The Beginning

Arc One: Chapter One, That Snow-Haired Shinobi!

"No, this is not the beginning of a new chapter in my life; this is the beginning of a new book! That first book is already closed, ended, and tossed into the seas; this new book is newly opened, has just begun! Look, it is the first page! And it is a beautiful one!"

― C. JoyBell C.

Kaito woke up just in time to duck as a flying book sailed over his head.

"Stay awake!" One of the Academy instructors yelled.

A kid behind him who got hit by the book moaned as he rubbed his forehead, a book-shaped mark imprinted on his head.

"Sorry Shiba-sensei..." He mumbled, rubbing his eyes. And he really was sorry; he woke up late that morning, as usual, and had to rush to class. So, it was the thought that counted?

The tall woman with a streak of purple in her jet-black hair sighed. "Just don't do it again," She glared at him with her bright purple eyes, "Today is a very important day for all of you. Continue Abarame-chan."

The second, and main, instructor, Abarame-sensei, cleared his throat. It was hard to tell who he was looking at, some metal object placed over his eyes. His green zip-up jacket with a black zipper lay blurry through Kaito's tired eyes. "This day will determine-"

Kaito, no longer able to bear the oppressed weight of his eyelids, gently rested his head on the desk as the instructor continued talking.

Soon though, he was jerked awake by a fellow classmate.

Kaito mumbled swears under his breath and huffily turned his head to see-well, really yell at-the person who woke him up, and instantly stopped when he saw the familiar green short hair that he was beginning to grow used to. It was his childhood friend, Ren.

Ren had recently gotten his long green hair cut, so now his hair was shoulder-length, the side parting letting a large portion of his bangs cover the left side of his face. His black eyes held a weariness similar to Kaito's, he noticed, suggesting that Ren had gotten as much rest as he did. He wore mesh armor underneath a dark green t-shirt with silver metal lashes on the front and back of it in the shape of claw marks.

Kaito sighed and let his head fall back on his arms, wiping the slob from his face. "What now?"

"Listen..." Ren said, though he clearly didn't want to listen either, "He's about to tell us what we need to do to graduate."

"Hmm? Oh, sorry. This is important." Kaito's voice oozed with sarcasm.

"-the clone technique to pass." Aburame-sensei finished, then after a parting glance directly towards Kaito, both instructors went into the examination room.

. . .

Kaito was one of the last to enter. Shiba-sensei looked up as he entered the room. The room's floor was bare, polished wood, the only decoration was the desk that they sat at, a set of seven Leaf forehead protectors placed neatly on the desk. Sunlight shone through the window as Kaito sighed. In truth, he wasn't scared or nervous in the slightest. You could even say that he was excited!

'This is the day,' He thought, 'Time to show everyone that my last-minute training has finally paid off! The day to change our fate...'

. . .

"Hmm. Commence, Kaito."

Kaito nodded, and made three consecutive hand seals: Ram, Snake, Tiger.

Poof!

Covered in smoke, four clones that were completely identical to Kaito appeared. They all had the same snow-white, mildly spiky hair, sky blue eyes, thin dark blue metal-plated arm warmers, a silver band wrapped around his right shoulder, and a navy blue shirt with a symbol of a water sphere on the left sleeve. They wore the same white pants, a ninja hip-pouch located at the back of them, a shuriken holster strapped to all of their legs, and blue ninja sandals. Yup, they looked exactly like Kaito.

"How'd I do?" Kaito asked, a grin plastered across his face.

Shiba sighed and tapped one of the forehead protectors.

"Go ahead," she sighed, "You've passed."

"Congratulations" Aburame-sensei nodded.

The clones disappeared as Kaito sighed and flopped to his butt.

The male instructed stared at Shiba for a long time until she noticed him. He nodded his head towards Kaito.

"Huh?" Kaito's eyebrow rose in confusion.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Here." Shiba threw an object at him that he barely managed to catch. It was small, compact, and black. A wallet, he realized, and one full of a certainly generous amount of cash.

"What's this for?"

"No reason. We just had a bet to see if you would fail."

Kaito's heart sank. Did they really think that little of him?

"Tsk," Shiba glared at him, "Don't you dare make that face!"

Aburame-sensei, who's face usually lay emotionless, smirked for a brief moment. "We both had a bet that you'd pass. And since you did, we both agreed to give you money to celebrate, along with a new wallet."

Kaito brightened instantly.

"Hmph," Shiba swung her head away from the snow-haired boy. "Enjoy it. This is the last gift you'll get from me. Brat."

"Hehe," Kaito grinned, "I'll be sure to bring you some change!"

Kaito grabbed his hitai-ate and wrapped it around his forehead, a glare cast on the metal where the Leaf's symbol was located.

"Finally," he said under his breath, "I'm finally a ninja."

Kaito dashed out of the room just in time to hear "Don't promise what you're not going to keep, idiot!"

He smirked as he made his way out of the academy. He saw the crowd of parents and students, but he decided that he didn't want to look for Ren and his parents. He continued onto the streets of Konoha, and soon everything became a blur of excitement, joy, and the usual complaint of a person he had ran into. He followed the mental map that lay as written in his head as stone to the one place that he never felt a stranger to: Ichiraku Ramen, the original.

. . .

"Old man!" He yelled as he entered the shop, skidding to a stop. As Teuchi turned around, his eyes grew in surprise when he saw the forehead protector on Kaito's forehead. He tapped Ayame on her shoulder.

"Hmm?" She turned around and gasped in surprise.

"You did it!" She exclaimed.

"Yup!" He tapped the headband proudly. "Piece of cake!"

"Oh, I'm so proud of you!" She held out her arms and Kaito didn't hesitate to lean over the counter to hug the beautiful young woman. Denying one of her hugs was not only disrespectful to all men competing for Ayame's eyes, but a disrespect to the world. "How about a free bowl of ramen, on me?"

"I'll gladly take you up on that offer!" Kaito said, taking his seat at the counter as Teuchi grabbed a bowl. "Spicy Delite?" He asked, though Kaito was sure the old man knew his answer.

"Of course!" Not five minutes later did the first bowl appear in front of him. "Thank you very much!" Kaito smiled gratefully.

He picked up the chopsticks, and, after separating exclaimed again, "Thank you very much!" before digging into the ramen. They both smiled at the boy. They, unlike other customers, had grown used to the way Kaito savagely and mercilessly devoured the food, and while others cowered in fear of the monster gobbling up the food, Teuchi and Ayame simply prepared more bowls. In one way or another, it could be seen as satisfying a titan's appetite.

Kaito guessed around his third bowl Ayame had gossiped to a customer or two, because people soon came to congratulate him on passing the exams.

"This is only one step, you know." A man said.

"I know," Kaito said in between slurps, "But this means that I'm ready to be a ninja. So," he pushed the bowl aside, "I wonder who I'll be paired up with..."

. . .

Kaito eagerly sat at his seat the next day, fully awake. Ren had passed and was sitting next to Kaito, bored and tired, waiting to hear what squad he was in.

He barely paid attention to any of the other squads as Aburame-sensei called their names. Kaito was only listening for either his or his friend's name. Hopefully they'd be together.

"Team 10. Ren Yoshido, Emi Tachibana, and Takehiro."

Kaito nudged Ren with his elbow.

"You know 'em?"

"Nah, but I'm sure I'll meet them soon enough." He said dryly.

"Team 11, Kaito Koizumi, Hayato Maki, and Aoi Suzuki."

"Huh. I don't know any of them." Kaito practically deflated. He was hoping that they're be paired together so badly.

"I hear Aoi's a beauty." A kid behind Kaito whispered.

"Yeah," another kid agreed, "Her teammates must be lucky. She's so cute..."

"Now you know." Ren smirked, "You excited?"

"Heh. Not a bad start if you ask me." He smiled, laying back in his seat.

"I'll tell each of you what time and place you are to meet your jounin sensei." the instructor said, "It's up to you whether you get to know each other."

. . .

By the time Kaito came from the bathroom, his two teammates were just getting comfortable. He looked at his teammates. The girl, Aoi, Kaito remembered, looked fully rested. She had dark blue, almost black eyes, with long, smooth black hair. She wore a turquoise sleeveless robe, short-sleeved mesh armor worn underneath, and gray shorts with the standard sandals. She sat on the bench and twirled her hair with her finger idly, waiting for the sensei to come.

A boy was leaning on a pillar, twirling a kunai in the air. He had black chin-length spiky hair, and had cold, liquid hazel eyes. He wore bandages around his arms and wrists, black shorts, blue shinobi sandals, and a black shirt with mesh armor underneath. Kaito noticed that his hair resembled the runner-up first Hokage in a slight way. Was Madara his name..? Kaito forget. The history of the Leaf wasn't exactly his best subject.

He glanced at Kaito, and then went back to twirling the kunai.

Kaito sat down on the bench Aoi was sitting at.

"Oh, hi," she said, finally noticing him, "I'm Aoi. You are?"

"I'm Kaito-"

A smoke cloud appeared in front of them. A man with a Leaf flak jacket appeared, wearing a simple blue full-body suit underneath, blue strapped up sandals, and short metal-plated gloves. His hair was a light brown, a Konohagakure hitai-ate wrapped around his forehead, and he had warm brown eyes. Then a smoke cloud appeared on his face, his face disappearing, a piece of paper with "Foor eht fo pot" appearing on it.

After a while, Aoi tilted her head and muttered, "Top of the roof?"

Hayato was the first to leave the room, figuring it out first, followed by Aoi, and finally Kaito, clumsily following behind them. 'I knew it was backwards... Pft, obvious...'

. . .

The real jounin was sitting on the railing of the rooftop, a dull expression on his face. The kids arrived, and it took the man a moment to realize that it was his students and not some Academy kids who got lost on the rooftop.

"Welcome," he announced, perking up, "So, you must be Hayato," he said, pointing at Kaito, "You Kaito, and you Aoi."

Kaito sweatdropped.

"I'm Kaito, sensei." Kaito said, sitting down next to Aoi.

"I'm Hayato." The boy said, sitting down a little distanced from the other two.

"Oh, sorry." He scratched the back of his head. "I'm your jounin-sensei, Sora Hayabusa. As you know, teamwork is everything in a squad. So, I'd like you to talk about each other. A friend of mine told some of us jounin some exercises to help us in case we didn't-well, that's not important. Basically the exercise is to, you know, get to know your teammates. I'd like you to tell me your likes and dislikes, and your goals or dreams.

"For instance, I like books, and being more specific I enjoy underdog books, or ones regarding money. I dislike... various things, like when someone is taking an looong time in a line for no apparent reason. Just today I was-" After seeing the students sweat drop, he cleared his throat and continued on towards his goals. " Lastly, one of my goals is to visit The Mist Village in search of the second volume of Coins a'Million. It's a great series about this boy who-Well, I'm getting off topic again. Do it just like that." He smiled.

Aoi and Kaito sweatdropped.

'Not sure how I should like sensei...' Kaito thought.

"I'd like to go first!" Aoi rose her hand. Sensei nodded at her and she began. "I like snow cones, dislike intense heat, and my goal is to prove that a strong mind overcomes masculine strength, or brute force. The Fifth Hokage was the first lady to become Hokage and saved the villagers almost at the price of her life. I believe she is one of the greatest icons of all in history, and I aspire to be as strong as she is."

"Huh," Sora-sensei said, "I like your spunk, kid! Who's next?"

"I'll go!" Kaito exclaimed. "I love spicy rice balls and ramen, and don't get me started about when they're mixed together! I dislike sour sweets or anything along those lines, and I can't tolerate spinach..." He paused for a moment to shiver. "My goal is to become in a higher position of authority to change some things. It could be viewed as selfish, but it'll be worth it."

Sensei smirked and gave Kaito a peculiar glance. "Good luck kid," he said, then added, "Did you say spicy rice balls?"

"Yessir!" he smiled, "My mom used to make them all the time! She taught me, and I guarantee they're the best you'll ever taste!"

"Hmm..." He said, and after a moment turned to Hayato. "You're up."

He looked around and inwardly sighed. He rose his hands and began making a series of hand signs.

As he continued, Kaito looked around and muttered, "Is he summoning a demon..?"

Aoi giggled at this, and shook her head no. "He's doing sign language. I've seen my mother do it before, but I never learned."

Sora, however, was clearly well-versed in this area, because he nodded with deep understanding, and even rose his eyebrow at a couple of things.

"That's fair enough," The jounin said, standing up. "Ah, this is quite the interesting group we've got here. I can't wait to go on our first mission. Tomorrow."

"What type of mission? Hunting down a rogue ninja? Taking down a pack of crazed animals?" Kaito guessed excitedly.

"No, but it will be no less challenging. It's a survival exercise."

"Wait, why are we doing that? We just passed, what's the point of it?" Kaito asked.

"Well... Out of all the graduates, only nine will make it. The others will be sent back to the Academy. This," he said, suddenly serious, "is a pass or fail test. There's a higher chance you'll fail than pass. Specifically a 66% chance of passing. I decide, basically, whether you pass or fail. Be at the designated location at 11 A.M. And bring all of your ninja gear. That's all," he made a one-handed Tiger seal, "You're dismissed." He disappeared in a puff of smoke.

They all arrived at the training field at 10:30 A.M., even Kaito, who began to doze off because of his natural lack of sleep. Not even 15 minutes later, Sora showed up, a book in hand. The book was labeled "The History of Coins". It struck Kaito as weird that he had a book labeled that.

"You guys are early." He put his book away.

Kaito and Aoi moaned, while Hayato glared at the jounin.

"So, for this test, all you have to do is get the three golden coins." He held three coins in his hand, and then dropped them into the ground. He made a hand seal, and they transformed into clones, each one having a different hairstyle. They quickly scattered. "I advise that you come at me like you want to kill me. I know," he said, combing his hair with his hand. "It'll be hard to hurt a beautiful face like this. Just try your hardest."

Kaito slowly got up to stand next to his teammates.

"Ready."

Kaito moved his hand to his shuriken holster.

"Set..."

He grabbed three shuriken, gripping them tightly between his fingers.

"Start!"

They all shunshined to secretive locations in the forest.

"Huh..." Sora said, "They're not half bad."

He turned to find Kaito staring at him.

Sora sweatdropped.

"You're not as smart as the others, are you?"

Three shuriken flew at Sora from behind. He quickly grabbed a kunai from his pouch and deflected all three.

"Nice try..." He said, realizing that the person that was standing there was a clone. Three more shuriken, from another direction, flew at him again. He deflected them, catching the last one with his hand, then suddenly stopped.

Kaito used this opportunity and jumped from the bushes, kunai in hand, aimed for his sensei.

"Haaa!" He screamed.

He jumped and brought his foot down, slamming his heel on the jounin's head and sending him crashing into the ground. He then brought down the kunai—when he was suddenly interrupted by a hand grabbing his and stopping the blade. It was Sora.

"What?" Kaito mumbled, "How..." The Sora on the ground was now a piece of wood, and the ground around it showed signs of smoke fading.

He flung Kaito into a tree. Kaito groaned in pain.

"Your teammate is smart, Kaito." He said. 'The shuriken he threw at my clone had wires attached to it. He was sending chakra into the wire to immobilise me. These kids are better than I thought.' Sora thought.

Kaito got up and into a fighting stance. He dashed towards his sensei.

"Shinobi skill, rule number one: Taijutsu."

Kaito swung his foot at Sora's head, which he easily evaded. He crouched to the ground, then did a low sweep kick to his sensei's legs. Sora jumped, kicking off Kaito and launching him into the dirt as Sora leapt in the air, landing gracefully on the vibrant grass a couple of feet in front of him.

Kaito spat out dirt and gave the man a malicious glare.

"Grrr..." He said, getting back up. He ran at him again, pulling his arm back. He screamed in outrage, throwing his fists out in a blind fury. Sora appeared behind him, his hand around Kaito's neck and a kunai pointed at his back.

"Don't let your enemy get behind you." Sora whispered with evil intent.

. . .

Aoi already figured out that Sora had moved, and was tracking him down. She planned on telling her teammates, but they both were engaged in combat with the clone.

She stopped on a branch above Sora.

He was building up his chakra, and she used this chance to attack. She dropped silently from the trees, landing on top of him. Caught of gaurd, he reached for a weapon.

Aoi quickly brought out a kunai and held it near his throat.

"Mind summoning those clones, sensei?" She winked.

He smirked. His eye twitched rapidly, his hair slowly grew down his back, changing from brown to golden. He thrust his head forward, driving the kunai into his neck. Aoi screamed and backed up, more confused than horrified. The body was still breathing, though it lay limp as if it were dead.

Then the body rose, suddenly on fire.

Aoi shrieked in fear as the clone spewed massive amounts of flames on her, the kunoichi soon becoming consumed in the flames.

From far away, the sound of clashing metal could be heard.

. . .

Hayato was engaged in fierce combat with the jounin.

He evaded several kunai with explosive tags attached to them. He had enough time to fling himself off the branch before the tree exploded. He breathed heavily.

Hayato heard the sizzle of something burning.

He cursed, and an explosion from behind knocked him forward. He rolled into a crouching position, then shunshined to another branch. He began storing chakra when a kunai whizzed past his face. He took out two long threads of wire, wrapping it around two kunai, and implanted the kunai into the branch. He then wrapped the rest of the wire around his arms, and leaned back just as a fireball shot at the place he was just sitting. He free-fell backwards, and then wrapped his arms around the wire and yanked, stopping his descent. He maneuvered himself to the point where he had good footing on the thin wire. A fireball made it's way below him, exploding on impact, singeing the ground around the newly created crater.

Hayato twisted in the air, cutting the wire. He pushed off of a tree, onto a branch, and began moving again, unknowingly leaving a trail of blood drops for the jounin.

. . .

Aoi yelled at the top of her lungs, trying to pat down the fire that now consumed her completely. She panicked. 'No,' She yelled, 'It'll come off! It will come off!"

Her body flailed around helplessly, trying to extinguish the fire. She swatted at her cloth, tears streaming down her face.

Something told her to calm down, it was only an trick. But the illusion seemed too real, her flesh beginning to melt off.

She slowly stopped panicking and took a deep breath.

"Calm... Down..." Aoi told herself. This wasn't the first time she had been trapped in a genjutsu, just the first time it's been a strong one like this one. Her mother would laugh if she saw her like this.

She brought her shaking hands together, and made a hand seal.

"Release!" She spoke aloud, and the jutsu dispersed, revealing her lying on the floor.

"Shinobi battle techniques part two," the sensei said from above her. She yelped, then shunshined away. "Genjutsu." Sora said with a smirk.

. . .

Hayato wiped the sweat from his face as he pushed off one last tree, satisfied. He flinched and looked down at his leg, where there was a slight gash leaking blood. He cursed. He heard heavy breathing from far away. He glanced around cautiously, and then the sudden rustle of leaves made him jerk up, his guard on high alert. Suddenly a form was in front of him, deflecting shuriken and kunai at a rapid pace.

When the projectiles stopped flying, the stranger turned around to reveal it was Aoi, his teammate.

She quickly knelt by his side, getting some ointment from her bag and placing it on the wound without a word.

"You know," she said finally, after wrapping up the wound, "You could rely on us."

"You two were trapped in a genjutsu, if I remember correctly." Sora's voice sounded from within the woods.

"Two?" Aoi asked, then sighed. "Kaito too?"

"Yes. You passed him, shockingly."

"Ugh," she groaned. Hayato quickly took out a kunai and threw it past Aoi's face. She gasped as it hit a shuriken aimed at the two from faraway.

"Nice job." He said, appearing on a tree two feet in front of the genin. "Too bad this is the end. You've failed." He said, and three other clones appeared on branches, surrounding us. Each clone had a wacky hairstyle. Those were Hayato's targets.

His teammate gulped.

Hayato made a tsk sound. He made a Tiger seal with one hand, and the sizzling sound of a bomb went off in numerous sections of the forest.

Boom!

Trees around them blew up, causing the clones to poof out of existence, coins falling to the ground in their place. Their tree rustled.

The two jumped off the tree and onto another before the previous collapsed.

"When did you set that up?" Aoi asked, a hint of relief in her voice.

"When I felt I wasn't being followed." Hayato said simply.

Suddenly Hayato felt a quick jab to his neck, and he fell off of the tree, landing on the ground roughly. Aoi came down after him, falling limply.

Hayato struggled to keep his eyes open.

"You've done well, up until now. But-"

"Hyaa!" Kaito's voice roared, then a smack sounded throughout the forest.

. . .

Sora rubbed his cheek. "You actually hit me." He said, shocked.

"Hehe," Kaito said, "Aoi didn't pass me. She got me while you were tracking a false one! This battle isn't over yet!"

Kaito pulled out six kunai, three in each hand.

"Did I tell you the third battle technique yet?" Sora asked, getting up slowly.

Kaito rose an eyebrow.

"It is-"

"I don't care!" Kaito yelled, jumping in the air. He threw one kunai at the jounin who stood dumbfounded at his student's rashness. The teacher caught the poorly thrown kunai. Kaito spun in the air, throwing the rest of them at his sensei wildly.

He deflected the one that was close to him, then scratched his head.

"Are you serious right now?" He asked as Kaito fell to the ground.

His teammates stirred behind him.

"Prepare for my secret, ultimate, new technique!"

Kaito made the Ram seal and began storing chakra.

"Ah," Sora said, getting into a battle stance, "What have we got here?"

"Here we go!" Kaito yelled, then a smoke cloud engulfed him, in his place took place a young woman with white hair in a long ponytail in a blue bikini.

"Sexy Jutsu!" The woman said in an seductive tone, making a seductive pose.

The sensei's mouth dropped. He immediately had a major nosebleed, sending the sensei flying into the tree behind him.

His teammates, using the distraction to get the coins, sat wearily behind Kaito, showing off the coins.

"That's the technique used by the Hokage, isn't it?" Hayato mumbled.

"Yes," a tick mark appearing on Aoi's forehead, "Yes it is. Who taught it to an idiot like him, I have no idea."

Another smoke cloud appeared and Kaito sat with a goofy grin, thumbs up at his sensei.

"Hehe," he called, "We won!"

"Yeah," the sensei got up, wiping his nose, "You did. I just can't believe I got caught by that."

Kaito would never admit to secretly watching the Hokage's son, Bolt, as he trained with his mentor, Konohamaru. Learning this technique, he knew he'd surprise anyone, especially male.

"Neither can I..." Aoi said through gritted teeth, a murderous aura around her.

"Ahaha... Ha... Ha?" Kaito said before the kunoichi punched him, causing him to have a huge bruise on top of his forehead.

"Ouch..." he whined, rubbing the bruise, "What was that for?!"

"Humph." Aoi turned her head.

Sora laughed. "What a team I've got..." He said to himself, staring at the blue sky.

AN:

Thanks for reading this one-shot. JUST KIDDING! Could you imagine if I did that though? Hehe...

Thanks again for reading the first chapter. I'll update as much as I can. This is my first third person fanfic, so I'm sorry if I didn't do well. Leave a review, whether it's a tip or just how much you liked it.

Update: 1/11/2015 1:45 P.M

I've updated this chapter due to the end of the Naruto series. I'm starting to go through each chapter and not only change a couple of things, but add more information and hopefully more detail. Thanks for reading! Don't stop here; click the next chapter!