Chapter Text
/dɪsˈmɪsɪv/
dismissive (of somebody/something)
showing that you do not believe a person or thing to be important or worth considering synonym disdainful. a dismissive gesture/tone.
“She was always dismissive of other women in the office. Other critics were equally dismissive.”
Naruto was already far out of sight when you made your way up the stairs, listening to Sakura's attempts at starting and upholding conversation with a rather dismissive Sasuke. Sakura was nice enough, you didn't understand why he'd rather ignore her than converse with her.
It wasn't long before you reached the top of the stairs, the door already standing open while Naruto was standing in front of Kakashi, almost desperately acting like he wasn’t out of breath despite the sweat on his face and the way he engulfed so much air it seemed like his chest was about to burst.
However, Kakashi did not pay any type of attention towards him. Instead, he turned towards you and the other two, making a jerky movement with his chin as if saying ‘come here’.
You obeyed without question, trailing after Sasuke and Sakura when they sat down in front of him, Naruto joining the three of you soon enough when Kakashi spoke up.
“You’re an unusual group, aren’t you? The orphan, the Uchiha-kid even though you also count as orphan, the girl with too much chakra for her own good and..the flower girl.”
Sakura crossed her arms, letting out an offended ‘hmpf!’ while looking off the side, Naruto immediately starting to argue that he was ‘more than just an orphan’ and that he ‘would be hokage one day’.
Sasuke kept quiet, leaning back on his hands and looking up at the blue sky while your own gaze traveled through the rounds. Kakashi didn’t bother arguing with Naruto, only waving his hands in what appeared to be a peaceful motion while Naruto kept arguing. Sakura was still looking off to the side offended and Sasuke hadn’t changed position since the last time you looked at him.
You didn’t even notice when Naruto stopped arguing, instead opting to change position similar to Sakura’s while Kakashi started his possible ‘Welcome-I’m-your-sensei-talk’.
“We are going to be stuck with each other for the next few years so we should get to know each other. I want you to say your name, your age, what you like and dislike and what you aim to achieve in the future.”
It was quiet for a second, the 4 of you looking at each other as if silently urging the other to start before Naruto began talking, over eagerly explaining everything there is to know about him.
Sakura went next, this time in a more measured tone while sneaking glances at Sasuke who had finally moved from his position to regard them with the least amount of attention one could give.
He looked over at you when Sakura was done as if silently urging you to continue before doing himself with a sigh, acting as if this little team-bonding activity would cost him his liver and a part of his lung.
Then, it was your turn.
You looked around the round, gaze locking onto each and every one of them before muttering your name half-heartedly, attempting to sound confident but miserably failing.
“uh..I’m 12 years old.”
Kakashi made a circular motion with his hand as if urging you to continue, but before you could, Naruto let out an over exaggerated groan, leaning back on his hands.
”Come on!! We don’t have all day!”
You gulped, trying in vain to hide the embarrassed blush coming up on your face before speaking up again, this time a bit louder.
“I like ..cats? and i dislike uh..spinach. I want to become a ninja one day “
With this not-so-great introduction behind you, the spotlight was finally lifted from your shoulders when Naruto moved onto Kakashi, urging him, or rather forcing him, to answer his questions himself.
“I am Kakashi Hatake, I am 22 years old. What I like is a lot of stuff but i also dislike a lot of stuff. I aim to be retired soon and that’s all you need to know.”
You smiled slightly before catching yourself, biting the inside of your lip and reminding yourself of the not so great talk you two had in the ramen store. Naruto was busy cutting Kakashi a new one when Sasuke leaned towards you. His words didn’t register until you realised he was talking to you, apparently feeling the need to brief you on your new sensei.
“..likes those pervy books and hates being punctual it seems. The retirement part could be true though.”
The last part caught you a bit off-guard, making you bite back a grin while sending Sasuke a quick look, the Uchiha boy already sitting up straight again as if he hadn’t just basically gossiped with you.
Kakashi’s eyes zeroed in on you, his one visible eye narrowing and your half-smile immediately dropped.
”Something funny?”
”..no?”
It sounded more like a question than an answer and Kakashi ate that up, using it as an opportunity to divide the attention onto you.
”No as in ‘no’ or no as in ‘i don’t know you tell me’?”
Your left eye twitched, hands turning to fists before you toook a deep breath, trying your best to calm down.
”No as in no.“
He watched you for another second, just long enough to make you uncomfortable before moving onto the rest of the group again, pushing himself up onto his feet. Naruto immediately followed suit, practically beaming at the mention of their very first assignment.
Sasuke pushed himself up with a sigh and Sakura was already standing. You swiftly followed suit, wiping the dirt off your knees while Kakashi started talking.
“We’re going to start with a test.”
He pulled out three bells with each having a red string, letting them dangle from his hand.
“I will keep these bells on me, you need to take them from me. You can use whatever you need to. Whoever gets a bell, gets to become a ninja.”
You looked through the round, taking in the different expressions. Naruto seemed overexcited, already beaming about how easy this was going to be while Sakura seemed thoughtful. Sasuke didn’t seem to be bothered, sighing as if this whole meet-up was taking all of his energy.
You didn’t even notice the catch before Sakura spoke up, ever the thoughtful one.
“But there are only 3 bells, Sensei. We’re 4 people.”
This made you peek up too and Naruto quietened down, looking between Kakashi and Sakura as if only now noticing the catch. Even Sasuke seemed to be interested in this little assignment
“Ah, smart thinking Sakura. 4 people and only 3 bells.”
He seemed disgustingly pleased with himself. Despite not seeing his mouth you could practically smell his dirty grin.
”The person who doesn’t get a bell, won’t become a ninja.”
Gasps rang out around you and Naruto was the first to complain, immediately getting all worked-up while Sakura joined in. Sasuke seemed to be taking this a bit more rationally, not seeming to think much of it. Looks like someone was confident.
Kakashi didn’t bother arguing, only letting Naruto’s and Sakura’s complaints washing over him before simply turning around, making his way to the edge of the rooftop. He turned his head back to look at your team, an unbothered look in his eyes.
”Come to the training grounds tomorrow at 12. Oh and if i were you, I wouldn’t eat breakfast.”
And without as much as a look back, he was gone. Jumping from the rooftop as if it was nothing. You and the others ran to the edge, looking over it to see if you could still find him but he was already gone.
Asshole.
You arrived bright and early on the training ground the next morning. A quick look to the nearby clock read that you were still early at a whopping 11:53.
Being early has always been your thing. Was it to school or the one birthday you had been invited to. Said birthday had actually just been a very mean prank from the other children in your class that still made you go embarrassingly red whenever you thought about the way you arrived 15 minutes early, just to wait for 45 minutes before realising it had all been a joke.
Kids are cruel.
Sakura was the first one to arrive only two minutes after you, a small smile on her face when she greeted you. She had never been rude or mean to you, you just never talked before. That’s how it had been for most of your life. Others were scared to start conversation due to the fear of their social ranking sinking due to being caught with the ‘freak’ and you had just been too shy.
The two of you fell into a surprisingly well conversation which was actually great for your not so great social skills.
Sasuke arrived next, just short of being late but still on time. He didn’t greet either of you, only giving the two of you a scrutinised glare as if already seeing you as the enemy. Sakura of course immediately tried to strike up a conversation with him but apparently, he was even more unapproachable than yesterday.
Naruto arrived just after 12, apparently seeming surprised that Kakashi wasn’t here yet. He looked around confused before turning to the 3 of you, brows furrowed.
“Where’s sensei?”
You just shrugged while the other two didn’t bother answering. Sasuke was apparently too busy actively ignoring Sakura while said girl was doing her best to change that.
The time passed slowly while you all waited. At some point, Sakura had given up on striking up a conversation, rather opting to sit in the grass next to the stone you had started occupying 20 minutes into waiting. Naruto was seemingly growing more irritated by the minute, complaining every 2 minutes about how he had better stuff to do than wait for Kakashi all day. Sasuke was the only one who had the patience to shut him up every time he started muttering, glaring at Naruto in a way that would make you shut up in the blink of an eye.
However, even Sasuke’s never-ending patience seemed to have an ending. When the waiting hit the 30 minute mark, Naruto had just opened his mouth to complain again when Sasuke hit him in the back of his head, glaring.
”Would you shut it?! If you don’t wanna be here just go!”
The blonde rubbed the back of his head, hissing before turning back to Sasuke with a determined glint in his eye which could also be easily mistaken as stupidness.
“Fine! I’ll go!”
He turned around, but before he could get far, he crashed right into the lower chest of Kakashi.
“Go where?”
The Jonin looked down at Naruto with raised brows, hands on his hips while said boy took a few steps back, nearly tripping over his own feet.
You didn’t bother standing up from your very comfortable position on the very uncomfortable rock, but Sakura bothered. She immediately pushed herself up, going to scold the grown Jonin as if she was his mother and not his student.
“Kakashi Sensei! We’ve been waiting here for hours!”
Said hours were actually around 30 minutes but you weren’t going to argue with her when she was in such an aggravated state.
The jonin didn’t seem to care much about her concerns, waving his hands at her in a calming gesture.
”I have a very good excuse.”
This time it was Naruto who jumped in, crossing his arms and glaring at the older man.
”Which is?!”
Kakashi actually had the guts to seem sheepish for once, scratching the back of his head with his visible eye closed.
”I had to help a turtle safely cross the street. What type of ninja would I be if i’d just leave this poor thing to die?”
Naruto and Sakura immediately ganged up to scold him, angrily yelling at him. You didn’t even notice when Sasuke stepped closer, only peeking up when he whispered to you once again.
“Couldn’t come up with a better excuse, eh?”
A small smile broke out on your face, making you bite your cheeks in an attempt to stop it.
”Points for creativity?”
He actually smiled a bit and you grinned to yourself, proud that you had managed to make the usually so stoic Uchiha laugh.
“Do negative ones count?”
You bit back a grin when Kakashi’s eyes finally landed on the two of you again, apparently really bothered by the two of you bonding.
”Are you two done talking now?”
Sasuke was way too mature for you because before you could answer with some childish nonsense, he spoke up himself.
”We are now, sensei.”
He watched the two of you a minute longer, apparently finally done with being scolded by Naruto and a Sakura before finally moving onto the lot of you in general.
“The rules are clear, right? Catch the bell, become a ninja.”
The four of you nodded and Sasuke distanced himself from you again, apparently in solo mode once again when kakashi held up the bells before binding them onto his pant buckle.
“Good luck.”
