J A D E

Chapter Twenty-Six

"Team stay back and protect Tazuna!" Kakashi declares loudly and we nod, jumping towards Tazuna and circling around him. But I know that this is not going to stop Zabuza from attacking his target. He only chuckles, creating several water clones of himself.

"Naruto. Sasuke." I whisper their names and both of them look at me. I have gained enough trust out of them to listen to me before running towards the battle unprepared. "Don't run towards the fight." I warn them in dangerously low voice. They nod to me, but I know that they are going to jump at the first chance.

I make tiger hand-seal and create several water clones of myself, putting them on perimeter without boys noticing. I have to admit that despite everything, they never take me seriously. None of them do. Boys think that just because I am girl, I need to be protected. Just because I am small, they decided that I am too weak to handle myself. And for someone to think like that, they are pretty dense.

I sigh as soon as Naruto and Sasuke run towards Zabuza's clone, attacking him and failing to actually deliver any harm.

"Don't worry, Tazuna-san. They will protect you." I whisper to the old man with a smile as my clones jump in front of him, creating perfect circle around him. I leave him alone with them as I jump towards boys. I know that this is their shining moment, but I have to steal it away from them. Otherwise, Kakashi sensei is going to exhaust himself again. And pass out. For two days.

I look around. I have not used this technique ever since my first mission with Itachi and Shisui. I watch as Zabuza imprisons Kakashi. Boys look at loss, while fighting Zabuza's clone. Kakashi is shouting for us to leave him. Leave him. As if we are bunch of nobodies.

Horse.

I have done nothing in this fight during past timeline.

Dog.

I have only been an abuse to them.

Bird.

I needed to be protected.

Ox.

I could not help them in any way.

Snake.

"Earth Release: Earth and Rock Dragon!" I shout the name suddenly, startling everyone, especially Zabuza and Kakashi. I have not been permitted to use this technique until I reached Chunnin rank. But now, it is not important. Nothing is important.

I smirk as real Zabuza jumps away from the crashing force of earth, some parts of dragon cutting his arm. The prison falls, freeing Kakashi-sensei. He spares only a glance towards me and activates his Sharingan.

Zabuza looks over to me and nods satisfied. He then jumps in front of Kakashi to start the clash of titans.

"Sasuke! Naruto!" I call out and they run to me, standing on either side of me.

"Are you okay, Sakura-chan?!" Naruto shouts worriedly. "I have not seen you use this before!" He shouts again. I surpass a smirk and sigh.

"I am okay, Naruto." I shake my head and motion towards Tazuna. "My clones won't last long."I add, already feeling exhausted from too much chakra usage. There was reason, I am not permitted to use certain jutsus. Despite having big Chakra Reserves for Genin, they still are not big enough for these jutsus.

We stand around Tazuna as my clones disappear. I watch my sensei and missing nin in awe. Their battle in whole new level, which I don't know if I will ever be able to reach. I nib my lower lip and continue watching them with astonishment.

I can feel both, Naruto's and Sasuke's worried glances thrown towards me every now and then. They don't know what I am capable of. They don't know what I am doing. All they know is that I am some kind of prodigy, who refused to finish academy earlier, thus had different homework pinned to her.

"I didn't know you were in ANBU, Sakura-chan." Naruto sits next to me with plate of ramen in his hands. I shrug my shoulder, not knowing what to answer to him. Sasuke sits down on the other side of me, holding tomatoes. I can feel Kakashi's presence behind us. Someone else would think that we had our little Team Seven reunion for ourselves. "When did you join in, Sakura-chan?"

"Just before you returned from your training with Jiraya-san." I shrug my shoulders as I stare at the sky above me. After six years of warring, it does not matter if you tell people you belonged in ANBU or not. Now we are all together. Like family.

"Why did you not tell me?" This time it's Kakashi, who speaks. I turn around, smirking at him and then shaking my head, chuckling humorlessly.

"Why would have I?" I ask as I look at the horizon. "You would not have cared, anyways."

I watch as hunter nin takes away Zabuza, and how Kakashi sensie collapses. All three of us watch Kakashi-sensei, before I kneel down and take him, giving him piggy-back ride.

"We can hold him, Sakura-chan." Naruto says as soon as I pick Kakashi. I look over him and Sasuke, both of them looking terrible beat up. "You look tired, believe it!" He nods, sure of himself.

"It's okay, Naruto." I smile gently at him. "I can take him." I add and turn towards Tazuna. "Lead the way, please."

***

I sit there as Kakashi sensei wakes up. I sit there as Naruto animatedly tells him, how I have brought him back in Tazuna-san's house. I can catch Kakashi's worried glances every now and then aimed at me. But I choose to ignore them. I watch boys' reaction as Kakashi informs them about Zabuza being alive and how we need to train more in order to have chance at surviving him.

"Sakura-chan." Naruto starts as soon as Kakashi finishes talking. "How did that guy know you?" He asks me confused.

"Um..." I look down, panicking. I am not supposed to tell them about my missions. I am not supposed to tell them about my secret life. "I have been training with Shisui." I start immediately, building up a lie on a spot. "We were outside the village in the forest!" I state happily, story forming in my mind. "And we encountered him. He was just passing and meant no harm, but wanted to spar with Shisui." I explain the whole situation to them. Both, Sasuke and Naruto buy it, nodding their heads to me.