Hi! So I have a new story and it's in a different fandom! But unfortunately, as I'm posting this one, I'm going to have to put my other fic on hiatus because life stinks sometimes. Anyways, I like to create balancedOCs and these new genin generation fics are so much fun to read that I decided to make my own take on these fics. I hope you enjoy them!
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I own my OCs only.
Chapter One: Graduation
Today was a decent day.
A day filled with floating clouds and occasional rays of sunshine. Most people were probably asleep. Patrol ninjas kept their stance at the gates, awake from some harsh time of the breezy night till now. At this time, mothers awoke their children and beckoned them to prepare for school. Breakfast was made. Rooms were tidied. And backpacks were stuffed full of scrolls and Academy-appropriate weapons. Shopkeepers rose early and pulled up the metal cover, revealing stocks of hats, tea, ninja gear, and of course, ramen. Delicious fumes of soup and noodles often brought the early Academy students running up to Ichiraku's, ready to indulge a snack before classes start.
But, in such peculiarity, this morning was slow business. Academy students breezed by the open shop as if it vanished overnight. But Teuchi and Ayame were not fazed by this sudden decrease in customers. No. They continued on making the noodles and the broth. It was that time of year, the final exam to finally graduate from the Academy. Already, students had scrolls pulled out and were studying intensely. Others picked a creative route to the Academy, as if brushing up any physical exercises. And then, there was that select few who just know they are going to pass and spent this time enjoying a leisure walk.
One of those select few would be Shun Tetsuya. A twelve year old boy with sleek dark hair and one strand that somehow seems to extend past his bangs and to his brown eyes. He wore plain gray, somewhat over sized, hooded sweatshirt with short sleeves that seemed to have been ripped off and simple black shorts. One noticeable thing about his plain outfit was a series of black bands and bandages that ran down his right arm and a small wrapping of bandages on his upper left arm.
Shun shoved both his hands into the front pockets of his sweatshirt and he could have discreetly stalked into the building, if not for a bumbling idiot suddenly appearing right next to him.
This idiot had long white hair with slight tints of aqua and it was tied up into a pony tail. His eyes were a striking deep blue and his complexion was smooth and pale like the surface of water. He also wore shorts, but they were white, and on the top, he wore a dark shortened raincoat that trailed past his thighs in the back. A real noticeable aspect of his wardrobe would be a trailing teal scarf that ended just above the ground in the front.
"Hello Dead Last! Ready for the exam?" His striking blue eyes gleamed in all enthusiasm as he struck his friend again on the back.
"Oh I'm going to do fine. I don't know about you, Gate-Jumper." Shun smirked back.
"But I know you're going to pass. You're basically the star of the show!" The other boy frowned. "Me on the other hand…not so much…"
Shun scoffed, "You just hope Iruka-sensei calls on you last. It's your fault you decided to be lazy and not study. But you're a fast learner so you'll be fine, Gate Jumper."
"Hey! I'm not Gate Jumper anymore! I'm a dragon! You know, the type that flies! That's why my name is Ryuu!" The blue eyed boy confidentially announced, only for Shun to nonchalantly walk past him.
"Come on, Ryuu Mizuno, we'll be late for exams."
The two boys walked along the bustling hallway, witnessing children that were still studying and others that were causing chaos. They found their classroom, rounded to the back corner, took their seats, and proceeded to waste time until their teacher came in. It was the same for every class. This exam day was no different.
"Okay Shun! Would you rather take on a pack of genin or one jounin?" Ryuu asked to the very bored Shun.
"Jounin", Shun immediately answered, "You know I would rather test my strength than having a simple workout. The answer is quite clear. In fact, it'll be like asking you if you thought her", he pointed down at a lone chestnut haired girl sitting at the desk below them, "Or her." He pointed across the other room where a dark haired girl was chatting with her friends.
"Kinako or Sanae? Of course Sanae!" He nodded at the long haired girl with friends, who didn't seem to notice his gaze. "She's almost a carbon copy of you. Perfect test scores. Really good at genjutsu. And she thinks I look cool in my snazzy coat!" He beamed, flashing it for all to see before leaning in closer to Shun.
"You look stupid in that coat."
"Oh shut up! Dead Last!"
"Gate Jumper."
"You two settle down back there!" An annoyed bark sent both boys sitting back orderly into their seats. That would be their instructor. Iruka Umino. He was always a nice, helpful, and polite teacher. Except, Ryuu always thought otherwise. Every time he spoke with Iruka, he always felt this wrong sensation sent back to him from the teacher. Maybe it was from skipping class a bit too many times? Who knows? But Iruka always seemed to send a weird vibe whenever Ryuu got together with Shun. "Is everybody settled down? Good. I hope you're all ready for the final exam. I am going to call you up one-by-one to perform the exam in a separate room. The rest of you guys hang around here and brush up on any last minute studying." Iruka pulled out a clipboard. "First up is Sanae Amanashi."
"Yes Iruka-sensei!" A slender girl with long dark hair stood up and followed after Iruka.
Ryuu simply sighed, gazing fondly at his crush. "There goes Sanae. She's definitely going to pass. I hope she's in my team."
Shun scoffed at his friend, "I find your infatuation pointless. Shouldn't you be doing some last minute training?"
"Eh I'm a fast learner. I'll catch up to anything they throw at me!" Ryuu replied with great confidence. "Just wondering, who do you want in your genin team?"
"Strong people." Yet another straightforward answer from Shun.
"Hey I'm strong!"
"You're passable."
Ryuu equally smirked back. "Hey. Be careful of your words. I'm the only friend you got at this academy. Well…not counting your fan club." He gestured over to a pack of girl nearby.
"Kinako Keiganu." The lonely chestnut haired girl stood up before them and she too walked out of the classroom.
Ryuu scoffed, watching the other girl walk away. "Well, I clearly know who I don't want in my team."
"Kinako? What's so wrong about her?" Shun questioned. He merely knew the girl as that extremely quiet individual that sat in front of his seat.
"Well, she's really weird first of all. I swear her eyes are permanently hosed down or something. Have you ever noticed how long she can stare at people?" Ryuu explained. "One time, as I was walking home from training, I saw her just sitting outside of a teahouse. The whole time I was passing by, all she did was stare me down with those wide eyes. It's like she's trying to visually rape me!"
"That's taking it a bit too far." Shun remarked, sweat drops falling from his head.
"It's true!"
"Ryuu Mizuno!"
Ryuu's blue eyes widened in both shock and fear and he jumped up from his seat. "What! My turn already? But I didn't study! I didn't practice!"
"Good luck." Shun half-heartedly remarked, playfully pushing his freaking out friend towards the door.
'This is bad! This is bad! I didn't practice! Damn it! Why'd I have to procrastinate? Why?' Ryuu nervously rambled in his head as he took his trembling steps towards the exam room. But once he pulled open those doors, he was met with that pair of sea-green eyes, those eyes that he feared for so long. "Kinako!" He exclaimed, falling back a little.
That weird girl kept on staring at him for a few more seconds before walking away. "You'll do fine."
"What?" Flabbergasted at her behavior, Ryuu decided to brush it off and march into his exam with confidence. That is if he had that confidence right now. Instead, he stood very shocked outside, gulping away saliva, fingers trembling to pull open that door once more. 'You can do this! You can do this!' He repeated again and again and finally, pulled those doors open.
"Ryuu Mizuno. Took you long enough." Iruka said with slight suspicion.
"Haha. Um…bathroom break."
Iruka sighed and flipped a page of his clipboard. "Anyways, here's your exam. You see that chair over in the back. Substitute yourself before I hit you with my kunai knife. Ready…"
"Wait! Wait! Let me just stretch!"
"Go!"
In a panic hurry, Ryuu's fingers flew together in a massive array of complicated hand signs that he did just out of instinct. Sure, he's done the Substitution Justu many times before. Especially if he needed to evade from a certain pissed off companion. But, officially in front of a teacher, he can kiss his ninja career goodbye! Right now, all he had to do was hope for the best and see if this simple technique worked. The kunai knife flew right towards his head. Ryuu turned heels and dove under a desk, letting the technique work itself out.
There it was. A chair with a kunai knife imbedded in.
A huge sigh of relief washed over the tired Academy student. He gingerly crawled out of his hiding spot and brushed away dust on his shorts.
"Wait. Why is the chair still in the back?"
"What? But I swore!" Panicked, Ryuu flipped around. Sure enough, his target was still in the back of the room, clearly unused. But if that wasn't the chair used, then what was?
"Ow!" A sudden thud sounded from the teacher's desk. Iruka disappeared!
"Iruka-sensei!" Ryuu ran up to the desk. Peering over, he saw his teacher sitting very awkwardly on the floor. It seems like he took Iruka's chair instead of the other one…oops. Ryuu shrank back. "Does this mean I fail?"
"Hmm… You performed the justu correctly, but you took the wrong chair and almost broke my tailbone." Iruka rubbed his back standing up.
Yep. He failed. Totally.
"But I didn't notice you took the wrong chair until I fell to the ground. To be able to take something from underneath my nose, I guess I can pass you."
"Really? Really!" Ryuu leapt up from the ground in full cheers before running up to get his headband. Finally, a headband of silver plating and blue cloth! It symbolized his official graduation, when he was literally one of the classroom failures. But he passed and that's all that matters!
"Be careful next time and try to follow directions!" Iruka attempted to reach the happy boy, but it was fruitless. "Seriously, nothing can get past that boy." But the teacher chuckled instead his usual sigh of displeasure. "He's so much like him. He'll be a fine ninja."
oOoOo
"Hey Shun! Let's go out to eat in celebration of both our graduations!" Ryuu slung his arm around the usually bored boy of dark hair.
"It was a Substitution Justu. That was the easiest test in the history of tests." Shun scoffed, removing himself from the hyper boy.
"But still! I can't believe I passed!"
"Oh shut up! Your enthusiasm is getting annoying."
"Come on Shun! Lighten up!"
"Get lost!"
'Troublesome little kids…' A familiar ninja stopped in his steps to let the little ones run by him. 'Oh well, they must all be very excited.' He also noted at a little girl with chestnut hair carrying bakery goods. After letting the students pass him, he strolled down to a nearby flower shop.
"Shikamaru! How are you?" A kunoichi of trailing blonde hair exclaimed in surprise.
"Troublesome. You?"
"It's been so great! Sales have doubled because so many students passed their exam." Ino gleamed so bright that Shikamaru could imagine gold coins glimmering in her eyes.
Shikamaru sighed, "How troublesome. That means more students to tackle for us jounins."
"Oh I'm sure you'll have fun!" Ino playfully patted his sore back. "Who knows? You might get competent students this year. I hope you get my favorite, Kina-chan!"
"Kina-chan?"
"Yeah, she's the daughter of a baker who sells the best melon bread. Her family also likes buying my flowers for decorations. She and I are our best customers."
'Of course, always thinking with her wallet' Shikamaru winced, lucky enough to not be sucked dry off his paycheck. Ever since Ino started working at her shop when she was a little kid, she was always trying to find ways to make more dough than necessary. Who knows what goes on in a woman's head?
"Speaking of flowers, Chunin Exams are coming up soon. Don't you want to buy something a little something special for Suna's liaison?" Ino winked.
Shikamaru scowled, "Troublesome woman."
A small giggle erupted from his former teammate. "I'm going to be keeling over if your students ever found out."
"I'll know who they asked for it."
"Not if you have my Kina-chan." Ino smirked. "She'd sense it a mile away."
"Then I'll try not to get whoever this Kina-chan is in my team. There's only one-ninth chance." Shikamaru retorted back before picking himself up to leave. "See you later. It's time for me to see my new little genin team."
"Good luck Shikamaru." Ino called back out. "I hope they pass this year!" After seeing her former teammate finally disappear, she simply sat by the counter like her usual, leisurely day offs. She wondered what kind of genin team Shikamaru would get. Are they battle oriented? Are they smart? Are they cute? Who knows? If only Chouji were back early would she be able to finally get some good juice. This year, though, she wanted this team to actually pass Shikamaru's ridiculously hard test. Maybe because there was that one-ninth chance of Kina-chan ending up in Shikamaru's team. Maybe because she wanted Shikamaru to get off his lazy ass and do something.
Or to finally attend the Chunin Exams…
Oooh! Did something happen at the last Chunin Exams? Please review!