Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen:
It's officially day three of hiding out in Tazuna's home. Sakura's hand is more or less healed and Kakashi is up and walking, back to his usual lazy self. He'd been weird earlier, soft and touchy, looking for comfort from Naruto, of all people, and he'd given in, had willingly offered what Kakashi needed, and now there's a weird shift in the air around all of them.
It's like the team is walking on eggshells, waiting for something ━ something Naruto doesn't understand.
It's another warm day and Naruto stands underneath a tree, hiding in the shade. Above him, a flock of birds gently glide across the blue sky. Naruto strains his ears for any odd sounds in the distance, but all he can hear is the sound of water rippling, the scurrying of small, wildlife animals and the quiet murmur of humans doing their chores around the village.
Kakashi sighs beside him, scratching the back of his head. “Maa, Sakura-chan, go a little easier on Sasuke-kun, alright?’’
Ignoring him, Sakura tackles Sasuke to the ground and wraps her arms around his neck from behind, holding him in a tight, tight, headlock. Sasuke struggles beneath her. He digs his fingers into the dirt as he tries to escape her wrath, looking pale and downright frightened for his life.
Naruto visibly cringes as he watches them spar from the side ━ he's suddenly very relieved at having lost their earlier session of rock, paper, scissors.
He also, sincerely, hopes Sasuke wins, just so that he personally doesn't have to fight against Sakura.
As if sensing his thoughts, Sasuke slams his hand twice against the ground in surrender ━ it's a clear plea for his life. Sakura releases him with a wild grin and a soft laugh, ecstatic to have taken down the great Uchiha with just a few moves.
“Traitor,” Naruto mutters underneath his breath.
Sakura stands and towers over Sasuke's sweaty, scowling form with a triumphant look on her face. There's a manic spark in her pale green eyes and when she glances at Naruto in challenge, she looks ravenous, like a wolf on the prowl for its next meal.
Naruto has seen her make this expression too many times to count. She’s usually like this when something annoys her until she can no longer keep her cool. Naruto wonders what he's specifically done to make her mad, but he draws a blank.
Sakura's eyes darken with barely kept rage as she glares at Naruto. Beneath her, Sasuke rolls away, trying to crawl to freedom. The girl notices and grabs him by the back of his high collared shirt, holding him captive.
“Naruto,” Sakura says, sickly sweet and saccharine. She smiles, but the corners of her mouth don't reach her eyes.
Dear god, no, thinks Naruto as his hand snaps out, curling into the back of Kakashi's flak jacket. Very quietly, he bargains, “I'll let you hug me again if you can come up with something else to do. Right now.”
Immediately, Kakashi pulls Naruto into his side. He's a solid wall of muscle, warm and steady, and Naruto scowls, letting the jounin hold him tightly in a side hug. He's enveloped in the man's scent, ozone and earth, like lightning scorching the ground and whatever resides in Naruto’s hindbrain, it settles and soothes, making him reluctantly relax into Kakashi's grasp.
“You're adorable,” coo’s Kakashi, smiling beneath his mask. He lowers his head and brushes his nose along Naruto's blonde hair, scenting him further. “You don't even have to ask, pup, I'll move mountains for you.”
“Ugh,” Naruto feins a struggle, putting up a fight against Kakashi's cuddling, but he did say he'd allow it, if it got him away from having to fight against Sakura.
And speaking of the devil, the girl drags Sasuke's form across the ground, making dust rise into the air around them. “What are you two doing?’’ Sakura asks, frowning in disappointment. She let's go of Sasuke ━ who looks relieved to be free ━ and glances at her nails momentarily, inspecting them with an air of faux boredom.
“Are you trying to waste more of my time or are you just being stupid?” The girl questions, mean and smelling faintly of bloodlust, like iron, and something tangy mixing in with her plum like scent.
Sasuke, who stands to his feet and dusts himself off, fails to hide the fearful shiver running up his spine.
“Nonsense, Sakura-chan!” Kakashi gives his usual eye smile. “Sensei would never waste your time. In fact,” he straightens up, that familiar smugness settling across his features, “I've prepared some special training for all of you today.”
Sakura’s frown deepens. Her gaze drifts from her nails to Kakashi, full of suspicion. “Hm.” She says. “Is that right?”
“Maa, Sakura-chan…” The jounin pouts beneath his mask and fiddles with one of the front pockets of his flak jacket, pulling out three pieces of thick paper. They're small and squared and smell weird. “Don’t you trust your cool and strong Sensei? I'm dependable.”
Sasuke snorts and Sakura's frown turns into a thin, displeased line. She rolls her neck from side to side, loosening up her muscles and preparing for a good forehead attack.
Naruto can feel the unease that runs down Kakashi's back like a shiver and he averts his gaze to the side, concentrating on the trees to the far left side of their clearing. Maybe if he pretends to not exist, his kunoichi teammate will ignore him.
“Now, now, there's no need to be so upset,” Kakashi explains, “these papers are used to examine a shinobi’s chakra element.”
The line of Sakura's mouth twitches and the anger in her eyes dims, turning into mild interest. “Really?” she glances at Sasuke, looking for an affirmative.
The Uchiha swallows thickly and audibly, looking from Kakashi to Naruto and then back, likely sensing whatever bullshit is going on. For a split second, Naruto thinks he's going to blurt out the truth, but Sasuke opens his mouth and says, “he's not lying.”
“Of course I'm not,” Kakashi whines childishly, huffing quietly, “who do you take me for?”
“An idiot,” says Naruto.
“A loser,” adds Sasuke.
“A liar,” finalises Sakura.
“You're mean! All three of you!” Kakashi lets go of Naruto and turns away from his team, shuffling the chakra papers between his fingers. “Maybe I should put these away,” he sulks. “That'll teach you to be nicer to me.”
Sakura sighs loudly, like she's pained by the jounin's mere existence, and rolls her green eyes. “Alright, alright, drop the dramatics, Sensei. We'll behave and listen.”
Kakashi visibly brightens and turns back around, looking disgustingly soft and unbelievably fond. Naruto very nearly cringes, and doesn't quite manage to hide the uncomfortable expression from his face in time.
Kakashi hands out the chakra slips with an eye smile and explains, “All shinobi know that chakra comes in the form of five basic elements; fire, water, wind, earth, and lightning. This paper is made from a special kind of tree. When you channel your chakra into this paper, it will create one of five reactions.”
Naruto makes a low, considering noise and sniffs the paper. It smells weird, but also a little familiar. It's odd and the texture is rough beneath his fingertips. “So? What are the reactions?” He asks.
“If your element is fire, the paper will catch on fire and turn to ash,” Kakashi's voice is gentle and slow with his explanation. “Water will make the paper damp and lightning will wrinkle it. On the other hand, earth will turn the paper into dirt and it'll crumble.” He pauses, tilting his head to the side and Naruto mirrors the action with a slight frown. “Lastly, the wind element will slice the paper in half.”
“Sounds easy enough,” Sasuke says, holding the slip of paper in front of his face. Beside him, Sakura does the same, squinting her eyes at the paper suspiciously.
Naruto inhales a soft breath and exhales, channelling a slow trickle of his chakra into the thick, rough paper held up between his thumb and forefinger. For a long moment, nothing happens and Naruto turns to look at his teammates, wondering if they're having the same issue as himself.
Sakura's paper momentarily dampens before it turns to dirt and crumbles away. She grins triumphantly, happy at having two elements; water and earth.
Meanwhile, Sasuke's paper crinkles before it catches fire and turns to ash, blowing away into the wind. He too has two elements, lightning and fire. His smirk is as cocky as ever.
When Naruto turns back to look at his chakra paper, he finds half of it missing. He blinks and glances around, spotting the other half on the grass beneath him, sliced free. The wind element, Naruto thinks to himself. I wonder if it's any good.
“Ah,” Kakashi's scratches the back of his head, “of course you'd have the one element I can't properly teach you.” He moves his hand and holds his chin between his fingers, looking thoughtful. “The wind is complicated and untameable. It's also the rarest element.”
“So, there's no one to teach Naruto?’’ Sakura's voice and face are unimpressed. “That's a shame.”
“Not exactly,” Kakashi says, “I can teach Naruto-kun the theory, at least, and that alone should be enough to make him able to use wind release.”
“Hn,” Sasuke tucks his hands into the pockets of his white shorts and shoots Naruto a smug-like look. “Looks like you'll be falling behind, dead last.”
Naruto ignores him in favour of rifling through his thoughts. So, the wind release is uncontrollable, huh? He smiles, soft and small, and can't help but feel some form of excitement, though it's more of a hunger for power than anything else. That's good, he thinks, at least I'll be stronger this way.
Above the group, a bird flies across the blue sky and Naruto tilts his head back, watching it glide freely from one side to the other, before it disappears into the distance.
He wonders if he'll ever feel that free.