hello dears, i'm back with another Naruto fanfic!
let me begin by saying that the epilogue was a total piece of crap. Kishimoto didn't seem to get that people have their own personalities and genetic traits independent of their parents - people are not clones of their parents! (i'm talking to you, Boruto, Shikadai!)
but, I will take what I can get and work with the mess Kishimoto has made.
also, in the interest of clarity, Naruto's son, Boruto, his name is the Japanese pronunciation of "bolt". in this story I have made "Boruto" his full name and "Bolt" a nickname of sorts.
and without further ado, her is chapter 1!
Chapter 1
"And," Aburame-sensei announced proudly, and a little louder than normal in an attempt to speak over his class, "We have a special guest speaker today!"
"Bet you twenty it's just another Chunin Hokage guard member." Shikadai whispered glumly from behind Himawari. She heard Inojin's reply from beside Shikadai.
"Be quiet, you might learn something from him."
"Aww, you're no fun." Shikadai replied. Inojin could be a little bit of an overachiever at times, and Shikadai a tad lazy, though the two were usually inseparable.
"Please welcome the sixth Hokage of Konoha, Hatake-sama!" Aburame finished excitedly.
"Wow! It's Kakashi-sensei!" Bolt leapt up from his seat in excitement as a middle-aged man entered the room amid applause, a shock of silver hair standing out starkly against the dark blue of his mask. Himawari sighed; her brother was such a dunce.
"Bolt, sit down." She hissed, "And you can't address him like dad does – he's the Sixth, you have to be respectful!"
"Aw, shut up, Wari-nee." Bolt grumbled as Aburame motioned urgently for him to sit back down, "You think you're so special just cuz you're smart. Kakashi doesn't mind – he knows us."
"I am smart." Himawari whispered fiercely, "And don't call me Wari-nee!" she hated when people called her Wari – it sounded like it should be some sort of wart on her foot. She also hated it when Bolt brought up her smarts. True, she was a year and a half younger than everyone else in this classroom. Konoha called her a prodigy, the daughter of the Hokage, no less. So much so that she'd been moved up a grade level, now in the same class as her older brother, and heading the class with flying colors.
In some ways, she felt sorry for Bolt. Himawari was the one who got all the attention. The smart one, the child people expected from the Hokage. Bolt wasn't ignored by Konoha by any means, but Himawari outshone him in all measurable tests of excellence, and he strove to be recognized and to be accepted.
But as Sakura put it, Bolt was his father's son.
"No," Kakashi was saying to the class, "I'm talking about something more important to a ninja than Jutsu or Kekkei Genkai or brains. Anyone want to take a guess?"
Inojin put up his hand.
"You there, Yamanaka, aren't you?"
"Uh, yes, Hatake-sama. Um, I was going to say his physical aptitude."
"Wrong." Kakashi replied. Inojin looked crushed. "Something even more important."
Kakashi pointed to one of the Inuzuka twins. "Got anything?"
"His friends!" the Inuzuka exclaimed excitedly, looking up at his puppy companion.
"Close." Kakashi admitted, "Anyone else?" he looked around the room but no more hands stuck out so he decided to volunteer someone. "Himawari?"
Himawari sighed inwardly. The answer was obvious. "The well-being of the village is the main priority of the shinobi."
"Nope." Kakashi replied brightly. Himawari did a double take. He was just joking, right? She didn't volunteer answers much but she was never wrong. "The most important asset that a shinobi can have…is teamwork."
"Stupid Wari-nee." Bolt whispered from beside her, "Not even you are smarter than Kakashi."
Sometimes it felt like Himawari was the older sibling here and not Bolt.
Kakashi proceeded on to a short lecture on the value of teamwork before concluding and making his exit amid a smattering of applause.
"Now the reason I asked Hatake-sama to come in today," Aburame-sensei spoke up again over his class, "Is because very soon all of you will be full-fledged genin, no longer students at the academy. You will further study under a jonin level shinobi alongside two of your peers in squads of three. Now, let us again review what will be on your exams, beginning with taijutsu…"
…
"And can you please demonstrate a basic substitution jutsu?" Iruka asked calmly, picking up his pen. Himawari did as he asked, feeling her body grow taller as she imitated the appearance of the example ninja in front of her.
"Very good, Uzumaki-san. Now finally a genjutsu clone and you're free to go!"
After Himawari fabricated a sufficient clone of herself, she was released from the testing room with her certificate of graduation and "Yamanaka, Inojin" was called in for his exam.
"So Nii-chan, did you pass or no?" Himawari asked, half joking. Bolt snorted dismissively.
"Of course I passed! I'm gonna be Hokage so duh I passed."
"Oh yeah? Let's see your certificate then." A new voice commanded skeptically. Sarada looked at the both of them through the lenses of her glasses, and Himawari glared.
Uzumaki Himawari and Uchiha Sarada were more alike than either of them wanted to admit. Intelligent, reserved, and naturals at most ninja techniques, both girls were always at odds, each trying to one-up the other. Sarada was aloof, standoffish, and slightly mysterious, while Himawari was somewhat wiser and more adaptive to situations out of her comfort zone.
Needless to say, the girls did not get along at the best of times. At the worst of times, they were staring daggers across the room at each other, though there was never an outright confrontation. Aburame-sensei had been smart enough never to pit them against each other during sparring sessions but the rivalry remained.
"He doesn't need to show you." Himawari replied coldly, "You heard what he said – he passed." In truth, she was afraid that Bolt hadn't passed; he was liable to do something like that, but she wasn't about to let him fend off Sarada on his own.
"Oh, hold on…I got it right here!" Bolt exclaimed, digging around in his pocket, oblivious to the sparks crackling between Himawari and Sarada. He produced a crumpled piece of paper from the depths of the cloth, smoothing out the wrinkles and presenting it to Sarada proudly.
"See? Told you I was going to be Hokage."
If his exam marks were anything to go by, Himawari thought, he'd be lucky to get to chunin level.
Sarada tossed him back the paper with obvious disinterest, then turned to Himawari.
"Let's see yours, Uzumaki."
"But I just –" Bolt started, only to be interrupted.
"Not you." Sarada snapped, gesturing towards Himawari, "I was talking to her."
"Oh." Bolt replied happily, unperturbed by the girl's unfriendliness, "Yeah, Wari-nee, bet you failed."
"I did not!" Himawari argued, displaying her certificate. Sarada scowled when she saw the near-perfect score and laid down her own. Himawari tried not to make it too obvious that she was looking at the marks but realized that Sarada had made the exact same score she had.
"Guess your ninjutsu needs a little work." Sarada smirked, reading the individual category numbers. Himawari's ninjutsu wasn't as good as her taijutsu or genutsu scores, although it was still better than Bolt's by a long shot.
"Guess your taijutsu needs some too." She answered, referring to Sarada's certificate.
"Guess so." Sarada answered, her glasses flashing as they caught the sun.
….
"Squad three under Tachibana Moegi," Aburame-sensei was reading from the list in his hand, pointing to each of his subjects as he spoke their name, "Hyuga Naroki, Inuzuka Kyouka, Uzumaki Boruto."
"Yesss!" Bolt sprung from his chair.
"Sit down, Boruto." Aburame-sensei sighed, not an uncommon occurrence in the classroom. Bolt sat down.
"Squad four under Sarutobi Asuri: Nara Shikadai, Akimichi Chocho, and Yamanaka Inojin."
Shikadai and Inojin high-fived and Chocho rolled her eyes at the two boys.
"Squad five under Sarutobi Konohamaru," Aburame-sensei announced, "Uzumaki Himawari, Inuzuka Taro, and Uchiha Sarada."
"Squad six under Fukui Udon. . ." Himawari heard no more of what Aburame-sensei said; she was busy fuming.
How could her father do this to her? How could he put her on the same team as that little snot Sarada?! It was ridiculous!
Yes, she had to admit that her father didn't know anything about the girls' dislike for each other, but he still could have chosen any other student in the entire class, yet he chose her.
The idiocy.
did you enjoy? more excitement later! oh, and you should know that Asuri Sarutobi is Asuma/Kurenai's daughter. I took it upon myself to name her and make her a jonin sensei ^w^
please review!
-oldsoul
