Two days had passed since the events of the bridge, Kakashi and Team 7 had taken it upon themselves to bury both Zabuza and Haku side by side on a hill overlooking the Land of Waves.
It was there that the blonde ninja had decided that he would create his own 'way of the ninja' and refused to follow some of the cold rules of the way of the shinobi. Kakashi had seemed pretty pleased with this notion, finally it seemed his students were experiencing growth and development….
Well, at least some of his students.
Glancing around the table on the third and final morning in the Land of Waves, Kakashi stirred his tea nervously. Naruto was stuffing his face full of various foods, along with Inari who followed the blonde ninja everywhere.
Tsunami continued to bring food to the hungry boys as she exchanged friendly banter with her father. Tazuna, having completed the bridge, maintained a cheerful mood. Thrilled at the outcome for the village and his family, the old man was on cloud nine.
Unfortunately, the cause of Kakashi's nerves was the dark auroras surrounding his other two students. Sasuke and Sakura had not been on speaking terms since their fight at the bridge, every so often they would catch each other's eye and vicious glares were exchanged.
The silver haired Jounin sighed quietly, he had hoped that the lecture he had given them would have made some difference but no avail. The mounting tension in the house was suffocating to all, except Naruto who remained oblivious as ever.
A loud knock at the door roused Kakashi from his thoughts; Tsunami placed yet another bowl of miso soup in front of Naruto before moving to answer it.
"Hello. What can I do for you?" Tsunami asked
"We wish to speak with the ninja" A deep male voice answered, Sakura turned her head towards the door in vague interest.
Hearing this Kakashi sighed to himself and took a long slurp of the sweet tea as Tsunami reappeared.
"Mr Hatake, you have some visitors" Tsunami said before collecting up the mountain of dishes stacked up on the table.
Kakashi got to his feet and headed for the door, aware of three sets of eyes glued to his back.
"This is unexpected to say the least" Kakashi said. Before him stood a group of fifty determined looking men, dressed in mock ninja outfits.
"I, Fumio Suzuki speak on behalf of all these men here. We wish to be trained by you so that if something like this happens again we will be prepared. We implore you" A stout man said, stepping forward from the front of the group.
Glancing back at his students, Kakashi offered the man a small smile through his mask. "Well I don't see why not. It is our last day here after all and we have nothing planned. Besides I think it would be good for some of us in particular"
Sakura rolled her eyes, the last comment clearly directed at herself and Sasuke but she got to her feet with her teammates nonetheless.
"OHHHHH YEAHHHH! BE PREPARED TO LEARN FROM THE BEST! NARUTO UZUMAKI FUTURE HOKAGE!" Naruto yelled, spraying the remainder of his soup all over the table. With a sheepish smile at Tsunami and a ruffle of Inari's hair he bounded towards the doorway.
Sasuke rose slowly from his own seat, giving a curt nod to Tsunami and followed the blonde boy. Kakashi extended his hand in a lazy wave to Tazuna and his family and departed outside. Trailing behind Sasuke and Naruto Sakura hadn't even reached the door when Fumio stopped her.
"With all due respect Miss Sakura, the ladies of the village have requested your presence at the tea house to show their appreciation" The stout man said rather nervously, he too had heard of the fiery temper which the teen possessed.
Sakura could feel Sasuke's eyes upon her but she was determined to hold her composure.
"That snotty idiot would love nothing more than to see us lose it!" Inner Sakura piped up.
Keeping a cool exterior Sakura stretched her mouth into a small smile and nodded her head at Fumio who breathed a not so quiet sigh of relief. Waving to Tsunami and Tazuna, the pink haired ninja set off in search of the tea house.
"I don't know what's scarier, Sakura angry or Sakura not being angry when she's supposed to be angry" Naruto said, staring after his teammate in confusion.
Kakashi gave a non-committal jerk of his head and began leading the large group of men towards the training grounds. The black haired boy narrowed his eyes as he watched the female member of his team depart. Just what was she playing at?
Once Tsunami's house was out of sight, Sakura lost her cool composure and stomped through the streets. Hands clenched into fists and eyes flashing, the other villagers moved out of her way warily as Sakura reached the entrance to the tea house.
Opening the door, Sakura brought her hand to her nose. The stench of perfume reached her nose and it seemed as though there was no oxygen in the room at all. Her eyes began to water at the extreme smell which then resulted in a coughing fit.
"Miss Sakura! Welcome to our humble tea house" A woman rushed forward as Sakura fought to regain her breath.
Entering she found most of the women from the village dressed in kimonos pouring tea and gossiping. Many came forward to convey their thanks to her for what had occurred on the bridge.
Trying to hide her anger from what had previously occurred; Sakura took their kind words with gratitude. She was then guided to a seat next to a group of girls her age. They just so happened to be discussing a topic that made her want to break something.
Sasuke Uchiha.
"He's so gorgeous and mysterious and strong. He's a dream come true!" one girl gushed
"I wish he'd ask me out on a date, even if he is from Konoha we could do long distance!" another exclaimed hopefully.
"Sakura, you're his teammate. What's Sasuke like? Is he as amazing as they say?" someone else questioned.
Mid-way through pouring herself a cup of tea, the pink haired ninja almost dropped the tea pot. Trying to steady her tea so it didn't spill, Sakura huffed in annoyance.
"Oh he's amazing alright. An amazing selfish, cold, unappreciative asshole that cares only about himself and anyone who isn't from a prestigious clan isn't worth his time!" Finishing her rant Sakura began viciously stabbing a dumpling.
The girls surrounding her shared looks of disapproval and some of the older women tutted to themselves.
"But he's cute right?" another girl bravely ventured
"He won't be when I'm finished with him!" Sakura snapped back.
By now she had the attention of most of the women in the tea house. Deciding to drop the topic, everyone fell back into general conversation.
Sakura stared pointedly at the door hoping that she would be able to replicate Sasuke's fireball jutsu through her eyes and burn a hole in it to her freedom. When this failed, she turned her attention to the members of the tea house.
"Why aren't you interested in learning self-defence? Surely you all care enough about your home to want to do something proactive to help instead of just sitting here?" Sakura half yelled half asked at the group of very stunned women.
"Well we were kind of asked to uh stay out of the way" an unknown voice piped up. This was met with cautious nods of the head by the other women.
"So that's it huh, you're just going to take that sitting down? Well if you can't be part of Kakashi's training then I'll train you myself!" Getting up Sakura made her way towards the door with the group, scared but determined looking, behind her.
"Right this is quite a large gathering so I suppose we'll just split you up. Half of you will be taught by me, and half of you will be taught by Sasuke and Naruto" Kakashi addressed the assembled village men.
Sasuke made a disparaging noise in the base of his throat upon hearing that he would be working with Naruto. The group was then divided up so that Kakashi took twenty five men and the two genin also had twenty five men.
"What exactly are we supposed to be teaching them? Sasuke abruptly interjected.
Letting his eyes wander over his assigned training group, the Uchiha boy wrinkled his nose in disgust. There was no way he would be divulging any of his bloodline traits to outsiders.
"Just self-defence training Sasuke and no nothing too difficult Naruto, think your first few days in the academy" Kakashi replied, waving both of them off.
"We were five years old during the first few days of the academy" Sasuke jeered, Naruto let out a loud snort but quickly covered his mouth when he saw the look on Kakashi's face.
"Well then Sasuke, if you could learn basic self-defence at five years old then I'm sure these fine gentlemen will have no trouble" Kakashi sarcastically remarked.
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" came the angry response from Fumio
"Teach them something practical you two and no fighting" Kakashi cheerfully, completely ignoring Fumio as he ushered the rest of his group away.
"ALRIGHT TEAM! You're going to get the best lesson of your life! Prepare to learn from Konoha's future Hokage!" Naruto said excitedly to the wary men before him.
Sasuke sighed loudly, how exactly was this helping him achieve his goal? Oh right it wasn't, just another stupid task from their too-lazy-to-teach-us-something-useful sensei.
"Hn, spread apart and start stretching" Sasuke instructed.
Slightly relieved that Naruto's outburst had been interrupted; the men quickly spread apart and began copying the stretches that the black haired ninja was demonstrating.
"Teme what are you doing? That's not self-defence! They need to learn how to kick and punch!" Naruto protested doing a few martial arts moves in mid-air.
Sasuke shot Naruto his infamous and the blonde boy decided not to push his teammate any further.
"This would be a lot more fun if Sakura-chan was here" Naruto grumbled to himself as he began to stretch as well and Sasuke pretended he didn't hear.
After about an hour of going through the foundations of martial arts, Sasuke was frustrated to the brink of insanity. The men of the Land of Waves were skilled at many things, their knowledge of the sea, fishing and construction but to Sasuke it was no wonder this land had no ninja of its own.
He had lost count of how many times he had corrected someone's stance or straighten an arm. The Uchiha boy was willing to forgive the lack of correct technique as they were beginners, but this was not what had irked him.
The incessant whining and complaining from his 'students' had annoyed him to no end. Even Naruto, who had relished in the idea of himself as the sensei for the day, couldn't stand another minute of it.
"I bet this is some weird twisted way for Kakashi-sensei to teach us a lesson about how much it sucks to be a sensei" Naruto casually remarked to Sasuke from his position on the ground.
The two boys had called a ten minute break (to give their ears a break from the whining) which was now stretching into its thirtieth minute. This didn't seem to bother the villagers who sat in small groups talking.
"Yeah, probably but there is no way you whine as much as these guys" Sasuke replied with a jerk of his head towards the men.
Naruto chuckled and Sasuke couldn't stop the smirk spreading across his face.
"You are going to apologise to her, aren't you?" Naruto asked, mildly adjusting his forehead protector.
Sasuke's head snapped up immediately, eyes hardened as he stared at his teammate who was acting strangely serious.
"I don't see why I should apologise. It was her fault" Sasuke answered back stubbornly.
It probably would have been acceptable to pout and cross his arms like a sulky five year old but Uchiha's didn't pout.
"Yeah but we're a team you know. Think about all the times Sakura's apologised to you, most of the time it was over nothing" Naruto reasoned.
Sasuke decided he preferred stupid oblivious Naruto to wise and right Naruto.
"I still don't see why I should…. oh fine I'll apologise" Sasuke eventually conceded and Naruto grinned like an idiot.
Rolling his eyes, the Uchiha boy mumbled something that was barely audible
"You'll have to speak up Teme, I can't hear you" Naruto teased in a gloating voice.
Getting the great Sasuke Uchiha to hold a conversation for more than a minute was a feat not many could boast.
"I don't know how to apologise to girls" Sasuke muttered quickly, deliberately averting his eyes from his blonde teammate whose grin stretched even further across his face.
"Don't worry Teme, I happened to be well versed in situations such as these" Naruto said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
Sasuke wanted nothing more than to throw up, it just so happened at that moment that Kakashi reappeared with his extremely bruised and exhausted group.
"Don't over exert yourself will you boys?" Kakashi chortled as Naruto and Sasuke stood up quite abruptly.
The two groups of villagers re-united once more, Kakashi's group complaining of exhaustion and sore muscles. The boy's group promptly began their woeful story of lack of professional training and lamentations that they were not in the Jounin's group. Sasuke had a sudden urge to fireball jutsu the lot of them.
"Sensei, can we go and collect Sakura-chan now? Sasuke has something he wants to say to her" Naruto asked with a wink which didn't go unnoticed by Kakashi whose eyes crinkled under his mask.
"That sounds like an excellent idea Naruto, the first one you've had all mission I believe. We have a few more hours before we have to leave for Konoha. You men might as well come too, I'm sure your female counterparts will be happy to see you" Kakashi remarked and adjusted his ninja pouch, leaving the villagers to follow him.
"Don't worry Teme, follow my advice and nothing can go wrong" Naruto confidently spoke.
Sasuke knew nothing good could come from Naruto's help.
"OH MY GOD! MY TEA HOUSE! MY DOOR! MY GOD DAMN DOOR!"
The shriek could be heard from streets away, but considering Kakashi and his team plus the men from the village were standing right near the entrance, the sound was deafening.
Sasuke's eye twitched and Naruto pressed his hands over his ears. A very angry looking woman emerged from the tea house to examine doorway and her lack of door.
"Hi, you wouldn't happen to have seen a pink haired girl around would you?" Kakashi asked rather nervously, the door had been ripped off its hinges and only Sakura possessed that kind of strength.
"Happened to have seen her? Of course I've seen her! SHE WAS THE ONE WHO RIPPED MY DOOR OF ITS HINGES! Leading a whole group of women out of here to train them or something! SHE'S RUINED MY TEA HOUSE!" The old woman bellowed at the top of her voice.
She attempted to turn around and slam the non-existent door but remembered it wasn't there anymore and stomped back inside. Rubbing the back of his neck, Kakashi turned around to face the group of slightly confused men.
"Ah, it would seem Sakura has um taken your wives and uh daughters and so on for some uh training" Kakashi stated awkwardly to which there was a great uproar.
The men began complaining loudly to the silver haired man about how they did not give permission for this to happen.
While Kakashi tried to smooth things over, Naruto looked at Sasuke slightly concerned. Sakura and an army of women did not sound like something a mere apology could fix.
"Right so how many of you have ever done any sort of self-defence training?" Sakura asked cautiously, when no hands were raised she wasn't that surprised.
She had managed to lead the women to a large grassy area just outside of the village. Even better than that, Sakura had borrowed a scarecrow from one of the farmers which would act as some sort of mock training dummy. Hopefully if her training went according to plan, there wouldn't be much left of the scarecrow. Sakura would count this as a positive, although the farmer who she borrowed it from probably wouldn't.
"Okay, that's not totally unexpected. How about fitness? Have any of you gone for a jog or something like that?" Sakura ventured and the response was the same.
"Back to basics then?" Inner Sakura suggested and Sakura smiled inwardly.
"First off I'm going to ask all of you to remove your jewellery and probably put your hair up if you can" the pink haired ninja instructed.
At once the women began to turn to each other and fret about their hair and the state of their kimonos. Some blatantly refused to follow the instructions and instead sat on the sidelines to watch.
"Well for those of you remaining, spread apart and copy the stretches I do" Sakura then began to pull her arms over her head and stretch.
The women at once began to follow Sakura's lead and replicated the stretches, some quite easily and some with a little difficulty. The kimonos probably didn't help but it would take weeks of training to build up their flexibility and stamina. However considering they didn't have that time, the warm up was brief but effective.
Sakura then positioned the scarecrow-turned-training-dummy at the front of the group, and organised everyone into one line.
"One of the most basic self-defence techniques is a well-executed punch. You want to curl your hand into a fist and tuck your thumb in front of your fingers. The idea is to land the hit with your first two knuckles, they're much stronger than the others" Sakura said, demonstrating with her left hand.
The pink haired teen then went down the line, correcting grip and thumb position. When she was satisfied she made her way back to the front.
"My punches will always be stronger than yours because I have chakra, but you can also deliver a strong punch if you twist your hips" Sakura said, making the twisting motion and resting her fist before twisting and throwing it forward.
Tsunade had shown her this in their training: how to throw an effective hit, even if you're out of chakra.
Sakura's 'students' seemed to be getting the general idea so she pulled the first person forward to try out their new technique on the scarecrow.
The hit was feeble to say the least but not wanting to discourage anyone, Sakura smiled and asked the next person to come forward.
Again another feeble hit, if anything the scarecrow could have done more damage. This carried on for the next couple of minutes until the pink haired teen stopped them, clearly frustrated.
"I'm starting to think you guys need some motivation" Sakura said with a smirk.
"What exactly are they doing?" Fumio demanded.
Kakashi and the boys plus the male villagers were standing at the edge of the large grassy area, peering into the distance. A blob of pink could be seen clearly but Kakashi congratulated himself on his chakra tracking skills as Sakura had not masked hers.
"Well it would seem Sakura is running a fairly effective training program. She even managed to secure a training dummy. Perhaps she should have been present at this morning's exercise" Kakashi remarked, holding back a laugh.
Naruto nodded his head vigorously and Sasuke said nothing, the men began clucking to themselves about the abilities of the young girl.
"THAT'S FOR SAYING MY DUMPLINGS WERE TOO DRY" one woman screamed as she punched the scarecrow dummy.
"THIS IS FOR THAT ONE VALENTINES DAY WHERE YOU SPENT THE WHOLE DATE LOOKING AT THE WAITRESS! HI-YA!" another called loudly as she too threw a strong punch making the scarecrow lose some of his stuffing.
"That sounds like my wife Hana" A man from the back called out, the three members of Team 7 exchanged nervous looks with each other
Good! Well done! Use that anger, let it all out" Sakura coached loud enough for Kakashi to hear.
"Well I'd better go and put a stop to this I guess. Shame because she is doing a rather good job…." The silver haired Jounin trailed off as some of the men began to growl rather loudly.
Before he could even move Naruto stopped him.
"Wait sensei, Teme is going to handle this one. Aren't you?" Naruto said with a sly grin, Sasuke shifted uncomfortably but gave Kakashi a nod.
The older ninja smiled under his mask, this was sure to be interesting.
"Remember what I told you" Naruto whispered, Sasuke masked his chakra and moved forward slowly.
Undetected by Sakura, the black haired ninja spied a large clump of trees he could hide in and figure out his game plan. Using a burst of chakra he managed to dive into the trees before Sakura could see him.
What was Naruto's advice again?
"If you want Sakura-chan's forgiveness you have to stir her heart" Naruto informed him and Sasuke grimaced.
"Look Dobe I don't want to stir her heart, I didn't agree to that. I'm just going to apologise" Sasuke said with conviction, it was bad enough he had to do that.
"Don't be an idiot Sasuke-bastard. I read it in this lifestyle magazine. You can't give a woman an old 'I'm sorry'. Besides if you stir Sakura-chan's heart then she'll forgive you for anything" the blonde ninja urged.
"Fine idiot. What do I have to do to 'stir her heart'?" Sasuke reluctantly asked and Naruto grinned triumphantly
"All you have to do is whisper in her ear, she'll go to mush!" Naruto exclaimed happily but Sasuke glared at him suspiciously.
"Trust me! I've done it loads of times!" Naruto assured him.
Sasuke could never actually remember a girl being 'stirred' by the blond boy, unless it was stirred into a violent frenzy of rage.
"Right, whisper in her ear, got it" he muttered to himself as he lept down from the trees and stealthily made his way over to Sakura.
Thankfully the women were much too focused on letting their anger out on the straw scarecrow to notice the Uchiha prodigy approaching.
Sakura too had her back to him, focused on her training. Her group was doing well with the right…motivation. T
heir punches were strong but not strong enough. Waving her hands, Sakura tried to get the attention of the women but no avail.
Sasuke was a meter away from Sakura, still undetected. Kakashi, with the use of binoculars he had in his ninja pouch was watching the scene with an amused smirk.
"You're still not using enough force ladies" The pink haired teen remarked.
The women could quite clearly see Sasuke behind her and some of the younger girls began to giggle. The Uchiha boy scowled and motioned for them to be quiet.
Sasuke's lips were inches away from Sakura's ear. "Hey there" he began to whisper but it was too late.
"When you punch you've got to PULL BACK AND STRIKE!" Sakura yelled loudly, turned around to demonstrate the motion and punched Sasuke straight into the air.
The girls of the group cried out loudly, Sakura gasped in shock, Kakashi's smirk widened and Naruto's eyes filled with terror.
"TEME'S GOING TO KILL ME!" Naruto screamed as he ran onto the grassy field towards Sasuke and Sakura.
The male villagers charged after him towards the group of women with Kakashi bringing up the rear, nose buried in his orange book.
Sasuke hit the ground with a large thump and Sakura immediately ran over to him.
He felt his shoulder pop out of place and hissed in pain. Helping him into a sitting position, Sakura began to push on his shoulder and Sasuke growled at her.
"What the hell are you doing?" he spat
"What does it look like; I'm popping your shoulder back into place" Sakura barked. With a loud snap, the joints connected and Sasuke rolled his shoulder a couple of times.
"Thank you would be nice" Sakura mumbled
"Thank you? For what? You're the one that caused this injury!" Sasuke argued.
"Well what were you doing sneaking up on me like that?" Sakura fired back, just as furious
"SASUKE-TEME, SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto bellowed out, running over to them before Sasuke had a chance to answer.
"You! You're dead meat" Sasuke said as Naruto approached, the latter let out a nervous shriek and Sasuke attempted to get up but Sakura prevented it.
"What the hell?" Sasuke said again, glaring at his teammate.
"I need to make sure your shoulder is okay" Sakura replied angrily, using more force than necessary and Sasuke let out a loud hiss.
"Have you said it yet teme?" Naruto asked from behind Sakura's shoulder.
"No, because when I tried to as you put it 'stir her heart' she punched me!" Sasuke retorted.
"Wait, stir my heart? And say what Sasuke?" Sakura asked, confused.
"I was behind you when you punched me because I was trying to apologise for what happened on the bridge. Even though you know some of it is your fault… but anyway Naruto said the only way to apologise to a girl is to stir her heart and I tried to do that by whispering but then punched me and uh…." Sasuke trailed off as Sakura was smirking.
This was the most anyone had heard Sasuke say in well, ever.
"So you're apologising then? For the bridge" she asked
"Yeah I guess so" Sasuke said, glaring at Naruto who looked at Sakura nervously.
"Well I accept your apology, and I guess I apologise too for what I said" Sakura admitted, smiling slightly and offered Sasuke her hand which he took.
Ignoring the butterflies that erupted at her touch, the Uchiha prodigy offered Sakura the smallest of smiles and then fixed his attention on Naruto.
"Right dobe, you're going to pay for that 'stirring your heart crap" Sasuke said, getting up slowly and raising his fist at the blonde ninja.
"While I'm sure we'd all love to see that, we do have to be on our way home" Kakashi interjected as he stood between Sasuke and Naruto.
"Sasuke you can kill Naruto later, Sakura you have some explaining to do that group of gentlemen over there and the lady from the Tea House. I'll see you all at Tazuna's place" he continued cheerfully.
With that the copycat ninja disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"We could have never finished the bridge without you, I can't tell you how much we're going to miss you" Tazuna spoke softly.
"Be careful on your way back now won't you? I packed each of you some food for the journey" Tsunami said happily.
"Thank you for everything" Kakashi replied graciously.
A large number of the village had turned out to fair well them. Sakura recognised the group of women from the tea house who all waved happily. After speaking to the male villagers on the importance of self-defence they understood about the whole tea house adventure.
"Now now, don't get all choked up. We'll come back and visit real soon" Naruto promised as Inari began to tear up.
"You swear you will?" The little boy asked, Tazuna put a hand on his head to comfort him.
"Of course, you know Inari it's alright to cry if you want to. There's nothing wrong with that" Naruto said, his voice shaking and a watery smile gracing his features.
"Who says I want to cry, besides if it's okay to cry why you don't go first?" Inari retorted, trying not to cry
"No, you first" Naruto croaked. Both boys engaged in a Mexican stand off to see who would be the first to cry before the blonde ninja turned around suddenly with a river of tears trickling down his face. Sasuke looked at him in disgust and Sakura rolled her eyes.
"SAKURA-CHAN, SAKURA-CHAN!" A little girl ran past Tazuna followed by an older woman.
"Mika? Reiko?" Sakura rushed forward and picked up Mika swinging her around. The little girl giggled as Reiko approached the pink haired teen.
"Sorry, she wanted to say goodbye. So did I for that matter. Thank you so much for what you did for our family. Atsushi is getting better thanks to you" Reiko said happily.
"This is for you Sakura-chan, for your help" Mika offered a small gift wrapped in tissue paper which Sakura took gratefully. Unwrapping it she found a small hair pin in the shape of a cherry blossom.
"Thank you both so much, give my best to Atsushi. Bye Mika, I'll be back to visit soon" Sakura trilled, waving them off as she left the entrance to the bridge with her teammates.
"What was that all about?" Sasuke inquired, Kakashi and Naruto turned their heads as well.
"Oh nothing, just some friends I made" Sakura replied innocently.
"It was all their doing, each of them made you stronger in some way Inari and you in turn made us stronger. It was thanks to them we were able to build a bridge to a place we've never known. A place where we found our courage, a place to fulfil our dreams" Tazuna mused out loud.
"Speaking of the bridge, now that it's finished shouldn't we name it?" Fumio spoke up
"Of course and I know just the name" The bridge builder replied smugly
"You do? What?" Fumio asked as the village watched the ninja's retreating backs.
"We'll call it The Great Team 7 Bridge" Tazuna proclaimed proudly.