Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
AN: Before I get started on team selections I'd like to say thanks to .kitten for helping me decide the team placements and giving some ideas that I'm going to use later, having to do with certain characters' skills and such, so thanks again (^-^)
Naruto watched his surrogate grandfather in amusement as he examined Naruto's ninja registration paper carefully as if trying to find any kind of fault in the picture. The picture in question was rather average, if one thought that Naruto giving that squinty-eyed foxy grin with his hands behind his head was average (which they did.)
The only abnormality that the hokage could see in the picture was that Naruto had taken off his orange jacket so he was left with his black t-shirt. The hokage gnawed on his pipe in worry, unused to Naruto not pulling anything funny. Naruto's knowing grin at the moment wasn't helping either.
"What's the matter, Jiji? Something wrong with my picture?" He asked innocently, though his posture spoke anything but. Naruto's jacket was still unzipped, not having bothered to do so after putting it back on and his right elbow was resting on the back of the chair he was sitting on as he took up a decidedly lax position, his left leg stretched out in front of him.
"Er, no, no. I'm just a little surprised you didn't...well I don't know, didn't paint your face in some ridiculous design or something...I'm still kind of waiting for something to happen. You don't have a prank planned do you Naruto?" 'Why else would Naruto seem so complacent? He must be planning something!'
Naruto only smirked at the sandaime. 'Ha, I've made him so paranoid about my pranks that all I have to do is not pull any for a while to make him nervous.' Naruto snickered. "No, Jiji, I don't have any pranks planned. The Hokage monument was me going out with a bang. I'm on vacation from my pranking king title." The sandaime was unconvinced, only serving to further entertain the new genin.
"Well, I'm glad you've taken this document..." he looked at the grinning picture of the blond, "...somewhat seriously. This ninja registration book lists all those in the village with high abilities...so it's an important document." Naruto just waved his hand flippantly.
"You worry too much, Jiji." Naruto's attention turned to the door when he heard it creak open, someone running in with a shuriken in their hand, causing Naruto to take action before he could stop himself. In a split second, Naruto had a kunai against the throat of whoever was stupid enough to attack the hokage.
Naruto's eyes widen at the squeaky yelp of shock that came from whoever he was apprehending, immediately realizing his mistake. The one he held in his arms was a small boy no older than eight wearing a ridiculously long scarf and holding a wooden shuriken.
"Hey, put me down stupid!" Naruto's eyebrow twitched at being called stupid by an eight year old.
"Brat! Let go of Hokage-sama's grandson!" Naruto turned a cold glance to whoever had yelled at him from the doorway, seeing a tall man wearing sunglasses, probably a jonin. Naruto got defensive immediately, a little embarrassed that he attacked a harmless kid. He only got angry as well when the kid spoke up again.
"Go ahead, punch me."
"Shut up! The kid shouldn't have barged in here with clear intent to attack Jiji! It's the kid's own stupid fault!" He defended, his cheeks flushed in anger and embarrassment as he whacked the kid on the head. "I don't care if the hokage's your grandmother! Don't do stupid things!" Naruto stormed out, still reprimanding himself over his own stupid mistake. Kurama's laughter wasn't helping any either.
'Hey, kit. You got yourself a stalker and I'm not talking about the Hyuga.'Naruto rolled his eyes.
'I know. He's been following since we left the tower...' Naruto watched from the corner of his eyes as the kid ran from behind a wall to behind a pole, '...and he really sucks...' The blond was starting to lose his patience with the brat so he decided to just get it over with, turning around to confront the kid.
"Why the hell are you following me, gaki?" A tick mark appeared on Naruto's face when the kid only poorly disguised himself against the fence with a camouflage sheet...one he was holding sideways. "What the hell is that?! You aren't fooling anyone!" The kid only chuckled.
"Impressive of you to see through this...The rumors about you are true." Naruto sweat dropped.
'Anyone could see through that sorry excuse for a-wait, what rumors?! There's more than the demon fox, pranking king, orange wearing idiot?' The kid then had the audacity to point at me all cocky like.
"Hey, I'll let you be my boss!" Naruto raised a brow.
"Excuse me?"
"In exchange..." he suddenly got really excited, "teach me that 'sexy no jutsu' you defeated Grandpa with! Please! Please boss!" Naruto thought about it.
'Well, he did manage to say please...and it would be funny as hell to know that Jiji was being tormented with the jutsu by his own grandson.' Internally, both Kurama and Naruto shared an evil grin.
'Do it.'Naruto nodded in agreement.
"Alright, gaki. I'll teach you." He watched in amusement as the boy began to shout and jump up and down in celebration.
Meanwhile, back at the hokage tower, the sandaime felt a horrible sense of foreboding.
Naruto recoiled when the kid turned into another horrendous broad. "Ugh, no! You have to make her waist thinner and the face has to be heart-shaped, more beautiful!" After a few more failed attempts, Naruto decided to give the kid a short break, both for him to catch his breath...and to save Naruto's eyes from anymore frankengirls.
"So, why do you want to defeat your grandfather?" He asked as he brought his drink up to his lips.
"My name is Konohamaru. Grandpa named me after the village, but even though everyone here is used to that name... nobody ever calls me that." Naruto's eyes widened a little at that. "When everyone sees me or calls me...all they see is the hokage's grandson." Konohamaru's brows furrowed in frustration and anger.
"Nobody sees me as me and I'm sick of it. That's why I want the hokage name."
'Well becoming hokage won't exactly fix that since people would only switch from hokage's grandson to hokage, but...' But Naruto knew what it was like to not be acknowledged for who he was, he knew better than anyone.
"Stupid. Who would acknowledge a brat like you?" Konohamaru's head snapped up.
"Huh?!"
"The hokage name isn't so easy that a gaki like you could take it." He glared at Naruto.
"What?!" Naruto only rolled his eyes.
"It's not that easy, idiot. Hokage, hokage," he said mockingly, "if you want the title so much, then..."
"Then what?!" He shouted. Naruto only gave a mean grin to the kid, determination hardening his eyes.
"The you have to defeat me first!" The kid gulped, thoroughly intimidated, when the jonin from the tower decided to barge in.
"I've found you." Konohamaru whirled around in shock while Naruto gave an annoyed sigh, having sensed him coming. The jonin jumped down from the tree branch he was on. "Now, young master, let's go home." Naruto didn't missed the cold look the jonin had sent him before jumping down.
'So, he's another kyuubi-hater, huh? The teme's lucky Sasuke wasn't here to see that. I know I warned him and all, but Sasuke still finds ways to hurt them somehow...'
"No! I'm going to defeat Grandpa and get the hokage name! Right now! Don't get in my way!" Naruto sweat dropped as Konohamaru started to perform the sexy no jutsu.
'He's still saying that? What happened to the declaration I gave a while ago?' It seems that the jonin had been rambling on about something when he finally realized what Konohamaru was doing.
"Take this! Sexy no Jutsu!" The jonin's jaw dropped as Konohamaru returned to normal from the perky, naked brunette woman he'd turned into. "Huh? It didn't work..."
"Wh...WHAT A VULGAR SKILL! I am a gentleman! Such a low-class skill will never work against me!"
Naruto stood there, watching the two. 'A closet pervert, eh?' The jonin began trying to drag Konohamaru away by his scarf.
"Young master, if you hang out with the likes of him, you'll just turn stupid!"
'Excuse you?!'
"Just do what I say! I am your easiest short-cut to becoming hokage! Now let's go home!" Konohamaru struggled valiantly against the pull.
"NO!" Naruto only grinned, knowing just what jutsu to use on the idiot who dared insult him.
'This jonin will be the perfect guinea pig for my new jutsu.' "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled out to capture their attention, a bunch of Narutos covering the field.
"Wow! That's incredible!" The jonin only scoffed, smirking as he got into a fighting position.
"How foolish, I am an elite tutor. I am not Mizuki." All the clones did in response was make the same hand sign.
"Transform!" Once the smoke cleared, it revealed a bunch of naked blond chicks clinging onto the jonin. "Harem no Jutsu!" It didn't take very long for said jonin to get blown back by his massive nosebleed. Naruto grinned as he dispelled them all and the transformation.
"Dammit! I couldn't even defeat my tutor!" Kono cried indignantly. "I really want a name that people will acknowledge! Yet why?!" Naruto just bonked the kid on the back of the head.
"It's not that easy, dummy!" He put his fists on his hips, reprimanding the boy. "This is the Hokage title, the name of the greatest ninja in the village. The path to becoming stronger is painful...and I often second-guessed myself...but I finally found people that would accept me, though even that was incredibly difficult." Naruto turned away, looking at the hokage monument.
"You better prepare yourself."
"Prepare?" Kono asked naively.
"If you want to gain the name of Hokage...being hokage isn't about being acknowledged. You must be acknowledged before you can become hokage...and to be hokage you have to be ready to lay your life on the line to protect the village, to protect your precious people, and to protect the people you don't even know, the ones who failed to acknowledge you before."
Naruto turned to the kid with a grin. "There aren't going to be any shortcuts!"
"Bah!" Kono turned away himself. "Stop lecturing me as if you're important." A tick mark appeared on Naruto's head. "I'm not letting you be my boss any longer!" He turned around again. "From now on... we're rivals!" He gave Naruto a toothy grin, one Naruto returned with a warm smile.
"Sorry, gaki, but starting tomorrow, I'm taking my first step as a ninja. But hey, one day I'll fight you for the hokage name." Naruto's warm smile grew a little wider. "I'll be looking forward to it...Konohamaru." The kid saluted Naruto as he turned to walk away, the blond only waving back lazily as he made his way back home.
Sasuke took a sip of his tea, glancing at Naruto washing the dishes before returning to the scroll he was reading. "So the Hokage's grandson became your lapdog?" The blond sent the Uchiha a scolding glare.
"Konohamaru. Konohamaru is not my lapdog." Sasuke just scoffed as he put down his tea.
"Well you can't honestly tell me you actually consider the brat your rival." Naruto smirked in amusement as he dried his hands with a towel, walking over to the table and propping his head on his hand, his arm propped on the table as he examined Sasuke's poker face.
"Is that jealousy I detect, otouto?" The Uchiha reddened slightly, sputtering a bit before shouting instant denial.
"Wha-?! No! I just think that you deserve a better rival than some spoiled, snot nosed kid!" Naruto only laughed at the disgruntled Uchiha, flicking his nose affectionately.
"Don't worry, otouto, I know that you're my one true rival. Konohamaru won't take my attention away from you." Sasuke's entire face turned tomato red at Naruto's teasing statement whether in embarrassment or anger or both, holding his nose with one hand. He slammed his free hand against the table as he stood, Naruto laughing the entire time.
"Aniue! That's not funny!" Of course, his reaction only made Naruto laugh harder. Though Sasuke was irritated and embarrassed, he couldn't help but feel pleased that Naruto had acknowledged their rivalry and assured that Naruto wasn't going to ditch him for some other little brother.
Not that Sasuke thought he would, but he knew the effect that his aniue had on people and was afraid that Naruto would abandon Sasuke when he found other friends, made other bonds, taking his light with him, and leaving Sasuke alone in the dark again. That thought alone frightened Sasuke more than anything, the only thing worse than that was the thought of Naruto getting killed or dying.
Those were the two things that Sasuke feared the most, above even his fear of not being able to avenge his clan. He feared the loss of his best friend and his morbid thoughts, along with past experience, made him very possessive of Naruto*. The Uchiha wanted nothing more than to lock Naruto away somewhere and never let him out, but not only would Naruto kick his ass if he tried it, Sasuke knew he couldn't do that as much as he actually wanted to.
Sasuke knew, better than anyone, that Naruto was going to create bonds, he was so selfless, but that also meant there would be people that would try to use that selflessness, try and destroy his light and that's what Sasuke decided to focus on. He decided to stay by Naruto's side, even if Naruto himself forgets about him, Sasuke will never stop protecting Naruto from anyone that wants to hurt him, he will continue to grow stronger to protect him...because Naruto was Sasuke's very important aniue.
Naruto yawned as he laid back on the chair, Sasuke's lips twitching in amusement at the blond's languid actions. Naruto only eyed the Uchiha lazily, amused at the 'cool, brooding' face he puts on in front of other people. Of course the peace was interrupted when the bubble gum princess walked up to him and started her banshee cries.
"Naruto! Move your ass! I wan to sit there!" The blond sweat dropped and sent a glance to Sasuke who looked the same, but if you looked closely(or were Naruto) you could tell he was angry at Haruno for yelling at his aniue and a little nervous at the girl's eagerness. Naruto gave a languid smile, leaning forward on the desk as if preparing to get up.
"Well, since you asked so nicely, Sasuke what do you think?" Naruto grinned when he saw the panic flash through Sasuke's eyes at the prospect of having to sit next to the screeching fangirl. Sasuke's hand shot out, roughly grasping Naruto's upper arm and firmly keeping him in place. He sent a harsh patented Uchiha glare at the poor pink haired girl.
"Haruno. Find someplace else to sit," he stated coldly, making the girl's eyes widen and water slightly before she walked away. Sasuke only sighed in relief when she turned, making the blond snicker behind his hand. Sasuke sent a more irritated glare at said blond. "Not funny, aniue," he said under his breath as he returned to brooding.
Naruto's entertainment was short lived and by the time Iruka had entered, both boys were bored out of their minds. Usually the two had more patience than this, they would have to since they have both been hiding their true skills, Naruto his true personality as well, but it was also because of that reason that they were now impatient.
They have been waiting to graduate the academy almost as long as they've been in it, all for the sole purpose of being able to show their true skills, their true colors, and not be hindered by the civilian council in any way and now that time was finally here and every second seemed like an eternity. So of course the two were abnormally happy to see Iruka walk into the room.
"Beginning today, all of you are ninja, but you are still merely rookie genin. The hard part has just begun."
'Straight into the pep talk I see,' Naruto thought, amused.
"Now, you will soon be assigned duties in the village. So today, we will be creating three man teams and each team will have a jonin sensei. You will follow that sensei's duties as you complete the assigned duties." Kurama decided something was funny and started snickering to himself.
'Ha, duties. you'd think they'd choose a better word to use when they talk to a bunch of prepubescent brats.' Naruto internally sweat dropped.
'I'm more concerned that you were juvenile enough to laugh at that...but you do have a point, missions could have worked just as easily...' Iruka looked at his clipboard.
"We tried to balance each team's strength." While the rest of the class exclaimed in shock, Naruto and Sasuke straightened, hyper focused on whatever was going to be said next. They ignored teams 1-6, "Next, team 7...Naruto Uzumaki," the two perked up at his name, "Sasuke Uchiha," the two only smirked at each other and pounded the side of their fists together, "and Hinata Hyuga." The two looked at each other, silently communicating.
Naruto sent a questioning glance at Sasuke, who only shrugged in response, signaling that it was okay, before Naruto turned to look at the bright red Hyuga, giving her a friendly smile, only for her to faint at the sight of it.
"Oops," Naruto whispered. Sasuke only sighed and shook his head when he caught the interaction.
"Team 8 will be Sakura Haruno, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame. Team nine is still in circulation so Team 10 will be Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka." Naruto groaned and slammed his head against his desk when Sakura and Ino started to complain...by yelling. Thankfully Iruka continued, a strained smile on his face.
"Okay...this afternoon we'll introduce the jonin senseis. Take a break until then."
Sasuke was nervously chewing on his riceballs, looking around every now and then. Naruto had run off as soon as Iruka had given them the go ahead, and that more than anything worried the Uchiha. 'What is Naruto up to?'
Naruto at that moment was henge'd as Sasuke, trying to hold back snickers, as he silently watched Sakura sitting on the nearby bench, sending gaga eyes at him as he leaned against a tree across from her in a cool guy pose, sending her a smirk. After thinking enough time had passed, he straightened and made it look like he was walking away, internally snickering when the girl lowered her head dejectedly, sighing.
'I know this is a little bit of a cruel prank, but I'd rather get my petty revenge here than out on the battlefield and accidentally get her killed if our teams ever work together...' Naruto smirked, catching her attention. "You sure have a large, charming forehead. Makes me want to kiss it." Naruto allowed a small smirk and light blush to color the henge's cheeks. 'Ugh, gag! Someone kill me...maybe this wasn't such a good idea.' He looked down at her hopeful, blushing expression, before crushing them again.
"Just kidding. That sounds like something a loser would say." He smirked for real when she looked down, dejected again. '...or maybe it really is a good idea.' "Sakura, there's something I want to ask you. What do you think of Naruto?" 'Stupid, morbid curiosity, I know the answer's not going to be good.'
The girl pouted, looking straight ahead. "He's always getting in the way of my love...and he enjoy's seeing me struggle...Naruto doesn't understand anything about me, he's just annoying. All I want is...for you to acknowledge me." Naruto had been amused at first, seeing how she wasn't technically wrong, but his eyes widened at the last part, especially her choice of words. "I'm serious. I would do anything. Because I like you..."
Naruto flinched when she started leaning closer, disgusted when she closed her eyes and puckered her lips. 'She doesn't know the meaning of acknowledgement.'
Meanwhile a little ways away, Sasuke suddenly got a terrible feeling in his stomach. "Ugh, Naruto sense tingling. Aniue did something stupid again." Sasuke quickly finished up his onigiri and ran off to find Naruto, wondering what he did this time.
Back with Naruto, who was at this point shaking with ill-hidden disgust, but not wanting to blow his ill-thought out prank by releasing the henge, instead turned away from the pucker-lipped banshee, now shaking at the close call. He stood abruptly.
"What's wrong?" Naruto didn't even look back as he responded.
"I'll...be right back." 'Not! Hell no I'm not going back to play sucky face with the pink haired banshee, ugh, gross. Worst prank idea ever. It looked so much better in my head.' He thought as he ran off, dropping the henge when he was out of sight. Naruto simply decided to cut his losses and go find Sasuke so they could go back to class together.
Cue Sasuke making it to Sakura's location. Sasuke looked around, ignoring the girl until she decided to make her presence known.
"Oh! Sasuke-kun, you're so shy. Are you ready now? I sure am!" Sasuke just gave her a strange look, before returning to scanning the surroundings.
'What the hell is she talking about? No, it doesn't matter.' "It's time to go. Where's Naruto?" Sasuke was sure he felt Naruto around here somewhere. Haruno only laughed forcibly.
"...Don't change the subject...who cares about Naruto? All he does is bug you." Sasuke only gave her a cold stare, watching her in disinterest as she crossed her arms and nodded her head as she spoke, like she thought she knew everything.
"Well, he hasn't had a normal childhood. He doesn't have any parents." Sasuke stiffened at that, Sakura not noticing, moving her hands in a 'what can you do?' motion like she thought she was better than Naruto. "He can do whatever he wants. If I acted like him, my parents would get so mad at me." Sasuke glared daggers at her, but she still didn't notice. "He's so lucky, all alone, parents never getting on his case. That's why he misbehaves so much."
"All alone..." Sasuke muttered darkly.
"Huh?" She asked stupidly, making Sasuke angrier at her.
"The sorrow of having a parent yell at you is nowhere near what he feels." Sakura became flustered at his cold attitude, not that he cared.
"What's this...all of a sudden..." Sasuke only sent her another cold Uchiha glare, this one much more severe and laced with KI.**
"You're annoying." Sasuke didn't even bother seeing her reaction as he walked away, back to the academy since Naruto probably went back by now. Sasuke was actually pretty proud of himself for not doing anything drastic like causing the little bitch bodily harm, especially after what she said about Naruto.
Naruto was walking back to the academy, having decided that Sasuke had probably gone back by now, when he saw said Uchiha in the distance. He jogged to catch up to him before calling out a greeting. "What are you doing here, otouto?" Sasuke only smirked at him.
"I could ask you the same question." Naruto only gulped guiltily and looked away.
"Oh you know, eating my lunch, going to the bathroom...normal stuff." Naruto really didn't want Sasuke to know about his failed prank, especially because he had henge'd into Sasuke for it. Naruto was sure that he'd laugh at the failure as soon as he was done being mad about it. Sasuke just gave him a look that said he was unconvinced before stuffing his hands in his pockets and looking ahead.
"Hn." Naruto looked back at Sasuke with a grin, prank forgotten.
"I thought I got you out of the habit of saying that?" Sasuke only smirked.
"Hn." Naruto rolled his eyes.
Naruto groaned against the desk. "I can't believe this guy! Everyone else already left with their senseis. We've been here for hours~." Sasuke and Hinata couldn't really attest to Naruto's complaining since it was true. Naruto suddenly straightened, raising his hands in exasperation, startling the other two in the room.
"That's it! If this guy doesn't come in the next few minutes," he said as he stood and set up a chalkboard eraser at the door, "I'm going to make him my test subjects for all the pranks I've had lined up for when I had free time," he finished menacingly. Both Hinata and Sasuke shivered at that, knowing that the lame prank he was pulling now would only be a precursor to much worse things to their poor sensei in the future if he didn't show up soon.
Hinata twiddled her fingers together as she tried to speak to her idol***. "N-N-Naruto-k-kun, a-are y-you sure t-t-that a j-jonin will f-fall for t-that?" Before Naruto could respond, the jonin decided that it was finally time for him to make his appearance, the eraser perfectly landing on the jonin's gravity-defying spiky hair and making the three genin stare at the masked, lazy looking jonin in shock...at least before Naruto burst out laughing.
"Hahaha, I can't believe you fell for that!" Hinata was also amused, but was more worried about her idol getting in trouble because if his little prank.
"N-Naruto-kun..." she managed to mumble. Sasuke, however, was not amused at all, his brows furrowing in consternation.
'This is our jonin? He doesn't seem very reliable...at least he didn't glare at Naruto like everyone else. He must be one of the ones that are neutral towards him,' Sasuke thought with some relief, having silently worried whether or not their new sensei would treat Naruto well. The jonin put a fingerless-gloved hand up to his masked chin, his head tilted up slightly and his one visible eye closed into an upside down u shape, as if smiling with his eye.
"Hmmm...how can I say this? My first impression is...I don't like you guys," he deadpanned. The three genin sweat dropped at this.
"You think he's mad?" Naruto stage whispered to Hinata, who fiddled with her jacket's zipper.
"I-I think h-h-he's m-mad..." Hinata mumbled. Sasuke nodded sharply.
"He's totally mad," Sasuke agreed with the same stage whisper and brooding expression and this time it was the jonin's turn to sweat drop at the three, since they could clearly hear them 'whispering' to each other.
"Hey look his hair is still white," Naruto indiscreetly whispered to his teammates.
"Do you think he was too lazy to wash out the chalk?" Sasuke murmured back.
"M-m-maybe it's j-just n-naturally l-l-like that?" Hinata whispered back. Sasuke scoffed.
"No way, he probably dyed it." Now it was Naruto's turn to add his input.
"Maybe he's actually just older than he looks?"
"Ohhh," the other two replied as if they figured something out, once again making the jonin sweat drop.
"Okay, let's begin with some introductions." The jonin stated, his arms crossed as he leaned against the railing of the building.
"W-w-what d-do you w-want t-t-to know?" Hinata asked timidly. Sasuke and Naruto shared a long side glance after looking at Hinata, both thinking that they were going to need to fix that and soon. The cyclops jonin shrugged.
"How about...likes, dislikes...dreams for the future, hobbies...stuff like that." Naruto leaned forward, resting his head against his hand, his arm supported by his knee.
"Hey, hey, why don't you introduce yourself to us first?!" Sasuke nodded in agreement.
"It's only proper manners." Hinata followed up.
"Y-yeah...y-you look r-rather s-s-suspicious..." Her two teammates snickered and smirked at that, both sending her an approving glance.
'Maybe, it'll be easier to help her get out of shell than we thought.' Both Naruto and Sasuke thought.
"Oh...me? My name is Kakashi Hatake. I have no desire to tell you guys my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future? Hmm...well, I have a lot of hobbies..." All three genin shared the same thought.
'All we learned was his name...'
"Now it's your turn, from right to left, go." Naruto straightened, fingering his head band.
"I guess that's me! My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like cup ramen, gardening, training, hanging out with Sasuke, and meditating! What I like even more is Ichiraku Ramen, especially when Iruka-sensei or Sasuke are paying! What I dislike is waiting 3 minutes for the cup ramen to cook, rapists, traitors, and people who can't see things as they are." Kakashi was getting caught by surprise every time he finished a sentence. At first he started out like a ramen loving idiot, but then he said one thing that makes the jonin think otherwise.
"My dream is to be acknowledged by the village and surpass the hokages." He stated proudly. "Hobbies...pranking, gardening, cooking, hanging out with Sasuke, meditating, painting, and calligraphy!" Kakashi gave up trying to figure out the blond enigma, scratching his head and sighing.
"Next." Sasuke glanced at the jonin coldly, his hands together and in front of his face****.
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are tons of things I dislike, especially fangirls. I like to train, Naruto's cooking, hanging out with Naruto and I don't want to use the word 'dream' but I have ambition; to help Naruto achieve his goals, the resurrection of my clan...and to find a certain man." Kakashi's eyes widened at the first part of Sasuke's 'ambitions.'
'The last bit I fully expected, but I didn't realize that Sasuke was so devoted to Naruto that seeing his dreams come true has become one of his 'ambitions'.' He crossed his arms in thought. "And lastly, the girl." Hinata stared shyly down at her twittering fingers, embarrassed at having been put on the spot.
"M-my n-n-name is H-Hinata H-H-Hyuga. I l-l-like zenzai*****, cinnamon rolls, f-flowers, a-a-and m-my i-i-idol. I d-dislike c-crabs, s-shrimp, bullies, and the H-H-Hyuga clan's c-caste s-system. My d-dream is t-to r-raise my s-s-self c-confidence, m-make my f-f-father p-proud, a-and unite t-the m-main and b-branch f-f-family in t-the H-H-Hyuga clan. M-my h-hobbies are t-to press f-flowers a-and t-train."
All three guys stared at the girl in awe. Her entire introduction had passive aggressive jabs at the Hyuga clan in it and it didn't even seem like she meant it to be mean, she was only telling the truth! Kakashi quickly got over his shock, or rather hid it, and eye smiled at the girl.
"My how very ambitious of you!" He sighed and crossed his arms. "Ok! That's enough of that. We will start our duties tomorrow." Sasuke's and Naruto's eyes sharpened at that.
'So it's tomorrow. Good, then we have some time to prepare.' Naruto grinned. "YAY! DUTIES!" He saluted Kakashi. "What kind of duties?! Duties! Duties!"
"First we are going to do something with just the four of us."
"What?! What?!" 'Dear kami I can't wait until tomorrows test is over. I can't keep acting excited all the time...'
"Survival training," the jonin stated lazily.
"Survival training?" Naruto parroted.
"W-w-why is t-training o-our d-d-duty?" Hinata asked timidly.
"I'm your opponent, but this isn't normal training."
"Then! Then! What is it?" Naruto was getting irritated at the jonin for dragging this on, only to get more irritated when the cyclops actually started chuckling.
"W-what's s-so f-f-funny, s-sensei?" Kakashi only smiled and flippantly waved a hand at them.
"No...it's just that...when I tell you this, you guys are gonna flip." Naruto raised a brow at him.
"Ha? Flip?" The white haired cyclops then leaned forward dramatically.
"Of the 27 graduates, only 9 will be chosen as genin. The rest will be sent back to Academy. This training is a super difficult exam with a failure rate of over 66%." Sasuke sweat dropped, Hinata paled, and Naruto put on an exaggerated face of shock and horror. "Haha, I told you you'd flip."
"What the hell?! But we worked so hard...then what was the point of graduating?!" Naruto protested vehemently.
"Oh...that? That's just to select those that have the chance to become genin," Kakashi stated casually.
"What?!" Kakashi ignored Naruto's outraged cry.
"Anyways, tomorrow you will be graded on training ground. Bring all your shinobi tools. Oh, and skip breakfast or else you'll throw up." He took out three sheets from somewhere in his vest and walked over to them. "The details can be read on this printout. Don't be late tomorrow." As soon as we grabbed the papers, Kakashi shunshin'ed away in a puff of smoke.
As soon as he was gone, both Sasuke and Naruto gave equal cheshire cat grins.
"Hey, Sasuke."
"Yeah, Naruto?"
He waved around the sheet in the air. "Looks like we have the time and the place." Sasuke smirked.
"Now all that's left is the planning." Naruto turned to look at a confused Hinata.
"Hinata, wanna help us strategize for the test tomorrow?" The blue haired girl blushed and looked down, twiddling her fingers.
"O-ok." Naruto only gave a wide grin.
"Cyclops-sensei won't know what hit him."
*Though I think it should be obvious, I feel I have to explain why Sasuke is so possessive if Naruto. After Sasuke's entire clan was massacred by Itachi, Sasuke had kind of sworn revenge and was mourning his family, but unlike in cannon, he wasn't allowed the chance to develop the thought process of believing that creating bonds would only get in the way of revenge. Keep in mind Sasuke and Naruto were eight when they met and it happened pretty recently after the Uchiha massacre, so Naruto befriended him at an opportune time. Sasuke is understandably protective of his only precious person in the village. Seriously, even in cannon, he's not attached to anyone in any way until he joins team 7. Sasuke's also afraid of losing Naruto, though he'd never admit it out loud, because he's already seen his entire clan killed before his eyes and he doesn't want the same to happen to Naruto. At the same time Naruto is the one that saved him from his grieving and loneliness, kept him from becoming consumed with hatred and revenge, so he sees Naruto as the light in his life(I swear it's not SasuNaru) and as an Uchiha he's naturally selfish and doesn't like to share with others, but for Naruto's sake he's willing to let it go, and let him go, but Sasuke will always make sure Naruto's safe no matter what it takes.
** I just wanted to say that I'm going to abbreviate killing intent to KI from now on, nothing important this time.
*** In my story, Hinata's not going to have a crush on Naruto, sorry NaruHina fans. Hinata only has feelings of admiration and respect for Naruto and later those feelings will grow into sisterly love so they're going to be like family. I'd also like to say that I will slowly fade out Hinata's stuttering as Sasuke and Naruto help her grow more confident, but it won't be an immediate thing unless I decide to only summarize their weeks of training together rather than write it which I actually might do...
****For those of you who might be confused about Sasuke's behavior, let me clarify for you. Sasuke only acts open and expressive around Naruto because he respects and trusts his aniue, but to others, he's the same cold douche-y Sasuke he is in canon so try not to think that he's having severe mood swings or something...
***** Zenzai is just red bean soup, for those of you who were wondering.
Alright, bad news guys. My laptop's charger died on me a while ago. I borrowed my brother's laptop to finish this chapter up and I'm planning on starting the fifth, but I only have an hour and that's just not going to cut it. I wanted you to know since I don't know when I'll be able to go out and buy a new charger so it might be a while. I'm really sorry about this, but I'll try my best to get it by at least this weekend, if not I'll borrow my brother's laptop again to tell you it might take longer or hopefully just use it to write chapters if I get enough time. So until then (TT^TT)