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.
Note: so this was a doozy of a chapter, ie, waaaay long. but i hope you enjoy it!
Dedicated to: Sachiko Keidi Honoki,Bad-Kitty-Kill ,PyrothTenka,LiveLikeNeverBefore,zeroCoke,Cc ,aisarikka,socialgirl378,TheQueenOfBlossom ,ruby2360, multipass22, agirlwhothinksalot, sereneskydragonslayer, mashiro. , dbskluvjj, mejjeje, tika kaika, MissKonoha, Darth Lelouch, Meech Macko , StarKiss666, Anya Ishikawa, Silvanon of the Orchard, Mystery Day Dreamer, Arisu-kun, Hektols, flevantein, pseudo41, pisceshomosapien, Salinia, guest —for all your wonderful, awesome, fantastical reviews!
Bearing an Hourglass
by fourthfireshadow
Chapter 7-The Timeline Classroom
He was not impressed. Not at all.
Hatake Sakumo was a busy man. Heck, one would be if he was one of the most powerful ninja's ever born in the village of Konohagakure. But due to some twist of fate, he decided it was time to settle down a little and not go on so many dangerous S-class missions that would put his wife in a mental asylum with worry. So, he looked for the best solution—a situation where he's not taking death-defying missions, but still not inactive. The only job that looked even remotely interesting was the job as a jounin instructor.
Alas, he soon realised that most of the hopeful genins were either pathetic, or just plain stupid.
It was a sad day when he did realise it. Sad day, indeed.
Of course, many would say Hatake Sakumo just had impossibly high standards. Maybe this fact had some truth to it; after all, not many would expect kids who're barely out of their adolescent ages to be perfect killing machines on the first day, but Sakumo didn't see it that way.
What was the use of training to be a ninja if the brats weren't prepared for it, he'd say. And that's the truth, no matter how unfortunate it sounded.
That's why when he got the reports on his new soon-to-be-maybe team, he was a little hopeful. He had a boy from the Kagetsu clan, a family of herb-sellers—not particularly useful, but the boy was smart according to his test scores, the war orphan from the Uzumaki clan and the rookie of the year Uchiha. All in all, it looked promising.
Finally, he had a team that looked somewhat promising.
But the thing was—face to face?
His group looked like a bunch of idiots.
It was just his luck that he'd get an Uchiha, an Uzumaki and a Kagetsu on his team. Not that he had a problem with Kagetsu really, the boy's been tolerable till now. But the other two...
The redhead was glaring daggers at the Uchiha, puffing out her cheeks in anger which only made her look like a puffed-up squirrel rather than intimidating, the Uchiha was looking like the ice-cube the Uchiha clan usually produces on a daily basis, with his nonchalant poses and narrowed glares and the third member seemed to be intimidated by the puffed up squirrel of a genin. All in all, it wasn't a pretty picture.
He sighed. Seriously. This was just his luck.
"Hey! Shut up." Sakumo ordered in his most intimidating voice—though not too intimidating, since he didn't want these kids to run away right at that moment—resulting in abrupt silence to form as the three genins looked at their mentor, surprised and startled. The Uchiha didn't look ruffled by the voice though, Sakumo noted distastefully; that kid was going to be a future pain in the behind, he was sure.
All four of them were currently situated in training ground 43, and they were all alone in the area. It was just a regular training site, nothing out of the ordinary except with way more trees than necessary, but the way the older man's eyes glinted in something that was unknown, it effectively made the three students become uneasy.
"Now, this is better." He said in his deep voice, breaking the silence. "I expect there to be silence like this whenever I talk, understand. And if you have something to say, then you have to raise your hands like good students, got it?" the grey haired man instructed, looking at each one in the eye. The Uchiha again looked unruffled,—which was kind of getting on his nerves; wasn't he intimidating this brat in the least?—the Kagetsu looked satisfyingly terrified and the Uzumaki—well, she looked suspicious. He wasn't sure of what exactly, and he also wasn't sure if particularly wanted to know, but it was at least better than that emotionless Uchiha.
Deciding they all understood the basic instructions, he launched into his own introductions.
"My name is Sakumo—"he cut himself off when he saw the girls hand raise up. Surprised, he gestured to the girl with a nod of his head.
"...Why're you so old? I mean, why are we the only ones to get an old sensei, ttebane?" Kushina asked with a puzzled look on her small face, oblivious to the tic forming in the before mentioned man's jaw.
Yeah, he was right. It was something he hadn't wanted to know.
Sasuke sighed at the stupidity of his teammate and simply looked at her with the usual you're-a-baka look he had perfected years ago while Risako looked at Kushina in part irritation and part fear. The redhead was still oblivious at the looks from her teammates and continued to look at her sensei in curiosity, patiently awaiting the answer.
Sakumo's eyebrow twitched as he stared at the uncomprehending girl.
This was not how he planned to spend this day. Not at all.
.
.
.
Sakura sighed for the umpteenth time that afternoon, an angry, impatient scowl on her face.
She was patient, but even her patience had limits. And her limits were that of a normal person's. After all, nobody could have the patience of Saint Minato Namikaze, so she didn't count the blond boy in the list of normal people.
One would think Sakura would actually have an abundant amount of patience, seeing as she'd been subjected to dealing with late people all her life and Naruto, who needed a category all for himself, but as life would have it, she didn't. At least not for petty reasons like this.
Then again, she had never really reacted well to any of those situations where her patience was tested. After all, she'd always yelled at Kakashi and she'd always beaten Naruto to keep him quiet. So maybe, she really didn't have any patience.
But that wasn't the point, Sakura decided, the point was—
Where the hell was their sensei?
This was reminding Sakura of her first time all too well. And it also wasn't helping that both her new teammates were all calm and quiet while she was huffing up a storm. Minato was looking out the window, day dreaming about Kami-knows-what while her other teammate was sitting all prim and proper, staring blankly at the blackboard in front and not minding anything else. But of course, he was a Hyuuga, so maybe they were just born that way. She wasn't sure.
She decided to not include him in her list of normal people as well.
Giving up on catching Minato's attention, seeing as he was far, far away in dream land—he does that quite often, she knew—she decided to examine the Hyuuga. She refused to call it staring, because that made her sound like a stalker.
Pale white skin, sharp features, defined dark eyebrows, thin lips and milky white translucent eyes with a hint of caramel. These features where norm for all Hyuugas. However, she noticed his hair wasn't the normal type she'd associate with them—it was short and unruly, with locks curling slightly and standing up in all directions. Plus, it was dark maroon. Strangely, it suited him.
Also, she noticed that he was a branch member and not from the main household. His hitai-ate was tied on his forehead, obstructing the view of it. It was mainly the branch members who did so, so as to hide the bird cage seal. And also because there were only two heirs of the main household in this generation and they're Hiashi Hyuuga and Hizashi Hyuuga, and as far as she knew, both of them were a quite a bit older than their current age group.
Sakura hoped he wasn't a similar case to how the Hyuuga branch member of her time was before he'd smartened up— all bitter and revengeful about his status and position. That would be a major road block, not to mention she didn't really want to kick his ass the way Naruto did Neji's for him to get some sense.
No, that'd just be troublesome to deal with.
"Any particular reason you're staring at me, Sakura-san?"
Sakura jumped a bit, hastily looking away from curious and amused milky eyes. That was not the first impression she wanted her new teammate to have of her. She really hoped her skin tone remained the same and not turned into the colour of a tomato.
"Er, not really." Sakura stuttered a bit. She only shrugged awkwardly at Minato's curious stare as well. "I was just curious about you, that's all."
"You sure?" Hitoshi asked with a raised eyebrow, though there was amusement lining his voice, "because it felt like you were trying to make holes in my head."
Sakura cursed the fact that she blushed easily. Was she really staring that blatantly? She could feel her cheeks getting warmer; she hated being embarrassed. Usually she was the one who did the embarrassing, not the other way around. The only thing that could salvage this situation was to change the topic. That she could do.
"E-er, w-where the hell's our sensei anyway? He was supposed to be here an hour ago! Right Minato?" the pinkette asked loudly, channelling her inner Kushina as she did so. She noticed the amused shake of the head from Hitoshi in her periphery, but decided to ignore that for now. That kid was just too perceptive.
Seeing that no one was answering her, to her irritation, she looked at Minato who was still looking out the window, a content look on his face. Was he even aware what had happened in the past few minutes? Sakura rolled her eyes; well, she's just going to have to pop his bubble, wasn't she?
"Minato!" Sakura walked up to his seat and flicked his nose, smiling a bit at the change of expression from content to shock and annoyance in a moment. If she strained her ears, she could faintly hear his oblivious bubble pop.
His deep blue eyes widened at the sharp but brief sting on the bridge of his nose before he looked up to the cheekily smiling face above his to direct his glare. He rubbed away the sting with his hand, annoyed.
"What was that for?" he asked with narrowed eyes, however the glare did nothing to intimidate Sakura; in fact, she thought he looked all kinds of adorable like that, like a kitten trying to look scary but failing to do so. She wondered how in the world anyone felt intimidated by this boy in the future, but knew many things could change. After all, this harmless looking boy would grow up to be the Yondaime.
Though she secretly hoped he always stayed the same un-intimidating, sunny boy like he is now. At least to her. He could scare the others into wetting their pants for all she cared about them.
The pinkette rolled her sea coloured eyes exaggeratedly. "I've been calling your name repeatedly. Not my fault you were in la-la land, Minato. I was wondering where our sensei was."
"Oh." Minato paused, then spoke, "...maybe we should go to sensei and ask him who our new sensei is."
"I agree." Hitoshi spoke up from his seat in the front, making the other two stare at him curiously. "I mean, there's obviously no use waiting around here for the person. I'm pretty sure if their one hour late, they won't bother to turn up at all."
He stood up and walked to the classroom door, the other two still staring. He turned to them with slight impatience.
"Are you coming or not?" he said, before looking straight at Sakura, whose eyes widened slightly, "I don't know if this staring thing is a habit of yours, but it's pretty creepy. If it is, you better break it now that we're a team." He said factually before exiting the room.
Sakura's mouth was slightly agape at his nerve. And also for bringing up the staring thing again. The redness was creeping back, and it didn't help that now even Minato was looking at her in confusion. She refused to look at the confused blue eyes and instead focused on just speed-walking out of there.
"Sakura, What did he me—?"
"I have no clue. Let's just go."
.
.
.
Sasuke jumped high to avoid a barrage of kunai and landed softly, but his eyes widened slightly at how all the weapons had formed the symbol of an X on the tree it embedded. He did not think that would've been pleasant at all.
Knowing there was no time to ponder on that, he dashed to the left, intent on finding a safe spot from the psycho he'd gotten as a sensei. He had the fortune of being appraised of his genin potential in this time-line with a bell test again.
At first, he'd thought this would've been really easy, seeing as he knew the concept from his first one. He'd just have to bully the other two into listening to him—the Kagetsu would've been no problem of course, seeing as the kid already seemed to be scared of him for some weird reason. It was only Kushina that would've been the problem—knowing her, she would've just yelled something stupid like always, and given away their position. Not to mention, fight with him throughout on being the 'leader' or whatever. But he was sure, in the end of the exercise, they would've all come out of it as official genins who knew the concept of what teamwork was.
However, Sasuke went through a more-than-slight hitch in his plan.
Turned out teamwork wasn't the meaning underneath this training after all.
And to think the one time he could've upped his sensei by knowing the answer right from the get-go, the white haired jounin decided to change the plan.
Turned out, the concept really wasn't teamwork, but instead to just survive the day.
He really believes Kakashi's entire line is out to get to him.
Of course, this test is probably not as hard for him as it for the others. In fact, he found manoeuvring himself through the trees and twigs and branches was almost second nature. He wasn't all that worried for the redheaded Uzumaki though. No matter how much he antagonized her, he knew what she was capable of. It was just that her brain often ruined things in the most opportune moments.
Who he really was worried about, was that Kagetsu kid. Sasuke had no idea what he could do, what he couldn't do. Also, if he's taken out, then Sasuke's sure it would affect even his own chances.
So first plan of action—find Kagetsu.
Which was actually proving to be harder than he thought. While he could sense his chakra, it was faint and evenly spread out in the area, which was a surprising move for someone of his age. And Sasuke was sure he'd heard the last name Kagetsu somewhere before in his childhood but now it was slipping from his mind.
He did not stop at the loud blast from somewhere behind him, though he's sure it was in the north-east direction judging from the course the birds were taking. But then he paused, his steps faltering for a moment—what if that was Kagetsu? What if the brat found himself wound up in a trap like he himself had so, so long ago?
Cursing out loud in a hiss, Sasuke pivoted smoothly, using chakra to stick to the branches as he made a hasty turn towards the direction of the blast. However, it was only when he went a little more forward did he feel the difference prickling at his senses. Nothing was amiss; everything remained the same, which was what gave the whole facade away as he remembered he had scratched the bark of the large oak tree as a reference. He was currently looking at the same tree, but the mark had magically disappeared.
Rolling his eyes at the genjustu, Sasuke raised his fingers in the tiger seal almost lazily and released his chakra to disrupt. He almost felt insulted at the trap the Hatake had laid out for him, which was seen by the slightly disgruntled expression on his face.
But nothing happened. There was no change in his surroundings, no sign to signal that the genjustu was disrupted. His eyebrows furrowed a bit as he released a bit more of his chakra. Nothing. A bit more. A ripple was seen, which meant the illusion faltered, but then it went back as it were. No changes.
Which meant only one thing—this was a layered genjustu. Now layered genjutsu's were not that hard to disrupt; however that relied on the number of layers included in the genjustu layout. And considering this was Kakashi's father and a psychopath, Sasuke was sure this was no ordinary layered genjustu. In fact, he'd bet this was put up just to see the student go in circles and slowly lose his mind to insanity. Sasuke wouldn't put it past him— He was just that sadistic.
Which, the Uchiha had to admit, would've worked if it was Kushina—she had no patience for reality, much less a illusion, and maybe for Kagetsu as well.
But this wouldn't stop him. Not at all. He didn't care at all if that sounded arrogant. It was the truth after all. This would've been a lot easier to break if he still had his sharingan—a major, deadly disadvantage of being sent back in time since he didn't know when he'd activate it again, much less bring it back to its previous glory—but that didn't hinder him much.
Sasuke smirked. In fact, he almost felt kind of flattered that his sensei gave him such a complicated puzzle. It gave him a means to show off more than usual.
.
.
.
"Our new sensei is Jiraiya?"
"Can you believe it? We get a sannin as our sensei!"
"...who?"
Sakura rolled her eyes in annoyance at the oblivious Hyuuga. She had quickly realized this guy wasn't the most world-aware Hyuuga out there. In fact, he couldn't be more different from Neji even if he tried. The only common link was their lineage. That was it.
"What kind of an idiot doesn't know who Jiraiya is?" Sakura asked with a frown and crossed arms as she looked at the scowling Hyuuga. She pretended not to see the milky glare directed her way—he deserved it anyway. Her remark was her getting even. She was also ignoring the blond beside her—she had enough with the look of awe on his awe. Obviously, that awe was going to right down the gutter once he realizes how Jiraiya-sama really was, perverted ways and all.
"Okay!" Minato intervened before the fight between the glaring pair could escalate. "You know, we should just try to find Jiraiya-sensei." He said in a semi-stern voice, making the other two sigh and look at him for direction. "Where did sensei say he'd be again?"
Hitoshi frowned slightly as he recalled the weird encounter. "He didn't. He just turned red and started sputtering and then told us to wait patiently before scuttling off like a mouse."
"Yeah," Minato said, scratching his arm under his hood sleeve, "...that was pretty odd."
"Not really. That was actually expected from perverts." Sakura mumbled under her breath, rolling her eyes at the mentality of the perverts in this village. Which were a lot. She again resisted the urge to sigh—why did she of all people get stuck with the biggest pervert in the world as her sensei? This would've been funny if someone like Sasuke had gotten him as a sensei—Kami knows he needed to bear some sort of penalty. But her? Really?
"What?" Minato asked, turning to her confused.
"I mean, I know where to find him. Follow me." Sakura rephrased quickly, before leading the other two toward the one place in the village she was sure the old pervert would be. The two boys simply exchanged stares; one puzzled and one annoyed before following the stomping steps of their sole female teammate. After a few minutes of taking twisted turns and avoiding people, they reached their destination for the quest of their new sensei.
The big wooden sign spelling out 'KONOHA HOT SPRINGS' in bright red lettering stood out against the backdrop of green.
All three of them stared at the huge welcoming sign with varying expressions before both Minato and Hitoshi turned their stares to the girl who lead them to this place. Sakura simply stared back with a blank stare.
"...What?" she finally asked, breaking the awkward silence.
Hitoshi simply stared back while Minato just gave her a look. Sakura sighed loudly at that, turning around again and walking towards the hot springs entrance with reluctant steps.
"Trust me. He's going to be in here. Like always." She explained, still not looking back.
"And how would you know that?" Hitoshi questioned, his voice sceptical before he snickered, "don't tell me you visit this place often."
"N-no! Just shut up." Sakura sputtered, before pausing and taking a deep breath. Obviously she wasn't going to have the easiest of times with the Hyuuga. Figures she'd be the one to be stuck with the black sheep of the entire Hyuuga clan, Sakura thought as she blew her bangs up in frustration. The only Hyuuga that laughs, teases and annoys without smirking arrogantly or blushing to the roots; and while one would've thought it was a far improvement from the usual stuck up bigots, it turned out to be somehow worse.
She shot him a glare when Minato wasn't looking. She didn't care if it was childish. She should just be thankful she didn't stick out her tongue as well. Then all her self-proclaimed maturity would've just gone down the drain in one swoop.
"I know this fact—not because I'm a regular here—"she quickly said before Hitoshi could open his mouth, "but because it's actually a well known fact around the village. The hot springs is actually like the second home of Jiraiya-sama." She said, her lips twisting into a scowl as she remembered the number of times she had caught the old pervert lurking around near the baths.
"...second home?" Minato asked, a puzzled look on his face, "Do you mean he likes taking baths a lot...?"
Sakura sighed a little before smiling. "...not exactly. You'll find out soon enough, Minato-kun."
"Don't you get it, Minato?" Hitoshi said, looking at the blond with wide, hinting eyes, "she means the old man's a pervert. He comes here to peep!" he exclaimed, grinning.
"What...? No. Not Jiraiya-sama! I mean, he's—"Minato cut off abruptly from his defensive lecture as he heard a high pitched giggle from somewhere in the side. Looking around briefly, his sky blue eyes locked on something before it widened in incredulity.
While the shaking man could only be partially seen, the rest being hidden by the bushes and shrubs, it was painfully obvious who the giggling, hiding giant of a man was. Especially because of the long white spiky ponytail that was visible from even a mile away.
"Jiraiya-sama...?" Minato mouthed in surprise and disbelief.
"Are those binoculars...?" Hitoshi asked out loud, squinting to see better through the steam and forgetting he had the control of a powerful doujutsu to do it easily.
Sakura sighed and rolled her eyes again. While she was a bit amused at the lost, broken look on Minato's baby face—okay, more than a bit amused; he looked like someone who just found out there was no such thing as a tooth fairy—she was not at all impressed by the man who was supposed to be their sensei.
While she did have a healthy dose of respect for the man—respect that somehow almost always gets knocked down a peg or two whenever she meets him face to face—and while she really did feel that familiar feeling of unbelievable happiness and relief at seeing another person who was dead in her first life alive again somewhere deep inside of her, she still couldn't get rid of the irritation that bubbled up. Was he a pervert for more than two-thirds of his life?
"Hey! Ero-sennin! You gonna stop peeping at the girls anytime soon?" Sakura yelled loudly, cupping both her hands around her mouth to make it even louder.
She smirked when the man in question jumped in a startled motion before whipping left and right to catch the nuisance that gave away his position, his hair whipping around him like a tail. Her smirk only grew at the two shocked stares she was receiving form her two teammates.
Finally, her smirk blossomed into a blown-out smile when she heard the satisfying squeals from the peeped-on women and the nervous, scratchy laughter from the peep on trial. Then when the squeals turned into angry yells and impressively creative death threats that made even Hitoshi pale, a loud poof was heard.
At that her smile vanished. "He's getting away! C'mon let's go! We've got to find him." She said, running forward, her eyes flickering for even a sign of the old hermit.
Not needing anymore instructions, the other two followed her lead, flanking her sides. All of them ran quickly, avoiding people of all types—fat, thin, tall, short, fully clothed, fully naked, partially clothed, partially naked—she didn't think she'd ever seen Minato blush as much as he did before this, that's for sure.
"You couldn't think of any other plan other than yelling like a brat, pinkie?" Hitoshi couldn't help but ask, scowling.
Sakura in return rolled her eyes at him. "You know, I'm really starting to believe that all Hyuugas being polite are just lies. What happened to Sakura-san?"
"That went out the toilet when you started yelling like an idiot."
"Okay, you know what? All this running around is not getting us anywhere." Minato again intervened. Sakura couldn't help but feel a bit of sympathy for the blond boy—he was always playing mediator; no wonder he's the soul mate for her rambunctious redheaded twin. She didn't think anyone else had the patience for that girl.
But then again, maybe being a part of a team as dysfunctional as this one is what gave him the patience to handle her. That made Sakura feel a little bit better about his situation. It was for his own ultimate benefit after all.
"What we need is a ploy," Minato said, looking at both his teammates directly with seriousness, an expression that basically spelled out 'quit playing around. Now.' "A ploy that can lure out the intended target—in this case, Jiraiya-sensei."
Hitoshi reluctantly nodded. "...Yeah. That makes sense. But we don't know anything about the guy other than he's a pervert. So what can we do to lure him out?"
"Maybe...we shouldn't focus on luring him out...maybe; we should focus on something luring us to him." Sakura said slowly as a smile that didn't promise anything nice took over her face.
Minato looked at Sakura with worry plainly glittering in his eyes. "...like what?"
"Like this." Sakura stated, before walking a few steps and then shouting as loudly as she could into the air, "Oh Jiraiya sensei! Where are you~? Don't tell me you're peeping at women again~!"
They only had to wait a few seconds before something like a symphony of screams could be heard from somewhere near.
"...and that's our cue." Sakura stated smugly, "Let's go before he runs away again!"
Minato smiled slightly in amusement and even the Hyuuga couldn't help but snicker as they raced towards the source of the noises. Their sensei sure was an idiot.
Slap!
They reached at the exact time a woman who looked barely twenty slapped the white haired sage, leaving the pathetic man weeping.
Hitoshi raised an eyebrow and looked on at the scene blankly, "it's kind of more than a pitiable sight, isn't it? Still think he's great, Minato?"
Minato was expectedly quiet.
"...man, the women here are still as violent as before. But they've also somehow become more bigger in the asset department than before too, so maybe it's a win-lose situation. Hmmm..."
Sakura's eyebrow twitched dangerously at the older man's mutterings.
"Wow. You really do live up to your reputation as the perverted sage, don't you—mmphh!"
Jiraiya whipped around and smothered Sakura's face with his big hand, turning from side to side quickly to see if anyone had heard. "Shhhhh! Don't say that so loudly, little girl!"
"But what she said was true isn't it? After all, you've done nothing but peek at women all day." Hitoshi chimed in, annoyance clear on his face.
Jiraiya's face was priceless as the few women who heard that remark gave him disgusted glances and strode off. He was practically frothing at the mouth.
"Stupid! Stupid, idiot, fool! Look what you did now!" Jiraiya wailed, before glaring death at the pale Hyuuga kid, "Now they've all gone. My reputations going down the drain, boy!"
Sakura was finally able to manage getting away from the smothering hand. "What reputation?! Who do you think you are to—?"
"I'm glad you asked." Jiraiya exclaimed loudly, his personality doing a full one-eighty and shot a blinding mega-watt grin at the three stunned children. "I am Myobuko Mountain's sage of the Frog Spirits! Also known as the Frog Sage—the Mighty Jiraiya-sama!" This was all said with a fancy spin and dramatic, flashy pose at the end.
There was silence. More silence. Then—
"...I think you blinded me."
"...Was that supposed to be impressive?"
"...more like Perverted Sage."
Jiraiya wilted again. "Geez. Tough crowd of brats, aren't ya?" he scowled at the kids before crossing his arms and stared at them expectantly. "Well? Gonna tell me why you three have decided to bother me and interrupt my research?"
"Um, we're your new students? You're our jounin sensei? You were supposed to meet us in the academy almost two hours ago." Minato hesitantly spoke up, seeing as the others were busy glaring at the old sage.
"Wha...? Oh! That's right. No wonder you brats looked familiar." Jiraiya mused out loud. He started chewing his lower lip as he looked thoughtfully at the sky and mumbled to himself. "But the meeting was today...? I could've sworn the old man didn't...oh wait. Today was the free-for-all-women's bath, that's why...of course he'd understand the importance, wouldn't he? Yeah, he—"
"Hey! Stop mumbling to yourself, ero-sennin!" Sakura yelled, pointing a finger rudely at him. Even she was surprised at her sudden rambunctious side today. Maybe this was her inner-Uzumaki coming out?
At that, Jiraiya glared at the pink-haired brat. "Can you stop calling me that, already?! Jeez! You have no affinity to stealth, do you little girl?"
"We'll call you that how much ever we want, old man, if you don't take us seriously!" Hitoshi suddenly snapped from behind her, making Jiraiya look at him oddly before laughing obnoxiously.
"Well, that's a first from a Hyuuga! Aren't you lot supposed to be all prim and proper? What happened to that?" he asked, still chuckling and leered at him.
Hitoshi growled. "That got lost once I realised I have a paedophile as a teacher."
This time, Jiraiya was the one who growled. "How many times do I have to say it? I'm not old!" he said, before going to Minato and ruffling his blond locks aggressively, making Minato look at the white haired sage with something akin to irritation and not worship for the first time. "I'm starting to think blondie here's the only one who's polite and respectful to his elders. I think I'll just take him as a disciple."
"You know, you didn't deny that you're a paedophile, Jiraiya-sensei." Minato deadpanned from inside Jiraiya's chokehold.
Jiraiya scowled. "I take it back. You're all brats." Then he looked thoughtful again, a hand rising to his chin in contemplation, "but it did look like you have some potential at least. Surprising, seeing as this team looks like they got their hair colours from lost bets, but its there."
Minato ignored the quip. "So, that means you'll train us, right?"
"Give and take, blondie, it's all about give and take. Now if you want me to give you training, I want you three to—"
"We're not spying on women and reporting back to you." Sakura interjected.
"But that's not what I was going to—"
"Nor are we going to go find some poor, innocent girl for you." She once again interrupted.
"...fine. Then I need you to—"
"Nothing perverted. That includes anything related to spying, women, baths or anything related to even those words." Finally Sakura concluded with a set glare at the suddenly flustered man.
The sage then crossed his arms and looked at the brats who disrupted his important research. He couldn't believe this little girl's guts. Looked like some tough love was in order. Who did she think she was to order him, the great frog sage, Jiraiya, one of the three sannin, around? "I am your sensei, little girl, and it would do you well to—"
"You know, we can report you the Sandaime about inappropriate behaviour towards students during professional hours. I'm sure there's some sort of penalty for that, isn't there guys?" Sakura asked, all innocent smiled and fluttering eyelashes.
Both Minato and Hitoshi nodded.
He didn't think he was going to like being a jounin sensei anymore. What good was being a sensei without any willing minions?
Jiraiya pouted.
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Kushina watched, awestruck, as Sasuke met Hatake-sensei's attacks blow to blow. It was...actually really incredible. Her eyes could barely follow their movements, the only tell-tale signs of where those two parried and hit being from the flashes and glints of metal and the clang of weapons meeting each other. She couldn't help but wonder how much Sasuke had been truly holding back when they sparred.
She winced when a particularly harsh blow from the grey-haired man sent Sasuke reeling back from the force, but her eyes widened when Sasuke's form exploded in smoke. Shadow clone, her mind automatically supplied for her.
Right at the moment the shadow clone burst, another form—shadow clone or not, she couldn't really say—appeared from behind sensei, his hand forming seals faster than she could comprehend. A sudden gust of chakra and then a huge ball of fire materialized directly towards the older man. Eyes widening, Kushina quickly scrambled backward to avoid being in its path and risk being singed.
Unfortunately, Sakumo realised the strategy a split second before and was able to dodge the incoming fireball by safely landing on a tree branch high up. His eyes widened at the barrage of shuriken headed his way and he parried each and every one with his tanto. His eyes narrowed at how the weapons he blocked had suddenly broken down into separate pieces. However, it took him more than a split second to realize the wires attached to the weapons and its parts. Now, instead of just seven shuriken, it had doubled. Right at that moment, the weapons flew back right at him, the intent to severely incapacitate.
Eyes widening, he had no choice but to body flicker. However, he couldn't just body flicker to a nearby destination as he was sure the Uchiha would just make the projectiles come after him, so he had to use a bit more chakra than he usually did to get a safe distance away.
Sakumo released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding in. That Uchiha kid...was truly something else. To think up of a strategy like that...and that too at his age was really something. He was in a different league.
Leaving his thoughts, he focused on the present. To stop his attacks, the only thing Sakumo could do now was to incapacitate the attacker himself—Uchiha Sasuke. Mind made up, he summoned his chakra and decided on a water jutsu. He didn't want to seriously injure the kid; just maim or drown him for a few seconds, just to instil some fear.
With that in mind, he performed his jutsu.
"Suiton: Rekku Suigeki." He clearly stated before he opened his mouth wide and expelled chakra out in the form of huge chunks of ice, hard enough to easily shatter rocks. He could only watch in amusement as the large pieces ht the surrounding areas around Sasuke, easily breaking the branch he was standing. Sakumo did not feel much remorse when one of the pieces hit the Uchiha's weapon wielding hand with enough force to break bone.
It's better for him to learn the art of dodging now than in the battlefield anyway.
Kushina's eyes widened in worry and concern when she heard that all too repulsive crack of bone breaking in the wide expanse of the forest-like training grounds. She didn't always get along with grumpy, but that didn't mean she wanted him dead! A dead Sasuke's no fun!
She kept racking her brains for some sort of plan to help, to fight, but it wasn't coming to her easily. Planning strategies was her sister's forte, not hers! But she had to do something, anything at all other than hiding here like a useless thing.
Her eyes brightened as she thought of something she could do. It was one of the advanced sealing techniques Mito-obaa-san had taught her and it was a stretch to expect it to work as it should, but at least it's something.
Wincing at the pain in her head from an injury, she quickly made her way to where sensei was busily attacking Sasuke. Quickly mustering up more than the needed amount of chakra, she slammed her palm on sensei's heel, activating the paralyzing seal. It drained her of most of her chakra and she found herself unable to move, panting harshly at the sudden drop of energy.
However she couldn't help but smile smugly, albeit weakly at the grey-haired man's look of surprise at not being able to move, which made him stop his attack on Sasuke. It worked!
She really wanted to brag about this to Sasuke later—that she was the one who saved his life! But her eyes widened when she saw his feet twitch. The jutsu wasn't strong enough! She was going to get it now, Kushina thought resigned.
And she didn't even get to say bye to Sakura, she thought half-jokingly.
However, when she felt someone jostling her instead of hurting her, she opened her eyes hesitatingly to a view of a moving forest. Was she flying suddenly? Was she going to heaven?!
But no. She was on someone's back. Wild brown hair...? Kagetsu! Kushina thought elatedly, so she wasn't dead.
"You ok?" he asked while jumping away.
"...Yeah. thanks." She mumbled, not used to being carried like this. It was kind of awkward. Plus, the guy was sweaty. But she was still thankful all the same.
"No problem." He said, turning his head briefly to smile, before taking a kunai from his pouch and throwing it in the direction where their sensei was.
At the redhead's puzzled look, he simply smiled again before bringing up his hands in the activation seal. Her eyes widened just as the loud boom echoed in the area and realisation sunk in. They both regrouped where Sasuke was, who seemed worse for wear but just looked at them with a small smirk before turning to where the grey-haired man once was.
Kushina was the one to break the silence.
"...did he die?"
"Was that said in a hopeful voice? Maa, I'm hurt."
Kushina yelled and turned around abruptly to face the man in question. He was sweating, and had a little soot on his face and clothes, but overall, he just looked like he only ran a marathon.
Okay, so he wasn't dead, but there wasn't any need to creep her out like that. Kushina scowled.
"Well, none of you got the bells—"
Sasuke frowned.
"And none of you came out unscathed—"
Kushina gingerly touched the bleeding wound on her forehead and pouted. The scarred look is not going to look well on her.
"And most of you didn't even do much work until the end—"
Kagetsu simply looked worried.
"But I've got to say, I don't think I've had a more impressive team before." He finally said, a smile touching his lips. "You know, when I first saw the three of you, I really thought you were a bunch of useless, annoying, loud brats but maybe first impressions aren't everything.
Good job today."
"Yay~! We did it! We did it!" Kushina shouted loudly, slapping Sasuke on the back harshly and pulling Kagetsu into the unwilling group hug by the neck painfully. "And did you see, Sasuke?! Me and Kagetsu totally just saved your butt there! Well, mostly me, but still!"
"Oh, then you must've forgotten the part where you where hiding like a mouse in the bushes while I fought him. I thought that part was pretty clear." Sasuke retorted, the scowl growing as he tried to bat away the arm pulling him in for the hug.
"No way! I was planning, and that takes time. And Kagetsu, why aren't you sayin' anything, tteabne? Where did your courage go?!"
Sakumo sighed as the three kids ignored him completely. Maybe first impressions were mostly correct.
They were all still loud and annoying.
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