A Father's Pride
By Lady Detia
Chapter 1: The Day of Choosing
It was the crack of dawn and the sun was just peeping over the horizon. All was peaceful and still in the Hidden Leaf Village. Two young brothers were settled comfortably in their beds until a familiar voice shattered their tranquil dreams.
"Hideki, Hinode! Get up now or you'll be late for school!"
Uzumaki Hideki shot straight up out of his bed sending his dark brown locks flying. He spit a stray lock of hair from his mouth as his slowly got up. However, in the bedroom next to his Hinode had buried himself deeper under the sheets. His mother wasn't having any of his foolishness so she came into his room and yanked the sheets off of his bed taking the boy with them. The young Uzumaki hit the floor with a thud. He was now fully awake and scrambled to get out from under the tangled sheets.
"Hinode, stop messing around and get ready for school!" Sakura scolded as her son emerged from the sheets looking tussled and confused. "Hinata-sama is fixing breakfast, so hurry up and get dressed before your food gets cold." Hinode scratched his head and wiped the crust from his eye as he shuffled to one of the many bathrooms in the Hokage's mansion. After showering and dressing the Uzumaki brothers crossed paths at the top of the stairs. They were both still a little groggy but the smell of a hot breakfast soon had them wide awake.
All three of their parents were seated at the breakfast table and ready to eat. Their father, the Rokudaime Hokage, greeted them cheerfully but the boys returned a much less enthusiastic reply.
"You two look like you didn't want to get up this morning. Were you busy dreaming about a certain pretty girl?" Naruto teased. His sons suddenly became a little more lively and started to eat their breakfast. The Hokage noticed Hideki had a blush on his cheeks while Hinode was eating his food at lightning speed. The thirteen year old blond then excused himself from the table and ran to brush his teeth.
"Hinode really shouldn't eat like that. It could upset his stomach," Hinata commented.
"What in the world is his hurry?" Sakura asked Hideki, who shrugged in response. The rest of the family looked over at Naruto when he began to laugh.
"It's pretty obvious that he wants to be first to get to see Ayame today." Hearing that Hideki stuffed the last of his breakfast into his mouth and ran off too. "That put a fire on his tail feathers," Naruto chuckled while his two wives shook their heads. Five minutes later the two brothers ran back downstairs to kiss their mothers good-bye and bid their father farewell.
"They both want to know so badly if they'll be on a genin team with Ayame. I don't know how you put up with their badgering for information, Naruto-kun." Hinata wondered aloud as she cleaned up the breakfast dishes.
"Easy. I just enjoyed watching them squirm," the playful father replied with a mischievous smirk. "Besides, they have to learn that it's not fair to take advantage of being related to the Hokage. They should get information like that like their fellow classmates."
"I agree. I just hope those two are able to focus more on their training than on Ayame," Hinata sighed.
"That's going to be a lot of hoping, Hinata-chan," Sakura teased as she kissed her love on the cheek. "Personally, I'm tempted to spy on them, but I think we'd better wait until they come home to let us know how things went."
In the meantime the two brothers we walking side by side on their way to the Ninja Academy when they both were overcome by a fit of sneezing.
"Wow, Hideki! Some really pretty girl must be talking about us. I bet Ayame's the one who's talking about me," the blond boy boasted.
"You shouldn't make losing bets, brother," his brown haired sibling retorted, causing a glaring match that would have developed into a fight had they not arrived on the school yard to join their fellow classmates. Most of their fellow genin were gathered outside with one or two of their family members. While Hideki went to greet his uncle Ryoku, Hinode flashed a bright smile while greeting members of the fairer sex. The two brothers abruptly ended any conversations they had going when something caught their eye. It only took a flash of lavender locks to get the Uzumakis excited about school once again. The brothers nearly ran each other over trying to be the first to greet the prettiest girl in their class, Hatake Ayame.
As she approached the academy grounds she was flanked by her father, Kakashi and her youngest brother, Takamaru. Hideki made it to her first, but he made sure to greet Kakashi first out of respect. Before he could get one word out to Ayame, Hinode pushed him aside.
"Oi, Ayame! Boy am I glad to see you! We're going to find out whose team we're going to be on. Aren't you excited?" Ayame nodded as Hideki shoved his brother back out of annoyance.
"Hello, Hideki." The young Uzumaki loved hearing her speak his name in that serene voice of hers.
"H-hi, Ayame," Hideki greeted back with a hint of a blush on his cheeks. As he struggled to think of what else to say to the pretty girl her little brother decided to move things along with some teasing.
"Oh, for goodness sake, why don't you just lay a big juicy one on her? You know you want to, ya perv!" The nine year old stuck his tongue out and ran over to where his class was before his sister could grab him to dish out some punishment. Ayame wanted to give chase but her father stopped her.
"I'll handle Takamaru, sweetheart. I'm sure you can handle things from here." Ayame bid her father good-bye with a hug . Kakashi kissed her forehead before heading over to give his troublesome son a talking to. The trio began walking to the main entrance when Ayame suddenly broke out running. Hideki's face scrunched into an irritated pout while Hinode growled like a junkyard dog when they both saw Ayame run up to a tall boy with shades. Ayame could be heard laughing as the two teens gave each other playful punches.
"Damn that Aburame! Why does he always have to show up right when I'm getting close to Ayame?" Hinode growled.
"Maybe if you weren't so rude she would want to hang around. Maybe it's best that you stay away so she can spend time with someone more interesting...like me."
"Hideki...that's a big steaming pile of..." Hinode didn't get to finish his sentence because their instructor was now calling for the class to come inside and take their seats. Once they entered the classroom the two fledgling shinobi brothers made all kinds of sneaky maneuvers to secure a seat next to Ayame. Senkou settled down in a seat by a window while Ayame sat on his right. Hideki managed to bump his brother aside with his hip and sit next to the lavender haired cutie. He thought that was perfect payback for Hinode pushing him earlier. The younger Uzumaki sat down next to his brother to glare at him, but Hideki simply gazed at Ayame with a smile, completely ignoring his brother. The instructor called the class to attention and all grew quiet.
"All right, I'm going to make this quick. Listen carefully for your name, because I'm not going to repeat myself, understand. You are all going to be split up into twelve teams of three. Once that's done your jonin sensei will come to meet you for orientation. Have I made myself clear?" A very bored and a bit irritated looking Shikamaru announced.
"Hai, sensei!" came the class's collective response. With that being said he began to read off the list of teams.
"...Team Four: Hyuga Ryoku , Rock Ken , and Inuzuka Mitsu. Team Five: Aburame Senkou, Uchiha Zuiichi, and Sekiei Suzume. Team Six: Uzumaki Hideki, Hatake Ayame, and Uzumaki Hinode..." Shikamaru continued reading off the rest of the names, but two Uzumaki boys were too busy being thrilled about being on a team with Ayame. The young Hatake looked quite indifferent about it all. After the whole list was read Shikamaru instructed each team to come up to find out where they would be meeting with their jonin sensei. Team Six was instructed to meet their new sensei in a classroom on the third floor. As the trio waited Hinode remembered his father telling him about a little prank he had played on his sensei the first day they met. He stood on a chair to stick a dusty blackboard eraser between the door and the door frame then sat back down to see how the prank would turn out. Hideki shook his head while telling his brother he needed to grow up. The kids were on the edges of their seats when they heard someone open the door. At first all they saw was a hand reach in to catch the dirty eraser. The next thing they knew the dusty object beaned Hinode in the face. Hideki couldn't help but laugh at his brother as he choked on the chalk dust.
"Serves you right, Hinode!" Hideki teased as the jonin entered the door.
"Your dad might have been able to get away with that dumb trick, but that won't work on me. Remember that, squirt!" The three young ninja watched as a tall, brown haired man with a fat stogie in his mouth walked into the door. "Doutai Konohamaru's the name and making your life a living hell is my game. I can be your best friend or your worst enemy. It's your choice, so make up your mind right now what it's gonna be."
The three youngsters stared at the man for a moment. He had a stern expression on his face but his eyes bore a mischievous twinkle. Ayame didn't particularly care for his stinky cigar and the Uzumaki brothers wondered how in the world this man knew their father.
"Whaddaya say the four of us take a walk to get to know each other better?" The kids simply stared back at him in stunned silence. "Look, stop wasting time and get movin'!" The trio jumped up from their seats to follow Konohamaru out the door wondering what the jonin had in store for them.
Next Chapter: How would you like to influence this story? Suggest a first mission for Team Six. Whether it ranges from dangerous to just plain silly, it doesn't matter as long as it's not boring! hee hee. Ja ne!