Disclaimer: The writer does not own Naruto or any characters from the series. Kishimoto-dono has property rights over that. She- the writer- however, takes ownership of the of the story plot and any original character in this Fanfiction article.

Enjoy! (C:)

LEMONADE

Twist One

By: Bakunawa


"Nervous?"

To say that Akimichi Momo was nervous was an understatement. She was very very nervous! It was the type of anxiousness that had this lazy, twisting, gnawing feeling in the pit of one's stomach that had gone for days, weeks even, since the announcement of the genin exams and had slowly build up to the point that she could almost faint with the anticipation.

When that the exam proper was over, the anxiety alleviated. She had passed, after so much hard work, she was almost genin. And that alone had sent her to a dreamlike state of euphoria, one that made her want to jump so high she'd almost believe she would soar in the heavens.

But the happiness had only been for a very short while. Now she was back in the Academy in her old classroom—probably for the very last time—waiting for their designated jounin instructor and the anxiety was building up again. She feared she might become too nauseous to stand up if it ever got to that point… but not yet.

It was so unnerving. The waiting, that is. She had began fidgeting with her tight ponytails, walking back and forth across the almost empty classroom and memorizing the correct sequences of hand-seals for a jutsu under her breath all at the same time just to ease up the tension inside.

They should have made classrooms wider, she had thought, because she was already making indented tracks on the floor with her pacing. She had never felt like this before—the anticipation coupled with slight irritation since their instructor has yet to show his face.

And all of this had not gone unnoticed by another person waiting as well.

She turned to meet her teammate's gaze. Nervous, he had said. If only just nervous. "Like you aren't?" Momo sneered.

Hajime shrugged one shoulder and shifted his attention back to his hitai-ate. He had been polishing it with his sleeve for the past hour they have been waiting.

No, Momo wasn't the only one restless. She smirked at the thought and continued her pacing.

Why? Firstly, she only had a few hours of sleep last night because she got too excited with today's team sorting. Secondly, because she overslept, she ended up coming halfway through the placement of teams and each of their members. Iruka-sensei then suddenly said that she had been excluded from the list because of her tardiness.

That had caused her chest to tighten and breathing difficult. She was only ever late this once!

It had been just a tease of course but who wouldn't have a panic attack when—after all the late nights burning your eyebrows off on textbook pages, all the fractured bones from training, and all the ryo spent for prayers at the local shrine—all the hard work just to pass the tests, your teacher tells you're not included on the list anymore with a dead-serious, very-believable face, huh? Huh?

(… Cricket chirp…)

But then, they were ninjas; you're expected to expect the unexpected… and keep your cool.

Momo sighed, brushing her strawberry-red hair. She also just realized that, in her haste, she had worn fishnet hose with her asymmetrical peach-colored tunic instead of her usual tight leggings. She was pretty sure she had washed and placed the leggings on her bedside table along with her other garments in preparation for today. How she made that mistake herself was beyond her. Now she felt all breezy with the skimpy crisscross article; not that she felt shy with it, just that stretchable leggings were more practical for her taste.

She looked over at her teammate again. Her only teammate. Iruka-sensei did not even explain why it was so and then told them to wait for their jounin-sensei. Who in the history of shinobi has only one teammate in a four-man cell group, other than their jounin-sensei? And where in the world was their instructor anyway?

Her teammate had stopped fiddling with his hitai-ate and replaced it on his forehead. He now sat quietly, leaning over the desk with his head resting on one propped fist. Hajime's appearance was never remarkable. He had thick dark brown hair and coal-hued eyes. He was taller than her and most in their class. He was a bit pale—though everybody else compared to tawny-skinned Momo were of fairer complexion. But Hajime was very plain to the sight to say the least, put him in a crowd and you might never notice him. Even the new olive-green bomber jacket he wore didn't help. .

However, as she looked at him bearing the Konoha sigil, her trepidations came back twofold.

Momo consciously touched her own forehead-protector tied to her head. She was still adjusting to the new weight of the metal piece, both literal and figurative. Just this simple band of metal and cloth meant so much. It was an emblem, their signature. They were shinobi of the Village Hidden in Leaf now. They weren't children anymore; they were soldiers. Why was she thinking of her physical vanity when there were more important things to be worried about? They will be leaving the protective confines of the academy to venture the outside. From here on, things won't be simulated like during their practice hours at the training grounds; things will be uncontrolled and unsupervised.

Real risks.

Real enemies.

Real battles.

All of them, the graduates, knew this. The academy instructors made it a point to integrate in every student's mind the needed precautions and hone their skills to survive. But in the end, it was truly up to them to lift a weapon or a fist and fight for what they should protect: Konohagakure. They made their allegiance to the village and with that there are responsibilities, duties to be fulfilled and they could die for it.

There's no turning back from this point on. Even at these times of peace, you could never know if the next day would be your last. It was just the ninja's way of life and their lives were, in most cases, very short-lived.

They were genin now, although only by half and the truth still bites that they still had to be accepted by a jounin commander to be full-fledged genin ninjas. And she wanted to be. Badly. It was her personal oath to become shinobi.

The sickening feeling in her stomach only worsened. What if she won't make it? What if the jounin won't accept them? What if she fails? What if this was all just a dream, a thoroughly long, unreal dream and that she was still asleep in her bed? She had considered these for countless of times already, save the last part, but now that she was here, waiting for the moment the heaven would finally grant her prayers, she felt discouraged…

Momo inwardly shook her self, chiding herself for her lack of faith in her own abilities. This was not time to lurk into depressing thoughts. She had to think positive because grumbling to herself would only lower her esteem. She knew her capabilities and what she could do with them. I can do this! she told herself.

She looked at the boy again and thought of how to work effectively with him. Although, she had so little interaction with the silent boy to say how good he was. To say the least, she had known him to just belong to the average-above average score bracket for every course they underwent in the Academy. If she remembered quite well, he might have just ranked second or maybe third in the recent genin written exams and sixth or so in the practical tests—just a few notch above Momo herself. So where would that lead them?

Momo opted that they just have to work really hard as a team to get by of this, even if it was just the two of them.

If only Yuri and I were paired, Momo mused, it would have been better. But her best friend had already gone with her own team, following a beautiful pearly-eyed sensei. Damn, she got a Hyuuga! I heard they're pretty powerful clan. Being under one would have to be an honor already. Whoever I got better be good… but where the hell is he?

The door suddenly slid open. Momo's heart almost missed a beat, stopping her from her running thoughts and tramping feet. A tall jounin, wearing a very long scarf that was dragged along the floor, came in. The Akimichi girl felt her whole insides almost vanish. This is it…

The jounin looked at the remaining graduates in the room. "Team five?" he called, rubbing his face sluggishly. He was clearly sporting a hangover.

Momo released the breath that she involuntarily held with great disappointment. The group huddled in one corner piped up and made a beeline for the man.

"Eh… all girls, huh?" the jounin said sheepishly, now rubbing the back of his neck.

"Is there a problem sensei?" one chirped, annoyance well conveyed.

"Nothing… come on then team," the jounin pushed the door wider and gestured for his students to exit, "ladies first."

And so, only two remained.

"I think our sensei ditched us," Momo claimed dryly.

"Hn," was the only response she got. But Hajime's brows were furrowed with his own silent aggravation.

"I can't believe this!" she threw her arms up, frustrated, "This is so… so, urgh!"

The redhead girl propped on top of the desk next to the brown-haired boy and crossed her arms. "How long is he going to let us wait? Whoever this person is, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind. He's probably some lowlife jounin who so recently been promoted because he had to escape the village to deal with his own… vendetta," she waved a vague gesture to the air and continued, "then train with a crazy old men, kill people who pissed him off and then wonder the world to find true enlightenment."

Hajime looked at her with a quizzical brow lifted up. "How do you even know the jounin's a he?" he asked slowly.

"Because only lowlife men could make anyone wait this long. Look at that guy just now…" she hitched her thumb to the direction of the door, "now think of another person twice as idiotic as him."

--

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Village Hidden in Leaf, a raven-haired man sneezed. Twice.

--

"You know, you have a very wild imagination…" Hajime said drawlingly, looking the other way, "and your logic is downright ridiculous."

Violet eyes grew wide with shock then narrowed to fix the young man a glare. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, making incoherent indignant sounds. "Why you—" she finally managed to say.

"If you going have a hissy fit, I suggest you stop right now. It won't be helpful."

"Then what do you suggest I do? Huh? You're just frustrated as I am," Momo scoffed.

"You could shut up for starters," he said it with a dragging voice.

"Are you picking a fight with me?" the redhead hissed, standing up with her fist drawn forward, "'Coz you can bring it on."

"Not interested."

"I'm starting to not like you."

"…n'yeah."

"You're… you're irritating!" She spat through gritted teeth, almost lost for words with her rage brimming over.

The boy snorted, still not looking at her. "Tell me about it."

"I should have known you'd such an insufferable ass!" She was had closed the narrow space between them. Now only the wooden table separated her from the sharp-tongued lad but would not enough to prevent her from doing him harm.

"Strong words." he shrugged, looking entirely uninterested contrary to his provoking comebacks.

"Bastard!" Hands slammed down, causing the boy to straighten up on his seat.

"Maybe I am…"

"Let's take this outside! Or do you want to die right here? Right now?"

"For what?"

"You son of—"

"You fight like my parents." That wasn't Momo getting back at him. The voice was smaller and mellower and it came from the direction of the windows.

A little girl with short stark-white hair was perched like a cat on the open windowsill. Hajime had to blink twice to make sure that it was indeed a little girl and not a minute old lady. He had been living in this ninja village for quite a while now but they still gave him surprises. This particularly cute girl, he was sure a ninja or at least trained to be one, was not even trying to be inconspicuous with the bright purple vest she wore with matching purple elbow-length fingerless gloves and sandals. She was also wearing a yellow-colored medical mask printed with red swirls hooked to each ear. But how did she come all the way up here, through the window no less, and without anyone noticing?

"And who're you?" Momo asked, stepping back from the dark-haired boy, "Shouldn't you be in class, kid?"

The little snowy-haired girl hopped down from the sill and approached the pair. Sleepy eyes eyed them; first Momo then Hajime. "Team nine, ne?" she asked with a soft voice.

"Yeah. How d'you know?" Momo returned the look intensely. She was still pissed and this newcomer would not escape her spite.

"Follow me." She went straight for the door without looking back if they were following her or not.

--

"Why don't you just pass this one and get it over with?" the Fire Shadow suggested, though his tone indicated he already knew what the other might say.

"I don't want to bother myself with the untalented," the other man spoke dryly, remaining unmoved from his lotus sitting position on top of a flat rock.

"The longer it takes you to choose a team, the longer you'll stay in probation…" the Hokage, with a singsong voice, couldn't help but indicate the other's obvious frustrations. He was clearly trying to push his luck with his stoic counter part. "You're just being too picky, aren't ya? You know, this is just for formalities to get you back into the mission roster. Permanently. And to quiet down those council crows," he added the last sentence grimly.

"As long as they keep their end of the deal, there won't be any problem," the Dark Legend said, his casual air betraying his words, "whether they trust me or not."

"Of course, they will," the kage said with all seriousness. "And may I remind you who is Hokage?" the strongest shinobi pointed to himself, "I still have the final say in things. Believe it!"

Right… the All Great Hokage Naruto. If he had been half the greatness he so dubbed himself, then the stoic man wouldn't be in this ridiculous situation. But the raven-haired man kept the thought to himself. The Dobe was pestering him once again and knowing Naruto, making a comeback would only indulge blonde's senseless compulsion to spat with him every chance available.

The stoic man would have to tolerate waiting under the pleasant shade of an ancient umbrella tree with this nuisance sitting next to him.

--

A caricature of a face on a yellow circle was mocking her. The thin frowning lips were really asking to be wiped out and those rolling eyes, they should be skewered out and barbequed. Akimichi Momo was being put off by an absurd logo on the back of the white-haired girl's purple vest.

Okay, so the henohenomoheji wasn't doing anything but she had to look at it for the past thirty minutes or so while following its bearer all throughout Konoha.

Hotaru, as the girl called herself, had been leading them around the bustling wet marketplace, through the topsy-turvy housing districts and now the training grounds, skipping her way and humming unfamiliar songs.

Momo gave a sideway glance to her partner as he walked beside her. She now loathed the smart-tongued boy and she refused to speak to him since their little banter earlier that morning. Hajime had been indifferently quiet the entire time as well. But that had to be his nature probably. He had also been eyeing the little girl with the same silent irritation as Momo was.

The boy felt her lingering gaze and shot a fleeting look to her way as well. The girl flinched and snapped her eyes forward guiltily.

"What's on your mind?" the boy asked calmly even. She did not hear any hint of malice in his voice or a mock for catching her ogling him. The question was uttered at face value. It goaded her even more.

Exhaling appreciably her frustrations, she did not answer right away. "I think, this could be a prank," she quietly said what she had been thinking earlier.

"Hm…" the boy hummed with a quirk of the eyebrow. Whether indicating her to explain or if he already thought of it himself, Momo could not guess. This only added to her growing Why-I-So-Hate-This-Guy list.

"Sure she told us she was sent by our sensei but is she for real? I think this kid is toying with us."

"Hotaru-san, where are we going exactly?" the dark-haired boy called to the younger girl.

The light-haired girl stopped and turned to them. Green eyes widen as if she had just saw them. "Oh! You're here? You… you were following me all along?" She sounded so honestly bewildered.

"What the-?!" Momo showed her exasperation, "you mean to say that you haven't been aware we were behind you all this time?!"

"Uhh…"

"You little… You told us to follow you!" Momo was growing red on the face. Hajime just sighed.

Hotaru's eyes creased, indicating that she was smiling under that mask, and began rubbing the back of her head. "Sorry, nee-chan, of course I knew you were following me. My mind must have just… wandered off. I forgot we were supposed to head, uhm…uh?" She looked around. Not far was a screen fence with a metal plate saying 'Training Ground 4' in bold characters. "Oh lookie, we're here already!"

The little girl made a jog for the entrance.

Momo was left looking unconvinced. "What is up with this girl?" the cherry-haired genin muttered with her brows furrowed before following the younger girl once again, Hajime close behind.

--

"Hey, look on the bright side," Naruto grinned, "This way you'll have practice on child-rearing. When you have your own bundles of joy, it'll just be a breeze!"

"Child-rearing?" Sasuke repeated, "Dobe, these graduates are more or less preteens."

"Eh, that's not what I meant. I mean, they're still children, right? Same thing," the blonde shrugged, "teaching is like raising kids already. Teaching jutsus would be like teaching babies how to walk and talk and stuff. Requires a lot of patience and effort from you. I'm telling you this because I know so, dattebayo."

"How so?" the Uchiha snorted, unbelieving. How ever did he come to that analogy?

"I…" the blue-eyed jinchuuriki raised a finger up, "happened to have firsthand experiences on babysitting with an actual baby. And handling Sakura-chan's genin squad while she took a week-long mission that one time was like taking care of three wild Tonton-pigs. Both equally worn me out. And did you know Kiba's brat of a brother bites? Believe it!"

The Hokage sighed, scratching an itch behind his left earlobe, the same ear the young Inuzuka almost ate all those years ago. "When are you having kids anyway? I really thought by the time you've reach twenty, you'd have at least five little Sasuke-brats tagging along. You've been doing… the deed, right?"

"… You have no business with what I do," the Uchiha spoke surprisingly calmly, remembering that tranquility of mind and body brings peace to the broken soul. And that the only weapon he had against the menace that was Uzumaki Naruto was keeping his head straight.

"Aw, come on… hadn't you mentioned something about 'reviving the Uchiha Clan' a long time ago? And from what I've heard from Ino-chan, somebody has been coming in and out of your apartment very recently…" he allowed his words to trail off.

"I am not having any relationship brunette, female or otherwise," Sasuke answered point blank, keeping it straight.

"Ha! See! You you've just admi—wait, what do you mean by otherwise?" The blonde paused, blue eyes squinting in his confusion.

Sasuke sighed, pinching his temple in aggravation. "I already had this useless conversation with Sakura." Only yesterday, in fact, when she so happened to be innocently passing by the neighborhood with a bag of peachy dumplings and a sweet excuse to share a quiet afternoon with an old friend.

"Oh." Naruto huffed, crossing his arms. What was he so disappointed about? The Last Uchiha rolled his eyes behind dark sunglasses. Trust Naruto to shift the conversation from one point to another and end it with something so pointless.

"So you really aren'—"

"Since when have you been such a gossip, Naruto?" Sasuke cut him off. The Jinchuuriki was worse than Sakura making little attempts to pry his mouth open for the exact same issue.

Naruto held his hands up, "Hey, when you're sitting next to Konoha's queen of talk every other afternoon, you can't help but hear what everybody else is up to, dattebayo."

Sasuke resisted the urge to give out a grunt; again reminding himself about the wonderful benefits of meditation… well, what was left of his afternoon session anyway. Any minute now, he was going to meet three freshly graduated academy students and here was a dobe—Hokage or not, Naruto was still a dobe to him—sitting beside him. How wonderful…

He really had much better things to do with his day. Lulling Naruto to spar with him would have been the usual. Or loom over the Hokage tower, haunting the clerics for any solo S-class missions sitting somewhere under Naruto's stack of neglected scrolls. Or maybe ramen…

Shit, had he really sank so low? He sorely needed a hobby; the Dobe was rubbing off on him. Everything he did had something to do with or influenced by Uzumaki Naruto.

And it was a little too creepy.

But what else could he do? The name Uchiha Sasuke wasn't so welcoming anymore.

The reason why he had been able to come back—why Sasuke had ever chose to come back—had been for Naruto and he had to admit that the idiot could move mountains and calm storms, both figuratively and literally. But ultimately, as powerful as Uzumaki Naruto appeared to be, the title Hokage did not hold all the control.

Sasuke knew the majority of Konoha still viewed him as a traitor and a threat. He saw the scornful leering, heard the derogatory calling of his name, they had been petty enough as to leave his doorstep littered with animal manure and there had been some who went as far as to burn the actual house. Trying to keep a low-profile and appearing docile when everybody wanted to strangle him at sight had almost driven him to defect again. Although, he would confess that he wasn't really trying that much to make amends, he was being sincere enough. Only it was those people who were making it hard on him.

Work for him had been rigidly held back too. The village's Council of Elders and Heads of Clan had all but hampered every mission scroll he might possible receive, giving him the worst if not the most menial of tasks. Unless the Hokage personally hand it over to Sasuke, he wasn't getting any worth of his skills' caliber.

It left the Uchiha restrained and limited to move about, keeping mostly to him self—though that was nothing new—and bored to death.

Konoha and her politics… things never change.

But Naruto was persistently hopeful, saying that the people just needed some getting used to and things would eventually work out—he's own way of sugarcoating it rather than saying: 'buddy, I've been through that shit and believe me, you're in for the long haul before anyone starts throwing you a birthday bash.' Sasuke only knew him too well. Naruto was hell bent on properly realigning him with Konohagakure; even more than what Sasuke felt necessary.

And what better way to show the world the Uchiha Sasuke—defector of Konoha, apprentice of the mad Orochimaru and the Legendary Rogue—was a good guy than letting him take up three scrawny brats to teach the art of nin?

The idea was out-and-out ridiculous. Him? Teach? He'd soon have any child perfect the silent art of brooding than anything else. And he had expressed his dislike of the proposal very clearly to Naruto. Even the Council had had to agree with Sasuke. And they all hated him!

He knew they were suspicious that he would somehow exploit any youngster into turning against the village or something similar to that notion. And they just might be right for the point that he despised each one of them.

But Naruto was adamant; he eventually convinced him and the elders in to agreeing. A feat that involved a lot of persuasion, reminding of relative positions and a few threats. It was the first time Sasuke had ever seen the Dobe so single-mindedly yet shrewdly tackle a goal as absurd as him teaching genin across the proverbial political table.

"You know Sasuke," Naruto's voice was suspiciously high, "I, uh, you know you had your moments sometimes, but I also heard something about a ferret… Any chance it might be true?"

The dark shinobi's head snapped so quick the sound barrier broke. The thought of 'Naruto' with 'wisdom and maturity' on the same line was instantly chucked out.

--

Hotaru abruptly halted and held up her hand for the others to do the same.

"Something's wrong here…" Hajime murmured, stopping beside the younger girl. Momo had jogged a little further away.

"What?" the Akimichi looked at what the other two were staring at and gasped. She would not have noticed it but beyond the fence, a few feet away, was a little lifeless sparrow sprawled on the dirt. Momo only cringed. "So what of?" she asked.

"Look! There's a dead bird on the ground, you see there?" the younger girl pointed, making circular motions with her finger pointing at the dead bird.

"Yes, we see it already," Momo nodded her head with a questioning eyebrow.

"It's dead," the shorter girl repeated, gawking at her with those sleepy-looking eyes.

"Seriously, it's obvious we noticed." The redhead motioned to go ahead but the little one grabbed her sleeve.

"Yes, but the little birdie is dead. Near the fence."

"Yes, we know that now!" Momo barely held her voice. Was it just her or little Hotaru's receptive communicating skills are a little slow?

"I think what Hotaru-san is trying to say is that there is something odd going on," the only boy in the group said.

Momo turned to him, looking at him as if he had dropped his senses somewhere too. "What's so odd about a dead bird? Birds die all the time."

"Yes, but look closely… its feathers are blackened as if they were burnt."

The redhead squinted her eyes as she looked back at the deceased fowl and gave a small "oh" of realization. "Really, it's just a dead bird," she added with a what's-the-big-deal look on her brows.

"Poor birdie gone dead…" murmured little Hotaru.

"It could be either a lightning or fire-based jutsu that killed it," Hajime stated, matter-of-factly.

"Wow, who made you the expert?" Momo said sarcastically.

"Or it could be some electric tags on the metal fence. We shouldn't go near it," added the masked purple ninja, rummaging through her kunai pouch and pulled a piece of blue clothe. "We should find Sasuke-sensei as soon as possible. I think the test begins now." She tied her hitai-ate around her neck.

(To be continued…)

Author's Note:

My first multi-chaptered short-fic. Please don't hesitate to appraise—criticize as much as you all want. This initial upload, however, remains un-beta-read. I'm sure it's fairly obvious with all the grammatical errors, poor sentence structure and wrong choice of words. I have about five more chaps under the belt, so if any of you dear readers enjoyed this first chapter and are interested to beta for this and latter portions of the fic, please feel free to contact me. I really need a beta-reader.

Oh, don't forget to review, review, review!

-Bakunawa