#like did Kakashi just walk up to Tazuna and Sakura and go:

[glitchy-anime-fan]

I want to know what kind of conversation was had before this??

[mixelation]

@zumer-feygele commented:

Wave Arc where kakashi passes out and summons Minato. Minato says sorry I'm busy I'm sending Tori.

insane take, thank you. here's how it would go

after haku runs off with zabuza, kakashi is like: okay kids, i'm about to execute a super special technique only naruto can learn

naruto: ??!!!! A SPECIAL TECHNIQUE JUST FOR ME-- (sees the kunai) oh >:(

minato shows up and is like umm wtf, how did you run into an A-rank missing-nin on this super easy baby-genin appropriate escort mission??? (Tazuna: (sweats nervously)) But actually Minato has a pretty strict policy against teleporting into international missions and like, he'd break it for kakashi or his son ofc, but also the fear the yellow flash could just show up on any konoha mission anywhere is HOW YOU START A NEW WAR. they're still in fire country, whatever, but if zabuza is dead anyway, minato is sending someone else as back-up. ignore that continuing the mission at all with a genin team is insane bc kakashi and minato are huffing the same paint. also naruto gives him puppy eyes

tori gets sent in with about zero explanation or prep time. she's still holding her lunch.

tori: wait what do you expect me to do?

kakashi: idk im passing out now tho

tori gets them to wave because APPARENTLY this is what they're doing now. i'm not sure she could beat zabuza at this point and frankly neither is she. so she's like, fuck it, i'll just nip this in the bud and assassinate gato. no one die while im gone k thanks

sakura: is she allowed to do that?

kakashi, in bed: don't ask questions about things tori does. also i just realized zabuza is probably still alive so idk let's learn tree walking

so tori does a little recon, figures out where gato is, and then sort of... waltzes in. and then. kakuzu is there??

tori: holy FUCK

kakuzu: how did you get in here?

tori: walked

kakuzu, eyeing her up and down: i heard you were a ninja now

tori: yeah man

kakuzu: you don't look like a ninja

tori: yeah that's how i walked in

gato: WHAT IS HAPPENING. WHO IS THIS

and it turns out kakuzu is here on official akatsuki business to check out zabuza as a potential member, but he got distracted by gato (who is the "richest man in the world"). and tori is like, listen, i hear you, but also i'm preeeetty sure this version of akatsuki would be against be terrorizing a small nation??

kakuzu: no. nothing about the letter of my mission contradicts me letting this play out.

tori: give me your ring i want to talk to your boss

kakuzu: no, what?

and tori is very annoying so he ends up throwing a table and then a lightning bolt at her and she flees. she goes back to tazuna's house and she's like: okay the situation is weirder than i thought it was. tazuna do u have a phone

there's exactly ONE phone in all of wave, located at their general store, so tazuna takes her down there the next morning and sakura gets to go too because she mastered tree walking and is his bodyguard. and tori calls a bunch of numbers and talks to a bunch of people and tells a lot of lies and she gets yahiko on the phone

yahiko: i have.... several concerns about how you got this number

tori: dw about it just tell one of your buddies tori is on the line

konan, ten minutes later: hey, what the fuck? THIS is how you choose to contact us?

tori: yeah uuuuh hey nice to hear from you, could you maybe call kakuzu off? this gato guy is terrorizing a small nation u see--

konan: you figure it out, then. (hangs up)

tori, staring at the receiver: wow.

sakura: so when missing-nin show up, you can just call their manager and complain???

so tori is like FINE then i'll assassinate ZABUZA while he's still out of it, catch these hands. so she bullies kakashi for use of a dog and hunts down zabuza. she's goes in all sneaky like because she'd rather not fight haku, but fucking HIDAN is there.

tori: you know what.

tori: i deserve this. self-care. <3

tori: (ASSASSINATES HIDAN)

and obviously she gets caught because hidan can still scream at u even if you assassinate him. she's also nooot cleared to use the Hiraishin in front of people bc she's not good enough at it yet to dodge the target this WOULD put on her back. so a fucked up zabuza and haku are now brandishing weapons at her, and like, she's at a point where maybe she could win? but tori underestimates herself a lot when it comes to combat and also, she doesn't like doing it, especially when if she got into it with them she'd have to kill them both and haku is like 14, so

tori, soothing tones: it's okay. i'm here to help!

tori: you should totally just stab gato and take the money and run <3

zabuza: wtf? who tf are you

tori: what, so you like being gato's dog?

zabuza: no, obviously not, that's why i'm talking to this freak. (nudges hidan with his toe) i thought i was being recruited for this missing-nin club thing? i can't just turn on my employer

tori: no, no, see, being akatsuki isn't about following orders. it's about malicious compliance to get what akatsuki wants.

hidan, currently beheaded: yeah she's kind of right

haku: i also like this option

zabuza: FINE

so tori goes back to team 7 and is like. okay i may or may not have fixed it. and then in the dead of the night someone goes and blows up the half-built bridge.

tori: hmm. didn't see that one coming.

no one is hurt, but technically zabuza was hired to prevent the bridge from being built, so he demands payment. gato is pretty sure he explicitly asked for the bridge builder killed?? but it was a verbal agreement and the ice kid agrees with zabuza so zabuza is like "pay me or pay with your life." and all this very dramatically goes down in the middle of town because zabuza wants witnesses

gato: >:( no >:( i would rather hire a hundred more missing-nin than pay you for this bullshit >:(

kakuzu: so you're hiring?

so instead of a bridge stand off it's a middle-of-town stand off that's kakuzu and hidan vs zabuza and haku

kakashi: i think you..... made it worse?

tori: i think i made it not our problem :)

but team 7 gets involved because of course they do. tori is like, you can't let the BABIES fight-- but gato sends more of his lower tier goons into the fray and she's OKAY FINE, THE BABIES CAN FIGHT A LITTLE-- because she's realized that while kakuzu is definitely stronger than hidan, fighting kakuzu IS pretty straight-cut, but if Hidan gets your blood, you're fucked. so she's like EXCUSE ME, PARDON ME, MOVE, I AM FIGHTING HIM

kakuzu: you let her kill you again?

hidan's upper torso: SHUT THE FUCK UP

and tori rolls both halves of his body into a barrier and is like. phew. jashin-proofed the battlefield. and then she looks deep inside and is like. oh no. i would be upset if they somehow killed kakuzu. and she would definitely be upset if kakuzu killed one of team 7. so she hops into the fight and is like WHAT IF WE JUST SHARINGAN'D HIM

kakashi: tori, i am not itachi

kakuzu: like itachi does? actually i'm okay with this resolution

so kakashi gets gang-pressed into hypnotizing gato. kakuzu wrings all of gato's financial info out of him, and also all the cash he has with him. the genin are kind of beat up but no one is severely injured. kakuzu leaves with gato's money and both halves of hidan and says akatsuki will be in touch with zabuza. zabuza and haku limp off into the sunset.

sasuke: should we, uh. do anything about them....?

kakashi: uh

kakashi: there's really no protocol for this. i say we leave it

naruto: SASUKE CAN YOU DO THAT WITH YOUR FREAKY EYES?

naruto: oh hey, wait, what about the bridge???

and the bridge can be rebuilt, but the financial strain is even bigger now because they lost all that progress and bunch of their materials. but then the one phone at the general store rings

nagato: hello yes this is the akatsuki calling, i heard you were an impoverished nation looking to ward off ninja goons?

and akatsuki is like yeah we'll toooootally loan you money (with only a SMALL interest!!) and even send security detail! we just want you to buy into our pyramid scheme tiny nation union :)

tori on the way back to konoha: so! what did we learn? :)

sakura: rules are made-up and points don't matter

naruto: you can fix a problem by creating more problems!

sasuke: the sharingan can fix any problem via mind control

kakashi: hold on, kids--

Your talk of genin teams makes me wonder... would team 4 ever be jounin senseis?

rn im not really leaning that way, but i WAS messing with the idea of making tori team 7's sensei for a hot second. but their ages don't really line up, alas. maybe she gets temporarily put in charge while kakashi is busy/injured.....?

[bougiebutchbitch]

I am sorry but YOUR TAGS ASHSKJSJFADA Naruto faints after his fight with Sasuke and the first thing he does when he wakes up is check if his dick has fallen off

oh my goihsdffskjl -

Flash-fic under cut!

Contains: severe mood whiplash, discussion of transness, and non-sexual, educational discussion of genitalia.

Please for the love of god don't tag as tea.cher/stu.dent

Naruto blinks groggily back to consciousness. Above him, the undercanopy bows under the heavy autumn rain. Drops splatter cold on his nose then dribble over the curve of his cheek, down his neck, and puddle in his collar, like spirits are spitting on him from the sky.

It takes a moment for him to remember what happened (Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke) and another, longer, to get his bearings. He's moving. Being carried, in fact - cradled against a familiar chest, loping through the woodland around Konoha at a pace suited to legs far longer than Naruto's own.

"Hey," says Kakashi-Sensei. "You're going to be okay."

His voice is nice and low. All vibratey too, with Naruto curled against him like this. It should make him feel warm. Reassured. Safe.

Naruto kinda hates it.

He isn't okay. Sasuke's gone, and he failed, even though he promised Sakura, and -

and he fought Sasuke and lost.

Sasuke knocked him unconscious. His head still hurts - this weird, throbbing ache, like he's held his breath for too long underwater. Kakashi-Sensei walks rather than jumping, so as not to jostle him more than necessary, but the cadence of his steps still makes Naruto's stomach roil. Or maybe that's just the sudden, gut-wrench realization of what he's lost.

And he's not just talking about Sasuke.

Sensei warned him, didn't he? If he ever passes out in battle...

Naruto goes sheet-white.

"No! Sensei! Sensei, stop! We need to go back!"

His attempt to jackknife out of Kakashi's grasp is about as much use as a rabbit fighting its way out of a snare - and not just because his limbs feel like balloons filled with jelly. Kakashi-Sensei walks onwards, his grip on Naruto sure and solid, somehow managing to keep him restrained without squeezing tight enough to hurt.

"I'm sorry, Naruto." His dark eye flicks down to him, and Naruto sees an echo of his own sorrow there, twisted in a way he doesn't understand. "I'm not a medic. Being knocked out is no small thing, and you need to be assessed. The priority is to get you back to Konoha - after that, I promise I will do everything I can to locate Sasuke and bring him home peacably - "

"No, no!" Naruto wails, still thrashing. "It's like you said! He knocked me out! He knocked me out!"

The slant of Kakashi-Sensei's eye now reads more as perplexed. "...Losses happen to all of us, Naruto. I'm sure Jiraiya can continue to work on your training, if you're concerned - "

Naruto's next wild swing lands on Kakashi’s jaw. If he were of sounder mind, he might suspect Kakashi-Sensei was indulging him. It doesn't matter anyway - the blow isn't hard enough to make him give more than a mild 'oof'.

"I'm concerned about my dick!" he yells.

Kakashi-Sensei's sandals splash to a stop in the midst of a puddle. A fat rain drop splatters over his hitaii-ate, trickles down, and soaks into the stretchy black fabric of his mask.

Naruto takes the ensuing pause as his cue to continue: "Sasuke knocked me out! And - and you told us what happens when that happens!" He clutches the crotch of his trousers in panic. "What if it fell off? What if we left it there? You can't make me leave my dick lying around in the forest, Kakashi-Sensei - anything might happen to it! What if a deer eats it? How am I supposed to pee if a deer eats my dick?"

Kakashi's eye is, now, twitching.

"Ah," he says faintly. "I - I struggle to see where this... misconception may have arisen. But, ah, Naruto, I really don't think you have anything to worry about - "

"But you said!"

Kakashi-Sensei stares at him. "I am certain I did not."

"You did! After our fight with Zabuza! We dragged you back to Tazuna's and you kept mumbling about how your dick had fallen off!"

That revelation has half of the desired effect: namely, Kakashi lets go of him with one arm, so he can pinch the furrowed skin between his eyebrows. Unfortunately, he strengthens his other arm with his freaky-cool chakra control so Naruto has no chance of escape.

"...I said that?"

Naruto nods emphatically. Then a little less emphatically, because it really hurts his head.

"Yeah! You kept fainting and waking up a bit and then fainting again, and you called me Tenzo a couple times and said your dick had fallen off again like it always does when you faint, but it was okay because you had wraps around the bottom of your trousers. But look!"

He kicks a leg in demonstration. A wet leaf is stuck to his ankle, over the sandal strap.

"I don't wear leg-wraps! My trousers are loose at the bottom!"

It's embarrassing to be talking about this with his weird old Sensei, but Naruto has to keep pressing this point. There's nothing else for it. He can't let a deer eat his dick, dammit! He's already lost too much, today!

"There's nothing to keep my dick in if I faint, Kakashi-Sensei! It might've fallen out, so please, we have to go back - "

Kakashi looks up at the rain-heavy canopy and murmurs something that sounds a little like 'give me strength'.

"Has your dick fallen off before?" he asks, bluntly. "Any time when you've fallen asleep?"

Naruto blinks. "Of course not?"

"Then you'll be fine." Kakashi starts walking again, bearing them back in the direction of Konoha. He's falling into Teacher-Mode - flat sleepy eye and a monotone. "It only happens to a small proportion of the male population. Very rare. In fact, it can only happen if you didn't have a dick when you were younger."

Oh! That was a relief. Naruto let himself slump back into Kakashi's arms, huffing out a breath. He'd always had a dick. Of that, he was pretty sure. Which meant he was okay!

Only... wait.

"No dick? Like a girl?" He remembered that much from the single Biology lesson included on their academy curriculum. He'd spent most of the class giggling over the anatomical diagrams with Kiba at the back.

Crunch, crunch, crunch, went Kakashi's sandals, over the curly orange leaves. Or more like smush, smush, smush, thanks to the rain.

"No. Like a boy without a dick. Some boys get theirs later, and some never get them at all."

"Huh. Cool." He really hadn't been paying attention in the Biology lesson, had he?

But right now, Naruto wasn't in the mood for a lecture. He let the patter of rain wash over them, and the smush smush of soggy leaves, curling tighter against Kakashi's chest like a bright orange pillbug. Thinking of another boy, walking in the opposite direction, towards an opposite destiny. Utterly alone.

"I wonder if Sasuke has a dick," he whispers.

Kakashi stumbles for the first time since Naruto regained consciousness. That's weird - Naruto didn't know elite shinobi did that. Still, his bored expression never changes, and neither does his grip on Naruto's shoulders and legs. "That's a very private thing, Naruto. Not something to speculate on, or ask other people. If they want you to know, they'll tell you." Smush, smush, smush. "...Or, I suppose, they'll blurt something incredibly inappropriate to their young students, while half-conscious."

Naruto cocks his head. "Like you did, Sensei?"

He can tell that Kakashi's grimacing under the mask. "Sorry about that."

Naruto has far more things to be sorry about, today. "I suppose it's a good recap of stuff I forgot from school," he mutters, tugging his jacket sleeves further down his wrists. They're horribly wet and clingy. The rain still sheets around them, loud enough that they have to speak up to be heard, and the cold has sunk through Naruto's skin and into his bones.

He needs to be back in his smelly old apartment, wrapped around his single working radiator. He needs to inhale a bowl of warm ramen. He needs to see Sasuke again.

And he will, he promises himself. He will.

Kakashi glances up at the scant few clearings in the canopy, as if trying to gauge how long the downpour will last from the greyness of the sky. It sucks the colour out of the world, and Kakashi-Sensei doesn't have much of that to start with. He looks like a wet smudge of charcoal. "They don't actually teach a lot of this stuff in school. People are just left to figure it out on their own."

"Eh?" Talking about this is a good distraction from Sasuke, at least. Whenever the conversation lulls, Naruto's mind sinks back down that path, following a raven-haired bastard into the dark. "But that's so confusing! Dicks and no-dicks and girls and boys and - "

"It's only as confusing as you make it, I guess."

Naruto crosses his arms and pouts. "Yeah, well. We're not all smart like you, Sensei. Tell ya what - when I'm Hokage, I'll make sure this stuff is taught properly, okay?"

Kakashi blinks. Then his eye curves in that way that means he's smiling. Thanks to the rain, Naruto can almost - almost! - see the actual expression on his face, his wet mask conforming to the line of his mouth - but he looks away. It feels wrong, somehow, to get a glimpse of Kakashi-Sensei's face if Sasuke's not here to tell about it.

Everything feels wrong, if Sasuke's not here.

"Okay, Naruto," says Kakashi-Sensei, as he carries him out of the forest, into the shadow cast by the Konoha gates. "You do that."

Naruto's fist - the one not buried in Kakashi's flak-jacket, clinging on just as tight as he did on Kannabi bridge - settles over his own heart. He's already sworn to do so much. He'll become Hokage. He'll show Sasuke that he's his equal. He'll keep his promise to Sakura, and he'll bring his lost teammate home.

He supposes it's no big hassle to add another task to that list.

#

Twenty years later, Boruto will walk into his first Sex and Gender Ed class - just another one of many reformations, kicked off by old man Sixth and finalised and streamlined by dad.

For his project, he has to make a presentation on the history of Sex and Gender Education in Konoha, how it's changed, old attitudes versus new. Seeing as he can go right to the source, he grabs grandpa Kakashi and dad and asks them both point blank why they set up the class.

Kakashi and Naruto stare at each other for a long moment.

They're both older, yes. Wiser too - although that's debatable. But there's one truth that remains eternal: that Kakashi is a little shit.

Ignoring all of his student's projected eyebrow-shaped pleas not to go there, Kakashi leans back in his chair, blows steam from his tea, stretches out his achy knee and starts -

"So, this one time when he was thirteen, your dad thought his dick had fallen off - "

[silverstarlightlion]

the final entry in the team seven dies on the bridge au - this one got way away from me but oh well, I’m not editing it because that’s not how this chain works

Team Seven take the mission to the Land of Waves. On the bridge, they fight Zabuza and Haku.

On the bridge, Kakashi dies.

It happens in a flash, a shout and a burst of chakra and blood. The ice mirrors trapping Sasuke and Naruto in with Haku crack and break, and there's a high-pitched electric whine that lasts for a moment longer than the voices, before everything turns eerily, horribly silent.

In the ghostly silence, the mirrors collapse and smash into the half-finished Bridge, shattering, and Team Seven comes apart and shatters with them. Kakashi drops to one knee – thud – as the lightning in his palm winks out, and Zabuza steps back with a sneer. At his side, Haku lowers their hands, ignores the streak of blood across their side, and relaxes their stance. They move into Zabuza’s wake, following him as he strides past. Towards Sakura.

Towards Tazuna.

Naruto shouts, incoherent, and all at once he's wreathed once more in the strange and sticky red chakra, and throwing himself at Zabuza. Sakura is struck dumb, frozen, unblinking, watching Zabuza approach with sightless eyes, her kunai still held before her – her grip is textbook and too tight, and wavers when the Kiri-nin get too close.

She doesn't move, as Haku lashes out to stop Naruto's descent, flings him back. She doesn't move when Zabuza walks past her. She doesn't move as Sasuke snarls and jumps after Haku as well, as their fight re-engages. She doesn't move when Tazuna cries out behind her, she doesn't move when her name rings in her ears, she doesn't move when it ends with a whimper and a gurgle. Sakura doesn't move as Zabuza sets his sword on her shoulder.

She thinks, for a minute that lasts her whole lifetime, that Zabuza’s going to kill her too. She's not sure that she minds.

It's only when Zabuza grunts, dismissive, and turns on his heel – taking his sword with him, leaving a nick in her collar so shallow it doesn't even hurt – that Sakura finds the will to move. Gasps in a deep breath, like she's been drowning. Naruto and Sasuke are still fighting around her, flashing back and forth as Haku fends them off, but it all just sounds like echoes as she remembers how to walk and starts creeping towards Kakashi-sensei.

He's sprawled gracelessly, and his head is turned just a little too far to the side. He's half on his stomach, shoulders flat to the concrete, with one leg crumpled up underneath him. The grim, grey light of overcast morning winter is reflecting in his eyes, a glimmer that feels like a lie.

"Kakashi-sensei…?" she hears herself ask, her voice absolutely tiny, and her knees give way to drop her at Kakashi's side. Naruto is shouting something behind her, getting distant, and Sakura can't tell if he's moving away from her or if she just can't trust her senses anymore, but she can't bring herself to try figure it out. Her ears are ringing. Kakashi doesn't respond – doesn't move, doesn't blink, doesn't lift his gaze to her. His pupils don't respond to the light, too dilated. His mismatched irises are almost eclipsed. "... Kakashi… sensei…?" Her voice is a ghost in her own throat. When she reaches out, it feels like watching someone else do it; her hand is shaking violently, numb and cold, and her very skin feels like it doesn't belong to her, clingy and fuzzy and tingling all at once, like she's both trying to crawl out of herself and is the thing trying to be climbed out of.

Kakashi's face is warm when she touches him. It's a struggle to roll him over, the effort a blur of sound and nauseating breathlessness as she grips his shoulder and pushes. He's limp, utterly so, and his limbs drag and twist when she manages to get him more on his side. There's no movement in his chest or stomach.

He doesn't blink. He's not breathing.

The blood is pooling underneath him where Haku had torn a hole in his side, from all the cuts Zabuza gave him. When Sakura touches his face again, tries to turn his head even though she doesn't even know why, she can feel the broken bones in his neck grind.

Her tears taste like bitter acid as she collapses, each sob into Kakashi's unbreathing chest torn out of her as if she's turning inside out. Sakura can feel each beat of her own heart, like being kicked, a thunderous stomping in her ears, and it's a betrayal of the highest order when she can't feel Kakashi's under her hands. She thinks she screams, maybe. She's not sure.

It's not real. It can't be real. If she can just cry hard enough, if she can get out the huge, heavy, writhing thing that's crawling up her throat, if she can just make it all stop for just a moment, she can make it stop being real. Because it has to be a lie.

Kakashi is one of the strongest shinobi in Konoha. He's their teacher. He's improper and lazy and grouchy, and he's fought so hard to get this mission done, and he can't be dead. There's so much more he still has to teach them.

She thinks that one of them touches her, maybe, but it registers only as searing pain and she cries out between choking sobs, and it's only when she eventually has to pull back from Kakashi— From Kakashi's… body… from Kakashi that she remembers she's got the incredible misfortune to exist, and that there's still a solid world around her. It's revolting. That the world dares to continue being when it should be shattered.

But she pulls back, because her sobs are getting caught in her throat and she's gagging on them, stomach convulsing as the force of her crying slides into violent coughing, until she jolts and vomits.

Naruto, returned from the fruitless chase, keeps at Sakura's side and rubs her back, and tries to figure out what to say. How it could have possibly gone so wrong. They should have won. They were supposed to win – they were supposed to save Inari and prove that goodness meant something and make sure that Waves would be okay.

But there's nothing but the cold wind and the grey sky and blood on all sides, and the smell of death and salt and bile while Sakura struggles to breathe through her tears and retching.

Sasuke hasn't made a sound. He stands a few feet away, eyes dark, staring at Kakashi with hatred and icy anger. His hands are clenched. He knows too well that Kakashi is dead and they failed and it doesn't mean a damn thing. Because life is cheap and death is worthless. Sasuke is seven years old again, and trying to figure out how to say goodbye to the corpses that are no longer his parents, and Kakashi will never even know if they mourn him or not. He can't find the will to care or fight or cry. It doesn't matter. None of it matters. Nobody matters.

Death comes for all. Why should it mean anything if it found Kakashi now, or later? It would find everyone eventually.

Sasuke would make sure of it.

And across the countries, far beyond the knowledge of the now-lost genin, Konoha is split apart with the howls of eight ninken.

It's the ninken who find them first, in the end. They haven't moved from the bridge, half-completed, when the ninken arrive. It's late afternoon, and they've huddled together and done not much else. Sakura is in a small ball, curled up on the ground and holding onto Kakashi's body like he might still wake up at any moment and give her something to do. Sasuke stands nearby, arms folded, silent. He's watching, guarding, perhaps, except that he spots the ninken incoming and says nothing and moves neither to block their approach or welcome it. There are several Narutos milling about, one sitting with Sakura, hand still rubbing her back, while the others do… something. Even they're not really sure. But Naruto is a creature of action, and he can neither figure out what it is he's supposed to do nor tolerate the prospect of doing nothing.

There are Anbu on the ninken's tails, and they quickly take charge of the situation, and everything blurs together into noise and colour and pain.

When they arrive back at Konoha, the Anbu have to drag Sasuke up to the Hokage Tower with them. Naruto trudges alongside voluntarily, his gaze straying constantly to Kakashi – pale and still and cold and stiff in the Anbu's arms – and he silently prays that Grandpa Hokage will know what to do, because everything… seems a lot less simple than it did before, suddenly. Sakura offers no resistance, tucked against another Anbu's chest as she has been since they first picked her up in Waves Country. She's still shaking, each breath shallow and rattling, her gaze distant and empty. Putting her down isn't an option. Naruto is pretty sure she would simply stay curled on the ground where she was set, if the Anbu was to put her down.

Hirizen is unusually serious, when they're taken into his office, but that makes sense, Naruto supposes. The death of a Konoha jōnin is a big deal. Orders are given over their heads, and Naruto stays quiet despite the endless questions clawing at the inside of his ribcage, because Hiruzen does know what to do, obviously, because of course he would, so Naruto just has to wait until he tells them what they're supposed to do.

Right?

And it'll be okay? Like it's supposed to be?

… 

Sasuke fights. He snarls, and then shouts, and then draws a kunai. The Anbu who'd dragged him up here in the first place knocks him unconscious, somehow, too fast for the genin to track, and carries him out. Sakura doesn't even ask where they're taking him.

And she… quits. Not on the spot, it's not until they attend Kakashi's funeral – and Sasuke attends too, shackled to an Anbu member, and it's the first time they've seen him since Hiruzen's office – but at the end of the day, when almost everyone else has gone, when Sasuke's gone (and he didn't even acknowledge them, didn't say a word to them, ignored Naruto's shouting after him when the Anbu walked him away), she finally finally finds her voice to speak. She's been silent since the bridge.

"I'm… I'm quitting," she whispers to him, while her parents stand just a teeny bit back to give them space. Her eyes, dull and hollow green, are fixed on Kakashi's headstone. "I can't do this. I can't do anything."

She sets her hitai-ite on Kakashi's grave, and Naruto never sees her in training again.

He finds out where Sasuke is, through a combination of stubborn defiance and reckless rule-breaking. Hiruzen allows him into what can only be a secret Anbu facility, and takes him down endless stairs until finally he sees the torchlit cage that Sasuke is in. He's doing pushups when they arrive.

It isn't until Naruto appeals to him as a friend that Sasuke finally stops, gets to his feet, storms up to the bars. "We are not friends," he hisses.

"What are you going to do?" Naruto can't think of anything else to ask him. What can he possibly be doing? How can he be okay down here?

"I'm going to kill the people who deserve it."

Naruto visits Sasuke six more times, and six more times he's almost fully ignored while Sasuke ceaselessly trains, alone in the dark, as if he doesn't even care that he's locked up like some kind of criminal. Naruto dares once to ask Hiruzen to let Sasuke go, and he learns that day just why the Kage's are so respected and so feared. It's the first time he's ever been scared of Hiruzen, and no amount of apologies or make-up ramen afterwards can undo it.

If this is what being Hokage really means, Naruto's no longer sure that he wants it.

The seventh time, Sasuke is gone, and no one will tell Naruto where he's gone.

When, months later, Iruka takes Naruto to meet Jiraiya, Naruto leaps on the offer of training. He's been… not wallowing, but his team has disintegrated and his training has gotten spotty. He needs a teacher, someone incredibly strong like Jiraiya, because Naruto has to get stronger. He needs to get strong enough to protect the people who matter. He needs to be strong to make sure that nobody else dies because he couldn't stop it – he needs to, because maybe if he can get there, if he can promise safety, then he can earn back his family. Sasuke and Sakura had been, pretty much, for the short time they'd been a team.

His team was everything. How could he protect Konoha if he can't even protect his teammates?

And so Naruto leaves with Jiraiya, single-minded and dogged, and if he pushes too hard too fast then it's all Jiraiya can do to try and keep up with Naruto's pathological need to chase strength.

…

Sasuke relinquishes freedom. He has no use for it. In the dead of night, he's whisked out of the Anbu Red Vault and into a silent promise of power and revenge. He allows the Seal to be placed on his tongue without resistance. He's called upon, eventually, to murder the other child he's been trained alongside, and he does so without hesitation or mercy. He dons the black uniform and the pale mask and he carves himself into nothing more than a blade, and he lays himself in Danzō's hand. One day, he is promised, he'll be the weapon wielded to end Itachi's life.

…

And Sakura leaves. She does it out of mercy, she thinks at first. It's her fault, after all, that Kakashi is dead. That Sasuke is gone. That Naruto is alone. She knows nothing of their fates, and she dares not ask after them, because if she involves herself then, she's sure, she's just going to get in their way.

And it’s a guilt that she's finally realised she isn't strong enough to carry. She stood by, on the bridge, and she did nothing. It doesn't matter that she was Tazuna's last line of defence; Tazuna is dead. It doesn't matter that she was told to guard him; the man who gave that order is dead, too.

It's her fault, it's her fault, it's her fault, it's HER FAULT.

So she sneaks out, and she means it to be mercy, because the only way she can think of to make sure she never does it again – does nothing – is… if she's not around to. And it's mercy, really, if she doesn't force her parents to be the ones who find her. She's never been able to scrub her own skin free of the way Kakashi's had felt. Warm and faintly damp with sweat and smooth between the endless minute scars, cooling into tacky rigidity. He'd still looked like himself, when the ninken had got there, but he'd felt like stone under her hands. Like he wasn't real.

Like none of it was real.

Sakura decides, in the dead of night, that she's willing to give anything to make it not real.

And, in the end, someone extends mercy to her parents but it's not her. The first moment of freefall, when she jumps off the edge of the Hokage monument, is exhilarating. Freedom. Safety. She's going to escape, and she won't have to take down anyone else with her ever again.

The next few seconds overwhelm her with terror, and Sakura loses her grip on reality as it suddenly registers what her freedom really means, and as the ground hurtles up towards her, all Sakura can think is that she's afraid. Like she was on the bridge. Like maybe that's all there is, after all. Fear.

So when a pair of arms wraps around her and snatch her out of the air, Sakura clings on and sobs without knowing who it is that's saved her, or if it’s even real, and it feels like being on the bridge all over again. But the arms stay close, hold on tight, and eventually Sakura manages to remember how her senses work.

"... Gai-sensei?"

He's still dressed in his signature green jumpsuit, but there's a grimness to him that's unfamiliar. Holding her entire meagre weight close to his chest with just one arm, Gai brushes her hair back out of her face, sticky and matted with snot and tears. "It's going to be okay, Sakura." She can't wrap her head around why Gai's here. How is he here? But Gai glances at her at the same moment Sakura realises he's walking, and she can't get the whine in her throat to make any more words, but Gai seems to understand. "If you were to die now, then Kakashi died to protect you for no reason. And I know you don't want to squander that."

Her fault. But Gai says it differently. Like for her isn't the same as her fault. Was it for her? Sakura isn't sure of anything, anymore. If anyone knows, it must be Gai-sensei. A shudder goes through her, and she buries her face in Gai's shoulder. Her senses are screaming at her, her heart still wild and painful in her chest. It seems to think she's still falling to her death.

"... What can I do?" It was already squandered. Wasn't it? Sakura couldn't do anything. She'd stood by and watched.

But Gai grunts, pets her back. "It's never too late to stop giving up. Get strong. Protect the things Kakashi can't anymore. Protect yourself. Protect Konoha."

And it’s pathetic, but Sakura is pretty sure she's pathetic no matter what, so she scrunches up her hands in Gai's shirt, and wishes they would stop shaking so bad, and shakes her head. "I can't. I'm not strong. I'm… I'm not strong."

"You're here." She almost wasn't.

And the whine breaks out. "I'm here bec-cause I'm weak. B-because he was— was strong."

Gai hums. She can't tell if it's agreement or not. "So do him proud. I'll show you how." Gai loosens his grip, just a little, and picks up Sakura's head. Forces her to meet his gaze. His face is oddly shadowed in the moon- and lamplight. "It's not easy. It's never easy. But it's worth it. You're strong – let me show you just how strong you are."

They're on the other side of the village, Sakura thinks, now that she's looking around. Still shaking – shivering, really – but they're in a residential area, closer to the outskirts, where the houses have little gardens and families and—

Gai carries her to a house. Lee is on the porch, watching anxiously.

"Why are you doing this?" Sakura manages to ask, while Gai brings her inside, and carefully deposits her on a couch. Lee appears at his side a moment later, and he offers Sakura a glass of water. Automatically, she takes it, and Gai steadies her hands so she doesn't drop it. Their faces are blurry through her tears. "Why…?"

It's Lee who speaks up, and he's quieter than usual but no less intense. "Because when we lose a family member, we should come together to support each other." Gai nods, beams at Lee proudly. "Kakashi-sensei was Gai-sensei's family, so he was my family. And you're Kakashi-sensei's family, so you're our family."

The water tastes like adrenaline and steel when Sakura makes herself sip it, but the gentle chill of it diffuses in her chest and something she doesn't have words for eases slightly.

"I couldn't have said it better myself, Lee," Gai says, pulling Lee down into a hug with his free arm. "So. Let us help you be strong, like Kakashi wanted."

It's surreal. So many things have happened in so little time; a few minutes ago, Sakura had been convincing herself to jump from the top of the Hokage monument. How can this feel so different, so quickly? She's in— Is she in Gai-sensei's house? And it can't fucking be real – but nothing feels real anymore, hasn't for a while now, and… if anyone knows what Kakashi wanted, then it's Gai.

And it’s Gai.

… Can he really teach her strength? Does it matter?

"He's not totally gone while we remember him," Lee says quietly, and he lays a hand on Sakura's knee. "So if we do what he wanted, then it's like he accomplished his goals."

It doesn't make a lot of sense to Sakura, because Kakashi-sensei is definitely gone, but… Well, she can always jump off a high place later. Maybe they're right? Would Kakashi want her to learn strength from Gai?

Sakura drinks the rest of the water.

"Okay."

[thebonggirll]

chapter seven

< previous: chapter six

The fog was so thick, it was impossible to see through it. The Land of Waves was close as the bridge was nearby. Team 7 had been doing D-rank missions for some time now. It was a necessity for a genin to hone skills in order to become stronger. No doubt in it, Naruto complained about it every day. But they had no choice but to obey the Hokage's orders. For the time being, their mission is to escort Tazuna back to his village safely.

It did seem quite easy and Naruto finally stopped complaining since this was the first time he got out of the village. But well, their luck wasn't exactly brilliant. As they made their way to the Land of Waves, two chūnin-level Kiri-nin emerged from a puddle and bound Kakashi with shuriken-laced chains, before pulling and ripping him apart. With Kakashi "defeated", the duo turned their attention to Naruto, who froze up.

This was really unexpected. Y/N didn't expect the boy who learned a hidden ninja technique to become numb in the situation. But before she reached Naruto, Sasuke intervened and saved him already. The duo then split up, leaving one behind as the other charged at Tazuna. Y/N threw her shuriken towards him, but it was of no use. He easily deflected them away. She then ran towards him, to throw a kunai from a closer distance. Sakura stepped in front of Tazuna to defend him and Sasuke appeared in front of her to aid. Before anything further happened, Kakashi appeared and effortlessly defeated the duo, though Naruto did get a small scratch from one of their Metal Gauntlets, which contained poison.

It maddened Y/N when she knew about how Kakashi used the Body Replacement Technique to escape the duo's initial attack, suspecting an ambush when he discovered their puddle on a clear day.

Kakashi appreciated everyone except Naruto, and it looked like he was disheartened about it. He wasn't one to get things to him except if it came on the way of his goal. Kakashi later revealed that it was a B-rank mission. Sakura requested that they should go back as Naruto was injured.

But, Naruto did something that Y/N only heard of doing before. She never saw him do it in front of her eyes. He took a kunai and hit the area where he was poisoned to stop it.

He didn't want to jeopardize the mission.

Y/N looked at Naruto who patiently sat on the boat and looked out for any sign of the village. She didn't tell anyone about what she saw but she was sure that Kakashi definitely saw it happen - Naruto's hand healed on its own. She couldn't understand it. Why is the power that everyone feared to be so destructive healing Naruto in the first place? If Naruto got weak, wouldn't it be easier for the Nine-Tails to take over him? There were still some things that were unclear to her.

She decided to concentrate on Tazuna's words about the mission. In short, an extremely wealthy businessman called Gatō started controlling travel and shipping, and a bridge that was about to be built could put a stop to his exploitation. Tazuna was a bridge builder and as he came from a poor country, he could not afford any high-ranked missions.

Soon, they passed the bridge and arrived at the village.

"Okay, take me to my home. And by that, I mean in one piece," Tazuna said.

"Right," Kakashi said, starting to lead them to their destination.

Y/N walked slowly beside Naruto and looked at his bandaged hand. "Hey," she muttered in a low voice, "Are you feeling okay?"

"What?" Naruto said, "Oh you mean my hand? Yes! I'm doing great! I took the poison out!"

"You did?" she asked.

"Hey! You saw me there using my kunai, didn't you?" he said.

"Oh I know, I was just making sure," Y/N said.

Right, making sure if Naruto was aware of it. And turns out this thick-headed boy was completely oblivious. It surprised her how he wasn't aware of his injury getting healed. If he was injured like everyone else, there would still be a stinging feeling, right? If it felt completely fine, then there has to be something else.

Or maybe, Naruto's injuries healed since he was a kid. So he was completely unaware of how it really felt when someone gets stabbed. It takes a lot of time to heal, that's for sure.

"Hey, did you even get any sleep last night?" Naruto asked.

"Kind of...why?"

"You have dark circles," Sakura said and came closer to her. "I'll give you a homemade remedy for it! You can use it if you want!"

Y/N smiled at her and nodded her head. Sakura and her...were a lot different. They had a different way of thinking. And neither did know what topic to hold on to talk about unless it was about ninja or studies related. It really sucked, but Y/N didn't want to make her an enemy when they barely knew each other.

"Nightmares again?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah," Y/N answered.

"What do you even get nightmares about?"

Her heart started beating faster. What would she even tell him? She heard weird voices? Sounds cowardly. What if they make fun of how she was scared of such a small thing?

"Shut up, Naruto."

Y/N looked over at the emotionless raven-haired boy. Out of everyone else, she didn't him to be the one to speak up for her. But then again, Sasuke probably had more experience in this than she did. He looked over her once in a skeptical manner and then walked faster.

"Naruto!" Sakura punched his face, "You don't ask stuff like that!"

"Wait, why.." Naruto grumbled holding his head. Sakura looked at her apologetically as Y/N offered her a small smile.

Something needs to be done. She can't keep losing her sleep, especially over trivial matters like nightmares. Besides, there will come a day when she has to talk about it. They were her closest people right now. She just wasn't...ready.

Well, if no one else, Kakashi would definitely understand right?

"Oh, I'm sorry little rabbit, I'm sorry!" Naruto apologized cuddling the rabbit which he suspected to be a rogue ninja hiding behind the bushes and following them on their way.

Y/N stared at the rabbit. For someone who spent most of her time training in the forest with her father, she knew it was a white snow rabbit. It was unusual since the ones with white fur only come out during winter when the days are short and there's little sunlight. She didn't know how it got out here unless it was raised indoor like a pet.

Something felt very wrong about the situation.

She walked towards her teacher and tugged on his sleeves. She was pretty sure he knew about the situation but in order to confirm her suspicions she needed to tell him about it. "Sensei?" she said in a small voice, "The rabbit-"

"Look out!" Kakashi shouted pulling her into safety but holding her head down to duck. A giant sword spun over them and a ninja appeared on the handle of the sword. "Well, well, if it isn't Zabuza Momochi, a rogue ninja from the village hidden in the mist."

As they talked to each other, Y/N heard the word 'sharingan' mentioned several times. If she wasn't incorrect, only the Uchihas have the dōjutsu. But his surname was different. And with all the stories she heard about the Uchiha massacre, she was sure Sasuke to be the only one left with it. She slowly walked to the back of Tazuna while the rest of the team took respective positions on front, left, and right.

"Now quick, protect the bridge builder and stay out of this fight. I taught you teamwork, now it's time to use it," Kakashi said, slowly revealing his left eye. Naruto, Sakura, and Tazuna looked pretty confused; and Sasuke filled in with little information he knew.

"Enough talking," Zabuza said, "I need to exterminate the old man. So, I'll have to eliminate you first, eh Kakashi? So be it."

Y/N couldn't see a single thing when her eyes were focused on observing the backside of Tazuna in case Zabuza came from behind. Slowly the mist around them started getting thicker.

"As the name suggests, the silent killing technique is used to kill silently in an instant. The Sharingan cannot fully neutralize it. So don't lower your guard," Kakashi said, "Well if we fail. We only lose our lives."

"How can you say that?" Sakura shouted.

"Well, you are an old man so you won't care but we are not!" Y/N shouted.

Every one of them was shivering in fear - even Sasuke. Y/N was a bit glad to be positioned on the backside or her knees would've given out.

"Sasuke! Calm down! I'll protect you with my life. I'll not allow my comrades to die, trust me," Kakashi said.

"Don't be so sure!" Zabuza said appearing in front of Tazuna.

Turns out Naruto still felt a bit of pain in his hand. Y/N realized healing his hand was fast but not fast enough for it to recover immediately.

"What are you doing? I told you to run! This fight was over the moment I got caught! Your mission is not to prove how brave you are, it's to stay on mission!" Kakashi shouted from inside of Zabuza's Water Prison Technique.

Zabuza was busy talking about his past. Y/N looked around and thought of the only way that the man could be defeated. By releasing their teacher and helping them. There was no doubt in the fact that genins were nothing compared to jounin. She quickly jumped towards the forest.

"Y/N! Where are you going!" Sakura shouted. Y/N could hear her two guy friends getting thrashed by the man. Fear crept into her heart as she apologized internally to them and started going near the water body. She crawled under the water, hoping to get unnoticed.

She could still hear them talk. Naruto shouted about shadow clone jutsu while Sasuke shouted something about shuriken. She needed to do something fast.

Creating a shadow clone of her own, she swam a little far behind where Zabuza was standing holding Kakashi in his prison jutsu. Her shadow clone quickly swam towards them and as it was almost near, she heard him shout, "You think you're being sneaky?"

This was followed by a slash on the shadow clone with the shuriken he caught with his left hand. Y/N's clone disappeared. Now it was her turn to move. If not anything, it will give her team enough time to come up with something.

Moving fast towards Zabuza, she took out her shuriken and threw it towards him. Zabuza quickly deflected it away. Her eyes spotted another shuriken coming towards them, so she quickly jumped out of the way to the right. Observing her eyes, Zabuza turned around and jumped up in time to avoid getting hit. Y/N was about to move forward again when a popping sound made her realize the plan Naruto and Sasuke devised.

The shuriken popped into Naruto, who threw a shuriken in Zabuza's direction, making him lose his hold on Kakashi. He spun the other shuriken in his hand and turned towards Naruto about to attack him when it stopped spinning.

Kakashi stood in front of him, hand on the shuriken.

"I got distracted and lost my grip on the water prison," Zabuza said.

"Don't fatter yourself. You weren't distracted, you were forced to let go," Kakashi said, "Your technique worked on me once. But it won't work again."

next: chapter eight >

season one

the reaper of the sea

MASTERLIST

[bakubabes-tatakae]

The Uchiha In The Leaves (Part Four)

Author’s Note: If anyone wants to be in a taglist for this feel free to let me know! Happy to do it for anyone!

(Kakashi Hatake x Reader)

Summary: What happens when Y/N finally returns to the Village Hidden in the Leaves? Her life is flipped upside down when not only does she find the man that’s awaited her return, but she finds someone she thought she’d never see again.

AO3 Link

Part One, Part Two:*NSFW Ahead!*, Part Three

Part Four:

Word Count: 5055

*Kakashi's P.O.V*

As the kids ran through the woods their mission was clear, they were becoming seasoned, they knew what they were doing. They all answered Y/n and I when our voices emerged through their earpieces. 

Sasuke’s brooding voice was heard first. “This is Sasuke, I’m at point B.”

The bubbly pink-haired Genin spoke next. “It’s Sakura, I’ve made it to point C.”

And finally the number-one knuckle head Genin. “Naruto, I’m at point A. Believe it.”

I scolded Naruto through the headset. His response should have come sooner. If we were out of the village on a real mission we would have assumed something had happened to him. “You’re slow Naruto.”

As I attempted to scold him further Y/n cut me off. “Okay, squad seven. The target is moving, follow it.”

The kids all surrounded a lone bush. I watched them closely, they all had determination in their eyes. “What’s your distance from the target?” 

Naruto was first to answer me this time, clearly learning his lesson. “Five meters, I’m ready, just give the signal.”

Sasuke nodded. “I’m ready too.”

Sakura blushed as she watched Sasuke intently. “So am I.”

“Okay, now!” The kids all sprang for the bush, each wrestling a small brown cat. Naruto was the first of them to grab and not let it slip. He hugged it tightly so I changed my focus to Sasuke. “Can you verify the ribbon on the right ear?”

He turned back toward Naruto, taking a glance at the cat. “Affirmative, we’ve got a positive ID.”

Y/n gushed with excitement, grabbing my arm and squeezing. “Right, lost pet, Tora, captured. Mission accomplished!”

Naruto was never pleased with the missions we picked for them. The cat hissed as Naruto spoke about it. “Can’t we get a better mission than this! I hate cats!”

* * * * * *

 When we got back with Tora the owner was overjoyed to see her. The cat writhed with anger as her owner’s grip around it tightened and she made it a pancake as she squeezed it to her face. It screamed at her as she squeezed it, the owner none the wiser. 

The five of us stood before her, Naruto still brewing about the hiss he had gotten in the woods. “Dumb cat.” He laughed at himself. ‘He deserves to get squashed.”

Sakura’s look turned to horror. “No wonder he ran away.”

We made our way to the Hokage to get our next mission. Our leader spoke to us. “Now then, for squad seven’s next mission we have several available tasks. Among them; babysitting the chief counselors three year old, helping his wife do the shopping, digging up potatoes, and-”

Our faces turned to cringe as Naruto spoke over him. “NO! I want a real mission. Something challenging and exciting, not this little kid stuff! Come on old man!”

I was dumbfounded by Naruto’s actions, not that it should have surprised me. Nothing Naruto did surprised me anymore, I was accustomed to his stupidity.

Y/n looked over at him, trying to ease the tension a little. “Naruto, enough.”

Suddenly Iruke stood up and slammed his hands on the table before us, jumping the five of us. “How dare you?! You’re just a new Genin with no experience, like everything else you start with a simple mission to work on your skills and prove yourself!”

Something was bothering Naruto today, we could all tell as he fought back. “Are you serious? Babysitting is not a mission, it’s just stupid…”

I lifted my fist and sunk it into the top of Naruto’s head, he fell to the ground holding his head, a welt already starting to grow. Y/n and I were never going to hear the end of this one. “Will you put a lid on it?”

The Hokage’s look had never faltered as he looked on at Naruto. “Naruto, it seems you do not understand the task you have been given.” Naruto stopped rubbing the welt on his head, silencing his bellyaching, to look up at the Hokage. “Listen, many kinds of tasks come into our village every day, from babysitting to assassinations. These requests are carefully recorded and analyzed.” He lifted a hand to point at the scrolls in front of him. “They are ranked A, B, C, or D, depending on their difficulty. We ninja are also ranked by ability. Hokage at the top, Jonin, Chunin, and Genin at the bottom. At the highest level we pick missions and assign them to ninja with the proper experience. If the mission is successful we receive a fee that supports our village and our work. Since you are untried Genin, just starting down the Shinobi path; you are given D level assignments, of course.”

The five of us had zoned out during the Hokage’s speech, beginning our own conversation, regretting it not too long after as the Hokage’s booming voice was heard above ours. “SILENCE!” The anger was clear on his face.

I placed my hand on the back of my head, rubbing it. “Oh… sorry.”

Y/n smiled an apologetic smile toward him. 

Naruto’s next wisecrack of the day escaped his lips. “You always lecture me like you’re my grandfather or something. But, I’m not that little bra that used to pull pranks all the time. I’m a ninja now, I want a ninja mission.” He turned around and sat down, sulking.

Y/n shot a glare at Naruto before turning to me. “We’re going to hear about this later.”

I rubbed my head nervously again. “Yea, we are.”

The Hokage chuckled. A huge surprise to us all. “Naruto wanted us to know that he’s not a brat, just a former brat, and he wants a mission. So be it.” Y/n and I looked up at him with wide eyes. “Since you are determined I’m going to give you a C ranked mission. You’ll be bodyguards on a journey.”

Naruto turned back around to face him. “Really? Yes!” He jumped up. “Who, who? Are we guarding a princess? Or some big wig counselor?”

“Don’t be so impatient. I’ll bring him in now.” He looked to his right. “Send in our visitor.”

A bigger man in a sun hat, clearly intoxicated and barely able to make coherent sentences came out. “What the? A bunch of snot nosed kids?” He took another swig from his bottle. “And you, the little on, with the idiotic look on your face, you really expect me to believe you’re a ninja?”

Naruto laughed as he looked between both of his fellow Genin. “Who’s the little one with the idiotic look on his…” Realization hit him as he realized he was the smallest. 

Naruto tried to run at him and I grabbed the back of his jacket, holding him back with ease. A sigh left my lips. “You can’t demolish the client Naruto. It doesn’t work that way.”

He took another swig. “I am Tazuna and I’m a master bridge builder. I must return to my country. I’m building a bridge there that will change our world and I expect you to get me there safely, even if it means giving up your life.”

* * * * * * 

As we reached the outer gates Naruto was the first one out, dashing through the gates and jumping around. “Yea! Alright!”

Sakura’s annoyance was all over her face. “What are you getting so excited about Naruto?”

“This is the first time I’ve ever left the village. I’m a traveler now, believe it!”

Tazuna was not amused by Naruto’s antics. He looked toward me. “Am I supposed to trust my life with this runt? He’s a joke.”

I chuckled. “He’s with me and I’m a Jonin, along with Y/n. She’s just a Jonin from another village. No need to worry.”

Naruto turned around and pointed directly at Tazuna. “Hey, never insult a ninja, it’s a big mistake. And I’m one of the greatest ninja ever. Someday I’m going to be Hokage and you’ll look up to me. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. Remember it!”

Tazuna took another drink. “Hokages are powerful and wise, you are puny and brainless. The day you become Hokage, I’ll sprout wings and fly.”

“Shut up!” I’m willing to do anything to become Hokage, no matter what it takes. And when I do everyone will have to admit that I’m the top ninja, including you!”

“You can become Hokage ten times over and to me you’ll still be a nobody, a loser.”

“I’m going to make you pay for that right now.”

Naruto jumped at him and Y/n and I both grabbed his backpack. I was getting annoyed with the two of them already. “I told you Naruto, you’re supposed to protect the client, not attack him.”

Y/n looked over at me as Tazuna started to walk away. “Well he is kind of being an ass.”

I made an agreeing noise so that I didn’t encourage Naruto.

As we walked Sakura tried to make conversation with the bridge builder. “Hey, Mr. Tazuna, can I ask you a question?”

“What is it?”

“Your land is the Land of Waves right?”

“Yea. What of it?”

She turned to me. “Kakashi-Sensei, there are ninja in that land too, aren’t there?”

I looked over, happy that I could teach them something and keep them from causing more trouble with the client. “No, there are no ninja in the Land of Waves, but in other countries there are hidden villages, each with their own different customs and cultures where ninja reside.”

“To the people of this continent the existence of Shinobi villages means strength. In other words, that’s how they protect themselves and maintain the balance of power with neighboring countries. The ninja villages are not controlled by any government. They’re independent and have equal status.

“Now a small island like the Land of Waves has natural protection from the sea, so there’s no need for a ninja village. The five ancient lands that possess Shinobi villages are the Lands of Fire, Water, Lightning, Wind, and Earth. They each occupy vast territories. Together they are known as the five Great Shinobi Nations.”

“The Land of Fire had the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The Land of Lightning had the Village Hidden in the Clouds. The Land of Wind had the Village Hidden in the Sand. The Land of Earth had the Village Hidden in the Stones.”

Y/n cut me off. “The Land of Water has the Village Hidden in the Mist. That’s where I came from after my Clan was wiped out. THat’s where I became a Jonin.”

I started again. “Only the leaders from these villages are permitted the name Kage, which means shadow. Hokage, Mizukage, Raikage, Kazekage, Tsuchikage. These are the leaders, the five shadows that rein over thousands of ninja.”

Sakura was elated. “Then Lord Hokage is really important.”

They all stared straight ahead and I spoke up. “Hey! You all just doubted Lord Hokage, didn’t you.’ They all shared the same nervous look. “That’s what you were thinking.” Sakura and Naruto shook their heads furiously. I placed my hand on Sakura’s head. “Well, anyway, there are no ninja battles in C ranked missions, so you can relax.”

Sakura looked up at me. “And we’re not going to run into any foreign ninja or anything like that?”

I laughed. “Not likely.”

* * * * * * 

As we got further and further the group got quieter and quieter. Nobody knew what to talk about anymore. Y/n and I walked at the back of the group. Every so often I would take her hand when no one was looking, holding it for a couple of minutes. I noticed something as we walked. I slowed Y/n down and turned our attention. THere was a single puddle in the middle of the diry, it hadn’t rained in weeks. We both slowly started to walk again. Suddenly we heard noises behind us. I was the first to turn around. There were two ninja coming toward me with chains. “What?” The chains wrapped around me and I felt myself get squeezed. As soon as I was able to, I used my substitution jutsu and jumped into a tree. Time to see what these kids could really do.

I probably should have told Y/n my place before we started, but maybe her panic being real will kick the kids into gear. Y/n looked around, her head moving a mile a minute. “Kakashi!” The fear on her face manifested deep. She never fought alone, she refused to since the Uchiha massacre. I knew she could do this without me, she didn’t need me as much as she thought she did.

She had not fought solo or been in a situation where she had to since the night that Itachi attacked her family. I could see her panic setting in more as she looked around, her gaze searching for Sasuke. The two ninja appeared behind Naruto.

They spoke to them with a menacing tone, trying to get him riled up. “Now it’s your turn.”

Naruto turned around. They got their chains ready to whip and lunged at him. Naruto froze in place and from out of nowhere the Uchiha siblings got to work, finding strength in each other. Y/n hollered to Sakura. “Protect Tazuna, Sakura.” Sakura jumped in front of him and stretched her arms out. Sasuke and Y/n jumped into the air. Y/n took out a ninja star and caught the end of both of their chains, spiking them into a tree. She was using Sasuke being there to get her through feeling alone, she had a look of pleasure on her face and the sound of the ninja star embedding in the tree rang out. Sasuke came from behind her with a kunai, putting it through the center of the ninja star to keep them in place. I hadn’t seen better teamwork in a long time. The Uchiha siblings were beginning to be an incredible team. 

With Sasuke around, Y/n seemed almost calm while she fought. Both ninja tried to pull their chains out. Sasuke landed on both their arms and kicked them both in the face, causing them to fall backwards, yanking their chains out of the mechanisms on their arms. Just as Y/n and Sasuke thought they had them they split ways. Y/n let Sasuke stay the course he was since it was easier for her to change her ways. One of them headed right for Sakura and Tazuna. Sasuke jumped down in front of them. The other was headed for Naruto again. Y/n soared for Naruto, landing in front of him. 

As the Uchiha hit the ground in front of Naruto I saw the rage that I had seen in her eyes the day that she left the village to find Itachi. She would soon become unfocused, it was time for me to intervene. Y/n lunged at the ninja, she wasn’t thinking anymore. As she lunged the ninja grabbed her arm and flung her against a tree on the other side of him. She hit hard and collapsed on the ground. 

I jumped down from the tree I was in and lunged, grabbing the two ninja by the necks, standing in front of everybody. They all stared at me with blank expressions. “Hi.” Sasuke's face turned from blank to unimpressed. “Naruto, sorry I didn’t help you right away. I didn’t mean for you to get hurt. I just didn’t think you’d freeze up like that.” I walked over to Sauke. “Good job Sasuke, very smooth.” I looked over at Sakura, smiling. “You too, Sakura.” I began to talk before I turned around. “And you, Y/n, I’m glad that you’re now-” 

Y/n was still laying on the ground by the tree. I hadn’t noticed that she hadn’t gotten back up. That wasn’t like her. I began to worry a little. “Y/n?”

Sasuke looked over to where she was. “Y/n?” He pushed me out of the way and ran over to her. He dropped next to her, panic filled his voice. “Y/n, are you okay?” She didn’t respond to him. She must have been knocked unconscious by the hit.

I tied the two ninja up before I ran over to her. “Move Sasuke, she’s just unconscious.” I took the water bottle that I had attached to my side and splashed water on her face. 

With a jolt Y/n sat up, she winced and grabbed her side. “Crap, my rib.” She tried to stand up, but wobbled but wobbled and fell back down.

I slowed her down. “Hang on, relax a second. You were unconscious.”

Sasuke crawled closer to her as she reached out for him. You could read the terror on his face like a book. Since they had found each other Y/n was his weakness and he along with myself was hers. She pulled him in and reassured him. “I’m fine Sasuke, it’s just a rib. I’ve had worse… trust me.” He smiled and we both held her stand up. 

When he was calmed down he looked over at Naruto, ready to taunt him. “Hey,”

Naruto looked up. “Yea?”

“You’re not hurt, are you?” Sarcasm painted his voice. “Scaredy cat.”

Naruto went to step forward at Sasuke and I stopped him, noticing his head. “Naruto, stand still, these ninja have poison in their claws. We need to take it out of you quickly. You have to open the wound and remove it.” 

Naruto looked panicked now. I knew he was scared, but it was the only way to save him. “It’s in your blood so don’t move around, that spreads the poison.” I redirected my voice. “By the way, Mr. Tazuna.”

He jumped as I talked to him. “Yea, what?”

“We need to talk.” We all stood around the two tied to the tree. “They’re Chunin from the Village Hidden in the Mist. Their specialty is relentless attack. They’ll keep fighting no matter what the sacrifice.”

One of the ninja spoke up. “How did you know about our ambush?”

“A puddle on a clear day? When it hasn’t rained in weeks?”

Tazuna sounded angry. “In that case, why did you leave it to the Genin and the panicky Jonin to do that fighting?”

Y/n glared at him and the ninja on the three spoke, taunting her. “Y/n, he would be so ashamed that the one he trained turned out to be such a wimp. He’d be so disappointed.” Y/n turned around and stared daggers at the ninja who was chuckled. Who were they talking about?

Y/n lunged at them a little and I grabbed her arm, stopping her from hitting the two men. “Shut up you disgraces. My thirteen year old brother just whipped your asses.”

I spoke back to Tazuna, ignoring what had just happened. “I could have taken them out quickly, but then I’d have learned nothing. I need the kids to see how real the situation was too, that’s why I didn’t say anything to Y/n.” I felt her glare on me. “I had to know how their target was and what they were after.”

“What are you getting at?”

“I wanted to know whether they were after us; ninja attack ninja, or if they were after you; the master bridge builder. When you put in the request you asked for standard protection from robbers and highwaymen. You didn’t say there were ninja looking for you, hunting you down.”

Y/n saw where I was going so she joined in. “If we had known it would have been a B ranked mission or higher. Our task was simply to get you to your destination and protect you while you finished building your bridge. If we knew we were wielding attacks from enemy ninja we would have staffed differently and charged for a B ranked mission.” 

I stopped Y/n, seeing how angry she was getting. “Apparently you have your reasons, but lying to us is not acceptable. We are now beyond the scope of this mission.” I tried to make myself  sound like an authority figure.

Sakura tried to sound apologetic. “We’re Genin, this mission is too advanced for our training. We should go back. And I really think we should get Naruto back and treat his wound. We have to get the poison out as soon as possible. Back in our village we can take him to a doctor.”

“Naruto’s hand could become a problem. I guess we should go back to the village.”

We all saw Naruto’ hand raise and come back down, the kunai in it slicing open his palm. “Why am I so different? Why am I always…” He turned away from us. 

We all stood in shock except for Sakura. She ran toward him. “Naruto! Stop that! What are you doing?” Naruto went off, rambling as the feeling of being a burden washed over him. “I worked so hard to get here. Pushing myself until it hurts. Training alone for hours. Anything to get stronger, to reach my dreams. I will never back down again and let someone else rescue me. I will never run away. I will not lose to Sasuke.” At the sound of her brother’s name being mentioned Y/n smiled a little. “Upon this wound I made this pledge. Believe it. Bridge builder, I’ll complete this mission and protect you with this kunai knife.” He turned back toward us with the knife still in his hand. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.” Determination littered his face. 

I was growing concerned. He was losing a lot of blood. “Naruto, that was really cool how you took the poison out and all, but if you lose anymore blood… you’re going to die.”

Panic rippled through Naruto’s body and Y/n started to walk toward him. “Give me your hand, it’s a good idea to stop the bleeding now. Seriously.”

His panic spread even more. “No, no, no, I’m too young to let it all end like this.”I snapped at him in an attempt to snap him out of it. 

“Naruto, show Y/n your hand.”Naruto ran over to Y/n, terror in his eyes. “Help, help, help.” 

Sakura’s anger with Naruto grew. “Naruto, you’ve got a self abusive personality. It’s called masochism.”

Y/n took his hand and stared. When I noticed she was just staring I looked over. “Kakashi,” She motioned for me. 

I walked over and we both stared at his hand. Naruto noticed that we weren’t doing anything and got worried. “Uhm, you guys have a really serious look on your faces. Am I okay?”

I grabbed some bandages from my bag and handed them to Y/n. She tried to calm him while she worked. “Yea, you should be fine.”

He sighed with relief  and looked over at me before thanking Y/n and walking away.

As we got farther down the path everyone seemed to calm down from the event before. Y/n and I hung back, talking about what had just happened, careful that no one could hear us. She spoke first. “What would make the mist ninja come after him?”

“Maybe he owes them something, that’s the only thing that I can think of. Nothing else really explains it. What did they mean when they said that ‘he’ would be disappointed in you? What are they talking about?”

“That’s a long story that I can’t explain right now. It had something to do with when I was in the Village Hidden in the Mist.” She stopped and gave me a small, weak smile before continuing. 

“What  made Naruto heal that fast Kashi?” Y/n only ever called me by my pet name when no one was around.

“I can’t explain that now either. I’ll tell you tonight when everyone’s asleep as long as you tell me about what the mist ninja meant.” She gave me a look of worry before agreeing. 

* * * * * *

Tazuna finally led us to the edge of the water, heading to where his bridge was going to be. We hopped onto a boat and settled in. I sat on the farthest end with Y/n next to me. The boat was crammed so me having my arm around her shoulders didn’t seem like a big deal. It was something we could get away with this time.

There was fog all around us. It was the protection for this small village. Sakura was scared. “The fog is so thick, you can’t see anything.”

The person steering the boat spoke in a whisper. “The bridge isn’t far now. Our destination is just ahead. The Land of Waves.”

We all looked forward, not able to see anything through the fog. When Naruto was finally able to see something he hollered. “Woah, it’s huge!”

The driver got angry with him. “Quiet! I told you no noise.” He was whisper yelling back at him. “Why do you think we’re traveling like this, huh? Cutting the engine and rowing, moving through the dense fog. It’s so they don’t see us.”

Naruto covered his mouth and seemed apologetic. I looked over at the bridge builder. “Mr. Tazuna, before we reach the pier I want to ask you something. The men who are after you, I need to know why. If you don’t tell us I’m afraid I’ll have to end this mission when we drop you ashore.”

Tazuna was annoyed. “I have no choice but to tell you. No, I want you to know the truth. Like you said, this is beyond the scope of the original mission. The one who seeks my life is a very short man who casts a long and deadly shadow.”

Y/N looked up. “A deadly shadow? Who is it?”

“You know him, at least I’m sure you’ve heard his name before. He’s one of the wealthiest men in the world. The shipping magnate, Gato.”I had heard that name before. “Gato? Of Gato transport? He’s a business leader, everyone knows him.” I was in shock.“Gato. He’s a very famous tycoon from a company that’s true, but below the surface, with the same ruthless methods he uses to get businesses and nations, he sells drugs and contraband. He uses gangs and ninja. It was one year ago when Gato first set his sight on the Land of Waves. He came to our island and used his vast wealth to take control of our transport and shipping. Anyone who tried to stand in his way simply disappeared. In an island nation a man who controls the sea controls everything. Finance, government, our very lives, but there’s one thing he fears. The bridge, when it’s complete, will join us to the land and that will break his control. I am the bridge builder.”

Sakura was putting the pieces together. “So that’s it? Since you’re the bridge builder you’re getting in this gangster’s way?”

Sasuke looked over at Y/N and I. “That means those guys in the woods, they’re working for Gato.”

Y/N looked over at him again. “I don’t understand, if you knew that he was dangerous, knew he’d send ninja to eliminate you, why did you hide that from us?”

“Because the Land of Waves is a small, impoverished nation. Even our nobles have little money. They are common people that are building this bridge, they can’t pay for an A or B ranked mission. It’s too expensive. If you end the mission when you drop me ashore there will be no bridge. They assassinate me before I reach home. Don’t feel bad about that, of course, my sweet little grandson will be upset. He’d cry 'Grandad, I want my Grandad’ and my daughter will condemn the ninja of the Hidden Lead, denouncing and blaming you for abandoning her and father and living her life in sorrow.” 

Of course he would bring up kids and grandkids. Anything to sucker us in. 

“Oh well. It’s not your fault, forget it.”

I rubbed my forehead through my headband and looked down at Y/N, who had sunken down in the boat further. “Well, I guess we have no choice. We’ll have to keep guarding you."

Y/N looked up at me and then held her arm out to Sasuke, who leaned over on her, sighing.

"I’m very grateful.” Tazuna smiled.

Y/N grabbed at her side and winced a little. I looked over at her. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”

“I’m not leaving you guys, I’ll be fine.” She sat back up and winced some more. She was in a great deal of pain, she had to have been to show it. “It’s an old injury, it’s just been hit again.”

I knew what she had meant by 'old injury’. It was something that had happened while she was saving Sasuke from Itachi, but she would never let him know this.

The driver spoke. “We’re approaching the shore, Tazuna.” He looked down. “We’ve been fortunate, no one has noticed us so far.”

“Nice going.” Tazuna appeased him.

* * * * * * 

The Land of Waves came into sight as we went through a small tunnel. When we reached the pier we all climbed out of the boat. We thanked the driver who then wished us luck and drove back off. Tazuna turned to us. “Take me to my home and by that I mean get me there in one piece.”

Y/N and I hung back some again so we could talk as everyone else sped up ahead. I looked over at her and I knew she could hear the concern in my voice. “The next ninja they send won't be Chunin, they’ll be Jonin, like us.”

“These guys aren’t ready to fight Jonin level ninja, Kakashi. They don’t have the skills. They could barely take on us at subpar.” She was starting to get her panicked voice back.

“Keep yourself calm or the kids will notice Y/N.” I put my hand on her back since no one was looking.

Seeming to relax, she looked back up at me. “I know, I’m sorry. I’m just worried about who they’re going to send. They’ve got some pretty tough Jonin in the Mist Village. I can think of one in particular.” She had known this personally.

Taglist 💕 @nubiadethemyscira​ @nimeryaa​ @o-franzii-o​ @chidori-mint​

Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight: *NSFWish Ahead!*

Updated 5/8/2020

[redvoid-40]

Chapter 5: Tools

Fanfic title: ??? Word count: 4175 Fandom: Naruto Pairing: eventual Gaara x OC, cannon pairings Genre: Friendship, Adventure, Hurt/Comfort Warnings: None

Last chapter of the Prologue/Land of Waves arc! Hope you all enjoy it and let me know what you think! :) Next chapter we’ll get started with the Chuunin Exams! I’m pretty excitd about it! :D

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Ko-fi

—–

Shin stared at the trees around her. She honestly didn’t know where to start.

Sakura had already climbed up all the way to a treetop without even breaking a sweat. Naruto and Sasuke were at the other end of the clearing running and slashing at their respective trees in competition, incited by Kakashi’s taunting.

She had  tried following their example, but something was off. She could feel it.

“What’s taking so long, Shin-kun?” Kakashi asked, limping his way towards her. His fight with Zabuza had left him with some serious wounds. “Even if you fall down, shouldn’t you at least be trying?”

Shin blushed, eyes downcast. 

“I tried… But I don’t think I’m doing it right.”

“Hmm? Let me see.”

Shin nodded, closing her eyes for a moment as she concentrated her chakra on her feet.  Even still as she was she could feel how it flowed without any sort of control or pattern through her soles.

With a deep breath, she started running towards the tree. Her muscles were tense, ready for the strain that was sure to come. After all, her body knew it would have to work twice as hard as usual, because it just couldn’t count with her chakra to help along.

The other three Genin stared at her, surprised that she was finally doing something.

That surprise grew into shock as she climbed a little past the half of the tree trunk before a particularly strong burst of chakra launched her off the tree, leaving a small crater where she stepped. 

Shin pouted and turned to her teacher.

“I see now… You’ve been overcompensating your lack of chakra-control with physical strength. Despite climbing further than Naruto your control is worse than his. You’re just using your muscles to make up for it.”

Shin nodded, still blushing. "I’ve always had a hard time with Ninjutsu - as far as I know, all other Genin summoned at least three clones in their graduation exam, but I only made one. Still, I kept my grades just above average because I made up for my lack of talent in Ninjutsu and Genjutsu by training twice as hard physically. That’s why-”

“You hit a standstill. You’re constantly overcompensating your lack of skill with chakra with your physical training.” Kakashi hummed. “Heh. You remind me of someone I know, Shin-kun.”

“Really?”

Kakashi smiled behind his mask, but somehow the expression was… crooked. It made a shiver run down her spine.

“Yeah. And I’m definitely getting you out of your standstill.”

—

The four trained for the rest of the day. Sakura’s amazing chakra control became even better. I one afternoon and she was already capable of walking up and down the tree trunks as she pleased.

Sasuke was improving steadily. So was Naruto, though he was going at a slower pace than Sasuke.

Meanwhile Shin felt she was moving backwards.

“Kakashi-sensei, are you sure this is the only way?” Shin whined.  “I feel ridiculous.”

“Well, I had to find a way to handicap your body without actually incapacitating you, Shin-kun. That’s the best I could come up with, short of breaking a leg.”

The girl looked down at herself. Her vest had been thrown to the side, but still she was shining with sweat. Her tank top looked more red than orange now and the sweat made strands of her messy, wavy hair stick to her neck. And her legs…

Those were tied together at the knees, so she wasn’t able to run or even walk. Like a little rabbit, she was supposed to bounce her way to the tree top without even being able to widen her stance.

Shin pouted as she glared at the tree in front of her. The most Shin had managed without falling on her butt was a couple of jumps, so the highest point she slashed in the tree bark was barely taller than Kakashi. 

It was frustrating to be this bad at something; more than once in the past hour Shin had been driven to the brink of giving up. Why did she want to learn Ninjutsu so badly anyway? Surely, if she trained hard enough, she could become a great Shinobi with only Taijutsu. She had even met another boy that was like her during one of her solo training sessions, and he had been extremely strong. He even gave her a few pointers on her posture and fighting techniques.

Lee-senpai, I understand now why you dedicated yourself solely on Taijutsu. This is impossible!

“Shin-chan! Shin-chan!”

The girl snapped out of her by none other than Naruto. The boy had a conspiratory smile on his face as he ran to her.

“How are you holding up?”

Shin sighed, and resumed to glare at her tree. “Honestly, Naruto-chan, not well. I’m thinking maybe the spiritual control of our chakra isn’t for me. Maybe I should give up and continue training my Taijutsu.”

That surprised the boy more than Shin believed it would. Naruto’s smile was suddenly gone as he grabbed both of her shoulders and started to shake her wildly.

“You can’t give up! We’ve gotta master this chakra thing and beat Zabuza, and we’re gonna do this together. Believe it!” Then, on a much lower voice, Naruto got real close to her face. “Hear me out on this. Sakura-chan gave me some tips. I’ll share them with you but you have to promise not to tell Sasuke!”

Shin’s brown eyes sparkled at the promise of help. She stared at Naruto’s naughty smile and then glanced at Sasuke. He was staring at them from the corner of his eyes, trying to act uninterested despite being curious about what they were talking about.

Shin didn’t like lying or even keeping things from her friends. She knew she’d feel really bad if she accepted Naruto’s help in exchange for letting Sasuke out of the loop.

But, honestly, she was so annoyed by this whole training that a bit of guilt sounded like a fair exchange if it meant she’d be able to move up that damn tree. Even if it was only a couple of inches.

Brown met blue again and Shin nodded. “I won’t tell Sasuke-kun. So please, tell me.”

Naruto’s smile grew in size and mischief.

“Hehehe, you see…Sakura-chan told me this whole thing won’t work out unless we’re calm. We need to focus on the tree so our chakra will flow calmly through our feet, just like the tree’s energy is flowing through it.”

Shin didn’t quite understand Naruto’s tip, but nodded nonetheless. It made little sense to her, focusing on a tree. However Naruto had been improving steadily faster since Sakura had given him that tip so Shin figured it was good advice.

“Hey, you two!”

Shin and Naruto were startled and turned to Sasuke, who was looking at them with a contradicted look on his face.

“Yes, Sasuke-kun?”

“Naruto asked Sakura something before she left. You two are talking about what she said, right? I want to know it too.”

The smile that stretched on Naruto’s face was positively sadistic.

“I won’t tell you.”

Sasuke looked on the verge of throttling Naruto, but recomposed himself with a deep breath before turning to Shin. “Shin, you will tell me, right?”

Shin gulped and put on an awkward smile. She could feel Naruto’s eyes staring at her in anticipation. She simply adored her friend, but there was no denying he could be kind of a jerk when he wanted to. 

And easily drag her down with him.

“Ahhhh… Sasuke-kun, I’d love to tell you but… ah you see… I- can’t.”

“WHA-”

“Oh look there’s a better tree over there for me! I think I’ll go train there. Sorry, Sasuke-kun! Good luck you two! See you at dinner!”

With that Shin shuffled away, hoping that her response to Sasuke didn’t ever fall on Sakura’s ears.

—

Once she was far away from the boys so she could barely hear them Shin chose a tree to continue training. Open palm laid against the tree, Shin took a few moments to focus on it. She stared at the intricate patterns of the tree bark and felt its rough texture against her skin, she listened to the sound its leaves made as the wind blowed softly on them and she felt-

There.

Soft and slow Shin could feel the energy flowing inside the tree and she finally understood what she had felt during their fight with Zabuza, when she told Naruto to dodge despite not seeing anything through the mist. Somehow, she had felt the Rogue-Nin’s chakra even though he was far from her.

And Shin grasped at the sensation she was experiencing now and did not let go. She took her time to appreciate the tree’s life force for what it as, to analyze its flow and power. Then she turned her observations inside, comparing her own chakra to the tree’s, feeling how different they both felt to her.

My chakra is larger and more disorganized, it has a more active feel to it. It’s agitated.

Shin focused on morphing her energy then, adjusting her chakra to the tree’s and focusing especially on the soles of her feet. She felt something different then and tensed her muscles, ready to jump.

This time it’ll be better.

—

That night the three of them returned to Tazuna’s home with smiles on their faces. They all still had quite a long way to go in their training with chakra, but there was no denying how much they evolved during that afternoon. Their slashes on the trees were proof of it, as were the red welts that the rope lefta round Shin’s ankles.

So when they arrived and found dinner waiting for them at the table, the three dug in with a ferociousness that could only come from being a growing Shinobi after a heavy training session. 

Although in Naruto and Sasuke’s cases there was also the competition factor, which drove both of them to ask for seconds and thirds until they were throwing up.

“Naruto-chan!” Shin called out, jumping to the side in order to avoid being barfed upon by her friend. “I think you two are going too far. It’s not good to waste food.”

“Sorry, Shin-chan. But I have to beat Sasuke!”

Sakura seemed to shareof Shin’s feelings, so much she scolded both boys indiscriminately instead of focusing only on Naruto.

“You two shouldn’t eat if you’re going to throw up!”

Of course their protests went on deaf ears as both boys went right back to eating as if there was no tomorrow.

Shin and Sakura exchanged a look and sighed.

Peas in a pod.

—

After dinner Sakura asked about the torn picture the family had hanging on the wall, and immediately the air grew heavy in the dining room.

“It was my husband.” Tsunami answered, not moving her eyes from the dishes.

“People around him used to call him a hero.” Tazuna commented.

Shin stared at Inari, but the boy kept silent, staring down at his lap as he clenched and unclenched his fists. There was a repressed sadness in him that was almost tangible, and Shin could easily see herself in him.

Losing family… it’s a pain that never really goes away.

“Inari-kun…” Shin began, but before she could say anything else the boy suddenly stood up from his place and left the room, soon followed by his mother. 

“Dad! You know you can’t say things like that in front of Inari!”

The five Shinobi stood in silence, staring at Tazuna expectantly. With a sigh, the bridge-builder began telling them about the Hero of the Wave Country and the five of them listened to the tragic tale with attentive ears and heavy hearts.

Without even realizing it, Shin found herself clenching and unclenching her fists as salty tears fell down on her lap.

Shin felt a warm weight rest on her shoulder and when she turned her head, she found Naruto staring at her with determination burning in his blue eyes. Quickly, Shin rubbed her eyes dry and nodded at him, her own brown orbs burning just as bright.

Inari-kun… I’ll make you smile again. Even if it’s the last thing I do.

—

A few days later, Sakura had gone into the forest with Kakashi and a brought a picnic basket with her. Both Shin and Naruto had fallen into the habit of training late into the night or leaving the house before anyone woke up to train, more often than not skipping breakfast, and since she was free that afternoon she thought it would be nice to help out her team-mates.

They are doing their best to catch up with Sasuke and me. It can’t be easy watching others suceed in something you’re bad at.

When both arrived at their training grounds, they were greeted by a smiling Naruto laying on the highest tree-branch in the area, while Shin stood on the horizontal, keeping herself attached to the tree, with both of her legs untied. Sasuke was there as well, hanging upside down from another branch.

Shin smiled at them. “I think we’ll be good to go after tonight, Kakashi-sensei.”

—

That night the Shinobis stayed at the table after dinner, talking about training and plans to defeat Gato, about how courage would always prevail as long as there was one person willing to fight. The four Genin listened to Kakashi, inspired by his words of praise, confident that they would all protect this village and its people.

Inari was of a different opinion.

“These stupid trainings are a waste of time!” The boy screamed, slamming his hands on the table as tears fell freely from his eyes. “Gato has an army! He’ll defeat and destroy all of you! This cool stuff you’re saying means nothing… it doesn’t matter what you do. The strong always win and the weak always lose!”

Shin stared at the boy with wide eyes, at loss about what to say.

Naruto, of course, had a response to the boy. “Shut up. It’s gonna be different for me, believe it.”

“You shut up! Just looking at you makes me sick! You know nothing of this land; you’re just an outsider! You’re always laughing and joking around. You have no idea what it’s like being treated as trash!”

Shin swallowed and looked at Naruto. His blue eyes lost their usual playful glint as he stared at Inari.

“Look at you… crying and complaining like a poor victim. You can cry as much as you want, you coward.”

“Naruto!” Sakura scolded. “You went too far!”

Shin watched Naruto stand up and leave the room without another word. Then her brown eyes settled on Inari and she couldn’t find it in herself to be annoyed at the small child crying in front of her.

His words were harsh, but they were not of ill-intent.

“Inari-kun-” Shin called with a gentle smile. “-more than anyone here, Naruto-chan understands what it feels like being overlooked. Which is why he tries so hard in everything he does with a smile on his face. Our training here isn’t just to put up a front. We’re doing it for you and your family, and everyone else in the Wave Country.”

With that the girl walked around the table, until she could lay her hand atop the boy’s head.

“Have some faith in us. We’ll put a smile on your face yet.”

—

On the following morning, Naruto overslept, too tired from his training. And since he was the one who usually kicked Shin out of her bed to make sure she wasn’t late to their training sessions, so did she.

When he woke up to find the sun already high in the sky, he jumped out of bed with a scream that could wake the dead, but not the girl sleeping on the futon besides his.

“Shin-chan! Shin-chan, wake up!” The boy screamed at his friend, shaking her shoulders roughly. “They left us behind! Believe it?”

The girl sat up, rubbing leep off her eyes. “Hmm? Naruto-chan? What’s happening?”

The boy answered by throwing her clothes at her face.

“Get dressed! We need to catch up to them!”

—

Shin and Naruto were halfway to the bridge when something caught the later’s eyes, making him stop.

“Shin-chan, what’s that?”

The girl backtracked a few steps and looked at what Naruto was pointing at; laying dead on the forest ground was a wild boar. It wasn’t so unusual to find remains of forest wildlife every now and then, however there was something that caught their attention about this particular boar.

“Naruto-chan, he didn’t die of natural causes or by a natural predator.”

The boy narrowed his eyes and nodded. “Looks like he was killed by people. The trees are all full of slashes as well.”

“Naruto-chan, I have a bad feeling about this. Let’s go back to Tsunami-san’s home.”

“I was gonna say just that, believe it.”

—

Shin and Naruto arrived just in time. There were two bandits at Tsunami’s home, but they were not nearly as strong as Zabuza, so both Genin were easily capable of taking care of them.

“That was amazing!” Inari yelled, running towards them. The Rogue-Nins lay unconscious at their feet.

Naruto and Shin exchanged a look before smiling widely at the boy. “We crushed it, believe it!”

“You two were just like real Ninja!” Inari spoke, grinning widely at them.

“Hey, I am a real Ninja!” Naruto whined, but there was no bark in his words.

Shin laughed at them and patted Inari’s head, making the boy stare up at her with his big smile.

“Now that’s more like it. You keep smiling and cheering us on, alright?”

“Yeah!”

—

When Shin and Naruto arrived at the bridge, there was already a battle going on. Kakashi was facing off Zabuza, while Sasuke dealt with the false Hunter-Nin. However, Sasuke seemed to be in trouble, trapped in an Ice-based Jutsu.

Before Shin could even try to think up a strategy, Naruto had disappeared from her side and next thing she knew he was inside the enemy’s ice-dome, alongside Sasuke.

“N-Naruto!” Shin called out, voice high-pitched and unbelieving. “Why did you get inside the enemy’s Jutsu?!”

“You too, Shin-chan?!” Came Naruto’s whine. “I’m here to help, believe it!”

Shin took a deep breath to calm herself. It’s alright. I’m still out here to give them support. Maybe it’s actually better that Naruto-chan is inside there. Sasuke-kun is in pretty bad shape so I think he could use some help.

“Alright!” Shin settled and pulled out a scroll. She opened it above her head, allowing a few Fuuma Shuriken to fall by her feet, spiking the ground. She picked one of them up, getting in a throwing position. “I’ll support you guys from outside! Sasuke, catch me up here!”

“This Jutsu lets him travel between mirrors almost instantaneously.” Sasuke explained. “In here we see his reflection everywhere, so we don’t know where he’ll attack us from. We need to find a way to break out of here, but it’s almost impossible to break these things!”

“Fine! So all we need to do is find the real one, believe it!” Naruto exclaimed, performing hand-signs for his favourite Jutsu. “Shadow Clone Jutsu!”

Shin watched Naruto’s clones being decimated in the blink of an eye as a shadow flew from mirror to mirror. Shin tensed, ready to throw her FuumaShuriken but the enemy’s movements were much too fast for her.

Damn it! I can’t just throw it blindly.

Naruto insisted on that strategy, summoning more and more clones to try and beat their enemy’s speed with numbers alone.

Shin watched everything, trying to follow his movements with her eyes to no avail. But to her surprise, she was slowly being able to locate him by his chakra. Like she had done with Zabuza’s without realizing and then trained on the trees a few days ago, Shin was increasingly being able to differentiate the sensation of their enemy’s chakra and how it moved around Sasuke and Naruto’s.

It’s not much, but it’ll have to do.

With a determined look on her face, Shin tensed her body and got ready. During the next of Naruto’s assault she’d throw her weapon.

“Shin!”

At the call of her name she fixed her eyes on Sasuke’s. The boy noticed she was ready to attack. And from what she saw in his black orbs, he had formed a strategy too. His gaze screamed at her: follow my lead. 

Immediately Sasuke started doing hand-signals for his Fireball Jutsu, not paying attention to how their enemy jumped from mirror to mirror, as if he knew where he would be. Just as he was about to release his Jutsu, Sasuke glanced at Shin and she took it as her cue.

With all the speed and strength she could muster, Shin threw her Fuuma Shuriken, aiming at the same direction as Sasuke. Which, to her immense satisfaction, was the same direction where she felt their enemy’s chakra.

Shin’s Fuuma Shuriken grazed the fabric of their enemy’s sleeve while Sasuke’s Jutsu charred the left leg of his pants.

Close! Shin thought, grabbing another of the weapons nailed on the floor.

Next time, for sure.

—

Shin watched as needle upon needle rained down upon Naruto and Sasuke’s bodies as both tried to break out of that ice-dome. She was down to just one Fuuma Shuriken, using all her other weapons to intercept the enemy’s attacks, trying to shelter her friends from at least some of his needles. She had grazed their enemy’s leg once, but it was barely enough of a scratch to draw blood.

Shin’s frustration grew exponentially as she watched her friends suffer. And when Naruto passed out again she was ready to follow his example and barge in there.

“Stop Shin!” Sasuke yelled at her, as if feeling her intentions. “We need you out there! I got this!”

Shin raised her eyes from Naruto’s prone form to Sasuke and what she saw made her jaw drop.

His eyes… He awakened his Sharingan!

Before Shin could say anything, their enemy charged again, and this time he went straight to Naruto. Sasuke moved faster than Shin thought possible, fast enough to shield Naruto from the attack. But not himself.

“Sasuke!” Shin called out as the needles hit him.

The boy wasn’t deterredthough, he countered the enemy’s attack and kicked him back.

“Shin, now!”

“Right!”

Swallowing her worry, Shin threw her last weapon and this time it hit the mark. Her Fuuma Shuriken dug deep into their enemy’s thigh, making him fall to the ground in pain.

“Sasuke we did it!” Shin cheered.

She almost smiled then, but the expression died halfway when her eyes fixed back on Sasuke, just in time to see him fall down like a limp doll. Thankfully Naruto had come to and was able to grab him before he hit the ground.

“Naruto!” Shin called. “How is he?!”

But the boy didn’t answer. He held Sasuke’s head up, and both seemed to be talking to each other, but Shin couldn’t hear anything.

Meanwhile, their enemy pulled out the weapon from his leg and slowly stood up with a visible limp.

“Naruto! Look out-!”

Shin was about to charge inside the dome to help them but something she hadn’t thought possible happened then, right before her eyes.

Naruto’s chakra exploded and transformed, and suddenly Shin couldn’t feel the signature of his spiritual energy anymore. That chakra surrounding Naruto wasn’t his.

It’s the Kyuubi.

—

Team Seven walked out of that bridge victorious that day. They had defeated both Ninja and put an end to Gato’s tyranny once and for all. 

However, days later, as they all stared at the graves that belonged to Momochi Zabuza and Haku, there was a sensation of loss in their chests.

The things they went through. It’s not fair.

Shin dried her tears on the back of her hand and opened her mouth to speak but decided against it.

“What is it, Shin-chan?” 

Shin smiled trembling. Of course, Naruto had noticed it.

“Do you guys…”

Shin hesitated for a moment, but her team’s collective gaze was upon her, urging her to continue.

“Do you guys think they were happy?” Shin asked at last, brushing her fingers against the flowers on Haku’s grave. “Despite living their lives as they did, despite seeing and losing what they did, do you think they were happy? Do you think, given the chance, they would’ve made the same choices if it meant being with each other again?” Shin smiled shakily. “I think they were glad to have found one another. I want to believe they found meaning in each other. Not as tools or Ninjas, but as human beings.”

Kakashi’s hand fell on her head, stroking her curls gently.

“We are all tools, Shin-kun. It’s something all Ninjas must deal with.”

Shin looked up at her teacher. Kakashi was staring at the sunset with a glazed look on his visible eye, but when he turned to her, he smiled.

Teary-eyed, she smiled back.

“Alright! I’ve made a decision!”

Shin jumped slightly, turning her neck to see Naruto standing by her side with a smile on his face. “From now on I’ll find my Ninja way! A way that’s honest, righteous and without remorse. From now on, I’ll follow Naruto’s way, believe it!”

The girl’s eyes widened as she took in her friend’s profile. Naruto seemed older somehow, and not for the first time Shin was speechless in her admiration of him.

With a smile, Shin gazed at the sunset.

“Sounds like a good plan to me, Naruto-chan.”

[365daysofsasuhina]

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day Three Hundred Two: A Pile of Papers ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata, Uzumaki Naruto, Hatake Kakashi, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Umino Iruka, Tazuna ] [ SasuHina, alcohol ] [ Verse: A Light Amongst Shadows ] [ AO3 Link ]

“Man, this stinks!”

Three little genin stand just outside the administration building, awaiting the (as usual, late) arrival of their sensei. Sasuke leans coolly against the exterior, arms crossed with closed eyes as he appears to doze. Hinata sits nearby on a bench, looking prim as always with hands on her lap. And she’s currently watching Naruto stomp around and throw a bit of a fit.

“W-what stinks?” she asks, head tilting a bit. They’re about to get a new mission, after all...doesn’t he always look forward to them?

“This! The whole thing!” the blond proclaims, hands throwing up in the air. “Y’know the minute we get in there, we’re gonna get another lame D-rank mission for babies! We’ve been training super hard with Kakashi-sensei, and for what? We’ve been doin’ D-rank assignments for weeks, and it’s gettin’ real old!”

“For once...I have to agree with Naruto,” Sasuke then admits, drawing both their gazes. Eyes open, he looks to them both mildly. “We’re more than ready for a real mission. Walking dogs and doing yard work is beneath us. Even for Naruto, those are too easy.”

“Yeah -! Wait...what was that least part?” the Uzumaki asks, squinting.

A hint of a grin pulls at Sasuke’s lips. “You heard me, dead last. Take it as a compliment - it means that even you need a better challenge than the missions we’ve been getting.”

“Tch!” Arms fold tightly over his chest, shoulders hunching with a pout.

“Well, we’ve a-all been doing a lot better,” Hinata cuts in as the pair go quiet. “Our teamwork especially! Surely if we work together we could...w-we could handle something a bit tougher than what we have been doing...right?”

“Exactly!” Naruto crows, sour mood just as quickly forgotten as it arrived. “So, when we go in there, we all gotta insist we get something better, okay? Maybe if we all ask - no, demand! - we’ll finally get listened to!”

“Well...it’s worth a shot,” Sasuke shrugs. He’s not one to beg or whine, but...maybe the only way they’ll get to advance in the mission roster is by being more vocal.

“O-okay!” The Hyūga gives a smile. “Maybe Kakashi-sensei will s-side with us, and help convince Sarutobi-sama!”

“He did praise us last time we all trained,” Sasuke muses. “...maybe he will.”

“Maybe I’ll what?”

The trio then turn to spy none other than Kakashi, Naruto rushing up and blurting out his plan.

A silver brow perks. “You want to move up in ranks, do you…?”

“Yeah, yeah! We’re bored of all these D-ranks, Kakashi-sensei! Can’t we do something more exciting for once…?”

“Hm…” He rubs a hand over his clothed chin. “So...you want a mission that’ll entertain you, is that it?”

“Yeah!”

“...missions aren’t about being entertained,” Kakashi then rebukes, making Naruto flinch. “They’re about doing what needs to be done. It’s not about having fun, or the rush, or getting to boast. Sooner or later, you’ll learn that missions are a lot more serious than you give them credit for.”

Further back, both Sasuke and Hinata seem to hesitate.

“Okay, okay!” Naruto admits. “I get it, really! But I mean...don’t you think we’re past doing the low level stuff? We’re ready, aren’t we? Don’tcha think?”

“Well...we’ll see what they have available,” Kakashi replies vaguely, not reacting as Naruto gives a whoop and a holler. “But I can’t make any promises...in the end, it’s up to the ones running the mission directory.”

Hinata wilts a hair as Naruto’s celebration earns the group odd looks from older shinobi, Sasuke just sighing curtly. “Come on, let’s get going,” he mutters. “Standing out here isn’t going to get us any missions either way.”

The squad then moves inside, taking the stairs to the proper level where Hiruzen and Iruka await with the day’s current roster of missions. Upon seeing them, Iruka starts scanning the D-ranks before offering one to Hiruzen.

“Ah, here we are...a local farm is looking for help with -”

“No way!”

The entire room stutters, looking to Naruto as he stubbornly forms an x with his arms. Kakashi deadpans, Sasuke’s eye twitching, and Hinata glancing nervously between her teammate and the Hokage.

“...excuse me?” Iruka then cuts in, standing and slapping hands atop the mission desk. “It’s not your place to make such remarks, especially in front of the Hokage!”

“I’m tired of stupid D-ranks! I want a real shinobi mission! With bad guys and fighting and stuff!”

“Naruto, you -!”

Hiruzen lifts a hand, begging silence from his assistant. “So...you want a real mission…?” he asks, leafing through a pile of papers. “And do you really think you’re prepared for such a thing?”

“Yeah, we are! We’ve all been training super hard with Kakashi-sensei! He says we’re ready!”

The Hatake wilts a bit, clearly not wanting to be implicated.

“Naruto...you’re a new genin,” Hiruzen reminds the blond, chewing his pipe. “Our ranking systems for both missions and shinobi are in place to keep appropriately-leveled assignments to appropriately-leveled shinobi. Genin...get...D-ranks.”

Cheeks puffing, Naruto does the mature thing...and sinks to the floor, arms and legs folded.

His teammates both sigh.

Eyeing the boy, Hiruzen seems to think...and then chuckles. “...so, you think you’re ready for a better mission…? All right...I’ll give you one. To prove yourselves.”

The trio blink...and then brighten.

“Wait, really?” Naruto hops back to his feet, blues wide.

“Yes. It just so happens that I have a mission from Nami no Kuni. A client is in need of some escorts and bodyguards as they make their way from here in Konoha back to Nami. It’s a basic C-rank...surely you could pull it off, hm?”

“Yeah! We can do it! Right guys?”

Sasuke just gives a small smirk, Hinata brightening.

“So who are we escorting, huh?” Naruto’s eyes go starry, fists bunched under his chin. “Is it like...a princess? A diplomat? Huh, huh?”

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Kakashi mutters.

“Well, why don’t we just bring them in?” Hiruzen offers, still grinning as he gestures for the client to be fetched. “I’m sure you’re get along splendidly.”

The team turns, looking to the door into the room. After a pause, it slides open, and...reveals a man. In one hand he clutches a bottle, clearly already a bit sauced. A pack rests over his shoulders, outfit a bit dingy and expression clearly already annoyed.

“...are you serious?” he mutters, leaning against the door frame and swaying slightly. “Are you telling me that my guards back to Nami...are a couple of brats?”

The genin all turn to each other, unsure what to say.

“These three are led by the son of White Fang,” Hiruzen offers. “I assure you, for a C-rank mission, they’ll do just fine. It’s a simple escort, and not too far.”

The man’s jaw grits for a moment, which goes mostly unnoticed...save for Kakashi, whose eye narrows just a hair.

“Yeah, don’t worry mister! We’ll get ya there no problem!” Naruto crows proudly, hands on his hips.

“Like I’m gonna believe the words of a half-pint dimwit,” the man shoots back.

“Half...half-pint…?” Blinking, Naruto then grits his teeth in a snarl. “Hey! Height’s got nothin’ to do with it, you hear? I’m gonna be Hokage someday, so you better watch what you say, y’old coot!”

Behind him, Iruka sighs and buries his brow in a palm, Hiruzen looking amused.

“Naruto, please try not to insult your client,” Kakashi deadpans, biffing the blond upside the head.

“But he said -!”

“He’s paying you to keep him safe. He’s allowed to have his opinions...and judge how well of a job you do. If you mouth off, he might not pay as well. So...you should behave. A shinobi must have patience, even in the face of adversity. Even if the adversity is being insulted, hm?”

Naruto just harrumphs, arms folding tightly as his teammates sigh once more.

“Well, you lot better get going,” the Hokage offers, lips curled around his pipe. “The sooner you leave, the sooner Tazuna-san can return to his job building a bridge in Nami. Remember, you should be timely in your assignments.”

“Come on, Naruto,” Sasuke mutters, dragging the blond by the collar and following Tazuna out. “We’ve got a job to do - you were whining about doing D-ranks, so quit your complaining.”

Hinata follows, brow wilted uncertainly. “So...we have to take him all the way to Nami? Are there no shinobi there…?”

“No,” Kakashi offers, following his troupe. “Smaller lands like Nami have no resident shinobi force...and it’s from them many of the great shinobi villages get their business. So, best we make a good impression, hm? Now...you three go home, pack up gear for a trip of a few days, and meet back at the gate in twenty minutes. If you’re not there, we’ll leave without you.” He gives a closed-eye smile before flickering out of sight.

“...well, guess that’s our cue,” Sasuke mutters. “See you guys in twenty. And don’t be late, Naruto.”

“Me? What about you? I’ll be there in five minutes, just watch me!”

As the boys bicker, Hinata heaves yet another sigh. “Well...I-I’m going to get going...see you guys at the gate, okay?”

“Will do.”

“Yeah!”

                                                       .oOo.

     More team seven!Hinata! Which...I've done a few previous parts for, but atm I don't have time to find the rest to list, so...whoops ^^; I haven't done TOO much, but once the year is over, I'll work on organizing things :''D      Anyway, just basically the scene leading to Nami, but with Hinata replacing Sakura! I reallllly like this concept, and honestly really need to RP it, lol - buuut that's really all there is to this one, so...I'll stop rambling there. Thanks for reading!

[minimalexertion]

Chapter 4

What to do When Attacked

Chapter 4: Defending Yourself (Physically and Mentally)

Step 7 - Priority of Lives and Basic Defence

Always put your life above others as a dead dimension traveller will not be able to save lives. Never purposefully put yourself in danger, unless it is to save a salvum hominem or the injuries and damage that you will experience due to that action are not over 10% life-threatening, i.e. if you have a 10% ~ 100% chance of survival, take the action.

Your protector eorum will train you according to your assigned powers when you are asleep or alone. However, it is up to you to maintain and further better your own skills so as to increase your probability of survival. If possible, try to spar with fellow 'friends' in your new dimension, however this is only physical defence.

Mental defence requires you to be always aware of your surroundings to be able to fend off mental attacks, such as hypnotism. Your assigned protector eorum will assist in this, but yet again it is up to you to further strengthen the skills that are taught to you.

Handy Tip #11: Meditation and yoga tend to help in your mental defence.

Handy Tip #12: If attacked, physically or mentally, always remain calm. Panic will cloud your mind, limiting the number of possible decisions that you could make which may then lead to unfavourable outcomes.

You awoke 15 minutes later to find yourself on the ground of the Hokage's office, a blanket covering you and a make-shift pillow made from a folded jacket under your head. Groaning, you sat up and looked around the room sleepily, barely managing to notice Kakashi move to your side to slowly help you up.

Clearing your throat, you asked in the most nonchalant tone (which probably did not suit this situation), "So, what did I miss?"

Naruto and Sakura were quick to fill you in on the details, whilst Kakashi hovered around you, checking your temperature. Zoning out for most of the explanation, you caught the important details. You, and your newly appointed team members, had to escort this one guy back to his home. This sounded easy enough, but due to your new found 'psychic' abilities, you knew that this mission would not be a good time.

It was going to be a bad time.

A really, really bad time.

The sound of someone clearing their throat snapped you out of your gloomy thoughts, forcing you to turn your attention onto the people in the room. Kakashi, with a stern look on his face (well as far as we could tell since at least 90% of his face was covered), inquired, "What were you talking about before, [f.name]? About this mirror maze and the death of Sasuke."

Oh boy.

Nervously scratching the back of my neck, I barely managed to stutter out my response, "W-well, sometimes. N-not really s-sometimes, more like most of the t-time? I get this massive headache and then, I wouldn't really call it the future, but I would kind of see glimpses of the future?"

I'm a paid actor, by the way. Thanks for asking.

Letting out a nervous chuckle, I continued, "Just then, I think I saw what was going to happen? I'm not to sure though. Because most of the time I am wrong." Everyone looked confused at this statement. I gulped, before adding quickly, "Like, one time last month, I had a vision that I was going to get put into a group with a duck, a fox and a flower, but that hasn't happened yet. I think?"

It was so easy to lie straight through my teeth, as if I was made for this acting life. Step aside Meryl Streep, [f.name] [l.name] is coming for this year's Oscar for best actress. As I cackled in my brain, whilst feigning an embarrassed look on my face, I continued, "So, I saw um... Sasuke being surrounded by these mirrors? And then he basically keels over dead in the next second, so I don't know what happened?" I say, noticing that the Hokage and Kakashi shared the look.

You know. The look.

The look you give your friend when someone mentions one word that relates to an inside joke that only the two of you know.

Yeah, that look.

Except for the fact that the look the Hokage and Kakashi shared was not one where it felt like a, 'It's an inside joke!' But, more like a, 'She knows too much and now we must eliminate her,' one.

The office was too quiet after I had answered, until Naruto yelled out, "Wow! That's so cool! You can see the futu-"

Which was promptly then cut off by Sakura telling him to shut up followed by a slap. This might be fun, after all.

After resting for a while, the four of you met at Konoha gates to depart on this new journey of friendship and love. Well, that was what you wanted to believe. You sighed, as the 6 of you walked out of Konoha, Tazuna (the man who you had to protect) shooting snarky comments every now and then to Naruto, who (much to the amusement of both you and Kakashi) got quickly riled up.

"You want me to believe that this kid is able to protect me?! Ha! It's more probable for me to drown in concrete than that ever happening!"

      "Hey! Shut it, you old geezer!"

           "You noisy little brat!"

Before Naruto could lunge at this old man, Kakashi once again (for the sixteenth time in the past 15 minutes) yanked Naruto away from the ground by the scruff of his neck. Naruto grumbled as Sakura reprimanded him, before apologising again and again to the 'poor old man'. Sasuke hadn't spoken a single word

This was then repeated again when we passed a random puddle in the middle of the dirt road.

You sighed, slouching a little as you walked past this puddle, slowing down just so you could walk right next to Kakashi, and inevitably receive front-row tickets to whatever was going to happen next. Stopping in your steps, to Kakashi's confusion, you bent down to take off your shoes, feeling the whoosh of air pass right above you and hearing the screams of Naruto and Sakura.

Shoes off, you came face to face with the saddest battle scene in the history of battle scenes. In other words, Naruto was freaking the fuck out, Sakura looked like she had lost her mind, and Sasuke.

Well, Sasuke was team carrying.

But, this battle was taking a bit too long for your liking.

Sighing for the umpteenth time of this day (you noticed that you had been sighing a lot recently and you blamed it on 'stink bag'), you dropped your shoes and immediately stomped the ground, raising a chuck of earth the size of Sasuke's ego - for those that don't know, it was just a large piece of rock. Stepping forward and punching it with both hands, this massive piece of earth began to fly towards the unexpected visitors (at an unexpectedly high speeds), smashing one of them through several trees and surprisingly also demolishing the chain that linked the both of them.

Uh, hello? Mou here. I just want to break it to our fine reader here, but I think you just straight up murdered that guy, nothing wrong with a bit of murder, but did you have to do it in front of the kids? No, you didn't. But you went through with it anyway. Do you know how much paperwork this is going to be for me? Surprisingly, not a lot.

Turning to face the other surprise visitor, you quickly summoned a red-hot flame in both of your hands before rushing towards them, a bored look on your face. Throwing fiery balls of hatred, you managed to get close enough to kick him where the sun doesn't shine, but Sasuke had managed to not only get in your way, but also pin attacker number 2 to a tree with a couple of kunais.

Skidding to a stop by digging your heels into the dirt, you looked at Sasuke as he nonchalantly shoved both of his hands into his pockets and walked back to the main group.

'This guy. This guy is an A-grade asshole. I actually cannot believe he gets worse, like you would think that right now, this is scraping the bottom of the barrel. But, no. He just happens to exceed my expectations and become an even bigger asshole.' I thought, barely managing to keep my eyebrow from twitching in amusement. A short silence had fallen on your small group, as I turned to face a shocked Naruto, a shaking Sakura, a nonchalant Sasuke, a terrified bridge builder, and an indifferent Kakashi. Oh, Kakashi is alive?

Zoning out, I walked back to pick up my shoes, dusting my feet off before slipping them back on. Looking up, I nearly snorted at the sight of Naruto waving his arms around as Kakashi attempted to bandage Naruto's hand. Before we could continue on our way to our destination, Kakashi turned to me and asked, "So, [f.name]. What is the name of that jutsu you just did?"

Shooting him finger guns, I smoothly replied with, "I don't kiss and tell, sir. But, if you must know, it's called a secret."

Kakashi sighed.

Earth-bending skills: 7 out of 10

Fire-bending skills: 6 out of 10

Acting skills: 1000 out of 10

Probability of survival: 68.47%

[arachcobra]

Naruto Episode 11 & 12 Review

Got PTSD? Just walk it off, you baby.

Review of Naruto Episode 11 and 12: The Land Where a Hero Once Lived and Battle on the Bridge! Zabuza Returns!

ArachCobra

So in this one, we start out with having Sakura guard Tazuna on the bridge, all alone. I'm just like, what? Apparently, it's because Kakashi is still not feeling well and Naruto and Sasuske are still struggling with the tree climbing things. So they do try to explain it. But the problem here is that there is no fucking way Kakashi can know when Zabuza will be back. Yeah, he can make an estimate based on the guy's injuries, but he doesn't know if Zabuza has some super healing ninja in his employ. For all he knows, Zabuza is heading for the bridge at a speed of mach fuck you right that very instant.

He isn't and Sakura is not gruesomely cut into confetti, but that's just because Zabuza has no easy way to recover. But this is still very risky.

Also, Tazuna calls Sakura lazy for yawning, which I feel is entirely uncalled for. Some guy named Giichi feels working on the bridge is getting too risky, so he quits, with Tazuna yelling at him.

Later, Sakura and Tazuna goes shopping and we get to see just how badly Gato has ruined the Land of Waves. It's an admittedly effective scene.

This is then ruined by the dinner scene where Sasuke and Naruto are shoveling down food so fast they have to puke. Hey, assholes, people are starving right now. Least you could do is respect the food you're given by not choking on it, just because you have to prove you're better than each other. Seriously, this is not team work. Time and time again we see this competition between Naruto and Sasuke makes them take quite frankly idiotic decisions that are detrimental for the team as a whole. Kakashi should get his act together and tell the two of them to get their shit together.

And then Sakura stares at a slightly damaged photo on the wall and Odysseus, the dialogue. To paraphrase Sakura: “There's a picture here. But it's torn. How did it get torn? It seems very important. The one who tore it must have had some sort of reason. I wonder why.” Honestly, most likely explanation is that Kakashi noticed the plot point hanging on the wall and asked Sakura to point it out until someone would say something and move the story along.

So then we get the tale of Kaiza. About how he saved Inari from drowning thanks to a trio of child bullies straight out of a Stephen King story. About how he saved the village when the floodgate broke. It's an interesting story, but made kinda silly by being punctuated by so much overly dramatic music and flowery language about how Kaiza: “Taught people the meaning of the word courage.”

And then Gato has Kaiza tortured by a group of goons before publicly executing him.

How... How can he do that? Is there no government in the Land of Waves? How did he get so powerful that he can execute people? In front of a large crowd of people even. In front of the guy's family. Did he buy out the government? How does that work? I mean, have him killed, yeah, that I can imagine, but publicly executing him for disturbing the order of the land? Kinda ridiculous.

And that's why Inari doesn't believe in heroes. Naruto goes out to train because he wants to show Inari that heroes do exists.

Neat.

For the next episode, let me just start by complaining about the title. It's called Zabuza Returns and Battle on the Bridge, but that's a fabrication at best. Zabuza and Haku show up at the very end of the episode and there is no battle on the titular bridge. Its just misleading.

Anyway, Haku crossdresses and meets Naruto in the forest and they exchange some awkward dialogue about having someone important. And that only by having someone important will you be strong. I guess that really depends on one's definition of strength, so I'm not gonna harp on that too much.

Anyway, tree climbing continues and Sasuke and Naruto returns, sweating, panting and covered in dirt. If you told me that's because they decided to celebrate with a victory quickie in the bushes, I'd believe you. These two really do come off as if they have some closeted feelings for each other.

Anyway, Inari says its all futile and Naruto calls him a coward and a crybaby.

Yeah, doesn't matter that the kid is traumatized by the death of his father and the decline of his country, while constantly having to worry that any day now, his grandfather will be slaughtered. Doesn't matter that this constant oppressive atmosphere of fear and futility has made him a nervous wreck with PTSD. Just get over it, kid. Anything else is cowardice.

In case it isn't obvious, I find this scene kinda sickening and insensitive.

Now, Kakashi says that Naruto didn't say anything he hadn't already told himself and that Naruto has suffered too. Well, great. Two problems. One, Naruto has not gone through the exact same scenario as Inari and even if he had, he'd probably have reacted differently, because people are different. He has no right to demand that Inari ”gets over it.” Second issue, from a narrative point, how bad did Naruto have it? We have some general ideas that he was excluded and people looked down on him, but it hasn't really been elaborated upon. We're just told Naruto has it bad and that's it. So here, the story trips over itself trying to justify Naruto yelling at a traumatized kid who's not even had a chance to properly grieve and get over the soul-shattering losses he's experienced.

To put it mildly, it doesn't really work. No matter how much the show insists that Naruto understands Inari's pain.

Anyway, next day, Zabuza shows up, Naruto is late and Gato's henchmen are getting ready to kidnap Tsunami and Inari. Oh, who's Tsunami? Inari's mother. She's been around for three episodes, but does very little. I think we only learned her name this very last episode in fact.

Shame. You'd think somebody with the name Tsunami would be a character you should keep an eye on.

Anyway, first episode works just fine. Second one dragged down by Naruto's treatment of Inari. Seriously, that's not okay.

Givenea

Inari, grandson of Tazuna takes over the role as awesomest character, for telling Naruto how dumb he is.

We then learn that Inari has lost all hope because a business tycoon turned his homeland into a dictatorship, everyone is starving and poor and his stepfather (who was the most amazing dad ever) was executed by said tycoon for trying to make things better.

Then Naruto calls him whiny.

Yup, Inari, an eight-year-old, who has lost his freedom and security and is struggling to cope with the loss of the only father he ever knew, is whiny. And Naruto is the right character to set him straight, because… a few people sneered at him…?

That’s all we’ve seen… Let me elaborate.

Back in episode 1, the big bad, Mizuki informs Naruto (and the audience) that Naruto is shunned and hated by the villagers because he is the container of the nine tailed fox. But this doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

Within the first episode we see Naruto be chased down by ninjas, sneered at by his classmates and some random women and conned by Mizuki into stealing secret information.

This is not bad; it sets up that there is bad blood in between at least some villagers and Naruto. Next step would be to reinforce this idea over the next few episodes while establishing a norm for Naruto’s day to day life in Konoha. Naruto does runs into trouble with villagers a bunch of times within the first two episodes but only once or twice is their scorn unprovoked on his part. Going over them in order:

Episode 1:

Chased by ninja: He committed vandalism and skipped school. - Was punished by having to clean up his mess.

Sneered at by classmates - Because he mouthed off, they all had to redo a test.

Sneered by random women – Apparently unprovoked. Could be viewed to refer to the fox

Conned by Mizuki – Because he had the fox, Mizuki figured he could get away with it, taking advantage of him while he was vulnerable.

Episode2

Scolded by the Hokage – Naruto screwed up his ID and mouthed off.

Beaten by random woman – She was angry over Konohamaru’s botched transformation, unprovoked, but also nothing to do with the fox.

Thrown out of bookstore – Clerk did not allow reading before buying, had every right to toss them out.

Beaten by women in the bath - After attempting to sneak in and peep on them. They also immediately recognize, not only that Naruto and Konohamaru are transformed, but one also cries out: “Naruto, you again?”. Giving the distinct impression that this is a common occurrence.

Fight with Ebisu – while Ebisu does refer to Naruto as a fox, he seems far more miffed at Naruto taking Konohamaru all over town and distracting him from his training.

Ok, two things

Most people do not seem to care about the fox, whatsoever. They are instead reacting to Naruto’s actions, which are annoying at best and criminal at worst.

Nobody really seems to hate Naruto enough to step in and stop him from hanging out with the Hokage’s grandson. If Naruto was really shunned to the point we are supposed to believe, wouldn’t they try to save Konohamaru from the monster they believe the blond brat to be?

So while some people have treated Naruto pretty harshly, the whole thing fails in setting him up as an outcast through no doing of his own. It also fails at putting him through anything even remotely as bad as what Inari has suffered. So, when Kakashi later try to smooth things over, and encourage Inari, by explaining Naruto’s hardships and saying he got tired of whining and decided to do something about it, it falls flat.

Not only that, but when did Naruto ever stop whining? He pouts like a child whenever he doesn’t get his way.

Moving along.

After learning the tree-lesson instantly, last episode, Sakura is put on guard duty… well, it needs to be done, but couldn’t Kakashi have given her some other training since she’s ahead of the curve here? Not to mention, what is she gonna do if Zabuza or one of his people shows up? She is one lone genin, who has barely started her training as such. He, even wounded, is a highly trained jonin and we know that he has at least Haku to help him out.

Could be that this is just Kakashi’s way of paying lip service to doing this job.

So, Tazuna calls her lazy… I haven’t the foggiest why. After having lied to her superiors and then guilted her team into staying on a mission they are in no way qualified for, he should understand that just showing up is going above and beyond what anyone could expect from them.

So I guess these episodes are just here to make everyone look bad.

Oh yeah, and then Zabuza and Haku shows up.

Fluttersniper13

Sasuke and Naruto are having a dick measuring competition, Sakura is useless, family issues all over the place, Gato is god and everything is miserable. So, the usual shit.

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13125294/8/Naruto-Rewrite-1-Road-to-Ninja

[darquedeath4444]

First Time to See the World

Chapter ONE

Sakura had a lot of potential, but it was largely untouched. Whether it was due to her young age or the early wipe out of her clan, it did not matter. Zabuza needed a weapon that was both sharp and usable, not something that had abandoned one quality for another. And if he needed to, he would force her into a mold of his choice.

But he would make sure not to break it, because that would just be a waste. He inspected the way Sakura gripped her weapon and showed her his own. "Hold it like this."

Sakura inspected his grip and quickly adjusted hers.

Zabuza nodded in approval. "Now, rule number one. Don't throw your kunai like most idiotic brats seem to do. Your opponent might pick it up."

Sakura nodded.

He spun his blade in grip, smirking when Sakura kept her fascinated eyes on his hand. "You have to aim to permanently incapacitated your opponents because it is just tiring and a waste of time to deal with them later. Of course, unless you are aiming for information."

Sakura quickly nodded again.

"Now let's see, Team Seven's next mission..." Namikaze Minato trailed off, rubbing his chin. "You can walk the Inuzuka dogs, do some grocery shopping in a neighboring village, babysit the-"

"Nope. Nope, nope, nope!" Namikaze Naruto shouted. "No dogs, no grocery shopping, and definitely no babysitting!"

Uchiha Sasuke groaned. Beside him, Watanabe Ami paused in her failed attempt at flirting to stare admirably at the blond.

Hatake Kakashi sighed, "Naruto, please don-"

"I'm serious!" Naruto interrupted, then turned back to his father. "Dad! I'm getting sick of all of these stupid missions, I want something better than chores. We're suppose to be ninja, I want a more exciting mission than those!"

There was a moment of quiet, before Umino Iruka narrowed his eyes. "Naruto, we've been over this! You're still just a-" he paused, when Minato chuckled.

"Well, if that's really what you want, alright."

"W-what?!" Iruka sputtered, looking at Minato in bewilderment. "Hokage-sama, you can't actually be serious!"

Minato chuckled. "I am," he said "If they think they're ready for a higher rank mission, then so be it." He dug through his desk, and pulled out a mission scroll. "I have a C-rank available. It's an escort mission."

"Throw them in one motion," Haku said. "Fluidity will minimize wasting energy. Individually, senbon are small and weak. However, they become very effective in incapacitating your opponents once you know how to use them and are able to overwhelm your enemy."

Sakura watched as he threw a handful of senbon at a target. Every single one of them hit a vital point on the dummy. He smiled encouragingly at the girl. "Your turn."

Sakura took the senbon Haku held out to her. She closed her eyes and mimed throwing the weapons a few times before she let the projectile leave her hands.

It had only been five minutes since they had left the Leaf village.

"When are we getting there?" Naruto asked.

"Dobe, shut up. It hasn't even been 10 minutes," Sasuke said, glaring at Naruto.

"What did you just call me, Teme?!"

"Dobe."

"Teme!"

Ami glanced between the two of them, no doubt unable to choose who to support.

Kakashi sigh. Again. For the nth time since their departure.

Suddenly, a chain shot out form the shadows, tearing right through him.

Sakura concentrated. The green healing chakra surrounded her hands and the injured bird lying before her. Haku watched over her shoulder as the bird's wing slowly began to heal.

When Sakura was done, she stepped back and after flapping its wings a few times, the bird quickly flew away. The pinkette watched it go with wide eyes.

Haku smiled. "Good job. You picked it up quicker than I thought. Your chakra control is impressive too."

Sakura turned to him but did not seem to have heard anything he had said.

"Sakura-chan?" He asked.

"This is the first time I've...healed anything."

Of course, this was the first time Sakura had successfully managed to summon healing chakra, but Haku knew that this was not what she meant, so he patiently waited for her to finish gathering her thoughts.

"The Kaguya live in the world of chaos. We breath battle and we drink the blood of our enemies." She smiled softly. "I was always told we broke thing. I've never fixed anything before."

Haku's felt understanding flood through him and he smiled at the girl.

Sakura's eyes brightened and she grinned back.

After confirming the target of their attackers, Kakashi revealed himself and quickly finishing off the last ninja.

Naruto stared at him, wide eyes full of fear and relief. "Wh-wh-how?" He spluttered.

Kakashi shrugged and the Genin turned to look at where their teacher was supposed to be. A log lay there.

Kakashi turned to his team and smiled. "Good job Sasuke, you too Naruto." He then turned to the third member and softened his gaze. "If the enemy had been a little stronger, you would have killed the team," he told her gently, though his tone was serious. Ami, who had clung onto Sasuke and refused to let go for a while the moment the attack had come, hung her head.

Kakashi did not press anymore, though, because he understood, just a little. He instead turned to their client. "Now, Tazuna-san. I believe we need to talk."

"As a reward, Zabuza-sama gave us some money to spend in the village." Haku smiled. "Sakura-chan, what do you want to do?"

Sakura frowned and awed at her Kiri hitai-ate, which she had received on the 28th of March, a few days ago. When she had said that she didn't remember her birthday, Zabuza had randomly set the date to when they had first met. Her hitai-ate was previously owned by some Kiri shinobi. Zabuza had killed him on a job and Haku had picked it up, then given it to her.

Sakura quickly shook herself to clear her thoughts and turned to Haku. "I want to get something to eat," she told him.

Haku smiled. "Me too. After that, how about we buy some simple clothes?" He eyed her dirty shinobi uniform, which was also stolen. "Girls need to dress up once in a while. Besides, I've always wanted to style your hair." A dreamy look appeared on Haku's face.

Sakura inwardly shuddered but she agreed to let Haku do what he wanted.

The smile on his face was worth it.

"So, this Gato doesn't want you to finish the bridge?"

Tazuna nodded. "And he is trying to kill me to stop me."

Kakashi hummed. "Then we can expect more high level ninja to come after us."

Sakura twirled around in her new clothes. Of course, they were a new set of shinobi attire. However, they felt much more comfortable and clean.

Haku smiled. "You look great." He then tapped the chair in front of him. "Come here. Sit and make yourself comfortable."

Sakura obeyed.

An hour or so later, Zabuza came back. He had been out for the day, making deals with someone.

"We're going out." The man said.

Sakura and Haru looked up from the ice mirror they were sitting in front of. Haku was combing his fingers through her pink hair.

Zabuza glanced over at them and his eyes softened. Just a tiny, tiny bit, and just for a second, but it was enough for both of them to see. They smiled.

Sakura pouted but stood up anyways. Haku followed and he grabbed a pouch. Sakura just rolled her shoulders and pocketed a few handful of senbon into her hidden clothes compartments.

Zabuza passed Haku, then Sakura a hunter-nin mask. "Just in case," he grunted and they nodded in understanding. "Also, Sakura?" The pinkette turned to Zabuza. "Use henge. Your hair stands out like a drop of blood on snow."

Sakura grinned and nodded. Once she looked nothing like her true self, they met up outside.

"Where are we going?" Sakura asked curiously.

Zabuza twirled his sword around. "We're taking out a man by the name of Tazuna."

"Get down!" Kakashi ordered.

Everyone ducked just in time.

A flash of silver from a thrown blade flew over their heads.

Naruto gasped and Ami let out a yelp.

The sword buried itself onto a tree and a man appeared, standing on its handle.

Chapter TWO>

<Prologue

Chapter List

[caithyra]

Sakura Part 1 and Narrative Sabotage (or how Kakashi sabotaged her from the beginning)

So, I looked through my old folders and saw a bunch of Sakura-centric fics that I’ve started over the years, and it got me thinking of how fandom absolutely despises Part 1 Sakura for being totally “useless” and “Sasuke-obsessed”. And...

...I don’t see it? Okay, so I see Sakura’s crush and Kishi’s attempts at using it for levity (and his inabilities as a writer), but I don’t see any obsession or uselessness until AFTER Sasuke leaves (seriously, that bench he left her on leeched her of all character).

But I did see a couple of scenes that might explain why people think Part 1 Sakura was like that all the time (and I saw a bunch in which she is useful to the extent of her abilities like not having a kyuubi or being an Uchiha), and how the well was poisoned from the beginning...

The first scene I mean is this one. We’ve previously been introduced to Sakura’s crush on Sasuke, and Naruto’s crush on Sakura. Because Naruto is the main character, Sakura’s disinterest in him is seen as “bad” by the narrative and another “underdog” thing for Naruto (little did we know that NinJesus was Nice Guying the real underdog).

Then Kakashi, who is supposed to be the teacher, expert and authority says that she cares more about boys than being a ninja when she is shy about introducing herself and her ambitions in front of her crush. Note that Sakura is the one vocalizing doubt on Kakashi’s own introduction, funnily enough.

But anyway, this scene has now prepped us to see Sakura as Sasuke-obsessed fangirl.

So in the Bell Survival Test, Sakura immediately hides and observes her enemy. Naruto challenges Kakashi head-on. Kakashi forms what seems to be the Tiger seal and only Sakura (not Sasuke, who recognizes the seal as a fire seal) reveals her hiding spot to warn Naruto.

Well, it was a fake-out (also, people who flanderizes Part 1 Sakura as physically abusive and hitting Naruto all the time, why aren’t you flanderizing the perverts called Kakashi, Hiruzen, Ebisu and Jiraiya, at least one who digitally penetrates Naruto and the others who have a thing for Naruto’s Sexy no Jutsu while being his guardian/teachers?), and then Sakura and Sasuke watches Naruto use Kage Bunshin and so on.

And then Naruto is caught in a trap with Kakashi gloating over him (when Naruto gets down, he’s caught in yet another trap). And then Kakashi disappears from view after Sasuke attacks (and runs) via Kawarimi and Sakura runs and tries to find and regroup with Sasuke.

Instead she runs into Kakashi who knocks her unconscious with a genjutsu depicting Sasuke dying and pleading for help (keep in mind that she hasn’t eaten dinner or breakfast, so she’s essentially running on the previous day’s lunch at this point, and, well, it’s near lunch so it’s been 24 hours since she last ate). When she wakes up again, she sees what appears to be Sasuke’s severed head and faints again.

When she wakes up and sees that Sasuke is fine, she’s happy and hugs him. Then she thinks they should quit since they can’t win like this anyway (coming to the right conclusion, though not to the answer Kakashi wanted).

Meanwhile, Naruto has freed himself from the trap and is about to eat all the lunch all by himself (what a team-player, y’all! Betcha he didn’t skip dinner either the night before).

And then we get this:

The only time Naruto was even near to Sakura was when he was fighting Kakashi head on or dangling in front Kakashi in a trap. Was she supposed to jump in then? Or when Kakashi Kawarimi’d away from Sasuke’s attack? When she didn’t know where Kakashi was, Naruto was trapped, and she’d previously revealed her position yelling a warning for Naruto?

Instead of running away to hide and regroup with the non-trapped teammate? Who, by the way, ended up being closer to Sakura the rest of the time.

We know what happens next: They pass the test and fandom (and probably Kakashi) decides that Sakura is Sasuke-obsessed and wouldn’t have passed the test if she didn’t copy Sasuke.

I mean, it’s not like she cares for her team and tries to help them in what way she can, right (like, enough to reveal herself to warn them and faint in distress of one of them dying)? /sarcasm

Hilariously, I think that Sakura actually would have passed Kakashi’s test with better teammates (who act like a team rather than a non-ninja and an avenger). And that’s before it came down to lunchboxes.

Now, she might be “useless” because of her lack of skills (Hey, Kakashi-sensei! Isn’t it someone’s job to fix that?), but you see her sometimes be more useful than her teammates. Like when Naruto freezes in fright:

BTW, that’s a chuunin with specialized weapons she’s going up against who earned the moniker “Demon Brother”. Compared to Naruto, Sakura was definitely of more use in this fight (remember, their mission is to protect Tazuna). Also, she is the one asking questions and educating her teammates throughout this whole arc, showing more interest in the thought of foreign ninja than Sasuke at the beginning of it, even.

This actually continues with Sakura showing drive and talent, but also doubts because she’s on a team with plot-elevated NinJesuses, and she feels weak because of it, and Kakashi not giving her recognition hurts her both in-story, and in the fandom (since Kakashi is meant to be a reliable narrator when it comes to his students at this point).

People don’t twig onto Kakashi’s unreliability and bias as a teacher (and the narrative’s bias against female characters) until it became obvious when he abandoned her between the second and third exams, and they take her self-deprecation as gospel, so to the fandom, she’s always been useless.

So basically, what we started with had a solid foundation of a good character; a regular girl with a crush who is interested in knowing things, who sometimes act competently and sometimes silly. She’s starting from scratch but is willing to improve (and the Tree Walking Exercise shows that she learns fast, and the first exams shows that she’s good at retaining what she learnt). She’s far from useless.

Unfortunately we have a character in authority undermining her by mentioning that she’s Sasuke-focused whether or not it applies to the situation, and then the narrative starts doing that as well, and well, you end up with a “Part 1 Sakura was always useless” in fandom.

My verdict is that Sakura in the beginning of Part 1, and in the beginning of Part 2, were both good characters, not obsessed (again, just a young girl with a crush), and far from useless, but that the narrative soon after dropped the ball hard (like, if we find a hole in Earth’s core, we’ll know what to blame). Plus sexism, but that’s a far longer essay than I have time to write right now.

[gurenaii]

My SS Analysis (Part One)

 SasuSaku. A canon pairing between Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura.

I posted earlier that I wanted to do one of these, so here this is!

This is an analysis for only part one, not for Shippuden. It’s too long for one for Part One as it is.

I spent a long time on this and I’m really proud of how this came out. In this I’ll be addressing some, if not most arguments against the ship and I’ll be using the manga and databooks as well; not the anime. I’m getting the manga translations an screenshots from Kissmanga.

I’ll also be doing this with an open mind, while inputting my own thoughts as a shipper of SS.

Now, let’s begin.

WARNING: THIS IS VERY LONG, THOUGH ITS MAINLY THE AMOUNT OF MANGA PANELS THAT MAKE IT LONG...

CHAPTER 3

When Sasuke and Sakura are officially introduced to the series, Sakura is shown and described by Naruto:

Naruto has a lil crush on her, and she’s shown as a Sasuke fangirl shortly after.

Sasuke then gets introduced right after, described as the class heartthrob.

Then yes, Sakura is officially portrayed as a girl who has a crush on Sasuke, a fangirl of his. And he pays no attention to her advances. As well of two girls there hissing “who does she think she is” which I find kinda funny by the way. It also proves the whole “class heartthrob” comment by Naruto, it’s shown that not only Sakura, but other girls also have a crush on him. Though it’s based on his looks and his coolness as the rookie.

He ignores all the advances by his fangirls. Right after Naruto comments how Sakura looks totally ecstatic while she has heart eyes at Sasuke. And then the little funny comical scene happens where Sasuke and Naruto kiss accidentally.

Let’s skip ahead a bit. We get to where Iruka is pairing up the three person squads. Team Seven is paired together as: Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke.

Skipping ahead again...

After Sasuke gets free from the restraints Naruto put on him he finds Sakura who was basically just in an encounter with Naruto disguising as Sasuke. He obviously doesn’t know about that and he asks where Naruto is and Sakura does her little rant about how he keeps ‘getting in between them’ and how he has no parents and how kids with none grow up selfish and annoying, then right after he tells her that being scolded by your parents doesn’t compare with loneliness. Sakura is oblivious to this and then Sasuke calls her annoying then leaves.

Some SS Shippers I now have said that he didn’t really think of her as truly annoying here, but yes, he did. She rambled about something that hit his nerves. He was actually annoyed at her here.

So here, he isn’t very fond of her.

CHAPTER 4

We are introduced with this cover which is really nice foreshadowing by the way.

Where they are talking about themselves, while Sakura talks about herself like everyone else did, this happens:

Take it as embarrassment or moved, I personally think he’s embarrassed since she’s basically fawning over him in front of his teacher and yeah. I also think he’s just embarrassed because this takes after he called her annoying, where he wasn’t really liking her.

CHAPTER 6

After Kakashi puts Sakura under a genjutsu of Sasuke on the verge of death, she screams and passes out. Meanwhile Sasuke hears the scream:

CHAPTER 7

After Kakashi sends Sasuke underground, Sakura arrives and believes that she’s seeing his severed head and passes out again.

She wakes up to see Sasuke leaning over her, he waited for her to wake up to see if she’s okay or not, despite wasting his time.

She sees that he’s fine, not dead, and hugs him in relief, and he reassures her that he’s fine and tells her to let him go now.

And he explains to her how it’s almost noon and time is running out (cough, and yet he stayed with her until she woke) and that he almost got the bells last time.

*clears throat*

I don’t think this is embarrassment. What even is there to be embarrassed about? Nobody else is around except for Sakura. And there isn’t any reason to be.

Boy, I see you.

After, she says how “there’s always next time!” and that he should give up, and then he opens up to her by saying:

Pretty sure he’s never told anyone this yet other than briefly hinting it when he was describing his likes, dislikes, goals, etc.

Also going to mention she’s concerned here.

And she remembers this.

She may be his fangirl in this part, but she isn’t dumb.

CHAPTER 8

:o

moving on

CHAPTER 9

Included that because I found this panel to be humerus, and that eye smex is a big part of his ship. *giggles*

CHAPTER 10

The team is on a mission and they get attacked. Sakura gets in front of Tazuna with a kunai and tries to protect him, Sasuke goes and gets in front of both of them, if Kakashi didn’t step in here he could’ve died or gotten seriously injured.

Proving the statement wrong: Sasuke didn’t care about anyone or anything in part one, he was only focused on revenge.

Yes, he’s focused on getting stronger and getting revenge. But stepping in front of two people where he could have died, where he would be unable to get his revenge, yeah.

There are also more examples that prove the statement wrong, but I'll go over it when I get to those parts.

Another example that Sasuke does indeed care, even if it’s slight.

Mhm~

CHAPTER 19

During chakra control training, Sakura could easily walk up the tree with ease. Meanwhile Naruto and Sasuke were struggling. Sakura gave Naruto tips, and then after a while...

Sasuke asks Naruto what Sakura told him earlier about the tips, with a blush on his face.

You can interpret it as a blush of embarrassment or a blush that he’s interested in her, I take it as embarrassment. I mean, he obviously isn’t one for asking people for help or advice and he’s embarrassed that he had to ask Naruto of all people.

CHAPTER 26

Another example that Sasuke does care for his comrades this early on in the story. He heard Sakura scream and was panicked that something bad might’ve happened to her and Kakashi back there.

CHAPTER 27

Another example that he cared or his comrades this early on...

CHAPTER 31

Then comes the scene where Sakura see’s Sasuke’s supposedly dead body.

-And she is shocked to see this.

You can see it in her expression. She’s shocked that the Sasuke, top rookie in the class whom she praise to be cool and good at everything he does, is laying down dead in front of her.

And she’s holding her emotions back now. She states that this isn’t an illusion this time and says he feels cold, rather than the warmth that he’s supposed to have and that confirms it in her mind that he’s actually dead.

She is holding her emotions back until Tazuna says that it��s alright for her to shed tears.

Sakura hears this, and talks about how she always got good grades on all her tests in school.

And she states the 25th rule of the Shinobi Conduct, and finally lets her emotions out and she cries.

This moment here, I think opened her eyes about how anything could happen, and how easily she could lose somebody. I also think this moment, her character develops. She obviously really cares about him more; more than his looks or his “coolness” or else she wouldn’t be crying this hard.

If she truly didn’t care about him then she wouldn’t be this affected by it.

CHAPTER 33

Sasuke hears someone crying and recognizes it to be Sakura.

And he wakes up.

She is grateful that he’s alive, and quickly hugs him. This is like a parallel to chapter seven, except this one has more emotion and it’s more meaningful.

While she hugs him he tells her he’s hurting him so she lets go and apologizes. And Sasuke’s eyes are concealed.

He tries to get up and she is against it, because he might  worsen the wounds he already has. He reassues her (just like chapter 7) that he’s all right and asks about the situation about Naruto and Haku and she answers him.

CHAPTER 34

No, he didn’t insult her. He reminded her that instead of flirting, she should work on her skills more. Sasuke is Sasuke. He’s blunt about his thoughts and he’s not afraid of letting them out.

If you want to know what or who he insults, it’d be Naruto from the amount of times he’s called him an idiot and made fun of him.

Calling someone an idiot (which is making fun of how smart they are) and mentioning to someone that they should they should practice on their skills instead of using their time of flirting are two different things. You can take it as an insult, but just don’t forget he’s called Naruto a variety of things that are rude.

Also, again, Sasuke is extremely blunt.

She actually even admits that he’s right.

CHAPTER 36

The next day, Sakura is still reminded of what Sasuke told her the day before. She’s reluctant to join the chunin exams because she knows she isn’t good like Naruto or Sasuke are.

And Sakura puts on a front, and Sasuke of all people saw right through her.

When two people are standing in front of a door, not letting anyone through to enter the exams.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura come up and see this and:

And:

He compliments Sakura on her genjutsu immunity skills in front of everyone, winks at her, and has a smile on his face when see sees that her mood has been lifted to happiness.

CHAPTER 38

This is quick, but:

After Sasuke’s fight with Lee, Sasuke is falling and Sakura saves him from falling and hurting himself.

And she asks if he’s alright because she’s genuinely worried.

CHAPTER 47

While in the Forest of Death, when Orochimaru approaches Sasuke and Sakura and forces them to see their death and are paralyzed, they cannot move.

Sasuke looks over and notices Sakura cannot move either, and that she’s shaking from fear.

And he needs to do something. He needs to get them both out of there alive, so he stabs his leg and goes to get Sakura out of there.

And she tries to talk to him and he puts his hand over her mouth to shut her up so he can think of a plan to get them out of the situation.

She also notices that he’s more jumpy and that she’s never seen him like that before, and she’s worried about that.

CHAPTER 48

We’re given this as a part of a cover. (I don’t know if you noticed but I’m putting the covers here as well)

CHAPTER 49

Something that we haven’t seen from Sakura yet, is if she’s as submissive to Sasuke as she usually acts.

She may seem like she doesn’t, but she doesn’t take shit from him, and she’ll call him out if she ever needs to or if it’s necessary.

And what she says here, pushes him to snap out of it and then he proceeds to fight Orochimaru.

And when he loses and gets bitten, getting the curse mark, Sakura is angry and wants and demands to know what Orochimaru did to Sasuke.

After not much of an answer she goes to try to comfort him, to try to help him in any way.

And their hands get intertwined, Sasuke squeezing hers, trying to ease the pain he’s getting.

She pulls him close to try to ease the pain, trying to figure out what to do and what’s happening to him.

She is NOT taking advantage of him. She is NOT trying to take advantage of him. She’s worried about him and she’s trying to figure out what to do to help.

CHAPTER 50

Sakura is taking care of both Naruto and Sasuke.

And she is determined to protect the both of them.

CHAPTER 51

She’s taking care of them to the point where she isn’t letting herself sleep. If she didn’t care about them dearly, she wouldn’t be doing this, and she wouldn’t be this determined.

When three sound ninjas come in and want to fight Sasuke, and Sakura obviously declines, he’s still injured. So she demands answers about the mark on Sasuke’s neck, and about Orochimaru.

CHAPTER 53

It shows that she has liked Sasuke ever since she was really young.

Later on, she tries to protect them as well as Lee, now, and she gets pulled by the hair by a sound ninja.

She goes on in her head about how she feels llike a burden, and how she always has to be protected. She wants to protect the people she cares about, and now she feels useless, like she just gets in the way. And so she then cuts her hair to get free from Kin’s grip on her.

CHAPTER 54

Sakura thinks about how her teammates protect her, and how she just watches them from the back.

She thinks of her teammates + Lee, and guess who’s right in the center.

She then proceeds to fight for her teammates.

A series of flashbacks show with Io and Sakura, and it’s revealed that, again, she’s like Sasuke ever since she was at a young age, and she didn’t even know he was popular and that a lot of girls liked him, too. She didn’t start liking him because he was popular.

CHAPTER 55

Sasuke wakes up.

...But it isn’t the sight she thought she’d see.

Sasuke wakes, the curse mark is active, and he’s angry at seeing how injured Sakura is and demands her to tell him who hurt her.

He is pissed.

The background behind Sakura is black, and I learned recently that when the background of a panel is black, the thing in it is the sole focus of a character is looking at.

It indicates her state of injury is the one thing he’s focused on at the moment. That is the reason he’s so angry after all.

CHAPTER 56

Sakura is worried about the marks on Sasuke’s body, and she points it out.

And he reassures her that there’s nothing to worry about and that he feels strong with power.

And once again. he opens up to her.

And yes he gets even more pissed. Especialy when he figures out who hurt Sakura.

Also, he pays no mind to anyone else around, not Naruto who’s right next to him, he woke up demanding who hurt Sakura, not Naruto, not Lee, not why or who these people are, but who hurt her.

He then goes to defeat Zaku by breaking his arms right out of his sockets, and then goes to the other standing sound ninja.

Sakura notices that this isn’t the Sasuke she knows, this isn’t him.

She then takes it upon herself to try to stop him, so she runs up to him screaming for him to stop, and pulls him back from behind.

Even if you don’t ship it, you gotta admit this was a very  powerful and well done scene, props to Kishi.

The eye smex:

And then she pleads again but with a softer tone, to stop.

And because of her doing this, the curse mark goes away.

CHAPTER 57

Naruto wakes up, and is alarmed to see Sakura and Sasuke far away, and he notices something.

He notices that something happened to her hair. Not her injuries, her hair.

Sasuke and Ino are not amused xD

CHAPTER 60

Sasuke is determined to get Naruto to get those fish. He’s really into it lmao

And then:

okay then sasuke

This moment isn’t really relevant, but I am doing an analysis on all their interactions, so...

She’s worried about something, and he asks her to explain what she means...if Sasuke didn’t care about her at all and found her hella annoying, he wouldn't have asked her to talk and he wouldn’t be listening to her.

And he’s obvious listening to her proven in a few panels ahead. It is a very important topic. Normal conversation about important matters, nothing more, nothing less.

CHAPTER 61

Another example that she isn’t as submissive to him as some may seem to believe.

:)

CHAPTER 62

Still trying to figure this out...

CHAPTER 63

screeeeech~

riiiiiiiing~

CHAPTER 66

She doesn’t take shit from him...She isn’t as submissive to him as people may think...

He’s pretty shook and alarmed to see her cry like this, especially for him.

She doesn’t want him to get hurt with that mark.

Again: She does not take shit from him.

She doesn’t want to see him suffer, she says it herself.

Some eye smex, though it’s angsty and intense eye smex:

He opens up to her again.

And then he says, not even for your sake.

CHAPTER 68

In the midst of his battle in the preliminaries, the curse mark activates, but he thinks of Naruto and Sakura, and it goes away. He does in fact care for his teammates while people say he doesn't and never did, but he does, and they do have an effect on him.

CHAPTER 69

Apparently, Sasuke made Sakura promise that she wouldn’t mention the curse mark to Naruto, he trusted her to keep the promise...

And she kept it.

CHAPTER 99

Sakura is worried that Sasuke wont show up to the exam.

CHAPTER 111

Sasuke arrives to the match, and Sakura is worried that the curse mark is still there and it might interfere, so she asks Kakashi about it.

And when he answers something positive, her mood gets lifted up.

She isn’t a fangirl anymore. She isn’t obsessed with him anymore. She deeply cares for him as seen here, if she really just liked him for his looks, then she would not have been this worried.

CHAPTER 129

After Naruto jumped into the fight with Gaara, he gets out and goes after Sasuke to attempt to kill him.

But Sakura jumps in front of him with a kunai, wanting to protect him.

If she only cared about Sasuke for his looks, would she have jumped in front of him, knowing full well that she would either die or get extremely injured?

And Sasuke would have probably died if she hadn’t stepped in front of him.

CHAPTER 133

Sasuke gets up, and tells Naruto rescue Sakura from Gaara’s hold, and then to get her and himself out of there. He trusts Naruto to do it.

So he can delay Gaara, so there would be a chance for Naruto and Sakura to get out alive.

If he didn’t care about Naruto or Sakura, he wouldn’t do this. He wouldn’t say this, he wouldn’t call him and Sakura precious comrades to him.

CHAPTER 138

Gaara is defeated, and Sakura is getting free. She’s about to fall when Sasuke goes and catches her before she hits the ground and gently sets her down by Pakkun.

He then looks at her softly and tells Pakkun to take care of her while he goes to check up on Naruto.

CHAPTER 144

Sakura thanks Sasuke for saving her, but he tells her it wasn't him, but it was Naruto.

And she's thankful.

But Sasuke isn't happy with it at all.

He felt that he couldn't do anything, he felt useless. He was unable to defeat Gaara when he was his original opponent, and he wasn't able to prevent Sakura from getting held by him when she stepped in front of him, and because she did so was because he wasn't "strong enough" is what I get from this.

And from then, he wants to get stronger, he wants to make sure he's ahead of Naruto because he's catching up to him at a rapid pace.

CHAPTER 153

After the encounter with Itachi, Sasuke is put in Konoha Hospital, and is in a coma. Sakura is shown sitting at his bedside.

CHAPTER 172

Sakura is shown at Sasuke's bedside when Tsunade arrives in the room.

Tsunade then heals Sasuke and tells Sakura that he'll wake up.

And Sakura starts to cry tears of joy that he'll be okay.

Sasuke wakes up and Sakura immediately embraces him. Sasuke doesn't tell her to let go and lets her hold on and just stays silent. He isn't annoyed or angry that he was embraced by her when he just woke up.

Naruto leaves the room, noticing something (:)) and gives privacy.

Maybe he noticed Sakura's feelings for Sasuke were in fact pure, and maybe there would be a chance he (Sasuke) would return the feeling. Still a mystery, but I like the look on Sasuke's face :)

CHAPTER 173

Sakura is in Sasuke's hospital room cutting apples for him, when he starts to get disturbed.

His encounter with Itachi changed a lot of things with his mindset. This is where things start to really go downhill.

He is disturbed, again, that he wasn't strong enough to defeat Gaara, he wasn't strong enough to prevent Sakura from getting captured, he wasn't strong enough to do anything. Naruto did everything while he sat there injured, he feels weak.

He is so disturbed, he gets angrier and angrier the more he thinks about it, and even smacks the apples Sakura cut for him out of her hand.

He's angry and yeah, things went really downhill. His mindset is completely different. The Sasuke before the Itachi encounter chapters prior to this wouldn't have done this.

He's different, and Sakura notices that something is wrong before anyone else does as proven in a few chapters.

Also, keep in mind he looks away from her after he smacked it out of her hand.

CHAPTER 174

Naruto enters the room, and right off the bat Sasuke looks at him like he was the one who ruined everything, even though he didn't.

They are both alarmed at the look on his face.

Sasuke demands Naruto to fight him, he's really out of it, he's really angry now, he isn't himself.

Naruto agrees, totally oblivious to the way he's acting and agrees to fight him with enthusiasm, while Sakura protests Naruto not to.

CHAPTER 175

Sakura protests no, to cut it out but they don't listen to her.

She notices the darkness now, she notices everything now, before Naruto or Kakashi have. She did experience that certain darkness herself when the curse mark activated and went out of control the first time.

And his darkness really makes an appearance when he goes at Naruto on the rooftop with an intent to kill him.

CHAPTER 176

She jumps inbetween them, and that's what snaps them both out of it, but they can't stop the attack. Thankfully Kakashi stops everything.

Then Kakashi states how they were too into it to be just a normal fight. And there, it's proven by what Kakashi says and Sasuke's expression that he really was intending to kill Naruto there with the Chidori.

And he gets angrier.

So to those who complain and use Sasuke smacking apples out of Sakura’s hand as the worst thing on the planet that makes the ship bad, keep in mind too that Sasuke was completely out of it and he tried to kill Naruto right after.

CHAPTER 177

Kakashi has a talk with Sasuke, and does nobody remember the crazy look in Sasuke's eyes? No? Nobody is paying attention to what he told Kakashi? And people throw a hissy fit over Sasuke smacking apples out of Sakura's hand and then they ignore the entire reason why he did so, forgetting that he tried killing Naruto and was acting mentally unstable in his conversation to Kakashi right after?

Why is Sasuke smacking apples from Sakura more brought up than this?

And if things couldn't get worse he gets an invitation to go to Orochimaru for power.

CHAPTER 178

Naruto noticed Sasuke's darkness and truly knew his intentions before Sakura who?

"Sasuke wont be tempted by him!"

That's exactly what happens. He decides to leave Konoha because he was tempted by Orochimaru and the four Sound Ninjas.

CHAPTER 181

Heavy chapter...

Sasuke decides to leave, and before he does that he looks at the Team 7 picture...with an expression of longing maybe, or something that indicates when he leaves he'll miss them? It's definitely a pained expression.

Right when he's about to leave Sakura comes and meets him near the gate. She knew he would be leaving, while Kakashi and Naruto assured her that he would be fine and everything would be okay. But she knew.

Another confusing facial expression from Sasuke on the bottom left panel.

She knows he's leaving Konoha.

And she asks why he never tells her anything, and why he's so silent, and why he never lets her in.

But she fails to notice that he let all of Team 7 in, and failed to notice her how he did in fact tell her things he didn't tell anyone else. He has opened up to her in the past but she didn't notice.

And then Sasuke tells her that he shouldn't have to tell her anything, that it's none of her business.

Sakura asks him if he remembers the time he called her annoying at the same exact place they're standing now before when they first became genin. He says he doesn't remember.

sasuke stop talking out of your ass

She talks about the old happy times. How it was so fun during missions with each other and Team 7.

And she tells him that getting revenge wont make anybody happy, including him. And then he tells her that he's different than everyone, and how yes, they worked together for a while. And that yes, maybe, they were a team once. And she starts pleading.

She tells him that how she knows the feeling of loneliness now, and if he left she would feel lonely. (which I didn't necessarily like and i'm a shipper)

But then there's an unknown expression in Sasuke's eyes, which I still fail to see the emotion to this day.

When he refuses, she drops the bomb.

Notice he stops walking, like he just stops.

Also keep in mind he listens to her the entire time. He doesn't interrupt her with a rude ass comment, he doesn't reject her, he just stands and listens to what she has to say.

And then he says:

Creating a complete parallel to when he first called her that in their first actual conversation. Sasuke "I-don't-remember-but-I'll-make-a-parallel-anyway" Uchiha, you really were talking out of your ass when you said you didn't remember...

moving on :)

No, that wasn't a rejection. Sasuke is blunt, and if he really attempted to reject her he would have outright told her: I don't like you, leave me alone, go away, I won't ever return your feelings.

But instead he does a parallel to their first conversation.

Sakura then threatens to scream and yell when he starts walking away, and then he quickly goes behind her and...

He thanks her.

He doesn't say, I don't like you, leave me alone, go away, I wont ever return your feelings. He thanks her.

And Uchiha Sasuke doesn't thank anybody unless he actually, truly means it.

And his eyes are not shown, they are cut off.

And he knocks her out, picks her up and carries her to the nearby bench and sets her down.

If he seriously didn't give a crap about her at all, he wouldn't have wasted his time listening to her confession, he wouldn't have thanked her, he wouldn't have carried her to a bench, he would've knocked her out and left her there with no words spoken from him.

And I've already put down panels showing he indeed cares for all of Team 7. Just because you hate Sakura or the ship doesn't mean you should spout bullshit. He considers all of Team 7 as family, Sakura isn't an exception just because you don't like her or the ship.

CHAPTER 182

The next morning, Sakura's still laying on the bench, and she wakes up. And she remembers Sasuke's "thank you" right off the bat.

I find these panels so very sad. The boy she loves just left to the enemy and walked into the darkness and she couldn't do anything to stop it, all she could do is get a thank you from him and that's it.

CHAPTER 183

Even after Naruto hears of Sasuke's departure, he still can't understand why Sasuke left.

And then Sakura shows up before the Get-Back-Sasuke Squad leaves.

Wait- Shikamaru?

The second time she's reffered to as an "even you" related to Sasuke. First time was when Sasuke told her he couldn't forgive even you.

It's like people around know her importance to Sasuke. She is his teammate after all, she has got to have an affect on him, right? Just like everyone else in Team 7, and Team 7 only at this point.

Moving on, she is heartbroken that she can't do anything else, and all she can do now that she isn't allowed to go with the squad, is to plead Naruto to bring him back, because now he's the only one at this point who can do it, except Naruto would have to do it physically, not having a conversation like Sakura tried.

Honestly if you see this as an obsessed fangirl, I don't know what to tell you anymore.

Even Naruto says it right in the same page.

She does, and it's genuine.

And so Naruto promises her that he'll bring him back.

CHAPTER 236

Sakura goes to visit Naruto in the hospital, and then she hears that the mission failed: They couldn't get Sasuke back.

And she's heartbroken again, but she refuses to show it.

She wants to keep a smile on, to be postitive here even though it's the opposite of what she really feels. She avoids Naruto's apology.

And then shortly later, she approaches Tsunade and asks to be her student.

And she thinks of both Naruto and Sasuke.

She wants to get stronger to protect the ones she loves, and to do that she needs to train hard, and she will (and she did)

That's the finished analysis for part one. Want me to do a Part Two? Doing this was fun despite how long it took me to finish.

I made this for one of my friends who recently just joined the Naruto Fandom and she ships SS, so I made this little analysis for her so it's more understandable.

I actually would like to do more of these but not just for SS...Not sure though, but I do like doing these.

I hope you liked this :D

[discoabc]

TKAB Original Oneshot

A/N: So I don’t think most of the people reading the fic knows this but TKAB actually is based off this thing I did for the 100th chapter of another of my fics. I wrote a series of short little oneshots about the OC-insert from that fic in different animes/mangas, all of which I found myself enjoying immensely whilst writing - especially the Naruto one. 

TKAB ended up being entirely different (MUCH darker and with the main character having a very different personality overall) so it is kinda funny to see how it stemmed from a oneshot intended to be entirely for humour

Kakashi perched on a railing with his book held in one hand, barely casting any attention upon the three teenagers before him. "So, your turn. You, first on the right." He pointed towards the orange-clad blonde.

"Believe it! I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I like-"

"Ramen. We all know you like god damn ramen. You live off the stuff. We get it already." Sakura, hair short and somewhat scruffy, sneered at the boy, making him pout.

"Jeez, okay Sakura-chan. I guess my dream is then to beCOME HOKAGE!" He ended loudly, jumping to his feet.

"If you become Hokage I'm defecting with no regrets."

"Sakura-chan!"

"Well then," Kakashi continued. "You, on the left, tell us about you."

The dark haired boy linked his fingers together. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan and kill a certain man."

"Oh wow, we have fucking Emo Badass over here who hates the world." Sakura ignored the filthy look she got from Sasuke. "Go cry to somebody who gives a fuck, we aren't your god damn therapists."

Naruto sniggered, Sakura raising her eyebrows at him and effectively shutting him up.

"Why don't you tell us about you now since you have so much to say." Kakashi gestured to the girl who rolled her eyes.

"I'm Sakura Haruno. I like spending time with my family as, considering the percentage of orphans around here, they'll probably die soon in some horrific affair. I don't like these two idiots with one of them thinking that orange is the best colour for a fucking ninja and the other intent on being the most angst-ridden teenager that ever roamed this earth. My dream is to get through this whole ordeal without murdering someone due to their colossal stupidity." She finished with a pointed look at the two boys beside her, Naruto moping about her irritation with him and Sasuke looking as though he was going to slit her neck.

"What a lovely team I have been entrusted with." Kakashi drawled.

As soon as the jounin started the timer, Sasuke darted away, Kakashi noting quite boredly that he had done a good job of concealing himself.

For a genin.

He then cast his eyes upon the two who hadn't moved, dully surprised by the supposed smartest of the group's presence next to the apparent stupidest. "You know, protocol states that you should hide from someone stronger than you." Kakashi pointed out.

"Heh, I'm not scared of you!" Naruto declared proudly, Sakura looking decidedly done with him.

Seeing that the man was waiting for an answer, she crossed her arms, standing in a deceptively relaxed pose. "Hiding may be protocol but in this situation it's basically useless considering how large the gap is between us and you. We should be escaping, however, all we'd be doing is showing our backs to you whilst running for it. Anyway, the aim is not to run, the aim is to get those bells." She indicated to the two round metal objects tied to his belt.

"So you're conserving energy?" He was purposefully ignoring Naruto's cries for the man to pay attention to him.

Sakura shrugged. "Actually, it's less about conserving energy, more about completing the real aim of this test. As a show of teamwork, I'm going to say sarcastic, supportive comments as Naruto gets his ass handed to him." She gestured to the boy.

"Hey! I'm not going to lose!" The blonde protested.

"I would've chosen to 'support' Sasuke but he'd probably say some stupid thing like 'I work alone' or 'you'll drag me down', whilst Naruto here is most likely ecstatic I stayed with him."

The said 'ecstatic' boy was still protesting about Sakura's low expectations of him.

"Well done, you all pass!" Kakashi beamed at the three, Sasuke still holding up his food to the tied up Naruto. "This was a test about teamwork, as Sakura correctly deduced. Although, you didn't really do anything other than tell Naruto that he was doing better than you thought he would when I threw him into a tree. And you didn't offer him your food either."

Sakura scoffed, her lunch already half gone. "I'm fucking hungry, like hell I'm sharing."

"I received word however that, unlike Sasuke and Naruto, you actually ate breakfast." Kakashi continued, the blonde gasping at the unfairness whilst Sasuke glared at her.

She snorted. "Of course I did, it's the most important meal of the day."

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shrieked as the jounin was pulled to pieces by the enemies' chains, the bridge builder Tazuna gasping in horror whilst Sasuke drew out a kunai.

Sakura, on the other hand, rolled her eyes.

"He's a dramatic piece of shit." She declared, none too gently kicking Tazuna away before throwing her own two bladed weapons. The enemies smacked them away with their chains, beginning to sneer something condescending at the girl only for a large explosion to occur. "You owe me five explosive tags, asshole." She then declared, Naruto gasping when Kakashi emerged from the smoke with both enemies dragged behind him.

"How did you know I was alive?" He asked, not really too shocked by her correct deduction.

"I'd be worried about our village's survival if jounins were so easily killed." Sakura told him, turning and clicking her tongue as Tazuna started groaning about there probably being internal bleeding. "Pathetic."

"You're going to all die!" Tazuna's grandson, Inari, declared loudly as team seven sat in the kitchen.

Sakura took him in with dry amusement. "Oh look, Sasuke, it's your new best friend who hates the world as much as you."

"Sakura, shut up."

"All in all, I think this ended pretty well." Kakashi crinkled his eyes, smiling at his students, two of which were lying on the ground.

"Yeah, one of us ending up as the human version of a porcupine and the other releasing a bit of his inner demon is really what I call a good end to a mission." Sakura drawled, Naruto shooting up in shock and Kakashi's smile disappearing. "What? You thought I didn't know about Naruto having a giant fox inside him?"

"Sakura…" Kakashi began in a warning tone, seeing Sasuke sit up with furrowed eyebrows in his curiosity.

"For a secret punishable by death if told, it was stupidly easy to find out. Come on, he was born on the day of the attack and has goddamn whiskers on his face!" Sakura looked astounded by how shocked Sasuke looked. "It's so obvious! People are basically screaming demon at him every time he walks down the street!"

"I thought it was a metaphor," Sasuke mumbled.

Sakura threw her hands up in the air. "Typical! There's practically a neon sign screaming that Naruto has the Kyuubi inside of him and everyone just goes 'oh man, what could that sign possibly mean?'! And, by the way, I don't dislike you for having that asshole hanging out in your stomach, Naruto, I get pissed with you because you're a ninja wearing orange."

"Sakura-chan…" The blonde looked somewhat touched through his confusion.

Well, Kakashi thought as the pink haired girl then turned her attention back to berating Sasuke for not noticing the condition of their teammate. That didn't go as expected.

[fineillsignup]

I think my thing with age gap is that, if the two people had a close relationship when one of them was a kid and the other one wasn't....I struggle with that. Just the idea of Kakshi watching her slowly grow into a woman and then one day realizing he is attracted to her after a certain point, I cannot. I'm convinced a part of him would always see her as a child to him. If it's AU where they meet as adults I don't mind though. Their hair color compliments somehow...

You know, it’s totally ok that it squicks you! It’s completely alright if you want to say “I only like KakaSaku in AUs where they meet as adults” (or in AUs where they’re the same age).

Personally, I actually like the appeal of “whoa I thought our relationship was X but now suddenly I want it to be Y” in ships, that’s a major theme in my OTPs across many fandoms. For one thing, that’s built-in drama. Person A wants the relationship to change, but Person B isn’t sure, and then Person B suddenly realizes it but Person A has gone away, Person B you must chase Person A down! EXCITEMENT. Also: external opposition? Taboo?? I MUST HIDE MY FEELINGS AND PINE SECRETLY FOR LO, MY LOVE CAN NEVER BE??? 😍😍😍

Specifically with Kakashi and Sakura, a big reason why I ship them is that while genin Sakura certainly does intend to respect and obey him and view him as an authority figure (because she’s a Good Girl), right from the get-go she doesn’t really. Inner Sakura (her true feelings) laughs at Naruto’s prank, and she’s appalled at his lateness and trolling. The entire time she’s a genin, I’m convinced that Kakashi never truly registered her potential. The most frequently cited example of this, because it really is appalling, is when Sakura mastered tree walking the first try–#1, Kakashi merely uses her accomplishment to ridicule and shame the boys, turning them against Sakura (teamwork, Kakashi??? hello???); #2, her “reward” is to sit on the bridge with Tazuna while Kakashi trains the boys without her. Nice. And during the time skip, it’s fairly obvious that Kakashi and Sakura didn’t interact–otherwise Kakashi wouldn’t have been so completely gobsmacked at her unleashing the Fifth’s strength. He wasn’t merely surprised, he was stunned.

The inference that he thought Sakura completely incapable of learning Tsunade’s techniques so fast is inescapable. He knew she was training with Tsunade, so Sakura using Tsunade’s technique shouldn’t have shocked him so much, right? Yet it did. Because he completely discounted Sakura’s ability.

That’s slow to change as well. Even though Sakura’s fight against Sasori was far more successful than Kakashi and Naruto’s against Itachi and Deidara, even though Sakura is spending every moment of her free time researching and begs him in the hospital to help find a way to improve, does Kakashi bother to come up with a training regimen for Sakura? Nope. He and Yamato train Naruto alone, and they get Asuma involved as well.

Now, to a huge extent, to me, this is just a symptom of what should have been an overarching problem in the series: short-term thinking. It is completely natural that short-term thinking would be ubiquitous in a society undergoing constant warfare and violence. But short-term thinking causes problems, and when those problems are attacked with more short-term thinking, things can turn to shit so fucking quickly. Each of Kakashi’s decisions to prioritize Naruto and Sasuke so exclusively make sense through a short-term focus. His decision to teach Sasuke the chidori to fight Gaara makes sense through a short-term focus. It’s only when you step back and look at the pattern that you realize how fucked up these decisions are.

So when does Kakashi start to realize how wrong he’s been? In my opinion, it all comes home to him during the Five Kage Conference and his fight with Sasuke–a fight that prominently features the chidori that Kakashi is responsible for choosing to teach Sasuke. Kakashi says right out in this arc that he was a bad teacher. He is correct.

It’s the Fourth War when I see him really changing his view towards Sakura, and realizing just how much this wonderful, amazing, strong kunoichi isn’t the Sakura he thought he knew. But there’s a snag. She’s still all hung up on the guy  who literally everybody treated as more important than her safety from day one! Oops!

DAT CHEEK BRUSH THO.

And we haven’t even gotten into all the things that Sakura doesn’t know about Kakashi! So yeah the stage is set for amazing things, potentially, but this is Naruto so we don’t get nice things. But who cares, really? I mean, fuck, I ship all the canon ships except SS, so just take it from me: you do not want your Naruto ship to be canon. My God! You want Kishimoto writing your OTP?! You want Studio Pierrot writing it?!?! I ship NaruHina and I’ll never be the same. Don’t do that to them. Keep them in fandom, where they’re safe from the shitstorm that is the rest of post-699 Naruto.

*coughs* I seem to have run off the rails, anon, sorry about that. Onto your last point.

I am convinced that a not insignficant portion of Sakura’s shippability is her colour scheme. You wouldn’t think pink hair and green eyes would blend so well, but for some reason it really does? She just looks good with everyone!

[bakubabes-tatakae]

The Uchiha In The Leaves (Part Twelve)

Author’s Note: If anyone wants to be in a taglist for this feel free to let me know! Happy to do it for anyone!

(Kakashi x Reader)

Summary: What happens when Y/N finally returns to the Village Hidden in the Leaves? Her life is flipped upside down when not only does she find the man that’s awaited her return, but she finds someone she thought she’d never see again.

Part One, Part Two: *NSFW Ahead!*, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight: *NSFWish Ahead!*, Part Nine, Part Ten, Part Eleven

AO3 Link

Word Count: 3.1k

*Y/n P.O.V*

As Naruto screamed at Haku and their conversation continued I zoned out. I couldn’t break my eyes off of my helpless little brother. I couldn’t believe that there was nothing I could do for him. Any attempt I made would either end in my death or Kakashi not letting me past him, something that would be a piece of cake for him. As I watched Sasuke I saw the kunai that Sakura and I had gotten to him come flying through the slits in the ice wall and straight at Haku’s face. Haku dodged it with ease and Naruto looked over, finally noticing that Sasuke was in there.

Haku began to speak to Sasuke. “I haven’t forgotten about you, not for an instant.” Haku looked over at him. “Some warriors accept defeat gracefully, they know when they are beaten. Others do not so be it. Let us finish our battle then… to death.”

I could feel everything in my body begin to feel heavy. I felt like I wasn’t even in control of my body anymore as Haku started walking back toward the ice wall. As Haki disappeared inside the ice wall I screamed. “SASUKE!” I began to run before I even realized that I was running and before I got far I felt hands around my throat. My feet were lifted off the ground and I saw the gray sleeves that were on Zabuza’s arm as my air was slowly escaping me. 

I heard Kakashi’s anger rise and a little panic set in on his voice. His voice started to sound almost demonic and a growl was present. His change in demeanor sent shivers down my spine. It had been a long time since I’d seen Kakashi truly angry like this. “Let her go Zabuza.” He took a kunai out of his gear bag on his hip and looked Zabuza in the eyes. “If you don’t let her go I’ll finish you myself, right now.”

Zabuza laughed. “One more slip up like this and I’ll kill all the kids and the bridge builder before you even realize what’s going on. Mark my words.” Zabuza’s grip loosened and I fell to the ground on all fours, gasping for air. 

Kakashi bent down and helped me stand back up. I could feel myself wheezing. “Have some faith in your brother Y/n. You never know what he can do.”

I tried to talk, but the words weren’t coming out. I was trying hard to say his name, but nothing but air escaped my lips. I heard more needles flying around and more grunts of pain from Sasuke before hearing him hit the ground. Both Naruto and Sakura screamed his name. When I had my voice back I saw Naruto sneaking his way into the ice wall. Their best bet would have been for one of them to attack from the inside and one to attack from the outside. “Naruto, you idiot!”

Kakashi lowered his head. “Naruto, you sneak up on your enemy, not your ally.” 

Kakashi kept one arm around my waist, ensuring that I didn’t move. Suddenly I saw the Uchiha come out of Sasuke. There was fire flying around in the ice wall. I perked up a little and stopped fighting so much against Kakashi. Fire melts ice, maybe it was a good move, but the ice didn’t waver. More needles flew around and both boys were screaming.

I couldn’t see what was going on, just a lot of yelling, and I was cursing at myself. If I could have seen what was going on then maybe Kakashi and I could yell to them and help them. Suddenly Kakashi spoke. “I knew it, I figured it out, it’s a bloodline trait. Kekkei Genkai.”

Zabuza laughed and Sakura looked over. “What’s that?”

“It’s like Y/n and I’s Sharingan, you can’t learn it, it has to be in your blood. In your genetic code, passed down from generation to generation within a single clan.”

“But that means…” Sakura trailed off. 

“That’s right, even we can’t copy that jutsu and there’s no way to destroy it and no way to stop it.”

I started gasping for breath again. I was hyperventilating now. I hoped Sasuke and Naruto could hold their own in there. I couldn’t lose my only other family member left. Itachi was dead to me. The boys needed to work together if they wanted to get out of this alive. 

Sakura tried to get the boys going. “Sasuke, Naruto, get this guy. You can do it.”

Kakashi looked over at her. “Don’t Sakura. Don’t push them. Even if they somehow found a way to overcome the mirror jutsu, they still couldn’t defeat this ninja.” 

I looked back and Kakashi. “Don’t you dare say that.” I slapped his chest, tears welling in my eyes. “You of all people, don’t you dare.”

“Y/n, they have the desire to win, but they don’t have the instinct to kill. That boy is a whole other breed. He lives for pain. He thrives on it.”

Zabuza laughed. “Exactly. Your village has become complacent. The Mist Village was never like that, was it Y/n?” He looked at me and smiled. “Y/n was trained to kill, that’s why we have a page in our bingo book about her in the assassination unit as well.” He looked between us both, “Your trainees never learned the most important lesson of all… to kill the feelings in their own hearts. To crush an opponent mercilessly. To destroy with no emotion or regret.” Zabuza started to build up his chakra, you could see it radiating off him. 

Sakura was afraid. “What are we going to do?”

Kakashi and I had two options. We could both make a break for it and save Sasuke and Naruto, but he’d slay the bridge builder. If we used shadow clones Zabuza would just match them with water clones, we’d be wasting chakra. We had no choice, it was us or Zabuza right now, we’d have to do it the hard way. Kakashi looked at me and nodded. He began to pull his headband up from his Sharingan and I focused my chakra, shutting my eyes to concentrate. When I felt the power flowing through every inch of me I opened my eyes, instantly activating the Sharingan in them. 

Zabuza laughed at us. “The Sharingan? You guys are no fun. Using the same old trick?” Zabuza ran toward Kakashi before Kakashi could get his headband off his eye. He had no idea what was coming. 

I was the only one that had my Sharingan ready so I jumped for Zabuza as he pulled a kunai out. With his free arm, Zabuza took hold of the leg that I had out toward him and threw me toward the ground, stopping me in my tracks. Kakashi put his hands up and the kunai went into the one that wasn’t holding his headband. 

Kakashi was even more pissed off now. “If it’s such an old trick, why did you stop me?”

Zabuza laughed, still holding the knife into Kakashi’s hand. I slowly stood back up and took my own kunai out. “Let your opponent see your jutsu too many times and he’ll find a way to use it against you.” 

I held my kunai out toward Zabuza. “Move your kunai Zab, before I move it myself.”

Kakashi looked over at me. “This is my fight right now Y/n. Let me handle it.” He looked back at Zabuza. “Count yourself lucky because you’re the only man alive that’s ever seen my Sharingan twice. The show’s over. There won’t be a third time.”

I was taken aback when Kakashi told me to back off, but I knew that he could handle Zabuza on his own. Zabuza laughed. “Even if you did defeat me you’d have no chance against Haku. When I found him he was just a street kid, but I trained him in the most advanced ninja techniques. I taught him everything I know, plus, he had special abilities that he refined on his own. The boy developed quickly. Soon he was able to verse the most powerful enemies, outnumbered, in total darkness, it didn’t matter. He could strike with perfect accuracy. He cared nothing for his own life or the lives of others. He’d become a unique fighting machine; a shinobi.”

“In the end, his power surpassed even mine. His bloodline trait, the Kekkei Genkai, can not be defeated by anyone. I’ve created a tool that can destroy anything that stands in my way, unlike the useless punks that follow you around!” He laughed maniacally. Zabuza pulled his kunai out of Kakashi’s hand and his blood flew around them. I watched in peril as they both stared at the ice walls. “You think those Genin together can defeat Haku? He’s the ultimate. A battle tool of destruction.”

Kakashi still had his hand on the headband over his eye. “Are you done bragging? You’re starting to put me to sleep. Let’s finish this.” He pulled the headband up and showed his Sharingan. “Now!”

“Fine, but there’s one more thing you should know, more bragging as you say.” Kakashi was glaring at him as he listened. “Did you really think our last battle was a win or lose? That I took your attacks like some rank Genin? Haku was there, hiding, watching every move you made, studying your Sharingans. Haku can see a jutsu once and immediately form a lethal counter-attack. It’s one of his gifts. I’ve been waiting to see the look on your faces when you two realize that your Sharingan's are worthless.” He stopped for a minute. “You once said the same jutsu won't work on me twice, well, now I’m telling you that.” Zabuza put his hand up. “Ninja art, hidden mist jutsu.”

The mist started to surround us. I couldn’t see Kakashi or the ice walls anymore. Zabuza disappeared. I didn’t like the fact that I couldn’t see Kakashi so I backed up until I found Sakura and Tazuna. “Kashi!”

“I’m fine. Just stay with the two of them. Keep them safe.”

“I can’t see the boys anymore!”

“Focus Y/n. I need you focused if we’re gonna make it out of here.”

“Sakura, stay with me.” I looked over at her. “Get your kunai ready.” I heard Sakura take out her kunai. “Follow my lead you two and whatever happens, stay behind me.”

Tazuna spoke up. “I’m right behind you.”

I heard Zabuza speak in the distance. “Very skillful, as I’d expect from Kakashi the Sharingan warrior.” There was a pause before I heard him again. “But the next time you see me will be the last time you see anything.” 

I froze. I had to get to Kakashi. “No!” I realized I was speaking out loud. I looked behind me at Sakura. “You stay here with Tazuna. I’m going to help Kakashi.”

Sakura nodded to me and I started running in the direction I was hearing the voices. Zabuza spoke again. “Without your Sharingan you are nothing.” I hoped I would get there in time. “You wanted me to believe you can see through anything, even through time, But your prediction was wrong, I’m still alive. So you’re a fraud Kakashi, you guys can’t read the future and you can’t read me. Sharingan is just a cheap trick that makes you seem more powerful than you really are.”

“I know now that your Sharingan has two separate elements. The piercing eye that sees every detail and the hypnotic eye that mesmerizes your opponents. Employing these abilities you can execute multiple jutsu in quick succession, to make it seem like you can see the future. First, with the piercing eye you copied my movements instantly. This replication of movement makes me doubt my own thoughts. Once I was shaken you infiltrated my mind, waiting for the slightest flutter to anticipate my actions, seeking out any hints to my next move.”

I made it over to the two of them. Zabuza had no idea that I was hiding. I could see Kakashi looking around, Zabuza had vanished from his line of sight, but I could see him. 

He spoke more. “You time it precisely, waiting for the right moment. The instant my mind becomes unfocused you create a new illusion, with your hypnotic eye. You induce me to make hand signs, while you’re making the same signs, so you seem to be copying me when actually you’re controlling my movements. Now that I know this, a very simple plan can defeat you. First, neutralize your piercing eye with zero visibility mist.”

I saw Kakashi go ridged. I had never seen him so out of sorts. Zabuza struck at him and he jumped backward before he hit him. The mist was slowing down his reaction time and I had to wait for the right moment to strike or I’d blow my cover. “Next, neutralize your hypnotic eye by keeping my own eyes closed. You can’t bore into my mind if you can’t look into my eyes.”

Kakashi looked around. “Brilliant, except with your eyes closed you can’t see me either.”

I knew as soon as he said it that he was wrong. Zabuza didn’t have a problem with things like this. He was part of the assassination unit, they were trained for this. “Have you forgotten who I am Kakashi. I’m the Demon of the Hidden Mist, master of the silent kill, I can take you out by sound alone.”

My time was coming. Zabuza would strike soon. I moved away from Kakashi. The next place that Zabuza would strike was going to be Sakura and Tazuna. Kakashi was blind to him, he would use the opportunity. I moved slowly and quietly, using what Zabuza had taught me against him until I could see the two of them, as well as Zabuza. Kakashi must have realized it too, as I jumped toward them and Zabuza reappeared Kakashi appeared in front of them. Zabuza swung his sword and Kakashi let it hit him. Blood started dripping from Kakashi and Sakura screamed. 

Zabuza looked at him and I stood, ready with a kunai. “Kashi!”

“You were late Kakashi.” He looked between the two of us. “You let your concern for those two little punks cloud your mind, adding further to the fog that already hinders your Sharingan.” Kakashi was holding his chest. “Your eyes are sharp Kakashi, but not sharp enough to read my moves.” Kakashi was in pain, I could tell by just looking at him, blood was seeping into his clothes. “Come on Kakashi, I want this to be fun. I want to enjoy this as I exact my revenge. As for those brats, don’t worry, they’re at Haku’s mercy.” He looked at me. “Sorry about your brother Y/n. He’s probably breathing his last breath, right now.”

I couldn’t take it anymore. The taunting was beginning to be too much. I could feel the anger radiating off me and Zabuza just continued. “Relax, you’ll have plenty of time to weep and apologize when you guys see that brat in the next life.” 

Before I could strike at him he disappeared into the mist again. I walked close to Kakashi. “Are you okay?” I put my hand on his hand as he clutched where the sword had just hit him. “Let me see.”

He was breathing heavily. “We don’t have time for you to look Y/n.” He turned to Sakura and Tazuna. “I believe in the boys' abilities. I have faith in them. Naruto, the number one, hyperactive, knucklehead ninja, and Sasuke, one of the last remaining of the most powerful clan in the Leaf Village.” 

Zabuza was just now realizing something about my brother and I. He hadn’t realized exactly who I had meant when I told him I was an Uchiha. Kakashi taunted him. His eyes grew wide. “You mean? All this time, you were part of that group of Uchiha’s Y./n?”

Kakashi spoke for me. “That’s right.” I was proud as Kakashi spoke. “The unique bloodlines from the Uchiha clan run through their veins. The Kekkei Genkai is their birthright.”

“I knew that two young ninjas had survived the attack on the Uchiha clan, no wonder you advanced so quickly in your training with me, and him in his training. But so does Haku. No one can match him. No one has ever stopped his secret jutsu, even the most skilled Jonin fall before him. Just as you will fall before me.” 

Zabuza appeared and I made my move, completely ignoring Kakashi’s yells for me to stop. “You’re mine Zabuza!” 

Before I could attack him Kakashi grabbed me and pulled me back, waving his scroll around. I knew what he was about to do so I back off. “Zabuza, I know how you like to draw these things out, but how about we put an end to this now.” Kakashi let me go and held the scroll in his hand, ready to form his jutsu. “Come on, what do you say? We’re both busy people.”

Zabuza had disappeared again and spoke. “Tempting, I’m curious to see how you’re going to back up such big words. Show me Kakashi!”

Kakashi started his hand signals. “Ninja art summoning, earth style.” He slammed the scroll on the ground. “Fanged pursuit jutsu.”

“I don’t know why you bother. Of what use is your jutsu if you can’t even find me? But I can find you. You’re blindly falling into my trap. You disappoint me Kakashi. I think you’re right, it is time to put an end to this.”

I smirked from where I stood, knowing that what Zabuza was saying was about to end. The ground started to break from under Zabuza and Kakashi and I could hear the dogs barking and growling. Kakashi's ninja hounds were like music to my ears. We looked at each other and smiled. Kakashi stood back up from the ground and walked forward. “I realized that if I couldn’t see you, I’d have to smell you out. That was a summoning jutsu. I was calling forth my ninja hounds. They can track a scent anywhere.”

“When you attacked me I let you get past my guard, I wanted you to cut me, you see, it’s the smell of my blood on your blade that led them to you.” Kakashi chuckled. “Surprised? Looks like I wasn’t the only one that was blind.”

I took the opportunity to taunt him. “Fallen into Kakashi’s trap, you disappoint me Zabuza. So much for the big bad Demon of the Mist.”

Kakashi put his arm around my shoulder, trying to anger Zabuza. “This mist is finally clearing, and you know what I see… your death.”

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