A/N: Yep just thought this up, damn these new braces of mine!!! Gosh, I'm old for them… Some of the places I just made up and they are not to be confused with the real geography of the Naruto land.
On with the story!
We, Against Nothing
"You all will be trained," Tsunade began, "And defeat later threats to our village."
She eyed every one of the children in front of her. She counted eleven, but there was supposed to be twelve. She'll get to that problem later. She also noticed how they were struggling to break free from their caretakers, from her men. One in particular was trying to bite his. Another was aiming for the man's weapon, grabbing it and getting it pulled out of her hands a few times. There was another one close to the middle of the group, but she wasn't moving however, her head down and her short dark hair in her face. It appeared that she didn't have the will to fight. But that will change, Tsunade had her ways.
The people placed their hands on their assigned kid's shoulders after that kid finally gave up and accepted their fate. They all knew what would happen to them. The army would train them to become soldiers. No ordinary soldiers, ninja, who will learn every defense and offence skill possible, but, each one is unique. There is no possible way they could learn at the same pace, have the same exact chakra control, and body flexibility. Besides, the military doesn't want, and won't have these 'super ninja' having them to learn the same exact technique. That would be fatal.
"Today is the day of the rest of your life; you should know that you will be training for as long as we can tell." Again she glanced at the kids in front of her. They were at least four or five years old and all of them were terrified. She had to at least try to calm them down. She forced a smile. "But you shouldn't worry; you will be along side your friends. All of which will help you, train with you, and fight with you. Your chance of dieing from enemy fire is below zero." All of their eyes grew, amazed of that.
She paused, trying to find words they will understand. "These people surrounding you are your brother and sister, treat them with respect." She smiled, knowing the worse part is gone. No more describing the bad points of their new life. Now it's the good… and painfully hard.
She began to pace, slowly, thinking of the critical parts of the average day. "Tomorrow is the most important day in my book. You will meet your teacher, one who will show you all things imaginable." Their face cheered up, smiles and eyes directed on her, wanting more to hear. "But before that is training and I have to admit, the trainer is a bit rough." They frowned, faces like before. "And before that there is breakfast, about anything you want is there." There faces once again cheered up.
'So many mountains and plains,' she thought 'Someday they will realize what this town is going through.'
A man from the end walked up to her, whispering something only audible to Tsunade.
"I see only eleven of them, where is the other one?" His voice creaked. She began to think.
"Get me the list. It could be an error." She told him, a little louder. "And get the mentor here!"
"Aye aye ma'am," He walked out of the small room. After a few moments of silence, a kid raised his hand.
"Are we the only ones?" He's voice was calm, one hand in his pocket. She put some thought in her answer.
"Yes and no." She pieced the words together. "There are other kids here, but they are for tactical proposes only." They had confused looks on. "In other words, they plan things before hand. I believe you will get to see them." She looked at him. "Does that answer it?" He nodded.
A woman named Shizune entered the room.
"Ah yes, this is Shizune, and Shizune, this is your new class." She smiled.
"Let me just make sure I know you." Shizune walked to the kid closest to the door. She somehow knew their faces and names… or it was by the alphabet by last name…
"Shino is it? It's nice to meet you." She extended her hand, he had no idea what that meant. She continued, frightened by the little boy one way or another.
"And this is Chouji." She smiled at him.
"Sakura…" Sakura waved.
"Hinata…" She was looking downward, troubled of making eye contact.
"Neji… Ah we have siblings!" She smiled.
"Cousins, actually," Neji corrected.
"Kiba…" He kicked the floor.
"Shikamaru…" His hands stuffed in his pockets.
"Rock Lee…" He smiled harmoniously at her.
"Tenten…" She crossed her arms, forcing a smile.
She glared at this one… He didn't look like him. She skipped that name, considered him a different boy. "Naruto…" He looked away, uninterested.
"And finally Ino," She waved.
Shizune walked toward Tsunade. "The Uchiha," She whispered.
She sighed and shooed them away. "Show them to their rooms."
The kids and the army personnel walked of the titanium room, leaving a temple-rubbing Tsunade in it. Shizune put a hand on her hip.
"Did you tell them about their parents?" She asked knowing very well the answer.
Tsunade sighed, wiping hair from her face. "Didn't have the heart to."
"Typical." She walked away, leaving the cold room with Tsunade alone.
"It's better than nothing." Tsunade told herself. Her blond hair fell to her face; she had a few things left to do.
A couple of steps away from her was a laptop. She walked to it. Her fingers danced along the keyboard, DNA strips showed on the monitor. She out smarted everyone in the lab, she is after all the creator of the development. Words, calculations, and holographic images of inhabitants of the city showed on the screen. She was making clones of their parents, in order to trick them into believing that the 'clones' would say goodbye to them, well, to all but one.
"Uzumaki Naruto, I'll have to talk to him individually." Tsunade sighed. "He will feel forlorn."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Who are you people?" Ino asked, playing with her ponytail. "Where's my dad?"
The man next to her sighed, "We are the n- I mean- we dedicate ourselves to…" He was lost in words. So he asked the guy in front of him. "Hey Chuck, who are we?" The kids laughed, but in some way knowing that he had the knowledge of what he does.
Chuck replied, "We're dogs, my friend." They laughed yet again, feeling more comfortable in the training station. Ino crossed her arms, and stopped in her tracks.
"That doesn't answer my question!" She got mad. "I want to see my parents!" she walked back to the group.
"Why would you like to see your parents?" A person in front of Chuck asked. "They don't like-" He received a strike to the head, courtesy of Chuck.
"They dropped you off here, nothing more than that." He said, pushing his short brown hair back.
"I don't remember coming here." Sakura said, putting a finger to her lips.
"Me either!" Naruto said, rubbing his belly. "I'm hungry!"
"Me too!" Chouji replied, nipping his finger.
"This is all too troublesome." Shikamaru stated, yawning.
"I want my dog from back home." Kiba said apparently sad.
"Can we go outside?" Shino asked, receiving no reply.
The navy men were annoyed. But that's kids, in any case, and they soon will have manners as anyone in the military. Chuck looked at the kid next to him, remembering that Shizune said he was Naruto. He smiled. Even though he thinks kids are too much too handle, he has faith in these little guys.
"Why are you smiling?" Naruto asked with his hands behind his head.
"No reason."
"Then why?"
"I feel like it."
"What do you feel like?"
"Erm… Happy?"
"Why are you happy?"
'Cause I hopefully won't see you guys again.' "Because I get to see you guys."
Naruto stared at him. Why is he happy to see him? "Are you a child molester?" Chuck shivered at the word.
"No."
"Than why did you say-"
"Stop talking!" He yelled. Everyone paused from walking and stared.
After a few moments of silence, Rock Lee called out, "Haha! Naruto got yelled at!" They all, except one, laughed at him. Naruto laughed quietly to himself, but then let out a heavy breath of air. He was used to it, but become a 'soldier' made him feel like he shouldn't be a trouble maker anymore. He felt as if he might lose this opportunity to show everyone how strong he really is. He eyed some people walking passed him. They were in their late teens or early twenties, wearing camouflaged pants with green vests. In a single, and yet straight, file line, they walked passed, backs straight as a pin. He wanted to be like them.
They began to walk again, and Naruto tried to walk with his back straight, and though it hurt after a while, he stayed like that. Ino noticed this and whispered "What's wrong with your back?"
"I'm a soldier," Was all his reply, leaving a very befuddled Ino.
They soon stopped, the man in front turned to face them. "We are going to divide you into teams." Sakura raised her hand. "Yes?"
"There are only eleven of us, what number could possibly fit that?"
"It was twelve." The man with Tenten said, whose name is Jerry.
"I know, haven't you realized that the Uchiha isn't here?" he said.
"Failure isn't an option." Naruto was surprised to hear a women's voice. 'Women are soldiers too?' She was next to Shikamaru, her name Marissa. (A/N: Shikamaru always gets the ladies XD )
"Yes, but his father-"
"Wait, so our parents choose whether or not to take us here?" Neji stated.
"Ah… yes, yes they did, except for, erm, one child..." Naruto smiled, he knew that kid was him. He chuckled.
"Is he coming then?" A man said.
"I don't know but his father-"
"Then why did they say twelve?" Ino scratched her arm.
"Because there were twelve but his father…" He paused, relieved that no one interrupted,
"… Stopped me."
"That's all?" Shikamaru asked. He nodded. "What a story."
The man held his breathe. "You try to get past the Sharingan."
Chuck laughed quietly. He was actually bored.
Kiba raised his hand. "Yes?"
"Why did we stop? I wasn't paying attention."
"I will not repeat myself."
"We're going to split into teams." Jerry said.
"Jerry, they need to learn-"
"Hey! Just because you are in front of me doesn't mean you're stronger than me!"
"… Where did that come from? I wasn't talking about strength; I was speaking about learning lessons." He sighed.
"… but I'm still stronger." Jerry said under his breathe.
"Can we just go into ours rooms like Tsunade said?! I don't want to listen to some old guys say who's stronger than who!" Tenten spat.
"She's right. I'm bored." Sakura said.
"Yeah! Please can we go?" Ino rubbed her eyes.
Marissa simply nodded, putting her short brown hair behind her ears. "The girls are right, we need to train and they need the rest. They really need it."
"… Troublesome girls…" Shikamaru mumbled really low.
"Okay. I say… wait how are going to split them?" Chuck rubbed his temples.
After a low whimper, Shizune came running really fast. Naruto's eyes were open wide, he never saw a girl run so fast! In her hand was something wooden pad, presumed a clipboard.
"Uchiha Sasuke is here." Following her is a young boy. "And here are the teams." She smiled toward the children. Obviously she worked with them before.
She took a grayish piece of paper and flipped it over. "We will do three teams of four, which each is called a 'Fire Team.' In what we call the smallest of the ninja unit, there will be 'jobs' assigned. Depending on the month's training, we will determine who is best suited as that tactical member. You will either be in weaponry, a, what I personally like to call, 'planter,' a medic, and a squad leader." She smiled, knowing what all would want to be. "If you want to be the weapon's keeper, listen to this. Precision, knowledge of the weapon, and management of the weapon is the key to get that. A planter is only indispensable in bomb planting, hence my name. A medic will specialize in chakra healing. And the leader is the one who shows the most potential in getting the team safely out of a situation, plan tactical solutions, and has successful missions."
"It's time for us to leave." Marissa stated, looking at her watch. Shizune dismissed them. Naruto looked at how orderly they were, stepping a step as one. They exited the hallway.
"Well, I shall assign teams" Shizune nodded, and flipped another piece of gray paper. "Team Number One, please step up once you hear your name, Ino, Neji, Shikamaru, and Tenten." They walked forward, individually. "Your room is there." She pointed a little to here left. "Change into the clothes that are there, and be careful, they have your names on them." They walked in the room.
"Team Number Two, please do the same. Hinata, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke," Naruto proudly stepped up and looked at his team mates. Two girls and two boys, that seemed fair. "Your room is over there." She pointed next to the other team's room.
They walked slowly into their rooms, and amazed at what they saw. There were bunk beds! Two of them, actually. Naruto quickly went to find were his clothes were, eager to see what they look like. Sakura did too. She lifted the uniform up. It was a grey one piece, with long pant legs and long sleeves, and in the top right corner, in red, was her name.
"This looks weird." She sneered. "I'm not wearing it."
"Just do it." Sasuke said, his bed at the top right.
"Where do we change?" Naruto asked no one in particular.
After a few moments of silence, someone spoke via speaker in there room.
"Attention all trainees, I hope you find your new room contented." A girl's voice said, Naruto was thinking who that sounded like. "You're maybe thinking about where you're going to change, of course in a bathroom! There's a map of the training base in the night table. That is all."
Hinata opened it, and neatly folded there was the map as she said. She opened it and said on her bed, the bottom left. Everyone quickly surrounded her, staring at the map. They were all trying to find their room, and it wasn't easy considering that there were lines all over the place. Sasuke pointed his index finger when he found there room.
"Yeah, and the bathroom's… here!" Sakura pointed to on it.
"Let's go then." Naruto said, leading them there. Hinata put the map down and closed the door behind her.
They found out that they were the only ones who made it so far. Naruto opened the door to the bathroom and found three more doors in a small room. One was for girls, one was for boys, and one was the shower room. Sasuke immediately opened his door, finding a bathroom for one.
"Hinata you could go first, I want to see what you look like." Sakura said pushing her in.
Naruto sat on the floor, resting his head in his hands. "I think Hinata's weird." Sakura smacked him on the head.
"That's mean, she's your new teammate, treat her with respect." 'Yeah, she's been quiet all this time, I bet she's going to hold us back!' She reflected to herself.
Sasuke soon came out, his uniform fit nicely. Sakura blushed. "Naruto go in." She told him.
"So Sasuke, where did you come from, what's your clan?" She know very well where he came from, she only wanted to hear his voice.
"Uchiha, yours?" He didn't want to seem mean by just saying that.
"Haruno." She smiled.
"That's nice." He said, cracking his knuckles.
Hinata came out, looking very uncomfortable. "What's wrong?" Sakura asked kindly.
"I do not like it." She said delicately.
"Let me see…" Sakura went into the bathroom, while Naruto came out. Hinata saw him, and tried not to blush, she looked away.
"I like this!" Naruto said looking at his legs.
A quiet minute passed by, and Sakura came out. "Hinata's right, it's very uncomfortable." She tried pushing it down a bit, it was a little small. "I'll fix it later." Hinata said.
"You know how to fix it?" Sakura asked as the team walked out. Hinata nodded.
Shikamaru and Shino's team passed them.
"You found it without telling us?" Kiba asked them, holding the outfit.
"Sorry, we thought you knew." Sakura told them smiling.
"I'm going to wipe that smirk off your face soon, just you wait!" Ino said, maybe angry at wearing the grey thing Shizune called an outfit.
Sakura stoked her hair out of her face, sticking her tongue out at her. "Too bad you don't have the best group like me!" Her team smiled, and walked in their room.
"Did you mean that?" Naruto asked her.
"Of course, this team is the best, after all." She smiled at them.
Hinata lay down on her bed and closed her eyes. Sakura did too, her bed on top of hers.
Naruto just sat on his, thinking about how training will go. He saw Sasuke's legs hanging down from his bed. Naruto thought about how good being a team leader would be.
He needed something to do, thinking was boring. He wasn't tired yet; it was only around seven, too early for him to sleep. All of a sudden, Sasuke jumped of his bed to the floor. He climbed the ladder to Sakura's bed, and checked something Naruto couldn't see. He climbed down to check on Hinata. "They're asleep."
"I'm bored."
"And I have a plan." Sasuke said smirking.
"Oh so you say." Naruto smirked to ready to listen.
Sasuke whispered something in his ear. Naruto gave a 'thumbs up'. They snuck out of the room, quickly and silently.
A/N: Yes this is a Military story, but it can't be Naruto without a good prank. Ah yes, they're going to do something really bad. What is it you ask? Too bad, it's marked as a…
TBC