Chapter 5 – Exposed

Summary: She was just a sickly girl back home, living her short life to its fullest. She was supposed to die, but she woke up in an entirely new world as a completely different person in a baby's body

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"Sara...!" Someone was calling her name. She couldn't fathom whose voice it was. But she could hear it, like a whisper in her ear.

"Sara, stop that. You're scaring me!" It sounded vaguely like Hinata.

"SARA." The voice was getting louder. She could feel her world shaking. No, someone was shaking her.

"SARA!"

Sara gasped, blinking hard. She looked around her in confusion. She was back in the classroom, and some of her classmates were looking at her with various emotions ranging from curiosity to worry.

Beside her, Hinata was teary eyed. She was clutching Sara's shoulder and she was gasping.

Sara took Hinata's hand from her shoulder, squeezing it gently. "Were you...screaming?" Sara asked in surprise.

Hinata sniffed, nodding slowly. "It's because...you just froze. And you weren't blinking. You weren't talking. I thought..."

That must be why their classmates were all looking. Hinata was screaming, must have been a sight to see. Sara tilted her head, putting a finger on her temple and pressing it. She felt fine though.

"What happened?" She asked, quickly sensing and assessing herself with her chakra.

Hinata swallowed, eyeing her warily. "Iruka sensei...announced the teams."

Sara froze. Ahh. Fuck. Yeah, that's what happened. Her memories flooded back to her. Iruka was simply going through the names of each team. When she heard her name, and she heard which team she was in, she just blanked out.

Hinata carefully poked her cheeks. "You're not going to go into shock again, are you?"

Sara shook her head, closing her eyes and massaging her forehead. "Nah. I'm over it. I just need to think now." Damn it.

"So..." Hinata slowly started. "You were right about the team ups. I'm in Team 8 with Shino and Kiba. Then Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji are team 10. And...ummm...team 7..."

Sara sighed heavily. "Sasuke, Naruto, and me. Right?"

Hinata nodded, keeping an eye on her expression. "You knew you'd be in that team?"

Sara shut her eyes tightly. "Yeah."

At the front, Naruto stood up and pointed rudely at Sasuke. "Iruka sensei!" He shouted at the top of his voice. "Why is a top student like me in a group with this guy?"

Iruka sighed. "Sasuke graduated with the second highest scores. And you Naruto, had the worst scores. This happens because we want to evenly divide the abilities in the group. You are also with the ranked 1 student, Sara. This should even things up."

The whole class erupted into laughter.

Sasuke threw a glare at Naruto and started insulting him. Sara groaned in frustration.

Hinata's mouth formed an O. "Ahh that's why. Top Kunoichi. Top Shinobi. And the last in class." She said in realization. "This is why you freaked out when you heard that you were the top Kunoichi?"

Ino turned to look at her. "But Sara, don't you want to be in that team? I understand that the idiot Naruto is there but..."

Sara quickly shook her head. "Oh I want Naruto in my team. In fact, I think Naruto is the one I would like to have the most." But she winked at Hinata and tackled her. "Except for you princess. I would always love you the most."

Hinata just giggled and shook her head.

Ino's face morphed into surprise. "Naruto? You want that knuckle head in your team?"

Sara raised her brows high up. "Naruto is potentially the strongest person in this room." She noticed that several of their classmates had their heads leaned in towards them. Sara turned to look, and they all quickly shuffled back in place. Were they listening in?

Sara cleared her throat. "Anyway, have you ever noticed that the civilian kids all stay away from Naruto?"

Ino shrugged. "Well because he's annoying."

Sara shook her head. "Well Kiba's annoying but nobody calls him demon."

Kiba perked up at that. "Hey!"

"So you are all listening in!" Sara snapped at their direction, eyes narrowed. Kiba chuckled weakly and pretended to look away. Their other classmates also pretended to chatter about. But Sara knew they were listening. Why?

Ino looked deep in thought at what she said. "Okay, fine. So Naruto is seriously badly misjudged. So?"

She knew that it was only the civilian parents who badmouthed Naruto. The shinobi families knew who Naruto really was and who his parents were. The kids from shinobi families probably just went along with bullying him because everyone else was already doing it.

"So." Sara continued, voice rising. "Naruto has a secret. A powerful secret that makes people afraid of him. So afraid that they call a 12-year old boy a demon. If you really focus on sensing his chakra, you'll know that his reserves are 10 times more than the rest of us combined."

Ino's eyes widened. "Really?" She cast a disbelieving look on Naruto. "We're talking about this Naruto, right?"

Sara nodded eagerly. "I heard that he was allowed to graduate because he created a thousand shadow clones to save Iruka sensei last night."

Shikamaru, Chouji, and even Sasuke tilted their heads a little on their direction now. So why was Sara telling Ino all of these? She was sick of Naruto being treated like some kind of loser. And now that she's officially his teammate anyway, maybe she could boost him up a little.

"That's insane! But Naruto sucks a lot in combat and studies." Ino questioned, rubbing her chin.

Sara made a show of looking at Naruto with sadness. "That's because he has noone to teach him properly. He has huge amounts of chakra that he couldn't control. People laugh when he tries the target practices. Discouragement and isolation. He's bound to not perform well."

Ino shuddered, imagining a strong Naruto. "Doesn't that make him scary though? If he's that powerful, and others call him demon..."

Sara rolled her eyes. "Look at him Ino! He wants to be Hokage. Do you really feel like he could be dangerous? To us? Do you really think he can hurt us?"

Ino blinked, assessing Naruto again. Naruto probably already felt her stare because he turned around and stared back. "What? What is it? What?" He said, pouncing on her desk and looking up at her curiously.

Ino sighed and pushed his face away. "Nothing. Go back to your desk. Don't hurt yourself."

Sara stopped herself from grinning. See? All Naruto needed was a badass image.

Ino turned back to her. "Okay fiiiiine. I see what you mean."

Chouji tilted his head. "But Sara, that makes your team completely awesome then. You got badass Naruto, and Sasuke."

Shikamaru nodded lazily. "Yeah. Why did you go into shock if your team sounds competent anyway?"

Sara sighed. "Because! It's an insane team! Sasuke, for example, has his own goals. I'm pretty sure those goals would take priority over anything else!"

Sasuke glanced at her. But he quickly looked away when she caught him looking. Seriously? He's listening in too? Why is everyone gossiping on me?

"And as awesome as Naruto will be, he's a definite magnet for trouble." She continued her rant. "And as his teammate..."

"You have to take the trouble with him." Hinata finished the thought, concern glinting in her eyes. But if Sara looked harder, she would see a tint of amusement too.

"And above all, they hate each other." Sara sighed. "So that means..."

"Ahhh you'll have to play mediator." Shikamaru answered, nodding in understanding. "Troublesome."

Ino smirked at her. "Well, so much for being invisible now."

Sara ran her hand through her hair in exasperation. "Yeah. Change of plans then." Sara leaned into Hinata and lowered her voice to a whisper.

"Is it me or is everyone listening to our conversation?"

Hinata smiled. "Yeah. I think they were impressed that you guessed all our teams so they're just gossiping on you now."

Sara clicked her tongue. "Well at least I advertised badass Naruto to everyone then."

Hinata sat up straight and looked at her with glowing eyes. "Do you mean all that?"

Sara chuckled. "Of course I do. You know it, Naruto's awesome."

Hinata squealed in a small voice, wiggling happily. Adorable.

Iruka cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "I'm going to introduce the jounin teachers this afternoon. Meeting adjourned until then!"

Naruto jumped on his feet. "Yatta! Lunch time!" He happily skipped towards the doors, bumping into a few people on the way.

"Oh, ooops. Sorry! Sorry!"

The classmate he bumped into nodded. "it's okay, Naruto. Be careful next time."

Naruto paused in surprise. "Mm. Okay. Thank you?"

Another classmate bumped into him. "Oh hi Naruto! Where are you going to eat lunch?"

Naruto blinked at her. "Er...Ichiraku?"

The classmate nodded approvingly. "Ahh good place! Enjoy your lunch! Don't be late later!"

Naruto's face scrunched in confusion. But his stomach grumbled loudly, so he shrugged, raised his arms and walked out eagerly.

Hinata and Sara shared a knowing look. So everyone really was gossiping on her earlier. Their change of attitude towards Naruto was funny. But at least it worked. Now, Naruto's the mysterious badass.

"Our classmates are weird." Sara commented off handedly.

Hinata shook her head. "I told you, you're a trendsetter. If you say so, then it must be true."

Sara threw Hinata a disbelieving look. "They can't really idolize me that hard."

Hinata shrugged and winked at her. "You're awesome. Just accept it now. You're stuck in your catatonic team anyway."

Sara groaned, her hands covering her face. "Speaking of, I need to prepare now. Laters Hinata!"

With that, she jumped on her feet and raced out of the room.

Hinata raised her arm in surprise. "Mmm...later." She said softly to the open door that Sara rushed out of.

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When Sara got back in the classroom, all the teams were already seated together.

She marched towards her team at the front row. Naruto and Sasuke were seated away from each other at the ends of the seat. Sara sighed and dropped about 25 books in the middle of their table.

Ino gaped at her from her seat behind them. "Ohhhhhkay. Girl, that's preparation overkill."

Sara shrugged. "Eh. These are just basics. Besides, they're just books."

"You sneaked some of them out again, didn't you?" Hinata piped up, shaking her head at Sara.

Sara grinned mischievously. "You know it. I'll take them back anyway after I'm done. Give me at least a week to finish these."

Ino wrinkled her nose. "What are those anyway?"

Shikamaru leaned over and caught the title of the book on top. "Ahh Medical books. You're trying to become a medic?"

Sara pressed her lips together before responding. "No. I just think that medic skills would come in handy in this team." A lot of medic skills. Expertise even. Damn it. Sakura should be in this team.

Naruto raised himself higher on the chair to look at the books she brought. "Ne ne Sara chan! Why do we need medic skills in our team?" He asked curiously, eyes widening at the difficult titles of her books.

Sara scooted herself through them to get to her seat. "You and Sasuke are offensive fighters, close to midrange. This team would most likely be front line fighters. In that case, we'd be the team with the most potential injuries. It's better to have someone who could heal them or make them less painful, if nothing else."

Naruto's eyes were bulging at her sheer number of books. "Can you really finish all of those in a week?"

Sara shrugged. It wasn't a big deal. "I have a photographic memory. I can handle it. I'll need to read more of this anyway."

Naruto gaped at her. "You'll read even more of those?"

"Yeah. These are just basics. I'm hoping to read something more complex."

Naruto beamed at her and gave her the thumbs up. "You're really smart! You're amazing Sara chan! We'll be a bomb ass team."

"With you in it? You'll bomb this team." Sasuke grunted from his corner, not even looking their way.

Naruto's head snapped towards him. "What did you say you Teme?!"

Sasuke glared at him now. "Nothing you can understand, Dobe!"

Sara straightened in between them and pushed their shoulders away from each other. "Okay. No. Fight later when I'm not in between you." She hissed at them.

"Hn." Sasuke turned away uncaringly. Naruto pouted and threw one last dark look at Sasuke.

Ino chuckled behind her. "Mediator. I see what you mean."

Sara sighed, pulling out some books. But before she forgot, she turned towards where Sakura was sitting.

"Oh, hey Sakura!"

Sakura blinked up at her. "Sara chan, what is it?"

Sara took one book from her pile and passed it on to her. "You should try reading these kinds of books."

Sakura brows furrowed, eyeing the book she had been given curiously. "Mmmmm medical books?"

Sara nodded. "Yeah. I think you'll be good for it. You're also very smart after all. You'll get it fast."

Sakura blushed under her praise. She smiled and rubbed her hands together. "Okay, thank you Sara." Sakura immediately opened her book and absorbed herself in it. Sara nodded to herself, she knew Sakura would come a long way in this field. She was fated for this anyway. She felt so guilty taking away the future that was supposed to be hers. But there was nothing she could do about it now.

Hinata leaned towards her from the back. "You think Sakura's supposed to be in Team 7, don't you?"

Sara bit her lip. "I think she'd do a fantastic role here."

"Why, don't you think you won't?" Sara faced Sasuke in surprise, who was eyeing her impassively.

Sara helplessly shrugged, gesturing at her books.

Sasuke inclined his head. "You're the number 1 student in the academy even though you are a civilian and an orphan. You are brilliant and you work hard." Sara was about to hoot in surprise (THE Sasuke Uchiha deemed her worthy) but almost immediately, he was suddenly sneering at her. "I never even won against you. Never. So you better do a good job in this team or there will be consequences."

Naruto immediately jumped to her defense. "Hey don't be a jerk to Sara chan! She was just nervous!"

Sara placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder soothingly. "It's okay Naruto. Sasuke just wants us to be a good team."

Naruto sniffed. "Well he doesn't have to be so mean about it. And of course we'll work hard and be the best! Right? Right?"

Sara smiled at the little sunshine. "Yeah yeah."

After everyone settled down, she finally opened the first three of her books. She laid them down in front of her. She could feel Sasuke watching her curiously. She ignored him and proceeded reading her books.

Not even a minute into it, Naruto nudged her. "Ne ne, Sara chan, can you read all those three books at once?"

Sara smiled at Naruto and nodded. "Photographic memory." She tapped on her head. Naruto was looking at her in amazement. Aww he's such a sweet cutie patootie. Hinata's a lucky girl. Well, Naruto's a lucky boy too anyway.

Sara flipped the page of one book and glanced at it for 3 seconds. Then she handed it to Naruto.

Naruto curiously peered at the page.

Sara clicked her tongue and started reciting the page. "The anatomical position is the frame of reference for many other terms relating to anatomy, anatomical structures and anatomical directions. The anatomical position consists of a standing upright person facing forward with the person's arms on their sides next to the body and the feet together. What makes the anatomical position different from a normal standing position is the fact that the palms of the hands are unnaturally facing forward rather than naturally facing the leg..."

Naruto gawked at her as she continued reciting the rest of the page, word per word, exactly and perfectly.

When she finished, Naruto's eyes were wide as saucers, his mouth hanging open. On her other side, Sasuke was facing away from them but the corner of his mouth was lifted.

Sara mockingly flipped her hair and took the book back from Naruto.

Naruto clapped his hands, bouncing on his seat. "That was awesome!"

She winked at him before going back to reading her books.

Over the next minutes, the teachers for the teams came one by one to take their respective assigned students. When Hinata and the rest of team 8 were called by Kurenai, Hinata passed by her table and gave her a quick squeeze before waving goodbye.

Sara felt her eyes burn, watching Hinata walk away. She will miss hanging out with the sweet princess everyday. Who would have known, at the beginning, she was very reluctant to make friends with Hinata. Now, she wished they just ended up on the same team. Well, it wasn't like she couldn't still bug Hinata every other day if Sara wanted to.

When the other last team was called out, the three of them were stuck in an uncomfortable silence that hovered over the suddenly gloomy and empty room. Maybe they weren't close enough yet to really be used with each other's presence.

Sara could feel Sasuke's annoyance on one side, and Naruto's fidgeting and restlessness on the other.

Sara sighed. She actually took those books from the library today because she knew Kakashi would be late. She already accounted for his lateness, getting useful learning materials to get herself occupied while they waited for their eternally late sensei. Good thing that she also considered her teammates while she was getting the books in the library.

"Hey, Naruto." Naruto paused from tapping his foot impatiently. He gazed curiously at her.

"What is it Sara chan?" He loomed over her desk with his wide blue eyes. How noone noticed his mild resemblance to the fourth Hokage was beyond her. Sara pulled out another book from her pile and handed it over to him.

"Here, I got you a book too in the library. Maybe you can read it while we wait."

Naruto peered over the book in wonder. "The Tale of a Gutsy Ninja." Naruto read the title out loud. "But, but. reading is not really my thing, Sara chan." Naruto sheepishly told her as he awkwardly flipped the pages.

Sara smiled at him. "Don't worry, I got you the cartooned edition. This book has a lot of pictures along the story. Besides," She tapped the backside of the book. "The main character's name is Naruto. I think you'll like it."

Naruto straightened up in surprise. "Wow really?! My name is destined for greatness!" Sasuke snorted. But Naruto was too eager to notice. He flipped to the first page and started reading, swaying slightly on his seat. Of course, even if he's reading, Naruto just had to keep moving.

Sara picked up another book from her pile and handed it over to Sasuke. Sasuke raised a brow at her. She lifted her shoulders and gestured to the book she was handing him. With a sigh, Sasuke took the book and peered over it.

"The different applications of chakra to fire and its properties." Sasuke's eyes widened in interest as he flipped to the back of the book and read its summary.

Sara beamed at him. "I thought it would interest you. I heard you can do a big fireball jutsu. Maybe you can experiment on its variants and expel the fire in different heat levels."

Sasuke nodded in agreement, eyeing the book and pursing his lips in approval. He quickly opened the book and started reading.

And that was how the three of them spent the next hours.

Naruto was fascinatedly poring over his adventure book, minutely chuckling to himself or gasping at a scenario in the story. Sasuke's eyes were glued to his informative book, occasionally nodding at something or raising his brows when he read something interesting. Sara was meticulously reading her 3 books. She had a small notebook out so she could take notes on really important subjects.

This was the setting that Kakashi arrived to.

Kakashi wasn't sure what to expect from his students but it certainly wasn't this. The Hokage had toured him around the homes of the three and gave him a brief explanation of their personal traits.

The last Uchiha in the village was on this team. As Kakashi and the Hokage followed him around the village, he could see just how brooding and isolated Sasuke was. He stayed away from people and walked without seeing anyone else on the road. The Hokage warned him of Sasuke's probable goal of gaining revenge on his brother. This worried Kakashi. His apartment was virtually minimalist. He didn't have much personal effects. Just a lot of ninja equipment and essentials. This showed that Sasuke had nothing else on his mind but progress towards his goal. That was really worrying.

His sensei's son was also on this team as well. Naruto on the other hand was loud and boisterous. He ignored people's terrified and angry gazes and went about his day energetically. The Hokage mentioned that this used to upset the child. But finding Iruka in his life greatly comforted him and gave him a more positive outlook. Of course Naruto still wanted recognition so his ultimate goal was still to become Hokage. His apartment was extremely messy. The whole apartment itself was ran down, and it was almost empty. Other residents moved out because he lived there, so that left the other shady residents. Kakashi felt a pang of pity for the boy. But being the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi had its price. Kakashi knew that a lot of trouble will follow them around because of Naruto.

The last student on the team came off as mysterious for Kakashi. The Hokage just shrugged it off, saying that she was just a normal, hardworking student. She went by the name of Sara. Just Sara. She didn't have parents too (Great, they were a team of orphans, including him. Kakashi thought with a bitter laugh), and she lived in a small orphanage at the edge of the poorer civilian section. She looked normal, simple, and chill. She didn't stand out in school, and kept to herself. But she had also befriended the heiress of the Hyuga clan. He heard that Hiashi himself even invited her to their celebratory dinner. She was also ranked 1 at the Academy. He scanned her file and found that she didn't just excel in tests, she also dominated in combat. He spotted her very early in the morning, running laps around Konoha. To Kakashi, it seemed like there was more to Sara, perhaps great potential. But as it was, it would be troublesome to draw them out.

The Hokage informed him that Sasuke and Naruto had an ongoing rivalry. The balance of the team would push the two boys to working hard to overcome the other. The girl in the middle would see to it that the balance remained. Kakashi's nose wrinkled at that. He couldn't see Sara willingly balancing the boys out. Sara was unrelated to the boys. As far as he investigated, she was one of the only girls in the academy who didn't fangirl over Sasuke. She also didn't have many interactions with Naruto. Sara was a stranger to the two. He didn't see how she could act mediator. It seemed like Iruka had recommended Sara as a comforting presence to anyone who came to her. She was introverted, but caring.

Finally, Sasuke was also a failsafe strategy to controlling Naruto with his Sharingan should Naruto lose control of the Kyubi. Kakashi knew that this was the real reason why they were in the team together.

So as Kakashi went to the academy to fetch his team, he imagined chaos. Sasuke and Naruto shouldn't have been able to stand each other, staying in the same room with no objective for so long. Sara would be minding her own business elsewhere, or maybe her kindness would take over and she would try to get through to the boys unsuccessfully. Naruto would be pissed off for being made to wait so he was more likely to plot a prank against him (Kakashi heard that Naruto was often called the Prank King.)

But as he opened the door of the classroom, expecting something to burst out or any screams of anger towards him, he only found three meek students sitting casually next to each other and reading books. They looked up as he entered the door, blinking slowly at him.

"Hi! Are you our sensei?" Naruto spoke up, jumping excitedly from his seat. He looked at Kakashi up and down, frowning deeply. He tapped his chin as he assessed the teacher. Finally, he sighed loudly and pointed at Kakashi. "You look lame."

Sasuke slapped a hand to his forehead, shaking his head. "Dobe." He muttered under his breath.

Sara only giggled at her teammate's antics. "Hello sensei." She greeted politely, her eyes twinkling with mirth.

Ah, there it is. Kakashi thought in relief. Finding three apparently studious pupils definitely surprised him. This banter now was more of what he expected. Nobody mentioned his lateness though. They must be pretty absorbed with their books to not notice the time anymore.

Kakashi smiled at them. "Let me see what I think of you 3..." He paused dramatically. "I hate you all."

Naruto gasped and scowled at him. Sasuke's brows furrowed at his declaration. Sara looked like she was trying not to laugh.

What a weird bunch. Kakashi thought in defeat. He half hoped they wouldn't pass the test so he wouldn't have to handle these little menaces.

He turned his back to them. "Meet me at the rooftop." And he promptly shunshin-ed away.