8.

The wind billowed and elevated Sasuke's hair to his eyes as Team 7 reached further away from the Fire Country Konohagakure resides in, trees decreasing in size with less sturdiness. Dust clung to his feet as the path they walked on became narrower, the humidity of the air causing his clothes to cling onto his skin uncomfortably. Three measly days had passed and camping would soon be necessary for them to reach the Land of Wave. 

Sakura, who had been mostly quiet during their seemingly mundane C-rank mission, suddenly angled her body to look at Kakashi. "Sensei, so does Wave have any shinobi?" 

"No, they don't," said man replied. He hummed curiously. "Shouldn't you know that, Sakura? You were the top in academics after all." 

Hunching in on herself, the twelve-year-old girl stammered, "Y-yeah! Sorry, sensei. Now that you mention it I do remember. Must have crossed my mind… haha." Her tone, earnest in nature, was also imbued with traceable bitterness. 

"Kaka-sensei, Kaka-sensei! Sakura's really smart, y'know? She's amazing and got full marks in all the exams we did at the academy. I got zero, haha. Her punches hurt loads in training, too." Scratching the back of his head, the deadlast's eyes searchingly locked with the girls' and he gave her a small, comforting nod. 

While Kakashi mouthed the name Kaka-sensei and scrunched his face up in disgust, Sasuke tilted his head at the considerate action, and upon eye contact with the blond who then stuck his tongue out at him, hurriedly looked away. 

"The shinobi academy curriculum has truly dropped in terms of intensity and useful results," Kakashi mentioned with a nostalgic twinge in his voice. "While it didn't take me long to get you three into decent shape for genin, the standards have lowered considerably. If this was around twenty years ago, all of you would have failed your graduation exam." 

"Twenty years ago… but that's around war time sensei!" Sakura exclaimed. "There's no war so shouldn't it be easier?" 

A hand ran down his face, making Kakashi seem far older and wearier even with his mask on concealing most of his expressions. "Oh, to be young and ignorant." 

 "Baby genins, war is never truly over. I can guarantee that another war possibly even worse than the last one will come and claim just as many lives, and when that happens none of you will be prepared. War is halted with meaningless signed papers and loopholes intentionally left to be exploited. War is fought through deception, espionage and with soldiers that don't meander the streets in day time. War never ends. It only takes a different form. What we are living in right now is not peace—and the sooner you understand that the better. There is no peace in being a shinobi. You are a tool for the state to be sharpened and brandished against other villages." 

He sounds like Shisui. Not many knew how nihilistic the young jounin had been when he was alive. Many speculated that it was Itachi with his solemn gaze that seemed to penetrate even the most hardened veterans with its calculating intensity. But the demoralised one had been Shisui. Itachi, while he shared similar views to Shisui, had something he didn't: hope. Always looking forward and working hard for a bloodless future where the occupation of being a shinobi itself was no longer needed had been his dream and even though he knew it would never happen in his lifetime, his faith in humanity had been strong. 

Shisui, who had also graduated at seven, was immediately thrust into a war he gave no fucks about and forced to sometimes even kill enemies his age as well; mangled bodies of young children would haunt his mind for years to come. Having gained his Mangekyo Sharingan after watching his teammates be ferociously annihilated, his opinions were bound to be jaded. At the end of the day, despite his obvious misgivings and anger at how life turned out, Shisui still gave Sasuke the impression that he would do absolutely anything to protect his village and clan. 

It didn't take long for Itachi's righteous beliefs to sour once his father ordered him to join ANBU. 

While Sasuke was young, he wasn't ignorant. The blank looks Kakashi sometimes sported were the same as the ones Itachi had once joining ANBU. Coupled with the fact that he was known to be an elite jounin, it wasn't a stretch to speculate that he was also part of ANBU at some point. And quite recently too. 

Naruto had gone silent, his bickering with Tazuna dying out after a few hours. 

At the imperceptible shift to his surroundings, Sasuke's Sharingan flickered to life, focused on the lone puddle standing out like a sore thumb and oozing with chakra. For a puddle to be there was suspicious, as there had been no rain for days; he was almost certain they were about to be ambushed. 

And just as he was about to alert Kakashi of his suspicions, said man's body was immediately cleaved in half, gruesomely. Unadulterated panic seeped into his bones until an enemy was right in front of Sasuke's face, kunai in hand with a murderous grin. 

He didn't have time to think—only to take down the enemy as swiftly as possible. A well aimed swipe of his legs and kick to the chest and they were instantly down. Heart hammering wildly in his chest and mind an empty haze, it took him a few seconds to realise that his kunai was pointed at the enemy's neck, a small drop of blood visible at the tip, which would cause immediate death if he pushed further in. Seeing as the man was out of commission, Sasuke reluctantly pulled the almost fatal attack away and knocked out the man with the blunt of his kunai instead. 

Sakura, beside him, seemed to have taken down the other missing-nin with ease, not a smidge of emotion visible on her unyielding face. After tying her enemy up, she silently handed him a rope for him to do the same and he nodded his head in gratitude. 

Shaking like a leaf was surprisingly Naruto—his talk of being the strongest and the next Hokage must have been all empty boasting for him to struggle taking down such incompetent shinobi. Seriously, who even hides in plain sight like that? 

Kakashi had also returned from his supposed observation, praised him and Sakura but condescendingly mocked Naruto even if he didn't mean to (but knowing how sadistic their sensei was he probably did). Ashamed, Naruto diverted his eyes to the side, in an unusual act of vulnerability never revealed before and a lot of awful things had been said to Naruto during their time in team seven. 

(The glares, the whispers of a demon child, the random missions from civilians that almost always got turned down to the point where Sasuke noticed that Kakashi only gave them D-ranks from clan-born shinobi households. It was all creating a very ugly picture.) 

That didn't deter Sasuke from leaning in with feigned nonchalance, a typical smirk and saying, "What are you—a scaredy-cat?" 

And Sasuke didn't prepare himself for the tense silence accompanying such a taunt that would usually be responded with a similar jab—maybe at his hairstyle and his "pretty boy bullshit that nobody falls for!" 

Kakashi had gone to interrogate Tazuna with a chilling smile that promised pain if he dared lie, and the old man began weaving a heart wrenching tale of his poor village that was terrorised by an influential shipping magnate taking hold of their island, how as a bridge builder, he was a direct threat. 

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the cheap manipulation tactic but couldn't deny that he wanted to continue the mission. The likelihood of an enemy stronger than the one they faced before was high and Sasuke was just itching for a good fight. Nonetheless he had understood that the mission was far above what was expected for typical genin. Any other jounin would immediately head back as soon as a client dared lie about the mission ranking. There was no true deceit however. Just a man doing whatever he could to save his people. Sasuke could respect that. 

"I'm afraid we can't continue this mission," Kakashi said, ignoring Sakura and Naruto's simultaneous protests. "You see, my genin are very new, just out of the academy actually and the ranking of this mission has already risen to a B. You understand that they don't have the experience to protect you to their fullest, don't you?" 

Stricken with distress, Tazuna shook his head. "Please, I'm sorry! I told you it was all I could afford. If I don't build this bridge my people will starve to death. We'll be doomed." 

"My student's safety is my priority currently," Kakashi responded with no inflection to his voice. "Protocol demands I return back to Konoha and harsh consequences upon you for mis-ranking the mission. If you didn't have an elite jounin such as myself guarding you as well, there could have been casualties either now or later on." He then pointed at Naruto. "Furthermore, my student is poisoned and needs to get treated." 

Out of nowhere the idiot had stabbed his own hand and declared a pledge to never back down again—something like that anyway. All Sasuke could do was march up to him, huffing and puffing aggressively and attempt to bandage him up with his own first aid kit. 

Staring at him in confusion at the caring display, Naruto blinked. "Sasuke, what are you… I mean, why are you…" 

"Idiot, do you want to bleed out?" 

Just as he wiped the blood away, Sasuke noticed the wound already closing at an alarmingly fast rate. He raised his brow, however, and continued to bandage up Naruto, saying nothing, already knowing Kakashi was watching him warily upon seeing his considering look. 

"Sensei, we should continue the mission." Sakura, insecure yet outspoken Sakura had taken a stance, one where more lives could be saved. It was with no surprise to Sasuke—despite her sheer strength there was an air of gentleness and tranquility to the girl, sometimes to the point where after a long day of training Sasuke could sit beside her and simply bask in her presence that exuded security. Intrinsically, a part of Sakura, even if she underwent the harshest conditioning programme, would be benign. 

It was invigorating in a world of ruthless killers, of state sanctioned murder and vigilant dissimulation. Where Sasuke lacked the means to properly express his emotion, Naruto nicely covered for him. Where Sasuke failed to be mature and an anchor for someone, Sakura filled in the gap. Team 7 made Sasuke feel whole in a way he hadn't experienced for years. 

And as Naruto chimed in to voice his agreements with Sakura who began trying to reason with her sensei to his obvious amusement, ultimately convincing her sensei to believe her team was capable of taking on the mission, Sasuke allowed a small, unnoticeable smile to grace his features that relaxed and lost its sharp, pointiness and razor edges. 

Aching and grouchy, the bridge builder they were guarding groaned and moaned with relentless insistence to take a break. "My legs are killing me. I know you freaky, superpowered ninja can do stuff no-one else can but I'm a grandpa!" 

Useless civilians, Sasuke's mind spat and with Kakashi's deadpan expression mirroring his, a part of him seemed to agree too. On the other hand, Sakura sympathetically nodded her head. 

Typical.