Home is Where the Heart Is
Author's Notes: First fanfiction coming from me. Woo-hoo. I'm not one for AU stories, but I'm writing one anyways. Strange, much?
Disclaimer: NARUTO does not belong to me. I'm only borrowing the characters for my own good. Sort of.
Anko could hear their breathing perfectly and she wondered if her students were failures. Sakura was too impatient and kept on tapping her foot once in a while; Ino's breathing was not steady—did she run too hard?—and Hinata's stamina was not so great, considering that she was of the Hyuuga clan. Tenten was the only one who wasn't doing much wrong—she had passed the test but consistently clicked her fingernails on the stones.
When the woman felt the tension in the air, she decided to throw one of her last ten senbon at Hinata, who deflected it easily due to her Byakugan. Instead, it hit Sakura, who unwittingly gave a loud yelp and Anko's sharp ears told where exactly where the pink-haired girl was hiding. The woman smirked slightly and took two more senbon to throw. She had hit someone—if it was one of the trees, it would've made a thunck-sound—and she wasn't sure if it was her original target or Ino.
"Oh well," she muttered to herself, smiling. "Let's have some fun with little kunoichi, shall we?" She readied a sharpened kunai and threw it blindly into the greenery. This time, no one gave a yap and Anko frowned.
Suddenly, an eyesore of pink fluttered in and out of the trees while Anko was caught off guard. Sakura sprinted nearer to the flag that indicated the end line, ignoring the sharp sensations—Anko was cruel: she had sprinkled sharp pieces of gravel everywhere ("It's called self-control, kiddoes!" she said)—stinging at her feet. No sandals on her feet and a blindfold at her eyes.
Sakura was running too hard for her body to handle and Anko's senbon hit her back, making her cough out loud. She could almost imagine Ino wincing—her sensei knew exactly where she was. She had a blindfold on and she was running until she could swipe with her hand to earn the flag, but Anko threw kunai at her right and she was forced to go into hiding.
Hinata took her chance as she leapt off her tree branch and on to the next one, taking it more carefully than Sakura did. The Hyuuga heiress was subtle and quick and no weapon touched her yet. Her clan had taught her grace and strength and she used them now in a time of silent need. Ino knew those things, too, but she was hotheaded and had a temper.
"Really, Sakura," Anko snapped as she scowled. "Do you think that someone like me wouldn't know where you are? I can smell your anxiousness. I can see your frantic movements that were jerky and indecisive. If you were like Hinata here, then perhaps you could've touched the flag. Too bad you didn't."
The taunted girl resisted the urge to say that Hinata was part of a prestigious clan and she wasn't. Ino inched forward, testing the waters. When Anko continued to rant on and on about how Sakura was lacking, the blonde darted ahead, a few feet away from the flag. Hinata was now the last girl staying there, Sakura in second place, and Ino in the middle.
Just as the green-eyed girl decided to go for the kill, the alarm clock went off, signaling that it was now 12:00. The four girls had to take all of the flags before then, or else they wouldn't get lunch. Sakura and Ino simultaneously groaned, Hinata bowed her head, and Tenten smirked. She waved her flag in her teammates' faces and skipped off to join Anko with her meal. The remaining three waited to be scolded by Anko.
"Sakura." The woman didn't really like the girl. Too smart for her own good. And that pink hair was annoying. In turn, the girl tensed, ready to correct herself. "You were too impatient. You ran too hard while reaching the flag and that caused your breathing to harden and that told me exactly where you were. When I threw that senbon, weren't you listening? Chitchatting with Ino again, I'm sure. Or daydreaming about boys—whatever. You're still a thousand years too early for that, girly.
"Ino. You made the same mistake as Sakura—ran too hard, didn't you? Get rid of your temper, will you?—makes the mission go much easier. Don't get a nervous attack, either. Keep your breathing steady and even. Don't talk to Sakura while training, either. It's distracting."
Anko looked at the remaining two and gave a humorless, sadistic smile. "You two ladies—good job. Although, Hinata—you were too soft on your running. Exact opposite of Forehead and Piggy here." Sakura and Ino gave a look of annoyance. Favoritism, signaled Sakura with quick, silent flicks of her fingers.
"What's wrong with you?" Anko snapped.
"Nothing, nothing, nothing," replied Sakura to her mentor. "My fingers are just sort of irritated—that's all. It's really tiring when you're just sitting like I was for, what? Three hours?"
"Would it make you feel better if I just cut them off, Haruno?" suggested the woman with dry humor.
"N-no, ma'am—"
"Hey!" interrupted Tenten, who was gazing at the sky at that time. "A messenger bird—up there!" The bird came circling down to Tenten's extended forearm and the girl untied the message. "Want me to read it?"
"Whatever," replied Anko. "It's not like we can read it."
"Oh." The bun-head girl blushed slightly. "Oh. Yeah. Right. I will." She cleared her throat. "Ah-hem. Regarding all shinobi and kunoichi, it says. Report to the Academy Grounds immediately. Important message is to be made. Signed, Yondaime Hokage."
"Hm." Ino was the first one to speak. "Whaddaya think of that, ladies?"
"Isn't that my line, Yamanaka?" snapped Anko in a bad temper. "Sheesh. It's only been a year and you four are rubbing off of me. So, anyways. Whadda I think about it? I think—I guess it's important, being signed by that hosh-posh nonsense jazzy Hokage of ours." She looked at her team for a moment before declaring, "Okay, then. Pack up your stuff and we're gonna go dizzy up that meeting. An' Hinata! Don't be so quiet all the time."
The said-girl laughed softly, bringing her hand to her mouth.
-
Sakura sighed as she stood on her tiptoes, trying to see over the various, taller-than-her shoulders. She silently cursed fate for her shortness and her pink hair. Shinobi—there were only a few kunoichi and all of them knew her—stared at her as they waited for the Yondaime.
"What?" she grumbled to herself moodily. She was separated from her team for a while—she must've either been late or early. "What? What are they looking at? Wait, wait, wait! I know! Maybe it's because I'm a kunoichi or—oh! I know! Maybe it's because I have pink hair and green eyes and I look like a watermelon—"
"I don't think you look like a watermelon, onee-chan!" complemented a sunny voice. In front of her was a boy with hair as sunny as the boy's voice and vivid blue eyes and an orange jack with black pants. Next to him was a boy with black hair and pale skin and eyes dark grey. Inner Sakura nearly fainted and Sakura colored just staring at him. "You're a kunoichi, right? Me too! Well, I'm a shinobi, but…" And then she stopped listening as the energetic boy babbled on and on.
"—your name?"
"Huh?" she blurted out on reflex, embarrassing herself in front of the dark-haired boy.
"What that dobe asked was," said the other boy, crossing his arms and frowning as he sighed. "He asked you what your name was."
She stared dumbly. "Uh… M-my name? Er, um, I'm—my name's… My name's… Haruno Sakura."
"Really?" the blonde boy exclaimed happily, clasping his hands together in a joyous manner. "That suits you so well, Sakura-oneechan! I love your eyes! Ah! Your hair is exactly like a cherry blossom tree!" He grinned and her smile turned out weaker than expected. "It's so nice and long! Oh. Sorry! The name's Uzumaki Naruto and this is Uchiha Sasuke—"
"WHAT?!" she shrieked, gaining even more attention. "You're—you're—sorry, I was so—you're the—Yondaime—Uchiha clan—sensei will kill me—"
Naruto gave Sasuke a look and Sasuke shrugged. "Er, um… onee-chan?"
"And I never knew—God, I've been so—sorry!"
"If you mean talking to the son of Yondaime and the brother of the oh-somighty Uchiha Itachi," offered Sasuke in a nonchalant tone, "then you should better get up and start acting like everything's okay, you know. Naruto isn't really all that special and I'm not even close."
Sakura bowed slightly, looking embarrassed. "Oh. Sorry."
A poof sounded in the small piece of land and the smoke cleared, revealing the Yondaime himself in his red-and-white coat with his assistant close to him—Hatake Kakashi, holding a few scrolls and looking bored. The Hokage grinned and silenced the crowd of shinobi with a wave of his hand. He looked at the crowd, scanning for a few people, and caught his son's eyes. Naruto grinned and waved back but was shot down by Sasuke who poked his forehead.
"Be respectful," he hissed.
"Ah, ah," Naruto said, rubbing his temple. "That hurts, you know?'
"Hn," Sasuke grumbled. Sakura turned her attention to the Hokage for his speech.
"To the kunoichi and shinobi who work for the glorious, flashy city of Konohagakure," Yondaime began, reading from a piece of parchment, raising his eyebrows, "thank you for attending this important meeting. We have decided that major changes will be happening to the shinobi and kunoichi groups." He paused and looked sharply into the crowd.
"We're changing and taking apart every team," he said. Murmurs rose from the eager crowd and the Hokage waved them off by closing his eyes. "Sunagakure—one of our precious allies—have reported that all-kunoichi groups are declining and failing missions that were crucial. The only two choices are, A. Prohibit girls from becoming kunoichi, or." He stopped again, looking at the mass of ninja. Sakura looked at Naruto and Sasuke and the two looked back.
"A. Prohibit girls from becoming kunoichi, or B. Merge kunoichi teams with the shinobi teams. We have chosen the second choice, of course—" Sakura's heart felt a lot lighter "—because losing a number of able ninja would greatly damage the stability of Konohagakure and if any country were to declare war on us, we would have to surrender." He smiled. "Besides, that's sexist. Not to mention stupid." A few laughs rose up.
"Any questions?"
No one raised their hands.
"Good. It's all settled, then. We will post the teams today at approximately 12:45 in room 205 of the Academy." The Yondaime paused, thinking and turning to Iruka. "Was it room 205, Iruka-sensei?"
"Ah," the chuunin confirmed, rubbing his nose, "yeah. At 12:45, like Hokage-sama said. That's in…" He checked his watch. "Right now?"
When the Hokage nodded and poofed into a puff of smoke, the crowd erupted into speeches everywhere. Naruto sighed happily. "And, to think if otou-san chose plan A, Sakura-oneechan just wouldn't be Sakura-oneechan anymore! A part of her would be gone forever!"
"Stop being such a melodramatic," snapped Sasuke. He looked at Sakura and said in a kinder tone, "Hokage-sama said that the teams were being posted right now. Wanna go with me and Naruto? Judging by the current teams… there'll be two shinobi and one kunoichi on each team. And considering that we're last year's graduates and they're combining last-last year's graduates… there'll be… four teams, making twelve people in one year."
Sakura nodded and blushed as she gently touched Naruto's shoulder, signaling to him that they needed to go quickly. But something wouldn't stop nudging at her heart—she didn't even have a chance in being in Ino, Hinata, or Tenten's team! She fingered her necklace with a ram pendant—Aries—and started to walk next to Naruto, who was babbling about how hungry he was and that he wanted ramen.
When they have finally got to the room, it was crowded with shinobi and kunoichi alike. She saw Anko there, figuring out if her students would be idiots or geniuses. Naruto and Sasuke went without her and inspected the first poster. A smirk grew on Sasuke's handsome face and Naruto waved his arms to notify Sakura. She walked over there.
"What's the matter?" she asked.
"Well, what do you know?" Sasuke drawled. "Looks like us three are in the same team." The girl blushed a bright red and Naruto smiled.
"It's like, fate just pushed us together!" he said.
"Who's our sensei?" Sakura wondered out loud, fingering her necklace again. Tenten had made one for each of the kunoichi on her previous team. "Is it Anko-sensei…?"
"Nope!" exclaimed Naruto, clasping his hands together. "It's only the coolest teacher ever! He's so cool! It's like, bam-bam-bam-FIRE!" Sasuke poked Naruto's forehead again and Sakura raised an eyebrow. "He actually has a sense of humor!"
"Who?" Sakura snapped, curiosity getting the best of her.
"My cousin," replied Sasuke in a bored tone. "Uchiha Obito. He's not that cool, Naruto. More like an idiot. That's why you two get along so well—you're both idiots. Idiots attract other idiots." He shrugged as Naruto scowled and crossed his arms. Sakura giggled.
"Well," she said in between laughs, "I guess this'll be just one big family! Especially Obito-sensei and Sasuke-kun are related to each other… then you two are really a family!"
"Obito-niichan and Sasuke-teme… they don't really get along," said Naruto. "But that's just because Sasuke-teme is a teme. Plain and simple—simple and clean—like that."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"Usuratonkachi," he said nonchalantly. "Stupid."
The three ninja walked out of the classroom—Naruto almost got trampled over and yelled, "Don't you people have any respect for the Hokage's son?" in a joking manner—and out of the Ninja Academy. Sasuke turned right as Sakura turned left and Naruto kept on walking.
The pink-haired girl stole one last look at Sasuke when she thought he wasn't looking, but the boy didn't even turn around as he raised an arm and said teasingly, "It's not nice to stare, you know. Sakura."
Her face colored as she quickly turned around. Naruto laughed, almost falling as he shouted—they were far away now, "Sakura-oneechan! Don't tell me that you actually like Sasuke-teme! I like you more than he does! Love me!" And Sasuke choked trying to hold back his laughter and Sakura blushed even more.
"It's not that!" she yelled back. "I'm…"
"Yeah, yeah." Naruto kept on walking. "That's what they all say."
Sakura fingered her necklace all the way home, smiling.
Tomorrow was another, brand-new day.
To be continued.
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