"Teeeme," Naruto taunted, flashing a cheeky grin, "someone just called you a little immature dumb runt!"
"… Idiot," Sakura murmured, running a hand through her pink candy strands as she and Sasuke straightened up. "Naruto, look around you." She grinned; it had been so long since she didn't have to raise her head so high just to have eye contact with Naruto.
"Eh?" Naruto shot quick glances at both of his teammates, at first raising a skeptic eyebrow but then growling in realization as he noted glumly that he was the shortest out of all his teammates – and by a good few inches, too.
"You're gonna pay for that!" he growled, glaring daggers at the man before them. He struggled under Kakashi's grip, muttering other insults under his breath until Sakura shot an icy look at him.
"Naruto," Kakashi muttered sternly, though he himself looked as if this whole mission was going to be a disaster. "From here on out, this man is our client. We can't have you killing him before the mission even starts. Uhm, would you -?"
"Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm Tazuna, the master bridge builder of my country. I need to get back there as soon as possible in order to finish it. So let's get going."
~
It was an odd sight at the gates of Konoha. A Kyuubi vessel clad in ridiculously orange clothing that clashed horribly against each other, a pink haired girl, the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan, a masked man with hair as silver as metal, and an old, burly peasant man assembled in front of the gates. Naruto walked a few meters ahead of the gang, with Sakura trailing closely behind. As Naruto cheerfully conversed with the air, Sakura could not help but have the nagging feeling that something bad was going to happen – rather, she knew something bad would happen, but she simply could not remember.
Kakashi and Tazuna walked behind the Jinchuuriki, a tranquil silence between the two other than the flip of a page or the chug of a beer bottle.
I never noticed this last time, but the man drinks an awful lot of beer… I wonder how he stays sober without chakra to assist him… Sakura wondered, gazing at the sunny, clear sky.
Suddenly, Kakashi broke the stillness, startling Sakura from her thoughts as she listened with a weary ear.
"I'd just like to confirm, Tazuna-san, that when you requested this mission, you wanted standard protection from robbers and such, am I correct?"
"Well, I – well, of course," the bridge builder muttered gruffly, a hint of uneasiness barely concealed in his voice.
"Ah, I see." The jounin smiled pleasantly, relieving the man next to him.
However, it did ring several bells in Sakura's head.
The last time this happened, we were attacked! I even remember Naruto's hand being poisoned and me trying to protect Tazuna from something, only to have Sasuke save me…
Sasuke-kun's so dreamy! He protects us from everything, including ninjas!
Oh please – wait… ninjas… ninjas, that's it! I have to tell Kakashi-sensei!
It was at that moment Tazuna decided to entirely change the subject, another sign to be suspicious of.
"Well anyway," he grumbled, "I doubt a little orange loser like him can even fight, let alone protect me."
"You shouldn't be insulting me!" Naruto yelled, glaring at the bridge builder. "I'm the greatest ninja ever and I'm going to be the future Hokage! Believe it!"
Before Tazuna could retort, Kakashi immediately tried to reassure him. "I'm an elite jounin, Tazuna-san, so I've got it all covered. You don't need to worry about a thing."
Sakura walked towards Kakashi-sensei, her face composed and serious.
"Kakashi-sensei," she greeted, taking her place alongside him. Unbeknownst to her, Sasuke listened in, suspicious of the pinkette.
"Hm?" the silver-haired man asked. Seeing her gesture, he leaned one ear towards Sakura, momentarily looking away from the book.
"Well, you see," she muttered, raising a hand next to her mouth to whisper into Kakashi's ear, "I sense some ninjas close by," she lied. "Also, I think Tazuna-san's been lying about only needing standard protection."
Surprisingly, the jounin smiled back at her. "Don't worry Sakura," he said quietly so that Tazuna could not hear, "I could tell from the start. Good job though, for realizing it."
The kunoichi gaped at her teacher, standing still for a moments. Sasuke caught up to her, gripping her shoulder lightly with his left hand.
"Sakura."
The kunoichi spun around, glancing at the Uchiha in front of her.
"Uh.. yeah?"
"How did you know?"
"Uhm, what?" Sakura began to walk forward, avoiding eye contact with the Uchiha. She concentrated her eyes on the road before them. Sasuke began to follow as well, his hands stuck deep into the pockets of his beige trousers.
"That there were ninjas nearby."
"… You heard that?" She gaped at the raven haired boy next to her.
"Sakura. Don't stray from the topic." He narrowed his dark eyes.
She sighed. "I found Tazuna to be suspicious, okay? I'm just guessing. Besides, Kakashi knows already."
"Hn."
~
An hour or so later, Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke walked in the back, leaving the bridge builder and Kakashi to the front. It was then, both Kakashi and Sakura noticed a small puddle in the middle of the road.
It hasn't rained this whole week… impossible…
It was then their sensei gave a meaningful glance back at Sakura. Immediately she tensed, whispering loud enough for the two boys to hear, "Run. Now."
Slowly, a man's head sprung out of the puddle, followed by an entire body. Another man emerged, both carrying spiked chains.
"No way, Sakura-chan! I'm a ninja, and I don't run away!" Naruto yelled, a little shocked, but nonetheless determined.
"Hn." Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the enemies, going into an attacking stance.
Growling, Sakura grabbed both boys by their collars and threw them a few meters back, though lightly enough so that they wouldn't be injured. Seeing her teammates rub their heads, coughing as dust covered them, she smiled albeit a little sadly, satisfied that they would not be fighting for at least a while. She charged towards one man as the other approached Kakashi-sensei with the spiked chain.
Hidden Village of the Mist, she noted, glancing at their Hatei-ates.
"Come on, pinky," the man taunted.
Sakura scowled at the man, her hate growing deeper.
"That's it." She raised her lithe hands into a hand sign, effectively sending the man into the depths of a deep genjutsu.
She watched happily as the man fell unconscious, until the pinkette realized she definitely did not want to be subject to the already growing suspicions of her teammates.
Shoot… do something, Sakura…
Quickly, she grabbed the collar of the mist ninja, and with a chakra-infused punch, she sent him flying towards the tree in the distance, quickly running after him as if he was going to fight back at any moment.
Naruto gaped in shock as the man who had bound Kakashi with the spiked chain split his sensei into pieces, leaving a puddle of blood. Gasping at the sight, he felt a desire to vomit.
"No way…"
Sasuke, however, immediately dismissed it as a replacement jutsu. Instead, he focused his attention towards Sakura's peculiar behaviour. It wouldn't have been so bad if the man hadn't fallen unconcious after being punched by Sakura. Instead, once his female teammate had made a hand sign, the enemy had simply fallen to the ground. The Uchiha bit his lip. Even for him, the changes he had witnessed from this once crazy little fangirl had both outstanded him and angered him.
Why is it that she can do that? …Why can't I have that kind of power? At this rate, I'll never defeat him…
Sasuke snapped out of his thoughts just in time to see the same mist ninja throw his deadly weapon towards Naruto, who stood there, paralyzed in shock over the "death" of his teacher and the weapon that was being flung toward him.
The Uchiha boy threw a kunai towards the chain links, effectively pinning it onto the hard bark of the tree closest to the battle, effectively stopping the chain from getting any closer to Naruto. Sasuke kicked the man whose arm was stuck along with the chains.
The dark-haired mist-nin did not stop there. In fact, he charged once again towards Naruto. Sasuke tensed, ready to throw another barrage of kunai if he had to – only to be stopped by Sakura, whose arm was outstretched in front of the Uchiha.
"NARUTO!" the rosette yelled, pink strands flying everywhere. "Are you going to stand there? Do something! Aren't you going to be the future Hokage?"
Naruto gazed in mild awe at the kunoichi yelling at him, but he soon grinned, and spun around to face the enemy charging toward him. Just as the spiked chain was about to pierce through Naruto's chest, he placed his hand in front to protect it, the sharp blade of the spike piercing through his palm. The Kyuubi boy gripped the blade with his now injured hand, kicking the man in the gut. Coincidentally, Kakashi poofed from nowhere, grabbing both mist ninja by the collars and gazing intently at his students.
"Good job, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. Ah, and we need to do something about Naruto's hand. Those spiked chains were dipped with poison."
Naruto gaped at his sensei. "B-but, sensei… you – the chains - !"
The remanents of Kakashi poofed away into pieces of wood. Naruto gaped like a fish, glancing back and forth at his teacher and the logs.
"Aah.."
Tazuna gazed at the three genin in a new light, deciding to give the blonde a break for once, and not make any comments.
Sasuke, on the other hand, smirked at the blonde whiskered boy.
"Oi!" Naruto yelled at the smirking Uchiha, barely noticing how Sakura bit her lip in frustration, considering whether or not to heal Naruto's hand. "What'cha smirking at me for?"
"If it weren't for Sakura, you would've been a real loser and a wimp, too."
"Teme!" Naruto yelled, clearly irritated.
"Guys," the coral-haired preteen quickly interrupted, "I'd hate to interfere, but Naruto's hand is poisoned."
~
Now that the mist-nin were tied securely to each other with chakra-laced rope, the white-haired jounin turned to the master bridge builder.
"Tazuna-san. I'm sure that both you and I know this is clearly not a C-rank mission. After what we've seen here, this should be ranked a B-mission at the least. I'm afraid this is too much for us, even with me here. After all, as good as these three may be, they're only Genin. Naruto's injury will affect us, and, due to your violation of mission-rank requestion, I'm afraid we'll have to head back to Konoha. "
A low growl emitted from Naruto's throat, startling Sakura, and receiving the attentions of Kakashi, Tazuna, and Sasuke. Grabbing a kunai from his pouch, he stabbed his palm, causing Sakura to wince.
"I'm not going to give up just for this wound," he shouted, looking fierce and determined. "It took me a long way to get here; not just for this mission, but to make me who I am today. A ninja never gives up, and as the future Hokage, I will never give up. I'm going to reach my goals. I'm no longer going to let someone protect me. We're going to finish this mission and protect bridge-builder-san! Let's go!"
The pink-haired girl stared with melancholy towards the blonde. All this time, he had been so determined, and she had never realised it... but all for what? To be killed by Sasuke in the future? She bit her lip and clenched her fists, strengthening her resolve. She was going to fix the past, and Naruto was going to be the Hokage, hands down!
"Oh shoot... uh, Naruto, let's bandage that hand of yours..." Sakura muttered, noticing the blood trickling down between the blonde's fingers. Wrapping the bandages securely, Sakura noted sourly that his wound was already healed with the power of the Kyuubi. How he had lived with such a burden, Sakura would never know.
"Hey, Sakura?"
"Hm?"
"I don't know why you seem so worried, but just don't worry about it." He grinned cheekily, making Sakura unconciously smile as well.
"Sure thing, Naruto."
Team 7 and the bridge builder were in a small wooden boat, steered by a man in clothes similar to that of Tazuna. A thick, dense fog surrounded them, allowing them to stay hidden from other ninja that might have been lurking around. After a good half hour, Kakashi signalled for the steering man to turn of the engine, letting the boat glide silently across the icy dark waters.
Sasuke had been staring at Sakura with a mixture of anger, confusion, awe, respect, and a tint of jealousy. Sakura, noticing this, glanced at the raven-haired boy.
"What?" she muttered in a quick, hushed whisper. She was going to add another witty comment when she noticed the outburst of emotion on the Uchiha's face. The rosette smiled softly at the sight. This was the Uchiha Sasuke she had crushed on all those years ago - a young boy who had seemed so cool and composed on the outside, but was really just another child like she was.
It was like the Sasuke who had killed Naruto and betrayed Konoha was an entirely different man than the preteen facing her now - and so, it seemed harder for Sakura to channel her hate onto him.
"... Where did you get all that power?" The Uchiha asked hesitatingly, gazing at the nearly-opaque fog in the distance.
Sakura looked warily at Sasuke. She had definitely not been expecting this, out of all the questions he could have asked.
"Oh Sasuke," the pinkette replied kindly, "power comes from hard work... you should know that. You don't get it from someone or something, and you can't possibly get it overnight..."
"Aa." Sasuke muttered, gazing at his feet.
Sakura glanced worriedly at her teammate before surveying the fog once more. I hope he realises that someday that Orochimaru won't work...
The boat steerer gripped his long, wooden pole, pausing in his small, quiet strokes against the water. "We're nearing the bridge," he whispered. "Quiet, everyone. We don't want to be heard."
Naruto squinted, peering around to see the bridge Tazuna had thought so highly of, only to meet even more fog. On the other hand, Kakashi paused from his quiet reading session of Icha Icha Paridise, closing his book shut with a resounding snap.
"Tazuna-san," he grunted, "We need to talk."
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Chapter notes: Team Seven sets out towards the Land of the Waves.