So quickly wanted to apologize for the wait. Technically, it hasn't been that long since chapter 1, but I don't usually leave that big between the first and second chapters. That's what I get for writing so many stories at once. So again, sorry for the wait, and enjoy chapter 2!
Mizuki was imprisoned, the Hokage had forgiven Naruto, and the hyperactive kid had graduated from his class! That meant he was now officially a Genin, which was basically the elementary school version of ninja.
If he trained hard enough, he would move up to the next rank, which was Chunin. After that was Jonin, and from there…Hokage could be a possible step! Secretly, Naruto always wanted to become Hokage. Once he became the leader of Konoha, he would finally be able to get back at everyone who ever teased or bullied him.
Naruto was pondering this while eating cereal in his apartment. Being an orphan and all, he lived completely by himself. He never understood why he wasn't placed in the orphanage, or why he was expected to pay the electric bills despite the fact that he had no way to make any sort of income, but it was nice not having to clean up after himself.
Chomping on his sugary breakfast, Naruto happened to glance on a fancy paper that was propped on his table. It was an invitation to attend the ceremony where all the new Genin would find out who their new teachers would be. All the Genin formed three-man teams, led by a Jonin. They would go on missions to earn money and points.
After a whole summer of staying in bed late, Naruto was annoyed that he would have to begin getting up early again. Still, it was pretty cool that he could actually go on a hardcore mission!
Finishing up his food, Naruto dashed back to his room, and yanked his bright orange jumpsuit from his closet. Despite the bright color that would make it impossible to sneak around or camouflage in, Naruto had decided on this to be his official ninja outfit!
For the finishing touch, Naruto wrapped his new headband around his forehead. Every ninja wore a headband, with the symbol of their village engraved in the front. Konoha's symbol resembled someone's eyes after they got dizzy.
As Naruto walked out the door of his apartment, he was ambushed by a little kid. Upon closer inspection, Naruto realized that it was Konohamaru Sarutobi, the grandson of the current Hokage. He was well known throughout the village as a whiny brat who used his father's political power to get everything he wanted.
"Naruto, I want you to fight me! If I beat you, I'll be a ninja!" Konohamaru's squeaky voice made Naruto's ears bleed.
Konohamaru grinned, but with the missing tooth, he didn't come off as intimidating as he probably hoped.
"Buzz of, you chipmunk! I don't have time to mess around with you," Naruto said, dismissing the kid by slapping him down the stairs. Konohamaru didn't move after he fell, but Naruto had no time to perform basic medical procedures, he was almost late!
Naruto made a mad dash to the school, running so fast that the swings in the playground broke. Iruka glared at the tardy shinobi, but Naruto didn't care, as he was searching the room for a specific someone.
"There she is," Naruto whispered under his breath as he caught sight of her gaudy pink hair. Sitting down on a bench in the first row of the schoolroom was Sakura Haruno, the prettiest Kunoichi (female ninja) in the whole village who was also his age.
Many boys teased her for her pink hair, but none did so to her face, as she was also known to have a nasty temper. That sounded perfect to Naruto! Unfortunately, like everyone else, she considered him a loser.
Undeterred, Naruto slid into the seat next to her. He could smell the strawberry shampoo she used for her long hair. Sakura gave him a sideways glare, her emerald eyes drilling into him, but he didn't care.
Unfortunately, the sunshine that Sakura emitted was dimmed when the front door opened, and the dark cloud of misery named Sasuke Uchiha entered the room. Naruto glared at the stuck-up jerk. Sasuke, who had his eyes closed, somehow made it to his seat without tripping, which would have been impressive if that seat hadn't been next to Naruto.
It was like being sandwiched between a goddess and an ugly demon that smelled of gasoline. Naruto desperately hoped that this ceremony finished fast.
"Ooh, hi Sasuke! I'm so happy to see you!" That was one more reason for Naruto to hate Sasuke. Sakura had a huge crush on Sasuke, just like every other single female in Konoha. It was unbearable, especially since Naruto knew for a fact that no one had a crush on him. He didn't notice a blue-haired, blushing girl staring at him from behind a window…
Sasuke ignored Sakura's greeting, and leaned his head forward against his interlaced hands. He got that look in his eyes, the look that told the world, "I'm brooding. Leave me alone." Naruto was always tempted to poke Sasuke when he was in this state, but the risks outweighed the possible rewards.
Sakura sighed, looking downcast at Sasuke's obvious disinterest. Naruto knew he had to cheer her up, so he placed an arm around her shoulders, and leaned in to give her the biggest kiss of her short life! The feminine fist that hit him in the jaw seconds later left his cheek throbbing for hours after.
"Knock it off, you three," Iruka said sternly, without looking up from a textbook he was reading. Naruto and Sakura quickly placed their hands over their laps like good children. Sasuke just grunted.
Sasuke thinks he's so cool! Well, I'll show that emo, contact-wearing nuisance! Naruto rubbed his hands together in evil glee.
He zoned out as Iruka began calling the names of other graduates, who would probably remain nameless and unimportant for the rest of the series. Naruto didn't know any of them by name, but he could identify them by physical properties.
One kid was fat, another looked lazy, there was a blonde girl, a weirdo who always brought his pet dog to class, one kid with sunglasses, and a girl with blue hair. Naruto didn't care to know any of them, but they certainly couldn't be any worse than Sasuke.
Finally, Naruto heard his name called.
"Naruto Uzumaki, you will be part of Team 7. Your team will consist of Sakura Haruno-" Iruka was interrupted by a cry of jubilation (from Naruto, who had his fists in the air) and a sob of despair (from Sakura, who had collapsed in an undignified heap).
Iruka coughed. "The third member will be Sasuke Uchiha, our number 1 student of all time." Naruto screamed in terror, and Sakura screamed in fangirl delight. Sasuke's only reaction was to glare at Naruto.
"Don't drag me down, you idiot," Sasuke snarled, one of his contacts falling onto the desk. Naruto stood up from his seat, his stomach burning with righteous fury (and from the ten bowls of cheap ramen he consumed in secret).
"Iruka," Naruto whined. "Why does a cool dude like me have to be in the same group as a creep like Sasuke?" Iruka got a glint in his eyes.
"Because, Naruto, you get the worst scores in the class. Sasuke scores the highest. Sakura stands out in no way whatsoever. This way, it balances out." Naruto felt a lone tear roll down his cheek; Iruka just loved to hurt his feelings!
"Naruto, stop grumbling! We have Sasuke on our team! All is right with the world!" Sakura was somehow alternating between glaring at him, and blowing kisses at Sasuke. Naruto knew what he had to do.
Getting all in Sasuke's face, Naruto sneered. "You're nothing special." Sasuke opened his mouth to make some undoubtedly lame retort. Unfortunately, some lame-o bumped into Naruto, pushing him forward – into Sasuke's face. Their open mouths collided, and unfortunately, Naruto chose that moment to stick his tongue out.
The brief moment felt like an eternity of torture to Naruto, who quickly ran to the nearest garbage can to throw up. He could faintly hear Sasuke sputtering in the background – and was that Sakura sobbing?
"Naruto, how dare you? That was my first kiss!" Sasuke pointed at Naruto with a dagger, but Naruto wasn't scared.
"What, and you think I don't feel bad about this? I bet you secretly enjoyed it!" Naruto grinned at Sasuke, who stuttered. Finally, Sasuke sat down at his seat, muttering about things.
"Anyway," Iruka continued hesitantly, "Team 7 will be led by former ANBU Black Ops member Kakashi Hatake. That must be exciting, huh?" When Iruka looked up, he was greeted by the sight of Naruto and Sasuke wrestling on the ground, with Sakura managing to get a good kick in once in a while, always aiming for Naruto's head.
When Sasuke woke up, he was tied up and gagged in the school's utility closet. What am I doing in here? Darn that Naruto. Despite being the strongest ninja at this school, he somehow bested me!
Using the old Houdini method, Sasuke escaped from his bonds and ran out into the sunshine, as any young boy should do after school. Dashing into the park to see if he could find some cute baby squirrels to adopt, Sasuke almost tripped when he heard his own voice saying, "Oh baby, I know you love me."
"What the heck?" Sasuke peeked from behind a thick bush, and almost gasped when he saw himself sitting on a green park bench next to Sakura, who was blushing.
"Oh, Sasuke, I didn't think you had noticed me." Sasuke's clone grinned and leaned in for a kiss. Sasuke had seen enough, and jumped out of the bush.
"Who the heck are you, imposter?" The clone jumped up, and began to whine in a suspiciously high-pitched voice.
"Aw man. You have some seriously bad timing, Sasuke!" Slowly, right in front of Sasuke's eyes, his clone began to shift into something much brighter – Naruto! That brat had mastered the art of shapeshifting somehow!
"Done transforming into that lame female form of yours?" Sasuke couldn't help but taunt his rival.
"But Sasuke," Naruto began in an all-too innocent tone. "I figured you would want to be seen kissing a pretty girl, especially now that your new school nickname is Sas-GAY!" Sasuke could feel his left eye twitching. Were the kids at school really saying that? Thanks goodness for graduation.
"I am SO done with this," Sakura grumbled as she ran off. Suddenly, she stopped. Turning around, she punched Naruto in the gut, kicked him, and then ran off into the woods. Sasuke smirked, before deciding to head to the supermarket. A ninja had to keep his fridge well-stocked.
In Naruto's house, someone was eating all of the food stocked in his fridge. This someone was Jonin level ninja Kakashi Hatake, who made a point to raid the apartments of every ninja who would be working under him. Naruto's house was full of garbage, broken furniture, and expired milk. This told Kakashi that his student was lazy and probably had a bad stomach.
"This could prove annoying. I may have to break him in." Kakashi lazily gulped down his glass of orange juice, somehow without removing his fancy ninja face mask, which he never took off for any reason whatsoever.
Suddenly, the front door opened. Kakashi, fearing that Naruto had returned, tried to hide under the table.
"Calm yourself, Kakashi. It is only I, the Hokage." The scratchy voice only made Kakashi feel worse; would he be punished for rummaging in a student's living place?
"Don't worry, my boy, I raid the houses of every ninja in this village for fun, so I won't punish you." Kakashi wondered if anyone in Konoha had any scruples at all…
Author's Notes
Of course, Naruto fans will recognize the cameos, but to new readers: I promise that all these characters will be fleshed out eventually. ;)