One Change: Chapter 3 – Teammates

Time for chapter 3! I'm going to ask again whether people want this to remain in one-shot format or become a continuous story because I've had a mixed response so far. The idea that I may go with is that it will remain in one-shot format until Sakura reaches the age of 16 when it will become a continuous story. This will help to accommodate the time-skips that will be in the first part of the story.

To find art of Sakura and her teammates on my Deviantart go to the following link (Remove spaces): kawaii-koneko-chi. deviantart art/ Team-Itachi - 421040342

Thank you to: Doujin-Maker, annashina, konoha kid, kyoko minion, CrisStarTina, MoonStone-Secrets, Geenuhh, silverwolfighter00, Shadowlove'scookies, angel897 and Mel2121 !

Standard Disclaimers Apply

It took Itachi 6 months to begin to fully understand their group dynamic. They had done nothing but sub-standard D-rank missions since they became a team but he could already see a strategy behind the way that they carefully planned out each move before they executed it and worked together to achieve the set goal.

As far as he could tell, the person who mostly led the team was Haruki. Being a member of the Hyuuga clan gave him an advantage when it came to sight and his teammates seemed to have faith in him when it came to supplying them with information. The boy's file had labeled him as a sensory type with a high success rate when it came to basic kata and taijutsu. This was largely expected from somebody with the Hyuuga's bloodline limit and he was pleased to see that the qualities of a good leader had manifested in his young charge.

The fastest member of the team by far was Shinnosuke or Shin as he had grudgingly told them to call him. His senses seemed to be advanced and by his slightly above-average chakra reserves, he could tell that the boy would one day be very skilled in ninjutsu. His agility may serve him well if he were to learn kenjutsu but that was the matter of finding the time to tutor him separate from the rest of the team. The boy was fairly introverted and preferred to keep to himself but that didn't mean that he tried to work by himself. He was fairly sure that the boy enjoyed working as part of a team and was just having a difficult time adjusting.

The last member of his team was a slightly different case. When he first found out that Haruno Sakura had graduated the academy 2 years ahead of her actual class he'd thought that maybe she was some kind of prodigy and maybe he wasn't necessarily wrong but the girl wasn't what he would have originally judged as being anything special. One of the first things that he noticed about her was that she had far smaller chakra reserves that any child usually born into a shinobi family.

The next things that he noticed was that her taijutsu was sub-par and that she had a lot of trouble keeping up with the fast paces that her teammates sometimes set. This could be remedied by extensive training in the basic katas and maybe calling in a favour from Maito Gai, the man owed him for saving him on a mission a little over a year ago.

It was definitely eluding him why she had graduated so early. There was one thing that stood out to him though, the girl was extremely proficient in chakra control exercises and the beginnings of water-based jutsu. Briefly, he wondered how she would fair in the tree walking and water-walking exercises that he planned to teach them when he thought the rest of the team was ready. If he had to guess, then he was fairly certain that she had a suiton chakra nature.

Glancing over at them now he noted that Sakura was managing to hold her own against Haruki by weaving a very subtle genjutsu that made him believe that she was leaving many more opening than she actually was. In all actuality, he had landed a grand total of 0 hits on the kunoichi. He recognized the techinque as Magen: Kasumi, a short range genjutsu that the jounin Yuuhi Kurenai was known for using. The technique was C rank and created an illusionary clone which charged the opponent and when hit, exploded into a cloud of cherry blossoms. He found the technique to be fitting for the girl but had to wonder where she had learned to use it, let alone become proficient in it.

He waited for the Hyuuga to notice that something was amiss. If the boy had been fighting with his byakugan activated then he would have noticed the incorrect chakra proportion of the clone in comparison to a regular shinobi. He saw the exact moment when the boys eyes widened and he brought his hands together to form a series of seals. At first he thought that the boy was going to form the release seal but quickly recognized the order of seals -Tiger, Horse, Rat, Dog, Tiger – to be that of the Katon: Benijigumo. He brought his left hand to his mouth as a stream of fire spewed out of his pursed lips and surrounded the Sakura-clone. When it was completely surrounded the flames turned into a large spider that crushed the clone in seconds.

For a second the boy looked suitably victorious but the smirk slipped from his lips when cherry blossom petals exploded from within the spider and slowing drifted to the ground. The soft pink petals accented by burning red and orange flames created a destructively artistic image. The Hyuuga looked dumbfounded which gave Sakura the chance to form a series of seals of her own, he watched her slam her hands into the ground calling out, "Suiton: Homatsu no Jutsu Sazanami!"

A volley of bubbles burst from the ground, surrounding her opponent and then popping creating high pressure waves that caused the boy to fall to his knees to avoid the rest last of the attack.

When the mist of water vapour finally cleared Itachi spotted the girl was also on her knees, panting but sporting a victorious smirk of her own. When she locked eyes with her teammate she gave him a one-handed salute and slowly rose to her feet. Itachi guessed that using and maintaining the two ninjutsu in succession must have used up most of her small chakra reserves.

He saw Sakura turn towards Shin whom had been practicing kata a few meters a way and beckoned him towards them. When he reached them she laughed and threw her arm over his shoulder and pulled him down to the ground to sit next to her. He scowled at her but Itachi could tell that he wasn't particularly unhappy with the action.

"Ne Shin-kun, what were you practicing over there?" the pink-haired girl asked, innocently blinking at the older boy. Shin pulled out a scroll from his kunai pouch and unrolled it before the girl.

"It's a sealing technique called the Sealing Trap Explosion." he answered, pointing to the intricately drawn seals that adorned the parchment. Black lines were interwoven to form a decidedly flame-like image. Although the Ashmatsu had an earth chakra nature, Itachi noted that he may be better suited to studying Fuinjutsu with the fourth hokage.

"It allows me seal an explosive within the scroll so that when somebody steps on it it will detonate, If drawn correctly it can do massive amounts of damage." the boy finished explaining before rolling the scroll back up and slipping it back into his kunai pouch.

Sakura nodded in understanding before stating that she was done for the day and that she would be back at the same time the following day. Itachi already knew that she wouldn't be late. Every morning without fail she would visit the cenotaph to pay respect to her uncle and father who's names were both carved on the polished rock, before promptly arriving from the north-eastern end of the field.

The two boys left shortly afterwards, neither wanting to prolong their training for now. Itachi himself headed for the Uchiha compound, his mother had asked him to collect Sasuke from the academy today but he wouldn't have to do so for several hours yet so he decided to search through the Uchiha's extensive jutsu collection and see if he could find any jutsu that he could give to his team to practice.

From now on he would start training them more seriously. It would be a waste to let the potential that they possessed go to waste when they would likely all become top-ranked shinobi of Konoha one day.

Another chapter complete! Thank you again to everybody who reviewed the last chapter!

Jutsu used:

Illusionary Release: Mist (Magen:Kasumi)

Fire Release:Crimson Earth Spider (Katon: Benijigumo)

Water Release: Bubbles technique – Ripples (Suiton: Homatsu no Jutsu Sazanami)

Sealing Jutsu: Sealing trap explosion

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Sei x