Summary:
What would happen if the Rookie twelve weren't separated into four genin teams, but rather into two teams with no jounin sensei as a training experiment? And what would happen if those twelve were separated into the group with the prodigies and the group with the outcast losers. Which team would become stronger and more unified . . . team prodigy or team outcast?
THE MAJOR SPELLING MISTAKES ARE NOW FIXED!!
Chapter one: The team
Naruto sighed. Life sucked. He had been repeating that sentence over and over for the past three years of his ten year old life. What could possibly have made such a young boy so bitter, you ask? Well, let's just say that Naruto wasn't a normal kid.
When Naruto was five years old, he was kicked out of the orphanage he was staying at. Everywhere he went people always shunned him, and when they thought no one could hear, would call him names. People would beat him every year on October the 10th, his birthday. People always gave him rotten food when he went grocery shopping and gave him the absolute leftover choice of clothing. That explained his glaringly orange jumpsuit. Courtesy of old man Hokage, he was allowed to stay at a single beaten down apartment, but even then he was always overcharged with rent and threatened with eviction for the slightest thing.
Contrary, to popular belief, Naruto wasn't as oblivious as everybody thought he was. He knew perfectly well what was inside his stomach. As soon as he could read when he was six years old he had snuck into the library. There he had looked up the spiral seal on his stomach. He had learned that it was an element demon seal, a forbidden jutsu that required the castor's life in order to take effect. When, Naruto had looked up the past demons in the past ten years, the only thing he came up with was the nine tailed demon Kyubi no Kitsune. This, of course, got Naruto thinking and the puzzle itself kept him busy for quite a while.
Eventually, Naruto connected the dots and realized that the kyubi was sealed within his stomach by the Fourth Hokage. He realized that the people of Konocha thought he was the actual demon and therefore called him rude names and treated him so rudely. The reason why they couldn't, no wouldn't understand that he was not the demon and proceeded to beat him every year was that they wanted someone to put the blame on for all those loved ones' lives and the years of hardship afterwards.
Naruto's mind changed from the day he realized what was sealed into his stomach when he was seven years old. His young mind never got a chance to go through childhood. Naruto was always quiet after that. When he was hurt every year, he stocked up on healing jutsus from the library. His overall countenance became quiet with a certain aura of determination cloaked over him. His shockingly blue eyes always had a well of wisdom in them but at the same time kindness. For even though, the people of Konocha hated him, he couldn't bring himself to hate them back.
Naruto sighed again. He had to stop thinking about his life and wallowing in self-pity. He didn't want to end up Sasuke-teme now, did he? That was the only thought needed to drag him out of bed. Naruto changed his clothing rapidly. He of course had to wear that hideous orange jumpsuit again. Urg.
Walking out of his apartment building, Naruto looked at the sky. How early was it anyway? The sky was just lightening. Naruto had been getting up this early for the past year just to get through the village without sever injury. It was a pain getting up so early, but at least it worked.
As he walked to the school, he thought about the genin test he had taken yesterday. It was his second time taking it. Last year, he was supposed to pass but the proctors were so prejudiced that they made up some nonsense and said he couldn't pass. This year though, he had been prepared. Instead of making three normal clones, he had made three Shadow clones. He had learned the technique, from watching a jounin named Hatake Kakashi, or something like that, performing it once. Naruto didn't know how he had remembered it, but then again he had a photographic memory from reading so much in the library. In fact, his memory was so good, that he had memorized the Bingo Book and all the important information about every clan in Konocha. Regardless, of such a great technique, Naruto still became dead last in the rankings of the whole year. Anyway, today was the day he was to receive his Konocha headband and receive his team and jounin sensei.
Looking up, Naruto realized that it was that he was at the school already. He veered to his left and sat down in the frayed and battered swing set. Slowly, he swung himself back and forth on the swing set. His mind wandered in the peace of the morning crisp air. He wouldn't have to go in for another two hours or so. It wasn't that he didn't want to go in but what was the point? All the parents had poisoned their children saying that he was as troublemaker regardless of what his actions proved. The parents that did think he was okay didn't want to openly show support in fear of the other adults shunning them also. The only adult that didn't care what the others thought of him was the old man who owned the ramen stand Ichiraku's (A.N:/I can't spell the real name so deal with the name I made up for the place, okay folks?) and his daughter Ayame. Which was exactly why he went there so often.
Restless, his mind went back to the team he was supposed to meet today. Would they reject him, or not? What should he do once he met his team? Should he tell them of the Kyubi or just ignore it and show a cold shoulder to everybody? He knew, of course, of the law the Third had made concerning any adult telling any child of the demon sealed within him. But there was no rule against Naruto himself telling people of his charge.
For a long time Naruto thought about it. He thought about the pros and cons of each of the options. Finally, Naruto came to a decision. Weather or not his team accepted him, Naruto planned to act like his less-serious, true, self around them. He also planned to tell them of his secrets. Including the Kyubi. If his team was the people he was going to be with for the next few years, or until he went past jounin level, and there was a chance he was going to die with these people, then he wanted them to feel comfortable around him and likewise. But on one condition. He would only tell them of his secret if he deemed them trustworthy enough. Only if they somehow proved to him that they wouldn't go blabbing to the first ear that would listen would he tell them of his secrets.
The bell ringing brought him out of his thoughts. Had he really been musing so long that school was ready to start? Oh, well. It was time to face the music.
Scene inside the school
Naruto glances at the people who graduated yesterday's test. Oddly enough, there are only twelve people who passed. Hm. Thought Naruto. They must have been looking for something specific. Well all the people that are here are from a prominent clan in Konocha or have some sort of special ability that sets them out.
As Iruka-sensei went on to say how proud he was of them yadda yadda ya, Naruto started comparing the people in the room. Everybody here was what the teachers called the Rookie Twelve for how much they stood out among their ordinary civilian classmates. Suddenly Iruka-sensei started saying something very important that forced Naruto to listen.
" . . . . . . special in the class. Because of these special talents, you twelve have been selected to go through a one-time training program. The only reason that you will not have a jounin sensei like other genin teams is because the jounins that are free are needed to bring in money for some new security measures the Hokage wishes to go through with. Now since I can't explain this very well, the jounins themselves are going to come in and explain about the program to you, now."
Right on cue two jounins came in. One was a male smoking on a cigarette and puffing out smoke- rings. The other was a female with red eyes and purple hair. Seeing the genins' rapt attention, they began right away.
"The twelve of you will be divided into two groups of six. You will become a genin team. You will receive missions as a team, get payment as a team, train together, etc. The only difference between your teams and normal genin teams is that there will be six of you and there will be no jounin instructing you," The man with the cigarette started the explanation.
The woman continued the explanation. "You will each learn from each other and if you need help finding jutsus to practice for future missions, you may ask one of your jounin supervisors, ask any of your parents, or find some other way to obtain jutsus. The jounin supervisors include Me, Kurenai, Kakashi, Gai, and Asuma over there," here the lady gestured to the man standing next to her languidly.
The jounins paused here to give everybody some time to digest this information. This is actually better in some ways Naruto thought to himself. This way when he revealed his secret, there would be no previous prejudice he would have to get past and there would be no favoritism done by the jounins.
Iruka-sensei finally gave out the team names, "You will choose a team name if all members of the group agree to this test. All members will also get their Konocha forehead-protectors also after everybody agrees so that you will all have the same color headband. If somebody disagrees, then that team will disband and those members will go back to the academy and be separated into teams again, but that time with jounin senseis next year. The teams are as follows: Uchica Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, Tenten, Hyuga Neji, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba as the other. The other team is as follows: Hyuga Hinata, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, Yamanaka Ino, Rock Lee and Uzumaki Naruto.
Everybody was strangely subdued as they split into the two groups. Nobody, not even loud mouth Kiba, made a sound. Naruto slowly walked toward the back corner that had all of his teammates. He didn't want to admit it but boy was he nervous! Why was he nervous you ask? Well, if they had a choice of weather or not to go on this team, he wanted them to be sure what they were getting into.
Once everybody was there, nothing was said for a long moment. They just looked at each other. Everybody was standing up straight (Even Shikamaru and Hinata) and they all had extremely nervous faces on. "I have a confession to make before you agree to this team!" they all blurted out at once.
Surprised they looked at each other. Shikamaru looked intensely at everybody before slowly saying, "If we all have confessions to make then we should perhaps give our answer later to the senseis and meet some place more private."
Naruto nodded. Quietly he stated, "I'll go tell the senseis. I have the perfect spot for us to talk too." The others looked at him then nodded.
Silently he walked across classroom past the other team and towards the senseis. The senseis were holding their own conversation but they all looked up when Naruto came to stop in front of them. "Senseis my team would like a few days before we can give you an answer back. We have to discuss amongst ourselves some private things. I'm sorry for the inconvenience." Then without waiting for a reply from the shocked teachers (They didn't think that the children with the lowest ranks in the whole year would actually have to think about such an offer.) Naruto walked to his team waiting at the doorway. As he led them into the sunshine, Naruto only had one thought. It's time for us ALL to shed our masks hiding our true personalities.
A.N/ God that was too serious for my tastes! It'll get better, I promise!! THE MAJOR SPELLING MISTAKES ARE NOW FIXED!!
Next Chapter: They each confess their secrets
They each talk over the pros and cons of getting in a team together.
They discuss schedules.
They choose their headbands.