… underage, unmarried girl-student …
A naked shinobi isn't very impressive either.
underage, unmarried girl-student …
I'm homeless and I'm clanless … I live in a tent … I can't even afford a single kunai kit …
A naked shinobi …
… underage, unmarried …
I'm homeless and I'm clanless … I live in a tent … I can't even afford a single kunai …
The words dance around Kakashi's mind, flaring and fighting for attention and making him feel dirty. His skin itches with it, even though he knows it's not that kind of dirtiness.
Kakashi isn't a pervert.
Well, he is.
But he's the porn-reading-in-public kind of pervert. Basically your friendly neighbourhood pervert, as far as such things go.
He's most certainly not that kind of pervert.
… underage, unmarried …
naked …
And then, of course, the part that more than anything else makes his stomach twist painfully with guilt:
I'm homeless and I'm clanless … I live in a tent … I can't even afford kunai …
She said the words and now he can't get them out of his head.
The fact that he's currently using his skills as a jounin to spy on said underage, unmarried, thankfully not naked girl-student isn't exactly helping him feel less like a pervert.
He follows her from the Tanigawa-store as she makes her way through the marketplace and the busy streets, away from the town centre towards - and Kakashi is forcefully reminded of his own failings all over again at the realisation - the graveyard.
She heads for the nearby shrine, where she finds a priest that she talks to for a little bit before pulling out a scroll from the pouch on her hip. Kakashi has glimpsed it on occasion before but never paid it much attention, but as she places it on the ground and forms a seal with her hands he belatedly realises that it's a storage scroll.
The guilt twists painfully in his stomach again as she unseals the backpack she had been wearing those first few days after his return from Wave. The one he had teased her about, when Naruto pointed it out.
I'm homeless and I'm clanless … I live in a tent…
He should have realised sooner.
Much, much sooner.
From the backpack she digs out a bundle of clothes, unwrapping it and revealing an urn.
An urn.
His clanless, homeless, undarage and unmarried girl-student have been carrying around her mother's ashes for over two months - three really, counting the month that Kakashi was in Waves with Naruto and Sasuke - and Kakashi hasn't noticed.
Three months.
She seals away her things again and she and the priest make their way through the graveyard, towards a particular grave that still has one of the names engraved on its monument painted red, to indicate that the person has yet to join their spouse. Under the priest's direction Sakura washes the paint away and the ashes of the urn are joined to the grave. She lights incense and kneels, and the priest quietly leaves her to mourn her parents.
Kakashi should leave too. Mourning is something private, best done alone. At least in Kakashi's experience.
I'm sorry, Kakashi-kun. Sorry I wasn't there to help. Sorry you have to go through this. You're not alone though, don't forget that. I'm here for you. I'm not going anywhere. Minato-sensei's words echo through his mind, briefly interrupting the tirade of underage, unmarried girl-student and naked and homeless and clanless. They're painful in a completely different way and he pushes the memory aside with the relative ease a decade of practice affords.
He should leave Sakura to mourn alone. Just watching her from a distance isn't just useless, it's painful and probably creepy. And he can't join her either - that would just reveal that he's been following her and further up the creepiness, probably cementing him as the bad kind of pervert. Not to mention, Kakashi has no idea what he'd do even if he did join her.
So ultimately he keeps his distance, watching as she prays and then pulls out her bento box. She offers some to the dead and then settles down to eat.
The wind changes direction, bringing with it the smell of her horrible cooking and quiet words meant for the dead. Kakashi is too occupied by the mental litany of homeless and clanless and live in a tent with my mother's ashes for company to even feel guilty for eavesdropping.
"I'm going to take the chunin exams."
She picks at her food.
"I'm not sure I have what it takes. But I really need the money."
Both of her parents were genin, Kakashi recalls. Her mother too sickly to even keep that rank. Her father a happy genin up until his death and posthumous promotion to chunin - which likely only happened because it was the Hyuga heiress's kidnapping that he helped prevent. Hiashi wouldn't want to owe a mere genin such a large debt as his daughter's life and well-being, after all, regardless of whether he'll publicly admit to the debt or not.
"I don't know. I want to be the best shinobi I can be. Prove that I can do it. But maybe I can't. I'm not even a good genin."
The words break Kakashi out of his brief reverie and he returns to the present, to watch his unmarried, underage, not-naked girl-student having lunch at her parents' grave. Feeling like an utter arsehole.
She's not entirely wrong, he thinks. She doesn't have what it takes to become a chunin - but then, neither does Naruto or Sasuke at the moment. Kakashi isn't actually expecting them to pass. It will, however, be a good bonding experience for them. Plus, there are a lot of voices from his higher ups - the hokage and his council, more specifically - wanting to see what the last Uchiha and the Jinchuriki can do.
Besides, Sasuke has been getting restless lately. The mission to Wave was a rough awakening to the boy, and he's been struggling ever since to prove himself. To become stronger. Kakashi is pretty sure that the boy would have demanded to enter the chunin exams even if Kakashi hadn't nominated them. Naruto too, if he'd actually been aware of the exams' existence prior to Kakashi explaining them to the team.
A headache and a half, the both of them.
And then, there's Sakura.
"Maybe I should just give up. Or join the Genin Gorps, or something."
The words are spoken with such dejection that something within Kakashi - the part currently about to drown in guilt - aches with it.
Rationally she is most likely destined for the Genin Corps. She's done well to even graduate from the Academy; a civilian-born little girl like her, with no kekkei genkai or any special talents other than above average academic skills has little to no chance of climbing the ranks. But then the Genin Corps, despite being one of the most coherent forces of Konoha, - chunin and above tend to have more varied duties and be divided more between different fields - have somewhat of a bad reputation. The kind of reputation a force gets when it consists of those who failed their jounin sensei's tests and/or failed to gain the skill necessary to advance to chunin.
It's not the kind of place someone just about fresh out of the Academy would aspire to. So despite knowing that she is most likely headed there, some part of Kakashi wants to protect her from it.
Even though the Genin Corps will most likely be good for her, once she gets there. Kichiro isn't a bad commander, and Kakashi has personal experience with the man's need to make sure that people around him are clothed, well fed and taken care of.
Mentally Kakashi puts a pin in that thought, because there's possibilities there.
Kakashi continues to follow her to the library and then, later in the evening, to one of the training grounds commonly not used by team 7. He watches as she sets up her tent, his stomach plummeting despite having known this was the reality, and sets her dinner cooking above the fire.
Then she heads for the nearby stream, undressing as she goes, and Kakashi hurriedly leaves.
There are some things that a sensei isn't supposed to see, and his underage, unmarried girl-student bathing naked in the stream is definitely one of those things.
Icha Icha series and public porn reading notwithstanding, Kakashi does have limits for his own depravity.
Just the thought makes him feel sick to the stomach and itchy all over.
He has a lot of thinking to do anyway. Things will need to change, regardless of the outcome of the chunin exams.
She can't go on living like this forever. So the fact that she needs help is obvious, but the how much less so. Her objections to him buying her weapons weren't wrong, after all. Not in principle. Not many people are likely to raise an eyebrow at him making sure that his students are properly equipped for something like the chunin exams, but him setting up an apartment for her on his expense? That'll get the gossipers gossipping and not offend just the silly civilian sensibilities, but also those of his fellow shinobi. And while Kakashi has the money to afford such an arrangement and his reputation is strong enough to survive such a scandal, hers is an entirely different matter.
People are weird, Kakashi thinks.
… underage, unmarried girl-student …
… naked …
First though, he needs to allow Gai to find him and issue another one of his challenges - preferably something physical such as a taijutsu sparr, which Kakashi will lose and hopefully Gai will be able to beat that disgusting mantra out of his head.
Kakashi returns to her campsite a good hour later, bruised and sore and his mind a little bit clearer, relieved to find that Sakura is once again properly dressed. She utilises her new gear, setting a handful of rudimentary traps around her camping ground, ones meant to alert her to anyone approaching rather than to stop them from approaching, and then crawls into the tent.
The fading light from her fire and the slowly rising moon provides just about enough light for Kakashi to see by as he continues to watch.
He'd warned the Hokage. He'd known that he was going to screw this up, somehow, but he had never imagined his own unsuitability as a sensei would manifest like this. When the mission in Wave went south he had almost expected to lose one of the boys - and then he'd almost lost the student that hadn't even come with them to Wave.
Ironic, really.
Three months, he thinks. That would be about 91 days. 91 nights. And even if she has spent the occasional night with a friend - like the Yamanaka-girl - Kakashi is willing to bet that she has spent the majority of those nights in the tent. And her weapon's pouch has been getting progressively less and less well stocked as equipment breaks or gets lost during practice - which is perfectly natural, but also means that it's necessary to restock. Which Sakura clearly hasn't been able to afford up until now, when he practically had to force new equipment into her hands.
It's been long enough that Kakashi is relatively confident that she's asleep by now, so he takes a risk and sneaks closer, inspecting her traps. They're easy enough for a jounin to get past. Especially because he watched her set them up, but also because they're the kind of rudimentary traps taught in the Academy. A good baseline, but easy enough for someone with enough skill to get around - which is to say any jounin worthy of the rank and probably most chunin that has enough sense to be cautious.
91 nights of Sakura sleeping alone, in a tent, progressively less and less well-protected.
With only her mother's ashes for company.
Kakashi could have lost her any one of those nights. Konoha is supposed to be safe but Kakashi isn't naive enough to think that there aren't those who would take advantage.
As if triggered by Kakashi's thoughts a twig snaps somewhere. It might be nothing, just an animal, but Kakashi is immediately on alert. He retreats to the trees again, listening carefully.
One might expect the training grounds to be quiet at night, when there is no training going on, but it's not. These smaller training grounds do not have much of the larger wildlife seen in, say, the Forest of Death, but there are plenty of smaller animals: birds, badgers, rabbits, rats and plenty of pets from the village itself. So there are actually a lot of little sounds going on, if one listens carefully. Which Kakashi does.
And - there. Unmistakeable. Quiet - but not ninja-quiet - feet sneaking closer.
Because Kakashi is a jounin his own feet are perfectly quiet as he jumps from tree to tree, searching out the source of those steps.
The scent reaches him first, because whoever they are they either don't care or know to approach from downwind. A vaguely familiar scent, though Kakashi cannot immediately place it. Metallic and oily - the same kind of oil used to polish kunai and shuriken. Tangy and sour, because whoever it is they haven't bathed very recently.
Obviously not a shinobi. Suddenly a dark figure steps out into the moonlight, a mistake not even a decent genin would make while trying to sneak up on someone, allowing Kakashi to clearly see their face.
The merchant. The one who'd tried to sell Sakura bad-quality weapons.
As Kakashi watches, the man looks down on the hand unit in his hands where a green light is blinking at even intervals. He adjusts his course slightly, so that he's heading straight for Sakura's campsite. Double-checking his course he puts the hand unit away in his pocket, instead pulling out something else.
Kakashi squints, trying to see better, and then a familiar, sweet smell hits him.
He doesn't need more to know what it is; doesn't need more to send rage soaring through his veins and in the next moment he's moving.
The merchant never sees him coming. One moment he's calmly pouring liquid from a bottle onto a rag, and in the next Kakashi is there, pressing the chloroform-wet rag undoubtedly meant for Sakura to the merchant's own face.
The struggle is brief and mostly quiet. Kakashi is used to taking down much more skilled opponents, and within minutes the man is out like a light. Kakashi keeps the rag in place a bit longer just for good measure. He wants to snap the neck of this piece of vermin apparently sneaking up on his student, but there is no real defendable reason for him to use that level of violence against an enemy that is so clearly not a threat to him.
No other reason than the horrible thoughts of what he might have planned to do with her. Which is just …
Bones creak under Kakashi's hands and finally he allows the unconscious man to drop to the ground, making absolutely no effort to make the fall a comfortable one.
Kakashi takes a deep breath, calming his anger. The man can have accomplices. He's more valuable alive. There are protocols for this kind of situation.
Roughly he searches the man's pockets, finding the hand unit. The light is still blinking, directing him which way to go and giving a roughly accurate distance.
He dies the man up with a coil of ninja wire, then proceeds to follow the guidance of the hand unit. Predictably, it leads him straight back to Sakura. Which can only mean one thing.
There's a tracker somewhere among her things.
Her tent is small and just about large enough for one or two people. The tent flap itself does have a trap to it, which Kakashi easily undoes and quietly peeks inside. Sakura is still soundly asleep, backpack at her feet, which are closest to the opening. It's easy to lift it out.
A little bit of rifling through her belongings later he sighs quietly. None of the items have a tracker. He packs it back up just as it was, returns it to its previous spot. The weapon's pouch is further into the tent, closer to Sakura's face and within easy reach. A wise choice, Kakashi thinks, even if it doesn't stop someone like him from taking it without her waking up.
The scroll, he soon realises. Unfurling it he finds an overly complicated sealing array. It's a mess and the meaning is difficult to untangle, especially with only the light of the moon to guide him, but Kakashi has an advantage. He's not a sealing master - has never aspired to be one - but Minato-sensei was. And Minato-sensei was the student of Jiraiya-sama, who's currently recognised as Konoha's number one sealing master, and married to Kushina-san, who was an Uzushio-native and taught by Uzumaki Mito herself. In other words, Kakashi has been around enough sealing masters to pick up enough about seals to know that the basic sealing array before him is disgustingly convoluted.
There are layers upon layers of seals woven together. The primary seal is indeed that of a sealing scroll but then there are secondary and even tertiary seals, one of which contains a tracking device. There are even special signs interwoven, allowing for the tracking signal to escape, with what Kakashi first mistook for blood splatter working as amplifiers for the signal.
He takes a deep breath, calming his anger once again. He does not yet know why the merchant has been tracking Sakura, he reminds himself. Though the chloroform certainly does not indicate any good reasons.
91 days. 91 nights alone when anything might have happened. 91 nights when this cretin of a merchant might have sneaked up on Sakura while she was asleep with few or no traps protecting her.
And she's been carrying the scroll around with her for roughly 60 of those days and nights.
The logical part of Kakashi's brain wants to object that it doesn't make sense for the man to have waited so long before acting upon whatever plans he had. The other part of his mind is relieved that at least he was here tonight and able to stop it.
Making sure that the sealing scroll is empty of Sakura's belongings, Kakashi swiftly pockets it. Pulling out one of his own sealing scrolls - he doesn't use a lot of them, but most jounin have one or two for easy storage of more weapons or emergency food and water - he empties it and places the empty scroll in Sakura's weapon's pouch. It doesn't look exactly the same and is of far better quality, so she's bound to notice and be suspicious, but it'll do.
He returns the weapon's pouch to its original place, re-sets the trap at the tent-flap and returns to the still unconscious merchant. Unwilling to leave his student unguarded he leaves a shadow clone behind to continue to keep watch as he himself makes his way to T&I Headquarters, depositing the merchant and the evidence he has collected to a very surprised assistant. Then he returns to the training ground and settles down to keep watch.
It's a long night.
Kakashi keeps silent vigil until the sun rises and Sakura wakes again, unaware of how close to disaster she came.
He doesn't tell her.
Instead he returns to T&I to inquire about the merchant, only to be told that the man killed himself shortly after Kakashi deposited him there.
"Suicide pill," one of the assistants tell Kakashi. "Had it hidden in his mouth, apparently, and woke up enough to use it while we were searching him."
It's the kind of thing that isn't supposed to happen in T&I. Morino must be planning horrid punishments for his lackeys.
It's the kind of thing Kakashi should have checked for. Would have checked for, if he hadn't been so busy holding himself back from killing the man.
"The poison's composition suggests Kiri-origin," the assistant adds. "The autopsy might tell us more."
Kirigakure, Kakashi thinks. Mist.
The memory of brown eyes flashes before his eyes. Blown wide at the inevitable pain of being pierced by Kakashi's chidori, as Rin had thrown herself at his hand.
"Thank you for letting me know," he says hollowly, turning to leave.
Why is it always Mist, he wonders. And why would they be after Sakura? Rin made sense given that they were at war, but Sakura has never been outside of Konoha as far as Kakashi knows.
It doesn't make sense for Kiri to go after her.
That evening Kakashi returns to his silent vigil over Sakura, still pondering the issue of who is after her and how he'll solve her housing issue.
For now he'll just make sure that she's safe.
Once she's in the Forest of Death he can do some research to help him figure out an answer to either problem.
July 1st sees a moderately sleep-deprived Kakashi greeting all three of his students as they show up to take the chunin exams. That Naruto and Sasuke would show was pretty obvious, but Sakura has been wavering back and forth. Kakashi knows. But now she's here, ready to risk her life in an exam she knows she's not ready for.
It's a stark contrast to the cocky confidence of Naruto and Sasuke, both of whom are practically vibrating with the urge to prove themselves.
Kakashi almost wants to withdraw his nomination, but at this point it's too late and neither his students nor his superiors would accept it. So instead Kakashi smiles through the exhaustion and his own doubts.
"This exam can only be taken as a three man squad," he tells them. "There's a reason for that. Take care of each other, and you'll be fine."
Each of them nod seriously, accepting his words. Naruto's hands are fisted in eager anticipation. Sasuke looks positively giddy, though his Uchiha-stoicism masks it to the casual observer. Sakura has a look of grim determination.
"Good luck, you three," Kakashi says, waving them onward. Silently praying that they'll be fine.
It's just the chunin exams, he tells himself. They can't be that bad, right?
Then again, Kakashi has never actually taken the exams himself. His promotions have all been field promotions, earned during the war. Compared to that, the Forest of Death is a perfectly controlled environment.
Even so, he lingers for a little bit outside the auditorium, praying for whatever deity might listen for his students to be safe.
He isn't actually expecting them to pass, he reminds himself. It's just for experience and team bonding. A chance for the three of them to face something other than boring D-ranked missions. They'll be fine.
Hopefully.
They'll have to be.
He's not sure what he'll do if they're not.
Slowly he makes his way towards the teacher's lounge, where some of the other jounin sensei are already waiting for the exam to be over. Gai is excitedly telling a tale about a passionate, youthful experience he just had in the sunset, which is typical of Gai because the sun won't set for hours yet. Kakashi decides that he probably doesn't want to know, shakes his head and pours himself some tea before joining Asuma and Kurenai in a calmer area of the lounge. Asuma greets him with a friendly nod, apparently over their earlier disagreement, and Kakashi does the same. He wonders if Asuma would be as friendly if he knew what Kakashi now knows.
"Now that our subordinates are busy, it sure is boring," he drawls casually, trying to hide his own discomfort at the thought and taking a seat opposite of Asuma.
Kurenai gives him a surprised look but Asuma smiles sardonically.
"We'll get busy soon," he replies cryptically.
Fine, I'll play, Kakashi thinks. "Why?"
Casually Asuma flicks the excess ember of his cigarette off in an ashtray. The movement alone tells Kakashi that Asuma thinks he has something big to tell.
"The examiner of the first stage this year is Morino Ibiki."
Kakashi does a double take then, because who the fuck in their right mind would put fucking Morino Ibiki in charge of children?
Only the knowledge that it's too late to intervene stops him from collecting his kids right then and there.
Fucking Morino Ibiki, he thinks. Looks like the first stage is going to be a bit more difficult than expected.
He doesn't have to be polite about the situation though. It's not as if his disagreement with Morini isn't already an open secret to most of the jounin corps.
"Did they have to choose the sadist?" he asks, loudly enough that his voice carries to the rest of the room as well.
Some of the other sensei curiously look over at them, and Kurenai gives him a slightly confused look.
"Sadist?" she repeats.
Right, she's still new to being a jounin. Maybe she has been lucky enough to avoid Morino Ibiki so far.
"He's a pro," Kakashi helpfully supplies.
"A pro? At what?"
Asuma dramatically takes a deep inhale before exhaling a puff of smoke.
"Torture and interrogation." The half-smile he offers Kurenai speaks volumes of Asuma's own sadistic streak. "Although there will be no physical torture in the exam … I'm sure the students are suffering mentally from his interrogation skills."
Kurenai's horrified gasp proves that Asuma theatrics are successful. Kakashi might have been entertained by his antics, if his own students weren't stuck with that psychopath for another fifty minutes or so.
"Ibiki understands human psychology," Asuma continues. "The scariest part about him is his ability to control every part of your mind, to bully you and back you into a corner of your own mind. He'll find any weakness there is and bring it to the surface."
Privately Kakashi thinks that Asuma is wrong there. Morino Ibiki is scary because he is completely fucking insane, yet somehow a genius at what he does. There are others with somewhat comparable levels of insanity - like Mitarashi Anko - but none with the same, ruthless proficiency as Morino.
Meanwhile, back in the auditorium, Sakura is carefully using every ounce of knowledge gained from her extensive reading and power of deduction. Written exams have always been her forte but this one is hard.
While her mind is still spinning, working out the answer for one of the questions, she glances over at Sasuke-kun. He's writing but his eyes aren't focused on the paper, but rather on someone sitting in front of him. Probably cheating off of someone then, she deduces distantly. She would feel proud of her own ability then, if it wasn't for her worry over the team's collective performance.
It won't be enough. Even if she and Sasuke-kun manage to get perfect scores, Naruto still needs to get at least one question right for them to pass. And Sakura has had the misfortune of being in the same class as Naruto for their entire time at the Academy. She knows what he's capable of, and there is not a single question here which he will reasonably be able to answer on his own. And unlike Sasuke-kun, Naruto is a horrible cheater.
Mentally she prays. Come on, Naruto! You can do this! Just one question.
She should help him, somehow. If they were seated closer she'd be able to let him copy off of her or something, but he's seated several rows in front of her which makes that impossible. And ironically enough, the one person who might be a worse cheater than Naruto is Sakura herself. Simply because she has never had to cheat on an exam. Not in the Academy, and not for this one.
One of the exam guards calls out someone for cheating and they are removed from the auditorium under loud protests, their teammates grumbling as they reluctantly follow.
Focusing back on her test, she allows herself to get lost in the questions. One after one she carefully works out the answers, while another part of her mind tries to convince herself that surely Naruto will be able to answer one of these. The questions aren't that difficult.
Except they are.
And Naruto is notoriously bad at written exams.
Someone else is called out for cheating, and leaves in more dignified silence.
Maybe if it was Iruka-sensei administering the test, and maybe if he would let Naruto take the test verbally instead of in written form, and if he'd take the time to talk Naruto through it all instead of letting him goof it all off, then maybe … but that's altogether too many maybe to be practical.
More people are called out for cheating and Sakura does her best to ignore it. So long as it isn't Naruto or Sasuke-kun being called out it doesn't concern her, and she won't be called out. She's not cheating. Even if this particular question is fucking riddiculously difficult. Sasuke-kun is already cheating and Naruto will need to cheat to pass, which means that their team can't afford for her to cheat as well. They need her to get a perfect score without cheating, for Sasuke-kun to get as many questions as possible right and for Naruto to get one question right.
That's all.
Just one question, Naruto!
And please be discreet about cheating!
Then suddenly the first forty-five minutes have passed and the proctor is once again calling for their attention, to give them the 10th and final question. And just like that the tension in the room is full of not only fear but also excitement.
This is it.
The final question.
The one that is supposedly so difficult that they wouldn't even include it on the exam sheet.
Sakura leans forward in her seat, smiling as adrenaline makes her feel vaguely lightheaded.
Bring it on. Written exams are her forte and she is downright proud of her answers thus far. If they get it back afterwards she'll fucking frame it and put it on a wall, once she's got an apartment.
"Before I tell you the last question you need to know this; there is a special rule for this question," the proctor tells them, his terrifying eyes glaring over them all. Sakura is glad that he's only a proctor of a written test and that they're not actually supposed to fight him or something. She has a feeling that even outnumbered 100+ chunin candidates against him alone they would still lose.
"First, you are all going to choose whether you want to take on this tenth problem or not," the proctor continues, dramatically taking a step forward.
"So what happens if we don't take the question?" someone asks, mirroring Sakura's own thoughts.
"If you don't take it, your points will be reduced to zero. In other words, you will fail, and your other two teammates will fail alongside you."
The shock is evident among her fellow test takers. Sakura takes a deep breath, glancing first at Sasuke-kun and then at Naruto. Naruto is trembling, his grasp on his pen hard enough that his knuckles have turned white with it. She's surprised the pen hasn't broken yet.
In other words, Naruto has yet to answer any of the questions. He's putting all of his hopes on this last question.
Mentally she curses. This is it then. They're failing regardless of her own achievements here. Which is ironic, considering that out of the three of them she is probably the one least suited to becoming a chunin.
Then again, if they aren't going to pass anyway then there's no real pressure on them for the last question either. They'll just take it, she'll see if she can get it right, and then they'll go back out to Kakashi-sensei.
Sakura relaxes a little at the realisation.
Of course the proctor goes and ruins that with his next words.
"Second, if you choose to take the last question and get it wrong, you will be banned from ever taking the chunin exams again."
Shocked silence falls over the room and Sakura leans back in her seat again, staring at the proctor in disbelief.
"What kind of dumb rule is that?" Kiba shouts, pointing an accusing finger at the proctor. "There are those here that have taken the chunin exams before!"
The proctor's chuckling is … terrifying. Plain as that.
He's insane, she thinks to herself. If she never has to meet this guy again after this exam it will still be too soon. She will find out what he normally does for a living - probably torturing puppies or something - and stay as far away from that as possible.
"You were unlucky. This year, I am the rule. That is why you have the option of quitting."
In other words, if one of them were to opt out of the question all of team 7 will fail the exam. However, if they choose to take the exam and get it wrong they will all be banned from ever taking the exams again. And just from looking at the pleased expression of the proctor Sakura is ready to bet every penny she has - admittedly not much, but still - that it will still be required for all of them to get that question right for the team to pass as a whole.
"Those who will not be taking the last question, raise your hands."
Absolute silence falls over the room, everyone's attention at the proctor. Sakura can hear her heart beating in her ears and she has to struggle to keep breathing normally. A couple of rows in front of her Naruto is visibly trembling. A glance at Sasuke-kun reveals that he isn't trembling, but stiff in that particular way that suggests that he's probably just as scared as Naruto.
She looks down at the answer sheet before her. She was so afraid of taking these exams, and so far she has done so well, and then it comes down to this.
She wants to take the last question. She wants to hear it and see if she'll be able to figure that out as well.
The person sitting next to Naruto raises their hand, admitting defeat. The proctor at the front looks positively delighted and his assistants lean forward eagerly in their seats.
"Number 50 fail. Numbers 130 and 111 as well."
"Me too."
"Me too."
One after one hands are raised around the room as people opt out. Sakura trembles in her seat, looking over at Sasuke-kun and Naruto again. Neither of them turn around to look back at her. The sound of chairs scraping against the floor fills the room as people stand to leave, apologising to their teammates and mostly receiving comforting words in return.
Balling her hands into fists on the table in front of her, Sakura once more looks between her teammates. Naruto, who wants to become Hokage someday. Sasuke-kun, with his ambition of power and to fight that mysterious someone he never mentions but who she suspects is his brother. Naruto with his ridiculous stamina and potential hidden beneath that hopelessly messy surface. Sasuke-kun, the last heir of one of the most powerful clans of Konoha.
Neither of them are raising their hand, despite all that they have to lose
What is she, in comparison? Daughter of two genin, unlikely to ever move beyond the ranks of genin to begin with. Out of the three of them, she has the least to lose from choosing to take the last question.
She wants to take it.
Her teammates want to take it.
Yet … Naruto. Sasuke-kun.
Trembling, she slowly raises her hand, which suddenly seems so much heavier than normal.
I'm sorry.
A number of students have already failed, some leaving quietly and some having to be dragged out while screaming about the injustice. Kakashi is tense, listening for any signs that it is his own students that have failed out of the exam.
But the minutes tick by.
Time seems to pass extremely slowly while waiting but he can't find it in himself to bring out his usual book either.
Asuma and Kurenai are equally tense as him, wearing similarly worried frowns.
At 3.46 pm the doors to the auditorium open again, and another group of students leave. They are followed by another group, and another, and another.
Kakashi stands with the other sensei, curiously watching the leaving students.
"Whatever is happening in there it seems to have taken a turn for the worse," Asuma comments.
The flow of students let up. Fewer are leaving. Kakashi breathes a sigh of relief. His students aren't … Then he catches sight of a familiar head of pink hair. It's an unusual enough hair colour that it's difficult to mistake, and there, just behind, comes Naruto's familiar blond head and Sasuke's particular hairstyle.
"That's my students," he tells Asuma and Kurenai over his shoulder, hurrying to catch up with his students.
They've already reached the Academy entrance. Kakashi arrives just in time to hear Naruto's shouting;
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, SAKURA-CHAN? WE TOTALLY COULD HAVE TAKEN THAT LAST QUESTION!"
Sasuke's voice is far less loud but that much sharper because of it.
"I will never forgive you for this! I bloody hope you get kicked off the team because you are worse than dead weight on this team!"
And Sasuke leaves, just like that, taking off over the rooftops with jumps violent enough to send slating crashing to the streets below.
"I'm sorry, Naruto, I just couldn't let you guys take that risk -"
"It wasn't your decision to make, Sakura-chan!" Though less loud this time, Naruto's voice is still just as upset. "See you later."
He too sets off running, though he takes the streets instead.
"I take it the exam didn't go well?" Kakashi asks, coming to stand beside the dejected looking Sakura.
"No, I guess not, sensei." She hugs herself, staring after Naruto. "But hey, at least we will be able to try again later."
The statement is strange enough that Kakashi raises an eyebrow, wondering what kind of written exam Morino had been subjecting them to that avoiding permanent maiming was apparently a positive. Kakashi can't imagine anything that would be appropriate for a chunin exam anyway, but Sakura doesn't elaborate further.
"Those who break the rules are scum but those who abandon their comrades are worse than that, right, sensei?"
Her words take him by surprise and he looks down at her, surprised to notice that she's looking up at him. His eyes meet hers, which are brimming with unshed tears. She looks even more upset now than she did in the Tanigawa-shop when telling him about being homeless, giving Kakashi the sudden urge to run. He's a competent warrior but when it comes to emotion he's about as competent as a moose in a glass shop.
Well, he'll just have to try really hard not to ruin anything this time. Awkwardly he reaches out to pat her on the head.
"That's right."
She tries to wipe her eyes but the effort seems fruitless, her tears always replaced with new ones. Kakashi sighs, briefly turning to look at the sky. They're close enough that the Hokage cliff - and Minato-sensei's face - takes up a large portion of it.
"Come on, Sakura-chan. I know a nice little tea shop just down the road."
"What?" The look she gives him is pure confusion.
Again Kakashi sighs, trying again, putting his hand on her shoulder this time to gently steer her in the right direction. "Tea shop. Down the road. My treat."
She still seems confused but at least lets herself be steered towards the shop. Maybe letting herself be steered somewhere when she doesn't know what is going on is a habit he shouldn't be encouraging in his student, but right now Kakashi is grateful for it.
They walk in silence. The immediate vicinity of the Academy is pretty empty of people but as they get further away the street gets busier. Beneath his hand he can feel Sakura's pulse and breathing slow down, which he considers a success.
The tea shop itself is small and probably best described as "cosy", with little tables spread out throughout it and delicate looking lanterns providing an almost tranquil atmosphere. Kakashi likes it because the owner is a collector of titillating literature and is known for selling rare editions under the table. Today he makes his way to the counter and orders a pot of tea and a plate of dango.
Once they are settled at their table with their tea and dango plate Kakashi looks at his downtrodden student and hesitates on what to do next. Vaguely he envies Minato-sensei's confidence in dealing with issues such as this.
"So," he says, taking the proverbial bull by the horns, "do you want to fill me in on what happened?"
Sakura doesn't meet his eyes and shrugs. Quietly she reaches for one of the dango sticks and starts to chew on it. Kakashi waits - he's pretty sure that patience is one of the requirements for this emotionally-available sensei thing - and is rewarded when she finally speaks up after a few more moments of silence.
"We failed."
"So I'd gathered. What happened?"
Another shrug, though she answers more readily this time. "It was a written exam. Quite difficult and all but at the end, we were given the choice whether we wanted to take the last question or not."
Only Morino Ibiki could take a fucking written exam and make it the literall stuff of nightmares. Kakashi is already absentmindedly plotting how to best punish Morino for messing with his team's teamwork.
"The last question had this special rule that the whole team had to choose to take it, or everyone would fail the entire test. Except, if we got the question wrong we would be banned from ever taking the exams again."
Can he do that? Kakashi wonders. He is, for obvious reasons, not an expert on the subject of the chunin exams, but from what he has gathered it's comparatively rare to pass on one's first attempt. Which should logically dictate that most people end up taking the exam more than once, given that field promotions are basically unheard of in peacetime.
Then again, given Kakashi's differences with Morino, he has at least some idea of what the other man was attempting. Which doesn't mean that Kakashi has to like or even agree with it.
"So you chose not to take it?" he guesses, remembering Naruto's and Sasuke's anger earlier.
"Yeah. I did."
The admission is quiet and dejected. Kakashi decides that he will definitely visit Morino later. What kind of psychopath even forces children to make that kind of choice to begin with?
"It's ok, Sakura-chan," Kakashi offers, attempting a comforting tone. "I didn't really expect you guys to pass anyway. Maybe pass the first stage at least, but I wasn't aware that Morino Ibiki would be the proctor either. It's perfectly understandable that you would opt to try again later."
To his surprise she pulls away then, leaning further back into her chair as she looks down at the remaining dango.
"I didn't … I didn't do it for me. I'm pretty sure I would have passed."
"Then why did you do it?"
The look she gives him is open and honest and vulnerable in a way Kakashi isn't used to seeing, even in shinobi as young as her. That openness is one of the first things to be shaved off when shinobi meet the rough reality.
"Because Naruto wasn't able to answer a single one of the previous questions and even Sasuke-kun had to use his sharingan to cheat. There's no way both of them would have passed."
Kakashi blinks, tilting his head a little. Suddenly it feels as if he's seeing her in a new light, and the realisation is disorienting.
"You did it for them?" he asks, a strange, swelling sensation in his chest.
"Yeah. And now they hate me."
She looks away again but Kakashi can't take his eye off of her. He's proud, he realises with surprise.
What do you know, Asuma was right after all. She did wind up surprising him.
"You made the right call," he offers quietly. "The risk to your teammates wasn't worth it. Not when you can try again later."
"Then why did we fail?" she asks, giving him a doubtful look.
Kakashi shrugs. He doesn't have a good or comforting answer to offer.
"Because Morino Ibiki is a sadistic crackpot."
A humourless smile spread across her face then.
"He's insane, isn't he?" she asks.
"Yes. Definitely."
"I had this thought that I would find out where he works, so that I know to never go there. Do you know what he does?"
Smiling back at her, Kakashi wraps his hands around his tea cup. "Good plan. He works in T&I, so I should definitely recommend staying out of there."
She laughs for real then, short and a little bit mirthless but real nonetheless. Kakashi isn't sure exactly how it happened, but he is happy that he at least managed to cheer her up a little.
When their tea is finished they go their separate ways, and Kakashi makes his way back to the Academy. He finds Morino overseeing a bunch of chunin cleaning up after the exam.
"Hatake," Morino greets him with a brief glance in his direction. "Your kids' tests are on the desk."
Refusing to let Morino's suspicious friendliness - or what passes as friendliness with Morino - frighten him, Kakashi walks over to the teacher's desk, where indeed he finds said tests.
"I heard you had fun, playing your little mind games," Kakashi casually remarks, picking them up.
"Oh, I did."Morino smiles, like a wolf that has just killed a pack of lambs. "Congratulations, by the way."
Kakashi, already about to leave, pauses and turns around. He shouldn't let Morino play him but dammit he's curious. Even if the tone makes it plainly obvious that it's a trap.
"Why?"
"For rubbing your weakness off onto your students."
Kakashi deliberately doesn't rise to the bait, simply raising an eyebrow lazily.
"I'm very proud of them, in fact," he states. Or drawls rather. "A shinobi needs to know when the risks are greater than the positive outcomes of their mission."
"And there will be times when they will be expected to obey orders, regardless. You can't protect them forever."
"Either way, I am not ashamed of their achievements today."
With those words Kakashi pointedly turns around and heads for the door, presenting Morino with his back and tightly holding on to the tests.
He's almost by the door when Morino speaks again.
"She managed full points, by the way, other than the last question."
Kakashi pauses by the door, reluctantly intrigued by the tone in Morino's voice.
"I made a test so difficult that no genin should be able to pass without cheating, but she did."
The pride in Kakashi's chest swells a bit further. Sakura told him the test was difficult, but judging from Morino's words difficult is definitely an understatement. And clearly Morino is fascinated by her achievement.
"And yet you failed her," he comments sardonically.
"She would have passed had she chosen to take the last question. All three of them would have."
"She did what she thought she had to do to protect her teammates. She wanted to take the question, but she chose to put their future before her own wants."
Morino smiles again, that toothy, terrifying excuse of a smile. "The purpose of the last question was to see whether they were willing to put their lives on the line. Had she not grown soft worrying about her teammates they would have all passed. Her softness caused them all to fail."
Kakashi was right then. It doesn't change anything though.
"And yet I'm proud of her."
With those words Kakashi leaves. Morino and him are too different, their nindo too different. They'll never see eye to eye on certain topics, and this is one of them. It's nothing new under the sun.
"She will wind up just like your father if you continue to teach her like this," Morino calls after him, disapprovingly.
Kakashi ignores him, resisting the urge to stomp. He is a grown man and will not start a fight with the head of T&I on Academy grounds over insults to his father and a student of his.
This chapter (and specifically the part with team 7 and Sakura raising her hand during the chunin exams) are inspired by the first chapter of More Than Enemies by thinknicht. Check it out if you hacen't! It's good!