The Legend of Konoha's Shooting Star

Sakura's Depression

Sakura let out a heavy sigh as she stood on a bridge with her teammates, waiting for Kakashi-sensei to arrive. A vein throbbed on her forehead. As always, he was late.

"Hey!! Hey!! Hey!! How can this be allowed!!?" she suddenly shouted abruptly. "Why does that person ask us to meet and then make us wait!!?"

'I'm pretty sure part of it is because he likes to mess with us...' April thought wryly, sweat-dropping.

"Yeah!! Yeah!! Sakura-chan is right!!!" Naruto joined in, also fed up with waiting.

"What about the feelings of a young girl who overslept and didn't have time to blow dry her hair!!!" she demanded hotly.

'Isn't that your own fault?' April thought, deadpanning.

"Yeah, yeah!!!" Naruto agreed. "I overslept too!!! So I didn't wash my face or brush my teeth!!!"

"..." Both girls stared at him.

"Dude..." April said, wrinkling her nose slightly as she frowned with disapproval. Personal hygiene was important, man.

"That's... nasty..." Sakura agreed, unimpressed and grossed out.

"Hehe..." Naruto laughed a bit sheepishly, realizing too late that maybe he should have just kept that to himself.

'Why does everything have to be so high-tension with them...' Sasuke wondered, annoyed by all the noise they were making.

"Morning, people!!" Kakashi called out from above.

"!!" Sakura and Naruto gasped in surprise as they all glance up to see that he was perched on top of one of the red arches over the end of the bridge. April and Sasuke had gotten used to him appearing out of nowhere enough not to have to freak out every time. At this point, it was sort of expected.

"What kept you this time, Sensei?" April asked.

"I got lost on the path of life," Kakashi replied with a smile. April smiled wryly and sweat-dropped. Well, yeah... after all, he was the type of teacher who consistently showed up later than his students... He had obviously taken a metaphorical wrong turn somewhere along the way.

"Yeah, right!!! Liar!!!" Sakura and Naruto shouted angrily. "Apologize."

"Well, anyway..." Kakashi continued nonchalantly as he came down to join them on their level. "This is sudden, but... I've nominated you guys for the Chūnin Selection Exam."

"!" April and Sasuke said, surprised.

"Huh?" Sakura said, thinking she must have misheard.

"..." For once, Naruto was speechless.

"What did you say!?!" Sakura demanded incredulously the moment it sunk in.

"You think that makes up for...!!" Naruto began to yell.

"Here are your applications," Kakashi cut him off calmly as he held out four very official documents, each of which had one of their names on them.

GLOMP!!

"Yes!!! Kakashi-sensei!!! I love you!!!" Naruto exclaimed as he threw himself at their teacher, super excited.

"Hey, stop! Let go of me..." Kakashi said, a little flustered by the unexpected and overly enthusiastic display of affection, as he used Naruto's momentum to swing him around and set him back down on the ground.

"..." Sakura and Sasuke said as they watched, sweat-dropping. April smiled. Kakashi-sensei had totally just made Naruto's day. He couldn't have had better timing. Although she noted he didn't really seem to appreciate the sudden invasion of his personal space...