Well, FINALLY.
To NightFlowerLuv (since for some reason the reply-to-review system isn't working): No, that would be kinda weird. The Uzumaki clan has always had the Jinchuuriki of Konoha, it would be really weird if an Uchiha suddenly had one, don't you think? Besides, I have no idea how I would have to write that in the first place. Like, how the hell would the Kyuubi go from Naruto to Yukari? Haha, now I think about it, that would actually make her incredibly Mary Sue-ish.
ANYWAY, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!
Enjoy, or not.
"…then, Team Nova will include Saki Sarutobi, Naoki Hyuuga and Masato Aburame. Lastly, the final team, Team Lucky, will be Katsuro Uzumaki, Hiroki Haruno and Yukari Uchiha, which-"
"-SENSEI!" Tomato-head immediately got up from his seat, flailing his arms. I sighed in annoyance. Team Lucky? It should be named team Unlucky: I couldn't believe I'd been set up with this bonehead.
"What is it, Katsuro?" Takao-sensei glared at him, clearly getting impatient. A vein on the side of his head popped up, and I swear he looked like he was about to commit a murder. Uzumaki, being the idiot that he was, ignored this sign and continued speaking instead of doing the sensible thing and sitting down.
"Can I be placed in another team on the account of my current team being complete bullshit?"
"SIT YOUR ASS DOWN, UZUMAKI!" He eventually complied, scowling and cussing softly. Me and Hiroki looked at each other, thinking the same thing: 'Are we really in a team with this guy?' Takao-sensei calmed down and continued to inform us that our respectable teachers would each meet up with us after class. He told our team to wait in the classroom, while the other teams were sent to different locations. I wondered who our teacher would be. I had a few people in mind, but it could be a new one as well.
"Hey, Yukari?" Hiroki whispered while Takao was giving a lengthy speech about how we were supposed to behave like real ninjas now. I looked at him expectantly. "Do you think we'll survive that guy?" he asked me while gesturing to Katsuro. I thought about it long and hard.
"He isn't stupid, that's for sure. He is the second best student in class, after all. But he's also the embodiment of impatience." I bit on my lower lip. "We'll survive, I suppose. That is, if our teacher isn't a total idiot."
The door nearly broke as someone kicked it in with brute force. Hiroki hid under the table, while Uzumaki just tripped over his own feet, completely taken by surprise, and fell back on the ground. I was the only one who responded aggressively by pulling out a kunai and holding it ready, prepared for the worst. From what I'd heard from my two brothers, the person that got assigned to us was one of the top jounin in town and not someone to mess with. A lean, young man stood in the door opening, his hair was messy and white, and he had dark eyes and light skin. He first stared at me, then at Hiroki who'd immediately taken cover, and seemed to approve. Then he walked over to Katsuro, who just gazed up at him.
"You are the weakest link." he established. Uzumaki's jaw dropped as me and Hiroki started laughing.
"Oi! Do you even know who I am? I'm Katsuro Uzumaki, and I'm a hell of a lot better than those two, no joke!" he yelled at the man, who just looked at him as if Uzumaki were a mentally retarded child having a temper tantrum. Which was, mostly, true.
"You're an Uzumaki, you say?" the guy smirked. "Then why don't you act like one?" Uzumaki was at a loss for words (priceless moment right there) and the man turned around and walked out, gesturing us to follow him. Me and Hiroki got up and followed immediately, Uzumaki was last. We walked outside, and the man sat down on a tree stump. The three of us sat on the grass in front of him.
'Okay, so far this guy seems alright.' I thought, watching him closely.
"Introductions?"
"Eh? What, just like that? Shouldn't you introduce yourself first?" Hiroki responded with a frown. The man sighed.
"Fine, if a simple introduction is too much for you kids to handle. My name is Minoru Hatake." There was a silence. "That's it. Your turn."
"Whaaaaat? That's not a proper introduction! You didn't tell us anything else!" Uzumaki complained. Minoru rolled his eyes.
"I like the color blue."
"That's still not enough!"
"What's this, an interview? Just get on with yours already. Name, hobbies, aspirations, go!" Hiroki was the first to respond to that.
"My name is Hiroki Haruno. I like hanging out with Yukari-chan, drawing and… uh, that's it. I want to take over the hospital from my mom later!" He announced cheerfully. Minoru nodded approvingly.
"That's good, so I suppose you already know a thing or two about medical ninjutsu." Minoru now looked at Uzumaki, who was still glaring at him.
"I'm Katsuro Uzumaki! I like ramen and… and other stuff! And I'm gonna be the next Hokage, no joke!" he announced loudly, and Minoru leaned forward, interested.
"Oho? How are you going to accomplish such a feat, pray tell?" Uzumaki was silent, blinking twice. "I see. Now, your turn, miss." the man said to me in an amused manner.
"Yukari Uchiha. I like Hi- I mean, spending time with Hiroki-" I glanced at Hiroki who was blushing "-and I guess becoming a jounin and completing missions is enough for me." I continued in a composed manner. Uzumaki made a gagging sound though, and Hiroki elbowed him in the side.
"Ow!" Uzumaki glared at him, but Hiroki just ignored it and I chuckled. We'd always been like this. Either me or Hiroki squabbled with Uzumaki, while the other one watched and laughed.
"Hey, Yukari-chan, look what I found!" A little Hiroki ran towards a little Yukari with his short legs, who was sitting on top of a hill filled with yellow daffodils and white daisies. They were both nine years old, enjoying the afternoon together. He had a smile on his face, and was holding something blue in his little palm, sticking it out and basically shoving it into little Yukari's face. Yukari sneezed, pushing his hand away.
"What's that?" Yukari asked curiously as she rubbed her nose. Her hair was in a long braid, and she was wearing a red dress with a white, red-dotted coat. It was spring, but there was a lot of wind that day. Hiroki grabbed her hand and pushed the flower in it. Yukari got a good look at the flower and was shocked. It was a blue lily, her favorite flower in her favorite color.
"See? See? Isn't it pretty?" Hiroki sat down next to her, and his own grin widened when he saw her smile. Because her face was usually so blank, when she smiled it was like a flower blooming in the spring. He always loved seeing her smile.
"Where did you get it?" she asked, studying it very carefully, as if she was afraid it would suddenly wilt.
"I just stumbled on it on my way here, really. You can have it." he said with a light blush. Yukari seemed overjoyed.
"Really? That's so sweet of you! I'll take good care of it, I will, and then I'll get you one too!" she promised. Hiroki grabbed the flower from her and gently put it behind her ear.
"That looks good on you," he muttered and Yukari chuckled. She didn't do that chuckling or laughing with anyone else, besides maybe her older brother Kazuya.
"But it doesn't match my clothes. Maybe I should wear it with something white and blue?"
"Gotcha!" Suddenly, Yukari was tackled from behind. Hiroki saw a flash of red and immediately recognized Katsuro, but it was too late; he and Yukari were already rolling off the hill. Hiroki hurried down as fast as he could, and saw the two land in a few bushes. Yukari was screaming at him and Katsuro was laughing. She kicked him off, and got up herself. The first thing she checked was her hair for the flower, but the flower was half-gone. Three of the four petal were missing. She pulled it out of her hair, and a sad expression flashed on her face, but it quickly changed into anger.
"You idiot! Look what you did to Hiroki-kun's flower!" she shouted angrily, holding out the miserable flower for Katsuro to see. Katsuro frowned, not understanding her anger.
"It's just a stupid flower!" That seemed to be the last straw for Yukari. Granted, Katsuro couldn't have understood the significance of that flower, but Yukari was just nine and really pissed off.
"I hate you!" Both Hiroki and Katsuro were shocked, and Yukari ran away from them before she got out of control and did Katsuro some permanent damage. Katsuro, trying to pretend that hadn't affected him, folded his arms and huffed annoyed. She'd scolded at him in the past, but never said anything like that with such a fire in her eyes. Hiroki, however, was angry at him as well for making Yukari upset.
"Why did you do that? She loved that flower!" Hiroki scolded him. Katsuro seemed rather offended.
"What's so special about that flower, anyway?"
"I gave it to her, stupid! But now you destroyed her present!"
"I didn't even see the flower! I didn't know it was a present!"
"The least you could do is apologize!"
I probably overreacted. Contrary to popular belief in town, I can actually let my emotions get the best of me. That did happen a lot, and strangely enough only with Uzumaki. He just had this something that managed to set off such strong emotions within me, and it pissed me off to no end. I probably was unnecessarily rude and bitchy to him, but what can I say? My social skills have always been rather lacking, and that's why I try to at least stay calm and cool most of the time. And I was kind of egotistical sometimes, I mean, he couldn't have known how precious that flower was to me, but I let my anger get the better of me.
You know, I really did like that flower. Not just because it was pretty, but because I knew Hiroki had put a lot of effort into finding it, and he'd given it to me. Then Uzumaki had came and wrecked it, like he always did. Somehow he always managed to ruin almost everything. That whole incident was just one of the many instances where he'd either wrecked my stuff, or insulted me in some way. The first time we'd met, I'd tried to be polite, really. But then he just had to go and make a remark about how pointy my nose was! I know my nose is pointy, no need for you to point it out (pun unintended). The least he could've done was apologize, but he didn't even do that!
I didn't mean what I'd said though. I didn't really hate him, how could I? We were practically raised together! That does create some sort of bond, whether you want to or not.
I wouldn't go as far as to say that we were friends, but I don't think I could ever really hate him.
Hating on the mentally handicapped is just mean.
"Uh… what are we doing here?" Hiroki asked the teacher when we arrived at an all too familiar scene: the big hill filled with flowers. Ah, good times at this hill. I remember tackling Uchiha here once, and then she got all upset over some stupid flower. Whatever. Minoru looked down at him with a smirk, but didn't say anything, walking to the top of the hill. We followed him and when we finally got at the top, he halted and turned around to face the three of us.
"If you want to officially graduate, you need to pass this final test." he stated formally, his arms folded across his chest.
'He's joking, right?'
"What? But I thought we were already ninjas!" I exclaimed, the outrage clear in my voice.
"Not quite. You still have one obstacle to overcome."
"What is that obstacle?"
"Me." Minoru said amused, and we simultaneously frowned. I frowned even deeper when I realized the other two copied my frown.
"You? You mean we need to beat you in battle?" Uchiha asked, and I saw her hand already reaching for a kunai. Minoru shook his head.
"No, you need to catch me." Everyone was silent for a brief moment. Then I decided to make the first move. I took a step forward and grabbed the man's arm.
"Got you."
"Katsuro, that doesn't count."
"Why the hell not?" I asked, releasing his arm again.
"I didn't say "go" yet." I blinked, then grabbed his arm for a second time. Minoru sighed.
"Katsuro-"
"-You said go!" Hiroki laughed (probably at me) and Uchiha just rolled her eyes. Minoru jerked his arm away and I nearly tripped by the sudden force.
"Alright, we'll do it again! If you can't catch me by sunset, I'll win and you'll all fail. Whoever catches me is guaranteed to graduate and become a Genin. Believe me, I won't go easy on you, so give me your all. You can use anything in your arsenal, understood?" We nodded. "Good. Then, go!"
It happened so fast I didn't even have a chance to grab him. I reached for his arm again but he was already gone. At the same time, both Hiroki and Uchiha had reached for him as well, and the three of us collided.
"Dammit, Uzumaki!" Uchiha cursed, rubbing her forehead.
"How is this my fault? You should've just been more careful!"
"Whatever. I'm not going to waste my time talking to you. Let's go, Hiroki. We don't need this guy." She wanted to leave, but Hiroki stopped her. "What's wrong?" she asked him annoyed. He glanced at me once before he spoke to her.
"I think we're gonna need him for this." Uchiha obviously disapproved, judging from the furrowing of her eyebrows and the glare directed towards me. "Think about it, he's second in class, which means he'll probably be more useful than me." She thought about it for a long time before she finally reached a decision.
"Fine. I cannot let my emotions get in the way of graduation." her coal-black eyes pierced right through me. I hated it when she did that. "What do you say?"
"If you can keep up with me, then alright, I guess." I muttered, folding my arms. "So, what's the game plan?" Uchiha looked at Hiroki.
"Hiroki, you're a sensor type, right?"
"Yeah, but… you know, I'm not that good yet," he started, scratching the back of his head, but she wouldn't hear any of his excuses.
"Please try, at the very least." Hiroki sighed, and closed his eyes, concentrating deeply while Uchiha then looked at me. "The moment Hiroki locates him, one of us needs to try and chase him towards the other." I immediately grasped the logic in this.
"Since he thinks we hate each other he won't suspect us working together, right? Good plan. Who'll chase him?"
"You do chase him, since you suck at ninjutsu and suppressing your chakra. I'll ambush him and trap him with fire, then you use a net to capture him, alright?"
"What? I do not suck at that stuff, okay? I just… don't need it, that's all." I huffed offended. Uchiha rolled her eyes.
"Compared to me you do suck. I can't believe you're second in class with ninjutsu that's that pathetic." I clenched my jaw.
"I don't think I like this plan!" Actually, I did, but she just pissed me off by acting all high-and-mighty so now I was getting stubborn.
"I don't care, it's the most efficient way of catching him."
"Screw that, I'm perfectly capable of capturing him by myself!" Uchiha whistled as if she were impressed. I raised my eyebrows. She eventually responded, with a smirk.
"You know words that have more than two syllables! Impressive."
"Now listen you-"
"-Guys, I found him!" Hiroki interrupted us, panicked. The both of us stared at him.
"Well, where is he?" Uchiha asked.
"Right here. Hi, guys!" Minoru stood near a few trees, and waved cheerfully at us. I was the first to instinctively react, and shot towards him with a kunai clenched in my hand. At least there was one thing that Uchiha would never beat me in, and that was speed. I knew that my attack would fail, but it was merely a test to measure his speed against mine. Minoru skillfully dodged my attacks, and landed a kick in my chest, sending me flying back. So now it was a fact that attacking him head on wouldn't even be worth as a good distraction. Hiroki caught me, and Uchiha quickly approached Minoru and used her fire release, probably to try and trap him anyway.
"Katon: Hibashiri¹!" she created a small stream of fire, that tried to circle around Minoru, but before it could close the circle and trap him, Minoru escaped from the only opening faster than Uchiha's fire could react. By then I'd already gotten up and threw three Shuriken toward him, using my wind natured chakra to make them go faster, but he blocked them with a kunai nonetheless. Faster than we could follow, he sank into the earth, and suddenly popped up next to Hiroki and me, though I had my back turned to him so I was extra vulnerable. When Hiroki tried to cover me, Minoru landed a quick punch in his stomach, then grabbed him by his shirt and threw him away like a ragdoll.
I narrowed my eyes, and tried to escape as facing him head on would not only be reckless but incredibly stupid. However, he expected that, and a roundhouse kick sent me rolling off the hill. It was painful, I'll tell you that much. After about ten seconds of rolling down, I slammed into a tree and I could feel a painful cracking sound coming from my shoulder, and a sharp pain shooting through my arm.
"Shit!" I hissed in pain, and looked up. There was no way we'd catch him like that. I could see flames shooting around from the top of the hill, but then it ended. I wondered if Uchiha got her ass handed to her, but then I saw her coming towards me, carrying Hiroki over her shoulder. She slid down to me from the top of the hill, as running with Hiroki would probably result in her tripping and falling down, and I was a little disappointed to see she hadn't been defeated.
'Damn, she can do anything, can't she?' I felt like slapping myself when I realized I was actually admiring her, even if it was for a second. She stopped right next to me, and put a knocked out Hiroki against the tree I'd slammed into. She stared at me with a contemplative look on her face, before she started glaring.
"If you'd just agreed with my plan, this would've never happened." she eventually muttered, annoyed with me. I blinked several times, and really started to get pissed.
"Oh, put all the blame on me, why don't you!" I yelled at her. "It's never your fault, because you're miss perfect, right?" Uchiha rubbed her temples.
"Instead of proposing a strategy of your own, you decided to ridicule mine simply because you weren't the person who would catch him, thus successfully wasting our time and giving him a chance to sneak up on us. So, you do deserve all the blame." I was baffled. Not because she was partly right, but because she wouldn't admit that she'd provoked me into refusing her plan in the first place!
"If you'd never offended me by saying I suck at ninjutsu, I would've probably agreed!" I accused her angrily. "The blame is not entirely on me, but you won't see that because you're an egotistical bitch who thinks she's flawless!"
A second later I felt a stinging sensation in my right cheek. My hand automatically reacted by grabbing her black jacket and slamming her against a tree. We were glowering in each other's eyes, ready to tear the other up.
"Daddy gave you practically everything, didn't he?" she spat her words out like venom from a snake. "Private training from the Hokage and some of the best ninjas in town. They just handed you everything on a silver plate!" I pressed her harder against the rough exterior of the tree.
"I had to train for all of that! I had to work my ass off to make everyone's expectations of me come true! Unlike you, you were just born with all that talent!" I growled.
"Born with it?" she repeated, her eyes widening in outrage. "My brothers were born geniuses and prodigies! Me? Dad wouldn't even train me, he wouldn't even teach me anything, nor would my brothers! I had to learn everything by studying dozens of books, because apparently, if you're not born a naturally gifted Uchiha, no one is there to help you." I didn't know what to say. She pushed me away, and it was one of those rare moments where I saw her hurt expression. I'd always imagined her to be just a natural. But to not even by supported by your family?
"I didn't…." I could barely think of what to say anymore.
"I hate you, Uzumaki. I hate you, and everything you stand for." She resolutely turned around and left. I stood there like a statue for a few seconds. The look in her eyes had been so fierce, that I couldn't help but think she truly hated me. This had been only the second time she'd ever said that to me, and it somehow stung worse than the first time she'd said it. Maybe because I knew she hadn't meant it the first time. This time, though, might be a different story.
I didn't even think about the exam anymore. Yeah, we'd had a lot of fights, called each other a lot of names and had a widely known rivalry going on. But hate? I didn't feel anything remotely close to that. Maybe she did, but I certainly didn't. She'd just always been someone I was determined to surpass, and sometimes even secretly admired. But because I'd rather die than let her know I looked up to her, I was always just acting rude towards her.
I sighed, putting a hand through my hair.
'I really screwed up this time.' I thought jadedly. There was no way she was ever going to forgive me. I'd never even asked for forgiveness or apologized before, but even I could see I'd gone a little too far, so far that even asking for forgiveness might not work out well.
A speck of blue caught my attention when I glanced over to Hiroki. Right next to him, a blue flower.
"A lily?" I muttered in myself. I remembered then, very vividly, the flower I'd ruined one day. It had also been a blue lily, and extremely rare in these parts. It had also been a flower Hiroki had found, and now it was right next to him. A great idea popped into my head. Hiroki probably would be safe, since the woods were still secured parts of Konoha, so I plucked the flower and went in the direction Uchiha had stormed off to.
I wondered what those kids were up to. The real test had been to make them work together, and for a second, in the beginning, it had seemed as if they were going to pass without much trouble, but then Yukari and Katsuro had started arguing. I had let Yukari escape, since chasing them would be practically the opposite of the assignment I'd given them, and decided to watch from a distance. I saw another heated argument between the two kids while Hiroki was unconscious. Yukari stormed off, furious and upset. Then, Katsuro did a most curious thing: he plucked a flower and went off in the direction she'd gone to.
It seemed the kid wanted to apologize with a flower. A very rare one, at that. When Katsuro had left, I grabbed Hiroki, swung him over my shoulder and went the same direction they went. Because really, this was something I just had to see.
'If he really believes she'll forgive him by just offering a flower, he's truly naïve.' I finally found them, Yukari kept walking on trying to ignore him, while Katsuro was chasing after her. Eventually he grabbed her wrist and they both stopped. I carefully got closer, putting Hiroki down behind some bushes, and listened in on the conversation.
"What do you want?" Yukari snapped at him, visibly upset. Katsuro took a deep breath, and suddenly seemed not to know how to behave. He was nervously glancing around, scratching his nose as he held the flower behind his back. I watched amused, waiting for the rejection that seemed inevitable. Yukari was getting impatient, and was about to leave again when Katsuro stopped her.
"Wait, I… well, I wanted to, ya know, apologize to you about what I said and stuff, so I found you something." he mumbled, and I could just barely make out the words.
'Good thing I know how to read lips,'
Katsuro pulled out the lily and showed her. Yukari's expression changed from shocked, to confused, to genuinely happy. Her eyes just lit up, and I was a little surprised that her usually so blank face was capable of doing that.
"You remembered?" she asked him, surprised but mostly happy. Katsuro seemed a little overwhelmed for a second, probably not used to seeing Yukari like that. He slowly nodded.
"Yeah, I also, wanted to make up for ruining your flower back then. I never really apologized for that, so, when I saw the flower, I thought it would be appropriate." He explained it slowly, obviously still trying to grasp the concept of a joyful Yukari. Then, she smiled, and I tried to hold back my laughter when I saw Katsuro almost getting dazzled by it. Obviously, Yukari didn't smile very often, if at all.
"Thank you. For once, you did something nice." she looked back at her flower, her smile fading away. "I suppose it was partially my fault." she admitted after a moment of silence, then looked back up at Katsuro, who was studying her face as if she were a rare animal. I was chuckling softly at the display.
"Did you just smile?" he eventually asked. Yukari sighed, irritated.
"Yes, and if you keep being an idiot it'll probably be the last time you'll ever see it." Katsuro muttered something and even with his lips vaguely moving I couldn't understand it, but it seemed to amuse Yukari. "My heart isn't made out of stone, Uzumaki. I am actually capable of feeling."
"You can feel?"
"How very funny. What did you do to Hiroki, anyway?"
"Nothing. Just left him there. Figured he'd be safe enough." There was another awkward silence. Obviously, they weren't used to be friendly with each other. "So, we fail the graduation test, I guess. Time's almost up and there's no way we can catch him now."
"I think you're right. But, there's always the next year, and if we work together then, I'm sure we'll ace it." Katsuro decided to stay optimistic, and there was the faintest trace of a smile to see on Yukari's lips.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. We'll work together."
'That's my cue.'
"YOU PASS!" I screamed, jumping out from behind the tree I'd been hiding. Katsuro jumped backwards and Yukari threw a kunai at me I dodged in the nick of time. "Wow, calm down."
"We… what the hell do you mean, we pass?" Yukari said, scowling at me. Katsuro was just gaping at me.
"Well, the real test was to make you two work together." There was a silence.
"OH COME ON! That's so LAME! Seriously, I thought this was going to be like, an ultimate test of awesome ninja skills, not some douchy, cliché "work together" test crap. Please, if I had like, one kumi for every time I heard that bull I would be the richest person on the planet. No joke, man."
"I second that, though I'd put it in a more eloquent way." Katsuro now glared at her.
"You have a problem with the way I talk, Uchiha?"
"Actually, I do, Uzumaki. It's loud and obnoxious. Stop it." Hiroki then woke up, and walked over to the two, asking them what the hell was going on. They informed him, and instead of reacting outraged, he simply laughed. This caused another argument between him and Katsuro, which led to another argument between Katsuro and Yukari, which ultimately resulted in a fist-fight.
I facepalmed.
'Fuck my life.'
Katon: Hibashiri¹; Fire Release: Running Fire.
GOSH, FINALLY. It took me ages to finish this chapter, mostly 'cause I got preoccupied with schoolwork. But now, the teachers have granted me mercy, so I'll be back to updating lots again. NEXT CHAPTER, will be, mainly, about how Katsuro handles his bet, and other minor characters being featured (ya know, the whole Mari-Akira situation going on?).
TIME FOR A BIO.
Minoru Hatake
A top jounin, who (unlike his dad, Kakashi Hatake) keeps his porn-collection away from his job. He's twenty-one years old, gets into frequent arguments with his mother, Anko Mitarashi, and has a hate-love relationship with candy. As in, he hates himself for loving candy, as he puts on weight from it, which means he needs to train extra hard, which means getting off his lazy ass and doing something other than reading porn in his free time. He is close friends with Kazuya, but thinks Ryuuji is just incredibly annoying. His name is written as (實) in kanji, meaning 'truth'.
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