Chapter 1: Dawn of a New Era
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or One Piece, or any of their characters. This story was written purely for entertainment purposes. Both works are masterpieces, and I only hope to do them and their creators justice in this tale.
The Genin Academy of Konoha; source of the next and previous generations of some of the Land of Fire's greatest ninjas. It is here that we observe the class of the Chunin shinobi, Iruka Umino, the instructor in question currently taking role as per usual. He checked off the name of one Sakura Haruno, a young pink-haired girl sitting near the center of the students. To her left was a black-haired boy with equally dark eyes, sitting there silently with his hands clasped in front of his mouth. To her right was a boy with brilliantly blond hair and blue eyes, who was staring at Sakura with the type of interest most teachers would prefer their students devote to their lessons.
Ignoring the blonde for the moment, knowing he'd be getting to him soon enough, Iruka continued down the list. "Hyuuga, Hinata?" He read out loud, eyes falling on the shy pale girl sitting towards the back of the class with her milky white eyes focused on the blue-eyed boy beside Sakura.
Startled back into reality, her attention snapped back to the instructor. "O-oh, here Iruka-sensei!" She managed, embarrassed. Iruka nodded. "Inuzuka, Kiba?" He continued. "Here!" The boy in question responded, a small white puppy perched on his head barking happily as if to inform the teacher that he was also present.
"Monkey, Luffy?" The Chunin asked, waiting for a response. When none came, he looked up. "Luffy?" He repeated, scanning the desks. After a moment, his ears perked at the voice of another young man in the class, a boy with a long nose and curly black hair. "Oi, Luffy! Wake up!" He whispered unintentionally loudly, attempting to rouse the boy beside him whose face was planted firmly on his desk.
The boy stirred slowly, blinking repeatedly as he lifted the straw hat off of his head. "Is it lunch time yet?" He asked, eyes falling on an irritated looking Iruka. "Oh, did class start?" The boy beside him, Usopp, groaned in disbelief and slammed his head against the desk. The person on Luffy's other side, another pink-haired girl, Rebecca, giggled in amusement. "Yes, Luffy." She informed him. "Iruka-sensei just called your name."
Luffy nodded. "I'm here!" He declared loudly, causing most of the class to laugh as the Instructor sighed and gripped the bridge of his nose. A boy with wild green hair behind Luffy began to speak in the boy's defense, but was promptly silenced by the boy beside him. "Shut up, Baka-mello!" He hissed, glad to see the sleepy student get in trouble. The other glared at him, but decided not to respond, not wanting to get into trouble for fighting in class with the boy again. "This isn't over, Cabbage!" He whispered in return.
"I can see that…" Iruka informed Luffy, having not noticed (or at least not cared) the words exchanged by the other students. "Thank you… Now then. Nara, Shikamaru?" Again, no response. His eye twitched slightly as he looked up to the boy's usual seat beside his best friend, Choji Akamichi. Like Luffy, the boy was sleeping soundly. The teacher, growing impatient, balled up a piece of paper and threw it at the boy, who groggily sat up. "Ugh?" He mumbled intelligently.
Luffy snickered quietly, glad he wasn't the only one to get in trouble. "Nico, Robin?" Iruka resumed. "Present." The girl, who had black hair and had stopped reading a book she had brought to class, responded respectfully. "Zoro, Roronoa?" Once again, the name call was met with silence. Irritation returning, the instructor's eyes immediately found the boy in question, who had short green hair and like the two previous boys, was deep asleep.
A tic mark appeared on Iruka's head, and suddenly his head seemed to balloon to three times its normal size. "IS MY CLASS REALLY SO BORING THAT YOU CAN'T EVEN WAIT FOR IT TO START TO FALL ASLEEP?!" He demanded of the children, causing many of them to wince in pain at the volume. Shockingly, the boy remained just as unresponsive as before. "Oi, teme!" Snarled the boy beside him, who had blonde hair and a bizarrely curled eyebrow visible. "Wake up!"
Beside him, an orange-haired girl covered her ears. "Sanji-kun, stop shouting!" She demanded of the boy. "Of course, Nami-swaan~!" He replied immediately, struggling to remain seated in spite of his desire to dance at the thought of the girl talking to him. The green haired boy seemed to stir at this, for some reason. "Stupid Dartboard-eyebrow…" He grumbled. "What'd you say, Marimo?!" The blonde snapped viciously. Before Zoro could respond, the teacher shouted once more. "QUIET!" He demanded. He coughed as the class fell quiet, mentally reminding himself that there was only this last day of class left.
After several more eventful minutes of roll call, Iruka sighed in relief and set the list on his desk. "Alright, class." He said, placing his hands behind his back. "Now then, as you all know, this is the final day of class. At the end of the day, you will either walk out of the academy with a hitai-ate, a Genin of the Leaf, or as you have ever since you first left it." The Chunin's tone changed, suddenly sounding less annoyed and more proud of his students. "Now I won't lie," He said. "Chances are not all of you will pass. But don't let that discourage you! Not everyone is ready at the same time; if you don't make it this time, that just means next time you'll be starting off your career as a shinobi even stronger!"
His eyes scanned the faces of the students; some, such as Luffy and Kiba, looked eager to begin. Others, such as Sasuke Uchiha or the ever-stoic Shino Aburame, seemed as though they were already mentally preparing themselves. Still others seemed nervous, like Hinata or Usopp. In particular, Iruka's eyes lingered on Naruto Uzumaki, if only for a split second more than the others.
"Anyway, over the past few days we have been going over everyone's basic skills to determine their readiness. I'm happy to say that most of you have done very well, some I will admit beyond my expectations." He glanced at the straw-hatted boy, who he caught glancing back at Robin with a wide grin and silently saying something that he couldn't pick up, the girl simply smiling and giving a small nod in return. "So today, we will be testing the final of the Academy's basic jutsu; The Transformation Jutsu and the Clone Jutsu." He continued, noticing Naruto in particular paling slightly at the mention of the latter. "So without further delay, let's begin with the Transformation Jutsu!"
Class continued, and Iruka couldn't help the wide smile that slowly began to grow on his face as every student managed to successfully transform into rather convincing imitations of the village's leader; the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. Even those who had seemed apprehensive, such as the aforementioned Hyuuga, performed the technique excellently. "Alright Zoro, good job. A bit darker on the skin tone, though. Well done!" The green-haired boy smirked confidently as he returned to his seat, propping his elbow on the table and resting his chin in his palm to watch the last few students. "Sasuke, you're up next!" Iruka called the Uchiha, who stood up from his seat.
"Good luck, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura bid the boy, who only ignored her.
Standing in front of the class, the dark-haired student formed the appropriate hand seals and closed his eyes as he concentrated on controlling his chakra. "Transform!" He announced as a puff of smoke surrounded him, only to slowly dissipate to reveal his attempt. Iruka walked around his student, now the Hokage, taking in the quality of the transformation. Everything seemed to be in order, he saw, though he also took note of the fact that Sasuke still held the steely gaze he normally wore. "Excellent work, Sasuke!" He complimented, checking his name off of a list. "Just what I'd expect of our top student." The transformation vanished, leaving the Uchiha with a small but existent smirk as he gave a slight bow before returning to his seat, ignoring the attention of several of the class's girls, as well as Cavendish, who seemed to be glaring at him.
"Next is Naruto!" Iruka informed the class, who all looked at the boy. Having apparently gotten over his nerves from earlier, smiled widely as he excitedly jumped up from his seat and ran down in front of the class to stand in front of the teacher. The Chunin smiled, glad to see Naruto in good spirits. He tended to get nervous when he had to use techniques like this in front of the class. "Just give it your best shot, Naruto." He whispered to the boy, inaudible to most of the class except for the front row and the Inazuka boy.
Naruto nodded. "Don't worry, Iruka-sensei!" He assured his instructor. "I've got this. Just watch!" He quickly formed the hand seal and gave out a call of "Transform," surrounded in a puff of smoke like all those before him. As the smoke rolled away, the silhouette looked quite promising. But when the light began to hit it more directly, laughter erupted from the class. "Is that supposed to be the Hokage, dobe?!" Shouted Kiba from the back of the class, Hinata frowning slightly at him but not speaking up.
As Iruka had feared, Naruto still seemed to lack the chakra control necessary to perfect a transformation. The lips looked as though they'd been stung by hornets, while the body itself was short and hunched. Even the clothes seemed ill-fitting, despite the simplicity of the Hokage robes. "Naruto…" He muttered, partly from disappointment and partly from annoyance. The transformation wore off, and the boy was wildly flailing his arms in a panic. "W-wait, Iruka-sensei!" He pleaded. "Gimme another shot, please! I know my transformations need work, but I have something I think will make up for that!"
Iruka blinked in surprise, wondering what the student had in mind. Still, he had failed to satisfy the requirements of the Transformation portion of the test. "I'm sorry, Naruto." He told the boy honestly, knowing what the boy was dreading most. "You'll just have to hope you do well with the Clone ju-" "Come on, Iruka-sensei!" Someone spoke up from the desks.
The student and teacher both turned to see Luffy, his typically massive smile on his face. "Let Naruto show us his new jutsu! What have we got to lose? It's not like class is over yet." Several students voiced their agreement; Rebecca and Bartolomeo, Usopp and Hinata, Shikamaru and Choji, among others. Iruka sighed. "Alright then. Let's see it, Naruto!" He relented, honestly not seeing the harm in it. The boy's eyes lit up excitedly, and he nodded eagerly. "Got it!" He said, smiling almost as widely as the boy who had spoken up for him.
With that, Naruto performed a hand seal identical to that of the Transformation technique, but his eyes seemed to glint mischievously as he concentrated. "Sexy Jutsu!" He shouted enthusiastically, much to the confusion of everyone in the room. A large puff of smoke surrounded him, and when it dispersed, there were… mixed reactions, to put it mildly.
Where Naruto had been, there was now a young, rather well-endowed woman wearing nothing, only smoke concealing her more personal areas. Her hair was tied into two massive pigtails, and she still had the whisker-like markings of Naruto's face on her own as she blew a kiss to the class. Most of the women shouted at Naruto in outrage, though Hinata and Rebecca averted their eyes in embarrassment and Robin remained as stoic as ever, even seeming to find the technique amusing. Half the boys in the class were staring in stunned silence, while the others, including the likes of Zoro, were laughing hysterically. Beside the green-haired student, Sanji seemed to have fallen out of his chair, hearts in his eyes and quietly mumbling "Mellorine~…" as he lay there.
Luffy simply looked at Naruto's new shape with a blank expression, not understanding what everyone else was freaking out about. He turned to Rebecca, whose face was buried in her hands, then to Usopp, who was staring at "Naruko" much more intensely than he had been. He turned around to look at Sasuke, who seemed just as unaffected as he was. "What's up with them?" He asked the Uchiha, who glanced down at him and shrugged.
Iruka, after recovering from the shock of what he had just witnessed, stood up from where he had flipped over his desk to see Naruto back to normal, holding his stomach and laughing at him. "Oh man, you should have seen your face, Iruka-sensei!" The boy insisted between fits of laughter, having gotten exactly the kind of reaction he had hoped for from the shinobi. Iruka frowned and stared at him seriously, the boy's laughter quickly turning to silence.
The chunin prepared to speak, only for Naruto to shake his head. "Don't worry, I know…" He informed the teacher, knowing that he had failed and returning to his seat. Iruka sighed, hating to see Naruto look so depressed, but he couldn't give him any special treatment. Not in school, at least; he made a mental note to invite the boy out to Ichiraku after everyone was dismissed. In celebration or to cheer him up, they would see.
The last couple of students performed the transformation jutsu, and Iruka instructed them all to take a break while he got the other instructors together for the Clone Jutsu test. Once he left, conversation quickly erupted amongst the students.
Rebecca and Usopp both turned to the boy in between them, who had reached into his pocket and pulled out a bag of chips. "You did really well on your transformation, Luffy!" Rebecca complimented, the boy laughing. "Thanks. Yours was good, too!" Usopp watched him as he ate, a touch confused. "I'll admit it was good, but that kind of surprised me." He said, Luffy giving him a questioning look. "What do you mean?" He asked. "Well, usually you don't do very well with the Transformation jutsu. The best you can usually manage is one of your impressions." Rebecca thought on this, also having noticed. "You have improved a lot." She agreed.
Luffy smiled. "Oh, that!" He responded. He turned around in his seat. "Robin helped me!" He explained, the two looking up at the quiet girl. She looked up from her book and offered a smile. Usopp shuttered. "She helped you?!" He repeated in surprise before lowering his voice. "I don't know how you can be friends with her. She's really scary!" Luffy shook his head. "Nah, you just don't know her. She's really nice. And funny!" He waved to her.
"Thanks again for the tutoring, Robin!" He shouted across the room, the girl raising a hand in return. "Hey, do you want to come to Ichiraku after class lets out?" She looked up at the ceiling, thinking on the offer. Unfortunately, a certain swirly-eyebrowed boy overheard the conversation. "Hey, you shitty bastard!" He growled out angrily, stomping on his desk and pointing dramatically. "I was gonna ask Robin-chan out on a date after class!" Luffy blinked. Who said anything about a date? "Oh, do you want to come too, Sanji? That's cool, but I only have enough for two, so you'll have to bring some money!" Sanji tore at his hair in irritation, Zoro snickering. "Argh, stop making fun of me, Straw Hat!"
Robin, who had been watching the exchange, giggled. "Actually, I think that sounds nice, Luffy. Can we meet by the swing outside?" She told the boy, who laughed happily. "Sure thing, I'll see you then!" He responded, leaving Sanji slack-jawed in shock. Zoro's snickering turned to full-blown laughter, and Sanji's silence to shouting. Nami groaned and got up from her seat, walking over to talk to Ino to avoid the two squabbling boys.
Luffy turned to Usopp. "Hey, why don't you come too? That way you can get to know her!" Usopp crossed his arms. "I don't know, Luffy… You're sure she's not going try and pull something?" Luffy nodded, and his long-nosed classmate sighed. "Fine, I'll come." Luffy cheered, and then turned to Rebecca. "Do you wanna come too, Rebecca?" She shook her head with a smile. "I'd love to, but I'm going to have to pass for today. My dad is inviting some of my relatives over tonight to celebrate me passing. He doesn't even know if I will, yet…"
Luffy chuckled and gave her a friendly pat on the back. "Ah, you'll pass for sure! Don't worry about it. We'll hang out some other time, then?" Rebecca nodded. "Definitely." She said with a smile.
Naruto looked over at Sakura, who was herself trying in vain to start a conversation with Sasuke. Having overheard the plans of Luffy and his friends, he decided to try asking her out. "Hey Sakura-chan, do you want to come to Ichiraku with me after class?" He asked hopefully. She turned to look at him and frowned slightly. "No thanks, Naruto. I'm, uh, going to be busy tonight." She told him quickly, so she could return her attention to Sasuke.
"Oh, okay… Maybe some other time?" He asked as he slumped in his seat, receiving no response. He sighed, and decided to just stare at the front wall until Iruka returned with the other teachers. Hinata looked at him from her seat in the back of class, wanting to say something to try and cheer him up but lacking the courage to do so. Kiba, sitting beside her, gave her a slight nudge with his elbow, trying to distract her from her worries.
Cavendish and Bartolomeo, meanwhile, had picked up their argument from earlier. Shikamaru, unable to return to sleep due to the shouting between them and Zoro and Sanji, sighed heavily. Choji offered him a chip from his bag, which he accepted. "Is there just some rule I'm not aware of that says people with green hair can't get along with blondes?" He mumbled, the Akimichi boy laughing in agreement.
Nami and Ino, who weren't far from them, both rolled their eyes. "Seriously. It's like this every day; if it's not them, it's Naruto and Sasuke." Nami observed, glad that they only had one last day of this noise. Ino nodded, looking over at Luffy as he spoke to Usopp. "And it always seems to come back to Luffy, when it comes to the first four." She added. Nami shook her head. "No, Sanji gets fired up all the time. But we would have a lot less noise if he'd just figure out Luffy's only friends with Robin and Rebecca."
Ino looked back at Nami. "Now that you mention it, I don't think I've ever seen Luffy out on an actual date." She noted, tapping her chin. Nami shrugged. "Eh, that's his business." She stated simply, not really caring about her classmate's love life. Ino grinned, deciding to try and get a rise out of her. "Well, what about you? Sanji's asked you out a ton, I know. And some of the other boys."
Nami leered at her, huffing in annoyance at her friend's gossipy nature. "Sanji'll ask out any girl with a pulse." She remarked. "I honestly couldn't care less about getting a boyfriend." Ino rolled her eyes. "When are you gonna grow up, Nami?" She asked teasingly. Nami smirked. "How about when you and Sakura stop obsessing over Sasuke? I honestly don't get what you and the others see in him. At least Luffy's got a personality going for him." Ino's expression quickly changed, and Nami realized all too late she'd made a poor choice of words.
"Shut up, Ino." She advised the girl in a dangerous tone, Ino giggling innocently and looking away as if she had no idea what her friend was talking about.
Within a few more minutes, Iruka returned with Mizuki close behind, who went on to sit in a chair near the wall as he waited for the demonstrations to begin. "Alright everyone," Iruka spoke, getting everyone's attention. "If you'll all please return to your seats, we'll get started with the Clone Jutsu test. As before, please just come up to the front of the class when your name is called and perform the technique. Are there any questions?" When no student spoke up, he waited for them to get back to their own seats before nodding. "Alright then. First up, Shino Aburame!" The boy nodded and stood up, quietly making his way to the front of the classroom.
Class seemed to pass by quickly, given how simple the Clone jutsu was to perform for most students. "Alright, next is Luffy. Come on down!" The energetic boy let out of cry of excitement and sprung out of his desk, quickly heading into position. The two instructors watched as he seemed to prepare himself, knowing that Luffy had a rather odd sort of relation to jutsu. "The boy has excellent chakra control for someone his age," Iruka thought to himself. "But he usually seems to have trouble concentrating on the technique itself. He seems to do better when we use jutsu during sparring matches. Maybe it's an instinct thing…"
Luffy crossed his fingers and took a deep breath, calming down so that he could focus. "Clone Jutsu!" He called out, a puff of smoke appearing beside him. Once the smoke cleared, there stood a second Luffy, exactly like the first. The two smiled at each other, and then to the instructors. "How's that?" They asked simultaneously, Mizuki chuckling. "Very good, Luffy." Iruka complimented. "Good to see that you've been practicing."
Luffy laughed as his clone disappeared, scratching the back of his head as he returned to his seat. Usopp gave him a congratulatory nudge as he sat down, whispering "Did Robin help you out with that, too?" Luffy shrugged with a smile. "Yeah," He admitted. "I've also been training at home with my brothers." He adjusted himself in his seat, waiting for the next student to go.
Several minutes passed once again, and Iruka found himself checking off another name as Sasuke returned to his seat with a look of quiet confidence. "Naruto, it's your turn!" The instructor called out, the student in question standing and coming up to stand. Unlike with the Transformation jutsu, Naruto seemed a lot more nervous, looking over at Mizuki, who offered a reassuring nod and smile. The blond inhaled deeply, crossing his fingers and furrowing his brow as he concentrated. "Clone… Jutsu!" A puff of smoke appeared beside him, and everyone in the classroom seemed to lean forward for a closer look. When the smoke cleared, Naruto's heart sank immediately.
There, lying flat on its stomach, was a pale imitation of the student who produced it, tongue lolled out dumbly. The class erupted into laughter once again, and Iruka silenced them with yet another shout. He looked at Naruto, frowning. "I'm sorry Naruto, but that's just not good enough." He said, shaking his head.
"Aw, come on, Iruka!" Mizuki said, shrugging nonchalantly. "Give him another shot! I'll bet he just needs one more try."
Naruto's eyes widened, and he looked up at Iruka hopefully. The look made the Chunin cringe in guilt as he shook his head once again. "I'm sorry, Naruto. I already gave you another chance on the Transformation Jutsu, and I wasn't even supposed to give you that. You'll just have to try again… next year." Naruto's head fell, eyes hidden by hair that seemed to have grown longer to do just that. He sniffed quietly, and silently returned to his seat. Iruka watched him for a moment, and then cleared his throat. "Moving on… Ino, it's your turn."
Within the hour, the doors to the Academy opened, releasing a flood of students, a number of which wore their new headbands proudly upon their person. Luffy emerged beside his friends, wearing a red hitai-ate around his waist like a belt. Rebecca was also now sporting one in an identical position, though hers was the more standard blue. Usopp's black one was tied around his left arm, proudly displaying the symbol of the Leaf for all to see.
"So, tomorrow is the day when we're all getting assigned to our new teams, huh?" Rebecca asked, feeling both excited and nervous. Luffy nodded. "Yeah! I'm so excited I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight!" He exclaimed, Usopp laughing. "If that doesn't stop you, then the sleep you got in class will. You think we'll all be on the same team?" Luffy shrugged. "Maybe. That'd be cool, but it'd also be cool to get to know some new people!"
Rebecca nodded in agreement. "Rebecca!" A voice shouted, earning the friends' attention. There at the gate stood Rebecca's father, Kyros, waving his arm. She returned his wave, then turned back to the boys. "Well, I'll see you guys tomorrow! I hope the ramen's good!" Luffy and Usopp both nodded, waving as she jogged over to her father, who glanced at them with an indecipherable expression but returned his gaze to his daughter, unmistakably proud of her achievement as he looked at the symbol of all her hard work.
Luffy then lead Usopp to the swing where they were to meet Robin, who was sitting against the tree with her book. She wore a black hitai-ate around her neck, and looked up at the two as they approached. She closed the book and stood up, brushing herself off and smiling politely. "Hello Luffy. And you are Usopp, correct?" She greeted them, the long-nosed boy nodding nervously. "Yeah, that's him!" Luffy confirmed. "I hope you don't mind, but I invited him along too." She shook her head. "Not at all. I don't mind."
As they spoke, preparing to leave, Luffy heard someone approach and turned to see Naruto quietly walking their way. "Oh, hey Naruto!" He shouted happily, waving to the boy. Startled, Naruto looked up to see the group surrounding the swing. "Oh, hey." He said, not having expected anyone to be there. He looked at their headbands and sighed to himself. Luffy, either not noticing or not caring, asked "Hey, we're going to Ichiraku Ramen to get something to eat! Do you wanna come?"
Naruto blinked in surprise, and his eyes widened at the mention of his favorite restaurant. "Huh? You're inviting me along?" He asked, perplexed. Usopp shrugged. "Sure, why not? I don't mind!" Robin smiled, also not seeing any problem with it.
Naruto quickly gained a smile, the thought of ramen already doing wonders for his mood. "Okay, yeah! Sure, I'll come!" He decided, Luffy laughing at his excitement. "Alright, cool! So let's get going!" Naruto nodded in agreement. "Yeah!" Just as the four were about to leave, though, a voice called out to the blond. "Hey, Naruto! Over here!" The boy turned, spotting Mizuki by the front doors of the school. "Can you come here for a second? I have something I wanted to talk to you about!"
Naruto frowned, and seemed ready to protest, but for some reason just didn't seem up to it. He looked at Luffy and the others. "Sorry, guess I'll have to cancel." He lamented, the straw hat-wearing boy shrugging. "No problem! You can come along next time, alright?" Naruto's smile returned, glad for the offer. "Sure, that sounds good! I'll see you guys around!" He told them, waving as he ran to speak to the instructor. "Coming, Mizuki-sensei!"
Luffy smiled as he turned to Usopp and Robin thrusting his fists into the air. "Alright, let's go eat! I'm starving!" He declared, Usopp rolling his eyes and Robin giggling. "You're always hungry, Luffy." Usopp reminded the boy, who simply laughed in agreement. With that the three students headed out, off to enjoy their first meal as Genin of Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaf.
Well, there is the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, and here's to what will hopefully be a long and entertaining story. Chapter 2 is already in the works, so keep an eye out for it if you liked this!
If you have any criticisms or advice, or just want to share your opinion in general, write a review if you've got the time! Any feedback at all is welcome.