The air still buzzed with chakra. Dust and smoke curled around the training ground, the echo of the impact ringing in everyone’s ears.

Naruto staggered back, coughing as the energy fizzled from his palm. “Is she dead?” he blurted, wide-eyed, staring at the crumpled figure in the dirt.

Sasuke’s Sharingan flickered, his chest heaving from the drain of his jutsu. “Idiot. You almost killed her.”

“Me?! You—” Naruto’s voice cracked, panic strangling the rest. He shot a frantic look toward Sakura, who was half-hidden behind a boulder, arms thrown up to shield herself.

Their substitute babysitter—a jōnin unlucky enough to be saddled with Kakashi’s team for the afternoon—lay in the blast radius of where Rasengan and Chidori had collided. She’d lunged in at the last second, intercepting with chakra reinforcement, catching the worst of the backlash before it could swallow Sakura.

Now, she wasn’t moving.

“Move,” Sasuke said sharply, pushing past Naruto. He crouched by the fallen jōnin, fingers brushing against her wrist for a pulse. His jaw tightened, and for once, no smugness edged his voice. “She’s alive.”

Naruto exhaled so hard he nearly toppled over. “Don’t do that to me! I thought— I thought we—” He swallowed hard, guilt twisting in his chest.

Sakura rushed forward then, fury in her eyes even as her hands trembled. “You two are unbelievable! This was supposed to be training, not— not a death match!” She glanced at the unconscious jōnin, heart thudding. “Kakashi-sensei’s going to kill you when he finds out.”

Sasuke stood, dusting himself off with infuriating calm. “Then he should’ve been here.”

“Don’t you dare—” Sakura started, but Naruto cut her off, dropping to his knees beside the jōnin.

“Please wake up, please wake up,” he muttered, shaking her shoulder with the same desperation he usually saved for ramen stalls about to close.