When Sasame walked into the academy the next day wearing the outfit her mom bought her along with her new weapons strapped to her hips, eyes were trained on her person. Most of the guys were blushing at the obvious curves the outfit showed off while most of the girls glared at her in jealousy.
Sasuke Uchiha was the only one there who seemed to be only interested in the weapons strapped to her sides.
"Sasame, why are you wearing that outfit?" Sakura questioned. "Are you trying to get Sasuke-kun's attention?" she sneered.
Sasame rolled her eyes. 'Fangirls,' she thought in irritation. "No Sakura," she said calmly. "These were a present from my mom for graduating."
"We won't let you tempt Sasuke-kun with your wiles!" she continued as if Sasame hadn't said anything.
Sasame rolled her eyes again and didn't bother to comment. She went and sat next to her friends Shikamaru and Choji. A moment later, while everyone was still mingling, the window next to them opened and, to her surprise, Naruto jumped through it.
He wore a blue-clothed hitai-ate tied around his forehead.
"Naruto?" Sasame said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Yeah," Shikamaru said in his bored tone. "The only people who should be here are people who graduated. Last I checked, you failed the exam."
Naruto scowled. "Ya see this?" he asked while gesturing towards his forehead with his thumb. "It means I'm a ninja Shikamaru. I took some other test that let me graduate."
Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he said.
Naruto smiled at Sasame. "Hiya Sasame!" he said cheerfully.
She smiled. "Hi Naruto," she said with a smile. "I guess you're a ninja now huh?"
He nodded energetically. "Yep! One step closer to becoming Hokage!" he cheered.
He was a little too loud. Now most of the class was staring at him.
Ino scoffed. "Yeah right Naruto-baka!" she exclaimed. " Like someone like you is going to be Hokage! If anyone's going to become the Hokage, it's going to be Sasuke-kun!"
"Yeah!" Sakura chimed in. "A loser like you can't beat someone like Sasuke-kun!"
"Tch," Naruto muttered. "What's so special about him anyways?"
He hopped onto the desk Sasuke was sitting in and stared him in the eye. Sasuke stared right back with a scowl on his face.
They didn't notice the guy about to bump into Naruto.
Sasame did though. "Naruto, watch out!" she shouted but it was too late. The guy bumped into him, causing Naruto to fall forward.
Causing his lips to crash into Sasuke's. A cry of outrage sounded from all of Sasuke's fangirls while the others, including Sasame, either giggled or laughed at the scene.
They immediately leapt apart and started gagging, their hands wrapped around their throats; they even seemed to turn a little green.
Naruto, however, didn't notice the danger known as fangirl feminine fury creeping up behind him. By the time he did notice it was too late. They grabbed ahold of him and dragged him away to beat him senseless, his pain-filled cries echoing throughout the room.
Sasame watched all this with sympathy. "He will come back a changed man," she said gravelly as she watched him get a beat down.
Shikamaru scoffed. "Of course he will," he said matter-of-factly. "All girls are troublesome, no matter the age, height, or size."
Sasame raised a brow at him. He coughed. "Most girls anyway," he corrected. She nodded as if to say 'that's right!'
Naruto had just gotten away from the girls and sat down next to Sasuke when Iruka-sensei walked into the room. Strangely, he had bandages on his cheek and looked slightly ruffled. 'I wonder what happened to him?' Sasame wondered to herself.
"Hello everyone," Iruka-sensei said as he glanced at all of them. "Congratulations, you are shinobi and kunoichi of Konoha!" he said with a smile. "From now on, you shall be responsible for your own actions and will protect the Leaf with your lives."
"Now," he said, "on to the teams."
He read off a piece of paper that had their names on it. Everyone tried to stay focus to see when their name was called but it was tough to stay interested, even for Sasame.
"For Team 7," he said, "We have Naruto Uzumaki" - Naruto piped up at that - "Sasame Zanya" - Naruto grinned and Sasame gave a small smile - "and Sasuke Uchiha. Now, for Team -"
"Hold up Iruka-sensei!" Naruto shouted as he jumped up. "Why does an awesome ninja like me have to be paired up with somebody like Sasuke?!"
Iruka sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sasuke had the best scores among the boys while you, Naruto, had the worst. You guys were placed together to even the other out."
There were some chuckles at that as Naruto sat down with a scowl and a glare aimed at Sasuke, which the boy ignored.
"Wait a minute sensei!" Sakura said before Iruka could continue speaking as she too stood up. "How come I'm not on a team with Sasuke-kun?"
"Or me?" Ino added haughtily.
Iruka sighed again. 'Kami-sama give me strength,' he thought to himself before answering. "Sasame has the best scores out of all the girls in class. Because of this, she was placed with Sasuke and Naruto."
"But I thought I had the best written scores sensei," Sakura persisted.
"That may be so Sakura but you also had one of the worst physical scores," Iruka said bluntly to Sakura's embarrassment. "Sasame had one of the best physical scores, a great written score, and also did well on the kunai and shuriken test. Since she accomplished all of that, she is named Kunoichi of the Year and is paired with Sasuke and Naruto."
Sakura shot Sasame a nasty look as people laughed at her, which she ignored.
Iruka kept listing of names, stating that Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, and Hinata Hyuga became Team 8 and Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka became Team 10, to Ino's frustration.
"Ugh! So not only am I not on a team with Sasuke-kun, I get paired with the laziest guy in class and his sidekick?" Ino complained before slamming her head onto the desk.
"Good luck with her," Sasame murmured to Shikamaru and Choji under her breath.
Choji smiled while Shikamaru groaned in frustration as he too slammed his head on the desk.
"Your senseis should here after lunch to pick you up," Iruka-sensei said as he finished up calling out names. "I suggest you use the lunch hour to get to know your teammates."
Ino stood up and looked to Shikamaru and Choji. "If I'm stuck with you two then I'm whipping you into shape," she snapped. "Meet me on the roof." She then stomped away.
"Kami-sama help me," Shikamaru said pitifully.
Sasame patted his back in sympathy. "Good luck with that," she said. She then looked to Choji. "Come find me sometime and we can go have some barbecue. My treat."
Choji beamed and handed her a chip. "Thanks Sasame," he said.
She grinned and ate the chip. "Well," she said as she stood up. "I guess I should go find my teammates."
"An idiot and an emo," Shikamaru said with a grin. "It seems you need the luck more than I do."
Sasame shot him a glare and walked away. Seeing that neither Naruto or Sasuke were in the room, she left to go search for them.
She started checking the classrooms to see if they went in one of them. She was about to give up hope of ever finding them inside the school when she opened another door and found, to her astonishment, Sasuke tied up.
He didn't notice her open the door, since he was too busy trying to untie himself.
Sasame entered the room. "Sasuke?"
He looked up at the sound of her voice. "Get me out of here," he demanded.
"O-Okay," she said as she bent next to him. "How'd this happen?"
He scoffed. "Naruto."
"Naruto?" Sasame said in shock as she got the ropes off. "How'd he get the drop on you of all people?"
He scowled as he got up, rubbing his wrists. "He ambushed me with clones," he said waspishly. "They turned out to be solid."
"Solid clones?" she asked.
"Hn." he answered as he left the room.
Sasame followed after him. "Where are you going?"
"To find an idiot," he said.
"Well I'll come with you," Sasame said as she walked next to him. "We are supposed to be having lunch together after all."
Sasuke didn't say anything.
"Wait," Sasame said slowly. "You said Naruto used solid clones?"
"Yes," he said irritably. "Why?"
"Well, solid clones require a lot more chakra than the ones taught at the academy," she said thoughtfully.
"Really?" he said in disbelief after he checked another room. "And how do you know this?"
"My mom told me about them when we started learning the clone jutsu," Sasame answered. "She said the one we know is basically an illusion and that other clones can actually help you in a fight."
"Hn," Sasuke said. "What other clones are there?"
"Well there's the earth clones made from the ground and mud clones made from mud," Sasame said thoughtfully. "I think there might be a lightning clone but I can't be too sure. And then there's a water clone made from water. My mom can do that one since she has a water affinity."
"Hn," Sasuke said again, slightly impressed by her knowledge. "The ones the idiot got me with appeared and disappeared in puffs of smoke."
"What!" Sasame shouted out in shocked and stopped walking.
Sasuke stopped too and looked at her in confusion. "What?"
"S-Sorry," Sasame said as she got over her shock. "I'm just...surprised that he's able to use that one."
"What's so special about the one he used?" Sasuke asked her, his brow furrowed in confusion.
"It's a technique created by the Nidaime Hokage," Sasame explained as Sasuke's eyes widened. "But it requires so much chakra that it's mostly jonins who use it."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. 'So the idiot managed to learn a jonin-level skill,' he thought angrily. 'I have to beat him then. If I can't even beat him, how am I supposed to beat that man?'
Sasame noticed Sasuke's change in personality and gazed at him in concern. "Hey Sasuke," she said softly. He looked at her, snapped out of his thoughts. "Are you okay?"
He looked at her. "I'm fine," he said shortly.
Sasame frowned, not believing his answer. She opened her mouth to contradict his statement but another voice called out before she could.
"Hey! Sasuke-kun!"
They both turned their heads towards the voice and saw Sakura hurrying towards them. "Sasuke-kun," she said breathlessly as she stopped in front of them. "I came to see if you wanted to have lunch together," she added as she held up a bento.
Sasame chose this moment to intervene. "We're supposed to have lunch with our teammates Sakura," she said carefully.
Sakura shot her a glare full of venom. She turned back to Sasuke with a sweet smile on her face. "I just feel bad for you Sasuke-kun," she said sorrowfully as she gazed at him with stars in her eyes. "You're not only stuck with Sasame" - she shot the girl another glare - "but also with Naruto-baka. You know he acts the way he does because he doesn't have any parents."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her but Sakura didn't notice as she continued speaking. "I mean, if I acted the way Naruto does, my parents would get mad and I'd be in so much trouble. Naruto's lucky that he doesn't have any parents that scold him every time he does something bad. I mean -"
Sasuke was getting more and more angry the longer she talked. He was going to interrupt her to stop her annoying voice but Sasame beat him to it.
"Excuse me?" she said quietly as she glared at Sakura. Both her and Sasuke looked over at her in shock. Well, Sakura did. Sasuke just stared at her with a slight widening of his eyes.
"What?" Sakura said haughtily but faltered slightly at Sasame's glare.
"Did you really just say you're jealous of Naruto because he doesn't have any parents?" she hissed.
Sakura, her bravado melting away in the face of Sasame's anger, merely nodded.
Sasame scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You stupid, naive, little girl," she snapped. Sakura flinched and unconsciously took a step back. "You don't know how good you have it. You have parents to go home to. They were there for you whenever you fell down or had a nightmare. They were there to wish you Happy Birthday and to tell you they loved you. Not everyone has that luxury!"
Sasame spun on her heel and marched down the hall, anger filling her entire being. When she rounded a corner, she paused and allowed the tears she felt gathering in her eyes to fall silently down her cheeks. The conversation reminded her of her father, who she would've killed to get to know.
She covered her eyes with her hand as the tears fell faster and she began to shake slightly. She was so distraught that she didn't hear the footsteps coming towards her.
"Sasame."
She looked up and saw Sasuke looking at her, a glint of concern in his eyes. "S-Sasuke," she said as wiped her eyes. "S-Sorry, I d-didn't mean to blow up like that."
"She deserved it," he said. "She's annoying."
Sasame let out a laugh as she wiped away the last of her tears. "Yeah," she said. "She's so sheltered she doesn't know what it's like to live like a ninja."
"Hn." He glanced at her before saying carefully, "you told Haruno that she doesn't know how good she has it. What did you mean?"
Sasame sighed. "Even though I still have a mother, my father died when I was little and I barely have any memories of him," she admitted. "I only know what he looks like because of pictures."
Sasuke looked at her for a moment before he walked down the hall. "C'mon," he called over his shoulder. "We have an idiot to find. We still have to eat lunch don't we?"
Sasame smiled at his back. "Right!"
