Space to Breathe - [ Sakura Haruno ]

CHAPTER 01

"I'm more than just something to look at, Naruto," Sakura said, eyes wet and fists balled tightly, her knuckles white. "I'm your teammate."

The scene would have looked normal, to an outside observer, but the fact Sakura was part of any discussion at all was relatively abnormal for Team Seven.

Naruto's eyes were wide, his mouth opening and closing as if to speak, but no words came out. Sure, Sakura was usually abrasive and seemingly angry at him but it was never like this. She seemed serious, here.

Eventually, tears fell from her eyes, and Naruto forced himself to speak through the shock.

"I know that, Sakura," Naruto replied, wanting to continue but Sakura shakes her head and holds up a hand to stop him. No matter how much he wanted to help, she knew he wouldn't be able to.

"Do you, though?" She spoke quietly, but every word was filled with anger, sadness and regret. "None of you take me seriously, not even Kakashi-sensei."

The man in question shifts slightly, but doesn't speak. Sasuke, the jerk that he was, simply scoffs quietly and looks away.

Sakura lowered her head. She realised abruptly that no matter what she said, nobody was going to take her seriously, on this team.

Without another thought, she spun on her heels and started to walk away, the team she'd been so excited to be part of after graduation did nothing to make her stay.

______________

She walked briskly through the village for a good few minutes, then. The cold breeze caught on her exposed legs and arms, causing her to shiver slightly.

"Stupid Naruto, stupid Sasuke ," she muttered, rubbing her left hand against her opposite arm to try to keep warm. "Stupid Kakashi, too."

A few weeks prior, she would have never said that about Sasuke, but starting just before the Wave mission she realised, he didn't care about her in the slightest, and found her nothing but annoying.

"What's Kakashi-sensei even thinking, signing us up for the Chunin Exams," she rants quietly, "Naruto doesn't work well with Sasuke, and both of them are getting on my nerves."

She sighed, continuing to walk down the relatively busy streets. Her legs were still sore from their team's trip back from The Land of Waves, and the cold weather wasn't helping. Looking up, she noticed the clouds gathering, dark grey.

"A storms probably coming, too." She pouted, muttering to herself as she walked, "just great."

Eventually, she found her legs had taken her somewhere she'd never been, but recognised easily. They were taught the layout of Konoha extensively during her time at the academy, after all.

Before her sat an unassuming but relatively large building, painted in mute colours and with no windows to speak of. It was close to the Hokage Mountain, but not right up against it.

No sign indicated its purpose, but Sakura knew easily. This building belonged to the Torture and Interrogation unit.

"You don't see many fresh genin around here," a voice spoke, deep and sudden but not seeming malicious. Sakura jumped slightly at the sound, causing her to look towards it's source.

A large, imposing man was walking towards her, his face had multiple scars and he wore a bandana style hitai-ate on his head. The uniform he wore was dark grey, with a black trenchcoat on top.

He watched her as she took in his appearance, a small smirk on his face as she did. He was pleased to see the new Genin was not so careless as to trust any shinobi she met, even in her home village.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, eying her critically and finding her lacking. She had little muscle definition and had the bare minimum in terms of weapons on her person. Despite that, he noted to himself, she seemed intelligent.

Sakura faltered momentarily, not wanting to tell the truth, but also not wanting to lie.

"I, uh," she stuttered, avoiding eye contact with the man. "I'm on a walk?"

The man almost chuckled at that, letting out a huff of air. "There's more to it then that, so tell me." He didn't seem particularly annoyed, but to Sakura just his presence was intimidating enough to get her to talk.

Sakura sighed again, hearing she'd have to spill the truth to a stranger, but relinquished. "I had an argument with my team," she said simply.

The man nodded at that, "not everyone can get along, what's important is that you suck it up and work together."

Sakura almost groaned, then. This man didn't know just how badly she wished she could, but her idiot teammates didn't understand teamwork, even if they did manage it once or twice.

"It's not that simple," she practically spat, causing the man to raise an eyebrow, "my teammates are so self-centred, and Kakashi-sensei does nothing to even try and fix it."

The man's smirk left then, replaced by what can only be described as... Pity? The man was hard to read.

"Oh, you're one of Hatake's brats." He said, "were you arguing about the exams?"

Sakura was shocked when he said that, but she supposed it made sense. The man had clearly worked in intelligence.

"Kind of," she explained, "my teammates have always not really acknowledged me as one of them, but when I said I don't think we're ready for the exams Sasuke kinda snapped at me."

"Then Naruto jumped in to tell him off, but then he started spouting stuff about me not wanting to mess up my appearance in the exams," she continued, getting angrier as she went on, "Kami, they're both such idiots."

The man hummed at that thoughtfully. "So you're annoyed they don't take you seriously, and Naruto only cares about your appearance?"

Sakura nods then, "I guess, though Naruto does actually seem to care about me." She shrugged, "He's just an idiot."

"Then the problem should be easy to ignore, no?" He tried, but Sakura actually groaned now.

"No, because Kakashi-sensei only seems to care about the boys." She replied, "and when I do ask for some training, he just has me do basic exercises whilst Naruto and Sasuke spar."

The man listened carefully as she explained, before seeming to decide, "It seems most of the blame here lands on Hatake, no?"

Sakura shrugged, but then goes still, realising she'd just bad-mouthed her superior officer to some random shinobi.

"I can help you file a formal complaint, if you want," he shrugs back, "but honestly, I doubt it'd go anywhere for your team."

Sakura nodded at that, relieved she didn't seem to be in trouble, "They want Kakashi-sensei to teach Sasuke because of his eye. Plus moving me from the team would just land me in the genin corps, I imagine."

He sighs at that, knowing she was correct. Shaking his head he resolved to help her out, if only a little.

"Follow me," he spun around, although clearly aware of her every move still.

Sakura paused for a minute before nodding, "Oh, uh, okay?"

Sakura resisted the urge to question the man, who without a shadow of a doubt outranked her, as he lead her inside the T&I building.