Team 7
At eight o'clock the next morning, Naruto arrived at training ground 7, BINGO book in hand, silently reading. He was in the same clothes as yesterday, but he looked like he hadn't had much sleep, and was in deep thought. His eyes were not taking in the words as he meandered towards his two teammates. He was violently pulled from his musings when Sakura caught sight of him coming over to them.
"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura yelled with an accusing finger. A large, angry scowl adorned her face as she looked at her tardy teammate in disgust.
"If I said I got lost on the road of life, would you believe me?" He asked with a small yawn, putting his book away into his back pouch. "I slept in and Kakashi isn't here yet." He muttered, glancing about the small bridge that connected to training ground seven. He found it highly ironic that Team 7 was meeting at the 7 created training grounds. He had to hold himself back from snapping at the pink haired girl. He really wasn't in the mood to deal with her screeching voice and over the top behavior.
"Still doesn't matter, dobe." Sasuke said with his eyes closed leaning against a tree. He opened his eyes and looked at him coldly. "What page are you on?"
"Why would you-?" Naruto mumbled coldly, but then winced as his arm began to hurt. Hinata had certainly given him a lot to think about when she had eventually caught up to him after he had left. She had told him that she and Shikamaru explained to the rookies of their class the background between the Hyuga, Uchiha and Uzumaki. While his attitude may have changed from the loud, goofball that he had been pretending to be, his stubbornness had not disappeared. He had also found out that Hinata had changed dramatically from the shy girl she used to be; one that, if he was honest, put him in his place quite quickly.
"It happened a long time ago." He remembered Hinata saying the other night as the two stood atop the stone head of the Fourth Hokage. He was in no mood to talk but she had finally had him cornered.
"It still doesn't change the fact that they did what they did…" He replied coldly. "He's arrogant, self-centered, and has a major superiority complex. Everything that my mother's clan said they were." She looked hurt but then that turned to anger in an instant.
"So then, why not treat me like you do him?" She asked glaring at the boy. She couldn't understand his logic "My clan played a part in it too. They're attitudes are just like the Uchiha's used to be, maybe even worse."
"Because you're my friend." he smiled, as if it explained everything.
"Idiot!" She growled, Byakugan activating as she rushed him, poised to strike..
"Well?" Sasuke said impatiently. Naruto blinked slowly, eyes becoming blank as he looked at the black haired boy. Maybe Hinata was right. The sins of the father should not be passed onto the son, or daughter, as she put it. Everyone deserved a second chance. He may not like the boy-his holier-than-thou attitude really pissed him off- but he was going to have to work with him for quite some time. Hell, maybe he could change…
The two locked eyes before the blond boy answered in a flat tone. "Uchiha Itachi." Sasuke showed no emotion on his face, but Naruto could just faintly pick out a slight darkening of the young man's black eyes before the self proclaimed Avenger scuffed and leaned against the tree once more.
Naruto mentally sighed, sitting down on the bridge and reopening his book to try and continue reading. The past week had been an emotional rollercoaster that he was not used to. From finding out about the Kyubi, to learning about his mother, ('Kushina' he thought with a soft sigh and a both painful yet gleeful jump inside his chest), and her clans abilities. He finally had a piece of the puzzle that was his life.
Looking inside the BINGO book he was reading he smiled at the picture hidden inside. A young woman of 20 smiled up at him. She was wearing dark blue pants, taped at the ankles with an even lighter blue tape, while a white light zip-up hooded jacket, with black mesh sides covered her torso. The Uzumaki crest adorned both mid-forearm sleeves right above the elbow. A wide, orange lattice belt with, what looked to be a sword sheath through it. Upon her shoulder sat a black curved blade. The blade itself seemed to be oddly curved to be able to fit into the sheath as the blade seemed to get slightly wider as one traced it way up the blade before thinning down once more toward the tip. The oddest thing about the blade was the large 'C' shaped chip in it.
Setting the picture aside on his lap, facedown- no need for the others to be snooping around it- Naruto sighed and, once again, continued reading. An hour later, a puff of smoke appeared in the middle of the trio. "Yo!" Kakashi smiled. In his hands was an alarm clock, two bells and a lunch box.
"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura yelled.
"Sorry, I got lost of the road of life." The Jonin explained, waving his hand in a 'calm down' fashion.
"LIAR!" The young Kunoichi roared. The silver haired man's ploy obviously didn't work…
"So why are we here?" Sasuke asked, standing up from his sitting position against the tree and joining the girl, but staying a respectable distance. Naruto nodded, putting his book away and joining the other two.
"You're going to take a survival test to see if you can become Genin." Kakashi, once again 'smiled'; his eye once again doing its little 'U' while at the same time, he pulled from his back pouch two small bells attached to strings and an alarm clock. He placed the alarm clock onto the ground, all without taking his eyes of the Genin.
"But we already did that." Naruto thought aloud. "It was one of the tests we had to take in the academy final…"
"That was to see if you had what it takes to be at Genin level." Kakashi answered. "Out of the sixty some-odd people that passed the academy final exam, only nine of you will go on to become ninja. This is the same in all of the Twelve academies here in the village.* Each of the squad's sensei are testing their students today and decide who is the best to be added into your regiment. Now, your test, your job, is to get these bells from me." He said tying the two bells to his side. "Come at me with the intent to kill, It's the only way you'll get them."
"But Kakashi-sensei, there are only two bells and three of us." Sakura said. "And isn't that a bit dangerous."
"That's right; the one without a bell at the end of three hours will be tied to one of those posts and watch as we eat our lunch and that person goes back to the Academy." He replied pointing to three stumps in the ground behind them and held up the lunch box. "And I'm sure I'll be fine." He commented, almost mockingly.
'That's where Hinata-chan and I first talked last week.' Naruto smiled, still looking at the stumps. "When do we start?" He asked, turning to their teacher and placing a wicked grin upon his face.
"Hmm…now!" Instantly, the tree jumped into the trees in different directions. Kakashi sighed pulling out an orange book and began to read and walk around. He could easily sense their charka. "Good." He mumbled. "They're all well hidden." While he knew that the three of them were no match for an elite such as him, he was quite impressed with their abilities to hide themselves within in their environment. "No, wait. There's Naruto…" He turned to see Naruto with his arms crossed and a smug smile spread across his face. "I thought you changed, Naruto." He sighed turning back to his book. From what he had seen yesterday, the boy seemed to have dropped his stupid act. Apparently his initial guess had been wrong…
"Hell NO!" Naruto yelled throwing a shuriken at the older man who simply caught it between his fingers. Naruto growled and rushed him with a right hook that Kakashi easily dodged. Naruto pivoted into a sweeping kick which was again avoided. Naruto stood before punching at Kakashi's chest with a sloppy uppercut, which hit nothing but air. The boy looked around, confused, before Kakashi spoke coming from behind him.
"You should never leave you back unguarded to an enemy; Konoha's greatest technique: Sennen Goroshi!" He yelled, ignoring Sakura's startled shout for Naruto to get out of the way, and stabbing the edge of his book up Naruto's butt. There was a loud 'pop' before the blond was sent flying into the air screaming and clutching his rear. To the older man's surprise, Naruto burst into a puff of smoke right before hitting the stream water. 'A Shadow Clone…' Eye narrowed in suspicion, as he gave the area a once over. 'Seems he's smarter than I gave credit for…maybe Kaje is right…' Brushing these thoughts away, Kakashi, seemingly aimlessly, began in the direction of the team's bookworm.
Two hundred feet away, crouched upon a branch, was the real Naruto. His eyes were closed in concentration, thinking of a plan. He felt the clone disperse and its memories appear before his eyes. "I've got to find the others…" He sighed before leaping towards Sakura's direction.
Sakura watched as Naruto somehow disappeared before getting up and running. "I have to find Sasuke-kun." She said, though her inner voice was cursing her out for shouting out to Naruto like that and giving away their position. She quickly shut the voice out and continued running, as she was about to enter a clearing she saw Kakashi appear before her and skidded to a stop.
"Hey Sakura…" whispered a voice behind her. She turned to see another Kakashi bent low and in a hand seal while giving another U smile.
"What…?" she gasped as leaves began to swirl around her, then, she was the clearing she was headed towards. Looking around franticly she had lost sight of her teacher. "Where'd he go?" she yelled in frustration. She wanted a chance to prove herself, damn-it!
"Sakura…" an all too familiar voice whispered.
"Sasuke-kun?" She gasped happily, turning towards the voice. In the shadow of a tree, leaning against it, was Sasuke. He was bloodied up with Shuriken and Kunai sticking out of his back and chest. Eerily he reached out his hand and whispered again. "Sakura…" before the young Uchiha slumped over and onto the ground with a soft thump. The image was too much for the crazed fan-girl and she screamed fainting, just as Naruto landed in the clearing.
He looked at Sasuke in disgust, forming the ram seal while pulsing his chakra, causing Sasuke to quickly fade from existence. "I hate Genjutsu…" Naruto muttered, pulling out a water bottle, taking a sip, and dumping some onto the fallen girls' face, who in turn woke up with a start.
"Sasuke-kun…?" She mumbled sitting up. "Naruto? Where's Sasuke-kun?"
He laughed, answering, "It was a Genjutsu; But come on, I think I've figured out this test."
"I doubt it…" Sakura muttered with a not so subtle eye roll.
"We can't beat him by ourselves." Naruto continued jumping through the trees and ignoring his disbelieving teammate. "We need to use teamwork. He's testing us on that; putting us against one another as well as on the basic skills. I lost-or at least my clone did- to Taijustsu, half assed as it was. You lost to Genjutsu and Sasuke will most likely fail to Ninjutsu."
"Sasuke-kun wouldn't lose!" she argued. "But where is he?"
"He probably dug himself into a hole somewhere." He answered as they landed. Oddly enough, Sasuke was in fact, neck deep in the ground in the clearing they had just landed in. "Hey, I was right." Naruto smiled taking out a kunai. "Need any help?"
"No!" Sasuke yelled, eyes glaring at the two 'weaklings.' "I don't need help from a weakling girl, and especially not from an Uzumaki!" Once again, the Uchiha scion found a blade under his neck.
"Look at me." Naruto growled at the boy, his eyes dark and narrowed.
"DON'T TOUCH SAS-Ah…" She stopped when she felt the amount to focused killing intent Naruto was omitting. It was like nothing she'd every felt. While the academy instructors had taught them what 'killing intent' was, it was an entirely different subject when faced with it. 'The air is so heavy…' Sakura thought, her breaths coming out in shallow pants, 'and it's not focused on me…'
"I said look at me, Sasuke-teme." The Uchiha did so, locking eyes with the Uzumaki. While the boy looked scared, he also held a shred of defiance within. He would not back down from a challenge. "You can't kill him on your own, especially the way you are now." Naruto spoke, simply watching Sasuke's eyes widen in anger. "I could say you people got what was coming to you, but I'm not that kind of guy." He removed the blade and speaking in a much softer tone. "We need to work together to beat Kakashi-sensei, otherwise, we're screwed." He continued as he dug down. "What happened between our clans, happened a LONG time ago, and I'm willing to end that conflict today, and help you with yours-You'll kill him, don't worry—" He quickly added, seeing that Sasuke was about to argue. "But you'll have to help me find someone I need to kill as well." He pulled Sasuke up and smiled.
"Why would you want to help me?" He asked giving him an unsure look.
"Someone killed the family of a close friend of mine and caused a lot of problems for me, so in a sense, I'm also an Avenger. I'll help you find Itachi, if you help me find my snake in the grass. After all, a group of stones in water is stronger than a single pebble." With that, he extended his hand. Nothing happened for a few moments, then, slowly, Sasuke shook the offered hand with a smirk.
"This doesn't change anything between us." He commented while quickly letting go of his fellow teammate's hand. "You're still dead last."
"And you're still a bastard, so we're even." Naruto smiled, turning to the thoroughly confused kunoichi. "Oi, Sakura, come here. I've got a plan!"
Kakashi sighed as he put his book away and checked the time. The three had ten minutes left and they hadn't attacked in over an hour. As he was about to go get them to tell them they had failed the test, he heard the sounds fighting. As the Jonin turned in the direction the ruckus was coming from, Naruto and Sasuke rolled out of a bush and began to attack one another relentlessly. The two were rolling around desperately trying to punch and kick the other, forgoing any and all kind of Taijutsu decorum. The two threw each other off and stood glaring at one another. Naruto's back to a confused Kakashi.
"That's right, you heard what I said, you bastard!" Naruto yelled spitting blood from his mouth. "You Uchiha got what you deserved; what goes around comes around."
"It's a shame we didn't get all of you losers." Sasuke growled. "It would have saved this village a lot of problems."
"The problem is your clan, or should I say 'was'?" Naruto grinned cruelly. 'This'll hurt…' "Thank god for Itachi, huh?"
"You son of a bitch!" Sasuke charged his offender, eyes flashing in rage all the while breezing through hand seals. Kakashi's eyes widened and tried to stop the pissed off Uchiha by pushing the young Uzumaki out of the way. His surprise increased as he watched Naruto grab Sasuke and kangaroo kick the Uchiha towards the still running Jonin. "Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu!" A burst of flames spewed from his mouth and headed straight for the former ANBU. Kakashi jumped out of the way of the fireball but was once again surprised as a small animal that went unnoticed at his feet suddenly turned into Sakura who grabbed the bells and tossed them to Sasuke and Naruto just at a sharp ringing went off in the distance signaling the end of the test.
"Looks like we won, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura smiled, walking to the group. When she got next to them, Naruto handed her the bell. "We pass right?"
"Sorry, but only two of you do." He answered with a soft chuckle. "Naruto doesn't have a bell, so that means…"
"…He goes back to the Academy." Sasuke finished with a frown.
Sakura looked at Naruto sadly, only to see him smiling. "You…you planned that…didn't you?" She asked. 'Cha! Bastard manipulated us into winning a bell for us and Sasuke!'
""Heh, yeah…" the blond boy answered, scratching the back of his neck with a hesitant smile towards the two Genin. "Well, I'll see you two around, I guess. Maybe I'll be Top Student next year, eh, Sasuke?" with that, Naruto began to walk away with a backwards wave. "By the way, good luck you two…you weren't as bad as I had originally thought."
'He's going to sacrifice himself for his teammates…' Kakashi thought. 'Just like…' he stopped when he heard a bell hit the ground. Kakashi looked to see Sasuke without a bell.
"If the dobe doesn't pass, neither do I." He said walking up to Naruto, who had stopped and looked at them like he was crazy. Sakura looked at Kakashi, then Sasuke, and tossed her bell on the ground and chased after him. "Wait up, Sasuke-kun!" The three shinobi stood next to each other looking patiently at Kakashi.
"If that's how it's going to be…" He said looking at the group with a stern gaze. "You all…pass." His eye formed his now classic 'U' smile. "Team 7 is now an official Genin cell."
"Yes!" Sakura and Naruto yelled while Sasuke just smirked.
"You start missions tomorrow at eight o'clock sharp. See ya!" And 'poof', he was gone.
"So who's up for some ramen?" Naruto smiled. "My treat! What do you say Sasuke?"
"I'm going home." He replied, walking back toward the village.
"Okay, how about you Sak-"
"Wait for me Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled running after him. Naruto sighed smiling and continued to Ichiraku. 'Ah well, baby steps Naruto…baby steps…'
"Two orders of miso ramen, Ayame-nee-chan." Naruto said sitting down into his usual seat with a soft sigh. Ayame gave a soft smile and a nod before heading in the back of the shop to make her 'little brother' a congratulatory bowl.
"Naruto-kun!" An excited voice shouted. He turned to see Hinata running up to him with a wide smile upon her face. Although she looked particularly dirty with twigs in her hair and splotches of mud covering her normally pristine clothing. Nonetheless, she looked ecstatic.
"Hey Hinat-oof!" He smiled as she ran up and hugged him, nearly unseating him in the process.
"We passed!" she smiled pulling away, her eyes lighting up with happiness. "We start missions tomorrow!"
"Ha-ha, same here." Naruto smiled back, not realizing that he had just now let her out of the tight hug, something that he found himself very reluctant to do. "Let's get you some ramen and we'll talk about how your test went." She nodded and sat next to him, ordering a bowl of vegetable ramen and settling into the comfortable atmosphere of her friend.
The rest of the day, the two walked around town chatting about their test and what they thought their missions would be like. Soon it was nighttime and the two were outside the Hyuga complex.
"Today was wonderful, Naruto-kun…" Hinata sighed, shyly.
"Yeah, we should do it again sometime." He replied rubbing the back of his neck. "Thank you…"
"For what?"
"Everything…" he smiled. "Even though you had to Juken me, you made me see that what happened to my clan happened in the past; that I shouldn't blame others for their ancestors' actions."
"I'm sorry…" she blushed, embarrassed that she actually attacked her crush.
"Don't be, there's no need. You also accepted me for who I am, not what I hold."
"Naruto-kun…" the young girl mumbled, eyes glistening, and a soft smile on her face.
"I'll see you around." He smiled and began to walk away.
"Naruto, wait!" He turned around and walked back to her, seeing her shy hand motion. She blushed before wrapping her arms around him tightly. He smiled and hugged her back just as tight. "Good night, Naruto-kun." She whispered into his ear before running into her house.
Naruto smiled, while forcing down a very pleasurable shiver and blush, watching her go inside before heading home himself. Tomorrow he would start his new career as a ninja of the Hidden Leaves. He could not wait!
Author's Note
* I don't really think that every year they only pass 9 people to add to their military. I think that there are a good number of upper year classes, and other academies around the village this size, and in my story there are 12. So mathematically, they would add at least 108 people into their ranks which are much better than only 9.
Anyway, I'm glad to be back. The Update rate for this story is going to be hit now that I'm back to school, but I'm going to strive to not pull another two year BS session. Chapter 5 and 6 will be up ASAP!
And as always, a huge thanks to Ohiogal593 for being such a wonderful Beta! Her suggestions make this story so much better! =)
~Kingdom219