It's been two days.
Two days of travelling, of running through the trees, weighted down by the weights in her harness, and still Kakashi-sensei hasn't told her what they're doing.
Just that they're going on a mission.
No details about what kind of mission they're going on or why he's bringing her or why they had to leave so abruptly or anything.
All Sakura knows is that they're going north and that the weights in her harness are making things a lot more tiresome than they have to be.
At least he hasn't forbidden her from using her chakra.
Yet.
"What kind of mission is this?" she asks for the umpteenth time when they take a break by a river, refilling their water bottles. "Where are we going?"
Kakashi-sensei sighs but otherwise remains silent long enough that Sakura is convinced that he won't answer. Again.
"You know the Inuzuka clan, right?"
The question seems so random and out of place that Sakura can only stare.
"Obnoxious, loud clan with an unhealthy obsession with their dogs?" he continues.
Sakura nods quietly. "I had one in my class. Inuzuka Kiba." Loud and obnoxious are indeed good descriptions of Kiba, at least in Sakura's book. Not very nice ones though, and probably not the words she would have chosen.
"Youngest child of their current matriarch," Kakashi-sensei supplies. "I imagine he's much like the rest of his clan."
Sakura just makes a vague sound of agreement, still not sure where this conversation is going.
"The Hatake clan have traditionally been a lot like that," her sensei continues, his voice growing grim. "Except … more. In every way. Proud shinobi associated with wolves, always trying to be bigger and stronger than everyone else, with less bark and more bite than the Inuzuka. Or at least that's been the ideal."
"That sounds …," she searches for the right word, deciding that insane or unhealthy are probably descriptors that will insult both her sensei and his clan.
"Dangerous," Kakashi-sensei finishes for her. "It is. Or maybe rather was, considering the state of the clan nowadays."
She opens her mouth to ask about his clan, but hesitates. His voice still has that grimness to it, and he's looking anything but pleased. Dangerous, really.
It's the first time he has voluntarily shared information about his clan with her, and she knows just how painful talking about one's clan can be. Still, the fact that he is sharing suggests that it has something to do with this mission of theirs, which in turn means that it's probably ok for her to ask questions.
Hopefully.
"How many are there? In the clan, I mean?"
"There's me, my cousin and my aunt. Kichiro married into it, so he's not blood. And a great-great-uncle of mine, if he's still alive."
He stands, putting his water bottle away, and Sakura follows his example, readying herself to head out again. Kakashi-sensei looks up at the sun, visibly estimating how much daylight they have left.
"It's getting late. Let's camp here tonight."
They're still well within Konoha borders, so they light a fire and catch fish to grill over it. With some rice, it makes a nice, warming dinner.
"Anyway, with the reputation as big, bad shinobi my ancestors also concocted an equally impressive origin story." Kakashi-sensei's voice is calm but has a certain edge to it that speaks of grudges older than her.
Sakura is pretty certain that she doesn't like this grim version of her sensei. It makes her feel tense, on edge and fidgety. As if she's in way deeper than she even understands; swimming in a lake while still convinced it's a kiddy pool.
"Don't most clans have those?" she asks, trying to ease some of the tension. "The Haruno origin story speaks of how my grandmother escaped Uzushiogakure after its fall from the grace of the Gods with only her younger siblings."
"That's more along the realms of family history than a clan origin story." Kakashi gives her a look over the fire before returning his attention to the food. "The Hatake-clan has plenty of history too, and a lot of it within Konoha. We may not have been one of the founding clans, but we were around."
He lowers his head enough to cast a shadow that continues to hide his face as he inhales some of his food. The mask is off and back on again in seconds, not giving her so much as a glance of the face underneath it.
Chewing slowly he stares into the fire with a pensive look, and Sakura doesn't dare interrupt the silence.
"A clan's origin story is something different from its history, though most will claim it as the same. The Uchiha, for example, claim to be descendants of the Sage of Six Paths himself, literally the children of the man who first learned to unlock chakra. The Hyuga have a similar origin story, as does the Senju clan. But even they don't dare to claim to literally be the children of gods."
A shiver runs down her spine and she draws her knees closer to her chest, already done with her meal. The Sage of Six Paths is a legend, generally regarded as the father of what would eventually become the modern shinobi. Practically a god in his own right, there are still plenty of stories, told amongst both shinobi and civilians alike and often in different variations of the same stories, depending on who's telling the story.
"The short version is that a wolf god and a human goddess fell in love, and from their love the first Hatake was born," Kakashi-sensei continues, still staring into the fire. "Supposedly this happened on an island north of Iron Country. This was long before the formation of the first shinobi villages, but the island is still, to this day, known as Okami Island. On that island, there's a mountain, creatively enough known as Okami Mountain.
"Anyway, the clan thrived on that island and the mountain for many generations, before they eventually grew too numerous and started to leave. They became nomads, wandering the nations."
Kakashi-sensei pauses to add more fuel to the fire, casting a glance towards her. When he speaks again his voice is a little lighter, lacking the same intensity that was built up before.
Sakura breathes a little easier.
"This is where actual history and origin story intersect. Before we settled in Konoha we were indeed nomads, often serving as mercenaries in various disputes. During this time - decades or even centuries, depending on who you ask - the clan continued to retain a tradition to return to that island. At some point someone built a shrine there, and it became tradition for every member of the clan to go there at least once."
Feeling some of the tension ebb away, Sakura swallows nervously, reaching for her water bottle to wet her suddenly dry throat.
"Is that what we're doing?" she guesses when she can speak again. "Going to that shrine, on Okami Island?"
Kakashi nods quietly and Sakura absorbs the weight of that knowledge.
She has never before been outside of Fire Country, only even left Konoha a few times.
Iron Country to her is just a name on a map and a handful of facts. It is the only major nation to use samurai rather than shinobi, she knows. It is also a country that has largely kept out of the great shinobi wars, and thus served as neutral ground for peacemaking on multiple occasions.
"Is it ..," she hesitates to ask, but Kakashi-sensei gives her a small nod indicating that she should ask anyway. "Is it a coming of age thing? I've read that some clans have such things, and -"
"It is."
"Oh. For me or for you?"
The fire casts strange shadows over his face, making it even harder than usual to interpret his expression.
Sakura's stomach twists uncomfortably.
"For me."
She can't prevent the relieved sigh that escapes her, and this time the look he gives her is definitely mischievous.
"Ma, Sakura-chan, don't tell me you were nervous? I'm sure we can make this journey interesting enough for you without adding Hatake legends to the mixture."
And suddenly she's sure that tomorrow's journey won't be nearly as easy as today's, but that's almost ok. He might find ways to test her endurance or whatever during this trip, but the trip itself is not a test of her.
Then she cocks her head, another thought crossing her mind.
"Sensei, if going to Okami Island is a Hatake coming of age ritual, how come you haven't done it before?"
Unless he has done it before and this is his second time doing it, but somehow she gets the feeling that's not it.
He's quiet long enough that she's almost started to think that he won't answer her.
"I guess it just hasn't really been the right time, before." The words are slow, and full of subtext that she does not understand. She's itching to ask more, but the subject is clearly making him uncomfortable and Sakura isn't in the mood to test his patience any more.
Silence falls between them. She listens to the sound of the fire crackling and the light breeze in the trees. Staring into the fire, she almost thinks she can see the shapes of wolves, gods and other demons in the flames.
Just one more question.
"Sensei?" Her eyes are starting to grow heavy with sleep. "What are we supposed to do when we reach that island? Just … pray at the shrine, or what?"
Kakashi-sensei is staring into the fire, and for a moment she almost thinks he hasn't heard her.
"I'm supposed to meditate when I am there, and if the gods find me worthy I'll be rewarded with a wolf cub. If not, I return to the clan as a disappointment to the Hatake name."
"Does that actually happen? About the cub, I mean?"
Shrugging, Kakashi-sensei reaches to extinguish the fire. Compact darkness falls over them.
"Supposedly, yes. My aunt returned with a wolf cub, as did my grandfather, and his father before him and so on. I don't think Gina did though, or I would've heard about it."
"And your father?"
To Sakura's surprise, Kakashi laughs a little at that. A fond, happy laugh.
"My father returned with my mother, rather than a wolf cub. My grandfather and aunt were very disappointed, but if you ask me he was lucky."
He stands, dusting his trousers off as he does.
"Now go to bed. I'll take the first watch."
Obediently she unrolls her bedroll, laying it out close to the lingering warmth of the fire and crawling into it.
She's asleep in moments.
The next morning Kakashi-sensei sets her on practising her stealth, by having her stalk him as they continue their journey. And of course, if he doesn't think she's doing a good enough job of being quiet or remaining undetected, he chucks a pebble at her.
At least now, she has a decent chance of being able to dodge them.
They're travelling at a pace that Sakura would classify as medium-to-harsh, but which is probably only about half speed for Kakashi-sensei. Sakura stores that knowledge away for future motivation when training.
When they stop that evening, Kakashi-sensei and her settle down to meditate. Sakura still finds it awkward to get into the meditation - her body is exhausted, her muscles sore and the ground uncomfortable beneath her bum - but once she's able to focus on her chakra things get a lot easier.
"You have done a decent job of stalking me," Kakashi-sensei says, "but I'm still able to sense your chakra easily. In order for you to be able to hide from a more experienced shinobi, you need to be able to suppress your chakra."
"Like when I run on the wall?"
"Not really. That's more along the lines of restraining your chakra - it's still there and easy to sense for any moderately talented shinobi, and you're still able to use it just the same."
Sakura wonders how Kakashi-sensei's definition of a moderately talented shinobi compares to her own, but does not ask the question out loud.
She's rewarded with more information.
"The Chakra Suppression Technique, however, allows you to suppress your own chakra - or even that of your comrades - so that it becomes completely undetectable to the enemy. If done correctly, even a sensor-type won't be able to sense you."
That sounds like a useful skill, Sakura has to admit.
"The drawback is that as long as you are actively suppressing your chakra, you won't be able to use it and remain hidden."
"So how do I do that?"
"Can you sense me now?"
Sakura takes a couple of deep breaths, returning the majority of her focus to her chakra. The slow, steady flow of her chakra throughout her body. It feels like cooling water to her exhausted limbs.
She taps her index-finger against the back of her hand, and immediately there's that sensation of a ripple on a pond.
"There." Kakashi-sensei is sitting straight in front of her; his body relaxed and his chakra swirling lazily.
"Good. See if you can sense what I'm doing now."
Sakura frowns as his chakra begins to diminish, slowly shrinking and growing dull, until it's no longer there.
Opening her eyes, she can clearly see that he's still sitting there. He hasn't left.
But his chakra is gone.
With a tap against the back of her hand, she reaches out again. There are a couple of smaller signatures up in a nearby tree - birds or squirrels, she suspects - but no Kakashi-sensei.
"Again?" she says.
Abruptly, his chakra is there again. Just in front of her, where she logically knows that it is but where there seemed to be nothing before.
Then it begins to dull again. Shrinking. Until it's no more potent or bright than that of the birds/squirrels, and then not even that. How does he do that?
Experimentally, she slows her own chakra down. Imagines it growing dull, like Kakashi-sensei's chakra does.
A shiver runs through her, and she has to start all over again.
"Don't slow your chakra down too much. People have gotten injured and even died from accidentally stopping their chakra."
Well, that's reassuring, Sakura thinks sarcastically. Great. She's out in the middle of nowhere, with only Kakashi-sensei for company, practising a technique that might just kill her if she makes a mistake.
With another couple of slow, deep breaths she manages to calm herself down enough to try again.
Her chakra is a slow, comforting stream throughout her body.
There are 361 tenketsu along her chakra pathways, controlling the flow of her chakra. She's not familiar enough with her chakra to know where any of those tenketsu are, but she knows the theory at least.
361 tenketsu, and somewhere in her chest, the warm, comforting sensation that is her core.
She does not want to stop all of that.
No, she wants to dim it all. Like putting a piece of fabric over a lamp. Except instead of a lamp she's got her chakra, and instead of fabric she's got … what, exactly?
"Keep trying. I'll get dinner started."
Distantly she listens to the sound of Kakashi-sensei getting up. His chakra is still annoyingly absent.
Frustrated with her struggle, she reaches out with her chakra towards the birds - or squirrels, whatever they are. Their chakra is different from hers; not so bright, and its movements not as controlled or predictable as hers. She tries to imitate the way their chakra moves, but quickly realises that their chakra systems are different enough that it's virtually impossible.
Then there's everything else. To her mind, sensing chakra feels like ripples on a pond. Her own chakra is the ripple itself, but what about the pond? That must be everything else. The earth beneath her, the trees, everything.
So, if she doesn't have the chakra-equivalent of a blanket to cover herself with, what about diluting her chakra? The principle should still be the same, right? Like pouring water into a soup, until it's impossible to tell that there was ever soup to begin with?
With that thought in mind she reaches out again, not for the birds this time but rather towards the ground beneath her. She imagines channelling her chakra there.
It bleeds into the ground, slipping away from her grasp.
She tries again, feeling the chakra slowly slip out of her control before reaching out for it again, just before it disappears for good, ordering it to return to her.
To flow back into her body.
Bringing that natural chakra back with it, allowing it to mix with her own chakra and-
"Stop it right there!"
Just as something clicks within Sakura - the sudden knowledge that this is right and it's working and she's finally becoming a part of nature just as she was always intended - Kakashi-sensei slaps her over the head.
Hard.
Immediately breaking her focus.
"Hey!" she exclaims, feeling the chakra slip away from her. Gingerly, she rubs at the sore spot. "Why'd you-"
"No taking in natural energy! Ever!"
Kakashi-sensei's voice is harsh, but there's something else in his eye. Something she might have called fear, if it was anyone but him.
He crouches down in front of her, so that their eyes are on the same level. Is she imagining things, or does he look pale beneath the mask and the headband?
"Promise me that you won't do that again! Promise me, Sakura!"
"Wha-what did I even do?" Seeing her sensei in such a frenzy, she cannot help but feel her own heart speed up with worry, and to her embarrassment there's already tears burning in her eyes. "I promise I wasn't trying to do anything bad, I was just … just trying to …"
A sniffle escapes her and she forces herself to remain quiet. She's not going to cry just because Kakashi-sensei is scolding her.
She's not! Angrily, she wipes at her eyes.
He sighs, relaxing a little.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you. It's just …" He pulls his hand through his hair, messing it up even worse than it was before. "What you did there was really dangerous, Sakura. Really, really dangerous."
"It was?"
He nods. "You were absorbing natural energy."
"So? I was just trying to dilute my chakra in order to suppress it, just like you did."
"You were … just like ..?!" Kakashi-sensei stammers, his one, visible eye growing large.
Sakura ducks her head, deducing from his reaction that however he suppressed his own chakra, it was definitely not by diluting his chakra.
Ok, so maybe she should have asked first or something, but how is she supposed to know what she can and cannot do? It's not like there's a lot of literature available to genin on chakra meditation to begin with! And he'd told her to keep trying, without even explaining it any further!
Kakashi mutters something beneath his breath - not loud or clear enough for her to hear, which is probably well enough anyway. From the looks of it, it's not anything nice.
"Ok, I didn't think I'd ever have to say this, but in case it isn't obvious; diluting your chakra is bad. Especially with natural energy."
"You can dilute your chakra with other things too? Like what?"
Though the question is perfectly reasonable, as far as Sakura is concerned - until moments ago she'd been unaware that it was even possible to dilute your own chakra, much less that there are apparently multiple ways of doing so, and how is she supposed to know not to do something if she doesn't even know that it can be done in the first place? - but from the look Kakashi-sensei gives her you'd think she'd asked about the best way to assassinate the Hokage.
Or maybe, like … destroy his stupid porn-book or something.
"Never. Dilute. Your. Chakra. Understood?"
Sakura nods. "Understood."
"And never, ever, play around with natural energy!"
"Ok, but why not?"
Kakashi-sensei rubs both of his hands across his face, looking supremely tired.
"Because natural energy is supremely difficult to control, and if you absorb too much you'll turn into stone."
Well, at least then an enemy won't be able to sense her chakra, Sakura thinks.
As if he's able to read her thoughts, Kakashi-sensei gives her another glare. "Forever. And, just to be clear, that's bad!"
Oh. Yeah, that does not sound too good.
"Ok, so no using natural energy then," she states. "And no diluting my chakra. How am I supposed to suppress it then?"
"Like a normal, fucking person!" Kakashi-sensei mutters, standing to remove their dinner from the fire.
Which is completely unfair, as far as Sakura is concerned, because how is she supposed to know how to do it when he hasn't even properly explained things?
"Eat." He thrusts a bowl with rice and meat at her, and she automatically accepts it.
They eat in silence.
"I'm sorry," Sakura says when she can no longer handle the silence.
Kakashi-sensei nods. Then, as if he has to remind himself to verbalise his thoughts, he adds:
"It's fine. You didn't know. I should have warned you."
The last part is said with a tone suggesting that having to warn her about the dangers of natural energy and/or diluting her chakra is the same as having to warn her that fire is hot.
At least he doesn't sound too angry anymore. Sakura breathes a little easier.
"Since we are on the topic of warnings, I suppose I should also tell you that chakra meditation can be very dangerous, if you don't know what you're doing."
"That's exactly what I said before!"
"And then you started taking in natural energy while meditating, so this is me reminding you."
He puts his bowl down. It's empty, even though she hasn't seen him take even one bite. Then he points his chopsticks at her, giving her a stern look.
"So, for the purpose of you being warned about the dangers; stopping your chakra is bad. Diluting your chakra is bad. Taking in natural energy is-"
"-bad, I get it, sensei! I already said I won't do it!"
"Doing something stupid like, I don't know, opening your tenketsu is bad. In fact, it's very bad and dangerous, so don't even think about it!"
"You can open tenketsu?" What a strange thought, Sakura thinks.
"Don't you dare! And while we're on the subject, don't do some stupid stuff like bleed yourself of chakra, or channel it all into an inanimate object, or-"
"Why would I bleed myself of chakra?"
"Why would you try to dilute your own chakra?!"
Ok, so, point to Kakashi-sensei, Sakura admits to herself.
"In fact, if there's anything at all that you'd like to try while meditating, please consult me first!"
"Ok, ok, I promise I'll be super careful!"
Kakashi-sensei looks at leasts mildly mollified by that.
"Can I try suppressing my chakra again now?"
Grumbling, Kakashi agrees to let her try again.
After he's cleaned away after dinner and explained the process properly to her. Twice.
And yes, once she's got it, Sakura can see why he would not expect her to start absorbing natural energy to suppress her chakra.
The technique is much simpler than that.
On their fourth day of the journey north they reach a small border town that Kakashi is almost intimately familiar with. He once spent two whole months living there, serving as a bodyguard for some noble hiding from his mistress and wife, who had joined forces and were apparently out for blood. The whole thing had ended when one of the many women the man kept bringing to his bed - against the advice of Kakashi - had finally cut his throat in the middle of the night.
You can lead a horse to water but not make it drink, and all that. Even if the stupid fucking horse is paying you to make sure it doesn't die.
Anyway, the point is that Kakashi is familiar enough with the town to know that they have a very nice inn: with a hardworking owner, clean beds and good food. That's where he steers his way as he enters the village, Sakura in tow, and rents them a room each for the night.
After a nice, hot bath in the local hot springs, they have dinner in his room. The food is excellent, even better than he remembers: an elaborate meal with multiple courses of local fish, vegetables and fruits.
Kakashi watches Sakura eat with dainty, elegant movements and he knows what he has to do.
He cannot bring her with him any further on the journey. It's too dangerous.
But she'll be safe here. They're still within the borders of Fire Country, and there's a shinobi outpost not far from here in case anything were to happen while he's gone.
The words burn in his mouth but somehow he cannot make himself speak them.
Not yet.
Not when she's looking so happy, enjoying the food and the dessert.
After dinner they settle down for their usual meditation, and as usual Kakashi cannot stop from marvelling at her chakra control. It has barely been a month since he taught her chakra meditation to begin with, and she's already so advanced. Mastering everything he throws at her with an ease that is both wonderful and terrifying.
He can still recall the fear yesterday, the moment he realised that she was somehow absorbing natural energy. It's only luck that he himself had noticed and been able to recognise it - a long-forgotten, off-topic comment from Minato-sensei about the potential and dangers of natural energy suddenly surging to the forefront of his mind.
It shouldn't be possible, much less for someone so new to chakra meditation as Sakura, and yet … yet she'd done it. On purpose. Trying to fucking dillute her chakra, because that's the easiest way she could possibly figure out to suppress her chakra.
He shakes his head at the thought, and he can almost hear Minato-sensei laughing at him from the other side. Is this what it had been like, trying to teach him? Back when Kakashi had been an obnoxious little shit, obsessed with rules and experimenting with jutsu creation and being wholly unable to see the value of his teammates?
Maybe it's karma.
Maybe it's just fate throwing another person into his life, letting him grow close only to then snatch that person away.
That's why he cannot bring her with him to Okami Island. Going there is a bad idea to begin with, especially so in the middle of the winter, and if he had a choice he wouldn't go at all. As it is, he has no choice. His aunt was fucking clear; whelps can't keep apprentices. If he wants her to approve of him taking Sakura as an apprentice, he has to show himself worthy in the eyes of the clan. And the only way to do that is to do this stupid journey.
Simply killing his aunt is, sadly, out of the question, so his only other option would be to reject the Hatake name and the clan. Become No Name Kakashi. Which wouldn't really bother him as such - he's had many worse names, including Friend Killer Kakashi - if not for the fact that doing so would also mean rejecting his father. And that's a threshold Kakashi has yet to cross, despite his complicated relationship to his father and his clan through the years.
"Goodnight, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura says when the hour grows late and it's time for them to go to bed.
The words are still burning in Kakashi's mouth, but all he says is;
"Good night, Sakura."
Despite the comfort of having an actual bed, his sleep is restless that night. He dreams of Sakura, alone in the night, stalked by snarling wolves; of watching her flee for her life, unable to help even as she's torn to shreds by ruthless beasts.
In the wee hours of the morning he gives up on sleep, settling instead to stand guard on the roof as the morning slowly dawns.
Once Sakura awakens, they have breakfast in his room. Like dinner, it's delicious; miso soup, rice, pickled daikon, fresh, grilled fish, onsen tamago, vegetables and hot tea.
If he's going to tell her, it has to be now. Once they pass the border, she won't be nearly as safe, even if he manages to find a decent inn to leave her at.
She'll be upset, of course, but it'll be for her own good. For her own safety. He'd rather her be upset and alive than dead or injured. If that means having her angry with him, feeling as if he's abandoning her in a random village where she knows no one, then …
Fuck, that'll probably just lead to her trying to go after him, wouldn't it? And thanks to him teaching her how to be sneaky and hide her chakra and everything, he might not even notice immediately. That's exactly the kind of thing he would have been tempted to do, had Minato-sensei decided to leave him behind at an inn at that age.
Except, unlike him at that age, Sakura does not have an unhealthy obsession with the shinobi rules. She knows and respects them, but she knows how to break them too. That's probably one of the first things he ever taught her - taught team 7 at all - and one of the first things that had truly made him proud of her.
Somewhere, some deity is definitely laughing their ass off.
In the end, the words remain unspoken.
Like a loyal shadow, Sakura follows him as they leave the village behind.
Kakashi can only pray that he won't regret bringing her along.
Halfway between Konoha and the border, they start to reach sub-zero temperatures. Sakura is grateful for her new winter clothes, being especially happy for the fur-lined coat and the warmth it offers in the evenings.
From there, the weather only gets colder and colder the further north they come.
A couple of times Sakura senses Kakashi-sensei flaring his chakra at people she cannot detect, but no Konoha-shinobi approaches them as they near Iron Country.
She's mildly surprised when they arrive at a border station, five days into their journey. It is basically tradition for shinobi not to use such crossing-points, unless on very official missions to the country in question. Sneaking in and out of a country is typically easier than dealing with the hassle of bureaucracy, after all, and also serves to keep the various nations on their toes.
Of course, unless a country has a really bad border patrol they'll notice a group of shinobi entering and exiting the country anyway, Iruka-sensei had explained, back in the Academy. Which is why one always has to carry the proper papers and be mindful to follow the country's laws. Anything else would reflect badly on Konoha at best, and be considered an act of war at worst.
"We do not want to get on the wrong side of the Samurai," Kakashi-sensei explains when she voices her surprise. "Most countries wouldn't put up too much of a fuss, but samurai are stingy with traditions. They take shinobi entering their land very seriously."
Three guards greet them. Sakura has seen depictions of samurai before, in her textbooks, but she's never seen one in real life. They are much more intimidating up close, she thinks.
They wear very heavy looking, segmented plate armours all over their body, including demonic looking helmets. One of them even has horns on his helmet, and they all wear face masks that hide their features.
All in all there is very little humanity at all about the warriors before her, and she happily falls back to let Kakashi-sensei deal with them.
"We just want to pass through," Kakashi informs them, handing over their papers for perusal.
The one with the horns on his helmet accepts the paper, scanning them carefully. She counts four swords on him, and if the Academy texts are anything like reality he likely knows how to use each and every one of them.
"What's your purpose?"
Even the voice is strange, warped by the face mask to sound more metallic than any human voice should ever sound. She tries to hide her shiver of unease.
"Okami Island, up north."
The samurai with the horned-helmet hands their documents to another, who carefully copies the information down before handing it back to them.
"Be careful to stick to the main road. The mountains are dangerous this time of the year."
"We'll manage," Kakashi-sensei says, waving the warning away.
"There's a group of nomads bound to come by soon, heading in the same direction. It might be safer for you to wait for them, and see if they'll take you."
Kakashi-sensei just continues to wave their concern away, and soon they leave the border station and the samurai guarding it behind.
"If we're ever at war with the Samurai, I want to be on a team with Tenten," Sakura mutters when she's reasonably certain that they won't be able to hear her.
"Let's hope it never gets to that." Kakashi-sensei ruffles her hair teasingly, and she scowls back at him.
That evening they make camp at the base of a snow-covered mountain range that makes the Hokage Mountain look like something belonging in a sandbox.
As has become their ritual, they settle down for meditation after dinner.
"I'm going to teach you something very important," Kakashi-sensei tells her.
Sakura, who's only been allowed to practise her chakra suppression for the last few days, perks up at that. Finally something new!
"This is a technique to keep yourself warm, using only your chakra. It's very useful, especially in these conditions, but I need you to be very, very careful with it, ok?"
Sakura nods importantly.
"Do you remember using chakra to soothe your muscles?"
Again, Sakura nods.
"This technique is somewhat like that, except you won't just be circulating your chakra. You'll make it thicker, and you'll vibrate it. The vibration is what will keep you warm."
She grins. That doesn't sound too difficult.
"Look at me, Sakura." Kakashi-sensei waits until they have eye-contact before continuing again. "Be. Careful. Ok? If you overdo it, you might end up boiling yourself from the inside."
At that, she can only gape. What kind of messed up technique would enable her to do something like that?
Does she even want to learn a technique with that kind of risk attached to it?
"As long as you are very careful there should be no risk of that happening right now, but with prolonged use you'll get used to the heat and run the risk of overheating yourself. So, learn exactly how much chakra you need to keep yourself at a normal temperature, and never go above that, no matter how tempted you are. Do you understand?"
Sakura swallows, her throat suddenly dry.
"I think so. Find the balance and don't go above that."
"Exactly. Now, would you like to try?"
After being told that there's a risk she'll boil herself? Not really.
Then again, she can definitely see why such a technique might be useful.
The air is cold against her face as she draws a deep breath. It stings in her nostrils and throat.
She shifts, adjusting her position a little, and sinks into meditation.
"Good. Now, start by making your chakra thicker."
Mindful of his warnings not to boil herself, she starts to figure out how to do this. Thicker, she thinks. Not more, like when she uses chakra to enhance her strength, but more dense. Like with chakra strings, except the chakra is still inside her body.
Fidgeting with her chakra for a couple of minutes, she soon figures out the machinations of making it more or less dense. Less denseness has a clear, cooling effect - not like when she's soothing her muscles after training, just simple coldness. Thickening her chakra is a little bit tricky, and almost automatically brings with it the vibrations Kakashi-sensei had mentioned.
The effect is immediate and much more tangible than her subtle soothing of muscles. Warmth spreads throughout her, quickly warming her from the inside and out.
Since she really does not intend to boil herself, she makes her chakra thinner again. Returning it to its usual denseness and flow.
"Good," Kakashi-sensei tells her. "Try again."
Even more careful this time, she slowly makes her chakra more dense again.
"Like this?"
Cold fingers gently touch her forehead. "I think you can do a little bit more."
She obliges.
"Just like that. Memorise that, and don't go higher than that, ok?"
He leaves her to meditate on that for a while.
The balance is a delicate one. After a while, she does not feel as warm anymore, and it's very much tempting to increase the heat just a little bit more. Despite Kakashi-sensei's warnings.
She can definitely see how she might be tempted to take things too far, given the right circumstances.
While she meditates, Sakura does not even try to keep track of time, but eventually Kakashi indicates that it's time for her to go to sleep.
"Sensei?" she says when she's crawled down into her sleeping pack.
He hums quietly in acknowledgement.
"Won't the balance be different depending on the temperature outside? I mean, like how I'll adjust how much clothing I'm wearing right now compared to back in Konoha?"
He's shaking his head already before she has finished speaking.
"Normal human body temperature is 37 degrees celsius; too high and you've got a fever or a heat exhaustion and too low, and your organs and nervous system stop working properly. Because it is your own chakra and body you are working with, the balance will always be the same, or at least near enough that you can't afford trying to adjust to your circumstances. Especially since you'll be tempted to do so when your senses will already be impaired by cold and likely exhaustion."
She frowns, mulling that over.
"Now, if you were using, say, a wind jutsu to adjust the temperature around you, it is true that the amount of chakra going into it would vary depending on the temperature. Still the same risks that you might end up boiling yourself, but with external manipulations you are a lot less sensitive to damage."
She nods, because she thinks she understands.
"What if I make my chakra too thin? Will I wind up cooling myself down too far?"
"In theory, though it's less likely to happen. Unless you are actively shutting down the rest of your body, there are other parts working to keep you warm, not just your chakra. In contrast, the body has a much harder time regulating heat, and your senses are unlikely to be very reliable if you are in a life-or-death situation."
It seems strange, she thinks, that she runs the danger of overheating herself in a place such as this; where temperatures seem to be permanently at sub-zero levels and the snow lies thick.
"I'll be careful," she promises sleepily.
"Good."
For the next few days, as they continue to make their way north, she continues to practise her chakra meditation, always conscious about the balance needed to keep herself warm.
The mountains rise high above them and the snow is at places deeper than she is tall. Using chakra to walk on it comes as easily to her as tree climbing and water walking, and Kakashi-sensei practices with her until her control is good enough that she doesn't even leave a trace behind.
Though they keep mostly to valleys and hollows of the mountains, it seems they are always going uphill. Sakura longs for flat ground, to be able to see the horizon beyond the mountains and for a day when her muscles don't ache.
"We've now reached the Iron highlands," Kakashi-sensei tells her halfway through their second day travelling through the Land of Iron.
Sakura looks around but isn't sure she can tell any difference between these mountains and the mountains of yesterday.
"The southern part of the Land of Iron shares a border with three countries," he tells her. "Do you know which?"
"Waterfalls, Sound and Fire," she replies, recalling the Academy maps.
"Exactly. Now the highlands don't actually share a border with any country. It is surrounded by the Northern Ocean on three sides, save for where it tapers down into the Iron lowlands. If you ask the Samurai, they will tell you that it doesn't matter; Iron is Iron, regardless of highlands or lowlands. However the truth is that the Samurai rule the lowland, and the highland is populated by various indigenous tribes that the Samurai have never properly conquered."
Sakura frowns at his choice of words.
"Conquered? Not "ruled"?"
"Exactly. The indigenous people will sometimes fight amongst themselves, but they don't have one king or ruler. In fact, the people here don't always live here either. They're nomads, often travelling across the ocean to the highlands of Earth or Lightening, depending on their traditions and seasons. Some even travel further north."
Cocking her head, Sakura tries to recall the Academy maps, but can't for the life of her remember one that showed further north than Iron or Earth or Lightning.
"What's north?" she wonders.
Kakashi shrugs. "We don't know. Some say it's islands, some say it's another country. Okami Mountain is generally regarded as the edge of the world, with only the ocean beyond the island. The indigenous people disagree, of course, but they haven't shared what they know either. At least not with the Samurai or the shinobi."
Sakura isn't sure what she thinks of that and so she keeps quiet.
She does, however, decide that if she ever meets one of these indigenous peoples she'll be sure to ask them about it.
"I wish there was an easier mode of transportation here," Sakura says one afternoon when she is particularly cold, tired and done with the view of mountains all around her. "I miss the trees of Konoha."
These mountains have plenty of snow but very little by way of trees or even other vegetation. What little there is seems to be mostly buried deep beneath the snow and not nearly enough for tree running. They don't even have fuel for a fire in the evenings, and Kakashi-sensei have resorted to using a portable gas stove rather than an open fire for cooking. It does its job as far as cooking goes, but offers very little heat otherwise, thus Sakura's current mood.
Kakashi doesn't answer immediately, looking towards the sky to estimate the time of day.
"That might be organised," he says after a minute.
They stop for a break and Kakashi-sensei picks out a scroll from one of his many pockets, unrolling it to summon a contraption Sakura has only seen in pictures before.
"What's this?" she asks, stepping closer to get a better look.
"A sled," he answers in the most deadpan voice possible.
Sakura gives him the coldest glare she is capable of.
"I can tell, sensei. I meant more along the lines of how this will make travelling any easier, seeing as how we're still going uphill?"
"Just wait and see."
He steps to the side again, running through a series of quick, vaguely familiar hand signs before pressing his hand against the snow. There's a poof of smoke, and when it parts to the wind it reveals eight dogs with happily wagging tails. They greet him with excited barks and, to her surprise, even some exclamations of "Boss!"
"Settle down, boys," Kakashi-sensei says once he has properly greeted them all. "I want you all to meet someone. This is Sakura. Sakura, these are my summons."
As one they all turn their heads towards her and she finds herself the focus of eight pairs of scrutinising eyes. A moment later they're all circling her, tails wagging friendly and noses sniffing her.
"Pup, huh?" a small one says, his voice a lot rougher than his small appearance might indicate.
"Sakura, these are Bull, Urushi, Shiba, Bisuke, Akino, Uhei, Buruko and Pakkun."
Kakashi-sensei points to all of them in order and she dutifully tries to memorise their names, but the fact that they're still moving around her makes it a difficult endeavour.
"Nice to meet you all," she says, feeling only a little foolish talking to dogs.
"Nice to meet you too," another of the smaller ones says.
Whilst she greets all of the dogs Kakashi produces several ropes, which he attaches to the front of the sled and then to each of the dogs.
"Take a seat, Sakura," he says as he himself takes up position standing at the back of the sled.
She has barely taken a seat before the dogs are off, and she hastily has to pull her legs into the sled as they practically fly across the snow. The dogs have spread out in a fan before the sled.
Travelling by dog sled turns out to be an entirely different experience from running. After a couple of minutes she is comfortable enough to lean back against the back of the sled, enjoying the sensation of wind against her face whilst her muscles enjoy some well deserved rest.
"Is there a particular reason we didn't do this sooner?" she wonders, glancing up at Kakashi-sensei.
"The sled leaves tracks and I wanted us to be safely out of the way of bandits."
A look behind them shows that the sled is indeed leaving tracks, but the excuse still rings weakly in Sakura's ears. She narrows her eyes, but Kakashi-sensei continues to look completely innocent, more focused on the landscape before them than on her.
"Thanks anyway," she says, deciding not to question him on it. Worst case scenario, he might decide to take the sled and dogs away, and she really doesn't want that.
A while later she is startled as one of the dogs, the smallest of the group and the one with the dark voice, joins her in the sled. Pakkun, she recalls.
"Don't mind me," he says, shaking snow from his fur.
Because the sled is not exactly roomy he crawls up in her lap to get a better seat, sniffing curiously as he does so.
"Do I smell Minty Rainforest Mist?"
"Huh? Yeah, that's my shampoo," she admits, embarrassed and wondering what else he can smell. It has been days since she last had a shower, after all.
"Huh, I use the same one," he replies, to her eternal surprise. "Wonder why my coat looks so much glossier than yours?"
"What?!"
Pakkun and the other dogs laugh, or in some cases bark excitedly, as she processes the fact that she apparently uses the same shampoo as a dog.
When they get back to Konoha, she's buying herself some new shampoo first thing she does.
Some time after they change from travelling by running to travelling by dog sled, the ground actually starts leaning downhill again. There is a different scent in the air too, even she can tell.
"It's the scent of the ocean," Pakkun, who has become her companion in the sled, tells her.
By the time they reach the ocean she is expecting big waves and masses of water but to her disappointment the water is frozen over. It makes travel easy, as the sled slides right out onto the ice and the dogs continue running.
"I'm sure this goes without saying, Sakura," Kakashi-sensei tells her, "but generally speaking, going straight out onto unfamiliar ice is a very bad idea. The only reason we're doing it right now is because the dogs are able to tell whether the ice is thick enough."
"I understand, sensei. I'll be careful."
"Good. In these temperatures a bath can be fatal in and of itself, but there is also the danger of currents beneath the ice."
Her grip on the sled is extra tight as they cross the ice, and her gaze lingers on the ice, imagining being swept away under it.
It is a chilling thought.
Out on the ice, with no more mountains surrounding them, the sun becomes particularly sharp, glittering in the snow and at times making it almost impossible to see anywhere. Then there is also the wind, which while not overly strong this day still carries enough snow to sting her eyes. Together this means that she actually spends the majority of their trip across the water with her eyes closed, trying not to imagine the ice breaking beneath them. The way it rumbles and creaks beneath them sometimes makes it harder than she would like it to be.
"Look," Pakkun says, startling her from her half-sleep.
Blearily she looks up, and at first she doesn't even see the large shape before them because of the sun. Squinting against the sun she is finally able to make out the shape.
Okami Mountain looms before them.