Doing It Yourself

In all honesty it was obvious that Kakashi Hatake, the assigned Jonin Sensei of Team 7, didn't want the three of them. After reluctantly accepting the trio that is Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno the silver haired Jonin brushed them off at every opportunity by arriving as late as possible doing one mission a day before sending them off to their 'homes' then repeating it on the exception of weekends labeling them breaks from labour.

As the trio stood there still full of adrenaline after being targeted and one of them injured clutching his torso that had gashes across it with tears in violet eyes their Sensei arrives with nonchalance barely noticing Tazuna the bridge building holding his shirt to slow the bleeding from Naruto's injury. The Jonin walked over to a pale Sakura holding her teammate Sasuke as he vomited. Green eyes stared at him in shock as Kakashi just pulled out a scroll to collect the burned bodies of their attackers and didn't even interact with his genin other than to say, "We'll stop here for a bit so take that time to decide what you want to do from here." Then he disappeared to who knows where leaving them at the scene.

Sasuke Uchiha kept guard as paranoia was the only thing keeping him standing. The thought of more enemies appearing out of nowhere made him anxious and his chakra flickered with the urge to perform his Clan signature jutsu but the still fresh memory of burned bodies made him sick. Naruto Uzumaki was breathing carefully trying not to cause more pain in his torso as Sakura Haruno finished the bandages to cover the stitched lacerations making sure to not accidentally wipe off the disinfectant cream that helped his advanced healing factor do it's thing.

"I will not blame you for anything." Tazuna now shirtless since his shirt was soaked with the dirty blonde haired boy's blood when he tried to slow the bleeding. Sasuke glares at him eyes no longer the mistaken as black brown but instead a maroon color reflecting his emotional state. "Explain now." He said bitterly which the bridge builder took like he did for Naruto's pained breaths and tears. The man looks at the ground in shame before explaining why he did what he did because it was the very least thing Tazuna could do for them. Naruto had began setting up traps having wanted to contribute for protecting them along Sasuke who kept guard having decided that his green eyed teammate can catch them up later. Sakura absorbed the information and kept every detail in mind as the morbid life that was the Land of Waves having been warped by Greedy Gato.

After the solar light was gone Kakashi Hatake pretends to return to the group when he was actually using a genjutsu to conceal himself to listen in on them. Naruto was getting his stitches removed by Sakura who's hands were weirdly steady as she used one of the shuriken points. A very strained smile was put on the boy's face as he stated. "You're late Kakashi-Sensei." His voice shaky but trying to ease the tension in the group. Sasuke ignored the Jonin as he sat next to his teammates but was far from their client. Sakura finishes removing the last stitch with the not at all scalpel before giving the answer the trio decided on.

Team 7 and Tazuna had managed to arrive at their destination with no more trouble. Well other than the team's rising tension that they had decided to ignore for the time being. It took a week but they are finally in the Land of Waves. Entering the house of the bridge builder and meeting his family getting a tragic story about a man named Kaiza who was used as an example to further break the Islander's spirit before destroying the bridge their only connection to the outside lands. Turning in for the night in a spare room the genin took turns keeping guard of each other as the others rested.

///

Sakura glares at their bastard of a Sensei who just pushed the responsibility of teaching the boys tree walking on to her walks away from the makeshift training area. Sasuke slips once more and knocks the wind out of himself while Naruto clings to a branch after failing again at their task. "You should breathe out completely so that the wind doesn't get knocked out of you again." The girl informs the dark haired boy who just sighs in frustration while Naruto is getting the splinters out of his hands. "Naruto, try sticking the leaf to yourself without destroying it." Sakura tells the dirty blonde haired boy who is trying to not get annoyed while Sasuke is trying to figure out how to stick to the tree without slipping or repeating Naruto's problem by doing a handstand on a fallen tree trunk.

"I don't think I trust Kakashi-Sensei anymore." Sakura admits out of nowhere breaking the boys concentration at their tasks Sasuke falls over while Naruto burned the leaf in his hand as he whipped his head to stare at the girl who was trying to meditate a second ago. "I agree." The Uchiha states while getting up to try again. "But he's our Sensei-" Naruto exclaims in distraught before the memory of how he got his shinobi headband resurfaced with intensity making him stop that train of thought.

Sakura stands up as she explains her reasoning. "He shows up late, dismissal after just one D-Rank mission a day, no training except for whatever in Kami's name is this!" She paces around which was more like stomping since each memory and detail is making her more frustrated than the last. Which there was so many times and they've been genin for only a month at most. Turning around to point at Naruto who is trying to come up with something to defend their sensei but is really struggling. "You were injured badly and needed stitches-" she points at Sasuke now who steps back. "-you had literally burned 2 people and sure they were enemy but still doesn't change the fact you killed!" Her breath was becoming faster as she continued on. "He doesn't care whether we live or die Kakashi just wants to get rid of us!" The girl shouted as she stopped moving to push down the urge to cry now that the anger was weakening. (I can't be that weak annoying crybaby anymore!) Sakura lectures herself mentally but it was in vain when Naruto pulls her into a hug which Sasuke with a little hesitation joins as well leading his walls down just barely.

The trio of kids let themselves release the emotions that had been building up in the comfort of embracing each other as they cried at the fact the adult they trusted had broken it completely by not caring about them. Each one had dealt with scrutiny from others whether it be because of bullying, distrust, or pity. Sasuke Uchiha was 7 years old when his Clan's Massacre became gossip to others as they pitied him but never helped him. Naruto Uzumaki been mistreated for something that wasn't even his fault. Sakura Haruno remembers how Ino Yamanaka had joined the bullies using her insecurities against her after their falling out. Outcasts that can't trust or won't be trusted by others finally gaining comfort in each other and by whatever power they had all three will hold on to it no matter what.

///

Over the rest of the day Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto just talked to each other to emotionally exhausted to bother continuing the task given by Kakashi Hatake who arrived earlier to take them back to where they were staying at for their time in Land of Waves. "Did you master tree walking like Sakura-Chan yet?" The Jonin asked his book in hand not even looking at them as usual. The mentioned explains that both boys were working on their chakra control before attempting to try again. Kakashi had the nerve to tease his genin by their efforts. "Now you know that being a Sensei isn't so easy but A for effort Sakura-Chan." His eye closed giving them what he considered a smile while Sakura dug her nails into her hands as she clenched them trying to cage her ugly feelings since she let enough slip through already. The walk turned tense and silent.

Sakura was washing, Naruto rinsing, and Sasuke was drying the dishes the three worked together which was only possible due to them opening up to each other earlier during their training. Kakashi walks around the corner into the living room after he finished checking on them since the genin were quiet. (I'm glad they are finally able to be around each other without getting into squabbles for once.) He reopens his book to re-read it for the nth time.

The genin get sent back to the clearing while Kakashi guards the client as his crew work on the bridge. For the rest of the day they trained Naruto with learning to focus his chakra control and Sasuke to master tree walking till it's second nature. Sakura was training her endurance and when she got tired started meditating. Sasuke Uchiha reached the top and threw his kunai at the floor to signal that he's coming down. Naruto managed to not destroy a bush full of leaves with his chakra and got them to stick to various parts on himself for more than a few seconds. Sakura was sweating and exhausted a part of her embarrassed that her endurance sucked but Sasuke reminded her that she'll improve. Naruto made a kage bunshin to hold Sasuke since his legs cramped up from straining them while he carried Sakura on his back on their way back.

Tsunami refused to let them do the dishes again since they were already protecting her father so they just stayed in the guest room taking shifts to keep watch. It was this routine for the rest of the week with them training and helping each other improve. Sakura managed to an hour of exercising before exhaustion took over, Sasuke now moved on to water walking which was more tricky, Naruto figured out how to control his chakra decent enough to try tree walking again. Kakashi hadn't really bothered to ask about their tree walking or why it's taking them so long to figure out just going through the usual motions of guarding Tazuna or patrolling around the Land of Waves with his ninken. However suddenly the Jonin had the idea of splitting them up despite the literal thing he told them on the first day they were assigned together.

Sasuke Uchiha was restless being away from the other two so he helped with the construction alongside Tazuna and his crew. Sakura Haruno had been told to stay with Tsunami and Inari while Naruto Uzumaki was sent to train alone since he was the only one to not master tree walking yet. Even though the group of genin hadn't been close for long being separated just for a day stressed them out and Naruto ended up spraining his ankle while training since he didn't have Sakura around to remind him to take a break, Sasuke wasn't around to give him the closure of being protected. The boy gritted his teeth as he forced himself to get up he barely did two steps before having to lay down once more. "Stupid stupid stupid!" He growls while rubbing his eyes to remove the tears forming in them. The boy sat there with a kunai in his hand just incase of danger for awhile before someone walked into the clearing which he threw his kunai at them it stuck to the tree.

Haku acted surprised as the kunai hit the tree before greeting the boy. "Hello, I heard something fall over here while I was gathering. Are you okay?" They ask carefully approaching and they notice how his ankle is sprained. "I fell but I'm fine you could go back to gathering if you want." Naruto pretends to cross his arms but he actually reaches into his pocket to grab a handful of smoke pellets incase he needed to defend himself. Haku smiles before offering to help the blonde with his ankle which Naruto prods the dark haired that is admittedly attractive but he knew usually attractive people are hiding something. It wasn't until after their very interesting conversation that Naruto caved in and let the stranger help him with the compromise of Haku letting him make his way back by himself. "Till we meet again Naruto." Haku turns around and walks away it wasn't until they were out of sight did Naruto finally start making his way back using a makeshift crutch.

Team 7 met up once again with Kakashi just telling Naruto to be more careful while Sakura asks him what happened the boy tells them he fell but leaves out the part about Haku which Sasuke catches on to him not giving the full truth. In surprising action the Uchiha leaves it alone deciding they'll be told when they are in the room. Inari remarks that it's hopeless to do anything against Gato and if they play hero they will only get themselves killed which would only make things worse. Naruto in his usual fashion tells him to shut up and gives a speech about how his motto is to never give up before getting dragged by Sakura and Sasuke to the room they've been staying in. "Remember what we were told about Kaiza the kid's grieving so no need to get all riled up about it." The girl lectures him which admittedly gets the blonde to calm down while pointing out that he was just reminded about Sasuke back when they were still in the Academy. The group didn't know that Kakashi had revealed to Inari about what Naruto and Sasuke went through and how that tragedy had fueled them to be stubborn.

///

It had been a month since they took the mission that brought them here and of course that means something has to happen. Kakashi was fighting Zabuza Momochi of the Blood Mist while Sasuke and Naruto fought his partner who wore a mask which marked them as a Mist Hunter according to Sakura, who was escorting Tazuna back to his house so that she can protect his family as well. On the way there a few group of thugs were taken down and Sakura was so glad to have improved on her endurance. Tazuna helped by using his hammer to defend himself while the green eyed genin used genjutsu clones to cause confusion as well smoke pellets to make it harder to see them. When they arrived Inari was being held hostage by a man while his partner was on the ground unconscious since the young boy threw a rock at his head Tsunami was holding a knife to passed out guy's throat trying to make the man surrender. Sakura twirled a kunai into her hand and threw it with chakra boosting it hitting the man's jugular which made him drop Inari who fell down shaken up by the experience. Tazuna ran to help his neighbor who flaid fish for a living and shouted at him to do something not just stand there.

Tsunami had slit the guys throat and held Inari in her arms to reassure him. Sakura ordered them stay in the guest room that Team 7 stayed in since it was protected by traps that Naruto made. Tazuna had made others rally up to protect others like the children and elderly. Everyone armed themselves with tools like hammers, rope, knives, spears, pipes or poles, and even things lying around. The fishermen group had the idea to gather the rope and tie it to the trees around the nearly finished bridge to make a barrier to it which the wood collectors armed with axes went with them so that they could help with the plan. Sakura had the idea to put the vulnerable in the shop stores since there was limited entrances and there was enough people to guard said entrances while still not being stretched out.

Back to the bridge Naruto was using his kage bunshins to cover Sasuke while he used his sharingan to look for a weak point and get the general idea how the masked nin's jutsu worked. Even though his chakra control has improved significantly and he wasn't wasting as much the boy was getting overwhelmed since the flashes of information that he got when they dispersed. Haku was shocked by how much clones Naruto was making while still standing since these were kage bunshin not the regular genjutsu bunshin clones. Kakashi managed to stab Zabuza in his shoulder but it wasn't his dominant one holding the executioner blade that repaired by absorbing blood and chakra. A water clone snuck behind him and he barely managed to avoid getting decapitated using his earth release to disrupt the ground to give him a moment to breathe to pull down his mask to bite his finger and summon his ninken to aid him since the mist jutsu was disrupting his vision. Sasuke adjusted his fire ball jutsu to make a flame thrower of sorts since he didn't know the actual jutsu and spun around to basically make a wall of fire to get rid of the ice senbon which gave Naruto a second to stop spamming the kage bunshin.

Haku was about to make more ice senbon when she sees how distressed Naruto was and they remember weeks ago of the boy with his sprained ankle who despite refusing help at first had an interesting conversation. That hesitation had let the strain of using this technique slip through their mental barrier and they had to take a moment to collect themselves. The Jonin and mercenary fought viciously baring teeth at each other one with the jaw of a shark while the other had teeth like the ninken that growled while surrounding Zabuza ambushing him when he was occupied by Kakashi who's face was revealed since he didn't have enough time to put the mask back in place after doing the summon. "Honestly I expected you to look disfigured with how your face was always hidden at least I have these to hide but you with mutt teeth kinda underwhelming!" The mercenary swung his blade managing to cut one of the ninken Bisuke making him retreat back into the scroll while the others followed Paku's order to keep out of reach of his blade and focus on attacking his injured arm since it was y'know injured.

The fisherman, wood workers, and Sakura finally managed to get rid of the mob with only 2 casualties and 3 injured. Taking the moment of rest from the chaos to bandage a fisherman's hand that was missing some fingers since they got chopped off as a man used a stolen axe to cut one of the ropes. A wood worker had his shoulder popped back into place by another that had a laceration on his side which was stitched by Sakura after she helped the fisherman. An explosion came from the bridge which Sakura without hesitation ran to check on Naruto and Sasuke before crashing into a dog which turned out to be Paku one of Kakashi's ninken. "What was the explosion?" The girl asked not bothering to question anything else. The pug informed her that it was Kakashi using an explosive tag to blow up one of the water clones. Taking a second to sigh in relief before heading towards the other side of the bridge finding a dome of ice mirrors with her teammates in the center.

Tazuna swung his hammer right into the chest and broke the sternum of the last man who tried to run away like a coward. Cheers filled the air as the Islanders were able to finally defend themselves after years of suffering some grieved the casualties. The bridge builder dropped his hammer that was covered in blood and left the group to check on his family pleading for his daughter and grandson to be alive as he made his way over to his house. Finding two dead men on the floor blood soaking into the wooden floor boards but ignores them to call his daughter's name which his grandson tells him they are in the guest room. Opening the room and crying with relief as he holds his daughter like she was a little girl again to his chest as Tsunami lets herself be as Inari is sandwiched between them.

Sasuke cries out in pain when another ice senbon impales him this time it landed his thigh thankfully avoiding anything important. Naruto turns to look at him which was a fatal mistake as Haku managed to hit right in his neck when they were aiming for the collarbone. "Naruto!" The Uchiha screams in concern catching the blonde as he began leaning holding his throat trying to breathe but not able to as the ice jutsu spread blocking his airway. Sasuke was panicking holding his teammate who had became precious to him even though he tried to stop it. A series of explosions filled the air and he used his body to shield Naruto who was becoming a victim to asphyxiation and possibly hypothermia his face paling and body warmth depleting fast. Hearing footsteps running towards them Sasuke clutched his friend desperately while begging for survival before his sharingan revealed Sakura who had immediately reopened her medic kit. "Help please." The boy was barely in the moment as the trauma of finding his parents dead in their own home after running through the compound finding his Clan members dead from a Massacre. "He has a pulse!" Sakura exclaims a sliver of hope as she laid Naruto down to start doing chest compressions to help blood travel through his body. Sasuke notices that the enemy was getting back up and revealed a young face who had blood coming from their head. Fear got replaced by rage as the Uchiha stood up to place himself between his teammates and the danger to protect.

While doing chest compressions Sakura was about to check on Naruto's pulse when she realized that the ice was melted and realized that water must've moved to his lungs. The girl saw in the corner of her eye that Sasuke moved but tried to come up with a solution for this situation. (An ice jutsu had melted in his airway meaning water infused with chakra is now in the lungs.) Switching between chest compressions and rescue breaths when Naruto starts coughing Sakura angles him as he coughs up the liquid. "You're okay!" Sakura cried out in relief as the boy groans and she remembered that not all the chakra infused water would've came out from coughing or at least she doesn't think so. Turning to look at her other teammate only to find him across the bridge with Kakashi as the mercenary and his partner Haku laid on the bridge dead. Sasuke had a managed to swing the sword killing Haku while Kakashi had finished off Zabuza by somehow managing to pierce a whole through his chest. The Jonin said something to Sasuke before disappearing leaving the boy alone but not for long as Sakura while aiding Naruto managed to embrace the boy who just committed his third kill in a way that hit too close. Burning two men with his Clan's signature and now killing another with a blade.

It wasn't until when they entered their client's home that Sakura Haruno was hit with the realization that she had killed as well. (I can't even remember who was the first-) The girl barely managed to not faint instead hurling as that thought made her sick. (Was it at the bridge- in here- or am I forgetting) Voices were muffled but still too loud her hair was being held back while she was being hugged by someone before passing out. It left a horrible atmosphere when Sakura was carried inside by her teammates who got told by Tsunami that the genin had killed to save them. Both of the boys refused to leave their third alone even stayed up too worried to sleep. Opening her eyes took a surprising amount of effort but Sakura managed as the bitter taste in her mouth reminded her about before. Naruto was holding her hand keeping track of her pulse since he remembered Sakura doing that for him while Sasuke stood guard at the door. "She's awake!" The blonde whisper shouted, it was still dark out, to the Uchiha who immediately moved to be next to her. "Sakura." The boy's tone was soft as he felt the tension in his body relax now that both of his teammates are really okay. The trio fell asleep close to each other and ended up as a mix of limbs. Kakashi Hatake checked in on them after assassinating Gato before going to the couch and letting himself rest for a moment.