Ryuu Shifutoma woke up to the rays of sunlight blazing through his window. He groaned and rolled out of bed. "Aw, is it morning already? Man, I was hoping for some more sleep. Hm?" Ryuu looked at his calendar. "Gah! It's the fifteenth! I'm gonna be late for the orientation!" Ryuu threw on some clothes, put on his ninja headband and looked at his reflection in the mirror, adjusting the headband. He wore a dark blue shirt with black shorts and white gloves. His sandals were a light grey color and he always had his aqua-colored hoodie on. His hair was spiky and aquamarine and his eyes were a piercing green. After adjusting his headband, Ryuu practically launched himself out the door.

On his way to the orientation, he saw his friend Shiori Chiya waiting by a tree for him. "Hey! Shiori!"

Shiori was friends with Sakura and Ino until she met Ryuu and Ino slapped him for calling Sasuke stupid. It wasn't Ryuu's fault he was smarter than Sasuke. Shiori had pumpkin orange hair with streaks of dirty blonde. She had hazelnut eyes and a somewhat pale skin tone. Shiori was about the same height as Shino and she wore a black bow in her hair at almost all times. The only differences between her and her sister were their eye color, and there wasn't much of a difference there anyway. Shiori had hazelnut eyes and Mira had brown eyes. Shiori looked up and turned Ryuu's way, smiling. "Took you long enough, slow poke." She teased.

He laughed, "Ah whatever, today's orientation, c'mon!"

"Oh, slow down. We have 5 minutes still and it's just down the road. Besides, Kiba's there already and waiting for us. So don't blow it again." she reprimanded, knowing as well as their other friends about Ryuu's crush on Kiba.

Ryuu blushed, "Agh, pipe down!" Shiori started laughing hysterically, "Oh well, c'mon, the rest of us are waiting." Ryuu's smile widened, "The whole gang?" Shiori nodded. "Alright!" They set off for the building to see the rest of their friends.

The 'gang' as Ryuu put it was a band of seven people who made an oath to be a group of best friends for life. The band called themselves 'CHASCII' because of the first letters of all the members' last names. In order, they were Shiori Chiya, Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame, Ryuu Shifutoma, Mira Chiya, Kiba Inuzuka, and Akamaru Inuzuka. They determined Akamaru might as well be like a twin to Kiba, so he was an Inuzuka as well.

Shiori was considered a master of Genjutsu for her age, often sought out by Kurenai for some training. As Kurenai always said, the village needed more Genjutsu talents. Mira was a Taijutsu specialist, preferring to jump in the fray and beat the crap out of everyone, thinking about the consequences later.

Shiori wasn't as blunt or reckless as her twin, Mira. She always had some plan thought out or at least a glimpse of a plan. Mira, however, would just jump in and start kicking. She got aggressive fast and was very touchy. People say Shiori and Mira were the perfect team, since they could read each other's thoughts and movements like open books. The two, put with Ryuu, were unstoppable.

Ryuu was a tricky one. The most information people had about him was as follows: He's very friendly and tends to think more about other people than himself. He's caring, understanding, and very smart. He once outmaneuvered Sasuke in battle. After that, everybody believed him when he said he had a photographic memory.

Ryuu was smarter than most teachers gave him credit for, but because he wanted to stay in class with his friends, he faked his grades to make himself seem less smart. He had no family, but nobody knew where he lived. He would always visit with the Chiya twins after classes every day and go home alone. He hated bullying and often stuck up for Naruto. He had a crush on Kiba, which almost everyone either knew or could figure out. He was very handy with ninja tools and could sneak up on almost anybody. Ryuu could manipulate people very easily and was able to lie like nobody else. He could also see another person's lie a mile away. He was always trying to get Kiba to notice him and would often follow Kiba from a distance. He was always disappearing. The few people who saw him when he disappeared say he either reads books and scrolls or plays a flute.

Lastly, the most vital thing people knew about Ryuu so far was he was not a morning person. Just ask Sakura. Ryuu sat down in an empty seat and went to sleep because he hated mornings. Sakura, being a goody two shoes and a know-it-all, woke him up. He picked her up in front of the whole class, teacher included, and threw her out of the window. They were three stories up and he did it with one arm. After that, nobody woke him up or even talked to him in the mornings except the CHASCII kids. And even they kept a slight distance.

Kiba, who was waiting for his friends, heard two people running his way and looked up, spotting them. "Hey guys what took you so long? Hinata, Mira, and Shino are already inside." The two apologized between breaths. When they had recuperated, they walked inside the building to the orientation room.

They stepped inside the orientation room and took their seats along two desks of three. They were in the middle of a conversation when Ryuu noticed Hinata staring at Naruto and blushing. Ryuu gasped dramatically. "Hinata, do you LIKE Naruto?" he said laughing. Hinata's blush deepened, proving his theory.

The Chiya twins went girl mode in seconds. "Oh my gosh, he's obnoxious to me, but seeing you blush is so endearing you should totally ask him out. We can help."

Kiba was officially alienated. "When they go girl mode, they sure can spout some words alright." Shino nodded solemnly and Akamaru yipped.

Then, out of the blue, Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno burst through the door shouting "I'm first!" simultaneously. They proceeded to argue, until Sakura noticed that Uchiha kid over by the wall. She gasped and ran over Naruto in trying to get to him.

Next thing Ryuu knew, almost all of the girls in the class went and argued over who got to sit next to Sasuke. The CHASCII kids looked straight at Mira with smirks. "Hey Mira, you gonna go fight over your crush?" Ryuu asked.

Mira blushed, "Oh are we gonna go over crushes now? Hey Ryuu, you gonna go ask…" Mira was about to get revenge when an extremely dangerous look on Ryuu's face warned her. "…ask, uh, the world who it will throw at you?" she covered horribly, but Kiba sniffed out the lie. Literally.

"What? Ryuu, you like someone?! Holy crap, that's awesome! Who is it?" Ryuu's eyes practically popped out of their sockets. He just stammered nonsense until he heard the gasps of multiple girls. He looked over to see Naruto kissing Sasuke, before they both turned away and gagged. The Sasuke stalkers seemed ready to beat the life out of him. Unfortunately for them, Mira got there first.

"BASTARD!" She yelled in his face. She threw him across the room and made some hand signs. Right before the finale, the teachers stepped in to help, but only succeeded in interrupting the jutsu and not so much the beating of Naruto. The CHASCII kids looked towards Mira's empty seat and sighed.

"As of today, you are all ninjas. To get here you have faced difficult trials and hardships. But that's nothing. What comes next will be far more difficult. Now you are only Genin; first level ninjas. All the Genin will be grouped into three man squads. Each squad will be led by a Jonin, an elite ninja." Iruka was telling the class, shocking most people.

The CHASCII members looked together. "I hope we don't get separated." Ryuu voiced everyone's thoughts.

Iruka kept talking. "We want each squad to have a balance of strength and abilities, so that's how we set them up."

Ryuu nodded, 'Well that's good. If we're anything, we're diverse.' He thought.

"I will now announce the squads." Iruka said. "Squad Seven: Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno…" Naruto cheered and Sakura hung her head, much to the annoyance of Mira. She hated it when people made scenes like that. "…and Sasuke Uchiha." When Iruka finished, they switched roles. Sakura cheered and Naruto hung his head.

Ryuu looked over to the dejected Hinata, about to cheer her up when Iruka interrupted him. "Next, Squad Eight: Hinata Hyuga…"

Hinata jumped, "Y-yes sir."

"…Kiba Inuzuka…" Iruka continued. Kiba chuckled.

"…Shino Aburame." The teacher concluded while Shino balanced his glasses again.

"How did you get in his group?!" Ryuu looked over to see Sakura and Ino in their natural habitats. They were fighting. Again. But this time, Shikamaru got involved. "I don't get it. What do you see in a guy like that? He's not so special."

Ino huffed. "You are so beyond clueless Shikamaru. Don't you get it?"

Shikamaru turned over. "No, I don't get it, 'cause I'm not a girl."

Ino sighed, "You are so full of yourself. Jealousy's a terrible thing. I'd hate to be on your squad."

"Now Squad Ten." Iruka continued, "Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara…"

Shikamaru laughed. "Hah! Did you say something about hating to be on my squad?"

"...And Choji Akimichi." Choji responded in his usual way: eating four chips in constant succession, much to Ino's dismay.

"And the last, Squad Eleven: Mira and Shiori Chiya, and Ryuu Shifutoma. Those are all the squads." Iruka settled.

"Iruka-sensei," Naruto whined, "Why does a great ninja like me have to be in the same group with a slug like Sasuke?!" Mira practically launched herself at him. Again. Once more, Iruka stepped in. "Sasuke had the best scores of all the graduating students. Naruto, you had the worst scores. To create a balanced group, we put the best student with the worst student." The whole class was laughing by this point.

Even Kiba was, however much Ryuu didn't want to believe it. He didn't like it that his crush was being mean to another person, especially since Ryuu already found out they were on separate teams. There goes hopes of asking Kiba out. Ryuu slouched.

Iruka cleared his throat. "After lunch, you'll meet your new Jonin teachers. Until then, class dismissed." The class started walking outside as the CHASCII kids stayed in.

"Well, at least we were just divided by two." Mira supplied, backed by Shiori and Shino. Hinata simply nodded and Kiba was too busy setting up a prank on the Jonin.

Ryuu was sprawled out on the floor, not really caring. 'I mean, I knew going for Kiba was a long-shot, but I never knew how long. I guess I shouldn't even try, but I can't stop thinking about him. He's cute, friendly, loyal, nice, caring, and very… hot.' Ryuu blushed.

"Hey Ryuu, you okay?" Kiba asked, concern in his wolf-like features. Ryuu blushed further and nodded. Mira, Shiori, and Hinata all sighed at Kiba's cluelessness.

Meanwhile, however, Shino had a plan. "Hey guys, I was wondering, maybe we could have a party at my house tomorrow after our first training with our Jonin instructors? Just the seven of us?" They weren't all that surprised at Shino's suggestion, knowing on the inside, Shino liked small parties with his friends. So they accepted breezily, Ryuu just nodding glumly.

"W-well, um, w-w-we should get g-going to meet our J-Jonin instruct-tors." Hinata stammered.

Ryuu sighed, "That's it Hinata, I'm going covert. You'll be going on a date with Naruto by the end of this week. Screw him being obnoxious." Everybody was startled by Ryuu's sudden determination and Hinata simply fainted.