Teams
Sakura hummed as she got ready, 'Today is the team placement. I can't wait.'
Mebuki, "Sakura - chan, come have breakfast. Ino - chan is here too."
Sakura perked up, "Coming Okaa - chan."
Ever since Iruka - sensei had taught them the shinobi standard when it came to the romantic relationship, she had started to see other girls in a new light. Sure, she still had her boy crushes like Hyuuga - sempai, who graduated last year. Or from their own year, she had multiple boys, she crushed on like Nara - san who was very smart. Ino - chan had made a face when Sakura had told her about her crush on Shikamaru - san, as if to say, why him of all people.
Then there was Uchiha - kun, her first crush but she did not say anything about that to Ino. Ino - chan would have gone on a rant about how the Uchiha was not worthy of her. She almost did with Nara - san and almost hunted her pseudo sibling down, if not for her father talking her out of it. Kami, thank Yamanaka - sama, he was an angel in disguise. Then there were her crushes on the girls, in fact Sakura was pretty sure, after Iruka's lecture many girls had been eyeing Naiko - san.
Naiko - san had done the impossible, she had been the first kunoichi to get the number one spot in the whole Academy. There had been no other girl before her that had claimed that spot, but Naiko - san never talked about it. Sakura flushed when she recalled what some of the other girls had been talking about. She didn't mean to eavesdrop on them, she was just heading towards the T & I division for her shift, when she overheard them.
The girls had been talking about how fashionable, smart and attractive Naiko - san was. How she had beaten all the boys in class and since shinobi didn't care much about gender perhaps they should confess to her. She was definitely the better choice for a partner than boys who couldn't beat her to the top spot. Sakura had been distracted after that, because she noticed the other girl a lot now. She did however try to keep it all under wraps, she had seen how protective the others were of her.
Sakura, 'Huh, I wonder if Naomi - san actually... '
Ino, "What are you thinking, Sakura - chan?"
Sakura turned to Ino, "Just thinking about Naomi - san and Kyoko - san. Do you think they are together?"
Ino paused, "Well, if Naomi wants to court her, then perhaps but I have not seen or heard anything about that."
Sakura looked curious, "Oh, so clan members have to court someone to add them."
Ino, "If the person came from a previously civilian clan like Naiko - san, then yes, if they both belong to a shinobi clan, then they will set up a direct engagement or date."
Sakura mused, "I wonder if Naomi - san is trying to court her. She pays a lot of attention to Kyoko - san."
Ino muttered, "Who knows with these two, they are both hard to read despite their open attitude."
Sakura looked at Ino them looked away trying hard not to blush. It was not just Kyoko - san that she noticed, she had become very aware of Ino - chan too. Ino was always there for her from the very beginning, saving her from her bullies, encouraging her to train and study. Even helped her enter one of the T & I department where she was told, she had a place. The pinkette had a small crush on her best friend but no way was she telling her about it.
Ino looked at Sakura's red ears and felt a bit of envy rise inside her. Her flower was thinking about the boys again, no boy was good enough for her flower. They entered the Academy hand in hand and sat in front of Shikamaru, who she glared at, she still remembered Sakura's crush on him and nodded at Chouji. Ino looked around and saw Naiko and Uchiha sitting together as always surrounded by the rest of the group. Now that Sakura mentioned it, it was hard for her to not notice all the extra touching between Naiko - san and Uchiha - chan.
Ino, 'Do they even realize it? I wonder.'
Naruto was bouncing around excited, "Today we are getting placed in teams. I'm super excited. Nee - chan, nee - chan, do you think we'll be in the same team? Do you?"
Kyoko smiled at him, "Who knows Naru - tan? I certainly hope so. It'll be interesting to see who we get paired up with."
Shino, "Hinata and I will or Hinata and Torune would be in a team with Inuzuka - san. A tracker team."
Hinata nodded, "Yeah."
Naomi hummed, "Yup or Sasuke or I might end up with one of you twins with one of the civilians as third party."
Sasuke, "That would be interesting."
Iruka sensei walked in, "Okay everyone, settle down. It's time for team placement."
Kyoko tuned him out till he mentioned Uchiha Naomi, Haruno Sakura and Aburame Torune in Team six. Kyoko nodded at her friends who searched out Haruno who nodded at them. Then in Team Seven it was Naruto, Sasuke and herself as a team, Team Eight was as Shino predicted, Hinata, Kiba and himself. The next team was still in circulation, and Team Ten was the infamous Ino - Shika - Cho.
Naomi, "Well, looks like our guesses were mostly correct."
Torune nodded, "We should go meet Haruno - san and feel her out."
Kyoko, "Go, invite her to lunch with us."
Naruto, "You know where we meet."
Hinata, "We will invite Kiba - san too, if that's okay?"
Sasuke, "It's fine."
The groups split up with the intention of getting together for dinner later. Sakura followed after Naomi and Torune invited her to join them, she was still wary of the dark haired girl. Kiba seemed to be getting along just fine with Hinata and Shino as well. Naruto, Sasuke and Kyoko went off to find a quiet place for themselves to study and relax. Naruto had come close to deciphering the seal Tsunade had created and wanted to see if he could replicate it.
Naruto had the advantage of having the Kyuubi to supply him chakra but the others didn't. So he wanted to recreate the Byakugō no In for Sasuke- kun, Torune - kun, Hinata - chan and Kyoko nee - chan. Though nee - chan had that strange golden healing chakra which made Kyuubi adore and watch her with a sad look. Naruto didn't know foxes could even look sad at all till he noticed Kyuubi watch his nee - chan. Naruto wondered if he knew someone with a similar ability before but the fox still ignored him.
Kushina and Minato, his parents were just as confused on the matter and didn't know what to say. Kyuubi would send his chakra, the other one to them so they could keep Naruto company whenever he appeared. The fox would then ignore them and either observe Kyoko nee - chan work or sleep. Either way Naruto worked with his parents to figure out the Byakugō seal for his friends to use. His parents had been very proud of him and told him to never change who he was.
As Naruto worked on the seal that he was sure he could figure out soon, Sasuke and Kyoko were discussing a very common problem. As it turns out many of the veteran Uchihas were blind and Itachi well, on top of the blindness he was suffering from another disease. After examining his brother thoroughly Sasuke was sure the sickness originated from the previous problem. It had Kyoko frown, she still remembered some of the paperwork Ryohei - nii had done. This looked a lot like nerve cancer to her, cancer was surprisingly enough very common in this world too.
Kyoko, "Sasuke, do you think the Mangekyō could trigger a cancer?"
Sasuke, "It's possible, I mean if you consider all the observations so far."
Kyoko, "Damn, this might be more complicated than I had previously thought."
Naruto, "We can still solve it, guys. I mean, it'll take a few years maybe but it's not impossible."
Sasuke nodded, "I want to save nii - san."
Kyoko, "Don't worry, we will help you save him. We just need to figure out how to deal with problem one the blindness. Then we can deal with problem two, the trigger."
Naruto, "Oh and I think I have now almost figured out the Byakugō seal."
Sasuke, "What?"
Kyoko, "Really?"
Naruto, "Look, look, I can even put different designs on it too."
Kyoko glomped him, "My little precious brother ~ You are amazing and a genius."
Sasuke nodded, "Yes, we can use it during emergencies, though I sincerely hope things don't become so dire."
Naruto, "Should we tell the others?"
Kyoko, "Perfect it first, then we can announce it during our shift later on."
Hiruzen puffed watching them through his crystal, "Well, well, I knew Naruto - kun and his friends were helping at the hospital. But I didn't realize they had already gone that far."
Shishui was grinning, "I envy you Kakashi, you are getting Team Seven."
Kakashi, "You mean three nagging nurses?"
Anko chuckled, "Aww, are you still upset they man handled you to bed rest last year?"
Asuma snorted, "I think they'll be perfect for you."
Hiruzen nodded, "Indeed."
There was an incident last year when Inu had been investigating the source of the rumours against the Uchiha clan. It had led him and his team consisting of Eagle, Lion, Snake and himself to Danzo of all people. The man had been expecting them it seems and put up a fight. Lion had been furious when Danzo had lost the bandage on his left arm and two Sharingan had appeared. Kekkai genkai theft was an unacceptable crime and the group worked together to suppress Danzo. However that had also left Inu hurt and suffering from heavy blood loss.
Snake and Lion had taken Danzo with them while calling the rest of the Jounin to deal with the Root members. Naruto and his friends were the ones in charge of the night shift and had seen them. He had paled on seeing Inu's state and had started to bark orders at everyone to get things ready for a level red patient. The others had rushed to help him in the process with Naruto in the lead. Hiruzen had gone to check on Inu only to see a bunch of civilian children nag his ANBU to rest. Inu had looked at him for help but the Sandaime had instead thanked the kids and left him at their gentle hands.
Anko, "Team Six, you are with me. Meet me at area forty four."
Sakura winced, "Anko - san is our teacher."
Naomi, "Sounds like you know her."
Sakura grimaced, "Ino - chan and I received training from her. It was after Kyoko - san introduced her new jutsu to the Academy."
Torune, "Ah, Yamanaka - san, didn't want to be left behind."
Sakura nodded following them, "Yeah, she thinks Kyoko - San is her rival, though Kyoko - san... I don't think she even notices."
Naomi chuckled, "Probably because Kyoko has been trying to help one of our friends for a while now."
Sakura, "What happened?"
Torune, "He has terminal illness. Trying to heal him is a little complicated."
Sakura, "Oh, I see. No wonder she didn't notice. She must really care for him."
After Team Six left, Asuma came to pick up Team Ten, he nodded at Naruto who waved at him. Ino looked between them in curiosity but didn't say anything about it, she had heard rumours about the two being related. Kurenai picked up Team Eight and soon other teams were picked up as well, Shisui got a team too. Now, that had surprised Sasuke a lot, the two boys and girl on his team were the ones who joined last year after an incident surrounding Danzo.
Naruto, "We are the only ones left."
Sasuke, "Iruka sensei, do you know anything about our teacher?"
Iruka, "Hmm, I know a little bit yes."
Kyoko, "Is our sensei always late?"
Iruka gave an awkward laugh, "He is well known for being late."
Naruto, "I see, thanks Iruka sensei."
Iruka, "I must go to the mission desk now. Will you three be alright?"
Kyoko waved his worry away, "Don't worry about us sensei. We still have our assignment from the hospital."
Sasuke, "We will be fine, maybe figure out a solution for this problem too."
Iruka smiled at them and pat their heads, "Alright, I trust you."
Time went by with the three of them pouring over their notes till Naruto was feeling very confident about the seal. Kyoko offered to test it first and told Naruto to hand over the specialized ink to make the seal. Sasuke and Naruto watched with hawk eyes as Kyoko drew the seal and activated it. Once it was activated it glowed like the sun before it settled on Kyoko's forehead in the shape of sunrise.
Naruto, "It worked!"
Sasuke, "You are amazing Naruto - kun."
Kyoko looked at her hand held mirror, "Wao, the seal is pretty."
Sasuke, "My turn next."
Naruto grinned, "I wonder what yours will look like."