Remaining silent for what felt like an eternity, Naruto meditated on the girl's words for the next minute or so. It was a lot to take in, especially since this was the most words he could remember Sakura ever speaking to him, even after all the times he'd tried to approach her. It was a surprising change of pace to actually have the girl come to him instead, so it took a while for everything she had to say to sink in.
After a certain amount of time of contemplation had passed, Naruto then allowed a cheerful smile to creep across his face and sat cross-legged on the desk, facing the kunoichi. The posture he took and body-language conveyed a sense of growing enthusiasm, "I don't really know what you're apologizing for Sakura-chan, but if it'll make you feel any better, is it okay if I said 'thank you'?"
Sakura's head shot up to look at him in surprise. "Y-You're not upset? B-But I've… I've been so rude to you…"
Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "Why would I be upset? We're Genin now and on the same team together. There's no need to get angry over stuff like that, it's all in the past now. As long as we can work together from now on and be friends, I'm okay with it." He then leaned towards her with a hopeful gaze suddenly making a play on his expression, "We… can be friends, right… Sakura-chan?"
Overwhelmed, Sakura flashed the boy a warm smile and nodded enthusiastically, eyes shimmering happily, "Of course we can, Naruto! Th-Thank you…"
Chuckling, Naruto then fell silent and gave the girl a slightly harder stare than before. The smirk he wore next had the kunoichi lean away in surprise, "Tayuya-chan told you about us, didn't she?"
Sakura appeared stunned, "H-How do you know?"
The boy tapped the side of his head sagely, "I've got pretty good hearing Sakura-chan. A tree standing between two people isn't going to keep a guy like me from eavesdropping. Though I may not look the part, I can be pretty sharp when I want to be."
Flabbergasted at his response, Sakura then looked away and rubbed her arm uneasily. "So… you heard everything? Everything she and I said to each other?"
"Yeah. Pretty much," Naruto chuckled and folded his arms. "But it's okay. I'm not mad at you. Like I said, it's pointless to be mad about something like that. All I want now is for this whole team thing with you and Sasuke to work out, so as long as I have you guys to support me, then I don't want there to be any hard feelings between us." He grinned happily at the girl, "As long as we can work together and look out for each other. We're more than just teammates, Sakura-chan. We're shinobi of Konohagakure, classmates… friends. That's what really matters."
Sakura, eyes shining with unshed tears, smiled gratefully towards the boy and wiped her eyes clear. She nodded toward him in understanding, "Thank you… Naruto."
"No problem, Sakura-chan," the jinchuriki grinned.
While the two spent time up in their row shaking hands and starting anew, unbeknownst to them, Sasuke was looking back at the pair rather curiously, yet managed to shade his inquisition behind his usual stoic veil of equanimity. After hearing everything that was said between them, he too allowed a smirk to appear across his face and turned away, pleased that at least one wall in their small group had been torn away to make way for something better.
By the time the first hour and a half went by, the entirety of Team 7 had started to get really agitated waiting around for their teacher. This was made absolutely clear to the world by the pull into the second hour, where both Sasuke and Sakura began showing the boredom on their faces, with the former continuing to sit with pins and needles in his ass. Naruto had chosen to use this time wisely trying to make some modifications to his gauntlet arm, using a lock and pick to adjust the settings on his paintball launcher.
A sudden loud hiss followed by the sound of air cracking sharply drew Sasuke and Sakura's attention over to the blonde on the desk next to them, where they saw his face and clothing splattered with multi-colored paint.
The blonde, shocked at the unexpected discharge of his weapon, blinked away the smear that managed to get into his eyes before staring ahead of him in utter bewilderment. "Ow."
Sakura snorted, a full two seconds before hunching over and desperately trying to hold back laughter (failing miserably), whereas Sasuke turned away to hide a snicker. Naruto saw the raven haired boy's cheeks puff even when his face was averted and pointed at him accusingly, but wasn't able to pull off his usual death glare on account of him now looking like he got violated by a clown.
"I saw that!" The moment he shouted that, Sakura started laughing hysterically enough that she had to hold in her guts to keep herself from falling over and Sasuke's body begun shaking from silent fits of his own. The chorus caused Naruto to blush brightly in embarrassment, though you couldn't really see under the multi-colored pallet that was now his current visage.
It was while everyone was getting their full minute's worth of hollers that the main door to the classroom decided to open up and a man with gravity defying silver hair, wearing the regular Jonin garb, a facemask and his forehead protector pulled over one eye, poked his head into view. The appearance of the Jonin had all three kids stop and stare, while the instructor saluted with his right hand and an eye smile. "Sorry I'm late, but I had to help an old lady carry all her shopping to her house on the other side of the village, so I got a little side-tracked." He looked around at the surprised and expectant looks on the trio of Genin in the room, and upon taking stock of the group, nodded pleasantly, "You all look like you're having fun."
Naruto stared at the man with a blank expression while Sakura smiled and Sasuke grunted.
The Jonin then turned his only eye to the boy in orange… and several other colors, giving him an inquisitive look-over, "What happened to you?"
Naruto, hoping to get some ground back on this first meeting and not look like an idiot, glanced around once before staring back at the newcomer to give him the straightest answer he could think of, "I was attacked."
"By what?"
Crap, he hadn't thought that far ahead…
OOO
The newly formed Team 7 was shortly afterwards led up to the roof of the academy by their Jonin commander, who remained completely silent throughout the walk until arriving at their destination; a balcony with a line of trees and a great view of the village in front of them. He quickly instructed the bunch to take a seat over by a set of stairs while he leaned against the railing in front of it with his arms folded. He watched Sasuke take a spot further back with his fingers laced together, Naruto plop down in a carefree manner and wipe his face off with a damp cloth, and Sakura sit with her knees pulled up to her chest.
"So," the man in the mask began with a nod, "Why don't we start off with some introductions. Tell me about yourselves."
"Huh?" Sakura looked up at the man in surprise, "W-What would you like us to say?"
Kakashi held out his hands and shrugged, "Things you like, things you hate, dreams for the future… stuff like that."
Naruto tilted his head, "Well… why don't you tell us a bit about yourself first so we can see how it actually works?"
"Yeah, you look kind of suspicious," Sakura said with a frown, giving the Jonin an uncomfortable scowl. It had to be the mask. You just couldn't fully trust a guy who kept his face covered. It always sent out mixed signals.
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