This is the first chapter of my
Naruto Second Generation Fanfiction.
Narutotmbelongs to Masashi Kishimoto,Only Kareth Seto and the other genin of this next generation belong to me. Enjoy. RxR!
The Village Hidden in Leaves, Konoha. This large town located in the country of fire is best known for the strength of their ninja. Having many of the top Jounin in the world, and well as some of the strongest leaders of the shinobi world. Many years have passed since the fourth great ninja war, and finally the world was settling down to a relative peace. The keyword in that sentence being relative…
Kareth Seto sat in the far back of the room, his 'classmates' snickering with excitement as he just scoffed. Great, exam day… my favorite time of year…. He rolled his eyes and ran a shaky hand through his ebon locks. Sighing as he looked out the window, he caught the attention of a girl to his right. She looked at him through light green eyes, and shook her dirty-blonde head a couple times before sighing herself. She sighed a little louder so Kareth could hear her, expecting him to at least acknowledge her. Kareth seemed uninterested, he just kept on staring out the window, looking at the hokage monument carved into the mountainside. He had learned about the first four faces in class, though now they didn't mean much to him. The past is in the past, who cared now? The last three faces were faces he had seen in person, the Fifth Hokage was always at his house. The Sixth Hokage he personally knew better than anyone else. The last face, a grinning man with whisker marks on his face. When Kareth first saw the carving, he had thought that it was cracked. Then he met the Seventh Hokage himself and found out that the markings were actually on his face! It was difficult at the time to contain his laughter. The man he considered a father to him had scolded him for making fun of the Hokage, but Kareth couldn't help it. Because of his 'father's' relationship with both the Fifth and Seventh Hokages, he has met both of them several times. Suddenly he was dragged back from his daydream as he heard a frustratingly loud sigh coming from his right. Making a loud 'tch' sound, he turned his head so that he could look at the source of the sigh.
"You really shouldn't be moaning so suggestively in class, Shikami."
The dirty-blonde girl's cheeks slightly reddened at his words, and she scoffed them off furiously. "You know, Kareth. You really should be paying attention to what Iruka-Sensei is saying. It'll be such a drag if you have to stay behind another year."
"Who says I'll be staying behind again!?" He narrowed his eyes, growling ever-so-slightly at his friend.
"Well you did it once…"
Kareth couldn't come back from that statement. Damn it… She spoke the truth, Kareth Seto was supposed to graduate the academy the year before, but he failed the exam so many times that Iruka had to keep him behind. (Something neither of them were too happy about) Now Kareth was a year older than everyone he was in class with, but he had one friend. Glancing back at the dark blonde to his right, he thought back to when he was really young. His adoptive father, Kakashi Hatake had introduced him to the girl when he was only seven years old, just a few months after being adopted. Kakashi knew the girl's parents from the days when he was in charge of a genin team. Apparently the girl's father was one of the students of Kakashi's late friend, Asuma. How old IS Kakashi? He HAS to be pushing forty by now… Kakashi introduced him to the parents first. The blonde mother was the first to step forward and say hello to him her hair was pulled into four distinct areas, sort of like the directions on a compass… if you turned it just so… never mind - confused.
"Hello Kareth, my name is Temari, it's nice to finally meet you." She smiled down at him, crouched over with her hands on her knees. Kareth looked into her eyes, they were green. Not emerald green like his own, but more like a sea-green. He smiled back, a large, toothy grin that accentuated the fact that his two front teeth were missing. The older kunoichi chuckled and stepped back, nudging the girl's father forward. He had his hair pulled back as well, but only in once place, it stuck up behind his head. The knot was spiky, and it made Kareth wonder how he kept it up there. The older man looked down into the young boy's eyes. He could almost see a small smirk start to form when Kareth flashed him the 'is there something on my face?' face. The man stood up straight and pulled out a small, white, stick-like object. He placed one end in his mouth and held a small metal box to it. The next thing he did would imprint on Kareth something that would last a lifetime. He flicked the corner of the box and a small flame ignited on the top, lighting the end of the stick. He was too mesmerised by the flame to notice Temari smack the man upside the head.
"Shikamaru! Don't smoke in front of kids!"
"Why not, he can't do it himself anyway."
"Shikamaru!"
"Fine, ugh. What a drag…"
Kakashi laughed as Temari made Shikamaru get rid of the cigarette. "And this-" he motioned to the man, catching Kareth's tiny attention span. "-Is Shikamaru Nara." On that note, the two older shinobi beckoned to a smaller figure hiding behind a fence to come closer. Kareth squinted to get a better look at the small blonde girl who was cautiously walking over. Her eyes and hair were similar to her mother's, but she had her father face.
"Introduce yourselves, kids." Kakashi smiled from behind his mask. Kareth perked up, A new friend already!? Alright!
"My name is Kareth Seto! What's your name?" He held out a hand with a large grin, waiting expectantly for the girl to respond. It took a few moments of her looking back and forth from his hand to his face, before she reached out and grabbed it. (Much to her parents' surprise and relief.)
"I-I'm Shikami… Shikami Nara, I hope we can be friends…"
Kareth's grin widened, threatening to grow larger than his face could support. "Well I don'thope so!" He grasped the hand that was in his with both hands. Looking directly into her startled eyes.
At those words, both Kakashi and the Nara family's jaws dropped. Did this kid just-?
"-because I KNOW we will be the best of friends!" The sigh of relief from both sides was enough to cause the wind to pick up a little. Kareth looked at the now smiling girl, who nodded furiously. "Now come on!" Kareth laughed, "Let's go play or something!" Shikami shouted her approval as they ran off, Kareth almost dragging her by the wrist.
"Kareth Seto!"
He was confused, Shikami never called him by his full name as a kid…
"Kareth!"
That's more like it, but why is her voice so rough?
"KARETH!"
He was startled out of his second daydream as an eraser hit him square in the forehead, almost knocking him off his chair. He rubbed his head, sure there was a thick white mark gracing his face. "What the hell, Iruka-sensei!"
"I've been calling your name for a few minutes now, you idiot!" The brown haired teacher shouted at him. Kareth glanced at his teacher's large scar, it went across the top of his nose, right under his eyes. He never knew where the man got that mark, but he knew exactly what to say.
"Yeah yeah, what do you want then, Scarface?"
Iruka's face turned a deep red, Kareth could almost see the steam coming out of his nose. "DO YOU WANT ME TO KEEP YOU BACK AGAIN!?" The whole class started laughing at that shout.
"N-No…" Kareth mumbled,
"Then get down here! It's time for you to show us if you pass or not!"
Kareth grumbled his disapproval but stood up nonetheless. He shuffled down the aisle, earning knowing looks from several classmates, mostly ones of humor. He passed by several snickering kids and soon stood before Iruka himself. "Well, what do you want me to do?" The entire class suddenly burst out laughing, including Shikami!
Traitor
Only one person wasn't laughing, a pink-haired girl sitting in the front. Her hair was decently long, from what Kareth could see it went down to the middle of her back. She had bangs that seemed to only cover the right side of her head, but her eyes were both visible. She was sort of pretty, but there was one thing that set her apart from the rest of her class. Her bright, crystal blue eyes were not laughing. They stared at his with utter disgust. Wait, what? The girl shook her head at him, and as soon as her voice hit his eardrums he realized why this girl looked so familiar. HOW DID I NOT REALIZE SHE WAS IN MY CLASS?!
"Why are you so stupid? Iruka-sensei literally just explained that! You really do deserve to held back."
"Shut up, salmon-head."
The girl's sudden rage almost made itself visible, her face grew red and she puffed out her cheeks. "My hair is pink, not some stupid fish, ya hear!" Ya hear? That made no sense…
"Whatever, fish-face."
"Ugh! I hope you stay behind for the rest of your life!"
Then a new voice spoke up, the sharp-yet cool sound seemed to rise above the rest of the racket without much strain. Another voice Kareth knew all too well. "Hah, knowing this idiot, he really will never graduate. How does it feel to never even reach genin, eh?" Kenji Kawamiya… the boy who spoke up flashed a coy smile at Kareth, his blue eyes and blue hair shining in the morning light. Kenji is a real jerk. He is called the 'Genius' of the Kawamiya family, the strongest boy in the academy. He sat there with a smug look on his face as the rest of the class mocked Kareth. The black haired boy was about to explode.
"You wanna' go, waterboy?!" His challenge was met with a scoff.
"Please, you wouldn't last a minute against me, Seto. Or did you forget the last time you tried to fight me?"
"Let's just get back to the test, Kareth." Looking back at Iruka and pointing to Kenji, he shouted above the noise.
"Can't I just fight him as the test?!"
"If you want to fail again, sure."
Damn it. Kareth sighed, giving in.
"Alright, now all you need to do is create a clone. Just one." Iruka stated, eying the young boy with caution.
I'm finished… Kareth focused hard, he drew upon the chakra within him, hoping to be able to create at least one decent looking clone, but he was instead flooded by various feelings. Closing his eyes, he focused on some of them. In his mind, he saw a bright blue flame appear, it seemed to dance wildly as if surrounded by wind. The flame felt happy. (Yes, it felt) He felt several feelings emanating from the crystal blue flame, kindness, joy, excitement, curiosity, and something darker. He couldn't quite pinpoint it, but there seemed to be a slight redness to the very center of the flame, almost like a second flame within the first. Turning his whole body to directly face the flame, he opened his eyes. He found himself staring directly into the crystal blue eyes of the girl he just had an argument with.
"Asuka… Uzumaki..?" That was her… chakra?
"Huh? What do you want, Baka-Seto."
"N-Nothing. Nevermind."
Iruka conked him on the head, "Focus, Kareth." He nodded, closing his eyes again and making an obscure hand sign. He forced chakra into his hands and charged it up. His whole body began to expel his green-colored chakra.
"Bushin no Jutsu!"
It should have been a puff of smoke, Bushin no Jutsu should have caused a puff of smoke. Instead everyone was torn between gasping and laughing as Kareth ignited. I set myself on fire! He screamed in pain and lept for the window, finding himself unable to break it, he flattened himself against the wall during his desperate attempt to snuff out the fire. Iruka just frowned at the boy and ordered Kenji to douse the flames. The blue haired genius stepped up and made a few hand signs, ending on the bird seal.
"Suiton: Mizu Tatsumaki!" (Tornado of Water)
The water appeared out of nowhere, surrounding the flaming Seto boy, extinguishing the fire but leaving him dazed and feeling sick. "Oi, Kawamiya… don't make me.. spinny…" He managed to choke out before he hit the floor and blacked out.
"I can't believe you did that!" The blonde girl laughed, thinking back to the test. Kareth had set himself on fire with his own chakra, and then ran into the wall! "Iruka-sensei had to carry you to the hospital!"
"Shut up, Shikami… I can't believe that Iruka-sensei is going to keep me back AGAIN!" Kareth shouted, kicking a small stone across the road. "What am I going to do? Kakashi-ue is going to be so disappointed in me…" He stopped, dropping his head.
"Oh don't worry so much! It's a pain to have to look at you so depressed."
"Thanks, Shikami…" Kareth mumbled as he continued walking toward his house. Suddenly, the Nara girl grabbed him by the arm and held him in place. He glanced over at her and cocked his head to the side in confusion. "W-What is it?"
"I have an idea!" She smiled at him, giving a sly wink. "It's a bit troublesome, but I think it will work!" She pulled on his arm, pointing toward the academy. "Come on, let's go talk to Iruka-sensei!"
Kareth just shrugged and followed, Shikami Nara's ideas were usually good anyway, right?
That's chapter one! I had hoped to make it a little longer, but don't worry! I have a lot of plans for this story and I will try to make further chapters a bit longer and more descriptive! Please review! Tell me what you think, and maybe even give me ideas for what you would like to see! Maybe I'll own Naruto by the next time you see me ;) *NOTE* I had to edit this to make it a LITTLE closer to the canon as possible, while still avoiding the terrible ending. I'll be publishing to newest chapter today! FINALLY!