章 1413: 4
Bbsheep: yeah that is why no amount of kage bunshin can't account for a good sparring partner; it's part of the reason that even if he had perfect taijutsu form someone with more experience would cream him. That is also why his style will only be half way decent until he gains experience.
Lednacek: I agree with you and it seems several other readers have commented on that as well. I actually went back in and changed the amount of weights to thirty on his arms and forty on his legs.
Blarg7865: Now that would be funny, if Itachi and Kisame were closet perverts and lovers of Icha Icha, then Naruto uses that jutsu and defeats them single handedly.
Waywas: I think you mean Canon. And yes it was, I was doing this because I know a few people who are reading my story but have no prior knowledge of it and so I used this chapter to give them some background information.
Luiz4200: He kind of seems like it doesn't he? All he needs to do is wear green spandex and rant about 'flames of youth' and he would. Now that would be fucking creepy.
Some people have asked about changing Anko's age if she is over nineteen (I have a review that says she is twenty four pre-shippuden). I won't be doing that because her age has a lot of tie in with the Orochimaru story timeline, were she younger some of the things that had happened in Naruto would not have happened at all and while my story will diverge from the canon, the basic story and previous timeline that happened before the canon is the same. The only people I can de-age are those who do not have any significant impact in the Narutoverse.
Disclaimer: I make no claim to owning Naruto. However, if I did own Naruto I can guarantee that I would be pronouncing it too the world and shoving the fact that I own Naruto in Kishimoto's face.
Naruto: Shift in Life
Chapter 4: Team Seven
It was early morning; the sun hadn't even risen yet. But one Uzumaki Naruto was already up and about, getting ready for his first day as a ninja. After a quick rinse in the shower, and a… somewhat decent breakfast of eggs and toast, Naruto was ready to start the day.
He looked himself over in the mirror, checking his clothing and equipment to make sure everything looked good. He wanted every one of his classmates, former classmates he reminded himself, to leave with a good impression of him. He looked at his bo staff attached to his back, angling over his shoulder slightly for easy access. Nodding to himself, the blond genin left and began making his way towards the academy.
He had decided to walk to the academy instead of roof hopping, even though he had come to enjoy the activity. There were not any people out at this time, being so early that the sun was just beginning to rise, so Naruto did not have to suffer through any glares this morning and since it was so early he could afford to take his time.
However, as Naruto turned around a corner he stopped when he noticed a small section of the fence that was dirtier than the others. And sideways. And had a pair of feet sticking out of the bottom, a pair of hands on either side and a tuft of hair sticking out at the top. Naruto sighed and shook his head.
Seriously, you think he would have learned yesterday. Naruto thought as he started walking forward again. Just as he passed the sheet, Naruto pulled out four kunai, tossing each one into a corner of the sheet, pinning his 'rival' to the fence.
"Gak! Hey! What the- let me go! Get me out of here!" Came the muffled response from inside of the cloth.
Naruto grinned as he walked up and wrapped his knuckles against Konohamaru's helmeted head, making the currently complaining kid quiet down. "So can I help you Konohamaru?" he asked, amusement leaking from his voice.
"Ha! You saw through my disguise again! That's why I respect you as my rival!" Konohamaru tried to get out of the restraining cloth by slipping through the sides, but the kunai had stretched the sheet enough so that they were too tight to slip through and in too deep to pull out from his position. "Now can you let me out!"
Naruto grinned as he grabbed the kunai and pulled them out, letting the covering drop to the ground. "So… I take it there's something you want from me?" the blond asked.
"I challenge you!" Konohamaru shouted as he pointed at Naruto.
Naruto laughed at the kid. "Sorry but I can't, remember I have to head over to the academy today to get assigned my jonin sensei."
"Ohh yeah." Konohamaru said, his eyes getting stars in them. "Man that's so cool! I wish I was a ninja."
"Well just make sure you work hard and don't slack off." Naruto looked up at the sky and saw the sun had risen. He would have to hurry now if he wanted to get to the academy before the glares started coming his way. "Anyways I need to head over to the academy or I'll be late. See ya!" Naruto tossed the energetic kid a wave as he ran off.
Naruto ended up getting to the academy a tad later then he had expected due to the interruption. However, it was still early enough that he doubted anyone else was there. Making his way to his homeroom, Naruto walked up to the door. Opening just as Iruka was about to walk out.
Iruka blinked in surprise when he laid eyes on Naruto and for a moment, didn't recognize him.
"Oh morning Iruka-sensei." Naruto greeted his teacher with a large grin.
Iruka blinked once, twice, thrice. "Naruto?" he asked, getting a nod in response the scarred chunin academy teacher looked his former student up and down, taking notice of the rather large cloak covering the blonds frame. "You look… different." Iruka smirked a bit. "You actually look like a real shinobi now."
"Hey!" Naruto said indignantly. "Are you saying I didn't look like a-" he stopped, took a deep breath and started again. "I mean uh… thanks Iruka-sensei, he he."
The chunin instructor raised an eyebrow at the small turn around in emotion, but just chalked it up to Naruto being Naruto. "You're here a lot earlier than I expected."
"Yeah well…" Naruto trailed off for a moment as he tried to come up with an excuse for being so early. It would not do if he said he felt like walking and did not want to be subject to the villagers glares on the day he became a ninja. "I guess I was just too excited to wait. I've been waiting a whole week you know."
Iruka chuckled. "And waiting was never one of your strong points."
Naruto's left eye twitched but he quickly calmed himself down, he was a ninja, and he refused to let himself get so worked up over something as trivial as this. Instead he plastered a large grin on his face. "Yeah, I guess I did. But I've gotten a lot more patient now."
"Really? That's good; I look forward to seeing this 'patients' you're talking about." Iruka resisted the urge to chuckle when Naruto's left eyebrow began twitching. "Anyways, why don't you go have a seat? I have some things I need to get, so I'll be back a little later."
"Right, see ya sensei," Naruto said as he walked inside. Looking around Naruto decided to choose a seat in the back right corner, where he could remain inconspicuous. Not that he did not want to be seen by his peers or anything. But he had read in a book called Ninja Basics for Dumbies that a ninja should always remain aware of his surroundings in order to gather information. Naruto figured that he could practice this by using the better view that seat offered so he could find out more about his potential teammates from there. Taking off his staff, Naruto leaned it against the wall, before taking out a book and sitting down.
He flipped the book, which was called Intermediate Level Fuiinjutsu, level one, a book written by a man called Jiraiya, and began to read while he waited for the orientation to start. Slowly but surely people trickled in, giving him a curious glance, but because his head was buried in his book, no one really knew it was him and just wrote him off.
Naruto flipped another page in his book as he continued reading, this chapter being about seals that affected the body, namely training seals. The gravity and resistance seals sound pretty useful. I bet they would work better than my weight bands, since they affect the body as a whole, rather than just one specific spot. Naruto frowned as he read one particular note about the gravity seals. It seems they affect height if used at a young age, so I guess that's out. Still the resistance seals sound useful. While the weights will increase my strength, the resistance seals are specifically designed to help boost speed. He sighed however when he noticed that there was no example of a resistance or gravity seals, and that this chapter was only talking about what seals can do to affect the body.
Naruto continued reading as more and more students came into the class, ignoring most of the conversation around him as he read. However, he paused when he felt and heard an odd rumbling sound that increased in volume as time went on. It sounded almost like a stampede.
He turned his head just in time to see two familiar girls burst through the door. Yamanaka Ino, a girl with long blond hair done up in a ponytail and bangs on the right side of her face. She had a purple sleeveless shirt, purple arm warmers, and a purple skirt with cuts on the side and bandages covering her legs from mid-thigh, which moved down into a pair of blue shinobi sandals.
Ino was a member of the famed Yamanaka clan, which was made famous during the Third Great Shinobi War due to Ino's father Inoichi who had been a member of the Ino-Shika-Cho Trio. A team that had used phenomenal teamwork to defeat enemies and opponents far tougher than they were, making them one of the more feared people during the war. The Yamanaka Clan was also well known for their jutsu that allowed them to invade the minds of their opponents, making them wonderful interrogation experts. Despite the fact that Ino came a powerful Clan, she was just like all of the other girls in class. More concerned with being her hair and dieting to be twig like thin in order to impress the resident Emo Sasuke.
The second girl to appear within the doorway was Haruno Sakura, both held up their hands as soon as they entered the room.
"I WIN!" they both yelled at the same time, causing a few people, Naruto included to sweat drop.
"Hah! Beat that Forehead girl! My foot was in the door first!" Ino shouted with a smirk.
"What are you talking about Ino-pig?" Sakura asked with a sneer. "My foot was at least a quarter of an inch in the door before yours!"
Were they always this loud? Naruto wondered to himself. He watched as the two walked up to Sasuke, who had taken his usual spot at the front of the room in the right side next to the window.
"Sasuke-kun would you like to sit by me today?" Sakura asked as she walked up to Sasuke with a smile that she hoped was cute.
Naruto sighed as Sasuke ignored the girl like she did not even exist. I wish she would look at me like that… he shook his head, he had not actually thought about the girl who he had a crush on this past week. What, with all the time he had been spending with Anko. Anko's more attractive anyways, so is Tenten… Naruto blinked for a moment as he set his book down. Where had that come from?
He shook his head and was just about to start reading when Ino decided to make her displeasure of letting Sakura sit next to Sasuke known.
"You can't sit next to Sasuke-kun, because I'm going to sit next to Sasuke-kun!" Ino screamed, before turning to said raven haired boy. "Right Sasuke-kun?"
Once again the Uchiha ignored her.
"Hah! Sasuke-kun doesn't want to sit next to you Ino-pig!" Sakura yelled. "I'm the only one he wants to sit next to!"
Naruto sighed as he put the book down, finding it impossible to concentrate with all the noise they were making. He had never really paid much attention to it before, but for whatever reason the amount of noise they were generating was starting to bother him. Of course he had also never tried to read before, so maybe it was just that they were distracting him from his book.
Standing up, the blond made his way over to the two bickering girls. "Excuse me," he said getting their attention, as well as that of the rest of the class who, after noticing his whisker marks stared at him in shock. "But you do both realize that there are two available seats next to him." Naruto pointed at the seat on Sasuke's right, away from the isle. "So neither of you has to actually fight for a seat."
Naruto looked at everyone as they stared at him, surprise and recognition in their eyes. He would have smirked but held the urge in, it would not be cool if he gave them the impression that he enjoyed seeing the surprise on their faces.
"Naruto!" Sakura asked as she noticed his whisker marks. It quickly changed to a sneer of disgust as she decided to berate him. "What are you doing here? In case you didn't notice this is only for people who graduated, gra-du-at-ed, not for failures like you!"
As the class laughed at Sakura's words, Naruto frowned. He had expected this, to be honest, but had kind of been hoping that with his new look it would change her opinion of him. Guess not. He sighed lightly, before deciding that he didn't want to put up with her abusive words right now, especially since for whatever reason they hurt more.
"If you had used those two eyes stuck in your orbital sockets to look up you would see that I have a head band." Naruto pointed to his head where Iruka's head band sat. "So I have graduated, thank you very much, perhaps you're not as smart as I thought."
Naruto walked off and moved back up to his seat, leaving a stunned crowd behind.
Did he really just insult me? Asked Sakura as she tried to comprehend what had just happened. That had never happened before, Naruto would always ask her out, and she would always hit him because it made her feel better about herself. Sakura felt an odd sense of emptiness as she wondered if Naruto had decided that he didn't like her.
HE'S JUST TRYING TO MAKE YOU FEEL BAD SHANNARO! Sakura's inner persona shouted. Getting Sakura to snap out of her shock.
Your right! I bet Naruto-baka's trying to make me feel bad for him so I ask him out on a date! Well it's not going to work! Sakura sat on Sasuke's right as her and Ino once again began to fight over said Uchiha.
As the rest of the class got back to what they were doing one girl kept her eyes on Naruto. I- I had thought that N-n-Naruto-kun had f-failed. Hinata looked at Naruto, who had gone back to his reading with a blush.
I- I'm glad he didn't.
In the special spying room located within the Hokage tower, Sarutobi and nine Jonin were gathered around the crystal orb. These Jonin were the ones who had been assigned as the jonin senseis for the newly graduated genin. Though only three would end up getting that position.
"Well that was slightly unexpected." One of the jonin in the room said, a man with spiky silver hair, wearing the standard jonin attire named Hatake Kakashi. He looked into the spy orb with a lazy expression, though if one looked close enough they could see him analyzing everything. "Hmm… and that one must be Uchiha Sasuke, the most promising student and Rookie of the Year."
"Yes the one with the dark hair and blue shirt is Uchiha Sasuke." Sarutobi replied evenly. Truthfully he did not think Sasuke was deserving of his title, especially when the teachers in class handed the boy everything, but he would not deny the boy was at least mildly talented.
"He's the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan." Spoke up a jonin with curly black hair and exotic red eyes. She was a new jonin, but had quickly risen as the most prominent genjutsu expert. Her name was Yuuhi Kurenai.
"Hmm… at least the only Uchiha still left in the village." Sarutobi countered, making the red eyed woman wince.
The crystal ball changed view to close in on some of the genin, one such view showing Naruto who had gone back to his seat and picked up his book.
"Uzumaki Naruto," Kakashi muttered to himself.
Naruto frowned as he continued to read his book, doing his best to ignore the new stares he was getting. Why did I do that? Naruto wondered as he thought about what he had said to Sakura. He had never actually insulted anyone before, and Sakura was the last person he would have expected to insult.
Yet something about what she had said jus then had rubbed him the wrong way. Her words had hurt of course, even more then it normally did. But he couldn't just chalk it up to that. Maybe it has something to do with learning about the Kyuubi… he considered that thought. After learning about Kyuubi being sealed inside of him the villager's hatred made sense. However, that still couldn't quite explain why he had been rude to Sakura, after all, from what Jiji said only the adults knew of his status as a Jinchurikki.
Like most of the kids in his class, Sakura often berated him. In fact, out of all the people in the class she was the one who treated him the worst. But it had not always been like that. The first time he had met her she had been getting picked on by some bullies due to her large forehead, and Naruto had seen it and chased them off. After that she had spent the day with him.
It had been his first and only time he had gotten to spend with someone his own age, and the first time he had really had any fun in his childhood. Sakura had even promised to be his best friend during their time together. However, when her mom had seen them together, she took Sakura away and told her to never go near the blond again.
Sakura had followed her mother's advice and Naruto had not seen her after that until he entered the academy. When he did see her gain, the blond had been ecstatic at seeing his first friend. However, she had either not remembered him, or had become heavily influenced by her mom, because the first thing she had done when he had tried to say hi was to hit him and tell him to leave her alone.
That had of course not stopped him from trying to get his friend back; he had tried again and again to no effect. Eventually, despite the amount of abuse he had taken, Naruto had become so desperate to get his first friend back that he developed a crush on her. After that he had begun asking her out on dates, not really understanding what the difference between a date and a get together with friends were since he had never had 'the talk' because he was an orphan. This only seemed to further aggravate Sakura who had started developing a crush on Sasuke; this in turn caused her reactions to become more and more violent. Now she was easily the most abusive person in class, at least to him. No one really liked him, and everyone made fun of him, but she was the only one who had ever actually hit him.
Naruto shook his head, thinking about things too much made it his head hurt, so he decided to just let whatever he was feeling run its course.
A few minutes later Iruka came into the room and noticed that it was oddly quiet, only a few people huddled about whispering to each other. That's odd, I would have expected everyone to be jumping around and yelling their heads off at finally graduating.
Deciding not to think about Iruka coughed to get the attention of the newly graduated class on him as he began his speech. "As of today you are no longer academy students, but full-fledged ninja. But in the ranks of ninja you all are only genin, the lowest ranking in the ninja hierarchy. However the first step has now been made and you're greatest challenges are now ahead of you." Iruka paused and pulled out a clip board. "For the next stage, you twenty seven genin will be assigned into three man squads, with each squad being assigned a jonin sensei, who will supervise and continued to train you from here on out."
Several students looked up with surprise etched on their faces, as they heard they were being assigned into groups.
Naruto looked up when he heard that, but only spared the thought a moment before he went back to his reading. He had already known he would be assigned a team when he had recently read a book on shinobi basics.
Sakura and Ino were busy ribbing each other and making comments about who would get to be with 'their Sasuke-kun'. Much too said Brooders annoyance since he was in between the pair and had to listen to them.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he heard Iruka's words and tried to ignore the two useless fan girls bickering. A squad of three will only slow me down.
Iruka coughed into his hand before he continued. "Now then, the squads have been arranged to give each team a balance of abilities and skills. I will now read the roster, so pay attention to when your name is called, and who you will be teamed up with." Iruka looked at his clip board and began to call out names. "Team 1 will be…"
Naruto stopped reading and began paying attention as the genin squads were called, not wanting to miss who his teammates were. I kind of wish I had some friends that I could be in a squad with, Shikamaru and Choji are ok, but we're not really friends. Kiba, I suppose could be considered a pranking rival, but now that I'm trying to be a serious ninja… he shook his head of his thoughts and just concentrated on paying attention.
"Team 7 will be Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke…" Iruka was forced to stop and wince as Sakura let loose an earsplitting victory screech. "… and Uzumaki Naruto!"
"WHAT!" Came the voices of both Naruto and Sakura.
"Iruka-sensei how could you even think of putting me in the same team as him!" Naruto shouted as he pointed at Sasuke. Acting like mature ninja be damned! This had to be corrected now! "We don't get along, we can't work together, we aren't friends! Now I'll concede to you the teme isn't friends with any one, he seems to enjoy spending more time sticking that twenty foot long metal pole further up his ass and practicing his brooding pose. But out of all the people in this class, we get along the least!"
The guys in the class laughed when they heard Naruto's words, well everyone except for Sasuke who scowled intently at the blond. Meanwhile the girls were fuming at the insult to their Sasuke-kun; they began leaking a pathetic amount of killing intent at Naruto who ignored it, having gotten far worse from Anko.
"Naruto," Iruka said with a sigh. "As I said these squads are assigned to balance out. Sasuke got the best scores in class, you got the worst." Naruto's head slumped down a bit as the class now snickered at him. "The Hokage assigned these squads, and they are not negotiable. I'm sorry but you'll just have to deal with it. Now team 8 will be Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba. Team 9 is still in circulation so team 10 will be Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akamachi Chouji…"
Naruto sighed as he slumped into his chair. Despite his slight outburst at her earlier he still wouldn't mind being with Sakura. However, Sasuke was a different story. Throughout his entire time at the academy he had considered Sasuke his rival, always trying to outdo the raven haired ninja, who in turn always ignored the blond like he was not even worth his time. The last thing Naruto wanted to do was be on the same time as him.
"Now then, you'll all meet your Jonin sensei's after lunch. Until then, class dismissed." Iruka said, gathering his stuff and leaving.
The assembled genin all got up and hurried out of the room.
"Sasuke-kuuuun!" Sakura called out as she walked out of the academy and looked around for the elusive raven haired genin. "Now where did he go? And I was hoping since we were the same team now he would have lunch with me."
"Hey Sakura-chan!" Naruto said, making the pink haired girl go rigid, even more so then usual because of his insult in class today.
"What do you want!" Sakura hissed with venom in her voice as Naruto came up to her.
Naruto winced a bit but pressed on. "W-well I wanted to apologize for getting angry at you… I didn't mean it." Sakura stopped glaring as she looked at him with shock and curiosity. "I wasn't really myself at the time, so I'm sorry."
I can't believe Naruto is actually apologizing. Sakura thought in shock. Naruto never apologized to anyone, even when the teachers tried to force him to for playing a prank.
Heedless to the pinkette's thoughts Naruto continued on. "I also wanted to know if you wanted to go have lunch with me so we could get to know each other better, we could even see if Sasuke wants to-"
However he didn't get any farther then that as Sakura hit him on the head. "I should have known that's what you wanted! I bet that was your plan the whole time! Insulting me and then apologizing afterwards to make me think you were a good person so you could ask me on a date! It's not going to happen!"
Naruto winced a bit as he rubbed the new lump he had gotten on his head, standing back up he tried to defend himself. "That's not what's going on! I just wanted to get to know my teammates bet-"
"SHUT UP BAKA!" Sakura screeched as she smashed a fist into Naruto's face, sending the young blond flying. "God why do you keep asking me for dates! I'm never going to go out with you! You're annoying!"
Naruto watched as Sakura walked off with a huff. She didn't even try to hear me out. A few odd tears stung the corner of his eyes, but he banished them before they could fall. Getting back up Naruto made his way over to the tire swing that he had been on after he had failed.
He didn't really understand it, was he so undesirable that Sakura would not even listen to him. Or had I pestered her for so many dates that she just assumed I was going to ask her for another one? He asked himself with a sigh. The answer to that question probably no longer mattered anyways.
Reaching into his left kunai pouch Naruto pulled out a containment seal. Unrolling it he unsealed the contents, revealing it to be some rabbit that he had caught a few days ago, cooked and sealed. Grabbing the chopsticks he sealed with his food, he began to eat.
"What'cha doing gakI!"
"GAH!" Naruto shouted as he threw his food up in the air and jumped off the swing. Spinning around in midair, Naruto landed on his feet and came face to face with a grinning Anko.
"Sweat Kami! You scared the shit out of me!" Naruto yelled as he clutched his rapidly beating heart. "Don't do that!"
Anko snickered, "sorry, I just couldn't help myself. You're just too easy!"
Naruto scowled. "You know I'm going to get you back for startling me like that right? I'm not called the 'Prankster King from Hell' for nothing you know!"
"Ha! I'd like to see you try and get me kid." Anko spoke with a smirk. "We both know you're a hundred years too soon to get me."
Naruto sighed as he calmed down. Truthfully he was glad for the distraction Anko would provide, and it did feel nice to know she had come here even though she had most likely just gotten back from a mission. "So how was your mission?" he asked, sitting back down on the swing and unsealing another scroll of cooked rabbit.
"Meh it was a mission, I went in, assassinated some douche who messed with the wrong people and came back." Anko said, grinning at the glare Naruto gave her.
"Anndd?" Naruto asked, wanting more details.
"And that's it." Anko shrugged.
Naruto just sighed, Anko rarely ever talked about the things she did. He had asked her about her normal job at the I&T department and all she had said was 'oh it's amazing listening to the screams of your victims as they cry for the mommies', not really a descriptive explanation.
"So what are you doing here?" asked Naruto after swallowing a mouth full of food.
"What? Can't I visit my favorite gakI?" Anko asked with an innocent expression on her face.
"I'm pretty sure I'm the only 'gakI' you know." Naruto deadpanned.
Anko grinned. "Well if I knew more you would still be my favorite."
"I'm sure." Naruto said as he rolled his eyes
"So… who did you get stuck with for your genin squad?" Anko asked.
Naruto looked up from his meal as he swallowed a bite of rabbit. "Well I'm on team 7 with Haruno Sakura and… Uchiha Sasuke."
Anko shuddered. "Man do I feel bad for you, getting on a team with that brooder. I've seen that kid walk around Konoha before. He's got a bigger stick in his ass then his old man did when he was alive."
Naruto grinned. "I'm glad to see that someone understands my plight."
"Yeah, I feel for ya kid, I'd probably end up killing the teme if he's as spoiled as I think he is." Anko chuckled. "So what about this other teammate, that Sakura girl?"
Naruto frowned as he thought about her. "She's a girl in my class; she has pink hair and was listed as second best in academics. To be honest, she didn't do well in the physical portion and has small reserves, but from what I've read she would be the genjutsu and medical ninja support so I suppose that wouldn't matter."
Anko noticed the boys frown and slight monotone voice. "Aw c'mon! There's more to it than that right?"
"Well…" Naruto sighed. "I sorta, kinda have a crush on her…"
"Ooohh, so the little gakI is growing up?" Anko asked with a grin.
"I've had a crush on her since I was eight Anko." Naruto said in a deadpan voice before sighing. "However, she never seems to like me, no matter what I do. She's too stuck up on the Uchiha-teme." Naruto scowled a bit at the thought. "I had really thought that my new looks would change her opinion of me…"
Anko looked at the kids growing depressed expression. "You can't change people's opinion of you within a day gakI." Anko said with a blunt tone. "If it were that easy then everyone would love you by now."
"I was able to get you to like me, wasn't I?" Naruto said with a smirk.
Anko blinked a bit, before blushing. She would not admit it to anyone, but she had grown fond of the the blond soon to be ninja in a short amount of time. "T-that's different, I'm not like the rest of those stupid villagers." Naruto saw Anko's hand go to her neck and frowned at the almost instinctive move.
"I guess that's true." Naruto said, shaking his head as he smiled at her.
"That's right! I'm not to be lumped in with those baka's!" Anko said pumping her fists in the air. "Now don't worry about that girl anymore, if she doesn't like you just say screw her and move on. There are plenty of other fish in the sea, or… however that saying goes. I wonder why they say fish anyways…"
"Yeah… I suppose I should." Naruto said, turning to a trash can as he threw away his empty plate and chopsticks. "Besides I am a shinobi now, romance should probably wait until after I get more powerful and accomplish my goal of becoming a powerful ninja."
"That's the spirit! Forget all about that pink haired chick!" Anko said as she came up behind him. She grinned as she felt Naruto shiver when she wrapped her arms around him and pulled the blond against her feminine assets. "Besides, I'm way better than some premature little girl."
"W-wh-what are you doing!" Naruto stuttered his voice cracking as he squeaked. Not that he was actually surprised by her actions mind you; she had started doing this a while ago after an incident where he had surprised her during sparring, only to trip and land smack dab in between her bosom. Rather than kill him she had grinned and asked if he liked it.
Of course Naruto being Naruto had not been able to speak and stuttered out incoherent gibberish, which of course caused Anko to get amused. Since then she had taken to either sneaking up on him and doing this, or grabbing him and setting her in his lap when they were eating Dango, claiming she could not get comfortable without her 'fox plushy' .
"What's wrong? Don't you like this?" Anko whispered in his ear, an unseen grin on her face. Really this kid was too easy. She had always enjoyed using her feminine whiles to toy with men and then put them down. With Naruto it was even more fun since he obviously had no clue what to do in this kind of situation.
That's the problem. Naruto thought, because he did like it. The way her chest pressed and rubbed against his back made him feel things he had never felt before, even when he was thinking about Sakura. It was also due to the oddly warm feeling he got, he had never been hugged before by a member of the opposite sex, or even having women get close to him, with the exception of Sakura who got close enough to hit him. So having someone who was actually willing to be to be this close and physical with him was, well it felt nice to say the least.
"I… well… uh… t-that is too say…you and um…" Naruto tried to get out something, but like the last time she had done this, all that came out was gibberish.
"HAHAHAHA!" Anko started laughing as she let go Naruto go. "GakI you are far too easy to fluster! You better hope some enemy kunoichi from another village doesn't try to seduce you or you'd be in deep shit!" Naruto scowled as he watched Anko clutching her stomach and trying to get her breath back. However, he could not give her any retort, finding it impossible to come up with anything suitable to say due to his scattered brain.
Anko's laughing calmed down to an occasional snicker. "So who's your jonin sensei?" she asked at last.
Naruto fought down his blush and reestablished a mental link with his mind as Anko brought about an abrupt change of topic. However, he shrugged her ability to randomly switch subjects easily enough, he had gotten used to it over the past week. "Uh… I think his name was Kakashi."
"Hatake Kakashi?" Anko asked before snorting. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, he had always had a soft spot for that spoiled Uchiha brat, given his own past relations with that clan."
"Er… so you know about my sensei?" Naruto tilted his head in curiosity.
"Know about him?" Anko scoffed. "GakI, everyone knows who your sensei is. He is one of the best ninja in the village, known as Sharingan No Kakashi or the copycat ninja; only a few of our jonin can rival him in power."
Naruto looked at Anko before a grin formed on his face. "So what else can you tell me about my sensei?"
"Where the hell is our sensei!"
Naruto sighed to himself as he flipped another page of his book, trying to ignore Sakura's rather loud… exclamations. Not that he could quite blame her, he was infinitely less patient then she was, if it wasn't for his book he would probably go mad.
"Calm down Sakura." Naruto said, deciding to not add the affectionate '-chan' suffix at the end, something that neither of his teammates seemed to notice. "Kakashi is always three hours late to anything barring an A rank or higher mission, or a direct order from the Hokage."
Both of his teammates turned to him.
"How do you know that dobe?" asked Sasuke, for once curious about what the blond idiot had to say.
Naruto smiled lightly as he remembered his enlightening conversation with Anko just a few minutes before. "A little birdy told me." he replied, flipping another page of his book. He and Anko had agreed not to let anyone know she had given him the information on their sensei, agreeing that it would be much more fun to let them suffer and stew in their ignorance.
Both Sasuke and Sakura waited to see if he would elaborate. When Naruto didn't Sasuke scoffed and turned away, while Sakura went back to what she had been doing, switching between pacing and staring dreamily at Saskue.
Several minutes later, exactly three hours after all the other genin had left; a man with silver hair entered the room and looked at them. "Team 7?" he asked in a bored tone.
Naruto almost snickered as he saw the man's lazy half-dropped eye and slumped posture; it seemed that Anko's assessment of the man was right on the dot. "That's right, who's asking Cyclops?"
Kakashi ignored the blond's statement as he continued studying the group. "Hmm, how should I put this, my first impression of this group…" he paused for a moment to build up suspense. "You're all boring and I think I hate you." Sakura face faulted, while Sasuke's left eyebrow gained a twitch, Naruto just looked at the man and snickered. "Meet me on the roof." Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Was that a Sunshin? Naruto asked himself, having seen Anko perform a technique similar, except it used leaves instead of smoke. I'll have to see if she can teach me that later.
Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura walked up the stairs and onto the roof, seeing there Jonin sensei sitting on the rail. The three sat on the steps below him with Sakura in the middle, Sasuke on the left and Naruto on the right.
"Alright, since we're all here, why don't you all introduce yourselves?" Kakashi suggested in a voice that said he really did not care who they were.
"Introduce ourselves?" Sakrua asked in a quizzical tone. "What are we supposed to say?"
Naruto blinked as he looked over at Sakura. Did she really just ask that? He shook his head and for a moment, he tried to recall why he liked her in the first place.
"Oh you know the usual. Likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future… stuff like that." Kakashi said in a dismissive tone.
"Well since we already know a little bit about each other and nothing about you, how about you go first?" suggested Naruto.
Kakashi looked over at the blond before shrugging. "Sure I don't see why not. Let's see, my name is Hatake Kakashi, my likes… I don't feel like telling you that… dislikes… are none of your business. Dreams for the future… well I have lots of hobbies."
Dear Kami-Sama, Anko really was on the book with this guy! Naruto thought before grinning as an interesting idea took hold. This would be fun. "Your name is Hatake Kakashi, you're likes are reading your porn, called Icha Icha Paradise. Dislikes are anything or anyone that tries to take you away from your porn. Hobbies are reading your porn in broad daylight and public places. And your dreams for the future are to star in one of the Icha Icha books and an Icha Icha movie if one ever comes out." Naruto said with a smirk as he watched the other three.
Sasuke looked over at him before going back to brooding; however, he seemed to have developed a nasty eye twitch. Sakura was looking red as she stared between Naruto and her sensei, though, whether from anger at him, their sensei, or embarrassment because of the information just given Naruto didn't know. And Kakashi was looking at him with narrowed eyes.
"How do you know all of that?" Kakashi asked in a serious tone.
Naruto just smiled. "A little birdy told me."
Everyone stared at him with a mixture of confusion, and incredulity.
None of that stuff is common knowledge. Kakashi thought to himself before blinking. Well… some of that stuff is common knowledge. He corrected, after all, he did often walk down public access ways reading his precious Icha Icha. However, some of that other stuff is only be known by a hand full of people. That means Naruto knows one of my associates and somehow convinced them to part with that information. But who? And how did he convince them?
The jonin shook his head, and decided he would figure this out later. "Well since you were kind enough to talk about me, why don't you go first goldilocks."
Naruto raised an eyebrow at the man as if to say 'is that the best you can do'. "Well alright then. My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, training… and a little birdy." Naruto smiled as he saw Kakashi's visible eye twitch. He was really going to have to thank Anko for telling him about this guy! "I dislike arrogant fools who can't tell the difference between a kunai and the scroll it's sealed into!" Naruto scowled.
The other two genin just looked at him oddly, but Kakashi's brow furrowed. I had been told that he knew of his tenant, it seems he's taken a disliking of people who can't see past their hatred. Kakashi resisted a sigh. I hope this doesn't become a problem.
"As well as the three minutes it takes to cook ramen. My hobbies include training and… well that's it for now I guess." Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "And my dream is…" He thought about it for a moment. He still wanted to become Hokage, but there was also something else he wanted even more, it was the original reason he had wanted to become Hokage. "I have two dreams for the future. The first is to earn recognition and respect from the people of this village by becoming the most powerful shinobi in the world. The second is to become the greatest Hokage the world has ever known."
While his two teammates scoffed at him, Kakashi analyzed the boy in surprise. Interesting… he doesn't seem anything like what the reports say he is. I was expecting him to be loud and obnoxious, screaming at the top of his lungs about wanting to be Hokage. Hell, I was expecting some kind of prank when I came here. The boy was definitely becoming something of a surprise, which was not quite what Kakashi wanted, having learned to dislike surprises. Either the academy teachers had a biased opinion of him and put it in their report, quite possible given that most people have an irrational hatred of him. Or the incident with Mizuki affected him more than we thought.
Kakashi put his thoughts on the back burner for now as he pointed to Sakura. "Alright you, pinky, your next."
Sakura scowled at being called pinky but answered anyways. "My name Haruno Sakura. What I like… I mean the person I like is…" she looked over at Sasuke and blushed. "My hobbies are…" she looked over at Sasuke, blushed and giggled. "And my dream for the future…" she looked over at Sasuke, blushed, squealed and got a slight nose bleed.
Kakashi and Naruto both sweat dropped (Sasuke was too busy brooding to sweat drop). This is great; I've got a perverted fan girl. Kakashi sighed to himself. "Is there anything you don't like?" he asked.
"NARUTO BAKA!" Sakura screeched.
Naruto winced at the volume of her voice before sighing as he realized that kind of answer was to be expected. "What else is new?" he mumbled under his breath.
"Alright then…" Kakashi picked out his ear with his pinky finger. "You, the broody one, your next."
Sasuke scowled but otherwise did not rise to his sensei's remarks. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't particularly like anything, and I dislike too many things to name. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan… and kill a certain someone."
As Sasuke finished his speech, the people around him had varying reaction.
Oh man, Sasuke-kun is soo cool! Sakura squealed in delight.
CHA! He's so hot! Inner Sakura let her opinion be known.
So he wants to kill someone, Naruto thought to himself. I wonder if it has something to do with the person who killed his clan?
It's just as I thought. Kakashi sighed; he had figured that this was how Sasuke would be. I can only hope he'll eventually turn away from this path.
"Good!" he said out loud, keeping his lazy expression and not letting a hint of his thoughts betray him. "You've all got your own opinions and you're all unique!" He nodded to himself. "Now tomorrow we will have our first mission as a team."
"What kind of mission?" asked Naruto, eager to finally prove he could be a great ninja. "Are we going to be fighting some missing ninja? Or maybe we'll have to protect a princess? C'mon sensei, don't leave us hanging!"
"Calm down Naruto." Kakashi spoke in a lazy voice. When the blond finally stilled he spoke again. "Our task will involve just the four of us. A survival exercise." Kakashi looked over at the different reactions, most of it was surprise. However, Naruto had narrowed his eyes as he looked at Kakashi with a thoughtful frown. Now that surprised Kakashi.
"A survival exercise?" Sakura questioned. "But we already took those back in the academy!"
"This isn't going be some simple exercise. This is nothing like your training at the academy." Kakashi stated with a smirk, not that his soon to be students could see it. Or not, it all depends on if they pass the test.
Naruto's frown deepened, there was something going on here. "Then what kind of training is it?"
Kakashi began to chuckle, causing the three students to give him odd looks ranging from confusion to consternation.
"Hey, that was a normal question sensei, what's so funny?" asked Sakura.
"Well, if I told you, you'd chicken out." Kakashi said laughing some more.
Naruto glared at the man fiercely. "Just try us!"
"Oh don't worry Naruto I will!" Kakashi laughed, before shifting his personality to be more serious. "Of the twenty seven graduates that made it this far, only nine will actually be accepted as genin. The other eighteen will be weeded out and sent back to the academy. In other words, this is a make-it or break-it pass-fail test, with the chances of passing being at least 66%."
Sakura's eyes widened in shock as she began to worry about what her sensei was saying, wondering whether or not she would be able to pass and still remain with her Sasuke-kun. Said Uchiha on the other hand looked irate at having to do another test, especially with two other people who would only slow him down.
Naruto however was in thought, I've never heard of this test before. Maybe I can ask Anko to shed some light on this new development.
"But we already graduated!" Sakura shouted. "That's not fair! Then what was that test we took at the academy all about!"
"Oh that?" Kakashi shrugged dismissively. "That was simply to weed out the hopeless cases. The ones that pass that test are the ones who have the 'potential' to become genin. I'm the one who gets to decide whether you three pass or fail. Be at training ground 7 at 5:00 am. Bring all your gear and weapons." Kakashi paused for a moment before giving them the clincher. "And I would suggest not eating breakfast tomorrow morning."
"Why is that?" asked Sakura.
"Because you'll just throw it up." Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving a pale Sakura, a brooding Sasuke, and a contemplative Naruto.
Another test! And if I fail I'm going to be separated from Sasuke-kun! Sakura thought to herself. This is a test of love!
Another test won't make any difference for me. It'll be easy. Sasuke thought as he looked over at his two 'teammates'. So long as these two don't get in my way.
Another test, this one to see if we can actually become genin. Naruto frowned in thought. He said not to eat, but I read that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, especially if we want to have enough energy to fight. He also said to be there at 5:00. Is all of that a trick? Part of the test? Perhaps he'll expect us to come late because he was tardy today and then he'll come on time tomorrow. Naruto shook his head; he was starting to think too much and it was giving him a headache again. The eating part is easy enough to ignore, but I'll have to talk to Anko about whether or not she thinks Kakashi would be late.
"I'm out of here." Sasuke muttered as he stood up.
"Oh! Sasuke-kun maybe we can spend some time together, you know to make a plan to pass Kakashi's test." Sakura said in a hopeful voice.
Sasuke turned around and stared at her for a full minute. "I don't need a plan to pass this test. All you'll do is hold me back. I don't need worthless teammates like you and the dobe to get in my way." Sasuke walked off leaving a dejected Sakura.
Naruto grit his teeth a bit. Who the hell does he think he is! Always belittling people! He looked over at Sakura, a part of him still held onto his small crush and wanted to help her. But another part, the part that had been slowly coming out since the Mizuki incident wanted her stew in her own misery for a change.
In the end he sighed, giving her a small pat on the shoulder as he walked past her. "I'm sure he didn't mean what he said." he told her.
"Naruto?" Sakura asked in surprise. But Naruto didn't pay any attention as he jumped off the roof and made his way towards his 'special' training ground.
Naruto continued tree hopping as he looked around the Forest of Death. He stopped at the next tree branch and sighed. "I wonder where she is?" he asked himself. He had been looking for over an hour and had yet to find a trace of her.
Just then Naruto's senses went on high alert and he rolled to left as a kunai lodged itself where he had been. Naruto pulled out a kunai as he came to his feet and looked around. Several more kunai came out of the trees to his left, and Naruto used his kunai to block them, before tossing his kunai into the tree.
The kunai came back a few seconds later, but Naruto was already running towards that spot. He pulled out several shuriken and tossed them at the figure hidden in the brush. Going through a few hand seals he called out a jutsu. "Shuriken Kage Bushin No Jutsu!" five shuriken became twenty five shuriken, and they all impaled the figure below.
Naruto landed on the branch and narrowed his eyes as he saw a pile of mud. He jumped into the air when several snakes shot out of the tree bark, rebounding off the surface of the tree he pushed chakra into his legs to land on the next branch up.
He spun around as he heard a whooshing sound and blocked a kunai that came his way. He looked at the person attached to the kunai and smiled. "Do you have to greet me this way every time I come here?" he asked.
Anko smirked. "Of course I do. I've got to make sure to keep you on your toes; otherwise you'll just die out in the field as some nameless loser."
"Aw I knew you cared for me." Naruto said with a grin.
"Don't look too into gakI." Anko replied with a similar look. "I'm just protecting my reputation. After all, what would people think if you died and they found out I trained you?"
"Who knows…" Naruto said with a shrug. "Though, they would probably think you did it on purpose and praise you for finally killing the 'demon'."
"Now there's an idea." Anko said, pushing him back a bit.
"Maybe." Naruto grinned. "However I'm not that easy to kill."
"Oh?" Anko raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure I could kill you right now if I wanted to."
"You'd think that wouldn't you?" Naruto asked with a smirk, mouthing a word that made Anko's eyes widen.
'Boom.'
BOOM!
A loud explosion destroyed the top of the trunk the two were on. Naruto came out from hiding behind a bush on the ground level. "Did I get her?" he wondered out loud. His question was answered when a pair of snakes wrapped around his torso and held them.
"Not quite." A voice sounded in his ear. The snakes turned him around to see Anko grinning at him. "Not bad gakI, but you should never let your guard down after a move like that. Always assume your opponent escaped, and plan your next move."
"Ugh…" Naruto grunted as Anko's snakes squeezed him hard enough that he felt his ribs creek. At least she did not make her snakes bite him like the last time he had made a mistake when they sparred. "I'll try to remember that."
"Good boy." Anko said as she put him down. "So how was your meeting with Kakashi?"
"Not bad." Naruto said, rubbing his now sore ribs. He smirked. "You were right about him. You should have seen the look on everyone's face, especially his face, when I mentioned his porn addiction."
Anko gave a sadistic grin. "I know, it's a little depressing that I can't rub it into his face without him finding out that I was the one who told you all of this."
"Still, we might be able to have more fun with him this way." Naruto commented, thinking of all the fun he could have messing with his sensei's head using the knowledge Anko gave him. "We're taking a test tomorrow." Naruto said, changing the topic.
"Ah yes, the genin graduation." Anko nodded. "Did he say anything about it?"
"Only to meet at training ground 7 at 5:00 am and to not eat breakfast." Naruto replied.
Anko chuckled. "Wow it's no wonder so many people fail his test if he gives instructions like those. What are you gonna do about it?"
Naruto frowned in thought. "Well I'm definitely not going to skip breakfast. If the test is as hard as he says it is, and he's as good as you told me, I'm going to need all the energy I could get."
Anko nodded her head, pleased to see the blond was getting smarter. Ever since she saw the books his kage bunshin were reading, Anko had taken to testing the knowledge and ability to analyze information properly during their spars. If he got one of the questions she asked wrong or if he was unable to analyze her body language and look underneath some of the statements she made, he would get punished. This normally just consisted of her kicking his ass even worse then she would have otherwise. Anko went under the motto that the best way to learn anything was to inflict enough pain on someone that they would never forget. It seemed to work well because Naruto would always remember what she told him or what his clones read, for fear that she would stomp a mud whole in him if he failed to meet her expectations.
"As for the time… to be honest I'm not sure. If he's as intelligent as you said, this may just be part of the test. We'll show up late, thinking that's what he's gonna do, then he shows up early and berates us for being late."
Anko scoffed. "Trust me on this, Kakashi may be smart enough to pull that off, but he lacks the motivation to try that hard." She looked at him and shook her head. "Never figured you for such a heavy thinker." She teased.
"HEY! I think!" Naruto shouted at her, his glare only causing her to laugh. "That's it!"
Naruto lunged at Anko while she just smirked.
The rest of the day Naruto spent it trying to beat Anko, with no luck what so ever as she proceeded to beat the crap out of him.
So the chapter is over. I get the feeling I'm going to get some flak for having Naruto on team seven. Unfortunately there was not much I can do about that. When you think about it because of Naruto being the dead-last he was pretty much guaranteed to be in that team, add on that Kakashi specifically requested him because of his rivalry with Sasuke and there is not much that can be done. I still plan on diverging the story from the canon eventually, there will be several major changes but they will come later.
Now I'm tired of talking… or writing. R&R to give me your thoughts, meanwhile I am going to do some 3D modeling… ugh, homework, what a love-hate relationship.
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