Chapter 2
A loud crunch announced Naruto’s arrival on Sakura’s right. She instinctively twitched away, catching herself before she made contact with Sasuke’s side. She breathed. There was a reason they had always been paired together for fights in the Academy. With Sasuke she was safe.
“So.” Kakashi dragged out the word, saying it so casually that Sakura was not sure whether or not she should still be standing at attention.
But then his single eye, drooping in manifest disinterest, met hers, and she felt her spine jerk straighter reflexively. She wished she had spent longer brushing her hair. Was that a strand outside of her ponytail? She realized she had stopped breathing, and starting counting exhalations. He turned his gaze to Naruto.
“You shouldn’t make your commander wait,” he said. The hypocrisy made her want to scream. Instead she exhaled.
“But I suppose I’m not your commander yet, now, am I?” And his eye crinkled into a terrifying parody of a smile, like a child’s twisted attempt at drawing emotions on a blank canvas. She was certain, somehow, that beneath the mask his lips were unmoved. He made a sound between a snort and a chuckle. They were silent.
He exaggeratedly raised an eyebrow and made the noise of a pout. This time, the emotion almost seemed genuine. “How boring.”
Sakura swallowed. The sound seemed to echo in her ears.
“Are you really going to keep making me wait?” He dragged out the question as though he were teasing. “Likes. Dislikes. Hobbies. Dreams.”
There was a second of silence.
His eye was still on Naruto. She risked a glance, and saw that the boy was grinning.
“I’m Uzumaki Naruto, believe it! I like cup ramen! What I like even better is when I can get restaurant ramen! I dislike the three minutes you have to wait for ramen to cook! My hobby is eating RAMEN!” She could not help but stare. “My dream… I’m going to surpass all the Hokage, all on my own – and then everyone will have to acknowledge me!”
Sakura swallowed. The Fourth Hokage had probably been the most successful killer in history. She wondered how high the Third’s body count was.
Kakashi’s lazy eye turned to her, a silent prompt.
“I’m Haruno Sakura. I like…” It was just the way he had phrased it, and the fact that Sasuke was standing, well, right next to her – she could feel his body-heat against her leg! – Sakura could not help it, she blushed. Then humiliation made her blush more, and she tried to catch herself: “I dislike, uh,” she glanced around for inspiration, but Naruto was not an option. “I dislike jerks and bullies. My hobby is…” what would Sasuke say? She looked at him again, but it only made her blush more. At least there was one answer she knew she had right: “My dream is… to defeat Iwa, for good!”
She met Kakashi’s eye again, but could not read anything in his flat gaze.
“My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are a lot of things I dislike and not many I like. I won’t use the word dream, but I have an ambition. I am going to restore my clan, and – ” He cut off suddenly, swinging around to glare in Sakura’s direction. It was probably intended at Naruto. Sasuke was so brave…
“And?” Kakashi prompted.
Sasuke whipped his head back around to glare at Kakashi, causing his dark bangs to flutter over the rim of his hitae-ate, perched snuggly on his forehead. She imagined running her fingers through it.
“Restore my clan.” Sasuke was so cool… The insinuation made her blush again. Uchiha Sakura…
Kakashi did not look impressed. There was another awkward silence.
“Um, the test?” Sakura asked. She was wearing her lucky hair-tie: red, with a bow on the top; the same tie she had worn when she graduated from the Academy. That time, the only question she had gotten wrong was an analysis of the Second Hokage’s tactics at the battle for Kanabata Pass, and they had still given her partial credit. This time, she had specifically given the First Shinobi War an extra review, just in case.
“Right,” Kakashi turned and began to walk towards a series of stumps near the center of the clearing. Sakura tried to catch Sasuke’s eye to see if they should follow, but he was not looking her way. She hesitated, but Naruto scampered after the jounin, and then Sasuke was walking away too. Sakura hurriedly rushed after them. She made sure not to go too fast, preferring to stay slightly behind Sasuke. Being too close to Naruto made her nervous. Kakashi did not turn.
He stopped when he reached the training logs and turned around. There was a timer on the log next to him. Were they starting with a physical? She thought that was behind them – there had already been a test to qualify for a Capability Test in the first place.
“Here are two bells,” Kakashi said, dangling a jingling chain from his fingers. “Your task is to take them from me. If you don’t get a bell by noon, you don’t eat. I’ll even tie you to the post and eat your lunch in front of you.”
He said it with the same wink of the eye that might have been an attempt at a smile. Who would have even brought lunch for a meeting at six in the morning?
“You need to get one bell,” He continued. “There are only two, so at least one of you will end up tied to the stump. After lunch we’ll do another round. You have one hour.”
Sakura took a second to ponder the impossibility of their task. She was really regretting having spent so much of the last week with her textbooks. Kakashi tauntingly shook the bells as he raised the chain to his eye-level. “Hm, I almost forgot. Anyone without a bell at the end fails, so at least one of you is going back to the Genin Corps. Well, come at me with all you have.
“Start!”
Sakura was scrambling back towards tree cover before she had finished processing his words. Anyone without a bell at the end fails… did that mean?
Sakura had prepared. Well, maybe not for this. But still. Okay. She peaked out from behind the tall tree she had found shelter behind.
None of them were going to get a bell if the legendary copy ninja did not want them to. But it would not be fair if he actually fought them seriously. He had to give them a chance, at least. He probably just wanted them to show their skills, Sakura decided, and then he would give the two best bells. No sensei would give an impossible test.
Sasuke had also run for cover, but Naruto had not moved. It looked like he and Kakashi were talking, but they were too far away to hear. At least until Naruto shouted: “Head on is how I always fight, believe it!” and launched himself fearlessly forward. Then Kakashi was gone, and Naruto was flying.
The tree in front of her snapped with the impact and suddenly Sakura was scrambling backwards, trying to avoid the tangle of falling branches. She slipped on a root and then pushed herself backwards, scraping along on her butt to avoid the collapsing crown of the tree as it smashed into the ground, blotting out the sun and casting her into a sudden shade. From a few meters above her, tangled in the leaves, Naruto groaned.
Sakura stumbled too her feet and slammed into the branches around her, pushing herself out of the collapsed tree without the slightest attempt at stealth. He could find her anyway if he wanted to – the destruction of the very tree she had been hiding behind was proof enough of that. She had to get away before he followed; she needed to think. He had not even given Naruto a chance to show his skills – how could she pass if he was starting at such a high level? It was not fair!
Her momentum was stopped dead in its tracks by another moan. From under a fallen log, legs peeking out from the other side, bent at uneven angles, Sasuke groaned.
“S-Sakura,” his eyes rolled up to meet hers. He coughed weakly. Blood flecked the air.
When the falling branch had pinned him, a sharp stake of wood had gone deep into his shoulder. She watched the blood slowly foam up from the wound, soaking into Sasuke’s dark shirt. Sakura could feel her heart pounding in her ears. Sasuke was… Sasuke needed… She had to…
The mass of leaves and twigs that had been the tree’s crown shook. Somewhere in the tangle above her, Naruto was moving.
Sasuke was the cutest boy in her Academy class. She had ended her friendship with Ino over Sasuke. She was about to be alone with the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Sakura made a choice.
She clenched her shaking fists and sunk down to her knees besides him.
“Sasuke-kun, can you hear me?” Textbook question. Suzume-sensei said: check if the person is responsive.
Pale eyelids fluttered and a sound that could have been an acknowledgement left his mouth.
“I’m going to try to staunch the bleeding,” Sakura said.
She pressed her hands to the area between his shoulder and collarbone, choking down the bile that rose in her throat at the warmth of his blood. Suzume-sensei said: apply pressure.
She knew not to remove the branch. But what was she supposed to do about the one lying on top of him? From the angle she was sitting, she could see that it had hit him flat across the waist, trapping him at an uncomfortable angle. Were his legs broken? She could not tell. What was Kakashi doing? Why was the blood still coming?
She could feel herself veering into panic. She breathed. Suzume-sensei said: if a training situation goes bad, appeal to the highest ranking shinobi in the area without delay.
“Sensei!” She screamed. He could not have meant to do this. He would come back and bring Sasuke to the hospital and it would all be okay and Sasuke would be grateful and Naruto would not come down from the tree and Kakashi was on his way and he would know what to do because he was a jounin and he was fast because he was a jounin so he was probably here already and where was he and he was coming and until then she just had to apply pressure. “Sensei!”
Apply pressure to stop the bleeding. She pressed her palms more firmly against his shoulder. It collapsed like a hollow doll, snapping away under her fingers with a wet squelch. Dark blood sprayed into the air, onto her face, her uniform, her hair, blinding her. She screamed, snatching back her hands, wiping desperately at her sticky face and –
“S-Sakura…” She could not look, she could not look, she could not look, she could not look. “W-why…? …You…”
The hole that had been Sasuke’s shoulder stared back at her, white bones, red blood, pink muscle. She needed a bandage; she reached out – his chest collapsed under her touch like a rotten fruit. Her hand made contact with something slippery, pulsing, warm, and then suddenly she was being dragged forward. His intestines reached out to strangle her as she screamed.
Yes, yes, this, you deserve this – look at what you did to him, LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID –
Appeal to the highest ranking shinobi in the area without delay. As black spots began to cloud her vision, Sakura screamed again: “Sensei!”
.
.
.
When she woke she understood. The four signs of genjutsu: headache, nausea, tingling in the extremities, heartburn. Mizuki-sensei had forgotten humiliation.
She pulled herself to her feet and surveyed the area. She was standing near the familiar collapsed tree, but there was no one else in sight. Had Sasuke been there at all? Had Naruto?
She cautiously moved forward to look into the clearing. It was empty. She listened for the sound of fighting, but the forest was silent. A glance at the sky told her not too much time had passed.
If the boys were still fighting, they would have to be deeper in the forest, she decided. She still had a chance to show her worth, but she would have to hurry. There was no way she would be able to pass with Sasuke like this.
She took to the tries, leaping from branch to branch as silently as possible, on alert for the sounds of a confrontation. There was an opening in the trees, and she caught sight of a flash of white. He was waiting for her.
She took her place in the nook of a tree on the outskirts of the small glade. He did not even look up from the book he held loosely in front of his face with one hand, casually slumping in the center of the clearing. Maybe he had not noticed her after all?
“So eager for another lesson?” He did not look up but she could feel his eye boring into her anyway, judging her, finding her lacking. “Shinobi lesson number two: genjutsu.”
She was already flaring her chakra at irregular intervals. She would not fall for that again – no way! Mizuki-sensei had said with chakra control like hers she could escape anything but a sharingan genjutsu.
She emptied a sling of shuriken in his direction; cover for her approach. She threw herself out of the tree, but not quite into the glade, finding a bush on his left, but closer. He did not even look up to dodge, spinning out of the way of the first three, and sidestepping the two she had aimed at possible escape angles.
“I guess you want a different lesson. Well, I’m waiting…”
A head-on assault would not give her the chance to show anything; he would take her out too fast. He turned to face the bush she was cowering against, lowering his book from his face to make eye contact, before decisively turning away. Okay, stealth would not work either.
Mizuki-sensei had said there was an advantage in heights when facing a superior enemy. She needed an opportunity. She threw another sling of shuriken, leaping back to the tree.
He ducked under the first two, and sidestepped to the left to avoid the rest and his left leg was still in the air, he was out of balance – there! Substitution Jutsu. Sakura was a foot from his face, emptying her last sling of shuriken with her right hand while scrambling for a kunai with her left. He danced backwards and she let the momentum of the substitution carry her, kunai switching hands, outstretched to strike.
Then there was the whistling of metal through the air, and instinct pushed her to the ground, rolling backwards. There was the thump of flesh on flesh, and when she opened her eyes, she was staring into the red-white of the Uchiha fan. Again, she flared her chakra, once, twice, but the image did not disappear. Sasuke’s back was to her, legs spread in a fighting stance. Kakashi’s book had disappeared, but he had not straightened out of his slouch.
“I’m not like the others!” Sasuke hissed and threw himself forward.
Sakura scrambled to her feet just as Sasuke’s kick slammed into Kakashi’s armguard. The jounin worked his momentum, using it to fling Sasuke over his shoulder, moving faster than a blur. Sasuke had already recovered, rolling with the throw to land on his feet and swing into a back kick. Kakashi caught his leg in the air, and then Sasuke was ducking down, swinging forward, chakra flaring.
This…this is…
And then there was fire.
The cloud of flames engulfed the clearing, and though it was aimed in the other direction, she found herself stumbling back to avoid the heat. She raised her arms to protect her face, and by the time she had lowered them and blinked away the afterimage, the small glade was empty.
Sakura could not think. Sasuke was so far ahead of her; he really was amazing.
She could hear the sounds of the fight moving back towards the main clearing. She swallowed. That fight was so far above her level… The noises got fainter. Sakura swallowed again, then followed.
But she was too slow. The sounds of fighting abruptly stopped, followed by the loud ring of the timer going off, and Sakura still had not made it back to the collapsed tree. She was too slow.
.
.
.
By the time Sakura made it back to the three stumps in the main clearing, the others were already there.
“And Sakura graces us with her presence at last,” Kakashi drawled, arms crossed against his chest, perfectly at ease.
“Well, that was a complete disappointment. In fact, if we weren’t at war, I’d tell you all to quit as shinobi.”
Sakura cringed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sasuke twitch as well.
“Why do you think you were divided into teams in the first place? None of you even tried to understand the meaning behind this test. Do you really think I expect you to be skilled enough to beat me? Well, if we’re going to talk about your skills, that was even more pathetic. There’s probably not even a point in giving you the second round. You punks just don’t have what it takes.
“I mean, did you even think about this in advance? I should be eating your lunch right now, and yet I only even found one bento.”
Kakashi’s tone turned from serious to eerily cheerful without pause: “So unprepared, and yet you think you’re worth wasting my time. Well, even if none of you but Sasuke thought to bring lunch, it would be unfair for me to suffer.”
Kakashi giggled to himself, and plucked a sushi roll out of Sasuke’s bento. It disappeared behind his mask in an invisible motion so fast Sakura did not see his face. He made exaggerated chewing noises. “This is good, by the way, Sasuke. Did your brother make it for you?”
Sasuke growled, but Sakura blushed. Itachi, turning around in the kitchen, offering her homemade breakfast, dark eyes soft and tender…
Another sushi roll disappeared. “I suppose in the name of fairness, I’ll have to go buy lunches for Sakura and Naruto. Then I’ll tie up all three of you failures, and you can watch me eat!”
“What are you talking about, old man? How is that supposed to be fair!” Naruto was burning with indignation.
Kakashi turned his eye to Naruto, suddenly dead serious.
“You’re right, I suppose,” Kakashi said. “You won’t be tied up, Naruto.”
With the hand that was not holding the bento, he reached into his pocket and held out a bell. “This is for you. Congratulations, you’re too important to be wasted in the Genin Corps. You’ll be under my command in the future, so that your power can be used to the maximum benefit of Konoha.
“Sasuke, Sakura, take this time to think about your failures. Maybe next time you won’t embarrass yourselves so much.”
And then he was gone.
The single bell hit the ground where he had been standing with a soft chime, but Naruto did not reach out to grab it. She risked a glance. He was staring at it as though stupefied, mouth working around unuttered words. His fists clenched and unclenched reflexively.
Naruto got a bell because he was a monster. That had been planned the whole time. Sasuke was better than her, she knew that. He would get the bell and advance, and they would be separated. She would spend the rest of her life in the Genin Corps and Ino would win Sasuke’s heart. That was unacceptable.
Sakura thought: think about your failures. Her cheeks burned. Without even looking she could imagine the cold expression on Sasuke’s face.
Sakura thought: think about your failures. And: none of you even tried to understand the meaning behind the test. Then: anyone without a bell at the end fails.
Naruto had still not made a move to pick up the bell.
“Sasuke-kun,” she said. “He said there’s a deeper meaning to the test. Anyone without a bell at the end fails.”
He said none of us were skilled enough to beat him, she thought. Her mind was racing. But we were divided into teams. He said there was a reason.
This was the kind of test Sakura was good at. She could figure out what he wanted from them.
Naruto was still twitching. The bell was on the ground. Kakashi was gone. Anyone without a bell at the end fails. Sakura understood.
It was bait.
“It’s all a trick!” She said, in a rush. “It’s a trick! We’re set up against each other!”
There was no way Sasuke would want to be on a team with Naruto either: the boy was the dead last of the class and completely useless when he was not a raging monster. Sasuke might be able to control him, but who would want to constantly have your life in danger like that?
If they could just take it from him, then they could work together for the second bell!
Kakashi had left them for a reason – he probably did not want Naruto either. Who would?
“We’re supposed to…we’re supposed to…” She looked pleadingly at Sasuke, hoping he would understand without her having to say it.
He met her gaze, finally, frowning deeply. But he did not make a sound, or a movement. Sakura felt desperation sink in. Who knew how long they had before Kakashi would come back? Had he left at all? Maybe he was just watching to see who would win the bell. He had dropped it instead of handing it off for a reason.
“He wanted us to…fight,” She whispered, finally, not daring to take her eyes off of Sasuke, silently begging him to understand. The plan would be obvious once he understood – he would take Naruto, she would grab the bell. It was only logical: Sasuke had always fought Naruto. But Sasuke needed to attack first; Naruto was closer to it than she was.
Sasuke said nothing for a long moment, then swung his head away, glaring blankly at Naruto.
“You’re right, Sakura,” Sasuke said, not taking his eyes off the target. He let out an angry noise of frustration. “Of course, of course it is. I get the point of the test now, that’s so stupid. The two of them, they’re always going on about it, of course, I should have known it’d be something so dumb!”
Then: “Get over here, loser,” he said. Head-on?! Sakura worried for a second, then scolded herself. Sasuke knew his strength, and he was better than Naruto. Naruto started in surprise, tearing his gaze away from the bell he had been staring at.
“Hey, asshole, what’s that supposed to mean!” Naruto shouted, but he took a half-step in their direction. Just one more step away…
“Sakura’s right,” Sasuke said. She felt the warmth rushing to her cheeks and looked away shyly. Sasuke continued: “We were put into teams for a reason, and he tried to make us fight against each other. She’s right, of course it’s a trick. We’re supposed to work together. We’re a team. So pick up your stupid bell, and let’s make a plan for the next round.”
“What?” Sakura was as dumbfounded as Naruto, but only he found the words to express it.
“Teamwork!” He exclaimed with a huff. “The whole test is about teamwork, were you even listening to Sakura? Of course it is, it might as well be a slogan. So pick up your bell and let’s figure out how we’re gonna – ”
“I don’t want it!” Naruto shouted, turning to grab the bell and then flinging it away. Sakura followed it desperately with her eyes, what was he thinking? “I don’t want it! I don’t get what you’re talking about at all, but I’m not taking that thing, no matter what, believe it! I don’t need him to give me anything! We can take them if we do it together, isn’t that what you’re saying?? So we don’t need any handouts! I’ll only take a bell if I earn one!”
“Let’s do it as a team! I don’t need him to give me anything! I don’t want anything from him! We’ll take them! He says he has to take me?! We’ll show him! You two will take the bells, and then we’ll be a full team!” Naruto was on a roll, but Sasuke was nodding.
“Yes,” Sasuke agreed. “As a team. None of us is going anywhere without the others. We’ll get the bells together, and we’ll pass together.”
He growled again. “I can’t believe I fell for that shit.”
“Right, together,” Sakura nodded weakly. She didn’t think…but, it was Sasuke. He had said she was right.
There was a second of silence, as befitted their dramatic declarations. Sakura opened her mouth.
“I admit, I’m surprised.”
They spun around as one. Mostly. Sakura stumbled a bit. Perched in a squat on the central log, Kakashi’s eye was crinkled up into a smile that might have been real.
“Congratulations, you three pass!”