Stretching Naruto yawned. Yesterday after the whole Mizuki fiasco he had gone to the Hokage Tower to be de-briefed (Strange because he wasn't even a shinobi yet but still…) it was pretty awesome that the whole thing had been classified as a B-rank mission, even before he had become a ninja.
The Hokage had given him his pay after he recounted everything that had happened and they had talked about the Kyūbi thing. Naruto noted that the old man had been slightly nervous about the whole thing but he didn't say anything. He also didn't blow a gasket, he was too tired for that and it wouldn't have done anything besides make him look like a brat. He was most definitely not a brat.
Anyways, after the Hokage told him the official story – The Yondaime had no choice but to seal the Kyūbi in him to stop the Bijū's rampage and he had been the baby he chose. He didn't know why but it felt as if things weren't that simple but he let it slide. It didn't matter now, he couldn't change those facts.
Anko had pulled him so that he was inches away from her before clearly saying it, "You are not a monster, got it?" He could only nod at that. She was right but a wise remark might have gotten him stabbed so he shut his mouth. And then when they were walking from the tower she had put a hand on his hair before grinning and saying, "Great job, Naruto!" He wouldn't let anyone else know but those words had made him ridiculously happy, to the point where he could've fought Mizuki all over again and still kicked his ass.
However right now he wasn't going to be kicking any ass, not yet. Grinning he went to the bathroom before doing his morning rituals. After coming out he was dressed almost identically to yesterday, except for the fact that his shirt was now black and short-sleeved. Under it he had fishnet covering his arms (as well as his whole torso) which ended a few inches away from his wrist. On his hands he had black gloves which came up to where the fishnet ended, fully covering him. He still wore black ninja sandals, but now had fishnet tying his blue/black shinobi trousers.
However the biggest and most noticeable change was that he had a dark orange sash around his waist, which went down to his sandals. (Can't be Naruto without orange…)
Yawning again Naruto went to his kitchen, absentmindedly watered his plants, made some ramen and then made his way up to the roof of his apartment. Sitting down he swung his legs from side to side casually, while eating his ramen. Dango was good (especially Anko Dango) but… ramen was just awesome.
He slurped on it as his eyes wandered to the Hokage monument, tracing each face before stopping at the last one. The Yondaime huh… Well he couldn't say that he hated the guy, because he didn't know him and wouldn't that be hypocritical? Instead he didn't know how to feel. So he ignored it. There were more urgent things to consider than whether when he went to the next life and found the Yondaime he would punch him in the face or punch him in the face before shaking his hand out of respect. The guy had sacrificed everything to keep the village safe, even himself.
'Again… I get the feeling that I'm missing something…' Oh well…. Today was graduation day. Finally. Don't get him wrong, he liked his class and Iruka-sensei but still… he was finally about to be free from that boring academy. He would probably miss it though. 'Well… I can always visit anytime I like when I'm having a peaceful stroll through the village, Hokage hat in hand.' He chuckled to himself before throwing his cup ramen in a trash can on the street below.
Stretching one more time Naruto got up and then kicked off, vaulting over a wash-line (How could people do that? A wash-line? In a shinobi village? What if some shinobi on his merry way didn't see it?) He kicked off from a tree branch. That was one thing he absolutely loved about Konoha. There were trees everywhere, even in the middle of the village there were still massive trees planted right there. It made it easier for navigation and it was just nice to look at. He jumped onto a roof and then onto a water tank before nose diving at the ground, however he righted himself in mid-air and landed smoothly on ground.
Stretching once again he made his way to the entrance to the academy, for the last time, and entered the building. He whistled casually with a pleasant look on his face and absentmindedly sidestepped the hurrying Chūnin that would have ran right into him. She was carrying all those books so it wasn't a surprise.
He would have chuckled or something but she was plenty cute so he only gave her a glance back before stopping in front of his door. Smoothing out any crinkles he opened it and then began making his way to his seat, casually brushing a blonde lock out of his eye, he sat down and put his feet up. He was the first one but then again he always was. He hated being late, it made you look like a sloth and an idiot, which he was far from, so he was almost always early or right on time.
Then he took the book from yesterday and flipped through a few pages before stopping on a certain page. This had nothing to do with seals; rather it just had some clan history, his clan history. The Uzumaki's were a clan and the Hakke Fūin that he had been studying was based on a sealing ritual from there.
It was only natural. He was an orphan so even if it was just a book he wanted to have something from his clan. The Hokage had asked where he got the book from when he had pulled it out to show him the Hakke Fūin and Naruto had responded that he really didn't know. On his birthday 4 years ago the book was just on his table. He first thought it was a present from Anko but she said that she hadn't given him that.
The Hokage had gotten a befuddled look before he chuckled to himself as he seemingly discovered something Naruto hadn't but he let it drop. Strangely enough the Hokage hadn't questioned him about the Jutsus but he didn't miss the glance he shared with Anko.
He pulled his legs back and put the book down on the table. Then he rested his head on his right fist and hummed in thought. He was a bit surprised at himself that he hadn't gone into shock or something but he guessed that he just didn't know how to respond to this situation. Looks like he was gonna have to find Anko later. But for now he gave a glance as he saw the door open and some students fill in.
From the window on his left Sasuke came in and smoothly slid into his seat. He had to give credit to him; the guy was pretty smooth, even if he didn't like him that much. He was always cold and stoic, didn't utter a word to almost anyone, and he didn't miss the almost glare sent at him. Looks like he had seen the ranking sheet too huh…? He put his book away and put his legs up again, giving a lazy smile to a few kunoichi to-be, which made them look away and put their heads down, no doubt in order to hide the blushes.
He wasn't a bragging kind of person. At least he bragged differently than most people. Instead of bragging verbally he did it with actions. There was nothing like showing people up and then acting casually about it, it only pissed them off even more.
Anyways the point was that he wouldn't say anything about his good looks (If Anko was here she would've fallen over laughing) to anyone or brag, instead he only showed it with his actions. A smile here and there, a comment here and there and he would prove to anyone that he did have good looks and that the female part of the class seemed to think so too. Well in his book there was absolutely nothing wrong with that.
He then sent an annoyed look at an unruly blond lock and pushed it out of the way. His hair was spiky and everywhere but he constantly told Anko that he had it under control. It went down and covered his forehead and there were two long bangs going down the side of his face.
She said it made him look girlish but he said he looked pretty cool. Then they heard a massive rumble from down the hall and everyone took their seats, well away from Sasuke, and tried to look as casual as possible. Snorting Naruto leaned forwards and watched the door interestingly. He could save Sasuke from his fate but it was just amusing to watch, then the door was burst open with two kunoichi shouting, "First!" at the same time.
He blinked and then sent the Uchiha an almost apologetic look. Poor guy.
"What do you mean first, forehead?!" Ino, a pretty blonde with long hair and one bang that almost covered one eye as well as a purple outfit, the top ended at her midriff but it was covered in bandages, she had white arm-warmers and some bandages covering her thighs, sneered at the other kunoichi, Sakura a pink haired girl with a red/pinkish dress and biker shorts.
"What do you mean first, Ino-pig?" Sakura snarled back, this happened daily and to be honest he could've probably prevented it by just sitting next to Sasuke. The reason was that it would initially stump both kunoichi that the 'rivals' were sitting next to each other and in which case Iruka-sensei would come in the classroom and tell them to just sit down.
However if Iruka didn't come and they tried to move him…
Naruto didn't consider himself scary by any stretch of the imagination but once Anko had told him that he could be particularly scary when he wanted to. Naruto had observed that this only happened when he was in a bad mood, which was almost never because he was just a really laid back person who was nice and just cheerful.
He was only ever in a bad mood when either: Ichiraku Ramen was closed, Anko was out on a mission and he actually either really wanted to talk/hang out/or ask her something and finally but not least when something utterly ridiculous had happened to him. To his distaste it was almost always the latter.
His luck was just ridiculously bad. Once he had been walking in front of the Inuzuka clan house and somehow the entire fucking kennel had gotten free and then proceeded to chase him (Why just him? There were loads of other people on the street) throughout the village. And then, finally, Kiba's sister had managed to stop them before they ate him.
By the way his sister was kinda hot, not that he would ever say that to him, but just for the record.
She had apologized but Kiba was about to make a wise ass remark and it was then that it had happened, he had given Kiba a look. It was just a look but it had made Akamaru whimper and Kiba slowly back away into the Inuzuka estate before dragging his sister inside and slamming the gates. From then on whenever he was in a bad mood, probably because something ridiculous had just happened to him, he would just give people a look that just said 'Don't. Fuck. With. Me.' The usual reaction was backing away slowly before making a run for it. Except for Sasuke. The first time he had given him that look he had been caught off guard and slightly surprised but he had just stared back. He had to give him credit; he had balls.
But anyways, in the case that Iruka-sensei wouldn't make it in time and that they would tell him to move he would give them the look. And just as expected they would nervously back away before sitting themselves far away from him. He felt slightly guilty for doing it but they could be such fan girls. It was a bit annoying but it could've been worse. They could be completely unskilled fan girls. He wouldn't have felt the slight bit guilty if they were.
Anyways the squabble had finally ended with Sakura sitting next to Sasuke, chatting animatedly at him because Sasuke wasn't even looking at her and Ino sitting dejectedly on another row, sending jealous looks at Sakura.
Sighing to himself he glanced at Sasuke and smirked at his facial expression. To most it would seem like he was utterly ignoring Sakura and pretending that she wasn't even there, but to Naruto who knew Sasuke a little better than most, the subtle twitch of his fingers and the glare sent at him told him all he needed to know.
'I hate you Naruto…' He snorted at the message and ignored him. Not his fault that he couldn't keep his fan girls away. Naruto did it smartly, by giving them a little bit of attention here and there, which would make them not be so clingy all the time like Ino and Sakura.
Anyways the door opened and Iruka-sensei finally came in. He was a bit surprised that he had a slight limp and he could see some bandages peeking out from under his shirt but at Iruka's look he let it go, he would probably tell him later.
"We will be doing the tests now in order to decide which of you will graduate and which will not. So without further adue let's get started…" Naruto stretched one last time before putting his game face on. It was finally time.
Several Hours Later…
Naruto couldn't help but grin as he walked out of the academy building, head band in hand. He was about to find Anko when some voices stopped him, they were whispers but he could still hear them.
"Hey, isn't that…?"
"Yeah, I heard he graduated. Did you also hear about the incident yesterday?"
"The one with the Chūnin?"
"Yeah, loads of shinobi were in a panic, something about an important Scroll. I saw him getting escorted to the Hokage Tower by some ANBU…" Oh great, they were probably gonna think that he had stolen the scroll, but then to his surprise a third voice cut in.
"Yeah! Apparently he managed to stop a traitor or something from leaving the village with an important scroll." The new arrival concluded for the two women. The original two gave each other surprised glances before looking at him and to his own surprise their looks were a bit guilty.
"Really…? I thought that perhaps he had stolen it… Looks like I was wrong…" The first woman admitted and the second one nodded her head guiltily. Then they looked at him with an undecipherable look before a sliver of something went through their eyes.
"My bad… I guess he deserves some credit huh…" The second woman concluded and the third nodded in agreement. The first turned her head away guiltily before walking off. Sighing the second sent an apologetic look at the third one before she walked off after her friend. Naruto stood there for a few seconds frozen. What was that look? Then he shook it off and walked off to find Anko.
But because he did he didn't see the grin that the third woman sent at him and how she disappeared with a puff of smoke.
Konoha Streets.
Naruto almost skipped. Almost. That would have made him look like such an idiot so he didn't do it. He did, however, grin until his mouth was stretched as far as it could go. Finally, it was about to begin. From now on he was gonna endure much bigger hardships and face even bigger challenges but he had finally began making his way towards his dream.
'Tomorrow is team assignment… I wonder who I'll get put with…?' Naruto casually jumped over a merchant stall which was being moved across the street, swiped a fruit and flicked a coin to the stall owner, before biting into his apple. Tomorrow was going to be good. He hoped that he got put with a certain cute blonde. Hey, he was not a fan boy, no matter how much Anko said that he had all the signs. There was nothing wrong with having a slight crush on a cute blonde his age right?
He was not a fan boy. Period.
That would be pretty awesome if he got put in the same team as her. She was the perfect support ranged kunoichi because of her Yamanaka mind techniques and he was the perfect muscle. Fast, hard-hitting and devastating. He would be up in people's faces, kicking their faces in and she would provide support. Unknowingly he never even thought of his third team-mate or sensei.
Yep, definitely not a fan boy.
Anyways he was making his way along the streets when a voice stopped him cold.
"Hey, Naruto! Wait up!" Oh God. It was her. She was behind him, telling him to wait up. 'Calm the fuck down!' There was no need to panic honestly; if it was Sakura then he should be hypervenlating. Sakura was… complicated. To be honest he had nothing against her. Sure, she could be better at everything if she could think about anything else than Sasuke. But she didn't and because of that he immediately felt a little bit of dislike. He just hated it when people wasted their potential; he knew it was none of his business but still…
There was also the fact that Ino was much easier to deal with than Sakura. Sakura almost always seemed to be in a bad mood, at least when he talked to her, and she did not know how to take a joke. Bad idea, really bad idea. Ino on the other hand was much easier to talk to and get along with. Most of her bravado was really just her acting to amuse herself and other people (including Sakura) so it was easy to joke around with her.
'All right! That's my course of action. I'll play along with her and not mention anything that could be remotely related with Sasuke. If I do that then I should be fine.'
Turning around Naruto took another bite out of the apple, in order to hide his smile. She really was pretty. There was just something there. Maybe it was her odd (not strange) blue, slightly green, coloured eyes? They were lovely in his opinion. Maybe it really was just a blonde thing? He just instinctively liked her.
However the most likely reason was that she was strong. It wasn't physical strength per-se, it was just this strength. She was confident, sure of herself; a bit strong headed but there wasn't anything wrong with that. She wouldn't take shit from anyone and if you pissed her off she'd beat the crap out of you.
You could argue that Sakura was like that too but he didn't see it. Yeah, totally not a fan boy.
Chewing on his apple he wondered what she could want. They weren't very close (to his dismay) but he reasoned that it was only because in these last few years he had really focused himself on his studies and training.
The Hokage was the strongest person in the village in every sense of the word so it would be shameful to the other Hokage's and to the title itself if he screwed around, didn't give his all but still spouted big talk about being Hokage. So he didn't. He focused heavily on being the best in the academy; after all first impressions were a big deal. How was he supposed to get people to like him and respect him if he messed about and was a pain? Of course they wouldn't like him if he was like that. As a side effect of this the only person he hanged out much with was Anko when she wasn't in missions. He didn't mind though, she was really fun to be around and amusing.
Ino huffed as she caught up to him. She must have been on the other end of the street, no wonder she took so long to get there. Smiling at him she started the conversation, "You sure were in a hurry to get out of the academy, weren't you?" He chuckled at that and turned around to continue his walk, Ino now walking alongside him. He noted that her Hitai-ate was around her waist and that it was purple, blending in with her skirt-like bottom. Nodding at that he looked at his own dark orange sash. 'Maybe I should do something like that…?' it sure looked nice, then again Ino always looked nice.
"Yeah… sorry about that. I just wanted to find Anko as soon as possible and show her this," he lifted his forehead protector," bet she'll be proud." Ino raised an eyebrow at that. Anko? Who was that? Seeing the possibility of gossip she prodded him.
"Anko…?" Flushing Naruto realized that she most likely had never heard of Anko before, turning around to explain he found himself a bit stumped. What was Anko to him? Sure she was one of the closest people to him but… he couldn't really call her a sister could he? She sure acted like that but he didn't know if she'd mind.
Shrugging Naruto went with it, "Anko's like a sister I guess. She's really helped me over the years and she's constantly there for me." Now thinking about it, what if she had assumed that Anko was like a girlfriend or something? He liked Ino but she could gossip without end if you prompted her and gave her reason to.
"Sister huh…" The way she had said that sounded a bit strange and he looked over but she only had a thoughtful frown on her face.
Ino didn't know why she felt slightly relieved but she ignored it.
Thinking quickly Naruto tried to change the subject, his eyes darted over before coming to stop on her forehead protector. Then he grinned. Ino was so amusing when you got her going about something, as long as that something wasn't Sasuke.
"Oho! Hitai-ate huh…? Aren't you special?" He gave her a mock sneer and she sent him a surprised look before seeing it and then she was off.
"Of course, after all I am the most talented kunoichi in the class." She put her nose up at him and he almost snickered.
"Are you now? Hmm… I though Sakura was pretty good…" He casually said and then took another bite off the apple to hide his smile. Oh this was gonna be good.
"Sakura?" Ino almost snorted, "As if that forehead could beat me. I'm way better than her, aren't I?" She sent the puppy eyes and he almost melted. That was just overkill. But then he composed himself. Then he suddenly grinned as he thought of something.
"Hey, how about I introduce you to Anko? She's crazy strong, a Jōnin. She could even give you a few tips…" He trailed off and shot her a sideways look.
"A Jōnin?" She sent him a curious look. Naruto had a Jōnin for a sister figure? And why did the fact that it was a sister figure relieve her so much? It was getting annoying so she shrugged her shoulders and gave her consent, "Go ahead then. I don't have to watch the shop today so it's all right." He shot her a smile before nodding his head to the rooftops. Rolling her eyes she followed him as he jumped on top of a random tree branch and bounded off to the nearest one. To her surprise though she had to push herself slightly to keep up with the pace that he had set. Grunting slightly Ino landed in front of a… Dango store? She gave him a weird look which he didn't see because he was in front of her already going to the benches out to the side of the stand. There was a woman sitting there with plates and sticks of dango everywhere as she used one as toothpick. She flicked it away and smirked at them before waving them over and saying, "Well would you look at that? Hitai-ate huh… not bad kid!" Naruto snorted at her comment before sitting himself across from her, Ino sitting next to him.
"Nice to see you too, Anko. This is Ino, she's a classmate. She also graduated from the academy." Anko gave her a once over before shooting him a knowing look but she didn't make any comments beside, "An Yamanaka huh? You by any chance Inoichi's girl?" She blinked at that before nodding. Anko blinked at her before grinning good naturedly, "Ah! I work with him from time to time. A good guy, kinda strict," She sent an amused look at Naruto at this point but Ino had no idea why. She also didn't know why Naruto had gotten a blank look on his face but before she could ask Anko continued on, "great interrogation specialist." Ino smiled at that. She didn't know her daddy was so well known, she then smirked at Naruto. Giving her a dry look he spoke to Anko.
"Well… I just wanted to let you know how things had gone. And to ask you if you had any advice for how things are going to go from now on." Anko hummed in thought before grinning brightly, "Nope!"
"Uhm… Anko-sempai?" Anko gave her an amused look but didn't say anything so Ino continued, "Do you think you could give me a few tips? If you work with daddy then you must be in T&I right?" Anko nodded at that and hummed in thought.
"I'll tell you what… come around the dango store and I'll see what I can do. You interested in joining T&I?" At Ino's excited nod she chuckled, "You should tell your dad that; he'll be thrilled to hear it." Ino nodded at that said a "Thank you."
"Well I think we should go now…" Naruto by this point was inwardly sweating. It was a miracle that Anko hadn't made any comments so far. Either miracle or she just wasn't that mean and he had misjudged her.
"Have fun!" Anko waved at them as they made a quick exit, "Oh! And my advice is… keeping your head cool and it should be fine." He took back what he had just thought. If you didn't know Anko and you didn't know the fact that he liked Ino slightly you probably wouldn't have figured that as anything less than advice, for his question. He knew a jab when he saw one. Shooting her a dark look when Ino wasn't looking Anko just waved back.
Stupid woman. Oh well, at least he had avoided the (quite possibly) most awkward moment of his life because Anko hadn't drunk any sake. Thank god for that.
Anyways there wasn't anything else to do so they just wandered around the village in a comfortable silence, occasionally broken when Naruto would prompt Ino into another tangent about something (anything besides Sasuke and her name, definitely not her name) Eventually Naruto walked by Ino's family shop and bade her farewell with a 'see you tomorrow.' Everything had gone much better than expected to be honest but then surprisingly Anko had found him and then proceeded to drag him to a training ground before making him fight for his life.
That had been in the morning. The sun was already going down. Heaving in exhaustion Naruto fell down on his knees, hands supporting him. Jeez, why was she doing this with such gusto? He looked back at the destroyed training ground as Anko plopped down next to him, not even sweating. How ridiculous was that? Jesus Christ she was crazy. Naruto fell on his back as he tried to get his breathing to normal. Anko passed him a water canteen, from which he drank greedily from, before lying on her back next to him. Strangely enough from where they were laying down you could see the Hokage monument and with the way the sun was setting it made it glow. Anko stretched and sat up before saying,
"Naruto… I've got something to teach you. It's the last thing I'll be able to teach you before you get a new sensei so listen up closely…" He sat up and listened closely. Anko hadn't actually taught him that much. She had only given him tips on how to do the academy techniques and had sparred constantly with him. Because of that he was forced to get better, in order to survive her crazy sparring sessions. She did not know the meaning of holding back.
As he listened to what she was saying a wild grin spread across his face. Oh this was gonna be good.
Next day.
Fuck yeah! He was all fired up for today. Absentmindedly, while jumping through the window of his apartment, he wondered when he was not fired up. Strangely enough he couldn't come up with an answer so he ignored that little conundrum. It didn't matter at all because he was going to be put on a team today where he (hopefully) would have as equally awesome team-mates. He just had to have some awesome team-mates. Any less and this whole thing would suck but of course his team-mates would be probably just as awesome as him. Of course they would.
He ran along the village dodging market stalls, market vendors and kids running around. His outfit was still the same except that his headband was somehow attached to his orange sash. Then he saw Ino going out of the flower shop and immediately slowed down. Time to put up his badassery side instead of this almost child-like side, honestly what was he thinking? But even as he waved to her he could not keep the massive grin off his face. He was just so excited. Ino seemed to pick it up too as she commented on it, "Aren't you excited? Jeez Naruto…"
"Aw come on! Aren't you fired up for this?" He did not whine. Seriously.
"Of course I am! After all I'll probably get put into Sasuke-kun's team!" She almost squealed at the end and he pretended to be sick. Huffing she slapped his arm and walked ahead of him. Chuckling he caught up to her and said his piece.
"Well at least there's no way that me and Sasuke will be put together."
"Of course you won't, after all you're the second ranked and he's first, that would be just overkill." Then his grin grew savagely.
"Second ranked? When was the last time you checked the ranking sheet Ino?" At Ino's blank look he continued, "That's right! I, the Great Naruto-sama have surpassed Sasuke." He smirked as he held his head up and Ino gawked at him. Surpassed Sasuke? He had actually did that? Sasuke and he had been competing for the top spot for almost the entire year and at the end Naruto had bested him? Wow… she should be mad but considering the fact that Naruto was an orphan and he was the top rank in the class it kind of made her disappointed at herself. Sure Sasuke was a… orphan too but he came from the great Uchiha clan. One of the founding clans of the village.
"B-but… Sasuke is so good at everything." She stammered. Surprisingly Naruto nodded in agreement before he made his point.
"He is. However… I am just naturally awesome. Well… there's that and the fact that if I wasn't top ranked than it would be shameful for the Hokage name when I took the hat wouldn't it?" Ino stopped at that. Hokage name? Hat? Oh yeah! Naruto's goal was to become Hokage wasn't it?
Well… if it had been anyone else she might have thought that they probably couldn't do it but if there was one thing that you could say about Naruto was that once he set his mind on a goal, he would get there. You could bet on it. Even when he was little he would do anything to get better.
She had seen that Naruto would often stay behind after class to practice things and once she had been curious enough to watch him. He had so much stamina it wasn't even funny. He just kept practising and practising and wouldn't stop, even when she sure that she would have given up he had just gotten back up and kept going until he mastered it.
Naruto wouldn't get things as quickly as other people but that would be okay because by the next time they talked about that subject he would be a master at it. It must have been his sister, that Jōnin Anko, helping him but when you thought about it everyone had help from their parents.
Parents. Naruto didn't have parents did he? She remembered an incident when they were in the second grade. These bullies, from the year above (imagine that…) had been teasing him about it. Naruto had broken one of the boy's noses and would have probably broken some more bones if Iruka-sensei didn't stop him. That was the only time that she ever remembered that Naruto had been in trouble. She didn't count it as trouble personally, but whatever.
And no matter what anyone else said, that accident, where Naruto had been walking by the staff room and said staff room just seemed to spontaneously combust was not his fault. No way. That other one where he had gotten chased by the Inuzuka kennel and had accidentally ran to the academy in hopes of ditching them, but had only caused the dogs to tear the place apart (she had felt sorry for him but it was pretty funny) was also not his fault. Absolutely no way.
Smiling Ino said the first thing that came to mind, "Way to go Naruto! You might just do it…" His head had snapped at her direction and for one moment his expression was blank. Then the most genuine, happiest grin she had seen him smile came across his face and his eyes just twinkled. He snickered to himself quietly before responding,
"I hope I get put on a team with you, Ino!" Ino didn't know why but she suddenly hoped too. More than she hoped to be in Sasuke's team. She also hoped he wouldn't notice how red her cheeks were, suddenly; wouldn't that be embarrassing?
After a while they had gone back to their natural colour, and her heart had gone back to beating normally instead of erratically, they finally reached the academy. She never noticed that because she had been walking and talking with Naruto that she had missed her race with Sakura but if she would have, she probably wouldn't have cared, she was too busy trying to figure out this new enigma that had appeared before her.
Naruto Uzumaki… he was interesting. So interesting that when she got to the classroom she didn't even look at Sakura's smug smile at getting to sit next to Sasuke. She only followed Naruto to his seat and sat next to him. He just had this aura about him. It was of pure confidence, there wasn't any real arrogance, just the belief that he would succeed and suddenly Ino smiled. It was nice to be around Naruto, he just had this power to inspire people.
If they got put in a team than she would be able to not only witness that more but feel it more too. She would later realize that she hadn't even said a, "Hello, Sasuke-kun!" to Sasuke. He was just that interesting.
Iruka-sensei came in and everyone quieted down. It was time to get to business. Except for the fact that she zoned out Iruka's speech, Ino had her head in the game. Totally. The speech was boring anyways; her father had given something similar to her when she had gotten home so she could afford to skip it. She glanced over at Naruto and froze.
He wasn't grinning anymore, instead he had the most serious look on his face and his eyes just shone with determination. Ino demurely stopped staring and turned her head away from him, casually ignoring her cheeks that were burning again, her heart that had skipped a beat and her stomach which had just back-flipped. Was she going to get a cold? Yeah, that had to be it.
Yep, just a cold; nothing to worry about.
If he could be bothered, Shikamaru, who had seen the whole thing, would have snorted but that was too troublesome.
Iruka began to read the teams and Ino gave a quick glance at Naruto to see that his expression had changed yet again (She was secretly thankful for that) but now it was an almost casual smile. His eyes caught hers and the smile widened, making him close his eyes. Suddenly her stomach settled and she finally zoned in again as Iruka was reading out Team 7.
"Team 7 will be: Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke-"A squeal followed," and Akimichi Choji." Surprisingly enough Ino didn't feel like protesting. She wasn't sure how to react and just sighed in disappointment. Because of that she didn't see the wide-eyed look Naruto sent her at her lack of reaction and she also didn't see how he stuck his head out of the window to see if the sky was coming down. Sticking his head back in the classroom he still kept his wide-eyed look. Maybe it was Genjutsu? But who would make a Genjutsu where the people in it weren't even acting normally? That would just tip the victim off.
Or in Anko's words of wisdom, "Pay attention to what the fuck's happening around you gaki, it might save your life once or twice." Kami he loved that woman. She was the best teacher that he had ever had. But he hoped that his new teacher would be just as awesome, even though that was kind of hard to beat.
"Team 8 will be: Hinata Hyūga, Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba." Wow that was a pretty solid team. They were all good trackers and were also decent fighters.
"Team 9 is still in circulation so Team 10 will be Naruto Uzumaki," His eyes twinkled and the wild grin was back, full on. He had been paying attention so he knew what was gonna come next, "Yamanaka Ino," Fuck yes." and Shikamaru Nara." That was absolutely cool with him. Yep, he was absolutely cool about this. As cool as a cucumber.
Mentally chibi-Naruto did a fist pump before dancing and he almost felt like doing the same.
He sent an almost crazy happy grin at Ino and she smiled back. He closed his eyes and snickered to himself to let out some of his excitement but because he did so he missed the lingering look Ino had (unknowingly) given him.
Well, looks like she had gotten her wish. She was in Naruto's team but Sakura was in Sasuke's... strangely enough that didn't bother her as much as she thought it would. As she looked at the snickering blond next to her she oddly felt content with how the teams had been chosen.
At least she wasn't in Kiba's team. He was too… wild for her. But then Naruto gave Sasuke a vicious grin which was responded with a stoic stare. She took that back, Naruto was pretty wild too but it was at least kind of controlled. But when she saw their last team-mate, Shikamaru, literally drag himself to their table she thought to herself…
'Maybe I'm not in the right team…?' before laughing weakly.
"So guys, this is it! We're a team from now on." Naruto started and Ino blinked. It seemed as if most people had gone to sit next to their team-mates. Kiba, Shino and Hinata were huddled in one corner talking to themselves, or more accurately, Kiba talking at them while they went along with them.
Near the front Sakura, Sasuke and Choji sat together talking. Again, more accurately, Sakura talking at Sasuke and occasionally talking to Choji.
Then she went back to her own team conversation and gave her input, "Alright then. We're gonna have to lay down some ground rules first…" Naruto sent an amused look at Shikamaru and the other boy groaned. This was going to be great…
Some Hours Later…
After they had been allowed the time to get acquainted with their team-mates they had a lunch break. Iruka-sensei had come back from his own break and with him so did some adults. They all wore Jōnin vests so everyone sat up straighter. There were various but only a few stuck out.
There was a laid back-looking guy with a senbon in mouth who had a bandanna style head band, another one had a cigarrete in his mouth, and however the most striking one was a woman. She had red eyes with red lipstick and purple eye liner. She wasn't dressed in a Jōnin vest, which was part of what made her the easiest to distinguish of the lot; instead she had a red dress with some bandages. (Ino had no idea how she kept that together but it didn't look like it was even gonna budge)
She glanced over for some reason at Naruto to see his reaction but besides the widening of his eyes and his eyebrows shooting up there was no inappropriate comment or anything which she was immediately grateful for. They wouldn't be off to a good start if she had to beat some manners into his head would they?
"Team 8," the woman spoke, "please follow me." She finished and Naruto could not fault Kiba for whispering something excitedly to Akamaru. Lucky dog…
"Team 10, come on." The smoking Jōnin said and their team got up, (Shikamaru did reluctantly and only because Ino had started tapping her foot on the floor) walking down the aisle she caught Sakura's eyes before turning around and following a physicked out Naruto, she shot another glare at a shuffling-his-feet-as-slowly-as-possible Shikamaru.
Their new sensei had lead them to a BBQ restaurant not too far from the academy, where they had settled in and now were waiting for their food stop grilling.
"So, first I think we should do some introductions. I'm Sarutobi Asuma and from today on I'll be your Jōnin instructor." He finished with a grin as he saw Naruto eyeing the pieces of meat hungrily, "How about you introduce yourselves? Just say your names, likes and dislikes, hobbies and dreams…" Then nodded his head at Ino and she smiled brightly.
"I'm Yamanaka Ino and I like learning my family techniques. I also like working in the flower shop my family owns…" She bit her lip here and continued on, "There's also someone I like. I dislike fore-head and lazy people." She shot a glare at Shikamaru which made him utter troublesome, "My hobbies are working in the flower shop and flower arranging. My dream is to maybe get a job in the T&I department." She finished satisfied, hoping that had been professional enough for her sensei. She didn't want to sound too girlish.
Asuma nodded at her introduction, satisfied. Then he gestured to Shikamaru because Naruto was still too busy drooling over the pieces of meat. He loved ramen, but he had to eat something more than just that. Otherwise he would have stayed a shrimp forever. There was no way anyone would recognize him if he was a shrimp.
"The name's Shikamaru Nara," He paused to yawn, intentionally ignoring Ino's glare, "I like cloud watching and dislike troublesome people," He carefully regarded Ino there, after all she could probably hit him from across the table, so he didn't say any names, "My hobbies are cloud watching and playing shogi with my old man. My dream's to become an average ninja, marry a girl who's not too beautiful or ugly and have 2 kids. Probably a boy and then a girl." He then sat back and gazed at the ceiling.
Naruto paused in his 'Meat watching' to give a deadpan look at Shikamaru. Did he actually mean that? How boring… Naruto was of the belief that you couldn't go about doing things half-assed. You either did it as good as possible, with all the effort and dedication possible, or you didn't do it at all. Nodding in satisfaction at his personal philosophy he then turned to their sensei, only to see that he had a sweat-drop at the back of his head. Looks like he agreed with him. Oh well, it was his turn now.
Naruto began without prompt but he didn't think that Asuma-sensei would mind, "My name's Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen, BBQ, "a small snort from Asuma at that," and learning new things. Definitely new jutsu. I don't like moody people, or just assholes in general, "Ino's head snapped to him and her eyebrow twitched but he carried on, "My hobbies are hanging out with Anko and just generally annoying her. Although that can be dangerous…" Asuma nodded sagely at that and he assumed that he must have known her. Shrugging it off Naruto then grinned, "And my dream is to be the Hokage! One day I'll make everyone acknowledge Uzumaki Naruto!" He held his head up high and nodded as if he was confirming to everyone what he had just said.
Ino snorted softly before looking at him from the corner of her eyes, "You don't have to say it so loudly, baka. Now everyone's staring at us." She groaned. Most people actually were.
However Naruto didn't seem to mind it one bit and only sent them a grin. By this time their meal was done so they began to dig in after a quick Itadakimasu! "Now that we are done with the introductions I guess I should tell you that only 33% of the people who just left the academy will actually become Genin. The rest will be sent back." And then they promptly spit their food back out (even Shikamaru)
"What?!" both Naruto and Ino shouted at the same while Shikamaru just muttered a 'Troublesome.' If Asuma didn't have to act serious about this then he would have laughed out loud. They had been in perfect synchronization.
"That's right. I'll be waiting outside when you're finished so I can tell you more about it." Ignoring his slacked jawed students (well… two of them more accurately) he stepped away from their table, leaving a few ryo in order to pay for the meal. Naruto, Ino and Shikamaru stayed absolutely silent. An aura of gloom had risen above them and they contemplated their sensei's words. Only 33% of Genin would actually be Genin? Man…
Naruto looked at both of his team-mates, comrades and from now on friends. Then he smirked. Putting one hand forward with a closed fist and spoke out loud.
"That just means we're gonna be part of that 33%, doesn't it?" Shikamaru and Ino blinked and then Ino smirked back, before putting her own fist forward, bumping with Naruto's.
"Of course we are." She sent a glare at Shikamaru as if daring to him to contradict her. Sighing he made his input.
"My mom would never stop nagging me if I didn't pass and got sent back to the academy, so as troublesome as this might be I guess I've got no choice." He lazily bumped his own fist with theirs and smirked. Nodding to each other they got up as one and walked outside to find their sensei. They were most definitely not going back to the academy.
They stepped outside with determined faces and Asuma seemed to nod to himself before making them follow him. He would tell them at the training ground, that way so he could enjoy their expressions.
Training Ground Ten.
Naruto, Shikamaru and Ino sat in an almost huddle. In front of them Asuma was currently smoking a cigarette, which made Ino crinkle her nose but she didn't say anything.
"The reason that only 33% become Genin is because their Jōnin instructors administer a test in which if you pass you get to stay but if you fail you have to go back to the academy."
"But we already graduated from that place. How come we have to pass another test?" Ino protested. She was already determined to pass whatever test it was but she was still curious. Why did only a third of the graduates become actual Genin? "Why do only a third of the graduates become Genin sensei? Wouldn't that be a waste of resources?" Naruto was curious too apparently and he was obviously less tactful than Ino.
"Anyone with half a brain can do the basic three jutsus. The academy exam was test if you had the all the basic knowledge. The test from your Jōnin instructor is to see if you can put that knowledge to practical use." Ah, so that was it. They were to weed out any people who didn't have enough practical skills and who couldn't use the knowledge they had gained in the academy.
"With that said, let's get to that test shall we?" Asuma put his cigarette in his mouth, lips closing tightly to hold it firmly. Naruto's eyes narrowed before he hauled Ino and Shikamaru to their feet, grabbing them and jumping back to get some space in between them. Asuma nodded at him slightly, "Good instincts, Naruto."
"What does he mean?" Ino asked him but Shikamaru answered her, "He means that we're about to fight." Her eyes widened slightly before she took a glance at Naruto to see that he still had his eyes glued onto Asuma. Nodding slightly she got into a ready stance, her hands raised up in case she would need to engage in physical combat or use a technique.
Shikamaru took his hands out of his pocket and his expression tightened. Naruto however took a red nunchaku from his pouch and began swinging it slightly before assembling it into a staff and getting into his own stance.
Asuma grinned at that and barked, "Start!"
