A/N: Before I get into this, I just want to say thank you for all the positive feedback so far! I am officially ten chapters ahead in the draft, so woohoo! Today's chapter is almost four thousand words. Hope you enjoy it!


Chapter 13


"Sunshine and lollipops and rainbows - Everything I feel when we're together and... something. I don't actually remember the lyrics. But I think that song could be used as an alternate theme song for a certain young man."


Another day, another D-rank mission.

Close to a month had now passed since Masaru's promotion to genin, and in that time he'd taken two to three missions a week. A few he had run on his own with Gaku's help, like picking up litter in a small park or watering plants for a couple who left town for an evening. Generally, he worked with another team of genin though.

He had yet to work with a team from his graduating class. According to Gaku they needed time to adjust to working together before throwing in an extra person, so instead he worked with older genin. Sometimes he worked with genin from a year above, but more often than not he worked with more ragtag groups of genin whose teams had dissolved for various reasons. That tended to be a bit more awkward since they tended to be anywhere from two to five years older, but he could handle it.

Today, however, Masaru might have reached his limit.

"Yosh! Are you ready to experience the glory of your first ever mission, oh youthful Masaru-kun?"

Sunbeams radiated behind the green-clad man—like, legitimate beams of bright canary yellow light, spinning around a backdrop of bright blue which may or may not be a genjutsu. Dazzling white teeth sparkled and glowed like a glitter-covered flashlight as he flashed the young boy a giant grin, his hand extended in a thumbs up with a noticeable red swirl visible on the pad of his thumb like a cartoony fingerprint.

Some men, when faced with such a sight, would see no shame in fleeing. Even the most battle-hardened shinobi would start subconsciously mapping possible escape routes when faced with the bizarre beast. But not Uchiha Masaru.

Mainly because he was too terrified to move.

Paralyzed and rooted to the ground by mild horror, his gaze flitted past the man to a trio of genin behind him. The girl had her face firmly planted in her hands and mumbled something indecipherable under her breath, a Hyuuga boy glowered at the jounin with obvious disdain, and the final boy oh dear kami he looks like a mini-clone of the jounin oh Sage he's smiling abortabortABORT—

Shuddering in horror, Masaru aimed a betrayed look at Gaku-sensei, wondering just what he'd done to deserve this. Hadn't they been getting along well? He hadn't disrespected him on accident, had he?

'Why?' he mouthed as the spandex-wearing adult dragged him towards the large field in need of weeding. Gaku-sensei just responded with a small wave, looking faintly amused by his student's predicament.

On that day, Masaru learned many things.

One, green spandex terrified him, and for the next few days he'd be jumping at any hint of the specific shade of green worn by Rock Lee and Maito Gai. Two, the Hyuuga clan could be just as broody as Sasuke—maybe even more, Neji made Sasuke look downright pleasant and sunny. His featureless white eyes made his permanent frown seem even more unsettling, and he seemed to radiate an open air of disdain that Masaru's cousin never showed.

Three, Tenten might be the only normal person on Team Gai and she deserved great respect for maintaining her sanity in the face of her teacher and teammates. If not for her, Masaru might not have been able to survive the first mission with his own sanity intact. As it stood, he escaped with minimal mental scarring.

"How?" he whispered, his face pale as he watched two bright green blurs race around the field leaving a cloud of dust and uprooted weeds in their wake. Barely an hour had passed, and yet with eager cries of great exuberance and youth, Rock Lee and Gai had already managed to clear half the giant field on their own.

Glancing at his own meager pile of weeds which barely filled one basket, Masaru felt sorely inadequate in comparison.

Tenten shot him a sympathetic look as his shoulders sagged, smiling at him as she yanked another weed from the ground and tossed it into a basket. "Don't worry about it too much," she told him. "They tend to go all out with everything. There's nothing wrong with your effort, you're doing fine."

Masaru glanced at her as she spoke, and his eyes slowly slid to the two baskets next to her. His shoulders sagged further, and Tenten smiled sheepishly. "Uh, don't get too down about this, you'll get faster at this with more time. If you're lucky you won't even reach this point though. These kinds of missions are pretty boring. We're only this fast because we've done it so often."

"Yeah, I guess," he mumbled, averting his gaze to return to plucking weeds. He pointedly avoided looking in Neji's direction, not wanting to see the assuredly numerous baskets he would have amassed by this point. If he didn't know any better, he would almost say he could feel the Hyuuga eying him from the opposite side of the field with a mixture of smug satisfaction and severe distaste.

Yeah, compared to him Sasuke could win the title "friendliest genin in Konoha" by a landslide. For all his arrogance and antisocial nature, he at least didn't go out of his way to glower at people constantly. Meanwhile, Masaru had some doubts about whether Neji even knew how to smile.

A youthful cry drew his attention back to Lee and Gai, who now had ten baskets of weeds each and faced each other with tears streaming down their faces. "Lee, you have come so far!" Gai proclaimed, flashing his mini-clone a watery grin and a thumbs-up. "It feels like just yesterday you were a fresh-eyed genin with eyes full of determination and so much difficulty keeping up with your teammates, and now you can keep pace with me! I am so proud of you, Lee!"

Lee sniffled loudly, rubbing his tear-streaked face with his sleeve. "Th-thank you, Gai-sensei! I could not have done it without you!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

As the two embraced and merged into one giant green blob, Masaru realized that red might not be the worst color in the world.

When they finished weeding the field and Gaku suggested they spar, he almost cheered in relief when he learned Tenten would be his partner. "Lee and Neji specialize in close-range taijutsu, so they'd have too much of an advantage," Gaku reasoned aloud, earning a vigorous nod from Gai. "Meanwhile Tenten's a weapons specialist and specializes in long range, so this way she can get some work on her close combat, too."

"You make a most excellent and youthful point!" Gai praised enthusiastically, bobbing his head in eager approval. "And you even think of how to help my team as well! Truly, Gaku-san, you are a most youthful and caring member of Konoha and we are better for having you!"

"Er, thanks," Gaku murmured, clearly a bit off-put by Gai's overwhelming energy. Coughing into his fist, he turned to the genin and said, "Anyways, are you two ready to start now? Or do you want to rest for a few minutes first?" Masaru and Tenten quickly glanced at each other, their gazes appraising.

"I'm ready if you are," Tenten offered, flashing a cocky grin, and Masaru nodded.

"Yeah, me too," he agreed, offering a small smirk of his own. The sudden confidence in his expression seemed to surprise Tenten, but she quickly smiled and nodded. As the two took their positions he felt a sense of calm wash over him, his body relaxing in anticipation of the match. Gaku called the match to start, and Tenten immediately launched forward.

Ducking under her opening punch, he swung out his leg in an attempt to knock her feet from under her. Tenten jumped back before he could make contact, making him stomp his foot into the dirt to avoid falling and slide along until he stood. Barely a second later he had to dodge the side as she swung a leg towards him in a roundhouse kick, barely avoiding her foot.

As her foot rocketed past his skull he grabbed her ankle with both hands and thrust it downwards, sending her crashing with a yell. The kunoichi grunted in pain but quickly recovered and rolled away just before Masaru could land a punch where her chest had been moments before. His knuckles barely brushed against her arm, and then suddenly her hand shot and snagged his ankle, giving it a hard yank. Rather than try to pull away he threw his weight towards her, using the sudden momentum to twist free from her grip.

Tenten once again rolled to safety just before he could crash into her from above, stopping in a crouch several feet away. Jumping to her feet, she spit out dirt and wiped her mouth, her lips curving into a smirk. "Not bad," she commented, her hands raising in front of her chest and solar plexus. Masaru returned her smirk, assuming an identical position. "You're pretty smart for a newbie."

"You're good too," he replied. "Not many kids in the academy think to pull people down with them." Tenten hummed in agreement, and the pair launched forward again.

The match lasted another few minutes, the pair fluidly exchanging and blocking blows. Masaru had never felt so challenged in his life, and he loved it. In the academy his opponents tended to go by the book, making it easy to read their intent. Tenten showed more creativity than they ever did, at times willing to abandon the structured forms of the academy style taijutsu in favor of letting the fight essentially devolve into a brawl.

When she finally managed to knock him to the ground and pin him, Masaru had a giant grin on his face. The thrill of the fight left him so exhilarated he didn't even care that he lost. "Good job," she complimented, helping him up. Masaru smiled and nodded as they offered each other the seals of reconciliation. A loud sniffle made them pause, and they turned to see Gai and Lee wiping their faces with their sleeves as tears streamed down their faces.

"Well done, you two!" the jounin praised, flashing a watery grin. "That was one of the most excellent and moving demonstrations I have ever seen! Truly, the springtime of youth shines strongly in you!"

"I have never seen such enthusiasm before!" Lee agreed loudly next to him, ridiculously snotty. "And you both still showed such good sportsmanship afterwards! Watching you fight was so inspiring!"

"Um... thanks?" Masaru mumbled, discreetly edging away from the crying pair. He noticed Gaku had distanced himself from them too, now standing on the opposite side of a sour-looking Neji. The Hyuuga watched the pair with apathetic eyes, looking more annoyed than anything.

"I do not see the point in making such a fuss," he declared flatly. "It is only natural Masaru would do well."

"H-huh?" Masaru turned to stare at the prodigy in shock. Did Neji just... praise him? What? Masaru's brain temporarily shut down, trying to process the compliment in light of his earlier observations of the silent and arrogant Hyuuga. "But... I lost?"

"Only because Tenten has more experience," Neji replied plainly. "Tenten is from a civilian family and has no predetermined advantages. You, meanwhile, are from the Uchiha clan. As disgusting as your timid personality is, your heritage alone guarantees you to reach Chuunin, as even the most inept Uchiha shinobi did so. Not only that, but the fact that you survived over everyone else means that you have a greater destiny in store."

Silence fell after his last words, the others staring at him in shock. "Neji!" Tenten hissed, shooting her teammate a venomous glare. "Don't...!" She trailed off, not even knowing how to begin to address that. Lee, apparently oblivious to the meaning of his words, just looked between Neji and Masaru in confusion.

"But... Did Neji not just praise him?" he questioned, his thick brows knitting together. "Neji rarely praises anyone! Clearly that's good, isn't it?" Tenten sagged and shot him a tired look, unsure how to address that either.

"Is... it not one?" Masaru asked hesitantly, making Tenten startle and whirl to face him in shock. Before she could begin to conceive a response Gaku cleared his throat, placing a hand on Masaru's shoulder.

"Well, I think that's enough training for today," he declared, smiling somewhat sheepishly. "Gai, thank you for allowing us to work with your team today." Gai, who had been shooting Neji a contemplative frown, quickly spun to flash his fellow jounin a beaming grin and a thumbs up.

"Of course! Feel free to ask us anytime you and young Masaru-kun wish to train or run more missions!" Masaru blinked when Gai seemed to do that sunbeam-thing again, and quickly rubbed his eyes. Nope, still there.

"...Right. We'll do that." Nodding, Gaku offered his student a soft smile and said, "Let's go, Masaru." Blinking, Masaru slowly nodded and returned a feeble smile of his own, following his teacher in a mild daze.

That night Sasuke returned home from a long training session to find his sole living relative curled in the fetal position on the couch, his body shaking and twitching erratically. For a moment he felt a pang of worry and approached him to ask what could cause such a reaction, but after getting closer and catching mumbles of "so much green" and "no more youth please" he wisely decided not to press the issue.


Dinnertime at the Haruno household was always a loud affair, even moreso when they had a guest.

"Come now, Ino, surely that won't be enough!" Kizashi boomed, laughing heartily as he stood in the kitchen. "You barely have anything to eat on there!" Even as he spoke he dumped another heaping of curry onto her plate, ignoring the Yamanaka heiress's wince.

"B-but, I'm on a diet," she protested meekly, and he snorted.

"You're twelve and look like a stick! Trust me, you don't need a diet." He winked at her with a cheeky grin, only to wince when his wife suddenly back-handed his skull.

"Kizashi, stop being so pushy!" she scolded, and then turned to Ino as she added, "But he has a point dear. You look gorgeous just the way you are right now, if anything you should be eating more."

"I-I..." She trailed off, floundering for words.

"Mebuuuukiii," Kizashi whined, rubbing the back of his head with a childish pout. "If you agree with me, then why did you hit me?"

"Because you phrased it in such a crude way!" the blond woman huffed, shooting him an annoyed glare. As the pair began bickering Ino just stood in shock, too stunned to really react.

"Just give it up, Ino," Sakura called from the table, lazily waving a spoon at her direction with a small smirk. "You know there's no winning against them when they agree." Her friend visibly deflated, and with a resigned sigh she carried her plate to the table.

"They agree, and they're still fighting," she hissed as she slid into the neighboring seat. Sakura rolled her eyes, clearly amused.

"I obviously don't invite you over enough if you're this shocked," she teased lightly, slipping a spoonful of the vegetable curry into her mouth. Sakura hummed in approval as she rolled it over her tongue, swallowing with a smile. As she ate another spoonful Ino shot her a perplexed look, her blue eyes narrowing with suspicion.

"What's with you?" she questioned warily. "You hate spicy stuff." Holding up a single finger, Sakura swished the curry around her mouth a bit more before swallowing, washing it down with a sip of milk.

"Mom found a recipe that doesn't use anything spicy," she explained. "It's got some onions I think, but it's super mild and barely tingles. Drinking milk tones it down too." Elbowing Ino in the ribs, she flashed her a cheeky smile as she added, "Come on, try it. They have a point you know, dieting won't be helpful on missions."

"Yeah, but boys don't like fat girls," Ino huffed, but she ate a spoonful of curry anyway. Her eyes lit up, and she moaned softly at the taste as she swallowed, making Sakura grin.

"Maybe most guys don't," the pinkette allowed, stirring the various vegetable bits around the bowl with her spoon. "But you like Masaru-kun, right?"

"Yeah, I do," Ino agreed with a small smirk. "He's so shy and awkward, he looks like a puppy. And you know that those kinds of guys are the sweetest ones. Once I get through to him, he'll be the cutest boyfriend ever."

"Yeah, if you're into that stuff," Sakura said, rolling her eyes with a smile. She agreed with Ino that Masaru's shy nature made him decidedly adorable, but more like a puppy. She preferred Sasuke, a sentiment that had only grown since working with him and learning more about him. "But you know, I don't think Masaru-kun cares about how thin you are."

Her words gave Ino pause, the blond shooting her another wary look. "Seriously? No offense forehead, but what do you know about boys?" The teasing nickname earned a mild eye twitch from Sakura, her smile growing a bit more forced under her irritation.

"Not much, Ino-pig," she replied through gritted teeth, enjoying the way Ino's right eye twitched. "But, I have a pretty good feeling that Masaru-kun doesn't like shallow girls. He cares more about skill."

"Oh? And how would you know that?"

"Call it a hunch," Sakura deflected with a coy smirk, taking another mouthful to delay questioning. Ino huffed at the vague answer and crossed her arms, but she didn't try to press further, much to Sakura's relief. She didn't want to try to explain that she suspected it due to Akari's influence.

Even after all these years, whenever asked about when she became serious about being a kunoichi, she thought back to that moment when her old classmate challenging Sasuke in the training field that day. Akari hadn't been her singular motivation and they never actually interacted, but her words that day had definitely lit a fire in Sakura. No way Akari didn't rub off on Masaru. They were twins, he lived with her and had constant exposure to her drive.

Not to mention their mom Ryoko had been pretty badass too. Sakura had one of her bingo book entries from before her retirement, listing the Uchiha Kunoichi as an A-rank threat nicknamed the "Bloody Sunburst." It hung in Sakura's room alongside a slew of other entries for famous kunoichi, both active and dead.

Just thinking about her Wall of Inspiration made her eyes sparkle with excitement, her lips tilting into a small smile. 'Cha, they're so cool!' her inner self declared, eliciting a mental image of a blacked-out version of herself pumping a fist into the air while grinning with manic glee. 'One day I'm gonna be that awesome too!' Between Uchiha Ryoko, Tsunade, Uzumaki Kushina, Inuzuka Tsume, Mitarashi Anko and everyone else whose entries adorned her wall—

Well. She had no shortage of inspiring role models to live up to.

"Ino, don't let your training go down the drain just to look pretty," she told her friend, shaking her spoon at her in a playfully scolding fashion. "Trust me, there's nothing sexier than a kunoichi who's just as strong as she is pretty."

Ino paused, her lips slowly quirking into a small smirk. "Sexy, huh?" she mused aloud, turning back to her food. "Mm, I think you might be onto something there. I mean, almost any girl can be pretty with the right makeup and outfit."

"But not just anyone can take down an army on their own," Sakura added in a singsong voice, and Ino's smirk grew.

"And look good while doing it, too!" Grinning at each other, the girls nodded and began eating more earnestly, though of course they made sure to be delicate about it. No point devolving into pigs and stuffing themselves. Ladies never made a mess.

By this point Sakura's parents had finished their arguing, and joined them at the table. "Ah, it's so good to see you two enjoying my cooking so much," Mebuki sighed, contentedly eating her own curry. "It makes all those hours hunched over the stove worth it." The girls hummed in agreement, too busy savoring the flavor to respond.

"You know, that reminds me," Kizashi mused out loud, leaning back in his seat. "Sakura-chan, you still haven't invited your team over for dinner yet." The pinkette instantly froze, her spoon still hovering in her open mouth.

"That's right," Mebuki agreed, looking thoughtful as her green eyes rose to the ceiling in contemplation. "My, I can't believe I didn't notice sooner..." After a moment Sakura slowly removed her spoon from her mouth and set it on the plate, taking a moment to savor the curry in her mouth before swallowing.

"Huh?" she asked, blinking at her parents with the most innocent smile possible. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you've been a team for a couple weeks now, haven't you?" Mebuki pointed out. "At this point I think it's safe to say you'll be working together for a while. You should really invite them over sometime. Team dinners are so good for building morale."

"Besides, I need to set these boys straight," Kizashi added cheerfully, winking at them. "After all, I need to make sure they understand what's okay and not okay when dealing with my precious little girl." Mebuki's smile faded slightly as she shot her husband a mildly annoyed glance from the corner of her eye, turning back to her meal with a prim frown. Her elbow abruptly shot out and jabbed him in the ribs, making the pink-haired man double over with a loud gasp.

Next to her Sakura could hear Ino stifling snickers, clearly amused by their bickering. Picking up her spoon again and stuffing another helping of curry into her mouth, Sakura discreetly stomped on her friend's foot. She smirked slightly at the pained hiss that followed, ignoring the icy glare Ino sent her way as she savored the taste.

A team dinner, huh... Sakura had a feeling her parents might be a bit too overwhelming for Naruto and Sasuke, but they might be onto something there.

The thought lingered for the rest of the night even as she gossiped with Ino and went to bed, and it continued to nag at her well into the next day as Team Seven cleaned litter in a park while Kakashi read his book like usual. As she speared a plastic bag with a pole and dropped it in her trash bag, she raised her head to look at her two teammates thoughtfully.

Sensing her gaze, Naruto turned to regard her curiously. "Hey, Sakura-chan, is something up?" he asked, mildly confused at the lack of hostility in her expression. Not that Sakura went out of her way to act hostile, but normally she ignored him or glared at him in annoyance for doing something stupid. Humming thoughtfully, Sakura tilted her head slightly.

"...What do you guys think about having a team dinner?"