What to do
This has been beta’d by Ankaa Sage! Thank-you so much!
.
.
.
Kakashi was unsure how he should be feeling. Right now, he was feeling slightly dejected because the blonde wasn't paying any attention to what he was saying to the team, and she placed a block between their minds so he couldn't talk to her like that. What confused him was whether he was allowed to feel like this. Whether he would feel the same way if Sasuke or Sakura were the ones ignoring him. He supposed he would, he thought them all allies and they were placed under his protection.
Mentally confirming he was not a creep who was trying to get a child to notice him, he continued, "Sasuke. Since you've unlocked the Sharingan we've done a couple of training exercises with them, but now I want to train you with my Chidori. We've gotten your speed to where it should be, so for right now I want you to copy the hand signs and when you get the right speed of doing them, we can use it." Sasuke gave a nod so he looked to Sakura next, "Sakura. You've done a lot of medical ninjutsu training so far, but now I want you to do a chakra exercise. This will allow you to pour chakra into specific places such as your fists and allow you to do a lot of damage. "You are aware of Lady Tsunade, she could do this as well. I have a scroll for you to read but if you want an example Naruto can do something similar to it, just not of the same magnitude whenever he starts to pay attention that is." All three members looked towards the blonde who was sitting cross-legged with her eyes shut.
"I'm paying attention. But I'm reaching out my senjutsu something doesn't add up here." she trailed off causing everyone to stand on edge. Whenever Naruto said something was off, it usually meant danger. Sensing what they were feeling she opened her eyes which were orange with a black plus sign inside them. "It's nothing dangerous I think. Just sensed someone I thought was dead."
Kakashi looked at her as she looked at Sasuke before she averted her gaze, "So Sasuke's doing the Chidori eh? Be careful not to burn your arm." She teased, her eyes full of humor as she stood up.
"Um, sensei? What's Naruto going to work on?" asked Sakura.
Kakashi scratched the back of his head as he tried to think of something for Naruto to practice without blowing things up. "Actually Sakura why don't we work on your chakra building instead. The kazekage did say not to cause much damage to their village. As for Naruto, he can work on senjutsu?" he asked more than stated. He was unsure what to give her. Team 7 were front-liners, everything they did was at full lethal capacity.
Senjutsu was the safest option, in his opinion. "If not, he can help Sasuke wherever he needs help. You'd be able to explain it in a simpler way."
She gave a contemplative look as she stretched her limbs, "If he needs help, I'll help. But I'm sure he'd be able to do it. It'll just take time."
"It didn't take you very long to learn the Chidori." Stated Sasuke as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"That's because I was using an army of shadow-clones. Their memories pour into me when they are released. Their experiences also enter my memory." She explained, causing the younger members to nod their heads. It made sense.
Kakashi raised a brow, quite surprised she had said that instead of saying she had done extra training. "Um Sakura," spoke Naruto but she didn't finish her statement, causing the other three to furrow their brows. Naruto almost never drifted off her sentences like that.
After ten seconds she still didn't say anything so Sakura spoke up, "Yes Naruto?"
It seemed to be the boost that she required as she straightened and looked the other female in the eye, "When we get back to our rooms I need to tell you something that has been long overdue."
Sakura grew confused as Kakashi and Sasuke's eyes both widened. There was only one thing she could want to say to Sakura and not the other two and that was to reveal her gender.
To say the males of team 7 were shocked was an understatement. She was not one to reveal something so important to just anyone without good reason. It was that thought that made them wonder why she wanted to tell her. There had to be a reason other than wanting to not hide her identity from her teammate. She would still be hiding it from Konoha so there was no point.
Instead of questioning what she was up to, team 7 started their training as their escorts made sure they didn't destroy too many things.
.
.
.
Sakura was very nervous as she sat down at the edge of her bed, waiting for Naruto to come into her room. She didn't know what to think when her blonde teammate said he wanted to talk to her.
It had been a long while since he had said he fancied her, she had thought he had simply moved on but maybe that wasn't the case? It wasn't as if she hated him, but didn't like him like that either. She doubted she even like Sasuke like that anymore.
She tried to think of anything else he could want to say to her but came out blank. Naruto wasn't one for many secrets. It was when the word secret entered her mind that she thought perhaps he wanted to talk about his relationship with Kakashi sensei.
She was so lost in thought she didn't notice Naruto entering her room, only noticing when he placed a hand on her shoulder, eyes concerned, causing her to jump back slightly and let out a small squeal.
Naruto let out a small chuckle, hands raised in surrender, "Sorry, didn't to scare you." He took a few steps back as he leaned against the desk that was in her room.
After a few silent minutes, she spoke up, "So um Naruto. What did you uh, wanna talk about?"
He remained silent, the only indication that he had heard her as he was looked her dead in the eye. He finally let out a long sigh and raised his hands before saying, "Just please don't freak out and don't hate me." He whispered the last part as he let out a kai causing smoke to appear around him.
Sakura let out small bouts of coughs, not expecting that. When the smoke faded she could see Naruto. Or who she assumed was Naruto. The last time she looked, Naruto didn't have long hair nor did he have a large chest.
She opened and closed her mouth several times, pointing to the person in front of her, the door and Naruto's chest before laughing a little, "Is this your orioki-no-jutsu but younger and with clothes on?" she asked, confused why he would show her and not one of the boys.
"No, I'm actually a girl. Have been since birth."
That caused Sakura to stare wide-eyed at her teammate, "What do you mean? I remember distinctively during swimming class on our like second year of the academy, you would wear boys swimming clothes and not girls. Heck, you've been declaring your undying love for me for years. Not that you have to be a guy to like girls but you get what I mean."
"I'm an orphan Sakura. Have been since the night of my birth. It's a lot safer for a girl to pretend to be a boy, especially when said girl is hated by the village, although I doubt the people of Konoha are that bad. But, you can never be too safe." She shrugged her shoulders before continuing, "I use a seal, and it allows me to bypass the Sharingan as well as the byakugan. Although all of the Uchiha clan knew I was a girl, my fiancé, Shisui Uchiha, Sasuke's brother's friend, suggested I pretend to be a boy whenever I was out of the uchiha district. When he passed away I saw no reason as to why I should let go of the façade. It was sort of a way of keeping to his memory, 'tebayo." She looked her teammate in the eye, wanting to know what she was feeling, but could only see the confusion.
"But why not tell me sooner? Why wait till now?"
Naruto sighed as she started to pace across the room, "It's not that I planned on telling you here. I planned on telling you after the chunin exams roughly so that it wasn't distracting you. But today I sensed something and figured things could get really complicated and confusing for you if I didn't tell you now. I had no intention of upsetting you or betraying you Sakura." Her eyes were silently begging the pink haired girl to understand and not hate her for her deception.
"I don't have a problem with you being a girl but it will take me some time to get used to you being a girl. Who knows? So I don't end up saying something I shouldn't in front of people who shouldn't know." Naruto was very happy about the reply Sakura had given her.
In her own timeline, she had been hit over the head for apparently using the orioke-no-jutsu with clothes on. Later when she explained to Sakura with help from Lady Tsunade, she had understood, apologized for hitting her across the head without listening to her and proceeded to hit her again for keeping it a secret. Said punch had led to Sakura hugging her and saying she never had to hide anything from her.
"I know this is going completely off topic but since you're a girl, and you spend a lot of time with sensei." she drifted off waving her hand in a way that showed Naruto should get it.
And get it she did as she let out a large laugh, "Kakashi and I don't have that sort of relationship. Since I'm the jinchuriki of the nine-tails and have very important parents- don't ask who, I'm not allowed to tell anyone- Kakashi is my guard of sorts. I used to have a member of the ANBU black ops watching over me but since I made genin, Kakashi was made my guard of sorts. It's why he's been training me extra hard. So that I won't need protecting, that way he can do his other job, to protect Sasuke and you. Plus he is ex-ANBU. Any other questions?"
A small blush appeared on the pinkette as she asked her next question, "Have you uh ever had your uh cycle?"
Instead of laughing like she would have, Naruto gave a serious look, knowing that Sakura wanted a serious talk, "I have, I got my first one when we were finishing up the bridge in wave country and it didn't finish till a day or two after Sasuke hurt his ankle during training. Why do you ask?"
(A/N I realize guys read this and for some, not all, this topic is something they don't want to know about, so I'll skip the rest.)
.
.
.
The Kazekage sat in his office, a scroll the blonde child had given him that had the new seal for his son as he waited for Lady Chiyo to arrive.
He may not believe what the child- Naruto- said, but that did not mean he could simply disregard what he had said either. Suna and Konoha were somewhat allies, he could have gone to them for help with the seal. In fact, he had suggested the same thing, yet his counsel disagreed, claiming it to be evidence of their weakness.
Had the seal that had been placed on his wife, truly caused her to die after giving birth? Who should he truly blame, Gaara or Lady Chiyo?
For the entirety of Gaara's life, he had blamed him for the death of his beloved wife, never once thinking the seal had been the cause. Yet as he compared the copy of Gaara's seal to the copy Naruto had given of his own making, even he could see the boy had made a far superior seal than the elder.
He looked up when he heard Lady Chiyo and her brother enter, "I thank you both for coming on such short notice."
"This had better be important, Rasa, Chiyo and me were fishing." Replied the Ebizo as the two of them sat across their kage.
"It is. Lady Chiyo." He looked directly at her as she did him, Ebizo looking between the two of them. "I would like you to have a look at this seal for me, and tell me what you think of it." He handed her the scroll he had been looking at, moments before they had entered.
After a short while she spoke, "Hmm, this seems to be an eight trigram seal… the top and bottom being the writing and the middle swirl being the third component. Each spike, if you prefer the term, seems to consist of different locking mechanisms." she squinted her eyes as she bought the scroll closer to her face, "There also seems to be a lock to this. The key must be written elsewhere. All in all, this is a very advanced seal, where did you get it from, Rasa?" she asked as she returned the seal to him.
He gave no reply, instead placing the open scroll onto his desk and handing her the seal she had made, "If you would compare it to your own seal? And tell me what is different."
"Well, first the outward appearance is quite obvious. The details of which I told you when I placed it on your wife the seal you showed me now, however, was a far more advanced seal." She begrudgingly admitted.
"The seal that I gave to you a few moments ago was one from Konohagakures jinchuriki. He gave it with conditions. Conditions that are reasonable, especially if it means Gaara will stop killing people he doesn't like. I have spoken to my counsel and they agreed, reluctantly." He sat behind his desk, hands clasped together as he looked at the woman who could have been the cause of his wife's death. "Lady Chiyo this child also informed me, the seal you made was very weak and inefficient, and because of it, my wife is dead and my son is insane." He stopped there, allowing lady Chiyo a chance to give her piece.
She let out a sigh and spoke, "Looking between the two seals, my seal very could be the cause of what their jinchuriki said, however, that is not written in stone. It could very well have been due to your wife being very weak at that stage or because of something very else entirely."
"So you neither admit it nor deny it." Rasa took a breath as he thought of what to do. Ebizo held his breath as lady Chiyo looked him in the eye. He was not a cruel enough man to have her executed for her insolence so instead, "You will teach my eldest son, Konkuro, further information about puppets. That is your punishment."
Both of the elders released their breath at the judgment of their Kazekage. They both rose and left, not before thanking their kage for his generosity.
.
.
.
Later that night, Kakashi and Sasuke were enjoying a nice, relaxing bath in the onsen attached to team 7s quarters. The water wasn't too hot nor was it too cold, it was just right. It must have taken a lot of research of sunagakure to get the right temperature for the day and night.
Neither of them spoke a word to the other, simply enjoying the peace and quiet serenity of the onsen.
Said peace and quiet didn't last long as Naruto in her female form, in nothing but a towel came in dragging Sakura, who was in a very similar attire.
Both males were used to Naruto joining them in the onsen, but not Sakura so they averted their gaze and listened to the two girls argue, "Naruto! We can't just go in when the boys are in there!"
"Sure we can! I do it all the time! Just think of it as a team trust building exercise! Nothing says trust that being semi-naked together in the bath!" she had a large smile on her face as Sakura had a worried frown on her face which was a very bright shade of pink.
She, like the male members of the team, averted her gaze as Naruto dragged her into the onsen with them. She sank low into the onsen as she watched clone Naruto hop behind Sasuke, arms around his shoulders as her head was on his shoulder, "Hey teme. Why are you and Kakashi looking at the walls? You guys've seen me like this before." She whined as the real Naruto started to poke at Kakashi masked cheeks.
Said blonde was right in front of him trying to get him to look at them. When neither of them caved she spoke, "We're wearing swim suits underneath these towels if you must know. Sakura has a one piece with no straps and I have a two piece with no straps." She said as she sat next to Sasuke and Kakashi.
The statement was enough to get the boys to, reluctantly, look at the girls. At this point, all you could see of Sakura was her nose and above. Everything else was under the water, however she rose her head to speak, "How can you be so casual about being undressed in front of guys?"
Naruto gave a blank look, her reply also being very dry, "I've been pretending to be a guy for years Sakura. Meaning, whilst I was under that disguise I got to see many males naked. Including myself."
If at all possible Sakura turned even redder. "Maa, I see you and Sakura and a very beneficial talk then Naruto?"
Naruto however was enjoying the onsen too much, as she allowed her head to fall all the way back, exposing her neck and showing people taller than her a lot of cleavage, causing Kakashi to turn his head immediately and smack his face with both his hands.
"Aahm. We got the talk of me being a girl, Shisui kinda and some other bits and bobs. Including how you've been charged with my safety."
"On a completely different note. What are we doing tomorrow, sensei?" asked Sakura as she sat up, lower body still under water.
"Naruto will be spending majority of the day and afternoon placing the seal on young Gaara. I'll be with him- her to make sure nothing goes wrong and that she's perfectly safe. You two are welcome to join us, but you'd be asked to stand on the side quietly. Otherwise… You'll be doing some training, same as today."
"If you choose to train I can send a clone that has quite a bit of extra chakra in to make sure it doesn't easily vanish, this was if something goes wrong I will immediately know and can tell Kakashi." Spoke Naruto as she went back into what they dubbed, 'business mode' or 'hokage mode'.
They chose to do a bit of both. If they got bored at the sealing, they would go and train, if they were fascinated enough, they would stay until the end.