Chapter Text
A cold shiver involuntarily ran down Sakura’s spine, shaking her to the core and momentarily stealing her breath away when she heard her teammates’ anguished cries. Sasuke-kun and Naruto… trapped in a glass prison made of ice. She sent a quick prayer to any Kami she could think of at that moment, hoping desperately that her boys would be okay. They had to be. She simply refused to accept another answer.
Their situation was bad.
No.
It wasn’t bad. In their current situation, bad would actually mean something good. Hopeful even. Bad would imply that their chances to win the ongoing battles were high. Or, at least, not terrible. But their present circumstance?
Sakura wanted to burst out laughing. Or start crying. Preferably do both at the same time—she was very proficient at multitasking, after all. Their current situation was simply disastrous and awful and she wasn’t stupid to think otherwise. If she and her dear team were to survive the fights they were fighting and return safely to the village, she would buy Naruto as much ramen as she could afford while still having money to resupply her weapons. And she would train as hard as ever before to make Sasuke-kun proud of her and assure him that he could count on her no matter what—and maybe she should give him some space. And she would read Kakashi-sensei’s favourite book to find common ground with him.
Well… maybe not that one. Her eyes and mind were still too innocent and uncorrupted to read porn, especially in public like him. She had standards and intended to live by them, at least while she was still young. But she would do something nice for her sensei. She would figure something out. She was sure of that.
Sakura’s shaking hands clenched even harder on her faithful kunai she was holding as she heard a loud clash of metal less than twenty meters away from her, turning her head away from the direction where Sasuke-kun and Naruto were fighting Haku.
Kakashi-sensei and Momochi Zabuza were engaged in a fierce fight to the death, hidden in a thick mist, while she was tasked with protecting their client. It sounded like a cruel and unfunny joke. As if she could do anything to save Tazuna-san if the Demon of the Hidden Mist or his young apprentice defeated her teammates and attacked her.
She would try her hardest to fight them of course. But at the moment she was the weakest member of her team and there was no point to deny that.
Metal clashed with metal again. Her hands turned white—she was clenching her weapons stronger than ever as if wanting to convince herself that everything would be okay.
Sakura had complete faith in her usually lazy and laidback sensei, she had seen him fight before and knew that he was an extremely talented ninja and would be victorious in the end, but… she couldn’t help the dread she was feeling. The unpleasant sensation in her stomach was screaming at her that something bad was about to happen. She wasn’t an idiot and knew that her sensei was at a disadvantage. His Sharingan, powerful as it was, was, basically, useless in the omnipotent mist conjured by the nukenin.
“Step aside and let me kill the bridge builder, little girl.” As if to confirm her unpleasant feeling, Momochi Zabuza suddenly emerged from the mist, his giant sword carelessly resting on his broad shoulder. She was sure that an unpleasant smirk was present under his bandage-covered face. “Step aside, and you and your teammates shall live. Killing someone as delicate as you… I cannot imagine why would someone like you want to become a shinobi. And who allowed you to graduate from the Academy… Konoha has really gone soft under the Sandaime’s rule, hasn’t it?”
Sakura’s heart instantly was in her mouth. She was aware that it was just a clone—even though she was unable to see what was going on in the mist, she could hear loud and clear that Kakashi-sensei was bravely fighting his equally powerful opponent—but it meant absolutely nothing. A clone was still dangerous; Zabuza already used one against her and the boys during their first encounter. It wasn’t a pleasant experience.
“Make me.” She wasn’t sure what possessed her to behave like that but she snarled the words at him as if he was beneath her, baring her teeth.
She was completely scared and terrified, yes. And she was aware that she, most likely, was going to die soon. But she was also a shinobi of Konohagakure. Freshly graduated, that would be right, but a shinobi nonetheless. Her teammates entrusted her with their client’s safety. She didn’t intend to let them down in such a moment. Not when they were fighting as hard as they could to make sure Tazuna-san was safe.
A cruel laugh escaped Zabuza’s mouth as he removed his faithful sword from his shoulder. “So you’ve got some fight in you, little girl. Killing you will be fun.”
“Catch us, then,” Sakura declared boldly with a bravery she didn’t feel in the slightest—her whole body felt like jelly—grabbing Tazuna-san and making him hastily climb her back, mindful of her kunai. She almost lost her balance under his weight. Shannaro! She would need to train on her strength and stamina more once she and her team returned home so the next time there was a situation like that she would be more prepared. “If you can, that is.”
Sakura started running without waiting for any response, knowing well that hesitation would cost her not only her life but the life of their client as well. Dying on the first mission outside the village was… well, she refused that grim possibility to happen.
“I’ll get you sooner or later, you little shit!” She was almost at the end of the bridge, running towards the village, when she heard the clone’s annoyed voice. “Once your sensei and your pathetic teammates are dead, you and the bridge builder are next!”
She cast a quick glance in its direction, immediately noticing with great relief that Zabuza’s duplicate couldn’t go further. Good, she thought, breathing hard. That meant that she and Tazuna-san were safe for now. She hoped that Kakashi-sensei and the boys would defeat their opponents as soon as possible.
…to her absolute horror, her relief was short-lived.
“Look at that, boys!” A new voice called. “The girl just brought us the bridge builder on a silver platter.”
It was a miracle that she didn’t get whiplash from turning her head in the voice’s direction as fast as she did. Her bright green eyes widened in pure terror.
About thirty meters before her, at the bridge’s entrance, cutting off her safe escape, was a group of about forty armed people, led by a short man with shaggy brown hair. He wore a pair of small, circular black glasses and was dressed in a black suit with a purple tie and yellow shirt underneath his jacket. His hands rested on a wooden cane.
“It’s Gatō and his mercenaries,” Tazuna-san whispered into her ear, a note of fear present in his voice.
“The villagers?” she asked as calmly as possible, helping him to dismount her. “Or are they from other places, like Zabuza and Haku?”
“Some of them, but the majority of his people are from other places,” the man responded, sounding quite bitter. “The ones from the village used to be our family and friends before they sold us for thirty pieces of silver.”
So they are traitors, then, she thought, her calculating eyes looking at her surroundings.
Going back was out of the question—Zabuza’s clone made that impossible. While she taught herself how to walk on water when the boys tried to master tree walking, she couldn’t take the client with her and jump into the water because the duplicate could easily defeat her there, with him being a nukenin from Kirigakure specialised in water techniques. That meant that she had to move forwards.
She was completely terrified to go forwards. She didn’t want to go forwards. Gatō’s men… some of them looked like they could be samurai. And samurai were not a joke. Ninja didn’t bother them, and they didn’t bother shinobi in exchange. But she had to go forwards no matter what, otherwise they would come to her. She was a shinobi of Konohagakure and its shinobi were anything but cowards. Sasuke-kun, Naruto, and Kakashi-sensei… they all were engaged in battles to the death with the opponents equally strong or stronger than them. It was her turn to pull her weight. She could do that as well.
Probably.
“Tazuna-san, please don’t move,” she said, putting the two kunai she was holding into her mouth and swiftly removing her Hitai-ate from the top of her head and securing it on her forehead, just like her teammates were wearing theirs. “Zabuza’s clone can’t reach us here,” she added as she took the kunai from her mouth.
“What—”
But before her companion had a chance to formulate his sentence, most likely to express his shock, Sakura launched herself towards Gatō and his army of people before she could change her mind, weapons ready to strike.
“Okay class, sit down this instant!” Iruka-sensei said as soon as he entered the classroom, accompanied by a tall, handsome ash blond-haired man. Everyone followed the order without complaint. “As promised, today’s lesson will be led by Yamanaka Inoichi, the head of the Analysis Team at Konoha Intelligence Division.”
Sakura bit her lower lip, lowering her head a little. There was a time in the past when she used to call the man her uncle, but once her friendship with his daughter Ino came to an end—and she only had herself to blame for that as she didn’t want to be in the girl’s shadow anymore—she started avoiding every member of the Yamanaka clan—sans her former best friend, who was also her schoolmate and rival—as much as she could without coming across as rude. She wasn’t brave enough to face them.
“As you were informed before, today’s lesson is about killing. Most importantly, it’s about your first kill,” Yamanaka Inoichi-san, who also happened to be the head of the Yamanaka clan, started his lecture, looking at them all with a serious expression.
Sakura barely controlled her flinch when she felt his gaze on her but raised her head slightly to meet his eyes. It could be her imagination, but she thought that the man offered her a reassuring smile.
“Sooner or later, there will come a time in your shinobi career when you will be expected to take your opponent’s life,” Ino’s father continued his lecture, his voice calm and quiet. “As you already know from your previous lectures, death is common in the shinobi world. It’s easy to lose a member of your team or your family during missions. To lose the life of your client. It’s equally easy to get yourself killed by your opponent. But killing… contrary to what civilians may think about us, even for seasoned shinobi killing isn’t easy. We are trained to protect our village and people, but we are still human beings with feelings. We experience joy, sadness, and every other emotion. And that’s what separates us from mindless monsters.”
As if searching for confirmation of the man’s words, Sakura glanced at Iruka-sensei who was sitting behind his mahogany desk and could swear that for the briefest moment, his gaze landed on Uzumaki Naruto, the class troublemaker. A frown made an appearance on her face. Naruto was extremely foolish and he annoyed her to no end, but he definitely wasn’t a monster no matter what other people said.
“Killing isn’t easy.” She focused her attention back on Inoichi-san. She must have missed a part of his lecture, but for some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to care about it. “But the first kill, no matter how old you are when it happens, is always the hardest. That’s why you always should have someone you can talk to about it, preferably your Jōnin-sensei.”
Sakura wouldn’t want to sound rude or disrespectful, even in her head, but Inoichi-san was wrong. The first kill wasn’t hard or challenging. It was… surprisingly easy. Her kunai went through Gatō’s neck like a knife through butter, cutting it off without much difficulty.
“What the hell?!” Several male voices called simultaneously.
Sakura blinked two times, glancing at the severed head lying next to her feet and then at the crowd standing before her. Everyone seemed perplexed and flabbergasted that someone like her, small and girly and with pink hair, could kill a man like Gatō. Also small, because he was barely taller than Naruto who still had time to grow, but rich and powerful at the same time.
Good, she thought darkly. They should be scared. Now it’s their turn to say goodbye to their lives. Let’s make sure that Tazuna-san and the Land of Waves are saved by getting rid of them!
“Shannaro!” Sakura screamed as loud as she could, as if it was her battle cry, baring her teeth and launching herself at the men without a second thought, her kunai slashing skins as if they were nothing. She couldn’t explain it but at the moment she felt feral like never before.
She was positive that even under torture or a Psycho Mind Transmission performed on her by a Yamanaka—or whatever the technique was named; she wished she could remember how Ino called it when she first told her about it all those years ago—she wouldn’t be able to recall what had actually happened at the bridge. It was… as if someone took over her body and she could only watch from the distance.
She remembered that there was a lot of blood—including hers because someone sliced her with their sword—and that her enemies were dying one by one as if they were annoying flies. There was also screaming involved… but it might as well have been her screaming bloody murder because yes, it hurt to be cut by a sword. However—
Everything went black.
***
Pain.
Everywhere.
Everything hurt.
Everything was broken.
Everything was on fire.
She wanted to open her exhausted eyes to see if she were still alive, but her eyelids felt as if someone cemented them. She wanted to scream to express her pain, but no sound escaped her throat. She felt… extremely weak. Exhausted. Drained of energy. Did she die and ended up in hell, forced to suffer for all eternity?
“Sakura? Sakura, can you hear me?” She heard a voice. It was calling someone—most likely her, but she was too dizzy to be sure about it—frantically but quietly. It also sounded as if it was both extremely close and far away. But it… it sounded nice despite the anxiety. She liked it. There was also something warm on her shoulder, probably a hand, shaking her. “Naruto! Sakura’s alive!”
Naruto… why did the name sound familiar? She was certain she should’ve known the answer to her question, other than it being served on ramen, but she couldn’t recall it now. At the moment, she knew only one thing—she was in pain and wanted it to go away.
“Sakura-chan!” The new voice called, sounding relieved and reassured. She liked the sound of it, too. A moment later another hand, also familiar, touched her other shoulder. “It’s okay, Sakura-chan. We’re here now with you. You’re safe.”
Safe. She liked the word. And the warm feeling that appeared in her heart at the voice’s kind words. She knew that it was telling the truth—she knew, no matter how exhausted and sore she was, that it could be trusted.
“Sasuke, Naruto.” Yet another voice joined them. Compared to the two previous ones, it sounded more mature. But it sounded lovely as well. It made her feel calm despite the pain. “Sakura needs to be taken to the hospital. Immediately.”
A pair of hands—large and strong but delicate at the same time—lifted her gently.
“Be careful with her, Kakashi,” said the first voice. It sounded more relaxed than before but anxious at the same time. “She’s lost a lot of blood.”
“I know, Sasuke,” answered the voice she now knew belonged to someone known as Kakashi. “Escort Tazuna to his home and come to the hospital. You and Naruto have been hurt as well.”
She knew she was being moved but… she was exhausted and in pain and all she wanted to do was to sleep. For another five minutes.
***
“Shannaro…” A small whimper involuntary escaped her mouth the moment she regained consciousness. Her body was on fire but she was unable to move much.
“Sakura!” She heard someone frantically calling her name. “Naruto, go fetch Kakashi and tell him that Sakura’s awake!”
She knew that voice. It was… “Sasuke-kun?” she all but whispered, slowly opening her bright green eyes.
She immediately regretted her choice as she was blinded by omnipresent brightness. But she knew she was right.
“Take it easy, Sakura,” Uchiha Sasuke, her teammate and crush, said, his voice calm but a little tense. “You’ve been unconscious for the last three days.”
“I was?” she questioned, once again opening her eyes, much slower that time around. She looked at Sasuke-kun who was kneeling next to her futon, his black eyes staring at her intently. She would blush if she had the energy to do so. “What happened?”
“Extreme chakra exhaustion and blood loss,” another voice interjected. “But I’m not an iryō-nin to give you a proper diagnosis.”
Sakura slowly turned her head to look at her sensei who just entered the room. Even though she was exhausted and in pain, she could see that he seemed both anxious and relieved. Behind him stood Naruto and one of his clones. Both of them held a tray full of food and water.
“You should eat and drink something, Sakura-chan,” her blond teammate said, slowly approaching her futon. His duplicate and Kakashi-sensei followed him.
“Thank you, Naruto.” Sasuke-kun gently helped her to sit down, putting a pillow behind her back so that she could lean against the wall comfortably. She offered her crush a tired but grateful smile.
She took a bowl full of rice and chicken from Naruto’s hands, smiling at him, too. Her whole team was sitting next to her futon at the moment, watching her eat her dinner. Naruto’s clone disappeared.
“How are you feeling, Sakura?” Kakashi-sensei asked once she ate her dish. She exchanged the bowl for a glass of still water.
She took a sip. Then another. “Exhausted. Sore. Sleepy. My body feels as if someone set it on fire.” She looked at the man. “What happened, sensei? I don’t remember much.”
“You kicked Gatō’s ass! And his people’s asses, too, Sakura-chan!” She winced at Naruto’s enthusiastic response. He was too loud. A moment later he was hit on the head. “Ow, Kakashi-sensei!”
“Don’t be so loud, Naruto,” Kakashi-sensei rebuked her blond teammate. “Sakura needs peace and quietness now.”
The boy offered her a sheepish smile, massaging his head. “Sorry, Sakura-chan. But you did kick their asses, dattebayo! I wish I could see it.”
“You decapitated Gatō and killed about twenty-four of his mercenaries,” Sasuke-kun provided quietly. She turned her head to look at him. He was watching her intently, something akin to respect and concern visible in his eyes. “Tazuna and Zabuza confirmed it.”
A frown made an appearance on her face. While she did remember killing Gatō, with her kunai being like a knife and his ugly head being like butter, she didn't remember much else. But if Zabuza and Tazuna-san informed her team about it, then she must have done it for real. “Wait, what? Zabuza? Does it mean he’s still alive?”
“He is. And he’s not evil anymore!” Naruto responded cheerfully. Sasuke-kun rolled his eyes at that. “Well, I guess he still is evil and pretty scary but at least he’s not our enemy anymore, dattebayo! Nor is Haku!”
“When his clone saw that you had killed Gatō, Zabuza stopped fighting and Haku immediately followed his example,” Kakashi-sensei explained, while Sasuke-kun took her glass of water, put it on the ground and adjusted her pillow. “With him gone, there was no point fighting us anymore. Killing Tazuna would mean absolutely nothing to him.”
“When the mist and Haku’s jutsu dropped, we saw Tazuna and a group of armed people on the other side of the bridge,” Sasuke-kun continued the story. He sounded tense. “We didn’t see you anywhere as you were lost among them, but we had heard your scream.”
“It was quite terrifying, Sakura-chan,” Naruto whispered, holding his knees up to his chest. “Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei and I… we immediately came to you. Sensei and I conjured a bunch of clones and scared the rest of the men off, but…”
“You were unconscious. And bleeding profusely. And a group of armed men lay next to you—dead. We thought…” Sasuke-kun looked as if he was remembering something. Something awful. His hands started shaking. “We thought you were dead, Sakura. You were unresponsive but I managed to hear your pulse. It was almost non-existent but Kakashi got you to the hospital in time.”
Sakura took a deep breath to calm down her suddenly racing heart. She knew she got hurt, otherwise, she wouldn’t be in pain, but she didn’t realise it was that serious. “I’m sorry,” she all but whispered.
“You have nothing to apologise for, Sakura,” Kakashi-sensei said, placing his hand on her head and ruffling her hair gently. “Tazuna told us what happened on the bridge. You’ve saved his life. I didn’t realise Zabuza made a clone before it was too late.”
Sakura looked the man right in the eye. “Once we’re back home, I’ll work harder to make sure nothing like this happens again. Or, at least, anytime soon.”
“We all will!” Naruto chimed in, his usually cheerful demeanour replaced with unusual seriousness. Sasuke-kun hummed his agreement. “No one will catch us unprepared next time!”
“We will worry about that later,” Kakashi-sensei said, ruffling her hair some more. “You should rest now, Sakura. You’ve got a pretty nasty cut on your chest and some minor ones on your arms. Not to mention that you are chakra exhausted.”
“Hai, Kakashi-sensei,” she responded obediently, not having the energy to argue. She didn’t even have the energy to worry about her injuries. Or about the fact that she felt okay with killing these men.
Once again, Sasuke-kun helped her to change position, making sure that she lay down comfortably before he lay down next to her. His black eyes still observed her carefully. On the other side of her futon, Naruto moved the trays of uneaten food and water away and lay down as well. As she noticed, he also was staring at her with an unreadable expression on his whiskered face.
“Sleep well, Sakura,” Kakashi-sensei said, getting up from the floor. He didn’t comment on her teammates’ unusual behaviour, but she was certain he was smiling under his mask. “If you need anything, the boys will call me.”
“Thank you, sensei,” she whispered. The man nodded and left the room, quietly closing the door behind him.
“Sakura?” Sasuke-kun called her name after a few moments of silence.
“Hm?” she responded, glancing at him.
He was silent for several seconds, no doubt gathering his thought. “The Uchiha compound… it has a training ground. We could train there undisturbed by other people… if you want to.”
Her former self would most likely scream and pass out from happiness at the opportunity to hang out with her crush, especially since he was the one to propose the idea willingly. Her current self, however, was too exhausted to react like that. “I would love that, Sasuke-kun,” she whispered, offering him a small smile. His lips raised slightly at that, but it could well enough be her imagination.
“Oi, teme!” Naruto chimed in. “I want to train with you, too! We’re a team, dattebayo, don’t you dare leave me behind!”
“I don’t want you at my compound, dobe. You’re going to ruin my training ground!” Sasuke-kun responded hotly.
“I’m not—”
“Guys!” she interrupted them. “I’m exhausted. Let me sleep, please.”
“Sorry.”
“Sorry, Sakura-chan.”
“I still don’t want you there.” She heard Sasuke-kun mutter under his breath.
“Your loss, teme,” Naruto whispered back. “I’m coming anyway.”
“I can still hear you!” she said.
Neither of them said anything else but she could feel them glaring at each other. She ignored it, however, closing her eyes and falling asleep moments later.
***
When Sakura woke up in the middle of the night, hungry and thirsty, her teammates were sleeping peacefully, snuggled into her but mindful of her sliced chest and other injuries she had received. Their hands were in hers. She had no idea how they found themselves in such a peculiar position, but she couldn’t care less.
“On second thought, I’m not that hungry,” she muttered under her breath even though she was famished, closing her eyes. "Can wait."
A moment later she was asleep again, a small smile present on her lips.
***
Less than a week later, the bridge—officially named The Great Team Seven Bridge—was finished and they were finally on their way back to Konoha. Or rather, the boys and Kakashi-sensei were on their way back to the village as she was being carried the whole way. Her team had a schedule of who was carrying her and for how long. Her wounds still didn’t heal fully as there were no iryō-nin in the Land of Waves.
“Ano, sensei?” she asked, looking at the man who was walking before her. She was currently in Sasuke-kun’s arms who was holding her in a bridal carry. Her wound on the chest made it impossible to give her a piggyback.
“What it is, Sakura?” He looked at her.
“Is there something wrong with me, sensei? Am I a monster?” she questioned and immediately felt her teammates’ eyes on her. Her face turned red. “I mean, back in the Academy, we had a lecture with Yamanaka Inoichi-san about our first kill… He said that killing isn’t easy, especially the first one. But I feel nothing, sensei. No guilt. No shame. Nothing. Actually, that’s not true. Killing Gatō and his men felt… good. And it was easy. I didn’t hesitate. I thought that maybe I was too exhausted at first to feel bad about taking their lives, but… still nothing. Inoichi-san said that emotions separate us from mindless monsters. Am I a monster like Zabuza for enjoying killing?”
The man approached Sasuke-kun and gently smacked her head with his fist. “You’re not a monster, Sakura. And I’d say it depends on the situation… It was mostly self-defence in your case. Gatō and his mercenaries would’ve killed you and Tazuna without hesitation if you didn’t react immediately. You didn’t kill them because that was your whim. You killed them because you had no choice.”
“I still don’t like the idea that it doesn’t bother me,” she confessed.
“Which means that you’re not a monster,” Kakashi-sensei said, ruffling her hair. “I would be concerned otherwise.”
“Sensei’s right, Sakura-chan!” Naruto happily agreed. “I don’t think you’re capable of becoming one. You’re one of the nicest people I know even though you’re quite scary when you’re angry.”
Her lips raised in a small smile. “Thanks, Naruto. Once I’m able to move on my own again, I owe you a ramen.”
The bright smile that appeared on Naruto’s face could easily rival the Sun. “Is that a date?”
Her usual response would be an immediate no. But she couldn’t bring herself to refuse. Not when he was smiling at her like that. Not when they barely survived their mission. “Maybe. I don’t know.”
“Woohoo!” the boy exclaimed enthusiastically, punching his hands in the air. “That will be the best date in the world! I promise you, Sakura-chan!”
“Oi!” Sasuke-kun called, his hands embracing her tighter. “I’m going with you two, usuratonkachi.”
“What? No way! You don’t even like ramen, teme!” Naruto responded hotly. “That’s my date with Sakura-chan! I don’t want you there!”
“You invited yourself to our training, dobe!” Sasuke-kun reminded him. “I don’t want you there as well. If you’re going to train with us, then I’m going to have ramen with you even though I don’t like it!”
“But I want to be alone with Sakura-chan!” her blond teammate yelled. She had no idea how she should react so she said nothing.
“So do I!” her crush exclaimed, halting his walk. Sakura almost stopped breathing when she heard that and she was positive that her face turned red as it felt hot out of a sudden. Sasuke-kun didn’t react as he was too busy staring daggers at the other boy.
“Ow!” her teammates exclaimed in unison because Kakashi-sensei unexpectedly hit them both on the heads. Hard. It was a miracle that Sasuke-kun didn’t drop her.
“Maa, stop screaming, you fools. Sakura and I aren’t deaf yet,” he admonished them. “But I have a perfect solution for your dilemma.”
“What it is, Kakashi-sensei?” Naruto asked, massaging his head. She and Sasuke-kun also looked at him.
Even though she couldn’t see his face, Sakura didn’t like the smile that definitely appeared on his masked lips. “You should all go out together! Love triangles are boring. Well, it wouldn’t be a real love triangle in your case, guys, since Sakura has a crush on Sasuke and Naruto has a crush on Sakura while Sasuke just revealed to have a crush on our cute little kunoichi as well instead of Naruto like in a real love triangle, but you get the idea.”
“Over my dead body,” Sasuke-kun sneered, holding her even closer.
“Hell no!” Naruto exclaimed. “I don’t want him on my date with Sakura-chan!”
“Sensei?” she called when the boys resumed arguing.
“Hai, Sakura?” he asked. He was smiling innocently under his mask. She just knew that.
“I hate you.”
The man didn’t answer immediately. He just burst out laughing and fondly ruffled her hair again. “You’re cute, Sakura. But for sassing your beloved sensei, once you’re cleared to resume training, I’m going to make you run laps around Konoha until you collapse.”
She didn’t comment on that just stuck out her tongue. “Sensei?” she asked several moments later when they started walking again.
“Hai, Sakura?” As she noticed, his infamous orange book was in his right hand. Sasuke-kun and Naruto were still arguing.
“Do you think I helped Zabuza to fund a coup d'état by allowing him to take Gatō’s body to collect the bounty for his head instead of collecting it on my own when he told us about it?”
“Only time will tell, Sakura,” Kakashi-sensei responded, looking at the sky. “Only time will tell.”