a village with(out) me ━ naruto fanfic

2.

Chapter Two: 

"He's late!" Sakura seethes. She walks up and down the side of the training ground, hands balled up into fists and lips curled into a scowl. 

"You'll wear a hole into the ground," Naruto says, placing his hands behind his head. He moves to go stand underneath the trees and the sun streaks between the canopy to cast shadows against his form. "It's too warm today, I've got half the mind to just go home." 

"Hn," Sasuke agrees from where he's sitting atop a tree branch, half eaten tomato in his hand. He's looking into the direction of the market with a narrowed gaze. 

"See anything?" Naruto asks, tilting his head to get a better look at his teammate. 

Sasuke glances down at Naruto and then back towards the directions of the market. Naruto knows the answer. It's a 'no.' 

"I'm giving him one more hour," Sakura says, walking past Naruto, "and then I'm going to find his old, wrinkly, grey haired ━"

"Maa, Sakura-chan, I hope you're not talking about me," Kakashi smiles, appearing in a swirl of leaves. 

Instantly, all three genins are on him, swiftly tackling him to the ground. Sakura grabs the front of his jonin jacket while Naruto and Sasuke each hold down his arms. And just like yesterday, they seem to have momentarily forgotten about the now non-existent space between them. Their shoulders are touching and Kakashi can just about catch their weak scents mingling; sea salt, plums and… tangerines? 

"Well," Kakashi blinks, pleasantly surprised, "I didn't think the three of you would attach yourselves to me so quickly." 

"We're not attached to you," Sakura says, shaking him harshly, "go on, tell me your excuse for being late." 

"You see," Kakashi starts, "there was this old woman━"

He doesn't get to finish. Sakura's grip tightens until her knuckles are pale white, then she's leaning her head back and quickly bringing it down to smack against against Kakashi's own. 

"Ow!" Kakashi actually yelps. He swears he sees a bright light flash behind his eyelid. 

"Rest in peace, Kakashi-Sensei," Naruto says, a little too happily. 

The genin rise to stand over Kakashi. Naruto's grinning brightly, Sakura's still scowling and the corner of Sasuke's mouth has lifted into a barely there smirk. 

"Why must you do this to your poor sensei?" Kakashi asks, sighing dramatically. He stays laying on the ground for a few more seconds and then slowly rearranges himself into a sitting position. "In the future," Kakashi says, "I expect hugs. Not whatever this was." 

"That was an ambush," Sasuke points out, "and you shouldn't have fallen for it so easily." 

"Yeah," Naruto agrees. 

Kakashi gives another sigh, this one more dramatic than the last. He places a hand over his heart. "I just didn't think my cute, little pups would be so aggressive." 

His teasing is met with silence. 

It's expected. 

Kakashi pulls out his ninken summoning scroll. "Sit," he orders, tapping his knuckles onto the ground twice. The three genin cautiously sit in front of him, naruto slightly further than the rest. Kakashi pretends to not notice. "Since you're all here, I'm assuming that you agree to signing this contract?''

He receives three nods.

"That's good," Kakashi says, smiling. He pulls out a small ink pot and a thin brush from the many pockets of his jounin vest. Opening the scroll, Kakashi carefully places it in front of his three students. "You write your names over here," he says, pointing to the empty slots after his own name.

There's a clear hesitance between them, but eventually Sakura reaches for the brush, dips it into the ink and signs her name after Kakashi's. Sasuke writes his own after the girl and then holds out the brush for Naruto to take. 

"Dobe," Sasuke calls when Naruto doesn't take the brush. 

"Is it…" Naruto trails off, pulling his shoulders up to his cheeks, unconsciously making himself seem smaller, "really okay if I sign it?" 

Kakashi nods. "Of course." 

"Even if," the blonde raises his gaze to match Kakashi's, left hand moving to cover his stomach, "I mean. I asked… him, yesterday. He said it was okay but he seemed really moody afterwards, so…" 

"Oh," Kakashi can't mask his surprise even if he tries. So, Naruto can talk with the Ninetails. Interesting. "Sounds to me like he's jealous." 

Sakura's pink brows furrow in confusion. "Who's jealous?" 

Her question is ignored in favour of Naruto asking his own. "Why would he be jealous?" 

"I suppose it's because the idea of sharing you with someone else makes him agitated," Kakashi explains. After all, dogs and foxes do not go hand in hand. Funny, he thinks, that he actually feels quite the same about his pups. Kakashi never thought he'd be agreeing with the Ninetails of all things. 

Naruto hums, placing his chin between his thumb and index fingers. "He is very selfish," the blonde mumbles to himself, "and we are each other's best friends." 

Kakashi nearly has a heart attack right then and there. Friends. Naruto is friends with the Ninetails. Best friends ━

"But he did say it was okay," Naruto shrugs and finally takes the brush from Sasuke. He dips it into the ink pot and grins, writing out his name. "There," he says, "all done." 

Kakashi clears the pot and the brush, awfully aware of Sakura's pinched expression and Sasuke's probing glare. They want answers, but he can't give them any. Naruto will eventually come around and tell them on his own. 

"Now that we have that cleared," Kakashi starts, "these are the hand signs for the summoning jutsu. Repeat after me." He goes through the hand signs slowly, repeats them three-four-five times and smiles when his pups easily get it down. 

"You're all doing well," he praises them. 

"Usually, when a contract like this is signed up, it's only supposed to be a single person trying to summon their animal, but since I'm so kind," Kakashi makes sure to hold Sakura's gaze, "and patient with you, I'll be allowing the three of you to do it together. If you combine your efforts, you'll surely summon a ninken." 

Sasuke scoffs. "So, you're not allowing us to do it on our own?"

"You can try,'' Kakashi says, not in the least surprised at Sasuke's reluctance to work with his teammates, "but you don't have enough chakra for that yet." He stands to his feet, "I have some other business to attend to and I'll be back in a few hours. For the time being, try and summon a ninken. All you have to do is draw a little blood from your hand, do the seals you were just taught and concentrate your chakra into the scroll."

He waves at them and then disappears in a swirl of leaves. 

Sakura immediately tugs the summoning scroll closer to her. "Alone?" She asks. "Or together?" 

"Alone," is Sasuke's quick reply. 

"And if we can't do it alone, we'll do it," Naruto's nose scrunches up in distaste, feigning a full body shiver, "together." 

•••
1177 words//unedited.

dw guys! the bell test will happen 🙏 just a little later than usual 😭

until next time! 🍃🍃