Hi everyone. Sincerest apologies for the delay in posting the next chapter. Happy New Year, and Happy Holidays! Thank you so much for all of the reviews, messages, favorites, and follows. It means a lot and helps keep me motivated to keep writing. :)
"Can you read the mental images of that kid's heart?
The one who stained that heart black
Hey, who did it?
Hey, who did it?!"-ロストワンの号哭 (Lost One's Weeping), Tomodachi Boshuu-P
Gorou Fukuhara's kitchen frequently required cleaning. He wasn't very good at the whole "clean as you go" cooking style. He often forgot to clean out the rice cooker from the night before, and as such, he had to scramble to get breakfast ready some mornings. It was hectic, but it was Gorou's favorite part of his home nonetheless. He loved his colorful pots that hung from their rack on the ceiling, he loved his erratic array of houseplants, all of a different variety, and he loved how the room always smelled of sesame oil and sugar.
He hummed a song to himself as he shook his matcha powder through a sieve into a wide teacup. When he wasn't off on a mission, he liked to follow a pleasant ritual of having tea in the morning. Usually, Sayuri joined him, but she had woken up later than usual this morning and had to rush through breakfast to make it to the Academy on time. So as of right now, his company for tea time was the family cat Shiso, the early summer breeze coming in through the open kitchen window, and himself.
"Should I treat myself and get some dango after this? It is my day off, after all. What do you think, Shiso?" he asked the large black cat as she weaved in between his legs. He chuckled as Shiso pawed at the hem of his yukata.
Gorou cherished the small moments he could steal for himself. The grueling missions he and several other jōnin had to endure took their toll sooner or later. Just the sound of a wind chime ringing felt like a gift in and of itself.
He crouched down to pet Shiso as he waited for the water simmering in his floral tea kettle to reach a boil. His sweet little kitty's ears suddenly perked up, and she peered at the front door. A knock followed almost immediately after Shiso got to her feet. Gorou rose from his previously crouched position and strode towards the front door. His head cocked to the side curiously, not unlike Shiso would do. He twisted the doorknob in his large, scarred hand and pulled the door open.
The last two people he had expected to see today stood on his doorstep: The Third Hokage and Kakashi Hatake. The Third Hokage had his tobacco pipe balanced between his pursed lips. Kakashi's eyes crinkled in a way that led Gorou to assume he was smiling. It wasn't always apparent with the mask covering the lower half of his face.
"Hokage-sama and Kakashi-kun! What a pleasant surprise. What brings you to my door this morning?"
Shiso poked her head around Gorou's leg and approached the two guests at the front of her domain. She sniffed at The Third Hokage first and seemed to prefer his company over Kakashi's. The Third Hokage chuckled at the outgoing cat as she rubbed up against his robes. He carefully and slowly eased himself into a squat to gather the cat up in his arms and rose to an upright position once more. Gorou sympathized with his caution at kneeling to the ground. Even at the ripe age of thirty-six, Gorou had to mind his overworked joints at times. He could only imagine the strain over the years that The Third Hokage, a man twice his age, had incurred.
"Good morning, Gorou-senpai," Kakashi said warmly. "Do you mind if Hokage-sama and I come in and chat with you?"
"That would be lovely," Gorou replied. He took a step back to pull his front door fully open and allow both men inside. Kakashi thanked him with a bow of his head as he stepped into the entryway and began to remove his shoes. "I've just set the kettle on to boil. Would either of you like some tea?"
"Yes, please." The Third Hokage finally chimed in. He gently set the cat down to roam freely as the two men settled in. Kakashi placed his sandals on the floor. A sweet, cloying smell washed over him. A thin, wispy trail of smoke seemed to be the source of the scent. Kakashi's gaze followed the line of smoke to its head, the Fukuhara family's shrine.
A floating shelf close to the Fukuhara family home's entryway held a small, wooden torii and a picture of a beautiful young woman. She had lovely, deep green eyes that were framed with long eyelashes. Her face was heart-shaped, and her ash-blonde hair just touched her collarbone. Kakashi imagined that if sunshine could be personified, it would look a lot like her.
Next to the sunshine woman's picture was a silver hair barrette adorned with a crystalline dragonfly and a tiny, seemingly well-cared-for jade plant. Kakashi took a moment to press his palms together and bow his head towards the shrine. The Third Hokage took note of Kakashi's attention to the shrine and followed suit in paying respects.
Gorou smiled at their heartfelt gesture. He struggled to find the words to thank them for their kindness, and even when he did find them, his throat became dry and uncomfortable. He felt tears prick at his eyes, threatening to spill over. Even after seven years, coping with her absence had yet to become more manageable. His chest swelled with a raw combination of grief and appreciation. Gorou knew if he dared put his feelings into words, he would only weep. And the last thing he wanted to do was cry on his day off. Not when he had such good company to boot.
Instead of thanking them, he opted to clear his throat and set himself to fixing up his guests some tea, and having his back facing them made focusing on something else a lot easier.
"Please make yourselves comfortable. I'm sure you have much to tell me," Gorou said. He hoped his tone was pleasant and inviting, but he knew he wasn't good at masking his feelings. They could probably sense the emotion that weighed heavily in his chest. But right now, he just wanted to have some tea with his respected guests.
Sayuri elected to pick up a meal at the Tea Avenue, a few streets away from the Academy. Her class took a break for lunch, and most of her fellow graduates chose to have lunch with their new squads. Sayuri moved to do the same, but when she saw Naruto and Sasuke dart off as far away from one another as possible —and all the while making no effort to meet up with her— she decided to eat solo. So she bought herself a lunch set from the gyūdon shop.
She strolled back to the Academy, a plastic bag carrying her lunch in hand. Though she didn't expect Naruto or Sasuke to return from wherever they respectively ran off to, she supposed that she might as well be in the area of the Academy in case they decided to come back. Or, even better, if she ran into Masashi and Hisoka.
Sayuri sighed as she dropped a tad overdramatically into a seat on one of the many stone benches lining the path near the Academy. She was still making peace with her disappointment in her squad placements, but she made minimal progress by focusing on the positives. Naruto had scored low from what Iruka-sensei said, but his stamina is outstanding. He doesn't give up on anything, and that will be a big help for me. She continued mulling through her more optimistic thoughts as she snapped apart her chopsticks and began to eat.
Sasuke is the Number One Rookie. I'm glad to be on a team with someone skilled. But he seems kind of cold. Then again, it's not like I know him very well. Maybe he'll open up a bit more after we get to know each other. Try to be positive, remember?
"Sayuri-chan?"
Sayuri's heart nearly jumped out of her chest at the sound of someone's voice crashing through her internal monologue. She struggled to avoid choking on a cut of beef; she was so startled. Then, managing to swallow her mouthful of food, she looked towards the source of her alarm.
Sakura Haruno had managed to sneak up on her. Her spring green eyes were as wide as saucers, and she scrambled to apologize. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to surprise you."
Sayuri coughed a few times, her eyes stinging as her throat began to feel raw. She couldn't form a sentence right now, even if she wanted to. Instead, she uncapped the little canister of miso soup that came with her lunch set and used that to help settle her coughing.
"I-It's okay," Sayuri rasped and then cleared her throat before speaking again, "It was an accident. Did you need something?"
Sakura shifted uncomfortably now that it was her turn to speak. She seemed to take a moment to gather herself, and with blush slowly spreading across her cheeks, she said,
"Well, I...I want to know your intentions for Sasuke."
Sayuri stared at Sakura blankly. It was as though her brain suddenly shut down from trying so hard to make sense of such an out of nowhere request. Her "intentions" for Sasuke…? What did that even mean? She left Sakura hanging for a moment, her thoughts running all at once as she still tried to comprehend what Sakura was getting at.
"I...I don't have any intentions, I guess. I mean, other than being a good teammate— if that counts for anything." Sayuri spoke more like she was asking a question instead of answering one. She didn't know what she was supposed to say here.
Sakura's gaze transitioned from having hints of her standard curiosity to gleams of suspicion. Her brows knitted together briefly and then divided as she sighed in exasperation.
"Every girl in our class likes Sasuke and would leap at the chance to be on a squad with him. It's only natural for me to be cautious. So, if you're planning anything, you might as well get it out of the way now. It'll be easier for me to know not to trust you and view you as a fellow rival for his affections."
Sayuri felt a bit provoked by Sakura's tone. The latter made it sound as if what she was saying was the most obvious thing in the world. Was it so hard for Sakura to consider that not every person in their class's life always revolved around Sasuke? Sayuri genuinely felt indifferent towards Sasuke. They weren't friends, they seemed to have mutual respect, but they rarely talked to each other. How could anyone in their right mind assume that Sayuri had "intentions" just based on their rare interactions?
Don't let her get to you, she reminded herself. This isn't worth losing your cool over. She's reasonable enough, so she should let this go…I think.
"Sakura, I'm not interested in Sasuke. And I know for a fact Hinata isn't either. Believe it or not, I don't think every girl in our class has a crush on him. So, I think you can rest assured that your love life isn't going to be affected by our squad placements," Sayuri said. Her day was already a let-down thus far, and Sakura possibly declaring a rivalry between them, regardless of how one-sided it was, would definitely make it worse.
Luckily, her statement seemed to satisfy Sakura enough to halt her inquisition into Sayuri's dynamic with Sasuke. She folded her arms across her chest, though she still seemed compelled to scrutinize Sayuri in a less obvious way.
"Okay, if you say so," Sakura conceded. And with that, Sayuri immediately began gathering the remains of her lunch to discard. She certainly wasn't hungry anymore. If Sakura planned to waste her time like this instead of getting to know Masashi and Hisoka, Sayuri would happily take her place in their company.
"If you'll excuse me." Sayuri stood abruptly and maneuvered around Sakura. The petty side of her was more tempted to shove her shoulder against Sakura's as she passed than she was willing to admit. It was fairly small most days, but today really was not like most days.
"You don't have to leave on my account." A new voice chimed in. Huh. Speak of the devil, and he shall appear, Sayuri thought to herself as Sasuke announced his presence. He was leaning oh-so-casually against a tree. He probably watched that whole debacle, and he looked a bit too pleased with himself for Sayuri's liking. Sure, he was likely a little egotistical from being the Number One Rookie. But it felt like a whole new level of arrogance to watch Sakura more or less mark her territory by making demands towards Sayuri and enjoy it the entire time. Something didn't feel right about this, but whatever it was, it wasn't Sayuri's business.
"It's alright. I'm sure we'll have time to talk later or something," Sayuri said, her discomfort and desire to get as far away from them as possible evident. She didn't even need to look to know Sakura was glaring at her; she could feel the burn of her eyes on her back. Whatever. I'm not going to waste my time here any longer. She tossed the little leftovers of her lunch in the garbage and briskly walked down the path further away from the Academy. Hisoka and Masashi were going to hear all about this, that was without a doubt.
Sayuri continued up the stone path for roughly five more minutes, her frustration slowly melting away the further she got from her pink-haired interrogator. Instead, her vexation was replaced with confusion as to where her friends could've possibly chosen to eat lunch. They rarely ate far from the Academy up until now. She looked around the grassy, lightly forested areas surrounding the path in the hopes of spotting them, but it was to no avail. As Sayuri gave up searching further and looked to the road in front of her, she stopped utterly in her tracks.
Sasuke was somehow walking in the opposite direction of her. He was roughly a few meters ahead of her but on the same stone walkway as her. Sayuri looked behind her briefly and then looked back at Sasuke. He was still there, just getting closer now. She had been half-convinced he would disappear once she turned back around. Okay, she thought to herself, so I'm not hallucinating. He's there. But he was just with Sakura. How did he get ahead of me if he didn't pass me? Did he circle around to intercept me for some reason?
"How did you get here so fast?" Sayuri asked as soon as Sasuke was within earshot. Now it was Sasuke's turn to look confused. He raised his eyebrow at her as he approached,
"What are you talking about? Where's Naruto?" he inquired.
"I don't know; I haven't seen him since Iruka-sensei dismissed us for lunch. But weren't you by the Academy talking to Sakura just now?" Sayuri gestured behind her as she questioned his whereabouts. Once Sasuke had reached her side, she fell into step with him to walk in the direction she had just come from.
"No. That wasn't me, but I can guess who it was," Sasuke's tongue clicked impatiently, "What is that loser trying to pull by transforming into me? I let my guard down for one second, and he jumped me. Unbelievable." Sayuri watched as his fists clenched at his sides. His shoulders were tensely locked in place, and his stride was forceful. The annoyance was radiating off of him, and he was walking so briskly that Sayuri had to quicken her pace quite a bit just to keep up with him. He seemed to be on a bit of a warpath right now, although his face barely revealed any emotion.
"Wait, what happened with you and Naruto?" And par for the course, Naruto was already causing problems. It hadn't even been a couple of hours since their teams were announced! Sayuri knew he would cause an uproar sooner rather than later, but she honestly thought he might at least wait a day. She should've known better than to have any expectations of Naruto.
"That moron snuck up on me, and I made the mistake of underestimating him. He tied me down and then bailed without saying anything. I got free a few minutes ago. And since you saw 'me' talking to Sakura, now I know why. Maybe he'll do me a favor for once and make her leave me alone."
Sayuri couldn't hold back a snicker at Sasuke's comment, especially considering the spiel she just heard from the very person he wanted to avoid. She debated telling him about it, but it seemed like he didn't need Sayuri's assistance in reaching his limit with Sakura's behavior. Besides, getting involved in someone else's quest for love wouldn't do any good. Not my business. Sayuri mentally reminded herself. "You don't have anything else to do?" Sasuke's voice cut through her thought process.
"Huh?"
"You were walking in the opposite direction of me when we crossed paths, but you turned around to follow me. Were you wandering around cluelessly to waste time, or did you have a destination to get to?"
"Oh, um," Sayuri stuttered. His intensity was unnerving. Sasuke was a few inches taller than her, so he was able to peer down at her with his cold, harsh gaze. His tone and stare in combination succeeded in making Sayuri feel small and foolish. She quickly broke eye contact with Sasuke and instead concentrated on looking straight in front of her. "I was looking for Hisoka and Masashi. I won't get to see them as much as I would like since we weren't put on the same team, so I wanted to wish them luck. But I didn't find them, and then I ran into you, so...I guess I'll help you look for Naruto if you don't mind."
"Do whatever you want," Sasuke said nonchalantly. Silence fell between them once Sasuke had granted her permission to be around him. Sayuri assumed that he figured it would be pointless to tell her to buzz off now. They were going to be in each other's company a lot, regardless of how they each felt about it. The quietness currently sitting comfortably between them was...almost enjoyable. So, she supposed that meant he couldn't be totally sick of her already. He'd probably be trying to outrun her by now if he was, right?
"Is it safe to assume you were surprised by our squad assignments, too? I guess it was my fault for getting my hopes up, but I never even considered being on a team with you and Naruto."
"I expected to be let down regardless. There's not a lot of students in our class that are worth my time. Were you hoping to be on the same team as Tabe and Ito?" Sasuke's question shocked her. Sayuri wasn't expecting him to ignore her—he wasn't that rude— but asking her about her thoughts or feelings on...well, anything was surprising to her. Who would've thought he had any interest in small talk? He always struck Sayuri as the "need-to-know" type. Knowing whether or not she was hoping to be on the same team as her best friends seemed like something he would likely deem frivolous information in her opinion.
"Well, kinda, yeah. Just because we're all so familiar with each other, you know? It's not a huge let-down or anything, though. Sensei thought we would work well together, so I trust his judgment. Was there anyone you were hoping to have on your team, Uchiha-kun?"
Sasuke visibly cringed and made a displeased face at Sayuri; referring to him by his last name with an honorific seemed to be a sore spot.
"Don't do any of that formality crap. Just call me by my name, and I'll call you by yours," he said sharply. Sasuke didn't answer her initial question for a moment. Sayuri reasoned he may have been thrown off guard by how she had addressed him to the point where he forgot she'd even asked him a question. "Shino," he told her eventually.
"Just you and Shino?" Sayuri asked. She was surprised he didn't have another name ready.
"No, obviously not. There are three in a squad, remember? I would've preferred Shino, you, and me. You're both within my skill range, and I wanted teammates that won't hold me back if I had to have them."
Sayuri didn't even have time to process how she felt about Sasuke wanting her on his team. Their path finally met Sakura again, sitting at the bench Sayuri had abandoned roughly ten minutes ago. She hadn't noticed them at first. She appeared to be focused on wiping dust off of her dress. Sayuri paused in her step, debating whether or not being seen with Sasuke would be worth the animosity that would inevitably come her way. Why did this have to be so stressful? It's not like she chose to be on Sasuke's team! Was everyone just conveniently forgetting that?
Sasuke walked forward, either entirely oblivious to Sayuri battling with her fight-or-flight instinct or despite it. She really didn't want to deal with Sakura again, especially so soon after their confrontation. Sayuri considered maybe hanging back a few feet behind Sasuke, hoping that if Sakura saw him first, she would be unaware of anyone else around them.
"Sasuke-kun, there you are! For such a bad boy, you're awful shy, y'know? But you're like, mentally prepared now, right? Because I'm ready to go!" Sakura chattered away animatedly. Sasuke seemed to be paying no attention to her whatsoever, and Sayuri couldn't make sense of a word she was saying. She could only muster a slight shake of her head at the other girl's chirping. "Wait, Sasuke-kun! Where are you going?"
"We're looking for Naruto." At this point in the two other genins' conversation, which seemed more like one person just talking at the other, Sayuri had managed to match Sasuke in stride and perhaps even convincingly concealed herself behind him. However, her blood turned to ice when he dared to speak the word "we". It felt almost scandalous when brazenly uttered in front of Sakura. Just when I thought she wouldn't notice me…The jig is up, I guess.
Sasuke rotated in his stance, revealing the previously hidden Sayuri to Sakura. Sayuri sheepishly lifted a hand to wave at Sakura and forced a painfully awkward smile. Sakura's only response was to offer her a sharp stare dripping in killing intent. A shiver ran down Sayuri's spine, dread sitting heavily in her stomach.
"I didn't realize you two were together," Sakura said pointedly, "Anyway, I haven't seen that dimwit anywhere. I don't know why you bother with a troublemaker like him. He's just going to cause you problems if you don't avoid him."
I think if either of us had a choice in that, we probably would be avoiding him right now.
"I mean, it's obvious why he is the way he is, isn't it? Just think about it. He doesn't have any parents. My parents would yell at me if I did half the annoying crap he does. But if you don't have parents, you won't learn. Who knows if he ever will? He's such a selfish brat—no wonder he's all alone." Sakura's analysis was very harsh and unexpected.
Sayuri's blood transitioned from icy apprehension to boiling fury faster than she realized. Her heart thundered wildly, and her mind flooded with so many cruel and venomous things to scream at Sakura all at once. She felt as though she were numb but on fire at the same time. Was she going to explode? She certainly felt like she could. It was like she was a ticking bomb caught in a whirlwind.
Stay calm, she told herself adamantly. Sayuri's hands curled tightly into fists, her fingernails digging deeply into her palms. Stay calm. Stay calm. Just stay calm. You can't lose control. Don't snap. Old images she tried desperately to bury away flashed in her mind and disappeared as quickly as they came. The Hidden Mist Village, the bullies at their Academy shoving her into the ocean, water flying in the air, the boys' horrified faces...No, not this. Not this again.
"You haven't the slightest idea of what you're talking about," Sasuke said. His voice sounded garbled and distant. Sayuri felt herself slipping away. It felt as if she were trying desperately to stay awake despite being exhausted. Stay calm, she begged herself, please, just keep it together.
"The feeling of being alone and isolated is nothing compared to your parents yelling at you. And you just standing there blabbering on about something you don't know anything about is somehow more annoying than you already are ."
Sasuke had no intentions of pulling his punches with Sakura right now. He gave her a final dirty look as he spat his scathing rebuttal at her. The look of devastation on her face was well-deserved, in his opinion. "Let's go, Sayuri."
His teammate said nothing in response, but he heard her footsteps falling not too far behind him as he stalked towards the Academy. She has some nerve talking like that. He was absolutely incensed that someone who held the title of "Smartest of the Class" could be so proudly ignorant.
"There's nowhere else for Naruto to hide at this point, so he has to be at the Academy. We probably won't be looking for much longer. It won't be hard to pick out his ugly orange jumpsuit."
Sayuri didn't say anything in response to his observation. Sasuke peered over his shoulder to see her walking woodenly behind him. It was as though she were on auto-pilot. He kept up his pace as if he didn't notice for a few moments, all the while conspicuously watching her through his peripherals.
Once it seemed like she couldn't shake off whatever mood had overtaken her, he decided to try something. Sasuke turned around fully to face her and stood directly in her path to see if she would notice him doing so. When she walked straight into him, it became clear that she would not.
"Ouch! What the hell is up with you?" Sasuke asked. Again, no response. She managed to back away from him once she realized that she'd collided with him. He saw her lips move, but if she had said anything, it was inaudible to him. Outside of those small moments of cognizance, it seemed like she was entirely out of it.
Sasuke observed her closer and noticed her poor attempts to hide her trembling. Her usually attentive eyes were emptily trained on the ground. His gaze met her hands as she shakily raised them to wipe away tears that were threatening to spill over any second. He released a choked gasp at the sight of her unwittingly smearing blood along her cheeks in the process.
The noise Sasuke made drew Sayuri's attention well enough to lift her mile-long stare from the ground to meet his eyes and then finally shift to her hands. She released a startled squeak of her own at the crescent-shaped puncture wounds in both her palms. Her blood was smeared across her hands and all the way up to the tips of her fingers.
"O-Oh no," Sayuri whispered to herself. "I-I was just trying to stay calm…."
Sasuke felt a pang of empathy for her that would cause most who knew him to raise an eyebrow. Though he was often collected and guarded on the outside, he had a good idea of what she was experiencing right now. He could feel the familiar waves of panic rolling off of her. He'd had episodes like this before, but he never knew what to call them or how to describe them to anyone else. He just knew that they felt awful in every sense of the word.
"Well, we're heading to the Academy anyhow. There's likely a medical ninja in the infirmary that can take care of that for you," Sasuke said. "Let's go before you bleed all over the place."
"Man, if this guy doesn't show up soon, I'm seriously gonna lose it!" Naruto complained. He had taken up a post at the classroom entrance he and his other squadmates awaited their sensei in. He peered out into the hallway, grumbling to himself about the jonin's tardiness. "How come we get saddled with this slow-poke? He's so late; everyone else is already gone!"
Sasuke sat in the front row of long desks neatly lined up along the classroom. If he felt any sort of way towards the delay in their training, he didn't show it in his face or mannerisms. Instead, he only sat and watched Naruto repeat the cycle of checking the hallway, whining, pacing, and then starting all over again.
Sayuri sat on the table to Sasuke's right, her legs hanging leisurely above the floor. Her palms had been tended to by a frantic-looking medical ninja. Though he healed her wound, she still had bandages encasing her palms. "It'll be better for you to have a barrier between your nails and your palms the next time you have a panic attack, so you should keep those on," he had told her.
"He probably has something important to do. It won't hurt to give him the benefit of the doubt," Sayuri said, fiddling with her bandages.
"Benefit-shmenefit! What's more important than meeting your students, huh? I'm gonna show this guy just who he's dealing with!" Naruto told her. He stomped over to the blackboard at the front of the class and secured an eraser saturated with chalk, and dragged a spare chair over to the entrance where he previously stationed himself. Using the chair to boost his height, he situated the eraser between the sliding door and its frame.
Naruto hopped off the chair and then chucked it aside. He placed his hands on his hips, chuckling to himself and proudly admiring his prank set-up. "That'll teach him to be on time!" Sasuke's only acknowledgment of Naruto's plot was to shake his head, and Sayuri followed suit with a sigh.
"I'm starting to think you're trying to reach a new level of stupid," Sasuke said flatly. "Do you honestly think a high-level ninja will fall for that?"
"And it's not a very nice thing to do even if he doesn't fall for it. Why do you want to start off on the wrong foot?" Sayuri asked.
"I don't know why you're trying to play extra nice about our lame sensei. It's only his just deserts for being late, as far as I'm concerned. Why should I worry about being on the right foot if he isn't worried? " Naruto shrugged.
A scraping noise brought the team's conversation to an end. The sliding door had been pulled open, and a head full of silver hair poked through the doorway. At the same time, the eraser that Naruto had set up dropped onto his head. Clouds of chalk dust billowed from the impact, and smaller particles clung to strands of his hair.
At first, everyone was too stunned to move. Once the moment passed, Naruto had the exact reaction that anyone who spent any amount of time with him would expect; he pointed and cackled at his sensei. Sasuke's gaze dropped from the scene in front of him to the desk at which he was seated. His hands were in their usual folded position against his chin. From what could be seen of his expression, he remained perpetually unimpressed.
Sayuri looked like a deer caught in headlights. Her eyes darted frantically from one person to another as she scrambled to find the appropriate reaction for this moment. Finally, she sputtered out something along the lines of "I shouldn't have let him do that. I'm sorry."
Their sensei bent over and picked up the eraser that had bounced off of his head on impact. He inspected it briefly and then thoughtfully brought his unoccupied hand to cup his chin.
"Well," the jōnin said, "with this in mind, how shall I summarize my first impression of you all? I think idiots suffice quite nicely, wouldn't you say?"
The three genin all cringed at his analysis of them but had nothing to really prove him wrong at the moment. Naruto had managed to ruin his whole team's first impression in one fell swoop. "I didn't expect a response from that. That aside, we're moving to the rooftop park to chat a little in a less stuffy space. Follow along now."
Their sensei turned around without so much as his name and without checking behind him to see if his team was following him. How does this keep getting worse and worse? Sayuri asked herself. The only highlight of today was my lunch, and even that got interrupted. What am I gonna do?