As Shikamaru had predicted, Sakura's team was assigned to clean-up and rebuilding.
It wasn't particularly glamorous work, but she was more relieved than anything. She'd managed to find a pair of civilian clothes to wear in the meantime, instead of her dress, but it wasn't anything she'd want to find herself in combat with. Not to mention she still hadn't managed to refill her supplies, and was essentially working with the skeletons of proper gear.
It really wasn't that bad, but from how some of the shinobi were complaining, it might as well have been torture. Her squad had essentially been spread out through the entire block, so it was rare for her to even see them. Yoshisu wasn't even there-he'd been pulled into the hospital as an extra pair of hands.
The rebuilding was a bit of a shitshow, because the civilian architects and construction workers very obviously did not trust the shinobi, and the shinobi very obviously did not like having to take direction from civilians.
Sakura had the dubious honour of trying to make old material useful. It wasn't a particularly physically demanding job, but it did require prying a lot of nails out of wood, which wasn't exactly thrilling.
Its biggest advantage was that she was in a prime position to listen to gossip.
"The stipend is not worth this shit." She heard one of the shinobi mutter. "I'd rather be on a mission squad. At least that's not mind numbing."
The kunoichi beside him snorted. "You mean the mission squads that are getting almost no rest between assignments? And are going in with little information and downplayed threats?"
The shinobi looked away. "At least it pays more."
"A corpse can't spend money." She reminded him. "Besides, at least it's not boarder patrol. Did you hear that the clans had to stop doing their own patrols for their lands? The personnel demand was too high for them to keep up, so they've been harassing the boarder members to be extra sure nothing gets in."
He grimaced. "Yeah, I heard about that. They're all twitchy about their libraries and artifacts, especially considering Orochimaru's still running around."
"And that's not even mentioning the-"
"If you have time to chat, you have time to lift!" One of the other chuunin hollered at them. "The bottom floors are supposed to have their supports in by the end of the day! Get moving!"
The pair of shinobi cut themselves off and scowled. It wasn't long before they moved on to whatever else they were supposed to be doing.
Sakura pried another nail out.
It was going to be a long day.
Genma had done a lot of stupid shit, but he hadn't expected going back to being a full-time ANBU to land on that list.
"Remind me why I agreed to do this again?" He adamantly refused to look at the shrapnel Raido was picking out of his shoulder.
"You didn't." He dug in with the tweezers again. "Bear needed people to fill in the ranks, and we were probably first on the list after Kakashi."
"We're too good at our jobs." Genma sighed. "Being a part-time ANBU was so much nicer. We actually got-motherfucker-free time. There were so many less bombs. We went on dates regularly. Nice ones."
Raido have him an amused glance. "Are you counting this as a date?"
"Of course not, this is work. Now, if we went to a restaurant on the way back to Konoha-"
"Which we won't."
"-Then that would be a date. We're not sixteen anymore, you have to put more effort than picking shrapnel out of my arm for it to be romantic."
"We weren't dating at sixteen." Raido pointed out.
"It's a hyperbole you-kami's left tit that hurts-"
"All done." Raido announced, easily ignoring Genma's cussing as he cleaned and dressed the wounds. "How about this, when we get back to Konoha, I'll take you to that dumpling place you like."
He sighed. "If it wasn't destroyed." Genma pulled himself to his feet and flicked the painted mask on Raido. "Come on, let's go home."
Lunch break finally dawned, and Sakura took the opportunity to get out of the sun.
She settled herself on the outskirts of the construction area, right next to a large stack of wood. Her actual lunch was less than glamorous. The two ration bars she scarfed down were grainy and not particularly pleasant, but they had enough calories to keep her going, and that was what mattered most.
The camp she was staying at had a makeshift kitchen, but it was almost always in use, and Sakura would have to buy her own food to cook, and then store it. She could also buy something from one of the nearby stands that were capitalizing on a bunch of hungry shinobi, but she was trying to keep her savings as high as possible.
So, ration bars it was.
She was halfway done her second one when footsteps stalled in front of her. Sakura looked up.
Iwana towered over her, but there was nothing malicious in his expression.
"Can I help you?" She asked politely.
He opened his lunch bag and picked up an onigiri. It looked handmade and far more appealing than the ration bar in her hand. "Would you like one?" He asked.
Sakura hesitated, unsure if this was some kind of trap. "I don't really have anything to trade."
He laughed softly. "Consider it a gift, then. Border patrol rarely had the luxury of carry-on lunches, so I'm aware of how unappetizing ration bars can be."
She accepted the onigiri and took a tentative bite. It was the best thing she'd tasted in weeks and Sakura finished it embarrassingly quickly.
"Thank you." She said, finally remembering her manners. "That was really good."
He smiled. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. The transition from genin to chuunin is exhausting enough without hating your own meals."
She hummed in agreement. There was paperwork involved in becoming a chuunin. Just enough to be a nuisance. Sakura was also still trying to parse through her parents' will and insurance, which meant she was spending far too much time hunched over the driest documents possible.
"Personally, I'm glad that we're not being tossed into missions right away. Our team hasn't had much time to work with each other, and in the field that could be deadly." He sighed. "For your sake as well-getting fast paced missions as a fresh chuunin is bound to cause burnout."
As is Sakura already wasn't frayed down to her last thread. "Rebuilding isn't easy, but at least it's not all that complicated." She settled on. "The hours are long, but it could be worse."
Iwana nodded. "Finding time to train is difficult right now." He hesitated. "When things slow down, if you want a sparring partner, I'll try to make myself available. It is always good to learn the techniques of your squad mates."
Unease crept up her spine. Shikamaru had warned her about him, but she still had no idea why.
"I'll keep that in mind."
Somewhere in the distance, a bell rang out.
Time to get back to work.
Ebisu's pedantic nature had been a nuisance during their genin days, but Genma couldn't deny it made him good with details.
It was only because of him that he knew what time to wait outside one of the makeshift shinobi camps. Sure enough, within ten minutes, he spotted a pink head of hair.
Genma peeled out of the shadows and fell into step with her. "Hey, kid."
Sakura startled hard, hands jerking to her pouches and taking swift steps to give herself more room. It reminded him a little too much of Kakashi after he'd started ANBU, before he'd learned to hide the paranoia.
When she finally registered him, some of the tension in her shoulders eased. "Genma." She said, surprise mixed with else something too subtle to name.
"It's been a while since the chuunin exams, and I wanted to check in." He explained. "These past few weeks have been rough for everyone."
"I see." She said neutrally. "Well, I'm…managing. My chuunin squad seems alright, and I think I'll be able to get an apartment in a month or two."
He nodded, noting that everything she said was surface level. Genma had never thought they'd had a shallow bond, but he was also aware they weren't incredibly close either. "Why don't we head to the café. I can show you this interesting poison I came across on a mission. My treat." It was a pretty blatant bribe, but he worked with what he had.
Sakura hesitated for a beat too long. "Sure."
The walk to the café was stilted and uneasy, and Genma couldn't figure out why. It didn't help that he could barely talk about what he'd been up to these past few weeks. Even if Sakura suspected his involvement in ANBU, it wasn't like he could bring up his assassination missions in casual conversation. Sakura didn't seem all that willing to engage either, keeping her comments short and generic.
They made it to the café, and Genma ordered enough food for three people. Maybe it was just because he hadn't seen her in a while, but she looked too thin.
Time dragged on between them as they slowly made their way through the food.
"Alright, kid." Genma sighed. "What's wrong?"
There was a flicker of something unreadable before her expression smoothed back over. "I don't know what you mean." She said neutrally, bland in a way she hadn't been with him in months. Back when she wasn't sure what to make of him, or how she was supposed to act around him.
"Neither of us are stupid enough to believe that." Her expression twitched, and Genma took it as a victory. At least that was something. "Come on, kid. I'm not going to bite. What happened?"
She drummed her fingers on the table. "You don't have to do this, you know."
"Do what?"
"This." She gestured around them. "I'm not-I basically stopped being your student when the third portion of the chuunin exams started, and there was never an official apprenticeship. You don't have any responsibility over me."
Genma leaned back. "I was under the assumption you wanted to continue the training after the exams were completed. The lessons will be rarer, with my increased mission load and your promotion, but chuunin can still do apprenticeships. Unofficial or otherwise."
Her hand spasmed. Genma was pretty sure he'd found a sore spot, he just didn't know what the fuck it was.
When she finally met his gaze, her eyes were like jade chips. Genma had seen that expression on her more than once, but it had never been directed at him before.
"You never asked whether I wanted to be promoted to chuunin." She said quietly. "Kakashi-sensei and Shisui didn't either, but I thought you would have."
And that admittance of faith hit him far harder than he thought it would.
"Did you?" He said slowly. "You fought like hell during the chuunin exams, and I know you want to make jounin one day."
"I wanted to punch Neji in the face." She smiled bitterly. "On my genin team, I was cannon fodder, but at least the missions I'd be sent out on were supposed to be low level. Now I'm just canon fodder facing even bigger threats. I'm not strong enough to be a chuunin."
The jounin in a genin squad was there to pick up the slack and step up if required, but it wasn't like that for chuunin. There was a squad leader, sure, but every member was expected to hold their own. Extra protection was only afforded to medics.
"I know that-that even if you said I wasn't ready, that I could still have been promoted. The village needs new chuunin, and its will overrides everything." Her hands flexed. "But you didn't even bother to ask."
There were excuses Genma could make here. Most of them would even be true.
He held her gaze. "You're right."
Her expression didn't change, but she didn't tell him to stop either.
"If the circumstances were different, I probably wouldn't have given the recommendation I did. Ideally, you'd have more room to grow and solidify your skills. But nothing about any of this is ideal."
Every single Nation, big and small, was now trying their luck with Konoha. Their political position was in flux and if they didn't come down hard, there was no telling what it could lead to. Another war, if they were particularly unlucky.
"Staying a genin would have left you a dependent on whoever your new jounin sensei was. If they were a Hyuuga, or a Yamanaka, or able to be pressured by them, they might have been able to force you out of the shinobi forces entirely."
She did a full body twitch.
He was reminded of another moment between them, months ago. A dozen kunai embedded in a target, and spotless hands. Genma was an assassin, he was not made to be a soothing balm. He wasn't now, either.
The fire is real, he had told her then. It still was now.
Shinobi weren't models of self awareness or emotional communication, but Genma liked to think he had enough of both to function as an adult.
This was something he could offer.
"Chuunin are afforded more authority and autonomy. Your captain can't say you're unsuitable and get you shunted away-the process is more rigorous. It puts you in more danger on missions, but gives you protection within the village. I considered those scales, and made my decision."
Without asking her. She had full rights to hate him for it, but he didn't regret his decision.
His actions also made Sakura direct some of her anger at him instead of Konoha and its leadership. Shisui had tracked him down after a mission debrief and explained his concerns about Sakura. While he wasn't sure how much he agreed with his overall assessment, Shisui wasn't entirely wrong either.
Slowly, she nodded, the remaining tension draining from her shoulders. "Okay." She did not forgive him, and he didn't ask her to.
It stung, but Genma didn't let it show. "I can recommend you to another poison expert if that's what you would prefer."
She hesitated. "A few names would be nice, but. I'd like to keep learning from you, if I can."
Genma smiled wryly. "I'm not going anywhere, kid."