Naruto: Raimei
Episode 1 Part 1 - Pilot
B-b-b-beep! B-b-b-beep! B-b-b-beep!
The obnoxious clock continued to blare its repetitive alarm. The room was dim as the early morning sunlight filtered through the drawn curtains. An untidy bed, littered with the latest issues of Shōnen Jump, lay in one corner of the room. Next to it a nightstand held a lamp with a burnt-out bulb and clothes littered the floor. A desk sat against one wall, littered with more random junk.
B-b-b-beep! B-b-b-beep!
The door to the room cracked open and a younger girl with dark brown hair entered the room, muttering curses ill-befitting a 10-year-old under her breath.
"Ryō!" she said, "Turn that thing off! ...Huh?"
The room, for all its contents, did not contain the 12-year-old boy that it usually did. The finally crafted sword that usually perched over the bed's headboard was also missing. She walked over to the open window and looked out.
"Ryō? Did you really wake up this early?"
~~~~~
[On the roof of the Kumogakure Ninja Academy]
"Oh brother... Ryō... Ryō!"
The figure stood impatiently, looking down at the immobile, snoring lump at his feet. Ryō wore a dark yellow jumpsuit, unzipped to his waist. The shirt half was pulled revealing a pale yellow sleeveless shirt, and beneath, a short sleeved fishnet shirt. Ryō's black hair lay tousled and unkempt on his head and a small sbandage stretched across his nose. He was sprawled on the red-orange tiles of the Academy roof and slept perfectly oblivious to the bird nipping at his finger.
"Ryō! Wake up goddammit!" The figure landed a solid kick in Ryō's side, sending rolling off the rooftop.
"Huh? Wha-? Aaaaaaaah!"
THUNK!
"*sigh* It just had to be me, huh?"
"Huh? Oh! Hey, Chizuru-chan! What's up?" Ryō greeted.
"You," said a very annoyed Chizuru. Only then did Ryō notice that he had fallen on top of her. Her angry, hazel eyes glared up at him, and he lept up, apologising quickly. notice that he had fallen on top of her. Her angry, hazel eyes glared up at him, and he lept up, apologising quickly. She stood up and brushed the dirt off of her dark green shirt, and black pants.
"Hm, I thought I was on the roof," noted Ryō, scratching his cheek.
"You were," called a voice, this one from the roof, "You wouldn't wake up so I kicked you."
"Kiyoshi!" Ryō cried, grinning up at his friend, "I forgot you were there."
"Thanks... *sweatdrop*"
Kiyoshi jumped down and landed next to his best friend. He stood almost as tall as Ryō, but his spiked, orange hair gave him an extra couple of inches. He wore a long, gray coat with blue trim that spread open in the front, the collar of which easily reached Kiyoshi's nose. Under this Ryō could see a black shirt and a pair of blue pants. Strapped to his back was Kuroboshi, Kiyoshi's pride and joy, a massive fuuma shuriken a little over a meter and a half in diameter.
"I don't know about you two," Chizuru said, "But I'm not going to be late for graduation."
She headed for the door, and Kiyoshi and Ryō followed behind.
"I hope we get to be on the same team, Kiyoshi," Ryō said.
"Yeah, that'd be awesome.," Kiyoshi replied enthusiastically.
"Whatever," said Chizuru, "As long as I'm not with you two bozos I don't really care." She paused for a moment and then added, "Or Mizuchi-san. He's wierd."
Ryō stuck out his tongue at the back of Chizuru's head. Kiyoshi laughed heartily, and clasped his hands behind his head, as he loped alongside him.
They reached the classroom and took their usual seats. The room was filled with tension as young ninjas murmured excitedly about who they wanted on their team, and who they'd rather fail than be on a team with, and rumours that they had heard about being a genin. Kiyoshi and Ryō simply passed the time playing rock-paper-scissors, and tic-tac-toe.
As soon as the door at the front of the room slid open, the room fell silent, but the tension grew ten-fold. Fudō-sensei, a middle-age ninja wearing a thick, dark green flak jacket entered.
"Congratulations," he said, addressing the class, "You have finally become ninja after many long years of hard training. I won't bother you with a long speech, since I know that many of you," his gaze seemed to linger on Ryō for a moment before continuing around the room, "won't be paying attention anyway," a few people snickered quietly and were promptly hushed by near-by classmates, "So without further ado, here is the list o teams."
Fudō-sensei unfurled and large scroll, and began reading off team numbers and names.
"Team 1. Komamura Jishu, Chiyo Sora, Mei Nobi," The class clapped as the team stood, nodded politely to each other, and walked up to recieve their forehead protectors.
"Report to room 1-C," they were told, and they left.
"Team 2," Fudō-sensei continued, "Uba Giguza, Harisa Hako, Yomō Jimu... Report to room 3-A," Again the class clapped and two of th new team members gave each other high-fives before going up to recieve their protectors, "Report to room 3-A. Team 3. Ugimi Gōya, Gōsha Yuji, Gobike Rabi... Room 2-C... Team 4. Jinō Najuza Jichu Shine, Buyatogu Hinori... Room 2-A... Team 5. Akiyama Kiyoshi," Kiyoshi smiled and glanced at Ryō, "Arashi Ryō," they clasped hands and slapped each other on the back, "Dattōmaru Chizuru," their jaws dropped and they stared at Fudō-sensei in disbelief.
A few moments passed and other classmates began to push them to go recieve their forehead protectors. Chizuru was similarly shocked. Eventually, the three of them made their way to the front o the room and left as they were told, "Room 1-A."
~~~~~
"Sheesh, it's taking our new sensei forever to get here," Ryō complained. ~~~~~
"Shut up already. You've been saying that every five minutes," snapped Chizuru, "Sensei isn't due to arrive for another ten."
A footstep was heard outside the door, and the grudging team mates stood as a ninja wearing a flak jacket entered, signifying his jōnin status.
"Good morning, sensei," Chizuru said, bowing.
"Hm? Sorry, I'm not your sensei," the man said, "I'm just here to deliver a message." He handed Kiyoshi a scroll and let, grumbling about being given "paper-boy" missions.
Kiyoshi looked down at the scroll in his hands and opened it.
"Meet me on the Soraden Bridge at 1400 hours, tomorrow. -Sensei"
"...*blink blink* Dammit!" cursed Ryō, "That guy! He made us wait half an hour just to tell us to wait longer!"
Chizuru sighed, "Well, it seems that Team Dattōmaru will be meeting at the Bridge tomorrow."
"Dattōmaru?" the two boys said, "No, this is Team Storm."
"Storm?" said Chizuru, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah," said Kiyoshi, "We decided last night. We will call our team 'Storm'."
Chizuru gave them a look of annoyance, but sighed in defeat. Pick your battles, she told herself, You can't argue with all the fools in the world...
"Fine," she said, "Team 'Storm' is meeting at the Bridge tomorrow."
She grumbled to herself as she walked home, not entirely sure what tomorrow would bring.
To be continued in Ep 1.2
~~~~~