Getting out of the classroom, the newly formed team gravitated towards each other.

  Sakura watched as Jay walked with his annoyingly unbothered pace, slowing down and waiting for her and Sasuke closer to the door.

  Sasuke looked in Sakura's direction, giving her a nod of acknowledgement as they approached the door and Jay.

  They walked in silence for a bit, Jay was leading them somehow as he was always a step ahead and Sasuke accompanied him, leaving Sakura no choice but to follow the lead of the MENACE …

  As they finally got into the relatively empty academy training grounds, Jay turned towards them …

  [Jay] - So, teammates hmm ? -

  Sakura paused as a vein popped into her forehead as Jay looked at her top to bottom and shrugged as if she was ‘good enough’ before looking at Sasuke.

  [Jay] - Was it really necessary ? Don't you see enough of me already at your house ? -

  Sakura had to pause as the statement made her head spin … since when did Sasuke Uchiha and Jay Uzumaki hang out together ?! At Sasuke's house ?!

  [Sasuke] - You are there with my brother and both of you talk mostly about economics and most of it flies over my head … And when we go train, Nii-san just makes sure to beat both of us black and blue, and unlike you, even with my clansmen med-nin healing me, I can't recover in a few hours … -

  [Jay] - Good learning thought, genjutsus are indeed very distracting -

  [Sasuke] - You broke your leg hitting an earth pillar just yesterday because of it -

  [Jay] - Yeah, can't waste time dispelling illusions while in melee, better to hit through them and not give time for your opponent to layer more … -

  [Sasuke] - You. Broke. Your. Leg -

  [Jay] - It only broke because I'm still weak, give me some time and I'll be punching and kicking through earth pillars no problem -

  Jay answered with a thumbs up and Sakura watched with her mouth hanging open …

  Her Prince made friends with the MENACE … no, her Prince was already friends with the MENACE … they trained together … at Sasuke’s HOUSE …

  [Sakura] - What ? … Why ? … How ? … When ? … -

  Sakura was almost biting her cheeks trying to keep her composure as the monumental shift in her perceived world crumbled …

  [Jay] - You good Ha… Harumi-san ? … -

  Sasuke slapped his own forehead as Sakura gave up on trying to be polite … the MENACE stole her Prince and he didn't even REMEMBER HER NAME ?!

  [Sakura] - IT'S SAKURA HARUNO YOU … YOU BAKA, Shannarō !!! -

  Sakura fist was flying through the air before her mind caught up with her anger, her chakra flowing with her motion, tightening her muscles and fist to the utmost limit, ready to release all of her pent up anger and condensed chakra as soon as her first made contact with his annoying face …

  Sasuke watched as Sakura launched a textbook example of a haymaker … the flow of chakra behind it was a textbook example of the chain of power and motion of the basic academy taijutsu … it was straight out of the training manuals … Sasuke could see the diligence and hours of training that must have gone to make that motion so instinctive in the girl that she could use it even as she snapped in anger …

  Sasuke also knew that Jay trained and spared heavily with Maito Guy and his own brother … Jay's Taijutsu was well beyond what they learned at the academy …

  Sakura haymaker passed over Jay's head as he went inside her guard …

  Jay almost came face to face with Sakura and he was still approaching … Sasuke saw what he was doing with his eyes that became active on instinct … memorizing the motions like countless times since the brutal beating that awakened his Sharingan …

  Sakura's eyes widened at the proximity, she tried to recoil and gain some distance but Jay had no intention of slowing down …

  Sasuke watched as Jay ruthlessly headbutted Sakura's face with a loud crunch noise …

  [Sakura] - YOU BROKE MY NOSE ?! -

  [Jay] - Hey, you threw the first punch, don't blame me .. -

  Sasuke got in between them before the tension got any higher.

  Sasuke didn't know why Sakura apparently hated Jay, but if her gritted teeth was any sign, she did hate him very much.

  [Sasuke] - Stop, both of you … just … let's calm down a little … -

  Sasuke saw Jay rolling his eyes and shrugging, which only made Sakura angrier, but his intervention seemed to make her put herself under control …

  [Sasuke] - Sakura-san, can I adjust your nose ? -

  Sakura mumbled an answer and blushed … that was enough permission … with a delicate pull, Sasuke placed her nose back in place … taking a tissue out of his pocket, Sasuke delicately wiped the blood out of her face, which made Sakura blush even harder …

  [Sasuke] - Now … Sakura-san … could you tell us why you attacked him ? -

  There was a silence hanging in the air as Sakura brought her hands up to her face …

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  ***

  Sakura pressed her eyes with her hands, trying not to cry nor hit her own stupid head.

  [Sakura] “ Stupid, stupid, stupid … Why did you let your temper get you ?! Look what you did ?!?! You just made your first impression to Sasuke-kun … and it was with a broken nose after trying to hit his friend … even if the MENACE deserves it … but Sasuke-kun is friends with him … “

  Sakura ground her teeth at the need to be polite with the brute, lazy, BUM that was Jay Uzumaki… How ? How could he so effortlessly best her ?! She trained hard on the Academy taijutsu, she trained in front of the mirror until all of her motions were perfect … she bested most of her classmates for her spot as top kunoichi… she wasn't the best at Taijutsu, but she should be more than good enough to beat a LAZY BUM like Jay Uzumaki, who didn't even show up to class most DAYS …

  And now … now she would have to apologize after having her nose broken …

  The thought itself was like swallowing vinegar, leaving a sour taste in her mouth … but she would do it … her Prince was in her team … she could endure Jay's presence for it …

  ***

  [Sakura] - I apologize for my behavior, I let my temper get the best of me, please forgive me Jay-san … -

  Sakura did a bow to hide how her bile rose with what her mouth just said.

  [Jay] - It was nothing really, but Haruno-san … The question was more on the lines of … why the hell do you hate me ? -

  Sakura stood straight from her bow and saw the expectant look in her Prince’s face and the genuine confusion in Jay's face …

  Grinding her teeth, Sakura decided to air out her grievances if they were to be a team …

  [Sakura] - You … -

  Sakura took a deep breath, all of her anxiety, her struggle …

  [Sakura] - … It's … unfair … -

  The word came out of her mouth like a vitriol, a proclamation …

  [Sakura] - I have tried so hard … so, so hard to be here … and you just … do it … like it is no big deal … like I'M THE FAKE ONE for having to put in so much effort !! -

  Sakura's eyes were misting over, her fist still tight and her muscles coiled with the need to just HIT something … ANYTHING …

  [Jay] - Fucking … this again … -

  Jay sighed.

  [Jay] - Haruno-san, this is you assuming that I don't train hard, or that I'm skipping class to loaf around … -

  Sakura blinked her misty eyes as the words registered.

  [Sakura] - What ? … -

  [Jay] - When I skip the academy, I'm training with Maito Guy, Konoha's Green Beast mind you, and he runs me into the ground better than the Academy instructors can. The classes teach things I can study by myself at the public library at my own pace and following my own interests, so I also skip those classes too … My time is better spent outside of the Academy and I'm penalized for it, I just don't care about it … -

  Jay Uzumaki trained outside of the Academy …

  Jay Uzumaki TRAINED outside the Academy …

  [Sakura] - But then why didn't you … -

  [Jay] - Correct the assumptions ? … Why would I ? No one asked me, no one bothered to look and the instructors asked me to keep it that way, giving some of you all an extra drive to improve … -

  Sakura had to keep her mouth from hanging open … it was true … the effort she spent outside of SPITE to prove that she was better than the BUM of the class … How many others did just the same ? …

  [Sakura] - Was it all a lie ? -

  This time it was Sasuke that answered her …

  [Sasuke] - Not a lie, just right there in plain sight … We are the ones that didn't bother to look -

  Sakura tried to remember what she knew of Jay Uzumaki … trying to move past the emotionally charged memories and actually think on why she hates him …

  Did she really assume an enmity that didn't exist ? … Did she just project her frustrations ? … What did Jay actually do ? …

  Sakura was drawing a blank now that she was forced to review what actually happened … the mocking discourse that Jay did, the ‘just get good' … wasn't it mockery ? … Was he really just being plain honest ? …

  [Sakura] - But the rules … -

  [Jay] - They allow for that, if you bothered to read them carefully, there are a lot of allowances made for self training or clan training … as long as you keep up with your grades, you only lose on merits … but if you already have someone to train you … -

  Sakura's eyes widened…

  [Sakura] - … You don't need the merits to buy advanced courses like I did … -

  [Jay] - Yep … the Academy system is for civilians like you get a head start over clan children, the merits are a way for you to get extra jutsus and training … that you clawed a top spot is honestly impressive with the amount on clan children there -

  [Sakura] - But … but how do you fit into this ? … You're not from a clan … why is someone like Konoha's Green Beast training you ? … Why are you training with Sasuke-kun’s brother at his house ?! … Just who are you ?! -

  The words spilled out of Sakura's mouth in a torrent of questions almost like a rant as her emotions were still running high … Now she had to review what she thought she knew about Jay Uzumaki and the Academy itself …

  Sakura's mind was still spinning when she heard a small grunt coming from her Prince …

  [Sasuke] - Hmm, I had the same reaction … -

  There was an almost fond smile on his face as Sakura saw him lock eyes with her and give her a smirk and a nod of acknowledgement that warmed her heart almost enough to make her forget she was supposed to be having a ‘moment’ …

  [Jay] - Answering your question, I'm Jay Uzumaki, Konoha's jinchuriki … -

  Jay's small shrug and thumbs up was almost enough to make Sakura faint as the weight of the revelation slotted in her mind …

  *** *** ***

  [Sakura] - … I still can't believe it … you just made a new jutsu that's not only a worthy addition to the jutsu library, but it's being tested as a new commodity ? … -

  Sakura asked with widened eyes …

  ***

  After their shaky first encounter, Jay told them why he was leading them towards the training grounds … Sakura still remembered the smirk of a ‘team building exercise’ that ended up in a free for all and later on her and Sasuke ganging up on Jay who didn't seem to tire out at all …

  Sakura would mark that as just another jinchuriki advantage …

  It felt … Nice to be acknowledged … but what surprised Sakura the most was Jay telling her about one Rock Lee … the apprentice of Konoha's Green Beast …

  Sakura didn't know what to feel when Jay told her about the boy …

  Jay told her that Rock Lee was talentless … He wasn't bright like she was … his body didn't take to training like most other kids … Jay plainly told her that Rock Lee was born to be average at best …

  Sakura still felt her eyes mist over at the thought … at what she could have been …

  Rock Lee was born to be average, but he refused … if he had to train twice as much for half the benefits … that's what he would do, he would train twice, three times, four times as much if that's what it took …

  But guts and determination simply aren't enough … Rock Lee was overtraining, his body wasn't able to keep up, it didn't matter how much effort he put in, if was self-defeating, he was getting worse instead of better and that only pushed the boy to try harder, because that's all he knew, that's all he could do …

  Rock Lee's saving grace was Konoha's Green Beast taking an interest in him, a lucky encounter …

  Jay told Sakura that the boy was blooming leaps and bounds under Maito Guy’s tutelage, he didn't get into details on how the training changed or what Maito Guy did as that was a secret in itself and if there was something Sakura learned during her time at the academy was the price of information …

  But the underlying message stayed the same …

  … it wasn't fair … it wasn't fair at all … it never was …

  Jay told her bluntly and left her to figure it out how she felt about it …

  While she wasn't from a clan, nor did she have ninja parents that could teach her … Sakura was still one of those people that was born with advantages that others dreamed about …

  She was smart, her chakra control top notch, her body took to training and her reserves were small but adequate …

  Sakura never saw those as inherent advantages because she was comparing herself with those ahead of her … while not seeing the ones struggling behind …

  She wasn't the only one training hard, she wasn't the only one studying late into the night …

  But she was the only Kunoichi of the year …

  She won the competition by leaving everyone else behind … Was it fair ? …

  Her mood dropped and Jay offered to buy the team ramen of all things, while they simply talked …

  ***

  [Jay] - Well, I just took the classic clone and tried to see how far I could push it … -

  [Sakura] - But a thousand fold casting of the jutsu ? At once ?!?! How did you do it ? -

  [Jay] - After some long long hours trying it out, as you get better you can probably shave the time to under an hour honestly, my first time it took me almost the full day and that was not any fun … -

  Sasuke shook his head.

  [Sasuke] - I knew you didn't have your head screwed on straight … but to cast the same jutsu constantly over hours on end just to see what would happen … Are you sure you're not crazy ? -

  Sasuke said with a smirk and Sakura held a giggle.

  [Jay] - First of all, rude and Second, I must tell you, I had Yamanakas visiting my head since I was a baby and every single moment of my day is carefully logged by some ANBU and they can attest that I'm mostly sane -

  Jay said with a smile, puffing up his chest.

  Sakura couldn't contain herself and asked.

  [Sakura] - Mostly ? -

  [Jay] - Well, this is one of those cases where you just round up things … -

  Jay gestured with his hand and Sakura couldn't hold in her giggles … Sasuke-kun even shook his head, a small smile on his lips as he drank the ramen broth …

  Sakura blushed fiercely when Sasuke saw her ogling him …

  Maybe being in a team with the MENACE wasn't so bad after all …

  ***