Chapter Seven
Naruto sat up and stared at the mini-calendar on the bedside table. Two red circles surrounded the day's date and arrows pointed obnoxiously to the bold number within the red marks. All thoughts of sleeping in left his brain as he realized what today was.
Genin Orientation was today.
The blonde let out a whoop and turned to wake up his roommate only to find her futon neatly folded and against the far wall. He jumped up and began gathering his clothing. He just finished pushing his own mattress against the wall when Warai came out of the bathroom wearing her robe and brushing her long hair.
"Shower's free, Naruto-kun," she said. "Make it quick though, the landlord shut off the hot water again."
Naruto shrugged and slammed the door after he entered the small room. Warai smirked and shook her head. She quickly changed into a pair of black cargo pants that fit snugly around her waist, but loosened as they ran down her legs. She picked a dark blue belt and fastened it around her waist.
She didn't cover her upper half with anything other than her black bikini-top style bra underneath a fishnet tank top. To keep the outfit from looking too risqué, she put on a sleeveless, ankle-length, collarless blue/black coat and buttoned the top five buttons, leaving the coat open from just above her belly button downwards.
She wrapped her kunai holster around her right leg and put on the new, fingerless black gloves with the metal protectors on the backs that she conned Anko into buying for her. She snapped her weapons pouch onto the back of her coat near her left hip and hid a few more weapons on her body.
Although she knew the possibility of getting a mission today was slim to none, she believed in being prepared.
Now what to do about my hair? Warai wondered to herself.
She was used to wearing her waist-length, dark blonde hair in two high ponytails, but ever since Naruto debuted his Oiroke no Jutsu (Sexy Technique) she couldn't go out in public without a few guys staring at her in speculation. Warai thought for a moment and decided to simply braid the hair around the crown of her head and let the rest fall wherever.
Warai picked up her forehead protector and smiled. She tied the cloth around her head, underneath the braids she created, and adjusted the metal part over her forehead. She and Naruto traded in the bright blue cloth the metal was attached to for serviceable black. It was one of Warai's favorite colors, and, if she had any say in the matter, one of Naruto's as well.
The sound of the shower turning off alerted Warai and she grabbed the bag she hid in her side of the closet. She knocked on the bathroom door before opening it enough to shove the plastic bag through the space.
"I know you wear orange so that people in the village will look at you," she started, anticipating the boy's objections. "But as a serious ninja, it's career suicide. Now shut up and put those on or I only boil enough hot water for one Cup Ramen."
With that threat hanging in the air, Warai smirked when she heard Naruto sigh in defeat. She headed to their small kitchen/dining room and began to boil water. The kunoichi shook her head when she saw the expired carton of milk on the counter. If it wasn't bad before, then it certainly was now after sitting out all night. It was the beginning of summer and the humidity was positively muggy all day long.
She threw the bad milk out and placed two cups of water next to the Cup Ramen. Warai was about to yell at Naruto to hurry up when he barged out of the bathroom and snatched up his hitai-ate from the dresser they shared. She turned to look at him and was stunned by the change in his appearance.
Yow! Warai drooled slightly. Note to self: buy Naruto more black clothing and sleeveless shirts.
She couldn't help but notice how mature Naruto looked now that he wasn't covered in head to toe, eye blinding orange. Loose black pants hung off his hips and were held up by a trio of thin orange belts—Warai couldn't help but allow him a few accessories of his favorite color—that criss-crossed each other. A form-fitting black vest/jacket covered his torso and was zipped up to just below his collarbone. The fabric molded to his abdomen and showed the lean body his old jacket once hid. Because of the vest, Warai was gifted with the fine examples of drool worthy candy Naruto called arms.
A part of Warai wanted to joke about Naruto working out much lately. But another larger part just wanted to point out how much he looked like the Yondaime now that he had his hitai-ate on and that serious look in his eyes.
That ramen noodle hanging out of the side of his mouth was especially endearing.
Warai shook her head and noticed that her roommate was avoiding her eyes while he ate. After a few more minutes of silence she slammed her cup on the table.
"What?"
"You look nice," he said, looking at his best friend and then away when he felt his gaze traveling south. A blush turned his normally tanned complexion a dusky hue and Warai smiled shyly.
"You look nice too, Naruto-kun," she said. "Let's get going or we're going to be late."
Naruto jumped up and smiled. He felt kind of weird without his orange jacket, but agreed with Warai that being a ninja and wearing that jumpsuit was suicide. He strapped his kunai holster to his leg, his weapons pouch to his belt, and slipped a pair of cream-colored elbow pads onto his arms. He grinned at his girl and held out a hand.
"Let's go!"
Warai was glad that Naruto didn't let go of her hand when they reached the street. Together they walked quietly to the Academy. If the blonde kitsune noticed the shocked stares of the villagers, he ignored them. No one except for a few chuunins knew about the incident with Mizuki. Besides, the villagers were more surprised by his change in wardrobe and his resemblance to their beloved Yondaime than the fact that he was holding hands with Warai.
And if anyone has problems with me holding Warai-chan's hand, then they can go screw themselves, Naruto growled to himself.
After finding out about Kyuubi and letting Warai comfort him, Naruto realized that he loved the girl more than anything and that she loved him back as well. Things were a bit awkward between them since they were still pre-teens and had their whole lives ahead of them, but they talked things out over the past few days and both knew the other's mind on the issue.
The kitsune squeezed his mate's hand and grinned when she squeezed back.
"Oi," a bored voice called out. "Naruto, you do know that this meeting's only for graduates, right?"
Warai and Naruto looked over at Shikamaru and grinned.
"Look at this forehead protector, Shikamaru!" Naruto crowed. "I did graduate!"
Whatever the boy might've said was halted by the appearance of Sakura and Yamanaka Ino. The two girls ran through the classroom door screaming something about a goal and Warai leaned over Naruto's shoulder to whisper something into his ear.
A flush overcame his features and he glanced at the two girls by the door. Warai's comment echoed in his mind and he swallowed a laugh. He craned his neck and saw that she was correct: the banner from the fishmonger's stall was stuck to both Sakura and Ino's feet. He wondered how long it would take before they got tangled in the plastic material and fell over.
BOOM!
"That didn't take long," Warai murmured.
Naruto kept himself from laughing and noticed that Sasuke smirked a bit from his seat at their desk near the window. That small movement managed to remind Naruto that the Uchiha was still human beneath his layers of cold, emotionless, bastard-ism.
Sakura looked over in their direction and smiled. Naruto froze and swore to himself. Here we go, he thought.
"Sasuke-kun!" the pink-haired girl called out. Warai barely kept herself from covering her ears to protect her from the whiny call of the fangirl. "Can I sit next to you?"
Everyone turned to the Uchiha, who simply ignored the girl.
"No," Ino butted in. "I won the race and got into the classroom first, so I get to sit next to Sasuke-kun!"
"If that's the case," another girl stated. "Then I get to sit next to Sasuke-kun!"
Warai frowned and looked down at her own seat. "Actually," she raised her hand and her voice to get the attention of the other girls. "I'm already sitting next to the Uchiha and I don't feel like moving. Find some other seats, girls."
Warai gasped as multiple hands grabbed her and unceremoniously dumped her out of her seat and onto the hard floor.
"HEY!" she shouted. No one paid any attention to her, with the exception of Shikamaru, who asked if she was okay, and Naruto, who growled at the fangirls and Sasuke. He seethed for several moments and when he realized that the bastard wasn't even going to glance to see if Warai was okay, he jumped on top of the desk and glared at the Uchiha.
"What's your problem, Uzumaki?" Sasuke asked in a low voice.
"My problem is that you're fangirls hurt Warai, Uchiha," he growled.
Sasuke raised an ebony eyebrow. "And I should care because…"
"Apologize to Warai-chan now!"
"No."
The two boys glared at each other and would have gone on glaring if the student in the row in front of them didn't choose that moment to stretch his arms and knock Naruto off balance. The blonde teetered for a moment before he fell forward and—because of the close proximity of one Uchiha Sasuke—locked lips with the object of his animosity.
Silence reigned in the classroom as everyone registered what just happened.
Warai broke the silence with a loud laugh and the two boys broke away from each other, gagging. Naruto felt the killing intent from the girls gathered around them and silently pleaded with Warai to help him. She just kept laughing and pointing at the still gagging Uchiha.
"NARUTO!"
Crap, he thought. I'm gonna die.
Kakashi stared at the scene through the Hokage's crystal ball and winced behind his mask. Despite all of his efforts to wriggle out of it, he was chosen to test a team of genin—again. And the team the Hokage assigned him included the two boys who just kissed each other.
"I trust that you'll treat this team no better and no worse than all of the other ones you've tested," the old man told the elite jounin.
"Hai, hai," Kakashi replied in a respectfully bored tone of voice. He waved his hand in front of him in a gesture meant to express his willingness. His visible eye creased into an upside-down 'U' as he forced a smile behind his mask. His eyebrow—the one hidden behind his hitai-ate—twitched when heard the sounds of multiple fists hitting soft flesh and Naruto's pitiful squeak.
As calm as Hatake Kakashi looked on the outside, he was screaming in his mind.
Great! Just freakin' great!
After all of the commotion Sasuke's fangirls caused, none of them got to sit next to the dark-haired boy. Warai plopped herself down in her old seat and refused to move. She flashed her eyes to ice blue a few times to creep out the other girls and spent the time waiting for Iruka easing Naruto's bruises.
Why didn't I notice how fast he heals before? Warai wondered as she placed a cool hand on his abused cheek. She sent a pulse of cold energy into his cheekbone and numbed the pain for him. He sent a grateful smile her way and Warai kissed his uninjured cheek in return.
"That's for sticking up for me," she said. The blonde girl then turned to Sasuke and smacked him upside the head.
Sasuke was unprepared for the move and half-asleep, so when her hand hit him, the force caused him to knock his head onto the desk. Luckily, his hitai-ate did its job and protected his forehead from bruising.
"And that's for being a bastard!" Warai snarled.
Sasuke snapped back up and glared at the girl. Unlike the other females the Uchiha knew, this one didn't cringe at his stare. In fact, she met his cold gaze and raised him a contemptuous sneer. Sasuke decided to meet ice with indifference and carefully blanked all emotion from his eyes.
It had no effect at all.
The dark-haired boy was starting to get uncomfortable when he was saved by an unlikely source.
"Ne, Wa-chan," Naruto said, poking Warai's side until she giggled. "If you did that to Sasuke-teme every time he was a bastard, your hand would get sore and fall off."
Warai broke off her stare and turned to the other blonde. She tilted her head for a moment and realized that he was right. She decided to ignore Sasuke until they absolutely had to interact with each other and looked up when Iruka finally came through the classroom door.
"Welcome graduates!" the tanned man shouted to the thirty-one ninjas in the room. "This is your first day as genin. But I want you to know that now the real work starts."
"Real work?" Shikamaru muttered behind Warai. She had to hide her laugh in a cough and tried to look innocent when Iruka scowled at her for interrupting.
"As genin, you are ninja of Konoha," he continued. "But you're at the bottom of the barrel. It will take hard work and years before you can become a chuunin, like me. And even more years before you reach jounin level."
He looked down at his clipboard and smiled. "As such, you all will be assigned teams into teams of three and have a jounin as your sensei. Since there are 31 graduates this year, one team will be a team of four. The teams will be comprised in a way that each team is balanced and no one team is remarkably stronger than the other."
With the exception of the team of four, Iruka amended silently.
Warai leaned her head on her hands and sighed. She didn't care if they fought in teams. Considering the friendly attitude of Konoha, she expected something like this for their genin. It was at times like this that she felt glad that she became a ninja for the leaf village rather than the Village of Mist. Shinobi from that village were cold and—for the most part—selfish.
She glanced at Sasuke and frowned.
Not that Kirikagure has the monopoly on selfishness, she thought. He probably thinks that a team will drag him down.
"Team Seven: Hyoro Warai!" Iruka said.
Warai snapped out of her daze and sat up. She wanted to know who else was on her team.
"Uzumaki Naruto!"
Naruto stood up and yelled, his arms above his head in triumph. Warai felt like cheering too, but left it to her more emotional partner. But she allowed herself a grin instead.
"Uchiha Sasuke!"
Naruto sat down so suddenly that it looked like he deflated. Warai's smile disappeared and a scowl fixed itself on her pretty face. She ignored the death glares from the other girls in the room and turned to look at the Uchiha. She had no clue as to his thoughts and really didn't want to know about them.
"Oi, Iruka-sense!" Naruto shouted. "Why is someone as exceptional as me paired up with this bastard!"
"Because Sasuke graduated with the highest scores in the class and you had the worst!" Iruka explained. The other kids laughed at this, but Warai knew that soon everyone would know how talented Naruto really was.
"Besides, I'm not done yet. This is the four-man team I was talking about."
Naruto, Warai, and Sasuke instantly snapped out of their individual inner monologues/rants and gave their full attention to the chuunin.
"The last member of Team Seven," he paused and his inner chibi laughed at the looks of almost eagerness on Sasuke and Warai's faces.
"Haruno Sakura!"
Sakura jumped up and yelled, much as Naruto had, and turned to Ino to gloat. Naruto, Warai, and Sasuke simply scowled and shared the same thought.
CRAP.
Kakashi looked around the small apartment and nodded. Although a bit too small to house two pre-teens, it was homey and neat. He could see Naruto's influence in the color scheme and posters on the walls. He could also see Warai's influence through the soft, sky blue window blinds and the throw pillows that were scattered everywhere.
He picked up a framed picture of Naruto and Warai and spoke to the Hokage, who was sitting at the kitchen table.
"May I ask why you placed Haruno Sakura on my team?" he asked. "The other three are strong and are above-average in different areas. Haruno is a first-generation ninja with no real defining attributes."
Sarutobi took a drag from his pipe and looked at the poster of the Hokage Monument that hung directly across from him.
"It's true that the girl isn't particularly good at any of the ninja arts," he began. "But Iruka tells me that her chakra control is near perfect. He also says that there are moments when she exhibits a strength that could rival Tsunade's. If she had the chance to increase her chakra store and trained a bit more as well…"
Kakashi nodded. "If she's teamed with those three, she'll have no choice but to improve," he admitted. "But she might also spend most of the time mooning over the Uchiha. Not to mention that Uzumaki still despises the boy."
"That's why I have the perfect solution," Sarutobi tipped his hat over his face and grinned. "But you'll have to pass them first, ne, Kakashi?"
The Copy Nin smiled behind his mask and nodded.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," he replied. "I'll have to pass them first."
A/N:
Well, okay…done! Yay!
Thanks for the reviews. I enjoy reading them!