Fragments
-o-
Premature Revelations
-o-
Sakura didn't waste even a second and hurled herself at Lee, a demented smile on her face.
Naruto didn't risk more than a glance, before he grabbed Sasuke and evacuated.
"The hell?" Sasuke shouted, glaring at Naruto, as he carried him away from the danger zone.
"What are you doing Naruto? We have to help Sakura!" Sasuke wriggled in Naruto's hold, but didn't managed to free himself.
"Bas... Sasuke, how much alcohol does it take to make Lee drunk where you come from?" Naruto asked Sasuke... where had he gone to anyway?
"What the hell are you waiting for, slowpoke?" Sasuke asked from much farther in the forest.
Naruto threw away the log Sasuke had replaced himself with and accelerated. He risked another glance over his shoulder, and saw Sakura, wrapped around Lee like a glove, giving the fortunate... or unfortunate, he couldn't really tell, boy a well executed kiss. With tongue and lots and lots of alcohol.
Naruto shuddered briefly and disappeared further into the woods. He had to be as far away from Lee as possible, otherwise he might end up a target.
-o-
Kakashi stared at his lone remaining student.
Briefly he glanced around for the others, but they had fled as soon as the fight started.
Honestly? Of all the things he had expected, this wasn't the way he thought it would go.
And he had been so sure, they would work as a team...
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Tenten screamed. Kakashi wriggled a finger in his ear, trying to get rid of the ringing the shrill sound had left.
"Let go of Lee! And Lee, stop kissing her. We have a mission remember?" Tenten approached the couple glaring at them furiously.
"Hmpf. As you could expect from a failure." Neji interjected, his byakugan active and searching for Kakashi's other students.
Kakashi noted that Sakura had pulled back... and smiled. He shuddered. He recognized that smile.
Anko smiled like that, he himself smiled like that. Ibiki smiled like that.
It meant that somebody had royally fucked up and you were going to fuck them over. A lot.
"They are jealous of our love Lee." Sakura said, loud and clear for all to hear.
Kakashi gaped. Trying to turn a teammate against his team? Low blow, really low blow.
More importantly, it would never work. If Lee was anything like Gai... Kakashi glanced at his rival, and stopped. Gai shouldn't be this pale.
He shouldn't be this pale at all...
"Gai? What's wrong?" Kakashi asked, not entirely able to keep the dread out of his voice.
"Why does Lee look like he's drunk Kakashi?" Gai asked, his voice trembling in what Kakashi could only describe as horror.
He blinked and looked at Sakura.
"Say how much alcohol would you need to get Lee drunk?" He asked, all casual like.
Gai looked at him strangely. Probably could hear the worry in his voice.
"Well... he's a real lightweight. So a small cup of sake..." He said.
Kakashi nodded. Lee stumbled here and there glaring at his teammates.
Them shouting insults at Sakura and Lee probably didn't help.
Well Tenten shouted. And really, she only shouted at Sakura, for being so brazen and playing with Lee's heart to further her own goals.
Neji simply insulted both of them in cool clear words.
And Sakura acted like a poisonous snake, filling Lee's ears with poisoned words filled with false declarations of burning passions and...
Kakashi turned out Gai's commentary, honestly when did he start listening to that? Instead he interrupted Gai.
"So, if somebody were to drink massive amounts of alcohol, say two three bottles of sake..." Sakura pulled out another bottled and chugged it's contents. "Make that four to five." Kakashi amended.
"And then kissed Lee... for quite some time..."
Gai stared at the girl, as she destroyed another bottle. "You mean that's alcohol?" He asked, paling.
"Yeah, pretty much. She's been drinking it since yesterday..."
"Oh no... this is bad..." Gai muttered, looking at Lee worriedly.
Kakashi glanced back, in the direction his students had run. Could they have known? If they knew of Sakura's plan to turn Lee... then their presence would indeed just hinder Sakura and removing themselves would be the right decision for teamwork...
"Ahh, Lee! Help!" Sakura screamed, winding herself frightened in Tenten's hands.
Tenten snorted in disgust. "Pathetic. And you call yourself a kunoi..." Lee's fist interrupted the girl, as it slammed into her face and send her into a tree, at the other end of the clearing.
Kakashi glanced at Gai. "Shouldn't they know better than to give Sakura that opening?" He asked.
Gai hung his head in shame. "Sadly the fires of youth burn brightly in them. As such, they don't always... think things through."
Kakashi snorted at that. All ninja started out as hot headed idiots. Even he himself had been like that. Not that he had been hotheaded, but certainly an idiot, who didn't think things through.
Neji stared in horror at the Tenten's body, crumpled at the ground of the tree she slammed into.
"I see I overestimated you Lee. You are even more of a failure than I thought." He sneered, stupidly in Kakashi's opinion. Didn't the fool realize what he was doing?
He glanced at Gai again... who repeatedly slammed his head into a tree.
"Something to work on I assume?" Kakashi said.
Gai didn't stop, but managed to work a nod into his head banging.
Kakashi glanced back at Sakura, who had just finished kissing Lee again.
"I believe in you Lee." She said, again perfectly audible for everybody in the clearing. And she smiled at him sweetly...
Damn, she looked as if she actually meant it! And like that, she looked so young... so much younger than he thought possible. He hadn't even realized just how old she seemed. Damn.
Lee gave her a thumbs up and charged Neji head on.
"Well, using his weakness against alcohol to make him fight against his team. A dirty tactic, but since it worked, it's hard to say anything against it." He watched as Lee fell to the ground five feet away from Neji, who glared at his fallen comrade.
"It's not that he's easily manipulated like that." Gai said, watching the catastrophe again.
"Huh?" Kakashi asked smartly.
"The last time he had alcohol..." Gai continued, as Neji attempted to hit Lee. Who fell in and out of Neji's fists again and again avoiding them by luck alone. Kakashi's eye narrowed just like Neji's.
Not luck... Neji simply couldn't predict...
"That's right. Lee's a natural master of the drunken fist. He destroyed the restaurant we celebrated in before we could stop him." Gai nodded.
"Do your other students know that?" Kakashi asked, quietly, he didn't trust his voice.
Gai didn't say anything, instead he watched the fight between Lee and Neji.
Which went well for the later. For a given value of well at least.
-o-
Neji glared at Lee, as he fell flat on his face. The fool had let the little girl influence him far too easy. And now he acted even worse than usual.
He didn't pay any attention to his teacher, ignoring him mostly had preserved too much of his sanity to start listening now.
Instead he focused on the stumbling Lee. He had heard the expression drunk on love, he had never expected to see a literal example though.
Oh well, he would just have to beat the love out of him. He could barely stop his sneer from showing. Whenever he let his disdain for Lee show too much Gai would become so much more annoying...
And finally the fool had reached him. Oh well, time to end this.
He stabbed Lee with a finger, closing some tenketsu on his left arm, switched targets quickly and shut down his right arm.
Neji stumbled back, eyes wide as he held his stomach. What had happened? He should have hit Lee there. Instead Lee had disappeared from his vision, arms suddenly out of reach, only to reappear a second later and slam his fist into Neji's stomach.
He coughed, maybe he would have to take this serious after all. Growling he charged the swaying affront to fashion sense, he did enjoy beating his self proclaimed rival. He should just accept his fate and Neji's superiority. It would be so much better for him, without driving himself into the ground.
His Byankugan active Neji sprang into action, sending his hands towards Lee again and again, slipping through the sloppy defenses, hitting every vital spot he could reach easi...
Lee slipped around his hands. Not always, sometimes Neji connected, but Lee still somehow avoided over three quarters of Nejis punches!
And Neji just couldn't react to the leg that shot up and slammed into his ribcage, sending him flying.
Neji spat on the floor, staring at Lee. He favored his side slightly, his left arm moved a little bit slower than before, but he would have little trouble continuing the fight.
Neji breathed in deeply. If he wanted to win, he would have to go all out. He growled, for Lee to drive him to this extreme... he glanced at Lees legs and winced.
Lee still wore his weights. He only took them off for sparing with Gai, to get accustomed to fighting without using them.
Neji had never been on the receiving end of Lee without the weights. And if Lee could do this much to him with them...
He growled, he couldn't loose to Lee, the boy currently gave the impression of a giant green worm, winding himself on the ground, trying to get up again.
He refused to loose to something like that!
And with a scream he charged.
Only to run into a hurricane of fists. When did Lee manage to spring up?
Scrambling backwards he weaved around Lee's fists, left, right, up, down, attacks rained down on him from everywhere. He winced as one punch slipped through his defense. He could use his ultimate defense, he hadn't perfected it yet, but he had the basics down.
He spotted an opening. A small one, but he took it, as Lee overextended his right arm slightly.
Neji's hand snacked out, hitting Lee's wrist, no! Lee had interrupted his attack and switched into a spinning kick at the last second.
As his face slammed into the ground Neji wondered how Lee had done it. How had he managed to turn a punch, into a spinning kick?
He groaned as he pushed himself up. Lee hadn't come out quite as unscathed as Neji had assumed. Even his near misses managed to disable at least some tenketsu. He glared at the girl standing at the sidelines, cheering Lee on.
The longer the fight went on the better for her. She would still be fresh, while Lee would be unconscious and he would be beaten up and low on chakra. Especially if he used the kaiten. Damn her.
He gave a yelp as he barely avoided another volley of fists, backing up again.
-o-
Sakura smirked as she watched Lee drive Neji before him.
Anybody with half a brain could see that Lee would loose. Even powered by the drunken fist, he just could just barely match Neji's speed and precision. And Neji's gentle fist already took it's toll, slowing him down more and more.
However, Neji had taken quite a beating already. And once Lee dropped, taking him out would be easy.
She chuckled evilly. Wannabees, who thought they knew what being a ninja entailed. Betrayal was such an integral part of being a ninja...
"Lee! Help!" She screamed again, as Tenten attacked her from behind. She had played dead, and now attempted to take Sakura out before Neji had finished Lee. Smart girl really.
But Lee just had so much more power and speed. And Sakura had so much more situational awareness.
She snickered, poor... what the hell?
Lee had charged Tenten of course, who could only stare at the oncoming green fighter with something akin to horror. Considering the glare on his face, understandable.
But suddenly she disappeared, only to reappear in the arms of Sasuke, twenty feet away from them.
Sasuke smiled at the girl. "Heh, sorry about this, but I couldn't let your comrade hurt you any more than this. Just goes against my religion to let a pretty girl get hurt by such unfair tactics."
Sakura snorted as the girl blushed. She noticed Sasuke's hand had strayed dangerously low and shook her head. He certainly had the touch, judging by Tenten's increasing blush.
He carefully set her down again. "Are you alright?"
"I... I didn't need your help." She attempted to glare at him.
She even succeeded. Somewhat. The blush didn't help her glare.
Sasuke shrugged easily. "Eh, it's just. I couldn't have defended myself against an attack from Naruto. Or Sakura, if they suddenly decided to attack me for a girl or a boy." He looked at the ground.
"I'm sorry." He muttered.
Tenten looked away, missing the slight smirk on Sasuke's face.
Sakura shook her head. Poor girl, to fall for him that easily.
What would she do if she ever came across a ninja who actually specialized in seduction?
For Sasuke it might as well be just a hobby.
Lee glared at the new arrival, just like Neji. "Lee, I thin Tenten actually touched me." Sakura distracted him, before he did something stupid, like attack Sasuke. Not that it wouldn't be funny. But she wanted to pass. Beating Sasuke could wait till after.
-o-
Naruto watched the scene in front of him with a lot of amusement. Most of team Gai had been reduced to blushing and stammering.
Only Neji still stood and he just glared impotently at everybody around him.
"Well, I expected this to go quite different if I'm honest." He said to Kakashi and Gai. "I expected some epic battle. Blood tears and sweat. Not cuddling and kisses."
Kakashi nodded, Gai glanced at him confused.
"But, since they decided to go down that route." Naruto's grin treated to split his face in half. "Might as well see if I can't knock that stick up Neji's ass lose a bit."
Now Gai and Kakashi stared at him in something approaching horror.
"Hey Hyuga!" He shouted, to catch Neji's attention.
"What do you want?" The boy in question spat. Glaring at everybody in the clearing. Naruto could see a few bruises on his face, where Lee had landed some punches despite Neji's near perfect defense.
"Take this! Harem no jutsu!"
Kakashi's eyes went wide. Gai chocked, Lee finally entered the realm of sleep complete with a blood red nose. Sakura just shook her head.
Sasuke activated his sharingan, recording the event for posterity... he what?
Naruto gaped at Sasuke, ignoring Tenten's reaction totally. Sasuke actually... oh god... he...
And suddenly sexy no jutsu became a forbidden jutsu. Who knew what Sasuke would do if he got his hands on a clone?
Naruto shuddered.
And focused his attention on Neji. Who hadn't destroyed the clones before they reached him.
He had developed a nice twitch in his left eye though. Naruto grinned, he might have resisted the worst of the jutsu, he might even resist it totally. But the objective had been met.
"Pathetic!" Neji screamed, though it did come out a bit garbled, before he sprung into action.
His hands flew, destroying clone after clone after clone. In five seconds all clones but one had been destroyed. And Neji stood alone at his place, panting heavily.
"Ohh, maybe the true Hyuuga bloodline doesn't extend just to the girls..." Sakura whistled.
Naruto couldn't help himself, he glanced down.
And up again, as soon as he could. He didn't need to see that!
Neji glanced down as well. And quickly up again. His stoic masked cracked quite nicely.
Naruto turned to Kakashi. "So, do we pass? We did manage to get the bells in under ten minutes and without a single scratch on us."
"What?" Shouted both Tenten and Neji.
Sasuke shrugged at the glaring girl. "Sorry, but if I can combine the pleasant with the necessary..." He winked at her.
Neji patted himself down desperately, then glanced at Naruto, who held his newly gained bell up grinning at the boy.
"Sorry, but I'm pretty sure I'm not the failure here."
Neji's eyes widened in fury and he turned away.
-o-
Kakashi coughed. When Naruto said he hadn't expected it to go down like this, he had echoed Kakashi perfectly.
And this hadn't really been teamwork... but then, they just hadn't needed teamwork. They had just... attacked a weak-point int the enemy team and succeeded beyond all expectations.
"Err... I suppose you pass?" He muttered weakly. What else could he say? They had utterly beat Gai's team. Well, utterly ridiculed them. Same difference.
Neji fumed, glared and raged at the world at large.
Tenten glared at Sakura, who still had Lee in her lap. And Gai cried bitter tears, for the misfortune of his team.
It hadn't gone as planned, sure. But the outcome could be considered a win still.
Yes, this could be considered a win. He chuckled and turned towards his team.
"Though I suppose the old assessment was wrong. You aren't a heavy assault team."
Naruto looked at him in confusion. "Huh what do you mean? Of course we are an assault team."
Sasuke nodded, while Sakura ignored the world around her, in favor of petting Lee's unconscious body. Kinda creepy really. Though the smile she wore actually didn't scare him.
She seemed... happy, really.
"Well, you didn't do much attacking did you? Sasuke used pure seduction, Naruto used his feminine wiles and Sakura used alcohol and words to confuse Lee into attacking his teammates. So, a seduction team is a far more accurate description." He grinned at his genin.
Sasuke rubbed his chin in thought, his face scrunched up in thought. Naruto glared at Kakashi, muttering something about forbidden techniques and Oiroke. Sakura continued her petting, but she didn't focus on Lee anymore, instead she stared into the air.
"Finally!" Sasuke burst out, drawing all eyes to himself. "Finally somebody recognizes my talents!" He bowed to Kakashi, solemnly and with great elegance. "I for one am in favor of making team seven a seduction team." He winked at Tenten, who glared back, but couldn't hide her blush entirely.
"Yeah, seduction means parties. Parties among the rich and powerful. Which means the best alcohol available. Count me in." She licked her lips listing names of various alcoholic beverages.
Naruto glared at his teammates. "You guys suck!" He muttered.
"Only guys I like." Sakura retorted and provided Kakashi with way to much information.
"I'm reasonably sure I'm not gay." Sasuke interjected, giving Naruto an apologetic lock.
"Reasonably?" Tenten asked. Her blush had returned full force.
Sakura glared briefly at him and Naruto, Naruto turned green. "Reasonably?" He asked as well.
"Well, there was that guy... he was really, really pretty..." Sasuke shrugged.
Kakashi felt his visible eye twitch. Why did his genin feel the need to fill him in on their sex lives... why the hell did they even have sex lives? They were twelve, they were supposed to think the other gender was icky!
Ok he hadn't been like that. And Rin and Obito certainly hadn't. Ninja. And people wondered why they were all so messed up. Sexual tension, therein laid the problem. Certainly not in the massive trauma of loosing a comrade, team-leader or the asshole you were kinda, never, best friends with.
"I hate you all." Naruto shouted and turned around. Sasuke simply shook his head laughing.
"So we passed as a seduction team and will only get missions like that from now on right?" Sakura asked hopefully.
Kakashi returned her hopeful stare with his own deadpan one. "No." He said, dashing the hopes of the girl. "No free booze for you." He added, she had more than enough anyway.
"My eternal rival." Aww Gai was crying... again. "I must train my team better, if they could be bested by your team of academy students!" He wiped the tears away, his smile shining brightly. "I have to thank you my rival, for bringing this weakness to my attention."
Kakashi didn't smile. Nope he didn't nearly loose it at the misfortune his team had just unleashed on team Gai, minus Lee and Gai.
Maybe the Hyuuga would loose that stick up his ass from this.
He seemed to be in complete agreement with his own team there. Naruto openly laughed into Neji's face.
"I foresee a fate worse than dead Neji. Who's the failure now?" He taunted the boy.
Neji glared at him, eyes twitching. "I will accept any training Gai might have in mind for us." Neji said coldly.
Tenten didn't take it as well. "I will hunt you down Uchiha. You will pay for this. You hear me? Pay!" She rounded on Sakura. "And you," she stalked over glaring dead and destruction at his genin. "Let go of Lee already."
She grabbed Lee, and for a second Kakashi thought she might loose and arm. But Sakura restrained herself to a low growl, as Tenten snagged Lee away from her.
"To use Lee like that. Disgusting!" Tenten spat. "And then you'll drop him at the first opportunity for the sweet talker over here." The growl got louder. Damn, the girl knew how to talk herself into a hole.
"I know your type, weak little girls, playing at being a ninja, while you have no idea..." Kakashi, Gai, Naruto and Sasuke moved at once. Kakashi had barely reached Sakura in time to grab her hand, and stop it, a millimeter from Tenten's face. Or better, to stop the kunai a millimeter from Tenten's eye.
Sakura snarled, and Kakashi felt himself reminded of nothing so much as of an rabid animal.
-o-
How dare the little bitch? Sakura strained against the people restraining her. How dare she?
She wanted to kill her, rip her into pieces and piss on them.
She knew nothing! Nothing about what it meant to be a ninja, nothing about the loss, the pain and the loneliness.
Tenten didn't know anything but the safety of the village, and the peace real ninja had given their lives for. She snarled again, trying to kill the foolish little girl. Her killing intent driving the girl to her knees.
She could see her gripping the kunai and turn it onto herself. Just a little bit more...
"Sakura!" Kakashi slapped her, breaking her concentration and her fury. "Stop it now!" He shouted at her.
Tenten sat on the ground, eyes wide, breathing heavily, staring at Sakura in terror.
Neji stood a bit back, shaking madly. She grinned at him, all teeth and he shied back even further.
Naruto and Sasuke on the other hand just stared at her. Stared at her with those eyes, that held so much pity, so much...
She spat on the ground, in front of Tenten. "Don't you dare say I don't understand what it means to be a ninja little girl. I understand a lot better than a weakling like you." She shrugged Kakashi off and backed away.
She could feel his eyes on her, narrowed and worried. She might have just given herself a direct stay in Ibiki's cells. Damn.
"What was that about Sakura? You just tried to kill her." Kakashi's voice was hard and cold. Just like his eyes. "No matter how much she insulted you. You don't attack a ninja from Konoha with the intent to kill."
She chuckled darkly. "Even if that ninja betrayed Konoha? Even if they are called Itachi, Orochimaru... Madara?"
Kakashi flinched with each name. His eyes widened in shock at the last one.
"What? Madara is death." He muttered.
Sakura snorted. Though internally she was shouting at herself. This had been stupid, she shouldn't have lost control over a little thing like Tenten insulting her.
She glanced at the gibbering wreck on the floor. Just a girl, a stupid little girl, who couldn't know that Sakura wasn't just like her... she glanced back at Kakashi, damn, she had to give an explanation for why she acted like this... she glanced at Sasuke and why Sasuke didn't act like his old self. Damn, damn, damn.
-o-
Naruto cursed in his mind. He should have done something the second Tenten had opened her mouth. Even if he didn't know Sakura would react like that. He should have realized, that in many ways she was just like Sasuke. Extremely broken, maybe irreparably so.
And you couldn't just insult a person with so many problems like that.
And know? Now she had given Kakashi ample reason to be suspicious. Not that Naruto minded much. Maybe they couldn't avoid revealing themselves now. Certainly an outcome he could live with.
But... she looked around wildly. A caged animal. If Kakashi caught her now, she might just run. And from what she told him she might just run to Madara... damn it. They couldn't reveal themselves yet.
A plan, a plan and fast. Madara... Madara...
"Who's Madara?" He asked, there might just be an out there, let the bastard be useful for once.
Sakura whipped her head around and stared at him. Madness shining in her eyes, madness and paranoia.
Sasuke shuddered, but took his cue.
"He's one of the founders of the Uchiha, he fought the Hokage at the valley of the end." He said.
Naruto nodded. "So, he was a traitor?" He asked. Sakura twitched.
Kakashi answered this one. "Yeah, but the Hokage killed him."
Naruto had great trouble to suppress that snort. Sakura didn't even bother.
Sasuke just looked away, shaking his head. "No he didn't." He whispered.
Both Gai and Kakashi gasped.
"I." Sasuke stopped and looked at Team Gai, still shell shocked from Sakura's attack. "Maybe they shouldn't listen... they don't need." He looked at Naruto, then at Sakura. "She certainly didn't take it well." He muttered.
Naruto wanted to kiss him. Suspicion deflected, for now. Sasuke had bought them time to get Sakura to calm down. However unlikely that turned out to be. Still they had to try.
"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked, looking between Sakura and Sasuke worriedly.
Sasuke looked at team Gai again. "They should leave, this is... private." He whispered.
Kakashi looked at Gai, who nodded and rounded up his genin. "I'll leave you to it Kakashi. This is your team after all."
He looked at Sakura, his eyes going strangely soft. Naruto didn't know whether he could look at somebody who had just tried to kill a student of his. But Gai managed.
"Young lady." A snort from Sakura, who guzzled another bottle. "I know whatever you have seen must have been hard." Sakura coughed as the alcohol went down the wrong pipe and glared at Gai.
And now Gai's eyes were hard, harder even than Kakashi's. "But if you attempt to hurt one of my students again, I will break you. Is that clear?"
Sakura looked back, eyes as hard as Gai's, narrowed and cold they glared at each other. Neither willing to back down.
Naruto hissed. "Sakura!"
She wrenched her eyes away. "It's clear." She muttered sullenly. "I'm sorry, it's just. She doesn't know, she doesn't understand just how... what's waiting... and yet she insults me..."
Gai nodded, his eyes had softened again. "I can't understand what you went through, but... I perfectly understand why you would react like that." He laughed, it sounded... somehow pure. "I know I wanted to kill a lot of people, who presumed they knew the pain I went through, the sacrifices I made. And I do appreciate, that you want to get to know Lee better."
The glare was back. "But I'm afraid as long as you can't control yourself, I can't allow you near Lee. Especially with the amount of alcohol you drink."
He nodded at Kakashi, picked up Lee and left a Sakura who looked from Lee to her bottle and back.
Wow, that might just be more effective than anything Naruto might have come up with, to stop her drinking.
"Well, we are alone now." Kakashi said, looking at Sasuke, with that deceptive boredom he could fake so well.
-o-
He was screwed. Sasuke realized. Well and truly screwed. Not only did he have no idea what actually happened on the massacre, he had no idea how he could work Sakura into this.
He looked at the girl, who had just displayed a level of rage... god the kyuubi might become jealous, he would have to check that with Naruto at some point.
Kakashi lifted an eyebrow. Oh god, he needed to stall!
He looked at Naruto, who nodded once, quickly.
"Madara helped Itachi?" He asked, and Sasuke nodded, slowly. That actually made a lot of sense, Itachi alone wouldn't have been able to slaughter the entire clan, even he would sooner or later run out of chakra.
"Yeah." He whispered. Now how did that explain Sakura turning from docile lamb into vicious bloodhound?
"And..." He continued, seeking out her eyes. She looked away, but he could see her guilt and disgust. That she would be in his dept! That had to irk her more than anything. Damn, it would make things even more difficult with her. And just as they had gotten so much better.
"and Sakura had been there as well. She had seen him." Sasuke finished. Now he just needed a plausible explanation for why she didn't die with the clan.
Kakashi gasped and looked at Sakura. "How much did you see?" he asked.
Sakura shuddered and took a deep gulp from the bottle.
Sasuke noticed that her hands were shaking.
"Everything." She whispered. Sasuke strained to hear anything. "I saw him, saw him cut down that kid. Itachi I mean." Sasuke could see her crying, she sniffled and wiped the tears away. "And, and so many others. He just kept cutting and cutting them down. I was, I kept myself hidden beneath one of the benches. I didn't think he noticed me. But... but..."
Her breathing came heavy now. And she shook like a leaf in the wind.
"He looked at me! He looked at me and smiled, covered in blood and parts and...and..." She stopped, curled up and simply whimpered on the floor, the bottle forgotten beside her.
Kakashi slowly approached her and picked her up into an awkward hug, gently rocking her back and forth.
Sasuke decided to continue the story. He suspected she hadn't told them of the Uchiha massacre at all, but of one she had experienced later, much later. Maybe at the hands of one of her Sasuke's ninja, maybe her Naruto's chakra beasts.
"I... didn't know about it back then." He said, he doubted he would be in a much better condition than her.
Naruto nodded. "You came after it was all over didn't you? You mentioned it, after that thing with Sakura happened yesterday."
Sasuke wanted to give Naruto a thumbs up, for the idea.
"Yeah. Yesterday, after our teams were announced, she came up to me. Said something about a genjutsu she learned. She acted kinda weird. Like... I dunno, in trance? Murmured something about paying the bastard back, finally." Yeah, that was good. Explained why he acted different too.
She used the genjutsu Madara used to wipe her memory of the day on him because... damn it why would Madara just wipe her memory? It didn't make any sense.
"He said." Sakura piped up, holding onto Kakashi with enough strength to make the man wince. "He said, he might need me one day. And beside, I wasn't an Uchiha, so he had no reason to hurt me." She giggled madly. "As if he hadn't hurt me already." She buried her face in Kakashi's shoulder.
Sasuke remained quite. He had no idea how to continue. Well he had, the direction had been set and all, but. He didn't like lying to his teacher. What he had said up till now might in some way shape or form be considered the truth... if you were very very drunk... and on drugs and poisoned and insane.
But if he continued now, he would really be lying.
Luckily he didn't have to, Naruto decided to finish the story.
"Yesterday, whatever that guy, Madara used on her stopped working for some reason. They didn't really tell me anything, no details but she used something on Sasuke and man, were there a lot of hand-seals in it." He mimicked somebody running through a lot of seals real fast.
"And suddenly Sasuke stopped scowling, he actually, you know, smiled." Naruto looked down.
"But Sakura stopped smiling." He glanced at her, her face still buried in Kakashi's shoulder. "And started drinking. Dunno how she keeps going."
"Read bout it." Kakashi's shoulder said.
"There's a jutsu you can use to remove most of the alcohol you drink from your blood and store the poisonous elements in your body." She hiccuped. "You can expel the alcohol as a weapon once you have gather enough."
And blew her nose on Kakashi's shirt.
Sasuke didn't smile. Surprisingly easy that.
Kakashi grimaced, but patted Sakura's head, trying to pry her of his shoulder.
"I see." He muttered, pulling her up and handed her her bottle. "Here, take a swig." She grabbed the bottle greedily and drank in deep gulps, until no liquid reached her lips.
Taking a shaking breath, she wiped away her last tears and looked into Kakashi's eyes. "I'm sorry cap... sensei." She bowed her head. "I should have controlled myself better, what happened is in..."
Kakashi laid a finger on her lips. "I think under the circumstances. Your loss of control is... understandable."
Sasuke nodded, he bought it! He actually bought it! Luck is with those who think on their feet after all.
"Yeah, as I said yesterday. It will probably take a while to deal with the emotions. It took me four years... and I still hadn't dealt with them. Only because of that weird jutsu... I... I'm calmer now."
Heh, saying one thing and meaning something entirely different, fun.
"So, what now?" Sasuke asked, looking at Kakashi expectantly.
Kakashi in turn looked at all of them. Sakura, who stared at the ground, avoiding eye contact with them all.
Naruto frowned worriedly at Sakura. And Sasuke just stared back, into that unreadable eye.
"Well, I'll have to talk to the Hokage about this, obviously." Kakashi said after a minute. "Sakura might have to go in for evaluation, to make sure she's fit for service." He shook his head.
"If she can't get over this, she might have to quit being a ninja." He looked at Sakura sadly, who had briefly looked at him. But after hearing that, she turned away again.
"In the mean time however, you are my team. As I said you guys passed." He smiled widely at them. "If the Hokage gives me permission, we start work tomorrow. Meeting point is the bridge to the training grounds. Dismissed."
With a flash Kakashi disappeared, leaving the genin to their own devices.
Or appeared to at least. Sasuke could still feel him. An ordinary genin probably wouldn't. But Sasuke hadn't been ordinary, ever.
He glanced at Naruto, who simply gave him a hand sign. Later then, in real privacy.
He made his way to Sakura, still slumped on the ground.
"You want to go eat something? Maybe replenish you stash?" He offered her a hand.
Staring blankly at it for a second she finally pushed it away and herself up. "I... thanks, but no. I'll, I'll go think about stuff." She sighed and walked away. But just before she had left their field of vision she stopped. "And... thanks, for... you know." Another flash and she was gone.
Sasuke couldn't help but smile. Even if she had nearly killed a comrade, especially because she nearly killed a comrade. The little things like that, convinced him she would be worth saving.
Naruto walked up to him, a heavy frown on his face. "Well, that could have gone better." He said, watching the spot from where Sakura had disappeared.
Kakashi had gone as well, leaving them truly alone.
"Yeah. Thanks for the pulling my ashes from the fire there."
Naruto shrugged. "No problem, couldn't let Sakura mess this up for herself, could I?"
Sasuke shook his head. "No you couldn't."
Cocking his head he sighed. "It's not the same."
Naruto glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. "What isn't?"
Sasuke grinned slightly at Naruto. "Flirting. Whenever I flirted with a girl back home Sakura would drag me back at the ear. She was kinda possessive." He smiled sadly. He wondered how things were back home...
And shut the thought down hard. Better not think about it. Ever.
Naruto snorted, but nodded. "I can see that. Very funny image actually."
"It's your regular entertainment really." Sasuke grinned.
"You hungry?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah, all this drama really drains you."
"Well then, let's go. Time to get stuffed." Naruto shouted cheerfully.
Sasuke could see he had to force himself sightly, pushing the worry away. But there was enough real cheer in there to not bother him overly much.
After all, if Naruto didn't feel troubled at all... well that would be so much worse.
-o-
Kakashi watched Sakura take off alone. Not that he blamed her, after what just happened he would need some alone time as well.
He watched his other students, the didn't talk much, not that could hear them from this distance, or even read their lips with any accuracy. But he just bet they knew he still hung around.
He wanted to grin, really he did. They had proven their mettle today. If only Sakura hadn't revealed that side of her. He shuddered. It reminded himself of nothing so much as the Kyuubi. The same hatred and disregard for anything else. The same blood thirst. Only contained in a human. A little girl at that.
Disturbing on many levels.
He had been oh so tempted to fail them all then and there, hand them over to Ibiki for a full mental evaluation... well hand over Sakura and be done with it.
But then they had come up with that beautiful story, played hints and tips to each other and managed to paint a very intriguing picture. A picture that kinda fit their shift in personality and would explain everything.
Sadly it also wouldn't hold up to even the most cursory investigation. He had spotted a few holes her and there, the most glaring being the one where they started to act strange before yesterday.
Off by a day and explainable by the excitement revelations like that would bring with it, never mind the shock of Sakura's reaction just minutes ago.
Still, the story didn't hold up. But for now he didn't have an adequate explanation and he seriously doubted they were spies. As he thought before, spies just weren't this incompetent. And nobody would send emotionally unstable people like Sakura to spy anyway. And he had no doubt, whatever else had been true about their story, that Sakura had experienced the slaughter she described.
There had been far, far too much real pain there, pain that had been released for the first time in ages.
He had seen a breakdown like that before. One of his subordinates... he had kept it all bottled in, never complaining about the mission, never even mentioning it. And then, one day he flipped out, attacked some civilian for a wrong word. Luckily, just like here comrades had been on hand.
The results were remarkably similar. The same release, the same story, only the details were different.
He had been removed from active duty of course. But after 4 weeks he returned. Much more balanced, with many more smiles.
Kakashi had never been sure if that hadn't simply been a new mask, one to replace the stoic one he wore before, or if Ibiki had simply brainwashed him.
In the end, Kakashi decided it didn't matter. He had kept an eye on him, made sure that no civilian said something that could set him off and the guy had become a competent ninja again.
Hopefully with Sakura a few weeks of D-Rank missions would have the same result.
He looked back at his students and decided to give the boys some privacy. He did need to talk to the Hokage about this. Whether he wanted to keep them or not.
-o-
Tenten shivered as she walked in front of Gai. That girl had tried to kill her. And if it hadn't been for the rest of her team and Gai she would have succeeded. Actually she might have succeeded regardless, just by spiking that ridiculous killing intent at her.
"Sensei." She began, still trying to get her shaking under control. "What... what did she do there."
She could still see Sakura's eyes. Crazy and wild, blood lust shining within. "I, I would have killed myself if you hadn't stopped her." She shuddered, how could that little slip of a girl produce so much killing intent? You had to be a jonin or something to do that.
Gai, Lee still slung over his shoulder, sleeping off his buzz, continued walking. But she could see him thinking.
She glance at Neji, who walked quietly behind them. He had been shaken as well, in fact he was still shaking.
"Do you know what killing intent is?" Gai finally asked.
She nodded, of course she did, every genin did. "It's your chakra, saturated with your desire to kill the enemy." She said quickly. Talking actually seemed to help with the aftereffects.
"Yes. It's a good description. Wrong of course, but a good description nevertheless." Gai nodded, as they reached their own training ground and set Lee down, against a log.
Tenten blinked, but that had been what they were taught in the academy.
"Neji, would you try to give a more factual description?" Gai asked.
Neji studied Gai for a second then nodded, slowly. "I would have said the same. However, now that you mentioned the mistake I can see where it is." He pointed at the village. "Even civilians can display killing intent. Of course, they don't have chakra, or better nowhere near the quantities we have, and certainly no control over it."
He paused and breathed in, finding his center again and finally stopped shaking. Tenten hadn't duplicated the feat yet.
"But even so, they can, under the right circumstances, reach an impressive level of killing intent." He continued. "So I would assume a better description is the desire to kill projected and enhanced by your chakra. The more chakra you have, the stronger the killing intent."
Gai nodded and looked at Tenten. "Exactly, so you see, killing intent is a lot like genjutsu, you chakra acts as a conduit for your thoughts, making your enemy see things you want them too."
He gave her one of his smiles. "Can you tell me why hers is so strong, even without the massive chakra required to reach this level of killing intent?"
She frowned, how could you reach that amount of killing... think Tenten! Think. How did she project her own killing intent? She just kinda... did...
"She focuses on projecting it. She isn't just releasing it unconsciously, she's doing it quite deliberately! She uses her killing intent as an actual weapon." She exclaimed.
Gai nodded happily. "That's correct. It's not something a lot of ninja do, due to it's rather limited effectiveness against opponents of a certain level. You'll notice neither me nor Kakashi were affected."
Neji snorted.
"Much." Gai conceded.
"Neither were her teammates." Neji added.
Now Gai blinked, and looked at Neji. "Well I suppose..."
"Why weren't they affected? They are just fresh genin. They should have been affected worse than we were." Tenten asked.
They had been through over 10 C-Rank missions and yet these genin had walked over them, as if they were nothing! How could that be? It was as if all their training meant nothing.
Gai sighed and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Tenten, both Sasuke and Naruto didn't have an easy life. Sasuke especially, he already had experienced something like this once before. And, he was extremely lucky to make it out alive."
He looked at her, but he didn't seem to see her.
"Maybe Sakura had been there as well..."
He glanced at the Hokage monument for a second, before his gaze returned to her.
"And Naruto has his own burden to bear. Quite a heavy burden. You shouldn't feel bad because they already have enough bad memories to deal with something like this better."
She shuddered at the reprimand. What kind of childhood did it take to stand up to that sort of killing intent?
Neji also looked down. She knew his childhood hadn't been all that pleasant either, and still he had been affected... damn it this was insane.
"We need to be stronger then." Neji said, his eyes narrowed. "We have training to do."
Gai nodded, smiling proudly at them.
"But still, can you believe how she used Lee?" She growled, no matter how bad your childhood, using somebody as gullible as Lee... despicable.
Gai raised an eyebrow. "Used him?"
Neji rolled his eyes. "It was clear from the second she accepted that kiss, that she planed to use him against us." He sneered. "She might have some skill, but if she had stood in an open fight, she would have lost."
Tenten nodded, glaring in the direction they had just come from. "Yeah, as soon as she finished with us she would have dropped Lee."
Gai didn't smile anymore, instead he watched them sadly. "And that is the reason you lost." He sighed.
Tenten gaped at him, Neji barely managed to restrain himself from doing the same, instead he glowered.
"What do you mean? Were we supposed to let her turn Lee on us?" Tenten burst out.
"Of course not." Gai said, tears streaming down his face. "But if you didn't want her to turn him against you, why did you help her then?" He had pulled a handkerchief from somewhere and blew into it.
Tenten didn't know what to say. Here her teacher said that she had helped that little tease to turn Lee away from his teammates. She looked out for him, made sure he didn't fall for one of those girls, who only cared about their own advantage and Gai said she helped her?
She glanced at Neji, who stared at Gai with open disbelieve. Wow, Gai managed to rattle him once again.
Gai honked dramatically in his handkerchief, then put it away. To where she had no idea and frankly, she didn't want to know.
He knelt beside Lee and pulled something out, a little note.
"It seems Neji, your eyes aren't quite as powerful as you say they are, if you miss something like this." He held the note out for them to read.
Tenten continued to stare at the note for a good five minutes. It just didn't make sense. What kind of girl would invite somebody like Lee to spend the night with her?
Sure he was loyal, hard working and nice. But the spandex, the poses, the flowery speeches!
Neji had developed a twitch she noticed.
"Lee... girlfriend... Lee! Girlfriend!" He muttered.
"I'll admit, I had my doubts as well." Gai put his hands on their shoulder, after he collected the note, complete with lipstick kiss, from their numb fingers. "But once he passed out, those doubts had been wiped away. Nobody who didn't care looks at somebody like that." He nodded, full of conviction.
"Sakura cares deeply for Lee. If it is true love." Hearts and flowers appeared behind him. Damn it, some day she would learn how he created those genjutsu and she would shut him down. "Or merely a briefly burning romance. I will support my cute student to the full extend of my abilities." He finished in his nice guy pose.
Tenten groaned, this just wouldn't end well.
Neji just continued to gibber uselessly. She hit him over the head. "Cut it out, it's not that implausible." She growled.
Neji stared at her, then pointed the impossible out. "Lee! Girlfriend!" He said, with his usual eloquence.
She raised an eyebrow. "Yes, stranger things have happened."
Neji just had to ask, apparently. "Lee? Girlfriend?" Well that did provide a valid point.
"Just because I can't think of it happening doesn't mean it didn't." She defended herself.
Neji shook his head. "Lee girlfriend."
Huffing Tenten turned towards Gai, who had followed the exchange with a flat glare.
"What should we have done then? Nothing? She would have gotten Lee's bell then." She said.
"Exactly." Her insane teacher replied.
What did she ever do to deserve this team? Did she start the first great ninja war? Was that it?
"But she would have the bell and set Lee against us!" She whined. Neji supported her with energetic nodding.
"No, she would have gotten his bell. If you had been supportive you would have send a drunk Lee against her comrades." Gai countered.
Which, actually was a valid point. Damn him.
She hung her head. "I, I, yeah, you are right sensei."
"Instead you enabled her to use your actions against you. Using your own words to lace her poison with honey!" Gai cried again.
"Well, in order to make up for this mistake we will have to train harder." He grinned at them, thumbs up teeth out.
Tenten whimpered, this wouldn't end well at all.
"Lee my student wake up!"
-o-
Sakura sat underneath a great tree, hidden by shadows from the world she nibbled at her last bottle.
She had lost it, totally and utterly lost it. Over a stupid thing like an insult! Over Lee!
Sure, he was a great guy and she wouldn't mind spending a lot of nights with him, she grinned perversely. But still, she should have more control.
She had never flown of the handle back home. It had never even occurred to her that she had a problem with her temper.
Though now that she thought about it, since the only thing she ever did with other humans she met back there, involved killing them a lot, she might just never have gotten the opportunity to get pissed.
Very likely that.
She curled up on herself, outside she could hear the giant animals of the forest of death, howling in their search for food.
Unnerving in a way. She remembered the forest dead and empty. Only the skeletal trees remained, many broken but enough intact to make for a nice hideout.
She sighed. And she would have to thank the idiots. They had protected her, or better her easy life.
Not that she thought Kakashi had bought the story they told him. Her captain wouldn't fall for something so full of holes.
But he would want to investigate, which meant he wouldn't send her to Ibiki if he didn't have to.
Through a small hole she could see a small piece of the sky. Every now and gain a small fluffy cloud hid it from view.
She smiled slightly. Back, before Madara found her, she had often watched clouds like this. There hadn't been much to do, sitting in the ruins of Konoha. With nobody around but monsters and animals.
And the longer she had lived in the forest the less there were of either.
She listened to the sounds of life above her.
It sounded good.
-o-
Naruto slurped down his third bowl of delicious ramen, while Sasuke downed his second. Both boys hadn't talked much, after they left the training ground.
Naruto hadn't been sure what to say and Sasuke had been lost in thought.
"What are we going to do with her?" Sasuke set his bowl down and looked at Naruto, it was clear that he expected him to come up with something.
"The way she acted. It was more like she was an animal." He trailed off. "A bit like the Kyuubi really."
Naruto nodded, it scarred him, seeing her like this. But he refused to give up. He hadn't for Sasuke and he had betrayed them all. He wouldn't for Sakura, who may or may not, have succumbed to the same darkness.
"I dunno." He muttered. "We have to control her somehow. I mean, it's obvious she lost her self control at some point." He stared into his bowl of ramen. "Even if she had always been kinda violent..."
Sasuke nodded solemnly. "True, she kinda liked beating me over the head whenever I did something stupid." He rolled his eyes. "Anko always said I deserved it, whenever Sakura did it."
Hmm, again with Anko. Sasuke mentioned her quite often...
"What's it with you and Anko by the way?" Naruto just had to ask.
"Huh? Oh she was our genin sensei." He asked grinning.
A whimper escaped Naruto's lips. And he had survived? Relatively sane?
Sasuke was a better man than Naruto, that was for sure. He doubted he could ever have survived Anko's teaching methods.
"What's wrong with Anko? She was great, always nice, gave us challenging training and exiting missions. Also all kinds of great advice." Sasuke frowned at him.
"Uhh... well, our Anko... well I think she would get along great with Sakura." Naruto stammered.
And nearly wept. If Anko and Sakura ever got to meet each other, and didn't start fighting on the spot...
-o-
Anko wondered why she felt like cackling madly. But then, she didn't bother figuring out her feelings, she followed them whenever she could get away with it.
So she cackled madly, in the middle of the marked.
-o-
"Aaaaanyway." Naruto said, ridding himself of the uncomfortable thought. "We need to find a way to uhh calm her down?" He looked at Sasuke questioningly.
"I believe the term was control." He answered.
"Well yeah, control." Naruto looked into around, trying to find a solution.
A little girl dragged her puppy behind her on a leash, away from the butchers shop.
"Heh, too bad we can't put a leash one her eh Sasuke?" He joked. Man that would be funny.
Sasuke didn't answer.
"Sasuke? You there?" Naruto turned to him and stared into a smile. A smile he had seen a lot, especially in his travels with Jirayia.
A smile the dirty old pervert got every time he peeped on girls, or wrote in his book.
"Sasuke, what are you doing?" He asked the boy carefully. Making every effort to keep his voice neutral.
"Hmm?" Sasuke asked, his eyes unfocused.
"Sasuke, what are you thinking about?"
"Hmm Sakura in nothing but a leash?" He answered dreamily.
One minute later Naruto's brain rejoined the world of the living.
It had been a pleasant fantasy. Maybe they should try to get Sakura...
A minute later the shaking stopped.
"You are aware that if you ever approach her with that idea, she'll rip out your throat with her teeth aren't your?" He asked Sasuke.
Sasuke blinked, shuddered and nodded. "Yeah. So that idea's out. Pity."
"God damn it. Anko turned you into a pervert!" Naruto shouted.
"Geez you are as much of a prude here as back home." Sasuke rolled his eyes.
Gaping Naruto stared at the boy. Prude? Him?
He pointed at himself wildly. "Me? Prude?" He asked.
"Yeah, you." Sasuke shrugged. "One more bowl please." He asked Teuchi.
"Oiroke no Jutsu!" Naruto screamed, revealing his most sexy creation yet.
Naruto turned back, sharingan in full force.
"Prude?" Naruto nearly shouted in his face.
"What would you do if Jirayia stood in front of a strip-club?" Sasuke asked calmly.
"What the hell kinda question is that? I would get the hell away from that place, before he manages to drag me in!" Naruto shouted back.
"The defense rests." Sasuke shrugged again and turned back to his ramen.
Leaving Naruto there, in sexy form, jaw hanging down, utterly beaten.
A Minute later he dispelled the form, and sat down again.
The additional guests, that had suddenly joined them, groaned in disappointment and turned back to the ramen they had ordered.
"So, still have the problem with Sakura." Naruto said, dropping the previous conversation.
Sasuke sighed. "Let's give her some time. Maybe that's all she needs. I mean, how much contact did she have anyway... how used is she to social..."
He looked around the full stall.
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I get your point." He pulled out a few bills and laid them out on the counter.
"No need for that Naruto. Today's meal is free." Teuchi grinned. Ayame glared at her father, but said nothing.
"Huh? Thanks old man." Naruto laughed.
"Mine too I assume? I'm kinda the one who made him do it." Sasuke interjected.
Teuchi laughed. "Yeah kid, your meals free too. Visit me again will you? It's good to see some friends of his."
Sasuke nodded, ginning cheerfully. "I will!"
Well, he had no idea what that was about. And something told him, he didn't want to know what it was about either. Still, free ramen made the day a win in his book.
Hopefully Sakura would return to normal tomorrow.
-o-
Kakashi stood in front of the Hokage, watching the man sort through a few papers, he had been reading before Kakashi had entered.
"Kakashi, what can I do for you? I assume this is about team 7?" He sighed. "They didn't pass?"
Kakashi shook his head. "No, they did. But..." He shifted uncomfortably.
"Naruto didn't give you any trouble did he?"
Kakashi coughed. "Err no not Naruto."
"Sasuke then? The boy went through so much..." The Hokage looked down sadly.
"Not him either." Kakashi muttered.
Sarutobi looked at him, eyebrow raised. "Sakura? Sakura Haruno gave you trouble?" He asked, disbelieve dripping form his voice.
"Yes." Kakashi said simply. He actually hadn't been able to come up with a way to voice this without sounding insane.
"What did she do? Did she try to kidnap Sasuke or something?" Sarutobi asked, head in his hand.
"Not really." Kakashi sighed. "I think I best start from the beginning, when explaining the situation."
The Hokage nodded.
"Well, during the introduction yesterday, they revealed some rather interesting tidbits of knowledge." And nobody needed to know that they actually managed to be later than him, while still technically being on time. Nobody would ever find out!
"They also displayed some advanced skills and an inflated opinion of themselves, so I decided to take them down a peg or two."
Half closed eyes regarded him suspicious. "Taking them down a peg or two? What did you do Kakashi?"
He coughed again. "I err, recruited Gai's team to help me with the test." He admitted.
"You did what?" The Hokage shouted. "Are you insane? Gai's team will eat those kids alive!"
Kakashi scratched his head, grinning proudly. "If by eat alive you mean, be crushed utterly, then yes, yes they would."
The angry eyes blinked in confusion. "What?"
"My team managed to utterly beat Gai's in the contest. Only Gai's team sustained any damage. Mine was entirely unscathed."
Oh this look of utter confusion on the old man's face was gold! If only he had a camera.
"How? How could they beat Gai's team?" He asked, after a full minute of silence.
"Err, well Sakura kinda seduced Lee and kissed him." Kakashi admitted.
"And Lee's teammates just stood there?"
"Well, after it became clear that Lee was very very drunk... and Naruto and Sasuke had fled, they kinda tried to separate..."
"Lee was drunk?" The Hokage interrupted him. "And Naruto and Sasuke fled..."
Well, now he felt like the worst liar ever. This must be how Obito felt every time he made those excuses.
"Yes. It seems they knew what happens if Lee get's drunk." He explained.
"But how did he get drunk?"
"Sakura kissed him." He said. It wasn't exactly a difficult concept to understand.
"And that induces drunkenness." Sarutobi deadpanned.
"Yes?" Kakashi asked. What else was it supposed to do? He felt certain, that if he wandered too close to Sakura he would wake up with a hangover the next day as well.
"Why?"
"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know. Sorry." Kakashi chuckled. How silly of him.
"Kakashi, I'm waiting."
"Err yes, well Sakura did drink about 10 bottles of Sake today, it's to be expected really." He shrugged his shoulder.
Sarutobi's head hit his desk.
"What did I do to deserve this Kakashi?" He asked.
"Now that, should be fairly self evident." Kakashi glared at the man. "You stuck me with a team! And I have to explain them already being messed up enough to have their own quirks!"
He smiled behind his mask.
"Oh, also they tell me Madara is alive and kicking, and helped Itachi kill all the Uchiha."
Wow, that did it, Sarutobi just stopped working and did his best to imitate a statue. This could take a while.
-o-
"So, what you are saying is, that Sasuke is currently under a genjutsu developed by Madara, used on Sakura to suppress her emotions, after she witnessed the massacre, which failed recently, so she used it on Sasuke, to at least temporarily give him the ability to deal with his loss.
"All the while Naruto has witnessed her using it on Sasuke. And Sakura is a fully functioning drunk, thanks to a highly complicated jutsu she read about in a book."
The Hokage summed up team seven's rather impressive fabrication.
"Well, that's what they say." Kakashi shrugged.
"Right, did they honestly think you would fall for that?" The Hokage pinched his nose.
Again Kakashi shrugged. "I don't know, maybe. But I think they just wanted to give me something to investigate. It is kinda plausible and does, kinda, explain their shifts in personality."
"You didn't think about them being replaced by spies?" The Hokage asked.
"What kind of spies, would be so incompetent?" Kakashi countered. "After they managed to take their place? No, there is something going on with them, and I want permission to investigate."
"Well, there are several possibility, as for why a spy would act like that, a distraction, inducing a witch-hunt..." The Hokage replied.
"True, but honestly? If they can somehow sneak into Konoha, transplant the eyes of an Uchiha, extract the Kyuubi from Naruto and reseal it in one of their spies, then insert them back into Konoha... without anybody noticing. Well I would say we might as well call it a day and close Konoha down." Kakashi replied blandly. "I still want permission to investigate. I would have spend the time with them anyway, so no loss if they are spies."
They stared at each other for a minute, then the Hokage nodded. "Alright. Permission granted. But you have to make sure Sakura isn't a risk to anybody in the village. And keep a very, very good eye on them. They are all dangerous... and in danger."
Kakashi nodded, he knew that. But they were also his students. And, Sakura had held him... that wasn't the way you hugged somebody you just met yesterday.
He reminded her of somebody, somebody she lost. How she already lost somebody so close to her, especially with nobody ever noticing.
Well, that would be one of the things he planed to investigate. And hopefully he wouldn't have to throw his students to Ibiki.
-o-
Here's chapter three, hope you guys enjoy.