AN: Nothing to see here, on with the fic.
As the weeks drew onward, team seven began to operate in earnest. Under the watchful eye of Kakashi sensei, three of the most talented young shinobi the village hidden in the leaves had to offer walked dogs, chased cats, and picked up roadside litter on a daily basis. The tedium would have been maddening were it not for their continual training. Every morning, they would meet up with their constantly late teacher at the much abused third training ground, and practice their tactics, their ninjutsu and their taijutsu. After the first few days, Kakashi had begun taking Sakura aside while the boys sparred, and had begun instructing her in the fundamentals of Genjutsu.
On the third day of their training, Sakura had asked her teammates to help her improve her taijutsu skills, to which they agreed. She had begun accompanying them home after the tasks of the day were complete, the three of them taking it in turns to watch the other two fight. Sakura focused on her strength and fluidity, Sasuke and Naruto each focused on improving their ability to dodge. Slowly but surely, the team was growing stronger.
Sasuke and Naruto were relaxing, Sakura having made her goodbyes and heading home some time previously. Naruto was preparing lunches for the following day, Ebisu having drilled the both of them on the importance of good nutrition. Sasuke lay on the couch reading manga.
"So what are you gonna do about Sakura?" Asked Naruto, matter-of-factly.
"What do you mean?" Replied the Uchiha, mildly curious. Naruto gazed over at him balefully.
"I mean she's had a crush on you since the academy, what are you gonna do about it?"
The dark haired boy cocked an eyebrow at him. "No she doesn't," he said, dismissively. "We're just friends." The blonde gazed at him, trying to determine if Sasuke was being unhelpful or just plain dense.
"No," he said slowly. "She likes you, and I'm pretty sure you like her too."
Sasuke blushed and made a strange, spluttering exclamation. "W-what?! I do not! She's a girl! They're gross!"
Naruto grinned. It was rare that either boy was able to catch the other off guard and they both took full advantage of it when it happened. "You soo like her! I saw how you acted back when we all met Kakashi," he teased, before mimicking Sasuke's voice. "Hi, I'm Sasuke and I like pretty girls." Naruto gave an exaggerated wink to some unseen girl, and Sasuke went an even deeper shade of red.
"W-well how about you and Hinata!?" He shouted back angrily, the effect was not as he had intended. Instead of going red, blustering, or trying to hide something, Naruto simply raised a hand to scratch the side of his head, an expression of slight surprise on his face.
"Huh?" he asked. "What about me and Hinata?"
Sasuke gave an exasperated groan and rolled off the couch, slamming his book down on the ground, before standing. "What are you, dense!? She's been into you since we were seven, idiot."
The blonde boy, clearly taken aback, asked the only question he could think to ask. "But… why would she do that?"
Sasuke sighed. "I dunno Naruto, I guess some girls just like idiots."
Naruto sat down with a huff, his arms crossed and a troubled look on his face. "You sure?" He asked.
The young Uchiha lost his patience completely at that. "Pretty damn sure Naruto, she spent our whole time in the academy staring at you all starry eyed whenever you weren't looking. How could you not notice?"
This riled the blonde boy. "Maybe cuz she only did it when I wasn't looking!" He shot back. "At least I have an excuse for not noticing, Sakura goes red every time you even look at her!"
Sasuke went silent for a few moments, lost for words as he thought back over his experiences with Sakura. Oh shit, he thought to himself. Out loud he said, "I uhh… I gotta go think for a while." Without another word Sasuke walked slowly to the door, heading out into the evening air.
Naruto sat on the floor in silence for some time, confusion and annoyance battling inside his head. Eventually, he went back to preparing the food. As the blonde boy lay in bed that night, one thought kept swirling around his brain, making him feel more guilty with every single pass. Hinata, huh?
Naruto wasn't sure what time it was when he heard Sasuke get home, only that it was very late. Neither boy slept well that night.
The following morning, Kakashi:
From the moment he had arrived, Kakashi had been able to tell something was up. Naruto and Sasuke weren't speaking to one another, not in itself particularly strange, at least not to Kakashi's mind. People fought sometimes when they lived together, it was normal. What was strange was that Sasuke was also completely ignoring Sakura, much to the girl's upset. Kakashi sighed. Yup, this was the perfect time for an extended escort mission.
"Okay everyone," He started. "Today we have our first C rank mission." The change in the air was dramatic, each of the children's bodies tensed as they took in the implications of this fact. In the leaf village, C rank missions meant potential combat. This was their first real mission.
AN: Okay, so does anyone else find it weird that even after everyone kept pointing out that Sakura was naturally inclined towards genjutsu specialization, no one ever taught her even basic genjutsu? I mean, honestly, I kinda think she sucked in the original anime (before shippuden at least) but thinking about it, I don't think anyone ever actually gave her a chance. She was pretty much the only one in the konoha 12 that basically no one ever bothered to teach any combat techniques. Now, as I have said before, I am trying to write this from a rationalist angle, basically meaning that Kakashi, seeing as he's not an idiot, would get right on that.
Also, one big thing: Instead of just inviting you to review or comment, (which, by the way, feel free) I want to invite some audience participation from you all. As genjutsu was rarely used in the anime, there is a very limited library of techniques for Sakura to be able to learn. So I invite you all to send me in ideas (via Private Messaging, don't put them in reviews or I won't use them) for genjutsu she could develop, bearing in mind that I don't want them to be particularly powerful, she is just a newbie after all. Kay, thanks, bye.
