Chapter 34. Meet the team.

"We'll take one hour recess and return here to meet your jonin instructors," Iruka said, packing up to leave. I could, and arguably should, grab him and force him to talk. But I doubt the idiot that came up with this apocalypse-causing plan would put his name on it. Naruto's teammates bailed, not acknowledging Naruto, as they left the room. Ami and Fuki knew better than to get within six feet of me on a good day; they wisely chose to wait until I left. After all, I couldn't stay there forever; my team would come to get me.

Looking about the room, my classmates slowly filtered out. They left in groups of three. Some happy with their teammates, others displeased, and some indifferent. Hinata looked over to us as her team moved to leave the room. I gave her a nod as the boys were too depressed to notice her. She nodded back, wishing me luck, before chasing her team. Ino flipped her hair as she left, and Shikamaru avoided eye contact. Choji was kind enough to say hello.

With the classroom empty, I realized my teammates were nowhere to be seen. Naruto's and Sasuke's team were the only ones to leave with an even number. Everyone left in groups of three. It hit me then that my teammates weren't a part of my class. Great. Just what I need, strangers for teammates. The world was doomed.

"What do we do now?" Naruto asked in a small voice. "If we're not on the same team, is this goodbye?"

"No!" Sasuke smashed the idea. "We're not splitting up!" He looked on the verge of tears.

"Sasuke is right," I said, if only to say something. "The village knew full well we worked great together; splitting us apart is a huge waste, and they know it. This isn't permanent... It can't be."

The longer this joke went on, the least confident I became. I shook my head.

"Besides, even if we're on different team's we can still meet up," I said, trying to see the silver lining.

The first stage of grief, denial.

Oh, shut up.

The dead shinobi wasn't helping.

Naruto burst into tears.

"My teammates hate me!" He yelled. "There's no way they'll work with me; they would rather see me dead!"

I froze, the answer hitting me.

"What did you just say?" I asked softly. He turned to me, his eye overflowing with tears.

"Everyone but you guys hate me. How am I supposed to be on a team with people who hate me!" He sobbed.

How indeed. Near all of our classmates avoided Naruto. They couldn't be on the same team as Naruto, their parents wouldn't allow it, and the homage knew that! Looking to Sasuke who was scowling at the desk, I knew he wouldn't work well on a team either, especially one with his fangirls. Skilled as they were, they were kunoichi that loved Sasuke. I couldn't see them performing with that kind of distraction. It was as if they were setting us up for failure. And failure would lead us back to the academy. We're they trying to keep us back a year?

No, there had to be something more to this.

"Sakura?" Naruto pulled me from my thought with a worried look on his face. "Are you okay?"

"Not really, but I figured out what's wrong with the world," I said with a grin. That got Sasuke's attention.

"It's a test," I explained. "I'm not sure on what or what we need to do to pass – yet – but I know it's a test."

Naruto's eyes widen. I was surprised he caught on so quickly.

"We make the best team, so it is weird that they would put us on different teams!" He said, outraged.

"Why bother going there the hassle of training a team to work together when we already have teamwork." Sasuke slammed his fist on the desk. "Those bastards."

lack eyes turned ruby red with the activation of his Sharingan.

"Knowing is half the battle," I said, patting his shoulder. "We can go into this with a calm mind." I stood, getting the attention of the boys. "They expect us to rebel, so let's play along." I leap over the desk and onto the seat in front. "Follow instructions to the best of your ability, and play nice with your teammates."

"What!?" Sasuke stood, as did Naruto.

"You gotta be kidding me, Sakura." Naruto yelled, "You expect me to get along with those bastards!?"

"No," I said, stepping off the desk. "And neither does anyone else." I walked over to the door and paused. Let's make this fun." My eyes danced with mischief, and they grinned with similar looks. Naruto was a well-known troublemaker, and Sasuke was as antisocial as they get. They would regret taking us out of our comfort zone.

"I never did like those guys," Naruto said, leaving his seat. "I think I should show them how much." I foxgrin crawled onto this face as he walked to the door.

"Hmph," was all Sasuke said as he followed Naruto, his hands in his pocket. It was likely to be all he said for the rest of the day.

We left the room together one last time. Those that saw our faces found somewhere else to be. Ami and Fuki hesitated, but Sasuke slipt off from us and walked towards them and passed. That was the closes thing to a come on they would get, and they followed in step behind him. Narutos teammates were next; they scowled at Naruto, who grinned at them. Taking out a tread wire and approached them with a skip in his step.

With practiced movements, he wrapped the wire around them, trapping them together. He usually tied people's ankles with this move, but he upgraded to bodies when he got tall enough. With a tug, the boys fell over and dragged behind Naruto. They spitted insults at the blond that merely grinned at them without stopping.

I shook my head as I watched them go. Their teammates would be begging for another teammate in an hour.

One hour later, I was sitting in a full classroom flanked by Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto had on a fox grin and Sasuke a satisfied smirk. I glanced at their teammates and found them covered in bruises, from what I gathered from my search for my teammates. Sasuke did nothing, and his teammates started fighting on their own, and Naruto outright bullied his team.

After failing to find my teammates, I decided to watch other teams instead.

Hinata was getting along great with her teammates. Kiba saw this as his chance and tried to show her who was alpha. It turned out to be her, as a strike to the abdomen left him gasping. Shino told him just how much of an idiot he was, as Hinata refused to apologize. She changed over the years from a sweet, meek girl, to an independent princess that didn't take your shit. Like her father. Hiashi was surely proud of the way she turned out, and the elders were wishing she would return to her sweet self. She was no longer a pushover and was moving to eliminate the curse sealing of the branch family.

Traditions were crashing down in her wake. Dealing with stubborn old men left her no patience for little pups trying to play alpha. Neji would be proud. She was going to be the first Hyuga heir that became a shinobi. With the dangerous job description, the clan forbid the heirs from becoming shinobis. However, Itachi, of all people, convinced them it was a great opportunity for her to grow. The elders conceited, as Itachi was now the head of his clan and a shinobi.

I still didn't understand the relationship between Hinata and Itachi, but I didn't like it, not one bit.

Team ten were fairing much better. Having been childhood friends: there was no doubt they would work together when the time came. Ino was bossy and self-important, Shikamaru was lazy and didn't like to try too hard, and Choji was kind, to the point of being a pushover. Asuma would find a way to make them work as he had before, so I wasn't worried. If he failed, their fathers would set them straight.

Iruka, who was missing for the entirety of lunch, walked into the classroom, followed by a group of jonins. Naturally, Kakashi wasn't among them. At least some things remained the same. The jonins stepped forward and called out the names of their squad.

"Team seven, you're with me," said an oddly familiar man with brown hair and black eyes. Yamato made all the effort not to make eye contact as he looked at Naruto, who in turn stared at him dumbly. I could tell he wanted to jump on the desk and point in outrage but was too shocked to move. Sasuke wasn't much better, glaring daggers at the other out-of-place guest.

The raven hair red eyes kunoichi Kurenai Yuhi stepped forward and called for team eight. Naruto closed his jaw and stood numbly to meet his "teammates" who stood in front of Yamato. At the last second, he waved back at us, still in shock.

A man, if you could call him that, with long black hair stepped forward. He looked young and aged, with stress marks on his face. Long lashes framed his dark eyes that looked straight at Sasuke.

"Team nine, please come this way," Itachi said softly, never taking his eyes off Sasuke. Sasuke's eyes bleed into red as he glared at his brother. If he activated his mangekyou, Itachi would go up in black flames.

"Hey, look on the bright side," I said. Murderous eyes fastened on me. I smirked. "At least now we know for sure what this is." He gritted his teeth, a look of betrayal flashing across his face before he stood. Ami and Fuki stood as he did, and the three walked down to the front where Itachi waited. The air was tense as Sasuke walked by his brother and out of the room.

Asuma Sarutobi, son of the Hokage, stepped forward and called for team ten. Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji silently stood and walked down to him. With all the major players out of the room, I leaned back and waited.

The time ticked on as I sat in the empty classroom, waiting. Kakashi was the only one that wasn't among the jonin, even though he should have been. The fact that they used Itachi as Sasuke's jonin made me realize who was my jonin. For whatever reason, they were posting our guards as our jonins. That would make someone ignorant of the future nervous as it did Naruto.

If not for the genin exams, I might have doubted myself, but as it was, they can't pass the test as they are. Naruto and Sasuke are stubborn and won't work with someone they find annoying. They would sooner return to the academy.

A gentle breeze brushed through my hair. I looked over to the once-locked window to find Kakashi standing there.

"You sure took your time," I said. Kakashi's eyes smiled at me as he tilted his head.

"You don't seem surprised to see me."

"Figured there was a pattern that you fit into," I told him. "Sensei."

"I see. You saw Naruto and Sasuke's guards and thought I was your jonin because of it?"

I sat up. "Am I wrong?"

"No," he answered, pushing off the wall, his hands in his pocket. He walked atop the desk and crouched in front of me.

Rude.

"Don't get too cock just because you know me," He said. "I won't make this easy for you."

"Do you ever?"

He smiled again, a chuckle vibrating in his chest.

"No, I suppose I don't, do I."

He stood and walked back over to the window.

"Come," he called. "It's time to met your new teammates." He then jumped out the window. We were on the third floor, but what did that mean to a ninja. I stood and followed, leaping out to the window to land neck to him.

"Good idea on the tights," he commented. "We shinobis jump around a lot; we wouldn't want any unfortunate accidents."

"If they see, you only need to kill them." I looked up at him. "The dead does not speak. Or so mom says." I said, remembering mother's advice. We wore the same outfit so she would know best.

Kakashi shivered and looked away.

"I see…" he took two steps away. "Let's get going," he said before taking off in a dash.

We leap through the tree at a leisurely pace. Kakashi made no attempt to speak to me, and I returned the courtesy. The sooner this test was over, the sooner the story can begin.

Kakashi fell from the trees and landed gracefully on the ground. His sudden descent threw me off, and I grabbed a tree branch to stop my forward momentum. Placing my foot on the limb, I launched myself to the ground. Landing in a crouch, I glared at Kakashi without getting up.

"We're here," he said, smiling innocently. I looked around the sorry excuse of a clearing. Not a training ground, I noticed standing up. We were in the middle of a forest, far away from the Nara compound. How thoughtful.

I turned to the incoming chakra signatures. I didn't recognize them, but I assume they were my teammates.

"Here," Kakashi said, tossing me a mask. It was the same mask I wore to the spring festival when I met Sasuke.

"Did you break into my house for this?" I asked as he donned his wold mask.

"Didn't have to," he said, his voice taking on a harsh tone. "Your mother was all too happy to give it to me."

I pulled my hair into a ponytail and twisted it into a bun before securing it with a metal hair stick. The hair stick was a gift from Hinata on my birthday. It was beautiful, with a silver body and sakura flowers end with dandling gems. Neji made the comment something so beautiful as wasted on me, and I stabbed him with it. It was then that I realized, much to Hinata's horror, it could also be a weapon.

I donned my own mask just as two young Anbu landed a bit away from us. They wore matching outfits, a black and gray with red stripes with one sleeve longer than the other, a high collar midriff shirt, black pants, shinobi sandals, gloves, and a short sword on their backs.

Say for their hair and skin; they could have passed for twins. Their identical mask didn't help. One had black hair and pale skin, the other gray hair and fair skin.

Their chakra was interesting. Mr. dark hair's reminded me of a painting from my previous life, "The starry night." His chakra swirled around like ink in water forming images, and sometimes words. Mr. grey hair was a ball of sunshine, warm and comfortable.

I knew who they were even before Kakashi introduced them.

Sai and Shin were Naruto and Sasuke's replacements. My resolve cracked a little. The possibility of this being permanent just increased. They could turn team seven into Anbus, as we were more skilled than an average genin.

I shook my head; this was a test! It had to be.

"And this is Sakura," Kakashi ended introductions.

"Is your code name sakura because you have pink hair?" Shin asked. I blinked, looked to Kakashi, who shrugged and back to them.

"Sure, why not," I said. Shin's head tilted, and his chakra flared. He was smiling beneath that mask; I just knew he was.

"It is nice to meet you, Sakura," Sai said in a soft voice. He gave off a shy and timid vibe that didn't fit his later attitude. I glanced at Shin, who whispered something to Sai, causing the young boy to blush? I wanted so badly to face fall and go back to sleep, or perhaps wake up. This whole day had to be a dream, or rather, a nightmare.

"Now that introductions are out of the way," Kakashi said, taking a scroll from his pocket. "Let's get down to business,"

He rolled out the scroll on the grass, and we gathered around it. It was a map of the northern forest around Konoha. Kakashi pointed to a grove of trees.

"We are currently here," he said, tapping on the scroll before dragging his fingers to the north and tapped on a clearing. "This is our destination. Your mission objective is to retrieve a scroll from this location. How you get in and out is up to you, so long as you get the scroll."

"Your mission," not "Our mission."

"You're not coming with us," I stated.

He nodded, "I'm coming with you, but only halfway," Kakashi said, rolling up the scroll and leaving it on the ground. "Once your mission is complete, I'll cover your escape."

This sound awfully familiar. Where had I heard this before?

"Go straight to the mission parameters and destroy anything in your way." Kakashi continued walking away. "Complete the mission at all cost. Prove to me you are worthy of the title "Shinobi."

"Sir!" Sai and Shin said, standing at attention.

I was grateful for the mask as it hid my gaping jaws. I stared at Kakashi, my eyes wide with disbelief. During the last war, Kakashi lost his teammate on a mission that he prioritized over their lives. It was a mistake that scared him and left him with a constant reminder in the form of his Sharingan.

Kakashi's ultimate test, "The rule breaker."

Next chapter in two weeks. Gonna do this biweekly, the same as my pay day.