Naruto: The Jinchuuriki Princess

Ch8: Introduction of Team 7!

"Starting today, all of you are Shinobi. But even as Genin, the hard journey that lies ahead has only started." Iruka started, looking at all of his students who were either attentively listening or pretending to be subtle. "You will also receive missions to help the Village. So today, I will call out each team with three members, and each team will have one Jounin sensei." he paused, contemplating about something for a brief moment before adding, "And because of our odd numbers, one team will have four members instead of three."

Akimi blinked, 'Saa... I wonder what team Hiru-ojii assigned me to...' she wondered indeed. Truthfully, any team was fine with her as long as she goes with the flow.

"You must follow your sensei's instructions in order for you successfully complete your missions." The brunette finished, letting the words sink into his students' heads before looking down at the clipboard with each team's members.

Sasuke frowned, his hands laced together in front of his mouth. 'Three-man teams? That only means more people blocking my way.' He absentmindedly glanced at the silverette beside the pink-haired Haruno, who was in-between him and Akimi with Naruto in the latter's right. 'But...maybe I won't mind it as much...' he then scoffed when he realized where his thoughts trailed off to. 'As if, what am I even thinking about?'

Sakura had a determined look in her face. 'Alright, I just need to be in the same team as Sasuke-kun and...' she paused, peering at the silver-haired girl beside her, a small pink blush creeping on her cheeks. 'And maybe Akimi-chan as well...'

At first, Sakura was pretty, and very, skeptical towards the silver-haired girl. She always noticed how Sasuke kept glancing at her from time-to-time, two days ago and yesterday, even now, when he thought no one was looking. She felt jealous towards the girl who didn't even look at her Sasuke, but when she met up with Ino earlier before they raced to the academy, her opinion had...changed slightly.

Naruto blinked, glancing at the silverette beside him. Feeling the stare, Akimi turned her head slightly to look at him and sent a closed eye-smile, before looking at the front again. Naruto's expression softened and looked down on his lap. 'I...really hope I get to be with Aki-chan...' he shook his head mentally, ignoring how the thought of being separated from the purple-eyed girl felt gut-twisting. 'Maybe I would like to be with Sakura-chan as well... And anyone besides Sasuke!'

"Oh, yeah, we tried to balance each team's strength." Iruka added, almost like an afterthought; and successfully breaking all the students' thoughts about which teammate they would want to be with.

"WHAT?!"

•

"Okay... Next is Team 7." At this, Akimi perked up, wondering if the assigned members were still the same. Iruka continued, "Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto..."

"YEAH!" Naruto threw his arms in the air, happy that he gets to be with Sakura. Though, he woudn't admit to anyone that he was disappointed Akimi's name wasn't mentioned, and would never tell anybody that he was a little scared of the pinkette's upcoming hits—heck, he could practically feel it! Sakura herself hung her head in defeat, suddenly sulking at the thought of being in the same team as the blonde-idiot and probably not Sasuke-kun and Akimi-chan.

"...Uchiha Sasuke..."

"HELL YEAH!" Sakura threw her arms in the air, and, this time, the roles were switched. Naruto instantly sulked, feeling depressed that teme was going to be in his team. Now his chance of hanging out with Sakura was close to non-existent. Sakura was very pleased that the handsome Uchiha was with her. Ha! Beat that, Ino-pig!

"...and Akimi-chan."

"CHA!" Sakura punched the air, turning to her rival and pulled her eye down, her tongue stuck out maturely at the Yamanaka heiress. Ino fumed, finding unfair that forehead gets Sasuke-kun and Akimi-chan!