Chapter 1: Second Choice Kakashi
Two months had passed since a fishing boat swept up on the shores of Hot Water Country. The ship and its crew had been missing for weeks. While it was not unheard of for fishing vessels to make detours to more unsavoury parts of the world during their travels, the behaviour was very out of character for the family run business.
Upon inspection of the vessel, most of the crew – the father, his teenage son and his brother – were found dead. The youngest son was still breathing but was reported to be very weak with flu-like symptoms, skin hot to the touch, and an angry rash across his face.
He had been taken to the local doctor who diagnosed the boy with viral meningitis shortly before he passed away. However, it did not explain the deaths of the adults – who should have had stronger immune systems than the small boy – nor their inability to bring the ship back in a journey that should have taken at most two days even in bad weather.
Samples had been collected during the autopsies, but they were never analysed. The doctor and all those that had come in contact with the boy had died the following week. The general practitioner had at least recognised the symptoms and issued a quarantine among anyone that had come in contact with any of the rescue team or himself.
The death toll of that particular event had been limited to six. Some estimations were coming in to give a total body count of fifty, a relatively small number given the number of separate cases, mainly focused to small fishing villages on the beaches of Hot Water Country and not managing to travel far inland before dying out.
Sakura had been filtering the Hokage's letters as she usually did to remove the debt collector's threats and the casino's invitations when she came across the reports from a contact based in Hot Water Country. They did not seem worried, blaming the bad weather and lack of money for vaccines. It paled in comparison to the effects of a proper tailed beast rampage, or an all-out Shinobi War. And that country sure knew about that, having evacuated its population so its land could be razed to the ground by the greed and corruption of one man.
Highly contagious and with a high – if not 100% – mortality rate, it certainly was of concern to her. She had taken it to Tsunade, who merely told her to keep an eye on it.
"Sometimes the viral strains are particularly vicious. But its high mortality rate will be its downfall. Let the daimyo decide what is best – though I hardly expect him to close all their ports."
Not a response Sakura had been particularly happy with but the simple fact was that it wasn't Fire Country's problem. They had enough budgeting problems without sending funds and medic-nin to the Hot Water Country to research a vaccine.
Then more cases emerged in Lightning Country and Frost Country. A week later, similar reports materialised in Fire Country and Water Country. Suddenly the epidemic became a pandemic.
Tsunade set her to devote all her attention to the mysterious virus. Shizune assisted at times but the sannin couldn't afford to lose both her assistants while she was trying to get Naruto acquainted with the sheer volume of desk work the Hokage was expected to do. He was reaching Kakashi-level with his tactics to sneak out of the office when bored.
And so she spent her time out of the hospital pouring over maps, using compasses and rulers to identify the possible places the ships could have come from.
She was also convinced the disease was transmitted in bodily fluids – reports of infection usually followed being coughed, sneezed or vomited on. She passed on her findings to the other countries and sterile face masks became a common sight in villages along the coast line.
Konoha itself seemed unfazed by the reports. They were far enough from the ocean and really it would have to exceed five hundred deaths before the village became worried. That was a common belief of a ninja – they expected their death to come from being on the wrong side of a kunai rather than the 'flu'.
"Sakura!"
In the middle of lifting a heavy atlas from a shelf, Sakura was unprepared for the orange-clad cannonball to tackle her. They both fell in a heap along with half the books on the shelf.
If she hadn't recognised the chakra signal, her immediate response might have been to knock them out cold. Considering who it was, she just gave him a chakra-laden smack on the back of the head.
"Naruto, you idiot!" she hissed.
"Ouch!" She was tempted to give him another one for complaining but he was immediately on his feet and dragging her into a bear hug. "It's so good to be back! I went to the hospital and they said you'd be here."
"Have you debriefed with the Hokage yet?"
Naruto gave her a blank look. "I was just visiting Gaara. Dropping off some scrolls, picking up some scrolls, showing him some of my cool new moves... Hey, hey have I shown you the Super Ultimate Rasengan Version Two yet?"
He had, actually. She couldn't say she had noticed the difference between that and the first Super Ultimate Rasengan. As long as you smiled and clapped, Naruto was satisfied.
"Naruto, you of all people should be making sure to stick to procedure. If the elders don't think you're taking these diplomatic missions seriously, they won't approve you when Tsunade nominates you as the Rokudaime."
He waved a hand. "Bah! Granny can wait. She's just gonna unload more of her paperwork on me anyway. Do you wanna go out for ramen?"
Even at the word 'ramen', the loud groan of her stomach answered for her. "Sure," she sighed. "Just help me put these books back."
With the help of a few shadow clones, the books were back on the shelf within seconds. He extended his arm like a gentleman – maybe Shizune's lessons on etiquette were going somewhere – which she gladly took with a smile. She had missed him too; she did feel a bit lonely without him there. Ino was the only other friend she regularly saw but the Ino-Shika-Chou team was a highly requested team for missions, their fame as the best team since the sannin's early days.
That could have been Team 7, if one of them hadn't defected and tried to murder his former teammates multiple times before returning as a 'good guy' just in time for the biggest battle the continent had ever seen. Tsunade had laughed her ass off when she received the reports of him wanting to be Hokage. Apparently, she had a pretty low estimation of "the Uchiha brat" and said something along the lines of "I bet Fugaku is rolling in his grave... Just wait 'til the old farts hear this."
As if he was capable of reading her thoughts, Naruto pointed to the lone dark-haired figure already seated at Ichiraku. "Ah look! Sasuke is already here."
Sakura froze, blood draining from her face as an instinctive 'fight or flight' mechanism kicked in, screaming at her flight, flight, flight. She'd been praised for her quick thinking, and yet she was all too aware that she wasn't coming up with an excuse fast enough. Hospital work, training, washing her hair, menstrual cramps, anything would do...
"Ino!"
"Huh?"
"I forgot that I'm seeing Ino for lunch."
"But I just saw Ino eating lunch at the barbeque place with Shikamaru and Chouji. Hey, are you avoiding him? Has the bastard done something?"
Naruto had never been known as the most perceptive ninja. She had been avoiding Sasuke for over a year now and today marked almost five months since she'd even had to exchange words with him, which was surprising considering they were both often confined to the village; Sakura was preoccupied with her investigation and Sasuke was still limited by his probation to one mission per month within the borders of the country.
Even their last interaction could barely be called that. He had come to visit Tsunade and she was covering Shizune while she was taking Tonton to the vet.
"I'm here to see Tsunade."
"She's with someone."
"I was told to come at noon. It's noon."
"And I've just told you she's already seeing someone. You have to wait."
"Hmph."
He was frustratingly obsessive about his appointments. She wondered if it was ingrained into the Uchiha bloodline or a by-product of his messed up upbringing. She might have been a little abrupt but it was hard to be nice to someone you disliked strongly. Not hated. Disliked strongly.
And then she realised the person she 'strongly disliked' had turned at the voice of the most obnoxious ninja in the village.
"Oi, Sasuke! What have you done to upset Sakura?"
It had been too long and she wasn't mentally prepared for them to make eye contact. Obsidian met emerald for a split second before she abruptly turned on her heel and sprinted away.
"Sorry, Naruto, I have errands to run!" she called behind her, feeling every bit the weak kunoichi she had once been accused of. When she said it would be them watching her back, she hadn't quite meant it like this.
Sakura knew it was only a matter of time before Naruto would run after her so she entered the nearest shop – a bookshop, to be precise – and masked her chakra, marching straight to the back of the store to catch her breath.
"Running from something, Sakura?" a familiar voice drawled.
"What the hell? Is there some sort of reunion going on today?" The outburst was meant to be an inner thought but the shock of seeing him had made her old alter-ego emerge. He didn't say anything, just raising the grey brow above his right eye. "Uh, I mean, hello, Kakashi-sensei. Long time no see."
It had been a long time. Even longer than from when she'd last spoken to Sasuke. She saw him occasionally with his new genin team – well, she saw them more often than their teacher as she would take pity on them waiting around for him and take them out to lunch – or reading his book on a rooftop. After a while, she had stopped trying to get his attention to have an awkward conversation and ignored him just as he ignored her. The last she had even heard his name mentioned was when Tsunade was moaning about Naruto's moaning. She had wanted to retire after the war and tried to get Kakashi to take the Hokage title. He was not at all interested; he told her he never wanted it anyway and there was no need for him in the time of peace. He was a soldier, not a politician. The Godaime had lamented not using some physical persuasion and both Sakura and Naruto had prayed that she meant the violent kind.
"Hello," he greeted, his eye creasing in what everyone understood to mean that Kakashi was smiling. "So who were you running from?"
She feigned nonchalance, despite knowing that he'd most likely seen her rush her way to the back of the store out of breath. "This is my favourite bookstore, Kakashi-sensei. And I'm just here to get a new book." Without looking carefully, she reached out and grabbed a book with a dark red cover. "And here it is, so it was nice to see you, goodbye." Walking over to the till, she was confused by the odd look the cashier gave her. Eager to escape the awkward atmosphere (the hairs on the back of her neck told her the copy-nin was still staring at her), she paid quickly and left the store before glancing down to see what book she had just bought.
Icha Icha Violence.
Mortified, Sakura searched for the best place to dispose of the filth she'd just unwittingly purchased. A bin was very conveniently located within throwing distance and she did not hesitate to throw the book away. Far less embarrassing than going back and asking for a refund.
Let it never be said Kakashi Hatake ran away from nothing. He ran away from many things, ranging from being forcibly anointed Hokage to a poetry competition with Gai.
Today, he was hiding from his genin team.
They were okay, he supposed, and so far so good compared to his previous team. No demons, intense love-triangles or only-living-members-of-a-clan-slaughtered-by-clan-prodigy. They were just so clingy in a manner Team 7 had never been. Team 7 had accepted Kakashi's constant laziness and even grown to account for it by arriving two hours after the arranged time.
That had irked him a bit, so he'd started turning up just one hour late and made them all do laps on their hands – Gai was a great inspiration – to teach them a lesson about... something. He couldn't remember what reason he'd given them now. They turned up on time for a while (and he did not) then the cycle repeated itself.
The current Team Kakashi, though, were seemingly intent on punishing him. If he was late, they somehow found him in all his of usual haunts. He expected his former students were to blame and yet short of him relocating the memorial, finding a better reading spot or moving apartment, he couldn't do anything about it except sigh and try to train them beyond exhaustion so they wouldn't bug him the next day.
Yet still they returned day after day for another dose of punishment. He was just grateful he didn't have children of his own. Where did they find all that energy?
This day, however, was Kakashi's day. He was going to read his book in peace and maybe make a request for a mission to do some more light reading. Long-haul missions were great for that.
At the sound of someone running to the back of the bookstore he was currently concealing himself in, there was a moment of panic where he thought one of his students had found him. The flash of pink hair put him at ease; it was a student but he was pretty sure she wasn't here for him. She'd been ignoring him for months.
He couldn't say he knew of anything Sakura should be running away from though. She was Tsunade's apprentice, the best friend of the nine-tailed fox and had fallen in love with 'The Avenger'. His curiosity piqued, he asked her outright what she was running from.
She wasn't forthcoming with an explanation, just picked up a book and quickly moved to pay. It would have been strikingly obvious she was trying to get away from him as soon as possible (was he really that bad?) even without her picking up something he knew she would never normally touch.
He followed her out, intent on apologising for whatever slight he had caused when he witnessed something he personally took to great offence.
She threw away Icha Icha.
Kakashi was not above rooting through bins. He'd done it as a small boy when D-rank missions didn't pay the food bills and even on the occasional reconnaissance mission he'd had to dig through trash. He'd once had to go rooting through a sewer pipe for a piece of 'priceless' jewellery. He didn't need the Sharingan to tell the huge diamond pendant was a fake but he took his well-deserved payment and spent about a week in the bath-house.
Rescuing the precious work of art from the trash receptacle, Kakashi brushed off the cover and put it away in his pouch. Poor Jiraiya was probably horrified even beyond the grave.
Kakashi sighed and made his way to the Hokage tower via the rooftops to make sure that his younger students did not manage to apprehend him on the way.
"Yo," he greeted the Hokage as he sat by her window. The Godaime paused from lifting the cup of sake to her lips then downed the whole thing. It wasn't even 2 o'clock yet – something was wrong in Konoha.
"Ah, Kakashi," she wiped her mouth with the back of her sleeve then proceeded to pour another cup. "Care to join me?"
"No thank you, Lady Tsunade. Just wondering if you have any missions."
"Missions? Isn't the chuunin exam in a couple of months? Shouldn't you be training your little genin team? Actually," she smiled and Kakashi could almost see the light bulb illuminate above her head. "This is perfect. Yes, yes I have a mission for you. A long one. How does three weeks sound?"
He could read the entire Icha Icha collection. Twice.
After letting himself in through the window, Tsunade relayed the reports of a viral disease that had plagued fishing villages along the coast. There had been a development and she needed an expert tracker to aid the lead investigator.
A knock on the door. "And here she is. Come in, Sakura." Their former student entered, met Kakashi's eye then looked away sheepishly. He knew she knew he knew what book she picked up. Just wait until she knew he knew what she did to the book afterwards. Oblivious to the awkward tension in the air, Tsunade wasted no time with her questions. "Have you identified the source yet?"
Sakura shook her head, still careful to avoid Kakashi's gaze. "No. I'm getting close, I know it. But there's still seven or so islands that are all within range."
"I see." Tsunade pinched her nose as she usually did when she had a migraine. "In any case, the matter is becoming even more urgent. The letter we intercepted appears to be from a person involved. And apparently we haven't seen the full scale of this... bio weapon."
Green eyes widened. "A... weapon? Without any samples, I assumed it was a random mutation of a pre-existing pathogen." Kakashi thought it sounded like a reasonable guess. From what Tsunade had told him, this disease was being spread by ships and ship crews were notorious for their poor hygiene. The villages affected had nowhere near the standard of medical facilities that Konoha boasted. "But with the high mortality rate and the quick burn-out, this makes perfect sense."
"Indeed. And we are running short on time."
Tsunade tossed the scroll to her. The Water Country had taken to intercepting random birds in the hope that one would lead to this very moment and the fact that they had sent it to Sakura – who Kakashi had learned was unofficially leading the inter-village investigation of the disease – showed the trust Kiri was willing to give Konoha. After all, the Hidden Village of the Mist was well-known for its large number of missing-nin rather than the medic-nin the Leaf Village possessed.
With shaky fingers, Sakura unrolled the thin parchment and held it in a position that enabled them both to read it. At the top was the message, inviting Arashi to the wedding of Giichi and Mariko in the spring. The message itself was not what drew his eye; it was the chakra seal at the bottom, disguised as an ornate pattern. A short burst of chakra from Sakura and a new message appeared.
Model viral system judged to be success – weaknesses identified. Please be advised the final stages of production should commence soon. Sending kunoichi to visit to collect data for Boss in two weeks. Be ready.
"This is a B-rank mission; I estimate it will take three weeks if one of the Water Country islands is the location of their lab. As soon as we have identified a likely area, you are to leave immediately. Sakura, as you have been investigating this, you will be mission leader. You will also require a tracker and so—"
"I'd like to take Kiba," Sakura interrupted.
Kakashi tried not to feel insulted, he really did, but when your former student made it abundantly clear that you were not welcome on her team, it hurt a little. Even his heart constricted as he wondered what on Earth he'd done to offend her so terribly. This wasn't just embarrassment from the book shop – especially considering she'd been avoiding him long before that – this was personal.
"Excuse me?" Tsunade frowned. "Is there something going on between you two I don't know about?" Had there been? He couldn't recall doing anything particularly nasty. Not since she'd left his tutelage anyway.
Sakura faltered. "No, it's not that. It's just that, as mission leader, Kiba would be my first choice of tracker."
"That may be so but Akamaru is a little too inconspicuous for this mission. You cannot draw attention to yourselves; some Water Country islands despise shinobi due to the Bloody Mist's reputation and these people cannot know you're on their trail. You'll just have to take your second choice, Sakura. Kakashi's nose is probably just as good."
From the frown on Sakura's face, Kakashi doubted his name even appeared in the top ten.
"Now," the Hokage huffed, lifting a large scroll then unrolling it across her desk. It appeared to be a map of the continent. "Point out these islands you've nailed it down to."
Sakura indicated an isolated crop of islands located in the south-west of the Water Country.
"Here," Kakashi gestured to one of the islands before Sakura had even pulled her hand back. "We have to go here." Both the sannin and her apprentice turned to him with disbelief.
"H-how? How can you know?" Sakura asked, obviously angry that he'd just outshone her.
"You wouldn't have known – and really, I only know because I've been there, but this particular island is the only place it could be. The reason all the fishing boats have been in this area are that the warmer climate boasts many fish and the most expensive delicacies. However, they all have to stop at this island to purchase a permit to fish in those waters. As you can imagine, the island's mayor has done very well out of it. You're looking for a lab right? This is the only place where you could build something like that and no one would bat an eyelid.
"There is an issue though," he continued. "You were right to say that we need to keep a quiet profile. The mayor's paranoia has resulted in shinobi being banned from the island, unless of course they're a part of the security task force."
After Kakashi and Tsunade discussed more of the particulars such as methods of correspondence and how to deal with the kunoichi (where Sakura was markedly quiet), Sakura and Kakashi left together. He did note her silence and hoped to begin the mission with a good start.
"So, captain Sakura, when do you want to meet at the village gates?"
"Don't patronise me, Kakashi-sensei," she said in a huff. "I know you want to make all the decisions because I'm going to be such a bad mission leader."
Uh...
"I'm going to go pack my stuff. I'll be waiting for you at the village gates."
"How does three o'clock sound?" he suggested with a smile.
"Does it matter what time we say?" she called out as she walked away, her frustration evident in every stamp of her feet. "You're going to keep me waiting anyway."
As he watched her turn the corner out of his sight, Kakashi groaned and rubbed his eye. So much for that 'good start'.
A/N: The reasons behind Sakura's dislike for Sasuke (and Kakashi) will eventually be explained, if anyone was wondering.
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