So… chapter number 4 in a week… I'm actually pretty proud of myself (Wave Arc is another chapter or two and then it's back to Konoha and more Shiori/ Hinako focused again ^^)

Oh and lost in details posted her Oneshot about Yamanaka Matsu and its GREAT! Please check it out! (It's in my favorite list –so easy access ;))

Chapter 65

Beta'd by Black Sparrow

Sasuke Interlude

He listened attentively while Kakashi explained his suspicions about the other ninja that had carried away Zabuza's body. He should have known, the whole altercation had been dissolved too easily, weren't Mist ninja notorious for taking advantage of a situation like this? So why had the hunter nin not tried to take Kakashi with him too?

The fight itself had been a bit of an eye opener for the Uchiha, Sasuke felt on one hand grateful for having a sensei of Kakashi's caliber, on the other hand he had to suppress the helpless feeling of realizing just how much difference there was between him and A-rank threats… how was he ever going to catch up to Itachi who was an S-class missing nin? Forcefully he suppressed the thought and concentrated back on the orders Kakashi was handing out for the following days. Apparently they would be training between guarding Tazuna, good he needed it anyway.

"I thought about holding this off until we were back in Konoha but I think it will be more useful now. I want each of you to take one of those papers and then send chakra into it."

Sasuke did exactly as he was told and in front of his eyes half of the piece of paper went up in smoke while the second part crinkled. Beside him Naruto's was cut clean in half and Sakura's became wet and one small corner crumbled into dust.

"Looks like we have a lot of variety on this team. Sasuke your Elements are Fire and Lightning, which is also my primary Element. Naruto you have wind and Sakura, you have an affinity for water with a second small one for Earth.

"Why do I only have one?" Naruto asked curiously but not jealous surprisingly.

Sasuke didn't know if he himself could have kept such a cool head when confronted with being apparently inferior to his team mates. Contrary to popular belief he was well aware that he was acting like an arrogant bastard most of the time and that he WAS one in some instances because yes, he was damn proud of his heritage and his accomplishments, so what?

His radical change in personality after the massacre hadn't been easy or natural… but Itachi's words had been ringing in his head and he couldn't make them stop. Sasuke had been such a mess of angeranGErANGER and nonononoNOno only to be interrupted by whyWhywHY and this deep seated grief that just overwhelmed him at times and made him burst into tears without any warning.

At first his cold attitude had been mostly to just stop that voice in his head. When he also noticed that it could be used as a defensive move against all those simpering fools and suck ups he had encountered after being released from protective custody, Sasuke had felt relieved. The nightmares he had had every day for months after the murder of his family, had left him tired and on edge. During that time he had lashed out twice, once at the Yamanaka that had tried to make him go to therapy and once at a Chunin that had pushed all his triggers. The attacks had been mindless, not thought out and completely ineffective. So he had started to put as much distance between him and everyone else as he could. This had worked with split results; to be left alone had been a balm on his open wounds and torture at the same time. It meant that he had a lot more time to contemplate and think about what had happened. As a result Sasuke had thrown himself into training; the mind numbing repetitions and the physical exhaustion were a much needed relief for him and his overtired body, it made him sleep better. The following years had been an endless circle of training, nightmares, helplessness, rage, training with little to no distraction. The Uchiha could now admit that his anger had been getting the better of him. The undying flames of his rage were still a major motivation for Sasuke… but they hadn't been his sole purpose since becoming a Genin.

The Uchiha was ripped out of his self-reflection by his sensei's answer.

"It means that your Element is especially strong. Your Wind attacks are going to be a force to be reckoned… but this is only your body's starting preference, the more you train yourself in your Element and later on in others the stronger and more varied your ability of using Elements will become."

"So in the end it won't matter how we start out?"

"Not quite… your primary Element will always come easier and faster to you than any other one but as I said the more accomplished you become the less you will be limited by your starting Element."

Sasuke was satisfied with that explanation and returned to covertly watching his teammates; he had been positively surprised once again by them. Their reactions throughout the mission were those of ninja and not children playing at it like he had thought in the beginning of their Genin days. Especially Sakura's taking charge had thrown him off a bit, she still had a bit of a crush on him if he read those gazes and blushes correctly but it wasn't as obnoxious anymore as during their Academy years. He could tolerate this state somewhat, especially when she continued to show that she could leave that crush out of mission business.

Sasuke had been tempted to take control from her when she had thrown herself down besides Kakashi-sensei, though it had turned out that she had just supplied first aid before taking charge. Her orders and directions at both Naruto and him had been somewhat shaky and unsure in the beginning but became more confident and precise once they had reached their destination. It was the first time he really noticed how smart she truly was, logic and contingency plans seemed to come to her easily. So knowing what she truly was capable off, he was even less understanding about how she acted around him during the Academy.

Girls were just strange…

Naruto… Naruto was more and more turning out to be someone to watch. He had clearly been sabotaged in his Academy years so with that information Sasuke was inclined to ignore anything and everything people had ever said about the Uzumaki. The blonde hadn't the biggest attention span and he was also easy to agitate but Naruto was clearly smarter than most of the adults wanted to give him credit for. His traps alone showed that and the blonde also had the ability to make plans on the spot and rapidly adapt to a new situation, which neither Sakura nor himself were very good at. Now that Naruto's taijutsu was finally getting better he had also turned out to be a surprisingly good opponent for Sasuke to practice on, in a few months he would maybe even push the Uchiha if he continued to advance at this pace.

Now a month and a half ago this would have threatened Sasuke, turned him bitter and fueled his rage against anything and everything. The Uchiha was well aware of his personality, and he was sure that with the right triggers he would have lashed out at his team, especially Naruto. His thoughts would have probably be along the lines that Sasuke had worked his ass of for the last few years to become as strong as possible to be able to defeat his… that man. And here was this blonde kid that had been dead last throughout all their Academy years together, obnoxious to a fault and was now turning out to be a real threat to his status as the Rookie of their year.

Sasuke had to grudgingly admit that the possibility of being left in Naruto's dust someday still made him anxious. But thanks to Kakashi explaining a lot of unsaid ninja psychology and unspoken rules to them he was now able to at least theoretically see the benefits of a friendly opponent that was able to learn at such a rapid pace. A rivalry would most likely push Sasuke and stimulate his own abilities to become stronger even faster… Sasuke just knew that the upcoming months would be either an exercise in frustration and jealousy or the most fun he had in years… probably both.

And then there was Hatake Kakashi. Sasuke had been wrong about his first impression of their sensei… really, really horribly wrong. Kakashi-sensei, and yes he even THOUGHT respectively of him, not like the Academy instructors that he had called by their first names without suffixes, not only turned out to be a decent teacher but clearly put a certain amount of trust in Team Seven when he gave them access to his family like that. He knew that he was pathetically grateful for this show of trust but Sasuke couldn't remember when he had last been treated normally or eaten as regularly and as balanced as during the last few weeks.

Kakashi-sensei himself was also a bit of an enigma to him. He was clearly enjoying teasing them and had a sadistic streak a mile wide but he also made it clear that he cared about all of them. His training could be harsh and sometimes confusing but it brought results and that was what Sasuke had been hoping for since he had hit a plateau during the second half of the last Academy year.

Kakashi-sensei was also the one that brought down Danzo.

Sasuke hated, HATED the Elder for what he had done to his family's bodies… whenever he thought about it he vibrated in fury even if it was only inwardly. That Danzo had been caught and so thoroughly taken down by his Genin sensei somewhat alleviated his intense urge to lash out and seek vengeance. If Sasuke couldn't do it Hatake Kakashi, a Sharingan user himself, was a more than acceptable substitute.

He had to admit that his reaction in the days after being told had been… less than ideal. Shiori-san's concern and presence had helped him work through the initial shock but once he had been alone again all the details he had learned of Danzo's depravity had run in a loop in his head. Sasuke had been helpless, angry and on the verge of doing something stupid… and then there had been Naruto and his bright orange jumpsuit and the obnoxious laughter. The dark haired boy was aware that he probably owed his teammates an apology for his behavior but well… he was an Uchiha, it kind of meant that being an aloof bastard came to him naturally. So Naruto had been the perfect target to vent some of his frustrations and the mind numbing training that he subjected himself to every day since being told, helped him to get his emotions under control again… so what if his coping methods weren't the healthiest, they were working.

Sasuke was ripped out of his reflection by his sensei announcing, "I will teach each of you the basics of an Elemental Jutsu for your starting affinity during this week."

The Uchiha felt more than satisfied at the news, he knew already some Fire Jutsus with it being his family's specialty but learning Lightening Jutsu from a master would be a challenge that he looked forward to.

His team was turning out to be better than he had ever thought possible.

Naruto Interlude

Naruto felt excited and happy, even with the threat of Zabuza and his companion looming over them things had started to look up again. Sasuke-teme was finally out of whatever funk he had been in. Naruto knew that he wasn't the brightest, he never had the patience to really observe the people around him like Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme did but he had a pretty good gut instinct. He always could rely on that feeling to warn him away from people or put his trust into them. And it was that feeling that had made him react as obnoxious to Sasuke's jibes as possible, his black haired teammate had been hurting and searching for a way to let it out but apparently unable to do it in any other way… well he had continued to explode like this after he had realized what was going on. The first few times had been honest reactions and Naruto had felt somewhat hurt during those times that Sasuke would say such things after they had started to become closer as a team.

"That's great Kakashi-sensei but not right now, you need to rest at least a day longer before you can even think about doing anything chakra wise," Sakura said concerned.

"I know Sakura-chan but that doesn't stop me from giving you exercises to start with…"

Kakashi-sensei broke off and didn't continue whatever he was about to say, instead he looked at the door expectedly. There was a short knock and then Tazuna, his daughter Tsunami and his grandson Inari came inside.

"Ah… looks like you are awake," the old man said while his eyes were focus on Kakashi-sensei.

"Yes, though it will be some time until I have recovered from exhaustion."

"Then you should continue to rest. Oh how rude, my name is Tsunami and this is my son Inari. Thank you for escorting my father safely home."

"Hatake Kakashi, Jounin of Konohagakure. My pleasure," Kakashi answered politely.

Naruto noticed how Tsunami's eyes appreciatively wandered over his sensei's torso which wasn't covered by his usual Chunin vest. The blonde felt… uncomfortable, he really didn't need to know that his sensei was apparently attractive to the civilian that was hosting them.

"We just discussed how we would proceed to guard you Tazuna-san," Kakashi explained helpfully.

"Oh, you will stay?" Tazuna asked with a strangely high voice, was he getting sick?

"You have lied about mission parameters; we won't leave until we are sure that you will stay alive so that you can't skip out of paying mission fees," Kakashi answered cheerfully.

Naruto had to suppress his snickers at the face Tazuna made. The old man had that coming.

"You lied to the ninja, Otou-san?" Tsunami asked aghast.

"I had to Tsunami-chan," Tazuna tried to explain himself to his daughter.

"So you will continue to protect me now even though the ninja threat is over?" Tazuna desperately tried to change the topic.

"Yes… well I don't think that the danger is quite over yet. After all Zabuza isn't dead."

… and that answered Naruto's question if they would inform Tazuna and his family about Kakashi's suspicion.

"Not dead?" Tazuna asked incredulous. "But he didn't have a pulse!"

"It's not so hard for a ninja to put another person into a death like state. Senbon are the preferred weapons for that. The ninja that took Zabuza away was most likely his accomplice."

"But, but…" the old bridge builder stammered.

"Don't worry old man, we are going to protect you," Naruto couldn't help but interrupt with a big grin.

A rude geezer or not, Tazuna deserved to stay alive. Team Seven would ace the mission!

"You are all going to die then," a high voice said from somewhere in the room.

Naruto's eyes snapped to the small form of the civilian boy beside Tsunami, did he just?

"Nobody who stands up to Gato survives it, you should give up right now!" and with that the black haired little brat left the room ignoring the shocked apologizes of his mother.