Team 7
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The next day, Sakura woke up and pulled on her red dress.
Her hand went to her bedside table and grabbed her glasses, sliding them on. Her vision cleared, and she reached for her goggles next.
They weren't there, and the only thing she fingered was her new headband.
"W-What?" She hopped off the bed and checked the floors, her covers, even her closet.
It's my only remembrance of Hana and Obito... Cha! How could you lose them?! I don't know, I never took them off except...
SASUKE STILL HAS THEM!
Sakura froze with realization, then, she relaxed. "In that case, I have nothing to worry about. Sasuke will return them and today we're going to meet our new sensei!"
Hell yeah!
"Sakura, are you coming down for breakfast?" It was her mom's voice.
"No mom, I'm a ninja now and have no need to play house!" Sakura practically growled out, deprived of her goggles. She tied her headband over her hair and walked downstairs, ignoring her mother and approaching the door.
"Okay, sweetie, remember to take the boxed lunch at the table."
Her eye twitched as she grabbed the food container, muttering out an annoyed "I know, mom," and stalking out the door.
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...
Sakura watched a homeless old man huddle in an alley picking through the trash bin for something to eat. He was too old and skinny for manual labor. His clothes were rags and he was balding with white tufts of dirty hair.
Sakura walked over and gave him her boxed lunch.
"O-Oh, i-is that really okay?" the stinky man hesitated and drooled.
Her old naive self would have punched the man for being a pervert if he didn't look too disgusting, but now Sakura had a lot of experience when it comes to anatomy of old people and she knew he was too old for his family jewels to work properly so he wasn't a pervert, just a hungry grandpa. "Yeah, I'm on a diet," she lied.
He tenderly held out her hands and she dropped the boxed rice, vegetables, fish and tomatoes (as a semi-medic-nin, she realized Sasuke was right about tomatoes.)
"T-Thank...GRAHAH" he suddenly erupted into a coughing fit and Sakura gasped, leaping behind him and slamming her palms a little too roughly against his back, pushing yin chakra to his lungs and attempting to stabilize his breathing.
Five minutes later, he stared at Sakura in awe. "Y-You're a shinobi, a medic nin."
"No, I'm not." Hell yeah I am!
Strangely, he looked relieved, as if being a shinobi would have been an obstacle. "T-Then...I-If it isn't too much to ask, my homies are s-sick." He shivered. "They don't go to the hospital b-because they don't have the money. None of us do, we're homeless and too o-old for anyone to hire."
He looked at her desperately. "Please, my chest feels better, b-but some of us need your treatment more than I do." he dipped his head.
But I'm supposed to be somewhere else. Shannaro! It's an important day today!
"I u-understand i-if you want money."
No! I don't! You bet you do!
"Everyone I asked refused be-cause we're broke..."
Well, maybe if I make it quick I can still make it in time for the Team Assignments. Ugh! Fine! She faked a smile and waved her hands dismissively, "No worries, I'll do what I can. Lead the way to your sick friends."
And thus, Sakura was late because she was busy healing the injuries of homeless elderly in the slums.
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Sasuke sat by the window, with Naruto hunched beside him. They were doing their best not to look at each other. Usually they were not this uncomfortable because Sakura tended to be seated between them as the mediator, but she wasn't here right now. So, that left an empty gap between the boys that tempted any other ambitious fangirl to put up with Naruto in order to sit next to Sasuke-kun.
"She's late again," Naruto muttered as he put his head down, depressed.
"Like I care."
Suddenly, the door burst open and both of them, because Sasuke did care, looked to see if it was Sakura, but it was Ino by herself.
She walked over to them and made a grab for the front of Naruto's shirt to throw him off his seat (so she could take it,) but Sasuke was faster; he grabbed the back of Naruto's shirt first and pulled him back from Ino's clutches, so the only thing she grabbed was thin air as she stood aghast.
She quickly made up for her fluke by moving her hand to flip at her hair, as if she'd planned to do that instead of reaching for Naruto. It was the most graceful movement they've seen, making the other girls jealous.
Keeping her hand to her hair, she watched Naruto leaning his entire weight uncomfortable against Sasuke's side as he struggled to sit up.
"OI YOU BASTARD! Why'd you grab me like that!?" Naruto yelled, attempting to throw some punches behind him towards Sasuke's face, but they were all blocked, of course.
Ino sweatdropped and noticed that they were literally shoved to the side of the long seat, which meant there was room at the edge for her to sit. She sat there, unsatisfied that there was Naruto right between her and Sasuke-kun, but it was something at least.
"Yo, Ino," Shikamaru greeted from the higher table behind her. "Sit beside me instead." There's no doubt we'll be the next InoShikaCho team, so it'd be troublesome if I have to walk towards you as we gather together. Might as well start out all of us sitting together to save us the energy of gathering. "Choji, you come too."
Choji couldn't hear Shikamaru through the crunching of the potato chips in his mouth.
"Oh I'm sorry did you confuse Naruto with me because we're both blonde and blue-eyed?" Ino said in a sarcastic tone, "I wouldn't be surprised, like honestly, you have no sense of beauty," she grandiosely gestured to Shikamaru's dull-colored clothing. "Naruto, go sit beside Shikamaru like he wants," she would have shouted the last part but that would have ruined her eloquence.
Sasuke nudged Naruto off his body with an elbow and he yelped "Ow!" Then Naruto took a look at Shikamaru, who was currently facepalming in response, but being too lazy to use his hand, he used the desk as a surface to his face. "Uhh, he's kinda boring," Naruto commented. To his side, Sasuke snorted; compared to himself, everyone was 'boring' to Naruto. "Besides, Sakura-chan's gonna get mad."
"Oh Sakura huh?" She placed her hands on her hips, the same action Sakura does when she's about to give a lecture. As children, they had been friends before they became rivals, so Sakura unconsciously took onto some of Ino's habits.
Naruto cringed while Sasuke automatically became more alert.
Satisfied they were paying attention to her, Ino lectured, holding up her fingers to convey, "Billbrow Brow was 1 hour late 3 days ago, 2 hours late 2 days ago, and 3 hour late yesterday," she held up a fourth finger. "How many hours will she be late today?"
"Four!" Naruto stupidly shouted and Sasuke clicked his tongue.
Sakura wasn't here to argue with Ino, so they didn't attract the attention of the other crowd of fangirls, so Naruto didn't kiss Sasuke. Bummer.
"...Team Seven, Uzumaki Naruto,"
Naruto perked up.
"Haruno Sakura,"
Naruto cheered and Sasuke indiscreetly held his breath.
"And Uchiha Sasuke."
Sasuke smirked, but it quickly turned into a frown as Naruto tackled him in excitement.
Ignoring the two's antics, Ino slammed her hands to the desk. "WHAT?! How come Billboard Brow gets put on Sasuke-kun's team when she doesn't even bother to show up?!"
Iruka didn't know what to say, but seeing how the whole class went silent, he took this opportunity to teach a life lesson. "From this day on, you are all going to become shinobi, and ninja must always look under the surface." His hand gestured towards Naruto, "Our dead last of the class, for exam, mastered an impressive Jounin-level technique just yesterday."
Everyone except Sasuke looked at Naruto with disbelief and hints of admiration. He blushed under all the attention.
"But that is not all there is to being a shinobi of the Leaf, one must also display the qualities of the Will of Fire," he smiled. "Naruto risked his life to protect me from an enemy shinobi," Iruka opted out from saying Mizuki's name.
Naruto blushed harder as he jumped onto his desk, "Iruka-sensei! You protected me!" He burst into tears as he flailed about, "you're the best sensei ever! I'll never forget you!"
Dramatic loser, Sasuke thought.
"Ahem," Iruka continued. "That is why you must never underestimate someone may appear weak, whether it's a comrade, or enemy. You must be extra careful when it comes to enemy shinobi, or it could lead to your death," his expression turned serious and everyone paid rapid attention.
"But Sensei," Ino interrupted, as a Yamanaka, she wasn't intimidated. He knew what she was asking.
"Sakura may be late often, but her test grades ranked her as the top kunoichi of the class. It's custom for the top students to pair with the dead lasts,"
Naruto wasn't insulted by his label after what Iruka said earlier. In fact, he was proud, grinning goofily and patting Sasuke's back in an attempt to comfort him from who-knows-what. Sasuke ignored him.
"I see," she said, shooting a knowing glance at Shikamaru. She had an perfect example right here about deceitful appearances; the sloth was too lazy to put his be genius brain to use. My Mind Transfer Technique would've ranked me as top student if Shikamaru actually worked hard on the tests!
"Team 8, Hyuuga Hinata,"
Hinata perked up. It suddenly dawned on her she wouldn't be with Naruto-kun, and she was bummed.
"Inuzuka Kiba,"
"YEAH!"
"And Aburame Shino."
"..."
Ino turned to look at Shikamaru. "You know you oughta put yourself to work! Otherwise you're totally useless and unappealing for a guy,"
Shikamaru smirked, "Well it seems that's the type of guy you'll end up with."
Before Ino could retort, Iruka called, "Team 10, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru,"
Ino groaned. Dammit Shikamaru! "And Choji Akimichi." Ino flat out slammed her forehead to the desk.
Shikamaru heartlessly made the fat guy walk: "Choji, come over here!"
Choji did.
"Now your jounin instructors will come pick you up," Iruka waved them in and the adults picked up their teams and left, until there was only one remaining team, which happened to be missing one member.
Iruka checked the time and realized the irony of the situation. I wonder who will show up first? Sakura or Kakashi? He chuckled, "Well, it looks like you'll have to wait, Naruto, Sasuke," and bolted out the door.
Sasuke and Naruto sat alone in the empty classroom.
...
...
Naruto got bored.
...
"Let's talk!"
"No."
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...
Naruto saw a chalkboard eraser.