustled countless leaves as it flowed over the woods. For a moment, a stray ray of sunlight shone down on the strange pair, revealing two nondescript soldiers. One was tall and stocky; the other was slender and vaguely feminine looking. Both were taller than Katsuo, and he wasn't short, but other than that they looked fairly ordinary. The slender one on the right was holding a tightly bound parcel. They looked kind of like… Documents? Katsuo wondered.

Suddenly suspicious, Katsuo frowned and lightly touched the wakizashi at his hip. "Do you have identification?" he asked, pitching his voice in his best imitation of the "Demon" Goro.

They looked at each other. Finally, the one on the left shrugged and spread his hands apart. Instinctively, Katsuo thumbed the guard of his wakizashi, freeing the blade. Then everything went wrong. The brown parcel was launched into the air. An instant later, the feminine imposter was upon him.

Katsuo instinctively stepped back and to the side, hoping to enter at an angle and counterattack. His wakizashi flashed out of its sheath almost as if it were alive, a shark smelling blood. It sliced harmlessly through air. Katsuo gaped even as his body instinctively followed through with the slash. Where did he go? Katsuo wondered frantically, panic setting in.

The world darkened. Katsuo looked up, terrified. A sandaled foot hung above him, and suddenly it was as big as the sky.

Naruto winced at the wet crunch of the young sentry's nose caving in reached his ears. There was a poof and a cloud of smoke as Sakura-chan's Henge was broken. The soldier staggered back, clutching his bloody, broken nose. He moaned and collapsed to his knees. Naruto waited nervously for the kunoichi to take action as the soldier looked up, freezing in surprise at the sight of a young pink-haired girl. Abruptly, Sakura was in his face again.

Naruto's blood seemed to freeze in his veins as he followed the sentry's gaze to Sakura's forehead. Sakura-chan's hitai-ate, he thought numbly. Somehow during their infiltration of the hidden camp or during their quiet escape, the sooty layer concealing her allegiances had been washed or wiped off. The soldier's mouth opened, working silently.

Ko-

Sakura raised a fist to deliver the knockout blow.

-no-

The soldier's eyes slid shut. Sakura's hand blurred

-ha.

Naruto watched the soldier slump to the ground, unconscious. He couldn't muster so much as a response as Sakura-chan turned to him and smiled, happy to have kept the sentry from alerting the camp to their presence. Limply, he allowed her to take the documents that he had caught from her earlier toss back.

"…to prepare for war."

Sakura-chan said something; he knew she had since he saw her mouth move. But for Naruto, the outside world had gone silent. Every heart beat boomed like thunder in his ears. It almost seemed like he could hear his blood flowing through his veins.

"…international incident."

Things had gone so well. Naruto had dared to hope that they would actually pull it off. They had slipped into the camp without any trouble, and a combination of stealth, the clever application of Henge, and a healthy dash of luck had carried them through to the commander's tent. There had been a virtual treasure trove of information. There hadn't really been time to sort through it all, but their hurried inspection had revealed dispatches from various generals, coded communications between initials, and even a sheaf of letters from the daimyo himself.

"He accepts all of Konoha's burdens and takes responsibility for everything."

Hokage. Sacrifice. He had decided that one meant the other. To be Hokage was to sacrifice yourself for the sake of Konoha, for the Will of Fire. Part of that meant accepting the responsibility, and the blame, for Konoha shinobi.

Sakura-chan.

Naruto closed his eyes tightly, his hands balling into fists. His nails dug deep into his palms.

"Naruto, if you get caught… if any of us gets found out by someone…"

Sakura-chan's worried voice forced Naruto to open his eyes. His fists uncurled, his muscles relaxed, and tension flowed out of him. Naruto smiled.

"Silence them."

"I'm okay, Sakura-chan," Naruto reassured the girl cheerfully.

"Are you sure?" Sakura gave Naruto a worried look. It wasn't like him to space out so completely, and for a second the expression on his face had… scared her.

"I'm fine," Naruto repeated.

Sakura nodded reluctantly, accepting his reassurances. "Let's go then," she said, turning to leave. Naruto didn't follow her. She turned quizzically, "Naruto?"

Naruto's smile hadn't wavered, "You go on ahead, Sakura-chan."

"What?" she asked, startled. "Why?"

"Just go," he urged.

Sakura frowned, "I'm not going to leave you here."

"I, uh… have to take a piss!" Naruto blurted.

"What!?" Sakura recoiled. "That's… That's…" Eww... "Don't be so… Ugh!" Sakura shook her head, disgusted. "Can't you hold it?" she demanded finally, flustered.

"But Sakura-chan…" Naruto whined, pressing his knees together. The way her face scrunched up might have seemed funny, in some other time. Somehow, Naruto didn't think he'd ever laugh again. "I really, really need to go," Naruto pleaded, pitching his voice higher than usual.

Grass rustled as Sakura turned sharply on her heel, rolling her eyes and snorting as she did so. Honestly! Sakura thought uncharitably with patented female scorn. Only Naruto would decide to take a… to use the bathroom so close to an enemy camp. A faint embarrassed blush stained her cheeks. I don't know why I put up with him. "Fine," Sakura sighed. She looked back at him. "But hurry up! If you don't catch up in five minutes, I'm leaving you behind," she warned. An instant later she was gone.

Naruto's smile faded. The genin made his way to the unconscious soldier. Naruto stood above him, hesitating.

If I leave him here, they'll find his body soon, Naruto thought grimly. Kakashi had been very clear after their raid on General Takamasa's camp about minimizing the evidence of their presence. I have to make him disappear, Naruto concluded. Getting a firm grip on the guard, Naruto dragged him over to the bank of the creek. "Good thing we're downstream from the camp," he muttered. He didn't want to leave a lot of blood staining the ground for someone to find.

Moving quickly, Naruto gathered a pile of small rocks and began to stuff the soldier's pockets and jacket with the makeshift weights. He paused as a slip of paper fell out of one of the man's pockets. It floated in the air in an exaggerated zigzag pattern, finally coming to rest on the wild green grass that grew near the creek. After a moment, Naruto shrugged, putting it out of his mind. Naruto grunted as he picked the soldier up fully. A foot lightly tested the gentle current of the stream. Naruto stepped forward confidently and walked out to the center of the creek.

Clear water flowed beneath his feet. Gentle dawn rays cast long shadows around him. The woods were coming alive with morning birdsong. Naruto looked down. It's dark, he noted clinically, nodding. It was deep enough to hide the body for a while, and the gentle current would keep the body moving away from the camp without throwing it up on the banks. Naruto stared at the bloody, broken face of the luckless sentry.

Don't think, he ordered himself savagely. If this man survived, Konoha would be plunged into war… and it would be Sakura-chan's fault. It would be his fault too, for not taking responsibility and dealing with her mess so that it didn't come back to hurt her or the village. Wasn't that what the Hokage did?

A shiver worked its way through his body. Damn it. Why had he been so stupid? From the beginning, he had had his misgivings. Why hadn't he made her wait until Team 7 could investigate as a whole unit? "Individual actions that disrupt teamwork will put your comrades in danger, or even get them killed." Those had been Kakashi-sensei's words.

Teamwork.

Naruto grimaced. Either way, he was caught in the vice of Kakashi-sensei's teachings. Going off on their own had not been good teamwork. But he couldn't abandon Sakura-chan either… that would have been even worse. "In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum. But… those who abandon their comrades are even worse scum, right?" Naruto sighed.

Metal clinked faintly as Naruto reached back and removed a kunai from his equipment pouch. Holding the man up with one arm, Naruto considered the kunai clenched in his right hand. He didn't want to see blood again, didn't want to feel it splash across his hands or stain its scent into him. Didn't he already have enough nightmares? I could just drop him, Naruto reasoned. He'll drown, and it'll be over.

"Naruto, if you're going to do something, do it with everything you've got. Don't do things half-way," Iruka-sensei's voice whispered from the depths of his mind. Iruka-sensei had been trying to convince him to study more and stop skipping classes, but it had been one of the first times anyone had ever given him fatherly advice. Naruto still treasured those words. He chuckled miserably. I never thought that Iruka-sensei's words would come back to haunt me… especially not at a time like this.

Iruka-sensei was right. Naruto had to make sure. He couldn't leave it to the river. But still he hesitated.

Haku… what would she think? Naruto wondered. He closed his eyes, trying to imagine her response.

"Do what you think is best, Naruto-sama."

Naruto opened his eyes, breathing hard. Shit.

A flock of birds noisily took flight, searching for their first meal of the day.

Threads of crimson slowly wound their way through the clear, shimmering water. There was a splash, and the waters ran red.

Sakura leapt into the trees, leaving Naruto behind without a backward glance. She jumped from branch to branch, her mouth stretched into an elated grin. Not even Naruto's crude words had dampened her spirits. Everything had gone as planned… well, almost everything. It went better than I planned! Sakura thought smugly, her grin widening.

Their infiltration had gone smoothly. The dawn may have threatened to illuminate the camp, but for a short time it had cast long shadows. They had slipped through the perimeter easily enough, and a combination of Henge and good old fashioned stealth had carried them through the rest of the camp. Naruto had proven surprisingly reliable—well, she'd had to remind him to get rid of his stupid whisker marks, but other than that he had done pretty well. Their experience in raiding Takamasa's camp, and a bit of luck, had helped them locate the commander's tent quickly.

It had been a struggle to decide what to take, but Naruto had solved that quickly enough by just grabbing everything he could lay his hands on. Sakura was still surprised that they had been able to fit it all in the envelope they had liberated, even as big as it was. By the time they had snuck out of the commander's tent the sun had begun climbing the sky in earnest. By mutual agreement, they had decided to trust their Henge disguises and acting ability to get them out of the camp.

It would have worked too, if Naruto hadn't goofed off! Sakura thought indignantly. Her indignation did not last for long. She had handled it. She had saved the day, so to speak. Sakura had saved the day, not Sasuke-kun, not Kakashi-sensei, not even Naruto! She had done it! Sakura had found the secret encampment, infiltrated it, retrieved valuable information, and gotten out, all without being discovered. Admittedly, Naruto had helped, but it had been her operation.

Kakashi-sensei would have to admit that her plan had worked brilliantly. Their execution of the "mission" had been nearly flawless, and Sakura felt charitable enough to let Naruto's mistake slide. The fight flashed through her mind again. She remembered Naruto's helpless shrug as the guard had demanded to see identification. If Naruto had helped her stall for more time, she could have come up with something to tell the soldier, but instead the guard had drawn his short sword.

Time had slowed down. She had felt herself moving even before the soft sigh of steel had reached her ears. She had thrown their precious cargo to Naruto even as her eyes had caught the glint of steel, and then... Sakura still wasn't sure why she had moved so quickly. Perhaps it had been the adrenaline; perhaps she had still felt the desire to prove herself. The soldier's moves had been so obvious to her. It was as if he had been moving in slow motion. In some ways, he had been. She had never really fought against anyone who wasn't a ninja before. Her opponent had not had the reflexes that came from years of shinobi training. He had lacked the chakra training that allowed shinobi to perform superhuman feats.

That was probably why he had not thought to look up until too late. She had jumped to avoid his painfully slow opening attack, and her first kick had shattered his nose and sealed her victory. Her follow-up punch had knocked the hapless soldier out and the matter had been closed. Naruto's mistake had been corrected and their escape route was clear. Her performance had been flawless, one that even Sasuke-kun would envy. When she told him about it, he would be so jealous that he hadn't come with them.

Surely Sasuke-kun would beg her to take him with her next time, and then… Sakura giggled, blushing. He would have to admit that she was stronger. Finally, Sasuke-kun would see that she was strong enough to stand beside him… Shannaro! Sakura's silly grin faded a bit as she came to a stop on the next large branch in her path, still high amidst the trees.

Now isn't the time, she scolded herself half-heartedly. They still had to get back to camp. Once they got back she could describe her great adventures to her heart's content, and she wouldn't even have to tell Kakashi-sensei that she had snuck a glance at his scroll. Instead, Sakura would explain that she had remembered seeing the dirt track heading out of Takamasa's camp and had decided to scout it. Yeah! All they had to do was get back to camp, preferably before Kakashi-sensei woke up, and…

And where the hell was Naruto and what was taking him so damned long!? If he's goofing off again, I'm going to kill him! Sakura thought angrily. It had been more than five minutes since she had left him… closer to ten, actually. The kunoichi huffed in irritation, deciding that she had waited long enough. She turned around and made her way back through the brush, intent on finding Naruto and giving him a piece of her mind. It took her about five minutes to make her way back to where she had left Naruto.

Sakura nimbly leapt out of the trees, landing softly on the woodland soil. Naruto stood at the bank of the creek, staring intently at the worn, crinkled piece of paper clutched between his hands. She absently noted that he had released his Henge. Sakura sucked in a deep breath, ready to yell at him, before noticing how pale he was. His hands are shaking, Sakura noted worriedly. Naruto's mouth was moving, soundlessly forming words that only he could hear. Bright, wet lines sliced down his cheeks, drawing attention to his whisker-like marks.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked timidly, her voice soft. "Are you okay? We should get…" she trailed off, her eyes widening. "Blood," she whispered. There were small spots of blood on the paper Naruto was holding. Dark stains stood out starkly on the cuffs and torso of his jacket. Naruto's hands were clean, but… Wet, Sakura realized. As if he had washed his hands.

"Naruto!" Sakura said urgently, still not understanding.

But he was uninjured. Naruto didn't respond, didn't seem to hear her, and his dumbstruck look remained fixed. Her stomach knotted in suspicion.

No.

Sakura looked around frantically, but the unconscious body of the sentry was gone. I just knocked him out, Sakura thought numbly. He can't have gotten up yet… he just…Blood was seeping into Naruto's clothes, the body was gone, and everything was wrong. Abruptly, the forest was gone, the camp was gone, and there was only Naruto. There was only Naruto, with blood dripping from his hands and hollow, terrible red eyes, standing tall on the bridge amidst the corpses of mercenaries.

Palm met face with bruising force. Naruto staggered, situational awareness and rational thought surging back into his mind like an incoming arctic tide. Naruto looked up from the bloodied letter in his hand.

"Sakura-chan," he whispered hoarsely.

Disbelief, confusion, and anger warred for control of her suddenly pale features. Another slap hammered into his unmolested cheek. "Why?" she tried to scream, but it came out as a half-broken whisper that hurt Naruto far worse than any slap.

Naruto said nothing. There was nothing he could say. He had taken the burden from her unknowing shoulders, and now it was his to bear. Even if she hated him, he would protect her. It was a promise.

"Monster."

For an instant, Naruto feared he would break. His heart crumpled in his chest. But… he had done what had to be done. "I'm sorry," he whispered brokenly through his swollen jaw, his final farewell to the hapless guard… to Katsuo.

"You… you're sorry?" Sakura growled. Something inside of her snapped; disbelief gave way to hot, unforgiving rage.

A horn blew, low and mournful. Distant shouts washed over them. Naruto's mind cleared instantly, an icy calm settling over him. His hands—washed clean but somehow still bloody, Sakura, Katsuo… they didn't matter anymore. They were still in danger. Naruto roughly intercepted Sakura's incoming slap, gripped her forearm tightly, and dragged her back into the trees, away from the hornet's nest they had stirred up.

Day dawned in a gentle wave of pink and gold clouds. Landscape blurred into a mess of indistinguishable colors and the sounds of the waking woods were drowned out by the howling wind. Kakashi followed the scents of his two wayward students at a breakneck pace. Canine howls occasionally pierced through the dull roar of wind in his ears. Kakashi adjusted his course accordingly, following the lead of his wide-ranging nin-dogs.

He broke through the end of that particular patch of trees, landing smoothly on the grass and continuing his pursuit without losing any momentum. He caught sight of Naruto and Sakura a minute later, headed almost straight towards him. Kakashi slowed his pace and eventually came to a stop. They're okay, he thought, relieved. Team 7's jounin-sensei set his face into a stern frown that his mask did nothing to soften and drew himself up to his full height, folding his arms, the very picture of displeasure.

They caught sight of him and changed their course to meet him. Kakashi's eyes narrowed as Naruto and Sakura drew nearer. That's blood, he observed, spotting the stains on Naruto's clothes. For an instant, he feared that one of them was injured. After a moment, he ruled that out. They're not wounded. It's not their blood.

His students came to a stop in front of him. Kakashi said nothing, content to stare at them. Sakura soon began fidgeting, unable to meet his disappointed gaze. Naruto stood still, his expression strangely flat. Kakashi felt a sliver of concern work through him again. It wasn't like Naruto at all. He glanced at the bloodstains again. Naruto…

"Report," Kakashi snapped.

Sakura opened her mouth, but no words were forthcoming. She worried at her lower lip with her teeth. The girl was clearly thinking.

"Kakashi-sensei, I…"

"Not you," Kakashi interrupted Naruto harshly. "Sakura, report." Sakura hesitated. Kakashi focused on his anger and directed a sharp spike of killing intent towards the girl, in no mood to listen to her excuses.

Green eyes widened, and Sakura could not contain the fearful gasp that escaped her. Her limbs quivered as her instincts screamed furiously at her to runto hide, to get away from the predator in human form standing before her. It was gone as quickly as it had appeared. Sakura slumped, tears welling in her eyes.

"Sakura," Kakashi repeated more gently, but with a firm note of command underlying his words, "report."

Words tumbled out of Sakura. There were no more delusions of lying to Kakashi-sensei, even by omission.

"…and then I came back to find Naruto covered in blood and the body was gone," Sakura said dully. For an instant, fire sparked in her eyes as she turned to give her blond teammate a venomous glance. "There was an alarm from the camp after that, so we ran," she continued. "After a while, we met you here."

Kakashi rubbed his temples, feeling the hints of a headache forming. "Naruto?" he prompted. "Your report?"

The jounin grimaced as he listened to Naruto's report. It collaborated with Sakura's version of events, for the most part. This isn't good, he thought, looking at the boy's flat expression. He's repressing his emotions again, perhaps even more than last time.

"…knocked the guard out. I convinced her to leave so that I could finish him off," Naruto said, his voice a dull monotone as he discussed killing a man in cold blood. Kakashi saw Sakura's fists tighten, saw the flash of revulsion and anger cross her face, and sighed.

"Why did you kill the guard?" Kakashi asked severely, preempting Sakura's explosion.

Naruto looked him squarely in the face. "You told me that if anyone discovered us, we needed to silence them," Naruto answered, a hint of anger in his voice.

Sakura's eyes widened as she rounded on Kakashi, "What!?"

Kakashi nodded. "You did well," he told Naruto gravely.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

"Sakura, what do you think would happen if we were discovered stealing military information from Taki no Kuni?"

She faltered. "I…"

"At best, it would cause a diplomatic incident and the souring of relations between Waterfall and Fire Country. Trade would break down, and the economy would suffer. More likely, it would cause open hostility, probably even war," Kakashi said bluntly.

"But…"

"But you didn't think about that, did you?" Kakashi interrupted. Sakura flinched. "Sakura, what were you thinking?" he sighed.

"I wanted…" her voice trembled, "I just wanted to show you that I… that we were capable of doing things…" Sakura trailed off. "I wanted you to trust my abilities," she admitted softly.

Kakashi stared at her. That's what this was about? His students had very nearly gotten themselves killed and created an international incident on some sort of attention seeking whim? Kakashi forced himself to count to ten, keeping a hold on his temper. It's partly my fault, he admitted. I should have paid more attention to her and Naruto. If I had, this wouldn't have happened. Still, it was the height of stupidity on her part… on both their parts, since Naruto had docilely gone along with her plan.

"Do you remember what I said about teamwork?" Kakashi asked quietly. They both nodded, Sakura hesitantly, Naruto sharply. "Individual actions put the team in danger, and can lead to you and your comrades getting hurt or even killed. Your actions not only put yourselves in danger, it also put the whole team in danger," Kakashi said sternly.

"But…!" Sakura protested.

"You abandoned your watch," he continued. "What if an enemy had snuck into our camp while Sasuke and I were sleeping?" The blood drained from Sakura's face. "On top of that, you recklessly went off on your own into enemy territory, risking not just yourselves but all of Konoha with your actions. Did you think about all of the Konoha-nin that might have died if you had gotten caught and started a war?"

Sakura shook her head mutely, her lip trembling. Tears quivered precariously in her eyes.

"Kakashi-sensei…!" Naruto protested at the sight of Sakura's tears.

Kakashi leveled a glare at Naruto, causing the boy to flinch, "And you! Why didn't you stop Sakura in the first place?"

Naruto's shoulders dropped.

"Well?"

"I don't know," he muttered sullenly. Sakura-chan's arguments had ignited his fierce desire to surpass Sasuke, and he had agreed to follow her plans because of it. It seemed so petty and stupid, in hindsight. "But… I couldn't just let her go alone either!"

"No," Kakashi agreed. "But you shouldn't have let her go at all."

Naruto dropped his eyes, his shoulders hunching, "I know."

Closing his eyes, Kakashi took a deep breath. He opened his eyes and exhaled noisily, looking down at Sakura's tear streaked face, at Naruto's hollow, regretful eyes and bloodstained jacket. "Where are the documents you retrieved?" he asked briskly.

Sakura wordlessly handed him a large envelope stuffed with papers. Kakashi quickly opened the flap and skimmed the documents, his eyes widening. This is…! A wry smile touched his lips. The whole morning had seemed like an unmitigated disaster, but somehow his idiot students had managed to get their hands on the information they needed to finish the mission. Hokage-sama should be satisfied with this, Kakashi thought. Kakashi looked up at the bright, steadily climbing sun. It's time to leave.

"We'll talk about this later," he said crisply. "We need to get moving."

A deep chuckle sounded from a boulder as it watched the three distant Konoha shinobi depart, disappearing into the trees. "The Copy Ninja," it mused. "Isn't that interesting?" There was a noise like mud churning. A brown, dripping mass slowly emerged from the pale limestone of the boulder. Mud drooled to the ground, revealing a tall, broad shouldered man with dusky red-brown skin. "Konoha must be worried, to send him on such a trivial errand," he chuckled.

Soil liquefied beneath his feet. Slowly, the muscular shinobi began to sink into the ground.

A thousand birds exploded into song. Turning, the last thing he saw was white death and a swirling red eye.

Hatake Kakashi stared down at the dead ninja, absently shaking the excess blood off of his hand. "That is interesting," he parroted his victim, taking note of the headband.

Iwa, huh? Hokage-sama will certainly be interested in this.

Smoke exploded. When it cleared, Kakashi was gone.

Sweat trickled down his brow. "It's hot," Konohamaru whined. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to cut class. At least the Academy had air conditioning. For a moment, he considered going back and enduring Iruka-sensei's scolding.

"No," Konohamaru vehemently shook his head. "I have to do this," he declared, if only to himself.

Naruto-niichan's been gone too much lately, Konohamaru thought unhappily. I'll show him that it's not smart to leave his place for so long. The Sandaime Hokage's grandson giggled—chuckled, he would insist, had Moegi or Udon been around to bring the matter up—and rubbed his hands together deviously. The movement nearly unbalanced him from his perch on the ledge just below Naruto's balcony.

Nervously, he pressed himself firmly back against the wall. He still wasn't good enough to blunt a fall from anything higher than ten feet. Once he felt secure in the fact that he wasn't about to topple off the side of the building, Konohamaru took a deep breath, slipped on his makeshift "prank pack," and reached for the pipes that ran up the side of the building.

Climbing the ten feet or so that remained up to Naruto-niichan's balcony was a harrowing and difficult feat, but Konohamaru managed. Konohamaru was sweating heavily by the time he swung his way over the guard rail of Naruto's balcony. For a moment he stood, panting furiously, trying to suck in air—savoring his victory over the daunting building. Finally he straightened and glanced around nervously. No one appeared to interfere with his task.

Konohamaru made his way to the door and reached for the handle. Huh. That's odd. He brought another hand up and braced his legs. The young ninja-in-training grunted with exertion. "It's locked," he muttered. His eyes widened. Of course it's locked! I'm such an idiot! In truth, he hadn't even thought about what would happen once he reached the balcony. He went over to a nearby window and tested it, only to find it also locked.

A soothing breeze ruffled his hair for an all too brief moment. It was quickly gone, leaving only oppressive heat in its wake. Konohamaru looked around frantically for some way to get in. There was no way he could break the glass; he wanted to prank Naruto-niichan, not completely vandalize his place. Was this the end of his quest?

Konohamaru peered through the glass, trying to see if there was some other way to get into his leader's apartment. Absently, he rubbed his damp palms against his pants, squinting as he tried to make out the interior of the apartment through the sun's glare reflecting off the warm glass. He could vaguely make out the details of the Naruto-niichan's room. There was a pin-up girl calendar hanging on the opposite wall, a few worn posters, a small, meticulously made up double bed, and a weathered wooden nightstand. A single picture frame accompanied the alarm clock on the nightstand. Several potted plants dotted the room, with a large fern taking a place of honor on the right of the bed. But there were no hints on how to get in.

He moved on to the other end of the balcony. There was a second sliding glass window, much like the one looking in to the bedroom. Konohamaru looked inside to see what looked like a small living room with a table and four battered chairs. Past that Konohamaru could make out Naruto's dingy kitchen and the foyer. Raising a hand up to block the sun from his eyes, Konohamaru squinted and brought his face closer to the glass. What is that?

Abruptly, Konohamaru gasped in surprise and ducked below the window sill. There's someone in there! Konohamaru thought excitedly. Was it a burglar? One of Naruto-niichan's old enemies, come to take revenge? A long lost family member? His mind whirled as his imagination feverishly conjured possible scenarios. Sarutobi's grandson cautiously raised his head up to peek inside.

"Haku-neechan?" Konohamaru mumbled, disappointed. After a moment, he sighed unhappily. If Haku-neechan was there, he would have no choice but to withdraw. He conveniently ignored the fact that he still hadn't figured out how to get in inside. "But what is she doing here?" he wondered.

Haku was sitting at the small, square wooden table, her elbows on the white tablecloth, her chin supported by her palms. Konohamaru thought that he saw her smiling, but that didn't make much sense to him. Opposite of her, Konohamaru could just make out a steaming plate of food, though he couldn't quite tell what it was. Haku-neechan, he noted, wasn't eating.

Konohamaru felt a chill crawl down his spine. Something about the scene bothered him. Something's wrong… he thought worriedly. Konohamaru contemplated knocking, but then he remembered where he was and why he was there. Jii-chan will yell at me if he finds out, Konohamaru reasoned. Nodding decisively, he made his way over to the railing to make his escape.

Ayame raised a hand hesitantly to knock. After a moment, it fell again. Is this really okay? Ayame wondered. If she was being overly presumptuous or intrusive, the faint, fragile friendship she had formed with Haku over Naruto's endless passion for ramen and horrible table manners might never grow. That was something she desperately wanted to avoid. Haku reminded her almost painfully of her best friend.

Ayame had not had many friends growing up. Most of them had been accepted into the shinobi academy, while she had remained by her father's side. After that, the few friends she had slowly grown apart from her, but she'd still had her best friend. Eri had been a quiet girl, polite and distant, but she was gentle and had a wicked sense of humor lurking behind her polite façade. Ayame had been heart broken when she had heard of the Uchiha massacre. Eri had not even been a ninja! It had seemed so unfair, and it had left her empty as she'd attended the mass funeral held for the lost clan.

She bit her lip. Konohamaru-kun had come by the ramen stand for lunch, which was slightly unusual since the boy was normally supposed to be in class, fairly bursting with some secret. It was getting to be more and more commonplace to see him out of class though—that boy had picked up all of Naruto-kun's bad habits. It had not taken much effort on her part to get Konohamaru-kun to spill his story.

Ayame had immediately left her father's—and her own, really, or it would be one day—and rushed to Naruto-kun's apartment, but… Was it really wise to trust Konohamaru's information, especially given his evasive behavior? It could just be a part of some prank he had in the works. Worry over Haku forced her hand up again. Swallowing, gathering her courage, she knocked on the door.

There was no answer. Ayame waited for nearly a minute, shifting her weight from foot to foot, before knocking again. Seconds dragged on. Ayame sighed and was about to turn to leave when the sound of locks being undone clacked loudly in the hallway. Ichiraku's daughter smiled shyly as Haku opened the door.

Her smile quickly faded as she took in the younger girl's appearance. Haku's pale and haggard face seemed almost as bleached as the plain white yukata she wore. Her lips were pale and chapped, her eyes bloodshot and underlined with dark circles. "Ayame-san…?" Haku murmured, confused. Ayame winced to hear the rusty, hoarse tone clouding Haku's normally gentle voice.

"Good afternoon," Ayame greeted formally, "Haku-san." She lifted the bag she held in her right hand and presented it to Naruto's… friend. "It's not much, but I'd like you to have it," she murmured humbly.

Haku blinked uncertainly at her for several seconds. "Ah, yes," she said after an awkward pause, her wits coming back to her. She took the bag gratefully, looking inside. Haku blinked and looked questioningly at Ayame.

"Take out," Ayame smiled. She looked away, her fingers fidgeting with her pants, "I thought you might be hungry, and that maybe we could eat together…"

"Thank you," Haku said softly.

"Can I come in?" Ayame asked. Haku hesitated visibly. "It's fine if I can't…" Ayame said quickly, hoping that she hadn't pressed the wary girl too far.

Haku stepped aside, "It's fine."

Ayame followed Haku into Naruto's small, depressed entryway. She slipped off her flat heeled work shoes, placed them in the shoe box built into the wall on her left, and followed Haku down the short hallway into Naruto's small kitchen. "You already made lunch?" Ayame asked, seeing the cooling plate of curry on the table.

"No," Haku denied.

"Then that is…?"

"Oh," she blinked, "that's Naruto-sama's lunch, not mine."

Ayame's mouth worked. "Naruto-kun isn't here," she finally pointed out.

Haku went still, her back taut with tension. Ayame immediately regretted her words. I've offended her, she thought unhappily.

"Five days," Haku muttered, "four hours, and six minutes." Ayame eyed Haku with concern.

"…What?"

Haku turned to look at Ayame, her eyes sharp. "Naruto-sama will return," she said firmly.

"Of course he will," Ayame agreed, bewildered and worried. "Haku-san, are you feeling all right?"

"He hasn't cast me aside," Haku murmured, as if trying to convince herself. "I'm not a flawed tool…"

Ayame was starting to become alarmed. Is she having a breakdown? What is she saying? "Naruto-kun is only on a C-rank mission," she said soothingly. "He'll come back soon."

Haku shivered violently. "What if he's been hurt?" she blurted suddenly, her eyes frantic. "What if he needs my help?" Haku moaned, wrapping her arms around herself, "I knew I should have gone with him."

"He's fine," Ayame said firmly. "Naruto-kun is strong. I know he's fine, and I'm sure it won't be long before he gets back."

"But…" Haku's lips quivered. Her eyes glistened wetly.

What should I do? Ayame wondered frantically. I'm not a doctor! Haku clearly needed help, but Ayame felt totally out of her depth. Already the girl had gone through four abrupt mood swings, and it looked like she was on the verge of a total meltdown. Ayame stepped cautiously forward, slowly approaching the quivering girl.

Haku looked up, alarmed. "What are you doing?"

"Naruto-kun is fine, so please…"

"Stay away," Haku whispered, her trembling increasing. Shadows loomed around her, cruel-eyed and vicious. Ayame knew. This woman, this stranger, she knew. Haku was in danger. Frantically, the girl looked around for routes of escape. Her eyes fell on the cutting board.

"Haku-san, talk to me," Ayame pleaded, coming closer.

Haku's hand closed firmly around the kitchen knife. Ayame squeaked, frightened, as Haku brandished the knife. "Stay back," Haku hissed coldly. She no longer saw the warm ramen waitress and cook with whom she had begun a tentative friendship with. In front of her was a stranger, a threat. Naruto-sama, where are you? Haku wondered anxiously. Help me!

"Haku-san…" Ayame whispered, trembling. She looked into the crazed girl's blank, hollow eyes, seeing the tears glistening on her long eyelashes. Eri had looked just like that when they had told her that she could never become a kunoichi, eyes filled with despair and helplessness as her dreams were crushed, pleading for someone to make things better. Ayame licked her lips. I have to help her, she thought, determined. But she was not a shinobi, not a fighter at all, and that knife terrified her.

Ayame took a nervous step forward. "Stay back!" Haku shouted, the knife whistling as it cut the air in front of her. Ayame swallowed, stepping forward again.

"Stay back…" Haku begged, tears leaking freely from her eyes.

Where are you, Naruto-sama? Please… help me…

"Haku-san, it's okay," Ayame whispered, her eyes glistening with a tumultuous mixture of fear and empathy. Haku stepped back. The knife flashed out.

A thin line of blood dripped down Ayame's cheek. The young waitress whimpered in pain, and it took all of her effort to maintain control of her bladder. I almost died, she thought, chilled. Tears tumbled freely from her eyes. What am I doing? Ayame stepped forward.

Zabuza-san! Help me!

Ayame swallowed her terror and closed the distance between them. She wrapped her arms around Haku, grasping the other girl tightly. Her heart pounded fiercely as she squeezed her eyes shut tightly. Haku-san… please… Ayame waited with baited breath for the kiss of steel. There was a strange, wet sound at her ear.

Haku sniffled. Tears fell freely, and a terrible, keening noise rose in her throat. Haku wailed, the knife clattering harmlessly on the ground, and wrapped her arms around the older girl. "Ayame-san…" she sobbed.

Zabuza-san.

Naruto-sama.

Where are you? Don't leave me! Please… Come back…

"Haku-san," Ayame breathed happily, the tension flowing out of her. She tightened her grip on the younger girl. "It's all right," she murmured soothingly, stroking Haku's back.

Ayame didn't know how long they stood there weeping as Haku released her grief and Ayame did her best to comfort her. Finally, Haku's sniffles began to die down and she gently separated herself from the other girl. "Thank you, Ayame-san," Haku said sincerely, her voice hoarse. She looked away, embarrassed by her behavior now that she had regained control over her emotions. "I was…" she trailed off, uncertain how to explain herself.

Ayame smiled, "It's okay." She paused apprehensively and gathered her courage again. "That's what friends do," she offered tentatively.

Haku looked up. "Friends?" she asked softly, tilting her head. I've never… She had never dared to hope that she could one day have friends. But ever since she had come to Konoha, the tight control she had kept over her own wishes had been slipping. Can I really… have friends?

Ayame nodded, smiling shyly, "Friends."

"I cut you," Haku pointed out, her voice small. Revulsion clawed its way though her chest.

"It's nothing," Ayame dismissed it.

"I… I've never had a friend before…" Haku offered softly. Her rabbit, Shiro-chan, didn't count, not really. When she had still had parents, when she had still had her innocence, they had lived too far from any other children for her to freely make friends. Later, in the alleys and gutters of Kirigakure, there had been no friends, only others and predators. Zabuza-san was her savior, her leader, her wielder, not her friend, and the life of a nukenin left no room for them. Now though… was it possible?

"I'll show you," the older girl beamed.

Nodding hesitantly, Haku gave a shy smile of her own. "Yes, please…"

She stiffened, her eyes going blank in the blink of an eye.

"Haku-san?" Ayame asked, confused. A terrified gasp rose in her throat as she noticed the black shadows around her.

Four masked soldiers stood in Naruto's small kitchen, coldness and professionalism wrapped around them like cloaks. "ANBU," Haku said flatly. Ayame shivered. Suddenly, the room seemed very cold.

"You are Haku-san, correct?" their apparent leader asked, his tone detached.

Haku nodded, stepping in front of Ayame. "What business do you have with me?"

"By the order of the Sandaime Hokage, you are to come with us immediately."

"Why?" Frost crackled as it crawled its way across the polished steel knife at Ayame's feet.

"Hokage-sama wishes to speak with you."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto is the creator, and owns the rights to Naruto and all the characters and situations contained therein. This is a non-profit work of fiction.

Techniques:

Tensha Fuuin (転写封印) - Transcription Seal – A fuuinjutsu (sealing technique) originally developed by a retired shinobi after he had decided to open a printing business. It's usefulness for field work was later noted by Konoha's ANBU, and it was modified and adopted by the covert organization for its own use. As its name implies, this technique utilizes chakra and a sophisticated seal array to copy all ink-based writing within the area of effect. Its usefulness is countered by its relatively long preparation time, the high chakra control requirements to perform it properly, and the mental toll (mental strain, exhaustion, and migraines are common side effects) it takes on the user.

Author's Notes:

I hope you enjoyed reading chapter 6. It has been a bit more than four months since I released chapter 5, but I hope that the release of The Book of Naruto's first chapter and the length of this chapter help to rectify that. Much of the delay was due to real life issues that I have no desire to discuss. This chapter also went through three revisions before I was happy with it, so that's also a factor. In any case, I'm sorry about the wait, though I can't make any promises regarding my punctuality in the future.

Tori basically translates as "bird." You can look up what the seal looks like at pretty much any major Naruto website, if you're curious.

My translation of "Tensha Fuuin" is a rough approximation, and it may well be wrong. If it's mistaken, please let me know (and back up your claim with evidence, so I know that you're not just a troll).

A wakizashi is a Japanese short sword, usually worn paired with a katana, and they usually run between 12 and 24 inches in length.

As always, comments and/or criticism are welcome. However, if you're going to criticize, please do it in a constructive manner (in other words, don't just tell me that I fail as a writer, tell me why I fail). I'm still very much an amateur writer, so any help is appreciated.

Check out this story's forum at www . fanfiction . net/f/51642/ (remove the spaces), or follow the links in my profile. You'll find my review responses there, as well as more detailed progress updates than the one you can see in my profile. If you want to discuss anything about this story, that's the place to do it.

Duke Bonez was an absolutely tremendous help with this chapter. Without him, it wouldn't even be half as good. If you enjoyed this chapter and can spare the time, please send him a PM thanking him for his assistance.

I'd like to thank everyone that took the time to read this story, and especially those who took the time to review. I appreciate it.

Thank you for reading Tempered in Water!