A Thousand Suns
Will we burn inside the fires of a thousand suns, for the sins of our hand, the sins of our tongue, the sins of our father, the sins of our young...
Prologue
He walked down the thin stone passageway, lined with pillars covered in minerals from age. The air smelt musky and old, of death and decay.
There were no sounds save for his shuffling footsteps and laboured breathing, the drops of crimson from the wounds on his face, arms, legs and chest barely heard as they hit against the cold stone surface of a place untouched by man for millennia, they each glinted red for brief fleeting moments until they struck the unforgiving surface, shining in the faint torch light.
Eventually he stepped out of the long, narrow corridor into a wide open cavern. The entire area glittered as light from a single torch was reflected a thousand times in the strange, obsidian black crystals that coated the walls. Before him lay a stone pedestal upon which sat a beautiful crystal chalice, glittering softly in the light, a strange contrast to the night black crystals that surrounded him. He moved forwards slowly, looking around the strange room, seeing faces and bodies in the crystal, as if it had consumed and transformed the dead that had fallen here into part of itself.
Eventually he stood before the chalice, in it sat a liquid, but strange indeed, as it reflected no light, indeed it seemed to be devoid of anything
'Drink it' said a voice, cold and distant, scraping along the surface of his mind. He reached out with shaking hands, part of his mind telling him to stop, that something was wrong here, even as the many crystal faces, preserved forever in this dark tomb, seemed to watch him with their empty eye sockets.
He lifted the chalice gently, a pure tone filled the air as he lifted it from its place, the tone reflected and enhanced a thousand times as the crystals on the wall seemed to sing in harmonious chorus as if to celebrate this moment. He sniffed the liquid, it smelt of nothing. The only thing he could smell, was the scent of decay, age, and death that filled this place.
He lifted it slowly to his lips and drank, a biting, hideous cold seemed to burn his mouth and throat and fill his very body. The strange night liquid held no taste, no scent, and no texture of its own. He suddenly stiffened as pain racked him, the chalice falling from his hands as he himself fell to his knees, the pain unbearable in all respects.
The chalice shattered on the cold, hard, unforgiving ground, and the sound of a thousand bells seemed to fill the once silent cavern, a cacophony of noise consuming the once dead silent chamber. It was the last thing he heard as he tipped over, head striking the ground softly. The seemingly thousands of brilliant shards of the once whole crystal chalice fell like small stars, glittering softly in the pale light of the single torch, that, was the last thing he saw, the one shard striking the ground and shattering into a thousand more, brilliant, sparkling, pieces.
He awoke out in the open air, light blinding him for a few brief moments as he opened his eyes. He shut them again before taking a deep breath of the clean, fresh air that dominated the forests around Konoha before his eyes snapped out once more, hands darting over his body as he tried to locate the wounds that no longer appeared to be present.
He slumped back onto the cool grass and sighed, allowing the wind to softly caress him for a few moments longer before struggling to stand.
He had staggered, dragging himself out of that dark cave, clutching a tattered and worn old book in his hands, he remembered slipping and falling a good ways down a smooth slope. And now, looking up, it curved away from him gently, the ledge far above his head covered in mosses and a few scattered trees. He sighed and turned away, leaning down, still confused and unsure he picked up the book he had stumbled out with, he looked at it more closely now, stroking the leather that protected it from time and decay. There was something special about this book, he could feel it in his gut, and his gut feeling was always right about such things.
He looked away from the book and into the forest, trying to gauge his position relative to Konoha itself, the trees here were fairly widely spaced, more so that the forest where he had made his home. He frowned, guessing he was maybe two miles or so out. What fun, he thought to himself, how easy it is to run so fast when fear is all that drives you. With that dark thought at the forefront of his mind he began the walk back, forgoing his usual method of jumping in favour of relaxation. The book still clutched tightly in his hand as he walked off into the light of the forest.
The light was warm, despite the shade provided by the trees and the slow setting of the sun, it cast long, drawn out shadows on the ground was he walked. The air was cooling now, losing its warmth despite the suns warming rays and soon darkness would descend on the great forest once more.
He arrived at his home with a sigh, it was little more that a cave underneath a great tree's roots, it was listing to one side, providing the perfect shelter during the rain and cold nights that so often accompanied Konoha's beautiful days.
He walked inside, crouching slightly before straightening up once inside. It was a simple affair to be sure, a futon sat in one corner of the room by which sat a pile of scrolls, filled with information and knowledge that he was slowly reading his way through. In the centre sat an indented place in the ground surrounded by stones where a small fire sat, slowly dying as it burned itself out, and casting a flickering light over the rest of the cave, making the shadows dance.
Naruto groaned as he moved over to the fire, piling some more logs onto it he basked in its warmth for a few moments. Reached down he pulled the book up and opened it before beginning to read.
Chapter One
The sun was high in the sky, casting short shadows that offered little shade from the heat of its rays, and as a consequence there were few people wandering the dry, dusty streets of Konoha. The wind caught the dust, bringing it into swirling vortexes of wind, dust and little else. The air was bone dry and no relief from the heat seemed to be forthcoming, the sky was a piercing azure blue with not a cloud blemishing its seemingly smooth surface.
Gently warming light flowed in through the windows of the shop as a soft breeze flowed in through the open door. The light seemed to reflect throughout the small shop, the wood seeming to glow warmly with its own internal light, illuminating the entire room in a soft radiance. Kakashi and Anko were sitting around one of four tables situated beside the large windows, Kakashi was watching the world go slowly on by while Anko stuffed herself full of her favourite food as the waitress, a pretty little thing with brown hair and a soft manner, collected Anko's third order and brought it over, placing it on the dull mahogany table, bowing to the two ninja's before walking off to go deal with another order.
"I can't believe you're going to have to teach the Uchiha bastard" Anko said to Kakashi while swiftly finishing off another stick of dango
"Tell me about it" the other woman replied, head in her hands.
It was general practise for certain jonin's to, at least once in their career, take on a team of three newly graduated ninjas and train them up to be the next generation of fighters for Konoha. However many jonin's loathed this duty, mainly because they had to deal usually with snot-nosed brats who knew little about what it actually took to be a ninja, as such many avoided it like some sort of plague and even went so far as to go into Anbu in order to avoid it and the problems it usually brought upon them.
This in itself was unusual for a hidden village. Many other villages held no such idealism in their ranks, and the understanding that a ninja's path is one soaked in blood was drilled into the kids from day one. Unlike Konoha who had the unfortunate habit of coddling them until their time came, it is probably a surprise, therefore, that Konoha is the strongest of the five major powers in the world. Though some would sooner claim that it was out of luck than anything else, it is after all, easier to be lucky than good.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen, Kakashi thought to herself as she looked over at her long time friend. Anko was wearing her usual fishnet shirt and dark trench coat, her leather skirt held up by a belt of the same dark brown as the coat. Kakashi watched Anko devour another stick of dango, her dark brown eyes closing in pleasure as she ate, Kakashi just sighed and thumped her head on the table once again
"Fucking politicians" she groaned, Anko just swallowed her food before grinning at Kakashi
"Aww, don't worry Kakashi-chan, I'm sure it won't be too bad" she said sarcastically, patting Kakashi on her shoulder. Kakashi just glared at her through her one eye, Anko's grin just grew as she leaned back away from Kakashi before the other women decided to kill her
"What did I do to deserve this?" Kakashi asked, sounding despondent as Anko just continued to grin at her friends' misfortune.
The tightly packed buildings towered over him as he moved through the dusty and windswept streets of Konoha, taking solace in the empty streets, the shadows of the buildings neatly tucked under each other. The silence would have been deafening to all but him. He could, after all, hear the conversations whispered on the breeze.
How naive, he thought to himself, to believe that all there will ever be is peace here.
He strode down the empty streets with purpose in his step; he knew he should have been at the academy today, just as he should be every other day he had missed. But such things seemed irrelevant to him nowadays, especially the academy.
That was when he walked pasted the shop where Anko and Kakashi sat talking, he did not bother to look inside as usual.
"Look Kakashi-chan" Anko said to Kakashi suddenly, breaking into the woman's own thoughts
"Hmm..." she groaned, pulling her head up and looking out of the window. Watching as one Uzumaki Naruto walked past the window, blonde hair blowing back in the breeze, his azure eyes fixed firmly forwards. Kakashi's eyes followed him until she lost sight of him as he turned down another street
"He's not too bad" Anko said to Kakashi who groaned
"Yeah..." she said, trailing off, putting her head in her arms "but even if I get him that won't make up for the other two imbeciles" she said and Anko laughed heartily before poking Kakashi in the head, making said woman look up at her
"Haven't you got to get to the briefing soon?" she asked with a bit of mirth, laughing as Kakashi just groaned again.
The clearing was like many others situated both inside and out of Konoha. The grass felt cool underneath his bare feet and he found himself sighing in both relief and satisfaction of having finally finding a empty place to begin. Small flowers bloomed everywhere he looked, a truly beautiful scene with a multitude of colours and tones that would have been a painter's idea of a beautifully serene scene. However even the plants themselves look tired and ragged, this intense heat that had prevailed for the last week or so causing the plants to seemingly wilt under the harsh gaze of the sun.
Trees surrounded the flowering field, great oaks and birches, stood strong despite the heat, their leaves blending together into a collage of many shades of green. Naruto sighed, taking a deep breath in of the fresh air, it smelt clean, pure and of the many flowers now blossoming around him.
Time to get started, he thought to himself, somewhat apprehensively. He sighed, taking slow, deep breaths as he concentrated on the energy sitting deep, deep within him; beyond his chakra system and deeper still until he grasped its biting coldness and opened his eyes. Where they had once been a cold, focused azure blue now they were night black, however unlike that pitch black liquid all those years ago, they reflected the light and life around him.
He held both hands out, the metal plates on the back of the black fingerless gloves glinting in the strong sunlight as he focused. His thoughts focused on the task that lay before him and slowly he began to push the power outwards to an imaginary point in front of him.
At first nothing happened. But slowly the wind began to grow stronger and stronger around him, rustling the many leaves of the trees and sending the grass swaying as petals from the many flowers around him were pulled away and drawn up and around in the air, surrounding him in a glorious display of colours and splendour.
Then suddenly a solid black dot seemed to appear in midair, hanging their as if held by some invisible hand. And slowly it began to grow, slowly at first but soon it expanding exponentially, like some great pitch black balloon it expanded to the height of a normal human being before stopping.
It was a perfect black circle, Naruto peered around it and his eyes widened. Looking on directly from the side it was a simple line. The object in front of him was perfectly 2-d and flat as if it sat against some invisible barrier. It seemed to however an inch or two above the ground like a great hole cut into the fabric of reality itself. Naruto stepped back, getting his breathing back under control as something began to happen.
A hand, made only of bone, reached through the great hole. It seemed to struggle, grabbing onto the 'doorway' as if something else was trying to tug it back into wherever it was arriving from. Then slowly, very slowly, as if the rest of its body was moving through viscous tar, it began to pull itself through. The head eventually poked through, it seemed to grunt as it finally stepped fully out of the portal and stood in front of Naruto.
It was truly a sight to behold. The thing that stepped out of the black hole in space looked like a larger than life man who had had all of his mortal flesh stripped from his bare bones. It stood at about eight feet tall, its empty eye sockets seemed to look through Naruto and he had to suppress a shiver at that chilling thought. It was covered in some kind of old rusty metal armour, and even the sword at its side looked rusted beyond use. Great bony spikes rose from its shoulder blades, elbows, and heels of its feet, the ones on its chest looked as if they had been driven in. Naruto also had a suspicion that claws like sharp steel were hidden in the gauntlets, the sight of them poking through the holes in the tips of its gauntlets made him shiver. It looked more human than Naruto had originally expected, though now he was thinking that maybe, just maybe, it was around half way between a transformation between class one and two.
The great skeleton slowly looked around; at least, it moved its head slowly from side to side before settling its 'gaze' back on Naruto who stood there, watching it with a look that almost seemed to be a mild form of respect
"Mortal" it said, its voice raspy and almost monotone, it spoke in a virtual whisper so Naruto had to strain his ears to hear it over the breeze that was only just settling down. However the great doorway seemed to be trying to pull the air towards it, petals would move towards it only to dance around it and then be blown back out.
The creature seemed to incline its head slightly and Naruto got the feeling that if it had flesh on its face then it would be narrowing its eyes and frowning slightly in thought
"Yes, the darkness dwells within you" it finally said in that soft monotone, lifting its head "your name mortal" it said, Naruto bowed slightly to it
"Naruto" he said, raising himself once more as the creature seemed to think for a moment
"Hmm, very well...Naruto...you are the first true summoner in over a millennia in this world" it said and Naruto inclined his head once more
"I am aware of this" he said before locking 'eyes' with the creature in front of him "I shall presume that a partial level two demon would understand why I summoned it, especially one who can articulate as well as yourself" he said and the creatures head moved back in what, Naruto thought, appeared to be slight shock
"Oh, so you know of the classes' system mortal" it said, looking at Naruto again "very good, you did not do this lightly, that much is obvious. However I am afraid I cannot do what you wish" it said and Naruto raised an eyebrow in question
"If I were to do that now then I believe you would cease to be" the creature explained, Naruto frowned but nodded
"Very well, then I shall let you go" Naruto said, spreading his hands in front of him, the creature inclined its head once and then turned to leave
"I shall inform the higher ones of this development, mainly for fear of my continued existence" the thing said, putting one hand through the hole it turned once more to 'look' at Naruto "good luck, Naruto" was all it said before stepping back through the portal that seemed to crack before shattering like glass into a thousand splinters and shards that evaporated and vanished into thin air.
The sky was beginning to slowly darken. The uppermost most part was slowing turning a deep, oceanic blue while nearer the horizon; the light slowly turned lighter blue until it was almost green before changing into light oranges and gentle reds. The few clouds that hovered in the slowly darkening night sky were lit on one side of themselves, slants of light seeming to pass through the clouds as they stood still in the windless skies, promising no hope of rain.
The Hokage tower stood in the centre of the village, and at six stories tall it easily towered over all other buildings in the town. The outside of the tower was painted gentle beige that tried not to reflect the light, and on the side that faced away from the great Hokage Mountain, where the faces of the last Hokage's gazed down over the village, sat a great painted emblem, the Kanji for fire.
Inside the tower, nearer the top of the great structure, was the Hokage's office. Light dyed a reddish orange poured in through the massive window that consumed most of the far wall. It illuminated the great oak desk that sat nearly in front of it and the many piles of paper that sat upon it. The desk, despite its many scratches and dents and many other signs of age, had nonetheless been present in this room ever since the first Hokage had taken up office here.
The dark green floor coupled with the beige walls provided little illumination from the dimming orange light casting the room the furthest part of the room, nearer the door, in darkness as the elongated shadows from the desk and windows reached over to it as if seeking to escape.
It was in here, near the top of the great building, that Kakashi was now in. She was leaning against the wall looking out of the great window behind the Hokage's desk, out of which she could see the village and the brightly coloured sky that was slowly bleeding of light as the sun dipped behind the great forest that surround Konoha, shrouding the forest in light and blurring it against the sky around the sun.
The room was full of other jonin's, all talking amongst themselves about the teams and possible students they were looking forward, or not, to getting a hold of
"So Kakashi-san" Asuma said as he walked over to her "I hear your getting the Uchiha on your team" he said, blowing out a cloud of smoke as he did so. Kakashi wrinkled her nose at the disgusting odour of the thing before frowning
"Yeah, sodding council wants me to teach him, mainly because I'm the only last loyal ninja of Konoha with a sharingan eye and the knowledge of how to use it" she explained, not bothering to hide her distaste of the boy, the lower ninjas may treat him like some sort of god but Kakashi and the other older ninjas knew better
"Yeah" Asuma said almost absentmindedly "I don't envy you that job" he said with a small grin and she growled lowly at him
"Well gee, thanks for the vote of confidence" she said, he just grinned and walked away, leaving Kakashi there shaking her head and looking none too pleased.
Eventually the Hokage arrived, walking through the door each jonin immediately stood at attention before him as he sat behind the oak desk with a heavy sigh. His slightly wrinkled face seemed to relax as he sat down, though some tension could still be seen in his body by the older ninja. They waited patiently as he filled his pipe with tobacco before lighting it and taking a slow, deep breath of the stuff. Breathing it out just as slowly before his still sharp dark brown eyes opened, looking over each of them carefully, making some of the newer jonin's fidget uncomfortably at the piercing gaze
"You may be at ease" he said at length and they all relaxed as one, moving back to their original positions as the Hokage took out a stack of papers. Kakashi took a moment to look Sarutobi over, he still had his short grey goatee and short spiky hair, and the three lines running down under each eye, which seemed to be extremely focused at the moment, as if a smouldering fire sat behind them, waiting to be lit once more.
"Okay then" he said, leaning forwards, hands folded in front of him as he looked over each of them "who would like to begin?" he asked, Asuma sighed and stepped forwards
"I would like to take on a team comprised of Ino, Shikamaru and Choji" he said and the Hokage nodded slowly
"Hmm, very well, the council should be happy as well" he said, muttering the last part under his breath, Kakashi still heard him though. She watched as Asuma turned stepped back to be replaced by Kurenai, winking at Kurenai who rolled her eyes in exasperation at him, standing at attention in front of the leader.
"I would like to lead a team composed of Hinata, Kiba and Shino" she said, the Hokage thought for a few moments before nodding. Kakashi knew what he would be doing now, he would be looking through it all in his mind now, examining the team dynamics and anticipating if any major problems would arise, including any dissatisfaction from the council.
"Very well" he said, she nodded, turned away and stepped back
"Kakashi-san?" the Hokage asked her and she sighed before stepping up in front of him
"I will take on Uchiha Sasuke, Sakura...and Uzumaki Naruto" she said, some whispers broke out among those jonin not taking on teams but were silenced by the Hokage's glance to them
"Very well, but you realise the council will not like the idea of Uzumaki-san being with the Uchiha" he told her, she frowned, but was sure the Hokage could see the light of defiance behind her eyes. Knowing she was the last sharingan user in Konoha meant that she was given a good amount of leeway with regards to these sorts of things.
"With all due respect sir, I don't think there's much they can do about it" she said stiffly, the Hokage just smiled
"Very well then, dismissed!" he said loudly, the jonin's disappearing from the office in the blink of an eye.
Naruto was walking back from the forest clearing, frowning slightly to himself about what the creature had said. The wind caressed his bare chest as his jacket flared open for a few moments before settling down again as the breeze passed him.
"Hey, Naruto-kun!" he heard someone call out, he turned around to see Anko leaning out of a shops doorway, waving at him
"What is it Anko-chan?" he asked as he walked over to her, ignoring the mutterings and supposed muted whispers of the general public
"Come in here" she said, grabbing him by the collar of his mesh shirt and dragging him inside with no small amount of force. Naruto did not bother to struggle, simply allowing her to pull him inside the shop and force him to sit beside her, Kakashi just sat there looking slightly amused at the whole thing.
"Good afternoon Naruto-kun" Kakashi greeted him, as Anko pushed him roughly into the seat beside hers before taking her seat beside him, grinning at him like a mischievous child with her eyes closed. Naruto just rolled his eyes despite the small smile on his face and faced Kakashi instead
"Hmm...if you say so" he responded, sounding quite bland, Kakashi just chuckled at his response and looked back out of the window
"So Anko-chan" he said, making Anko face him, a stick of dango hanging out of her mouth as she looked at him
"Hmm?" she asked, almost looking too innocent
"Why'd you drag me in here?" he asked her as she swallowed her food and took the stick out of her mouth before shrugging
"For the hell of it" she said, Naruto just sighed and looked towards Kakashi who was snickering as him
"Oh yeah" she suddenly said "you'll be on my team starting tomorrow, Naru-kun" she said, Naruto groaned and smacked his head on the table
"Fucking hell" he muttered. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at his response though a flash of hurt passed behind her eyes "bloody Uchiha" he continued and Kakashi almost seemed to sigh in response a reaction Anko did not miss. She grinned at her; Kakashi gave her a light glare back in warning.
"Tough luck Naru-kun" Anko chirped while smiling brightly at him, he glared at her half-heartedly, swiping one of her dango sticks and eating it before she could make a move to stop him
"Oi~!" she whined, Naruto smirked at her
"Tough luck Anko-chan" he said, mimicking her in a whiny tone of voice. Anko frowned and pouted like a little kid, making both Kakashi and Naruto chuckle at her.
The air was cold this early in the morning as Naruto strode down the road towards the ninja academy. Dawn was just starting to break and the sky above him was lit up with brilliant oranges and light reds as rays of light slanted down through the sapphire sky. The faintest stars in the sky had long since been submerged in the slowly brightening vault and barely a handful still twinkled high in the dark sky above. The few large clouds that were beginning to form shone from within as the light forced its way through them, setting the edges of the clouds alight as the sun slowly rose up from the horizon.
Naruto looked down the slowly brightening street. The sunlight casting long shadows from building to building in front of him. The silence of the early morning air was broken only by the birds that had begun to sing not more than twenty minutes ago, their sweet songs brought to him by the soft breeze that swept gently down the empty street, and caressed his face and chest with a tender coolness that made him smile.
The academy sat near the Hokage tower, it was a rectangular building three stories tall and built of sandy coloured bricks that softly glowed in the early morning light. The windows glinted in the light, their reflections illuminating patches of the sandy ground as the wind seemed to pick some of the dust and sand up and twirl it around playfully before putting it down and moving on to another patch of ground.
The roof of the building was where Naruto was heading for now though. Lined with a dull metal railing it was perfectly flat the whole way across save for two access points on the roof itself. Every so often a bench was placed next to the railing, facing away from the sun.
To the side away from the Hokage tower sat a mass of trees like those that already surrounded Konoha. That was where the weapons training and other such things took place. Often Naruto had traversed that area after school and found a wealth of perfectly good weaponry simply left behind by those who could easily afford to replace such things by the next day or so.
Eventually Naruto made his way up to the roof where he leant against the railing and looked outwards over the town and watched the sun rise. Letting the wind blow his dull blonde hair back he sighed gently and closed his eyes, his thoughts slowing and settling down until he was relaxed once again, his thoughts seeming to blow away in the soft breeze that stirred the trees around the academy grounds and sent a few birds flapping up into the cool air where they twirled and danced like shadowed silhouettes against the bright sun before diving back into the forest canopy.
How peaceful, Naruto thought to himself as he stood there, and oh how so very fragile it all is. His thoughts took a turn to something slightly darker but he brought himself out and back to simply enjoying the view before all the stupidity began once again.
It was noisy, Naruto decided, far too noisy.
He was sitting in his usual classroom with classmates he had attended the last year of academy with, all of whom were chatting energetically with each other. All present were happy at having passed their exams and been selected for a team.
"...is the best, I knew he'd pass!" came Sakura's voice, floating above the rest
"No, I did!" shouted her rival Ino
"Be quite you two, I'm trying to sleep here" Shikamaru muttered lazily, thankful that neither of the two girls had heard him over the din of the classroom
"Good luck getting those two to be quite, especially over the Uchiha" Kiba said then muttered under his breath, also fearful of the girl's wrath
"It would not be wise to antagonise them, Kiba-san" Shino said from behind his coats high collar in his usual monotonous voice
"Hmm" Choji agreed amongst the chomping of chips
"But I was here first" Sakura shouted
"No I was"
"Here we go again-"
"But I-"
"No I was-"
"...bloody annoying-"
"I'm telling you Shino, she had the-"
Naruto realised he had slipped into one of those sorts of trances he was used too when in class. He often found, looking back, that he could remember everything that was said and by whom, however usually struggled to place it in context...
"Alright class!" boomed Iruka as he walked in, he had short black hair that covered his ears and a long scar that ran over the bridge of his nose and across part of either side of his face. His skin was lightly tanned from the intense sun, like so many Konoha citizens. He wore the standard Konoha Chunin uniform, consisting of a black shirt and trousers along with a headband and a loose leaf green jacket with the fire symbol sewn onto the back in red. The chattering stopped almost instantly as everyone eagerly awaited their sensei's
"Now" Iruka said as he placed a load of papers down onto the desk before looking at them all
"I am glad to of taught each of you" he said, smiling slightly "and I pray you all stay safe for the rest of your time in your ninja career, your team sensei's will be here to pick you all up shortly, but before that I shall read out the teams" he said as he picked up one of the sheets.
Naruto resumed looking out of the window. People scurried up and down the street that led up to the academy. What a fool, Naruto though solemnly to himself, to believe that a ninja's life is built of anything but hardship and pain. He was aware that Iruka knew otherwise, but chose not to dwell on it.
"Okay then" Iruka called out, snapping Naruto's attention back to the classroom "These are the teams..." Naruto zoned out once again, preferring to dwell on his own torrent of thoughts than whose team he was to be on, of course though, he was already aware of whose team he was on thanks to Kakashi.
"...team seven shall be composed of Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto-" Iruka was cut off by Sakura jumping out of her seat and pointing a manicured finger at Ino
"Ha!" she shouted "true love conquers all!" she shouted. Iruka coughed and glared at her, she sat down meekly, though still looking quite happy at the news
"Your sensei will be Kakashi-san" he finished his sentence and the list off before looking at them all "once again I wish you good luck" he said, inclining his head to them before walking out of the room as their sensei's began to walk into the room.
First to enter was Asuma, a cigarette hanging loosely from his mouth as he surveyed the teams present with almost warm brown eyes. He wore a standard Konoha ninja uniform with a flak jacket and regular shinobi sandals.
"Team ten with me!" he shouted out and out came Ino, Shikamaru and Choji whom he smiled at before leading them out of the room, next up was Kurenai
Kurenai had long flowing black hair and ruby red eyes that seemed to look right through you if you stared for too long; they were only made more prominent by the purple eyeliner that surrounded them. She was wearing mesh armour and a red blouse which only had the right sleeve still attached; around both hands were wrapped bandages.
"Damn..." Kiba said, or rather was all he was able to say, before Naruto pulled his chair back with his foot, causing Kiba to land flat on his ass much to the amusement of the whole class, Kurenai, and his own dog Akamaru
"Damn it Naruto" he hissed as he stood up while trying to look as threatening as possible, Naruto just looked at him with bored eyes
"Alright that's enough" Kurenai said, clapping her hands to get everyone's attention back to the front of the room
"Team eight with me!" and with that Hinata and Shino stood up, making their way out of the room with their sensei, Kiba trailing after, muttering something and shooting Naruto dark glances. No one noticed the look of appreciation Kurenai had sent Naruto just as she left the room.
Finally in walked Kakashi. She hand spiky silver hair and an eye patch covering her left eye, upon it was a silver swirl and the symbol of fire. She had mesh armour on with a sleeveless black jacket covering it, and over each arm were long leather gloves with metal plated on the back of the hands and forearms. Her toned muscles could easily be seen and despite her lazy demur the sight easily radiated power from her
"Team seven follow me to the roof" she said before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.
"So then" Kakashi said as she observed her three 'charges' "how about we all introduce ourselves?" she asked them, trying to sound enthusiastic and failing rather miserably.
Naruto was leaning up against the dull metal railing that ran around the entire roofs edge which glinted in the light of the late morning sun. Having risen fully now it had finally chased away what few stars had been left and the day was rapidly warming up now
The other two members of team seven were sitting on the bench next to where Naruto was standing, with Sasuke trying to sit as far away as possible from Sakura who was looking at him with a look of extreme adoration.
Kakashi took another look at Naruto out of the corner of her one eye, watching as his blonde hair waved fractionally in the soft breeze that had sprung up a little while back. He was looking over Konoha though he was not really seeing it, per se; he would be lost in his own thoughts, as he was so often these days.
"You go first Kakashi-chan" he said out of thin air when it became clear the other members of the team were not going to add anything sensible or otherwise to the conversation that Kakashi was trying to initiate. She sighed
"Fine then, my name is Hatake Kakashi" she said, sounding as bored as she looked as Naruto smirked though they couldn't see "my likes are none of business, and neither are my dislikes, my dream...is also none of your business" she said, smiling at them underneath the face mask. Sasuke looked slightly twitchy by now and Sakura was looking at Kakashi with her mouth open. Naruto just continued to look out over the town
"Go on then pinky" she then said, pointing at Sakura who balked at the insult for a second before speaking
"Fine, my name is Haruno Sakura and I like..." she looked at Sasuke dreamily who was watching her out of the corner of his eye as he backed away slightly "I dislike..." she shot a look at Naruto, not noticing Kakashi's faint frown at that even as Naruto seemed apathetic "my dream is..." once again she looked at Sasuke before giggling like a stereotypical schoolgirl and blushing slightly. Kakashi wanted to smack her head against the wall and was thankful for the mask as it hid her slightly open mouth, so shocked at the girl that she was.
"...okay" she said slowly, turning to Sasuke "dark one, go" she said. Sasuke scoffed but did as he was told
"Fine, my name is Uchiha Sasuke" he said, sounding slightly arrogant at just his name and Kakashi didn't miss Naruto's slight shift at that "I have few likes" he said, eye's darkening "and many dislikes, and I have no dreams, only an ambition...to kill a certain man" he said. Sakura seemed to think he was even more 'cool' now if the look in her eyes was anything to go by while Naruto scoffed softly at the whole thing.
Overdramatic much, Kakashi thought to herself as she turned to the last of their little group
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto" Naruto said before she could even open her mouth "I like Kakashi, Anko and Kurenai, and perhaps training" he said while never moving, always looking out over Konoha "I have quite a few dislikes, which I don't feel the need to tell you" he said, and Kakashi watched as his posture seemed to tense slightly "I have few dreams, some grander than others..." he seemed to trail off, the air growing chilly all of a sudden "but you don't need to know that either" he finished.
Kakashi sighed and closed her eyes. It was not the first time she had seen Naruto in such a state, it happened often now whenever he thought about the past or the future he seemed to envision. Kakashi wasn't overly concerned, everyone in their little group had their problems, hell, the vast majority of older ninja all had some sort of habit or problem connected to their past
"Alright then people" she said, clapping her hands to get their attention, though she doubted Naruto's had waned even for a moment "we will be meeting tomorrow at training ground eight, at seven sharp, don't be late" she said before disappearing. Naruto groaned as he straightened up before he too, vanished in a swirl of leaves.
The End
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