Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Road Less Travelled By ❯ Final Preparations! The Time Draws Nigh ( Chapter 13 )

Final Preparations! The Time Draws Nigh

 

Sasuke looked at the bathroom mirror and scowled. His own reflection scowled back, obviously unhappy that it was taking so long to fix his hair. Sasuke pulled his bangs down straight, decided that the left one was longer than the right and evened them out with a quick flick of his kunai, leaving a black curl of hair to drift down and join the many others in the basin. Stupid hair, he grumbled to himself. Why can't it stop growing all the time? He ran his fingers through the rest of his now-cropped hair trying to dislodge any cuttings and patted futilely at the back of his head where, despite his best efforts over the years, his hair still stuck out from his head in shaggy spikes. Ugh. Still needed a haircut though, Kakashi was right about that. He cranked on the water and took a fast shower to dislodge any hairs left on his neck and back, being careful not to do anything to the scabs down his left arm.

Satisfied that he was clean, he got dressed again and then considered what to do about his arm. I can't leave it uncovered like this for the fight, I'll just end up reopening the wounds. Bandaging it would be an obvious choice, but then I don't want to telegraph to my opponents that my left side is weak. He pulled a clean set of bandages out of a drawer and started to rebind his arm. I suppose I could try something like Hyuuga Neji and make it seem that it was a stylistic and practical choice, rather than one caused by injury. He frowned. But I couldn't do that with my normal clothes. Besides, I want more freedom of movement in this case, and at the speeds I'll be moving the cloth of my shirt will rub against the cuts on the top of my arm again and the shirt will flap around a lot. A one-piece suit like Lee wears would be more practical in this situation, but there is no way I'm wearing some green spandex creation of the netherworld. This made Sasuke stop and consider the contents of his closet a moment before coming to the conclusion that he had something that would suffice, although made in black, light canvas rather than spandex. Canvas is a bit heavier than I really want to wear with this knot, he thought, tying the bandage off at his shoulder, but I should be able to make it work. I've got some black sandals and enough strips of black leather to wrap along on top of the bandages to make them look intentional. Adding the straps to my leg bindings would help too.

Yanking his shirt back into position from his bandaging, Sasuke moved to his small dressing table where his forehead protector was lying. Looking down to pick it up his eyes fell on the framed picture of him and the rest of his team that Sakura had insisted that they all receive once the picture was done. With little conscious thought, Sasuke retied the forehead protector around his head and snorted at the picture of him and Naruto glaring at each other. Guess I should drop back into the hospital this afternoon, now I've done my grocery shopping and sorted my hair out. Check if Naruto is even going to make the exam. He shook his head slightly. Can't believe I'm worried over whether or not the idiot makes it to this exam. Yes he deserves the chance, but it's his own fault for slacking off or whatever that got him hurt. After a moment of consideration, Sasuke picked up some kunai and swiftly hid them about his clothes, preferring not to openly carry any weapons so close to the exam, then he set out for the hospital, unsure of what he'd find.

Of course what he found was something so incompetent that he was glad he didn't get sharingan-burned into his memory. Upon entering Naruto's room, Sasuke found himself wondering why the hell he forgot to knock before entering because Naruto seemed to have somehow gotten both legs into the same leg of his trousers while getting dressed, and was cursing and wriggling about on the floor, obviously unable to right himself.

“Idiot.”

Naruto did some sort of serpentine manoeuvre to twist round and stick his tongue out at Sasuke. “You're getting out of practice, Sasuke. That sounded almost friendly.” He finally succeeded in getting unstuck and putting his trousers on correctly, before standing up to grin at him. “So you must be getting friendly towards me to visit while I'm in hospital. Sakura-chan came this morning and even brought me a flower while I was sleeping.” He gestured to a vase holding a bright orange chrysanthemum, still smiling. “Isn't it awesome? I didn't know flowers could come in orange too.”

Sasuke shrugged slightly. “I think flowers come in most colours, Naruto. You'd have to ask Ino about them.” He snagged Naruto's jacket off the end of the bed and tossed it to him. “Glad you're up. Was worried you'd sleep through the exam and spend the next month pestering me about fighting each other. Now at least we can get this over with and get back to missions.”

Naruto shrugged his jacket on, and gave Sasuke a confused look. “You actually liked all that weeding? And the litter picking? And finding lost pets?” He shook his head. “That isn't what being a ninja is about. It's about going out there and kicking ass and maybe making a real difference to someone.”

Sasuke shrugged. “I think it's more about making sure that we can handle problems together.” He saw Naruto's confusion change to an outright stare, and looked away defensively. “What? Think I hate ever seeing you guys?” I miss having you and Sakura bicker the whole time, and wishing you'd just shut up. I miss Kakashi lecturing us while reading that damn book of his. He sighed and tried to get his thoughts into a coherent order that wouldn't seem so unusual for him. In the end, he fell back on the truth. “Testing my strength, what I can do and how far I can go is all well and good, Naruto, but it doesn't mean much unless there's someone there who I can measure myself against.” He stopped, aware that his cheeks were starting to blush at what he was saying to Naruto. Damn it, why did I have to shoot my mouth off like that? Now Naruto probably thinks I'm soft in the head or something.

“You know, that's kinda deep, even for you, Sasuke,” said Naruto, scratching the back of his head in thought. “You trying to say that it's me that you want to measure yourself against, that's why you want to fight in the exam?” He smiled. “That's great! That's why I want to fight you too. I don't know much about Neji, or the sand ninjas, or even about how Shikamaru fights, but I do know this. You're strong, and you're always ahead of me. I want to see if all my chasing has meant that I've finally caught up to you. I mean, it's like trying to do a jutsu on the battlefield, you know? Doesn't matter if you can do it somewhere where you can prepare and feel safe, you have to be able to do it when the pressure is on and it means something too. If I can't beat you when it counts, then even if I win while we're training it won't feel like a real victory, you know?”

Sasuke smiled slightly, turning back to Naruto again. “Right. And the exam is going to be about as official as you can get.” I'm glad he understood what I was trying to tell him, and maybe even feels the same way from what he said. “So you know I'm not about to go easy on you just because you're my team-mate, right?”

Naruto snorted and slung his arm over Sasuke's shoulder. “I'd be totally insulted if you did.” He grinned again. “Now let's get out of here. That ramen you got me disappeared ages ago, and I'm still hungry.” He paused slightly. “Um… Thanks… for getting all that stuff for me. I know you must've been busy and all, and I really wasn't expecting you to do that.”

Sasuke shrugged, being careful not to dislodge Naruto's arm from his shoulder and give the impression that he was brushing it off. “That's okay. Figured all your friends would be busy training, and that Sakura would take one look at that mess you call an apartment and run screaming.” He started walking out the hospital. “Besides, it gave me a chance to let Kakashi scold someone for being late for once.”

“Really?” Naruto bounded alongside Sasuke with what Sasuke felt was far too much energy for someone who had just been discharged from hospital. “You mean you actually managed to be later than Kakashi-sensei?”

Sasuke looked somewhat put out at that. “No.” He watched Naruto start to laugh at that. “I have a theory that he was watching the whole time just so that he could turn up later than I did. That's the only rational explanation.”

“Yeah, but `rational explanation' and Kakashi-sensei?” asked Naruto still giggling. He let it drop as Sasuke seemed to get more annoyed at that comment, and walked out of the hospital with him in companionable silence. He let the silence drag on as long as it took them to walk to the major intersection just outside the hospital. “Oi, Sasuke?”

Sasuke sighed and tried not to roll his eyes. “What is it Naruto? Want to laugh at me again?”

“No way!” Naruto tried to sound cheerful, even though he felt disappointed. For such a stuck up, stubborn guy, Sasuke sure offends easily. “I wanted to talk to you about this morning. I had Shikamaru and Sakura-chan both visiting me while you were out of town.” He shrugged slightly. “Or at least I guess they were. Shikamaru was there playing shougi when I woke up, `cause Chouji was in hospital with stomach-ache.” He laughed lightly. “Apparently he had stomach-ache from eating too much barbeque. What an idiot!”

Sasuke relaxed slightly and stuck his hands in his pockets as he walked. “Maybe I shouldn't have tried to brave your mess of an apartment. Let Shikamaru handle it instead,” he said, teasingly.

Naruto shook his head in protest. “No way. He'd disturb my things and I'd never find them again. That's my open filing system that I've got going there. No one should mess with it.”

“Mess is right,” muttered Sasuke, making sure it was just loud enough for Naruto to hear.

Naruto pouted at him slightly. “That's just mean Sasuke. You should be nice to me, I've been in hospital.”

Sasuke shrugged slightly. “That's what you get for messing up training,” he teased gently.

Naruto shot a pointed glance at the bandages visible between Sasuke's shirt and his arm covers. “Uh huh. Sakura-chan filled me in on what I missed, and how you needed to get your arm checked out `cause you did just the same.” He made a conscious effort not to flinch as Sasuke glared at him. “What? It's true, isn't it?” He broke eye contact from Sasuke, and looked away nervously. “Hope you got it sorted. You're going to need it against Gaara. Those he counts as prey, he doesn't stop until they're dead.”

Sasuke stopped glaring at Naruto. Something is up. Does he have more information I can use? “What happened, Naruto? Is he why you ended up in hospital?”

Naruto snorted slightly, making a hollow sound. “Nah. Almost ended up in the morgue because of that creep, but he wasn't the one who put me there.” He sped up slightly in his walk, leading them to the bridge that was the teams' favoured meeting spot. “He was prowling around when I woke up. Me and Shikamaru heard something while we were going to visit Chouji, so ended up going after him.” Naruto leaned casually on the rail, looking over onto the water rushing past, hoping that showing that he trusted Sasuke enough to put his back to him would make him more likely to accept his concerns. Looking at the water means I don't have to look at him either. He can react however he likes without pressure to look strong. “We found Gaara in the fuzzy eyebrows' room. He was trying to finish what he started in the preliminaries.”

Naruto heard Sasuke breathe out softly before replying. “You mean kill Lee? Gaara went into the hospital just to kill Lee because he failed to in the exam?”

Naruto nodded slightly. “Yeah. Said it would `confirm his existence'. If Shikamaru hadn't used his shadow thing, Lee would've been dead at that point.” He closed his eyes as he heard Sasuke shift slightly closer. “He said that he wanted to kill the fuzzy eyebrows so he'd feel alive. If the super-fuzzy eyebrows hadn't shown up then, maybe we'd all have died. Shikamaru's jutsu couldn't hold the sand back after all, just Gaara.” Naruto opened his eyes and looked sideways at Sasuke. “There's one more thing that you should know he said. If it means that you forfeit tomorrow without even fighting, I won't think any less of you for it.”

Sasuke crossed his arms defensively. “That doesn't match you telling me I'm strong earlier, Naruto. I can handle anything he throws at me, even waves of sand.” And nothing you say can make me want to forfeit without even trying. I'm no quitter just because things get difficult or dangerous.

Naruto looked away from Sasuke again, trying to keep his features calm. Sasuke isn't to know about my… problem. He can't know how I understand that creep's pain like it was my own. I've worked too hard to be accepted as me to let Sasuke find that out and be afraid of me. “The no-eyebrows freak said that he had been created as his village's weapon. That he'd been bonded with a demon and created as a monster.” He looked up and met Sasuke's eyes with his own level gaze. “I think he was telling the truth, Sasuke, and if he was you may end up losing more than just the fight. He's lonely, and been made fun of, and had assassination attempts made on him, and he seems… damaged somehow. Crazy I guess.” Naruto tried to put as much sincerity as he could into what he said next. “Don't try to call his bluff if you're his prey. Don't do anything except run.” He saw Sasuke stiffen at the instruction to run, then relax slightly.

“I can't do that, Naruto.” I can't run away again. Not in fear from an enemy, not even for you and Sakura. He turned to watch his reflection in the river. “I will be careful, though. I was going to be, even before you told me all this. It changes nothing.” He sighed slightly. “Tonight, we should be together as a team again. After all, tomorrow, we might end up on opposite sides.”

Naruto nodded slowly. “Okay. Just, think about what I said, hey? And if he starts causing trouble in the exam, I'm there to help you out.”

Sasuke nodded. “I know. Just don't butt in unless I tell you to. I don't want my fight being messed up because you got scared for my safety.” He saw Naruto splutter at that association slightly and smiled. “I can handle myself Naruto. Stop worrying.”

“Okay,” said Naruto uncertainly. “If you're really sure. But all you have to do is yell, and I'll be there, okay?”

“Okay.” Sasuke stuck his hands into his pockets. “I'm going for a walk to think about tactics for tomorrow. If I spot Sakura, I'll tell her about meeting up tonight. See you there.”

Naruto nodded and stood up from the rail, turning to walk back to his apartment. “Sure, Sasuke. Later.”

 

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Sasuke let his feet do the thinking for him as he moved through Konoha, and of their own accord they led him to the training grounds that he favoured using. Sasuke supposed that it made sense that he'd end up there. Even though Kakashi had told him to take the day off training, Sasuke still found that he had plenty of energy, and he thought that with some meditation and light taijutsu practice some of his worries and uncertainties about the exam might come into sharper focus, as things often did when he was training.

Of course, he usually trained alone, which was why it was such a surprise to find Sakura already there. She was going through the taijutsu forms that Sasuke recognised from his academy days as being the style taught to those who came from families without a formal style. From what he could see, her moves, while correct, were still hesitant. She would over-commit to some strikes whilst not putting enough force behind others. Kakashi said I should take it easy, but he never said anything about not trying to help anyone else. He smiled slightly. Semantics are everything when dealing with him. “Yo Sakura.”

Sakura half-stumbled in her current move, then turned slightly to smile at Sasuke. “Sasuke-kun! You're early. I wasn't expecting to see you until after the exam tomorrow.” She lowered her arms and walked over to him, still smiling slightly. “Everything going all right? There aren't any problems that made you come back early?”

Sasuke shook his head. “Kakashi decided that I should have a day off before the exam to rest and prepare.” He shrugged. “I don't entirely agree with him, but I'll abide by the decision. It's not like I can't find things to do.”

“Like fix your hair,” said Sakura, then laughed at Sasuke's surprised look. “Sasuke-kun, you're my team-mate. If I couldn't notice small differences like that, after the fool I made of myself with people impersonating Naruto in the exam, then maybe I should quit being a ninja altogether.”

She's trying to improve, realised Sasuke. The exam was as rough on her as it was on me and Naruto, just in a different way. It's made her realise that she needs greater focus, because her mind is her greatest weapon. He moved a hand to brush his hair lightly. And it figures that a girl would notice this. He met Sakura's smiling gaze and tried to smile back. “How do you know I'm not an impostor? Just a rather incompetent one?” he teased.

“Because you would have attacked me as soon as I noticed that you didn't look right.” He seems pretty happy, and that's something only people like Naruto and I would know. He only seems to be like that towards us. “So what brings you here, Sasuke-kun? You can't have been looking for me because I doubt anyone knows that I'm here.”

“Habit. I like it here.” Sasuke shrugged. Free time isn't something I've ever been good at dealing with anyway. “Do you want help?” he asked.

It figures Sasuke-kun thinks I'm hopeless at all this, thought Sakura bitterly. I'm not strong like him and Naruto. I don't have any special jutsu of my own, and I'm not part of any clan. This is why I want to change. “I'm sure I can manage somehow, Sasuke-kun. I've been training alone ever since you both left,” she said, unable to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

“Sakura…” Sasuke thought over what he had just said, to try to understand what had caused that response. Why is offering help to a friend so horrible? “I'm sorry, Sakura. I should have said, did you want a sparing partner or someone to point out mistakes? I don't think you're useless.” He took his hands out his pockets, and wanted to check out Sakura's eyes, but she kept her head tilted down.

“I know I'm not in the third exam like you and Naruto are, but I did my best to keep you safe after Orochimaru was through with you both. I made traps, and tried to make sure you didn't get hurt, and I couldn't even do that right.” She looked up with tears in her eyes. “I was so scared that I was going to fail.”

Sasuke held his arms out slightly, to indicate himself. “But you didn't. We're all okay.” He moved closer, unsure of himself. I don't know what to do if she starts being all weepy. Think girls hug each other at that point, but I really don't want to do that with her. “You did fine, Sakura, and you're trying to get better.”

Sakura looked up at him, her eyes looking slightly red and blotchy. “Is that why you offered? To help me get better?”

Sasuke nodded. “If you get better you'll be happy, and you can watch mine and Naruto's backs better in a fight.” And if she does that then it makes the whole team stronger. He moved closer. “You're intelligent and you've got good instincts, even if you're not much of a fighter. I just want to help fix that, that's all.”

Sakura nodded slowly. “Okay, Sasuke-kun. I guess some help would be nice. Everyone is so busy with the exams that I can't seem to find anyone to train with.”

“Then train with me,” said Sasuke, moving into the first basic stance from the academy set. “I could do with some practice.” He noticed Sakura hesitate slightly. “What?”

Sakura smiled at him. “It's nothing. Just I've seen you and Naruto train together, and you get pretty rough. I don't know if I'm at your level.”

Sasuke nodded. “I understand. Don't worry, I won't try anything violent, or anything that should cause injury. This is training with a team-mate, not a rival.” He rotated his shoulders slightly before focusing on her again. “Prepare yourself.”

Sakura brought her arms up in a standard guard, and tried not to back step as Sasuke surged forwards, aiming a blow at her side. She managed to deflect the blow away before starting her own counterattack, which Sasuke dodged easily. She pushed her advance, then suddenly ended up on her back, staring at nothing but sky. “Wh… what?”

Sasuke held a hand out to her, which Sakura gratefully accepted, and allowed Sasuke to help her to her feet. “Good try. Again?”

Sakura looked at him. “How'd you do that, Sasuke-kun? I thought I was guarding against anything you could do, and then you knock me over like that.”

“Practice. Want to go again?”

Sakura smiled warmly. “Sure.”

 

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The evening together with Naruto and Sasuke had left Sakura with a warm, contented feeling. Meeting at Ichiraku, as was almost routine for them, felt understated for what was happening the next day. Naruto and Sasuke conspicuously kept the topic of conversation away from anything to do with ninja skills, and several times their taunts died away as the realisation that they would have to make good on any threats the next day would sink in.

To Sakura's eyes, however, they had at least made an effort. Naruto had arrived only barely late, and she could tell that his clothes were freshly laundered, and his hair still damp from showering. It gave her some hope that he wanted this last night of the uneasy truce he and Sasuke seemed to have. Both of them seemed strangely subdued, their tempers held back and their words somewhat clumsy and guarded towards each other.

It almost seems like they could like each other now, Sakura thought to herself, smiling and watching Naruto drain the last of the miso broth from his bowl. It had been a great surprise to all three of them when the owner of Ichiraku had presented Naruto with a bowl heavily laden with at least one of every variety of accompaniments to the ramen, and refusal to take it back and give Naruto his usual. He'd also declared both Sasuke and Sakura's bill to be void, muttering something along the lines of `It's about time the brat got some friends his own age'.

As the evening drew on, however, the laughter that Naruto and Sakura gave became more strained, and Sasuke ceased to smile altogether as all three of them started to feel the anticipation of the battles to come. After a while there were one too many uncomfortable silences, and Sasuke stood up from the counter, signalling his intention to leave.

Sakura smiled at him, also getting to her feet. “I hope you sleep well, Sasuke-kun. I'm sure you'll do well tomorrow.”

Naruto made an annoyed sound. “And I won't?”

“Sure you will, Naruto,” replied Sasuke. “Just not as well as I do.”

“Hey!”

Sakura smiled as they started to bicker again. Maybe no matter how well they become friends, they'll still argue like an old married couple sometimes. “Guys,” she interrupted quickly, seeing Naruto start to raise his fist towards Sasuke. “Want to meet up tomorrow outside the arena?” Sasuke nodded, and Naruto grinned at her.

“Sure Sakura-chan. I want to check that Sasuke hasn't run away in fear.”

“Can I come too?” asked Kakashi, making Sakura jump.

“Kakashi-sensei! When did you get here? If we'd known you wanted to join in, then…”

Kakashi waved a hand vaguely towards Sakura, cutting off her worried babbling. “Now now, Sakura, don't worry. I just came to make sure that Sasuke and Naruto were going home to get plenty of rest before the big day tomorrow.” He smiled to them. “And you boys are going home, so don't let my being here stop you.” He moved a hand to rest gently on Sakura's shoulder. “Don't worry, I'll see Sakura home safely. You should get to bed.”

Naruto pouted at that, sticking his hands in his pockets. “If you say so Kakashi-sensei.” Figures he wants to break us up again. He better not want to try anything with Sakura-chan. He gave what he hoped was a winning grin to Sakura. “See ya tomorrow, Sakura-chan. Bright and early!”

Sakura nodded. “You too, Naruto.”

Naruto grinned at Sasuke. “Later, idiot.” He ran off in a hurry, leaving Sasuke no time to retaliate for the insult.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “When will he grow up?”

“Probably about the same time that you loosen up, Sasuke-kun,” teased Sakura gently. She was impressed that she didn't flinch when Sasuke turned to glare at her, but his expression softened almost immediately.

“I suspect you're right, Sakura.” He nodded to her, and then to Kakashi who was still resting a hand on her shoulder. “I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight.”

Sakura smiled back at him. “Goodnight, Sasuke-kun.” She watched him leave then turned back to Kakashi. “Okay, so what's with getting rid of them, Kakashi-sensei?”

Kakashi made his smile even wider. “What makes you think I'm doing that, Sa-ku-ra,” he said, drawing her name out into an almost singsong.

Sakura just raised an eyebrow back at him. He's obviously in one of those `look underneath the underneath' moods. Why can't he ever just say what he means? She started to walk away from the Ichiraku. “I should be getting home, Sensei, if there's nothing else you want to discuss.”

“Sure, sure,” said Kakashi, falling into step beside her, his lanky frame having no problem keeping up with a teenage girl in a huff. He kept up until her pace slowed a little, before deciding to try a conversation again.

“So, I hear you've been training while Sasuke and I have been out of town.”

Sakura nodded. “Of course I have. Why should that bother you so much? Think I was just going to sit around and wait for you?”

“Oh, it doesn't bother me,” replied Kakashi blithely, keeping his gaze on the road ahead. “I just wonder why you're bothering, that's all. You're not in the chuunin exam anymore.”

Sakura practically exploded at that. “What's that got to do with anything? Who says it's all over for me?” She stopped in her tracks and turned to glare at Kakashi, who just gazed placidly back. “You think I wanted to get knocked out of the prelims? You think I want Sasuke-kun and Naruto to get further and further ahead of me until you demand I get reassigned to another team so I don't hold them back? You think I want to spend another battle helplessly standing by while they get hurt, where there's nothing I can do to help them? You think I like feeling like I'm dragging everyone down because I'm so useless and weak and pathetic and… and… and…”

Kakashi watched her run out of steam from her rant, then crouched so that he was at eye level with her. “So you're training so that you don't get reassigned and lose Sasuke because you can't keep up?” He kept his voice level and Sakura could see no emotion in his visible eye.

“Yes. No. Not exactly.” Sakura took a deep breath, and tried to reorder her thoughts. “I don't want to lose Sasuke-kun or Naruto.” She looked at Kakashi, and he gave her no sign as to how he received the news. “And I'm not training for that reason either.”

“Oh?” Kakashi tilted his head. “Then why are you training, Sakura, if not to make yourself more appealing to Sasuke?”

Sakura turned away from him, and looked up at the night sky. “I want to make myself better. I want to be of use to them both, and never have to stand by while they get hurt. No matter how hard I try, I just don't seem able to catch up to them.” She wrapped her arms around herself, and tried not to feel embarrassed at how she seemed to be revealing so many of her worries to Kakashi.

Kakashi stood up slowly. “You won't always be able to protect them, Sakura. And even if you could, do you really think Naruto and Sasuke would thank you for it?”

Sakura shook her head, still not looking at him. “That's not what I said, Kakashi-sensei. I know I could never protect them like that. They'd just end up hating me for it.” She sighed. “I just never again want to be helpless while they're fighting for their lives. I don't want to be better than them, I just want to be good enough to help them.”

“Konoha doesn't need another Uchiha Sasuke or Uzumaki Naruto, Sakura,” said Kakashi. “To be honest, just one of them is plenty.” He moved closer to her. “What you need to do is stop trying to beat them at something that they're both naturally gifted in. If all shinobi were the same, how could we cover our weaknesses?”

Sakura turned back to look at him slightly. “So all you're saying is just `be yourself'?”

Kakashi smiled. “Exactly.”

Sakura looked away from Kakashi again in thought. Something that I have that Naruto and Sasuke-kun lack? How can that be? Both of them have much more strength, stamina and chakra than I do. The tree climbing exercise made that clear. They could keep at it for hours. She paused slightly. But I was better at it. I reached the top of the tree weeks before they did. Maybe that's what Kakashi-sensei meant? “I guess I have better control then they do. They're always so flashy and showy, but they have trouble doing exact things with chakra.”

Kakashi smiled at her with his one visible eye. “Right. Any ideas on how to use that?”

“Genjutsu!” replied Sakura quickly, before blushing and quieting her response. “Genjutsu is a ninja skill that requires subtle and precise application of chakra.”

“Very good,” said Kakashi. “I see you were paying attention in the academy.” He started walking, hoping that Sakura would follow. “Neither Naruto nor Sasuke really have the control or the temperament for genjutsu or medical work, while I believe you do.”

Sakura moved to keep up with him. “But the sharingan…”

“Is good for seeing through genjutsu. It doesn't give a special advantage for creating them.” Kakashi smiled. “Sasuke is very good at giving the impression that he's good at everything. He doesn't really have the patience or the control to excel at genjutsu.”

Sakura blinked. “So I could be better than Sasuke at something?” She sped up to move in front of Kakashi, looking up at him. “Will you teach me some genjutsu? Surely the Copy Ninja Kakashi has some among his one thousand rumoured copied jutsu?”

Kakashi stopped and looked at her. “I don't know. Are you willing to work hard at it?”

Work hard? You haven't seen me motivated like this before, Kakashi-sensei! “Of course I will, sensei. It's something the team lacks, and it's something I could be good at. A perfect fit, wouldn't you say?” Sakura smiled at him, and resumed walking home.

That went well, thought Kakashi, still accompanying her. Her motives aren't pure, but they are correct. Teaching her something that she could excel at and that would be unique for the team would help her confidence no end. He smiled. I'm almost looking forward to having the three of them back training together again, and complaining noisily the whole while.