Stoicism is the new in thing by angrypixels

Chapter 3 - Graduation

It was yet another beautiful day in the hidden nin village named Konoha. Technically, it wasn't really hidden as if it was, it would be bad for tourism. And mission business. Who would want to give business to a place they couldn't find?

Anyhow, moving on.

Today was the day when the final exams for the Ninja Academy would take place. And boy was Sasuke happy. He loved it when he was surrounded by everyone. It filled him with energy. The chatter, the laughs, the breaths taken, it made him feel life. Real. Alive.

Every morning without fault, when there was school of course, Sasuke would run through the corridors, slide the classroom door open and shout…

"Good morning!" Sasuke squealed at the top of his voice while jumping into his beloved classroom.

"Morning Sasuke-kun!" echoed at least ten other female voices. Almost instantly, Sasuke disappeared in a tangled mess of arms and hair. Sasuke was not perturbed by this on slaughter of female attention at all. He grinned and tried his hardest to hug them all despite his not-very-long limbs of a growing twelve year old boy. Life was good.

"Idiot." Muttered Nara Shikamaru, his head lying on the cool desk. It was freakishly hot in summer in Konoha. The fans waving above on the ceiling did nothing to cool the heat. And now, he had to listen to the squeaks and shouts of the female population in his classroom as they proceeded with their almost daily physical interaction (which included, smooching, hugging, giggles, tickles) of the class heartthrob, Uchiha Sasuke. The rest of the class either watched bemusedly or in annoyance.

"He is such a whore." sneered Inuzuka Kiba, who sat right next to him while using his hands to cover the sensitive ears of a trembling Akamaru. "How can he enjoy letting them molest him like that?"

"Where did you learn that word." Asked Choji as he munched on a packet of chips.

"My sister Hana mentioned it the other day… Akamaru do not touch the chips! "

Slam!

Two figures suddenly stepped in silently into the classroom. Immediately, the whole class went silent as anticipation gathered up. One stoic faced female with pink hair that clashed horribly with her expression and a blond boy whose blissful expression showed that his mind was miles and miles away.

Sakura wasn't in a good mood. Actually, she wasn't in a bad mood. Technically, she was feeling pretty neutral today. It was the finals and she had prepped all night, going through her notes and textbooks. She even managed to get her father to practice some Taijutsu and Ninjutsu with her. She was mentally and physically prepared for anything the instructors would throw at her and was confident that she would get top grades, if not full ones. However, outwardly she didn't show anything. In fact, she didn't show any emotion whatsoever.

Ever since the unfortunate event five years ago, Sakura developed…a condition. That was what the medic nin told her anyways. After the first few months of beginning school at the academy as prospective gennins, she was pronounced to have fully recovered. Yet no matter how much she tried, much to the exasperation of her parents, she would somehow feel pain burning throughout her face and neck and was unable to form proper facial expressions. The medic nin said that it may be psychological, but to Sakura, it meant pain in every and any sense. And that pretty much put a damper on her social life and personality. At first, people picked on her for her inability to give responses but later once Sakura learnt the true meaning of physical violence, people tended to stand clear of her the moment she was in the vicinity.

Once Sakura stepped inside in the classroom she spotted as usual the girl magnet Sasuke was surrounded by a gaggle of her female classmates who were eager to take advantage of the young boy's loving nature. Actually, she secretly thought that the boy wanted to be smothered by female and it was the girls who were being molested. All in all, she never really paid a lot of attention unless the noise got too loud. She didn't find Sasuke very attractive. He was just a boy who was good at looking cute and wasn't afraid of girls like the rest of the males in her class. Nartuo however….

In rare show of curiosity, Sakura titled her head to glance the boy next to her out of her corner of her eye. They both arrived at the Academy around the same time this morning and silently walked to their classroom side by side. Both didn't say word. Sakura, being her usual silent self and Naruto, zoning out in his little world. Naruto stood next to her at the door of the classroom, eyes mildly amused at the scene in front of him (a bunch of girls holding Sasuke while they stared at him apprehensively). Despite having some odd whisker-like markings on his face, Naruto always gave off a far away aura with his dreamy expressions and eyes that focused on anywhere but where he should be focused on. Coupled with an orange jumper which clashed with all fashion sense (it was even splattered with spots of paint here there) and some pencils and brushes poking out of his pocket and sachets, Nartuo was a boy who oozed oddness and otherworldly-ness.

And Sakura was totally fine with that. They did not speak much, perhaps given Sakura inability to speak much at all. But he didn't ask questions and she didn't have to give any response. And the best thing? With Naruto's weirdness and her supposingly terrorist reputation, both of them paired up drove people away as if they were running away from a stink bomb.

And as sure as that, Sakura straightened her neck and started to glare at the group of people standing in front of her.

"Hmph." She grunted. Immediately, the crowd dispersed, even the overly clingly fangirls of Sasuke, leaving their idol standing there looking a bit lonely. Yes, the popular boy held out his hands as if trying to remember the feel of being held while his eyes started to water a bit.

What a whiner. Sakura secretly thought to herself as she stepped forward to walk towards her seat.

"Sakura-chan! Naruto-chan! Konbawa!" Sasuke squealed as he stepped forward, hands thrown apart in hopes of receiving a hug and maybe a kiss on the cheek. Sasuke had no qualms on receiving attention from anyone, male or female or even social rejects. Both Naruto and Sakura stepped aside at the same time while Sasuke threw himself at them. Just like almost every other morning. Of course, Sasuke didn't fall flat on his face. No, despite his giddily happy personality, he was trained well by his family and immediately swirled around on the soles of his feet and gave a tearful look at the two departing bodies.

"Ha ha. Daily entertainment." Kiba chuckled happily as he watched both the pink haired female and Naruto approach their usual seats which were not far away from his. Akamura arfed in agreement. The rest of the male population, excluding Sasuke, were in fact a little awed by Sakura. Unlike the rest of the fangirls of the class, she exuded aloofness and stoiciness as easily as breathing. Although some of them may have teased her when they were younger and gotten beaten up by her in the end, they all grew up and grew to accept her as she was.

Shikamaru opened an eye as he lazily watches Sakura walk down the steps and sit down in the seat in front of him while Naruto sat next to him. Sakura was not ugly. She had eye catching pink hair that was always tied up in a sensible pony tail and large, glittering emerald eyes that seem to be able to burn holes whenever she wasn't happy with the way things were. Despite having a large forehead, she started to grow into it and her bangs covered them pretty well. She was unlike the Yamanaka Ino who lived to hear the sound of her own voice. Frankly speaking, Shikamaru enjoyed Sakura's company compared to most of his classmates. Although she rarely showed any facial emotion, the slight cringle of her eyes or the minute twitch of the corner of her mouth whenever something or someone stupid came along showed that she had a sense of humor. Shikamaru liked that and would sometimes shared a knowingly look with her. Naruto, on the other hand, usually didn't get most of the happenings of the word and tended to be pretty absorbed in his artwork which usually consisted of bizarre things such as dried mud or curry stains. However, Naruto rarely got on Shikamaru's nerves thus making his company also tolerable.

The loud bell echoed through the classroom and everyone started to climb into their usual seats. Sasuke, while a bit disappointed that dear Sakura-chan and Naruto refused to greet him, jumped into his usual seat between Ino and Ami. Winking at the two girls who giggled while he snuggled between him, Sasuke straightened up once Iruka sensei stepped into the room. Sasuke loved to be with his friends but as his father always told him, he was a Uchiha and with that came the expectation to excel in everything, including academics. He wanted to make his father and his aniki proud. That and he was on his way to becoming a stronger nin than his aniki!...despite the fact that his aniki became a medic nin a year before. But that wasn't going to stop him at all. Sasuke was going to be a better in everything nin than his aniki!

"Class. Today is the finals. Hopefully you all have learnt enough during this year to pass and finally become a gennin." Iruka smirked to the class. "Sauske, you have lip gloss over your cheek. Wipe it."

Nartuo was bored. To be honest, he was bored almost during all his waking hours. Except of course when he was creating a masterpiece. Which happened to be every piece of art he was working on. There was one thing he which he found utterly boring. The nin academy. Yes. Given the choice, he would just hole up on his measly apartment and fiddle around with new materials and create something interesting instead of staring at squiggles in books and throwing metals at trees. But now, the great hokage-sama dragged him into his office and gave him a long boring lecture about how he, as a citizen of Konoha and an orphan to boot, was to fulfill his duty to at least try and become a nin. More of like paying off his debts due to his pitiful existence.

"Next! Nartuo!" Iruka shouted in that annoying voice of his, bringing Naruto back to reality. Quietly sighing to himself, Nartuo stood up and slouched towards to the examination room. There was no good reason to give it his best shot. After this was done, he could hide back and ignore the rest of the world for good. Just like they ignored him.

At the end of the day, Sakura, with the rest of the graduates, stood in front of the academy accepting congratulations from family and friends. Sakura patiently allowed her mother to hug her and shower her with kisses while her father messed up her hair. Now she had to retie it into a pony tail. Sparing a sideward glance towards the swing not far away, Sakura saw Naruto sitting there alone, feet lightly swaying above the ground. Instead of watching the happy children as they boasted of their achievements, Naruto had lifted his head and was staring at the blue sky above. As if Sakura and the rest of them were all but background noise and he was off in his little world. Naruto was always like that. He managed to turn off everyone and be unfazed by what happened around him.

"Look at him…that monster."

Sakura turned her head around pretending to listen to her mother while silently concentrated on listening to two females speaking behind her.

"Imagine if he had graduated. It would be a disaster."

"Shh. Don't speak so loud. He might hear us."

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows ever so slightly. It wasn't the first time she had heard of such offending comments about Naruto. She had even heard her parents give a snide remark about him once or twice in the past. Sakura was not stupid. The adults of the village hated Naruto for a reason yet allowed him to continue to stay in their amidst. Children were sensitive and always took their cues from adults. How the people felt about Naruto reflected on their children. Sakura did not like it very much. Naruto might be a bit odd and quiet but he wasn't a monster.

"Come on honey, let's go home. I cooked your favorite tempura. Smile a bit won't you, aren't you happy? " Her mother gently pulled her elbow for her attention while her father gave her a small push in the exit direction. Giving one more backward glance to Naruto who was now focused on staring at the tree bark, she allowed herself to be led home. Life would be a little boring without Naruto.

The next day, Sakura arrived a little earlier than usual after having a full night's sleep. She didn't want to be late for her first date as gennin and frankly speaking, she wanted to enjoy some moments of quiet and peace before the rest of her classmates arrived. However, the moment she stepped into her classroom with her new forehead protecter tied around her head, Sakura froze in her tracks and her eye brows shot up in a rare display of surprise. Nartuo was lying face down on his desk, sound asleep. Sakura was usually speechless but at this moment, no words came to mind at all. Despite the pretty picture that Naruto made with his blond hair and the sun rays shinning on his locks, he shouldn't be there at all. He failed the final exams. She heard Iruka scream his red face off at Naruto's obvious lack of effort of creating a copy of himself. She had a feeling that Naruto wasn't where he wanted to be and it was a bit shocking to see Naruto in the classroom again.

Sakura got over her shock after a few moments and silently slid into the seat next to Naruto who gave her no reaction at all.

"Gennin. No backing out." Sakura muttered in her low, husky voice. She winced inwardly. She didn't like hearing the sound of her own voice.

"I know." Naruto muttered from the desk. He turned his head slightly so his cheek rested on the desk and one eye could look at Sakura. Sakura noticed a gleaming konoha against his forehead and some huge eye bags. Seems like someone had a rough night. "I signed the papers, remember? Basically can't back out from now on. " Naturo signed and closed his eyes. Sakura knew he meant the gennin papers that each of them signed upon graduation and induction as a nin of Konoha where each nin swore not to betray and to always place Konoha first. "I have a debt to repay now. " And Naruto left it at that while leaving Sakura to ponder what exactly happened. Both relatively silent people continued to sit together in relative ease in the morning rays of light, deep in their own thoughts.

Sasuke could hardly sleep the night before. Upon graduation, he arrived home to a massive feast on the dining table. Sadly, his mother warned them that he was only allowed to start eating once his aniki came home after his shift at the hospital. Saskue was starving but he wanted to enjoy his celebratory dinner with his dear aniki and resorted to showering and changing while waiting for his aniki to arrive home. Finally, Itachi came back tired but happy. Sasuke noticed that ever since Itachi decided to switch to being a medic nin instead of an ANBU, smiles graced his face more and more frequent than the subtle frowns. Now after a few years of training and a journey to train, Itachi came back different. He was happier in a sense, as if what he was doing in the past was nothing compared to what he had achieved now. Sasuke was sure that his aniki enjoyed being a medic nin much more despite the dark looks his father threw at him every now and then. Sasuke in fact wanted to know the reason why yet he knew it wasn't his place to pry. The Uchiha clan was a proud one that strove to be the best and allowed nothing less of it clan members. Reputation and honor was foremost and the fact that Itachi had gone from one of the best ANBU to starting all over again as a low ranked medic nin did not sit well with the rest of the clan. Sasuke faintly knew something had happened between his aniki and the rest of the higher ranked clan members. He also heard snippets here and there that some of the more spoken elders rarely made an appearance at the clan meetings. Again, Sasuke knew something had happened and wisely kept his nose out of business he wasn't privy to. However, Sasuke still thought that life was good. He had everything he wanted, now if only he could grown up faster, be stronger…

Bang!

Sasuke slided open the worn down classroom door and hollered with all his might and morning happiness "Konbawa!"

And was met with silence. And lack of physical interaction that he was so used to within the moment he stepped into the classroom. Sasuke blinked a few times and immediately zoned into the two lone figures sitting together near the window.

"Nartuo-chan! Sakura-chan! Where is everyone?" Sasuke asked as he quickly skipped towards his classmates. "And Naruto-chan, I thought Iruka sensei failed you yesterday?"

Silence was heavy in the air.

Sasuke resignedly slipped into a seat next to Nartuo and Sakura. Despite being ignored by his two classmates, he didn't like sitting by himself even for a few minutes. Sasuke sometimes wondered if he did something to annoy them. He always saw himself as a polite and cheerful boy as his mother taught him to be. However, no matter how cheerfully he greeted them or tried to hug them, both never gave him much of a response. Giving himself a rare sigh, Sasuke, laid down on his desk and closed his eyes. Soon, images of his dear aniki and gleeful children chasing each other filled his mind and drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

It never ceased to amaze Sakura the power Sasuke had on the younger female population. Once her female classmates started to arrive, they immediately caught sight of the black haired boy who was napping on his desk, a cherub-like smile on his face. They all immediately cooed softly and put their stealth skills in good use and hardly made any sound to disturb their heartthrob. All males who dared to make so much as a cough were immediately given a death glare from the girls.

Finally Iruka-sensei turned up and after ruffling Nartuo's hair affectionately, he woke up Sasuke by giving him a poke in the shoulder.

"Alright settle down everyone. I am going to announce the teams now."

Upon being poked awake, Sasuke immediately went into hyper mood, eyes wide open and he watched Iruka-sensei expectantly. He was brimming with excitement with the idea of having a group. To be with two other all day, all night! Forever playmates! To do missions together! And have dinner afterwards! How better could life be? He grinned happily as images of himself and two other unknown nins pranced around in the golden fields, shooting shuriken at enemy nins.

"Team 7! Well, it looks like fate has already set its eyes on you three the moment you entered the classroom." Iruka-sensei smiled in good humor as he stood in front of Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke. "All three of you are in team 7."

The rest of the females in the class screamed in alarm while the males chucked manically. Sakura stoically stared back at Iruka and Naruto's head was turned to the side, staring at the window, obviously not listening.

Sasuke, on the other hand, immediately jumped to his feet and squealed in delight. "Yes! We are going to be best friends! Forever!" And then proceeded to try to hug his new teammates. Tried to, as Sakura moved out of the way. Naruto's conscious wasn't even in the classroom and Sasuke finally managed to get his cute little hands around him after all these years.

Iruka face palmed himself and sighed loudly. This was going to be an interesting combination.