Masashi Kisimoto owns Naruto. I only own the plot of this story.
By the time Sakura had finished her training with Lee and Gai-sensei, she was stumbling towards her team's meeting spot, barely able to keep herself up. After the thirty minutes of meditation, they had gone directly back into her training. They started her off with something easy, but claimed it was essential for a ninja to learn. Hopping.
It wasn't just hopping back and forth, though. She and Lee and had to take as many gigantic leaps as they could back and forth across the training ground. The true challenge was trying to keep it silent. One had to jump and land in such a way that the ground would not shift and make noise. Gai had also iterated to her that this technique would be useful for increasing her speed if she had to make spur-of the-moment movements. Having little to no sound come out of taking steps helped keep the body light and agile.
But doing that across the width of a 150 yard training field one hundred times made her legs feel anything but light. In fact, she felt as if she had been dragging lead with her.
After that, Gai had made her do wall sits against a tall rock while she observed their spar. This would help her build muscle and get her to watch taijutsu up close, first-hand. They purposefully slowed their movements to accommodate for her observations, but their agility and stamina were almost inhuman and the strength that was in each one of their kicks was incredible. She was so engrossed in their fight that she had not noticed that she had done her wall sit for ten full minutes. However, the second the both of them took a pause for water, her legs immediately gave out under her.
Sakura was at the foot of the bridge that Team Seven met up at. Sasuke was leaning on the railing, looking minimally peeved but otherwise stoic. Naruto was pacing around the bridge, probably impatient while waiting for their sensei. She wondered if he was also nervous about where she was too.
Her question was answered as soon as she caught Naruto's eye. He immediately ran over to her, stopping to a halt right in front of her face. Sakura backed up a little bit, uncomfortable with the close proximity. Because her legs were so tired from the training she had just endured, she immediately stumbled back and fell right on her butt.
"Sakura-chan, are you okay? You look like you've just been through hell!" He said as he extended his arm to help her up. She wanted to castigate him for saying that because it was quite insensitive to comment on her appearance like that, but she just remained silent as she remembered that it was his way of showing that he cared. She took his hand and let him help her up, much to his surprise.
"I'm fine Naruto." She said with a little irritation, but she could not find the heart to yell at him. When she had looked at the shock on his face when she accepted his help, she felt her chest clench. She wondered to herself how she could be so callous to someone who genuinely cared about her.
"Okay…but you're drenched in sweat and you look like you're about to fall over. Do you need to sit down?" Naruto asked as he propped himself up on the railing of the bridge. Sakura did the same, being in no mood to decline.
Her gaze turned to Sasuke, who she hoped would look at her in some sort of worry or make some indication that he also noticed her frazzled appearance. However, Sasuke did not even spare her a glance, making Sakura look away from him, the pain in her chest returning again.
"So why're you late, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, leaning in a bit. Sakura sighed deeply, though it sounded like it was more out of exhaustion than annoyance.
"Please don't bother me about that right now, Naruto." Sakura said as she grabbed the railing with both her hands while she leaned back to make sure that she would not fall into the water. "Besides, I'm not late if Kakashi-sensei is still not here. You guys should know by now to come two hours later than he says to." She said with her eyes closed. That was when she realized that she had made an indirect insult to Sasuke. Her eyes snapped open as she turned to look at him, but he either didn't care or he didn't hear her, because he remained in the same position.
"Why are you so jumpy all of a sudden?" He asked monotonously, making Sakura lose a bit of her grip at his voice. Luckily, Naruto was there to put an arm behind her back to make sure that she would not fall off the bridge.
"Yeah, Sakura-chan. You seem a little tense, believe it." He said, raising a blonde eyebrow. Sakura gave a small glare to the whiskered boy and was about to say something back, but he continued, "And you hair looks different too. I think it looks nice." He said, giving her a cheeky smile as he referred to her ponytail.
Sakura fumbled a little bit when he said that. Although she had told herself that the comments of others and her looks should not affect her anymore, Naruto's compliment made her feel good. It was as though he had acknowledged that she had changed a little bit, even though it was not in the way she wanted people to.
Sakura ran a hand over the top of her head, smoothing down some loose strands that had come out of her ponytail during training. She then turned to Naruto and gave him a small smile. "Thanks." She told him. She thought that she should try something else to show that she was a bit friendlier, so she gave him an impromptu nudge on his shoulder, a bit harder than she probably should have.
The sudden action came as a complete shock to Naruto, who lost his balance on the railing. Sakura was too slow to catch his back like he did to her, and instead she caught his legs. But even that was not enough to save him. In fact, it made the situation even worse as they both tumbled into the water. The stream that ran through Konoha was shallow and only came up to her thigh, but when she fell in it, she completely got herself immersed in the water and came up with her hair and her clothes soaked. Naruto was in the same predicament.
Naruto scratched his cheek sheepishly as he glanced in her direction, ready for the scolding he expected her to give him. Instead, he heard her snort a bit. His eyes widened in realization that Sakura was laughing, or at least, trying to keep herself from laughing.
She coughed a bit to clear her throat. "Sorry." She said with a slight shrug. After Naruto had gotten over his awe at her sudden change of heart towards him, he grinned widely. He stood up, shaking his bright orange jumpsuit a bit. He was about to help Sakura up, but she got up herself, and started wringing her hair to free it of the water that had collected there.
"It's all good, Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed happily as he and Sakura both pulled themselves onto the bridge. Sakura was happy that she had not worn her usual dress, because the water it would have collected in it would have definitely weighed her down. She shook herself a little to get some water off of her and allowed the sun to do the rest. Naruto had taken off his jacket and laid it over the railing.
Sakura caught Sasuke's eye for the first time that morning, and she was met with an annoyed eye roll. It made her want to cry out to him to tell him that she was sorry for disturbing him.
But why would you? Inner asked her. Look, I know he's pretty hot and super cool, but you hadn't done anything wrong. If anything, the only person you should have to apologize to is Naruto. You're the one who pushed him into the river.
Yeah, but I tried to save him too…She thought back, but she realized that Inner was right. It was her fault that she was in the predicament, so she had a right to apologize, but it did not make any sense to do it to Sasuke since he had absolutely nothing to do with it.
"Hey Sakura-chan," Naruto started. Sakura looked at him questioningly. Naruto suddenly gave her a pretty harsh shove, one that resembled the force that she had given him. "Payback." He said as he grinned with his hands behind his head.
Sakura's eyes narrowed as she gawked playfully at the blonde boy. At the end of the day, he was just a regular kid who liked playing jokes. He was really no different from everyone else, despite what everyone else told her to think.
She put her hands on her hips and shook her head slightly, a small smile on her face. "Grow up, idiot." She said lightheartedly. Naruto caught on that it was a joke and grinned even wider, happy that Sakura was interacting with him nicely and doing something other than yelling at him. He didn't want to admit it, but her words really stung when she told him that he was a loser. Although she had not done a complete three-sixty, she looked as though she was more tolerant of his antics.
"You're both idiots. Just shut up." Sasuke brooded. Sakura and Naruto departed from their little quip to turn towards him. Naruto looked at Sakura, ready for her to stammer out an explanation for her behavior, but none came. She bit her lip nervously, probably scared that Sasuke didn't like her anymore, but she said nothing. In addition to that, she did not turn to glare at him either. She looked guiltily into his blue eyes and gave a small shrug, which he supposed was supposed to be another apology.
Before anyone could say anything more, Kakashi appeared in front of them, holding his signature orange book. "Sorry kiddies, I was on my way here, but I met this sweet old lady who…" Kakashi started.
"Liar!" Sakura and Naruto yelled at the same time. Without looking at each other, they gave each other a high-five and crossed their arms. Kakashi raised his one visible eyebrow at their new dynamic, as well as their dripping appearance. It did not go over his head that Sakura seemed a little different than most days. She also happened to not be staring at Sasuke for prolonged periods of time, which was already an improvement to her behavior from before.
Another thing Kakashi noticed was that she looked quite tired. She rested her limbs in a languid fashion, as if she had run a lot. However, because the water had washed away any traces of sweat that she would have had, he could not tell if she did. He wondered what she had been doing to cause such a thing. He decided to just brush it off. If he noticed that it was anything serious, then he would ask her about it directly.
"So I see you two have teamed up against me." He said looking at Sakura and Naruto. Kakashi then looked over at Sasuke. "What about you, Sasuke? Are you planning to stage a coup d'état?" He asked the Uchiha. Sasuke didn't respond.
"A coo day…what?" Naruto whispered into Sakura's ear. Sakura just shushed him.
"Anyway, that aside, it's time for you guys to get serious about the Chūnin Exams. We can start training now, that is, if Sakura is willing to participate." Kakashi said, looking straight at her. Naruto looked at her to see what she was going to say and Sasuke just stood aloofly, not really caring what her answer was.
He would care if we told him that our decision would affect him too. Sakura thought to herself. Inner nodded with a thumbs up.
"Yes sensei. I would be more than happy to participate. I promise, I won't let my team down." Sakura said determinedly. The way she worded it would have gone over anyone else's head, but Kakashi immediately caught onto her drift.
Ah, so she knows. He thought. He didn't want to draw attention to her, since it was obvious that she wanted to keep her knowledge a secret. "Very well then, I guess we can all get into our exercise for today." At this, Sasuke perked up a little bit.
"What are we doing today, sensei? Are we learning some cool new jutsu? Are we sparring? Tell me!" Naruto yelled enthusiastically. Kakashi and Sasuke looked at Naruto with irritation. As much as Sakura wanted to do that also, she swallowed her temper and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, putting a little force into it to prevent him from jumping up and down.
"Calm down, Naruto." Sakura said pacifically. All the boys, even Sasuke, could not believe that Sakura was not yelling at Naruto. Sakura felt herself incinerate under their stares, but she pretended not to notice to avoid any awkward situations. She decided to pick up the topic that Naruto started to divert their attention. "But really sensei, what are we doing?" She asked.
Kakashi grinned underneath his mask, so much that his eye squinted. "We are…" Kakashi said dramatically. His students could not help but lean a bit closer in, immersed by the suspense, "going to play hide-and-seek!" He said jovially.
"Hah!?" Sakura and Naruto cried. A vein popped on Sasuke's forehead.
"Oh calm down, you three. It's going to be a special kind of hide-and-seek. The game does not just end when you are found, but when you are captured." Kakashi said as he took out a kunai knife with a wire attached to it. When you've found your target, you have to throw your kunai that is attached to the wire at the tree trunk near the target. This alerts the target that they have been found. Then, they have to make an escape to another position, but that is if they are not caught first." He explained.
"How do you catch people, then?" Naruto asked, rubbing his head.
"I was getting to that. I'm going to split you up into teams. This game requires a lot of strategy because once one member of the team has located the target, the other teammate has to maneuver themselves into a position to capture the enemy. The game is over when both members on the opposing team are caught or the time is up." Kakashi said. The rest of the team nodded. Sasuke was still brooding because they were not doing some actual fighting. "Oh, and one more thing. The two that are hiding have to stay relatively close together. That way it is possible to capture both teammates at once." Kakashi said.
"So who're the teams, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.
"Naruto and Sakura, you two will be a team, and Sasuke and I will be the other one." Kakashi said. Naruto pumped his fist in the air. Sakura took a deep breath and smiled. She knew that she and Naruto would lose against them, but that was probably Kakashi-sensei's intention: to see how well the two "weak-links" of the team would fare, even though he probably wouldn't use that wording.
However, Sasuke was quick to criticize his mentor's decision. "You're going to put both of them on the same team. They're probably going to put a kunai through our heads instead of the tree next to them. Nobody is there to keep them from screwing each other up." He said condemningly.
Naruto immediately launched at Sasuke, tackling him to the ground. Sasuke and Naruto rolled for a little bit before Sasuke pinned him down victoriously. "Don't make me laugh, dobe."
"Teme!"
Sakura stared at her long-time crush dumbfounded. Had he always been so…asinine? No, that was impossible. She had never heard him say something in such a condescending tone before. He was usually aloof and cool, not cold and harsh.
Or was that another thing she had deluded herself about?
Kakashi appeared in front of them in a flash and broke both of them apart by grabbing them by their collars. "Enough, you two." Honestly, why do I have to be the one to deal with these two? "Come on, we're wasting daylight. Training Ground Three." He said before he disappeared. Sasuke straightened out his collar and glared at Naruto, and Naruto glared back with an equal amount of intensity. Sasuke just left with a scoff.
"Urgh! I can't stand that bastard!" Naruto said as he punched his fist into his palm. "Was he trying to imply that we were the weak ones? Oh please, like he could beat…"
"He's right, Naruto." Naruto stopped mid-sentence when Sakura interrupted him. He deflated a little bit, because as usual, Sakura was siding with Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun's right. We are the screw ups of the team. Especially me." She said as she clenched her fists. Before Naruto had any time to deny that, Sakura walked forward and put her fist on his chest, right over his heart. "But that will just give us a better laugh when we win, right?" She asked with a grin.
Naruto's features immediately brightened at her statement. The hand she put on his chest made him feel warm. It made him feel accepted. An interaction like that would have made his blood rush to his cheeks, but somehow, that time it didn't. For a moment, he felt that he did not need to prove himself to anyone anymore. As long as Sakura was his friend. Not girlfriend like he had always immaturely fantasized about, but just a friend.
Naruto mimicked her gesture by putting his fist to her chest as well. "Of course it will, Sakura-chan!" He exclaimed. That was when he saw her smile falter a little bit as her eyebrow twitched.
"Naruto…get your hand off my chest…now." She growled out. Naruto immediately stumbled back.
"Sorry, Sakura-chan!"
Sakura was starting to regret the encouraging words she told Naruto about winning, and her tired state was the cause of it.
Sakura struggled to walk upright as a burning sensation in her calves set in. Everything Lee had put her through, even though it was at the 'beginner level', made her feel as if she had walked through lava. She noticed that Naruto, despite being a knucklehead, could actually pick up on her slight disability, granted she was not doing a very good job at hiding it. When she stumbled because of a sharp pain in her leg, he had been there to catch her upper arm and stabilize her. Every time he sensed something off, he had always asked if she was okay, which was admittedly a little annoying. However, she found the gesture in general very sweet.
I've been so horrible to him my whole life. He's the last person who deserves the treatment everyone gives him. Sakura thought gravely. She still did not fully understand why adults treated him like they did. While they shouted things like "monster" and "devil", kids mocked "dead-last" and "loser". He had never received any love from other people, and he seemed to have no idea why.
Sakura pushed those thoughts to the back of her head when she neared the beginning of the forest of the training grounds. Sasuke and Kakashi were already there, discussing something. Sasuke looked quite displeased, and the side of Kakashi's face that was facing her was completely covered so she had no way of reading his expression.
Sasuke casually turned his gaze towards them, looking at them with a raised eyebrow. A part in Sakura wanted to squeal that she had gotten some sort of acknowledgement from him, but she realized how pointless that would be over such a trivial matter. She wanted to think of herself as stronger than someone who could just melt under a gaze, because those people never become strong. However, she could not say that she did not feel elated by his small sign of recognition, as pathetic as that sounded.
"Oh, so you two are finally here." Kakashi said as he motioned them over. Sakura and Naruto took their positions next to Sasuke. "Well, the game starts once we reach the flat area in the middle of the forest. The evading team gets a fifteen-second head start. There's also a time limit because I do not want to make it go on forever." Kakashi said as pulled out a small, hand-sized alarm clock out of his pouch. "I'll say…twenty minutes? Yes, you have twenty minutes to capture your opponent." Kakashi explained.
Sasuke glanced cautiously at Sakura and Naruto. He could not believe that Kakashi would be so stupid as to pair those two together, when it was obvious that they could not even take care of themselves. Sasuke sighed in agitation as he thought about carrying his own Genin team. Their burden would only hinder him from becoming stronger.
"Heh, Sakura-chan and I are going to kick your ass, teme!" Naruto said boisterously. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him.
"Hn. As if you could even touch me, dobe." Sasuke said.
"What was that!?" Naruto exclaimed as he butt heads with Sasuke. They continued to argue as they walked farther into the forest, leaving Sakura and Kakashi behind.
Sakura sighed and shrugged. "Will those two ever quit it?" Sakura asked exasperatedly. Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck.
"I guess it is a good way to develop friendly competition between them." He said.
Sakura raised her eyebrow at him. "I wouldn't exactly call the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke-kun 'friendly'." She stated. She paused a little before changing the subject. "Why did you lie about the Chūnin Exams?" She asked Kakashi seriously.
Kakashi motioned for her to walk with him. They started to make their way slowly towards the clearing of the forest, at a much slower pace than the other two had gone in. "I did not want you to feel pressured into joining because of them. I knew that you wouldn't be able to resist the insistence of the boys." Especially Sasuke. Kakashi thought, but chose not to say it.
"Yeah, especially Sasuke-kun, right?" Sakura said. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her since she had technically just read his mind. "I did fear that he would hate me if I didn't say yes and he found out that it was required, but that was only part of the reason I decided to take the exam." Sakura said, staring straight ahead.
"And the other part?" Kakashi asked.
Sakura hesitated a little bit, feeling a little embarrassed. "Well, uh," she stammered a little and swallowed audibly, "I-I want to prove that I've earned my position as a Genin. I've taken a lot of time to reconsider what is truly important in my role as a kunoichi." She wrapped her finger around her long ponytail, which was still wet and not in the pristine shape she always wanted her hair to be. But she did not seem bothered by this fact.
"Yes, I've seen a significant change in your behavior. But with it, a significant change in your energy level as well." Kakashi said as he stopped and leaned in a bit towards her. "Is there something that sensei should be worried about?" He asked her seriously.
Sakura's eyes widened and her palms started to sweat as her sensei's one aloof eye stared at her. All the confidence she had mustered to tell him of her goals was gone. She hated to admit it, but she was absolutely terrified of him. She knew that Kakashi was a genuinely good person at heart, but she saw how he nurtured Sasuke and Naruto a bit more than her. He knew the importance of power, and she believed he saw none in her. That was why he was babying her slightly. She didn't believe that Kakashi did it on purpose, and it was safe to say that he did so because he saw more potential in Naruto and Sasuke, but that was what made Sakura so nervous to come to him for help rather than Lee, who treated her more like an equal.
"Hey! What are you guys doing?" Someone yelled from in front of them. Kakashi immediately broke his staring competition with Sakura to stare at the rambunctious blonde that was making their way towards them. Sakura just stared at the ground, her body frozen a bit. She had to make a note to treat Naruto to some ramen later for saving her from the awkward situation. "We've been waiting for ages! Come on, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said, grabbing her hand and dragging her through the forest. She stumbled a little bit as she tried to keep up, her energy not permitting her to do so.
Kakashi stared after his two students before he sighed. He was not sure how it happened, but he happened to instill fear in his little kunoichi, which meant that she could not trust him as much as he wanted her to. Not only would that be dangerous on the battlefield, but it would be detrimental to her mental state to be stuck with someone who terrified her. However, he did not know exactly how to fix the problem he had started. Protecting her more than he already did would not help her career as a kunoichi.
Kakashi clutched his head to try to suppress his pounding headache.
I'm really not cut out to be a teacher. He thought as he continued on his way towards the clearing.
Hello everyone! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Things are really going to start to pick up next chapter because we are going to get into their game and Kakashi is (somehow) going to realize that he has a bit of a shitty teaching style. The way this will be revealed to him will be seen in the next chapter.
So yeah, I just started junior year today, and let me tell you, it's a ton of work. Any of you juniors or former juniors out there relate? I probably won't update as often as I have been, but I'll still try to work on this story as much as I can. I just hope I do well this year!
Thank you to all of those who left reviews on the previous chapters. Please tell me your thoughts on this one!
As always, I hope you are all having a fantastic day wherever you are, and if you are not, then know that I send you my love and hope that your day will get better (sorry if that sounds cheesy). See you guys next time!