Yo! I'm posting this a little early because it's 4th of July and I've got plans tonight, when I would normally post. So here ya go! I hope to be able to keep up the frequent posting that I've been doing, but it may be more than the usual 2 or 3 days between chapters this time. I've got to do some planning ahead before I get into the more complicated part of this story, so if I'm taking a bit longer than usual, that's why. On the plus side, I do have some of the future chapters plotted out.

Five: Conversations

"You're doing what?" Naruto yelled, nearly spitting his food all over an equally, albeit less emotionally, surprised Sai.

"I'm joining ANBU. I got the paperwork from Lady Tsunade this afternoon. I have to turn it in tomorrow."

"Did you tell Kakashi this before he left?" Sasuke asked, giving her a curious look.

Sakura resisted the urge to shift uncomfortably under his gaze. She didn't know why she felt like he was interrogating her. It was a simple question.

"Yes," she lied.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, but he didn't press the issue. Sai and Naruto, fortunately, were too shell-shocked to have picked up on their little interaction.

"Wow, you're gonna be in ANBU. Does this mean you're leaving us too?"

"Naruto, for the last time, Kakashi isn't leaving us. He's just taking an ANBU mission at the request of Lady Tsunade," Sakura sighed, explaining to the blonde for the umpteenth time that their team leader was not abandoning them permanently.

"Team members take different missions all the time, loser," Sasuke said, turning away from Sakura. "Just look at the former Team Ten. They have a different lineup almost every mission."

"That's just because Shikamaru's got a girlfriend in a different country," Naruto pouted. "Hey! Maybe Kaka-sensei's got a secret girlfriend too! And he doesn't want us to know about her, so that's why he wouldn't give us any information about his mission!"

Sasuke and Sakura took the opportunity to simultaneously whack their blonde teammate across the back of his head.

"You idiot. He can't tell us all the details of the mission because it's classified and they don't know much anyway," Sakura explained. "Besides, everyone knows Temari is Shikamaru's girlfriend, even if he denies it, so it's not like it's really a secret."

"That would be quite romantic though," Sai said. "Or so I've read."

"We really need to take your books away and make you get out more, Sai," Sasuke said with a yawn. He was getting tired after spending the entire day with Naruto and Sai without Kakashi or Sakura to give him some semblance of sanity.

"Oh."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "It was a joke, Sai."

"Oh."

Sakura grinned. Nothing ever changed with those three.

"So," Sasuke asked, turning back to the pink-haired medic, "who's going to train you now that Kakashi's gone? I assume he would've been your first choice."

"Yeah," Sakura said, "but I've thought of someone better."

To be honest, she wasn't sure why she hadn't thought of him immediately after realizing Kakashi would be hesitant to teach her, even if he was around.

"Who?" Naruto asked. "Who's better than Kaka-sensei?"

Sakura smiled. "Yamato."

Sasuke couldn't help the smirk that came unbidden to his face. He didn't really know the wood user all that well, but they'd gone on a few missions and hung out as a team a few times, and he knew the man had a soft spot for the three ninja sitting next to him.

"Oh, good choice Sakura!" Naruto exclaimed. "He's such a softie there's no way he'll refuse you!"

"Yes, and seeing as he has served as Kakashi-sempai's replacement before, he won't be afraid to train you," Sai observed.

"Huh?" This time all three shinobi fixed the former foundation agent with confused expressions.

Sai shrugged. "I just mean that Kakashi is protective of his team, and because he trained Yamato himself, I thought that Yamato would be one of the few he would trust with one of his teammates while he is away. That's all."

Sasuke chuckled to himself as Sakura and Naruto continued to stare at their pale friend with incredulous expressions. He had to admit, Sai was clueless when it came to human interaction, but he was perceptive as anyone when it came to picking up certain things.

"Wow, Sai. I think you actually got something right about a person for once," Sakura mocked, punching him lightly on the shoulder.

Doing his learning credit, Sai didn't respond by fighting, and instead remembered that sometimes friends gave each other friendly punches on the shoulder. It was a form of teasing between comrades, he recalled.

The four stayed a little longer while Sakura finished her first bowl of ramen and Naruto his…well Sasuke had lost count at ten or so and decided he really didn't want to know the number anymore.

"Well, it's getting late guys, and I still need to go to Yamato's and ask him if he'll oversee my training. I hope he's home," Sakura mused after Naruto paid the hefty bill.

She felt somewhat guilty making him pay for her, but then decided that he'd already ordered so many bowls one more wouldn't make a difference. Besides, everyone knew they never charged him full-price anyway.

"You know where his apartment is?" Naruto asked, surprised that their pink-haired teammate would know where the wood user lived when none of the rest of them did.

"Yeah, I treated him there once when he got back from a mission," Sakura said. "The idiot had a huge gash across his chest and didn't bother going to the hospital. Luckily Genma had been with him and told Shizune and I about it. I think Kakashi passed his hospital-avoidance skills onto him too."

Naruto snorted. "Yeah, that's something Kakashi-sensei is really good at. Remember that time when you literally broke down his door and tried to drag him to the hospital when he and Sasuke got back from that one mission with Gai and Tenten? And he wouldn't go and you were making so much noise that the neighbors called Sasuke and it took both of you to drag him there?"

Sakura laughed. She'd forgotten about that particular occurrence. That was the first time she realized Kakashi could be just as immature as the rest of her boys. It hadn't been funny at the time—in fact, she'd been furious—but after the fact she admitted that it was probably a pretty hilarious site, seeing the famous Copy Ninja Kakashi being dragged out of his home kicking and screaming by two of his former students because he didn't want to go to the hospital.

Even Sasuke laughed. "He was such a wimp about it. It wasn't even that bad of an injury, compared to some of the other Sharingan-induced ones he's suffered."

"Yeah, who knew Kakashi-sensei was so afraid of hospitals," Naruto said between laughs.

Sai frowned. "If he dislikes them so much, then why does he spend so much time in them?"

Normally Sai's friends tried really hard not to laugh when his social ineptitude showed, but the three members of Team Kakashi were already laughing too hard to stop, and Sai's unintentional joke just made them laugh harder.

"Oh Sai, there's still so much for you to learn," Sakura said when her laughter finally subsided.

"Apparently so," he deadpanned, and the other three gasped.

"Sai…" Naruto started, with a horrified expression on his face. "Did you just make… a joke?"

"Yes," Sai nodded. "I picked up this particular type of humor from watching Sasuke."

Sasuke pouted, which only served to cause Naruto and Sakura to laugh even harder.

"Glad I could be of assistance," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes for added effect.

"Oh, quit being such a drama queen, jerk," Naruto said, slapping him on the back. "I think Sai got you down to a T. What does that even mean anyway? Down to a T? What's so special about a T?"

"I don't think that's the point," Sasuke started, and Sakura decided she should take her leave before she got embroiled in another one of their insane discussions.

Naruto and Sai were hopeless, and because Sasuke was stuck with the two of them most days—there were still plenty of people in the village who didn't trust him—he usually either humored them or attempted to explain to the two why exactly they were idiots. Kakashi was the only one she could count on for sane conversation when that happened.

She remembered the last unfortunate conversation they'd gotten dragged into when Sasuke had tried to explain what, exactly, an orgy entailed to their two idiot teammates.

Team Seven had all been out drinking one night when they ran into Ino at the bar. The rumors about their team had come up again, and they would have waived them off if Ino hadn't had a few drinks too many and joked that based on the rumors Team Seven was just like one giant orgy.

Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura had all looked vaguely uncomfortable, while Naruto and Sai just looked confused. It would have all ended there if Sai hadn't turned to Naruto and asked what an orgy entailed. The blonde had shrugged and asked Sasuke, who attempted, with input from a really drunk Ino, to explain the general idea.

At that point, Sakura and Kakashi had decided they'd had enough of that particular conversation.

Shuddering at the memory, Sakura bid farewell to the boys before scramming out of the restaurant before they could drag her into another conversation she didn't really need to be a part of.

Wrapping her jacket around her tighter to protect herself from the cold, she trudged down the street on her long trek to Yamato's apartment. Pulling her coat tighter didn't really help, but it made her feel better about walking in the freezing temperature. She'd traded her usual skirt and tank top for full-length leggings and a long sleeved shirt like the one Kakashi wore under his flak jacket, but they still didn't help her much.

She cursed the fact that Yamato had to live so far away from the rest of them. Since she'd moved out of her parents' in the civilian district, she, Naruto, and Kakashi all lived relatively close together, and it wasn't that much farther to Sai's.

Sasuke technically lived in the Uchiha complex, but she knew for a fact that he didn't stay there very often. He mostly stayed at Naruto's. She knew because she'd given them the extra bed from her parents' when she moved.

Although, she mused, that would probably change if Naruto and Hinata ever got together.

Laughing to herself, she picked up the pace, hoping to get to Yamato's sooner. She hadn't realized how late it was when she left Ichiraku's, but she knew now it must be getting close to midnight. She hoped the wood-style user didn't go to bed early when he was home. Missions weren't exactly a good way to gauge someone's sleeping habits.

At her quicker pace, it only took Sakura another ten minutes to reach the apartment that belonged to their stand-in captain. It didn't look like much from the outside, but she knew the wood user had been able to do a lot of remodeling on the inside. She regretted not asking him to build her a house when she'd had the chance.

Taking a deep breath, she knocked on his door, quietly, in case he really was asleep. If that were the case, she would just come by in the morning before she dropped the application off with Tsunade and hope that he was awake then.

Her worries turned out to be for nothing, because the door swung open a few seconds later to reveal the brown-haired shinobi. His flak jacket and headgear were absent, but otherwise he looked exactly the same as every other time she'd seen him.

"Sakura?" he asked, genuinely surprised to see her. "What's wrong? There's not some sort of emergency is there?"

Sakura shook her head. "Nope. All is peaceful and good in Konoha, although Kakashi just left on a ANBU recon mission to the Land of Silver."

She wasn't sure if the mission was technically classified, but she figured if it he told her without any warnings then she was free to tell Yamato, who was still a part of Team Kakashi.

"I heard he wanted back on the roster, but I didn't know he'd gotten a mission and left already." Yamato frowned and turned back to the girl in front of him. "Was there something you needed?"

Sakura looked up at him. "Actually, there is something I want to ask you."

"Why don't you come in and sit down," he offered. "It's way too cold out here."

"I agree," Sakura grumbled, taking off her coat as she stepped into the warmth of his apartment. It was much warmer than the heater in hers allowed, and she was immensely grateful. The walk over had made her colder than she realized.

"Tea?" Yamato asked, taking her coat from her and hanging up on a coat rack he made a few seconds earlier with his wood release. Sakura giggled at the act, and he smiled.

"You don't have to make anything for me," Sakura said. "I'm the one who knocked on your door at midnight."

"I was making some anyway," he shrugged. "It's really no trouble."

"Thanks," she said as he handed her a cup. "Mmmm." The warm liquid soothed her cold body.

"So what did you want to ask me about?" Yamato asked, sitting on the couch across from her.

Sakura set her cup down on the small table between them and focused on the drink. Luckily, Yamato was a patient man, so he just let her sit while he waited for her to tell him the reason she'd come over. After a few seconds, she lifted her head and met his gaze with emerald eyes.

"I'm joining ANBU."

To his credit, Yamato didn't show the same reaction as her other teammates, but he was just as surprised.

"Have you told the rest of Team Kakashi?"

"I just told the boys, and I told Kakashi right before he left," she said, but Yamato could tell she was lying by the way she looked down and bit her bottom lip after she finished her sentence.

"Sakura…"

Her gaze returned to his. "Okay, I didn't tell Kakashi. I sort of brought up the idea of my joining ANBU earlier, and he seemed freaked out by the idea, and I got the impression that he didn't want me to do it. Either that or he didn't think I could."

She sounded surprisingly bitter. It was something Yamato wasn't used to hearing in the medic's voice.

"Anyway, I was going to tell him, but then I found out that he was going away on a mission and I lost my courage. But this is something I really want, no need, to do. I need to stop being a liability when it comes to a fight, and Captain Yamato will you please train me?"

He frowned, somewhat surprised that Kakashi would have tried to discourage her from joining- it didn't seem like him- but he quickly pushed that thought aside as he looked at the pink-haired medic. Sakura had always been weaker than her male teammates, but what she had lacked in fighting prowess she'd more than made up for in smarts and medical skills.

But he knew the determined look in her eyes, and really, he saw no reason why anyone—especially Kakashi—would doubt her capability when it came to ANBU. He knew his sempai wouldn't have thought that she couldn't do it, so he wondered where his hesitation had come from.

"Of course Sakura," he said, with no hesitation on his part. He knew the kunoichi would be perfectly capable of becoming a fine ANBU officer if that was what she wanted. "I'd be honored."

Her eyes lit up. "Really? Oh thanks, Yamato! I knew I could count on you! I'll turn in all the paperwork to Tsunade tomorrow morning."

He smiled at her excitement. She was certainly one of the most enthusiastic recruits ANBU had seen in awhile, that was for sure.

"No problem. I will go talk with her about your training tomorrow as well. In the meantime, you should make arrangements to be gone for a few months. Lots of your training will take place outside of the village to prepare you for the increased longevity and intensity of S-ranked missions." He laughed. "Although if you survived the war, I'm pretty sure it's nothing that you haven't already gone through."

"Alright. I'll talk to my neighbor about keeping an eye on my place. And I'll see if Sasuke will come over and take care of it now and then too, just in case."

"Good," he said, walking her to the door and handing her her coat. "You'll be hearing from me tomorrow then."

"Thanks," she said, wrapping her arms around his middle, much to his surprise. He'd been gone on a few missions lately, so it had been awhile since he'd seen his Team Seven teammates, and he'd forgotten that Sakura was a hugger.

"You're welcome," he said, hugging her back with one arm before releasing her and watching her walk away. He smiled at the extra bounce that seemed to have been added to her step. Shaking his head, he shut his door and headed straight to bed, knowing that he should try to get a good night's sleep if he was going to start ANBU training again the next day.

As she began to lose consciousness, she was vaguely remembered that she'd promised Ino she would be the first to know if Sakura joined ANBU.

Oops. Well, she'll forgive me I guess...

~A/N: As I was writing this, I was sort of struggling with how inept to make Sai. It's been a few years, so I feel like he would be getting better and social interaction, but there was a giant war before that, so personal relations wouldn't have exactly been all that important.

Anyway, as I was writing, I decided that he was sort of like Cas in Supernatural. Which just made me really want a Cas-meets-Sai crossover where they try to interact with people based off of really bad books or something. Anyway, thinking about it made me laugh...

Oh, and surprise! Yamato's going to train her. Don't worry. Kakashi will be back before you know it, but there are just so many ANBU fics out there where he trains her (willingly or unwillingly) that I thought, hmm what if Sakura just said 'okay, fine, I don't need you, I'll get someone who wants to train me.'

Plus Yamato is a totally underrated character (Please come back to the manga soon, baby!) and in my head he's a total softie for Team Kakashi so I thought he'd be a good choice.