A/N: As of 12/17, I changed the formatting of my chapters to replace the hyphen dividers into 0 dividers since FFN kept deleting them and I did not realize this until now. This will be the only time you will see an A/N here. Enjoy the story.
Chapter 1: Welcome to the Shinobi Corps:
First thing I heard this morning was the buzzing of the alarm. With a jolt, I realized that the ramen chef was not actually saying 'beep beep beep,' but was actually being overrode by the sound of my alarm urging me to wake up.
The dream faded as I clung desperately to just one more bite of fictional ramen. It was no wonder that I didn't welcome becoming awake to a ramen-less reality in my bed. Groggily, I reached searchingly for the alarm. Ever since I shut the alarm and went right back to sleep that one day before class, I have made sure to place the alarm in a different hard-to-reach location every time before I went to sleep. Frustrated at not finding the off button in reaching distance, I grudgingly got out of bed, shivering as I felt the early morning chill, as I walked over to what blearily looked like the appropriate shape of the alarm.
Shutting it off, I went back to bed to enjoy its lingering warmth as it reentered by body. Involuntarily, the comforter went back up to my chin as I breathed deeply through my nose, savoring the contrast of cold air and my protective cocoon of heat.
It was when my thoughts were gradually transcending back into the realm of sleep and ramen that I jolted with a start. Today was supposed to be a new subject day! Iruka-sensei will kill me for being late! Leaping out of bed as if burned, I glared at it with wide-awake eyes. The bed looked so innocuously innocent, like a kicked dog, that I couldn't stay mad at it- vile tempter that it was; I couldn't blame that it did its job well. Bowing to it in respect for this match between man and sleep, I hurried to pick up my favorite orange jacket and blue sandals as I raced out the door to class. I hope I'm learning a new jutsu today!
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I rushed into class with negative minutes to spare. Not seeing Iruka-sensei anywhere, I breathed a sigh of relief as I started walking towards my seat-only to feel a harsh tug at my collar as I was lifted up. Yelping, I flailed my legs and arms as I heard a dreaded voice from an oni. Truly, this oni's voice was terrible to hear. It echoed through the suddenly quiet classroom and it was all I could hear as this deceptively calm baritone resounded through my being. Warily creaking my head to the origin, I managed to catch the last bits of what must be its kill speech.
"-and another thing, how is it that you live so close to the school, yet continuously be late to class Naruto? Are you even listening to me? Oi, Naruto!"
Shaking my head out of my stupor, I grinned in relief at his scarred tanned face, "Oh, Iruka-sensei! I thought there was an oni behind me. I heard it calling to grind my bones and add them to his oatmeal," rubbing the back of my neck, I weakly continued, "good thing you caught me before I was eaten, heh heh heh."
A throbbing vein threatened to burst out of his forehead as he snarled out, "You idiot!" And once again, I was disoriented as an unseen strike swept across the back of my head.
"Ow! Sensei! That hurt!" Wincing back a tear of pain, I grimaced at him.
Iruka-sensei shook his head as he continued his lecture, "You fool! How are you going to graduate the class this time if you don't even attend all the sessions?!" Woah, how did his head suddenly get bigger?
"If you paid more attention to genjutsu class, you'd know why my head is suddenly bigger. Fool!" Whoops, did I say that out loud?
Coughing into his hand, Iruka-sensei directed me to my seat as he closed the door, "Now that everyone is here," he directed a glare at poor rueful little me, to the chuckles of my classmates, "we can continue with the lecture. Today, we will be learning the different types of elemental chakra available to shinobi and why this matters during the course of your training. This will matter as many of you will be graduating next month once you take the exams."
Aw, right. Since I repeated class 2 times already, I already know this stuff. Why did I even get up this morning? Sighing, I rested my head on my hand as my eyes glazed over with practiced ease.
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The day was ending as I walked out of class. "Psst, Naruto! Come with me for a bit."
Whipping my head in surprise, I barely hid a wince as it turned out to be Iruka-sensei. What could he want now?
Cautiously walking over to his shadowed figure, I asked, "Hey Iruka-sensei! How's it going? Sorry I was late today, I was caught up with investigating the disappearance of my shoes when I found the time was already 8AM!"
Bemusedly shaking his head, Iruka-sensei smiled and said, "Well, that's all well and good, but I hope that'll teach you a lesson in organization. You're supposed to graduate this year Naruto, I don't want you to fail."
"Really? Do you really mean that Iruka-sensei?" All the other teachers have wanted me to fail before he came in.
"No. Actually," the sky warped around him as his shadowy figure suddenly enlarged with a spatula suddenly appearing in his hand and a chef hat popped atop his head. His eyes glowed red as he bared sharp white teeth at me, "I actually…want you to fail so you can't be there when I steal all the ramen in the world! Mwahahahahah!"
Tearing in fear at this menacing figure, I couldn't help but shout out that he would never take all the ramen so long as I lived, "Steal all the ramen? NEVERRRR!"
And then I woke up with a start.
Ah! That was a scary nightmare. I opened my eyes as I sat up, grasping at my sheets to make sure I wasn't dreaming again. Man, I hope I wasn't dreaming again. That nightmare was so convincing. I should have known that Iruka wouldn't selfishly hoard all the ramen though. Blearily, I looked at the alarm clock to see it was 15 minutes till the team meeting with Sasuke and Sakura-chan. This would be the first meeting after our survival test. I wonder how it will turn out. Quickly getting dressed, I made my way to the door.
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I jogged towards the meeting place on the bridge to see that Sasuke and Sakura-chan had already arrived, though Kakashi-sensei was nowhere in sight. Well, it shouldn't be long before sensei would arrive. In the meantime, I tried to make small-talk with Sakura-chan, though it looked like she was too focused on Sasuke to care. Bastard gets all the luck. Well, except for having all his family murdered I suppose. Deflating a bit at the lack of attention and smarting from Sakura-chan's punch to the face, I leaned against the bridge in silence as I wondered about the dream I had. How did it feel so realistic?
Lost in my thoughts, I was surprised when Kakashi-sensei finally teleported to our location in a flurry of leaves. Leaping to my feet while weeping some leaves off my clothes, I scowled as I pointed accusingly at him, "You're late!" I was joined with Sakura-chan. I knew we would have something in common!
Nonchalantly, he looked up from his porn (hey, even I could recognize the warning on the back that was usually followed with porn), "Oh, you guys are here already? Hope you didn't wait long." Oh, that much-too innocent smile of his, where his eye crinkled, you're not fooling anyone sensei!
"Well, since all of you have gathered on time, I'll reward you guys with something that you'll treasure your entire career as shinobi."
Attentions piqued, we focused on our sensei. What could it be? Would it be that teleportation technique of his? I could go anywhere with that thing!
With relish, Kakashi slowly enunciated, "We…will be…," our heads were leaning forwards in anticipation, "doing tree climbing!" With face faults all around, the only one still upright was a much-too satisfied sensei.
Sakura-chan protested, "But sensei! How will climbing trees help us?"
"Well, you see. That is why you have to look underneath the underneath Sakura. Follow me and see." With reluctance and disbelief written on our faces, we trudged after him. What could possibly be important about climbing trees? How can anyone read beyond that simple fact? Looking around, it looked like both Sakura-chan and Sasuke were similarly confused.
Once we arrived at the same training spot where we performed our survival training, sensei turned towards us and slowly back-walked towards the tree…and then up the tree! How did he do that?!
Smugly crinkling his eye at us he said, "well, now do you think climbing trees is a waste of time? In the shinobi world, you will all have to look beyond simple words to capture the underlying message. Failure isn't too bad in this case, you just had to suffer suspense; failure later on, however," sensei's voice turned serious, "can and will cost you your life and your team's lives." With a sudden discomfort, we nodded dumbly, gulping as we did.
As he continued to walk backwards up the tree, he continued, "What you will need to do is focus chakra at your feet and will it to stick to the tree. From there on, you can walk up the tree. You should be able to better control your chakra because of this exercise as your feet are the hardest part to circulate chakra to, well, besides your elbows, knees, head, stomach, and under such parts of your body."
"Sensei, how will improving chakra control help us become shinobi? Why can't we learn a kick-ass jutsu or something?" Sasuke seemed to agree with me as he nodded at my question.
"Well, I suppose I could teach you a super awesome jutsu…but then you wouldn't be able to use it since you can't control your chakra to form it. Bit of a problem isn't it?" deadpanned Kakashi sensei.
Well, when you put it that way…
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So, we continued to do the exercise, falling onto our backs or managing to catch ourselves from falling. We were able to make some headway by afternoon. Sakura-chan actually made it all the way to the top of her tree and back down, but got tired fast. Sasuke was slightly higher than me, but I was able to make it to halfway up before losing my grip.
"Stop for now, you can practice on your own time. Good work Sakura, it looks like the Uchiha clan and future-Hokage aren't that great now huh? You two better catch up if you want to achieve your dreams. Although, I'd work on building up your reserves by training your body, Sakura. There are minimum chakra requirements to perform certain jutsu. I'd also eat more if you want to keep your energy."
Annoyed at the jibe, both Sasuke and I glared at sensei and snarled at his responding smile.
"Well, I'll make sure you guys get up to speed so none of you die on the battlefield. We'll be doing sparring now so you can all learn to move faster," with a seal, Kakashi-sensei created 3 shadow clones, "spar with these 3 and make sure to move at your full capabilities or you'll regret it."
"We're sparring? Why aren't we doing missions?" I asked. I thought ninja were all about doing bad-ass missions and protecting people?
A dark chuckle made us shiver, "Huh huh huh, well, if I sent you three out on missions now…you would all die," suddenly changing his voice to a happier tone, "that's why I'm making sure you get all the training you can fit in those brains before going!"
Mutely, we followed his direction to take our separate sparring areas as he watched us from atop his tree.
Facing across the kage bushin, I examined him for openings. He was just nonchalantly holding his hands in his pockets while amusedly looking at me. Growling at treating me lightly, I charged at him. Let's see him take me lightly now!
With a cry, I launched myself at him with a straight punch, only to be caught by his right hand. Expecting him to catch it, I rocket my knee forward to help my attack. Blocking the knee with his other arm, I twisted around my arm to get a firmer hold on his imprisoning vice in hopes of kicking him in the face. Instead, he let go of my hand and I yelped as I started to fall backwards.
Twisting around to trip him with a leg swipe, sensei leapt over the kick as well as dodge my follow up kick to the chest. As I corrected my position back to a ready stance, I heard his calm voice.
"First mistake, going for a straight attack; you're a shinobi, not a brawler. If you wanted to attack me with a straight attack, you should have a planned follow-up because, in all likelihood, you will probably be blocked or countered. It was good of you to try blocking my vision with your body for your knee to hit me, but at that moment, your enemy already controls your movement with holding your hand. This is even worse when you used your arm as leverage to launch yourself up."
Restarting my offense, I ran at him only to leap to the side for a side kick and followed up with a roundhouse kick only to have him dodge away from both attacks.
"Second and third mistakes, not gauging your reach. I'm sure you know better than I that you are very, very short," sensei's eye crinkled in humor, "your legs won't reach very far, so it's easy to dodge your attacks and follow up with an attack to your exposed area…which is all your body at that moment as you are also in the air. If you're in the air, you can't move very well to dodge attacks."
Growling at his ease, I leapt forward to his position and ran the remaining gap to take out his legs, concealing my hands as I formed kage bushin in a roll towards his legs. Leaping back, Kakashi made a tsking sound until he found my clones grasping both his arms to hold him down. I got him now! Crowing in anticipated victory, I leapt to strike him down with a punch chambered behind me.
And then…Kakashi spun around, uprooting both my clones and backhanded me with my own clone!
With a disappointed cry, I bowled backwards into the grass, rolling as I tried to stop my momentum. Breathing deeply, I leapt back to my feet to glare at my smiling teacher. He's still smiling! Wider, if anything!
"Well, that was a good try, but let's not forget one of the primary rules of shinobi combat- use everything around you for victory. Your clones not only make a shackle, but also a gauntlet."
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Sparring continued on as Kakashi managed to dodge, block, duck, and blow past any attack I made. By the time I saw the sun begin to set, I was gasping for breath and lying down on the grass in exhaustion. Looking around, I saw that Sakura-chan and a sweaty Sasuke were staring at me.
"Baka, how do you have so much energy?" wheezed Sakura. Grinning at her, I rejoiced in something she noticed. Hah! Beat that Sasuke! I bet you didn't even last as long!
At the sound of the bushin dispelling, Kakashi-sensei started speaking, "Well, this was an insightful training session. I think you all will be needing much improvement before being sent out to missions. Mmhmm, in fact, these next two weeks should be dedicated to remedial training!"
Growling at the name 'remedial,' Sasuke leapt to his feet in protest, "Maybe these two weaklings need remedial training, but I'm better. I need to get stronger fast!" Why that…bastard! How dare he think I'm weak? Or Sakura-chan?! Leaping to my feet, I chambered a retort just as I heard a disappointed sigh from sensei.
"You, Sasuke, are just as in bad need of training as these two. In fact, you're even further behind if you think you can exist without the help of others. At least these two know they're not perfect or entitled to anything."
Before Teme could respond, Kakashi-sensei continued, "We'll stop here for now. Get well rested guys, because tomorrow will be even more strenuous as I will be attacking. Tomorrow, we'll also go over other key factors of being a shinobi." Before any of us could ask more, sensei disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
I'll get him for sure tomorrow! I'll see to it, and then I'll keep working until I become Hokage! Turning around, I opened my mouth to ask Sakura-chan out only to deflate as I saw her already staring at Sasuke with a lovey dovey expression on her face. Sasuke just snorted and turned around to head for home. Seeing her depressed, I hurried over to her. A hime like her shouldn't be depressed? I bet I can make her happier than Sasuke ever could!
"Um, Sakura-chan! That was a pretty brutal training session wasn't it? How about we go grab some ramen or something?" Smiling at her, she turned around, surprised at my voice, "Naruto, I don't feel that way about okay?! I'm saving myself for Sasuke and you can just butt out!"
Disappointed, I watch her leave in a huff as the air feels colder around me. With a sigh, I make my way back to Ichiraku. Some ramen should cheer me up.
A/N: Hello everyone! This is my new fanfic in years. I hope you all like it and review. If there's any suggestions or errors you saw, please tell me. I'm going for a more realistic version of Naruto. In my author notes, I will be explaining certain parts of the chapter that I feel needs explanation, though you can always ask me over pm/review about any part that you found confusing or would like elaborated.
Kakashi: I know the characterization is a bit different for people like Kakashi; that's because I feel that someone of his skill and background would probably take being leader of a group of children more seriously considering he's lost comrades before. It doesn't make sense to me in the anime how he goes from passive-lazy for training one moment to ultra-protective later on in the Wave arc then back to lazy. He knows these kids will encounter hardship, so he'll be relying on hardcore training to get them up to par. This is the person who was both a prodigy and an ANBU captain before, so his perspective of training will naturally be to a higher standard to others, not leaving things up in the air in hopes that everything will work out fine. Of course, there will be conflict with his perceptions later on.
The dream: Don't worry, I didn't set up the dream to troll you around. I hate that too. I intend to use that experience as an underlying motivation for one of the mechanics of this story.
Until next chapter,
LordOwl