"Where is HE? If I had known that he was going to be late, I wouldn't have skipped breakfast!" ranted Sakura as she tapped her foot impatiently. Sasuke wisely kept silent for he had learned not to interrupt these moments. Bad things happened. The two had been waiting for their blonde companion for at least half an hour and Sakura was very pissed. Sasuke silently promised himself to never be late or at least arrive before Naruto. Sakura was still as scary as scary as always.
Suddenly there was a shout, "Hey guys! Did you wait long?" yelled Naruto. Sakura turned automatically to the source of the sound. She was about to punch him when she noticed that he was carrying a big bento box. "Did you make something?" she asked completely forgetting her anger that was replaced by curiosity. Naruto nodded and smirked, "Yup and I bet someone is hungry!"
"Oh come on! You should have at least told us." said Sakura with a pout.
"But I wanted to make you guys wait! Okay, fine. It's not much. It's only a simple bento!!" said Naruto as he split the bento. He gave one to Sasuke and Sakura, both accepting it. They had found out much later in the future that out of the three of them, Naruto was the better cook. For some reason, whenever Sasuke cooked the food always came out burnt and charred beyond recognition. Sakura on the other hand managed to mutilate all the food into some creation that could not be called food…at all. Thus, Naruto deemed the only competent one and was then forced to learn how to cook. It turned out that he had a somewhat inherent skill at cooking; it was just that he was lazy and usually just stuck with ramen.
As they sat and ate, Sasuke commented "Think of the blasphemy when people find out you can actually eat things other than ramen." Naruto shot him a glare and scoffed "I do still eat ramen. It's not like I forsaken it. Ramen is a gift of the gods~!" Sasuke rolled his eyes. They continue to eat in silence, enjoying the quiet companionship. After they finished, they quickly set out towards the academy at a moderate pace, chatting quietly, unaware of the glances of disbelief that were shot at their way.
"For some reason, I feel like we are being watched." muttered Sakura as she looked around at the people they passed by. Naruto and Sasuke snorted. "Think about it Sakura-chan! Me n' Sasuke absolutely hate, no scratch that. We LOATH each other. You would never see us on the same block! Also, Sasuke has a streak of absolutely despising human contact so it's unusual for him to even be near people of his age at all. Plus, everyone has that stupid vendetta against me cause of our old resident fox." Naruto explained casually, as if he were talking about a recipe. He was unaware of the looks of anger traded by his two teammates, and if he noticed it he chose to ignore it. A growl resounded through their minds, "Hey! I resent that! I had no control over what happened."
"I know but its how the people feel here…We'll just have to put up with it. It's not that bad." said Naruto with a shrug.
"How can you be so calm about this?" muttered Sasuke as he observed the hate filled eyes that were directed towards the blonde.
"Oh come on, We've been through this before. There is no need to talk about it" said Naruto rather testily.
"Fine, Excuse me for caring." Sasuke shot back equally annoyed. The two glared at each other.
"Okay! You two stop it before I knock you both out!!" yelled Sakura with a look that promised a painful beating. The two boys abruptly shut up and shrank back from Sakura. She smiled and the killing intent that was radiating from her disappeared as if nothing had happened. "Now, how about we get to school before it starts without us. We're going to be late…Remember what we were going to do" They continued talking instead about the plans.
Poor Sasuke. The urge to kill someone was growing by every passing minute. He had forgotten that there was a fan club dedicated to him, a mob of shrilly annoying girls. After two years of solitude and then the war, he was mostly girl free. It was but a dream now…Now here he was trying VERY hard to ignore all the whispers and squeals of the detestable fan girls.
He cursed Naruto, inwardly, for telling him to come in early. There was a reason for never being early and always on time. This way the fan girls wouldn't have anytime to jump him. But now, all he could do was sit with a completely blank expression, which was threatening to slip. Give him Orochimaru over a hoard of girls like these any day. At least that bastard didn't talk girl talk. Where were Naruto and Sakura?
He eyed the clock in the front of the room. There were only 3 more minutes till class started and Iruka-sensei was already walking in with his usual stack of graded papers and walked to the door to talk with the next door teacher. The students took this as a sign and began moving to their seats grudgingly. Sasuke breathe a sigh of relief until, he noticed a movement towards his side. He wanted to groan. It was the start of another 'who wanted to sit next to Sasuke?' scramble.
'Oh no...kill me now…' as he eyed the three girls who began to walk up to him. 'Now would be a good time for you guys to make your stupid entrance!' he thought through the link, with rising agitation. He wanted out. Why him…of all people.
The girls were now right in front of him, sickly adoring smiles on their faces, when suddenly there was a shout tinged with barely suppressed glee. "Sasuke!!" They all turned to see an extremely happy Sakura coming along with a resigned looking Naruto. Sasuke let loose a breath of relief that he had not realized that he was holding.
Everybody watched in silence, waiting for Sasuke to explode. No one ever called him so informally; it was taboo. Sasuke's mouth twitched with what seemed like annoyance, but his two teammates knew that he was trying to hold in a smile. When there was no response, Sakura continued with a beaming smile "Can Naruto and I sit next to you?" This time, everybody could only gap in shock. It was already bad enough that she called him so informally but it was unthinkable to ask to sit next to Sasuke. Adding to that, she wanted Naruto to sit with her and Sasuke too?! Sasuke's mouth twitched again. One could almost hear a pencil drop to the floor as the occupants of the room waited for the oncoming explosion. But, to everyone's surprise the moody quiet student actually nodded his consent.
It was through deathly silence that Sakura dragged Naruto to one side of Sasuke and dumped him into the seat and seated herself on the other seat next to Sasuke. It seemed like time froze as everybody. What in heaven's name was going on? It looked like Sasuke was relieved that they were sitting with him. And if that shock wasn't enough, Sakura proceeded to actually talking with Sasuke, like it was normal. The girls in the class glared at Sakura with bloodlust hate, who did SHE think she was?! Sasuke was supposed to all theirs! Meanwhile the guys glared at Sasuke with unveiled envy and anger for getting the smartest and prettiest girl in the whole grade. Naruto, instead of joining the guys of the class in jealousy and shouting obscenities to his rival, joined the conversation talking civilly with both Sakura and Sasuke. That, in itself, was the greatest shock of all.
There was an angry shout, "Stop that THIS INSTANT!!!" Yamanaka Ino stood from her seat, the very epitome of fury. How dare Sakura do that! The nerve! Blasphemy! "Sakura! What the hell are you doing?! Sasuke is not yours!" yelled Ino in annoyance moving towards where the three were seated. The fan girls converged around Ino and nodded their agreement, jealously shining clearly in their eyes.
"What's wrong with it Ino? Are you jealous? It's not like you can do anything about it." taunted Sakura with a smirk on her face. Ino bristled in anger. Naruto snickered once again while Sasuke just smirked. Then two long time rivals began to talk to each other! Civilly! Astounding!
"I have dibs on Sakura winning if they decide to fight." volunteered Naruto with a smirk, leaning against his seat casually.
Sasuke raised his brow "I'm not betting if it's going to be like that."
Naruto shrugged and stuck out his tongue, "Well, sucks for you." Sasuke rolled his eyes at the childish antics "Dobe".
"What is this I hear about betting? Hmm?" asked Sakura turning from her confrontation to the two males. Naruto winced and ran his hand through his hair, a sign of nervousness. Sasuke smirked.
"Eh heh heh...Well..."started Naruto when the bell rang, signaling the start of class. He sighed in relief. Saved by the bell indeed.
Iruka, who had been talking to another teacher outside the classroom when this all occurred, coughed to gather the attention of the shell-shocked class, "Okay kids, Today, as you all know, you will be assigned to your first three-man teams." announced Iruka to the unusually quiet class. Iruka raised his brow when he noticed that no one called out or anything. He also noticed that all the students were stealing glances at Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura. He wondered why, but nevertheless, he continued "These teams were made to suit all of your areas of expertise or lack thereof…Team 1 will be… (Blah, (:P)blah)…Team 7 will be Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, and Sasuke Uchiha. Your jonin instructor will be Hatake Kakashi…Team 8 will be…" The reformation of Team 7 listened attentively and noted with relief that all the teams were just as it was before. They had been expecting separation as the worst possible circumstances and had desperately hoped against it. Luckily they prevailed.
After sorting the teams Iruka left the students to the whims of the jonin instructors. Most of the genin followed the instructors with gloom and unhappiness as with whom they were pair with. One by one, jonin instructors came and picked their teams up. Soon, there was only one team remaining. Guess who that was.
"Argh! Why is it that he is always so LATE." growled Sakura as she paced the room for the umpteenth time, but it was in an endearing manner nonetheless. The two males watched her pace in boredom, wholeheartedly agreeing to her statement. "Well, we should be thankful that he is only late. He's alive and well." commented Naruto quietly, a sad smile on his face. Sakura paused from her pacing, abruptly sitting herself down onto a vacant seat clasping her hands tightly.
(Flashback) He had been assigned to spying on Akatsuki after the death of Jiraiya, much to the displeasure of Naruto. However, they were short on men, and they needed information. Naruto had no choice but to allow his former sensei go into enemy grounds. The first few rounds had been successful and Kakashi was able to provide valuable information concerning certain storage facilities, but in his last mission Kakashi was ambushed by missing ninjas. Though out numbered 30 to 1 he managed to kill around two thirds and severely maimed the rest. However, he was only human. His excessive use of the sharingan greatly hampered his stamina and causing him to sustain heavy wounds. Even with the help of medic nins, the damage done to his body was too great. After two days, he passed away, leaving Team 7 without a teacher and one less friend. Another loved one was once again added to the dreary list of the deceased. (Flashback End)
"Well, we will make sure that he stays alive this time. Maybe we can get him together with someone and make them have children." Sakura said smiling trying to disperse some of the somberness. Naruto laughed outright at that idea adding to it, "Imagine if we got him together with Anko." The three shuddered at the thought. "Actually, let's not do that…Our goal is to make sure we just keep them alive."
This time it was going to be different, definitely. Suddenly a thought made Naruto grin evilly. As he got up and moved to the front of the classroom, he beckoned his two teammates to follow him, "Hey! Why don't we prank him? I haven't had a good laugh in a while" They looked at him amused…but nodding their agreement….After all, it was time for a little payback.
Naruto quickly told the two the list of ingredients he needed. They all separated to get what was needed, returning with an assortment of tools. Naruto snickered as he placed a pot of sticky liquid over the door. "This is going to be so much better than that stupid chalk dust trick." Sakura and Sasuke nodded their agreement as they set up a fan at the opposite end of the door, a wire attached to the fan switch and the door knob. Sakura could not help but giggle quietly and even Sasuke cracked a small grin in anticipation.
Thirty minutes later, Hatake Kakashi glared at his future students; one did not bother to hide his evident glee, one was trying to but failing to suppress her giggles, while the other one simply smirked smugly. The reason? Well, who wouldn't laugh when there was a chocolate syrup covered man, dotted with feathers? The pot that Naruto had tipped on top of the door was chocolate syrup. When the unassuming Kakashi opened the door, it poured out its contents on the target's head. Opening the door had also tripped the fan to blow all the feathers in front of the fan thoroughly covering him with a second coating of feathers that clung to him like bugs.
Kakashi paused as he took in the damage. So these were the type of people he was going to be teaching? He gave a rather evilly chuckle which caused the students to finally shut up. "Well, my first impression of you three is that I hate you all very much." They all winced as he continued with a rather suspicious looking smile not bothering to go through the usual introductions "Now that I have your attention, I'd like you all to tell me a bit about yourselves. Tell me your name, what you like, dislike and what your dreams are."
The three traded glances before Sakura piped up, feigning confusion "Um, Sensei? Could you give us an example? We don't even know who you are…" Her teammates nodded their agreement.
"Hm, alright. My name is Kakashi. My likes and dislikes are not of you business and my dream does not concern you." replied Kakashi, looking very content with his answer.
They all sweat dropped. It was just like last time; they only knew his name…again 'Hey should we go by what we went with before or change it cause I really don't want to squeal over you Sasuke' Sakura mentally frowned. She had gotten over her crush on Sasuke and saw him as a brother. It would be really strange to squeal about your own brother… wouldn't it?
'Doesn't matter. He knows nothing about us except out academic grades. We really got him hating us this time. ' thought Sasuke as he crossed his arms acting every bit like a 'sullen' boy.
"Okay, you blonde. Go first" said Kakashi, choosing at random. Naruto perked up and shouted "My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I'm going to be the greatest Hokage and protect my precious people. I hate manipulative people and people who hurt my family. I especially hate snake people…Umm I like ramen, my family, and training, AND RAMEN!! That's all you need to know about me for now!"
Kakashi could not help but have a sweat drop when Naruto screamed the last part about ramen out... However, what interested him the most was this mentioning of family. From what he read about the boy, he was an orphan. Other than that, the obsession with ramen was…a tab bit creepy.
"Okay next pinkie" Sakura glared at Kakashi for the use of the nick name but proceeded to answering the questions, "My name is Haruno Sakura. I like learning about medical issues and learning, generally. I agree with Naruto in that I hate manipulative and evil people as well! My dream is to surpass Tsunade, the Sannin. I will overcome her no matter what." In her mind she heard two chuckles before Naruto pointed out, 'Your dream came true already.' Kakashi raised his brow in surprise but said nothing. So this girl had ambition. He liked that.
"Hmmm I see, Okay moody boy you next." Sasuke twitched and glared at Naruto who was snickering. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke…I enjoy training and quiet. I hate a lot of things that had happened to my clan… I will get revenge…" answered Sasuke in an unsure tone, as if he were testing it out for the first time.
'I think…' Naruto and Sakura traded grim knowing glances. After 'that' incident, Sasuke was a mess. His definition of right and wrong were turned upside down. That incident brought many things to light concerning the standing of the Uchiha clan as well as the council. Even now he wasn't sure.
"I also hate betrayers." Indignant cries rang through the link at what the Uchiha said, but it was ignored. Naruto looked furious while Sakura hid a frown. Kakashi noticed the negative response from the two other team members but chose to ignore it.
He had always regretted leaving the village and severing his growing bonds with his teammates in favor of chasing after power. He made so many wrong choices and really couldn't forgive himself especially after he found out the actual truths. Even when he was welcomed back with open arms, he could not bear to be close to all of the people he once knew. Instead he signed himself up for all the impossible and what Naruto deemed the suicidal missions. It was his way of atoning, much to the distress of his team members.
Kakashi raised his brow for that seemed like the tenth time. He assumed that by betrayers, the boy meant his brother, Itachi after all that former Anbu practically annihilated the whole Uchiha faction. He also assumed that the kid would have been more hateful considering what happened to his clan. Instead, the Uchiha was surprisingly passive.
Kakashi eyed his team in wonder. There were so many things off with this group. He just couldn't lay a finger on as to what it was. It was a lot different than what he had expected. Even so, these thoughts would be for another time, right now he needed to get the main part of the meeting, "Well that was extremely kind of you all to share your thoughts. It's wonderful that you guys seem somewhat more motivated than the past groups I had, but we'll see if that is all just empty words or not. Tomorrow we will have a little exam to see whether or not you guys are competent enough….though I highly doubt you are." The three bristled at the last comment, fuming by the barb at their capabilities.
"I suggest that you all skip breakfast if you don't want to throw it all back up. That experience would be…rather unpleasant." He grinned evilly before disappearing in a whirl of smoke and leaves leaving the three to their own devices.
The three kids stared at the empty spot for a moment before and it was silent. Suddenly, Naruto launched a punch at the Uchiha, who was sent tumbling back in surprise. "What the fuck-!" yelled Sasuke in anger at the sudden attack. As he moved to retaliate, Sakura blocked his way glaring at him, "You deserved that. How many times have we drilled that it wasn't your fault!"
Sasuke eyed his teammate with an equally angry glare, "I didn't deserve to be forgiven. I betrayed the village and its people. I left it."
"But you came back! You helped so much on those missions and you even became the captain! The people wouldn't have made you captain if they thought you shouldn't have been forgiven. Wasn't that enough? You did just as much as Naruto in trying to protect the people. If it weren't for you we would have lost so much more! For heaven's sake, I would have done the same thing you did and left the village if I were in your shoes! " yelled Sakura in frustration, tears threatening to pour from her eyes.
Sasuke who had gradually lost his glare, eyed his teammate despondently as images of the dead unintentionally flashed before his eyes, "Even though I became Captain, they all died. You know that there is still a possibility…"
Sakura sighed sadly, wrapping her arms around herself, anger gone leaving her looking like a lost girl as she too remember. It was particularly the children. The poor kids that were caught in the crossfire, orphaned and injured. There were so many that she couldn't save even with her medical expertise.
"If you still feel that you can't forgive yourself then take this second chance to redeem yourself." Sasuke and Sakura turned to Naruto gazed at them with an uncharacteristically serious stare. He paused for a moment, choosing to look out the window at the village. The two followed his gaze. "Look at this village, Sasuke. It's beautiful and peaceful, so unaware. They have no idea what is in store for them. But we do. We were given this lucky chance to protect this village once again." He returned his gaze back to his teammates, eyes an icy sapphire blue "We must make sure what happened in our past never happens here. Understand?"
Out of habit, Sasuke and Sakura stood in attention, forgetting that they were only eleven year olds. Before them was their leader and he just gave an order. They nodded their agreement. Naruto eyed the two before him before falling back to his usual grin pushing the two out the door of the classroom, "Now what's with all the grim looks! Act like the eleven year olds we're supposed to be~!" And just like that, all the tension that had built up cracked into pieces.
Sakura could not help but giggle at the blonde's antics, while Sasuke cracked a smile. "Now come on~! We need to practice a bit before our showdown with the Kakashi Sensei!"
Many hours later, it was becoming dark and Team 7 found a sad but given truth. They were absolutely WEAK.
They had started with simple tasks making multiple clones in an attempt to multitask. Since they had a better understanding of the concepts, it was a heck of a lot easier to control their chakra. When they walked up the tree, it barely took an hour. That was viewed with much enthusiasm. However that enthusiasm sunk when they decided to try walking on water. That was when problems occurred. None of them could honestly say that they didn't fall in, not even Sakura who had the most chakra control over all of them.
Their stamina was truly a mere flicker of what they once had. Even Naruto with his never ending strength showed signs of fatigue as they attempted to train using clones. They ended up tiring so much sooner than they expected.
However by the end of the day, they were also able to recover a tidbit of their lost skills. Sakura was able to break through boulders that her size after two or three hits and her chakra reserve improved greatly from where it started out from. Sasuke had managed to open his sharingan bloodline, and was at one tomoe when he had Naruto create clones to continually attack him. Naruto had worked to increase his chakra precision, though he was far off from where Sakura was, and there was no way he could even attempt a rasengan anytime soon.
Their taijutsu could be a lot better if they continued to practice. Overall, it was a semi productive day.
Currently they were all down on the ground, completely exhausted. "Man, I wish I had my skills back. This is a nightmare" complained Naruto as he looked up into the darkening sky. "Though, at least we are definitely better than we were before…." His two teammates nodded their agreement. They were all covered in small scratches and bruises. Sakura was against using any medical jutsu's explaining to her two teammates that if she used the chances were that they would have only received more injures. A peaceful silence descended as the three stayed where they were, content to sleep the night here.
Suddenly Naruto sat up and turned to face his two teammates "So, we should totally give Kakashi-sensei a surprise he will never forget. I don't think the chocolate tarring and feathering was enough." Sasuke rolled his eyes while Sakura giggled as the image of Kakashi popped up in their minds.
"Well I was thinking-…"
'Think at home.'
They all jumped and looked around to find no one. Who was that? There was a sigh, 'Why did I have to be stuck with the idiots? I'm in your minds you brats' Oh. They had forgotten about the fox. Naruto gave a frustrated growl, though he began to rise from the ground "Oh it's the overgrown fox. Stupid thing ruined my train of thought"
'Why, you little insufferable brat! If I was in my real body then you would be--" Naruto pointedly ignored the fox's rant and waved goodnight to his teammates.