Puppeteer

School is more dull than Pain's lectures

Eventually, Monday came to Konoha which meant that it was time for school, sadly. Sakura woke at sunrise, as per her normal routine, and quickly got dressed in one of her many long-sleeved tops and navy jogging bottoms before walking down, braiding her hair as she walked. When she got to the table, she began to boil some rice before putting it into a frying pan and tossing it around a bit. Then she poured in some whisked eggs, sealing the rice in a casing of egg before scooping it onto a plate and getting her pair of chopsticks out.

When Sakura was done eating breakfast, she washed her plate and chopsticks before leaving to head to the academy. It wasn't too hard to find, after all, how many large buildings labelled "SCHOOL" can there be? Especially when there were some big name clans lingering around it. Smiling, she skipped into the building, approaching the receptionist for her classroom assignment. When she received the room "2-1" she wandered up the stairs searching for the given room and feeling proud that she'd lasted this long without having any problems. But by the looks of it, she'd spoken too soon. Two girls burst in the classroom, pushing and shoving their way towards a boy with black hair. However, Sakura turned away, walking towards a spare seat.

Whilst she waited for their teacher to arrive, Sakura calmly began to carve the joints of the wolf's tail. It was the best bit to do as it was slightly smaller than the rest of it meaning it was less noticeable. She was so engrossed in her own little world, she almost didn't notice the boy approach her from behind. Turning to look at him, she noticed he had two red clan markings on his cheeks and a dog balanced on his head. Inuzuka. She thought to herself as she studied him, the boy smiled at her, "My name's Kiba Inuzuka, your new here aren't you." Sakura smiled at the boy, he seemed like a good ally, "Hello, my name is Sakura Haruno, it's nice to meet you." the boy gave her a toothy grin before sitting on the bench next to her. The next person to approach the pair was a blonde haired boy with whisker marks. The image of the nine-tails instantly flashing up in her head, "Heya there, I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I'm gonna be Hokage, believe it!" Sakura gave him a smile, "Sakura Haruno. Good to meet you." the blonde boy's eyes widened in shock before he bounced to the seat on Sakura's left in pure joy.

About half an hour later, the door opened to reveal a young looking brunette. He couldn't have been much older than 18 but his chunnin vest spoke of his abilities. Putting her puppet-making equipment away, Sakura calmly turned to look at the large blackboard at the front of the classroom.

The lesson they were having was one that Sakura had covered a couple of years ago and was all about chakra, what it was and what you could do with it. Of course, some of the things he covered were things Sakura had never learnt. For example, since she'd gone straight into very specialised areas, she'd never really considered medical chakra natures, or cloning yourself. In fact, quite a few of the jutsus covered in that hour were ones that even Sakura hadn't heard of. That was probably the only reason she remained fully conscience rather than listening to her exhausted eyes and falling asleep.

When the bell rang for break, Sakura pushed her seat in before filing out the sliding door with the rest of her class. She spent the majority of the half-hour break sitting in the shade etching small details into the different pieces of wood she had with her. At some point in that time, she'd been approached by Kiba and Naruto who were curious as to what she was doing, but she only gave them a brief, "Making a puppet." before continuing on, never looking away. The boys had watched her for a little bit before getting bored and running off to bug somebody else. There were also moments where girls had come up to ask her if she wanted to make flower chains with them, but she ignored them as well. It wasn't that she was socially awkward or anything, she was just a loner at heart. But when raised by criminals who were living proof to never trust anyone, that was to be expected.

The next lesson they'd had was a lot more dull that the one in the morning. It was nothing more than a history lesson on Konoha. Again, Sakura knew nothing about it, but history had never been one of her favourite topics and so she found herself distracting herself once more. She picked up the piece of paper in front of it, but instead of taking notes on the lesson, she found herself figuring out if she could use any of those jutsus she learnt about earlier in any of her puppets.

The rest of the day was slow and dull, a couple of more civilian style lessons before they were dismissed for the day and allowed to go home. Sakura had been hoping to return home swiftly and with as few problems as possible, but clearly she had bad karma. Naruto and Kiba had left only moments before her and had ambushed her on the way out. With no choice but to join the boys on an 'adventure' (it was either that or be nagged by them for an eternity) she soon found herself seated in Yakiniku Q, a 'cook-your-own' style barbeque restaurant. The food there was particularly good and Sakura made a mental note to remember to come again one day. Reaching into her pocket, Sakura subtly withdrew her purse of money. That way, she would be able to, hopefully, get home sooner. As Naruto and Kiba finished up their fair share of meat, Sakura flagged down a waitress. "Can we have the bill please? Split three ways if you can please." the woman smiled at the children before nodding.

When the woman returned with the bill, she came with three pieces of paper, "Thank you for eating at Yakiniku Q. Come again soon." Sakura hummed in agreement as she withdrew the correct amount of money. "I've got to get home soon guys otherwise my guardian will get worried. I'll see you tomorrow." Sakura gave them a smile before racing out of the restaurant and heading back home.