"Sakura! You have a guest!"
Sharing a confused look with Shisui, the newly minted Gennin made her way downstairs to greet whoever was visiting her, half expecting the person to be Naruto or the others.
Instead, she saw a stranger. He had green hair and purple eyes, something which should have been odd if Sakura hadn't have weird hair and eye coloring herself. Sakura deduced that the man was a Jonin judging by his vest.
"Ah, you must be Sakura." The shinobi said with a polite smile. "I'm Aoi Rokusho and from now on I'm your sensei."
"Never heard of him before." Shisui bluntly said.
Sakura resisted the urge to scold Shisui for his lack of manners and instead returned Aoi's smile with her own polite one. "I'll be in your care then. Is the rest of the team here as well?"
"With hair and eyes like his, you'd think he'd be noteworthy enough for me to remember passing him or something." Sakumo muttered loudly.
Sakura's smile twitched slightly.
"Shisui-san, Sakumo-san! You two are being disrespectful to Sakura-chan's sensei." Rin scolded.
Sakura mentally thanked the brunette.
"Ah, no. I'm actually here to pick you up so we can meet them at the academy." Aoi informed turning around to leave.
"He kinda seems to be around Kakashi's age. Was he a classmate of yours or something?" Sakumo asked Rin.
Rin thoughtfully hummed. "Probably, but I don't remember him at all. "
'Not you too Rin-sensei...' Sakura thought with a sweat drop as she followed after her new teacher. She made sure to observe her teacher with keen eyes, from the way he moved down to the way he breathed.
"Sakura-chan, err, may I call you that?" Aoi asked.
Sakura absently nodded, not caring how her sensei addressed her. As much as she hated to admit it, her three companions were right. Her sensei really is unremarkable. Even Shikamaru was more remarkable than him, and that was saying something considering how lazy the pineapple haired boy was.
'Great, we got stuck with a no-name sensei...' Inner grumbled.
"Well, usually shinobi decide to specialize in something. For example Kurenai, a fellow shinobi, specializes in Genjutsu. Your former teacher Iruka specializes in traps. One of your soon to be teammates specializes in tracking and so on. I was wondering what you'd like to specialize in?"
Sakura gave a thoughtful hum. "I'm not sure yet. Maybe Ninjutsu? Or Taijutsu? I like everything really. How about you sensei?"
"I'm good with senbon, but aside from that I'm well-rounded. You should think about specialization though." With another kind smile, the two fell into an amicable silence which neither tried to break.
"You already specialize in something though." Shisui said walking next to Sakura. "You specialize in ghost seeing!" He grinned at her.
Sakura cracked a smile.
Damn right she did.
-o0o-o0o-
"Please, you'll probably quit after a week." A feminine voice scoffed.
"Yeah? Well, your mutts will probably have to rescue you left and right." A masculine voice said.
"What are you implying?"
"Isn't it obvious princess?"
Aoi sighed. This is why he didn't want to become a teacher. To avoid the children's stupidity and bluntly said he didn't like kids. He barely even tolerated his fellow Leaf shinobi who were all about preaching their will of fire. Ha, will of fire? Aoi didn't buy that crap.
A quiet cough earned his attention.
'Well at least she doesn't seem to be like the other two.' Aoi acknowledged the youngest member of his team. He predicted that the only one he'll remotely get along with is Sakura. Which he didn't expect considering she was the youngest, but it looked like she was the most responsible.
He opened the door to reveal his other two students.
"Alright, that's enough." He calmly said making the two stop bickering. "From now on we're a team and though I don't expect us all to get along, we should at least be able to tolerate each other." No way was he giving a speech about how important teamwork was or crap like that.
"Um, sensei? Maybe we should all introduce ourselves." Sakura suggested from his right.
"Right, good idea. Academy protocol. My name's Aoi Rokusho. I like reading and swords. I dislike pointless bickering. My hobbies are cooking and training. My goal is to make sure you three reach Chunnin as soon as possible." So I can escape from you brats.
He nodded at Ibiki Morino's little brother to continue. "Right! My name's Idate Morino. I like training, eating, sleeping and playing games. I don't like my brother or the T&I. My hobbies are playing games, training and pranking my brother. One day, I'm going to become the head of Anbu!"
'Inferiority complex and brother complex. With how loud he is, I doubt he'll even make it to Jonin.' Outwardly Aoi merely gave the boy a kind smile before nodding towards the older girl.
"I'm Hana Inuzuka. I like helping my family out, medical ninjutsu and my ninken. I dislike idiots like Idate. My hobbies are helping my little brother train and helping out at the vet. I'm not sure what I want to do yet."
'Not your typical Inuzuka. Too soft to actually make it far.' Aoi thought as Idate glared at the girl.
"Ah, you're Kiba's big sister then? He's told me so much about you." Sakura smiled at the older girl.
"Then you must be one of Kiba's new friends. Thanks for taking care of that knucklehead."
"Anytime."
Aoi coughed, deciding to cut in. "Last, but not least, Sakura."
"Ah, right. I'm Sakura Haruno. I like training, my friends, history and pretty much everything. I don't really dislike much stuff. My hobbies are training and hanging out with my friends. My dream is..." Here, she glanced to the side contemplatively. "I have lots of dreams. But mainly, I just want to help my friends achieve theirs."
Aoi's smile twitched slightly. "That's admirable."
Perhaps he was wrong. Maybe he and Sakura won't get along.
"What now Aoi-sensei?" Idate asked.
"How about your first mission?"
Idate and Hana shared excited looks while Sakura and her companions frowned.
"Isn't it a bit soon sensei?"
"I think you're all ready."
Sakura slumped over her seat, feeling exhausted. As it turned out her first mission with her team had been to weed a garden. Sounds simple, right? Except Hana and Idate seemed to have a knack for getting under the other's nose and had practically weeded the wrong plants. As a result Aoi-sensei and her had to apologize repeatedly to the owner.
As punishment Aoi-sensei had them running laps till they dropped. Including Sakura who hadn't done anything wrong, under the excuse of her failing to keep Hana and Idate under control. Sakura suspected that her sensei simply had a sadistic side.
Shisui on the other hand, was definitely a sadist. After her "training" with Team Aoi, Shisui hadn't taken any pity on her. In fact, he had pushed her harder. Making her use two fire ball jutsu before continuing with Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu.
Heck, Sakumo even tried to get her started with Kenjutsu.
It was Rin, bless the girl's pure heart, that took pity on her and forced the other two to call it a day.
So there Sakura was, waiting for her friend to arrive. (She used the word friend quite tentatively.)
"Sorry I'm late." Said friend apologized slipping into the seat across from her.
"It's alright Kabuto-sempai." Sakura tiredly smiled as Kabuto ordered two glasses of water.
"How was your team?"
Sakura sighed. "They're..interesting. Hana-chan's kind but she has a temper. Idate's pretty hot headed and I swear Aoi-sensei is secretly a sadist."
Kabuto gave her a pitying smile. "I'm assuming Hana is the Inuzuka heiress, correct? Though from what I've heard she doesn't have any intention on taking on the role of clan head. Idate...hmm..Morino?"
"Yes. Why?"
"That's interesting, he's the commander officer of the T&I's little brother. As for your sensei..what was his name again?"
"Aoi Rokusho." Sakura answered perking up a little, one thing she knew about Kabuto was that Kabuto was a gossiper, believe it or not.
"Haven't heard of him."
Sakura couldn't help but snort.
Yep.
It seems like her sensei really was that unremarkable.
"But the combination...to put it bluntly, your team is pretty unbalanced. A tracker, a dead last and a well rounded prodigy." Kabuto thoughtfully hummed. "It's a disaster waiting to happen."
Sakura sighed in agreement.
Sakura stood in front of Ichiraku ramen, waiting for her friends. Her headband was pocketed away in her pouch and she was steeling herself to deliver the news to her friends.
One by one, they all started appearing.
"Sakura-chan, is something wrong?"
Sakura forced herself to relax, realizing too late that she was really tense. "I just have news." She vaguely said giving Naruto an assuring smile.
"Kiba's late." Ino grumbled crossing her arms.
"We should start without him." Choji suggested, his stomach agreeing with a growl.
That earned a chuckle from Shikamaru.
"Arf!"
The group's attention shifted to Kiba and Akamaru who were running towards them. Kiba having a wide eyed expression. "Sakura!" He yelled pointing an accusing finger at the girl. "Why didn't you tell us you're a ninja?!"
That made Sakura freeze.
She felt everyone's attention on her.
"Sakura...?" Ino mumbled.
"Is that true?" Naruto asked.
Sakura gulped and resisted the urge to punch Kiba. "How about some ramen? My treat." She said walking over and taking a seat on one of the many stools. Soon enough her friends joined her, with Naruto and Ino sitting on either side of her. Kiba sat on Naruto's other side while Shikamaru and Choji sat on Ino's other side.
"Three days ago, I took the graduation exam." Sakura started after they had all order something. "Two days ago, I got this." She placed her headband on the counter, earning surprised noises from most of her friends. "Yesterday I met my team. I'm assuming Hana-san told you that part already." She glanced at Kiba who nodded while staring at the headband. "I was planning on telling you all today, on my own." She gave Kiba a pointed look before huffing.
The first person to react was Shikamaru, who promptly gave her a curt nod. "I guess I should congratulate you. It'll be troublesome without you around to keep Naruto in check."
Sakura gave him a guilty smile in return.
"I'm actually not that much surprised, you are the best out of us Academy students, or were at least." Choji said as he drooled over the prospect of eating ramen. "I have an important question though. Is you treating us going to become a regular thing?"
Sakura blinked before chuckling. "Well, depends on how much I get paid."
In response Choji smiled at her.
Suddenly she felt someone aiming to hit her and promptly grabbed that person-Ino's-wrist. "Ino-chan?" Sakura asked in surprise as Ino glared at her.
"Who did you tell first?" Ino quietly asked as Sakura released her wrist.
Sakura blinked. "My sempai."
"Why?"
"Huh?"
"I'm your best friend! You should have told me first. Heck, you should have told me you were planning on graduating early too! We're best friends." Tears were gathering in the corner of Ino's eyes.
Sakura felt like she had been slapped in the face.
She didn't think about telling Ino at all. The thought never even crossed her mind.
"Best friends don't keep secrets." With those words Ino ran off.
Sakura winced. With the secrets she's been keeping lately, could she even call Ino her best friend?
"I'm sorry Ino-chan..." She muttered clenching her fists, but she didn't chase after her. She knew that only excuses and empty promises would escape her mouth if she did and Ino didn't deserve that.
"She'll get over it eventually." Choji assured.
"She's just being troublesome." Shikamaru agreed.
"Sorry Sakura, I probably should have let you tell us on your own. Maybe Ino wouldn't have reacted like that then." Kiba apologized.
Sakura waved him off. "She would have been mad either way."
"But looks like you're closer to becoming Hokage than a certain someone right?" Kiba smirked.
Sakura blinked, remembering that Naruto was there as well and expecting him to react the same way Ino did. She turned her attention towards the Uzumaki, prepared to apologize only to be met with a grin.
"That's great Sakura-chan! Just you wait, I'll graduate soon and I'll catch up to you. There's no way I'm giving up the tittle of Hokage that easily!"
Slowly, a smile formed on Sakura's lips.
"I won't let you catch up with me that easily."
Chapter End.
Author's Note: Well, that was that. Couldn't have everyone reacting positively to Sakura's news. Besides, it's about time Ino and Sakura's friendship develop. Next chapter will probably be dedicated to Team Aoi.
Questions:
1. Who will Sakura get along with most in her new team?
2. Will Ino and Sakura remain best friends?
TUNE IN NEXT TIME ON-
SHUT UP!
-Inherited Will of Fire.