Standard disclaimers apply. I'm just borrowing these characters for a little while.
Author's note: Kishimoto-sensei's plan is to fit the entire 4th Shinobi War Arc into a matter of days in the Naruto timeline, but I'm taking the liberty of extending it since war is never so quick and clean-cut. Events from the manga will be added, removed or shifted around. Please pardon my impudence.
I think I may be actually running short of ideas now. Hence, this filler. If I cannot come up with the next chapter, I'll probably drop this story :(
More often than not, Naruto drove Sakura nuts.
Today was one of those days.
Thanks to the Intelligence Division that had been corresponding with Naruto and Killer Bee, the four-men team that Kakashi was leading to aid Naruto knew exactly which direction to go in.
Except for the fact that Naruto was somehow zigzagging all over the place, with a grand plan of clearing the entire world of the White Zetsu clones – if the number of dead clones they had stumbled upon was anything to go by. Leaving nothing to chance, Kakashi – team leader for this mission – made the decision to follow Naruto's trail step-for-step, in case they could pick up a pattern from the positions of the White Zetsus.
That idiot could have just taken a straight route to the Akatsuki base! Why did he have to waste time and energy on unnecessary fights?
Deep down, Sakura knew the reason – Naruto was just trying to help the Allied Shinobi Forces break past the White Zetsu army so that the shinobis on the frontline have something to do besides sitting on their thumbs. The only trouble was, Naruto was probably unaware of how war-weary the Allied Shinobi Forces had been as of late; they were likely to be welcoming this respite.
And Sakura could not find it in her heart to blame them. Who in their right mind would want to fight in a war where half their numbers have already been decimated by the enemy forces? Naruto might have meant well, but not everyone was going to see it from his perspective.
Kakashi's quiet sigh as he rolled over another rasengan-ravaged White Zetsu body drew Sakura's attention.
"Kakashi-sensei?"
"Controlled damage," came the reply as Kakashi pointed at the bloodless, gaping wound on the body, "Naruto is doing his best to conserve his chakra while on the move, and I can still sense the lingering presence of Killer Bee-san's chakra-based attacks.
"They appear to be pacing themselves in order to avoid meeting the jinchuurikis while low on chakra. And that's a good thing, too, because we're going to need a few days to catch up to them."
Sakura glanced at one of the White Zetsu corpses, and had to blink away the image of Yamato being held captive to create these monsters. She had no clue to what Yamato must be enduring, but it could not be anything good.
Kakashi looked at her from his squatting position, and said as if having read her mind, "This is a sign that they are still keeping Yamato alive – there would not be so many of these clones otherwise."
Sakura nodded; the shinobis in the frontline have been sending back enemy bodies for autopsy as a standard protocol, and the results of which showed that Yamato's DNA still had a strong presence in them.
She would have to take it as good news, even if being held captive and forced to the enemy's whims was not exactly an ideal situation for anyone to be in.
Gaara was far from being in an ideal situation.
Since Ino already knew about Sakura's romantic entanglements to the Kazekage, she was adamant about getting her own tent instead of bunking with Gaara. Baki was quick to assist her in procuring a tent of her own and getting it furnished.
Gaara, though, privately wondered how she had come to the conclusion that he would welcome her to stay in his tent, anyway.
Leaving nothing to chance, Sakura had left Ino with a hefty volume of scrolls and records on her work as the Regimental Leader's personal medic, which included an embarrassing amount of rather personal data.
On the upside, it meant that Ino did not have to go through the entire process of taking Gaara's baseline readings, finding out his dietary requirements and all that stuff that he went through with Sakura during their first few days of getting acquainted with each other.
On the downside, Ino seemed to be struggling with the urge to snicker whenever she came to his tent on the first few days, leaving Gaara to wonder exactly what it was that Sakura wrote about him.
One day, he would take a peek at those scrolls.
It also did not take Gaara long to realise that much like his sister, Yamanaka Ino had no qualms about making sexual innuendos in front of men; Gaara pretended not to have heard Ino mumbling about how the Regimental Leader was able to get daily access to honey during a war when she was brewing her first pot of chakra tea for him.
Or he could just be reading too much into her words, except that his new personal medic had a rather feral grin on her lips when she said those words.
That, and Ino had made some rather… suggestive comments about how she would redecorate the Regimental Leader's tent and push the two beds together instead of having them settled one on each end of the tent. Ino was talking aloud to herself at that point, completely unaware that Gaara was just about to pull back the tent flap to enter the tent.
Henceforth, whenever Ino started talking aloud to herself, Gaara would pretend to have developed a sudden case of hearing difficulty.
Part of Gaara's plan was to assign Ino to the medic base as much as possible; it was the look in her eyes – she appeared ready to unload a barrage of questions about his relationship with Sakura the moment she had the chance to. It was a look he was familiar with thanks to years of being cornered by the Suna Senior Council before they unleashed a flurry of petitions and demands on him.
He soon discovered, however, that when Ino wanted something, she was as tenacious as a nin-dog.
"Kazekage-sama, may I talk to you about my friend, Sakura?"
That question popped out one night just as Ino served him his chakra tea. Gaara was halfway lifting the cup to his lips, and he paused to level a firm gaze at Ino, hoping that she would take the hint.
"Yamanaka-san, my association with Haruno-san is not something to be discussed over tea with a medic."
Ino cocked at eyebrow at that statement – Gaara was deliberately pulling rank to avoid the conversation.
Clearly, a change in tactics was in order.
She turned and began to head for the tent flap, apparently unaffected by Gaara's aloofness. Gaara, in turn, was somewhat surprised by her easy retreat. Just before she left, she bowed as she would to a Kage, and flung out the bone that Gaara could not ignore.
"I was just worried about what they have been saying about Sakura in the medic base, Kazekage-sama, but if there is no truth to those words, then I shall take my leave."
The cup of tea was replaced on the table a little louder than necessary, and inwardly Ino grinned.
"I have heard all the rumours and hearsays, Yamanaka-san," Gaara tried to appear disinterested, "So unless you have something of substance, I have a war to attend to."
Ino spun around on her heels and straightened her posture – she was speaking to a Kage and the highest ranking field officer after all.
"There has been much talk among the Suna kunoichis about your relationship with Sakura, Kazekage-sama. I know you have a substantial fanbase among them," at this, Gaara cringed, but Ino continued as if she had not noticed his discomfort, "But what surprised me was how nonchalant they were about a relationship between their Kage and a foreign medic-nin.
"Since Sakura is my best friend, I had to find out why they did not feel threatened by her supposed romantic attachment to their Kage. For Sakura's sake, of course.
"I spoke to your former student, Matsuri, and despite her position as the president of your fanclub and probably your biggest admirer, she appears completely unaffected by Sakura's closeness to you. I believe she may be the only one hold back the other Suna kunoichis from committing violence against Sakura.
"When I spoke to a few Suna kunoichis, they told me the tradition of the Kazehime. So while they resent the time you spend with Sakura, they also know that it's not something that would take permanence. You will leave Sakura one day and marry a kunoichi from your own village. That is why Matsuri is willing to keep Sakura's potential enemies at bay – both because she knows Sakura has no future with you, and also to stay in your good books."
Ino's eyes narrowed as her voice lowered in a mild threat, "Pardon my directness, but is that true, Kazekage-sama?"
Gaara inhaled softly, closing his eyes as he did so. In his private times with Sakura, she had told him about her friends and comrades from Kohonagakure, and he knew that the Yamanaka girl standing before him was someone Sakura considered dear to her heart. It would not be wrong to assume that the blonde girl felt the same way, so her question was likely to be one of concern as a friend.
Still, he had to be certain.
"In what capacity are you asking me that question, Yamanaka-san?"
"Sakura has been hurt once by Sasuke; she does not need to endure that again," Ino's reply was immediate and spoken with no hint of hesitance.
I am her friend, and I care about her well-being.
On one hand, Gaara was heartened to know that Sakura had so many people watching out for her.
On the other, he dreaded the series of interrogations to come from said people.
"The traditions of Sunagakure," began Gaara, "Are somewhat complicated, even for my people. While it is true that my predecessors have chosen to marry from within the village, it is not a tradition per se, but rather a series of coincidences. In any case, I can offer you my reassurance that our relations with Konohagakure will not be strained."
Inwardly, Ino rolled her eyes. Shikamaru had been liaising with foreign officials soon after his chuunin promotion, and if there was one thing he constantly groused to her about (or considered more troublesome than most matters), it was how he had to reword political officials' flowery speeches in his head to ensure that he would not be tripped up by a cleverly-placed adjective or some obscure jargon.
"Words within words," Shikamaru once said, "Troublesome."
And to the shinobis, no one ranked higher as a political figure of importance than a Kage. The Daimyos did not command them – their own Kages did; Gaara was born and raised as a politician's son and successor, complete with a perpetual poker face.
Gaara, who had gotten quite good at recognizing signs of annoyance, noted Ino's slight knitting of her brows and subtly clenched fists. He did not point it out, knowing full well the extent of a kunoichi's wrath.
Instead, he chose to deflect the question; his personal life was not a matter up for idle chit-chat.
"Yamanaka-san, aren't you supposed to be at the medic base now?"
Gaara could have sworn that Ino had just growled at the back of her throat.
"Of course, Kazekage-sama," her tone was a little cooler, as he had expected, "But Kazekage or not, there are a lot of people who will not let you off if you hurt Sakura."
"A perfectly understandable situation, Yamanaka-san. You are dismissed."
When Ino finally left the tent, Gaara released the tension that he did not realise he had held in his shoulders, and sagged a little into his chair.
Two down, and the rest of Konohagakure to go.
Kakashi had been watching Sakura while she slept for the past few days while taking the night watch.
Sakura was doing the exact same thing.
They both knew what each other were doing, but neither wanted to be the first to speak up. They still communicated over mission matters and chit-chat of no great significance ("The skies are particularly blue today, Kakashi-sensei." "Yes they are, Sakura."), but Sakura did not want to broach the issue with Kakashi out of respect for him as her former teacher.
Kakashi, in turn, did not want to broach the issue out of respect for her as his former student.
As it was wont with Sakura, Fate decided to intervene.
It was their fourth night since the mission began, and the team was slowly but steadily closing the distance between them and Naruto. Gai had commented off-handedly that if they picked up their pace a little more, they would be able to meet up with Naruto before nightfall the next day.
And Sakura simply could not sleep.
Most if not all shinobis were able to fall asleep at the drop of a hat, since one would never know when they would need the extra boost of energy. Sakura could not be certain that it was what Gai said that was affecting her, but for one reason or another, all she could do was toss and turn in her suddenly too-confining bedroll.
Lee grunted softly in his sleep, and Sakura ceased all movements at once; she did not want to disrupt her teammate's rest.
As quietly as possible, she shuffled her way out of her bedroll and stood up, blinking her eyes rapidly to help them adjust to the darkness. She could make out two other occupied bedrolls across the now dimmed campfire, and deduced that they were Gai and Lee respectively.
Kakashi, who was on the first night watch shift, was presently absent from his nearby sleeping bag.
And so was the sand cat that usually slept curled up against her side.
Inwardly, Sakura berated herself for not noticing the sand cat's absence sooner. It was more than just the matter of a missing pet, but that she had allowed herself to succumb to inattentiveness deep in enemy territory.
Pull it together, Sakura. Mr. Fluffy-kins couldn't have gone far.
Take a deep, calming breath, Sakura carefully extended her chakra outwards to seek out the sand cat's chakra signature; haphazardly casting out her chakra would only alert any nearby threats of her presence and give away the location of her entire team.
When Sakura did locate the sand cat, she had to pause and probe the chakra signature once more, just to be certain.
Because Mr. Fluffy-kins was up in the trees, and it was usually not fond of heights.
Despite the sand cat's ability to protect itself, Sakura knew the very real possibility of it being a trap. She had started reaching into her thigh holster and was about to pull out a kunai when a tiny pebble flew down and struck the ground near her foot.
On instinct she jumped backwards and dropped to a crouch, making sure that she was giving the possible enemy less surface area to strike before she scanned the direction from which the pebble came with a precise flare of chakra.
There was not one, but two chakra signatures coming from that direction, and Sakura had to suspense her disbelief as she quickly but quietly made her way towards them.
"Jumpy, aren't we?" came a good-natured chuckle.
Sakura pushed aside a branch and narrowed her eyes at her former teacher. Kakashi appeared completely at ease, and was practically lounging on a sturdy branch among the treetops, his posture laid back and arms folded behind his head. However, Sakura knew that if any threats were to surface, Kakashi already have it neutralised before she could even see him move; he was relaxed, but ever-aware of everything around him.
And on the lap of the infamous Copy-nin, purring away most obnoxiously, was the sand cat.
Before Sakura could even come up with an explanation in her head for the oddity before her eyes, Kakashi reached over and patted a nearby branch, gesturing for her to settle herself more comfortably. Unable to come up with a reason to refuse him, Sakura hopped onto the sturdy branch and leaned back against the tree trunk.
The first thing she noticed was the wonderfully unobscured view of the starry skies.
Are the stars as bright over the 4th Divison's camp site?
Sakura had to resist physically smacking her forehead. Where had that thought come from?
Ino's trashy romance novels. That's got to be it.
She was snapped out of her musings, however, when Kakashi practically thrusted the sand cat to her. Sakura blinked once, confused by the gesture until she noticed that Kakashi's visible eyebrow was twitching and the sand cat seemed to be purring more than usual.
"Kakashi-sensei," began Sakura as she took the sand cat from him and pretended not to see Kakashi discreetly dusting off his groin area, "Why did you have Mr. Fluffy-kins with you?"
Kakashi gave her a pointed look as he replied, "You were moving a fair bit in your sleep, Sakura. Your cat just up and walked off and I didn't want it to go wandering outside of the campsite, so I took him with me on my shift."
Well, at least it would explain why the sand cat was digging its claws into Kakashi's pants to keep from falling off while purring madly to comfort itself.
And was she really moving that much in her sleep?
"So, Sakura," Kakashi's voice turned lower, more serious, "Is something on your mind that you'd like to talk about?"
Sakura turned her head away slightly; she did have a lot on her mind – so much so that she did not even know where to begin.
"I don't know where to start," she finally confessed, her gaze still adverted.
Kakashi pondered over her words for a moment, and asked, "What is the first thing that jumps to your mind when you worry?"
As it was sometimes the case, Sakura's mouth moves before her brain had the chance to.
"Sasuke."
Kakashi's facial expression remained passive while he considered Sakura's tensed shoulders and hooded gaze; He was expecting something more along the lines of Sakura dreading her impending reunion with Naruto, given that Sakura was now dating his best friend.
He had no idea about that Naruto had already given his blessings to them, of course. Naruto and Gaara's big confrontation in the desert remained a secret to just the both of them and Sakura.
Kakashi nodded once – a silent prompt for her to speak freely. Sakura cast him a sideway glance and inhaled deeply, her shoulders drawn back before being pushed forward in her following exhale. When she finally met his gaze, Kakashi could see the sea of conflict raging inside of her through her deep, green eyes.
"Knowing now that everything Sasuke had done was all not of his own violation, but entirely the result of a Konoha mission gone wrong, that his attacks on us was forced by the hands of others… I really don't know what I feel about his actions anymore.
"Uchiha Itachi is alive now, and I am certain if Sasuke knew of this, it would absolve some of his misguided sense of guilt towards killing his brother. Someday, the old Sasuke may come back to us, and…"
"And?" prompted Kakashi when Sakura stopped talking without any warning.
"Can we forgive him? Can everything go back to the way it was?"
"Sakura… it's not really about Sasuke, is it?"
Sakura could only stare owlishly at her former teacher, unable to comprehend the meaning of his words.
So Kakashi decided to be straightforward about it.
"You are wondering if Sasuke's return will threaten your feelings towards the Kazekage."
If Sakura's eyes were large before, they were definitely bigger than dinner plates right now; she gaped at Kakashi's extremely blunt choice of words, but mostly, she gaped at how easily Kakashi had read her mind.
"Close your mouth, Sakura," Kakashi's voice held no amusement.
"Ka… Kakashi-sensei, how could you…" Sakura struggled to find the right words while attempting to keep her temper in check – going on an explosive rage in the middle of the night while in enemy territory ranked as Naruto-Stupid on the stupidity scale, "Sasuke… I never loved him. I had a silly childhood crush on him, and that was all there is to it. I am with Gaara now, and Sasuke's return will not change that fact!"
"But you liked Sasuke, and only recently did you let go of him. That is why you are finally allowing yourself to date Gaara. You have always pushed away the advances of other men; don't think your sensei doesn't notice such things, Sakura."
Aside from the fact that Kakashi just admitted to keeping tabs on his own student's love life, Sakura was equally mortified by now observant her pornography-reading, constantly late teacher was even as they had drifted apart over the years.
"Gaara…" Sakura swallowed a sudden lump in her throat, "He likes me for me. I don't have to pretend to be perfect, or change my way of life as a kunoichi to please him. And he shows me a side of him I think only a handful of people have ever seen.
"When I was around Sasuke, I had to act the part of an ideal Uchiha matriarch candidate. I could never have reached my full potential if Sasuke had not left us, because I was weaker than him, and he made me aware of it constantly both in his words and actions. I would have been contented to stay in his shadows if it meant making him happy; I would have left my career as a medic-nin if he asked me to do so.
"That's not who I want to be, Kakashi-sensei.
"I want to be someone who can look herself in the eye when she faces the mirror. I realised now that a relationship could never work if either party kept part of themselves secreted away from each other in an attempt to pacify the other."
Sakura lifted her head, and met Kakashi's eyes solemnly, saying, "But inside of me is a little girl that once had a crush on the Last Living Uchiha, and I don't want her to re-appear ever again."
Before she could even blink, Kakashi was gone from her line of sight, and the next thing Sakura felt was the older man's arm sliding awkwardly around her shoulders to pull her against his side.
"Ka-Kakashi-sensei?"
Kakashi exhaled long and loud, "Sakura, you cannot be worrying about the what-mays and the future in general. I know that like most of the girls from our Village, you were mainly smitten with his looks. You're a grown woman now, and not as easily swayed by something so frivolous."
Sakura was still not looking at him, so Kakashi mentally braced himself and forced out his next words, "The Kazekage himself isn't… so bad-looking himself… I'm positive that if you spend some… 'quality time' with Gaara, you will find him to be more than just a replacement for Sasuke."
Gag me with a spoon and kill me now, God. Did I just wax lyrical about another male's attractiveness to my own female student? And encouraged them to engage in adult activities?
Really, imagining one's own student, whom he had taught since she was a child, and thinking about her getting frisky with someone whom he had known once also as a child was just… wrong. All sorts of wrong.
Yes, it was also the wrong thing to say, because Sakura was now looking at him like he had suddenly grown another head, and that head was Kabuto's.
"Sensei… did you just tell me to…?" Sakura started to lean away from Kakashi.
Kakashi started rubbing his forehead into the base of his palm, muttering, "Please don't make me repeat myself."
"Kakashi-sensei…" Sakura muttered darkly, "I'm going to trash your entire Icha Icha Paradise Collection when this war is over."
"Hey! You were the one thinking that your heart will fall for Sasuke again when you know in your mind that Gaara is a better match for you. I'm just trying to… help you redirect your thoughts!"
Kakashi had been observing the sand cat, which while dozing on Sakura's lap, would twitch its ear whenever either one of them mentioned Sasuke. However, Sakura was currently a little too frazzled to have noticed that.
It was then that Kakashi realised something else.
"Wait. You've never gotten it on with Gaara?"
Sakura would have shrieked in both frustration and horror if they were not in danger of exposing their positions to any nearby enemies.
Kakashi took her tomato-red face and chakra glow-filled fists as a "yes".
"Right," said Kakashi more to himself than anyone else, "Then I will need to give the Kazekage a talk about the birds and the bees the moment we return, which I suspect was not part of his education growing up."
Somewhere in the distance, said Kazekage suddenly sneezed and wondered if he was coming down with a cold.
Sakura had practically pressed her face into the sand cat's back by now, which confused the little, purring creature. She turned her head slightly, never lifting it from her bent-over posture, when she heard Kakashi starting to chuckle.
"Sensei…" her voice bore a hint of threat.
"Sakura-chan," he practically beamed back at her.
And really, the idea of killing her former teacher should not feel so good.
"Sakura?" Kakashi spoke up after what seemed like a very long time.
"Yes, Kakashi-sensei?" Her voice was muffled from having her face buried in her hands.
Is he finally going to stop talking about my love life?
"I remembered when you were a young genin – all you could think about was how to get Sasuke to kiss you."
No, definitely not.
"You have grown up a lot over the years, but you are still in your teenage years nonetheless, which means your… hormones are still very, very, VERY active."
"One 'very' would have sufficed, Kakashi-sensei…"
Kakashi pretended to have not heard her, since he was too busy avoiding all eye contact while broaching such a delicate topic with his female student, "Yes, but right now, you look ready to jump into the centre of the Earth just because I mentioned you and Gaara bringing your relationship to the next level. If it were the old you; if it was just a crush like it was with Sasuke… wouldn't you be drooling or doing something equally mortifying instead?"
"La la la la la – I cannot hear you!" Sakura was now performing a rather remarkable feat of covering her eyes while plugging up her ears at the same time.
Kakashi looked ready to mimick Sakura as well, but he had gotten this far already – he might as well climb out from the other side.
"The fact that you are treating your relationship with the Kazekage as something private shows that you value it as more than some trophy-bragging rights as it was with Sasuke, even with the scant few years of maturity between them; That you are taking things slow shows that you are serious about Gaara and don't want to ruin anything with rash actions or decisions."
Kakashi reached over and ruffled her hair in a kindly-uncle sort of way.
"The two of you will be fine, even when Sasuke comes back," Kakashi smiled gently to her, the only tell-tale sign being the crinkling of his visible eye.
Sakura slowly looked up at Kakashi, and slowly, oh so slowly, pulled her hands away from her head.
Finally, she flashed him a cheeky grin, "Thanks, Kakashi-sensei. You give great advice, for a porno-reading pervert and all."
"You're welcomed Sakura. You are doing pretty well, yourself, for a short-tempered, bone-breaking kunoichi and all."
Sakura was about to reach up to remove Kakashi's hand from the top of her head when a strange, sniffing-like sound reached her ears. Both shinobis spun towards the direction of the noise at once, aware of how close possible danger was.
It was dangerous, alright.
Perched on the next tree and drying their eyes on their sleeves were two green-clad shinobis, both identical down to their imposing eyebrows.
"That was so beautiful, Kakashi! You have connected so wonderfully with your female student, and shall serve as a shining example of what I need to do with Ten Ten! You are indeed my worthy rival!" declared Gai in a loud whisper as he managed to flash them a thumbs-up sign despite being busy wiping his nose against his sleeve.
Before Sakura had a chance to fully comprehend the situation, Lee had leapt over and was now standing by her side.
He was equally teary-eyed as he clasped his hands together and said, "Sakura-san, I didn't know that you were seeing the Kazekage. But now that I know, I shall wish you both the very best, and I promise to train harder than ever to win back your affections!"
Sakura really wished an enemy patrol would come upon them now, just to get herself out of this almost ridiculous situation.
One look at Kakashi told her that the older man was wishing… no, praying for the same thing.
With daylight being still hours away, Sakura knew that even if the weight on her heart had been lifted, she would not be getting any sleep for the rest of the night.