Chapter Text
It was around 6am when an ANBU appeared on her window with a message from her new Hokage and teacher summoning her to the Hogake's office. Confused since it was her first day off after a month of hard training. She quickly got out of bed and ready for the day, she knew her Shishou was not a patient woman after a month under her tutelage. So after eating her breakfast she left her new apartment.
It was standard Gennin housing, not much, definitely not fancy, but after the loss of her parents during Orochimaru's invasion it didn't feel right to live in her old house. She arrives in the Hokage's office and notices two new people there, outside of Shizune and the Hokage herself.
One was a odd looking boy, his hair was short and in a shade between light purple and dark blue, his skin was a light tan, not enough to stand out but enough to not blend in, he was wearing black standard shinobi pants with black boots, a dark gray under turtleneck shirt and a dark purple jacket, he had what looked like two swords strapped to the small of his back and a chain with two kunai looking knives at each end dangling from the side of his hip, with hitai-ate tied around his neck.
The other boy also looked out of place, he had long dark brown hair that was tied into a bun on top of his head, his skin was lighter than the other boy's but darker than her, he wore light brown pants that stopped a bit after his knees, and a white shirt with a beige stuffed vest and a dark brown belt, he didn't have any weapons on him other than the standard shinobi pouch on his left leg.
“So as you know Team 7 was disbanded when Naruto went to train with Jiraiya, but as my apprentice you need to up your rank in a stable pace, and for that you need a team, and lucky after the last Orochimaru fiasco I have been trying to form alliance with other villages.” Tsunade starts instantly gaining the attention of everyone in the room. “So as a show of trust between villages the Mizukage, the Raikage and I made a agreement, to start a exchange program between villages, each village will send a Gennin to be part of a team on the other villages, and these are the exchange Gennin from Kiri and Kumo.” She signals at the two boys. “Please introduce yourselves”
“Yes Ma'am” the purple haired boy says. “Hello everyone, my name is Hoshikage Kaede, I'm 14 and i was a Gennin from Kirigakure, my specialty is kenjutsu and water ninjutsu, I can use pretty much any weapon with at least a medium level of skill, but I'm a master of the Chokuto, the Naginata and the Kurisagama.” He pauses and looks around the room “My favorite foods are fried fish and dango, and i really like the color green” He says looking down and blushing.
“I'm Yotsuki Yoshi, I'm 13, my specialty is senbon, poisons and genjutsu.” He looks at Kaede with a smirk. “My favorite food is barbecue, and I like the color blue, I also like pretty boys”
“Not a boy.” Kaede says with a bored voice.
“We'll see.” Yoshi responded, still smirking.
“Now that everyone is acquainted let's get to the reason of this meeting” Tsunade says with an annoyed tone after muttering ‘These fucking teenagers’ under her breath. “Sakura, you need a team, both to train with and to do missions with, since you are still a Gennin and can't make D Ranks by yourself. You two need a third member for your team as well as a sensei, so instead of creating a new team I will register you two as members of Team 7 and assign a new sensei for you.”
“But Tsunade-Shishou, what about Sasuke-kun? And Naruto? And Kakashi-sensei?” Sakura asks, feeling the sting of tears in the corner of her eyes.
“Sasuke is a wanted missing nin, Naruto is away for I don't know how long training with Jiraiya, and the village needs Kakashi's service elsewhere, and you need a team. So there's no discussion, you three are the new Team 7. Congratulations.” Tha truth was a brutal slap on Sakura's face, of course she knew that the Team 7 that she loved stopped existing the moment Sasuke left her on that bench, but to hear it so clearly, to acknowledge the loss and accept that it was over, it was a painful process.”You three will go to training ground 15, two days from now to meet your new sensei”
Afraid that if she opened her mouth an ugly sob would come out, Sakura could only shake her head in acknowledgement before leaving the building. She cried the whole night.
The next two days passed like a blurry, following the same routine of wake up, study, lunch, hospital, home, bed and repeat. And then suddenly she was at the training ground looking at a man that introduced himself as Yamato, saying he was their new sensei.
The first task Yamato-sensei assigned them was to go on a spar against him,each would go alone in a one-on-one fight. At least it was a chance to see her new teammates, the thought brought a sting to her heart, fighting and access their skills.
The first to go was Yoshi, apparently while he had a good aim and a very good mastery of genjutsu, his taijutsu was weak and sloppy and his chakra reserves while good were more closer to a civilian born Chunnin than a clan kid Gennin. He tried to put Yamato-sensei in a genjutsu, surprisingly it worked, but not for very long and the spar ended when Yamato-sensei got close enough to use taijutsu.
Next it was her, she knew she wasn't in a much better situation then Yoshi, she could using genjutsu too, but the ones she knew wouldn't cut it, her taijutsu was improving with Tsunade's help but she was training with her for only a month so it wasn't a good option, so she thought of a plan, very stupid, very risky and possible illegal plan. She would use a chakra scalpel as a weapon, the problem was, she never tried using one, she read about it and studied it, but never actively used it to cut something, but it was worth the try anyway.
And so the spar began, Yamato-sensei rushed at her at a controlled speed and they started a taijutsu stand off, well it was more like he was trying to hit her and she was trying to dodge it, until she saw her chance and went for it.
It went very wrong, kind of, she didn't quite managed to use the chakra scalpel she just poked Yamato-sensei very hard with her chakra covered fingers, it didn't cut him, but it made him lose the strength in his knees for a moment, when he was trying to kick her, meaning that he only had one feet on the ground. So to the ground he went.
Yamato-sensei was shocked to say the least, but so was she! None of them understood what had happened until Yamato-sensei spoke up.
“What was that?” He asked, flabbergasted.
“Almost a chakra scalpel, I probably did something wrong, it was my first time trying to use it” Sakura answered, quite bamboozled by the whole situation.
“Yeah, ok we will talk about that later” Yamato-sensei said getting up, then he yelled “Next!”
On her way back to the side of the training area she looks up and sees Kaede looking at her, the boy(?) seeing she was looking at him too winks at her and jogs to the sensei for his spar. That leaves a confused feeling on her, she still likes Sasuke-kun of course, but is she allowed to think other boys are pretty? Or does it count as cheating? Why are Kaede's teeth sharp? So many questions, too little answers.
Her thoughts are interrupted by the sound of metal meeting metal, as she looks up she sees Kaede-san with his chained Kunai in hands, he swings it around throwing one side at Yamato-sensei, who dodges it, but then the boy(?) pulls the chain making the kunai go around the brown haired man wrapping the chain around him (How did that work she didn't know, technically it shouldn't.) with a yank from the purple haired boy(?) Yamato-sensei was pulled out of balance for a second, Kaede then took advantage and sprinted towards the man with one of his Chokuto in hand but before he could land the “killing blow” Yamato-sensei swipes his legs and he very gracefully avoids falling on his own sword, falling on his arm instead.
“Holy shit that hurts so fucking much” She hears his voice muffled by the ground.
After he got up and assured sensei that his arm was in good condition, sensei called Sakura and Yoshi closer to give his feedback and training regimen.
“Let's start with Yoshi-san, while your ability with genjutsu is good it's still a little sloppy and easily detectable, I know someone who can help you with that better than I can, but I believe that as a shinobi you should be well rounded so I will be training with you to improve your taijutsu, same goes for you Sakura-san, you need to improve your technique and form, I will also give you a workout routine and a diet to help you build muscle and improve your stamina, I would also recommend you get clothes of higher quality for our next training sessions.” He takes a breath and looks at Kaede “You will also be receiving a workout routine and diet, for what I see you are very skinny for a boy at your age-”
“Sensei, I'm actually not a boy” Kaede says looking to the side and scratching his head just like Naruto used to do (other sting) “It might be confusing but I'm actually not a girl either, at least today, usually I am a girl, but sometimes I'm not, but I'm not never in any circumstances a boy, so when in doubt always assume I'm a girl, or just ask me I don't mind answering. You can refer to me with They/Them pronouns when I'm not a girl” She… They said with a happy tone, Its kinda confusing, but at least they don't wear a green jumpsuit, so that's a win, right?