Chapter 5
The woman’s lumpy sack hit the ground with a solid thump.
“Why won’t you monsters just leave?”
Sakura flinched. She snuck a glance at Sasuke, but he was calmly inspecting the watchman.
“Pick that up, would you?” It was a question in the tone of an order. The shinobi did not turn his head to look at the woman, but it was obvious he was addressing her.
There was a short pause. Sakura felt the urge to fetch the sack herself. Sasuke’s stillness dissuaded her.
Kakashi stared blankly at the other shinobi, not even sparing the woman a glance.
Slowly, as though in great pain, she lifted the bag from the ground. Her hands shook. Sakura felt compelled to look away.
There was another pause.
Still without turning, the shinobi held out his right hand. The woman passed on her package, reluctantly.
“It’s good to see you too, Renji,” Kakashi said. “Sorry I’m late, but I had to round up three whole genin to make it here – you wouldn’t believe the places they disappear to.”
Renji did not seem to mind, but Sakura felt acutely guilty once more.
He gave the group a once over. He was a stocky man with short, dark hair and a typical Fire look to his squashed features. But his gaze was open when it floated over her, and his lips quirked in something of a friendly greeting.
“Right,” he said. “The good old days. Fuck, it’s good you’re here, though. Man, we’ve been depleted.”
“My kiddies will be a help there!” Kakashi responded cheerfully. There was a squawk of protest as he gave Naruto’s hair a quick rustle.
“For now, why don’t you escort our friend out of here?” Kakashi lifted his chin to point out the civilian woman. “Then go by the barracks – I’ve already gotten you three checked in.”
“Go on,” he repeated. “The big boys have to talk for a bit. Go get settled, I’ll come get you in ten.”
Kakashi and Renji stood silently, facing each other at a distance in an awkward stillness.
It was obvious their presence was a bother.
“Let’s go,” Sasuke said gruffly.
He approached the civilian woman, and looked significantly towards the stairs. She went.
As Sakura passed Renji on the way to the staircase, he met her eye. Giving her an exaggerated wink, he offered her the sack held by the neck in his left hand.
“Bring these to our boys in the barracks, alright? Help you make some friends.”
She accepted it with both hands. Holding it to her chest, she had to peer to the left to see the thin staircase as they descended.
Through the unsecured folds at the top of the sack, she could see that it was full of pears.
“Sweet!” From behind her, Naruto could obviously see inside as well.
He reached a hand over her shoulder to try to grab at the fruits. She swatted him away without looking, but did not suppress her smile.
“So show me these patrol routes,” Kakashi said from behind her, voice already fading.
It was only by reaching the bottom that Sakura learned they had been on the fourth floor. When they were on the ground floor once more, the woman paused.
Her lined face and tangled long hair gave her the look of a wild animal when she turned to them.
“We’ll take her to the gate,” Sasuke said.
He sounded assertive, but glanced back at Sakura, as though for confirmation. She nodded emphatically.
“Right, that’s definitely what Kakashi-sensei would mean by taking her out.” Probably?
Sasuke’s eyes slipped over Sakura’s shoulder to Naruto, looking for an additional endorsement. Naruto was silent. When Sakura turned to him, he was glaring at the sack of pears with a strange look.
He looked up, then caught Sasuke and Sakura’s expectant stares.
“Huh? Yeah! Definitely.”
Sasuke rolled his eyes. Sakura shot a wry twist of the mouth in his direction and felt a slight thrill at their shared moment when he met her eyes.
“Go on,” Sasuke turned back to the civilian woman. “You know the way.”
Sakura wanted to try for a conversation, but the woman’s darting eyes and unwashed look added to the emptiness of the fort and unnerved her. Instead, the three of them followed the woman in silence back across the courtyard all the way to the gates. This time, Sakura thought she could see a solitary figure standing above them.
They stood at the entryway for a long minute, waiting as she slowly slunk away from them. Eventually, she turned off the road into the bend of a small hillock, and began to fade from view.
Sasuke grunted and turned away.
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All Konoha border outposts had the same design, so locating the barracks was elementary.
The room was a narrow hallway, with eight bunkbeds lined along its side. At the far end of the hall was a door, leading to the next room of barracks. Near that door were two men, seated around the room’s single table. From under the set of central bunks, four faces swung around to stare at them.
The sole girl in the room stood to greet them. Her brown hair was pulled into a tight ponytail, with only two bangs hanging loose, and her cheeks were decorated with red clan markings. She looked a few years older than Sakura, and incredibly professional in her sharp chuunin vest and uniform.
“Great to meet Captain Hatake’s genin! I’m Inuzuka Hana,” She beamed at them, revealing sharp canines. “There’s not that many of us right now, so you can take whatever empty bunks you want.”
Her eyes flickered to Naruto, but her smile held. “You know, if you want, you guys could just take the next room. All for yourselves! That one’s totally empty, what luck, right?”
“Wow, thanks!” Naruto reached up to rub the back of his head. “We’re super lucky, right guys?”
He made to make a move forward, but Sasuke grabbed the back of his pack with one hand, holding him in place.
Hana’s smile faltered.
Sasuke shot her a withering glare. Still, it was enough. Instead of holding Naruto back, he gave him a shove. Naruto protested with a yelp, but Sasuke was already stalking forward, momentum pushing Naruto on before him.
Sakura thought he was probably being unfair: it was easy for Sasuke to play brave around Naruto. Not everyone was an Uchiha.
Sakura realized she had dawdled by the door, and jumped to follow the boys.
“Thanks, Hana-san,” she said first. Then, saluting awkwardly around her load, spoke to the room in general: “We really look forward to working with you, and are honored by the opportunity to do so!”
Hana gave her a friendly nod. A few men chuckled.
“Aw, c’mon, you might as well sit a bit,” A shaggy, fair-haired man, also around Hana’s age, spoke up from one of the bunks, patting the empty space beside him where she had been sitting. “Let’s see whatcha got there, at least, looks like a care package from the boss.”
He gestured to the sack that she was still clutching in both arms. Sakura flushed, glancing to the door before her. Naruto and Sasuke were already out of sight inside the next room.
“Um,” she stuttered. “Your captain? I think? Gave me some peaches for you guys. A woman had them. Renji-san, that is. I mean, your captain, Renji-san.”
The blond man laughed outright.
“Well, bring them over!” Hana said, all canine smiles once more. She bent back under the top beams of the bunkbed to sit on the bottom mattress. Sakura hesitantly walked to her side.
“Here,” she offered, thrusting out the sack. Then she realized that was silly, and propped it on the ground in between the two beds.
She turned to follow her teammates. The blond man laughed again, even as he reached into the bag for a fruit.
“C’mon,” he grinned up at her, taking a juicy bite. “Don’t you want one?”
“Um, yeah. Thank you, I meant to say!” Sakura bent to grab one of her own. Before she could fish one out, a Hyuuga boy sitting on the other bunk caught her wrist in a light grip.
“Not so fast!” Hana said cheerfully, giving Hyuuga an exaggerated thumbs-up. He nodded to her, and released Sakura’s wrist.
“You gotta chat with us first!” Hana said. “We’re all bored locked up here, the unlucky ones, you know. They took eighty percent of the garrison up North for the Rain offensive – I mean, took them for some mysterious cause no one knows anything about because that would be classified and everything I just said was totally supposition – but here we are, stuck on grain req! It’s a total bore.”
“Sit down already,” the Hyuuga said. His voice was bored, but forceful enough that Sakura took it as an order.
She plopped herself down onto the ground in between the two bunks, taking the moment to grab a pear herself. Her legs ached in protest, and the ground was cold.
The Hyuuga helped himself as well, as did the other dark-haired, long-faced boy sitting at his side. He looked a bit older than the others, but young enough that Sakura did not feel uncomfortable.
Hana was still distracted: “But if the Copy Ninja is here, there must be something interesting planned!” She was practically gushing, “Tell us about him! What’s that even like? Being on a team with him?”
There was a snort behind her. Sakura turned to see that the older two men that had been sitting by the table had come to stand near the beds. The taller one, bald and looming, pushed past Sakura to dig around in the sack.
“More like what’s it like being on a team with that kid,” He sneered. Two ripe pears in hand, he returned to his seat.
There was a second of silence before his companion followed.
“Hah, which one of ‘em?” The blond at Hana’s side broke the tension, scrunching up his pug-like nose.
He laughed at his own joke. “Really, though, tough to get an Uchiha too, huh? Seems like a real typical type.”
Sakura felt the usual urge to defend Sasuke.
“He’s Itachi-sama’s brother, you know,” She said. And then, because that made her feel a little guilty too: “My whole team is great.” It felt weak, even to her own ears.
“Yeah, well, Captain Hatake must really be something, huh?” Hana seemed eager to resume her previous track. “Have you gotten a chance to see him in action?”
“Not really,” Sakura answered. “We haven’t really been doing anything, yet.”
She took a bite of her pear, still feeling uncomfortable. She stared at the fruit to avoid meeting Hana’s expectant look.
“Oh man, did I ever tell you guys about the time I was on a mission with him?” The blond started.
“Bull shit, Koji,” Hana snapped. “No one believes the black ops was ever scouting you, so just drop it already.”
The dark-haired boy opposite snorted in response: “Right, ‘cuz Miss Backwater Base is the expert now?”
Hana gave a frankly animalistic snarl in response.
Sakura flinched backwards, but Koji was chuckling again.
“C’mon, you guys, play nice for our guests.” He said, lightly chucking the remaining core of his pear at the boy across from him.
Smiling gamely, the boy leaned forward to catch it in his mouth. He missed, and the core bounced against his chuunin vest before rolling into his lap.
Hana snorted, but in an amused way. The boy grinned back at her, and she reached for the sack and dug out her own pear.
The silence was comfortable, and Sakura turned back to the soft sweetness of her pear. Her legs ached. It was the best pear she had ever had.
She chewed slowly, wringing the juice out of each bite.
“Some civvie brought these,” Sakura said, contemplating her fruit. “A lady, I mean. She seemed upset, I guess.”
“Locals are always like that, you’ll get used to it – I’m Nobu, by the way,” The dark-haired boy said.
“Haruno Sakura, nice to meet you,” Sakura nodded as deeply as she could without moving from her position.
“No, really, we’re the ones glad to see you guys,” Hana spoke around her pear. “Suna’s scheduled to patrol around here real soon – then we’ll do a joint tour of Water. We heard they’re sending their best, so we gotta look good. I guess Hatake should take care of that.”
“Suna? But aren’t we allies?” Sakura asked.
“Fuck no, c’mon, they didn’t even mobilize when the Stone bastards declared on us. Allies, what the hell? How could you think that?” Koji’s snigger was patronizing.
So was Hana’s sneer.
The Hyuuga gave a sigh, then turned to look at Sakura with those terrifying, blank eyes.
“They run patrols through River Country regularly, just like we do,” He explained. “Well, our patrol squads, that is. But they also get a patrol past all the way down to our border every month or so on old treaty lines – just like we do. We have to put up a strong showing, so they don’t get any ideas when they see that there isn’t much movement along this border. The last thing we need is another front.”
“That’s why sensei was called here!” Sakura was proud of catching on so quick.
“Yes. You most likely accompanied your teacher because we have been low on manpower,” the Hyuuga continued. “Our task is limited to grain recquisition, but we could certainly use more hands at this time.”
“But,” Sakura felt suddenly apprehensive. “I think we’re just here to train. It’s not like we can really help. We’re all genin, we’re not, like, that strong.”
She knew it was untrue of the boys as soon as she said it, and felt hot shame pooling up in her stomach again.
“Hah, you really don’t gotta worry about that,” Koji rolled his eyes. “We just deal with civvies. It’s seriously no biggie at all, pretty damn boring ‘round here, like Hana said. It’s why all we do is hang around, anyway.”
“And gossip like a bunch of girls,” Nobu looked significantly in Hana’s direction.
She pouted with exaggeration at his gaze, but did not seem to take offense.
“Speaking of gossip, you really still haven’t told us about what it’s like to have such a famous teacher,” Hana’s voice was teasing. “Come on, Sakura-chan! Spill! You know you want to.”
“Let me think,” Sakura wished desperately she had something funny to say.
Trying to think of a good anecdote, she leaned back and let her gaze wander. The two older men at the table were making no effort to hide their eavesdropping, heads cocked in her direction. Behind them, she could see a flash of white, and some kind of movement, through the open doorway.
Sakura scrambled to her feet with a jolt of protesting limbs.
“I forgot! Let me put my stuff down, sorry, Kakashi-sensei said he was going to get us right away, I really have to get my things down!” She explained.
She hoped the boys were not mad: it was not her fault that they were… Well, that people liked her better.
On her feet, she reached for the sack to grab some extra fruits for them. Hana shook her head, and the Hyuuga’s hand stopped Sakura’s once again.
“Nope!” Hana said. “Only people who share stories get to share loot.”
“C’mon,” Koji teased in a wheedling tone, “Just one?”
The Hyuuga’s grip was loose, and he let Sakura retract her hand.
Sakura had a good excuse, and decided to go with it.
“Sorry, really should hurry! He hates when people are late.”
The pears were not that important. She hurried into the next room, avoiding the complaints from behind her.
Sasuke and Naruto had unpacked onto the bottom bunks nearest to the door. Sasuke was sitting on his, inspecting his kunai. Naruto was floating around the room, peering out its windows at the different views of the courtyard.
She shut the door behind her, then hurried to the third bunk to claim her own bed. It was next to Naruto, but that was probably okay. Besides, taking one further away would be provocative.
“Sakura!” Naruto spun to look at her.
He hesitated, giving her a once over. Then, rubbing a hand against the back of his head, he pressed his face into his familiar squinted smile.
“Oh, I mean, great we have a room to ourselves, believe it!”
“Right,” Sakura agreed weakly.
She shrugged off her rucksack and katana.
“Kakashi-sensei came already,” Sasuke said.
Sakura spun to look at him, but he did not turn to face her.
“Yeah, yeah, he flickered in and out!” Naruto pranced away from the windows back towards the bunks. “You just missed him! He said we’re done for the day. Just we gotta wake up tomorrow at, like, early, and he’ll give us an assignment! Oh, what d’you think it’s gonna be?! Our first team assignment!”
“Um, was he mad I wasn’t here?” Sakura asked. “I mean, what time, sorry?”
“0500,” Sasuke had begun inspecting his wires.
“Oh man, maybe there’s a princess we gotta save, or a village! I can’t wait to show them what I’ve been working on – I bet no one here has ever seen Wind Style before! Oh, Sakura, I can show it to you too! Remember how I was splitting the leaves – well I got it all figured out, you know. Nothing can stop Uzumaki Naruto, believe it!”
Sakura tuned Naruto out easily and gratefully began to prepare herself for an early bed. Her tired body ached and the ration bar was dull on her tongue. Maybe tomorrow there would be more pears.
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The next morning dawned damp and misty. Sakura awoke feeling refreshed, and though her leg muscled still burned, it was the kind of pain easily ignored with movement. The other room was quiet when they left, and Sakura kept the door shut between them.
Nonetheless, she saw Nobu loitering near the tower on the other end of the courtyard, and gave him a cheerful salute. He returned it, and whistled a greeting callsign, but made no move to approach.
Kakashi was waiting for them near the gates. Naruto bounded towards him with his usual unceasing frenetic energy, already badgering him about their assignment.
“– to Wind Country? To River? To the Shikano?”
“Shinano,” Sasuke corrected under his breath with a huff. Naruto did not seem to hear.
“Nothing so exciting, I’m afraid,” Kakashi gave Naruto’s hair a careless ruffle, curving his visible eye into a wink. “You guys will be working with the local squad on grain requisition, filling in for all the personnel that’s been reassigned recently. Tomorrow one of them will take you on a tour, show you the ropes. Today is just for catching up. I want to see how you’ve been doing.”
Naruto deflated like a dying rabbit.
“Don’t look so disappointed, you’ll hurt my feelings!” Kakashi pressed a hand to his chest with exaggerated emotion, but spoke in steady monotone. “If you want an assignment so bad…”
“Yes!” Naruto shouted.
“Hmm,” Kakashi put a finger to his chin. “Well then, I guess…”
“Yeees?” Naruto leaned forward, tipping precariously.
“Your assignment is catch and subdue. Go!”
He disappeared with a spiral of leaves, leaving Naruto blinking at the sudden gust of air.
“Formation three,” Sasuke ordered.
Sakura instinctively fell into step at his left side, and could feel Naruto doing the same on his right.
“Let’s get him!”