a village with(out) me ━ naruto fanfic

8.

Chapter Eight: 

Kakashi grovels for attention from his three very cute, but also very vicious pups. It's been a week since they passed the bell test with flying colours, Kakashi having signed them up for D-rank missions the moment he came back alive from his near death experience with Sakura's wrath. 

He's currently sulking underneath the shade of a tree, watching as his pups ━ for the third time this week ━ catch Tora the cat. 

Naruto holds the cat by the scruff of its neck, his nose wrinkling. Sakura stands beside him, unimpressed, and Sasuke looks both disgusted and bored out of his mind. 

Kakashi sighs. He'd love to pull out his book ━ a new one, he bought it in secret on Monday ━ but he's down right terrified of Sakura. He also doesn't want to upset his pups any further. He's already grovelling as it is. 

Another week flies by. The summer in Konoha is always terribly warm and Kakashi sits on the doorsteps of a civilian's garden, sweating. His pups are pulling out weeds, muttering quietly to each other. Every now and then, the three of them send Kakashi a disappointed look or a cold glare. 

Kakashi has tried just about everything. He'd gotten Sakura some new hair products when he'd caught her complaining to Naruto about hers running out. He'd even added bath bombs and the likes, making a little goody bag for her and leaving it on the outside of her windowsill. 

She'd come to training the next day, smelling faintly of her new cherry blossom scented shampoo. Kakashi was over the moon, but deflated instantly when Sakura barely acknowledged his existence. 

He'd even bribed Sasuke with a basket of Konoha's freshest tomatoes, and while he took the gift with a glint in his onyx eyes, he hadn't bothered to help Kakashi on his quest with trying to win Sakura back over.

Sighing softly, Kakashi balances his elbow onto his knee and leans his cheek into the palm of his hand. For Kami's sake, yesterday had been a failure with Naruto too. Kakashi had pulled out the secret box of guilt from the back of his closet. It was filled with trinkets and mementos he allowed himself to keep from his childhood. 

He'd taken a moment to hold Obito's orange goggles between his calloused hands, had brushed his thumb over Rin's black necklace and then tucked the items back into place, swallowing his guilt and his fear as he pulled out an old scroll of Kushina's. 

It was dark green and slightly charred on the outside, the Uzumaki crest keeping it sealed closed. Kushina had gifted it to him long ago with the promise of teaching him the contents. She didn't live long enough for that to ever happen. 

And while Kakashi tried to read the seals inside the scroll, he wasn't able to. Uzumaki fuinjutsu was tricky and wasn't meant for outsiders to read. When he'd given it to Naruto, he received a curious look and not much else as the pup took it from him. 

Perhaps Kakashi wasn't trying hard enough? He hums quietly to himself, closing his one eye in thought. 

"That's it!" Naruto complains, dropping a heap of grass weeds into the garbage bag on the side of the small garden. "I can't take this anymore!" 

"Hn," Sasuke agrees, shifting to sit on the grass. He wipes his stained hands onto his white shorts, leaving them green in places. 

"You're right," Sakura agrees, looking down at her hands. They're stained green from the grass, the soft spaces between her fingers angry and red from all the pulling. She wipes the sweat off her brow with the back of her hand, sighing in boredom. "This is by far the dumbest mission we've received." 

"Mission? Sakura, please," Naruto falls into the grass, just beside Sasuke, his nose twitching slightly. "This isn't a mission. This is child labour."