Team 7 is finally back in Konoha, bringing both nostalgia and heartaches as usual.
_______________________________________
"So let me get this straight," Sandaime said gravely, mouth frowning and eyebrows pinched as he tried to make sense of what he had just read and heard, "the bridge builder, Tazuna had lied about his comission,"
"Yes," Sakura primly nodded.
"-and instead of reporting back, you chose to continue, despite knowing that... Gato?" he squinted at the report, "Yes, Gato, had hired the Demon-Twins from Mist, making the mission possibly a B-rank or more."
"Yep!" Naruto agreed happily.
"Then, you three met the Demon of the Mist, Zabuza and instead of retreating, you... befriended him?" he asked in bafflement.
"He's a great guy once you get to know him." Sasuke signed at him in a mix of Anbu code. The Sandaime has a lot to say about the Uchiha's sudden selective muteness and how he even knows Anbu codes but chose to put it aside for another day and focus on the current issue.
"And the reason why a one week mission turned into one month is because..." he squinted again at the words written on the report, "...you overthrew Gato and helped Tazuna build the bridge?"
"The Great Naruto Bridge!" Naruto corrected him proudly.
Both Sakura and Sasuke rolled their eyes at their teammates. "I knew we shouldn't let you name it. You have terrible naming sense." Sakura sighed.
"Hey! I won the right to name it fair and square!" Naruto defended himself.
"Pretty sure you cheated," Sasuke muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.
"I didn't cheat! Plus, how can you even cheat in rock-paper-scissors anyway?"
"Fox luck." theu both answered.
"Well I did most of the work-!"
"Enough." Hiruzen interrupted. "Just... is there anything else I need to know before I relieve you of your duties for the day?"
All at once, the three children shook their heads no. "Nothing comes to mind, sir." Kakashi answered in a professional tone, his three genins nodding in agreement.
Hiruzen eyed them carefully. Their behavior indicates that they're not lying but he can't help but feel like they're hiding something from him. Maybe it's just his paranoia acting up again. Or maybe he's right.
Whichever it is, considering the fact that he is dealing with the Team 7, he learned that it's best to assume ignorance and just accept the absurdity of it all. Makes it less stressful for him in the long run.
With that in mind, the Sandaime merely sighed and dismissed them from his office, a headache starting to build as he once again read their report. "How can they be different people yet cause me as much heartache as yours did?" he stared at the picture of a certain blond Hokage. "This must be the Team 7 curse." he sighed heavily.
The Anbus guarding him could only watch their Hokage in silent sympathy.
Meanwhile, Kakashi and his genins are now making their way to Ichiraku's to celebrate their first C-rank completion with Iruka.
"Are we really not telling the Hokage about Zabuza and Haku's promise to visit us during the chuunin exam?" Sakura looked up to her sensei with concern. "Is that really okay?"
"I'm sure it is," Kakashi assured her despite the fact that it's actually not because two ex-Mist ninjas coming to Konoha is a disaster waiting to happen and procedure says to inform the Hokage about any security risk but Kakashi's been particularly petty these days against Hiruzen so he thought, why not let it be a surprise? An eye for an eye and all that.
He's certain this would get him into major trouble with the Hokage but he has Iruka as his secret weapon. He's sure Hiruzen would think twice before he does something that might upset his favorite chuunin.
"He's thinking about something," Naruto whispered to Sakura while giving furtive glances at their grinning jounin.
"Something that might end up giving the Hokage another heart attack like last time, I bet." Sakura narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Kakashi.
"Bet two D-ranks it's something about Iruka-sensei." Sasuke casually throws in.
"Deal!" Naruto accepted.
"No deal," Sakura replied.
"Be prepared to lose," Sasuke smirked at the Uzumaki.
"Be prepared to treat me to two Naruto servings of Ichiraku ramen!"
"When did I agree to do that?"
"When I'm gonna win, duh!"
Sakura just sighed at the bickering boys before looking up to Kakashi. "Don't antagonize the Sandaime too much, Kakashi-sensei. I don't want to be stuck not being able to do missions for two weeks again."
"Ouch, Sakura. When do you have that little faith of me?" Kakashi gave her a tearful eye but Sakura just scoffed at him in return.
"Since you thought it was funny to fake two D-ranks," she said in reply.
Kakashi chuckled at that and roughly ruffled her hair, earning an indignant shout from the girl. "How about this; you don't tell Iruka about it and I'll give you some very nice books about chakra manipulation from the chuunin section."
Sakura swats the offending hand away and tries to get her messy hair back in proper order. "Two books from the jounin section and you paying for everything for me tomorrow or no deal," she counters.
"Two chuunin books and a private lesson from any jounin you want."
"Two jounin books and you going shopping with me."
"One jounin book and a summoning."
"Three chuunin books that I get to pick and you paying for sweets tomorrow."
"Deal."
"Deal."
The genin and jounin smiled in satisfaction as they shook hands, happy at the arrangement they've agreed on.
"We're still included in whatever schemes you're doing, right?"
Kakashi gave her an offended look. "Of course. I'm not heartless enough to leave my three gremlins out from the fun."
"Good. Also, stop calling us gremlins." she frowned.
"Then stop acting like one." he countered as he ushered the still bickering boys and a pouting girl into the Ichiraku shop.
Sakura childishly stuck her tongue out at the jounin before dashing to sit next to Iruka.
"Hey, no fair! I wanna sit next to Iruka-sensei too!" Naruto whined when he realized her plan and scrambled to take the spot. Sasuke lightly scoffed at their antics and sat two seats away from the chaos, already peering over the menu on the table to decide what to eat while ignoring them.
The fight ended with Kakashi beating the two of them to the seat with a smug look and Sasuke now being flanked on both sides by his loud teammates, much to his ire.
Teuchi merely smiled from behind the counter, the scene in front of him reminded him of a certain memory about a certain team with a certain someone, all those years ago. His heart clenched at the sound of Naruto's laughter mixed with Sakura's vibrant ones and a grumble from the Uchiha, the sound so similar to the past like an echo.
Later, after four broken bowls from Naruto and Sasuke fighting with each other again and few small cracks on the ground from Sakura joining in, Teuchi couldn't help but wonder if his heart was clenching not from nostalgia but from a heart attack at the thought of his humble shop being destroyed yet again by Team 7.
"It's a curse. That must be it," he muttered to himself while throwing out the broken bowls, a shudder running through him when he remembered about a certain red-haired woman and a blond-haired girl. "Why do the girls always have to be so violent?" he sighed as he went back to his shop to close up.
(Somewhere in a place where spirits lingers, a red-head felt her ears itchy and wondered if someone was talking smack about her.)
(Somewhere in a nearby gambling den, a blonde sneezed into her drink before she could take a sip, causing her to accidentally reveal her hand and lose yet again.)