"AburameShino,HyuugaHinata, andInuzukaKiba?" A beautiful kunoichi called out to the class.
Sakura sighed, what she would give for a Sensei like that. Bad-ass, beautiful, confident. The woman carried herself with an easy grace – the composure of a shinobi. She was wasted on an unambitious nothing likeHyuugaHinata.
Sakura worked so much harder than the quiet girl, she proved herself constantly. She might not have been trained at ikebana for years like Ino, but she made up for it in the general classes – she wrote three whole extra pages on the graduation exam. She bet Hinata didn't do that, she bet even Ino didn't do that. It wasSakurathat deserved the pretty kunoichi instructor,shannarō!
No, she had to be patient. Sakura did the best of the kunoichi, she knew that. She just had to believe her sensei would be the best too. (She had Sasuke on her team, they would have to give him an awesome sensei at least. He was important – all the academy instructors said so.)
Just a few years from now she'd walk back into the Academy and Iruka-sensei would gape because little Haruno Sakura had made it. She'd be tall, and amazing, and little girls would twist to look up at her while she passed, and all the people who made fun of her would beg for forgiveness but Sakurawouldn't even 'd have better things to worry about, and even Ino would be looking at her back in jealousy.
She fiddled with her headband, watching thejōninkunoichi usher her team out the door. The womanhad worn her own headband on her forehead, Konoha standard. It hadn't looked bad.
Sakura's was having problems staying up, she'd tied it properly with a double knot but the fabric kept slipping loose along the curve of her head. Should she change it? It would be embarrassing if it slipped off on mission, but she'd seem indecisive if she changed it now. The thought of covering up her forehead again felt like admitting defeat anyway.
Anotherjōninslid open the class door, amanwith cropped black hair and the funny green vest somanyninjaseemed to wear. He was on the shorter side, muscled, and carried a huge sword on his back.
Sinking a little deeper into her chair, Sakura held her breath while he called out, "Looking for Abe Kaori, Kawakami Joji, and Ueno Haya."
She let out a soft exhale. Good. Swords were cool but she had to be realistic; sensei could only teach what they knew and she wouldn't do well charging in to close combat. That, and she didn't want big biceps. She was still holding out for a kunoichi anyway.
There was a large clatter somewhere down the hallway. Sakura strained her ears to try and pick up any details. It was a mix of voices, at least two, moving along the hallways a floor below. The building distorted whatever the people were saying, but the voices were light and high. No timber, no growl – not likely aman.
Sakura straightened in her seat, she could see a few of the others perk up too. There were only three teams left now. Ino shot her a narrow-eyed look from the bench over, this was sure to be one of their sensei and they were already making an impression.
"Dynamic Entry!" A figure crashed through the door midair, splintering it and landing in the room with a flip.
The first thing Sakura noticed was how was how small theninja was – less than half the size of thejōninswordsmanthat had left only a half-minute ago and only as tall as any of the graduating class.
He was young, Sakura realized once he'd stopped spinning, and... odd. Green suit, heavily stylized bowl cut, loud, andthose eyebrows.
"My most youthful comrades!" the boy was yelling. Was he from another class and just disastrously late to orientation? "It is an honor to again walk this academy and contemplate my path as a shinobi! The sentiments stirred within me will stoke my training, my determination -"
"Lee!" Interrupted another voice, and from the broken door two kunoichi barreled into the room. Neither were particularly cute, Sakura noticed – one in unflattering shorts and a camel jacket, the other in plain twin buns and agarishpink and red top. "Don't run off first, geez. We're here for a reason," huffed the latter, bracing herself on her knees.
Long hair and jacket girl bowed stiffly to Iruka-sensei, "We did not mean to disturb your class." Her voice was deep, and strangely hypnotic.
The boy in the jumpsuit struck a pose, "Yosh! We are here to escort Team 7!"
Which poor bastards were those, again? Sakura gulped, looking to Iruka-sensei to please call out some other kids' names – but he looked down at his paper, then up to Sasuke, then her, then Naruto. No way! She had the worst luck.
"You're notjōnin," said Sasuke. He was in the third row back, but he didn't have to even raise his voice for it to reach the floor. The sound just carried, like the universe did what he wanted it to.(So. Cool!)
The one with twin-buns scratched her head, "Well, no. Does your sensei have to sign you out or something? I don't remember that happening last year."
Iruka looked consideringly at the group. "There's no rule, I suppose. It's just strange."
"Alright then, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto – follow us!"
"Huh? Why? We're waiting for our sensei," called Naruto dumbly.
How did she get stuck with this idiot? Really, no attention span, no sense, no tact. Sakura rose, ignoring Ino's snicker, and stiffly walked down to the three weirdninwaiting for them. Composure, she had to maintain composure. She was a graceful kunoichi, and she would make Ino see nothing phased her. Even Naruto levels of humiliation.
Sasuke jumped down too, but Naruo was still confused and yelling. Sasuke tsked at the hold-up. "They're probably taking us to them, dumbass."
"Why do wegottago somewhere else? Shouldn't they come here? That makes no sense."
Of course it didn't, but yelling about it wouldn't change anything. Couldn't he pick up basic cues? They had to meet their sensei. Their sensei wasn't here. Therefore, they had to go find their sensei. Naruto was such a bad ninja; they'd have to explain all the missions to him like a toddler, and he wouldn't pick up on subtlety so they wouldn't be able to take any good missions anyway. Nobody would let them go to the capitol or guard the Daimyo now. It was just, urgh. Such a bad impression.
The second girl in the khaki jacket seemed to agree, her cold face twitching before she spoke. "We will explain on the way." Then she turned and left. Straight. Up. Left.
"What's her problem?" Sakura muttered.
Naruto came down from the seats, at least pretending to finally get it, and they all started off to follow the group's prickly teammate.
"Right! I'm Rock Lee, it is good to meet you!" Started off the green boy as he led them towards the stairs, Sakura gave him a generous nod.
"Haruno Sakura, pleasure to meet you." He was weird beyond all belief, (those brows were worse up close,) but she could be polite.
"Oh, I'mTenten. And that was Neji – sorry about him, he doesn't like courier missions. Thinks they're a waste of skill."
Huh?Him? 'Neji' had longer hair than her! Sakura flushed a bit as Sasuke muttered his name and Naruto slid down the handrail with a whoop.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Hey, hey, where are we going and what are we doing? Is it a super cool mission?"
Tentenfrowned at Naruto, who was jumping around like an idiot as always. "You're barely out of the academy. You won't be going on missions for a while. We're going to the 12thtraining ground."
Naruto's yell of outrage rang in Sakura's ears, loud and hurting.
"Ano,Tenten-san," Sakura mentioned pleasantly, focusing on the obvious diplomat of the team and giving her a good 'can you believe this guy' look, "do you know what we'll be doing then? Or why you guys are picking us up? You can't be that much older than us."
They had caught up to Neji now, who ended up waiting by a tree in the academy yard, just scowling. He looked kind of familiar when Sakura got a good angle. Kind of like Sasuke, too, but the long hair made him more pretty than cool.
Lee answered first, enthusiastic, "Our sensei are Eternal Rivals! Comrades locked together by the youthful fires of competition, always pushing each other to do their best!"
"They're friends, I think,"Tententranslated, "Gai-sensei took us on last year, and Hatake-san is testing you guys, so they decided to have a demonstration spar to show what experienced shinobi are like. But Hatake-san came early and Gai-sensei challenged him to some sort of competition, so we got sent to pick you up."
Oh, that made sense. Sort-of, enough. Sakura let go of the worries she hadn't realized she'd been nursing, like what if their sensei already had another team, or something. A demonstration spar actually sounded cool; they never did those at the academy. The instructors there were all chūnin anyway, and while they were pretty impressive, jōnin were the super elite.
Sakura adjusted her headband again to stop it from slipping, thinking back to all the different jōnin they saw earlier. "Can you tell us anything about our sensei?"
Tentenshrugged. "Um, we don't actually know him."
"He hasn't been active duty for a while" Neji said, paused entirely and looking back at them with his strange, white eyes. There was something heavy in the way he said it, like it was a message or a test. Sasuke must have felt it too, but he was of course smarter than her, and he probably knew what it meant.
Naruto clearly didn't. "Eh?!" He stomped at the ground. "How are we going to be the best team ever, if our sensei isn't even a real ninja?" Neji's lip twitched derisively and he flipped back around, saying nothing more and blowing their chance at whateverthatwas.
And it was Naruto's fault again, the orange little menace. Just marching along text to her, completely obtuse. He was just, so, so, "Narutooooo!" She couldn't helpit;she was so angry the yell slipped out and she just swung – clocking the village idiot right in the jaw.
Shit. Composure, Sakura. She turned quick back toTenten, hoping she hadn't screwed her intel source, but luckily Sasuke was on it.
"You said this...Hatake was testing us, not that he was our sensei. Why?"
Sasuke-kunwas always so smart! She knew that phrase had sounded weird, but she would never have been able to point out why. Sasuke knew though. Just like you'd expect from him!
Tentenlooked impressed too, if a little embarrassed. (She had to be into him. Who wouldn't be, a reliable guy would just have to show she's the cuter kunoichi. Love conquers all!) "I suppose it's not a secret, but I think it's normally a surprise. It's... you're not fullgeninyet."
Naruto was still recovering so he couldn't do much more than mumble, but for once his inevitable yelling was probably ? What, like all her studying for the exam meant nothing? Her hands had bled all over the place.
"Your sensei can send you back if they're not confident in you,"Tentencontinued to explain, "Nothing so drastic as taking your headband back, but you get sent back to the academy for a remedial year and wouldn't be able to take missions until you convinced someone to take responsibility for test is said to vary, so we can't help if you were going to ask." How frustrating. Sasuke must have been thinking the same, because his jaw tightened just that much more.
They were walking through one of the forests now, on more of a dirt path than a real trail. Field 12 was surely close; she could just barely hear thethunkof shuriken.
"That's not just jump-ropes," saidTentenwith a groan, "I wanted to see first contact!"
Neji hummed agreeably, but it turned into a sneer and a glare when Lee gave a great holler and made off running. "Look, third-rates," he called back to her and Sasuke, "when we get to the clearing, keep out of the way and stay easily visible. Sensei will not aim at you, but if something comes flying – dodge." And then Neji was running too, Tenten close behind. They werefast, Sasuke followed almost immediately but even hewas still lagging behind.
Then Naruto went. Sakura shook herself out of her stupor and made after them.
Sasuke slid to a stop next to the strange trio of oldergenin. His own useless team was somewhere back in the dust, but that didn't matter now. He looked around at the open grounds - area beaten down to compacted dirt, crashed tree trunks, faded scorch marks along the tree line – and then up, where twoninja crashed into each other 10 feet in the air.
He'd become so used to the watered-down drivel at the academy that he'd forgotten what a realfightlooked like. No excess movement, no clumsy footwork, no hesitancy. Just two blurs that barely made contact with each other, and when they did Sasuke could feel the air pressure from the force of the block. Like howthat manused to fight.
He had thought perhaps those memories were exaggerated over the years, like looking at Hokage Mountain and realizing it wasn't quite as big as it had been when you were a toddler. Now, it was clear they hadn't been. Sasuke wondered if perhaps he had even underestimated real fights. His goal seemed farther than he'd thought it was.
Between these twojōnin,blows were raining faster than he could process. Their bodies contorting in ways he had never even considered; they were doing moves Sasuke had tried and constantly failed. It left something deep and burning in his stomach.
Something resentful, desperate, and somehow embarrassed. He'd almost been proud of himself at graduation. He was obviously the best in class, leagues betterthan anyone else, and he'd let it get into his head. He'd opened his parents' old room, sat on the bed, told himself Tou-san would have been proud.
But Tou-san wouldn't have been. Sasuke clearly wasn't enough. He didn't have the luxury of complacency, not if he was going to achieve his the standard he had to set himself against, not whatever the incompetent academy chūnin had been teaching him. He was stupid for not realizing it sooner, he'd wasted time, he'd dishonored his clan.
The dumbass and the pink banshee finally caught up just as thejōnindisengaged, touching down a dozen feet away from each other.
No – they had disengaged purposefully, to give the spar a fresh start. Neither man said as much, but they held their 'start' position for longer than otherwise made sense and when they started again the blows were slower, telegraphed clearly. So, even fighting so fast they both must have been entirely aware of thegenin. Was this them holding back?
"Which one is Hibachi-sensei?" said the idiot, idiotically.
Sasuke refused to divert his attention from the fight to answer. The banshee was good enough at managing their class clown anyway, whispering to him furiously and pointing between the boy in a green jumpsuit and his obvious inspiration on the field, a man in a matching green jumpsuit.
She even got him to remain quiet for several minutes, even if he plunked himself on the ground in a particularly stupid move. Small debris splattered a few inches from their feet, it wasn't impossible for something larger to flatten him into a pile of even more unflattering clothes.
The jumpsuit boy was visibly invested in his sensei, twitching and shifting weight in accordance with the man'staijutsu. After several minutes he let out some sort of distressed noise, "Gai-sensei...Gai-sensei is..."
Their kunoichi nodded seriously. "He's losing."
What? His eyes narrowed on the fight. That couldn't be true. This Hatake person was much more mobile, occasionally flickering with various movement jutsu, but Sasuke would have bet on the other one winning the long game.
"Doesn't Gai-sensei have Hatake-sensei on the defensive?" Asked the pink one, he refused to call her a teammate or a classmate, hesitantly but not incorrectly.
The other kunoichi startled, looking over at them with a self-conscious shrug. "Oh, thought they would wait and explain – sorry. Hatake-san is a ninjutsu specialist, and Gai-sensei said when he goes like this," she held her hand up in a relaxed sort of open palm, all her fingers straight together, "it represents some sort of piercing attack. Hatake-san wanted a pure taijutsu spar, but Gai-sensei said that was unfair so Hatake gets to use that one and any D-rank ninjutsu."
Pink-hair just blinked, glancing up to the fight for a little while before turning back to the other one. "Ano, Tenten, can you explain what's happening?" The other kunoichi looked a bit annoyed. Sasuke would have been too, this is exactly why you didn't entertain losers. They would keep asking you for things if you let them, and it dragged you down in the end.
"They're fighting," said the Hyuuga, probably to shut the pink one up so they could all focus.
The dead last bristled. He turned away from the twojōninto protest angrily, because he was an idiot and didn't realize every second watching this was important. "Don't be rude to Sakura-chan!"
"Okay, okay." the girl waved away the growing tension, "You've got to look at their styles. Their body positions."
The short response left the idiots in awkward silence while thecompetentpeople continued to watch the fight. An elegant dismissal, honestly. Just keep breadcrumbing enough to minimize your own inconvenience. Appeasement was a better method of control than defiance, and all that.
The ground rumbled, Gai having caught Hatake in a brutal piledriverso both were pushingagainst the ground to force the other into it.
The blonde menace didn't get the tension between genin, but at least he seemed still. Mostly, he still leaned forward to watch a crack in the earth splinter toward them. "Jumpsuit-san looks like the academy instructors, but faster. Facemask-jiji jumps around like the shadows do."
Hyuuga hummed absently. "Continuous mid-air movement is a specialized skillset that aerial taijutsu can only counter, not match." How vague, the sort of response Sasuke knew was correct but relatively useless. One of the idiots made a frustrated noise at the non-response but the Hyuuga seemed content to leave it at that, so the breadcrumbs continued.
Sasuke needed to say something smart. Prove he wasn't like the other two of his team. He didn't like being dismissed, and he certainly wasn't going to be lumped in as an idiot just because of some bullshit assignment so he said, "Gai initiates more contact, but Hatake diffuses the force he actually takes. So Hatake gets more clean hits, and in more lethal places." Once you accounted for that piercing attack whats-her-face was talking about, but it would do no good to admit he hadn't figured that out before she said it.
He should have, there was a weird pattern to that attack. Hatake always took a moment to prep for it, obviously to account for chakra molding now that he knew, and hit in a straight line. It was the sort of thing shinobi noticed, and he hadn't.
He focused harder on finding patterns in the fight, keeping a half ear out for the slow volley of benign questions and prompts the pink girl and the orange idiot asked – but the other genin didn't point out anything else he couldn't figure out. Gai prioritized good form for maximum strength, Hatake compromised on that strength to be a smaller target and hide his vitals. Hatake was more used to fighting groups; he flash-stepped away the second his back was exposed. Gai preferred to engage regardless of opponent did that mean for the fight? How would Sasuke handle either of them? Think, he had to think.
"Do you think Gai-sensei resents us?" It was a low, low whisper breaking a silence he hadn't realized had fell over the group. Sasuke wasn't supposed to hear that, he was sure. The girl had said it softly, and to her teammates who had all moved away from the rest of the group. How uncomfortable - but it would be even more awkward to walk away, wouldn't it? She'd know Sasuke had overheard.
The boy in spandex responded slowly, "One's will burns strongest in adversity."
"They were evenly matched, before. He was so proud of that." Sasuke tried to tune them out best he could. Focus on the fight, focus on anything else. How the shifting gravel under the jōnins' feet showed their weight distributions, how the tree leaves predicted the shunshin (was that possible?), anything. A clump of dirt scattered at Sasuke's feet and he used the opportunity to distance himself from the other genin.
The spar didn't end spectacularly. Thejōninjust broke apart, one called to another, and then they met to make the seal of reconciliation. The orange brat booed loudly, but it was the right call. They were both dirt-covered and roughed up, the spar wasn't going anywhere unless they started aiming to maim.
And this spandexed, radiant, bowl-headed man running past them on his hands didn't look like he could maim was he going?He disappeared into the woods, but his team didn't look surprised so Sasuke didn't ask.
"Next up, then." said a deep voice behind him. Sasuke startled, all 5 of the rest doing the same, at sudden appearance of the masked man. "We'll see how you measure up."
He was tall. So much taller than Sasuke had expected him to be, even slouched. Only a wedge of his face was visible between his headband and his mask. His head was tilted like he meant to be friendly and his eye closed softly, but the tone of his voice didn't match the projected innocence.
"Ano, will this be, like, a test?" hinted the pink haired girl unsubtly. Right, the test to determine if they would be apprenticed under this man. Sasuke couldn't afford to fail, this was the best option to learn the thingsthat mandid.
"In a manner of speaking," the jonin looked to the other team and pulled out a scroll to hand to them. "Gai has accepted this mission on your behalf. Individual spars against the brats, fight until your opponent yields, is unable to fight, or requires immediate medical attention. Haruno Sakura against Yuan Tenten, Uzumaki Naruto against Hyuuga Neji, and Uchiha Sasuke against Rock Lee."
Kakashi's bones hurt. He expected it, he asked for it, and it was always a little inspiring to watch how Gai refused to compromise, buthe fucking hurt.
Maybe getting beaten up until he couldn't think straight wasn't the best way to initiate target analysis, but in his defense – after reading the finer details in his absolute cat shit mission, needed to get some sense beaten into him or he was going to assassinate theHokage.
People who assassinate their Hokage are probably trash, but people who let Shimura Danzō indirectly dictate 9 pages (beforethe appendixes) of mission parameters are inexcusable threats to the village.
He didn't know if theSandaimehad gone fully senile, didn't read the full text, or if he just never expected Kakashi to abide by the parameters in the first place. It was negligent, any way you looked at it.
True, the scroll was purposefully designed to be confusing. Kakashi himself wasn't done picking it apart yet. Maybe after all his years, theSandaime's long ingrained shinobi paranoia had softened. It was easy, often necessary, to trust in your own system. Trust that whoever writes yourmissions does it correctly, trust that when someone references established code they're pulling on appropriate behavior, trust that when you approve a text it gets transcribed exactly as it is onto the mission scroll.
But shinobi aren't meant to trust so many people. There were too many factors to juggle, too many things to keep track of. That's why Konoha had information choke-points. You trust your commander, you trust your Kage, you trust yourself. Only these are unquestionable.
Kakashi's questioning them now, though. It's a bitter feeling.
Court etiquette and packing lists, these were understandable things for genin to know. Mandating Kakashi have them memorize the Shinobi Sanitation Standards – ANBU protocol for disappearing civilian inconveniences? That was Danzō checking to see how his old friend, Hiruzen, was doing. Was he still sharp enough to notice the difference three capitalized letters made?
And if he didn't catch something like that on one of his pet projects, what else could Danzō have slipped in - not only to mission scrolls, but into the administration?
Underneath the underneath, shadows in shadows. Did the Hokage really not know, was it even possible for such a man to make that simple a mistake? Kakashi's mind said of course, he'd orchestrated similar coups with similarly positioned men, but this was theHokage and if Konoha wasn't safe nowhere was.
Kakashi had tried to see the hidden message. Tried to find what he was supposed to do withall those words and horrible implications because the alternative was near unthinkable, but there were only more traps, more contingencies. He might have been able to skirt some of them, but if Kakashi was found negligent in mission duties not only was he to be court marshaled, but the 'assets' were turned over to Root as per the mission details. Not in so few words, of course, but that was the conclusion spread out over the pages.
So, Kakashi had drunk his regicidal impulses away last night. Right before team assignments seemed a popular time for it. Prospective and established sensei hadgathered to share advice and gripe; Gai found himpredictablyfast.
Many drinks, a few hours sleep, some very necessary reconnaissance, and a traded favor later, Kakashi watched Gai's team decimate the brats he had to make into shinobi.
Haruno Sakura, painstakingly average. She had clearly practiced her forms, memorized a few tactics, but she didn't have a clue how to apply them. Tenten held her back with a barrage of shuriken and surrounded her with foot-spikes. Sakura deflected and dodged the first, but fell directly into the second, having not seen them thrown. Procedural – see threat, deal with threat, locate next threat – but too locked into the idea of a fight to effectively participate in it.
More interesting were the other brat's reactions. Naruto watched Sakura fight like it was sport. He gave it the same enthusiasm he'd given Kakashi's spar with Gai, maybe more. He shouted encouragement, but he didn't put himselfinthe fight. Thoughtless. Like the old faux-ninja movie posters he'd seen in the kid's room, like the dummy bag with crudely drawn faces of his classmates stuck on, like the broken and disregarded equipment he'd assumedly scavenged from various training grounds.
Sasuke was dismissive to an insult. He watched Tenten more than Sakura, but he watched Kakashi more than Tenten. Watched Kakashi more than anything.
Smart, familiar. Kakashi pulled out a notebook and a pen. He opened it mostly flat, doodling a hehenonomoheji. The Uchiha's eyes narrowed and he shifted his hand out of Kakashi's sight. His shoulder still moved, on a slight delay from Kakashi's. Mimicking his movements to figure out what he was writing. He'd clearly figured out a way to continue clan training without the experts around. It might have been the academy, but that little trick was usually taught through the Intelligence Division. His form was off. He was learning from scrolls or adapting a sharingan version of the technique based on something he remembered from Before.
Tentenwas doing her job admirably. Instead of ending the fight she pulled out a battle fan, sweeping away the foot-spikes and charging in with moretaijutsu. She feigned some openings, but Sakura either wasn't fast enough or confident enough to capitalize on them.
"You can give up," Kakashi called out to Sakura. He kept the tone from his voice and only just peeked up from his notebook. No sense in having her think he's goadingher;he really would like to get on to more productive things.
Naruto shot up from where he sat, "No way would Sakura-changive up! She can beat up Bun-head no problem!"
Tenten frowned at the nickname, but only looked up to Kakashi. He shrugged. "It's as good a day as any for a hospital visit."
"Wait!" Sakura shouted, butTentensent another gust of wind at her – stronger this time, cutting through bits of her dress. "What happens if I surrender?"
"The fight ends."
She could barely speak as she braced herself against the winds. "and I'd," Sakura gasped in the reprieves to shout, "still pass?" Ah, had someone spilled about the final genin tests.
He sighed, that hadn't been a factor wanted to introduce right now. He was on the other side of the fight in a flash step, just a foot away from Sakura and unmoved from the winds that pushed her back. "It just means Tenten-san gets a mission bonus," Kakashi explained. "Gai requested a ninjutsu consult for her." Tenten startled at that, suddenly twirling around, swinging her closed fan like a bat and hurdling Sakura into a tree. Kakashi watched her fly with a cursory eye.
"Yes! I knew you were listening, Gai-sensei!" Tenten's fist pumped the air like she hadn't just sent another person to the hospital. (Kakashi didn't suppose she was intentionally vicious, but it was telling all the same.)
Sakura didn't make to get back up. She coughed, spitting blood, and when her hands went to wipe at her mouth she trembled. "I'm done," she said at length, though she looked about to cry.
Kakashi knew she would surrender, it had been clear from the first bout. Still, there was something distasteful curling his mouth, unsatisfied. Pushing people beyond their breaking point was stupid, Kakashi wouldn't ask it of his team. Still, something dark flickered at the sight of her, searching for an out the second she felt , weak, brain spit these words; Kakashi didn't know if he believed them. He'd never say these things to her, he'd never write them on a report, but he felt them all the same.
Naruto started making some sort of loud speech about never giving up. Bold words, bolder promises, but it was Kakashi that knelt next to Sakura. She looked back at him with trepidation. He positioned himself carefully. He kept his shoulders relaxed, made sure not to block the sun, his hands loose and forearms upward as he rested forearms against his knees. The subtle appearance of vulnerability. "Would you let me see the extent of your injuries? I would have to touch you." She nodded hesitantly. "Tell me if this makes you uncomfortable, then."
He kept his hands light, clinical, but this was a young girl and Sakura flushed anyway. She looked away, behind him. To Sasuke. Her face was guarded, carefully blank. Too blank for her fractured ribs. Kakashi brought his hands away, shuffling back to an appropriate distance. He schooled himself into something kind, letting his voice drop like a secret. "Surrender was fine, Sakura-san."
She looked up at him a little brighter. "It was the right choice?"
"No." His response was too immediate, too short for the softness he'd been going for; her face contorted back to something hollow. Ah, linguistic nuance, something Kakashi had fallen out of practice with, he supposed. "Would you like to visit the hospital now or take a pain reliever and go after Sasuke's match?" Perhaps calling out her fascination with the Uchiha was uncomfortably direct, but he needed her to know he knew, and having her observe the rest of the matches would likely be beneficial. He wasn't going to shame her for this, like many things in life she would learn to shame herself soon enough.
"...the pain reliever." Her voice was small, smaller than he could ever remember anyone being.
"Are you currently taking any medications or supplements, or have you taken performance enhancers in the past two weeks?" The girl furrowed her brow, shaking her head. Kakashi pulled out a small corked bottle, shaking a pill into her hand. "Be careful standing then, and fix your headband - it's slipped off."