Puppeteer

Meet and Greet

The meal at Ichiraku's ramen turned out to be a whole lot more awkward then Sakura bargained for. 

The silent glares between Kakashi and Jiraiya, both of whom feeling the need to dominate their other student's teacher. Whilst the two boys found themselves in the middle of the silent debate as they tried to calm down their teachers.

So Sakura found herself finding the easier route through the meal, it was quite simple really. Eat as much as possible, as quickly as possible then leave. The further away from this fight, the better. But she would have to have at least one bowl, else Naruto would complain, and she would have to fill her stomach after having one, that was an unspoken law.

Sitting at the end of the bench -at least three stools between her and the others so as to make sure others would not assume them together- she slurped noodles like they were going out of fashion.

Reaching into her purse, she pulled out the appropriate amount of money to pay for her meal (and only hers, Naruto wouldn't fool her again!) she rose to leave. "SAKURA!" Naruto suddenly shouted, taking notice of his fleeing pink-haired female teammate.

Wincing as she felt eyes shift to her departing form, she hesitantly looked behind her, flinching at the fact everyone in the restaurant was now staring at her. "Yes Naruto?" she asked, trying to get away as soon as possible without appearing rude. Worst comes to worst, she'd fake an illness or something.

"Join us, we're discussing teachers, but you had a different one before Kakashi... didn't you. The puppet one!" Naruto exclaimed loudly, oblivious to the dirty glare he was now receiving from Sakura as she, in turn, ignored Kakashi's.

"I did, that would be correct, but I need to go now." half a dozen excuses instantly racing through Sakura's mind as she planned her escape, "Kiba got me at a bad time, I need to make sure that everything is okay."

Shooting to attention at his name, Kiba's eyes moved to stare at Sakura, Akamaru wobbling on his head before the boy reached up to settle him, "Huh? I thought you wanted to come!" the boy shouted loudly causing Sakura to curse under her breath. Couldn't the boy take a hint?

While an over-exaggerated sigh, Sakura turned around completely, scuffing her feet as she approached her teammates once more. Surrender the only plan in mind as she sat heavily in her seat with a huff. Maybe if she took part, they'd lose interest in her.

"So... Sakura, tell us about this teacher of yours..." Kakashi said, his singular eye squinting at her, his tone almost threatening as he spoke.

With an uneasy chuckle, Sakura replied, "Oh, yeah, when I was younger, my dad wanted me to improve my chakra control, so he took me to a colleague who taught me chakra strings. After that, the man took me on as an apprentice of sorts." trailing off at the end, Sakura turned to look at her teacher who was watching her carefully, making sure she didn't lie or something.

Taking immediate action at the subtle irritation her current teacher was emmiting, she acted reflexively, "Of course, you're the better teacher..."

Whilst the statement was a lie (of course, only she knew that), it worked wonders. Kakashi instantly relaxing as he soaked in the compliments. 

Problem diffused, Sakura turned to look at Jiraiya. Making direct eye contact with the spy, she cracked a smile, "So... You must be 'Pervy-sage'?" she asked, fully aware of his real status of being a prominent name in the bingo book, she used her assumed ignorance to her own benefit.

Naruto, who was busy stuffing his face with ramen, choked at her unexpected comment. Kiba, without missing a beat, smacked Naruto in the back, hard, causing the boy to send his noodles flying. Scowling at the dog-boy, Naruto leapt, arms flailing wildly as he took on the noodle-waster.

Sakura turned a disapproving eye to the boys, fingers arching gracefully as she attached chakra strings, flinging them to opposite sides of the room before leaving them suspended in the air.

"So, I'm going to assume that Pervy-sage isn't your actual name, that isn't to say you don't deserve it. Stupid as he may be, Naruto generally doesn't give offensive nicknames to those who don't deserve me. So, I'm going to assume that Naruto caught you doing something you probably shouldn't be doing. Like, I don't know, perving on bathing women?"

Jiraiya scoffed before unconvincingly muttering, "Psh, no." raising an eyebrow, Sakura turned to look at Kakashi, who's orange book was poking out of his pocket. "Hey, are you, by any chance, the author to Icha Icha?"

Already knowing the answer, but trying to form some sort of alliance between the two silver-haired men, she looked expectantly at the man. "Why yes I am." the man smirked proudly, the lack of guilt obvious as he preened in the sudden attention as Kakashi began trying to get him to sign his copy of the novel.

With her companions distracted, Sakura turned on her heel and left Ichiraku's, strings dropping as she left the two male teammates behind to deal with their teachers. Dilemma: averted.