Seven: A Change in the Weather

The first thing the three boys of Team Seven noticed when they met up to train that morning was that the weather had changed. None of them felt like he was going die of frostbite on the long walk over to the training grounds near the outskirts of the village they had decided to use a few years when one of their sparring matches had almost destroyed a house.

Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes when he heard Naruto sigh loudly beside him for what seemed like the hundredth time. Sakura had only started her ANBU training with Captain Yamato three weeks ago, and the blonde was acting like she'd been gone for an eternity. He'd even taken to hanging out with Hinata more often, and Sasuke's only regret was that Sakura wasn't here to see it.

Of course, she'd left the day after Kakashi had, so their gang had been cut down to three.

"And not three of the better, at least for company," Sasuke grumbled, only to have Sai look at him questioningly from his other side. When the pale shinobi saw Sasuke looking at him, he closed his eyes and smiled—something he did a lot when he wasn't sure how to respond to a social situation.

This time Sasuke did roll his eyes. How he managed to get stuck spending almost every waking minute with those two, he would never understand.

"Naruto!" a voice called out, and Sasuke felt his eyes grow wide in fear when he saw two shapes approaching in the distance.

No, no, pleasenotthem. Please anyone but them.

But the world was cruel to Sasuke Uchiha, so there was nothing the dark-haired shinobi could do to stop Naruto from waving and calling out, "Lee! Gai-sensei! Over here!"

Sasuke groaned. So much for peace and quiet and enjoying the weather.

Kakashi noticed the warmer weather too as soon as he woke up and found that he wasn't in danger of having to break icicles off his hair—something he was ashamed to admit he'd done before. It wasn't his fault he'd forgotten to pack a warmer cloak and didn't have teammates to mooch off of.

Well, maybe that was his fault, but the Copy Ninja didn't let it bother him. He was too busy enjoying the fact that he'd gotten a decent night's sleep for the first time since he'd taken this mission.

He was finally, after three weeks, starting to get the hang of a solo mission again. During the day, when he was out scouting or tracking, it didn't seem all that different from the missions he'd taken lately with his team, but it was a night when he had to choose between sleep and keeping watch when he realized how much he really missed his teammates.

He had hardly slept at all the first week because he hadn't wanted to let his guard down with no one to keep watch while he slept. He was, after all, in enemy territory, and he had no way of knowing how active the rebels were.

After a few weeks, however, he'd mapped out the area fairly well in his head, and he was almost one hundred percent certain that there was no rebel activity in the area he had made his base of operations.

So far, he hadn't come close to finding the rebel's main hideout, but that wasn't to say he hadn't discovered anything useful. He'd found out the identities of many of the bandits that were preying on travelers in the area, and even engaged a group of men he suspected to be involved in the Land of Silver rebellion.

Unfortunately, they were completely inadequate fighters, so Kakashi knew they couldn't have been very high ranking members. He hadn't even bothered interrogating them, knowing they wouldn't have been told anything remotely useful, let alone the names of those in charge or where they were hiding.

Instead, he had left them tied up on the side of the road in a place where he knew the Land of Silver's royal guard would be passing through. It was one of the preordained drop points Tsunade had told him about. He'd taken to leaving the bandits he came across there too. It wasn't part of the deal, but he was beginning to feel a bit bad about not finding anything useful.

So there he was, the great Copy Ninja Kakashi Hatake, crouching in a tree above yet another campsite, hoping that maybe this time around he would come across something useful.

He knew he wasn't off to a good start when the first of the three men spoke.

"So did you hear the rumor that there's been rebel activity here?"

"Here?" a redheaded man—Kakashi suspected he was the leader—spoke from where he was packing up their supplies. "Don't be ridiculous, this is the most stable country in the entire world, and it has been for centuries."

The first man, a blonde, shrugged. "It's just what I've heard. Don't shoot the messenger."

Kakashi resisted the urge to sigh—another dead end—and prepared to leave when he was stopped by the third man's voice.

"But have you heard about that group of Rain ninja that have been terrorizing the travelling routes?"

"No," both men chorused, clearly interested in this new bit of gossip.

It didn't have anything to do with his mission, but Kakashi felt compelled to stay. The travel roads through Rain were very popular with shinobi, and he knew for a fact that many Konoha ninja used them. He decided he should at least stay and hear what the men had to stay.

"Apparently a high-level shinobi went rogue a few months back," the man continued, now that he had an audience. "He got a group of followers, and they've been stalking the routes popular with the merchants carrying the really expensive cargo. And I've heard they're not above engaging shinobi from the Five Great Nations in order to get the bounty money from them. The boss is a big shot, but from what I've heard the rest of his men are just your average hired goons, so they only fight shinobi they're sure they can handle—like ones traveling alone or in small groups. Anyway, that's just what I heard from Ichiro back in the town the other day."

Kakashi frowned, digesting this new information. Rain was always unstable, so there was nothing unusual about rogue ninja thriving there, but it was something that would be worth keeping an eye on. But as long as they travelled in teams, the ninja from the Five Great Nations shouldn't have any trouble from the gang.

Wishing he'd come across something more useful, but still glad to have done something productive on such a nice day, Kakashi set about making it to the next location he'd planned on. He decided he would stop in one of his safe locations that night, though.

He'd finally remembered how it felt to sleep through the night, and he was going to take advantage of that while the weather still allowed it.

"What are you guys doing out here?" Naruto asked the green-clad pair of unorthodox shinobi standing in front of them, and Sasuke found himself wanting to punch his blonde friend into the ground.

It wasn't that Sasuke hated Might Gai and Rock Lee. To be honest, he didn't really have a problem with them, as they had treated him cordially when he returned to the village. He supposed it wasn't in their nature to hold a grudge or to be mean to anyone, and while he would never admit it, he'd been somewhat grateful for it at the time. Everyone else besides his teammates had been quick to give him the cold shoulder.

So it wasn't that he hated Gai and Lee, he just wasn't in the mood for their shenanigans. It was bad enough that Kakashi and Sakura were both gone, and the overactive taijutsu-using pair's energy was a little too much for him to handle that day.

"We were actually on our way to find you three," Lee explained, and Sasuke inwardly cringed. The last thing he wanted to do was spend a day with those two training—or worse, a mission.

"The Hokage wants to see you."

Sasuke looked up, his frown mirrored onto Sai and Naruto's faces as well.

"Is something wrong?" Naruto asked. "Nothing happened to Kakashi-sensei, did it? Or Sakura?"

Gai shook his head. "She didn't say what it was about, but I can assure you my old rival would never let something like a silly ANBU solo mission defeat him!"

"Hn," Sasuke said, "you're probably right. We couldn't be rid of him that easily."

"Hey! Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed. "That's mean!"

"I believe that that is the way that Sasuke shows he cares for someone," Sai said, cocking his head to one side as he observed the Uchiha.

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke turned to his two idiot teammates. "Let's just go. We're not going to figure it out on our own, and the sooner we get to Hokage Tower, the sooner Tsunade will tell us what the hell's going on."

Sakura dropped to the ground, panting heavily as she reached up to remove her porcelain cat-shaped ANBU mask. She carefully laid it on the ground next to her, making sure not to scratch it. Even though she knew it would sustain damage in battle, she wanted to preserve it for as long as she could.

"You know," she said casually, reaching up to tie her now-longer hair into two tiny pigtails at the nape of her neck as Yamato dropped ungracefully next to her, "you really shouldn't go easy on me just because we're friends."

Yamato laughed. "You think this is easy? I'm breathing just as hard as you are."

Sakura smiled. There was no question they were both tired from that chase she'd led him on earlier. It had worked. She'd managed to avoid being caught by him like he'd told her, but Sakura still worried that her former team leader was showing favoritism.

"I just want to make sure you're not treating me any differently than Kakashi treated you when you were a new recruit. I don't want anyone saying I didn't earn this, and I want to really earn my way."

Yamato sighed. "Are you still worried about other people's perceptions of you?"

Sakura looked down guiltily. He'd had this conversation with her countless times, trying to boost her self-confidence. Between that and the training, she was beginning to think it was working, but she still had lingering doubts about her own capabilities.

"Well stop," he continued. "You're doing just fine. In fact, you're doing far better than any recruit I've ever seen. You have nothing to worry about. Your strength and skills are on par with the best, and you are certainly not a lost cause. I wouldn't have trained you if I'd thought otherwise. I'm not as soft and pitying as Kakashi-sempai is."

A corner of Sakura's mouth quirked upward in a smile. "Thanks, Captain Yamato."

"You're welcome, Sakura. Now let's eat and get some sleep. We've got another hard day of training tomorrow."

She nodded, and set about gathering the ingredients she'd need for dinner. It was her turn to cook, after all. One thing she'd found that was nice about teaming up with Yamato over the years was that he was just as capable as she was at cooking. Since they'd started their training together, they'd taken turns making dinner each night. It was a good tradeoff.

"Say, Yamato?" Sakura asked after they'd cleaned up the small cooking fire and settled into their sleeping bags for the night.

"Hm?"

"When do you think I'll be finished with this training part? I mean, when do you think I'll be able to take my first mission?"

Yamato was silent for a few minutes, and Sakura was beginning to wonder if he was already asleep. She wouldn't have been all that surprised. She'd been yawning ever since the sun went down hours ago, and she guessed the wood-style user was just as tired.

"You're on pace to finish the training program faster than anyone I've ever heard of," he said finally, shocking Sakura into alertness.

"Huh?" she said unceremoniously, unable to form a more coherent reply.

She could almost hear the smile in Yamato's voice as he rolled over and said, "I'm serious. You've picked up on everything I've taught you quicker than anyone could have hoped, and I think you'll finish within the week."

Sakura let his words sink in and contemplated what that would mean. One week until she finished her ANBU training? Had she really improved so much in such a short amount of time? Was that even possible?

And even though she knew his words should have reassured her of her own strength, should have made her happy, all Sakura could think about was the fact that she could be taking solo missions as soon as next week, and she didn't feel that much different from the girl who'd left three weeks ago.

She couldn't decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Of course, you won't start taking missions right then and there," Yamato said, as if he could sense her hesitation. "We'll have to go back to the village and you'll undergo evaluations to make sure that I really did teach you everything you need to know and that you are competent. You'll pass easily though. It helps that your previous teachers were Kakashi and Tsunade, and that you've been a part of Team Seven for so long. You were stronger than you thought, Sakura."

"And when I do take a mission, will it be a solo one?"

"No. You have to have something like five or ten S-ranked ANBU missions under your belt before they'll even think of sending you on a solo mission. Your first mission will be with me, and it probably won't even be all that difficult."

"Famous last words," Sakura joked. "So will I always work with you?"

Yamato shrugged. "If you want. Although you could probably work with Kakashi too, now that he's back on ANBU, and you've got more experience working with him anyway."

"If he'd even want to work with me," Sakura grumbled.

Yamato frowned, knowing that whatever conversation she and Kakashi had before he left was a touchy subject.

"I'm sure he'd want to work with you," Yamato said. "He's not really someone who enjoys working with a variety of different people. He's more of a constant partner kind of guy."

"Is that why you two were partners for so long?"

"I never had another until he left ANBU for good to become your team's leader."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Then won't you two want to work together again?"

"I don't know. We made a great team back in the day, but a lot has changed since then. For all I know, you may work best with him now."

"Or maybe I work best with you and he's the odd man out," Sakura said with a smile.

"Then he'd have to get some new teammates," Yamato pointed out.

"Eh, tough luck."

"He probably wouldn't be happy."

"He's an elite jonin. He can handle it."

"I don't know. Have you ever seen him pout? It's pretty pathetic."

Sakura laughed. "The day that Kakashi Hatake pouts is the day that Sasuke Uchiha professes his undying love to me."

The image of Kakashi pouting was worming her way into her head, and Sakura found herself stifling her giggles. She imagined him making puppy dog eyes, sticking out his lower lip and…

The realization hit her all at once.

"Wait…Yamato…does this mean you've seen Kakashi's face?"

Yamato was somewhat surprised by her question. "Of course I have. We were teammates for quite a few years."

She was quiet for a moment, and Yamato was beginning to wonder if something was wrong when she suddenly cried out, "I can't believe it! It's not fair! We've been on his team for seven years and he's never shown us his face!"

Yamato smiled knowingly. "Maybe it's because he knows how much it drives you four crazy."

"Well that's not very kind of him," Sakura muttered angrily, turning over in her sleeping back. "I don't suppose you could tell me what he looks like. You see, Naruto, Sasuke and I have this bet going…"

Yamato laughed. "I've been sworn to secrecy."

She sighed. "Yeah, I figured as much. Oh well, it was worth a try. Goodnight, Captain Yamato."

"Goodnight, Sakura."

"You wanted to see us?" Sasuke asked as soon as the trio was let into the Hokage's office.

"Yes," Tsunade said, looking up from a scroll and at the three remaining members of Team Seven standing in front of her. "I have a mission for you."