Naruto Utter Tenacity

_A/N: Just an idea that's been dancing around in my head for a while now. It's my first fic, so please forgive any amateur mistakes I may have overlooked. Comments and critiques are heartily welcomed._

**Disclaimer: **Naruto and all related references to the anime and manga belong to M. Kishimoto.

**Chapter One**

Sakura liked to think that her patience, along with the rest of her, had shown substantial growth as she'd matured. True, there had been a time when she'd been liable to throw a royal tantrum at the slightest provocation (especially if it came in the form of a certain hyperactive blond ninja), but those days had been a solid decade ago. Now at 23, with a deeper understanding of the responsibilities that accompanied her position as a jounin and deputy-head medic at the Konohagakure Hospital, not to mention ample practice dealing with masses of unpleasant and uncooperative patients during her graveyard shifts, Sakura no longer saw red at every ungracious comment or inconvenience thrown her way (though she _was_ guilty of mending fractures with perhaps a little too much extra force when it came to a particularly rude patient).

That's not to say she didn't have a _slightly_ fiery temper than most did though, not in the slightest. She still felt that familiar throbbing in her temple whenever Naruto cornered her long enough to drag her to Ichiraku and subject her to one of his especially loud and long-winded tirades. Her knuckles still cracked from the force of her clenched fist whenever Sai tossed a blasé remark about her "disheveled lion's mane" or "dark under-eye craters" after a particularly brutal mission. She still felt that resentful pang in her chest whenever she met Sasuke's apathetic gaze, though this was admittedly buoyed by her relief, even five years later, at having him back for good. And of course, though her pride refused to let it show, her immature bantering with Ino still managed to push and prod her buttons far more than she'd ever admit.

All of this combined however, did not hold a candle to the staggering annoyance and exasperation she felt whenever she was in the presence of the silver-haired ninja who currently sat to her left. Hatake Kakashi. Once her sensei, then her senpai, and now finally, her fellow jounin —though she'd stuck to addressing him as 'sensei'. Of course, by the time Sakura reached Kakashi's level of shinobi prowess and experience, she'd probably be too old and decrepit to apply it anywhere except perhaps on paper. Still, it gave her ego a nice boost to know that she'd earned the right to wear the same regulation uniform and lounge around in the same common room at the jounin headquarters as the great Copy Ninja. Not that this levied the confusion and general feelings of inferiority and dubiousness she experienced during every attempted conversation with the enigmatic man. It probably explained why she was currently glaring daggers at her masked teammate's head.

"This is your fault. Entirely."  
"Mmm."

He didn't even spare her a glance as he gazed down at the volume of Icha Icha Tactics cradled in his hand. A hooded grey eye scanned the current page he was on, the arched curve of his eyebrow scrunched in concentration as it peeked out from below his hitai ate. Sakura scowled and delivered a sharp jab to his slouched form with her elbow.

"No really. How the hell are we going to explain this to Tsunade? More importantly, how the hell are we supposed to _get. this. bloody. crap. __**OFF**_?!"

She jerked her left arm up and shook it pointedly in his face, effectively dragging Kakashi's linked right arm up with her own. A viscous black goo joined their wrists, seeming to throb in the dim light of the forest they were in. Sakura's rage was momentarily forgotten as she was once again stunned into dumfounded shock by the sight of her pale, slim wrist locked so closely against Kakashi's light olive one, her hand completely dwarfed next to his. The tacky, unidentifiable substance showed absolutely no evidence of wear or damage, despite the fact that it had suffered the brunt of innumerable slashes from Sakura's sharpest kunai for the past two hours, as well as several carefully aimed jutsu, including a concentrated form of Kakashi's raikiri. Alas, as effective as it may have been for severing any stray lightning bolts happening to zip through the area, it had had absolutely no effect whatsoever on their relentless bind.

Sakura groaned and rubbed her throbbing temple with her free hand. It was supposed to have been a simple track-and-retrieve mission, an over-priced errand for some wealthy daimyo in Yugakure who had had his finest clay vase stolen by a band of rogue nin. Employing not just one, but two ninja of Sakura and Kakashi's caliber was positively demeaning for such an easy mission, but the pay had been too good for Tsunade to pass up and their client had specifically requested the two strongest ninja Konoha had to offer (though Tsunade had thoroughly enjoyed stressing that they had merely been "the two finest shinobi in Konoha….at the moment"). Tracking down the thieves had taken all of half a day, even with their two-day lead and Kakashi had made quick work of the seven shocked bandits as Sakura located the hastily buried safe the vase had been hidden in with a chakra-charged punch to the ground. Of course, neither of them had been prepared for what happened next.

_"Found it!" Sakura crowed triumphantly as the ground split beneath her fist, revealing the dirty iron safe they had seen the rogue nin carry into the cave. She spared a quick glance over at Kakashi, who was finishing off his last opponent with a deftly delivered kunai to the jugular, as she padded over and crouched before their prize. Tentatively, she scrutinized the dirt-smeared safe, taking note of the rusty lock that sealed it shut. Sensing Kakashi crouching down next to her, she gazed up at his masked face contemplatively._

_"Should we open it now, or just carry it as it is?"  
"No point in slowing ourselves down with the excess weight. Sealing it in a scroll would be more efficient."  
"Good idea." Sakura leaned closer to inspect the lock. The keyhole was far too small to accommodate the tip of a kunai, and while she could probably smash the safe open with a well-aimed punch, she didn't want to risk damaging the fragile vase nestled inside. As she debated over what method she should use to obtain the vase, she felt something groping at the pouch hanging from her hip. Turning quizzically toward her partner, she delicately arched a pink eyebrow as Kakashi positioned two senbon needles against the lock._

_"Lock-picking? How elementary, sensei," Sakura snickered. Kakashi shot her a quick eye crinkle as he settled into a more comfortable angle to approach the keyhole from._

"_A good ninja commands a thorough mastery of the basics, Sakura. You'll thank me one day for helping you perfect such an essential skill."  
"Iruka-sensei taught us how to lock-pick at the academy. During the first year."_

"…_.you'll thank me one day for helping him perfect such an essential skill. Now tilt that lock up a bit, will you?"_

_Sakura released an exasperated sigh but complied, reaching down so that Kakashi could slide the senbon in more accurately. He shifted them back and forth a few times, until a sharp click sounded, signaling that the safe had been unlocked. Reaching down, he pulled the lid open, revealing an understated clay vase nestled amongst plush layers of velvet cloth. Sakura lifted the vase from its cushion and tentatively brought it up to eye level._

"_All that trouble for this?" she scowled._

"_The Yugakure daimyo's great-grandfather was a renowned potter in the early days of the village. This vase was his last creation, made from clay obtained from the bank of a sacred hot spring that's now extinct," Kakashi explained in a bored drone. Sakura frowned and scrutinized the vase more closely._

"_But it's ugly."  
"Yes, but it's worth at least half a year's rent."_

"…_. I don't understand art."_

"_Mmmhmm."_

"_Sensei?"_

"_Sakura?"_

"_What's that sound?"_

_One and a half pairs of eyes slowly turned toward the open safe beneath them, which now emitted a dull hum and glowed an acidic shade of blue. Half a second later, two lithe figures were leaping back behind the cover of a large stalagmite as the safe exploded and a putrid black substance began to shoot out haphazardly in all directions. Kakashi held a thick vest he'd divested from the nearby corpse of a particularly hefty rogue nin above both his and Sakura's crouched bodies, shielding them from whatever black sludge managed to shoot around the stalagmite. Silence soon settled over the cave and the strange black rain stopped as suddenly as it had started._

"_What was that?!" Sakura breathed hard, struggling to process what the hell had just happened._

"_Seems our rogue friends left us a final goodbye present," Kakashi muttered, the mask around his nose crinkling as he sniffed distastefully at the potent stench. He tossed their makeshift vest cover away and examined the mess marring the walls of the cave._

"_The vase?!" Sakura gasped. She followed the curt nod of Kakashi's head down at the unharmed vase which lay cradled beneath his arm. Breathing a sigh of relief, she made to stand up, only to feel a strong hold pulling her back down. She stared quizzically down at her masked partner._

"_What?"_

"_What what?"_

"_What wh- oh for godsake, if you have nothing to say, would you let me stand up already?!" Sakura snapped. Kakashi fixed her with a cool, one-eyed gaze and sighed._

"_No one's stopping you. I myself would appreciate having my wrist back, thanks."_

"_Huh?!"_

_Irritation melted away to confusion as both ninja slowly directed their gazes down toward their wrists. A large glump of the black goo that had burst out of the safe bound them together, looping around their wrists like a lasso. Kakashi gave an experimental tug. The goo did not give way in the slightest, and Sakura's arm was jerked forward by the force of his tug. Not losing his cool, the masked ninja reached into his hip pouch for a kunai and sharply hacked down at their bond. The lethal tip glanced off uselessly, and the jarring vibrations from the point of impact reverberated through both their arms, causing Kakashi to grunt and Sakura to let out a yelp of alarm. A lone grey eye cautiously rose to meet the wide chartreuse gaze of the pink-haired kunoichi, who looked remarkably calm given the fact that she was on the verge of an aneurysm. She took a shallow breath._

_"Kakashi-sensei…." Sakura managed to utter._

_"Ha..?"_

_**"WHAT THE HELL!"**_

A loud cough jerked Sakura out of her recollection, and she jerked around to face the Copy Ninja. His gaze remained locked on his bright orange novel, steadfast as ever. Sakura frowned and eyed him warily.

"What?" she asked.

"You know… considering that I had to go and get stuck in close proximity for an extended period of time with another person, I can think of much worse people to get stuck with," Kakashi mused quietly, his gaze not straying from his current page.

Despite her annoyance, Sakura couldn't help the slight upward quirk of her lips at this incredibly Kakashi-esque delivery of an extremely Kakashi-esque form of consolation. She forced herself to relax the tension in her shoulders as she chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip.

"I guess it could be worse…" she agreed. "I mean, you could be smelly. Or loud. Or Naruto." She was rewarded by a soft chuckle as Kakashi finally tore his gaze from Icha Icha and fixed her with an eye smile.

"I have been told I smell quite nice actually," He said. Sakura simply rolled her eyes and rolled her sore shoulder. "Ah, well I can tell you're still quite disheartened by our… predicament, but we're only a night's journey away from Konoha at best, so we'll just have to be patient with each other until Hokage-sama has us nice and severed." His brows creased in a frown and he coughed discreetly as he realized how odd that latter bit had sounded. Sakura grinned in amusement.

"Alright, alright. I've suffered through worse in the emergency ward during stomach flu season, I suppose. Temporary truce?"

"Mmm." He raised his hand, perhaps to give her shoulder an amiable pat, but stopped midway as her arm was inevitably dragged up with his. Sighing resignedly, he settled for hoisting himself—and therefore Sakura—up from their position against the trunk of a large tree and began walking toward a dense group of bushes off to the side. Sakura staggered in his wake, yelping indignantly.

"Hey—wait, where are we going?!" she exclaimed.

"Call of nature." Kakashi cheerily announced.

"You have got to be kidding me. Has all that tasteless literature finally rotted your brain?!"

"Sakura?"

"What?!"

"Truce, remember?" And with that, he whistled brightly and shoved his way into the bushes.

"Oh, eff my life…"


End file.
