Nami: Yo! As promised, a new chapter. Sorry for the wait! Also, thanks to all my reviewers!
Cookies go to: shyguy1818, Shadow Silverpen, NarutoLuver896, charles cdv, , Bob, ougley, Decimus1, sortofbored, axolots, ivyknightfire, RockgirlLuvsFanfic and anyone else who reviewed but didn't leave a name.
Patrick: Can I have a cookie too?
Nami: No. Hurry up.
Patrick: *sigh* Nami does not own Naruto in any way, which is good, because it would never release new chapters.
Nami: Oi! Anyway, hope you enjoy it readers!
The young ninja had gathered into their groups and were introducing themselves to their new teammates. Team 7 had manoeuvred into a corner at the back of the room. Naruto nodded to Kiba and Sakura, smiling nervously. Kiba struck up a conversation.
"Hey, how did you get so good? That was amazing man!" Naruto scratched the back of his head.
"I was trained since I was little, so I've had loads of time. If you trained as much as I did, you'd be better than you are as well."
Kiba was about to shout indignantly at the boy, then noticed his nervous demeanour, and how there had been no malice in his words. He had simply said what he thought was true.
The Inuzuka frowned. "Hey, you don't get out much, do you?"
Naruto shook his head. "We were always travelling, so I never got a chance to make friends. Even if I did, it wasn't for long."
Sakura, who had been listening in, smiled. "Well, you can make new friends now. Right?" Naruto nodded.
Sakura smiled again, then went back to watching Sasuke.
Naruto nudged Kiba. "Hey, what's with that Sasuke guy anyway?" Kiba snorted.
"Sasuke Uchiha? He was the prodigy of the academy, at least until you came along. The whole village thinks he's some sort of hero because he survived the Uchiha Massacre when Itachi – that's Sasuke's older brother – went nuts and killed the whole clan except Sasuke. And now Sasuke is a stuck up prick who has crowds of fangirls following him everywhere he goes. Although..." Kiba trailed off as he noticed several pairs of eyes focused on their corner.
"I don't think Sasuke will have such a big problem with you here."
Naruto looked confused."What do you mean?"
Kiba chuckled and patted his arm. "You'll find out."
The graduates all looked up as they heard the door open. In the frame stood a kunoichi with long black hair and red eyes. She was wearing a white wrap dress with a red sleeve and a fishnet top. She also had bandages on her wrists and hands and was wearing standard shinobi sandals. Her hitai-ate was resting on her forehead.
Next to her was a slightly taller man, with a standard green vest and black underclothes. He also had his hitai-ate on his forehead, the black material it was attached to blending with his black hair and beard. He had a cigarette between his lips and had a grin on his face.
The woman spoke first. "Team 7, you're with me."
Then the man. "Team 10, you're stuck with me. Oh, and Team 8? You might want to come back in an hour. Kakashi has a habit of being a couple of hours late to everything."
The two other teams stood up and followed their jounin instructors, while Team 8 resigned themselves to their fate.
Team 7 followed Kurenai to one of the many training grounds scattered about the village. She made them sit down.
"Now, lets do some introductions. Say your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies and hopes for the future. I'll start. My name is Kurenai Yūhi, I like training and spending time with my friends. I dislike people who think that women shouldn't be ninja. My hobbies include training and pottery. My hope for the future is that I will be able to turn all of you into great ninja! Okay, you're next."
She finished her introduction, pointing to Kiba. "My name's Kiba Inuzuka, and this is Akamaru. I like spending time with Akamaru. I hate cats and baths. My hobbies are looking after Akamaru and helping at the kennels, and my hope for the future is that me and Akamaru can show everyone how great a team we are!" The little white dog hiding inside his jacket barked in agreement.
Kurenai nodded and pointed to Sakura. The pink-haired girl was distracted and didn't notice until Naruto poked her. "Huh? Oh! Ano, my name is Sakura Haruno. I like..." Sakura was about to go into fangirl mode when she saw Naruto looking intently at her. She blushed slightly and changed her mind. "I like flowers, I dislike people who are mean or bullies. My hobbies are... ano... painting, and... shopping. My dream for the future is to become a medic-nin, even better than Tsunade-sama."
Kurenai smiled as she realised what had made Sakura change what she was going to say. The blonde in question was fidgeting in his seat nervously. Kurenai moved her finger to point at him. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. ...I like spending time with oji-san and Genma-nii. I dislike people who hurt others for no reason. My hobbies include training and eating ramen. My hope for the future... I... I want to be the best Hokage ever." Kurenai tilted her head as she inspected the nervous blonde. The she smiled widely.
"Well, you all sound like you're going to be a wonderful team. Now, I want you to meet me here tomorrow at 8. You'll be doing a test to see if you can become genin."
"WHAT?!" Kiba shouted. "I thought we just did the test!"
Kurenai sighed. "Calm down Kiba. That was a test to see if you had the skills. This test will see if you can put them into a real life situation. Now go on. You're dismissed."
Sakura turned to Naruto, wanting to speak with him before he left, only to find that he was already gone. She pouted and stamped her foot. "Damn! Now I have to find him."
She ran off, leaving Kiba alone with Kurenai. The kunoichi quickly shunshined away. Kiba sat down on the floor and held his head in his hands. "Why does everyone around me travel so fast?" he mumbled.
The next morning, Team 8 met again. Naruto had arrived at nearly quarter to eight, Sakura and Kiba following soon after. They sat on the floor by a stump, and Sakura was able to ask Naruto what she wanted to yesterday. She had searched for nearly an hour after he left, but hadn't even found a single trace of the boy.
"Naruto, who were you travelling with before you got to the village? Weren't your parents there?"
Naruto shook his head sadly. "No. My parents died just after I was born. Genma-nii and Jiraiya-oji said that they were very nice people though."
Sakura's ears had pricked halfway through the sentence. "Jiraiya-oji? Do you mean Jiraiya the Sannin?"
"Ano... Yes? Is that wrong?"
"Well... it's not wrong as such. It's just... surprising."
Kiba prodded Naruto irritably. "Oi, who is this Jiraiya guy? Why are you talking about him like that?"
Sakura sighed. "Kiba, you really should pay attention in lessons. Jiraiya-sama is one of the Densetsu no Sannin. They're the three greatest ninja of their generation, and they can all summon different animals. However, they all left the village at some point."
Kiba nodded, his mouth hanging open. "Oh. That guy trained Naruto? No wonder you're strong."
Naruto shrugged. "It was more Genma-nii that trained me. Oji-san had to do a lot of work for the village, so he wasn't always around."
Kiba was about to say something else, but he was stopped by the arrival of Kurenai. She looked a little tired; she walked a little slower than usual and she seemed to be breathing a little heavily.
She stumbled over to them. Sakura was about to put a hand out and support her sensei, but she waved her off.
"Now, your test. You have three hours to find the shuriken I've hidden over the field. They all have a strip of bright pink paint on them, so you'll know if it's the right one. Anyone who doesn't find a shuriken by the end of the time will be sent back to the academy. You're also allowed to steal the shuriken off each other. Your time starts... now."
Kiba and Sakura sped off, but Naruto slowly walked away, inspecting his sensei. She looked... different somehow. And it wasn't the tiredness. Naruto shook his head and made his way into the trees.
Kiba was searching through the bushes, with Akamaru sniffing the ground by his side. It had been nearly an hour, and he hadn't found anything. "Come on!" he said. "I'm supposed to be the best tracker around! I'm an Inuzuka!"
He turned around to pick up Akamaru, when he noticed the dog was gone. "Akamaru? Where are you boy?" His voice echoed around the clearing. His sensitive ears picked up a whine and dashed towards it.
He ran for nearly two minutes until he found Akamaru. The tiny dog was lying in a puddle of blood, the gash on his side evident. Kiba fell to his knees beside his partner and placed his shaking hands on the wound, applying pressure in an attempt to stop the blood flow. Tears began to run down his face and he began to shake all over.
"N-no... Akamaru... Y-y-you can't die. You're my partner. We were supposed to show everyone how great we are!"
The little dog turned his head and gently licked Kiba's hand, before he heaved a final breath and his head fell to the floor.
A scream rang out in the trees, filled with so much sorrow that it caused Naruto and Sakura to pause in their search and glance around to see what had caused the noise. They both began to head towards the source.
In another area of the training ground, a sadistic smile spread across a face, and two words spilled out of a mouth. "It begins..."
Nami: MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Patrick: Uuhh...
Nami: FEEL MY POWER! Ah, I love cliffhangers. I was going to make this longer, but I decided against it. I wanted a cliffhanger.
Patrick: This means you have to update sort of soon now. You know that?
Nami: Yeah, I'll do it for Thursday probably. Okay? Now review, or you don't get any cookies. PLEASE! REVIEWS HELP ME THINK! n_n Have a nice day.