Disclaimer: i do not own Naruto are any of its characters, 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 effectively lies on your shoulders in just a single minute? That's what Sakura and Sasuke have to figure out.
Dedicated to:
agirlwhothinksalot, PsychoBates , Meech Macko, GalanthaDreams, , Nessa671 , socialgirl378 , Jelly-Me, Mystery Day Dreamer , tika kaika, Freefan1412, LovelyScarletBlossom-16, the-clumsy-one, guest , ashesremain , krewellarox , nonchalant and nostalgic , Salinia , Darth Lelouch, Lucia Tsukiyomi-hime , Hektols, VanillaSparkle, StarKiss666, JLgods01, littlepocky, sereneskydragonslayer, SasuSakuKawaii , Ron the First, Silvanon of the Orchard, Duesal10, treavellergirl
There were more than thirty five reviews for the last chapter, and for that I love you all! I hope this chapter will be just as successful!
Note: I'm sorry this chapter was so late! More than a month, I know. But exams caught up to me and I couldn't even touch the computer for a long, long time. i reposted this chapter with all the names of the reviewers because i felt it wasnt right without the proper dedication.
P.S: i know many people are either okay with the desicion of Sakura being the jinchuuriki, excited over it or not okay with it. but the final result was based on your votes. i hope everyone will be able to accept the result and enjoy the story regardless if it was your choice or not. thank you and review!
Bearing an Hourglass
by fourthfireshadow
Chapter 6-A Timeline Domino Placed
Sakura couldn't help but wish that she had someone with her right now to hold her hand.
She was lying on her back on a cold metallic cot, the ceiling in her direct vision. Not that she could make out much, since the room was very dark and had little to no light. Though the facts she did make out was that the room was completely sterile and very well cleaned judging from the antiseptic smell wafting through her nostrils.
None of this made her feel even a smite better for being in this position. Especially not the cold biting into her back.
Sakura could vaguely sense the presence of others in the room with her, and tried not to feel anything when none spoke or even tried to comfort the little girl whose life was undoubtedly going to change after this session.
Her ears picked up the noise of the door opening and softly shutting, though she did not move to glance at the new person. Honestly, she knew she shouldn't be so emotional, shouldn't make herself into a victim, but it was harder than she'd thought.
Her light eyes hardened; no, she couldn't think like that. She was going to go through this, make the best of it and come through the other side fighting. She'd swear it.
Finally relaxing just a little, she shifted her head to look at the cot next to hers. The old Uzumaki looked like she was sleeping, when in fact, Sakura knew the woman just had her eyes closed to block out the rest of the world, something Sakura wished she herself could do.
Lifting her gaze from Mito, it fell on the individuals standing by the wall, utterly quiet. She could vaguely see two were woman while the rest were men. One was obviously the Hokage while she couldn't really recognize the others.
Resisting the urge to sigh, she turned her head back uncomfortably, her pink hair fanning out all around her.
She wondered how Kushina was faring. The girl had been beyond hysterical when Mito had come to escort Sakura for the sealing session. While she was sad to leave her sister in that state, she was glad the redhead would not have to see the procedure, no matter how much she wanted someone with her.
She was also somewhat glad she had a chance to see Sasuke before coming here. It was just a glance, but that glance had stopped Sasuke from his pace. His silent reassurance meant more than she could convey.
She started when she felt the air whizzing with potent chakra. Sakura swallowed, but prepared herself. Mito and her had worked on the layering seal for a long time before deeming it satisfactory—meaning it might be good enough not to blow up. And for Sakura, that was enough for now.
She didn't know who was doing the sealing procedure now, but Sakura sincerely hoped he knew what he was doing and not mess up.
Her eyes shot to the other cot in worry and fear when she heard a long, drawn out painful moan. Sakura could feel the sting behind her eyes and did nothing to stop the flow of tears. Even if the seal didn't work, she prayed the older woman would come out of this alive. Even though she knew what usually happens to jinchuuriki's after the extraction of the beast.
But Mito Uzumaki was a fighter. And that gave her hope.
It was only when she saw white hair and dark, determined eyes and felt the first vestiges of unbearable pain, did the blackness crowd her vision and pass out.
.
.
.
Sakura couldn't ignore it anymore.
She jumped down from her bed and walked up to the only vanity mirror they had in their small apartment. Thankfully, after a lot of persuasion, she had finally convinced Kushina that she wasn't an invalid and still had a brain she had control over even if she was a jinchuuriki now and had sent a reluctant Kushina outside to do whatever she wanted to do.
Though, internally, Sakura knew she still hadn't really come to terms with it.
Of course, she didn't really act any different. She still talked, she still teased, she still laughed. But something else had hit her—insomnia. It wasn't as severe as Gaara's was, just a mild case of it. Ever since the process was over, she found it extremely hard to get a good sleep. All the memories had come back to the forefront of her mind, her dreams now plagued with the faces of the people she may never know again. The few times she does have a peaceful sleep, she's always afraid it wouldn't last. But she knew having a few eye-bags didn't really matter in the long run if she could still laugh.
She hoped that wouldn't fade away.
Sighing softly, she lifted her plain shirt over the skin of her pale stomach and concentrated a bit of chakra in that area. Her eyes immediately zeroed in on the large black tattoo-like thing on the expanse of her skin, easily reminding her of what exactly was jailed inside of her.
The seal itself was different from the one Naruto had. She could only remember that seal from when she'd seen it on his skin a handful of times. The seal that was used to seal the kyuubi into her was more complex, safer as well as more beneficial to the jailer, that is, her than the one that was used on Naruto.
She had specifically asked Mito to help her design a special seal that could be better than the one that was used. Together, though it was mostly Mito, they designed a quintuplet layering seal that was difficult to make and especially difficult to unlock. The seal dealt with an odd numbered as well as even numbered seal, which was the eight trigrams seal. A quintuplet layering seal locked and unlocked rotation wise with a combination of elemental and neutral chakra. It was made in a way so as to make the seal more effective as well as allowing the jinchuuriki to use some of the jailed tailed-beast's chakra in small doses without much side-effects or backlashes.
The reason why Sakura was so desperate to make a new seal was because she'd seen first-hand how much Naruto had suffered due to the unfairness of it all. She'd seen how much the kyuubi's chakra had affected his own chakra and had seen how both the kyuubi's chakra and his own chakra repelled each other, making it initially very difficult for the blond boy to do any jutsu easily. She'd also seen what happened whenever Naruto lost his sense of control.
She didn't have the luxury to experience any of those setbacks.
Her sea-foam eyes once again looked at the intricate design on her stomach. While the swirl and the two four symbol seals were still there, there was also an eight pointed star over the swirl, the tips meeting each symbol, enforcing the seal once more. Making her concentrated chakra disperse, the seal gradually faded, seemingly infusing into her flesh until her stomach was pale and milky once again. Unblemished.
Sakura sighed once again, not really comprehending her feelings at the moment. She remembered the process of course. It was more painful than she expected it to be, however, she was thankful at whoever had dulled her pain receptors. It had significantly decreased her pain and more or less numbed her through the whole thing, even if she had fallen unconscious somewhere in between. What was more painful to her were Mito's anguished screams throughout the process.
She remembered covering her ears and squeezing her eyes shut, like a child to escape the sounds. She remembered chanting and hoping and praying to whatever other-worldly forces out there to just keep Mito alive. By the end though, as the First Lady's screams lessened to suffering whimpers and defeated cries, Sakura knew her own hope in those forces were waning.
After all, it was pretty hard to keep on believing in a God after seeing and going through the things that she did.
However, against all odds, Mito had survived the abstraction process. This truly proved the speciality of Uzumaki blood. It also sparked in Sakura's mind that even if the kyuubi had been extracted from Naruto, he would've survived. Even though the fact was useless now, it provided her a small semblance of peace.
Her feet automatically led her to the futon, the floor cold and foreign under her feet. No matter how long she stayed here, it never quite felt like home.
The sunlight poured in abundance through the cracked window, bathing the opposite wall in bright, harsh light. Sakura stared unblinkingly at the bright wall, a corner of her mind wondering if she looked a little maniacal at the moment.
The timeline was now irreversibly changed.
She knew the moment both Sasuke and herself had been inserted into this timeline, the dimensions had altered, but she hadn't really seen the whole picture for what it really was. Now that she was the jinchuuriki and not Kushina, she could see what their presence in this timeline was doing.
The facts she knew were going to happen were no more. She had no clue on what will happen now. Before, when Kushina was the jinchuuriki, the kyuubi had been extracted from her when she was pregnant with Naruto, which was approximately twenty years from now, more or less. Then the kyuubi was to wreck havoc and then Minato was forced to seal the kyuubi into his son, thereby ending the destruction and his life subsequently. From thereon, all the dominoes were in place.
But now, Kushina wasn't the jinchuuriki, Sakura was. And due to this major change, in twenty years, even if Kushina does get pregnant, it wouldn't be the catalyst that it was in her own timeline. It would simply be another birth among thousands. Nothing extra-ordinary. Nothing deadly.
Nothing dangerous.
And while this was a note to be happy about, it also put her and Sasuke in a loop. Most of the knowledge they did have of the future had just proved to be expendable. While it would still be useful for other problems, she now had no idea when she'd encounter the masked man, who she knew to be Obito Uchiha.
Her eyes focused on the spidery cracks visible on the off-white ceiling as her mind whirled a mile a minute.
Maybe just to distract herself from the fact that they were now back to square one.
.
.
.
Mikoto Uchiha was having a surprisingly good day.
The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the village was bustling, and no bratty boys were teasing her. It was the perfect day, like something out of the movies. What more could she want? Although it was a little suspicious those Uchiha boys weren't badgering her, she decided it didn't matter for now; after all, today was a special day.
Today was the day the genin teams were going to be decided.
She could hardly keep the blinding smile subdued. She was very excited; finally she's going to start her journey as a ninja and be one step closer to achieving her goal of showing those old Uchiha scumbags that a girl can be just as powerful as boy. And finally, she'd be able to wipe those sexist looks off their wrinkled faces.
...Maybe she was getting a bit ahead of herself. After all, she was only eleven. And she knew she had a long way to go. But still. A feral grin spread on her angelic face, she couldn't wait till that fateful day comes.
Walking down the street in the Uchiha complex, her eyes instantly fell on a boy walking a little distance before her. Her eyebrows furrowed, he looked somewhat similar...
Her eyes widened when she recognised the boy's distinctive hairstyle. It was an Uchiha like her—Sasuke. Of course she knew who he was; anyone who was included in her batch in the academy knew who he was. The star pupil, rookie of the year, the Golden Boy, right up there with Minato Namikaze and Sakura Uzumaki.
Though both of them were from the same clan, they had never talked before. She had atleast exchanged pleasantries—however fake they might've been—with the other Uchiha kids in her class but never him. They had never even crossed each other's paths before.
But she held no grudges for that. Mikoto knew it was difficult in a clan like theirs for a lower class to interact with the higher, even if the rule was really stupid. And she didn't particularly let it bother her he always avoided her. In total honesty, she kind of admired him—not in a fangirl sense, since he already had a lot of them—but because he proved one of the oldest stereotypes of the Uchiha clan completely wrong. He proved that even a child of a lower status in their clan could be stronger than even the child of the highest status. And that too at his age. And for that she couldn't help but applaud him.
But how much ever she wanted to get to know this person, she found she couldn't. Whenever it came to him, she always felt strangely tongue-tied.
He was a bit intimidating, and it didn't help that he always ignored her or avoided her.
Well, now she had a chance. It was up to her to take it. After allowing a moment for the hesitation to fester, she squared her tiny shoulders, determination painted on her face. Never let it be said that Mikoto Uchiha was nervous of anything.
However, as she closed the distance between them, she could feel the earlier uncertainty creeping back. What if he ignored her now too? That'd just be embarrassing, and she may not be nearly as prideful as her family, but that didn't mean she was any less an Uchiha; she still had the decent amount of pride.
Maybe he could be secretly friendly? Her face lit up slightly at that thought before it wilted pathetically as she glanced at the quiet boy in front of her. Considering he spent the majority of his time scowling, that was a foolish hope. Clutching the band of her hitai-ate tighter around her wrist, she figured she should just get this over with.
"Um, hey..."
He didn't stop walking. Mikoto's lips curved downwards at that; didn't he hear her?
"Hey! Sasuke-san? Um, I'm talking to you!" Mikoto called out, jogging slightly to reach him.
She saw him glance back to her fleetingly, before he resumed walking, coolly ignoring her attempts to talk. Mikoto could feel her temper rising at the blatantly rude dismissal. And was he walking faster?
Dark onyx eyes flashing, Mikoto also walked faster until they were side by side. She didn't pay attention to the slight stutter in his step, or the slightly wide-eyed look he sent her. She knew he probably thought of her as another one of his fan girl stalkers, but she didn't care. If he wanted to ignore her, then fine. She'll even play along. But that didn't mean she'll step away just because he was more than slightly intimidating. Nope.
And anyway, both of them were going to the same place, weren't they? So there wasn't any problem. Also, as technically someone of her status wasn't really supposed to talk to someone of his status in the clan, it just made it all the more sweeter for her.
Her eyes uncertainly glanced sideways before darting quickly back to the front at the intensely dark glare the rookie of the year was directing at the sidewalk. Mikoto resisted the urge to gulp. What was he even thinking about? Ways to make her disappear without a trace? She could feel her face getting a little warm—knowing his skills, he could probably make it happen too.
Ok-ay. Maybe bittersweet was more like it.
.
.
.
"Hey, look! There's grumpy! And he looks, well, whaddaya know? He looks grumpy." Kushina said dryly as she rolled her eyes at the boy a few feet away, "and...Looks like he has a friend with him."
At that, the redhead looked at Sakura, an utterly confused expression on her face, "...since when does he have friends?"
"Itai!" Kushina grumbled as pinkette swatted her arm and Minato rolled his eyes, a smile pulling at his lips. He also looked at where the redhead was looking at, blond eyebrows furrowing as he squinted, "hey...doesn't that look like...Mikoto-san?"
"...Who?" Kushina asked, clueless.
But the pinkette didn't hear anything after hearing the name Mikoto. She was sure she'd heard the name before. She knew this name was important, somehow. Where had she heard that name? Mikoto, Mikoto, Miko—
Her eyes also widened as she turned to see this person for herself. Now she remembered how she knew the name. Mikoto Uchiha. The original mother of one Sasuke Uchiha. Her gaze zeroed in on the spiky haired boy, noting the tenseness screaming from his body and the unusual expression on his face.
Her eyes then settled on the girl walking next to him. It wasn't all that hard for the older Uzumaki to imagine this girl to be the mother of her ex-teammate after a decade or so. After all, all of their features were pretty much the same. From the one picture she had seen of Sasuke's family, she'd seen Sasuke had mostly taken after his mother. They had the same skin tone, the same high cheek bones and the same straight, regal nose. Also, Sasuke always did have feminine features, making him a pretty boy.
But now, both of them looked pretty much the same, aside from the obvious gender changes. But even those were somewhat irrelevant now seeing as they were all only ten.
Sakura huffed under her breath, not knowing whether to laugh or look creeped out. Sasuke was walking with the child version of his mother. The woman who looked after him and raised him was now his own age. No wonder he looked like he wanted to drop dead somewhere—not many could tell that though, which was probably why Mikoto was still walking with him. She didn't want to even begin to imagine what that must be like.
A small wry smile tugged at her lips. She should probably go and save him.
"C'mon then. Let's go save her from him." Sakura said, already getting up from her place under the tree that became some sort of spot for the four of them. Minato nodded, also getting up. Kushina groaned as she jumped down from the swing she'd been occupying, "I still don't know who she is..."
As they got closer to the pair, even Kushina noticed the extra strangeness of the typically weird boy. "Hey grumpy!"
A glare was immediately focused onto her face, making Kushina widen her eyes and hold up her hands in mock-surrender. "Okay~Who messed up your hair?"
The glare just intensified into something deadly, but he didn't say anything. Sparing a quick glance to the quiet pinkette, he just clenched his jaw and walked off, leaving the three with the obviously shocked Uchiha girl.
While Minato looked extremely curious and Kushina looked downright affronted at 'the idiot's snobbish attitude' , Sakura simply sighed under her breath, not really surprised at how he handled it. Not that she was judging him, she was in no position to judge—she knew that. But still.
Getting rid of those thoughts, she looked back at the dark-haired girl, who was now looking down at her shoes. The pinkette tilted her head to the side—for just a moment, with that short dark hair and the hunched pose, she reminded Sakura of Hinata, all shy and pessimistic.
"Ohayo, Mikoto-san." Minato greeted with a calm smile, shaking Sakura off her thoughts.
"...Ohayo." The raven greeted back, though a bit quieter. She attempted to smile at the blond, but it came out as more of a grimace.
"Sorry about that. He's always like that though, so you'll get used to it." Sakura said quickly, smiling at her to make her feel more at ease.
"Yeah. Grumpy's always grumpy. Now, if you ever see him smile, that's when you should be worried," Kushina continued, her eyes wide to exaggerate the seriousness of her statement, "seriously. It's creepy."
Mikoto smiled slightly at the redhead's antics. "...I'll keep that in mind."
"I'm Sakura and this is my sister, Kushina." The pinkette introduced. Her eyes widened a little in surprise when the other girl bowed.
"Nice to meet you both. I'm Mikoto Uchiha." She introduced herself formally.
Still for a moment, Sakura hurried and bowed back, though not as deep. She'd forgotten Mikoto was an Uchiha. Such manners were probably drilled into their heads at young ages. Though, Sakura thought dryly, she wouldn't really know since the only Uchiha she knew had the manners of a rock and the other three Uchiha's she'd known about were all psychopaths—and that included the patriotic one.
"Whoa, Mikoto! No need to be so formal, y'know? We're all friends anyway. And since you're way nicer than grumpy, I think you'll be liked way more too—itai! Why is everyone hitting me, ttebane?!" Kushina yelled, glaring venomously at Minato who was looking around innocently.
Sakura ignored the spewing redhead and instead saw the small smile on Mikoto's face. Kushina always did make others smile, even if most of the time it was on her expense. But it still happened. Just like Naruto.
"So. You never actually told us why you were walking with Sasuke in the first place." Sakura said, her eyes glancing at the girl questioningly. She'd have to get over the fact that she's talking to Sasuke's mother at some point, right? Well, she hoped.
"You never actually asked." Mikoto retorted, the smile still present but Sakura could still detect her uneasiness; was she that intimidating? She'd thought having pink hair would've been the lowest on the intimidation scale. Bu then again, she did throw a senbon at that boy during her introductory speech on the first day at the academy.
"True," Sakura said, "so, then I'm asking now. I mean, usually, no one dares to walk with him. Only some of the brave but stupid fan girls of his, unless you are...?"
"No!" Mikoto said, her expression one of disgust and mortification as her pale skin blossomed into a bright pink, "no, I just always see him walking to school—"
At the raised eyebrow, she rushed to finish, "—so I figured why walk alone when I could walk with someone from my clan! That's all. Really."
Sakura fought to keep her amusement hidden, but she suspected some of it had slipped through her blank facade because soon Mikoto glared at the pinkette even though her cheeks became even more brighter.
"That wasn't very nice." Mikoto said, her hands now on her cheeks, hoping the cold would help fade the colour.
"Well, I never said I was nice, now did I?" Sakura replied, a mischievous twinkle in her ocean eyes."I don't really think that was the whole reason, but I'll let it go. That way, I'm proving I really am nice."
Mikoto couldn't help but raise a skeptic eyebrow at that. "Somehow, I don't think that's the case."
The gleam in the pinkette's eyes confirmed it.
.
.
.
The day finally came.
The day the teams are assigned. The day friends hope and cross their fingers so that somehow they'd be in the same team. The day their teammates were announced. The day that set the first stone to what would hopefully be their prospering futures.
Basically, the day most expectations were shot to hell.
Sasuke was in his regular spot—the seat right next to the window, the one farthest from the alley. That never changed. Fortunately, most of the academy graduates had not reached yet, save for some diligent or excited ones. But they were all too intimidated by the Uchiha anyway to come up to him.
Closing his eyes tightly did not help the situation, he knew, since that was what he'd been doing since he entered the class. But it didn't mean he was over what had happened. If a person was looking at it rationally, nothing actually happened. A girl was walking with a boy from the same clans. Probably cousins, they'd think.
But a rational person wouldn't be in this situation right now. And now, if you were looking at it in his perspective—even though there was no talking involved, or anything of the sort—it still shook him enough to want to retreat, because the girl wasn't just some ordinary girl from his clan he see's every day.
No. That girl, in the future would be his own mother.
And even if he knew the whole truth, even if he knew the whole situation, and even if he could look at the big picture, Sasuke didn't know if he'd ever be alright with this.
Sasuke had known it would happen sometime. After all, he's met Naruto's mother and father; hell, he was also somewhat close to them. It wasn't so far-fetched at all to think he'd also meet his own parents along the way.
But the way he was thrust into that situation just...did not sit well with him. At all. He never did like being caught off-guard, and he's finding it happen to him too many times since his travel back.
The raven haired boy could feel the pressure building up behind his temple. He supposed it was a good thing mostly everyone knew him as the scowling one, because he was pretty sure his current expression was somewhat more than unpleasant.
"Hey. You okay?" Sakura's voice floated to his ears through the blurred noises around him.
He glared at the girl with a raised eyebrow as he turned to her.
Sakura cringed and smiled sheepishly. "Yeah...wrong question to ask."
Sasuke's eyes went past her to look at Minato who was sitting next to her. The blond simply grinned at him before going back to whatever conversation he was having with another blond. Somehow, through all the haze in his mind, it struck him how similar this seating arrangement was. A blond and a raven, with a pinkette in the middle.
Judging from the small smile on Sakura's face, he guessed she'd also been thinking about it.
"Oof!" Sasuke's breath got knocked out of him as he felt something—it was actually a someone, but he felt it more appropriate to call them a thing—whack him from the back. Whipping around harshly, he glared at the offending red thing something deadly. He wondered if it was possible to over work his eyes even without the sharingan, since all he'd been doing till now was glare.
"Ah~ That's better! I'd been thinking something was missing this morning, but when I saw your glare, everything's okay again!" Kushina grinned at the obviously irate Uchiha, not really caring if he looked like he wanted to strangle her right now.
Sasuke opened his mouth to deliver a scathing retort, but stopped short at seeing the girl sitting next to her. Abruptly, he turned around to the front, leaving Kushina puzzled at his unusual behaviour and Mikoto frowning at him.
He ignored the fleeting concerned look from Sakura as he determinedly looked to the front, his dark eyes trained at the chalk-smudged black board. He didn't feel like looking at Sakura either—he didn't know what he'd say anyway.
Thankfully, she chose not to say anything. Sasuke relaxed a bit from his tensed posture at that.
"Maaan~! I really hope I won't get stuck with Shibi of all people!" Kushina suddenly said, breaking the somewhat anxious atmosphere around them, or maybe it only felt that way to Sasuke, he didn't know exactly.
"Why's that?" Minato asked, looking at the redhead in amusement and curiosity.
"Did you see the bugs that guy carries around everywhere?" Kushina asked with a look of disgust on her face, her nose all scrunched up as she shuddered exaggeratedly, "Who knows what else he carries? I bet he even has bugs in his underwear!"
"And that was an image I did not need. Thanks, Kushina." Sakura muttered, automatically turning to face the front as soon as Kushina finished her sentence. Minato and Mikoto both burst into giggles at that and Sasuke felt himself relax a bit more.
"Anytime, sis!" Kushina replied, a sickeningly sweet smile on her face, making Sakura roll her eyes lazily.
Mikoto was quiet throughout it all. She didn't mean to be, not at all. After all, it was a rare opportunity for her to watch how these four actually interacted. But, she'd heard of the saying, but had never really understood until now. It really was like looking through glass; like somehow, she was but a spectator, forever looking inside from the outside.
Of course, it was more than silly to think that, knowing she'd only really talked to them that day; but she wondered if she'd always feel that way. It was a fleeting thought, but it was still there.
Plus, there was that whole Sasuke ignoring her thing.
Mikoto sighed depressingly. Turns out it wasn't a perfect day after all.
.
.
.
"Beginning today, all of you are real ninjas. But you are still rookie genin. The hard part's just started."
Minato was paying extra attention to whatever sensei was saying, his usually calm eyes now intense and staring intently at the teacher. He was nervous about the team assignments; he could feel it, the annoying bubbling of something at the pit of his stomach that always alerted him to whenever he was.
Was it wrong to be so nervous? He didn't think so. Granted, most people were more worried if they'd be with their friends or not, and while that was one of his concerns—he didn't want to be stuck with the Aburame just as much as Kushina—his main one was to get a competent sensei and a competent team. Minato didn't care if that sounded pretentious. He was a civilian ninja, coming from a civilian background. Already, the odds were set against him and it certainly didn't help that all his closest friends came from prominent clans.
It had always been an insecurity of his; of not measuring up.
"Now, you will soon be assigned duties by the village..."
If he had an awesome sensei, then he could finally beat the odds and become a great ninja. He knew he could do it with the right guidance; after all, he wasn't sharing the spot of rookie of the year for nothing. He had potential, a lot of it. He knew that.
How to go about utilizing it, that was the problem.
The blond ignored those thoughts of how he was thinking too seriously and how he should just take it slowly, like most of the other kids his age. He was pretty sure someone, like say Kushina, wasn't thinking thoughts like his, right?
However, when he quickly looked back at the girl in question and caught her glazed expression, he found himself hesitating at answering. She may act like an idiot—all cheerful and hyper and non-practical, but he knew she was smarter than she ever let on. Who was he to think like he knew all her thoughts?
His lips pursed in slight repulsion at the glint of drool trailing down her chin.
Maybe he was giving her a little too much credit.
"So today, we will be creating three man teams and each will have a jounin sensei. You will follow the sensei's instructions as you complete the assigned duties. We have tried to balance each team, so each one has its strengths and weaknesses."
Murmurs broke out in the classroom as the lecture ended.
"Now, I don't want anyone talking back once the teams have been declared. And there's no use of complaining about your team either; they won't change."
Minato unconsciously held his breath as the teams were being called out. The first few names called out were some he didn't really know. By now, two teams were already created.
"Team three—Shibi Aburame, Mikoto Uchiha and Shimura Kaede."
Minato couldn't help but wince at Mikoto's dilemma. He smiled in amusement at the look of slight terror on the girl's already pale face. Even Sakura was looking at Mikoto with mock-sympathy on her face while Kushina wasn't even bothering to hide her snickers. Minato didn't have time to wonder much at the look of something like realisation that crossed Sasuke's face as sensei had started to announce teams again.
"Team four—Inoichi Yamanaka, Shikaku Naru and Choza Akimichi."
Now, Minato couldn't help but look oddly at both Sasuke and Sakura as they exchanged a look and an expression he couldn't exactly place cross their faces. What exactly was going on with them?
Team six—Kagetsu Risako, Kushina Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha."
A chorus of groans were heard from the class as Minato looked bemused at how many girls were suddenly depressed.
"Great. I'm stuck with the grump and someone I've never even heard of..." Kushina said, slouching in her seat as she scowled.
"Great. I'm stuck with a whiner that never knows when to shut up." Sasuke mocked and rolled his eyes. He missed Sasuke's small smirk but caught the slow smile spreading on Sakura's face.
"What did you say, you teme! As if you're—?!"
"Kushina! Sit down, brat!" sensei yelled from the front, his face turning red.
"But—!"
"Sit!"
Giving up, Kushina just threw her arm up in the air and plopped down in a huff. Her pouting face was reflected back from the glass of the window. Minato covered his smile with his hands, lest the hot-tempered girl find out he was laughing at her. He may be strong, but even he had a healthy dose of fear for those fists of hers.
"Team seven..."
"Team eight..."
"Team nine..."
Minato felt the urge to sigh loudly—when was his name going to be called. More than half the class already knew their teams. How the pinkette next to him didn't feel nervous at all, he didn't know.
His eyes snapped up at his name being called out.
"Team ten—Minato Namikaze, Sakura Uzumaki and Hitoshi Hyuuga."
Minato felt a relieved smile spread across his face as he turned to Sakura—his teammate—only to see the same smile on her face.
"Well, what do you know? We're teammates." Sakura said, her eyes twinkling.
"Yeah." Minato breathed, feeling all the nervousness seep out. While he didn't really mind getting to know others, he felt relieved all the same to have someone he knew beforehand on his team.
"Ugh. That's so not fair. You get all the luck, Kura! You get Mr. Sunshine and rainbows while I get Mr. Dark clouds and stormy over here? This sucks." Kushina whined.
"Just think of it as a chance for your...uh...friendship to grow." Minato said, though he posed it more like a question as he glanced at Sakura uncertainly. Was what they had even called friendship?
"As if I want to be stuck with you, loser," Sasuke suddenly retorted, "and it's a good thing there's someone quiet on the team. Kami knows you're going to turn our other teammate mad with your blabbering nonsense anyway."
"Y'know, I've had it with your insults! I mean, you'd think—"she suddenly cut herself short as he eyes turned thoughtful before turning into full on confusion. Minato looked at her in confusion too—in any case, it wasn't usual for the motor-mouth Uzumaki to stop herself like that. Did she finally get the grasp of restraint?
"—uh, who's...our other teammate again?"
Minato chuckled under his breath. What was he thinking?
Sakura giggled at the look of hopelessness that crossed Sasuke's face.
"Don't worry, Sasuke. It'll be just like old times."
Sasuke grimaced at that. "This must be my penalty then."
.
.
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