And I post a half-hour early again because fuck midnight.

Editing and posting these every single day is way more exhausting than I ever thought it would be. I think I'll take a week off after Friday's chapter before posting the final stretch. I just... need a break.

They were woken up by Sakura tapping their shoulders. Naruto blinked open storm blue eyes, then realized she'd been leaning on Sasuke's shoulder all night and using him as a pillow- and that he'd been returning the favor with the top of her head. They didn't jerk or pull away, it seemed like forever ago when they'd had their childish spat back in the Academy classroom the day of team assignments. Had it really only been a month? It felt to Naruto like she'd aged so much in the last few days with all the deaths they'd seen.

Neither of them said anything as they yawned and took in their first look of the place in the morning light. ...It had really looked better in the dark of night. Naruto stood up and undid her ponytails, making a face at all the mud caked in the strands. Her team mates didn't look much better. "...I don't suppose we could impose on our hosts for a couple showers?"

Sakura smiled at her, "That's actually why I woke you: Tsunami-san offered her house and all amenities thereof for us as thanks for taking care of her father so well."

"You... you didn't take the first shower before telling us."

Sakura blushed, "No. I... I thought about it, but it didn't seem fair; you two worked so much harder than I did yesterday. Taking the hot water seemed really selfish."

Naruto frowned. That wasn't- She shook her head and set her good hand on Sakura's shoulder, leaning close to the other girl. The pinkette's face started turning red the closer her team mate got, green eyes watching her uncertainly. She yelped when Naruto closed the rest of the distance between them with a sharp headbutt.

"Ah! Naruto! What was that for?!" She held both hands to her forehead, one eye closed as the other watered. Naruto had her headband on still when she'd headbutted her!

The blonde didn't even seem fazed, hand still on Sakura's shoulder, "Don't say such stupid stuff again. Zabuza's clone would have creamed us if it wasn't for you and your earth spikes."

"I barely had the chakra to make a single one to get us up out of the water on my own."

Blue eyes glared at her with all the intense emotion of a violent storm, lightning cracking in the turbulent depths, "Was I useless because I haven't learned a single real Jutsu since we became a team? Sasuke got hurt and his fire techniques overwhelmed, was he useless? We're a team, and we'd have all died back there if we hadn't stuck together. I wouldn't have even been able to fight if you hadn't saved my ass and pulled me under when he broke my arm." Naruto leaned forward again and leaned their foreheads together- much gentler, blue eyes boring into Sakura's surprised green, "You're our team mate, our friend, and we need you. We need you, Sakura."

"I-" She looked away, face heating even further, "Yeah, okay." Sakura took a deep breath and stepped back, pushing her bangs out of her face, her own hair loose after brushing it out and her Hitai-ate off for the moment. "So... who washes off first?"

"You." Sasuke and Naruto answered at the same time, making Sakura jerk in place.

Naruto shrugged and held out her damaged arm, "I need to check this and get it unwrapped either way."

"I'll go last."

Naruto beamed over her shoulder at the Uchiha, "And they say chivalry is dead."

Dark eyes rolled and Sasuke enunciated carefully, "Fire. Jutsu. Training."

Blue eyes closed as Naruto rubbed the back of her head, "Oh, yeah."

Sakura giggled at the both of them and danced backward, "Okay, I'll go take the first shower." She stopped at the foot of the stairs and looked back at them, "And Naruto, Sasuke?" She smiled when she had their attention, "Thank you both- for everything. I couldn't have asked for a better team."

Her laughter drifted back down the stairs in response to the 'Hn' and 'Well, duh! I've been saying we're the best since forever!' that followed her up.

Naruto and Sasuke sat down at the kitchen table, and before Sasuke could even open his mouth to enquire about possible breakfast choices, Naruto was imperiously holding out and slightly (very slightly) waving her injured arm, eyes closed and face scrunching the longer he stared incredulously at the appendage. Sasuke viciously cut off his rising snicker to a single surprised 'snirk' shaking his head at the blonde, "You are such a..." Naruto's face scrunched more and she waved her arm a little faster. Sasuke couldn't help his smirk as he grabbed it, "Dobe."

She opened her eyes and beamed at him, "Teme."

He snorted and set to work unwrapping her arm. Their insults didn't even sound like insults anymore. Her skin was the same tan it usually was as he unwrapped more of it, and Sasuke let out a soft breath of relief. Not horrendously bruised, not held close while Naruto tried not to whimper in pain, and not broken in three places. He dug his fingers into the flesh to feel the bone beneath, and found the bumpy unevenness of a healed break. He prodded at the spots, Naruto whining in front of him, but in that 'hurry uuuup' way instead of one that indicated actual pain.

He let Naruto know she was healed by way of handing her the bandages that it was now her responsibility to roll up and put away. She pouted at him but set to rolling them back up, the silence of the early morning peaceful for the both of them and neither felt like breaking it for speech. They could communicate just fine without talking- without sign language, either. Naruto finished her task no more than five minutes later and just looked at him. Without a word of argument, he turned so she could see his back and prod at it.

When it came to Naruto, the girl almost never knew what holding back was. Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, gardening; she went full throttle all the time, even in things she didn't have to. In conversations, in relationships, Naruto was present and there in a way that was exhausting just to be around. Few got to see her like she was now, like she had been the night before, the calm before the storm that was Naruto. Something about the early morning or late night just... mellowed her.

It wasn't particularly in her nature, but Naruto could be calm and gentle when the situation really called for it. Sasuke's back called for it. She was outstandingly careful as she poked and prodded at his back, testing for tenderness and placing her hands against it to test for excessive heat that would indicate infection. There was little point in her re-bandaging him when he was just going to need it undone for his shower, and little point in unwrapping him to let him potentially bleed when she was the next one in line to get that bathroom.

With a final poke and a sigh, Naruto pulled back, "No infection that I can tell. It's warm, but then, you always are. Side effect of being a Fire Style specialist. I'll check it again later and put on a few remedies."

They both turned to see a young boy stomp down the stairs and towards the door, "I'm going out!" They both flinched at the resounding SLAM as he went, never noticing the two half-naked teens in his kitchen.

Sakura came downstairs a few minutes later, wrapped in a bath robe and toweling her long pink hair, and looked between them and the front door they were both still watching, "...Something interesting about the door?"

"Kid just waltzed past us and slammed it without ever noticing us."

Sakura frowned and picked up a photo on the stand near by, "This kid?"

"That's the one."

"He must be Tsunami-san's son and Tazuna's grandson."

"The one that was going to cry if we turned back on the mission and let Tazuna get killed by Missing-Nin?"

"The same."

Sasuke summed up her thoughts perfectly, "Hn."

Naruto nodded, "Civilians are weird." No shinobi child, angry or otherwise, would have made so much noise- not without getting thumped, anyway, as Naruto had learned very well. Her mother had never had to discipline her to get her to be sneaky, learning stealth was a proud milestone in every ninja-child's life, especially if they could successfully sneak up on, say, their parents, without being found out. And as understanding and forgiving as Makoto was, Naruto'd have been thumped on the head for making the announcement that she was going out without waiting for permission.

Naruto sighed and got up, stretching her arms high overhead and arching her back until her spine cracked satisfyingly. She blinked at Sakura's blatant staring at her, "...What?"

The pinkette slapped a hand to her own face and drew it downward, "Naruto... who told you it was a good idea to wear a black bra with a white shirt? Better yet, who told you it was a good idea to wear white at all? It's not exactly the most shinobi color."

Naruto raised a single blond brow and made a show of looking down at her burnt-orange pants, her matching jacket in the corner, Sasuke's own white shorts, and turned back.

Sakura waved a hand and sighed, "Never mind. Just... go on."

"You are spending way too much time with Ino-nee, your fashionista is showing."

"Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up and go take your shower."

She beamed, "Sure!" She made a trio of Shadow Clones before she went, one to scout around, one to keep an eye on the idiot-child that had left the house when Tazuna and his entire family were the targets of a man with a lot of money and muscle-power, and one to start breakfast.

Tsunami came down halfway through Naruto's shower, stopping in surprise at the image waiting for her in the kitchen. A blonde was standing confidently at the stove, cooking something that smelled heavenly- certainly with ingredients they hadn't had before because Tsunami knew nothing growing near by smelled that good- a pink-haired girl in a bath robe brushing her hair and chatting with a dark-haired boy... who was half-naked and wrapped in bandages from his shoulders to his waist. She blinked, then regained her composure, "Oh, you're all already awake. I was just coming down to make breakfast."

The blonde grinned hugely at her and waved a dismissing hand, "No problem, we're early-risers-"

"Or else." The other girl muttered.

"-And I've already got it covered, hope you don't mind me using your cookware."

"Oh... no, it's... fine."

Tsunami silently counted the three in the room, then looked up at the ceiling, where she could hear the shower going on the second floor. She knew for a fact that the Jounin was still passed out, so who...?

"Our team mate." The boy answered.

Tsunami could have sworn that the group had been made up of three Genin and one Jounin... She turned around when the sound of the water falling cut off and a blonde came down the stairs. The same(?) blonde that was at the stove. Her head whipped back and forth between the two and she pointed at the one who'd just appeared, "Who...?"

The boy smirked, "Also our team mate."

"Sasuke, don't be a bastard." The one at the stove admonished.

"Nah, that's a personality trait for him." The one by the stairs answered.

Tsunami looked back and forth between them, "Um... names?"

The pink-haired girl smiled kindly, "Sakura Haruno."

"The broody one is Sasuke Uchiha, and I am Naruto Yamanaka, future Hokage!" The stair-blonde announced.

"So am I!" The one by the stove added.

Tsunami held a hand to her head, "How...?"

Both of the blondes grinned at her and answered at the same time, "Ninja~"

"A, ah, what was it called again? A 'Jutsu'?"

"Yep!"

Tsunami looked between the two blondes and took a seat at the table, "I wish I could do that... I can't count how useful it'd be to have two of me."

The Naruto by the stairs moved into the kitchen and pinned Tsunami with a kind smile that nonetheless said she'd never be able to do the least of what the three -four, three...- children in front of her could, "Well... I could show you some basic Taijutsu and chakra exercises, I suppose..."

She smiled and waved off the offer, "Oh, no, that's okay. I'm sure you put years of work into the skills you have now. I'm content being a housewife, ninja isn't really a dream of mine."

Tsunami did her best not to stare when Naruto unwrapped Sasuke and Tsunami got a look at his back as he turned, but she couldn't hold in a gasp. She reached out but stopped herself short of touching, "Are you okay? I'll go get my medical kit."

"Hn." Sasuke left before she could even get up.

Naruto rolled her eyes as he went, "Don't worry, that's Sasuke for 'yes'. ...Also 'no', 'Dobe', and thirty-six other words\phrases. And don't worry so much, we're ninja, that's nothing much. Should have seen us last night."

Tsunami appreciated the blonde's efforts, but that honestly didn't comfort her in the least. They're just children...

Kakashi held up the glass Naruto handed him, "Thanks, this looks really... great." It looked like grass juice with bits of twig floating in it.

The blonde scowled at him, "Drink it. It'll help you heal faster. Just, uh, hold your breath when you do." She turned back around.

He sighed and set the glass down, "Next question: Why are you three facing away from me?"

Naruto flapped a hand at- well, not at him, facing the wall as she was, "Because you'll heal faster if you don't waste chakra doing stupid vanity Jutsu."

Kakashi shook his head and set the tray of food down, "We need to talk."

Naruto tilted her head curiously, "About...?"

"Zabuza is still alive."

The Genin stiffened, "Sakura?"

"It's... possible. Senbon aren't usually killing weapons. And Hunter Ninja destroy bodies on the spot. There are exceptions to both rules, of course, but it is... possible."

Sasuke nodded, facing the door, "Assume yes."

"Plan no." Naruto added. "So you're going to train us, right?" She tilted her head just enough to indicate she was speaking to Kakashi without risk of seeing him.

"So ready for whatever I can put you through?"

All three Genin's shoulders tensed, but Naruto was the one who answered, "At our very best, we were barely able to take down a water clone that -Sakura-chan tells me- was only a tenth as powerful as the guy himself, and we didn't come out of that battle uninjured. I don't like it -the words taste bitter- but we're nowhere near his level. If we're going to face him again, and his ally, we need to be put through the ringer with the hopes we're still breathing when we come out the other side." The other two nodded, Sasuke shortly, and Kakashi could tell Sakura was biting her lip without even seeing it.

He sighed and pulled down his mask, "Very well, then. We'll start training after breakfast."

Naruto gawked as Kakashi walked up the tree, but the greater part of her understood the basic premise just from what her training and she groaned, "More chakra control exercises? Sensei, I've been doing nothing but for the last month solid."

"And how's that going, Naruto?"

She scuffed her foot in the dirt, "I stopped Zabuza's Clone's tidal wave, didn't I?"

He eye-smiled at her, "Managing to halt the wave of a minor attack by a Water Clone one-tenth the strength of the actual enemy, I'm sure that will be more than adequate facing Zabuza and his friend together, then."

Clash of the Whirling Tides was not a 'minor attack', and Naruto wanted to shout it, but the castigation had gotten through and she sulked. "Hasn't my chakra control improved enough yet to learn a Jutsu?"

Kakashi pinned her in place, "Do you think it has, Naruto? You're no longer a child, an unblooded Genin. You've seen death and you're the best at judging your own skill. Do you think you have enough chakra control to begin learning Jutsu in earnest?"

The reaction to his words was instantaneous and Naruto's whole demeanor just- wilted. Her bangs shadowed her eyes and she trembled at being reminded she'd already been responsible for the death of two people. Sakura took a step forward, hand reaching out towards the blonde, hesitating when Naruto spoke, "How does this excercise work, Sensei?"

"The idea here is to mold chakra to the soles of your feet, creating a connection between yourself and the tree in order to stick, then walk up." Kakashi tossed a trio of kunai at their feet, "Get as high as you can and mark it with the kunai, then try to beat that mark the next time. It's best to do it at a bit of a run, so your momentum will carry you farther up the tree, at least until you get used to it."

"So, what you're saying is: It's harder to walk up the tree from a dead stop than at a run."

"That is correct."

Naruto grinned, "Got it."

The three of them pulled the blades from the ground, spent a moment focusing inward, and ran. Naruto made it about four feet on momentum alone before she lost traction, chakra be damned, and had to push off the trunk or risk falling back on her head. She landed in a crouch and glared at the tree.

She looked over and saw that Sasuke had made it twice as high before the bark of the tree caved under his feet from the pressure of his chakra. They scowled at the bark.

"Hey! This is fun~!"

They both turned, and gawked (or as close as an Uchiha ever got) at Sakura perched a good fifty feet above their heads on a branch nearly level with the one Kakashi-sensei still clung to. Naruto swung her kunai around and approached her tree, staring at it hard. She pulled the blade forward and cut her palm, reaching out to the bark and smearing it with crimson. She reached inward to her chakra and let it flow out, using her blood as a conduit, and tried to figure out exactly how this 'sticking' thing worked. She pulled her hand away from the tree and scowled, putting it back and trying again.

Sasuke watched her and then looked back to his own tree. Slowly, he held out his foot flush with the tree and closed his eyes in concentration.

Kakashi nodded as he watched them. They didn't just learn from each other, they took ideas the others had first and then built their own ideas and theories off of them. That was a good, vital quality in a team. "Sakura."

The pinkette jerked away from watching her team, "Yes, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Since you've got this down, we'll move on to the next step in your personal training. Put on your weights and go through your kata- on the trunk of your tree."

Green eyes widened, "Eh?!"

"Hmm, forty repetitions seems sufficient."

"EH?!"

"Half horizontal and half upside-down."

"EH?!"

He eye-smiled at her, "Better get to work if you want to be done before dinner."

Sakura scowled adorably similar to her team mates, it was so obvious both girls had been around Sasuke too long. The pinkette grumbled as she stood on her branch and unsealed her weights, then stuck to the trunk of the tree and began going through her Katas at half speed. It was an entirely new experience with gravity pulling her forward instead of down, and the difference on her muscles was immediate.

Kakashi nodded, that would help hone her chakra control to a lethal point as she focused on keeping stuck while going through her exercises, and increase her reserves as she both used her chakra and increased her stamina at the same time. But it could be even more effective if her mind kept honed as well...

Sakura squealed and dropped a good three feet before regaining her footing, Kakashi's shuriken having thunked into the trunk just beside her foot. She clung to the tree both by her chakra and a lower branch that she hugged, "What's the big idea, Sensei?!"

"Your form was just a little off. Your foot should be a half-inch further back than that. Go through it again, then we'll see how well you do in a battle situation with it."

Sakura clung to the tree and shook, "You sadist! This is sixty feet off the ground! I could break a bone if I fall!"

Kakashi tilted his head and eye-smiled at her, "There's a simple fix for that, Sakura: Just don't fall."

Naruto and Sasuke both looked up from the ground and sweatdropped. The blonde's voice low, "...I'm not sure how bad I want to master this excercise..."

Sasuke nodded solemnly beside her.

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