"What's the matter with you? Showing up at my training session like that could've gotten us both killed!" Sakura hissed. Kakashi had called an early day half past eleven in the morning, leaving the three ample time to spend with their families. Sasuke and Naruto, at least. Sasori rolled his eyes and motioned her to join him on his tree branch.
"We're fine, aren't we? I visited you and now we can sort all this stuff out. You've gone crazy, and I'm here to find out why."
"Who was it who told Kisame who we really were because he was making a joke?"
"I came here to pay you a nice visit and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now."
She sighed and went to sit beside him on the branch. They had, possibly, thirty minutes until Kakashi finished with his meeting. "We'll make this quick. I tell you about my plan for Itachi-san, you tell me about Hoshigaki, then you'll hang around for a few days if anything happens," she said. He gestured towards her and leaned back against the trunk.
"Children first."
Sakura scoffed. "Ever since Dan-sama became Hokage, he's taking a more amicable and less domineering tenure than Tsunade's. He's looking for world peace, she didn't," the girl explained. She pointed towards the compound lying on the outskirts of Konoha. "Clans are important here and there are four noble ones: the Uchiha, the Hyuuga, the Akimichi, and the Aburame. The only ones to worry about are the the first two."
She brought up her hand and held up four fingers.
"The Akimichi are big on defensive maneuvers and mass destruction, but are a kind people. I met Akimichi-san five years ago, and he appreciates that I've become friends with his son. He loves it when Naruto, Shikamaru, and I come over. He's far from being a problem and he never makes rash decisions."
Her pinky went down, leaving three fingers.
"The Aburame specialize in reconnaissance and infiltration. Aburame-san doesn't like sitting through the clan meetings or being involved in village politics as long as the clan is safe and happy. Him and his son are my sources for insect-based poisons, antidotes, and medication. If you give him enough reason for something, he wouldn't think too much of it and back it up if it benefits the majority. Which leaves us with the Hyuuga and the Uchiha."
Her ring finger went down next.
"The Hyuuga and the Uchiha, arguably, are the most powerful clans in the village. Their relations with each other are rocky, but Sasuke and Hinata are close friends now, as well as members of their clans' main houses. Rivalry can be satiated for now, but can be advanced with two things. Marriage and positions of power."
Sasori looked at her like she'd grown a second head. Not because of the plan she had so ingeniously created, but because she hadn't included him in her plotting from the very beginning. How inconsiderate.
"Itachi-san agrees most with Dan-sama's ideals. He loves his clan, but he loves his village even more hence the massacre in the other timeline," Sakura continued. He followed along closely, having been told of those circumstances a few years back. "If you put him in position of Hokage, tensions between Konoha and his clan would dissipate. The Hyuuga, not to be left out, would be offered a high position with great influence. ANBU Director, maybe? I'm thinking of putting Neji in that one."
He gave her a blank stare.
"That leaves Sasuke with possible claim as clan head, and either Hinata or Hanabi leading the Hyuuga. We still have years to work out the bugs, but that's all relative. There. Your turn," she said. She waved her hand for him to elaborate on his accidental reveal. He shrugged.
"What can I say? I made a long joke about you and I coming back to the past from the Void to change things for the better. He wasn't supposed to take me seriously, but he started putting the pieces together as to why I act so different. But!" Sasori interjected when she opened her mouth to call him an idiot. She crossed her arms and waited. "He can help us. He knows I've been going to see Deidara and Gaara when I can, and he won't report me. If we need the backup, he's our guy."
Sakura eyed him. "You trust him?" she asked. Sasori tilted his head to look up the green leaves suspended motionless above them. He didn't necessarily 'trust' Kisame in the past, nor did he see any reason to start to. The Akatsuki was built off of people whose personal goals coincidentally aligned to a greater end. There was no need for trust because there was no need to be one giant team.
"... No," he answered carefully. "I would try to keep my life out of his hands, if that's what you mean."
"So you don't trust your friends."
"I would try to keep my life out of their hands, if that's what you mean."
Sakura blinked away the sudden memory of her mental health examination before letting out another sigh. "Yeah. That's what I mean."
::
"I'm actually quite pleased with how you feel about your team, Hatake-san," Dan smiled. He took the stack of papers Shizune offered him and glanced down. "Actually, such sentiments would do well with what I'm planning with Kiri."
Kakashi's brow furrowed. "We have no alliance with Chigiri," he said. Chigiri— the 'Bloody Mist', as many outside the village liked to call it, took its reputation from the ritual of Academy students slaughtering each other in order to graduate. It was barbaric and obscene, leading the other nations to steer clear of both its ventures and its ruthless Mizukage.
Dan nodded. "Kiri hasn't engaged in that test for years now after Yagura-san dismantled it right after taking up his position as Yondaime. I know our villages' relations haven't been on the best of terms for a very long time, and the other Kage haven't made a move towards peace. So, I proposed a way to reduce the hostility."
Kato Dan had always been known for his good heart and his dedication on creating peace. Sometimes, such dedication led to decisions questioned by many but never voiced out because his people trusted him so much.
A blind faith.
Kakashi wasn't too comfortable with the idea. "What do you plan on doing, Hokage-sama?"
"Yagura-san and I have been talking, and we've decided that the best influences start with the younger generations. C-rank missions are the highest we're willing to go for collaborations until we've built the program's reputation high enough, but we'll manage," Dan explained. The jounin didn't like where this was going. "And since you have fully accepted your team and they are the first genin team to graduate ahead of schedule in five years, you're the perfect candidates."
Kakashi's pinky finger twitched, unnoticed by the other occupants of the room. "What... do you have in mind?"
::
"A guard mission in Nami no Kuni?" Ibiki questioned, reading through the mission copy his ward received an hour ago. "This is a C-rank. Hokage-sama normally wouldn't allow something like this."
"Shouldn't be a problem for you and your skill set, but I have my doubts on the Uchiha and Umino's kid," Genma added. Sakura shrugged as her eyes hovered towards the office window. The mission surprised her, to say the least, but she was lucky Sasori was still lurking around the village. She might need his back-up if things happened the same way as last time. But with these conditions, things might go even worse than before.
"I'm not complaining. Hokage-sama's doing it to improve Konoha's relationship with Kiri."
"You're slated to protect a bridge builder," Ibiki read.
"Better than falling off waterfalls, old man."
This wasn't supposed to happen. Two years early, nonetheless. What was she going to do this time around? There was no course of action to take, nothing she could foresee, and had no idea what to plan for. All that was detailed in the description was that they were to stay a few weeks to make sure Tazuna and his construction workers finished their bridge without anything going wrong. Like Ibiki said, it shouldn't be a problem for her, at least, but their joint team...
Genma looked over the interrogator's shoulder and moved his senbon to the other corner of his mouth.
"Huh. Well, I guess it can be too bad. Who're the representatives you're working with?" he asked. Sakura bit the inside of her cheek.
"Momochi Zabuza and his apprentice, Haku."
::
"A mission outside the country?! This is gonna be AWESOME, dattebayo!" Naruto cheered. Sakura shook her head at his exuberance and slung her pack over both of her shoulders. She couldn't share the same excitement when this was the mission that gave her team a harsh reality check by exposing the Kyuubi and allowing Sasuke to awaken the first tomoe of his sharingan.
And he nearly lost his life in the fight against Haku!
Not only that, but there were two deaths that could've been prevented if they were skilled enough to have done something about it.
"Sakura-chan, did you bring the box with you?" Naruto asked. Sakura slipped her hand into the pack on her hip and pulled out a glass case that fit into the the palm of her hand. At Kakashi's silent question, she took out a picture of a spiky caterpillar.
"We're going to Nami no Kuni, yeah? I heard that they have the lonomia obliq-er, the Giant Silkworm Moth around there. Makes for good poisons that cause blood hemorrhages and anti-clotting properties," she informed. The man shook his head and chalked it up to being one of her more peculiar quirks. Here, he wasn't even sure that she was supposed to be a genin with the things she liked to occupy herself with.
But there were more pressing matters at the moment. They would reach Nami no Kuni within the next week and meet Tazuna as well as the Kiri shinobi they'd be working with for about a month. He heard more than enough stories about Zabuza and his reputation, since his generation was still a part of those savage blood matches.
He didn't know what type of people the Kiri shinobi would be, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to find out.
"I... don't want to go against your better judgment, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said. He flexed his fingers. "But I'm not sure my team is experienced enough to take the job. If Momochi is content enough to bring one student as opposed to my three, it means this Haku is more advanced than them. What of the off-chance there's a betrayal or ulterior motive?"
That was his utmost concern. Kakashi was confident in his skills to fend for himself if things with Zabuza went awry, but if Haku faced his genin...
"It won't be a problem. If worst comes to worst, I'm positive your team can hold their own," Dan assured. Kakashi's eyebrows pulled down into a crease.
"How?"
The Godaime smiled, his eyes shining with something teasing. "Haruno Sakura is your student. Perhaps it's something you should ask her, as I can't give you an answer myself."
Sakura would be the one to level the playing field? That shouldn't be. Her skills were certainly higher than average and could be paired with any other chuunin. There wasn't a thing noteworthy about her other than her unusual capacity at such a young age.
Unless she was hiding her true potential.
His eyes slanted to the left and met the aforementioned's neutral gaze.
"Something you need, Kakashi?"
He stared at her for a few moments before looking back ahead of him, towards the west, and towards the most challenging mission their team had yet. "... Nothing. Keep forward."
::
A traveling monk stood on a cliff's edge that overlooked calmly undulating waters and a sunset that pulsed a blushing amber. He couldn't recall the last time he'd seen light when all he'd known to comfort him was darkness the years that passed him by with no hope and no one to save him
So for years, he took at least an hour to appreciate what his soul had taken for granted.
"Shishou?"
The monk turned at the voice of his young disciple. "Hm?"
"If we don't set out soon, we might not make it to the fishing village before nightfall," the boy said. He ducked his head. "Not to mean any disrespect. I... I heard from some locals that there's been a lot of bad people here ever since that shipping baron came into power..."
The monk dipped his head before taking one last look at the horizon. "I've heard. That's why I wanted us to come here in the first place," he hummed. His disciple looked up, rust colored eyes shining with curiosity.
"Why?"
"There's a rumor that Gato will fall." The monk pulled down his hat so that its shadowed tendrils wrapped around his face. "And I want to see who'll make it happen."
::
EDITED 2/5/18