𝙇𝘼𝙑𝙀𝙉𝘿𝙀𝙍. | 𝗡𝗔𝗥𝗨𝗧𝗢

II

RIKI sat in the empty classroom, head on desk. It was afternoon, and after Iruka had announced their teams, he dismissed the graduates for lunch. Riki had stayed with her three friends, Choji, Shikamaru and Ino, and they had spent the entirety of their lunch break arguing, fooling around and eating snacks. Most of them had scarved down snacks, with the usual exception of Ino.

Now, back to the present.

Riki's new teacher was meant to have arrived right after lunch break, but they hadn't, and now her team was the only one left after all the other teachers had picked up their genin teams. It was an hour and a half after her lunch break had ended, and all her team was stuck in the classroom.

Instead sitting at the back of the class like she had done for the orientation earlier in the day, Riki was now sat at the front of the classroom on the table nearest to the door. Sasuke had sat himself on the table beside her. The only noise that could be heard was the sliding of the classroom door, courtesy of Naruto.

"He's late." Naruto peered his head out of the door, and looked into the empty academy halls. Sakura leaned on the table Riki was sat at, looking at Naruto.

"Naruto, stay still!"

"Why's it that only our squad's teacher is late?" Naruto removed himself from looking out of the classroom, speaking to no one in particular. Even though his words were conveyed to the other two in the classroom, his eyes were still trained on Sakura. "The other squads have gone off somewhere with their new teachers, and Iruka sensei's also left!"

"Don't look at me," Sakura said, looking down and away from Naruto.

After a few moments, Sakura glanced at Naruto, taken aback. "What're you doing, Naruto?!"

Riki heard Sakura's shouts and lifted her head up off the desk. She looked at Sakura, then at Naruto, who were both infront of the door that was right by her. Naruto had gotten a stool, brought it to the door, and was placing a chalkboard eraser between the slightly open door. Riki snickered and looked at it in amusement.

Maybe this team wouldn't be so bad, she thought. If Naruto just kept on being the comic relief he was, then maybe her future days on the seemingly horrible team would get better than she thought they would be.

Riki put her left cheek in her hand and her arm kept it upright, and she tiltled her head to where the door was, awaiting the result of the prank. Sakura walked up to Naruto with her hands on her hips.

"Hey! Naruto, don't!"

"It'll be his fault because he's late!"

"You shouldn't be doing things like that, it's childish!" Even if Sakura was reprimanding Naruto, Riki could see the excitement that her eyes held.

Sasuke spoke up from beside Riki. "A jonin wouldn't get caught in such a weak booby trap."

Riki glared at Sasuke from the left corners of her eyes.

Party pooper.

"That's right! Naruto, you should stop." Sakura still had the same gleam in her eyes from before. Riki knew that Sakura only agreed with Sasuke because she had a crush in him.

Just as Sakura finished off her sentence, a hand reached in through the crack of the door. It brought the attention if the four teens who sat anticipatingly. A tall man stepped in the door, and as he did so, the eraser landed on his grey hair.

Naruto laughed boisterously. "I got him, I got him!" Riki didn't find herself as amused as she had expectedly herself to be, and after deeming the prank underwhelming, she directed her attention away from the door. Even Sakura looked slightly let down.