Fate is a strange concept. Fate can determine the destiny of a character, and determine how a situation will end. Fate cannot control, however, the small elements that can change the course of a character's life. These elements can be as small as, say, an important character getting sick. This character, no matter whoever he or she is, cannot fulfill their destiny because of this small element. Due to this, another character has to come into the picture to help fulfill the destiny of the other characters.
However, do to the fact that this new character is not exactly the same as the original, the cause and effect chain that is suppose to be set is altered, ever so slightly, and the destiny of all the characters in the time life have changed.
"Team seven will be Naruto Uzumaki, Miho Nakamura, and Sasuke Uchiha."
Naruto sat at his desk impatiently, his leg giving away his hyperactive nature as it twitched from under the table.
Sasuke, on the other side of the room, was trying not to twitch as he tried ignored the noise of the blonde and the stare of the dark haired girl next to him. Said girl was only a few feet away, chin rest on her right hand as she stared dreamily at the Uchiha in front of her.
In the original time line, this dark hair girl was suppose to be placed on team two with Hibachi and Daichi. The original female character of team seven was suppose to be a pink haired girl by the name of Sakura Haruno. This girl was unable to fulfill her destiny, however, when she had come down with a sickness and had to miss the last month of the academy, making her have to repeat another year with the rest of the teams that where destined to fail.
Miho suddenly turned away from Sasuke to look at Naruto, who had jumped up from his seat and was yelling out complaints of how late their sensei was. She then proceeded to watch as he grabbed a chalkboard eraser and a chair, and then walked over to the sliding door.
"Naruto, what are you doing?" The dark haired girl finally asked, curiosity taking over as she watched the blonde wedge the eraser into the doorframe.
One main difference between the original and the substitute girls of team seven was the fact that Miho didn't mind Naruto as much as Sakura had. She actually thought of the blonde as somewhat a friend, especially after that one day that Naruto had sat next to her in the academy when she was new, even striking up a conversation with the girl.
"He deserves it for makin' us wait for so long!" Naruto cried out as he pushed the chair back into place and then skipped back over to his seat.
"Dobe, he's an elite shinobi, he's never going to fall for some stupid trick like that." Sasuke said, only thing going through his mind were the thoughts of how stupid the blonde was being.
Naruto opened his mouth to retort, but was cut short as the sliding door suddenly opened, and the eraser was called upon by gravity and fell on top of the jounin's grey hair. All three genin stared at their new sensei in shock.
This guy was a jounin?
"Well, my first impression of all of you has to be…. I hate you." The chalk dust covered man stated at he stared blankly at all three of them. "Meet me on the roof in five minutes." He then disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
The three genin stared at the spot the grey haired man just was in silent shock. "You know…" Miho started, still staring at the spot. "He's probably going to be late for that too…."
-xx-
"Alright!" The grey haired man shouted, as he clapped hi hands together to gain the attention of his students. "Why don't we introduce ourselves? State your likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams for the future."
All he got was three blank stares from the genin in front of him. "Uh… why don't you go first sensei?" The dark haired girl asked, slightly unsure of her self.
"Me?" He pointed to himself as if he didn't know who she was talking about. "My name is Kakashi Hatake. I have no intention of telling you any of my likes or dislikes. As for my dream… I have a few hobbies…" He trailed of with a thoughtful look in his one visible eye.
The three genin stared blankly at him. "All we learned was his name…." Naruto muttered with his face scrunched up in confusion.
"Alright! Why don't you go first then!" Kakashi said, pointing to Naruto.
Said blonde grinned. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I like cup ramen, and going to Ichiraku's with Iruka-sensei even more! My hobbies are trying different times of cup ramen! I hate the three minutes you have to wait for it to cook! My dream, is to be Hokage! And to have the whole village acknowledge my existence! Believe it!" Naruto stated as he stuck out his thumb in a nice-guy pose with his white teeth shining. Kakashi shuttered at the pose while Miho smiled at the blonde.
"Alright, next." The jounin motioned for the dark haired girl to go next.
Miho grinned. "My name is Miho Nakamura! My hobbies are spending time with my family." At that statement both Naruto and Sasuke flinched, the latter boy glaring at the dark haired girl. "I like.. um.." Her eyes darted to the side to look at Sasuke, the blush that started to form disappeared once she saw the glare she was receiving. "L-lazing around and hanging out with friends. I hate people who treat others unfairly, reading, swimming, and cold weather. My dream is.. well, I guess I don't really have one…" She trailed off looking sheepish.
Kakashi nodded in slight amusement, before quickly squishing the feeling down. He turned towards the dark haired boy and motioned for him to go next.
Sasuke laced his fingers together and pressed his mouth against them, clearly not wanting to be there. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are many things I hate, and not a lot of thinks I particularly like. My dream… is more of an ambition that I will make into a reality. It is… to kill a certain man…" Naruto scooted away from the Uchiha, thinking that the boy was talking about him while Miho stared at the boy with a blank face.
Kakashi stared at the boy for a few seconds longer before smiling and clapping his hands once more. "Alright! You all have very unique personalities, congratulations. Now, it's time to talk about your mission for tomorrow."
"Mission! Ne, ne! Sensei what kind of mission? Is it a mission to save a princess?" Naruto asked, his cerulean blue eyes shining with hope.
"No." The blonde deflated. "It's more like survival training then anything."
"Nani? We did survival training when we were in the academy!" Miho stated, not liking the idea of having to repeat something she already learned.
"Ahh, but this survival training will determine whether or not you get to continue being genin or not." The Grey haired man grinned from beneath his mask.
"Wha-!"
"But that's not-!"
"…Hn"
Kakashi laughed at their disgruntled faces. "Meet at training ground three tomorrow morning at dawn." He turned to walk out the door before he stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Oh, and you shouldn't eat breakfast unless you want to throw up tomorrow." With that the grey haired man disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
The three were once again left in a stunned silence, looking at the spot where their new sensei just was. The silence was ruined, however, when Sasuke scoffed and walked out the door. This noise shocked the dark haired girl out of her trance and followed the Uchiha. "Sasuke-kun!" She shouted, running down the hallway to try and catch up with the boy. "Sasuke-kun! Would you like to get and have lunch with me?" She asked once she finally caught up with him, a giant smile on her face.
"No." The smile faded as Miho stopped walking down the hall, causing Naruto who was running after the pair to crash into the girl. They both stumbled forward, Naruto finally steadying them both. "Ne, ne! Miho-chan! Don't let that stupid ol' teme get you upset! He's jus' get somethin' up his butt, that's all!" Naruto stated to the girl, winking at her to try and get her to smile. All her got in return was a grimace, however. "Ne, how 'bout I go out and eat lunch with ya Miho-chan?" He said with a sincere smile melting onto his face.
The dark haired girl smiled sadly at the blonde in front of her before accepting his offer. Together the left the academy and walked across the village to Ichiraku's.
-xx-
"Tadaima!" Miho announced as she walked through her front door and took her ninja sandals off.
"Nee-chan!" The dark haired girl looked up at the voice and heard the sound of tiny feet pounding down the hall. She smiled and opened her arms up just in time to catch the red haired six-year old that came flying at her. She smiled at the little boy in her arms. "Nee-chan! Nee-chan!" He cried out before he jumped out of her arms and grabbed her hand, pulling her down the hallway. "Kaa-chan came home from her mission today!"
Miho smiled and let go of her brother's hand as she tackled, much like the young red head hand done to her, her mother and father that were sitting in the kitchen. "Kaa-chan! When did you come back? How was your mission? Did you beat anyone up?" Miho asked, all the questions falling out of her mouth like water.
Cho Nakamura laughed at her daughter as she was released from the hug. "I came back this morning, it was alright, I had to escort a missionary to the land of rice patties, so no I didn't beat anyone up." She lied to her daughter, her missions where a secret, even to her own family. "Now, how about you tell me, did you pass your exam?"
"Yup!" Miho smiled proudly as she lifted her headband up slightly from around her neck. She let go of the fabric and let it fall back down, the blue clashing with the white of her cropped shirt. "We got assigned to our team today too! We even got to meet our jounin sensei!"
"Who'd ya get, by the way?" Hideaki Nakamura asked as he shoved some rice into his mouth.
Miho smiled at her mom as she placed a plate of food in front of her. "He said his name was Kakashi." She took a bite of her rice ball.
Hideaki snorted before he burst out in laughter. "You got Kakashi as you're jounin instructor?" He almost fell out of his chair from laughing so hard.
Miho looked at her father in confusion before turning to her mom. "What's so funny?"
Cho smiled at her daughter before answering in an amused tone of voice. "Kakashi was a teammate of mine on a mission a few years ago. He was late to the briefing and late to the start of the mission. That guy has never been on time for something in his entire life."
Miho stared at her parents in horror. "B-but he told us to be at training ground three tomorrow at dawn!"
Hideaki laughed even harder. "He probably wont be there until at least noon!"
Miho stared at her rice ball with wide eyes, unsure of how she was suppose to deal with this situation. Cho, sensing her distress, tried to change the subject. So who did you get on you team, honey?"
Miho snapped out of her sorrow trance and looked at her mother with a smile on her face. "I got Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki on my team!" Her smile dropped at the sound of choking. She looked towards her father who was pounding on his chest.
"Y-you got who, on your team?"
"Sasuke Uchiha… and Naruto Uzumaki…" Miho replied slowly, a weird feeling settling in her stomach.
"You got that.. that brat on you team?"
Miho narrowed her eyes at her father, the feeling in her stomach growing. "If you mean Naruto, then yes, he is on my team…." Miho was not stupid, she had heard the words that the villagers and the teacher had said about her blonde teammate. She never thought, however, that her parents would share their opinion about the blonde. She turned towards her mother in an accusing way, expecting to see the same disgusted face her father was sporting. She was shocked to find the dark haired women glaring at her husband in anger. "Hideaki!" She shouted.
"What! You know it's true!"
"It is not, and stop pretending that you believe any of the things that are said about the boy!"
"Have you seen him, Cho? The brat is practically the reincarnation of-!"
"He is not and you know it!"
"nee-chan?" Miho shifted her wide eyes away from her parents to her brother, whose deep blue eyes were rimmed with tears. "Why are Kaa-chan and Otou-san fighting?"
Miho's eyes softened at the young boy, no entirely knowing the answer. She instead stood up from her seat and walked over to her brother before picking him up and resting his six-year old form against her hip. She took one last glace at her parents before walking out of the kitchen and down the hallway. She stopped at the first door on the right and opened it to be greeted by light blue walls. She eased the red head done into his bed and tucked him in. "Nee-chan?" he asked softly as she turned to leave. Miho looked at her younger brother before sighing and sitting down on his bed.
"Eiji… sometimes parents fight because they don't agree something." Miho said unsurely, not wanting to scare the young boy for life. "Just remember, when you're talking to a girl, she is always right, okay?" Miho smiled slightly as she poked her younger brother in the nose, making him giggle.
Miho stood up and stretched before turning around and kissing her brother on the forehead. "Night Eiji. See you tomorrow."
"Night Nee-chan!"
Miho quietly closed the door and made her way to her room. She went to her dresser and pulled out a pair of sweat pants and a red shirt. Quickly switching from her white-cropped shirt, red short-shorts and white bandages into her pajamas she made her way to her bed. She untied her Hitai-ate and looked at it in her hands. She stared at it for a few more minutes before placing it on her desk next to her bed and shutting off the lights to go to sleep. Her last thoughts contained her teammates and her parents fighting, before she drifted off to sleep.
-xx-
Miho tired to hind the yawn the crept up her throat, failed, but still tired. She hugged the grey jacket she had on closer to her body, silently curing her jounin sensei for making them come so early. In the back of her mind she wondered why she even bothered to come so early when she knew Kakashi wouldn't be at the training ground for a few more hours.
Miho walked into the clearing and took a seat next to the dark haired Uchiha who was leaning against a tree in front of the clearing. She yawned once more before pulling her bandage-covered legs closer to her in attempt to conserve warmth. She slowly shut her eyes and fell asleep, unknowingly letter her head fall to the side and land on top of Sasuke's left shoulder.
The dark haired Uchiha glared at the girl next to him and tried to shake her off, without much success. He glared at her, then around him, trying to think of a way to escape this situation. All the plans he thought of, however contained a certain blonde haired idiot, so he waited.
An hour later, Naruto stumbled into the clearing. He glanced at his dark haired teammates before muttering an unintelligent greeting and collapsing next to Sasuke's feet, using the grass as a pillow. Sasuke glared at the blonde, all his plans now futile as both his teammates where asleep. He huffed before looking around the clearing once more.
Might as well make the best out of a crappy situation.
Sasuke slouched down against the tree, and propped his feet up on Naruto's back before he leaned his head backwards against the tree truck. He tried to ignore the fact that there was a girl on his shoulder and concentrate more on the warmth his left side was getting. He was asleep within minutes.
When Kakashi appeared in the clearing, he was ready to be yelled and cursed at for being late. What he was not ready for, however was the three sleeping genin in front of him. Sure, he had had students fall asleep while waiting for him, but he had never had students use each other as pillows. If Kakashi didn't know any better, he would say that this was the first sign of teamwork, but he was probably just imagining it.
I quickly whipped out a camera and took a picture of the scene, black mail for the three if they do manage to pass his test. He hid the camera, right before clearing his throat. "GOOD MORING!" He shouted, jolting the three genin awake. This action caused Miho and Sasuke's heads to smash together and Sasuke's heel dug into Naruto's back, making all three genin cry out in pain. Kakashi grinned before taking and after effect picture before once more hiding the camera. "Alright!" He shouted, clapping his hands together to get the attention of the three. "Follow me children!" He said as he spun around on his heel and marched into the clearing and up to the three posts in the ground. Kakashi smiled at the sounds of curses and muttering of his lateness behind him.
"For this mission," He started placing a clock he took out of his, seemingly endless, pouch on top of one of the stumps. "you are to capture one of these bells," He pulled two bells out of his pouch and showing them to the three genin. "before noon. Who ever can't get a bell will not get lunch."
As if on cue, three stomach growls could be heard though out the clearing.
"But wait! There's only two bells!" Miho announced, clearly confused.
"Ahh! Very observant of you to notice Miho-chan!" The dark haired girl glared at him. "Sense there are only two bells, at least one of you will be tired to one of these stumps here," He patted the logs next to him. "Whoever fails to get a bell will fail to complete the mission and they will be sent back to the academy, clearly not ready to become shinobi."
"What!"
Kakashi ignored Naruto's outburst and continued. "It might not be just one of you that will be sent back either. You are to come at me with the intent to kill and you are allowed to use your shuriken and kunai. On my command, the mission will start." The three of them just glared. "Alright, on my mark, get set," The three of them disappeared. "Go? Well, looks like this will be interesting."
Miho crouched on a tree branch next to Naruto, both looking through the leaves towards their jounin sensei. Naruto shifted his position and made a move to jump towards the jounin before Miho reached out and grabbed the collar of his orange jump suite. "What the hell do you think your doing?" Miho angrily whispered to the blonde. Naruto looked at her startled before turning his body to face her.
"What?"
"What do you mean 'What?'? We have to work together to face him!"
"Why?"
Miho started at the question before looking away and letting go of his jacket. "Because I can't do this on my own, okay?"
Naruto stared at her before blinking. "Sure you can Miho-chan!" The dark haired girl glanced at him. "You just have to use that brain of yours and you can get a bell! You don' need me!" Before Miho could protest Naruto jumped off the branch and towards the grey haired man. "Idiot!" Miho muttered as she watched Naruto attack Kakashi, get defeated, then get trapped by a rope and a tree. Grinding her teeth Miho jumped down from the branch towards the dangling blonde.
She took a kunai out of the holster on her leg and threw it at the rope, making Naruto crash to the ground on his head. "You deserved it." She said in response to his glare. "Are you going to listen to me now?"
"Fine…"
Miho nodded before reaching out her hand and helping the blonde up. "Good, now we have to go find Sasuke." The blonde jerked her backwards to face him.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What do you mean 'Go find Sasuke'? I am not workin' with that bastard!" He declared, stomping his foot on the ground to try and prove how much he disliked the situation.
"But-!"
"No buts! For what reason should we even involve him?"
"because were a team! And we have to work together to complete the mission!"
"There's only two bells Miho-chan! There is no reason we should have him help!"
"But, but-!" Naruto cut her off but jumping up and bring her into the woods with him. They landed on a wide branch, staring at their jounin sensei as he was attacked by Sasuke's fireball jutsu.
"So what's the plan?" Naruto asked, snapping Miho out of her thoughts.
"What makes you think I have a plan?"
Naruto looked at her with a blank face. "Do you expect me to come up with one?" Miho stared at him before sighing.
"Can you make a diversion?"
Naruto smiled his shit-eating grin. "You bet I can!"
"Okay, here's the plan…"
-xx-
Kakashi looked around the clearing idly wondering where the other part of team seven was, seeing as how Sasuke was neck deep in dirt a few meters away from him.
He glanced down at the book in his hands, the book he has read at least a hundred times, and resumed reading. "Hey Kakashi-sensei!" The Jounin lazily glanced over his little orange book to see the blonde part of team seven grinning at him. He merely raised a brow as the boy crossed his hands into a tiger seal and shouted, "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Instantly fifty copies appeared in the clearing right before charging at the jounin.
Kakashi's expression didn't change as clones bombarded him. He easily evaded all of them, when ever he would make one disappear five more would appear in its place. The grey haired man's eyes widened in shock for a split second as several clones grabbed him. One of the Naruto's grinned as he aimed a punch right at Kakashi's face. Kakashi quickly Kawarimi'ed out of the way and replaced himself with a clone. Thinking he had bought some time he started to turn around to shishun away from the Naruto's when he suddenly felt a tug on his belt. He grabbed Miho's hand twisted it around her back, pinning her.
"You almost had it Miho-chan!' Kakashi smiled as the alarm of the clock went off, meaning it was noon and the mission was over. All the Naruto's poofed away, leaving one left to follow Kakashi and Miho over to the stumps. Upon reaching their destination there was another poof and suddenly Sasuke appeared, tied to one of the stumps, with an angry look in his face.
"Sasuke-kun!" Miho cried out from her trapped position next to Kakashi.
Sasuke glared in response, clearly not liking the situation. Kakashi glanced at all three of them, a frown on his face from under the mask. "Okay! From the results of this mission, I have to say that none of you shall be returning to the academy!"
"you mean-!" Naruto started, joy clearly shown on his face.
"Yep! You all…. Should quit being ninja!"
You could hear a pin drop a meter away because of the silence.
"What?" Naruto roared in anger, not believing his ears. Sasuke glared at the grey haired man while Miho glared at the ground, a prickling sensation hitting her eyes.
"Sasuke!" Kakashi started. "You didn't even go looking or call out for help when you attacked me and failed. Naruto, you out right attacked me despite Miho's demand that you work together. Now I praise you, Naruto and Miho, for working together in the last few minutes to try and get the bell. But I am very disappointed that you, Naruto, downright refused to work with Sasuke, and that you, Miho, gave in so quickly. You have the right idea to work together but you gave in to quickly to Naruto's refusal. If someone just comes and proposes and idea completely different from yours, and you know it will never work, do you give in?" He was met with silence.
"Look, the point of this exorcise was to use teamwork, you will never get anywhere on your own. You will always need help, no matter how small. Did you learn to talk on your own, or did someone help you? Did you learn to walk on your own, or did someone guide you through it?" All three genin looked towards the ground, slightly ashamed and slightly embarrassed.
"The point of this test was to pit you guys against each other. If you would have looked past that, and all three of you would have attacked me at the same time you would have gotten a bell. Using teamwork is the key to every mission, individual action that disrupts the teamwork will result in danger or death of a teammate. For example, if Miho here," He twisted her arm a little more, making her yelp in pain and making her teammates twitch in an act to help her. "was to attack me because she was angry, she would have been captured and held hostage, now- Naruto! Kill Sasuke or Miho dies!"
Naruto froze, eyes darting between his teammates, unsure of what to do.
"You will be put into these kind of situations when your teamwork fails and the mission goes haywire." Kakashi finally said, releasing Miho's arm. "On every mission you put your life on the line," He turned around and walked a few feet towards the memorial stone. "This stone here, has hundreds of names carved into it, all heroes of this village."
"Heroes! That settles it! I'm going to get my name carved on this stone! I'm going to be a hero of this village!" Naruto declared, putting his hands on his hips.
"These are ninja that died on missions for this village." Kakashi said, staring straight at Naruto. "This is a memorial for those ninja, they are regarded as heroes for dying for the village. My best friends name is even carved on this stone."
Naruto's drained of all color as he went over what he just said and Kakashi's words. Miho looked sadly at the stone, and Sasuke glared at the ground.
"Now then," Kakashi said loudly to get the attention of the three genin. "I'll give you one more chance, I suppose. The next mission will start after you are finished with lunch, but you will not, under any circumstances, feed Sasuke, is that clear?" At their wide eyes and blank faces, Kakashi nodded and disappeared.
Naruto and Miho sat down on either side of Sasuke and stared at their lunches. Miho stole a glance at Sasuke to see him glaring at the ground. She bit her lip before grabbing the bento and shoving it in Sasuke's face. "Here.." She muttered looking away. Sasuke looked surprised at her then at the bento before he turned his head.
"No, he told you not to feed me." He muttered as he turned just to see Naruto shove his bento in the Uchiha's face.
"Ne, ne! What use will you be, teme, if you're hungry? All you're going to do is slow us down." Naruto grinned his shit-eating grin as he threw Sasuke's words from yesterday back at him.
Sasuke glared at the blonde before turning back to Miho to see a piece of fish stuck between a pair of chop sticks an inch away from his face. He looked at Miho's glaring eyes that demanded he eat the fish. "Fine." He muttered before opening his mouth and ripping the fish off the chopsticks.
Not a second later the sky blackened and lightning cracked in the clearing. "YOU!" Came the booming voice of Kakashi, seeming to come from all around. All three genin jumped at the sound before looking forward as Kakashi appeared in front of them. "Pass!" Kakashi announced in a happy tone.
"What?" Miho and Naruto voiced out at the same time, clearly confused.
Kakashi smiled. "You are the first team that has ever done the opposite of what I said. All the teams before you had followed the rules didn't feed their teammate, and ended up failing. Being a Shinobi means you have to look underneath the underneath. A wise man once told me, 'Those that break the rules and regulations are scum. But those who abandon their comrades are worse then scum.'" Kakashi smiled at his new team. "Alright! You three have completed your mission, team seven passes! You will have your first real mission, tomorrow! See you tomorrow!" With that he disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving team seven by themselves in the clearing.
Miho stood up and untied Sasuke before standing up. She turned towards Naruto only to see that he was already gone, she turned back to Sasuke to see that he, too , had disappeared. She crossed her arms and huffed.
"You guys all suck!" She cried out loudly before stomping out of the clearing.
I own nothing except for Miho and any other OC that I have to create to make the story work.
Feed Back would be helpful! Thanks!