"Tsunade?"
Jiraiya spoke up as Tsunade had been staring with wide eyes at the scroll from the Mizukage for almost a minute now; even then, Tsunade didn't seem to hear her name being called.
"Tsunade!"
Tsunade blinked for the first time since she began reading the scroll, rolling it back up and tucking it securely into the top drawer of her desk for later.
"Ah, yes. Well done, you're all dismissed."
Tsunade waved them off, rubbing her temples to alleviate a slight headache from the mentally draining paperwork. After so much time going through endless paper, the words on the pages seemed to swirl together in an unrecognizable way.
Naruto and Sasuke left to go to their homes. Jiraiya had already left for Konoha Hot Springs halfway through Tsunade's dismissal, and Kakashi strolled out of the office and down the steps to the village, taking his time as he headed to Konoha Hospital.
Kakashi caught many people doing double- and even triple-takes upon seeing him without the mask; it was very amusing to see everyone's reactions.
Seeing a familiar shock of hair, a voice shouted out from behind Kakashi.
"Kakashi!"
Kakashi turned, taking in Asuma and his team, especially the vest on Shikamaru.
"Yo, Asuma, how has it been? And Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji, of course."
The cigarette that had been hanging from the right side of Asuma's mouth fell to the ground, his eyes wide and unbelieving.
Choji's hand paused in his bag of chips for a second before he continued to eat; while the face reveal was surprising, food was more important to any Akamichi.
Shikamaru's back straightened, and his sharp gaze swept over every feature as if cataloging it into memory before his whole demeanor did a complete 180 in a millisecond, going back to slouching and letting his face fall into its usual 'I can barely be bothered to breathe' expression.
Ino blinked, taking in every detail of the face that was covered all the times she had seen the mysterious sensei of Team 7, blushing a bit as she appreciated the handsome face.
'Why hide your face if you're this handsome? I thought he was hiding buck teeth, huge lips, or a badly scarred face.'
Asuma blinked back into reality, having been hit the most as he had been in Kakashi's class and known him for much longer; he had long since accepted the fact that he, nor anyone, would ever see Kakashi's face.
"I'm honestly shocked, Kakashi. I never expected this from you. After all these years of everyone asking you what's under the mask."
Asuma spoke while leaning down to pick up the cigarette that had fallen to the ground, giving the stick a few taps to throw off any dust before putting it back into the pack in his breast pocket.
Kakashi chuckled lightly, thoroughly amused by the reactions.
"I felt it was time for a change, that's all. And besides, I always showed you all what was under my mask."
"Another mask."
Asuma interjected with a groan.
Kakashi nodded.
"You simply had to ask what was under that mask under my first."
"And you'd have shown us?"
Kakashi smiled softly.
"I'd have shown you the mask under that one."
The corner of Asuma's eye twitched, and he turned and pulled his students into the barbecue restaurant across the street.
"Maa, I was simply being truthful."
Kakashi rubbed the back of his head as he too turned to continue his walk to the hospital, nodding and waving to the ones who had stopped doing whatever they were doing to stare in shock.
- Konoha Hospital -
"Excuse me, miss, I need to speak with my student."
Kakashi spoke up to the receptionist.
The young Chunin receptionist didn't look up. busy typing away on her computer.
"Name and rank of the patient?"
"Ah, she's not a patient; she's an intern, Sakura Haruno."
The receptionist looked up, recognizing the voice now that she wasn't concentrating on work, but the lack of a mask stunned her.
"Who are you? Kakashi Hatake wears a mask. If this is a transformation, then it sucks."
The receptionist's hand slowly reached for a red button under her desk.
"Maa, I'd rather you not do that."
The receptionist freezes as she looks down to see her wrist grabbed firmly, but not enough to hurt, looking back over her shoulder to see the man that should've been in front of her.
'Body flicker? But I didn't even feel any fluctuations of chakra.'
Kakashi retrieved his ninja ID and put it into the hand he had been holding, then let go and calmly walked back to the front of the desk.
"Now, I believe I was asking about my student, Sakura Haruno."
'This man is dangerous to my heart….. in more ways than one.'
The receptionist quickly stood.
"Please have a seat, sir; I'll quickly retrieve her."
Kakashi raised his hand to stop her, but the receptionist was already speeding down the hall.
'Well.. I hope she wasn't in any important training or anything.'
A couple of minutes later, Sakura came walking into the main lobby, walking to the waiting area and nearly tripping over the leg of a chair as she saw Kakashi's face.
'This is going to be a thing for a while.'
Kakashi smirked softly.
"Were you busy?"
"Uhh, no, not really."
Sakura replied, still a bit stunned.
"What brings you here, sensei…. Not that I'm not happy to see you."
Sakura asked, quickly adding, as she felt the phrasing of her question sounded rude.
Kakashi waved it off.
"I knew what you meant, Sakura. Am I really that scary?"
Kakashi chuckled, raising a hand as she opened her mouth.
"That doesn't need to be answered. I came here to tell you to be at training ground 7 tomorrow at 10 in the morning. You have tomorrow off, right?"
"Yeah, I have weekends off."
Sakura sat down across from Kakashi.
"What is this about, sensei? A mission?"
Kakashi shook his head.
"Not unless called by the Hokage. But it concerns your training; you'll learn all about it tomorrow; it'd be unfair to Naruto and Sasuke if I told only you."
Kakashi ignored her pout.
"So, how has your training been going? Shizune teaching you well?"
Sakura brightened immediately, going into detail on the things she has learned with a sort of zeal only someone who has found their purpose would talk.
"Lady Shizune has been teaching me more advanced poison-making and senbon techniques. She even taught me more chakra control exercises.
Kakashi blinked at that, having not expected that.
"The water drop exercise and the sand sticking exercise? Or the hovering weapon exercise? You're working a bit hard, Sakura; what brought this on?
Kakashi asked in concern.
Sakura looked down and rubbed her hands together, like a subconscious child.
"All of the exercises, sometimes more than Lady Shizune suggests."
Sakura winced, as if admitting this hurt.
"Naruto and Sasuke are growing at a pace that I can't keep up with, sensei. I have to learn everything I can if I don't want to burden them."
"Sakura."
Kakashi spoke softly, waiting for her to look up before speaking.
"It's not your job to keep up with anyone. Your path is different from theirs; this doesn't make you any less in any shape or form. A medical ninja is very vital to any team, and they're highly respected. Even idiots can kill, but it takes much more skill to save a life. You, Sakura, matter."
Kakashi finished by gently ruffling her hair, purposefully messing it up so that she'd focus less on her perceived faults.
Sakura swiped at his hand, using both hands to flatten her hair and fix it back into place.
"Thanks, sensei, I really needed that."
Kakashi sighed.
"I haven't been the best sensei for you, Sakura; I should've seen that this was eating you up inside. I'll admit that I knew, but you can control your emotions remarkably well for a genin, so I figured it hadn't gotten to this level."
"Chunin."
Sakura corrected.
Kakashi felt a stab of shame.
"Ahh, Chunin then. Congratulations."
Kakashi felt a bit awkward and was quick to add.
"Now that I've returned, I can teach you anything you'd like to learn; just think about it and tell me later at the training ground tomorrow."
Kakashi stood, walking to the entrance before looking back over his shoulder.
"For what it's worth, Sakura, I'm proud of the kunoichi that you've become."
Kakashi smiled, stepping out and vanishing in a body flicker.
Sakura smiled, having never truly felt any animosity for her sensei. She was a smart girl and well aware that her talents were in the areas Kakashi wasn't proficient in. If anything, she was thankful for his recommendation that got her into the hospital, and for his training, which rapidly improved her shaky foundations from a purposefully starved fan-girl to a true kunoichi and medic in training.
- Chapter End -
Sakura was promoted for her actions helping people evacuate the stadium and for her improving skills, which Shizune herself can vouch for. Just putting that there in case anyone was curious, but this chapter was me trying to improve the Team 7 dynamics between Kakashi and Sakura, the character that I accidentally pushed to the side. This wasn't my intention, but I plan to make it right. Thank you for reading