This chapter was beta-read by: Sakura's Unicorn

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"If you can move, we need to find a better location where you two can wait," Kakashi declares, straightening his body. "This place will do for triage, but if what you say about your assailant is true, we want to stay as far out of view as possible."

The girl—Sarada—nods once, mouth drawn into a determined frown, and gets to her feet.

"Hold on," Sakura blurts. She puts a hand on the girl's good shoulder and throws out the other as if to ward off Naruto and Sasuke. "You two need to back up."

"What? Why?" Naruto demands.

"Ever heard of a thing called 'modesty'? You're not allowed to see a girl in her underthings!"

Sarada, confused by this, glances down, notices the state of her clothes, and squeaks in embarrassment. The tatters of her tunic show glimpses of her skin and underwear beneath them. While it wasn't something of concern before, it is now that she's out of danger.

"So why aren't you pushing Kakashi-sensei out of the way?" Naruto demands, his cheeks turning red. Still, he obliges and turns away. "He's the one who reads—"

"Because he's giving her medical attention. It's different," Sakura snaps. "Now give me your jacket."

This brings him up short. "Huh?"

"She can't go around with her shirt falling off, stupid!"

"Okay, okay—hey, wait a minute! Why me?"

"Because I've already given what I could for the sling! It's easier for you to take off your jacket than it is for me to go around with no shirt on!"

"Why not? It's not like you've got anything under there to hide—ow!"

"Here."

Sakura and Naruto stop their arguing and stare over at Sasuke. Sakura almost has a nosebleed at the sight of him taking off his high-collared blue shirt to offer to Sarada. It should be no big deal—he's still wearing a black undershirt—but they might as well be seeing him naked because Sasuke never removes clothing unless necessary.

This is the guy who makes Naruto catch fish because he refuses to strip down, and he just up and offered his shirt to a complete stranger? A complete girl stranger? Sakura gibbers in her mind. It's too bad he doesn't wear mesh under his clothes, like Naruto. I mean, the black is cool too, but—Augh! Stop it! Focus!

Naruto notices the glazed look in Sakura eyes and rolls his own. Great. We've lost her. What is it with Sasuke and girls?

But when he glances over at Sarada, he notices she isn't staring at Sasuke in admiration, but rather confusion.

"Well, go on," he orders, disliking the attention. "No one should be forced to wear that idiot's clothes. They're probably full of fleas."

"Oi! Take that back, Sasuke!"

Sarada accepts his shirt with hesitation. Her thumb brushes across the uchiwa symbol on the back with what almost looks like the beginnings of a smile on her face.

Sasuke doesn't understand why that feels like victory, nor does he bother to dwell on it. Instead, he surveys the rest of his squad's expressions which range from speculative to resentful to dismayed.

Kakashi clears his throat. "All right. Let's find a temporary shelter."

"There's a small cave we found a little past the tree line," Naruto says. "Looks abandoned—and it sort of smells a bit, but it's hidden."

"Then how did you find it?" Sakura asks as she helps the girl into Sasuke's shirt. There's a tense set to her jaw that Kakashi doubts anyone other than he has noticed. Naruto mumbles under his breath and shoots a jealous glare at Sasuke. The implication is clear that it was the dark-haired boy who found it, not him.

It's a short trek to the cavern, and after making sure the girls are hidden from view, Kakashi takes off for the cliffs. The boys follow, as usual, pretending they aren't trying to race one another.

The three of them sprint to the top, weapons at the ready on the off-chance that whatever or whoever threw the girl over is still there. Kakashi isn't too hopeful about that. If anyone is still around, he suspects they'd have heard a struggle. Sound carries, especially down into the valley.

"Think we'll find anything?" Naruto pants as they climb.

"I doubt it," Kakashi replies. He also expects to come upon the bloody remains of the girl's team. "If we're very unlucky, it will only be bodies."

"Do you know her teacher? You talked about him earlier."

Kakashi's grimness increases tenfold. "Yes. The only person it could be is Arata Sarutobi."

"Who?"

"Lord Third's older son. He retired from ANBU after his father died. I guess he figured teaching genin would be a lot less dangerous, since he's the new head of the clan."

Although I didn't realise they had already assigned him a team...

"I didn't know the old man had a son!"

"Don't be an idiot. You had to," Sasuke retorts. "His kid follows you around the village like a dog."

"Oh, yeah. Wait! So that girl's sensei is Konohamaru's...dad?" Naruto exclaims, and then an edge of steel enters his voice. "We've got to save him then! Konohamaru's lost enough!"

He speeds up, outpacing them.

"Naruto wait!" Kakashi calls out, but the boy shows no sign of stopping. Not to be outdone, Sasuke puts on a burst of speed too. Before he knows it, Kakashi is trailing behind them.

Should have known that'd upset them.

Because Naruto and Sasuke grew up as orphans, they are both affected by the idea of a child being left without a parent. To top that off, Konohamaru is like an annoying kid brother to Naruto; he won't rest until he's done everything to make sure the younger boy loses no more of his family.

If finding Sarada's team wasn't the goal before, it is now.

They arrive at the top of the cliff, climbing into an empty clearing. Kakashi doesn't even need to tell them to split up their search, and soon, the three of them are combing the surrounding area.

At first there doesn't seem to be anything, but with the help of their Sharingan, he and Sasuke pick up signs of a struggle in several places. Footprints on the ground, discarded shuriken, blood on the grass in several spots...

"Whoever this guy is, he isn't trained formally as a ninja," Sasuke says, appearing beside Kakashi. "He hasn't even bothered to clean up after himself."

"Hm..."

Kakashi frowns at the scene in front of him, trying to ignore the grainy cast of the surrounding air. Whatever is causing it hasn't affected his or his team's ability to interfere with the environment. It's possible it's an incomplete barrier.

Perhaps that somehow contributed to the lack of tracks?

"I found this out in the woods leading back to Konoha," Naruto calls, hurrying over to them. He holds a scrap of fabric—black, pink and made of a fibre Kakashi cannot name. "But otherwise there's no sign of anything or anyone, and I had three clones helping me search."

"So Sarada's story could be true. It could be a version of Lord Fourth's Hiraishin," Kakashi allows, crouching down to examine the stretch of bloodied ground in front of him.

"Or just a very advanced Shushin," Sasuke suggests.

"That's what Hiraishin is. Lord Fourth developed it so he could take on multiple opponents. He was so fast, it seemed to his enemies he had perfected the Kage no Bushin that Naruto uses."

"Was he—was he seriously that fast?" Naruto asks, eyes wide in appreciation.

He looks so painfully like his father and, for a moment, Kakashi wishes he could tell him the truth. It's an important experience, being able to look up to one's father. Kakashi and Sasuke both had that opportunity even if it was brief; for Naruto's own protection, he never has.

And if the village Elders continue to enforce the Third Hokage's gag order, he never will.

"Yes," Kakashi says, returning his attention to the question. "But he wasn't able to do so without an anchor of some sort."

"But if he was that fast, how could Sarada's sensei do what she said he did—move fast enough to save her teammate?"

Kakashi considers this.

"Arata is an elite ninja, and he was that long before he settled down. As I recall, he possesses excellent reflexes. Of course, it could be something as simple as dumb luck." He turns to Sasuke. "What do you think?"

"She isn't being honest with us."

"What do you mean by that?" Naruto demands. Kakashi suspects that he, like Sakura, didn't pick up on the holes in the girl's story.

"She was nervous talking to us. And evasive."

"Well, she woke up with a bunch of strangers hanging over her. Wouldn't you be shifty? She's just some genin like us—"

"A genin who can use very advanced techniques," Kakashi says. "The mission she talked about—it was probably C-rank or lower, before whatever or whoever attacked. Do either of you recognise her?"

The village is big enough that it's possible not to be acquainted with everyone personally, but the margin is small.

Naruto scratches his chin, eyes crinkling in thought. "Hunh. I guess she looks kind of familiar. But I dunno where I've seen her before. Maybe we met her at the Chūnin Exam?"

"We didn't," Sasuke disagrees. "And she wasn't at the Academy with us, either."

He's never bothered remembering the faces of random girls (he's made a point of completely ignoring them), but he feels like he should know this one.

The uncertainty makes him clench his fists.

"She bothers you," Kakashi notes.

"Hm."

"You don't bait anyone like that."

"Except me," Naruto interjects.

"Except Naruto."

"I didn't bait—"

"Fine. Not bait. But I've seen no one other than Naruto annoy you that much on so short an acquaintance."

"Oi!"

Kakashi rolls his eyes. "Naruto—Sarada said there was a shed around here somewhere. Look for it, and we'll catch up."

The blond boy looks rebellious for a moment, but then snorts. "Fine. But not because you're trying to get rid of me. Obviously, I'm the only one still focussed here. Man, you guys totally hold me back..."

He stalks away.

It's a sign of Sasuke's distraction that he doesn't react to the jab.

Kakashi remains silent as well, waiting to see if the boy will shut down as usual or speak to him since they are now alone. Lately, it's an eighty-twenty gamble.

"There's something about her," Sasuke admits at last. "It's just...not right."

"I see," Kakashi replies, amused. He can't help a chuckle then. "Just be careful." He notes Sasuke's confusion and adds. "Women are complicated at the best of times, but especially those you meet under mysterious circumstances."

Sasuke doesn't understand what he's talking about for a second.

Honestly, in certain matters, he's more clueless than Naruto.

When it clicks, he wrinkles his nose in disgust.

"That's not what this is."

"If you say so. Be careful anyway. Wouldn't want to hurt Sakura's feelings too much in one day."

"Why would I...?" Sasuke trails off but stops himself before he falls into the obvious trap Kakashi is laying for him. He scowls at the man. "I don't care about that sort of thing."

And he doesn't.

It distracts from important stuff, like planning his revenge.

Except.

Except it had bothered him, earlier: the idea of Sarada wearing anything with the Uzumaki symbol on it. It's a weird sentiment to have, since he's never felt that toward anyone. Not even Sakura.

Actually...

Sasuke's fists clench a little at a new unbidden image of the pink-haired girl bundled into Naruto's gaudy orange jacket.

Kakashi is thinking along the same lines. "And that's why you insisted on giving her the shirt off your back, right?"

"No one should be subjected to whatever communicable diseases that thing carries," Sasuke dismisses, evasive.

"Ah."

Sasuke looks away. He must keep his mind clear; to do that, he needs to focus on what he knows.

"I don't trust her," he says, his tone insisting the topic is closed for discussion. "We have to find out the truth about who she is and what she wants."

And why she makes me so uneasy.

"In that, you and I agree."

"I can't find anything," Naruto announces, returning once more. "We should go get Sarada and bring her up here. She's rested enough now, right?"

Naruto, who's never had a lasting injury in his life, doesn't understand the condition in which they found the girl. But they do need to press her for a few more details, especially if it could lead them to whatever is causing the strange phenomenon.

"Yes, let's head back."

Scaling the cliff on the way down, predictably, turns into another competition between Sasuke and Naruto. Several times, it looks as if they might lose their footing and plummet the rest of the way. Still, they have come a long way since Kakashi first taught them about chakra control.

They return to the cave to find Sakura arguing with the black-haired girl who is refusing to lie flat.

"I. Don't. Have. Time!" she bites out, looking frustrated as Sakura faces her, hands on hips. It's eerie how closely she mirrors her impromptu charge's exasperated expression.

"None of us have time, but we're going to take it!" Sakura snaps. "You'll be useless to everyone if you pass out while we're trying to launch a rescue!"

"I'm useless here because I'm not helping!"

"Oh, so you want to run off without knowing what you're up against? Isn't that what got you thrown off a cliff in the first place?"

"Oh, sha...eesh! I thought you were annoying before¸ but this—"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Girls, this would be the opposite of lying low," Kakashi interrupts, a wary suspicion rearing its head. He's seen how Sakura interacts with her rival, Ino Yamanaka; this spat has too many similarities.

It's obvious what set it off, too.

"Sasuke, you're back!" Sakura chirps, forgetting her fight with the other girl and hurrying over to the Uchiha boy. "Are you okay?"

"Leave me alone," he grumbles, while Naruto whines, "Hey, I'm here too, Sakura!"

Sasuke glowers over at Sarada, and Sakura deflates noting that his attention is again on the new girl.

She's not sure what to make of Sarada, and it doesn't help that her own feelings are in turmoil. The strange girl is so...intimidating. She's conscious despite what has to be an excruciating wound, she's keeping herself coherent even though her fever is growing, and she's apparently really strong.

If Lady Tsunade already took on another student, there's no way she'll be interested in me. What's the point of even asking?

And then, on top of all that, every male on Sakura's team is making a fuss over Sarada. Kakashi studies her like she's an interesting riddle, a welcome challenge in the wake of their latest string of boring mission work. Even Sasuke has crawled out of his shell to acknowledge her.

It's bewildering because Sakura's never seen that. At least back home, Sasuke ignores every other girl as much as he ignores her. Well, he ignores her less, but that's only because she's his teammate and he's obligated to pay attention to her.

A fact she appreciates, in particular when she gets to see a side of him none of the other girls get to see.

Until now, maybe.

Sasuke marches up to Sarada. "There was nothing up there. Either you're lying about what happened to you, or someone moved your teammates' bodies while you were unconscious."

"Tact is not your strongpoint," Kakashi sighs as whatever colour was in Sarada's cheeks drains.

"No!" she cries out angrily and abruptly shoves her face into her good hand.

It's an odd move, he thinks, considering she doesn't seem the sort to burst into tears. Then again, she has been through a lot. She is slow to raise her head again, rubbing at her eyes like she's trying to get rid of something. His first guess is tears, except when she looks up her eyes are dry and—although pained—more determined than ever.

"Boruto is stronger than that," she states, leaving no room for argument. "He wouldn't get caught or die so easy. And Mitsuki, and our teacher—the Ghost-Man said he was more interested in asking questions. If you can't find them up there, I bet he took them."

"Or he disposed the bodies while you were out of commission," Sasuke maintains.

"If he cared about bodies, he would have come down to clean up mine after killing me," she shoots back. "He didn't bother! And trust me, if he wanted to, Ma—m-my bodyguard here wouldn't be strong enough to keep him away!"

"Hey!" Sakura snaps, insulted. She wants to reach over and throttle the black-eyed girl. Even more so when Sarada shoots her a disappointed grimace; as if she's the offended party in this situation.

"If you can't find my teammates up there, he most likely took them," Sarada concludes.

"But where?" Naruto asks.

"Probably Orochimaru's hideout."

Everyone goes silent now. Sakura and Sasuke still, as if turned to stone, and Naruto's fist clenches in anger.

"Orochimaru..." Kakashi repeats, careful to keep his tone level. "He has a hideout near here?"

"Yeah...that's what Mitsuki thought, anyway," Sarada says, voice meek, like she senses she's said something wrong.

"Funny how you didn't mention this before," Sasuke growls.

"I didn't know it was important!"

"One of Konoha's major enemies—a rogue ninja—has a hideout on the outskirts of the village, and you don't think it's important?" Sakura demands.

"But... But it's been abandoned for decades. Why would he..."

"And how do you know that?" Naruto wants to know.

"Chakra signatures," she says, looking and sounding like she's trying to backtrack. "They were too faint for it to be a recent hiding spot."

"You're lying," Sasuke states. "There was nothing up there."

"Then you weren't looking hard enough!"

"I was looking hard. There was no shed or hideout or anything like you described. Which means you've been lying this whole time!"

"Then he put wards or another genjutsu on the place because it's up there! You're just too useless to see it!" Sarada yells, an edge of panic and frustration in every word. Sasuke's eye twitches—no one has ever called him useless before and Naruto is inordinately pleased. "You're wasting everyone's time asking stupid questions instead of looking for my teammates, shaa-ah-eh-eesh!"

Sasuke regards the girl with suspicion, and it hits him then.

She reminds him of Sasuke.

A lot.

Not just in the way she focusses uwaveringly on her goals and anger, either. Now that he thinks about it, they share similar features. It's not something either would notice themselves—a person rarely notices what they look like compared to others—but as an outsider, he has. That makes him equal parts suspicious and uneasy, especially given Orochimaru's involvement.

There is every possibility that this girl is a test subject, the same way Kakashi's old subordinate, Tenzō, was.

The Sannin bit Sasuke back in the Forest of Death, which means he got blood samples from the boy. He also tangled with Tsunade before she returned to become the Hokage. Given his reputation for conducting experiments, it's not so farfetched to think he might've used their genes to create a...hybrid or something. In which case, there might be even more to this girl than what they have so far discovered.

"If there is a hideout here, we have no choice," Kakashi declares at last. If it involves Orochimaru, they need Sasuke to be as far away as possible. And Naruto, as well. "Lady Tsunade needs to know if Orochimaru is this close. We have to inform her."

"You go do that."

"We wouldn't be leaving you here."

Complicated as things are at the moment, they should keep the girl close. There are too many unanswered questions to leave her here. Not to mention, he still hasn't figured out whether she is connected to the strange bubble in which he and his team have found themselves. It doesn't make the potential involvement of Orochimaru any less of a concern. And Sarada—whether or not she's a sleeper agent of some sort—is enough of a mystery that Kakashi intends to keep her in his sight.

Not that he tells her this.

"You're wounded," he says. "And from your story, there's at least one dangerous criminal in these woods. You won't stand a chance in your current condition. The hospital in the village will do a better job of fixing you than I did."

And if I can wrangle a visit from someone from Intelligence to conduct a more in-depth interrogation, we might get a few more answers out of you.

"But Kakashi-sensei, I thought you said—"

"No!" Sarada interrupts Sakura's objection. "I have to find my teammates! I am not leaving this forest until I know they're all right."

"He didn't say you had to be conscious for us to bring you back," Sakura remarks in would-be-innocence.

Sarada shoots her an incomprehensible look, comprising several contradictory emotions–confusion, disbelief, defiance, and oddly enough, betrayal—and then sets her jaw.

"Fine."

Before anyone can marvel about her backing down, there is a small pop, and a log appears in the spot where she just sat.

"Kawarimi!" Sakura gasps. "I didn't even see her weave any signs!"

Neither did I, Kakashi muses, going over the last few minutes in his head. The only opportunity she might have had to summon the substitute was when she hid her face. Everyone was watching and waiting for her slip up when she spoke; no one was paying attention to what her other hand was doing. She must have woven the signs with her injured hand, despite the immense pain.

But I still should have noticed that. Unless... she could have cast a genjutsu on top of it.

He's had his Sharigan covered since they returned to the bottom of the cliff, and if it was subtle enough, perhaps...

"Everyone fan out," he says, troubled. "We need to find her."

Who the hell is this girl?

ナルト

Sarada's ruined fingers throb in angry recrimination for her stupid stunt, but she doesn't have time to break down and cry.

The world blurs past as she runs; her only thought is to get away, to leave the impossible people behind her and find her way back to her own teammates...if that's even a choice. She's not quite sure. The past hour has been a confusing blur of the inexplicable and downright unsettling. There's a creeping fear that the reason her father—no! Sasuke!—and Kakashi couldn't find her team is that they aren't even in this time.

None of this makes sense—not that time travel makes sense, but still!

She tries not to dwell too much on the surreal nature of her circumstances.

All that matters right now is that she finds her friends, stops the ghost—man—creature—that hurt them, and fixes everything so she doesn't mess up the future. Or the past. She's not sure which anymore.

All she knows is she can't risk putting the people she cares about in danger.

It hit her before as she stared up at the distrustful faces of her parents and uncles. This time—or the time they're from—is long before they were the heroes of the ninja world.

Kakashi might be a skilled jōnin now, but he isn't the Hokage who helped defend the world against the dead in the Fourth Great Shinobi War. He hasn't seen the unbelievable yet. He probably imagines time travel is something out of a book.

Naruto looks like he has trouble not tripping over his own feet, let alone forming a Rasengan.

And her parents' younger selves—

Sasuke is far from the dimension-travelling, Susanoo-wielding hero of her time. He looks peaky, like using the Sharingan takes the same toll on him as it does on her. His hair sticks up weirdly and that ugly scowl of his appears to be a permanent fixture.

Sakura is even less like herself—based on her bearing and the thinness of her limbs, she has developed none of the lean muscle Sarada is used to her having.

Or any of the strength Sarada associates with her.

The legendary heroes of the Fourth Shinobi War are at the weakest she has ever seen them. If she gets them involved in this mission, they could get hurt.

Or worse, killed.

Aside from not wanting to lose her loved ones, their deaths could change the entire course of history. The logical solution is to stay far away from them.

Then there's the fact they don't trust her and are, likely, convinced she's a spy. Which is sort of her own faultm but trying to skirt the truth is harder when it's someone (or several someones) who know her well.

Even if they technically don't know her well yet.

Ugh, I'm getting a headache! And that's not the probable concussion talking, either! That Ghost-Man will have answers. I must find him, she decides even as her stomach wobbles at the idea.

She's getting weaker.

That last substitution did a number on her. In fact, she's surprised she kept it up as long as she did, in particular after surviving the fall.

It looks like she's stored more chakra than she realised. Her heart twinges sadly.

Mama, I owe you so much.

She misses her mother—the strong one who would never have let herself be left behind and could heal anyone in an instant. The younger version of Sakura is as much a disappointment as the younger version of Sasuke.

Reaching the base of the cliff, Sarada calls up her remaining chakra and takes a run at it.

To her gratification, the balls of her feet stick and she's able to scale the rock face.

Yes!

She prays her luck will hold a little longer, just enough to get to the top of the bluff. The long way around isn't a choice, not when her pursuers might stop her before she gets too far.

That choice looks better about halfway up the cliff. One of her steps isn't charged with enough chakra, or the level isn't balanced right. Whatever the reason, instead of pushing herself higher, her foot slips and skids against the rock.

"No!" she yells, flapping out with her uninjured arm. Her fingers scrape and scrabble for purchase, but it eludes her. Before she can do anything about it, she is plummeting once more toward the ground.

Only this time, there's no way she can save herself from the impact.

Sarada scrunches her eyes closed, bracing for the overwhelming agony—

But instead of hitting the merciless ground again, she finds someone's arms wrapping around her. There's a flash of orange and a solid chest cushions her back, shielding her as they continue to plummet.

They hit solid earth. There's a pop sound and then she's alone on the ground.

Sarada can't help keening in pain as her entire frame shudders. The impact is less than she was expecting, but it still feels like her skeleton fell into a grinder. After the stars clear from her head, courtesy of the painful jolt to her arm, she turns to see the intent expression of Lord Seventh—Naruto.

"Are you okay?" he asks, crouching over her.

Equal parts fluster and panic cause her to lash out, shoving herself away. It is so forceful that she throws him into the rocky wall behind her.

"Hey!" he cries as he hits it, a tiny crater forming where his back connects. Then he disappears.

A shadow clone.

Damn it, she didn't mean to hit him that hard, and—her legs buckle—she may have just called upon the last of her strength. In fact, as she turns to find any escape blocked by her parents, the real Naruto, and Kakashi, she knows she has.

Her knees hit the ground.

"That was stupid," Kakashi tells her, both his eyes trained on her. His Sharingan is uncovered and active which makes the penetrating intensity of his normal stare even more potent.

Sarada shivers, experiencing a spark of fear from the man. The way he's looking at her now, it's the same as he looked at her and the rest of her Academy class during their graduation final. No, this look is worse—colder; the way he might look at an enemy ninja. This Kakashi is not the man she has distant memories of allowing her to pain his fingernails green or building sand-castles with her in the park as a toddler.

This is the former ANBU captain, an elite ninja used to forcing answers out of his opponents.

"I didn't have a choice," she protests, trying to hold on to the last of her strength. It's slipping away like sand from a clenched fist. "You're trying to take me back to Konoha. I can't... I can't go back there right now."

Not least of all because it might not be my Konoha.

"There's no excuse. You won't be of use to anyone, especially if you make such rash decisions," he tells her. There's a strained note in his voice telling her he's trying to stay even-tempered. "As your superior, I have a responsibility to keep everyone here safe. You included."

"Don't pretend like you're concerned. I can tell you don't trust me," Sarada snaps. "You think I'm a spy or something, or—or working for Orochimaru! And no matter what I say, even if it's the complete truth, you won't believe it, anyway!"

"You haven't given us any reason to trust you yet," Sakura points out. "Even before you took off."

"Whatever holes in your story you hoped we wouldn't notice, you made them more unbelievable when you made a run for it," Sasuke agrees.

"I couldn't care less if you believe me! That's so not important right now!" Sarada insists. "All that matters is that I find my friends which I can't do if you take me back to the village!"

"You just want to avoid taking a trip to the Intelligence Division."

Bile rises in Sarada's throat at that threat.

From the stories she's heard, Ibiki Morino was a much harder interrogator back in her parents' youth than he is now. And if Auntie Ino's father is even close to as talented as she is...

There's a flash of triumph across Sasuke's face as if he sees her uneasiness at the idea. A deeply buried part of her—the part that never really forgave him for being absent her entire childhood—flares to the surface.

I won't give you the satisfaction of scaring me!

"I don't want to, but if that's what it takes, fine!" she declares, tossing her hair even though the movement makes her stomach lurch in protest. "But I'm not going with you until I find out where my team went. And if you force me to come with you, I'll...I'll bite off my tongue and kill myself!" The threat is over the top and even they know this, but she's hitting a point of desperation. Their expressions don't change, so she tries one last thing because she's sure she will knock herself out from mental overexertion soon. "Lo—Kakashi-sensei! You of all people should understand why I can't go back to Konoha right now!"

His eyebrow raises incrementally—a question.

"I've heard you say it before," she insists. "Those who break the rules are called scum. But...if you don't value your comrades, you're worse than scum!'" He tenses at this, and even his students exchange looks of suspicion for surprise. Sarada feels tears of frustration welling up in her eyes. "I have to save them because it could be so much worse than them just being missing!"

Hold on—don't let the Sharingan show¸ she cautions herself, even though she doesn't think she has the energy to call it up right now.

"Wow, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto remarks, surprised. "I've never heard anyone but you say that before."

The jōnin is staring at her now as if he desperately wants to ask something but isn't sure how or what.

Welcome to my world. This day just keeps throwing things at me, and I don't know how to deal with them!

She swallows, trying to keep the tremble from her voice. "Those are my friends out there, and I refuse to abandon them."

Her luck being as bad as it is today, this is about the time her limbs goes boneless.

No! I can't pass out again! Sarada commands herself in desperation, trying to force her uninjured hand out to break her fall, but she can't muster the energy.

To her surprise, she still doesn't hit the ground.

Once again, someone catches her in their arms, but this time it's a more familiar embrace, albeit it's much less secure than usual.

He even smells the same¸ she realises, gazing up at Sasuke in dim bewilderment. He looks just as surprised to have caught hold of her—as if his body moved on his own. Then there's a cool hand on her forehead, and Sakura is looming close again. "She's got a fever. I don't think your healing jutsu did enough, Kakashi-sensei—"

"Or the jog up the mountain she decided on undid everything," Naruto grumbles.

"—I bet there's infection in the arm."

"I was afraid of that," Kakashi admits. He gives Sarada a stern frown. "You depleted your chakra trying to climb that cliff, which also hasn't done you any favours."

"We have to get her help as soon as possible," Sakura says, hesitating like she knows her suggestions is unwelcome. "Konoha might not be close enough."

"The hideout," Naruto says. "Orochimaru likes labs, right? He's a scientist. Even if he's not there anymore, he might have left medical supplies. And maybe there's a...a place to help her."

"That's actually a decent idea," Sasuke says, somehow making a compliment sound like a criticism. "If she's going to stay in stable enough condition to answer any more questions or stop whatever's going on, we need to keep her alive. Besides, it can't hurt to look around. More information for us to bring back to the village."

Naruto gapes at him. "You've never said so much in one go. Are you feeling okay?"

"Shut up, moron."

Kakashi comes to a decision.

"All right. Spy or not, we can't stick around here. We'll head for the hideout."

"But if you didn't see it while you were up there, what makes you think you'll see it now?" Sakura protests.

"Sarada will point it out to us. Won't you?"

"But we can't trust her to tell us the truth about anything else! You figure she'll be honest about that? For all we know, it may be a trap!"

"Hey!" Sarada protests weakly, more than a little hurt. Her mother has never distrusted her before, and even if this girl isn't her yet, it's a discomfiting experience.

"It might be, yes, but our options are limited right now. Besides, I have some insurance," Kakashi says, pulling a scroll out from his pack and raising his thumb to his masked mouth. There's the sound of teeth clicking and then blood blossoms at the tip of his thumb. He presses it to the parchment, and there's a puff of smoke.

As it clears, a small brown dog appears.

Pakkun! Sarada recognises, although the dog is considerably less grey than the summons she's seen in her time.

"Yo, Kakashi," he greets.

"I need you to head to the village and deliver this to the Hokage," Kakashi tells him, skipping the greeting. He removes a second, smaller scroll from his pack, adding a few shorthand notes to it before passing it to the dog. "There are a few vital bits of information she and whatever team she sends will require."

"Got it," Pakkun grunts, taking the scroll into his mouth.

"Sakura, you can head back as well if you want—"

"No way!" Sakura cries. "I'm not going anywhere! Especially not now! I don't leave my team behind either!"

For the first time since waking up, Sarada sees a flash of her mother's attitude in this girl.

It's a startling comfort.

A comfort which disappears a moment later when Sakura trains a cool, distrustful gaze on her. There's a subtle narrowing of her eyes that Sarada has only seen right before her mother prepares to demolish a building.

And it's directed at her.

Well this...is probably not good¸ Sarada decides, swallowing heavily.

つづく

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