The Konoha Hospital was silent and Naruto hated that feeling, as it reminded him of the loneliness of his apartment after a difficult mission. He walked in, nodding at the receptionist nurse, who looked at him with disapproval because of the dirt he still had on his jacket.
"I'm here to see Sasuke Uchiha," he said before she could protest.
"But don't make any noise."
"Sure! I'm silence personified!"
He walked down the white hallway with his steps echoing more than he wanted and, just as he was wiping a smudge of dirt from his cheek, he saw her.
Sakura was in the hallway, a few yards from the door, pacing three steps toward the entrance only to stop, clench her fists, and turn around again and again while biting her thumbnail with an anxiety that Naruto could feel from his position.
Wow, she's still here, he thought. They still haven't let her see Sasuke? She's really nervous. Poor Sakura-chan, she must be really worried about him.
He approached, trying to sound casual.
"Hey, Sakura-chan! Still here? Are they not letting you in?"
Sakura jumped, so startled she nearly hit the wall, and she spun around with her green eyes blazing with what looked like anger.
"Naruto! What are you doing here!?" she hissed, her voice sharp. "I thought you were... very busy... with Ino-pig!"
Naruto blinked, completely bewildered, and rubbed his jaw, which still ached from Ino's punch.
"Busy? Yeah, busy getting punched!" he said indignantly. "Ino threw me out of the shop and nearly tore my head off! Look!" He pointed to his cheek, which was starting to turn red.
Sakura stopped pacing cold and her entire furious posture deflated, replaced by total confusion.
"Wait... what?" she said, taking a step closer. "Ino... hit you?"
"Yeah! And hard!" Naruto complained. "She called me a pervert and all I did was offer her a secret jutsu!"
Sakura's mouth opened and closed a couple of times. Secret jutsu? Oh, no... he didn't. That idiot! Did he try to use the Falna on INO!?
A wave of relief so immense washed over her that she almost felt dizzy, realizing he was a complete idiot who wasn't flirting, but recruiting.
"Naruto..." she said, her voice much calmer now, though tense with exasperation. "What... exactly... did you say to Ino?"
Naruto told her the entire conversation with his usual lack of a filter.
"Well, the plan!" he said, gesturing. "That I could make her super strong if she let me draw on her back with my blood! And she hit me! I don't get it, because it worked with you and Hinata!"
Sakura put a hand to her forehead, rubbing her temples.
"Naruto, you're a lost cause!" she said, though there was a touch of humor in her voice now. "You can't go around telling girls you want to draw on their backs with blood, especially not Ino Yamanaka! Of course she was going to think you were a pervert!"
"But I'm not!" he protested. "It was for the team, and her mental jutsus are great!"
"I know, I know," Sakura sighed, "but she doesn't."
She stopped pacing and all the nervous energy that had been consuming her vanished, leaving her simply tired. Naruto looked at her, noticing the change.
"Hey, are you okay? You look exhausted. Is training with Granny Tsunade that bad?"
"Yeah... it's exhausting," she admitted, looking toward Sasuke's door and then at the floor. "And... no. I wasn't just nervous about Sasuke."
Naruto tilted his head, confused again.
"Then why were you pacing? You were about to wear a hole in the floor."
Sakura blushed a bright pink color that betrayed her earlier lie.
"It's just..." she said quietly, not looking at him. "I saw you in the shop, laughing with her." She looked up, and her green eyes were surprisingly vulnerable. "And... I don't know, it was weird and I didn't like it."
Naruto looked at her, confused. Weird? Why weird? Ino punched me.
"Weird, how?" he asked. "Weird that she hit me?"
"No, you idiot!" she snapped, her frustration returning. "Weird that...! Ugh, forget it! It doesn't matter!"
She crossed her arms and turned her back to him to look out a window at the end of the hall, while Naruto just stared at her. She didn't like it? That I was with Ino? Wait... wait a second.
Sakura-chan... was she jealous?
The thought was so new and so completely outside his usual paradigm that his brain took a second to accept it. Jealous? Of me? With Ino?
A slow, sly grin, one he had learned from watching Granny Tsunade so much, spread across his face.
"Ohhh," he said, moving a little closer. "I get it! You were jealous!"
"I WAS NOT JEALOUS! SHUT UP!" Sakura shouted, spinning around with her face an intense tomato red. "It just seemed... weird that you'd rather be with Ino-pig than... than..."
"Than with you?" he finished, his grin widening.
"No! Than training! Or... or visiting Hinata! Just forget it! It doesn't matter!"
Naruto let out a soft laugh and his smile softened, losing its mocking edge.
"Sakura-chan," he said, his calm voice making her look at him. "Ino punched me. You... well, you punch me too, but it's different because she's not on the team."
"So what?" she muttered, though her defensive posture was crumbling.
"Ino is just... a recruitment plan, but you're my teammate and my friend."
Sakura looked at him, feeling the anger and jealousy completely evaporate, leaving only exhaustion and that strange warmth she felt when he said things like that.
"...Oh," she said softly.
"Yeah!" he exclaimed, getting his energy back. "So let's go see Sasuke, and then you can help me think of a Plan B for Ino! This time I'll bring flowers, because Ino likes them and works with them! It's foolproof!"
Sakura sighed, but this time, a genuine smile appeared on her face.
"You're an idiot, Naruto."
"But an idiot with a plan!" he said, winking at her. "Let's go!"
She shook her head but followed him down the hall toward Sasuke's room and, for some reason, the hospital didn't seem so cold anymore.
******
The Academy classroom was a chaos of noise and nerves where no one seemed able to sit still, as there was something in the air that went beyond the usual boredom, a static electricity that made Kiba unable to stop drumming his fingers on the desk while whispering to Akamaru.
"I'm telling you, something big is gonna happen, Akamaru, I can smell it." Kiba leaned back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head and grinning confidently at the ceiling. "And whatever it is, we're gonna crush it."
Akamaru let out a short, affirmative bark, which caused Shino, sitting on the other side, to sigh in that barely perceptible way he had.
"Your confidence is loud, Kiba," Shino said without looking up from a small beetle crawling on his knuckle, "and you're bothering the insect, so lower your voice."
"You're always so cheerful, Shino. You should learn to have some fun or you'll get wrinkles before you're twenty."
In the back row, Shikamaru had his head smashed against the desk's wood and his arms crossed over his ears as if trying to build a barricade against the sound, ignoring the rhythmic crunch of Chōji eating chips beside him.
"Could you all just shut up for a minute?" Shikamaru muttered into his arm, his voice muffled. "It's too early for this much noise. What a drag."
"Don't be so bitter, Shikamaru," Ino said, turning in her seat to shoot a critical glance toward the doorway. "You're just nervous because you know Sasuke-kun isn't here, and without him, the class has no shine."
Sakura, sitting a few rows ahead, tensed visibly at the name but kept her eyes glued to the empty blackboard, her hands clenched tightly in her lap.
"Even if Sasuke-kun were fine, I'm sure he'd have more important things to do than come listen to your nonsense, Ino-pig," Sakura snapped without turning around, though her voice lacked its usual venom and just sounded tired.
"Wow! Billboard Brow has claws today," Ino retorted, lowering her tone slightly and leaning forward with curiosity. "But seriously, Sakura... Do you think they'll let him come? Everyone knows he's in the hospital, but... is it as bad as they say? It's not like the 'great Uchiha' to miss the main event. Or has he really not recovered from the Wave mission?"
The direct mention of the mission made Sakura's back go even more rigid, and Naruto, sitting between Sakura and an unusually still Hinata, turned sharply toward Ino.
"He's coming, Ino," Naruto said with a serious tone that made the blonde blink. "Sasuke is... recovering. He'll be back soon, stronger than any of you, so don't worry about him and worry about yourself."
"I was just asking, Naruto-baka," Ino muttered, turning back to the front just as the door opened.
Hinata, who had taken a seat next to Naruto when Kiba moved, fiddled with her fingers and glanced sideways at the blond.
"Naruto-kun..." she whispered, barely audible. "Do you... do you think Tsunade-sama will discharge him in time? If it's an important announcement..."
Naruto gave her a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"Sure he will, Hinata. The bastard's tough."
"I hope so," Sakura muttered, biting her lower lip, "because I've had a bad feeling ever since they called us all in."
The classroom door burst open and the sound of wood slamming against the wall cut off all conversation immediately as Iruka entered with a firm stride, carrying a stack of papers and wearing an expression that mixed severity with contained excitement.
"To your seats, everyone," Iruka ordered, dropping the papers on his desk with a thud. "Now."
The sound of scraping chairs filled the room until everyone was settled, and Iruka scanned the room, pausing for a second on each face to evaluate them.
"Welcome," Iruka said, and the scar across his nose crinkled as he offered a genuinely proud smile. "You're all here. I've gathered you today for an announcement that will change the course of your ninja careers."
A murmur went through the room; Kiba nudged Hinata, grinning, while Naruto leaned forward, nearly falling out of his chair.
"Just say it already, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto shouted. "Is it an S-Rank mission? Are we going to fight monsters?"
"Shut your mouth, Naruto, and listen," Sakura scolded him, though she also leaned forward.
Iruka raised a hand for silence. "Today, I am formally announcing the start of the Chūnin Promotion Exams."
The room erupted.
"Yes! I knew it!" Kiba yelled, slamming his desk. "It's our time, Akamaru!"
"What a drag..." Shikamaru sighed, finally lifting his head. "Exams? That means extra work. I'll pass."
"You can't pass, idiot," Ino hissed at him. "If we don't do it, we'll be stuck as Genin forever while everyone else moves up. Do you want Kiba giving you orders someday?"
Shikamaru's face twisted into a mask of pure horror. "Good point. That would be problematic."
"As you know," Iruka continued, raising his voice, "these exams test your skills not only as individuals, but as operational teams, and this year is special because Konoha has the honor to coorganize the exams with our allies from Sunagakure."
He explained that, due to the joint nature of the event, security would be extreme and the tests more rigorous, looking for leadership and intelligence rather than brute force.
"But there is a fundamental rule this year, an unbreakable rule that the Hokage and the Kazekage have ratified," Iruka said, marking every word after a dramatic pause. "Only teams of three members will be accepted. No exceptions. If a team does not have all three members present and in condition to fight, the entire team is disqualified."
The air seemed to rush out of Sakura's lungs all at once.
Kiba let out a nervous laugh and looked at his teammates. "Well, we're good. Team 8, ready for action."
"Us too," Ino said, looking at hers. "Chōji, stop eating for one second, please. We're in."
Iruka's gaze moved slowly until it stopped on the front row, where there was an empty seat next to Sakura, and his expression softened with a compassion that made Naruto's stomach churn.
"Team 8: Hyūga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino. Your applications have been approved, you have a green light," Iruka said. "Team 10: Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chōji. Approved."
He paused and swallowed before announcing, "Team 7..."
Sakura shot to her feet so fast her chair tipped over backward with a crash that made Hinata jump.
"Iruka-sensei!" Sakura shouted, her voice high and bordering on panic. "Wait! Sasuke-kun... Sasuke-kun is still in the hospital, but he's going to get out! Tsunade-sama said his rehabilitation is going well and he just needs a little more time!"
Iruka looked at her and shook his head slowly. "I know, Sakura. I spoke personally with the Hokage about Sasuke's situation this very morning."
"Then you know he can fight!" Sakura insisted, slamming her trembling hands on the desk. "If you give us a week... no, three days! If you give us three days, he'll be ready!"
"Tsunade-sama's medical report is clear," Iruka said, lowering his voice to soften the blow. "Sasuke's physical and chakra rehabilitation will take weeks, not days, so he is not in condition to participate in an exam of this magnitude."
"But that doesn't matter!" Naruto interrupted, jumping to his feet and slamming his fist on the desk. "We can cover for him! Sakura and I are enough to pass the first round! We'll carry Sasuke on our backs if we have to, but you can't leave us out!"
"It doesn't work that way, Naruto," Iruka replied firmly. "The rules are for everyone's safety, and an incomplete team is a dead team in the field. I can't let you enter if you're not at one hundred percent."
"That's garbage!" Naruto yelled, feeling his face heat up with rage. "We've trained harder than anyone! We survived Zabuza and Haku! And you're telling us we can't enter because of a technicality!?"
"Naruto, sit down!" Iruka ordered, raising his voice. "It's not a technicality! It's the law of the exams! Team 7 does not meet the requirements and, therefore, you are disqualified from this year's exams."
The words hung in the air, final and cruel.
"Disqualified..." Sakura whispered.
Ino turned to look at her and, instead of the mockery Naruto expected, her face showed surprise and a strange pity.
"Sakura..." Ino began, but she shut up when she saw her friend's expression.
Sakura sank down, ignoring the overturned chair, and just stared at her empty hands, feeling all her effort and hope of proving she wasn't a burden crumble because of a bureaucratic rule.
"I'm sorry," Iruka said, sounding genuinely apologetic. "You can try again in six months, in the next exams. But this time, Team 7 is out."
*****
The wind on the hospital rooftop blew hard, whipping the laundry on the line, but it couldn't blow away the frustration Naruto felt in his chest as he kicked the chain link fence so hard the mesh vibrated with a sharp sound.
"It's stupid! Completely and utterly stupid!" Naruto yelled, turning to Kurenai, who watched them with an irritating calm from the edge. "We could have beaten them! Even without Sasuke, Sakura and I could have kicked Kiba's and the others' asses!"
Sakura paced back and forth, biting her thumbnail with red eyes, while Hinata leaned against the wall, watching Naruto with concern.
"Naruto's right, Sensei," Sakura said, stopping to look at Kurenai desperately. "Maybe if we talk to Hokage-sama he can make an exception, since he knows how strong we've become."
"And what would you tell him, Sakura?" Kurenai asked, her voice cold and analytical. "Would you tell him you want to enter the exam to demonstrate those skills you're not supposed to have?"
Sakura opened her mouth to argue, but fell silent.
"Think about it," Kurenai continued, taking a step toward them. "Imagine you get in and you face a team from the Sand or the Rain that corners you. You're about to lose. What do you do? Do you use your normal strength, or do you use the [Breaking Point]?"
"I... I'd try not to use it," Sakura said, her voice wavering.
"Liar," Kurenai cut in. "Survival instinct doesn't understand secrets, and if you find yourself in danger, or if you see Naruto in danger, you'll use the power." She looked at the blond. "And you, Naruto? If they make you angry, if they hurt Sakura... can you hold back?"
Naruto stopped kicking the fence and looked down, gritting his teeth.
"But... but it's unfair. We wanted to prove we're strong."
"Prove it to who?" Kurenai sighed and her posture relaxed a bit. "Listen, I know it hurts, but you have to understand that your situation is no longer that of normal Genin, because you have a target on your backs."
"Because of the Falna?" Hinata asked softly.
"Exactly," Kurenai nodded. "If you had entered those exams with the eyes of every village on you and, worse, with Danzō's spies watching every move, you wouldn't have lasted a day without being discovered and you would have exposed everything."
Naruto ran a hand through his hair, frustrated.
"So, what? We hide forever? What's the point of being strong if we have to pretend we're weak?"
"It's not about being weak, Naruto, it's about being smart," Kurenai corrected. "And now that we're out of the exams' spotlight, we have an opportunity to secure our cover, so we need to lie and do it well."
Sakura looked up, interested. "An alibi?"
"A permanent S-Rank mission for our Family," Kurenai said, and the use of the word 'Family' made Naruto look up. "We must protect the Falna's secret, so starting today, we're going to build an official truth that will explain any slip ups you have."
The three Genin gathered in a semicircle around her.
"Sakura," Kurenai said, pointing at her, "that explosive strength of yours, the [Breaking Point], if anyone asks or if anyone sees you use it by accident, it's not divine magic, but an innate chakra control anomaly."
"Anomaly?" Sakura repeated, testing the word.
"Yes. We'll say it awakened due to the post traumatic stress from the mission in the Land of Waves after seeing Sasuke fall. It's a mutation of your chakra control that lets you release it all at once, but it hurts you if you use it too much. It's yours, and yours alone."
Sakura nodded slowly, processing the information.
"Unstable chakra control from trauma... It sounds believable. Tsunade-sama could even back it up medically if we ask her right."
"Exactly," Kurenai said before turning to Hinata. "Hinata, your enhanced speed and reflexes are an advanced and secret application of the Jūken."
Hinata's eyes widened in surprise. "Of the Jūken? But... my father will know that's not true."
"Your father will know it's a technique you developed on your own," Kurenai said with a cunning smile. "A variation that only the main branch could theoretically know, or better yet, one you invented and are keeping secret to surprise the clan, which will explain why you're faster than the other Hyūga."
"My own technique..." Hinata looked at her hands and a small smile appeared on her face. "I like that."
"And Naruto," Kurenai turned to him.
"Let me guess," Naruto snorted, crossing his arms. "The fox?"
"The fox," Kurenai confirmed. "It's the perfect and most terrifying excuse, since your infinite stamina, your massive chakra, and even if you heal too fast, it's all the fault of being the Jinchūriki. People already fear or avoid you for it, so we'll use that fear to our advantage and no one will question that the Kyūbi's container has absurd energy reserves."
Naruto winced but nodded. "Fine. Blame the tenant. I'm used to it."
"It's what we have," Kurenai said, looking each of them in the eye. "This disqualification isn't a punishment; it's a shield that gives us time to train these powers in the shadows without half the ninja world analyzing us in an arena."
Naruto let out a long sigh and leaned against the fence, looking out over the village where the lights were beginning to turn on.
"I guess you're right, 'ttebayo," Naruto muttered, though the disappointment was still there. "But we're still going to watch the fights. I'm not going to miss seeing Kiba get his ass kicked."
Sakura let out a short laugh. "Yeah. We'll go."
*****
That night, the Konoha hospital was enveloped in that particular silence that only healing places have, a mix of stillness and the latent feeling that life and death were too close. Sakura was sitting in the uncomfortable chair next to Sasuke's bed with her legs crossed and the book "Pathologies of Reverse Flow" open on her lap.
Sasuke slept with a steady breath that helped Sakura concentrate, because even though Kakashi-sensei had been there all afternoon reading his perverted novel, she had practically kicked him out, insisting she could take the night shift.
"Retrograde chakra flow caused by severe physical trauma..." she read in a low voice. "Suggested treatment: direct medicinal chakra injection into the main tenketsu..."
The sound of the door opening made her look up sharply to see a man in a white coat, surgical cap, and a mask covering most of his face, holding a clipboard in one hand and a metal tray in the other.
"Good evening, Haruno-san," the man said, his voice generic and muffled. "Sorry for the interruption, I'm just here to change patient Uchiha's nutrient drip."
Sakura looked at the IV drip hanging next to Sasuke's bed and noticed the bag was still half full.
"That's not necessary," she said, closing the book slowly, "it's still half full, and Tsunade-sama checked his levels two hours ago, saying he wouldn't need anything until morning."
The man stopped halfway, and his dark eyes fixed on Sakura for a second before looking back at the patient.
"These are new orders," he said, taking another step. "There was an adjustment in the recovery formula, direct orders from the administration."
Sakura stood up, feeling something in her stomach twist, not just because of the excuse, but because of the way the man walked: too silent for a tired doctor and too precise.
"I said it's not necessary," Sakura repeated, stepping sideways to place herself between the man and the bed. "Tsunade-sama was very clear: no one touches Sasuke without her direct supervision. If you have new orders, I want to see the Hokage's signature."
The 'doctor' sighed with an impatience that didn't fit his supposed profession.
"Look, kid, I don't have time to argue with a Genin about protocols..."
He tried to step around her to the left, but Sakura moved with him, blocking his path.
"And I don't have time for doctors who don't know how to follow instructions," Sakura said, letting a little chakra flow to her hands. "Leave. Now."
The man stopped and his entire body language changed in a fraction of a second, replacing the slumped posture with a lethal tension.
"What a nuisance," he muttered.
"Whoops, I'm tripping!"
It was so fake it was insulting, but the action was dangerous: the man pretended to trip, launching the metal tray forward violently. It wasn't an accident, as the tray flew directly at Sakura's face and the instruments on it became a shower of sharp projectiles.
It was a classic distraction to clear his path to Sasuke while she covered her face, but the man made a miscalculation by fighting the Sakura who had received the Falna instead of the frightened girl from a month ago.
Time seemed to stretch; Sakura saw the glint of metal and the man's hand emerging from under his coat, heading for Sasuke's neck, but her body moved before she could think.
Her left hand shot out, catching the metal tray in mid flight with a sharp sound, stopping the instruments before they could scatter, while her right hand intercepted the man's wrist inches from Sasuke's neck.
The agent froze, his eyes wide, having expected to hit air and instead feeling as if his wrist had been caught in a hydraulic press.
"What!?" the man hissed, trying to pull his arm free without success.
"Who are you!?" Sakura yelled, trembling with rage. "You're not a doctor! Your chakra flow is... it's erratic! I can feel it in your pulse!"
The man reacted with the professionalism of an assassin, dropping the clipboard with his other hand to let a hidden blade fall from his sleeve and lunging directly at Sakura's stomach.
"You're right!" he snarled.
Sakura had no room to dodge and tightened her grip on the man's wrist, preparing to break the bone, but a deafening crack interrupted the action.
The wall next to the door exploded inward and a blurry figure crossed the room without needing any hand seals; Tsunade connected with the man's side with overwhelming force that sent him flying sideways, tearing him from Sakura's grasp and slamming him into the opposite wall.
The man fell to the floor like a broken doll, unconscious before he landed, and silence returned to the room, broken only by Sakura's ragged breathing. Tsunade stood in the middle of the room, her fist still extended.
"Dammit," Tsunade said, lowering her arm. "I almost broke the new wall."
Sakura dropped the tray and leaned against the edge of Sasuke's bed to keep from falling.
"Tsunade-sama..." Sakura panted. "He... he tried... He was going to kill Sasuke-kun."
Tsunade walked over to the inert body, grabbed him by the hair, and forcefully opened his mouth to reveal a black seal on his tongue.
"Look," Tsunade ordered, dropping the man's head. "Danzō's men. I felt his killing intent as soon as he set foot in the hallway."
Sakura looked at Sasuke, who was still sleeping peacefully.
"They wanted to finish the job," Sakura whispered. "They wanted to make sure the last Uchiha didn't wake up."
Tsunade turned to Sakura, her face serious in the dim light.
"Don't be an idiot, Sakura," Tsunade said, her voice devoid of sweetness. "You weren't paying attention to the fight."
Sakura blinked, confused. "What? But... he attacked Sasuke and I stopped his hand."
"You stopped his left hand," Tsunade corrected, "the hand going for Sasuke was the distraction. The real blade..." Tsunade pointed to the knife that had fallen to the floor, near where Sakura had been standing. "...was aimed at your liver."
Sakura looked at the knife and then at Tsunade, feeling the air catch in her throat.
"At me?"
"He knew Sasuke isn't a threat in a coma," Tsunade said, crossing her arms. "But you... you're the Sannin's student who has been showing abnormal growth, and Danzō has no patience for variables."
Tsunade took a step toward her and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Welcome to the real world, kid. He wasn't here for the Uchiha; he was here for you."
******
NEW EXCLUSIVE SERIES: My S-Class Summons Are All Too Cute!
Hey everyone!
I am incredibly excited to announce the launch of my brand new novel, available exclusively right here on Patreon.
If you like underdogs, LitRPG elements, and overpowered pets with serious attitude problems, this one is for you.
Title: My S-Class Summons Are All Too Cute!
Synopsis:
Two years. That's how long Renn has been trying to summon a single, pathetic slime. Two years of public humiliation, constant mockery, and that one time he lost a fistfight to a raccoon (yes, an actual raccoon).
While his peers are out conquering territories with armies of iron golems and elite elves, Renn is struggling to keep his rescue pet shop afloat. His only companion? Mr. Whiskers—a fat, orange cat with a serious attitude problem and a stare that silently judges Renn's entire existence.
But Mr. Whiskers has a secret.
He isn't just a chubby tabby. He involves dimensional royalty, Celestial-level assassins with 47 ways to end you, and a new reality where Renn isn't the master... he's technically the employee.
Now, Renn finally has his troops. The problem? They are adorable weapons of mass destruction who insist on sleeping on his stomach. And his new "boss"? She judges him just as hard as before—only now, she has the royal authority to do it.
"He lost to a raccoon. He adopted a princess. He summoned weapons of mass destruction. His life was a mess. Now, it's a mess with cats."