Chapter 2: The Graduates

Daichi groggily woke up in Anko's couch. He had spent almost the whole night holding back her hair while she puked her brains out. She had told him to go to sleep but he worried something might happen to her if he left her alone. He sit up from the couch, yawning. He has morning breath and he reeks of beer. It is sad he is starting to get us to these kind of mornings. Anko is becoming a bad influence on him.

He heard footsteps coming towards him from the hallway. He looked to see Anko slightly hung over from their night together, walking lazily to him. Daichi made room for her to sit. She let out a big tired filled groan when she plopped down on the couch. She lean her head back and yawn obnoxiously loud.

She gave him a cheeky grin. "Thanks for bringing me home."

"No problem." He said, leaning his head back, closing his eyes. He is hoping to get a few more minutes of sleep before he had to go.

"I told you to go to sleep yesterday."

Daichi wanted to say shut up but it came out as a unintelligible sound. He feels too good from sitting on the couch. He already is falling back to sleep. He wonder who his students are going to be. He hopes they are hard workers. He can't tolerate lazy people.

Anko lightly tap Daichi's shoulder. "Is it about time for you to go?"

Daichi woke up from his light and quick slumber. He check the time on the clock in her living room. She's right, it is about time for him to go. He stood up and Anko quickly took his spot by laying down.

She let out another yawn before closing her eyes. "Lock the door when you leave." She mumbled.

Daichi grunted as a responsive before leaving. He wished he had time to shower and get change but being late to receive his students doesn't look good. He jumps up to the roof tops and travel to the academy. The meeting of all jounins who are to teach the new genins are in the floor below the school. He ran at top speeds to be on time. He arrive at the academy, and stealthily entered it.

He was shockingly the last one to arrive at the meeting. Usually Kakashi is the one to do that. He is known to always be late for such things. Daichi approach the group of jounins and bowed, showing he was sorry that he was late. Tetsu seem surprised to see him there. He was never told he was going to teach the genins. The Third Hokage lightly scold him and told him not to do so again.

The Hokage cleared his throat to get all the jounins attention. "Now that everyone is here, let us commence with the naming of the teams." A bodyguard of the Hokage handed him a piece of paper. "Team One will consist of Jin Koyanagi, Atsuko Sakamoto, and Ai Aburame, under the tutelage of Kakashi Hatake."

Kakashi just gave a simply nod in affirmation.

"Team Two will consist of Michi Tachibana, Kenshin Yamanaka, and Youta Shirou, under the tutelage of Tetsuo Yamada."

Tetsu smiles at the names of his students. He couldn't wait to teach all of what he knows. "Yes sir."

The Hokage continued on with the parings of sensei and students. Daichi wonder what kind of students he will receive. Will they be pranksters? Will they serious as he is? Will they like him? Will they even respect a outsider like he is? Whatever the opinion they may have on him, he promise he will make them the very best of the best and protect him like his old sensei did for him.

"Team Eight will consist of Kioshi Kurama, Ichigo Hadena, and Hotaru Odonata, under the tutelage of Daichi."

Daichi got into attention. "Understood sir!" Whatever that may happen to him and his students, he hopes this new relationship of his doesn't end up like it did with his sensei.

"Team Nine will consist of Neji Hyuuga, Rock Lee, and Ten-Ten, under the tutelage of Might Gai."

"Yosh!" Gai said loudly and excitedly. He always been the type to be eccentric.

The Hokage gave the paper back to his bodyguard. "That is all. Good luck jounins. You all are dismissed."

The jounin started to leave the room. They are no doubt thinking on the test they should give their students. Speaking of that, Daichi is having a hard time on that matter. His old sensei just chose him out of million orphans because he felt Daichi had potential. Maybe a teamwork exercise involving bells? Daichi sighed at the thought. It's a pretty dumb idea.

Suddenly, Tetsu wrap his arm around Daichi's shoulder. He was about to say something before he smell something terrible coming from Daichi. He quickly back away, clenching his nose and waving the bad smell out of the air.

"Ewugh, Daichi, you smell like-?"

"Shit." Daichi casually said.

"I was going to say beer, but yeah, you do."

Daichi rolled his eyes before making his way out of the room. Tetsu followed him but made sure to stay a couple of inches back. "Don't worry Tetsu. I am going to take shower as soon as I leave here."

"Oh, that reminds me." He walks up to Daichi, his nose still clenched. "Why are you here? I thought you were still part of Team Tiger?"

"The Hokage seem to believe that I am more fit teaching genins than leading Team Tiger."

Tetsu stopped for a second. He has confusion written all over his face. When he notice Daichi getting further and further away from him, he run up to him. "But don't you hate kids?"

"Yes I do."

"Weird. I wonder why he did that."

Daichi shrugged. "An order is a order. Because of that, I will teach these students like they are my own."

Tetsu smile and slap him on the back. Daichi almost got knocked over because of him. "That's good to hear buddy." A thought suddenly got in his head. "Hey, you want to see what our students are like before meeting them tomorrow?"

Daichi open the door to the exit. "Sure, but first I should shower."

Tetsu chuckled wryly. "Don't do me any favors." Daichi rolled his eyes at his good friend before dashing off to his house. "Meet me here when you're done!" Tetsu yelled, hoping that Daichi heard him.

Elsewhere, a weird freshly made genin girl is talking with a street vendor about the fruit he has for sale. This young girl is wearing a weird set of clothing. She's wearing a snug coverall in a dull purple-gray color with a pearl gray, poncho-like cloak, that goes down to mid-calf, over it. She matches this outfit with the standard blue ninja sandals. But the most unusual article of clothing is her mask. It's plain white and featureless, with three small, black spots; one for each eye, and one for the mouth. This mask for most, is something out of nightmares, but for this young ninja, is her most cherished possession. The only thing she's wearing that isn't odd, is her forehead protector she wore casually around her neck.

Though her clothes are quite peculiar for a girl of her age, it's what she is currently doing that is weird. She is talking to the vendor with a puppet. Not just any puppet, but a ninja puppet that strongly resembles the girl but way shorter.

"Please , I promise I will pay you back in full." The puppet said a little bit too sweetly. Almost creepily so.

"Look, Michi, I can't give you anymore free fru- Can I stop talking to your puppet?"

Michi did some movement with her fingers to move the puppet with her chakra strings. The puppet now looks sad with its head down. "I'm not a puppet." The puppet said sadly.

Mr. Yuzaki grab the bridge of his nose in frustration. He deals with Michi and her puppets almost on a daily basis. Unlike the other vendors in their neighborhood, he is the only one who will deal with her puppets. They feel she will run customers away with her scary looking mask and her talking through her puppets. They're kinda right though. No customer beside her came today.

"Uh, are you okay?" A different puppet said sounding like it is a idiot.

"Yes Michi. I am fine."

Though he is the only one who can deal with her, that doesn't mean he doesn't get aggravated when doing so. A young serious looking boy came to the stand. He is wearing a red V-neck sleeveless shirt with a rising collar and a white stripe that goes around the middle of collar and down the back in the middle. Underneath it, he wears a white sleeveless shirt and on his arms, he wear red sleeves that start from his knuckles and end at his elbow with metal forearm protectors over it. He also wears white pants with wrap bandages around his legs and blue ninja sandals. To finish it all off, he wears the forehead protector proudly on his head.

"Excuse me, may I purchase six of these apples?" The young boy asked politely, pointing at the delicious plump looking red apples.

Mr. Yuzaki smile brightly at the customer. The number one rule of being in his business is to always be happy when dealing with customers. "Of course you can young man." He start packing the apples in a small pack before handling it to him. "That'll be 650 yen."

The young boy try to balance the back of fruits with one arm so he can give the money. Feeling his bag suddenly being lifted off of his arms, he quickly turn to his left. He was surprised to see Michi holding his bag for him with her puppets. He gave a thank you nod to her before searching his pocket for the change. He gave the change to Mr. Yuzaki while saying thanks. Michi hand him his bag back. He gave another thank you nod before leaving.

As he walk, he thought about Michi. He barely had any contact with her in the academy. He stayed clear of her because her puppets, and more importantly, her mask. He shudder just thinking about that creepy mask. When he first saw that thing he had nightmares about it for a whole week. A milky white hand went in his bag of apples and took him out of his thoughts of Michi. The hand took one of the red treasures he just bought. He look up to see his aunt eating the apple with a cheeky smile.

His thin line lips turn into a small smile. "Aunt Mizore."

"Hey Kioshi." Mizore took another bite of the apple. "These are pretty good." She said with her mouth full.

"I'm glad you think so. I was planning on giving you one when I came back to the compound."

Mizore affectionately rub his head, messing up his hair. "You know, you act too mature for your age at times."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Kioshi tries to fix his black shoulder-length hair with one of his hand. He's glad his ponytail didn't get loose from Mizore's teasing. "Oh, Aunt Mizore, I have a question."

"What's up?" She took another bite of her apple.

"The leader of your squad is named Daichi, right?"

She suddenly swallow the apple in her mouth, almost choking on it. She starts coughing harshly. Kioshi starts patting her on the back till she stop coughing. "Y-yeah, why?"

"Well, apparently he is going to be my sensei." He said casually, making sure that Mizore is okay.

Mizore drop her apple, her eyes wide in both shock and horror. She mustn't heard his nephew correctly...right? Daichi was the man who made the team. He wanted to prove to the Hokage and other jounins he can pull his own weight and is trustworthy. He was the one who promise all of the members that he will be there forever, leading and protecting them. There's no way her proud leader would abandon the team. There's no way he would abandon her. Wait a sec. Is him being a sensei what he wanted to discuss with the team today? Please let it be another Daichi she never heard of.

"Sorry nephew but I gotta go. See you later tonight." Mizore used the body-flicker technique before he could say anything.

He shrugged. He guess she has another mission to go to. He wonder if he got the right Daichi. He hopes so. From what he heard from his aunt, he is some ninja. Maybe being his student will help him become a worthy successor of his father. He felt a rain drop on his head. He quickly dash down the road to get to his house before it really starts pouring.

As he was running, a individual ran past him at high speed. So much so, the individual look like a blur. The individual took a sharp right turn but failed to notice someone on his left when turning. He bump into the person. They both fall down hard. The individual quickly check his right ankle to make sure his forehead protector is still tied on. He sighed in relieve when it is still there. He strengthen the knot of his protector before standing up.

He place his hand out. "Sorry about that. I wasn't watching where I was going."

The woman accepted his hand and he lifted her up. "It is fine. I should have better reflexive."

She took a good look at the young boy. He is quite tall for his age and his horizontal scar line is a sight to behold. He has straight shoulder length hair that is tied back. He wears a dark green high collared short-sleeved jacket with its folded sleeves cuffed, with tannish-brown v-neck shirt underneath it, and light grey loose-fitting cargo pants. He matches his outfit perfectly with brown standard ninja sandals. She knows all the ninjas in the village and he doesn't look like anyone she knows. Must be a graduate of the academy.

"New genin?"

"Y-yes Ma'am." He said shier when he realized he was talking with a older woman.

"What's your name genin?"

"Kenshin Yamanaka of Team Two." He said confidently and with pride.

The older went down her mental list of the people who are teaching the new batch this year. She couldn't remember the ninja in charge of team two. She shrugged. "Well, Yamanaka-san, I hope you'll have a wonderful career and treat your sensei well. See ya." She disappeared with the body-flicker technique.

As soon as the older ninja disappeared, Kenshin went back to running back to his home. He hates being out in the rain. He thought back to what the ninja said. Of course he will treat his sensei well. He had heard of Tetsuo Yamada before. He is respectable ninja of the Leaf. It's his teammate Michi Tachibana that he won't treat well or trust. He starts to growl, showing off his Inuzuka roots he is so proud of. Like hell he will work with a outsider. He wonders why the Leaf allow people like her in the village.

Elsewhere, a young girl is sitting comfortable on a tree branch, swinging her leg casually in the air, wiggling her toes while doing so. She is also a very peculiar looking girl. She has thick, curly dark brown hair, about chin length with thick sideburns. It is very messy with long bangs. It is very similar to a wild untamed dandelion. She wears baggy white canvas pants that is held up with a dark brown sash tied round her hips. She matches it with a dark grey sleeveless mesh shirt with a tan and white hooded jacket casually on her shoulders.

She finished peeling her orange and rip a piece off then place it in her mouth. She starts chewing on it while playing with her forehead protector on her neck. She's a officially a genin, just like her brother and sister are. She wondered how they feel when they became genin. She plop another piece of orange in her mouth.

She remembered them being happy to finally being ninjas and their parents being proud. She doesn't feel anything of the sort. She knew she was going to be a ninja, so why should she feel happy about something that she knew was going to happen. Not that she's over confident in her skills, well those she is not good at which are a lot in fact, but she doesn't see the point of being happy about something like this. She plop another piece of orange in her mouth.

And her sensei, Daichi. Daichi. Daichi. Daichi. Hmm, she never heard of the man. Maybe she should start keeping track of other ninjas of the village. Nah, too much trouble. Whoever this Daichi man is, she hopes he is fun to learn from. Better than Iruka at least. She knows she is dumb but he didn't need to say it every time she failed a test. She plop another piece of orange in her mouth.

"I guess I should go back home." She starts to maneuver herself off the branch.

She was about to drop from the branch until she felt the rain drops on her hand. She look up and realize that the tree leaves were blocking the rain while she was eating. From the looks of it, it is raining quite hard. Her parents probably won't care if she isn't home for another hour. She relaxed herself back on the branch. She was about to plop another piece of orange in her mouth until a cat came out of nowhere and landed in front of her, making her drop the orange. She look down at the now inedible piece of orange.

She lean her head back. "Damn it." She said with hint of sadness. The cat walk up to her, and lay down on her lap. The girl starts petting the cat. The cat is lucky that Ichigo Hadena likes animals more than oranges.

A young girl is walking in street looking for the cat she was following earlier. She hopes that the cat got out of the rain. Look at down herself and notice she is starting to get drenched. She looks for somewhere she can wait the rain out. She notice a building with a piece of its wall sticking out. Perfect for waiting in the rain.

She been waiting underneath the building for about fifteen minutes in hopes of the heavy rain to stop. She place her hand out to see if the rain let up. Unfortunately for her, this isn't the case. She look at her wet clothes, hoping she won't catch a cold. Meeting her sensei with a cold doesn't really show a good first impression.

She ran her hands through her messy bob style, red wine color hair. The water ringed out as she did that. She look at clothes once more. She's wearing a slightly loose kimono top with dragonfly print and gold obi, with a gold tank top underneath. Her sleeves covers her hands but not her fingers. She sports black tights, that goes to her knees, and shin guards over bandages that cover the rest of her legs, ending at her ankles. She finished her ensemble with ankle high ninja sandals.

She let out a small sneeze. That's not a good sign. She needs get out of her clothes quickly. Why did her clan bought her a apartment so far away. She really don't want to run in the rain. She sneeze once more. But she certainly doesn't want to catch a cold from standing around doing nothing. Well, it's now or never. She was about to take a step before a man with a umbrella stop her.

She is obviously on her guard when the individual stop her. She was told by her parents to always be on guard when you are dealing with strangers. She learned its because she is the next head of the Odonata clan. People would want to kidnap her like some ninjas did with those cocky Hyuugas. The individual hands her his umbrella. She was puzzled. Who is this person and why is he giving her his umbrella, especially in this rain.

She look up at the individual to see what the person looks like. She recognize the man. He is Daichi, her sensei.

She took the umbrella. "Daichi-sensei?"

"Hello. I didn't think you know of me. I am still somewhat new here." Daichi really didn't expect any of his students to recognize him.

"I made sure to know all ninjas of the Leaf. Especially those who act with such honor when receiving harsh treatment from his peers. That would explain why you accept so many missions. You want to prove them wrong."

Daichi narrow his eyes on his student. She knows a lot more than a genin should know about him. Even if she is her clan's next head. Normally, Daichi first response would be to kill her. After spending five years in the Leaf, his attitude change. He no longer felt the need to do such acts. He notice that she is tense up and holding onto the umbrella quite hard.

Daichi eyes soften a bit. He no longer looks like he will snap her neck. "Quite impressive, Hotaru Odonata. I am looking forward to meeting you alongside Team Eight tomorrow."

She bowed. "Likewise sensei." She face him. "Also, please call me Tarou."

"Okay Tarou."

From the distance, a ninja is waving his hand to get the man's attention. "Come on Daichi! Hurry up already!" Tetsu yelled.

Daichi sighed at his friends obnoxious. "Okay Tetsu!" He faced Tarou. "See you tomorrow."

Daichi was about to walk to Tetsu till Tarou stop him. She hands him back his umbrella. "I can't accept this."

"It's fine. I'm use to the rain anyways. And plus," He wave his hand under his left wrist. Another umbrella came out of a cloud of smoke. "I have a spare." He open the umbrella and casually walk to Tetsu.

Tarou watch Daichi as he walks away with Tetsu. He seems to be more cold than she originally thought. She began walking to her apartment. She starts twirling her new umbrella, thinking about her new sensei. When she mention his treatment in the village, she expected to get a little rise from him, you know, to mess with him. She didn't think he would react as he did. She felt like she would've died just by him staring at her for a minute longer. So that's how killer intent feels like. Tarou made a mental note not to mess with him. He might kill her if she push him far enough.

Daichi suddenly felt a chill down his spine. He wonder where that come from. He's usually fine with the cold. He shrugged at the thought. He handed his umbrella to Tetsu so that he can be covered from the rain. Tetsu doesn't mind being covered from the rain but he doesn't want Daichi to catch a cold because of him.

"I know you're a Rain ninja and all, but are you sure you don't want your umbrella? It's raining pretty hard."

"You sound like Shu."

"Oh god, really?" Tetsu said in horror.

Daichi chuckled at his friend's expense. "Don't worry, you're not him yet."

He release a breath of relieve. "Thank god." They kept walking until Tetsu realize what Daichi actually said. He punch him in the shoulder. "What do you mean by yet?"

He chuckled. Making a small playful comments about his friends is a good way for Daichi to pass his time. He never had friends in the Rain because a lot was expected of him. Well, except for one but she probably hate him now that he left and fought against his teacher. He wonders how she's doing. He looks up at the dark skies, feeling the rain gently pelting him in the face. It's odd how much he miss the rain since that's one of the reason why he hate his old village.

"So." Tetsu voice got Daichi out of memory lane. "That was one of your students, huh?" He said, looking back where Tarou was.

He nodded. "It seems so."

"Already caring about your students well being." Tetsu wipe away a fake tear from his eye. "You grow up so fast."

"Shut up."

Tetsu laughing was cut short when Mizore and the rest of Team Tiger appeared in front of them. They all look worried for some reason. They all got in Daichi face, pushing Tetsu to the side.

"Is it true Captain?" Jin said in her usual professional voice.

"What's true?" Daichi didn't expect to see them until a little bit later today.

"You abandoning the team of course!" Shu exclaimed.

Daichi eyes widened his eyes in shock. Where did they heard that from? The only one who knows about this is him, the Hokage, and Anko. Anko. Damn her.

"I guess Anko already told you." Daichi thought she would at least wait for him to tell them before announcing herself as the new Captain.

Jin raised an eyebrow. She knows of Anko and Daichi little rivalry but she wonders what does she has to do with the team. "Why would Mitarashi-san tell us?"

Shu starts making a fist. It seems he put the pieces together. "She's our new Captain, isn't she?"

Daichi nodded. "Yes. She will be the new leader of Team Tiger until furt-"

"Why?"

Everyone look at Mizore. She has been uncharacteristically quiet until now. She looks frustrated. She looks like she is about to punch Daichi in the face at any moment.

Daichi inhale then slowly exhale. "Because the Hokage ask me personally to teach the graduates. He believes it would be good for me and for them to do so. I couldn't refuse an offer from the Hokage."

The pain frustrated look on Mizore eased up. She looks like she does when she is on mission. She got in attention. "I understand. I will make sure that Anko will know all of our formations and techniques." She said void of all emotions.

"Thank you Mizore."

"Anything for you, ex-Captain." She disappear after she finished her sentence.

The rest of the team left soon after, not knowing what to say anymore. They got their answer why and they can't do anything about it. Tetsu walk up to Daichi. He is worry about him. He knows how much his team means for him.

"They seem upset."

"I know." Daichi start walking ahead. Tetsu followed after him. "We still have your student to see, right?"

"Yeah, Youta Shirou, the last member of Team Two." He said happily, already forgetting about what happen just a few seconds ago.

"You sound happy to meet this student."

"Yeah, I am." He twirled the umbrella. "I read up about his scores in the academy. He's pretty good. Almost as good as that Hyuuga kid who was top of the class."

"Sounds like he has promise then." Daichi said casually. He notice it stop raining.

"I hope so." Tetsu said, handing Daichi his umbrella back.

"Why?" Daichi place his umbrella back in the seal under his wrist.

A goofy grin formed on Tetsu's lips. "I'll tell you another time." He jumps on the roof tops. "Come on, let's see my star pupil." Daichi jump on the roof and followed after him.

Elsewhere, in a forest, Youta Shirou is training. He was quite disappointed he couldn't train earlier because of the rain. He threw a shuriken at the tree. He is going to make sure he is making up that time though. He threw some more of his shurikens, all of them made their mark. He wipe the sweat off his brows.

"Okay, shuriken practice is over. Now, let's get to the fun part."

He took out a scroll from his red jounin like vest. He unrolled it and place it on the ground. He check his surroundings around him to make sure no one is there. He went through hand seals for the technique. He slam his hand on the scroll once he was finished. A big puff of smoke came out of the scroll. Once the smoke clear, Youta has devious goofy grin on his face. He pick up the paint and brushes from the scrolls.

"Let's see if my stealth skills are still top notch."

Youta dash towards the village, thinking about all the pranks he is about to commit today. Tetsu and Daichi came out of their hiding spot. Daichi has an amused smirk on. He didn't expect the ninja to be such a prankster. He seems to be like Naruto in terms of that matter. A perfect student for his friend.

Daichi began walking towards village with Tetsu following him. "Yeah, he's definitely your student."

Tetsu laughed. "I know right."

After seeing their students for the first time, they know they are going to be great students. They just hope they are worthy enough to teach them. Now to the real question. What should they give their students as the test to prove they are really ready to be ninjas.

A\N: I want to thank these individuals for submitting characters for this story. I honestly didn't expect some many great characters.

Neocolai

warlugo23

Scar Lucifer Xaren

sco23

Condor-K

Happy77123

awwshiitake

motordog

ShadeZyro

Vulkodlak

nicranger

25th Doctor

IIIGirlByeIII

Dragonborn Rhodes XII

Ishiguro

It was a hard to decide who will be part of the team and who wouldn't. To those who didn't get picked, don't worry, your character will show up in the story, but as minor characters. I feel this what I should do for you guys because I don't want your characters to go to waste. Every single one were terrific and I wish they were actually part of the show. I will try my best to portray your characters to the best of my abilities.