OK guys, if you're wondering where the first one went…well, I've already crossed that bridge. I believe the official release is still up on my profile page. So for all those readers who got disappointed with the removal of the first Konoha Court Marching Band…I'm sorry. So I'm going to take a new approach to it. Don't like the texts? Well, let's try standard form. Maybe I'll get more into this whole thing if that's the case.
I'm going to kind of explain as I go, but, without further ado, here it is…Konoha Court Marching Band: The Extended Version.
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CHAPTER ONE
Naruto Uzumaki yawned and flopped down into his bed. He smiled as the familiar summer breeze drifted through his opened window, tempting him outside. However, time for play was over; the sun was setting, even though it was almost 9pm, and the 17-year-old blonde decided that he'd better get in bed in preparation for the next day.
Speaking of which, what was tomorrow?
Opening one clear blue eye, Naruto peered at the calendar plastered to his wall. Both eyes flew open as he realized what tomorrow was.
Band camp? Already?!
Groaning, Naruto sat up in his bed and reached over to the table beside his bed. He dug around the candy wrappers and papers from last year's band camp and found his cell phone underneath the mess. He grabbed the list of new drummers this year from the table as well, and scanned over them.
"OK, let's see…bass 1, Ai Raiokachi." Naruto blinked twice and smiled slightly. "Yeah, that one blonde girl. Real sweet. Rides with Busy Brow."
Using his nimble fingers that were usually used for texting, the almost-adult drummer quickly scrolled through his address book and stopped the cursor over Ai's name. He hit the call button and mashed the phone to his ear.
A young teenager, about 14, named Ai Raiokachi sighed as she snuggled contentedly into her blankets. Tomorrow was band camp, and after hearing about how exhausting and straining it was from various friends, she decided to turn in rather early that day.
However, Ai's sleep was interrupted when her phone began to ring. Yawning, she picked up her cell and checked the caller ID.
Naruto Uzumaki, huh? Since when did he ever call?
Wasting no time, Ai picked up the phone, "Hello?"
"Hey, Ai, it's Naruto Uzumaki! We met a couple times whenever you caught a ride from Bushy Brow, remember?"
"Uhh…Bushy Brow?"
"Oh, right, sorry…I meant Lee. Forgot I was talking to you."
"Oh, uh, it's OK."
"Just wanted to remind about band camp tomorrow…the percussion usually meets a little earlier so we can warm up separate from the rest of the band. So be sure to be there about 7:45, OK?"
"Alright, thanks Naruto."
"See ya tomorrow!"
"By-"
Before Ai could finish say good bye, she was cut off by Naruto hanging up on her. She blinked confusingly before tossing her phone back on her pillow and flopping down into her blankets.
Naruto smirked as he hung up. "She's cute," he said softly aloud before turning back to the list. "Ugh, I know this kid…we took that same summer class…Konohamaru Sarutobi."
Turning back to his phone, the blonde quickly called the brunette.
Konohamaru fell over onto his carpet, laughing as his favorite part of his favorite comedy came on. "Oh man, th-that's great!" he cackled, peeling his goggles off his forehead.
Suddenly, his phone began to ring. Konohamaru frowned and paused the DVD while he answered the call. He didn't bother to look at the ID, "Yeah, what??"
"Hey, Kono, it's Naruto."
"What the heck do you want, idiot?!" he demanded. "I'm busy watching Step Brothers!"
"I was just reminding you that tomorrow's marching band camp, idiot! And you'd better be there early!"
"Since when am I ever late?! And why do I need to be there before eight??"
"You're a drummer now, dude! You have to step up and mature some!"
"You're retarded! I'll be there when I get there, alright??"
"Kono, I—"
Before Naruto could scold him some more, Konohamaru dropped his call and went back to watching Step Brothers. "Idiot," he muttered before cracking up laughing again.
Naruto clenched his teeth and glared at his phone. "Why, that little…!" After taking a deep breath, he looked back at the list of new drummers. "OK, last one…Tatsuki Suboya. Never even met her, Temari gave me her number…huh, this should be interesting."
A girl dressed in a T-shirt and a pair of basketball shorts shot another basketball at the hoop outside her house. She cheered as it went into the net, brushing her brown hair out of her face.
Tatsuki was ripped from her game as her phone rang. Digging into her pocket, she pulled it out and saw that an unrecognized number was on the screen. She answered it, "Hello?"
"Yeah, Tatsuki, my name's Naruto…I'm in charge of calling all the drummers to remind them that band camp is tomorrow."
"How could I forget?! I can't wait to get my bass! I've practiced all my music, I almost got the third movement memorized! I'm going to be the first one there, don't worry!"
"Ummm…OK…"
"Yeah, so don't you worry one bit, Naruto! I'm getting my mom to drive me there extra early, so I'll probably be there before you! Wouldn't that be weird, the freshman arriving there before the sen—"
The call was abruptly dropped.
"Oh my gosh, does she ever shut up?!"
Naruto snapped his phone shut and tossed it on his end table beside his bed. "I'm not going to call Kiba or Shikamaru…if they don't know to be early by now, I don't know what will convince them."
The spiky haired teen sighed and flopped down into his bed, shutting his eyes. "Mmm, I hope tomorrow isn't a horror story…"
Sakura moaned and flopped down into her pillow, completely exhausted. She had managed to get one last day of shopping in before heading off to band camp the next day. And man, did she need it! She hadn't had any cute outfits to wear the next day.
Just as she was about to drift to sleep, her cell phone began to vibrate. Grumbling, she grabbed it and answered the call, "What, Ino?!"
"Hey, Sakura!" The blonde on the other side of the line sang happily, as if she wasn't tired at all. "Are you ready for tomorrow, dear?"
"What the heck do you think the answer to that is?"
Ino rolled her eyes and spoke into the receiver, "Well, excuse me. You know, it's our senior year, we should enjoy it as much as we can."
Sakura sighed. "Ino, as much as I love KCMB and as much as I'll miss playing my flute next year, it's starting to take a toll on me. I don't know if I can pull through or not…"
"Silly! Of course you can! Flutes are the toughest players, you know!"
"Mmm…I guess."
"Alright, well get some sleep darling, tomorrow's a big day!"
"Right…later."
As Sakura slid her phone shut, she was irritable to fall asleep. Man, she makes me so angry sometimes! Cha!
Kankuro moaned as he fell back into his pillow. Ohh, man, it was going to be torture the next day for his household with band camp starting and all. Gaara loved band, but he absolutely hated band camp.
The brown-haired clarinet player studied his phone screen as his cell vibrated with a text. It was a message from his fellow clarinet player, Shino Aburame, asking him what time they should be there tomorrow.
Kankuro snorted. "I'm gettin' there at 8:01, we'll see what old man Kakashi says about it," he recited aloud as he typed the message on his phone. He rolled his eyes as he heard a growling outside his room.
"KANKURO, SHUT OFF THAT INFERNAL PHONE!" Gaara roared from outside his brother's closed bedroom door. Kankuro sighed and shut off his phone, sticking it on the cable to charge.
"Alright, alright, geez Gaara, you need to learn to calm down," Kankuro called to the angry red head. He received a bang on his door in response. In the distance, he heard his sister, Temari, remind Gaara to keep his cool, and that his blood pressure was going to kill him one day.
Kankuro slowly slid his eyes shut and dozed off peacefully to the sound of Temari screaming, "Gaara, what are you doing with my flag?! You'd sure as heck better not bang in Kankuro's door!"
"Itachi, will you shut UP already?! Geez, I'm going to do such bad things to you, you won't know what hit you!"
Sasuke Uchiha shot his older brother, Itachi, a glare that could pierce metal. The elder brother smiled musingly and crossed his arms. "You know, Sasuke, marching band was the best time of my life," he said smoothly. "I'm just trying to give you pointers…"
"Yeah, well, you're a cop now, so move on already," Sasuke retorted, crossing his arms as well. "You've been out of band for two years now; it's time to get on with your life."
Itachi gazed off in the distance thoughtfully. "Actually, I'm not entirely out of band…"
"Huh?"
"Nothing, nothing," Itachi replied, dismissing his little brother with a wave.
Sasuke sighed. "Look, it's going to be a hard enough transition from trumpet to trombone without your 'advice'. So can you please just let me do my thing?"
"Oh, whatever." Itachi smirked as he prodded Sasuke's forehead with two fingers before walking off to bed.
Sasuke snorted. "Stuck up."
Tenten smiled as she noticed that Neji Hyuga had just signed in on her internet messenger. Then she frowned when she also noticed that Rock Lee had signed in at the same time. The chocolate-eyed senior quickly opened a three way chat room and started to message her two friends.
Hey! She typed.
After a couple moments, she received a Hi, from Neji and a Good evening, my beautiful blossom! from Lee. Tenten quickly began a discussion about band camp with the two.
What do you think about this year's show? She asked.
It looks pretty dumb, Neji messaged back. I mean, it's about a girl that murders a man and then another man murders her. Where's the value in that?
I think that it is a wonderful story! Lee protested back. However, I have some doubts about our director.
Tenten rolled her eyes at her friend's message. Lee was always going on about how Kakashi wasn't as good of a director as the director they had their freshman year, Might Guy. Personally, Tenten thought that he was a psycho maniac because he worked them to the bones. Lee, however, grew to idol him.
Kakashi's fine, Tenten disagreed. At least he isn't a maniac.
I like him better, he's calmer, Neji typed back. Speaking of which, I'm going to bed so I can actually get there at a decent time tomorrow. You two should do the same.
You are such a stiff neck, Neji! Lee's instant message came fairly quick. Tenten guessed that Lee had learned to type like a normal human being.
Yeah, OK, later guys, Tenten wrote quickly then signed off her computer. Yawning, the senior trumpet player collapsed into her bed.
Sai sat Indian-style on his floor, studying his sheet music. Tomorrow was his first day at Konoha Court Marching Band; he transferred from Sunagakure earlier in the summer and was somewhat nervous about his new marching band.
Will they like me? He wondered, his eyes flitting to his clarinet. Suna is a very harsh rival to Konoha. The students might not like him if they found out that he was a transfer from the sandy country.
Also, the fact that he was emotionless might have something to do with it.
Sighing, Sai closed his clarinet case and gathered his sheet music. He didn't want to forget anything for tomorrow…it was going to be an interesting day.
Kakashi placed his free hand in his pocket as he gazed out his kitchen window into the night sky. "Yes…that would be fine…alright, thanks Anko, see you tomorrow…ha, OK, bye…"
The silver-haired man ended the call and placed his iPhone back into his other pocket. He stared outside at the sky, lit up by the millions of stars. It was a clear night…that meant a hot day tomorrow morning. "Hmm, I wonder how this year is going to go," he wondered to himself.
As the band director of Konoha Court Marching Band, he had many responsibilities. He was still a little wet behind the ears, but he sure as heck didn't want Guy to come back and give him some pointers. He saw himself and Guy as somewhat rivals. Kakashi didn't accept all of Guy's techniques, like his overly macho style of directing and his hot-blooded nature.
Taking one last look at the sky, Kakashi spun around on one heel and made his way for his bedroom. He ignored the fact that there were dishes piling up in his sink and that his room was littered with different papers and music.
Wow, he needed a wife.
And there we go! How was that for an introduction? I am extrememly excited to be working on this again, because to be honest, I missed writing about all the crazy characters of KCMB! Again, the old story...I'm not really upset about it anymore, but don't worry, I will definately be basing this new one off the old one, along with making a few improvements int the storyine. Thanks for everybody's patience, it means a lot!
Hypo, out!
