"Sasuke-kun?" Sasuke looked up from his seat on the swing. Sakura was smiling at him.
"Morning." he greeted sullenly. Sakura turned pink. Girls always did that in front of him. He did not understand them. Sakura shakily sat down in the swing next to his.
"I-I have some extra food in my lunch, I-if you want some." she said breathlessly. "I mean, I noticed you don't have a lunch today s-so..." she trailed off. Sasuke was about to refuse, but his stomach growled at him. He nodded and stood up.
"Really?" Sakura clasped her hands together.
"If it won't be any trouble." Sakura shook her head furiously.
"Not at all! I set my stuff down over there." She pointed to a tree in the distance.
"Oi, oi! Sakura-chan! Can I have some?" Naruto prodded her in the arm. Sakura shied away.
"Go away Naruto! I'm only offering to Sasuke-kun!" Naruto looked crestfallen, but ran off to bother Chouji for food.
"Sorry about that Sasuke-kun." Sakura apologized, blushing furiously. Sasuke shrugged.
"Maybe you should offer him some. It's not like he has parents to give him food."
"Oh...right...I'll be right back Sasuke." Sakura hurried off and returned moments later with Naruto close behind.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sakura distributed her extra food equally between Sasuke and Naruto. Naruto wolfed down his food in a rather violent and disturbing way. Sakura cringed and scooted farther away from him.
"Aren't you hungry Sasuke-kun?" asked Sakura. Sasuke had been simply staring at the rice ball in his hand.
"Oh, yes. Thank you Sakura." he said, taking a bite. Sakura flushed magenta.
"A-anytime." she said, looking faint.
"Sasuke, I overheard you telling Shikamaru that your brother was giving you ninja lessons." said Naruto with a touch of envy.
"Really?" said Sakura in admiration. "Itachi is a really good ninja. My father talks about him a lot. You're really lucky Sasuke-kun! What has he taught you?" Sasuke couldn't help it. His body filled with pride.
"I can hit the center of a target." said Sasuke smartly.
"Amazing!" Naruto's blue eyes were wide in awe. "Do you think your brother could give me lessons?"
"And me?" asked Sakura hopefully. Sasuke's momentary happiness vanished.
"I dunno." he said solemnly. "I could ask...I guess..." Truthfully, he did not want to ask. Not only would Itachi not agree to it, it would make him mad. Given what he had heard last night, mad was the last thing he wanted Itachi to be.
Naruto had failed to notice it, but Sakura detected the change in Sasuke's voice.
"Or, well, I know Itachi's probably really busy. He's about to graduate the Academy, isn't he? Maybe you could teach us what he teaches you. It would be fun. It's a good thing to have friends to practice with. It can be our own little club!" suggested Sakura brightly. Sasuke felt deeply grateful toward her.
"Club?" Naruto repeated. He grew more excited, if that was possible. He jumped up and did a little dance.
"Ninja club! Ninja club!"
"What do you think Sasuke, will you teach us?" Sakura pleaded. The idea of a club was enticing. A secret just between the three of them. They could learn and practice all the things Itachi did; they could graduate the Academy by the time they were nine! That would definitely make Father proud. Itachi was twelve and a half. If Sasuke graduate at nine, that would prove that he could be just as good as Itachi.
"Well?" said Sakura expectantly. Sasuke nodded.
"That'll be fun!"
"Yes!" Naruto whooped and cartwheeled across the grass to the swings and back.
"We should pick a name." said Sakura.
"Ramen Ninja!" said Naruto immediately, punching the air. Sakura smacked him.
"No! Idiot! How about the 'Fighting Trio'?"
"Sounds like a lame comic book." Naruto insulted.
"Does not!" Sakura protested. "What do you think Sasuke?"
"Well...real ninja are assigned to a team, and that team has a number. Pick a number between one and ten."
"Eight!" Naruto said, a little louder than necessary.
"Six." said Sakura, rolling her eyes at Naruto.
"Seven then, because that's between six and eight. We can call ourselves Team Seven."
"Good choice Sasuke-kun!" said Sakura, turning pink.
"Yeah!" roared Naruto excitedly, punching the air again.
"Would you stop doing that? You look like a stupid comic book hero." said Sakura.
"If this were a comic book, I would be the hero." retorted Naruto.
"You're too ugly." replied Sakura, folding her arms.
"Well–"
"Let's meet at the old training field at three. Bring your stuff." Sasuke intervened. They both agreed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sasuke moved as fast as he could toward the training field. He was moving quickly for someone carrying five large books and seven targets. This was in excess to his complete set of kunai and shuriken, each weapon recently sharpened.
After dropping the books a couple times, Sasuke reached the training field. He checked his watch. Two-thirty. He wanted to get there plenty early to set up. Sasuke took the seven targets up and began a reconnaissance mission of the area. He carefully selected a place for each target. When he finished that task, he laid all the books neatly on the ground in order from smallest to largest. Sasuke plopped down on the ground and rested against a wooden pole to wait for Naruto and Sakura. He could barely contain his enthusiasm. He tapped his foot apprehensively on the ground. Ever since they made plans this morning, his depression had gradually lifted.
It was not long before Sasuke heard Naruto crashing through the forest. He emerged with a large stick, whacking every plant within reach. Sakura followed close behind him, lecturing him on his behavior. Both stopped when they spotted Sasuke.
"Team Seven reporting for training." they said in unison, each striking a military salute. Sasuke grinned widely at his friends.
"I brought snacks." Sakura added, holding out a bag. Sasuke took it and set it down next to the pole.
"Thanks Sakura. I brought some of Itachi's old school books. I flipped through them, they have some cool techniques. I thought we could look at them some until we all hit the target every time. That way we'll understand them before we try them."
"That's really smart Sasuke-kun." said Sakura shyly.
"Yeah, but show us how to throw the kunai." Naruto said, wiggling on his spot. Sasuke nodded and picked up one of his freshly sharpened kunai. He walked to about ten feet away from a target. He gripped the kunai in the position Itachi had showed him. He aimed and, desperately hoping he would not miss, threw the kunai.
It was flawless. The kunai landed smack dab in the center of the target.
"Awesome!" Naruto applauded.
"That's so cool!" Sakura gaped.
"I still need practice." mumbled Sasuke, his face turning red from their acknowledgment.
"My turn!" shouted Naruto, snatching up a kunai. He ran up to the nearest target and chucked his kunai at it. It missed by a mile.
"What!" howled Naruto. "That's a bad kunai! I aimed! I didn't to anything different than Sasuke!"
"Here." Sasuke handed him another kunai. "You need to fix your hand position. The way you're holding it it doesn't matter if you aim or not." Sasuke repositioned Naruto's grip on the weapon.
"Now try." Naruto took aim again. This time the kunai struck the outer edge of the target.
"Oh man...give me another one."
"Give me one too, I want to try." said Sakura.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After a hour they gathered near the pole, each sweaty and breathing hard. Sakura and Naruto had both hit the center at least once, and the other times they came dangerously close. "I'm jealous." smiled Sasuke, "I've been trying for two months, and you two got it in a day."
"Only because you showed us." said Sakura gratefully, pulling snacks out of the bag and passing them around.
"Your brother knows some good techniques." added Naruto.
"D'you want to take a look at the books?" asked Sasuke. They gathered around a worn red textbook. Sasuke opened it to the first page.
"Shuriken techniques. We've only been working on kunai, so we should probably do shuriken next time."
"Are those harder?" grumped Naruto.
"Not really." answered Sakura. "Just different. You should ask your brother to show you when you get home Sasuke."
"Speaking of which..." Naruto pointed behind Sasuke. Sasuke twisted around. Itachi was right above him. Sasuke jumped back, landing on Naruto and Sakura.
"Hi Itachi." said Sasuke nervously. He did not know why he was so scared, they were just looking at old books...
"What are you doing with my books?" asked Itachi, glaring down at him. There was something about those eyes...
"S-studying." Sasuke's mouth was suddenly dry. "Mother said your old books would be best because you write really good notes in them." Itachi gathered up his books.
"Don't ever touch these Sasuke, understand? Do not ever touch these! Give me the one you have." Sasuke held the book protectively in front of him. He did not put it in Itachi's outstretched hand. If he did, they would not be able to practice anymore. He scraped up his courage off the pit of his stomach.
"Itachi, can we keep this one, please? We're practicing, and this would be really helpful." Itachi stared at him for another minute.
"Fine." he said, and walked back into the forest. Sasuke let out his breath. He was shaking uncontrollably.
"Sakura, do you have any water?" She nodded and handed him a bottle.
"Thanks." When he went to set his water down though, he noticed a slip of paper on the grass. He assumed it had fallen out of one of Itachi's books. He reached over and picked it up, hoping it had some cool jutsu written on it. But it only had one word,
Akatsuki.
Remember when you were in elementary school and every day someone would make up a new club? Wasn't that awesome? And you could go up to a person and say, 'do you wanna be friends?' and then you'll be friends until highschool. Everyone played together and there wasn't that awkward randomness of talking to someone you don't know. That was great, wasn't it? Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and come back for more!