Author's note: I don't have a set update schedule for this-it won't always be this quick, but it's new and I'm excited so I banged out another chapter.

"Inner Sakura"

"Sakura's thoughts" (unless otherwise specified)

Memory

"Talking"

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Their first official mission they had was cleaning a river of litter. It hadn't been quite what any of them had expected for a mission, but it didn't bother Sakura too much. These kinds of missions were easy, so even though they didn't pay much, hopefully they'd be able to squeeze in a few a day which would mean more money. It would be enough to up her food budget so that there'd be enough in the apartment for her mom if she ever had to leave on longer missions, as well as start really saving up some money for her moms medical care.

Unfortunately, no where in her calculations did she account for Naruto.

"Hurry up, Naruto, Sasuke's already filled his bag." Kakashi drawled.

"That's just cause that Bastard had a head start! I'll pick up more pieces than him! Believe it!" Naruto yelled, running upstream to meet some more of the garbage. Sakura immediately foresaw how badly this could end.

"Wait! Naruto don't—" she didn't even get to finish issuing her warning before he'd slipped and fallen, the contents of his trash bag spilling out down stream. The chaos didn't end there. In the process of falling, he managed to kick up a sharp rock which directly into Sasuke's full bag, ripping it, and sending all the trash he collected down stream as well.

"You idiot! Now we have to start all over again!" Sasuke yelled.

Sakura twitched. "That impulsive idiot! If we fail this mission and don't get paid I'm gonna kill him!"

She took a deep breath. "It'll be fine, we just need to focus and think up a faster way…Alright, if we set up a net down stream, we'll be able to catch the garbage pretty quickly."

"We should—"

"Arrghh! Don't worry about it asshole! I'll collect every piece of trash here! Believe it!" Immediately barreling down stream to catch the litter.

Sasuke's eyes pulled away from where they landed on her to glare at Naruto.

"The hell you will, dead last." Sasuke headed down stream as well.

"That'll take too long…"

"Those two are gonna cost us valuable time, damn it!"

Frustration was flooding her and her knuckles tightened around her trash bag. She picked up a can, her hand squeezing it in a death grip as she prepared to hurl it at her two teammates, when her mother's words flashed through her head.

You be good to them, understand? They're your team now. Your father always said that his team was a part of his family, and god knows those two could use some family.

"Maybe…maybe they need this…to relate to each other more…"

With all her willpower, she swallowed down her frustration and deposited the can into her bag. "If this is what my team needs to bond and grow, who am I to stand in the way."

"Someone with their own needs."

"That's not what matters in teamwork, remember?"

She turned and continued collecting trash, picking up her pace in an attempt to get them finished sooner. She'd been so caught up in talking herself down from an explosion that she didn't notice Sasuke had been studying her from the corner of his eye the whole time. Nor did she catch the way his eyes narrowed when she turned away from them to continue her task.

When they finally finished, it was growing dark and too late to do another mission. She collected her pay trying not to feel too disheartened. Her pay was still more than what she'd normally scrounge up on an average day of part time odd jobs.

"This is fine. It's not as much as I was hoping, but it's ok. This was our first day…I'm sure it won't always turn out like this."

"Shannaro! I wouldn't count on it with that blond doofus around!"

"…alright, I mean…we can always keep working odd jobs and side hustles before and after missions to supplement our income…at least until we start getting higher paying missions…"

She was so lost in her planning that she didn't absorb a word of what her teammates were saying.

"Alright! To celebrate our first mission, we should have a team dinner at Ichirakus!"

"You really think this mission was worth celebrating, loser? It took ten times longer thanks to you."

"Whatever, it was still our first mission and we still completed it. We should celebrate! Right Kakashi-sensei?"

"Well…It might help with team bonding…"

"See! We're going. I'll drag you there if I have to bastard! Right, Sakura-chan?"

"Huh?" She snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of her name.

"Celebration team bonding dinner at Ichirakus!" The blond beamed.

"Uh…" All of her thoughts came screeching to a halt. She'd never prepared for this. She couldn't afford it but it'd be so embarrassing and burdensome to tell her teammates that.

"Excuse! I need an excuse!"

"Um, you know, I'm not really that hungry—m-maybe some other time…"

"We didn't even get to eat lunch cause of the dead last here." Sasuke interjected, studying her reaction out the corner of his eye.

She blushed, both at the fact that her lie was being put under inspection, and that Sasuke seemed to want her to join them.

"W-well you see…"

"You really should eat more Sakura-chan. You're tiny enough already. Guys don't like girls on diets."

Anger surged through her again, her hand twitching into a fist.

"Shaannaro! You moron! It's not my fault I can't eat much! What the hell do you think you're saying!"

"Calm down. It's not his fault he doesn't know—we're the ones who haven't told him."

"Naruto." Kakashi admonished, "You can't say things like that to a woman." The older man turned towards his pink haired student, eyeing her nervous demeanor. "Although Sakura, this is supposed to be a team dinner. Which means you have to be there."

He watched the girl deflate a little and give a nod. He had an idea of what was bothering her. When he'd first been asked to take on a squad, he'd refused. The Third Hokage had walked him to each of his future students homes in a bid to convince him. He'd seen Sasuke's clean, utilitarian apartment, and Naruto's filthy cluttered one complete with left out spoiled milk. He never got a look at the inside of Sakura's place, knowing that she wasn't an orphan and not wanting to potentially intrude on her mother. But he saw the outside—a very rundown apartment complex on the outskirts of the village. That coupled with the introduction she gave—it was safe to assume the girl didn't have a lot of money at her disposal. He was hoping she'd tell her teammates. They were a team and they should know, but it wasn't his place to tell the boys, that was on her.

When they reached the stand, Naruto and Sasuke entered without hesitation, taking seats at the bar. Sakura hesitated a second, and Kakashi sighed, pressing a small amount of money into one of her hands as he passed her. Her eye's jumped to him in surprise, but she read the look he gave her loud and clear—Don't get used to it. Regardless, she felt a wave of relief wash over her.

"Thank you Sensei."

She ordered the cheapest thing on the menu—a small miso ramen—out of habit. It was still one of the more filling meals she'd had in a long time. A warmth washed over her as she sat in between her two teammates. She was eating a real dinner, with Sasuke. And Naruto. But even his obnoxious table manners and loud chatter didn't lesson the warm glow in her chest. It felt so easy being there with them. She felt like a normal twelve year old for a second. Not worried about how she was paying for this dinner, not thinking about how her mother was going to get worse if she didn't scrounge up enough for medical treatment soon. For those brief moments, she felt genuinely happy, a feeling she hadn't had for a little while.

Her happiness was short lived. It wasn't just their first mission—Naruto managed to consistently mess up every mission they got, doubling the mission time. When they'd had to construct a shed, in an attempt to show up Sasuke, he'd attempted to lift a beam too heavy for himself, lost control of it and knocked the entire roof off. When they had to walk some high ranking officials dogs, in an attempt to beat Sasuke, Naruto picked the largest dog possible, who proceeded to drag him into a minefield. While baby sitting, Naruto managed to lose the child he was watching while laughing at Sasuke, who'd reduced the child in his care to tears. They'd all had to run to catch the kid before he'd fallen down the stairs or stuck his finger in an electrical socket. It took all of Sakura's effort to swallow back her ever growing annoyance. And she was so busy self soothing that she never caught the calculating looks Sasuke would throw her way.

The team was on their way to the Hokage tower to get their next mission, when Naruto ran ahead, after initiating another pointless challenge to Sasuke.

"Naruto! Watch where you're going!" Sakura called, but it was too late and he crashed into someone. She hurried over to Naruto, who'd fallen on the impact. "I'm so sorry! He doesn't always—"

"It's fine, don't worry abou—" the woman looked up, her eyes landed on Sakura, and her face suddenly hardened. "You." The woman hissed, her eyes hardening.

Sakura stiffened a little. She remembered this woman:

Her mother towed her towards a grave. A woman dressed in black stood in front of it, tears in her eyes.

"Ayeka-san, I'm so sorry for—" The woman turned, glaring, and slapped her mother across the face.

"Hey! Don't—"

"Hush Sakura, it's fine." Mebuki murmured, turning her face back to the woman.

"This is all your husbands fault! It's his fault Itsuki-kun's dead! If he couldn't control his chakra, he should have never been in the field!"

"I'm sorry Ayeka-san." Mebuki said quietly, bowing low. Ayeka just glared at her for a long moment.

"I guess it's true. His family really was cursed. And so are you two." Ayeka turned and stormed off.

"Mommy?"

"She's just grieving Sakura. Don't think about it too much. She lost someone she loved."

"It's nice to see you again, Ayeka-san." Sakura greeted, bowing. The woman's eyes landed on her hitai-ate, and she scowled.

"They really let you become a Shinobi?" Her voice was cold. "It'll be the same thing all over again." She bent and picked up the scroll she'd dropped. Straightening, her eyes swept over to Naruto and Sasuke, who'd joined them. "Watch your backs with this one, or you'll end up dead in the field."

She brushed passed them, stopping briefly to give Kakashi a nod. Sakura's heart hammered and she felt a familiar tightening in her throat.

"Who the hell does that witch think she is!? Saying something like that in front of Sasuke-kun and Naruto!"

"Stop it. She lost someone she loved."

"So did we."

"Sakura-chan? What was that about?" Naruto asked, unsure. She could feel Sasuke's silent demand for answers as well.

"Don't burden your team…" She pushed down her tears, hurt, and the simmering anger burning in her gut.

"Nothing much. Just some old grudge." She said with her well practiced fake smile.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. It didn't sound like nothing to him. Kakashi studied the three, his eye rolling lazily over to his pink haired student. He knew her father had died on a mission along with the rest of his team, but he didn't know the details. And it wasn't his place to disclose what little he knew, that was her call. He was concerned about how much she seemed to repress. He'd noticed the way she would tense, ready to snap at her blond teammate for how much he screwed up, but never acted on it. Whatever she was carrying it was gonna become too much at some point. He sighed.

"Come on. We have to go get our mission." He said, walking past the three. Sakura immediately followed, and after a brief hesitation, Sasuke and Naruto joined as well.

"Ah, there you are." The Third Hokage looked up as they entered. "We have a mission requested specially for team 7. You are to go to the mountains to collect a special medicinal flower known as the Bloodroot. It's a—"

"A little white flower which is very effective for treating respiratory problems in low doses, though high doses of it can be fatal. It's juice can stain most anything it comes into contact with and it's been known to cause reactions similar to poison ivy."

"Very good." The Hokage smiled. "That must be why he requested you specifically, Sakura."

"Someone requested me specifically?"

"Yes. once you've collected thirty flowers, you're to deliver them to Ikehara's Apothecary."

Sakura's mood lifted a little as she smiled and nodded.

"Does team 7 accept this mission."

"Hai." They all answered, immediately departing.

Naruto was unusually quiet throughout the journey to the mountains, still thinking about what that woman had said to Sakura earlier. In fact, shockingly, it was Sasuke who made conversation.

"Sakura. How did you know about this flower?"

"I'm curious as well. Kunoichi do have to learn flower arranging and the like, but that doesn't usually include a dangerous flower like the Bloodroot." Kakashi added.

"Oh. I read about it."

"You didn't mention plant study as an interest." Sasuke said.

"He paid attention to my introduction?" Her heart picked up its pace and her face felt warm.

"No but I did mention reading," she answered when she finally found her voice, "besides, it seemed like a good thing to know."

"Hn."

It was silent again until they reached their destination.

"Uh, so which one is it we need to get?" Naruto asked, eyes skimming over the fields of flowers.

Sakura knelt, looking over the flowers in her immediate vicinity until she found the one they were looking for. "There! That one. They're small and white, with yellow centers. The stems have more of a reddish color towards the bottom, and these three pronged lily pad-like leaves. Make sure you dig up the roots too." She instructed.

"You got it Sakura-chan!" Naruto cheered, reaching for the flower.

"Naruto wait!" Sakura grabbed his wrist.

She pulled out a poorly carved wooden jar that Sasuke recognized as the ointment she'd used on him during the test. She opened the jar and began spreading the gel on his hands. "Like I said in the Hokage's office, it frequently stains or causes allergic reactions. This'll act as a barrier to prevent any of the oil from staining or reacting with your skin."

"Good thing you came prepared." Kakashi stated, mildly impressed.

"Do you always keep that with you?" Sasuke asked, eyeing the jar. Sakura blushed a little and nodded.

"Actually, I have one for each of you…even you sensei, although I left the other jars behind…So we'll just have to use this one for now." She said passing the jar to Sasuke. The others nodded.

Sakura was glad for the lack of argument or questioning. She was not about to allow a mishap on this mission. Not when Ikehara-san had gone so far as to give this to her and her team specifically.

Of course, Naruto entered into a one sided competition with Sasuke over who could pick more flowers, a competition he ended up losing—but at least he made sure to pick the flowers properly. She picked one extra for herself in the hopes of drawing out some of the medicinal properties for her mother. Sakura was on edge waiting for when it would all go wrong, so she was quite relieved when they arrived at Ikehara's shop without any crises.

"Ikehara-san?"

"Took ya long enough." Came his gruff voice as he came out from the back room.

Sakura smiled as she and her teammates passed him the dug up flowers. He studied them before giving a curt nod.

"Good, you kept the roots and stems intact. When I asked for your team, they asked if I was sure, so I was preparing myself for the worst."

Sakura and Sasuke gave a pointed look to Naruto.

"Hey! What are you looking at me for?"

"Cause it's your fault, idiot."

"Thank you for still giving us this mission, Ikehara-san." Sakura said, bowing politely.

"Wouldn't trust anyone else with it. You were right to tell me to stock up by the way. Your ointment's sold pretty well. I only have a dozen left."

"That's good to know. I'll get started on another batch." She smiled.

Sasuke's eyes drew back to Sakura. So she'd made that ointment herself? He never told her, but the cut on his arm had healed much quicker than it usually would have after she'd applied the balm. When'd she learn how to make something like that? They didn't teach them in the academy.

This girl was hiding something—actually she was hiding a lot of things. He'd seen the way she constantly swallowed her annoyance and anger no matter how many times Naruto screwed up or said something stupid. The times he himself said something hurtful, she'd just choke down whatever she felt about it and tacitly accept his callous remarks. Even this morning, with all the hostility that woman directed at her, she just accepted it. Her smile was frequently fake. It was annoying. He knew this wasn't the real her. The real her decked Naruto in the face for a stupid comment about her period when they were doing their introductions.

"So this is your team, huh kid?" Sasuke's attention snapped back to the middle aged shop keeper.

"Oh! Right. This is—"

"Uzumaki Naruto! Remember it cause I'm gonna be Hokage someday! Believe it!" The man gave a derisive snort.

"Anyone ever tell you, you're loud?"

"Daily." Sakura muttered. The man gave a huff of laughter. Sasuke noted the fondness in his eyes whenever they were on his pink haired teammate—something his eyes completely drained of when they turned on him.

"Uchiha Sasuke." He answered curtly.

"And I'm their sensei, Hatake Kakashi." The Jonin said with an amiable nod. "Thank you again for trusting my team, despite their less than stellar record."

"Ikehara Kenzou. Like I said, wouldn't trust anyone else with it." His gaze returning to Sakura and softening. Something neither Sasuke nor Kakashi missed.

"Mom's been coughing a lot more…Bloodroot is good for upper respiratory problems. I could make it into a tonic for mom, but the dosage has to be really exact—it's highly toxic otherwise."

"Ikehara-san, how do you balance the dosage?" The man studied her for a second.

"Topical or ingestive? You're ointment's already good, so I wouldn't mess with it."

"Ingestive."

"That's harder. A little too much induces vomiting. A lot too much could kill someone."

"But the right amount makes for a good cough syrup or blood cleanser." Sakura countered.

"Hm. I'd say no more than a .5 centimeter piece of root or a single drop of juice. And you'd need to make sure it's watered down and mixed with other compounds." Sakura nodded lost in thought.

"Probably some ginger, to help overcome any nausea…honey too maybe…" Ikehara smirked and nodded.

"Not bad kid." Sakura smiled up at him.

Her teammates watched the interaction curiously. Kakashi found it interesting. Her academic scores had always been high, but her overall grade had been brought down by rather pathetic practical scores. But it seemed like she'd actually picked up some very useful knowledge and skills, even if the other two had far greater potential. Sasuke was trying to get a read on the relationship between the two. Had he taught her this stuff? Or was it more like Teuchi, the ramen stand owner, with Naruto? Why did this man have so much faith in Sakura? Despite calling her 'kid,' he talked to her almost like an adult. Now that Sasuke thought about, she frequently spoke as if she were an adult.

For his part, Naruto couldn't follow a word of the conversation, and thought it incredibly cool that Sakura could.

"Well, I gotta work on these so you can go. You lot feel free to stop in any time. That goes double for you kid." He said with a nod to Sakura.

"Thank you Ikehara-san! We'll be off now!" She said with a bow as the rest of them walked out.

"Congratulations on your first mishap free mission." Kakashi stated plainly when the door closed behind them.

"Ah yeah! We nailed this mission! Believe it!"

"It was just picking flowers, dead last."

"What was that, bastard?"

Sakura sighed. "We should take our wins when we get them." She felt Sasuke's studying gaze land on her, and did her best to ignore the skipping of her heart beat.

"Ne, Sakura-chan? That was so cool how you knew all that stuff about the flower! How'd you know that anyway."

"I read about it. You'd probably know more about stuff like that too if you bothered to study." She admonished lightly. Naruto wrinkled his nose.

"Why do that when you can train?" He answered with a shrug.

"Because sometimes you can't train and that's the only option." As soon as the thought crossed her mind she tried to push the bitterness back. "Sacrificing that freedom is better than sacrificing mom."

"We should have a team ramen dinner to celebrate our success!" He wasn't one for dwelling too long on one topic.

"Is that all you ever eat?" Sasuke mumbled, although he didn't object.

"Ramen's the best, ya know!" Naruto countered.

"Sorry Naruto, I can't tonight. I have some errands to run. Later!" Sakura said, running off before the blond could object. She found it hard saying no to him when he got persistent, and it's not like she wanted to say no in the first place. Team dinners were fun. Spending time with her team was fun—when Naruto wasn't screwing up missions and sabotaging her paycheck, anyway. And fun was something she hadn't had for a long time.

But with how much they kept screwing up and having to start over on missions, they weren't having more than one a day, and she couldn't afford to waste what little she was making on ramen. And she hadn't lied. She did have errands to run. She had to go grocery shopping, catch some fish from one of the rivers in the forest, gather some wood, make dinner, start another batch of ointment, carve some ointment jars, make some more of her mother's medicine, and get started on a new tonic using the Bloodroot. Forget the funds, she didn't have time for a team dinner.

As per usual, Sakura was running late. It wouldn't matter too much, she always got there well before Kakashi-sensei. But she still felt bad about it. The rest of her team would show up on time, and she never trusted leaving Naruto and Sasuke alone for too long lest a fist fight break out. But it couldn't be helped. She'd needed to harvest more calendula and aloe for her ointment, carve some more jars, give her mother a "check up," make sure breakfast and lunch were available for her mother, and return and recheck out a couple library books before she incurred a late fee.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto called, waving, as she reached the red bridge her team always met at.

"Hey guys, sorry—"

"Why are you always late?" Sasuke growled, glaring at her. It wasn't the first time he'd asked her this, but it was the first time the question had been laced with so much hostility.

"W-what? Oh I was j-just—"

"How can we trust you to have our backs if you can't even show up on time to a meeting?" His tone was as sharp as a knife.

"B-but Kakashi-sensei—"

"Actually how can we trust you at all? You don't train much, you're always late, and you never say what you really think!"

"He…He doesn't trust me…?" A burning sensation prickled in her eyes and she immediately tried to blink the tears away.

"What the hell is wrong with you Bastard!" Naruto interjected grabbing the raven haired boys shirt, but he pushed him off and kept going.

"You don't say anything! Not when Naruto screws up our missions, not when he says something stupid that crosses a line, not when I say something that crosses a line, not when some random woman berates you in front of your team. Not even when the girls at school would talk shit about you. You just take it!"

"The bastard is right about that Sakura-chan, you should stick up for yourself more. You don't have to be such a jackass about it though!" He said, sending a hard glare to Sasuke, who ignored him.

"When we did introductions, you punched the dead last for saying something unbelievably stupid—that was a person I could respect! But since then, you don't even say anything when he says something stupid or I say something hurtful, let alone punch us! You've had plenty of moments and reasons to get angry, but you don't! You just take it!"

"He doesn't respect me…?" Everything in Sakura felt simultaneously numb and shattered. She felt a bubbling of something burning hot in the pit of her stomach.

"You really should say how you're feeling more Sakura-chan, but seriously Bastard, enough!" Naruto tried to unsuccessfully intervene again. It was a little hard since he actually found that he did agree a little with what Sasuke was saying, but he was still being too harsh.

"If we were on a battle field, you'd probably just bow your head to the enemy and let them kill you! How can we trust you when you keep holding back! We don't need someone so passive and complacent on this team!"

"Sasuke! What the hell—"

"That's enough." Sakura's voice sounded darker than any of them had every heard—including her. Sheer rage slammed into her like a tidal wave, and the burning hot sensation in her stomach raced through her so fast, it erased all her control so the words just flew from her mouth.

"You want to know what I think!?" She rounded on Naruto, "I think if you stopped being so god damn impulsive and used your brain for once in your life, we'd have completed twice as many missions by now! Running up stream and slipping on a rock? Are you kidding me! And how do you lose a freaking kid?! You had one god damn job to do was that really too freaking much for you to handle?! I get that you've had no one to reign you in, but can you really not tell how much trouble you cause?! How the hell have you survived this long?! You really wanna be Hokage? Get a goddamn sense of responsibility cause our village will be screwed to hell otherwise! And not everything has to be a freaking competition! Do you really feel that inferior to Sasuke-kun?! Cause you're not doing yourself any favors screwing up our missions in your pathetic attempts to beat him! Our missions are not the time for you to screw around with your rivalry! Save that crap for training!"

Naruto's eyes were wide with shock—and a little hurt, but mostly just surprise. He'd never seen Sakura this mad. She'd been holding this in the whole time? She wasn't even done yet, as she turned on Sasuke.

"And you! If you stopped goading him every time he issued some dumb challenge, maybe he wouldn't act so recklessly all the goddamn time!" She let out a derisive laugh. Her control over her language slipped as she started to swear. "Passive? Those bitches from school have been slinging shit my way since I was four! You really think I was unbothered? Hell No! Crying about it made it worse, and yelling and fighting back only gave them more ammunition! It's not passivity, it's defense! Complacent? I wouldn't even have made it this far if I was complacent!"

She took a step forward her hands balling into fists. "Always late? Don't train much? That is far from my choice, but unlike you two, this team isn't the only thing in my life! I have other responsibilities, unlike you two who are free to do whatever you goddamn want with your time!

"I care about this team! I need it more than you know! If someone handed me a knife and an innocent person and said kill them or your team dies, I'd do it! Screw how shitty a person that makes me, I'd kill if it meant protecting you two and Kakashi-sensei! But you can't trust me? Fine! Sorry I never said what I was feeling—like you're oh so forthcoming—and called you two out for how goddamn stupid you were being, or didn't slap you up side the head when you deserved it! No! Sorry I was trying to be nice and respectful of you two! Next time, I'll just punch you in the goddamn face!"

She finally finished her tirade, breathing heavily. And then everything she just let fly out of her mouth caught up with her in a moment of absolute horror. She looked up at Naruto's shocked blue eyes, and Sasuke's narrowed onyx ones, and felt her soul leave her body.

"I-I just screwed everything up…"

"Shannaro. They deserved it."

"Tch. Finally." Sasuke's glare evaporated into a smirk. Confusion punched her soul back in to place.

"W-what?"

"During the bell test, when the idiot and I kept going after the bells alone, you chased after me. Was it personal or tactical?"

"…tactical…" She murmured in confusion.

"Hn, thought so, you're the type who can compartmentalize. You were the only one of us who thought tactically with something that even remotely resembled teamwork from the get go."

"All I did was asses strengths…he was a Jonin and I was a Genin. There's no way I'd be able to take the bells on my own, but if he was distracted dealing with you, then maybe—What's this got to do with anything? I was wrong anyways, Kakashi-sensei even said so."

"You're the most analytical and quickest to grasp a situation on the squad. But if you don't ever voice it, then you're just dead weight. Stop holding back on account of our feelings. Most of our missions probably would have been a success if you made us shut up and listen to you."

"I'm with the bastard on this one Sakura-chan. You said it yourself, I've never had anyone to reign me in…" Sakura's eyes widened in horror.

"N-naruto I'm so sorry—"

"Why? You're not wrong. But that's why if I say or do something stupid, you need to slap some sense into me. I'm not gonna learn or know better otherwise."

Sakura swallowed thickly, touched and shocked by how much trust the blond placed in her with that statement.

"I don't particularly care if you're late, so long as you're here before Kakashi." Sasuke continued. He was curious about it, though he wouldn't admit it, but it didn't really bother him. "I do care that you don't train much. If you want to keep walking this path, then find the time or make the time to do it. But until then, just share whatever you come up with with us and stop holding back." Sakura felt her face warm at his words.

"He-he did this on purpose to get me to release everything…"

"Sasuke-kun cares about us! Eeeeeeeekkkk!"

"T-thank you. Both of you. I'll try to stop holding back and say what I'm thinking from now on."

"Hn."

"No worries, Sakura-chan! We're not going anywhere!"

Kakashi smirked from his observation spot in a nearby tree, glad that the three had worked this snag out. He had a hunch the change in group dynamic would greatly increase their mission success. He closed his book with a snap. It was time to go test out his hunch.

Author's note: Thank you so so much for all the favs/follows/and especially the reviews! RamenLoverPixie, thanks for giving this a shot! Naruto's and Sasuke's financial situation will be explained more after the Land of Waves chapter.

Please keep reviewing! I love reading them, and they're excellent motivators. Thanks for reading my story :)