Chapter Text
“No. Absolutely no.” Sasuke kept passing along the room, his only arm flying into all directions as he listed all the reasons he shouldn’t do what Naruto wanted him to, “I’m going to scare them off! It’s dangerous for people to be around me outside the village. I’m a lot of things but a sensei isn’t one of them.”
Naruto smirked at him from behind his desk. He was wearing that stupid and horrible orange jacket of his. Sasuke would’ve thought that after his short-lived black jacket phase he would have grown out of the orange color. He was wrong, apparently.
“Sasuke, it’s only fair you get a team. If I’m not mistaken, you’re the only one out of our little group not to take on a genin team yet. It’s not fair that every other jonin has done it and you keep getting out of it”
“I hate it when you go all Hokage on me. Shino didn’t get a genin team either.” He tried again, stopping in front of the desk filled with paperwork.
“Shino left ANBU and became an academy sensei, that’s more work than any genin team. You, on the other hand, left ANBU to go back to regular duty. It’s only fair that you give back to the village.”
Sasuke groaned. He should’ve stayed a missing-nin, he wouldn’t be going through the headaches Naruto constantly inflected on him if he had done that. But then again, he wouldn’t have Taro, Sarada and Naoko. Much less Sakura.
“Fine.” He sighed, resigning to his fate, “But I’m not going to enjoy it.”
Naruto laughed, loud and clear. “Yes, yes.” He scoffed while searching through the biggest pile of papers on his desk, removing folders and placing them into other piles until he found what he was looking for. He handed the folder to him, “I think you’re going to like your new team.”
Sasuke eyed him warily. He didn’t like the sound of that.
“If you would be so kind to listen to me.” Mumbled Shino-sensei as soon as he entered the room. He had a stash of folders in his arms.
Shikaru wasn’t in her best mood. She had woken up late to find his parents gone and his baby brother nowhere to be found. It usually wouldn’t bother her ꟷsince she was pretty responsible. Her parents stopped waking her up as soon as she entered the Academy, when she made it clear she was a big girl and could wake up on her own.
That day, sadly, she slept in, and thus didn’t have time to reheat the breakfast her mother had left in the stove for her.
And there she was, two hours later, hungriness slowly consuming her. Maybe that was a bit exaggerated, she would survive, but she was still hungry.
Shino-sensei placed his stuff on his desk and motioned for them to stop talking. “Congratulations on your graduation,” He smiled at them, that creepy smile that Shikaru learned to like after two years of constantly seeing it. “It’s been my pleasure to teach you all. From today on you will be shinobi, perhaps only genin for the time being, but soon, I’m sure enough I’ll be able to call you all my comrades.”
Shikaru raised her hand to her neck, where she had placed her hitai-ate. She was a shinobi now; it was her duty to protect the village.
“…I will proceed to name the different squads you will belong to for, at least, the next few months. Team 1, consisting of…”
Shikaru tuned out after that. She didn’t care about the others teams, she didn’t even know the kids, as they were two years older than her. She glanced around the room, as in her old class, there was an uneven match of boys and girls. Boys were always the bigger number, even if from what she had heard, more girls signed up for the Academy now, boys kept on being the merrier group.
Next to her, Sora was taking in all the information she could master, just as it had been since the day they met, when they were still babies in diapers. She didn’t remember it, but her mom had made sure to take all the pictures she could.
Shikaru was a Nara, and although she hadn’t inherited the family laziness, she could be pretty relaxed when she wanted to, like right now, why would she care about some people she didn’t even know? Even if most of the time she acted as short-tempered as her mother, she was still her father’s daughter.
Sora, on the other hand, was pretty much her dad. People often said that if uncle Neji were a woman, and had a sense of humor, it would be pretty much Sora. She was loud, but very perceptive, and smart, and always on the look for possible threats.
Maybe that’s why they were such good friends. They liked to think they complemented each other.
Sora elbowed her just as Shino-sensei named her. Now, now! That was something she was interested in. Her gaze flew to the front of the room. “Hyuga Sora and Hatake Yukio, you are team 9. Your sensei will be Uchiha Sasuke.”
Mhm. Uchiha Sasuke. Now, that was something she could work with. She knew he was a friend of her parents, but he was usually away on long mission, she hadn’t seen him much along her short life. But he was a legend among the village, much like her father and his whole bunch of weird friends, including Shino-sensei.
“Not fair!” Someone yelled behind her. “Why do they get the cool sensei?! I’m the best student! He should be my sensei!”
It was a weird looking boy. He had red hair, just like uncle Gaara, and dark eyes. He was wearing a black shirt and his arms were covered in bandages. She didn’t recognize him.
“The sensei is elected by the Hokage and Headmaster Iruka themselves, if you have a problem with yours it’s better for you to check it out with them. Would you like me to show you the way?” Shino-sensei gestured with his hand to the door, waiting for his reply.
“I’m good.” The boy grumbled. But she was sure she heard something similar to ‘All of their fathers have connections, of course they would get the best sensei’.
Shikaru rolled her eyes, but didn’t bother to answer him.
“Sora…” She started, returning to the matter at hand, “Yukio is like your cousin, right?”
She had heard Sora mention him before. She knew he was the Rokudaime’s son, and had seen him around a few times in the Academy, but they hadn’t cross words. The kid lived in another country for the better part of his life and mostly kept to himself since he arrived.
Her friend nodded. “Yep. He’s nice and serious and good.”
“Mhm. At least we got a good sensei.” She reasoned. She would worry about his new teammate later.
“And that’s it.” Finished Shino-sensei. “It shouldn’t be much longer until yourꟷ” A knock on the door interrupted him, and soon enough Uchiha Sasuke was standing in front of them.
A collective gasp filled the room. The raven-haired man nodded at their sensei before quietly mumbling, “Team 9, let’s go.”
Shikaru saw an older kid stand up from his chair on the other side of the room, quickly making his way to the door, where her new sensei had exited a moment ago. Sora rushed after him, Shikaru behind her.
Outside of the room, Sasuke-sensei stood with his black cloak falling neatly around his body, completely covering him. “Meet me on top of the Hokage monument in ten minutes.” He simply said, before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
It wasn’t long until the kids reached the meeting point. Sasuke had used the time to think about his next move; he could fail them, make a test so hard they wouldn’t be able to pass, but Naruto would probably hold it over him, not to mention the parents of the kids. One day, he would make Naruto pay for handing him the only kids whose parents he knew.
“My name is Uchiha Sasuke, as you probably know already.” He started, turning around to face them, and giving his back to the village at the same time.
He scanned them over. In the center stood Neji’s kid, Sora; she looked like Tenten, brown hair and Chinese-like clothing, but her eyes didn’t match her parents’. He wondered if the girl had the byakugan, he hadn’t bothered to check the files Naruto had given him, only eyeing the name and age. The files were useless after all, it hadn’t told Kakashi he would flee the village, or that the dead last of their class would become Hokage.
To her right, Shikaru ꟷthe Nara kid. She stood still, but her eyes were flying around. She was blond, like her mother, but apart from that all he could see was Shikamaru. He just hopped she wasn’t as lazy as him.
And to Sora’s left stood Kakashi’s kid, Yukio. He knew why the kid had been put on his team, he was expected to teach him just as Kakashi had taught him, a long time ago. Him, he was more acquainted with, he had been living in Konoha for a few months and Sakura often volunteered to take care of him if necessary.
“We should start by introducing ourselves. Tell me about your specialties ꟷI’m assuming you already have one. Then your weakest point and dreams of the future.”
“You should go first.” Prompted Shikaru, “So we know what to do.”
Sasuke thought about refusing to, but he was supposed to be a sensei, which meant he had to teach them things, be their mentor. “Fine,” He smirked. “I specialize in everything, I have no weak points and I have no dream of the future, as I have already accomplished everything I dreamed of.”
Sora frowned. “That didn’t tell us anything!”
He ignored her, pointing at Yukio. “You, start.”
The boy had grey hair, but his eyes matched his mother’s, if he remembered correctly, and he didn’t wear a mask.
“I’m Hatake Yukio.” He stated proudly, pointing at himself. “I’m good at taijutsu, just like my dad, and I have my mom’s kekkei genkai, and I can summon my father’s ninken! Weakness,” He seemed to think about it, “Mhmm, I’m not good at genjutsu I guess. And my dream is to make a name for myself, not leaning on my parent’s names to do it.”
Sasuke nodded, and moved onto Sora, the next in line.
“My name is Hyuga Sora. I specialize in gentle fist, like my dad, but I like my mother’s weapon specialty too; I want to learn more about it. I can’t use genjutsu either, I’ve never needed to. My dream is to become an ANBU, and live up to my parents name.”
“Mhm. Shikaru.” He motioned for the last girl to continue.
“Shikaru Nara. I use the Nara technique since I’m not really good at manipulating wind like my mom. I can use it, but nowhere near her level. My weakness is taijutsu, I think. And my dream for the future is to beat my parents’ positions. I want to be stronger than my mom and smarter than my dad.”
He could work with them. Two of them were prodigies, if their ages where anything to go by, and the other was the son of not one, but two Kages and a crazy taijutsu master.
“I’m supposed to test you in order to make sure you’re capable shinobi, and if you’re not, I should send you back to the academy.” The kids’ faces take on a pouty face, “But doing that will probably end up with Naruto making me take another team next year, I’m just going to congratulate you.” He sighed, sure he would come to regret his decision later, “Congratulations, you’re officially team 9.”
“So you decided to use my daughter as a scapegoat.” Deadpanned Shikamaru.
Naruto flinched, covering his face with a stash of papers. “When you put it like that it sounds bad!”
“It doesn’t sound bad, it is bad.” Agreed Sakura from her place by the door. She had come around to check on the favor she had asked him a few days ago. The favor that had him against the ropes right now.
Naruto gasped. She was throwing him to the wolves! “Sakura-chan!” He cried, “You put me up for this!”
She shook her head. “Don’t try to blame me for your mistakes, Naruto. I only asked you to make him stay for a few weeks, not to make him a sensei, for Kami’s sake. Have you seen him? He’s not sensei material.” She rolled her eyes, finally entering the room and closing the door behind her.
“Why didn’t you give him another genin team?” Shikamaru sighed, but thankfully returned to his seat. At least Naruto was safe, for now.
“Have you seen this kids?” Naruto grabbed the folders from his desk and handed them to him. “If I was going to make him a sensei, I had to give him a team that would tolerate his crazy antics. Unfortunately your daughter fitted the criteria.” He shrugged, trying to make it seem like it was no big deal.
It didn’t work.
“Temari is going to murder you when she finds out.”
Sakura frowned, finally stepping in ꟷhopefully to defend him. “Hey! My husband is not that bad.” A menacing look on her face.
“I’m not saying he is,” Reluctantly accepted Shikamaru, “But he is Sasuke. He’s got the emotional state of a rock. I’m not sure he’s fit to be a sensei. Sure, he’s a fine shinobi, I’ve even taken a liking for him, but I’m not sure being a sensei is really his forte.”
Sakura shrugged. “You may be right. He’s a good father, he plays with our kids and helps me with them…when he’s around.” She finished, sighing, “I’m sorry for putting you up for this Naruto, and for getting you involved Shikamaru, but I’m tired of the hospital, I need to go back into the field, it’s been so long.”
“That’s why you want Sasuke around?” Asked Naruto, “You could’ve said so! Hinata and I can take the kids for you to go on missions.”
Sakura shook her head. “No, of course not! I have three kids; I can’t just go around throwing them into other peoples’ houses just to go on missions. That’s what fathers are for, and they have one. But Sasuke is set onto mending his mistakes by roaming around the world and protecting us from the shadows, but it’s been six months since he decided to search information about the Otsutsuki ꟷon your command may I add…and I need him home, just for a while.” She whined, holding her head with her hands.
Naruto nodded, guilt settling on the pit of his stomach. Sasuke had certainly been away for a long time now, only coming home every few months for the past two years on his quest to find intel about the Otsutsuki Clan. He didn’t feel like correcting Sakura about the fact that Sasuke had asked for the mission, he remembered the way he had asked him for it. He wanted to make sure they had been wiped out before they could come for their families, and how could he say no to that? “Then it’s settled. We’re not taking the kids away from him.”
“Fine. But if I hear Shikaru say the minimal suspicious thing, I’m making you,” He pointed at Naruto, who once again flinched under his dark, menacing eyes, “Take over his sensei job. Let’s see how you manage being the Hokage and a sensei at the same time.”
Naruto gulped. He just hopped he was right about this.