Chapter 5
Chapter 5: Coincidence?
The Hokage's office buzzed with activity. Chunin and Jonin shuffled stacks of papers, whispered assignments, and passed scrolls from hand to hand. Kakashi entered, hands in his pockets, his ever-present orange book tucked under one arm.
“Ah, Kakashi! Just in time,” Minato greeted with a grin. “I’ve got a new team for you. Team 7.”
Kakashi froze mid-step. His visible eye narrowed slightly.
Minato handed over the file, his grin turning mischievous. “You’re going to love this. It’s Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sakura Haruno. Good luck.”
Kakashi nearly dropped his book. Itachi’s younger brother? Minato’s son? And then there was Sakura...
It had been a year since that snowy day. A year since her words lingered in his mind, quietly shaping his decisions. He hadn’t seen her much since leaving the Anbu; without frequent trips to the hospital, their paths had rarely crossed.
Taking the file, Kakashi flipped it open. He skimmed over Naruto and Sasuke’s academy records with mild amusement. Naruto: energetic and academically hopeless. Sasuke: top of his class and utterly aloof.
But when his eyes landed on Sakura’s file, something stood out. The word orphaned was scribbled neatly in her profile.
He frowned. Sakura’s an orphan? She’d always seemed so put together, so disciplined, so... normal.
His mind flashed back to her voice, firm and certain:
“Hatake-san, you could try adopting the orphaned of your new assigned team!”
The thought settled uncomfortably in his chest. Could he?Should he?
Kakashi’s curiosity gnawed at him. He’d always made it a point to know where his assigned genin lived. It offered insights into their personalities, their struggles, and their private worlds. He already knew Naruto and Sasuke well enough. Naruto’s room was a whirlwind of orange, posters of his favorite pop stars, and half-finished sealing projects. Sasuke’s was minimalistic, with training scrolls and a single obscure band poster.
But Sakura... Sakura was an enigma.
Her profile had little to say about her beyond her impressive test scores and her quiet demeanor. Quiet? He snorted softly at the memory of her fiery scolding and relentless energy. Quiet isn’t the Sakura I met.
He found her address in the abandoned district—an area still scarred by the Nine-Tails’ attack years ago. Much of it had been left in disrepair, though some homes were being rebuilt.
The sight of the house gave him pause. The entrance was overgrown with weeds, though a small patch of well-tended plants stood out near the door. Through a window, he spotted Sakura, her pink hair pulled back into a ponytail, tending to the greenery.
Humming softly to herself, she suddenly cursed, “Oh, Kami, I forgot to pick up those flowers! Ino’s gonna kill me!”
With a flurry of movement, she dashed off toward the village.
Kakashi chuckled under his breath. “Still full of energy.”
The house, however, was eerily silent.
Once inside, Kakashi’s instincts screamed at him. Something wasn’t right. The interior was too clean, too empty. It lacked the warmth he associated with Sakura’s cheerful demeanor.
He stepped cautiously into her room.
The first thing he noticed was the trap—a paper bomb mine hidden expertly beneath the floorboard. He disarmed it swiftly, his chakra suppressing the activation.
Why is her room booby-trapped? he wondered. For a civilian-born kunoichi, this level of paranoia seemed excessive.
His gaze swept the room. There were no posters, no personal touches. The space was dominated by plants and flowers, their vibrant colors masking something more sinister. His nose twitched. Poison.
His chest tightened. What kind of life forced a child to live like this?
Then, in the corner, he saw it.
A basket filled with bloodied bandages and a kunai lying beside it.
Kakashi’s breath hitched. The implications slammed into him like a punch to the gut. Sakura was... cutting herself?
Suddenly, her rapid improvement in medical ninjutsu made sense. He’d read in her file how she’d struggled initially in the academy program, only to show remarkable progress by age eight. She’s been using her medical skills on herself.
His heart ached. The bubbly, bright girl he remembered was masking a deeper pain. The traps, the empty house, the poisonous plants—it all pointed to a young girl hiding her true self, trying to survive in isolation.
He left quietly, shaken but resolute.
Back at the Hatake compound, Kakashi sat in his father’s study, the file on his new team lying open on the table.
Sakumo looked over from his seat. “Something bothering you, Kakashi?”
He didn’t answer immediately. His thoughts swirled with memories of the empty house, the traps, the bandages.
“Father,” he finally said, his voice quiet but firm. “What would you do if you found someone... who reminded you of yourself? Someone who needs help but doesn’t ask for it?”
Sakumo studied him for a long moment before smiling gently. “I’d do what I could to help them. Sometimes, offering a hand is the only way to pull someone out of the shadows.”
Kakashi nodded slowly. His father’s words solidified what he already knew.
He wouldn’t let Sakura slip through the cracks. She’d saved him once, and now it was his turn to return the favor.