Undone

Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Everything belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Sakura woke up as soon as the sun began to rise, stamping her feet on the ground to wake up her two male teammates.

"Naruto, you will find yourself in quite a bad situation if you make the decision to peek on me," she said as the blond woke up, rubbing his eyes.

There was a small grunt of approval and Sakura scowled, walking over to grab him by the shirt. "Did you even hear me?" she demanded, giving him a light smack on the cheek. "Why don't you go on a patrol with Sasuke-kun or something like that? Hunt some rabbits and gather some food."

Naruto grunted in approval, mumbling something before going back to sleep. Sakura gave a huff before heading for the stream, deciding that there was really no point in lecturing Naruto when he was half asleep.

This left Naruto sprawled on the ground as Sasuke eyed him disdainfully, giving a hn before reaching for a stick that had been lying on the ground. He gave the sleeping figure a prod, his brows furrowing as Naruto simply swatted the tree branch away before rolling over.

In the end, Sasuke decided to just give up, tossing the stick aside and walking away from the camp.

Thus Naruto was left sprawled on the ground as both Sasuke and Sakura walked away, snoring away,

Sakura came back from the stream looking haggard with her hair tangled and her apron skirt in tatters, a scowl on her face as she stumbled into the camp.

By then, Naruto had already woken up. He had been in the middle of observing a line of ants crawling across the dirt ground when he finally noticed Sakura.

His eyes widened. "What happened, Sakura-chan?"

"Had a run-in with a bear?" Naruto asked, half-kidding as he took in her worn appearance.

"Since when have your observation skills been so good?" Sakura snapped, yanking off the remains of the skirt and tossing them unceremoniously on the ground.

She couldn't help it. Years of insulting Naruto had made it almost a habit for her to say something mean every time the blond did something even remotely impressive. Now that teamwork became something that her new teacher preached about every day, she tried to act nice towards the blond.

"For real?" Naruto didn't seem to have been affected by her comment, instead looking at her with eyes of interest as Sakura reached up to pat her messy pink locks.

"Yes." Sakura bit her tongue to keep herself from adding, "You idiot," to the end of the sentence, instead pulling a kunai from her pouch and raising it to her head.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. "Are you going to kill yourself, Sakura-chan? Just because you ran away from a bear? No, don't do it! Imagine how sad Sasuke and I will be if-"

His rambling was enough to produce a bark of laughter from the girl as she cut off a giant chunk of her hair with the kunai, grimacing as the pink hair fell to the ground with a wet plop.

She would die sooner or later if she kept wearing her hair this long. If the enemy ever managed to grab hold of it or if it ever got caught in the tree branches, she would be dead. The words of disapproval that her parents had said when they heard she wanted to become a shinobi came back to her.

"You? Be a kunoichi?"

What they refrained from adding was, "That would be a disgrace to the entire family."

Sakura sighed, reaching up to touch the hair, something that she had been so proud of, that was now slightly above her shoulders.

Naruto's jaw was now open, and he gawked at her like she was some strange animal that originated from another side of the world.

Sasuke returned soon after, allowing a slight expression of shock to cross his face as he saw Sakura angrily chopping a few wild turnips that she had found after returning to camp, an irritated look on her face as she hacked away at the poor turnips.

He didn't say anything, only set a nest of bird's eggs on the ground after giving a curt nod. "Lunch," he said simply.

Sakura returned his nod, pointing at the nest with the kunai in her hand. "We can eat them raw. There's no point in starting a fire for every meal."

Only Naruto seemed slightly apprehensive as he heard this. Sure, he ate raw egg sometimes. It only happened when there was absolutely no ramen left, and he would pour the contents of the egg onto his rice before choking everything down within a few minutes. Raw egg was disgustingly slimy.

Sakura and Sasuke refused to acknowledge him, breaking apart the eggs and tipping the contents into their mouths without even a word of complaint.

They left behind one for Naruto.

Well, it's a start, the blond thought as he reached for the leftover egg. At least they were nice enough to leave him something to eat. Normally people weren't even that nice.

Two more uneventful days passed by, with nothing major occurring within the forest. The three genin figured that Kakashi had probably been yelled at for setting an entire Training Ground on fire. The thought of their bastard of a teacher standing completely rigid as the Hokage raised his voice was enough for them to stay in a good mood.

It wasn't until the morning of the fifth day when things finally started to pick up again.

All three genin had been up and awake, bustling around camp and getting breakfast ready when a kunai whistled past Sakura's ears, lodging in the ground a few inches away from Naruto's feet.

Sasuke's hand instinctively went for the handle of his sword while Sakura and Naruto both whipped kunai out of their supply pouches.

Nothing. There was no chakra signature, no rustle of leaves caused by movement, and absolutely no sound of breathing coming from the spot where the kunai had came from.

Naruto eyed the kunai by his foot with a curious look before bending down to pick it up, immediately noticing the piece of paper attached to the handle.

"Can't read the writing," he muttered, holding out the piece of paper for Sakura to see.

There, written in chicken scratch that she assumed was Kakashi's handwriting, were two words.

Stay alert.

She had enough time to bark out the word, "Duck," before the barrage of shuriken came.

They all shot down to the ground, rolling into a tight ball to make themselves tinier targets as the wickedly sharp weapons rained down on them, resembling rain in Water Country during spring.

Even then they still received cuts and scratches from the spots where the blades cut them.

Sasuke grabbed a handful of dirt from the dirt, giving a frustrated growl as one of the shuriken got lodged in his shoulder.

"He has to run out of shuriken at some point," Sasuke muttered as another shuriken found a spot on top of his hand.

Either Sasuke was wrong or Kakashi just brought an entire bucketful of shuriken with him. The endless spinning blades didn't seem to stop, and all genin simply crouched down on the ground as they waited for the assault to end.

After what seemed like minutes of being cut and scratched by shuriken, Sakura stood up. "This doesn't feel right."

"Kai!"

The shuriken stopped, there was a loud bang followed by a flash of light, and all three genin found themselves crouching on the ground with absolutely no wounds.

"Figured," Sakura muttered, glancing at the spot on her arm where there had been a shuriken only a few seconds ago.

"Damn him," Sasuke growled, standing up with a scowl on his face. "So he knows our location."

"Not only do I know your location," came a breezy voice from behind the Uchiha, "but I also know exactly what you three did over the past few days."

Sakura had his sword in his hand when he whirled around, clenching his teeth as he pointed the tip of the blade at the jōnin. "So you finally showed up?"

"That was quite a greeting, Sasuke-kun," Kakashi said deliberately, smiling as the scowl on Sasuke's normally good-looking face deepened. "You are quite easily provoked," he added as he easily swatted away Sasuke's sword, sending it knocking to the ground with a loud clang.

Naruto eyed him suspiciously, raising one of his blond eyebrows impossibly high. "It's only been five days. Whatcha doin' here?"

"It would seem that the little incident that occurred two days ago has caused the Hokage to put a stop to your training in this place," Kakashi said, gesturing vaguely around at the trees surrounding the small camp, not sounding even slightly worried that he had been the one who caused the "incident".

"Basically, your seven days in the Seventh Training Ground has been cut short. You are to begin taking regular missions just like the other genin teams for the remaining period of time until the Chūnin Exams."

Kakashi couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed. Just when Team 7 was finally beginning to show some development, the Hokage had called him into his office and given him quite a scolding.

"Villagers are uncomfortable. Sakura's parents have filed numerous complaints over the past five days, asking exactly where their precious little daughter went. The others aren't exactly happy to know that the host of the Kyūbi and the last of the Uchiha, two ticking time-bombs in the village, have both disappeared," the old man had said, shooting Kakashi a look of absolute disapproval over his stacks of paper.

Kakashi had shifted his weight to his other foot, refusing to look into the Hokage's stern gaze.

"This year's batch of genin are special. So many heirs, so much potential. All of the eyes in the village are trained on them, expecting at least one of them to be promoted to chūnin during the Exams later on in the year," Sarutobi added, his eyes softening slightly.

"Pressure from the clans?" Kakashi asked.

The clans grappling for power in the Council had always seemed pretty ridiculous to him. They were all shinobi of Konoha, having sworn their lives to protect the precious village that served as their homes. There was really no point in fighting with their teeth and nails for just that little power in the Council when they were all loyal to the same village.

Then again, the Hatake had always stayed out of politics. They had been there when Konoha was formed, a small clan that had chosen to ally with the Senju during the Warring States Period. Over time, the line thinned out until there was only one member left. Sure, they may be a few distant relatives of his scattered throughout the continent, but it wasn't like Kakashi ever cared much about family he never got to see.

"Yes." The Hokage's reply brought him away from his thoughts, and Kakashi gave a respectful nod as the older man made a shooing gesture that indicated he was dismissed. He was probably still mad at him for setting fire to an entire training ground.

At least he didn't burn it down entirely.

"First mission we get, we have to work with another team?" Naruto groaned, tossing the rock in his hand into the air with a frown on his face.

"It's an A-rank, usuratonkachi," Sasuke replied quickly as Naruto caught the rock in his open palm. "A group of chūnin sent there were all eliminated. Do you really think we'd stand much of a chance as just one team?"

"Three mere genin and their jōnin-sensei against the mighty Momochi Zabuza of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, I don't really think we'd stand much of a chance," Sakura sighed, glancing up at the sky with a disappointed look in her jade eyes. "But why Team 10 of all teams? At least Team 8 knows how to track."

"I think," Sasuke began, catching both Naruto's and Sakura's attention with just two words, "that he's trying to teach us teamwork. The Ino-Shika-Chō combination is famous for their cooperation skills. They have a mutual understanding between each other that many aren't able to accomplish."

Naruto leaned back onto his tree, bringing his hands to the back of his head as he scoffed. "So you know everything, huh?"

Sakura held her tongue. Normally she would have responded with something like, "Of course Sasuke-kun knows everything, dumbass!"

Now she simply sat back, waiting for Sasuke to react to Naruto's comment.

Nothing came. He simply closed his eyes and leaned back into the tree, a soft thump sounding as his back connected with the solid wood.

"One would've thought that somebody who grew up surrounded by shinobi would know that," the Uchiha murmured quietly, "usuratonkachi."

There comes the insult, Naruto thought to himself, smiling. The day Sasuke let go of a chance to scoff at him would be a cold day in Hell.

"Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Hidden Mist, huh?" Sakura said quietly to herself, turning around to look at Sasuke. "Do we really stand a chance against him?"

"I guess another reason the Hokage sent Team 10 was so there would be another capable jōnin on the battlefield," Sasuke added, opening his eyes as a whirlwind of leaves materialized in front of them.

"Correct," Kakashi drawled as he appeared in front of the three genin, an amused look in his eyes. "I guess drilling the basic strategies into your heads really did have an effect."

Sasuke simply looked away, a bored expression on his face.

"Well, training's obviously canceled today since we're going on the mission," the jōnin said, reaching into his vest and pulling out three tiny scrolls before tossing them to his students. "Pack efficiently. I expect nothing more than a small backpack from all three of you. Pack more than the limit, and I'll toss all of your belongings into the closest river there."

"So you told us to pack efficiently. What about them?" Naruto asked, pointing a thumb at Chōji, who was too busy munching on his snacks to notice Naruto's words. "A bulky backpack like will surely be noticed."

Kakashi turned around, sending Asuma a hard look. "You know, it wouldn't hurt to come down a little harder on your genin."

"And get all three of them to hate me? No thanks," the other jōnin replied quickly, lighting his cigarette as he spoke. "Not to mention that their parents won't be very happy if I tossed them all into a training ground without warning," he added, more quietly so that his students wouldn't hear.

Kakashi rolled his eyes, this time turning his attention to Naruto.

"I can't do anything about how Asuma teaches his students," he shrugged, "and it's not really my problem if the Hokage decides to give him a lecture about 'disciplining the new generation properly'."

"Hey!"

"Just saying the truth," Kakashi answered with a smile.

Asuma only shook his head, turning around to tell Shikamaru, who had stopped to glance up at the clouds in the sky, to keep walking. "We can look at the clouds later when we make camp."

"Making camp? What a drag."

Sakura was caught up in an argument with Ino.

"So what if your chakra control is so good? You can't kill people with medical ninjutsu, can you?"

"Actually, medical-nin can use chakra scalpels, Pig. Blades formed from chakra can be sharper than any kunai, no matter how many times you sharpen it."

"Well, I'm not going to believe that until I see one of those chakra scalpels with my own eyes. Right now, I'll just tell myself that you're full of schist."

Kakashi didn't bother to inform the blond that chakra scalpels were very real. And with the right amount of control and chakra, they had the potential to be sharper than any bladed weapon you can find in the world. Then again, there really wasn't a point in doing that.

It seemed that Asuma was thinking the same thing, since he simply sighed and took another drag out of his cigarette.

"So where is this Tazuna guy that requested the mission?" Naruto asked suddenly, pointing at the tops of the buildings that were beginning to appear in front of them, standing behind the trees. "In that little village there?"

"Yes. Normally he would come directly to Konoha, but he deemed travelling by himself far too dangerous after an entire team of chūnin were wiped out by the Demon of the Hidden Mist."

"But why are two genin teams taking on an A-rank in the first place?" Shikamaru asked, his eyes closed as he walked. Ino's brows furrowed as she saw this. "Shikamaru, walk with your eyes open."

The Nara ignored her, turning around to glance at the two jōnin walking at the back of the group.

"We don't have enough manpower," Kakashi replied simply, causing Asuma to make a noise at the back of throat that translated as, "We're not supposed to tell them that".

"What? Shouldn't the newer generation know what's going on in the village? Konoha's short on chūnin and jōnin. Many of the parents from shinobi clans have decided that they don't want their children to live through a hard life, especially after the most recent war and the Kyūbi Attack. It's not like civilians ever had interest in living the hard life of what was basically a 'mercenary' in the first place."

Asuma shook his head, groaning as all of the genin whipped around to look at the two jōnin. "Turn around and keep walking," he barked out, giving all of them hard looks as they reluctantly obeyed.

Shikamaru simply stopped walking and turned around to look at the two.

"So. You mentioned both the Kyūbi Attack and the Third Shinobi World War within one minute. Isn't that something you normally wouldn't tell fresh-out-of-the-Academy genin like us?"

"I figured," Kakashi grinned behind his mask, watching Shikamaru's expression. "I guess Shikaku-san never keeps things like these away from you?"

"Only the top secret," Shikamaru admitted, watching as the other genin in the front paused, noticing that three of the members of their little party were missing. "My mom doesn't like it when he does, though. So he rarely ever tells me anything interesting."

Asuma had decided to simply give up, brushing by Kakashi as he shepherded the genin to keep them walking. "People are giving away secrets a lot these few days," he grumbled as he headed over to keep the genin in the front walking.

Shikamaru followed him, muttering something under his breath as Asuma began hollering at the students, seeming to take out his frustration on the genin.

Kakashi shrugged before turning around.

Things are about to get interesting.

Author's Notes

As Kakashi said, things are going to kick off soon.

Same thing as usual. Constructive criticism is appreciated.

I think I made a few grammar and spelling mistakes in this chapter. Hehe...