This is a Naruto inspired fanfiction.
This is an AU of sorts, and I do intend to play a bit loosely with the established rules at time, but hopefully nothing outrageous. No super Naruto. No pairings intended at the moment. Also, for various reasons, namely my dislike of writing dialogue or romance for any characters under the age of 16, the graduating class of the Konoha ninja academy will be roughly 16, rather than 12. Ages of various jounin/chuunin will be adjusted accordingly, albeit in a rough fashion.
Intro:
The premise of this story is that Naruto found out how to make shadow clones at the age of eight, but has not yet realized that when they dispel he gains their memories. Furthermore, he has kept his knowledge of shadow clones a secret for the past eight years. Also, no Mizuki scene, thus no knowledge of the nine-tailed kitsune sealed inside him.
Chapter 1: Team Selection
"Team seven under Kakashi Hatake will be Sakura Haruno," Naruto's body shook with excitement, "Sasuke Uchiha," Naruto and Sasuke's heads made mirrored dents in the table, "and Naruto Uzumaki."
"Yes!" A punch caught him from either side.
"Hey, meathead, forget about us?" The pair of redheads flanking him gave him the evil eye, the trio fully tuning out Iruka's continuing announcement.
"O, right." Launching himself onto the table while raising his hand, Naruto took a deep breath. "Iruka-sensei! Can I switch teams?" Laira, the redheaded girl to his right, winced at the over-the-top approach.
Iruka tossed his chair at the boy for interrupting him. "Teams are put together by the Hokage himself. You're all adults now so I don't want to hear any complaining about your teammates." Naruto fell backwards into his charge, pouting. "Now, as I was saying, Team thirteen will be Laira Nannimaya, Nara Shikimaru, and Nakomy Nannimaya, led by Hatake
"I get them both, eh?" said Shikimaru. "Could be worse."
"Your Jounin sensei will be Kurenai Yuhi. Alright everyone, good luck, and DON'T SCREW UP." With that, Iruka shushined out of the classroom in a swirl of leaves. The former students barely had time to begin chattering before the first Jounin entered and departed with his group of three. Kurenai was next to enter, introducing herself in a soft voice that nonetheless carried all the way to the back of the classroom.
"Well I guess this is it, Naruto," said Laira, voice heavy with sadness.
"We knew it couldn't last forever," added Nakomy. Many stared at the overly emotional scene, but only Shikimaru was able to catch the the glitter of half-formed tears in Laira's eyes.
"You should be glad to get away from that idiot," said Sakura scathingly.
Naruto buried the pain that comment gave him and conjured up his best smile. "Don't worry guys, you know me, I'll figure something out. I bet I can convince Kakashi to switch me." Each gave a small nod to him before following Kurenai and Shikimaru.
"What's their problem?" said Sakura. Naruto simply rested his head on the desk as team after team filtered out until only himself, Sakura, and Uchiha remained.
)Time Skip to just after introductions(
"So... Kakashi-sensei. Is there any way I could be on a team with Laira and Nakomy?"
Kakashi's one uncovered eye turned icy and locked him in a stare. "Bit early to be making demands, boy, don't you think? After all, none of you are Genin yet."
"What do you mean we're not Genin!" screeched Sakura. "We passed the test, didn't we? Even the blond idiot."
"Mm," Kakashi took out his orange copy of Icha Icha Paradise. "That was just to make sure you were ready for the real test.
"If it means working with Laira and Naks I'm ready for anything. Bring it on Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled enthusiastically.
"Hmm, we'll see then won't we. Be at training ground nine by at seven o'clock." He walked to the edge of the roof. "By the way, don't eat breakfast. You'll throw up." With that he stepped off the edge of the school roof, book still in hand.
"What's up with you and Laira, Naruto?" asked Sakura. "You in love with her or something?"
"W-what?" Naruto shook his head furiously. "Of course not, don't even talk about that, it'd be way too weird."
"She's too good for you anyways, dobe," said Sasuke.
"Shut up, teme," replied Naruto.
Sakura, after hearing this, came to the obvious conclusion. "Ah!" she cried, pulling at her hair. "I knew it, you're after Sasuke too!" Naruto face-faulted.
)The next day(
"I have here two bells," Kakashi explained. "You have until noon to retrieve one of these bells or you will be sent back to the academy for remedial training."
"But, you're a Jounin!" cried Sakura.
"On average, two out of three academy graduates fail the Genin test. Being a ninja isn't all fun and games, I'm here to make sure you're capable of doing what Konoha requires." The impact of Kakashi's sage advice was mitigated by his continuing focus on a certain orange book. The perverted giggle didn't help either.
Naruto squinted, eyes appearing closed. Solemnly he spoke two words, "I understand." Throwing a vicious right hook at Sasuke he managed to KO the unprepared prodigy.
Kakashi blinked. An even more sure sign of his surprise was the closing of Icha Icha Paradise. "Naruto, why did you just attack your teammate?"
"Well it's obvious isn't it? If there's a second test and that many people fail than this can't be our real team. We just have to pass this test and then we get to pick our own team, without Sasuke-teme!" Naruto nudged the unconscious Sasuke with his foot. "Besides, if there's only two bells, I'd rather me and Sakura pass."
Kakashi pondered this for a moment. In an odd way it really did make sense. Still, it's not as if he really wanted to teach anyone, and technically speaking they did fail the assignment. With one of them already unconscious there would be no teamwork today, at least not between all three. Kakashi struck a sophisticated pose. "You fail."
"WHAT!" Screamed Sakura and Naruto in unison.
)Later that day, at the Ramen Ichiraku restaurant(
"I can't believe I failed!" sobbed Naruto into his ramen bowl.
Naks slapped him on the back. "Cheer up, bro, we'll just tell Kurenai that we want to go back to the academy and we can try and get on a team together in six months."
Naruto's head twisted like the girl in the exorcist. "What do you mean by that? You two didn't pass, did you?" Nakomy couldn't school his expression enough to hide the victory from Naruto. Naruto's only response was to repeatedly bang his head into the counter. Laira slid a napkin underneath him between strikes to muffle the sound.
"Don't worry about it, I'm sure you tried your best," said Laira. "And with the three of us together, nothing will stop us. Though, I have to admit it was mostly thanks to Nara that we made it through our test. That guy's a genius, even if he does bug the hell out of me."
Nakomy chuckled. "What was it he said, 'troublesome female,' right? If only he knew, ne? Of course, he calls Naruto troublesome too..."
All three paused in their meals. "You don't think he knows, do you?" said Laira.
"No, he can't. We've been careful." Naruto replied.
"Well, either way, that's just another reason for us to drop out of team thirteen," stated Nakomy. "That guy is too smart for his own good. Plus I swear he's been nosing around Naruto ever since Iruka freaked out during the henge exam."
"You mean when Naruto henged into a six foot tall fox instead of a copy of Iruka?" asked Laira.
"That's the one." Nakomy and Laira finished off their first bowl as Naruto completed his ninth. Dropping cash on the table they made their way to a secluded section of the park. "Naruto, let's meet out by the cabin around noon, that should give us time to convince Kurenai to let us drop from the team and grab lunch. We'll get some training in so that next time around we can really blow them out of the water, ne?"
Naruto nodded, shoulders sunken. "This really sucks, you shouldn't have to quit your team just because I failed. You've worked as hard as I have for this, and what if they don't let you back on a team at all?"
Each of the Nannimayas took one of his hands and closed their eyes as blue chakra flowed into them from Naruto. Laira stepped back, revitalized. She softened the blow with a sad smile, but Naruto still felt the disappointment eating away at his friend of eight years. "In the end, we're only clones."
)Early next morning, before dawn(
"That's it!" Naruto exploded into action, unfortunately his covers had tangled his legs, crashing him into floor. "Owe." He pushed himself up to his feet, escaping from the self-made trap. "No time, no time!" Throwing on his orange jumpsuit without showering he threw himself out the window and took off running. The streets were still dark, only the bakeries open at this early hour. The gate guards gave him an unfriendly glare but let him pass. Slightly winded from the run he staggered up to cabin the three of them had built years back. It was still a rough thing but over the years they'd touched it up to a reasonable state. For all that it lacked plumbing and electricity it had a homey feeling that Naruto's apartment never managed to achieve. His fist pounded forcefully on the tower, repeatedly, until a bedraggled Laira opened the door.
"Naruto? What are you-"
Naruto eagerly bounced past her, tossing a kunai handle-first at the sleeping Nakomy. Danger sense forcing him awake Nakomy relaxed upon seeing the yellow-haired brat that spawned him. "Guys, I've got news. I know how you can stay on team thirteen!"
"Eh?" replied Nakomy, not yet fully awake.
"You know that fox henge I did before? Why don't I just do that again, and pretend I'm some sort of fox summons?"
The two Nannimayas stared at him. Then came the wave of questions. "For how long?" "How are we going to explain where we learned how to do a fox summons?" "Isn't it annoying to not have hands?" "What if you get caught?" "How are you going to become a ninja if you spend your time disguised as a fox?"
"Woah, ease up. It'll work out." Naruto gave a thumbs up. "Besides, I sorta like being a fox. Feels, I dunno, comfortable like." His two clones, eight years removed, gave him a curious stare. "Hey, think about it this way, what would have happened if I had gotten on a team and you hadn't? It's not like I'm just going to leave you here without chakra while I go off on some mission. It'll be better this way, and when you make Chuunin you can pick your own teams, right? Let's do this. Team 13 here I come!"
"Won't they file you as a missing nin?" asked Laira.
"I doubt it. I'm not even a real Genin. Besides, everyone in the village would be happier if I was gone." With that Naruto made a solid henge, transforming into a chest-high fox before walking out of the cabin. Laira and Nakomy winced at the fake smile he had shown them before stepping outside. They knew the pain that hid behind that mask all too well. Years of shared childhood memories of pain and hatred before they, at least, had escaped. Changing into durable black and crimson training clothes they followed him out, preparing themselves mentally for their first true day as Genin. With luck, Kurenai would not notice Naruto's henge. Their own had been worn so long on their chakra-born shapes that no evidence of their true forms remained. The illusion had become the reality.
"Hey Naruto," said Nakomy. "You can feel when the old man's orb is focused on you, right?"
"Ya, so long as I'm not distracted." Both Nannimayas faltered a step on hearing the fox talk. They knew he could do it, but it was still strange to hear his half-growling voice. Still stranger was to actually watch his fox-mouth as he did it.
Recovering from the foreign sounding voice Nakomy forced himself back on topic. "Make sure you don't change when he, or anyone else is watching. He may be nice to you, but it probably won't stop him from enforcing the three-man team rule." Laira punched him in the shoulder. "Three person team," he said, correcting himself. Naruto nodded back to him before chasing playfully after a squirrel. "Laira, you get the feeling this is going to go terribly wrong somehow?"
"You better hit yourself for good karma."
"That's ridiculous."
"You're ridiculous," she called back to him, racing to the gates, Naruto at her heels.
End chapter 1
Alright folks, how did I do? This is my first non Ranma-related fic, also my first non-crossover. Not 100% sure I plan on continuing it but personally I think it has some promise. Leave a review if you think I should expand this oneshot. If you want a bigger explanation of what Laira and Nakomy look like beyond the red hair well, it comes next chapter once I'm sure I'm keeping this story, ne?