Chapter 4:
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"Kantoku-san, Kantoku-san~!" Sakura squealed earning her a glare from the older shinobi. "I passed the test! I'm now an official genin!"
"Good for you, girl. Now please, shut up. You're disturbing other people." Sakura slapped her hands over her mouth, but her eyes were still gleaming with excitement.
"Our training starts tomorrow," Sakura said in a much quieter voice. "Ne, ne, isn't that great!"
"Absolutely wonderful," Kantoku intoned dryly. Sakura pouted at the man's sarcasm. "Well, anyhow... Good job," Kantoku said with a sigh, lightly patting the girl's head. She grinned widely at him.
"Just you wait, Kantoku-san! I'll become the next God of Shinobi for sure!" Sakura ran out ignoring the man's 'Don't run in the library you brat!'. Kantoku watched the girl go with light fondness. She was probably going to go tell Heiki, who ran the weapons store she frequented, and just about everyone she knew of her new status.
"Ah, I was sure she wanted to look up Genma in the Bingo Book... That kid's attention span sometimes, I swear."
The next day, Sakura was the first to arrive at the training grounds. Sakura ditched her bag next to a training post as she started stretching, then starting to practice some katas against one of the wooden posts. The movements were much slower considering the added weight of the armor. Sakura didn't blink when a grumpy looking Sasuke approached.
"Ohayo, Sasuke! Lovely morning isn't it?" Sasuke grunted. Seeing as Sakura was already training, Sasuke forced himself to move and start practicing before their Sensei came as well. There was no way he was getting showed up by some circus freak. Naruto, of course, was the last to stumble into the training grounds, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"Ohayo, Naruto! Lovely morning isn't it?" Sakura intoned cheerfully.
Sasuke twitched slightly from his spot in the training ground. Did she just use the same exact greeting she had done for him? For some reason, it pissed him off.
"Ohayo, Sakura-chan. And Teme," Naruto added, almost as an afterthought. Sasuke ignored him.
"You should move around and get you body warmed up a bit, Naruto. It'll wake you up a bit." Naruto mumbled a response but moved to follow her directions anyway.
The three genin trained silently for the most part, until Naruto had deemed the silence too oppressing and began chattering about the new flavors of ramen that had come out in the convenience stores. Sakura chattered right back at Naruto, all the while beating at the training post, and the two compared which flavor of cup ramen was the best.
"I can't believe you caught the Dobe's obsession for that crap."
"Screw you, Teme! Ramen is the bestest food in the entire world!"
"It's just best, Naruto," said Sakura with a small smile. "And since Naruto is my friend, I thought it would be best to try out what interested him so that I could understand him better. I admit though ramen does taste quite good." Naruto beamed proudly. "But I still think that dango takes the top spot."
For some strange reason, Sasuke felt hatred swelling at her words, and some darker part of him started slyly whispering at him. Her talk about peace, the way she had spoken to him as if her were a child when he spoke of revenge, and the like for dango. Sasuke gritted his teeth. 'Why does it remind me of him?' Sasuke thought silently. His next hit harder than it should have and he felt blood trickle across his knuckles. Sasuke panted as he tried to get his hatred under control. The two looked nothing alike. They were nothing alike. 'Stop staring at me like your actually worried!' Sasuke screamed in his head as he saw Sakura stare at his bloody fist with concern. Sakura caught his wild look and paused mid-step, allowing to Sasuke slowly calm down.
"Oi, Teme. What happened? You okay?"
"Shut up, Dobe." Naruto's enraged reaction nearly made Sasuke smirk; Naruto was way too predictable. During this exchange, Sakura had already closed in on Sasuke until she stood just a few feet away. Slowly, she raised her arm, offering the bandages she was holding. Sasuke considered swatting her away, but wounds on his hands made itself known with a painful throb. Seeing that she was allowing him to bandage the wounds himself, Sasuke grudgingly accepted the bandages. Sakura observed as Sasuke skillfully wrapped the bandages and deemed him fine enough on his own. She sauntered back near Naruto who had calmed down.
"Ne, Sakura-chan. Kakashi-sensei's going to be late again isn't he?" Naruto said as he glanced at the sun that had risen way past the horizon.
"Most likely," Sakura said with a small sigh. "Anyway, since it's pretty much morning, and Kakashi-sensei's not going to be here for a while, how does a light breakfast sound?" Naruto cheered.
"Alright! Ramen for breakfast!"
"Naruto. Please no. Ramen is a bit heavy for breakfast and eating that much will you stomach cramps later. I did buy some nutrient bars yesterday, though. Would you like some." After a few short moments, Naruto agreed. Sakura handed two of the packets to Naruto who accepted it gratefully.
"Sasuke-san!"
Sasuke snatched the objects flying towards him in one hand. Nutrient bars? Sasuke looked questioningly at his female teammate but she had already pulled out her own and was chewing through her first bar. Sasuke stared at the two packets before he gave in to temptation and ate. After all, it was hard to get any kind of food when they had to arrive at the training ground so early in the morning. As thankful as he was for the food, it did not override the fact that he had received something from Sakura. Again. Sasuke paused mid-chew as he once again stared at the package. On the corner of the package where his hand had been previously covering were the words: 100% Real Tomato.
'What the hell,' Sasuke thought. 'How did she... Scratch that where the hell does she find this kind of stuff? There's no such thing as tomato flavored nutrient bars!'
=o=
"Yo!"
"YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto screamed.
"Well, you see. I saw an old lady crossing the streets and offered to carry her stuff for her-"
"LIAR!" Kakashi coughed.
"Anyway, we'll have our training sessions in the mornings, take a mission or two, and then you're free to do whatever you want." Sakura frowned.
"Ano, Kakashi-sensei. That sounds terribly inefficient and we're not going to get much better if that's all there's going to be. Aren't you supposed to teach us?" Sakura asked slightly tilting her head.
"Ah, of course Sakura," said Kakashi as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Inwardly, Kakashi was panicking. 'What am I supposed to do?! Back then, we pretty much trained ourselves because of the war and Minato-sensei only ran through team training sessions when he had time! What am I supposed to teach them?' Kakashi composed himself. "You see... I was hoping that you would train yourselves and then once a week we would have a... uh... group training session to see if you've improved...?" Kakashi winced at how the last part came out as more of a question and the boys were shooting him suspicious looks.
"I see... That's a pretty good idea! I'm guessing that you'll go around giving us advice as we train, right?" Sakura said as her face split into a grin.
"Uh... Right."
"Yosh! I'll work hard and I'll improve by leaps and bounds every week!" Sakura enthusiastically punched a fist in the air.
"Yeah! I'll become super strong just you wait, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto cheered alongside Sakura. Sasuke did not look convinced by Kakashi's excuse but mumbled his agreement. He was fine with having time to train by himself. The other two would drag him down.
...
The Next Day: Team Picture Day
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"Are you ready yet?" The old man asked irritably.
"Hai, hai." Kakashi answered as he pulled apart his two arguing students away from each other.
"Yosh! To Team 7!" Sakura shouted posing with a fist in the air. Kakashi who was right behind Sakura sighed as he gently lowered her arm.
"Sakura, you're covering my face." Naruto snickered at this.
"What face, Kakashi-sensei? The only thing that's visible is your left eye!" Naruto shouted, pointing at Kakashi's exposed eye.
"All the more important it is for me to be in the picture as much as possible." Kakashi said cheerfully.
"I don't have all day, you know? Just hurry and take the god dang picture." The man ground out. Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other before looking away. Both boys stood at a slight distance as if trying to be as far away from each other as possible.
"Come on," Kakashi sighed as he grabbed both of their heads. "Look at the camera and smile!" Kakashi said at the same moment Sakura wrapped both arms on either boys' neck pulling them down. Both of her hands flashed the peace sign as she and Kakashi grinned at the camera. The camera flashed, catching the image of two stunned boys with a gloved hand on each of their heads. Both were leaned towards the girl in the center who had tugged them closer together.
A week later...
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"Sakura, at Point C."
"...Naruto here. I'm at point A."
"You're slow, Naruto." Kakashi drawled.
"Target is in sight," the final member of the team announced.
"Good. What is the distance from you and the target."
"Five meters. I got this!" Naruto said as quietly as he could.
"I'm ready as well." Sasuke added.
"All good to go, Kakashi-sensei."
"Alright then, do it!" Kakashi heard Naruto's battle cry over the headset as his three students jumped at the target. Kakashi wince as he heard Naruto's loud 'Gotcha!' followed by the hisses of a cat and Naruto's loud yowls. "Does the target have a ribbon on its right ear? Is it our target Tora."
"Yeah. It's the right one alright." Sasuke replied.
"Good. Mission capture lost pet 'Tora', is complete!"
"Ow! You stupid cat!"
"Naruto, are you okay?!"
(=T^T=)
"Oh! My cute little Tora I was worried to death!" Madame Shijimi shouted as she squeezed said cat to death.
"Serves him right." Naruto mumbled quietly.
'No wonder that cat ran away,' Sakura thought. The Sandaime stared at the scene blankly before staring at his paper again.
"Now then... The next mission for Team 7 will be... An errand in the next town over to babysit the chief councilor's son... And digging potatoes-"
"Nooo! No thank you!" Naruto shouted making an 'x' shape with his arms. "I want to do a much more exciting mission! Give us something more interesting!" Sasuke and Sakura agreed silently. They had been going at this for nearly a week now.
'Geh. I knew he would get impatient soon.' Kakashi thought to himself. It was a miracle Naruto had lasted as long as he did.
"YOU FOOL!" Iruka practically screamed as he leapt up. "You're still a rookie! A bottom rookie in fact! Everybody must climb the ladder by gaining experience from simple missions.
"But all we've been doing is all these boring missions- Gah!" Naruto fell as Kakashi slammed a fist on his head.
"Knock it off will you, Naruto?" Kakashi said exasperatedly. Naruto may have looked like Minato-sensei, but he was Kushina through and through.
"Naruto, let me explain what a mission is to you," said the Sandaime calmly. "Listen, requests will come into the village everyday. They range from simple babysitting missions to assassinations. All the requests are separated to A, B, C, and D based on the difficulty. Every ninja in the village besides me is divided by ability in the order of Jonin, Chunin, and Genin. We upper members will distribute these missions to those who have abilities that suit the mission. If the mission is a success, the village receives money from the client. You all only just become Genin. The best you can do now is D-rank... Hm?!" Naruto was sitting down with his back turned, conversing with his teammates.
"Yesterday, I had pork bone broth ramen. So maybe today I'll get miso broth? Ne, Sakura-chan do you want to come too?"
"Perhaps. I really don't feel like cooking today... Ne, what about you Sasuke-san?"
"Hn."
"Listen!" Sandaime yelled.
"I-I'm sorry..." Kakashi said as he rubbed his head.
"Man! You always lecture me, Ji-chan! But come on! I've grown up now! I ain't the little prankster you think I am! Hmph!" Naruto turned away pouting. Kakashi sighed as he rubbed his head once again as if to soothe a headache.
'Maa... I'm going to get scolded later.' Kakashi thought offhandedly. Iruka's expression softened and even Sandaime's posture relaxed slightly. Before the Sandaime could speak, the sole female suddenly ducked into a ninety degree bow.
"Gomenasai, Jiji- er... Sandaime-sama! I'm apologize for our rude behavior! Demo... I've worked with Sasuke-san and Naruto already and I feel as if we're ready for a mission of a higher difficulty. And even if things go wrong, our sensei is Kakashi-sensei, and even if his a lying pervert, who is habitually late to all of our team meetings, I know that he'll be able to protect us sufficiently!" Sakura finished. She blinked before glancing at her teacher who had been standing next to her. Kakashi had visibly wilted with every insult and now looked as if his soul had left him. "Kakashi-sensei?! What's wrong?!"
"Is this... how my students perceive me...?"
"Yep." Naruto said.
"Hn."
Sakura winced as she realized how the words had come out. "Sorry about that Kakashi-sensei. I was kind of going off of a third party's opinion." Sandaime chuckled, getting everybody's attention once again.
"Okay, fine!" He attracted surprised glances from everybody in the room. "If you insist... I'll have you do a C-rank mission. You will be acting as bodyguards for someone."
"Really?! Alright! Who? Who? A feudal lord? Or perhaps a princess?!" Naruto exclaimed happily.
"Now, now. Don't get to far ahead of yourself. I'll introduce you now. Could you please come in now?" Four heads simultaneously turned towards the door. The door opened revealing... A sake bottle, and an old man?
"What's this? It's just a bunch of squirts?" The old man said irritably as he took a swig of his alcohol.
"Especially the small one with the idiot face and the girl in that weird armor. What are you, cosplaying? Are you really all ninja?"
"Cosplaying...?" Sakura asked. Naruto laughed.
"Who's the smallest one with the idiot face he's talking about?" Naruto said as he looked back and forth between his two teammates... who were both taller than him...
"I'll kill you!"Naruto screamed.
"You crappy Jiji!" Sakura yelled. Kakashi sighed as he held his two students back.
"What good will it do to kill the old man you're supposed to be guarding, you morons?!"
"Agh! Kakashi-sensei you baka! I'm not going to kill the old man! I'm going to obliterate his sake so he can sober up." Sakura yelled. Ignoring both teen's complaints, Tazuna took another swig of his sake with great gusto, before introducing himself.
"I'm Tazuna, veteran bridge builder. You'll be risking your life guarding me to the best of your abilities until I return to my country and complete the bridge!"
"Well that's that then." Kakashi sighed, releasing his two students who fell on their bottoms. They glared at him, which he skillfully ignored. "We leave tomorrow morning. That's alright with you right, Tazuna-san?" The old man grunted.
"Whatever."
"You all should pack for an extended trip. We'll meet at 9:30 a.m. sharp."
"Yeah, yeah. Don't bet late you lying, pervert." Naruto grumbled as he walked out.
"See you then. Sensei" said Sasuke as he too left the room. This was the cue for the rest to start filing our as well, Kakashi noticeably more slouched than when he had come in. Sakura, the last one out paused, and quickly bowed to Hokage with a large grin.
"Thanks bunches, Jiji! Not to worry! I'll prevent Naruto from doing anything stupid to himself." Sakura closed the door behind her. Sarutobi let out a puff from his pipe. To be honest, despite her dream and armor, Sakura did not really remind him of the Shodaime who had been called the God of Shinobi. What she valued was different... she personally reminded him of another young boy instead. Sarutobi inhaled the smoke from his pipe as he closed his eyes.
They were all kids. He truly hoped they would benefit each other. Kakashi out of his self-blame, Sasuke out of his hatred and revenge, Naruto out of his loneliness, and Sakura... out of borderline obsessive selflessness. After all, it might end up breaking them all.
A/N: I'm going to end it there. I really enjoy writing this and I really hope you're enjoying it as well! I think I wrote a lot more than I usually did since things are going to get busy again. Review, tell me what you think! I really enjoy reading your comments and it helps me write the story ^-^.
~Tokumei Yurei