Memoirs of Sakura

Chapter 11: Genin

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"A smile is the best makeup any girl can wear."

-Marilyn Monroe

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Sakura was currently very slightly, alright very much freaking out. Team assignments were happening today and she had no idea who she would be stuck with for the rest of her genin career. The final exam was questionably easy, to the point where only one or two failed at most. At first, she thought Naruto had failed, but she saw him later preening like a peacock with the tell-tale slab of metal upon his forehead. She congratulated him, naturally, but for some reason, the poor kid was turning red. In any case, she was worried as to who exactly she was going to have on her team. It might be that kid who still  picks his nose with his finger or even the guy who's disturbingly fond of cutting hair with kunai.

Oh god, it could even be Sasuke. Sasuke, the King of all things anti-social. She pities the poor sucker who gets that piece of work on their team.

[Outer! You jinxed us!]

{The chances of actually getting him on your team are very high you know. The top kunoichi and the rookie of the year have almost always been on the same team.}

'So, if it wasn't for those damn shuriken, and kunoichi test scores my chances of him being on my team would be a lot less?!'

Sakura was in fact in the running for Rookie of the Year alongside Sasuke and Shino. However, her shuriken ended up busted when she was doing some particularly dangerous training. Her small orphan allowance was decidedly unhelpful in replacing it, and she ended up using a standard replacement provided by the Academy that was too big for her. The test ended up failing miserably. As for the kunoichi test... she was just flat out bad at it. Ino tried her best to help but there was something unfeminine about her that simply never went away.  

Needless to say, Sasuke ended up taking the title, and continually sent the most infuriating, self-satisfied, smug smirks towards her direction. She wanted to pummel his sorry little face in, but she was scared because of the deceptively weak creatures known as fangirls. They were horrifying, and they always got this weird surge of strength that gave them the ability to beat the stuffing out of her.

{Well I already know who it's gonna be. But that's classified~!}

[Seriously?! Ughh, I wanted to know!]

Konoha and all her inhabitants took classification seriously. Very  seriously. Anyone who tried to stick their nose where it didn't belong got serious punishments.

{Anyway, don't you think you should start getting to the academy?}

'Haaa, yeah...'

At this point, it was pretty clear who one of her teammates was.

'Sasuke... he's somewhat bearable. But those fangirls of his are a completely different story!'

Without another word she immediately started on the way to the academy. There was a long day ahead, one that would probably include escaping a mob of fangirls. If she got there first she could arrange fangirl attractors (aka pictures of Sasuke, don't ask why she has them) to distract their attention.

"Sakura-chan!!!"

"Oh, good morning Naruto."

One day in the past, Sakura smelled a very... pungent odor coming from her next-door neighbor and naturally investigated it. Sakura was so appalled at the condition of the room that she immediately started a mass clean up. Somewhere along the line, the cleaning became a regular thing, and she naturally became acquainted with its owner, Naruto.

AN: This guy got a free housekeeper... :( 

"I hope I'm on your team, Sakura-chan~!"

"You probably will be."

'More like definitely' 

Sakura could still remember those quests that she received from Navi. Naruto was most definitely on her team, and a rather important part of it, judging from all the negative karma she could get from failing.

"R-Really, Sakura-chan?"

"Yeah! I have a pretty good intuition if I do say so myself. Besides, having you on my team would be nice."

All Naruto could do was smile to the point where it hurt to look at him. 

"Come on, let's go! We shouldn't be late."

Letting out a small, teasing smile, Sakura reached out and tapped Naruto on the shoulder. Then started to run. Soon all that could be heard was the laughter and joy of children with burdens too big for their fragile frames.

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"Team 6 will be Uehara, Keisuke, and Saijou."

Iruka-sensei stopped shortly and looked up upon the college styled classroom. Inside he was tearing up a little. He had seen those little pint-sized squirts grow up into the ninjas they were today, after all. It was inevitable. Just like his worry for Naruto. He was hesitating somewhat, what if he wasn't ready? No, he couldn't do it. Taking the headband away might be the thing that breaks the small ninja. Besides, Naruto had earned that headband. Doing away with his hesitation, he cleared his throat and announced...

"Team 7 includes Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and... Naruto Uzumaki!"

The silence was erased by a clamor of cheers, almost all from the Uzumaki himself. He was happy to the point where he didn't even care if 'Sasuke-teme' was on the team as well. Where there were cheers, there were also pouts, and glares coming from almost all of the female population. However, that didn't stop Sakura from letting out a small smile. She was feeling the happiest she had felt in a while. She was finally a genin! 

2 hours later:

"He's late!"

The newly titled team 7 had been waiting for a long time for their sensei to show up. Everyone else had already left the classroom, including Iruka-sensei. Everyone could feel their patience cracking slowly but surely. Naruto... had the most expressive way of displaying it.

"Hehe, this is payback for being late! Believe it!"

In between the crack of the door, a eraser filled with chalk laid await for its not-so-unknowing victim.

"Naruto, as much as I want that to fall on our teacher's head, I doubt it's the best first impression."

Before Sakura could speak any further, the eraser fell down with a deafening plop atop a certain someone's head.

"Hahhahahahahahaha!"

"My first impression of all of you... is that you guys are a bunch of idiots."