It's been two days since academy graduation, but as the room slowly begins to fill up, I can tell that none of their excited energy has dissipated. It's tiring just to look at; then again, exhaustion is practically a part of my personality at this point.

Who knew that passing the initial month's worth of weekend training in sleep-deprivation (for what else could it be called?) would level me up to going through the same training at spontaneous times, for unpredictable lengths, throughout the rest of the year(s)?

Naps are a lifesaver and the most important part of life. As well as the only reason the academy building has yet to be even slightly burned down by the Brats or me.

Forget the child soldiers and treason, I think sardonically, suppressing my third yawn in the last half hour, purposely messing with my sleep schedule is the real crime and what makes Dino a monster.

The noise of the room lulls for a moment before exploding. I glance to the front of the room to see Naruto standing there, his new headband proudly tied around his forehead. I can make out several people asking how he got it, which is fair; none of the Brats were very quiet or subtle about their anger over the discrimination that was Little Blond's failure.

Looking around, I can tell that none of the Brats are all that surprised. Whether that's because their parents told them or Little Blond did it himself before today, I can't say. I hadn't been allowed outside of HQ until today, holed up in one of the training rooms simultaneously getting the shit beat out of me and beating the shit out of others. I don't even know what became of the plan the Brats' parents came up with to help Naruto that day. Maybe I'll ask him if he knows.

Sounds of an argument pull me away from my thoughts and I can only roll my eyes when I find the source. It seems Naruto and Sasuke had decided to race to the academy today, and Sasuke just arrived looking very displeased. He probably got caught in one of the blond's traps again.

"What number are they at, now?" Ino sighs, sliding into the open space to my right at the back of the room. "And who's in the lead?"

"That's 'race to the academy' number 89," I say, amused despite myself. "And Naruto's 45th win, putting him in the lead."

Ino straightens in her seat with a grin. "And since this is probably the last time we'll be at the academy, it's also his official win! Finally, something they don't tie at."

I snort, but nod in agreement. I don't really know how or why those two started this odd rivalry between them, but I've spent enough of my free time around them to know they can never come to a definite winner in anything. There's just no end to the things they challenge each other in and how many times. I would know; I've subconsciously been keeping count of it all.

Leaning back, I content myself with watching everyone else until one of the academy teachers decide to show up to assign teams. Sasuke and Naruto end up sitting at the desk in front of mine, Ino having corralled Hinata into the last space on our bench. Kiba and Akumaru soon join the two boys before us, always happy to encourage their arguments. In comparison to their loud energy, Shino, Choji and Shikamaru sit in silence at the desk right next to us.

It isn't long until I'm stretching my arms over my head, trying to keep myself awake a little longer, knowing Iruka is making his way down the hall. Just because I always slept in his class doesn't mean I didn't try to give off the impression of paying attention at the beginning of every lesson. I have just enough respect for him for that little bit of decency. Why wouldn't I, with all the shit the Brats and I put him through?

The class quiets down just in time as the door slides open. Iruka stands in the doorway for a moment, simply looking over everyone with a thoughtful expression. He shakes his head after a second, muttering something under his breath before fully stepping into the room and closing the door behind him.

I lean forward in my seat, training taking over as I pay him my full attention. I'm curious about the others' team placements since I already know what mine will be. Danzo had been gracious enough to inform me before I left this morning. I can't even be that upset about it since I understand the logic and probably would have done the same in his place.

The only hangup I really have about the whole thing is what he did to even have a say in such decisions. As far as I'm aware, it's the Hokage that puts the teams together based on the academy teachers' reports, student psych evaluations, and graduation results. As much as I don't like him, the Hokage isn't really that much of a pushover.

"After today you'll be recognized and acknowledged as shinobi of the Leaf," Iruka begins. "I'm proud of how far you've come, and I look forward to how much further you'll grow. You'll be split into three-man cells, so listen for your name and team number. Your team leader will come by after lunch to pick up your team. Now, Team 1…"

Konoha took a heavy hit with Angry Furry's attack occurring less than a decade after the end of the Third War. The death rate was at an all-time high, especially for shinobi, a complete opposite to the village's all-time low birth rate. There simply weren't enough resources to justify starting a family. It's only in recent years that the number of births have risen. This means that my generation is on the smaller scale of size.

I've run the numbers before. There was an increase of academy graduates and in the genin ranks in the few years following Fire Fox's tantrum. It was more important to fill the ranks than cultivate quality. But then, after reaching the five-year mark of peace, the numbers steadily started decreasing to an average of four or five out of ten to twelve teams of academy graduates becoming genins. And that's to say nothing of the politics involved.

So for my graduating class that's mostly civilian-borns or second-generations, I don't have high expectations for just how many will become genin on the first try.

"Team 7 is Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and Mokume Kuri."

Mokume Kuri, I roll the name over in my head as I search for her in the room. A second-generation shinobi hopeful. Better than a first-generation hopeful, considering who else is on the team. Compared to the other females of the class, she ranks mid in taijutsu, mid-high in genjutsu, and mid in ninjutsu. Completely average, honestly, but overall not a bad replacement.

Replacement? I frown, confused at the turn of my thoughts before pushing it aside as Iruka continues.

"Team 8 is Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, and Hyuga Hinata. Team 9 is currently field active. Team 10 is Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji. Team 11 is Haruno Sakura; you'll be taking the place of one of the genin that won't be returning to active service."

I nod, ignoring the grim line settled across his face at the words, and wonder if the one I'm replacing is dead or "dead". Hard to tell when Danzō is involved.

"Your team leader will drop by after lunch to pick you up, so use this time to get to know your teammates. You'll be working together from now on, after all. Dismissed."

It doesn't take more than a second before the Brats are crowding around me, frowning.

"Who's Mokume?" Sasuke demands first, frowning.

"Brown hair, brown eyes. Standing by the door with the girl in pigtails and looking in this direction. Daughter of two first-generation jonin-level shinobi," I rattle off boredly. It's only mildly amusing to watch everyone shift to look at the girl in question through their periphery.

"A fangirl?" Sasuke scowls.

I tilt my head in consideration. "Yes, but unlikely to let it affect a mission."

Shikamaru sighs, shaking his head. "I'm not even going to ask how you know that."

Probably for the best. I'm not sure how I can explain that Danzō had me make and keep updated profiles on all our yearmates without giving away the fact I work for a shadow organization.

"I've worked with her before," Ino offers, humming in thought. "In kunoichi class. She knows her ikebana and poisons pretty well."

"Honestly, she's the best you could have gotten as a teammate." I shrug.

"No," Naruto says, almost pouting. "The best would have been you."

"Why isn't it you?" Shino pipes up.

"They're right," Hinata cuts in before I can try to say anything. "The three of you have known each other since before the academy. You would've had some of the best teamwork."

"Yeah." Kiba leans forward with his arms crossed. "The nine of us would have made kick ass teams no matter how we're paired, so long as it's with each other." Akamaru barks in agreement.

Ugh. Who the hell taught them to think so logically?

"I don't know how the Hokage's mind works. He has the final say on team assignments," I deflect with a roll of my eyes. "Look, standing here talking about her isn't going to make you know her any better. So, why don't you take up sensei's advice and talk to her. I have some questions about my team, so I'll catch you later, maybe."

I wave the Brats goodbye, absently wondering when next I'll actually get to see them. I seriously doubt my future contains days-off.

I reach the door, about to politely nod to Mokume and her friend as I pass when she's nudged in my direction. I stop, curiously watching the brunette quietly hiss at her friend with an embarrassed blush on her face. Her friend only nudges her even harder before turning to me with a grin.

"Hi, Sakura-san!"

"Hello, Sasaki-san." I smile back, easily falling into the friendly role I take up when interacting with other children that are usually tolerable.

"Kuri-chan wants to ask you something," she states cheerfully, looking at her friend expectantly. Mokume glares back at her before turning to me with a nervous smile.

"How can I help you, Mokume-san?"

She blushes even brighter, quickly glancing to the back of the room where the Brats are. She diverts her attention from them just as quickly, looking back at me before settling for simply staring at the floor.

"Uh, you're friends with Sasuke-kun and um Naruto-san, right? Right, of course you are. Everyone knows that," she rambles slightly. "Uh, that isn't what I'm trying to ask. Ah, what I mean is! Um, do- do you have any advice on how I could, uh, get along with them?" She hunches in on herself slightly, ducking her head to likely hide her intensifying blush. Sasaki gives her an encouraging thumbs up.

I hum, wondering how to answer that. Truthfully, I don't care much for others' personal relationships — not when the information wouldn't be useful for a mission. I still keep mental notes and tabs; it's not like I can just stop noticing things.

My main interest with these team assignments is whether they can work together or not. Beyond that, I could care less. But since this is Little Blond and Little Duck's team…it'd be for the best to try and cultivate a positive relationship between them.

"Well, Naruto and Sasuke like to challenge each other a lot, I'm sure you've noticed. I don't recommend getting between them when that happens, just keep a tally since they'd argue about who's won for hours. You should ask about their hobbies. Find a common or middle ground. They'll more likely open up if you reach out first and show you're sincere. That's all I can really think of right now." I shrug.

Mokume's blush receded as she looked up and began nodding along to my words seriously. "I see. Thank you, Sakura-san!"

I grin at her. "No problem, Mokume-san! They could use some more friends."

She blushes again, turning a bright red when she looks over at the Brats. "R-Right! And, um, please call me Kuri." She turns to me but is barely able to keep eye contact with me for more than a second.

They're gonna eat her alive, I think with some pity. Hopefully Sasuke will hold off on intimidating her. For a fangirl, she doesn't seem too bad.

"Well, I need to find Iruka-sensei, but I'm glad we could talk, Kuri-san." I pat her on the shoulder as I walk past. "Good luck! I'll see you around."

"Oh, uh, goodbye, Sakura-san!"

"Bye, Sakura-san!" Sasaki waves and I nod back politely.

Finally stepping into the hallway, closing the door firmly behind me, I sigh. Time to go see what Iruka knows and will likely tell others before finally saying goodbye to this place and reporting to Danzō as I was instructed to do.

: : :

Reporting to Danzō resulted in being given a folder on my team and its members, and being ordered to make my civilian identity fade from the public. The order was expected, but the knowledge that Team 11 actually exists was not.

I was prepared for it to be a ghost team, where there's just enough evidence of its existence for people to not look any deeper, or made up of other ROOT members. Just something that keeps me within ROOT, never to use the name 'Haruno Sakura' or see the light of day again, unless it's for a mission.

Though, I think while reading through the files within the folder, in a way, Team 11 does exactly that.

While not consisting of ROOT members like I half-expected, it does have one the fake Masks as the team leader. One that's in heavy debt with Danzō at that too. The other two members, my new teammates I guess, both older than me by two years, are only technically ROOT-trained. They've never been in ROOT, but were trained by one of Danzō's agents. I don't recognize the trainer's designation or number, beyond the ES marking them as an espionage-saboteur operative.

So they should be better than most chunin despite their genin rank. I flip through the files, looking for the team's missions log. I skip past the D-ranks, already knowing that's for appearance's sake. With the way this team is set up, they should be spending more time outside the village than inside. Meaning higher-ranked missions.

And as expected, Team 11 has completed a total of 23 C-rank and 1 B-rank missions since forming two years ago. Their last C-rank is actually what took the previous third member off the team (though no information provided on how). Someone else that was only technically ROOT-trained; else they wouldn't be on these missions. Because this is just the 'official' mission log, the one that can be found in the Hokage's office and village archives.

In reality, Team 11 has completed a total of 31 C-rank, 3 B-rank, and 1 A-rank missions since their field activation. All missions given to them by Danzō, and completed when already outside the village on an 'official' mission or village-approved training.

Well, I think as I look over the little information available about the unofficial missions, taking note of their file numbers to further research later, at least this won't be boring.

: : :

Ken wasn't looking forward to meeting his new teammate. Team 11 had a good thing going for the past two years. They worked together seamlessly, where each individual's strength could cover the weakness in another. They had gotten into the rhythm of taking missions and completing more than the objective they left the office with. They had finally been given the green light to use the upcoming chunin exams as a way to move up rank, instead of gathering information like they did last year.

Then Botan died on their latest mission.

And now they have to deal with somebody new. They won't be able to take anything but D-rank missions for at least a month. They'll have to work through teamwork exercises – which the team hasn't had to take seriously for about a year and a half – just to incorporate this new person. They probably won't get to participate in the chunin exams! And if they do, he and Haru will probably have to pull the newbie's weight if they want to be promoted.

(Botan died. He died just last week and now there's someone new taking his place. Was his teammate always so easily replaceable?)

If anything, he feels like he was just demoted.

"Stop scowling," Haru chides, not even looking up from the book she's reading a couple of yards away.

Ken rolls his eyes, but does smooth out his expression. Chihiro- and Masashi-sensei have taught him better. He'll endure this new development like he has everything else in his life.

"They're here," Haru announces, pulling his attention towards the two figures walking in their direction. He recognizes Masashi-sensei immediately, so he turns his focus to the smaller figure on his left.

Pink? He frowns, confused by what he's seeing. But no, as they approach, that is pink that he's seeing. Pink hair, at that.

Who the heck decided someone with pink hair was suited for their team? Are they trying to get them killed?

(Killed like Botan.)

He doesn't bother hiding his scowl this time. This is going to be a disaster, he can already tell.

"Ken, Haru," Masashi-sensei greets once he and his companion are close enough. "Come meet your new teammate. Sakura."

Beyond the pink hair, which is pulled into a tight bun leaving nothing loose, Ken's first impression of 'Sakura' is…small. She doesn't even reach 5 feet. He can't tell what her muscle definition is, not when she's wearing an all black ensemble that includes a jacket and pair of pants that are loose enough to cover it but not so loose as to be a liability. However, that just makes her look smaller. If he didn't know better than to assume, he'd think she had stick arms from what little he could tell and see of her wrists.

His second impression is, unsettling. The curious tilt of her head and rise of her brows are completely at odds with the fact there's nothing he can see behind her green eyes. They're so empty, he'd think he was having a staring contest with a corpse. He can hardly see the rise and fall of her breathing. She stands at ease, just shy of being at attention and completely still. But most of all, he can't sense her.

It's only his training that stops him from shuddering or twitching.

"Sakura has training that was personally overseen by Danzō-sama, so you should be able to work together soon enough," Masashi-sensei explains, pulling Ken out of his observations.

Well, at least she won't be dead weight, he thinks and wonders just what her training included.

(At least she isn't weak.)

"Sakura, this is Ken and Haru. You'll be working with them from now on."

"Hai, sensei."

Then, with a blink-and-you'll-miss-it quickness, everything about her changes. Her stance relaxes further into something more casual and welcoming. There's a small smile on her face, and her previously empty green eyes are now sparkling with life.

It's so seamless and natural that if he wasn't trained in espionage by Chihiro-sensei to recognize and pull off this very change, he wouldn't have known there was anything different about her.

She's good, he has to hand it to her. He isn't yet at the same level. But still…

"I look forward to working with you," she says, bowing in greeting.

When she straightens back up, Ken can't find any of the curiosity or contentment he reads in her body language within her eyes. The sparkle of life in them would fool anyone else, but the fact there wasn't always that spark to begin with was rather damning.

Unsettling, he reaffirms to himself.

(Maybe this one won't die like Botan.)

: : :

I…have no excuse for why this took so long