So, I decided to update a bit faster. After posting the previous chapter, my mind was still running with ideas, so I decided to work on it; instead of my art that's due in a few hours.
Thank you for the support, I hope you all enjoy.
The girl with the fiery red hair sighed as she placed her forehead on the desk in exasperation.
Her cousin was tied up at the front of the classroom for painting on the faces of the Hokage, and was currently getting a lecture about it.
'It's finally here.' She cheered internally, too mentally exhausted to move.
For two-and-a-half months, she had to endure the life of an academy student.
The idiots had nicknamed her 'Akaoni' which translated into 'Red Demon'. Shows how creative they were.
She didn't bother to bond with her peers, even her cousin whom she lived with wasn't all that close to her. The girl had kept them all at a distance, and with her brutally honest mindset; the others were obviously miffed by her presence.
Everything about academy life was boring; she knew everything they taught, and she had to make sure that she was only just beating Sakura in the written tests.
She was partnered with some random girl whose name she hadn't bothered to remember for taijutsu lessons. Her immediate approach to that situation was to knock the girl out the moment the match started.
It didn't show any of her skill for taijutsu except that she was quick enough to hit the back of a twelve-year-old's neck.
She neglected the kunoichi classes, they were unimportant.
Her life with Naruto was almost chaotic, their personalities clashed on more than one occasion.
He was messy, idiotic, impulsive. The damned blonde had compared her to Sasuke, saying that she acted just like him.
'I'm not some brat who is consumed by hatred.' She thought with a light frown.
Though that hadn't nearly affected her as much as one day finding that Naruto had decided have a ramen feast and left the mess in the kitchen for her to clean.
The boy gave her one too many headaches, but she had a mission to do, and living with Naruto seemed to make things a little easier for her in the long run.
At least they got along to the point that they didn't try to kill each other, with her also giving off a weak killing intent to those who regarded him with that same look he had grown up with. That; the blonde was grateful for.
Aside from Naruto, keeping an eye on Sasuke wasn't that bad. He distanced himself from everyone and was always brooding. His cold attitude didn't seem endearing to her in the least, but perhaps that was because he was basically a kid compared to her mindset.
She had assumed the seat between him and Naruto, and the other girls of the class didn't seem to mind as much anymore. Probably because they knew that she was obviously not interested in their beloved 'Sasuke-kun'. It amused her how if some girl attempted to sit next to the raven-haired boy, they'd use the excuse that it was Shiru-san's seat and it'd be rude to take it from her.
In a roundabout way, she was a shield for both the Uchiha and the girls who didn't like anyone interested sitting next to him.
Most of the time, the redhead would observe her peers. She didn't have the tell tale seat at the back of the classroom to people watch all of them, but there were only a select few that she cared about.
Particularly the canon characters.
Sakura and Ino continued to butt heads, and they irritated her to no end; but they were ignorant and she couldn't blame them for that. Kiba and Naruto often bickered loudly; which nearly always earned them a detention and some chalk to the head. Chouji and Shikamaru sat at the back together, always remaining quiet. Shino was just as talkative as she was during class, and Hinata would sit on the other seat at the back of the class and sneak glances at the blonde usually seated beside her. At other times, she'd just read.
'I bet Orochimaru and Kabuto are laughing at my expense, the bastards.' She frowned, knowing that Kabuto had been keeping an eye on her during her stay.
The white-haired medic nin sent her a note from Orochimaru that he'd be seeing her soon enough, and that she's being watched by the ANBU still. Though they seemed to leave her alone after two months, no longer finding her much of a threat; not that they thought so in the first place. It was the usual paranoia of ninja to just keep an eye on ninjas from other villages.
'I'm not a complete idiot,' The Uzumaki girl retorted in her head, '...he probably just wanted to make sure that I was still loyal to him and didn't gain any attachments.'
She snorted unceremoniously, earning herself a glance from the Uchiha beside her. 'As if I could get attached to any of these fools.' There was hardly any attachment to her own cousin, let alone to some academy kids. She was also not as loyal as Orochimaru thought she was.
Shiru was in lost in her wistful thoughts of being out of this godforsaken village by the time Naruto had provoked Iruka to make everyone line up and do a transformation.
Sasuke frowned in irritation, the dobe was always causing trouble for everyone. His onyx eyes glanced over to the girl next to him who still had her head on the desk.
'Even she seems to be annoyed by him.' He smirked, somehow feeling superior to the loser by that fact.
When he had stood up reluctantly to line up as the rest, Shiru lifted her head from the desk and followed suit silently.
After a few minutes of various transformations into Iruka, the redhead had yet to show the teacher her transformation when Naruto had shown off his 'sexy no jutsu'.
The girl couldn't help but smile a little at the dramatic reaction of the teacher.
When school finished, Shiru wandered the streets; intent on buying some groceries for herself. She could see Naruto's small form cleaning off his mess on the Hokage mountain, and knew that he would be eating ramen with Iruka.
People passed her without a second glance, too intent on their own affairs to care about the people they passed by. She did the same, walking into the grocery store after some mental preparation.
The redhead began to fidget as she entered, a certain smell standing out amongst the rest. Her fingers twitched erratically as a response to her nervousness. She did well to hide most of her obvious discomfort, but the moment a person had walked near her with garlic in their basket; she hightailed to the other side of the store like a jack rabbit, her back pressing up against the freezers as she attempted to calm her nerves.
'Fucking garlic.' She growled mentally, letting out a shaky breath and running a hand through her unkempt hair. Her fingers were entangled in the strands, further indicating how little she did to look after her hair. 'Perhaps I'll cut my hair when I get home.'
The clerk who worked at the grocery store was familiar with Shiru's irrational fear of garlic, and simply smiled at her when she came to pay for her things.
"Still afraid of garlic, hm?" He teased, chuckling when she glared lightly at him with her emerald eyes. "You lose your cool every time."
Shiru curled her teeth in disgust, lightly shuddering at the simply thought of the horrid thing. "It's a curse." She muttered darkly.
The clerk was a young teen, appearing to be only a few years older than her. He was polite and charismatic, and she had to respect the fact that he didn't further traumatise her by purposely placing garlic near the counter or near her in general as her bastard of a master had done multiple times in the past.
'Tch. 'Face your fears', he says. He should do the same and face death like a man, then.' She mocked with a frown.
"That's four thousand, five hundred and thirty-eight ryo." He stated, keeping that smile of his on his youthful face.
After paying for her groceries and saying goodbye to the unnamed clerk, she made her way home.
Shiru shut the door with her foot and dumped her stuff on the kitchen counter. As she put the food away, something clicked in her mind.
'Perhaps I should learn how to cook.'
Neither Naruto or Shiru had any knowledge of cooking, and most of the time bought take-away. She didn't mind his obsession with ramen, it was merely the fact of throwing the fucking rubbish away when he was done.
A lot of their food stock was fruit, which both had a liking to.
Shiru ate a strawberry as she went to the bathroom, walking in and to the sink with the mirror above it. Once she realised she forgot the scissors and brush, she went back out to get them.
When she had, and finally took a look of herself in the mirror; she froze.
The entire time she had been in this place, not once had she properly looked at her face.
Now that she had, she had to admit that she was surprised. Mostly because of the fact that her eyes were bloody ridiculous.
'Since when the hell did I have winged eyeliner?' She wondered, leaning close and rubbing her eye to see if it would come off. It didn't.
The permanent eyeliner and her thick lashes made her deep emerald eyes stand out.
The red-haired Uzumaki stared blankly at her reflection, currently ignoring the bangs that reached her mouth.
'Karin.' The reflection of Shiru narrowed their eyes in a mimic to the real one.
'The bitch put permanent eyeliner on me and I didn't know for six years? Motherfucker.'
Sighing in exasperation, she picked up the brush and worked to untangle her red mane.
'Should probably brush my hair more often.' She cringed, pulling the brush roughly out of the last bit of her hair. It had taken her half an hour to finally rid herself of tangles. 'No wonder girls are always late to occasions.'
By the time Naruto got home, Shiru was currently reading on the couch; her bangs only a bit shorter. Side bangs that were just past her chin framed her face, but some of her hair had nearly concealed her entire right eye.
She got lazy and only trimmed, basically. At least she didn't have a bunch of hair getting in her mouth.
"You ready for tomorrow, Shiru-chan?" Naruto inquired with excitement, pumped up for graduation tomorrow.
"Yes." She replied blandly, turning the page of her book. "Make sure you go to sleep tonight, it won't do you any good to miss out on rest."
The blonde gave her a look. "But you never sleep."
The redhead looked up from her book. "That's because I can't. You can, so hurry up and go to bed."
Naruto poked her tongue childishly at her, but reluctantly obliged and got himself ready for bed.
"I'll see you tomorrow, then. Goodnight, Shiru-chan."
Shiru returned to reading. "Goodnight, Naruto."
Shiru stood in front of Iruka and Mizuki with an impassive expression, and did the necessary handsigns for the clone jutsu; Ram, snake, tiger.
Without declaring the technique, two clones of her appeared in a puff of smoke.
Iruka and Mizuki both smiled in approval.
"Congratulations, Shiru-san. You passed." Iruka congratulated her with a genuine tone.
The Uzumaki girl did a small smile and dipped her head slightly as she picked up one of the forehead protectors, her clones disappearing since they were no longer of use.
A little while later, Shiru leant against a tree with her arms folded; Naruto sitting on the swing with a pitiful look on his face.
The redhead ignored the large commotion of the parents and their kids, whilst the blonde did the exact opposite.
She only snapped to attention the moment the two females began to talk about her cousin.
"Hey, that kid..." The one with the headband began.
"Yeah, that's 'the' kid. He's the only one who failed." Her friend responded. "The girl next to him is his cousin, and even she passed."
Headband's eyes widened. "He had a cousin?!"
"Mm. She came here a few months ago, but even she seems to dislike the boy."
"I don't blame her. Imagine having him as a relative."
Shiru shifted her gaze to the two gossiping women, her eyes glinting with something threatening. The two seemed to notice, hurriedly and awkwardly leaving so they no longer had to be within the two Uzumaki children's range.
When she returned her eyes to her blonde cousin, he noticed how much more depressed he looked.
"Do you hate me, Shiru-chan...?" He suddenly asked with a defeated voice.
The girl clicked her tongue, causing him to look up at her. "Hate is an irrelevant thing to be feeling. Hating isn't worth my time, and I have nothing to hate you for." She explained with the same detached tone she always had. "You're unbelievably messy and quite the idiot," Naruto shrunk at her criticism, "...but you're a good kid. Don't let their ignorance and blind hatred deter you from your goals."
The small pep talk brought Naruto out of his depressing stupor, and he attempted to hug his cousin.
Shiru pushed against his forehead with her palm, not allowing him to hug her no matter how much he struggled. "I don't do hugs, brat."
"Pah!" He scoffed, finally giving up and folding his arms. "You're such a killjoy. I only wanted to thank you."
"Thank me by graduating, then." She merely replied, body flickering away before he could reply. He looked around frantically in confusion.
"Shiru-chan?! Where'd you go?!"
"Naruto..."
At his name, the blonde turned around to find Mizuki.
"Mizuki-sensei!"
The redhead slapped the blonde upside the head, causing the latter to yell in pain and grab his sore head.
"Ow, Shiru-chan! What the hell was that for?" He demanded, tears threatening to escape his eyes.
His cousin gave him the look that indicated she thought he was a fucking idiot. "Get that shit off your face, you dweeb."
Naruto pouted. He thought the makeup was awesome for his profile photo.
"But..." He started, but immediately stopped at her pointed stare. "Okay, fine..."
Shiru let the man take the identification photo after he had taken Naruto's, then left off in a whirl of smoke. The blonde pouted at being left behind again.
The following morning, the two Uzumaki kids got ready for the day they'd be put in teams.
Shiru changed her clothes to the similar style she had before coming to Konoha.
She wore a dark purple sweater with sleeves that ended just past her elbows, a tailless black scarf, black baggy pants and her black knee-high ninja sandals that had the lower parts of her pant legs tucked in. Underneath her clothing was the garments specially made for weight training.
Orochimaru was a man with many resources, and he happened to find a certain material that could made into wearable clothing. The unique thing about it was that it was incredibly heavy, something that baffled the redhead.
Either way, she wore them as a constant way to train even if she was just walking.
The girl wore a pair of fingerless black gloves that elongated to her elbows, short shorts, thigh-high and open-toed socks and a sleeveless turtleneck. All were made of the unique material, and she was forced to wear them all.
'They're a bitch to wear.' She internally growled, feeling the weighted clothing do their job in being a burden. The redhead then tied the forehead protector around her left bicep. She had replaced its blue cloth with black last night.
Sighing, she picked up her tachi from the side of her bed and put the grey strap attached to the sheath over her head so that it was now on her back.
When she left her room, she wasn't surprised to see Naruto already in the kitchen and having cereal.
"Morning." He yawned.
Shiru gave a half-hearted wave as she opened the fridge door to browse its contents.
"That milk hasn't expired yet, has it?" She questioned, looking at the new milk in the fridge door.
From behind her, Naruto paled upon seeing that the milk he used; had indeed expired.
"Oh, shit."
The redhead smirked in amusement as she made her own breakfast.
"Let's hope nothing bad happens when it's important."
Naruto giggled to himself as he sat at his usual seat. Shiru had told him that she'd be there later and to go without her.
"Huh?" The blonde looked up to see a fellow graduate look at him in shock. "Naruto? What the hell are you doing here? Only those who pass are supposed to be here."
Naruto waved his hand smugly. "Hey, hey. Can't you see this forehead protector?"
They were both interrupted by the feminine voice of Sakura.
"Hey, will you let me through?"
'Sakura-chan!' Naruto perked up, the blood rushing to his cheeks at the sight of her. 'Could it be...she wants to...sit next to me?'
His hopes were crushed when she made a feral expression and pointed at the empty spot beside him. "Naruto! Move your ass! I want to sit on the other side of you!" She demanded roughly.
Naruto turned to see Sasuke on the other end of the desk. His face scrunched up in disgust when the Uchiha glanced at him.
"What?"
Before the blonde could reply, Sakura jumped on Naruto's back with a strangely too-sweet smile. "Ugh!"
"Sasuke-kun!" She cooed. "Can I sit next to you?"
Onyx eyes shifted to the empty sit beside him, then back to the pinkette. Not really wanting to have the girl sit next to her, he thought up of an excuse.
"Uzumaki Shiru sits there." He informed her stoically, looking back to the front of the classroom.
Sakura looked visibly disheartened, but tried to push further. "But she's not here."
"I am very much here." Shiru's impassive voice spoke up, startling her cousin and Sakura. "Now get off my cousin."
Sasuke's eyes shifted to look at the female Uzumaki, who managed to get rid of the damned pink-haired girl. He sighed in relief when the redhead sat in her seat and stared blankly at the board.
He would never admit it, but she was glad she was the one who sat there. The girl showed no signs of interest in him, and was feared by her classmates enough to leave her alone.
Sakura glared at the girl who sat between her crush and the idiot Naruto from across the room. 'Why does she always get to sit there?' The pinkette wondered in spite.
The other girls glared at her. "You can't just try to sit next to Sasuke-kun, Sakura." One of her female peers spoke up.
The Haruno girl turned around to look at the group of girls. "Why not? It's not like it has her name on it."
One of the girls; the one with bluish spiky hair looked at her disbelievingly. "You should know that the reason the other girls allow her to sit there is because she's obviously not interested in Sasuke-kun." She explained in a tone that made it sound as if it was obvious.
Her friend spoke up. "Yeah, it's like; Shiru-san is allowed to sit there so that none of the other girls who are interested can. She's there so no one can hog him."
Sakura blinked multiple times, attempting to get that in her head. "I...I guess it makes sense, but it's still not fair." She looked back over to the Uzumakis and the Uchiha.
The redhead did look thoroughly uninterested in him, but that didn't mean she wasn't jealous. In her mind, someone who would appreciate Sasuke-kun deserved to sit next to him more.
'I'm being stared at.' Shiru noted, her head turning in the direction of Sakura. The pinkette tensed before quickly looking away.
Shrugging, her attention shifted to Iruka; who had just entered the room with a roster, but then got lost into her thoughts when he explained how they were still genin.
Only when he had begun calling out teams, she began to listen.
"Team seven..."
'If I don't get a spot, Orochimaru's going to be annoyed.'
"Uzumaki Naruto..."
Naruto listened intently, hoping to be put with Sakura or Shiru.
"Uchiha Sasuke..."
"Dammit!" The blonde groaned, banging his head on the desk whilst the Uchiha remained impassive outwardly. Inside, he was annoyed.
'That idiot?' He scoffed mentally. 'He's going to drag me down.'
"And Uzumaki Shiru."
Naruto cheered.
Shiru sighed.
Sasuke once again remained impassive.
Sakura slumped in her seat, as did most of the other girls.
"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto stood up, pointing over Shiru and to Sasuke. "Why do I have be put on the same team as that bum?!" He demanded, oblivious to the death glares he was receiving.
Iruka leaned forward with his hands on his hips. "Sasuke's grades were first among all twenty-seven graduates, whilst you were dead last." He explained briefly. "We have to do this to balance out the teams, understand?"
"Bah..." Sasuke scoffed. "Just don't get in my way...dead last."
Shiru noticed the way Naruto shook with anger.
"What did you call me?!"
"Naruto."
The blonde tensed at the sound of Shiru's monotone voice, and slowly looked to her and noticing that her eyes were closed. "Yes...?"
"Sit down and shut up."
"Yes, ma'am!"
The smaller Uzumaki immediately sat down stiffly, not willing to anger his cousin. He hadn't seen her angry before, but she was scary when she was annoyed.
Iruka sighed, silently thanking the redhead for shutting the blonde up. "Alright, this afternoon we'll introduce the jounin senseis. Take a break until then."
Shiru was reading a book on one of the many roofs when she felt the distressed fluctuation of Sasuke's chakra, and looked up.
Her eyes settled upon 'Sasuke' who came out of the window she was near. Even without the obvious differences with their chakra signatures, she knew it was Naruto.
When Naruto left, Shiru contemplated whether or not she should check on the Uchiha who was still tied up.
'I suppose it would benefit my mission.' She decided, flickering from her spot to standing in front of a squirming Uchiha.
Onyx eyes glared up at her once he realised she was near, but she remained unphased as she knelt down and ripped the tape off his mouth.
"I'm not sure whether to be impressed or disappointed that Naruto managed to tie you up." She commented nonchalantly, the corner of her lips twitching upwards at his glare.
"Just help me, will you?" He demanded with spite and annoyance. The girl clicked her tongue before untying the struggling boy.
When he was free, Sasuke furrowed his brows in irritation and stood up; dusting himself off.
"It's time to go." The redhead stated, looking out the open window. "If you see Naruto, tell him to meet me at the classroom." He looked in her direction, only to find that she had gone already.
Sasuke stared at the spot the female Uzumaki stood for a few seconds in thought, then simply sighed and left.
"So this is Naruto's house?" A silver-haired ninja inquired, picking up the milk carton and examining it. 'This went bad a while ago.'
The third Hokage nodded. "He lives here with his cousin, Uzumaki Shiru."
The jounin shifted his gaze to the old man. "Cousin?"
Hiruzen nodded. "She was chased by some of Orochimaru's men a while back. Luckily, we saved her and she's been living with him ever since. He had a smaller apartment before she came."
Kakashi hummed in thought.
"Coincidentally, they're both on your team. Naruto's a moron, but I think giving him and Shiru to you is best."
"You put them together?" The copy-nin blinked in mild surprise. Hiruzen nodded.
"I think it'd be good for the two of them, since they only have each other. Plus, it also works out as the three of them balance each other out." The Hokage chuckled. "You will also have Sasuke of the Uchiha clan as the third member. Good luck."
Kakashi sighed. "Yes, sir."
Sasuke sat behind the first desk in the classroom whilst Shiru leant against it as she read some book about fuinjutsu. Naruto was peeking his head out of the door.
"Why is the sensei of our team so damn late?!" Naruto complained, looking back to his teammates as if they had the answer. "All the other teams have gone off with their senseis, and even Iruka-sensei left."
The Uchiha glanced at Naruto as he set up a prank for their sensei.
"That's what you get for being late!" The blonde snickered.
Sasuke scoffed. "Pfft. Like a jounin is going to fall for such a simple booby-trap."
Shiru remained silent, already feeling the mysterious chakra signature of Hatake Kakashi. It reminded her of rain, and the dew of grass. Probably from standing in front of the memorial stone too much.
When Kakashi slid open the door and the blackboard duster plopped onto his head, Naruto burst out with laughter.
"Gyahahaha! You fell for it!"
Sasuke stared at their sensei skeptically. 'Is this really a jounin? He doesn't seem reliable.'
The copy-nin's only visible eye scanned his group, the red-haired girl who seemed to ignore his presence as she read a book made him raise an eyebrow.
"Hm...how can I say this?" He grasped his chin in faux-thought. "My first impression is...I don't like you guys."
The two boys gave their sensei a dull look, and Shiru merely glanced at the man once before closing her book.
"Meet me up at the roof in five minutes." He order, before he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Only a second after, Naruto and Sasuke realised that Shiru had also disappeared.
As Kakashi and Shiru waited for the rest of the team, the copy nin stared at the girl who sat idly on the steps; her book once again out and being read.
'This is Naruto's cousin?' He wondered. 'They're polar opposites.'
'He's staring...' The redhead noted. 'Does he know that I know he's staring?'
The next few minutes was slightly awkward until the two finally appeared on the roof and sat on the steps with her, with Naruto on the right, Sasuke in the middle and Shiru on the left.
"Okay..." Kakashi started. "Let's begin with some introductions."
Naruto tilted his head. "What do you want to know?"
The silver-haired ninja shrugged. "How about your likes, dislikes...dreams for the future, hobbies, stuff like that."
The blonde leaned forward. "Why don't you introduce yourself to us first?" He suggested.
Kakashi hummed. "Oh, me? My name Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you about my likes or dislikes. Dreams for the future? Hmm...well, I have a lot of hobbies." He stated, barely giving any information.
The two boys gave the same squinty-eyed expression they gave him before.
"Now, your turn. From the right."
Shiru tuned out from Naruto's introduction, already knowing it was about ramen and being Hokage. When it was Sasuke's turn, she decided to listen.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are heaps of things I dislike, but not really anything I like. And...I don't want to use the word 'dream' but...I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and...to kill a certain man."
That's when it clicked. She now knew of a way to influence Sasuke to the 'dark side', per say.
He had an inferiority-superiority complex, right? She could use that against him. Putting him down by saying he's weaker than both Shiru and Naruto...he'd lose his mind.
"Okay...lastly, the girl."
Kakashi's voice brought her out of her thoughts, causing her to look up and close her book with a sigh. She ignored the mildly curious stares she received.
"My name is Uzumaki Shiru. The blonde idiot beside the Uchiha is my cousin, just for added information." Shiru started, cracking her back. "I like a few things. I dislike a lot of things. I have no particular dream for the future. My hobbies include reading and training."
The three males all sighed with various amounts of enthusiasm.
'Should've expected her to be boring.' Naruto pouted. Even though he lived with the girl and had known her for a few months, he barely knew a thing about her.
Sasuke closed his eyes.
Kakashi gave the girl an approving look. 'I'm glad she seems to be more interested in ninjutsu than most girls her age are.'
"That's enough of that, then. We will start our duties tomorrow." The copy nin explained with little enthusiasm.
Naruto cheered. "Duties, duties, duties! What kind of duties?!"
"First," Kakashi spoke. "we're going to be doing something with just the four of us."
Naruto basically radiated energy as he shuffled whilst sitting. "What, what?"
"Survival training."
The blonde seemed to the only one who actually engaged in the conversation, the other two remaining silent.
"I'm your opponent, but this isn't normal training." He explained further.
"Then, then! What is it?"
The Uchiha tensed at their jounin's strange chuckle.
"What are you laughing for?" Naruto asked with a mild tone of annoyance.
Shiru decided to speak up, earning herself the multiple stares. "He's probably finding it amusing that out of the twenty-seven graduates, only about nine will actually become genin." She explained briefly. "The rate of failure is over sixty-six percent."
Her cousin froze, Sasuke narrowed his eyes and Kakashi sighed, dropping the act he was putting up.
"Exactly as she says. Tomorrow, you'll be graded on the training field."
The redhead narrowed her eyes. 'I don't do teamwork.'
Sure, she worked relatively well with the residents of Otogakure, but proper teamwork was...that meant to trust in your team, and trust was something Shiru found was hard to come by.
"Make sure to skip breakfast. You'll throw up otherwise."
Naruto shook with determination as Kakashi handed out the paper and told them not to be later tomorrow.
The older Uzumaki skimmed lazily through the contents, her cousin freaking out and their stoic Uchiha scrunching up the paper and giving off a tense aura.
The copy-nin didn't bother to say goodbye, leaving the three on the rooftop.
Shiru was the first to stand up. "I recommend that you eat breakfast, Sasuke." She advised the dark-haired boy, who gave her a hard stare in return.
"But, Shiru-chan!" Naruto interrupted. "Kakashi-sensei just said that we shouldn't."
His cousin shifted her impassive eyes over to him, unnerving him. "You do realise that skipping breakfast and then trying to train dulls your senses, right?"
Neither of the two boys responded, both processing the information. "I'm suspecting that his test revolved around teamwork."
"What?" Sasuke bit out, his stare turning into a glare as he looked at the redhead standing before him.
Said redhead cracked her knuckles. "I don't work well with teamwork either, but if it is, make sure you're prepared. Naruto, pick up some more cereal before you come home."
Before either of them could reply, she was gone.
Naruto yelled in frustration. "She always does that!"
The Uchiha ignored his idiot teammate, instead thinking on what his female one had said.
'I don't need a team, let alone teamwork.' He thought darkly. 'But what am I going to do if it is the test?'
Sasuke glanced to the blonde who jumped off the roof.
'I'll be forced to work with the Uzumaki cousins.'
Working with Shiru didn't seem half as annoying as working with the blonde-haired idiot known as her cousin.
In the end, though, he didn't need either of them to succeed in his goal.
Doone. Yay. Love it? Hate it? Review?