Chapter Text
Sakura sat as patiently as she could, trying not to fidget or shift uncomfortably. It was already difficult enough to find a comfortable position in the classroom chairs, wearing this ridiculous thing her mother had picked for her, but up on the roof it was nearly impossible. She wanted to tug at the hem of the dress, even though she’d made sure to wear athletic shorts beneath it, or to reach back and fiddle with her hair. Honestly, this entire scenario had been outside of her suspicions for the day, and she was unprepared. She should have brought something to change into - she’d had the entire three hours this man was late to have done so.
“Let’s see… first let’s have you introduce yourselves.” The words were eventually sighed at them, and she hid the tiniest second of panic as she wondered if that’s what he’d been waiting for. Shouldn’t he have their files though? She was certain the academy had kept files on all of the graduates. “Like… your likes, dislikes, future dream, hobbies…. Things like that….”
His voice trailed off, and she blinked blankly in reaction. Likes and dislikes? A dream? That just seemed so civilian. Shouldn’t he be asking about their aspirations as ninja? “Hey hey, before that, please tell us about yourself!” Uzumaki complained, and she smirked a little bit at it being a legitimately intelligent demand. “We’ve never even seen ya before, dattebayo!”
“Me?” The man pointed dumbly to himself, and Sakura’s eyebrow quirked up as she shifted her knees to the other side in an effort not to pull at the dress again. “My name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes… I don’t feel like telling you guys. I’ve never really thought about my future dream.” He paused again, rubbing his chin through his mask. “I have… hobbies… Alright, now you guys. We’ll start with the loud one.”
So they had his name. They had his name, which honestly Iruka-sensei had told them even before the man had made them wait three hours in the classroom. Uzumaki was busy expounding the wonders of ramen, but she couldn’t help her slightly incredulous glare at the man. He could have at least told them something relevant to himself and how he intended to teach them or handle their team. Even his specialty or history as a ninja. If they had been designated as a three-man cell instead of general corps, their jounin should at least show some interest in them. “And my future dream… is to surpass the Hokage! I’m going to make the entire village recognize my existence, dattebayo!”
Sakura turned at that, the loud declaration startling her away from staring at the jounin. Hokage? Her gaze travelled over the bright orange outfit, the unkempt hair, the loud behavior. Quirky perhaps? If he survived his genin years, and had some measure of talent, it was possible. She was under the impression that only the craziest, and most powerful… but definitely craziest… made it to that seat of power. The way that he smiled forcefully, as if challenging anyone to refute him, made her believe it a little more though. “Okay. Next, Pinky.”
It took a moment for her to realize that the jounin meant her, and she slowly turned to look at the man from where blue eyes had turned to her excitedly. The blond boy was trying to whisper subtle encouragement at her, which sounded more like a rambling grunt in his efforts to keep it at a whisper. “I am Haruno Sakura,” she offered finally, blanking on what else to say. Most of the relevant information about her abilities were probably in her file, and he already knew she wanted to be a ninja from the fact that she was assigned to this team. “I like swords.”
It was all that she could think of as being relevant really. They didn’t train with them in the academy, so it wouldn’t be in her file. “Ne, ne, Sakura-chan! You’re supposed to tell him your dream too!” Naruto finally said at his normal, boisterous volume. Kakashi still hadn’t looked away from her.
Folding her hands in her lap and staring right back at the silver-haired man, she waited. Direct instruction had been to introduce themselves, and then the example of topics was suggested, not ordered. Kakashi-san’s example had given little beyond his name as well… so technically she had followed her direction. Another few minutes passed of them staring at each other, with her sitting as primly as she could while staring down a jounin, before he seemed to finally lose interest in her and turned to the last member of the team.
“My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I have a lot of dislikes, and no likes in particular.” He looked up over his folded hands at their jounin, and she could hear the slight grunt of distaste. “As for the rest, I don’t feel like summing it up as just a dream… but I do have an ambition! I have an ambition to restore my clan, and without fail… kill a certain man!”
Sakura glanced back at the Uchiha briefly at that, just a little surprised. He’d always just seemed distantly arrogant and irritable, especially when the girls in class trailed around after him. Ino had always claimed it was just him being deep, and haunted. She’d not given the gushing sentiments any weight before, but maybe the Yamanaka had something there.
Swallowing back any platitudes that wouldn’t help anyway, she turned again to gauge the reaction from their sensei, or lack thereof. Her brows furrowed as she saw he seemed unsurprised and unconcerned with the Uchiha’s motivation. “Good! The three of you are very distinctive and interesting!” It sounded rehearsed, like he was reading from a script, and she scoffed internally. “We’ll have a mission tomorrow. Firstly, we’ll do what we can all together… a survival exercise!”
“What?! A survival exercise!” Uzumaki leaned forward, and she tilted her head just a little as well. “What for? We already did that kinda stuff in the Academy!”
“This isn’t like the kind of training you did in the academy.” Kakashi shrugged, folding his arms. Sakura swallowed hard, clenching her hands together to prevent reacting as loudly and obviously as the blonde next to her. What was he planning? “Well… if I tell you… you’ll be disenchanted.” He continued chuckling lightly, shrugging, and Naruto immediately got loud and excited, asking for clarification. Sakura just stared on grimly, feeling a cold lump in her stomach. “Of the twenty-seven graduates, only nine will be recognized as genin. The remaining eighteen will be sent back to the Academy. In other words, this exercise is an extremely difficult test, with a failure rate of at least 66%! See? You all got disenchanted!”
Sakura’s mind instantly began to whirl, and her eyes lost focus. Next to her the loud one was arguing, but she only barely heard it. She knew that percentage. She knew it . 66% of graduates were transferred into the general genin corps of the village, and trained in various stations meant for the service and maintenance of the village itself. Of course it wasn’t this simple. Of course it wasn’t ! While the academy could train them in generalities, and gauge their approximate skill level based against the lowest standard, it couldn’t accurately depict their individual abilities and potential - that would require a more attentive test.
When Kakashi disappeared amid Naruto’s loud squawking, she reached out and grabbed a handful of the hideous orange jacket. Sasuke was already slumping away in his usual cloud of brooding angst, but Sakura could at least try to gather some measure of intel or plan with the blonde. “I’m a real ninja, dattebayo!!”
The loud shout made her wince and jerk away, causing Naruto to stumble from where she’d still had a grip on his jacket. “All three of us are.” She agreed quietly, looking skeptically at the boy and waiting for him to actually pay attention to her. The wide-eyed stare was unexpected. “We graduated and are under contract.” The look of confusion didn’t abate, and she let out a sigh, shifting the stupid dress again. “Uzumaki, right? Like I said, I’m Haruno Sakura. Let’s get some dango and try to think this through.” He was still staring at her, wide eyed and open mouthed, so she just huffed at him, reaching forward to grab his jacket again, this time by the shoulder, and carefully march him forward to join her.
“Contract?” He finally asked as she pulled him onto the street, then aimed them in the general direction of her favorite dango and tea stand.
“The Academy isn’t free.” She said in response, and he suddenly shouted in alarm. “When you join, you enter a contract with the village. If you fail or drop out, you owe tuition.” She paused and looked him over skeptically. She could have sworn that he’d failed the graduation exam before, but if he was still around, maybe there were clauses about being able to retry. “When you graduate, you owe 3 years of service to the village, or equivalent missions to pay for the cost of tuition and resources used. It’s all in the Academy contract that we have to sign.”
“Ne? I don’t remember a contact!” He yelled, and she hushed him as she shoved him into a seat, ordering them both dango and tea. The stall-keeper was glaring balefully at the blonde, but at least he hadn’t kicked them out for the shouting and scene.
“I didn’t either until Papa made me read it again this year.” She sighed, then eyed the blonde at her side. “So I don’t know what that whole scene up on the roof was about, but it wasn’t true. That means we’re already in the middle of whatever test he’s giving us.” Blue eyes were staring wide at her again, and she shrugged. “So, that means we have to figure out what the test really is.”
“But… I already passed!” He groaned in complaint, and she couldn’t help the slight laugh at his dramatics.
“They didn’t teach us about after the Academy when we were in classes… I had to learn that by reading the contract and… talking to someone… so I guess you wouldn’t know.” She thanked the stall keeper politely, setting out the money for their dango and tea before sliding Naruto’s plate to him. “There’s a few different… paths… that we could have taken when we graduated. I thought it was weird that Iruka-sensei had designated all of us to be added to the power-track as three-man-cells.”
“What do ya mean, dattebayo?” Naruto spoke with his mouth full, cheeks puffed up like a greedy squirrel, and her stomach churned at the sight.
“Uh, gross. Don’t talk with food coming out of your mouth when we’re eating together.” She wrinkled her nose and shook her head, looking away. “Anyway, there’s a few different paths that we could have been assigned. We could be in the corps, with the majority of graduates. Their teams and squads change based on who’s available and what the village wants done. Most of the people I’ve talked to were corps. Then there’s apprentices, who are assigned one-on-one with a sensei to learn a specialty. Then there’s what… well what I thought we were.” She turned and risked a glance at him. He had swallowed and was just staring at her. “Three-person-teams. They have an assigned team, and an assigned leader… usually it means they have potential to be a strong ninja. It’s like group specialties.”
“You’re so smart, Sakura-chan.” He was smiling at her brightly. “Of course we’re strong ninja!”
“But what would our specialty be?” She sighed and ate a dango ball, thinking as she stared at the back of the stall. “I mean, I don’t know what your abilities and Uchiha-san’s abilities are… but with everyone that graduated being assigned as a three-person-team this morning… maybe that’s what the test shows. If we’re good enough for team training, or if we’re corps.”
“Well, I’m super strong, ‘ttebayo. Don’t worry, Sakura-chan! I’ll protect you! We’ll win this test!” his loud exclamation just made her sigh and eat another dango, wishing for that confidence. What was the test supposed to be? “We’ll win the survival training, no problem! Promise of a lifetime!”
Right. The survival training. Maybe that was to show their skills, and if they had the potential for any of the different paths. She should have been paying more attention up on the rooftop. It took little effort to get Naruto to recount the instructions that they had been given, though she did need more than one try to get him to tell her exactly what was said, instead of his own weird interpretation of it. The instruction to bring everything, and not to eat… and classifying it as survival training? Perhaps they would have to find food in the training grounds too. Not likely, other than fish and some edible sprouts or herbs. Sakura just wished she knew what this stupid test was trying to discover.
Sakura had eaten a large dinner the previous evening in preparation, ignoring the disapproving glare her mother gave at the amount of food she had consumed. She was tempted to eat breakfast despite the suggestion against it, and did grab a granola bar just in case, but for the most part she was concerned with showing up to the training grounds as prepared as possible. Her long hair she pulled back into a braid, and while she didn’t know if the armor would be needed, she wore her long sleeved ninja-mesh shirt under a tank top because they’d been told to bring all of their supplies. Sakura had spent four hours the previous night making sure that all of her kunai and shuriken were sharpened and maintained properly, carefully coiling her few lengths of wire, and cataloguing her meagre collection of exploding tags. It wasn’t much, she’d never had much in the way of ninja supplies, but it would have to do.
With senbon, kunai, and shuriken tucked away and hidden in her clothing and holsters, and her bokuto strapped to her side, she’d have to consider herself prepared. Idly, she wondered if the boys had bothered to sharpen or do maintenance for any of their stash the day before. Ducking through her window, and jogging her way to the training grounds, Sakura quickly ate the granola bar, feeling guilty for defying the suggestion but refusing to give up the energy it would grant her. It had only been a suggestion right? The way Naruto phrased it seemed so… she really should have paid attention to that.
Sakura ended up running the last leg of her trip to the grounds and skidding to a halt in front of the Uchiha. At his feet was an overstuffed bag of supplies, more than she even owned, and while he had that same distinct glower marring his features he also looked half asleep. Glancing at the slowly rising sun, and the equally slowly trudging Uzumaki now joining them, Sakura realized that their sensei was once more nowhere to be seen.
Three hours later, the three of them were still waiting. She’d thought that the previous day was simply the man having chosen to observe and assess them for a while… but this was completely ridiculous. Three hours for their sensei to show up, again . She’d nearly fallen asleep, Naruto had fallen asleep, and she suspected that even the Uchiha had dozed off. Three whole hours later, the silver-haired demon strolled up with a half-assed excuse about a black cat crossing his path.
“Oh well… okay this is set for twelve-o-clock! Today’s assignment is to take these bells away from me by noon. Those who don’t will not get lunch, and will be tied to these posts, and I’ll eat my lunch before your very eyes.” He held out a hand with two silver bells in it, then gestured at three wooden posts stuck into the ground nearby. Sakura blinked, processing. Two bells. Three-man-team. He’d already lied once about their return to the Academy… or so she thought. This was essentially pass or fail program training, or it was disguised as such and was a way to best assess their skills and potential. Nevertheless it was a combat test, phrased as survival training, with at minimum two blatant deceptions so far.
“There are three of us.” The deadpan statement seemed to actually make the crazy jounin happier, if his eye-smile was any indication. Her green eyes scanned his reaction, calculating.
“There are two bells so that at least one person goes to the logs. That person will be disqualified for failing the mission, and will return to the Academy.” He looked disturbingly pleased with that prospect, and she couldn’t stop the feeling of insult it gave her. “It might be one person, at the very least, or it could be all three of you. You can use your shuriken and kunai. You won’t be able to take the bells unless you come at me with the intent to kill me.”
Her mind churned again, and she thought back to the contract, the conversations, her realization the previous afternoon… Naruto was already making a scene, but she considered the factors. He hadn’t once mentioned the potential of being shuffled into a different program, or even those programs being available. He’d deceived them about eating, to use it as a motivator or sick aspect of his game for the day. Team training was specifically known for three-person-cells, under a leader. Three-man-cell… two bells. The assignment was to take the bells...
“Is this a team test?” She asked, head tilted and still staring at the shiny metal of the bells, ignoring Uzumaki’s protests for the lock that the man held him in. In her peripheral she saw the considering look he gave her.
“What do you think, Pinky-chan?” The dismissively friendly question made her finally look up and meet the one visible eye that was focused on her.
“I think that we are currently being assessed as a three-man-team as assigned during Genin placement, and that the assignment for the team is to retrieve the bells.” She answered bluntly, hand slowly moving to the bokuto at her side. “Permission to begin assignment?”
“Affirmative, Genin Pinky-chan.” He chirped at her, and her cheek twitched. “Start.”
Sakura launched forward, striking at the hand that was trailing from where he’d suddenly released Naruto. It was a single attack, and when she passively saw his dodge moving him further away from the blonde, she darted instead to the treeline. It took her a few moments too long to realize that Uzumaki, the idiot, had not followed her. Sakura skidded to a halt, frantically staring around, bokuto already in hand, and tried to catch sight or sound of where the loud menace had gone. Where was Uchiha? She’d thought that she ran in the same direction she’d seen him move.
Turning, she strained her hearing, and thought she caught wind of Uzumaki’s loud voice still back in the direction she’d come from. Cursing internally, she darted back that way. There was no possible way that she was that much faster than either of them. Had the jounin caught them instead, leaving her for later? Had they already failed?
She didn’t catch sight of where Uchiha was as she slowed and crept closer and closer to the clearing they’d started in. Sakura could hear Uzumaki though, shouting at and attacking their jounin directly. Leaping up onto a branch, hoping that the leaves would conceal enough of her, she watched the… ridiculous display… between her blonde teammate and the jounin. The presence of clones was unexpected, especially as they were obviously of a more advanced nature than the pathetic ones that the Academy had taught them, but Uzumaki was just so LOUD . And upfront. No strategy, no thought… what kind of ninja just did that? The baka was going to fail them from the start.
Growling to herself, Sakura darted around the treeline as quickly as she could, setting up the small number of exploding tags she actually had, ninja wire, and a few traps. It wasn’t her best work, but she was rushed while Uzumaki had him distracted. Maybe they could draw the jounin into it once she knocked some sense into the idiot. Glancing back again, she saw Kakashi casually lecturing the blonde, now tied up, and then a wave of kunai and shuriken rain down on where he had been.
Looking around quickly and clinging to the tree she’d been in when she looked, she knew that it had to have been from Sasuke, wherever he’d been hiding. The weapons had thunked into a kawarimi’d log, and Kakashi had probably gone in the direction their trajectory indicated Sasuke hid. Either that or the jounin was also in hiding. No explosions or traps sounded, so either they’d both avoided her setup deftly, or gone in a different direction. Taking a deep breath, and knowing she would regret it if Kakashi was just sitting in wait, she darted out and aimed directly for Uzumaki. “Baka!” she snapped, thumping him over the head. “I don’t care how you made those clones yet, but he’s a jounin for a fucking reason!” She looked nervously around, then glared at the blonde again. He was rubbing his head, and pouting at her like the idiot he was quickly proving to be. “Don’t just attack him outright. We’re meant to be a team!”
“But…” He pouted, and she thumped him again.
“Actually think for once, would you? It’s a team exercise.” She growled, then cut his rope and dodged the secondary trap the jounin had set up. Growling lightly to herself, she grabbed the back of his horrible, orange jacket and hauled him toward the tree line. “Just… try to stay with me. Maybe we can figure something out together, or one of us distract him. Don’t trigger any more traps. Why didn’t you have one of the clones grab the bells while he was in that hold?”
They arrived where Kakashi was battling Sasuke in a bare few moments, and were momentarily stunned by the Uchiha’s skill. While he had been top of the class in general, his practical scores and chakra abilities bringing his overall average far past Sakura’s, he’d never had to demonstrate quite that level of proficiency in the Academy. She marvelled for a single moment, completely envious, before attempting to catch Naruto as the idiot jumped into the fight too. With a put-upon sigh, she darted forward, pulling her bokuto, and joined the fray.
Kakashi actually had to haul both of them out of the way as Sasuke launched a giant spray of fire at them. She was still cursing as the jounin dove directly into the ground, having tossed them out of his way to do so while the fire was still blasting. Naruto recovered at approximately the same time she did, but she had to dart her wooden sword in front of him so that he didn’t go jump on the Uchiha bastard immediately. He’d just get fried trying, and they needed that bastard’s skill to do this. It was somewhat of a moot point, however, when the fire dissipated and almost immediately the jounin dragged Sasuke directly into the ground, leaving only his head exposed.
She moved directly for him, pulling razor wire with a free hand, determined to try to trap the silver-haired demon for at least long enough to get the bells, and had to stumble around Naruto’s uncoordinated, haphazard attacks. Neither of them took the time to try to rescue Sasuke, they didn’t have the space or seconds to do so, with Kakashi so close.
“Ninja combat skill number 3…” The jounin’s voice was ominous and echoing, but before she could fully understand what he was saying, handling them far easier than he had Sasuke, Sakura was distracted by the fluttering of hundreds of leaves. She didn’t expect Naruto to suddenly disappear. Kakashi and Sasuke were gone too… had he used some sort of transportation jutsu on her, to send her to a different part of the forest?
There was the sound of rustling leaves, and a flash of brown between the trunks of the trees, and Sakura tensed, readying herself and her weapons. Blinking rapidly, she thought she saw a hint of a hitai-ate… a foreign one. Iwa? Swallowing hard, Sakura darted silently into the trees, heading back toward her trapped area. She was sure that she could smell smoke too. Foreign nin in Konoha territory? And not acting openly, so he was probably not supposed to be there. How many? She cursed under her breath, gripping her bokuto a bit more tightly, wishing it were a real sword. They could barely last seconds with their jounin-sensei, how the hell were they supposed to handle foreign nin? She needed to find the others, wherever they’d ended up with Kakashi, and warn them.
By the time she’d reached the area she’d trapped in preparation for Kakashi, there was no hint of the enemy ninja anywhere, and she’d gotten turned around… almost as if she’d headed the wrong way for half of her running. When she appeared, Naruto was already tied up, and Sasuke was just barely wandering forward as the timer went off. She almost cried a loud warning to them, hoping that the other ninja weren’t close enough to hear, when she saw the curious looks sent her way. “Where’d you go, Sakura-chan?!” Naruto wiggled where he was tied, feet flailing in the air. “You just freaked out and ran off!”
Genjutsu. The silver-haired bastard had used a genjutsu on her? “Naruto tried to get the bento I had ready for you without the rest of the group. For cheating, he is already tied to the post.” Sakura glowered at the blonde menace, moving to slump between two of the posts as Sasuke did the same opposite her. “By the way, as far as this exercise goes, there’s no need for you guys to go back to the Academy.”
Sakura scowled at him, half-pouting, as Naruto did a preemptive victory wiggle. If this was supposed to be assessing them for skill and potential, especially as a team, he couldn’t have seen much to be happy with so far. Even if the Uchiha might merit moving into apprenticeship, she was pretty certain that she and Naruto had flailed around enough that they were even a lost cause for the corps. They had barely worked together, and the corps and teams were all about teamwork.
“You… should quit being ninja!” Naruto slumped in shock as Kakashi declared that, and Sakura clenched a hand around the strap of her bokuto. Of course they hadn’t passed. Even when all attacking at once they hadn’t been able to work together. Naruto abruptly began to struggle and flail, shouting at the man about how not being able to take the bells didn’t mean that. “I’m saying you don’t have the qualifications to become ninja, squirts.”
Sasuke actually attacked the man, much as Naruto had before their start, and Sakura nearly jumped up to do something. She didn’t know if she’d have tried to stop him, or to help him, but Kakashi already had the boy in a full body lock, casual as can be.
“I’m saying you’re all squirts. Do you kids think that being a ninja is easy? Huh?” he looked suddenly ominous, and Sakura glared back. Of course she didn’t. If it was easy everyone would go to the Academy, everyone would pass. If it was easy, it wouldn’t be so dangerous, or horrifying. She wanted to throw one of her kunai in his damn face, nevermind the consequences or calming techniques her father had taught her. “Why do you think you’re doing this exercise in teams?”
“Because we’re supposed to work as a fucking team!” She snapped, still glaring at him as she stood abruptly. The silver head jerked back slightly in surprise. “You don’t think I fucking know that?! Why the hell else would Naruto-baka and I have jumped in, together , while Uchiha was fighting you? I haven’t gotten a damn chance to fucking talk to the idiots about it!”
Sasuke was actually staring at her, open mouthed, probably Naruto too but she wasn’t looking in his direction. “Awfully loud-mouthed for a squirt,” Kakashi finally commented, and she audibly growled at him. “If you figured it out, why did Naruto get in your way? Why didn’t he go after you when you were put under the genjutsu?” Kakashi shook his head. “You couldn’t even work out a plan to separate Sasuke to attempt to speak to him… you just attacked without thought or reason. It will get you captured, and killed. You might have been able to take the bells if you’d come at me together, as a team.”
“But… but… there are only two bells!” Naruto whined, and Sakura huffed impatiently. “Why would we all work together the same if one of us still has to go back? Or to whatever a core is?! Dattebayo!”
“Of course. This is a test set up purposefully place you against each other. It’s under such conditions where one’s own interests aren’t the issue.” Kakashi seemed to look at her curiously there, before turning to look again at Naruto and then Sasuke. He conveniently glossed over Naruto’s mention of the other genin paths. “The intention was to select those who could prioritize teamwork. Despite this you fools…. Naruto! All you do is run solo, even when Sakura was trying to help you, even when she was right there . Sasuke, you labelled them as hindrances and acted on your own. Sakura… when you helped Naruto, and led him to join us… you didn’t explain anything, you didn’t even try. Then when you found us you still said nothing. Missions are carried out in squads! There is no mistaking that ninjas need unsurpassed individual skills, but teamwork is more important than that. Individual actions that disrupt teamwork throw the team into crisis and lead to death. For example… Sakura!” The man held a kunai suddenly to Sasuke’s throat, “Kill Naruto or Sasuke dies!” She simply stared at him, refusing to react despite Naruto’s sudden gasp next to her. “That’s what can happen.”
She glared as Kakashi continued lecturing them. What was she supposed to do then? Beat sense into the boys until they listened? Somehow run from Kakashi-sensei, dragging them with her, as she told them what was happening? Yes, she should have told Naruto, but there was no guarantee that either would listen to her. Kakashi’s phrasing had been clear enough to her, despite the bad conditions of the test… their assignment had been the bells, and the boys had chosen to work solo. Her stomach twisted. Was this failure big enough that they really would be dropped from the ranks? She had worked hard to pass, so that they wouldn’t owe the tuition… so that she could become a ninja.
Kakashi showed them the memorial stone, and she felt a surge of guilt even as Naruto crowed about being on that stone because he was a hero and great ninja. Reaching out, she whacked him across his rope-bound middle to get him to shut up.
“Hey!”
“That’s a memorial stone, fucking baka.” She growled, and Naruto just pouted at her, not really accustomed to her language or behavior. No one in the academy had heard her talk like that, except Ino when she was upset. Her father had worked with her to attempt to control her surprising temper… but she felt far too out of sorts by the potential that they really might be dismissed to try any of the calming techniques. “Killed in action. They’re heroes who were killed performing a mission. Show some respect.” She closed her eyes tightly, looking down and shaking her head. It was an honor to be immortalized like that, and they deserved as much respect as could be given, but she was determined to fight long and hard before ever even being considered for that stone monument… if they ever managed to pass.
“I’ll give you one more chance.” Kakashi’s words shocked them all, and she looked up in surprise. “One of you figured it out, a little. You might be able to do it. However, after noon it’ll be a harsher battle to take the bell. If you want to take on the challenge you can eat lunch. However, don’t let Naruto have any. It’s a punishment for breaking the rules and trying to eat on your own. If someone lets him eat, that person will be disqualified on the spot.” With a final one-eyed glare at all of them, Kakashi disappeared.
“Naruto.” Sasuke’s voice startled her, and she turned as she stood. The dark haired boy was holding out some food to the blonde, and Sakura’s lips quirked up just slightly in a smile. Maybe there was some hope for this team. “Here.”
“But… but sensei said…” Naruto grumped, hesitantly, and Sakura rolled her eyes.
“It’s okay. There’s no sign of him now.” Sasuke stood slightly, ready to help Naruto eat despite the obvious signs of not wanting to do so. “The three of us are going to go take the bells together.”
“Eat, Sasuke-san.” Sakura bent to pick up her bento, so far untouched. “Keep watch.” The Uchiha looked at her skeptically, shoving his chopsticks and the food into Naruto’s mouth in challenge. “No, seriously. Of the three of us, I’ve used the least chakra this morning. He did all of those clones, and you spent energy and chakra in your fight. I haven’t used any, really. You need that more.” She gestured to the top of the post. “Keep an eye out and finish your food quickly, I’ll shove this in Uzumaki’s mouth.”
“No. You’ll be disqualified, Sakura-chan!” Naruto whined, and she used the opportunity to shove more food into his mouth, much as Sasuke had done. “But you were the one that figured it out. I just wanted to share these with you anyway! Like yesterday, ‘ttebayo!”
Before she could force more of the stale bento food into his mouth, an explosion of dust and smoke rocked the area in front of them, where Kakashi had been before. She flinched away, the bento smacking Naruto in the face in the process, and Sasuke jumped up, ready for a fight. Had it really not been a genjutsu before? Were they under attack? Sakura reached for her bokuto.
Kakashi rocketed out of the dirt cloud, and she scowled at him, still ready to draw her weapon, heart pounding. “You three!” The loud, angry shout made her cringe. They’d failed. She was going to be stuck doing mindless clerical work for the assignment desk, or cleaning the Academy, or worse yet kicked out of the ranks entirely, all because they were finally working together! It may have only been a second, but the three of them had actually looked out for each other in that brief offer of lunch. Damn the silver-haired demon for staying close enough to watch. “You three defied the rules… you know what that means.”
“But… but… these guys… they…” Naruto tried. “But you said…”
“We’re a three-man squad, right?” Sasuke asked suspiciously, still positioning himself as if for a fight. She’d need to cut those ropes to release Naruto quickly, if Kakashi let them try again, despite this. Then again, maybe she should leave him there until they’d worked out a strategy.
“That’s right!” Naruto screamed, flailing around again. “We’re one! We’re a squad! They were just…”
“The three of you are one, eh?” Kakashi began to loom closer, and impulsively Sakura flung a kunai to cut open the ropes, preparing to dodge out of the way of whatever the jounin would throw at her. Was this monster of a sensei going to actually attack them for failing? His eye traced her hand’s movement, almost curious, before his expression, muffled by the mask and lowered hitai-ate but still visible, morphed into a cheerful almost-smile. “You pass!”
“What?” Her dull, deadpan tone was echoed in the boys’ stunned expressions, Naruto on his knees and staring.
“You pass. You’re the first.” Kakashi leaned back, settling again into his relaxed, lazy posture. “Up until now, it was always just dunces who would meekly listen to what I said. A Ninja must see through deception… for we are the masters of deception.” He shrugged, trying to look serious again but still just coming off as lazy. “Those who break the rules and codes are branded as garbage… but… those who don’t cherish their friends are garbage worse than that.”
“He’s… kinda cool…” Naruto blubbered, and Sakura sighed in relief. It wasn’t so much that she wanted to be on a team with these idiots… but she hated to fail. At least they’d gotten it.
“That’s it for this exercise. Everyone passes.” He actually flung his arms out into some sort of cool-guy pose. “Group Seven starts their training tomorrow!”
Naruto began dancing around, cheering. “I did it! I’m a Ninja! Ninja!” Sakura just fell back, kicking up dust as she stared up at the sky. That was… exhausting… yet strangely satisfying. A one in three chance of passing… and they’d done it. Did everyone have to demonstrate teamwork in a situation that pitted them against each other, or was that a quirk of their crazy-demon jounin? Was teamwork the defining quality for three-person-cells… or just genin in general?
Sakura stared at the idiot boys she was paired with, blinking blankly. They’d done it, though, either way. They’d passed! Because they’d shared freaking lunch! She nearly passed out with relief. His almost compliment as he wandered away, about her figuring it out on her own, had felt amazing too, no matter it being a bit backhanded. Her heart felt like it was going to break out of her chest. They’d actually passed!
“Want to do a… team… lunch?” she was still stunned, and only managed it once Kakashi had disappeared. Sasuke snorted and walked away without comment, but Naruto was already cheering behind her. Well, one of them would do for now, and the previous day hadn’t been too bad, so long as she didn’t have to watch him shove too much food in his mouth.
Despite the fact that she had needed to essentially drag the blonde to an afternoon snack the day before, Naruto seemed inordinately eager for lunch together. The excited march to some ramen stand was filled with shouts and bouncing encouragement, and she felt her cheeks flush with faint embarrassment with the amount of glares his behavior attracted. He really was just… so loud. The boisterous greeting with the ramen stall, and introducing her as his teammate, made her finally smile though. They’d passed. They’d really passed. This was more than just making it to genin, they were actually part of a three-genin-team - that had to be better than the general corps.
“Congratulations Naruto. Another celebratory bowl, just like with Umino-kun?” The friendly man was smiling widely at Naruto, obviously warm and welcoming.
“That was the Academy graduation. We passed to be on a team , dattebayo!” Naruto cheered, and she chuckled lightly, pulling out a notepad to scribble down what she remembered of that morning. “Right, Sakura-chan? He was gonna send us back!”
“Eh, not really. I don’t think.” She waved a hand passively, then continued taking notes. “Tonkotsu, please.” Peaking over at where Naruto was smiling at her broadly, still looking shocked that she was around, she shrugged. “I told you yesterday. Our contract with the Academy means that we’re in service to the village for a number or years or missions. I’m pretty sure that, unless we’d made a big mistake today, we would have just been put into the general Genin Corps, instead of getting special training from a jounin. I think.” She huffed, and chewed on her pen a bit. His mouth was dropped open though, as if he’d completely forgotten that conversation. “I guess we should try to get to know each other, now that we’re assigned to the same team for a while. What do you like other than ramen?”
Sakura was then treated to a prolonged babble about Naruto’s various likes and dislikes. At first it seemed to center around food, but when she didn’t discourage him or appear to lose interest, he began rambling about Iruka-sensei, pranks, and a few other random subjects. It all lasted through three bowls of ramen for him, and one of her own, before they finally bade Teuchi-san goodbye. Sakura trailed next to him as he excitedly told her all about his favorite place in the village to watch the stars, an odd sentiment considering his boisterous nature, and only realized as they got halfway back toward the training grounds that the glaring from their trip to lunch had not abated, despite Naruto’s much less disruptive behavior. He got quieter and quieter as they went further, though the forceful smile didn’t leave his face, and eventually she realized that he was reacting to the stares of the civilians around them. Without the excitement of the ramen stand, he apparently felt it more intimately.
“Well, I like swords.” She repeated her statement from the day before when the silence became a little awkward. He looked at her in surprise. “And studying too. I don’t have a fancy dream like becoming Hokage, but I want to be strong.” Naruto’s mouth was parted in obvious surprise. “When I was very little, and before I was born… my Papa was a Kenshi. He was very good. I want to be strong, and to be a good shinobi… but I want my sword to make him proud.”
“Huh.” The surprised grunt made her blush a little, and she looked purposefully away from his gaze. The glower she offered one of the civilians passing by with too judging of a look was more of an excuse to not meet the blond boy’s gaze than anything. “What’s a kemchi?”
“Kenshi.” She corrected quickly, turning to look at him in surprise and ignoring the people that were slowly thinning around them as they got to the training grounds area. “Do you know what… um… you know how there’s swordsmen out there? There’s different strengths, just like in a ninja village. There’s bandits, like civilians and stuff, that use swords - brute swords for hire. Then, there’s swordsmen who are trained at schools, similar to our Academy. Those are Kenshi. They can use chakra internally… but they can’t use it outside of their bodies, like ninja and samurai can.”
“You’re really smart, Sakura-chan!” He laughed, rubbing the back of his head and smiling too widely. “And your tou-san was one of them?”
“Yes. He was very skilled.” She nodded, and then bent to begin helping him pick up the scattered equipment they’d left behind. “He got hurt when I was little, though, so he had to retire.” Naruto made an awkward noise, obviously unsure of how to respond to that statement, and she just shrugged at him with a soft smile. “How did you learn those clones you used? They’re not the regular Bunshin from the Academy.”
Naruto laughed even more awkwardly, and then began to babble about his mini adventure with, of all things, the Forbidden Scroll . She was a little grateful that there weren’t other nin or civilians around to hear him talk so freely about stealing it from the Hokage and learning a forbidden technique. It certainly sounded well beyond her ability to mimic, so that crossed out any hope of getting him to teach it to her, but the burning irritation and then anger at the former sensei that had tricked him into it… Sakura didn’t know what she’d have done in Naruto’s place, but the thought of liberal use of her bokuto on the man was tempting. She was surprised that Naruto had gotten away with the adventure, and his sudden promotion to genin from it, so easily. Perhaps him calling their village leader Hokage-jiji wasn’t just his cheeky attitude. The story, paused frequently for Naruto to gesture wildly or act out parts of it, took a good bit of time, and Sakura realized at the end of it that they’d collected more equipment than she thought she remembered either of them bringing.
“First,” she held up a finger, startling him as they surveyed the pile of equipment in the field, “I’m not encouraging you to get arrested for stealing from the village, but you gotta be pretty good if you managed to take that kind of thing without people realizing until after.” His face turned bright red at both the praise and the admonishment. “Secondly, this is way more than we brought. You think the Uchiha forgot his stuff?”
“Dattebayo, everyone does!” Naruto laughed loudly, and poked at the pile of kunai and shuriken with his toes. “I always go lookin’ around in the training grounds or trees or somethin’ whenever I need more kunai an’ stuff. There’s always things left behind cause no one wants to go lookin’ for everything.” Her eyes went wide in consideration, and she looked down at the collection. That was actually… really smart. She had only been able to afford so much on her allowance before graduating, but she’d never thought to go scavenging for abandoned weapons among the training grounds. As Naruto piled whatever could fit into his tote bag, she made sure to keep an eye out for any kunai or shuriken with an Uchiwa marking, having spotted a few and knowing they’d belonged to Sasuke. Whatever Naruto left out of his bag, that didn’t contain that marker, she deftly collected for herself. Waste-not, she supposed.
“A lot of these seem kinda old and dull, so I guess I should spend the evening doing some maintenance on them.” She sighed. “Maybe I should pick up a new storage scroll.”
“Huh?” Naruto was holding up the bag in both arms, looking almost as if he’d topple over - nevermind that he was supposed to be stronger than that. “What’sat, ‘ttebayo?” Sakura blinked at him cluelessly.
“A storage scroll.” She deadpanned, and they just stared at each other silently for a full minute. Eventually he began to look embarrassed, and had that expression that said he was probably about to get very loud. “There’s… different kinds. They’re kinda like exploding tags? I guess? They use seals, to store things for you. We didn’t cover them a lot in the Academy, but… anyway, it’ll help to transport stuff like this, or to store it.” He seemed torn between blustering that he already knew that and being amazed, so she sighed. “If I can afford one I’ll show you I guess. I might still have my notes from the Academy too? I’ll look.” Shrugging, she tried to keep the new collection of scavenged kunai bundled in a way that they wouldn’t drop onto her feet as she walked. “Maybe we can go scavenging like this more often too.”
The beaming smile and shouted declarations that followed her as they finally left were encouraging, if a bit over the top. Sakura figured she’d get used to it though, considering that they were stuck on a team together now.
As Sakura watched Naruto yawn and fidget the next morning, the Uchiha waiting at the entrance to the training grounds further away, she shook her head. Neither had toted along the plethora of weapons and supplies they’d brought the previous day, but they hadn’t an important test either. In contrast she had dragged along everything she had collected with Naruto the previous afternoon, intending to sharpen and do basic maintenance on them either during lunch or if their sensei was late again. Naruto looked like he was about to pass out again, though, so she pulled the folded collection of notes from her bag and offered them out as she took a seat near where he was leaning against a tree.
“Here.” His bleary, sleepy gaze did not give her much hope that he would actually hear whatever she said, but at least he’d carefully taken the papers from her. “Those are my notes from when we covered basic fuuinjutsu in class - paper bombs and storage seals. They didn’t teach us how to make them, but it’s got the basics. I think it has stuff about chakra theory too?” She shrugged and yawned, feeling her jaw crack as she did so, and the gradually waking blonde just continued staring at her. “Ask me if you don’t understand something… I was writing pretty fast sometimes, I think?”
She yawned again and looked around. No sign of Kakashi still, and with a slight shake to try to wake herself up more, she pulled the first dull kunai and her maintenance kit from her bag. Naruto was silent next to her, oddly so, for several minutes as she began to methodically clean and sharpen the tool. Eventually, she figured that he’d dozed off, like the previous morning, and Sakura snuck a peak to the side. He was blushing as he squinted at the papers in his hands, mouth moving silently as he read along. After a few moments, he looked at her, then over at where the Uchiha was brooding silently to himself. Were Uchiha able to sleep with their eyes open? Looking surreptitiously between them a few times, Naruto eventually grumbled that part of it was too messy to read and shoved it in her direction.
Looking at the clearly written section of notes, and the challenging stare that the blonde was giving her, Sakura stretched a little and nodded. With a passive apology about her writing, and the slightest grin, she told him what the word said, and he went back to staring at the page himself, soft smile and blush gracing his expression again.
Hours later Kakashi appeared with the slightest look of surprise on his face. Naruto was still diligently struggling through the pages of notes while she tried to carefully sharpen the weapons they’d scrounged the afternoon prior, having confiscated Naruto’s to sharpen as well. She was going to need a better maintenance kit if this was the condition they were going to be finding things. As Kakashi failed to even give an excuse, instead just staring at Naruto reading, the blonde huffed and spoke without looking up. “What time is it, Sakura-chan?”
“He’s three hours late again.” She offered to Naruto, stretching lightly as she stood from where she’d been hunched over some particularly dull kunai. “It’s almost nine.”
“Teme.” Naruto pouted, glaring at Kakashi before collecting the pages of notes together with extra care. She smiled at the consideration. She didn’t actually need the notes back, and probably had others that would help the boy, but it was sweet that he was treating them so gently. “Why don’t you show up on time?!”
“I got lost on the road of life…” Kakashi offered less-than-sheepishly, and all three of them rolled their eyes. “Well! I’ve been thinking since yesterday. While you managed to barely scrape through the test, your combat and teamwork skills are horrible. The last time I designed a real training regimen, it was for the Special Ops, so it would probably kill you as you are.” The cheerfully casual laugh and gestures made Sasuke glower, Naruto’s mouth drop open, and Sakura growl lightly to herself. “So I guess for now our training will have to just be combative training, with you learning to work together, every day. You’ll attack me as a team, on my mark, until I call for a stop at noon. We’ll then break for lunch, then sometimes do some easy missions to gain experience. For now, your motto, your life , is ‘One team, One heart.’ Understood?” They just continued staring at him blankly, and he laughed again. Then, suddenly, he called for their attack, holding up his book to read and waiting for the first move.
Right. ‘ Training .’