I don't own Naruto.
Academy
Power. That was what I desired. Therefore, I had set my sights on the Rinnegan. As far as I knew, I could awaken the Rinnegan in my body by absorbing some of Sasuke's chakra, or by stealing the Rinnegan of someone like Nagato. Of course, the latter is not an option right now, so I proceeded to order Danzo to get some of Sasuke's cells.
I must stress that I only gained Itachi's permission to do this after I promised him countless times that Sasuke wouldn't be harmed, and even then he only relented on the condition that he would obtain Sasuke's cells himself, and while Sasuke was asleep.
It didn't take long, and I was soon lying down in an operating room, getting the cells injected into my right shoulder. When the operation was done I rushed to a toilet and gazed into the mirror but, unsurprisingly, there was nothing strange about my eyes.
Well, it did take Madara his whole life to awaken the Rinnegan…
So I put the Rinnegan out of my head and concentrated on the next thing on my mind – Itachi's Mangekyo eyes, which he had awakened on a mission where they had been attacked by a masked man, who had killed one of Itachi's teammates.
That masked man… was it Obito?
…
The next few years passed by slowly, what with my movements being restricted to inside Konoha, and all I could do was train. I mean, I know fights are dangerous and all, but I quickly caught the illness known as boredom. There were a few moments of respite – Izumi was promoted to genin and Itachi eventually joined ANBU – but there wasn't much that I personally could do.
However, it was after my seventh birthday that everything kicked off, and for the first time I was truly dragged into ninja politics and shown just how dark it could get.
…
It was just an ordinary day, and I was just practicing some fuinjutsu in my house, when I heard a knock on my door, so I went down to open it. Finding Itachi and Shisui waiting in front of me, I quickly moved aside to allow them in.
"What's wrong?"
"Can't we just visit you when we miss you?" Shisui smiled.
I rolled my eyes and looked at Itachi. "Well? If it required you to see me, I can guess this is an important topic."
He nodded. "The Uchiha Clan-"
"Oh." That was all it took for me to understand. "Has Danzo made the suggestion to kill them all?"
Shisui shook his head. "Not yet, but it feels like he's going down that track."
"Are there any other solutions to this issue?" Itachi asked.
I sighed. "The problem is, this issue dates back to the founding of the village – completely solving this issue is virtually impossible."
Itachi frowned. "Are you saying there's no way to solve this other than killing them?"
"No – we could keep them all under a genjutsu like Shisui's Kotoamatsukami, or we could pacify them by promising them that an Uchiha – specifically one of you two – will become Hokage, but in my opinion, these are only temporary solutions."
"Well then are there any permanent solutions?" Shisui asked.
I resisted the urge to shake my head simply to have nothing to do with the Uchiha problem. "Honestly, I've considered many ideas, but the only way that I truly believe you can avoid a rebellion is by killing the rebels."
The two went quiet for a bit as they thought about what this would entail. "So… do you know exactly who is involved in the coup d'etat?" Shisui asked. "Because, from what I've seen, most of the ninja in the Uchiha Clan are already hostile towards Konoha…"
I nodded at what he was suggesting. "I don't know the details, but I know that a large number of Uchiha were involved in the coup d'etat."
Shisui sighed and leaned back for a while, before turning to Itachi. "What do you think?"
He closed his eyes and leaned back a little. "I'll do whatever it takes to keep the peace in Konoha."
"Even if it means killing your family?"
He gritted his teeth ever so slightly but nodded. "If there is no better option."
Let's see just how devoted to the village he is…
"Even… even if it means killing Sasuke?" I asked.
He shot up and stared straight at me. "Are you serious? Is Sasuke really a threat?"
I nodded, and his face fell rapidly. "It's not that bad."
"What do you mean?" His face, which had previously portrayed his deep distress quite easily, just as plainly showed the hope in his brother.
"In the first place, Sasuke only became evil because of a mad rush for power, which you were the one to instigate, since you would have went on to kill every Uchiha barring him."
Itachi nodded at what I was implying, but Shisui frowned. "Wait, so did he kill me?"
"No; you had already committed suicide to stop Danzo from obtaining your eyes."
Shisui nodded in relief, before Itachi sighed, a little frustrated. "Let's get back on topic. Is there nothing we can do other than kill them?"
I groaned slightly as I wracked my brain. "Really, the only solution I can come up with is if you trap each Uchiha member in a genjutsu and kill them if you find that they are part of the coup d'etat, while leaving the others alive."
Itachi thought about this for a while. "The problem is that I'm not sure I can do that quickly enough – as in, I don't have enough chakra to continually use it."
"The chakra part is not a problem – I'm sure there's other ways around that," Shisui commented. "The problem lies in the fact that such repeated and intense use of your Mangekyo would cause you to go blind."
Itachi widened his eyes in shock, but I quickly butted in. "Actually, there's a way you can get past that, although I'm not sure you'd like it."
I then proceeded to explain how he could acquire the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan by taking the eyes of his father, who already had the Mangekyo Sharingan. He looked quite disturbed, despite understanding that it would be for the better.
After a while the two finally left to the council, with a slight idea of what to do with the Uchiha issue.
…
I virtually lost all contact with the two Uchiha after that meeting for almost half a year – in fact, even Izumi could barely make it to train with me anymore. I had no doubt that the Hokage had begun to take action against the Uchiha, probably using my idea as his basis. Surprisingly, virtually no unrest from the Uchiha could be detected – at least, not more that there already was – so I assumed that they were dealing with it smoothly.
It was around 6 months later that I finally met Shisui and Itachi again, and they immediately began filling me in on what had happened. Apparently, they had decided to interrogate each individual Uchiha starting with Fugaku, Itachi's father, using Itachi's Tsukuyomi. I was a little shocked when they told me that Fugaku willingly gave his eyes to Itachi and killed himself in exchange for Mikoto's and Sasuke's lives.
"It was… noble of him…" Itachi murmured. I shot a look at Shisui, who pulled me to the side later on while Izumi and Itachi were training.
"He… when his father died… he cried," Shisui admitted. "… And I've never seen him cry, so I'm not sure…"
"… That you did a good job in comforting him?" I finished, and he nodded a little guiltily. "Don't worry; I'll see what I can do."
He smiled at me gratefully before returning to the other two.
Later, as we began to leave, I called Itachi back and waited for the others to leave.
"So," I began, "did you get his eyes?"
He didn't respond, choosing to look me in the eye and activate his new eyes. Put simply, it was his old Mangekyo design overlapped onto Fugaku's Mangekyo design.
"… I heard he offered it to you."
He nodded again.
"And I heard that he willingly killed himself."
He nodded again, this time a little slower.
"Why?"
After a few seconds of silence, his shoulders sagged and he turned his face away. "He… he was opposed to the rebellion in the first place…" Itachi whispered.
"… Then… surely…?"
"No." He paused for a bit, and I think his breathing quickened a little. "He said… he said that he should be the one to shoulder the majority of the hatred… that it was his responsibility as the clan head to control the clan…"
"… And that he failed…" I finished.
Itachi nodded, jerking his head ever so slightly but quickly. "He said that… that Konoha had made the right choice in killing the rebels-"
"-But you don't agree." He remained silent, not denying my claim.
Ah, I see. That's where the problem lies.
"Itachi, let me ask you a question. Can you define to me what is right and wrong?"
He opened his mouth and began to answer, but quickly shook his head. "No. Right and wrong is a matter of perspective."
"Now tell me, Itachi, do you love your father?"
He nodded vigorously. "Of course."
"Do you wish the best for him?" He began to nod, but I asked him another question. "Or do you wish for him to choose the best for him?"
"… The second."
"And that shows that you truly love your father. Now, just as you love him, learn to accept him and his choices, no matter if you disagree. He is free to choose what to believe and how to act, and you are free to oppose him. However, if you truly love him, then accepting the differences is the only way."
Slowly, he slid down to the ground, leaning against a tree and looking towards Konoha with glistening eyes. Even though he didn't say anything else, I could sense what he was thinking.
'But… it's hard…'
I was hardly surprised to see Shisui walking towards us. I turned to Itachi and gestured towards Shisui's figure, which was outlined by the setting sun. "But you're not alone. You've got others who feel what you feel, and on top of that they care about you. Now go confide in him – after all, that's what friends are for."
He stood up and gave me a long look, finally choosing to shake my hand. "… Thank you, Naruto."
I turned the handshake into a hug. "Anytime."
The touching scene was ruined by Shisui calling out, "Hey Itachi, it's not polite to make a girl wait you know!"
As we walked back to Konoha, something ticked in the back of my head.
Wait… a girl!?
Itachi seemingly realized the same time I did and raised an eyebrow at Shisui. "So… finally admitting your true gender, huh?" I couldn't hold back a wry smile from appearing.
Shisui's eyes widened comically. "What!? No! Izumi's waiting for us, you creep!"
"… How am I the creep if you're the one who suggested it?"
"Don't be ridiculous!"
"Look at yourself first… oh wait, you must do a lot of that already."
"Itachi, you brat! Just wait until the next training session… because you're dead!"
Yeah, it seems like Izumi's cheerful personality is finally having an effect on these two…
Needless to say, I remained quite entertained as we returned home.
…
What with the Uchiha clan crisis being averted and no plausible dangers approaching, I finally felt that it was time to join the ninja academy.
The ninja academy offered three main courses: a six-year course to start at the age of six, a three-year course to start at the age of nine, and a year-long course to start at the age of eleven. The point of having different courses was to allow for special circumstances – for example, a clan heir would probably take the year-long course since they would be able to train better with their clans, and an average citizen child would take the three-year course to cover information that clans cover for their own children. The six-year course is either for orphans or for citizens who wish to take the ninja life seriously.
At any rate, I chose the three-year course to be able to get to know the various class members better.
So at the tender age of nine, after having a short discussion with the Hokage on why I should be a ninja, I joined the ninja academy.
As I walked to the academy on the first day, I realized that the hatred towards me had mellowed a little, probably because I had stayed out of sight for most of my life so they didn't have to worry much.
Soon, I reached the ninja academy and was directed to the correct room by a chunin who kept glancing at me out of the corner of his eyes, as if he was afraid that I would suddenly attack him.
Let's mess around with him a little…
Pretending to trip over, I stumbled into his back a little faster that I had planned, and he responded by whipping his head around while jumping away from me with a quiet scream.
"Ah, sorry! I just tripped over, sorry!"
Honestly, his panicked face as he had turned around was worth it.
Finally, we reached our classroom and he rapidly walked away, leaving me staring at the door to the large room
Well, I'm not late…
So I pushed the door open and walked inside.
"… Why are you wearing a face mask?"
The culprit was a young civilian boy.
"Because my eye was injured when I was a kid." Of course, the real reason I wore the face mask was to hide the Sharingan in my left eye.
He nodded and turned back to his friend.
… Well, that was an exciting start to the day!
Looking around, I spotted virtually no kids dressed like they came from ninja clans, and certainly no one I knew was there. Sighing, I made my way to a seat on the back row and slid into a chair.
A short while later Iruka finally entered the classroom and ordered everyone to calm down. As he called out the register, I let my mind wander for a while.
Surprisingly, only the Ino-Shika-Cho combo kids entered from the ninja population… all the rest, Sakura included, are civilians. So does that mean that I'm going to be pretty much bored to death in this class until the last year of the course?
The rest of the day was quite boring, and I rejoiced when it was time to leave. Rushing up to Shikamaru, I called out his name, causing him to turn around.
"I heard that you're amazing at Shogi. Can I play you?"
He raised his eyebrows, but I could detect a small smirk emerging. "Don't cry when you lose," he yawned, and we made our way to a table, where he brought a full shogi set out of his bag.
I know the basics of Shogi thanks to my father, so I'm hoping to last for a decent while…
It was over in a minute. A single minute.
"Well, you're pretty good for a kid, but you're nowhere near my level," Shikamaru said nonchalantly as he got up lazily. Glancing at me out of the corner of his eye, he added, "But don't worry – it won't take too much practice for you to actually be pretty good."
"Wait, if you don't mind… can you train me please?"
He looked at me, then looked at his seat, then sighed. "Aah, it's too much effort. Just get a professional trainer or something."
"But I want to learn from you!"
He looked at me weirdly. "… Why?"
"Because I'm sure that you're a better teacher than I'll ever get. So please, train me, even if it's just for half an hour."
My outburst caused him to blush slightly and look away, scratching his head. "Eeh… fine, whatever. But you owe me for this!"
I beamed at him. "Of course!"
The next day I cornered him in a similar fashion and dragged him off to play shogi. While he tutored me, we talked about a few stuff.
"So why do you want to be a ninja? I mean, surely you would do just as well being a teacher?"
He smirked a little proudly but shook his head. "I come from a ninja clan – I'm pretty much expected to become a ninja. Anything else would probably disappoint my father."
"Are you okay with that?"
"Well… I don't really mind, as long as I don't have to do too much work." After a little pause, he asked me, "What about you? Why do you want to be a ninja?"
I looked down. "Because… I'm weak. I'm weak, and strong people are after me. I need to protect myself. But in addition, I need to protect anyone who happens to get involved with me. To do all that, I need to get stronger, and the only way is by becoming a ninja."
When I was done, I found Shikamaru staring at me, mouth wide open. "What?" I asked.
"It's nothing," he said quickly, shaking his head slightly. "It's just… you don't act like a kid."
…
After I had dragged Shikamaru to play shogi multiple times, I soon began attracting the attention of Choji, who soon joined us simply to see what we were doing. Although he was content to simply sit on the side, eat chips and watch us play, occasionally he'd request a match and would be tutored by Shikamaru.
Then came Ino and Sakura. I guess I can understand why Ino came – Shikamaru and Choji were undoubtedly childhood friends – and I presume Sakura must have simply tagged along. Both proved to be quite good at shogi, with Sakura giving me quite a hard time, but again they were both content simply chatting nearby.
I guess I underestimated the popularity of the girls because soon, virtually all of our class was hanging out in the school yard for an hour after school, some playing shogi, some playing tag, and some simply gossiping.
What made it even funnier was that academy instructors encouraged this gathering, and soon began despatching genin to watch over us, despite it being after school time.
Another surprising thing was that I got barely any hate. It must have been due to the fact that I rarely walked around Konoha, meaning I was rarely on the citizens' minds (and therefore they didn't mention me much in front of their children), but rarely did children try to harass me, and even when they did it was limited to a few spoken words. In fact, some of the kids even defended me!
I guess that just shows that a child's mind is uncorrupted and unbiased, allowing the child to make judgements based on their own experiences.
The rest of the year passed by similarly, with me learning next to nothing from the academy. Still, the reason why I joined in the first place was because I wanted to endear myself to the ninja in my generation, so I wasn't really complaining.
Gradually, as the kids in my class began getting bored of simply playing shogi, the gatherings turned into chakra control and physical training sessions, run by me (naturally). Many kids didn't take these sessions incredibly seriously, but the Ino-Shika-Cho trio and Sakura did, which was a pleasing sight.
…
"Hey Sakura," I called out one day as everyone was returning home, and she turned to me.
"Yes Naruto?" she asked. I proceeded to hand over a scroll, which she took with a confused look.
"… Introduction to Medical Ninjutsu?" she read out. "What's this?"
"Read it in your spare time. I'm sure that, with a bit of effort, you will excel at medical ninjutsu."
She gave me a long, hard look. "Are you serious? Do you really think I can excel in medical ninjutsu?" Her voice was slightly desperate.
"I know."
She gasped quietly and stared at the book in her hands. "Naruto… thank you!"
I could understand her excitement. Being close friends with several clan members – like Ino – who would undoubtedly go on to become great ninja backed by their clans, Sakura must have wondered several times if she would ever amount to anything.
I smirked. "Show me your thanks by becoming an amazing medic."
"Yes!" she cried out, waving as she walked off.
…
The second year was no different to the first year, so when the first day of the third year arrived I finally felt a little excited. Arriving at the academy quite early, I found Hinata, Sasuke and Shino already waiting inside the classroom. First, I went up to Sasuke.
"Sasuke, right?" I said, and he nodded as he turned to me. "I'm Naruto. Nice to meet you."
When I said my name he gasped. "Are you the one that's been training with my brother?"
"Yes, why?"
He gave me an envious but awe-struck look. "Itachi-nii said that you're strong, stronger than me."
I smirked. "Even so, nothing is stopping you from overtaking me, right? All you have to do is train really hard."
He kind of got a glint in his eye, so I left him to his training fantasies and approached Shino. "Hey, I'm Naruto. Can I know your name?"
"Shino."
"Nice to meet you, Shino." He nodded as a reply, and as I was walking away I spotted one of his kikaichu bugs crawling up the side of his face. Barely able to supress a shiver, I quickly made my way to Hinata.
When I neared her she looked up rapidly, and instantly I could tell that she was every bit as timid as she was in the anime.
"Hey, I'm Naruto. What's your name?"
"Umm… it's… Hinata…" she mumbled, casting her eyes down immediately.
I frowned. "Speak up! And look at me when you talk to me!" I ordered.
She gasped and her head shot up in surprise, and she began blushing as she realized why I had said that.
"You understand, don't you? Now listen carefully, Hinata. Sparring is important. Pain builds character. Hurting someone during training is good. It shows that you want them to develop their defence and strength. It shows that you are taking your training, and therefore your ninja life, entirely seriously, resulting in others taking you seriously."
She stared at me, mouth agape and shock etched into her face.
"When you walk, carry yourself with dignity – after all, you are training to become a ninja, the most dangerous and honourable job there is. Move with purpose. Talk with confidence."
I waited for her to take in all that I had said. "Do you understand?"
"Y-yes, Naruto-kun," she said meekly.
"My name is Naruto, not Naruto-kun. Also, it's nice to meet you, Hinata."
I left the stunned Hinata and returned to my seat. As the various students filtered in, I took it upon myself to greet the pupils from clans. I didn't do this in order to be friendly – no, I did this because I hoped to endear myself to them, and hoped that in the future they would prove to be powerful allies.
At any rate, the rest of the school year was a little better than my previous two years thanks to the new arrivals. Kiba never failed to provide amusement in the form of pranks, and Sasuke would take it upon himself to challenge me to try and prove to himself that Itachi was wrong about me being stronger than him. Although it wasn't too hard to beat him, I did relish the excitement of a fight.
…
"Naruto, I challenge you to a fight! Do you dare accept?" Sasuke's arrogant tone of voice, coupled with his confident stance, made me want to burst out laughing, but I restrained my amusement and nodded.
"Just out of interest, why do you want to battle?"
He grimaced slightly. "I want to see if you're really as strong as Itachi-nii says." I sighed.
I get the feeling that this is going to be a recurring incident…
"Then come!"
He immediately obliged, rushing to me eagerly with a kunai in his hand. When he reached me he stabbed several times with his kunai, but I easily dodged his attacks and stepped inside his guard, striking his stomach with an open palm slightly enhanced with chakra. He was blasted back, but while in the air he managed to throw several kunai at me. I deflected them all and paused, waiting for him to regain his balance.
"That was pretty good, but you're too slow to take me on in pure taijutsu. Mix up your game."
He gritted his teeth and went through several hand seals. "Fire Release: Great Fireball jutsu!" As the large fireball made its way to me I rapidly leaped out of the way, but I soon came face to face with Sasuke, who threw two kunai at me. As I stepped in between them he crossed his hands over, revealing the strings the kunai were attached to and forcing the strings around my body.
"Fire Release: Dragon Fire jutsu!" He breathed some fire at the wires, which promptly combusted and the flames swiftly travelled down the wires towards me.
Oh? So he's not actually that bad…
Using a drop of Kurama's chakra, I sent out a blast of chakra to get rid of the wires before charging to Sasuke.
Now it's my turn to attack!
By the time I had reached him he was able to put up his guard, but I ducked rapidly and swept his legs from under him, making him drop. As he fell he attempted to flip back up but I placed my hand on his face and forced him to the ground. Before he could get up I brought a kunai to his neck and smiled grimly.
"Do you see now? I've been training far longer than you, so my base physical abilities are far better than yours."
He gritted his teeth angrily. "If that's the case, then how will I ever catch up to you in terms of time spent training!?"
"You can't, so don't try."
He growled. "But I must! I can't remain weaker than you!"
I sighed. "… If you're really that intent on beating me, then I recommend you look for a jonin called Might Guy. He might be able to help you."
"Might Guy…"
…
Sasuke ended up challenging me around once every month. Although I did beat him every single time, I noticed that his taijutsu had improved at a rapid pace, which was the effect of training with Guy and Rock Lee.
Nevertheless, he wasn't the only one to improve his taijutsu drastically.
It was on a day when I was training by myself that I finally discovered the key to unlocking the 8 celestial gates. As I sparred with several clones I let my mind wander, thinking about the various tenketsu points and how to force them open.
I already knew that simply forcing a large amount of chakra through my body was not enough, since the chakra flow was subconsciously limited, not enabling me to utilize enough chakra. I tried using Kurama's chakra to overcome this problem, but even then I couldn't maintain a large enough flow of chakra through my body.
All I know is that I need to undergo severe training to unlock the gates - I guess that means that the body itself provides enough chakra to unlock the gates when the time is right… but then why isn't it possible to unlock the gates manually? Is it because my body simply isn't durable enough, so the chakra flow is automatically limited?
Or maybe the mind feels threatened when undergoing severe training so it forces more chakra through the body to cope with the additional stress from the training? If that's the case, then I could probably unlock the gates by putting myself in a dangerous situation where my mind acknowledges that the physical stress is too great for me to handle…
All of that was well and good, but when I actually tried putting myself in a dangerous situation either I found that it wasn't dangerous enough or I didn't have the guts to do it.
Eventually, I decided to head to the rocky cliffs near the Hokage monuments, using chakra to walk up to a reasonably high distance.
I can't believe I'm doing this… just because this worked for Naruto when he summoned Gamabunta, doesn't mean it will work for me! … Wait a second; I am Naruto, so maybe…
Nonetheless, I was shivering from fear when I finally forced myself to jump off the wall. Restraining the urge to scream as I dropped to the ground, I quickly brought out a kunai and threw it at the cliff below me, causing it to lodge into the rock.
Now comes the hard part!
Honestly, my heart was about to burst from the rate at which it was beating, and several times I caught myself about to panic, so you can guess just how terrified I was when I reached out for the kunai. As I passed by it in my free fall I grabbed the kunai, but it was nowhere near enough to halt my drop so I began tearing through the cliff in an attempt to stop myself.
I've overdone it now! Shit!
I guess me swearing in my mind was proof of how terrified I really was, so when the word ran through my mind I felt a rushing sensation pass through my whole body.
Whoa… this…
All of a sudden I gained a sense of clarity and strengthened my grip on the kunai, forcing it deeper into the rock. With the clarity came a sense of empowerment, as if I had been holding back my strength the entire time, and I used this newfound strength to quickly halt my drop before running along the wall to the ground.
I feel… so strong! So this is the first of the 8 gates, the Gate of Opening!
I could also sense that I could open and close this gate consciously so I immediately imagined the gate closing, causing it to limit the flow of chakra once again. As it closed the vigour that had just been coursing through my body vanished, being replaced by fatigue that caused me to stumble back home.
I'll leave that… for emergencies…
…
The last fight I had with Sasuke before graduation from the academy was quite interesting. As the fight was reaching its climax he suddenly paused and blinked. When he opened them again they were red with the familiar tomoe pattern.
I gasped. "… How do you already have a Sharingan with two tomoe!?"
He smirked. "With this, the result of this match will be different!"
I scoffed. "Don't get that excited. Sure, you may be able to see my movements, but what use is that if your body can't keep up with me?"
Yet somehow, when I threw a punch at his face he was able to cleanly dodge the blow and slap my arm away, making me lose my balance for a moment. Although he wasn't able to land a hit on me, I was surprised to find that he would occasionally display enough speed to avoid some of my attacks.
…
… Finally, it's graduation day!
I was particularly restless as I entered the class room because I was ready to bid the academy goodbye – I mean, it had barely taught me anything I didn't know already. I wasn't the only one who couldn't wait however – most of the students were anxious to pass, and even Shino's kikaichu betrayed his eagerness by buzzing slightly louder than usual.
"Next – Naruto Uzumaki!" As my name was called out I made my way to the class room in which I would be examined. Inside I found Iruka and Mizuki waiting for me – Iruka with his expectant look and Mizuki with his slight smirk.
"Naruto, the test is to make as many clones as you can. Got it?" Iruka explained.
"Wait, can I ask a question?" He nodded, so I continued. "The test is to simply make as many clones as possible, so I could use a jutsu other than Bunshin, right?"
He scratched his head. "Well… if you know alternative jutsu, then feel free to display them…"
I guess he must have seen me smirk, because Iruka leaned forwards with an intent look.
"Shadow Clone jutsu!"
It was too easy. I ended up passing with the highest marks, not just in ninjutsu, but overall as well – although I couldn't beat Sakura in the written test. I was surprised when I was still put in a team with Sasuke and Sakura, however.
That just proves that the teams aren't based on test marks.
After finishing the tests for the day I left the academy and settled down on a bench near the Hokage's tower.
Hopefully, Mizuki is going to steal the forbidden scroll tonight…
So I waited… for a long time. Soon I just couldn't take it, so I left behind a clone and returned home.
The next day I was informed by my clone's memories that nothing had happened, and it was proved once again that this world was different from the anime.
Well, I guess it would be unrealistic for a chunin to steal a forbidden scroll…
I arrived at the academy quite quickly and settled down, waiting for Kakashi to meet the newly formed team 7. As I watched jonin arriving to lead away their own teams, I prepared to go to sleep – after all, I knew that Kakashi would take a long time to arrive. Just before I could rest, Sasuke approached me and tapped my back.
"… Why are you going to sleep now?" he asked.
"I'm pretty sure that our sensei will be arriving… late…" I slowly stopped speaking when I saw Kakashi walking into the class room, which wasn't even empty yet.
"Team 7?" he called out, and Sasuke, Sakura and I made our way to him.
… He's not even late! What is this blasphemy!
Also, as I walked up to him, I realized that something was off from his body language – firstly, he didn't have any dirty magazines with him, and secondly, he seemed to be taking this seriously, based on what I could tell from his upright stance.
"Meet me in training ground 7 in five minutes." With that he took off, leaving the three of us slightly stunned, although for different reasons.
And as the three of us hurried to the location, one thought was running through my mind.
… What happened to him to make his voice sound so bitter?
