Today was graduation day for a bunch of twelve year old Academy students. Among that group of students was Sakura Haruno, a seemingly regular student that hid every ounce of her prodigial talent. Her genin team consisted of Naruto Namikaze, the boy she had been friends with since she was seven years old, and Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto's eternal rival and Sakura's other good friend. She wasn't the least bit surprised that she was slotted with these two, not that she was complaining.
Minato wanted to put his son on a team he could trust, and the Uchihas wouldn't settle for teammates that weren't of potential. Sakura let out a small sigh,closed her eyes, and leaned back into her chair. They were currently waiting for Kakashi Hatake, their new sensei. She knew all about him including that sharingan eye of his, courtesy of her other sensei. She also learned that this so-called 'copy-cat' nin read Jiraiya-san's books.
So... Kakashi Hatake was a lazy pervert. Great.
"Naruto, you shouldn't be doing that, you'll get in trouble." said Sakura, her eyes still closed. Naruto stuck his tongue out at her and climbed the stool he positioned, chalkboard eraser in hand.
"He's late, Sakura-chan! I can't leave him unpunished, dattebayo!"
"He won't fall for it, dobe."
"Shaddup teme! Who the hell was talkin' to you?!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes and sighed. Their sensei was an elite shinobi- he wouldn't fall for a stupid trick like this one. On cue, a head popped in the doorway and the eraser fell, hitting the stranger square on his spiky silver hair. The man bent down and picked up the object and stared at it for a few moments.
"Hm... how should I put this..." he mused. He thought for a few seconds. "You're a bunch of idiots. Follow me up onto the roof. We can continue our discussion there."
"Alright, before we continue on, why don't we start with introductions? Say things that you like, things you hate, dreams for the future, hobbies- stuff like that." the man said. Naruto scratched his head and looked at the Jounin thoughtfully.
"Well... why don't you go first?" Naruto suggested, "I mean, so you can show us how it's done."
The man pointed to himself.
"Me? Well, okay. My name's Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate... I don't really feel like telling you those things. My dreams for the future... never thought about that before. As for my hobbies... I have lots of hobbies."
Sakura hid her smile. Kakashi was exactly as Ibiki described to her and was certainly an interesting character.
"Now it's your turn." said Kakashi, "You on the right. You go first."
"I'm Naruto Namikaze, dattebayo! I like instant ramen, Ichiraku ramen, and Sakura-chan because she's my best friend. I kinda hate Sasuke-teme because he's my rival. My hobbies are eating different kinds of ramen and comparing them and playing pranks, and my dream is becoming the Hokage just like my tou-san!"
Kakashi nodded. A good egg and the son of his former sensei. He then pointed to the middle, the boy in the navy blue shirt.
"You next."
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like onigiri, and I hate sweet things. My hobbies are training and talking walks, and my dream is to master the sharingan and beat my nii-san in a battle."
Another good egg with realistic ideals and an understanding dream, but seemed a little anti-social. His eyes turned towards the sole female of the group who wore a small smile on her face.
"Now you."
"My name's Sakura Haruno. I like reading and learning new things. I hate spicy food. My hobbies are playing trivia games, and as for my dream..." her eyes flashed dangerously before being recovered with a cheery gaze, "...I feel no need to share it."
Kakashi saw that glint in her eyes but pretended not to notice it. He clapped his hands together once before looking down at them.
"You're all very interesting in your own ways. We'll have a survival exercise tomorrow. I don't want to hear any questions now, but be at training ground seven tomorrow at 7:00 am and don't eat any breakfast, or you'll throw up."
Sakura was laying in her bed, soaking wet, and staring upwards intently. It was nine thirty in the morning and she should already be at the training grounds. But as Ibiki had warned her before, when Kakashi took on his genin teams, he would normally be four hours late on their first meeting, so she still had time. She was going to get up and get ready to leave, but someone decided to pop up and throw a bucket of ice-cold water on her.
"I hate you, Zetsu-san."
"You deserve it because your jutsu destroyed my petunias."
"Grow up, sissy."
"Those petuniasdeserved a better fate!"
She stuck her tongue out and wrung the water out of her short hair. Zetsu came out of her wall and took a seat at her desk.
"Are you going to watch our training?" she asked as she went into the bathroom to change. Zetsu gave a nonchalant shrug.
"Why not? Noboru-sama put me on leave for a week and I have nothing better to do. Also, your teammates are an Uchiha and the Hokage's son, and your new sensei is the renowned Sharingan Kakashi. They're interesting people, and you know how much I love to observe interesting people." he said. Sakura came out in her gear and headed downstairs, Zetsu following closesly behind.
"As long as you're not seen and you don't eat anyone, I'm all for it. Now c'mon, I'm already three hours late."
"SAKURA-CHAN! YOU'RE LATE, DATTEBAYO!"
"Hn. For once, the dobe's right. Where were you?"
Sakura sighed.
"Does it matter? Sensei's not here yet, so technically, I'm not late."
At that moment, Kakashi walked up to them with a smile on his face and his hand raised in a friendly wave. Before he could greet them, Sakura pointed at him.
"See that you two? You could only qualify me as late if I had come ten seconds later."
Naruto pouted and crossed his arms. Kakashi watched the interaction curiously as he put his bag down and set an alarm clock on a nearby stump. Judging by the bickering, Sakura arrived merely seconds before he had. It also seemed to be done on purpose like she knew he was going to be late. He shrugged the feeling off and cleared his throat to gather their attention.
"Alright, alright, settle down. Now for the test. I have two bells with me, and your objective is to take the two bells from me. Like you see here, there are two bells. That means one of you won't get one, and that one person will get tied to this stump. This clock is set to noon. Begin."
Sakura and Sasuke immediately went for cover. Sakura was beginning to form a plan, something plain and simple that she could get away with without suspicion. Or maybe she could mess with him a bit. She created a shadow clone and sent the clone to the river. Sakura then waited about an hour to make sure this plan went undetected by her teammates. When Sasuke was neck deep in the ground and Naruto was hanging upside down from a tree, she shunshinned near the river with two black pebbles in her hand.
Kakashi walked onto the river surface looking around suspiciously.
'Where in the world was Sakura?'
Unknown to him, her bunshin was swimming a few meters underneath his feet. The real Sakura smirked.
"Bunshin Bakuha." she whispered. Her clone exploded underwater, catching Kakashi in the blast. Sakura took the chance and leapt in.
Once the water settled, Kakashi looked around him. No one was there. He looked down and spotted the bells still in the same place they were before. That explosion certainly was not natural at any circumstance. Just what had happened...?
Suddenly, a high-pitched noise rang out through the air. It was finally noon.
Long story short, Naruto was tied to the stump, Sasuke and Sakura fed him even though Kakashi clearly told them not to, and they passed. As the newly formed Team Seven walked away to celebrate at Ichiraku's.
Kakashi watched them go and noticed something glinting at Sakura's hip. There were two silver bells with red strings attached. His eye widened as he grabbed the bells at his hip and stared at them. They suddenly went up in smoke only to reveal two black pebbles. Substitution.
Sakura must've switched the bells and the pebbles during the water explosion. Is she was capable of doing that...
'Could she be...?'
A pair of yellow eyes laughed at him silently from a distance.