"Excuse me, but… who?" Haruto asked, raising a delicate, pink eyebrow, and looking at Iruka with a questioning expression in his face.
"…I didn't say anything," Iruka said, frowning, then he shook his head. "Your teacher is Jiraiya of the Sannin. Who will be here to pick you up in an hour. Get lunch in the meantime."
Haruto nodded.
"Here as in this classroom or here as in the academy's front gates?" Satsuki asked, frowning slightly.
"Here as in he'll find us anyway," Naruko said. "Jiraiya-jisan is of course the second greatest Ninja in Konoha and his prowess was recognized when he was allowed to become my tutor," she said, nodding at Iruka, clearly pleased with the selection.
"Now, everyone who doesn't have somewhere to go, you may wait here. Your teachers will be here to pick you up shortly."
Satsuki and Naruko had been glaring at each other for the past fifteen minutes. It is interesting to note that neither had opened the bento that they had brought along for the day.
Haruto watched from the sidelines, feeding on the food that his mother had prepared for him that day, pushing it down with cheap, canned soda that he bought from a vending machine that he was certain had cheated him out of his change. The fish was delicious, but he wondered how his mother had stuffed an entire chicken in there. Well, there wasn't much to complain about, since it was also delicious. He took a big gulp from the canned sugary drink and sighed as he let the gas out of his system. "Is either of you going to eat?" he asked, concerned about their mood worsening from the lack of food intake.
Unmentioned went the fact that his bento was roughly twice the size of theirs and, of course, abused storage seals to increase the available space even more.
"Hmph. You're not worth my attention," Naruko declared, finally, as she turned to her lunch and began to eat.
In contrast with the pace that Haruto had taken, which was fairly quick and seemed to require pushing the food down with more food, Naruko ate in a slow and deliberate manner. Thin, dainty hands skillfully unwrapped the plastic that kept her Bento covered from the elements and pulled the featureless, glossy and smooth black box apart, showing the expensive, high end box to be a multi tiered affair that had a variety of foods, including rice, curry, soy sauce and even some fish. A skilled eye would've noted the seals on the inside of the lid that Naruko had removed, the handiwork of the Fourth Hokage no doubt, keeping the contents fresh and warm. Or cold, as the case might be.
By contrast, Satsuki had a much simpler white bento, clearly old and worn but well cared for. It also had a much smaller variety of food to it, though Haruto could tell it was prepared with loving care, though it was odd to see such a thing from the usually cold and unsentimental Ice Queen. Perhaps it was a sign of hidden depths, that she was more than just a cold hearted bitch. Haruto mused how the two girls compared, and he found them similar and yet different in a lot of ways.
Still, even this seemed to have turned into a competition, one which Naruko's smug and proud smirk told Haruto the blonde clearly believed she'd won, while Satsuki's expression only twitched ever so slightly, letting past only the smallest hint of irritation at her rival's elation.
Haruto didn't see the point of this competition.
It was clear he was the best anyway. His mother was the best cook in Konoha, bar none, so he didn't even feel the need to point it out. He continued eating the roasted chicken. It was gloriously delicious.
Life was kinda cool sometimes, he mused. Even if he was stuck with two girls who didn't even seem to think his presence was worth noting.
***
Naruko was bored.
Beyond bored, in fact.
So bored that she had already begun to think up ways in which to show up her rival once more, not that she would admit even to herself that she had to 'prove' her superiority in whatever ways she could. Because she didn't need to. No way. She was the greatest, and she couldn't be anything else, for she was the daughter of the Yellow Flash, the Fourth Hokage, the greatest ninja ever born, and don't you forget it!
Yeah.
Even making up that monologue in her head hadn't taken the edge off the boredom. She had to think up new ways of proclaiming her superiority, as she was running out of ways to rub it into her detractors's noses that she was just plain better than the low born masses.
Fortunately, if her inner clock was correct, and it usually was, then it would only be another fifteen minutes until Jiraiya would fetch them. She knew that it'd be faster and easier if they were already in a group when he came to collect them, but she also knew that her honorary grandfather, uncle and godfather was a tremendously skilled ninja, and would be able to gather them in a short amount of time.
But breaking off from the group first would mean that Satsuki would win, that she'd endured the presence of her rival for longer, and Naruko couldn't allow that. She wouldn't lose. Not to her.
"So… Card games?"
The pink haired boy… Haruka, his name was, or something like that… he was also a member of their team.
He was a major disappointment to Naruko. The reason why was fairly simple. She had expected him to live up to his father's legacy, to show her the might of the warrior who once made entire countries tremble under his might. To see the power of a legend's successor.
And what had she gotten instead?
Some sort of spineless coward who insulted both her and everyone else in class by having the audacity to hold back his strength when they sparred! She'd flat out refused to fight the boy until he took the class around him seriously, and when he started to do so, she'd been well past the point at which she'd give him a second chance. Even if her father insisted she look out for him from time to time, she'd done so grudgingly and distantly. He hadn't needed much help anyway. The wimp had found it easy to make friends, because unlike her he didn't show his superiority, he played himself as being in the same category as those below him…
What an idiot.
What kind of friend is it, if they would abandon you just for being who you are?
That was why Naruko hadn't bothered making friends with the pathetic children at the academy. If they disliked her, then they disliked her. If they liked her, then good. The boys were mostly lost causes anyway. Most of them couldn't take their eyes off of her chest, and while she was proud of the breasts she'd been gifted with, she wasn't fond of conversations wherein people talked to said breasts.
She supposed that was why the only boy she'd ever remotely tolerated was also ironically beneath her notice.
The idea that being offended by his behavior meant that she was, in fact, taking notice of him, didn't even cross her mind.
Still, she nodded her ascent. Card games.
"Which games do you guys know? Poker? Go Fish? Ninja Bluff?"
That last one caught her attention, and it seemed, it also caught her rival's attention. "What is that?" the bi—Satsuki asked.
"Well, I learned it back when I attended civilian school. Supposedly it's a game that emulates a ninja's nature as a trickster, liar and cheater. The game has a distinct set of rules, but the point of the game is to find ways to cheat those rules or bluff your opponent into folding. It works a bit like Poker in that sense," Sakura stated, looking distinctly pleased with the attention they were paying him. "Anyway, the rules are simple, but it takes a while to truly master the game…"
It turned out that the rules were, in fact, quite simple.
They basically came down to the guidelines of how to play the game and a basic reminder to not get caught when you're cheating. Cheating in and of itself was okay, the punishments came for being caught doing it. Naruko, naturally, was above the need to cheat, or even bluff. But she did it anyway. Because that's what a ninja does, isn't it? She was a good ninja. The best. Descended from the best. She couldn't be anything else.
Getting used to the values of the cards took a bit longer. Apparently, the Ace of Spades beat everything, followed by the Ace of Clubs, then the Seven of Spades, then the Seven of Diamonds, then threes, then twos, then the 'fake' aces, Hearts and Diamonds, and from there, the cards were played by their numerical value. The lowest cards were the Fours of each suit. Remembering all of that took one or two hands, as they were skilled ninja and adaptation was a basic necessity. Learning a game quickly could mean the difference between successful infiltration and being pumped for information.
The simple game eventually became heated, as bets started to come and go. Of course, because she couldn't stand being shown to be inferior, the bi—Uchiha would always find a way to escalate the bet, which meant that, of course, Naruko would have to follow suit.
Unfortunately for the both of them, they got horribly unlucky at a horrible time and wound up losing what remained of their lunches, their pocket money, three dozen kunai and a dozen shuriken each to their pink haired teammate.
It wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't just laughed and returned their material possessions. Really, Naruko could replace everything she'd lost quite easily, so it wasn't a problem for her.
Satsuki, meanwhile, seemed oddly glad that someone'd taken pity and been charitable towards her. "Having economical problems, Uchiha?" Naruko taunted, knowing full well that their economic situations were incomparable. Namikaze Minato had trouble finding things to do with all the money he had, while Uchiha Satsuki had trouble making end's meet, most likely due to her clan's mismanagement.
Well, they were all a bunch of idiots. Really, they even thought they could stand up to her father and survive!
The Uchiha girl flushed, clearly angry.
Well, at least there was a small victory to be found in the humiliating loss to her male teammate.