Well, here it is: the second installment of Sakura's Evolution. I'm sorry it took so long, but as I said, I was visiting family.

This chapter is dedicated to the following:

nodirection

Lucky Star Okami

Athyra()

LadyCalus

Phelin

Lnewolf

And EAnIL

Thank you all for reviewing the first chapter and/or adding me to your favorites/story alert lists.

Inner Sakura

Sakura's thoughts

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or its characters.


Chapter 2: Only In the Beginning

"Heh-heh, that was great! Ramen is the best, 'ttebayo!"

Biting her lip to keep in a dry chuckle at how loud her blonde teammate was, Sakura snuck a quick glance at the other boy on her new genin team; just in time to catch the disgusted grimace disappear into his apathetic façade. He slid his own glance at her, and, catching her amused expression, swiftly turned his head to the side, mumbling a "hn" under his breath. This time, the pre-teen girl had to laugh as one of her teammates went on a monologue about the finer points of ramen to her and their other teammate, who was currently trying to pretend he did not know the aforementioned.

Remembering the lunch Team 7 had just come from, Sakura grimaced and tried not to think of how their clashing personalities would affect their teamwork and missions.

At the ramen shack, Sasuke and Sakura had watched as Naruto inhaled- there really was no other way to describe it- five consecutive bowls of ramen, while continuing a one-sided conversation. As Sakura herself was still in disgusted shock, Sasuke took the time to, in predictable Uchiha Sasuke fashion, chide Naruto on his lack of manners. Taking offense to being called an "unsophisticated slob" and "the biggest idiot of all the shinobi villages combined," Naruto called Sasuke a "stuck-up emo-prince with a twenty foot kunai wedged up his ass!" It escalated from there into a huge (and incredibly loud) argument, despite Sakura's pacifist attempts to dissolve it. In the end, when both boys stood up and grabbed each other's shirtfronts, ready to turn the fight physical, Sakura's temper finally snapped and Inner Sakura momentarily took over and ended the fight then there.

This meant, of course, grabbing a fistful of their hair and slamming their foreheads onto the counter while telling them to "shut the hell up and finish their ramen!" and then calmly sitting back down to eat her own.

Now, on their way back to the academy, Sakura sighed as she watched her fellow teammates bicker back and forth, albeit a lot quieter than at Ichiraku's. Maybe if she could somehow get them to work together on somethi-

"Saku-raaaa! Hey Kura!" Ripped out of her reverie, said girl stopped and turned to see who had called her name, absently noting out of her peripheral that Sasuke and Naruto stopped as well. There, running towards her, was Tenten, waving her arm in greeting. Grinning, Sakura waved back before turning to face the two pre-teen boys behind her.

"Naruto, Sasuke, you guys can go head back to the academy and I'll just meet you two there, okay?" Sasuke eyed her for a moment, nodded, and then turned around to continue on his way. Naruto jogged after him, sending a wave and "See you there, Sakura-chan!" over his shoulder.

Smiling, she turned around to wait patiently for her brunette friend to catch up to her. When she did, the girl laughed and lightly hit the pinkette on the shoulder.

"Man, Kura-chan, you are one hard girl to track down. I've been looking for you everywhere!" At this, Sakura blinked.

"You have? Why?"

"To give this back, of course! You left it at the grounds this morning." With that, Tenten began shrugging out of the unzipped red dress Sakura had not noticed the bun-haired girl was wearing. Gasping in delight, Sakura could not believe how relieved she felt. Sooner than Tenten could blink, her fellow kunoichi had already put on and zipped up her dress, murmuring something similar to "Oh modesty, how I've missed you!" under her breathe.

Sighing happily, Sakura looked up to see her best friend silently laughing at her. The younger girl scowled at Tenten, her cheeks dusting light pink in embarrassment. "It's not funny, Tenten! You have no idea how embarrassing it is to walk around dressed like that; I felt like I was supposed to be standing at a street corner." The pinkette sighed and shook her head. "But anyways Ten, thanks for bringing me this."

This time the brown-haired ninja laughed loudly as the two started walking towards the academy. Market Street was packed, so as the two friends maneuvered through the crowd, Tenten had to shout to be heard. "You're welcome, but I don't get why it's so uncomfortable for you; you always take it off during training anyways."

"Well," Sakura yelled, "it's different around one or two people I'm friends with, but when there are people around I'm not friends with or just a big crowd. . . you know how self-conscious I am." Grimacing, the viridian-eyed kunoichi recalled several occasions when bullies would remind her of her ugly features, both from when she was a little girl to the present day.

"The reason for your self-consciousness being completely unfounded as you are a very pretty girl," Tenten scoffed. Seeing her friend open her mouth to object, the seasoned genin grinned, grabbed the pinkette's wrist and ran, pulling them out of the throng of people, not even bothering to fully absorb the indignant shouts of the shoppers. When the two girls finally turned off Market Street, they took one look at each other's flushed and frazzled appearances and burst into giggles. Looping her arm through Sakura's, Tenten started them off again. "Enough of that, though. Tell me about your teammates, Kura-chan." The ensuing groan of despair made the brunette's grin grow twice as large.

"It's horrible, Tenten! I'm stuck with the two biggest rivals of our year, excluding Yamanaka and myself, and they're complete polar opposites that can't even stand in the same room without arguing with or glaring at each other."

"Sucks, Kura. Who are they?"

"Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke."

"The eccentric and obnoxious nobody and the uptight, brooding clan member?" After a moment of silence, Tenten started cackling maniacally. "Oh my god, Sakura! Your team is exactly like mine!" This time when Tenten laughed, Sakura groaned again and covered her eyes with free hand. A second later her head shot up, a look of horror on her face.

"That means I have a Neji on my team!"

"You better hope to Kami you don't get weird sensei like mine, Sakura."

"Don't jinx me Tenten!"

Her only response was laughter.

"Well," Tenten began when they came to a stop at an intersection, "this is where I take my leave; Gai-sensei will give me laps if I'm late to training."

"Alright," Sakura laughed, "I'll talk to you later then."

"Mm'kay. See you later, Kura-chan."

"See you."

As Tenten took her leave via the rooftops, Sakura turned and headed towards the park entrance. A path there that led to the academy, and since she had plenty of time left, the rookie kunoichi wanted to take the scenic route.

Absent-mindedly eyeing the autumn colored leaves, Sakura thought seriously about her new team, attempting to find some way they could all resolve their personality conflicts. It was not until she was nearing the academy that the pinkette gave up, with no idea how to proceed.

'This would be so much easier,' Sakura thought as she leaned against a tree, completely exasperated, 'if I actually knew why the two were rivals.'

'Or if you knew them at all,' Inner Sakura pointed out. 'I mean, this could just be a phase.'

Silently, Sakura reviewed every memory she had of the two. It was a long list spanning over a period of four years, but almost every single one of them was of the two boys fighting. In fact, the very first day of the academy, Naruto introduced himself as the future Hokage and Sasuke called him an idiot for think a dead last could be Hokage. Of course Naruto retaliated by tackling Sasuke and stuffing a hand full of grass in his mouth. That quickly turned into a brawl that did not seem to end, even after Iruka-sensei broke them up.

'. . . or maybe they will keep arguing for the rest of your life and drive you into early grey-headedness.'

Groaning loudly, Sakura pushed away from the tree and grasped her head in frustration. Letting go, she looked up and glared at the sky, knowing someone up there was laughing at her misfortune.

"Are all boys so arrogant and stubborn, or did I just get stuck with the lucky two?" she sarcastically asked the sky, not expecting any form of an answer.

"The latter choice, most likely."

Shrieking in surprise, Sakura instinctively grabbed a kunai from her pouch, whirled around, and threw it at where The Voice had come from. Immediately she jumped back to put some distance between her and her opponent, stooping her posture in a defensive position, one hand reaching for her next weapon while the other helped her keep her balance. Her eyes narrowed in contemplation as they focused in on her attacker-

-and instantaneously widened in horror as her entire body froze at the figure standing in front of her.

He was tall, dressed in the full Anbu regalia, his mask resting on the side of his head. Standing there, calmly twirling the kunai she had thrown, he could not have been older than eighteen. Long black hair pulled back in a low ponytail fell over his shoulder while his bangs framed an almost inhumanly handsome face. Ebony eyes devoid of any emotion surrounded by luscious lashes and aristocratic features portrayed a blank expression, though despite this, Sakura got the distinct feeling he was rather amused.

All this was taken in in a short second, and in the next moment the twelve-year-old felt her face start to heat up as the full reality of what she had just done hit her.

'Oh my- yum! He's freaking delicious!'

'Are you serious? We just threw a kunai at an Anbu member! We're going to die!'

'If he's the Grim Reaper, I'd be happy to die every day for the rest of my life.'

"For a genin," he said, snapping her to attention, "you have pretty good reflexes." By now, Sakura's face was redder than it had ever been before, and his completely apathetic voice simply made it worse.

"I'm so sorry!" She squeaked, bringing her hands up to clasp up over her chest, as she did when she was anxious, and standing up straighter. "I so didn't mean to do that! Well, I mean, I did, because you scared me, but if I'd known it was you, I wouldn't have thrown it. Not you, as in you, specifically; I meant you, as in a random Konoha shinobi. Not that it would have made a difference! I still wouldn't have-"

His chuckle cut her off and Sakura's normally pale feature turned even redder, if possible, as she realized that god damnitt, she was rambling again! Unable to look the man- boy? teenager?- in the eye anymore, Sakura bowed her head in embarrassment, muttering one final apology for good measure.

"It is fine." His voice was as smooth as rich velvet, but Sakura was startled (again) at how close it sounded. Lifting her head, the viridian-eyed girl was surprised to see he was only a few feet away. "I should be the one to apologize," he continued. "It was not my intention to scare you." He offered her back her kunai.

"A-ah! N-no, it's f-fine." Mentally cringing at how utterly lame she sounded, Sakura tucked the kunai back into its place. 'Girl,' Inner Sakura growled, 'if you don't stop stuttering like an idiot, I'm going to take over.'

Sighing and relaxing herself marginally, the pinkette looked up at the Anbu member and offered him a shy smile and her hand. "I'm Haruno Sakura." She said. "It's nice to meet you. . .?"

"Uchiha Itachi." The male, Itachi, replied, shaking her hand briefly. Sakura blinked and tilted her head to the side curiously.

"Sasuke's older brother?"

The Uchiha before her smirked. "I take it you know my otouto then?"

Honestly, she tried (and failed) to hid her grimace. "Um, yeah. We've actually been put onto the same genin team with Uzumaki Naruto." As soon as she said that, the petite female could have sworn his smirk became more pronounced even though nothing actually changed about his expression. Sakura shifted nervously.

"May I conclude then," he began, "that the two you were. . . speaking of earlier were Uzumaki-san and my otouto?"

Immediately, Sakura's face flushed again. Sheepishly, she nodded. "The three of us seem to have conflicting personalities, and I'm a little worried how it will affect our teamwork." She frowned, reminded once more of her original problem.

"Haruno-san," Itachi called before she could drift into thought, "while I'm impressed you are thinking so far ahead-" insert another blush on Sakura's behalf- "it's not necessary for you to worry. All teams have their conflicts at first, and they are all resolved with time. After all, it is only the beginning of your time with Uzumaki-san and Sasuke."

Sakura blinked. The man was completely right of course, and Sakura felt more than a little silly for making a mountain out of a molehill. "You're right, Uchiha-san," she chuckled, smiling. "I always did tend to over analyze. And, call me Sakura; Haruno-san is how everyone addresses my father."

The Uchiha heir smirked again. "Itachi, likewise then. Also, I was wondering if you would know where my foolish otouto went off to. I have a message to give him from our Kaa-san, but I cannot find him at the academy or at any restraints."

Sakura frowned thoughtfully. "Well, I know he went back to the academy when we split up after lunch, and he was probably attacked by his fangirls on sight. So, he's most likely hiding somewhere in the building, but I couldn't tell you where, and he definitely won't show up until two or three minutes until we need to be back." At the mention of time, Sakura checked her watch; she so did not want a repeat of this morning.

This time, it was Itachi who frowned. "Perhaps then, Sakura-san, I might request a favor of you."

For what felt like the fifth time that day, Sakura was surprised. "Of course! What do you need Itachi-san?"

"Our Kaa-san wants Sasuke to pick up these items from the market on his way home," here he handed her a list he'd fished from his kunai pouch, "and asked me to tell him so. However, I cannot waste anymore time looking for him as Hokage-sama is expecting me. Would you mind relaying the message on my behalf when you see him?"

"Not at all, Itachi-san." Sakura smiled at him and tucked the list securely into her own pouch. Itachi nodded at her and stepped back.

"Thank you. I'm afraid I must leave now, but it was nice meeting you Sakura-san, and I hope to see you again."

"It was nice meeting you too Itachi-san, and I hope the same." The elder boy half-smirked, half-smiled at her, and then he was gone. Sakura remained a moment longer, before turning around and continuing on her way.

'Well, that was. . .weird.'

'Tell me about it. Now hurry up or we'll be late.'

Sakura rolled her eyes at her inner self, but increased her pace just the same. When she got back to the classroom, it was already half full of genin, including both of her own teammates. Taking her place between the two, she faced the younger heir.

"Hey Sasuke, your brother was looking for you earlier." She said. The brooding boy stiffened and looked at her.

"He asked me to tell you your Kaa-sama wants you to pick some things up from the market." She handed him the slip of paper Itachi gave her. She distinctly heard the boy sigh as he looked over the list, and swore that his cheeks were a little more flushed than normal. 'I guess even Uchiha Sasuke has to get groceries for his mom once in a while.'

Sasuke opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment, Iruka-sensei walked in, followed by several adults. The room of excited genins immediately quieted in awe; none of them, except Sasuke, had ever seen more than one or two jounin at the same time, and now five were waiting to collect their teams. Sakura watched with silent excitement at the jounin, wondering if one of them was hers. It turned out they weren't, and she sighed a little in envy as Hyuuga Hinata's team walked up to the only female jounin there.

As the jounin and their new genin left, the kids began talking again. Time started to pass, and as more jounin came to claim their team, the room steadily became emptier. When more than half the class had left, Naruto began to fidget. Four jounins later, Sakura's hands hurt from how tightly she had been squeezing them into fists in her lap. So she stretched them out and then curled them again. Finally, when the very last team besides theirs left, a deep brooding aura settled over Sasuke. More time went by, and eventually Iruka bid them farewell, much to the ire of Team 7.

By now, almost two and a half hours had gone by since they all came back from lunch, and all three of them had moved to the front of the room. Sasuke was sitting in the first row of seats closest to the door while Sakura was lying down on top of the desks furthest from the door. Naruto paced across the front of the classroom, growing more and more agitated as the seconds passed. Sakura sighed and scowled at the ceiling; she hated it when people were late and being late herself. Waiting sucked.

"Gyahh! I can't take this!" Two pairs of eyes snapped over to the orange-clad boy and watched silently as he grabbed a dirty eraser and a stool and marched over to the door. When he stood on the stool to reach the top of the door, obsidian eyes narrowed in understanding while the emerald pair widened in shock.

"Hn. Do you really think a jounin is going to fall for that? Tch, Dope." Sasuke said after Naruto finished.

"Shut up Teme! I don't care; he deserves it! I mean, even Iruka-sensei has already gone home for the night! What do you think Sakura-chan?"

Said girl stiffened as both boys looked at her. "Well," she began, sitting up and getting off the desk only to lean against it, "he may be a rude jerk for having us wait on our first meeting, but he's still our superior and deserves at least some respect." She shrugged carelessly, tugged once at her unzipped red dress, and folded her arms. 'Screw that! Vengeance will be mine, bitches! I hate waiting!'

Right at that moment, a set of footprints approached the door. The three of them waited with bated breath as the tap, tap, tapping stopped outside the door. Slowly, the shoji door slid open. . .

. . . and the eraser fell on the head of a silver-haired man reading an orange book.

"Ahahaha! I can't believe you fell for it, dattebayo!" Naruto was almost doubled over with laughter, and Sakura herself had covered her mouth to hide her smile. That did nothing though for her shoulders which were shaking with concealed laughter. Sasuke was the only one of the three mildly composed, and he was scowling at their so-called 'sensei,' a look of "are you kidding me?" adorning his features. It was only when Naruto's laughing died down the man looked up from his examination of the eraser.

"My first impression of you three," he drawled, one lone eye studying each of them in turn, "is that you're all idiots." And then he smiled beneath his mask.

Thus, Team 7 met its sensei.


Well, here it is: Chapter 2, complete. I had originally intended for it to include the introductions, but it felt like I was dragging it out too much.

Thanks for all of your support; the reviews are very much appreciated, as are any questions, comments, or concerns and insults will be… taken care of. ^_^

-I.C.