The Ancients - Rumor of the Sixth Element

Chapter 2: Teammates?!

A/N: HALLOWEEN!!!! I love it... I has so much candy!!!! Anyway, sorry, I know I haven't written lately. Not to make excuses(even though I'm doing just that), writing comes in phases to me. There will be times where I update, like, a million times in one day, and then times I don't even log on for a month or two. Like recently. I got addicted to Supernatural, and couldn't even THINK of writing. Now, of course, I've caught up all the way to the current episode of season seven(even seen the one that aired three days ago), and so, out of all available excuses, I am writing again. That is, of course, until I start eating my candy and get sick. Then I have an excuse again. *insert evil laugh here*

I opened my eyes blearily to the sound of dishes being banged. And not in the accidental, oops-mistake-making-breakfast way, but in the haha-I-think-this-is-fun-and-annoying way.

"Na-Ru-TO!!!" I screamed, heedless of the fact that my night shirt was half way down my waist as I charged out of my room and proceeded to strangle the blond brat right outside my door. Times like this made me wish I'd never met him. He made up for it, sure, but hell if I didn't want to increase his gravity seals by like a million tons right now.

"What's the noise...? Kasha's lizard act up again?" Sasuke's drowsy voice came softly through his room, and suddenly, I was very very VERY angry. No at Naruto, or Sasuke talking about the taboo lizard problem, but because the damned bastard HAD BEEN SLEEPING THE ENTIRE TIME!!!!! I mean, sure, we were just academy students, but I mean, REALLY!! We were still ninja! The least he could do was sleep light enough to be an actual use to whatever unfortunate bastard got stuck with him as a teammate in the future. Come to think of it, that unfortunate bastard would probably be, unfortunately, me. And some other sorry chic- I shook my head vehemently, and rushed forward, pummeling my unsuspecting brother rather harshly for sleeping through Naruto's racket. Then, without word or warning, I turned away, went to my room, and slammed the door. It was only then that I looked down, and realized with a start that I'd pummelled two guys half naked. Sure, being young and all, I didn't have anything, but you couldn't fault me for being self-conscious.

"Hey Chickenbutt! Your turn to make breakfast!"

"It's DUCKBUTT!!" Both Sasuke and I shouted at the same time, him rather petulantly, like a sulking child's, and me just for the hell of yelling.

"Yeah yeah, chickenbutt and lizardta-" Naruto, very wisely in my opinion, shut up at that point. My lizard was NOT a topic you just brought up...

Anyway, I smiled(quite faked), and headed to the table. If Sasuke was cooking, we would be having a sausage curry. Don't ask, because weird as it sounds, it is actually quite good.

"Ready to hear the team announcements? I don't really care who I'm with, as long as it's you two." Naruto said happily, digging into the (surprise surprise) sausage curry that my dear brother lay out on the table.

"Uh... you realize that the team only HAS three people, right?" My ever-genius brother clarified, digging into his own cooking in a way that was almost wrong.

"I mean as a sensei! I mean, if I get stuck with Sakura or something, they had BETTER give me the best sensei in the world! But you two, if I'm with you, I don't care who my sensei is. See?"

Yes, I did see, and as far as I was concerned, as good as our teamwork was, Sasuke and Naruto were the absolute last teammates I'd want as a genin. As a squad of jounin, sure. They'd be (hopefully) mature, and focused. But now? No way. Kiba wasn't much better, but as a tracker he held infinite potential that I wanted to study. Shino and Hinata were my top two in teammates though. Quiet, reserved, powerful clan techniques to be analyzed, and on top of everything, they were intriguing.

Standing up and carrying my dishes to the sink (after boosting Sasuke's ego by telling him how wonderful the curry was), I went back to my room to gather my supplies. As an unspoken rule, we didn't have training today. It was random, but every now and then, the day after a light training day we'd do nothing. Sure, at the end of the day we'd still study our scrolls, but we didn't do any actual training. The reason was more for bodily safety than anything. With the gravity seals putting constant strain on them, even the light training days, where the seals were off, could be too much. So, every couple of light days, though no one kept track, I'd keep the seals off, and the next day we'd chill. And of course, I didn't want any seals activated when we met our jounin sensei. Ever since Itachi... well... since the day our parents died, I didn't like people knowing what I could do. So, until I trusted my sensei, I wouldn't give him - or her - a chance to find out.

"Will you just shut UP??" I demanded, turning to glare at Kiba. I take back everything I said about him being someone I wanted to study. "If you say one more thing about Naruto graduating, I will draw a kunai, tie you to the ceiling fan, and use you as a target board. Got that?"

The Inuzaka gulped and nodded, grimacing as he turned to glare childishly (big surprise) at the wall. I praised the log, the shinigami, and every god, kami, and diety out there when Iruka-sensei finally walked in.

"Hello, students. No, that's not right. As of now, you have all graduated and become ninja in your own right. After you leave this building with your sensei, you will no longer be academy recruits, but ninja-in-training. And-"

"Iruka-sensei, Iruka-sensei! How's your back?"

I literally slammed my head into the desk as Naruto jumped out and shouted behind me. Sasuke, for once next to me without any sort of fighting, didn't even try to stop my masochistic behavior as I continued to do it a few more times.

Iruka seemed to be desired a similar response to what I was giving, if the look on his face was worth anything. "Just fine, Naruto. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to announce the teams no-"

"Oh, okay. Shoulda' just said that."

I head-desked again. Naruto wouldn't have listened if Iruka bashed his skull in with a fifty-pound chunk of iron.

"Yes, anyway..." At this point, I was dozing softly, leaning on my brother's shoulder like a pillow and thinking. Mostly about my lizard, and partially about Naruto's really cool seal that I wanted to screw with.

"Team Seven, Sasuke Uchiha." Iruka said, causing me to sit up. "Sakura Haruno." Naruto groaned, and, surprise surprise, so did Sasuke. Sakura, of course, didn't hear. She was too busy fawning over her dumb luck. "Naruto Uzumaki." Sakura turned and glared, but I saw my brother smirk as he offered me his hand. I took it, already tapping.

What?

Four people.

Huh?

Of course, my darling darling brother's meaning became clear with Iruka's next words. "Kusha Uchiha."

"What?" I said. "I thought teams had three people!"

"Surely you're not arguing." The kind-hearted teacher asked with a hint of a smile.

"No, bu-"

"You weren't paying attention, were you." I could hear Iruka's dejection. "I said that due to Naruto's graduation, we had an uneven number of students, so, instead of making one wait, we decided to give a team an extra. Now  please let me continue."

Sasuke patted the top of my head like one does a dog. "See? Told you." He said snarkily, and it took all my strength not to totally slam him one.

"Pat my head again, and you die." I hissed.

"Good doggie." Sasuke countered, patting my head, and then, gods above, scratching it softly. Even worse; I liked it. I didn't show it, but it pissed me off to know I liked it. Promising many painful revenges, I went back to sleep as I waited on Iruka to shut up and get to the sensei part already.