Roads Untraveled

The Little Things Give You Away

Genin Team-Age 12

"As of today, you are all Genin, shinobi of this village. A village that you have sworn to protect until the very end," Iruka's voice boomed throughout the class, full of pride and barely contained excitement. "Although, you are only first level ninjas. You will all face many challenges on your journey towards success, but I believe in you. Now, all Genin will be grouped into a three-man squad, which will be lead by a Jounin sensei."

Iruka smirked with mirth seeing the shocked expressions of his precious students. Well, ex-students. They really do grow up so fast. Clearing his throat Iruka called his newly appointed Genin back to attention. "Now, It's time to meet your teammates. Team 1..."

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"Next, Team 7. We have Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura-" Iruka merely raised a brow at the pink haired kunoichi's triumphant squeak and her not so secretive shout of 'take that Ino-pig!' Sighing, he scratched the scar across the bridge of his nose and continued, "continuing on, the third member is Hatake Kakashi."

"Uh, Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka looked up from his paper and caught sight of Sakura's raised hand. "Yes, Sakura-chan?"

"I don't mean to be rude, but is there a mistake involving our team?" After a moment of silence, Iruka cocked his head, "what do you mean?"

"Well, It's just that there is no Hatake Kakashi in our class, so I thought that maybe he was put into the wrong group." Sakura was blushing almost the same shade as her hair.

Laughing slightly, Iruka proceeded to explain, "no Sakura-chan, there is no mistake. Kakashi is actually a student that passed last year, but he had to wait until this year's class graduated before he could be put on a team, understand?" Satisfied with the nod he received from the kunoichi, Iruka continued announcing the remaining squads.

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"I'm here for Team 10," a gruff voice called from the classroom door. Sakura studied the man from where she was, taking in his features. He had short black hair, a scruffy beard and light brown eyes. He was also tall, easily towering over everyone in the room. And was that a cigarette dangling from his mouth? Doesn't he know how bad those things are?

Sakura was snapped out of her thoughts as Shikamaru pushed himself up and walked towards the man, followed by Chouji and last and very much least, Ino. The pig stopped right beside Sakura and gave a small smirk. "Well, looks like my sensei's here first. Later, Forehead." And then she was rushing towards the door where her team was waiting for her.

"Stupid pig," Sakura muttered darkly. Glancing up, she noticed that only one team remained.

That didn't last long though. The door opened one more, this time a woman with long, dark hair and piercing red eyes stepped through. "Team 8?" Kiba gave a small howl as he hopped off the desk and rushed towards the entrance while Hinata and Shino stalked after him.

"My name is Kurenai, and I'll be your sensei. So let's head out to training ground three and introduce ourselves." Kurenai turned around and stepped out of the class. Sakura watched them leave, and as they were nearly out of sight, Kurenai paused and looked the other direction before frowning. The pink haired kunoichi heard her bite out "Hatake," before leaving with her team.

Sakura fidgeted nervously but kept her eyes trained on the door. After a moment, she heard a sigh and stared as a boy stepped inside. Sakura's eyebrows creased when she saw his face, or, at least what was visible. The lower portion was covered by a navy blue mask, leaving only his charcoal eyes open to the world.