too soon, too late – in which Sakura rose her hand too soon, and Naruto spoke up too late. Team Seven fails the written chuunin exams. Challenge fic.
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"Your stupid dream . . .
I don't want to see it crushed!"
– Sakura Haruno
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"Numbers twenty-eight, ten, and twenty-three, disqualified," a proctor spoke, writing their numbers on his clipboard.
Naruto and Sasuke remained silent and shaken. Sasuke wondered if they noticed his Sharingan, and Naruto wondered if they noticed he literally wrote nothing on his exam. Both gulped, but Sasuke looked towards Naruto, to see if he was the reason for their disqualification. Naruto looked to his proctor, wondering if it was his fault they were disqualified. When his proctor seemed to do nothing, he looked back towards Sasuke for answers.
Soon, their eyes moved to Sakura.
Both were shocked when they saw her arm stretched out, her eyes on Naruto, before they moved to her own, now useless, paper.
She rose her hand too early…
She was shaking, her arm high in the sky.
At that moment, she didn't think about the consequences. She didn't think about what Sasuke-kun would think of her or what he would say; she didn't think about the disappointing sigh Kakashi-sensei would make, or the smug expression Ino-pig would surely have as she gloated, calling her weak…
At that moment, all she could think about was protecting Naruto's stupid dream.
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The regret seeping through her, as her team walked out dejected and unreadable, was very much evident.
Team seven was silent for once.
Sakura watched Sasuke with curious and remorseful eyes. He was walking ahead of them, his back hunched and his hands in his pockets as they continued to make their way out the academy. Sakura frowned, not entirely sure what to say anymore.
"So…" Naruto said, trailing off when he wasn't sure what he was supposed to say in this situation. He scratched the back of his head, looking at both his teammates. They all stopped once they were out of the academy.
"Sasuke-kun…" Sakura started, worried about him. He said nothing, however. Sasuke just scoffed, shaking his head and beginning to leave them without a word.
"Teme… shouldn't we talk about this first?" Naruto wondered, frustrated that he would just leave without giving them anything to go on, while they were worried for him and his undisclosed disposition.
"What's there to talk about?" he finally spoke, his tone annoyed and menacing to their ears. Sakura frowned, devastated by her decision. She knew how much facing such strong opponents meant to him, yet it didn't cross her mind at the time. Now, it's hitting her hard at the impact she caused him.
"I'm sorry," Sakura apologized, about ready to cry at her stupid choice.
"I didn't realize… how annoying you could really be," Sasuke spat before walking away. She remained frozen for a second, feeling like this scene was far too familiar.
"Sasuke-kun-" she tried to stop him, but he was already gone. Silence, as a soft breeze blew by, rustling their hair.
"Sakura-chan…" Naruto chimed in, not entirely sure how to put what he wanted to say to her. He would have told Sasuke off, but he had left far too soon. He frowned at her clenched fist and slight tremors.
Her anger started to boil, growing frustrated. She didn't think this would happen. When she was taking the exams, and saw Naruto so shaky at the questions, she knew he didn't know any of them.
Now, she wasn't sure if Sasuke would be on speaking terms with her anymore.
"What, Naruto?" she asked, annoyance in her tone. Naruto scratched his head, averting his eyes and quirking an eyebrow at her menacing tone.
"Well… I didn't think… you were struggling with the written exam too… You're the smartest one out of all of us, right?" he tried to reason, not understanding how Sakura of all people could raise her hand. Sakura was smart, her mind filled with knowledge from the countless books she's read on shinobi theory and rules. He just couldn't understand how she was in the same predicament he was during the exam.
How could Sakura, of all people, be scared of the final question?
"Baka… Of course I knew them! I wasn't worried about the final question at all! I did it for you, you idiot! I knew you wouldn't be able to answer those questions!" Sakura yelled, more frustrated than ever before. Naruto looked down to his toes, not sure what to think of this.
He wasn't going to lie, he was a little ticked that she would raise her hand, but he would understand if she was afraid of the final question, because she didn't think she could do it. He would get that. But now she's saying…
"Sakura-chan, don't ever do that again," he said, frustration in his eyes as he stared straight at her. After she didn't say anything, he decided to ask, "Why?" Sakura paused for a moment, taking a second to look at his piercing blue eyes and his stern look. She wore a disbelief expression before Sakura fumed, even more annoyed.
"I wanted to help you. That's the last time I'm going to be nice to you! You had too much pride to raise your hand. Ugh, I'm so stupid, why should I care about your stupid dream of becoming Hokage? Why should I believe in your ridiculous dream?" Sakura groaned, more frustration evident. She was so upset, with herself more than anything. But it was so easy to lash out at Naruto who was right there.
She didn't think of the consequences when she rose her hand. She just did what she felt was right at that moment in time.
Sasuke, she understood why he would be upset with her, and she never felt lower than causing him this chance. But Naruto… she saw him from the back of the room, noticed his shaking form throughout the entire exam, noticed him freaking out. She read through the questions and new he would be incapable of answering the questions. She knew him too well. She knew that even if he didn't know the answer, even at the cost of becoming Hokage, he would never raise his hand.
Yet he was frustrated with her, when she was trying to save him… this is what annoyed her more than anything, and so it came out in her words and her tone, absolutely irritated at the entire situation and the stupid irony of it all.
"W-what?" he stammered, completely shocked by her words.
"Naruto, you idiot. I didn't want to see your dream die… If we got caught cheating, or didn't answer the tenth question, we would never be chuunin, and then you could never be Hokage… Weren't you even listening? No, of course you weren't, because you never listen or take your studies seriously. Now, because of you, Sasuke-kun doesn't even want to look at me!" Sakura yelled, tears evident in her eyes.
"Sakura-chan, wait-"
"Leave me alone, Naruto!" she said lowly before running away.
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She was sulking in her bed. She lashed out at Naruto, because truthfully, she was more angry with herself than at him.
"I tell that idiot that I rose my hand for him, and he just tells me not to do that again? I was already feeling the worse because of Sasuke-kun hating me now, and he tells me that?" she whimpered, wiping the tears from her eyes. She thought she was doing the best thing for her team, but now she was second guessing herself, wondering how she could let this happen.
Sasuke was never going to let this go.
"Sakura!" she heard her mother call. "Your teammate is at the door!" Sakura perked up, wondering if Sasuke was there.
She raced to the door, and deflated when she saw Naruto, the source of her troubles.
"What do you want, Naruto?"
"Sakura-chan, did you mean what you said?" he asked desperately, his eyes boring into hers with something she couldn't grasp.
"Well, yeah…" she admitted. She meant what she said, although she did regret raising her hand. She quirked an eyebrow, wondering why he was so happy. His face was heating as he grinned at her. She looked surprised, his demeanor completely different from earlier.
"Sakura-chan, you're the first one to say it. You're the first one to say, that you believe in my dream of becoming Hokage," he explained, and Sakura was surprised, flabbergasted by his statement.
"W-well, yeah, I guess…" Naruto grinned, his smile so bright. She wasn't sure how it could get any bigger. She ran her fingers through her hair, feeling oddly weird about this situation, not sure what to say to him; she felt oddly embarrassed by his easy-going grin. "Why are you smiling like that?"
His eyes opened, with an odd seriousness to them and strong flames of determination swirling in those deep, blue irises.
"Sakura-chan, it makes me so happy to know that you believe in me, you have no idea. You believe that I will become Hokage. That's why... I promise you, I… I will become a great shinobi, so your belief in me won't die! I will be Hokage! And… I'll get stronger and smarter, so that burden doesn't have to be put on your shoulders anymore. You won't ever have to do something like that for me again, I promise! I'll get smarter and stronger, Sakura-chan, I'll become a better man, I mean it!" he declared, making Sakura flustered and taken aback by his strong and determined sentiment.
Her wide eyes soon warmed, a tender smile crossing her features.
She didn't feel regret towards her decision anymore.
It just meant they would all get stronger together. Suddenly, a grin ran across her face.
"I won't ever doubt you again, Future Hokage."
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AN: Happy early Valentines Day, everyone! Haha, usually, I would write a really fluffy fic for Valentines Day, but that is furthest from my mind tbh. xD I probably should care for it, but I honestly don't lmao. Instead of adding it to Quiescence, I made it its own story in case I do end up wanting to expand it, heh. We'll see if I get inspired again. I was thinking about this for a while. I even made a challenge on Heaven and Earth, the narusaku forum. The only rule I made was that Sakura raises her hand too soon, and they fail the written portion of the exams. Everything afterwards is free game on the repercussions team seven faces. So if anyone wants to do this challenge, please do! Hopefully this will encourage more people to try out the challenge! Please review, I would love to know what you think, and if I should continue this! Till next time!