Chapter TEN

Two and a half hours later, Sakura sees a well concealed chakra signature entering the Academy building. Had she not been using her Byakugan, she probably wouldn't have noticed. She deactivates her dojutsu and once she is sure her eye are back to their usual green, she slowly sits up.

A few seconds later, the door to their classroom slides open and Sakura watches the eraser fall and land on a head of silver. She expects Naruto to start laughing and when he doesn't, she turns to look at him, only to find him staring at the new arrival with wide eyes.

"Kakashi?"

She instantly recognizes the name and out of the corner of her eye, sees Sasuke react too.

"You're late." Naruto crosses his arms. "You know, I'm not too surprised now that I know it's you."

"You are as cute as ever." Kakashi shakes his head and the chakra dust falls to the floor. "Well, why don't we meet up on the roof?" He vanishes in a puff of smoke.

"C'mon. Race to the roof." Naruto takes off and Sasuke tears out after him.

Sakura sighs and closes the door before she moves to the window. She climbs out, walks up the wall then neatly pulls herself over the fence and wordlessly moves to stand in front of Kakashi, who is perched on the rail, reading an orange book. Sakura does not even question it.

She is good at that.

"Impressive chakra control." He says, without looking up.

Sakura eyes him. "Minimum chakra control is a requirement if one is to call themselves a Hyuuga."

"Hm." His tone is one of mild interest and Sakura notes that it could have been taken any way. He still does not look up and Sakura does not question him.

A minute or so later, Naruto and Sasuke appears at the door, breathing heavily. They catch sight of her and stares in shock before Sasuke snaps his fingers and says something to Naruto who frowns then nods. Sakura does not try to listen in and simply pretends not to notice.

She is good at that too.

Kakashi snaps his book shut and he smiles at them. "Well, now that we're all here, why don't we introduce ourselves."

"Why do we have to do something like that?" Naruto asks. He and Sasuke sit down on the stairs by Kakashi and Sakura hesitate before she sits on the other side.

"Because I said so."

"You should do first, Kakashi." Naruto says. "Show us how it's done."

Kakashi blinks and let out a hum. "My name is Hatake Kakashi. I don't feel like sharing my likes and dislikes. My dream is...hm...I have a few hobbies." He smiles. "Now, why don't we start with you, Naruto."

The blond sighed. "I'm Namikaze Naruto." He begins. "I like ramen and tou-chan and kaa-chan. I sometimes also like Sasuke-teme." He makes a face. "I dislike the time it takes for the ramen to cook. Also, sometimes, Sasuke-teme." He grins. "My hobbies are pranks and my dream is to become Hokage, so that people will look at me for who I am, not to son of an amazing Hokage and what he did."

Kakashi indicates for Sasuke to go next.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke." He says. "I happen to dislike a lot of things, but I do have things I like as well. My hobbies are training and hanging out with the Dobe. My dream is to one day surpass my brother and be acknowledged as the second son of the Uchiha clan head. "

"And last but not least." Kakashi turns to her. She feels Naruto and Sasuke look at her as well. Everyone here but her knows each other to some extent. She wonders just how much she can get away with not sharing.

"My name is Hyuuga Sakura." She says. "I like nii-sama. I dislike-" The Hyuuga clan. "Fate. My hobbies are training with nii-sama and reading scrolls from the Hyuuga archives. I am not allo-" Sakura catches herself and bites down on her tongue before it slips out. "I currently do not have a dream."

Kakashi lets out a thoughtful hum. "Well, let's just say we're done here. Tomorrow, we'll be performing our first duty as a team."

"And what's that?" Naruto asks.

"Survival training."

"Survival training?" Sasuke repeats.

"Out of the twenty seven graduates, only nine will graduate as actual Genin. The rest will be sent back to the Academy."

"Huh?" Naruto blinks and goes silent.

Sakura slowly raises her hand.

"Yes?" Kakashi asks.

"Where does the twenty seven come from?" She asks. At the curious looks she receives, she elaborates. "There was a Team Ten, so there are at least thirty graduates this year."

Kakashi shrugs. "It was just an example."

Sakura lowers her head to indicated that she had dropped the subject. Satisfied, Kakashi stand up and claps his hands together. "Meet me at the training grounds at five. Don't eat breakfast, or you might throw up." He is gone in a puff of smoke.

Naruto yawns and leans back. "He's as lame as usual." He says.

"Hatake Kakashi?" Sakura asks.

Naruto nods. "Yup. He was on my father's Genin team. He's late to everything."

"Hn." Sasuke narrows his eyes, clearly unimpressed. "I think he's friends with Obito and was on nii-san's ANBU team too."

"I know next to nothing about him." Sakura confesses. "But I am sure I can pull out something before tomorrow."

Sasuke regards her with slightly narrowed eyes before he nods. "Okay."

Sakura stands up and glances up at the sky, wondering where Neji was. They hadn't done much but they had ended up waiting longer than she had expected. She would visit his training ground before she heads home. "I will be taking my leave now."

Naruto opens his mouth but he hesitates before he says anything. Sakura takes this chance to make her way to the fence. She hops over it and jumps off the building, the blond's call of "Sakura-chan!" being cut off by the wind.

Neji notices Sakura's rapidly approaching chakra signature long before she even appears at the mouth of their training grounds. He purposely draws Tenten deeper into the grounds and subtly draws a kunai. Tenten is skilled and Sakura is more than skilled but he is not going to risk any stray weapons going her way.

Tenten instantly seems to notice his slipping his concentration and she skids to a halt, her fight gone. Usually, Neji would have pressed on anyways, but this time, he simply nods gratefully. He turns to towards the gates where Sakura is patiently standing, no doubt willing to stay there until training ends, and flicks his fingers. A few seconds later, Sakura lands next to him.

"Neji-nii-sama." She bows respectfully then nods politely at his teammates. "Hello, Gai-san, Tenten-san, Lee-san. I'm sorry, I didn't know what time nii-sama would be returning and I wanted to make sure."

"It's fine, Sakura-san." Gai says. "Neji's youthful sister is always welcome."

Neji catches Sakura sending him an empty smile but the Jounin does not seem to notice.

"I have heard you are graduating today!" Lee exclaims.

Sakura nod stiffly. "You have heard correct." She seems so uncomfortable that Neji wants to smack his teammate.

Lee beams at her. "How youthful!"

A thought hits him. "Who's your Jounin instructor?" Neji asks.

"Hatake Kakashi." Sakura replies.

Gai lets out a loud gasp. "My Eternal Rival!"

Neji leans in towards her when Sakura turns to him curiously. "Gai-sensei seems to have this one-sided obsession with Hatake Kakashi." He offers. "A friendly rivalry of sorts. He talks of him a lot."

Sakura hums. "This might actually be useful."

Tenten sighs and begins packing her weapons. Neji loosens the bandage around his right hand and rewraps it.

"I guess training's over for the day." Tenten tells Sakura. "Once he starts, he won't stop for a while."

Neji keeps his face blank as Gai begins a story he had heard a countless number of times already. However, he soon realizes that between mountains of unnecessary information, Gai lets out a handful of useful information as well. The Jounin finally finishes his tale two hours later and Neji calmly interjects with a smooth comment regarding time and the setting sun. Gai laughs and with a reminder regarding tomorrow's meeting time, he releases the team.

On the way back, Neji inspects Sakura's thoughtful look and hesitates but decides to bring it up anyways. "Who are your teammates."

Sakura blinks and it takes her a second to gather her thoughts. "Namikaze Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke."

Neji raises an eyebrow to give himself time to think.

"It was one of the combinations I had considered." Sakura says. "Though I thought Hinata-sama would be more suited for the position."

Neji has an immediate answer to that. "That is position wise. You are more skilled than her." He says. "Besides, Hiashi-sama would not have been happy if the clan heir had been placed on a team with an Uchiha, not out of care for her but for appearance to the public."

"Hiashi-sama will have no reason to pick a fight with the Uchiha." Sakura agrees. "But will the Uchiha be happy with a branch house member on the team of the clan head's second son?"

"Uchiha Sasuke is nothing but the second son. He is an extra." Neji says. "Should they say anything, it would be for the sake of appearance as well."

"They probably wouldn't have been happy if someone other than top of the class was placed on his team." Sakura points out.

Neji grunts in agreement.

"They...don't seem too bad." Sakura admits.

"Oh?" The two of them sweep past the unmoving guards of the compound. They don't expect any greetings and they don't receive any.

"They seem nice enough." She says. "And they are pretty impressive in terms of physical abilities, though I have no idea how well we'll be able to work together."

The two of them enter their house. Neji flicks on the lights. "You do have the three main fighting styles covered."

"I say it would be very difficult, if not outright impossible, to gather the three of us into a single area of specialty." Sakura says.

"It certainly is an odd combination." Neji agrees. "Though..." He trails off thoughtfully. "I would be lying if I said I'm not entirely curious."

Sakura smiles at him and before he can stop himself, Neji reaches out and pulls her towards him by her wrist. Sakura freezes for a moment in surprise but soon wraps her arms around him too.

"Congratulation." He says. "Otou-sama and Oka-sama would be so proud."

Sakura hums. "I still have my Genin test tomorrow." She says. Her voice in firm but she is careful to hide her face in his clothes. "But after that..."

"We'll both be official Genin of Konoha. The Hyuuga chains should slack a little." Neji draws back and ruffles Sakura's pink locks.

Then the sky would seem just a little closer, because neither of them were willing to admit it was already too clouded for them to see.

Hanakotoba:

Crown of Thorns:

Pure love/Independence/Self Reliant/Withstand adversity

So, here's chapter ten...yeah...

Darque: I have decided.

Raven: Oh? On what?

Darque: That I will finish a few of our stories before I post a new one.

Raven:...That never works.

Darque: Really?

Raven: We've tried a lot of times, remember?

Darque: I'll try harder.

Raven: You always say that, then you sprout a new idea for another fic within the next two minutes.

Darque: I've almost finished the first chapter of our next idea.

Raven: I've already said, it never works.

Darque: You are supposed to try and encourage me.

Raven: I am?

Darque: Yes.

Raven: I'll try.

Darque:...

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