Chapter Text
Despite Gato's death causing his gang to disperse, the tension in the atmosphere has not entirely lifted. While Sakura and a somewhat recovering Kakashi are watching Tazuna, the boys competed with each other during training until it was near past dinner time. Sakura, at one point, worried that it would cause a problem with the food in the house but apparently, tradesmen have been returning with better quality food and products since Gato's death. So with Kakashi's help, they have been able to put food on the table. But for Sakura, something has been sitting unwell with her ever since the fight. Since the mission had started, she has come to realize how useless she was on the battlefield. If Naruto and Sasuke had fallen in battle, Haku would only need to go through her to kill Tazuna.
'But it will barely be a fight,' she sullenly thought as she watched the laborers at work, putting the final touches on the bridge. 'Haku would've killed me and Tazuna in one go. I'm the weak link on the team.'
"-kura? Hey, Sakura!"
"Whoa, what?" Sakura snapped out of her daydream to see Kakashi crouched in front of her with a look of worry and curiosity. Startled, Sakura, stumbled getting up, only to feel a wave of exhaustion, causing her to be shaky in her knees. Kakashi continued to look on with worry and curiosity. With his training and watching shifts with Sakura, he has noticed subtle changes. It has been nearly two weeks since the showdown, yet even though he saw that the boys have excluded her from their training sessions, he noticed she has taken up every chance she gets to catch up with them. Even though it seemed like Kakashi was scampering off to read his book or train on his own, he was doing the opposite. Mostly.
Whenever he had a chance, he would go hunting or fishing to help put food on the table of the family housing them. If not, then he was meditating to rebuild his chakra reserves... until he noticed Sakura nearby training.
Kakashi couldn't help but giggle as he turned the page to the next chapter. The main character had come up with an elaborate scheme to trick the heroine into admitting her feelings for him. Now in the next chapter, she will finally admit-
'Crash'. Kakashi's head turned up at the sound, alerting his ninja hounds, chewing on the bones of his recent hunt. Listening closely, he trained his chakra to his ears towards the direction, to hear grass crunching and light panting. Kakashi notes that Naruto and Sasuke currently have guard duty over Tazuna. So unless it's late-night hunters, the only option is Sakura. Closing his book, Kakashi signals his ninken to follow and set up a perimeter.
Reaching his destination, Kakashi silently drifted over to a limb with good coverage and a vantage point over the clearing where Sakura is training. Sakura was keeled over with her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. Looking up at the tree, she counted the moist marks made against the tree. Then she made a hand seal gathering chakra.
"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu." Two clones popped up on each side of Sakura. Facing the tree trunk, or what's left of it, the kunoichi with her clones did a hand sign for another jutsu.
"Water Style: Wild Wave Jutsu!" shouted all three Sakuras, spewing jet water from their mouths at the tree trunk, focusing the spray until thinner jets began to peel away the bark from the tree till a small but pronounced dent into the tree showed. The Sakuras inspected their work before high-fiving each other and two of them disappeared. Sakura huffed, taking in her achievement before falling to her knees.
'She has chakra exhaustion,' Kakashi surmised. He makes himself known by making a rustling sound to grab her attention. Sakura reacted by drawing up a shuriken at the ready. "Hold your fire, Sakura," Kakashi shouted before jumping down to her so that she could see that it was him. Sakura lowers her guard once she sees that it is Kakashi approaching her. Sheathing her kunai she rises to her feet slowly before looking to Kakashi. Taking another look, Kakashi could see the dress getting ready to fall apart from the seams.
"It's pretty late for you to be out here training by yourself," Kakashi noted hoping Sakura would open up to him. He has never seen her put in this much effort into training before.
"Yeah, I figured I get some training and work on jutsu when I'm not on shift guarding Tazuna," Sakura answered almost timidly. Kakashi then turned his attention to the tree where the bark and fibers of the tree are sticking out.
"I see you have tapped into using water nature chakra. How long have you known?" Sakura then looked away from Kakashi from what he could figure as a guilty gesture. "Sakura? What's up?" he asked in the most gentle way he could. After a moment, Sakura turned her gaze back to Kakashi while retrieving slips of paper from the left dress pocket of her qipao. Handing them over to Kakashi, he took one good look at the scraps to recognize them as the chakra papers he keep in his pack in case he had time to teach his students whenever they reached that point.
"Sakura, I'm...,"
"I'm so sorry, sensei!" Sakura pleaded, stopping Kakashi in the midst of his speech. "I-I was looking for some medicine and bandages, and had to go through your pack to use yours."
"What? Hold on. I thought we were good on supplies after that patch-up fighting against Zabuza and Haku. I treated Sasuke myself with you. Is he doing bad?" Kakashi asks her as calmly as possible.
"Well, yes. Sasuke was doing great until he and Naruto came back from training one night with gashes and bruises. You and Tazuna's family was out so I treated them the best I could. I lacked the medical supplies, so in desperation, I went into your pack and used your medical equipment," Sakura explained hurriedly. "You come very prepared Kakashi-sensei. Almost like you always expect these kinds of injuries," Sakura noted with a chill of dread, remembering reading his pack's instructions of how to use each treatment pack. Kakashi lets out a big sigh, placing his left hand over eyes before rubbing his brows. He almost doesn't know what to do with Naruto and Sasuke anymore. At first, he thought some time after their team was formed, Sakura would still be the problem as she is still failing to measure up to a physical standard he wanted her be except for their chakra control exercises. Now she is one of his most diligent subordinates with Naruto, mainly and Sasuke bugging out when it was not convenient to them anymore. And Sakura is the only who is slowly warming up to Naruto after all these weeks otherwise, she would not have helped Naruto understand chakra control a little better.
Remembering how late it was, Kakashi brought his fingers down to his masked lips, whistling a call for his dogs to converge on his position. Within two seconds, his hounds appeared around Sakura and Kakashi. Sakura nearly shrieked out in surprise at the arrival of the ninja hounds. She looked at each one and noticed that they looked familiar.
"Oy, Kakashi-sensei?"
"Yes?"
"They look familiar. Like the ones on the bridge." Kakashi hummed as he looked at the ninken pack then back to Sakura.
"Ya know, you're right. In fact they are the same ones," Kakashi agreed, crouching down to pet one with wearing shades.
"Ya know for all that mist the girl has a sharp eye," Akino mentioned leaning into his master's hand. Sakura gasped at the sound of the dog speaking.
"Since when could-"
"We talk?" said Bisuke, trotting up to Sakura, whose eyes are stuck wide open like an owl's , sniffing at her. "Hey, Pakkun! She smells like you!"
"Really?" answered the intrigued pug, trotting over to stop next to Bisuke to take a whiff of Sakura's scent. "Hey, no kidding! We use the same shampoo. Kakashi, I like this one."
"Pakkun, how many times to I have to tell you to not judge everything by your nose?" grieved Kakashi, though is amused by the interaction. Sakura on the other hand was paling at the thought that she shared a cleaning product with a hound. Shaking out of her stupor, she gave into her curiousity and gave a small pet to Bisuke. Bisuke was startled before he began to lean into the head rub. Sakura, feeling encouraged, she kneels down to the ground to have easier access to scratch behind his ears. Before, she could pull away, the whole pack began to crowd her for head pets and scratches either by their ears or under their chins. They pushed until she was sitting on the ground about to be toppled by Bull. Kakashi gave a small laugh before reaching over to take Bull and Uhei off the pile up on his student.
"Okay guys, ease up." he commanded in a soft tone, causing the pack to untangle from a giggling Sakura, and stand attention for further instructions, though with wagging tails. Kakashi reaches over to help a dirty now slobbered up Sakura, who was wiping her hands uselessly on her dirty dress. "Sorry about that, my pack can be,"
"Useful!"
"Awesome!"
"Sweet!"
"Amazing"
"Overbearing," Kakashi finished with his signature one closed-eye wrinkle. The comment however earned him growls from the pack with a few whines that tugged on Sakura's heart strings.
"Aww! Kakashi, why are you so cruel!" huffed Sakura, who crossed her arms as she is giving her sensei a pointed look. The pack then began to voice Kakashi's flaws, their perspective he thought, most of which was complaining about his tardiness.
"Hey," he complained while holding his hands up in front. "Aren't you always fed, warm and clean?" he asked pointedly.
"Yeah but lately you have barely spent any time with us in the last month, " noted Akino.
"Actually, it has been six weeks and 3 days, but who's counting," muttered Pakkun, subtly shifting his weight under Kakashi's harderned gazed. Sakura, stiffling a giggle, then realized the time lapse that Pakkun mentioned has been how long they been a team under Kakashi's tutelage. Which explains why he had less time with them, Sakura realized, a pit beginning to form in stomach. From guilt or hunger she didn't know which.
"Now, now," her sensei chastised. "You knew that once a new team passed my bell test, they would become my new genin team. My responsibilities grew since then don't you think." he reminded the sullen dogs, crouching down to scratch the ears of some of them. After a couple more whines, Kakashi stood up to his full height. "Alright now let's head back. Sakura, you have home guard duty tomorrow, I will wake you up before we have to leave so you get some rest. So goodness sake's sleep in a little." Sakura opened her mouth to protest but then closed upon recieving Kakashi's hardened look.
They made it back to the house, where Kakashi fixed Sakura up some light food before sending her off to bed. Sakura fell immediately asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow. Kakashi went ahead and covered her with the blanket when he went to check on the team. In the morning he was getting a note together of instructions for Sakura to stick around the house until one of his hounds alerted him to some of Gato's thugs still lingering about, rumors circulating of looking for an opportunity to grab Tazuna in order to fill in the vacuum of power that Gato left, hoping to leech off of the Land Waves as he once did. So he had Sakura get a late start in coming in for guard duty and left a shadow clone to watch the house with two of his hounds.
Whatever activity that was causing the upgrade in their security was so far unfounded. After two days of no word and sniffing out for any more unwelcome parties, Kakashi decided it was time to loosen security around the bridge. Looking over his genin, Sasuke was hidden among the trees, making him useful for cover fire with kunai and shuriken. Naruto was near Tazuna at all times, using one to two shadow clones to help with the production while covering the angles. 'That's smart.' Then he looked over to Sakura, who was losing a battle with chakra depravity and staying alert. So he went over to her quietly but within sight to see if she would take notice. But as he came closer, he noticed her eyes were glazed over and is thinking hard about something. 'She must be still overwhelmed by the whole event and the expectations that is laid before her.' he reasoned as he crouched before her quietly into her personal space, still without Sakura shaking out of her thoughts.
After getting her attention, Kakashi could fully note the dark circles that were no longer hidden by Sakura's bangs. "Why are you so sleepy Sakura?" Sakura figdeted a little under his gentle scrutiny, twisting the front skirt of her qipao with her scuffed up fingers.
"I-I can't sleep," she whispered.
'Is that shame I hear?' he pondered. The rest of her microexpressions seem to match it.
"Everytime I close my eyes, I'm on the bridge or in the forest practicing and then a thick mist starts to spread everywhere," she shared with a slight quiver in her voice. Kakahi tilts his head a little, discreetly using his left hand near the ground to signal over Pakkun.
"Go on," he encouraged. He could smell Pakkun's mix of dirt, meat and sweat coming closer to them.
"The fog gets thicker and I can't see anything beyond my arm. I suddenly hear a noise. I see a large shadow shifting through the mist," Sakura began to shake more, tears starting to escape from her eyes. To prevent embarrassment in front of her teammates and charge, Kakashi takes up Sakura, teleporting them behind a tree at the edge of the woods opposite to Sasuke's position to give them privacy. Sakura looks up at her Sensei with confusion. Kakashi just gave her the regular eye-smile to try and cut the tension.
Taking notice of the roots poking out from the ground, big enough to be a seat gave Kakashi an idea. He gave a low but unique whistle to signal Pakkun where they disappeared to. "Sorry, but I thought you'd want a little more privacy to get out whatever you are talking about." Kakashi takes a seat on the root, patting the spot next to him. Sakura sniffs a little, taking a seat to Kakashi on the root. "So you were telling me about your dream?" His ears began to pick up on soft pattering of paws on the grass, approaching them.
"Yes," Sakura shudders. "The shadow kept moving about all the sudden Zabuza is standing in front of me. I tried to back away, but then I couldn't. He starts to brag about how of a coward and weakling I was, that he didn't need Haku to pin me down to keep me from escaping." Tears began running down her cheeks, dropping like raindrops on her skirt. Kakshi could sense Pakkun behind them, his right hand signaling behind him for Pakkun to wait behind him. Pakkun is familiar with this routine.
"Then he-he," she struggled to finish her sentence. "It felt so real!" she cried, burying her into her hands, feeling the mixture of fear, relief and shame of having to be weak in front of her sensei. Kakashi quietly reached down to pick Pakkun to settle on his lap as he used his other hand to rub Sakura's back gently as she cried out her stress.
After a few minutes, Sakura hiccups her last cry, rubbing her now more swollen eyes. "I'm sorry, Kaka-sensei," she weeps.
Kakashi's eyes crinkles in the way that his students have been starting to give him that affectionate nickname. "For what?"
"For not measuring up. I thought what I had was enough to start my career as a shinobi but you, Naruto and Sasuke are on a different level. If Haku or Zabuza got passed you then our client would have been easy pickings," she explained.
"You were there, guarding him," he tries to reassure her, though he too knows that Sakura would've been easily overwhelmed.
"But you know it's true Kaka-sensei," she rebutted. Kakashi hums as he takes in the information. He will need to develop strategies and training regimens to compensate for every scenario. To be fair, in combat, he would be more at ease with Naruto and Sasuke because he was used to working with ANBU members, who were by trade, self-sufficient from basic to complex ninja arts. Depending on how severe the mission outcomes are, even if it was down to the last man or woman, the mission must be completed at all costs. Even though he continued the mission, he risked his team's lives for nothing if he was taken out. In order to keep the takeover quiet, Zabuza, whether or not it was Gato's order, would've made sure his genin would be killed and their bodies disposed of to continue his operations. Maybe Sasuke or Naruto would've made it back. But Sakura.....
"On some level and in some way, yes. You would have been eliminated easily," he admitted. If he had it his way Sakura would not have been in the field. She reminds him too much of someone he knew.....
"Then I what good am I to the team?" Sakura asked in cracked voice. Kakashi then thought it was time to introduce Sakura to someone to help take her mind off her worries.... for the time. He smoothly places Pakkun on Sakura's lap, shaking the girl out her depressing reverie. Staring in wonder of the Pug on her lap, Pakkun gave a couple licks to Sakura's hand.
In that one moment, Sakura forgot all her troubles to coddle the pug, who was giving googly eyes to the kunoichi. Kakashi watched for a minute as Sakura crooned and petted a very gratified Pakkun.
'The others will be jealous after smelling Sakura on him.' Kakashi mused, as he observed his lead Ninken bonding with student. It then dawned on Kakashi that his students could benefit from additional team and one-on-one teaching training sessions to grow and implement their skills and help add more tools to their skills set. If this mission has taught them anything, it is that they are severely under- prepared for missions outside of the village. Kakashi's next step would be to only take D- ranked missions and easy C-rank assignments to better prep his students. But he knows it will be hard once he hands in his report to the Missions Department. The success from the mission in bringing in pay, connections, and possible future contracts, will make Team 7 be noticed snd given more mission assignments. He had faith that Naruto and Sasuke could stay on their toes. But Sakura....
He glances over to the young kunoichi cuddling with his ninja hound. Kakashi knew he had important decision to make. 'Either I mold her into a kunoichi to have similar standing to Naruto and Sasuke. Or he will see to it that she is not put out unto the field.' he thought grimly, knowing that might crush her. The generation he and his comrades are guiding were born into an era of peace minus the Nine- Tails incident. While it was a deep driven wish from everyone within the village, the downside was how to make this genin understand that combat readiness is even needed during times of peace? Especially after this mission? Aside from Sasuke, both Naruto and Sakura were not fully aware of the dangers that a career in the military brought. He knows that from the last war, the Nine-Tails attack and the Uchiha Civil War had diminished their ranks extensively but, he didn't think that he would be recieving students that haven't had the foggiest clue about teamwork. He thought that was something emphasized in the academy. 'I guess Mizuki wasn't the only thing that was slipping past their notice.' He made a quick mental note to petition an in-depth review into the teachings of the Academy because passing the test meant the genin were ready for at least low level combat. He initially thought his bell test was in way too hard on them (though he wasn't going to let them have them), yet the point he wanted to see their teamwork skills. Once he saw no team effort, he decided to end the exercise quickly. He no idea...
"Sensei?" Sakura's voice snapped him out of his deep thoughts. He glanced down to see Sakura and Pakkun looking at him curiously, causing Kakashi to realize his prolonged silence. He lets out nervous chuckle.
"Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts," he apologized, running a hand embarrassingly through his shaggy silver grey hair.
"Sensei, you seem to get lost a lot," Sakura pouted with tiny wry grin pulling at the corner of her mouth. Pakkun, tried and failed to hide a chuckle from the comment.
"Hey! Is my student making fun of me?" Kakashi demanded with fake hurt expression, pressing both of his hands over his heart. This caused them both to break laughing for a minute before calming down. Kakashi then decided to have a personal talk with Sakura about the future of her career when they return to the Leaf. For now...
"Sakura?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Go back with Pakkun to Tazuna's house. Check our security and meditate to rebuild your chakra stores. That is your assignment for the rest of the day before you rest," he instructs in an even tone, so there no misunderstanding 'I do not want to find you training out late tonight.'
Sakura nodded before heading back to Tazuna with Pakkun trailing behind her. Kakashi took a moment before returning to watch the bridge with the boys.