Disclaimer: Naruto and all its characters belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, not some random, nerdy college student.
"This is it," thought Sakura Haruno as she stared down at the slightly dented pair of old bells in the palm of her hand, taking deep, calming breaths while mentally going over her files one last time.
Name: Gekko, Seita
Age: 12
Rank: Academy Graduate
Kekkai Genkai: None
Background: Comes from a long line of trusted Konoha Shinobi. Youngest of four siblings, two of which are Chunnin and one who became a Genin last year. Determined to follow in his family's footsteps and stand out among his siblings, Seita possesses above average taijutsu skills, solid ninjutsu foundations, and good theoretical knowledge. He is boisterous, but generally good-natured, if not a bit cocky at times and is generally well-liked by his classmates. His ambition and charisma show leadership potential if his ego is kept in check.
Name: Nakai, Yurei
Age: 12
Rank: Academy Graduate
Kekkai Genkai: Seishin no kaihō
Background: Possesses shinobi ancestry somewhere in his background as apparent through his rare, recessive kekkai genkai, though he is the first potential shinobi in his family in two generations. Though his classroom performance is average and taijutsu skills are relatively weak, he has a natural affinity for ninjutsu and genjutsu. However, he is incredibly timid and his lack of confidence hinders his performance greatly. Because he is so incredibly quiet, he is mostly ignored by his classmates. If Yurei is able to overcome his timidity, he has the potential to become an extraordinary shinobi.
Name: [grey zetsu specimen 2.0] Senju, Tsubomi
Age: 7 (physical), 11 (biological)
Rank: Genin
Kekkai Genkai: Mokuton, Zetsu's abilities
Background: Found growing in the lab of Yakushi Kabuto after the Fourth Shinobi War, GZ2.0 is an artificially created plant/humanoid hybrid grown from the combined DNA of Hashirama Senju, Codename: Yamato and the original black Zetsu. She was accepted as a citizen of Konohagakure and adopted by Yamato on the principle that her DNA makes her Yamato's biological child as well as a blood relative of both the Shodai and Godaime Hokages. At her "birth," she had the appearance and mind of a child of approximately four years old, but has grown at the rate of an average human child ever since. When it comes to her mental capacity and her abilities as a shinobi, Tsubomi is quite advanced for her age, and technically achieved Genin status at the age of seven. However, at the discretion of her "father," Tsubomi has spent the last four years under his private instruction, learning to better control her kekkai genkai such as mokuton and various plant abilities inherited from her zetsu DNA. Now that she is about the age of the average Academy graduate, Tsubaki is to be placed on a Genin squad by the order of the Hokage in order to learn teamwork and how to interact with children her own age.
More deep breaths. If these kids passed her test, they were sure to be a handful. Sakura knew Naruto trusted her completely, but this was her first teaching gig for crying out loud! Though she supposed it did make a certain kind of sense. After all, out of all the Jonin who applied for a Genin squad this year, Sakura did have the most experience with "experimental" or "special needs" teams, as she learned people liked to put it these days.
In fact, now that she really thought about it, parallels between these kids and Sakura's own teammates and even herself a little bit were everywhere. There was Seita, the popular whiz-kid with a family name to uphold, Yurei the shy, civilian-born child with good potential but no self-confidence, and of course Tsubomi, the oddball with no childhood and bursting with power she can barely control. Among his new teammates, Seita would also now become the regular kid surrounded by Very Special People with Very Special Powers, much like Sakura had always been with Naruto and Sasuke. And of course when it came to teaching Tsubomi Sakura was qualified not by her familiarity with mokuton from working under Yamato, but also with social blank slates, having basically taught Sai the rules of basic human interaction from scratch.
"Okay," she thought, "I can do this. This is nothing. I've been through War. I'm the successor of a Legendary Sannin. I'm a member of Team Seven and I have the scars to prove it! I can teach a few pre-pubescent kids how to make it in this world. SHANNARO!"
"Sakura." Sakura was startled from her self-motivating reverie and spun around to face the man behind her. They'd been living together for nearly two months and Sakura still felt the urge to pinch herself every time she woke up next to him. It was incredible to think of how far they'd come in only seven years.
"Oh! Sasuke-kun, you're up! Did I wake you?"
"No. I'm guarding the Dobe today."
"Hah. I'm not surprised. Naruto'll probably rope you into standing over his shoulder while he abuses that damn crystal ball of his watching me give the kids the Bell Test. I'll bet he'll call Kakashi-sensei in too just to complete the picture."
"Hn." Ah, the signature Smirk. Some things never change… but some things do.
No one had thought it possible for the last Uchiha to be able to return to any semblance of a normal life after everything that had happened. There were still an overwhelming number of people in the Shinobi world who believed he should've died for his crimes, been thrown in a maximum-security prison for life or institutionalized at the very least.
These sentiments had quickly trickled down to the civilian community, so most of the villagers regarded him with open fear and distrust at worst, or badly concealed nervousness at best. Sasuke bore this treatment with his usual brand of "fuck you" stoicism, though Sakura knew that deep down it bothered him.
Luckily, he had Naruto, Kakashi-sensei and herself by his side as their own little makeshift family along with the remnants of the Konoha Eleven and former Taka members Suigetsu Hozuki and Juugo of the Scales to count among the people who didn't completely hate him. Karin could never manage to forgive him and Sakura honestly couldn't begrudge her that.
"You'd better get going…" Sasuke was still smirking. "Unless you're planning on mirroring Kakashi with more than just the Bell Test."
"Oh no way. I'm not cruel enough to inflict that on them! Wish me luck, Sasuke-kun!" And with that, Sakura slipped on her flak jacket, pulled on her nin-boots and headed for the door when she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder and turned around once more.
"Yes?" Sasuke tipped her chin up and kissed her full on the mouth deeply and briefly before releasing her to watch her stare up at him with wide eyes and a soft smile, his own smirk softened at the sight of it.
"And there she is," he thought fondly. How little it took to catch a glimpse of the starry-eyed girl full of love and hope from so long ago buried but never lost under the layers of protective rage and fire beneath the veneer of carefully cultivated professionalism that had accumulated year after painful year to create the world's most successful medic-nin and strongest kunoichi, off to train the next generation. "Sakura."
"Mm-hmm?"
"Get going."
"Oh, right. See you, Sasuke-kun!"
"Aa."
"Alright kids, ready or not here I come." And with a final jingle of the old bells for good luck before slipping them into her flak jacket pocket, she was gone.
A/N: I hope you found the liked my prologue! Here's some story notes.
Seita, Yurei and Tsubomi are my own original characters and the main characters of this story, but don't worry! They will be fully-realized, three-dimensional characters with developed personalities and backgrounds that will be explored.
There has been a seven-year gap between the end of the Fourth Shinobi War and the start of this story. A lot happened in Konoha and elsewhere during this time, and yes, some main characters from the original series have died. Things will be revealed as the story goes on, and I might write a one-shot or two taking place during the gap to fill in some holes… eventually.
Yes, Sasuke and Sakura are an established couple here and have been for a while. Of course, since this is Sasusaku, a lot of angsty crap has happened but at the point in the timeline where the story begins, they're pretty much past most of that and are attempting to build a life together. But since most of the story is from the kids' POV, Sasusaku stuff from this point on will be from an outsider's perspective, which I'm hoping will make it entertaining to read and different from what you usually see.
Naruto is the Rokudaime Hokage and is pretty much considered Shinobi-Jesus at this point. I mean, you see what's happening in canon at this point. That's basically what he's become or well on his way to becoming… Don't worry though; he's still the same old Naruto we all love if not a little older and wiser. Oh, and Kakashi is not dead! He's not Hokage because I think he made it pretty clear in canon that that is the very last thing he'd want to be. He's pretty much become a legendary hermit in the story's present, rather like Jiraya was.