测试
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto called out upon seeing her approach them at the Academy entrance. "You're late!"
"Uhh right! Sorry guys," Sakura smiled. "I had to pick something up."
"Hn." Sasuke snorted contemptuously. "Let's hope we didn't miss the Chuunin exams for real, this time." He turned and entered through the opened Academy doors as they followed him in.
测试
A bowl-cut haired boy in a green spandex suit was knocked to the floor by two older Chuunin. His name was Rock Lee.
"You're taking the Chuunin Exams but you can't even get past us? Give up now."
"Please let us through!" His female teammate, Tenten, pleaded before getting punched to the ground.
Sasuke snorted condescendingly. "Look at them. Their acting skills are worse than yours, dobe."
Insulted, Naruto halted himself from 'rescuing' those victims and turned towards Sasuke, raising his fists. "Oi! What's that supposed to mean, teme?!"
"He means they're pretending to be weak to intimidate other genin from taking the Exams," Sakura explained, "You really weren't going to fall for that, were you, Naruto?"
Naruto stuttered then blushed. "Uh yeah! I totally wasn't gonna rescue them! Ahaha."
Sakura grinned and pinched his cheeks.
"Ouui!"
"They're putting a show to distract us into thinking this is the Third Floor." Sakura explained, squeezing Naruto's cheeks into funny faces. "It's really the Second Floor."
"Pathetic." Sasuke closed his eyes. "Genin attempting to weed out other genin outside of the exams, because they're afraid of having more competition."
"You know that's only going to make it harder for you to pass, right?" Sakura had already approached them, and Rock Lee stood flabbergasted as Tenten raised her eyebrows.
"Huh?! When did she—" Naruto noticed that Sakura was at the other end of the room talking to those genin and whirled onto Sasuke, who was just as surprised.
"Tch. Looks like meiwaku beat you at playing 'Hero,' dobe."
"Teme, argh!" Naruto grabbed Sasuke and ran over to the genin group beside the door towards their teammate.
"Only weak genin would fall for this obvious genjutsu and act, and if you get rid of them, you'll only have the tough opponents to face. If you can't put on a good show, how will you become Chuunin?" Sakura lectured, placing her hands on her hips sternly. "Especially if retrieval or information gathering is a part of the Exams. I mean, unless you're super super strong with super awesome jutsu!" With a scolding expression, Sakura leaned close to Tenten, who backed off.
"H-Hey!" She's right, I shouldn't be weeding out the only people I have a chance at beating. Maybe Neji can afford to do it, but me? Tenten sighed, deciding to keep up her act. "You mean the door sign is fake?"
"Ugh, can't you see? The more people taking this exam, the higher your chances of passing!"
The two chuunin guarding the door watched the scene unfold, and frowned. After releasing the environmental genjutsu which changed the door sign from 301 to 201, Kotetsu cracked his knuckles. "Alright, you caught us red-handed. But can you handle this?!" He swung a kick towards Sakura, who positioned her feet into a defensive stance and reared back her fist.
Neither of their attacks landed, as the bushy browed boy appeared between them, blocking both hits with his forearms. "Please, stop!"
Caught unprepared, Sakura instantly paralyzed her chakra flow before it could strengthen her punch and possibly decapitate the boy. Pulling back her punch, she grasped her wrist and bit her lip. Damn! That was close! I almost hurt this weirdo!
CHA! ENDED UP HURTING MYSELF! THIS BITES!
Do I even belong here? I remember Obito-kun saying…
…Why am I suddenly thinking about that stuff? Of course I belong here, I'm a genin taking the chuunin exams! This shock is making me think weird self-conscious thoughts! Sakura noticed that her right arm was numb—no doubt she'd need to restore her nerves later.
A white-eyed boy standing at the back narrowed his eyes at Sakura, before approaching his bushy-browed teammate. "Hey, what happened to the plan? I thought you said we were to keep a low profile."
Naruto's eyes widened. It's that Hyuuga that Sakura-chan, me and Sasuke-teme pranked! His screams are still recorded in Sakura-chan's glasses! "Hahaahah! You're Neji right? You're so funny, hahaah!"
Neji narrowed his eyes, it was no surprise he was well-known, but with laughter rather than reverence? "What are you laughing at, Dead Last?"
"Hn." Sasuke came up beside Naruto, death glaring at the Hyuuga. "Only I'm allowed call the dobe that."
Sasuke couldn't hold back a smug smirk, though, and Neji narrowed his byakugan, perplexed that his intimidation had the opposite intended effect—these two Rookies were holding attempting to hold in their laughter. Why are they looking at me like they know me in a humiliating way?
Turning away from his rival teammate and the other chuunin, Rock Lee lowered his arms and faced Sakura, who had a displeased frown on her face as she mumbled indiscernibly something about 'slugs' and 'karma.'
"You're Sakura, right? My name is Rock Lee." He hesitated, deciding not to ask her to be his girlfriend, as right now she looked so gloomy, and Lee had more tact than that…"What's wrong?"
"Huh?" Snapped out of her inner thoughts, Sakura looked at Bushy-Brow. "A-Ah, it's nothing, really!" She waved her hands, forcing a small polite smile.
"That's a very unyouthful smile," Rock Lee lectured. "Do it like this!" Lee's grin split his face, all his teeth shining, as his hand formed a thumbs-up. It was a smile that defeated Naruto's—it lit up the whole room, causing some people to shudder as an indoor sunset seemed to emerge behind Lee. It was that magnificent a smile.
Sakura gasped, her previous impression of this weirdo thrown out the window. T-That's the most charismatic smile ever! I have to learn it! Trying it, Sakura grinned and copied his nice-guy pose.
Naruto stared between them, dumbfounded.
Lee gaped. "Wow…That's the awesome and the utmost youthful smile I've only ever seen on Gai-sensei!" Lee cheered, "I've never seen a girl smile like that before! I swear, I will protect that smile with my life!"
Sakura laughed awkwardly yet also with amusement, her face red in embarrassment as she rubbed the back of her head. "Ehehe, you smile like that too."
Lee gasped. "REALLY?! AWESOME!" Lee had tears of joy in his eyes that threatened to waterfall down his face. "YOU ARE THE MOST YOUTHFUL AND KIND GIRL ON THIS PLANET! WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME?!"
Sakura laughed softly as Naruto had flames in his eyes. Sasuke turned to watch them.
She stopped laughing, thinking of Obito. "Sorry Lee, I can't...I like someone already."
Forehead, are you sure it's a good idea to be in love with a dead ghost?
You're so going to age into an old hag while Obito-kun stays 12 forever!
Inner! I don't care about that stuff! I just want to see him again—that's all—I'm not going to be a pedophile when I eventually become an adult and perv on little Obito-kun!
Technically he's a ghost so that doesn't count. And right now you two are the same age, appearance-wise, so that doesn't count either.
Okay you know what, me having this conversation in my head is screwed up. So I'm going to stop talking to you, Inner.
Hah. You're already insane, Sakura.
"Who do you like- who do you like?!" Naruto was shaking Sakura's shoulders. "Is it the TEME?"
"What? No!"
Naruto sighed in relief as Sasuke frowned.
"Is it someone either of us should worry about?" Sasuke asked, his implications of his own feelings obvious by his wording.
Too bad Sakura didn't catch on. "Nope," she said confidently. "It's just a spiritual connection."
Spiritual, huh? Sasuke raised an eyebrow. She was close to the elders of my clan. No doubt she involved herself in their daily prayers to dead ancestors and gods, this must be related to it. Sasuke's thoughts briefly flickered to the Uchiha Stone Tablet inside the Naka Shrine. It mentioned something about a god: The Sage of Six Paths…and the method to achieve the Mangekyou Sharingan. He looked at Sakura and Naruto, and quashed the thought. I'm not following that man's instructions; it's the same as admitting defeat to him.
Sakura bonked Naruto's head and Sasuke's too, before grabbing their hands. "C'mon, Naru, Sasu, let's go."
"Don't drag me, meiwaku-"
"Saku-chan!" Naruto sounded aloud, finding it interesting that they were removing the last syllable of each other's names—it made him feel so intimate. "Saku, Saku, Sak—"
"Dobe, shut up."
Up the staircase they went.
测试
Guarding the door to the real Exam room was their Jounin Sensei rather than more chuunin.
Don't tell me he's not going to let us in….
"Glad you came, Sakura," Kakashi smirked as she stopped in front of him, her teammates at her side. "For your sake, and the others. Now, you can all formally register for the Chuunin exams."
Sakura exhaled in relief. "Phew. And here I thought you were going to—"
"Punish you?" Kakashi's eye twitched. "I would have, for that little stunt you pulled earlier, but I'm sure the Exam itself will be more than sufficient; some people don't come out in one piece, you know."
Sakura shuddered, before rolling her eyes. "That's some reassurance, Sensei."
"We're going to ace this! Believe it!" Naruto fistpumped the air.
Sasuke stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Now let us through."
Kakashi sighed. "Very well." He looked thoughtful for a moment, and his bored expression slowly revealed fondness and a hint of pride.
"Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke," Kakashi's eye turned serious as all three of them straightened their backs, paying close attention to his words—the atmosphere had changed. "We've had a long journey as shinobi, risked our lives, and protected each other as we completed our missions. We're a team, will always be Team Seven. Even after you three make it chuunin. "
"Sasuke, I never expected you to come this far. After 'that man' took everything from you, you had nothing, and wanted nothing but revenge. You might have even lost yourself to darkness," Kakashi hummed. "That would have been a problem. But now, you have us, we who cherish you as family. Not only that, but together with your teammates, you have triple the strength you wouldn't have had alone."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes, before breaking eye contact as he looked aside.
Sakura watched his reaction keenly. Wow, if I didn't learn to carry my own weight, Kakashi would have just said 'double,' to irk me!
"Don't let Itachi dominate your life. He deserves nothing more than a simple death from you, Sasuke. You are your own pawn."
His head jerked to look his Sensei in the eye.
"And Naruto," Kakashi lazed his eye over to his blonde, ignoring Sasuke's apparent turmoil. "You…started out alone."
Naruto widened his cerulean eyes, gaping slightly.
"You had nothing, and now you have us. Well, now, I may not be the best 'family' material, but give your Sensei some credit." Kakashi hummed. "You and Sasuke, were the same like that; having absolutely nothing, but when together, you both had something. Neither of you have your parents," Kakashi eye-smiled. "But keep in mind, bonds are stronger than blood."
Naruto had no idea what Kakashi-sensei was talking about until the last sentence there. He stood like a gaping fish. I guess I always wanted to meet my parents, I always wondered and wondered what they were like- and overlooked what I have here. Naruto swallowed and looked Kakashi in the eye. "Me giving up my friends to get my parents back, if that's what you were implying, you are so wrong, Kakashi-sensei!"
Sasuke watched Naruto silently.
"Oh no, no," Kakashi assured him. "I simply wanted to check your stance before making my decision. You act like a knucklehead, but you're ready. If I wasn't sure of that before, I am now." Kakashi smiled wistfully under his mask. Naruto resembled his father quite a bit when Minato was receiving a present. "After you pass the Chuunin exams, I'll tell you about your parents, your heritage."
Naruto gasped. "R-Real…"
"Just don't obsess over it to the point that it dominates your life," Kakashi warned him. Naruto's greatness wasn't from the Hokage's legacy, and that was something to be proud of- Kakashi wasn't going to change that. And...He was speaking from experience. His obsession over his dead father led to his obsession over rules, which led to...Obito's death. And so, he had planned to take the identity of Naruto's parents with him to the grave, until now...Naruto was ready, and even if he fell, he had teammates to lift him back up. Your son has grown up, Sensei.
Sasuke frowned, staring at his feet.
"YATTA!" Naruto jumped over and glomped Kakashi, who sweatdropped but ruffled the boy's hair fondly.
Sakura giggled before looking at Sasuke's reaction with concern. Sasuke's probably thinking about his Uchiha family. Kakashi-sensei is right that it's best to move on and get a new family like us, but isn't it better to have both families? Obito-kun once said… Sakura frowned thoughtfully.
"And Sakura."
"Eep!" Staring through her orange goggles at Kakashi, she relaxed. It was her turn.
Kakashi's eye curled with mirth. "You know better than anyone what teamwork means." His gaze turned serious and thoughtful. "I think you're the one who brought us together spiritually, aside from the official team assignments that brought us together physically, which I admit, had a little favoritism." Kakashi murmured, poking the goggles in front of Sakura's eyes.
Sasuke noted the manner was eerily similar to the way Itachi used to poke his forehead. He turned thoughtful again.
"Ow!" Sakura exclaimed. "Well, I admit it wasn't my intention- Remember the first time we met, Naruto? I was a fangirl who discovered the art of 'stalking,' then things escalated and..." Flustered, Sakura rubbed the back of her head. "Eheheh, let's just not..."
Sasuke snorted. "Hn. Thankfully, you grew out of that stage, Meiwaku."
Well, yeah, ever since I met Obito-kun...Shannaro...I miss him.
Naruto choked. "Oi! Saku-chan 'grew out' of that 'cos she was depressed, just like you! Now things are different."
Sakura was depressed, right after the Massacre? How could he have forgotten about that for a second, when he met her at the cemetery? Sasuke looked at Sakura in new light once again. She was one of...the Uchiha, even if not in blood. Sasuke closed his eyes. "I was not depressed, dobe, I was angry at the murderer, which, you will tag along with me as the background when I track him down and kill him."
Naruto fiddled. He was supposed to watch Sasuke-teme kill his older brother? Well, he'd do it for the teme as a friend- Wait! Me, watch, from sidelines, background?! Hey! TEME! "Alright teme! I'll stand guard and save your ass and finish the job when you lose!"
Sasuke spluttered, before snorting. "That's if you don't knock yourself out first." He looked at Sakura. Unlike Naruto, she doesn't want to fight, not even for revenge. I won't pressure her.
Sakura sighed. "I suppose I'll have to tag along as well. With the level of stupid in this team, chances are both you and Naruto will need your butts saved, whether by my powerful fists or my amazing medical skills." Sakura cracked her knuckles. "But that doesn't mean you can use me whenever you please on a daily basis, I'm my own pawn as well."
Naruto and Sasuke gulped, while Kakashi chuckled. She's got guts.
"Anyway," Kakashi continued. "There's nothing I have left to teach you, aside from new powerful Jutsu, of course," he added hastily before Naruto could get into his face, "I'm proud of you all."
Sakura's emerald eyes glimmered, tears threatening to spill, and as she glanced at Naruto, he was in the same condition. And, Sasuke was smiling.
"Sakura," A hand reached towards her head, as Kakashi ruffled her pink locks fondly. "I think of you more as my daughter than a student."
Sakura sucked in a breath. The tears spilled out as she attempted to rub them off. "It's the sand, really!"
"You can't get sand through those goggles," Kakashi recited the same line he used decades ago.
"'Ttebayo! There was a Sand dude joining the Exams earlier! Believe it!" Naruto defended her.
Sakura swallowed. What was there to say? Her parents had been distant for as long as she could remember, and all she had was Obito to rely on, as a parental older-brother figure, right off the bat. It was only over time that she started to trust Naruto, and Sasuke...she trusted Sasuke. Kakashi was...an outsider. Was. Until now, or maybe as far back as the mission to Wave.
He has the right idea, he doesn't force us to prioritize the mission over our teammates. Getting a heartless, cruel jounin-sensei was one thing I always worried about. I wonder if Zabuza went through that. It's not a good thing according to the shinobi horror stories Obito-kun told me, although Obito said not to worry since Konoha was an exception- which he wanted to bring the rest of the world. But...how? Conquering the nations? Hah. Stop having blind faith in a mirage that might not even be real. How many years has it been? Five? Six? He's a memory that might never show up again! CHA!
"I had a teammate once" Kakashi suddenly said. "He wanted to destroy the idea that being a shinobi means abandoning your friends." Kakashi's eye curled. "Then, he died."
Sakura looked at her Sensei right then. "Wh...What was...his name?"
Kakashi raised his eyebrow. That was the first thing she asks him? Shrugging it off as one of her spontaneous quirks, Kakashi murmured. "Obito Uchiha."
Sakura stood flabbergasted. It was... It was... She hadn't heard that name for so long.
He was a real person, Inner.
'Course! What, did you think you were insane?
N...No...I think Obito mentioned 'Kakashi' once, or twice, or a hundred times...I just wasn't sure if I remembered correctly.
Suddenly, it all made sense. They were teammates. And...And...Kakashi was hers...Her sensei...It was more than she asked for.
"But you're alive, Sakura, as the next generation which surpasses the past one." Kakashi hummed. "You believe in the same thing, and I think, this time, you can do it." You've already recruited Zabuza and Haku. "I think you'll change the shinobi system, no, the world."
Wow. Kakashi really means what he says. "And I won't do it alone." Sakura answered, glancing at Naruto and Sasuke. They nodded, and she felt one more person was missing, the one who should have been in the center of everything. He was the one who taught her all about empathy, peace, love, compassion, and evil. Judging by the look in Kakashi's eye, he probably felt the same way.
The same person taught them both the most important lesson, that they then taught the boys. The same person that was no longer around.
Swallowing, she sprinted forward and threw her arms around her Sensei's waist, earning a surprised gasp. Then, his hand patted the back of Sakura's head awkwardly as Kakashi muttered, "Don't get too mushy with me. You three were my kids to babysit rather than students to teach."
With that, Naruto burst into tears and threw his arms around Sakura's and Sasuke's shoulders, drawing the Uchiha into the group hug.
"Ugh, get off me, dobe!" Sasuke protested with a blush. But they were all happy, and they knew this was one of their last moments as a genin team. Although, hopefully becoming chuunin won't separate them- Nah, they'll make sure that doesn't happen.
"Ahem," Kakashi cleared his throat, detaching himself from the three genin as the group hug broke apart, "This took longer than expected; you might be late."
Sakura choked. Did she really miss the last of the genin walk past them? "C'mon, NaruSasu!" She weaved around Kakashi and kicked down the door.
Inside the classroom, was the majority of the students already settled into their seats in front of their exams as the last ones moved into their rows. Twenty adult ninja sat at the sidelines with clipboards.
"You're LATE!" The head proctor full of scars shouted. "I swear, your Sensei's habits—" He cleared his throat. As the head of the Torture and Interrogation Department, he wasn't going to let slip vital information in front of the genin from foreign nations, not over a small burst of anger. "My name is Ibiki Morino, your worst nightmare. You!" Ibiki pointed directly at Naruto who had a stupid grin on his face while Sakura was quivering and Sasuke frowning. He pointed at the empty seat directly, inches, in front of him at the head of the classroom. "Will be taking this seat."
Naruto shrieked.
At the back of the classroom, Yakushi Kabuto broke his pencil, not paying attention to the scene. He purposely arrived early in hopes of encountering Team Seven, Uchiha Sasuke in particular, and develop a small sense of trust before the danger sets in, but that will have to wait. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too late for him.
Sakura merely facepalmed with a hand, her other smacked Naruto's shoulder, which did wonders in calming his nerves; Naruto even smiled at Sakura. "Don't worry 'bout me, Saku-chan, do your best! Dattebayo!"
"Yeah, yeah," Sakura answered as was led by a proctor to take an empty seat in the middle of the class. She looked beside her and saw- Hinata Hyuuga. "U-Uh, hey!"
"NO TALKING!" Ibiki barked.
Sakura eep'ed and went quiet with a red face, while Hinata curled herself into a ball.
Sasuke was seated beside Kabuto.
Ibiki looked at the timer. "Begin!"
Pencils started flying on paper.
测试
Author Note: Sorry for the SUPER late update; it's June and May and I'm taking SAT/ACT/AP Exams/Regents/and some more stuff idk. Those are important so..I wish I had more time! Thanks for keeping up with me, I love you guys. :D
