The rest of the month passed by and the ragtag group of Kiba, Choji, Shikamaru, Naruko and Sasuke grew close quite quickly, surprising everyone. Sasuke even more, as he never allowed himself to get close to anyone. After the day Kiba and Shikamaru call 'The Day Hell Froze Over,' Sasuke being sociable was not the only surprising thing.
Kiba, for instance, worked more on his temper by meditating with Naruko and Sasuke and studied up on jutsu he could do that didn't involve Akamaru in case his canine friend was out of action.
Shikamaru stayed awake in class more often, which was a feat in itself.
With Sasuke's advice and sensitivity, Choji managed to abandon the useless calories and carbohydrates in junk food and now sticks with much healthier food, eating sweets only in moderation.
He was still trying to figure out what draws him to Naruko.
What's more strange, Sasuke now finds himself growing to Kiba as well. He never liked the Inuzuka before, so why now, after Naruko shows up? Why now, after taijutsu matches of Kiba getting angry for being beaten and Sasuke smirking over him? Slowly but surely in just one week, Sasuke realized he didn't really care.
In fact, he considers the two to be his best friends.
Sasuke and Kiba would butt heads, making Naruko would break it up. Or Naruko and Kiba would argue and Sasuke would separate them. Then they would joke with one another a half hour later.
The Uchiha quickly took his shower and got dressed for bed. As anyone could notice, he was excited for the next day because on Friday, it was finally time to assign teams.
Not that he would tell anyone he was excited.
Friday
"Alright, everyone, quiet down," said Iruka.
Ino and Sakura are standing on the stairs arguing about who would be on the same team as Sasuke. They were loud enough to drown out the rest of the class with their 'Sasuke is Kami' talk.
"You guys, listen up!"
Then Naruko and Kiba started their own fight about who had the best taijutsu form.
Iruka clenched his jaw and bellowed with his famous Big-Headed Jutsu. "ENOUGH."
Not only did the class stop talking, they stopped moving, breathing and even thinking.
"Thank you. Now it's finally time to assign teams," he started. The whole class let out a roaring cheer, with Kiba throwing in a loud "Finally!"
"Okay, okay. Now the teams are ordered in formation of the student with the highest score of that group, the student with the average score and the student with the lowest. But before we get to that, I have the results of the Top Kunoichi and the Rookie of the Year…," Iruka sorted through the envelopes he put on his desk. He pulled out a single sheet from a brown envelope, his eyes widening in surprise. "For Top Kunoichi: Naruko Uzumaki with Sakura Haruno as the runner up. And for Rookie of the Year: …Shikamaru Nara with Sasuke Uchiha as his runner up."
There was a total uproar. The boys and some of the girls were cheering for Naruko; the girls knew that she was really smart and didn't really like Sakura, while the boys just cheered for Naruko because they thought she was hot.
Sakura stayed in her seat, steaming without a word. When some of the students took a glance at her, they were shocked to see that she wasn't shouting. Up in the top right corner of the room, Naruko was grinning while leaning back against the wall in her seat.
When Iruka announced Shikamaru as Rookie of the Year, the cheering died down. Shikamaru Nara, the laziest boy ever? Not Sasuke? At this, Sakura jumped up and reminded everyone what she was known for.
"WHAT?! HOW?! He never does anything! Sasuke deserved to be Rookie of the Year, he's the best!" She didn't seem to register that she was just the runner up. In Sakura's reality, she just assumed that Iruka made a mistake.
Everyone covered their ears, struggling to block out the screeching that came from the twelve year old girl. 'How can someone so small make so much noise?' They all thought.
Iruka cleared his throat into his hand, attempting to get everyone back on track. "Sakura, sit down and be quiet. If you would have allowed me to finish, you would know that Shikamaru has really picked up all his slack. He turned in all his missing work and completed his unfinished papers, catching up with us quite quickly. Unsurprisingly, he's the smartest boy in the school, obviously his father's son. Sasuke would have won if Shikamaru had stayed unmotivated as he was month ago. Now, Team One will consist of…"
Slowly, the kid-filled classroom dwindled down to a group of nine.
"Team Seven will be Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, −"
"YES! True love prevails all!" shouted Sakura. The remaining nine students rolled their eyes, sighing exasperatedly. Sasuke dropped his head to his desk, mumbling about the unfairness of the universe.
Iruka cleared his throat, ignoring Sakura's unsurprising outburst. "− and Naruko Uzumaki. Your sensei is Kakashi Hatake."
The only male member of Team Seven offered his fist under the desk and Naruko bumped it with her own, grinning as she kept her eyes on the front of the room. Kiba glowered at the back of Sasuke's head and growled softly to himself.
"Team Eight is Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame; your sensei is Kurenai Yuhi, and Team Nine is already in circulation, so finally with keeping tradition, Team Ten will be Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka and Choji Akimichi and your sensei will be Asuma Saratobi," Iruka finished.
Kiba sighed as he petted the bundle of fur − Akamaru − on top of his head. He jumped up out of his seat, dug into his pocket and flicked one of Akamaru's treats at the back of Sasuke's head. The Uchiha's hand shot into the air, catching the dog treat and returned it. Kiba ducked slightly, letting Akamaru catch it in his mouth. The small dog yipped happily as he snuggled into Kiba's hood.
Shino, a boy with slightly shaggy black hair that wore a tan coat with its collar covering his mouth and blue shinobi shorts, pushed up his sunglasses slightly. "Shall we go then?" He was standing with their other teammate Hinata at the door. Like Kiba and Shino, she was also wearing a coat; a light indigo shade. Again, like the both of them, she had her indigo hair cut short so it wouldn't get in the way. Hinata kept her trademark milky lavender eyes to the floor. For quite some time, Hinata had looked up to Naruko for her courage. Ever since she saw Naruko stand up to a group of bullies who were told by their parents that she was a dangerous monster... The blonde four year old refused to take any of their ridiculing and beat up a boy twice her size and age... Hinata had never seen anything like it. So when Naruko enrolled a month earlier, Hinata was ecstatic. Sadly, because of her shyness, she didn't have the heart to speak to her.
The blonde briefly wondered why the two were the only ones who never really talked with the other kids. She had seen them sit with each other, but never talked. Kiba nodded solemnly and followed the bug user out the door.
A yawn resounded from the front of the classroom.
"'Bout time you woke up, Shika," Choji said from behind his mouthful of strawberries. The pineapple-haired boy grunted and stood from his chair, put his hands behind his head and walked out the door. Choji snorted at Shikamaru's lack of concern and followed. Staring after her new teammate's attitudes, Ino got up to tag along, but not before fixing a glare on Sakura.
One hour later…
"Where is he?!" Sakura huffed. "He can't be a very successful jōnin if he's a whole hour late, right Sasuke?" She turned to Sasuke, who was standing against the wall opposite the classroom door with Naruko. She gnashed her teeth together from how close they're standing. How dare she steal Sasuke away from her?
"This is unbelievable. How are we going to get anything done if our sensei can't be on time?" Naruko thought out loud, pretending that she didn't really know Kakashi that well. Sasuke snickered softly at her bad acting.
Sakura was so jealous that Sasuke wasn't paying attention to her; she decided to show off her "ninja" skills. She swiftly walked to the janitor's closet down the hall, snatched a bucket from the confining room and filled it with water. She ran back to the classroom and pulled a chair under the door. Sakura tiptoed on top of the chair and pushed the bucket on top. Satisfied, she jumped down to look at her work.
"…Um, Sakura? I don't think Kakashi's gonna fall for that," Naruko stage whispered from behind her ear.
Sakura jumped. 'When did she get behind me?' She shook off her surprise. "Back off. How would you know? Besides, this is what he gets for being late."
"She's right, Sakura," Sasuke finally spoke. "A jōnin like Kakashi would never fall for something as childish as this."
But to no avail, the bubblegum haired genin paid no attention to Sasuke − Sounds odd, doesn't it? − reprimanding her. In fact, all she could think about was that her name fell from his lips.
"This is the second smartest girl in the school?" Sasu asked. "Don't waste your time with this one." Sasuke shook his head as he watched Sakura fix the door so the bucket falls in the right direction.
'Proving I can fool a jōnin will definitely make Sasuke-kun like me.'
"Sakura, it's not gonna work. Kakashi's a genius," Naruko tried to reason with her. What she didn't realize, was how admirable she sounded.
Sasuke clenched his jaw slightly at her tone. 'Brother figure or not…'
"You should listen to her."
The pink and black-haired genin stilled.
"Kakashi-sensei! You're late!" Naruko scolded. She almost said 'again', but quickly caught herself.
"Gomen… A black cat crossed my path so I had to take the long way around," said Kakashi, rubbing the back of his head. With that said, the white-haired scarecrow looked around the classroom before settling his lone eye down on the three genin he was assigned to. 'Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha and my little sister…' Kakashi could feel the excitement pouring off of Naruko; from Sasuke, he felt pride, excitement and… jealousy?
…Nothing but nervousness rolling off of Sakura.
"My first impression of you three? …Pathetic. Meet me on the roof."
The genin blinked at his bluntness. The next second, nothing was left but three leaves falling to the floor.
"Pathetic, huh? C'mon, Sasuke. Let's go show him how pathetic we are," Naruko growled, grabbing her friend's hand.
Sasuke followed, blushing subconsciously. He quickly shook it off, of course. He didn't want anyone to know that he liked her.
No one.
Sakura watched as her 'soul mate' trailed after Naruko. 'What is so special about her?'
Up on the roof, the three genin met with their new sensei.
Assessing his team again, Kakashi sat on the metal railing surrounding the top of the building. He clapped his hands together and gave his famous one eyed smile to put everyone at ease. "Now, first order of business, how about you introduce yourselves?"
Wondering how, Sakura asked, "How about you give us an example, sensei?"
The jōnin shrugged his shoulder, seeing no harm in the innocent question. "Alright… My name is Kakashi Hatake. My dream is… classified. My hobbies are… none of your business. What I like is… a secret. And my dislikes are… confidential."
Naruko and Sasuke snorted in unison while Sakura just looked clueless. 'All he told us was his name.'
"So... Pinky, let's start with you."
Sakura's clueless look was quickly replaced with a happy one as she took his suggestion. "Okay! My name is Sakura Haruno… My dream is…" She looked over at Sasuke. The Uchiha felt her eyes on him and stepped farther away even though Naruko was the one between them. "My hobbies are…"
She looked at Sasuke again. "Who I like is…"
She looked at Sasuke again, but this time she giggled.
"Your dislikes…?" Kakashi asked blandly.
Sakura's eyes flashed angrily as she ground out a "Naruko and Ino-pig!" from between her teeth.
The first-mentioned blonde let out another snort and crossed her arms. "Surprise, surprise," she muttered.
The gray haired jōnin nodded silently then pointed to Sasuke. 'Rabid fangirl… I thought Sasuke and Naruko were just exaggerating…' "You're next."
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. My dream is… to kill a certain person and restore my clan. My hobbies are training and hanging out with my friends. I like reading, looking up family jutsu and my friends." — 'And Naruko.' Kakashi interposed from his thoughts. — "My dislikes are Naruko's unhealthy obsession with ramen,—"
"It's food created by Kami himself!" she interjected.
Sasuke just arched his left eyebrow and continued as if he didn't hear her. "—people who don't take their training seriously and perverts." He smirked slightly at Kakashi, who suddenly found a ladybug on the concrete ground captivating.
"Naruko, if you would finish us off…," the jōnin mumbled behind his mask.
"Finally! My name is Naruko Uzumaki! My dream is to become Hokage! My hobbies are training and pranking. I like ramen, Hokage-jiji's stories, Sasuke-kun, Shika-kun, Kiba-kun, Choji-kun, Hokage-jiji, Jiraiya and bunch of other people. My dislikes are the three minutes it takes to make instant ramen, kunoichi who don't take themselves or their professions seriously, people who are afraid of what they don't understand and super-perverts."
A loud sneeze overcame the women's section of the hot springs.
"PERVERT!"
A few seconds later, a single girlish scream disrupted the birds resting peacefully in the trees.
The scream was so loud it returned to the group of four.
Kakashi sighed as he stood, turned around and prepared to jump off the railing to the smaller building under him. "Come to Training Ground Seven at 8:00. And don't eat breakfast; you'll just throw it back up."
Shuddering at his nonchalant attitude, the three genin got ready to depart as well. Sakura turned to talk to Sasuke, but before she could even get a word out, he was already gone, along with Naruko, taking the same route of escape as their new sensei.
"So what do you think he's going to have us do?" asked Sasuke as the two walked to the park to meet the rest of their friends.
"How would I know? I've tried to get it out of him but he won't spill," shrugged Naruko.
Sasuke grunted softly, effectively ending the conversation as the walked to the jungle gym. Naruko climbed up the jungle gym, flipped over the top bar and held herself up by the back of her knees.
"So I've been thinking—," Kiba started while he leaned against the metal structure.
"Did it hurt?" Sasuke quipped. He followed Naruko up the jungle gym but instead sat on top.
Shikamaru snorted softly.
Scowling, Kiba finished his thought, "Now that we're genin, I thought that maybe we should meet one day of the week training as a group; sparring and stuff like that."
Shikamaru nodded in approval. "That's not a bad idea. And it should be on Sunday; since that's typically the day ninja have the day off."
"So should it be just us? Or everyone?" Choji asked, eating the remaining potato chips from their bag.
"No…," Naruko answered. "I'll admit; it would be easier if it was just us but everyone could use more training. It won't be mandatory either. They should come because they want to," she added.
Four-fifths of the group surmised that since Sasuke hadn't said anything the entire conversation, he had no objections. "So where is it going to be?" he finally asked.
"We could use the one training ground everyone is too afraid to use," Naruko grinned devilishly. Sasuke inched away from her discreetly as well and far as he could. "You don't mean Training Ground Forty-Four…?"
"The Forest of Death?! That place is dangerous! We could get killed!" Choji fretted. Naruko waved her hand, dismissing the warning. "I've been there plenty of times. It's not all it's cracked up to be." The boys blinked, unable to believe that anyone could stay in there long enough to breathe; let alone train.
"It's the perfect place; no one would ever imagine a group of green genin could handle the Forest of Death…," Shikamaru said. Naruko grinned, pulled herself up and jumped of the jungle gym.
"Then it's settled! Next Sunday, we start our training at Training Ground Forty-Four! Since I've already been in there so often the animals there are pretty comfortable around me."
"But how will we get in?" Kiba wondered. Naruko gave a foxy grin to which Kiba blushed. "No need to be concerned, Kiba. You and Choji just bring the food. Shika, Sasuke and I will worry about that."
'How did I get roped into this?' Sasuke and Shikamaru sweatdropped.
The next morning, the bright sun woke Sasuke before his alarm clock could.
He shot of bed and to the bathroom. He just barely remembered that today was the test that would proved whether he could stay a genin.
After finishing his morning routine, Sasuke was just about to take his leave when he saw a black haired man in a black cloak sitting in one of the chairs in the dining room. Sasuke flattened himself against the wall that made half the entrance to the room. He peeked around the corner and narrowed his eyes. He stepped the closer to get a better look.
Sasuke gritted his teeth as he forced his nervous heart to slow.
It couldn't be him.
It can't be.
He wasn't ready to face him yet… Maybe that's why he was here… But wouldn't he want a challenge?
'Please no,' Sasuke thought. 'Not here, not now…' Then he straightened out of his position.
Why was he acting like a scared little kid? He wasn't seven anymore.
Sasuke steeled himself and reached for his pack of shuriken on his left leg. He took careful arm at the figure's back; the top of the spine, specifically. But as the shuriken soared through the air, the figure swiftly and unfortunately moved out of the way, the ninja star implanting itself in the wall.
Sasuke felt the chakra around him shift.
'Genjutsu…'
And then it was gone.
Sasuke punched wall behind him then looked at the one in the dining room where the shuriken stuck. One the opposite blade, a piece of paper was attached.
He snatched the paper off and read:
Congratulations, little brother.
Oddly enough, I couldn't find much to edit in this chapter... Eh, maybe I'm just being lazy.
Revised: December 31, 2013
HAPPY NEW YEAR.