Rated: T (Cause I'm Paranoid like that)
Disclaimer: I wish I own Naruto
Enjoy!
"Last One Standing"
Chapter One: The chapter full of Sweat Drops A.K.A. The Beginning
The brooding onyx-eyed boy named Uchiha Sasuke walked at a steady pace in the hallway of the Academy of Konohagakure no Sato to enter his classroom to be the first one to enter and be able to enjoy the silence it provides, but then again that's not the only reason why he woke up at five-freaking-am, he just want to be able to beat her.
He quickened his steps till he reached the door, eyeing the doorknob; he turned it slightly and accessed the room.
'Kuso'
She's already here, the kunoichi he wanted so badly to beat.
Sakura Haruno.
He disliked everything about her, especially on how she shared the top spot with him. Damn it! He was the Uchiha, the sole survivor of the Uchiha massacre; he was supposed to be the top. And to top all of that she's sitting on his chair. Everybody knows he sits there; even Naruto knows it!
He took the seat next to her and observed her slightly, she's… intriguing to say at least. She wore a hooded vest that covers her eyes and underneath, an overlarge turtleneck that covered her mouth, her gloves covered her hands which are rarely seen and black leggings that covers her legs, she also wore boots instead of the usual ninja sandals, actually her nose is the only thing he—or everyone else for that matter is able to see. The only thing that she wears that has color is her kunai pouch which is on her thigh.
Her clothing dubbed her as the female Shino. She's also dubbed as the female Shikamaru and female Sasuke. Why? Well because she mostly broods and sleeps in class, it's actually a puzzle on how she still get's the highest score.
He reminisces the first time he saw her…
Seven months ago…
The students were chattering, one of them was brooding (a.k.a Sasuke), another individual was sleeping (a.k.a. Shikamaru), and some were eating (a.k.a. Naruto and Choji) inside their classroom. The creaking of the door made the students inside to halt and quickly go back to their own seats as if they never left, well except the loud mouthed blonde who put a chalkboard at the top of the door, and snickered while going back to his seat.
'Dobe' a certain ice cube thought, who flipped his hair to the right which made the fangirls sigh
'He's so stupid' Ninety-seven percent of the class thought
'Oh, Naruto-kun' a white eyed Hyuuga thought
And the last person, the Nara… was well… sleeping…with drool on the side of his mouth
The door opened and the chalkboard could be heard gliding down. A brown eyed man with a scar on his nose came in with somebody else following after him; it was Iruka-sensei and the transferee.
"Listen up class; we have a new stude-"he was cut off by the object that he was now picking from the ground. He gave Naruto a glare, but didn't say anything else; instead he continued what he was saying.
"As I was saying, we have a transferee" he spoke loudly, he nodded to the one beside him, "Introduce yourself"
There was a pause, then…
"Sakura Haruno" she said
Her voice was melodious, it was a beautiful, it was mesmerizing, and it... was the only thing she said.
The whole class sweat dropped.
Both sat in silent, it was a comfortable silence for the hooded girl and it was nerving for the boy.
After five minutes…
Sakura pulls a very-large-book-that-is-half-the-same-length-as-her-which-is-also-very-thick out of her bag.
Sasuke twitched
After thirty minutes people began coming in, everyone glanced at the peculiar sight before sitting…
Sakura is still hidden in the very-large-book-that-is-half-the-same-length-as-her-which-is-also-very-thick and is still reading
Sasuke is now obviously twitching
Ten minutes before class starts…
"Oi, Creephead, get away from my Sasuke-kun" The Yamanaka shrieked
"Yeah Ino's right, you don't even like him" Watanabe added
Five minutes passed, and the whole fan club of a certain Uchiha threw insults at the unmoving girl. The females got tired and eventually left her alone. Naruto walked towards Sakura after this.
"Oi Sakura-chan how'd you managed to listen to them and not get deaf?" he whispered loudly to her ear
A few seconds passed till he was replied a soft snore from the hooded girl.
Everyone majorly sweat dropped, big time.
The question is how did she actually manage to sleep all through that noise? Even Shikamaru Nara woke up; who I might add seems to look enviously at the hooded girl...
"Okay class. Listen up!" Iruka-sensei said coming inside the classroom,
"Iruka-sensei" A hand waved up attracting the attention of the Chuunin
"Yes Naruto, what is it?" he asked the blonde
"Sakura-chan's asleep… again" The blonde replied rather... enthusiastically, caffeine does that.
"Again?" He sighed while scratching the back of his neck, "She sure is breaking Shikamaru's record." He took something out of his pocket and walked towards the hooded girl. "Sakura-chan, if you wake up, I'll give you some… dango" he whispered in her ear, but Naruto and Sasuke was still able to hear it, both sweat dropped… again.
In an instant a hand snatched the delicacy away from the man's hand and was instantly hidden inside the hooded girl's pocket.
Iruka sighed "Class I'll just get some papers in my office, stay quiet alright" he needed to talk to the Hokage again, he need to persuade him, putting those three students in the same group, he just know trouble would arise.
"Hai Iruka-sensei" They chorused cheerily.
Children. You don't know whether they're saying the truth or not.
Haruno Sakura tilted her head, nobody have ever seen her eyes nor her hair, it was almost impossible, surviving seven months in the academy without anybody knowing what you really look like, well almost, not entirely. He saw on her left was the Uchiha whom was brooding and blinked, on his left was the Uzumaki, who was looking at her looking at him.
'What's so great about him' Naruto thought angrily about the Uchiha that everyone seemed to adore.
"What?" Sasuke asked harshly noticing the gaze of his seatmate
"What do you mean by what!" Naruto replied angrily
While all of this was happening, the person on the right of the Uchiha watched them amused.
The blonde jumped to the table and glared fiercely at the on the onyx eyed boy, their faces inches apart, well that is before Naruto got pushed by somebody on his back, and now…
They were kissing!
Sadly they quickly parted… What a shame! –Sigh-
"NARUTO, YOU MORON! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Sasuke said gagging, hands on his throat
"YUCK! MY MOUTH IS ROTTING!" Naruto said instead of replying
'I sense something bad' The blonde thought shivering slightly
The orange clad boy forcefully turned around to see the angry horde of girls glaring at him.
'Yep definitely bad –gulp- I'm too young to die' Sweating obviously, he began to look for a great hiding place to spend the night or maybe... eternity, because seriously fangirls are scary.
While Naruto was getting beat up, the Uchiha was trying not to wet his pants because he could feel the glare of the Hyuuga heiress on him. A jealous Hinata Hyuuga was someone not to cross. It was always the shy ones that are the most dangerous.
Always
Soft giggles stopped everyone and made them look at the source; it was Sakura, who immediately stopped. She was giggling for the first time! (in front of them at least). They snapped out of their thoughts when the door opened again and their sensei walked in.
"Starting today, all of you are real shinobi. But you are still Genin, that hard journey that lies ahead are just getting started." He started, looking at them one by one "Starting today we will create the three man teams… and each team will have a Jounin sensei"
"Pfft… Three man teams? That only means more people in my way"
"…I… wanna… eat… the… dango…"
"I want to be with Sakura-chan and anyone but with that teme"
"Alright, we tried to balance each team's strength" Iruka continued and started telling the teams
"Team 7: Haruno Sakura…-"
The female straightened, it was obvious she was listening now
"… Uzumaki Naruto…"
"YES!" The blonde shouted, he was very pleased with the news
"..and Uchiha Sasuke…"
'The world really does hate me huh, no matter I shall get my revenge… *evil smirk* HOHOHOHO! ... I think I may be crazy… this is all your fault NARUTO!'
Yes, that was a peek inside Sasuke Uchiha's mind
Yes, this is very real
No, you are not dreaming
Yes, I'm going back to the story, Jeez
Murmurs immediately started
"What!"
"No way"
"Troublesome"
"Loud and Quiet, complete opposites"
"Yeah and there's Sakura"
But the loudest was Naruto's
"IRUKA SENSEI WHY DOES AN OUTSTANDING SHINOBI LIKE ME –Pfft! Yeah Right- SHADDUP SASUKE! HAVE TO BE ON THE SAME TEAM AS THAT PRICK OVER THERE" He said pointing at Sasuke
"Listen Naruto, Sasuke's grades along with Sakura where the best along all of you graduate's and you were dead last. You do understand we have to balance these teams, right?" he told him sternly.
"Bah, just don't get in my way dead last" Sasuke told the blonde
"WHAT'D YOU CALL ME SASUKE-TEME!" Naruto shouted angrily
"Just Stop" Sakura said silently, yet there was an air of finality under it
Everybody stopped and listened
Iruka sweat dropped and faked a cough to get their attention
"As I was saying, this afternoon we'll introduce your Jounin senseis" Iruka continued "Until then take a break" he finished leaving
After lunch break, only three were left on their classroom
Uchiha Sasuke, the sole survivor of the Uchiha Massacre is sitting on his sit brooding... again
Uzumaki Naruto, the Kyuubi vessel is pacing in front of the door; and
Haruno Sakura, the mysterious transferee whom is currently eating dango
These Genin create Team 7
But they are not complete; their sensei is still missing, in other words...
He's Late.
"Dobe, what are you doing?" asked the brooding Uchiha to the "dobe" who put an eraser (of a chalk) between the door
"Chill Sasuke teme it's what he gets for being late" Naruto replied snickering
"Pfft, he's called a Jounin dobe, not an idiot"
A hand slid down between the doors to open it, making the eraser fall down. There emerged a man wearing a Jounin vest with a mask.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA He fell for it" Naruto laughed
'Is this really a Jounin, he doesn't seem very reliable' the Uchiha thought
"My first impression of you guy's….I dislike you" The jounin said
And yes, all through what happened, Sakura was still there eating her dangos…
"All of you to the roof if you may" and with that he disappeared with a poof.
At the roof The Jounin looked at his new students-slash-minions and crinkled his eye
"Well then let's introduce ourselves" he started
"What do you want to know?" Naruto asked a confused expression on his face
"How about you like, dislikes, your dreams for the future" he replied "things like that"
"How 'bout you give us an example" Naruto said while adjusting his hitai-ate
"Hatake Kakashi… I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes, my dreams for the future hmm, and I have a lot of hobbies"
They sweat dropped.
'All we learned is your name'
"Let's start with the one with the hideous fashion sense" He said pointing a look at Naruto who scowled and said something about I-HAVE A-NAME-YOU-KNOW-YOU-BETTER-SLEEP-WITH-ONE-EYE-OPEN-AND-ORANGE-IS-SOOO-THIS-SEASON which Kakashi replied with something along the lines of YEAH-RIGHT-LIKE-YOU-CAN-AND-ORANGE-IS-SOO-TWO-DAYS-AGO. They glared for a few moments before the twelve year old finally gave in.
"Uzumaki Naruto, I like Ramen especially when Iruka-sensei pays for it… I dislike 3 minutes waiting for it to cook…"
They sweat dropped.
'Does he only think about Ramen?'
"And my dream is to surpass the Hokage and make the people in this village acknowledge me" He said proudly.
Kakashi's eye crinkled, Sakura hid a smile and Sasuke well was being... Sasuke a.k.a. being an unemotional 'teme'
'He's grown in an interesting way'
"-… and Hobbies... Pranks I guess" He finished
They fell… anime style…in their minds at least…
'And he was doing so well'
"Next Emo boy that might be gay when he grows up" Sasuke glared at him and gave him a look that mostly says: I-AM-A-AVENGER-DON'T-MESS-WITH-ONE which Kakashi replied with a DUDE-KEEP-DREAMING-I'M-A-PRO-YOUR-JUST-A-BEGINNER-LOOK-FOR-ME-WHEN-YOUR-IN-LEVEL-FIVE look.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are a lot of things I dislike and I don't really like anything. And I can't really call it a dream but an ambition. The resurrection of my clan… and to kill a certain man…"
'He better not mean me'
'As expected of the sole survivor of the massacre, the first goal need teaching, I think I now know why the Third gave me this team'
'Dramatic much?'
"And the last one" Kakashi said pointing at Sakura
A big pause came
"… Sakura…" she said before munching a dango
"…Your likes?" Kakashi further asked
"…Dango" she replied once again
"Dislikes?" Naruto urged her to continue
"…Nothing" she took another bite of her food
"Hobbies?" It was Sasuke who further asked this time
"Sleeping" They nodded, that was expected at least
"…Dreams?"
There was a big pause
"…To live"
'Huh?' But Sakura-chan's already alive'
'She's already living… what a dobe '
'Interesting girl'
"Ok" Kakashi started again "Tomorrow we'll start our duties as a shinobi"
"YEAH! WHAT KINDS OF DUTIES! DUTIES! DUTIES!" Naruto exclaimed loudly
Seriously you can only use the word "duties" many times in one sentence
"First were going to have some survival training" Kakashi started to smirk
"We already did that at the academy! Dattebayo!" Sasuke just looked at him blankly
Kakashi snickered "You see of all the graduates only nine will become a genin. The rest will be sent back to the academy. This training is a very difficult exam with a failure rate of over sixty six percent"
Sasuke and Naruto were shocked, though Sasuke was subtle and Naruto is just plain showing it.
And Sakura…is opening another packet of dango… again…
"THEN WHAT WAS THE POINT OF GRADUATING?" Naruto shouted, an irritated look on his face
"That… well that was just to select of those who can be genin" Kakashi replied calmly "Anyway tomorrow, bring all of your shinobi tools, you got to show you're real skills… Oh and you might want to skip breakfast, you might throw up" Then he disappeared in a poof
"Ja" Sakura said quietly
Sasuke just plainly left
Naruto took a while before he realizes that he was the only one left.
And that, my friends, is the start of a Team Seven
Let's just hope they survive each other...
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Yo! How was it? It's been how long since I've been M.I.A. in FF? Don't even answer that question. *grins sheepishly* I owe each one of my readers an apology, I'm sorry for putting aside this story for months. But guess what? I'm back! I hope that even though I made all of you wait for months you would still read my stories. I've been through a challenging moment in my life, where I'm trying to create who I am. *laughs* And you probably already saw my new title, Last One Standing, which someone PM-ed to me out of blue. Well other than my life, my brother was another reason why I wasn't able update, seriously though, who blocks their sister's favorite websites? I hope you enjoyed my revised version of "The Secret Blossom" Yeah anyway because all of you still read this, I made a lengthy extra (my first time doing one too!) And because today is Christmas (12/25/12) I made it Christmas-themed! (Though it's not really jolly) I hope you enjoy it! Reviews are highly appreciated (which from now on, I'll try to reply), so are constructive criticisms. Enjoy!
EXTRA #1: CHRISTMAS
Christmas is supposed to be a day full of joy.
To Uzumaki Naruto, Christmas was just like any other day, he would wake up, brush his teeth, take a bath, go to school, get taunted, the norm. He had no parents to take care of him. There was no father to pretend like Santa Claus or a mother to prepare a feast. He had no friends to give him gifts or his own house to call a home. He only has an apartment given to him by the old man, clothes he has to wash every single day so that the next morning he would have something to wear, some spare change, and an expired carton of milk.
Christmas was nothing special, actually Naruto didn't liked the holiday; it was just a painful reminder that he was alone and that hurt. A lot.
"Naruto!" He heard Kakashi call him, standing beside him was a smirking Sasuke and Sakura who was holding another pack of dango. The blonde grinned before getting up
"Coming!"
But that all changed…
Christmas is supposed to be a day full of forgiveness
To Uchiha Sasuke, Christmas is just a waste. When he was a child he used to look forward to it, who wouldn't? He had mother who would give him hugs and kisses and lots and lots of love. A father who was the head of the clan, respected and admired. And a brother who was an absolute genius. But now… he has an Uchiha compound, no father, no mother, no brother, no one.
He remembered an old saying, "It is better to loved and lost than never loved at all". Whoever said that was an idiot, because it was not better, he felt regret, he regretted that he was not strong enough to protect them, he felt yearning, yearning for his mother's love, for his father's smile, for the good old times. He felt empty… Absolutely empty, as if he was alone, and the sad thing is, he is alone.
"Oi Teme!" Naruto's hand kept waving in front of his face, he immediately snapped it away
"You're an idiot" He said to him not meaning it. He then dodged an incoming attack knowing the blonde was gonna react violently, which he did, Sasuke quickly ran, leaving his company behind.
"Race you there" he heard a female voice shouted, and before he knew it he saw her pink hair in front of him
"That's not fair!" Naruto shouted, from behind
He was not able to suppress his smile
Because they were much more than a team…
Christmas is supposed to be a day full of smiles
To Hatake Kakashi, Christmas was a pain, he has to buy gifts, he has to complete his missions (because ninjas don't really have holidays) and spend his time mourning in front of the memorial stone. He never really paid much attention to the dates or to time; He really had nothing else to live now that he thought about it. His father's gone; his father figure is also gone, so are his team mates. He was alive yet dead at the same time. Time flew by and he forgot to smile, his real one. That was until he found them, his children, his "minions", his team
He heard them stop running in front of him, and when he looked at them, he saw them waiting for him
"C'mon Kaka-sensei" Naruto said impatiently
"You could have gone ahead y'know" He told them raising one of his eyebrows. The only female of their group laughed, her eyes twinkling
"It's not just the same without you sensei" Sasuke smirked, Naruto grinned and she continued to smile.
He would be lying if he said he didn't loved them after all this time
They were family now after all…
Christmas is a day of many things
To Sakura Haruno, Christmas was anything but happy. To her it was a day where hearts keep breaking. It could be the day where a couple having their five year anniversary suddenly split. Or maybe the day when a child just witnessed her parents get a divorce. It could be the day where a poor boy lost his dreams and the day where a little girl lost her family. To her, Christmas, was anything but joyful, it was anything but forgiving, and it was anything but love. She learned that she was wrong
"Guys, the food's ready" She shouted to the males who were sparring
"Whose idea was it again to spend Christmas Eve in this bridge?" Naruto asked shivering a bit
"It was yours dobe" Sasuke replied before sitting next to her
"And when did you ever agreed with me?" He asked him, eyebrows raised
"I didn't, I was outvoted" Sasuke grumbled, while drinking Sakura's hot chocolate
"Out of curiosity, who cooked?" Kakashi whispered to his male students when he saw the small buffet laid out
"Don't worry I did it" Naruto whispered loudly, he didn't realized that Sakura heard him
"And… what exactly does that mean?!" She questioned them, her chopsticks breaking; you could literally see her hair flying around. Naruto shivered again, and this time because of an entirely different reason.
"AHHHHH!" the blonde screamed before running away, Sakura hot on his tails
"Won't you help him?" Kakashi asked Sasuke who was now munching an onigiri. The Uchiha looked at his sensei before looking at Naruto, he then returned his gaze to the white haired-jounin.
"Nah"
Sasuke hid a smirk, Kakashi smiled, his eye crinkling, Naruto grinned and Sakura laughed
"Merry Christmas!"