Futaiten Arc

Chapter Three

“Sakura….” Naruto moaned, cracking open one eye to glare up at the girl. The pink-haired twelve year old just stuck her tongue out playfully, letting go of the cheek she had been pulling at.

“Wake up! We have our Genin exams today.”

“Why? We could’ve passed them by the time we were seven, dattebayo.” The blond grumbled, rolling out of bed and landing on the floor. He pressed his forehead against the cool wood before feeling Sakura’s foot placed on his bare back.

“You know the villagers would’ve made a fuss.” Sakura grumbled in disdain.

“Just like they did the previous three times we were tested!” Naruto growled, letting out a sigh of annoyance before glancing up at the female. Staring at her blearily, Naruto blinked rapidly before blushing.

“Er….Sakura-kun?” Emerald eyes blinked down at him in confusion before seeing where his gaze was going. Blanching, Sakura jumped away from him, pulling the loose dress she slept in even lower.

“Pervert!”

“Not my fault you forgot you were wearing a dress.” The blond pointed out, pulling himself up from the floor and walking over to his dresser. Naruto had gained his room back to himself when he was eight. Mostly because the Sandaime had rented out the apartment across from his for Sakura. Though, the two had exchanged keys immediately afterwards seeing as they didn’t want the other one feeling unwelcome after years of already staying in the same room.

“You’re lucky I wake you up or else you’d be late every day.” Sakura huffed, walking out of the room back towards her own apartment. She really needed to start changing before she woke up the blond.

“Yeah, yeah.” Naruto yawned, pulling out his normal clothing. Black pants with his feet and lower shines wrapped, black ninja shoes, a navy shirt that went to his elbows, and his hands wrapped in bandages up to the middle of his forearm. The completion of the outfit came in the form of a black sleeveless jacket that went to his mid-thigh. The hood was orange, thanks to his insistence. Sakura had limited his orange clothing sharply, a fact that still annoyed the blond. Orange was awesome, why should he limit himself?

Grumbling about the lack of orange as he wrapped up his fists, Naruto headed out of his room and into his kitchen to prepare a quick instant ramen. Sakura and the trio of ANBU had tried their damnedest to fix his nutrition, but it barely worked. Sure, the few inches he was able to gain from it was helpful, but he preferred his ramen.

“Milks bad.” He muttered, grimacing at the rotten smell coming from it before promptly tossing it in the trash bin.

By the time he was finishing his ramen, Sakura was dressed and back in his apartment. She still preferred red and pink, symbolized by the red kimono-style blouse trimmed in white that went to her mid-thigh. A pink obi held it shut, though the obi was much longer than usual and tied at the back, looped into a large ribbon with the bows and ends hanging. Black gloves, shorts and boots finished off the look, her kunai and shuriken holsters tied to her right leg like Naruto.

“Hurry up.” She ordered, tying her medium length hair into a ponytail.

“Yeah, yeah. Relax, ‘ttebayo.” Naruto grumbled, slurping up the soup before tossing the cup in the trash and the chopsticks in the sink.

“It’s not my fault if Iruka-sensei yells at you again.” Sakura yawned, following Naruto out and waiting as he locked his door. Seeing the eye roll her friend had in response to her words, Sakura promptly smacked her fellow jinchūriki on the back of his head.

“Ow.” Naruto muttered, heading towards the end of the outside hallway and peering over the railing. Konohagakure was just waking up, the villagers milling between just opened shops as they went about their daily business.

Sakura and Naruto spent a few moments observing the streets below before a nudge from Sakura got them both jumping across roofs towards the Academy.

____

“Sasuke-kun!”

Both Naruto and Sakura winced at the screech, watching one of their classmates bolt towards the Uchiha who was already surrounded by most of the females in their class.

“….please tell me you were never attracted to him.” Naruto pleaded, eyebrow twitched as he saw the brooding male.

“Maybe when we were younger. He’s become too revenge-oriented since the massacre.” Sakura responded, walking towards the back of the classroom after edging around the grouping of boy crazy females.

Naruto hummed, following after the pink-haired girl as she sat beside one of their friends, Hyuga Hinata. Sakura had approached her after the first few months of the Academy and through the years the shy girl had started stuttering and blushing a lot less. She still had a quiet demeanor, but she would speak up when the situation called for it.

“Hello, Sakura-chan, Naruto-kun.” Hinata greeted, smiling at the duo.

“Hinata-chan!” They chorused, both smiling brightly as they sat on either side of the pale girl.

“Good luck on the exams.” Hinata said, looking from one to the other.

“Same to you. I wonder if we’ll be on the same team.” Naruto questioned, glancing up at the roof absentmindedly as they waited for Iruka-sensei to appear.

____

“What do you mean I can’t have Sakura and Naruto on my team?” Kakashi demanded, looking at the Hokage intently. The Sandaime sheepishly looked away, puffing at his pipe.

“Too much personal attachment. You, Cat, and Jaguar practically raised them, after all.”

“So?”

“You know our rules. You can’t teach your kids, even if you claim you don’t see them that way.” Hiruzen stated, looking firmly at the ex-ANBU.

“What happened to making another Ino-Shika-Chō?” Kakashi demanded, glancing over to where Nara Shikaku, Akimichi Chōza, and Yamanaka Inoichi were standing together. The Hokage had called a meeting for all the Jonin so that teams could be decided.

At the mention of them, the three fathers looked up. Shikaku smirked at Kakashi’s annoyed expression. “Troublesome as it is, Shikamaru has the lowest scores in the Academy.”

“….he’s as lazy as you are, isn’t he?” Kakashi asked, a deadpan expression on his face.

Shrugging without response, Shikaku glanced at the Hokage before continuing. “It’s a surprise that Sakura and Naruto challenge the Uchiha for top of the class, though.”

“They should’ve graduated years ago.” Kakashi grumbled, glancing towards the Sandaime before gazing out the windows of the Hokage’s office.

“The villagers would throw a riot.” Hiruzen sighed tiredly, puffing at his pipe.

“I’ll take care of them Kakashi, don’t worry.” Sarutobi Asuma winked over at his companion, getting only a glare in response.

____

“That was far too easy.” Naruto said for the tenth time since Sakura had woke him up that morning. He had been repeating the same thing since yesterday after getting his headband and acing the Genin exam.

“Technically, we could be Chunin right now. Maybe even Jonin.”

“Considering we have access to the shinobi part of the library now…yeah, most likely.” Naruto agreed, glancing at his companion. Sakura’s traditional blue headband was wrapped around her head in the same style as the ribbon Cat-san had gave her years ago. She was swearing up and down yesterday that she was going to get red cloth as soon as she could. Naruto felt the same, only he wanted orange cloth. The blue was far too bland in his opinion, and he would refuse to listen to any of Sakura’s objections about the color he chose.

The blond jinchūriki let out a yawn, tightening the headband around forehead again. He wasn’t used to its weight yet, and somehow it kept coming loose.

Walking down the hall of the Academy, the duo watched as a gaggle of girls burst into the doorway that led to their classroom. Sweatdropping, the two exchanged a glance. “Sasuke.”

Following after the last fangirl, the duo were treated to the sight of an annoyed Sasuke refusing to pay attention to even one of the cooing females. At the head of them was Yamanaka Ino, a past friend of Sakura’s that she had made during the flower-arranging classes the kunoichi had to attend.

“It’s their last day with their precious Sasuke-kun.” Sakura commented, following Naruto up to their normal seat on either side of Hinata.

“Ah, that’s why they’re louder than normal.” Naruto hummed, crossing his arms on the desk and resting his chin on them. Now he just had to wait for Iruka-sensei to come in and announce the teams.

Thirty minutes later – with a brief interlude of yelling at Sasuke’s fangirls to take their seats and to make a speech about them becoming proper ninja – Iruka-sensei was listing off the teams.

“We’ll go from the highest number down today, I guess. Team Ten: Akimichi Choji, Yamanaka Ino, and Uchiha Sasuke.”

“What?” Shikamaru questioned, raising his head from where he had been half paying attention and half sleeping. The brunet and Choji exchanged a startled glance. They were expecting to be an Ino-Shika-Chō team, just like their parents. Ino was also surprised, though that was overwhelmed by the excitement of Sasuke-kun being on her team.

“Team Nine is in circulation from last year. Team Eight: Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Hyuga Hinata.”

“Awh, damn. Sorry Hinata-chan.” Naruto murmured, glancing at his friend. The Hyuga simply nodded, frowning slightly as she glanced towards her new teammates. Kiba was loud….and Shino was absolutely silent.

“Team Seven: Nara Shikamaru, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto.”

“Yes!” The duo crowed, high-fiving and grinning at each other. They both noticed Shikamaru slamming his head against his table, automatically making the duo snicker.

“We’ll hang out still, right Hinata-chan?” Sakura asked, leaning conspiratorially towards her friend as Iruka continued listing the names.

“Of course, Sakura-chan.” Hinata answered, smiling brightly at her friend, getting a matching grin in return.

____

“Yo, Shikamaru, wake up.” Naruto ordered, nudging the Nara with his foot as their classmates headed out of the classroom for lunch. They’d be meeting their sensei afterwards, and Iruka had recommended they eat as a team so the two jinchūriki had approached the final member of their team.

“Do you two know why I’m not with Choji and Ino?” Shikamaru mumbled, his face still pressed against the desk.

“Probably because you have the lowest scores. I kept hearing Choji telling you to actually try, so I’m guessing you could’ve been much higher than you currently are.” Sakura reasoned, getting Shikamaru to raise his head and glare at the pink-haired female.

“Tch. Great.” Shikamaru grumbled, rising from his seat to walk alongside the two as they headed out of the room.

“You like ramen?”

“I guess.” Shikamaru sighed, getting Naruto to grin and Sakura to grimace.

“To Ichiraku’s it is!”

“Dammit, Naruto-chan.”

“Awh, chill out Sakura-kun, we haven’t been there in a while.”

“We went two days ago!”

“Exactly, dattebayo!”

Any further response from Sakura was cut off as the blond bounced ahead of her and their Nara teammate, intent on getting to the ramen shop quickly. Shikamaru sighed, trailing after the two. Why me?

____

“Team Seven?” A bearded man questioned, walking into the room and glancing at the students for his team. At the sound of people moving from the back row, Asuma smirked at the sight of the two jinchūriki pushing a reluctant Shikamaru down the stairs.

“Come on, Shika-kun. Moving won’t kill you.”

“I can think of so many disagreements to that, but it’s too troublesome.”

“Everything is troublesome to you, isn’t it?” Sakura huffed.

“Yes.”

“You’re insufferable.” The emerald eyed girl grumbled, glaring at the boy. A lazy smirk was the only response she got, gaining a drawn out sigh of frustration to emerge.