Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot.
Konoha was the best village to live in if you were to ask everyone in Konoha, the villagers would say with pride that it was the only village that allowed the civilians to have a say of how the country should be run. The villagers weren't only proud of this but they were also proud about how strong they were and they boast about how their late Fourth Hokage defeated the Kyuubi.
Sadly, not everyone shares this same view. A prime example was Naruto Uzumaki, who would simply scoff at the villager's words. The blonde believed that the way the village was ran was a mockery on how a Hokage should be and in her eyes the villagers were monsters. Treating her like dirt and making her whole life miserable were one of the reasons why she believed that they were monsters.
However she would never say this to their face because in her opinion, it would cause a lot more trouble than it was worth. If the blue-eyed could, she would run away from this village but she couldn't not because she can't but she didn't had the heart to leave the kind old Hokage, a man she sees as her grandfather.
At times, she did wish that she did leave the village and see the rest of the world. Becoming a ninja would fulfill that; she didn't simply join the academy because of the fame like the other kids, she simply joined to get out of the civilian council hands and of course to see the world, emphasis of the world bit. The shinobi council wasn't completely bias to her and the Hokage could overrule them if things were to become bad.
In terms of skill, Naruto was a very capable ninja. She was good in taijutsu and was average in terms of ninjutsu and chakra control but had no talent in genjutsu. Her theory was good too and she excelled in Math's but only because she had to manage her own money. She never intentional cause trouble in class and only played pranks on the teachers that were bias to her. Poor Satsuki, he had been forced to quit after being her teacher for one year.
There were times when she felt the adults were waiting for her to snap as if they thought that she would kill them. It had taken her a while to figure out why they treated her the way they did. They thought that she was the Kyuubi but she was not the monster, never had she had the urge to kill. The monster would have killed them for the treatment but tempting as it was, she wouldn't do such a thing. Hurting them would not solve her problems, it would have made it even worse and she could understand why they treat her like this. You needed someone to blame for the people that you lost and what better person to blame than the container. It was wrong to blame her but it was understandable.
She was better than them as well in terms of moral. She had the chance to kill Mizuki for all the times that he had sabotage her learning but she didn't. Killing him would prove their idea of her being that monster right. Iruka had been so kind to her, telling her that he didn't believe that she was the monster. To him to recognize this fact made it seem the idea of them realizing the truth not to seem so silly. The Hokage had told her the same thing and it nearly made her cry, sometimes she hated the fact that she was human. Crying never solve problems, they just made it worse. Naruto know this really well, remembering all the times that she had cried to Kami about someone saving her from this hellhole. Nothing ever happened and she realized soon after that crying would not solve any problems.
Today was the genin orientation day and Naruto had chosen for once not to take her usual seat beside Sasuke instead opting to take a seat beside the timid Hyuga heiress. It was normally an entertainment to sit beside him, watching as the girls in their class fight for his attention but most of the time, those fangirls of his always seemed to pick on her. Claiming that she had a crush on the boy. Insane they were and it almost made her pity him but keyword being almost. The bastard did deserve it.
She also hadn't sat beside Hinata for a long time. It wasn't from the lack of trying but Kiba kept stealing her seat beside her friend. Hinata was very gentle not to tell that mutt that she didn't want to sit beside her but Naruto didn't complain. There was no way she wanted Hinata to change that aspect of herself.
The sound of latecomers nearing the classroom and their voices, made her winced. Glancing at Sasuke, Naruto curled her lips in amusement at the sight of the pale Uchiha looking even paler. It was no secret that the whole class had found it amusing to watch all the girls fighting over the Uchiha heir, the most amusing being Sakura and Ino.
Would their obsession with him fade over time? Naruto asked herself as she watched the two girls argue over who got inside the room first. Predictably, those two will soon argue over who is going to sit beside Sasuke.
Barely four minutes later, Sakura walked towards Sasuke and asked him if she could sit beside him, batting her eyelashes at him as she asked him. Naruto hid her mouth behind her hand to stop the urge to burst out into a fit of laughter when she saw Ino arguing with Sakura about how she deserve to sit beside Sasuke because she had been there first.
"I truly pity the poor bastard, Hinata." Naruto said to her friend.
"W-Who do you pity." Hinata asked, looking at her friend in confusion.
Naruto pointed at Sasuke, who had been looking at her for sometime to help him with his fangirls. "He had to deal with those insane fangirls of his."
"Naruto!" Hinata reprimanded but the amuse glint in her eyes told her that she didn't mind her choice of words. Naruto grinned and shrugged her shoulders at her only female friend in a way to suggest that it was only true. Which it was.
Naruto glanced at Sasuke for the second time that day. She sighed at the pleading look on his face and reluctantly got up to save his ass. They weren't friends but there was an understanding that she would help him manage the fangirls and he in turn would help her with the few fanboys that seemed to follow her. What they see in her, she would never know. Not once had she ever complemented them and Kami help her if she had ever told them that she agreed to go out on a date with them. She would kiss Sasuke before doing something insane as that. That should tell you how bad it was.
"Hinata-chan can you please make sure that no one steals my seat." The Hyuga heiress looked at her with confusion. "I have to deal with Bubblegum and Ino-pig as usual." Hinata sighed and nodded in understanding.
"The two of you do realized that there is another empty seat beside Sasuke," Naruto drawled as she drew their attention towards her. The two rivals glared at her but the blue-eyed girl ignored them. She pointed towards the other empty beside the raven-haired teen, who was now glaring at her.
"First off, who asked you chubby! Secondly it isn't the same." Ino argued.
"Yes!" Sakura agreed.
Curling her lips, Naruto leaned against the table and sighed. Their glare intensifies now radiating weak killer intent, frightening a couple of the boys around them but not the blonde. The said blonde was now carefully looking at the seats before looking at the two girls in annoyance.
"I see no other way to solve this problem for you," Naruto answered stiffly. "Unless, one of you want to sit beside Shikamaru and Choji so choose your seat now!" The two girls looked at each other and reluctantly took their seats beside Sasuke.
Sakura took her seat on Sasuke's left while Ino took a seat on his right. Neither of them were happy with this arrangement but none more so than the raven-haired teen who had looked at her with anger for pointing it out to the two of them.
Naruto rolled her eyes and said to him, "You should suck it up like a man and deal with it!"
The raven-haired teen rolled his eyes and grunted. Naruto grinned at him before going back to her seat beside Hinata, not noticing the small blush on his face.
"I simply can't comprehend how you could stand up to them." Hinata said, frowning at the glares that Naruto was currently receiving from the raven-haired preteen's fangirls.
"I simply got used to it," Naruto answered as she leaned against her seat. "Plus I can beat them up with my hands tied behind my back." she boasted. Hinata chuckled, smiling at how boastful her friend can be.
It wasn't long before Iruka-sensei entered the classroom and all the genins attention were at him. Their eager eyes were waiting for him to tell them which teams they were in but to their disappointment their ex-sensei had started to talk to them about their upcoming duty as shinobi of Konohagakure.
It had to be one of Iruka-sensei longest and boring speeches that he had ever gave them. Several times she had spotted people dozing off not including Shikamaru, the obligatory slacker. Finally the speech ended and the main even came, namely the team assignments and none of the new genins were falling asleep.
Naruto watched in boredom as various names were called and the genins in question reacted to their placement with either joy or disappointment and a few times both. She waited for her name to come up. Finally:
"Team Seven: Uzumaki Naruto," she perked up, "Haruno Sakura," Naruto slammed her forehead against the table to the amusement of Hinata. "And Uchiha Sasuke."
"I don't mean to be rude, Iruka-sensei but why the hell am I paired up with Sasuke-teme over there? My marks are completely average and should put me along the half way mark in the class and I certainly don't understand how the three of us would work with us not getting along. And wouldn't it have been smarter to pair the dead last with the Rookie of the Year?" Naruto asked, looking at Iruka in anger and frustration.
Iruka rubbed the back of his neck as he thought of how to answer the blonde's question while the other genins looked at him in curiosity to answer the inquiry. "If we were speaking from placement in class wise, you would be correct however we had to take in account of skills and abilities. Your abilities are the reason why you were paired with Sasuke and Sakura." He answered.
Naruto shook her head before reluctantly sitting down. She had been hoping that she would be paired with Hinata and Naruto didn't want her friend to deal with any strangers or worse Kiba. What could she do? Threaten the Hokage by stealing his porn? That was tempting but she wasn't insane to do that.
"In the afternoon, we will introduce your jounin-senseis," said Iruka once everyone was placed on a team. "Until then take a break." The students started to disperse, discussing the pros and cons of their new squads.
Sasuke rose silently and walked out the door, Sakura following him like the fangirl that she was. Sasuke pretended she didn't exist. Naruto frowned at this scene. This was in no way a good thing; the three of them were suppose to act like a team. Maybe it would be better after a few missions. Hey a girl can a dream can't she?
They had been waiting for the past two hours and fifty-five minutes, not that Naruto has been counting the moment when they meet their sensei. It wouldn't be bad if she had her friends with her but they had left an hour ago with their sensei leaving her with Sasuke and Sakura as company.
It wasn't that bad if she admitted to herself since she wasn't in a hurry to talk to them. After all, who would want to talk to their teammate when they had a good book to read? Not her that was for sure.
"Where the hell is our sensei?" Sakura growled. Looking up from her book, Naruto saw that Sakura was pacing back and forth at the door. Sighing, the blonde wondered if the lateness was to be expected from their sensei.
"How the hell am I suppose to know? I am in the same boat as the two of you." Naruto said as she returned her eyes back on the page that she was currently reading. "If you are so bored, why don't you just go to the library and get a book or check for some scrolls to read. I am certain that Iruka-sensei have some scrolls lying around here."
It was in that moment that the door slid open to revel a sliver-haired man wearing a jonin vest, his forehead protector covering his left eye. His visible eye seized them up as if he was deciding whether or not they were worth his time.
"Well my first impression of you guy is...that I hate you," the jonin said. Sasuke and Sakura sweat-dropped while Naruto snorted. "Is there anything funny blonde?" the jonin asked.
The blue-eyed girl looked up from her book and stared at the jounin; her eyes were lit in amusement. "That should be our line since obviously our first impression on you isn't that great considering how late you are."
"Naruto-baka, shut up!" Sakura cried, her fist rose to strike the back of Naruto's head.
The blue-eyed girl narrowed her eyes at this movement and leaned out of the way as soon as Sakura brought it down. Sakura lost her balance and fell over. She rubbed her head as she looked up at the blond girl, whose eyes were now filled with boredom as if it was child's play.
"You know Sakura if I could avoid it once than I could avoid it again and again." Naruto said as she yawned at her. The pink-haired girl got annoyed at her teammate's words. How dare she say it like she was dumb? She had better marks than her during theory tests.
"Don't speak to me as if I am dumb! I got better marks than you did."
Naruto didn't blinked at Sakura's words instead she remained impassive. "I am not speaking as if you are dumb, I am stating an obvious fact. Even a smart person will overlook the obvious but remember we are teammates and that means you do not hit me." She explained, giving a pointed look at both of he teammates. "Which means you don't piss me off and I might not make any snide comments about you but only when you prove to me that you truly don't deserve it."
So that is Uzumaki? Kakashi thought. Her file had said that she was boastful, of average intelligence and skills. But this kid seems to be humble and slightly above intelligence and I don't know about skill, as I haven't seen any so far.
"All right you three, meet on top of the Academy in five minutes," Kakashi said before vanishing in a puff of smoke.
Naruto blinked at the puff of smoke and than put her hands behind her head. "As tempting as it is to do as he says and meet him in five minutes, I prefer to be late in meeting him. Anyone up to join me?" asked Naruto, picking her stuff up. Sasuke rolled his eyes at her and dragged her to meet their sensei.
"What the bloody hell are you doing, bastard?" Naruto yelled as she glared at the Uchiha heir in anger.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her and said, "If I didn't drag you here, you would have skipped the introduction with our sensei just so you can teach him a lesson!"
"Can't deny that."
The Uchiha clan heir finally let go of her ear as soon as they were on top of the Academy. Naruto rubbed her ear and glared at the smirking Sasuke, cussing under her breath at him.
"The very least you could have done was not to pull my ears that hard." Said Naruto as she took her seat beside Sasuke.
"Well, let us begin with introducing yourselves," Kakashi said.
"You do realize that is a very board topic," Naruto pointed out. "What do you want us to talk about?"
Kakashi shrugged his shoulders and suggested, "How about your likes, dislikes, your dreams for the future and things like that. Blonde, you are up first."
Naruto glared at Kakashi for singling her out. "Fine, my name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like reading, painting, cooking and I dislike people who doesn't take their job seriously as well as people who humiliate others to make themselves feel stronger," she sighed. "I also dislike traitors. My dream is to see the world and become a strong kunoichi."
Kakashi grinned behind her mask. She certainly has some spunk. She insulted both of her teammates without coming out and saying it.
"All right Bubblegum you are next." Kakashi said as he ignored the feeble glare from Sakura.
"Y-yes. My name is Haruno Sakura. I like…" she trailed off and glanced at Sasuke. To both Naruto and Sasuke's chagrin, the pink-haired girl squealed before continuing. "I dislike Naruto-"
"It is a two way street, Bubblegum." Naruto said, leaning against the step. Sakura glared at her for interrupting her but the blonde arched her eyebrows and rolled her eyes.
"As I was saying my dream is to…" again Sakura trailed off as her face went red.
The blonde patted the black-haired boy's back in sympathy. He arched his eyebrows and scowled at her. Sometimes, she truly did pity the boy for having so many pathetic fangirls.
Why is she even a ninja? I swear to Kami that they gave me her as a punishment. Kakashi thought. "All right, let us see what Emo boy has to say."
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are a lot of things I dislike and I don't really like anything and I can't really call it a dream. But I have an ambition, the resurrection of my clan and to kill a certain man." Sasuke said, his fingers covering the bottom half of his face.
Naruto grimaced. She certainly had no idea on what had went through his mind when he found his whole clan being murdered and no one knew what exactly happened that day. It was however understandable that he wanted to murder the man that killed his family, many people would have done the same thing if given the same chance even she would be like that too if she knew what happened to her parents.
"Wait sensei what about you?" Sakura asked, snapping Naruto back into reality.
"My name is Hayate Kakashi and I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes. My dream for the future…hmm, and I have lots of hobbies." Kakashi answered, smiling at the three speechless genins.
"All he told us was his name." Sakura whispered to her teammates.
The blue-eyed girl wrinkled her nose and said, "Very true but I suppose that we will learn more about him since he is our sensei."
"I suppose so but still can't he tell us more about himself?"
Naruto lips curled into an amused smile at her teammate's questions but didn't comment about the question. Sakura raised her eyebrows in surprise while Sasuke shook his head at her. It seemed all that arguing that they had made him learn well enough that she doesn't want to comment.
"What is so funny about what I just said Naruto?"
"Yes, Naruto-chan what is so funny about what Sakura had said?" Kakashi asked, looking at his blond student in amusement and laziness.
"First off, you don't have permission to call me Naruto-chan, coming from you it sounds all perverted. I found it funny that you asked us to tell us all these things about ourselves and yet you don't give any in return," Naruto yawned. "I was expecting to know a little bit more from my sensei but I shouldn't expect anything from a lazy sensei."
"That wounds me Naruto-chan!"
Naruto glared at him and said in a sweet voice, "Call me Naruto-chan again and I will hurt you so badly that you will never look at a woman the same way again." He gulped and vigorously nodded his head. She definitely reminded him of her mother and Tsunade when she said this.
"Alright now so far for the introductions, tomorrow we will start our duties as shinobi."
The blond-haired girl lazily looked up at the sky and asked, "What kind of duties may I ask?"
"First we are going to do something with just the four of us." Kakashi answered cheerfully.
The short blond girl returned her attention to the sliver haired man and lazily asked, "Can you please go into further detail about that? Because you can't honestly expect us to be prepared if you do not give us any details."
The slivered-hair jonin chuckled and answered, "Survival training."
Naruto arched her eyebrows at him and repeated, "Survival training?" She glanced at her teammates and was happy to see that she was not the only one confused.
"Why is our first duty a training? We have had enough training at the Academy."
Naruto scoffed at Sakura's words. The said pink-haired girl raised her eyebrows at her teammate.
"Do you have something to say Naruto!" Sakura screeched.
"Of course I do," Naruto said, yawning at her angry teammate. "The academy had putted more emphasis on book smarts than on physical training, which is a mockery of how any solider, ninja or not should be!"
Kakashi could see the stream rolling off the pink-haired girl's head. He looked at Naruto, who wasn't fazed from the anger from the girl and was now sitting there like she hadn't said something wrong.
"How can you say that? If you believed that than why now have you decided to put effort into studying?"
The blonde smiled distastefully at her teammate and answered. "Just because I have those beliefs do not mean I wish to fail in the exams! Without knowledge, people can…" she shook her head. "I am just saying that in terms of being a ninja, you need to focus as well on the physical aspects. If you don't then you die, simple as that."
"W-what do you mean?"
Naruto didn't answer her teammate's question, deciding that she had already spoken too much. She had already spoke about her disgust of the Academy and that was bad enough but to explain how it can get them killed would be pushing the line and Naruto does not want to get into trouble with them.
Kakashi was looking at the blond-haired girl in front of him with interest. Maybe this bunch of genins had a chance but it all goes down to tomorrow's test.
"As much as I like hearing you guys argue, I still have to tell you about the survival training," Kakashi said, drawing their attention back to him. "This isn't an normal training, this time I am your opponent."
The blond-haired girl eyes twitched at this piece of information before replacing her expression with one of impassiveness, making it hard for him to read her emotions. Her teammates in the other hand were easy to read, Sasuke was brooding and Sakura was nervous.
"What is it?" Sakura asked. Kakashi chucked causing the three genins to look at him in confusion. "What is so funny sensei?"
"Um…well…it is just that when I tell you this you guys are totally going to freak out." Kakashi explained.
"And why would we freak out?" Naruto asked.
"Of the 27 graduates, only 9 will be chosen to become a genin and the rest will be send back to the Academy. This training is a very difficult exam with a failure rate of over 66%!" Kakashi explained, enjoying the shock looks on the genin's faces.
"That does make sense," Naruto said softly. "It explains why eighteen kids from the year before was sent back but it does not explain the exam that we took before."
"The exams that your class took was one that weeded out the ones that aren't meant to become genins yet, it was an elimination process." Kakashi explained and the three kids were troubled at this new piece of information.
"Anyway, tomorrow you have to show your real skills on the training ground and bring all the shinobi tools you have." Kakashi suggested. "Oh and skip breakfast, you might throw up."
Naruto simply frowned and thought to herself that there was something wrong with this test. He tells them not to eat breakfast, the most important meal of the day, that told her that he was planning to make them be at their weakest but why? Well, whatever the reason was, she was not skipping breakfast.
Author Note: Please review.