Chapter I - We're Officially Genin: Our Ninja Path Unfolds!
It was a nice day outside, Inuzuka Kagewa noted as he strolled casually towards the Ninja Academy with his dog, Aomaru, relaxing faithfully on top of his head. He was late, but that was alright since no actual work would be getting done today. The only thing going on was Udon-sensei reading out the Genin Squad assignments to the students. Kagewa had thus decided today was the perfect day to sleep in for a little bit. His father was out on a mission and it was unlikely Udon would tell.
After all, Kagewa had already passed the Genin Exam, so it's not like he could kept in the Academy. At least, that's how Kagewa saw it. Upon further thinking, however, he decided that it was best to get to the Academy as quickly as possible.
"Will you just shut up Hikaru!" Rock Ame barked towards her orange-haired classmate. The boy in question, Kennohou Hikaru, gave a careless shrug.
"You started it Ame, bragging about how you're the best TaiJutsu user in the class when that distinction clearly belongs to me." He shot back, his voice nonchalant, but a challenge in his eyes.
"Get over yourself, you're so annoying." Ame responded angrily as she turned to face the front. The class let out a collective breath. The clashes between Ame and Hikaru happened frequently and intensely and usually it took either Udon-sensei himself or a combination of the other students to calm the two down. All of the members hoped that the situation wouldn't escalate. But Hikaru always got the last word. Always.
"I mean after all, no matter how good you are, as a guy I'll always be better." Hikaru said innocently. Ame slammed her hands on the table, causing it to crack slightly, and turned to glare at her rival.
"That is it Hikaru!" Ame shouted as she launched herself towards him. Ame's shin met Hikaru's forearm in a rather loud thud. Fast as a blink, Hikaru grabbed Ame's ankle and flung her across the room but the kunoichi managed to right herself mid-air and land feet-first on the opposite wall. Without skipping a beat, she had disappeared and was suddenly behind Hikaru who barely managed to duck a kick.
It was then that Kagewa walked. He looked at the two sparring, sighed, and went to sit by his best friend, Oumaru Tate.
"They're at it again?" Kagewa asked, although he didn't seem particularly surprised. Next to him, Tate yawned.
"Yup. Same story as usual." He responded, doodling on his desk with a pencil. Kagewa chuckled a bit, blocking out the sounds of hand-to-hand combat going on behind him. The two boys sat in silence for a few moments.
"Udon-sensei is really late, huh?" Tate wondered out loud.
"See? I told you there was no point in getting here early. I heard that Udon-sensei always comes late when he's assigning the Genin Squads. Apparently it takes the Hokage a while to finalize them." Kagewa stated with a toothy grin. Tate mocked him with his hand.
"Yeah yeah, you were right. Blah blah blah." He said with a mischievous grin.
"Shut up chibi," Kagewa shot back.
"The hell you say, dog-breath?" Tate responded, causing Kagewa to break out into laughter. Tate seethed in his seat while Kagewa attempted to stop laughing.
"Someone should...probably...stop them," he said between chuckles.
"Yeah," Tate said with a short laugh. "Probably." With a sigh, Kagewa stood up and placed Aomaru in front of Tate. The dog, apparently dissatisfied with the cold, wooden desk, immediately jumped into Tate's lap. Kagewa took a deep breath just as Ame and Hikaru were set to clash again. In a flash, he was behind Hikaru and had managed to pull back the boy's fist. At the same time, another individual had appeared and managed to deflect Ame's kick.
"Oh, Kosame, thanks." Kagewa said, looking up to see the dark-haired girl known as Uchiha Kosame. She gave a polite nod.
"Sure thing Kagewa." She replied. Ame and Hikaru gave their respective interferers irritated glances but before more words could be said, Udon-sensei walked in with a sheet of paper at his side. He surveyed the classroom, saw the four individuals standing and figured he pretty much knew what happened. It was no secret that Ame and Hikaru's rivalry ran deep. Thank goodness the two weren't on the same team.
"Alright students, listen up. You guys are officially Genin now. Gone are the days of us Academy teachers holding your hand through various practices. From now on, you're real ninja. As Genin, you are required to be placed into teams of 3 and each team will be supervised by a Jonin instructor. It's definitely been...interesting. And now I wish you guys good luck on the rest of your journeys." Udon stopped speaking a bit so that the students could feel proud of themselves.
This class had been an interesting one. Just the fighting between Ame and Hikaru and the pranks from Kagewa and Tate alone made this easily one of the liveliest classes in the Ninja Academy's history. Bonds had been forged, rivalries formed, and life-long friendships made. Udon felt proud.
"And now, I will announce the 3-Man Genin Squads. First off is Squad 1: Akimichi Chomaru, Nara Mesu, and Kaien Inoue." Udon began, his eyes wandering towards the latest generation of Ino-Shika-Cho. Although the names weren't quite traditional, there was no doubt that three individuals were extremely close. Chomaru was too excited to notice the envious glances of the other boys in the classroom. He was teamed with two of his best friends. So they happened to be two of the cutest girls in the class, Mesu and Inoue were friends first.
"And now for Squad 4," Udon began after rattling off a few more names. "Rock Ame." Udon looked up and could practically hear Ame's thoughts as she begged not to be on a team with Hikaru.
"Fuji Syusuke, and Shirotori Tsubame." Ame let out a huge sigh of relief and then looked for her new teammates. She knew Syusuke and Tsubame were fairly good friends, but she had never really interacted with them much. There were others that Ame would have preferred to been teamed with, but as long as she wasn't with Hikaru, she didn't mind. In her thoughts, Ame realized she had missed Squad 5.
"Squad 6: Inuzuka Kagewa, Oumaru Tate, and Uchiha Kosame." Udon read. Tate and Kagewa high-fived excitedly, causing Udon to feel sorry for the poor soul forced to be their Jonin instructor. After celebrating, Tate turned and gave Kosame a thumbs-up. Kosame smiled and laughed slightly. Udon was glad that Kosame had Tate and Kagewa for partners. The poor girl had a tough time in the village due to her name and pranksters like those two would probably help her lighten up.
"On squad 7, we have Kennohou Hikaru, Sarutobi Ryo, and Kurama Yakumo." Hikaru looked down at the shy and reserved Yakumo. He had never really noticed her before, and all he knew was the she was a good GenJutsu user. Hikaru then looked towards Ryo, who was staring at Hikaru. The two had a small rivalry, with Hikaru being a top TaiJutsu user and Ryo being a top NinJutsu user.
Udon read off a few more teams, ending with Squad 14.
"Well then you guys, that's all I have for you. The only thing I can say is good luck and that you'll be meeting your Jonin senseis in a few hours after lunch. For the final time, class dismissed." Udon said. And just like that, he was gone. The students slowly poured out of the room, all of them equally excited to finally be done with the Academy and finally starting on their ninja careers.
"Hey Tate," Kagewa called out. The incredibly short Tate turned to see his best friend walking towards him, bento in hand. "My mom wanted to know if you're gonna have dinner with us tonight?" Tate thought the question over while he chewed his food.
"Yeah probably," he answered. "Mom's gonna be busy, Dad's still on his mission, and Fuji's doing whatever it is Fuji does." Tate explained.
"Sweet." Kagewa said before he began eating. He had just started when Aomaru let out a curious whine. Kagewa turned around to see Kosame walking towards them with a ramen cup in her hands.
"Um hey, I was wondering if it's cool if I eat lunch with you guys. Since we're going to be teammates and all. If not it's cool." She said, her voice steady and confident but low as if she was already expecting rejection.
"Sure thing, Kosame, that's a good idea. We should really get to know each other more." Tate replied. Aomaru barked happily in agreement as Kosame sat down with the three boys.
"Man I gotta be the luckiest guy in the world!" Chomaru exclaimed to Mesu and Inoue, causing the two girls to laugh.
"Well I mean, it was pretty much set in stone that we'd get teamed up right?" Inoue said, but Chomaru shrugged the logic off.
"Yeah I know, but still. I'm really glad guys to have you two on my team." He said, his smile growing impossibly bigger. It fell, however, when a loud voice called out to them.
"Hey fatass!" A boy cried. Chomaru turned to face his fellow Genin.
"What do you want Kawasura?" He asked, an irritated hint in his voice. Kawasura, flanked by his two fellow bullies and teammates, folded his arms defiantly.
"What kind of sucking up to the Hokage did you have to do to get paired with Inoue and Mesu?" He shouted out mockingly. Chomaru glared but didn't say anything.
"Go away Kawasura," Inoue snapped. Kawasura ignored her.
"Come on fatass, what'd you do? Did you promise to eat all Hokage-sama's leftovers or something?" Kawasura continued.
"I bet he only got on that team because his fatass dad knows the Hokage!" One of Kawasura's lackies taunted. At this Chomaru snapped, rushing the three boys.
"Don't you talk about my dad like that!" Chomaru shouted as he lunged toward the lackey who barely managed to move out the way. The other two took the opportunity to jump on Chomaru, but were stopped by a shuriken sailing in front of them.
"Hey, don't even think about it!" Inoue shouted.
"How dare you talk about the Hokage like that! You three don't even deserve to be Genin!" Mesu shouted angrily. Chomaru looked at Mesu. Kawasura and his friends had really touched a sore spot since Mesu hated when people talked ill of her father, the Hokage.
"So here we are Sarutobi," Hikaru declared as he found Sarutobi Ryo sitting under a rather large oak tree. The brown-haired boy glanced up at his new teammate and then slid his headband over his eyes.
"What do you want Kennohou?" Ryo was clearly annoyed at having his alone-time ruined, especially by Hikaru.
"Look, one of us has to be the leader so we might as well figure it out here and now." Hikaru said as he cracked his knuckles. Ryo sighed and stood up, then tightened his forehead protecter so that it wouldn't fall over his eyes.
"If you wanna fight, just say so." Ryo said with a smirk. Hikaru smirked back and the fight was about to begin when a small voice spoke up.
"Please don't fight," Yakumo squeaked. The two boys glanced over to see their third teammate, who had seemingly come from nowhere. Yakumo was always so quiet and soft-spoken, no one ever really noticed her coming. As they looked at her, the boys couldn't bring themselves to fight. At least, not in front of her.
"Fine," Ryo said before slumping back down on his tree. Hikaru let out a quick 'hmph' and sat down. The two boys sat in silence while Yakumo stood awkwardly.
"You gonna sit down and relax or what?" Hikaru asked, harsher than he had intended. Yakumo nodded and promptly sat down. Hikaru let out a sigh.
Welcome to the real world.
Well, this chapter was a lot longer than I intended it to be, but I like the way it turned out. I'm glad I got to show off most of the characters although the final squad (Team 4) will have to wait until the next chapter to get their spotlight. I stole Yakumo Kurama from the fillers and there are some edits to her character (I think she was more headstrong and defiant in the filler arc, but I don't feel like watching that again). There's a little easter egg in here for those of you who caught it and there's one or two more in the story as well. Not full blown crossovers or anything, just little appearances I wanted to do.
Well, I hope you are interested and if so please leave a review; tell me what I need to work on or just say if you like it. Thanks for reading :D