I KNOW HAKU IS A BOY!

I'VE WATCHED NARUTO MY WHOLE LIFE, I THINK I WOULD KNOW BY NOW THAT HAKU IS, AS A MATTER OF FACT, A FLIPPING PRETTY BOY!

SO STOP CORRECTING ME, I SAID HE WAS A GIRL HERE FOR A REASON.

CHAPTER 7:

The Lazy, The Mission, and The Commander?

After a short moment of cooling down, Sakura walked down the hall, down the stairs and into the dining room, where Naruto was munching on his meal, his back turned to her. A dark haired woman-Tsunami? Sakura thought unsure, stood behind the kitchen counter watching him with a smile.

Tsunami's smile disappeared for a moment when she looked up at her in surprise, but it appeared again when she realized who it was, her face looking relieved. "Look who's awake."

That made Naruto look up from his food, craning his head towards her. "Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed happily, grinning. He turned in his chair to turn his body to her. "Glad you're awake! How's your shoulder?"

Sakura opened her mouth to respond, but Naruto continued. "Oh! And the lady here is Tsunami," he introduced. "She's the old man's daughter."

Sakura bowed to Tsunami. She apologized, "Thank you for letting us stay here, Tsunami-san. I sincerely apologize for troubling you."

Still smiling, Tsunami waved a pale hand at her dismissively. "So polite," she noted. "It's no trouble at all. It was the the least I could do for getting my father here safely. Thank you for that by the way. I'm so grateful that you were kind enough to continue your mission even though we couldn't afford to pay for the proper rank."

Sakura nodded and turned back to Naruto. "To answer your last question, my shoulder does feel a bit better, just really sore. I don't think I should move it for a while."

"I'm glad," Naruto sighed in relief.

"What happened to Kakashi-sensei?" she asked. "Where is he?"

Naruto explained, "After you two fainted, Tazuna invited us to stay with him. A while after we got here, and put you in the same guest room, but after a while you caught a fever. Tsunami had to put you in different rooms because you might get Kaka-sensei sick. Now he's staying in the room down the hall from yours."

After she thanked him, Sakura made her way to Kakashi's room, and just as she slid the door open, it was the same moment Sasuke was about to open the door.

"Ah, Sasuke, how's Kakashi?" she asked him, doing her best to act normal.

"He's fine," he said without looking at her. Sasuke pushed past her and headed downstairs and to towards the living room.

Her gaze followed him in confusion. Sasuke wasn't this weird, but this was Sasuke. He's always cold, she reasoned to herself, shrugging it off before she shut the door to Kakashi's room behind her.

The room was dark, the only light coming from the small window at the center of the wall across from the door she stood in front of. It was morning, she could tell by the way sunlight faded through the cloudy, gray sky.

Kakashi laid in a futon in the center of the room, his still body tucked neatly. Sakura quietly made her way to him, kneeling down at his side.

"Kakashi-" Wait. This is the perfect chance to see what's under his mask! she realized. Sakura slowly reached out her hand to his mask. She held her breath.

"Sakura, what are you doing?"

Almost jumping out of her skin, Sakura's hand retreated to her lap in a flash. "Kakashi-sensei, you're awake!" she blurted out, terrified. He started to try to sit up and Sakura reached out to help him.

"Sakura, are you okay?" he questioned. His gaze moved to her bandages. "Your shoulder..."

"I'm fine, Kakashi-sensei, but how are you?"

"I've felt better."

"Kakashi-sensei!"

They turned to see Naruto and Sasuke standing at the door, a tray of food in Sasuke's hands. Sasuke put the tray aside as they walked over to them and knelt down at Kakashi's other side, across from Sakura.

"How are you feeling?" Naruto asked.

"I've felt better," he repeated. "but enough about me. There was something else I wanted to talk about with you guys."

"Kakashi-sensei, I know Zabuza's alive."

His eyes widened as he turned to Sakura in shock. "When?"

"You said once that a ninja must see through deception or look underneath the underneath," she said. Sakura explained, "When I had asked the lady if I could check the body. I had noticed she used the senbon needles to pierce a certain spot on the neck that could temporarily stop the heart for a few seconds. I was suspicious if she was working with Zabuza, since senbon aren't fatal unless purposely aimed at a fatal when she took the body, I confirmed it. Normally, hunter ninja take care of the body on the spot, in order to leave no room for mistakes." Then she added, scoffing and rolling her eyes, "That, and the fact that he didn't fight her. I didn't hit him that hard."

"Well, great observation skills, Sakura," Kakashi praised, smiling. She remembers. "I'm proud of you."

Sakura felt her cheeks go warm, and she quickly turned away, embarrassed.

"Hold up! You think Zabuza's alive?" Naruto echoed, his eyes wide in disbelief.

Sasuke question calmly, "You think Zabuza's alive?"

"That what I just said, Teme!"

"Shut it, Dobe. Not now."

Sakura turned to them and retorted, "I don't think, I know."

"Naruto, Sasuke, there's a saying for ninjas, you know. 'Hesitation leads to disaster'," Kakashi warned.

Sakura nodded and agreed, "Yeah, we need to prepare to battle Zabuza in the future."

"I taught you teamwork," Kakashi stated.

They waited for him to continue.

"And?" Naruto asked, raised an eyebrow.

Kakashi smiled, confessing, "I don't know. That's all I got."

They sweatdropped.

"But," he continued. "You guys saved me. You've all quickly grown."

A small smile appeared on Sakura's face, and a smirk on Sasuke's as Naruto grinned. "Glad ya noticed, Kakashi-sensei! Now it's gonna get interesting!" he exclaimed happily.

"Nothing is interesting," a small, young voice spoke up.

Team 7 turned to the door in surprise to see a young boy standing in the doorway.

"Inari!" Tsunami yelled after him, quickly following behind him. "What are you-Oh! Kakashi-san, you're awake! How are you-"

"I'm fine," he repeated again.

She gaze him a worried look before resuming to speak to Inari. "Inari, that was rude! What sort of greeting is that?"

Tazuna walked in. "What's going on here?" he questioned gruffly, then his eyes fell on Inari and he smiled, spreading his arms out, ready to hug him. " Inari! Where've you been?"

Inari ran up to him and greeted, "Welcome home, Grandpa!"

Tsunami continued, "Inari, these ninja escorted your grandpa!"

Tazuna waved her off, grinning. "It's okay, it's okay," he said, patting Inari's head. "Right Inari?"

Team 7 noticed how the little boy glared at them under the shadow of his hat. Then he turned to Tsunami and blurted out,"Mom, these guys will die. There's no way they can stand up to Gato and win."

Naruto was standing up in a flash. "Say what, you little brat!" he yelled. He pointed a finger at him. "Now listen up! I'm a superhero who's gonna become an awesome ninja named Hokage in the future! I don't know who if it's Gato or Chocolate or whatever, I'm not worried about those guys at all!"

Inari's face became hooded as he contradicted, "Huh, a hero. That's ridiculous! There's no such thing!"

"What did you say?" Naruto shouted as he made an attempt to lunge at him, but Sakura was behind him in a second. Her arms looped under his shoulders and hooked up to prevent him from attacking Inari.

"Naruto! You can't attack civilians!" she whispered.

Inari started to leave, but he looked over his shoulder at them to warn, "If you don't want to die, you better hurry up and go home." Then he left.

They stayed silent for a moment, Team 7 wondering why the boy wanted them to leave and said that they would die if they stayed.

Sakura noticed Naruto grit his teeth and tremble with anger. Naruto trudged out of the room and Sakura already knew that he went after him.

Kakashi told them that they would start training that afternoon and they went their own way, Sakura going to her room.

Sakura leaned against the wall next to her window and gazed out the window, deep in thought. There wasn't much to see through the window, but she focused on a mark on a tree as she spaced out.

Neh, Sakura, what are you thinking about? Mato said.

I don't know, you tell me, she sneered, smirking. You're the one who can read minds.

Sakura heard Mato sigh. Just because I have that power, doesn't mean I will abuse it. I have my limits, you know?

Whatever, she retorted. I was just thinking about what I could do in the spare time I have. Before Orochimaru shows up and fucks everything up. I mean, yeah I could train hard and stuff, but I feel I could make better use of my time. Or do other things than that.

Mato was silent a moment, contemplating. Then she spoke, I see your point. You can't just lazy around during your free time-

I don't-

She continued without missing a beat, How about this? From now on, consider me your team leader. Your commander. Today, your mission: Help Zabuza and Haku.

What? Why? They're working with Gato.

They don't deserve this, Sakura, Mato answered.

She asked suspiciously, What's their reason?

...It's not my story to tell.

Sakura frowned, thinking. ...Fine. I'll help them, but only if I can get the truth out of them sometime, somehow.

She could tell Mato was smiling when she replied, Thank you.

Sakura smirked. Yeah, I know I'm awes-

"Sakura."

TBC.

LOL. I KNOW I'M EVIL.

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