Disclaimer: i do not own Naruto ar any of its haracters, just the plot. and the OC's.
Title: Bearing an Hourglass
Author:fourthfireshadow
Language:English
Form:Multi-Chaptered
Genre:Romance/Adventue
Rating:T
Warning:swearing and lemons(later chapters)
Pairing: Sakura Haruno/Sasuke Uchiha, Kushina Uzumaki/Minato Namikaze
Summary: What would you do if you found out you are one of the only two people exclusively chosen to trade your existing time line for another one to fix past mistakes, so that the entire fate of the ninja word effectvely lies on your shoulders in just a single minute? That's what Sakura and Sasuke have to figure out.
Poll: Okay, quick question. who would you rather be a jinchuriki? Kushina or Sakura? please vote!
Bearing an Hourglass
by fourthfireshadow
Chapter 2-A Time Line Accepted
Five academy children stared at the commotion that was happening on the streets of Konoha from the academy training grounds. The refugees of Uzushiogakure had finally reached the village, and what a pitiful sight they were. The whole group that had entered through the massive Konohagakure gates was downtrodden and looked clearly exhausted, most of them covered in soot or dried blood.
The sidelines of the streets were filled with people, both civilians and shinobi alike. While a portion of the crowd were there because of the ties Konoha had with the land of Whirlpool, most were there to see the Hokage himself as he came to greet the survivors. The Hokage seldom came to the common grounds, so it'd be a rare sight for the civilians.
Of the five children, a girl with short choppy dark green hair and eyes the color of chocolate wearing a simple grey tunic narrowed her eyes as she saw the Hokage bending down to talk to a small child who was hiding behind the legs of his clearly fatigued mother. The child was staring at the Hokage with large saddened eyes as he peeped out from between her legs.
"I still don't get why they had to come here, of all places." She said, her eyes still narrowed at the supposedly heart-warming scene.
"Tch. You're just jealous they're getting special attention from the Hokage himself, Kimura." A boy who was lying down on the grass with his eyes closed—the only one not interested in the welcoming of the refugees, instead opting to take a nap—drawled lazily from his position.
"Shut up, Nara." The girl, Reika Kimura, retorted back hotly as she crossed her twig-like arms in front of her. "That's so not it. I just meant that now, there'll be more people to look after. As if safety wasn't already a major concern here."
"It'll be good for the village to have more people on this side. Stop over analyzing, Kimura. And can you please let a boy sleep." Shikaku Nara groaned as he curled up in a fetal position, as if to shield himself from the annoying voices.
"It does seem like a lot of civilians..." a portly boy with spiky brown hair and swirls on his chubby cheeks muttered half-heartedly as he munched down on his crispy chips.
"Exactly Choza! I mean, Konoha won't be Konoha if half the people living here are foreigners. They'll overtake us and get free money and food and houses and stuff. And it's not like they'd do anything for us! Seriously, I think—"
"They're not all civilians, though." A skinny boy with bright spiky blonde hair and eyes as blue and clear as the sky interrupted the ranting girl gently. He fidgeted with the hoodie of his white and green jumpsuit slightly as he looked on at the refugees from his spot on an iron balustrade, his blue eyes staring in quiet interest at the only whirlpool shinobi in the group. There was less than a handful.
"What are you talking about? They all—"
"He means there're shinobi too, you troublesome girl."
"Ugh! Urusai, Nara!—"
Minato Namikaze completely ignored the squabbling pair as he stared at the refugees. As he scanned the group, he realized there were many children present. They'd most likely be enrolled in the academy, he imagined. Most of them were probably fresh orphans without any parents. Though he did wonder where all the other shinobi had gone. This couldn't be the full count of the shinobi of Whirlpool.
Minato didn't know much about that place other than it bordered the sea and encompassed a few small islands – and between those islands swirled the biggest whirlpools in the world. Of course, he had learnt during history classes at the academy that Uzushiogakure was one of Konoha's greatest allies, but that was the extent of how much he knew.
As his eyes moved from one refugee to the next, he grew sadder and sadder at the plight of these people. He may only be nine, but he already knew how it felt to lose a parent. His father had died due to a terminal illness just recently. Imagining losing his mother as well was not something he could. And here was a gaggle of children who'd lost both.
Suddenly, his blue eyes locked in on two girls he had missed before. He briefly wondered just how he could've missed them, seeing as one had hair as red as blood and the other one had pink hair. His mind whirled in childish fascination as to how a person could attain pink hair. That set them both apart from the others.
But then he remembered why they'd caught his attention in the first place. They were the only children in the group who weren't crying.
In fact, they looked pretty much fine. Both of them were looking around with mild interest and listening to the welcoming speech of the Sandaime and the chattering of the Konoha officials and chunin taking down their information with just that.
Mild interest.
It was a bit surprising, considering their village was just destroyed.
In fact, if it weren't for the tenseness in the redhead's posture or the weariness in the pinkette's gaze, he would've thought the pair was totally immune to the happenings around them. He couldn't make out anything else about them from the distance he was in. he fleetingly pondered if those two would be the few whirlpool children who'd join the academy.
"Minato-kun! Uchiha-kun! Come on, recess is over!" Reika shouted from across the field to the only two children left on the grounds.
Startled, as he hadn't even heard the bell, he jumped down from the balustrade with ease, shooting one last look at the two girls.
"Aah—sorry! You guys go on, I'll catch up!"
He looked at the quiet Uchiha who had been next to him the whole time. He hadn't said a single thing about the refugees. Not that surprising; he never did like to talk. However, he was a bit surprised to see the sharp profile of the dark haired boy staring deeply at the group of refugees with dark eyes lit with something akin to shock and confusion…and hope. Minato hadn't seen the Uchiha show that much intensity and interest at anything before as long as he's known him.
Minato hadn't known that Uchiha Sasuke was staring at the same thing that had caught his own attention. Or rather, one of the people who had caught his interest. Sasuke's attention had been caught the moment he spotted the blot of pink in the group of refugees that entered Konoha.
"Sasuke, c'mon. Sensei'll be angry if we're late."
Pink. Pink. Pink.
There was only one person with pink hair he knew...and he was a little too hardened to believe in coincidences anymore…
Could it really be...? Maybe.
"...I'm coming."
He'd find out soon enough.
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"I hate the looks. The looks of pity and-and fake sympathy! I don't want it! Any of it." Kushina said angrily as she forcefully folded the ratty bedspread. It was thin and didn't really help to keep warm but at least it was something.
Sakura just nodded along at the redhead's tirade as she looked out the window kept open due to the lack of air conditioning. All the Whirlpool refugees had been transferred to an old building in downtown Konoha, where all the civilian parts were. The building was a run-down one, with a small front yard that looked mostly more brown than green. Originally, Kushina and her were supposed to be housed with the social service centre but Kushina had loudly protested living there so they got their own apartment. She knew this particular block as she had lived in a town square similar to this in her early childhood days too.
But this was not a place where shinobi were supposed to live. The shinobi equipment stalls were on the other side, the ninja academy was miles away from here and the Hokage tower itself was very far. But, she sighed, it was good fortune they even got a place to live in.
She glanced sideways at Kushina. She can still see the solemn and melancholy aura all around her but neither one of them was bringing that subject up. She was aware the whole situation was much more harder on the redhead than it was on her, but that didn't mean it hurt any less. But she wasn't going to ask the other girl about it. She'd just wait for her to come talk. Kushina was like Naruto in that aspect, or rather the other way around. She'd just smile a fake one and deflect it.
But then again, she can't say she's any better in that area.
"I know, Kushi. I know. Just don't look at them, kay?" Sakura finally interrupted her long yet truthful rant, "cuz one day we'll prove to them we're not some charity case, right?"
Kushina finally broke out into a dimpled smile, her blue-green eyes slightly sparkling, "Yosh! We'll show them, ttebane! We'll be two of the most powerful ninjas they've ever seen!"
The pinkette chuckled as she widened her eyes and waved her arms half-heartedly, "uh, let's not go that far yet, Kushi."
"No, Kura-chan, I'm tellin' ya! One day we'll get the right kind of ack-akno-ac—"
"…acknowledgement?"
"—right! Acknoly-whatever from these people when we're two of the most powerful ninjas they have! And then we'll move out of this ratty apartment." Kushina scowled at the dirty and small place, "I mean, seriously, I thought I saw a rat or something there. Ugh."
Sakura simply smiled. "Mhmm. One day."
"Right!"
"Right, well, c'mon. we're gonna go to the academy right now. I wanna get application forms so we can enter from tomorrow onwards." Sakura said as she slipped on her shoes.
Kushina gasped and groaned at the thought of school. "so fast! Why, Kura?! We haven't even gotten ramen yet, ttebane!"
Sakura whirled around, her green eyes flashing in amusement, "we only got a limited amount of money from the Hokage and you wanna spend it on ramen?!"
Kushina widened her eyes dramatically, her lips forming a pout as she stared at her older-than-her-by-three and a half-minutes sister with an innocent look, "…but we haven't eaten yet."
Sakura sighed with a smile, quite used to her antics. "…fine, fine—"
"yes!—"
"—after going to the academy though."
"—dammit."
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"This village sure is…different, ne?" Kushina said as she looked around in awe. The houses and buildings were tall, towering over their small bodies, and there seemed to be no end to their path.
Sakura nodded, once again appreciating the beauty of her original village. Uzushiogakure wasn't as large or as modern as Konoha. Of course, people seeing it for the first time would be awe-stricken. But she didn't have time to look around. The village wasn't much different from when she lived here in the future. There were lesser buildings, and lesser pathways, lesser shortcuts, lesser everything really. And of course, two faces were missing on the Hokage Mountain.
One of the main things Sakura noticed though, were the number of Uchiha fans on the backs of the people walking. It was surreal, in a way. When she was actually small, she had never taken notice of how many Uchiha's there actually used to be. To think, the eradication of so many people…no. Not the time.
"C'mon Kushina-chan, hurry up! We can look at the scenery later! Don't you want your ramen?"
Kushina's eyes widened. "you're right! C'mon, let's go and get ramen!"
Luckily, Sakura was able to catch Kushina's sleeve before she rushed off, "After going to the academy, baka!"
She just smiled sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her neck, "…r-right! That's where I was going! Honest. Uhh, lead the way, Kura-chan!"
Sakura sighed at her behavior as she walked down the familiar path to the ninja academy. Honestly, getting Kushina away from ramen is a job worth paying for. She grumbled obscenities under her breath that a girl of her age wasn't really supposed to know but she didn't really care about that right now. Or the slightly scared face behind her. Sakura really hated her small body right about now. She never really noticed how annoying it was to constantly side-step feet of all sizes. Especially now that those feet looked like they could crush her like a bug.
After a few more minutes of carefully walking, her green eyes caught sight of the kanji for fire—the sign for the ninja academy. Sighing in relief, she turned around to face her sister, eyes shining in excitement.
"We're here! C'mon!" grabbing hands, they both ran through the entrance of the large stone building on the base of the Hokage tower.
"Where are we supposed to go, ttebane?" Kushina asked loudly. Sakura resisted the urge to rub her ears. She really needed to learn how to control her voice.
"Shut up! We don't need to alert everyone of being here, baka!"
"Hey! Just because you're older than me by a few minutes doesn't mean—"
"Zip it!"
"—but I—"
"Shhh!"
Scowling, Kushina puffed out her cheeks and crossed her small arms as she glared at the pinkette. Sakura rolled her eyes and looked around, trying to find the administration office. Where was it again? It's been so long…
She could see many doors, but she knew those were classrooms. She also remembered the strict no talking policy. And knowing Kushina, they'd be punished for breaking that policy even if they weren't students there.
No hope, Naruto. I understand now I should've blamed your genetics instead of you.
Just then, she saw the leg of someone before it disappeared.
"H-hey!" Sakura called out, knowing he wouldn't hear her. "C'mon!" she grabbed Kushina's sleeve again as she raced after the man. Maybe he could help her find the office.
"Okay, you have got to stop pulling me around, ttebane!"
Sakura, however, ignored her as usual. "Hey mister, wait up! Maybe you can help us!"
Thankfully, the man stopped and turned around. His eyes widened as he saw two small kids in the deserted hallway. "hey, why aren't you kids in class? Are you bunking them?"
Kushina's eyes widened at the stern tone of the stranger while Sakura shook her head abruptly, pink hair flying around. "No! No, you've got it all wrong. You see, we came here to apply to the ninja academy. We're new…" she explained hesitantly.
The man's violet eyes immediately softened as he saw the kids in a new light, "so, you're Whirlpool's refugees?"
Kushina's chubby fists immediately clenched and she could feel her face starting to go red at the man's change of behavior. Sakura gave a pointed look at Kushina before facing the man and nodding once.
"I didn't know there were any shinobi children in the group. And even if there were, I wouldn't have thought you'd want to join so soon after what happe—"
"Yeah, well, we do, kay? So can you just skip all this fake sympathy overload and just take us to the person we actually have to talk to get in, ttebane?!" Kushina burst out, her face completely red.
The man's eyes widened at the outburst. This little brat had no manners at all! Was this how Whirlpool kids were like? And that's when he felt that aura. That scary aura around the little girl that made him feel a little bit fearful of this girl, which was ridiculous, really, but…
Sakura didn't react outwardly. Truthfully, even she was getting a little annoyed at this man's assumptions, and she knew Kushina was going to blow sometime. All the more better it was somewhere where there was no crowd. Though, she could feel a smirk threatening to escape from the man's expression. She guessed it was more from the chakra expelled from the redhead than her words.
Sakura raised her eyebrows lazily at the man. She figured he was creeped out enough.
"T-this way. The administration office is this way…"
Sakura smiled cutely. "Arigatou gozaimasu!"
She inwardly laughed. There. That should make him wary of our mood swings!
They both followed the—genin? chunin? Not a jounin, that's for sure—man through some turns through the brightly lit hallways to a door with a label that says 'Administration' in big bold letters. Sakura thanked the man once again while Kushina glared as they both entered the room.
There was a small mahogany table in front of a small woman who was scribbling something on paper, while another man was talking on the phone. That was it. Sakura looked around in confusion, she doesn't ever remember coming to this part of the academy. Maybe my parents were the ones who came here to get the application forms…
Kushina, on the other hand, didn't hide the fact that she was less than impressed. "Maa, this is it? What're we supposed to do here?"
The woman looked up from her doodling down to the small children with big eyes standing in front of her desk. Her red painted lips curved in annoyance. "What'd you brats want?"
Kushina and Sakura exchanged a glance before the pinkette talked, "um, we want to apply to the academy." She paused, "Please."
"Don't they all?" the woman snorted before reaching down to one of the drawers and pulling out two sets of papers and slamming them on the desk. "okay, these are the application forms. Fill out all of the questions correctly and follow the instructions. If you lose'em, you're not getting another one. Got it?"
Sakura raised an eyebrow at the lady's tone. "…hai?" Were these people always rude? Wow.
"…what're you still here for?" the lady asked as she saw the brats were still there and gave them both a pen, " Go fill those out and give'em back to me."
"We're going, we're going," Kushina mumbled, "old hag."
Sakura looked at her, amused, before sitting down on one of the chairs. She gave one set of papers to Kushina and kept one for herself. The questions were to write down their basic information, like names, age, date of birth, blood type, height and weight etc. They were all filled out pretty easily. One thing that caught her attention was the Admission requirement.
Admission Requirements for Konoha's Academy
1. Love the village and hope to help preserve peace and prosperity
2. Have a mind that will not yield, able to endure hard training and work.
3. Be healthy in mind and body.
If only those requirements were thoroughly looked for in the academy students, most of the problems she'd faced in the future, wouldn't have been problems…
After finishing the questions and keeping the paper with the rules and regulations with themselves, they obediently gave the papers to the cranky old hag, as named appropriately by Kushina. The cranky old hag checked through everything, her brown eyes resting on one particular spot on the paper—Sakura was pretty sure it was the blank filled with their previous village— before moving on and stamping some seal on the papers before giving it back to them.
"Go to class 1A and ask for Tadashi-sensei. He'll be the one taking the exam to see if you should start from the bottom or if you can advance to the class with students your age."
"Start from the bottom?! No way, ttebane! We're gonna kick his ass, right Sakura-chan?" Kushina rambled in hope.
The cranky old hag rolled her eyes, "you're not going to fight him, gaki. He's just going to see if you're qualified. Sheesh."
"Who're you callin' gaki, old hag?!" Kushina yelled back.
Sakura rolled her eyes in exasperation and pulled Kushina towards the door before she says something else that'd get them in trouble.
"Okay, thankyousomuchBye!"
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"okay, 1A…1B, no…um,1C, yes, that's the one."
As she opened the wooden door she could feel the whole classroom going quiet. Sakura really hoped she wouldn't be in this class, they were all practically babies. She could feel Kushina fidgeting behind her. She looked at the teacher.
He had brown straight hair falling over his eyes which were deep navy in color. He had a chunin vest on and the Konoha headband on his forehead. He looked kind and thoughtful. A thinker, not a talker, Sakura mused.
"Tadashi-sensei? The lady from administration sent us here."
She saw the recognition and understanding flash in his eyes before he ordered the class to keep quiet for a few minutes and read some chapter on Konoha's history with a surprisingly deep voice before coming out to meet them. One thing's for sure, Sakura thought dryly, he looked way more intimidating than Iruka ever did. Then again, Iruka never screamed at me.
Closing the door behind him, he looked down at the two of them. "so, you're new applicants?"
Not saying anything, she just shoved her papers at the tall person, making Kushina do the same. Sakura could feel a tic forming in her jaw; she truly hated how short she was, she really did. It was ridiculous! She only came up to this guy's hip!
"Whirlpool, huh? Well that's new." The guy said, almost wistfully, before turning to look at them with a reassuring smile. Wow. Ino would've had a heart attack at this guy's smile.
"Well, let's see how much you know, yeah?"
He led them to the academy training grounds. Thankfully, no one was there right now, probably in classes. There were wooden dummies with targets all around, with one or two obstacle courses set up. Mats were set up for spars. There was a box full of blunt kunais and shurikens for aiming practice. Sakura and Kushina looked at the instructor as he started to talk.
"Right, now I'm going to see what each one of you can do. The students in the academy are all being offered tuition on the both the theoretical as well as the practical part of being a ninja. The other students of your age are in class 3 right now. We are going to see if you both are qualified to go directly to class 3 or if you have to start from class 1, which is alright but the others will be younger than you."
Kushina scoffed, insulted at the thought of starting from the bottom. Who did he think he was, acting like a hotshot? Sakura simply smirked. To show off or not to show off?
Tadashi looked up from the papers in his hand and looked at the pair of brats. He inwardly smiled at the determined look in their similar eyes. Well, well…
"So, care to show me what an Uzumaki can do?"
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Report
Name- Kushina Uzumaki
Age- 9
Date of birth- July 10
Gender- female
Height- 131.2 cm
Weight- 32 kg
Blood type- B
Affiliation- Uzushiogakure, Konohagakure
Clan- Uzumaki clan
Family- One sibling, Parents deceased
Comments- average weapon aim. Molding chakra is blow average to average. Taijutsu-above average-not standard form. Easily distracted and loud. High will power and determination. Not afraid to voice out her thoughts. Unusually high stamina and endurance. High chakra levels. Advanced enough to be in class 3 with other peers her age directly. High untapped potential. Shows promise to be a worthy shinobi.
Result- QUALIFIED- class 3C
Report
Name- Sakura Uzumaki
Age- 9
Date of birth- July 10
Gender- Female
Height- 134.7 cm
Weight- 31 kg
Blood type- O
Affiliation- Uzushiogakure, Konohagakure
Clan- Uzumaki clan
Family- One sibling, parents deceased
Comments- flawless weapon aim. Above average taijutsu- swift and agile. More quieter and observant. Perceptive. Seems to show promise for genjutsu and ninjutsu. High intelligence and speed. Unusually high stamina, endurance and chakra levels. Filled with potential. In the league of a prodigy.
Result- QUALIFIED- class 3C
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Sarutobi Hiruzen placed the reports of the two newest recruits of the academy on the table in front of him and looked up to meet unflinching pale grey eyes. He suppressed a sigh at the old woman's raised grey eyebrow. This woman never failed to give him a hard time, really. Maybe crabby attitudes came hand-in-hand with being old?
"So, you're not going to reveal yourself to them? Your only remaining relatives?" he questioned, skeptical at that plan.
"Of course not! Not right now, there's no need for it." The lady said with narrowed eyes, the crow's feet by her eyes visible as her eyebrows furrowed.
Mito Uzumaki sat across the Sandaime, thin and pale. Though she looked old and withered with only a few strands of auburn left in her head of silver hair, no one could deny the power this woman emitted, or the respect her posture demanded. She was every bit the Shodaime's wife, the first lady, now as she was then.
"But they are the only two candidates to be your successor in housing the jinchuuriki. Don't you think they have a right to know? Don't you believe they need to know the reason the both of them were brought here to Konoha instead of being sent somewhere else?" Hiruzen pressed, not really reassured by the first lady's choice, "after all, they have gone through so much, and now on top of that—"
"Hush, Hiruzen-kun. I know what I am doing. I cannot be hasty in this," Mito said irritably, then sighed wearily as she glanced at the reports of the two Uzumaki children, "I will reveal myself eventually, after all, it has to be done soon. The transition."
Hiruzen sighed too, saddened at the thought, but also knowing it was important for the welfare of the village. It was a very conflicting matter-the whole procedure.
"So, what is your plan, exactly?"
"Well, they do uphold their Uzumaki blood, with the high stamina and chakra, that's hardly uncommon with us…I plan to divulge the Uzumaki secret techniques once I am acquainted with them, to both of them. Regardless of who is going to be the next jinchuuriki." The aged woman said with a small smile and lazily opened eyes.
The Sandaime's eyes widened minimally at that. "the Uzumaki secrets to both of them? You are going to train them?"
"Yes, I—" the Shodai's wife paused, before looking up, "I want to pass on the Uzumaki legacy to the next generation of them. After all, after I die, they all would be lost. This way, I can be assured that the legacy lives on."
Hiruzen nodded thoughtfully before running a hand through his short spiky hair. He finally looked her in the eye and asked the question of which the answer ultimately lied in her hands.
"Who are you going to choose?"
Mito paused at the question, knowing the answer wouldn't be so easy. Her withered lips pursed as she fingered the coarse papers again. She had never met either one of them; she was only basing a description from these reports. On one hand, she had Kushina Uzumaki, a loud and boisterous girl with a big mouth and a bigger heart. On the other—her eyes fell on the report that had spiked her curiousity—Sakura Uzumaki. Seemingly, a prodigy.
She couldn't resolve her decision based on someone else's observations for something like this though. So when she looked up to the eyes of the young Hokage, she answered as honestly as she could.
"At this point, I really do not know."
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She didn't exactly know why she was so nervous, but as Kushina gazed at the dozens of curious, confused and most of all judging eyes staring back at her, she grimaced at the fluttering wishy-washy feeling in her stomach. It was a feeling she never wanted to feel in her life, that feeling of insecurity. But as soon as she felt it, she also felt it disappear. Why was she so nervous?! She was never this nervous! But still…the insecurities weren't going away…! She felt like fidgeting with the hem of her mesh top.
Sakura wasn't faring much better either, she noticed, with the way she was grimacing at the hand placed on her shoulder by the instructor; but she looked better than her, Kushina thought glumly, as always.
"Class, we have two transfer students joining the academy today. They will be your classmates from now on. Treat them kindly." The chunin instructor—Tadashi-sensei—said to the class.
"I'm Uzumaki Kushina, dattebane!" Kushina blurted out loudly as soon as he stopped talking. She gasped as she realized what she did and covered her mouth quickly, her eyes darting towards her sister. The classroom immediately erupted into loud whispers all around her.
"…look at the color of their hair…"
"…how can anyone have hair like that?..."
"…the one with the red hair looks like a tomato…"
"…her hair's really weird…"
"…it's pink!..."
"…the red one's hair looks like blood…"
Kushina could feel her face getting warmer as she felt a rare sting in her eyes, indicating the tears. She futilely tried to cover herself with her long hair—the object of the whispers at that second. The last one almost did it in.
"…who would ever go out with someone who looks like a tomato…"
Rip.
Tear-filled blue-green eyes widened as she looked at the boy who had uttered that last comment. His own ashen face slowly, almost mechanically looked down at his blue shirt sleeve. A neat long tear now appeared on the sleeve that was fine just a moment ago. They eyes then travelled to the senbon that was now embedded on the pale wall behind him.
"…You can say whatever you want about me, but say something about her and you answer to me." Sakura said, her voice quiet yet edged with steel. The whole classroom was silent as they all stared at the pinkette.
She finally lifted her blue-green eyes to look at the boy almost lazily and a small amused smirk appeared on her thin lips. "My name's Sakura Uzumaki. Consider this a warning."
Kushina couldn't utter anything even if she wanted to. That just looked…so cool. Her sister effectively silenced the whole class. She really wanted to hug her, but she also kinda stole the whole spotlight, didn't she? Don't get her wrong, she was really grateful that Sakura stuck up for her, but did she have to look so cool while doing it? Now she looked like the wimp! No way.
"And just so ya know, I'm gonna be the village's first female Hokage, ttebane!" Kushina yelled out, clenching her fists as she looked at everyone with a determined gaze. Why was it that she could actually feel her sisters eye roll at her proclamation?
Just then, a boy hesitantly stood up from the farthest right of the classroom. Kushina's attention fell on the boy as she inspected him. He was shorter than most, she noted, with spiky and long vivid blond hair and the brightest blue eyes she had ever seen, kind of like the sea or the sky.
"I want to become Hokage too," the boy said with a warm grin directed at her, "who will be admired by everyone in the village too!"
Kushina could feel her frown growing at the boy's own proclamation. Pfft! He looks girly and undependable. Who does he think he's kidding? He looks like a flake!
At that time, never would she have guessed that this flaky boy would go on to become one of the greatest legends of the world.
Crossing her small arms, she dismissed the sunny boy immediately and glanced at the boy sitting next to him. The boy's whole posture screamed on edge. He had dark hair and dark eyes and dark clothing; all in all, dark. But there was something about him that just demanded attention or respect, just like sunny boy—she reluctantly admitted. But that wasn't why the boy had caught her childlike attention.
No, the reason he had caught her attention was because the boy was staring down intensely with something akin to shock and acceptance in his dark eyes. But he wasn't staring at her, or her hair. No, he was staring unabashedly at her sister.
And her sister was staring back at him just as intensely with a myriad of emotions alternating in her green-blue eyes.
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