Twelve: Exhaustion

The mission had gone as well as Sakura could have hoped. Neither she nor Captain Yamato had sustained any real injuries—just a few scrapes and bruises that hadn't even been worth healing—and currently they were making their way back to Konoha with a scroll containing important trade information.

She couldn't help her grin. After all, she had just completed her first ANBU mission, and even if it wasn't actually S-ranked, she knew those would come in time. This had just been a first stepping-stone, but it was important that she show how capable she was.

Sakura allowed her thoughts to wander as they got closer and closer to Fire territory. A part of her consciousness always remained aware of her surroundings—they were in Hidden Rain territory, after all—but it was sort of like singing along to a song when you already know all the words by heart. She was still doing the action, even if she didn't realize it.

She thought about how proud Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai would be of her. Naruto would probably insist on getting Ichiraku's to celebrate, and Sasuke would grimace, with it being the fifth time that week already that Naruto had forced them into getting ramen. Still, they would go anyway, and Naruto would brag to everyone about how he had the best team.

Well, to be fair, he did that anyway, but at least now she would feel more like she was a part of it. Sai would join in, even if he didn't completely know what he was doing, and Sasuke would give her a small, yet knowing, smile. And Kakashi…

She had no idea when he would be back from his mission. He was still updating the Hokage regularly, but last she'd heard, because he had yet to find any information on who the rebels might be, he was going to have to stay in the Land of Silver.

She wondered if he would be proud of her.

"What are you taking so seriously over there?" Yamato's voice brought her back to reality. "You just finished your first ANBU mission, you should look happier."

He was teasing her, and she welcomed it with a smile. She was glad he'd been at her side through all of it. Despite how quickly she'd finished it, the ANBU training had been more difficult than she'd anticipated, but having her friend there with her had made it much better.

She wondered if they would stay partners. She knew that Yamato and Kakashi had been partners before, and she didn't want to break up a good team now that Kakashi was back if Yamato wanted to work with him again.

"I'm just wondering how the boys will react," Sakura said in response to the brown-haired ninja's question.

"Well, Naruto will probably want to get ramen."

Sakura laughed, but stopped suddenly as she sensed something behind them. One look at Yamato's expression told her he'd noticed it too.

They were being followed.

Kakashi didn't think he'd ever been so happy to see the gates of Konoha come into view. He was beyond exhausted—he knew his chakra levels were dangerously low—and he really wanted a shower.

He didn't even bother checking in with the gatekeepers—it was a couple of chuunin he didn't recognize—and kept walking straight to his apartment. The gatekeepers didn't stop him. He'd taken off his ANBU mask once he'd gotten into Fire territory, and he was easily one of the most recognizable shinobi in the village, even with his new hair color. He was the captain of Konoha's most famous team.

"Kakashi! You're back!" a voice called out as he made his way up the stairs to the small apartment that he'd lived in since he was a child.

"Genma," he nodded, waving at his bandana-wearing neighbor.

"How was the mission?" he asked with a wink.

Kakashi sighed. "Classified. You know, if I told you—"

"You'd have to kill me. Blah, blah. You'd never kill your old friend, would you?"

Kakashi fixed him with a look that would have made a chuunin run the opposite direction. Instead, it simply made Genma laugh.

"You haven't changed a bit! You're still just as moody as ever when you get back from an ANBU mission. Although I hadn't heard you were back on the roster until I ran into Naruto and he told me you were on a mission. I was surprised, I thought you were happy with Team Seven."

Kakashi shrugged. "I am happy with my team, but I think we were all starting to get a little restless this past year. It was time for a change."

"Yeah, I guess you aren't the only one who thought that, huh?"

"I guess not," Kakashi mumbled, but he had no idea what Genma was talking about. He was tired though, so he didn't ask.

Whatever it was, if it was important, he'd hear about it soon. He planned on staying in the village for a while. That last mission had really taken it out of him. Sakura was going to be furious with him. The food they'd been served for the past month hadn't exactly been healthy.

"Well, I've got to head over to the academy. Iruka's sick, so I've got to sub for one of his classes. Can you believe it? Me? Dealing with little brats? Whose bright idea was that?"

Kakashi smiled, waving goodbye to his talkative friend, secretly thankful that the senbon-chewing ninja had gone. He liked Genma, and generally enjoyed talking to him, but he was tired. He just wanted to take a shower, write his report, deliver it, then sleep for a week.

He unlocked the door to his apartment and went inside, dismayed to find that he'd left the place a mess. Frowning, he walked over to the fridge, grimacing when he opened it and found that he'd forgotten to clean it out before he left.

"Ugh, this looks like Naruto's," he said, grabbing a carton of two-month old milk.

The smell assaulted his nostrils, and Kakashi wondered if there was anyway to use spoiled milk as a weapon against their enemies. He had to say, he thought it would be effective.

After settling for some stale crackers and a glass of water, Kakashi set down at his desk to write up his mission report. Ordinarily, he would've allowed himself some time to recover before he attempted to start on it, but he figured Lord Sasaki was getting impatient. He'd kept the man waiting long enough.

He only managed to get a couple paragraphs in before the words started blurring and he found himself writing the same character over and over again. Sighing, Kakashi pushed his chair back from the desk and stood up. Grabbing a towel from one of the cabinets, he headed toward the bathroom to take a shower.

He wasn't getting anywhere with the mission report, so he'd clean up and then lay down for a bit. He'd feel better after a nap, and then he could finish the report with the detail and accuracy he knew he needed. There was no sense in doing something ineffectively the first time if it would need to be redone again later.

Kakashi had to wait a few minutes while the water ran in order to get the pressure working again. After a few months of no use, the plumbing clearly needed some time to get itself readjusted.

Once it was ready, Kakashi stepped under the showerhead, taking care to make sure his dyed-brown hair was getting thoroughly soaked. He then worked his soap into a lather and proceeded to rinse his hair five times before he was satisfied that the water was running clear. He knew he probably couldn't get all of the dye out in one go, but he wanted to get his hair back as close to his natural color as he could.

Feeling refreshed, Kakashi stepped out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel and headed straight for his bedroom. The curtains were still closed from when he'd left months ago, leaving the room in a dark tint, which made it easier for the Copy Ninja to pull on a pair of boxers and fall asleep the second his head hit the mattress.

He hadn't even bothered with a pillow.

Sakura casually let herself land closer to Yamato, moving her body so that they could talk without being overheard. She could have sworn that they'd taken out all of the ninja hired to protect the scroll, but apparently they'd missed a few.

Still, it wasn't that big of a surprise that a few of them were attempting to tail them back. They probably planned to sneak up on the pair when they made camp for the night.

She looked at Yamato and nodded. It was nothing they couldn't handle.

On his signal, Sakura came to a stop on one of the wider branches, using it to effortlessly swing herself to the ground. She landed gracefully out of a flip, fists bared and ready to fight.

She knew without looking that Yamato was beside her, watching her back and her blind spots, just like she was doing for him. All that training had to be good for something.

Just as they were about to turn to face their pursuers, a tall man with dark hair landed silently in front of him. Two men dropped on either side of him, and when the three that had been on their tail earlier came to stand in the clearing, the Konoha shinobi realized that they had walked into a trap.

Kakashi woke up the next morning. He hadn't planned on sleeping through the rest of the day and all night, but he'd been more exhausted than he thought. He was somewhat surprised that Tsunade hadn't sent anyone to get his mission report—he was sure she knew he was back by now—but the Hokage was a medic. Maybe she knew his chakra levels would be low and he'd need time to recover.

Regardless, he was feeling much better now—still not one hundred percent, but he'd say at least ninety. Sakura probably would have disagreed with him, but the Copy Ninja knew he'd be completely recovered if he just rested for another day. It wasn't like he'd had to use the Mangekyo Sharingan during his mission.

Kakashi poured himself another glass of water and frowned when he saw that a mystery plate of food had appeared on his table. He wondered who put it there, and more importantly, why he hadn't woken up to the sound of his apartment being broken into. He must have been more worn out than he'd thought.

The food wasn't from Ichiraku's, so Kakashi knew it wasn't Naruto. By extension, that meant it probably wasn't Sasuke or Sai either. He wondered if it had been Sakura, but she would have left a note.

He took in the bottle of sake that was sitting next to the food and grinned, knowing exactly who it was from.

Genma. I'll have to remember to thank him next time I see him.

Grabbing the food, but leaving the sake for later, Kakashi went over to his desk and proceeded to finish his report while he ate. It didn't seem nearly as hard when he was well-rested, and Kakashi finished the report in under an hour—a new record for him.

He didn't make it a secret that mission reports were his least favorite part of being a shinobi. He knew he could put it off on his subordinates to always do them for him, but Naruto and Sai were hopeless when it came to written stuff like that, and Sasuke had less patience than he did for the things. And it just didn't seem fair to force Sakura to do them all the time, although she did take care of a few of them for him every now and then.

Once he looked it over to make sure he hadn't left anything out, Kakashi got dressed in his spare uniform and made his way over to Hokage Tower. He didn't need to actually see the Hokage, he could come back and do that whenever, he just needed to drop off his report so she could look at it and forward it onto their client. Nothing Kakashi needed to involve himself in.

There was the matter of him being recognized, but that could be dealt with whenever he went in for his debriefing. He'd included it in a note in addition to the report, so Tsunade would be informed about it.

So when Shizune asked him if it was urgent that he meet with the Hokage, Kakashi just shook his head and told her to pencil him in for whatever worked best for Tsunade, and took his leave.

Realizing he had yet to see a single one of his teammates, Kakashi decided to wander around the village a bit before heading back to his apartment. He wasn't tired, so he might as well see what his friends had been up to while he was away.

He found himself walking the familiar path to Ichiraku's. If Naruto happened to be out and about, Kakashi was fairly sure that he could find the blonde jinchuriki at his favorite restaurant. Sasuke swore that they ate there twice a day, and Kakashi didn't doubt it. He liked ramen as much as anyone, but Naruto's love for it was unhealthy. It was bordering on obsessive.

Sure enough, when Kakashi slid the flap aside and entered the stand, he found the blonde chowing down on yet another bowl of ramen. He was sitting in the exact same spot he'd been in when Kakashi left two months ago, and the silver-haired jonin wondered briefly if he'd left.

"Yo, Naruto. What's up?" he asked, sliding into the seat next to him.

"Kaka-sensei!" Naruto blurted, almost spitting his food all over his team leader. "You're back from your mission!"

"Yeah, I got back yesterday. I would have come to find you guys, but—"

"It's okay, Kakashi-sensei. You don't have to come up with one of your crazy excuses. You were probably just tired. I'm just glad you're back now! It's been pretty lonely since you left."

Kakashi laughed. "I'm sure you managed. Aren't you, Sasuke, and Sai joined at the hip anyway? And you've still got Sakura."

Naruto frowned. "But she's been gone almost as long as you have, Kakashi-sensei."

"Sakura? Why? Has she been on a mission with another team? Something hasn't happened to Ino, has it?" The only thing he could think of was that the pink-haired medic had had to fill in for her blonde friend on Shikamaru's team.

"No, she's been going through her ANBU training," Naruto said slowly, not sure why Kakashi had forgotten.

"ANBU?" he asked, his eye widening in shock. "She's in ANBU?"

Naruto looked down uncomfortably. "Yeah, she started her training with Captain Yamato right after you left. She said she told you…"

Naruto might have kept talking, but Kakashi didn't hear anything. He just kept replaying the conversation they'd had that day before he left over and over in his head. He was an idiot. Of course she'd been hinted about her joining ANBU. It was a logical way for her to prove herself against her male teammates.

"Where is she now?"

"She and Yamato are on a mission. Somewhere in the Hidden Rain village I think. She finished the training so fast, faster than anyone ever! At least that's what Yamato said."

But Kakashi hadn't heard the rest of Naruto's speech. He was too busy bolting out of the stand and out of the village. If they really were in Hidden Rain territory, they could be in trouble. That group of rogue ninja he'd heard about while he was in the Land of Silver might still be around, and besides, he had a few things he wanted to say to Yamato when he saw the man again.

Without a word to anyone about where he was going or what he was doing, Kakashi took off into the trees.

Yamato frowned as he moved to stand a little closer to Sakura, both of them feeling more reassured with the other near. He ghosted a hand across her forearm reassuringly, before focusing all his attention on the men in front of him.

It was odd, he thought. This mission, Sakura's first, was a fairly easy one. It wasn't even S-ranked. There shouldn't have been this many ninja guarding the scroll, and they certainly shouldn't have been able to hide from them that well while on the run. Yamato wasn't as good as Kakashi, but he was still one of the village's better trackers.

The man in front was the leader, he decided, seeing as the dark-haired man kept eyeing them up. The rest of his men looked competent, but they didn't seem like anything special. The two that stood nearest to the dark-haired man maybe. They both carried themselves with an air of superiority, something Yamato had found over the years was common in enemy shinobi.

"Interesting," the leader said, taking in the pair's appearance. "Who would have thought that we'd stumble upon the Copy Ninja's subordinates all the way out here?"

Yamato felt Sakura freeze next to him. Because they were still on their mission and outside of the village, both shinobi were still wearing their masks.

Seeing their surprise, the dark-haired man laughed. "Please, it wasn't that hard to figure out. After all, there is only one person alive who is able to use a wood-style jutsu, Yamato, and that pink hair isn't exactly hidden by your mask, Sakura Haruno. Nor is your superhuman strength."

"So who are you then?" Sakura asked feistily. "If you seem to know so much about us, you could at least tell us your name."

The leader laughed again. "I like you. You've got fire. I'm sure you'll be fun to break."

Yamato shifted instinctively closer to Sakura, reassuring her that he was there, but the girl didn't need it. Her gaze was fixed on her enemy and her enemy alone. Gone was the girl who would stay back in battles, being protected by her teammates.

"Takeo," he said. "Shunsui Takeo."

"And you're from Rain?" she asked, hoping to buy a bit more time and gather a bit more information before taking on their enemy outnumbered eight to two. "What are you after us for?"

Takeo smiled. "It was all luck, really. You see, with Rain being as unstable as it is, I decided that it would be way more beneficial to simply gather my own gang and act however I pleased. But that makes it a bit more difficult to find work, and without work, there is no money.

"So you can imagine my surprise when my little group just happened to stumble upon two of the infamous Kakashi Hatake's subordinates out on a mission. You know what sort of bounty money we could get by handing you over? It may be peacetime, but there are still plenty of criminals who would love to get their hands on you lot. Not to mention the secrets that you could divulge."

"Kakashi won't come for us, if that's what you're after," Sakura said uneasily. She didn't like the way the other men were creeping toward them.

Kakashi couldn't come, even if he wanted to. He was away on another mission. He'd never even know something had happened to them.

Takeo shrugged. "Well, it's no matter to me if he does or doesn't. The two of you will still fetch excellent bounties. And there's always the Nine-Tails jinchuriki and the last Uchiha who might come sniffing around if you two were to mysteriously disappear."

"Sakura," Yamato said.

She nodded. She didn't need to be told twice.

Before the enemy could make a move to stop her, Sakura had slammed her fist into the ground, creating a gigantic crater and momentarily knocking everyone off balance. Everyone except for Yamato and herself, that was. They had been expecting it.

They took advantage of their enemy's momentary distraction, surging forward and hoping to put some distance between them. They didn't know how desperate Takeo and his gang would be, but if they pursued them into Fire Territory at least Sakura and Yamato would have the advantage.

Unfortunately, Takeo wouldn't be slowed down for long.

"After them!" he shouted, before taking off in pursuit of the two Konoha ninja himself.

Yamato tried using wood-style to slow them down, but the Hidden Rain shinobi were fast. At the pace he and Sakura had to keep in order to stay ahead of them, there was no way he could fight back.

And that wasn't their only problem. Their prior mission hadn't been too difficult, but they still hadn't slept in almost twenty-four hours, and they'd been on the move for almost twelve. Their fatigue was bound to catch up to them much quicker than it would catch up to their pursuers.

"Yamato?" Sakura asked breathlessly next to him. "We can't keep this pace much longer."

"I know. We don't have a choice. We'll have to fight them."

Sakura nodded, swallowing her fear.

"Remember when you said my first mission was going to be easy?" she grumbled, looking back at their attackers. These odds were no different than the ones she'd faced in the war. This was nothing she couldn't handle.

That was the mantra she kept repeating to herself as the first wave of attackers hit.