A/N: Sakura POV and monologues. This is the last chapter that was originally included with the initial post.

Sakura woke up and was immediately annoyed.

She realized the last thing she remembered was Ino being hit by a tomato and zoning out BEFORE finding out who her teammates were.

"Oh, you're awake now?"

Oh, and Inner was awake too.

'Shut up. What happened after the bell rang yesterday?'

'She tells me to shut up and then asks me something, hmph typical.'

Inner, her other self…

Sakura doesn't know how long she's had Inner for. She's already had missing pieces of memory as far back as she can remember, coming to randomly in a different environment after seemingly zoning out. Hell, she didn't even remember anything clearly before starting the academy.

She knows missing memories of her life isn't normal, but it's not like anyone would've known because she demonstrated an eidetic memory in classes.

Sakura was a girl that would've faded easily into the background under normal circumstances, until Ino had plucked her from the ground and tried to cultivate her like a flower. She learned a bit from Ino, considering how navigating girls was like a minefield. She learned how to attract the attention of people when she talked and then fade back and was content with that. As much as she wanted to be in the spotlight, inner wanted to be invisible and avoid danger and she wasn't wrong to.

Inner said she'd been around for awhile, but the first time she heard her was when she started attracting attention from Ami and her group and they started picking out things about her and started bullying her with it, and Ino had left her out to dry. It was stupid really, like she couldn't control her forehead and pink hair, and it was plain obvious they were jealous at Sakura's success in the class rankings. She didn't want to admit Inner was right, let alone real.

The time she decided Inner was real, was when she, or really, Inner in control attacked Ami and blinded her.

"I'll always be with you, to be there for you, and to protect us. You need to work together with me on this" she had said.

And now Sakura was a girl that always had eyes on her, that Ino wanted 'to compete against as a fellow ninja.' She had always wanted eyes on her, but no one knew that it was Inner that stood up against Ami, so it didn't count. Sometimes she'll feel Inner, when she wakes up or is about to zone out, but other than that incident, she's never been able to watch when Inner is in action. However, she watches her, and always tries to advise her.

But missing memories aren't something so easily walked off, so Sakura has come up with a very simple solution for this: keeping a diary and planner.

The main difficulty is obviously trying to keep anyone from snooping in it, parents and classmates, since she has to take it everywhere with her. Luckily again, Ino had taught her some simple cyphers before they stopped being friends…

Anyways, Sakura got up and checked her diary to see what Inner had left for her.

-teammates are Naru and Sayu

-we didn't meet our sensei b/c we all dipped

-parents came by and said that our sensei is Kakashi Hatake

-they said to meet tmr at TG 13 at 6 AM and not to eat breakfast

-so I ate extra chicken for dinner

Theoretically, a diary is a good idea, if enough detail was put into it. Inner though, was a bit of a minimalist, so only the bare minimum was written, and so she knew nothing about the other teams. And since Inner does what SHE wants, usually claiming it as what's best for them, and she can't really control what Inner does, Inner usually ends up screwing up with her plans, such as her diet, for example.

Luckily, she seems asleep for now, so she won't have to hear a lecture on how they need more food to be a ninja. Men won't notice her like that, according to what the other girls say…but she didn't have to listen to them to fit in anymore, did she?

She checked the time; it was 5:30, so she wouldn't have time to shower either. At least she was used to skipping breakfast, so she'd have time to, at least, finger comb her hair out.

Ugh, she didn't have time to even mentally process her team. Why were there three kunoichi on one team, and how was she going to deal with Naru and Sayuri?

Inner was the only one who kept trying to engage Sayuri, even after all the girls had given up trying to be nice. She was talented, pretty and came from a Most Noble Clan, so everyone was polite to Sayuri, even the girls, trying to extend some kindness after some terrible incident with her whole family dying apparently? They didn't really discuss the specifics around the kids, and even Ino was only able to get that much. Inner was always saying their reaching out to Sayuri was so plastic and not genuine, and that's why she never reciprocated, but at least they tried, meanwhile Sayuri just snapped at everyone, especially when they expressed relief at the perpetrator being declared dead. At least she was talented, so she'd be easier to work with.

And then Naruko…apparently she doesn't like being called that, but most of the girls didn't care, saying that you don't just get to choose your own nicknames. Inner said she would be a good ally or even friend to have and was always polite to her, but her parents and all her other friends said to stay away from her, and frankly, most would rather not be associated with a troublemaker like her who seemed content to make an enemy out of anyone for the smallest slight. Some might say Sakura lacked survival instincts though because she always felt the urge to try to challenge her. She'd never say it, but, in a weird way she admired how Naru could appear and command the attention of everyone. Her chakra was thick and suffocating, a dominating presence in the room. Inner likened her challenges to how one would poke a stick into the bee's hive, to get the bees out, so you could approach the honeycombs and scour for honey. Sometimes, she got stung, but they said great ninjas have many scars. At least she could say she never had Naru retaliate against her like Ino had twice now: from the hair loss prank and the tomato, ha.

All that to say, for all her and Inner had different ways of approaching people and problems and different personalities, they were a team and they worked together and for each other. Sure, when it came down to serious issues, Inner took over and handled it, but one day, Sakura wanted to be able to do that for them as well.

For all that they're a team though, maybe she should've at least listened a little bit because she doesn't know how she's going to approach dealing with the two other people, outside of her.

She arrived at the training ground, and she was the first one there. That's just fine. She picked a tree to sit against and pulled out a book about different specializations for kunoichi to read.

Not like Sakura knew what she wanted to do yet. In the academy, they said her chakra control was excellent and recommended either being medical-nin or a genjutsu mistress. Being a civi, she didn't know much of what the fields entailed or even famous nin in those fields. When she started the academy, almost every girl said they wanted to be like Tsunade-sama, but the way her name was whispered was different between even the civis and clan kids.

Among the civilians, Tsunade was like a folk-lore hero, spoken of as a goddess in ages long forgotten, with tales in the fantastical of being able to heal any illness or how, with the strength of 1000 men, she single-handedly ended the Second Great War. Most whispers ended with pursed lips, and pitiful sighs, but one had continued, "it's a shame how the mighty fall."

But, not a word from the clan kids. In fact, even among the academy teachers, in between the factual lessons that spoke of feats as one would list their skills on job applications, her name was like a long dead god that you didn't want to speak the name of and accidentally incur the wrath of.

So no, she didn't know any famous nin she wanted to be her role model, though she was very intrigued by what could've caused the sudden lack of news about Tsunade, (they never said she died, but if she was still in service, she would be lauded as a hero in the streets.) So she was stuck with retreating to books to find enthralling tales of kunoichi…

Except there weren't. If anything, kunoichi and powerful never went into the same sentence. Forget about illustrious tales, the medical career was described as something safe, risk-free, and a "still fulfilling line of work" for civilians like her who knew nothing of the horrors of ninja life. And popular it was among them, unironically thanks to Tsunade's push for more medical training.

On the other hand, genjutsu specialists were also pretty popular career for kunoichi, allowing them to take more passive, background positions to weave their illusions. However, they required a more creative and artistic mind, which Sakura couldn't say she really had. Inner very much made fun of her lack of skills in the kunoichi classes when it came to Ikebana and makeup, but what would a made-up mind spirit know? Something that attracted genjutsu more to Sakura was that she could still be on the field, in the action, usually on squads specializing in sabotage and subterfuge, rather than on the frontlines, but still better than remaining behind like med-nin. Sakura wanted to be a hero, her name to strike terror in the hearts of her enemies and hope in her allies.

Sakura heard the lightest crunching of leaves of someone approaching. She didn't deign to raise her head, instead opting to peer out from beneath her eyelashes, which also helped to limit the exposure to her eyes from the bleary sunrise. Dark eyes glanced lackadaisical down at her.

"Hmm, how silly to restrict yourself to 'kunoichi' professions just because you're a girl," she said boredly, walking past her to another tree and dropping down her equipment bag.

"It doesn't hurt to see what's out there, as well as understand the different skills sets you might have to work with or even worse, face off against," she retorted back. The sun was now really rising, a fiery orange storm on the horizon.

"Maybe so, but you could only get others' preconceived ideas from books. If you want to make a name for yourself, you should do as you please, instead of restricting yourself to fit into societal constructs of what is fitting for you." The raven-head sneered though it wasn't at her and was now pulling out her kunai and shuriken, preparing to sharpen them.

Sakura shrugged her shoulders, at the unexpected encouragement of her usually cold teammate, and then decided to use the calm sea of opportunity to ask her something relevant to her recent thoughts. "What do you think of Tsunade-sama?"

And then her teammate smirked, seemingly pleased at the inquiry, "I don't know how the civilians talk of her, but she's definitely someone who deserves her recognition, not just as a kunoichi, but as a ninja. However, just like a ninja would, she's lived long enough to lose the pieces of herself, forget what she even dreamed of, and know how to keep going. It really reminds you that everyone is human, and at any point you can fall from grace into the depths of insanity.

Sakura hesitated, almost scared of the answer, "What happened to her…?"

She was answered not by the ravenette, but a new arrival she hadn't even sensed any sign of. "She had left the village twice, the last time being five years ago, 'cuz she was tired of war and fighting. That and most her family, clan and fiancé had died in the second Great War, but they tried to say she did terrible things and called her a missing-nin, like they wouldn't welcome her back if she walked back in." the blonde sneered as dropped into the clearing with two containers of takeout.

Sakura opened her mouth with questioning, but she was cut off by Sayuri. "Ah, so that's why you can't find any books written by Tsunade or her apprentice, Shizune." And Naru finished for her, "Yep! They've been banned and trying to obtain one will land you in T & I faster than clicking your tongue."

Sakura swallowed. Well, there went her peaceful reading and mental preparation. Her teammates were here and had given her a lot to ponder.

"Anyways, shut up Sayu, it's too early to be yapping this loud and being all serious," Naruko swaggered in the clearing, yawning, bleary eyes and all.

"Hn, it's only 7:45, you and our sensei are late," Sayuri retorted back, but she was curiously eyeing one of the containers.

"Maa, maa, the earliest he'll come is like 8:00 since his thing is to be late by two hours, but I have it on good authority he'll come at 10 as revenge for ditching him yesterday, so eat up, I had my fill!" she grinned cheekily and held up a container of ramen to Sakura's face.

"We weren't supposed to have breakfast, baka," Sakura wrinkled her face at her, more out of nervousness at her undetected entrance. She steadily ignored the gnawing in her stomach and pangs of her headache.

This is where Sakura would've expected a reaction from the blonde, though the blonde had never gone as far as to pull an elaborate prank on her, but instead she smiled at her all the same and set down the container next to her. "Eat it or don't, it doesn't matter to me, but Teuchi-jiji would cry at the waste of food so do it for him," and then the blonde skipped past her, towards their third teammate.

The raven-head raised her hand, and made to refuse it, but then she smelled the container, sat back down and begrudgingly accepted it, but with a scowl on her face all the same.

"Anyways, Ima go set up some traps all over the forest as a welcoming gift for our new sensei," said so cheerfully, Sakura wondered if she was actually hearing the venom underlining the blonde's voice or if she was feeling the undercurrent of her chakra leaking out again. Then she marched off, blond pigtails flowing behind her without a care in the world.

Sakura knuckles were white, the pages of the book creasing, with how tightly she was gripping them. She hadn't realized when it was that she was able to breathe again easily.

Sayuri hummed, savoring her soup. "Sensei, won't know what hit him. She seems to be on a warpath today. I'd advise you to try to stay out of it."

And while some might say Sakura was enough of a teacher's pet to discourage others misbehavior, really, why would Sakura try to distract the blonde from her newfound victim?

So, with Naru, looking more and more right as time inched closer to eight, Sakura put her book away and absentmindedly ate up her ramen, including the extra meat. She begrudgingly enjoyed it.

Kakashi really didn't know what the fuck to make of the supposed three she-demons because that was what they were, at first glance.

It was simply really; wake up at six, stare at the memorial for four hours, one hour for each member of team Minato and Kushina, show up at ten, and then scare them a little with the bell test.

He shushined into the clearing and almost got impaled by a shuriken.

"Yeahhhh, no it's not possible to hit the shuriken from behind like that because none of the angles will line up. You have to cheat, maybe with a shunshin or something…" Pinkie mused.

A girl who could be a dead ringer for Mikoto scowled and growled out, "But I saw nii-san do it! Are you saying he lied…" her expression was stricken and wow, did the hero worship run deep. Kakashi took note.

Then they both turned to him and pinkie smiled uncannily. "Sensei, good morning, isn't the sun beautiful today?" She grinned and oh no no no-

-"you missed out, sensei, the sunrise was really beautiful this morning. Really drums in the meaning of the Will of Fire and reminds us what we're all fighting for," was said so monotone by the Mikoto-clone, with a hand of her heart as if in fealty.

And fuck, did they somehow overhear when Iruka was discussing reports with them? And where was the last-

-terrorevildeathkiller, twisted chakra flashed off the blonde, as she sprinted into the clearing, only for a split second, that he didn't know if he had felt it or not...

…Uchiha was unreadable, but the pinkie was paler than before, so he hadn't imagined that.

"So, what are we doing today, -ttebayo?" the blond plopped onto the ground and grinned Kushina's smile.

If Kakashi wasn't a highly trained ANBU, the memories would've threaten to overwhelm him.

Then other two girls sat down by her, and the smiled dropped off her face as she cocked her head at him questioningly, not unlike Minato used to…

'Focus, Hound. Don't just assign them as the clones of your loved ones.'

"So, we were supposed to meet yesterday," he paused to see if they would reveal any guilt on their faces. "Does anyone have an explanation?"

Pinkie started with quivering lips and shuffled feet. "Well sensei, I live in a really bad part of town and it was getting really dark. It would've been dangerous for a poor barely genin like me to navigate. Kaa-san could've been worried and she needs my help a lot more nowadays ever since tou-san…" she sniffed.

Well fuck, Kakashi felt his heart crack a little.

Uchiha didn't deign to answer at first, until Uzumaki needled her side with a finger and so, she huffed out a sigh.

"I…needed to pay my respects at the shrine and as well for all my late family, for becoming genin…It took awhile to clean up everything," she said tersely.

And then Kakashi said goodbye to whatever remained of his heart as it crumbled to ash.

He sighed, "and you?" to the jinchūriki.

She grinned. "Well, y'know, today was a very special day yesterday and so I just had to get home as soon as possible." Here she then overlaid her two hands on her chest. "I hadn't seen Anko-nee in three months, she could've been dead. Sooooo, I had to rush home and get everything ready and and and uhhhh I forgot to do the chores."

Kakashi blinked. He wasn't paid enough to deal with this. With an awkward clap, he said, "maa, let's jump to introductions?"

"We already know each other."

"Haven't you looked over our files?"

"Boringgg."

Kakashi gritted his teeth. "Just do it."

His pink-haired brat smiled up at him. "Why don't you demonstrate for us how it's done, so that we can give you what you need?"

Kakashi then gave his vague spiel on, "I'm Kakashi Hatake. I like some things, dislike others and don't feel like sharing my dreams or hobbies." Then he nodded at Sakura to go ahead.

"My name is Sakura Haruno," she began, simple enough. "I loveeeee love love love clothes and accessories and magical girls," she squealed. "I dislike icky boys and perverted men. My hobbies are to read and study andddd my dream is to be as infamous as Tsunade-sama."

Well, at least she wasn't a fangirl? He sweatdropped.

"Did you mean famous?" Kakashi deadpanned.

"Nope, infamous. I want to strike terror in the hearts of my enemies." Ah, so she was bloodthirsty. Kakashi could probably work with that, though Tsunade was a problematic figure to idolize. Hopefully it won't turn her into a flight risk because there were already 2 on this team. He gestured for the Uchiha to go.

She had a permanent scowl on her face. "Sayuri Uchiha. I hate everything and anything bothersome, including living, but especially, perversion, idiocy, laziness, paranoia, and fools. My dream…" here her permanent scowl actually dropped in favor of a forlorn look. "…is to carry on someone else's."

Kakashi felt shitty as he realized that he didn't know what his former kouhai's dream was. Hopefully it wasn't anything that would bring harm to the leaf, considering how he went out. And also, he shoved his Icha Icha further into his pocket.

He turned towards the last one. He felt a bit of excitement and apprehension to hear about his sensei's kid, since he didn't really get the chance to watch the kid growing up.

The blonde leaned back with her hands splayed on the grass and spoke. "My name is Naruto or Naru Uzumaki! My greatest love is ramen. Dango is okay I guess. My greatest dislike is the 3 minutes I have to wait to cook cup ramen. My hobbies are to enact divine justice with my pranks and eat ramen. And my dream is to become hokage, so that I can make everyone happy!" Her face stretched out in a foxy grin.

'Make everyone happy' huh? That would be something like what sensei and Kushina's kid would want. Normal enough and yet, what was with that heavy chakra?

Overall, this team didn't seem like it was straight out of hell like their files suggested. If anything, they would probably make for a decent team, since they were all motivated in some way.

But Hound didn't care for 'decent.'

"Alright, so hopefully none of y'all ate breakfast because we're going to be doing a survival exercise and you might throw up," Kakashi eye-smiled at them.

"What is it for?" Sayuri narrowed her eyes at him.

"Well, you guys aren't my genin quite yet. Sooo, I'm going to impose a test on y'all to see who I get to send back to the academy," Kakashi said jovially, hoping to psych them out. He pulled out two bells and the alarm clock, which he had set for noon. "The alarm is set for noon. You have until then to acquire a bell, or else you don't get lunch and you get sent back to the Academy. Use deadly force."

Kakashi got two different reactions.

The blonde exclaimed, "Wooo free lunch," and seemed unbothered by the missing bell.

Sayuri and Sakura were both pensive, but only the latter opened her mouth to confirm. "There's only 2 bells though, so one of us is getting sent back." Sayuri added, "Or all of us." However, she too then seemed indifferent to these turn of events.

Naru stopped and looked at either girl. "But, sensei, there's no way you expect a genin to be able to defeat an awesome," (he didn't like the way she stressed that,) "shinobi like you."

Would she understand the true meaning of the test? He hummed, "Maa, those are the rules, so figure it out. Anyways, we start when I say so."

Once he gave the go ahead, they scattered in a rush of leaves. In the back of his mind, a small part rooted for these underestimated kunoichi to succeed.

A/N: Title from Voices in my Head by Falling in Reverse.

Update 7/24/23: really minor changes to this part compared to the first 2.

Thanks for reading! Honestly, I wrote this before getting some advice, so idk if I'm over exaggerating/overdoing some things. Either way, I'd appreciate any reviews: critiques or anything that stood out to you :)

Next chapter will be an interlude.