Title: Look at Me Now

Rating: M

Summary: Strange old people in caves are generally to be avoided in the fairy-tales Sakura has grown up reading. But the offer of training from one old lady in a cave in the Land of the Waves not only makes Sakura throw caution to the wind, but teaches her that power comes to those who seize it. Strong!Sakura

Words: 7,203

Story Length: 67,338

AN: I have no excuse. I'm so sorry. Shortly after I posted this chapter I found myself in need of a home and I haven't had much will to write lately. Hopefully I'll power through the next update quickly, because this is technically only half of what I wanted for chapter 8, but I felt that this was decent enough length for a chapter (and I'm trying to make chapters less than 10K and not more) and it'd be nice to have something to update. Also, if you haven't, check out my other story Seeking Peace or my fanfiction tumblr baezetsu. That's it, enjoy this slice of life-y chapter! Also, thanks Overwhelmed for leaving awesome reviews.

Music:

A balanced breakfast in Konoha - Pristine Beat Touhou - Candy & Jam [Folk Traditional]

For the 'Spar' - Stahp - Djemba Djemba

Arc II: A Seed is Planted

Chapter VIII: Blindsided

"It is my hope that the Splintering of the Senju clan be seen as an example to those clans who helped found Konoha into being. That eventually our society overcomes the need for our antiquated clan system and one's kekkai genkai is merely seen as a genetic quirk rather than a sign of identity or ethnicity … This will be a hard system for our noblest clans to accept, especially if they came to Konoha to preserve their traditions, which is why I deem it prudent that our noblest and most ancient clan take initiative as the only remaining founding clan and join us in dismantling this oppressive system and embracing Konohagakure as the only identifying marker an individual needs." – Senju Tobirama, Nidaime Hokage, in a letter to his cousin and close friend Mori Touka nee Senju the day after the dismantling of the Senju Clan.

"Tobirama can go screw himself with the pointy end of his lightening sword." – Uchiha Shinosuke, Uchiha Clan Head and first Chief of Police, to his wife Umi before bed.

Over the years that he had brought guests (more like most of them forced their way in) home, Kakashi had heard many unwarranted opinions about his apartment.

"Spartan!" cried Minato, unsure why the eight-year old kid he was supposed to teach had the room of a Black Ops member.

"Whatever you're paying for it, pay less. I think the toilet just tried to eat me." said Obito, obviously not happy to be at Bakakashi's house (he couldn't have kept it in for any longer and Kakashi's place was around the corner, which was more civilized than just whipping it out).

"Needs a woman's touch." That judgment, given to Kakashi by another ANBU member who happened to very intent on taking off their clothes that night. He made sure to kick her out the next morning before she could add any of her touches to it.

"Senpai, do you even live here?" asked a hesitant Yamato after examining an empty shelf, no doubt happy to be invited to his senpai's place of residence but bewildered at how undecorated everything was. Kakashi made sure to not let Yamato use any of his skills to make him any decorations, not even tiny wooden figurines.

Needless to say, his 'Home' wasn't a welcoming place for most guests. For Kakashi it was a place to sleep. For years it had remained bare, years when he couldn't even get a full night's sleep because the next mission left at dawn and he only got home at midnight. Then when he had to retire his white mask for the ones underneath, he only added the simplest of things (books, a chair or two Yamato had let him 'steal', a tea kettle because he was getting old).

Six months ago all that changed. For example, the only photograph in the room now had friends. On the windowsill above his pillow, the picture of Team Minato was joined by another, named Team Kakashi. He'd get chills looking at the similarities. The other new resident on the windowsill was an O-Seibo gift from his student, the last one he'd expect to give him something like this.

He could remember Naruto's grinning face as he pressed a sloppily wrapped potted plant into his hands. The plant was surprisingly healthy looking for Naruto's next statement, which was, "I raised it myself, Kakashi-sensei, so you better take good care of it!" followed by endless 'Whatcha gonna name it?'s. Of course Naruto having been an orphan, Kakashi hadn't expected him to know that potted plants were considered unlucky gifts, but he'd been subjected to enough of his student's blue puppy dog eyes that he knew to take and it and name it Ukki-san (Mr. Gloomy).

And over by the sink and kitchenette where Kakashi was again washing his hands, there was an almost empty tin box of tea, given to him by an excited Sakura, right next to the tea cups Sasuke passed to him wordlessly.

He hated all of it.

Ukki-san was no longer green and vibrant because Kakashi couldn't even keep a plant alive, much less a team of troublesome children safe, and who the fuck let Kakashi let into contact with actual human beings when everyone was going to turn out like Rin, Obito, and Sensei anyway?

The foamed soap was so thick around his hands that he couldn't even see them. Good. Every movement of his right hand brought images of brown eyes, so similar that they already melded in his mind, blinking back at him as their light faded. The smell of frying flesh. The feel of organs rupturing. The sound of bodies hitting the ground.

Kakashi started scrubbing.

The worst thing is that he got past this over a decade, or so he thought, until that boy got in the way of his chidori. Now it was all back; the endless hours of hand-washing, the memories. He was slightly tempted to go to the Hokage and declare himself mentally unfit for service. Kakashi wouldn't, of course, hadn't when Rin died and he wouldn't now.

The sun was rising.

Kakashi would get through this. He always did.

The water from the faucet stopped flowing.

Sasuke hated … that man.

Now, he said this every day in his mind like a mantra, but looking at Naruto now, he repeated it for good measure. If it wasn't for that man, he'd be able to go ask Tou-san about how one acts around someone who just saved your life, especially if that someone was a dumb-ass of a teammate. But thanks to that man, Sasuke couldn't ask these things.

So he ignored Naruto, as he usually did. Sasuke was smart enough, however, that this silent treatment would last a day or two, especially when Kakashi and Sakura were being weird. So there was little surprise when his breakfast of store brought rice balls was interrupted by an orange-wearing menace.

"Finally!" cried Naruto as Sasuke slid his balcony door open and let Naruto into the studio apartment. "I've been knocking for five whole minutes and I think the pigeons that live on your balcony were about crap on me!" Sasuke rolled his eyes, mentally adding 'clean balcony' to his list of things to do.

"Eww, Bastard, is that all you eat for breakfast? Didn't you get those balanced breakfast lectures, yanno? Where is your dairy?"

"Shut up and let me eat, dobe." Sasuke sat down to finish his rice ball.

Naruto's face scrunched up in anger and he huffed, turning his head to look around the place. "Wow, bastard, this place is so bare, you should get some post-ooh, a TV!"

"Ever heard of asking for permission, dead last?"

Naruto was already settling on a channel with brightly colored cartoons when he answered.
"Yeah, well, you're supposed to treat your guests with the highest courlesywhastit, yanno?"

No. Sasuke didn't exactly now how these things went and he was sure there was protocol to allowing guests to watch the tv. Protocol he was unaware of. Once again, he hated that man. Deciding he'd had enough of his very bland breakfast, he walked over to the tv and shut it off.

"Hey! I was watching that!"

"My house, my rules. Now what did you want?" Naruto paused a moment to pout at the other before running his mouth.

"Okay so remember when we were walking back to Konoha and Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan were being really weird and you gave me a look? It's been two days since we got back, we should go find out what's wrong with Sakura-chan."

Sasuke did indeed remember that 'look' he gave Naruto as Kakashi stared at Sakura after she groaned at the mention of mission reporting.

"Hn."

"Don't 'hn' me bastard! Also, I remember that Sakura-chan looked scared. She must have known Kakashi would drag her into the private meeting between himself and the old man."

Naruto plopped down on the edge of Sasuke's bed. Not wishing to argue something that pointless, Sasuke sat beside him, frowning. He had thought that Sakura looked more worried the closer they got to Konoha, and he could see a slight tremble in her as they approach the Hokage's tower. But why? What did Sakura know that her presence was needed in the actual Hokage's office, where rarely genin were called up to, unless something was wrong? And why were Naruto and he kept in the dark?

"Remember the day before we left? Kakashi showed up with Sakura in his arms in the morning and she looked really tired, went to bed, and didn't wake up until the next morning?" Naruto asked, scratching his head.

"Yeah," Sasuke answered, thinking back earlier, to when Kakashi had left with one of his dogs. "I saw him leave earlier with that pug summon of his earlier too, and he told me to stay there and watch over the house."

"Wait, really? I was still sleeping. So what did he need that dog for?"

Sasuke paused in thought. Kakashi had never really talked about his summons during training sessions or missions, but after the battle he had offhand mentioned that tracking was one of their specialties. He had obviously found Sakura, but did that mean he was looking for her from the start, in that case…

"Tracking. He was tracking Sakura."

"Tracking her, but why, Sakura-chan…Why was Sakura-chan missing in the first place? Do you know?"

Sasuke immediately discounted the idea of Sakura running away from them. That just didn't fit in with Sakura. He couldn't imagine Sakura the nuke-nin.

"Hey, bastard." Naruto spoke up after his question was met with silence.

"Dobe, don't bother me, I'm trying to think this through."

"Yeah, I know, but I just remembered something. Sakura looked really tired and slightly beat up, right? Maybe she was practicing a new jutsu and it went wrong."

That seemed plausible to Sasuke. After all, during the mission Sakura had retreated to another part of the island to practice, or spy for them. He'd found it curious since she'd never done that back home.

As if Naruto had read his mind, he could hear the other say just that.

"Or she was doing some of that reconnaissance thing, yanno? Maybe to see what the rest of Gato's mooks were doing? She kept doing that throughout the mission."

"That doesn't explain why she was brought back looking so roughed up and tire-…" Sasuke stopped himself, "but what if it did?"

Unlike the idea of Sakura being a missing ninja, this thought didn't go away. Sakura was weak in hand-to-hand, though she'd gotten a little better once she started training. But she'd still be easy to overpower, even if she had training. What if that was what happened? Her being attacked would explain why she was brought in to see the Hokage, but not how scared she was to speak to him. And she didn't look that roughed up, just exhausted. Not like she was fighting someone with chakra or using jutsu. And for Kakashi having to look for her, she must have been missing long enough for Kakashi to worry.

"You don't think?" quietly asked Naruto, voice much smaller now.

"That she was attacked? Yeah."

"But why not tell us? That's the one thing I don't get, yanno. Why didn't sensei or Sakura-chan tell us that she was beaten up?"

This bothered Sasuke too, because the one answer brought to mind the least pleasant answer he could think of and he so desperately didn't want to think of it. Sakura was annoying, but she had her usefulness and even her good moments. They were all shinobi, but things like that weren't really supposed to happen to Sakura, who Sasuke privately thought was a little girl playing at ninja.

"Maybe because she didn't want us to know about it."

Sasuke looked over at Naruto, whose hands were gripping his comforter and balling up into fists. He was thinking the same thing too.

"That can't be the reason, bastard. Don't even say it! Not Sakura-chan!" There was rage in Naruto's voice, rage he'd only remembered hearing on the bridge in Wave. His eyes were darker than usual and a different shade than the usual light blue.

"I didn't say anything." Sasuke snapped back, irritated both at Naruto and his own thought process.

"Stuff like that… that doesn't happen, alright? We would have known, right?"

"I don't know." And Sasuke didn't. He stood up, smoothing bed in the process and pointed to the balcony.

"Come on, dead last, we won't get any answers sitting around here. Let's go find Sakura."

Sasuke knew where Sakura lived, but he never really thought about her home life. He just knew it was there. In his head, Naruto lived in the top floor of a rundown apartment complex, Sakura lived in an apartment on the main road with her parents, and Kakashi lived in a tiny place not so far from him.

He didn't know what to expect when he and Naruto opened the door, but this surly looking woman was not it. She looked very similar to Sakura with her sleeveless white qipao and identical eyes and large forehead, but Sasuke noticed that there were visible muscles on her biceps. Her green eyes were identical to his teammate's, but there was a hardness that Sakura's expressive eyes never had. They slid from him and lingered on Naruto.

"Uh, hi, you're Sakura-chan's mom, right? Do you know where we can find Sakura-chan?" Naruto got out, sounding shyer than Sasuke had ever heard him.

The blonde woman was still staring at him before she answered, "She's out training with her father. Training ground 17." Sasuke couldn't help but notice that bitter inflection on training,

"Oh, well, thanks!" Naruto chimed awkwardly as Sakura's mom practically slammed the door in their faces.

"We should go check up on her in the training ground." said Sasuke, immediately walking towards training ground 17.

"Hey, wait up, Bastard!" Naruto quickly ran to catch up. "Didn't Sakura-chan's mom seem weird to you?"

Never having met the woman, Sasuke didn't know whether that was her usual behavior or not.

"She didn't seem too happy that Sakura was training with her dad."

Naruto made an agreeing noise. "Yeah, I thought so too. But that makes sense; Sakura's mom doesn't really like her a being a ninja."

Sasuke stopped mid-step and turned to Naruto.

"What?"

Naruto stopped walking and looked confused for a second before cocking an eyebrow at him. "Oh come on, Bastard, Sakura-chan's always complaining about her mom and her arguing about everything, especially the fact she didn't take a cryptology job. Don't you listen to Sakura-chan at all?"

"No." admitted Sasuke, actually more embarrassed than anything.

Naruto harrumphed and began walking, leaving Sasuke behind to slowly make his way to the training ground. Sasuke lagged behind, lost in thought. He was generally focused on his own training and paid little attention to either of his teammates outside of spars. He expected competence from both of them and that was it. Of course his first real mission had shown that was all bullshit. He couldn't just not worry for Naruto when someone was trying to kill him or for Sakura when she was in trouble.

But Naruto's comment had made Sasuke realized he knew very little about either of his teammates, and they knew very little about him. Sasuke must have ignored Sakura every time she brought up her mother and the job at the cryptology unit (or Naruto hung onto Sakura's every word, which wasn't that hard to believe).

He'd always believed that teammates were just there for a time and then you became a chuunin and probably sent somewhere where your talents were needed, unless your team was needed together. That man was a genin for a second and never mentioned his teammates, and was most likely snapped up by ANBU the moment he became chuunin, if not sooner. His mother, while most definitely a capable ninja, didn't really talk about her being a ninja much, and the one time he asked his father about his genin team the table grew silent. Sasuke's mother later whispered that his father had lost a teammate in the Second Shinobi War and took this very hard. No one had teammates to come visit. Sasuke didn't know that they were supposed to be friends.

In the back of his mind, he could have considered Naruto his friend, maybe Sakura when she wasn't annoying him about dates and actually putting her brain to use. But since he didn't even know them, how could he personally call them his friends?

These thoughts stewed in Sasuke's head as they reached training ground 17. Naruto headed towards the bushes while Sasuke quickly got on the branches of a tree to observe the spar that was going on.

He could see two pink-haired people in the distance, one the familiar figure of his lone female teammate, the other an adult male with what seemed to …star-shaped pink hair? After making sure he wasn't seeing things, Sasuke huffed in irritation. Today was really full of surprises, Sakura actually had a real family (of weirdos) and there were pink-haired men with hair that looked like stars.

The man threw a quick punch that was quickly dodged by Sakura, who retaliated with a blow aimed to the midsection that was blocked by Sakura's father by him grabbing her hand. Sakura twisted herself out her father's grasp and placed her foot on his torso, launching herself a couple feet back in a flip and sending her father back.

"Oof! That's something new, Sakura."

Sakura landed solidly and grinned at her father. "I like the idea of using the opponent's body for momentum."

"That won't work with everyone. They'll be expecting it and – faster!" And her father sped behind her in a shunshin, slamming a blow on her shoulder. Sakura bit back the sound of pain she wanted to let out and made to put some distance between them, parrying her father's attacks as best as she could, even though he was steadily increasing speed with which he sent them. Eventually her father managed to catch her in a foot sweep and she rolled to the grass.

This time the groan of pain was audible. She moaned into the ground as she heard her father clicking his teeth above her.

"You have a long way to go still, that foot sweep was weak, my girl. You weren't quick enough to get out of my attacks, and you will get knocked back by anyone showing increased strength, Sakura, if you don't put more effort into this. Aren't you ever going to get tired of eating dust?" He commented. Sakura rolled her eyes as she got up and dusted her qipao off.

"You're the one using your muscles all out." She complained.

"Sweetheart, I'm not using anything all out. Maybe if you actually did your strength training and eat some steak once in a while, you would be able to knock me off my feet and not the other way around."

Sakura just stretched her limbs and cracked her knuckles. "One more before lunch at home?" Kizashi looked at her and then at the bushes and trees around 20 meters away.

"I think your friends would like to talk first." Confused, Sakura cocked her head to see what friends he was talking about. In the bushes she could see a sliver of bright orange and high in the branches sat Sasuke.

"Naruto, Sasuke-kun – what are you guys doing here?" She called out to them.

Naruto burst out of the bushes first.

"Good Morning, Sakura-chan!" he screamed out, pausing before further adding, "Well, actually, it'll be noon real soon, but you get the point, yanno?"

Sasuke jumped down, snorting at Naruto.

"We just wanted to see you…" Naruto answered sheepishly. Sasuke understood; he himself felt hesitant to bring up what they were brainstorming earlier in front of her father. Sakura nodded and turned to her father.

"Tou-san, this is Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto, my teammates. Guys, this is my dad."

Sakura's father, with the aforementioned strangely shaped dark pink hair, grinned at them. Up close he was shown to have strangely shaped sideburns and a rather broad muscular figure. A ninja just like the mother, guessed Sasuke, but that was apparent by the earlier training. He wasn't no Kakashi, but he seemed good enough in taijutsu.

Sakura's father laughed heartily. "Just call me Kizashi, kids. I know enough about you two to be your best friend from this little one," he clapped a large hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Because she does not stop talking about you two. It's always 'Sasuke-kun this,' or 'Naruto-baka did that' with her."

"Aww, really, Sakura-chan, don't you say any nice things about me?"

"No." Sakura replied abruptly and Sasuke softly smiled despite himself.

"Say, why don't you kids join us? We're going to have a bit of a training game before lunchtime." Sakura's father grinned, while Sakura whirled around to shake her head at her father.

'She really is acting strangely.' thought Sasuke. 'Generally, she'd love to at least spend time with me.'

Naruto grinned back.

"Eh, bastard, you up for it?"

Personally, Sasuke wanted to test himself now that his wounds from the fight in Wave were healed, and at least this would give them more time to observe Sakura.

"Hn."

"That was his 'yes-but-I-don't-want-to-exert-effort-in-one-more-vowel-so-I'm-grunting-instead-hn', so he's down."

"Naruto, don't mock Sasuke-kun's inability to communicate with words! It makes him cool!" Sakura snapped before her eyes widened at what exactly she just said.

Sasuke sighed inwardly. Maybe very little had changed.

"Now, children, let's not fight before we decide how we fight." Kizashi cut in with a barely scolding tone that didn't match the huge grin on his face.

Naruto scratched his chin.

"There are four of us, maybe we should split up into two teams?" The blond offered. Kizashi's grin grew wider and he removed two little matchbooks from his kunai pouch.

"I got just the thing, kids! Okay, why don't we split up in two pairs and one person holds one matchbook per team. Objective is to get both matchbooks. Sound good?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, seeing a chance to really observe Sakura, one that he didn't feel Naruto would use to the fullest.

"I'm going with Sakura." He stated bluntly before anyone else could add anything. Instantly, both Haruno looked at him, one in plain shock and the other somehow appraisingly

Naruto crossed his arms and pouted at Sasuke, make it obvious he wanted Sakura's company. Sasuke ignored him to look at Sakura, whose confusion and shock was drawn all over her face. He could see her cheeks redden and began to feel as if this might give her the wrong impression of his intentions. Heavens forbid she goes into that mood of hers where she couldn't leave him alone.

"Uhm, okay, Sasuke-kun." She said bashfully, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Well, kiddo, looks like it's you and me." Sakura's father nudged Naruto with his elbow before throwing Sasuke a blue matchbook.

"You guys have the blue, we the red. First team to get both together wins." And then he quickly performed a shunshin, disappearing with Naruto from this part of the field. Sasuke gestured towards the trees he and Naruto had just left and sped off in the direction, Sakura following.

"Are they going to attack us?" He whispered to Sakura. He knew Naruto would want to at first chance, but Haruno Kizashi was a new entity.

Sakura shook her head.

"He's letting us plan out our moves first. Daddy will let us know when it starts."

Daddy. Sasuke had to blink at that affectionate name for her father.

He always thought of his father as 'father'. Sometimes, among the clan, he'd even referred to him as Otousama. Daddy was such a strange word for a father.

"Anyway, who gets the matchbook?" Sakura said, craning her neck to look out at the field from beyond the tree they were leaning against.

Sasuke closed his eyes briefly. As Naruto and Kizashi were aware of Sakura's lacking skills in close, hand-to-hand combat, they would expect him to be carrying the matchbook. But that would meaning he'd have to fight off Naruto and a very experienced Chuunin.

Sakura took the matchbook from him, observing it.

"Sasuke, do you know any genjutsu?" She asked, pointing to the matchbox. He shook his head. Sighing, Sakura shoved the matchbox in a hole in the tree, grabbing a leaf and placing it over the box to help conceal it.

"It's risky since we'll need to run back and find it, but this lets us focus on getting the box from them than defending it. We can go on the offensive." She said.

"Are they likely to make the first move?" Sasuke asked.

"Tou-san's a trapping specialist. He never likes making the first move, and he prefers luring people to where he wants them."

Sasuke frowned. Naruto was actually pretty decent at trap-making too, like Sakura, though where his were weird ('creative') and tended to get overly complicated, she liked a more clean cut and simple trap. But Naruto simply generally lacked patience for trap-making. He could plan tactics out on the fly, but he really liked jumping to fights rather than setting them up. So, the other team would fall back on Kizashi for the trap.

But that meant Naruto was the lure…

He heard Sakura audibly sigh in annoyance and turned back to look at her.

"I wish we have a water source so I can try and make some mist again. That would help." She stopped and gave off a tiny smile. "Daddy doesn't know I can do that yet."

Sasuke's stomach lurched. The Hiding in the Mist technique was a surprise, and one she learned back in Wave. If she was willing to mention Nami no Kuni, perhaps he could use that his moment to question her about what actually happened.

"You changed back in Wave." He stated matter-of-factly. Sakura turned wide, frightened eyes towards to him, like a thief exposed in the light.

"O-oh? What mak-" Sakura's weak attempt to refute his charge were interrupted when a loud bang sounded from the field. Both genin turned their gazes up from their hideout to look at the small flare in the sky.

"That's Daddy saying it's time, come on." Sakura snapped quickly. Sasuke eyed her suspiciously. She was definitely going to hide whatever happened then. Not that he expected any less. It was still a hassle, though.

"Sakura," Sasuke thought as he turned on his Sharingan. "Is, as always, an annoyance."

They got up to the trees, hopping branch to branch in order to not risk the dangers of an open field. Sakura led the way, surprisingly, but Sasuke followed her lead. After all, she had a better grasp of her own father's tactics then he had of the man.

Soon enough, after a minute of tree walking, both ninja noticed something very orange dotting the path ahead.

"Kage Bunshin." Sasuke spoke up as they both landed on a particularly thick branch.

Sakura made a face as she glared at the hoard of Naruto ahead of them.

"Ah, Kizashi-san! I got them! They're here!" A couple of copies of the blond yelled at pointed at him. Sasuke glanced at Sakura to see what she wanted to do.

"Sasuke can you see-?"

"No."

Sakura reached for a kunai.

"Well, I guess we do this with no shortcuts then. Don't get too far in, that's where he'll place traps."

Sasuke nodded and then jumped off, speeding towards the first available clone and slamming him into the tree. As usual in their spars, he was met with that familiar puff of smoke.

"It's a shame I can't tell him apart with these eyes." thought Sasuke, diving into another pile of clones. Outnumbered they could be, but everything was so slow to him with these eyes, one blend of glowing light after another. Whereas earlier on in their spars Sasuke had to rely on his instincts to dodge and subdue the dobe when he used his clones, now it was easier when every second felt like a minute.

Sometimes he didn't even need his Sharingan with Naruto, as the patterns were so easy to follow. A left hook following a right jab. A foot sweep after an uppercut. Not that most ninja weren't predictable, but with these eyes, it was like watching everything in slow motion. He kicked another clone off him, taking a second to look at Sakura, who was dong fairly alright despite the circumstances. He watched her cleverly replace herself when cornered by a gang of Bunshin and then use that same log as a weapon to hurl at the group itself, causing several to dispel.

It was good thinking but not enough. They were disadvantaged because Naruto could just make more of these, ridiculous as that sounded. They tried to find a limit once but only quit because it was eating into valuable training time and, frankly, had gotten boring. And that meant that finding the matchbox among the bunshin was exactly like finding a needle in a haystack.

A yelp from behind him alerted Sasuke that Sakura couldn't keep up the pace as he expected. Flipping over so he could better see what was going on with her. Another gang had grouped up on Sakura, swarming her with punches and kicks. Clearly overwhelmed, the pink-haired kunoichi was desperately trying to slip away from the Bunshin, focusing on breaking their circle, but to no avail. Sasuke sent a kunai to the group, striking one of them in the head and dispelling it. Sakura jumped off the branch, falling down to the ground. She looked up at him, mouthing her thanks.

The clones, however were jubilant.

"Oi, teme! Guess what we have!" said one of the clones, waving around a familiar blue pouch that belong to Sakura. He narrowed his eyes. Obviously they managed to get it. The group of Naruto started laughing, with a few flipping him off and sticking their tongues out at him while the one who waved it around opened the pouch up.

"Eh?" Naruto said, sounding disappointed. "There's no matchbox in here. Sakura-chan, no fair!"

The disappointment was followed by chaos as the clones went from mostly not interacting with each other to fighting over the pouch.

"Hey, let me see!"

"What do you mean it ain't there?"

"Maybe you just missed it, yanno?"

And worst of all, when one jumped in the air, pointing down at Sakura and yelling, "I know where it is! It's probably in her bra!"

The sheer stupidity of that statement, horrifyingly enough, seemed to capture the clones' attention enough that they stopped fighting and collectively looked down at Sakura, who was the color of a tomato.

"IN MY WHAT? YOU JUST TRY IT, NARUTO, I'll KNOCK YOUR TEETH IN!" She screamed up at them.

"Oi, dobe! What makes you so sure she has it?" He taunted, smirking up at the clones.

"In that case, I'm sure you'd be willing to give it up, neh?" A voice that was mostly definitely not Naruto said into his ear. Sasuke jumped away from the older man, narrowly missing a grappling move. Not good. Kizashi had almost had him.

Sasuke raised his head up challengingly, unsurprised when this erased some of Kizashi's smile. Of course men of Kizashi's age weren't used to being challenged by rookies like Sasuke, but Sasuke wasn't your average rookie. He was an avenger.

And avengers won.

"You're pretty cocky, aren't ya, Uchiha-san?" Kizashi muttered. "Well, then, let's see what you got. After all, can't have a ball of hot air chasing after my little girl can I?"

Sasuke grew irritated. Chasing after? No, obviously, this man was trying to rile him up, like Kakashi tended to do. He jumped back, intending to put some space between them while preparing a Goukakyuu no Jutsu. He nursed the flame wanting to burst out in an explosion from him and instead concentrated, releasing it in a stream that went after Kizashi. Kizashi looked flabbergasted at the fireball but, to his credit, quickly jumped out of the way once the shock was over. Sasuke merely turned his head after him until he could feel the flame leave his body. Kizashi landed on a branch a few feet down, giving him a shaky smile.

"Well, I was right, you're ball of hot air if I've ever seen one." He chuckled. Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "But in a good way." Oh. It was a pun. Sakura's dad made puns and had pink hair shaped like a cherry blossom. How did his teammate end up so…normal?

"Sasuke-kun! That was so cool!" Well, relatively normal besides the whole idol worship thing she had for him. Said teammate jumped right by him, giving him a small smile.

Kizashi raised his thumb up and flashed a smile at both of them.

"Hey, Sakura, you were right! He's pretty impressive! He just needs to smile more and I'd totally approve." Sasuke deepened his frown, both in response to the chuunin and the barrage of whooping noises coming from the direction Sakura just came from. A smaller gaggle of Bunshin joined them, flipping over to land by Kizashi.

"What's the plan, boss?" asked one of the clones.

Kizashi hummed in thought before pointing to Sasuke.

"How about you get him? Doesn't seem like Sakura has the matchbox."

Sasuke pivoted and ran in the direction they just came from before one of the Bunshin could even finish their "war cries". His eyes scanned every nook and cranny they could, hoping for a spot he could set up traps for the Bunshin in. Almost as if by accident, Sasuke spotted a shiny tree a few feet apart from the rest, and connected to it a lone trap wire. Sasuke jumped on a branch, intending to get a look at the strange tree that was covered with chakra without disturbing the wire, when he heard a snap.

BANG!

Light flooded his eyes, blinding him as he could feel himself collide with something hard and rough before darkness moved in.

"Sasuke?" Familiar, worried green eyes were the first thing he could see as he came to. He winced, a serious ache in his eyes and head.

"Sasuke!" Sakura repeated once more. He shut his eyes to cut off the pain, so he only felt Sakura move away from him by her hair skimming his skin.

"He's up!"

"That wasn't too long, only ten minutes." He could hear Naruto say somewhere close by on his right.

"Well, typically, my flash bombs aren't supposed to make someone pass out, so I guess it's the tree?" Kizashi's sounded from up above.

"You weren't supposed to use something like that, Tou-san! You could have really hurt Sasuke!" Sakura added, and he felt her hand on his shoulder.

"They're really harmless, Sakura, just a bit of a surprise against anyone using doujutsu. You should really be yelling at the tree for being in Uchiha-kun's way, not your good ol' dad."

"A flash..bomb?" asked Sasuke.

"Something I tend to use on the job, though one of its hidden uses is the way it temporarily blinds people with doujutsu that focus on seeing chakra. I thought it'd make for a good trap with you, heck, it'd let you know a weakness you can work on. I've worked with Hyuuga that got so angry at flash bombs that they steal them to try and get used to them. I don't recommend that, but, hey, now you know."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute! I don't get something, how does that thing work? I wanna see if I can use them in spars against the bastard, yanno? He's been a real pain in the butt in spars ever since he got those red eyes."

Sasuke grit his teeth. This was pretty mortifying, not helped by the fact the headache was refusing to go away.

"Well, it's just an exploding tag, except with a really concentrated burst of chakra in it set to release as light, released ultra-fast, you know, like a flash. See, flash bomb? You usually have a few minutes of your opponent being stunned, depending how close and from what angle they saw the flash. It's like shooting a flare gun into their eyes."

"Gotcha, pops. You got a copy of the tag?" Sasuke resisted the urge to groan, he could practically hear Naruto grinning.

"You bet I do, kiddo!"

"So, wait, who won? No one got the matchbooks and we sort of stopped because bastard went face first into a tree."

"Naruto is that really important?" Sakura chimed in, sounding exasperated.

Someone 'hmmed', most likely Kizashi.

"Well, I gotta say it, looks like the tree won."

"Aww, man!"

"That's it, daddy, if you don't stop talking about the tree, I'm going to force you to marry it!"

"Well, your mother has been asking for a bigger bed…"

Sasuke's eyes creaked open and he tried to push himself up before any of them could continue the ridiculous conversation. He felt Sakura's hand be replaced by Kizashi's larger one, helping him up. His eyes still felt tender, though the pain from earlier had mostly subsided.

"Ah, Sasuke-kun, is it better?"

"Hn." He nodded, looking at Kizashi. Flash bombs. Those were something to keep notice of, especially if he ever faced that man. He could turn off his Sharingan and gain a brief advantage over Itachi.

Kizashi pulled out a watch.

"Oh, Sakura, you have an appointment in thirty, right?"

The color bled out of Sakura as she looked at the watch.

"Yeah, I-I do, can't be late, can I?" She laughed nervously, causing Sasuke a look with Naruto. Sakura was back to being weird. And what appointment could she have?

"Well, how's about this, why don't you boys come over for dinner tonight? Mama Haruno makes a mean nikujaga and after a spar, nothing's as good a real home-cooked food." Kizashi offered.

"Really? That's awesome, Sasuke and I would love that!" Naruto accepted, before Sasuke could refuse. "Never had home-cooked nikujaga before. Or much home-cooked stuff." Naruto added while Sasuke grew silent. He could recall his mother making nikujaga on cold days with potatoes from the communal Uchiha garden.

"Great, that settles it. You two come by at sundown, and we'll show you some Haruno hospitality, won't we, Sakura?" Sakura's father said, clapping his hand on his daughter's shoulders. Sakura gave them a false shaky smile before removing herself from her father's hold.

"I need to go if I want to make it on time. See you, Naruto, Sasuke-kun!" And she sped off in the direction of the mountain.

Kizashi sighed, the sound the least exuberant sound Sasuke had ever heard coming from the man's mouth.

"I can't help just worry about her. Keep an eye on her for me, alright, boys?" He said, looking at them, the picture of a father truly worried about his daughter.

But Kizashi didn't even need to ask, as Sasuke intended to keep two.

O-Seibo - a Japanese gift giving holiday in early winter.

Potted plants are considered unlucky gifts in Japan, encouraging sickness. Naruto's gift of is a faux pas. Hence why Kakashi named him 'gloomy'. Sasuke bought tea cups for Kakashi after hearing Sakura tell Naruto she was buying him tea. Sasuke didn't wrap them.

Nikujaga - a meat and potato stew.

And some notes on in-story canon:

Sasuke and Naruto like rushing to the conclusions.

Kizashi is a walking dad joke.

The Senju clan was disbanded as a clan the moment Tobirama became Hokage, partly because he wanted to enact policies without being accused of clan partisanship by the Uchiha clan. And also to fuck up their day, because Tobirama was about that bigotry. The chapter after the next is going to be a long ass info post before we start a new arc so, that will have more info.

Let me know your thoughts guys, and I hope you have the spoopiest Halloween ever .