It was a long week before the team managed to return to Konohagakure.
Kakashi was nowhere near healthy for the trip. Zabuza had come very close to delivering a deadly blow in his attack, and no amount of traditional medical care would heal Kakashi in the short time they had to rest. Haku had no medical jutsu, only basic field medic training. Kakashi's side had started bleeding after only a mile, and they had to stop frequently to rebind his wounds.
Initially, despite his injury, the walk had been cheerful enough. Naruto had been crowing without pause, and rightly so, having finished an easily A-rank mission the first time out of town. He had regaled the others with his every experience, as seen mostly by his clones, at the top of his lungs. Sasuke had managed to smile at a few of the stories, and had told his own tale with some small degree of pleasure, explaining how he had developed his own jutsu (and granting Kakashi his due for encouraging his studies, which did not slip past the grateful jonin).
"What are you going to call it?" asked Naruto.
"What?"
Sasuke looked slightly bewildered at the question. He looked to Kakashi, who nodded slightly. "Jutsu generally are named by their creator, both to give it a name to refer to in conversation, and to have a simple description of the skill, generally for the purpose of making it easier to train future students in it."
"And so you have something to shout out when you attack your foes," Naruto said, shooting Kakashi a cheeky grin. Kakashi had already opened his mouth to correct his little orange genin, but seeing the boy's smirk and the very beginning of a grin on Sasuke's own face, he swallowed his correction and smiled back.
"So, any ideas," Kakashi asked Sasuke.
Sasuke seemed to sink into deep thought, then shrugged to himself and turned to their other teammate. "What do you think, Sakura?" he asked quietly. But even as he asked, his eyes darted to Kakashi, then back to her, signaling the jonin's attention.
Sakura said nothing. Indeed, she did not even react, simply trudging along the road at the same easy pace they were using by necessity, as it was the best Kakashi could do safely. Her silence, after being offered such attention and respect from her crush, sent a large number of warning bells off in Kakashi's head. Even when he stopped walking, allowing her to pass by him, she did not react. Sasuke and Naruto both shot him a look, and he quietly waved his hands down as if calming them. Whatever it was, the middle of a march was not the place to find out.
The rest of that day was made in silence, with even Naruto managing to keep his mouth shut. When they set up camp that night, Kakashi gave each genin a task, and Sakura accepted tent-raising duty with a silent nod. Naruto managed to catch a rabbit by simply using enough clones to make escape impossible, and Sasuke lit a fire and cooked the rabbit fairly well for such a basic setting.
Sakura said nothing during the meal, and ate with a slow, methodical motion that was quite the opposite of her normal, ravenous manner. When finished, she rose and nodded to her team, then turned to her tent… and stopped when Sasuke caught her arm.
"I'll take first watch," he said, not looking away from the fire. "If you need to talk, I'll be outside your tent, and if not, it's as good a place to keep watch as any. Okay?" He turned to look at her, and Kakashi felt a little respect, because real or not, Sasuke managed to look like he cared about her answer.
Something in that look got through to her, because Sakura nodded and patted his hand for a moment before leaving. Kakashi nodded to Sasuke in acknowledgement, who nodded to Naruto, who looked confused at both of them. Kakashi raised a finger to his lips, and Naruto seemed to get that much at least.
The rest of the return home was much the same, silent and calming. Sakura never became chatty during the trip, but she lost some of her grim demeanor, and on the last day she was looking ahead on the road, almost eager to return to town. Sasuke also looked driven, and had to stop himself several times when he started to outpace his teacher. Naruto seemed to vibrate with a degree of inner energy fit to blow him apart into a million little Naruto chunks, which might, when landing, possibly spell out the word ramen. Kakashi was fairly certain he saw the boy drool a little.
Finally, they arrived, the great gates open and beckoning. They stopped by the gatehouse to check in, and Kakashi casually slapped a hand on Naruto's jumpsuit before the boy could run off. When Naruto stopped tugging against him, he let go, then stood up straight in front of them, as close to attention as he could get.
"Normally, we would debrief immediately with the Hokage on return, but there are certain provisions in the rules. Namely, we can report in any time in the next twenty-four hours, so long as we check in with the gate guards and we have nothing vital or time-sensitive to report. I will be checking into the hospital, and will take responsibility for the primary debriefing, although you may be retrieved or interviewed by ANBU personnel for your own debriefing at some point in the next couple days. Meanwhile, I have orders for you until I am done healing. Sakura."
She stood at attention. Here eyes were dull, hollow, tired, and her body slumped slightly to one side. Kakashi knew she had slept very poorly during the trip here.
"I would like you to check in with Tsume. Immediately. Let her know about the mission, give her any details she asks for, and otherwise do as she says. She'll likely use this in the future to consider further training, so be honest about it. All of it." Sakura nodded, and for a moment, Kakashi thought he saw a shadow of something in her eyes. He nodded to her, a dismissal, and she stepped back in acknowledgement but remained momentarily to see where the others would be.
"Sasuke."
Sasuke grunted.
"Return home and begin to replace those items expended during this trip. Other than that, rest and relax for now. I'll have some new books delivered to you, probably within a day, with a few things to study for future efforts." Sasuke shot Sakura a quick glance, then grunted and stepped back as well.
"Naruto."
Naruto turned back to Kakashi, drool still hanging from his lips, having spent this entire time staring in the general direction of Ichiraku's. He seemed to realize he was being given an order, and straightened up a bit.
"Go get some ramen."
Kakashi's hand darted out, quick as a snake, and snagged Naruto's jacket, holding the struggling ramen freak relatively still. "While you are there, tell Tazuna he is clear to return home, and that Konohagakure will send him a rate-adjusted bill in a month or so, once the bridge is built and his country starts to make a little more money. After you eat yourself stupid, relax."
He turned to the rest of them. "The same goes for all of you. No training. No D-ranks. Nothing. Relax. Read a book. Watch some clouds. Whatever you do for fun, do it, or find something fun to do," he said, looking at Sasuke, who scowled. "Once I get checked out, we'll be doing enough D-ranks while we look into some more training. This last trip gave me a few ideas." He waited for them to acknowledge him then dismissed them, although he retained his hold on Naruto's jacket while the other two left.
He leaned in, very slowly, and looked Naruto in the eye, practicing the creepy eye thing his colleague Tenzo was fond of. Naruto leaned away, then crossed his arms and glared. "What," Naruto demanded, almost dangling from his sensei's hand.
"I know you're a clone, Naruto," he said, his voice cold and lifeless. "If I catch you leaving without dismissal after a mission again, I'll have ramen banned from Konohagakure." He poked the clone hard enough to dispel it, then let out a weak chuckle and began walking slowly towards the hospital.
Naruto stiffened in his chair at Ichiraku's, then shuddered when he saw Kakashi's face in his memories. Where did he get that creepy look, he thought to himself, momentarily distracted from his ramen bowl.
"Hey, Tazuna," he called out, suddenly very intent on following Kakashi's orders…
The Inuzuka clan holdings were situated on the edge of town, close to some of the more tame training grounds. The walls were very short, unlike many clan holdings, little more than chest high for Sakura. Tsume had explained once that their clan would have done away with the walls entirely were they not convenient in keeping the puppies out of trouble.
One does not put walls between allies, she had told Sakura when asked about it. Walls are for foes, or mistrusted neighbors. In the pack, if you cannot walk amongst each member freely and safely, they should not be in your pack. The Inuzuka had proven to be quite popular with their neighbors, because while they were loud and boisterous, they were as loyal as... well, dogs.
Sakura smiled, just a little, and hopped the wall when she got close enough. In a clan holding filled with humans and animals famed for their strong senses, border patrols and sentries would have been an insult, both to neighbors and to the others in the clan. A howl went up as soon as her feet touched the ground, and they came, claws scratching on dirt and paving stone, jowls slavering in the morning heat, charging her as fast as they could. Sakura sighed dramatically and kneeled, accepting the necessity of the challenge. She raised her arms, ready and waiting.
The pack came around the corner to the nearest home, and the lead, a black and grey hound with huge teeth, was howling madly. They charged, twelve in all, and at the last moment, Sakura raised her arms to defend her face, unsure how they would act with how changed she felt.
Tsume found Sakura a few minutes later, still wrestling with the horde of pups, each no bigger than her arm. She held back, approaching slowly, allowing Sakura to get her giggling under control and compose herself before her pack leader. By the time she arrived within the range she trained all of her pack to acknowledge their leader, Sakura was kneeling, perfectly calm, as was each of the pups... well, except for the one with the lopsided ears, and Tsume had already determined that little one would have to be sold as a pet due to its lack of control.
"Welcome back, pup," she said to Sakura with a friendly growl to her voice. "How went your mission?" She grinned hugely, excited to hear how Sakura's first real mission went, but her grin faded when Sakura's face fell and her eyes became wet. Tsume grunted, giving the little future ninken the order to be at ease, and sat next to Sakura.
"Tell me," she said quietly.
Sakura told her story. She started off in a dull monotone, carefully reciting their trip, and as the story grew, she spent more and more time on the details, until she found herself describing the day she accepted the contract on... the contract for Inari. At that point, her story faltered, and she began to recount pointless details, simply trying to hold off the ultimate point of the story. She got as far as the color of the boy's shoes before she started to break down. She cried, great, shameful tears rolling down her cheeks, unable to carry on with her story. She turned away, ashamed to be breaking down before her master, until Tsume pulled her in close and gave her a smothering hug.
"Don't fight it," the older woman said, holding Sakura gently but firmly. "Let it out."
It took some time, but eventually, the tears stopped, and Sakura felt her pain numbed slightly from it. She sat back up, unwilling to meet Tsume's eyes, and carried on with the tale, finding that, save for the occasional sniff when she got to a more grisly part, she was able to finish her tale.
Eventually, the story was done, and she waited quietly for her teacher to say... something. Anything. She did not know what, but she expected some sort of backlash for her behavior. Tsume merely pulled her into another hug, although this time a shorter one.
"Sakura," she said, smiling, "you did good."
"I killed someone," she replied flatly, feeling uncomfortable.
"Yes, you did. You took a contract, followed through, and killed several people. More importantly, you killed no more than the minimum needed to complete your contract. You did so in the most direct and painless way possible, even when you killed the asshole who started this whole thing."
Tsume gave out a shrill whistle, and in moments, her own companion Kuromaru arrived, sitting down in front of the girls with an air of patience. His dark grey fur was ragged, with one eye and ear long gone, the missing eye covered with an eyepatch. None the less, his single yellow eye stared at them with an animalistic intensity, and Sakura nodded deferentially to the beast. She knew her place in the Inuzuka pack, and it was far, far below her teacher's companion. He was one of the rarest of ninkin, capable of speaking directly to others, and between his intelligence and his strength he was rightly the leader of the pack.
Tsume smiled. "Kuromaru, Sakura here has made her first kills, an evil man who held a nation under his claws, and two thieves who were a danger to her and her pack. Have you anything to say on the matter?"
The wolf in a dog's collar grunted. "Evil means nothing. Nations mean nothing. Thievery? Nothing, save maybe for pride in a theft done well. All of these are human words, for human creatures with human ideas and human foolishness. But the pack, the pack means everything. All who might harm the pack are foes, and woe be unto a foe who challenges your pack now that you have tasted blood. Humans kill for fun. For pleasure. For money. For pride. Dogs kill for one purpose, for their pack. Nothing beyond the pack matters, something you now know. Today, you are not a human, you are a dog, and a good dog at that."
Kuromaru then stepped forward and gave Sakura a small lick on the face, leaving her coated in a bit of saliva and a lot of awe. She knew some about the Inuzuka ninken, and to be considered one of their own kind was rare indeed, even more so for an outsider like herself.
In hindsight, it was a silly thing, but she was at a loss for words at this gift, and so she did the only thing she could think of to indicate her acceptance, her understanding, her place as one of his own. She rolled over on her back, exposing her belly to the pack leader in submission.
Tsume busted out laughing, and Kuromaru grunted. "You don't have to be that much of a dog," he grumbled, if cheerfully. Unfortunately, the tone of good cheer became too much for the puppies, who promptly broke ranks and swarmed the lot of them. They piled on Tsume, and Kuromaru, and Sakura, who smiled and laughed and felt the weight of the human world lift from her shoulders.
Sakura stayed for the rest of the day, playing with the dogs, helping with chores, and otherwise relaxing, relishing the peace within her. Eventually, the day began to fade, and she made her goodbyes to the Inuzuka, only to be stopped by Tsume, who called her into the kennel.
"You remember, when your training began, you asked if you might someday have a dog of your own?"
Sakura nodded, trying not to let the sudden hope show on her face.
"Unfortunately, the answer is still no, Sakura."
Sakura tried just as hard not to show her disappointment, and apparently failed. Tsume laughed and patted her on the shoulder, steering her into the kennel. "Don't be so down. We did vote on the matter, and you did get approval to train in our ways, including having a ninken. But something came up, and plans changed."
Tsume lead Sakura to a corner of the kennel, where the cages were kept for the smallest of the dogs, the newborn pups, only just free from their milk diet. She lead Sakura past several puppies, ranging from white to grey to black, until she reached the very last cage, and stopped Sakura before it.
"We caught this little fellow drinking with a fresh litter. No idea how the thing got in there, but the mother didn't object, so how could we."
Sakura crouched down, looking into the cage, where the little ball of fur could be seen, curled up on itself. It was mostly white, with a series of stripes running across its spine and down its sides in dark grey.
Tsume patted the top of the cage, where a fairly large pile of books could be seen, along with a slightly tattered notebook. "We're the best vets in Konohagakure, and we know how to care for any number of critters. We feed our dogs only the best meat, and our techniques used to maximize growth in our ninken are compatible. But... well, we're dog people." She rubbed the back of her neck, grinning sharply. "Some of our ways are incompatible... and I think some of your ways may not be. So, I gathered all the information I could and got it ready for you, in case you came back and I found you suitable. How about it? Want to try something we've never tried before?"
The ball of fur uncoiled, and gazed up at Sakura with golden eyes.
"Murrrr," the kitten said, cocking its head to one side.
The next day, Sasuke set down the last of the tools on his workbench and sighed. He'd spent the first day back shopping for food, then at his apartment working on replacing his expended equipment. Midday he had been interrupted by an ANBU member, who took his disposition and then left without a word to spare. Then, in the early evening, a pile of books arrived by courier.
Most of the books were fairly normal, chemistry and biology books geared towards shinobi users. But one stood out, and Sasuke grumbled when he opened it. The book was densely packed with paragraphs and charts, and the cover simply said "Genetics in Human Populations." When he opened it, he found a slip of paper from Kakashi.
You are well on your way to your first goal, the paper said in Kakashi's lazy scrawl. This may be relevant to the second. I had the bookseller mark a few very relevant passages for you. It may be too soon to take action, but it's never too soon to plan ahead. Good job on the mission. Planning new training. Now put the books and tools down and find something else to do.
Sasuke grunted and put the books away. He was fairly certain the jonin would not be watching him for such a small thing, but he was also fairly certain Kakashi would have no problem getting Naruto to do it for him. Konohagakure's Orange Blur was restless even at the best of times. Sasuke smirked at the thought of Naruto trying to relax for a full day.
A full hour of aimless wandering found Sasuke outside the Aburame holdings. He stood around for some time, listening to the faint drone, which could be heard even outside the edge of the property, which was nothing but an expanse of green grass and closely planted but not impenetrable bushes. Eventually, he took a single step on the grass and waited.
Within ten seconds, an Aburame member leaned into view from behind one of the bushes. He nodded once at Sasuke, then turned away. Sasuke waited, not moving an inch, and within the minute Shino appeared in the same place. He, too, nodded to Sasuke, and Sasuke finally felt comfortable approaching.
"Thank you for not crushing our sentries," Shino said, his tone bland. "Next time, you may walk freely. They have thick shells, and will not be harmed. They will also know your scent and notify us of your presence."
Sasuke nodded and followed his friend into their clan property. The Aburame clan had a much smaller plot of land then many of the other clans in Konohagakure, only a single series of modest houses facing a single large inner courtyard, the rest of their land taken up by gardens, with many hives for various insect species scattered about. Sasuke was not familiar with the clan, but he knew they were a noble clan, and had a modest number of members. In spite of that, the houses seemed very small, and there was nobody in sight.
Sasuke listened to the ever-present hum, then smiled slightly. "You live underground," he said, a statement instead of a question. Shino paused for a moment, unreadable behind his glasses and coat, then nodded. He lead Sasuke to one of the houses, one of the smaller ones, and opened the door to reveal a staircase leading down. Sasuke glanced at the rest of the room and nodded. The house was a fake, perfectly suitable walls and windows surrounding a simple concrete floor with a stairwell going down. Without preamble, Shino began to walk down the stairwell, and Sasuke followed quietly.
The stairs curved around several times and were carved out of the surrounding stone and earth itself, although it looked like it had been preserved somehow. Instead of opening up into a tight, dark tunnel like Sasuke expected, however, it instead opened into a large and airy room, a larger copy of the square above it, filled with a few businesses and some other doors carved directly into the stone walls of the central square. A series of chandeliers with many candles lit the cavernous room, and a single column made of stone dominated the center of the square, easily twenty feet across. Sasuke could see several doorways carved into the stone pillar.
"The central pillar is a stairwell that leads to our residential housing and hives," said Shino, while Sasuke watched the people in the square move about. "I cannot bring you there, they are a clan secret. But you are welcome here, as is any Konohagakure citizen. Few come. Why? Because they find our kinship with insects distasteful or disturbing." Shino walked further into the square, leading Sasuke past several shops selling ninja goods, and a restaurant that buzzed loudly as he passed. Eventually, Sasuke was lead to a small, simple door with no markings save for a small jeweled scarab in place of a doorknob. Shino opened the door by stroking the scarab's back, then waved Sasuke in.
The room was modestly large, lit with standard electrical lights. The walls and ceiling were unadorned earth like the rest of the place, but the floors were covered in thin padding. At the rear of the largest room, Sasuke could see two smaller rooms, one an apparent library, the other filled with workbenches and tools.
"This is my family's private training area, where we work on things not related to our clan techniques or hives. Why? Because some of these things are unsafe for the insects we care for. You are welcome here at any time, with or without me. The door scarab will recognize you."
Sasuke was slightly put off. In that bland wording, Shino had essentially given him access to his clan's work space, a deep sign of trust amongst shinobi. He could not help himself. He parroted his friend's phrase back to him. "Why?" he asked quietly.
Shino stepped forward and raised an arm, resting it on Sasuke's shoulder. The gesture was heartfelt but awkward, like someone who had heard of how to be companionable but never tried it, and Sasuke appreciated the effort if not the result. "I appreciate your company," Shino said in the same monotone as before. "You value silence, a trait that I find is almost singular outside of my clan. I appreciate your presence, even when we have nothing to say. My parents understand this, and wanted me to extend this gesture to ensure you know you are valued."
Sasuke could think of nothing to say, and realized he needed to say nothing. Instead, he raised his own arm and rested his hand on his friend's other shoulder, no less awkward then Shino had been. They both nodded, the moment passed, and they split to wander into the rooms and determine their own projects to follow.
It took Naruto two days before he ran out of things to do that could not be considered training.
Sasuke and Sakura were off doing their own thing, so Naruto was on his own. He visited Ichiraku's. He tried to read a book, and discovered that the adventure series he had been reading before his latest mission was now painfully boring compared to his own experiences. When the ANBU member had come to take his deposition, he had been quite glad for the distraction, and the reaction the ANBU had to his stories about fighting Zabuza was mildly amusing, mostly in how hard the woman tried not to react to Naruto's pantomime as he spoke.
He visited Ichiraku's.
He wandered around town disguised with a henge, checking prices on things ranging from ninja tools to televisions, and was pleased to note that he might be able to upgrade his lifestyle a little between the A-rank pay he had received and his new shopping persona.
For yucks, he wandered around town as himself to check prices, and while the civilian markets were still horribly priced, he was shocked to notice that the ones selling ninja goods were not only willing to sell to him for fair pricing, but were relatively good-willed in his presence. He made a note to ask Kakashi about it later.
He visited Ichiraku's.
On day three, he woke up and quietly decided to break Kakashi's orders. He knew what he was doing, and knew he was breaking orders, but he suspected that Kakashi would barely mention it, and he could not sit idle any longer.
He sought out his team, but Sakura's parents told him she was busy with the Inuzuka clan on a project, and Sasuke was nowhere to be found. He even tried to find Kurenai and her team in the hopes of some sparring, but in the end even they could not be found. Ultimately defeated, he turned away and did the only thing he could.
He visited Ichiraku's.
This time, though, he had a pleasant surprise.
"Kakashi-sensei," he said cheerfully on seeing his team leader. Kakashi turned on his stool and smiled at Naruto. His side still looked a little stiff, and he was obviously tired, but it was still good to see him outside the hospital.
"Naruto, I knew you would show up shortly. Come, have a bowl on me while we talk about training." Naruto fairly floated to his stool. Free ramen? Training? It was like he was in heaven. But...
"Kakashi-sensei, you still look hurt. Are you sure you can train us right now?"
"No."
Naruto's forehead banged on the counter, and he sighed. Kakashi smiled to himself, then grunted and pulled himself up from his stool. "I won't be able to work with you for some time, first, to heal, and second, because I can't train you in what you need right now."
Naruto looked up at his team leader, perplexed.
"I am a ninjutsu master, Naruto. I focus on low endurance, high power efforts. Quite frankly, I am a low chakra person who just happens to be very good at control. You, meanwhile, are a high endurance brawler who can spray chakra like a fire hydrant and not have to worry about it, comparatively. I am not an optimal teacher for you."
He smirked at Naruto's frown. "Thanks to our previous success with Kurenai, however, I was able to foist off some of my responsibility on another, in exchange for teaching my own specialty. I will be training Sasuke and another student over the next month. Sakura will be training with the Inuzuka during that time on a project she got my approval on. And you? You're going to hell." He stepped aside, pulling back the cloth covering the small, enclosed eating area even as the battle cry feared all across Konohagakure pierced the air.
"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"
EDIT: Hey, look, Pom Rania got this chapter done too. Thanks, amiga.
Author's Note: Hardly a shocking twist, but it makes sense, and will make more sense next chapter, where we detail each of their training efforts.
Ultimately, I always felt that Kakashi was a bad match for Naruto in canon. The Thousand Technique Ninja and The Kid who Takes Forever to Learn (Until Kishimoto needed an explanation for his sudden UBERS)? But hey, that's what fanfiction is for.
In canon, the various clans of Konohagakure are not very well detailed, at least not that I ever saw. It is entirely possible that more details are available beyond my limited research options, but in the end, I'm just going to roll with my ideas.
As always thanks for the input and reviews. I was searching around for good fics to read last week, and was astounded to discover that this is actually moderately well read for a relatively new/recent fic. My heart grew three sizes that day, I assure you.
fluffpenguin: I originally intended for Kakashi to help Sakura out of her funk, but while I was writing this chapter, I found that using Tsume and Kuromaru was a useful device for character growth and introducing a little more about how that clan is represented in my story.
kairan1976: Tazuna was not really forced to eat ramen... but being poor, and knowing he would need to pay for the higher ranked mission somehow eventually, and not expecting to be abroad for so long... well, you gotta eat something. And the discount (paid for by Kakashi) would keep him conveniently located in a place he could be found, if need be.