Daffodils
Sakura and her friends had decided to have a sleepover at Hinata’s house, graduation was around the corner and they needed to study for the Genin exam. Naturally, Ino had derailed the study session half an hour in and started talking about boys.
She spent a solid hour gushing about Sasuke until she decided to flip it around and grill both Hinata and herself about any crushes.
“C’mon Hinata! Have there really been no boys that you thought were cute? There has to be at least one!” The poor Hyuga was red with embarrassment, her stuttering making it a dead give-away that she did, in fact, like a boy. Sakura held on to her right arm while Ino did her left, both poking her red cheeks. Sakura joined in, teasing “You’re tomato red Hinata~ Just tell us his name.”
The poor girl whined, “Not you too Sakura-san!” making the other two girls laugh. “Just a name, we won’t try anything. Ninja’s honor.” Sakura assured her.
“We aren’t even ninjas yet!”
“Not for long my little sunflower!” Ino quipped, “Now, name?” Hinata looked everywhere except her friend’s eyes, mumbling a name very quietly. Ino and Sakura leaned closer, she repeated herself a bit louder but still too quietly. “Huh?”
“I said Naruto-kun!” she covered her mouth as soon as the words spilled out. Both girls gave a surprised ‘oh~’ to her, then giggling for finally getting the answer they wanted. Hinata pouted, “Oh please don’t say anything! I’m not brave enough to even talk to him.” she pleaded. Sakura placed her hand on her heart, “I promise, Ninja’s honor.”
Ino followed her motion, “Me too, although I’m surprised you like him. I mean, he’s … kind of a loser.” Hinata deflated, the pinkette hugged her, blocking Ino from her sight. “Let her be, not all of us can have a crush on Sasuke! He’s not the only boy in our class y’know?”
Hinata nodded, Ino giggled with her hands raised as a peace offering “Okay okay sorry, I just don’t see what she sees. Which .... What exactly do you see in him?”
“Well … I admire how, um. Well, he’s a very determined person.” She moved away from Sakura, still holding her hand. “And I like how he doesn’t let others' opinions about him get to him.” Hinata sat straight, a proud smile on her lips “And, and I also like how brave he is!” her eyes were filled with admiration, “He might not be cool like Uchiha-san is, but he is cool in his own way!” Hinata got tackled by her two best friends, both cheering on her and cooing at how in love she was with him.
After running dry their talk about boys and romance, they fell back into studying.
The test came and went, almost everyone passed without much trouble, except for the one designated class idiot. Iruka-Sensei gathered everyone who passed into a different room, everyone ran to their friends to congratulate each other or talk about those who didn’t do the transformation jutsu and failed. Sakura was glad to see Hinata and Ino had made it too, not that she lacked confidence in their skill but more so a lack of confidence in hers.
The day after the test all the now graduated Genin gathered in the same homeroom. Iruka-Sensei held a scroll with the official teams in his hands, with a clearing of his throat he started his speech. “Alright, I have the designated teams in my hands. I want to congratulate everyone on getting to this point, I would also like to remind you that these teams were chosen by our Hokage. The order is permanent and undisputable, no whining or pleading will change that.” a few whispers filled the room.
“Now, on to the teams. Team one we have …” Sakura tuned out her Sensei, moving her attention to her friends. Ino leaned on her side to whisper “I really hope my team is with Sasuke-kun, it would be so romantic.” she smiled and nodded at Hinata back, “It would also be super romantic if Hinata ended up in the same team as Naruto.” the Hyuuga blushed, letting an ‘eep’ out at the statement, “D-don’t say that, it’s embarrassing.” Sakura and Ino giggled at her expense.
“Next, Team seven: Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke”
“WHAT?!” Both Ino and Sakura mirrored the other, jumping up from their seats with the same face of disbelief and shock. Iruka-Sensei sighed, “Like I said, no arguments or whining.”
Both girls leaned over and slammed their hands on the desk, “But Sensei-!”
It was Naruto who interrupted them next, standing up and talking with indignation in his loud voice “Hold on! Why does someone as great as me have to be on the same team as him!” he debated, an accusing finger pointed in Sasuke's direction. Iruka-sensei sighed, “The teams are arranged to balance each other out. Sasuke had the highest grades of the class while yours… Quite frankly were, um, deadlast.” Naruto pouted at the statement, turning to the Uchiha one more time, “Fine but don’t you dare hold me back!”
Sasuke huffed, “I could say the same thing to you. Deadlast!”
“Why you little pri-!”
The Chunin talked louder in response, “Moving on! Team eight: Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuuga Hinata.” As the argument had ended, Sakura and Ino flopped down on their seats in perfect timing and identical manner, Hinata leaned closer to console them, “It’s okay, Sakura. Ino. Things happen for a reason.”
Sakura didn’t know how to feel, she was secretly happy that Sasuke would be her teammate, but she felt like she was betraying Ino by taking that place. “Ino I’m so sorry-”
“...Team Ten: Akimichi Choji, Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino. Team …”
The blonde sighed, holding both of her friends' hands and squeezing hard. “It’s fine, Hinata’s right, this shouldn’t discourage us!” She fully turned to Sakura, holding her hands in hers and gazing into her emerald eyes. “Sakura, you got blessed with an opportunity. You’re gonna be close to both of our crushes! You can directly act as a wingwoman for both of us!”
“Ino-”
Their Sensei’s voice boomed over their conversation before Sakura could protest. “Your new teachers will be arriving shortly, please separate into your own groups! And no trying to change teams, your teachers know exactly who they are assigned to.”
“Thank you Sakura! I owe you a big one.” Her blonde friend cheered, already taking her leave and joining her teammates. Hinata apologizes after her, promising to see her later and joins her own group.
Sakura exhales and plops down on her desk, she was so nervous about this all. A team with Naruto and Sasuke? Naruto was a nice kid, a troublemaker for sure and super annoying sometimes, she could probably get close to him for Hinata. But Sasuke?! Her heartbeat quickened the more she thought about him.
The same team as my crush!
No, she had promised she wouldn’t try anything!
We could grow closer, he could even notice me!
No he wouldn’t, she wasn’t pretty or skilled in anything that wasn’t book related.
All the team building, it’s a perfect chance to make him fall in love!
Don’t be stupid, why would the coolest most handsome guy in the class-
Sakura heard movement to her right, someone had seated next to her. “Hey Sakura-chan!” she turned her head towards her new blonde teammate. “Hi Naruto.” From the corner of her eye she could see the Uchiha take the seat in front of her, it made her heart quicken as fast as the first time she realized she liked him. “Hn.”
Naruto leaned closer to her ear, “Don’t worry Sakura-chan, I also hate the fact that the bastard is in our team too.”
“That should be my line, dead last.” Charcoal eyes met the ocean pair, both filled with disgust for the other. She hated to admit it, but even when he was angry Sasuke looked so dreamy.
One by one the teachers picked their respective teams, Sakura waved goodbye to each of her friends as their new team leaders fetched them one by one. In a matter of minutes, she was alone in the classroom with her new teammates.
Naruto kept trying to make conversation, Sasuke decided to close his eyes and ignore him completely. Sakura replied, not wanting to be rude, but it was getting more and more difficult pretending she cared about pranks and food that much.
Minutes turned to an hour, and an hour into two.
Naruto groaned loudly, “He’s late!” the newly promoted kunoichi sighed, “Just sit down, he’ll probably be here soon Naruto.”
The whiskered boy crossed his arms in annoyance, “I don’t wanna sit down, our Sensei is the only one that’s late Sakura-chan! Everyone else is already doing cool missions and adventures and we’re stuck waiting! It’s totally not fair!”
Sasuke put an elbow on the desk, leaning into the palm of his hand. “Shut up and sit down, complaining won’t make him get here faster.” Naruto glared in response. He stood up from next to Sakura and made his way to the dry erase board.
“What are you doing?” she questioned.
The blonde gave her a mischievous smile, “Teaching him a lesson for being late. It’s gonna be totally hilarious, believe it!” Without missing a beat, Naruto had climbed on a chair and stuck an eraser on the top corner of the door. He stood back and admired his handiwork. “Hehe, perfect!”
“Hn, our Sensei is a Jonin, an elite ninja. He won’t fall for a trick like that.”
“You just watch, bastard! you’re gonna eat your words when he does fall for my prank!”
Before Sakura could say anything, a hand gripped the door. All three focused their attention on the person coming into their room. Their very unpunctual, but elite Sensei.
He wouldn’t fall for it.
The door opened, revealing a masked man with spiked silver hair, his protector tied on his head but pulled down to cover his left eye. As soon as his head was at the threshold of the door, the eraser hit the top of his head.
He totally fell for it!
Naruto pointed and laughed at the man, “I totally got him! He totally fell for it!” Sakura covered her mouth with her hand, fighting back a laugh. The aloof boy in front of her clicked his tongue, looking towards the window with annoyance.
The silvered haired Jonin picked up the eraser, finally walking inside the room. He looked at all three cautiously, “Hmm, how can I put this… My first impression of this group is…” he closed his one visible eye, a smile imprint showing despite his mask “I don’t like you.” he deadpanned.
They had finally walked out of the room with their new Sensei, following him towards the roof of the academy. Their Sensei leaned on the railing, letting the rest of them sit on the steps. Sasuke had sat on the left side while Sakura took the middle and Naruto sat at the far right. The Jonin leaned against the railing, “Let’s see, first let’s do introductions.”
“What do you mean?” Sakura questioned.
“Say your name, what kind of things you like, what you dislike. Maybe your dreams for the future? Things of that sort.” Naruto hummed, “Huh? Hey, why don’t you start then, so we know what to say.”
Their new Sensei sighed and pocketed his hands. “Well let’s see, my name is Hatake Kakashi. The things I like and things that I don’t … I don’t really feel like telling you guys. My dreams for the future? I don’t really have any at the moment. As for my hobbies,” he looked up in thought, “Well I have lots of hobbies.” Sakura leaned towards her blonde teammate, whispering “That was totally useless, now we just know his name.” Naruto nodded in agreement.
Kakashi-Sensei looked back down to them, “Now it's your turn.”
Naruto sat up straight, “Alright I’ll go first! I’m Uzumaki Naruto. I like eating Ichiraku's ramen with Iruka-Sensei. I hate the amount of time it takes for ramen to finish cooking so you can eat it.” Naruto stood up in excitement, turning his hands into fists, “And my dream is to become Hokage! Then, I will be someone so important that everyone in Konoha will have to respect me!”
Kakashi-sensei nodded in acknowledgement, then he turned to Sakura, “Okay, you next.”
“Okay, my name is Haruno Sakura. I like, well..” her eyes drifted to where Sasuke was sitting, she cleared throat and sat straight, What was that!Why is liking Sasuke the first thing I could think of?! She blushed with embarrassment, feeling eyes on her. “The things I like are: hanging out with my friends and reading. Oh, and training! My dream is to become a great kunoichi.”
Kakashi nodded, gazing at Sasuke. The Uchiha hadn’t moved much, hands on his knees and a somber look on his face. “My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I dislike a lot of things and I don’t particularly like anything. I don’t have a dream, because I will make my goal come true… I will avenge my clan and bring death to a certain man.”
Sakura leaned her head on her knees, Sasuke-kun is … so cool.
“How interesting.” Their Sensei crossed his arms, “This will be all for today, you’re dismissed. I’ll see you tomorrow on training ground number three at 0500, don’t be late and do not eat anything for that morning.” Naruto stood up for the second time that day, “Hell yeah! Are we going on a really cool mission?!” Kakashi-sensei gave the blond a deadpan look, “Better, we’re doing survival training.” He pointed two fingers at his forehead and then waved them off, “See ya then.” and then he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Naruto had immediately started complaining about the vagueness of the task, his voice as loud as always and his energy never ending. Sakura huffed, frustrated at the apparent dismissal of their new sensei. Before she could try and coordinate with her new teammates, Sasuke had already vanished from his position and Naruto had given chase to wherever Kakashi-sensei could have gone. The pink-haired kunoichi stood up, dusting off the dirt from her qipao and making her way home by herself.
Tomorrow will be a very eventful day.