Stranger

Chapter 1: Mission in the Waterfall Village

As the last rogue fell unconscious onto the ground, four people stood, tired and out of breath. The walls of the previously holy and majestic temple were now pieces of rubble laying on the floor and there was nothing in the room that had survived unharmed by the fight before. One of the three teens collapsed to the floor and was already in a deep sleep before the others could shout in surprise. This one in particular had used up his chakra the most, with the countless number of clones he had to create.

"Hmm... ," hummed their Jounin leader. "I think we should go back to Tsunami's house and rest for another day before we leave tomorrow."

"You don't say, Kakashi sensei." The only girl of the group commented. "If we try to go back to Konoha in this state now, we'd barely make it half the journey. Plus, I don't think any of us would have the strength to carry that guy-" she indicated towards the one sleeping. "- all the way back."

Their leader gave a sigh as he looked towards the sleeping one. "Well, I wouldn't wake him up. He deserves the rest after all he just managed to accomplish." He looked towards the one with black hair. "Sai, if you don't mind, could you carry him back to the house?"

Sai gave a short nod and proceeded to pick the boy up. He was the least injured out of all of them, it was only right that he did so. The three of them exited the broken building, only to be bombarded by the monks that previously lived there.

"Ah, sorry about the temple..." Said Kakashi nervously to the men in front of him. However, they merely shook their heads. There was nothing to be sorry about. Team 7 saved them, and they were grateful.

"Don't worry about that," said one of them. "It's the price we will have to pay for allowing such menaces to enter, it in the first place. We were foolish to believe them."

The monks expressed their gratitude with a multitude of gifts but the team merely declined. There wasn't anything among the gifts that they needed or wanted. Plus, it would have been a bother to have to carry them all back to their village.

After saying their goodbyes, they headed over to Tsunami's house where they would finally get the rest they needed. "Ah, welcome back everyone!" She greeted from the kitchen as they entered. "Dinner is almost ready, but in the mean time, go ahead and clean yourselves up and get some rest."

Sakura tried to smile as wide as she could. "Thank you, Tsunami-San." She thanked on the behalf of everyone else who was too tired to respond. Out of all of them, she had used the least energy in the fight earlier mainly because of her good chakra control. Though it doesn't mean she didn't use a good lot of it.

Sai was the first to head upstairs, carrying Naruto along. Sakura followed right behind him. She might as well heal him while he couldn't fidget from getting restless. After Sai placed him down in the mattress, she placed her hands above a wound on Naruto's arm. After a few seconds, her hand began to glow green, initiating the healing process. "You can take a shower first, Sai. I'll stay with Naruto and patch him up."

Sai nodded, mumbling a small "Thanks, Sakura." before leaving to his own bedroom.

By the time he had finished and came back to check on Naruto, the blue eyes were wide open once again but Sakura was nowhere to be seen. "Ah, you're awake."

"O-oh, Hey!" Naruto gave a bright smile though his eyes flickered to the window for a second. "You can thank Sakura for that. I feel a lot better now."

It was exactly as Naruto said. All the bruises and cuts that were displayed on his body earlier had vanished, leaving unnoticeable scars in their place. Even then, the scars would disappear soon enough. "Yes, she did an excellent job. Speaking of her, where did she go?"