Chapter Text
One pink blob, one dark blue blob, and one striking orange blob stared back at him as he entered.
White powder enveloped the doorframe and dusted his slouched shoulders before fading towards the ground. His hair, already nearly white, was powdered to an even lighter color. He knew the eraser had been there, of course, what ninja wouldn’t? Instead of reacting, he willingly chose to let the eraser fall onto the wooden floor. The impact emitted a loud clank that set the orange blob in front of him into a somehow even louder fit of laughter.
Ignoring the repressed emotions that threatened to spill up his throat as he saw his dead teacher's blue eyes behind a mocking finger, he let his eye lazily scan the room. Another feigned reaction, naturally, because he was really scanning the people in the room with precision.
Three cute little Genin that were now (unfortunately) his were the only ones left in the classroom. Two boys and one girl, as per the standards. They still had an air of rookie freshness to them.
Or, well, two of them did.
Kakashi tried not to notice how dry his palms felt inside his pockets when he saw Sasuke Uchiha. Clearly, the same clan blood of his former ANBU teammate ran through him. He inherited the same stoic appearance and held himself with the same posture that seemed to carry an unfair weight. Sasuke also had the same dark eyes as his deceased Genin teammate, but without the same light they once had.
Eventually, Sasuke’s eyes will come to resemble Kakashi’s more than either of them. One day Sasuke will have a pair of eyes like the one Kakashi hides behind a headband, adorned with a bright red to also match the blood he swore was still on his hands. His fingers twitched, but his posture gave nothing away. It helped that the blue bob had a sincere expression of bewilderment on his face. He was probably doubting the abilities of his new sensei. That’ll be fun to correct later.
Naruto, the orange blob, was still laughing at him as if his “successful” prank had been the funniest thing in the world. Kakashi hadn’t seen him since he had left the ANBU and was taken off his guard. If he weren’t so sick of getting unqualified Genin thrown at him, he would have been very pleased to know that the boy still had a sense of childlike wonder. Though the eraser trick was maybe a little too childish for his age, who was he to judge? What would someone who learned to kill before he could properly read know about what was age-appropriate?
Overall, Sasuke held himself with an air of arrogance and Naruto came off as naive. The third student, whom he could have sworn was just yelling at the orange one to behave moments ago, was now dead silent. She was looking at him like he was a ghost. He wanted to write it off as her being shocked at his sudden appearance, except she was now leaning against the desk, her face scrunched up in pain. Surely, he couldn’t have surprised her THAT much. He had even made his footsteps loud on purpose as he approached the door.
Her eyes. They looked too much like his own. Way darker than Obitos, and maybe a little more somber than the look Itachi had in the last days he’d seen him, with the same additional helplessness he hadn’t seen since first recruiting his ANBU mentee from ROOT. And, they were uncharacteristically darker than the boys next to her, who had already faced incomprehensible levels of hardship.
Kakashi had been watching them for a while now. After checking out their households, he perched himself on a tree outside the classroom windows where he had a clear view of the group behind his book.
Their living quarters hadn’t given him any new information. Sasuke was clean, had self discipline, and lived in big house alone with his family's inheritance. Naruto, regrettably, lived benefit-paycheck-to-benefit-paycheck in a rundown apartment near the shady parts of town. He had no discipline when it came to self-care because he was never taught what that was. He also drank expired milk and ate only instant ramen at a kitchen table with only one dangerously lopsided chair. It was a miracle that he had lived this long with zero health complications. Naruto should thank his youth, his strong genes, and probably the tailed beast for that.
Sakura, as expected, lived in a very clean home, like Sasuke, and had her interests sprawled all over her room like Naruto. She was a nice balance between the two. Their biggest difference was the fact that she didn’t live alone. Unlike the rest of her team, which may include himself, she was not an orphan. She learned her good manners and habits the proper way, which was under the loving gaze of caring parents. The Haruno family wasn't rich, but they were well off enough to afford a four-bedroom apartment close to the shopping districts where they likely worked. The spare bedroom was overflowing with traded goods for their merchant business. Despite this, Sakura had the biggest bedroom. They loved her.
Sakura was perfectly normal. An average childhood with only the extra stress of being her family’s only daughter and the only one to have chosen a dangerous career path. Smart, headstrong, and maybe dealing with some teenage girl insecurity and the unknowns that came with being a first-generation anything. Otherwise, nothing caught his attention. Really, the most notable thing about her was that she almost beat the prodigy Sasuke for the overall top class spot.
Kakashi’s assumptions had seemed to match what he had seen while waiting for the right moment to enter the classroom. Asuma and Kurenai, his fellow new rookie squad leaders and pain sharers, had picked up their own batch of kids long ago. He didn’t recognize the rest of the instructors, assuming that most of them were even Jonin leaders and not just Genin corps recruiters. Some were to be sent straight into apprenticeships and entry-level investigation roles. It wasn’t likely for every graduating class to have full squads. He may or may not play a big part in that…he’s never actually had a team survive for more than a day. These kids might not be any different.
“My first impression of you all is that you’re a bunch of idiots.”
Naruto had the decency to look a bit ashamed. Sasuke seemed to be questioning his life choices. Surprisingly, the pink one took this as an opportunity to fall to her knees. Her hands were tightly grasping the desk for support, her face hidden behind long pink hair. He was all for dramatic reactions, but that was a bit much no?
Did she fear punishment or rejection? That wasn’t a good trait for a front liner Shinobi to have, which he was sure this team was being conditioned to be. She wouldn’t, and maybe shouldn’t, last long in the field. It would save her and her doting parents a lot of heartache if she didn't.
“Meet me on the roof.” His clone said and vanished with a puff of smoke. Kakachi’s real body stayed hidden, scrutinizing the group with both eyes.
“Man, is that really our sensei?” Naruto looked around, scowling as Sasuke turned away from him and walked to the door. Typical too-good-for-everyone Sasuke. He turned towards his other teammate, who was being oddly quiet. He had expected an earful or a slap to the head by now. She was yelling at him earlier for kissing the love of her life (he disagreed with that idea by the way) and, in general, she was always yelling at him for interrupting boring lessons (he thought she didn't even need the lessons anyway). He forgave her, tho, because at least it meant she was paying attention to him. “Hey, Sakura, are you ok?”
Sasuke turned around at that. A minuscule of his eyebrow deepened as he took in her form. Naruto pretended not to care. Kakashi thought the three of them were horrible liars. He would have to get them started on stealth practice, assuming they passed.
Still hidden by her hair, color seemed to return to her body as she gradually stood up and walked out like nothing had happened. “I’m fine Naruto. We should head to the roof before he decides to leave us.”
Her eyes stayed glued ahead, gaze directed at the air and not at her new partners. Her posture straightened. At first glance, she once again looked perfectly normal. Though you needed to be accustomed to the abnormal to see that her shoulders shook with every step. Clear signs of chakra exhaustion. Kakashi would know; he was one visit away from paying rent at the hospital.
Kakashi reappeared in the classroom as the door closed. The wooden desk now had dents in the exact spots her hands had gripped for support. Odd. Nothing in her file had said that thetop Kunoichi possessed unnatural strength, or any healing abilities. His red eye had seen a familiar green glow throughout her body. It offered another stark reminder of his past losses.
Her skills might actually be too useful to avoid the heartaches of shinobi life, so he could only hope that she would last longer than most.
It was taking a lot of her energy to consistently flow chakra throughout her entire body to calm herself down.
On the battlefield, fear was welcomed. Here, sitting across from her comrades who were supposed to be dead, it was violating. The fear that should have been foreign ran her body cold. Seeing them again wasn’t comforting her as much as she had imagined it would. The familiarity of it all only made her realize how much there was to lose if she failed.
Moments before Kakashi had opened the door and subjected himself to Naruto’s stupid prank, she was in a scarce field. Dry soil, naked branches, exposed roots, withered plants, and fallen tents covered the landscape for as far as she could see. If it weren’t for the stars above them or the chilling breeze tickling her neck, she would have thought they were the last sign of life on earth. Her and Tsunade, the woman who was her Shisho, Hokage, biggest role model, and the last of her senseis alive.
Tsunade looked so old in her final moments. No one had the privilege of worrying about their own insecurities anymore. Such little things seemed insignificant now. Hashimara and Tobirama had commented on how blessed they were to see one of their own grow old, and how unfortunate that they couldn’t do so under better conditions. Their sincerity had been enough to make her permanently drop the jutsu. She had told Sakura that other than her former teammates and Naruto (who was someone always at the center of it all), no one else had seen the “real” her before.
Sakura didn’t consider this a sign of weakness. To her, seeing her in this state had been an honor and a memory she will cherish for the rest of her life. A life she had thought wouldn’t last much longer, until Orochimaru, the First, and Second Hokage struck a deal with her.
It would actually be a disservice to call it a deal. In reality, it was a mission, yet they had insisted she take the opportunity in whatever way she wished. The three of them were supposed to be long dead. Sakura was meant to be alive, and the extra years given to her weren't theirs to dictate.
They sat her down next to her hero’s dead body and told her she could go back and save the world. That Tsunade had already known and even recommended she be the one to do it, because not only did no one else have enough chakra set aside for the trip, no one else alive deserved it more. Sakura wasn’t sure if her Shisho's emotional state had clouded her judgment or if she actually believed her to be the best candidate, or if the old Hokages were so desperate for hope that they would dare lie to her.
Orochimaru hadn’t said much. He possibly couldn’t anymore, given how much his body had deteriorated. There were no more strong bodies for him to take. Even when there was, he seemed to have given up on that dream. That's the world they were in now; so stationary that not even the sickest villains held onto their aspirations. He looked to the sky and away from his former teammate. If he cried, no one paid it any attention. All that was commented on him was that, apparently, his research around the reanimation jutsu had helped the Senju finalize another forbidden technique, a time travel jutsu.
So, with some scrolls, ink, the Snake Sanins directions, Lady Katsuyus blessing, and the former Hokages hand signals, here she now was, at her old academy’s rooftop.
Her head hurt, her eyes stung, there was a weight all over her, and she was probably running a fever despite the shivers she was fighting. Her shoulders were so tense that she must have visibly made an expression when she loosened them. When was the last time she had relaxed her body like this?
The three of them were looking at her now. What had she said the first time she introduced herself? Something about Sasuke?
“My name is Sakura Haruno. What I like - who I don’t like, wait, I mean…”
Kakashi leaned back and sighed. Probably thinking she lacked the drive of a real ninja since she couldn’t even give a proper introduction. He had probably at least glanced at their files. She was a true paper ninja, and her current documents would say as such. He probably already expected her not to make it far because her skills didn’t match her drive. In reality, it was the opposite. He wouldn’t know this until she was unfixable.
Or not. Still laid back, he pushed further; “What are your goals?”. He hadn’t asked that originally.
“I want to protect everyone.”
Her response was automatic. Years of what was once unthinkable did that to a person. The experience didn’t teach you to care; it pressured you to speak before it was too late.
To anyone who had never met him, Kakashi seemed stoic. In truth, he was anything but. His lone eye was the most expressive she’d known. He had been surprised by her response and his suspicions of her were now rapidly growing. And, he looked like he was about to lose himself in a distant memory at her words. But right now, she honestly couldn’t bring herself to care. Her own memories were creeping on her.
Maybe his eyes only seemed flat to others because they had never seen the light in them dim. They had never seen his exposed lips let out their final breath. Never witnessed his shoulders slump for the last time. Never felt his cold hands fall from her head after a lame attempt to comfort her.
She poured more chakra into herself and forced herself to look away, blocking out his fear mongering dialogue about their upcoming survival test. Her headache wasn’t getting any better no matter what she did. It felt like the time she accidentally overdid her chakra reserves during her apprenticeship and was nearing death's door, but she knew she couldn’t be dying right now. Her body has been through worse conditions. She was a war veteran now…and if she really had died, she wouldn’t be back here.
Wait. Her reserves! Did she still have a mark on her forehead? And, if so, had her perceptive sensei noticed it? If he had pulled up his headband at any point before they came upstairs, he very well could have seen it all. The Sharingan would have made it very clear that there was an abnormal concentration of chakra on her forehead. He definitely would have seen her healing chakra at least. Couldn’t the Senju or that withered snake have explained the technicalities of this to her?
She wouldn’t be surprised if the man before them was actually a clone and the real Kakashi was somewhere above them, watching their reactions as he feigned ignorance.
Or maybe he was still sure they were all going to fail like all his previous teams and didn’t even bother to plan that far ahead. She may never know. Either way, she needed this meeting to end as soon as possible.
Kakashi continued to ramble on, just as she remembered, and dismissed all of Naruto’s loud complaints and Sasuke’s quieter scoffs. They should be parting ways soon.
First, she needed to refamiliarize herself with her surroundings. She’s pretty confident she could map out her home already, but just to be safe. Sakura was technically in enemy territory now, not her actual home. She had a mission to complete, and she couldn’t afford any risks.
Her headache continues to throb, almost in response to the burden she now has to carry on her shoulders, alone, with no guidance. Perhaps she’ll find an herb shop and see if she can make some tea to alleviate her headache until her chakra reserves are replenished enough to heal it fully.
It would do her good to stock up on weapons, too. If her memory serves her right, her parents should have gifted her a generous envelope of money after graduating. It wasn’t much compared to the prices of gear, but it was still better than nothing. She'll make sure to be extra picky with her purchases this round.
Sakura slowly came back to the present as her sensei stood up, seemingly ready to excuse them for the day.
To her absolute horror, the man continued to speak.
“One last thing. Sakura, was it? You feeling alright?” Shit.
Kakashi turned his head to the side, keeping up his nonchalant facade. She recognized a whisper of concern behind his lone eye. He was such a liar. “You seemed to have recovered earlier, just asking to confirm.”
Ah. So he had been watching them.
“Were you watching us earlier?” Thankfully, Sasuke had always been perceptive. Sakura stood.
“Say’s who?”
“Wait…”Naruto seemed to catch on, and his pointed finger returned. “You mean like when we were waiting for you?? You left us there for hours on purpose!?”
“Now, I never said that - “
“I’m fine Sensei.” Sakura interrupted. A close-eyed smile on her face that he somehow felt was a little mocking, if the eye squint indicated anything.
“Well, good… Make sure you’re all well rested for tomorrow. Oh! And don’t eat breakfast!!”
He gave a salute and disappeared, and neither Sasuke nor Naruto spared a glance at her as they scurried on downstairs. One at a clear sprint and the other at a calmer pace to mask the same urgency. She could tell they were both in a hurry to prepare for tomorrow. Sasuke might train himself until he starves and then stare angrily at his plate to hype himself up for his first day of his future. Naruto might complain to his clone and repack his bag ten times before eating a large dinner at Ichirakus. She scoffed a little at their silly antics to ignore the fact that they were both so alone at such a young age.
Finally, she allowed herself to fall dramatically to the hard ground, swinging her arm over her eyes to block the sun and add some pressure to her throbbing head.
Now more sure that she was alone, she sent a small wave of healing chakra across her body for a scan. Her body was as healthy as ever without the wear and tear from battle. She was a little underweight for her age and lacked significant muscle, but there wasn’t a scratch on her. She should have been perfectly fine, yet the headache told her otherwise.
Still, exhaustion was nothing new. She could still complete her tasks for the day and prepare for what lay ahead. One step at a time.
Roofs tinted in gold under the setting sun welcomed her. The noise of shopkeepers closing their shops and the smell of nearby food stalls enveloped her senses, mocking her shattered mind. When she asked the store clerks for help locating specific herbs, she felt like she had nearly forgotten how to speak such trivial matters. Before she was sent back, the return of little mundane interactions seemed so mythical to her. Her new norm was to bark out orders and give pointless signals like “watch out!”, “retreat!”, “left”, “right”, and other such variations to deaf ears.
Somehow, her headache was being more of a comfort than a nuisance. The task of holding back the pain was grounding her as she walked home and looked around.
Suddenly, Sakura's senses were on high alert. A prickle behind her neck as she fumbled through her pockets while holding her shopping bags. The potted plant her mother insisted on keeping outside their front door seemed to twitch. She had a weird suspicion that she was being watched.
It took her a while to find her house key, she hasn’t had one in a while. The weight and coolness of the metal felt unfamiliar in her palm. The chakra she could illogically feel on the roof of the nearby building, annoyingly, felt very familiar. Kakashi-sensei was stalking her!
Had he followed the whole team after their initial meeting in her original timeline, too? Or were his suspicions really growing and she was already raising to many red flags? She hadn’t even done anything yet.
Her parents weren’t home. She was alone. There would be no other chakra signatures in the unit other than her own. He would definitely feel any sudden spikes if she tried to heal herself and would notice if she put a barrier up. It didn’t matter that she had great chakra control because he had that damn eye.
She needed to heal herself if she wanted to be alive tomorrow. Sure, Team 7 would pass without her contribution, that wasn’t the problem. Kakashi confirmed earlier that he had been watching them, raising the issue that he probably did notice her healing herself. Her abilities were unlisted and at a level abnormal for a civilian with no training. She didn’t have a plan yet; however, she’s pretty sure that gaining a high-level ninja's attention wasn’t going to grant her any favors.
Thankfully, she did buy herbs. Natural remedies and pure rest would have to do for tonight.
She inserted the key and walked in. Kakashi’s signature was a lot dimmer now that the door was closed, but she knew she wouldn’t give up that easily.
Sakura made a show of putting her groceries down in the kitchen, blissfully walking past the open balcony and turning on the lights. She was a perfectly normal, well-mannered young girl taking care of herself while her parents were away with nothing to hide.
After putting her food away and taking the rest of her bags upstairs, she opened her new box of Kunai and Shuriken and started meticulously storing them into the many compartments of her pouch, cleaning her old ones as she worked. The bag was a little out of her parents' paycheck and had a lot of space to contemplate. She had begged her parents for it as a birthday gift once her class had begun throwing lessons, since Ino and the other clan kids always had the best gear. Little Sakura had thought that if she had the same things they did, they would have to be at the same level too. Unfortunately, money can’t buy clan history or teachings. All she had was her mind and her books.
Weapon maintenance was a skill taught to all academy students. There was nothing unusual for Kakashi to see from his new spot across her window. He probably thought she was being extra careful with her preparations out of nervousness for the sudden all or nothing test he was throwing at them.
Her gear nearly sparkled by the time she stood up to face her mirror, retying her weapon pouch to her leg and doing a twirl. She played with her face-framing strands as she secretly analyzed her forehead. No mark, and she couldn’t really feel any abnormal levels of chakra present. Good.
Keeping up appearances, she adjusted her sleeves and gave her reflection a grin, as if she was proud to finally be an official ninja and wear her village's symbol. She took off her headband and passed her fingers through her long pink strands. It’s been a while since her hair was this long. It felt nice, though it was still jarring to feel it brush against her back as she moved. The strands coiled around, almost like a snake. She shuddered, playing it off as being cold, using it as an excuse to casually close her window and draw the curtains. Blocking Kakachi’s curiosity.
Sighing, she went back downstairs, passed the balcony once more, and filled a cup with hot water, grabbing a random tea packet on her way back up the stairs without putting it in to simmer. The packet she picked had a woody aroma and a high concentration of forest-grown herbs. It wasn’t the closest to her and was the one least picked by her family. Something about it drew her eye to it, perhaps the green color. She wouldn’t be drinking it, though; she just needed to play off grabbing a hot water for her own herbal medicine she was about to make.
She still felt Kakashi’s presence long after her body absorbed the rich ingredients and her bedroom lights were turned off. Without a care in the world, still dressed, feeling the safest she'd ever been, and a little annoyed, she drifted to sleep. What a luxury it is to have a real bed and to rest with a comrade looking out for you. No matter that it was out of suspicion.