Our Sensei is a Teenager
Chapter 2: Team Seven
Daichi Yamamoto was already having a horrible day, and it hadn't even been an hour since he woke up.
Great, it's freezing out here, our new sensei's nowhere in sight, and I'm stuck with these two, the brown-haired boy mentally grumbled.
"Ooh, I bet it'll be a perverted old fart," shouted the taller of the two girls he had the misfortune of calling his teammates. "Hanako-chan, let's practice taijutsu together…naked!"
"Nooo, Kurumi, don't curse us," Hanako replied, matching the rather dramatic imitation before grinning. "Well, if anything, I'd probably be safe. Pervy-sensei would definitely prefer your more womanly figure."
"Hear that, Daichi-kun? I've got a womanly figure," the redhead giggled, putting an arm around his shoulder.
Daichi could only roll his eyes and gently- but firmly- remove himself from his all-too-touchy teammate's grasp. Honestly, he didn't understand what any of the girls in his class saw in him; sure, he was pretty developed for twelve, but he was about as sociable as he was skilled in the ninja arts- not in the least bit.
Out of his admirers, Kurumi was easily the most annoying with her persistence and her roaming hands. She was on the attractive side physically, he had to admit, but unlike girly, pleasant Hanako, Kurumi was lazier than Lord Seventh's infamously slothful advisor and had the feminine grace of an angry gorilla.
"Wait, I found something!" Hanako suddenly exclaimed, pointing at a nearby tree with a piece of paper taped to the trunk, drawing all three of them to take a look. It was a note, neatly handwritten.
"Team Seven,
I know Aburame-sensei told you to meet here at eight, but something came up, so I'm going to be late. Meet me at Amaguriama on Tea Avenue at eight-thirty and make sure to tell Aburame-sensei; I'll buy you all a round of dango!"
"Perverted and tardy, what a combo," Kurumi snorted as the three of them strolled through the center of the village, having just left the Academy after informing Aburame-sensei and earning his usual tacit nod in reply.
"Just don't say that to our new sensei's face," Hanako giggled, earning a sigh from Daichi.
"Can we please stop this, we haven't even- aaah!"
A teenaged girl that the three hadn't seen stopped just short of colliding into Daichi as they turned the corner.
"Sorry!" Daichi exclaimed, head bowed in embarrassment. "We're in a bit of a rush and I wasn't looking at where I was going."
"No problem. Shinobi headbands, huh? I'm kinda curious…what are three young ninja hurrying to do this early in the day?"
Daichi blinked before finally looking up.
The girl in front of them was a couple years older than them- sixteen or seventeen, if he had to guess. She wore a red blouse and black shorts that highlighted her slender, toned physique, and her silky black hair fell neatly to her shoulders. Most striking of all, though, were her dark onyx eyes behind a pair of red-rimmed glasses.
Wow, she's gorgeous, Daichi observed silently, heat rising to his cheeks as she smiled at them.
"We-we're going to meet our jounin-sensei in ten minutes. I'm Hanako, and these are my teammates, Kurumi and Daichi," his blonde teammate stammered nervously.
"I'm Sarada," the girl replied easily before giving another small smile. "Nice to meet you all, but I'm running late too. See you later!"
Later? Daichi shook his head; it was just a figure of speech.
"Don't you think Sarada-san was pretty, Daichi-kun?" Hanako questioned with a teasing voice as they finally arrived at Tea Avenue.
Daichi didn't respond, but he felt himself redden again, which prompted a giggle from Hanako and a snort from Kurumi.
"I don't see what's so great about her," the redheaded girl grumbled as they made their way to the sweets shop.
"Do you guys see anyone who could be our sensei?" Hanako asked.
"Nope," Daichi replied. "Unless he happens to be middle-aged and doubling as a candy store owner."
"Man, why did we get the lazy sensei?" Kurumi moaned as she plopped herself onto one of the seats, her teammates following suit.
"Look who's talking," Hanako teased, earning a rude hand gesture from Kurumi.
"Sorry I'm late," a familiar voice called from behind.
Daichi turned to find...the girl he'd almost run over?
She was almost unrecognizable from just ten minutes ago, dressed in a typical shinobi uniform of a navy-blue training shirt under a flak jacket and with her hair tied in a ponytail. Only the red-rimmed glasses remained, sitting neatly on her nose below her Konohagakure headband.
"Sarada-san?" Hanako mumbled, blinking in confusion.
"I did say I'd see you later," the older girl responded with a smirk.
"What are you doing here?" Kurumi piped up.
"Buying the three of you dango for putting up with me, obviously."
Wait…what?
"You're our sensei?" Daichi blurted, his exclamation and the subsequent shouts of surprise from his teammates loud enough to make the shopkeeper furiously hold a finger up to his lips and shush the young genin.
"That's right. Oh, and forgive me for not telling you guys earlier, but I wanted to get to know you all without you trying to impress me," the girl replied while moving to hand coins to the shopkeeper in exchange for four steaming-hot dango sticks.
"Wait, so you knew we were your assigned genin team the moment we told you our names?" Hanako added.
"Nope, I recognized you all the moment I ran into you. Team Seven's profile came with pictures."
"So everything was a setup?" Kurumi exclaimed. "The note, the thing you had to go do, pretending to run into us on the street- you planned it all!"
The older girl laughed, giving Kurumi a wide smile.
"My sensei told me that 'a ninja must see through deception', so I like the way you think. But I actually did have something that I forgot to do, and I didn't plan to bump into you three."
"Are you really a jounin?" Daichi managed to get out.
"Yeah, we were expecting like an old codger or something," Kurumi added.
"How old are you?" Hanako asked, her voice full of awe.
"Sixteen, though I'm halfway to seventeen," Sarada replied with a smirk- their sensei, Daichi's mind added, though it's too strange to comprehend. "I've only been a jounin for a week, and I've never taught a genin let alone a team, so I might not be what you're hoping for or expecting."
"Y-you must be really amazing to be a jounin at sixteen," he stammered. "Sensei."
"You don't have to call me sensei, just Sarada or Sarada-san is fine," their teenaged sensei responded. "I'm not much older than you three, and I'm not exactly an experienced teacher."
"But you're our sensei," Hanako insisted fervently.
"Um, okay," Sarada-sensei stated after a moment of blinking and silence. "Let's do introductions."
"We did that already," Kurumi huffed. "On the street, remember?"
"That was off-the-books. This time, we're introducing ourselves as Team Seven, and you all better do a good job, because I did change into my gear and rush over here for this." The three of them laughed before their sensei cleared her throat.
"Introduce yourself- your name, your reason for becoming a ninja, and your personal goals. I'll start. I'm Sarada Uchiha, and I became a ninja to protect this village and the people I love. My dream is to become Hokage someday."
"Wow, that's so amazing!" Hanako exclaimed with a huge grin. "Wait, Uchiha? As in the Uchiha clan?"
"That's right," Sarada-sensei confirmed.
Daichi couldn't understand why, but his two teammates' expressions suddenly shifted. Kurumi's face instantly perked up from the disinterested pout she'd been wearing since their sensei had asked for introductions, while Hanako's admiration turned to what looked like…fear?
"Ooh, your clan has that really awesome doujutsu, right? What's it called again?"
"The Sharingan," Daichi immediately piped up. He prided himself on his knowledge of the shinobi world and had spent hours upon hours reading about the Fourth War and the Uchiha clan's role in the war. "You have one, right? Can we see it?"
Their sensei laughed before taking off her glasses and closing her eyes. When she reopened them, in place of the onyx irises was pure red with three black tomoe circling her pupils.
"Wow," Daichi breathed in admiration. "So beautiful."
Kurumi looked at him with a smirk before he realized what he had just said.
"Y-your eyes, I mean!" he stammered, feeling his face flush. "Your Sharingan is really pretty."
Sarada smiled before blinking again and returning her eyes to normal. "Thanks, Daichi. Alright, who wants to go next?"
"I do!" Daichi and Kurumi shouted at the same time, raising their hands, while Hanako sat nibbling her dango in silence.
"Hanako-chan, are you okay?" Sarada-sensei asked softly, turning to the petite blonde.
"Sensei, is your father Sasuke Uchiha-san?" Hanako mumbled.
"Yes, he is. How do you know him?"
"Mama says he's very powerful and that the Uchiha clan is- is dangerous," she finished quietly, her eyes averted.
Sarada sighed, walking in front of Hanako and meeting her at eye level. "The village likes to hide old wounds, but my clan's history is really quite bloody and sad, Hanako-chan. If you're really curious enough like Daichi-kun you could go digging and find out the facts for yourself, but I'm going to warn you that it's not pleasant. I'll just say that my dad made a lot of mistakes when he was younger, but he's a good person and neither of us would ever hurt you, okay?"
"O-okay," their teammate responded, giving a hesitant nod and receiving a wide, earnest smile from their sensei.
"Alright then, let's get back to introductions. Let's start with…Kurumi. Give us your name, why you chose the shinobi path, and what you hope to accomplish. "
Kurumi made a show of standing up and clearing her throat. "My name is Kurumi Fujiwara. I'm a ninja cuz my parents are, and as for a goal….I have absolutely no idea!"
Sarada blinked before replying,"Well, I hope that in our time together as Team Seven that you find a goal worth pursuing. Alright, now for Daichi."
"I'm Daichi Yamamoto and I want to be the best shinobi I can because protecting this village is the biggest honor there is. My goal is to…is to…uhh…become a great ninja?"
"Liar," Kurumi shot back. "You totally told the whole class you wanted to become a Hokage as awesome as Lord Seventh."
Daichi blushed, sneaking a glance at their sensei who just stood in front of them with an amused smile and crossed arms. "Th-that was before we met Sarada-sensei! She's gonna become Hokage because she's awesome and I'll be her advisor!"
"For a second there I thought I had some serious competition," Sarada teased with a smirk. "Well, if that day ever comes, I'm sure you'll be one heck of an advisor. And don't tell anyone I said this, but I can arrange for you all to meet with the Seventh personally."
"Damn," Kurumi whistled. "Sensei's got connections! Can I ask how you know him?"
"My parents were his teammates and closest friends. Naruto-er, Lord Seventh was my mentor when I was your age, and again, don't tell anyone, but I'm kinda dating his son."
Wait…what? Daichi felt his heart drop. Of course she would, she's so pretty and talented.
"You have a boyfriend, sensei?" Hanako piped up, always interested in all things girly. "Is he handsome?"
"Mm…I definitely think so," Sarada-sensei replied with a giggle, getting a grin out of Kurumi and a squeal from Hanako. "Alright, Hanako, you're up.
"My name is Hanako Nagano, and I'm a ninja because my mom said that was what I was my destiny was. Um, I'm not sure if this counts, but if I have to be a ninja, I want to be a medic-nin and save lives!"
Sarada's eyes widened in recognition of Hanako's name but quickly snapped out of it. "I happen to know the best medic-nin in the village, Hanako-chan, and she'd be more than happy to hear that."
"How?"
"She's my mom," Sarada said with a wide grin.
"No way!" Hanako and Kurumi exclaimed. Daichi, of course, already knew that Sakura Haruno had married Sasuke Uchiha after the war and had become the head of Konoha Hospital.
"Alright, you three. Starting today we are officially Team Seven of Konohagakure!"
Hanako cheered, Kurumi gave a brief whoop, and Daichi clapped politely.
"Now I'm going to give you all your first assignment. Think of it as a small test just so I can see where you are as shinobi and we'll go from there, okay?"
Daichi nodded, seeing Kurumi do the same while Hanako raised her hand.
"What kind of test is it?" she asked, and Sarada-sensei's smile became a lopsided grin.
"My sensei gave it to me and my teammates, something of a Team Seven tradition. It's called the bell test."