Immortal's Daughter

Chapter 8: Advanced class

Koomahana

This one is a little longer then I originally planned, hope you don't mind

Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine; you want the real stuff get off this site

Thoughts

Paragraphs are flashbacks


Sakura calmly walked into the Shinobi Academy office, Shino and Shikamaru on either side of her, and swiveled her head from side to side to look for an adult she could talk to. The first person she saw was the receptionist, but it appeared the woman was busy with phone calls, leaving Sakura unwilling to distract her.

"Great," Shikamaru drawled with a yawn, "Just where are we supposed to get our new class schedules?"

"…Perhaps we should seek advice from the principle?" Shino questioned, head tilted towards the office with the closed door. Sakura looked at the door before shrugging carelessly, Shikamaru nodded in agreement and the three of them steadily walked towards the principal's office.

"Are you out of your bloody mind woman?" the three children froze just out of reach of the door, their eyes widening at the hard voice in side, "I'm not gonna let you near the children, no matter what you threaten me with!"

"Like you have a choice in the matter!" a woman's voice growled back, low and deep and sounding as if it was a silent threat itself.

"I said no!" the door opened and out stumbled a young woman dressed in large tan trench coat and a tan mini-skirt, "Get out of this academy or so help me—ACK!" the children flinched together as they stared wide eyed at the tall man in charge of the academy, they didn't have to be geniuses to know that he had shoved the woman out of his office regardless of who she was. "Children," the principle looked surprised and horrified at the same time, "What are you three doing here? You're supposed to be getting your new class schedules… today…" he sighed as he realized just how busy his Secretary was; she barely had the time to answer one phone before the other one started ringing.

"Oh? Are you three in the advanced class?" the woman asked, crouching low to look into Sakura's face with a kind smile

"Oi!" the principle barked, his eyes widening as he snapped back around to face her, "Away from them Mitarashi-san!"

"All I said was 'hi'," the woman smirked up at him, purple eyes dancing in amusement

"I said out!"

"Are… are you our new teacher?" Sakura asked softly, head tilting cutely to the side, big green eyes peaking shyly out from her curtain of bangs

"Y—"

"No!" the principle interrupted the woman hurriedly, ignoring the glare she gave him, "She's just visiting and now her visit is over so now she's leaving!"

"What? No way—"

"I'm sure you're wanted back at the T&I building as soon as possible," the principle interrupted again, pushing at her back to get her away from the three curious children.

"Oh come on!" Mitarashi groaned, digging her heels into the floor to make it that much more difficult for him to push her out of the front office, "All I wanted was to meet some of them!"

"You've met three of them, now leave," the instructor barked again

"I didn't even get their names!" Mitarashi whined as she stumbled to a stop outside the office doors

"And if I had my way, you never would've seen them," the principle shot back, slamming the doors in her face

"…You realize she's not leaving right?" the secretary asked before flinching with the ring of the phone, "Hello? Yes, please hold!" the next phone rang, "Please hold!" she reached for the next ringing phone, looking panicked, "Please ho— ….I have five phones ringing off the hook, if you have a problem come in and talk to the principle!" she hung up and reached for another ringing phone

"Oi! Leave me out that mess!" the principal barked as he marched over and grabbed a phone, "Hello, Shinobi Academy how can I help you?" the three children watched at the man physically flinched at the sheer volume of the caller's voice, they could hear the angry voice from where they were standing on the other side of the room.

"…perhaps we should go to our normal classes?" Sakura suggested, looking back at both boys, "maybe they have our new class sheets?"

"Better than watching this mayhem," Shikamaru drawled, heading for the door

"Ah wait!" Sakura took a step forward, one hand out stretched, eyes wide

"Huh?" Shikamaru pushed the door open, his face turned towards his friends but the door wide open. Sakura and Shino stared dully at the empty space beyond the door, both having expected the strange woman to be standing on the other side. However, the hall beyond was empty. The three children stepped out and looked around curiously, wondering where the strange woman was.

"She's gone?" Sakura questioned softly

"But the lady said she'd still be here," Shikamaru whispered, he turned and looked at Shino, who stared dully back at him before shrugging clueless-ly. Shikamaru and Sakura shared a look before they both shrugged and turned towards their left, intending to go to their first hour. Half way there, Shikamaru turned to look at Shino and Sakura, watching how Shino was holding out a small blue bug for Sakura to stare at while they walked.

"It's very rare beetle called 'Aoishi' meaning blue stone," Shino said as he walked beside her. Shikamaru threw his hands behind his head as they walked, easily hiding the smile he wore, listening silently to Shino's explanation of the tiny blue insect.


Iruka sighed as he stared at the five sheets of paper in his hand, the re-scheduling of five of his students, two of whom would no longer be in his class. It was these two that had him worried, Sakura and Ami didn't get along, in fact he prayed that only Sakura would get into the advanced class; the less contact those two had the better off they both were. Granted when Sakura had arrived she was quickly placed almost in two honor's classes, his being one of them, and now she would be transferred out of his class and there for, out of his protection. His classroom was a safe-haven for the pinkette, now he could only pray that the teachers replacing him would protect her as well.

"I-Iruka-sensei?" the familiar whisper soft voice woke the young chunin from his thoughts

"Ah Sakura-chan, you're early," Iruka smiled patiently at the shy little girl, "hm? Oh good morning Shino-kun"

"Good morning sensei," the boy bobbed his head courtly, letting his teacher's attention drift their half asleep friend

"Shikmaru-kun, you're early as well," Iruka smiled at the three children, confusion filling him as he glanced at Shikamaru meaningfully, he knew full well the boy would rather sleep all day then come to school.

"Uh-um… Iruka-sensei," Sakura whispered again, fidgeting when he brought his attention back onto her, "Um… our new classes… do you know about them?"

"Yes," Iruka sighed, pulling back to grab and hold up the three schedules she was talking about. "You better hurry Sakura-chan," Iruka said as he passed the sheets of paper over, Sakura looked up at him in confusion, "your new first period starts soon. It's in room 302, third floor."

"Thank you Sensei," Sakura smiled, she bowed lowly and started to turn away, only to pause as realization dawned on her. "Sensei," Sakura called softly, "Does this mean that… you're not my teacher anymore?"

"I'm still your teacher," Iruka reassured, "Whenever you need me, I'll be here for you okay? Don't forget that"

"Yes sensei," Sakura smiled and started to move again, only to realize that Shino and Shikmaru weren't following her. She turned again to look back at both boys, her fingers twisting together, her eyes staring at both of them in fearful hope.

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan," Iruka spoke when he saw that neither boy was looking at her, to disappointed in themselves to tell her the news. "I'm afraid Shikamaru and Shino didn't score high enough on their tests, they didn't get a re-schedule like you, they're staying here."

"Bu-but they placed first and second on the board," Sakura protested softly, "Only the best students get those ranks."

"The three of you have the overall best scores, that's true," Iruka agreed with a soft smile, "however they didn't get the scores required for this particular advanced class. Out of the five of you accepted in my class, only two of you were able to transfer out of my class."

"Who's the other one?" Sakura asked curiously

"You're going to be late Sakura-chan," Iruka smiled patiently at her, "room 302, third floor."

"Yes Sensei," Sakura smiled and quickly left, but only after Shikamaru and Shino gave her encouraging smiles and bobs of their heads. Sakura hurried down the hall, her hands clasped at her chest to keep the little blue bug Shino gave her close and safe. She took the nearest set of stairs and climbed to the top; she quickly searched the numbers over the doors and hurried over to the one labeled '302'. She paused just outside the door, adjusted the bug to sit on her shoulder instead of in her hands and carefully opened the door to her assigned class room.

"Hmm? Oh hello little one," Sakura blinked at the tall black haired man sitting behind the desk at the front of the room, his dark eyes were smiling at her. "You arrived just in time. Take a seat," he waved a hand out at the other students, curious Sakura looked in the indicated direction and observed the other students present.

"AH!" Sakura jerked at the startled shout, her eyes widening as she stared shocked at the girl. "What are you doing here Forehead?" Ami asked with a snarl, purple eyes flashing hatefully at Sakura

"Nanami-san be silent," the teacher barked, his dark eyes flashing instantly, "I will not have any student of mine speaking or doing any ill-will to another, Is that understood?" Ami jerked back at the hard tone of voice, her eyes widening a fraction of an inch, "Anyone who disobeys this rule will be banned from my classroom for all of eternity, is that understood?"

"Y-yes sir," Several students stuttered out, their eyes wide

"Nanami-san?" the instructor called, dark eyes sharp on the small girl

"Y-Yes," Ami stuttered, "U-U-Under-r-stood s-sir"

"Good," he nodded courtly and turned kind eyes towards Sakura, "Haruno-san, please take a seat over there please."

"Y-Yes sir," Sakura stuttered and hurried towards the seat indicated. She quickly sat down close to the window, giving her a near perfect view of the entire class; well, it would've been a perfect view if she twisted in her seat and looked behind herself.

"Alright class my name is Asuma Sarutobi," the man said, rising to his feet and turning to write his name out on the black board behind him. "I will be your teacher, now we'll go over all the normal subjects pertaining to history, kind of can't avoid it. However, what we'll also go over is democracy, also known as politics which is also known as Negotiations. Now not all of you will pass this class, I doubt all of you will remain in this class at the end of the year." Asuma turned around and stared out at every student sitting around his room, watching him in a mixture of curiosity and boredom. "Now my responsibility is to lower your numbers for the final year of graduates," Asuma crossed his arms and leaned against the black board. "In other words I'm to make sure only the top three students remain for graduation. This will be done through a serious of advanced tests; each one will be more difficult than the last. The first five tests will be to determine how much you know and where my first lessons should begin, the later tests will be by far more challenging. If you are last place three times in a row, you'll be excused from this class room. In other words, fourth years, your numbers are going to be eliminated until there are three of you left. Your numbers will take the most damage with the shortest amount of time because you will be graduating soon, more will be expected from you."

"Yes sir," the elder children nodded courtly, understanding the demands

"Dose everyone understand?" Asuma asked, some of the children agreed and others didn't, Asuma sighed and somehow managed to resist the urge to grab a cigarette.

"From first to fourth year, your numbers will steadily decrease," Asuma sighed, "In other words, every semester you come back you'll be short one or two students. These 'missing' classmates are the ones who don't make the cut, in other words they've been sent back to the honors classes." Asuma paused, and took a deep breath before looking out over his various students, "Does that make sense?"

"Yes Sensei" the children agreed

"Good," Asuma walked around his desk, grabbed up a clip board and leaned against the front of his desk, "Stand up when I call your name."

"Yes sir!" Sakura glanced at the few louder boys nearby, wondering why they were so eager to please their new teacher.

"Yuri Aburame," a girl towards the front gracefully slipped onto her feet, folding her hands in front of herself and stared straight at the board. Asuma blinked lazily at her before nodding and moved on to the next name on his list. "Mai Inuzuka," The girl leaped to her feet with an existed shout, her pup partner barked cheerfully from the desk. "No dogs on the desk, in your lap or on the floor," Mai pouted and her pup whined but she picked up the little brown puppy and held it to her chest protectively. "Aya Niiyama," Asuma looked up at the class. In the far back a young girl with light brown hair dressed in a pink vest with a white-off the shoulder shirt that reached just past her waist and a black knee-length skirt slit up both thighs. "Kai Haruno," Sakura perked at the familiar name, instantly her eyes landed on a young copper haired teen standing in the middle of the room, his blue eyes staring in boredom at Asuma.

I have a cousin? Sakura thought, staring wide eyed at the boy; she flinched back as the boy's blue eyes turned toward her. She gasped despite herself and Sakura quickly turned away, blushing brightly as she tried to hide from those startling pale blue eyes. Asuma continued to filter through the names and Sakura continued to stare at her feet, trying her best to ignore the feeling eyes on the back of her head.

"…uno… Haruno…" Sakura blinked looked up, wondering if someone else had the same last name as her, only her eyes landed on her new teacher. "Sakura Haruno-san please stand"

"Y-Yes sir," Sakura stuttered, blushing brightly as she jumped to her feet

"Ami Nanami," Sakura flinched as the sound of the purple haired girl's feet slammed down onto the tiled floor. Asuma looked around the classroom, memorizing each face to the names he spoke; after a moment he nodded his head courtly.

"From now on you're all classmates," Asuma said, staring pointedly at a few of the students, "It'll be best if you work together."

Ami snorted in dismissal

Sakura felt like hiding under her bed


Sakura sighed as she trudged through the Academy's halls until she reached the court yard for lunch, she imminently went to the darkest corner at the farthest end and huddled herself up into a ball. Her first hour was a nightmare, her second hour was a little better being her kunochi specialization class, Ino and Hinata both swarmed to her sides, and her third hour was another nightmare. She was starting to believe that fate hated her, all three of her first hour classes had Ami Nanami in them, and no Shikamaru or Shino.

"Sakura-san are you feeling alright?" Sakura blinked her eyes open and lifted her head up to stare at the four kids in front of her. Shikamaru was laying against the stone wall to her left looking half a sleep, Ino was crouching beside him looking worried, Shino was in front of her holding out a little orange butterfly and Hinata was standing between them looking like she wasn't sure what to do.

"I'll be fine," Sakura answered, leaning back against the wall, wondering when they all appeared around her, "How long have you been there?"

"We walked with you out of the academy," Ino huffed with a frown, "Is Ami bothering you again?"

"Kind of," Sakura admitted with a sigh and bitter smile, "She's in my first three classes."

"That's rough," Shikamaru sighed, "Anyone else with you in those classes?"

"I have her in second period," Ino smiled, "you should see the flower pot she made today, it was beautiful!"

"Third hour," Hinata agreed softly

"Hmmm, oh I found out I have an elder cousin in my first hour," Sakura said, turning towards her four friends with a smile, "His name is Kai Haruno."

"You sound kind of surprised about having a cousin," Shino said as he sat down on the ground to her right, holding out his hand and silently summoning the little blue bug from Sakura's shoulder to his open hand. "Don't you know your cousins Sakura-san?"

"No, not really," Sakura admitted, "My father is an only child and his entire family is full of carpenters and black smiths."

"What about your mom?" Ino asked, sitting on the ground as she pulled out her lunch, Hinata was quick to mimic her, "Surly she has a family."

"She dose but I don't know about it," Sakura replied, pulling her lunch out of her bag, "I don't even know her maiden name."

"So why don't you ask her about it?" Shikamaru asked as he accepted a sliced sandwich from Ino, "Ah Chōji! Over here!" the red haired boy perked at his name and quickly hurried over to them

"Shikamaru, Ino!" Chōji called, sliding to a stop beside them, "All our classes got rearranged, I haven't seen either one of you for a few days now."

"Yeah I know, it's been awhile," Shikamaru said sitting up and tapping the spot on the ground beside him, "Oh yeah," Shikamaru smiled at his best friend before waving a hand at his two new friends. "Chōji, this is Sakura Haruno and Shino Aburame."

"Hello," Chōji smiled shyly at the two kids indicated by his best friend, "I'm Chōji Akimichi."

"He-hello," Sakura stuttered with a soft smile

"Good evening," Shino greeted as he took a bit of his own lunch, "Sakura-san would you like to make a trade?"

"Huh?" Sakura blinked at Shino, lowering her chopsticks to address the glasses wearing boy, "What do you want?"

"…What is that?" Shino asked, using his chopsticks to point at something in Sakura's lunch box

"Shino that's rude!" Ino huffed as she passed a boxed lunch towards Chōji, "Don't use your chopsticks to point at food! Your saliva might drip off into her lunch box!" meanwhile, Sakura scooted closer to Shino so he could get a better look at her boxed lunch, "Sakura-chan! Don't encourage him!" Ino whined loudly, making Sakura blinked up at her in startled bewilderment

"Um… sorry?" Sakura tried, tilting her head to the side to indicate her confusion at Ino's raised voice

"Why don't we all trade one thing in our lunches with someone else?" Shikamaru asked, sitting up straight to take a drink from his water battle.

"Okay," Sakura smiled in agreement, Shino nodded as well and presented Sakura with his own lunch box. "What is that?" Sakura asked pointing at something that looked like a fried cricket

"A fried cricket," Shino answered blandly, "this is rice with warm—"

"You'd have better just said 'warm' and not 'worm'," Ino said with narrowed eyes, her chopsticks pointed at Shino threateningly, "One more bug entrée and I'm throwing these at you." Shino nodded mutely and carefully pulled his lunch box back towards himself, huddling it protectively to his other side. Sakura chuckled and nudged Shino carefully with her elbow, when she had his attention she showed him her lunch box.

"So what classes do you have Sakura-san?" Hinata asked as she passed Ino some of her lunch

"It's basically the same but my first and last classes were changed," Sakura answered, "My first hour was changed from Iruka-sensei to Asuma-sensei and my last hour was changed from Mizuki-sensei too…" Sakura paused as she set her lunch down and pulled out her new class schedule. "Um, oh! It's Hikaru Kazehitoha… I wonder what he's going to teach me…"

"Hmm? You have him too?" Hinata questioned, perking at the information

"You too?" Sakura asked

"I think a lot of people in the advanced class got into his class," Shikamaru said thoughtfully, "I'm in it too."

"I as well," Shino agreed, pointing to what he thought was a strange looking flower in Sakura's box

"It's star fruit," Sakura answered his silent question, picking up a piece of the yellow fruit and passing it towards him, "It's kind of like green grapes in that it's bitter when 'green' but really sweet when ripe and it's really hard to tell the difference."

"I see," Shino whispered, taking the small piece of star fruit and placing one of the corner pieces in his mouth

"So did you notice anyone else from our year in the advanced class?" Ino asked curiously

"I noticed Uzumaki-san, he got last place" Sakura said grabbing her water battle

"I saw that too," Hinata blushed

"This is very good," Shino said absentmindedly, turning to face a smiling Sakura, "Where do you get it?"

"I'll ask Dad where he gets it," Sakura replied with a chuckle, "he'll be thrilled that there's someone else who likes the fruit."

"Not everyone likes it?" Shino asked in surprise

"My mom hates it" Sakura answered

"Okay so let's get this straight," Shikamaru straightened and grabbed a note pad and ben from his bag. "I was first, Shino was second and Sakura was third…" Shikamaru counted down to nine before writing down Naruto's name.

"Sakura-san can I try a piece?" Hinata asked, staring at the little piece of 'star fruit'

"Sure," Sakura smiled and passed the girl a smaller portion of the fruit, "Careful of the skin it's bitter, so I wouldn't suggest eating it like Shino did."

"It was very good," Shino replied calmly, nibbling on another end of the star fruit

"Hinata got fifth place," Ino said helpfully, "And Ami got eighth." Shikamaru stiffened but nodded, quickly writing down the names in their respected places

"This is delicious," Hinata gasped, blushing brightly as she pressed a hand to her cheek in surprise

"I know," Sakura smiled

"Alright, that's six people we know in the advanced class," Shikamaru said, drawing attention to himself, "that means the fourth, sixth and seventh places are filled by people we don't know."

"Umeko Yamanaka, Riko Yamauchi and Chika Yamada," Sakura spoke up, smiling shyly as she took another sip from her bottle.

"You memorized the list?" Shikamaru asked, head jerking up to look at the pinkette

"I already knew everyone else on the list," Sakura answered, "Memorizing their placements wasn't hard. It was only three names that I didn't know and placing them with the numbers wasn't hard either."

"Did you recognize any names from the previous years?" Ino asked curiously, passing Sakura a sliced sandwich

"I recognized a few names," Sakura said thoughtfully, smiling in thanks for the packed sandwich. "Two Yamanaka's, second and third years. Two Aburame's, Second and fourth years. There was a Hyūga from second year, he got second place. Two Nohara's both in third year. Oh yeah, I have an elder cousin from the third year, his name is Kai. He's the one I was telling you guys about."

"That's all you recall?" Shikamaru asked

"There were a lot from second year who don't have last names," Sakura said with a frown, "that's a little strange isn't?"

"They're most likely orphans," Ino sighed, "as far as I know, only orphans have first names."

"That's kind of sad," Sakura said softly, "not knowing your last name…"

"Not knowing your history would suck," Ino agreed, "I would get so lost and depressed."

"I'm fairly sure you'd be the first to find out who your parents were," Shikamaru drawled, "You're too stubborn not to find out who they were." Ino stared at Shikamaru for a moment, her blue eyes narrowed in annoyance and calculations

"I'll take that as a complement," Ino said with a bright smile, Sakura giggled at the look Shikamaru gave the sky, as if it was some deity who just saved his life.


Kakuzu ignored muffled rambling, choosing instead to read a book about symbolism cleverly disguised as a book on sowing. He may not know a lot about Hidan's faith or 'god', but he did know that whatever it was keeping the idiot alive could communicate to the idiot under certain conditions. That said, he was the only one in the team, in the entire organization, that had even half of a hope to decipher anything that the 'god' told Hidan. The idiot himself said that the clue had to be somewhere in the forest of spring but nothing stood out to the idiot in the tiny, and only, village of the 'eternal' spring forest. However, the culture there just might've been enough of a clue and if not the people, the clue could be the location of the girl. However, none of the children there were born six to seven years ago, they're youngest was eight and no one had been born since.

"Spring forest huh," Kakuzu whispered to himself as he flipped a page, stilling as a giant pink tree stood out on the page of his book. His eyes narrowed slightly, an idea coming to him slowly. The 'eternal' spring forest of fire country had been around for nearly a millennia, many of the people there had a name related to the season. It could be that the 'eternal spring forest' was a clue to the girl's name, not her location. If that was the case, they would have to search out anyone in the fire nation with a name that was related to spring, however there were over three dozen names related to spring and there were a hundred times as many people with the same first name. So how were they going to search for her? The key couldn't just be a first name, they'd never find her, the key had to be a hint at her last name as well. If it was a hint of her name at all, for all Kakuzu knew it could be a hint of the girl's personality, her surroundings, or even her appearance; it could be all of it or none of it. It could even be a clue of what not to look for.

My head hurts, Kakuzu sighed and rubbed at his temple tiredly


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Helpful criticisms lovely! Just don't cripple me okay?

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