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It was morning now, the birds were chirping, and Sakura could see the bright rays of the sun streaming in from the window. Looking to her left, she saw that her blond haired teammate was still fast asleep, snoring away and limbs tangled up within the comfortable futon. Actually, she noticed, he had one arm sprawled over her stomach, the tips of his fingers almost touching Sasuke, who was still asleep, albeit more peacefully and composed, on her right. She couldn't help but smile when she took in their position drowsily. She was spooned up inside her black haired teammate, his subtle breaths tickling her now undone pink hair and her blue eyed companion was using her as a pillow. Just went to show how close they had become. But alas, she could not spend the rest of the morning as comfortable as she was now. She was surprised that Kakashi had even let them sleep this long. Perhaps he had taken pity and let them sleep in? Nah, must've been something else.
They had arrived at Tazuna house the previous night, tired and hungry beyond belief. They had met his daughter, Tsunami(Sakura didn't understand why he would name her after a natural disaster of mass destruction when they were literally surrounded by the ocean) and the team was subjected to a very grand supper, which disappeared in a matter of minutes, proof enough of how much they were dying of starvation. Then they were escorted to their rooms and not wasting one moment, all hit the sack.
But curiously, they had not met this elusive grandson of the bridge builder's
The pink haired girl gently removed Naruto's arm from her middle and shifted slowly away from her Uchiha named teammate, trying not to wake them up. Much good that did.
"Sakura," Sasuke stated, arm snapping out to catch her hand and the emerald eyed genin had to cringe. Of course, he just had to be a light sleeper.
"Good morning Sasuke!" She chirped happily, watching him sit up and groggily rub his eyes.
He looked so cute doing that, like a little cat even, with all his feline grace and shockingly, even if his hair was still a tad bit messed up, his ever present duck butt was still there, standing up proudly.
"What time is it?" He asked, still trying to awaken himself. It was funny though, because when they were camping out on the trip, as soon as he awoke, he was extremely attentive and quick.
'Maybe it's because he's not in danger?' She asked herself, still watching the black eyed boy.
"I don't know, 'ey," she said, shifting into a more comfortable sitting position. "Judging by the sun, it must be around nine. Did you sleep well?"
"Hn, what do you think Kakashi will make us do today?" He asked her, he too shifting and crossing his legs.
He had really nice feet, the soles quite pale and extremely clean, despite the fact that he wore ninja sandals. It wasn't fair how perfect Uchiha were.
"Train, most probably," the pink haired girl said, propping her elbow on her knee and leaning on her opened palm. "I have a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach though, but I don't know why."
"Hn, I thought I was the only one," Sasuke declared confidently, straight to the point like always. "I think Zabuza might still be alive."
Sakura remained silent, pondering over what he said, him watching her patiently all the while. She didn't care if her hair looked like a birds nest or that she looked horrible, their time in the desert had made him see much more.
"Hmm, and why do you think so?" She asked, raising an eyebrow, interested to hear his own theory. The prodigy was silent for a minute, gathering his thoughts and she let him. It was only fair.
"Think about it," Sasuke said to her. "That hunter-nin appeared out of nowhere and hit him with a couple of senbon in the neck." She smirked, planning on making him think she thought him wrong.
"Exactly, Sasuke," she said, looking at him expectantly. "The hunter-nin got him in the neck, and then Kakashi confirmed that his pulse had stopped, meaning his was dead. What makes you think even Zabuza could survive that?" He smirked back at her, clearly aware of what she was doing.
"You remember the lesson we had on hunter-nin at the academy," he spoke, offhandedly brushing off some dust from his shorts. "Hunter-nin are trained to know every single inch of the human body. Faking a death and putting someone in a temporary state of death should be child's play. And, to further my point, he took away the body stating he needed to destroy it. Does that make sense?"
"Hunter-nin always burn the body on sight…" Sakura drawled on, smirking along with him now full force. "Sasuke, you arrogant genius, you."
Sasuke looked smug, his already gigantic ego having been boosted.
"We have to tell Kakashi-sensei," Sakura declared.
"And who said I didn't already know?" A lazy voice asked and both genin were startled to see their jackass of a sensei slothfully lounging on the window sill, reading his orange pocket book.
"Sensei!" Sakura exclaimed in surprise, not expecting him.
"Good morning Sakura, Sasuke," their teacher acknowledged, snapping his book shut and dropping into the room soundlessly. He walked towards them slowly; taking his time before pausing to look at Naruto like one would look at that old lady who couldn't make up her mind in the grocery store.
"He's still sleeping…" he remarked inattentively, pointing out the obvious.
'No duh,' Sasuke thought, inwardly rolling his eyes.
They watched in silence as their teacher continued to stare blankly at their blond haired teammate, as if that alone would wake him up. But to no avail, for the Uzumaki just yawned and rolled over, arms outstretched in front of him.
"Oi," Kakashi said finally. "Rise and shine, Naruto!" He kicked the blond in the side so hard that Naruto flew a few feet, hitting the wall and falling into a crumpled heap in the corner, clutching his ribs.
"HEY!" He screamed indignantly, making so much noise that Sakura was sure the whole house could hear. "WHY'D YOU DO THAT?!"
"Maa, maa…You need to learn to let go of the past Naruto," Kakashi said, brushing him off nonchalantly.
Yes…their teacher was an asshole.
"Onto the present now. Yes, I do know that Zabuza is alive-"
"What?! That dude's still alive?!" Naruto shrieked confused, interrupting his sensei.
"I felt his pulse, faint as it was," The jōnin continued, as if he hadn't heard the blond's outburst at all.
He had felt his pulse? Well then why hadn't he killed him when he had the chance? It didn't make sense to Sakura, nor to Sasuke.
"Why didn't you end it then?" Sasuke asked, voicing both all their thoughts.
"I guess I have my reasons," their teacher drawled, scratching his forehead protector, probably forgetting that it was there in the first place.
"You 'guess'?" Sakura asked looking at him like he was crazy.
"Don't dwell on the details, UD number 2," the silver haired pervert declared, making the pink haired girl huff angrily. "Anyway, it should take about a week for him to recover, give or take, so who can guess what we'll be doing during that time?"
"Training," Sasuke deadpanned.
"Well, you don't seem very enthusiastic about it…" their teacher pouted.
'Not after you dumped us in the desert for two months,' Naruto thought derisively.
"Anyway, let's waste no more time," he clapped his hands, demanding progress. "We'll eat breakfast then get started."
"Oh, we thought we heard your voices," A kind voice said peering into the room before opening it completely, revealing the bridge builder and his daughter.
"Good morning,""Tsunami informed staying at the door politely. "We just wanted to check on you and tell you that breakfast is ready."
Her father on the other hand just swaggered into the room confidently and headed for Kakashi, slapping him heartily on the back and guffawing loudly, for what reason, no one knew.
"Ahaha!" He exclaimed, bright and cheery. "Good job on bringing me home in one piece! It seems that your team isn't as useless as they seem!" Kakashi just looked at him blankly, with an aura which said "Don't touch me".
Maybe he had something about personal contact.
"Tazuna-san, you aren't that safe yet," Sakura told him somberly, drawing both he and his daughter's attention.
"W-what?" The woman in the hall asked scared. "What do you mean?"
They were silent for a while, thinking of the best way to break the news to the old man and his offspring.
"Zabuza is still alive," Kakashi stated bluntly, ignoring the shocked gasps from the two civilians.
"B-but I saw that weird kid kill him!" Tazuna exclaimed, sweat rolling down his neck from anxiety. "You even checked his pulse!"
"Yes, there is a technique those experienced in medicine use," the jōnin elaborated, looking seriously at the bridge builder. "They can temporarily slow the heartbeat into an almost deathlike state."
The two wave inhabitants were silent, thinking it over and no one knew anything appropriate to say.
"Will he come back?" Tsunami asked fearfully, looking distraught.
"Yes," the copy ninja stated coolly confident. "But he needs to recover first. It'll take a little under seven days. That time will be used training. There is no need to worry."
"Tch, there's no way you guys can beat Gatō's men!" A small voice exclaimed from the door and they all turned to see a young boy in fisherman's overalls standing by the door glaring at the ninja.
"Inari!" His mother berated, embarrassed by her son's outburst. The boy just ignored her and did a complete three-sixty turn around when he saw his grandfather.
"Grandpa! You're back!" He cried happily, running forward into the awaiting arms of his grinning grandfather. Sakura watched the exchange with a raised eyebrow, wondering what this kid had against them.
"Inari! It looks like you've grown since I've seen you!" The bridge builder explained lifting up the youngster.
"Who are they?" He asked, surprising hostile for a kid his age.
"Inari," his grandpa chastised. "These are the ninja who brought me home. We owe them my life. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be here today."
"They can't beat him," Inari stated surely. "No matter how hard they try. All they will manage to do is die."
"Hey!" Naruto shouted, standing up quickly, enraged. "Who do you think you are?!"
The young boy didn't even spare him a glance, still frowning.
"Listen up! I'm a super hero who's going to be a great ninja known as Hokage!" The blond declared with conviction. "I don't know who this Gatō or Chocolate guy is but he's no enemy of mine!"
"Tch," Inari sneered. Sakura looked at Sasuke, then back at the child, thinking they could be twins. Especially with their similar looks.
"Hero?" Inari stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "How stupid. There's no such thing as a hero."
"W-WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Naruto shouted angrily, about to pounce on the kid. Luckily for all, Sakura held him back from completely tearing Inari apart.
"If you don't want to die, you'll go home," the bridge builder's grandson said before he left the room dramatically.
"Where are you going, Inari?" Tazuna asked him still shocked at his words.
"I'm going to watch the ocean," the boy declared right before slamming the doors shut.
"That kid has problems," Sasuke muttered to Sakura.
"Look who's talking," she retorted, hiding an amused smile at his blank look.
"We'll now begin training," Kakashi said, leaning against one of the many trees in the clearing, enjoying the shade.
"Yeah!" Naruto exclaimed, fist pumping enthusiastically.
"But first," the silver haired jonin carried on, ignoring the pumped up blond, "let me talk about chakra, the base for the ability of a ninja."
"At a time like this?" Sasuke asked irritably.
"We already know about that!" Naruto declared one finger up knowingly.
But for some reason, the pink haired girl had a feeling he didn't.
"Chatra, right?" He asked smugly, prompting everyone to sigh in exasperation at the blond's idiocy.
'I knew it,' Sakura thought, rolling her eyes.
"It's chakra," Kakashi corrected tiredly. "Sakura, explain." Their teacher was now serious, in new mood to play games.
Come to think of it, this was the first real training session they had ever had as a team.
"I'll explain it in a simple manner to save time," Sakura said irritably, planting her gloved hands on her hips. "Chakra is the energy a ninja uses to perform a technique. That energy is collected from body energy that is collected from every cell of the body.
"As from the spirit energy that comes from training and experience. In other words, jutsu come from these two energies that are squeezed out of the body and molded together…This process is known as 'molding chakra' and with this chakra one is able to form a jutsu by forming a seal." The pink haired girl formed the tiger seal and drawing chakra to it till it glowed blue. Surprisingly enough, even Sasuke was paying attention.
"Correct," Kakashi stated bluntly before turning to the rest of his students. "Once again, I'm showing that you aren't that bad."
"That doesn't matter," Naruto grumbled. "You can just learn that stuff with your body even if you don't understand it.
"Naruto's right, we're able to use the techniques anyway…" Sasuke commented haughtily. Kakashi resisted the urge to just walk away because of the fact that it seemed they didn't actually see the importance of chakra.
"Wrong," he stated, shocking both male students into silence. "You guys still don't know how to manipulate your chakra completely."
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked confused.
"That explanation doesn't matter right now. Let's get started shall we?" He asked rhetorically, crossing his arms and pushing off the tree, swaggering languidly towards them.
'Actually,' Sakura thought to herself, watching him closely, 'sensei is pretty good looking…I've never noticed before. And despite his silver, I'm sure he's not a day over twenty-five at most!'
"So today, to build up your chakra control, you'll be climbing trees." He declared, feeling amused at the shocked looks of his two male students.
"You can't be serious," the Uchiha deadpanned. How the hell was he supposed to defeat Itachi by climbing trees?
"Give us something harder, Kaka-sensei!" Naruto whined.
"Sakura, will you not say something?" Their teacher asked turning to the silent and relaxed kunoichi who had so far remained silent and unperturbed.
"I already know how to," she said to him, frowning. It was pretty basic exercise actually, nothing to marvel at.
"Show me," he ordered, motioning at the tree behind him. The one he was previously leaning on.
"Like right now?" She asked surprised at the suddenness. He just gave her a blank look which the pink haired girl interpreted as "Yes, right now".
She sighed audibly before walking to the extremely tall piece of vegetation, regarding it critically for a moment, clearly aware of the gazes her team was drilling into her back.
Then, eager to get it over and done with, she pooled chakra into her feet and calmly walked up the tree, stopping only when she reached the top and was out of sight from the others and there she stood for a while, sure that her sensei could clearly see her, before walking back down again, ignoring the shocked look from Naruto and slightly surprised look from Sasuke.
"Water walking?" Kakashi asked, not even acknowledging her actions and she nodded in affirmation.
Their sensei was silent for a moment, wondering what to teach her and they all waited for him, surprisingly more patient than normal.
Then, he pulled a grey piece of paper from his flak jacket and held it out. Sakura already knew what it was. An affinity tester and she had done the test a long time ago with Luna. And her two affinities were Earth and Water. Though it wasn't so surprising when she found out. She decided not to tell him she already knew her affinities because she wanted to see the paper react again. It was fun.
"Insert some chakra into it," he commanded. "If it crackles, it's Lightining. If it crumbles, it's Earth. If it becomes damp, its Water and if it turns razor sharp, its Wind. Oh, and if it turns to ash, Fire. I guess now is the best time to test you all. Sakura, you first."
The pink haired girl stepped forward obligingly. They all watched in silence as she took a deep breath in "anxiety" before channeling chakra into the paper.
Her three companions couldn't help but raised an eyebrow when the paper first became damp, then crumbled.
"Ano sa, ano sa, Kaka-sensei," Naruto said squinting at the paper in confusion. "What does that mean?"
"Hmm…interesting, Sakura," their sensei stated, sounding mildly impressed. "Well, it seems that your female teammate here has two element affinities."
Sakura had to force down the smug smile which threatened to take control of her whole face when she saw the envious looks her teammates were giving her.
"Alright, who's next?" Kakashi asked looking at the two boys. It was pretty obvious who wanted to be next anyway, perhaps he was just asking for formalities sake.
"Me! Me! I'll show you all that I have four affinities! Only expected from the next Hokage!" Naruto exclaimed, sashaying forward with confidence, only to earn an eye roll from the other three.
Even though the others didn't want to admit it, they were extremely interested in seeing what type of affinity their blond haired dead-last of a teammate had.
The Kyūbi jinchūriki excitedly inserted his chakra into the paper, only to grin from ear to ear when it first became extremely sharp, then damp.
"Haha! Well, it's not four but I'm still awesome!" He exclaimed proudly.
Sasuke on the other hand, was secretly starting to get worried. Both his teammates had two affinities, how shameful it would be if he, the Uchiha prodigy lost to both of his no name teammates.
Never.
"Seems like it's up to you now, Sasuke," Kakashi drawled, lazily.
Secretly though, he was kinda excited. If Sasuke only had one affinity, it would kinda be really embarrassing for him cause both the others had two, which was rare in itself. Plus he would be the only one on the team who didn't have two element types.
They all watched in anticipation as he cooly strut towards the paper and lazily lifted up his hand from his pocket.
With an effective insert of chakra, the paper proceeded to crackle then turn to ash. Inwardly, the black haired boy breathed a sigh of relief.
Safe.
"Yeah! Team 7 is awesome!" Naruto exclaimed happily taking both his teammates in a group hug, much to the irritation of Sasuke.
"What about you sensei?" Sakura asked, curious. This drew the attention of the others and all three genin turned their head to peer at their sensei.
With a sigh, Kakashi extracted one last paper from his vest and they watched in surprise as the paper crackled, then crumbled.
"So you see Sasuke, if you only had one affinity, it would be pretty shameful wouldn't it?" Kakashi drawled nonchalantly, making Sasuke all the more relieved that he wasn't for once was the one to be dead weight. "Can you imagine, the Uchiha prodigy being the one from preventing our team from being the only team in history where all members had two affinities?"
"Good, anyway," Kakashi stated. "I'll give you all two jutsu to learn. Actually, I'll make a challenge. You guys have to master both jutsu and tree climbing before we head back to Konoha. Sakura on the other hand…she'll get three jutsu."
The three genin looked determined to ace it.
"Nice to see your enthusiasm," the silver haired jōnin said, clapping his hands. "Well, let's get started, shall we?"
You guys just might hate me for this. I know and I really am sorry for making such a short chapter but guys, it was just the wave filler. No big deal. There's one more left (filler) before the big battle and then I'm sure you guys will be in for a big shock. I can't wait to see all your responses.
Also, I've put up a poll on my profile for you guys to vote for who you want Luna to be paired with.
Where's my fav guest reviewer these days? I miss chu! But honestly you guys, what happened to CC? Constructive criticism is very much appreciated(thanks by the way SixPerfections) so review and tell me about your thoughts and any helpful tid bits you think I might need!
Am I the only one who has a leg fetish? Lol, it's true...I just have this thing about legs...Lol, and Kakashi's are just absolutely beautiful! Just so perfect!
Now you guys must be thinking how crazy this author is right?
Thats it...I think...My problem is, I always have tons to say in AN's but when the time comes to wright them, I always forget.
I wove vu guyz!
Review please!
Bluetopianprincess^.^